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anime-grimmy-art · 4 years ago

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Told you guys I’d ramble in due time.

I absolutely adore Bravely Default 2. It came at a really bad time cos I can’t waste 70 hours on a jrpg, but well, it’s too late to be concerned about that now. And as is tradition with me obsessing over a new game / show / whatever, you’ll basically find a fullblown review disguised as ramblings right under the cut. Be aware that I’m gonna talk about EVERYTHING, so spoilers are a given. Some maybe even for the previous Bravely Default games.

Also, if you wanna talk about this game in any capacity, hit me up, I’m DESPERATE to talk more about it.

Just for reference on how long this is gonna be, I made a voice recording while driving to remember all the points I wanna make, and that recording is almost 2 hours long. I did cut it down but still, this is gonna be a lot.

I’ll start off with the things that actually bugged me about the game, since there are only 3 things that really bothered me. First of, I really don’t like that you can name Seth. He has too much personality to be a self insert and player integration is not that big of a part in the game that this decision can be justified. It wouldn’t bother me that much if it didn’t leave a bad mark on the ending. First of all, we were robbed of Gloria desperately shouting for Seth, which makes the impact work less, and it’s just so prevalent that the name can’t be said because you have all the normal sound design going. If they’d just let the credits still play I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but because every other sound comes in it’s so obvious they’re just silently shouting in this scene, which makes it look silly. Like I said, this decision is more a detriment than an addition, and it’s a shame it casts a shadow on an otherwise heartfelt ending.

Speaking about lost potential, the other thing that really bothers me is the lost potential in certain plot points and character conclusions. I mainly mean Adam and Edna here. Both of them have been built up to be these formidable foes but they just, die. If it was just Adam I’d be fine with it, since you expect Edna to backstab him and be the actual big bad of the story, but I cannot fathom why they dropped Edna this HARD. If not Edna herself, I don’t understand why we don’t get more of a reaction from the Fairies and especially Adelle. I mean, Edna was her sole reason she left for her journey in the first place, then Edna dies and that’s it? No part where she grieves for a second? No concern from the others about Adelle? Mind you, I haven’t finished all the Sidequests, so maybe there actually is one in which this is addressed, but I think even just a Party Chat after Bad End 1 would have been sufficient to show how Adelle suddenly feels about the loss of Edna. It would have made Bad End 2 / The Secret Ending even more impactful, because, yeah, of course, you kinda know Adelle isn’t going to turn her back on fairy kind, but one of the reasons she doesn’t leave is because if Enda didn’t get a happy ending, then she shouldn’t either. It would have been amazing foreshadowing if she showed this sentiment before this scene happened. Other than that, it’s a shame that we know so little about Edna, or rather, how she became “bad”. I get she’s supposed to be corrupted by the Night’s Nexus, but how did it even come to this? It can’t have been a gradual thing, after all, Adelle says Edna was always good natured and then just disappeared one day. Really would have loved seeing more of that plot point.

Ok, last gripe I have, some choices in the soundtrack and sound design. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the OST, and I will get to that, but damn, whatever Revo used for the lead instrument in Wiswald hurts my ears. It’s a really good track, but I always have to turn down my volume because these high pitched sounds physically hurt. And for sound design. Dude, the Night’s Nexus is the least threatening, nightmare fueled abomination that ever existed. I get that its growl is kinda supposed to be layered with Edna’s or sth, but it, it just sounds silly. If they went the route of just swinging between different voices or began distorting it from phase to phase, it would have been fine. But the choice they made really made an otherwise creepy design just absolutely silly.

Ok, enough jammering, on to the good stuff. Like I said, there’s going to be a lot, so I’ll try to be brief in each aspect.

Gameplay

I honestly like the new battle mechanics more than the old ones. This individual, turn based system feels way more dynamic and it’s easier to strategies in battles. Because nothing made me more angry than setting up for a heal and the enemy suddenly being faster than me and killing my healer. Now it’s easier to plan ahead a bit.

I also found myself experimenting more with the jobs. Not sure what it really is, but none of the party members leaning more towards certain types of jobs and the job leveling being way faster probably helped.

And I know some people get up in arms because the boss sometimes can be a real pain in the ass (looking at you pope dude), I still found it very interesting getting around counters or even using these counters as a benefit. As an example, I made Adelle my main physical fighter and gave her lots of counter abilities to help her profit from being countered by enemies themselves. Now, she can attack enemies, get countered, automatically evade that counter and earn a BP at the same time. Made a lot of boss fights way easier and fun to exploit.

Music

Ok, I will try my best to be really, really brief, because in my recording this part takes up almost 40 minutes. Anyways, Revo might have just become one of my absolute favorite composers ever. I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but I initially wasn’t that impressed with the OST, but every time I listened to it, I just fell in love harder and harder. Before getting into specifics, I wanna highlight the two things that made me love this OST overall. First of all, this soundtrack almost seems like a refinement of BD’s. While losing some of that fairytale vibe, it sounds even more fantasy now. And in contrast to the original, this almost sounds more balanced? Like, BD’s OST felt high energy throughout, BD2’s on the other hand manages to find a good balance between high and low energy pieces. Like, the character themes or battle themes are absolute hype, but the overworld themes are a lot calmer and easier to listen to while exploring. Second big point that makes this soundtrack amazing is that Revo is an absolute god at using emotional progression/storytelling and leitmotifs in his songs. And heck, do I love myself my leitmotifs. You’ve got some obvious ones, like the final battle theme in which all the character themes and other leitmotifs are integrated. Then you got some maybe more subtle once, just like how the overworld themes are just the main theme, just a lot calmer and using the lead instruments of the towns of the areas.

But my absolute favourites gotta be the character themes and the main theme. I love how fitting the themes for the characters are and in general, each of them is such a bop. At first I prefered Elvis’, because I sure am a sucker for jazzy vibes, but over time Adelle’s became my fav. It’s just something about the trumpets, and how the theme almost sounds a bit melancholic and bittersweet, that drew me in. And considering her story, mostly her bad end, that the bittersweet tone really fits.

Then there’s the main theme. Just like BD’s it shouts “triumphant anthem” and it definitely gives you a very familiar vibe, but I’d argue it has even better emotional progression. Heck, the first time I heard the music start up in the reveal trailer, I didn’t have to look at the screen to know this is gonna be a BD game. Also, the credit song version had me weeping at the true end. I’m someone who’s very easily affected by music (if me shouting about soundtracks on this blog wasn’t proof enough) and just hearing that ending song, getting the after credits scene, just for the second credits to start as a freaking duet. Dude, at that point I just started sobbing, I’m not gonna lie. Just this little part showed how much Revo knows how to put emotion in a song and also write it in such a way that he can elicit strong, emotional reactions from you too.

Story

People have been complaining how the story is too boring and kinda disappointing in comparison to the last one, but I just think the games tried to accomplish different things here. Since the BD series is a celebration of old, classic jrpgs, “cliche” storytelling is a given. Though, BD did throw a lot of meta stuff in there too. BD2 in contrast just feels like a direct execution of that initial idea. It feels familiar, it feels comfy and it feels safe. Except for the little things with the endings and then overwriting the Nexus’ “save file”, BD2 doesn’t really get that meta, which is totally fine. It doesn’t try to reinvent or innovate anything, it just wants to be a fantasy story, that might be cliche, but still fun and enjoyable in its own right.

I’d also argue that the pacing is a lot better than the old game, because with BD I sometimes found myself skipping through scenes to get on with the story. Not that this game didn’t have me rushing through stuff as well, but I found it kept my intrigue way better than the original.

Characters

Next to the music, this is the part that I absolutely love the most. While, yes, they did lose a lot of potential with some characters, mostly with the villains, the main cast is just so much fun. I love these 4 dorks so, so much.

I honestly can’t stand how much people compare them to the original cast. Yes, ofc, I’ve been doing my fair share of comparisons too, but calling these four a more boring version of BD’s party physically hurts me. Because except for some initial impressions, the Heroes of Light are completely different from our beloved Warriors of Light.

While yes, Seth and Gloria give off strong Tiz and Agnes vibes at first, they both grow into such different characters that they’re not really comparable. I think this shows with Adelle and Elvis even more. I do understand how people could compare Adelle and Edea, since they’re both the feisty girl type, but I can’t understand how people can see Ringabel and Elvis as the same character type. While those two are the “suave” party members, they act so differently from another. And that’s honestly apparent the first time you meet them.

Anyways, I love these 4 so much.

We technically don’t know a lot about Seth at all, but they manage to pull so much out of just the fact that he’s a sailor, that it makes him really endearing, really fast.

I was kinda disinterested with Gloria at first, because again, the initial impression was Agnés2.0, but she grew on me a lot. Gloria is way more hard headed and honestly sassy in comparison to Agnés and I absolutely adore it.

Elvis. Elvis, my man. I love this fantasy scottosh wizard so, so much. He’s such a ridiculous character but so endearing at the same time. You got all this dorkiness, with him setting himself on fire as a student, him doing god knows what for a good drink or just laughing danger and prejudice in the face. But then you got his super empathetic and caring side. Mind you, most of his wise moments come from quoting Lady Emma, but still, as much as he’s hopeless with certain social situations, he’s actually still really good at reading the room and playing things smart. He’s a smart and powerful idiot, which makes him a danger to everyone and himself, and I love him for it. (I also can’t believe they called him Lesley I MEAN COME ON)

And then there’s Adelle. I liked her from the start, but I didn’t think she would stick out to me. I think now she’s my favourite character. Not even talking about all the stuff that happens in chapter 3 and onward, because these story threads are awesome in their own right, but there’s just something about her personality that’s interesting and appealing to me. Like I said, I’m not surprised people compare her to Edea, I did too at first, but while Edea walks very close to the line of a Tsundere, I was really surprised that Adelle is, well, not a Tsundere at all. Yeah, of course she’s putting Elvis down a lot, but that stems more from her preventing his ego from going to his head than her being all embarrassed. No, Adelle is actually really well adjusted when it comes to communication. While it’s hilarious that she and Elvis met with her chucking her shoes at him, the two just got along well right from the start. Adelle in general has this really open and helpful personality, but also doesn’t shy away from putting her foot down, even if that sometimes comes out as an embarrassed sputter. She’s also the mother hen of the group. She looks out for the other three and gets concerned about them real fast.

I dunno, Adelle just really grew on me over the course of this game, and then her kinda being paired with Elvis too, as partners and as partners, makes me like her even more. Because as much as I like their personalities individually, I like their character dynamic even more. I honestly love the relationships between all four of them a lot. You really feel them grow closer as friends and all the little character sidequests just always made me really happy.

Conclusion

You might not believe me, but I really held back there. This could probably have been 3 times its length. As much as I love this game, it’s of course not perfect. It struggles and flails in some parts a lot and it certainly has some aspects that might turn people off. But for me, it was just a very familiar and comfy game that didn’t necessarily deliver anything new, but that told its story in such a way that it still got me excited to keep going. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and the conclusion of the story actually got me to cry. While not groundbreaking, this game is highly enjoyable and leaves you absolutely satisfied at the end.

Also, I would like to iterate that I am desperate to get more content about this game, so if you wanna chat about it, hit me up.

Anyways, anyone else felt like having a fever dream when everybody in chapter 2 started talking fantasy scottish? Cos I sure did.

#bravely default #bravely default 2 #bd #bd2 #fanart #review #ramblings #seth #gloria #adelle #elvis #elvis lesley

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starbornsinger · 4 years ago

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Elriel/Gwynriel/Elucien Theory Time :)

Ok so in regards to the Az POV chapter, I have some thoughts. This is super long and detailed and also tearing down ships, so uh, beware.

⚠️ACOSF spoilers (duh)⚠️

So I was re-reading the thing and as I was reading the conversation between Az and Rhys, it kind of hit me. I used to be an Elriel shipper until ACOSF, and I was really all for it.

But I don't think they're in love.

See, earlier in the chapter, Az is thinking about how jealous he is of the other couples. We know he isn't very lucky in love, and seeing Elain and her mate and their mating bond upsets him. I think he fancies Elain because she's beautiful and sweet, but I don't think he's in love with her. I think she's another thing he can't have, and he feels frustrated and it only makes him want her more. Because he thinks, why shouldn't he have her? Why is the Mother so cruel as to deny him love? And he thinks, "well all my other brothers have Archeron mates, why don't I? It must be a mistake!"

I think what Azriel's biggest issue is though, is that he wants love so bad, he's willing to risk it all for the first girl he feels attraction too. It also feels relevant that the primary thing we see in his POV is his physical attraction to her, his sexual attraction. We don't see much of how he thinks she's so sweet or so clever or so gentle, but instead how nice her tits are and how badly he wants to kiss and fuck her. I think he doesn't particularly want Elain, and while he likes her, I think what he really wants is love. True love, just like his brothers and friends. He thinks the Mother must be wrong because they both got Archeron sisters while he didn't, and his attraction to Elain makes him wish they were Mates so he could finally have that true love that's entirely his own.

But she's not. And he can't. I think what Azriel wants most isn't Elain. He wants her sexually, and he admires her and has a crush on her, but the thing he focuses on and gives him the most emotion is that she has a Mate and he doesn't, and that everyone does but him. I think he wants someone like Elain and wants to feel happy, but I think he doesn't exactly want Elain. When he thinks of her, he doesn't seem to be truly in love as we've seen other SJM couples are. And sure, it's early, but it's also been like— 2 years. I don't think they're in love sadly, I think Azriel just wants to move on from Mor and finally find love. He has a type, and when he found someone who loosely fit into the mold of his ideal partner, he jumped at it because he's desperate to have someone love him. All his life, he's struggled with self-love and love from others, and I think that it's deeply affected his relationship with love itself.

Physical attraction and desire and interest isn't love. And the idea of her being mated already only makes him mad— that of course the first girl he likes for the first time in 500 years, of course the girl that could help him move on from Mor, is mated. I think that only makes him feel more passionate towards her; and Rhys notes how he seems to think he has a claim to her, when he doesn't. It makes Az angry, not because Rhysand thinks he's being possessive and reckless, but because it's true. He genuinely can't have her.

As for Elain, I think she's far too hesitant to be with him. She reminds me of Daisy in The Great Gatsby, and how she claims to love Jay but she won't leave Tom, or jilt him. Now this is a different situation, because Daisy was selfish and didn't want to give up her comforts and stability and fame. Elain, on the other hand, doesn't seem ready to have a serious relationship with Az. I think she is still severely affected by Graysen's rejection, and is still clearly not over him. I don't think she's ready to accept Az fully and be with him, and I also don't think she's ready to reject her mating bond with Lucien.

I don't know 100% what's going on with Elain, but what I do know is that clearly she is intrigued by Lucien in some capacity. Ok Elriel shippers, don't come for me, but there are several scenes in which Elain seems to want to talk to Lucien, or whatever the heck. But also seems disinterested, like when she dismisses his Solstice gifts and doesn't speak to him.

However, I don't think she's resentful towards him exactly, or at least that isn't the main reason she's like this. While we know he was helping Tamlin lowkey, Feyre and the IC all understood he was on their side, and was their friend. So it seems kind of odd to still bear a grudge against him, but who knows.

But funnily enough, she has yet to reject their mating bond. If she's so disinterested, or hates him so much, why hasn't she turned him down? Mother, she's barely spoken to him at all. I think the obvious reason behind her disdain or distancing from Lucien is her connection to Graysen and her human life. Of all the sisters, Elain has not yet adapted to or accepted that she is Fae— or if she has, she's sure as hell not happy about it. Even Nesta in ACOSF mentioned how she actually likes her ears now, and we know Feyre has totally accepted being Fae. But with Elain, she had the most human connected life of them all, and to have it taken away from her is shitty.

For Elain, her happiness seems to come from a love of gardening, of family, of people. She has very little human things to hold onto, and adding a Mating bond to the mix right as she's made Fae is like she's had all her humanity stripped. She doesn't hate Lucien, she hates the bond. She dislikes that it's chained her to someone and taken away her choices, which we know is a big deal for the sisters after being imprisoned, kidnapped, and Made. I think Elriel is an infatuation, because even though she doesn't love Az, he's helping her rebound from Graysen (and giving her control and power over her love life). He's a choice she (can't really) make, but a choice nonetheless. With Lucien, she feels she has no choice with him, and no control over her obvious attraction I say obvious because mates have a primal attraction of some level to each other , and is probably afraid that accepting the Mating bond will remove any last connections she has to who she used to be, and the human she feels she really is.

But she also hasn't rejected it, because I think she realizes that Lucien is a genuine and kind and hot guy, and that rejecting him would be a stupid idea. He's been very patient and very kind and accepting, and has always given her the freedom of choice when it comes to the bond. I think Lucien is the kind of guy that would be very easy to fall in love with, and I think Elain sees that and knows it.

Also, I think with ACOSF, it feels relevant that Cassian pointed out specifically how Elain looked beautiful in black at the ball, but it looked horribly wrong on her. With SJM the devil is always in the details, and I think it was a clearly accentuated bit of symbolism. Although Elain looks beautiful, the black dress wasn't for her. And although Elriel is very sweet, it won't work out. She won't thrive in the Night Court, or with Azriel. Az doesn't challenge her or meet her as an equal (like all other SJM ships), and they don't push each other to be better or to accept themselves or whatever etc etc.

