Delay Posting: Hurricane Sandy Aftermath

I'VE GOT POWER!!!

Hey there fellow readers/community, my state Pennsylvania got hit hard but not as badly as our neighborhood New Jersey.

My location was out of power the night of the incoming storm. On Saturday November 3, I finally got POWER back on. Due to the severeity of the storm, we had other states to help out on turning back on the power. 

Local PP&L on the Northeast said that 98% has been restored but still about 12,000 customers are out of power.  

Majority of this storm path was: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. Most of severe damage was New Jesery and because of it President Obama declared "State Emergency".

My family are ok and doing well from the aftermath of the hurricane.  But we aren't done with a severe storm. We are expecting a major snow storm to hit our state AGAIN this coming Wednesday into Thursday!!  Talk about double wammie!

Sandy's affect on the Industry: 

Casino Pier, located in Seaside Heights, NJ, was largely destroyed in the storm.  Previous sunny Summer days saw the pier looking like this: (*Click on the image to see it large view.)

 
  But after Sandy rolled through it looks like this:

 © Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger

 The park's Star Jet roller coaster was left idly sitting in the ocean when the pier beneath it collapsed.  Several others rides and attractions were also sucked into the sea, and generally all the rides are ruined.  More photos of Casino Pier from the air are located here, and a story about the park can be found here.

Funtown Pier, also in Seaside Heights, didn't fair so well either.  The park lost a large portion of its boardwalk foundations, sending several rides into the water and sand below.  One of them is the park's Looping Coaster, which can be seen crumpled on itself in the above photo.  A story on the park can be found here. 

Hopefully all parks affected will be able to rebuild, some have a much tougher journey ahead of them than others.  Our best wishes go out to all of them.

How you can help: 

- You can donate online through American Red Cross organization to help on families who were affected of Hurricane Sandy. http://www.redcross.org/ 

- If you prefer texting, you can send an text: REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

- Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767)

About "American Red Cross": 

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

Closing Thoughts:

Thank you for your support and cooperating on waiting for new blog post. Due to lack of electricity in my area, I wasn't able to post new content though I could been able to post through my iPhone but I wasn't going to risk losing battery power for that. 

Themagical Staff wishes the best on the families who were affected by the storm. Thoughts and prayers goes out to the families lost their love ones in the storm.

Until Then,

Reighard

Soarin Update: 10/31/2012

As you already know of the progress of the newest FIRST-OF-ITS-Kind HTML5 simulation "Soarin" from the recent postings on our Facebook page from team member Josh:

Quote: 

"Code for audio playback (background music and sound effects) is complete, and finally working on Firefox. Running the sim (queuing a peep, loading, preshow, and the ride) are all finished. Currently I am working on fixing a performance issue with the peep engine, simplifying code and adding the ride "break downs". The good news is after some initial testing on my two year old Android phone, the performance of this version of the sim is much improved. I shouldn't have to "reboot" the code any more."

SOARIN:

 
Should Work with: (*Still in 'Beta Phase, testing results will confirm which will work properly.)

- * Safari
- * Firefox
- * Chrome 
- * Internet Explorer 9 
- * Internet Explorer 10 (Windows 7 / Windows 8 OS) 

"It should work on iOS, but I don't have an iOS device to test with. I do have a Windows 8 virtual machine though. Once we start getting ready for beta testing we will be looking for people who have as many different browsers available to test as possible. " - Josh (October 5, 2012) 

Fall is now HERE!

Hey Everybody!

Fall is "OFFICIALLY" here! The summer season has now came to a close as leaves are now changing colors, weather getting cooler outside, and fall produce are now ready for harvesting.

Do you like the fall time? Is there any of your favorite things you like to do during the fall? What about your favorite fall meals you like to enjoy?

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::Simulation Updates::

SOARIN:

As you already know of the progress of the newest FIRST-OF-ITS-Kind HTML5 simulation "Soarin" from the recent postings on our Facebook page from team member Josh:

Quote: "Soarin' update! For the past two months I've been trying to resolve a roadblock I hit in my code related to getting people to sit down in their seats. After a lot of thought and adjustment, I think I have finally resolved the issue. Hopefully this means I can finally start moving forward again!" - Josh (August 19, 2012)

Though no new information about the simulation has arise since then. We've been getting emails about the possible 'beta testing' of this simulation, even though we aren't taking any requests at this time for it. 

