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Pastor Joel Osteen Addresses Gun Control After Conn. School Shooting
Christian pastor Joel Osteen appeared alongside his wife and children on NBC's "Today" show Monday to discuss the recent tragedy which occurred in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, in which 26 children and adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Specifically, Osteen addressed the issue of gun control, which has been a major discussion in recent days in light of the Newtown tragedy.
When "Today" host Matt Lauer asked Osteen if he believes it is his responsibility to take a stand regarding guns in the U.S., Osteen responded: "I really don't Matt, because political issues divide us."
"For what I'm doing, I'm trying to reach as many people as possible. There are good people on both sides of the aisle, and I don't know what the best answer there is either, but I just try to guide them and give them hope in this time of need," Osteen added.
Osteen also addressed the question that many Americans ask when such tragedies strike: "Why does a good and kind God allow something like this to happen?"
"God gave us all our own free will. He gives us freedom of choice, He didn't make us his robots," Osteen told Lauer.
"Unfortunately, some people choose to do evil, and we don't always understand it, but I still believe that God is good and God is for us, but He doesn't make us do what's right," Osteen added.
The pastor of Lakewood Church and his wife, Victoria Osteen, went on the NBC morning program to speak about the importance of faith and family during such tragedies, with Mrs. Osteen saying: "This is a time that we can reflect as a family, that we can learn to really say I love you and appreciate each other."
Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church, located in Houston, Texas. The megachurch is considered to be the largest in the U.S., averaging a weekly attendance of 43,500, according to Sermon Central's Top 100 Churches.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Police say that on Dec. 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza opened fire on students and faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 20 children, ages six to 10 years old, and six adult faculty members at the school.
Lanza was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head at the scene of the crime.
The 20-year-old reportedly also killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, as she lay in bed in her Newtown home shortly before he arrived at the elementary school.
Friday's shooting has invoked widespread debates regarding gun control in the U.S., with some critics arguing that Lanza's rampage could have been avoided with stricter gun regulations.
"If you look at the states with the strongest gun laws in the country, they have some of the lowest gun death rates, and some of the states with the weakest gun laws have some of the highest gun death rates," Brian Malte of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence told The Associated Press.
Others have argued, however, that the issue is not so much about gun control but a more deeper issue regarding today's youth culture and the accessibility of mental health services in the U.S.
"In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it's easy to talk about guns. But it's time to talk about mental illness," wrote Liza Long in an article entitled "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother," which has received widespread attention on the Internet since it was first published on Dec. 15.
Today begins the funerals of two of the youngest victims killed in Friday's shooting, 6-year-olds Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto.


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Me in my studio: Headman
Robi Insinna, aka Headman has been creating his rich sound of Leftfield funk and nu-disco with force. He runs the successful Relish records and has remixed everyone from Franz Ferdinand to Roxy Music, so we thought it was high time we nosed around his studio!
After the jump Headman takes us around his studio and tells us a bit about the kit he uses to create his unique brand of funky electronic disco.
To get all the latest on Headman's releases and remixes, make sure you head over to www.headman.org
The studio
"This is my Berlin Studio. It's in one separate room of a studio apartment."
"The centre of the studio is a G5 with Logic 7, I'm just about to upgrade to Logic 9. I record most of my effects and compression via outboard, CPUpower is not a problem yet. In the box processing is reduced to some EQ and automation.
"The desk is an Allen & Heath GS3 which is only used for routing purposes during recording. This way I never have to worry about latency and can hear every synth immediately without having to patch them."
Drum machines
"Here you can see my drum machines, Sequential Circuits Drumtraks, DMX, Roland TR- 808 and Korg Minipops. Most of the drum machines are MIDI-fied.
"Sometimes I use their internal sequencer synced to logic, and sometimes I use them just as a sound expander. The DX7 i use as a MIDI-keyboard and for the Sounds. The Microkorg i use mainly for the arpeggiator, sometimes as a MIDI-keyboard. Below are the two racks with my outboard stuff."
Pre amp
"This is a two-channel preamplifier made of two Telefunken V672 cards with a Neumann stereo fader. Sounds pretty clean up to a certain point, from there on you get a real nasty distortion. But sometimes this is just the ticket. Below you find a self-built MIDI to CV converter which drives all my mono-synths.
"Unfortunately there no multi-channel CV-interface commercially available today, so you have to come up with something self-built. All the DIY-stuff is built by my studio-tech, Lars who runs his own studio and is part of the motorik-dub-outfit 'Tolcha'."
Drawmer compression
"The Drawmer 1968 is my stereo buss compressor. I used it on literally every mix since I got it four years ago. It makes everything come together in a really nice way. The meters show a gain reduction of around 2 dB most of the time, so nothing too drastic, but this makes the drums sit in the mix much better.
"Below is a Eventide H949 Harmonizer. I initially bought it to get that special pitched-down snare sound Bowie /Visconti or Conny Plank used in the 70ies. But that unit can do much more than that, really nice to fatten up synth sounds: different delay times on each channel, and one channel slightly pitched up/down."
Universal Audio LA-610
"My go-to pre amp, the Universal Audio LA-610, which in comparison to most transistor preamps distorts in a pleasant way when you drive it hard.
"Below you'll find my summing box which consists of a Neumann V475 amplifier card and a stereo fader. Both the summing card and the fader are active designs and have there own in/out transformers, so I got plenty of them in the signal path. I believe in summing!"
Guitar Pedals
"The guitar pedals are used on almost every synth-recording I do. Worth mentioning is the Mu-tron Phasor which makes everything sound more alive without sounding like an added effect.
"The Space-Echo is my favorite delay. Nothing sounds quite like real tape, real flutter and a real reverb tank. The tape itself gets wrapped up the head pretty fast though. Over the time I became a real expert of cutting endless tape loops."
"The MS10 you see above gets mostly used for short percussive sounds such as noise added under snare drums, or in conjunction with the sequencer.
"The Pro-One is pretty good at making harder synth hooks or just sound effects. The Dynacord DRS-78 is a very economic piece of Studio gear at the same time one of the most dark and claustrophobic sounding reverb i ever heard. it makes you feel like being in a concrete shelter. For some things it's just perfect."
"This is a small DIY 8 step analog sequencer. Good to use if you want to make some sequencer lines without staring at a computer screen.
"I usually record the whole song with it and make variations by turning the knobs and switches instead of moving rectangulars in logic. It is synced to the computer via Midi. I think workflow is important, so it's really convenient to have everything set up and not lose ideas while you wonder how to sync something."
More hardware synths
The Moog Source is great for bass, but sounds a bit 'loose' sometimes. The Rogue is like the tamed little brother. If I need a more tight and unobtrusive bass sound, I usually reach for the Roland SH-101.
The Jupiter is a beast and very versatile soundwise. Tuning is pretty stable, it has built-in Midi, an arpeggiator and you can save your sounds. And it's polyphonic. Perfect Synth....
Synth rack
"The Sequential Circuits Sixtrak gets mostly used for small add-on sounds, little sweeps here and there. The Korg Delta is a strange hybrid between a synth and a string machine.
"It was used as the hook synth on my latest single "Be Loved" by the way. The Solina String Synth i'm most proud of. If you know the history of it and know who used it, you'll understand why."
Bass guitar
And last; my Bass. Nothing special but i'm very affectionate towards it, it's the piece i had since i started working in this Studio. All the earyl Headman Production Basslines came from that Bass.

subset: commoncrawl


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Bulletin Board
Welcome to the new Willard Elementary School website! Here you can find out what's for lunch, learn about upcoming news and events and much more. Use the menu at the top of the page or the Quick Links menu to the right to find what you're looking for.
We are pleased to welcome you to the virtual backpack for Des Moines Public Schools, our central hub for information about school and community events and information of interest to students and their families. The new virtual backpack allows the Des Moines Public School District to distribute school and community information electronically to parents, staff, and students. Click here to visit the virtual backpack!
Des Moines Public Schools uses Nutrislice to provide easier and more complete menu information about breakfast and lunch at all of our schools.
Visit DMPS Nutrislice to see what's for breakfast or lunch at any school on any day of the school year.
