Back then, Japanese RPGs were very much like Western ones which let the player “roll up their own characters along a spread of archetypes and engage in fairly narrative-light dungeon crawling.” But Japan would soon have their own take on role-playing games, and bits of this philosophy would appear on the third installment of the Final Fantasy games.
In 1995, that philosophy would manifest itself in one of the all-time greats of the 16-bit era, a Super Nintendo role-playing game that would push the envelope of what the genre was capable of, introducing a number of features that we now can’t imagine living without. 25 years later, let’s revisit Chrono Trigger and see how this masterpiece came to be.
Geek.com documents how this game revolutionized role-playing games and how it influenced games that would come after it. Check out the full story over at the site.
Check out this amazing glass jug that looks like running water. Titled Vannfall (which is Norwegian for “waterfall”), Japanese designer Jin Kuramoto showcases the power of sculpture. The said glass jug was designed for Nedre Foss, a “Norwegian label for interior products, founded and backed by the design studio Anderssen & Voll.”
Through a trial-and-error process, Kuramoto first came up with a method of weaving hemp string onto a steel wire skeleton, which in turn was lightly covered in plaster. The hand-made model was then rendered digital through 3D-scanning so that it could be modified. This formed the the basis of the complex steel mold which in turn produced the final object in glass, which was titled Vannfall.
If you were a 90s or 00s baby, you might have seen these snacks in your childhood. Of course, they are long gone from the market shelves, so why not take a stroll down memory lane to see if you remember these snacks? From Disney-themed Cool Creations ice creams, to Sprinkl'ins (the sugary yogurt treat), to Reese’s Peanut Butter Bites, check out Buzzfeed’s list of 90s and 00s snacks that you never thought you would forget!
Maria von Trapp wrote a book about her life and family in 1949. That book was made into a German film in 1956. That film inspired a Broadway musical that debuted in 1959 called The Sound of Music. It was made into a Hollywood film in 1965, which surpassed Gone With The Wind to became the highest-grossing movie of all time for the next five years. Fifty-five years later, children still learn the songs from the movie in school -and one tune was a chart-topper just last year. But how close was the movie to the real story?
In 1926, when one of Georg von Trapp's children, Maria, fell ill with scarlet fever and could no longer manage the 4-mile walk to school with her siblings, he asked the Reverend Mother at a nearby abbey to send him a suitable tutor. She chose Maria Augusta Kutschera, a 21-year-old novice with a teaching background.
Well, that sounds familiar. But there were differences. Georg and Maria married in 1927, so they were not confronted by Nazis upon returning from their honeymoon. But compared to other movies "based on a true story," the account was remarkably close to the truth. Read the real story of the von Trapp family behind The Sound of Music at Mental Floss.
The famed manga One Piece is given new life in a reimagine by shojo manga artist Yoko Maki. Maki applied a shojo aesthetic to the characters and world of One Piece, and the results are strikingly beautiful and different (from the original). Maki reimagined the manga’s Whole Cake Island arc, where Luffy is now a transfer student at Whole Cake Academy. Try looking at the reimagined characters and see if you still recognize them!
Three paintings from the Christ Church Picture Gallery at the University of Oxford were stolen amidst the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The stolen paintings were Salvator Rosa’s A Rocky Coast, With Soldiers Studying a Plan, Anthony Van Dyck’s A Soldier on Horseback, and Annibale Carracci’s A Boy Drinking. The stolen artworks were made sometime during 16th and 17th centuries, and are worth $12 million, as allthatsinteresting details:
So far the British police have yet to identify how the thieves managed to gain access to the small gallery, which is internationally renowned for its collection. Local authorities are appealing to potential witnesses for any clues that might help with their investigation.
“The artwork has not yet been recovered but a thorough investigation is underway to find it and bring those responsible to justice,” said the Thames Valley Police in a statement. In addition to the public appeal, the police also mentioned that an increased presence of cops would be enacted in the area in the meantime.
The unexpected burglary is the last thing anyone needs during a pandemic, which might hinder investigation efforts into the heist. As for the gallery, it’s remaining closed until further notice.
Voice actress Sarah Natochenny shared to Vanity Fair the process of dubbing the Pokemon anime. Natochenny has been the voice actor for Ash Ketchum in the English dub of the show since 2006. The video also includes how the Pokemon Sun and Moon anime is reinterpreted for the West, and the fine-tuning and digital editing for the show.
