Daily Archives: March 23, 2022

A pair of daring Chinese missions launched in 2020 is sparking new and broader interest in planetary science in China.

The Tianwen 1 orbiter and rover mission, which launched for Mars in July 2020, and Chang'e 5, which gathered the youngest lunar samples ever collected and delivered them to Earth later that year, are now delivering exciting science results. The new data and results emerging from the missions sparked a call for a special session at this year's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), held in Texas and virtually beginning March 7.

For example, samples of the 3.81 pounds (1.73 kilograms) of lunar regolith and rocks collected by Chang'e 5 have been made available for applications for science institutes and universities, and new insights are already emerging.

Related: Watch China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft land on the moon in this amazing video

The Chang'e 5 mission has opened a new era of China's lunar and planetary sciences, Yuqi Qian, a doctoral candidate at the School of Earth Sciences at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan and an author of papers presented at LPSC, told Space.com. "We have dozens of universities and institutes affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences that have started to work on planetary sciences, with many new faces," Qian said.

Teams at LPSC presented papers on a range of topics, including lunar petrology, the study of rocks and the conditions under which they form; textual analysis of samples; and assessments of the geological context of the landing area.

A paper authored jointly by American, Chinese and European scientists notes how dating these relatively young Chang'e 5 samples, which are around 2 billion years old, allows for a refinement of the estimated ages of planetary surfaces in the solar system through counting the numbers of craters in particular areas. Areas with fewer craters are thought to be younger than those with more dense cratering, having had less time to be impacted by meteorites. Getting hold of samples and confirming the age of rocks through radioisotopic dating means scientists can verify and calibrate this technique.

The new, young Chang'e 5 samples fill gaps left from estimates built on the Apollo samples, which are older than 3 billion years.

The presence of material associated with the lunar highlands was found in the Chang'e 5 rocks, which were collected from Oceanus Procellarum, the largest lunar mare, or dark plain. Other presentations described unusually high water content at the landing site, suggesting the rocks in the area originated from the lunar interior.

In addition to having a new presence at LPSC, China held its first planetary science conference last year and will have the second one this year.

China's first interplanetary mission, Tianwen 1, which includes the Zhurong rover in the plain of Utopia Planitia, is also exciting the science community.

Scientists from universitiesHong Kong and institutes in Wuhan and Weihai on the mainland noted that, unlike Mars' cold and oxidized surface, the subsurface of the Red Planet could provide the energy and liquid for past or even present life, making it an environment to search for biosignatures and evidence of life. Their paper focuses on mud volcanoes, which on Earth can expel subsurface materials from several miles deep and contain significant organic materials. Similar features on Mars in the vicinity of Zhurong could provide unique access to deep sediments, the scientists said.

The rover with its terrain camera, multispectral cameras and surface composition detector can collect mineralogy and chemical data, while the ground-penetrating radar can peer up to around 330 feet (100 meters) below the surface. Zhurong could, therefore, provide fascinating new insight into what lies beneath the surface of Mars, the researchers said.

Zhurong landed in Utopia Planitia in May 2021, and as of early February, the rover had driven a total of 5,043 feet (1,537 m). Tianwen 1 had been focused on relaying data from the rover to Earth until changing its orbit in November 2021 to begin its own dedicated science objectives.

Currently, data from the Tianwen 1 mission are accessible only to Chinese scientists, but the data will soon be made available internationally via China's Lunar and Planetary Data Release System.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Read more from the original source:

China's missions to the moon and Mars are starting to deliver exciting science results - Space.com

America's gas stations aren't always pretty to look at. They can often be a grimey lens into people's most basic, and at times, unflattering needs. We rely on them when we're desperate for a bathroom, or when we need to buy junk food, cigarettes, questionable beer, and a lottery ticket to pin hopes and dreams on before filling our car with gas and speeding off like we were never there to begin with.

Developer Monkey Moon's new game, Flat Eye, looks at the gas station of the future--a very believable, even dystopian, future.

It takes place in a world on the brink of becoming a utopia, one where machines are sufficient replacements for human labor. Think self-checkouts, self-cleaning toilets, kiosks that take your order, and machines that make your breakfast sandwich before popping it out a little window. It's a world where you seldom have to come face-to-face with a working human being.

In this alternate future, gas stations (branded as Flat Eyes) are still the place where you get junk food, gas, and use the bathroom, but it's also where entirely new technology is used and showcased, so Flat Eyes are also referred to as "automobile fill-up stations and technological access points." So as well as filling up gas and buying bad hot dogs, you can buy new organs from an organ vending machine, receive medical treatment from an automated medical module, or even clone yourself.

The game is a management sim where you overlook the needs and expansion of a Flat Eye location, where you point-and-click from an overhead view (though the camera is fully moveable), clicking on modules, and dragging and dropping things in place on a grid-like layout. In my short hands-on demo, I ordered a human employee to restock the shelves, repair equipment, and install new amenities like toilets, self-checkouts, and medical modules, all while cashing out other customers in the process. The customers are depicted as colorful, albeit characterless, silhouettes that scurried in and out to use the bathroom or cash out.

