Flea Market and New Merchandise Update

This is a slightly older game now but it’s still one of the most fun flash games around. It also involves in-depth strategy not often found in flash games beyond the tower defence genre. You play a special forces operative who has holed himself up in a facility and must fend off the zombie hoards.

In order to fend them off you need to understand the balance between exploration and defence right away. The more you explore, the more areas you open up and the more windows, doors, and wide open spaces the zombies have available through which to climb in and get you. Zones which you haven’t explored are blanked out, and zombies don’t bother trying to get through there.  The F key will upgrade your barricades and space will take you to your inventory where you can buy weapons.

You start off with a pistol, but you can unlock a free rifle by signing up for a free Mochimedia account and buying the free rifle in the premium tab (other special upgrades cost mochi-coins). You can also claim the free grenades to get you started. The rifle will serve you well until you’re out of your first area. The best strategy is to fend zombies off the first area until you have about 300 dollars of in game funds, then leave the area and immediately pick up the Uzi sub machine gun unlock. Then press space and go over to the inventory screen to buy the sub-machine gun you just unlocked. This Uzi will serve you well, and just as well because you now have a larger area to defend.

Make sure you keep your barricades up and bottleneck the zombies at the door to the first area until you’ve killed enough zombies and gained another 250 dollars in game. Then run down and unlock the car porch. This isn’t going to effect the number of zombies coming in because the lower areas are open anyway, but it will give you access to an AK47 and give you more places to run should everything go pear-shaped.

I don’t recommend buying the AK 47 as it doesn’t offer significant improvement over the Uzi, but will set you 300 dollars less towards your next upgrade (one that matters). Don’t upgrade the barricades either, as these upgrades can be used strategically later on. At this point, the best thing to do is to defend yourself with the Uzi, using the available terrain to your advantage, until you can reach about 1600 then unlock the central door that takes you into the canteen and then down into the kitchens, there you will find the SCAR Assault Fifel for 1250 or a G3 Assault rifle for 1500. Both are very good, but the G3 has the edge due to its stopping power. Zombies will physically stop when you blast them with it giving you more time. The SCAR has some plus points though, its rounds pass right through zombies allowing you to finish off several zombies at once. It is however better to go for only one of these and save up your remaining funds towards your first turrets.

The turrets are in the small room that needs to be unlocked in the lower left of the map. Once you have around 600 to unlock that door it’s a good idea to go and do so and pick up the turrets to unlock them. Later, once you have the funds (4,000) you can start placing your turrets. Turrets will eventually run out of ammunition, but you can reload them by pressing F, just in the same way as you fix the barricades. Because of this, turrets are a great investment.

There are two methods to using your turrets. You can either cluster your turrets in a room so that you will be able to easily access them to reload them. Many people instead chose to reinforce all the barricades by placing turrets behind them to kill zombies before they even reach them.

Which tactic is up to  you, but having played and replayed, the clustering tactic is the one that seems to work the best. When you cluster your turrets they are all accessible enough that you can run around them and reload them. If you have chosen to shore up all the barricades, there will be times when you’re unable to reach certain turrets to reload them and they are sitting there doing nothing. The clustering approach certainly helps to ensure that you have all of your firepower turned on the zombies at any given time.

Once you reach this stage, all that remains is to fend off the zombies until you hit the final wave. Good luck.

Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy is a book about the diplomat’s weapon and the knack of managing a state’s relationship with other states- issues as old as recorded time. In this comprehensive treatise, the author outlines the basic tenets the art of statecraft and the skills of diplomatic rhetoric.

Using his experience as a foreign diplomat and his knowledge of many nations, as a backdrop, Charles Freeman provides a detailed roadmap to successful negotiation. He discusses the roles of politics, culture, intelligence gathering, military measures and economic power, as well as the art and rhetoric of diplomatic statecraft as applied under international law.

Arts of Power is a thesis on negotiation, the diplomat’s weapon. The author describes the usefulness of the applications of force and intelligence to international relations. He emphasizes the nuts and bolts of statecraft, the practical side of a diplomat’s job and the application of a code of ethics to international law.

In the first part of the book, Freeman discusses intelligence gathering, covert activities, power, political influences, cultural measures, economic measures of the states, military tactics and non-violence, as well as changes in the international state system, the international order, the interests of other states, and the constant evolution of international law as part of the interests and concerns of a nation.

