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carlosgabrielruiz · 3 years

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PINKERTON - 33 1/3 Proposal Part 6

CHAPTER 4 Many Rivers to Cross:A Brief History of Rivers Cuomo

For most people, Weezer begins and ends with Rivers Cuomo. Period. Point blank. Rivers Cuomo is undoubtedly the brains and heart behind the band – without him, there would simply be no Weezer. Rivers is the primary songwriter, lyricist, band director, and de facto Great Leader (although it should be noted that in the early days he shared some of those songwriting duties and credits with Matt Sharp and original guitarist Jason Cropper).

Rivers was born in Manhattan on June 13, 1970. He grew up in upstate New York in the Buddhist Zen Center where his father was a farmer. In 1975, his father left the family and Rivers moved to Connecticut with his mother and brothers to live in Yogaville on an ashram farm.(1) He grew up as a quiet and shy child only later to become a metalhead with an outgoing love for Kiss and Van Halen.

When he turned 18 Rivers moved to L.A. and started to officially make a go of it in music. He got a job at Tower Records and was introduced to drummer Pat Wilson. (2) They became friends and formed a band called Fuzz. Rivers moved into Pat’s apartment which he shared with Matt Sharp, who was a talented multi-intrumentalist. Matt soon decided to join them and they embarked on an odyssey that would eventually make musical history.

Valentine’s Day of 1992 was a momentous occasion for the newly formed, yet still-unnamed, new band because that was the day that Rivers Cuomo (lead guitar), Matt Sharp (bass), Jason Cropper (guitar), and Pat Wilson (drums) first gathered together to rehearse and record their sessions. The band “got together at T.K. rehearsal studios, in West LA, and rehearsed for either 3 or 4 days straight.”(3) The demo tape that was made during the session featured a list of all the potential band names they were toying with at the time including the initial band name “Fuzz”, as well as “Meathead”, “Outhouse”, “Hummingbird”, “the Big Jones” and “This Niblet”.

Things moved quickly for the band from there. A little over a year after their first official rehearsal, the band - now officially named Weezer - signed a major label record deal with Geffen Records. The band had hoped to self-produce their debut, but the suits at Geffen were not going to let that happen. Eventually, the band picked Cars’ frontman, Ric Ocasek, to handle production on the record. According to Rivers Cuomo, “The record company was really pushing us to work with a producer, so we figured that if we had to have somebody in the studio with us, it might as well just be someone who writes good songs – and the Cars’ first record just rules.” (4)

The band went to Electric Ladyland studios in New York to work on their record. Everything was going great up until it wasn’t. There were internal problems with the guitarist Jason Cropper that led to Rivers firing him from the band. According to Ric Ocasek, “He (Rivers) called me when the record was finished, the day before we were supposed to start mixing, and said, ‘Listen, I just fired the guitar player.’ So I said, ‘What are you gonna do now?’ He’s like, ‘I want all of his parts off the record.’” Luerssen (2004)

With two days before mixing was due to begin in New York, Sharp and Cuomo called Brian Bell.5 He auditioned on tape and was hired to replace Jason. But it was too late to in the game to fly him out to re-record all of Jason’s guitar parts. Under the gun, and with only a day of studio time left before mixing was slated to begin, Rivers re-recorded all of the guitar parts himself (even though Brian is credited on the record).

The Blue Album was released on May 10th, 1994. The 10-track LP provided a “new roadmap for alt-rock following the death of Kurt Cobain and the conclusion of grunge’s first era.”(5) The catchy power-pop record with hook-laden choruses and kitschy Spike Jonze directed videos was an overwhelming success. It would invade the mainstream and go on to sell over 3 million records in the U.S. alone. The band went on a seemingly never-ending tour to promote the record.

Rivers struggled with the newly found fame and success that the Blue Album had brought the band. He was “frustrated by the limitations of rock and the lifestyle of touring around on a bus and playing the same songs over and over.” Cohen (2015). So he did what most people in his position would do, he put the band on a hiatus and enrolled in Harvard to study classical music.

But before the semester started, Rivers decided to fix his right leg, which was two inches shorter than his left leg. The surgery on his right leg left him in agonizing pain. It would be a long recovery. During his first year at Harvard Rivers’ right leg was encased in a metal frame that would require him to adjust and tighten the screws daily in order to elongate the bone.(6) He became hooked on painkillers and opioids while trying to manage the pain.

As he told The New York Times. “I grew a long beard and walked around with a cane… The only time I could write songs was when my frozen dinner was in the microwave.” Rockland (2006) “Where I was emotionally … I went to a more serious and dark place.” Runtagh (2019).

Alone and in pain, Rivers was listening to a lot of classical music and he kept coming back to the opera Madame Butterfly by Puccini. “One of my favorite operas by him was Madama Butterfly, specifically when the role was played by Maria Callas,” he recalled to Pitchfork. “On tour, I would listen to her every night after the show and be so moved by the depth of emotion and sadness and tragedy. It really was calling to me, like, “Come on, Rivers. You can go there. You can go much further with your music than ‘The Sweater Song’ or ‘Buddy Holly’.” Cohen (2015)

His deeply personal and emotional lyrics were raw, to say the least. He opened himself up to a level of honesty, anger, pain, and emotional truth that was only hinted at within the Blue Album’s casual, ironic detachment. But make no mistake, that anger and honestly was always there just below the surface, only it was wrapped around a bouncy hook with a singalong chorus.

With a dozen or more new songs ready to record, Weezer decided to head to the studio. Only this time, they would self produce the new record themselves. They wanted a feel that was similar to their live shows that would better capture the power and energy of their new songs. The resulting record was a “grittier, slightly darker sound that was more Pixies than the polished power-pop Ric Ocasek had helped the band realize on the Blue Album.” (7)

A few months before the album was slated for release, Rivers Cuomo “issued a precarious warning to the band’s fan club about his mental state during the writing process:” Braun (2016).

There are some lyrics on the album that you might think are mean or sexist. I will feel genuinely bad if anyone feels hurt by my lyrics but I really wanted these songs to be an exploration of my ‘dark side’ – all the parts of myself that I was either afraid or embarrassed to think about before. So there’s some pretty nasty stuff on there.

You may be more willing to forgive the lyrics if you see them as passing low points in a larger story. And this album really is a story: the story of the last two years of my life. And as you’re probably well aware, these have been two very weird years.

But the worst was yet to come... TO BE CONTINUED IN THE 33 1/3 BOOK PINKERTON

1 - Weezerpedia. Rivers Cuomo. https://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/Rivers_Cuomo.

2 - Cohen, Ian. (2015, February 9). Rivers Cuomo. Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/9590-rivers-cuomo/.

3 - The Weezer Recording History. (2006, February). Weezer.com. http://www.weezer.com/info/recording/WeezRecHist3.htm.

4 - Luerssen, John D. (2004, August 1). River’s Edge: The Weezer Story. Toronto. ECW Press.

5 - Runtagh, Jordan. (2019, May 10). Weezer’s Blue Album: 10 Things You Didn’t Know. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/weezer-blue- album-rivers-cuomo-things-you-didnt-know-822881/.

6 - Rockland, Kate. (2006, February 16). At School with Rivers Cuomo: Student with a Past. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/16/garden/16weezer.html.

7 - Braun, Laura Marie. (2016, September 23). How Weezer’s ‘Pinkerton’ Went from Embarassing to Essential. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music- features/how-weezers-pinkerton-went-from-embarrassing-to-essential-105567/.

#music #writing #weezer #pinkerton #bloomsburypublishing #333sound #rockandroll #anniversary #pitch #books #rivers cuomo

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imdoingthismspaintadventure · 5 years

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Worm 2.2 - In which we browse a superhero forum

The run had helped to wake me up, as did the hot shower and a cup of the coffee my dad had left in the pot. Even so, the fatigue didn’t help the feeling of disorientation over just how normal the day seemed as I made my way to school. Just a matter of hours ago, I had been in a life and death fight, I had even met Armsmaster. Now it was a day like any other.

Yeah, I’d be suprised if you pay any attention to anything they teach at school today. The feeling of coming back to normality and routine after that must be something else

I felt a bit nervous as I got to homeroom. Having basically skipped two classes the previous Friday, failing to turn in a major assignment, I figured that Mrs. Knott probably knew already. I didn’t feel relieved when Mrs. Knott glanced up at me and gave a tight smile before turning her attention back to her computer. That just meant the humiliation would be redoubled if and when class was interrupted by someone coming down from the office. A part of me just wanted to miss this class too, just to avoid the potential humiliation and avoid drawing attention.

Ugh, falling out of schedule and/or failing classes because of the bullying is rough as hell. Keeping your grades acceptable can be used as escapism from your own thoughts in these kinds of situations and if that starts falling apart too... what’s keeping you in school at all?

If you start missing classes it can quickly slowball into full-on not attending class at all.

All in all, I felt anxious as I made my way to my computer, which kind of sucked because Computer class was one of the few parts of the school day I didn’t usually dread. For one thing, it was the one class in which I was doing well. More to the point, neither Madison, Sophia nor Emma were in this class, though some of their friends were. Those girls didn’t usually feel the need to harass me without the trio around, and I was further removed from them because I was in the advanced stream of the class. A good three quarters of the people in the room were computer illiterate, being from families that didn’t have the money for computers or families that didn’t have much interest in the things, so they practiced typing without looking at the keyboard and had lessons in using search engines. By contrast, I was in the group that was learning some basic programming and spreadsheets. It didn’t do a lot for my already geeky reputation, but I could deal.

Oh interesting that Taylor’s favourite class is Computer Science! I am studying to be a Software Engineer myself! Nice!

It’s good that those three aren’t in every class, so you at least get some moments of respite from their bullshit. That’s good.

We never had the basic kind of keyboard-training classes and all that. Is computer science taught early in America? Here we basically don’t learn anything until we are like 16 or 17 at the very least.

Mrs. Knott was an alright teacher, if not the most hands on; she was usually content to give us advanced students an in-class assignment and then focus on the more rambunctious majority for the rest of the class. This suited me just fine – I usually wrapped up the assignment in a half hour, leaving me an hour to use as I saw fit. I had been recalling and going over the events of the previous night during my morning run, and the first thing that I did when the ancient desktop finished its agonizing load process was to start digging for information.

Lucky you! Assignments stress me out a lot, generally. I wish I could just do them easy-peasy like that. Although I suspect Taylor’s are much simpler, just because of her age and school education vs college.

The go-to place for news and discussion on capes was Parahumans Online. The front page had constant updates on recent, international news featuring capes. From there, I could go to the wiki, where there was information on individual capes, groups and events, or to the message boards, which broke down into nearly a hundred sub-boards, for specific cities and capes. I opened the wiki in one tab, then found and opened the message board for Brockton Bay in another.

Ok I love this. I love this a lot.

