News Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Keanu Reeves’ Shadow Wants to Ends It All in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Trailer Shadow is ready for his showdown… By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on November 25, 2024 Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega of America Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega of America Things are getting epic in the third feature installment centered on Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog. In it, we not only have two mad scientist villains (Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik and Jim Carrey again as… Dr. Robotnik’s grandad?) but a Keanu Reeves-voiced, gun-wielding hedgehog named Shadow. Here’s the synopsis: Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping Shadow and protecting the planet. I admit I’m not a big Sonic the Hedgehog movie fan, though I did play hundreds of hours of the games when I was younger. This trailer, however, looks fun? Even, dare I say, enjoyable? Reeves’ delivery of Shadow’s lines are gold, and Ben Schwartz continues to give Sonic that snarky attitude that one would expect from a super fast blue hedgehog. In addition to Carrey and Schwartz, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 stars James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Idris Elba, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, Adam Pally, Lee Majdoub, Alyla Browne, and Krysten Ritter. The film is directed by Jeff Fowler. The film premieres in theaters on December 20, 2024. For mega fans of the franchise, however, Sega and Paramount Pictures are also hosting an “Opening Day Fan Event” on December 19; certain theaters will screen the film in various premium theater formats, where fans can also see some behind-the-scenes footage before the movie and receive some exclusive gifts, like a keychain and a poster. Check out the trailer below while you ponder where you’ll showcase your Sonic keychain.[end-mark] The post Keanu Reeves’ Shadow Wants to Ends It All in <i>Sonic the Hedgehog 3</i> Trailer appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch Babylon 5 Rewatch: “GROPOS” And then 25,000 ground-pounders arrived on Babylon-5… By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on November 25, 2024 Credit: Warner Bros. Television Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Television “GROPOS”Written by Larry DiTillioDirected by Jim JohnstonSeason 2, Episode 10Production episode 210Original air date: February 8, 1995 It was the dawn of the third age… A quiet night in CnC is interrupted, to Ivanova’s chagrin, by the unexpected arrival of the EAS Schwarzkopf, along with several support vessels, under the command of General Richard Franklin, the father of Dr. Franklin. Sheridan rushes to apologetically and belatedly greet him, not having had any word of his arrival. However, that’s on purpose: His mission is classified, for the moment. Even the ground-pounders (or GROPOS) under his command don’t know the real mission. Right now, General Franklin needs accommodations for all 25,000 of his troops. Ivanova and Garibaldi struggle to fulfill that request: For starters, they put some folks in existing quarters, which we see when Keffer finds two strangers making themselves at home in his cabin. General Franklin reads Sheridan, Ivanova, and Garibaldi—and only the three of them—in on his real mission. They’re off to Akdor to assist the local government in putting down a rebellion. EarthGov hasn’t officially announced that they’re assisting the government yet. They will do so right before the Schwarzkopf arrives. Part of why they’re stopping at B5 is because Sheridan has been to Akdor before; the general wants to go over the battle plan with the captain. The other reason why is that they’re providing upgrades to B5’s defenses. Franklin père et fils are reunited, and it’s a bit on the tense side. There’s obviously a lot of resentment and spectacular lack of communication there. To prove it, when Ivanova brings some Marines to bunk down in medlab, Franklin throws a nutty. He and Ivanova talk about it both there and later off-duty in the Eclipse Café, where Franklin laments that his father always makes him incredibly angry. Ivanova—who has some experience with paternal difficulties—urges him to try to find a common ground with his old man, as you never know when the chances to do so will run out. After Delenn expresses concern about the flipping great wodges of Marines stumbling about the station, a trio of them start to harass her. Led by PFC Kleist, they’re not thrilled with a Minbari trying to look human. Another PFC, Dodger, interpolates herself between Kleist and Delenn, and while the ambassador is able to depart thanks to Dodger’s interference, a brawl soon breaks out. Garibaldi is able to stop it, and convinces Sergeant Plug to drop the matter without charges. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Dodger thanks Garibaldi, and is stunned to realize that Kleist was picking on an ambassador. Garibaldi is called away, and Dodger admires his ass as he leaves. General Franklin shares the battle plan—Operation: Sudden Death—with Sheridan, who advises the general that this is a terrible idea. The government is lying about the fortifications the rebels have, and the casualties will be way worse than they have been led to believe. However, EarthGov is insistent on establishing a presence in Akdor’s system. It’s proximate to both Narn and Centauri territory, and with a war heating up between those two, Earth needs to be ready for when their conflict spills out into the rest of the galaxy. Unfortunately, the price for having that presence is to put down the rebellion. Dodger tracks down Garibaldi when he goes off duty and hits all over him. Encouraged by Welch, Garibaldi shows her around the station, eventually winding up at his quarters. However, Garibaldi puts the brakes on, as he tends to rush things, and that messes the relationships up. Dodger angrily points out that she’s a ground-pounder—she doesn’t have time for a relationship, she just wanted a roll in the proverbial hay. She leaves in a huff, with Garibaldi belatedly realizing that he’s seriously fucked things up. The general goes to his son to apologize, and the pair of them kiss and make up, with General Franklin, not for the first time, urging him to actually contact his mother and sister every once in a while. Garibaldi tracks down Dodger in the Zocalo to apologize, and she does likewise. Elsewhere in the bar, Keffer exchanges war stories with the two PFCs he’s now rooming with: Large and Yang. The former is a veteran, the latter a rookie. Keffer accidentally bumps Kleist, and soon a brawl breaks out. Garibaldi and his people try to break it up (and at one point, he and Dodger almost punch each other before they realize who the other is), but it doesn’t really end until General Franklin, Sheridan, and Plug show up and say they’re moving out. As the GROPOS board the Schwarzkopf, Garibaldi and Dodger share a kiss before she embarks, while the Franklins get a goodbye. Later, folks are watching ISN’s report on the mission. Franklin is relieved to see his father interviewed by the reporter on Akdor, meaning he survived. Welch gives Garibaldi the casualty report, and Kleist, Large, Yang, and Dodger are all on it—we then cut to their broken corpses on the ground at Akdor. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan proves a little too good at providing accurate intelligence to General Franklin, certainly more accurate than Akdor’s government manages, as Sheridan predicts that it’ll be impossible to put down the rebels without massive casualties, words that prove sadly prophetic. Ivanova is God. Ivanova starts the episode talking about how much she enjoys the quiet, which is always a recipe for things to stop being quiet any second. You’d think she’d know better. She also urges Franklin to be good to his father, so he doesn’t get the same regrets we saw her express in “TKO” at her father’s shiva. The household god of frustration. Garibaldi manages to fail at keeping order on the station with 25,000 Marines on board (not that anybody really could do that), and also fails at having a one-night stand. His father served with General Franklin during the Dilgar War. The general was apparently impressed with Alfredo Garibaldi—not so much with his kid. If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn’s transformation proves not to sit well with veterans of the Earth-Minbari War. No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Dodger has designs on Garibaldi from the moment she sees him and his ass. Garibaldi’s baggage—his disastrous relationship with Lise Yates, his obvious lack of any kind of chance to Winters—sadly gets in the way of his and Dodger’s nookie. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Welcome aboard. Marie Marshall makes the first of two appearances as Dodger; she’ll be back in season five’s “Day of the Dead.” The various other PFCs are played by Morgan Hunter, Ken Foree, and Art Chudabala, while Ryan Cutrona plays Plug. We’ve also got a bunch of recurring regulars: Joshua Cox back from “A Spider in the Web” as Corwin, who’ll be back next time in “All Alone in the Night”; Maggie Egan back from “Chrysalis” as the ISN anchor, who’ll return in “Confessions and Lamentations”; and David L. Crowley back from “Soul Mates” in his final appearance as Welch. However, the big guest is the late great Paul Winfield as General Franklin, adding B5 to a genre resumé that also included Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Terminator, Mars Attacks!, Batman Beyond, Gargoyles, and the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Darmok,” not to mention one of your humble rewatcher’s personal favorites, Presumed Innocent. Trivial matters. The Schwarzkopf was named after General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., who led U.S. forces during the Gulf War of the early 1990s. It’s possible that the ship was also named after Major General Norman Schwarzkopf Sr., who, among other things, was in charge of the investigation into the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s son in 1932. Keffer tells Large and Yang about the time he faced down a Minbari squadron in “Points of Departure.” Ivanova mentions Connoly, the head of the dockworkers, seen in “By Any Means Necessary.” Garibaldi references his relationship with Lise Yates, seen in the “A Voice in the Wilderness” two-parter and “Babylon Squared,” as well as his periodic attempts to flirt with Winters, seen most recently in “A Spider in the Web.” While neither G’Kar nor Mollari appear in the episode, Delenn does mention that the two won’t even speak to each other, both anxious for the war the Narn declared in “The Coming of Shadows” to start in earnest. The echoes of all of our conversations. “I’m a doctor, my duty is to heal.” “Then heal humans! Stephen, I know you’re fascinated by these alien creatures, but they’re a threat to humanity—and they always will be. Help your own kind.” “Life is life, whether it’s wrapped in skin, scales, or feathers. Now, if you respected these beings instead of constantly trying to murder them, you’d appreciate that.” The Franklin family argument, also the classic soldier-vs.-scientist argument. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Leave it to the infantry to ruin a guy’s morning.” Last week, we got one of B5’s best episodes. This week we get, um, not that. “GROPOS” is a dreary collection of tiresome clichés masquerading as a script. It’s hard to say what’s more excruciating to watch, the stereotypical Marines doing stereotypical Marine things or the stereotypical father-son arguing-and-reconciliation scenes. The only saving graces of this utter nonsense are the performances of Marie Marshall and Paul Winfield. Marshall gives Dodger a gleeful charm that is very compelling, and Winfield was never even really capable of giving a bad performance. Even so, neither is a particularly well-written character, and both suffer for that. Still, you can see why Garibaldi was interested in Dodger—and vice versa, truly—and you really just want to smack Garibaldi for screwing it up. As for General Franklin, it was an interesting touch to have a Black character give the “why don’t you help your own kind” speech to his son, since that’s the sort of thing a White character might have said to his son the doctor who treated Black people. (Something we would see in real life a decade after this episode aired, when General Colin Powell, who was Black, used the exact same language to justify keeping LGBT people out of the military that was used prior to 1948 to justify keeping Black military personnel segregated.) Unfortunately, the script doesn’t really do anything with that after the first conversation between dad and kid, which is a blown opportunity to give the episode some life. Or at least something beyond the war-movie clichés. The episode’s plot also strains credulity, as there’s just no way B5 would be able to accommodate 25,000 new arrivals without warning. It might have worked if General Franklin requested shore leave for his people, but to give them all bunks? That’s madness, and logistically completely unfeasible for the station to be able to provide. Next week: “All Alone in the Night.”[end-mark] The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “GROPOS” appeared first on Reactor.

