NGUPLUS

From Predator to Reaper

An improvement on the MQ-1 Predator drone, the MQ-9 Reaper is a UAV that became operational in 2007. Used primarily by the USAF and the CIA, the Reaper has become a very useful and respected battlefield weapon.

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Freedom loving people say thanks to Ecuador!

See B/W version below too

This version can be used as an icon

 PRESS RELEASE: Julian Assange statement

Thursday August 16, 2012

Assange has hailed the "courageous" act of Ecuador and compared it with the reluctance of Britain and Australia to help him.

In a statement made earlier at the embassy this afternoon, he thanked the staff and went on to pay tribute to Bradley Manning.

"I am grateful to the Ecuadorean people, President Rafael Correa and his government. It was not Britain or my home country, Australia, that stood up to protect me from persecution, but a courageous, independent Latin American nation.

While today is a historic victory, our struggles have just begun. The unprecedented US investigation against WikiLeaks must be stopped.

While today much of the focus will be on the decision of the Ecuadorean government, it is just as important that we remember Bradley Manning has been detained without trial for over 800 days.

The task of protecting WikiLeaks, its staff, its supporters and its alleged sources continues. "

https://wlfriends.org/
http://justice4assange.com/
http://bradleymanning.org/

Thx EC!

Express your thanks to Ecuador as a freedom loving person - we are all Julian Assange!

You might like to visit an embassy with these posters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomatic_missions_of_Ecuador
http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/ecuador#8803

Available link for download

Garden to Visit At Japan

Garden to Visit At Japan
Garden to Visit At Tokyo

Botanical Gardens, University of Tokyo Also known as the Kioshikawa Botanical Gardens, these are the oldest botanic gardens in Japan and older than many gardens elsewhere in the world. The collections focus on plants from eastern Asia, as well as other regions, and include over 400 species.
Address: 3-7-1 Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112
Open- 9.00am to 4.30pm Tuesday to Sundaydaily
Closed- Mondays (unless a National Holiday), December 29 to January 3
Entrance fee- Yes
Directions- Owner- University of Tokyo
Tel- +81 (3) 3814 0138; Fax +81 (3) 3814 0139


Rikugien Gardens- an arched stone bridge spans a small streamRikugien Gardens These lovely landscape gardens were begun in 1695. The water, mountains and plants depict 88 scenes from famous poems or waka. Rikugien Gardens have been designated a site of special historic interest by the Japanese Government.
Address: 6-16-3 Hon-komagome, Bunyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0021
Open- 9.00am to 5.00pm daily Closed- December 29 to January 3
Entrance fee- Y300 in 2000
Directions- From Komagone Station on the JR Yamonote Line go left in Hongo Street, the entrance to the Gardens is down the second street on your right.
Owner- Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association

Shinjuku is a favourite with photographers at Cherry Blossom time

Hibiya Park Adjacent to the Imperial Palace gardens, close to Tokyo Station and Ginza, Hibiya is a busy park. There are lovely areas of maples and cherry trees, more formal gardens and walks. A little dusty by late summer you may find it tired and, sometimes, home to those no longer employed.
Address: Hibiya Dori, Tokyo
Open- Dawn until 11.00pm daily
Closed- None Entrance
fee- None
Facilities- Restaurant, snacks
Owner- Government of Japan Tel


Hibiya Park is a green oasis in the heart of Tokyo

Imperial Palace Gardens Inside the huge moated walls of the Imperial Palace, the East Gardens are a huge, peaceful green space. Immaculate there are cherry trees, azaleas and many other features to enjoy.
Address- Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Open- 9.00am - 4.00pm Tuesday to Thursday, and Saturday, Sunday (last admission 3.00pm) Closed- Monday, Friday and December 25- 5 January
Entrance fee- None
Facilities- None
Directions- JR to Tokyo Station; Subway to Otemachi or Takebashi
Owner- Government of Japan Tel +81 (3) 3213-1111 Ext.485


The Imperial Pace lies, tempting, beyond the moat...

