Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (Japanese: キングダム ハーツ バース バイ スリープ, Hepburn: Kingudamu Hātsu Bāsu bai Surīpu) is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable, serving as the sixth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series. The game was released on UMD in Japan on January 9, 2010, in North America on September 7, 2010 and in the PAL regions on September 10, 2010. An international version of the game titled Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix was released in Japan in January 2011 featuring the changes made in the non-Japanese versions.
The game utilizes an overhauled battle system different from previous games in the series with new elements. It is a prequel to the original Kingdom Hearts, taking place ten years before. The game centers on the journeys of Terra, Aqua and Ventus, characters briefly featured in Kingdom Hearts II in their quest to locate the missing Master Xehanort, and protect the worlds from creatures known as the Unversed. The player has access to the three characters' different scenarios when playing.
Development of the game began in June 2005 with parts of the game Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix meant to bring clues of Birth by Sleep. The game was directed by Tetsuya Nomura and co-directed by Tai Yasue. Nomura has referred to the game as "Episode 0" (and later "Episode 0.1" following the release of Kingdom Hearts χ) saying that the game is on the same scale and plays as big an importance as Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. The game has been well-received, selling 1.27 million copies worldwide as of November 2010, and receiving positive comments by video game publications. Critics praised the gameplay, graphics, music, and storyline of the game, with criticism reserved for the level design and the characters. A high definition version of the Final Mix edition was released for the PlayStation 3 in 2014 and PlayStation 4 in 2017 as a part of the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix collection.
Terra battling the Trinity Armor with Aqua and Ventus.
Birth by Sleep is an action role-playing game with hack and slash elements that introduces a gameplay aspect to the series called the Command System. This system allows players to customize a Command Deck with techniques and abilities that they can perform at will, called Deck Commands. Performing ordinary attacks and Commands fills a gauge displayed above the Command Deck. When certain requirements are fulfilled and the gauge is full, the player's basic attack is changed to the "Surge" Command, which racks up powerful combos depending on what Command Style is activated. Filling the gauge a second time replaces the "Surge" Command with the more powerful "Storm" Command.
Unlike previous games in the series, the game does not utilize Magic Points (MP) for spells or magic casting. It instead uses a system known as Focus, which is displayed in an orange gauge on the interface. The player can use Focus to perform a technique called Shotlock with which the player enters a first person mode where they target enemies to cast homing spells that differ with each character and technique, depleting the gauge relative to the number of enemies targeted. Once depleted, the Focus gauge gradually refills with every attack and Deck Command the player lands on an enemy.
Another aspect introduced in the game is the Dimension Link (D-Link), measured in a blue gauge on the interface. It is used to draw power from certain companions who the player characters meet during the game, such as Experiment 626, temporarily replacing the commands in the player's customized command deck with a pre-determined set of commands that differ with each D-Link. Once the command gauge is filled while performing a D-Link, a powerful finishing move is activated to take out enemies. Each finishing move has two levels which can render a finishing move more powerful than before, similar to that of the Command System. The D-Link can only be used when its corresponding gauge is filled completely, and can be activated by pressing right on the directional pad to access the D-Link menu, followed by selecting the chosen ally.
The game also features the Command Board, which appears whenever the player completes a world, and can be accessed from save points and the world map once unlocked. Each world has its own unique Command Board with its own tricks and mechanisms. The Command Board plays like a simplified version of the Fortune Street board game series. A die is thrown and the player moves, with each space having its own unique effect on the player. Various Disney characters from throughout the game also appear on their respective Command Board to either aid or hinder the player. Special panels in the board game can trigger "special events" when landed on by the player.
The game is divided into three separate scenarios, with each one surrounding the story of the three main characters: Terra, Aqua and Ventus. While the first ten minutes of the story are the same regardless of which character is chosen, the events that follow differ in each scenario, with each character's narrative occurring parallel to the others and intersecting with one another at different points. The gameplay of each scenario differs based on the abilities of each character such as their power, speed and magic: Terra is the most powerful in terms of physical damage, Ventus is the fastest character and Aqua specializes in magic. Players may choose which of the three scenarios they wish to start with near the beginning of the game. The recommended scenario order of play by Nomura is Terra, followed by Ventus, and lastly Aqua, allowing the player to best understand the story. Completing all three scenarios will unlock the story's final chapter.
The game supports up to six players at a time in four new multiplayer modes, all set in a world known as the Mirage Arena. In each mode, players control one of the three main characters. In Versus, players fight against each other in a deathmatch-style game, while in Arena players fight co-operatively in a "Survival Mode" style of gameplay against wave after wave of Unversed. Rumble Racing features players racing against each other competitively on their Keyblade vehicles, which can also be used to attack rivals. Command Board is a board game using the in-game Command Board mechanic, where players try to reach the end first as in traditional board games. Setting records in the Mirage Arena earns players medals which can be exchanged for rare items in-game. Only Ad-Hoc wireless multiplayer, where all of the players need to be physically near each other, is allowed.
Birth by Sleep is a prequel to the first Kingdom Hearts game, taking place ten years prior. Like the other games in the series, the player progresses through a collection of various worlds, based on various locales from the Disney animated features canon: Dwarf Woodlands from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Enchanted Dominion from Sleeping Beauty, Castle of Dreams from Cinderella, Olympus Coliseum from Hercules, Deep Space from Lilo & Stitch, Neverland from Peter Pan and Mysterious Tower from Fantasia. The game also features various new worlds specially created for the series by Square Enix such as the Land of Departure and Radiant Garden. Disney Town, which is the town that surrounds the castle grounds of Disney Castle, serves as the game's minigame world. Worlds such as Destiny Islands and Castle Oblivion also appear in the form of cutscenes, while the 100 Acre Wood from the Winnie the Pooh franchise, which had appeared in most other games of the series, only appears as a Command Board in Birth by Sleep. The staff first chose the worlds based on the game's scenario, leading to the inclusion of Princesses' worlds. They then added the worlds of Neverland and Deep Space to add variety to the game, while Olympus Coliseum was selected to reflect the game's earlier setting compared to the original Kingdom Hearts.
The three main characters are Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, a trio of Keyblade apprentices under Master Eraqus who aspire to become Masters themselves. Another Keyblade Master, Xehanort, and his apprentice, Vanitas, serve as the game's antagonists. Other characters from the previous games return, such as younger versions of Sora, Riku, and Kairi, though they are given less prominent roles. A number of characters who later come to form Organization XIII also appear in their human forms. As with the Heartless in Kingdom Hearts and the Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts II, Birth by Sleep introduces a new type of enemy: the Unversed, fledgling emotions that are "not well-versed in their own existences" and feed on negativity.
As with the other games in the series, Birth by Sleep features an extensive cast of Disney characters. The most prominent of these characters is Mickey Mouse, the king of Disney Castle, who serves as a Keyblade apprentice under the sorcerer Yen Sid at this point in the series chronology. Donald Duck and Goofy, who assist Sora in most other games, appear in smaller roles. Most other Disney characters remain in their respective worlds regardless of their overall importance to the story in previous installments, such as Maleficent and Pete, who served as major antagonists between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, and a number of the Princesses of Heart. Some characters (such as Experiment 626, Prince Phillip, and Mickey) occasionally fight alongside the player characters in battles as partners similar to the other games, providing assistance and performing combos to help the player proceed. However, they do not follow the player around constantly like Donald and Goofy in the other games. Unlike the other major installments, which also featured casts of various characters throughout the Final Fantasy series, Birth by Sleep only features two of these characters: Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII, and the Moogles, creatures from several of the Final Fantasy games, who sell items to the player. As Birth by Sleep is a prequel of the first Kingdom Hearts title, the staff decided to add Zack to the title as he is the protagonist of the Final Fantasy VII prequel, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.
Master Xehanort brings a comatose Ventus to the Destiny Islands after the latter's heart is damaged; a newborn heart senses Ventus's heart and connects with it, saving him. Years later, at the Land of Departure, Terra and Aqua take an exam to achieve the Mark of Mastery. Xehanort manipulates the exam so Terra fails while Aqua passes, lessening Terra's control of the darkness in his heart. Shortly afterward, Xehanort disappears and a horde of Unversed appear throughout the worlds. Learning about these developments from Yen Sid, Master Eraqus sends Terra and Aqua to destroy the Unversed and find Xehanort throughout the countless worlds. Meanwhile, Vanitas convinces Ventus to follow Terra against Eraqus's wishes, while Eraqus orders Aqua to monitor Terra's darkness and bring Ventus back to the Land of Departure.
As the three travel through several worlds, Terra attracts the attention of several villains, who offer him the whereabouts of Xehanort in exchange for assistance in their own agendas. He eventually finds Xehanort, who offers to take him in as his apprentice and urges him to use his inner darkness to gain power. He further instructs him to destroy Vanitas, the source of the Unversed, who was created from the darkness extracted from Ventus's heart. Shortly afterward, the three friends reunite at Radiant Garden, but a schism forms between them when they have an argument over Terra's presumed actions in the other worlds.
Ventus encounters Xehanort, who reveals his intention to recombine Ventus and Vanitas's hearts to create an all-powerful Keyblade called the χ-blade. Xehanort sends Ventus to the Land of Departure to confront Eraqus, who attempts to destroy Ventus to foil Xehanort's plan. Terra arrives to save Ventus and fights with Eraqus; upon his defeat, Eraqus is vanquished by Xehanort, who enshrouds the Land of Departure in darkness and tells Terra to go to a world known as the Keyblade Graveyard. Ventus is instructed to do the same by Vanitas, as is Aqua by Yen Sid upon being informed of Eraqus's demise at Xehanort and Terra's hands.
Terra, Aqua, and Ventus reunite at the Keyblade Graveyard, where Xehanort and Vanitas reveal their plan to use the χ-blade to unlock Kingdom Hearts and start a Keyblade War, an apocalyptic event that nearly destroyed the world in the past. Terra's heart is swallowed by darkness in the ensuing battle, and Xehanort takes over his body to replace his own aging one. However, Terra's mind remains within his discarded suit of armor, which comes to life and defeats Xehanort. Meanwhile, Ventus is forced to fuse with Vanitas to create the χ-blade. Aqua and Mickey fight with the possessed Ventus and destroy the χ-blade, while Ventus engages and defeats Vanitas in a metaphysical battle within his own mind, losing his heart and falling into a catatonic state as a result.
After learning of Ventus's condition from Yen Sid, Aqua brings his body to the Land of Departure, which she transforms into Castle Oblivion to ensure Ventus will not be disturbed. At Radiant Garden, Aqua battles the possessed Terra. When Terra struggles for control of his body, Xehanort impales himself with his own Keyblade, causing him to sink into the realm of darkness. Aqua dives into the realm and rescues Terra, becoming trapped in the process. Ansem the Wise finds an amnesiac Xehanort still possessing Terra's body, while Ventus's heart reconnects with and rests inside the heart of a young Sora, the newborn who had previously saved him on the islands.
In the game's secret ending, which takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Aqua meets Ansem in the realm of darkness and learns from him about Sora, who has the power to save those connected to his heart. Sora has learned of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua's fates from a letter sent by Mickey, and undertakes another quest to save them.
Development of the game began in June 2005 and was originally intended for the PlayStation 2 with Sora as the prototype protagonist of the game. Birth by Sleep was developed by Square Enix's fifth Product Development Division, based in Osaka, the same team behind Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, and uses the same graphical engine as both Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Dissidia Final Fantasy. During development of Kingdom Hearts II, the Osaka-based team had requested to be involved in a spin-off if one were to be made. Development of the game began before the release of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+. The plot was completed, but development was halted six months after it began due to development of Re:Chain of Memories. When development resumed, the team changed the platform to the PlayStation Portable so as to make use of the PSP's functions such as co-operative and competitive multiplayer gameplay. The title of the game is based on II Final Mix's secret ending, "Birth by Sleep", a title which director Tetsuya Nomura developed as he wanted a phrase having "by" as well as to use an English title like previous games. Nomura has referred to the game as "Episode 0", saying that the game is on the same scale and plays as big an importance as Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II.
Early during the game's development, Nomura already had various scenes in mind such as Terra's and Riku's conversation in order to explain the latter's ability in the original games. Various parts from the plot had to be modified to make the game more light-hearted such as Eraqus' death at the hands of Xehanort after being defeated by Terra, how Aqua's scenario was supposed to end with her already trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and the relationship between Ventus and Sora. Two of the newly introduced protagonists, Ventus and Terra, were based on other characters from the franchise while Aqua's design did not have a base. Nevertheless, the three wear outfits meant to expand the student-and-teacher bond shown in the game. The Disney worlds were chosen to expand the characters of the Princesess of Light as well as Maleficient's who are connected with the events of the first Kingdom Hearts game, while the worlds of Neverland and Deep Space were chosen to add variety to the game, and Olympus Coliseum was selected to reflect the game's earlier setting compared to the original Kingdom Hearts.
Birth by Sleep was directed by Nomura and co-directed by Tai Yasue. It was announced alongside Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts coded at the Tokyo Game Show on September 20, 2007, where a trailer was shown in a photo-prohibited theater. New trailers were shown at the 2008 Jump Festa in December 2007 and the DKΣ3713 Private Party, an invite-only event by Square Enix for fans, in August 2008; a playable demo was also available at DKΣ3713. The June 5, 2009 issue of Famitsu covered an interview with Tetsuya Nomura, where he said that the game was, at the time, at the voice recording stage. Nomura also confirmed in an interview that Birth by Sleep would contain a secret ending like in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II for the next game in the Kingdom Hearts series, which he confirmed to be a main game and the one which Nomura stated would link up Birth by Sleep, 358/2 Days and coded. He also confirmed that a Birth by Sleep demo would indeed be playable at the 2009 Tokyo Games Show together with a new trailer. In early October 2009, Nomura revealed that the concept of the Command Board originated from when he was in elementary school as at that time he was very fascinated with board games and even made his own; hence he wanted to incorporate a fun board game into the game.
In late October 2009, Nomura revealed that he was currently designing the cover art for Birth by Sleep as well as editing the staff rolls due to there being three main characters in the game. He also revealed that they were editing the new opening movie for the game. As with coded and 358/2 Days, Yoko Shimomura, the series' main composer, composed the most prominent themes, while the rest was created by other composers. Like Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, Birth by Sleep uses Hikaru Utada's theme song "Hikari" for the Japanese version and its English version, "Simple and Clean", in the other releases.
The game made its final public appearance before its Japanese release at Jump Festa 2010 on December 19, 2009 where a playable demo as well as new footage from the game were present and shown. Like previous console titles in the series, the game contains a secret movie at the end, which had been described as being more like a "true ending" rather than a teaser for the future like previous ones. Development of the movie began in October where Nomura noted in the blog that the game would contain a teaser to the next major Kingdom Hearts game similar to the teasers in previous games in the series.
The game sold very well during its first two days of release with over 500,000 copies of the game sold in Japan. By February 14, just over a month later, the game had sold a total of 800,551 copies. Sales in North America and Europe have also been good, with the game taking high places in various categories. After its release in the United States, it was listed as the sixth bestselling video game there in September 2010 by the NPD Group. By November 2010, the game had sold 1.27 million units worldwide with 310,000 and 190,000 copies coming from North America and Europe, respectively, and the rest from Japan. In November 2011, Sony announced Birth by Sleep would receive the "Gold Prize" for selling over 500,000 units in Japan.
Prior to the game's release, IGN expressed their excitement at the release of the game in 2010 having played the demo. 1UP.com echoed similar statements, praising the visuals and stating it "plays better" than the previous Kingdom Hearts games. They had some complaints regarding Ven's demo due to constant jumping, but further stated that Ven's demo gave them an idea of "how the game is going to feel", and predicted the game would improve the series. 1UP also put it on their article "Top 10 PSP Games of 2010", while Gamasutra put it in their "The Most Anticipated Games Of 2010" and "The Most-Awaited Games Of 2009: PlayStation Portable" articles. IGN featured it as nominated of 2010's "Best of E3 Award" in the category Best PSP Games. GameTrailers also had praise for the new title and gave it a nomination for Best PSP Game of E3 2010.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep has received positive reviews from gaming reviewers. The game's average score is of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, becoming the fourth highest ranking Kingdom Hearts game behind Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts III. The game has been highly praised by Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu, whose four reviewers gave scores of 10/9/9/9, for a total of 37/40, the third-highest rated game in the Kingdom Hearts series behind Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts II. They praised the game's graphics and music, calling them "superb", as well as praising the wide variety of customization available to the players due to the three unique playable characters. It also praised the design of boss battles, calling them "lively and exciting". English websites have also given praise to the game with GameZone calling it "amazing title that every KH fan must play", finding it the best portable game from the series. RPGamer praised the "evolution" from the gameplay ever since the series' start. PlayStation: The Official Magazine (PSM) agreed calling the fighting system "one of the deepest, most rewarding" ones from the PSP. IGN called its battle system "unique", labeling it as the best one from all the series and having a campaign story. 1UP praised the differences between the protagonists' fighting styles with PSN comparing them with different classes of RPG characters. A common complaint has been the game's loading times, which tended to be very long depending on the PlayStation Portable's memory. Reviewers also called the game's worlds "hollow due to the lack of interaction, and also criticized the game's camera which sometimes made fights confusing. Visuals were also well received for being similar to the ones from PlayStation 2's games with praise on the design of the worlds, although a lack of details was also noted.
