Chase H.Q.

Chase H.Q.

Who are these amazing cops with their indestructible car and overflowing police badassery? If Taito’s official Japanese art is to be believed, they are Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams. Either it was one way for them to make sure that no one thought this pair was Crockett and Tubbs, or someone at Taito really loved the idea of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian as a modern cop duo. I’m going with the latter, if only so I can imagine Harrison Ford saying, “Hear me baby? Hold together” each time I ram into some punk’s perpmobile. Let’s go, Mr. Driver!

Altered Beast

Altered Beast

Altered Beast, called Juuouki (獣王記) in Japan, is a Sega System 16 arcade game released in 1988 by Sega. It was developed by the creator of Golden Axe, Makoto Uchida and shares many graphical similarities as a result. The game was notable as it allows the player could take on the form of “Were Animals”.

A year later it was ported to various consoles, including the Sega Mega Drive, which it was bundled with during the console’s early years. There was a watered down port for the Sega Master System also, and several ports to non-Sega systems, including console rivals the Famicom and PC Engine

Almost 80 million with employer health care plans could have coverage canceled, experts predict

Almost 80 million with employer health care plans could have coverage canceled, experts predict 

According to projections the administration itself issued back in July 2010, it was clear officials knew the impact of ObamaCare three years ago.

In fact, according to the Federal Register, its mid-range estimate was that by the end of 2014, 76 percent of small group plans would be cancelled, along with 55 percent of large employer plans.

Nintendo Power, September/October 1988

Nintendo Power, Issue Number 2, September/October 1988

Nintendo Power was never a favorite magazine of mine. I always preferred multiformat video game magazines as opposed to ones dedicated to a particular console. There is no doubt that Nintendo's official publication was immensely popular and useful for NES owners in the early years. Issue number 2 of Nintendo Power from September/October 1988 includes: Features

• Bionic Commando - Shatter the evil scientist's ambitions!
• Life Force - Vic Voiper takes off again!!
• Castlevania II - Simon's Quest - Get in on all the gory details.
• Super Mario Bros. 2 - ravel on in Mario's big dream adventure!
• Renegade - Rid the streets of hoodlums and deadbeats.
• R.C. Pro-Am - Claim the Winner's Trophy!
• Classified Information - Ultra-techniques to make you a Power Player!
• Howard & Nester - And now, The Amazing Nester!
• Counselors' Corner - Solve your problems with the pros.
• Player's Contest
• The Player's Poll
• Next Issue/From the Editor

Now Playing

• Golgo 13 - The fate of the world is in your hands!
• Blaster Master - Can you save the world from evil Mutants?

Video Shorts

• Xenophobe
• Seicross
• Superman
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf
• 1943
• Jackal
• Hudson's Adventure Island
• Magmax

The Classics

• Pac-Man
• Joust
• Millipede
• Donkey Kong / Donkey Kong Jr.
• Galaga
• Xevious
• Pak Watch - Here's a sneak peed into the future of NES Game Paks.

Player's Forum

• NES Journal - Read all about the new NES Power Set, the new fall TV line-up, and much more!
• Mail Box - Letters keep pouring oin from coast-to-coast.
• NES Achievers - Can you meet or beat these high scores?
• Video Spotlight - Take a look at these Power Player profiles!
• Top 30 - How do your favorites rank with other players, pros, and dealers?

...and more!

Why Super Mario World is better than Super Mario Brothers 3

Why Super Mario World is better than Super Mario Brothers 3

Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the best games ever made. In fact, there are many innovations that were first featured in SMB3, and likely would not have made their way into other Mario games (Super Mario World included) had Nintendo not experimented with the concepts in their penultimate NES platformer. However, Super Mario World perfected most of these concepts. In fact, I would put forward that Super Mario World is better than Super Mario Bros. 3 in the same way The Empire Strikes Back is better than Star Wars. While they both are excellent movies, Empire Strikes Back took everything that was great about the original and made it even better. The same is true for Super Mario World. So here is my point-by-point breakdown as to why Mario’s first SNES outing is superior.