This is one of the most realistic things the serial has done so far. Also one of the most fun. If superheroes were real, you bet your ass there would be forums about them, probably more than one. With hourly threads and a lot of speculation and debate.

I imagine there would be like a serious one with strict rules for talking about world events relating to capes, like if it was the news. Cause they aren’t just a tv show or a videogame, they have a real impact in the daily lives of people everywhere.

There would also be whole fanclubs or communities for each super-group and for each city/country, where they talk about the popularity, newcomers, fights, etc...

I can also see entire pages dedicated to romantic relationships or rumors, fanarts, conspiracies, versus battles (who would win?) etc....

Basically, supers being real would absolutely reshape the whole internet forever.

I had the sense that either Tattletale or Grue were the leader of the group I had run into. Turning my attention to Tattletale, I searched the wiki. The result I got was disappointingly short, starting with a header reading “This article is a stub. Be a hero and help us expand it.” There was a one sentence blurb on how she was a alleged villain active in Brockton Bay, with a single blurry picture. The only new information for me was that her costume was lavender. A search of the message boards turned up absolutely nothing. There wasn’t even a hint as to what her power was.

Grue seemed the one calling the shots, but I could also see Tattletale as a short of “shadow leader” type, yeah...

Tattletale has almost nothing about her in her page! That’s very interesting. So she’s very secretive or at least good at hiding information about herself...

Heh, ironic that the Tattletale is the one who keeps secrets. I like the name she picked.

I looked up Grue. There was actually information about him, but nothing detailed or definitive. The wiki stated he had been active for nearly three years, dealing in petty crimes such as robbing small stores and doing some work as an enforcer for those who wanted a little superpowered muscle along for a job. Recently, he had turned to higher scale crime, including corporate theft and robbing a casino, together with his new team. His power was listed as darkness generation in the sidebar under his picture. The picture seemed crisp enough, but the focus of it, Grue, was just a blurry black silhouette in the center.

So Grue is an experienced criminal! Somewhat at least. Three years of experience is certainly better than one night!

He was doing low-level crimes until recently, when he adquired his new team, and they seem to be doing big heists now! How did Grue find the others? Seems like a pretty big increase in notoriety and strength in a short time!

Darkness generation....that could potentially be very cool. I wonder if it can be used offensively, like fire with Lung. I always imagine the darkness element (when used as blasts the same way they use fire, in some media) to feel like being devoured by some parasite, like if darkness ravages and devours you. Light on the other hand just scours and obliterates everything it touches. At least those are my headcanons for the more esoteric elements.

I searched for Bitch, next. No results. I did another search for her more official title, Hellhound, and got a wealth of information. Rachel Lindt had never made any real attempt to hide her identity. She had apparently been homeless through most of her criminal career, just living on the streets and moving on whenever police or a cape came after her. The sightings and encounters with the homeless girl ended around a year ago – I figured that was when she joined forces with Grue, Tattletale and Regent. The picture in the sidebar was taken from surveillance camera footage – an unmasked, dark haired girl who I wouldn’t have called pretty. She had a squarish, blunt-featured face with thick eyebrows. She was riding atop one of her monstrous ‘dogs’ like a jockey rides a horse, down the middle lane of a street.

Huh, so Bitch, or Rachel, had never had a secret identity or a secret life! Seems like her cape and normal life are one and the same! She was homeless and running from one place to another, along with her giant eldritch dogs.

I assume they took her into the group and she prefers it to being alone and without a place to be.

According to the wiki entry, her powers manifested when she was fourteen, followed almost immediately by her demolishing the foster home she had been living in, injuring her foster mother and two other foster children in the process. This was followed by a two year series of skirmishes and retreats across Maine as various heroes and teams tried to apprehend her, and she either defeated them or successfully evaded capture. She had no powers that would have made her any stronger or faster than the average Jane, but she was apparently able to turn ordinary dogs into the creatures I had seen on the rooftop. Monsters the size of a car, all muscle, bone, fang and claw. A red box near the bottom of the page read, “Rachel Lindt has a public identity, but is known to be particularly hostile, antisocial and violent. If recognized, do not approach or provoke. Leave the area and notify authorities as to her last known location.” At the very bottom of the page was a list of links that were related to her: two fansites and a news article relating to her early activities. A search of the message boards turned up too many results, leaving me unable to sift through the crap, the arguments, the speculation and the villain worship to find any genuine morsels of information. If nothing else, she was notorious. I sighed and moved on, making a mental note to do more investigation when I had the time.

Damn, can she control her powers all that well? Or at least, at that time? Cause that sounds to me like the type of situation where her newly-found powers go out of control and cause problems.

She had a foster-home, but then had to run away from the people she hurt ,the authorities, heroes and everyone! And she lived two years like that! No wonder she is antisocial now, jesus.

Also she can apparently turn any dog into those boney creatures of death. Wow. Depending on where she is, she could be incredibly powerful in a fight!

She also seems to be the most famous one so far, having even online admirers and fansites about her exploits. Interesting. She seems to be dangerous though, as she is said to be violent to everyone she meets.

The last member of the group was Regent. Given what Armsmaster had said about the guy being low profile, I didn’t expect to find much. I was surprised to find less than that. Nothing. My search on the wiki turned up only a default response, “There are no results matching this query. 32 unique IP addresses have searched the Parahumans.net Wiki for ‘Regent’ in 2011. Would you like to create the page?” The message board didn’t turn up anything else. I even did a search for alternate spellings of his name, such as Regence and Recant, in case I had heard it wrong. Nothing turned up.

Woah, if Tattletale had little to no information, this guy is straight-up a nonentity! Absolutely hidden from the public eye!

We don’t even know his powers, story or place within the group. How fascinating.

If my mood had been on the sour side as I got to homeroom, the dead ends only made it worse. I turned my attention to the in-class assignment, making a working calculator in Visual Basic, but it was too trivial to distract me. The work from Thursday and Friday had already given us the tools to do the job, so it was really just busywork. I didn’t mind learning stuff, but work for the sake of doing work was annoying. I did the bare minimum, checked it for any bugs, moved the file to the ‘completed work’ folder and returned to surfing the web. All in all, the work barely took fifteen minutes.

You at least get experience and speed in doing these kinds of things! And calculators can be fun to program!

Also yeah, having nothing to do and being able to use the internet the rest of the class is pretty sweet!

I looked up Lung on the wiki, which I had done often enough before, as part of my research and preparation for being a superhero. I’d wanted to be sure I knew who prominent local villains were and what they could do. The search for ‘Lung’ redirected to a catch-all page on his gang, the ABB, with quite a bit of detailed information. The information on Lung’s powers was pretty in line with my own experience, though there was no mention of the super-hearing or him being fireproof. I debated adding it, but decided against it. There were security concerns with my submission being tracked back to Winslow High, and then to me. I figured it would probably be deleted as unsupported speculation, anyways.

They are really underselling Lung huh. No wonder Taylor was suprised about how OP he could be! And yeah better not to edit anything in a trackable device, or without any solid source for that matter.

The section beneath the description of Lung and his powers covered his subordinates. He was estimated to have forty or fifty thugs working for him across Brockton Bay, largely drawn from the ranks of Asian youth. It was pretty unconventional for a gang to include members of the variety of nationalities that the ABB did, but Lung had made it a mission to conquer and absorb every gang with Asian members and many without. Once he had the manpower he needed, the non-Asian gangs were cannibalized for assets, their members discarded. Even though there were no more major gangs in the east end of town to absorb, he was still recruiting zealously. His method, now, was to go after anyone older than twelve and younger than sixty. It didn’t matter if you were a gang member or not. If you were Asian and you lived in Brockton Bay, Lung and his people expected you to either join or to pay tribute one way or another. There had been local news reports on it, newspaper articles, and I could remember seeing signs in the guidance counselor’s office detailing where people who were targeted in this way could go for help.

He seemed to want to grow quickly by recruiting every asian person in Brockton Bay, cape or not! And if you were Asian, you would have heard of his band and their threats or extortion.

You are partly responsible for the capture of one mayor threat to the safety of the citizens of Brockton Bay. You did great last night, Taylor!

Lung’s lieutenants were listed as Oni Lee and Bakuda. I already had some general knowledge about Oni Lee, but I was intrigued to see there were recent updates to his wiki entry. There were specific details on his powers: He could teleport, but when he did so, he didn’t disappear. As he teleported, his original self, for lack of a better term, would stay where it was and remain active for five to ten seconds before disintegrating into a cloud of carbon ash. Essentially, he could create another version of himself anywhere nearby, while the old version could stick around long enough to distract or attack you. If that wasn’t scary enough, there was an report of him holding a grenade in his hand as he repeatedly duplicated himself, with his short lived duplicates acting as suicide bombers. Topping it all off, Oni Lee’s wiki page had a similar red warning box to the one that Bitch/Hellhound had on hers, minus the bit about his public identity. From what they knew about him, authorities had seen fit to note him a sociopath. The warning covered the same essential elements: exceedingly violent, dangerous to approach, should not be provoked, and so on. I glanced at his picture. His costume consisted of a black bodysuit with a black bandoleer and belt for his knives, guns and grenades. The only color on him was an ornate Japanese-style demon mask, crimson with two green stripes down either side. Except for the mask, his costume gave off the distinct impression of a ninja, which just added weight to the notion that this was a guy who could and would slide a knife between your ribs.

Oni Lee sounds like a mayor fucking threat! The ability to teleport-shadow clone yourself multiple times to get to a thousand places quickly AND leave behind copies who could stab, shoot you or even blow themselves up seems really really dangerous.

And he’s a sociopath to boot! You were lucky he wasn’t there last night, he could have probably just teleported to the roof and knifed you.

Bakuda was a new entry, added to the ABB wiki page just ten days ago. The picture only showed her from the shoulders up, a girl with straight black hair, large opaque goggles over her eyes and a metal mask with a gas mask styled filter covering the lower half of her face. A braided cord of black, yellow and green wires looped over one of her shoulders. I couldn’t pinpoint her ethnicity with the mask and goggles, and her age wasn’t any easier to figure out.

This was the bomb expert, right?

She looks menacing with that setup, which is probably true! Her powers also sounds really worrying!

The wiki had a lot of the same details Armsmaster had mentioned to me. Bakuda had essentially held a university ransom and she did it with her superhuman ability to design and fabricate high tech bombs. There was a link to a video titled ‘Bomb Threat @ Cornell’, but I didn’t think it wise to play it in school, especially without headphones. I made a mental note to check it out when I got home.

Damn, she was basically a domestic terrorist back then!

It’s probably not a good idea to play a bomb threat at a school IN a school, you’re right.

The next thing that caught my eye was the section heading titled ‘Defeats and Captures’. I scrolled down to read it. According to the wiki, Lung had apparently suffered a number of minor defeats at the hands of various teams, ranging from the Guild to the local teams of New Wave, the Wards and the Protectorate, but consistently managed to evade capture until last night. A blurb read, ‘ Armsmaster successfully ambushed and defeated the leader of the ABB, who was weakened from a recent encounter with a rival gang. Lung was taken to the PHQ for holding until the villain’s trial by teleconference. Given Lung’s extensive and well documented criminal history, it is expected he will face imprisonment in the Birdcage should he be found guilty at trial.’

Huh, so he WAS bested before! Just not captured! He always evaded prison, until now thanks to Taylor and co.!

Or thanks only to Armsmaster, according to the official story, which to be fair, is what they agreed upon.

The birdcage? What is that, some sort of super-prison like The Raft, Blackgate, Impel Down in One Piece...

Is that place safe? Cause prisons and jail breaks are pretty synonymous in comics

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I wasn’t sure what to think. By all rights, I should have been angry that Armsmaster took the credit for the fight that could have cost me my life. Instead, I felt a building excitement. I felt like shaking the shoulder of the guy sitting next to me and point to the screen, saying, “Me, I made that possible! Me!”

Hehe. Excited and happy Taylor is just the best.

With a renewed enthusiasm, I switched tabs to the message board and began looking to see what people were saying about it. A post by a fan or minion of Lung threatened violence against Armsmaster. There was a request by someone asking for more information on the fight. I was given pause by one post that asked whether Bakuda could or would use a large scale bomb and the threat of potentially thousands or hundreds of thousands dead, to ransom Lung back.

Eeash, seems Arms was right about the consequences of this!

That Bakuda threat is really scary

I tried to put that out of my mind. If it happened, it would be the responsibility of heroes better and more experienced than I.

True, you can’t carry everything on your shoulders.

It struck me that there was one person I hadn’t looked for. Myself. I opened up the advanced search page for the Parahumans.net message board and did a search for multiple terms. I included insect, spider, swarm, bug, plague, and a mess of other terms that had struck me when I had been trying to brainstorm a good hero name. I narrowed the timeframe of posts to search for posts made within the past 12 hours and hit Search.

Huh, I don’t think you would find that much honestly. I mean, fight aside, you were pretty stealthy on your way in, and the only people who directly met you are the fire dragon currently going to jail, a couple of mooks without their boss, a group of very cryptic teenage villains and the superhero who was going to keep you hidden sooo yeah.

Also kinda hard to search for yourself without having decided on a name yet!

My efforts turned up two posts. One referred to a villain called Pestilence, active in the UK. Apparently Pestilence was one of the people who could use ‘magic’. That is, he was if you believed magic was real, and not just some convoluted or deluded interpretation of a given set of powers.

Pestilence sounds awesome as an insect-power name. One of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse!

Huh, so there are powers that seem more “magical” and others that are more “technological”. Nice.

The second post was in the ‘Connections’ section of the message board, where rescued damsels left their contact information for their dashing heroes, where conventions and fan gatherings were organized and where people posted job offers for capes and the cape-obsessed. Most were cryptic or vague, referring to stuff only the people in question would know.

That is a nice system to have, to contact people anonymously.

The message was titled, simply, “Bug”

Well damn, seems someone did notice you

I clicked it and waited impatiently for the outdated system and overloaded school modem to load up the page. What I got was brief.

Subject: Bug

Owe you one. Would like to repay the favor. Meet?

Send a message,

Tt.

IT’S TATTLETALE.

IT’S THE TEENAGE VILLAINS REACHING OUT TO HER AFTER THE LAST FIGHT.

This opens up so many possibilites oh my god

The post was followed by two pages of people commenting. Three people suggested it was something important, while a half dozen more people decried them as tinfoil hats, Parahumans.net’s term for conspiracy theorists.

Hah! I imagine a message like that would cause speculation even in OUR reality! Considering Taylor’s the protag, those tinfoil hats may be on to something there...

It was meaningful, though. I couldn’t interpret it any other way; Tattletale had found a way to get in contact with me.

She sure has!

So now both Arms and Tattletale have contacted her, both with offers maybe! Damn, she sure got popular after that one night!

Oh, oooh

What if they offer her to join them?

And what if she accepts?

Oh god the story could go in a wildly different direction now. I hadn’t even considered that in my list of possibilities!

It seems at odd with her desire to be a hero, so maybe not.... But what if?

I’m liking where this is going.

#Worm #worm liveblog #worm parahumans #parahumans liveblog #wildbow #Worm 2.2 #arc 2

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maddmuses · 5 years

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Son Goku // Kakarot

Age: 43 (Main verse, accounts for lost years in Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Goku’s physical age places him somewhere in his mid-30s)(Saiyans retain a physical prime for much longer than humans so Goku can easily be mistook for a person in his late 20s)(As of Age 780) Aliases: Gokawah (Mispronunciation by The World Tournament Announcer), Kong Date of Birth: April 16 Place of Birth: Birthing Facility 4, Vegetopolis, Planet Vegeta Species: Saiyan

Universe Inspiration: Manga/DBS Anime-Inspired Composite Goku (may have traits from GT and Xenoverse games occasionally)

Appearance Goku is an adult of above average height (175 cm/5′9″), with dark hair and eyes. His expression is generally friendly and amicable. Goku’s eyes are often compared to other saiyans for usually being softer, and more rounded, only growing narrow and intense during moments of emotional heat. When going super saiyan, Goku’s eyes take on a tealish-green color.

Like all saiyans, Goku’s hair is notably distinct, having a wild shape to it, being composed of larger spikes, having a windswept appearance almost permanently. Another hallmark attribute of his species is the fact that Goku’s hair largely maintains its characteristics as he ages, not being disproportionate at any age, negating his need to cut hair, and keeping its shape non-rigidly, making other styles almost impossible. When his hair IS shortened unduly, either in part or as a whole, it will grow back to its natural state like typical hair.

As a child Goku was very short and stocky, so much so that through his adolescence he was often mistook for a child of under ten, but after experiencing several significant growth spurts that are consistent among full-blooded saiyans, Goku’s build became more slim, still having muscle built from practicing martial arts and strength training. Upon taking on more intense training, for a time, Goku became notably bulkier, though this has receded as Goku’s refocused on more technical training, and endurance-based tests, as his body has seemed to acclimate to the intense conditions that he developed his herculean strength under. When transforming into higher levels of super saiyan, Goku’s muscles shore in size once more.

When charging his chi, Goku’s aura is largely colorless, not taking on any particular visual element besides the direct results of his energy manifestation. However, upon transforming, Goku’s aura often changes according to the transformation at-hand. It’s implied that he has conscious control over the color of his aura in this way. When using Super Saiyan at any level, his aura takes on a yellow-gold color, growing darker with each subsequent form, until 4 where it becomes pink-red. After becoming a Super Saiyan God his chi becomes a fiery red. Once he’s learned how to pressurize his chi and use it like a GoD, Goku’s energy often has a light lining of white at the edges, this may be a subconscious result of the way he’s utilizing his energy. When using Super Saiyan Blue, Goku’s chi becomes intensely blue. At any time that he uses Kaioken, Goku’s aura becomes so powerful that even his body appears to be the same deep crimson as his aura.

Goku usually dresses comfortably, often favoring a gi, with trousers, a pair of boots in which he’s tucked the legs of his gi, wristbands, and underclothing. Most commonly, Goku wears a gi that’s orange in color, although from time to time he changes to a blue outfit instead. When not wearing martial arts clothing, Goku will favor simple farming clothes, including a favorite leather jacket with a fur lining, or a jumpsuit for training, on occasion.

Personality Laid-back and friendly, Son Goku is a personable individual who makes friends easily. With an eager desire to see new things, and fight strong opponents, he is a wandering soul, often confused for a flake, or a deadbeat by others who hold certain expectations for people to contribute to society in typical ways. This drive to experience often leads Goku to leave with little notice, for long stretches of time, to have adventures. Coupled with having only had passing relationships as a youth, Goku often doesn’t invest a great amount of time with his loved ones, having not even seen his closest friend for nearly half a decade following the final battle with Piccolo.

With a drive to grow stronger, and test that strength, Goku often wishes to spend the majority of his time training. It seems that Goku is at his happiest then, or when he’s utilizing the fruits of his labors against a powerful opponent. It’s easy for the saiyan to grow excitable at the mere mention that an individual may be strong. In the past, Goku has proven to be selfish in this pursuit as well. Disregarding the safety of others, or the very consequences of his battles, he will often endanger nearly anyone to have a chance at an opponent.

Like all saiyans, Goku has a powerful love of food, with a voracious appetite that demands to be sated. If his hunger goes unsatisfied for too long, Goku’s even been known to become physically weak or ill. This informs his marriage to Chi-Chi who, being a highly proficient chef, rarely has a hard time keeping Goku happy for long with her cooking.

Biography (I’ll be real? A bio for Son Goku would be VERY lengthy even to include non-filler content, as the three main series installments themselves had quite a bit of length as well. In the interest of saving time, after having only managed to finish Dragon Ball, this bio was shaping up to be WAY too long for anyone to bother to read. In the interest of saving time, if you individually do not know what happened in Goku’s life, please refer to his article on the wiki.)

Skills, Abilities, and Powers -Superhuman Physical State: As a saiyan, Goku’s physical abilities naturally exceed that of a regular human adult, even as a child. While still twelve years-old Goku was shot with a handgun at fairly close range, with only a stinging pain for his trouble. In the same scene, he had lifted an automobile with some strain, and threw it onto its side. Over the course of the series, Goku continues to perform similar and more impressive feats of physicality, eventually scaling into a degree of immeasurability during Dragon Ball Super, having nearly matched the forces of Lord Beerus’s punches, creating tsunami-like shockwaves that grew stronger the further they traveled from their origin, becoming so destructive that if the two met again in a similar sort of bout, that very universe would fall apart. As Dragon Ball as a whole doesn’t often get hung up on specific measurements, or even concretely establishing WHAT the upper-limits of its characters are, it’s simply better to understand how Goku’s physicality stacks up in his own universe, relative to others of a similar nature. Goku is a generally balanced fighter, not placing a particular emphasis on strength, durability, or speed, at least over each other. He understands the necessity of all three, and the importance they play in any fight, and while he’s able to modulate them through his chi, Goku often seems to boost them all fairly equally, although I’m inclined to say if any, he favors durability and quickness slightly more than raw attacking power. If given 15 points, Goku would spread as-follows: Power: 4 Speed: 6 Durability: 5

-Superhuman Senses: Goku is able to perceive, and react, to things much more quickly and acutely than a normal human. This seems to be somewhat a result of his being a saiyan, but has been further honed through martial arts and chi training. Additionally, Goku has a very sensitive sense of smell, being able to smell food from far distances.

-Martial Arts Master: Goku is considered a master of martial arts, having developed a formless, improvisational, style that was largely influenced by Toriyama’s love of Jackie Chan films. As a child, Goku was taught a type of kung-fu that focused on function over form, using his small size against opponents in order to dodge his adult opponent’s attacks, while applying leverage to compensate for his size, despite a lack of need for this. Beyond this, Goku would have several teachers, Roshi would teach him the importance of his physical conditioning and mental sharpness/intelligence; Korin would teach Goku how to predict and anticipate the movements of others; Kami and Popo would focus on training Goku’s abilities with Chi, as well as helping him learn how to fight as an adult; and King Kai would further cement Goku’s need for conditioning, helping him master his speed, and ultimately his ability to use chi masterfully. In terms of overall style, Goku doesn’t have a firm one, but favors smooth and fluid motions, with a significant amount of counter-attacking and interception. While some might perceive Goku’s style to be simple and more akin to brawling, but this is simply due to Goku favoring economic movement, and strategy, both of which are more difficult to execute when focusing on maintaining a style, rather than simply fighting.

-Combat Genius: Due to a natural proclivity towards combat that Goku is possessed of, exceeding even that of more powerful saiyans, he is able to prepare effective strategies in the heat of battle. He has often used this to defeat foes who he would normally not be able to defeat. Additionally, repeated use of tactics don’t seem to work on Goku, as he can adapt to them, exploiting repetitive fighters.

-Technique Mimicry: Despite his relative weakness when compared to other saiyans, Goku is a natural knack for replicating the techniques of others. Needing to only seen most techniques performed once, be they physical or chi-based, Goku can replicate them effectively. He has even mimicked Berrus’s Hakai, although to a weaker degree. Goku cannot perfectly replicate complex or overly-powerful chi techniques, needing time and training to even master the Kamehameha.

-Chi Manipulation and Generation: A metaphysical energy that embodies life itself, mystical in nature but not strictly magic, Chi is influenced by many factor, both mental, physical, and spiritual. Saiyans have the inborn ability to manipulate their chi, allowing Goku to harness it into orbs of plasma, to then fire and create explosions, despite only seeing the kamehameha performed once. Chi is able to be used in a variety of functions, such as flight, blasts of energy, sabotage the chi and energy-based attacks of others, and enhancing physical attributes. The latter is something Goku does often, but must be aware in order to do so. Goku has been caught off-guard by relatively weak attacks, when not using his chi, so that he’d suffer injury. The depth of Goku’s chi-based abilities is currently unknown, but he has managed to manifest numerous physical and mental abilities through it. He has long-since passed the power of beings who could destroy planets many times larger than Earth without effort, and has managed to dwarf that of an individual who was said to be able to destroy an entire solar system with his full power. In truth, the only limitation to Goku’s abilities with chi does seem to be that he cannot exert more energy at once than he himself can sustain, as the force of his attacks never push or move him unless he allows it to. In the event that Goku does push himself too far, tax his chi too much, or otherwise uses his power too recklessly, Goku’s chi use can have consequences.

-Ultra Instinct: A state of being that is present in real-world martial arts, Ultra Instinct allows its user to react to their foes, attacking and defending without thought, in the most effective way possible. This state enhances his physical and mental abilities as well, akin to that of a transformation. Ultra Instinct is only accessible to Goku when he’s in a sufficiently dangerous situation, being unable to use it at-will, not making it a reliable technique. Goku once achieved a mastered state that allowed him to bridge the seemingly-impossible gap between himself and Jiren, a being who was more powerful than even the Gods of Destruction.

Chi-Based Abilities and Techniques: -Flight -Chi Sensing -Chi Transferal -Godly Chi Mastery -Regeneration -Energy Nullification -Telepathy -Chi Blasts --Finger Beams --Chi Waves -Kamehameha --Continuous Kamehameha (A variation which involves Goku firing multiple Kamehameha blasts from each hand) --Bending Kamehameha (A Kamehameha variation which more easily changes course) --Flying Kamehameha (A utilization of Kamehameha that Goku uses to fly through the air) --Twin Dragon Shot (A manipulated, spherical, version of the Kamehameha. Requires fine control) --MAX Power Kamehameha (A version of the Kamehameha in which Goku uses the full version of the technique. Produces the most power of a base form Kamehameha, but requires too much time to execute correctly) --Super Kamehameha (An advanced version of the Kamehameha, inefficient) --Kaio-Ken Kamehameha (A Kamehameha influenced by the multiplied Chi of Goku’s Kaio-ken) --Instant Kamehameha (A version of any Kamehameha fired directly following a use of his Instant Transmission) --True Kamehameha (An even stronger variation of Super Kamehameha, even less efficient, requires Goku to be in Super Saiyan 3 to use effectively) --Limitbreaker Kamehameha (A variation of Super Kamehameha that Goku uses during his Super Saiyan God form) ---Limit Break x10 Kamehameha (A variation of the Limitbreaker Kamehameha which Goku can fire in his Super Saiyan 4 transformation) --God Kamehameha (The base Kamehameha fired with godly power, during any Godly transformation. Individually as powerful as any Super Kamehameha, but as efficient as the base technique) ---10x God Kamehameha (A variation of the God Kamehameha that is roughly ten times stronger than the original. Can only be used is Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken or stronger forms) ---Transcendent God Kamehameha (A variation of the Super Kamehameha fired in a godly form, is extremely potent) --Final Kamehameha (A combined technique between Goku’s Kamehameha and Vegeta’s Final Flash) --Imperfect Instinct Kamehameha (A variant of the kamehameha that is fired in any of the incomplete versions of Goku’s Ultra Instinct technique. The output is greater than a standard God Kamehameha) ---Supreme Kamehameha (An enhanced version of the Imperial Instinct Kamehameha used during Goku’s perfected Ultra Instinct) ---Ultimate Instinct Kamehameha (The Super Kamehameha fired in Goku’s Perfected Ultra Instinct form. The strongest variant of the technique) --Kamehameha Blaster (A variant of the Kamehameha that is followed with a series of smaller blasts) --10x Kamehameha (A variation of Kamehameha that requires more charging, but takes on a red color, and is ten times as strong as the base technique) --Dimension Breaker (A Kamehameha that rips through dimensional barriers) -Kiai --Spirit Shot --Invisible Eye Blast --Soaring Fist -Destructo Disc --Destructo Disc Hexa Blast -Explosive Wave --Super Explosive Wave -Spirit Bomb --Fusion Spirit Bomb --Large Spirit Bomb --Instant Spirit Bomb --Super Spirit Bomb --Universe 7′s Spirit Bomb -Hakai (Goku’s version of the GoD’s Destructive technique. Goku must put all of his SSB aura into a single attack. This attack leaves him fully drained after use) -Evil Containment Wave -Energy Barrier --Super Guard (Xenoverse 2) --Vanisher Guard (Xenoverse 2) -Chi Landmine -God Bind -Solar Flare -Fusion Dance -Black Power Ball (Xenoverse 2) -Black Kamehameha (Xenoverse 2) -Azure Dragon Sword: model Energy Blade (Xenoverse 2) -Divine Lasso (Xenoverse 2) -Evil Eyes (Xenoverse 2) -Oozaru --Golden Oozaru (A use of Super Saiyan while in his Oozaru form) ---Super Saiyan 4 (A Super Saiyan transformation that ascends through Oozaru. Its strength relative to the other forms, but is presumably at least 10x stronger than Super Saiyan 3) ----Super Full Power Saiyan 4 (By absorbing extremely large amounts of power from other saiyans, Super Saiyan 4 is enhanced further) -Kaio-ken (A technique that multiplies Goku’s Chi for a “heart beat”. His power and speed are multiplied by two at base, but can be enhanced further, and maintained for longer. The greater the multiplier, or time that the technique is used, the more backlash Goku will suffer) -Super Saiyan (An ancient prophecy personified, this transformation increases Goku’s chi by roughly 50x. This form also enhances his physical attributes similarly. If used without mastery, Goku begins to lose his composure and actively has to keep himself from losing control) --Spirit Bomb Super Saiyan (By absorbing his Spirit Bomb, Goku is able to enhance his Super Saiyan form briefly) --Super Saiyan Second Grade (An enhancement of the base Super Saiyan form, Goku’s speed and strength are further enhanced through the stimulation of his nervous system by his chi. Is much faster and stronger than base Super Saiyan, but tires more quickly) ---Super Saiyan Third Grade (A further advanced version of Second Grade. The body no longer inhibits itself, acting at full power, at 100% strength and stamina. This form makes Goku slower, and drains his body’s energy drastically) --Super Saiyan Full Power (A mastered, most efficient, version of the Super Saiyan form) --Super Kaio-ken (Super Saiyan with the Kaio-ken multiplier used on top of it. Dangerous to use for extended periods) --Super Saiyan 2 (The “Fourth Grade” of Super Saiyan. A breaking of the base Super Saiyan form’s limit, enhanced 2x from the Super Saiyan form [100x the user’s base form]. Does not suffer from the Second Grade or Third Grade weaknesses. It grows difficult to control oneself while using this form) ---Super Saiyan: Berserk (A version of Super Saiyan 2 that takes advantage of its lessened inhibitions. This form is corrupted by outside chi) --Super Saiyan 3 (The “Fifth Grade” of Super Saiyan. A further more powerful form of Super Saiyan 2, its hair grows longer, and the user’s eyebrows seem to disappear. 4x more powerful than Super Saiyan 2 [400x the base user], the user’s inhibitions further decrease. This form’s output is so significant that it puts a large strain on Goku’s body and lifeforce, to the point that it shortened his time on Earth as a spirit) -Super Saiyan God (Goku’s base form enhanced by the power of five other saiyans, stronger than any of his previous Super Saiyan forms, this transformation is accessible to him, and allows Goku to easily access Godly Chi) --Godly Saiyan (Goku using his chi efficiently, with pressure, to use Godly Chi without using Super Saiyan God) --Super Saiyan Blue (A form of Super Saiyan God in which Goku activates his Super Saiyan form while possessing Godly Chi) ---Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken (Variations of Super Saiyan Blue in which Kaio-ken is multiplying Goku’s power. At maximum, Goku can manage x20) ---Perfected Super Saiyan Blue (Similar to Perfected Super Saiyan, a version of SSB that doesn’t drain Goku’s reserves at all, unless he’s in combat) --God-to-Blue Switch (An efficient use of Goku’s Godly forms, Goku rapidly switches between SSG and SSB so as to use SSB at its fullest power, without draining his reserves as quickly) -Ultra Instinct -Sign- --Ultra Instinct

Martial Abilities and Techniques -Rock, Scissors, Paper! -Tail Attack -Super God Fist --Silver Dragon Flash -Double Axe Handle -Pressure Point Attack -Headshot -Super God Shock Flash (One-Inch-Punch) -Grudgeless Strike -Ginyu Fighting Pose -Dragonthrow -Full-Nelson -Kaio-ken Finish -Kaio-ken Attack -Meteor Combination --Meteor Smash -Eight-Arm Fist -Crazy Fist -Tornado! -Afterimage Technique --Wild Sense --Instant Transmission --Afterimage Strike -Blast Fist -Dragon Fist --Super Dragon Fist ---Final Strike ---Super Dragon Twin Fists ---Dragon Hammer

#Saiyan From Earth (Son Goku)

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workrockin · 5 years

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Remembering the days we spent chasing congalala, understanding lifi and taking a look at Intel's AX200 wireless card

Summer is at its peak, Rain is around the corner. Soon the heavy clouds will leak, So says my trusty informer.