Production of clean, safe, and reliable nuclear energy is a vital part of America’s energy future. Once a reactor is built, it becomes a lasting part of America’s energy infrastructure. An insightful new book by Jack Spencer, “Nuclear Revolution: Powering the Next Generation” (Optimum Publishing International) describes what America has to do to ramp up its nuclear power—and why that’s important. (Full disclosure: Spencer, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, is our colleague.) It is no secret that America’s electricity grid recently has been rocky. The push toward a clean energy transition using intermittent energy sources, such as wind and solar, has put a strain on the U.S. grid and on the economy. Intermittent renewables are costly and do not provide the 24/7 power that a modern industrial economy requires. Yet, they are constantly being hailed as the new age of American energy production. American industry has worked hard to minimize the nation’s dependence on unreliable foreign sources of energy, which has left our nation vulnerable in the past. However, current policies that purport to lead to net zero carbon emissions are leading America back to the vulnerabilities of the 1970s. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, over three-fourths of U.S. imports of rare earth elements come from China. The so-called green energy transition, with its requirements for wind, solar, and electric vehicles, relies on those same elements. But there is an alternative: nuclear energy. Although America now lacks the industrial base to support a large expansion of nuclear energy, our nation has supplied the world with nuclear technology in the past and could do so again. U.S. energy systems need to produce more baseload energy, and nuclear power could be a major component of this effort.   Congress has previously tried to reform the regulatory process for nuclear power, and appropriated funds to move the industry forward. But those efforts have failed.  The reason for failure, according to Spencer, is not the underlying technology or even economics, but rather the larger policy and regulatory environment in which nuclear energy exists. Spencer proposes that if America wants nuclear power to succeed, the nation must take a different approach. Efforts to subsidize nuclear into success will fail. Instead, what America needs are reforms that allow free enterprise to drive the technology forward. Not only should nuclear energy be largely free of government intervention, but so should all other energy sources.     A free energy market would spur innovation and ensure that energy is produced in the safest, most efficient way possible. That doesn’t mean that the government has no role in regulating nuclear (or other energy sources), but rather that current regulatory approaches are obsolete. The federal government should have three primary roles related to commercial nuclear power.  First, working with the states, it should protect public health and safety by setting and enforcing regulations that are informed by the latest scientific and technical knowledge and informed by the nuclear industry’s impressive safety record.   Second, the government should nurture commercial relationships between U.S. industry and overseas friends and allies who are also commercial nuclear leaders. These relationships will be critical to competing with Russia and China in the future. On a related note, the federal government should work to reduce the regulatory burden on private industry to export peaceful nuclear technologies where doing so is already legal and to open additional markets for that purpose.   Third, the government should ensure long-term political certainty around uranium fuel markets by remaining committed to the Russian uranium import ban and minimizing or eliminating subsidies to reestablish a domestic uranium fuel industrial base. At the same time, the federal government needs to remove its regulatory bias against mining to allow for more expeditious expansion of uranium mining.   With that regulatory framework, Spencer believes that “private enterprise … has the interests, expertise, and background to develop a cost-effective industry that is economically independent of government and competitive in domestic and international markets.” Nuclear energy has more than 50 years of safe operations, and U.S. industry knows how to build and operate nuclear power plants. More can and should be done in nuclear power, but private companies are the right path to deliver these advances, rather than the U.S. government. Politicians need to step aside and recognize that America’s competitive advantage is not rooted in the talents of our politicians and bureaucrats, but rather in the business acumen of our innovators. The debate over whether America needs nuclear energy has largely been decided. The answer is yes. The question now becomes how? According to “Nuclear Revolution,” that will never be answered in the halls of Congress or the Department of Energy.  It will only be answered by the technologists, industrialists, and capitalists that have made the American economy the most powerful the world has ever seen. They need the freedom to go nuclear.   