Quick Links
Hat and Pajama Day
School Board Meeting
Music Concert – Grades K-2 – 4:30-5:15 PM
Music Concert – Grades 3-5 – 5:30-6:15 PM
No School; Spring Break


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Transmedia: A Definition
by Terry Heick
Transmedia: a narrative that extends beyond multiple media forms that also plays to the strength those forms; may or may not be interactive
The term media has traditionally been used as a label for mainstream news outlets. More recently, its use has been reclaimed from such negative and political connotation, now commonly used to refer to the variety of multimodal (and increasingly digital) communication forms.
Plural form of the singular medium, media are simply 'ways' of communicating ideas and is a cause and effect of digital literacy: letters, novels, magazines, emails, paintings, videos, and countless other forms can be considered media. It can come in classic or modern forms, formal and informal, all boiling down to the basic human need to communicate.
Marshall McLuhan
Any balanced discussion of media (though I'm not making any claims) has to include Marshall McLuhan.
In his professional prime during a time when televisions were replacing radios and McCarthyism was changing lives, McLuhan was witness to a powerful and important change in culture. Among other revelatory ideas, McLuhan felt that the 'individual man' was being replaced by 'tribal man' through media—media acting as a kind of conscious glue. He saw that humankind was coming to define itself through media—involuntarily, through numbing consumption and persistent conditioning. In this way, he saw media forms as social long before Zuckerberg had his big idea.
Essentially, McLuhan viewed media as powerful contributors to "how we experience the world, interact with each other, and use our physical senses"[i]—which makes their dizzying popularity logical.
Media Consumption
Today, media is in a brilliant state of flux. There is frankly so much of it—so many forms, so many platforms, so much consumption. Notions of fluid texts, hypertexts, and quasi-intertextuality preside can sometimes overwhelm the content itself. (McLuhan might nod his head and insist that the "media is the message.")
And with this fluidity comes a kind of passing of the guard in terms of pop culture forms. Videogames have surpassed classic media forms like music, DVDs, and now movies increasing our interaction with narrative texts, and gamifiying media consumption.
So what becomes of books?
While I personally find it difficult to imagine a world where the stalwart of narrative structure—the novel—is vaporized by YouTube addiction and Beiber fever, anything is possible. And with physical books now giving ground to eBooks in terms of total sales (at Amazon, anyway), the future is incredibly complicated. If a Kindle can display an eBook, pdf files, Google Currents, and mashed blog posts, where does one begin, and the other end? The video game with the facebook page that pushes notifications to an app that itself is gamified and is automatically shared on your twitter stream?
The overlap is more extraordinary than the difference.
If you ask the folks at Inanimate Alice, one of the pioneering examples of the form, there is a new player on stage—and one with critical edu-potential: transmedia.
The definition of transmedia is a narrative that extends beyond multiple media forms that also plays to the strength of those forms. It may or may not be interactive. This makes it possible to have interactive video game portions of a narrative married to prose-rich novellas combined with smart use of specific social media platforms, all collaborating strategically to tell a compelling story while offering the potential for innovative use of crowdsourcing and audience engagement.
Transmedia Defining Characteristics
1. Born-digital
Written first for and specifically to be read and viewed from the screen
2. Interactive
Requires user action to drive the story forward.
3. Multimedia
Uses text, images, music, sound effects, puzzles, and games to illustrate and enhance the narrative.
4. A Novel
A reading-from-the-screen experience for the 'always-on' generation.
5. Episodic
Each a self-contained story, the chapters are both interactive and occur across media channels.
Transmedia is what the word parts suggest it might be: a merging of media forms, here the digital with the narrative, but with the multiple platforms a part of the narrative. While transmedia promote interaction, they are not videogames, but rather new digital narratives offered in a way that has been inaccessible to classic forms.
This post was first published in 2012


text: Bioshock Infinite Clash in the Clouds Guide =============================================================================== Chris Lee's Bioshock Infinite Clash in the Clouds Guide v1.2 =============================================================================== =============================================================================== The officially latest (as well as latest, official) version of this FAQ/Guide can be found at www.gamefaqs.com. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== Table of Contents !- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To navigate to the different sections, simply use the shortcut key sequence to the right of each section/subsection in whatever "find" mechanism you're using in your browser or text editor. Section references later on in the text ignore the '!' so that you don't end up jumping to the middle of a random paragraph, so always be sure you start with a '!' when jumping around. The pattern behind shortcut key sequence is simple: the first three letters (more, if necessary to be unambiguous) of each related section, separated by commas, beginning with a ! and ending with -. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Use This Guide !how- Important Notes !imp- Infusions !imp,inf- Blue Ribbon Wording !imp,blu- Vigor Tactics !imp,vig- Weapons of Note !imp,wea- Gear of Note !imp,gea- Arenas !are- The O.P.S. Zeal !are,the- Duke & Dimwitt Theater !are,duk- Raven's Dome !are,rav- Emporia Arcade !are,emp- Appendix !app- History !app,his- All Works !app,all- =============================================================================== =============================================================================== How To Use This Guide !how- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This guide is focused on strategies, suggestions, and analysis for blowing through the Clash in the Clouds DLC for Bioshock Infinite, Blue Ribbon challenges included. Alas, you may find that some of the guide is sparse in its analysis. That's because I've already done an extensive amount of analysis in my 1999 Mode Guide (also available on gamefaqs.com), and I don't care to create a lot of redundant content. So, consider this and my 1999 Mode Guide companion pieces. The damage numbers will be slightly off in the 1999 Mode Guide (since Clash in the Clouds effectively takes place on "medium" difficulty), but since the arena action in CITC is so intense, a similar emphasis on survivability also exists, so the general analysis is still spot-on. I highly recommend referring to at least the Vigor and Gear section of the 1999 Mode Guide; I have a lot of detailed analysis that will suit you quite well in Clash in the Clouds. NOTE: this guide is written taking into without any of the pre-order/collector's edition extra content taken into account. If you have any tips, feedback, or corrections, feel free to contact me. As people who have contacted me on other guides know, I try to respond to any correspondence, and I will take seriously any suggestions you may have to offer. Simply toss me an email at (with the subject beginning "Bioshock Infinite guide"): firstname.lastname@example.com WITHOUT the underscores (that's just to prevent auto-parsers from grabbing my email for spam purposes). =============================================================================== =============================================================================== Important Notes !imp- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Infusions !imp,inf- Unlike the normal game, there are 28 infusions in all, not counting the initial infusion that grants you a Shield. You get an infusion after beating every other wave, starting with wave 1 and except for wave 15 (since you don't return to your restocking room after beating the final wave). In other words, you'll get an infusion after beating the following waves: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. This means you are _guaranteed_ to max out one stat after beating all the arenas, but then you have to decide what to do with your two other stats, and this boils down to your playstyle. If you like abusing the Urgent Care Gear and Return to Sender synergy (see 1999 Mode Guide for discussion), then you probably want to max out your Salts, Shield, but then get only 8 infusions in Health. If you want to do a better job of withstanding powerful handyman hits, then perhaps max Health and Shield, but only 8 Salts. Or perhaps if you like using Vigors but just want to be overall balanced, max Salts but then 9 Health and Shield. For reference, here are the stats and the relative effect of each infusion (see 1999 Mode Guide for a greater discussion and where these numbers came from): Health - base 1500, each infusion adds 225 Shield - base 300, each infusion adds 45 Salts - base 100, each infusion adds 15 In general, my recommendation is the same as in my 1999 Mode Guide: since survivability is paramount in CITC (since dying automatically means forfeiting the Blue Ribbon challenge and your current score), I recommend starting off by investing in your Health and Shield regardless of whatever your final strategy is. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blue Ribbon Wording !imp,blu- You might quickly realize that some of the Blue Ribbon challenge wording can be very tedious, as you may find yourself failing a challenge after doing something innocuous. To help you out, here are some notes about what certain phrases mean. 1. "Defeat [some enemy] with [something]" This means that your finishing blow on [some enemy] must be that [something] and it must be that [something] unassisted. In some cases it is OK to use other Vigors or weapons so long as the death blow is unassisted, e.g. if you were suppossed to defeat an enemy with a shotgun and you killed an enemy by hitting them with Shock Jockey and then shooting with a shotgun, you will still fail the challenge because the Shock Jockey was still active at the time of death. However, in some other cases _any_ alternate use of a weapon or Vigor on an enemy will cause you to fail the challenge. If you want to be extra-sure about passing the challenge, don't risk it and just use the [something] exclusively; I'll try to highlight when it's safe to use support stuff in the actual arena discussions. Note that certain Gear provide extra effects that can cause failure; using sky-hook alone is guaranteed to fail (well, or at least at 30% per pop) if you use it with the Spare the Rod gear, which possesses at 30% chance. When in doubt, strip down to Gear that provides minimal extra effects. Regardless of anything else, the blue shield of Return to Sender is always safe to use (since it doesn't affect anyone else). The orange shield, on the other hand, is not; even if you never hit anyone with the orange shield, for some reason when you absorb a bullet with it the game treats it as if you tried to defeat an enemy with something else other than [something]. 2. "Defeat/Complete the wave using only [something]" A much more restrictive version of #1. While in #1 you were (sometimes) free to use other weapons and Vigors so long as your death blow was an unassisted use of that [something], the use of the phrase "the wave" instead of a specific type of enemy or even the phrase "all enemies" means the _moment_ you do anything other than [something] you will fail the challenge, this even counts extra Gear effects like Shock Jacket. Unlike #1, Return to Sender is _never_ a viable option. The moment you pop out that blue shield you will fail the challenge. 3. "Vigor traps" This one will give you a bit of a headache. Turns out the game has a very strict definition of what constitutes a "trap." Obviously, neither Undertow nor Charge have trap effects. But even Vigors that have an alternate effect that is a trap _must_ be used in specificion fashion for it to be counted as a trap: the alternate effect must _not_ immediately impact a target (i.e. the projectile has to hit a surface) and it _must_ settle in before being triggered by an enemy (i.e. immediate proximity detonations don't count). In effect this is the difference between a "kill" and a "trap kill"; while in the normal game you still got the effects of the alternate effect even if it triggered immediately (due to immediate impact or immediate proximity trigger), Clash in the Clouds will _not_ consider it a trap kill (or even the use of a trap) unless the alternate effect physically was able to turn into a trap that was then _later_ triggered by an enemy wandering into its proximity. Do note that pulling someone into a trap via the Undertow alternate effect counts as a trap kill, so this can be an easy way to qualify for this requirement. 4. "...with/using a different weapon or Vigor..." Using a different weapon on each enemy is straightforward enough, but toss in Vigors and things start to get hairy. If you disable two enemies with Shock Jockey, does it matter that you use two different weapons to kill each one? Or are both deaths considered to be the same Shock Jockey death? Specific advice: kill one enemy with a Devil's Kiss, another by blasting them off with Undertow (or electrocute a Patriot with Undertow), another with Possession's suicide (hopefully they don't kill off someone else and trigger a redundant weapon kill), another with Charge, another by hitting with a powered-up alternate effect Return to Sender, and one more by pulling someone into a Shock Jockey trap via Undertow. After those variety Vigor kills, just use different weapons, using Shock Jockey, Murder of Crows, or Bucking Bronco as (relatively safe) ways to weaken hordes of foes. Killing an enemy with your sky-hook also counts as a different weapon, and killing an enemy by using your sky-hook (though not Charge) to knock someone who's been lifted by Bucking Bronco off the map counts as yet another kill (a generic "Freefall" death). Combined with the above, this should give you all the methods you need to clear a wave without repeating a specific type of kill. If you're curious, here are some general guidelines I've developed that determine how certain deaths are treated: A. Sky-hook melee kills are different from Charge kills (even though both use your sky-hook); in fact, Charge definitely counts as a Vigor death not a weapon death. B. Suicide deaths from a terminated Possession count as a death from the weapon the enemy is wielding, but it also counts as a Possession death, so depending on the specific nature of the challenge you're up against, repeatedly possessing enemies may or may not be a good idea. C. Death by knocking an enemy off Columbia with Undertow is the only way I've found to kill a humanoid in a way that reliably counts as "Undertow." Patriots and automatons, of course, can be manually blasted with Undertow for severe damage. D. Death by Shock Jockey + Undertow is considered a Shock Jockey death. Similarly, pulling an enemy via Undertow into any damaging trap will be treated as a death by that Vigor (and not necessarily a trap), not Undertow. E. An enemy shot to death by a weapon killed while vulnerable by Bucking Bronco, Murder of Crows, or Shock Jockey will generally count as a death by the weapon, not the Vigor (which means that unlike Possession, this does not count as a death by Vigor). However! Be careful, aside from Bucking Bronco, disabling Vigors actually do a token amount of damage, and it is possible that your foe will be killed by a tick of a damage over time effect from the Vigor. You can generally sidestep this by immediately blasting the vulnerable enemy with a high-impact weapon. F. Generally speaking, a death by Devil's Kiss is a death by Devil's Kiss, regardless of if and how the enemy has been set up for this. G. In short, the following Vigors can be used to set up distinct deaths: Possession, Devil's Kiss, Shock Jockey (if you pull someone into a trap via Undertow), Charge, Undertow (via freefall or blast against an automaton), and Return to Sender's alternate effect. Bucking Bronco and Murder of Crows can virtually never be used to kill enemies, though it is possible to kill an enemy via Murder of Crows's token damage, however unlikely. H. Lastly, there are some waves that are simply "using a different Vigor." This is more "forgiving" in the sense that if, for example, you hit an enemy with Shock Jockey and kill them with a weapon, it'll count as a valid Vigor kill, not a weapon kill. However, if it's a wave that is "using a different weapon or Vigor" then you have to be careful; the above rules apply. 5. "Defeat... while distracted by a Booker decoy." Ugh, a super annoying restriction. An enemy is distracted if it is trying to attack the decoy. For some enemies it's fairly obvious to tell when they're distracted (Patriots will approach, look at, and try to strafe the decoy in addition to firing). Some enemies it's harder: snipers are only distrated momentarily since they can generally kill the decoy pretty quickly; your best is to hide behind some cover, create the decoy, and kill the sniper and hope that they were distracted in the meantime. For one type of enemy, death while distracted is virtually impossible: handymen can plow down a decoy in about half a second, which leaves you very little margin of error. If you kill an enemy even 10 microseconds after the decoy is destroyed, that death counts as one that did not occur "while distracted" and so you will fail the challenge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vigor Tactics !imp,vig- Devil's Kiss In my 1999 Mode Guide I rate this Vigor as generally underpowered if it's unupgraded. But that's for 1999 Mode where there's a universal 50% damage penalty for everything you do. In CITC (which effectively is on "medium" difficulty where everything does normal damage), Devil's Kiss is great even unupgraded, and absolutely bonkers once upgraded. Combined with gear like Storm or Overkill or prep Vigors like Murder of Crows and Bucking Bronco (both of which combo Devil's Kiss) and even Shock Jockey (which has a Storm synergy with Devil's Kiss) you can wipe out massive groups of foes with little effort. Undertow "Defeat the wave within [some time]." That is what Undertow is made for. Fully upgrade Undertow, find a spot near a railing, grab up to three foes with the alternate effect, pull them in, then circle around them and blast them with the primary effect to blow them into freefall. In fact, because you are replenished with full Salt in between each wave and because all arenas are filled with edges and endless falls, aggressive Undertow abuse is a great way to rapidly clear most waves. Return to Sender Return to Sender's protection will block literally everything in the game, even Handymen attacks. Get Send For Less and this Vigor will give you plenty of time to set up attacks and figure out Blue Ribbons without any problem. Do note that Sender Aid has very specific requirements before you actually replenish ammo, and because you can fill up on ammo in between each wave, you can wait to purchase this upgrade last. For full details refer to my 1999 Mode Guide, but here's the too-long-didn't-read version: 1. You only absorb ammo with your blue shield. 2. You have to the same weapon out as the enemy shooting you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weapons of Note !imp,wea- Hand Cannon Great in 1999 Mode (through various metrics in my 1999 Mode Guide I rated it as the most effective "close-up" weapon in the game), even better in CITC. While you miss out on the potential spread of the shotgun, you get better accuracy, an insane critical hit multiplier (x3, better than a sniper rifle), a bigger clip, and a faster reload time. And because your reserve is fully replenished in between waves (be sure to reload your weapon before returning the armory), you'll virtually never be unable to fire away. Repeater If you've never played much with the repeater, you're missing out. This was also a recommended "close-up" weapon from my 1999 Mode Guide and for similar reasons to the hand cannon (you are no longer are concerned with ammo scarcity) becomes insanely great in CITC. Features high accuracy (almost good enough to snipe with), a really high damage output, a surprisingly high critical hit multiplier (2x versus the 1.5x norm for other heavy-hitting or rapid-fire weapons), and for those who have trouble aiming, has the benefit of being an automatic weapon to give you a margin of error to improve your aim while aiming instead of just missing completely (as you would with a slower, single-shot weapon like a hand cannon). Hail Fire I recommended staying away from this weapon in my 1999 Mode Guide despite its other merits because of the rarity of the ammo. But, because you basically are replenished to full ammo in-between each wave (or more accurately, your reserve is maxed out), there is almost no reason to _not_ always have the hail fire as one of your two weapons. By far, the best feature of the hail fire is not that you can do some tricky explosion triggering by holding down the fire button, but that you can rapidly mash your fire button and fire highly-damaging explosive shells potentially faster than even a repeater can fire bullets. With proper disabling Vigors, you can actually wipe out Handymen and faux-Lady-Comstocks in a matter of mere seconds. Highly recommended. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gear of Note !imp,gea- I provide my 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking as a reference point to the ranking in Clash in the Clouds to help provide an analytical context. Storm (hat) 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Middle vs Clash in the Clouds: Top Discussion: Because Devil's Kiss is much better in the CITC (no 50% damage penalty as in 1999 Mode), the "chain" effect of Devil's Kiss from Storm also becomes dramatially better. If you prep enemies with Shock Jockey or Bucking Bronco, both of which are also chained by Storm (Bucking Bronco also has its own combo with Devil's Kiss) you can easily wipe out an entire wave's worth of foes if they were close enough. And remember that Storm also chains the explosion of an RPG and the shots of a heater, so if you like using either weapon a lot in CITC you should see their effectiveness ramp up dramatically. CAREFUL though! On waves where the Blue Ribbon challenge requires you to defeat enemies in a certain way, the chain effect from Storm will frequently cause you to fail the challenge, so be sure to switch out this hat for something more inoccuous. Blood to Salt (shirt) 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Top vs Clash in the Clouds: Middle Discussion: At first I thought this Gear was really great in CITC, but then I realized two things: 1. Your Salt is always fully replenished in between waves. 2. When I was using the Gear I was leaving a lot of in-map Salt supplies untouched. So, this Gear is good early on when your Salt isn't very well-infused or in specific Blue Ribbon waves where a heavy Vigor usage is expected (such as when you're expected to kill everyone using only Vigors), but otherwise use something else. Death from Above (boots) 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Bottom vs Clash in the Clouds: Middle Discussion: the plethora of sky-lines in the vast majority of all waves in addition to the fact that your explosive weapons will always have their reserves replenished in between waves means that for aggressive sky-line riders, this Gear is just a flat +30% damage boost to already insanely powerful weapons like the RPG. A great way to rapidly clear out Firemen and Handymen from safety. Vampire's Embrace (boots) 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Middle vs Clash in the Clouds: Top Discussion: every arena features lots of hooks and sky-lines and sky-line strikes count as melee kills, so Vampire's Embrace now basically transforms all those one-hit-kills into "also get a small health kit." In addition, there are a lot more environmental hazards, which also--oddly enough--count as melee kills. Basically, this Gear will dramatically improve your longevity in any given wave. Overkill (pants) 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Top vs Clash in the Clouds: Bottom Discussion: The horrible, horrible mega failing of this Gear in CITC is that the Overkill effect (which, unlike Storm, can be triggered by basically anything so long as it was a sufficiently damaging killing blow) can and will disqualify you from completing many different Blue Ribbon challenges in the game. Compared to the fact that Urgent Care also goes in your pants slot and is more generally useful without disqualifying you from Blue Ribbons, this mighty bit of Gear in 1999 Mode has fallen far. Urgent Care (pants) 1999 Mode Guide tier ranking: Top vs Clash in the Clouds: "OMG, why did they include this?" Discussion: Once you get it, there's basically no reason to ever use anything else in this slot ever again. The survivability increase is just an entire order of magnitude. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== Arenas !are- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'll focus on both what you should expect to fight, your blue ribbon challenge, and what strategies will help you win the day. Note that, especially for the first couple of arenas, you shouldn't be too concerned with trying to make it through all the Blue Ribbon challenges without failing, simply because you probably won't be fully upgraded yet so you will be both fragile and weak. Come back to them later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The O.P.S. Zeal !are,the- A fairly straight-forward map. The office door is pointed out to you the first time you play this arena, but in case you forget: the center part of the map is a ship of sorts; off its starboard side (if you're on the crow's nest and looking towards the front of the ship, that's to your right) there's a building that has two balcony levels. On the lower balcony level is where you'll find your resurrection office. Wave 1 Enemies: 5x soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using Sky-Line strikes only Discussion: Straightforward and easy; just keep mounting on to the skyline or hooks and jumping off. So long as you don't stay in one place for long, you should be able to do this without taking much (or any) damage. Wave 2 Enemies: 6x soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave while only taking shield damage Discussion: Also fairly straightforward, though you may have better luck after you've upgraded your Shield stat a few times via infusions. You're dealing with basic soldiers here, so as long as you keep aware of the melee guys who want to charge you (and can easily take away your entire shield with one hit at low Shield upgrade levels) you should be fine. Wave 3 Enemies: 5x soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only the Sky-Hook attacks and Shotgun Discussion: Pretty much not that harder than wave #1, since sky-line strikes count as sky-hook attacks. You can also run around with the shotgun, though because this is a "defeat the wave" ribbon, don't bother with any Return to Sender blue shields. Wave 4 Enemies: 4x soldiers, 2x armored volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only machine guns or the crank gun Discussion: I don't know where on earth you would get a crank gun this early on, but the rest of this match should be fairly easy. Just duck behind cover to avoid the volley gun attacks and you should be fine. Wave 5 Enemies: 1x Handyman Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only the pistol and hand cannon Discussion: Hand cannon is probably your best bet. Jump on and off the skyline to put distance between you and the Handyman and let off a few shots as he tries to jump towards you. Note that using any assisting Vigor (e.g. you might initially want to use Murder of Crows or Undertow) _will_ cause you to fail the Blue Ribbon challenge, so keep your finger off the use vigor key. Wave 6 Enemies: 4x soldiers, 2x armored rpg soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave without picking up weapons or looting corpses Discussion: Might be hard the first time you do this since you may be trying to scoop up resources, but by the time you are modestly upgraded this should pose no problem for you. Wave 7 Enemies: 3x soldiers, 2x snipers, 1x Zealots Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only zoomable weapons while they are zoomed Discussion: I have two words for you: sniper rifle. That being said, both the hand cannon and shotgun are easily zoomed into for close combat without seriously disrupting your aim. Just zoom in, let off a shot or two, and then zoom out. Return to Sender's primary effect will help grease the wheels here. Wave 8 Enemies: 2x Zealots, 2x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only Tears; Possession Traps; and Return to Sender traps Discussion: Careful! An enemy that is possessed and shoots another enemy to death will cause you to fail the challenge. Unless you're sure that the enemy/enemies you are about to hit with a Possession Trap are far away from any other enemy, don't bother with it. Similarly, Return to Sender traps are only traps if someone actually runs into one, not if you throw it and it detonates. In short, your best bet is to just rely on the various environmental hazards you can bring in via Tears. Wave 9 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x Handyman Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies without ever hitting anyone in the head or the heart Discussion: My recommendation is to use weapons that have a wide area of damage and thus able to hit enemies with splash damage without risking a head or heart shot. I've had a lot of luck using the heater and the RPG. Also, if you're so inclined, shoot the Handyman at the very beginning; you may outrage him in a way where he kills a few enemies for you (which won't be headshots). Wave 10 Enemies: 4x soldiers, 1x siren Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Siren before she performs a resurrection Discussion: Wield a fully-upgraded Hail Fire and get yourself a fully-upgraded Charge Vigor. Equip Burning Halo for good measure. As soon as the wave starts, jump off from the ledge and Charge the shade of Lady Comstock. As soon as you connect, mash your fire button as fast as you can to lay off as many Hail Fire projectiles as possible. When you reload, Charge again and resume your punishment. You should finish her off before she completes a resurrection. The rest of the wave is fairly straightforward after that. Wave 11 Enemies: 2x soldiers, 1x Fireman, 1x Patriot Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave without using Sky-Lines or