GameStop informed employees that the company should be open even during the time of the pandemic, as they are “essential retail and therefore should be able to remain open during this time.” Employees were given a flyer to hand over to law enforcement should they attempt to shut down their store in different states. The flyer also includes the phone number for the company’s corporate office. It’s unclear if any stores are following the company’s instructions, as Vice detailed:
“Due to the products we carry that enable and enhance our customers’ experience in working from home,” reads the memo, “we believe GameStop is classified as essential retail and therefore is able to remain open during this time. We have received reports of local authorities visiting stores in an attempt to enforce closure despite our classification. Store managers are approved to provide the document linked below to law enforcement as needed.”
The note does not appear to be instructed at one particular region of the country; the employees VICE Games spoke with were from all over, including the midwest and east coast.
“They've essentially said to disobey law enforcement in any state that shuts down non essential retail,” said one employee, who asked to remain anonymous, “as they believe we are providing an essential service to people that shop at a video game store.”
GameStop has been criticized for its poor handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The company has been unable to provide adequate cleaning supplies to employees, instead asking them to seek out such supplies at local stores. The company has not extended sick leave policies to employees, instead asking them to rely on their existing time off options.
The How to Cook That channel with Anne Reardon has been debunkingfakevideos for a while now. This video debunks a few videos but also talks about the deeper problems that YouTube's Algorithm presents and how it is driving out content creators and feeding large media corporations with sinister results.
What does this mean for the future of Youtube and online content?
A woman in St. Louis visited Antiques Roadshow with a Buddha idol that she had purchased from a garage sale. She had paid between $75-100 for it. Robert Waterhouse, an Asian art specialist, appraised it at $100,000-125,000.
Waterhouse knows his field, but he had to evaluate the piece in just a few minutes. When specialists like him had more time to study the idol, they appraised it much higher. When the owner sold it, the final price was over $2,000,000!
Video chat has now been a trend these days, because, thanks to the coronavirus, we are now forced to stay at home to avoid getting infected. But in all types of communication, we have guidelines and unspoken rules that we follow. An example of this is muting our mics while we eat. But if you’re the person who sometimes forgets to mute the microphone while eating, don’t worry. Microsoft has you covered.
... [The] new Microsoft AI can automatically filter out and remove any snacking-related sounds from group video calls.
The new AI algorithm is only on Microsoft’s Teams program, their video conferencing platform (akin to Zoom, Google Hangouts, et al).
“With the power of AI, Teams can remove that background noise and you can understand me very clearly,” Microsoft’s Robert Aichner said during a demo last week attended by CNET.
Ever since the coronavirus outbreak, thousands of people were rattled and resorted to panic buying things like alcohol, hand sanitizers, masks, and what seems to be the most prized of all — toilet paper. It is not surprising, therefore, that some are quickly running out of toilet paper in their homes.
We've seen a slew of viral videos showing shoppers hoarding packs of TP and getting into fist fights over the coveted remaining rolls. On Amazon, price gouging has run rampant, with some packs of toilet paper selling for as much as $60.
So if you’re the one quickly running out of toilet paper, what should you do then? Jennifer Leman, fortunately, provides us some alternatives to toilet paper. Check her article out over at Popular Mechanics.
While the qualities of opium have been known for centuries, and the name "laudanum" was used in the 1500s, it was English physician Thomas Sydenham who formulated the opium tincture that became a sensation under the name laudanum in the 1660s. As time passed, any combination of alcohol and opium was called laudanum, and it was used alone or as an ingredient in other medicines. As you can imagine, laudanum became a popular remedy for anything that ails ya, because it relieved pain and made one care less about other symptoms. It didn't cure anything, but honestly, neither did other medications of the time.
One reason that laudanum was popular was that it was cheaper than a bottle of gin or wine because it was not taxed like alcohol. Besides being cheap and readily available, people touted its abilities to relieve pain and there were also claims that it improved the body’s systems. It was thus widely prescribed for all sorts of ailments from colds to yellow fever and from menstrual cramps to cardiac diseases and because of all its supposed benefits it was also found frequently in patent medicines.
Those who took laudanum quickly discovered that it had addictive qualities. Still it seemed as if every Victorian doctor was prescribing it to every patient. In fact, prescriptions were commonly written for teenagers, children, and infants.
While laudanum relieved pain, it also caused addiction, overdose, and was sometimes used in murder. Read about the rise and fall of laudanum, including the experiences of famous people who took it, at Geri Walton's blog. -via Strange Company
So, you suddenly find yourself at home with a kid, or three. First, don't panic. They can sense fear, especially the pre-teens and the teens. Second, take a moment to thank a teacher. Even those teachers that you didn't love are amazing people. They showed up to work every day and wrangled upwards of thirty or more of these little creatures. Now finally, take a deep breath and a moment for yourself. You got this. We are here for you. We are with you. We are stumbling through this jungle right along side of you.
