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Truck Crash Releases 14 Million Angry Bees, And Honey, On Highway
The weekend did not end well for fire and police personnel near Island Park, Idaho, where 14 million bees went berserk after a semi wrecked on a highway Sunday afternoon. The truck was carrying more than 400 hives; crews didn't finish cleaning what was called a river of honey off the road until late Monday.
The bees swarmed in black clouds that kept the truck driver and rescue personnel in their vehicles until they could put on protective gear. In the end, it seems that many of the bees were killed after being sprayed by firefighting foam.
But while workers were being stung as they tried to clean up U.S. Highway 20, Fire Chief Kenny Strandberg worried about another problem.
"I am worried about the bears coming down now — the grizzly bears," he said.
The load of bees and honey was headed from California to Minot, N.D. And according to local TV station KIFI (Local News 8), "It is not unusual for semi-trucks with bees to travel U.S. Highway 20. Strandberg said about three or four trucks come through every week."
KIFI reports that the bees have a street value of three cents apiece, meaning that an estimated $400,000 worth of insects were lost in the crash.
KIFI sent a Local News 8 reporter to the scene; the resulting piece seems to have been filed under a state of extreme duress, as one roadside "standup" shot devolved into hair-flailing acts of self-preservation before she could speak. You can watch the video. But it should be noted that it's not easy to film bees on the best of days, let alone when they're rampaging along a rural highway that's also likely to become a gathering point for grizzly bears.
For any conspiracy theorists out there, who may be wondering why millions of bees are routinely being transported on America's highways, on shadowy semis bound for the Dakotas — check out the entry on bees at the X-Files Wiki.


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Take a few moments and watch this 3 axis rotating LED light display fire up. The final effect of being an RGB glowing ball is nice, but we're fascinated with the structure. There are tons of great detailed pictures of the assembly on the forum thread to feast your eyes on. Just getting power to the LEDs was a feat, he passes their power through 6 slip contacts. Parts were pulled from an old VCR and some old fans.
[via HackedGadgets]

subset: commoncrawl


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Holt, Peter | |
DAVIES, R - Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) | |
DEWULF, J - Ghent University | |
Gast, Richard | |
HUWE, J - North Dakota Department Of Agriculture | |
Jones, Deana | |
WALTMAN, D - Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network | |
WILLIAN, K - Tuskegee University |
Submitted to: Proceedings of Iowa Egg Symposium
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 11/5/2010 Publication Date: 11/10/2010 Citation: Holt, P.S., Davies, R.H., Dewulf, J., Gast, R.K., Huwe, J.K., Jones, D.R., Waltman, D., Willian, K.R. 2010. The Impact of Different Housing Systems on Egg Safety and Quality. Proceedings of Iowa Egg Symposium. Proceedings of the Iowa Egg Industry Symposium, November 10, 2010, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: A move from conventional cages to either an enriched cage or a noncage system may affect the safety and/or quality of the eggs laid by hens raised in this new environment. The safety of the eggs may be altered either microbiologically through contamination of internal contents with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. enteritidis) and/or other pathogens, or chemically due to contamination of internal contents with dioxins, pesticides, or heavy metals. Quality may be affected through changes in the integrity of the shell, yolk, or albumen along with changes in function, composition or nutrition. Season, hen breed, flock age, and flock disease/vaccination status also interact to affect egg safety and quality and must be taken into account. An understanding of these different effects is prudent before any large scale move to an alternative housing system is undertaken. |


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I've been told by native speakers that the former refers to little dogs while the latter is for bigger dogs. I also have been told that the latter has a negative connotation. I'm wondering:
- how negative is the meaning of 一条狗?
- is one used by speakers of a certain age or from a certain region?


text: Ithaca Sports makes every effort to ship all orders within 24 hours, however delivery times may vary based on mail volume and destination. Only Overnight, 2nd Day, & 3rd Day shipping options are guaranteed to arrive by a certain date. Please verify that your shipping address is current and correct; we are not responsible for packages that are lost or late due to address inaccuracies. Standard Shipping Times ECONOMY – 5 – 7 business days EXPEDITED – 3 - 6 business days 3RD DAY - 3 business days * 2ND DAY – 2 business days * NEXT DAY – 1 business day * *Orders must be placed by 3 p.m. Eastern for same-day processing. All orders placed after 3 p.m. Eastern will be processed and shipped on the following business day. Next Day and 2nd Day orders will not ship out or arrive on Saturday or Sunday. Next Day orders placed before 3 p.m. on Friday will arrive on Monday, Next Day orders placed after 3 p.m. on Friday will arrive on Tuesday. Saturday delivery options are available for an additional fee – please call 1800.716.9382 for rates. Holidays, even if on a weekday, are not considered a business day and will not count in shipping times. Exceptions to Standard Shipping Times APO/FPO – There is no additional fee for APO or FPO addresses, however shipping times are not guaranteed and are limited to Economy and Expedited options. Please call 1800.716.9382 to place an Expedited order to an APO/FPO address. Due to Federal regulations, aerosol cans cannot be shipped to APOs or FPOs and these items will automatically be cancelled out of any orders. AEROSOL CANS – Due to Federal Aviation Administration regulations, these items cannot be shipped via air and so must be shipped via ground transportation. Economy shipping on these items can take up to 12 business days. All upgraded shipping options will be sent via FedEx Ground and will arrive in 2-6 business days. PO BOXES/ RURAL ADDRESSES – Orders may be shipped via either USPS or FedEx at our discretion. Please indicate in the Comments section if the address you provided will not be valid with one of these carriers and provide an alternate address if applicable. BACKORDERS – In the rare event that an item is on backorder or unavailable, customers will be contacted immediately. SHIPPING REFUNDS - Next Day, Second Day and Third day guarantee shipping costs will be refunded only if the shipper or the carrier is at fault for the delay. Shipping costs will not be refunded when the delay is due to weather or an address exception. |


text:
Seoul hopes Kim's China trip leads to 2nd Kim-Trump summit
BEIJING (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was expected to meet Tuesday with China's president at the start of a visit to Beijing believed to be an effort to coordinate with his only major ally ahead of a possible second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kim's trip, announced earlier by both sides, comes after U.S. and North Korean officials are thought to have met in Vietnam to discuss the site of a second summit.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang gave no details about Kim's schedule or China's role as an intermediary between the U.S. and North Korea. But he said Beijing remains supportive of efforts to end tensions over U.S. demands for a halt to North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
"We always believe that, as key parties to the Korean Peninsula issue, it's important for the two sides to maintain contact and we always support their dialogue to achieve positive outcomes," Lu told reporters at a daily briefing.
He said further information about Kim's activities, the outcome of his meetings and a possible visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to North Korea would be "released in due course."
A long motorcade thought to be carrying Kim, including motorcycle outriders reserved for state leaders, left a Beijing train station shortly after the arrival of an armored train consisting of 20 to 25 cars — most of whose windows were blacked-out — along tracks lined by police and paramilitary troops.
The North's Korean Central News Agency said Kim departed Monday afternoon with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, and other top officials. It said Kim is visiting China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Tuesday also happens to be Kim's birthday.
Kim is expected to stay at the highly secure Diaoyutai State Guest House in the capital's west, with meetings held at the Great Hall of the People, the hulking seat of the legislature that sits next to Tiananmen Square.
The trip marked a break with past practice in that it was announced in advance of Kim's arrival, a possible sign of growing confidence on the part of North Korea and China, the North's most important trading partner and a key buffer against pressure from Washington.
After years of cool relations following Kim's assumption of power 2011, ties have improved remarkably over the past year as Xi seeks to maintain his influence in the region.
Kim's trip comes as the U.S. and North Korea look to settle the North's decades-long pursuit of a nuclear arsenal.
The U.S. and North Korea seemed close to war at points during 2017 as the North staged a series of increasingly powerful weapons tests that brought it closer to its nuclear goal of one day being able to target anywhere on the U.S. mainland.
Possibly fearing the economic effect of crushing outside sanctions imposed over his weapons tests, Kim abruptly turned to diplomacy with Seoul and Washington last year. He also visited China three times, notably without a reciprocal visit from Xi in a break with diplomatic convention.
But even after what was seen as a blockbuster summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore last June — the first ever between the leaders of the war enemies — there's been little real progress in nuclear disarmament.
Washington is pressing North Korea to offer up a detailed accounting of its nuclear arsenal, while the North says it has already done enough and it's time for the U.S. to ease the harsh international sanctions that hold back the North Korean economy.
South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Tuesday that Seoul hopes Kim's trip to China will act as a "stepping stone" for a second Trump-Kim summit.
Trump has offered assurances that another summit will allow him and Kim to make a grand deal to settle the nuclear standoff and change a relationship marked by decades of animosity and mistrust.
However, outside analysts are highly skeptical that North Korea will easily abandon a nuclear arsenal constructed in the face of deep poverty and likely seen by Kim as his only guarantee of regime survival.
Instead, Kim may be seeking to gauge China's attitude toward sanctions ahead of the talks, including what North Korea would have to concede in order to win Beijing's support at the U.N.
China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has agreed to several rounds of punishing economic sanctions against the North. However, Xi has called on the sides to "meet each other halfway," and China's foreign minister in September urged some form of sanctions relief in response to any positive outcomes from the first Kim-Trump summit.
North Korea has held off on additional nuclear weapons and missile tests for more than a year, possibly in response to China's displeasure, while carrying out its new diplomatic offensive.