ISON, Encke, Mercury, and Home

ISON, Encke, Mercury, and Home

On November 21, 2013, comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) entered the field of view of NASA's STEREO "Ahead" spacecraft's HI-1A camera. It joined Earth, Mercury and comet 2P/Encke!

Oregon healthcare exchange website never worked, has no subscribers

Oregon healthcare exchange website never worked, has no subscribers

Oregon, a state that fully embraced the Affordable Care Act, is enduring one of the rockiest rollouts of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, with an inoperative online exchange that has yet to enroll a single subscriber, requiring thousands to apply on paper instead.

Unlike most other states, Oregon set an ambitious course to make its insurance exchange, dubbed Cover Oregon, an “all-in-one” website for every individual seeking health coverage, including those who are eligible for Medicaid.

But instead of serving as a national model, Oregon’s experience has emerged as a cautionary tale, inviting comparisons to technical glitches that have plagued other state-run portals and the federal government’s website for those states lacking exchanges of their own.

TSA Spent $878 Million on Screening Program That Probably Doesn't Work

TSA Spent $878 Million on Screening Program That Probably Doesn't Work

The Transportation Security Administration has spent almost $900 million dollars since 2007 on a program to scan crowds for signs that someone is a terrorist. The Government Accountability Office reviewed the program. Their finding: Congress ought to shut it down, because there’s no evidence that the tactic works.

Family Computing, October 1983

Family Computing, Issue Number 2, October 1983

NUMBERS FABRICATED JUST BEFORE LAST YEAR’S ELECTION?

NUMBERS FABRICATED JUST BEFORE LAST YEAR’S ELECTION?

Just before last year’s election some odd numbers floated out of the USBLS. Strikingly, just weeks before the election, unemployment slid from 8.1% to 7.8%. Many economists and CEOs said, “No way. It’s just not true.” Those who attacked the numbers were immediately labeled racist, conspiracy theorists who just wanted the president to lose reelection.

Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO, was particularly outspoken about the numbers. Welch took to Twitter, “Unbelievable jobs numbers…these Chicago guys will do anything…can’t debate so change numbers.” The Obama administration immediately attacked back by calling Welch’s claims, “Ridiculous.”

According to a report by the NY Post, a Census employee was told to fabricate information by his superiors. The report added that the issue continues to this day.

Healthcare.gov ‘may already have been compromised,’ security expert says

Healthcare.gov ‘may already have been compromised,’ security expert says

“And if I had to guess, based on what I can see … I would say the website is either hacked already or will be soon.”

Kennedy told FoxNews.com he based this on an analysis revealing a large number of SQL injection attacks against the healthcare.gov website, which are indicative of “a large amount” of hacking attempts.

“Based on the exposures that I identified, and many that I haven’t published due to the criticality of exposures – if a hacker wanted access to the site or sensitive information – they could get it,” he told FoxNews.com.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the nation’s new healthcare website, did not immediately respond to a request to for more information.

One key problem facing Healthcare.gov is that security wasn’t built into the site from the very beginning, he said — an opinion shared by both Kennedy and Fred Chang, the distinguished chair in cyber security at Southern Methodist University.

VideoGames & Computer Entertainment - July 1991

VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, July 1991

Fed nominee Janet Yellen objects to audit of monetary meetings

Fed nominee Janet Yellen objects to audit of monetary meetings

Ms. Yellen said she strongly opposes legislation to audit the Fed if it allows Congress to scrutinize and pressure the central bank’s internal deliberations over interest rates and monetary policy. Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, is pushing a bill that would give congressional watchdogs authority to audit such internal deliberations, and is demanding a vote on the bill as the price of allowing the Senate to vote on Ms. Yellen’s nomination to become the Fed’s next chairman in January.

The Government's Bailout Of General Motors Is Strangling GM

The Government's Bailout Of General Motors Is Strangling GM 

One would think it would have outperformed the market, but it’s selling for just about the same price as the 2010 IPO for the “new” GM, around $35 a share when the rest of the market is up 40 percent.

The significant government stake in the company has hindered recovery. The White House forced policies on GM’s management that were oriented toward its own ideology rather than market factors. Obama himself bragged about it at a town hall meeting in Minnesota in 2011:  “What we said was, if we’re going to help you, then you’ve also got to change your ways. You can’t just make money on SUV’s and trucks….And so what we’ve now seen is an investment in electric vehicles.”

