My love of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is no secret. Last year, I dedicated 20,000 words to a two-part 20th-anniversary retrospective featuring several of the talented artists who worked on the seminal BioWare Edmonton RPG. From the refreshingly standalone story and strong cast of characters to the compelling D&D -inspired turn-based combat and diverse array of planets to visit, KOTOR is an absolute gem. It remains one of my top five games of all time, even to this day. And yet, I’ve always felt a twinge of sadness over that (deservedly) glowing reputation because it’s inadvertently meant that its sequel, Obsidian Entertainment’s Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords , has often been overlooked comparatively. That’s a real shame, because KOTOR II is easily my favourite Star Wars story ever told, a richly crafted and deeply engrossing yarn that deconstructs core tenets of the entire franchise. And now, as we approach KOTOR II ‘s 20th anniversary on December 6th, I’ve found myself revisiting the game and developing an even greater appreciation for it. The original KOTOR , like the original trilogy, revolved around the player character, Revan, stopping the genocidal Sith regime from harnessing a powerful space station and taking over the galaxy. While there’s certainly nuance to be found within the writing of individual characters and storylines, that overall conflict is undeniably black and white. KOTOR II , on the other hand, eschews any such binaries for a fascinating morally grey narrative. The game follows the Exile (also known as ‘Meetra Surik’), a former Jedi Knight who has been excommunicated from the Jedi Order for her role in aiding Revan in the controversial Mandalorian Wars. In the five years since the events of KOTOR , however, Revan has vanished in the outskirts of the galaxy and the Sith have nearly exterminated the Jedi, leading the Exile to embark on a desperate mission to unite the remaining Light Side warriors and strike back. Right off the bat, this premise creates a powerful sense of melancholy rarely seen in Star Wars. Over the course of 30 hours, KOTOR II presents a vivid depiction of a deeply solemn galaxy. In more direct cases, this is shown through returning planets Dantooine and Korriban, which were once teeming with Jedi and Sith but are eerily lifeless vestiges of civilization overrun by beasts and lingering spirits. But beyond that, there’s just a pervasive fatigue and depression throughout each planet you visit, from the sickly beggars on the crime-filled Nar Shaddaa to the civil war on the nationalist planet of Onderon. There’s always been an underlying darkness to Star Wars, of course, but KOTOR II is one of the first times it was put forward in such a layered and serious way. (Generally, there was something silly that dampened the impact to varying degrees, like the goofy Ewok teddy bears in Return of the Jedi or bad dialogue of the prequels.) Part of KOTOR II ‘s sophistication comes from its status as a video game, which means it’s able to leverage interactivity to strengthen your connection to the narrative. As the Exile, it’s your job to determine how to rebuild this galaxy ravaged by war. When you find each of the remaining Jedi Masters, you can choose to recruit them to your cause or harness their powers to increase your own Force-wielding prowess. (Given their hubris and complacency, you could make a case for doing either.) And expanding upon the strong writing of the first KOTOR , your interactions with your party members can lead to them becoming Jedi or Sith. Memorably, this includes Atton Rand, a seemingly Han Solo-esque scoundrel who harbours his own battle scars and complicated resentment towards the Jedi, and Visas Marr, a Sith apprentice who was the sole survivor of a planetary genocide. Having you fill your party with such characters, as well as the likes of Exchange syndicate droid G0-T0 and returning KOTOR mercenary and former Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, only further fleshes out the greyer sides of the galaxy. (If you love The Mandalorian , Canderous’ journey in this game, which explores the complexities of his warrior people’s creed, will prove especially exciting.) But nowhere is KOTOR II ‘s depth and moral ambiguity better exemplified than Kreia, one of the absolute greatest characters in the entire Star Wars pantheon. Interestingly, the enigmatic Force wielder, as masterfully portrayed by Sara Kestelman, is outwardly cold to pretty much everyone in the game except the Exile, leading her to become your maternal figure, of sorts, as you play. In this role, Kreia effectively plays devil’s advocate for every choice you make, resulting in a fascinating back-and-forth dynamic. While KOTOR II does retain the first game’s binary Light Side/Dark Side system, Kreia, quite interestingly, tends to serve as an active rebuttal of it, constantly questioning whether you made the “right” choice, regardless of your moral alignment, and pushing you to look beyond “Jedi” and “Sith.” Through Kreia, KOTOR II challenges the very nature of the Force itself and the role it plays in the cycles of war, making for some of the best storytelling in all of Star Wars. If that weren’t enough, KOTOR II presents some of the most memorable Sith in the entire franchise. While KOTOR ‘s Darth Malak was a serviceable enough riff on Darth Vader, the antagonists of the sequel are genuinely inspired. First, there’s Darth Nihilus (see above), the “face” of KOTOR II with a Revan-like tribal mask and hood. What makes Nihilus such an effective threat is that he’s genuinely terrifying in a way most Sith aren’t. This shell of a former man is so consumed by insatiable hunger for power that he feeds off the life force of all living things, only communicating to his disciples through hauntingly unintelligible rasps. Then we have Darth Sion, a comparatively more loquacious foe whose necrotic corpse-like body is literally being held together through the Force, leaving him in a constant state of unspeakable pain. And finally, an intriguing third character who completes the so-called Sith Triumvirate is revealed later in the story, solidifying KOTOR II ‘s villains as some of the most compelling in the series. In 2004, everything KOTOR II achives felt incredibly novel for Star Wars and even RPGs at large, and two decades later, that’s even more true. While I still adore Star Wars , I find myself frequently frustrated with how the franchise has basically become an ouroboros, constantly referencing itself as it desperately tries to tie everything back to nostalgic story beats, themes and characters. There is so much that can be done within the vast Star Wars template, yet we keep coming back to the Skywalker Saga and adjacent stories. Even The Acolyte , which was, ironically, partially inspired by Kreia , finds contrived connections to the Skywalker Saga despite being set a century before The Phantom Menace. That’s why I’ve always loved the first KOTOR ; BioWare was creative enough to leap literal millennia before Anakin Skywalker was even born and tell a completely standalone story. And even then that game, as amazing as it is, was really all about letting you live out your own version of Luke Skywalker’s adventure in RPG form. It hadn’t been done in games, to be sure, but there was still that sense of familiarity. That’s what makes KOTOR II even more of a revelation. Not only does it not draw any major inspiration from classic Star Wars stories, but it often actively critiques them. In a day and age when many fans can’t accept something like The Last Jedi daring to be even a little different, KOTOR II feels even more ahead of its time. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine Star Wars media like this ever getting made today. Even Andor, which is easily the best piece of live-action Star Wars media in decades, is really, first and foremost, a stellar political drama that just happens to be set in a galaxy far, far away. On top of all of that, Obsidian deserves even more praise for KOTOR II because it made the game under particularly difficult conditions. Infamously, publisher LucasArts only gave the team just over a year to follow-up one of the greatest games of all time, leading to, unfortunately, an excessive amount of crunch. What’s more, Chris Avellone, lead writer and designer on KOTOR II , wasn’t initially given access to the first game, meaning that many of his early concepts had to be reworked or scrapped entirely later on. Therefore, the fact that Avellone and the rest of the team were able to pivot and incorporate story beats from BioWare, and then actually use them so meaningfully, is beyond impressive. Admittedly, this especially tumultuous development cycle meant that KOTOR II launched with its fair share of issues. For one, it was remarkably buggy, but on a deeper level, cutscenes, quest lines and even an entire planet had to be cut to make the release date. These concessions are particularly felt in the game’s final level, which sees the Exile travel to Malachor V, the planet where the Mandalorian Wars reached their brutal conclusion. Setting the grand finale on a planet that had been so meticulously built up through its important connection to both Revan and the Exile was a conceptual masterstroke, but unfortunately, it feels unfinished in practice due to the cut content. Thankfully, dedicated fans have spent years restoring much of that material and have since released free mods that add it back to the game. But even if you don’t care about KOTOR II , its legacy is important because it was actually Obsidian’s first-ever game. “I mean, it’s what made Obsidian,” Dan Spitzley, KOTOR II senior programmer and now Obsidian lead programmer, told Eurogamer . “It’s the reason we’re still here. For me, KOTOR II just represents, how do I say it, Obsidian as a whole.” Without KOTOR II , we wouldn’t have gotten the many other acclaimed games that Obsidian has made, including Neverwinter Nights 2 , Pillars of Eternity , Pentiment and, of course, Fallout: New Vegas. (I also recently got to check out Avowed , Obsidian’s next RPG, and it looks like yet another winner from the prolific studio.) And so, 20 years later, I find even more reasons to love KOTOR II. Despite a brutal production, Obsidian had a remarkably fresh and philosophical take on Star Wars that feels even more revolutionary after all this time, both due to the nostalgia-driven direction of the franchise and the increasingly divisive and bleak modern climate. Admittedly, playing the game now can sometimes be a painful reminder of what Obsidian had been building up to for a once-planned third game, which, based on developer interviews , sounded absolutely unreal. But on the whole, it’s just been so great to revisit KOTOR II. I’ve long praised this game to everyone I know, and I’m happy for this anniversary to encourage me to finally write about it. If you’re someone who’s ever had even a passing interest in Star Wars , I can’t recommend enough that you play this game. Truly, it’s everything I love about the galaxy far, far away and RPG storytelling as a whole. Here’s to Star Wars . Here’s KOTOR II . Here’s to Obsidian. May the Force be with them, always. Image credit: DisneyStarmer accused of ‘burying head in sand’ over deal to allow young Britons to live and work in Europelucky wallpaper 。

Green and Jamiel score long TDs and Lehigh rallies to defeat Richmond 20-16 in FCS playoff opener

India is reviewing a decade-old $30 billion programme requiring coal-fired power plants to install equipment to cut sulphur emissions after government-backed studies showed they had little impact on curbing pollution, according to a document reviewed by Reuters. Nearly 540 power plant units were required by 2026 to install flue-gas desulphurization (FGD) systems that remove sulphur from the plants' exhaust gases but only about 8 percent have done so, including those run by state-run NTPC and privately held JSW Power. The government previously said expensive foreign technology and manpower were some of the hurdles in achieving the target. But with cities like New Delhi and Kanpur some of the most polluted in the world, India's government is under pressure to reduce the impact of the sectors' emissions. Instead of FGDs, government officials have proposed deploying locally made electrostatic precipitators that remove fine particles such as dust and smoke from emissions and are one-fifth of the cost of an FGD system, according to a document from the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Indian government summarising a Nov. 13 meeting between the Office and the ministries of power, coal and the environment. Representatives of the ministries and Ajay Kumar Sood, the principal scientific adviser to the government who chaired the meeting, did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment. The document showed several of the attendees agreed Indian power plants would be better off focusing on cutting emissions of tiny particulate matter that can lodge deep in the lungs rather than on sulphur reductions. "This is due to the predominance of other pollution sources in urban areas and the very low sulphur content of Indian coal coupled with the effective dispersion of (sulphur dioxide) generated from thermal power plants due to the tall stacks and the climactic conditions in India," the document cited R. Srikanth, the head of the engineering school at India's National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), as saying. Srikanth did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The document cited a NIAS study that said Indian coal, which is used to generate 92 percent of the country's thermal power, has a sulphur content of only 0.5 percent. The range globally is 0.5 percent to 5 percent. The study said the coal's high ash content was a bigger problem for power plants, and high-efficiency electrostatic precipitators would be better at curbing that pollution. The document also cited government-backed studies by the NIAS, Indian Institute Of Technology (IIT) Delhi and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute that showed power plants with the FGD systems showed negligible improvement in air quality. A FGD system costs 12 million rupees ($141,000) per megawatt of capacity. Insisting on FGDs could hamper India's goal of increasing coal-fired capacity by 37 percent by 2032 to meet surging power demand, it said. A decision will be made based on further consultations, the document showed. India's government policy think tank, NITI Aayog, earlier this year proposed halting FGD installations. The document also showed that while the government is working on its decision, the power ministry last month asked the environment ministry to extend the deadline for FGD installation by another