"The two leaders will further communicate over the issue of sanctions to further refine their previously general and vague attitudes," said Cheng Xiaohe, professor at Renmin University's School of International Studies in Beijing.
"It is impossible to see the cancellation of all sanctions, but what kind of sanctions can be canceled and what are China and North Korea's views on that will be discussed," Cheng said.
Trump has pushed heavily for Chinese support in convincing North Korea to give up its weapons programs, suggesting that could win Beijing better terms in a trade deal with Washington.
Kim's arrival in Beijing coincides with U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing that seek to end the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies ahead of a March deadline.
Asked whether China was linking the two issues in an interview Monday with CNBC, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "The Chinese have been very clear to us that these are separate issues."
"Their behavior has demonstrated that as well and we appreciate that," Pompeo said. "China has actually been a good partner in our efforts to reduce the risk to the world from North Korea's nuclear capability. I expect they will continue to do so."
Lu echoed those sentiments in his response to a similar question, saying trade talks and the North Korean issues are "not the same thing."
"Our positions on the trade talks are very consistent and clear and we don't need any other techniques to help the U.S. to get our message."
Associated Press writers Foster Klug and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.


text: Battlefield Bad Company 2 ********************************************************************** Title: Battlefield Bad Company 2 Date: March 5, 2010 System: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 Author: Adenosine E-mail: NOSPAM@firstname.lastname@example.com (Remove NOSPAM@ to contact me). Version: 1.00 ********************************************************************** History: V 1.00 - March 5, 2010 Table of Contents: Part 1 - Introduction - Preparation Part 2 I. Operation Aurora II. Cold War III. Heart of Darkness IV. Upriver V. Crack The Sky VI. Snowblind VII. Heavy Metal VIII. High Value Target IX. Sangre Del Toro X. No One Gets Left Behind XI. Zero Dark Thirty XII. Force Multiplier XIII. Airborne Part 3 - Copyright Information **************************************************************************** Part 1 **************************************************************************** ------------- Introduction: ------------- Greetings to all and get ready to have loads of fun blowing stuff up! In Battlefield Bad Company 2, we follow the story of four soldiers who somehow always end up doing more than what their original mission required, which usually leads to one hell of an adventure after another. You can say that these four guys are the "Ghostbusters" of the military. Sarge is the leader, the brain of the group. He's much like Egon Spengler in how he analyzes missions and comes up with plans on how to achieve objectives. Haggard is the badass loudmouth of the group, much like Peter Venkman, but he can back up what he says. Sweetwater is a bit like Ray Stantz, he knows how to make technology work for the group's advantage. Finally, Marlowe, the character you play as, is like Winston Zeddmore. He's the "concentrate on the job" type of guy. Of course, hilarity in the line of fire is their trademark. There are a lot of destructible objects in the game, such as huts, vehicles, walls, and more! You can actually use this feature to your advantage. See that enemy soldier sniping your guys from a window? Can't you get a clear shot at him? No problem! Just grab your RPG launcher and blast his hiding place wide open! You can even shoot barrels full of fuel to make them explode! Can't find another way or an escape route? Blast some walls down with a grenade or RPG! There's so many ways to take care of business in this game! I'm writing this FAQ based on the PC version of this game, but it should be the same for all platforms, have fun! ------------ Preparation: ------------ Before heading right into the game to blow stuff up, make sure you check the configuration of your controls. The last thing you want to happen is to keep pressing a key or button that wouldn't work, especially for the PC version of this game (which is what I'm basing this FAQ on). Another thing to consider when playing the PC version of this game is the graphical setting. This game is actually well optimized for the PC that even a computer built in 2007 (Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.6 to 2.9 GHz, ATI Radeon 2600 XT, 2 GIGs RAM), can still play this game at HIGH settings except for having the Shadows set to Low. For the PC version of the game, also make sure to download the patch they released on the first day that this game was made available, its purpose was to optimize the game for dual cores and also included some extra maps to play in. After you've made sure that the controls are configured to your liking and the graphical settings are what you think will be good on your system, then it's time to blow things up! **************************************************************************** Part 2 **************************************************************************** ------------------- I. Operation Aurora ------------------- This mission takes place in the past and you're part of another group on a mission to save a Japanese scientist. Unfortunately, as you make your way to land, Japanese soldiers spot you and you're forced to dive into the water for safety. The game then gives you control. Move forward and crouch to get past the tree. Use the knife on the poor Japanese soldier while one of your buddies drowns the other. Continue on and you'll be given firearms. Keep moving and watch the beautiful way that one of the structures gets destroyed. Your group decides to split up and you have to go through the trenches. As you move along, a Japanese soldier jumps in front of your buddy! Bad move, as the Japanese soldier gets shoved to the ground and splattered with bullets. Keep moving. There will be four Japanese soldiers who seem to be taking it easy in the next area. Remind them of their mistake and fill them with bullets! Move on. *************************************************************************** At this point of the game, you will realize that you can pick up guns dropped by the enemies. Simply walk to the dropped gun and you will see a prompt that will tell you which key/button to press in order to pick it up. If the gun is the same as one of yours, then the ammo will simply be added to your gun. Guns that you pick up are "unlocked" and will be available for you to pick whenever a weapons crate is around, so be sure to pick up at least once each weapon that you see. *************************************************************************** On the next area, four more Japanese soldiers will be waiting for you, this time they're alert! Finish them off and continue. You will stumble upon Japanese soldiers having a meeting. Go ahead and disrupt their meeting by shooting through them. Move ahead and your buddies will lower a rope for you to climb. Continue on and make your way through the field. Ooops! A bunch of Japanese soldiers and tanks will parade in front of you. Fortunately, help will arrive and blow the crap out of the tanks, leaving only a few soldiers behind to kill. Clean the place up and continue forward and then across the bridge. You finally meet the scientist that you're supposed to save, unfortunately, escape seems to be tougher than first imagined! Continue on and you'll find that there's a jeep that you can steal from one of the Japanese camps. Move forward, and from where your guys are hiding, look behind the enemy soldiers in front of you. There is a large red fuel tank waiting for you to blow it up! Shoot the big red fuel tank and the building near it will collapse, taking out whoever was inside it or near it. Now you only have a few soldiers to deal with! Take out the remaining soldiers and continue into the base following your way to the jeep. Near the jeep, some more enemy soldiers will show up. Dispose of them and ride the jeep. You'll now be in control of the jeep's big gun! This is just a fun ride, so feel free to shoot anything in your way. Make sure to blast the fuel tanks that you find and the enemy jeeps that are in your way. You will arrive at your destination after a minute or two. Get out of your vehicle and continue on to your objective. Shoot the enemy soldiers that appear in your way, be careful of the machine gunner! Upon reaching the door, one of your buddies will hold out a C4 that you can use to blow up the door. Go near your buddy to grab the C4 and place it on the door. Move away and blow it up! Go inside and watch as the submarine docking area gets destroyed bit by bit as war continues outside. Continue on to your objective, but be careful of the enemy soldiers that will appear from time to time. Get on the sub to finally make your escape! ------------ II. Cold War ------------ Now you're back to the present. The mission starts out with your group avoiding a mine field accident and spotting some enemy soldiers who will get in your way later on. The group decides to take care of them as soon as possible. Follow your team and you will prepare to ambush the enemies. Don't waste your bullets as they will hit four of them, one of the enemies will try to escape, he's the one you should kill. After taking them out, follow your team to the next area and you will see your contact get killed by the bad guy! Sadly, you can't do a thing to prevent it, maybe you can just exact your revenge later on for your fallen comrade. After simmering the fark down as Sarge suggested, follow them to the next area. You'll be on the side of a building. In the middle of the road is an enemy vehicle with a machine gun on top. There are also some soldiers in front of it. While still crouching, hide behind the block of concrete on the side of the building where you have a view of the enemy vehicle and the approaching soldiers. Throw a grenade at the soldiers, and get ready to snipe the soldier who is manning the machine gun! You have to be quick about this because that machine gunner will give you some problem if you don't take him out quickly. Another alternative to solving this problem is to take out the machine gunner first. The only problem is that the three soldiers in front will quickly find cover and you will have to deal with them separately instead of just getting rid of all of them with one grenade. After taking out the three soldiers and the machine gunner, the action isn't over yet! Make your way near the enemy vehicle and use it as cover. There are more enemies who are now alert to your presence. While still using the vehicle as cover, take out the machine gunner in the building in front of you. The place where he was is a frequent place where new soldiers will go to, unfortunately for them, you are good at sniping their exposed heads! After taking out around three soldiers near the building in front of you, it's time to move away from the vehicle you're using as a cover and move to the left, where you can use the stairs as cover. While behind the stairs, you will have a good view of the action on the other side. Be careful, after a little while, an RPG launcher carrying guy will appear on the second floor of the building in front of you! Take him out quickly! Don't worry, one of your buddies will alert you when he's there, so be sure to take him out fast. Once the RPG guy has been taken care of, go up the stairs and join one of your buddies behind the fence and take cover. From here, you might be able to have a good view of the head of one enemy soldier. Kill him. If you can't see any more enemies, jump over the bags to the left of the stairs and make your way to the side of the yellow house. From there, you might spot another enemy unaware of your presence. Take him out. *************************************************************************** You might notice that a lot of buildings are destructible, especially when an RPG hits a