Category Archives: Mars Colony

There is no shortage of researchers and industry titans willing to warn us about the potential destructive power of artificial intelligence. Reading the headlines, one would hope that the rapid gains in A.I. technology have also brought forth a unifying realization of the risks and the steps we need to take to mitigate them.

The reality, unfortunately, is quite different. Beneath almost all of the testimony, the manifestoes, the blog posts and the public declarations issued about A.I. are battles among deeply divided factions. Some are concerned about far-future risks that sound like science fiction. Some are genuinely alarmed by the practical problems that chatbots and deepfake video generators are creating right now. Some are motivated by potential business revenue, others by national security concerns.

The result is a cacophony of coded language, contradictory views and provocative policy demands that are undermining our ability to grapple with a technology destined to drive the future of politics, our economy and even our daily lives.

These factions are in dialogue not only with the public but also with one another. Sometimes, they trade letters, opinion essays or social threads outlining their positions and attacking others in public view. More often, they tout their viewpoints without acknowledging alternatives, leaving the impression that their enlightened perspective is the inevitable lens through which to view A.I. But if lawmakers and the public fail to recognize the subtext of their arguments, they risk missing the real consequences of our possible regulatory and cultural paths forward.

To understand the fight and the impact it may have on our shared future, look past the immediate claims and actions of the players to the greater implications of their points of view. When you do, youll realize this isnt really a debate only about A.I. Its also a contest about control and power, about how resources should be distributed and who should be held accountable.

Beneath this roiling discord is a true fight over the future of society. Should we focus on avoiding the dystopia of mass unemployment, a world where China is the dominant superpower or a society where the worst prejudices of humanity are embodied in opaque algorithms that control our lives? Should we listen to wealthy futurists who discount the importance of climate change because theyre already thinking ahead to colonies on Mars? It is critical that we begin to recognize the ideologies driving what we are being told. Resolving the fracas requires us to see through the specter of A.I. to stay true to the humanity of our values.

One way to decode the motives behind the various declarations is through their language. Because language itself is part of their battleground, the different A.I. camps tend not to use the same words to describe their positions. One faction describes the dangers posed by A.I. through the framework of safety, another through ethics or integrity, yet another through security and others through economics. By decoding who is speaking and how A.I. is being described, we can explore where these groups differ and what drives their views.

The loudest perspective is a frightening, dystopian vision in which A.I. poses an existential risk to humankind, capable of wiping out all life on Earth. A.I., in this vision, emerges as a godlike, superintelligent, ungovernable entity capable of controlling everything. A.I. could destroy humanity or pose a risk on par with nukes. If were not careful, it could kill everyone or enslave humanity. Its likened to monsters like the Lovecraftian shoggoths, artificial servants that rebelled against their creators, or paper clip maximizers that consume all of Earths resources in a single-minded pursuit of their programmed goal. It sounds like science fiction, but these people are serious, and they mean the words they use.

These are the A.I. safety people, and their ranks include the Godfathers of A.I., Geoff Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. For many years, these leading lights battled critics who doubted that a computer could ever mimic capabilities of the human mind. Having steamrollered the public conversation by creating large language models like ChatGPT and other A.I. tools capable of increasingly impressive feats, they appear deeply invested in the idea that there is no limit to what their creations will be able to accomplish.

This doomsaying is boosted by a class of tech elite that has enormous power to shape the conversation. And some in this group are animated by the radical effective altruism movement and the associated cause of long-term-ism, which tend to focus on the most extreme catastrophic risks and emphasize the far-future consequences of our actions. These philosophies are hot among the cryptocurrency crowd, like the disgraced former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who at one time possessed sudden wealth in search of a cause.

Reasonable sounding on their face, these ideas can become dangerous if stretched to their logical extremes. A dogmatic long-termer would willingly sacrifice the well-being of people today to stave off a prophesied extinction event like A.I. enslavement.

Many doomsayers say they are acting rationally, but their hype about hypothetical existential risks amounts to making a misguided bet with our future. In the name of long-term-ism, Elon Musk reportedly believes that our society needs to encourage reproduction among those with the greatest culture and intelligence (namely, his ultrarich buddies). And he wants to go further, such as limiting the right to vote to parents and even populating Mars. Its widely believed that Jaan Tallinn, the wealthy long-termer who co-founded the most prominent centers for the study of A.I. safety, has made dismissive noises about climate change because he thinks that it pales in comparison with far-future unknown unknowns like risks from A.I. The technology historian David C. Brock calls these fears wishful worries that is, problems that it would be nice to have, in contrast to the actual agonies of the present.

More practically, many of the researchers in this group are proceeding full steam ahead in developing A.I., demonstrating how unrealistic it is to simply hit pause on technological development. But the roboticist Rodney Brooks has pointed out that we will see the existential risks coming, the dangers will not be sudden and we will have time to change course. While we shouldnt dismiss the Hollywood nightmare scenarios out of hand, we must balance them with the potential benefits of A.I. and, most important, not allow them to strategically distract from more immediate concerns. Lets not let apocalyptic prognostications overwhelm us and smother the momentum we need to develop critical guardrails.

While the doomsayer faction focuses on the far-off future, its most prominent opponents are focused on the here and now. We agree with this group that theres plenty already happening to cause concern: Racist policing and legal systems that disproportionately arrest and punish people of color. Sexist labor systems that rate feminine-coded rsums lower. Superpower nations automating military interventions as tools of imperialism and, someday, killer robots.

The alternative to the end-of-the-world, existential risk narrative is a distressingly familiar vision of dystopia: a society in which humanitys worst instincts are encoded into and enforced by machines. The doomsayers think A.I. enslavement looks like the Matrix; the reformers point to modern-day contractors doing traumatic work at low pay for OpenAI in Kenya.

Propagators of these A.I. ethics concerns like Meredith Broussard, Safiya Umoja Noble, Rumman Chowdhury and Cathy ONeil have been raising the alarm on inequities coded into A.I. for years. Although we dont have a census, its noticeable that many leaders in this cohort are people of color, women and people who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. They are often motivated by insight into what it feels like to be on the wrong end of algorithmic oppression and by a connection to the communities most vulnerable to the misuse of new technology. Many in this group take an explicitly social perspective: When Joy Buolamwini founded an organization to fight for equitable A.I., she called it the Algorithmic Justice League. Ruha Benjamin called her organization the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab.

Others frame efforts to reform A.I. in terms of integrity, calling for Big Tech to adhere to an oath to consider the benefit of the broader public alongside or even above their self-interest. They point to social media companies failure to control hate speech or how online misinformation can undermine democratic elections. Adding urgency for this group is that the very companies driving the A.I. revolution have, at times, been eliminating safeguards. A signal moment came when Timnit Gebru, a co-leader of Googles A.I. ethics team, was dismissed for pointing out the risks of developing ever-larger A.I. language models.

While doomsayers and reformers share the concern that A.I. must align with human interests, reformers tend to push back hard against the doomsayers focus on the distant future. They want to wrestle the attention of regulators and advocates back toward present-day harms that are exacerbated by A.I. misinformation, surveillance and inequity. Integrity experts call for the development of responsible A.I., for civic education to ensure A.I. literacy and for keeping humans front and center in A.I. systems.