Flat Eye takes a hard look at humanity's increasing dependency on technology. It depicts a scenario in which humans themselves become as automated and as mechanical as the very machines they rely on to exist through their day-to-day lives. Despite its bleak view of a possible future, developer Monkey Moon was clear in conveying it wanted to ultimately tell a positive story of humanity. Humans embody more of a machine-like presence in Flat Eye, operating on autopilot through a clean, perfect-looking world. But it's still not without its distinct characters and personalities.

As you manage Flat Eye, special customers will visit, giving you the opportunity to talk to them and navigate branching conversations that present glimpses into the lives of those who inhabit this pseudo-utopian world. When I had initially felt like a floating manager ordering around an employee, these branching conversations had suddenly felt intimate as I was choosing the employee's responses. It's also during these conversations where you interact with Flat Eye's AI, a character that I will not spoil, but one I anticipate will have a strong role in the game's somewhat mysterious narrative.

It's in the introduction to this AI and the conversation with it that I was left most eager to see where Flat Eye will go next. There's a dual narrative working alongside an already interesting management sim here.

At the end of each day, you are able to dive into the data of the Flat Eye's productivity and receive an overall score for how well you did. It's also during the transition between days that you'll have an opportunity to look through emails from Flat Eye's corporate executives and look at messages within the company sent between other gas stations--a humanizing element in a rather detached position as a lowly clerk.

Gallery

Developer Monkey Moon is building a knack for telling stories through the lens of working-class characters that rarely get the spotlight in games. In its previous title, Night Call, you played as a cab driver in Paris, hearing the stories of his passengers, engaging in conversation, and divulging in the intricacies of people's most intimate stories. But like Flat Eye, Night Call goes beyond its surface level, with layered narratives and themes at play throughout.

Despite my short time with the game, its concepts, themes, and mechanics clicked instantly. Furthermore, seeds were planted for a greater overarching story that seems to be heading towards a redemptive look at a dystopian future.

Visit link:

Buy Junk Food, New Organs, And Clone Yourself At The Gas Station Of The Future In Flat Eye - GameSpot

Like World War III, this is a prediction that seemed dated following the Good Friday Agreement, but the chaos around Brexit has suddenly made it a lot more plausible. Brexit is only one of a number of frightening and dramatic events that have occurred over the last decade, and once again, Star Trek is responding to them.

Every ten years theres a new Bond, a new Batman, to a certain degree now a new Star Trek, and sometimes they resonate with their time and sometimes they dont and sometimes its in the middle, Volk-Weiss says. I feel like DS9 is a great example of that. I feel like the greatest example of that of all time is Battlestar Galactica. That whole thing was about 9/11 and the War on Terror. Sometimes it works, as with Battlestar Galactica, sometimes it doesnt work, as with Enterprise. The problem with what Enterprise did is there were already so many bad things going on you didnt need to create a brand-new character to cut Florida in half. There was already enough to talk about, while in Galactica it organically fit into the storyline. I think what Discovery and Picard are doing is more on the organic side.

Star Trek has shown us a potential utopia, and with Deep Space Nine and the use of the black ops Section 31 of Starfleet in Enterprise, Star Trek: Into Darkness and Discovery, it has shown us the potential dark side of that utopia. But new Star Trek seems to be doing something new that even Enterprise didnt showing us how we get there.

I think Discovery and Picard, in their own ways, are slowly but surely showing us, no it was a rough start, it took a lot to get to replicators, says Volk-Weiss. It took a lot to get to the Prime Directive. We didnt get here by accident, and we didnt get here easily. I think, as the onion peels more and more both shows are showing the underbelly of what would be the future of Star Trek.

Star Trek: Discovery was the first to remind us of the effects of World War III in the second series episode, New Eden. Here Star Trek returned to another of its favourite tropes humans transposed from Earth history and set up as an independent colony on another world. This time, the transposed humans were the congregation of a church rescued from a nuclear blast.

Later, Discovery would encounter its own apocalypse in the form of the the burn, which destroyed galactic civilisation as we know it and forced the Federation to rebuild from scratch, and rediscover its values along the way.

Visit link:

Star Trek and the Shadow of World War III - Den of Geek

Courtesy Orem City

With city budget time in full swing, its no surprise that the Orem City Council held a work session Tuesday that took a hard look at the citys general fund coffers.

The council listened to budget outlooks from the operations of the general fund, fleet services and information technology. The discussion not only was directed to the new fiscal year 2023, but also some of the things that are still needed from the current year.

Brandon Nelson, the citys finance director, led the presentation.

General fund revenue changes show an increase of $6.2 million, with sales tax revenues accounting for about 22% of that. There is also a decrease of $185,200 in some funds.

Nelson noted that cemetery fees, court fees and fines are all up 12%, while property taxes were up only 1% due to growth.

The city will also receive a UTOPIA rebate of $67,107. Conversely, planning fees are down 50% and library fees are down 20%.

As for expenditures, by far the biggest part of the budget is personnel costs, which are anticipated to total $1.9 million and will cover a variety personnel issues, from increases in the police department to ladder career programs. Health insurance is expected to be up by 10% or $544,000.