three years beyond 2026. The original deadline was 2017. Environmental groups say coal-fired plants account for about 80 percent of industrial emissions of sulphur and nitrogen oxides in India, which cause lung disease and acid rain. According to a 2019 Greenpeace report, India was the world's largest emitter of sulphur dioxide, with most coming from coal-fired power plants. IIT Delhi said in its report that in the longer term, the focus should be on cleaner-energy sources and India should phase out older and less efficient coal-based plants. "The installation of FGD systems and carbon capture technologies should not be used as a smokescreen to justify the continued power generation from these unsustainable, CO2-intensive sources," it said in its report, which was reviewed by Reuters. India is reviewing a decade-old $30 billion programme requiring coal-fired power plants to install equipment to cut sulphur emissions after government-backed studies showed they had little impact on curbing pollution, according to a document reviewed by Reuters. Nearly 540 power plant units were required by 2026 to install flue-gas desulphurization (FGD) systems that remove sulphur from the plants' exhaust gases but only about 8 percent have done so, including those run by state-run NTPC and privately held JSW Power. The government previously said expensive foreign technology and manpower were some of the hurdles in achieving the target. But with cities like New Delhi and Kanpur some of the most polluted in the world, India's government is under pressure to reduce the impact of the sectors' emissions. Instead of FGDs, government officials have proposed deploying locally made electrostatic precipitators that remove fine particles such as dust and smoke from emissions and are one-fifth of the cost of an FGD system, according to a document from the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Indian government summarising a Nov. 13 meeting between the Office and the ministries of power, coal and the environment. Representatives of the ministries and Ajay Kumar Sood, the principal scientific adviser to the government who chaired the meeting, did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment. The document showed several of the attendees agreed Indian power plants would be better off focusing on cutting emissions of tiny particulate matter that can lodge deep in the lungs rather than on sulphur reductions. "This is due to the predominance of other pollution sources in urban areas and the very low sulphur content of Indian coal coupled with the effective dispersion of (sulphur dioxide) generated from thermal power plants due to the tall stacks and the climactic conditions in India," the document cited R. Srikanth, the head of the engineering school at India's National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), as saying. Srikanth did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The document cited a NIAS study that said Indian coal, which is used to generate 92 percent of the country's thermal power, has a sulphur content of only 0.5 percent. The range globally is 0.5 percent to 5 percent. The study said the coal's high ash content was a bigger problem for power plants, and high-efficiency electrostatic precipitators would be better at curbing that pollution. The document also cited government-backed studies by the NIAS, Indian Institute Of Technology (IIT) Delhi and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute that showed power plants with the FGD systems showed negligible improvement in air quality. A FGD system costs 12 million rupees ($141,000) per megawatt of capacity. Insisting on FGDs could hamper India's goal of increasing coal-fired capacity by 37 percent by 2032 to meet surging power demand, it said. A decision will be made based on further consultations, the document showed. India's government policy think tank, NITI Aayog, earlier this year proposed halting FGD installations. The document also showed that while the government is working on its decision, the power ministry last month asked the environment ministry to extend the deadline for FGD installation by another three years beyond 2026. The original deadline was 2017. Environmental groups say coal-fired plants account for about 80 percent of industrial emissions of sulphur and nitrogen oxides in India, which cause lung disease and acid rain. According to a 2019 Greenpeace report, India was the world's largest emitter of sulphur dioxide, with most coming from coal-fired power plants. IIT Delhi said in its report that in the longer term, the focus should be on cleaner-energy sources and India should phase out older and less efficient coal-based plants. "The installation of FGD systems and carbon capture technologies should not be used as a smokescreen to justify the continued power generation from these unsustainable, CO2-intensive sources," it said in its report, which was reviewed by Reuters.