This groups concerns are well documented and urgent and far older than modern A.I. technologies. Surely, we are a civilization big enough to tackle more than one problem at a time; even those worried that A.I. might kill us in the future should still demand that it not profile and exploit us in the present.

Other groups of prognosticators cast the rise of A.I. through the language of competitiveness and national security. One version has a post-9/11 ring to it a world where terrorists, criminals and psychopaths have unfettered access to technologies of mass destruction. Another version is a Cold War narrative of the United States losing an A.I. arms race with China and its surveillance-rich society.

Some arguing from this perspective are acting on genuine national security concerns, and others have a simple motivation: money. These perspectives serve the interests of American tech tycoons as well as the government agencies and defense contractors they are intertwined with.

OpenAIs Sam Altman and Metas Mark Zuckerberg, both of whom lead dominant A.I. companies, are pushing for A.I. regulations that they say will protect us from criminals and terrorists. Such regulations would be expensive to comply with and are likely to preserve the market position of leading A.I. companies while restricting competition from start-ups. In the lobbying battles over Europes trailblazing A.I. regulatory framework, U.S. megacompanies pleaded to exempt their general purpose A.I. from the tightest regulations, and whether and how to apply high-risk compliance expectations on noncorporate open-source models emerged as a key point of debate. All the while, some of the moguls investing in upstart companies are fighting the regulatory tide. The Inflection AI co-founder Reid Hoffman argued, The answer to our challenges is not to slow down technology but to accelerate it.

Any technology critical to national defense usually has an easier time avoiding oversight, regulation and limitations on profit. Any readiness gap in our military demands urgent budget increases, funds distributed to the military branches and their contractors, because we may soon be called upon to fight. Tech moguls like Googles former chief executive Eric Schmidt, who has the ear of many lawmakers, signal to American policymakers about the Chinese threat even as they invest in U.S. national security concerns.

The warriors narrative seems to misrepresent that science and engineering are different from what they were during the mid-20th century. A.I. research is fundamentally international; no one country will win a monopoly. And while national security is important to consider, we must also be mindful of self-interest of those positioned to benefit financially.

As the science-fiction author Ted Chiang has said, fears about the existential risks of A.I. are really fears about the threat of uncontrolled capitalism, and dystopias like the paper clip maximizer are just caricatures of every start-ups business plan. Cosma Shalizi and Henry Farrell further argue that weve lived among shoggoths for centuries, tending to them as though they were our masters as monopolistic platforms devour and exploit the totality of humanitys labor and ingenuity for their own interests. This dread applies as much to our future with A.I. as it does to our past and present with corporations.

Regulatory solutions do not need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we need to double down on the rules that we know limit corporate power. We need to get more serious about establishing good and effective governance on all the issues we lost track of while we were becoming obsessed with A.I., China and the fights picked among robber barons.

By analogy to the health care sector, we need an A.I. public option to truly keep A.I. companies in check. A publicly directed A.I. development project would serve to counterbalance for-profit corporate A.I. and help ensure an even playing field for access to the 21st centurys key technology while offering a platform for the ethical development and use of A.I.

Also, we should embrace the humanity behind A.I. We can hold founders and corporations accountable by mandating greater A.I. transparency in the development stage, in addition to applying legal standards for actions associated with A.I. Remarkably, this is something that both the left and the right can agree on.

Ultimately, we need to make sure the network of laws and regulations that govern our collective behavior is knit more strongly, with fewer gaps and greater ability to hold the powerful accountable, particularly in those areas most sensitive to our democracy and environment. As those with power and privilege seem poised to harness A.I. to accumulate much more or pursue extreme ideologies, lets think about how we can constrain their influence in the public square rather than cede our attention to their most bombastic nightmare visions for the future.

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Opinion | Elon Musk, Geoff Hinton, and the War Over A.I. - The New York Times

The Imperium of Man keeps on missing several rare STCs they could get their hands on.

The Imperium of Man is not exactly known for its technological advancements. Its a stagnant and hidebound place that resists change. Indeed the Imperium is living in something of a dark age. Most of its technology is salvaged from prior human civilizations. Its this that has driven a lust not for new discoveries, but for re-discovering past knowledge. Despite searching for lost technology the Imperium keeps overlooking some obvious sources. Lets take a look at those.

The single greatest repository of past human knowledge, and the holy grails of Imperial technology are the STCs. These are objects created during the Dark Age of Technology. This was of course, in fact, a golden age, that was ended by something. An STC or Standard Template Construct represents one of the highest of technological advancements. These generally took the form of massive machines filled with a huge number of blueprints. The STC could build any of these blueprints with ease. They were generally used to aid in mankinds colonization of the galaxy.

An STC can also refer to an individual blueprint or vehicle. This might be part of a larger STC or found on its own. Each one of these is hugely valuable. The Land Raider came from one such STC. The Leman Russ from another. Finding one can change the face of war. Arkhan Land found a small handful of STC blueprints and became known as one of the greatest minds in Imperial History. Wars are waged over a single blueprint. And yet the Imperium seems to ignore a number of rich sources.

If you ever looked at all the crazy stuff House Van Saar gets in Necromunda and wondered why the Imperium doesnt have it, here is why. You see House Van Saar has access to a near complete set of STCs. It turns out the Van Saarwas a colony ship in the Dark Age of Technology. Thanks to Warp stuff it ended up on Necromunda much later than planned. The ship contained a large type STC that was powered by some kind of AI. Its from this trove of Pre-Imperium technology that Van Saar draws its strength. Despite being active for several thousand years, and clearly displaying very advanced tech the Imperium at large hasnt really come after them.

It seems a single group of Tech Priests once investigated but vanished. And thats it. How has the greater Imperium missed this treasure trove? Cawl can find out of random bits of STC hidden away in Necron tomb worlds, but not this one hiding in plain site? Crazy.

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Another obvious source of STCs is the Leagues of Votann. The Leagues possess advanced tech and weapons that appear in many ways quite ahead of the Imperium. As abhuman off shoots they also get their tech from the Dark Age of Technology. In fact, it appears that they are even led by STCs. The Leagues are led by the Votann, these are massive gestalt AIs that are filled with knowledge, including STCs. In fact, they sound like they are just the old large-type STCs and very similar to the one owned by the Van Saar of Necromunda. And it makes sense. These are effectively the cores of old human colonies, sent out to claim squatters rights on various planets.

Now the Leagues keep the nature of the Votann a secret but does the Imperium really not know anything? Or guess? This is a huge and rich trove of knowledge. The Imperium has fought wars before over a single STC blueprint. Would they really ignore the possibility of getting their hands on complete databases? Like the Van Saar the Leagues show of their advanced tech all the time, but the Imperium and, more shockingly, the Adeptus Mechanicus just doesnt seem to care too much. Its all a bit odd.

Dont even get me started on the Dragon of Mars and what technological secrets it held in the very bosom of the the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Let us know about any other potential sources of STCs, down in the comments!

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.

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Warhammer 40K: The Imperium Is Ignoring A Lot Of STCs Sitting ... - BoLS

Summary

Cities and towns play a significant role in the expansive universe of Starfield, offering explorers much-needed places to rest and refuel, but some settlements are better than others when it comes to vibes. Starfields Settled Systems have several cities that stand out among the abundance of civilian outposts on remote planets, each showcasing the distinct culture and lifestyle that blossomed from the type of planet they are on and factions associated with their community. The intricacies of each citys culture and faction considerably impact how they feel and which are better places to visit.