And I really used to like Elriel, but I think that surprisingly, Elain will be the one who says "stop, I can't do this" to Az. I think she knows she isn't ready, and I think she knows they aren't meant to be. Even if a Mating bond was put in place between her and Lucien, I still think their relationship wouldn't work because they're both too insecure, too closed off, too non-communicative, and too stagnant together to be a healthy or good match. I think with Elain they would struggle to understand each other even if they were fond of each other and can relate on some level, but at its rawest form I think they won't truly be able to be themselves with each other.

With Elain, Azriel's shadows— a key part of him— disappear. While I initially thought, awww that's so cute, she's a light in his life, I soon realized I was wrong. Az's shadows are not just a part of him, they're an extension of him, of his will and subconscious and emotions. So Elain chasing them away, while chasing away the shadows and darkness seems cute, isn't a good thing. Most of the time with shadows, we think "ew bad!" Because they have an inherent connotation of negativity or sorrow or depression or darkness etc etc. And while this is partially true, Azriel's shadows and darkness are a part of him. His sadness and struggles are a part of him. And his shadows aren't just representative of that, they're also a representation of how he overcame his abuse and turned that fire (pun unintended) and anger and trauma into something beautiful and powerful and a weapon. I think they can serve as an armor and a shield, and while that's not good, I also don't think they should fully disappear.

More on that: with Azriel's shadows, we know they're a part of him, right? So I think an important part of self is self-regulation. Rather than be consumed entirely by shadow, or totally exposed to the light, I think he just needs his shadows to be calm and present, but not controlling or hiding. I think the whole "Elain bringing him out of the shadows" bit sounds cute at first, but then you have to think of it like this. In order to be with Elain, he would have to change. He couldn't be a spy or a shadowsinger or a torturer, and he couldn't be dark and introverted. With her, he has to push that aside. Those are key parts of him, key parts that would have a big impact on their relationship. Elain can't be with someone with so much blood on their hands or a history of violence or darkness. We know that, because we know that sort of thing upsets her and she doesn't like it.

Azriel can't just be himself with her, he has to become someone else. And while he's attracted enough to not care, after awhile, that grows exhausting. Being in love and not being your true self, all of it, is exhausting. And while some might argue "why can't he be his true self?!" well my slime, I think we both know that even if we wanted him to, Elain would be silently resigned about it. I don't think— no, I know— Elain can't be with someone like Azriel. Even if they have feelings, even if they have lust or affection, it isn't love. They aren't in love, and they won't work out no matter how much we want it to.

Onto Elain: with Elain, this all ties back to what Cassian said in Hewn City. She looks beautiful in black, but it's wholly wrong for her. The Night Court is wrong for her, and darkness is wrong for her. While some yin-yang relationship tropes can work very well, I don't think this will. She doesn't like the darkness or accept it, and she doesn't want to be a part of it. I think the Night Court is good and happy for her when she makes her own little garden world, and only then, really. It's like living in the middle of the desert and only thinking of the beach: it's not the right place for her.

I think the Spring Court needs her, and I think she needs it. Here's more on that.

So we've seen the set up and execution of the fall of the Spring Court. We know that it's in shambles and is weak and needs a new/better leader than Tampon. I feel like SJM is setting things up for a new book focused in the Spring Court, because in a lot of ways, it's becoming the centerpiece for action in Prythian (aside from the Night Court). I genuinely believe that as Tamlin's second, Lucien will take over the Spring Court as High Lord. He doesn't fit in with Autumn, didn't fit in with Night, and wasn't really a part of Spring. But with Spring, it was where he was happy, where he felt safe, and the home he chose. Chosen homes and chosen families are a big deal for SJM, and I think that Lucien will return to the Spring Court to try and help it, because Mother knows it needs it. I think Elain belongs there, not only because she needs to be in an environment suited to her, but because she needs to heal.

We've seen a theme of helping others heal in order to heal ourselves, and I think a good book idea (and what I think an Elain book would be about), is healing the Spring Court and helping it. Elain is a gardener. She wants to see things grow and blossom, wants to get her hands dirty and dig in! But she can't do that in the NC. I think she needs something new and fresh and blossoming that she can help and tend to, and I think the person that can be at her side for that is Lucien. I think with Azriel, she can't see growth and life and flowers. He's a different kind of person, far too different, and the two wouldn't mesh well. Elain isn't like Persephone and Azriel isn't like Hades; although she's flowers and he's death and they're attracted to each other, they don't fully accept those roles and cross into each other's. Elain could never be a killer or someone who wears black or thrives in a darker place, and Azriel couldn't be someone who is in the full heat of the light and wear bright colors and be cheerful and flowery. In a dream world, yes, but I think in this one, no. SJM loves to create realistic relationships and realistic relationship conflict, and I think we'll see this here. Even though they want it to work, and in theory it should, it won't. I think they know it too. Azriel's shadows vanish when she's around, and Elain struggles to feel comfortable in the darkness and Night Court, and fit in with the others in the black dress that is wholly un-Elain.

I also think that this relationship doesn't bring development to the table. The forbidden love concept is adorable and a trope I love, but this love isn't one that will push them to grow. Azriel can feel loved and happy, but can he feel fully accepted? Can he stop being ashamed of his shadows, of his violence? Of who he is? Can Elain break out of her shelf and be more assertive, and truly grow and change? Can she be herself and be happy? The answer is a sad no. Their relationship is sweet and cute, but it won't truly work. I genuinely believe Lucien is a better match for Elain, and while the Cauldron isn't always right (like Rhysand's parents), it usually is. If he isn't, then I'm all for independent Elain.

Now onto the moment you've all been waiting for: who should Az be with?

Gwyn. :)

#acosf spoilers #gwynriel #a court of silver flames #elriel #elucien #gwyn berdara #gwyn x azriel #azriel #acotar #acotar theory #acotar thoughts #acosf

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lynny246 · 4 years ago

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Gods, this took 3 years to do. I started this OC when Season 3 of BNHA began in, like, 2018. I ended up constantly tweaking her and forgot to touch her in 2019. Then came 2021, where season 5 is about to go down and wreck me so without further ado, here is Rune Byougen!

(Credit to Sakimii of DeviantArt for the background)

Character Information

Name: Rune Byougen

Gender: Female

Age: 15 (Episode 4/Chapter 3 & 4)

Birthday: October 30

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual

Occupation: Student

Height: 5’8

Weight: 135 lbs

Ethnicity: Afro-Asian

School: U.A. High School

Year: First year

Hero Name: The Placebo Hero: Bacteriune

Appearance

Hair Color: Dark Blue

Hair Type: Shoulder length hair on the right and short hair on the left. Hair on the left is put in a ponytail

Distinguishing Features: Surgery scar between clavicles

Eye Color: Purple

Skin Color: Bronze

Background

Born with sickle cell anemia, Rune’s adolescence has been defined by consistent hospital stays and minimal experiences. Despite this, she remained optimistic for her future; this is due in part to the constant support from her parents, Takao (who also has sickle cell anemia) and Camilla (a pro-Hero in America known as Wyvern).

During her pre-teen years, her condition would worsen; prompting a great deal of surgeries. It had become so dour that Rune considered giving up after finding out she would be missing her final year in junior high so she could remain in the hospital. During this depression, her father made it a point to emphasize the strength of perseverance and hope for a better future. Through his corny speeches, Rune found some solace and promised to keep fighting for her family.

The age of 12 would mark an important new chapter for Rune: her condition improved greatly which allowed her live independently with minor treatment, her quirk would finally manifest, she could resume schooling, and she had a clear goal for her life, choosing to find better treatment for those dealing with sickle cell anemia. Unfortunately, the biggest change in her life would be the death of her father at the end of the year. After reaching the average life expectancy, Takao had succumb to the illness after being rushed to the hospital after a stroke.

Unable to process the grief, Rune grew to resent her father; seeing his sudden death as not living by the values he set for her during her tribulations. Optimism gave way to pessimism as Rune became more jaded about her circumstances, her future, and her understanding of the world. For the first time in her life, she saw physical limitations that couldn’t be overcome with willpower, she saw a society that had largely forgotten non-quirk related illness and death.

From that day forward, she choose a new path: Uncover all the mysteries medical science had to offer to overcome her limits. On that day, Rune vowed not to succumb to illness or weakness. To see that vow through, she needed to find a way to overcome the natural weakness she was born with. To do this, she would need authority in different fields and money. She would need to be a hero.

Hero work could finance her research, the potential fame would make it easier to join medical projects and resources for research, and hero work could give her access to underground and taboo information not legally accessible. With her family moving to Japan to live with her paternal grandparents, the option of attending U.A. becomes obvious. She spoke with her mother about her desire to become a hero. Camilla, a well-known hero throughout the United States, used her connections to get her admitted with a recommendation. After training her quirk for a year, Rune is prepared to enter U.A. where her next chapter begins...

Personality

A box of intriguing mysteries or a miserable pile of secrets, whichever you choose, Rune qualifies. At first glance, Rune is a calm and ever-curious mind that operates with cordiality. Once the layers are peeled, that cordial and inviting exterior disappears, leaving a more cunning and antagonistic yet dignified and relax individual. At her best, she can be seen as a calming, loyal yet malignant girl who is hard to understand yet fun to be around. At her worst, Rune is a manipulative and inimical girl hiding behind pleasantries. A girl who seeks to unravel all those around her as a hobby

Likes: Herbology, Grimoires, Tarot Cards, Card Games, Botany, Medieval History, Camping, Anarchy

Dislikes: The cold, Paranormal romance novels, Crystal balls, Cosmetology

Habits: Biting her nails, Staring at people

Fears: Relapsing, Abandonment, Porcelain dolls, Limitations

Quirk and Abilities

Quirk: Pathogen

This quirk allows the user to control and manipulate bacteria and pathogens found throughout different environments and bodies. Using neuro-parasitology, the user’s dead skin cells are consumed by the microorganisms, giving the user full control of all bacteria and pathogens for approximately an hour

Quirk Advantages:

Due to bacteria being on every natural surface imaginable, there is no limit to the range of the user

In addition, when the quirk is active, the amount of bacteria present on the body can form a light layer of protection on the body without the bacteria hardening into a solid structure

In warm conditions or against heat-based quirks, the bacteria can be more effective and multiply quickly

Quirk Drawbacks:

Quirk overuse can result in the user losing control of the bacteria and pathogens. When it under direct control, those organisms can become very ensnared with the user’s skin cells and seek to consume them en masse. If not careful, the bacteria can attempt to consume so much of the cells, that the epidermis can be damaged, leaving wounds equitable to first degree burns

This quirk is at a natural disadvantage in colder environments as common bacteria thrives primarily in warmer environments. Extreme weather (hot or freezing) is disadvantageous as well

Overexertion can result in a minor case of chronic inflammation which includes fever, rashes, infection, abdominal pain, and chest pains

Fighting Style: Wyvern-style Martial Arts Created and used solely by her mother, it is a personalized form of martial arts that emphasizes brute force over speed by transferring all the power and force to a specific limbs. When utilized correctly, a simple kick can break a concrete wall. However, the style sacrifices speed, accuracy, and leaves other limbs defenseless. It also requires very specific stances to work properly. The style originated from Camilla who uses it to dispatch larger villains and wrestle Wai, a family friend that lost her humanity and became a large wyvern due to her quirk

Weapons/Items: Vials of poison and medication Most of the poisons are meant to hinder movement, allowing her to fight with minimal opposition. This is beneficial for using wyvern-style martial arts without issue. The medication is penicillin and various antibiotics Rune has created to combat her drawbacks.

Stats:

(Ultra Archive)

Power: 4/5

Speed: 2/5

Technique: 4/5

Intelligence: 5/5

Cooperativeness: 3/5

(Ultra Analysis)

Power: 5/6

Speed: 3/6

Technique: 6/6

Intelligence: 6/6

Machiavellian: 6/6

Relationships

Family:

Camilla Byougen - Mother Takao Byougen - Father (Deceased) In the past, the relationship between the Byougen family could only be described as loving and tight. Despite her work, Camilla was dedicated and active in the family, enjoying doting on her husband and daughter. Takao was no exception, spending much his days looking after Rune and Camilla as a stay-at-home-dad. Rune admired her parent’s strength of character and they served as emotional crutch to a child that didn’t have much in terms of socialization. Times have changed. Rune has come to loathe the type of person her father was, deeming him a hypocrite. However, her relationship with her mother is stronger than ever. The two look after each other and are quite open with one another. If not for the age disparity, one could mistake the mother-daughter duo as sisters

Wai - Godmother Despite being a late addition to the family, Wai and Rune’s relationship is solid. Wai may have lost much of her mental capacities after fully becoming a wyvern, however, she still remembers the love and loyalty she had for Camilla and that has transferred fully to her daughter. The two are very protective of one another and enjoy training together. Since Camilla is needed to communicate verbally with Wai, the two don’t have many secrets or intense conversations, but that doesn’t stop the two from greatly enjoying conversation and each other's company

Kirika Byougen - Paternal Grandmother Fuga Byougen - Paternal Grandfather This familial dynamic is a tad bit complicated. Although there is clear love between them, there is also veiled hostility laced in every interaction. While a mystery to Camilla, Rune has concluded that the negative interactions stem from Fuga and Kirika being upset with Takao for abandoning his home and former life to chase after Camilla. While her grandparents are trying to overcome that distaste for Camilla and Rune so they can fully embrace the family Takao made, they are hindered by the grief of his death and past pains of his abandonment. Despite this, interactions between Rune and her grandparents are amicable. That is until Rune begins to read their motives and taunt them.

Friends:

Bakugou Katsuki - Close friend & most proficient teammate Tooru Hagakure - Close friend Kyouka Jiro Reiko Yanagi Midoriya Izuku - Test Subject

Rivals:

Fumikage Tokoyami - Friendly rival Tenya Iida - Antagonistic

Enemies:

Toga Himiko

Trivia

Rune’s faovrite food is mitarashi dango

Rune was born in California

Rune prefers hiding her quirk simply to mess with her opponents, tricking them into believing her quirk is simply super strength

Rune is a Wiccan

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sosei · 4 years ago

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Commentaries on the Epigraphs of Rhythm of War - Part 1

The first set of epigraphs are transcriptions from a lecture on fabrial mechanics by Navani, presented to the coalition of monarchs in Urithiru. While it does not contain any Big Sweeping implications for the Cosmere as a while, like some of the later ones do, it does present some interesting information.

I will not be avoiding spoilers for RoW, or any other cosmere works published as of December 2020.

"First, you must get a spren to approach. The type of gemstone is relevant; some spren are naturally more intrigued by certain gemstones. In addition, it is essential to calm the spren with something it knows and loves. A good fire for a flamespren, for example, is a must."

A good place to start to set a tone for the lecture, both in and out of universe. This is well known and established from the previous book. But as its been a few years since then, it doesn’t hurt to refresh the audience.

"Next, let the spren inspect your trap. The gemstone must not be fully infused, but also cannot be fully dun. Experiments have concluded that seventy percent of maximum Stormlight capacity works best. If you have done your work correctly, the spren will become fascinated by its soon-to-be prison. It will dance around the stone, peek at it, float around it."

"The final step in capturing spren is the most tricky, as you must remove the Stormlight from the gemstone. The specific techniques employed by each artifabrian guild are closely guarded secrets, entrusted only to their most senior members. The easiest method would be to use a larkin—a type of cremling that feasts on Stormlight. That would be wonderful and convenient if the creatures weren’t now almost entirely extinct. The wars in Aimia were in part over these seemingly innocent little creatures."

"To draw Stormlight out of a gemstone, I use the Arnist Method. Several large empty gemstones are brought close to the infused one while the spren is inspecting it. Stormlight is slowly absorbed from a small gemstone by a very large gemstone of the same type—and several together can draw the Light out quickly. The method’s limitation is, of course, the fact that you need not merely acquire one gemstone for your fabrial, but several larger ones to withdraw the Stormlight. Other methods must exist, as proven by the extremely large gemstone fabrials created by the Vriztl Guild out of Thaylenah. If Her Majesty would please repeat my request to the guild, this secret is of vital importance to the war effort."

"If the Stormlight in a gemstone is withdrawn quickly enough, a nearby spren can be sucked into the gemstone. This is caused by a similar effect to a pressure differential, created by the sudden withdrawal of Stormlight, though the science of the two phenomena are not identical. You will be left with a captured spren, to be manipulated as you see fit."

This set of epigraphs establishes how spren (and other things) can be trapped in gemstones, as well as how one can move Stormlight (and as we learn later, other invested lights) between containers.

The theory behind the former former employ what is effectively a magical pressure differential in order to trap the spren, which I personally find quite interesting. The Thaylen method for the latter becomes important later on in the book in multiple ways.

Finally, the last sentence feels like it has an unintended bite to it. Which comes into play later, as humanity’s usage of capturing spren and using them for their own gain is brought into question.

"With a captured spren, you may begin designing a proper fabrial. It is a closely guarded secret of artifabrians that spren, when trapped, respond to different types of metals in different ways. A wire housing for the fabrial, called a “cage,” is essential to controlling the device."

