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Mortal Kombat debuted as a Midway arcade game in 1992 and has since become a cultural phenomenon among the millennial generation. Countless iterations of the video game have been released across varioussystems from Super Nintendo to Gamecube to Playstation. But its 1995 movie adaptation, while making for horrifying nostalgia, did not do the source material justice.

RELATED:10 Characters We Hope To See In James Wan's Mortal Kombat Movie

The YouTube series Mortal Kombat: Legacy did marginally better than the first adaptation, but still wasn't quite what fans wanted. The MK universe has another chance with the slated 2021 reboot. Here are five things we want to see in it and five we don't.

At its heart, Mortal Kombat is exactly that: a fight for life. That's why the characters' signature moves, while cheesy and outlandish, carry such value among the fans. Sonya Blade's deadly thighs and Johnny Cage's split into an uppercut punch come off as absurd but make for incredible visuals to get the audience excited.

Pageantry has always been a vital factor in any fighting culture, like with the wrestlers of Lucha libre. Why not give the people what they want? It just so happens to be an unreasonable flying kick.

The point of MK is to be violent. The finishing moves aren't called fatalities for nothing. Especially in the latest versions of the game for Playstation, the blood and violence are beyond gory; they're disgusting. But that's what makes Mortal Kombat such a fan favorite.

To water it down for a palatable rating to appeal to parents takes the fun out of watching opponents fight to the death and walk it off. What would be the point of Scorpion's classic, "Get over here," without ripping out a heart?

Sub-Zero and Scorpion are by far the two most popular and well-known characters of the MK franchise. Their polar opposites rivalry makes fascinating fodder for that story fire. With the Sub-Zero mantle taken by two different characters, Bi Han and Kuai Liang, and the continued search for vengeance against Scorpion, Bi Han's killer, there is much to work with.

Not to mention it allows the introduction of Noob Saibot, a character included in Mortal Kombat II as a costume swap. There are so many different ways to go with Scorpion and Sub-Zero.

Throughout the years the MK video games have introduced countless characters each with unique personalities and capabilities. The original cast continues to captivate the audience's attention, but additions like Skarlet and D'Vorah have further enhanced the game's mythology.

The new characters introduced in later iterations of the game offer the reboot writers a chance to delve into rich stories and play with its development in relation to the original source material. To bring in a promising character simply for fanservice without purpose would be a waste.

The audience is ready to see women warriors treated with the same respect as their male counterparts. Characters like Jade, Mileena, and Kitana have always been drawn as Femme Fatales with skimpy costumes and all. Of course, if they were fighting in real life, those costumes wouldn't work in combat for one second.

RELATED:5 Things The Mortal Kombat Remake Needs (& 5 Mistakes It Should Avoid)

They offer no protection and frankly ride up in places that would make it hard to properly perform half the moves they do. The reboot should take inspiration from the original costumes, but make them sensible for a modern audience.

The Mortal Kombat 11 video game introduced a time-traveling element to story mode that let players interact with previous versions of the game throughout its history. Instances of sending objects back through time were also featured in MK9.

But for the reboot, it would be best to establish the main timeline first before trying to go full Barry Allen and messing with it. Time travel presents an interesting twist to the Mortal Kombat premise, but the writers would do best to save it for a sequel.

The reboot announcements have already established the likes of Mileena and even Nitara, a vampire who first appeared in the Deadly Alliance game and a couple of others, but who hasn't been a part of the canon from the very start.

Kitana's casting has yet to be announced for the MK reboot. Her role is crucial to the story as she starts as the adopted daughter of Shao Khan who changes allegiances to the Earthrealm fighters, much like a Gamora and Thanos situation. Fans hope to see her actress announced soon.

In more recent versions of the game, the stories included Cassie Cage (Sonya and Johnny's daughter), Kung Jin (younger cousin of Kung Lao), Takeda Takahashi (Kenji's son) and Jacqui Briggs (Jax's daughter). For the MK reboot movie, there is no need to include these characters.

RELATED:Mortal Kombat 11: 10 Characters We'd Love to See as DLC

The main cast needs to be established before adding on their kids born into this crazy world of an interdimensional fighting tournament. Before there can be a Cassie, there needs to be a Sonya and Johnny relationship to make it happen.

It's safe to say that the 1995 film's failure was subpar fight sequences and downright dismal graphics. One could argue the limitation of technology in the 90s accounted for terrible visual effects but that is the same era that gave us Jurassic Park with lifelike dinosaurs.

However, standards for visuals what they are today, there's no excuse for abysmal special effects. The plethora of action flicks seen throughout the last two decades also indicate that genuinely good fight scenes are achievable as well.

The villain Shinnok was introduced to the MK world in the 1997 game Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. Though the Elder God is arguably an inherently cool character, it's best to stick with the bad guys the fanbase knows and loves best: Shang Tsung and Shao Khan.

For a reboot movie that is reintroducing the franchise toits old audience and hopefully making it known to a new generation, sticking with the classic villains is the smart choice. Shinnok's appearance in a first reboot film would be too soon.

NEXT:10 Fatalities We Hope To See In The R-Rated Mortal Kombat Movie

NextThe Vampire Diaries: 10 Things Even Diehard Fans Dont Know About Elena

Meagan Cahuasqui is a Latinx writer, poet, traveler, and reader. She holds a B.A. in creative writing from UCF and an M.B.A. in marketing from NSU. When shes not engaged in the aforementioned activities, she can be found yelling and crying at her TV over fictional people that break her heart.

