#The old combat system WAS WAY BETTER AND FASTER

[nikkisticki]

Firstly his next set of words were to call her "vaguely Korean" so it in fact did mean that and I assumed I didn't need to clarify. I don't really see a need to play semantics on it, Alex isn't a smart person and neither are the creators for thinking it would function as they intend. There's plenty of examples of failed foreshadowing!

I don't even know how to parse a single thing you've said when it doesn't even remotely connect to a single reading of the game I've ever seen, let alone my own. That isn't unusual for YIIK but it's been years so I had assumed this would stop happening to me.

Have you played the demo release, the one where everyone is entirely different in design and the plots extremely different? They set up entire plot points that only get paid off in the full release, like that general inside Essentia mind and the Golden Alpaca. As an example, it confirms that the general isn't some weird off-reference but a representation of a different reality. You can even find the general and his giant robot in pre-release screenshots, but notice that it's not even using the old design for Alex which the demo was.

It's entirely likely that the general was still meant to be important a few versions of the game before launch, but now he's a nonsense Easter egg that only makes sense if you understand that the game is playing with multiple realities.

The game is suffering from an extremely bad case of George Lucasitis where they never actually settled on anything until the last moment, and are still in the process of desperately trying to save YIIK with updates that will never actually draw people's attention. I feel bad for them tbh but 1.V will never matter to anyone besides the extremely small amount of people who are interested in the game.

I think I understand that your reading seems to be centered around Alex's lack of fitting into the setting, but have you considered the fact that the models changed entirely and they clearly didn't have the best wrangle on the artist?

Go look at Rory's head and then imagine his hair was a hood, fill in the bangs and you'll suddenly realize that he was meant to have his hood up (a thing seen in pre release information) but he looked like a skinhead. I assume this is also why Chandra is drawn like a hentai character and why parts of Vella's face clips in 1.0, the game is heavily unpolished.

I don't think it's intentional that Alex is coded as a 2010's hipster, I think they fucked up in the design process like 95% of the game. I also don't think YIIK is Links Awakening, but you shine on you crazy diamond.

I swear to Lilith and all that is unholy that YIIK line is meant to be foreshadowing

[little-emerald-snake]

Smutmas Day 13

“I need you, now.” - Sebastian Sallow X F!MC

🔥NSFW 🔞 MDNI

1,451k words

Warnings: under influence of lust potion, unprotected p-in-v sex

She’d come running when she’s received Sebastian’s owl. He didn’t tell her what he needed exactly but he made the situation sound rather dire. She made her way to the Undercroft as quickly as she could.

When the gate to the Undercroft slammed shut, her eyes locked onto the fluffy brunette Slytherin slowly pacing in front of a stack of old dusty crates. His face looked flushed under all those freckles and as soon as his eyes met hers she noticed his pupils dilated like saucers.

She approached him and took his face between her hands. His own hands clasped over hers and he groaned almost unwillingly. “Y-you’re here. Great Merlin, I’m so glad you’re actually here.”

Her eyes swept over him, looking for anything else unusual about him. Upon finding nothing, her eyes met his again and he bit his cheek. “I-I need your help…please…I-I know it’s a lot but-“

She interrupted him, already intent on helping him no matter what as it was what she had always done. “Yes, of course. What’s wrong? What do you need help with? Are you sick?”

He shook his head, taking a deep breath before pulling her hands off of his cheeks, holding her hands, almost unwilling to let them go. “I-I ingested a potion. I-I didn’t know what it was. I-I lost a bet with Weasley over something stupid and…well…the loser had to ingest a mystery potion. I-I’m almost certain the potion was a lust potion and now…”

Sebastian’s eyes dropped to the floor and his hands dropped hers, unable to finish his sentence. He didn’t need to though, she understood very clearly what was happening to his body at the moment.

Her eyes scanned him from head to toe and she took in his loosened tie, his too tight pants, and his overall disheveled appearance. How long had he been struggling? “H-how long has the potion been in your system?”

He groaned with an exaggerated swallow before returning to his pacing in small circles. “Almost an hour. I-I was trying to fight it at first but at this point it…hurts…like under my skin it feels like fire and I have this urge to…well I’m sure you know…but I was wondering if you knew a way to combat it.”

She shakes her head from where she stands. “N-no I don’t know a way to combat it. I just know you should keep cool…and I-if you don’t fight it it’ll go away faster.”

He groans, clearly upset with the knowledge that this wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t fight his urges. “So you’re telling me I have to…”

She nods, awkwardly brushing her boot across the stone floor. “If you want it to feel better then yes. Come on, get comfy with some blankets and pillows. I’ll cast a cooling charm to help you for now.”

She does just that, casting a cooling charm on him before scooting some crates into a wall before plopping herself down on the opposite side of the blankets.

Sebastian looks hesitantly at the blankets he’d arranged when he realizes she has no intention of leaving. “Y-you’re going to stay here while I…”

She nods, looking briefly at her fingernails. “Yea. Can’t have you burning up down here so I’m just gonna keep casting a cooling charm occasionally. Don’t worry, not gonna perve on you, I’ll stay on this side of the boxes.”

Sebastain grunts, sitting down on the blanket, propping a pillow against the crate. He hesitantly undid his trousers, biting his lip to prevent a moan from the friction.

He sighed once his cock was exposed to the warm air of the undercroft. Slowly he took himself in his hand, a gasp bursting past his lips at how sensitive he was.

She tried not to blush hearing the sound of him spitting into his palm and the gasp of air he let out. She swallows harshly, trying to fiddle with the hem of her skirt to distract herself but he must find something quite nice as he lets out an unexpected moan, promptly hissing through his teeth after.

His cheeks are on fire, almost like the rest of his body. He’s typically not one to be shameful but the sounds he’s making are so needy and high pitched and he can’t keep them down as he fists his leaking cock, desperate for release.

His hips lift and he groans again, trying to desperately fuck his palm. His cock is swollen and angry and his stomach is already tightening with need.

The problem is he can smell a waft of her perfume when she taps his arm with another cooling spell and he can’t help but imagine burying himself inside of her. Now it’s all he can think about and it’s driving him wild.

She flushes with guilt when the hem of her skirt lifts a little too high and her fingers brush against the heated skin of her thigh. Shame reddens her face as those fingers slide up to her underwear.

She slides those fingers over the damp center as she bites her lip, shamelessly listening to the slickness of his palm and his wanton, breathy moans.

He cups his balls, moaning louder. It's taking everything within him not to beg her for her hands on him. The lust swimming in his brain has him imagining all the ways he could bend her over and fuck into her mercilessly to make the burning within him subside so much quicker.

He’s so desperate to cum but his body stays on the cusp, needing a push over the edge to finish. He chokes on a moan, fucking his fist needily. He’s falling apart at the seams faster than he can help it.

She can hear the desperation in his moans, he sounds almost pained. She’s never listened to a boy masturbate before but she can’t imagine it’s not supposed to sound so intense, so needy.

He lets out a broken moan, hips flexing as he moves the hand from his balls to fist the blanket under him. “I-I need to cum. I’m so c-close. Please. I need you…now.”

Without hesitation she’s around the corner of the crate between them watching him fist his cock furiously. He looks sweaty and disheveled and so fucking good.

The head of his cock looks red and angry as his hand pumps furiously. She bites her lip, straddling his legs and pulling her panties to the side.

Sebastian nearly sobs as he holds the base of himself to guide it’s she lowers her tight little pussy onto him. The heat is overwhelming and he fights the urge to cum immediately , desperate to make it enough to thrust into her once.

His hands fly to her hips and he shoves her down eagerly, she moans on top of him and she’s so wet he knows there’s no way it wasn’t all for him.

The thought drives him mad and he thrusts himself up into her, letting out a guttural cry. “I-I don’t think I can stop. I-I’m sorry. G-gonna cum inside you…please.”