The total general fund expenditure increase is $5.7 million, according to Nelson.

Operational expenses are about $1.7 million. The good news is that the new Orem Fitness Center is clearing its own way and will no longer need to be subsidized by the city.

General Fund expansion on expenses for the coming year, as presented, looks like this:

The afternoon was full of requests, including funds to help with cyber security for hacking safety measures to a geographic information system.

Residents interested in seeing the budget requests can visit orem.org and connect to the transparency link.

The council will continue to hear budget requests through April and will have May and most of June to discuss line items and adjust the draft budget if needed.

The budget must be approved by the second council meeting in June. The fiscal year begins July 1. It is not anticipated that there will need to be a truth-in-taxation hearing this year a mandatory step when considering raising taxes.

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Read this article:

Orem City Council gets another budget presentation for FY 2023 - Daily Herald

Its been a long (really long) wait but finally The Owl Househas returned! And they are wasting no time in reminding us something big is about to happen as all the action today is set around the Coven Day parade.

Follies At The Coven Day Parade

Just like at the beginning of the season, Luz makes a video for her mom kind of catching us up on everything that has happened so far. If you recall from the last episode, Yesterdays Lie, Luz was able to kind of get back to the human realm and talk to her mom where she promised that shell come home and leave the demon world behind despite the fact that she doesnt want that.

Conveniently, Kikimora is nearby talking on a crow (which is a phone in this world) with her mother where she has to choose between her job at the Emperors side and her family. Luz sees the parallels between their situations and discusses with Eda before offering a hand to one of their arch-enemies (complete with recap of everything Kiki has done) concocting a scheme to kidnap both Kikimora and Raine Whispers,Edas ex, during the celebration.

All the while, Amity, who is now Facebook official (or whatever we call it on this YA animated series) with Luz, can tell that something is amiss with her girlfriend and thinks she isnt telling her everything. Which, we know, is exactly the case because Luzs promise to her mother has been something she isnt sharing with anybody. As much as she tries to hide it though, the truth is bound to come out since she accidentally left her phone (where she was making those aforementioned videos to her mother) on the school steps for Amity to find.

Together, with the help of King and Hootie (in his Port-a-Hootie form) and Amitys brother and his fireworks, Luz and Eda concoct a scheme to distract the crowd during the parade and kidnap both Kikimora and Raine. This way, Kikimora can still keep her job but go visit her family for the reunion under the guise, and Eda can find out what happened to Raine since the last time we saw them, they were being petrified, yet saved for the upcoming Day of Unity.

While Kikimora is alone and doubts the plan will work, Raine is back (unpetrified) and is acting very oddly before the reveal of the head witch of the plant coven, Tara Snapdragon, who has been helping Raine heal since they had been sick with a special tea.

Kikimora is well aware of the plan and how Tara can interfere with it, but before she can alert the others, the parade is about to begin.

Hootie and King are disguised in a giant float paying tribute to Emperor Belos which begins launching fireworks and the plan is in motion. At first, the mission seems successful, and everything goes to plan. Eda gets a chance to speak with Raine who seems to not remember anything that has happened recently, including their battle that ended with them being put into that contained state, saying that they havent seen each other in years. Promising to get through to them in some way, Eda whips out her glyphs and spells ready to break them, but Raine has their trusty violin which is their instrument of defense as well. Luz is running away with Kikimora when they are cornered, even while invisible, by Tara who is mocking them wondering out loud where Kiki could be, she is very important to the Emperor and even has a promotion waiting for her.

Right as Tara makes her move, an abomination shows up and stops her growing vines, caused by Amity who knew the whole plan thanks to their shared knowledge of the Good Witch Azura Books, book #5 to be precise.

In the alley, Raine and Eda are still battling when Raine finally cracks and says Eda needs to leave, and for old times, theyll let her go, and even suspiciously says to travel for a bit. But why?

Luz and Amity set Kikimora on her way, but almost predictably, she turns on them but only because of this newfound promotion she is set to receive. She decides to try and attack Luz and Amity and bring them back to the Emperor as a thank you present, but Tara shows up and stops her. She wasnt there to look after Raine, she was sent by the Emperor to watch over Kiki and test her loyalty. While yes, the promotion was real, there are no added benefits and really only means that the Emperor will spare her life.

As Tara and Kiki leave, Tara tells Luz that the Emperor is looking forward to meeting her. Waitwhat? Luz has already met the Emperor in previous episodes. What does that mean?

Amity finally gets a moment with Luz to discuss what has happened with her portal door and she shares everything but back at the Coven Day parade, Raine sips their tea while Kikimora addresses the crowd under the watchful eye of Tara saying this year is particularly special since the Emperor wants to make an announcement.

He appears via broadcast, sharing that the Day of Unity is nearly at hand, and the Coven system is being perfected as the Titan has intended. A journey to the head of the isles will take place at that time, and a new utopia is set to be inherited by the worthy and will be free of wild magic.

During the broadcast, we catch a glimpse of Lilith at home with her and Edas mom watching the broadcast via crystal ball, its just a passing glance but definitely serves as a reminder that they are both still very much in play.