wall. You have the option of entering buildings by finding a way in. Most of the time, you can simply walk up to a building's door, and use your KNIFE to slash the door open! Unbelievable, but it works and it saves ammo that you can use to pop more enemy heads. *************************************************************************** While still on the side of the yellow house, find its door. Use your knife to slash the door open. Now you can use the windows to find more targets. Just be careful, bullets can actually pass through walls now! Go to the window near the left facing the street. You'll notice that there is a bus with enemies inside them! No wonder your buddies are having a hard time hitting them! From your spot, you can easily take them out! Just be quick before they notice where you are. There are around four to six of them inside that bus. The smoke might hinder your view so be careful. After taking out the soldiers in the bus, there is a machine gunner stationed on the wall near the bus. Take him out as well. Once all soldiers are dead, Sarge will tell you to move to the next area, so follow them. **************************************************************************** You'll notice on your map that there are bullet icons. These are ammo supplies for you. Just touch the ammo supply box and all of your ammo will be replenished. You can repeat it as much as you need. This is very useful especially if you are fond of throwing grenades at enemies or using the RPG to blow stuff up! **************************************************************************** Once you are inside the building where Sarge and the group went, quickly touch the ammo supply box to replenish your ammo. Instead of staying in that house, get out to the back from where you came from! That house is dangerous and is prone to being blasted to bits! Once you are outside behind the house, make your way to the wrecked bus that the bad guys were using as cover. You'll notice that there's a stone on the left side of it. Get on the stone and you'll notice that you have a good view of the action in front! Enemies won't see you yet, now's your chance to snipe them from your position. The bus also acts as cover for you so you'll be safe. After killing around two soldiers, you can go back into the building and try to find more targets. If you get in trouble, simply run back outside behind the building and use the bus as cover. Don't forget that you can use the ammo supply box as many times as you need, so don't be afraid to throw lots of grenades where you think the enemies are hiding! An alternative to dealing with this situation is to spam grenades at the building in front of your ammo supply box. Blow up the walls that enemies are using for cover and you'll have an easier time shooting them, or killing them with the blast! Once all enemies are dead, an enemy tank will arrive! You have no means of taking it out, so you'll need the help of an airstrike. Unfortunately, you need to wait for a minute before they'll be ready to help you! The best way to deal with this waiting is by running back outside behind the building you're in and use the bus as cover. You'll be safe until you can call in the airstrike on the tank. Once the airstrike is ready, just go up the stairs to the building where the ammo supply box is and use your binoculars to spot the tank. Choose it as a target and get ready to watch some awesome fireworks and a poor splattered enemy soldier! Be sure to pick up the weapons that the enemies have dropped just to be sure you "unlock" new ones. Move forward to the next position, but wait! Don't go near your buddies yet. Look at the building in front of you. There's a machine gun area! For sure enemies can use them to kill you! You'll also notice that there's a white fuel tank below it. Shoot the white fuel tank to get rid of this potential problem in a nice explosion! After blowing up that place, move forward. Your buddies will yell that there's a machine gun in that house, fortunately you already took it out so that's not an issue anymore. Move forward and you'll find another ammo box. Feel free to replenish your stuff. Continue on the way and another ambush happens! Use the bath tub as cover and blow stuff up with your grenades! **************************************************************************** From time to time you will encounter vehicles that you can ride. Just walk up to a vehicle and press the ride key/button. Sometimes, riding a vehicle can be beneficial to you, other times, it can leave you a sitting duck to the enemies to blast. **************************************************************************** Follow the path and more enemies will show up. Take out the enemies in front of you and enter the house on the left. You'll notice that there is a window if you walk up the stairs inside the house. Use that window to spot and kill enemies who are still not aware of your position. Also, there is a machine gunner area that you can see from that window. Throw a grenade to blast it so that it won't be a problem to you anymore, then kill the nearby enemies. As soon as you take out the machine gunner area, quickly leave the building because there is at least one RPG guy who will blast that house wide open if you stay there for too long. Regroup with the rest of the guys and scope out the area to figure out where the enemy fire is coming from. One way to deal with this situation is to hide behind the stairs outside of the house you just went in. It will shield you against RPGs, and as the house is getting more destroyed, you will have a better view of what's up ahead. You'll be able to snipe a few more enemies, but just be careful of the RPG guy. After killing everyone, see if there are any new weapons for you to pick up which can be useful later. Be sure you have at least one weapon that has a grenade launcher feature because you'll be needing it for the next part. Don't forget to replenish your ammo and grenades by going to the nearest ammo supply box. After finishing your preparation, you can now head to the next objective, which is to ride behind a truck. This is another fun vehicle part, and all you have to do is shoot all the soldiers and vehicles that are chasing you. Be careful of the RPG guy who's on a quadbike! Take him out fast! The next part of this vehicle segment involves armored vehicles chasing you with machine guns on the roof. This is where you get to use your grenade launcher. Shoot them with grenades to get rid of the armored vehicles. Get rid of all the armored vehicles chasing you and a helicopter will be the next one to chase you! It's hard to hit so wait until you are passing through a tunnel and the helicopter comes after you. Unload your grenades at it and watch the explosion! After the crash, you'll discover some kind of a secret weapon that the enemy's been building. Unfortunately for your group, this means you have a new mission on your hands which you didn't want in the first place. You still take it anyway as if you have any other choice. ---------------------- III. Heart of Darkness ---------------------- Your team now has to find Aguire who has more information about the secret weapon that's being built. Unfortunately, he's also deep into enemy territory. As you and your team fly over the beautiful jungles, you get to know Flynn, the hippie pilot also known as Ghost Rider. A lone RPG guy shoots a rocket at you, but Flynn's piloting skills (with a little bit of help from a magic herb most likely) is able to maneuver you to safety. Make your way forward and you'll discover what seems to be an abandoned camp. Continue on and the group will investigate a house where Aguire used to be. He can't be found anywhere, but Sarge finds a clue as to where Aguire might have gone, unfortunately, some enemy soldiers are also approaching. Take out the two soldiers in front of you from the window once they are closer. Next, go to the window on the right and you'll see two more bad guys approaching, take them out quick because they know you're in there. Head back to the middle window and help the guys take out any more enemies that are showing up. After you get rid of the enemies, go replenish your ammo on the ammo supply box inside the house. An enemy boat will show up and will bomb you all to hell. In order to fight it, you need something that can blow it up, like an RPG launcher. Run to the house in front of you and on its side you will find an RPG launcher. Grab it and run back to where the rest of the guys are. You'll notice that to the side of the house where the guys are is a flipped boat. Get behind it and wait for the enemy boat to pass by. When it's near, fire your RPG on it to make it go boom! Don't worry if you fail this part a few times, it's really tricky, especially when the enemy moves fast and they can bomb you where you are. Taking them out quick is the best way to finish this part. This is probably one of the hardest parts of the game where you'll have to try a few times just to get it right. After you have dealt with the enemy boat, go back to the ammo supply box to replenish. You might want to pick up the weapon that you dropped just to be able to pick up the RPG, since we won't be using it as much yet. You can keep the RPG if you want, just make sure you have at least one weapon that has the capability of sniping heads from far away. **************************************************************************** There are gun icons on the map, and when you go to its location you will find a certain gun. Pick it up to add it to your collection of weapons. **************************************************************************** Be sure to visit the gun icons on your map to get new stuff, then head to the next objective, which is a boat that you can drive. Ride the boat and head on to the next objective. After some creepy encounters, your boat will not be able to continue anymore because of a rocky area. Get out of your boat and move forward. Be careful, it's an ambush! Quickly shoot the ones that pop up right in front of you while heading back to safety and letting your buddies get into position. Move forward a little and snipe the enemies one by one. Move on and you'll encounter more enemies, keep to the right side where you can use rocks as cover and snipe them out. Sarge will ask Flynn for supplies. Flynn will drop them somewhere, so go to it. Don't forget to check out the gun icon nearby. When you check the weapons crate, you'll notice that every weapon you have picked up will be inside it. It also replenishes your ammo and grenades as an additional feature. Every weapon you take from it will always have a fresh supply of ammo. Anyway, just keep one sniping weapon and you can keep the RPG launcher. Continue on and the bad guys in the houses below will shoot at you. You have a few choices on how to deal with this, but shooting RPGs at them is a lot more fun! You don't have to worry about ammo since you can just go back to the weapon's crate nearby and replenish it, so fire away until you get rid of the bad guys. Move again to the next part and you will ride a boat. Get to your next destination. Another rocky path will block your way. At this point, you have a few choices to deal with the enemies. There's a weapons crate near you, and you can also use the boat to fire bombs at the enemy. Being on the boat will let you fire unlimited bombs at the enemy as well as blowing up their little homes which they use for cover. The problem is that if some of them manage to sneak up from the side, you'll be left wide open. If you can quickly take out their homes and the enemies themselves, then use the boat. If not, it's better to get off the boat and snipe them from afar. When you're done, make your way to the left side of this logging area, we're going to ambush whoever is left there. Forget about the two gun icons on the map for now, we can come back later when we're done with the enemy. Keep following the path to the left, and then move into the logging area. You might spot a few soldiers who are still unaware of your presence. Shoot them all! From this position, you can easily take out whoever is trying to use the machine gun. When you're done clearing the area, you