#this is ADVANCED transparency trickery

[olumpus]

The Rise of Glass in Interior Design: Why Biggest Glasses is Better

In recent years, interior design has embraced a growing trend that places large glass features at the forefront of modern living spaces. From expansive windows to glass walls, oversized glass elements are transforming homes and commercial interiors alike. The appeal of “biggest glass” lies not only in its aesthetic value but also in its ability to enhance the functionality, mood, and sustainability of a space. Let’s explore why biggest glasses is better and how it is reshaping interior design.

1. The Illusion of Space and Openness

One of the primary reasons large glass features have gained popularity in interior design is their ability to create the illusion of space. Rooms with large windows or glass walls appear more expansive, even if the actual square footage is limited. This visual trickery works because glass removes the traditional barriers between indoors and outdoors, allowing natural light to flood the space and visually extend the room's boundaries.

In open-concept living, floor-to-ceiling glass dividers or sliding glass doors add structure to a space without closing it off. They offer a sense of separation while maintaining a continuous flow, which makes interiors feel more airy and less confined.

2. Maximizing Natural Light

A significant advantage of incorporating larger glass panels into design is the increased exposure to natural light. Sunlight streaming through oversized glass windows can transform a room, adding warmth and vibrancy. Natural light not only improves the ambiance of a space, but it also positively impacts mood, well-being, and productivity.

Homes that are flooded with daylight reduce the need for artificial lighting, cutting down on energy consumption. For those who are eco-conscious, opting for larger glass installations is a practical step toward creating more energy-efficient spaces.

3. Seamless Indoor-Outdoor Connection

One of the most compelling reasons for integrating large glass in interior design is the seamless connection it creates between indoor and outdoor environments. With large glass walls or doors, it becomes easy to blend the beauty of the outdoors with the comfort of the indoors.

This approach is especially popular in urban spaces where greenery and natural views are limited. Large glass windows can frame a cityscape or garden, bringing in a sense of nature and calm to even the busiest of settings. In suburban or rural homes, the effect is even more profound, making it feel like the outdoors is an extension of the living space.

4. Modern Minimalism and Aesthetic Appeal

Bigger glass is synonymous with modern minimalism. As design trends shift toward clean lines and simplicity, oversized glass installations fit perfectly into this ethos. Large glass elements eliminate the need for heavy curtains or bulky frames, creating a sleek and uncluttered look. They act as a neutral design element, allowing other features like furniture, artwork, or flooring to stand out.

Moreover, glass reflects light and amplifies textures, making it a versatile material in minimalist spaces. Whether it’s a transparent glass partition or a wide glass door, these elements add elegance and sophistication to any interior.

5. Versatility in Design

Large glass isn’t limited to windows and walls. Designers are increasingly incorporating glass into other aspects of interiors, such as staircases, balustrades, kitchen backsplashes, and shower enclosures. Its transparency and reflective properties allow glass to adapt to various design styles—from contemporary to industrial chic.

Customizable in shape and size, larger glass panels can be curved, frosted, or tinted to suit specific needs, offering more creative flexibility. In spaces like bathrooms and kitchens, glass features maintain a sense of openness while still providing privacy or protection where needed.

6. Sustainability and Energy Efficiency

Modern advancements in glass technology have made it possible to create large glass panels that are highly energy-efficient. Many large windows today are double- or triple-glazed, which improves insulation and reduces energy costs. Some types of glass can even filter UV rays, keeping interiors cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Sustainable design is no longer just a trend—it’s a necessity. By embracing larger glass installations, designers can create eco-friendly spaces that minimize the need for heating and cooling, promoting a more sustainable lifestyle.

7. A Better View, A Better Lifestyle

Perhaps one of the simplest yet most important reasons bigger glass is better in interior design is the enhanced views it provides. Whether it’s a bustling cityscape or a peaceful garden, large glass windows connect us with the world outside. This visual access to nature or scenic surroundings can have a profound impact on our mood, making us feel more relaxed, connected, and inspired.

Conclusion: A Clear Choice for Modern Living

The rise of biggest glasses in interior design is a testament to its ability to balance beauty, functionality, and sustainability. As glass technology continues to improve, the possibilities for incorporating large glass panels into homes and commercial spaces are only growing. Whether you're looking to maximize natural light, create a sense of openness, or simply enjoy better views, investing in larger glass elements can elevate your interior design and transform the way you experience your space.

[arunganguly6]

Unveiling The Truth Behind Arun Ganguly Scam

In the tumultuous landscape of modern business, controversies often surface, casting shadows of doubt and skepticism. The Arun Ganguly Scam is one such example, where claims have obfuscated the standing of a prominent figure. Notwithstanding, digging further into the matter uncovers a more nuanced story, testing the overarching account and revealing insight into urgent viewpoints that request consideration.

Here Are Some Key Points To Consider About Arun Ganguly Scam

Between all these rumors of Arun Ganguly fraud here are a few things seeking our attention. Read through the below pointers to understand it better.

The Rise Of Arun Ganguly

Arun Ganguly's process is a demonstration of the force of entrepreneurial brilliance and immovable assurance. Rising up out of humble starting points, he left on an exceptional journey to cut out his specialty in the serious universe of business. Furnished with only a vision and sheer grit, Ganguly bravely outlined his course, exploring through the fierce waters of vulnerability and difficulty. With every snag experienced, he arose more grounded and more undaunted, declining to be discouraged by the overwhelming difficulties that lay ahead. Through his tenacious quest for greatness, Ganguly made progress as well as made a permanent imprint on the landscape of industry. His creative methodology and strong drives upset customary standards, introducing another time of conceivable outcomes. From weighty advancements to problematic plans of action, Ganguly's impact resounded across areas, changing enterprises and molding the fate of trade.

The Allegations Unveiled

As murmurs of trickery and fraud twirled around him, Arun Ganguly was unexpectedly pushed into the eye of a raging tempest of debate. Reports arose, spreading far and wide, alleging his involvement in a scandal that sent shockwaves through the actual foundation of the business world. Accusations mounted, painting a damning image of Ganguly as the mastermind behind a nefarious plan intended to trick and defraud. However, amidst the cacophony of accusations and sensational headlines, a nearer examination reveals an alternate story altogether. Rather than the calculated machinations of a malicious actor, the allegations against Ganguly appear to stem more from misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Strip back the layers of guess, and one finds a narrative overflowing with intricacies and nuances, where truth and discernment intertwine in a tangled trap of uncertainty.

A Man Of Integrity

Regardless of the discussion twirling around him, Arun Ganguly has stayed undaunted in his obligation to transparency and accountability. He has participated completely with examinations, certain that reality will win sooner or later.

The Impact On Trust

The fallout from the Arun Ganguly Scam has reverberated far beyond individual reputations, shaking the foundations of trust in the business community. In an era where trust is currency, rebuilding it requires concerted effort and a commitment to honesty and integrity.

Lessons Learned

As we reflect on the events surrounding the Arun Ganguly Scam, it is essential to glean valuable lessons from the experience. Communication, diligence, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths are paramount in safeguarding against similar controversies in the future.

Embracing Dialogue And Understanding

Pushing ahead, moving toward this issue with compassion and liberality is basic. As opposed to capitulating to sentimentality, let us participate in constructive discourse and look for figuring out, spanning partitions and encouraging a culture of trust and collaboration.

[the-stove-is-on-fire]

Ectober Week, Day 4: Darkness/Poison 

Danny would like to show you something

CLICK THE IMAGE :))))

[Edit 2021-07-09: Added light and dark versions under the cut so folks in night mode can see the difference. And bonus OG sketches just for fun :D]

Light -> Dark

The shadows on his face were probably the most technically difficult piece but I had a lot of fun figuring it out. Getting all the different levels of transparency to work right was SO satisfying. 

Original sketch idea below; I had to change up my colours a bit so the transparency trick would work. While I was at it I decided to give him a core glow and some will-o’-the-wisp friends because they were a really cool reveal. I also decided to have him look a bit cheeky instead of seeming so serious. Though, the og dark version has a very appealing creepy factor I enjoy.

[kulemii]

Hey, I also think Aizawa from Yakuza 5 is an underrated character! What was it about him that appealed to you? Something I've been trying to figure out about Aizawa is how much was an act and how much of his reactions were genuine. Like, did he know the whole master plan from the beginning? Do you have any headcanons about that? I'd love to hear it!

Ahhhh! Anon, my friend, you have no idea what you just did! Someone wants to hear MY opinions?! On AIZAWA?! My cheeks are hurting from smiling so much. I am way too excited over this lmao. I apologize in advance if I’m all over the place or don’t make much sense! I JUST HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS!

So, I only played y5 once. I intend to do a second playthrough, specifically so I can write more in depth about my feelings on Aizawa as he relates to the plot and whatnot. So, these thoughts are subject to change (though likely not a lot because I rewatched any cutscene with him or that relates to him more times than is probably healthy at this point, just to try and read him as a character)

First off, it would be unfair of me to not admit right off the bat that thirst was the driving force behind my interest in him. You didn’t say anything about that so I’ll spare you the details, but you can hmu again if you want me to talk about that because I can thirst after Aizawa for daaaaaaaaaaays.

Anyway, I would be lying if I said that dedicated support of his seiyuu (Hiroki Yasumoto) had nothing to do with my initial attraction to his character after hearing him speak, and seeing his expressions and reactions-- I knew I had to stan lol

!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!

There’s a lot to be said about the writing in y5 and I think the overall convolution of the plot makes it very difficult to fully grasp who he is as a character and where he stands in the thick of it-- which is wild considering they decide to make him one part of the Big Bad™ in the end (don’t get me started on that).

That said, I can understand why you wonder how much of him was an act and how much was genuine. I was left wondering the same and after an ungodly amount of rewatches of relevant cutscenes this is what I came up with:

He’s someone who prides himself in truth and transparency- that’s what I got from his entire monologue before the final battle.

That said, I think his reactions were always very genuine. He never hid himself or pretended to be anything he wasn’t because he despises when people use trickery to get what they want.

In the beginning when he meets Kiryu, he doesn’t hide his disdain at all and I think if he was only following Kurosawa’s plan, it might’ve been more beneficial to sit back and watch quietly. It was always obvious that he wasn’t a fan of Kiryu and didn’t have a lot of respect for him. Alternatively, I think he had a ton of love and respect for Morinaga, his aniki, just because of how sincere his reactions seemed whenever he was hurt or in danger.

I think it’s worth mentioning, while it’s clear that he’s gotten his hands filthy with blood by the time he found himself in Daigo’s chair, I don’t think he was the one that killed Morinaga (apparently others do).

There are a couple reasons for this:

1.) if he was the one to have done it, I doubt he would have gone to The Florist for help finding him because killing Morinaga would’ve undoubtedly gotten him out of the way. Putting too much effort into finding him would draw too much attention to himself (and I have no doubts The Florist would’ve refused to help him anyway or at the very least call him out for being the murderer of Morinaga). 2.) it was never explicitly stated or shown that he did it- when Kiryu asks him, there’s the deeply solemn look on his face followed by an admission that he and Morinaga weren’t on the same page but I don’t see how that would’ve given him any motivation to kill him since they were still both on the antagonistic side. (If they wanted us to believe he killed his aniki, they did a shit job at making it make sense. I mean, killing him off-camera after Morinaga claimed that he killed Aizawa off-camera?)

Something that does make me wonder, though, is when he talks about Morinaga after his death, he refers to him as ‘-san’ rather than ‘-aniki’ as he had the entirety of the game. My understanding of Japanese is nothing to write home about so it’s possible that it’s a cultural thing to show respect for the dead but also, when I entertain the idea that Morinaga died by Aizawa’s hand, him not calling him aniki could signify the dissolution of their ties to one another but idk.

To answer your last question, I don’t think he knew about the entire plan from the beginning because he actually says that he “wonders what [his father] would have done if [he] didn’t join up” with the Tojo Clan, giving me the impression that his father hatched the plan first then presented it to him well after he started making preparations. He says himself that he didn’t even care about and was doubtful of the plan, finding it silly and by scoffing that his father isn’t really thinking straight now that he’s on his deathbed.

Aizawa is a really great character with a lot of potential and I think even Kiryu recognized that. I agree with many of his ideals, too. I loved that he pointed out how nepotism got Daigo his seat and challenged Kiryu’s moves to get him there as well as his tendency to get involved (and get others involved in his affairs) with the Tojo Clan only to walk away until the next time something catches his attention.

Physically, he’s as strong as a beast. His strength (health meter) is a perfect example of how determined he is to maintain his resolve and I can’t lie, if they would have ended Kiryu’s story with y5, I would have hoped that Aizawa could pick up the reins and we get to see him continue to fight to surpass the legend of the dragon.

The plot was far too busy and I can’t help but feel that Aizawa was meant to have a much smaller role and Morinaga was meant to be in his shoes but since they went this route, I wish they put more effort into fleshing Aizawa out. With more work on building his character, the ending of 5 could have had a much bigger impact and possibly placed him amongst some of the greatest characters in the franchise.

Oh well. He will always be a fan favorite in my heart!

If you want more lighthearted headcanons that veer into imagines/scenario territory, head on over to my writing blog @kulemiwrites and check out his tag. It's not-safe for work stuff there but I know that’s not everyone’s bag, so feel free to check out the sfw stuff too.

One of these days, I plan on posting my full headcanons about his younger years, what led him to join the yakuza (since he’d only recently joined) and who he is as a person (outside of the Tojo pin). I hope my opinions interest you enough to wanna hear more on those too.

I'm currently working on a gifset to worship his facial expressions, no matter how subtle lmao

[jessicakmatt]

Hard Truths: Everyone Edits Their Takes

Hard Truths: Everyone Edits Their Takes: via LANDR Blog

Welcome to Hard Truths, the series on the LANDR Blog where we cut through the noise and take on a harsh reality from the world of music production. This is the advice you might not want to hear—but will make you a better producer. 

Modern music production is an art form.

The techniques that today’s engineers and producers use to create the songs you love are highly advanced.

But despite all the fancy technology, a well-produced track still sounds like a unified musical event. It’s a compelling illusion.

We’d love to believe that our favourite artists belted out their finished vocal in a single take, or that their raw instrument tracks just sounded perfect and punchy right away.

I’m not saying it can’t happen that way. But the reality is that most of what you hear in a commercial recording is the result of a ton of engineering work behind the scenes.

Here’s my hard truth for today: “studio trickery” isn’t about faking it—it’s important mixing and engineering work that requires skill and finesse just like any other part of the life cycle of a song.

Studio tricks?

Sometimes it seems like modern production tools are sucking the life out of music.

But DAW manufacturers and plugin designers didn’t develop their products to make music less authentic.

They were responding to the actual needs of real engineers on the frontlines of music creation.

Every technique that gets a bad reputation for “ruining music” has legitimate uses.

Every technique that gets a bad reputation for “ruining music” has legitimate uses.

I’ll go through a few common techniques that are often called studio trickery and explain why they’re good for music on the whole.

Vocal production

There’s no formula for a hit. But if there’s any common thread in the popular music of the last few decades, it’s vocals.

Big, bold, commanding and perfect sounding vocals.

Vocals are the main way listeners connect to the emotional content of a song.

It makes sense. The singer’s tone, delivery and lyrics are the human element in most productions.

As recording techniques evolved, producers naturally tried to find better, more reliable ways to make vocals sound good.

Getting a great vocal track in the studio is surprisingly challenging. Anyone who’s ever recorded themselves singing knows that a lot has to go right to capture your best performance.

Anyone who’s ever recorded themselves singing knows that a lot has to go right to capture your best performance.

With so much on the line, any techniques that can help you get that perfect take are highly valuable. I’m talking about tricks like vocal comping, pitch correction and manual timing edits.

As artificial as these processes may sound, the end result is a more musical performance if you use them well.

A take with the perfect vibe might be unusable because of one small mistake. Vocal tracking can be so variable that getting the same feel twice isn’t possible.

Why settle for a take with less emotional impact? If you’re willing to dive in and edit you don’t have to.

It’s not “cheating.” It’s just using your tools to make the song better.

Do you think the pros miss out on this opportunity to improve their tracks? No chance.

Almost every vocal you’ll ever hear from a pro mix engineer has had the same kind of attention paid to it in the editing phase.

Drum production

Rhythm is another massive pillar of your mix.

If the groove doesn’t punch, your track won’t have the rhythmic drive to keep listeners interested.

That’s why percussion is another crucial area where studio trickery often comes into play.

For example, capturing the sound of a live drum kit is one of the biggest challenges in recording.

Maybe you didn’t choose the right microphone or position it properly when you tracked.

Or perhaps the issue is with the performance. Many drummers aren’t used to the extra challenge of playing accurately to a metronome in the studio.

For the first problem, there’s a common fix—drum sample replacement. Just use a drum replacement plugin to blend or replace each hit with the perfect punchy sample.

Some may call it cheating, but the truth is that crafting a compelling drum sound this way isn’t easy.

It’s still an achievement to get a great sound that works well in the mix using this technique. The same goes for tightening up drum performances using slicing or warping.

Making these changes transparently and musically is a skill that takes practice to learn. And that’s part of the reason they’re so often attacked.

The most glaring examples of bad editing get the most attention. When they’re used well, these techniques are practically invisible.

The best producers know when a few edits here and there can enhance a track. They also know how to stop before going too far.

The best producers know when a few edits here and there can enhance a track. They also know how to stop before going too far.

The key is to keep your musical intuition sharp and stay focused on how what you’re doing serves the song.

Tricks of the trade

The sound of every era in music is defined by the tools and techniques engineers had access to at the time.

Modern production styles are no different.

If some tool or process really doesn’t add any value for engineers, it falls out of favor. But there are plenty of controversial production techniques that look like they’re here to stay.

Drum editing, sample replacement, vocal comping and tuning are too valuable and practical to avoid for the sake of authenticity.

No matter what your position is on the state of modern music, using these tools well and musically is an important part of becoming a better producer.

The post Hard Truths: Everyone Edits Their Takes appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog https://blog.landr.com/hard-truths-editing/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/617218751921848320

[elizehurley-blog]

Daily Horoscope 11 Th November

New Post has been published on http://www.withallwomen.com/daily-horoscope-11-th-november/

Daily Horoscope 11 Th November

General Horoscope

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Everybody appears to be very genuine today, and we’re anxious to go along with them in the event that it implies we can achieve our objectives. Cerebral Mercury is serious as it enters driven Capricorn where it joins Saturn, Pluto, the Sun and Venus. We exchange blue sky for maps to control us and supplies to continue us while the truth of Capricorn is made evident. In the interim, the energetic Scorpio Moon conjuncts philosophical Jupiter and emphatic Mars, providing guidance to our thoughts.

Aries Horoscope MAR 21 – APR 19

Regardless of what your expert duties expect of you now, correspondence is the way to your prosperity. In any case, you can’t escape with unverified cases or empty guarantees when substantial outcomes are normal. You may incidentally lose your feeling of opportunity since you won’t have the advantage of enabling your brain to meander. There’s work to be done; make sense of the most ideal approach and begin with no object or flourish. Give your prosperity a chance to be your commotion.

Taurus Horoscope APR 20 – MAY 20

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Somebody may offer you a mind-blowing chance, yet don’t seize the possibility until the point that you do your due persistence. Shockingly, a misguided feeling of earnestness today could lead you to find that the seafront property you purchased was a mosquito-pervaded overwhelm. Fortunately, your existence channel is fit as a fiddle presently, empowering you to see through trickeries, regardless of whether they are deliberate. Stick to what you know, instead of being deluded by your fantasies. Maya Angelou expressed, “There’s a huge improvement among truth and actualities. Actualities can darken reality.”

Gemini Horoscope MAY 21 – JUN 20

You have no enthusiasm for partaking in the equivalent happy discussions that as of late filled your inert time. Truth be told, you may trust there’s a little window of chance to work out the subtle elements of a budgetary relationship. You may even stress that your opportunity to let the big dog eat will vanish before you can finish it. Regardless of whether you are renegotiating your home, purchasing an auto or just solidifying credits, uncover every one of the actualities previously leaving all necessary signatures. Being all around educated places you in the most grounded arranging position.

Cancer Horoscope  JUN 21 – JUL 22

Despite the fact that you are very OK with your position today, your emotions may undermine your contention in a progressing banter. It’s critical to stand up to your restriction with hard information instead of delicate suppositions. Obviously, it’s not savvy to overlook your feelings; simply don’t utilize them while showing your case. Luckily, there’s a magnificent open door for important give and take in your exchanges. On the off chance that you can discuss an issue, you can resolve it.

Leo Horoscope JUL 23 – AUG 22

Yesterday’s positive thinking has transformed into the present authenticity. You’re less intrigued by the capability of a circumstance than in its common sense. As opposed to envisioning every one of the letters in the letter set, you’re executing your arrangement to get from A to B. Be that as it may, don’t give your developing worry about productivity a chance to close down your fantasies. You can pack your endeavors right now while as yet harboring dreams of future undertakings. Wake up with assurance. Go to bed with fulfillment.

Virgo Horoscope AUG 23 – SEP 22

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push(); You can outfit the intensity of your inventiveness today through all types of correspondence and relational collaborations. Unexpectedly, you are most gainful now when you’re having a ton of fun, yet you’re so headed to achieve something unmistakable that you would prefer not to set aside the opportunity to play. The answer for this predicament comes through understanding the connection between happy mind and significant announcements. Silliness can be an impetus to begin a transformational discussion that completely changes you. Help up and dive deep.

Libra Horoscope SEP 23 – OCT 22

Now and again you should pull back from the social clamor to take care of your own needs. In any case, this evident withdraw isn’t tied in with maintaining a strategic distance from duties; rather, you’re keen on clearing up your household commitments. One motivation to rethink your duties to relatives is so you can head again into the world, realizing that you have a solid establishment at home. By and by, this procedure implies confessing all in your own life by dispelling any confusion quality of insider facts. In spite of the fact that you may stress over making superfluous dramatization, you’ll be astounded how transparent correspondence really steps out the turmoil and disarray.

Scorpio Horoscope OCT 23 – NOV 21

It’s about difficult to rest your exhausted head today since you’re so bustling reasoning vital contemplations. Your complex mental process is spurred by your craving to make associations between all the distinctive things you’ve learned. In spite of the fact that others may become irritated with your testing questions, they don’t really see that you are so headed to gather more data. Finding beforehand missing connections between recent developments and your past recollections could be the sweet reward for all your diligent work. Tirelessness is your partner when unraveling a secret.

Sagittarius Horoscope NOV 22 – DEC 21

You might be wrapped up in the statistical data points of money related exchanges now. Regardless of whether you are deciding your financial plan for a home enhancement venture, reassessing your every day uses, or assessing the possibility of a business speculation, everything comes down to what assets you have and how you wish to use them for most extreme advantage. Be that as it may, your brief interest with cash is only a manifestation of more extensive worries as you think about what you need in your life. Elucidating your center qualities is a vital advance on your approach to discovering fulfillment.

Capricorn Horoscope DEC 22 – JAN 19

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You are in a power zone and it’s pivotal to take advantage of it while it keeps going. In spite of the fact that you might be overpowered by all the significant issues that are reaching a crucial stage, you are completely prepared to deal with this confounded minute in your life. You will rise up out of this enormous weight cooker without a hitch in the event that you use your mystery weapon of time administration. Watch out for your timetable and the other on your clock. Influence records, to set up needs, defined limits, and realize that you can do astounding things on the off chance that you get the opportunity to work now.

Aquarius Horoscope JAN 20 – FEB 18

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push(); Your private correspondence channel to different measurements is open for business today, permitting your soul aides, holy messengers and predecessors to talk straightforwardly to you. Anyway you outline these discoursed with non-physical creatures, you’re the recipient of the bestowed knowledge. Try not to attempt to intellectualize the procedure; abstain from making a decision about the truth of your experience. On the off chance that you should, simply consider it your inward voice, a result of your creative ability. On the off chance that regardless you can’t acknowledge this type of assistance, you can simply fall back on the expressions of Charles Dickens: “A cherishing heart is the most genuine shrewdness.”

Pisces Horoscope FEB 19 – MAR 20

Such a large amount of your life is interlaced around your social connections. Your companions and collaborators mean a great deal to you, as do their considerations and suppositions. Be that as it may, you should set up new limits on the off chance that you wish to seek after your own objectives. This isn’t tied in with pulling back into a shell; rather, it’s tied in with isolating your necessities from everybody else’s, so you can recognize what’s most vital to you. Reevaluating needs presently decides your direction into what’s to come. You can just use sound judgment in the event that you realize what you need as opposed to what others anticipate. Slam Dass stated, “I’ve been ought to upon sufficiently long.”

[nuttytriumphenthusiast-blog]

In what simply may well be the wildest factor any person has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable type of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

Seriously.

Built in part as a hobby venture among Lego’s ingenious workforce and in part as a promo to blow their own horns on the Italian Grand Prix, the type’s ultimate piece rely clocks in at over one million Technic pieces.

(Technic, for the unfamiliar, is Lego’s line of interconnecting rods, gears, axles, motors, and different portions a bit extra advanced than the bricks and blocks the corporate is easiest identified for.)

Lego says that every one in all, the construct procedure took simply shy of 13,500 hours. They began brainstorming again in June of remaining 12 months, with exact building starting in March of 2018.

When LEGO first despatched over the video above, my first idea used to be that there used to be some CG trickery happening. They replied with a few hundred pictures of it being assembled, a few of which I’ve embedded underneath.

To be transparent, it’s no longer fully Lego – there are some parts that simply can’t be replicated in plastic when coping with one thing that every one in combination weighs over 1.five heaps. For instance, there’s a metal body (pictured underneath), a pair of batteries, some 3d published gears, and the entire thing sits on best of tangible Bugatti wheels. (Related a laugh reality: Lego is technically the arena’s greatest manufacturer of tires. Just… , tiny ones.)

Wilder but, this factor strikes. It’s no longer going to stay alongside of a real Chiron with its 250+ mph best speeds, clearly – however the corporate says it were given the type as much as round 13 miles in line with hour for the video above, and says that it theoretically tops out at round 19 miles in line with hour. Not dangerous for a automotive comprised of toy portions and powered by way of a bunch of plastic motors.

Speaking of which, this factor has over two thousand Lego Power Function motors in a large array, giving it a overall theoretical horsepower of five.three. 24 motor “packs”, each and every made up of 96 person Lego motors, hook into a metal chain that drives the wheels.

It’s were given a bunch of different a laugh tips for just right measure:

A removable steerage wheel

Doors that if truth be told open and shut

A spoiler that lifts and lowers on the push of a button, with a regulate panel to toggle all of the lighting and electronics

A useful speedometer, additionally built out of Technic pieces

Is it foolish? Perhaps. Is it roughly superb? Absolutely. Alas, for any person considering of doing one thing like this with out the nearly limitless Lego armory this workforce has get right of entry to to: at a retail value of round $30 each and every, the motors by myself would price you over $70,000.

Lego will probably be appearing the type off in particular person on the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

LEGO built a life length, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces – TechCrunch

In what simply may well be the wildest factor any person has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable type of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

LEGO built a life length, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces – TechCrunch In what simply may well be the wildest factor any person has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable type of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

[saltysuittaco-blog]

In what simply may well be the wildest factor any person has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable type of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

Seriously.

Built in part as a hobby venture among Lego’s ingenious workforce and in part as a promo to blow their own horns on the Italian Grand Prix, the type’s ultimate piece rely clocks in at over one million Technic pieces.

(Technic, for the unfamiliar, is Lego’s line of interconnecting rods, gears, axles, motors, and different portions a bit extra advanced than the bricks and blocks the corporate is easiest identified for.)

Lego says that every one in all, the construct procedure took simply shy of 13,500 hours. They began brainstorming again in June of remaining 12 months, with exact building starting in March of 2018.

When LEGO first despatched over the video above, my first idea used to be that there used to be some CG trickery happening. They replied with a few hundred pictures of it being assembled, a few of which I’ve embedded underneath.

To be transparent, it’s no longer fully Lego – there are some parts that simply can’t be replicated in plastic when coping with one thing that every one in combination weighs over 1.five heaps. For instance, there’s a metal body (pictured underneath), a pair of batteries, some 3d published gears, and the entire thing sits on best of tangible Bugatti wheels. (Related a laugh reality: Lego is technically the arena’s greatest manufacturer of tires. Just… , tiny ones.)

Wilder but, this factor strikes. It’s no longer going to stay alongside of a real Chiron with its 250+ mph best speeds, clearly – however the corporate says it were given the type as much as round 13 miles in line with hour for the video above, and says that it theoretically tops out at round 19 miles in line with hour. Not dangerous for a automotive comprised of toy portions and powered by way of a bunch of plastic motors.

Speaking of which, this factor has over two thousand Lego Power Function motors in a large array, giving it a overall theoretical horsepower of five.three. 24 motor “packs”, each and every made up of 96 person Lego motors, hook into a metal chain that drives the wheels.

It’s were given a bunch of different a laugh tips for just right measure:

A removable steerage wheel

Doors that if truth be told open and shut

A spoiler that lifts and lowers on the push of a button, with a regulate panel to toggle all of the lighting and electronics

A useful speedometer, additionally built out of Technic pieces

Is it foolish? Perhaps. Is it roughly superb? Absolutely. Alas, for any person considering of doing one thing like this with out the nearly limitless Lego armory this workforce has get right of entry to to: at a retail value of round $30 each and every, the motors by myself would price you over $70,000.

Lego will probably be appearing the type off in particular person on the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

LEGO built a life length, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces – TechCrunch In what simply may well be the wildest factor any person has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable type of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

[silviajburke]

Bitcoin, Sour Grapes and Jamie Dimon

This post Bitcoin, Sour Grapes and Jamie Dimon appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

Institutional ownership of bitcoin is in the very early stages.

If I had a bitcoin for every time some pundit declared bitcoin is a bubble, I’d be a billionaire. There are three problems with opining that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are bubblicious:

Everything is in a bubble now: stocks, bonds, housing, heck, even bat guano is bubblicious. Exactly what insight is being added by yet another guru repeating the BTC is a bubble meme?

What’s the value proposition in declaring BTC is in a bubble? Spotting bubbles is like shooting fish in a barrel; the value proposition is in identifying the price/time tipping point at which bubbles pop.

Declaring bitcoin is a bubble is starting to sound like sour grapes. Sour grapes defined: those who missed the 10-bagger (never mind the 100-bagger) feel better by dismissing the whole thing as a fad and a bubble, but as BTC continues marching higher, it looks like they missed the boat but are too proud to admit they didn’t grasp the significance of cryptocurrencies and BTC in particular.

Take J.P. Morgan CEO and President, Jamie Dimon.

He came out recently and called Bitcoin a fraud.

Well, here’s a quick question for you, Mr. Dimon: which words/phrases are associated with you and your employer, J.P. Morgan?

Looting, pillage, rapacious, exploitive, only saved from collapse by massive intervention by the Federal Reserve, the source of rising wealth inequality, crony capitalism, privatized profits-socialized losses, low interest rates = gift from savers to banks, bloviating overpaid C.E.O., propaganda favoring the financial elite, tool of the top .01%, destroyer of democracy, financial fraud goes unpunished, free money for financiers, debt-serfdom, produces nothing of value to society or the bottom 99.5%.

Jamie, if you answered “all of them,” you’re correct.

The only reason you have a soapbox from which you can bloviate is the Federal Reserve saved you and your looting machine (bank) from well-deserved oblivion in 2008-09. That, and the unprecedented, coordinated campaign by global central banks to buy trillions of dollars of bonds and stocks.

J.P Morgan would have done very well in the past eight years if they’d replaced you with a crash-test dummy. In fact, the shareholders would have done much, much better if the crash-test dummy had a Post-It note on its chest reading “buy bitcoin.”