Between you and me as you might have perceived, but nevertheless I will come out and say it in clear terms, to remove any remaining doubt, that I’m no expert in wireless technology. The whole thing seems to me quite astonishing infact. There lies a box in the corner holding a wand. You (s)witch it on and it will send you data over the air. What sorcery is that?

However many people have pointed out to me that it is no magic. On the contrary it is a phenomenon that has been studied scientists,verified by engineers and regulated law makers. It is very much real. So I take their word for it and believe in it myself.

But technology changes so quickly. Just as we have broken the gigabit barrier in wifi a new invention has come up. LiFi or Light Fidelity a new form of communication that promises something even more incredible. To use visible light for wireless transmission. Our readers demand to know its status. We scramble for answers.

And before we could satisfactorily answer one query more questions are raised. It is in these trying times we come to accept our limitations. However we don’t let that stop us. After many hours of reading arcane specifications and trying to make sense of this rapidly progressing world of communication technology we present our thoughts to you on the matter, hoping that you’ll be so kind as to pardon the inconsistencies and factual errors that may have mistakenly crept in despite the most careful efforts of a tired staff.

What happened to LiFi technology?

Thank you for A2A. Light is an electromagnetic wave. It is already the most dominant form communication in both wireless and wired varieties. Fiber optic communication which powers today’s internet broadband service uses light. Wireless communication such as wifi [1] and Bluetooth use electromagnetic spectrum of light. TV remotes have used IR waves for switching channels.

So there is precedent in using light waves for communication in modern world.

LIFI intends to use visible light signals for wireless communication. Note the emphasis on visible light. We are not talking about radio waves here. We mean light we can see. Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow,Orange and Red. Including UV and IR (IR as we have noted has already had a very successful implementation in remote controls for TV )

The idea is good. But the implementation is going to be tricky because of following reasons

Client support. Even if you build base stations for wireless visible light communication how are you going to get users to use them? Lot of work needs to be done in this area. There is however no reason that signals can’t be transformed from visible light to other already supported mediums like wifi to provide communication.

Visible light affects humans. So the intensity of light must be kept low. At lower intensities will the technology reduce to point to point communication? If so what happens to roaming devices? These are the questions I have not found answers to. Considering the negative press that 5G is getting for its millimeter wave , the use of UV in LIFI is going to be a PR nightmare. I can already hear cries from beauty experts on how LIFI is damaging their skin!

LIFI positions itself as a short range communication medium. That gives it protection against hackers. [2] At short range, lets say within room how can it be cheaper than a near free Ethernet cable that has universal support? Especially in the industrial application where LIFI aims to reduce electromagnetic interference. The easiest/cheapest way is to use wired communication. I might care about aesthetics in my hotel lobby. But in a workplace I want something reliable and well supported. If LIFI had increased distance transmission capacity say more than 70 M then it would have been a better substitute.

So to answer your question. LIFI is promising. But like every new invention LIFI needs to overcome technological, economical and marketing challenges. These things will take time. I’m sure that it will find a niche that will transform into a big industry. But its going to take time.

Talking about niches there’s one upcoming technology called optical computing [3](utilized in what is known as a photonic computer) that could replace electronic circuits. At the moment fiber optic cables are used to transmit light. In an optical computer therefore it would make sense that fiber optic cables would form the data transfer medium.

Here lifi technology could be utilized. In a controlled environment like inside of a CPU case you can benefit from all the positives of visible light communication while experiencing none of the negatives.

[1] Is LIFI a substitute for WIFI? https://www.quora.com/Is-LiFi-a-...

[2] “The light waves cannot penetrate walls which makes a much shorter range, though more secure from hacking, relative to Wi-Fi.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computing

What was your amazing experience with wireless technology?

It was raining outside. Power was out. We were supposed to be attending lecture. We skipped. I turned on my psp. My friend did the same. I had the black one. His was jet blue, slim.

We were going to hunt Congalala. He was a low level monster. An ape. Quick on his feet. Fond of fart bombing his enemies. Ice was his weakness. So we crafted out ice elemental weapons. Still he was too good for us.

We died often and when we didn’t we ran out of time. You must finish a quest within 50 minutes. Or else its game over. We were novice hunters in those days. Knew little about the habitat of the beast we were hunting. Even less about the mysterious jungle in which he dwelled.

We played and played until the battery ran out. But he got the best of us. We lost all our money. Our equipment was rendered useless. Our preparation futile. The beast won every time we attempted to take him down.

That was the start of an epic 700 hour long wireless multiplayer campaign. I haven’t felt the same way about any other game since. Even now a decade later sometimes I dream about Monster Hunter.

At that time psp was a very competent multiplayer device. A 32 bit arm 9 chip powered its 802.11b wifi. Upto 16 players could play simultaneously. But most games allowed only 4. Enabling a speed of upto 11 mbps back in 2005. It was unlike anything the world had seen before. A handheld [2]multiplayer gaming device that could stream!

Monster hunter was a sensational adhoc multiplayer success. Selling a combined total of 10M copies in japan alone.

That was 11 years ago. Multiplayer games these days need internet to work . If you don’t have a fast connection or if the server is taken down you’re out of luck. I do see a change around the corner. Game streaming is becoming more common now. We’ll need different kind of devices to [1] enable this kind of gaming. Those devices will most probably be wireless. That’s the amazing experience that I’ll be looking forward to.

[1] Return of wireless adhoc multiplayer. https://workrockin.quora.com/Ret...

[2] Nintendo Switch’s wireless capabilities look extremely promising for the future of gaming (https://workrockin.quora.com/The-wireless-features-of-Nintendo-switch)

How fast is Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 wireless network adapter card?

Thank you for A2A. The chip can do 2.4 gbps but only if you’re using 5ghz channel. Otherwise 573.6 mpbs on 2.4 ghz.

To calculate speeds look at the data rates table on wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IE...

The max speed is in the lowest column (#11) on the table. As an example assume we want to calculate the max speed of 2.4 ghz.

2.4 ghz band can have a max width of 40 mhz. And according to the spec [1] we have 2 transmitters. So the max speed in 2.4 ghz band is

2*286.8 = 573.6 mbps

Similarly 5ghz band can have a max of

2 * 1.2 =2.4 gbps

Some more details on the AX200 hardware

intel launched AX200 wifi 6 chip [1] last month. It is competitively priced between $10-$17 [2] . Before we take a look at the hardware it would be good to start with a brief on wifi 6

Wifi 6 is is technically defined by 802.11ax standard. Although it works in both 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands the highest speed in 160 mhz channel is only attainable in 5ghz band. And since 5ghz has lesser range than 2.4 ghz it means that you can only enjoy the highest speed at lesser distances. [3]

Max speed on a single radio, widest (160 mhz) channel is 1.2 gbps.

Since the standard works in both 2.4 and 5ghz bands it is backwards compatible with all other wifi standards. Which means that all your wifi client devices will work with a wifi 6 access point whether they themselves support wifi 6 or not. [3]

With that out of the way lets see what chip has for us in terms of hardware

2 transmission and 2 receive radios. Which means that we get a max throughput of 1.2*2= 2.4 gbps (note the point #2 above)

Dual band support with max channel width of 160 MHZ.

Integrated support for bluetooth 5.

Not bad for its price I’d say [4].

[1] https://ark.intel.com/content/ww...

[2] When purchased in volumes of thousands. This price is only for device manufacturers. But this is also good news for consumers because they’ll be getting the latest networking technology at cheap prices.

[3] FCC has a test report for the chip in which they specify the supported modulation schemes (page 6). BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM. Which confirms the backwards compatibility with all wifi standards.

Note that the FCC document only measures up to 256-QAM. But intel’s product page indicates a max speed of 2.4 gbps which means that it should support 1024-QAM. I’m not sure why it is not covered in the fcc document.

https://fccid.io/PD9AX200D2L/RF-Exposure-Info/RF-Exposure-SAR-Report-4213237.pdf

[4] The actual performance that you’ll achieve will also depend upon the hardware of your system. The wireless card is mostly a peripheral and its optimal performance is contingent on the capabilities of host device.

Looking for someone to help you with your wifi problems? We ar ehere to help. Email us on

[email protected]

write to us on our tumblr page

[https://workrockin.tumblr.com/ask]

[https://twitter.com/workrockin]

connect with us on linkedin

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/workrock-careers-21b3a2186/]

Happy networking!

Santiago,Chile

#wifi #gaming #internet

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joannrochaus · 5 years

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Contemporary Christian Music

Introduction

The topic of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) has led to a lot of discussion and confusion in our circles.

What follows is an adapted version of a report which I wrote for the consistory with the deacons of the Free Reformed Church of Kelmscott, to give direction in how to judge CCM in particular and how to deal with music in general.

For the sake of readability, I keep this article short. Much more can be written. However, for those interested in reading more about this topic, here is some more relevant literature:

Michael Horton, A Better Way, Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship; Baker Bookhouse Company, Grand Rapids, 2002. (Especially chapter 10: Is Style Neutral?).

Terry L. Johnson e.a., The Worship of God, Reformed Concept of Biblical Worship; Christian Focus Publications 2005.

Calvin M. Johansson, Music & Ministry, A Biblical Counterpoint; Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 1984. (Especially Chapter Five: The Gospel and Contemporary Culture).

Dan Lucarni, Why I left the Contemporary Christian Movement, Confessions of a former worship leader; Evangelical Press, Webster, NY, 2002.

What is Contemporary Christian Music?

What has led to a lot of confusion in the discussion about CCM in our churches, is the use of different definitions of CCM, or the use of no definition at all. We are talking about something, but we don’t understand each other because we don’t really know what we are talking about. For the one, CCM is something completely different than for the other. Therefore, the one will completely condemn every form of CCM and the other will believe that there are some good elements in CCM which can be used. Others distinguish between CCM with a backbeat and without a backbeat, of which the first is rejected categorically and of the second not necessarily all music is wrong.

About the back beat: we should not forget that the back beat in itself is something that is used in our Genevan tunes as well. Several psalm tunes make use of a back beat, psalm 47 for instance in every line. A back beat in music doesn’t make it wrong yet. What, according to some, makes CCM with a back beat wrong is the excessive use of it. However, who determines what is excessive and what not? This shows that also here, it is hard to come with a categorical rejections of music with a back beat.

Even if we read through the literature written about CCM we can see this confusion. It is not only in our circles that people don’t agree on CCM. If you check Wikipedia (a much used source for our information nowadays, however with questionable authority) at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_Christian_music, you will be led to believe that CCM started in the sixties and seventies as a response of Christians to the Rock ‘n Roll music of the fifties and is a result of the Jesus Movement revival. CCM was originally called ‘Jesus Music’. Wikipedia reports that “About that time, many young people from the sixties’ counterculture professed to believe in Jesus. Convinced of the bareness of a lifestyle based on drugs, free sex, and radical politics, ‘hippies’ became ‘Jesus people'”.[6] However, there were people who felt that Jesus was another “trip”.[6] It was during the 1970s Jesus movement that Christian music started to become an industry within itself.[7] “Jesus Music” started by playing instruments and singing songs about love and peace, which then translated into love of God.

However, W. Robert Godfrey tells us something different. He sees it as a new stage in the evolution of revivalist hymnody. ‘Revivalist hymnody, that came to be more and more prevalent in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, was music that was more upbeat, more lively, and more enthusiastic. It also often had a declining level of theological content in the texts of the hymns’”

Later, Godfrey mentions, Pentecostalism became an important catalyzer in the development of revivalist music: “The Pentecostal movement in its drive for religious experience and religious energy and religious excitement did indeed think in new ways about music and sought to take the revivalist tradition of hymnody and make it even more exciting, even more engaging.”

Others will have other definitions and may see other origins of CCM. From discussions I had, I got the impression that for some CCM is more or less equivalent to all modern Christian music.

Generally, there are some characteristics of CCM. One of those is the repetitiveness of the words, combined with a low level of theological content. Just being repetitive doesn’t make a song yet part of CCM. If we look at the hymn ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’ (which is in our Book of Praise), it is also very repetitive especially in the refrain, even though the content is Biblical. An even more compelling example of repetitiveness and still being Biblical is Psalm 136: ‘For His mercy endures forever’ is being repeated there 25 times! Repetition can be very powerful if it supports a strong message. However, repetition combined with a low level of theological content is very much emotionally based and needs the music to make the song interesting. If emotion trumps contents, then we get into dangerous territory.

That brings us to another characteristic of CCM: the kind of music which is often used, and which is intended to create a strong emotion, rather than the emotion being carried by a combination of word and music. We cannot and should not deny that Christian songs can create strong emotions in Christians. However, CCM is more focused on those emotions being created by the music than by the words, while the psalms, for instance, can create those emotions by the strength of their contents, supported by the music as we have it in the Genevan tunes.

Often, CCM can be recognized by the loudness of the music, although that cannot be mentioned as a general characteristic of all CCM. Also here, the loudness of music is not necessarily wrong. Psalm 150 speaks about the loud cymbals. However, when the loudness of the music is no longer supportive of the words, or if a microphone is needed to make the words be heard over the music, then there is an imbalance.

Some reject CCM because it is connected with the sex culture of the Rock music. However, it is disputable whether the CCM movement finds its origin in the musical culture of the fifties and sixties, and therefore this argument is very weak. If certain elements of CCM make use of Rock music, we can reject those for that reason. However, saying that CCM uses Rock music and therefore all CCM is to be rejected, is a bridge too far and this argument will not convince many. Using the argument that some Rock musicians call the back beat ‘sexy’ doesn’t fly either. In the language of the world, the word ‘sexy’ often means just ‘interesting’, ‘attractive’, or ‘exciting’.

This diversity of description of CCM makes it difficult to come with a judgment about the usefulness of CCM within our Reformed circles. Therefore, I don’t believe we will ever be able to come with a unified point of view about whether CCM should be allowed or not. It is much better to judge the songs individually and not condemn something for the only reason that it is considered to be CCM.

Christian Music

What is Christian music, will be determined by what the Bible teaches us about music.

The Bible speaks positively about music. Many of the Psalms encourage God’s people to praise God with song and instruments. Psalm 150 is a very well-known psalm: the last one of the Psalms, in which the Book of Psalms concludes with a glorious exhortation to all that has breath to praise the LORD with every possible instrument. The loudness of music is being mentioned there as something positive. This must be seen in combination with the words. Psalm 150 is part of the Book of Psalms, in which we are exhorted to praise God in our songs, accompanied by the instruments mentioned.

We should also take to heart the words written by the apostle Paul: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.’ Here we are told that it should be the Word of Christ that dwells in us richly when we make music. The word ‘richly’ tells us something different than the repetitiveness of some ‘Christian’ music. It is not the music that should lead our emotions and our thoughts, but the Word of Christ. The music must play a supporting role when we make music for the LORD. If it does so, it can be very powerful. However, music can also be very powerful in its support for ideas that go against the Word of Christ.

The Bible gives us examples of both, in the Old Testament.

Exodus 15 tells us about the song of Moses, and then, v.20, Miriam the prophetess took the timbrel and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. This music is clearly connected with the words of the song of Miriam and also the song of Moses.

In Exodus 32:6, 18 we read however, that the people of Israel danced and made music before the golden calf. ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’ (verse 6). The words translated with ‘rose up to play’ have a connotation of sexual immorality.

1 Samuel 30:16 tells us about David, pursuing the Amalekites after they raided Ziklag. And David found them there in the desert, eating and drinking and dancing. This dancing, undoubtedly accompanied and helped by the music, brought them in such a state of mind, that it was easy for David to catch them by surprise and destroy almost all of them.

From other parts of the Bible we learn that the feasting which was not to the honour of God was often accompanied by sexual immorality. From archeological literature we know that in the temple feasts for the heathen gods the temple prostitutes often played an important role as well. Heathen feasts and music were often connected with sexual immorality. Therefore, it is important that the Word of Christ dwells in us richly while we make music. If that is not the case, music can so easily lead us to immoral thoughts and deeds. Paul warns in Ephesians 5:3-4 and Romans 12:2 that that should not be the case with us.

Christian Music and Church Music

Should any good Christian music be used in the worship service as well? I have heard this argument being made in our circles, recently. This was used to argue that we should allow more music in the worship services. But it is also being used in a different direction: we should only use and listen to music which we use in the church as well.

Both ways of thinking have never been the norm in the Reformed churches.

In the Reformed tradition there has always been a clear distinction between these two. One of the Reformed principles about liturgy is, that the whole people of God is involved in the worship service and that therefore the singing of the congregation should not be replaced by choirs or orchestras. Calvin was even against the use of the organ in the worship service because it would have a negative influence on the singing of the congregation.

The tunes must be suitable for the singing of the congregation. Not every music can be sung by large groups of participants. Not every music is suitable to be sung by untrained participants. Music like ‘The Messiah’ or Bach’s cantatas and oratorios can certainly be considered good Christian music, but they are not suitable yet to be sung in the worship services by the congregation. Often choirs spend a lot of time on rehearsals before they can perform this music in a way that does justice to the music. This is not how it should be in the Sunday worship services. The songs the congregation sings must be of such a (musical) nature that it can easily be sung by the whole congregation. The Canadian Reformed Churches have adopted a number of guidelines, in their discussions with the United Reformed Churches about the development of a new hymn book. I quote a few of those guidelines, especially those pertaining to the music, as published in the ‘Book of Praise, Augment to Hymnary, 2007’:

8. The music of the song should suit the text.

10. The music of the Church should not be borrowed from music that suggests places and occasions other than the Church and the worship of God.

11. The melodies and harmonies of church music must be suitable for congregational singing, avoiding complicated rhythms, excessive syncopation, and a wide range of pitch.

It is for this reason that Calvin introduced the Genevan tunes for the worship service. The Genevan tunes have very much the character of what is called ‘folk music’. Folk music is music which develops over time, is such that it is easy for people to learn and is used as a vehicle to carry over stories of the past to a larger audience. It must by definition therefore, be music that is not complicated. This does not mean that the Genevan tunes come from folk music. However, the character of the Genevan tunes can be compared to folk music, because it has more or less the same goal: the great deeds of God as told to us in the Psalms have to be taught to and sung by the congregation.

This makes it clear that we should make a distinction between Church music and Christian music. Church Music is Christian music but not all Christian music is church music.

Christian music and worldly music

Throughout the course of history a lot of different music styles and genres have been developed, and also different areas and different cultures created each their own styles and genres. Even the genre ‘Rock Music’ has a huge variety of sub-genres. It is impossible to make a rule which styles and genres can be seen as suitable to be used by Christians and which not. Generally, we can say that certain styles of music used in times and areas where Christianity was/is influential in shaping society, are more likely to be suitable than others. We can say that music from certain composers (like J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, F. Mendelssohn) can considered to be good Christian music. Generally, we can also say that loud music which damages our hearing cannot be pleasing to God. Rock music, for instance, is known to be loud: during a usual rock concert a level of 110 dB is quite normal and by times it goes up to 150 dB, while medical science warns that you are at risk of hearing loss when you are exposed to sounds at 85 dB or more. Rock music is on many lists as an example of a dangerous sound.

However, this does not mean that certain styles or genres are specifically ‘Christian’ and that there is no good Christian music in other genres, or that all music in the same style as the before mentioned Christian composers is good Christian music. Just like the Pharisees, we often have the inclination to make a set of rules which make it easy for us to determine what is good and what is wrong. This takes away or diminishes our own responsibility. There is no need to give an account, if we can say that we followed certain rules which we were taught as being good. However, this is not the way the Bible teaches us to live as Christians. God has given each of us a responsibility for all our actions and we will be held to account, according to the talents which we have received. The way we use our responsibility will show how much we love God and Christ.

As explained under 2 (Christian Music), the Bible teaches that music can be used in different ways. It can be used to support the words with which we praise and glorify God, and this can be pleasing to God. Music can also be used without words, to bring us into a certain mood. Also this music can be glorifying to God if it helps us to live a life of thankfulness and joy before the LORD.

However, music can also be used to bring us into a state of mind in which our ability to judge the words is being diminished, or to bring us into a kind of trance in which we have a decreased awareness of our own actions or in which we lose the ability to discern between good and evil, between what is pleasing to God and what offends Him.

Music is not neutral. Music does something with you. The way in which we make music or choose to listen to music, shows our love for God and for Christ. Music does not necessarily have to be explicitly ‘Christians’ music to be enjoyed by Christians. However, mindlessly listening to music or using it as background music without knowing what we are listening to, is something that we as Christians cannot do in this world in which we live. We know that our enemies never cease to attack us. Satan knows the power of music. Therefore, we should know it too and be on guard, so that we do not give him the opportunity to influence us through music.

The main word here, as well as in everything in this life, is: discernment. While determining whether music is good or not, we must look at both words and music.