Before the broadcast ends, Belos also takes off his mask and reveals his face, claiming the strength of his supporters allows him to do so.

The speech serves up a lot more questions than answers, how do they plan on ensuring a society that will be free of wild magic? What does that mean for Eda and Luz, who practice wild magic? Was there a greater reason that we saw Lilith for that moment?

And now, a little bit of fun. If you take the first letter from the title of each episode, each season spells out a message. For season one, that message was A WITCH LOSES HER TRUE WAY. With the return of The Owl House after their extended hiatus, we are now well aware of the remaining episode titles of season two and can decode this seasons phrase:

This episode of The Owl House is now available on Disney Channeland the DisneyNOW App. You can also catch up with previous episodes and seasons on Disney+.

Originally from California where he studied a dying artform (hand-drawn animation), Tony has spent most of his adult life in the theme parks of Orlando. When hes not writing for LP, hes usually watching and studying something animated or arguing about the good ole days at the parks.

Read the original:

Fans Get More Questions Than Answers With The Long-Awaited Return of The Owl House - Laughing Place

22 March 2022

Horror movies have, and possibly always will be, a wonderful addition to any cinema. They've got the power to frighten and haunt, and it seems smaller studios, such as Lightbulb Film Distribution, as taking on the challenge of making a horror worth watching.

Were All Going to The Worlds Fair is an upcoming horror from Utopia and Strike Media, who also had a hand in creating Broadcast Signal Intrusion(2022), which suggests that the film is in good hands.

The movie will be coming to UK cinemas next month (April, 2022) and, following its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, the feature also played at Fantasia and Grimmfest (UK premiere).

Were All Going to The Worlds Fair is directed by Jane Schoenbrun, and stars Anna Cobb in her breakout role; the score was written and performed by Alex G.

The film follows Casey (Cobb), a girl who is intrigued by The Worlds Fair, which appears to be an online role-playing game that leads you to the Fair, once youve paid your dues.

Get ready... / Picture Credit: Strike Media

The trailer highlights the creepiest parts of the upcoming feature, as Casey goes from figuring out what The Worlds Fair really is, to seemingly becoming part of the game, and a pawn for whoever is running the show.

Were All Going to The Worlds Fair has already received some fantastic praise, such as Sight & Sound, who claimed the movie to be Remarkable... a striking modern horror.

Other praises for Were All Going to The Worlds Fair include Sales & Acquisitions Director for the film, Peter Thompson, who statedthat Were All Going to the Worlds Fair is an immersive modern horror film. Its an exploration of internet culture and identity through a chilling coming-of-age story. Schoenbrun is a visionary filmmaker; an exciting new voice in elevated horror. We are excited to bring this powerful and unique film to UK and Irish audiences.

If the trailer is not enough to draw viewers interests, then the largely positive comments about the movie should definitely see moviegoers head to the cinema to check it out.

Were All Going to The Worlds Fair releases in cinemas on April 29th, 2022, and on digital download May 9th, 2022.

Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter@melissajournal

MORE:The Quarry trailer: An immersive, thrilling horror game releasing in June 2022

Read more:

We're All Going to The World's Fair trailer: A first look at new and immersive horror movie - FemaleFirst.co.uk

I studied architecture because my soft teenaged brain thought that buildings and infrastructure were the hardware that could enable utopia. I had already designed many worlds. The most detailed vision was for Woo-land, a post-work, post-family, post-gender dream where everyone has lots of spare time to have rich non-monogamous love lives and communally care for their shared buildings and shared children.

I masterplanned their towns and designed their round houses where they live in groups of 36 and enjoyed such pleasures as a bubble dancing room. I engineered the baby pits where the genderless communal baby-making and child-rearing take place, their electric woo-cars that run on a network of overhead wires, and the extraordinary scientific innovation that was the spherical mesh that contains the whole planet and is embedded with germ magnets so nobody ever gets sick.

Last night I dreamt I lived there and let me tell you the crash back to reality when I woke up was a harsh one. Sure, the germ magnet mesh smells a bit of techno-optimist geoengineering and baby-pits could use a rebrand but theres a lot thats worth re-examining, 25 years later: Woo-land Redux?

If the way were creating housing facilitates transfer of wealth from renters and local authorities to landlords and investors, is that a good thing?

At uni I learnt that architecture is the backdrop to life and that to think otherwise was to pursue dangerous social engineering. I learnt that architecture was beautiful for its neutrality; an armature for infinite possibilities to be swathed across again and again, like headlights in a long exposure photo, leaving barely a trace on a perfect and durable and pure architecture. Then, in practice, I learnt that architecture is about creating value. Value for society, value for clients, value for users, value for stakeholders, value for shareholders, value for developers, value for investors, value for landowners, value value value. The trick is to create as much value as possible and to get your cut.

A global financial meltdown, unprecedented pandemic, and mainstreamed awareness of climate and biodiversity collapse later, and Im learning something new again: that my childish dreams were maybe more ingenious than ingenuous. Now we live in a world that knows deep down that buildings and infrastructure are far from neutral but rather the hard limits preventing our reciprocal relationships with each other and with nature. And we know deep down that we dont create value, we amass value; like any sandcastle, just out of shot theres a rough hole scarred with finger-scrapes and footprints.