can now check out all the gun icons and replenish your ammo. Move to the next area. There are more enemies here. When they become alerted, run back up to the path where you came from. You'll notice that there are logs nearby that you can jump on. Jump on the logs and use it as your sniping spot and kill as many heads as you can, especially the ones located inside the house on the right. After clearing the front area and the house on the right, stick to the right side and enter the house on the right you just cleared. There may still be enemies on the house on the left. You can ambush them from the house on the right with gunfire or with a grenade for an easy kill. Continue moving while sticking to the right. Jump over the rock and crouch so that you will just be outside the next house. Move a little bit forward and around three soldiers will be walking on the side of the house. They won't notice you yet, so quickly kill all of them! Move on to the next objective. ----------- IV. Upriver ----------- There's a soldier in front of you, use the knife to stab him. You will then see the enemies taking a prisoner. You will have to get through this camp, but quietly. Fortunately it is raining, and there is thunder that can soften the sound of a sniper rifle. Scope out the guy in front of you first, and when it thunders, shoot him. Two of your buddies are making their way below, so keep your eye on them. There are some soldiers around that you have to take out, but you can only shoot them when it thunders or else they will be alerted to your presence. When you have finished the job, don't forget to replenish your ammo on the nearby ammo supply box. Follow your buddies to the next area. You will discover that there are trip wires in the next place, so you better keep an eye on the ground! Move forward and there will be another trip wire. Crouch and then you'll be able to cut it. Continue on. Another trip wire is there, cut it once more. Head left and there's another wire to cut. Move forward and you'll be in an area with houses. Check out the ammo boxes and the gun icon. As you check these out, your buddies will get into a fire fight, but by the time you get there, they most likely have already killed the enemies. Move up and follow the guys. You'll find another camp where there are two sniper towers. Take out the two snipers first from where you are standing and let the guys deal with the enemies below for now. Once you have dealt with the snipers, go help them out by sniping some more bad guys. Once the front is clear, go down to the river, but stick to the right where you can use rocks as cover, there will be enemies who want to kill you. As soon as you get down there, the bad guys will appear so start shooting and hiding! After killing around three or four of them, head forward while sticking to the right. Kill some more enemies. Be careful, some of them are smart enough to wait for you from behind the rocks! Once you have cleared them, head up, there's an ammo supply box waiting for you. Move on and the house on the left will blow up, and two enemies will appear. Take them out. Instead of moving forward, head left and follow the path from the recently destroyed house. Some bad guys will be hiding behind the rocks in front, and your buddies will keep them busy. It's time to ambush them! Stick to the left while crouched and move to where the bad guys are. There's around three of them and they still haven't noticed you! Throw a grenade at them! BOOM! End of story! Be sure to replenish your ammo, check the gun icon, then move to the next objective. They are still taking Aguire with them, but the next area seems to be really tricky. Fortunately, there's a weapons crate nearby. Hopefully you have an RPG launcher with you, because you'll be needing it to blow up the covers of the enemy. Move down with your buddies, but find some rocks on the left side of the hill that you can use as cover and a sniping area. Two soldiers are on the bridge, and some more are inside the house in front of you. First thing to do is blow up the front wall of the house with your RPG, that way, they will have no cover even if they survive. Let your buddies deal with the others while you snipe from your spot. Don't be shy to unload your RPG, blow up the house and the enemies won't have a place to hide and your buddies can pick them off easily. Go back to the weapons crate box and replenish your RPGs and ammo if needed. Follow the guys to the next objective. The house with enemies will blow up nicely, and you will be able to continue to the next area. Note that there is an ammo supply box in the recently destroyed house. Move on and there will be another trouble area. Time to blow up some more enemy covers! Grenades are your best friends for now. Quickly strafe to the right to see where the enemies are, and then throw a grenade to the nearest cover they are using. You might be able to take out the enemies on the left side with one grenade. One more problem remains, and that's the machine gun. Strafe to the right again and use a grenade, or you can even try to fire an RPG at it if you're quick enough. When you're done with them, go back to the ammo supply box and replenish your grenades and ammo then follow the guys. Don't forget to check out the gun icon by the way. Instead of following the guys to the center, stick to the right instead while crouched. Enemies will ambush you from the center, but you can ambush them instead while you're on the right side. Continue sticking to the right after you have cleared that area. There will be another ambush. Take out any soldier that you can from your area, but most especially, get rid of the RPG guy as fast as you can because he's the real threat here. Continue on to the next area. Be careful, an armored vehicle with a machine gun is there! Quickly take out the soldier using the machine gun and then take out the two soldiers that come out of the vehicle. Replenish your ammo and move on to the next area. Before entering the gates, move to the right side and you'll notice that there's a crack in the wall. Enter through this crack and you'll find a good sniping spot. The enemies will suddenly show up. Snipe them all, and when you hear machine gun fire, quickly take out the guy who's using it because that's your worst threat. More soldiers will rush in, throw a grenade to get rid of them, especially if they are near the center. Keep an eye and an open ear to the machine gun fire and take the guy out immediately if you hear it. Once the area is clear, move on. Near the next place, you'll find an RPG launcher. There's a good reason why it's here. If you still don't have an RPG launcher with you, now's the time to grab it. In the next area, you'll see Aguire being taken away. An enemy tank crashes through the walls! Use your RPG to blow it up quickly or else you'll have a tough time. Move to the next area and you'll find Aguire being taken away again. This time, you have a hand gun. Use it to shoot the hostage taker in the head. After saving Aguire, he'll be able to share more information to you about the situation, this time, you'll have to take out the weapon in a snowy region. ---------------- V. Crack The Sky ---------------- We find out that your hippie pilot is also a pacifist, so he leaves all the killing to you! Use the helicopter's gun to blow up buildings and the enemies as well, especially those with RPGs! Shoot the fuel tanks and trucks as well to kill more bad guys. Once you have landed on the rooftop, drop down through the hole. Follow the guys and be sure to pick up an RPG for your own use. There's an ammo supply box nearby. Follow the guys and you'll be ambushed by some soldiers. There's a machine gunner as well. Use your RPG to take out the machine gunner first, then snipe the rest. After taking them out, instead of following the guys, climb the stairs. You'll see some enemies sliding down the snow, kill them all before they have a chance to act! From where the enemies slid, there are stairs that you can climb. Use this place as a sniping spot. There's a lot of enemies here. A helicopter will drop some enemies on the roof in front of you so take them out. A few more will be sneaking on the right side. Be careful of the RPG guy in the middle of the place. Keep sniping them until there's no more left then follow the guys. Replenish your ammo and then go into the building where your objective is. There are four enemies here so be careful. After killing them, go to the objective inside the building. After Sweetwater is done tech-talking, it's time to go to your next objective. Don't forget to replenish your ammo and check out the gun icons. You need a vehicle, and it's on the town below. Move on. You'll arrive near a weapons crate. On the roofs of the two houses in front of you are two soldiers. Take both out quickly. The soldiers on the street will be alerted but your guys will take care of them. You can help by sniping them as well. Go inside the first house to your left, the one where you killed the closest soldier on. Inside you will find a ladder that you can use to get to the roof. Use the roof as your sniping spot. One soldier will appear on the street and another machine gunner will be on another roof on the house in front. Go to the next house and climb the ladder inside to get to the roof and start sniping the next soldiers that appear. After they're dead, jump down again and go to the next building's roof. Be careful, the house in front of you will have an RPG guy! Kill him quick and continue to the roof of the next house. You can actually run and jump to the next roof if you time it right, otherwise, just get to the roof by using the ladder inside that house. Continue sniping from the roof. Be careful of the other soldier on the next roof, continue killing the enemies on the street. When you're done, check out the ammo supply box just below the house you're in. After replenishing your ammo, move on to the roof of the next house. Take all enemies out. An armed vehicle will arrive with a machine gun on top. Use your RPG to make the thing explode! Take out all enemy soldiers that show up. One more RPG guy will be on another roof in front of you, kill him fast. When no more enemies are around, replenish your ammo and move on. Ride the jeep. You actually drive this and you can shoot as well at the same time! Drive to the next objective while blowing up all enemies that try to bother you. You might find it better to just concentrate on driving and not aiming the gun to shoot grenades at enemies. Just fire a shot at the enemies who are in front of your jeep. Driving while aiming can cause you more harm than good. The enemy weapon will finally crash, but it wasn't as big as the guys were expecting it to be! Now it's time to gather stuff from it. ------------- VI. Snowblind ------------- Follow the guys, but don't forget to check out the gun icons. Try to get an RPG launcher with you, hopefully you still have one because you'll be using it later. Don't worry, there's a weapons crate nearby. As your team is checking out the fallen enemy weapon, more bad guys arrive! Quickly run to where they are coming from, but get to the roof of the building near the weapons crate and snipe enemies from there. Just beware of the RPG guys that also show up on roofs, take them out quick before they destroy the evidence. More enemies will appear on the street in front of you. Use a grenade to blow them all up in one shot. Another RPG guy pops up on the building to the right, kill him! One more RPG guy pops up on the roof to the left, kill him fast! When the guys start going to the other side, don't forget to replenish your ammo. Get to the roof of the other building and snipe from there. Kill all the guys on the street, but give priority on the RPG guys that appear on the roof in front of you and to the far right. Prevent them from destroying the evidence. A chopper will show up when you're done dealing with the soldiers. If you still don't have an RPG launcher, you can get one from the gun icon in front of the house you're on. Grab it and wait for the helicopter to stop moving around, aim then shoot! The other guys will then try to find a way to get out of the place while Sweetwater and you are