Sites have also praised the game's story, for its accessibility as a result of being a prequel, or that it did not bear elements from previous games that tended to confuse gamers such as the characters' identities. Critics also appreciated how the story is told from three different perspectives, which helped to give different point of views as well as expand the time the game can be played. Nevertheless, some character traits were criticized such as the similarities between the protagonists to previous ones. While Eurogamer cited that the three characters had little impact to the Disney worlds' storyline, Terra's role was praised by 1UP.com for distancing itself from previous scenarios. Although the lack of Final Fantasy characters received mixed opinions, PSM thought that it helped to expand the exploration of Disney worlds, while Zack's role was found suitable by GameZone. The English casting for Birth by Sleep also received positive comments with GameTrailers stating that it "features one of the few good English dubs in recent memory", particularly Leonard Nimoy's performance. GameSpot stated that Ventus' and Aqua's voice actor to have done a good job voicing them, but criticized Terra's as one of the worst ones from the game, most notably, when compared with other well-received actors.
IGN featured the game in their "Game of the Month" article series for September 2010 in the PSP category. The game has been listed as one of the best PlayStation Portable titles with GamesRadar placing it sixth and IGN eighteenth. In an ASCII Media Works poll, it was listed as the tenth best game of 2010. It won in the category of "Best Portable Console Videogame" in France's 2011 Japan Expo.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep was also released with a limited edition PSP-3000 as a bundle in Japan featuring designs from the Kingdom Hearts series on its back. On March 16, 2010, Square Enix announced the English version of the game, which was released on September 7, 2010 in North America, and on September 10, 2010 in Europe. The English version of the game contains some adjustments from the original version, such as a new difficulty setting called Critical Mode, and additional songs for the Ice Cream Beat minigame. A new boss known only as the Unknown appears in the overseas versions, as well as a new gameplay element called "Crown Stickers", which act much the same way as the Puzzle Pieces from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. The game also has a notable voice-acting cast of returning members such as Jesse McCartney and James Woods, as well as numerous new actors such as Willa Holland, Jason Dohring, Leonard Nimoy, and Mark Hamill. An Ultimania guidebook of the game was released on March 25, 2010. Like previous games, a light novel of Birth by Sleep has been written by Tomoko Kanemaki and illustrated by Shiro Amano. Its first volume, "Something Strange" was published by Square Enix on December 24, 2010, the second - "Best Friends" - on February 24, 2011, and the third and final volume, "To the Future", on May 26, 2011. Additionally, the tracks featured in the game have been released as part of a three-disc album which includes the soundtracks from Birth by Sleep, 358/2 Days and coded.
In early 2010, Nomura was asked in an interview if Square Enix would release an international Final Mix of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, to which he replied he would like to, as he enjoyed the work from the English voice casting done in the previous games. However, he stated that one of the main reasons for the popularity of the Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts II was because it was released alongside the PlayStation 2 remake of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, so he and the staff would think on it more. In September 2010, Square Enix announced that Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix would be released on January 20, 2011 in Japan. Like all Final Mix releases, it combines English audio with Japanese game text and subtitles, and includes all additional features implemented in the Western versions as well as brand new content, such as a new playable secret episode for Aqua, which takes place after the events of the final episode, and also has new cutscenes with dialogue provided by her voice actress Megumi Toyoguchi, which were later dubbed into English by Aqua's english voice actress Willa Holland for the HD 2.5 Remix release. The events of the secret episode would tie-in to the later A Fragmentary Passage release. Alongside The 3rd Birthday, Final Mix includes a code that allows players to obtain downloadable content for Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, with Final Mix featuring the character Cloud Strife costume from the original Kingdom Hearts. Final Mix topped the video game charts following its release with 77,317 units sold in the first week, and reaching 106,276 in February 2011. Final Mix was released for the first time outside Japan as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix.
In the credits of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, clips of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix were shown, hinting at its inclusion in another collection. On October 14, 2013, Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix, a second compilation exclusively for the PlayStation 3 after HD 1.5 Remix. The release includes both Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix in HD with trophy support. Additionally, the collection includes HD cinematic scenes from Kingdom Hearts Re:coded. It was released in Japan on October 2, 2014, North America on December 2, 2014, Australia on December 4, 2014, and Europe on December 5, 2014.
In September 2015, Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The collection features Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage, a new game taking place after the events of the original Birth by Sleep, told from the perspective of Aqua. The collection also features an HD remaster of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance as well as Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, a cinematic retelling of Kingdom Hearts χ that reveals new parts of the series' history. It was released in Japan on January 12, 2017, and in other countries on January 24, 2017.
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^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Eraqus: Not only from the forces of darkness, as you may assume...but also from a new threat—one that feeds on negativity. Fledgling emotions that have taken monster form—Yen Sid calls them the "Unversed."
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^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Xehanort: There, you see? An empty world, like a prison. I imagine you'll be right at home.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Voice: I'm a brand new heart. /.../ Ventus: But my heart is fractured. And now...the little I have left is slipping away. / Voice: Then you should join your heart with mine. /.../ Voice: Now our hearts have touched. Nothing else will slip away.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Eraqus: Eliminate the Unversed and find Master Xehanort. I have unlocked the Lanes Between. You may use these forbidden pathways to travel between this world and countless others.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Vanitas: Or you'll never see Terra again. / Ventus: What? Get real? I can see Terra anytime I want. / Vanitas: Like right now? He's leaving you behind. And by the time you catch up...he'll be a different person.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Eraqus: I told Terra this could be a second chance to show the Mark of Mastery...and I meant it. However, that flicker of darkness he displayed during the examination—I can sense it runs very deep. If he were to— If those powers were to prove too much for him to handle, I want you to bring him back to me at once. It's for his own good. I could not bear to lose any of you to the darkness. / Aqua: Of course. I would never let that happen. I promise you I will bring Terra back. Only this time, you'll see he has what it takes to be a Master. He's not as weak as you think.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Aqua: Wait, Ven! / Eraqus: No! He mustn't! You have to bring him back!
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Xehanort: Vanitas uses the Keyblade to sow seeds of darkness. /.../ Terra: The Unversed! /.../ Xehanort: Lend you me your strength, Terra. Right this wrong what I have wrought.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Terra: It might be a different route, but I'm fighting the darkness. / Aqua: I'm not so sure. I've been to the same worlds as you and I've seen what you've done. You shouldn't put yourself so close to the darkness. / Ventus: Listen to yourself, Aqua. Terra would never— / Terra: You mean you've been spying on me? Is that what he said to do? The Master's orders? / Aqua: He was only— /.../ Terra: Just stay put! I'm on my own now, all right?
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Xehanort: Pure light against pure darkness, to forge the ultimate key. The all-powerful χ-blade! / Ventus: And I have the power to make it?
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Eraqus: The χ-blade has no place in this or any world. Xehanort has made his purpose clear...and I am left with no choice. Forgive me...but you must exist no more.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Eraqus: Why do all my attempts to reach you fail? If you don't have it in your heart to obey... then you will have to share Ventus's fate. /.../ Terra: You may be my master...but I will not...let you hurt my friend!
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Xehanort: Still so blind... Then I will make you see. Come to the place where all Keyblade wielders leave their mark on fate—the Keyblade Graveyard! There you will watch your dear Ventus and Aqua meet their ends, and the last light within you will die!
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Vanitas: The Keyblade Graveyard. There you're gonna see me choke the life out of Terra and Aqua. Then we'll see how long you play the pacifist.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Yen Sid: Aqua, the stars bring me grave news. Master Eraqus's star has blinked out. I am afraid that means he has been struck down. / Aqua: The Master? But— Who is responsible? / Yen Sid: Master Xehanort...and Terra. / Aqua: No! That's absurd! Terra would never! / Yen Sid: I hope with all my heart that you are right about your friend. There are some things even the stars cannot tell me. Terra's heart is leading him to the ancient Keyblade Graveyard, where wielders of those weapons once waged war.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Terra-Xehanort: Your body submits. Your heart succumbs—so why does your mind resist?
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Vanitas: Correct. I am not Ventus. His heart has become a part of mine now.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Vanitas: Our union was not finished. The χ-blade shouldn't stay broken like this. Join me now, and we can complete the χ-blade! / Ventus: I've got a better idea. How 'bout I destroy you both? / Vanitas: The χ-blade is made of your heart, too, idiot. If you destroy it, your heart will vanish forever. / Ventus: Whatever it takes. Anything to save Terra and Aqua.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Aqua: Ven! Ventus! / Yen Sid: The boy's heart is sleeping. / Aqua: When will he wake? / Yen Sid: I could not say. It is almost as though his heart has left.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Eraqus: Just use the key, and this land will be transformed. From that day forward, all who visit this land will be lost to oblivion, none ever able to solve the mystery. None, Aqua, except you. / Aqua: I know it's a lonely place, but you'll be safe. Terra and I will be back to wake you up before you know it.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Terra-Xehanort: Terra's heart has been extinguished—smothered by the darkness within him. / Aqua: My name is Master Aqua. Now return my friend's heart or pay the price!
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Terra-Xehanort: Stop fighting back! / Aqua: Terra, I know you're in there! / Terra-Xehanort: This will teach you. Get out of my heart!
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Sora: Hey, can you hear me? / Ventus: I heard your voice. It cut through the darkness around me. All alone, I followed the sound into a sea of light and found myself here, with you. You gave me back something when I needed it the most. A second chance. / Sora: I did? / Ventus: But... now I have to go back to sleep again. / Sora: Are you sad? / Ventus: Would you mind if I stayed here, with you? / Sora: Sure, if it'll make you feel better. / Ventus: Thank you.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Ansem: In fact, I would like to believe... Maybe he can set things right. A boy like him who touches so many hearts—he could open the right door, and save all those people whose lives I managed to ruin. So many are still waiting for their new beginning, their birth by sleep. Even me...and even you. / Aqua: What's this boy's name? / Ansem: His name...is... /.../ Aqua: Sora.
^ Square Enix PDD 5 (September 7, 2010). Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. PlayStation Portable. Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios. Riku: Your mind's made up? / Sora: Yeah. /.../ Sora: Kairi, I... it's just they really need me. I have to go. I am who I am because of them. / Kairi: See you soon.
^ Famitsu Staff (February 25, 2010). "Birth by Sleep: Special Interview with the Key Men of the Development Team!". Weekly Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain: 128–131.
^ "Photophile - Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep". Game Informer. Cathy Preston (176): 125. December 2007.
^ a b c d e f g Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Ultimania (in Japanese). Studio BentStuff. March 25, 2010. pp. 640–649. ISBN 978-4-7575-2788-1.
^ Gangan Staff (February 2010). "Interview with Tetsuya Nomura". Monthly Shōnen Gangan (in Japanese). Square Enix: 80–81.
^ Gantayat, Anoop (December 23, 2009). "Tetsuya Nomura Talks Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep". Andriasang. Archived from the original on December 26, 2009. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
^ "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Q&A". GameSpot. July 19, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
^ a b Haynes, Jeff (August 2, 2008). "Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Hands-on". IGN. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
^ "Square: Birth by Sleep & 3rd Birthday Development Status". PSP Hyper. June 8, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
^ a b Nomura, Tetsuya (October 28, 2009). クリエイターズメッセージ <野村哲也> (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
^ Jeriaska (August 31, 2009). "Interview: Magical Planet - The Music of Hiroki Kikuta & Yoko Shimomura". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
^ ジャンプフェスタ2010 (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
^ a b "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
^ a b c d Watts, Steve (September 7, 2010). "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Review". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
^ a b Parkin, Simon (September 6, 2010). "Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
^ a b Famitsu Staff (January 21, 2010). "Introduction of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep". Weekly Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain: 47.
^ a b Vore, Bryan (September 7, 2010). "Kingdom Hearts BBS Review: Great Mechanics Undercut By Story Reboots". Game Informer. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
^ a b c VanOrd, Kevin (September 3, 2010). "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Review for PSP". GameSpot. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ a b Antista, Chris. "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep review". GamesRadar. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
^ a b c "Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Review". GameTrailers. September 7, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
^ a b c Splechta, Mike (September 24, 2010). "Kingdom Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep review". GameZone. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
^ a b c Clements, Ryan (September 2, 2010). "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Review". IGN. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ a b c d e f Antista, Chris (October 2010). "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Have keyblade, will travel". PlayStation: the Official Magazine: 74.
^ a b Meli, Marissa (September 3, 2010). "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Review". G4. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
^ a b c "RPGamer Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep review". RPGamer. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
^ a b "France's Japan Expo Award Winners Announced". Anime News Network. June 30, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
^ a b 電撃オンラインアワード2010結果発表 2010年一番おもしろかったゲームはコレ [Dengeki Online Awards - 2010 Results - The most interesting games in 2010] (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
^ a b "Best PSP Games". GamesRadar. January 2, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
^ Tsutaya (January 12, 2010). "MD松尾のヒット解析:「キングダム ハーツ」50万本の好スタート 「バイオ」人気か". 每日JP.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
^ Dengeki Staff (February 22, 2010). "【2月8日~14日のPSソフト売り上げ】40万本超の『GOD EATER』が1位". Dengeki PlayStation. Archived from the original on February 25, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
^ Cowan, Danny (September 10, 2010). "Saling The World: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Heads U.S. PSP Sales". Gamasutra. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
^ Thorsen, Tor (October 14, 2010). "September US game sales slide 8%, hardware down 19% - NPD". GameSpot. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
^ Gantayat, Anoop (November 4, 2010). "Square Enix's Biggest Games Were Dragon Quest and Kane & Lynch". IGN. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
^ "PlayStation Awards 2011 Streamed". Anime News Network. November 30, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
^ "Top 10 PSP Games of 2010". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
^ Alexander, Leigh (January 6, 2010). "The Most Anticipated Games Of 2010: DS And PSP". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
^ Caoili, Eric (January 7, 2009). "The Most-Awaited Games Of 2009: PlayStation Portable". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
^ "E3 2010: Best of E3 Award Nominees". IGN. June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
^ "Best PSP Game E3 2010". GameTrailers. June 25, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
^ "Game of the Month: September 2010". IGN. September 30, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
^ "The Top 25 PSP Games". IGN. September 30, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
^ Plunkett, Luke (November 17, 2009). "New Kingdom Hearts PSP Fit For Japan". Kotaku. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
^ Fahey, Mike (May 17, 2010). "Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Dated, Detailed, And PSP Bundled". Kotaku. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
^ "book.キングダム ハーツ バース バイ スリープ アルティマニア" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
^ "キングダム ハーツ Birth by Sleep Vol.1 Something Strange" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
^ "キングダム ハーツ Birth by Sleep Vol.2 Best Friends" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
^ "キングダム ハーツ Birth by Sleep Vol.3 To the Future" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
^ "KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days オリジナル・サウンドトラック" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
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This page was last edited on 28 February 2019, at 20:05 (UTC).


