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catalysisrp · 3 years

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Hello, Catalysts!

It's a Monday, which isn't great -- but it's also time for another preview, so it's not all bad either!

First off, the obligatory reminder that we now have three different challenges open for participation as a means of acquiring an early reserve: the intro form, and two different dev challenges -- one for your own characters, and one for somebody else's!

(For those of you who don't like this sort of thing, we'll open general reserves later this week -- but you'll only get two, as opposed to the challenge participants, who can claim up to three total!)

Another two previews for you today, both our member groups and our first two subplots! There will be further subplots rolled out after site open, each built with the intention of being open to a variety of character groups and individual ideas. Enrollment is optional and relatively open, so no need to worry about reserving slots or being unable to participate!

As always, feel free to drop us an ask or hit us up on discord if you have any questions or concerns.

Previews included below the cut for mobile users!

Member Groups

PROMETHIUM ( #C98951 )

The discoverers proposed the name “promethium”, derived from Prometheus, the Titan in Greek mythology who stole fire from Mount Olympus and brought it down to gift to foolish, mortal humans. Its name symbolizes “both the daring and the possible misuse of mankind’s intellect”. All of its isotopes are radioactive and it is rare. This is the membergroup for characters with abilities.

COBALT ( #4774A8 )

Cobalt is found in the Earth’s crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. It is used to make powerful magnets. Transplants drawn to the dusty and decaying roads of Perdition fall into this membergroup. Are you new here? Did you find your way to Perdition or just get lost on the long, lonely road?

TANTALUM ( #7E9945 )

The name tantalum was derived from the name of Tantalus in Greek mythology. According to myth, he was punished after death by being planted in knee deep water with the branches of impossibly tempting fruit hanging overhead. Attempts to bend and drink were met with an ever-receding waterline; grasping hands reaching up for the fruit were ever denied, always falling short. Locals without abilities, local government, and local law enforcement are assigned to this membergroup. They live here in a constant state of in-between; Perdition is the space between failure and prosperity, it’s on the road to somewhere but not a destination, between catalysis and decay.

FLOURINE ( #A84771 )

It is the most electronegative element and the lightest halogen. It exists at standard conditions as wildly toxic. It is a gas so reactive it will ignite anything it touches. Initial studies on fluorine were so dangerous that several 19th-century experimenters were dubbed “fluorine martyrs” after gruesome accidents with hydrofluoric acid. The influential and powerful comprise this membergroup: employees of the ATLAS branch, Perot mine leadership, and members of Perdition’s toxic high society fall into this membergroup.

Subplots

Titanomachy

For behold, He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains will melt under Him and the valleys will be split, like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place. Micah 1:3-4

A clash of gods in the valley, and Perdition, trapped between two mountains: Titanomachy, the war between the old gods, the Titans, and the new Olympians. They fight for control of their universe, for who will reign in the valley, the lives of the average caught beneath trembling boots.

Perdition is a small town, ringed by a crown of mountainous thorns, and only the truly loyal or the truly trapped have remained as its economy has withered, as the rest of the world spun on around it. It is protected by a small but gritty force of officers and city workers, locals who have been local for generations and generations, or in some cases, newcomers that have stumbled in and fallen in love with the sharp edges of the place.

The infestation of the Olympians, wearing federal ATLAS uniforms, driving desert-dusted humvees, building an ominous compound standing ugly on the edge of town, has not been welcome.

Tension was immediate. Local law enforcement has never been fond of the interference of federal power, especially not out in the boonies of the Battleborn state, out in the west that has, in so many desolate corners, remained wild. They are suspicious of ATLAS's closed-door and classified nature, of the high number of their missing neighbors, and the question of what are they doing here? It's not just geological surveying, that's for sure.

Even worse, within Perdition's police department, there is an officer or two on the take. In City Hall, there are clerks and townsfolk more than willing to accept a blank check from ATLAS for their clandestine assistance.

The war is quiet, for now, but the push-and-pull has already begun. There is thunder in the distance, muting the whispering in the mines: Down from Othyrs, down from Olympus they come, into the low, dry valley.

He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power. Before Him goes pestilence, and plague comes after Him. Habakkuk 3:3-6

Members

Below are some character ideas or possible subplot positions related to the Titanomachy subplot! It's not limited to what is listed here, so if you have an idea just reach out to the admins!

The Titans

The loyalists: police and cityworkers going toe-to-toe with Atlas

On the take: the traitors in the departments, lifting evidence or stalling FOI requests

The local dispatcher on the fence

The double crosser

EMTs suspicious of strange things they're seeing on calls

The Olympians

ATLAS Directors

Scientists & field geologists

PIs working for ATLAS to get dirt on their local detractors

ATLAS security forces

The skeezy lawyer

Xenos

Xenos /Greek: ξένος, xénos, plural xenoi/ is a word used in the Greek language from Homer onwards. The most standard definition is "stranger". However, the word, itself, can be interpreted to mean different things based upon context, such as a more hostile interpretation: enemy.

The truth is out there. The truth is here. The strangers that rolled into town on convoys of military vehicles and humvees, subsidized by a government that tells its people nothing, they know. They definitely know something, and Perdition stands in the dark.

For years, certain internet sleuths and conspiracy theorists have long suspected something strange is happening in Perdition. At first, it was simply a gathering of intensely fixated Redditors and forum users, a small subset of generally strange and typically youthful true believers who spent a lot of time watching X-Files and scouring the night sky for unknown phenomenon. They try, and fail, to capture pictures and video of the strange animals around Perdition. They hunt bigfoot through the steppes and Pahroc range. They collect sunburns and live tweet about the haunted, desiccated buildings in Delamar.

In 2015, ATLAS arrived. The federal government deploying (as one internet personality described it) 'jack-booted thugs' on the very edge of town stirred up more interest in the once-niche supernaturally curious internet group, Xenos.

A variety of more adjusted locals began to show interest in the group meetings held in the community center, sipping bad coffee and clutching paper napkins. Relatives of families destroyed by various illnesses, families of the missing, who have lost loved ones to the expanse of desert. People looking for answers to unanswerable tragedies.

Xenos meets irregularly and is rather disorganized. Some groups within the group are more concerned with alien encounters and UFOs. Some are of the ghost-hunting variety, traveling to ghost towns and trying to wiggle into abandoned mines. What they have in common: they don't trust ATLAS, they don't trust local law enforcement, and they all believe strange things happen in Perdition.

Members

Below are some character ideas or possible subplot positions related to the Xenos subplot! It's not limited to what is listed here, so if you have an idea just reach out to the admins!

Xenos Cryptid Hunters

The fearless leader

Videographer

Peppy and bubblegum-sweet-excited vlogger

Local vet with supernatural pastime

Haunting the Haunted

Local with retrocognition

Photographer

The one in it for the lols

Nevada history buff specializing in ghost towns

Anti-ATLAS

The doomsday prepper who lives in an Airstream outside of town

Reddit sleuth

Pirate radio host

Family of the missing

Disgruntled ex-employee who never got higher than low-level security clearance

#catalysisrp #update

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familyvisionis2020 · 4 years

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Day 1 - Asheville (2 of 2)

We got to The Mothlight around 6 and loaded in our gear. The sound guy is kind, learns or names, gives more bass mix in the monitor when the singer asks for it. I see our band name on the big movie broadsheet sized monthlong show poster and feel excited. In Asheville we take a walk and make fun of the murals, I tell the band about the Asheville 11 riots and the vegan restaurant that used to hook us up and memories of the anarchist scene that fees antique on my tongue. Kabir passes the rose water spray and so I take off my glasses and spray my face.

There’s a green room beneath the stage floor with a ping pong table and two dozen Battle Star Galactica VHS tapes and two water bottles with pee and an abandoned rocks glass. I beat Kabir in ping pong, Jeremy beats me, I think about the basketball game I quit last month because I habitually got too competitive and hurt or upset someone every week for weeks. I’m still on the group text for that game but I have it muted but I still read the texts.

We go upstairs and I read the first chapter of The Left Hand of Darkness over the course of an hour on a dusty velveteen mustard colored couch. Labor and Jeremy and John socialize and I’m happy to be left with my book, the sunset comes, the bartender arrives with a fuzzy jacket on, turns down the lights, puts on a playlist, takes plastic wrap off of limes. I’m able to get my friend from Carrboro who’s visiting in on the guest list which is nice. I get to share the kit of the headliner which means nicer than usual gear and mic’ed drums too which sounds so solid and big when I kick. I bring my own breakables though: snare, cymbals, sticks.