That “investment” gave us the money-losing Chevy Volt, and political control of the company led to a series of other policy decisions that sapped the energy out of GM’s rebirth. These decisions including everything from union pension policies to advertising campaigns that did more for Obama’s reelection than GM’s market share.

Dem Senator: 'We All Knew' Obama Was Lying

Dem Senator: 'We All Knew' Obama Was Lying

What Yellen didn't tell Congress and why it matters

What Yellen didn't tell Congress and why it matters

The most revealing thing about Janet Yellen’s widely praised Senate confirmation hearing performance last week might not have been what she said, but what she didn’t say - and how she didn’t say it.

President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve smiled and nodded her way through a two-hour hearing on Thursday without giving the Senate Banking Committee any real clues as to how she views near-term monetary policy choices.

AL GORE'S FIRM POISED TO CASH IN ON OBAMACARE DEBACLE

AL GORE'S FIRM POISED TO CASH IN ON OBAMACARE DEBACLE

In 2004, David Blood and former Vice President Al Gore co-founded Generation Investment Management. Schweizer says despite the perception that Gore’s investments are all green energy-related, Blood and Gore’s investment portfolio is currently comprised of 27% health care investments and stands poised to score big from Obamacare.

“David Blood was a bundler for Barack Obama,” said Schweizer. “Even though they talk about being in green technology, 27% of their investment portfolio right now is in health insurance companies designed to profit from this sector.”

Blood bundled over $500,000 in campaign donations for Obama in 2012.

Core, Volume 1, Number 3

Core, Volume 1, Number 3

Core / Hardcore Computist was a magazine dedicated (primarily) to the Apple II. It was technically oriented but also included typical content such as reviews.

• Constructing Your Own Joystick - ...if you can find the parts.
• Compiling Games - Ways to speed them up.
• Game Reviews - Over 30 of the latest and best.
• Pick of the Pack - Our all-time Top 20.
• Destructive Forces - When the aliens invade and divide Earth.
• Eamon - Creating the adventure.
• Graphics Magician and GraFORTH - Review of two games utilities.
• Dragon Dungeon - Yobtralite lights dragons in BASIC.


• Departments
• Note to Subscribers
• Letter from the Publisher
• COREspondence
• COREctions
• Advertising Index


• Program Index
• Destructive Forces
• Dragon Dungeon
• Dragon Mazer
• Dragon Mover


• Checksum Index
• Dragon Dungeon
• Destructive Forces

...and more!

Obamacare’s Enrollment Numbers Aren’t Real Enrollment Numbers

Obamacare’s Enrollment Numbers Aren’t Real Enrollment Numbers

Combine the reported federal enrollments with the 49,000 people estimated to have enrolled in state-based exchanges, and you still have less then twenty percent of the administration’s enrollment goal.

But these numbers shouldn’t be taken at face value. That’s because the administration isn’t actually counting enrollments. Instead, it’s counting the number of people who have placed health plans in their online shopping carts—not necessarily people who have signed up and agreed to be billed, and certainly not people who have actually paid the premium for the first month of coverage. It’s the equivalent of Amazon counting a TV sold every time someone puts a TV in his or her online shopping cart, regardless of whether or not they actually go through the checkout process.

Cyber Attack Cripples Turkmenistan's Commodore 64 Computer

Cyber Attack Cripples Turkmenistan's Commodore 64 Computer

The Surveillance State Puts U.S. Elections at Risk of Manipulation

The Surveillance State Puts U.S. Elections at Risk of Manipulation

The Effort to Stigmatize Privacy as Anti-American

The Effort to Stigmatize Privacy as Anti-American

Most terrorist attacks are plotted, at least in part, inside terrorists’ dwellings. In the U.S. those are subject to Fourth Amendment protections and built with opaque walls, doors with locks, and windows that are frequently covered with the products of dastardly curtain and mini-blind companies, who facilitate all sorts of bad behavior by being complicit in the method by which it is hidden from view. Wouldn’t police be more able to stop bad guys if we all lived in glass houses?