text:
Q: Odds of having $2 \times 2$ same color pixels on different planes I'm trying to understand probability calculations of getting basic patterns on random pixel generators. There is some background information for my questions, so thanks in advance for reading.
Below is the background for my questions:
Let's say we have random pixel generator with a square screen which has  $10 \times 10$ resolution (100 pixels in total, each pixel can have 3 colors)
In order to calculate the probability of having at least one $2 \times 2$ same color square block on that screen, I'm applying the following calculation based on complement probability:
$1-(26/27)^{81}=95\%$ approximately.
(There are 81 different  $2 \times 2$ blocks on $10 \times 10$ grid. Odds of having there are at least two different colors in  $2 \times 2$ square block is $26/27$)
I was told that all computer modeling/simulations calculate the probability of having at least one  $2 \times 2$ same color block as approximately 93%, a little less than what I calculated with my basic approach.
On this $10 \times 10$ square screen while center pixels can be part of 4 different square blocks, corner pixels each can be only part of 1 square block and pixels on the edges can be part of 2 different squares. I thought this is the reason why I ended up with higher probability.
However, I was informed that I behaved each  $2 \times 2$ square blocks independently, therefore, I disregarded intersection of  $2 \times 2$ multicolor blocks that create  $2 \times 2$ same color square blocks. Therefore rather than positions of the pixel I indicate above, the fact that I behaved each  $2 \times 2$ independently did give incorrect probability.
My Questions
I was also told by someone else that if my $10 \times 10$ grid was the plane of a torus (doughnut shape) or Klein bottle (Mobius strip) first column would be next to the tenth column & first row would be next to the tenth row which allows all  $2 \times 2$ pixels can be part of 4 squares, therefore my basic calculation would work.
-Is this logic correct? Is there a flaw in my calculation related to the shape of the screen or is it related to independence of events? Because no matter which shape the screen is  $2 \times 2$ square blocks will be always intersecting because they are dependent.
-Is there a mathematical formula that allows us to calculate this probability on different planes? Are computer simulations adjustable based on different planes?