Here is where the real interesting bit begins, as metals are a big part of the Scadrian magic systems. Beginning a trend in this book of tying into whats going on in Mistborn moreso than ever before.

"The two metals of primary significance are zinc and brass, which allow you to control expression strength. Zinc wires touching the gemstone will cause the spren inside to more strongly manifest, while brass will cause the spren to withdraw and its power to dim. Remember that a gemstone must be properly infused following the spren’s capture. Drilled holes in the gemstone are ideal for proper use of the cage wires, so long as you don’t crack the structure and risk releasing the spren."

The applications of these metals and their differences are perfectly in line with the allomantic properties of zinc and brass. Zinc being a “pulling” metal that riots emotions and brass being a “pushing” metal that soothes them. As such they “pull” and “push” on the properties of spren, a sizable category of which are drawn towards emotions.

"A bronze cage can create a warning fabrial, alerting one to objects or entities nearby. Heliodors are being used for this currently, and there is some good reasoning for this—but other gemstones should be viable."

Once again: this lines up with the metal’s allomantic usage. Allomantic bronze allows one to detect the usage of allomancy nearby. Supposedly a person burning allomantic bronze could also detect other investitures, but the specifics of this have yet to be discovered.

I can extrapolate that a copper cage can be used to hide oneself from detection from the bronze version of these fabrials.

"A pewter cage will cause the spren of your fabrial to express its attribute in force—a flamespren, for example, will create heat. We call these augmenters. They tend to use Stormlight more quickly than other fabrials."

Lines up with the allomantic usage of pewter quite well, as its a pushing metal that increases one’s physical capabilities when burned. Makes one’s body able to do More.

"A tin cage will cause the fabrial to diminish nearby attributes. A painrial, for example, can numb pain. Note that advanced designs of cages can use both steel and iron as well, changing the fabrial’s polarity depending on which metals are pushed to touch the gemstone."

This one, sadly, does not work as well, as tin sharpens the burner’s senses in allomancy. But as its the pulling metal to pewter’s pushing, it makes sense that it would have this effect in fabrials. Perhaps if you interpret the pairs allomantic effects as “strengthens/weakens the body’s capability to resist external stimuli” it makes more sense? But that’s kind of a stretch.

"An iron cage will create an attractor—a fabrial that draws specific elements to itself. A properly created smoke fabrial, for example, can gather the smoke of a fire and hold it close.

New discoveries lead us to believe it is possible to create a repeller fabrial, but we don’t yet know the metal to use to achieve this feat."

Allomantic iron pulls on nearby sources of metal, so it makes perfect sense that attractor fabrials work the same way.

I remember sitting up straighter in my chair when I read the second bit, because any reader of Mistborn should be able to tell you which metal would be iron’s opposite. The answer is steel, which in allomancy pushes nearby sources of metal.

Sidenote: I’m surprised there is no comment that these metal pairs are always “natural metal and alloy”. Though I suspect that that might be in party due to Rosharans getting a lot of their metal via soulcasting as opposed to traditional metallurgy...

"One of my pleas is for artifabrians to stop shrouding fabrial techniques with so much mystery. Many decoy metals are used in cages, and wires are often plated to look like a different metal, with the express intent of confusing those who might try to learn the process through personal study. This might enrich the artifabrian, but it impoverishes us all."

The sharing of information is a Theme this book, and this is expressed fairly early.

"Advanced fabrials are created using several different techniques. Conjoined fabrials require a careful division of the gemstone—and the spren inside. If performed correctly, the two halves will continue to behave as a single gemstone. Note that rubies and flamespren are traditional for this purpose— as they have proven the easiest to divide, and the quickest in response times. Other types of spren do not split as evenly, as easily, or at all."

I suspect this has to do with how fire spreads, and thus how we view it.

"All gemstones leak Stormlight at a slow rate—but so long as the crystal structure remains mostly intact, the spren cannot escape. Managing this leakage is important, as many fabrials also lose Stormlight through operation. All of this is tied up in the intricacies of the art. As is understanding one last vital kind of spren: logicspren."

"Logicspren react curiously to imprisonment. Unlike other spren, they do not manifest some attribute—you cannot use them to make heat, or to warn of nearby danger, or conjoin gemstones. For years, artifabrians considered them useless—indeed, experimenting with them was uncommon, since logicspren are rare and difficult to capture. A breakthrough has come in discovering that logicspren will vary the light they radiate based on certain stimuli. For example, if you make the Light leak from the gemstone at a controlled rate, the spren will alternate dimming and brightening in a regular pattern. This has led to fabrial clocks. When the gemstone is tapped with certain metals, the light will also change states from bright to dim. This is leading to some very interesting and complex mechanisms."

Oh hey, an explanation on how the fabrial clocks work! Neat.

"My final point of the evening is a discussion of Fused weapons. The Fused use a variety of fabrial devices to fight Radiants. It is obvious from how quickly they’ve fabricated and employed these countermeasures that they have used these in the past."

"The simplest Fused weapon against us isn’t truly a fabrial, but instead a metal that is extremely light and can withstand the blows of a Shardblade. This metal resists being Soulcast as well; it interferes with a great number of Radiant powers. Fortunately, the Fused seem unable to create it in great quantities—for they equip only themselves, and not their average soldiers, with these wonders."

This metal is aluminium, a metal we’ve known for a while messes with every magic system in the cosmere. It is also called ralkalest both by the Fused and on Sel, which has interesting implications for the languages in the cosmere. Especially with how the herald Shalash’s name lines up with certain Aons.

"The Fused have a second metal I find fascinating—a metal that conducts Stormlight. The implications for this in the creation of fabrials are astounding. The Fused use this metal in conjunction with a rudimentary fabrial—a simple gemstone, but without a spren trapped inside. How they pull Stormlight out of a Radiant and into this sphere remains baffling. My scholars think they must be employing an Investiture differential. If a gemstone is full of Stormlight—or, I assume, Voidlight—and that Light is removed quickly, it creates a pressure differential (or a kind of vacuum) in the gemstone. This remains merely a theory."

I originally suspected that this was one of the enhancement metals, perhaps duralumin, given its placement after aluminium in this lecture. But was eventually proven wrong. Which is good, since what the metal ended up being was way more appropriate.

The pressure differential theory is interesting, but ultimately incorrect. But it goes to show that these people are making an assumption based on how their tech works. A sound one based on their knowledge, but ultimately an incorrect one.

"The world becomes an increasingly dangerous place, and so I come to the crux of my argument. We cannot afford to keep secrets from one another any longer. The Thaylen artifabrians have private techniques relating to how they remove Stormlight from gems and create fabrials around extremely large stones. I beg the coalition and the good people of Thaylenah to acknowledge our collective need. I have taken the first step by opening my research to all scholars. I pray you will see the wisdom in doing the same."

Another mention of the Thaylen secrets, to hammer in that they have them before they become relevant. Once again bringing up the theme of sharing knowledge.

#sosei reads rhythm of war #stormlight archive #rhythm of war #rhythm of war spoilers

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r3-97-blog · 5 years ago

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Hunter X Hunter Anime Plot

The Hunter Exam itself is just the principal bend of Hunter x Hunter, taking up around the initial twenty scenes, of which there are one hundred and forty-eight (forty-six on the off chance that you avoid the recap), and that is on the grounds that the Hunter Exam isn't Hunter x Hunter. It is the start of Hunter x Hunter, the minor venturing stone for the whole excursion to come. The arrangement handles numerous accounts, huge and little, over the degree of its run, brought together by the consideration of in any event a few these four characters, and these accounts grow the arrangement's class, tone and topical strengths ten times.

Also Check List Of Bleach Fillers

It begins entirely bright, even wacky, feeling precisely as you would envision a shounen tale about high school young men following their fantasies to be, yet after some time, it veers away from that straightforward on the off chance that engaging story to turn into a mission to support a companion, at that point a battling competition, at that point a wrongdoing spine chiller, at that point a computer game, at that point a zoological odyssey that I don't have a clue how to satisfactorily consolidate and speak with words yet it is stunning. There's not actually ever an exact defining moment, the arrangement just shows signs of improvement and better, and pulls you more profound and more profound. The tone gets darker, truly, and a darker tone isn't naturally better (you can have a dim and awful show simply as a joyful and astounding one) at the same time, it works quite well with the story that is being told here, and the messages, and the scores of character improvement, that are being introduced.

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On the off chance that you converse with any Hunter x Hunter fan, the one major bend that will consistently come up is Chimera Ant, and Chimera Ant is… abnormal. It's acceptable, great (a few scenes "oh my goodness" great), however it's abnormal. It is a 60 scene plotline that contains the close to sum of Hunter x Hunter's last half, and one that drops pretty much every other earlier settled character other than Gon and Killua for new clashes and another cast. Without giving an excess of away, the circular segment is basically about Chimera, or beastmen (consequently the name), in a wide, peculiar story that devours truly a large number of lives. It turns into a startlingly passionate and human story, with multitudinous scenes deserving of applause. I do have bandy with Chimera Ant, that I will positively address later, however all in all, it is an extraordinary encounter, as are a large portion of the other last story curves. Along these lines, in the event that you are not or were not excessively intrigued by the initial scenes of Hunter x Hunter, which is reasonable, continue onward. Try not to stop. I don't know any individual who traversed the later circular segments without conceding "no doubt, that was truly damn strong".

Savvy Shounen

What's more, obviously, every bend in Hunter x Hunter, from the most basic up to Chimera Ant, has fights. Not insignificant takes on - conflicts. A battle can be nevertheless a fight, a tossed clench hand or two, a deftly set punch or cut, while fights infer something more fantastic, something with system and strategies and something beyond overwhelming your rival. Tracker x Hunter has battles, obviously, however the greater part of its activity, particularly later in the arrangement, is mind boggling, unpredictable fights.

Outline for article titled Grexs iHunter x Hunter/i(2011) Review

The absolute first scene, in the absolute first scene, sets up how this is all going to go down. This isn't a shounen anime where kinship naturally bests all, where the principle characters will by one way or another draw a deus ex machina out of their aggregate asses to make all the difference essentially by excellence of putting stock in one another. This is an anime where cerebrums are similarly as significant as sturdiness. Toward the start of Episode 1, to persuade his temporary mother Mito-san that he is prepared for the Hunter test, Gon must catch the "Ruler of the Lake", or a monster fish. Normally, Gon finishes the undertaking as usual, however he doesn't simply shout as loud as possible, pull energetically, put stock in himself and blast. One mammoth fish angled. No, he utilizes strategies. Gon, in the wake of snaring the monster, circles the line around a tree, working the power of contact to further his potential benefit and making the catch sensibly conceivable.

It's such a straightforward arrangement, yet it establishes the pace for how Hunter x Hunter moves toward all contention going ahead. It's infrequently as simple as having a solid capacity; you need to arrange the solid capacity, work it into your battle style, lure the adversary, think about their restricting technique. On the off chance that you charge in without intuition, you will lose, and regardless of whether you do stop to figure, you may lose at any rate, in light of the fact that the adversary thinks slightly better. Scene 32 was the main scene that truly dazzled me in such manner, being a competition fight with arranging and readiness that ran profound enough to make triumph everything except guaranteed for one of the warriors. A long round of dodgeball around Episode 70 is another (and no, I'm dead serious).

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However, the most clear and most noteworthy activity grouping to discuss would be the peak of Chimera Ant, an extended length of time beginning at Episode 112, and going on for some increasingly from that point forward, in which the customary quick beliefs of "activity" are tossed out the window, getting us gigantic yet edible measures of inward system monologs or straight free portrayal, only moves, counter-moves, and counter-counter-moves as a wide number of characters with a wide assortment of capacities conflict. It is at about that moment that I understood how wonderful Hunter x Hunter was, on the grounds that what it was doing was so one of a kind thus intriguing that I needed it to keep going forever. (Unfortunately, it doesn't, however we'll return to that.)

The Quartet (and Especially The Duo)

Obviously, solid story development and introduction doesn't really correspond to solid characters as well (as last time's Shin Sekai Yori would verify), however for this situation, it does. The early arrangement of Hunter x Hunter would persuade that it is a show about the four Hunter candidates, Gon, Killua, Leorio and Kurapika, which is… not so much evident. In fact it is a show about just Gon and Killua, with Kurapika accepting significant concentration in just a solitary circular segment and Leorio being pretty much only a huge side character the entire time.

Outline for article titled Grexs iHunter x Hunter/i(2011) Review

Which isn't to state that I detest both of them, since that would be false. Kurapika, as I referenced in the reason, is a figuring youthful individual, harboring a specific heartlessness and fierceness after the butcher of his clansmen, the Kurta, on account of a gathering of desperados called the Phantom Troupe. His quest for retribution describes his, er, whole character, reaching a crucial stage around Episode 50, which is the bend I referenced where he really gets center, a circular segment which closes at Episode 60 with the mysterious articulation "We'll see him once more". (Definitely, no you won't.) Kurapika is likewise striking for his exceptionally gender ambiguous physical appearance, to the point that I actually thought he was a young lady until the show disclosed to me in any case (which isn't helped by the way that he is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro). The absence of an articulated bust, wore by each other female character right off the bat in the story, should've been obvious looking back, however… I don't know. Be that as it may, nothing, I surmise, so...

Outline for article titled Grexs iHunter x Hunter/i(2011) Review

On to Leorio! He's the "typical person" of the gathering. He isn't truly striking in a battle, or especially keen, or bold, or just, or a lot of anything truly. He's only a person, one who can be uproarious and frequently lets his feelings defeat him, despite the fact that he is certainly kind on a fundamental level. Unquestionably the most straightforward character of the group of four, however one I despite everything discovered agreeable and remarkably engaging.

Discussing straightforward, we have Gon. Gon, by configuration, is entirely run of the mill, unremarkable, even conventional, at the story's start. In a world with super powers like hyper vision, smoke control and teleportation, Gon after some time builds up a method that is viably a solid punch. This is the sort of child we're managing here. A kind nature, honest and cheerful. He declines to ever forsake his companions, and in every case determinedly holds fast to his own beliefs. Truth be told, right off the bat I discovered his sheer bone-headedness rather disturbing, putting on a show of being prideful, even egotistical, continually demanding reasonable triumph, declining to simply take a success or settle for anything short of undeniable triumph.

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When Gon in the long run gets his Hunter Badge (spoiler alert: truly, Gon turns into a Hunter), he doesn't utilize it, on the grounds that (because of the conditions of the test), he doesn't feel he's "earned" it, and to exacerbate the situation, the plot rewards him for his rehashed selflessness and idiocy... for some time. In the long run, it raises the genuine peril of taking Gon's perspectives to the sensible extraordinary. His sentiments of sympathy for other people and hating for the individuals who might do hurt become sufficiently able to whip him into what must be portrayed as a blood rage. He'd now and then get things done to make me think he was truly crazy, showing the perils of falling excessively far into the "shounen hero" outlook. You can revile malevolence and fortune your companions, sure, however on the off chance that you don't remove yourself to a degree, and venture once more from the circumstance, you can wind up with exclusive focus, disregarding anything that is going on for your prompt objective, which is a snare that, before the end, Gon falls into rather excessively.

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Inverse Gon is Killua, a kid professional killer who begins the arrangement brimming with abhor and demonstrate hatred for. He is a messed up, dangerous child, legitimate and fight situated nearly to say the least, discovering little comfort in kinships and as a rule picking savagery when met with resistance. Killua is traditionally viewed as one of the stronge

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ummonhiyonatringtone-blog · 5 years ago

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ummon hiyonat ringtone

A rehashed measures configuration was utilized with sound-related distractor condition (peaceful, other ringtone, own ringtone) and sequential position (1-8) as the autonomous factors and sequential review execution as the reliant variable. A decrease of the troublesome impacts of the ringtones over the eight preliminaries comparative with the peaceful control condition would be proof of habituation. In this way, the basic ummon hiyonat ringtone test is whether the distinction between the own ringtone and other ringtone conditions consolidated and the calm control condition decreases as an element of the ordinal preliminary position variable. Given α = β = 0.05, an absolute example size of N = 51 and the presumption that the normal populace relationship between's the two degrees of the rehashed measures factor (other and own name consolidated versus calm) is ρ = 0.5, an impact of size f = 0.18 (for example a little [f = 0.1] to medium [f = 0.25] estimated impact, cf.) [21] could be recognized. As to the difference between the own ringtone and other ringtone conditions, an impact of size f = 0.26 could be distinguished under the above premises.

The degree of α was set to 0.05 for all factual investigation. A multivariate methodology was utilized for all inside subject correlations. In our application, all multivariate test rules relate to the equivalent (definite) F measurement, which is accounted for. Fractional η2 is accounted for as a proportion of impact size. All force estimations detailed in this article were directed utilizing G*Power. [22]

Results Top

Answers were scored by a severe sequential review rule (for example to-be-recollected numbers were possibly scored as right when they were repeated in the specific sequential situation in which they had been introduced).

On one event just one of the burdened control accomplices appeared. This had no impact on the measurable outcomes, which is the reason we chose to incorporate the information from the member without burdened control accomplice in the examination. When asked after the analysis whether they had seen that their own ringtone had been introduced, the entirety of the members addressed "yes."

Both ringtones prompted an intense disturbance of sequential review that bit by bit weakened with rehashed introduction of the upgrades. Members' consideration was similarly caught by their own and by others' ringtones. The finding of a constriction of the impact after rehashed introduction is especially intriguing in light of the fact that few past examinations neglected to discover proof for habituation when straightforward successions of monosyllabic words were introduced. [9],[10] interestingly, the outcomes are predictable with proof for habituation to less ordinary sounds, for example, office commotion, [11] and naturalistic discourse. [12],[23] Taken together this proposes habituation to unessential sound relies upon the idea of the sound-related distractors. The interruption brought about by exceptionally standard successions of substituting sounds might be expected to non-attentional procedures, while increasingly complex sound-related distractors may cause attentional catch, which lessens when a steady portrayal of the sound is developed that diminishes the sound's capriciousness. Given that habituation is viewed as a marker of attentional catch, [24] the example of interruption evoked by the ringtones is generally predictable with attentional situating. These outcomes are reliable with different examinations showing that a ringing wireless can possibly disturb continuous exercises. [4],[6] Consistent with the current outcomes, Shelton et al. [6] announced a speedy decrease of the ringtones' impeding impacts, which these creators deciphered as a recuperation from the attentional situating. Our discoveries give free proof for this presumption and they add to the mounting proof that obstruction by sound-related distractors isn't just influenced by the physical highlights of a sound, (for example, the quantity of sudden changes inside a sound), yet in addition by the sound's consistency in a given setting. [8],[12],[24]

In opposition to our past discoveries, [15] in which one's own name created a bigger superfluous discourse impact than the name of a burdened accomplice, self-importance in the current analysis had no impact on sequential review execution. We recommend that the explanation behind this example of results is that ringtones (one's own just as some other) are particularly intended to stand apart truly from most surrounding clamors, while names that are installed in sentences have no eye catching property dependent on their physical properties. The own name, nonetheless, is an exceptionally overlearned boost that catches eye dependent on its extraordinary recognition and self-significance which is a status that a ringtone can't get regardless of whether it has been utilized for two or three months or years. In this sense, at that point, the own and another person's ringtones are equal in their articulated eye catching physical highlights and they contrast practically nothing, if by any means, in their residual highlights; regardless of whether they did, the physical highlights ensure that consideration is now dedicated to the ringtone before contrasts in recognition or self-reference might have of an effect.

The information detailed here and those of Röer et al. [15] are in accordance with various investigations indicating that the measure of attentional catch an improvement produces can't be pinpointed to one explicit instrument. While how much an occasion happens out of the blue appears to assume a significant job [8],[9],[24] there are different determinants also that influence the capacity of a boost to stand out, for example, the valence of a distractor word [25],[26] or the direness with which a verbal admonition is articulated. [27] Further, the

recuperation from attentional catch appears to rely somewhat upon singular contrasts in working memory limit, as well: Participants with more noteworthy intellectual control capacities indicated an expanded habituation rate. [28] From an impedance by-process point of view [16],[29] the troublesome impact of a distractor increments with how much it seeks activity. While from the outset sight the nonappearance of a self-significance impact is by all accounts conflicting with such a thought, this may just be because of the idea of the assignment. While normally the ringing of the own telephone is trailed by a complete consideration switch so as to make a move that may meddle promptly with the necessities of the main job (for example looking for and picking up the telephone while driving a vehicle), members in our trial were expressly educated to totally disregard any stable they may hear. In this manner, it was obvious from the start that no errand incongruent reactions were required, which may have encouraged the reorienting of thoughtfulness regarding the central assignment.

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grvybacks-blog · 6 years ago

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𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 + 𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘

full name : FENRIR BJORNOLF GREYBACK. This was not your born name, of course. But you can barely remember the moniker which once defined you, for it seems lifetimes away. This name is self-given, reflective of all you are and all you intend to be. Each name is reflective of the wolf, and not of the name you were given at birth; that boy is dead now, and only the wolf remains. You remember reading of kings eaten by wolves the size of bears when you lived in the mountains, amongst all those young minds who knew no better; when you took your first life, you realized that not only kings were fit for consumption. And so you changed your name. You became.

birth date : 4 April, 1944. A night on which the moon was obscured by clouds. Your mother died before you could take your first breath; you were cut from her as she faded away, and then… there you were. You know not what the moon looked like on the night that you were born, nor did your father ever care to tell you before he died. Of course, the moon would only matter to you; it has called to you from the start. Were you, perhaps, born an animal?

gender and pronouns : Fenrir identifies as cisgender male, using he/him pronouns.

character traits :

+ (OVER)PROTECTIVE. One step to the left of loyalty, and just short of devotion, Fenrir’s proclivity for fierce protectiveness is, at first glance, uncharacteristic of his true nature. One would not expect him to feel so fiercely for anyone that he might wish to put his own life on the line for them, but he feels that his pack is his family, and he would easily go so far as to die for them. Sure, his nature is one of a bloodthirsty animal, a feral beast with survival as motive and goal; this has never been a question, and there is no doubting that Fenrir’s capacity for pleasantry and interpersonal communication is a nonexistent one, but his devotion to the pack he has created is unmatched. It is undeniably difficult to land a place on his good side - that would usually include succumbing to a bite that not all survive - but once you are there, once you are in the family, the world will need to go through him before touching you.

+ UNRELENTING. A predator never stops, so neither does Fenrir. Though it could brand him as a firebrand entity, living without conscience or empathy by those who are cowed by his intensity, his refusal to bow, to quit, to relent when it truly matters most is what defines him the most. His is an undeniably intense human being – though, of course, he would point out that he has never been quite human – and is not like to give way even under the most intense pressure. In any circumstance, he is utterly intense, overbearing, frightening; once his mind is locked upon an objective, it would take death alone to pry him from it. His entire life has been a wild ‘do or die’, and so his outlook remains a reflection of such. This is his defining trait, for it can manifest in numerous forms and drives him in whichever direction he feels his unrelenting force is needed. It is an intense trait to possess, and an intense mantra to live by; it has gotten him in more trouble than not, but he has survived yet. And he certainly intends to outlast all his newfound “allies.”

+ RESILIENT. He’s survived so much, and surely will have to survive so much more, that there’s no doubt of his resilience and strength. And it’s not just because of physical fortitude – hell, he’s got enough scars as visible, undeniable proof that he’s not indestructible. But he’s got a stalwart mind, an iron cage about his heart, and an undeniable grit that’s not sure to allow him to falter any time soon. He bows and bends knees to no one – this could force him to come across as headstrong, surely, but his survival instinct outguns any seemingly necessary formality; his pelt is made of iron, of steel, of stone, and does not let just anyone see the weak, fickle humanity behind it all. For that would be weakness – and Fenrir would rather die than be weak.

misc. witty, careless, vengeful, fearless, grudging, conflicted, secretive, nurturing

- CALLOUS. I’m going to be totally frank here - Fenrir is not a nice person in any capacity. He’s blunt, brusque and lacks tact. It could be argued that this lack of ‘people skills’ could come from his lack of a proper upbringing, but in truth it is merely attributed to the fact that he rarely cares to put in the effort. He sees no need for the pretense of pleasantry, for he does not feel beholden to anyone in his current circle, and this can undoubtedly rub people the wrong way. In a circle of primped and polished elites, he sticks out like a sore thumb with no intention of healing; as much as defense mechanism as it is first gear, his lack of politesse makes him quite difficult to maintain within the ranks of the Death Eaters - and in the public eye of their association, in general. He cares little for the feelings of others, thinks nothing of those who feign kindness, and does not intend to try any time soon.

- SELF-SERVING. I’ve elaborated on this a little more below, in the “affiliation” section, but this trait goes far beyond his allegiance within the war. This has always been a necessary trait, a necessary tool used in the grand act of survival. Had he not had his own interests at heart from the onset, Fenrir might not have survived - or perhaps he would have been violently put down, rather than wasting away, for had he not his own preservation in mind, he might have lost himself. He ultimately wants to see himself through the war with his pack at his side; anything that does not further his motives - be it within the grand scheme of the war or in the context of his interpersonal relations - is useless to him, and he will be as underhanded, as devious, as dastardly as he needs to be in order to get ahead. He cares very little for the wants and needs of others - unless, of course, they’re part of his pack.

- EXTREMIST. He is unrelenting, unforgiving, a violent tempest of teeth and anger in equal measure. He is an “all or nothing” sort, with little room for pleasantry or politics. Fenrir is a physical being with animalistic nature and tendencies; there is nothing subtle about him - I mean, he is an infamous murderer after all. It is my job as a writer to understand the complexity of his character, but at the end of a day he is a violent fanatic with no social skills, no remorse, and a nature more animal than man. He was raised feral and wholly stayed that way; predators in the wild don’t know the subtleties and intricacies of the political game - and neither does he. Were this a different universe, “guns blazing” might be an appropriate term. His reputation precedes him, and for good reason; he is a man - an animal - made of violence and selfishness, of hunger and need inhuman, and he has no intention of changing. It has, after all, helped him survive. And he’s not exactly ashamed of his reputation. In fact, the more bloodstained, the better.

affiliation : The Death Eaters. Or, rather, I should be transparent and establish here that Fenrir’s first and strongest loyalty is to his pack. Should it benefit him, he would steer them far from the Death Eaters, for that is what drives his affiliation - benefits. He has no intention of being on the losing side of this war, for his own wellbeing as much as for the longevity of his pack and of his bloodline. At present, it just to happens that the Death Eaters are the most intriguing, the most lucrative, the most attractive offer. The free rein that the Dark Lord offers him, an offer which extends to his created family, is what currently benefits him the most, as it allows him to feed the utmost of his animal desires, to satisfy the bloodlust which drives him and calls him to create. But also, he feels a great deal of responsibility for his pack; his reputation is that of a hot-blooded creator of monsters, one who drinks of the human flesh and leaves it to turn animal - but those who consent to remain by his side are family. He would do anything for his pack, for they are his greatest pride as much as they are his greatest weakness. Should a more conventional member of the Death Eater alliance threaten but a single member of his pack, he would have no qualms with ripping their tongue from within their throat. For now, though, he sees the appeal - and the security - of using his particular talents for the Dark Lord’s cause; no matter how silly he thinks the idol-worship of the group at large truly is, Fenrir is not a stupid man. Fight or flight, survival instinct, whatever you may call it; the pack survives. And no matter which way the war falls, Fenrir and the pack will be in the position required to remain standing.

plot lines :

[ THE LONE WOLF PERISHES ]: Something I would really like to explore is Fenrir’s relationship with people who have strayed from the pack - the most obvious example is Remus. As his only true loyalty is to his pack, he sees it as the ultimate - and damnable - betrayal, worthy of killing for. At present, he doesn’t want to kill Remus; he still maintains the faint delusion that he can bring him back into the fold, for he is quite proud of his creation. He knows that a wolf on its own is one that is likely to be hunted down and exterminated, for Fenrir is not blind or deaf to the way wizards regard his kind. As much as he wants to ‘save’ Remus from all that, for no matter their conflicting ideologies he is still Fenrir’s creation, he knows that he will not hesitate to snuff him out should he continue to stray too far from the pack. He does not take betrayal lightly - nor does he wish to share his toys. And though Remus has only been amongst the pack for a short time, he considers this a return to his roots, a return to where he is meant to be. He shan’t let him leave unscathed again.

[ BUT THE PACK SURVIVES ]: In that same vein, Fenrir is always wishing to expand his family, to grow his pack. Not only in numbers, but in strength - the pack is the most important thing in his life, the one thing that truly matters to him; he would do anything to keep it together, to keep it safe. He wishes to instill a sense of pride in all of his creations, to teach them the ways of his particular brand of feral nightmare, while preparing them to fight in the war that will earn them a higher station in a world of men. If he accomplishes anything, even if he himself were to perish at the end of the war - though, let’s be honest, he has no plan to fall any time soon - he wishes to leave his pack self-sufficient and prepared to raze the world he left behind. There isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his pack, and this is no secret; as someone who loves to throw wrenches in smooth systems, however, I would love to see that challenged. The pack survives - but not always. Who knows what would happen if one of his number were to fall?

[ A FERAL DARLING ]: Blending in is… largely impossible for someone as ostentatious an unapologetic as Fenrir, and that can create quite a number of problems for him when he is trying to blend in. And, frankly, when he is trying not to get arrested. He and his pack have one hell of a reputation, one which seems to follow him everywhere he goes. And in order to function, he has to take at least some sort of efforts to shirk that reputation. With people like Hestia on his heels, Fenrir needs to blend into society - not high society, of course, because I’m not delusional enough to think that he could be capable of pulling that off (or that he would want to), but a man who lives in the woods, chops his own wood, cooks over a fire most nights, and can often be found picking twigs, grass, and leaves out of his hair is going to take some work when it comes to functioning in common wizarding society. I would really like to explore all the painfully humorous possibilities that come with Fenrir trying to integrate - and everyone who would either call his bluff or help him try.

[ CONSUME OR CREATE ]: Fenrir has, for lack of a better term, a little black book of people he would like to play with; to be frank, they all toe the line between people he’d like to have in the pack, and people he’d like to have for lunch, which is something nonplussing to the pack, but horrifying to anyone looking in. I’d like for him to interact with all the people on the shortlist - Tarquin, Alice, Hestia, and others - and to pursue them in a way befitting his sincere lack of subtlety.

[ WILD CARD IN THE HAND ]: He has no interest in purity and domination, but in freedom, and in this, he is a dangerous and unruly member of the Death Eaters. Though he is, at present, an unmarked member of the Death Eaters, he still operates among them and owes his freedom, allegiance, and influence to them. He joined them, after all, to earn freedom for himself and for his pack, and he knows he must work for it. But his mindset and theirs, his upbringing and theirs, are polar opposites, making it rather difficult to operate amongst them. Whenever he can get away with it, he operates on his own, but when it is required of him he makes no real efforts to play nice. He does believe, after all, that he is the superior being. I would love to see Fenrir more deeply embroiled in the affairs of the Death Eaters; just imagine how someone as blunt as he dealing with some sort of scandal. He’s not as brutish and dumb as they think he is, and though he plays that perception to his advantage, he knows that the intricacies of Pureblood society are a dangerous thing. I would love to see him have to navigate that - it’ll be more difficult than the war itself, to be sure.

biography :

One must always wonder if monsters are born, or if they simply become. If they emerge from the cavernous void of creation with teeth bared and claws sharpened for the ripping, or perhaps if they come about like every other sad child with no mothering touch to teach them what it is to be human. No one really knows where monsters come from, and perhaps that is what makes them so terrifying. Or perhaps it is the inevitability that, no matter what we are inclined to believe about the nature of creation, all monsters were children once.

No one knows where he came from, for he will never tell them. There exists a certain mythos about the wolf, the Greyback wolf, whose reputation precedes him, that he simply appeared in the gutters of London one night, dressed in rags and wielding a thigh bone as a club, blood upon his cheeks as if he had bitten into something far too large to chew. He was a feral child who lived between shadows, inhabiting the old, dilapidated flat that had once belonged to a mother and father who had never truly loved each other, had never truly loved him. They had left him, after all; he’d never even known their names. Beggars, they had been, lowlifes who exposed their child to the worst sort of people - but, perhaps they themselves were the true monsters, packing away their things and leaving him to rot when he came home with empty pockets and a profusely bleeding bite-wound upon his shoulders. They had looked upon it with horror, for it spanned the length of his arm, half his chest, as if he’d been plucked up by the ankles and dipped gently into the jaws of the beast. He knew not what it meant - but his parents certainly did. Perhaps he would have hated them less if they had told him what he would become before leaving him with nothing but the clothes on his back and the mold-touched bread on the table. Perhaps he would have been less frightened had he known, on the following full moon, why it was he lay upon the floor, captured at the base of the window by a single shaft of moonlight, tearing limb from limb and growing upward, outward.

Perhaps he would not hate them so, had they told him that he would feel more himself as the beast, and that they had left him for becoming who he had always meant to be. Perhaps so. Perhaps. Perhaps if he had torn into them with freshly grown fangs, and not the carriage driver in the park he’d have felt their debts paid.

He was a beastly wraith, inhabiting the streets of London, the gutters and sewers, stealing what he could and taking what he must. There were whispers that the old landlord had died, that the dingy one-room flat in which he’d been born was to be abandoned fully, along with the rest of the building. And so he was truly alone, a lonely and feral monster with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Even as a young boy scrounging for scraps and fumbling halfheartedly through the discovery of magic he knew that mortal flesh was not meant for him. He yearned for the change, for the animal that shared space with the scraps of a human soul deep within his chest. His was a lawless upbringing, a ruleless world which belonged to him and only him. He never questioned why he was made this way, nor who it was that made him; as far as Fenrir was concerned, it was the closest thing to a gift from a divine presence that someone so close to Hell as he would ever receive. A divine gift, but not one without its temptations, its pains, its suffering. But is that not the defining quality of all things divine?

But he possessed magic just as greatly as he possessed monstrosity; the magic was much more clumsy in his hands, secondary to the newfound animalism which drove him to hunt, to stray from the city and travel north, to become more nomad than wraith. Far from the city, Fenrir found himself in foreign territories that did not take as kindly, or as nonchalantly, to abandoned adolescents who took their meat raw and slept with one eye open. Those in smaller towns chased him into the wood with angry words and angrier spells, for they who held magic in the palms of their hands wanted not to allow a monster into the fold. It was much harder to steal from these smaller villages, to pillage from the humble houses, and so he learned to hunt - both as man and beast - to fish, to chop wood, to build. He was a man before adolescence, an ancient soul before all else.

At the age of thirteen, he found himself settled quite comfortably just outside Druskininkai; the Lithuanian people, he’d found, seemed more likely to leave him be than most, when encountered in the wood. Perhaps the folk in the city had heard the howls at night, the cries of pain and splendor with each full moon. Perhaps they knew that to leave their chickens in the cool night air and to lock their doors was a safer homage than to try and engage the monster directly. Or perhaps they knew that to offer him still-living stock to drag back to the shed he’d taken to inhabiting in the woods would be better than to allow him to continue to lecherously observe the girls who played in the wheat fields, watching them as if they were his next meal.

He was not ashamed that he had once tried to make a girl - blonde, with pigtails and freckles like full-moon stars - like him, once. But he was too young, and she too frightened. They’d found her arm first, for he’d done his best to bite her in the same pattern that scarred his shoulder; but she’d jerked from him, screaming, howling, and it had all come apart far too easily. He’d not bothered to wash his ragged trousers in the river until the next morning.

It was here, in this village where his reputation was not quite so terrible yet, that a traveling scholar with ties to the Durmstrang Institute dared approach him, dared speak to the feral boy who knew so little of humans, but so much of humanity. At first, Fenrir wished nothing to do with the man, or with the school of which he spoke. After all, Fenrir had known nothing but a self-sufficient life of nomadic survival, living off the land and off the people intelligent enough not to fight back. At first, he thought it frivolous, silly. But then the scholar had produced a wand from within his traveling cloak and had set him ablaze with curiosity.

But the scholar, this man with ties to the school, also made him bitter. You’ll never be like them, he’d said, But you can pretend to be.

He did not want to pretend, to hide, to lessen his monster for the sake of those who did not understand. The way the man spoke, Fenrir thought that perhaps they, wizards, thought him less for his condition. The man had called it an ‘affliction’; Fenrir knew enough of men, however, to disagree. He had never known anything but this life upon the outskirts, but he knew enough of the world to see the opportunity presented to him. The young boy, all rib-bones and dirty feet, knew survival to be paramount. Survival, freedom; acceptance meant nothing, but power was another story.

He lasted but a few years at Durmstrang, but what little education he received was invaluable. They’d cleaned him up, with pity on their faces and determination in their heavy hand, and had taught him - too little too late - all they could about ‘playing nice’ with the others, about becoming a part of a community which required social skills he had thus been lacking. Of course, what need had Fenrir had for the precarious intricacies of social politics? The children in his year had all come from lily-pure stock, and made no secret of looking down their noses at the raggedy boy who disappeared once a month, who was taught to eat with utensils, who ran in his sleep. They looked down upon him, but he cared little for their opinions - only for the practice they gave him. He learned to duel with words just as quickly as with wands, sliding comfortably into a human facade which would be passable at best to most who scrutinized him. He realized that he was quite good at slipping into the facade, at playing into their brutish perception of him, for his greatest power, it seemed, was being underestimated.

After a time, Fenrir felt as if he had exhausted the use of formal education, and left Durmstrang - though some might argue that he was encouraged to leave. At the age of fifteen, he struck out on his own once more, though this time with the skills, mindset, and determination to change the way in which he cut his monster’s path through the world. Where once he had been aimless, his time amongst the Pureblooded wizards - and their talk of purity, and the desire to reign supreme, and a movement in the name of all of it forming to the south - he now quite liked the idea of a superior regime. But, of course, he did not subscribe to the ideal that Pure magic was might, that it was superior, that his own blood was less than those without magic at all; no - he knew better. He almost felt sorry for them, the misinformed bigots who thought of him as an animal to be tamed, to be collared into too-tight robes and taught party tricks.

No - his kind was superior. And they deserved to be free. He deserved to be free.

And so he returned south with the intention of settling near his once-home, to grow his family (family, he called it; this was almost humanity), to mark themselves as a presence worthy of overtaking the lesser witches and wizards who underestimated the vitriol of the truest predator. Fenrir saw the undeniable benefit in doing so on the precipice of a war; it was a war fought by men in studies, haughty chess-makers who thought one spilled blood better than the other. He observed the brewing storm as he roamed about the countryside throughout England, Scotland, Wales; were he to have a stake in the rearranging of the world order, were he to put his hand into the fire that stretched even as far as Durmstrang, he would need not be alone. And besides, what better gift to bestow upon humanity than that of his secret weapon?

With enough of them, with enough numbers behind him, he could eat the men in their studies, and leave the bones with which his children could pick their teeth. It was a lovely thought; it was purpose.

It was not long before Fenrir had cut enough of a path through the community to be considered both a threat and something to be feared; he took children from their homes and brought them into his fold, where they could not be abandoned, where they could not be left to turn feral in the wilds. He thought it a service to them, knew it to be a gift that they could only repay by acting in his service. But he was determined to treat them in a way much different than his own upbringing; they would be an army as much as a community. A presence to be feared - but soon to be respected. He could not deny the thrill, the utterly bloody satisfaction he felt at growing his number, for violence had always been his bread and butter. And soon others saw it his way - and those who did not were quickly eliminated, for monsters of his breed, no matter their beliefs, belonged to him, with him.

Theirs is a lawless existence, this life of the Greyback pack. His body count has a body count of its own; the pack shares his taste for an almost pirate-like lack of regard for the laws of humanity - or of society, for that matter. Fenrir has made it quite clear that he is neither their father nor their master, but that they owe him the debt of their lives. They know all too well that it would have been all too easy to simply destroy them; many are beholden to failed turnings just as often as they are privy to successful ones. They live upon the fringes; rarely do any but Fenrir mingle with the common folk of the wizarding community. They seem to know not, or care not, Fenrir included, that they are uneducated, that they are anomalies, that they are a third horse in a race run by political players, for Fenrir has instilled it in them that they exist here, in this war, in these circles, to accompany the victors to the other side, where freedom awaits. He tells them only enough of his life, of his struggles, of what he has seen to instill in them a confidence that he can, in fact, see the freedom which lies just beyond the horizon of the war. In the service of he who calls himself the Dark Lord - at which Fenrir scoffs, and the pack laughs - they are allowed to indulge in their intrinsic tastes for blood, for violence, for chaos; they are allowed to be themselves where Fenrir was not, at their age. He ushers them into a new age where they will not have to hide, where they will not be forced to live in the hollows and cracks of a society that does not want them - for this is what the world has owed him from the very beginning.

This is not the becoming of a single monster - this is the heralding of their true and deserved age. A dynasty of monstrous creation, a lifetime of retribution. Monsters will be monsters, after all.

And there is no questioning the nature of monsters or men.

iii.

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reads29 · 4 years ago

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After the Count: The Death of Davey Browne (by Stephanie Convery)

(Warning: this is a LONG post... I have condensed it multiple times but there are just so many sections and themes and quotes to explore it is difficult to cut it down further)

Stephanie Convery fell into the sport of boxing almost by accident. But once she started, she quickly came to love it. It is both therapeutic and challenging, giving her a visceral sense of agency and mastery that she struggles to find elsewhere. It fulfills her desire to push the boundaries of “physical possibility”. However, her enjoyment and the satisfaction she feels when she fights is tempered by her knowledge of the dangers involved. Her unease grows when she learns of the death of Davey Browne. Her personal experience with the sport, and the deep empathy she has for Browne’s family, drive her to investigate and write about Browne’s life and death within a wider discussion of the history and culture of boxing itself.

She is thoughtful in how she approaches his family and is understanding when several people in his life decline (for various reasons) her invitations to talk. In writing the stories and insights of those who do talk, she is sensitive and articulate. Her book is testament to her determination not to let Browne’s story “fall away into the shadows and be forgotten”.

Convery covers a lot of ground. This includes but is not limited to:

the role of money and regulation in sport

the accountability of sporting codes and the people involved in keeping athletes safe

the influence of class in sport

violence and aggression (both in sport and in wider society)

gender in sport

concussion, head injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in sport

the research behind CTE and its prevention and management in sport

Convery explains how the risks and insidious effects of head trauma are compounded by a lack of awareness among athletes about the danger of concussions. Many are unaware of the signs and symptoms and that their onset is not always immediate. This lack of awareness necessitates a much more open discussion about head trauma, she argues, whereby athletes should be made aware from a young age about the risks and signs of head trauma. She cites the 2013 example of Rowan Stringer, a female rugby player who died aged 17 after suffering two concussions within a week. A coronial inquest found she had texted friends about symptoms (incl. headache, tinnitus and fatigue) that she was experiencing after being “kicked in the head” during rugby games on May 3 and May 6. She was never diagnosed after these games, but her text messages expressed that she had “googled concussion”. Many have argued that had she understood the seriousness of head trauma, she may have been better able to make an informed decision about whether to get back on the field to play in the final game on May 8, where she suffered the injury from which she never regained consciousness (it is widely reported that Rowan suffered SIS (second impact syndrome) - the existence of this condition is disputed by some, but there is a lot of information online and it is not something that I’m going to delve into here because I really don’t understand it enough and this post is already going to be too long).

Convery argues there is a more sinister problem, however, that is more difficult to change: the win-at-all-cost attitudes (e.g. where athletes who play through injury/concussion are often viewed as “heroic”...) that pervade sport. These entrenched attitudes were a factor in both Rowan and Browne’s stories. Rowan felt an obligation to keep playing while injured. Convery believes that, in boxing, attitudes about “winning at any cost” are intensified by a “conception of masculinity that pride[s] endurance through all kinds of pain”. This idea (that masculinity underpins some of the more dangerous attitudes and behaviours in sport, especially boxing) is explored throughout the book:

Convery describes the restraints that “masculine pride put on a person who [finds] themselves out of their depth in a fight. To be seen to bow out because you had concerns for your safety would be tantamount to saying you were not tough enough, not good enough, not man enough to continue. And for a sport that [runs] on the volatile fuel of masculinity, [is] unacceptable. So the fighter would put on a show of protesting the referee’s decision… whether the rules didn’t allow him the option of saving face, or sheer masculine pride prevented him from bowing out of his own accord, Davey Browne stood up for just one more round and it killed him”

Convery discusses her own various encounters with trainers and fellow boxers, some of whom welcome her, others who have an obvious unease about female boxers and a “disdain for traditionally ‘feminine’ traits – submissiveness, for example, and physical weakness, but also gentleness, meekness, care”.

Evidence gathered from interviews and extensive research is used throughout her writing. She shows, for example, how the unwillingness of sporting codes, in Australia and internationally, to recognise the risk of concussion and CTE in contact sport (let alone participate in critical research on head injury) further inflames the issue of head trauma in sport. She refers to (among others) the NFL in America, which is notorious for denying and covering up the risks of repeated head trauma. Former players have sought compensation from the NFL for concealing the risks of CTE (and the poor mental health, seizures and memory loss that comes with it) and have put sustained pressure on the organisation to implement more safeguards into the sport. The AFL has problems of its own (see https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/sports/afl-football-concussions.html).

While she has an obvious bias, Convery is rightly critical of the way other sports (that usually attract more money and sponsorships by virtue of their popularity) are viewed in stark contrast to boxing:

“Clinically... there is very little difference between one torn hamstring and another, or between two dislocated shoulders… research [of Dr Ann McKee et al.] showed that while the sporting contexts in which CTE developed might be different, the cases were alike in their basic physiology. So what, then, differentiates the sports? Why is boxing considered barbaric, while football continues to march ahead? Many would argue that it’s a matter of intention. That collisions in football or gridiron or even rugby league are not intended to hurt the other person or render them incapacitated, whereas in boxing this is the primary objective; strikes to the face are the point of the sport… the distinction [is] somewhat a matter of degrees. Violence in football wasn’t non-existent – all the crashing and tackling and throwing and shoving was hardly physically benign – but it was sublimated, somehow. Boxing made explicit what in other sports sat just below the surface. The questions that it therefore raised about human behaviour – the undeniable confrontation with mortality that came from making that violence explicit and turning it into a ritual of sorts – was what made people uncomfortable.”

This evolves into a lengthy but intriguing discussion about violence and its function, how it is portrayed in media, and how it is validated and condemned in different contexts:

“When Saddam Hussain was executed in 2006… footage of the incident circulated widely via the internet. Major television networks ran the official video of the event right up until the moment of execution, including the footage of the noose being hung around his neck... a short time later, when shaky amateur footage circulated of the actual hanging, many news organisations ran parts of that, too… [this example] might seem like a far cry from a boxing match… but they form an inextricable part of the spectrum of ideas about violence that ripple through our society: about who orders, sanctions, tolerates or condemns that violence, and in what circumstances it occurs…”

There are many other chapters and sections which I have not done justice and should probably elaborate on but I think this is more than enough for now. The following quote will finish this much better than I can:

“Humans are not like animals in one critical way: humans have a moral code. We have the capacity to justify and think through the implications of our actions. But we have hidden the violence in our everyday lives from ourselves to avoid facing up to it. We are afraid of it, or repulsed by it, and so we refuse to come to terms with it… violence is a power relationship. This is critical to understanding it. To condemn all violence on principle is inherently meaningless, as violence itself has no meaning outside of its context. Similarly, to acknowledge that violence exists and is frequently accepted by society is not to sanction that acceptance. But an understanding of how violence functions in our society, and the moral rights and wrongs of that, cannot be gained by ignoring it, or brushing it aside, or dismissing it wholesale. It needs to be faced. This is what boxing taught me. I don’t pretend that it is everyone’s experience of the sport, but I can’t agree with the conclusion that combat sports should be condemned by dint of their engagement with violence alone. Violence explored in a consensual fashion with adequate measures against disproportionate power imbalances can be transformative. Perhaps a healthy, a different society, one in which equality and social justice are central to its structure rather than one organized primarily around competition and alienation, would transform sports like boxing – would find them to be useful tools to understand different aspects of human nature and power relations.”

Read more about the book and the author here: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/boxing/the-final-round-the-death-of-boxer-davey-browne-20200221-p54332.html

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hopefulfestivaltastemaker · 5 years ago

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May 24, 2020

Here is my weekly collection of thoughts and things that happened.

Speed vs. Space

One of the basic tradeoffs in transportation planning is speed, which can be thought of as how far you can get in a time budget, versus how much space you take up during your trip.

Jarrett Walker has “the photo that explains almost everything”. Anyone who has spent any length of time in the urbanist community has seen this photo or some variant of it.

In the article, Walker explains that “In cities, urban space is the ultimate currency.” However, the photo that explains “almost everything” only tells half the story.

This is an isochrone map. You can make your own with the TravelTime app, which is a lot of fun. The image is centered at Orenco Station, Hillsboro, Oregon, where I live, a transit-oriented development that was built up around the MAX station starting in the 1990s. The blue region is all the territory I can reach in 30 minutes by public transport. The red region is all the territory I can reach in 30 minutes by car.

This illustrates the fundamental tradeoff. Contrary to what Walker claims, urban land is not a fixed commodity, but rather is based on what can be reached in a reasonable time. The 30 minute standard is Marchetti’s Constant, which is the observation that cities tend to be structured to afford most citizens a 30 minute one-way commute on average. The geography of the city is thus dependent on the primary transportation mode.

You can go the car-dependent route, and have a geographically large, low-density city, or a transit-dependent city with Manhattan density, or a super-dense arcology where internal transportation is all walking and biking. In each case, I estimate that the city can support a unified labor market of about 7-10 million people before either travel time or congestion get out of control. That is, uncoincidentally, about how large cities get today. Some metropolitan areas can grow to 20-30 million by relaxing the condition that the workforce has to thoroughly mix throughout the city, and by using hybrid transportation systems that simultaneously capture the benefits of each.

There are, of course, other factors that come into play: land use, energy consumption and CO2 emissions, infrastructure and building costs, safety, and aesthetics, among others. Our discussion of land use and transportation policy should be based on such tradeoffs and avoid simplistic “ban cars” slogans.

Oregon Metro’s Transportation Planning

Speaking of transportation, the subject is on my mind now, as Oregon Metro is currently preparing a bond measure for the 2020 ballot and had a work session on the topic this week. Last fall I submitted a comment that the process should be better tied with land use. If a neighborhood or city is to get regional funding for transportation improvements, such as expanded roadways or light rail stops, the region should insist that the city increase its zoned capacity to insure that the transportation improvement is fully utilized. Otherwise it is unfair to taxpayers in the rest of the region. I would like to see the federal Department of Transportation adopt a similar standard, as HUD has done with affordable housing grants.

Aside from that, I would like to see Metro show a bit more transparency on how they costed and estimated the benefits of proposed projects. Perhaps the information is there, but I haven’t been successful in finding it yet.