She uses her legs on either side of him to bounce in his lap, placing her hands on the crate behind his head to steady herself. “S-shut up and just fuck me.”

He practically growls, pushing her down, not leaving her heat for a second as he pins her to the blanket and bucks his hips wildly into her cunt. Now on top, his thrusts are messy and uncontrolled but he’s pumping her full of cum while moaning so brokenly it would break her heart if she wasn’t busy losing herself in the pleasure.

She’s clinging to his shoulders, hanging on for dear life as he fucks her so hard it’s pushing her body across the blanket and he’s scooting to stay buried inside of her twitching pussy.

She can already feel she’s so full of cum but he hasn’t stopped. Like a man possessed, he’s bucking wildly into her till she’s falling apart for him and crying out from her release.

Somehow Sebastian releases again inside of her, his cum dripping down between her legs and over her ass as his hips finally slow down and come to a stop. He’s panting wildly, she can feel his heart hammering double time against her own chest.

He’s still buried within her, trying to caress her hair gently, muttering soft apologies next to her ear as he catches his breath. “S-sorry. M’so sorry…this wasn’t how I wanted t-“

She shuts him up by pulling his chin and pressing her lips to his. He kisses her back softly, only pulling back when she lets go. “It’s okay…really. Was good for me too, Seb.”

[mariacallous]

Six weeks after Li Wenliang blew the whistle in Wuhan on an emerging infectious disease in early 2020, cities around the world locked down and turned into hotspots. From Rome to Tokyo to San Francisco and Los Angeles, COVID-19 ripped through the most populated areas of the world. By the end of that year, America’s cities—Detroit, Boston, and New Orleans among them—had death rates from the virus 20 percent higher than other regions of the country.

In New York, where I serve as health commissioner, almost 50,000 residents died, the majority in the first three months, denting New Yorkers’ life expectancy by nearly five years. It was the steepest drop in lifespan in the world that year.

Public health institutions and the field as a whole learned much from our successes and failures during the pandemic. The critical nature of healthcare supply chains; supporting our public health workforce, especially at the front lines; the essential process of community engagement for healthcare promotion, vaccination, and disease prevention; the importance of combatting misinformation and disinformation online and in person; the need to tear down our data silos so we can make faster, better decisions. The list goes on and on.

However, as new threats arise and old ones intensify, there is still much to learn. Cities—concrete jungles that experienced the worst of COVID-19, and in some ways, struggled the most with the public health response in the early days of the pandemic—may be our best teachers on how to keep our world safe and healthy.

That’s because the sentinel cases for brooding public health threats, whether infectious or not, are often in cities. Cities are the canaries in the public health coal mine, for everything from mental health and homelessness, climate change to forced migration, substance use to sex trafficking. The way these challenges play out across our cities should not only drive national policy, but also serve as an important corollary for how to respond in less dense, less diverse, more rural areas. Yet when we consider the multilateral institutions where decisions are made and policymaking happens, cities rarely have any role in governance.

The reasons for city-as-public-health-epicenter are simultaneously obvious and not so obvious. For one, urban densification has accounted for the majority of population growth, even as land mass occupied by cities is growing. Today, around 56 percent of the world’s population live in cities—a percentage that experts expect will grow to 70 percent, with population doubling, by 2050. There is also the historic boom in airplane travel both domestically and internationally, which means communicable diseases (like SARS, swine flu, and mpox) can leap across borders faster than ever, quickly overtaking cities’ health systems.

An example of this in New York City in 2022 was when an old virus, mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), began circulating in explosive new ways among men who have sex with men. NYC had become the national and global epicenter.

Despite facing critical shortages of vaccine, in June 2022 we began vaccinating men who had the highest risk of getting infected, well ahead of the anyone else in the nation, including the federal government. This critical intervention to curb the virus’s spread helped bend the curve of mpox within a few weeks, by early August. Not only did our response set the tone for the rest of the national mpox response, it also influenced the way in which many other global centers responded.

The same happened with tuberculosis (TB), another old microbe—and one that remains a leading infectious killer in the world. Between 2022 and 2023, the U.S. has seen a dramatic 14 percent year-on-year increase in tuberculosis cases nationwide. NYC is once again at the country’s frontlines, with a 28 percent increase over the same period. The drivers of TB’s resurgence are manifold, but one is the shifting pattern of migration worldwide due to climate change, war, and economic and political instability.

NYC health officials again leapt into action. We not only increased investment into our TB program in response, but since 2014 have pioneered new and effective ways to control the disease including award-winning “video directly observed therapy” where a health worker observes the patient taking their daily medications. This telehealth protocol has now become a part of TB control guidance recommended by the World Health Organization.

But while cities like New York are battling disease threats with drive and innovation, a lack of formal representation in multilateral institutions means that cities are more susceptible to security concerns, bioterrorism, and economic disruption. Cities are largely expected to navigate their response to global health crises in silos, without a clear and dedicated means to exchange ideas between them. Moreover, they typically do not have a meaningful say in how their national counterparts navigate domestic responses or global deliberations.

That was New York City’s early experience during the pandemic.

As COVID-19 tore through our five boroughs in the early weeks and months—from Sheepshead Bay and Jamaica to Battery Park, Harlem and Hunts Point—New York’s public health authorities produced their own messaging campaigns; partnered with private corporations and others to source materials and protective equipment for healthcare workers to care for those in need; stood up a free testing network, and later; designed their own vaccine distribution system and engaged deeply with communities to promote vaccine uptake. These responses were—especially early in the pandemic—developed in the absence of clear national and international guidance, or resources. And our experience in the start-up phase of the pandemic response was not unique, with cities from Los Angeles to Chicago to Boston to Miami facing similar challenges.

If we don’t formally involve cities in our national systems for disease surveillance and public health response, we lose out. Best practices disappear into the archives. Innovative strategies collect dust in the pages of textbooks and journals. How can cities effectively respond to burgeoning health threats when institutional memory fades, and when protocols developed at national scale lack the specificity or practicality to actualize in our alleys or on our sidewalks?

A better strategy may pull from the discipline of political science: specifically, a concept known as “inclusive multilateralism.” This concept, which refers to the participation of non-nation states in multilateral institutions and processes, narrows the gap between the high-level authorities handing down policy decisions and the communities on the ground who are expected to make them come to life. It has allowed for civil society, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and other stakeholders to have a formal role in the most critical multilateral governance structures in the world, from international security to climate change bodies. It also creates a critical set of checks and balances, ensuring that special interests or anti-democratic actors, influencing national governments and elected leaders, do not have outsized sway in international decision-making by having representation of sectors outside of national politics.

In health, for instance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and malaria, among others, have since inception had official civil society and private sector representation on its governing board and country coordinating bodies.

There is a growing appetite for cities to have such a formal leadership role, not only to share local experiences, best practices, innovations, and data, but also to build collaborations for emergencies. In remarks made during an event honoring the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary in 2020, Secretary General António Guterres specifically called out the need to draw on the “critical contributions” of cities and regional governments. Similarly, the 2017 Partnership for Healthy Cities launch stated that “city leaders are uniquely positioned to drive policies and programs to help transform public health. And a recent McKinsey report suggests sizable potential impact through a global focus on city-level work, not just for pandemic preparedness, but for overall health. They estimate that influenceable interventions at the city level could add more than 20 billion years of higher-quality life at a global level, while offering a critical opportunity to address health disparities and inequities, an important underlying driver of differential outcomes from pandemic disease, let alone chronic health challenges.

Following these leads, it is time national governments and multi-national organizations formalize the role of cities in global health governance and security. One proposal is that relevant multilateral institutions—such as the World Health Organization or World Bank—could establish seats for cities on their Executive Boards or Board Committees. These seats could even have city government representation from both donor and implementer countries. Additionally, each region could add representation for cities on their subcommittees or local oversight bodies, for example U.N. Country Offices or Country Coordinating Mechanisms.