In the analog world, everyone recognizes the absurdity of effectively outlawing privacy or the notion that the government should be empowered to conduct surveillance on everyone in order to catch a few bad apples. Why do so many Americans totally lose that understanding when the conversation turns to the digital world? It is not radical to believe Americans should be free to talk to their friends, lovers, family members, and associates in private, without anyone listening. And it is no more radical to suggest that they ought to be able to do so via email.

Andrew Huszar: Confessions of a Quantitative Easer

Andrew Huszar: Confessions of a Quantitative Easer

Where are we today? The Fed keeps buying roughly $85 billion in bonds a month, chronically delaying so much as a minor QE taper. Over five years, its bond purchases have come to more than $4 trillion. Amazingly, in a supposedly free-market nation, QE has become the largest financial-markets intervention by any government in world history.

And the impact? Even by the Fed’s sunniest calculations, aggressive QE over five years has generated only a few percentage points of U.S. growth. By contrast, experts outside the Fed, such as Mohammed El Erian at the Pimco investment firm, suggest that the Fed may have created and spent over $4 trillion for a total return of as little as 0.25% of GDP (i.e., a mere $40 billion bump in U.S. economic output). Both of those estimates indicate that QE isn’t really working.

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs Cover the Eighties

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs Cover the Eighties

The Guide to Computer Living, May 1986

The Guide to Computer Living, Volume 3, Number 2, May 1986

The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla

The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla

The Republican Party Isn't Really the Anti-Science Party

The Republican Party Isn't Really the Anti-Science Party

Republicans, and members of the traditionally Republican coalition like conservatives and the religious, are criticized for rejecting two main areas of science: evolution and global warming. But even those critiques are overblown. Believing in God is not the same as rejecting science, contrary to an all-too-frequent caricature propagated by the secular community. Members of all faiths have contributed to our collective scientific understanding, and Christians from Gregor Mendel to Francis Collins have been intellectual leaders in their fields. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project and an evangelical Christian, wrote a New York Times bestseller reconciling his faith with his understanding of evolution and genetics.

Numerically speaking, according to Gallup, only a marginally higher percentage of Republicans reject evolution completely than do Democrats. Yes, an embarrassing half of Republicans believe the earth is only 10,000 years old—but so do more than a third of Democrats. And a slightly higher percentage of Democrats believe God was the guiding factor in evolution than Republicans.

Trio of young coders build health-care website in days

Trio of young coders build health-care website in days

How hard is it to create a website to help people get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act?
For three 20-year-old programmers in San Francisco, it took about three days’ worth of work.

Spurred by the problems that have surrounded the rollout of the official HeathCare.gov site, the trio created an alternative, Health Sherpa, quickly and cheaply.

ALBUM REVIEW: Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, “Under the Covers, Vol. 3”

ALBUM REVIEW: Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, “Under the Covers, Vol. 3”

Electronic Gaming Monthly, June 1995

Electronic Gaming Monthly, Issue Number 71, June 1995

TAZED: Police In California Caught On Video Brutalizing Cooperative Couple In Their Home

TAZED: Police In California Caught On Video Brutalizing Cooperative Couple In Their Home

The Popdose Interview: Matthew Sweet

The Popdose Interview: Matthew Sweet

Company Sued for Fraud Gets Multi-Million Dollar ObamaCare Contract

Company Sued for Fraud Gets Multi-Million Dollar ObamaCare Contract

The company’s primary purpose is to get jobs for people in need. In New York City, a $22 million dollar federally funded contract helped 6,500 people jobs – or so they claimed. A 2012 investigation found that 1,400 of those jobs were faked. The company would scan job websites for resumes and when those people got jobs, they would take the credit.

Now, Seedco has been given another multi-million dollar contract in New York, Tennessee, Maryland and Georgia to set up ObamaCare navigators. They’re supposed to help people navigate HealthCare.gov, but because the website doesn’t work, they fill out your personal information.

Blame game as insurers dump doctors

Blame game as insurers dump doctors

The nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, claims the Affordable Care Act is responsible for forcing it to boot doctors from its Medicare Advantage program that serves thousands of elderly patients in the New York metro region.