assigned to secure the "black box". You suddenly are left alone, but you find the black box, which is actually orange. The next part is very tricky. You can't stay out in the cold for too long before you freeze to death. Follow the flares left behind for you to follow. There's a weapons crate nearby, so grab stuff that you need. Just use a gun that can let you snipe, and one gun that can take out enemies quickly. You don't need the RPG launcher for this part. Move forward and you'll see an enemy walking around. Kill him and quickly enter the house in front of you. You'll notice that the when you're outside, frost will build around your vision. The more frost there is, the closer you are to freezing to death! Entering houses will heat you up. In the house, go up the ladder to the roof. Look around and there will be a soldier looking for you. Snipe him and quickly go back into the house. Go into the closest house nearby and climb the ladder. Look at the other house in front of you. There's a soldier near the window, snipe him. Once he is dead, go into his house. Once you're not so frozen anymore, move to the next house and take out the soldier inside quickly. When you're not cold anymore, go towards the shed going down. You'll find some explosive barrels. Shoot one to create fire and warm yourself. From the fire you just created by shooting the barrels, look towards the house below. There are two soldiers nearby. Snipe them out. Rush to the house to keep warm. You will hear some radio chatter from soldiers. Go to the roof and find two enemy soldiers near the next house below. Rush to the house near where you just killed the two soldiers. Once you are warm again, continue following the path. You'll see the flare and you'll know where to go. Go inside the house nearest to the flare. Be careful, some soldiers are walking around. Go up to the roof and find the shed with explosive barrels. You'll probably find one hiding behind the wall near the barrels. Kill him. Jump down from the roof and there's another soldier looking for you. Kill him too. Go back into the house to keep warm. Check out what's in front. There's a flare on the house to the left. Rush to that house, but be careful, a soldier on the other house will spot you so take him out quick. Break into the house where the flare is and kill the soldier inside. You can't rest yet, there's another soldier around. Go outside and go into the next house where you shot hopefully killed the soldier who spotted you. Keep warm. Go to the roof and look at the house in front of you. There's a soldier near the window, shoot him in the head. Jump down and go in the house of the soldier you just killed. Go to the roof and look at the next house. You will spot another soldier on the house far away. Kill him. The next closest house to you will also have another soldier, kill him too. Rush to the next closest house to you and go in. Go to the roof and you'll spot a soldier on the balcony of the next house, be careful because he has a machine gun. Kill him. Enter the house that has a machine gun. You'll see that the path continues to a town below. Move forward as soon as you're warm and enter the next closest house. Once you are warm, continue on to the path and you'll see your buddies in a helicopter trying to pick you up, but unfortunately soldiers with RPGs are causing a problem. Kill the RPG guys and follow the path to where they can pick you up. Most enemy soldiers will be focusing on the helicopter, so you can shoot them easily. Continue moving forward and take out any soldiers you find, especially with RPGs. Head straight for the house, but be careful, an enemy soldier will come bursting out of the door! Shoot him! Go inside and another soldier will show up from behind a wall, shoot him! Go up the stairs and climb the ladder so that the helicopter can extract you. ---------------- VII. Heavy Metal ---------------- Cool, you get to blow stuff up again, but this time in a tank! Move ahead and you'll find your first objective to blow up. Puny weapons can't hurt your tank! Go ahead and have fun blowing up the enemies! Blow up the first objective then move to the next. Blow it up again and you'll be driving for a while. In the next area, you'll arrive at a small camp with enemies carrying RPGs! That's bad, keep moving while shooting at them. The closer you are, the easier it is to spot them, but so is the same for you! Just be quick in blowing them up and you'll be fine. After getting rid of the RPG guys, you'll get out of the tank and you'll be controlling a weapon to blow up targets nearby. Use the computer looking station at the objective marker and you'll be able to shoot enemies that are causing problems. The controls used are the ones for controlling helicopters. Find one of the targets and destroy it by choosing it to be the target and guiding a rocket towards it. You can also shoot targets with a machine gun. Be sure to get rid of tanks. After you get rid of all the targets, you'll be back in your tank. Continue on to the next objective. Careful! Enemy tanks will also appear! Blow them up quickly before you get destroyed. Move on. Midway, you'll encounter two tanks trying to sandwich you. Use the building nearby as a quick cover and blow up the first tank to your left. After that go for the tank on the right. Hopefully, the building was able to shield you for a little while. Move on and two more tanks will show up. Blast the one in front of you first, then destroy the one on the left. After that, make a run for the objective marker and forget about the battle raging on! Once you arrive at your destination, quickly run behind the tank and crouch! You'll be under heavy fire! You'll need to specify targets to call in airstrikes. Start with the target on the far right because that's the biggest threat to you and they have RPG guys there. Keep crouching behind the tank and wait until you can call in an airstrike once more. Once you are ready, choose to target the one in the middle. After you blow that one up, choose the target at the bottom. You can actually call in an airstrike on that bottom target while you're crouching behind the tank. Target the last one to blow it up. Your buddies will now get out of the tank. Follow them into the city. One enemy soldier will try to escape and run really quick. Suddenly in the middle of the place, enemies will be firing from windows! From where your buddies are positioned, go inside the building behind them and snipe the enemies who are in the building across. There will be a machine gunner at the top, some snipers will be shooting from the windows, and an RPG guy will appear at the left part of another building's roof. Kill them all, the building might even blow up somehow. Go check out the gun icon and replenish your ammo. Move forward and more enemies will appear on the buildings. Take them all out. There's also a building near the corner that you can enter. You can use this building to easily take out another soldier on the roof of the building to the right. When they're all dead, continue moving. One of the good soldiers will capture an enemy. Fortunately, he easily reveals the location of Kirilenko. ----------------------- VIII. High Value Target ----------------------- You're on an armored vehicle but you have been assigned to handle the machine gun. This is another fun ride. The enemies will ambush you on the bridge, so blow them up! Shoot the barrels and shoot the RPG guys. On the next ambush, the enemies will be shooting from behind you! Aim and fire away! The final ambush will force you out of your vehicle. Keep crouching and you will be able to use your binoculars to call an airstrike on the enemy targets. Now you have to go on foot to get Kirilenko. Just keep moving, but bombs will be arriving too early! Continue on your path, but be careful, enemy soldiers will also be running for their lives, so shoot them down as you see them. Once you are passing through the house, you will see four soldiers running away. Let the four pass, then throw a grenade at them to blow them up in one shot! Continue forward and more soldiers will appear, shoot them all. Keep on moving and kill the three soldiers near the tunnel. Enter the tunnel and kill your would be assassins. After capturing Kirilenko, an explosion rocks you all down, giving Kirilenko the chance to escape. Good thing that you know that the next place you have to visit is Sangre Del Toro. ------------------- IX. Sangre Del Toro ------------------- As the group flies over the desert with their space prophet hippie pilot, they wonder about how to travel in the area. An unfortunate passing pair of enemy soldiers on a jeep suddenly becomes the solution that Flynn suggests. Quickly ride the jeep and head to the objective. Run over the poor enemy soldier because that's the right thing to do. Once you arrive at the objective, you'll have three places to check out in the map. Start out with the objective on the left side. Just follow the path to the left and it'll lead to a mountain area. Once you reach this left area, you will automatically get out of the jeep. Move forward, but be careful since there are enemies around. Look ahead and you'll see two soldiers talking. Kill them and continue forward and head up. Another ambush awaits you. You'll notice that you can get up on the rock on the corner. Go up the rock and move to higher ground. You'll be able to snipe at least two enemy soldiers who are also on top or rocks. Continue forward and you'll find a weapons crate. Be sure to grab one RPG launcher if you don't have one with you. Continue on and there is a path going down. Instead of going down, jump on the rocks to the right just in front of the weapons crate. This is a good sniping area because there are enemies on the rocks in front of you. Shoot them all. Move forward once the enemies are dead. There is an ammo supply box, but be careful because an RPG guy and another sniper will show up on the rocks above. Take out the RPG guy first then the sniper. Replenish your ammo. Move on and one more enemy will be standing on a rock. One of your guys will probably take him out by the time you notice him. Move forward and an RPG guy will be on a rock around the corner, and a sniper as well. Take them both out. You will reach a walled area with some enemies on the top. Take out the enemy at the top, then the one who is just running at the middle area. Stick to the left wall and you'll find one enemy hiding behind the wall. Shoot him as your buddies shoot at the other guy. Another soldier is by the window on the building in front of you, so shoot him from the corner. Once the enemies are dead, go to the objective. More enemies will show up so shoot them. Suddenly, enemy helicopters will arrive as well! You have two weapons you can use to destroy them. First is with your RPG launcher. This is the easiest and safest because you can move around dodging bullets, and then you can just wait for the helicopter to stop moving around and you can fire at it. The second way to deal with the helicopters is with the guided rocket weapons that are in the area. Use that thing but aiming is slow, as well as the rockets. You're gonna get hit a few times using this guided rocket weapon and you'll be stuck in place, that's why it's better to use the RPG for the mobility and quick aim. After destroying the second helicopter, move to the objective and you will then be able to head to the next area. Before you leave, check out the gun icons and be sure to replenish your ammo. When you're done, ride the jeep and head to the objective on the lower right area. Just check your map to see which is the lower right objective, it's the one where there are lots of ammo supply boxes. Once you arrive, move forward. You will see a helicopter flying by. You will be ambushed by soldiers again! Shoot the guys on the bridge, but be careful when passing through the gate, there's more of them! Don't be shy to unload your weapons and grenades on them, there are lots of ammo supply boxes. Move on and you'll find a weapons crate. The RPG isn't really useful in this area, so you might want to get a stronger sniping rifle. Follow the guys to the next area. A helicopter will drop LOTS of enemy soldiers! And some of