It was nice, in a way, for architecture to be off the hook for social responsibility but we need to find our way back. Its not enough to reassure ourselves: Were building housing, housing is a good right? Of course housing is a good thing but if the way were creating housing is to facilitate transfer of wealth from renters and local authorities (via housing benefit) to landlords and investors, then is that a good thing? If the way were creating housing is deepening our reliance on property as individual financial security and excusing the state from providing welfare, pensions, and social care, then is that a good thing?

We like to think were creating housing in such a way as to address affordability and environmental harm. Were not, but we could! As set out by Sophus Ermgassen et al in their recent A Home for all Within Planetary Boundaries, if we were, wed be designing policies, masterplans and technical solutions to retrofit and redistribute our spatial wealth of existing buildings to facilitate social and environmental justice.

An architectural education, in uni and in practice, is a wonderful thing, but its also an indoctrination into a status quo that must be questioned. What if we all took a little nostalgic trip back to our sincerely nave imaginations and mined them for wisdom and something to fight for? Bubble dancing rooms for all? Maybe!

Smith Mordak is director of sustainability and physics at Buro Happold

Go here to read the rest:

Architects, you've been indoctrinated. Time to question what you thought you knew - Architect's Journal

The planet Earth, capital of the Peoples Republic of Earth (PRE), is beset by crime as it recovers from a recent orbital bombardment from the murderous mechanical hivemind known as the Mechazur Nexus. Almost a third of the planets surface is rubble and fused glass. The Slidor Syndicatea ruthless criminal corporationhas expanded, smuggling illicit goods and using Earths population for dangerous scientific experiments (rumor has it that humans are well suited for testing all sorts of cosmetic and medical products). A mysterious alien-bird empire has Just invaded the planet as well. The Peoples Republic of Earth Is now at war on three fronts in an unforgiving galaxy

We on the left pride ourselves on our political imagination. As a leftist, Im in the business of imagining a different, better world, and I often use games to explore these ideas. In two decades of gaming, Ive noticed that the creators of gameswho tend to be overwhelmingly white and maleoften have limited political imaginations when compared to their inventiveness in other realms. Game developers, like all artists, are deeply influenced by the norms of the society they grew up in. Virtual worlds (dont make me say metaverse) often share features of our own world, whether those features are intended as satirical commentary or are simply unconscious reflections of the particular perspectives of their creators. Modern games often feature explorations of imperialism, militaristic aggression, law and order, and racism. At best, these depictions can help us better understand our own social context in a new way. At worst, these games promote the many injustices that exist in society (even if their creators didnt consciously intend to make political statements through their games).

Stellaris is a grand strategy space exploration game in which you start on a home planet (Earth in this case) in the year 2200. At the start of the game, humanity has already made two major advances. First, the many nations of Earth have come together to form one world government, the characteristics of which are up to the player. Second, humanity has developed faster-than-light travel, enabling us to travel outside our solar system, visit neighboring systems like Alpha Centauri, and spread our species (and our way of life) across the galaxy as we interact with various other inhabitants of the Milky Way. You play as an ageless central planner guiding your home civilization through the future centuries in times of peace, war, economic development, and diplomacy. You must avoid total annihilation at the hands of empires led by war-prone aliens, artificial intelligence gone rogue, creatures called assimilator species that can absorb and incorporate the DNA of their victims, massive swarms of microscopic space robots, and even space whalesmostly placid interstellar life-forms that have evolved to thrive in the vacuum of space. You choose your nations policies and starting government structure, deal with internal factions and elections, then select how your people will interact with space and its inhabitants.

Stellaris stands out from its peers in the genre, as it allows a communist or social democratic form of governmenta rare thing in modern science fiction or gaming, in which its much more common to find hyper-capitalist hellscapes like Blade Runner, Cyberpunk 2077, or The Expanse than any kind of true social democracy. Even Star Trek, the original space utopia, has been partially transformed into gritty dystopia in its recent incarnations as Discovery and Picard. Such stories would seem consistent with reality, with billionaire oligarchs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hungrily eying our solar system and our government practically begging them to start the process of capitalist exploitation of space. Even now, Bezos hopes to eventually outsource heavy industry to the moon and Musk has his heart set on a Mars colony (I wonder what labor standards would be like with kilometers of vacuum between these operations and any Earth government).

Its very tempting (and easy) to play Stellaris with an expansionist and militarist mindsetthis also happens to be the default mode for most grand strategy games, from the board game Risk on down to its many imitators. But when I set out to play Stellaris, I decided to see what would happen if I created a socialist society based on internationalist principles. If the humans of Earth could transcend our differences and unite together in a socialist society, how would our principles be challenged as we attempted to explore space? Could space communism persisteven thriveunder pressure? I created a custom civilization called The Peoples Republic of Earth, an egalitarian society in which all peoples needs were met and the focus was on peace and justice, not war and aggression. From the beginning, I decided I would compromise as little as possible. For the first few decades of the game, I built nothing but Science Ships, which are strictly for exploration and research, outfitted to boldly go where no person had gone before. Even after meeting my interstellar neighbors, I was able to focus almost exclusively on building research facilities to uncover the secrets of the universe, and sending envoys to make new friends with various alien civilizations. As other interstellar governments waged war on each other, PRE territory was a safe haven for refugees of all species, including androids (synthetic life-forms like Data from Star Trek). I made sure that all my people had access to housing, food, and the most technologically advanced healthcare available.