CEO Jack Larsen, under fire for separating seniors from their MDs, took out full-page ads to explain that cuts in Medicare spending forced the insurer’s hand.

“We are working to collaborate with a more focused network of physicians to help us provide higher quality and more affordable health care coverage to meet the needs of our members, and help them get more from their health plan benefits,” Larsen said.

“This work has become even more urgent in light of the severe funding reductions for Medicare Advantage plans that have come from Washington.”

3D-Printing 'Encryption' App Hides Contraband Objects In Plain Sight

3D-Printing 'Encryption' App Hides Contraband Objects In Plain Sight

End runs around the Constitution -- the NSA, Obama and the Fourth Amendment

End runs around the Constitution -- the NSA, Obama and the Fourth Amendment

The NSA and its congressional apologists have argued that because its task is essentially to gather foreign intelligence for national security purposes only, and because the Fourth Amendment, which requires detailed language in search warrants particularly describing the person or place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized, only restrains the government when it is engaged in criminal prosecutions and not when it is on a fishing expedition for intelligence purposes, the Fourth Amendment does not restrain the NSA.

Yet, the plain language of the Fourth Amendment protects everyone in America from government intrusion in their persons, houses, papers and effects, whether the government is looking for evidence of crimes or of evidence of sophistry.

The NSA’s argument that the Fourth Amendment only regulates criminal prosecutions is nonsense. It never has seriously been made to or accepted by the Supreme Court, and it defies what we now know about the client list of the NSA.

TSA to Pre-Screen Air Travelers’ Tax Info, Property Records, Travel History

TSA to Pre-Screen Air Travelers’ Tax Info, Property Records, Travel History

Owe money to the IRS? Having trouble making your mortgage payments? Ever been sued or been arrested?

Soon, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will know the answers to these questions before you pass through security, and they might affect whether you are cleared for travel.

In a recently published article, the New York Times reported:

The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment information.

Rand Paul slams Chris Christie on Sandy ads

Rand Paul slams Chris Christie on Sandy ads

At a Senate hearing on Sandy recovery efforts, Paul asked Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan whether it was appropriate for Sandy aid money to be used to air the ads — and while Paul never named Christie, it was a clear reference to ads made by the state of New Jersey in which Christie appeared after the devastating Oct. 2012 hurricane.

“Some of these ads, people running for office put their their mug all over these ads while they’re in the middle of a political campaign,” Paul said at the hearing, per ABC News. “In New Jersey, $25 million was spent on ads that included somebody running for political office. Do ya think there might be a conflict of interest there?”

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII TO OPEN DECEMBER 18, 2015

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII TO OPEN DECEMBER 18, 2015

With pre-production in full-swing, a confirmed release date of December 18, 2015, has been set for Lucasfilm's highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII.

"We're very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture," said Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

Amiga World Tech Journal, December 1991

Amiga World Tech Journal, Volume 1, Number 5, December 1991

1998 Compuserve ad

1998 Compuserve ad

The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla

The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla

Goddamn toads, Mulder...

Goddamn toads, Mulder...

Cop Shoots Man Holding Cellphone, Receives Silver Valor Award

Cop Shoots Man Holding Cellphone, Receives Silver Valor Award

Big Unions May Get Their Obamacare Exemption After All

Big Unions May Get Their Obamacare Exemption After All

Robert Scardelletti, president of the Transportation Communications International Union/International Association of Machinists (TCU/AIM), estimates that under current ACA rules, his union’s multiemployer health fund will have to pay $27 million in taxes. He’s not happy about it.

At the convention, labor said that if their demands weren’t met, then the Affordable Care Act should be repealed.

Three days after the convention the Obama administration told labor– no exemptions. It was not legally possible.

However, those exemption requests by labor are now coming to fruit. Last week the Obama administration released hundreds upon hundreds of pages worth of new rules and regulations for the healthcare law. Inside, a new loophole for unions was discovered. A disclosure exists that the administration will propose exempting “certain self-insured, self-administered plans” from the laws reinsurance tax. Such a description applies to the majority of the Taft-Hartley union healthcare plans, which act as their own insurance company and claims processors.