Read more:
Mortal Kombat: 5 Things We Want to See in the Reboot (& 5 We Don't) - Screen Rant

Mobile processor unveilings tend to focus on speed bumps and little else. And while the Snapdragon 865 unveiled at Qualcomm's annual tech summit will certainly improve upon the performance of its predecessor, the new chipset's real benefits will impact the best phones way beyond just sheer speed.

For starters, there's 5G connectivity, as the Snapdragon 865 works with an X55 5G modem to support the faster speeds of 5G networks as they're built out by network operators. But Qualcomm is also promising improvements for mobile photography, artificial intelligence and gaming that will be powered by the Snapdragon 855.

You won't see these improvements until the first three months of 2020, when the first Android phones featuring the Snapdragon 865 will arrive. True to form, Qualcomm isn't announcing which phones those will be, though some phone makers like Xiaomi, Oppo and Motorola have committed to using the chip. And if history is any guide Samsungs upcoming Galaxy S11 should be the first phone with Snapdragon 865 inside, since Qualcomms top-tier processor usually debuts in Samsungs flagship.

Here's what you can expect from a Snapdragon 865-powered phone.

It's understandable why Qualcomm wants to emphasize what the Snapdragon 865 brings to mobile photography. After all, snapping photos has become one of the main things we do with our phones. Consumers buy camera phones, Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile at Qualcomm, said during this weeks Qualcomm tech summit. They don't just buy a phone.

With Qualcomm's new processor, the best camera phones running Android are about to get more sophisticated. For instance, when you're capturing 4K video and take a still shot by pressing the shutter button, you get a 64-megapixel shot instead of a lower resolution photo as you would now.

The Spectra 480 image signal processor on the Snapdragon 865 is capable of 2 gigapixel-per-second speeds, meaning it can process images faster while consuming less power. That opens up new features you wouldn't have thought possible for a smartphone-sized camera a few years back.

Qualcomm says phones with the Spectra 480 ISP will be able to capture 4K HDR shots with more than a billion shades of color. And there's enough processing power to shoot limitless amounts of slow-motion HD video at 960 frames per second. That means you can train your camera on someone and just leave slow-motion running instead of timing your video capture to the exact moment you want to slow down.

According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 865's image processor can also support 8K video at 30 frames per second, and while the results looked pretty impressive on an 8K monitor in Qualcomm's demo room, I'm not sure the effect will translate when you're watching things on a smartphone-sized screen.

More impressive is the ability to support 200-megapixel cameras. That last feature isn't vaporware, Judd Heape, Qualcomm's senior director of product management for camera, told the audience at Qualcomm's tech summit here: Qualcomm has teamed up with sensor makers to develop these larger image sensors and those will be available next year. That news sounds particularly relevant in light of the rumor that the Galaxy S11 will feature a 108-megapixel camera when it ships next spring.

Working with the AI engine on the Snapdragon 865 more on that feature in a moment the processor's ISP will be able to identify backgrounds, people and objects, treating each thing individually for a customized photo. A demo by a company called Morpho showed off how AI segmentation in which different parts of a photo are identified (your face, hair, backgrounds and more. By separating out those segments, they can be enhanced individually rather than a picture wide enhancement that can cost you finer details

Qualcomm says the new processor also supports Dolby Vision video capture for professional-quality HDR footage that captures and preserves brightness, contrast and color in your videos; playback will work on all types of devices, even those that aren't equipped with Dolby Vision.

It was impressing watching footage captured with Dolby Vision compared to those same shots captured by an ordinary camera. In poorly lit settings, backlighting washed out some of the details in the video, but those still stood out in the Dolby Vision-captured footage.

The proof will lie in the photos Snapdragon 865-equipped phones ultimately produce, but we're excited about seeing all these features in action as phone makers continue to push the envelope of what smartphone cameras can do.

By including a 5G modem with last year's Snapdragon 855, Qualcomm established itself as one of the leaders in pushing the new networking standard. That's continuing with the Snapdragon 865, which features an Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF system. Qualcomm didnt integrate the modem into the chipset, like it did with the lower-tier Snapdragon 765 introduced this week, but it hopes that its modem-to-RF antenna approach the company designs system RF, RF front end and modem as one system provides consistent performance and fast speeds.

In fact, Qualcomm says the modem can reach peak speeds of up to 7.5 Gbps, which far outpaces the 1 Gbps-plus speeds that 5G networks based on millimeter-wave can reach, and it's not a maximum networks built on lower-band spectrum are going to approach anytime soon. But Qualcomm is hoping to emphasize that its modem can handle whatever speeds 5G networks deliver. And it's also capable of hopping onto other networks like LTE and 3G when those signals are the only ones available, unlike last year's X50 modem, which required phones to include a separate LTE modem to handle other types of networks.

The X55 modem included with the Snapdragon 865 supports multiple technologies used to build out 5G networks, so the hope is that it will lead to more phones capable of working the next-generation network. And with technologies like Qualcomm's Smart Transmit, Signal Boost and Wideband Envelope Tracking, the carrier looks to maintain fast data speeds while avoiding some of the overheating and battery draining problems that initial 5G-capable phones encountered.

OK, we should talk about performance a little bit, because it's getting a boost with the Snapdragon 865. The Kryo 585 CPU used by the Snapdragon 865 promises up to a 25% performance improvement over what we saw from the Snapdragon 855 this year; power efficiency will also improve by 25% with the Kryo CPU in the Snapdragon 865.