Many will visit most of the major cities in the Settled Systems as part of Starfields main questline, but the smaller towns can be easy to miss. These settlements typically offer a perspective that is lacking in the city hubs and has some unique gear that cannot be found elsewhere, particularly when it comes to Starfields ship-building feature. Despite the potential gear benefits, most may find that they spend more time in some settlements than others, based on the citys location and convenience of navigation. However, atmosphere and community also play a considerable role in determining which of Starfields cities have the best vibes.

Related: "An Instant Classic": Starfield Review

Gagarin Landing is one of Starfields toughest small towns. It began as a factory settlement that built mechs during the Colony War. When the war ended, however, and mechs were outlawed, Gagarin Landings economic prosperity ended with it. Currently, its a rough, industrial town that relies on mining to keep it afloat. Its community is relatively small compared to other towns of its size, with only a couple of shops to visit. As a result, Gagarin Landings vibes arent so great.

Related: Starfield Guides (Tips, Ships, Weapons, & More)

Cydonia is the oldest settlement in Starfield, and its age certainly shows. The city is situated under the surface of Mars, which causes a host of health problems for its residents, including breathing dusty air due to the proximity to its mining facility. Frequent explosive detonations shake the city, knocking dust loose from the enclosed surroundings. Cydonias mining industry is crucial to the United Colonies, supplying precious metals the Deimos company uses to outfit the UC Navy. Its community is full of hardworking, charming people, but its plain to see that Cydonia doesnt have the best of vibes.

Hopetown is a quaint little settlement built around the ship manufacturer HopeTech. It was established by the companys founder, Ron Hope, as a colony to house the employees of the starship factory. Its community is made primarily of these workers. Aside from the HopeTech factory, there is little to see or do in HopeTown, which has only a bar and a small weapons shop, so it doesnt see many tourists. At the same time, it leaves little in the way of luxury for the residents. While its a peaceful settlement, HopeTowns vibes could certainly be better.

The Key is home to Starfields pirate faction, The Crimson Fleet, so its the perfect den for the galaxys criminals. The spaceport was used to serve its corresponding prison, The Lock, on the planet below. However, a massive prison break led to the spaceports capture, and pirates have inhabited it ever since. There is no denying that there is a certain camaraderie that develops between the outlaws, but its worth noting that whatever friends a pirate makes could be willing to sell them out for a better paycheck, which makes The Keys vibes sketchy at best.

Neon is one of Starfield's most visually striking cities, but its seedy reputation makes it a place worth visiting for only brief amounts of time. The city is officially known as a pleasure city, where people go to unwind, sometimes with the hallucinogenic drug Aurora, which is legal only in Neons Astral Lounge.

Related: Starfield: How To Get a House In Neon

However, the city is mired by poverty and criminal syndicates in the Ebbside and Underbelly districts, making Neons Core the safest place for tourists. The bright lights and party life are enough to give Neon some great vibes, but there are better places to look in the Settled Systems.

Paradiso is Starfields dedicated resort colony with some of the best vistas in the game. It has a relaxing beach area and a lively rooftop bar for guests to enjoy. Its an expensive hotel to stay at and certainly attracts wealthy clients, but there is no doubt that Paradiso offers a good time to those who can afford it. However, it cant be ignored that the resorts staff are treated poorly and live in run-down shacks on the opposite side of the hotels property. Paradiso has a lot going for it, but it is admittedly an acquired taste.

New Atlantis is the first major city people visit in Starfield and is a testament to the ideals of the United Colonies Faction. On the surface, it is a very welcoming city that people from many walks of life can call home. Its home to Constellation and the capital of the United Colonies.

Related: Theres One Starfield Side Quest In New Atlantis You Should Do ASAP

However lovely the surface is, the UC government does a remarkable job of pushing the less desirable aspects of New Atlantis underground to an area known as The Well, where the citys impoverished residents live. However, New Atlantis is an excellent place to visit overall, and its scenic architecture and nature help bring some great vibes to the city.

New Homestead has some of the most enjoyable vibes out of all of Starfields settlements. While it is only a small colony boasting a couple of shops, it has one of the most charming communities in the game, making it a lovely place to visit. Characters can embark on a guided tour led by one of New Homesteads most enthusiastic residents, where they can learn about the colonys history and culture.

The settlement is also home to the longest-standing restaurant in the Settled Systems, the Brown Horse Tavern. New Homesteads peaceful nature and dedication to preserving old-earth culture make its good vibes stand out among the rest of Starfields cities.

Akila City is one of the most down-to-earth cities in Starfield. In the heart of Freestar Collective space, Akila City was founded on humble beginnings by a lone explorer named Solomon Coe. It started as Coes small camp, which he hoped would grow into a city, and this hope came true in spades. Akila City is home to many families, businesses, and the Freestar Rangers.

Unfortunately, as with other cities, Akila City has its share of residents whove fallen on hard times. However, the reliance on community is strong in the city, so its common for more fortunate residents to look out for the less fortunate. Moreover, Akila City is one of the most beautiful locales in the game, especially during sunset.

Starfields massive open world creates the opportunity for many ways of life to emerge, so each settlement is worth experiencing to get a better feel for what its like to live in this universe. Doing so will deepen the players investment in the story and the lore behind the games many factions. No matter the city's vibe, players should make a point to explore everywhere in the Settled Systems to see what Starfield has to offer.

Source: Bethesda Softworks/YouTube

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Every Major City & Town In Starfield, Ranked By Vibes - Screen Rant

Highlights

Searching the galaxy in Starfield is a task of monumental proportions. With more than 1,000 procedurally generated planets, moons, and asteroids that you can explore (except for the gas giants, but it's hard to fault Bethesda for not letting you land on a non-solid surface with gravity that would immediately implode your ship), mapping everything for your friends at Constellation or your LIST buddy Phil Hill feels like something that would take months of playtime. I've been dedicating most of my gaming time to Starfield since its release, and I've only achieved 100% exploration on about a half-dozen celestial bodies.

All that being said, it can get pretty tedious. Cataloging flora, fauna, and mineral and gas deposits isn't exactly a staple of any video game genre, and it's not hard to understand why, but at least booting up your scanner will lead you to a number of points of interest across the surface of each planet.

RELATED: Starfield Needs More Random NPCs Like Grandma

Still, even these didn't hold my attention after the third of fourth abandoned research facility I came across. The landmarks lead you to natural formations like caves and tectonic faults, where there's usually not much to see; small settlements, which at least give you a place to sell some of the junk you're probably hauling around, and abandoned United Colonies and Freestar Collective facilities, which have been taken over by Spacers. Or the Crimson Fleet. Or Ecliptic mercenaries. Whoever's running the joint now, they're all pretty interchangable, as they'll shoot on sight (unless you're part of the Crimson Fleet yourself) and all serve the same purpose of pumping out more guns for you to sell.

Except here. No one wants to live on this planet anymore.