Franklin lawyer mocks prosecutor with demand to be called 'Captain Justice'

Franklin lawyer mocks prosecutor with demand to be called 'Captain Justice' 

When prosecutors in Williamson County tried to ban a defense attorney from referring to them as “the government” in court, defense attorney Drew Justice had a demand of his own:

...

If the court sided with Rettig, he demanded his client no longer be referred to as “the Defendant,” but instead be called “Mister,” “the Citizen Accused” or “that innocent man” — since all defendants are presumed innocent until a judge or jury finds them guilty. As for himself, clearly “lawyer” or “defense attorney” wouldn’t do him, well, justice.

“Rather, counsel for the Citizen Accused should be referred to primarily as the ‘Defender of the Innocent.’ … Alternatively, counsel would also accept the designation ‘Guardian of the Realm,’ ” Justice wrote.

And since prosecutors are often referred to formally as “General” in court, Justice, in an effort to be flexible, offered up a military title of his own.

“Whenever addressed by name, the name ‘Captain Justice’ will be appropriate.”

Part of Internet Archive building badly burned in early morning fire

Part of Internet Archive building badly burned in early morning fire

▶ MegaCon 2013 - Saturday - part 3

▶ MegaCon 2013 - Saturday - part 3

Walking around at MegaCon 2013 on Saturday.

http://youtu.be/UrLleHhTKR4

Girls of Gaming Volume 3

Girls of Gaming Volume 3

Air Zonk (TurboGrafx-16)

Air Zonk (TurboGrafx-16)

49-State Analysis: Obamacare To Increase Individual-Market Premiums By Average Of 41%

49-State Analysis: Obamacare To Increase Individual-Market Premiums By Average Of 41% 

One of the fundamental flaws of the Affordable Care Act is that, despite its name, it makes health insurance more expensive. Today, the Manhattan Institute released the most comprehensive analysis yet conducted of premiums under Obamacare for people who shop for coverage on their own. Here’s what we learned. In the average state, Obamacare will increase underlying premiums by 41 percent. As we have long expected, the steepest hikes will be imposed on the healthy, the young, and the male.

Strategic Move by Government Could Open ObamaCare to Widespread Fraud

Strategic Move by Government Could Open ObamaCare to Widespread Fraud

Don't Appear to Be Clenching Your Buttocks When Pulled Over For Not Coming to a Complete Stop or Be Tortured by Doctors: America, This is Your War on Drugs

Don't Appear to Be Clenching Your Buttocks When Pulled Over For Not Coming to a Complete Stop or Be Tortured by Doctors: America, This is Your War on Drugs

According to a federal lawsuit, Eckert didn’t make a complete stop at a stop sign coming out of the parking lot and was immediately stopped by law enforcement.

Eckert’s attorney, Shannon Kennedy, said in an interview with KOB that after law enforcement asked him to step out of the vehicle, he appeared to be clenching his buttocks. Law enforcement thought that was probable cause to suspect that Eckert was hiding narcotics in his anal cavity. While officers detained Eckert, they secured a search warrant from a judge that allowed for an anal cavity search.

The lawsuit claims that Deming Police tried taking Eckert to an emergency room in Deming, but a doctor there refused to perform the anal cavity search citing it was “unethical.”

But physicians at the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City agreed to perform the procedure and a few hours later, Eckert was admitted.

This Programmable 6,000-Part Drawing Boy Automata is Arguably the First Computer and It Was Built 240 Years Ago

This Programmable 6,000-Part Drawing Boy Automata is Arguably the First Computer and It Was Built 240 Years Ago

The Guide to Computer Living, April 1986

The Guide to Computer Living, Volume 3, Number 1, April 1986

Forbidden Forest (Commodore 64)

Forbidden Forest (Commodore 64)

Commodore 64

Commodore 64

NASA Kepler Results Usher in a New Era of Astronomy

NASA Kepler Results Usher in a New Era of Astronomy

Scientists from around the world are gathered this week at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., for the second Kepler Science Conference, where they will discuss the latest findings resulting from the analysis of Kepler Space Telescope data.

Included in these findings is the discovery of 833 new candidate planets, which will be announced today by the Kepler team. Ten of these candidates are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun’s habitable zone, which is defined as the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet may be suitable for liquid water.