The Kryo 585 features four CPUs in its performance core based on Arm's Cortex-A77; the prime CPU is a 2.84Ghz chips, and it's assisted by a trio of 2.4GHz performance cores. The efficiency core features four cores based on the Arm Cortex A-55.

Likewise, the Adreno 650 GPU should also deliver up to a 25% boost in graphics rendering from the previous generation. That should mean faster Android flagships than ever before.

But will they be fast enough to catch the iPhone? The Snapdragon 855-powered OnePlus 7 Pro posted a Geekbench 5 multicore score of 2,802 when we tested that phone last year. That's an impressive result, but it was still behind the 3,509 score that the A13 Bionic-powered iPhone 11 Pro tallied. A 25% improvement delivered by the Snapdragon 865 would just about close that gap, but keep in mind that the OnePlus 7 Pro came packed with 12GB of RAM, which helped goose its result. What's more, Apple is doubtlessly working on the A14 processor for next year's iPhone 12, which will move the performance bar even further.

Qualcomm's processor improvements aren't just about speed. Each generation of the Snapdragon also looks to consume less power when boosting performance, and to that end the Kryo 585 inside the Snapdragon 865 can deliver a 25% improvement in power efficiency.

The bottom line is that phones running on a Snapdragon 865 are going to outperform this year's top handsets. But that's not the story Qualcomm is emphasizing with its new processor.

Qualcomm is really ramping up the processing power for the Snapdragon's 835 on-board artificial intelligence. The new chipset features Qualcomm's 5th-generation AI Engine, which is capable of delivering 15 trillion operations per second (TOPS), twice what the AI engine on the Snapdragon 855 could do. The chipset's Hexagon 698's Tensor Accelerator is more powerful, too, delivering a 4x performance improvement over its predecessor while consuming 35% less power.

That should put AI to work in more areas. One potential feature touted by Qualcomm is the ability to translate your speech into another language using both text and speech. During a session detailing the AI changes to the Snapdragon 865, Ziad Asghar, vice of product management of AI and strategy for Qualcomm, demonstrated live transcription in which he spoke in English which was translated to text in real-time while also being translated into Mandarin. That happened on the device itself, with no information being translated to the cloud. The demo proved to be just as impressive when I saw my own speech being transcribed on screen in real time on a Snapdragon 865 reference device only to be immediately translated into Chinese characters.

Voice detection should also be more accurate thanks to AI improvements, making it easier to speak with a phone's onboard assistant without having to shout or repeat yourself. In another demo showing off the AI Engine's contextual awareness, the Snapdragon 865 was able to identify different types of ambient noise a busy airport, a city street and so on and then use that info to adjust the assistant's ability to hear your commands.

You'll see improvements in apps running on Snapdragon 865-powered devices, too Snap appeared at Qualcomm's tech summit to show off Snapchat producing image effects at four times its current speed.

Qualcomm is touting "desktop-quality gaming" on mobile devices with the Snapdragon 865. Whether the new chipset can deliver that remains to be seen, though some in-person demos on smartphone-sized screen depicted some impressive graphics. And Qualcomm is certainly promising some big improvements for mobile gaming.

The new processor is capable of supporting displays with a 144-Hz refresh rate. Right now, top gaming-focused phones offer a 120-Hz refresh rate for smoother scrolling and minimal lag, so that's quite a leap forward. Qualcomm's also working with game makers to boost the performance of their apps on Snapdragon-based devices; the company specifically spoke about working with the makers of that first-person multiplayer shooter to enable 90-Hz refresh rates for the game a trend Qualcomm sees continuing into next year with other games.

Other gaming improvements are additions to Snapdragon Elite Gaming, an array of hardware and software optimizations and features introduced by Qualcomm that focus on gaming. A Game Color Plus feature with the Snapdragon 865 is expected to enhance details, ramp up color saturation and offer local tone mapping for better graphics on all games, with no additional development work required. Besides the faster graphics rendering from the Adreno 650 GPU, a hardware feature called Adreno HDR Fast Blend can bolster games with heavy blending of layers, deliver up to twice the performance lift for some operations. (Think games with a lot of smoke and fire, which will now enjoy higher frame rates during graphically intense scenes.)

Qualcomm says Snapdragon 865 will support Desktop Forward Rendering, making it the first mobile platform on Android to do so. That lets game makers use desktop-quality lighting and post-processing effects in their mobile offerings. An on-stage demo showed off a pinball game, where the version enhanced by Desktop Forward Rendering depicted the ball's shadow, the glare of flashing lights and even the reflections of the ball on mirrors within the pinball machine.

With Snapdragon 865, you'll also be able to use a new feature called Adreno Updateable GPU Drivers to download GPU driver updates directly from an app store for better control over how you mobile game performs. That's a gaming feature desktop gamers enjoy for customizing their experience, and it will be as simple for mobile users as heading to Google Play to download drivers.

It's no surprise that the Snapdragon 865 chipset supports the emerging Wi-Fi 6 wireless standard, which promises better performance particularly in areas where a lot of devices are clamoring for Wi-Fi connectivity. Qualcomm says features on its processing platform will make Snapdragon 865-powered devices capable of Wi-Fi speeds approach 1.8 Gbps, even with other devices on a wireless network.

The Snapdragon 855 introduced 8x8 multiuser MIMO on downloads, meaning eight devices could simultaneously download data from an access point with no performance hit. With the Snapdragon 865, that features comes to uplink, so multiple devices will be able to upload data as well handy if you're in a crowded environment and need to upload a video.

Those are just some of the initial features we've heard about the Snapdragon 865, which also includes a Qualcomm aptX Voice feature for improved audio. Support for aptX Adaptive and Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo Plus should mean less latency and better battery life for wireless headphones connecting to Snapdragon 865-powered devices good news since phone makers seems committed to wiping out the headphone jack from their handsets.

Link:
Snapdragon 865 revealed: 6 ways it will transform flagship phones - Tom's Guide

Avalon Allen December 3rd, 2019 - 2:35 PM

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, will be released in theaters on December 20, 2019, marking the final addition to the newStar Warstrilogy that began in 2015. The Force Awakenshigh-quality CGI and special effects starkly contrasts that of Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, which came out in 1977 and marked the beginning of this iconic and absurdlyfinancially successful franchise. Unlike its other releases, the very first Star Wars was not a highly anticipated film in fact it was famously regarded as a huge career risk for creator George Lucas in his filmmaking career. 42 years later, lets look back on the initial reception to the movie that began it all.

The creation of A New Hope,or simplyStar Wars,was famously riddled with problems and doubt towards its success. The 2004 documentary Empire of Dreams provides a great dissection of many of these issues, and the reservations people felt about the movie. George Lucas initially came up with the idea for a space-fantasy film soon after releasing his directorial debut THX 1138 (1971), a social science-fiction movie that was a financial flop which Lucas believed was the result of its bleak story being unable to reach an audience. As a result, he wanted to make an adventurous, optimistic space odyssey that would be accessible to the masses.

He wouldnt start writing the script for what would eventually become Star Wars until January 1973. Lucas pulled from inspirations like Flash Gordon, the Vietnam War, Camelot lore, and Akira Kurosawas 1958 adventure filmThe Hidden Fortress . However, many of the major studios refused to budget his movie, including United Artists, Universal Pictures, and (ironically) Disney. In June 1973, Lucas managed to convince 20th Century Fox to fund his idea. Star Wars was also cursed with a long and difficult production that went way over budget. Despite Lucass passion for the movie, many of his crew members didnt take it seriously and doubted that it would do well financially or critically. In 1977, Lucas showed an early version of the film. The audience was comprised of Fox executives and several other directors, including Lucas fellow Movie Brats Brian De Palma, John Milius, and Steven Spielberg the last of whom was the only filmmaker to actually enjoy Star Wars.

Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977 to fewer than 32 theaters. Despite the many detractors, doubters, and critics, the film was an instantaneous and record-breaking success. Lucas has stated how he spent most of the release day in a sound studio, only to leave for his lunch break and find floods of people waiting outside Manns Chinese Theater so that they could see his movie. With all of its earnings adjusted to inflation, the movie is the second highest-grossing film in the United States with estimated ticket sales being $178,119,600. The film was extremely well-received by critics and audiences. Famed movie reviewer Roger Ebert described it as an out-of-the-body experience and commented that the magic of Star Wars is only dramatized by the special effects; the movies heart is in its endearingly human (and non-human) people. After its release, everyone involved with Star Wars found that their careers sky-rocketed. Even members of the films technical staff like model makers were being asked for autographs. The films also cemented the careers of its main cast: Carrie Fischer, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill.

An important aspect of Hollywood that Star Wars revolutionized was merchandising. Displaying true innovation and hindsight, George Lucas recognized the importance of promoting not just a movie, but the objects and products made in connection with it. He formed a partnership with Kenner Toy Company, who agreed to produce a line of action figures for the film. Due to the franchises fantastic and creative world building, fans eagerly wanted to immerse themselves in the universe Star Wars set up. Merchandise especially action figures allowed them to do this.

Kenner was unprepared for the incomparable popularityStar Wars attracted, and wasnt properly stocked with enough action figures. Instead, they sold an Early Bird Certificate Package which was basically an IOU that could eventually be exchanged for four action figures. Lucas created a movie so popular that he managed to make a profit not even on actual merchandise, but solely on the promise of it. He earned so much from the toy sales alone that he was able to use that wealth to independently finance Star Warss next two sequels:The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. By 1978, Kenner managed to sell 40 million units of toys. The films incredible success would inspire future big-budget franchises to invest in toys based on their films characters, in turn creating an industry based on movie-inspired items. Even to this day, Star Wars commodities like t-shirts and decorations are a common staple in every modern nerds house.

Though recent Star Wars additions havent generated responses quite as ecstatic as the original movies, as exemplified with the divisive prequel films or The Last Jedi, its a franchise that still remains as profitable and popular as ever. Regardless of what you think about its newer additions, the powerful impact and legacy Star Wars left will always be an undeniable game-changer for the history of cinema. Truly the Force was strong with this film.

See the original post here:
Looking Back on the Production and Impact of Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope - mxdwn.com

Winter sees an increase in the use of heating in our homes, with many of us burning fuels (like oil, coal and gas), so its important to be aware of the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Thats why weve teamed up with Gas Networks Ireland to help you keep your home and family safe.

Here are some of the biggest carbon monoxide risks in your home and how you can protect yourself from this silent killer.

Fireplaces, flues and chimneys

If youre planning on lighting the fire this Winter, make sure to have your chimney swept regularly and keep vents and flues clear.

Gas fires, like all fuel burning appliances, should be serviced regularly. Staining, sooting or discolouration around a gas fire or appliance can be indicators of carbon monoxide.