Otherwise, I don’t have much more to say now on the merits of proposed projects. What Metro is proposing now seems like a reasonable across modes and parts of the region. Said balance might be more the result of the political process than dispassionate analysis, but I wouldn’t expect otherwise.

Inclusive Wealth

Over the years I occasionally see calls for “better measures of progress” (than GDP) or measures of wealth that take well-being and the environment into account, or some variant thereof. Last week I wrote about how “growth at all costs” is a strawman, not an accurate representation of how economic policy is actually made. This week I took some time into trying to better understand these alternative measures.

One such measure is Inclusive Wealth, which the UN Environment Program tracks. It is a composite measure that adds GDP, changes in the quality of the environment and stocks of natural resources, and some measures of human well-being such as education. The index is meant to show that, with a broader definition of wealth, much of the world is not actually improving or even getting worse, in contrast to what the GDP metric tells us.

To start with the positive, I do appreciate the efforts made by ecological economics to quantify the physical basis of wealth. I think this effort is necessary and should be further developed. One of my early influences in energy is work by Ayres and Warr to quantify the role that energy plays in economic growth. They found that it can explain most of the change in total factor productivity in the United States from 1900 to 1970 (beyond which the explanatory power weakens). I do generally like the ecosystem service pricing model, though it has its limitations. And yes, it is important to ask the deeper questions about what well-being is and what causes it.

The Inclusive Wealth metric has several major problems, however, which render the numbers meaningless as a representation of “inclusive” wealth. The most glaring is that scientific and technological knowledge is omitted, except insofar as they are represented in the traditional GDP metric. This renders the calculations on natural capital stock useless, since natural resources are a function both of physical material and technological capability. Technology is the difference between a usable and unusable oil or mineral deposit, and technology is what allows us to harvest useful energy from sunlight, wind, uranium ore, waves, tides, the crust’s heat, or deuterium in the ocean. Contrast to the Simon Abundance Index, which shows real declining commodity prices despite (or because of) growing population.

I don’t understand the material on well-being well enough to judge its usage in Inclusive Wealth, though what I have seen elsewhere makes me suspicious. That might the subject for a future post.

In the end, Inclusive Wealth is something that I think could have been a valuable contribution to our understanding of the economy, but it fails in that regard. Behind positive rhetoric about natural capital and well-being, the report carries Malthusian arguments and betrays population anxiety. It makes me wonder if there ever could be a super-metric of wealth that is coherent enough to be used for policy and free of obvious ideological bias. I doubt it, and it should be recognized that policymaking is a pluralistic exercise. An attempt to aggregate mutually incommensurate values into a single metric necessarily masks value judgments with the illusion of objective measurement.

Interstellar Flight Concepts

Marc Millis has a presentation online now from the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop last year. With a grant from NASA, he is building a database of proposed mission architectures for unmanned interstellar probes.

First, I find it wild that NASA is funding such a thing. Projects involving speculative physics, such as warp drives, are expressly included in the scope. It is good to see a small portion of our research efforts going to far-reaching projects, few if any of which are likely to come to fruition in this century.

Second, I like the idea of a public-facing database of proposed solutions. I would like to see much more of this across fields to help the public better find what is available and place it in context. The IAEA maintains a similar database for advanced nuclear reactors, which I have found helpful.

Infrastructure for Artificial Intelligence

I’ve also been thinking about AI this week. Last year, Eric Drexler published Reframing Superintelligence: Comprehensive AI Services as General Intelligence, which I found to be a useful corrective to the agent-based notion of artificial general/super-intelligence that is prevalent. If I understand the argument (which, I must say, is not the easiest to understand), he envisions that AGI can be stitched together by decomposing economically useful tasks into a tiled task space, where a narrow intelligence can be developed to perform each task, and AGI can be stitched together across tiles.

This is all quite debatable, but Reframing Superintelligence does point to the possibility of an AI infrastructure which, even if it is not structured as Drexler imagines, may be an important concept. To analogize to road networks, agents, such as DeepMind, might be the cars and trucks; what then, are the roads?

The best thought out answer I know of is the Semantic Web, an idea developed by Tim Berners-Lee (developer of the World Wide Web) as a machine-readable extension. It is, in effect, a method of encoding knowledge in a graph database of propositions in subject-predicate-object format. It is a very intriguing idea but one that has not yet gained traction in the way that advocates had hoped.

I can imagine the Semantic Web, or some analogous concept, playing an important role in the technology stack that ultimately leads us to AGI. It could also be instrumental in realizing the potential of expert systems and automated reasoning, techniques in AI that for years have languished with limited productive results.

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daresplaining · 7 years ago

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Defenders Countdown: 13 Days

Trailer #2 Analysis

After much geeking out and squinting at tiny details, we have finished our analysis of the Defenders trailer released at San Diego Comic Con! We still have more questions than answers, but that’s as it should be, and we’re more excited than ever.

This shot was released as a still a while ago, so it’s great to finally see it in action. We know that Danny and Colleen will arrive in New York after the show has already started, so we’re assuming that this is when they first get back.

We can't tell what this building is (maybe the hospital?), but it looks to be the same scene as this sad shot of Claire toward the end of the trailer:

That arm on the left is probably Danny. We see him wearing a similar jacket later in the trailer.

Speaking of Danny, here we see him at Midland Circle. We can't quite figure this scene out. Clearly, Danny is here in an official capacity as co-chair of Rand Enterprises. Then, as tends to happen at these sorts of meetings, it devolves into a massive fight. Does Danny walk into the building knowing it’s a trap, and that these people are bad news, or is he taken by surprise? And does he arrange to have Luke, Matt, and Jessica swoop in to help, or do they just happen to show up? We know this is far from the first scene in the show, but context suggests it’s their first group team-up, so it seems surprising that they would already be coordinating their attacks. And if this was pre-planned, why isn’t Matt in costume?

Luke to the rescue!

Is Danny having another chi malfunction here? Maybe he’s already used the Iron Fist at some point during the day, and is feeling drained (which would suggest that this fight has caught him by surprise).

Or... this could be something like the situation explored in the first arc of the current Iron Fist comic (which-- sidenote-- we highly recommend). Maybe whatever happened to K’un-Lun is either physically or emotionally weakening his powers. Or it could have something to do with what he and Colleen were up to between shows. In any case, we’re intrigued.

Oh, this fight is going to hurt. This probably takes place 0.007 seconds before Elektra throws Matt through the wall.

Also, that is a heck of a spin hook kick.

This is a dynamic that we can’t wait to see. Elektra has been resurrected without memories of her previous life, and is being trained by the Hand as a weapon. This would suggest an inherent coldness in Alexandra’s view of her, but this shot is surprisingly intimate-- almost parental-- on Alexandra’s part. What will their relationship be, and how does Elektra feel about her new mentor?

We’ve talked a bit already about how much we love this, but it’s one of the highlights of the trailer for us. It’s always fun when Matt uses his hypersenses in mundane ways like this, and it’s fascinating that he’s being so open about them in front of the other three.

Also, all of their facial expressions are priceless.

...he said, gazing upon his future BFF.

Also, “super friends” is a DC reference! Surprised they allowed that.

Sigourney Weaver mentioned at one point that Alexandra’s signature color is white, and we see that in both her clothing and settings associated with her-- including this one. This is also a nice look at Elektra’s new costume. We adored her two costumes in Daredevil, and while this one also looks very cool, we don’t find it as visually interesting. But it’s still miles beyond almost anything 616 Elektra has worn, and for that we are eternally grateful. As we mentioned in our previous trailer analysis, our main complaint is her hair being down, which makes no practical sense for a fighter.

This is a great slapstick moment. Poor Jessica.

This is a quintessential Elektra shot. Just beautiful. It seems as though Alexandra will be personally overseeing her training-- which suggests that she has combat knowledge, even if she isn’t a combat-based character. This shot also emphasizes a characteristic of the new Elektra that we noticed throughout the whole trailer. While we already knew about the memory wipe, it seems her temperament has changed as well. She seems emotionally detached, and a bit zombie-ish. We saw this to a much smaller degree with Harold Meachum, whose lack of empathy and capacity for cruelty was at least partly caused by his resurrection. However, Elektra’s situation seems extreme, possibly due to whatever the Black Sky activation has done to her.

Hallway fight, psh, whatever-- this is the fight we’re most excited for in this show. Bring on the badassery!

Just as we suspected, Colleen is getting her rematch with Bakuto. Their dynamic is fascinating to us, and we’re very excited for this. We also know, via the official stills released over the past week, that Misty is in this scene too! (We love Misty dearly and would never wish her harm... but we’re also rooting for Bakuto to chop her arm off.) This also supports the theory that Colleen and Misty may both be involved in rescuing the kids Bakuto has recruited.

Foggy and Karen! It looks like they’re at the Hell’s Kitchen police precinct, which doesn’t tell us much, beyond the fact that they are still in contact and, as usual, bad things are happening. We’re digging Foggy’s hair!

Trish!

(We don’t have anything to say, because we know nothing about what she’ll be up to in the show, and this shot doesn’t help. We’re just happy to see her.)

Is this her car? That's a bummer.

We’d treated the odd tremors in the previous trailer as something generated above-ground, but clearly, that was silly. It now seems as though the Midland Circle hole is part of a far-reaching excavation project, which is making the ground unstable. Are the Hand trying to make Manhattan physically collapse from below? What’s going on here?

Anyone with a badass entrance like this has to be significant. The obvious guess is that he’s either in the Hand or the Chaste. All we know is that Matt seems to fight him at some point:

...Unless there are multiple people in this show with tonfa, which admittedly, is not out of the question.

This is the trailer’s other big mystery shot. We can’t even begin to guess who these guys are. Again, the easy guess is that they’re Hand members, but we have no idea.

This is another dynamic that has the potential to be fascinating. Madame Gao seems to be outranked here, which is a position we’ve never seen her in before. How does she feel about that? How do her own plans align with Alexandra’s? Who is she?

This is a weird scene, and we have no idea what to make of it. Here we see our heroes and Stick standing around a decapitated body (that may be the head, off to the left. But why is there no blood?). We thought the body looked like one of the guys from the truck in the shot mentioned above-- and this was confirmed by footage only found, for some reason, in the French trailer:

This suggests it’s an interrogation scene, in which Matt seems extremely emotionally invested. Based on that, we can assumed the topic of conversation is Elektra. We’re also assuming, barring any surprising emotional twists on the part of the others, that Stick is the one who kills the guy. (Yes, Jessica, Danny, and Matt have all demonstrated a willingness to kill, but none of them are gonna just rip someone’s head off without a really good reason.) Also, that is some phenomenal grapple line maneuvering. Matt’s clearly been practicing!

The weirdness continues with this next moment, which we’re still trying to puzzle out:

Clearly, these are two(-ish) separate shots that have been stitched together, but they’re from the same scene and both raise questions. Our initial assumption about Matt and Danny fighting was that they were engaging in some friendly sparring-- possibly at Stick’s suggestion. After all, it would make sense for him to do some last minute whipping into shape before sending our heroes out to fight the Hand. This would also explain why every else is just standing around watching.

However, Jessica then jumps between them in a manner that suggests the fight might be real. If the interrogation is-- as it seems to be-- part of this same scene, and if it does have to do with Elektra, it could easily generate tension. Matt is emotional wherever Elektra concerned, and he and Danny may have different ideas about how to deal with her. Jessica is either pulling a “dude, calm down” maneuver here... or this is just an intense team sparring session. We can’t tell.

This is a really nice shot, and a callback to Elektra and Matt’s rooftop scene (the first one...) in the final episode of Daredevil Season 2.

We’re always thrilled to see Stick, but are particularly psyched to see his interactions with Alexandra. Have they met before? How much do they know about each other? Having fought the Hand his entire life, it would make sense for Stick to have extensive knowledge of his enemy-- and vice versa-- but Alexandra is still such a mysterious figure to us that anything seems possible.

This seems to take place down in the Hand’s hole/tunnels. We don’t have much to say about it, beyond the fact that it’s a great team shot, and we’re thrilled that Danny has adopted his iconic v-neck look. We’re dying for him to get an actual costume, but for now, we’ll accept this.

It’s almost impossible to tell what’s going on here, but we’re 64.8% sure this is Jessica carrying Misty.

Elektra doesn’t remember Matt, from what we understand, but as she comes into contact with him again, her memories may start to return. This is a pretty standard template for brainwashing narratives, and we can predict that these glimpses of memories will eventually help her to fight her way free-- but just because it’s predictable doesn't mean it won’t be supremely enjoyable and painful, and they may well throw in some twists to surprise us.

Here we see Luke and Jessica pulling off a heck of a tag-team against Madame Gao! Gao possesses something akin to telekineses, and has been pretty much untouchable in the previous shows. Are Jessica and Luke just too much for her, or has she been weakened somehow?

This is a beautiful shot.

This is a really beautiful shot.

Wow. Well done, everybody.

We always appreciate creative uses for superpowers, and this is a great reminder that Luke can do more than deflect bullets and punch through walls!

Dadadada like unto a thing of iron! SHKOW!!!

Look at this! We mentioned Madame Gao before, and here we have Danny punching her across a room! She did the exact same thing to him in Iron Fist Episode 6, which suggests that either she has grown weaker, or Danny has grown stronger.

We feel ya, Jessica.

We’ve talked about this moment before, and it remains mysterious. We’re assuming this is a post-fight train ride (they look tired), and we’re guessing Matt lost his shirt somewhere, and then somehow acquired an NYPD shirt to replace it. But where is Danny? And is Matt going to mention how much he hates the subway?

Matt: “My least favorite place in the city. Tight, confined spaces full of a cacophony of noises are murder on the super-hearing. Plus, this is one of the few places the suit makes me feel silly.”

Guy: “Oh, man. Not another superhero impersonator.”

Daredevil: Dark Nights #4 by David Lapham and Lee Loughridge

Less than two weeks to go!

#Defenders spoilers #Netflix Defenders #Commentary #Defenders Countdown

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realbenchin-blog1 · 5 years ago

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Polish Hearts -2020 BEST Dating Sites

Intended to help individuals of Polish drop in finding a reasonable accomplice, Polish Hearts as of now has 1.6 million individuals around the world. It is a developing network that includes a few hundred new individuals to its positions each day. Utilizing this dating stage is particularly helpful for second and third era Polish wanderers in the US, UK, or Germany who might want to interface their lives with somebody of comparable social foundation. When they start utilizing Polish Hearts, the vast majority of them are astonished at what number of Poles in reality live close to them.

In this article, we'll give you a few points of interest on Polish Hearts so you can choose if it's what you're searching for as far as Polish dating.

**Clean Hearts part base: Broad and different **

Notwithstanding being apparently centered around a solitary country, Polish Hearts offers you an opportunity to meet a broadened populace, with a good sex proportion (60% male versus 40% female). The site's clients are genuinely dynamic, and the quantity of phony profiles is insignificant. This is because of a severe check methodology that goes before profile initiation. Suspicious records are promptly dismissed or prohibited from the site not long after joining, consequently making the site very protected to utilize. The quantity of individuals at present online is shown on the Polish Hearts landing page, and you can channel those living close to you by tapping on a banner in the upper-left corner. One can further limit the pursuit by entering a particular area.

Enlistment methodology: 3 simple advances

Choose in the event that you'd like to join by means of Facebook or make an autonomous record by picking a novel username and secret phrase

Enter a substantial email address (or utilize the one connected to your Facebook record) and snap on the actuation interface the site's heads send you

Complete your profile on Polish Hearts by including essential data, for example, your sex, age, and spot of home

After enlisting your profile will keep up the 'pending' status for some time until it gets endorsed by the administrator group. During this time you might have the option to utilize the site as a visitor which isn't a lot of fun, however most of profiles get acknowledged inside a couple of hours.

**Would i be able to alter my profile a short time later? **

Indeed. The main thing you won't have the option to change is your username, so ensure it's something you like. The various subtleties are dependent upon adjustment by going on your profile landing page, tapping on the 'Alter profile' choice, and sparing the progressions made. All you've changed won't be quickly noticeable to different clients. It experiences a similar confirmation process as your unique profile in the enrollment stage. In the event that you wish to include a photograph, you can do as such by snapping a photo on your webcam or by transferring a picture from your PC. In the event that your record is connected to your Facebook profile, it's conceivable to utilize pictures posted on this informal organization also.

**Contact-production choices on Polish Hearts **

Potential individuals who were hoping to have a free informing highlight on this site will be harshly baffled. Standard individuals are not permitted to send messages and messages or start any kind of correspondence except for sending grins, kisses, or different emoticons. The main way a free part can trade messages with somebody is by having the other individual add them to their VIP list. Being on someone's VIP rundown makes it feasible for a standard part to send messages without paying participation expenses.

Clean Hearts have no live visit alternatives, and they don't play out a matchmaking. Both paying and non-paying clients need to locate their reasonable matches physically.

**Enrollment alternatives accessible on Polish-Hearts **

The site offers three kinds of enrollments for its paying individuals:

Premium enrollment gives one access to boundless informing, sending and getting of blessings, transferring a limit of 5 photographs, and being educated regarding what number of individuals have seen their profile. Premium individuals likewise get informed when somebody adds them to their Friends list.