A: It's due to the dependence of events.
Imagine that instead of a $10\times 10$ plane you have a $2 \times 2$ plane ... but it is toroidal. Then that means that you have $4$ possible $2 \times 2$ tiles as 'part' of this plane, and so if the colorings of these $4$ tiles were all independent, you would have a $1-(\frac{26}{27})^4$ probability of having at least one tile with the same $4$ colors.
However, obviously these are not independent events, and the actual probability is just $1-\frac{26}{27}$, which is of course a little lower: if one tile does not have all the same color, then obviously the others can no longer have the same colors either.
Something similar happens with larger planes, toroidal or not. It's not as obvious as with this example, but the basic concept remains the same: if one tile does not have $4$ squares of the same color, then the probability of the tile that overlaps half with it will have a slightly lower probability of having all $4$ squares  of the same color as compared to the basic $\frac{26}{27}$ because the reason the first tile does not have all $4$ of the same color could be because the shared two squares are not the same color.
Hence, the probability of the second tile not having $4$ squares of the same color is a little higher if the first tile does not have $4$ squares of the same color as compared to $1-\frac{26}{27}$. And therefore, the probability of having at least one tile in the whole plane with $n$ tiles will be a little lower than $1-(\frac{26}{27})^n$... and indeed the computer simulation found a lower value than your computed value, since your formula did assume independence.
Finally, I don't know what the actual formula would be ... and maybe this is why people have resorted to computer simulations: it's just too nasty of a formula!