Likewise a strange smell (you cant smell carbon monoxide, but you can smell other fumes produced by combustion) or condensation on windows or walls when the appliance is operational.

If you spot any of these signs, contact a Registered Gas Installer or qualified technician for your fuel type immediately and get it checked before using it again.

Gas cookers and fuel-burning appliances

If you have a gas cooker or any other fuel-burning appliance make sure to get them serviced and regularly maintained by a qualified service agent.

Gas appliances can be serviced by contacting your gas supplier or a Registered Gas Installer.

Other fuel-burning appliances you may have include: an oil or gas heater, a gas fire or a wood-burning stove.

Gas and oil boilers

Its really important to get boilers serviced regularly once a year at a minimum. If you spot a potential problem in the meantime, be sure to contact a registered gas or oil technician.

Flueless gas water heaters and open-flue-type water heaters are considered out-of-date and unsafe. For example, those in bathrooms. If you think you have an older unsafe water heater, call Gas Ireland on 1850 79 79 79 for a free safety check.

Barbecues, lawnmowers and garage-stored cars

Remember all appliances need ventilation to breathe!

Never run a car, lawnmower or other fuel-powered equipment in a confined or poorly ventilated space, e.g. a closed garage.

Never use a barbecue indoors, in a tent or directly under an awning; they can give off carbon monoxide for several hours after use, even if they appear to have gone out. And never use an appliance you think could be faulty or for any purpose it wasnt designed for.

No carbon monoxide alarm

Another big carbon monoxide risk? Not having at least one audible carbon monoxide alarm! Install one this Winter as per the manufacturers instructions and it could save your life.

Ideally, you should have one in every room you have a fuel burning appliance. Plus one within 5 metres (16 feet) of every bedroom to protect you while youre asleep.

For more information, visit theGas Networks Irelandwebsite.

Read the rest here:
What are the biggest carbon monoxide risks in your home? - Irish Mirror

Mod the Sims isn't the only website with tons and tons of custom content and mods available for Simmers everywhere to download and employ in their gameplay, but it is one of the most popular among them. There's a good reason for that, too. Mod the Sims has plenty of custom content and mods ranging from cosmetic mods and custom hair to mods that totally change the way you experienceThe Sims and consequently how your Sims experience their lives.

RELATED: Sims 4: 5 Reasons Arts & Crafts Is The Best Theme Choice (& 5 Why It Should Have Been Happy Haunts)

Whether you're one of those Simmers who has gigabytes upon gigabytes of mods in their game or just getting started in the world of mods, here are the ten best Sims 4 custom content finds on Mod the Sims.

If you're the kind ofSims player who likes building stories with your Sims right down to changing their appearances every so often, this is the kind of gameplay mod you'll love.

Mod the Sims user flerb has made it possible for your Sims to automatically grow beards without you having to go into CAS and adjust your Sim's beard length. This means more time you get to spend actually playing the game rather than fussing over your Sim's appearance in CAS. You even get to pick the color of your Sim's beard for even more realistic gameplay.

Money can be hard to come by inThe Sims 4, or at least it a timely manner. It's no surprise there are plenty of cheats to remedy this problem, andDiscover University introduced the idea of student loans, but what about those Sims who are done with their education and are just looking for their dream home or money to invest in a business?

For those Simmers who don't want to cheat but still want to take their Sim's life in a specific direction, there's scarletqueenkat's SimCity Loans mod.With this mod, your Sim can take out a loan of varying amounts and pay it back over 12, 24, or 36 payments.

This mod is one of those mods that makes gameplay so much easier it's hard to live without it after a while. The UI cheats extension allows players to unlock perks, cheat the aging process, click and drag to fulfill needs, add or subtract household funds, make negative moodlets disappear, and so much more.

RELATED: Ranked: Every Sims 4 Stuff Pack, From The Worst To The Best

Like MCCC, it makes cheating your way through the game so much simpler and user-friendly. You might not even need to type in any cheats with the combination of this mod and MCCC. Make sure you download the right version of the mod if you choose to take a crack at it. The version for Metal Macs and 64-bit systems is free on Patreon.

For those Sims that love outer space, install this dynamic and animated wallpaper designed to imitate the starry sky on a clear night. It comes in four seamless tiles so as not to disturb the flow of the night sky across your Sim's bedroom wall.

Make sure you haveSpa Day installed if you want to use this wallpaper in your next build, as the scripts required for it to run are included in the game pack.If you'd like to see what the wallpaper looks like in action before you download and install it, the user has a YouTube video you can watch.

Though there are plenty of hobbies for your Sims to engage in, especially with additional game content, some Simmers still find the game isn't totally inclusive yet. This is what modders are for!

If you want your Sim to become a master canner, they can with this mod by icemunmun. Not only does this custom content include a fully functional canning station and preserve jars, it provides your sims with a custom canning skill that they can develop by using the canning station to make jams, spreads, and pickles!

This creator has provided another fun hobby for your Sims to engage in if canning isn't really their thingcandle making! This mod not only allows your Sims to create candles in all sorts of shapes and colors, it allows them to talk about candles, research candles, turn candle making into a holiday tradition, and best of all, all of the candles your Sims create at the candle making station give off actual light when your Sim lights them.

RELATED: Sims 4 Discover University: 5 Reasons To Choose Foxbury (And 5 Why You Should Attend Britechester)

These are the kinds of interactive hobbies Simmers love to see in their gameplay.

The next time you have a young adult Sim move out of their parents' house, how nice would it be to have some packing crates available to move some of your Sim's stuff with them? And what if those crates could fit right into your Sim's inventory?

