The NES classic Nintendo finally unveiled

. (Photo : IGN News/YouTube)

Nintendo's latest $60 retro console, the NES Classic Edition, is an inexpensively adorable and easy way to play a ton of classic Nintendo games. From the entire original Super Mario Bros. trilogy to the first two Legend of Zelda games, and much more are all on one Nintendo console.

Hackers infiltrates NES Classic

Though its featured games were more than impressive, to say the least, for some folks - namely, hackers - it wasn't enough. By plugging the console into a computer via USB, they started to infiltrate the system.

First, they added a ton more games to the console. One particular hacker even more than doubled the number of games on the system - from 30 to 60.

Hidden message inside NES Classic discovered

Then, these hackers discovered a hilarious message hidden within the system's code. This one's a bit of a deep reference, so please bear with us:

"This is the hanafuda captain speaking. Launching emulation in 3...2...1. Many efforts, tears and countless hours have been put into this jewel. So, please keep this place tidied up and don't break everything! Cheers, the hanafuda captain."

Okay, maybe it doesn't make any sense at the start. But here's out interpretation about this secret message.

What the message meant

First and foremost, "hanafuda" is a Japanese playing card used for a variety of games - think of it as a standard playing card used for, example, poker, but covered in flowers and used for different card games. A hanafunda is very common in Japan, and Nintendo has been known to also be making them. Here are some that Nintendo still produces today:

Since Nintendo is a very old Japanese company (founded in the late 1800s), it didn't immediately get its start in video games. Instead, it first made hanafuda cards, then upgraded to toys, then, eventually, video game consoles as well as video games.

Nintendo's message to hackers

So this message is perhaps intended for the most hardcore Nintendo fans as well as the hackers breaking into the NES Classic Edition. More directly, this message is intended to tell the fans to "keep this place tidied up."

Source : iTech.com

Robin Thicke Says He's Embarrassed By Attempts to Get Paula Patton Back

A month after Alan Thicke's death, his son Robin Thicke is engaged in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Paula Patton.

In court documents, Entertainment Tonightand People report, Patton claims she’s “become concerned about (Thicke's) drinking and drug use, as well as the forms of punishment he is using to discipline" their son Julian, 6.

Patton, 41, says Julian reported the spanking to his school, and told Thicke, 39, his son was afraid of him. The school principal told Thicke on Jan. 6 that a report had been made to L.A.’s Department of Children and Family Services.

Thicke vociferously denies claims of abuse, and in his court documented rebuttal, obtained by USA TODAY,  he says his ex's recent actions stem from anger at not being invited to his father's funeral.

“Paula did not have a positive relationship with my father and often made negative comments to me about my father,” says Thicke in the legal document. “As such, she was not welcome at his funeral. It is my belief that Paula only wanted to attend because it would have resulted in additional public exposure for her.”

Alan Thicke died from a ruptured aorta on Dec. 13 after collapsing while playing ice hockey with his son, Carter. He was 69.

Patton and Robin Thicke currently share joint custody of Julian, and according to Thicke's filing, he has overnights with Julian every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Thicke and Patton married in 2005 and officially divorced last March.

Thicke says he had not seen his son since Dec. 31, and stated he has “on a very rare occasion, and only as a last resort,” used “light spanking” with Julian per his agreement with Patton during their marriage. Thicke insists he has “never exceeded age-appropriate discipline.”

But according to People, Patton claims in her declaration that the school’s principals “advised” her about “comments and statements Julian made to them about the way Respondent hits and punishes in private.” The actress adds that she told them she “had been hearing the same things, and that I did not know how to handle and was very concerned.”

Patton said Julian’s “behavior has become very concerning,” and that the child has “become very tense,” disappears into “what appears to be a trance” and has developed a “slight stutter.”

Source : ustoday.com

PRESIDENT OBAMA AWARDS VP JOE BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM

President Barack Obama presents Vice President Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON — President Obama surprised Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday by bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on him, calling Mr. Biden “my brother” in a tearful goodbye in the East Room of the White House.

Having called Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill, to the White House for a private farewell, the president instead brought him into a room filled with his friends, family and colleagues to present him with the honor, the nation’s highest.

For the first time, Mr. Obama awarded the medal with distinction, an added level of veneration that previous presidents had reserved for recipients like Pope John Paul II and Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state.

“To know Joe Biden is to know love without pretense, service without self-regard, and to live life fully,” Mr. Obama said during the televised ceremony, as Mr. Biden wiped tears from his eyes and dabbed at his nose with a handkerchief.

Moments later, as the president called up a military aide to read the proclamation, Mr. Biden appeared to break down, turning his back to the audience to compose himself. After Mr. Obama hung the medal around his neck, the vice president cried openly.

“Ricchetti, you’re fired,” Mr. Biden joked to his chief of staff, Steve Ricchetti. “I had no inkling.”

Addressing Mr. Obama, who stood to his side, Mr. Biden said that he had never met anyone who had “the integrity and the decency and the sense of other people’s needs like you do.”

The ceremony was an emotional conclusion to an improbable partnership that began in 2008 when Mr. Obama asked his former presidential rival to be his running mate. The two men became close during eight years in the White House.

     “Mr. President, you got right the part about my leaning on Jill,” Mr. Biden said, referring to the president’s remarks about the couple’s love. “But I’ve also leaned on you and a lot of people in this room.”

It was not always clear that the odd-couple pairing would work, either politically or personally. Mr. Obama brought a cool and disciplined approach to politics, while his vice president was the hotheaded, passionate one.

Gaffes by Mr. Biden during the early part of the Obama administration annoyed the president and his aides. And the relationship between the two men was strained when Mr. Biden endorsed same-sex marriage in 2012,forcing the president’s hand on the issue.

But their bond strengthened through the difficult re-election campaign and a second term in which they confronted several mass killings. And Mr. Biden’s personal tragedy — the loss of his son Beau to cancer — brought them even closer together.

Last year, Mr. Biden seriously considered another run for president. But he concluded that his son’s death had left him emotionally unable to mount an effective campaign.

The citation with the medal noted Mr. Biden’s “charm, candor, unabashed optimism and deep and abiding patriotism,” as well as his “strength and grace to overcome great personal adversity.” It called him one of the most “consequential vice presidents in American history.”

Mr. Obama spoke emotionally about the relationship between his own family and the extended Biden clan, many of whom had gathered for the ceremony. “My family is so proud to call ourselves honorary Bidens,” he said.

Mr. Biden sought to return the compliment. He noted that the Constitution did not grant the vice president any inherent powers — “for good reason,” he said. But he said that Mr. Obama had made good on a pledge to make sure that Mr. Biden had a job that mattered.

“You have more than kept your commitment to me by saying you wanted me to help govern,” Mr. Biden said, adding that he hoped the history books would record that he was an asterisk in Mr. Obama’s historic presidency.

“I can say I was part of a journey of a remarkable man who did remarkable things for this country,” Mr. Biden said.

 Source : nytimes