We'll keep you posted on details on that once we feel its 'beta-ready' to be tested.

Epcot's TEST TRACK: 

We've been in stand-by mode (Blue Sky Phase Development) since the announcement of 'Soarin' simulation development in favor of releasing a faster simulation creation with the new format of HTML5.  

We've haven't abandon this simulation nor its progress of this simulation at all. We feel 'Soarin' simulation will
help us stand out from the rest as being the first simulation to be able to play on your portable devices like Android, iOS devices, Gaming Consoles, etc...

Though this new format is a learning curve due to its being a new interactive element that is now being the 'NEW' web standard for interactivity with it not using Adobe's Flash.

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::Community Feedback::

We've been recently getting feedback from our community members/readers with our progress on our simulation development.

Here's our responses to them:

Q.) Why has it been taking so LONG for creating an simulation??

A.) Simulation creations usually take about 1 year or 1 1/2 years to develop in general. We do this creation process on our 'free' time in our daily schedules. Based on this, it can slow down or even halt on developments due to work, family, emergencies, etc.... 

Q.) If it takes so long, hired more people to your team. Can I join the team??

A.) Currently, Josh, Martijn and myself is the entire development team. We don't get paid for our creations nor our time on these developments. Programming in Adobe Flash and/or in HTML5 takes time and as well skill to do these games. We look for people who have STRONG knowledge of these programs so that we can make this development process fast but still have the quality of detail in each simulation we create. We aren't currently looking to add to our team at this time.

Q.) Don't you guys get paid for these simulations or a company that can endorsed you guys?

 A.) We don't make money from these simulations or get paid to create these simulations. Due to the copyrights on these simulations, it will be against the copyright holders terms of use agreements to make any money from these simulations.  We know Disney is watching our site and we have good terms with them based of our simulations creations. We won't be allowed to be sponsored by an company to create simulations because how sensitive the material we create is copyrighted names, likeness, audio, logos, etc...

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::Closing Thoughts::

 Thank you again for reading this post! We are sad that summer came by so fast again another season but there's always next season!

Have a great fall season!

- Reighard

9/11 11th Anniversary

Hello There,

I'm writing you today with deep heaviness as I recall the memories of September 11, 2001 and that faithful day to know where I was at, what I was doing and how I remember myself stunned in disbelief of what I was seeing on TV and internet.

Each year, I still never forget that day how America was attacked by Terrorist who hijacked commercial airlines to use as weapons to kill over 3,000 innocent people.

This Tuesday September 11, 2012 marks the 11th anniversary of 9/11/2001 and from this we are seeing America still coping of the wounds of how America came together by helping one another and prayer of how our faith in God in time of need.

As yesterday afternoon hearing about creditable possible imminent attacks of the Anniversary of 9/11 , we in America are stepping up to stop this from happening and making sure of our surrounding areas of suspicious activity of possible terrorist attack.

It grieves my heart to see the stories on TV and internet and as well seeing the movies that came out in relation to 9/11 like 'United 93' movie for example. Still a piece of history that all Americans and people around the world won't forget what happened to the United States that day.

To recall that faithful day and read other stories of that day and how years later saw hope and healing. Please visit: http://news.yahoo.com/september-11-anniversary/

From behalf of Themagical Staff, we remember those who helped to save people that day, those who lost their lives and the families who lost their love ones. Our prayers and support goes out to you and thank you to the law officials and firefighters who supported the people in time of need during that terrible day in America History.


THANK YOU.

Happy Labor Day! 2012

Happy Labor Day (US Readers) Everyone!

Here in the United States we are celebrating the holiday "Labor Day" today (09.03.2012). This is right before school starts in most of the country, but some schools may have already returned to school before this holiday break.

Ending of summer now. Right after this day, schools are now in session and that's also the sign of ending of summer for amusement parks weekly operations. From this point now, amusement parks starts opening on the weekends to have their "Halloween/Fall Activities" for closing up for the summer season.

What is Labor Day? *Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. *1

A Nationwide Holiday

*The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker. *1

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We hope everybody celebrating "Labor Day" in the states, please be safe and drive carefully.

- Themagical Staff 

Source: *1 -  http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm