#Crypto Hero review

[samueldays]

Sam Reviews: H. Beam Piper

I bought a fat collection of short stories and novels by H. Beam Piper, a sci-fi writer of the 50s and 60s. It holds up quite well, I think, as I reread the whole collection recently. There's a variety of content, from alien first contact to space-pirates and time travel, and a "thick" setting base for much of it with elements like carniculture or the veridicator that pop up in several stories without being the basis of one. Piper uses a pair of shared universes for many of his stories where you can see connections without needing to have read the previous. I think there's also less showing off wiseass references than in a lot of contemporary sci-fi, though I might simply have missed some.

The odd pair out is Graveyard of Dreams and its quasi-rewrite The Cosmic Computer, which belong to the first shared universe. Both books have the same start: Boy comes home to frontier colony planet after having studied at prestigious university in the core worlds, receives welcome as hometown hero, is now expected to solve planet's problems of being a run-down backwater after the space war, also find the allegedly war-winning supercomputer that's rumored to be located somewhere nearby and could be dug up like it's pirate treasure. Boy has learned at university the computer is probably imaginary, but it would break the community's hearts to tell them.

Graveyard takes the view that the population has been thinking too much in terms of blaming the war and hoping for the plot-device computer instead of doing anything, so the boy tells his dad the computer isn't real, and they start a conspiracy to reform the planet as part of the computer hunt: The computer might be on the moon, or another planet in the same solar system, so we'll need a spaceship. We can't search the whole planet in one go, so we'll need regular refueling and resupply and a spaceport here. We'll need radars and scanners and drones and other things bought from Earth, so we'll have to invite trade ships to our spaceport, and produce things to sell for Earth currency. Implementing the computer's economic plan once we find it will no doubt require infrastructure, which we should build up in advance. And so the colony gets better, ostensibly as part of looking for the computer.

Through all this, I never felt like Piper was dunking on people who put all their hopes and dreams in a problem-solving magic supercomputer, or on fellow sci-fi writers with their plot device computers. There's very little vitriol. Characters had simply built up their hopes too high. (If he had written it sixty years later, though, I might have thought it was a dunk on people going "crypto fixes this! put vegetables on the blockchain!")

The story is in one sense hard sci-fi, because it limits itself to realistic known capacities of computers, and in another sense, not sci-fi at all, because the computer is a pure McGuffin and the moral of the story is that people should work on solving their problems and improving their community instead of hoping for a McGuffin to fix everything.

The Cosmic Computer starts the same way with much the same plan, and a "salvage company" double-bluff that's supposedly supposedly for picking up other things while hiding the secret supercomputer, but supposedly actually for getting the computer, but actually just for looting abandoned military bases from the war as a way of revitalizing the economy.

Then they find the computer for real, and things get odd.

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Uller Uprising is one of his earliest stories and the first I read that hinted at the specific timeline mentioned above, branching off from the era when he wrote, that did not come to pass but is an interesting speculation to read. The dating system is AE (Atomic Era), counting from 1942, when mankind first harnessed nuclear power. Most of the Northern Hemisphere nuked itself (or each other) in great power conflict in later world wars that timeline; the rebuilding of Earth and colonization of the stars was mostly done by Southern Hemisphere states such as South Africa and Argentina. The story features a pair of ships named Paul Kruger and Jan Smuts.

Oh for the South Africa that was! Piper saw a country that would reach for the stars once the US and SU had ground each other down. South Africa once had a nuclear power program. Now it can't keep the lights on. But I digress.

The scene for the Uprising is a Terran trading colony, in the 'colonialism' sense like the British India Company, on a world populated by aliens. Piper's aliens are polylithic*: among them is joy in prosperity, and resentment at colonists, and desire to learn, and factional infighting, variety "I want those fancy gadgets the Terrans have so I can crush my rival", and variety "I want to manipulate the Terrans into crushing my rival for me". They have personality of their own, rather then being mere foils or subjects of history. One can say that such infighting is the often the downfall of colonized people, but that begs the question of calling them "a people" in the first place, rather than two peoples who fought until they both lost to a third.

*I would have said "diverse" but that has other connotations these days.

There's an angry mob of Ullerians that's been inflamed into simply going out and murdering Terrans, and there's cunning Ullerians who have signed on for a term of work on Terran ships going to the uranium mines, to learn the secrets of nuclear power. There's also awful smut that's relevant in-universe. Quite good stuff.

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Little Fuzzy is also set in the Atomic Era timeline. The Terran Federation is spreading across the stars, and on the planet Zarathustra, the prospector Jack Holloway stumbles across an odd creature:

He turned quickly to see two wide eyes staring up at him out of a ball of golden fur. Whatever it was, it had a round head and big ears and a vaguely humanoid face with a little snub nose. It was sitting on its haunches, and in that position it was about a foot high. It had two tiny hands with opposing thumbs.

He thinks it's cute, and adopts it to live in his house, and the critter brings its family, and he sees they're smart enough to use tools when eating some of the other local wildlife.

This raises a question of whether they're smart enough to count as native sapients and should have rights to the planet. We hear about the "talk and build a fire rule" which is the precedent of a future court case deciding that those two activities are sufficient proof of sapience, but not necessary for it, as shown in another court case when a woman murdered her infant baby and tried to plead that the baby couldn't talk nor build a fire, and was convicted of murder anyway.

Jack Holloway, of course, is all in favor of getting his cute adopted fuzzball recognized as sapient. The antagonist of the story is the Zarathustra Company which holds a Class-III legal charter for the settlement of an uninhabited planet; recognition of the Fuzzies would make it an inhabited Class-IV planet and void the corporate charter and make a lot of rich people lose a lot of money.