I find out there’s a few arcade cabinets in the back, make a b-line to the 1989 Atari Tetris cab. It’s not my favorite Tetris iteration but it’s a good one, joystick and two rotate buttons, kind of a soft high score situation because you can feed the machine quarters and prolong a game indefinitely. The longer the game goes the harder it gets though, and I’m rusty so it’s still a challenge. It’s a joy to play. The ecstasy of order, the familiar grid and cascade; the solid thunk of the joy stick isn’t unlike the satisfying fullness of a mic’ed kick drum. With a dollar I put up a casual second place high score and stop short because the opening band, Yeller, is playing. The lead singer is a femme with a merit colored crushed velvet cape, exaggerated mascara that I would call ‘corpse paint lite,’ dainty lace socks, torn fishnets, middle length brown hair that’s pretty but that has split ends. They remind me of how I looked when I dressed femme in Philly in 2015. I miss the way my girlfriend used to treat me when I dressed like that; I don’t miss the way most other people treated me. I miss feeling superior to boys who dress the way I dress now. I think about whether or not I’m much of a feminist as I was since I have conceded the battleground of the aesthetic, since I won’t show up for that fight anymore. I feel a wisp if fear and I am very comfortable. Earlier Jeremy Sharéd his kimchi with me; he said sometimes he just eats a whole jr in a sitting. Their band is hard to describe, it is rock, there is some bass solos. It does not sound like black metal or power pop or glam rock which are the genres my mind assumed the singer’s outfit signaled. The vocals remind me of folk punk, which in my narrow experience tracks with Asheville. Here are people in the front of the crowd bouncing around to the music and they look like they’re having so much fun and I try to let myself dance how they are, I find myself stiff but not too stiff to bounce a little. My body hasn’t done this movement pattern in a long time. In 2010 I would’ve called these people ‘muppets,’ a derisive epithet used primarily to excoriate such people for their putative positivity, lack of dourness, loud outfits and their bubbly interpersonal comportment, something like crunchy twee. Or is it deportment? I’m unbound by rigor typing with my thumbs in the van on the way to Knoxville. It’s nice to write slower and imperfectly.

The opener mentions us before finishing up which fees nice. We set up, slapdash soundchceck, I set up the breakables, change into shorts, fill up a water bottle, settle in to the cage of hardware, make it to the throne only after nearly falling over the cables slopped over the stage like black spaghetti. Big black electric udon, and is it the amps or the guitars who eat the noodles?

Before I know it Kabir has done his intro banter and my body knows it’s time to start the set, and it’s my responsibility as drummer to count off the first song and luckily we practice plenty and so my body knows just what to do and we’re playing and it’s smooth and tight and I let myself loosen up and I head bang and make faces and bounce all around. I know I don’t need to but I think the crowd likes it and I know the band likes it and as long as I don’t get too carried away and forget where we are in the song then it’s a great way to drum as so fun and exhilarating for me. I’m not so nervous like I was last tour. The set is smooth, over before I know it. I pack up quick and try to be courteous by coming back on the stage to ask Kabir if I can help him break down and I carry his combo off stage and get some water. The set was 20 minutes and my shirt is soaked with sweat, it’s a little gross but I feel proud like I have proof I worked hard for my band and the crowd.

I go back to check out the headliner, Yawpers, mostly to be polite and not at all because I am interested in hearing them play. I catch up with my friend from Carrboro before it gets too loud to talk, he tells me about when he was in his early 20s trying to teach his daughter to potty train and not doing a good job because he didn’t understand, anatomically and ergonomically, how exactly girls peeing worked. I like hearing about the story and when the band cuts the conversation short it feels like a mercy because I don’t have to respond or find a way out of the conversation. I wish that I didn’t treat conversations like a trap. I want to not be scheming for a way out of connecting with people. It’s something I can work on improving. I bounce around to the headliner, they sound like Led Zeppelin I guess, no bass at all, cool effects on the vocals modulated by a hdand-operates effectsbpedal mounted on the mic stand. After ~2.5 songs I slip into the back room where he Tetris cab is, pull up a stool, feed the machine 3 quarters and settle in. I push earplugs in and wipe sweat from my palms onto my jeans. I feel really really happy. I love playing Tetris so much. I forbade it for the most part in the last two years, one of dozens of activities I associate with a less stable past, a throwaway activity in a life where nowadays I believe my time is valuable, where I avoid ‘wasting’ time, which is the only way I used to spend my time. It is silly and pointless to play Tetris and I am the best at, here and now. I’m in the zone, my mind feels sharp, the joystick is responsive, I shake off the rust and I am knocking pieces around and finessing rotations in a groove, in the pocket, rhythmic and precise ad drumming, plus with visual proof. I lose track of time! That never happens lately anymore it seems like. Out of the corner of my eye I see Jeremy has trickled in and is spectating from a respectful distance. I love this, I love showing a small audience my curious pointless skill, I play harder and focus and do well. I get out of tight jams with ease. My play is a silk tightrope, or like watching a diligent curling pushbroom operator and the stone slides just exactly right into place. And I do that over and over and when I see my score surpass the high score I point to the score on the screen and later I find out Jeremy captured this on his phone and that makes me feel special and talented and seen.

I finally die but only after I’ve beaten the old high score by 100,000 points, a solid and respectable showing of ~488,000 over 3 credits and about an hour of play. I’ve gotten more than a million points on this same cabinet at the Quarter Horse in Durham but it took more than Han two hours and closer to $5 in quarters if I remember right. I get off the stool and Kabir is losing his mind in that warm exited way he does over my play, tells me I’m incredible, he kept thinking I would die and I kept not dying. This reminds me of how I felt about myself almost exactly two years ago. I feel happy and healthy and hale and held and whole, Kabir gives me dap and somehow Yawpers has not finished yet. There’s a weirdly long spoken word soliloquy from the frontman about his cocaine habit, ex wife, their divorce, some other stuff. Evidently this band had a write up in Pitchfork describing their sound as ‘an expansive vision of Rock.’ Expansive is the watchword as their set tips the scales at about 75 minutes and mercifully ends. I get to introduce my friend from Carrboro to Kabir and watch them connect which is lovely.

We get our cut of door plus extra plus we sold merch so we leave in the black which to me is a shock bc im used to playing show costing money. Our band is good and people really liked it and danced and came up to us after and gave what get to me like sincere earnest praise.

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kiniism · 6 years

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thoughts on the “mount adoption” mechanic

@guildwars2

tldr before we get into it:

400gems per skin = good. gambling to get the one skin from thirty that i want = bad

Suggestions:

–remove the rng element, or at least lessen it. perhaps the ability to choose what type of mount we want? ex. Selecting “I want a Raptor.” will only give you one of the raptor skins

–add skins to in-game content. side quests, stories, raids even? give players something to work for, like you did with the griffon. it was expensive, but it was a goal that got us exploring the world

–make them tradeable. at least then if I have one I personally don’t like, someone else might want it, or I could give it to a friend

Okay now to elaborate.

First: the overarching idea. I like it! “Adopting” mounts from special breeders is nice. It FEELS nice. But listen. If I’m looking to adopt an animal from my local shelter, I don’t go in and say “I want to adopt” and they hand me a randomly selected pet. What if I was looking to get a cat, and they gave me a dog? It doesn’t work. If you want to “adopt” an animal, you go and LOOK at the animals, and you choose the one you like. The RNG element of the passes, which could net you anything at all, doesn’t feel right. What happens if I get a griffon skin, but don’t want to unlock the griffon? It’s useless to me. And I’m stuck with it.

Which is the second point: what I get could be any one of five mounts. I use some more than others, and don’t particularly care for a few. If I pull something I don’t like and am disappointed, one of two things will happen. I will either sigh and try again, or give up and be disappointed. It’s lootbox gambling, and I really hate it.

“But Kinvi,” you say, “it’s not gambling because you’re guaranteed to win every time!” Well, yes, but it’s still gambling. I had a chance to get the prize I want, instead of just buying it outright. I don’t want to pay for a CHANCE at something. The gem store shows you, with the exception of Black Lion Chests, EXACTLY what you’ll be getting from your purchase. Unless I spend 9600+ gems, it’s a risk.

Here’s the third point: the marketing. The spooky mounts were 1600 for five skins. Reasonable, and you get exactly what you paid for. The new Warforged Hound? 2000 gems by itself. Likely put up to show how sweet the 400g-a-skin the adoption center is. Granted, the Hound is a lot of new assets and elements, and is definitely worth more than switching some colors and adding more dyes. You guys are experimenting and I like that, but please. Point four.

