Spots (also known as Knifers, spotting, Knifies, blades, knife hits, dots or hot knives) is a method of smoking cannabis, where small pieces of the plant (dots or spots) are placed between two very hot knives, squeezed together and the smoke produced is inhaled. Alternatively, hashish or hash oil can be spotted, though this practice is less commonplace than spotting plant material. The term spotting is native to New Zealand and perhaps Australia, in other parts of the world it is known as hot-kniving.
Technique
The knives are generally handled (driven) by a person other than the smoker, who inhales the smoke usually through the mouthpiece of a funnel-like vessel (spottle, bowser or hooter) of some description - commonly a plastic or glass bottle with the bottom removed. Some people will drive spots to themselves, which affords the added danger of having hot knives near their lips. A common technique to smoothen the 'hit' is to store the spottle device (esp. glass ones) inside a freezer for some time prior to the session.
Care should be taken to not touch the edges of a bottle with the hot knives when a plastic spottle has been chosen. Vapors emitted by burnt or melted plastic are highly dangerous and carcinogenic.
Spotting knives are easily recognizable, owing to the discoloration they sustain as a result of consistent, long-term exposure to heat. Often, the knife handles are wrapped in insulation tape to minimize heat transferring up the handles, and to reduce the risk of burns to the driver. Bone-handled knives are often preferred. The most common heat source for spotting knives is a stove-top element. Other heating methods, particularly whilst camping and holidaymaking or when a stove-top element is unavailable, include gas cookers and gas heaters; indeed any other heating device with a grill in which the knives can sit safely can be used. Toasters are not recommended as this can cause serious injury or death by electrocution.
Note the use of a flattened spoon to reflect heat from the elements back onto the spotting knives. This heat-trapping technique is considered by some to be the mark of a connoisseur. Conversely, many consider it to be unnecessary and an added inconvenience although with a ceramic (flat-topped stove) the reflector serves a useful purpose (Note: ceramic-topped stoves are very easy to scratch).
Also note the knives are "weaved" under the second outermost coil of the element. The effectiveness of this technique is debatable, proponents would argue this ensures maximum heat transfer from the element to the knives, by ensuring a large area of contact with the heating element and it holds the knives firmly in place. But the movement caused by withdrawing and replacing knives may result in occasional visits to your local hardware store to replace the elements as the continual activity will inevitably cause scratching which can increase the resistance of the heating coil. This increased resistance combined with heat can cause the heating element to fail and break down.
Technique
The knives are generally handled (driven) by a person other than the smoker, who inhales the smoke usually through the mouthpiece of a funnel-like vessel (spottle, bowser or hooter) of some description - commonly a plastic or glass bottle with the bottom removed. Some people will drive spots to themselves, which affords the added danger of having hot knives near their lips. A common technique to smoothen the 'hit' is to store the spottle device (esp. glass ones) inside a freezer for some time prior to the session.
Care should be taken to not touch the edges of a bottle with the hot knives when a plastic spottle has been chosen. Vapors emitted by burnt or melted plastic are highly dangerous and carcinogenic.
Spotting knives are easily recognizable, owing to the discoloration they sustain as a result of consistent, long-term exposure to heat. Often, the knife handles are wrapped in insulation tape to minimize heat transferring up the handles, and to reduce the risk of burns to the driver. Bone-handled knives are often preferred. The most common heat source for spotting knives is a stove-top element. Other heating methods, particularly whilst camping and holidaymaking or when a stove-top element is unavailable, include gas cookers and gas heaters; indeed any other heating device with a grill in which the knives can sit safely can be used. Toasters are not recommended as this can cause serious injury or death by electrocution.
Note the use of a flattened spoon to reflect heat from the elements back onto the spotting knives. This heat-trapping technique is considered by some to be the mark of a connoisseur. Conversely, many consider it to be unnecessary and an added inconvenience although with a ceramic (flat-topped stove) the reflector serves a useful purpose (Note: ceramic-topped stoves are very easy to scratch).