Now, as the global health community gathers this week in Geneva for the World Health Assembly – the annual gathering of the official governing body of the WHO—there is an opportunity ripe for the inclusion of the local jurisdictions who will be at the forefront of the next pandemic. Negotiations on the Pandemic Accord, the global treaty intended to set international standards of preparedness, cooperation, and communication between nations in advance of the next global communicable disease threat, are set to conclude this week. It is essential that real-world lessons and insights from cities are incorporated into this document, to ensure well-meaning agreements translate to real-world action on the ground.

There are already glimmers of hope.

In the last two years, Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, has invited New York City to attend the annual World Health Assembly, the official decision-making body for the WHO and the International Health Regulations. That inclusion has allowed us to share our hard-won experience with WHO and other officials, in regard to the forthcoming Pandemic accord, including our insights on building stockpiles of PPE, mobilizing the health workforce and managing health facility capacity, ramping up testing through public-private partnerships with commercial laboratories, building a rapid and locally-driven vaccination effort, and ensuring that equity and place-based work is incorporated at the start of a response, rather than in subsequent phases. And in return, we learned first-hand about many of the challenges faced by nations across the globe in pandemic response and disease surveillance, especially in light of a changing climate and critical health workforce shortages, and have incorporated learnings about the WHO’s data sharing capacities and early warning and advanced surveillance systems, into improving our own population health data system.

New York City’s presence at the World Health Assembly has also given us an opportunity to demonstrate our front-line expertise and innovation in mental health, urban preparedness, climate change adaption, data modernization, and emerging health issues related to the global migrant crisis, among other issues.

Designing formal mechanisms to include cities in deliberations of global scale will allow each of us to not only sound the alarm earlier, but also to better respond to emerging public health threats lurking in our streets and sewers. By ensuring that cities have a meaningful seat at the table in our global health governance models, we will be charting a better course for the world to respond to forthcoming crises.

[dappercritter]

Armored Core 6 1st Impressions

Hook it into my veins. HOOK IT IN TO MY VE--

I've been on the fence about Armored Core ever since Bloodborne got me into Fromsoftware's catalogue and I started playing mature games with higher difficulties for bigger gammer kids

Normally I don't care for any mecha media that strays into darkness and the horrors of war--yes, I was a bit of a dumb kid--but after some maturing, I gave it another shot. Soon enough I was hooked, but I when I got into AC I never thought I would be playing a new entry soon or enjoying it this much!

Perhaps it was Bloodborne's high difficulty and risk/reward gameplay loop or Devil May Cry 3's cathartic combination of challenge and style, but when I finally got to AC6 it clicked.

I've always liked games with heavy robots that combined fast movement with tense combat since I played Transformers War for Cybertron & Fall of Cybertron way back in the day (my first big T for Teen boy games, too!), so it does make sense.

Even better, one of the big draws for AC6 for me was how much it's landscapes reminded me of High Moon Studios' car-robot shooters--a vast expanse of machinery, constructs far beyond any human scale, and the backdrop of a dying but beautiful world. But AC6 surpasses that in so many ways thanks to both a unique setting with more organic touches, as well as Fromsoft's iconic attention to detail in regards to environments. I think it says something that Fires of Rubicon's titular planet is the first environment in a mission based game where I wanted to just wander around the planet forever.

I'm still getting a hold of the combat. It's much faster but also much less forgiving than even Bloodborne's was. Yet despite that sharp learning curve, the controls are adaptable and easy to memorize, movement starts to come naturally, combat is tight with gratifying SFX to boot, and a breadth of customization options to rival even (oooooh) Elden Ring's variety.

The best part about all that is how more than perhaps Kid Icarus Uprising or DMC3, AC6 is a game where i'm as eager as possible to replay old missions with new unlockables. The missions have straight forward objectives but how quickly and efficiently you can solve them is the challenge, and while this is no Phantom Pain (altho it does have a more palatable, if withdrawn take on "war is hell" but that's my squeamish take), the game rewards for your maximum efficiency in completing those objectives through its credit system. The less damage you take, the less ammo you use, or the more enemies you take out, the better your pay + mission rank. I'm already addicted to it.

Anyways you can thank @iamthekaijuking for giving me the last push I needed to make the impulse buy off ebay

I have nothing else intelligent to say so here's my first build

I based him partly on christmas candies because I liked the colour palettes, plus he's sweet but he didn't last long

[arcticdementor]

It’s been a year and a half. This has languished in my drafts for months, segments getting finished… then forgotten, then another rush hitting… then waning… but now it’s finally done. Some of the foresight having waited so long it became a regular sight… but I am no less confident in its excellence.  Here it is My next great assessment in my near future… what does Call of Duty call it? Advanced Warfare series. In Vol. 1 of The Antagonist’s Tech Tree: The Dream of the Motorcycle Warlord we took a deep dive through the advantages and disadvantages of Motorcycles in combat and came to an interesting conclusion.

…

This leads to an interesting implication: Whereas for the US military motorcycles are a legacy technology, held onto in limited numbers for very niche applications, in other forces with different philosophies they are a core and expanding technology. This leads to an interesting avenue of discussion: Which other technologies are like this? Which other mere curiosities or non-military tools become essential pieces of kit with a change in doctrine or philosophical alignment?

…

The Great Toyota War of 1987 was the final phase of the Chadian-Libyan conflict. Gadhafi’s Libyan forces by all rights should have dominated the vast stretches of desert being fought over: the Chadian military was less than a 3rd the size of the Libyan, and the Libyans were vastly better equipped fielding hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers, in addition to dozens of aircrafts… to counter this the Chadians did something unique… They mounted the odds and ends heavy weapons systems they had in the truck beds of their Toyota pickups, and using the speed and maneuverability of the Toyotas, managed to outperform Libya’s surplus tanks and armored vehicles. By the end of the Chadian assault to retake their northern territory, the Libyans had suffered 7500 casualties to the Chadians 1000, with the Libyan defeat compounded by the loss of 800 armored vehicles, and close to 30 aircraft captured or destroyed. The maneuverability and speed of the pickups made them incredibly hard to hit, and the tanks in particular struggled to get a sight picture… strafing within a certain range the pickups moved faster across the horizon than the old soviet tanks’ main gun could be hand cranked around to shoot them. Since then Technology has become the backbone of insurgencies, militias, poorer militaries, and criminal cartels around the world. The ready availability of civilian pickups, with the ability of amateur mechanics to mount almost any weapon system in their truck-bed means that this incredibly simple system is about the most cost-effective and easy way for a small force to make the jump to mounted combat and heavy weapon.

…

The remarkable thing about the technical isn’t that they’re some unique capability militaries can’t use… most poorer countries field something equivalent (the Libyans seemed to have screwed up the unit composition of their force)… Rather the unique advantage is how easy and cheap they are for non-conventional or poorer forces to home assemble.

…

This combination of mobility, resemblance to civilian vehicles, and ability to deploy heavy weapons was used to devastating effect by the Islamic State during the 2014 Fall of Mosul. Striking quickly while Iraqi national tanks were deployed elsewhere the small Islamic force entered the city at 2:30 am, striking in small convoys that overwhelmed checkpoints with their firepower, executing and torturing captured Iraqi soldiers and targeted enemies as they went. Even after taking into account desertions and “ghost soldiers” (fake soldiers meant to pad unit numbers so corrupt officials could collect their pay) which significantly reduced the 30,000 Iraqi army and 30,000 police within the city… Even after allowing for all that, the Iraqi national forces still outnumbered the 800-1500 ISIS fighters at a rate of 15 to 1.  YET ISIS was able to achieve a total victory and take the whole of the city within 6 days.  2 years later it would take the Iraqi government with American backing 9 months to retake it.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Iron Dome

I was challenged to figure out how hummus learned to circumvent the "Iron Dome". To which I respond: "That system has been in operation for over a decade."

I'm trying not to be condescending. Take a look at how video games have evolved from 2011 till now. Take a look at how the Iron Dome has evolved between then and now.