Celebrity participation just makes it conceivable to make a VIP rundown and add individuals to it. Subsequent to incorporating somebody in your VIP show, you can speak with them without limitations regardless of whether they are a standard non-paying part.

Premium + VIP participation gives full access to the majority of the site's highlights. It joins the advantages of premium and VIP participations yet is the most costly enrollment alternative on Polish Hearts.

**Evaluating and techniques for installment **

The premium or VIP participation costs on Polish Hearts rely upon the timespan the enrollment is purchased for. Month to month Premium enrollment on a solitary month plan costs 19.99$, with the value going down to simply 5$ every month on a year participation plan. Precisely the equivalent applies to the VIP enrollment cost, while the joined Premium and VIP participation costs extend from 8.33$ to 36.99$ per month. In correlation with comparable locales, Polish Hearts is respectably evaluated.

Participation expenses can be paid with credit or platinum cards, by means of bank moves, or by utilizing Skrill. Entering your ledger subtleties is sheltered since the site uses propelled encryption to ensure all cash exchanges.

**The site's plan and intriguing highlights **

One may contend that Polish Hearts has an excessively oversimplified interface that isn't satisfying to the eye. Be that as it may, it is exceptionally advantageous to use as every one of the capacities are unmistakably obvious and simple to access. The site is composed in a manner a large portion of its individuals discover sensible and easy to use. A portion of its cool highlights include:

Recollecting profiles. This involves making a 'My companions' rundown by tapping on the 'Recollect this profile' choice on the pages of individuals you like. This capacity is accessible for Standard individuals also which enables them to spare somebody's profile for future reference in the event that they're not ready to get in touch with them right now.

'Who recollected that me' and 'Who visited me' highlights. These show Premium individuals who have added them to their Friends records and saw their profile as of late.

Making a VIP list. This choice is restricted to VIP and Premium+VIP individuals. Individuals you add to your VIP rundown can trade messages with you without restrictions regardless of whether they are Standard individuals.

Boycotting somebody. This includes avoiding clients whose messages you discover hostile from further reaching you. It would be ideal if you utilize this alternative as opposed to getting into a warmed trade of obscenities which can get you boycotted or forever restricted from the site.

Sending emoticons and virtual endowments. This is a method for communicating your enthusiasm for somebody or playing with them on the web. You can send virtual beverages, kisses, smiley appearances, and solicitations for virtual vehicle rides. They can fill in as helpful ice-breakers or correspondence starters as they make a beneficiary grin and make them increasingly anxious to meet you.

**Suspending and erasing your Polish Hearts profile **

In the event that you never again wish to utilize your profile, you can fall back on both of the two choices offered by the site. These comprise of briefly suspending your record in the event that you'd like to take a break from utilizing this dating stage, or forever erasing it. On the off chance that your profile is in the suspended mode, you won't get any messages or messages until you reactivate it. Be that as it may, in the event that you choose to erase your profile by and large, you'll lose every one of the messages and companion records you made. After a profile is erased, it can never be reestablished, yet a client is allowed to make another profile utilizing a similar email address.

Utilizing Polish Hearts in a hurry: The versatile application

The two iOS and Android clients can download the Polish Hearts application for nothing. It includes no different capacities as its work area form however is inclined to smashing and not truly solid to utilize. When the application's engineers settle these issues, it will end up being an exceptionally helpful apparatus particularly since it just takes up to 3MB of memory space. Meanwhile, we prescribe adhering to the site's work area form as its steadfastness and usefulness have been demonstrated as the years progressed.

Client's remarks

Male client (27): Both my folks are Polish however moved to this nation before I was conceived. I figured out how to communicate in Polish from my grandma who came to remain with us for some time when my sister and I were kids. A short time later, I got essentially acclimatized into the nearby culture and disregarded my Polish beginnings. Recently, I've rediscovered my foundations, and I'd love to meet a Polish young lady. These were my explanations behind joining this site. I'm a Standard part starting at now, yet I'm thinking about a Premium participation since I can't generally contact anybody without it. All the part profiles I visited so far appear to be real, and I've added a couple to my Friends rundown to message them when I get a membership. I trust I'll have the option to locate a reasonable match on Polish Hearts.

Female client (32): As an individual of Polish plummet living in the US, I've generally felt somewhat unique, as though something significant was absent in my life. I currently believe that what I've been missing is contact with individuals with comparable roots as mine. Despite the fact that I see myself as well-incorporated in American culture, I feel that shaping a long haul association with somebody with my own ethnic foundation would be advantageous. It would surely brighten up my 85-year-old grandma back in Poland. I chose to give Polish Hearts a go. So far I've reached two men living close by, and I'm wanting to meet one of them in person actually soon.

**General appraisal and by and large evaluating of Polish Hearts **

Upon cautious assessment we see Polish Hearts as a significant helpful dating administration proposed to make coordinates between Poles living in Poland and abroad. People of non-Polish plummet are additionally invited to join on the off chance that they're keen on get to know or winding up impractically associated with somebody with Polish roots. Most individuals appear to be keen on long haul connections, so the site isn't appropriate for those searching for fast hookup

#polishhearts #dating #women #girls

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epicmeetsfail · 5 years ago

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Unknown Pleasures: The most august https://ift.tt/2NbjYb9

A friend from the midlands once lamented that she’d always lived there. How absurd it was to live on an island, but directly in the middle of it. I can now say, having lived in two coastal cities, that living on the edge of it is very much the same, except that there are much better chip shops and the rain is more … oceany.

It is currently hacking it down out there and I don’t want to go home in it. Join me once more than, readers, for our regular round up of the best new games on Steam that you’ll never see on a billboard. It’s Unknown Pleasures.

Gazing wistfully into the deep this week: algorithmic therapy, Scandinavian body horror, and the ol’ rotate and thrust.

Apsulov: End of Gods £15.49 / €16.79 / $20

First person horror games are usually terrible, and in all the same ways. This is great news for me because I hate them anyway so it makes very little difference, but someone’s only gone and made one I like. Apsulov is gruesome. Its very first scene is horrible, with you (an Alice, it turns out, which explains the latent magic powers) operated on by some robotic apparatus at the whim of an unseen, intensely threatening entity that’s very quick to anger. Something’s wrong with your throat, so you’re all gurgly and choking and it’s horrible, but for once it doesn’t feel sadistic (obviously the villain is sadistic, but the game doesn’t feel so. It’s meant to be horrible, not pornographic).

You escape, of course, and flee a facility, dodging muttering, screaming shamblemen, pursued by your tormentor’s evil beast, and piecing together where and who you are. Scientists have opened a sinister gate or screaming obsidian hellcube or some other thing that only a colossal fool would open, and apparently the Norse gods are involved somehow. Creeping, rapidly growing tentacles are poking through, gigantic valkyrie shields line one lab, and since your captor drilled something into your head, you have the power to see magical sigils. You’re important somehow, but how it all ties together is a mystery. This is all excellently done, and I’m genuinely intrigued to find out more. Even the occasional jump scares didn’t feel cheap, nor the pillar of the horror – that’s the dread and revulsion, and secondary to that, the wider horror of what this event means for earth in general.

I’m impressed. Oh, but the bloody keypads are a joke. You have to ‘use’ them and then take your hand off the mouse and use the arrow keys to type the numbers in. Deus Ex let us use the number pad nineteen years ago, damn it. Come on.

Exception £11.39 / €12.49 / $15

This wasn’t the game that sparked it, but I’ve had a right moan about “the 80s aesthetic” in games this week. Did you know it’s possible to style your game after something that isn’t synthwave and neon? It’s true, I saw a game do it once.

Exception is enthralling, though, and its presentation is a large part of that. It’s a simple action platformer, with a plot about emptying a woman’s computer from a load of viruses that I skipped entirely thanks to built-in options that I respect mightily. You’re a wee robot who dashes about obstacle courses, wall jumping, slashing up hostile robots, and generally dashing to the exit. Several times each level, you’ll touch a waypoint that reorients the whole level, zooming out and rotating and setting you back along the same course but upside down or along a different axis. It’s very cool and the movement flows freely and comfortably, including your attacks.

The vast majority of enemies are easily done in without altering your path, and you’re periodically given new attacks and powers that I didn’t bother with at all (frankly they seemed more trouble than they were worth). Occasional bosses take half a dozen hits and attack in simple enough patterns that they don’t disrupt things too much either. Everything’s bright and fast and spectacular, and even now, at synthwave saturation point, the soundtrack is a perfect accompaniment that drives you on when the wrong beats would undermine the action.

Phantom Rose £11.39 / €12.49 / $15

It’s another one. It’s another bloody deckbuilding roguelike. You’re doing it on purpose aren’t you?

Phantom Rose does things a little bit differently to the many others in its class. Typically in a deckbuilder you’ll draw a handful of cards and choose which to play. Here, there’s some kind of initiative system going on behind the scenes too. In each round of a fight, you and your opponent will line up cards (5 altogether, giving an advantage to one or the other of you). Yours are randomly chosen from your hand, but you can replace some or all of them from another hand drawn at the bottom of the screen. When you’re satisfied, you start the turn and cards play out from left to right.

There’s a big focus on status effects and buffs like Vampiric Whatever, which gives a chance of restoring health when you attack, or focus, which helps you break through defences. It may get complicated later but was easy to grasp for at least the first two floors. Your path goes along a grid from top left to top right, always (until you reach a map edge) offering two options. I didn’t get the sense that these make a drastic difference in terms of risk or reward, with the exception of occasional “maid” rooms, where you fight a powerful monster to free an amine maid (fairly mild on the tacky anime bullshit meter) who’ll reward you with a special item.

I like that one of the attacks lets you hit a monster with their own attack rating instead of yours. That’s a fun trick. It moves at a brisk pace too, and I even appreciate the artwork. All that red and white and black makes for a bold style.

It feels a bit too easy to run out of good attacking cards. But that might come down to practicing more.

Rashlander £2.89 / €3.29 / $4

Rashlander is a modern form of one of those old 2D rotate and thrust gravity games, whose names, aside from Thrust and Gravity Power, escape me. You pilot a wee ship about a sometimes absurdly hazardous area, aiming to land it on a warp pad to move on to the next level. Gravity and inertia are important tools and potential threats, as there’s a basic Newtonian physics system, making navigation tricky and rewarding. Your default ship (more are unlockable, although they’re balanced so that each presents its own challenge) is fragile and lives are limited. In case that wasn’t cruel enough for you, fuel is also highly limited, and when you run out you explode.

It’s bloody hard. I’m a bit rubbish at it. Each warp pad also offers an upgrade, although some have a downside (one increases fuel capacity but scrambles in-game text, an inventive and somewhat maddening invention), and some are a mixed blessing as they change the way the ship handles, which means re-learning on the fly, potentially under dangerous circumstances. While it’s not a cruel game, it’s somewhat antagonistic, although more for comic effect than anything. Levels have hidden collectables and bonus landing pads if you fancy a challenge, but it’ll likely be a while before you’re good enough to risk those as a matter of course.

Eliza £11.39 / €12.49 / $15

The cult of the algorithm is one of the biggest and most insidious disasters of our already disaster-laden era. Eliza is an exploration of this, and of the mental health crisis, and of tech startup ‘culture’, and of counselling. It’s a visual novel in which you play as Evelyn, a new recruit for the eponymous business, which is a counselling service in which all the counselling is done by an AI. The humans like Evelyn are just there to put a face on it, to the extent that they’re not allowed to say anything but whatever script the algorithms produce, based on a vast bank of heuristic data and the patient’s verbal analysis, biological data like heart rate, perspiration and so on. They can’t even interpret.

I did a bit of basic counselling training a long time ago. It’s something I’ve long been interested in, and have experienced and contemplated from many angles. I was all set to loathe Eliza simply for suggesting the idea, fearing the HIGNFY effect, that some absolute piece will get wind of it and not realise what a godawful idea this is.

And yet.

Within the very first session I was haughtily telling the system off for being an atrocious counsellor – outright lying to a patient, for one – but then the next chapter (they’re comfortably short) kicked in. Evelyn meets with an old, estranged friend for lunch, and their shared past is hinted at. She goes to a conference in which a key speaker is a former colleague, who announces that he wants to go further than Eliza, and roll out technology that will directly interface with a patient’s brain. It’s a hybrid of electroconvulsive therapy, VR therapy, and everything else Eliza already does. He also openly criticises the incredible and shameful ignorance the tech people have of psychological research that isn’t jazzed up with some faddy nerd bullshit (I paraphrased). And I’m hooked.

Much as I see the obvious downsides of this system (and not even addressing the issue of putting this in the hands of a private business, let alone a heap of silicon valley jebs)… is it actually worse than what we have now? If not this, then what are we gonna do, magically summon the hundred thousand competent and willing and experienced counsellors and doctors and therapists we need to deal with the absolutely appalling state of mental health treatment in, let’s face it, most countries?

Eliza is obviously the pick of the week.

I tangent. Eliza touched on all of the issues in under an hour. The personal story of Evelyn, the problems she had in her hold job, her own mental health, the troubles faced by her patients, their concerns with the system, its sinister dystopian possibilities, and, despite my distaste, its potential benefits. That’s not just a good idea, that’s a good idea someone really cares about and understands, and has the talent to write.

August 16, 2019 at 12:29PM

#gaming

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geniesave-blog · 6 years ago

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Seven Fundamental facts for Online Shoppers demand from an Online store

The vast majority of people consider shopping on the online as an approach to cut costs. Online business stores reduce the travel time of clients, and retailers of store costs. Be that as it may, people sometimes consider the costs that internet shopping adds to their transaction. The physical distance between the purchaser and dealer adds dangers to the client's plate. In the event that you are a part of an E-commerce business, the takeaway is this: online customers face an additional weight at each phase of the purchasing process.

Why do bargain-hunting web shoppers say they are willing to part with more cash for great customer service? This is the question according to researchers from Purdue set out to answer in a 2003 study. They found that for the potential customers, which are being unable to examine the product in person leads to a host of problems: clothing may not fit, software may be incompatible with desire, or purchase may be damaged during shipping time. Customers must quantify themselves and concentrate an estimating outline rather than basically going into a changing area, or assemble framework prerequisites data rather than simply asking a business delegate. Existing clients must analyze issues independently from anyone else, explore self improvement sites, or trust to customer service.

In spite of this, any service related to e-commerce retailer can provide to customer the cognitive costs of shopping online, which can increases the customer’s perceived value of the desired product.

What do online shoppers expect from online support?

It's tempting to consider client administration as receptive: something that lies torpid until a client steps up to the plate and request help with their buy. Be that as it may, a few clients need support before they buy. Also, not all clients are proactive any will just open another store in another tab to discover the data they look for, as opposed to gambling a long look out for hold or an unhelpful support email. Client administration, in this way, ought to oblige the built up client just as the potential one, regarding the incredible deal of research that goes into web-based shopping by offering a way of least resistance to important information.

Here is a great framework you can use to evaluate whether your e-commerce store covers all the bases on customer service. It is being called the Customer Service Life Cycle (or CSLC).

Requirements

Description: The customer decides if they need a product, and begins shopping around. Actually, customers decide on the product with the desired features.

Clients at this stage may need to be taught about the products purpose, benefits, and separating highlights. Giving them access to a definite, efficient help focus or FAQ is an extraordinary method to help customers in the pre-buy organize determine whether an item is directly for customer promise them that they can achieve a person if their specific inquiry is unanswered. (The Help Center is likewise an incredible spot to incorporate data about trades or returns, with the goal that clients realize they have some plan of action.)

Description: The customer orders their desired product, makes the payment and receives their shipment from an e-shipping company.

The customer configure, upgrades, and enjoys their desired purchase.

How to draw Customer satisfaction

Here there are many opportunities for customer service to play a proactive and reactive role. While customers without a specific question may be enjoyed with perusing a help Center or forum unaided, those with a specific problem or inquiry customer should be provided by some way to speak with a customer support in real-time.

Return of product

Description: the customer returns or disposes of any product through 5 – 10 days of purchase.

Recommendation: The proportion of customers who return goods for a second purchase is a great metric to measure the quality of your online customer support. Contingent upon what you sell to the clients may have extra activities to perform when they are done with an ideal item, such as updating, giving, or evacuating data.

Customer deserve from an e-commerce company

Give your customers the empowerment they seek by providing proper information, an easy-to-utilize website, and outstanding customer care service.

Seven Fundamental facts for Online Shoppers demand from an Online store

Nowadays the internet has taken over the world. These days, almost everything can be found online. You may know it’s true – the internet has simplified all aspects of life and web-based shopping is one area where convenience shines. In the world where many customers seem to value saving time and money, shoppers are starting to do most of their online purchase. This means if you’re a merchant then you have to try to attract online customers, you’ll want to make sure your web-based store is equipped with these important features:

1. A versatile website option

Online customers should be offered comfort and simple entry to your online store, regardless of what gadget they're utilizing. Your online store ought to be based on a responsive plan layout and its highlights should be accessible to all clients. More established plan formats were not organized to be sufficiently adaptable for the different screen sizes that are accessible these days so responsive structure has dominated and is getting to be standard with portable sites of any legitimacy. This is imperative – your site and its substance should be bolstered on all gadgets that get to the web. All highlights and capacities should work faultlessly, giving your programs a liquid portable affair that compliments their general assessment of your image. Online customers are requesting to the majority of your highlights ought to be found on their cell phone, simply as on their PC.