Also note the knives are "weaved" under the second outermost coil of the element. The effectiveness of this technique is debatable, proponents would argue this ensures maximum heat transfer from the element to the knives, by ensuring a large area of contact with the heating element and it holds the knives firmly in place. But the movement caused by withdrawing and replacing knives may result in occasional visits to your local hardware store to replace the elements as the continual activity will inevitably cause scratching which can increase the resistance of the heating coil. This increased resistance combined with heat can cause the heating element to fail and break down.
This article presents the influence of Area 51 on popular culture.
Television series
The Groom Lake base is featured in episodes of the following television series:
* '
* CatDog: The Great Parent Mystery where there is a "Rest Area 51". An alien ship later lands there.
* Codename: Kids Next Door where there is an operative known as Numbuh 51
* CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
* Dark Skies
* Eureka
* Family Guy
* Futurama
* Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius as Area 86
* Johnny Test as Area 51.1
* Kim Possible
* Little Britain as Area 52
* Megas XLR as Area 50
* NewsRadio as Area 52
* Seven Days as Never Never Land
* The Simpsons as Area 51A
* Sonic X as Area 99
* South Park
* Stargate Atlantis
* Stargate SG-1
* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* Taken
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
* Tracker
* Unexplained Mysteries
* The X-Files
Movies
The base is featured in the following movies:
* Dreamland
* Groom Lake
* Independence Day
* Looney Tunes: Back in Action as Area 52
* Stargate
* Starman
* Zoom as Area 52
In 2004, ahead of the Area 51 video game's release, Paramount Pictures announced that they had acquired film rights for the game. In March 2007, counter-cultural comic book author Grant Morrison was hired to adapt the game as a screenplay.
Books
Area 51 is featured in several novels by Dale Brown involving General Patrick McLanahan and his top secret Air Force technology, used by the "Tin Man" commandos. It is the centerpiece of Robert Doherty's Area 51 novels, which take place after Area 51 scientists make contact with extraterrestrials. Apparent alien technology is stored at "Zone 91" in "Animorphs #14 - The Unknown" by K.A. Applegate. Area 52 is a four-part comic book series from Image Comics.
Computer and video games
The base appears in the following computer or video games:
* Alien Hominid
* '
* Area 51
* Banjo-Tooie
* BlackSite: Area 51 a follow-up to Area 51 coming out in 2007
* Dark Colony
* ' as Area 42
* Deus Ex
* Duke Nukem 3D
* Fallout 2 as Military Base
* Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Area 69 near Las Venturas
* Interstate '82 as Area 49
* Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga as Area 64
* Microsoft Flight Simulator X
* The Pandora Directive
* Perfect Dark as Area 51 and Area 52
* Redneck Rampage as Area 69
* Rogue Trip
* Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 as Broom Lake
* S.C.A.R.S.
* SimCity 4 as Area 5.1
* The Simpsons Road Rage as Area 51A
* The PSP version of The Sims 2 as Division 47, an area of Strangetown
* Tomb Raider III
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater but named Roswell, New Mexico
* Twisted Metal 3
* UFO: Aftermath
* Vigilante 8 - Dreamland
* World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion pack, there is a neutral city in the Outland called Area 52.
Music
The progressive metal band Tool has two songs, "Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)" and "Rosetta Stoned", on their 2006 release 10,000 Days album, that tells a story involving Area 51; a song called "Faaip De Oiad", on the Lateralus album, is based on a phone call by an alleged Area 51 employee to the radio show Coast to Coast with Art Bell. Guitar player Yngwie Malmsteen, on his album Alchemy has a song called "Hangar 18, Area 51". The Pixies song "The Happening" concerns Area 51, and the artwork for the album on which it appears (Bossanova) includes an Area 51 logo design.
Role-playing games
Area 51 has been used in several role-playing games as a plot element. In the game Conspiracy X, it is a safe facility and base of operations for the players' counter-extraterrestrial operations. On the flip side, in the Call of Cthulhu modern day conspiracy supplement Delta Green, the base is the site of laboratory facilities for studying and intercepting otherworldly beings. The alternate history roleplaying game Deadlands also features an 1880s version of the location called "Fort 51".