The structure of the games built-in trade-offs model the political choices inherent in creating any kind of polity. My decision to avoid offensive wars and prioritize economic development and diplomacy (the ultimate fantasy for a 21st century American) benefited the well-being of the planets people, but I had no power to prevent the rest of the galaxy from falling into superstition and authoritarianism. I often found myself grappling with the unspoken goal of the strategy genre: to build an empire. While I felt justified in conquering systems held by rogue AI or aggressive criminal syndicates like the Slidor, I still found myself tempted to wage the kind of misguided ideological wars characteristic of U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century (couldnt I do something about that superstition and authoritarianism and perhaps get some valuable natural resources in the process?) Moreover, the game falls short in accurately modeling the kind of long-running insurgencies such invasions usually provoke. My star society managed to stay true to anti-imperialist values (prioritizing diplomacy, valuing self-determination, and attempting to spread democracy through setting a good example, not at the point of a spear). However, I still felt that the game was not designed to model the staggering (and tragic) costs of endless wars of conquest.

In fact, Stellaris (and gaming in general) was not designed to simulate other societal complexities such as popular uprisings or the diversity of society as a whole. While the internal dynamics of societies include factions which have certain policy preferences (a xenophobic faction will prefer that you dont welcome any refugees, for instance), these factions are undifferentiated in terms of class composition or racial composition; nor are there factions that are made up of social groups like the military, clergy, or other professionals which occupy strategic sites of power. One of the important insights of the socialist tradition is our understanding that social and economic classes (and the conflict between them) are major drivers of historical change.

This concept of class conflict is usually not represented in mainstream modern American conceptions of politics. Instead, Americans of all classes are encouraged to identify with one of our two major political parties based upon social and cultural values, with class conflict largely taking place outside the official spaces of electoral politics (Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are rare examples of national politicians who speak in terms of class conflict: the exceptions prove the rule). The games designers buy into the classic American concept that politics are practiced within a marketplace of ideas on a level playing field, instead of my own more depressing contention that politics can be better modeled as an arena of constituencies, complete with blood, gore, and corporate sponsorships. The recent bitter conflict over the Build Back Better Act in Washington showcases this reality, as a multimillionaire coal baron (Joe Manchin) obstructed legislation that would make life a little easier for millions of middle-income and poor Americans and would also start making bare-minimum investments in fighting climate change. Both Manchins general interest as a card-carrying member of the 1% and his particular interest as someone with investments in the coal industry are directly opposed to his political partys signature domestic policy agenda. High-minded discussion of the issues on the merits has little to nothing to do with the ultimate fate of the legislation (not to mention the country).

The inherently liberal capitalist frame that undergirds the games systems can be seen in all sorts of small and large ways, some of which have implications that are truly heartbreaking. One inherent assumption baked into the game is that more police leads to a reduction in crime, an assumption that is endemic to our society but increasingly challenged by data as the discourse surrounding policing changes. The very concept of crime in the game is curious, as the myriad policy options available to you do not include options related to drug prohibition, sex work prohibition, or gun control. While you can outlaw robot workers, institute slavery, or criminalize political dissent, you cannot legalize or prohibit drugs, sex work, or guns. It isnt that the developers assume all these things will be legal in the far future, because one of the negative events you can get if your planet has a high crime value is that it becomes a hub of the interstellar drug trade. Perhaps the idea is that the drugs of the 23rd century are so potent and dangerous that no government, no matter how libertarian, permissive, or even sinister, could contemplate allowing them. Regardless, the collapse of sex work, drugs, crime, and guns into game features that have a narrow range of possibilities clearly shows that the baseline American prohibitionist mindset is the only game in town for the developers of Stellaris. You can make fungus people who worship space dragons, but they arent allowed to get high while doing it. (Perhaps research into the treatment potential of psychedelics was suppressed in the 22nd century just as in our 20th.) You can build police stations, but abolition is largely off the table. (As in real life, police and military budgets can only go up.)

In another example, the sprawling slums that you start with on your founding planet act as a blocker that prevents you from improving them or building on the land they occupy. Regardless of your chosen political outlook, the only interaction available is old-fashioned Robert Moses-style slum clearance. The idea that the residents of these sprawling slums might actually make up part of the governing constituency in a socialist or communist society is not considered. Even more grotesque, the reward for clearing these slums is the creation of a new citizen for your world, apparently from nothing (the game denotes population by giving planets a number of citizens, with each individual representing a much larger group of people). This new citizen has the ability to occupy jobs and produce goods and services for your space societycreating alloys to build ships and space stations, science points to further research, or harvesting food, minerals, or energy from their planets natural resources.