them have RPGs, now you're in deep crap! This is why you need a better sniping rifle. You have to take them out as fast as you can or they'll out-gun you. Just stay before the hallway that leads to the main battle area because that's your safest place, and you can still snipe a few heads by peeping out of the wall. For every shot you take, simply move back left away from the hallway and you'll be safe. You'll need patience in this part. This is one of the toughest situations in the game! Just keep peeping and taking shots, kill enemies one by one because that's the only way to succeed here. The problem here is that some enemies will be hiding on the left side where you can't snipe. This is where you simply wait them out to position themselves somewhere near the middle area. You will be able to snipe them as they carefully try to walk to the middle area. Once you have thinned out the enemy, then you can join in your buddies in the main battle area hiding behind columns so you can have a better shot of whoever remains. Move on to the next area. Walk up the stairs and quickly shoot the guy in front of you, as well as the explosive barrel. Quickly throw a grenade to the little fortified area to the right side near the wall to blow up whoever is hiding behind it. Quickly rush to that place and hide behind the defensive position. While you're behind that defensive position, be careful because a soldier will use a grappling hook to climb the wall and try to ambush you from behind! Kill him! Continue shooting at the bad guys on the other side. Go to the objective when there's no more enemies left and quickly grab the RPG launcher, another helicopter will show up! Blow it up quick and you'll be able to go to the last objective. Drive to your next destination, but you'll see that there are cars blocking the way! Even before you reach the cars, get out of your vehicle. Snipe the soldier on the building on the left. Take out the RPG guy on the roof of the building in the front. Crouch and look up to the building on the right, there's another sniper waiting, so kill him. Move forward and a soldier will appear on the roof in front of you. Kill him and there's also another one just below him to the left, kill him too. Move forward and go into the white/red building and climb up the stairs. A sniper from a tower is shooting at you. Go look out of the window and snipe him back. Get back down and stick to the right, try to find an RPG guy in one of the blown up buildings, he's on the second floor. Kill him. Continue moving to the next house where there is an ammo supply box. Be careful, there's another tower in front of that area that has a sniper. Kill him. You don't need a rocket launcher for now, so go to the weapons crate near you and exchange the rocket launcher for a regular weapon of your choice. Ride the jeep and don't stop for anything! Just keep driving to your objective even if enemies show up! You finally figured out your last destination! Replenish your ammo and be sure to check out the gun icons. Ride your jeep and drive to your new destination, don't stop for anything! When you arrive, move to the computer that is your objective and use it. You'll now have to find your own way to the objective so ride the bike. Just keep moving forward until you find a bunch of cargo containers blocking your path. Move near the brown cargo container in the middle and go to its right side. Look up and to the left and you'll see an explosive barrel behind more containers. Shoot the explosive barrel to create a path for you! Continue driving to your destination and don't stop even if enemies show up. You're now inside. Move forward and crouch to get to the next area. Keep moving forward and then crouch again to move to the next part. Look to the left and go to the room there. Look right and crouch to get to the next area. Move forward and crouch again and you'll find a bunch of metal that you can jump on to climb. Get to the top and move to the next room. You'll finally find more information about the situation of the secret weapon, and even find one! Now it's time to go home... -------------------------- X. No One Gets Left Behind -------------------------- As you fly above the jungle, your plane gets hit with an RPG! The only piece of the secret weapon's evidence in existence falls, but you save it anyway. Go land somewhere and continue moving forward. Notice that there is a weapons crate nearby. Go to it and grab an RPG as your secondary weapon. Move in to the objective. You'll find your buddy in the house, unfortunately enemies will be coming as well! Snipe the bad guys on the left side, just stay away from the wall because they have RPG launchers. Also, be careful because some bad guys will try to get into the house! If this happens, it'll take too long to snipe them. Just use the knife if they're close or throw a grenade while you're moving away behind the house. Keep sniping them, especially the RPG guys. After you take them all out, a tank arrives! Use your RPG to blow it up. When you're done with the tank and the remaining soldiers, it's time to get a new set of weapons. Check out the gun icon. Keep the RPG and get one weapon of your choice from the weapons crate nearby. Continue on. A house and a shed will be in your way. Two soldiers are stationed in the house, take them out. Replenish your ammo and continue on. You are finally reunited with your buddies! Unfortunately, Flynn, your magical hippie pilot, has been captured! You need to save him first. The camp below you seems to be full of soldiers, luckily you have a weapon crate at your disposal. Grab a strong sniper rifle and start sniping! To the right side is a tower with a soldier, kill him. Others will now be alert of your presence. The tower below in front of the weapons crate will have a soldier, better snipe this place first. There will also be some RPG launching guys, take them out fast! Be sure to check out the middle building, it has a machine gun on top of it, so kill whoever is on that thing. When no more fires are being shot, go down and stick to the right, which is outside the fence. Just keep following the path to the right and you'll reach a sniping tower that you can climb. While you're at the top of the tower, look a little to the right side to the far center of the place. There's a machine gun soldier stationed there. Snipe him out. Look directly in front to the street from the tower near the middle of the place, there's an enemy soldier who is sitting, so kill him. There will be another soldier on the tower near the machine gun soldier you killed, so kill him too. Once there are no more enemies around, get out of that tower, and use your knife to slash open the fence. You can now check out the gun and ammo supply box icons. See that still functional armored vehicle at the center of the place? You can ride it! Ride and drive it all the way forward, then enemies will show up, but turn left and keep heading straight until you can't anymore. You will stop near a weapon crate, which should give you some advantage for this next fight. One of your guys will continue using the machine gun on top of the vehicle, the fight will be easier. After you have cleared this part, continue moving to the objective. You fire your weapon at the visible target who is harassing Flynn, but there's another guy just waiting to slash you! After some struggle, Flynn actually saves your life! Now it's time to find a helicopter to escape! Ride the bike to the next destination while having fun. Upon arrival, there's an ammo supply box that you can use if you have to. Before going to the ammo supply box, crouch and stick to the right. Look at the tower, an RPG guy is climbing it! Snipe him. Two soldiers on the bridge will become alert, take them out! An armored vehicle with a machine gun will show up, kill the machine gun guy! Try not to destroy the vehicle, then hijack it! Drive it near the corner and get out. One of your guys will continue using the machine gun. Find cover and take out the enemy soldiers that appear, especially the machine gun guy on the second armored vehicle that shows up! Move on but a tank appears with some soldiers! Look near it and you'll notice a shiny steel fuel tank. Shoot the fuel tank to blow up all the enemies! Continue moving forward and you'll find a non-functional helicopter, but the guns still do work! Ride the helicopter and blow up the enemies on the other side. When they're all dead, continue on to the next part. Dodge the enemy helicopter's attacks and kill the soldiers on the ground. Continue and you'll find a helicopter that you can use. Kill the two soldiers who try to ambush you and ride the helicopter. Now here comes the tricky part! You're in control of the helicopter's gun, and your job is to kill all the enemies that are firing RPGs at you! This is another one of the toughest parts of the game simply because of the amount of RPG guys you have to deal with, you'll get hit sooner or later and it only takes a few shots for your helicopter to go down. First, when you're on the left side of the helicopter, there's not much to worry about. Keep your eyes on the ground because there will be trucks that are carrying the RPG guys. Blow them up. Check out the bridge, there's an RPG guy, kill him. Still on the left side, there will be four bike riders with RPG guys behind. Blow them all up. Now you're on the right side of the helicopter, the hard part! First thing you have to deal with is an enemy helicopter. Concentrate your fire and don't lose sight of it. It will blow up soon. Next, look below, three vehicles in a convoy, blow them up. Next area is the hardest, lots of houses with RPG guys on them. Blow up the ones on the right first, be sure to hit the explosive barrels. Keep shooting from right to left, blowing up each house and shooting the explosive barrels. When you blow up the big house on the left, quickly aim to the left and blow up the tower because there's an RPG guy inside! Quickly look to the lower left and there's another convoy of vehicles. Try to blow up the middle one and the last one, let the one in front go because it'll be hard to hit. After this, look to the left and there's a bridge with two RPG guys, get rid of them and blow up the little house near them. By now you'll be catching up with the vehicle you let go before. Blow it up. Try to blow up the other vehicle in front of it, but let it go if it's too far. Look to the left again, there's a small house and a defensive position below. Blow those up as soon as you can or you'll suffer some damage. By now you probably have around 25 health left for your helicopter, but at least the last section won't be as hard. There are two enemy helicopters. First, concentrate on the one to your lower right and blow it up. The second helicopter will show up and blow it up too before it has a chance to shoot you. Don't be discouraged if you fail a lot of times, this is really just the most frustrating part of the game. You'll be feeling triumphant once you're done with it. After the horrible helicopter experience, you finally land and give the goods to Aguire, who then betrays you and America! You find out that he is the son of Wyatt, the soldier that you played as on the very first level of the game! The government knew that it was a suicide mission, yet they still sent them in anyway. Aguire now wants revenge with the help of Kirilenko. Unfortunately, the sad betrayal is met with another cruel betrayal. On your last moments on earth, Flynn comes to the rescue in dramatic fashion, taking out lots of enemies. As he says his thanks to the guys for the box of cigarettes, he gets blown up by one of the evil RPG guys that you have been killing since the last ride. "Nooooooooo!" -------------------- XI. Zero Dark Thirty -------------------- Everyone is depressed. You ended up helping the wrong guy and the space prophet is dead. An enemy is alone nearby, so you slit his throat. Move forward and you'll a weapons crate. Grab an RPG and one weapon of your choice. Continue on and you'll find a machine gunner on the roof in front of you. Snipe him and other soldiers will be alerted. You can snipe the rest from the position you are in, which is behind that log. Move down and go inside