Conclusion

It is hard to come with a general judgment about Christian Contemporary Music. It isn’t helpful either. Every piece of music must be judged based on the Biblical criteria. Not everything that is considered to be CCM is wrong either. As long as we are not able to define CCM as going against Biblical principles, we cannot use the mere fact of ‘being CCM’ as a reason to reject a song or a musical piece.

We must realise that music is never neutral. Music is powerful and does something with us. Even if the words can be biblical, the music can still be unchristian. In listening to music, whether it is CCM or worldly music, we must always be aware of the danger of music being used by the Enemy to lead us to sin. We need discernment in our use of any form of music.

An important lesson which we can learn from this is, that we should get into contact with each other, especially with those with whom we disagree, so that through searching we can discover what the will of the LORD is. While the Word of Christ dwells in us richly, we will be able and must teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. And whatever we do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Based on the above, I therefore come to some conclusions:

that it is not possible to either reject or approve CCM as a genre of Christian Music, but that we must judge every song as well as musical performance on its own merits, based on the Biblical principles.

that the singing of certain songs (either CCM or not) at events in our (or other) church buildings does not necessarily lead to introduction of new songs for the worship service. There are different criteria for the selection of songs for our Book of Praise than for what is suitable to be sung at all kinds of events in our circles.

that it is important for our church leaders to educate the congregation, in preaching, teaching, home visits and other ways about the dangers of music in general as well as of some music that presents itself as Christian music but is not Biblical.

that we must encourage each other to be discerning in our listening to and use of music, not only CCM but any kind of music. Let our words and our music be pleasing to God, so that we will teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord.

from The Christian https://www.reformednews.info/2019/04/20/contemporary-christian-music/

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thomasroach · 5 years

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Top RPG News Of The Week: January 27th (Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Cyberpunk 2077 and more!)

The post Top RPG News Of The Week: January 27th (Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Cyberpunk 2077 and more!) appeared first on Fextralife.

Happy weekend from Fextralife! If you’ve been too busy to keep up on the latest in the games we cover or are looking for a refresher we’ve got you covered! Here’s a bite-sized version of the Top RPG news of the week. Taste all the latest news across the Fextralife Wiki Network.

Check out the video above and read on for the text!

Dark Souls Trilogy

While the Dark Souls Trilogy was confirmed to be coming to Europe on March 1st, a new announcement from Bandai Namco has revealed that a Dark Souls Trilogy: Collectors Edition will be coming to the UK and Europe.

The Dark Souls Trilogy Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order and will cost avid fans £449.99. The collection includes all three of the Dark Souls games as well as previously released content in a three-disc collection.

The edition also comes with the original soundtrack with music composed by Motoi Sakaraba and Yuka Kitamura, bringing 110 tracks, that’s 6 hours of music across 6 CD’s.

There is also a special Elite Knight at the Bonfire Statue which is painted and stands at 34 cm tall. But if you want this collectors edition you will need to act fast as there will only be 2000 of these created.

The Dark Souls Trilogy: Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order via the Bandai Namco store website for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It will launch later this year in May.

To read more about this news find it here in Dark Souls Trilogy: Collector’s Edition Will Cost £449/€499.99.

Lapis x Labyrinth

The action-RPG side-scroller Lapis x Labyrinth gets a western release date for PS4 and Switch for May this year.

Players will join a quest for treasure-hunting for high-octane, where both danger and great rewards await. This unique dungeon crawler will combine 4 of your characters in a “Dango” tower, stacked to face enemies, allowing you to swap between your character classes unique abilities. Choose from 8 character classes and form your party. There are over 4,000 unique combinations to customise your team with, creative stacking mechanics can lead to synchronised attacks.

With risk comes great rewards, as you go deeper and deeper into each level, the rewards become greater. The goal is to defeat the foes that await you, destroying the crystals in order to receive your treasure. But, if you stay too long more enemies will ensue, spawning merciless invincible monsters so timing is key.

Lapis x Labyrinth releases on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on May 28th in North America and May 31st for Europe.

To read more about this news find it here in Lapis X Labyrinth Launches On May 28th In North America, May 31st In Europe.

Fallout 76

The rumour-mill has been spinning as fans express concerns about Fallout 76 going free-to-play, when a shortage of Fallout 76 copies was brought to light in Australia.

Recently a customer who visited their local EB Games to find that Fallout 76 was in short supply, of course alerting the internet to the lack of copies available in Australia.

This rumour however turned out to be untrue, a user tweeted out on Twitter that they wanted their money back if Fallout 76 went free-to-play.

The response from Bethesda was short and straight to the point “There is no truth to this rumor”.

The rumour although seems quite a jump to make from shortage of the game instore, there has been a bit of battle with the recent news of the Replacement Canvas Bags For Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition and the price of in-game items that could leave some fans a little sceptical.

To read more about this news find it here in Bethesda Assures Fallout 76 Will Not Go Free-To-Play.

Demon’s Souls

In a recent series by gameinformer that has covered the upcoming release of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a prominent question has popped up on the topic of FromSoftware remastering Demon’s Souls.

Asking the president of FromSoftware himself Hidetaka Miyazaki whether or not there would be a chance of revisiting the classic and fan favourite Demon’s Souls. It has been a topic that we have covered in the past when the Demon’s Souls Servers closed Down simultaneously which led us to believe a remaster was not a distant possibility.

He said in the interview: “It’s like when you write – when you’re younger, you look back on [previous work] and you think ‘Oh, goodness what was I thinking’, it’s not that I’m embarrassed, I just don’t like to look at my previous works.“

While not ruling out the possibility of a remaster entirely, Miyazaki shares it’s not exactly in his focus at this time. He went on to explain that it’s not just his say so that would determine whether a project like this would go ahead, as Sony would also be a deciding factor.

However he is not opposed to the idea of getting another studio to work on a remaster either, but it would have to be one that would not only want to do it, but be passionate about the original as well.

From what Miyazaki has expressed it looks like this is not one of the possible titles that FromSoftware has been working on. So if this rules out a remaster, what could the two projects hold?

To read more about this news find it here in Miyazaki Shares Thoughts On Highly Requested Demon’s Souls Remaster.

Cyberpunk 2077

In a surprising turn of events, according to Cyberpunk 2077’s Creative Director’s LinkedIn profile, Sebastian Stępień is now working with Blizzard Entertainment.

This news is a little surprising considering that the current game in development is the futuristic RPG Cyberpunk 2077 which is still awaiting a release date. Sebastian Stępień has worked with CD Projekt Red for over 12 years, previously working on The Witcher 3 as well as The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. While it isn’t clear what he is working on with Blizzard, he still holds the same position as Creative Director.

In a post on the message board ResetEra, a user posted Stępień’s LinkedIn profile that now says he has joined Blizzard working on an unnamed project. If you look at Blizzard’s current portfolio of games, where Stępień would fit in best, it would most likely be on a Diablo project possibly Diablo 4, as the developer had mentioned last year that multiple projects were in the works and more to be revealed in 2019. Blizzard at this time has not announced what Stępień would be working on.

To read more about this news find it here in Cyberpunk 2077’S Creative Director Has Started Working With Blizzard.

Anthem

Bioware have announced that their upcoming sci-fi action-RPG Anthem has officially gone gold.

The lead cinematic animator Tal Peleg shared a short but affirmative tweet that simply reads “GOLD” with a picture of Anthem in a golden hue. This indicates that the upcoming action third person RPG from Bioware has wrapped up it’s development and is ready to ship out on launch day. Going gold is an industry standard that means the developers have finished their game, the final master copy has been made and is ready to be produced for retail.

This is great news as it means fans can expect for the game to release on time. It was early this month that EA and Bioware announced the demo dates for Anthem.

Also Lead Producer Micheal Gamble has announced the arrival of Social Hubs, meaning up to 16 players can hang out at the Launch Bay.

Anthem comes to PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One on February 22nd, pre-orders are available via Amazon.

To read more about this news find it here in Bioware’s Anthem Goes Gold.

Evoland Legendary Edition

The action-adventure RPG Evoland 1 and 2 are coming to Playstation 4, Xbox One and Switch in the form of the Evoland Legendary Edition this February.

Bundled together in the Evoland Legendary Edition, the action-RPGs Evoland and Evoland 2 are coming to three platforms in February. The title by developer and publisher Shiro Games allows players to take on challenging puzzles, beat’em up battles, turn-based fights all in a 8-bit style aesthetic. But as you make progress in-game, you unlock new technologies, gameplay systems and graphic upgrades, converting your pixel world into a modern 3D one.

While Evoland focuses more on the turn-based style battles mixed in with some real time boss fights, Evoland 2 follows a more enriched RPG structure allowing players to interact with dozens of characters and engage in deep combat with customisable options.

Evoland Legendary Edition comes to Playstation 4, Xbox One and Switch on February 7th 2019.

To read more about this news find it here in Evoland 1 And 2 Comes To PS4, Xbox One And Switch In February.

CrossCode

Deck13 and Radical Fish Games announced that the 2D fast paced part-puzzle part shoot ’em up CrossCode is coming to the Switch this year. The title is a unique spin on the action-RPG that not only combines a MMORPG world setting in a single-player game, but brings fast action gameplay with some adventure and exploration.

In a recent article Deck13 told Gematsu that they cannot currently confirm at this time if the CrossCode Playstation 4 version which is also scheduled for this year, will have exclusive content but simply said “to keep an eye out on possible announcements at a future time (wink).”

If you’ve ever wanted to experience an MMORPG but in a single-player RPG game we would recommend trying this one out.

If you want to know what we thought of the action-RPG CrossCode be sure to read our CrossCode Review – A Fast Paced Sci-Fi Puzzle RPG on Fextralife.com.

CrossCode will be available on the Nintendo Switch sometime this year, no news as of yet of the release window.

To read more about this news find it here in CrossCode Is Coming To Switch In 2019.

God Eater 3

The upcoming action RPG God Eater 3 gets a new trailer from Bandai Namco, this time going over its main game features.

The trailer shows off God Eater 3 with some of it’s major features including character customisation, weapon transformation, the ability to team up with other players and your main goal to take down the powerful Aragami. You can also see how some of weapons look in action and their affect on major beasts found in game.

In the uphill battle to stop the biggest threat to life on Earth the deadly Aragami, players will be able to team up with 4 players and up to 8 in Assault Mission mode.

There is also a character customisation video that as posted on Twitter that showed some of the possibilities for your own God Eater character.

To read more about this news find it here in Bandai Namco Releases God Eater 3 Features Trailer.

Well, that’s it for the Week in Wikis. Please join us next week for yet another great week of gaming! Remember to check out our VIP program for some exclusive supporter benefits, and budding writers should take advantage of our Become an Author initiative! Thanks again for being a part of this great community. Keep checking in with us for news, reviews, YouTube streams and vids, and general wiki goodness!