Compare the return for an investor who “bought the dip” in J.P. Morgan stock (JPM) at $57 in early February 2016 and the investor who bought bitcoin (BTC) at $376 at the same time.

The buyer of JPM has certainly done well, earning a return of around 77% over the 19 months (JPM has risen from $57 to $91, a gain of $44, not counting dividends). But the buyer of bitcoin has earned about a 10-fold increase, gaining $3,200 per bitcoin at the current price around $3,560. (A few weeks ago, an owner of BTC could have skimmed an additional $1,000 per coin.)

The buyer of 1,000 shares of JPM for $57,000 gained $44,000 plus dividends, yielding a total of around $93,000, while the buyer of $57,000 worth of bitcoin at $376 (roughly 150 BTC) gained $478,000 and has a total of $534,000.

The buyer of JPM could sell his shares, pay the capital gains tax and buy a modest mid-sized car with the gains. The buyer of bitcoin could sell his bitcoins, pay the capital gains tax and buy a very nice house or flat in all but the most overvalued markets with his gain, and buy a brand-new vehicle with whatever cash is left.

Some initial coin offerings have made gains that make this mere 10-bagger look like small change.

And a lot of institutional fund managers are angry that they’ve missed out.

This might look like a speculative side-game, but for institutional money managers, it’s getting serious. As we all know, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to manage money such that the returns on the managed money exceed the return of an S&P 500 index fund.

If a passive index fund does better over five years than an actively managed fund, then what the heck are we paying the fund managers big bucks for?

This is a question that occurs to everyone with money in a pension fund, mutual fund, insurance company, etc. Why are we paying these guys and gals annual salaries of $250,000 plus bonuses if they’re missing out on the big winners like bitcoin?

Let’s stipulate up front that no institutional money manager can speculate in the cryptocurrency equivalents of penny stocks, i.e. ICOs (initial coin offerings). The risk management rules of serious money funds preclude this sort of rampant speculation, no matter how potentially lucrative.

But bitcoin is different. It’s been around the longest, and has survived all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune tossed at it.

Bitcoin is tailor-made for institutional ownership. While it is inherently volatile, it is stable and transparent; there is no “insider trading” or financial trickery (such as bogus financial statements) to be wary of. Unlike many other investment vehicles, it’s highly liquid.

Once exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on direct ownership of BTC are widely available, this opens the door wider to both institutional and mom-and-pop investors.

All of this puts pressure on institutional money managers to buy some bitcoin so they don’t look like they missed the investment vehicle of the decade. Never mind when you bought it, or at what price; better to get in now before the price jumps even higher. Going forward, it will be this simple: either you own bitcoin or you’re out of a job.

This is the same reason virtually every institutional money fund owns Apple (AAPL) — if you don’t own Apple, then you missed out on the decade’s greatest investment story. So if your fund lags index funds, and has no ownership of Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon and Tesla — here’s your pink slip, buddy — you blew it.

But wait — I bought bitcoin at $3,000, and added at $4,000! Hmm. Smart move. Maybe there’s hope for you yet.

The point is institutional ownership of bitcoin is in the very early stages. As bitcoin continues to advance, institutional money managers will be forced to buy in, just to avoid the fate of those who failed to buy Apple.

Money managers buying now at $4,500 will look like geniuses when it hits $10,000. And everybody who dismissed BTC as a bubble at $5,000 will face a bleak choice — either get some bitcoin in the portfolio or prepare for a pink slip.

When the institutional herd starts running, it’s best not to get trampled.

So back to Jamie Dimon: if you want us to listen to your incoherent ranting about bitcoin as “financial genius,” first predict the timing of the crash that takes down your parasitic bank.

If you pull that off with amazing accuracy, then maybe we’ll pay attention to your “prediction” about bitcoin.

Regards,

Charles Hugh Smith for The Daily Reckoning

Cover image by Steve Jurvetson (Flickr: Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The post Bitcoin, Sour Grapes and Jamie Dimon appeared first on Daily Reckoning.

[standtoreason93]

Seeing the Unseen: The Nature of Spiritual Warfare

Sometimes, if you know what to look for, you can “see” something that is invisible; you can see the unseen. It’s not a parlor trick, but a valuable spiritual skill. And it’s not that difficult if you know what clues to look for. I’d like to show you what those clues are.

First, though, a foundational matter. I am convinced that most Christians do not understand spiritual warfare. Either they are unaware of the unseen battle or, if they do recognize its importance, they do not focus on the central issue but instead are distracted by a secondary concern. In military terms, they have been taken in by a feint. Here is the feint.

Some Christians think of spiritual battle in terms of power encounters with the devil (or demons) where prayer of a certain sort is the principal weapon employed to defeat, or at least to neutralize (“bind”), the powers of darkness. Curiously, Jesus never taught this approach. He never told us to pray to devils. Instead, He taught us to ask the Father to “deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13).[1]

I certainly do not mean to minimize the importance of prayer in any area of our Christian lives, especially this one, but to invite you to see something you might not have noticed. When it comes to spiritual warfare, the New Testament emphasis is not on prayer-infused power encounters, but on something completely different, and if we miss that, then I think we miss the heart of it.

The Invisible Battlefield

We live in a world made by an invisible Being and this world is thick with invisible things. They are all “around us,” in a sense, but not immediately obvious to many since the visible realm is so much more imposing.

In 2 Kings 6:15-17, the prophet Elisha’s attendant saw something in the visible realm that overwhelmed him—the Syrian army encircling their city with horses and chariots. “Alas, my master!” he said. “What shall we do?”

Elisha, though, was not shaken. He saw a deeper reality in the unseen realm.

“Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Elisha then prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

Elisha saw something his servant did not see: the enemies of God surrounding the city were themselves surrounded by a massive invisible force arrayed behind the scenes for Elisha’s protection. The prophet was able to see the unseen.

Of course, there was no non-miraculous way for Elisha’s servant to see into that realm. He needed help. In our case, though, there are passages in the New Testament that tip us off, giving us clues to help us detect details of a world Elijah had access to. There is an invisible army arrayed against us, too, and sometimes—if we are alert—we can track its maneuvers.

I want you to consider a familiar passage that contains an insight you may not have thought about before. Here is that passage:

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. (Eph. 6:11-13)

In this text, Paul tells us we are at war. He acknowledges the reality of opposition in the visible world (“flesh and blood”), but instructs us that the more fundamental conflict is at a deeper level in the invisible realm (“the heavenly places”). This you already know.

Here is what you may not have seen before. Paul also tips us off that the enemy operates according to specific strategies he calls “schemes”—battle plans, of sorts, that inform the devil’s tactical maneuvers. Being clothed with the proper armor allows us to “stand firm” against his schemes, resisting the devil’s subterfuge.

Can we know anything about those schemes? I think we can.

Weapon One

I want you to consider a quartet of verses that add up to a sobering truth alerting us to the principal way Satan advances his army in the spiritual battle.

We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (1 Jn. 5:19)

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. (Rev. 12:9)

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4)

The Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but…patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Tim. 2:24-26)

It may not have occurred to you how complete the enemy’s penetration into the minds of men has been, but these passages make it unmistakable. According to the New Testament the entire world is in the devil’s deathly grip. He holds people captive to do his bidding by trickery and deceit, blinding the minds of those who are perishing, keeping them from coming to their senses and seeing the world the way it really is.

Jesus warned that the devil “is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44), employing ruses even Christians are vulnerable to. When we come to Christ we have a new spirit, true enough, but our minds are still filled with Satan’s foolishness, the lies we readily believed that “deceived” and “enslaved” us (Titus 3:3), as we walked “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2).

A key element of our own rescue, then, is reversing the process. We are to “lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,” and “be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self which…has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor…” (Eph. 4:22-25). Do you see the emphasis?

Not surprisingly, then, the very first step in arming ourselves for battle against the devil is to gird our loins with truth (Eph. 6:14). And when we engage the battle with God’s “weapons of warfare [that] are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses,” we attack those lies and lay waste to them, “destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God…” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Note: nothing about binding and loosing here. No spiritual wrestling match hinted at in these verses. Rather, the bulk of the biblical testimony takes us in an entirely different direction. As I have written elsewhere:

[The devil] gains ground by craftiness and secrecy, and he destroys by lies, accusation, enticement, and subterfuge. If you doubt him, beware. Stealth is his weapon. Satan happily stays in the shadows where he can do his dark business undetected.[2]

The principal weapon at the enemy’s disposal allowing him to gain ground in the spiritual conflict, then, is not power but deception. Thus, if the basic strategy for Satan’s spiritual assault is spreading lies, then the most potent weapon we can wield in the battle against him is its opposite: spreading truth. The counter to lies—the answer to deception, the antidote to deceit—is truth. I conclude, then, that spiritual warfare is much more about truth encounters than it is about power encounters.[3]

Seeing the Unseen

So, we are at war. We battle otherworldly forces in the unseen realm with weapons that are effective to oppose the spiritual strategies and demonic plans in play against us. Our job is to resist those schemes by exposing them, doing everything we can to stand firm by opposing lies with truth.

There is another angle, though, another key insight you must not miss, a clue that allows us to unveil the unseen schemes.

A person who can see will not easily stumble into a ditch, even a small one. He’ll walk around it. A blind person, on the other hand, will walk right over a cliff because no matter how deep or wide the abyss, he does not know it is there. In the same way, Satan can foist a very big lie on the world—one so obvious that thoughtful Christians easily see through it—yet the world at large will be oblivious to it because they cannot see it. They have been blinded.

And here is the clue, the “tell,” the giveaway that reveals the scheme and helps inform our own counteroffensive against it in the battle. Look for the big spiritual lie that seems completely transparent, the obvious ploy that appears ridiculously ham-handed, the massive ditch that can’t be missed but the world doesn’t seem to see, the abyss the blind masses fall into without giving it a second thought. Find that and you will find the scheme.

If you wonder why anyone would buy into such an obvious spiritual error, if the gullibility of the throng perplexes you, if you catch yourself saying, “This makes no sense,” then you have probably stumbled onto a scheme. You have identified a maneuver in the battle, since the only explanation for such lack of spiritual perception is spiritual blindness, and we now know who is responsible for that.

Let me give you a few examples.

Three “Schemes”

The first scheme is easily revealed by answering this question: What single religion in our culture has the suffix “phobia” attached to it to protect it from criticism? Is it “Hindu-phobia”? “Jew-phobia”? “Buddha-phobia”? “Christian-phobia”? Hardly. It’s “Islamophobia.” The word has become a fixture in the social lexicon, showing up not only in Wikipedia and the Urban Dictionary, but also in Merriam-Webster, the English Oxford Dictionary, and the Cambridge English Dictionary, to name just a few.