Other
In 1994, Version 2.0 of the ROM for the Apple Newton personal digital assistant included the latitude and longitude coordinates of Area 51 in the time zones application as an "Easter egg". This feature was removed (supposedly at the request of the CIA) by applying a software patch, but it remained possible to bypass the patch fairly easily.
The world's largest model railway in Hamburg, Germany features a fictional Area 51 model in its America section (showing aliens playing basketball with base personnel).
The tiny town of Rachel, Nevada (the nearest settlement to the base) enjoys minor celebrity status as being "the official home of Area 51". Located three hours from Las Vegas by car, Rachel receives a modest number of visitors year-round, and several small businesses offer food and lodging, as well as aerospace and "alien-themed" merchandising. Many of the tourists are aviation enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of the RED FLAG exercises. A small museum sells maps, photographs, badges and other Area 51 material. A local inn, aptly named "The Little A'le'Inn" proudly displays a time capsule received from the production crew of Independence Day.
The minor league baseball team in Las Vegas, Nevada is called the Las Vegas 51s. Their logo includes the image of a "Grey" extraterrestrial.
Television series
The Groom Lake base is featured in episodes of the following television series:
* '
* CatDog: The Great Parent Mystery where there is a "Rest Area 51". An alien ship later lands there.
* Codename: Kids Next Door where there is an operative known as Numbuh 51
* CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
* Dark Skies
* Eureka
* Family Guy
* Futurama
* Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius as Area 86
* Johnny Test as Area 51.1
* Kim Possible
* Little Britain as Area 52
* Megas XLR as Area 50
* NewsRadio as Area 52
* Seven Days as Never Never Land
* The Simpsons as Area 51A
* Sonic X as Area 99
* South Park
* Stargate Atlantis
* Stargate SG-1
* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* Taken
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
* Tracker
* Unexplained Mysteries
* The X-Files
Movies
The base is featured in the following movies:
* Dreamland
* Groom Lake
* Independence Day
* Looney Tunes: Back in Action as Area 52
* Stargate
* Starman
* Zoom as Area 52
In 2004, ahead of the Area 51 video game's release, Paramount Pictures announced that they had acquired film rights for the game. In March 2007, counter-cultural comic book author Grant Morrison was hired to adapt the game as a screenplay.
Books
Area 51 is featured in several novels by Dale Brown involving General Patrick McLanahan and his top secret Air Force technology, used by the "Tin Man" commandos. It is the centerpiece of Robert Doherty's Area 51 novels, which take place after Area 51 scientists make contact with extraterrestrials. Apparent alien technology is stored at "Zone 91" in "Animorphs #14 - The Unknown" by K.A. Applegate. Area 52 is a four-part comic book series from Image Comics.
Computer and video games
The base appears in the following computer or video games:
* Alien Hominid
* '
* Area 51
* Banjo-Tooie
* BlackSite: Area 51 a follow-up to Area 51 coming out in 2007
* Dark Colony
* ' as Area 42
* Deus Ex
* Duke Nukem 3D
* Fallout 2 as Military Base
* Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Area 69 near Las Venturas
* Interstate '82 as Area 49
* Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga as Area 64
* Microsoft Flight Simulator X
* The Pandora Directive
* Perfect Dark as Area 51 and Area 52
* Redneck Rampage as Area 69
* Rogue Trip
* Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 as Broom Lake
* S.C.A.R.S.
* SimCity 4 as Area 5.1
* The Simpsons Road Rage as Area 51A
* The PSP version of The Sims 2 as Division 47, an area of Strangetown
* Tomb Raider III
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater but named Roswell, New Mexico
* Twisted Metal 3
* UFO: Aftermath
* Vigilante 8 - Dreamland
* World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion pack, there is a neutral city in the Outland called Area 52.
Music
The progressive metal band Tool has two songs, "Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)" and "Rosetta Stoned", on their 2006 release 10,000 Days album, that tells a story involving Area 51; a song called "Faaip De Oiad", on the Lateralus album, is based on a phone call by an alleged Area 51 employee to the radio show Coast to Coast with Art Bell. Guitar player Yngwie Malmsteen, on his album Alchemy has a song called "Hangar 18, Area 51". The Pixies song "The Happening" concerns Area 51, and the artwork for the album on which it appears (Bossanova) includes an Area 51 logo design.