For many of you it's been a while since you have had to direct your children's learning, much less their entire day. If you are a veteran homeschooling parent, feel free to read along and laugh at us non-homeschooling folks. You have been in the weeds a while. For those of us newbies this is a trial by fire. When full day kindergarten started we kissed their little heads and put their real learning into the capable hands of trained professionals. Sure we were around for homework and extracurricular activities, but let's be honest, the vast majority of their day was organized by others. Now it's up to us to organize their entire day and that's not just a little frightening, it's really frightening. The good news is that the professional educators are trying to figure this out. The bad news is that some of the districts are still scrambling to come up with a plan, much less ready to take it live. That's okay, this isn't permanent. You just have to figure out how to survive for a little while.
Okay, onto the fun stuff. Here's a list of 15 ideas (some great, some good, and possibly some terrible) to help keep the sanity at your home. May the force be with you!
1. Get your math on! Free online learning tools like Khan Academy. This site is great for mathematics, but also offers other topics like Arts and Humanties and Science. The learning age range is huge. They have work geared towards little kids all the way to high schoolers.
2. Have a library card? Many libraries offer access to thousands of free ebooks. Just because the libary is closed doesn't mean you can't download a good book to read.
3. Being isolated from your peers can be really lonely for teens and preteens. The kids these days text a lot, but really only chat in person. Encourage them to pick up the phone and actually talk to someone. It's amazing how uplifting a little chat can be.
4. Encourage older teens to try their hands at a free college course. They won't get any credit for the class, but the real benefit is in the knowledge gained. Yale University, for example, offers several Open Yale Courses.
5. Search the telly, or the idiot box as my teen jokingly told me I should call it, for educational programming. There are plenty of educational shows out there. You just need to look for them. Watch a documentary, recorded theater performance, or Shakespeare play screen adaption.
6. Pull out the board games and dust off the puzzles. It's a great time to spend some quality time together.
(Yes, my kids did pull out the Pandemic game to play. Teenagers have a strange sense of humor.)
7. Learn to code. Scratch MIT is great option for younger kids. YouTube is full of tutorials for older kids. If you are looking to buy a course, there are also services like Udemy that offer some interesting class options for not very much money.
8. Find yourself eating at home more than ever before? Now is the perfect time to teach your kids to cook. We know that it's harder and harder to run to the store. Don't let that stop you. Learning to improvise when you cook is a great skill. We like to think of it as Chopped: Quarantine Edition.
9. Teach your kids a skill you haven't taught them yet. With all this free time, teach them all those great life skills that your parents taught you. Practical skills are still important. Think how to do laundry, iron, or sew a button. When they leave the nest they will need these skills.
10. Let your kids teach you a new skill. Your kids are smart and full of knowledge. Let them be your teacher. I have no doubt that they would love to pass on some of their knowledge to you. When they leave the nest you might need this skill.
11. Don't be afraid to email those fantastic teachers you know. I am betting a lot of them would be happy to guide you in the right direction. They may not be able to provide you with a lesson plan, but they can probably share some great online learning websites and tips.
12. Schedule some physical education into the day. Being home and staying mostly indoors doesn't mean you have to be couch patato. Staying active has great physical and mental health benefits.
13. Get out into the garden if you can. If you are lucky enough to have private outdoor space, use it! Sunshine is a great disinfectant and fresh air is beneficial for the soul.
14. Get organized. Being organized doesn't come naturally to everyone. I know it doesnt to me. If it doesn't come easy to you or your kids either, it's a great time to try to grapple those rooms, closets, and drawers.
15. Teach your kids to clean. Cleaning, like organizing and cooking, is an amazing life skill. If you don't already have your kids help out, now is the time. The added benefit is a clean house. Remember many hands make light work when it comes to cleaning.
Bonus: Laugh, laugh, laugh and tell those kids and teens you love them. In the meantime, try to find the joy in your forced bonding experience. Think of it this way, in many locations across the US those teens are now required by law to hang with us terribly uncool parents.
Here's some important information about germs and how to avoid them. It may look like a vintage government educational film, but this is a new video by Weird Al Yankovic, who repurposed old clips to construct something truly bizarre. Run! Run for your lives! -via Laughing Squid