Disco era tech might be powerful tech, but it's still Disco era.

I say this because the IDF already knows how. They have the specifications, which means they know its total capabilities. On top of that, there is a margin of error of 10%

The very simple math is that

1) the world armies and Israel enemy combatants have been monitoring this tech since it's been in operation.

2) hummus, specifically, has had a decade to shoot dummy rockets and ballons at it, just to see how it would react.

3) that's it, that's how you figure it out. I would be surprised if every country in the world didn't have a solution, just in case they need to go up against it.

Egg-heads are starting to realize how, but everybody else is saying "proof it", honestly. I don't really want to. But since I'm bored;

We start with how missile interception works:

- detect an incoming missile

- verification that incoming missile is, in fact, a missile

- trajectory and vector analysis of incoming missile

- interception vector math

If you're a game dev, you already understand this to be parabolic arcs and ray tracing. Or, according to an old official AF training video on missile guidance systems you can find on YouTube "The missile knows where it's going because it knows where it's been and where its target is" (paraphrased, that video sucks.)

Ergo, the missile guidance system knows where the missile is going because it knows where it's been.

So how can it be defeated? You trick it.

By simply faking the initial thrust of a rocket, (the exact same way passenger jetplanes control thrust in the air) you make it appear to be going faster or slower than it will be in the future. (Average rockets have a set speed and run out of fuel, so it's easy to gauge. But then you add a thrust control mechanism, and then it's not so easy to gauge.)

Alternatively, you fake it out with a curve ball. (It's target isn't the one it looks like it's going to hit.)

Finally, Wikipedia says it can only target two incoming missiles simultaneously, which implies you can probably get through it with enough ballistics.

Then, you just wait until the system is about to intercept, and change the thrust. What makes it insidious, is that you can wait until it's too late for the interception system to readjust.

Video Games nerds have been using these exact tactics since the 70s.

So have RC-Car enthusiasts, and most recently, consumer grade drone operators.

The better question is; how did Israel figure it out and not fix it already? They have the budget to do so. And they've been in defensive posture this whole time, haven't they?

(But Melin, how *do* you fix it?)

Negotiate a peace treaty before escalation happens again. I'm tired of wars in the middle east, so is literally everybody else in the world.

Of course there's a formulaic solution for it already, but war should not be extended indefinitely.

That is no solution. Because it'll just create an arms race, like always.

Honestly, they probably got the idea from watching American movies, where the solution is ALWAYS to hit the breaks at the last second and watch as the enemies run into each other.

[gontijolab]

Throne of mud, hearts of stone

That's the title of my first adventure for Into the Bronze, a sword-and-sorcery-and-sandals OSR game I've published 2 years ago. I'm currently writing it in my own language so the thing goes faster. Right now 40% is written already, but as soon as I finish it I still have to translate it into English, pre-edit it and then send it to the editor. Yeah, a lot of work ahead of me, but honestly I'm having tons of fun in the process and I guess that's what matters in the end. This adventure was playtested several times back then in 2020 when I've also published the game in Brazil. Curiously, writing is such a bittersweet task to me. It's super hard, but also so rewarding. It feels like the text is looking at me from the screen and revealing opportunities I was not seeing while the module existed only in my head (and in a few doodles on an old notebook).

Adding ideas

It was inevitable to add some ideas that were not on the original thing, but would 100% make the material shine brighter today. A few puzzles here, a complex relationship balance there and tons of new aesthetic details to help players and GMs to visualize and immerse themselves into a mythical bronze age Mesopotamia.

Fiction as a hook

One of my ideas was to write a prequel flash-fiction short story as the adventure hook. Instead of a section called

"why the PCs had to go to this island?"

I've decided to write some pages with actual fiction. In my opinion it's a bit better to get the GM on track when they're landing on a new adventure. I feel maybe we're losing an opportunity here neglecting fiction inside our RPG zines and books. Our public is essentially enthusiastic about fiction, afterall.

Solitaire potential

It wouldn't be me if I didn't say a word or two about solo gaming here. The module is being written newbie-first. In other words, I'm designing it as easy as possible for a new GM to run it. By helping the newbies I also make it better for everyone else, experienced GMs included. I'm saying that cause the text guides the GM in a way quite similar to the classic fighting fantasy gamebooks

If the group goes west, then...

If the group goes east, instead, then...

You can imagine I'm already tempted to transform the adventure on s choose-your-own-adventure style gamebook later right? Who wouldn't? The main challenge here is that Into the Odd (the system my game is based on) has a very diegetic approach to combat. It's not your usual try and error combat from most fantasy games. For example, there's a famous rule that "attack always hits". It implies the players will have to deal with the consequences of causing damage to some NPC or creature if they choose that path. Pretty interesting, right? Well, unless you want to fit it into a gamebook. In that case, it can be tricky to do it without changing the system into something else. As I'm still writing the main module (the one for GMs and groups, I mean) I'm still not diving too deep on this game design challenge of the future. But I hope to do it as soon the module is published. Maybe the gamebook could be a thing for the second semester. Hoping for the best.

See you next time

Gontijo

[pandahelper01]

The Benefits of Visiting a Thai Massage Spa in Your Area

In today’s fast-paced world, stress has become a constant companion for many people. Whether it’s due to work pressures, personal commitments, or daily responsibilities, taking time to relax is essential for maintaining physical and mental well-being. One of the best ways to unwind is by visiting a thai massage in Dhaka, and the great news is that you don’t have to travel far to experience its many benefits.

If you're wondering why you should consider visiting a Thai massage spa in your area, this article will guide you through the numerous advantages of indulging in this ancient and therapeutic practice.

What is Thai Massage?

Thai massage is a centuries-old healing technique that blends elements of acupressure, stretching, and yoga-like movements. Originating in Thailand, this holistic treatment focuses on the body’s energy lines (known as Sen lines) to restore balance and promote relaxation.

Unlike other forms of massage, Thai massage uses a combination of firm, rhythmic compressions, gentle stretching, and targeted pressure points to stimulate circulation, improve flexibility, and alleviate muscle tension. It’s a comprehensive therapy that works on both the body and the mind.

Key Benefits of Thai Massage

1. Stress Relief and Relaxation

One of the main reasons people seek out Thai massage is for its profound stress-relieving effects. The slow, methodical pace of Thai massage helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which induces relaxation and lowers stress hormones.

By the end of your session, you’ll feel a noticeable reduction in tension and a deep sense of calm, which can last for hours or even days. Regular sessions can significantly decrease the negative impact of daily stress on your health.

2. Improved Flexibility and Mobility

Thai massage is often described as a "passive yoga" because it involves gentle stretching that helps improve flexibility and range of motion. The therapist will use their hands, feet, elbows, and knees to stretch your body in different positions, mimicking yoga poses.

These stretches help loosen tight muscles, enhance joint mobility, and promote better posture. Whether you’re an athlete, someone who spends long hours sitting, or someone with stiffness from age, Thai massage can help you regain flexibility and feel more agile.

3. Enhanced Circulation and Energy Flow

Another major benefit of Thai massage is its ability to stimulate blood circulation and energy flow throughout the body. The therapist’s use of acupressure points and rhythmic motions helps break up blockages in your energy pathways, allowing for better blood flow and improved oxygen delivery to muscles and tissues.

Improved circulation not only makes you feel more energized but also aids in faster muscle recovery and can alleviate symptoms of conditions like cold hands and feet or poor blood circulation.

4. Pain Relief and Muscle Tension Reduction

Whether you suffer from chronic pain, headaches, or muscle tension, Thai massage can be incredibly effective in reducing discomfort. By applying pressure to specific points on the body, Thai massage helps release tight muscles, improve joint mobility, and alleviate pain.

This can be particularly beneficial for those with back pain, neck stiffness, or even conditions like fibromyalgia. Additionally, Thai massage helps to enhance the body’s natural pain-relieving mechanisms by boosting the production of endorphins.

5. Mental Clarity and Emotional Balance

In addition to its physical benefits, Thai massage is known for promoting emotional and mental well-being. The focus on deep breathing and mindfulness during the massage helps clear the mind of distractions, creating a meditative state.

Regular visits to a thai massage spa can help reduce feelings of anxiety, improve mood, and increase mental clarity. It’s a great way to combat mental fatigue and regain emotional balance, which is often lost in the rush of everyday life.

6. Detoxification and Immune System Boost

Thai massage stimulates lymphatic drainage, helping the body eliminate toxins and waste more efficiently. The improved circulation and energy flow support the detoxification process, helping to clear out impurities and promote overall health.

Moreover, regular Thai massages can enhance the function of the immune system, making your body more resilient against infections and illnesses.

Why Visit a Thai Massage Spa in Your Area?

Visiting a Thai massage spa close to home makes it easy to incorporate this beneficial therapy into your regular wellness routine. You don’t need to go far or take up a lot of time—just a short visit can provide lasting benefits for your body and mind.

Here are a few reasons why you should visit a local Thai massage spa:

Convenience: Accessing a Thai massage spa nearby makes it easier to enjoy regular sessions without disrupting your schedule.

Affordability: Local spas often offer more affordable pricing and packages compared to destination spas or resorts.

Consistent Care: Regular visits to a nearby spa allow you to build a relationship with your therapist, ensuring personalized treatment and progress over time.

Conclusion

Thai massage offers a wealth of physical, mental, and emotional benefits that can greatly improve your quality of life. Whether you’re seeking stress relief, pain management, improved flexibility, or emotional balance, a visit to a Thai massage spa is a step toward better health and well-being.

Next time you need to unwind and recharge, consider visiting a Thai massage spa in your area. It’s a simple and effective way to take care of yourself and restore harmony to your body and mind.

[gameinfoxtbr]

Pocket Incoming Latest Update and News

The world of Pocket Incoming is vast and dynamic; updating to include new content, functions, and improvements within Pocket Incoming steadily. Any trainer whether new or old can benefit from the newer updates provided you give you an edge over the other players making your game interesting. In this post, we will have an overview of the latest Pocket Incoming news, updates, features, and more! Games · Space 🎮🚀 Now is the best time to find out what is new and how you can make the most out of the game! What’s New in the Latest Pocket Incoming Update? 🔥 pocket Incoming has provoked further developments and enhancements and, thus, becomes even more interesting for the players. Here’s what’s included: - New Monsters: Each update adds new monsters that can be captured, and then trained for your team. These monsters are accompanied by skills that will be of great advantage whenever there is a fight, especially in PvP. - Limited-Time Events: Prepare for events that allow collecting unique items, rare monsters, and unique rewards to receive during the holidays. While most of these happenings are for a limited period, you don’t want to get left behind, do you? 😉 - Improved User Interface: The most recent refresh to the game has improved the look of the in-game guidelines making it easier for new and experienced players to engage in the game. - Enhanced Battle Features: Climb a few gears on the fights with the enhanced combat system and better control your monsters during battles.

GameInfoX 👉 To get all the details on the game mechanics and all contents of Pocket Incoming Game, try Pocket Incoming Game Guide. Pocket Incoming Game Codes: Unlock Exclusive Rewards 🎁 To start with, Pocket Incoming players are handled with an early advantage by redeeming game codes. Such codes are often changed and you get rewards which include coins, XP boosters, and special monsters. They should be used before they get expire!

GameInfoX 👉 Any codes that are available and information on regularly updating this game can be found at Pocket Incoming Game Codes. New Features in Pocket Incoming’s Latest Update 🛠️ In Pocket Incoming’s newer updates, the development team behind the game has grown even better and brings major improvements to the player. Here are some of the standout features from the latest update:

GameInfoX - Expanded Monster Tier List: New additions have been made to the Pocket Incoming Tier List list to inform players of the latest most powerful monsters that are excellent for fights both PvE and PvP. Don’t forget to always update the rank to fully maximize your team! - New Daily Quests and Challenges: If players can finish daily missions, they will also be rewarded with coins, XP, and other unique items. They are such exercises in helping the players advance, faster through levels but maintaining the enjoyment factor. - Bug Fixes and Optimizations: Several issues have been fixed in this update – game speed has been proven to run faster and battles much smoother. The developers have also included optimization for a better experience, especially for mobile users with older models. More fantastic content is on the way, so check back next time for more updates. How Developers are Shaping the Future of Pocket Incoming 🔮 There is always a desire to optimize or to correct the game developers that are behind the Pocket Incoming to achieve the right level of difficulty for this game. They make use of these points, look for the comments and opinions of the people in the community, and ensure that the game remains new with added touches and sessions.

GameInfoX 👉 If you are interested, you can find more information about the people behind Pocket Incoming below. Visit the Incoming Developer section on Pocket and see how this company influences the future of the game. The developers have spoken of future new releases such as PvP tournaments, monster evolution, and general PvP battles that will enable players to face trainers from other parts of the world. ⚡ Tips for Mastering Pocket Incoming After the Latest Update 🏆 To make the most out of the latest updates, here are some pro tips to help you dominate the game: - Leverage New Monsters: The new update brought strong monsters that have the potential to make a difference in your team’s results. Develop them fast to enhance your side if they haven’t already shown that they are ready-made players. - Participate in Events: Cant-miss opportunities!OSwald told his audience that he or they should not miss out on limited-time events. We attend such places for they come with specials that cannot be elsewhere, for instance, special items and monsters. - Keep an Eye on the Tier List: After each update, the Pocket Incoming Tier List is updated. You should remember to visit it from time to time so that your team is crafted based on the latest monster rankings. - Redeem Game Codes: It is always important to use your game codes when they are out to the market to ensure you benefit fully and deny your competitors a chance. Below is the list of game codes for Pocket Incoming Game Codes for the latest ways. - Check Developer News: The developers are always involved with the development of some new product. As with all their apps, make sure to follow announcements so you can benefit from all the features and updates introduced. FAQs About Pocket Incoming Latest Update and News What is new in the most recent version of Pocket Incoming?The most important changes to the game are new monsters, limited time, such as events, new functionalities in the battle, and changes in the simplicity of the app’s interface.Have there been new updates on Pocket Incoming offered within the latest time?The game is updated at least once in a few months, extra content, more monster sorts to appear, correcting the bugs, etc are contained inside these updates.Where Naked Salsa can I obtain the most updated game codes for Pocket Incoming?To get the new codes; You can visit the Pocket Incoming Game Codes page.As expected, I was able to build a good number of teams, but one question that begs an answer is how best to utilize the new monsters that were added with the latest update.Develop new monsters fast and update fresh new monsters in the Pocket Incoming Tier List to compare them to some of the best monsters the game has to offer.Where is the news on the future updates posted?Pocket Incoming Latest Update And News: To know about the new updates, including features events, and developers, read the Pocket Incoming Latest Update and News page.What steps should I have to follow to be a member of the Pocket Incoming community?One can participate in many groups on Facebook for instance Facebook Groups for purposes of sharing games and strategies. Conclusion: Stay Updated to Stay Ahead! 📱 Pocket Incoming is also a constantly developing game that captures the audience’s attention due to updates and diverse content. Starting from new monsters right down to special limited-time events, knowledge about what is new can be a game changer in one's favor. Make sure to check the future news, use those lovely game codes, and follow the updated tier list and strategies, of course. That’s why with new additions, changes, and new content as Pocket Incoming it’s the best time to get back to the game and discover the journey to its fullest! Word Count: 1,050 words Read the full article

[jcmarchi]

Tracking emissions to help companies reduce their environmental footprint

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/tracking-emissions-to-help-companies-reduce-their-environmental-footprint/

Tracking emissions to help companies reduce their environmental footprint

Amidst a global wave of corporate pledges to decarbonize or reach net-zero emissions, a system for verifying actual greenhouse gas reductions has never been more important. Context Labs, founded by former MIT Sloan Fellow and serial entrepreneur Dan Harple SM ’13, is rising to meet that challenge with an analytics platform that brings more transparency to emissions data.

The company’s platform adds context to data from sources like equipment sensors and satellites, provides third-party verification, and records all that information on a blockchain. Context Labs also provides an interactive view of emissions across every aspect of a company’s operations, allowing leaders to pinpoint the dirtiest parts of their business.

“There’s an old adage: Unless you measure something, you can’t change it,” says Harple, who is the firm’s CEO. “I think of what we’re doing as an AI-driven digital lens into what’s happening across organizations. Our goal is to help the planet get better, faster.”

Context Labs is already working with some of the largest energy companies in the world — including EQT, Williams Companies, and Coterra Energy — to verify emissions reductions. A partnership with Microsoft, announced at last year’s COP28 United Nations climate summit, allows any organization on Microsoft’s Azure cloud to integrate their sensor data into Context Lab’s platform to get a granular view of their environmental impact.

Harple says the progress enables more informed sustainability initiatives at scale. He also sees the work as a way to combat overly vague statements about sustainable practices that don’t lead to actual emissions reductions, or what’s known as “greenwashing.”

“Just producing data isn’t good enough, and our customers realize that, because they know even if they have good intentions to reduce emissions, no one is going to believe them,” Harple says. “One way to think about our platform is as antigreenwashing insurance, because if you get attacked for your emissions, we unbundle the data like it’s in shrink-wrap and roll it back through time on the blockchain. You can click on it and see exactly where and how it was measured, monitored, timestamped, its serial number, everything. It’s really the gold standard of proof.”

An unconventional master’s

Harple came to MIT as a serial founder whose companies had pioneered several foundational internet technologies, including real-time video streaming technology still used in applications like Zoom and Netflix, as well as some of the core technology for the popular Chinese microblogging website Weibo.

Harple’s introduction to MIT started with a paper he wrote for his venture capital contacts in the U.S. to make the case for investment in the Netherlands, where he was living with his family. The paper caught the attention of MIT Professor Stuart Madnick, the John Norris Maguire Professor of Information Technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who suggested Harple come to MIT as a Sloan Fellow to further develop his ideas about what makes a strong innovation ecosystem.

Having successfully founded and exited multiple companies, Harple was not a typical MIT student when he began the Sloan Fellows program in 2011. At one point, he held a summit at MIT for a group of leading Dutch entrepreneurs and government officials that included tours of major labs and a meeting with former MIT President L. Rafael Reif.

“Everyone was super enamored with MIT, and that kicked off what became a course that I started at MIT called REAL, Regional Entrepreneurial Acceleration Lab,” Harple says. REAL was eventually absorbed by what is now REAP — the Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, which has worked with communities around the world.

Harple describes REAL as a framework vehicle to put his theories on supporting innovation into action. Over his time at MIT, which also included collaborating with the Media Lab, he systematized those theories into what he calls pentalytics, which is a way to measure and predict the resilience of innovation ecosystems.

“My sense was MIT should be analytical and data-driven,” Harple says. “The thesis I wrote was a framework for AI-driven network graph analytics. So, you can model things using analytics, and you can use AI to do predictive analytics to see where the innovation ecosystem is going to thrive.”

Once Harple’s pentalytics theory was established, he wanted to put it to the test with a company. His initial idea for Context Labs was to build a verification platform to combat fake news, deepfakes, and other misinformation on the internet. Around 2018, Harple met climate investor Jeremy Grantham, who he says helped him realize the most important data are about the planet. Harple began to believe that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions estimates for things like driving a car or operating an oil rig were just that — estimates — and left room for improvement.

“Our approach was very MIT-ish,” Harple says. “We said, ‘Let’s, measure it and let’s monitor it, and then let’s contextualize that data so you can never go back and say they faked it. I think there’s a lot of fakery that’s happened, and that’s why the voluntary carbon markets cratered in the last year. Our view is they cratered because the data wasn’t empirical enough.”

Context Labs’ solution starts with a technology platform it calls Immutably that continuously combines disparate data streams, encrypts that information, and records it on a blockchain. Immutably also verifies the information with one or more third parties. (Context Labs has partnered with the global accounting firm KPMG.)

On top of Immutably, Context Labs has built applications, including a product called Decarbonization-as-a-Service (DaaS), which uses Immutably’s data to give companies a digital twin of their entire operations. Customers can use DaaS to explore the emissions of their assets and create a certificate of verified CO2-equivalent emissions, which can be used in carbon credit markets.

Putting emissions data into context

Context Labs is working with oil and gas companies, utilities, data centers, and large industrial operators, some using the platform to analyze more than 3 billion data points each day. For instance, EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., uses Context Labs to verify its lower-emission products and create carbon credits. Other customers include the nonprofits Rocky Mountain Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund.

“I often get asked how big the total addressable market is,” Harple says. “My view is it’s the largest market in history. Why? Because every country needs a decarbonization plan, along with instrumentation and a digital platform to execute, as does every company.”

With its headquarters in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Context Labs is also serving as a test for Harple’s pentalytics theory for innovation ecosystems. It also has operations in Houston and Amsterdam.

“This company is a living lab for pentalytics,” Harple says. “I believe Kendall Square 1.0 was factory buildings, Kendall Square 2.0 is biotech, and Kendall Square 3.0 will be climate tech.”

[linuxgamenews]

Unveiling the Skill System of Persist Online MMORPG

Persist Online MMORPG game with zombies is coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Thanks to the brilliant minds at CipSoft. All due to make its way onto Steam. If you missed it, during the opening show of Gamescom Latam in São Paulo, CipSoft released a new trailer. Doing so for their upcoming MMORPG, Persist Online. This game is shaping up to be something I'm very curious to dive into on Linux. The latest MMORPG trailer gives us a better look at the harsh world of Persist Online. It's a post-apocalyptic setting where survival is a constant struggle, and danger is lurking around every corner. The pre-alpha gameplay footage shows off the game's massive open world, which is also full of diverse landscapes. Plus, we get a glimpse of the skill system, which looks pretty good. For those who don’t know, CipSoft is the team behind Tibia, one of the first MMORPGs ever created back in 1997. So, they certainly know their stuff.

Here are some of the standout features:

Masses of Players and Zombies Join forces in Persist Online with other MMORPG survivors to fend off hordes of zombies and take down mutated bosses. The game’s open world is persistent, so there are no instances. You’ll be sharing this tough setting with hundreds of other players. Due to make every encounter unique and challenging.

Persist Online MMORPG | Gamescom Latam Trailer

Friends, Foes, and Temporary Allies Watch out for players looking for PvP action! You can team up with others to form guilds, defend key locations, and gather resources faster. But be careful—friendly fire is on, so you could accidentally (or not so accidentally) hit your allies! Boomsticks, Frying Pans, and Fishing Nets The weapon variety in Persist Online is great for any MMORPG. Since you can loot or craft different weapons and upgrade them. Whether you’re smashing zombies with a frying pan, blasting them with a shotgun, or using a fishing net to paralyze them, there’s a lot of fun to be had with the combat system. An Unforgiving Open World This isn’t just a big world; it’s incredibly detailed. Every building is accessible, and the dynamic day and night cycle really impacts the gameplay. You’ll need to stay on your toes as the environment changes around you. Persist Online MMORPG will be available on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC via Steam. Make sure to add it to your wishlist now. To keep up with all the latest news, you can also join the official Discord. So, gear up and get ready for some serious post-apocalyptic action. This title promises to bring back the old-school MMORPG vibes with a fresh twist.

[kafkaoftherubble]

HI HELLO I have tried playing monster hunter games and I see the appeal because they look awesome but those types of games are really overwhelming to me so I have to settle with my friend infodumping to me about the music and motifs lol

Hahahha! Oh yea, it's definitely something I understand. My sister finds it overwhelming too, so she was stuck in this limbo of loving it... and being frustrated by it at the same time.

Our solution was co-op play! I play the seemingly begrudging half-medic all the time; I have several sets where I prioritize watching everyone's HP and administering healing and shits, over bashing the monster in with my weapons. I'm by no means a great hunter—I'm chaotic as fuck, too—but I try not to be so incompetent that I ruin the hunt. My sis, meanwhile, main a weapon where it's all button-mashing (Dual Blades) so she can free her head into thinking about other things. If she's in low health, she knows I'm always gonna give you up replenish her health. I also generally don't mind failing quests; sometimes I was the reason! That probably helped ease my sis'/friend's pressure, ahahaha

Astral Chain is similarly frenetic, which is why if MonHun is too much, then Astral Chain will be more or less in the same league. In fact, there is an additional challenge to the latter: you control two characters at once. The other character, the Legion, has its own basic attack AI, but it doesn't really know the best moves to make, so ideally, you control both your character and the Legion in tandem! In a frenetic fight, too! At 30fps! I always joke that I grew new neurons in my brain just to play this game. Hell, here's an Honest Trailer about this game that is generally pretty accurate about the experience! Hahahaha!

I recently picked up Astral Chain again despite finishing it circa 2022 mid-year because a manga I've been reading reminded me of it and it was such a perfect excuse to replay the game. The learning curve is fucking steep, especially since I've been playing Tears of the Kingdom, which is NOT that crazy in combat at all. Imagine my surprise when I got the hang of controlling two characters at once on the very next day (last night, basically). Wow, I can't believe I got better at this game at a faster rate than my old friends, Fire Emblem and MonHun!

... Anyway, I kinda thought it would be fun if I got to hunt with you someday. It's really fun when you have the synergy and team dynamic down-pat! We can both be "medics" and pussies who run away from monsters ahahhahahah! And that's especially because I really don't mind losing. I don't even mind just gathering every now and then. Or exploring the maps sometimes.

Maybe a MonHun title in the future, if you're up for it— we can hunt together (And if we both have the goddamn console/gaming system ahahha). That way we will both be rookies at the same time, instead of if we play Sunbreak right now, where I'll be way too over-leveled and sorta kinda veteran-ish. (Also, my muscle memory is currently coded for Astral Chain and Tears of the Kingdom only hahahahhaha)

[casperlawrence]

Best Cloud Hosting Services: Securing Your Business for the Future

In this era of swift transformation and persistent disruption, businesses are running. Not only is there an unceasing advance in technology; firms are having to deal with the destabilizing impacts of the pandemic, climate change, and political turmoil. In order to prepare for the current and unforeseen difficulties of the future, businesses must become more flexible and able to adjust quickly. In this conversation, we are examining how the best cloud hosting services can facilitate this goal.

Outcome Remains Unclear

No one had foreseen the pandemic, leaving businesses that quickly adapted to remote working and had the capability to operate online better able to weather the storm. However, even those companies faced difficulties, such as the need for new applications and higher capacity for online services.

Those companies who fared the worst were hindered by their own infrastructure that could not give them the speed, scalability, and flexibility needed. If they had chosen cloud infrastructure, the outcome could have been very different.

React faster

Migrating to the clouds enables businesses to quickly react to any modifications in the market or any crises they may face. Many of the new applications are cloud-native, open-source and can be deployed without delay.

It is the only infrastructure providing such a swift way for businesses to get new products out or combat any unforeseen issues. Additionally, it gives companies immediate access to modern technologies such as big data, AI and machine learning.

Stay up to date

Businesses are engaging in digital transformation at a fast rate as the market is becoming more digitalized. Meeting the demands of customers necessitates the most cutting-edge hardware, which necessitates a high financial expenditure when it is created in-house.

The issue is that technology is always evolving so the powerful hardware bought today is outdated tomorrow. Cloud computing can help a company stay up to date as there is no need to invest in new infrastructure, since the cloud provider assumes the responsibility.

At the same time, businesses also forgo the disruption caused by replacing old tech with new as services don’t need to be taken offline for this to happen in a cloud environment.

The continual upgrading of cloud infrastructure by service providers due to competition ensures that cloud users have access to the performance they need. Thus, customers can be confident in the quality of the services they are receiving.

Accessing Scalability as Needed

Given that companies may not know when demand will increase, scalability is essential to futureproofing. We have seen many stories of websites crashing due to an overload of traffic as well as large-scale data processing and other taxing workloads.

Setting up scalability in-house requires a significant financial investment through the purchase of redundant hardware, and even if it is possible, it is likely to be limited and take time to bring online.

Cloud computing offers scalability that is both unlimited and immediate, with service providers having vast resources spread throughout multiple data centres that can easily accommodate extra demand.

Plus, the resources can be utilized almost immediately with the click of a mouse, and businesses pay for only what they use and can scale back when necessary.

An Unconquerable Power

One of the major issues with running an in-house data center is the risk of system failure due to hardware breakdown, network glitches and power outages. Setting up a remote backup data center to guarantee high availability is usually too expensive and difficult for most companies.

The cloud, however, offers a perfect solution — if physical hardware fails, the virtual server can be moved to another machine with no interruption to service.

In addition, cloud vendors have backup data centres so that if one becomes unavailable due to a natural disaster, the backup can take over right away, guaranteeing 100% uptime and keeping critical applications online.

Conclusion

Companies must be prepared for the unknown opportunities and threats that may arise in the future. To do this, they must acquire the infrastructure to be agile and react quickly to changes. The most effective way to do this is by taking advantage of cloud technology. To learn more about our cloud solutions.

please visit our best cloud servers or Enterprise Solutions pages.

[bearpillowmonster]

Metroid: Other M Review (NonSpoiler)

I wanted to start with my score of 7/10 to show that this isn't such a bad game, I actually had a lot of fun with it but it doesn't come without its flaws and I think I can pinpoint where people may have had problems with it. When I see people saying "You're better off not playing it." I think that's kind of unearned because it's not as bad as people say, the fanbase is a bit whack though, has made them bitter.

STORY - I know this is sometimes considered a prequel of sorts but you need to know Super Metroid to get it, it actually takes place afterwards but then has Samus lamenting on her past in the cutscenes.

This has a lot of previous material but one trope that I didn't really see were Space Pirates, I was actually quite relieved because they're considered extinct after Super and I feel like they should remain that way. It also doesn't pay homage to the Chozo in much way at all.

In some ways, I do believe this should've been a prequel to all the games and then maybe I wouldn't hold as much problem with it but other than the little differences, it plays out like an Americanized version. It has the formula of a Hollywood sci-fi movie.

I also felt it necessary to urge you to stick around until after the credits because that ending beforehand is barely even an ending, it left kind of a bad enough taste in my mouth to sour the whole game. There IS another boss. There is another ending so be patient. All in all the story ends up kind of plain and average, a 5/10.

GAMEPLAY - It was quite unexpected the way it plays because you DON'T use the nunchuck, you hold the remote sideways. Now this actually came across pretty good in translation but there are times where you have to have the remote upright to do certain things. But there are separate low-pressure sections where you don't have to be quick about it so you don't have to flip-flop all the time. The one exception are missiles and while it is annoying to switch just for that, I didn't find it that bad.

Speaking of combat, it's quite different, shooting auto-locks enemies so obviously that comes with a few misfires here and there but it still has a lot that the series is known for. You can dodge attacks similar to the parry system in SR/Dread and have finishing melee moves that have these crisp and unique animations. The wall kick is back and I can actually do it this time, you only have to hold the direction towards one wall. So believe it or not, I think there are some things that originated here that carried over into the later games because they were so good.