the building to the left. Go to the roof and check for remaining enemies. If there's none, move on to the next house. Be careful, there's a machine gun guy and an RPG guy somewhere! Climb the stairs and crouch near the bathtub. If you try to look out, you'll see a machine gunne on the house across you. You'll also notice that there's explosive barrels below him. Shoot the barrels and he'll be gone forever! The building in the middle has two soldiers, take them out fast. The building directly to your left has two soldiers as well. Look up, they're on a higher roof than you, kill them fast! Get out of the house from your position by jumping through the open wall. Stick to the left side and you'll encounter a few soldiers, shoot them. Continue sticking to the left and peek around the corner. The building far away has two soldiers. Kill them. The building to the left of that has an RPG guy. Snipe him out as well. Move a little bit forward and another RPG guy will show up on the roof of the little house below you, kill him. Move forward and crouch, look at the left building again, there's another soldier at the top, kill him. Jump to the red roof in front of you and look to the right, there's one soldier for you to take out. Move a little bit to the edge and you'll find a few around 6 more soldiers below. Throw a grenade to take out groups if you can. There's one RPG guy far away, so once you have taken out the soldiers on the ground, drop down and find a good view of this RPG guy and shoot him. Move towards the ammo supply box near the middle, there's more enemies on the building across, there's even one RPG guy! Too bad for them they're hiding near explosive barrels. Blow them up! Head down the stairs, notice the enemy soldier crouched on the roof below. Take him out. As you reach the ground level, enemies will start running away! Why? Not because you're about to kill them, but because a rain of mortars is coming! Wait for Sarge's signal before you move from one location to the next until you get into the canal. From the canal, look at the building in front of you, there are some soldiers. Snipe them from afar, stick to the right side so that you can use the walls as cover. Use your RPG to blow up guys who are hiding behind walls or covers, then snipe the ones who are exposed. Move forward. You'll see a wrecked car. Look through the car's broken windows and you'll find two soldiers far away. Kill them. Continue on and you'll find an ammo supply box, nice! Move forward and more enemies will show up. Kill them all and blow up the vehicles. Don't be afraid to use up grenades and RPGs, you have an ammo supply box. Move forward when you're done with them. A helicopter will drop some more enemy soldiers. From where you can see them, throw a grenade or shoot them with an RPG to take out everyone at once. Keep going and enter the tunnel. Move forward, but be careful, a flash bang will blind you and enemies will start pouring in. Crouch and shoot them as they come, or you could simply throw a grenade as soon as you see the flash, and they won't be fast enough to get blown up! Don't go through the door to the next area yet, let the guys move forward. They'll deal with whoever is on the other side. When they start firing at each other, now's the time for you to get out! Crouch and go through the door. Check the immediate area if there's an enemy nearby. They should be on the other side. Jump on the concrete tubes and shoot whoever is left on the other side. Time to make your way to the other side. Don't drop into the water or you'll die! Jump on the concrete tube and then jump to the other side then continue on. There's a weapons crate here so grab what you want, just keep the RPG launcher with you. Drop down to the next area and get ready for the flaming truck that's headed your way! Shoot it with your RPG while you stay crouched on the lower left corner. Hopefully, it explodes before it reaches you! Move on to the next area. You get a good view of the chaos all around you, the centerpiece being a glowing plane. Why is the plane glowing?! It suddenly explodes, killing all sorts of technology around it causing even more damage. The boys suddenly lose heart because of the tough opposition they face. With a little convincing and the thought of not having Dallas Cheerleaders in the world, our men are suddenly back in business, ready to save the world! --------------------- XII. Force Multiplier --------------------- Move forward and take note on how much there's a lot of ammo supply boxes and weapon crates there is around. This is a sign of a very hard battle! Even before you reach the gates, you might want to take out your trusty RPG launcher. Look at the building in front of you, there's a machine gun that can easily be used against you! Blow it up! Don't worry about saving ammo, you have lots of ammo supply boxes around! After blowing it up, rush behind the truck that's been flipped to its side. Enemies will be showing up and this is a good cover. You can peek from the corner and snipe out some bad guys, especially those pesky RPG dudes. Use your RPG to blow up their covers. When the first batch is done, keep moving. Two soldiers will jump over the wall, kill them fast. Hide behind the concrete with the fence to the left. Slash the fence so that you'll have a good view, you can snipe from this area. Take out the RPG guy fast, followed by the rest. When you're done with that encounter, move forward. See that wrecked fuel tank to the right? Jump on it and move forward, it's a good sniping spot. Kill the enemies who show up in the middle of the road. After that, snipe the ones on the upper level to the right. Your wrecked fuel tank should good you a good defensive position. Get out of it when you've cleared the place and follow the boys. Don't forget the replenish your ammo. In the next area, stay on the left side and use the cover. Enemies will show up from the opening in front, throw a grenade at them, problem solved! Move forward and there's only a tiny passage that you can get through. Obviously, this is bad because enemies can easily know where you're coming from and you'll get killed fast. Shoot the guy that comes down from the helicopter, then wait for another to get brave and pass through the middle. If you weren't able to kill him, throw a grenade to where they're hiding. You can also snipe enemies from that little openings on the side of the middle passage. They think they're safe hiding behind those cracks, but they're not safe from your bullets. There's also a sniper somewhere there. Instead of going through the middle passage, stick to the left wrecked area with the scrap metal. Try to jump over and you'll land on the other side. Just crouch and move forward to get to the next area, hopefully in a safe manner. The rest of the guys will follow you. The sniper is located on the roof of the building! From where you just entered, look up, you'll see him outside on the roof, shoot him! After all enemies are gone, make your way up the stairs and outside to the next area. Oh no, the plane with the scalar weapon is leaving! You have to run for it. Just keep running and then climb the ladder. -------------- XIII. Airborne -------------- You only have a knife with you for now. Just run forward and use the knife to kill the nearest soldier. You'll then have his weapon. The other guy will try to shoot you but he can't! He'll try to stab you to death instead, so start running backwards. After you have reloaded the gun, shoot the guy. Run up the stairs and go to the ammo supply box to replenish your ammo. Move to the next area. Crouch down and go to the right side. Shoot the two guys in front of you in the head, let the other boys deal with the remaining enemies. Continue on to the next area, which is a somewhat funny one. You have two choices, you can come out of the left passage, or the right one. Whichever you choose, one bad guy will always be on the other side! Go and try it, just peek from one side, don't go out yet. Then go back and try to go out the other passage, and the bad guy will be on the other side! Anyway he's not a problem because Sarge will slit his throat. Crouch and try to shoot all the bad guys in the middle, then move to the objective. Wow it's the scalar weapon!!! There seems to be no way to get to it though, so everybody decides to simply crash the plane! You'll get a big weapon this time. The next part is tricky. Once the door opens, blast the three soldiers in front of you. Keep crouching! The way to beat this place is to kill all enemies fast, because the walls and chairs are so thin bullets will just pass through them. Keep moving forward and blasting all enemies in each section while you're crouched and you'll eventually reach the cockpit. Kirilenko's not in the cockpit! There's also not much time left before the weapon reaches Texas! The guys decide that the only thing to do is to blow up a way to reach the weapon, much to the shock or Kirilenko. As soon as you get control of your character, the window to the weapon will get blasted open. Now's your chance to destroy it! Unload all of your bullets to the weapon! Keep shooting and it'll explode! Everyone's getting their parachutes, but Kirilenko steals yours! You jump out anyway. Once you regain control, wait until you are close to Kirilenko and then unload your bullets on him. He should stop trying to steal your parachute by that time. Look at Sweetwater and you'll be able to get your parachute. Congratulations, you've just beaten Battlefield Bad Company 2! The story's not over yet though... **************************************************************************** Part 3 **************************************************************************** ---------------------- Copyright Information: ---------------------- I wrote this guide so that people can use it for FREE. You can post this FAQ in any website as long as people can access it for FREE. Copyright 2009 - 9999 Adenosine


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Gavin O'Connor's Irish-Catholic cop drama tells a similar story to James Gray's superior We Own the Night, but does it in the most lugubrious way possible. In the Joaquin Phoenix role of the dirty brother(-in-law), we have this time Colin Farrell; in the role of the relatively good brother, we have Edward Norton. In the Robert Duvall role of the police chief dad, we have Jon Voight. And because this is a New Line movie (executive produced by Toby Emmerich), Noah Emmerich plays the third brother. It's an obvious template for Irish-American family drama: a game of good cop, bad cop in the NYPD as the family figures out how far they'll go to cover up each other's sins. Though both the Gray film and the O'Connor film achieve a texture of New York crime and punishment, We Own the Night created drama worth investing in. Pride and Glory leaves its actors hanging with clichés they can't bring convincingly to life.
The action opens at an NYPD vs. Detroit football game, establishing a worthy interest in the details of cop culture. The game is interrupted by a call--four officers down--leading the Tierney clan's Francis Jr. (Emmerich) to the scene of a grisly crime. It's personal for the NYPD, but even more personal for the Tierneys, as it turns out Francis' brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell) is involved, as he is in drug interests, robbery, and murder for hire. Though a husband and father, Jimmy is willing to threaten someone's baby with a hot iron to save his skin; he just won't accept the obvious fact that his days are numbered.
Alcoholic Francis Sr. (Voight in top form) ropes in his other son Ray (Norton, typically focused) to head up the task force investigating the shooting. A probe into officers under his charge left Ray with a mark of Cain (a scar on his left cheek) and a sullied reputation. Ever since, he's been hiding out in Missing Persons, but when his father won't take no for an answer, Ray reluctantly accepts the cop-killing case and the chance at redemption it represents. Of course, it leads to a test of Ray's professional ethics as he learns the truth while everyone around him is busy erecting the blue wall of silence, which Francis Sr. euphemistically calls "loyalty."