It's not terrible, but it's pretty repetitive FPS combat, and I wish Bethesda would have mixed it up a bit when it comes to the kinds of things you can find out there in the wildkind of like when Obsidian took back the reins of Fallout and added in the Wild Wasteland perk to Fallout New Vegas. If you never took this perk, boy did you miss out. Adding more than 20 random encounters and fun interactions to the ones you can find out in the Mojave in the base game, and umpteen more when you factor in what it added for the combined DLC, Wild Wasteland took what was already great about New Vegas and added in fun little tongue-in-cheek allusions and homages to present-day pop culture.

The most famous example is the fedora-clad skeleton in the refrigerator, alluding to the cringe-worthy escape sequence in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but there are so many others, like Rodents of Unusual Size from The Princess Bride, a pair of charred skeletons named Owen and Beru, hostile securitrons doing their best impression of Dr. Who's Daleks by shouting "Exterminate" at you, and not one but two references to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Go ahead, John Williams. Make me cry again.

There are other events not tied to specific movies and TV shows, like the gang of old ladies in pink dresses that come at you with rolling pins, and sure, there's room for that kind of humor in Starfield too, but there are plenty of opportunities to bring a bit of our current timeline to the 24th century.

And it's not like the people in Starfield don't know anything about what life on Earth was like before the magnetosphere disaster. There are people on Mars who practically worship their now-barren next-door neighbor. Wealthy people have antique basketballs and other old-Earth antiques stored behind glass cases, and you can make a pretty penny peddling them off, too.

RELATED: Starfield: All Backgrounds, Ranked

And those aren't the only people who'd know about the distant past either. They may be disjointed from the rest of society, but the crew of the ECS Constant, the old colony ship that took generations of isolated lives to travel to their new home planet of Porrima II without the use of a grav drive, spend their school years watching old movies in class. There are a few ways to complete the quest associated with this ship, and only one of them kills everyone on board, while the other two either set them up on their home planet of choice or have them resume their search for a new home, but now with a grav drive to speed them along.

The ECS Constant: Humanity's last and best hope for zany hijinks. It would be shaped like that, wouldn't it?

That last option sounds like a prime candidate for some pop culture goodness. Imagine, if you will, a group of people who've lost contact with the rest of humanity for hundreds of years. They eventually reintegrate themselves into society, but they don't really fit in, in part because they've missed out on so much already, and in part because core of their historical knowledge is based on parables gained from cinematic fiction. Why, we could have entire cities, even planets, populated by people living out their fantasies.

A Westerosi planet where farming rights are determined in trial by combat? A brightly colored planet where everyone is named Barbie or Ken? Hey, we're all from outer space, so where my Killer Klowns at? If you can borrow it from some other IP, you can do it. The possibilities are endless.

Would that just be a rehash of The Kings from New Vegas, a gang that maintains law and order in Freeside while embracing the time-honored Vegas tradition of impersonating Elvis Presley? Kinda, but they were one of the best parts of that game, and I'd be down for more of that.

NEXT: Fallout's VATS System Has Ruined Starfield's Combat For Me

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Starfield Could Learn A Lot From Fallout: New Vegas' Wild Wasteland - DualShockers

WESTMINSTER Kurn Hattin Homes for Children recently finished its latest summer program: Tech Week.

The one-week program immersed participating students into a dynamic world of technology to foster creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving in young minds, preparing them to thrive in the ever-evolving tech-driven landscape, according to a release.

The students delved into projects like building robots within the VEX Robotics Continuum while on teams, their objective to deliver payloads to a destination in a model Robot City. They had hands-on experience with Snap Circuits and Circuit Maze while they learned all about the fundamentals of electrical engineering. They used empathetic design and created a model Mars colony base together using a variety of analog and digital tools, and they competed in a 3D orienteering and teamwork challenge in "Minecraft Education."

Kurn Hattin Homes' students were challenged to use Design Thinking to create visual representations of their ideas using any medium in the SmartLab that aligned with the criteria and constraints. They practiced empathy to consider what the astronauts would need to live happy, healthy, safe and productive lives on Mars. Students ideated together, drew blueprints, and then created a habitat complete with comfort items, pets, an aquaponic farm, a laboratory, an observatory and a model airlock with moving doors.

"On all of these challenges, campers did an amazing job, practicing the 4 Cs of the modern working world; Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. My hope is that this introduction and exposure will kindle interest in the program during the school year, and as the SmartLab is all about student agency and choice, it can really help to know what your options are in terms of fields of study. There is a lot of potential in this implementation of the SmartLab, and I can't wait to see what it can become," said Technology Facilitator Benjamin Weiner in a statement.

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'Tech Week' summer program concludes at Kurn Hattin Homes for ... - Brattleboro Reformer

Make batteries instead of engines, they said! Itll be fun and perhaps even profitable, they said! Toward the end of the previous decade, and on the heels of the industry-upending mess that was Dieselgate, we saw a ton of automakers and brands announce these sorts of pivots to electric vehicles. At the time it almost seemed simplehow hard could it be for the 100-year-old auto industry to move to one focused on batteries and software, right?

This years proving to be the year where they all learnand show their investorshow hard that really is. Call it the reality check era of EV adoption. Ford and General Motors have been going through versions of this. On todays morning roundup, well see what the German luxury brands are up to on this front.

Beyond that, we have some good news for Mazda; heat over the United Auto Workers contract negotiations in Detroit; and also why Tesla losing a CFO is a cause for concern. Lets jump in.

My take on the auto industrys great transition, now that were more than midway through 2023, is this: its more than likely going to be a battery-powered future, getting there will be very complicated and expensive, not all brands will survive it, and adoption will not be some magic up-and-to-the-right thing until all the gas cars are gone. Its going to be weird and rocky, basically. But things are moving in that direction.

Automotive News has a breakdown of the approaches taken by the three big German luxury automakers, all of whom have a high-dollar, tech-savvy, first-adopter buyer base and have gotten their lunches eaten to various degrees by Tesla over the years. Theyre all well-positioned to make this pivot, in other words. Heres how theyre doing and what theyre telling investors right now:

Mercedes is the most aggressive brand, vowing to go all-electric globally by 2030. From 2025 forward, every new product architecture will be electric-only, the company said. Mercedes is expanding its U.S. portfolio of battery-powered crossovers and sedans with zero-emission versions of its CLA coupe and GLC crossover.

But Mercedes acknowledges that the pace of EV adoption will be uneven worldwide. The brand expects electric vehicles to account for 40 percent of its new-vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2026 and 70 percent by 2030.

Uneven worldwide is key, especially when you remember how many Mercedes-Benzes across the globediesel taxis in Morocco, stuff like thatare harder to transition. BMW, on the other hand,urges even more patience as it electrifies the top and bottom of its range. (And its actually doing really well with all of this so far.)

BMW is taking a more cautious approach, estimating that about half of its global sales will be fully electric by the start of the next decade.

[] BMWs EV offensive in the U.S. surges in 2026 with several X-line battery-powered crossovers plan-ned. The automaker will produce many of them in Greer, S.C., where it is investing $1.7 billion to produce at least six battery-powered crossovers.

BMWs small car brand Mini views electrification as the path to renewed relevance. A battery-powered Countryman will be the first of several new electric Minis globally starting next year. Two China- made EVs a small crossover and a Cooper SE replacement will come to market next year, but Mini has not confirmed them for the U.S.