This isnt just an annoying quirk of the programming: its pure unfiltered capitalist ideology. Under this framework, the inhabitants of low-income slums are inhuman, savage to the extent that they cannot participate in society except as parasites, and the only way to make them productive citizens is to bulldoze their already substandard housing to make way for further development. While I would expect such a choice if I had chosen to play as a fascist dictatorship or a liberal capitalist regime, it seemed deeply unfair that, even when I had opted for space communism, the only way I could interact with this game feature was to enact the racist assumptions of 20th century urban planning and just demolish the homes of large numbers of urban poor people. Another telling detail is that these slums are called The Delhi Sprawl. (To their credit, the developers edited out the specific reference to Delhi in their latest patch.) The developers of Stellaris, it seems, cannot help but recycle half-remembered capitalist ideas about slum clearance and imperialist condescension toward the nation of India because their assumptions and mindsets, like those of the average person, were formed through the education and socialization of an imperialist and capitalist society. Even when all the world joins together as one nation (already a fairly utopian prospect), the player is still encouraged to think of a major part of the Global South as just one big slum that needs clearing out to be considered productive or even truly human. Personally, I would appreciate the chance to build real, high-quality public housing to house the galaxys huddled masses.

I cannot entirely blame the developers for their inability to accurately and sympathetically model space communism. Indeed, the shortcomings of the games systems point mostly, for me, toward the limitations of our own societys political discourse and culture. While some of us may be encouraged to make our voices heard by voting for one of two options every few years, (many, of course, are implicitly and explicitly discouraged or prevented from doing this), in practice this results in, for the most part, continuation of the status quo. In addition to living under a narrow definition of electoral democracy, Americans are often told that it is rude or distasteful to bring our political selves into, for example, our workplaces, our streets, or our schools. When social movements do start to shake our governing institutions, such as the abolitionist unrest of 2020 surrounding the murder of George Floyd or the 2018-19 teacher strike wave that rocked the South in response to education cuts, they are often viciously attacked by the corporate media and by the elite practitioners of politics who insist that the only legitimate arena of politics is the one they happen to dominate. These politicians likely struggle to imagine popular social movements playing a role in government because they, like us, have grown up in a world where social movements are often crushed by the forces of reaction and at best palliated and co-opted into the ruling status quo. This, of course, does not mean that we should just give up, but its important that we all understand what we are up against.

My experience leading a communist Earth into the 23rd century is therefore fairly realistic. The game reminded me of the principles of internationalism. Internationalism refers to the idea that the truly revolutionary positive change in the organization of society, such as the creation of socialism, cannot be accomplished if it is permanently confined to one country (or one part of the galaxy). Capitalismwhich is the organization of society around profit at the cost of the well-being of people, nature, and the planetis a global force. Any attempt to break its stranglehold will face intense opposition, producing a siege mentality that tends to lead to stagnation and intolerance of dissent. Just as nations on Earth that have socialist tendencies, such as Cuba or China, are beset by international sanctions, the primary experience of attempting to live ones values on a large scale is an experience of constant, unceasing struggle. In Stellaris, while I managed to avoid emulating the authoritarianism and murderousness of Stalinism, I paid the price in blood and treasure, as the only alternative to repression was full-scale war against my enemies. Perhaps Trotskys idea of permanent revolution had something to it after all (please dont cancel me for revisionism). Socialism in one country, like most of Stalins ideas and initiatives, seems self-defeating and strangely nave in a world where capital freely moves across borders and the few extant socialist states and local formations are forced into a permanent defensive posture against the international capitalist world order. It seems self-evident to me that the various cells of the growing international socialist movement should attempt to coordinate and collaborate as we build the future together across borders. My strategy to stave off conquerors with a network of alliances in Stellaris had interesting results. Through prolonged contact with the culture of the Peoples Republic of Earth, my allies began to converge and change to be more like their idealistic ally on Earth. The theocratic societies became more secular, the authoritarian societies became more open to immigration, and even some of the less hostile megacorporations became (a little) more egalitarian.

In these times, pessimism is unhelpful. What we need is imagination. Instead of seeing only the current impediments in the struggle for justice worldwide, why not practice a radical optimism and imagine the future we want for ourselves? The Peoples Republic of Earth faced challenges but made a positive impact on the in-game galaxy, welcoming refugees, defending organic life from annihilation, and spreading democracy through peaceful coexistence. If homo sapiens ever does reach other star systems, how will we appear to the inhabitants? It seems to me that its up to us to make sure we make a good first impression. As leftists, we need to be both able to capitalize (wink) on the existing meager power we command and also expand that power to other places and other sites of struggle. We need to contest every area of society, fighting to win elections from the school board to the presidency. We need to be present everywhere, from large cities to rural communities. We need to represent our values wherever we can, in our workplaces, our schools, our unions, and our families. This struggle is difficult, but nobody ever said it would be easy.

Workers of the galaxy, unite!

Originally posted here:

I Tried to Lead an Ethical Star Nation Current Affairs - Current Affairs

Oh to be an innocent teen/young adult again, dancing the night away at one of Berkshires many nightclubs. The club-goers of today will have different experiences of the countys nightlife as bars and nightclubs have morphed into each other over the years.