At this conference two years ago, the Kepler team announced its first confirmed habitable zone planet, Kepler-22b. Since then, four more habitable zone candidates have been confirmed, including two in a single system.

New Kepler data analysis and research also show that most stars in our galaxy have at least one planet. This suggests that the majority of stars in the night sky may be home to planetary systems, perhaps some like our solar system.

Obamacare Security Failure: Website Misdirects Private Information to Stranger in Another State

Obamacare Security Failure: Website Misdirects Private Information to Stranger in Another State

Dougall, a South Carolina attorney whose personal information was misdirected by the Obamacare website to a stranger in another state, says “I just want my personal information removed from what is an unsecured system.” His adult daughter also wants her information removed from the Obamacare site but, so far, no one from HHS has answered their requests for help.

The entire saga began over the weekend when the Heritage Foundation reported that Justin Hadley, a North Carolina man, had logged in to his Healthcare.gov account and discovered personal information for two other people, one of them was named Thomas Dougall. Local news station News 48 interviewed Dougall Saturday.

“We’re told constantly that it’s a secure system and it’s not, obviously,” Dougall told 48 News. He added, “they have no procedure whatsoever to handle security breaches.” News 48 contacted HHS for comment but only got an email asking for further information.

School “Bullies” 8-Year-Old Student & Threatens Suspension Over Drawing Of Ninja With Gun

School “Bullies” 8-Year-Old Student & Threatens Suspension Over Drawing Of Ninja With Gun 

Arizona’s Country Day School in Scottsdale threatened to suspend an eight-year-old student after he drew a picture of a soldier with a gun, a ninja with a gun, and a Star Wars character holding laser guns.

The child, who has not been named, drew the pictures as ideas for a Halloween costume.

...

The headmaster of the school called the pictures “highly disturbing” and said that he “couldn’t guarantee the safety of other student’s with [the eight-year-old] around.”

80,000 Louisianians' health insurance policies will be canceled under Affordable Care Act

80,000 Louisianians' health insurance policies will be canceled under Affordable Care Act

Affordable Care Act Could Be Further Hamstrung By Shortage Of Doctors

Affordable Care Act Could Be Further Hamstrung By Shortage Of Doctors

Lamm said the Affordable Care Act could mean an explosion of demand for doctors and services, but will the system be able to handle it?

“I think the concern would be that the system will be overwhelmed, that there will be a greater demand that we can meet in a quality fashion and that we will have to delay services for a lot of individuals,” Lamm said.

Right now, there is already a shortage of 20,000 doctors nationwide, and with healthcare expansion, plus increasing population, there will be a need for about 52,000 primary care doctors by 2025.

Expert: At least 129 million will ‘not be able to keep’ health care plan if Obamacare fully implemented

Expert: At least 129 million will ‘not be able to keep’ health care plan if Obamacare fully implemented

“Bottom line: of the 189 million Americans with private health insurance coverage, I estimate that if Obamacare is fully implemented, at least 129 million (68 percent) will not be able to keep their previous health care plan either because they already have lost or will lose that coverage by the end of 2014,” he said in an email. ”But of these, ‘only’ the 18 to 50 million will literally lose coverage, i.e., have their plans entirely taken away. This includes 9.2-15.4 million in the non-group market and 9-35 million in the employer-based market. The rest will retain their old plans but have to pay higher rates for Obamacare-mandated bells and whistles.”

Conover also says it is hard to imagine President Obama didn’t know these statistics when he was flacking for his health care bill by promising Americans they could keep their health insurance if they liked it.

“If President Obama himself believed this the first time he said it, he was poorly advised,” Conover said.
“The problem is that he said it at least 24 times, most of which occurred after his own rule-writers had estimated that 49-80 percent of small employer plans would have lost their grandfather status by 2013, along with 34-64 percent of large employer plans.

Florida Sheriff Nick Finch Acquitted Of Bogus Gun Charge, Reinstated As Liberty County Sheriff

Florida Sheriff Nick Finch Acquitted Of Bogus Gun Charge, Reinstated As Liberty County Sheriff

Remember Sheriff Nick Finch? He’s the Liberty County, Fla., sheriff whom Governor Rick Scott suspended for allegedly violating the law by freeing a man who’d been arrested for carrying a gun in his car without a permit. Finch had freed the man and effectively nullified any charges against him in March, saying he believed the 2nd Amendment superseded more restrictive local gun laws.