Shinjuku Gyoen (National Gardens) Incredibly popular at cherry blossom time (April) when more than 2000 trees flower, Shinjuku also has French and English style gardens, and a Chinese pavillion. Come in autumn for the chrysanthemums.
Address: 11 Naitocho, Shinjuku-ku
Open- Daily 9.00am to 4.30pm in April; 9.00am to 4.30pm Tuesday to Sunday May to end March
Closed- Mondays except in April)
Entrance fee- $8.00 adult (house & garden)
Owner- Facilities- Snacks Directions- JR to Shinjuku station, take the south exit and turn right walking east for about 10 minutes.
Subway - Marunouchi line to Shinjukugyoen-mae, the station is opposite the main entrance to the garden. Tel +81 (3) 3350-0151


Nanzen-ji Nanzen-ji is a very large temple in eastern Kyoto. The gardens are park-like and lovely. The view from the temple verandah over the trees to Kyoto is lovely and worth the climb! Visit Nanzen-in, Tenju-an and Konchi-in while you are there. Open- 8.30am to 4.30/5.00pm Closed- Mondays (unless a National Holiday), December 29 to January 3 -->Entrance fee- Y150-Y400 Directions- From either Kyoto or Sanjo station take No 5 bus to Eikan-do-mae bus stop

The lovely gardens and maples at Nanzen-ji Temple

Konchi-in Just outside the gates to the Nanzen-ji Temple, Konchi-in is an exquisite landscape-style Japanese garden. The secluded paths, trees, pond and area of dry, gravel, garden, make this well worth the visit. Review and more photos of Konchi-in
Open- 8.30am to 4.30pm
Closed- Mondays (unless a National Holiday), December 29 to January 3
Entrance fee- Y400
Konchi-in, looking across the pool to the entrance

Tofuku-ji Temple Founded in 1236, Tofuku-ji Temple is one of the main temples in Kyoto. The stroll gardens are especially lovely in autumn, the narrow pond is crossed by arched bridges. A pattern of white sand sqaures in lush deep green moss is striking backed by pink azaleas in spring and brilliant foliage colour in autumn.
Open- 9.00am to 5.00pm daily
Closed- December 29 to January 3
Entrance fee- Y300
Directions- From Kyoto station bus No 208 to the Tofuku-ji-mae stop.

Maruyama-koen Park A large and popular park, particularly in spring when a huge and venerated sakura, or cherry, blossoms. A pretty pool, paths and trees
Open- Daily Closed
Entrance fee- None
Facilities- Snacks Directions

Sakura tree, Maruyama-koen Park

Kiyomizu-dera Temple A steep path through dozens of tourist shops leads to this large temple, popluar in cherry blossom season. -->Open- 6.00am - 6.00pm daily Closed- Monday, Friday and December 25- 5 January -->Entrance fee- Y300 Facilities- None -->Directions- From Kyoto station take bus No 206 to Gojo-zaka or Kiyomizu-michi bus stop, the temple is a 10 minute walk up the hill Owner- Government of Japan
Tel -->


Sakura or cherry blossom in spring

Ryoan-ji Set within earthen walls with glimpses of green tree tops beyond, this simple karesansui, or dry landscape garden, of fifteen rocks set in a sea of raked, white sand is justly famous.
Address: 11 Naitocho, Shinjuku-ku
Open- Daily 8.00am to 5.00pm from April to November; 8.30am to 4.30pm from December to March
Closed- Mondays except in April
Entrance fee- Y400

Facilities- None
Directions- from Kyoto station take bus No 52, or from Sanjo Keihan station take bus No 59 Tel +81(3)3350-0151
Daitoku-ji Temple While the Daitoku-ji Temple is closed to the public, the many subtemples and their lovely gardens are open. It can be busy and crowded, but Daitoku-ji is a must for those interested in karesansui (dry landscape gardens) and Zen gardens.
Open- 9.00am- 4.30/5.00pm daily Closed
Entrance fee- Y300-Y400 Directions- from Kyoto station take bus No 205 or 206 to Daitoku-ji-mae; or walk from Kitao-ji subway station.