The old-school nightclub has sadly declined, meaning that many of the places that became our second homes have gone on to a new life. As music and social trends change, difficult decisions have to be made about the future of these much-loved establishments.

Hazy memories of sticky floors, drunken antics and huddling around the kebab van remain for many of us, no matter how much time has passed since our first experiences of these great clubs. In spite of the multitude of changes experienced in this market, these aspects remain essential ingredients of a memorable night out for today's clubbers

READ MORE : Berkshire pub where Oasis performed among 5 lost and forgotten ale houses you want back

On our Facebook page, we asked BerkshireLive readers to age themselves with a nightclub they used to go to thats no longer around - a name which (despite perhaps being too drunk to remember the details) will never be forgotten by those concerned. While plenty of other Berkshire clubs received mentions on our post, such as The Majestic, The Ricky Tick in Windsor and Rebeccas, these five were perhaps the most frequently named.

What was the first nightclub you visited in Berkshire? Let us know in the comments!

We begin by travelling way back to when the Top Rank represented a great night out from a different era. Pre-dating the likes of The Matrix by about four decades, Top Rank was a typical 1960s night out found just outside Reading station and above the entrance to the Thames Valley Bus Station.

The host of various events, Top Rank was the home of traditional ballroom dancing, as well as "discotheques" as they were known at the time. Local frequenters would often go dancing here three or four times a week.

There was a sweeping staircase and two bars - one to the right of the stage as you walked in, and one upstairs. As the ballroom headed into the '70s, they took advantage of the disco craze of that particular era; after the night, they'd be a long wait outside for the few taxis they had in those days.

Plenty of musical acts frequented Top Rank during its heyday, including The George Bradley Band, while other previously unearthed photos show the semi-finals of Miss Vanity Fair which also took place here. One BerkshireLive reader recalled: "OMG, such good memories that was the place to go! Remember many a boogie night dancing round our handbags, good times bring back those days, loved them, such a good place to meet up and socialise."

Unmissable fun was had during the weekends worth of entertainment. It later became a bingo hall before it was knocked down as part of one of the previous incarnations of the Station Hill development.

One which many Reading locals frequented during their drunkenly dancing days came in the form of Utopia. People of a certain vintage will recall a time before late-night bars when you were faced with the situation of bars closing at around 10.30pm.

The dilemma then arose about whether to try and get a taxi or bus home or if the night was only just getting started. Many of those in the latter camp soon headed to Yates' - still standing proudly today despite a few licensing issues - to get the bus to Utopia.

The trip out to Calcot was all part of the fun, even if it seemed to go on for hours before a night of fun followed your arrival. For a select few (although often making up a considerably larger percentage), there was a nervous wait outside due to being too young to (legally) enter.

As was standard for typical nightclubs, you were greeted with incredibly loud music and went to buy the very expensive drinks. Visitors from as far as Maidenhead and Swindon could be met at the bar or on the dance floor.

Despite having perhaps the most disgusting toilets anywhere outside day three of Reading Festival, it was the place to be in the town during the late 90s/early 2000s. The ultimate super-club has since become an IKEA.

This particular former club had multiple incarnations during its stint as part of Readings nightlife. Although it was finally known as RG1 before closure, it was previously known, and perhaps most fondly remembered, as Washington Heights.

A long stretch of time has passed since we were able to visit this part of town for a boogie. The site could be found as you go towards Caversham before the railway, where those nondescript flats currently sit.

The two-floor venue consisted of a VIP area upstairs for those after a more grand experience. A sunken dancefloor was a prominent feature of the club, including dancing podiums that allowed dancers to really make an impression on their fellow visitors.

Built to the side of the old car park in Chatham Street was Level One. This club is fondly remembered by many, while also being a place that other residents have never heard of.

Its out-of-town location made it a favourable club to make your regular. It also built up the reputation in the late 90s for the door staff having somewhat of an open mind with regards to what the law allowed and what they could get away with. Although its year of closure isnt widely known, what is common knowledge is that it was replaced with the flats that still stand there today.

Maidenheads representative in this list is the old Cinderellas. This is another club to have gone through many guises and rebrands. Finally known as Zoots (after a brief period as 5th Avenue), this was the town's only real nightclub. Although not being to everyone's taste, there were far worse places that you could spend a Friday night at.

The bouncers werent particularly fussy about who they let in, with jeans being permissible. Found within was the main dance floor on the lower level and a smaller dance floor above, with big windows so you could see what was going on downstairs. Recollectors included Colin Webb who loved it there cheesy as hell saw a few groups from the day there too and Carole Marshall who met my husband there 35 years ago!.

In February 1998 the site was turned into a Chicago Rock Cafe before it was taken over and began trading as Roma Club. After that also closed in more recent years, the building was demolished and a car park can be found in its place.

If you could bring one of these former clubs back, which one would it be?

Sign up for our newsletter and get the top stories from BerkshireLive delivered straight to your inbox.

View original post here:

5 lost Berkshire nightclubs that provided first experiences of the nightlife - Berkshire Live