Here we are, my biggest issue: the gem store itself. Yes, it’s how you make money, and I’ve spent a fair bit myself. But 31 new mount skins, and not a single one that can be earned through in-game tasks? I still have hope for the foreseeable future where I can do side quests to get some new content, but putting so many at once behind the cash wall feels odd to me.

Also, a concern. There are 30 available right now, but wording seems to indicate to me that over time, there will be more and more added. And that’s great! I look forward to seeing your creativity. But if the systems stays as it is, will it all just be one big pool? Will I eventually have a 1/60+ chance of pulling the one skin I want, provided I don’t unlock any right now? I REALLY don’t want that.

But lastly, to address some argument points.

“It’s all optional cosmetics, it does nothing to improve your gameplay experience.” Yes. To a point. A lot of the people I know enjoy customizing their characters and getting into the lore and feel of the game. It’s a great game and I love it! And that’s why I want to feel good playing it.

“If you buy 30, there’s no risk of NOT getting what you want.” True. But I don’t have $120+ of disposable income lying around right now. I also don’t want to pay for something I don’t want. I’d gladly save up and spend for something I DO want, like I did with the Path of Fire expansion, or the new Pokémon games that are coming out. But why waste money on something I don’t want and won’t use?

“If you don’t like the skins, don’t buy them.” I don’t like SOME of the skins. Others, I would be glad to use, perhaps on multiple characters! I want to get the ones I WANT without having to sift through the rest. I want to support the company because I love the game, but, again, I don’t want to pay for things I don’t want.

#guild wars 2 #mount adoption feedback #kin.txt

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thesinglesjukebox · 5 years

Video

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ARIANA GRANDE - 7 RINGS [4.28] For the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone...

Iris Xie: Ariana, NO. Riding on the rhythms of Black artists like Princess Nokia and 2 Chainz and mixing it with "My Favorite Things": I am astounded at her dismissive fluidity between the verse and the chorus, and her blatant entitlement in the hook, "I want it, I got it." This is not the same way that Beyoncé and other artists have used it; when they say "I want it, I got it," it's not just for the singer, it's representation for all who need to seek power and strength in that message. This is a declaration of privileged entitlement and is only sympathetic to those who need to seek power in not being held accountable, in feigning innocence, in hiding behind privilege to do whatever they want without consequences. Ari's built her empire, and the discarded cores of the songs wrung dry for "7 Rings" is part of the plan for her expansion. The disrespect of Black artists has always been part of the story in popular music (and the world) and is threaded into the very framework and sound of popular music, but it's honestly breathtaking how obvious and easy Ariana is about it. It's brutal, it's self-indulgent, it's disrespectful as fuck, and if she decides to cast herself as Alexander the Great for the "7 Rings" music video, that would just be perfect for this song. [0]

Vikram Joseph: I really thought Ariana might be self-aware enough to understand how downright obnoxious she might come across in releasing a glorified flex about her gigantic wealth, but apparently not. It's brazenly over-the-top ("my receipts be looking like phone numbers") and I hoped, vainly, that it might be satirical -- her own explanation of the backstory behind the song makes it plain that it's not. No right-minded person resents her success, but in this socioeconomic climate -- oh, fuck it, in any socioeconomic climate -- a line like "I see it/I like it/I want it/I got it" is craven and crass. Musically, it's a bland, passable slow-jam, apart from the parts which exhume the decaying corpse of "My Favorite Things," which nobody wanted to see. Ariana Grande has called this a "friendship anthem" (because she bought rings for 6 of her friends), which reveals more about her concept of friendship than she perhaps would have liked. [2]

Alex Clifton: I know Ariana's described "7 Rings" as a friendship anthem, which on the surface is true; it's inspired by a shopping trip where she bought her girls friendship rings. But for a song about friendship, it feels awfully distant. The lovely thing about "Thank U, Next" was that it was personal and empathetic, exes named and thanked with grace in a way we rarely ever see in pop music. Here, friendship seems to be replaced with luxury; her posse feels anonymous, like they could be any girls in the club. The song's an absolute bop, making "My Favourite Things" into something sexier than it should be while also giving Ariana the chance to rap impressively. [7]

Danilo Bortoli: It was not impossible to see this coming. After the song that pretty much defined the social media zeitgeist in all of its lack of glory, comes the contractually-obliged, self-congratulatory victory lap which anticipates an also mandatory album rollout ritual. Meaning: "7 Rings" should be a mere filler. Not only because it sounds like Princess Nokia with less wit and bravado and more privilege, and not only because it evokes mindless "Pretty Boy Swag" comparisons (suggesting Soulja Boy's flow is not in public domain by now). No, "7 Rings" is bad because it strips away Ariana's empathy and replaces it with a bunch of meme-worthy signifiers: Breakfast at Tiifany's, ATM machines, retail therapy, all wrapped under a cold, soulless beat. Yet, given how calculated that beat is, you can tell cold was what she aimed. Sadly. Here, "I want it, I got it" is her mere wish, lacking the wit to make it happen. [3]

Thomas Inskeep: "I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it," Grande sings on this ode to conspicuous consumption, and while I'm happy she's doing well, it's hard to relate when I've been unemployed for almost five months. And the track, based around a chunk of the melody of "My Favorite Things," is nothing special. She's raised expectations for her music, after the quality of last year's Sweetener, so this doesn't cut it on multiple levels. [3]

Julian Axelrod: I hoped "Thank U, Next" would be the Lemonade to Sweetener's Beyonce. Now I'm worried it's Ariana's Reputation. [6]

Katherine St Asaph: Viktor & Rolf just released a set of comically expensive reaction GIFs, also known as their Spring/Summer '19 collection. You probably shouldn't continue reading this blurb until you've seen every single one. The dresses themselves are either nightgowns with epaulets or hyper-femme tulle ziggurats, like Mount Everests constructed entirely from bubblegum and Marie Antoinettes. The main details -- if you can really call something a "detail" if it's in huge meme font -- are emblazoned snot-slogans like "I Am My Own Muse" or "No Photos Please" or just "NO." So swamped in fabric, all the models look even more like children than usual, making the collection resemble Abercrombie tees or Nickelodeon tween shows, in all their oversassed questionability. But there's craftiness to the brattiness. Said the Vogue writer, perhaps with a slight whiff of "oh god, I really have to, don't I": "All the assorted typography and graphic design -- the text as well as the eagle head, the skull, the candy hearts, and so forth -- resulted from layers of additional tulle. Trite sentiments backed up by technical prowess." This also describes Ariana Grande's music: tart but frilly, meme-ready but warmly produced. Or rather, it's a description of her music since Sweetener and before this. For all the suffocating memesphere around it, "Thank U, Next" is a fine standalone Mariah Carey pastiche. "7 Rings" is a Gwen Stefani pastiche, primarily of "Wind It Up": garish showtune interpolation, slapdash arrangement, half-assed lyrics (being tied up with cuffs? Weird sex, but OK), and borrowed hip-hop posturing, as if her main takeaway from "Formation" was it being about buying shit. Can you even imagine how bad a fast-fashion version of those gowns would be? You can certainly hear it. [3]

Will Adams: Ariana Grande's post-Sweetener rebranding as an Extremely Online #queen is an instructive, if tiresome, example of how social media has blurred the lines between genuine authenticity and personality as imagined by PR suits. "7 Rings" does the same trick of "Thank U, Next" in that it attempts to reverse engineer memes as desperately as Katy Perry. But while "Next" was at least tuneful, this is a joyless cover of OMG Girlz's "Pretty Girl Bag," no more effective at fostering goodwill than a deluge of tweets that only serve to remind you that you'll never be her. [3]

Maxwell Cavaseno: There was once a time where Ariana singles needn't be based around their ability to serve as content and memes. That time may feel like years behind us but it was quite literally three months ago and yet is titanically irreversible. Now Grande's songs feel less like any real ability to showcase the talents of her singing, just more like suitable IG Story content based on an effervescent bitchiness demonstrated as "#confidence" and beholden to boringly cynical rap cadences. "Spend It" sucked years and years ago as a dead-eyed anthem by a 40-year-old pro making songs for 30-year-olds trying to hang with the 20-year-olds in the club. Distressingly, its progeny in "7 Rings" doesn't sound any less cynical. People can say all the critiques about the Sweetener run they could, but nevertheless that was a period in which you could honestly indicate that Ariana Grande was enjoying herself and doing her best. I'd be hard pressed to find such from material like this. [3]

Nicholas Donohoue: I get in fights over Ariana's message discipline. It is now settled law that "Thank U, Next" is the high point of Ari's career in terms of self-mythologizing, but I couldn't help feeling stung by: i) her releasing the song right before the peak of "Breathin'" (her actual high point of artistic expression), capping herself at the knees by cutting off one great point of personal vulnerability in lieu of addressing her less interesting public persona and, ii) by attaching "Thank U, Next," her tight construction of showcraft and narrative shifting, to a music video Frankenstein-ing four early 2000's movies with distinct tonal and subject conceits together. For as much love as I have for a titan of courage and rolling-with-the-punches like Ariana, I feel she might be careless as to what she transfers into her own sound and image. I don't know what "7 Rings" is suppose to mean. I have confidence this style of more showtune trap is an element of Ariana, but I don't know if it's a wise progression from the tuneful, honest, and numbly reminiscent take in "Thank U, Next". The money and excess politics over a spare beat are confounding mostly due to people loving it because they seem destined to never have it. This isn't even touching the racial critiques that Ariana is strolling where pop-based Black women have had to stomp (re: Rihanna and the word "savage"). Undeniably there is power here for Ariana, but who is meant to benefit from this, including Ariana? [4]

Jonathan Bradley: From the R&B undertones of debut album Yours Truly on, Ariana Grande has been a white pop artist who has attempted to situate her work in a racially liminal space: not black, and not even a pantomimed blackness in the mode of Miley Cyrus's less estimable moments or Iggy Azalea, but one nevertheless imbued with performative and stylistic cues borrowed from that cultural context. It's a position that is complicated by the proficiency of her baby-Mariah vocal, by -- perhaps unconsciously on her part -- the historically contested whiteness of Italian-Americans, by a debut hit that interpolated the Latino rapper Big Pun and featured a guest verse from white rapper Mac Miller, by pop's history of making African American ideas into mass culture, and by Grande's own political advocacy for civil rights causes. And alongside this has been her claim on a decidedly non-liminal gendered space: from pastels and ponytails to short skirts and rom-coms, Grande's image is underlined by stylized femininity. In her post Sweetener singles -- and even on "God is a Woman" -- she has used this to stake out a claim of maturity and independence, and, by extension, a distinctly feminine authority: "Thank U, Next," for instance, was a sugary distancing from the men with whom she'd been associated that asserted self-reliance ("her name is Ari") and professional success ("this song is a smash"). "7 Rings" continues blending girlishness with power, and like Taylor Swift on Reputation, Grande is making herself more untouchable by making her music chillier. She nods at Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn from the opening line on, and posits feminine solidarity and capitalist consumption as the enabling force of her dominance. Her flow here has been sourced to everyone from Princess Nokia to 2 Chainz to Soulja Boi, but considering the lyric, the likely inspiration seems to be Beyoncé on "Formation." And that rapping, the trap beat, and the nods to luxury goods combine to form Grande's most overt and most questionable tracing of blackness in her career. Conspicuous consumption in black music is an implicit challenge to systems of wealth that have excluded its makers; in a white context, it's just shopping. Grande's ability to sustain public goodwill in maintaining the tenability of these contradictions seems dependent as much on the sensitivity of her approach as it does on the context of the music. "7 Rings" makes more explicit some of the uncertain contours of Grande's music, but it does not fail: it is delicious in its fluffy imperiousness. [8]

Stephen Eisermann: I said this last year about Drake, but it rings true now about Ariana: it was only a matter of time before things got too problematic to ignore. Someone, somewhere will surely write about the musical blackface (as well as excessive use of bronzer), but focusing on the song alone -- yeah, this is hot. Ariana's coos play well with the trap arrangement and although she may have stolen someone's flow, she sure wears it well. It's a fun song to bop to, and I'm all for a good friendship banger, but ignoring all other circumstances for a banger is just irresponsible at this point. [6]

Crystal Leww: Ariana Grande's always made some incredible music, but the art direction and conversation around her has been subpar, at best, and oftentimes kind of icky! That first album Yours Truly was so beyond in how well it paid homage and tribute to the feeling of the late-'90s/early-'00s R&B pop. But there were accusations of playing into the idea of the Sexy Baby to sell records. A lot of this was super unfair -- Grande was so young at the time and most of this was projection by gross, older men who should have known better -- but this weird dichotomy between Grande as a really excellent musician and Grande as a frustrating image, brand, pop star, object of obsession from stans has persisted. "7 Rings" kind of rules as an actual track; Grande's created a super polished, slick product that pays homage to Soulja Boy flow while borrowing the melody and concept from The Sound of Music. But everything around this track sucks from the continued "borrowing" of Black culture (e.g., 2 Chainz's pink trap house) to use of "Asian" characters and urban culture to the insane defensiveness from Grande stans around all of this. I can't believe that Ariana Grande is going through her Katy Perry phase. [7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: God, this was a bad idea. Everything here shouldn't work -- the metronomic synths, the unholy fusion of Rodgers & Hammerstein to Soulja Boy, the diving head-on into the murky cultural appropriation accusations that have dogged Ariana for a minute now. And yet despite all of these (entirely self inflicted) problems, Ariana manages to pull together the best possible song given the circumstances. It's still not good, but her sheer force of personality makes "7 Rings" into an object of fascination. [5]

Alfred Soto: It's not any more mediocre than her other mediocre singles, but despite the famous sample and rap cadences she sounds like a person visiting a childhood home she happily left. The home is deluxe but sparely decorated, and the wine good. Guests are welcome, especially Mariah Carey. [5]

Edward Okulicz: I've seen The Sound of Music a number of times that is more than I wish to admit here. Rephrasing the song so it's not about things that are believably in the life of an Austrian nun and instead are about things you'd go buy or consume conspicuously isn't original, though. Big Brovaz did more with this chorus and I think poor-shaming is a PR mistake. [3]

Tobi Tella: Sampling The Sound of Music is an inspired choice, and one that will always get the inner theatre kid on me on a song's side. But the chorus mostly leaves me cold -- it's a fun boast, but there's not much too it and I don't think hip-hop is a particularly good genre for her. When she starts spitting bars during the bridge and saying things like "gimme the loot!" I just get secondhand embarrassment. [6]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: The inversion of "My Favorite Things" is sly: there's no admittance of sadness, the things in question aren't quotidian, and Ariana's able to attain everything at a moment's notice. The lay person can't just fly somewhere to witness "raindrops on roses" or "silver-white winters," but everything that Ariana lists is a consumable product that's readily purchasable. Since she was never sad in the first place, there's no actual need for "simply remember[ing]" anything -- she's creating her list of favorites as she has them rung up. As such, "7 Rings" isn't a song about surviving the present, but it does implicitly acknowledge its potential for being unsatisfactory. The cryptic synths and sparse arrangement hint at this sad undertone, but it never quite gets there. And therein lies the song's biggest flaw: the lack of melancholic (sub)text makes this less interesting, and the display of opulence is frequently offset by Ariana's fumbled rapping. There's little resembling actual human emotion or personality here, but given her success with "Thank U, Next" and now this, Ariana is maybe more interested in being a meme. [3]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#ariana grande #7 rings #music #new music #pop #pop music #music video #music writing #music reviews

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glenmenlow · 6 years

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Super Bowl LII: 5 Questions with WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil

“No puppies, no ponies, no pretty girls, no dancers, no singers, no goats, no bunnies, no lizards, no actors, no ex-governors, no music, no spoken words.” That’s what the teaser to WeatherTech’s fifth consecutive Super Bowl TV advertisement promises.

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But there are dogs in the WeatherTech ad for the Big Game on Sunday. The canines are just behind the scenes—well, actually, way behind the scenes.

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The entire point of WeatherTech’s Super Bowl LII ad (above) is that the man behind the brand has built another kind of factory in America to launch—with U.S.-made machine tools, raw materials, workers and ingenuity—a new kind of enterprise: manufacturing the nation’s best, most versatile and safest dog bowls, made from non-toxic stainless steel.

“The main cause of canine death in America is cancer, and our job as dog owners and animal lovers is to make sure our dog is eating non-toxic food from non-toxic bowls and drinking clean water,” WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil told brandchannel.

Supporting American manufacturing, WeatherTech’s Super Bowl 2018 30-second spot shows in elapsed time last year’s construction of a factory in suburban Chicago that produces both stainless-steel dog bowls and more traditional WeatherTech products. It’s next to the complex where MacNeil previously built a half-billion-dollar empire by digitally manufacturing customized, high-end floor mats for automobiles.

His brand extension success—from car floor mats to coasters, pet barriers and other merchandise, boosted by heavy ad buys in the Wall Street Journal and on TV—became a platform for the brand’s ongoing Made in America campaign.

WeatherTech’s first four Super Bowl ads depicted the growth of the company and rewards from this philosophy, despite the obstacles of committing to domestic manufacturing.

MacNeil (at top) is proud to lead one of the brands investing in U.S. manufacturing, as he explains in a pre-Super Bowl chat about his fifth Game Day campaign,

What has Super Bowl advertising accomplished for WeatherTech to date?

More brand awareness. I didn’t start out knowing I was going to be doing this for five years, but I keep doing it because of that. It’s like going into a particular coffee shop and ordering something you end up liking: You don’t think right away that you’re going to do it five days in a row. But it works for you, and you decide each day after that, and you end up doing that anyway.

Why is this year’s ad more about American manufacturing per se and less about WeatherTech’s products, technology and people than your previous Super Bowl commercials were?

The first commercial we did, “You Can’t Do That,” was about how we overcame all the negatives: You can’t hire American workers, you can’t afford American raw materials, you can’t do that. We haven’t changed our message at all. It’s about manufacturing in America.

We’ve gone back to my roots in the first Super Bowl commercial and stayed with it and talked again about manufacturing in America and the jobs it creates. After five years, people who aren’t clueless already know what WeatherTech does; and we’re online.

So what is this new factory all about?

Well, in the ad, we show the building of a factory in America and the WeatherTech sign going up on it, another factory in Bollingbrook (Ill.). It’s both an expansion of what we’ve been doing as well as a factory for adding a new product line: a totally non-toxic, NSS-certified pet-feeding system.

What’s special about these bowls?

Well, nearly all stainless-steel dog bowls sold in America are made overseas, and to questionable quality standards. In fact, a few years ago there was a recall on dog bowls that were imported from overseas and contained radioactive metal. Dog owners don’t know the difference, but they expect dog bowls to be safe.

There are more than 150 alloys of stainless steel, but only two are really suitable for human food contact, and we’re using one of those two alloys for our pet bowls. So we’re using American-made stainless steel to the highest quality standards, and it is the only pet-feeding bowl in the history of the world that is NSS-certified, and NSS is typically used for certifying commercial cookware for us in commercial restaurants.

There are five different sizes and eight different stand types … and the [FDA-compliant] stands are mounted to a mat that will catch any spills of water or food, and both the stand and mat have FDA-compliant anti-fungal agents. It’s the most sanitary and healthy non-toxic feeding system ever rated, and it’s made right here in America with raw materials, machinery and workers from America. And we’re super proud of it.

If you were going to diversify WeatherTech and your highly successful business model for manufacturing, why go in this direction?

In 2016, I recognized that the ability to feed our dogs and cats and animals from certified, non-toxic bowls that are to human standards really didn’t exist. I saw an opportunity not only to help animals and increase their health and longevity but also certainly a niche in the market to sell more products and employ more Americans and build another American factory.

Get more insights in our Q&A series.

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kelsusit · 6 years

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Fujitsu Global

Workstations

Life can turn out to be cluttered, unorganized, and just a messy scenario when you do not have a strong spot to function at. Chaos and dysfunction prevail unless you take the required methods to generate an environment conducive to productivity. Record navigation data, tied to a Computer workstation and use them against the “victim” is a tort of invasion of privacy. The Z8 and Z6 models every support up to dual CPUs, and an optional dual ten GbE network module for high speed networking at half the cost of current HP Workstations, and with out consuming a valuable PCIe expansion slot. As of this article’s final update, based on the method recommendations of the most well-known CAD applications presently utilized for jewellery, I present two lists: 1 is the minimum Pc specifications to run CAD, the other is the best Pc specifications to run CAD. Typically, consoles consist of a high resolution show, a keyboard and a mouse at a minimum, but also supply numerous displays, graphics tablets,3D mice (devices for manipulating3D objects and navigating scenes), and so forth.

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The Software Licensing Service reported that the validity period of the license has expired. I upgraded graphics cards, swapped in larger disks and later, an SSD, much better optical drives, more RAM, USB 3., eSATA, specialized video interfaces, and RAIDed a number of of the internal drives for video overall performance. Dell Precisions Workstations T1650 Personal computer Workstation- 4 Core, XEON E3-1220 v2 (three.1GHz, 8M, 0GT). Even a lot more powerful, the device can be utilised as a zero client device to affordably turn one particular Computer into several, employing straightforward USB connections to generate multi-seat computing, pairing one particular dock per workstation and for a total of up 14 workstations. At MAINGEAR, we build PCs created for the best performance, reliability and longevity that fit your wants.

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The $1,000 ten-core model is more rapidly than all but two Xeon CPUs, according to PassMark , so the $2,000 18-core model should handily eclipse them all when it really is released later this year. HP has announced the company’s most potent workstation to date, the HP Z8 G4, as well as other models from the newly refreshed Z line. I will take some time to Google those about (Spending much more time on WC analysis then Air appropriate now, frankly), but let me ask you what I asked lowfat if you had to AirC dual Xeon’s, what would you advise? OSHA inspectors cited the firm for violating section five(a)(1) of the Occupational Security and Overall health Act for directing employees to get rid of diagonal structural members on communication towers without utilizing short-term braces or supports, and for permitting personnel to be tied off to bracing that was not capable of supporting at least 5,000 pounds.

In contrast to an workplace machine exactly where two entirely differently specified PC’s will give functionality variations that are for the most element immeasurable, acquiring it incorrect with a CAD workstation can price a business thousands in lost productivity. We specialize in outfitting whole commercial workplace spaces with contemporary modern day company furnishings. One more benefit is guests can appear at their folios at any time in the course of their stay. 2. Primarily based on desktop workstations memory capacity as of June 14, 2017. It comes with up to a seventh-generation Intel Core m3-7Y30 processor with a 2.60GHz clock speed, 4GB of DDR3L RAM, and a 500GB hard-disk drive (HDD). PAWs need to have anti-malware capabilities and computer software updates must be quickly applied to keep integrity of these workstations.

This error was returned by the server on which the file exists. Here you can shop workstations in a assortment of configurations, designs, and sizes, as properly as all the pieces you need to full your space (such as chairs and side tables). The sleek and sturdy HP Z840 Workstation functions uncompromised reliability, a tool-significantly less chassis to facilitate upgrades, a lockable side panel to safe your worthwhile components and information, and handles to effortlessly move the technique around. This offers fantastic graphics performance with superior energy efficiency. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti merupakan hybrid antara GTX 1080 dan GTX 1070 Dibangun dengan GPU GP104 melalui proses lithografi 16 nm, GeForce GTX 1070 Ti tampil dengan 2432 CUDA Core, 152 TMU dan 64 ROP.

This timeline is an off-shoot of my research on a Chronology of Individual Computers I am adding info to this timeline as I encounter it, without having looking as well difficult for massive quantities of details at this time. With powerful throughput to maximize NVIDIA GPU processing, the ioFX will slash application wait instances in HP WZ Workstations to accelerate each the hardware and application important to specialist digital content material creation. A faster personal computer tends to make you more productive on your personal computer considering that your laptop can now save files faster, and run a number of programs at when with no any noticeable slowdown which decreases your computers speed even though wasting you time when your Computer is slow.

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Our highly-threaded 3ds Max rendering test also showed off the benefits of this dual processor workstation. When you shop on-line at , we’ll deliver one particular of our bestselling office desks straight to your door. But if you never have a backup then you could be left with no other alternative than to do a clean windows 7 install from an set up USB patched with the USB drivers you need for a Z170 mobo. There is no pricing for the 18-core model but, but the 10-core W-2155 is $1,440, about 50 percent a lot more than the ten-core i9 CPU. A network error occurred while sending information to one more node in the cluster. Entry Level, Mid Range and Ultra High End Video Workstation PCs for a number of displays, Personal computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Digital Content Creation (DCC).

Our chassis are created by BOXX engineers and proudly manufactured in the USA, but they are not constructed for sending emails or gaming. HP’s most well-liked workstation, the HP Z420, contains up to eight processing cores using the newest Intel Xeon processor E5-1600 v2 and E5-2600 v2 product households, offering up to 64 GB of ECC memory, up to 12 TB of high-speed storage, and NVIDIA Quadro K6000 or AMD W7000, or dual NVIDIA K2000 graphics. Professional graphics cards supply the potential to realistically display parts and models and preserve your viewports fluid even when working with complex projects. You can also go to the Pc section in Windows Explorer, and proper click on your USB Flash drive, and pick properties where you uncover a Readyboost tab which you can use to inform you how significantly space you want to use for Windows Readyboost, or if you want to dedicate your whole USB flash drive or memory card for use with Readyboost.

It is also a good notion to provide a list of all software that is approved on the server and workstation level, so that all personnel are clear. A lot of ergonomic suggestions for workstation arrangements assume that you will be using a desktop technique where the laptop screen is separate from the keyboard. The dual-processor system with Athlon MP 1900+ primarily based on the Tyan Thunder K7 board was utilized as a competitor. At the Wooden Furnishings Shop we have several sorts of desk, from single pedestal desks for modest spaces, to twin pedestal and huge computer desks with constructed in filing and storage. Joshua Zerkel, Certified Expert Organizer, aids busy folks save time, space and income by getting organized at property and at perform. Windows XP finish of assistance is on the horizon and this new line up from HP should be the excuse that you have been hunting for to bring your enterprise up to a complete new level of technological possibilities.

WhisperStation – Xeon Phi offers the quietest improvement workstation obtainable with Xeon Phi Knights Landing” processors. Mobility — the potential to take workstations on the road just like their much less-strong laptop laptop kin — has been a notable trend. Provide your staff with the best workstations achievable via our selection of sturdy, nicely-produced workplace desks. The Sensible Desks in our variety are accessible in a assortment of heights, materials, colours and finish alternatives. We have designed state-of-art modular workstations just before which left a extended lasting impression on workplace visitors and also smiles on your office workers. Additionally, users can see two apps side-by-side in split-screen mode, so they can simply operate across, for example, e mail and a word document at the exact same time.

Most workstation motherboards and chassis right now help dual slots for graphics, and for CAD specialists, dual slots open the door to a lot more screen real estate. A restricted number of workstations will ship in the initial half of subsequent year from Intel, which will also control initial distribution. AMD offers the main option to Intel’s central processing units. As I pointed out earlier, the Z820 considerably improves on the Z800 when it comes to processing power and memory bandwidth. Intel Core i7-7700K dipersenjatai grafis yang terdiri atas 24 unit Execution. On December 7, 1999, officials of the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration (NCOSHA) notified the Division of Safety Research of this a number of fatality. Note that we’re comparing the Z840 to single-processor workstations and über-gaming rigs simply because we have not tested any dual-processor workstations given that we updated our tests last year.

So you have heard when it comes to CAD graphics, you should cough up the coin for the specialist workstation cards (Nvidia Quadro or AMD Firepro). It is also equipped with (up to) 24 discrete processor cores, making the Z620 appears quite a powerhouse when it comes to computing and visualization horsepower. You have four color options to pick from to customize the gaming desk to your space: green, red, white, and the standard black. As a result, if rendering speed is of value, maintain in thoughts that the higher the quantity of cores and the more quickly the processor clock speed, the more rapidly you can render your final presentation piece. In the Executive Workplace or the Help Workplace, verify the Networking and Sharing Center or the status lights on the NIC.

Rahul Tikoo, vice-president and common manager of Dell’s Precision workstation products, spoke with Cadalyst about some of the critical trends that have punctuated that time period, driving demand and development in workstations. Motherboard ASUS ROG Z370 Maximux X Apex tampil dalam kind issue EATX dan ditujukan bagi para antusias yang membutuhkan kinerja ekstrem. Browse our selection of modern day workstations, cool cubicles, adjustable height sit-to-stand benching systems and office systems furniture to customize your open office plan and optimize your space. If income is not your concern and you are expecting an impeccable performance for your use, then the Lenovo ThinkPad P50 Mobile Workstation laptop is the ideal anyone can advise. We work with a vendor that components-out new servers, so we are able obtain these OEM processors at a unique price.

However since it is hugely configurable, users can nevertheless load it up with up to 384GB of memory whilst retaining the dual-CPU option. With its combination of higher-end processor efficiency, expandability, and new technologies, like DDR4 memory and Thunderbolt 2, the HP Z840 is the pinnacle of high-finish functionality for these couple of users who require it. It has all the bells and whistles that an engineer and their supporting IT staff would need to have. This series of notebooks was discontinued soon after HP’s acquisition of Compaq. Mazurkiewicz lends his experience to ensure that HP’s suppliers are complying with the company’s environmental goals, as effectively as to support drive new HP innovations. This adds some design and style complexity, but can simplify safety monitoring and computer software updates if a massive quantity of accounts and workstations are utilized in your PAW implementation.

I am on a spending budget, so what would be the ideal laptop I could buy to run CAD applications effectively and although also not breaking my wallet? The term workstation also has been used to reference a Computer or mainframe terminal on a regional region network (LAN). Apa yang menyebabkan motherboard Z270 tidak mendukung processor Intel Coffee Lake? Lost Planet two was slow as properly, but it shows that the Quadro 600 is at least DX11 compatible (the Intel HD Graphics P3000 can only handle DX10). The ergonomic desk originated with the starting of the field of human factors or ergonomics right after World War II. Legislation stating minimal needs for furnishings employed by office workers referred to ergonomic desk standards. A Volume Shadow Copy Service element encountered an unexpected error.

An example of a computer software program that supports CUDA is Adobe Photoshop CC. Personal computer desks are ergonomically developed for those who perform for extended periods of time at a desk and want to sit at their desk without having fear of injury. As with all HP Z Workstations, the HP Z200 gives a flexible workstation platform with a variety of choices in Windows and Linux operating systems and a complete variety of independent computer software vendor (ISV) certifications. A higher frequency processor with a multi-core count is completely capable of handling the demands of 3D CAD and BIM software, so you can visualize your concept anytime during the style procedure. It used to be the reserve of the 3D gaming community, but is now being noticed far more and far more in professional workstations.

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theopentable · 7 years

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Shelter from the Storm

Matt 4:12-23, Matt 7:24-29

A Recap and Overview of Matthew 4

The temptations Jesus experiences are the temptations we all experience.

They’re what we might call our “programs for happiness” which we hope will guide us through the wilderness and protect us from the storms.

They reflect our normal human instincts to cope with fear, discomfort and pain.

We know Jesus’ first temptation.

We think, we hope, that filling our emptiness with bread will medicate the pain.

But it doesn’t last. Man doesn’t live on bread alone.

And so it’s only a temporary comfort. Our situation, our experience remains untouched.

And if we’re not careful, our temptations to find temporary comfort will add up to addictive realities in our lives.

We know the second temptation well enough.

We think, we hope, that dazzling others with how impressive we are will overcome our deep fear that we are insignificant.

We feel the temptation to do something flashy, something that will win for ourselves great affection and esteem.

And yet without the approval of the crowds we have nothing of any real substance to cling to because we’ve not learnt that our true significance and identity is bound up in God’s love.

And if we’re not careful, our need for the approval of the crowd will turn us into a hollow people – all surface matter, nothing on the inside.

We know the third temptation also -

We think, we hope, that if we can just gain enough power and control then we won’t have to feel vulnerable any more, that we can somehow rise above any fear, uncertainty or danger.

But of course, we’re not the only ones playing that game. You can only gain power and control by taking it away from another. You get the whole world playing that way and we only make the world a far more dangerous place.

So Jesus reminds us that our vocation as human beings is not to dominate, to cling on to power and control, but rather it is found in a life that worships God and serves him only.

* * *

What these universal human temptations amount to is what Jesus would describe as the broad path.

It’s entirely normal to orient your life around power and control, safety and security, affection and esteem and self-medicating your own pain.

These are the challenges we all have to deal with as part of the human condition.

We imagine that they might be our ticket to happiness; our way of negotiating the wild things that we encounter in the wilderness of our lives –

Heartbreak

Sickness

Betrayal

Unemployment

Grief

Jealousy.

And yet Jesus himself resists these temptations, leaning with all he has within him on God’s truth, God’s presence, God’s hope.

Somehow Jesus knew in a profound sense that the things we regularly orient our lives around because we imagine they will help us to cope with life wouldn’t actually deliver on their promise.

In fact, instead of making our lives better they actually end up magnifying the pain and suffering in our lives.

Jesus centred his life on a deeper wisdom, an alternative script, that recognised that recognised that these very normal programs for happiness were actually programs for misery and a broader kind of sickness as a whole.

Jesus emerges from the wilderness calling God’s people to repent, to change their lives, to stop looking for happiness where it couldn’t be found (Matt 4:17).

He knew God had a far more expansive vision of life for his people.

He announced that God’s dream for the world and for their lives was so close,

if only they’d hear the call,

if only they’d dare to take their place in the drama that was unfolding.