A: First up: the plane vs. torus thing. I'm assuming you actually care about, say, the $1000 \times 1000$ case. In that case, you have about a million 2x2 squares, but only 4000 of them are along the edges, so pretending things wrap introduces almost no error. By contrast, if you were looking at, say, a 2x2 screen, in the "flat" example there'd be only one square, but in the torus example there'd be $4$ -- the difference would be huge. At $10 \times 10$, you're nearing  the edge between these two domains: you're adding about 20 squares to the $81$ you already have -- that's a pretty substantial alteration. By the time you're talking $100 x 100$, you're adding $200$ squares to the $9801$ you've already got, introducing at most a $2\%$ error. But as I say, at $10 \times 10$, I'd stick with the "flat" model were you have $81$ squares.
Second: can you look at the 81 squares independently? No. For if two squares overlap on two pixels, e.g.
ABC
ABC

where the first square consists of the A and B pixels, and then other is the B and C pixels, then if the first square is "all white", you only need for the two Cs to be white to make a second "all white" square; if you choose those two C pixels uniformly randomly, that'll happen $1/9$ of the time.
So: your calculation is flawed because of the failed independence assumption.
But let's step back a moment and ask how flawed it is:
Suppose we have a square at the top left and one at the bottom right. The probability of both being all-white is not the product of the probabilities of each being all-white (i.e., they're not independent), but they are very nearly independent. You could probably do a pretty accurate computation assuming independence if the two squares had at least one row or column between them (although I say this as a completely wild guess, unsupported by any actual effort to verify it on my part).
One last thing: the actual exact computation you want to do is something that I'd hesitate to tackle because...it's a pain in the neck with the special edge-cases, etc. If I were going to tackle it, I'd use a method that might surprise you: I'd write exactly the program you wrote (one that generates uniform random $10 \times 10$ pixel patterns), and count the number of all-same squares. I'd run it a few thousand times, and average the results. The Law of Large Numbers tells me that this result would be a surprisingly good estimate of the true probability.
I went ahead and wrote some (ugly) code in Matlab:
function [y, yt] = squares(n, k)
% Generate n k x k squares containing one of 3 pixel; look for any 2x2 square
% in which all pixels have the same color; if you find one, count "1" for
% this example; if not, count "0". Produce the average count (i.e, the
% number of 1s, divided by n).

count = 0;
countt = 0; % additional "t" indicates "torus case"
for i = 1:n
    s = randi([1,3], k);
    st = s([1:end, 1], :); % copy first row to end
    st = st(:, [1:end, 1]); % copy first col to end

    t1 = s(1:(k-1), 1:(k-1));  % each pixel that's the upper left corner of a potential square
    t2 = s(1:(k-1), 2:k); % pixels to the right of those
    t3 = s(2:k, 2:k); % pixels to the right-and-down of those
    t4 = s(2:k, 1:(k-1)); % pixels just below the main pixel
    a = (t1 == t2) & (t3 == t4) & (t1 == t3);
    count = count + any(a(:)); % if any entry of "a" is a "1", there's a monochrom square

    k = k + 1;
    t1 = st(1:(k-1), 1:(k-1));  % each pixel that's the upper left corner of a potential square
    t2 = st(1:(k-1), 2:k); % pixels to the right of those
    t3 = st(2:k, 2:k); % pixels to the right-and-down of those
    t4 = st(2:k, 1:(k-1)); % pixels just below the main pixel
    at = (t1 == t2) & (t3 == t4) & (t1 == t3);
    countt = countt + any(at(:)); % if any entry of "a" is a "1", there's a monochrom square
    k = k - 1;
end
y = count/n;
yt = countt/n;
squares(100000, 10)

ans =

    0.9331

Multiple runs produced similar values (0.9334, 0.9335, ,...).
When I ran it in the mode that reports the torus results as well, I got this:
>> [y,yt] = squares(10000, 10)

y =

    0.9334

yt =

    0.9629

In other words: $93.3\%$ chance of a monochrome square with a $10 \times 10$ grid, but $96.3\%$ chance with a $10\times 10$ grid that's on a torus.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


According to some people our brains act like a "radio" of sorts performing the acts of sending and receiving energy from within but also from the outside.
"The subconscious mind is the "sending station" of the brain, through which vibrations of thought are broadcast.
"Come on, Come on, you can make it" and so on…trying to get their horse to win?.
and to use the powers of their brains to solve that problem. This puts the participants in touch with information from unknown sources.


Posted by Paul Reynolds on Nov 5, 2013 in Blog, Inspired Readings, Western Insight, Yoga Readings | Comments Off on Are You Done…?
Sometimes when you think you are done, it's just the edge of the beginning. Probably that's why we decide we're done. It's getting too scary We are touching down onto something real. It is beyond the point when you think you are done that often something strong comes out.


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text:
LaLiga >
Bartomeu Confirms Barca Interest In Valencia's Rodrigo
Valencia's Rodrigo Moreno has been identified as a potential replacement for Luis Suarez, confirmed Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirmed the LaLiga champions are considering a move for Valencia forward Rodrigo Moreno.
Rodrigo has emerged as a target for Barca, who are in the market for attacking reinforcements after Luis Suarez's season-ending injury.
Spain international Rodrigo, who netted 15 times across all competitions last term, has scored four goals for Valencia this season.
Asked about the mounting speculation, Bartomeu said: "We don't talk about players from other teams. But [Rodrigo's] name is on the table of the coaches.
"And a replacement will arrive. I do not know whether it will be from Barcelona B or from outside [the club].
"I like many players."
Barca captain and six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi was also a topic of conversation.
In 2017, Messi signed a new contract with Barca until 2021 and the Spanish giants want to extend the 32-year-old's deal.
"He will be done with Barcelona when he wants. His relationship with Barcelona is forever," Bartomeu said.
"He has plenty more football to play here. Leo Messi will be around for a while."
Josep Maria Bartomeu Barcelona Valencia La Liga Rodrigo
How To Watch AFCON 2021's Round of 16 on Sling TV