Beating enemies doesn't give you health but save points do so it's a trade off. You do slowly gain your items back but not for the reasons you might imagine. You see because you're with the federation, you need to follow orders, which means that you have your weapons but they're not authorized to be used by your officer yet. Sometimes it's kind of dumb though because you have this whole section of extreme heat to get through before the commander's like "Oh, yeah, you can activate your Varia suit. I'll allow it." It's a defense, I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed. Since there's no collecting random bits from enemies, you can just reload your missiles anytime, the expansions are just for as much you can hold which is really cool.

The art is pretty good too, seeing Samus clash against these white matte backgrounds and contrast the bright colors of her armor to the dark environments, all the little pieces glow. Sometimes lush. The plasma beam is really satisfying with its green lightning approach. It pushes the Wii to its limit, I had times where it seemed like it couldn't keep up and pop a loading banner at the bottom. That was really only when I was moving faster than it wanted so it wasn't detrimental to the experience, in fact, I was proud. It might not mean anything for today's standards but it still looks pretty good today especially for being a little over 12 years old already.

What I didn't like are the "investigate sections" where it forces you into a first person pov and you have to spot what it is that you're supposed to be looking at. The thing is, there's no real clue most of the time, even the very first one is this little emblem on the spaceship that shows the federation logo but I never would've guessed that unless I looked it up.

In fact, that was where most of my difficulty came from, just figuring out "what" to do rather than where to do because it shows you where to go a lot more than the other games in my personal opinion. A stark contrast to Super Metroid with doors in your way that you just can't get through. Some people will like that, some people won't. Backtracking is interesting because it's not traditional. In Prime 2, they had those main sections and then a hub connecting them all. This kind of has that with "Sectors", a lot of the time you're not expected to go through the same corridors to get back though, there's usually a new route that just circles around. I didn't collect all the items (missile and health etc) though because it tends to limit where you can't return to. You can't just wander around at any given time, you're normally closed off to just that sector until you finish it. You do revisit sectors but I never felt like I got the chance to collect EVERYTHING until after the game but I didn't really feel I needed to because I felt like I had quite enough already to thrive. So what happens if you do collect everything then? Secret ending? Nope, just a hard mode unlock.

I suppose I was expecting more crazy arcade shooter moments like Prime 3 and while there are a few, I want more! I think there's still an untapped 3rd person Metroid with a 3D environment. But this is a perfectly good game, it has some of the best bosses, some of the best use of its mechanics, it's polished, it doesn't deserve quite as much flack as people make out.

PERSONALITY - It reads like a book and Samus actually talks which is something that Metroid hasn't attempted before. I think a lot of people took problem with this because the series is known for its subtlety and to suddenly thrust it into a narrative driven experience is going to jar people especially when the main just straight up tells you what she's thinking about everything. The slow parts probably threw them off just as well. I don't really fault Nintendo for this because they were probably going to receive some sort of backlash for even straying away in the first place but Metroid hasn't always been the most successful franchise and I feel it was the right call on paper.

Now one of the problems with switching to this is the depiction of Samus. Let's start with her voice. In the Prime days, Samus was apparently voiced by Jennifer Hale. You can look up a clip of her narrating the intro and it sounds quite good, pretty much what I'd expect her to sound like. In this game she is voiced by Jessica Martin however. Now I'm not exactly trying to throw Jessica Martin under the bus but Samus seems very monotone and stiff, I looked up some of her other voice roles and it turns out…she's only done two video game roles, the other was ReCore and she sounded pretty decent in that. But that's beside the point because I actually blame the direction.

I checked out the Japanese voice for her, Ai Kobayashi and she actually voiced Ovilo from the Cowboy Bebop movie so I think she could pull off a bad-a performance if she wanted to but she also seemed monotone in the game, it's deliberately Samus' personality and everything the game shows matches up. But this bleeds into her as a whole because in the previous games, she's set up to be this big famous bounty hunter that everybody looks up to and she doesn't take crap from anyone.

But here, they don't reinforce that at all, it almost does seem like it should be a prequel because they acknowledge that she has done stuff in the past but they don't treat her any differently. In fact, I almost felt a sort of hostile vibe from the feds like "Oh, you're too good for us. You defected and are a bounty hunter now." There are some cool moments mind you but I feel like it's matched with powerlessness. There are points where she squeals and that just completely threw me off because she takes hits like a champ in any other game. I know we don't really get to hear a lot of her in those but I think everyone image of the female bad-a is just kind of nerfed for this game.

I didn't find any of the supporting characters all that compelling either, they give you very few reasons to care about them but the ones that they do give stick out like a sore thumb because they hammer them in. Higgs is probably the only exception to this, I feel like he could've been an actual character from Samus' past, we just don't get enough of him.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

What I like about Bow is that in s1 he motivates Entraptas staff because "I'm one of you" (a normal person with no powers) by showing them how to fight back, in s4 he does the same thing with an entire trapped village by teaching them how to save themselves, and finally in s5 he does it with the ENTIRE planet by giving the population a last stand speech.

He's the common folks' leader. It fits that he'll be the future king.

Bow was very at risk in falling into a somewhat misogynistic trope of "the underdog boy who overshadows all the way stronger/smarter girls" since that's what his character template usually entails and that's what any other show would have done

Like for example if he was better than Glimmer or Adora at combat because he "tried harder" or if he was better at tech than Entrapta because he's an "underdog"

It's a trope I fucking despise and it's always the boys who surpass girls, some classic examples are Wanted and Kung Fu Panda wherein you have a girl who has trained for a role forever be surpassed by a really stupid ameteur boy because that's how the system sees women i guess

Instead, Bow ISNT as good at combat as the princesses even though he tries so hard because they're just so overwhelmingly powerful, and Bow ISN'T as good at tech as Entrapta because she has put in way more time and resources and experience than him, he would have to make science his entire life to keep up and that's not his priority (though he was able to go toe to toe with Hordak who thought his work was Entrapta's so he definitely spends a lot of time trying to work out her tech once he's made techmaster, and he was even able to fix a thousand years old the ship by himself and teach her how it works, but that's nothing like the trope im describing)

What they did instead is make Bow the master of a domain that most other characters especially in the Rebellion don't think about at all - Heart!! Bow is the proverbial glue keeping everyone together, he encourages powerless people like himself to fight, he picks his friends up when they fall down, and of the rebellion I'd say Bow was the only one after Adora to truly believe that people in the Horde could change. Bow's examples include how he recruited Adora herself (!!!) even when Glimmer saw her as trouble, how he tried to befriend Catra even when she nearly got brightmoon destroyed and Adora was starting to see her as an enemy, how he was utterly determined to convince Entrapta to rejoin the rebellion even after learning she valued science over their friendship, and how he was able to crack through to Scorpia and tell her that she wasn't a killer, even though he barely knew Scorpia at all. Bow's unwavering belief in the good of his friends and the people around him does get him in trouble from time to time as people take advantage of it, but there are no other characters who hold to this as strongly. His beliefs go through some sad challenges when his friendships fall apart, but he is able to overcome those challenges and reassess his boundaries.

Other characters play the Heart from time to time but they don't BELIEVE as hard as Bow. Scorpia believes in friendship but it's hard to say if she actually sees the good in everyone, or if she just wants to please everyone regardless of who they are. Adora does see the good in everyone but this can often be shrouded by her determination to do The Right Thing, especially in season 4. Entrapta tries to encourage people that they are wonderfulas they are like Bow does, but her faith in friendship was perhaps the most fragile of our cast as she writes all her relationships off as failures faster than Catra can open a portal. Glimmer tries to lead everyone but also competes with them and doesn't understand them as well.

With THIS in mind, it's wonderful that even though he can't contribute as well as the princesses in battle, Bow sees value in himself as the arrow guy, the level headed guy, and most importantly a friend.

It's pretty interesting how little faith he had in his fathers by contrast, how that clashes with his attitude to everyone else. While he's so open with his friends, he hides everything from his dads. They don't know who he is, really. I think this is surprisingly relatable for many people.