* * *

And so we see Jesus moving amongst the people, inviting everyday people to audition for parts in the kingdom of God, to become the renewed people of God, to become kingdom-people themselves.

He summoned them to let go of their old ways of being human and to take up a new way, an utterly risky way of turning the other cheek, of going the second mile, the way of losing your life in order to gain it.

He spots two brothers, Simon (who will become Peter) and Andrew.

He ushers them into the dance – “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

Immediately they leave their normal sources of safety and security and follow this Jesus with the blazing passion in his eyes.

Jesus then spots the Zebedee brothers, who also throw in their lot with Jesus, leaving their livelihood and their kin behind them (vv21-22).

They join this Jesus who goes throughout Galilee, teaching in synagogues and sharing the message of God’s dream for the world.

He shares stories that ‘function like dramatic plays in search of actors’ (NT Wright, The Challenge of the Kingdom, p.43).

And he heals.

He cures every disease and sickness among the people.

His reputation for bringing healing and freedom goes before him, great crowds come out to him, huge masses of people longing for healing.

This is the context as we approach the sermon on the mount.

Jesus emerges as a figure who resists normal temptations, normal instincts, normal ways of being and coping in the world.

He announces that God’s dream for the world is at their fingertips and that somehow it’s all mysteriously bound up in Jesus’ presence and activity.

He invites people to come and join him and he moves about, summoning people to take their part in the unfolding story.

And he brings healing to the sick.

Jesus is found within a sea of vulnerable people who know they are not well.

Somehow Jesus is bringing freedom and healing to those who are not coping in the wilderness of their lives.

* * *

Here’s why this is important.

The Sermon on the Mount is largely recognised as being Jesus’s greatest, most complete, and most important sermon.

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus at the height of his preaching and teaching and powers, offering us the clearest vision of Jesus’ transforming vision of the world.

Historically it’s been shown that we’ve rarely known what to do with the Sermon on the Mount, but those that have taken it seriously have changed the world.

They have been the salt of the earth, light of the world.

But the Sermon on the Mount isn’t addressed to a people who have everything together.

In fact, the transformative power of the Sermon on the Mount is that it offers hope of deliverance for lives bending under the weight of hostility,

bitterness,

resentment,

deceit,

worry,

greed,

and insecurity.

The Sermon of the Mount is for a people who know that they desperately need God’s empowering, delivering presence if they’re not going to survive the storms that rage within and without.

And so it shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus isn’t talking to the best of the best, the strongest, the smartest, the holiest.

Matthew chapter 4 ends with Jesus among the crowds of demoniacs, epileptics and people in pain.

Chapter 5 starts by saying that Jesus saw the crowds and went up the mountain. He sits down, his disciples are gathered, and then he begins his sermon on the mount.

Nadia Bolz Weber writes,

See, here’s why sometimes it’s good to ignore the chapter and verse separations. Because it’s so easy for us to default to hearing Jesus’ sermon on the mount as pure exhortation.

As though he is giving us a list of things we should try and be so we can be blessed – be meeker, be poorer, and mournier a little more and you will meet the conditions of earning Jesus’ blessing.

But the thing is, it’s hard to imagine Jesus exhorting a crowd of demoniacs and epileptics to be meeker.

He wasn’t telling them what to try and become.

He was telling them you are blessed and you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

This was his special class of people to whom he preached.

I mean, perhaps there were people in the crowd who totally had their crap together.

People who had solid relationships and had paid off their student loans and always backed up their hard drives.

People who had nothing they felt shame about and who didn’t have terrible secrets and knew exactly what they were doing.

Of course that is possible those people were in the crowd, it’s just, that’s not who we are told were coming to Jesus.

The ones we are told were coming to Jesus, the ones presumably to whom he was preaching, were described as the sick, those who were in pain, who fought with demons, who were broken and addicted and late on their back taxes.

Who have more than one ex-wife, and who watch too much Netflix and think that maybe a little heroin might be a good idea.

In other words, they were people standing in the need of God.

And standing in the need of God is standing in the way of blessedness in a way that having it all together never is.”[1]

Over the next few months I’m going to explore the beatitudes which announce the joy and the blessings of participating in God’s dream for the world and God’s hope for our lives.

But before we jump in to the start of the Sermon on the Mount I want to come to the end of the sermon on the mount.

As Jesus sums up his Sermon on the Mount he gives three metaphors.

· First, Jesus talks about two roads. One is wide and easy, but it leads to destruction. The other is narrow and hard, but it leads to life.

· Then Jesus speaks of two trees. One bears good fruit and lives on, while the other bears bad fruit and is cut down and burned.

· Finally, Jesus gives the metaphor of two houses. One is built on the rock so that it withstands the wind, rain, and flood; the other is built on the sand and collapses in the storm. (Matthew 7:13–27)

These metaphors sound a warning – don’t miss out on what God is doing – pay attention to Jesus’ words!

But there’s also a message of hope.

This final metaphor, which Jesus uses to conclude his masterpiece sermon, is particularly hopeful to those of us who may feel beaten down by life,

to those who know our flaws,

our points of weakness,

our pain, our struggles and brokenness, and insufficiency.

It’s hopeful for any of us who know how hard it is to negotiate the wild things in our lives,

the parts of us that are not well,

the parts of us that are afraid and don’t find it so easy to cope with the vulnerable realities of being human.

It’s hopeful for those of us who have been walking the broad path up to this point thinking that it might be our ticket to happiness

but know enough to be able to recognise that it’s only made us sicker;

that the fruit of our normal pursuits have not been good.

The metaphor that Jesus gives us is of a shelter from the storm.

As Jesus comes to the end of his Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us that if we will live his teaching, we will build a house on the rock-solid foundation that will stand when the rains fall, the winds blow, and the floods rise.

Isn’t that what we all long for?

In a world that seems to be increasingly dangerous and unstable with the threat of terror and global conflict it feels as though the storms are raging all around us.

In a world that seems to be changing at a dizzying pace it can feel like the floods are rising.

We feel the storms without and we feel the storms within.

And if our programs for happiness can’t offer what we hoped that they would, where do we turn?

Jesus draws us to himself, to make his teaching our foundation. To build our lives on him.

Jesus wasn’t the only poet to use the metaphor.

Bob Dylan wrote a song called Shelter from the Storm.

In the song Dylan pains the picture of a woman who offers a worn-out wayfarer a particular kind of kindness.

Here are five of the ten verses from the song:

'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud

I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form “Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”

And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured

I’ll always do my best for her, on that I give my word. In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm

“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”

I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail Poisoned in the bushes an’ blown out on the trail Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn

“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.” Suddenly I turned around and she was standin’ there With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair. She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns

“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.” I’ve heard newborn babies wailin’ like a mournin’ dove And old men with broken teeth stranded without love. Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn? “Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”

Who is this woman who offers shelter from the storm?

I don’t know how Dylan would answer that question these days, but I believe it’s who we are supposed to be as the church.

I believe it’s who we can become for others if we, as a collective, build our lives on the Sermon on the Mount.

Brian Zahnd, in his book Beauty Will Save the World: Rediscovering the Allure and Mystery of Christianity says,

“The church is to be that beautiful bride of Christ with silver bracelets on her wrist and flowers in her hair offering shelter from the storm to creatures void of form, to those burned out from exhaustion, to old men with broken teeth stranded without love.

Yes! In a world of steel-eyed death and men who are fighting to be warm, it’s the church that offers shelter from the storm!”

This is our vocation as the people of God.

We’re called by Jesus to find shelter from the storm

and to also be a people who, as a community, offer others a place where it’s always safe and warm,

a place where people want to be,

a place where they can find hope and healing.

And so that’s our task.

We invite those beaten down by the cold rains of modern life into welcoming churches which must offer safe and warm shelter

– especially to those who are not well,

to those who don’t have all their stuff together.

Together, Jesus is inviting us to share in his dream for the world,

to come and stand in the way of blessedness together.

Jesus is asking us to follow him.

It’s a narrow path for sure,

but it leads to surprising healing,

surprising life

and offers all of us shelter from the storm.

[1] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/2014/02/sermon-on-that-special-class-of-salty-light-bearing-people-to-whom-jesus-preaches/

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beingmad2017-blog · 7 years

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10 Best Space Strategy Games for PC

New Post has been published on https://beingmad.org/10-best-space-strategy-games-for-pc/

10 Best Space Strategy Games for PC

Did You Know?