Role-playing games
Area 51 has been used in several role-playing games as a plot element. In the game Conspiracy X, it is a safe facility and base of operations for the players' counter-extraterrestrial operations. On the flip side, in the Call of Cthulhu modern day conspiracy supplement Delta Green, the base is the site of laboratory facilities for studying and intercepting otherworldly beings. The alternate history roleplaying game Deadlands also features an 1880s version of the location called "Fort 51".
Other
In 1994, Version 2.0 of the ROM for the Apple Newton personal digital assistant included the latitude and longitude coordinates of Area 51 in the time zones application as an "Easter egg". This feature was removed (supposedly at the request of the CIA) by applying a software patch, but it remained possible to bypass the patch fairly easily.
The world's largest model railway in Hamburg, Germany features a fictional Area 51 model in its America section (showing aliens playing basketball with base personnel).
The tiny town of Rachel, Nevada (the nearest settlement to the base) enjoys minor celebrity status as being "the official home of Area 51". Located three hours from Las Vegas by car, Rachel receives a modest number of visitors year-round, and several small businesses offer food and lodging, as well as aerospace and "alien-themed" merchandising. Many of the tourists are aviation enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of the RED FLAG exercises. A small museum sells maps, photographs, badges and other Area 51 material. A local inn, aptly named "The Little A'le'Inn" proudly displays a time capsule received from the production crew of Independence Day.
The minor league baseball team in Las Vegas, Nevada is called the Las Vegas 51s. Their logo includes the image of a "Grey" extraterrestrial.
Hackcon is an annual hacker convention taking place in Oslo, Norway. It is held every February, and is a non-profit convention. The groups behind HackCon are KUN (Kompetanse- og utviklingsnettverket) and [http://www.kins.no KINS (Foreningen Kommunal Informasjonssikkerhet)].
The first con was held in 2000, but back then the name was xHCon. The con was a success, but in 2005 the groups wanted to create a new and better convention. xHCON was a small con without much publicity, but they wanted the con to be for a broader audience. KUN and started planning the new con together with , and the new name became HackCon.
The idea behind HackCon is to present security-related issues, both within physical and technical security. The speakers are encouraged to use practical examples, not just show slides in a presentation tool on the computer. The more practical examples, the more fun it is for the audience.
Hackcon has, since the first year, been recognized by companies like Microsoft, ISACA, TryggData and Norman amongst others.
List of conventions
Conventions in the past
*HackCon #1 was arranged 8. and 9. of February 2006, at Håndverkerens Conference center
*HackCon #2 was arranged 7. and 8. of February 2007, at Håndverkerens Conference center
Upcoming conventions
*HackCon #3 is being arranged 6. and 7. of February 2008, at Høyres Hus' conference center
The first con was held in 2000, but back then the name was xHCon. The con was a success, but in 2005 the groups wanted to create a new and better convention. xHCON was a small con without much publicity, but they wanted the con to be for a broader audience. KUN and started planning the new con together with , and the new name became HackCon.
The idea behind HackCon is to present security-related issues, both within physical and technical security. The speakers are encouraged to use practical examples, not just show slides in a presentation tool on the computer. The more practical examples, the more fun it is for the audience.
Hackcon has, since the first year, been recognized by companies like Microsoft, ISACA, TryggData and Norman amongst others.
List of conventions
Conventions in the past
*HackCon #1 was arranged 8. and 9. of February 2006, at Håndverkerens Conference center
*HackCon #2 was arranged 7. and 8. of February 2007, at Håndverkerens Conference center
Upcoming conventions
*HackCon #3 is being arranged 6. and 7. of February 2008, at Høyres Hus' conference center
Test Your Might is a minigame that first appeared in the arcade game Mortal Kombat as an interlude between battles, similar to breaking. The minigame would consist of your character standing above one of five blocks of increasing hardness, depending on how far you have progressed in Test Your Might. The player would have to hammer multiple buttons until the gauge next to their character passed a certain point, and then would have to press the Block button to strike. If they were above this point, their character would break the block in front of them. Otherwise, their hand would bounce off the object sitting in front of them. The player starts off on wood, and after breaking it would move up to stone, steel, ruby, and diamond, then back to wood after diamond is broken. The breaking point on the gauge is raised with the increasing hardness of each block.