Again, there's a lack of dunking. The ZC is wrong, and commits crimes in an attempt to maintain its position, kidnapping the Fuzzies, fabricating evidence, and so forth. But I don't hear commie sneering from Piper as the ZC loses in court and one of its corrupt cops is put to a veridicator.

It's a very sci-fi piece of technology: an advanced mind-reading (brain-reading?) lie-detector helmet with the finesse to identify technically true but misleading statements.

There was a bright conical helmet on his head, and electrodes had been clamped to various portions of his anatomy. On the wall behind him was a circular screen which ought to have been a calm turquoise blue, but which was flickering from dark blue through violet to mauve. That was simple nervous tension and guilt and anger at the humiliation of being subjected to veridicated interrogation. Now and then there would be a stabbing flicker of bright red as he toyed mentally with some deliberate misstatement of fact.

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The veridicator pops up again in Space Viking, farther in the future. The Terran Federation is disintegrating.

"Nifflheim, no! There aren't a dozen and a half planets in the Old Federation that still have hyperdrive, and they're all civilized. That's if 'civilized' is what Gilgamesh is," he added. "These are homemade barbarians. Workers and peasants who revolted to seize and divide the wealth and then found they'd smashed the means of production and killed off all the technical brains. Survivors on planets hit during the Interstellar Wars, from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries, who lost the machinery of civilization. Followers of political leaders on local-dictatorship planets. Companies of mercenaries thrown out of employment and living by pillage. Religious fanatics following self-appointed prophets."

The viking-esque privateers of the Sword Worlds are raiding the Federation worlds for loot and machinery and personnel to build anew on their own planets; this situation is already so far advanced that one character bemoans the Sword Worlds themselves sliding into decadence and barbarism as their best and brightest leave to outright conquer Federation worlds and live there. All this is the backdrop to a hunt for vengeance and a grudge to be settled between one Space Viking and another, which in the process results in taking over a world and becoming King, and watching another world collapse.

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Some of the minor stories:

Naudsonce is about first contact with an alien species and the attempts to establish communication when the odd aliens make sounds, but do not seem to have language. They can gesture enough for trade, though, and sell off some of their spare livestock. The brass provisionally file it as Domesticated Type C. The enlisted men, wanting to discuss the barbecue, cut this down to "domsee" and the name sticks.

Lone Star Planet is rather comic: there's a planet settled by exaggerated Texans, the most Texan ones who wanted to live in Space Texas specifically, and they brought the Alamo with them on a spaceship. They breed dinosaur-like "supercows" on their ranches, their cowboys need tanks for herding the supercows and implicitly constitute small armies, and it's legal to kill politicians for the crime of attempted taxation. Our protagonist is a nervous new ambassador sent to this planet after his predecessor was killed, suspecting that his government wants him also killed as casus belli. (Partly inspired by H.L. Mencken's The Malevolent Jobholder.)

A Slave is a Slave concerns the imperialistic abolition of slavery on a planet where slavery has been the order of the day for so long that it's becoming an in-name-only matter: the "slaves" are the ones who operate everything important, while the "masters" spend their days in petty feuds with each other. The imperial potentate sent to oversee abolition is a first-timer, learning on the job how to administrate foreign planets. This does not go entirely smoothly.

Hunter Patrol is a time loop. A present-day soldier is drawn to the future to help overthrow a tyrant that has conquered the world and conditioned people into servile pacifism. Returning to his own time with a bit of loot and papers from the tyrant's office but without future memories of what they are or why, he uses the future knowledge to become rich and powerful, aims to establish world peace, and ironically becomes the tyrant murdered by his past self.

Null-ABC depicts a future where "Literate" has become a profession; most people aren't literate and look down on the concept. Instructions are usually pictographic, or you hire a Literate to read it for you. Data storage and messaging is commonly audio. TVs and videos are still around, naturally. This because Literacy is associated with propaganda pamphlets and hell-tomes like Mein Kampf and Das Kapital, and the four world wars they caused. This is the one story where I recall Piper does get in some cheap jokes, in the world news report of items such as,

"The Central Diplomatic Council of the Reunited Nations has just announced, for the hundred and seventy-eighth time, that the Arab-Israel dispute has been finally, definitely and satisfactorily settled."

unrelated to the plot of the story, which involves political strife about the status of Literates and literacy.

That joke has aged very well, I must say.

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Piper's second shared universe set of stories is the Paratime collection. In a future without interstellar travel, as Earth's resources run dry, mankind has instead developed the technology of visiting alternate timelines and parallell universe Earths. On the uninhabited ones, futuremen mine resources directly; on the inhabited ones, futuremen buy from the local miners.

This gives the protagonists reason to get involved pretty much anywhere in history or alt-history as they have to cover up the Paratime Secret, or stop a time crime, or catch the Venusian Nighthound that some dumbass let loose in a 1950s America before the cops ask too many questions about the unusually mutilated cattle. It is a really great Excuse Plot for whatever time period, technological level, and/or cultural group the author feels like writing about today.

It could easily have stopped there, and become a series of disconnected anecdotes and shiny distractions, but Piper executes it well and gives it context. Home Timeline has people and places and customs and strife, although some of the bits feel clunky to me.

Tortha Karf fingered them and nodded. Then he became as visibly angry as a man of his civilization and culture-level ever permitted himself. "What does that fool think we have a Paratime Code for?" he demanded. "It's entirely illegal to transport any extraterrestrial animal or object to any time-line on which space-travel is unknown. I don't care if he is a green-seal thavrad; he'll face charges, when he gets back, for this!"

It's very hard to make future ranks sound appropriately important while staying foreign, and "green-seal thavrad" falls short, IMO. (Also clunky: "We'll blow them to Em-See-Square!" elsewhere in Piper's writing.)

Most of the Paratime protagonists are time cops of some sort, though with a major exception: Calvin Morrison, a man from our time's America, gets sucked up in the wake of a paratime travel vehicle. Falling into a timeline where America was colonized by an eastward Indo-Aryan migration and the technology level is late medieval, he becomes Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, protagonist of his own novel by the same name and several sequels by Piper's peers.

(A time cop stops by to check whether the Paratime secret has been leaked, and is very satisfied that Calvin has told everyone "a wizard did it" and is helping to keep the secret.)

In this alternate timeline, America is divided into kingdoms worshipping the Wolf-God and the Sky-Father and the Earth-Mother and other interpretations of ancient Aryan deities as filtered through 1950s historiography and then cultural drift as imagined by Piper, which makes it an interesting sort of foreign place. But the supreme god of the time is Styphon, whose priesthood alone holds the secret of making fireseed (gunpowder). This monopoly is the main source of their power, and Calvin is about to break it.

The plot outline "Contemporary man falls into the past/fantasy world and introduces gunpowder" has been recycled a thousand times by worse writers, and I wonder how many of them would trace their literary ancestry back to Piper if we could see who they'd copied. I know it's more than zero: like with Journey to the West but less famous, reading Lord Kalvan made several things click into place as I recognized elements other authors had been copy-pasting that made sense in the original but were weirdly out-of-place in the flimsy knockoffs. Literary cargo cult.

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In closing, Piper was an original writer, and I recommend his stories.

No man is entirely original, one can locate him easily in the late golden age of American scifi with peers and influences, but he stands out to me as the sort of person that others were copying a great deal. Lord Kalvan I mentioned above, the Sword-Worlds of Space Viking went right into the Traveller RPG, Little Fuzzy was rebooted by John Scalzi as Fuzzy Nation, Star Trek's "tribbles" were originally "fuzzies" before Legal got involved, the Paratime series was an inspiration for Charles Stross's Merchant Princes, the list goes on.

And it looks to me, as with several other of my favorite and respected authors, that this is partly because he could draw on a wide set of life experiences outside of the incestuous 'literary class'. (Vague, I know.) He worked on the railroad, he studied engineering, he collected firearms and helped compile a collection of archaic ones. His short story Omnilingual turns on the fact that science has a shared true referent: the Periodic Table of the Martians must refer to the same elements as on Earth, and so the long-dead Martians' language is deciphered.

I might say: he was a shape rotator. :-)

[mariacallous]

It only took a jury four hours to decide that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had committed large-scale fraud—and that included their dinner break. Leading politicians, investors, and observers, not to mention a number of high-profile journalists, in contrast, managed to stay oblivious to it for years. Two recent books illustrate how and why he got away with it, at least for a while.

The first one, Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis, illustrates it by example. Early reviews alerted me that the book took a charitable view of SBF and his enterprise, and yet I still struggled to believe what I was reading as I started making my way through it. The preface is a flashback to 2021. Interesting, I thought—Lewis is taking us back to the day when he fell for SBF’s narrative of crypto-fueled do-goodery. That assessment was overly optimistic.

The first real chapter of the book is a litany of examples of Bankman-Fried behaving like an unbearable, childish jackass who lies a lot … written in the manner of a hagiography. “The funny thing about these situations was that Sam never really meant to cause them.” Lewis writes. “He didn’t mean to be rude. He didn’t mean to cause chaos in other people’s lives. … With him it was never personal. If he stood you up, it was never on a whim, or the result of thoughtlessness. It was because he’d some math in his head that proved that you weren’t worth the time.”

It does not improve much from there. Somehow, the villain of his book is John Ray, the current FTX CEO, who was appointed after the crypto exchange’s bankruptcy, and whose filings suggest that he has made significant progress in recovering missing customer funds.

The second book, Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie with Jacob Silverman, illustrates Bankman-Fried’s rise and fall by painting a picture of the whole crypto industry as a hive of scams and villainy. Its basic argument runs as follows. Loose monetary policy after the global financial crisis of 2007-09 and bailouts of chunks of the financial industry produced a context of distrust that facilitated the creation of cryptocurrencies as an alternative to sovereign money.

A new wave of easing was set loose when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an economic crisis and led to a situation where asset bubbles were more likely. The main bubble that flourished was crypto, and with bubbles come fraudulent schemes—or so the story goes.

The juxtaposition of the two stories highlights an interesting aspect of SBF’s rise and fall: the class markers that convinced those around him that he was a genius, not a spoiled con artist. Sure, macroeconomic conditions mattered. In response to concerns about currency debasement and expansionary monetary policy as drivers of cryptomania, I would make note of the generous U.S. fiscal response to the pandemic that gave households plenty of cash to speculate with, as well as the boredom of especially the first months of the pandemic. I ended up watching all of the films Jeanne Dielman and Sátántangó for the first time; far be it from me to blame people for turning to drinking or gambling.

But macroeconomic conditions alone do not account for Lewis’s sympathetic approach to SBF. Lewis wrote The Big Short! The heroes of that story are the likes of Steve Eisman and Meredith Whitney, not Joseph Cassano and Howie Hubler: the people who saw through the bubble, not the people who gambled and lost. A Going Infinite­-style account of the global financial crisis would find a man who behaved obnoxiously while assigning incorrect ratings to collateralized debt obligations and treat him sympathetically, if not admiringly. And that’s even before we get to the fraud that Bankman-Fried so clearly committed.

While the macroeconomic context may offer a partial explanation for the crypto bubble, it does not explain why Lewis and many others admired SBF the way they did. Nor do the regular features of every bubble—the fact that lots of money is involved, or that riding a bubble until (just before) it bursts can be very profitable, while shorting one is difficult.

A number of idiosyncratic characteristics of the crypto bubble, and of SBF and his firm, may better explain their appeal. First, there is the nature of the technology—can we say of the securities?—itself. While the underlying assets in the global financial crisis were tangible, cryptocurrencies, with their reliance on algorithms and distributed consensus and proof-of-work or proof-of-stake mechanisms, are very much unlike real estate. Who are we to doubt those who know magic?

There was a deep conviction among those who didn’t understand crypto that there must be something to making money out of thin air, even as skeptics pointed out that it was, in fact, just as stupid as it sounded.

All that was happening was large-scale gambling: Will the price of Dogecoin, featuring the face of a Shiba Inu dog, continue to go up? Will the official cryptocurrency of the Cameroonian separatist entity of Ambazonia appreciate further? What will this non-fungible token representing Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet sell for tomorrow? Nothing but a continued inflow of speculative cash could keep these bets afloat; no value or income was being generated by the underlying technologies.

Then there was the ideological edge of the movement. While the housing bubble was aligned with a political push to promote homeownership and a broader ownership society, those ideas never inspired the kind of commitment that crypto does among its biggest fans. That commitment is fueled by skepticism of government-issued currencies and an appreciation of some level of privacy (or an even more hard-line libertarian attraction to the ability to pay for illegal goods and services, or to evade taxes).

McKenzie highlights a related aspect of the crypto craze: its cultlike nature. The loss of trust in traditional financial institutions that he diagnoses created a desire for community that manifested itself in the creation of multilevel marketing (MLM) dynamics of enthused individuals spreading the gospel of the new currencies. The get-togethers and online communities that he describes in the fourth chapter of his book highlight how this works in practice—a world where “being scammed is a necessary educational experience in order to be reborn in the community of the free.”

For a more recent illustration of the bizarre groupings forming around blockchain technology, I refer you to a Bored Ape Yacht Club event that took place in Hong Kong earlier this month, where attendees who had paid thousands of dollars to say they owned digital art of an ape gathered to accidentally get blinded, reportedly by shoddy ultraviolet lights. Cryptocurrencies and related technologies are better suited for MLM schemes, because unlike mortgage derivatives, retail investors can easily access this gambling technology.

But to some extent, all of that was for the rubes, and SBF was playing at a very different level—one where he was able to con people as smart as Lewis. The cult-like scene most important to SBF’s appeal to intellectuals was a different one: the world of so-called effective altruism.

This is a movement focused, at least in theory, on doing good effectively and efficiently. It is associated with ideas ranging from the purely altruistic—such as kidney donations—and the relatively uncontroversial—cost-benefit analysis: dollar for dollar, do mosquito nets save more lives than water sanitation projects?—to more speculative ones, such as an emphasis on long-term catastrophic risk and “earning to give.”

Assessments of existential risk often come down to calculations involving small, hard-to-estimate probabilities, as well as difficult decisions around modeling uncertainty and the relative value of benefits enjoyed by future generations. This leaves a lot of room for rigging the numbers—especially when science-fiction fantasies about the impact on future generations come into play. Why eradicate malaria today when you could save billions of lives in the future from the threat of super-intelligent artificial intelligence—by investing in a buddy’s project?

That suspicion was not alleviated by the calculations a prominent effective altruist produced to show that donating $50 million to his buddy’s congressional campaign would serve humanity better than donating it to various charitable purposes. Earning to give, which SBF claimed to engage in, is the idea that instead of working directly toward one’s cause, one should maximize one’s earnings and use the proceeds for good.

This should, of course, trigger at least two concerns. One, how do you commit to using the proceeds that way as opposed to channeling them to your relatives? Two, once you place yourself at a remove from the good works, what constraints remain? Does consequentialism force you to violate rules, norms, and basic accounting standards?

Effective altruism is important to the story of FTX both directly—Bankman-Fried recruited a good number of self-described effective altruists to work for his firm, and he used the network to raise money for his crypto exchange—and for our purpose of figuring out why SBF was and remains so appealing to at least some outside observers.

A few examples: In May 2022, commentator Matthew Yglesias wrote a piece titled “Understanding Effective Altruism’s move into politics” with the subheading “SBF is for real,” a judgment based, among other things, on the academic work of Bankman-Fried’s mother: “SBF was raised by a leading consequentialist moral theorist.”

Writing for the New Yorker, Gideon Lewis-Kraus argued earlier this month that “one can’t help but feel like the existence of the trial, as necessary as it is, seems a little arbitrary” because Bankman-Fried might well have gotten away with his crimes. Perhaps long-termism, taken to an extreme, leads one to think that of life as a mere game of probabilities without real stakes, not unlike the video games that he so obnoxiously used to play (not very well) during video calls.

Either way, effective altruism gave SBF, and crypto with it, a veneer of respectability that it might not have had otherwise. The alternatives, like the argument that the purpose of our large-scale gambling is to give the unbanked access to financial services, were not an easy sell.

The effective altruism connection does not matter solely because of the ideas and human resources it brought SBF. The movement is one with close ties to elite academia, associated with academics such as Will MacAskill at the University of Oxford, who served on the board of a grantmaking operation funded by FTX and was a close SBF associate, or Peter Singer at Princeton University. Bankman-Fried’s father is a professor at Stanford Law School, though he also worked for FTX for 11 months. His mother is a professor emeritus at Stanford Law School, where she specialized in the field of legal ethics, such as it is.

These connections—and these are certainly not the only ones—may explain some of the sway that SBF had over America’s intellectuals. “None of what the Bankman-Frieds did was for show; they weren’t that kind of people,” writes Michael Lewis.

FTX’s post-bankruptcy lawyers allege that the couple enriched themselves by accepting $26.4 million from their son. Surely our kind of people wouldn’t do such a thing.

[popculturebuffet]

Sam and Max Telltale Retrospective: Save the World: Reality 2.0 (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Cyber-Hello to all you happy cyber-people! We're almost at the end of Sam and Max Save The World! It's been a long strange journey and it's only getting stranger as we jack in and execute the penultimate chapter of this fantastic game.

As usual let's take a look at Reality 2.0+as a game first. Internet 2.0 is the best chapter yet which like Morning Mark, you can probably hear me say that a lot. It combines the writing quality of the last two chapters with the far more managable but still open overworld of "The Mob, The Mole and the Meatball". The difficulty's still harder than Mob, but more in line with the second one: you might get stuck but a quick nudge from a guide or some poking around will usually fix it. The world is also just fun to explore despite being intentionally both sparse and a reskin of the main street hub. In short it's good stuff and we'll see if it holds for the finale and the next two games.

For now let's look at the bold new future of the internet in 2006 under the cut and how our heroes have to kill it before it spreads. As you do.

So we open with Max flexing his power as president. As expected most of his policy is giant fighting robot based, sending them to all three dakota's to see who surivives, and he's being impeached every day this week except wendsday.. he's on trial for war crimes. But Max has more important things to deal with than plotting his future escape from a federal maximum security prison, for once. The Chief has a job: A new game, Reality 2.0 is sweeping the nation and brainwashing it too so our heroes and max have to stop it. Our heroes first have to save Sybil, whose beta testing the game via headset, and lost in the zone. So to get info we're going ot have to wreck Sybil's life for the second episode. Meanwhile Bosco has paranoidly moved all his money into the internet. As you can probably notice unlike a lot of the satire in these games, where there more funny knowing the time, the satire for internet 2.0 has actually aged better. While at the time it was clearly parodying the boom of things like second life and mmorpg's like world of warcraft, nowadays it comes off as parodies of laughable attempts at the future like the metaverse, vr googles, and crypto. I mean the money isn't in boscocoin but like Crypto the service he's using bancolavedero.com is just as sketchy as crypto and just as likely to give you all your money back! As such despite having all the money now to launder via the us goverment, we can't buy his real world item, a bio weapon, yet.

We can however do him a solid and get rid of the compettition: part of why Bosco's gone from small arms to full on biological warefare is because Jimmy Two Teeth has set up shop in his shop. Being the rat he is, Jimmy refuses to actually sell you the mini canon he has because he's afraid you'll just turn around and use it on him

Though in this case it's a self fufilling prophecy as while he succesfully gets a hit off on Sam, he gets shoved into the canon and used as ammo oddworld styles. I just love this solution and it provides some cathariss after multiple chapters of Jimmy either being obnoxious to our heroes or actively hindering them. I mean he fell down a manwhole but ther'es probably a whole rat city down there. He can play rat blackjack and visit some rat hookers. He'll be fine. This is more fitting.. being shot at some vr googles.

Turns out though Sybil wasn't hypnotized.. or at least thinks she wasn't so she's mad, but allows our heroes to take the broken googles and decides to move on. I've really started to feel sorry for sybil. In the first two chapters she was just running a random scheme and just having a good time… in the last few she's been targeted by the mob, had her heart broken, been swindled out of millions of dollars and now had her legit buisness ruined by our heroes.. for good reasons yes but it's still awful. I'm really hoping the next chapter works out better for her. I do applaud the team for making me care about this goofy side character though. So our team has to take the googles to the best part of this episode, the C.O.P.S. The Computer Obsolescence Prevention Society are a bunch of old machines who are hilaroius: We have their leader and mouthpiece curt, an old voice synthizer similar to steven hawkings, chippy, an old pong set, and bob, a talking phone who talks like the moviephone guy. And last and most of all we have Bluster Blaster an old arcade machine who constantly screams every sentence and wants to conquer all. Their working for the internet for the oldest reasons imaginable…

But gladly suply a lot of great comedy.. and our heroes with the chip to fix the googles. There's not much else to say other than their fantastic and I was delighted to find out they return in the next two games, and have a larger role in 3.

THe cops gladly give our heroes the chip. Problem is there's two heroes but luckily max's really big head qualities him for a special headset, so our heroes are off to the digtial world! Jack in, Sam and Max, Execute! Reality 2.0 is a fun setting being really sparse and seeming like a jab at games that come out mostly unfinished. Having played sonic 06 recently, the irony is not lost on me. While it is a BETA, so ti's a bit more forgivable, it's a very desolate place with Sybil stood in with a digtial copy of her, and no real detail. The only real features are bosco's itself, and Auntie Biotic, virus protection based on moira stump. Who was asking for her to come back I do not know, but she's passable.

We 'll deal with her later though first it's time to deal with bosco whose totally not brainwashed you guys honest. So in order to save him, we have to bop him in the head, but since for some reason we can't just.. use the boxing glove on him or reload the canon, we have to play the game his way and get 5 gold coins. Granted equipment usually isn't this cheap but sam and max isn't going to make you grind for several hours. or maybe ten minutes with 4x gil on, to do that. Point is you need to gather the coins.

This is where I got stuck entirely through every fault of my own. See I assumed since the goggles have an assigned button to take you out of reality 2.0, you coudln't use your inventory

Every item you have in the real world is avaliable to you. And neatly some transform, so the bug becomes a computer bug. It wasn't till reading the guide I realized I could do this.