The plot of the game Deus Ex, released in the year 2000, is centered in the year 2052. The skyline of New York City depicted in this game did not feature the twin towers on the game’s release. The developers reasoned that they had been destroyed in terrorist attack previously in the game. This was over a year prior to the 9/11 attacks.

In a Space strategy game, the decisions that gamer(s) take during the course of the game makes a difference in the outcome of the game. When playing these games, players need to be aware of the developments that take place in the game. What seems like a minor happening can have a momentous impact on the final outcome of the game. These games demand, from the players, the ability to think ahead of the current scenario and have a second plan ready in case the desired outcome is not achieved.

Many are fascinated by space. They are hardcore fans of Star Wars, Star Trek, and the like. Add some strategy-building abilities to this fascination, and be ready to be entertained for hours together, by some of the best space strategy games available.

Space-based Strategy Games for PC

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri

This turn-based game has been developed by Firaxis Games. It belongs to the 4X genre. In this genre, players need to expand, explore, exploit, and exterminate an empire. The plot is futuristic and set in the 22nd century. The gameplay is from a third-person perspective, and it has been directed by Sid Meier. The strategies in the game revolve around the idea of colonization of space. Players can choose to be the leader of any one of the seven available factions. This game is a spin-off of the civilization series. It was released in 1999 and is compatible with Linux, MAC OS, and Windows platforms.

Alpha Centauri is built around the framework of Civilization, and as such, a lot of it looks like a sci-fi re-skin. Wonders are replaced with secret projects and workers with terraformers. Cities are colonies, while chariots are scout buggies. But make no mistake, Alpha Centauri is its own game. Each unit is a combination of various components that you can rearrange to your heart’s content. It’s not as frustratingly complex as many 4X games, but it gives you just enough tactical flexibility to tweak units to fit your style. You can stick with the presets, or you can make heavily armored colony pods mounted on speeders. It’s only as weird as you make it.

Early in the game, you encounter the native Mind Worms, rolling monsters that attack with psionic powers and make the heads of lesser men explode. They spawn from nasty tiles of Xenofungus, which hinder movement, strangle resources, and more importantly, produce more Mind Worms. They might look like re-skinned barbarians, but unlike their primitive Civ brethren, the Mind Worms are with you the entire game. In fact, how you decide to deal with them is one of the most compelling reasons to still play the game today.

You see, each faction is divided along ideology. You have the warriors and the peacekeepers, the industrial capitalists and the hive-mind communists. Those ideologies not only give each faction various inherent bonuses (not unlike the governments in Civ IV) but can also influence the story. That’s right, Alpha Centauri actually has something of a real storyline revolving around the native life on the planet. At various points, you’ll receive text-based interludes describing your leader and his various struggles with the Mind Worms. The planet treats the colonists as an invasive species, one that is utterly alien to its integrated, psionic environment. As a world leader, you can either eradicate the natives, merge with them, or just ignore them; it’s up to you. It’s a clever design choice that makes you think about the game as more than just a fancy spreadsheet.

I had a really easy time getting back into SMAC, but it might not be quite as smooth to the palate for those weaned on later Civ titles. The interface is large and bulky by modern standards, and many important features are hidden away behind menus. For example, common actions like automating a scout or terraformer can’t be found under the right click menu, but rather require you to click the main menu button and dive a few levels deep. It’s only an initial annoyance until you learn the hotkeys, but it does remind you how far games have come, interface-wise.

As with so many time-honored games, Alpha Centauri sold poorly in its day. While there are plenty of mods that seek to recapture the magic inside the modern confines of newer engines, nothing ever quite matches up. And that’s ok because Alpha Centauri is still playable. It still has a unique flavor that is unlike anything else. If you’ve ever lost an evening (or morning) to Civilization, Alpha Centauri is well worth the $5.99

Sins of a Solar Empire

This game has been developed by Ironclad Games. It is a real-time game and belongs to the 4X strategy genre. Here, players can choose to be the leader of any one of the three races – Trader Emergency Coalition (TEC), Advent, and Vasari. Leaders have control of their space empires. The goal here is to conquer different star systems. There are four packages of the game that have been released so far. The first was Entrenchment, followed by Diplomacy. The third package was Trinity. The rebellion was as the fourth stand-alone package of this game. This game was released in 2008 and is compatible with the Windows platform.

The DLC not only embiggens pirates, it adds militias to the game that “will grow, raid nearby systems, and repopulate over time”. As with pirates, you’ll be able to pay militias to do your bidding, using them “to help defend your worlds, or coordinate your attacks with their strikes for maximum impact”. Why can’t everyone just get along?

Outlaw Sectors will set you back $4.99/£3.99 and promises to add plenty of new options, along with 11 new maps. Here are the main bullet points, from the Steam page:

Smuggling Specialization: Choose this planetary development to grab a cut of everyone’s trade income – but at a cost. The increased corruption from this black market activity will reduce that planet’s tax income.

Rampant Militias: Autonomous planetary militias will grow, raid nearby systems, and repopulate over time. Use them to help defend your worlds, or coordinate your attacks with their strikes for maximum impact.

Pirate Turf: Vicious when in their home sector, pirates can now raid multiple players simultaneously, drastically changing the art of the bidding war. And, just to make sure they are fully motivated to do what they do best, all credits spent on bounties will receive an automatic bonus.

Star Wars: Empire at War

This game has been developed by Petroglyph Games. The showdown in this game is mainly between Empire and Rebels. Players can choose from three available game modes. These are Campaign, Galactic Conquest, and Skirmish. In this game, at times, there are land battles along with space battles. It is a real-time strategy game, which was released in 2006. Later, in the same year, an expansion pack was released for the game. This was titled Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. This game is compatible with Windows and MAC OS platforms.

Galactic Civilizations

This is another turn-based strategy game, which has been developed by Stardock. The plot of this game is based in the 23rd century. Players are only assigned the human race. The player becomes the leader of the human race, and the goal to be achieved in this game is of galactic domination through colonization of the space. This game does not support multiplayer gameplay. The player has to play against AI (Artificial Intelligence) opponents. He can choose from various civilizations, which are Terran Alliance, Drengin Empire, Altarian Resistance, Arcean Empire, Yor Collective, Torian Confederation, Dominion of the Korx, and Drath Legion. This game was released in 2003 and is compatible with the Windows platform.

Lords of the Black Sun

This game was previously titled Star Lords. It is a turn-based game of the 4X strategy genre. You can play this game with multiple players along with AI. Players have eight races to choose from, and they are assigned as the leader of the race they choose. These leaders rule their empire, where the goal is to achieve space colonization. The game has been developed by Arkavi Studios. It was released in 2014 and is compatible with the Windows platform.

Master of Orion

This again is a turn-based game and belongs to the 4X genre of mystery games. It has been developed by Simtex. Like most other games on this list, the goal here is to develop colonies in space. This game has its focus on colonization of the star systems. There are ten races available for the player to choose from. This is not one of the multiplayer space strategy games for PC. It is a single-player game, and players are pitted against AI. This game was first released in 1993 and is compatible with MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, and Commodore Amiga.

Sword of the Star

This game is also from the 4X strategy genre. It has been developed by Kerberos Productions. Players get to choose to play from the various races, and the goal is to colonize the star systems. This is also a multiplayer game, besides providing an option to pit a single player against AI. Its sequel was released in 2011, while the game was originally released in 2006. It is compatible with the Windows platform.

Homeworld

This game has been developed by Relic Entertainment. It is the first 3D game in the real-time strategy (RTS) category. There are two races to choose from – Kushan and Taiidan. Players are provided with the option of playing individually against AI or in a group. The game was released in 1999 and is compatible with the Windows platform.

Endless Space

One more game in the category of the 4X strategy genre, this is a turn-based game, which has been developed by Amplitude Studios. This game has options for multiple players to play the same game, as well for a single player to take on AI. The plot takes place in 3000 A.D., where players are the leaders of their interstellar empires. Here, they can create their own civilizations, and one of the ways to achieve victory is by universal colonization. The battle scenes in this game take place in long-range combat, medium-range combat, and combat at close quarters. The game was released in 2012 and is compatible with the MAC OS and Windows platform.

Planetary Annihilation This is a real-time strategy (RTS) game and has been developed by Uber Entertainment. Players are provided with a map consisting of various planets and asteroids. They have to capture these planets, which can also be annihilated by other planets. A player loses on losing the last commander of the fleet. This game draws heavy resemblance to Total Annihilation. It was released in 2014 and is compatible wit the MAC OS, Windows, and Linux platforms.

These were some of the top space strategy games for PCs, that provide a balanced mix of best of both the worlds or should I say, many other worlds.

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