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
« Lionsgab Goes to Indy
Lions May Appeal Draft Penalties From Tampering Charges »
2010 Season Breakdown: Defensive Backs
February 24th, 2011 Anthony Kuehn Posted in Features, Opinions, Roster Moves
Image Courtesy of MLive.com
The Lions boast four defensive backs in the Hall of Fame, Lem Barney, Dick LeBeau, Jack Christiansen and Dick "Night Train" Lane. In addition, they have had legendary players like Terry Barr, James "Hound Dog" Hunter and more recently Bennie Blades. For a team that has such a rich history in the secondary, the Lions have struggled to assemble a consistant group of defensive backs for a long time.
In 1997 the Lions drafted two cornerbacks in the first and second rounds, Bryant Westbrook and Kevin Abrams and followed up with another first rounder, Terry Fair in 1998. Those three made up one of the best young cornerback groups in the NFL, until all three of them had promising careers derailed by injuries. In 2002, the Lions drafted two promising young corners in Andre Goodman and Chris Cash. Goodman was stupidly not resigned by Matt Millen and has had a solid career for the Dolphins and Broncos and Cash suffered a career ending knee injury in his second year.
In addition to the draft the Lions also tried solidifying the secondary through trades (Leigh Bodden) and free agency (Robert Massey, Mark Carrier, Brock Marion, Dre Bly, Fernando Bryant, Phillip Buchanon) with little success.
In 2010, the Lions revamped their secondary again getting rid of every member of the 2009 secondary except for Louis Delmas. The on field result was better, but inconsistency and injuries have limited the secondary and it is still a position in need of an upgrade.
Chris Houston: Houston was a poor fit in Atlanta in Mike Smith's defense and the Lions were able to acquire him for a song. Houston has always had immense physical talent but had a hard time playing at a consistently high level. Houston is a great tackler and showed improvement in his ball skills picking off one pass (two were called back on bogus penalties) and breaking up 12 passes. Houston has ideal size for a corner and is more than willing to come up in run support, which endeared him to the coaching staff. 2011 Outlook: Houston will most likely be an unrestricted free agent once the CBA is in place. Houston made a comment last fall that he wanted to test the market, but that was prior to the four game win streak. The Lions want Houston back, but won't break the bank for him. I still think the two sides will reach an agreement and Houston will reprise his starting role in 2011.
Alphonso Smith: The front office needs to be commended for their fleecing of the Denver Broncos in training camp. The Lions sent former 7th round pick Dan Gronkowski to the Broncos for former 2nd rounder Alphonso Smith. Denver traded a 2010 1st rounder to move up and select Smith in the 2nd round of the 2009 Draft. Smith had a poor rookie year, but he has great raw ability and untapped talent. He's smaller than you'd like, but he has good ball skill, great anticipation and good speed and quickness. Smith only started 10 games (while learning a whole new defense) and he intercepted 5 passes, broke up 8 passes, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and returned a pick for a touchdown. Smith needs to hone his technique and learn when to be aggressive and when to lay back, but he is on the right path. Unfortunately for Smith, his worst game came on Thanksgiving and most people associate his ability with that game rather than his stellar performance in the other 11 he played. 2011 Outlook: Smith will be back after intercepting more passes than any Lion since Dre Bly. Size-wise he's better suited for the slot, but skills-wise he's better suited for the outside. Smith will compete with a rookie or free agent for a starting spot and should continue to be a playmaker in 2011 no matter what role he is in.
Nathan Vasher: Vasher was off to a promising start to his career with the Bears, including a 2005 All Pro and Pro Bowl season, before injuries derailed him. The Lions signed Vasher early in the season and he played sparingly until the last month of the season when injuries forced him into action. Vasher stepped up and flashed some of that Pro Bowl form logging 15 tackles, 5 pass breakups and one interception in the last four games. Vasher played a huge role in the Lions comeback win against the Dolphins with a pick and the game saving tackle in bounds that killed the clock on the Dolphins. When Vasher is healthy, he has a nose for the ball and has a knack for making big plays. He is most comfortable in zone coverage, which he played a lot of in Chicago, and he's a decent tackler. 2011 Outlook: Vasher will turn 30 late in the season, so he's not a long term solution, but he does add value as a 4th cornerback with the potential to spot start. I think he'll be back unless the Lions are able to make major upgrades in the secondary.
Prince Miller: Miller was a late season addition to the Lions after being cut by the secondary needy Ravens. He saw very little playing time until injuries forced him into a larger role the last three games. 2011 Outlook: Miller will probably be a camp body and is a long shot to make the team in the fall.
Aaron Berry: Berry went undrafted in the 2010 Draft because of off the field concerns. The Lions felt comfortable enough to bring him in as an undrafted free agent and Berry took advantage of that opportunity. Berry had a strong preseason and secured a spot on the final roster, but suffered a season ending injury int he first game. 2011 Outlook: Berry had a 3 tackle, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception performance in roughly one half of play, so he definitely flashed some potential. I expect Berry to make a run for a roster spot in camp assuming he's kept his nose clean. Talent was never the issue with him and the Lions have a good support system in their locker room.
Brandon McDonald: McDonald is another young corner that was signed due to injuries and wound up injured himself. McDonald was claimed off waivers in late October and started two games before winding up on IR. McDonald was a regular starter in Cleveland his first couple years but was released when the front office turned over. He had a two game stint in Arizona before getting cut and again showed some potential with the Lions. 2011 Outlook: McDonald has good size and decent speed but has played on nothing but bad secondaries his whole career. He may have a shot in camp because of his age and experience, but I don't expect he'll make the roster.
Louis Delmas: Delmas had a monster rookie season that he couldn't build on in 2010 due to a nagging groin injury suffered in the offseason. Delmas had surgery once the season ended and should be commended for gutting it out all year. Delmas looked a steo slower and lacked his explosive playmaking ability all year. When healthy, Delmas is one of the most athletic safties in the league and has elite instincts. Despite his smallish frame, he's a great tackler and the hardest hitter in the secondary. Delmas is also the unquestioned leader of the secondary and a building block for the future. 2011 Outlook: Delmas is one of the three young centerpieces in the middle of the defense along with Suh and Levy.
CC Brown: Brown is a one dimensional player with a wealth of experience but has never been more than a stopgap player. He excels at stuffing the run at safety, but doesn't have the feel or athleticism to be effective in coverage. 2011 Outlook: Brown will not be back in 2011.
Amari Spievey: Spievey was drafted as a cornerback, spent all offseason as a cornerback and moved to safety once the season started. Spievey had nagging injuries all offseason which limited his ability to develop his technique and footwork at corner. I wasn't a big Spievey fan when the Lions drafted him because he's not an upper tier athlete and looked more like a safety to me. He landed at safety, but it's not known if that's a permanent move or because they just wanted to get him on the field and had poor safety play. 2011 Outlook: I am going to assume the move to safety was permanent and if that's the case the Lions have a good young safety tandem. Evaluating Spievey at safety was tough because he was just thrown in and never got comfortable enough to trust himself. The Lions will bring in some help at safety but I think the starting role is his to lose.
Randy Phillips: Phillips is a young developmental project who drifted back and forth from the active roster and practice squad. Phillips went undrafted because of injury concerns in 2010 but had an impressive collegiate career. 2011 Outlook: Phillips will be given every opportunity to make the team as a backup and special teamer in 2011.
John Wendling: Wendling was signed strictly as a special teamer and played special teams exclusively until the injuries added up. He played well in limited action, but he's not a viable every down defensive player. 2011 Outlook: Wendling will most likley not be back as the Lions would like their special teamers to be able to contribute on defense as well.
2011 Offseason: The Lions need to add some front line talent in the secondary including at least one starting cornerback and a safety to challenge Spievey for the starting job. The Lions have decent secondary depth, but the team has to worry about how many injuries the backups suffered. The Lions probably won't look to free agency to fill the needs in the secondary, they'll probably build through the draft. However, depending on how much an overhaul the coaches feel is needed, they may have no choice but to dip into free agency because they only have five draft picks.
The Lions will look hard a cornerback in the first two rounds, but this cornerback class is short on athletic players. Most of the corners expected to go in the top two rounds have major question marks in speed and athleticism. The Lions need a true coverage corner and there may not be a fitting prospect early in the draft, so the Lions may have to take a chance on a less polished player in the mid rounds that has more upside.
Tags: Alphonso Smith, Amari Spievey, Chris Houston, Louis Delmas
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Dear Diary: An Interview with Esther Pearl Watson
By Meg Lemke
Esther Pearl Watson's comic Unlovable is based on a found diary, from the 1980s, of a teenager Watson has named Tammy Pierce. Tammy lives in a small North Texas town with her parents and younger brother; her life is banal, poignant, and excruciatingly funny. She clings just above the bottom rung of her high school social hierarchy, awkwardly pursues "hot guys," and is regularly exploited by her best friend, Kim.
In Watson's hands, however, this is not a coming-of-age story. Expanding on the details of the diary, she amplifies Tammy's naïveté and absurdity, capturing the grotesqueness of adolescence, how teenagers live in their aspirations and ideals but also in an amplified shame. Watson's lines are exaggerated and energetic; her characters are sweaty and ugly, their imperfections magnified as if being scrutinized in a sixteen-year-old's mirror. You feel, vividly, the humiliation of bodies. Matt Groening has called Unlovable "the great teen comic tragedy of our time."
Watson has been at work on the series for more than a decade, first publishing it as minicomics and on the back page of Bust magazine. The third collected volume of the strip has just been released by Fantagraphics Books—a lime-green, gold-glitter affair that is apt tribute to Tammy's fervent aspiration to be a makeup artist.
I spoke with Watson over Skype, calling her in Los Angeles from my apartment in Brooklyn. Though she's well known in the LA art scene, her voice carries the lilt of her own Texan upbringing.
How is Unlovable different from the original diary?
I started keeping a daily diary when I was thirteen—I hoped there was somebody else out there who felt the need to put down what happened every day. My diaries are impossible to read now because they're so boring. I would write down what I ate, what I wore, trying to make my life sound normal, but I wouldn't write that my dad was building flying saucers in the backyard.
"Tammy"'s diary was different. I found it in a gas-station bathroom in a sink. Somebody had unloaded a bunch of garbage, piles of clothes. I hid it under my shirt and ran out to the car and said to my husband, Mark, Let's get out of here, quick! We read it out loud, driving our beat-up car through the desert. It was less than a hundred pages. "Tammy" talked about friends, this whole cast of characters, and she tried to choose between two guys, which one she would go out with. She would sneak out of her bedroom window to hang out with these delinquent kids who you just knew were using her. And you wanted to yell advice at her—That doesn't mean he likes you, he wants something else! Listen to your mom!
We could all give advice to ourselves at that age.
What was interesting to me about the diary was the hindsight—seeing mistakes, of course, and looking back and realizing that a superpopular song was cheesy, or thinking, Wow, I tried to impress that girl. I don't know if all that was important, but it really felt like it at the time.
Are you from a small town?
I grew up in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. We moved around a lot because my parents couldn't pay the bills. And my dad was building flying saucers in the front yard—that never went over well. One of my favorite places we lived was Wylie, Texas. I somehow convinced my parents not to leave Wylie while I was going to middle school. It was the only time I was able to stay long enough to get to know everybody in the school and how they all related, who the good and bad kids were, who had the outsider parents. I like to reference that compact little ecosystem for Unlovable.
Why did you decide to adapt it into a comic?
Mark and I spent many years trying to figure out how to publish the diary. I had a whole stack of rejections for it. I even wrote a young-adult novel based on it. Some of the rejections had to do with the idea that nobody wants to read a real diary, or nobody cares about the eighties—there was a list of reasons people didn't want to publish it.
Mark had read Marvel and DC comics growing up, but I feel like those comics weren't really for girls. They were intimidating—the guys are muscular and fighting and harsh and the girls are, too. They're like guys with giant boobs. I never found them interesting or friendly. So I decided to make a minicomic of it. I thought, I'm going to do everything I was told not to do. I'm going to do everything wrong.
The comic has nostalgic appeal—for the eighties but also for a pre-Internet teenagehood.
It was different then. Tammy spends a lot of time waiting for a phone call, for instance. I remember that being excruciating—the hoping. Then someone else would call, and if you didn't have call waiting maybe the person you were waiting for called while somebody else was calling! You could ruin an entire day waiting for someone to call.
The anxiety and the longing are timeless. But I'm surprised by the fact that Tammy is cruel as often as she is victimized.
There are moments when Tammy wants to feel on top. She'll lash out. People say rude things to her, and she can repeat them to the guy who bags her groceries and feel like she's one of those cool girls at school who always have a comeback line. Unlovable is about showing that we need space in which to be awkward, to learn and figure out what it is we are really trying to say with our actions.
It seems like Kim is the comic's stealth feminist voice. She shifts suddenly from her usual laconic demand for a dollar in exchange for friendly help to offering a cogent opinion on, say, the hypocrisy of her sex-ed course.
I can only plant it in subtle ways. I always imagined Kim as somebody who doesn't have the best home life but has the most potential out of all the characters. We tend to judge someone so quickly—Kim is a nightmare and Tammy should get far away—but Kim might turn out to be the one person who actually understands how the system works. She might be able to make the system work for her very well. Tammy is crudely repeating social patterns and has not quite figured out gaining and using power. But Kim has.
The series began as minicomics, which you sent to potential illustration clients. Then you moved into the DIY zine scene, exhibiting at conventions. How does zine culture intersect with comics and indie comics and the art world?
In the beginning, in 2003, I felt like I was wearing separate hats. I was selling paintings, I was doing illustration for commercial magazines, and I was publishing children's books. Mark and I had written a book, Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?, which was published by Houghton Mifflin, a major publisher even though the book was about alternative media. Then, we started to go to conventions, where all these different zine publishers were either trying to subvert the commercial world or hoping to get into it. We were going backward—we already had established careers and suddenly we're trying to sell our promo material for two dollars.
But something really interesting has happened with Unlovable. It does cross genres. It's sold in bookstores and it's part of alternative zine culture, but I would also hang it in a gallery as fine art.
You don't use multiple panels on each page, as most comic books do, but rather a single image on each page.
I'm a painter, and I imagine each panel in comics as a canvas. I used panels for Bust magazine because the story had to be told one page at a time, but I try to avoid using multiple panels in the book form of the comic, too.
I was intentionally trying to disrupt the comic lexicon because I felt like it didn't belong to me. And I see now how I was trying to create a new language. Sometimes people don't understand Unlovable because it's not a very clean, linear story. Its stories are one panel long, or one page long, or sometimes several pages long. Then thrown in there you have Chuck Norris giving Kim bra advice, or Colonel Sanders telling Tammy who she's dating and who she's not dating. Teddy Ruxpin pops in to converse. Teens live in a world that's reality and fantasy at the same time.
Do you still have the diary?
Yes. I tried to get rid of it, burn it at one point. I don't want anybody to get ahold of it. I want to protect Tammy's privacy.
The original author listed her first name, and her weight often, but not her address. I know she might be around my age because I relate to the stories, but I would not want to know if one of my diaries had become somebody's muse.
Meg Lemke is a contributing editor at MUTHA Magazine and chairs the comics and graphic novel programming committee at the Brooklyn Book Festival. You can find her online @meglemke.