As for who your glitching up that'd be the COPS who are gods, angry gods, of the new world and each control something. So you have to jack with them to get rid of width, popups, make your characters small, and with blaster because uh oh there goes gravity. The ways you use them are also clever and most you can figure out just from exploring: Jimmy is hoarding a coin in your office, so you have to get that from him by shirnking, and that itself requries you to figure out another mechanic: when you enter the digital world you enter from the location your at. So while the curb is too big for tiny sam and max to climb, you can simply jack out, go into the office, jack in and boom, Jimmy is violently mugged for a coin! Sybils is easy to miss, it's just behind her bookcase which you can get by going flat and finally we get the fun one of gravity, with sam deciding to become a feature film italian sterotype and max decides to call him a sell out. it's the best joke of a very funny chapter… the best one not involving an arcade cabinet screaming at you anyway. So with that we buy the long sord and get a decent enough send up of rpg combat as we fight a slime in boscos, handily despensed from a monster spawn point. This is where I got lost for a second. See I went back to the real world, as Bosco revealed his password is SO secure, he dosen't even know it, having it tattooed on him then having his memory erased. So naturally I grabbed the binoculars on his desk. problem is fitting the game's nonlinear nature you can get them AFTER you wake him up too, and my guide used this method. Thankfully I found another one, and found out I simply had to conk him out in the digtial world.

Since I can't just have a small monster do it, I used the sword, tricked bosco with the timeless "look over there" technique and found his tatoo which thankfully was nowhere near as low as feared. It's naturally bosco. He's smart at many things, survelince, knowing the goverment's after him, scamming our heroes, but this is a reminder he can be very, very dumb and we love him for it. So it's off to banco lavedero. To get in here you'll need some digitial paint from a digtial wizard whose TOTALLY not hugh bliss… though unlike moira I feel this seeming model IS the real thing given what we learn at the end of the chapter. This puzzle is clever as your liscene plate has the right color. Match em and you get past the banco lavedero fire wall. Inside we get a fun if somewhat long mini game: unsuprisingly this scam is laundering money from everywhere: the toy mafia, who sam rightly points out even if we knocked out one branch isn't exzactly gone, the goverment, bosco's mom. You simply have to get the arrows to point all the money to bosco. It's hilarious enough to work and even if you get stuck, it shoudln't take too long till bosco has the money and is forking over his bio weapon. This one I actually called: he just sneezes into a napkin. But hey it's enough to give yo ua computer virus.

To beat her though we need a chekovs gun.. but since tha't snot in the inventory we instead need some slime goop, gotten whenyou first get your sword as his sludgey machine is now an enemy spawn point and the results are just as dangerous. You take it out with some turn based rpg parody, though the shouting out of dexerity is just.. weird. This isn't dungeons and dragons, it's a computer rpg. It's hilarious enough though I dont' care enitirely.

WIth the goop you simply have to defy gravity again and go to a nearbye billboard and you get the unicorn sword. +2 baby! You can unstick it with the goop and then fight moira using the sword and another chekovs gun: early on you'll see a jack in the box surrounded by pop ups. Disable those, grab it, then enable them before the fights and you've got a shiled. It's a wonderful brick joke and with that you can mail the virus ot break the internet.

Problem is the interent.. plans to take everyone in it with her, so to save the world you have to brave the depths of gaming history, a TEXT ADVENTURE!

The Text Adventure bit.. is a lot of fun. You put all of boscos into your inventory, deal with a giant drippy pool of cute kittens , use their slime to dip boscos and then feed it to a shambling corprate presence, the greatest monster in all of rpg history. Yes over stabby mc mommy issues or Garnland, who will knock you all down. You feed him, get him tobarf up the internet's faith in humanity an save her from herself… and then she dies because our heroes knida gave her a virus. Yes our heroes killed the ineternet and I for one…

Sorry about that had to kick in the backup internet. Hard being a blogger these days. Anyways the internmet is dead and the most she can give our heroes is the mysterious mastermind behind all this is Roy. G. Biv… our heroes dont' take the obvious hint and go to dinner… as hugh bliss shows up as the face int he moon

Next Time: We go to the MOOONNNNN to wrap this game up and confront the true mastermind behind it all! But where is hugh? What is hugh? and why is Hugh? All to be colorfully answered next time!

[jaidonschool]

July in Review

I moved to Salt Lake City

Learned: the basics of GraphQL, Next.js, React hooks, npm, CSS in JS, moped anatomy & repair

Built: 30 bentos, 3 bento heros with edited photos, how it works section, basic Apollo + WooGraphQL queries

Played: on antelope island, in the salt lake, in little cottonmouth canyon, on salt flats, on Scenic Mound, at zen center, at 2 drone shows, at Mexico festival, Peru festival, Japan Obon festival, with a cybertruck, with a moped, at an apothecary

Got gym membership, got my squat to 95lbs, bench to 45lbs, started deadlifting up to 165lbs, went 6 times (≈12 hours)

Got on a diet plan, tracking calories, and then got fucked with a big belly, and fasted for a bit, and am finally destabilized, with new goals to increase diet intensity more gradually.

Meditated 12 hours, and found Insight Timer app

Did a sick 1 week writing challenge!

Shin visited for 2 weeks

Have $10k in the bank and $5k in crypto - enough to last the year in Salt Lake!

Next month

I'd like to be very consistent with my habits: gym every other day, track macros, average 45m meditation per day

I'd like to dedicate more time daily/weekly to long term Blueprint goals like videos, developing products, or marketing products.

I anticipate that will take the form of learning code (thorough), and content output.

I'd like to make salt lake friends. I will seek events and activities I naturally love. More zen center, and tech/ai/design events.