That got the sheriff in hot water with State prosecutors, who said Finch had no authority to end a criminal proceeding against the suspect — Floyd Eugene Parrish — even though Parrish had never been formally booked into the Liberty County jail during his brief detention.

Last week, a jury demonstrated that common sense and the rule of law can still prevail. After about an hour of deliberation, the eight-member jury acquitted Finch of any wrongdoing. Scott spoke with Finch within moments of the verdict and reinstated him as sheriff of Liberty County.

750 Hospital Workers Forced In To "Sensitivity Training" For Obama Costume

750 Hospital Workers Forced In To "Sensitivity Training" For Obama Costume

Police Brutality? Officers Taser Man For Trying To Save 3-Year-Old Son From House Fire

Police Brutality? Officers Taser Man For Trying To Save 3-Year-Old Son From House Fire

What would you do if your son or daughter were trapped inside a burning building?

Most parents would run in, no matter how dangerous the fire seemed, and attempt to save their child.

That is what Louisiana man Ryan Miller attempted to do when his three-year-old stepson was trapped inside of the family’s burning home. But police prevented him from saving the child’s life — they tased Miller three times and arrested him because he attempted to enter the building.

▶ MegaCon 2013 - Saturday - part 2

▶ MegaCon 2013 - Saturday - part 2

Walking around at MegaCon 2013 on Saturday.

http://youtu.be/_GuJl9eeEM8

Antonia Bayle (Everquest 2) from GoG #3

Antonia Bayle (Everquest 2) from Girls of Gaming issue number 3.

Star Fox Assault (Gamecube)

Star Fox Assault (Gamecube)

The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla

The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla

M.C. Kids (NES)

M.C. Kids (NES)

Antarctic sea ice hit 35-year record high Saturday

Antarctic sea ice hit 35-year record high Saturday

Antarctic sea ice has grown to a record large extent for a second straight year, baffling scientists seeking to understand why this ice is expanding rather than shrinking in a warming world.

On Saturday, the ice extent reached 19.51 million square kilometers, according to data posted on the National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site. That number bested record high levels set earlier this month and in 2012 (of 19.48 million square kilometers). Records date back to October 1978.

Americans Losing Insurance, Dem Rep. Tells Obamacare Critics 'Get Over It'

Americans Losing Insurance, Dem Rep. Tells Obamacare Critics 'Get Over It'

White House exerting ‘massive pressure’ on insurance companies to keep quiet

White House exerting ‘massive pressure’ on insurance companies to keep quiet

The White House is pressuring insurance companies not to speak publicly about Obama administration policies that could eliminate the existing health insurance plans of millions of Americans.

The administration made “clarifications” to the 2010 Affordable Care Act after it was passed that have already wiped out hundreds of thousands of existing health plans.

“Basically, if you speak out, if you’re quoted, you’re going to get a call from the White House, pressure to be quiet,” said CNN investigative reporter Drew Griffin on Anderson Cooper 360 Wednesday night. Insurance companies executives, Griffin said, ask heads of consulting firms not to criticize the Obamacare rollout debacle publicly.

IRS' Lois Lerner gave confidential Tea Party tax info to FEC, violating law

IRS' Lois Lerner gave confidential Tea Party tax info to FEC, violating law

The Internal Revenue Service shared highly confidential tax information of several Tea Party groups in the IRS scandal with the Federal Election Commission, a clear violation of federal law, according to newly obtained emails.

The public watchdog group Judicial Watch told Secrets Thursday that it was former scandal boss Lois Lerner who shared the information on groups including the American Future Fund and the American Issues Project.

The emails obtained by Judicial Watch show that the IRS, which was considering the tax status of the groups, gave the FEC the tax returns of the groups, including income, expenditures and staff pay. The emails also revealed the exact working of the prying political questions the IRS wanted the groups to reveal, such as their goals and the requests for brochures and ads.