Age of Product's Food for Thought of June 26th, 2016—shared with 3,010 peers—starts with a rant on Scrum slaves, aka Scrum masters being perceived as team secretaries, how to make people join the daily stand-ups joyfully, and preserve estimation accuracy over time. And still, when we talk about agile adoption the Borg way, resistance is futile.
We also explore a simple trick, how to plan for great retrospectives, utilizing Retromat to its full potential.
We dive deep into scaling lean product management with Ash Maurya, understand the importance of not falling for pleasing only your best customers, and analyze the long-term product strategy of Mr Musk.
Last, but not least, we enjoy Wally toying with the pointy-haired boss, and learn about Google's epic undertaking of turning itself into "machine learning first" company. Have a great Sunday!
Joakim Sahlberg on the idea of many organizations, that removing impediments is the responsibility of the Scrum Master, or agile coach. And why he believes, that this is a red flag, telling him that the organization hasn't yet understood what it means to have self-organizing teams.
Mike Cohn on why it is more beneficial for any Scrum team to incentivize good behavior, rather than punishing bad attitude. Mike also provides a long list of both incentives and deterrents for the most difficult of all Scrum's ceremonies in that respect: the daily stand-up.
Tanner talks practical with some tools of successful Scrum Masters that will help you and your teams to advance agile at a hands-on level beyond mindset and behavior.
I wrote a short post on how to curate retrospectives with Retromat without relying on the random retrospective function, and included three examples.
Chad McAllister interviews Ash Maurya, who now has a new book about applying Lean Startup principles to go from a concept to a product, that is achieving predictable success with customers. The book is titled "Scaling Lean: Mastering the Key Metrics for Startup Growth".
Scott Belsky, General Partner at Benchmark, on how to defy the natural tendency to gravitate towards your best customers. A product strategy, that handicaps your ability to build and sustain increasingly inclusive products, and broaden your customer base.
Sachin Rekhi shares his view of three high-level product management roles that exist in the field. All of these types of product managers exist at established technology firms, while at smaller startups the type of product managers often depends on the stage their product is in it's own lifecycle.
Vinny Lingham, CEO of Civic and formerly Gyft, on the value of a long-term product strategy. He goes back to Elon Musk's blog post from 2006, that sums up Tesla's company strategy: From "Build sports car", via "use that money to build an affordable car" to "Don't tell anyone".
Wally is toying with the pointy-haired boss.