Much of the acting is as pleasingly underplayed as the script allows, but there's a reason this movie sat on the shelf for almost two years. It's relentlessly dour, filled with unsympathetic characters, and made out of cardboard melodrama. It's the last of those sins that is unforgivable. The many yelling matches are predictable ("Let me tell you something: what we've done does not get forgiven!") and the quieter moments equally clichéd ("When we were kids, all we ever talked about was being cops. How the fuck did we end up at this?"). Francis Jr. has a cancer-ridden wife (Jennifer Ehle's Abby) that, at least in the final cut, is no more than a motivational device--and a waste of Ehle's considerable talent.
The most blatant line of self-conscious dialogue in a film full of it comes at the climax, from Jimmy: "So how do you think this ends?" First, with a fistfight between brothers in a bar called "Irish Eyes" (with Irish fiddling on the jukebox) and then with an incident that wouldn't look out of place in an opera. Ironically, Pride and Glory excels in many of the little details of its milieu: the procedure, parlance, and personalities of the NYPD. O'Connor can be credited for his commitment to realism (enough to make New Line append a lengthy disclaimer), but he should have sunk more energy into the script before the cameras rolled.
Pride and Glory looks as it should on Blu-ray. Originally intended to be shot on 16mm, the film was designed to have a rough feel: this transfer of the 35mm source handsomely recaptures the film's gritty, '70s-style visual scheme. The muted colors and natural grain contribute to an accurate and film-like image. The audio options include both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks that maximize the source material with ambient effects taking you to the streets.
There's only one bonus feature here, but for my money, it's as much (if not more) of a selling point than the movie itself. Stephen Earnhart's superior, feature-length making-of doc Source of Pride: A Documentary About the Making of Pride and Glory (1:07:07, SD) shows us warts and all in the troubled and contentious process of getting the film in the can. Beginning seven weeks before production when the bloom is still on the rose (the exhilaration of research and character development in intensive rehearsals). By allowing the script to stay in flux (largely due to the hands-on involvement of star Edward Norton), O'Connor sends the crew, studio and himself into states of panic and puts the production permanently behind schedule. Compromises will have to be made, though ultimately a weary O'Connor is able to look at the film as a source of pride. Among the many characters in the documentary are director Gavin O'Connor, producer Greg O'Connor, John Ortiz, Shea Whigham, Frank Grillo, Lake Bell, Edward Norton, Noah Emmerich, executive producer Macrus Viscidi, hip-hop writer-producer "Cuba Libre," casting director Randi Hiller, New Line senior V.P. of development Cale Boyter, Flaco Navaja, Manny Perez, Ramone Rodriguez, second assistant director Colin MacLellan, co-producer Josh Fagin, Rick Gonzalez, script supervisor Christine Gee, DP Declan Quinn, animal trainer Steve McAuliff, production designer Dan Leigh, and Jennifer Ehle.
Fans of the actors (and Norton in particular) will want to have not only Pride and Glory on the shelf, but the documentary that accompanies it, either in the preferable Blu-ray edition or the mirrored 2-Disc DVD set.
Review gear: |
Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer


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Picking the top cornerback in the SEC was an easy call. But after that, it gets tricky.
Here's how we would rank the top-10 cornerbacks in the league for the 2014 season:
1. Vernon Hargreaves III, So., Florida: Much of the spotlight heading into last season was on Loucheiz Purifoy and Marcus Roberson, but Hargreaves wound up being the Gators' best cornerback. The 5-11, 194-pound Hargreaves was a third-team Associated Press All-American as a true freshman and can do it all. He's the next great cornerback to come out of this league.
2. Taveze Calhoun, RJr., Mississippi State: Another guy who can do a little bit of everything from his cornerback position, the 6-1, 184-pound Calhoun had 45 total tackles last season and tied for second on the team with three interceptions. Calhoun is long and rangy and cut from the same mold as former Mississippi State Jim Thorpe Award winner Johnthan Banks.
3. Tre'Davious White, So., LSU: One of two true freshman cornerbacks for the Tigers last season, the 5-11, 177-pound White certainly didn't play like a freshman. He had 55 total tackles and led the team with nine passes defended. His best football is yet to come, and he has the skills, confidence and smarts to be the kind of shut-down corner we're used to seeing on the Bayou.
4. Deshazor Everett, Sr., Texas A&M: The Aggies' defensive numbers a year ago were ugly, and it's no secret that they struggled mightily in the secondary. Even so, the 6-foot, 188-pound Everett returns as one of the top defensive backs in the league. He rotated between corner and safety last season and racked up a career-high 68 tackles. The Aggies will lean heavily on his experience in 2014.
5. Rashard Robinson, So., LSU: The hard part is figuring out which of LSU's two rising sophomores has the brightest future. The 6-1, 170-pound Robinson has more length than White, but didn't put up quite the numbers a year ago after getting off to a late start. He wasn't cleared academically until the week of the opener. He blossomed toward the end of the season and was terrific in helping to shut down Texas A&M receiver Mike Evans in the win over the Aggies.
6. Cam Sutton, So., Tennessee: There weren't a ton of bright spots on defense last season for Tennessee, but the 6-1, 180-pound Sutton was one of them. He started all 12 games as a true freshman and seemed to have a nose for the ball. He led the team with nine passes defended, had four tackles for loss, returned an interception for a touchdown and recovered two fumbles.
7. Jamerson Love, RSr., Mississippi State: The 5-10, 175-pound Love hits as well as he covers and teams with Calhoun to give the Bulldogs one of the better cornerback tandems in the league. Love led the team with 10 passes defended last season and tied for second with three interceptions. He has exceptional quickness.
8. Damian Swann, Sr., Georgia: The Bulldogs are hoping that the sophomore version of Swann shows up this season. He led the team with four interceptions in 2012 and was one of the Dawgs' most improved players. But last season, he battled consistency problems. With so much attrition at cornerback, the Dawgs need a big senior season out of the 5-11, 178-pound Swann.
9. Jonathon Mincy, RSr. Auburn: A starter for parts of the past three seasons, the 5-10, 196-pound Mincy is set to move to the boundary cornerback position in 2014, which was manned last season by Chris Davis. Mincy broke up 14 passes last season at field cornerback. He has 26 career starts under his belt, and the Tigers need him to be a rock back there this season.
10. Tony Brown, Fr., Alabama: The Tide had their ups and downs at cornerback last season, which is why they went out and got a five-star player like Brown they felt like could come in and play right away. He looked the part this spring after enrolling early and has the size (6-0, 190 pounds), cover skills and awareness to be a difference-maker as a freshman.


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Forged Hope Contest Update
by Massive Voodoo
Bonjour Robot-Forgers,
IMPORTANT news incoming about the Forged Hope Contest:
After we recieved several request of robot-forgers to stretch the hand-over date for your entries we decided to do so. We were asked by many who just have recieved their kit due the last months "kit-supply-issues" and start working in this particular moment.
Instead of 30-July-2014, 16 GMT,
we decided to give you more time while your rock 'em Robots.
Massive Voodoo is stretching the end of the contest to 15th of August 2014, 16 GMT.
This date is the final call to sent us your entries.
with this update we have another addition to the random Prize Pool.
Forged Monkey hands out a brand new, yet unreleased bust of "Jamal" to one lucky winner. Thanks for the support!
More soon!


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Now that I'm wrapping up my series on Slovenia, there are a few bits and pieces that are worth sharing but didn't fit in any articles. While these observations won't be surprising to anyone familiar with the country, they were amusing to this first-time visitor.
1. As this photo shows, guys will always know where to go. Luckily the urinals are much more modern than the sign indicates, and you don't have to be naked to use them.
2. When you buy a return bus ticket, it comes with a little schedule of the return buses for your route. Brilliant! Why don't all countries do that?
3. Maypoles are popular in Slovenia. You see them in most of the smaller towns and villages.
4. Slovenia has the weirdest drug laws I've ever encountered. It's illegal to buy, sell or possess marijuana. Pretty standard, you might say, but get this – it's legal to smoke it. How you can smoke it without possessing it is anyone's guess. Also, it's legal to buy, sell or possess seeds but you can't grow them into plants. Huh? Wait, let me rephrase that – HUH????
5. If you hike to the top of Triglev, Slovenia's highest mountain, you are considered a "true Slovene," but not before you are spanked by birch twigs to celebrate the occasion. It's not clear if this is a real tradition or something invented by Slovenia's S&M community.6. Slovenians love ketchup. It's served with practically everything, even pizza. Apparently the tomato sauce on pizza doesn't give it enough of a tomato flavor.
7. Slovenia's national anthem was adapted from a poem about drinking wine. It's perhaps unique among national anthems in that there's no nationalistic chest thumping. Instead it calls for world harmony.
8. Don't call it Slovakia, and don't call the region the Baltics. I managed to avoid these common errors, but once when I was in Estonia I flubbed it and called the Baltics the Balkans. This slip of the tongue will get you razzed by the locals in either region.
9. If you're going to have a food festival, why do something boring like celebrate wine or cheese? The Slovenians get creative with Bean Day, Chestnut Sunday and a Cabbage Festival.
10. As you can see below, if you're entering the loading dock of a Slovenian supermarket, make sure you have some stuff.
Check out the rest of my series, "Slovenia: Hikes, History and Horseburgers."