The good news is there is a mod out there with CC packing crates that allow your Sim to do just that. No more juggling the family heirlooms and getting frustrated when that piano doesn't fit in your Sim's inventory and has to go into the household's inventory! Just pack it away in a packing crate and let your Sim be on their way.

WithIsland Living came the Off the Grid lot trait, which allows your Sims to live off the natural resources they're surrounded by instead of relying on pesky things like electricity. This functional solar panel allows your Sims to continue their eco-friendly way of living while still using a little bit of electricity.

RELATED: The Sims 4: 10 Gameplay Features From Previous Games That Are Still Sorely Missed

If youput this solar panel on your lot without the Off the Grid lot trait, it will reduce the amount your Sims have to pay for electricity. The water heater that comes along with these solar panels also helps reduce the amount your Sims are required to pay when the bills come around as well!

Content creators and modders forThe Sims 4are nothing if not creative (and really smart). This is made no clearer than by littledica and their wonderful custom stuff pack designed to make your Sims' kitchens look like they just stepped out of a design magazine. Not only is this pack of custom content marketed like the real thing created by EA itself, it provides plenty of new items for Simmers to use in their next build.

So if you're looking for fresh countertops, cabinets, appliances, floors, walls, chairs, tables, and more, look no further than this custom content stuff pack!

Thisbuildmight not change the way you playThe Sims 4, but it will certainly elevate your Sim's lifestyle.This little collection of buildings is slotted as a nightclub but includes four pubs, discos, a gym, library,nursery for children, guest rooms, living areas, kitchens, and nightclubs galore. There isn't much custom content in this particular build, but for those Simmers who want it, the builder provides links to each one.

Shake things up for a change and install this build in your Sims' world to give them something else to do at night.

NEXT: The Sims 4: 10 Incredible Mansions That Use No Custom Content

NextPokmon: 10 Mechanics Introduced In Gen I That Are Missing Today

Madison Puzey is a freelancer writer and editor based in Georgia, USA. When she's not writing for The Gamer, she spends her time writing, gaming, and watching movies. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 2017 and has loved writing since she was a little girl.

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Mod The Sims: 10 Best Sims 4 Custom Content From The Site - TheGamer

As more cities and states try to cut carbon emissions, some are taking aim at a new target: natural gas inside homes. Buildings, through heating and cooking, use almost a third of the natural gas consumed in the U.S.

In July, Berkeley, Calif., became the first city in the country to ban natural gas in new buildings, starting next year. City officials say new efficient electric appliances have lower carbon footprints than gas-powered furnaces and water heaters.

We need to tackle climate change every way that we can and by doing this, were not asking people to change that much, says Kate Harrison, the Berkeley City Council member who led the initiative.

Cities like San Jose, Sacramento and Los Angeles are developing their own policies to make buildings zero carbon, and a number of cities around the world have to do the same. But opponents say the push to get rid of gas goes against what consumers are asking for, especially in their kitchens.

People love their gas stoves, says Bob Raymer, technical director with the California Building Industry Association. We dont want to force something onto the consumer that makes the consumer feel uncomfortable, or that they just dont like. After all, its their home.

But California has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2045, and about a quarter of the states emissions come from energy used by buildings. To reach its ambitious climate change goals, the state will eventually have to force or entice homeowners to electrify everything.

Swapping for electric

Today, an all-electric home isnt common in California, as Oakland resident Bruce Nilles found out.

Nilles spent his career working on reducing the countrys use of fossil fuels, first at the Sierra Club and then at the Rocky Mountain Institute.

I was thinking a lot about coal, and how do we transition the United States off of coal, and had missed the fact that right in my own home was this big source of fossil fuels, he says.

His two-story Craftsman house had four appliances that ran on natural gas: water heater, furnace, dryer and gas stove.

It never occurred to me that they were a big piece of my carbon footprint, he says.

Nilles decided to switch to electric appliances. Electricity has a lower carbon footprint in California, because the state is investing heavily in renewable energy. In 2018, half of the states electricity came from carbon emissions-free sources, like solar and wind, as well as hydropower and nuclear.

I called three different contractors and all three of them tried to persuade me not to get rid of my gas, Nilles says. Some didnt have experience switching gas appliances.

Eventually, he found one who was game to install a new electric induction range. Nilles says its a far cry from the old-school electric stoves with coils that heat up.

This thing is so fast, you put the water on and literally, 120 seconds later, its boiling, he says.

Nilles also got a new electric dryer, and in the basement, a water heater and heat pump that both heats and cools his home.

The inspector didnt actually sign off on our project, because on a check box, it said there needed to be a gas shut-off valve on our hot water heater, he says. Eventually, the city agreed to ignore the check box.

First of a kind ban on natural gas

In July, the City Council in Berkeley, Calif., voted unanimously to ban natural gas in new buildings, starting next year with homes and small apartment buildings.

The ban will include other kinds of buildings in the years to come, like high-rises and commercial space, as soon as state officials complete energy efficiency analyses of those building types.

Its going to give us a better life, City Council member Harrison says. Were going to have a cleaner environment. Were going to have less health problems. Were going to have less danger in our homes.

About 27% of Berkeleys greenhouse gas emissions come from natural gas, but climate change isnt the only reason for the ban, according to the city. Berkeley sits on an earthquake fault. A major event could cause natural gas lines to break and create explosions.