The minigame appears at different intervals depending on whether the game is played in one-player or two-player mode. In one-player mode, it appears after every three battle victories, no matter how many battles take place.
However, since the one-player mode ends after the twelfth battle victory (against Shang Tsung), this mode gives players only three chances to test their might before their game is over. This means that the two hardest blocks of the five (ruby and diamond) are reachable only after a player wins at least two Test Your Might minigames in two-player mode.
The minigame also appears after every five consecutive two-player battles, with each player's progress maintained individually.
Breaking each block rewards points as follows:
*Wood: 100,000 points, equivalent to a Fatality bonus
*Stone: 200,000 points, equivalent to a Flawless Victory bonus
*Steel: 500,000 points, equivalent to a Double Flawless bonus
*Ruby: 1,000,000 points
*Diamond: 2,000,000 points
The Test Your Might minigame was not used in the subsequent Mortal Kombat games until 2002's console-only Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, where it returned with improved graphics, a similar but longer block sequence (bamboo, coal, oak, brick, redwood, marble, iron, then diamond), and another minigame, Test Your Sight. Whereas in Mortal Kombat Test Your Might was there to earn points, it is in Deadly Alliance to earn Koins with which to unlock special features. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, the minigame appears whenever the player needs to perform some feat of strength, and at times, even during specific parts of boss battles.
Neither Test Your Might nor Test Your Sight returned in Mortal Kombat: Deception or in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
Test Your Sight
Test Your Sight appeared as another minigame in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. This involved the character standing above a set of cups. The game would show you which cup had the MK icon in, and the cups would begin to move in a random order, and by the end you had to select the cup which the icon was in. As you progressed through the minigame, the number of cups would increase, as would the speed in which the cups would move. At higher levels, the camera would even move in order to make it more difficult for the player to keep track of the movement of the MK icon. This game would also be rewarded with Koins.
The minigame appears at different intervals depending on whether the game is played in one-player or two-player mode. In one-player mode, it appears after every three battle victories, no matter how many battles take place.
However, since the one-player mode ends after the twelfth battle victory (against Shang Tsung), this mode gives players only three chances to test their might before their game is over. This means that the two hardest blocks of the five (ruby and diamond) are reachable only after a player wins at least two Test Your Might minigames in two-player mode.
The minigame also appears after every five consecutive two-player battles, with each player's progress maintained individually.
Breaking each block rewards points as follows:
*Wood: 100,000 points, equivalent to a Fatality bonus
*Stone: 200,000 points, equivalent to a Flawless Victory bonus
*Steel: 500,000 points, equivalent to a Double Flawless bonus
*Ruby: 1,000,000 points
*Diamond: 2,000,000 points
The Test Your Might minigame was not used in the subsequent Mortal Kombat games until 2002's console-only Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, where it returned with improved graphics, a similar but longer block sequence (bamboo, coal, oak, brick, redwood, marble, iron, then diamond), and another minigame, Test Your Sight. Whereas in Mortal Kombat Test Your Might was there to earn points, it is in Deadly Alliance to earn Koins with which to unlock special features. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, the minigame appears whenever the player needs to perform some feat of strength, and at times, even during specific parts of boss battles.
Neither Test Your Might nor Test Your Sight returned in Mortal Kombat: Deception or in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
Test Your Sight
Test Your Sight appeared as another minigame in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. This involved the character standing above a set of cups. The game would show you which cup had the MK icon in, and the cups would begin to move in a random order, and by the end you had to select the cup which the icon was in. As you progressed through the minigame, the number of cups would increase, as would the speed in which the cups would move. At higher levels, the camera would even move in order to make it more difficult for the player to keep track of the movement of the MK icon. This game would also be rewarded with Koins.