In the second section, the author progresses to the importance of negotiation, the diplomat’s weapon, and the strategies, tactics and manoeuvres, as well as the relationship between the states and why and how diplomats are used. He talks about the traditions of the international system and the reordering of relations between states during peacetime.

The third portion of the book involves a description of the job of a diplomat and the importance of diplomatic rhetoric, advocacy and stewardship. Freeman also discusses the fact that states have different cultures, traditions, and historical experience and how they must bridge these differences in order to function under an international state system. This is a powerful book, easily one of the most comprehensive guides to the art of statecraft in existence today. It is an interesting read because it offers professionals and non-professionals alike an important guide to understanding diplomacy and international ethics. It is a valuable guide for the professional diplomat, an informative manual for students, and even the non-diplomat reader who wants to the secrets of power.

There have been a few other books written on this subject. Arts of Power provides a bridge to fill in the gaps between the few available works on this topic. It is different because it is written by a real diplomat, an ambassador tasked with maintaining peace at all costs.

2011 Moira G Gallaga©

We are, unfortunately, in a slow growth economy, which has businesses – large and small – in a wait and see mode regarding expansion plans. The Labor Department reports that there are 4.6 unemployed (not even counting long-term unemployed now off the benefit rolls) for each job opening. That is an improvement from the depths of the recession of nearly 7 to 1, but not much solace for those facing an average of nearly 5 others competing for every open job.

What has exacerbated the situation is that businesses saw worker productivity rise by a phenomenal 6 percent at the end of 2009, after the all the bloodletting (layoffs) during the recession. Each remaining worker was able to produce more and now companies want to see solid signs of economic growth prior to re-employing workers – and these are almost non-existent in housing, consumer confidence, and yes, jobs! (It takes a job to buy goods and services.) The US is not yet even generating enough new jobs to cover the new entrants into the workforce each year – students graduating from colleges and high schools – let alone jobs for the unemployed.

Jobs Web sites are really just the electronic equivalent of “help wanted” ads of the past. Posting your resume on these sites is really a shotgun approach to finding employment, since companies have the luxury of only selecting candidates to interview who have the “exact” skill set they are looking for. If you don’t know the requirements of the position and customize your resume, by highlighting your near-perfect match to the job skills sought, it is a waste of your time.

The Internet is a great tool to find jobs in two ways: First, by giving you an easy and convenient way to stay connected to your network of friends, extended family, former co-workers, classmates, and industry colleagues. This is where you will have the greatest odds of finding jobs that mesh with your unique skill set and you may get someone in your extended network to walk your resume into the hiring manager. But the number one rule of networking is “give before you receive.” You cannot simply ask people for assistance finding a job until you have established a give and take relationship with them – by first offering to make introductions or other help they may need. Secondly, the Internet makes researching companies to find jobs in your field as easy as it has ever been. There is so much information available from company Web sites, press releases, competitors, and other public information that you can learn about what companies employ people with your skills, which ones are expanding and those likely to hire in the near future. Use your network connections in Web sites like LindedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to locate people who know people in these companies for an “in” for you. Use these same sites to connect with recruiters through recruitment Tweetchat sessions like #jobhuntchat, #tchat, and #hirefriday. You will be amazed at how many people are willing to help you get back into the workforce.

You may also be looking in the wrong places. In the past two decades, small businesses have created over two-thirds of all new jobs. Determine what transferable skills you have to offer to a small business and target some to make connections. It may be you will have to convince them it is time to expand and to bring you on as a contract worker to prove you can help grow their business – without the risk of hiring a full-time employee.

On this last point, find two or three temporary employment companies that specialize in your field or one closely related. There is no better way to get your foot in the door to determine if you blend in with the company’s culture and they offer what you desire in an employer. You will not get the salary you are looking for right away, but over one-third of these contingent positions end up becoming a full-time job. It also gives you the opportunity to keep your skills honed and a good story to relay in future job interviews about what you’ve been doing. A good temp company will help you broaden your search base by assisting you to identify your transferable skills and open new doors for you. In today’s job market, there is no negative sigma associated with temporary or contingent employment – and they will find you a job. Good luck in your search. We all hope for a stronger recovery to materialize shortly.