As a two-time former Mini owner myself, I hope the brand finds a way to stay afloat (and relevant) in the United States. From what Ive heard internally, a lot of Minis future EV plans for this country are TBD. But theres an air of caution with both of these announcements that feels different from all the rosy optimism weve heard in the past. Making cars is hard, as we say, and making electric cars is even harder; more and more automakers are being open about the challenges here.

Meanwhile, lets talk Audi, once an early leader in this space with the e-tron cars and a marque that is now struggling with the same cost and software issues as parent company Volkswagen. It also wants to go all-electric by 2033, but the plan in the meantime seems to be the same cars it makes now but with electric twins that have different names. Emphasis mine below.

Audi, part of Volkswagen Group, says it will end development of new gasoline engines in 2026. That means most of its popular combustion vehicles should have at least one more product cycle left before they are replaced with battery-powered alternatives.

To delineate between powertrains, Audi is temporarily altering its alphanumeric model naming system. It will keep the A prefix for sedans and Q for crossovers, but future electric models will adopt even numbers, while combustion models remain with odd numbers. The switch is expected to take place gradually as vehicles are redesigned.

The brand will expand the EVs on its PPE architecture, which will slowly merge with other platforms into a unified EV platform across the group.

Even for electric, odd for internal combustion. Somebody write that down!

After writing that subhed, now Im envisioning the Tesla version of Succession. Who gets to take the reins at Tesla after Elon Musk decides to retire to rule over his Mars colony? Tom Zhu? His old friend Peter Thiel? Kanye West? Catturd? One of his kids named after math equations? The mind swirls at the possibilities.

It wont be Zach Kirkhorn, whos stepping down as Chief Financial Officer after 13 years under Musk (which mustve felt like 500 human years.) Kirkhorn was known as one of the more level-headed guys in Teslas comparably small C-suite; Bloombergs Dana Hull describes him as a calm, steady presence and regularly spoke at length with investors, even playing the role of Musks surrogate the time he skipped Teslas earnings presentation.

Its not often that losing a CFO makes big headlines in the auto industry, but you know how closely watched Tesla is. Its new CFO, Vaibhav Taneja, is a native of India who currently serves as chief accounting officer. For now, at least, Taneja is serving in both roles, which is considered unusual in business.

More importantly, Kirkhorn was seen as a possible Tesla CEO someday. Who runs Tesla without Musk? What is Tesla without Musk? Thats a very tough question that more and more investors are asking, especially with the EV competition heating up and Musks attention seemingly so heavily focused on his social media platform. From Bloomberg:

Musk, the richest person in the world, oversees six companies: Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly known as Twitter), Boring Co., Neuralink and xAI, his most recent venture. Musks many interests and the competing demands for his time have long raised concerns about whether Tesla is too dependent on a single individual.

The EV maker has just four executive officers: Musk, Drew Baglino, the senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering; Tom Zhu, senior vice president of automotive; and now Taneja.

Musk is still relatively young at 52 and, barring any Zuckerberg-related combat accidents, is probably not going anywhere anytime soon. But Tesla without Musk is now an even bigger question than Apple without Jobs ever was and somebodys going to need to figure that out someday.

Okay, fine; I will do it. I will be the CEO of Tesla. Time to log on, baby.

I still want to see Mazda move faster on EVs and hybrids, but in the short-term, everybodys favorite manufacturer of the Miata is doing pretty well at the moment. Automotive News reports it swung back to a Q2 profit thanks to the more upscale, more profitable crossover-focused lineup. It seems its grand plans to become a kind of Japanese BMW are workingso far. Recovering from the supply chain crisis is a big help too:

Operating profit rang up at 30.0 billion yen ($207.5 million) in the companys fiscal first quarter ended June 30, wiping out an operating loss of 19.5 billion yen ($134.9 million) a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Net income more than doubled to 37.2 billion yen ($257.3 million), from 15.0 billion yen ($103.8 million), as revenue climbed 72 percent to 286.0 billion ($1.98 billion) in the three-month period.

Global sales expanded 32 percent to 309,000 vehicles in the quarter, soaring on the wings of a 61 percent jump in North American shipments to 128,000 vehicles.

Shipments were especially brisk in the U.S., where the CX-90 and CX-50 anchor a refreshed lineup of crossovers. Mazda expects its U.S. sales momentum to gain speed on increased supply following the start of two-shift production at its Alabama assembly plant in July.

Also:

Mazda wants the CX-90 to upshift existing customers into a higher price bracket while also siphoning off customers from premium brands with a lower price point.

We see it steadily growing share week by week, Guyton said of the CX-90, adding that it has already outstripped the market penetration of its CX-9 predecessor nameplate.

I still owe you a review of the CX-90 hybrid! Its good and its stealing customers from other brands for a reason. Anyway, this is all fine news. No profits means no future Miatas and such. We want profits and we want Miatas. Good luck to all involved.

Weve been telling you for a minute that the UAW contract negotiations are a big deal, in their own ways as big a deal as the Hollywood strikes happening right now. Both involve big fights over new technologies and the role of workers in them as the corporate entities up top post record profits but face uncertain futures. And the UAW isnt on strike but negotiations could go sideways and this union is one thats eager to send a message.

The Detroit News is tallying up the supposed costs of their demands and the tab is big:

The United Auto Workers contract demands of the Detroit Three automakers could surge per-person labor costs to more than $100 per hour in wages and benefits, according to three sources familiar with the situation, potentially outstripping North American profits over the life of a new contract.

Now, its unclear who those three sources are here; given the storys framing my guess is theyre automaker sources, so take that with a grain of salt.

That number seems astronomical for manufacturing jobs that are already relatively well paid, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions LLC. In order to get anywhere near those (wage increase) numbers, other things will have to come off the table, including profit sharing, other benefits, any number of things in order to just get this one thing. If this is not done, youre absolutely going to see employment reductions from the Detroit Three.

The total calculation would be nearly double the estimates of what foreign automakers operating in the United States pay their workers in wages and benefits. The gap would be even wider for employees at electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. The result could challenge the automakers competitiveness and valuation, risk UAW jobs and potentially send work to other countries, experts say.

But the workers say theyve been left behind by rampant inflation even as their post-bankuptcy (minus Ford, obviously) companies rake in record profits and cars cost more than ever:

In a Facebook livestream this week, UAW President Shawn Fain called the demands audacious and ambitious because the working class has been left behind by the profits achieved by the automakers for more than a decade. This is the workers chance, he said, to gain back what was lost amid the Great Recession and automotive bankruptcies.

Overall, the starting pay for a Big Three worker today is almost $21,000 less than it was in 2007 when adjusted for inflation, Fain told The Detroit News in a statement Friday, reprising his criticism of the automakers profitability and CEO pay. UAW members made enormous sacrifices to save the automakers during the Great Recession, but weve never been made whole. These massively profitable companies can afford our demands. Our message is clear: record profits mean a record contract.

Still, this is how union negotiations go; you aim for crazy stuff, management flips out, and then hopefully after weeks or months, you reach a deal without a strike nobody wants:

Scott Houldieson, a Ford electrician and co-chair of the Unite All Workers for Democracy Caucus that endorsed Fain for president, said the communication for leaders is a mind-blowing sea change that gives workers confidence their union is fighting for them.