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The post Top RPG News Of The Week: January 27th (Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Cyberpunk 2077 and more!) appeared first on Fextralife.

Top RPG News Of The Week: January 27th (Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Cyberpunk 2077 and more!) published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/

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kathryngadberry-blog · 7 years

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Bitcoin As Money Debate

Chances are you’ve heard a lot about Bitcoin (BTC) in the last few weeks.This digital cryptocurrency peaked at an all time high price of $4,923 on September 1, 2017 (1 *Tumblr doesn’t allow for superscript on sources). This is an indication of more participants and interest in the Bitcoin market, many of whom are asking the question ‘is this real money?’ I will attempt to lay out the case for both positive and negative responses to the question, but ultimately, the reader must make up his or her own mind on the issue.

Before answering the question ‘is Bitcoin money?’, there must be a general agreement on the definition of money. According to Merriam Webster’s definition, money is : something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment (2). Here are the factors that we must consider:

Side #1: Bitcoin is Money

Bitcoin meets many, if not all, of the requirements of being money. It successfully performs as a medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account; all characteristics required as functions of money.

It can be said, in general, money is anything used to settle a debt. Throughout history this includes different types of shells, metal coins, paper notes, and even unusual items like cigarettes, canned fish, or tide laundry detergent (3-5). Even though it is not yet widely used in economic transactions, Bitcoin is a sufficient medium of exchange especially in the digital age. Money is a social function and has proven over time that it can be a tool that takes many different forms, as long as it helps facilitate the diversification of assets and economic benefit of producers and consumers alike.

Bitcoin also acts as a legitimate store of value. It holds certain qualities that optimize the usage of money. Electronic money is portable, durable and fungible (it all looks the same). Bitcoin itself is currently divisible by up to 8 decimal places, easily recognizable, and limited to a supply of 21 million, released by an algorithm up until the year 2140. Bitcoin users will want to save it and not spend it since it is inherently non-inflationary. Deflationary theories are the only real threat to the viability to BTC as a store of value. Deflation, a reduction in the price level of goods and services, is a risk for all monetary systems. An important difference is that Bitcoin is an asset and not a debt in the popular fractional reserve banking system. This is the opposite of fiat currencies because Bitcoins only deflate in value when the Bitcoin Economy is growing (6).

As a Unit of Account, Bitcoin aligns with how our economic world is currently operating. The numbers that are written down in your bank statements are not the physical transaction of notes, but a snapshot of your ongoing financial records. The bank has a liability for your money in your bank account; it’s not actually there. A majority of transactions now happen electronically. Our society is even trending towards discontinuing the use of cash. In the article New Monetary Economics Revisited by David Cronin (7), a senior Economist with the Central bank of Ireland, he explains a study that found the demand for small-denominations US dollar note and return of old paper notes to the Fed have fallen steadily since 1980, suggesting it is not longer used in payment activity. The government, bank or credit card company’s monetary guarantee is essentially backed by nothing.The use case of the Iraqi Swiss Dinar in the 1990s is proof that zero-commodity or government backed currency can still be a sustainable economic tool (8).The US Dollar has not been backed by gold since the 1970s. Personally, I look at my Bank of America app on my phone, and see the line items posting values that go in and out as I spend money through Venmo or with my credit and debit cards. This is a reflection of how most people are currently managing their individual and business finances today.

Side #2: Bitcoin is not Money

Bitcoin is not real money, in a practical sense because it is not generally accepted as a measure of value, too insecure for storing funds, not regulated by a legal institution, as well as not backed by a tangible commodity.

One of the major functions of money is to act as a measure of value. The price volatility leaves members of the market uncertain how the value of a good or service in Bitcoin might fluctuate day to day. The current economy does not sell houses, cars or groceries in terms of Bitcoins. In theory, it might meet this function of money, but in reality, price instability and lack of market adoption are both reasons why Bitcoin is not used as an adequate measure of value at the present time (9).

Another reason is that, at its present state, the Bitcoin economy is not safe for all users. The technology itself might be solid, but many of the platforms, exchanges and ICOs out there now are riddled with bugs, hacking and theft opportunities, and get rich quick schemes. No one should invest anything in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies that the are not willing to lose until the security of these sites and companies has evolved. This fact echoes the first point of not being generally agreed upon by society as money.

In the Origin of Money, Carl Menger writes that money can exist without regulation, but is perfected through it (10). Much of the future uncertainty that lies with Bitcoin is around government regulation. There is speculation about how a crackdown or ruling that deems the cryptocurrency illegal will affect value and continuation of Bitcoin. Certain groups argue that it is still in development and we won’t know until the technology has had more time to mature. It may be too soon to make a definite claim until it is fully evolved. The grey area of sovereign regulation could decide whether or not Bitcoin is money without permission from the users.

In the United States, the Federal Reserve has control over the money supply and does not recognize Bitcoin as an actual currency (11). Bitcoin is not backed by any government, bank or credit card company. These are institutions we currently depend on for price stability, credit, loans, insurance, and storing our wealth. If your BTC gets lost or stolen, no one is going to refund you or bail out your business. Many people agree that the trust we afford our governments, banks, and credit card companies is safer than trusting a relatively new network of decentralized computers. Currency, acting as a subset of money, is a system of money in general use in a particular country; otherwise known as cash, bills, notes or legal tender. And legally, Bitcoin does not meet this criteria.

No one in the scientific, history, or economics community can pinpoint the first civilization that created the concept of money. Although, it will be the responsibility of our current generation to define its evolution.

Sources

www.coinbase.com

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/money

Radford, R.A. “The Economic Organisation of a P.O.W Camp”. Price Theory and Its Applications (1945): p8-10.

Durden, Tyler. “Prisoners Explain Why A Pack Of Mackerel Is The Gold Standard Of Currencies in America’s Prisons” (March 6, 2017): p1-16.

Associated Press. Anderson, Mae; Dobnik, Verena; Vergakis, Brock; Nuckols, Ben. “The Tide Theft Phenomenon Is So Bad Store Are Attaching Anti-Theft Tags To Detergent Bottles”. Business Insider (March 14, 2107): p1-3.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deflationary_spiral

Cronin, David. “The New Monetary Economics Revisited”. Cato Journal, Vol 32. No.3 (2012): p586-587.

Grinberg, Reuben. “Bitcoin:An Innovative Alternative Digital Currency”. Hastings Science & Technology Law Journal (November 11, 2011): p173-175.

Dr. Evans, Charles. Money and Banking: Class Lecture 1. University of Nicosia. (2017)

Menger, Carl. “On the Origin of Money”. Economic Journal, Vol. 2 (1892): p239-255.

Brito, Jerry; Castillo, Andrea. “Bitcoin: A Primer for Policymakers”. Mercatus Center at George Mason University (May 3, 2016): p41-66.

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Top RPG News Of The Week: January 27th (Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Cyberpunk 2077 and more!)

The post Top RPG News Of The Week: January 27th (Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Cyberpunk 2077 and more!) appeared first on Fextralife.

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Dark Souls Trilogy

The edition also comes with the original soundtrack with music composed by Motoi Sakaraba and Yuka Kitamura, bringing 110 tracks, that’s 6 hours of music across 6 CD’s.

The Dark Souls Trilogy: Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order via the Bandai Namco store website for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It will launch later this year in May.

To read more about this news find it here in Dark Souls Trilogy: Collector’s Edition Will Cost £449/€499.99.

Lapis x Labyrinth

The action-RPG side-scroller Lapis x Labyrinth gets a western release date for PS4 and Switch for May this year.

Lapis x Labyrinth releases on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on May 28th in North America and May 31st for Europe.

To read more about this news find it here in Lapis X Labyrinth Launches On May 28th In North America, May 31st In Europe.

Fallout 76

The rumour-mill has been spinning as fans express concerns about Fallout 76 going free-to-play, when a shortage of Fallout 76 copies was brought to light in Australia.

Recently a customer who visited their local EB Games to find that Fallout 76 was in short supply, of course alerting the internet to the lack of copies available in Australia.

This rumour however turned out to be untrue, a user tweeted out on Twitter that they wanted their money back if Fallout 76 went free-to-play.

The response from Bethesda was short and straight to the point “There is no truth to this rumor”.

To read more about this news find it here in Bethesda Assures Fallout 76 Will Not Go Free-To-Play.

Demon’s Souls

In a recent series by gameinformer that has covered the upcoming release of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a prominent question has popped up on the topic of FromSoftware remastering Demon’s Souls.

From what Miyazaki has expressed it looks like this is not one of the possible titles that FromSoftware has been working on. So if this rules out a remaster, what could the two projects hold?

To read more about this news find it here in Miyazaki Shares Thoughts On Highly Requested Demon’s Souls Remaster.

Cyberpunk 2077

In a surprising turn of events, according to Cyberpunk 2077’s Creative Director’s LinkedIn profile, Sebastian Stępień is now working with Blizzard Entertainment.

To read more about this news find it here in Cyberpunk 2077’S Creative Director Has Started Working With Blizzard.

Anthem

Bioware have announced that their upcoming sci-fi action-RPG Anthem has officially gone gold.

This is great news as it means fans can expect for the game to release on time. It was early this month that EA and Bioware announced the demo dates for Anthem.

Also Lead Producer Micheal Gamble has announced the arrival of Social Hubs, meaning up to 16 players can hang out at the Launch Bay.

Anthem comes to PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One on February 22nd, pre-orders are available via Amazon.

To read more about this news find it here in Bioware’s Anthem Goes Gold.

Evoland Legendary Edition

The action-adventure RPG Evoland 1 and 2 are coming to Playstation 4, Xbox One and Switch in the form of the Evoland Legendary Edition this February.

Evoland Legendary Edition comes to Playstation 4, Xbox One and Switch on February 7th 2019.

To read more about this news find it here in Evoland 1 And 2 Comes To PS4, Xbox One And Switch In February.

CrossCode

If you’ve ever wanted to experience an MMORPG but in a single-player RPG game we would recommend trying this one out.

If you want to know what we thought of the action-RPG CrossCode be sure to read our CrossCode Review – A Fast Paced Sci-Fi Puzzle RPG on Fextralife.com.

CrossCode will be available on the Nintendo Switch sometime this year, no news as of yet of the release window.

To read more about this news find it here in CrossCode Is Coming To Switch In 2019.

God Eater 3

The upcoming action RPG God Eater 3 gets a new trailer from Bandai Namco, this time going over its main game features.

In the uphill battle to stop the biggest threat to life on Earth the deadly Aragami, players will be able to team up with 4 players and up to 8 in Assault Mission mode.

There is also a character customisation video that as posted on Twitter that showed some of the possibilities for your own God Eater character.

To read more about this news find it here in Bandai Namco Releases God Eater 3 Features Trailer.

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The post Top RPG News Of The Week: January 27th (Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Cyberpunk 2077 and more!) appeared first on Fextralife.

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