Why is this significant? Because Islam is currently the most dangerous religion in the world. On September 11, 2001, what Time magazine called the bloodiest day on American soil since the Civil War, 2,996 lives were snuffed out by Muslim terrorists. Yet within a few short months Islam somehow achieved most favored religious status in the West. Over the last 16 years since then, Muslims—following a tradition clearly taught in the Koran and endorsed by hundreds of millions of Muslims and respected Muslim clerics—make headlines weekly with acts of murder, mayhem, and mutilation all over the globe, yet any public criticism of that faith is labeled bigotry.

Ironically, even New Atheist Sam Harris sees the problem (not every non-believer is blinded by every lie). He once tweeted, “Islamophobia. A word created by fascists, & used by cowards, to manipulate morons.”[4]

Not only is Islam the most dangerous religion in the world, it is also the mortal enemy of Judaism and Christianity. Hmmm. Maybe I have an overactive imagination, but does anyone else see a scheme slipping past the eyes of the spiritually blind?

The second scheme has been around for a long time, but people continue to be taken in by it, despite it’s obvious absurdity. This con has gone through a number of iterations over the years, but it still boils down the same simple notion: There is no truth.

Claiming there is no truth is a kind of “end around” the whole who-is-right-about-religion debate. If there is no truth to begin with, then feuds about what religion is true would be pointless. There’s no sense fighting about who has the right answer when there are no right answers to begin with.

This tack is appealing in part because it’s meant to engender a kind of tolerant peace and harmony between people. That is the point of the clever “COEXIST” bumper sticker—clever, but ultimately contradictory. Everyone is “right,” in a certain sense (“true for you”). In another sense, though, a whole bunch of religious people are wrong if they think their own view is true in any deep way.

When people say there is no truth, I often wonder how they want me to respond to their own statement. I think they want me to believe them, but the minute I’m tempted to think they might be on to something—the minute I start agreeing with them, in other words—I run into a problem. I cannot give the nod to their relativism, since that would be the same thing as saying their view were true, which is the one thing they will not allow me to say. You see the problem. You can also see how the idea that there is no truth cuts the legs right out from under the Great Commission.

Notice the pattern. Something of spiritual significance is going on in the visible realm that is obviously false, and the response of the rank and file is obviously wrong-headed, but they don’t see it. Why? Because there is a ploy, a ruse, a scheme in the unseen world working blindness among the masses. And the spiritual consequence of this blindness is devastating.

The third scheme is front and center at the moment. Two thousand years ago, Jesus made a simple observation about the created order: Humans are made male and female. From that observation He drew some fairly common-sense conclusions about the nature of sex and marriage: one man, with one woman, becoming one flesh, for one lifetime (Matt. 19:4-6).

Jesus was not trading on His Divine authority here, or even on His superior perception. No special clout nor spiritual shrewdness is necessary to see what is self-evident. Rather, Jesus was making a pedestrian observation about something that nature (and nature’s God) had clearly dictated: There are males and there are females and each was made for the other. Nowadays, though, this simple truth is no longer clear to multitudes. In fact, it is aggressively repudiated by hordes of otherwise intelligent people.

Why is the obvious no longer obvious? Why is Jesus’ observation lost on so many (including countless Christians, sadly) when it comes to gender and homosexuality and a host of other sexual adventures? And what accounts for the intensity of the opposition towards those who see what others are blind to? It’s not something natural; it’s something supernatural. This lie is driven by a hidden power in an invisible place.

The gender/sexuality controversy is ultimately about neither. Rather, it is about who is in charge—the creature or the Creator, the Potter or the clay.

Out of the Shadows

You can see the significance of each of these lies from the perspective of spiritual combat. Each is a scheme to blind and deceive regarding something spiritually significant.

Islam is a threat to religious liberty the world over and is a special menace to the “people of the book,” Jews and Christians. Relativism undermines all attempts to separate truth from lies, giving free rein to the father of lies. The “gender wars” takes personal choice to near comical extremes and places those who advance God’s view of sex and marriage right in the crosshairs of the spiritual conflict.

Here is the key. If you want to see the unseen, look for something spiritually dramatic going on in the visible realm that is so obvious everyone else should see it, but they don’t. That is the tipoff. That is the “tell.” That is the giveaway letting us know we’re dealing with an area where the enemy has doubled down.

Others are blind to the ruse since it’s driven by spiritual forces of darkness in a realm they cannot perceive, but we can. We can see the scheme, we can marshal our forces of truth at that point, we can do everything within our means—by wisdom and truth and the grace of God—to “stand firm.”

I will close with this word from former slave trader turned hymnist and pastor, John Newton, taken from his first public service at St. Mary Woolnoth, London, December 19, 1779. His text was “...speaking the truth in love…” from Eph. 4:15:

The Bible is the grand repository of the truths that will be the business and the pleasure of my life to set before you. It is the complete system of divine truth to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken with impunity. Every attempt to disguise or soften any branch of this truth in order to accommodate it to the prevailing taste around us either to avoid the displeasure or court the favor of our fellow mortals must be an affront to the majesty of God and an act of treachery to men. My conscience bears me witness that I mean to speak the truth among you.[5]

[1] Of course, when Jesus encountered demons directly, He dealt with them directly. Two qualifiers, though. First, rarely if ever do we encounter demons directly as Jesus did. A different dynamic is in play, day to day, for us. Second, when a demon-possessed fortune-teller harassed Paul, he ignored her for days before casting the demon out (Acts 16:16-18). Direct confrontation, it seems then, is the exception, not the rule.

[2] Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality (Grand Rapids, Zondervan: 2017), 85.

[3] This is the reason why defense of the truth—apologetics—is a vital component of the church’s spiritual battle strategy.

[4] Tanya Basu, “What Does ‘Islamophobia’ Actually Mean?”, The Atlantic [online], Oct. 15, 2014.

[5] Jonathan Aitken, John Newton—From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007), 272, emphasis added.

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Shovel Knight is a game that embraces the look of NES classics, but has some major differences when examined closely. When setting out to develop the game's aesthetic and play style, we at Yacht Club Games had a few goals in mind. Instead of emulating the NES exactly, we would create a rose-tinted view of an 8-bit game.

What if development for the NES never stopped? How would an 8-bit game feel and play if developed today? We imagined the gameplay would benefit from modern design lessons, and the tech would receive subtle but substantial upgrades. This was possible to an extent on the NES, where technology was built into the cartridges.

Later NES games like Super Mario Bros. 3 packed cartridge tech that was vastly improved from early NES titles like the original Super Mario Bros. Different chipsets allowed for features like diagonal scrolling, larger sprites, or (unique to the Japanese Famicom, as detailed below) additional sound channels. Compounded with improved techniques and understanding of the hardware, the difference between early and late-life NES games can be staggering.

                We imagined that perhaps some cartridge advancements would allow for the techniques displayed in Shovel Knight. We also broke some NES limitations purely out of preference... we decided to eliminate any drawback that would hamstring the gameplay experience.  One example is sprite flickering, which occurred when the NES tried to display more than 8 sprites per horizontal line. This effect is nostalgic for some, but we felt it was detrimental, so we nixed it. However, we did make gameplay design decisions based on the idea of sprite flickering: we tried to avoid cluttering the screen with onscreen objects, and limited things like particle effects.  Being aware of the rules in this case led to the game feeling clear and simple; one of the hallmarks of a great NES game.

There are many more examples, so let’s go into more detail on how we bent the rules of the NES!

Modern Hardware! Console and PC Versions!  We aren’t on the NES!

Shovel Knight runs natively on modern hardware, and cannot run on NES hardware. This surprised some people who took our NES intentions quite literally, with some players hoping to play Shovel Knight on a homebrew NES flash cartridge.

The truth is that Shovel Knight is quite a complex game, capable of running on many hardware platforms and configurations. On the current-gen Nintendo platforms, Shovel Knight supports some unique wireless and internet features using Nintendo's Miiverse and Streetpass functionality. Third party middleware like FMOD audio and SDL controller support were also integrated.

Widescreen 16:9 display (or 5:3 on the 3DS)

Part of our modern upgrade was extending the viewable screen space, avoiding the black bars you would see in an NES virtual console game.  This meant displaying our game at the 16:9 resolution native to most modern displays.  While we did change our aspect resolution, we didn’t change the resolution in terms of making Shovel Knight a pixel-dense HD game.

Instead, each Shovel Knight pixel is really 4.5x4.5 pixels at 1080p, giving a virtual resolution of 400×240. An NES outputs at 256×240, giving us the same viewable vertical resolution. Our background tiles (like most NES games) are 16×16 in size, and we have the same number of vertical tiles as an NES game. Keeping the vertical and tile size dimensions were important to us in order to match the gameplay feel of NES titles. The only difference is additional horizontal space, which we thought was a great addition, allowing extra room in level design for puzzles, objects, and breathing room.

Background parallax

Background parallax scrolling is the ability to shift different layers or parts of the screen at different rates, giving 2D layers the appearance of 3D movement. Imagine watching out the side window of the car on a highway: the mountains far away don't appear to move at all, while the posts whiz by very quickly.  The beginning of our first trailer gives a taste of the effect. This advanced effect is much more typical of the SNES. It was possible on the NES, but only with a lot of trickery.  Programmers had a couple of options: 

Early on with Shovel Knight, we decided to amp up the parallax scrolling, creating an average of 5-6 layers of backgrounds to scroll by. This felt like the next technological step the NES would make so it didn't feel out of place to us.  More importantly, adding the effect made the gameplay layer more readable. There was another great benefit to having so many layers: we could really take advantage of the 3DS’ eye-popping stereoscopic effects!

Sprite Flickering

Sprite flickering on the NES would occur when more than 8 sprites were displayed on the same horizontal line.  We kept the sprite count as low as we could, but as previously mentioned, we didn't sweat the exact numbers. Some of our objects produce a few more particles than an NES game would dare… but we thought it was worth the beauty.

Some games like Recca or Contra got around sprite limits by displaying certain sprites only every other frame (at 30fps instead of 60fps). On CRT monitors running low resolution interlaced video, objects would appear to be drawn every frame. In addition to this, NES particle art was often built with flickering in mind for effects like explosions. We used flashing sprites in some situations to replace alpha transparency; For example, Shovel Knight flashes on and off during his "invincible" state, after being hit. So overall, this didn't feel like an important restriction to follow, unless it made the gameplay not feel like NES gameplay.

Color Palette Additions

The NES was only capable of spitting out 54 different colors... and that's not a lot. The problem for us mainly came in trying to display a gradient in most hues. For example, there isn’t a very useful yellow, the darker spectrum of color is very underrepresented, and there aren’t many shades that work for displaying a character with a darker skin tone. Sticking to the NES palette was a big priority for us, though, as it gives a very distinctive look. In the end, we ended up with only a few extra colors.

For more info on NES colors, check out this wiki: http://ift.tt/1lVWEuV

The dark purple here is #22123B

So what are the colors of our shame? In this shot from Treasure Knight’s stage, you can see the dark purple details in the ground. Once added, this purple was used elsewhere, mainly as a bridge between black and the cooler colors of any given background.

The deep red hue is #360900

Similarly to the purple, we needed a color to bridge the gap from black to our warmer colors. This dark red shows up prominently in Mole Knight’s stage, The Lost City. You won’t see this red as commonly used as the purple, because the NES palette leans heavily toward cool colors. Famously, Mega Man was conceived of as a red robot, but was changed to blue after the developers saw the spectrum.

The beige cloak is #9E9E5C

This next cheater color was actually the first created. We needed a color for the sheepskin cloak that Polar Knight wears and none of the colors in the NES palette really fit the bill. This beige is also used for his skin and to keep things in theming with the rest of the level. We actually intended to go back and fix this beige since it is the only place in the whole game that it’s used, but nothing we tried ever worked. In the end we just decided to leave it.

This villager sports: #824e00

The final cheater color was needed to help make the cast of Shovel Knight more diverse. The default NES color palette provides very few tools to create a character with darker skin tones. This was especially problematic when doing the “Pixel My Face” Kickstarter rewards (at a certain pledge tier, backers are immortalized as portraits in the game) since we had backers from all corners of the earth. So our final cheater color is the light brown that gives shade to this fellow's face!

Number of Colors Per Sprite

Sprites on the NES were limited to 4 colors (or 3 colors + transparency) as you can see with the sprite characters in The Legend of Zelda screenshot on the right.

Some developers created more colorful sprites using another trick. Characters like Mega Man were constructed out of two sprites, one for his body (blue, light blue, and black) and one for his face (beige, white, and black), and the sprites were overlaid. This is why Mega Man’s face will flicker separately from his body sometimes. For Shovel Knight, we decided to treat most sprites like Mega Man, and give them 4-5 colors to work with in addition to transparency.

Getting this balance right was a tricky process, as a character with too many colors stuck out like a sore thumb. We worked back and forth with detail levels and colors until we found a combo that looked great.

A sprite too detailed is also really hard to animate!

  In this example, you can see the original King Knight design. While the left sprite has only 5 colors (as was our stated limitation), it was too detailed and almost felt closer to a 16 bit sprite. After taking a few passes to simplify the shapes for readability and simplicity, we ended up with the sprite that you see in game!

Multiple Color Palettes Simultaneously

Although every sprite in Shovel Knight is created using limited colors, we didn't make all sprites onscreen abide by a single color palette.  To cite Mega Man again as an example, the player's sprite color changes also affect 1-Ups and other items. This is due to a uniform color palette; when a color is adjusted for one sprite, all sprites change color. We chose to not worry about this limitation as the headache to make one palette work doesn't benefit gameplay, but we did use limited color palettes to create enemy variants and for cycling damage and explosion effects.

Those effects made gameplay more clear and exciting; for example, cycling damage made it obvious you were hurting an enemy as the effect was consistent across all objects and added fun as the color cycling was more impactful than your typical 'gethit' animation or flickering. These palette cycling and shifting effects were created by passing an indexed unsigned byte texture representing the sprite and a full 32 bit color texture representing the palette to a pixel shader...quite the leap from 8-bit technology to imitate the good old days!

To see the limits of palette effects, check out this site, which shows the amazing animations you can create by cycling a single color palette.

Memory Limitations

An NES cart could only hold so much information: code, animations, backgrounds, text, music, and everything else had to fit into 32k of memory, although this was expanded greatly through the use of on-cartridge chips called memory mappers, which became essential as more advanced graphics and special effects required ROM sizes as large as 4-6 megabits (0.5 ~ 0.75 MB). Shovel Knight weighs in at almost 1.2 gigabits (about 150 MB - most of which is .mp3s). Because we didn't have to fit onto a small cartridge, the extreme optimization and data compression required for that wasn't necessary, and we were able to focus our technical efforts on gameplay systems and stability.

Our composer and sound designer Jake 'Virt' Kaufman likes to remind us that the soundtrack, when compiled into authentic machine code (see below) will fit nicely into the 6 megabit Kirby's Adventure cartridge, but only if all graphics and gameplay code are removed first.

Big Sprites

The sprite hardware on the NES was not optimal for drawing very large moving objects, due to the limitations it imposed (after all, even a few small ones could cause flickering).  To get around this limitation, clever developers displayed big art as animated background tile layers.  That is the reason why, whenever you fight a large enemy on the NES, they are usually on a black screen with no background art. The boss is the background.

We thought that the black background with the huge boss always gave NES games a distinctive and epic feel, where the focus was just on you and your enemy, so we decided it was important to keep. However, lacking sprite limitations, we didn't need to mess with background layers or other workarounds to make a large sprite possible.  We simply used our animated sprite code, were careful with the designs, and made sure the sprite was on a black (or very dark) background.

Camera shakes

Shaking the camera to show a powerful rumble is a time-honored videogame effect. On the NES, camera shakes only occurred on a single axis. Pay attention next time you see Bowser smashing the ground in the final encounter in Super Mario Bros 3 . This has to do with the NES’s difficulties doing diagonal scrolling.  And this is something we broke, because we didn’t find a compelling reason to keep it.

HUD as a Layer

One oddity of NES games is that sprites usually draw in front of the HUD. On the NES, most HUDs were drawn on the background layer. This is because there was only 1 layer, so the background and HUD had to share. In many cases, the memory mapper chips that enabled large ROM sizes also contained special timing hardware to support "split screen" status bars, but the background layer was still just a background, and sprites were drawn over it. So, if the player was able to reach the top of the screen, the HUD would be covered up by their sprite. Occasionally, this behavior was used as a gameplay mechanic, as secrets or paths could be hidden in such "unreachable" screen space. We love this quirk, and stuck to it as best we could, but sometimes the layering got too weird, and we had to change a few instances on a case by case basis.

Sound Limitations

The music is probably the most authentically NES part of Shovel Knight, although it might seem more lush and full than you'd expect for a NES game. That’s because it is written to use a special memory mapper / sound chip called the VRC6, which was used in several Konami games toward the end of the NES era. This chip allows for advanced graphical techniques, but most famously adds 3 additional sound channels, giving the music much more richness and depth. However, external sound chips such as the VRC6 only worked on the Japanese Famicom, as the Western NES lacked the necessary cartridge connections, so it's an unfamiliar sound to most western gamers. Compare the music in the US version of Castlevania III with the Japanese release, Akumajou Densetsu; the difference is striking.

  Composer Jake Kaufman went about creating Shovel Knight’s music and sound effects using a freely available program called Famitracker. Famitracker exports music in NES machine code, which is capable of running on an actual NES or Famicom console, with all of its limitations and hardware quirks. We finalized the audio using mastering tools (EQ and compression) to give it some extra punch on today’s sound equipment, but avoided using reverb effects or stereo mixing, which would destroy the raw character of the sounds. Any echoes or special effects you hear are programmed note-by-note, the way they were on the NES.  Here's a video of Jake demoing the complexities of a couple tracks created in Famitracker for Shovel Knight.

Another limitation of the NES was that sound effects would often cause one of the audio channels to drop out.  The NES shared the same 5 basic channels for both music and sounds, so the SFX would temporarily steal one or more of the music channels in order to be played. This effect is not present in Shovel Knight - the sound effects are simply layered on top of the music, which is completely inauthentic, but much nicer to listen to.

The next time you boot up an NES game, though, listen closely and notice how most games will drop out the bass, drums, or harmony to the melody in order to pack in more sound effects.

When you add up all the changes, it seems like there is a vast gulf between Shovel Knight and the technology of the NES. However, we feel that the core of the aesthetics of the 8-bit era has been respected, and perhaps even enhanced!

Shovel Knight was a dream project, allowing us to explore a style of game that's rarely seen today. It was fascinating to try and problem-solve the technical issues of yesteryear while avoiding any pitfalls that would belie real modernity. We hope that by being true to the NES in more than just superficial ways, we've built fanciful rock-solid fundamentals. 

[viralhottopics]

How Silicon Valley Utopianism Brought You the Dystopian Trump Presidency

Two years ago, journalist Anand Giridharadas took the stage at the TED Conference and told the attendant techno-solutionists that they were, in fact, part of the problem. Literally, thats what he said. Here, Ill quote him directly:

“If you live near a Whole Foods, if no one in your family serves in the military, if you’re paid by the year, not the hour, if most people you know finished college, if no one you know uses meth, if you married once and remain married, if you’re not one of 65 million Americans with a criminal record — if any or all of these things describe you, then accept the possibility that actually, you may not know what’s going on and you may be part of the problem.”

Seen from today, as Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president, Giridharadas message joins Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S. as one of the great unheeded warnings of the 21st century. That socioeconomic despair was profitably channeled to elect a president who—beyond his politics—represents a threat to most of the values the technocracy holds dear: transparency; multiculturalism; expertise; social progress. And, in the greatest of ironies, he used the tools and language of the technocracy to do it.

At least since the 1960s, the computer—and, beyond that, the Internet–has been a symbol and tool of personal liberation. Stewart Brand called the computer revolution the real legacy of the sixties–an outgrowth of the countercultures scorn for centralized authority. The ideology was codified by WIRED alum Steven Levy in his 1984 book Hackers, in which he summarized the Hacker Ethic:

Access to computers should be unlimited and total.

All information should be free.

Mistrust authoritypromote decentralization.

You can create art and beauty on a computer.

Computers can change your life for the better.

These precepts inspired a worldview that saw institutions and middlemen as malign forces that mostly constrained human potential, and that placed unlimited faith in unshackled individuals to improve the world and their own lives. For much of the past three decades, that philosophy has borne out. It has become an unspoken truism of corporate and civic life.

But Trumps inauguration provides a damning counterargument, an example of how each of those ideas can be exploited to advance the very values they were created to oppose. Universal access to computers created a greater audience for Trumps culture-jamming Twitter feed. An outpouring of free information sowed confusion and created cover for half- and untruths. Trump used anti-authoritarian rhetoric to sow mistrust of the very institutions that might have provided a firewall against his own authoritarian tendencies. Democratizing the tools of creative production created not just ennobling art but a million shitposts and Pepe memes.

In the wake of the election, some despairing technologists have wondered how to improve the products and systems that led to this result. There are things we were optimizing for that had unintended consequences, says Justin Kan, a venture capitalist at Y Combinator and co-founder of Twitch. In designing to maximize engagement, social networks inadvertently created hives of bias-confirmation and tribalism.

There are things we were optimizing for that had unintended consequences.Justin Kan, Y Combinator

Or consider the effect innovation in computing has had on employment. Thirty or 40 years ago, you could have a good, steady paying job without a college education, says Ben Parr, cofounder of Octane AI and author of Captivology: The Science of Capturing Peoples Attention. There arent as many of those jobs any more, and a large part of that is because tech has changed the world over the last 40 years, and Silicon Valley played a big part in that.

No doubt. But it might be time to ask even bigger questions. Questions like: Is technology always an ennobling force? Questions like: Does allowing humanity untrammeled access to one another always result in a better world? Questions like: Are individuals capable of processing all the information that they once relied on institutions to process for them? Questions like: After people free themselves from their social and cultural shackles, then what?

If its any consolation, Trump-era Americans will not be the first to ask themselves these questions. During the Second World War, psychologist Erich Fromm asked in Escape From Freedom why, despite an overarching trend toward greater personal freedom, large chunks of the western world had embraced authoritarianism. It was tempting, he argued, to consider this an aberration, the fault of a few madmen who gained power over the vast apparatus of the state through nothing but cunning and trickery, and who rendered their constituents the will-less object of betrayal and terror. But Fromm argued against this attempt to shift blame. There was something inherent in humanity that feared true freedom, that preferred to be dominated. In other words, Fromm thought this was a feature of human nature, not a bug.

Thirty or 40 years ago, you could have a good, steady paying job without a college education. There arent as many of those jobs any more, and Silicon Valley played a big part in that.Ben Parr, author and venture capitalist

To explain this tendency, Fromm distinguished between two kinds of freedom: negative freedom, casting off the shackles of social, political, and cultural restrictions; and positive freedom, finding a truer expression of self and identity. When the former occurs without the latter, he wrote, the newly won freedom appears as a curse; [mankind] is free from the sweet bondage of paradise, but he is not free to govern himself, to realize his individuality.

This distinction might sound familiar to students of the Iraq War and the Arab Spring—when dictators, toppled in the name of freedom, gave way to chaos, power vacuums and warlordism. It also might help explain Trumps ascendance. In casting off many of the middlemen, sclerotic corporations, and bureaucracies that throttled human accomplishment, people have achieved negative freedom. But without the tools or power to forge a more meaningful society—a positive freedom—some have plunged back into the comforts of authoritarianism and domination.

This is the world the tech industry now faces, a world—at least in part—of its own creation. The machinery and language of personal liberation have been colonized and subverted by the very forces they were intended to topple. By all accounts, governmental doublespeak, authoritarian intrusion, and state-sponsored surveillance promise to define the coming era. Americans may be able to resist these trends—maybe by reclaiming the technological forces that have carried the country this far. But Americans also now know thats not enough. The tech industry has achieved negative freedom. The question now is: What do people do now?

Read more: http://ift.tt/2jIQuTK

from How Silicon Valley Utopianism Brought You the Dystopian Trump Presidency

[heyhaygirl]

This is freakin cool.

Ectober Week, Day 4: Darkness/Poison 

Danny would like to show you something

CLICK THE IMAGE :))))

[Edit 2021-07-09: Added light and dark versions under the cut so folks in night mode can see the difference. And bonus OG sketches just for fun :D]

Keep reading

[nuttytriumphenthusiast-blog]

In what simply could be the wildest factor somebody has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable fashion of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

Seriously.

Built partially as a pastime undertaking among Lego’s ingenious staff and partially as a promo to sing their own praises on the Italian Grand Prix, the fashion’s ultimate piece depend clocks in at over one million Technic pieces.

(Technic, for the unfamiliar, is Lego’s line of interconnecting rods, gears, axles, motors, and different portions a bit extra advanced than the bricks and blocks the corporate is very best identified for.)

Lego says that each one in all, the construct procedure took simply shy of 13,500 hours. They began brainstorming again in June of ultimate 12 months, with precise development starting in March of 2018.

When LEGO first despatched over the video above, my first concept used to be that there used to be some CG trickery happening. They replied with a few hundred footage of it being assembled, a few of which I’ve embedded beneath.

To be transparent, it’s now not solely Lego – there are some parts that simply can’t be replicated in plastic when coping with one thing that each one in combination weighs over 1.five lots. For instance, there’s a metal body (pictured beneath), a pair of batteries, some 3d published gears, and the entire thing sits on most sensible of tangible Bugatti wheels. (Related amusing reality: Lego is technically the sector’s greatest manufacturer of tires. Just… you realize, tiny ones.)

Wilder but, this factor strikes. It’s now not going to stay alongside of a real Chiron with its 250+ mph most sensible speeds, clearly – however the corporate says it were given the fashion as much as round 13 miles in keeping with hour for the video above, and says that it theoretically tops out at round 19 miles in keeping with hour. Not dangerous for a automobile comprised of toy portions and powered by means of a bunch of plastic motors.

Speaking of which, this factor has over two thousand Lego Power Function motors in a huge array, giving it a overall theoretical horsepower of five.three. 24 motor “packs”, every made up of 96 particular person Lego motors, hook into a metal chain that drives the wheels.

It’s were given a bunch of different amusing tips for just right measure:

A removable guidance wheel

Doors that if truth be told open and shut

A spoiler that lifts and lowers on the push of a button, with a regulate panel to toggle all of the lighting and electronics

A practical speedometer, additionally built out of Technic pieces

Is it foolish? Perhaps. Is it roughly wonderful? Absolutely. Alas, for somebody pondering of doing one thing like this with out the practically-unlimited Lego armory this staff has get right of entry to to: at a retail worth of round $30 every, the motors on my own would price you over $70,000.

Lego might be appearing the fashion off in individual on the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

LEGO built a life length, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces – TechCrunch

In what simply could be the wildest factor somebody has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable fashion of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

LEGO built a life length, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces – TechCrunch In what simply could be the wildest factor somebody has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable fashion of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

[saltysuittaco-blog]

In what simply could be the wildest factor somebody has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable fashion of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

Seriously.

Built partially as a pastime undertaking among Lego’s ingenious staff and partially as a promo to sing their own praises on the Italian Grand Prix, the fashion’s ultimate piece depend clocks in at over one million Technic pieces.

(Technic, for the unfamiliar, is Lego’s line of interconnecting rods, gears, axles, motors, and different portions a bit extra advanced than the bricks and blocks the corporate is very best identified for.)

Lego says that each one in all, the construct procedure took simply shy of 13,500 hours. They began brainstorming again in June of ultimate 12 months, with precise development starting in March of 2018.

When LEGO first despatched over the video above, my first concept used to be that there used to be some CG trickery happening. They replied with a few hundred footage of it being assembled, a few of which I’ve embedded beneath.

To be transparent, it’s now not solely Lego – there are some parts that simply can’t be replicated in plastic when coping with one thing that each one in combination weighs over 1.five lots. For instance, there’s a metal body (pictured beneath), a pair of batteries, some 3d published gears, and the entire thing sits on most sensible of tangible Bugatti wheels. (Related amusing reality: Lego is technically the sector’s greatest manufacturer of tires. Just… you realize, tiny ones.)

Wilder but, this factor strikes. It’s now not going to stay alongside of a real Chiron with its 250+ mph most sensible speeds, clearly – however the corporate says it were given the fashion as much as round 13 miles in keeping with hour for the video above, and says that it theoretically tops out at round 19 miles in keeping with hour. Not dangerous for a automobile comprised of toy portions and powered by means of a bunch of plastic motors.

Speaking of which, this factor has over two thousand Lego Power Function motors in a huge array, giving it a overall theoretical horsepower of five.three. 24 motor “packs”, every made up of 96 particular person Lego motors, hook into a metal chain that drives the wheels.

It’s were given a bunch of different amusing tips for just right measure:

A removable guidance wheel

Doors that if truth be told open and shut

A spoiler that lifts and lowers on the push of a button, with a regulate panel to toggle all of the lighting and electronics

A practical speedometer, additionally built out of Technic pieces

Is it foolish? Perhaps. Is it roughly wonderful? Absolutely. Alas, for somebody pondering of doing one thing like this with out the practically-unlimited Lego armory this staff has get right of entry to to: at a retail worth of round $30 every, the motors on my own would price you over $70,000.

Lego might be appearing the fashion off in individual on the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

LEGO built a life length, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces – TechCrunch In what simply could be the wildest factor somebody has ever built with Lego, the corporate at the back of the bricks has built a full-size, drivable fashion of the Bugatti Chiron supercar.

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Shovel Knight is a game that embraces the look of NES classics, but has some major differences when examined closely. When setting out to develop the game's aesthetic and play style, we at Yacht Club Games had a few goals in mind. Instead of emulating the NES exactly, we would create a rose-tinted view of an 8-bit game.

What if development for the NES never stopped? How would an 8-bit game feel and play if developed today? We imagined the gameplay would benefit from modern design lessons, and the tech would receive subtle but substantial upgrades. This was possible to an extent on the NES, where technology was built into the cartridges.

Later NES games like Super Mario Bros. 3 packed cartridge tech that was vastly improved from early NES titles like the original Super Mario Bros. Different chipsets allowed for features like diagonal scrolling, larger sprites, or (unique to the Japanese Famicom, as detailed below) additional sound channels. Compounded with improved techniques and understanding of the hardware, the difference between early and late-life NES games can be staggering.

                We imagined that perhaps some cartridge advancements would allow for the techniques displayed in Shovel Knight. We also broke some NES limitations purely out of preference... we decided to eliminate any drawback that would hamstring the gameplay experience.  One example is sprite flickering, which occurred when the NES tried to display more than 8 sprites per horizontal line. This effect is nostalgic for some, but we felt it was detrimental, so we nixed it. However, we did make gameplay design decisions based on the idea of sprite flickering: we tried to avoid cluttering the screen with onscreen objects, and limited things like particle effects.  Being aware of the rules in this case led to the game feeling clear and simple; one of the hallmarks of a great NES game.

There are many more examples, so let’s go into more detail on how we bent the rules of the NES!

Modern Hardware! Console and PC Versions!  We aren’t on the NES!

Shovel Knight runs natively on modern hardware, and cannot run on NES hardware. This surprised some people who took our NES intentions quite literally, with some players hoping to play Shovel Knight on a homebrew NES flash cartridge.

The truth is that Shovel Knight is quite a complex game, capable of running on many hardware platforms and configurations. On the current-gen Nintendo platforms, Shovel Knight supports some unique wireless and internet features using Nintendo's Miiverse and Streetpass functionality. Third party middleware like FMOD audio and SDL controller support were also integrated.

Widescreen 16:9 display (or 5:3 on the 3DS)

Part of our modern upgrade was extending the viewable screen space, avoiding the black bars you would see in an NES virtual console game.  This meant displaying our game at the 16:9 resolution native to most modern displays.  While we did change our aspect resolution, we didn’t change the resolution in terms of making Shovel Knight a pixel-dense HD game.