Cooking on gas stoves can also cause high levels of indoor air pollution, like nitrogen dioxide. We have health effects that have never been considered that come from burning natural gas, Harrison says.

Still, she admits stoves are the major sticking point. While homeowners may not have strong feelings about their water heaters, cooking is another matter.

Appliance showrooms are packed with heavy-duty gas ranges, many made to look like industrial models found in restaurant kitchens. Not offering those stoves could put builders at a competitive disadvantage, according to the building industry.

We dont support an outright ban on a particular product, says Raymer of the California Building Industry Association. What we do support are the use of regulatory and financial incentives to encourage a market to go a particular way.

The vast majority of restaurants today also use gas cooking. Under Berkeleys law, building owners will be able to apply for an exemption to the gas ban.

Its important that restaurants, along with all ratepayers, have a diverse set of energy sources they can turn to and that includes natural gas, says Sharokina Shams of the California Restaurant Association.

Still, Raymer says some builders are already switching to all-electric homes in California, because in new construction, they save $2,000 to $5,000 by not running gas lines.

A growing trend

Cities such as Sacramento have started discussing a potential ban on natural gas in new buildings, while others are looking at using incentives to get people to switch.

We know that we have to get away from fossil natural gas combustion, says Andrew McAllister of the California Energy Commission. Electricity becomes cleaner and cleaner and natural gas is methane, and its just got carbon in it. Theres no way around that.

Californias Energy Commission is currently writing a road map for how the state can cut emissions from buildings 40% by 2030.

Still, to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral, California will have to tackle natural gas use in existing buildings, not just new ones. That can be costlier. Many older homes dont have large enough electric panels, or plugs that can handle 220 volts.

Electric heat pumps and other electric appliances can be more expensive than gas-powered equivalents, especially because it can be harder to find rebates. Sacramento and San Jose are offering residents up to several thousand dollars to switch from gas to electric.

Its a cultural transition that we have to undergo, says McAllister. Its a big lift, but were in a powerful state with a big economy and a lot of creativity. So I think if anybody can do it, California can.

After all, McAllister says, a lot of the nations energy efficiency rules, including for appliances, were passed by California first.

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Give Up Your Gas Stove To Save The Planet? Banning Gas Is The Next Climate Push - Stock Daily Dish

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- Volunteers have been at work on this Giving Tuesday with Bear Creek Services.

Construction workers from Kraus-Anderson are volunteering at a group home for four women with developmental disabilities.

The home flooded a year ago, and required many repairs. Now that the home is safe from future water damage, drywall needs to be installed.

That's where Kraus-Anderson stepped up in a major way providing the installation free of charge. This particular installation would have costed between $3,000-$4,000.

Kraus-Anderson Director of Business Development Cyle Erie visited the home months before and agreed to lend a hand.

"Bear Creek Services of course provides a wonderful service for the Rochester community and so that's why there an organization that were proud to support," Erie said.

"Well, we're a non-profit organization so our budgets are really challenged and this entire project would be about $40,000 if we had to pay out of pocket that's why these types of volunteer projects are really beneficial for us," Erie said.

The repairs at Westchester Manor comes as a big relief to the four woman who live there. And the living room space will eventually bring joy to other too, as it becomes a fun community room for all to enjoy.

Original post:
A construction company is hard at work piecing together a basement free of charge - KTTC

In a three-stop tour to these facilities from roughly 3-5 p.m., Monday, Dec. 2, a group of district officials, consulting project managers and members of the public hopped on a bus and surveyed the construction sites of these facilities.

After passing a $205 million bond referendum in April 2018, the Brainerd School District is progressing through its four-year process that will see the deconstruction, reconstruction or renovation of 12 separate facilities across the district. Mondays tour stops explored some of the most significant, and expensive, improvements to the district thats been hampered by aging infrastructure, outmoded amenities and constricted space needs for years, Superintendent Laine Larson said during the referendum campaign.

To varying degrees, all three sites have seen their skeletal frameworks everything from rebar to drywall to steel trusses constructed and in place, while crews are working through wet conditions to install the guts, or amenities of the buildings, in the form of air ventilation ducts, insulation, electrical, water and sewage piping, among other features.

Project managers of ICS Consulting noted the projects while somewhat complicated by inclement weather in recent weeks are on track for their respective completion dates.

Stopping at Harrison Elementary School first, tour participants were able to view the skeletal framework of various additions to the building first constructed in 1938 which include, among other changes, a learning commons outside each grade level's pod of classrooms, a new and bigger gymnasium, a media center and a bigger cafeteria, which will occupy the space of the current gym. The stage will stay where it is in the current gym to allow for the cafeteria to be used for plays and other performing arts events.

While the project clocks in as one of the most expensive initiatives in the district at roughly $19 million, construction bids came in low enough that all add alternate plans or, additions tacked on in the event of low and affordable contracts would be implemented. These alternates include upgrading the gym to a full-sized competition space; a fully adhered, stronger roof; new cafeteria windows; cabinets above the first- through fourth-grade lockers; acoustical treatments in the gym and cafeteria; and gym bleachers.

The steel, concrete and sheetrock framework of the new addition has been mostly installed. This, in turn, means a number of openings and realignments to the aging brick structure are being added, for the purpose of reconfiguring classrooms and office spaces on the buildings south face for better security, to widening archways for modern doors.

On the outside, 15th Street on the west side of the school will be designated for parent pick-up/drop-off and special education bus drop-off. The regular bus pick-up/drop-off area will be on Norwood Street near the new entrance. A 40-stall parking lot is set for the corner of Oak and 16th streets, with a new playground to be located to the north of the lot, as the school's addition is designed to take up the current playground's space.