We aim for extraterrestrial Mars, said Houldieson, who isnt involved in the negotiations, and if we fall short, at least we made it to the moon.

Theres Musk-esque quote for us all to end on.

You tell me; What is Tesla without Elon Musk?

In some ways to me, Tesla already feels like the post-Jobs era of Apple does now: still strong, in control of market share, but not quite the innovator and game-changer it once was. More steady than anything else. And Ive been wrong when it comes to Tesla before, but it doesnt feel like the Cybertruck changes that equation.

Follow this link:

The 'Reality Check' Era Of The EV Transition Is Upon Us - The Autopian

The last time that a human set foot on the Moon, it was December 1972 when the crew of the Apollo 17 mission spent a few days on the surface before returning to Earth. Since then only unmanned probes have either touched down on the lunar surface or entered orbit to take snapshots and perform measurements.

But after years of false starts, there are finally new plans on the table which would see humans return to the Moon. Not just to visit, but with the goal of establishing a permanent presence on the lunar surface. What exactly has changed that the world went from space fever in the 1960s to tepid interest in anything beyond LEO for the past fifty years, to the renewed interest today?

Part of the reason at least appears to be an increasing interest in mineable resources on the Moon, along with the potential of manufacturing in a low gravity environment, and as a jumping-off point for missions to planets beyond Earth, such as Mars and Venus. Even with 1960s technology, the Moon is after all only a few days away from launch to landing, and we know that the lunar surface is rich in silicon dioxide, aluminium oxide as well as other metals and significant amounts of helium-3, enabling in-situ resource utilization.

Current and upcoming Moon missions focus on exploring the lunar south pole in particular, with frozen water presumed to exist in deep craters at both poles. All of which raises the question of we may truly see lunar-based colonies and factories pop up on the Moon this time, or are we merely seeing a repeat of last century?

Despite the often triumphant tone and chest beating around the Space Race and getting the first boots on the Moon, its hard to not see it as much more than a brief excursion to flex some geopolitical muscle, amidst significant tragedy. For the Soviets this tragedy struck early on, when they lost their equivalent to Werner von Braun in 1966, when Sergei Korolev died in hospital after worsening health problems. After this, many aspects of the grand Soviet space program floundered and began to disintegrate, including the ambitious Zvezda (Russian: , meaning star) Moon base.

This would have been a modular base somewhat akin to the International Space Station, with nine modules that provided the 9-12 person crew with both living and working areas, with resources such as water extracted from the soil and power provided from radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and a nuclear fission reactor. When the required superheavy N1-L3 Moon rocket failed to materialize, the Zvezda project died along with it.

After this, attempts were made to revive the Moon base idea based around new launchers, such as the Lunar Expeditionary Complex from 1974 and the Energia Lunar Expedition from 1988. Yet none of these would progress past the concept stage, as the USSR simply didnt have the funds necessary for further lunar exploration.

On the US side of the curtain, concepts for Moon bases have been drawn up since the 1950s, with a strong interest from the military. During the 1980s and 1990s, plans were floated to have a permanent lunar colony by the 2000s, but none got the level of funding needed. Finally in 2017 NASA was able to launch the Artemis program, which will involve increasingly complex robotic and crewed missions before landing astronauts on the lunar surface in 2025.

But once again, the United States isnt the only country in the game. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) has a lunar robotic research station planned as well as a subsequent manned station. The latter manned station is called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), which as the name suggests, would be open to other nations.

Meanwhile India has just launched its second attempt at performing a soft landing on the Moons south pole with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which is part of its larger Chandrayaan program. Much like Chinas current series of Change Moon missions, these are intended to explore, probe and analyze the Moons surface, as well as its geological and other features, although India has so far not yet managed to proceed to the stage of human spaceflight, leaving only China, the US and potentially Russia to fulfill the dream of colonizing the Moon by the 2030s, over half a century after Zvazda was planned to have been operational.

A potentially very useful aspect of having a permanent presence on the Moon is the ability to construct and run scientific equipment like radio and optical telescopes on the far side of the Moon. Since these would face away from the Earth, theyd be shielded from most of the RF and other radiomagnetic radiation beamed out from Earth, whether from natural or human causes. One such project is the suggested NASA Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) which would turn an entire lunar crater into a massive, 1 km diameter radio telescope.

LCRT is still being developed at JPL, with the idea being that itd be constructed by robots, which would be delivered from Earth together with all of the materials. The tantalizing thought here is of course that if we were to have manufacturing capacity on lunar soil, much of this material for the LCRT and similar instruments could be manufactured in-situ, saving enormous costs in launching tons of materials to the Moon. When considering the Moon as a jumping off point for further space exploration, this too might be a useful feature, along with the Moons low gravity to make launches a snap.

After the Chinese Change 5 mission returned the first lunar samples since the 1970s, analysis of the material found tiny glass beads containing significant amounts of water, presumably from asteroid impacts. This suggests that water may be more prevalent in the Moon than previously assumed, and also more widely available across the surface as well. Clearly, before we can set up manufacturing facilities on the Moon there is still a lot we have to learn, but rather than just a dusty rock in space, it would appear that its perhaps not as desiccated and empty as once assumed.

Much of the current and upcoming Moon missions seem to be focused on this type of exploration for probably just that reason. Which materials are available on the Moon, and in what quantities? How hard would it be to process them for ISRU, and what would be the cost-benefit between launching materials to the Moon, as well as Moon-based manufacturing and sending it to Earth? For both the Chinese (CLEP) and Russian (Luna-Glob) Moon programs, the initial focus is on setting up a robotic lunar base, which would be used for research on In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and manufacturing techniques.

Although the Moon is littered with Sun-faded national flags, it is hoped that no Earth nation would be able to claim something like mining rights on the Moon, let alone parts of it. This reflects the attitude towards the continent of Antarctica, which has so far been protected by the 1961 Antarctic Treaty. Yet because the very similar Outer Space Treaty (OST) is focused primarily on the use of outer space for weapons and military purposes, the 1979 Moon Treaty was created, that establishes that jurisdiction outside Earth would default to international law, with no possibility of national claims on lunar resources.

To this day, enthusiasm for the Moon Treaty has been lacking with neither the US, nor China or Russia signing it which might signal brewing issues if a rush for lunar resources were to commence in earnest. While over the intervening half century the Moon has been left mostly alone, the Chinese program is ambitiously eyeing the end of this decade for a small robotic research base, while India and private companies are also trying their luck at lunar exploration.

Due to current geopolitical considerations, the Russian Moon program with the Luna 25 through Luna 27 landers have been postponed, and may not fly at all, depending on Roscosmos future. In a sense the curse on Soviet Moon exploration does seem to have remained in place.

Even if water is more plentiful on the Moon than initially assumed, the lunar poles have a major advantage over the rest of the lunar surface in that these do not face the same brutal lunar day. One rotation of the Moon takes about a month, resulting in about two weeks of darkness and two weeks of sunlight. This means that solar power is really only a realistic option at the poles, with some areas experiencing almost continuous illumination.