Commit:

Shoot for at least 20 minutes each day for content creation, writing challenge, or project dev

The above is a small goal, but I hope to take it seriously and plant the seed for sustainable growth of it. The above is my only tweak for next month.

Booked 3 events for next month. I should book more.

Meditate every day, gym every other day, track calories

[assetretrievalpro]

The Rise of Crypto Recovery Experts: Safeguarding Your Digital Assets

In the fast-evolving world of cryptocurrencies, the potential for substantial gains is often tempered by the risk of significant losses. With the growing popularity of digital currencies, the incidence of cybercrime, scams, and accidental loss of funds has surged. Enter the unsung heroes of the crypto world: crypto recovery experts. These professionals specialize in retrieving lost or stolen digital assets, offering a lifeline to those who have seen their investments vanish.

Who Are Crypto Recovery Experts?

Crypto recovery experts are individuals or companies with specialized knowledge and tools to recover lost cryptocurrencies. They combine expertise in blockchain technology, cybersecurity, and forensic investigation to track, trace, and recover digital assets. Their services are crucial for victims of hacking, phishing scams, lost private keys, and other mishaps that can lead to the loss of cryptocurrencies.

The Growing Need for Crypto Recovery Services

Increase in Crypto Adoption: As more individuals and institutions invest in cryptocurrencies, the volume of assets at risk has grown. This has led to a higher demand for recovery services when things go awry.

Rising Cybercrime: The anonymity and irreversibility of blockchain transactions make cryptocurrencies attractive targets for cybercriminals. Hacking incidents, phishing scams, and fraudulent ICOs have left many investors in need of recovery services.

Human Error: Simple mistakes, such as sending funds to the wrong address or losing access to private keys, can result in the permanent loss of digital assets. Recovery experts can help in these situations, providing a second chance to regain access to lost funds.

How Crypto Recovery Experts Operate

Blockchain Analysis: Recovery experts use advanced blockchain analysis tools to trace transactions and identify the movement of stolen or lost funds. By following the digital trail, they can often locate where the assets have gone.

Forensic Investigation: In cases of hacking or fraud, recovery experts conduct detailed forensic investigations to uncover the methods used by cybercriminals. This can involve examining digital footprints, communication logs, and other digital evidence.

Negotiation and Legal Action: Sometimes, recovery involves negotiating with perpetrators or working with law enforcement agencies. Experts may also assist in legal actions to recover stolen assets, providing essential evidence and expertise.

Private Key Recovery: For those who have lost access to their wallets, recovery experts can attempt to retrieve private keys through various methods, including exploiting vulnerabilities in wallet software or employing brute force techniques (where feasible).

Choosing a Crypto Recovery Expert

When selecting a crypto recovery expert, it's essential to consider the following factors:

Reputation and Reviews: Research the expert or company's reputation within the crypto community. Look for reviews, testimonials, and case studies to gauge their success rate and reliability.

Transparency and Fees: Ensure that the recovery expert is transparent about their methods and fees. Be wary of upfront payment demands without a clear explanation of the process and success rates.

Security and Confidentiality: Given the sensitive nature of cryptocurrency recovery, it's crucial to choose a professional who prioritizes security and confidentiality. Your financial and personal information should be handled with the utmost care.

Experience and Expertise: Opt for experts with a proven track record and substantial experience in cryptocurrency recovery. Their knowledge of the latest tools and techniques is vital for successful asset retrieval.

Conclusion

The rise of crypto recovery experts underscores the importance of safeguarding digital assets in the volatile and often unpredictable world of cryptocurrencies. As the crypto landscape continues to evolve, these professionals will play a pivotal role in helping investors recover lost funds and navigate the complexities of digital finance. Whether you're a seasoned investor or a crypto newcomer, understanding the value and capabilities of crypto recovery experts can provide peace of mind and an added layer of security for your investments.

[anannd55]

zero to hero life changing experince with quatum leap

Quantum Leap: A Triumphant Leap Forward in Crypto Education (Review)

In the ever-evolving realm of cryptocurrency, staying informed and ahead of the curve can feel like an insurmountable task. Enter Quantum Leap, a comprehensive educational program that has become my guiding light in this dynamic landscape.

A Structured Deep Dive

Unlike other resources that overwhelm with scattered information, Quantum Leap offers a meticulously structured curriculum. The program is segmented into modules, each one meticulously crafted to build upon the previous one. This logical progression ensures a strong foundation before diving into more complex topics.

Content for Every Learner

Quantum Leap caters to a diverse range of learners. Whether you're a complete novice or a seasoned investor, the program provides content tailored to your level of understanding. The easy-to-follow explanations and visual aids make even the most intricate concepts clear and digestible.

Beyond the Basics

The program goes beyond the rudimentary aspects of cryptocurrency, delving into the intricacies of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and decentralized finance (DeFi). This in-depth exploration empowers you to make informed decisions and navigate the complexities of the crypto market with confidence.

Real-World Applicability

Quantum Leap doesn't just equip you with theoretical knowledge. The program emphasizes practical application through real-world case studies and market analyses. This practical approach ensures that the learnings can be directly translated into informed investment strategies.

An Engaged Community

One of the most valuable aspects of Quantum Leap is the vibrant community it fosters. The program provides access to a forum where you can connect with other learners, exchange ideas, and share experiences. This interactive platform fosters a sense of camaraderie and keeps you motivated on your crypto journey.

A Continuously Evolving Program

The world of cryptocurrency is constantly evolving, and Quantum Leap recognizes this. The program is regularly updated with new modules and information, ensuring that you stay abreast of the latest trends and developments. This commitment to staying current makes Quantum Leap a truly invaluable resource.