2. Free or competitive shipping options

A year ago, UPS completed a noteworthy client experience think about called the Pulse of the Online Shopper. As per this broad investigation, 81% of online customers concur that FREE SHIPPING is the most essential part of looking at on the web. Other transportation alternatives additionally scored high, including giving an expected delivering all right off the bat in the shopping knowledge. Many shopping baskets are relinquished due to a startling high aggregate subsequent to including shipping. You might be astounded at how adaptable online customers can be, be that as it may. A similar report reports that 58% are happy to add more things to meet all requirements with the expectation of complimentary transportation.

So what does this data intend to you, as an online entrepreneur? Free or aggressive delivery choices, when progressed admirably, can drive your prosperity. The correct recipe will have your customers expanding their shipping aggregate so as to get free sending! What's more, obviously, there are other transportation alternatives that intrigue to online customers, you simply need to comprehend your specialty showcase all around ok to capitalize on them.

3. Advanced route and search functions

Is your online store easy to use Solicit a couple from your companions (legitimate companions) to take a turn around your site and give you criticism on it. This basic, compelling procedure is frequently neglected, however, is imperatively critical. Your online store ought to be set-up so that makes it less demanding to shop than setting off to a brick'and'mortar shop would be. The e-Commerce programming you fabricated your online customer-facing facade with ought to probably help and guide you a ton with this 'simplicity off-route' process. In the event that your stage isn't giving you the instruments you need, it's an ideal opportunity to think about a redesign. Your e-Commerce arrangement should offer an obvious, natural stream for online customers to pursue. They have to discover the things that they need, peruse things they might be keen on, and look at.

Route and inquiry choices are imperative in online retail. Something as basic as the 'look bar' situation ought to be well thoroughly considered and dependent on the structure of your site. The 'seek work' additionally needs to provide food for your clients that don't have a clue about the real names of the items they need to get. Pursuit usefulness needs to give online customers recommendations on the conceivable things they are searching for.

4. Product photos and image options on the website

On account of web retail, in any case, it might be worth more. Your product pictures will impact online customers in manners that make them flee or drive them to buy. In an online store, product photographs and alternatives are vital in light of the fact that online customers can't physically observe, contact or attempt the item they're keen on. The product pictures ought to be perfectly clear and taken with cameras that have high goals. The photographs ought to likewise be taken from various perspectives to give you a clearer thought of the item. Picture choices ought to incorporate review edges, zoom, numerous pictures, and then some. This, nonetheless, does not imply that the photos ought to be excessively upgraded or misrepresented. Doing as such may deceive online customers into purchasing something that does not work well for them

5. Detailed product description

Online retail is frequently about selling a story, a thought that fits the necessities or current impulse of your crowd. Clearly, online stores don't have a live store specialist (however some may offer live talk), so the deal things need an item portrayal that replaces your best sales rep. They ought to be portrayed with a striking and engaging substance that invigorates your programs need to purchase. While inventive and cunning portrayals are regularly a solid selling point, remember to incorporate the critical subtleties, also. Realities, for example, the termination date, estimate measurements, weight, makers date, and pragmatic uses must be incorporated into a decent item depiction. The accessibility of a guarantee, where material, additionally must be alluded to in the portrayal. In case you're selling sustenance items, think about posting the fixings, as they make acquiring less demanding for those with exceptional dietary needs or limitations.

6. Customer reviews of the product

According to research that 88% of customers state they trust online audits as much as close to home suggestions, a measurement that was up 9% from the earlier year. As an SMB in the focused universe of online retail, it is essential to give your online customers client surveys of your items. Your group of onlookers needs to find out about the encounters of other individuals who have utilized the item. Client audits presently replace your cordial, neighborly suggestion and are a successful selling strategy for online organizations. Such audits are fundamental with regards to virtual shopping. On the off chance that conceivable, incorporate video surveys in the client audits, with definite individual encounters and how-to-utilize instructional exercises. These thoughts will include to a greater degree of an individual would touch their general shopping background.

7. A fast check-out option of visitor

One of the last however most critical contemplations in internet shopping come during the genuine registration process. In a genuine physical store, customers ordinarily need to hold up in line at the clerks. Amid pinnacle hours, the line is long, and they end up investing a more drawn out measure of energy there. This is one of the primary reasons that online customers are staying away from genuine shops and going on the web to satisfy their requirements. They would prefer not to go to your site and have what could be compared to a long registration line along these lines, kindly, DO NOT require enlistment before buy. An online store should offer a productive, quick registration time. There are different approaches to accumulate contact data so evade any registration strategies that postpone the real buy.

Online customers are requesting and settle on practically quick choices on whether to shop or drop your online store. Help them shipping through your eCommerce experience and discover no blame in your registration or shopping stream. These seven hints will enable you to keep customers cheerful and increment your general achievement!

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contrerasdinesen62-blog · 6 years ago

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Warning Signs on Fallout 76 You Should Know

The Chronicles of Fallout 76 Nukes are found in the game which can be employed to destroy the bases of different players. Bethesda did recently announce a few important information regarding the beta. It tried to fix the game with several updates including a major one last month. Moreover, the collectors edition includes a glow-in-the-dark map. There are balloons and confetti all around the vault's key place. You'll also have to decide between a concrete copy or a digital replica of the game. So 76 will be like that. Assuming that it is going to run for a couple weeks, and Bethesda will subsequently need at the very least a couple of months before the November release, it appears likely that it may begin quite soon. There's more to be concerned about. Understanding Fallout 76 Tasks a couple of developers could do on their own now take a little army. A streaming service is a little less misguided, but it's so likely and I truly do not see anything building a dent. Contemplating the quantity of hype being backed and the the quantity of content and depth these 2 games have considering the rumors in regards to the quantity of stuff and the total map of both of these games, a much superior engine would want to get considered in the event the studio would like to pull this off properly. Modding isn't a short-term prospect for many. Contrary to other media, video games also have granted people the chance to explore apocalyptic scenarios for themselves. If you kill another player who didn't return fire, you are going to appear as a bounty for different players and are going to have Murderer debuff for a couple hours. The Demise of Fallout 76 The range of items will change dependent on the creature's difficulty and level, as stated by the patch notes. Though your character will get a recipe, you won't actually learn to make the a variety of drinks and meals if you don't go into your menu and read it manually. One of the crucial differences is in how bases can be constructed anywhere on the map. Another Fallout 76 patch will arrive close to the conclusion of the month. Fallout 76 has come to be an obsession. Nonetheless, Fallout 76 will certainly prove very popular, but not everybody will be able to play it at precisely the same moment. There are plenty of perks in the game which can't be obtained. Overall it is pretty easy to get started in, even if you are new to the Fallout series. It may have been a very good game. Fallout 76 Raider Power Armor Locations guide shows you where to come across the sole exo suit you will be in a position to wear at low levels, so it is possible to begin stomping your enemies whenever possible. If you're under Level 28, you'll locate a weaker armor like the T-45. Each Power Armor has its very own distinctive set of Mods so you will want to discover them in order to Craft them. New Questions About Fallout 76 If you get the physical edition you will be able to easily lend the game to a friend, family member, or co-worker should they wish to try before buying or if you merely need to have a rest. The settlement founding is going to be expanded relative to Fallout 4so the players may build bases anywhere they wish to. In order to be successful in Fallout 76, you're likely to need to become adept at building a nice CAMP set up. Definitions of Fallout 76 The imbalance in the degree of calcium in blood can lead to several ailments. The Perk card process is intriguing and while I played entirely alone during my time, it's obvious they're really pushing cooperation with various perks geared towards working with other and even providing you the capacity to share perks inside your group when the card was Level 3. Players have the capability to build wherever and whenever assuming they possess the resources to achieve that. The Secret to Fallout 76 Players have the ability to use nuclear weapons to temporarily alter the regions of game world. Fighting feels a little more sluggish than in Fallout 4 and, due to its multiplayer nature, you will feel pretty overwhelmed in early skirmishes because of a deficiency of resources and weapons. Fallout has ever been a survival-lite game to some degree, flirting with character maintenance mechanics which make it seem as if you're attempting to survive in a nuclear wasteland. Among the most controversial details of the game is the shortage of NPCs. Fallout 76 was shown to be full of game-breaking bugs and entire segments of the world were discovered to be unplayable. Because there are not any human NPCs, there's absolutely no suspense to anything. Each number corresponds with the utmost quantity of card points that may be stacked underneath. New footage from the most recent gameplay tests are available below. Players will also have to guarantee they are level 25 so as to utilize it. Regardless, the simple fact that Bethesda is banning people for actions associated with Fallout 76's developer room usually means that we're not likely to share how to go into the room or encourage anybody to look for that information out unless they are well prepared to address the consequences. You'll discover that it's extremely difficult to concentrate on the principal story due to quite a few enthralling side-missions to undertake and you won't have the ability to move more than a few steps before finding still another thing to distract you. So players should also be ready to need to work with others to construct safe areas to reside in the wasteland that's only just now being repopulated by humans. What to Expect From Fallout 76? PS4 and Xbox One Fallout 76 updates must go through a certification procedure, which makes it harder to fix short-term issues promptly. The fix will make sure that any loose mods must be scrapped manually. PC users have the benefit of having the capability to reduce the graphics quality should they run into any difficulties.

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perfectzablog · 6 years ago

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How ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Primes Students for Interdisciplinary Learning, Including STEM

A group of Grade 9 students in Texas who substantially outperformed their district on a statewide standardized test all had one surprising thing in common: they all were members of the school’s Dungeons & Dragons club.

A coincidence? Otherwise, how does a fantasy role-playing game produce improved test scores? The obvious explanation is that the club draws the bright kids who are already academically inclined. But many of the kids in the club at the Title I school had histories of struggling with academics.

For Kade Wells, the teacher who runs the club at Davis Ninth Grade School outside Houston, the answer is simple: “Playing Dungeons & Dragons makes you smarter.”

The declaration is bold, but the scholarly support and anecdotal evidence is compelling. Studies have shown that the highly social and collaborative nature of the popular fantasy role-playing game cultivates a range of social-emotional skills, which can lay the foundation for improved learning. In addition to these crucial soft skills, teachers and professors who have used the game also claim it directly benefits core academic competencies.

David Simkins, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, is an expert on games and learning. His research indicates that role-playing games (RPGs) can boost learning and stimulate intellectual curiosity and growth.

“Dungeons & Dragons, and other narrative role playing games of its kind, provide many opportunities for learning,” said Simkins. “Participation in narrative role play can open up interests in topics such as mathematics, science, history, culture, ethics, critical reading, and media production. When D&D and its cousins are played in an inviting, encouraging, compassionate, and intellectually engaged environment, play opens the door to truly amazing possibilities for learning.”

A Multidisciplinary Dungeon Crawl

Countless video games inspired by Dungeons & Dragons are rendered with immersive, graphic rich environments, but the tabletop original demands that players conjure the three-dimensional world in their mind’s eye. Books, maps and many-sided dice govern the rules of these kingdoms of the imagination, and the players are guided by a Dungeon Master, or DM, who is the narrative architect and referee of the emerging campaigns. The open-ended game can last for months, or even years.

It’s not difficult to see how collaborative world-building involving storytelling, decision making, invention, research, calculations, negotiation, role-play, and active spatial visualization can stimulate a developing intellect. And, despite the burnish of fantasy, invented realms are derivative, and thus applicable, to the real world.

“Geography from maps, recursive math from die rolling and adding/subtracting modifiers, philosophy, logic from the ever-present need for decision making, science in regards to the ecology of an environment, the weather, the climate of different terrains, as well as many scientific details learned from monsters, which were almost all taken from mythology or reality in one way or another,” said Wells, cataloging what his kids learn from the game.

Dungeons & Dragons is an innately multidisciplinary and multimodal experience, which is why scholars and educators like Wells tend to describe its learning benefits in terms of lists and inventories. Its implementation as an instructional tool, then, is not only fun, but also becomes a sort of curricular node with the capacity to engage students in a wide array of skills and subjects.

In one striking example, educational researcher and teacher Alexandra Carter used a student-modified version of Dungeons & Dragons as the centerpiece of a yearlong program with a Grade 3 class that combined math, reading, writing, and social studies. Many students in the class struggled with academic and behavioral challenges, but rooting their core subjects in the game produced remarkable results.

In a paper she authored recounting the experience, Carter describes a wealth of student success stories, both behavioral and academic. “I was able to see progress in all of the students,” summarizes Carter, “and was especially impressed with the work that those who struggled the most produced.”

Carter observes that a great deal of the project’s success hinged on students being motivated to learn and practice skills that applied to the game. Students often have trouble appreciating the value of what they learn in school when it is abstracted from its real-world purpose. In this case, learning was meaningful for the students because it had traction in a fantasy world that stood in as a facsimile for the real one, the central dynamic of play and a key feature of its value for development and learning.

Sorcery for STEM

Although Dungeons & Dragons seems better suited to teach humanities, every shield block and fireball relies on a little bit of science and lots of math.

“It may seem odd, but in a fantasy game with magic, players often have to learn about basic physics and chemistry to determine what to do,” said Ian Slater who teaches at York University and runs Black Dragon Games. “Not to determine how a magic-user can shoot a lightning bolt from their fingers, but rather to determine, for example, if a suit of plate mail would be magnetized by the strike of a lightning bolt.”

Incorporating games of any sort into the curriculum generally requires that teachers create context to direct play towards the learning objectives. RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons are pliable systems that lend themselves to be creatively modified, which makes them ideal to serve diverse curricular purposes. UK educator Chris Leach, for example, reworked the game and leveraged the fantasy motif to instruct Grade 6 students on the basics of algorithms and binary, the foundation of computational thinking.

“If you are at all ‘science enabled’ as a DM there are ample opportunities to discuss scientific topics, even if magic bends reality in ways that science would not allow,” said Slater. “Even examples of scientifically impossible magic can be used as tools to discuss what science actually does say about a subject.”

With a little ingenuity, chemistry can be applied to the existing alchemy scheme; physics operates in every projectile, fall, and collision; biology lurks in the countless flora and fauna that populate the world, and the game’s engineer class is an open invitation to justify contraptions with hard science. And math is the low hanging fruit.

“Math is constant, and completely necessary to play the game,” said Wells.

D&D is fundamentally a numbers game, and players must consult charts and tables to modify their rolls of dice, and calculate everything from currency exchanges to their projected experience points. Those who want to be masters of their destiny can leverage math, especially probability and calculus, to bend the numbers in their favor.

“D&D is full of this sort of basic mathematical stuff, and players soak it up as they play,” said Slater. “Indeed, since knowing how these mechanics work has direct implications for the survival of their character, players tend to learn the mathematics pretty quickly.”

There are numerous websites, forums and online calculators to assist players with mathematical assistance to further their progress. With no coaxing from parents and teachers, players are motivated to research and access these resources to optimize their play, an inevitable boon to their numeracy skills. Carter observed many of her previously demoralized students become invested in math due to the game.

“One student, who frequently demonstrated an apprehension towards math that translated into poor performance in class, on assignments, and during assessments, made significant progress as we worked through the project,” wrote Carter. The student offered answers to questions, she writes, “and slowly transferred this confidence in math as it applied to the project into a confidence in regular math.”

The Benevolent Subversions of the Chaotic Good

These intriguing case studies point to what a comprehensive learning program might look like if subjects and skills were not taught in isolation from each other, but integrated into a single cohesive system where students are intrinsically motivated to participate. It combines project-based learning, game-based learning, social-emotional learning and any number of other hyphenated initiatives that aim to invigorate an education system that is too-often out of step with the world it hopes to service.

The teachers and professors who have experimented with D&D in their practice are also players who have experienced the force of shaping and reshaping stories. Whether deliberately or inadvertently, they use the power learned in the realms of fantasy to hack an all too real educational narrative. In Dungeons & Dragons parlance, their race is Human, their class is Pedagog, and their moral alignment is clearly Chaotic Good, whose description in the Player’s Handbook is eerily suitable:

A chaotic good character does what is necessary to bring about change for the better, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself, but for others as well.

Dungeons & Dragons is a salient example of an imaginative and timely intervention, but sword-and-sorcery is not for everybody. The plasticity of RPG systems allows for the implementation of any theme or setting, and students can be enlisted to help design the games around a specific topic. Also, teachers like Kade Wells are not only using RPGs in their classes, but turning their classes into role-playing games which further restructures the operations of a traditional education system.

Ultimately, whether using games, RPGs, or any other initiatives, teachers have an unprecedented opportunity to exercise and model creativity, passion, problem-solving, and courage to re-author their personal and institutional narratives. With these mildly subversive but benevolent grassroots interventions they can rewrite the story of student, teacher and school into a legendary epic for the ages, and perhaps save the world along the way.

How ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Primes Students for Interdisciplinary Learning, Including STEM published first on https://greatpricecourse.tumblr.com/

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