Hook-points. Discussion: Straightforward, the only hard part is just having to suppress your habit/instict of trying to ride away from combat on a sky-line. Wave 12 Enemies: 2x Firemen, 2x Zealots Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave within 1:15 Discussion: Do the ol' undertow grab and push and you'll be done. A bit harder against the Zealots, but you can easily lure them right next to you on the railing just by virtue of their tendency to try to teleport next to you. Once they appear, blast them off the edge of the map. Wave 13 Enemies: 2x Firemen, 1x Handymen Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only weapons fired from a Sky-Line or Sky-Line strikes. Discussion: For weapons, go with the RPG, as it's a really idiot-proof way to take out tougher foes who can't be easily finished off by a sky-line strike. Wave 14 Enemies: 2x armored soldiers, 2x snipers, 1x Zealot Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using only Shock Jockey and Headshots Discussion: This challenge is a lot easier with an upgraded Shock Jockey as you can chain the effect and have a lot more time to carefully aim up that headshot. Also: sniper rifle! If you're still having problems consistently getting headshots, you can do the entire wave just with Shock Jockey. Just sail across your starting position via sky-line to the area above the resurrection office door, hide inside the building and set a lot of Shock Jockey traps. Let all your enemies come to you and just keep laying Shock Jockey traps. So long as Elizabeth replenishes your Salt once and you have Blood to Salt equipped you should be set. Wave 15 Enemies: 1x Patriot, 2x Handymen Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with a different Vigor type. Discussion: Destroy the patriot with Undertow. Weaken the other handymen until they are close to being destroyed, then kill one with Devil's Kiss explosions and then kill the other with Charge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duke and Dimwitt Theater !are,duk- Wave 1 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the Shotgun Discussion: Don't use any supporting Vigor other than Return to Sender's primary effect; you'll fail the challenge. Other than that, pick up the nearby shotgun from the tear (if you don't have one), fire a shot in the air to alert everyone, then hustle around the platform you are on. Three soldiers will skyline to you, kill them. Then get on the skyline and head towards the right building (away from the Mosquito). Dismount, kill the RPG soldier and normal soldier there (using Return to Sender as protection if necessary). Then sky-line to the other building and finish off the other two enemies, using cover to avoid the Mosquito. Wave 2 Enemies: 6x Soldiers, 1x Fireman, 1x Zealot, 1x Patriot Blue Ribbon: Defeat two enemies with a possessed Patriot Discussion: Wait a bit for the first zeppelin to appear, then use an alternate effect Possession on the patriot; blasting him with a follow up Shock Jockey may speed things along. You may need to do this again after a second zeppelin shows up since even at 10 seconds the Possession duration may not be long enough to kill two foes. Wave 3 Enemies: 6x Firemen Blue Ribbon: Force 3 Firemen to self-destruct while airborne from Bucking Bronco or Undertow Discussion: Easy, especially if Bucking Bronco is fully upgraded. Just stay where you are, pulling a fireman up with Undertow just to get things started. Just keep unleashing Bucking Broncos and firing away with your weapon of choice until they die (which counts as a self-destruct). Wave 4 Enemies: 9x soldiers, 2x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Damage 5 enemies with Vigor traps. Discussion: Easiest way I've done this is to immediately lay a bunch of Shock Jockey traps around me and let everyone come to me. As soon as they trigger a trap and are shocked you can finish them off, just keep replenishing your traps and eventually five different foes will be hit by your traps. Wave 5 Enemies: 3x soldiers, 3x snipers Blue Ribbon: Complete the wave in under 0:45 Discussion: Immediately hop on a sky-line to do some sky-line attacks on the two snipers, one on each building. Hop off and go on a sky-line circuit, the third sniper will appear on the right building (when you face it); jump off and kill them too. Hopefully by this time, the other three soldiers have been following you about on the skyline; find your suitable means for dispatching them, a disabling Vigor and a hard hitting weapon work well. Wake 6 Enemies: 1x Handyman Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman while he's electrocuting a Sky-Line Discussion: Self-explanatory, if tedious. Weaken him with other sources of damage, then just ride around the sky-line until you hear the tell-tale "brzzzzz" sound of him starting to electrocute the sky-lines, then hop off and let off a shot or two. Rinse and repeat until he's dead. Wave 7 Enemies: 8x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers, 1x Patriots Blue Ribbon: Defeat five enemies with Undertow Discussion: Super easy if you have Undertow Aid. Remember that pulling them into a trap doesn't count, so pull some foes in and blast them off your ship. Even if you don't have Undertow Aid, you probably will be able to just blast the first batch of enemies off the gunship, which is five for the Blue Ribbon challenge. Wave 8 Enemies: 1x soldiers, 2x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Defeat 2 enemies with a Possessed rocket turret Discussion: That barrage automaton is what the game here counts as a "rocket turret." Get close to the gunships and fire some shots to get the enemies off the ship, possess the turret and just run around the map, periodically using Shock Jockey to keep enemies still for the turret to hit. Wave 9 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x Zealot, 2x Patriots Blue Ribbon: Defeat every enemy with a different weapon or Vigor Discussion: Can be straightforward provided you keep all the gotchas from section imp,blu- in mind. There are some Tears for alternate weapons and don't forget to pick up a crank gun from a fallen Patriot to help round out the eight different methods of mayhem you need to use. Wave 10 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Complete the wave using only Charge, Return to Sender, and Shotguns Discussion: Depending on your Gear you may fail the challenge if you try to Charge. Don't take any chances, just walk around with the Return to Sender blue shield and pump away with your shotgun. Wave 11 Enemies: 7x soldiers, 1x Patriot Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Patriot with a possessed enemy Discussion: Try using Undertow to grab three foes, one of them the Patriot. This will have the side effect of weakening the Patriot. Then use Possession on one of the humanoids and Shock Jockey (after Undertow wears off) to keep the other two in check. If this doesn't work, bring in another humanoid. This may be Salt intensive, so hopefully you've upgraded your Salts a bit by now. Wave 12 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x snipers Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with Vigor traps Discussion: So long as you remember the finicky rules about traps (see section imp,blu-) you should be set here. Because the enemies have to jump from gunship to gunship, so long as you stay one gunship away and prepare a trap for those who want to jump at you, the ribbon should take care of itself. You should try to be prompt about it because enemies have an annoying tendency in this wave to accidentally shoot each other, triggering a Friendly Fire and causing you to fail. Wave 13 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 1x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Defeat 5 enemies with a single Devil's Kiss blast Discussion: There are two good ways to go about this. The first is to Charge the enemy you see on top of the gazebo and then use Murder of Crows to weaken everyone, then tossing a Devil's Kiss trap in a central location of all the flailing foes. The second is to use Undertow to pull everyone off (you'll need to do it at least twice provided you can grab a full complement of three each time) the gazebo and do a similar thing. Do note that you may have issues getting the game to register that you killed everyone in one Devil's Kiss blast; I believe the extra grenades from Devil's Kiss Mod do not count for this, hence the suggestion for using a trap (which has a wider area of effect and deals more damage). Wave 14 Enemies: 4x soldiers, 1x Handyman Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman with a Tesla Coil Discussion: Basically, just summon up the Tesla Coil outside of the gazebo (between the two buildings) and lure in the Handyman. You may want to do a few initial shots just to weaken him, but then just run circles around the tesla coil (keeping it between you and him) and eventually the Handyman will die. As for the soldiers, well you can clear them out at the beginning but hopefully the Handyman takes care of a few of them for you. Wave 15 Enemies: 10x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers Blue Ribbon: Complete the wave in under 1:30 Discussion: Race up the gunships, using Undertow to knock foes away, until you can get on to the zeppelin. Run in and disable the engine, using Return to Sender as protection. As soon as you pop back out, the zeppelin will be treated as "destroyed" and anyone still in there will be treated as having died by freefall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raven's Dome !are,rav- The office door is located inside a little crummy building on the least-opulent looking platform on this map (i.e. not the park or the fancy villa). Wave 1 Enemies: 6x soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the Sky-Hook melee Discussion: Like all similar challenges, this is a walk in the park. If you really have any troubles, there's always the Return to Sender blue shield. Wave 2 Enemies: 7x soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the pistol Discussion: Hide behind the cabin on the gunship you start off on and use Undertow to repeatedly bring in foes whom you then just plow away with a (preferably) fully-upgraded pistol. Wave 3 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only the Undertow Vigor Discussion: Similar to wave #2, except now you have to just blast them off with Undertow instead of shooting them. This may only be easily possible