The post Why Going Nuclear Is Vital to America appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Want to know how to homeschool on the homestead? Whether you're set on homeschooling or still weighing your options, you might pick up a thing or two from these practical tips, ideas, and guide on how to homeschool! How To Homeschool: What You Need To Know “To homeschool, or not to homeschool”, that is the big question, especially for new homesteaders. Choosing to homeschool is never easy (because something has always got to give), but it is very rewarding. The pros and cons of homeschooling are still debated today and I am not one to convince you to or otherwise. I can only say, life on the homestead and homeschooling can never be more rewarding and satisfying. If you've come to terms with the few concerns about homeschooling, these tips and ideas may also help empower you.   1. Get Help, Give Help If you're worried how friends and even family would react to your choice, find help from people in your community who are also homeschooling. You'll be surprised at how many are there who prefer their kids homeschooled. Actually, there are existing support group and organizations for homeschoolers in your community now. They could help you with information, regulation, and application process. To save on the expense of school materials, you can probably buy used ones or put up your used materials for sale in your group. You can even arrange for a parent to teach your kids and for you to teach theirs depending on your specialty. This way, your kids can also get the acquaintance and social interaction they need with other homeschooled kids. 2. Organization Is The Key Well, you can say, we homesteaders have control issues, but really, to be organized is what gets a job started and done fast and efficiently. You will need a lot of organizing when homeschooling and it will help you make the task easier. Sometimes you will be tempted to just let the kids have their way when you think you have a lot on your hands. This is where following a schedule comes to the rescue. Remember, you become the teacher in a homeschool and you need to regulate. Follow a schedule where your kids have to be dressed and ready by a time assigned. Just because you are homeschooling doesn't mean your kids can sit on the couch and work on their school tasks. Make sure to arrange a room or space for a classroom complete with a work desk and spaces where they can organize their school materials. This way, they will still feel bound to school work as they would in a regular school. 3. Integrate Homeschooling And Homesteading While there are way more practical kinds of skills your kids can learn in the homestead like cooking, crafts, husbandry, and gardening skills, never overlook the academic aspect. But, where else can your kids learn about science best than in their immediate environs? Be it biology, physics, and chemistry, you'll find your homestead to be the perfect laboratory. When it comes to arithmetic, let your little ones learn how to count with the chickens and eggs. Trust me, I never realized I would enjoy teaching academics when incorporated with homesteading. With solar power and wind turbine installation and maintenance, your kids can even be introduced to both invention and engineering. Don't kids learn effectively with a practical application? Of course, never forget and deviate from the workbooks and paper works. 4. Work With The Seasons Talking about seasons, I get to appreciate homeschooling in the homestead with the changing of the seasons. I don't have to worry about sending the kids to school in winter and on terribly rainy days. But, what I really wanted to talk about is how to make the seasons work to your advantage when homeschooling. Both homeschooling and homesteading are important but homesteading needs to follow the seasons. You can always catch up on homeschooling but you can never do that with homesteading. Don't feel guilty when it seems like you are not able to follow the schedule for your kids. For example, planting and harvest time should follow a time period. In winter, pretty much majority the tasks are on hold, so this time, you can catch up on more school work. 5. Relax And Enjoy Think about why you are homeschooling and the benefits you and your kids will experience. You can even make a list of the reasons why, so you can take comfort in the positive outcome of homeschooling. One item on my list is that my kids will never have to experience cafeteria food, but healthy home-cooked meals. Seek humor in what you do every day because the kids are going to need some of it in their own lives too. It has been proven time and again that 'emotional quotient' is a hallmark of happy, contented, and productive individuals. Show your kids to find the funny side even in some stressful moments. It's a private joke between me and my husband if we're even going to miss the kids once they've all grown up and moved out. But the truth is, we really will. Even when days are long and dragging with chores and studies, I realize that time is short and soon they will go on their own way. One of our comforts is knowing they are well-educated, both in practical skills from homestead life and from our homeschool curriculum.   Find out how to get started with homeschooling in this video guide: Whatever most people say why they turned up their noses at homeschooling, for me, the benefits outweigh the concerns by far. With my kids appreciating our unconventional set up and us spending more time with each other, homeschooling was definitely the right choice for us. Finding out about how to homeschool and homestead made it happen! Did these tips and ideas on how to homeschool helped you decide? Tell us your thoughts about in the comments! Up Next: How to Start Homesteading On A Budget Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!

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