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Martinez destined for the top – Whelan
The highly-rated Spaniard's potential has again been underlined by Latics' run to the semi-finals of this season's FA Cup. There has been speculation over Martinez's future for each of the past two summers following his success in steering Wigan clear of relegation from the Barclays Premier League. And Whelan told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "I will lose him, I don't think there is any question about that." Press Association Whelan has said previously that former Wigan player Martinez, 39, will eventually leave the club with his blessing but he wants him to stay as long as possible. "We have known each other and been together a long time. Hopefully that will continue," he said "He is a top-class manager and he will get one of the top clubs in Europe. The big clubs in Europe, when they want a manager, Roberto is obviously the man. He is stone-cold brilliant as a manager." There was a downside to Wigan's superb 3-0 quarter-final win over Everton in that Premier League action elsewhere meant they slipped back into the bottom three. But Martinez has been involved in a relegation battle every season since he took charge at the DW Stadium in 2009 and his last two escapes have been particularly remarkable. Whelan is confident he will achieve safety again, saying: He said: "We have been there before and fought our way out of it. We are going to do exactly the same again, I hope. "We have played well all season and just had so many injuries and bad luck. "We played Everton off the park and have done that so many times this season but at times we have had up to eight players injured. It is very difficult to take that kind of punishment." Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has reiterated his belief manager Roberto Martinez is destined for one of Europe's top clubs. read more
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Atsu to represent Newcastle United in ePremier League
Newcastle United have selected Christian Atsu as their representative in the inaugural ePremier League tournament.The Premier League has been inactive for more than a month due to the coronavirus pandemic, and while people remain at home because of the subsequent lockdown, the ePremier League presents an opportunity to keep the players and fans engaged and entertained.Selected Premier League players will go up against one another by representing their clubs in EA Sports FIFA 20.The winner of the competition will be announced on April 25, with the proceeds going to the #PlayersTogether campaign in support of the National Health Service – the agency at the forefront of fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom.https://twitter.com/NUFC/status/1252179831745384449?s=20Atsu will be going up against the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Todd Cantwell (Norwich City), Ryan Fredericks (West Ham United), Diogo Jota (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) and Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace).Prior to the lockdown, Atsu had played 18 times for Newcastle in the Premier League this season, but only eight were starts, three of which he completed the 90 minutes in. The 27-year-old Ghanaian has a year left to run on his contract and has been tipped for a move away from St. James' Park in search of more first-team football. read more
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Kevin Durant free agency rumors: Nets no longer front-runners for Warriors star
According to The Athletic, Durant has not decided if he wants to even take meetings with teams looking to add the two-time NBA Finals MVP to their rosters.Kevin Durant has not yet decided whether he will actually take meetings with prospective teams when free agency begins Sunday evening, but if he and his group do, the discussions will be in New York City, per source.— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) June 27, 2019Even though the 10-time All-Star will likely miss all of the 2019-20 season rehabbing a ruptured Achilles, suitors appear willing to give Durant a max contract and as Brooklyn reportedly leaves the picture, the other New York team steps up as the front-runner.The Knicks still believe they have a chance to land Durant, according to SNY.But his injury is still a concern for New York. According to SNY, which cited unidentified sources familiar with the situation, the Nets are "not the front-runners or favorites to sign Durant at the moment."This adds yet another layer to a situation Durant doesn't even have the answer to yet. Related News Kevin Durant free agency news: Superstar sells Malibu mansion for $12.15M Dirk Nowitzki on Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson injuries: 'I do feel bad for the Warriors' The Nets are no longer front-runners to sign Kevin Durant.Durant, who has been linked to a number of teams as he gets ready to explore free agency, recently sold his Malibu mansion and has been spotted around New York. This added fuel to rumors that Durant would land in the city, however, according to SportsNet New York, it might not be the Nets. Kevin Durant free agency rumors: Superstar in New York after declining Warriors option An earlier ESPN report noted that Knicks owner James Dolan is urging team executives to use "caution" regarding Durant's Achilles and wants to see test results and his projected prognosis.As free agency is set to begin at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, the Knicks have plenty of cap space to sign the star. They are also believed to be looking at Kawhi Leonard among others. read more
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Home » SOA Is Dead. May It Rest in Peace.
SOA Is Dead. May It Rest in Peace.
Service oriented architecture, or SOA, is dead but services remain alive, according to a prominent analyst. In her blog, Anne Thomas Manes, vice president and research director at Burton Group, pronounced SOA dead.
"SOA met its demise on January 1, 2009, when it was wiped out by the catastrophic impact of the economic recession. SOA is survived by its offspring: mashups, BPM, SaaS cloud computing, and all other architectural approaches that depend on 'services,'" Manes wrote.
Instead of becoming a savior, SOA "instead turned into a great failed experiment--at least for most organizations," Manes said. SOA failed to deliver on promised benefits and after the investment of millions, IT systems are not better than before. In some cases they are worse, with costs higher and projects taking longer, she said.
Source: Computerworld
Technology Cloud & On-Demand Systems Global Supply Chain Management Food & Beverage
KEYWORDS Cloud, SaaS & On-Demand Systems Food and Beverage Global Supply Chain Management Technology
Software Architecture & SOA: SOA is Dead! Long Live SOA!
Why SOA is Not Just Something For the IT Guys To Worry About
SOA Is Failing--and It's Your Fault!
Updated Management Plans for Your Remote Workers Yet?


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Air Phil uses Turboprop fleet effective today
Air Philippines, Surigao City
AIR Philippines will operate eight Bombardier turboprop aircraft leased from Philippine Airlines (PAL) effective today.
The turboprop fleet will fly to 19 towns and cities, operating out of two hubs —Manila and Cebu. The airline will focus on delivering safe, affordable and quality service.
A new management team was appointed to implement the airline's new business model. David Lim, Air Philippines' new president, and Cesar Chiong, executive vice
president and chief operating officer, were tasked to fast-track the airline's conversion to a low-cost business model using a leaner workforce.
The turboprop fleet consists of the state-of-the-art Canadian-built Bombardier Q-series that boasts of the latest in noise and vibration reduction technology. The 50-seater Q300 and 76-seater Q400 aircraft offer generous legroom and a very quiet cabin. "Q" stands for "quiet."
Air Philipines serves the following destinations out of its hub in Manila: Tuguegarao, San Jose (Mindoro Occidental), Naga, Virac, Busuanga, Catar-man, Calbayog, Ormoc and Surigao. From Cebu, Air Philippines flies to Kalibo, Iloilo, Bacolod, Tacloban, Butuan, Ozamiz, Cagayan de Oro, Gen. Santos, Zamboanga and from Zamboanga to Davao. (PR)
Air Philippines Surigao City


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What Is Arbitration and How Does It Work?
A company or organization, whether big or small, should work both ways to be successful. On the one hand, the company provides jobs for its employees and ensure that benefits are given to them. In return, employees should ensure quality work to their respective companies and help the company. However, there are a lot of cases of employer-employee disputes that end up in court.
This is why union arbitration decisions are important to settle any conflicts between employers and employees. It may take some time, but any issues should be settled immediately. Otherwise, it can affect business operations and even compromise not only the employee's future but also the company's as well.
What is arbitration?
Arbitration becomes more common in a lot of businesses. That is why it is important to know more about how this works and how important it is in the world of business. Arbitration helps in resolving issues between employers and employees and comes up with solutions. Likewise, it helps to avoid issues from escalating and compromising the future of the business and its employees.
Arbitration is commonly used as an alternative to litigation to avoid spending time and money in going to court. Arbitration is usually headed by an arbitrator who serves as a witness who seeks evidence and helps in coming up with solutions to solve the case. It is also different from mediation, which is less formal than the former.
Having that said, arbitration allows both parties to settle issues without having to spend a lot of time and money to settle their issues. You may have also encountered an arbitration clause in your employment or business contract. Usually, the clause would state that any issues that arise between both parties should be settled through arbitration. Any decisions made out of the arbitration will bind both parties.
The arbitration process
The general procedure usually involves case filing, selecting an arbitrator, and undergoing several hearings before coming up with a decision. First, one of the parties will submit a Demand for Arbitration and wait for the other party's response before the set deadline. Once both parties agree with the arbitration, an arbitrator will be selected to handle the case.
One or more hearings will commence having enough time to gather evidence and other matters that can help the case. Once there are enough evidence, testimonies, and various information presented, the arbitrator will come up with a decision that will close and settle the case.
Both parties may get their respective lawyers, although not really required in an arbitration case. On a side note, a lawyer can help provide legal advice outside the arbitration setting. But it won't serve the arbitration's main purpose, which is to avoid exorbitant costs of settling in court and hiring a lawyer.
A win-win situation
An arbitration settlement should benefit both employer and employees. For one thing, it is a cost-effective and less time-consuming way of settling disputes that can compromise business operations. At the end of the day, both employers and employees should work together to ensure the business' profitability while keeping employees happy and satisfied in their respective jobs.


Yes, you are looking at a photo of dad spelled out in groundnut husks.
This is my first memory of eating the hallowed food, and it is such a sweet one. It was almost starling to make the connection – my best snack is subliminally tied to my best man.
However, I'm appropriating the term because it's so fitiing. Over the past week, both my fathers (Heavenly and earthly) have shown me a constancy that exceeds what I deserve. I only hope and pray that I do their investments justice.
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text:
Pervasiveness of parasites in pollinators
Evison, Sophie E F, Roberts, Katherine E, Laurenson, Lynn, Pietravalle, Stéphane, Hui, Jeffrey, Biesmeijer, Jacobus C., Smith, Judith E, Budge, Giles and Hughes, William O H (2012) Pervasiveness of parasites in pollinators. PLoS ONE, 7 (1). e30641. ISSN 1932-6203
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0030641
Many pollinator populations are declining, with large economic and ecological implications. Parasites are known to be an important factor in the some of the population declines of honey bees and bumblebees, but little is known about the parasites afflicting most other pollinators, or the extent of interspecific transmission or vectoring of parasites. Here we carry out a preliminary screening of pollinators (honey bees, five species of bumblebee, three species of wasp, four species of hoverfly and three genera of other bees) in the UK for parasites. We used molecular methods to screen for six honey bee viruses, Ascosphaera fungi, Microsporidia, and Wolbachia intracellular bacteria. We aimed simply to detect the presence of the parasites, encompassing vectoring as well as actual infections. Many pollinators of all types were positive for Ascosphaera fungi, while Microsporidia were rarer, being most frequently found in bumblebees. We also detected that most pollinators were positive for Wolbachia, most probably indicating infection with this intracellular symbiont, and raising the possibility that it may be an important factor in influencing host sex ratios or fitness in a diversity of pollinators. Importantly, we found that about a third of bumblebees (Bombus pascuorum and Bombus terrestris) and a third of wasps (Vespula vulgaris), as well as all honey bees, were positive for deformed wing virus, but that this virus was not present in other pollinators. Deformed wing virus therefore does not appear to be a general parasite of pollinators, but does interact significantly with at least three species of bumblebee and wasp. Further work is needed to establish the identity of some of the parasites, their spatiotemporal variation, and whether they are infecting the various pollinator species or being vectored. However, these results provide a first insight into the diversity, and potential exchange, of parasites in pollinator communities.
William Hughes