For any mining and research bases elsewhere on the Moon, this would mean the use of nuclear reactors and RTGs, much as was planned for the Zvezda base. The Kilopower project, in development by NASA and the US Department of Energy (DOE), aims to produce a range of reactors which can be used on the Moon or Mars. As for why so many Moon missions target the lunar south pole rather than the north pole, this can be explained based on the suspicion of water ice in shadowed craters, of which the lunar south pole has significantly more than the north pole.

With little to differentiate both poles, and the rest of the lunar surface having been explored in more detail already by both the Apollo and various robotic missions, the south pole was an obvious exploration target, and due to the presence of more sunlight might be more suitable for a human outpost.

See the rest here:

Humanity's Return To The Moon And The Prospect Of South Pole ... - Hackaday

Horror is typically a very lucrative genre for movie studios. Compared to sweeping dramas and big-budget action movies, horror movies are relatively cheap to make. They tend to do well at the box office, too, as fans of horror seem to be a dedicated bunch. Directors like Wes Craven, Ari Aster, John Carpenter, and M. Night Shyamalan have made names for themselves by almost exclusively doing various types of horror movies.

Like all movies, horror movies are prone to the almighty dollar. Once in a while, a horror movie is so bad that the only scares it provides are scaring people away from the theaters. Whether it's due to a nonsensical plot or bad acting (or both), horror movie flops certainly have the potential to bomb at the box office too. These horror movies from the 2000s couldn't find any traction with audiences and ended up doing some truly frightful numbers.

Kim Basinger stars in Paramount Pictures' 2000 supernatural horror movie Bless the Child. The movie is based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Cathy Cash Spellman. Kim Basinger plays a woman who is raising her adopted niece, but she soon learns that the child has supernatural powers. Her niece is being sought out by a Satanic cult and displays unusual telekinetic abilities.

Bless the Child was shot in Toronto, Ontario Canada which doubles for New York City. Despite a powerhouse cast that also includes Rufus Sewell, Jimmy Smits, and Christina Ricci, the film simply couldn't get off the ground. Bless the Child received considerable negative reviews and lost about $15 million ($24.7 million today) at the box office.

Ice Cube has taken on some interesting acting roles throughout his career, but 2001's Ghosts of Mars might be his most unusual. When Earth's resources become depleted, humans establish a colony on Mars. Over 600,000 people live, work, and raise their families there while using the planet's natural resources. The only interesting part is that Ice Cube plays a convicted felon named James "Desolation" Williams, who is apparently killed in the warriors' attack.

Miners soon discover a hidden colony deep underground that has been dormant. The group is made of evil warriors who are set on taking over the bodies of their human counterparts. Ghosts of Mars is as ridiculous as it sounds. The movie only made $14 million in theaters ($22.3 million adjusted for inflation), a number that is truly out of this world. You'd be better off checking out some of Ice Cube's best movies instead.

No, FeardotCom isn't about Elon Musk's recent attempts to derail Twitter. It's about a New York City detective named Mike Reilly (Stephen Dorff) who's tasked with uncovering who is behind a series of murders linked to a mysterious website. Reilly wonders if the murders could be linked to a notorious serial killer named Alistair Pratt (Stephen Rea), a man known for abducting and torturing his victims.

One could argue that FeardotCom was doomed to fail as it opened alongside the smash hits Signs and My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002. FeardotCom debuted at #5 in the United States and pulled in a measly $18.9 million ($29.7 million today) worldwide against a $40 million ($62.9 million today) budget. With a painful 3% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it's safe to call FeardotCom one of Hollywood's biggest 404 errors.

Another horror box office bomb starring Stephen Dorff is 2003's Cold Creek Manor. When Copper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) moves to the countryside with his wife Leah (Sharon Stone), he's approached by a repairer named Dale (Dorff) who is looking for a job. Dale was recently released from prison but insists he's worked on the manor for several years and deserves to stay.

Tilson soon discovers that Dale is an enemy with a secret past. He knows the history of the manor and its supernatural occurrences. It's revealed that Dale killed his family, and he intends to murder Copper, Leah, and their kids as well, and drop them down a well on the farm called the Devil's Throat. Cold Creek Manor followed a ton of horror movie clichs and scored poor reviews as a result. Roger Ebert gave the movie a paltry 1.5 stars and said the movie only works if we "abandon all common sense."

RELATED: Best Dennis Quaid Performances, Ranked

By all measures, 2003's Dreamcatcher should have been a hit. The film is based on Stephen King's popular novel, and it features an all-star cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant, and Billions star Damian Lewis. When a group of friends goes hunting in the remote wilderness, they discover a mysterious force deep in the woods. They soon realize they're dealing with aliens who are trying to use telepathy to stir up old memories and manipulate the men.

Dreamcatcher opened to largely negative reviews and only ended up making back about half of its production budget. The movie is directed by Lawrence Kasdan, who managed to make a comeback as a screenwriter after the film's box office failure. Kasdan co-wrote the Star Wars films Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Needless to say, Dreamcatcher is not one of the best Stephen King movies.

Exorcist: The Beginning is a psychological horror movie that was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in 2004. In it, Stellan Skarsgard plays a former priest named Father Lankester Merrin who was forced to commit murders by Nazi Germany during WWII. He's haunted by his past and ends up renouncing his faith to try to live a peaceful life.

Exorcist: The Beginning overcame bad reviews to make a net profit of $28.1 million ($42 million today) at the box office. However, by 2004, it was clear that moviegoers were tired of The Exorcist and its various reboots and spinoffs. Exorcist: The Beginning was released in theatres in 2004 but didn't even get a proper Blu-ray release until 2015. There are currently no talks of another Exorcist remake.

In the mid-2000s, horror director M. Night Shyamalan was at the height of his game. He was on a roll with movies like The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Village, and there was a ton of hype around his 2006 movie Lady in the Water. The movie focuses on a man named Cleveland Heap (Paul Giamatti) who rescues a young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard), only to find that she's a character from a fairytale-like world with a hidden secret.

Lady in the Water underperformed at the box office and currently holds a brutal 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was considered to be Shyamalan's first flop, and he hasn't really recovered with a big hit since then. Critics panned the film's convoluted and silly plot and thought it was corny that Shyamalan gave himself a pretty big role in the movie.

RELATED: Every M. Night Shyamalan Movie, Ranked

In the mid-2000s, Hollywood superstar Nicolas Cage found himself in debt, and he was forced to make some questionable acting choices to get out of it. 2006's The Wicker Man was certainly one of those choices. The movie is a remake of the 1873 British film of the same name. Cage plays police officer Edward Mallus who investigates the case of a missing child. He travels to a remote island only to find that a Satanic cult lives there. The cult performs rituals similar to the Salem witch trials and Mallus infiltrates them to find out where the missing child is.

The Wicker Man didn't quite make back its production budget at the box office. Richard Roeper and guest host Aisha Tyler gave the movie two thumbs down, stating that the film was "entertainingly bad."' Oddly, there's a Wicker Man reboot coming to Netflix that will attempt to correct the failures of the disastrous movie.

Quentin Tarantino's 2007 movie Grindhouse is a lot of things. It's a horror film, an action movie, and a pulp serial favorite, all mixed together. Grindhouse is literally two movies blended into one, with an intermission between them. The first movie is called Planet Terror, and it's the more straight-up horror movie of the two. The second is called Death Proof, and it stars Kurt Russell as a guy who drives around killing people with his car.