if Undertow is fully upgraded (so you can get three at once instead of one). Wave 4 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x RPG soldier, 1x Zealot Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with Vigor traps Discussion: So long as you pay attention to the gotcha that a trap kill only is a trap kill if an enemy triggers it _after_ its deployment via proximity, this shouldn't be that hard. Note that for Devil's Kiss, if an enemy is close enough to the trap but not close enough to trigger it, you can shoot the trap and the ensuing explosion will be big enough to ensnare the foe. Wave 5 Enemies: 3x soldiers, 1x Handyman Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman before any other enemy Discussion: With the hail fire you can drop a vulnerable Handyman in fairly quick order. Wave 6 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 1x Patriot Blue Ribbon: Defeat 5 enemies via friendly fire Discussion: Possession counts as friendly fire (even suicide), so repeatedly spamming the Vigor should take care of this for you. Wave 7 Enemies: 1x soldiers, 2x snipers, 1x Zealot, 2x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Volley Gunner and the Zealot before damaging any snipers Discussion: Undertow is a great way to isolate and kill (via blast) the non-sniper enemies without exposing yourself to much danger or accidental collateral damage on a sniper. Wave 8 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with turrets or environmental hazards Discussion: Head over to the park and bring in the tesla coil and basically just run circles around it. It'll be sufficient to (slowly) kill everyone on the map. Use Return to Sender if you need the protection. Wave 9 Enemies: 1x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers, 3x Firemen Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies in 60 seconds using Vigors only. Discussion: Just stay on the gunship at the start and use the ol' Undertow pull and blast to clear this wave quickly. Wave 10 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers, 1x Firemen Blue Ribbon: Take no damage for 30 seconds. Discussion: Even damage that is absorbed by Return to Sender still counts as taking damage, so bring in a decoy or turret and head for cover. Note that if you're fast about ducking for cover at the start, no one will notice you, so that can be a quick way to get the ribbon. Wave 11 Enemies: 2x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers, 2x volley gunners, 1x Fireman Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies with the Shotgun Discussion: Unlike other similar waves, you are _not_ allowed to use anything other than a shotgun (in effect, this Blue Ribbon challenge is "Defeat the wave"), so don't even bother with Return to Sender's blue shield unless you want to fail. Wave 12 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x Firemen Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave without picking up weapons or looting corpses Discussion: Fairly straightforward. Wave 13 Enemies: 2x snipers, 2x Patriots Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies while they are distracted with a Booker decoy tear Discussion: Use Undertow to bring in enemies (preferably in small batches) near the park balcony where the Decoy is. Bring in the Decoy and while they are looking/aiming/shooting at it, blast them off the edge with Undertow (blasting will also kill Patriots through electrocution). Wave 14 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with the same weapon-type it wields Discussion: Just repeatedly spam Possession to get people to suicide and you're done. Wave 15 Enemies: 2x Firemen, 1x Handymen Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with a different weapon Discussion: Self-explanatory; remember to switch out your weapons when needed to get distinct kills. Best to start off with some huge weapons to help you take out the handyman. If you're lucky, the handyman will take out the Firemen for you, which won't break the challenge but make this easier. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emporia Arcade !are,emp- The office is located on the side of the map that looks like a gigantic burning building, on the bottom level off to the right (when you look at it directly). Wave 1 Enemies: 7x soldiers, 2x Patriots Blue Ribbon: Defeat an enemy affected by Bucking Bronco with a possessed Motorized Patriot Discussion: Rather annoying, actually. Best bet is to weaken an enemy, Undertow-pull a full-strength patriot to you (or else the patriot might die), Bucking Bronco the weakened enemy, hit the patriot with a normal Possession, and then repeatedly alternate between Bucking Bronco and Possession until the patriot kills the enemy (you will have to keep hitting the patriot with Possession to prevent the duration from wearing off as otherwise the patriot wastes a second or two staggering at the start of a possession). Wave 2 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat two enemies who are riding Sky-Lines with traps Discussion: There's a spot on the sky-line where it goes _underneath_ a bridge. Ride it there, then set up a Possession or Devil's Kiss trap and wait for someone to ride by (you may need to get back on the sky-line yourself, as simply waiting under the bridge may tempt enemies into jumping off while they're dying from the triggered trap, thus not counting as a sky-line death). Rinse and repeat. Wave 3 Enemies: 9x soldiers, 2x volley gunners Blue Ribbon: Defeat wave with hazards or support brought in through tears Discussion: I have no idea what exactly the developers are talking about with this Blue Ribbon challenge because as far as I can tell the only thing that you can use to kill enemies in this map is the Tesla Coil in the center. There aren't any hazards and all the other tears that provide weapons or a sky-hook will force you to fail if you kill anyone with them. So, be prepared for a rather tedious fight (the volley gunners in particular take a long time to die from the Tesla Coil). You might want a weakish weapon to weaken enemies (but not kill them) while they're being zapped (a shot or two from a pistol or machine gun would do it). Wave 4 Enemies: 6x soldiers, 2x RPG soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave using a different weapon or Vigor on every enemy. Discussion: Another straightforward Blue Ribbon so long as you keep all the gotchas in imp,blu- in mind. Note that since you're facing RPG soldiers, you might not want to bring in an RPG since you'll be able to switch out for one in mid-fight, to help you round out the different deaths. Wave 5 Enemies: 2x Handymen Blue Ribbon: Defeat both Handymen while they are electrocuting a Sky-Line Discussion: Enter with an RPG (or a Hail Fire if you think you can get the distance down for what I'm about to suggest). Weaken both Handymen (they sometimes will just stand on the roof of a building). Then equip all the good sky-line Gear you have (Death from Above, mainly), then ride the sky-line all the way to the top of the big building and wait there above the main platform. Eventually a Handyman will jump up there. Ride the sky-line slowly away from the balcony, prompting the Handyman to jump up to try to electrocute the sky-line. Immediately fire as much as you can (you have enough time for two RPG shots or almost a clip of a Hail Fire). Hopefully the Handyman dies; if not, immediately jump back on to the balcony, pop a Return to Sender bubble for protection (since you're now within five feet of a Handyman with your only escape route electrified), and then when the electrocution ends, rinse and repeat. Wave 6 Enemies: 3x soldiers, 4x snipers Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only the Shotgun Discussion: An easy one, thank god. Keep Return to Sender's shield up and plow away at people. Wave 7 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 3x Firemen Blue Ribbon: Defeat two enemies with the Fireman's suicide attack. Discussion: Use Undertow to pull in a Fireman and two other foes. Fire away at the Fireman (and a few shots at the others to weaken them) and if you don't kill him, immediately set off a Murder of Crows attack (Shock Jockey is a bad idea because you might accidentally hit them while they're still wet from Undertow, killing everyone. Similarly, Bucking Bronco is a bad idea because every shot at the Fireman will push him far away from the people you want to kill with his suicide.) When the Fireman dies, he should take out the two other guys you pulled. If not, try again with a different Fireman. Wave 8 Enemies: 4x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers, 2x Patriots Blue Ribbon: Defeat the wave within 1:20 Discussion: The ol' Undertow pull-and-blast. You may need to run down from your current location to the lower terrace, to make sure you're close enough to grab everyone as well as be able to push people off the map. Wave 9 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 1x RPG soldiers, 1x Patriots, 1x Siren Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Siren before destroying the zeppelin Discussion: Inside the zeppelin there's a Siren waiting for you. Just toss a bunch of Devil's Kiss traps and you should finish her quickly enough. Be warned that if you don't finish her quickly enough, she'll leave the zeppelin, which will make this wave far more annoying since you'll then have to hunt her down. Wave 10 Enemies: 15x soldiers Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies using only the sniper rifle Discussion: Hope your sniper rifle is fully upgraded so you have a decent fire rate. Just leave Return to Sender's blue shield on to absorb melee blows while you run circles around everyone and hip-shoot them. Wave 11 Enemies: 2x Handymen Blue Ribbon: Defeat all enemies while they are distracted with a Booker decoy tear Discussion: An incredibly tedious wave. I'd say come in with a Hand Cannon for your finisher, since it has high damage and there's no risk that you'll accidentally hit and prematurely kill a Decoy like you could with a weapon with area of effect (RPG, Shotgun, etc). Weaken the Handymen however you seem appropriate. Then spend the next interminable amount of time hopping from one bridge to another; bring in a Decoy, wait for a Handyman to land and charge it, and let off _one_ shot with your Hand Cannon. You don't want to do a second because there's the terrible chance that by the time your second shot impacts the Handyman, it will have destroyed the Decoy and be no longer distracted. Wave 12 Enemies: 5x soldiers, 2x zealots, 2x Patriots Blue Ribbon: Defeat all Soldiers and Zealots with Bucking Bronco; followed by Charge Discussion: Self-explanatory, but you really need Charge Aid (for the shield regen) to make this easy to do. Wave 13 Enemies: 15x soldiers [2x w/pistol, 2x w/hand cannon, 5x w/shotgun, 6x w/machine gun] Blue Ribbon: Defeat each enemy with the same weapon-type it wields. Discussion: the Possession trick that worked in Raven's Dome wave 14 doesn't work here. Come in wielding a pistol and hand cannon as you can find a machine gun and shotgun on the first boat. Use Return to Sender to provide you protection while you make sure you're killing the right guys. Careful that friendly fire doesn't get your foes. Wave 14 Enemies: 1x Handyman Blue Ribbon: Defeat the Handyman with a Motorized Patriot tear Discussion: Weaken the Handyman, then bring in the Patriot while constantly disabling the handyman with Murder of Crows. Wave 15 Enemies: 1x Siren plus corposes for soldiers Blue Ribbon: Knock 4 corpses off of Columbia before the Siren can resurrect them. Discussion: At least for me, I completed the challenge as soon as this wave started as a glitch, possibly because other foes I had Undertow-ed away in previous waves were being counted. Anyway, if you don't get this glitch, just run to where the gun ships are appearing and just Undertow the bodies off as they fall. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== Appendix !app- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- History !app,his- 2013.08.15 - v 1.2 (minor) imp,blu-: adding note that pulling someone into a trap via Undertow counts as a trap kill. 2013.08.08 - v 1.1 General copy fixes. Adding a stinger. Changing "other works" to "all works" to simplify my life. imp,blu-: specific advice for "...with/using a different weapon or Vigor..." imp,vig-: more notes. imp,wea-: fleshing out. imp,gea-: new section. are,rav-: not allowed to use anything other than shotgun for wave 11. 2013.08.06 - v 1.0 Initial release. Still missing some data, but important to get out there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All Works !app,all- 1999 Mode Guide (Bioshock Infinite) Clash in the Clouds Guide (Bioshock Infinite: Clash in the Clouds DLC) Heart of Fury Guide (Icewind Dale 2) Party Creation Guide (Baldur's Gate) Party Creation Guide (Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition) Populous II Guide (Populous II) Thief Guide (Baldur's Gate 2) Ultimate Analysis (System Shock 2) Ultimate Oblivion FAQ (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) =============================================================================== =============================================================================== The Stinger! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "In the end, it was music that proved therapeutic and grounded his thoughts. A middle C vibrates at 262 Hz, no matter what the universe." - Rosalind Lutece ===============================================================================


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Dinesh D'Souza is one of a number of people who has made a good living over the years trafficking in anti-liberal screeds, culminating in his book The Roots of Obama's Rage and follow-on film 2016, in which he charges that President Stokely Charmi-excuse me, President Barack Obama is consumed with anti-white racism, hatred of America, and generalized fury because he's living out the "Kenyan anti-colonialism" of the father he barely knew. It's a story pitched to the deranged, but there's a healthy market for that in the right, as we know.
So when D'Souza was charged by a U.S. Attorney with violating campaign finance laws with a straw donor scheme, it wasn't surprising that some conservatives ran to his defense. You might think they'd take the opportunity to attack the law as unjust, particularly since D'Souza's lawyer all but admitted his guilt, essentially saying that sure, he violated the law, but he only did so out of friendship for the candidate in question and not for corrupt purposes ("Simply put, there was no 'quid pro quo' in this case, nor was there even any knowledge by the candidate that Campaign Finance Rules may have been violated. Mr. D'Souza did not act with any corrupt or criminal intent whatsoever. He and the candidate have been friends since their college days, and at worst, this was an act of misguided friendship by D'Souza"). But no.
Instead, you get the conspiracy theories, which Ben Dimiero helpfully gathered here. Matt Drudge tweets, "They are going after the Obama critics with indictments. VA Gov. Now Dinesh D'souza. Holder unleashing the dogs..." Nationally syndicated radio host and frequent Fox news guest host Laura Ingraham says the indictment "is more about stifling political dissent and intimidating other people from speaking out than it is about any real serious allegation of wrongdoing." Rush Limbaugh, the most successful radio host in America, tells his listeners that the Obama administration is "trying to criminalize as many Republicans and conservatives as they can."
To be sure, plenty of conservatives think that's ridiculous. But think about the argument here: Do these folks actually believe that the Attorney General of the United States is sitting around with his aides and says, "I've had enough. That D'Souza? I want him taken down! He's been a thorn in our side for too long." Then he places a call to the White House. "Mr. President? Good news. I think we found a way to get Dinesh D'Souza." "Thank God!" replies Obama. "He could destroy this entire presidency if we don't deal with him."
The answer is, of course they don't think that. But they think their audiences do. They think the people who read their web sites and listen to their radio shows are so stupid that they'd believe there's a conspiracy at the highest levels of the federal government aimed at...Dinesh D'Souza.
The left's media stars may be far from perfect in a variety of ways. But one thing you can say about them as a group is that they don't assume their audience is made up of idiots.


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Intellectual property is often the foundation of emerging enterprises, so owners and managers of many small and growing companies focus their energies and resources on its development and protection. In fact, the balance sheets of many emerging companies show that their intellectual property is their most valuable asset. If competitors were free to copy and use those ideas and inventions, innovators would, in effect, be sacrificing their stock-in-trade. It is, therefore, critically important for companies to take steps to protect customer lists, patents, trademarks, proprietary systems, methods, processes, products and operational techniques. As a first step, every innovator needs to understand the definition of the various legal components of intellectual property.
There are several classifications of intellectual property and correspondingly different legal protections. To determine which legal mechanisms should be protecting your company's intellectual property, consider the following introductory descriptions and make sure to consult the appropriate experts.
Patents. A patent grants an inventor the right to exclude third parties from making, using or selling the subject matter of his or her invention throughout the United States for a defined period of time. Utility patents, which are the most common type of patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), protect new, useful and non-obvious processes, machines, compositions of matter and articles of manufacture for a period of 17 years. Design patents, which stay in effect for 14 years, cover new, original, ornamental and non-obvious designs for articles of manufacture. And plant patents, which USPTO issues for certain new varieties of plants that have been asexually reproduced, are in effect for 17 years.
Trademarks, Servicemarks, and Tradenames. The Lanham Act of 1946 defines a trademark as any word, name, symbol, or device adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify and distinguish its goods from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods. A servicemark serves similar purposes, but it protects the advertising and marketing of services rather than products. A tradename is the name a business or other organization selects to identify itself as a distinct entity. While it's true that some companies do use their tradenames as trademarks or servicemarks, it's important to treat the two varieties of intellectual property differently. A company cannot assume that its name has automatically acquired trademark or servicemark rights simply because it has been offering its goods or services under its particular company name. Tradename protection, which lasts 10 years, is granted by the USPTO.
Copyrights. Copyright protection is available to authors of original literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other intellectual works that are fixed in any tangible medium of expression. In most cases, the owner of a copyright from the USPTO has the exclusive right to or authorize others to reproduce and/or prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform or display the copyrighted work, during the author's lifetime, plus 50 years. For more detailed information on this topic, read the article in this series entitled, "Copyright Law: A Strategic Primer."
Trade Secrets. A company's tradesecrets may comprise any information that it treats as confidential and proprietary and uses to give it an advantage over competitors. Rather than securing trade secret protection from a government agency, a company must define the scope of its trade secrets through its contractual and fiduciary relationships with its suppliers and customers.


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(CNN) -- Greg Zanis' 26,275 crosses have been seen at nearly every national tragedy since Columbine. Now, five more stand in his hometown.
He knew something was wrong when dozens of law enforcement vehicles, sirens screaming, rocketed by his Aurora, Illinois, house on Friday afternoon. About 15 minutes later, Zanis' daughter called saying there was an active shooter.
Police say Gary Martin, 45, opened fire at Henry Pratt Co., killing five colleagues and wounding five police officers and a fellow worker.