Instead, each Shovel Knight pixel is really 4.5x4.5 pixels at 1080p, giving a virtual resolution of 400×240. An NES outputs at 256×240, giving us the same viewable vertical resolution. Our background tiles (like most NES games) are 16×16 in size, and we have the same number of vertical tiles as an NES game. Keeping the vertical and tile size dimensions were important to us in order to match the gameplay feel of NES titles. The only difference is additional horizontal space, which we thought was a great addition, allowing extra room in level design for puzzles, objects, and breathing room.

Background parallax

Background parallax scrolling is the ability to shift different layers or parts of the screen at different rates, giving 2D layers the appearance of 3D movement. Imagine watching out the side window of the car on a highway: the mountains far away don't appear to move at all, while the posts whiz by very quickly.  The beginning of our first trailer gives a taste of the effect. This advanced effect is much more typical of the SNES. It was possible on the NES, but only with a lot of trickery.  Programmers had a couple of options: 

Early on with Shovel Knight, we decided to amp up the parallax scrolling, creating an average of 5-6 layers of backgrounds to scroll by. This felt like the next technological step the NES would make so it didn't feel out of place to us.  More importantly, adding the effect made the gameplay layer more readable. There was another great benefit to having so many layers: we could really take advantage of the 3DS’ eye-popping stereoscopic effects!

Sprite Flickering

Sprite flickering on the NES would occur when more than 8 sprites were displayed on the same horizontal line.  We kept the sprite count as low as we could, but as previously mentioned, we didn't sweat the exact numbers. Some of our objects produce a few more particles than an NES game would dare… but we thought it was worth the beauty.

Some games like Recca or Contra got around sprite limits by displaying certain sprites only every other frame (at 30fps instead of 60fps). On CRT monitors running low resolution interlaced video, objects would appear to be drawn every frame. In addition to this, NES particle art was often built with flickering in mind for effects like explosions. We used flashing sprites in some situations to replace alpha transparency; For example, Shovel Knight flashes on and off during his "invincible" state, after being hit. So overall, this didn't feel like an important restriction to follow, unless it made the gameplay not feel like NES gameplay.

Color Palette Additions

The NES was only capable of spitting out 54 different colors... and that's not a lot. The problem for us mainly came in trying to display a gradient in most hues. For example, there isn’t a very useful yellow, the darker spectrum of color is very underrepresented, and there aren’t many shades that work for displaying a character with a darker skin tone. Sticking to the NES palette was a big priority for us, though, as it gives a very distinctive look. In the end, we ended up with only a few extra colors.

For more info on NES colors, check out this wiki: http://ift.tt/1lVWEuV

The dark purple here is #22123B

So what are the colors of our shame? In this shot from Treasure Knight’s stage, you can see the dark purple details in the ground. Once added, this purple was used elsewhere, mainly as a bridge between black and the cooler colors of any given background.

The deep red hue is #360900

Similarly to the purple, we needed a color to bridge the gap from black to our warmer colors. This dark red shows up prominently in Mole Knight’s stage, The Lost City. You won’t see this red as commonly used as the purple, because the NES palette leans heavily toward cool colors. Famously, Mega Man was conceived of as a red robot, but was changed to blue after the developers saw the spectrum.

The beige cloak is #9E9E5C

This next cheater color was actually the first created. We needed a color for the sheepskin cloak that Polar Knight wears and none of the colors in the NES palette really fit the bill. This beige is also used for his skin and to keep things in theming with the rest of the level. We actually intended to go back and fix this beige since it is the only place in the whole game that it’s used, but nothing we tried ever worked. In the end we just decided to leave it.

This villager sports: #824e00

The final cheater color was needed to help make the cast of Shovel Knight more diverse. The default NES color palette provides very few tools to create a character with darker skin tones. This was especially problematic when doing the “Pixel My Face” Kickstarter rewards (at a certain pledge tier, backers are immortalized as portraits in the game) since we had backers from all corners of the earth. So our final cheater color is the light brown that gives shade to this fellow's face!

Number of Colors Per Sprite

Sprites on the NES were limited to 4 colors (or 3 colors + transparency) as you can see with the sprite characters in The Legend of Zelda screenshot on the right.

Some developers created more colorful sprites using another trick. Characters like Mega Man were constructed out of two sprites, one for his body (blue, light blue, and black) and one for his face (beige, white, and black), and the sprites were overlaid. This is why Mega Man’s face will flicker separately from his body sometimes. For Shovel Knight, we decided to treat most sprites like Mega Man, and give them 4-5 colors to work with in addition to transparency.

Getting this balance right was a tricky process, as a character with too many colors stuck out like a sore thumb. We worked back and forth with detail levels and colors until we found a combo that looked great.

A sprite too detailed is also really hard to animate!

  In this example, you can see the original King Knight design. While the left sprite has only 5 colors (as was our stated limitation), it was too detailed and almost felt closer to a 16 bit sprite. After taking a few passes to simplify the shapes for readability and simplicity, we ended up with the sprite that you see in game!

Multiple Color Palettes Simultaneously

Although every sprite in Shovel Knight is created using limited colors, we didn't make all sprites onscreen abide by a single color palette.  To cite Mega Man again as an example, the player's sprite color changes also affect 1-Ups and other items. This is due to a uniform color palette; when a color is adjusted for one sprite, all sprites change color. We chose to not worry about this limitation as the headache to make one palette work doesn't benefit gameplay, but we did use limited color palettes to create enemy variants and for cycling damage and explosion effects.

Those effects made gameplay more clear and exciting; for example, cycling damage made it obvious you were hurting an enemy as the effect was consistent across all objects and added fun as the color cycling was more impactful than your typical 'gethit' animation or flickering. These palette cycling and shifting effects were created by passing an indexed unsigned byte texture representing the sprite and a full 32 bit color texture representing the palette to a pixel shader...quite the leap from 8-bit technology to imitate the good old days!

To see the limits of palette effects, check out this site, which shows the amazing animations you can create by cycling a single color palette.

Memory Limitations

An NES cart could only hold so much information: code, animations, backgrounds, text, music, and everything else had to fit into 32k of memory, although this was expanded greatly through the use of on-cartridge chips called memory mappers, which became essential as more advanced graphics and special effects required ROM sizes as large as 4-6 megabits (0.5 ~ 0.75 MB). Shovel Knight weighs in at almost 1.2 gigabits (about 150 MB - most of which is .mp3s). Because we didn't have to fit onto a small cartridge, the extreme optimization and data compression required for that wasn't necessary, and we were able to focus our technical efforts on gameplay systems and stability.

Our composer and sound designer Jake 'Virt' Kaufman likes to remind us that the soundtrack, when compiled into authentic machine code (see below) will fit nicely into the 6 megabit Kirby's Adventure cartridge, but only if all graphics and gameplay code are removed first.

Big Sprites

The sprite hardware on the NES was not optimal for drawing very large moving objects, due to the limitations it imposed (after all, even a few small ones could cause flickering).  To get around this limitation, clever developers displayed big art as animated background tile layers.  That is the reason why, whenever you fight a large enemy on the NES, they are usually on a black screen with no background art. The boss is the background.

We thought that the black background with the huge boss always gave NES games a distinctive and epic feel, where the focus was just on you and your enemy, so we decided it was important to keep. However, lacking sprite limitations, we didn't need to mess with background layers or other workarounds to make a large sprite possible.  We simply used our animated sprite code, were careful with the designs, and made sure the sprite was on a black (or very dark) background.

Camera shakes

Shaking the camera to show a powerful rumble is a time-honored videogame effect. On the NES, camera shakes only occurred on a single axis. Pay attention next time you see Bowser smashing the ground in the final encounter in Super Mario Bros 3 . This has to do with the NES’s difficulties doing diagonal scrolling.  And this is something we broke, because we didn’t find a compelling reason to keep it.

HUD as a Layer

One oddity of NES games is that sprites usually draw in front of the HUD. On the NES, most HUDs were drawn on the background layer. This is because there was only 1 layer, so the background and HUD had to share. In many cases, the memory mapper chips that enabled large ROM sizes also contained special timing hardware to support "split screen" status bars, but the background layer was still just a background, and sprites were drawn over it. So, if the player was able to reach the top of the screen, the HUD would be covered up by their sprite. Occasionally, this behavior was used as a gameplay mechanic, as secrets or paths could be hidden in such "unreachable" screen space. We love this quirk, and stuck to it as best we could, but sometimes the layering got too weird, and we had to change a few instances on a case by case basis.

Sound Limitations

The music is probably the most authentically NES part of Shovel Knight, although it might seem more lush and full than you'd expect for a NES game. That’s because it is written to use a special memory mapper / sound chip called the VRC6, which was used in several Konami games toward the end of the NES era. This chip allows for advanced graphical techniques, but most famously adds 3 additional sound channels, giving the music much more richness and depth. However, external sound chips such as the VRC6 only worked on the Japanese Famicom, as the Western NES lacked the necessary cartridge connections, so it's an unfamiliar sound to most western gamers. Compare the music in the US version of Castlevania III with the Japanese release, Akumajou Densetsu; the difference is striking.

  Composer Jake Kaufman went about creating Shovel Knight’s music and sound effects using a freely available program called Famitracker. Famitracker exports music in NES machine code, which is capable of running on an actual NES or Famicom console, with all of its limitations and hardware quirks. We finalized the audio using mastering tools (EQ and compression) to give it some extra punch on today’s sound equipment, but avoided using reverb effects or stereo mixing, which would destroy the raw character of the sounds. Any echoes or special effects you hear are programmed note-by-note, the way they were on the NES.  Here's a video of Jake demoing the complexities of a couple tracks created in Famitracker for Shovel Knight.

Another limitation of the NES was that sound effects would often cause one of the audio channels to drop out.  The NES shared the same 5 basic channels for both music and sounds, so the SFX would temporarily steal one or more of the music channels in order to be played. This effect is not present in Shovel Knight - the sound effects are simply layered on top of the music, which is completely inauthentic, but much nicer to listen to.

The next time you boot up an NES game, though, listen closely and notice how most games will drop out the bass, drums, or harmony to the melody in order to pack in more sound effects.

When you add up all the changes, it seems like there is a vast gulf between Shovel Knight and the technology of the NES. However, we feel that the core of the aesthetics of the 8-bit era has been respected, and perhaps even enhanced!

Shovel Knight was a dream project, allowing us to explore a style of game that's rarely seen today. It was fascinating to try and problem-solve the technical issues of yesteryear while avoiding any pitfalls that would belie real modernity. We hope that by being true to the NES in more than just superficial ways, we've built fanciful rock-solid fundamentals.