Compared to Tarantino's previous movies, Grindhouse was a bit of a letdown. The film was very high-concept and many viewers probably didn't understand that Tarantino was trying to create a movie reminiscent of the old exploitation double features of the 1950s. Grindhouse lost upwards of $40 million ($56.2 million today) at the box office, and Tarantino himself has some theories about why the movie failed.

In I Know Who Killed Me, Lindsay Lohan stars as a girl named Aubrey Fleming who goes missing in a suburb called New Salem. She's kidnapped by a sadistic killer and placed bound and gagged on an operating table. A parallel story involves a motorist finding a young woman on the side of the road who bears a striking resemblance to Aubrey. The audience soon learns that Aubrey's version of the events may not be exactly as it happened.

I Know Who Killed Me fell flat on its face upon its release in 2007, making less than $10 million ($14 adjusted for inflation). Critics found Lohan's performance to be boring and uninspired, especially compared to her earlier comedy films. The movie was short on thrills, jump scares, and twists, making it one of the more forgettable entries in Lohan's lengthy film career.

Read the original:

The Biggest Horror Movie Flops of the 2000s - MovieWeb

Prologue:

Space exploration has always captivated humanitys imagination, and in recent years, advancements in technology have brought us closer to exploring the cosmos like never before. From ambitious missions to distant celestial bodies to breakthroughs in space technologies, the future of space exploration is filled with excitement and potential. In this blog post, we will delve into the upcoming missions, cutting-edge technologies, and the possibility of human colonization of other planets.

Upcoming Missions:

Mars Missions: Multiple space agencies, including NASA and SpaceX, have been actively planning missions to Mars. These missions aim to study the Red Planets geology, climate, and potential for past or present life. Some upcoming missions will include the Perseverance rovers successor, which could pave the way for human exploration.

Lunar Exploration: Several countries and private companies have plans to return to the Moon in the coming years. NASAs Artemis program aims to send astronauts back to the Moon, this time with a focus on sustainable lunar exploration, establishing a lunar gateway, and preparing for future Mars missions.

Asteroid and Comet Missions: Space agencies are also planning missions to study asteroids and comets up close. NASAs OSIRIS-REx mission and Japans Hayabusa2 mission are already providing valuable data, and future missions are likely to follow.

Outer Planet Exploration: Space probes are expected to continue their exploration of the outer planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These missions could reveal more about these gas giants and their intriguing moons.

Cutting-edge Technologies:

Reusable Rockets: The development of reusable rockets, as pioneered by SpaceXs Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, is revolutionizing space travel by significantly reducing costs and increasing launch frequency.

Nuclear Propulsion: Nuclear propulsion is being explored for deep-space missions, potentially enabling faster travel times and more ambitious exploration of distant planets and celestial bodies.

Space Tourism: Commercial space travel is becoming a reality, with companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic working on taking civilians to the edge of space and beyond.

Artificial Intelligence in Space Exploration: AI is playing an increasingly vital role in space missions, from autonomous spacecraft navigation to assisting astronauts in their tasks.

Potential for Human Colonization:

Mars Colonization: Establishing a human settlement on Mars has been a long-standing goal of space agencies and private companies. The challenges are immense, but recent advancements are making the idea of a self-sustaining Martian colony more plausible.

Lunar Bases: The Moon could serve as a stepping stone for deeper space exploration. Plans for lunar bases are being explored, where astronauts could live and conduct research for extended periods.

Space Habitats: Beyond Mars and the Moon, there are discussions about creating space habitats using resources from asteroids or other celestial bodies. These habitats could support long-term human presence in space.

Conclusion: The future of space exploration is filled with promise, as upcoming missions to various celestial bodies will expand our understanding of the universe. Advanced technologies are making space travel more accessible and economical. Additionally, the dream of human colonization of other planets is inching closer to reality, with Mars being the primary target for ambitious plans. As we continue our journey into the cosmos, the possibilities for discoveries and innovations are endless, opening new chapters in the history of human exploration

Go here to read the rest:

The Future of Space Exploration: Upcoming Missions, Technologies ... - Medium

Welcome to a new week. Feeling fresh? Ready to take on the world? Or would you rather ease the pain of a Monday morning by downloading a bunch of free games from Steam? Yeah? Understandable, lets get into it.

Here at GAMINGbible, we cover plenty of Steam freebies all the time - you can find a load more here, here, and even here. Today, weve got 12 more free titles to jump into. Will you have heard of any of them? Probably not! But that doesnt mean that theyre not worth a shot. Lets get into it.

Take a look at the trailer for the free Pokmon-like battle simulator, Temtem Showdown, below.

First up is the prologue for Citizens: On Mars. The turn-based colony building game, as you might have guessed, challenges players to build a thriving Martian settlement, juggling the impact of random events, and maintaining harmony within the colony. The full game is set to release later this year, but thanks to the prologue, you can try it out right now.

Try Again is a unique indie platformer which puts players into the shoes of Benny - a test character trapped in an unfinished game. You must help Benny navigate through the final day of game testing with the hopes of ending up as the main character.

Shattered Legacy is an adventure puzzle game set in a mystical world. With 50 levels to complete over seven different areas, boasting increasingly complex puzzles, players will have to put their problem-solving heads on if they want to uncover all the mysteries of this world.

Mini Golf Aeons is a golfing game. Whod have thought? More specifically, however, its a VR golfing game - a VR headset is required to play it. If you do own a headset, you can get ready to experience both multiplayer and single-player golf action across four exciting locations, including a prehistoric jungle and a frozen wonderland.

SeaFeud is an underwater racing game, in which players jump on the backs of various fish and swim around the colourful courses. You can swap fish as you race, which adds a really interesting strategic element to the game.

Mystery Society 2: Hidden Puzzles is, as you might expect, a puzzle game which tasks players with spotting objects hidden around different locations. Basically, it sounds a bit like a collection of find the difference puzzles with a detective story behind it.

Gangster Coin Pusher is, unsurprisingly, a coin pusher game. Players must earn as many prizes from the machine as possible. Sounds simple enough.

Soul Detective is an action-adventure game which follows the adventures of a detective trying to get to the bottom of why pure souls are being trapped in limbo. Using his spectral powers, the detective must fight against demons and work his way though three realms to work out whats going on.

Calamity Creatures is 2D action game which sees players take on giant mecha enemies in a chaotic boss rush format, using gadgets and weaponry to overcome them.

War For Galaxy is a real-time strategy game set in space. Players must explore the galaxy, form colonies, design spaceships, and build their own fleet to both attack other players and defend themselves with.

Tay Son Dynasty is a multiplayer action game set in Vietnam, in the period of Dai Viet under the rule of the Tay Son dynasty. Players can fight solo or team up together. Currently, the game only has servers in the Southeast Asia region, so others will have to watch this space for now.

Finally, Tales of: Sena is a story-focused exploration game set in an 8-bit world. Based on the games description, it sounds like it has some heavy Undertale vibes, which in itself is tantalising.

Are you still with me? Again, all of those games are totally free to download and keep, so get stuck in.

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Steam free games: download and keep 12 titles right now - GAMINGbible