Available link for download

From Obama to Vanity Fair Telling the Wrong Story

A recent Vanity Fair article, “ California and Bust,” by Michael Lewis attempts to blame the difficult financial status of many states and municipalities on the costs of public pensions. The following passage is either the result of bad editing or ideological bias: “A prison guard who started his career at the age of 45 could retire after five years with a pension that very nearly equaled his former salary.” As a commenter writes in response to this claim, “What formula is Mr. Lewis using to arrive at this statement? The 3% @50 formula is the top formula used in California and if a Guard made 150,000.00 a year as the base salary used in calculating the pension it would work out as: 150,000 x 3% x 5 years = 22,500.00 annual pension. Please. This is far from the "very nearly equaled his former salary".” Of course this correction is buried in the comments section, and will not be seen by anyone who reads the article in print.

While Lewis’ article appears to be a balanced, neutral expose on our fiscal crisis, it spends virtually no time discussing how pensions were devastated by the crash of the stock market in 2008-09 and how states and local governments have been undermined by the loss of tax revenue related to the collapse of the housing bubble and the crash of the markets. Like so many other stories discussing our economic situation, there is no attempt to explain how illegal mortgages coupled with dangerous financial derivatives resulted in the loss of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of wealth.

Since the President and other leaders have failed to explain to the American people how our economy has been ravaged by financial speculation, people now believe that the cause of our problems are pensions, benefits, public employees, and unions. Moreover, due to the fact that the President did not make the culprits of our financial woes pay for their misdeeds, he helped to fuel the displacement of blame onto victims of the financial collapse.

Like Obama’s decision not to prosecute the perpetrators of our torture regime, the failure to hold big banks and investors responsible results in a lack of “moral hazard,” which means there is no penalty for destructive behavior. With no one else to blame, the Right produced a populist Tea Party that blamed big government instead of too-big-too fail banks.

Since the President knows that he has to raise $1 billion to run for office, and his Republican adversaries face the same issue, no one wants to step on the toes of guilty investors. In a more rational world, we would see arrests and huge fines, and we would also see the move to tax investment profits at the same rate as earned income, Ina rational world, we would also see a financial transaction tax to slow the pace of our global casino. Yet, instead, we get empty rhetoric and talk about deficit reductions and debt limits.

Let’s hope that the Occupy Wall Street actions turn into an effective national movements that tells the right story and provides the right solutions.

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Four Things To End the Week

One.

I have a big article about the indie games biz up on Gamasutra. Im quite happy with how it turned out. Enjoy!

Two.

Everyone all justifiably atwitter about how Tim Schafer raised upwards of one million dollars on Kickstarter to make a new adventure game. Its a great proof-of-concept for the whole publicly funded game thing. If Tim Schafer couldnt pull in some coin to make an adventure game, nothing else has a chance.

I think its brilliant, and it ties well into what I said in my Gamasutra article. The secret power of indie devs is to exploit underserved niches. Expect other Kickstarter-funded games in future. I only hope the results match the expectations.

Three.

Heaven forbid that I should be thought to criticize Notch or Minecraft. (I wont even point out that the whole end boss/enchantment/potion/combat system is taking the game in entirely the wrong direction to please exactly the wrong group of people.)

But, about this.

Hey, I wouldnt presume to give them advice. But, after I make my 30 million dollars, Im not going to rely on Anonymous to finish my games for me. Just sayin.

Four.

Every once in a while, I read someones critique of OK Go as a band, focusing on the fact that they basically fine and only have one decent single. (Dont click that link. Youve seen it already.) But that misses the point. They arent a band. Theyre much more interesting than that. Theyre a meme-generation factory, and really good at it.

So here is my legally mandated one link a year to an OK Go video. Yeah, like you have something better to do with three minutes and fifty-four seconds.

Look for my next link to them in roughly fifteen months, when they play some pleasant and non-threatening power pop by shooting kittens out of a cannon into steel drums, or whatever.

Available link for download

FREEBIE Letter To Santa Printable

Were less than two weeks til Christmas.... can you believe it? Every year it seems like there is less and less time to fit in all of the fun holiday activities. There are just so many fun things to do this season! One holiday tradition in our own house is writing a letter to Santa and a sweet note to him, too, on Christmas Eve.

So today I thought Id share a little FREEBIE with all of my Facebook Fans and blog Followers for a Santa Letter Pack.  It includes a letter to Santa, an address label to the North Pole and a little note for Santa to leave by the fireplace on Christmas Eve. Set it right beside his cookies and milk, and Santa will love hearing from his biggest fans.

Available link for download