The project is slated to be finished before the 2020-21 school year begins.

Upon reaching the site of the new Baxter Elementary School, tour participants were treated to an intimate view at a new facility in the early stages of construction. The surrounding area still retains the raw, newly excavated look of a groundbreaking, complete with towering mounds of transplanted earth and clear-cut groves intended for new facilities.

With the facilitys roof still to be constructed, crews have been depending on heavy tarping and scaffolding to shield the site from inclement weather. While this has been mostly affected, Site Superintendent Al Reichow noted a significant portion of the buildings floors are currently covered in 1-2 inches of standing water. This is runoff from melting snow.

Site Superintendent Al Reichow gives a tour and answers questions Monday, Dec. 2, throughout the interior of the new Baxter Elementary School being constructed on Jasperwood Drive, near Forestview Middle School. While the structural skeleton of the school is largely in place, the site lacks a roof which -- coupled with a deluge of snow in recent days and warmer temperatures inside -- means contractors are working through patches of standing water as high as 1-2 inches at any given point. Gabriel Lagarde / Brainerd Dispatch

Working through these conditions, contractors are in the process of installing the amenities that will ventilate, heat or cool, insulate and power the new facility.

With the current Baxter Elementary building set to become an early childhood facility, the new school will be two stories and able to accommodate five sections of each grade and 625 students total. Under the $26.2 million project, each grade will have its own learning commons surrounded by five classrooms, and the building will include a full-sized gymnasium, a music room and an art/science/technology space built in conjunction with a media center.

An interior view Monday, Dec. 2, of the new Baxter Elementary School under construction on Jasperwood Drive, near Forestview Middle School. Contractors have completed much of the infrastructure framework of the school and are currently working to install amenities including air ducts, insulation, electrical and other internal features. Gabriel Lagarde / Brainerd Dispatch

Exterior plans around the new elementary school include clearing the section of Jasperwood Drive and Knollwood Drive between the south-central access and south access to the future school's parcel, as well as creating two cul-de-sac style roads to ease traffic through the addition of a safe, non-vehicle traveled connection between the schools.

The new facility is set to open for the 2020-21 school year.

Much in line with myriad discussions during the referendum process, contractors noted Nisswa Elementary School is in the process of expansions to its gymnasium and classrooms to address long-standing issues of space limitations.

In particular, the site now has two gyms the original and a new one in progress, which will be merged to form a new full-sized gymnasium with a full court, two practice courts, or an expanded area for badminton, for example. Classroom upgrades include two alternative classrooms, as well as a second-story classroom addition.

Participants in a Brainerd School District tour Monday, Dec. 2, file into Nisswa Elementary School shortly before sunset. Nisswa Elementary is one of 12 facilities across the district seeing extensive construction in by 2022 and one three schools amid renovations that district officials, contractors and residents of the lakes area surveyed Monday. Gabriel Lagarde / Brainerd Dispatch

In the $12 million initiative, crews are working to remodel the southern end of the building, enlarge the cafeteria and remodel of the kitchen and office area. There will also be extra space for more classrooms to be added on in the future. Construction crews are working around the school environment, which means the foyer wont be used with the installation of a new secure entrance, which will become the schools main entrance with administrative offices.

District officials noted the facility looks to be nearly totally renovated by August 2020.

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ISD 181 gives bus tour of Nisswa, Baxter and Harrison sites under construction - Brainerd Dispatch

I am beside myself with excitement over drywall and linoleum.

Almost every year I look at the BuildingGreen top ten products for the upcoming year and wonder, how can I make this interesting or exciting? They are sometimes as boring as watching paint dry. One year it actually was about paint drying. This year at Greenbuild they tried to make it even less exciting by putting the presentation in a drab corner of the hall with little screens and lots of ambient noise, but Brent Ehrlich and Nadav Malin made the best of it. And really, there is some interesting and important stuff going on here. My top picks of the top ten:

But there have been so many advances in glass technology for the screens of our phones and tablets. Alpen has put some of these to work and used really strong, thin 1mm glass to replace the usual thick panes in the middle. The glass doesn't cost less than the usual 3-pane glass, but being thinner and lighter, it may well drive down the cost of Passive House quality windows because the frames and hardware can be lighter. Even our usually reserved BuildingGreen people can't help themselves:

That is exciting because replacing a double-glazed IGU with a ThinGlass Triple would improve the whole window U-value by 35%45% over a standard dual-pane option, according to the company. And perhaps the best part: the cost of these Alpen ThinGlass windows is the same as their standard triple-pane offerings.

Now they have somehow figured out how to deliver it in a bucket; you pour it out and somehow, magically without heat and rollers, it turns into a Lino floor. Brent writes:

It does seem like magic to me, but if it works, it's pretty amazing. I didn't think you could actually improve linoleum, but they have.

We also have no idea how long it will last. When the vacuum goes and it fills with air, we have nothing but a bit of poly iso, a problematic insulation on its own. It is an interesting product, but I really wonder how it will be used or misused, and whether we should be rethinking our aesthetics.

There are lots more at BuildingGreen, from MDF panels made from rice to levitating chillers to low CO2 carbon pavers. Check them all out.

I am beside myself with excitement over drywall and linoleum.

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BuildingGreen top ten products of the year are not boring at all - Treehugger

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Global Building Finishing Contractors Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 - The Industry Press Releases