"I guess I never thought it could possibly happen here," Zanis says solemnly.
Most Americans probably don't know his name, but many have has seen Greg Zanis' work — painted crosses with victims' name enscribed on them — erected after a national tragedy.
Each one takes about an hour to make.
"My simple message is just that heart on the cross," he says. "Love your brother, love your neighbor. Don't judge them. Life isn't that complicated. Hate and revenge is."
He's made crosses for nearly every national tragedy since Columbine
One year and one day before the shooting in Aurora, Zanis quietly constructed and installed 17 crosses at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
When there is tragedy Zanis slips in, often unnoticed to many, to help Americans make sense of the what's happened.
He can't do that here. Everyone in Aurora knows him and his work.
The Boston Bombing. The Church of Life shooting. The Sikh temple shooting. Thousand Oaks shooting. Las Vegas shooting. Southerland Springs, Texas, shooting.
In the aftermath, Zanis is there.
Last year, he also drove crosses to Paradise, California, for the wildfire victims and met with 50 families. On the drive back, after his work was done, he had two days to unwind and calm down.
"There is no peace to have that drive," he says of the Aurora shooting. "I can walk over there."
The toughest crosses he's made yet
Friday night, hours after the shooting, he was already meeting with families who were asking him to make crosses for their loved ones.
They just sat there and stared at each other.
"They wanted me to go and put the memorials up," he says. And Zanis did, installing the crosses, their names not yet written on them.
Zanis was at the press conference on Saturday when the victims names were announced:
Clayton Parks of Elgin, Illinois, a human resources manager; Trevor Wehner of Sheridan, Illinois, a human resources intern and a student at Northern Illinois University; Russell Beyer of Yorkville, Illinois, a mold operator; Vicente Juarez of Oswego, Illinois, a stock room attendant and fork lift operator; and Josh Pinkard of Oswego, Illinois, a plant manager.
As soon as Zanis got the names he left the press conference, crafting the hearts, enscribing the names onto them and placing them on the crosses already at the vigil site.
"They're the toughest that I've ever made," he says.
Working through the night on the crosses, Zanis says he still hasn't slept and doesn't think he will for another 24 hours. The crosses are up but his work isn't done.
More work needs to be done, and he's busy organizing vigils for the families and organizing a march to thank the police officers wounded in the shooting.


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21 Nights | Europe
About Livorno, Italy
You will visit the following 15 places:
Katakolon, or Katakolo is a seaside town in the municipality of Pyrgos in western Elis, Greece. It is situated on a headland overlooking the Ionian Sea and separating the Gulf of Kyparissia from the rest of the Ionian. It is 11 km west of downtown Pyrgos. The small village of Agios Andreas, which in ancient times was the natural harbour for Ancient Olympia, lies northwest of Katakolo. A railway connects Katakolo with Pyrgos and Olympia, but along with the rest of the rail network in the Peloponnese, services have been suspended since 2011 for economic reasons.
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of land area and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the South Aegean administrative region. It is located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens and just off the Anatolian coast of Turkey. Rhodes' nickname is The island of the Knights, named after the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who once conquered the land. Historically, Rhodes was famous worldwide for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Medieval Old Town of the City of Rhodes has been declared a World Heritage Site. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.
Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island spans an area of 85.5 km2 (33 sq mi) and rises to an elevation of 341 m (1,119 ft) at its highest point. The island is composed primarily of granite. It has little natural fresh water and relies on the desalination of sea water in order to meet the needs of its population. There are 9,320 inhabitants (2001) most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, also known as Chora, which lies on the west coast. Mykonos is one of the most cosmopolitan islands in Greece, known for its diverse and intense nightlife as evidenced by a vast number of bars and nightclubs. Mykonos is also known for its beaches. The island has an international airport, and is a frequent destination for cruise ships.
Naples is a city in Italy; it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. Known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music, and gastronomy, Naples has played an important role in the Italian peninsula and beyond for much of its existence, which began more than 2,800 years ago. Situated on the west coast of Italy by the Gulf of Naples, the city is located halfway between two volcanic areas, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and Turin. It is the world's 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, and has the world's second-highest level of passenger flow, after the port of Hong Kong. The city has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta and the Roman ruins ofPompeii and Herculaneum. Culinarily, it is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city.
Málaga is a large city in the southern Spanish region of Andalucia and capital of the Malaga Province. The largest city on the Costa del Sol, Malaga has a typical Mediterranean climate and is also known as the birthplace of famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The city offers beaches, hiking, architectural sites, art museums, excellent shopping and cuisine. While more laid back than Madrid or Barcelona, Malaga is still the center and transport hub for the hugely popular Costa del Sol region, which is flooded with tourists in the summer, and the city has certainly cashed in on the sun and sand, with lots of new construction as well as hotels and facilities geared to tourists. However, Malaga also offers some genuinely interesting historical and cultural attractions in its old city and its setting on the coast is still beautiful.
Marseille, known in antiquity as Massalia, is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of 240.62 km2. The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of 1,204 km2. 1,530,000 or 1,601,095 people live in the Marseille metropolitan area. Located on the southeast coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, Marseille is France's largest commercial port and largest French city on the Mediterranean coast. Marseille is the capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, as well as the capital of the Bouches-du-Rhône department. Its inhabitants are called Marseillais.
Barcelona – Spain's enchanting capital, second largest and most populous city. It is a huge city that vibrates with life, and there's certainly not another city in the country to touch it for its sheer style, looks or energy. It is one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair and cultural centers, and its influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Barcelona is home to masterpieces of many great architects – the most famous of which is Antoni Gaudí.
Livorno is an Italian port city on the Ligurian Sea, on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. Traditionally been known in English as Leghorn, it's known for its seafood, Renaissance-era fortifications and modern harbor with a cruise ship port.
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica periphery and it is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. The city is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely because of its cultural and political impact on the European continent and in particular the Romans. In modern times, Athens is a large cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime, political and cultural life in Greece. Its compact downtown, north of campus, is alive with clubs, bars, restaurants, galleries and – of course – record stores; Broad Street in particular is lined with arty shops.
Santorini Airport
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo, officially refers to an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Monaco has four traditional quarters - from west to east they are: Fontvieille (the newest), Monaco-Ville (the oldest), La Condamine, and Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo (literally "Mount Charles") is situated on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps along the French Riviera. Near the western end of the quarter is the world-famous Place du Casino, the gambling center which has made Monte Carlo "an international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth". It is also the location of the Hôtel de Paris, the Café de Paris, and the Salle Garnier (the casino theatre which is the home of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo).
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a majornaval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. The metropolitan area of Cartagena, known as Campo de Cartagena, has a population of 409,586 inhabitants. Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC by the Carthaginian Hasdrubal the Fair as Qart Hadasht, the same name as the original city of Carthage. Much of the historical weight of Cartagena in the past goes to its coveted defensive port, one of the most important in the western Mediterranean. As far back as the 16th century it was one of the most important naval ports in Spain, together with Ferrol in the North. It is still an important naval seaport, the main military haven of Spain, and is home to a large naval shipyard. The confluence of civilizations as well as its strategic harbour, together with the rise of the local mining industry is manifested by a unique artistic heritage, with a number of landmarks such as the Roman Theatre, the second largest of the Iberian Peninsulaafter the one in Mérida, an abundance of Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine and Moorish remains, and a plethora of Art Nouveaubuildings, a result of the bourgeoisie from the early 20th century. Cartagena is now established as a major cruise ship destination in the Mediterranean and an emerging cultural focus. It is the first of a number of cities that eventually have been named Cartagena, most notably Cartagena de Indias (Cartagena of the Indies) in Colombia.
Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, the name ''Civitavecchia'' means "ancient town". The modern city was built over a pre-existing Etruscan settlement. The massive Forte Michelangelo was first commissioned from Donato Bramante by Pope Julius II, to defend the port of Rome. The upper part of the "maschio" tower, however, was designed by Michelangelo, whose name is generally applied to the fortress. North of the city at Ficoncella are the Terme Taurine baths frequented by Romans and still popular with the Civitavecchiesi. The modern name stems from the common fig plants among the various pools. And also next to the town is the location of the cruise ship docks. All major cruise lines start and end their cruises at this location, and others stop for shore excursion days that allow guests to see Rome and Vatican sights, which are ninety minutes away.