Green and Jamiel score long TDs and Lehigh rallies to defeat Richmond 20-16 in FCS playoff openerPakistan's housing crisis needs innovation

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JKTPO, SKUAST organise Basmati Fest 2024By Maria Salette Ontiveros, The Dallas Morning News (TNS) DALLAS — Amid the busy holiday shipping season, the U.S. Postal Service is sounding an urgent warning about a scam being sent via text message to unsuspecting users. According to postal officials, the scam consists of cellphone owners receiving a text message that says a USPS package can’t be delivered because of missing information. USPS officials say the message includes a text link that could expose the user’s personal information, including financial details, to unknown scammers when clicked. “The criminals want to receive personally identifiable information such as: account usernames and passwords, Social Security Number, date of birth, credit and debit card numbers, personal identification numbers, or other sensitive information,” the news release says. Authorities are calling this scam “ smishing,” a more sophisticated deceptive practice where users pretend to be from a legitimate company or individual and then provide a link that allows users to provide some type of personal data, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Postal officials say their customers can receive automated updates about the delivery status of mail or packages, but mail customers have to sign up on the official page of USPS. USPS also has a service that is called Informed Delivery, where you can receive emails and updates as the package gets scanned. To sign up for this service, you should visit the official page of USPS. How can I report a scam? To report a scam or possible smishing incident, USPS asks customers to take screenshot of text message, paste it into an email and send it to spam@uspis.gov . The email must include the victim’s name, a screenshot of the fraudulent text message and any other relevant details. More: How to avoid the latest generation of scams this holiday season | The Conversation Pa. man charged in Pittsburgh Steelers parking lot scam Third man indicted in computer scam that cost central Pa. residents at least $316K

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Pakistan's housing crisis needs innovation

Borussia Dortmund eased past hosts Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday to stay firmly on course for a top-eight finish and automatic qualification to the knockout stage. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens fired last year’s finalists into a deserved lead in the 41st minute before the unmarked Ramy Bensebaini headed in their second goal in the 56th. ALSO READ: Aston Villa plays out goalless draw against depleted Juventus Forward Serhou Guirassy, back after a short illness, also got on the scoresheet in the 90th, slotting in after coming on as a substitute. The Ruhr valley club, which also hit the woodwork twice, has now won four of its five matches in the competition this season and is on 12 points in fourth place with three games left. Dinamo is on seven points. The top eight teams automatically qualify for the knockout stage while the next 16 teams go into qualification playoffs Comments Related Topics Borussia Dortmund / Dinamo Zagreb / UEFA Champions League 2024-25 / UEFA Champions League Latest on SportstarBy Mumini AbdulKareem, Ilorin Kwara table tennis sensation, Abdulbasit Abdulfatai has narrated how he used his father’s sporting business to learn and improve his table tennis skills that got him where he is today. The 18-year-old from Adeta in Ilọrin West Local Government area told Daily Trust during a chat that he has won three tournaments this year within and outside the country. According to him, “I picked interest in table tennis because my dad has a tennis board outside our house where people come to play as a business though he is not a good player. “After sometime around 2918, I decided to go professional and started going to the stadium where the coach told me that I can make it in tennis if I am determined. The rest as they say is not history”. Abdulbasit, a Mass Communication student of Kwara State Polytechnic said combining sports with studies is not easy but needs sacrifices adding that “I still go to the stadium for training even during exams before I return home after my paper”. He said “The easiest way to combine both as a teenager or youth is to explore online opportunities. “Here, nothing is structured because of the country we find ourselves in, unlike in other advanced countries. You should have time for it and not just do it anyhow like me because of. “It is painful because inside you, you know you can do it but there is not enough good equipment which negatively impacts your game,” he said. Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.

Kellogg is retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues.

Ohio State football’s loss vs. Michigan raises a question: What’s next for coach Ryan Day?Published 5:24 pm Saturday, November 30, 2024 By Data Skrive Adam Thielen was a limited participant in his most recent practice. The Carolina Panthers’ Week 13 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers begins at 4:05 PM ET on Sunday. All of Thielen’s stats can be found on this page. Thielen’s season stats include 166 yards on 11 receptions (15.1 per catch) and one touchdown. He has been targeted 16 times. Don’t miss a touchdown this NFL season. Catch every score with NFL RedZone on Fubo. What is Fubo? Fubo is a streaming service that gives you access to your favorite live sports and shows on demand. Start your risk free trial today and watch seven hours of commercial-free football from every NFL game every Sunday. BetMGM is one of the most trusted Sportsbooks in the nation. Start with as little as $1 and place your bets today . Catch NFL action all season long on Fubo. Not all offers available in all states, please visit BetMGM for the latest promotions for your area. Must be 21+ to gamble, please wager responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, contact 1-800-GAMBLER .NoneAnge Postecoglou admits pressure is on Tottenham at pivotal point