An Investment in Your Future

Quantum Leap is more than just an educational program; it's an investment in your financial future. The knowledge and insights gained from the program empower you to make informed decisions in the crypto market, potentially leading to significant financial gains.

In Conclusion

Quantum Leap has been a transformative experience for me. It has equipped me with the knowledge and confidence to navigate the exciting yet complex world of cryptocurrency. If you're looking for a comprehensive, well-structured, and constantly evolving educational program, then Quantum Leap is undoubtedly the answer. It's a triumphant leap forward in crypto education, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to embark on their crypto journey.

[devoqdesign]

The 5 Stages of Grief for a Bad UI/UX Design

User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are the unsung heroes of the digital world. When they work seamlessly, users hardly notice them; but when they're poorly designed, users are thrust into an emotional rollercoaster akin to the five stages of grief. In the realm of design, facing a subpar UI/UX can be a daunting experience, triggering a journey through denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.

1. Denial: Ignoring the Red Flags

The first stage of grief often begins with denial. Users confronted with a bad UI/UX may find themselves dismissing the issues, attributing glitches to their own lack of understanding. "Maybe it's just my device," they might say, desperately trying to believe that the design is not the problem. This phase is marked by a reluctance to accept the reality of a poorly crafted interface. Denial, however, only prolongs the inevitable realization that the UI/UX is indeed subpar.

2. Anger: Frustration Takes the Wheel

As denial gives way to reality, frustration and anger emerge. Users experiencing a bad UI/UX may find themselves becoming increasingly irate at the inconvenience. Navigating through confusing menus, dealing with unresponsive buttons, and encountering broken links can unleash a torrent of emotions. Angry users might express their dissatisfaction through scathing reviews or venting on social media, highlighting the emotional impact that a poorly designed UI/UX can have on their overall experience.

3. Bargaining: Seeking Workarounds

In the bargaining stage, users attempt to find solutions to alleviate their frustration. They may explore alternative routes, trying to uncover workarounds to mitigate the impact of the bad UI/UX. This stage often involves users experimenting with different settings, browsers, or devices in a desperate bid to salvage a positive experience. Unfortunately, bargaining seldom leads to a genuine resolution, leaving users stuck in a cycle of temporary fixes.

4. Depression: Navigating a Sea of Discontent

The realization that a bad UI/UX is beyond immediate repair can plunge users into a state of depression. The hopelessness of the situation becomes apparent as they resign themselves to enduring a subpar experience. The emotional toll of a poorly designed interface can make users question the value of their time and the credibility of the platform, leading to a sense of disillusionment and disappointment.

5. Acceptance: Embracing the Inevitable

The final stage of grief for a bad UI/UX is acceptance. Users come to terms with the fact that the design flaws are unlikely to be rectified immediately. They may develop coping mechanisms, such as adjusting their expectations or seeking out alternative platforms with better UI/UX. Acceptance, however, does not equate to satisfaction; it simply marks the acknowledgment that the flaws are part of the user experience.

In conclusion, navigating the 5 stages of grief for a bad UI/UX design is an emotional journey that users often face in the digital landscape. From denial to acceptance, each stage reflects the evolving mindset of users as they grapple with the frustrations of a poorly crafted interface. As the digital world continues to evolve, designers must prioritize creating seamless and user-friendly experiences to spare users from the tumultuous journey through the stages of grief.Visit my Upwork profilefor - UI/UX design, Mobile Design & Product DesignerProject Catalog for - Mobile App UI UX Design, iOS or Android Mobile APP UX/UI Design&Modern Crypto Design

[cryptonews256]

2022 in Review: the Top 10 Crypto Heroes of the Year

2022 in Review: the Top 10 Crypto Heroes of the Year

Key Takeaways Several members of the crypto community emerged as heroes even as the market suffered a sharp decline in 2022. Key industry figures took action against the Treasury Department’s move to sanction Tornado Cash. Ethereum’s core developers made a major contribution to the ecosystem in shipping “the Merge.” Share this article While villains dominated crypto throughout this year, the…

[hindiurdunews]

2022 in Review: the Top 10 Crypto Heroes of the Year

2022 in Review: the Top 10 Crypto Heroes of the Year

Key Takeaways Several members of the crypto community emerged as heroes even as the market suffered a sharp decline in 2022. Key industry figures took action against the Treasury Department’s move to sanction Tornado Cash. Ethereum’s core developers made a major contribution to the ecosystem in shipping “the Merge.” Share this article While villains dominated crypto throughout this year, the…

[bitcofun]

2022 in Review: the Top 10 Crypto Heroes of the Year

2022 in Review: the Top 10 Crypto Heroes of the Year

Secret Takeaways Numerous members of the crypto neighborhood became heroes even as the marketplace suffered a sharp decrease in 2022. Secret market figures did something about it versus the Treasury Department’s relocate to sanction Tornado Cash. Ethereum’s core designers made a significant contribution to the community in shipping “the Merge.” While bad guys controlled crypto throughout this…

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[writerbanana]

Best pgp for android outlaw market

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Will get vanished as soon as the application gets closed. => All the recorded audios will be stored in local memory only and it Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Note : => No Login-Registration required. ive been told that its better to download a pgp encryption tool than to use an online one, can anyone recommend some good pgp encryption/decryption Press J to jump to the feed. It uses signatures and heuristics to identify viruses.Other features included in it are e-mail spam filtering and phishing protection.

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[dollarsbag]

CryptoHero Review: Automatic Trading Bot for a low cost! Check here!

CryptoHero Review: Automatic Trading Bot for a low cost! Check here!

CryptoHero Review: Automatic Trading Bot for a low cost! Check here! From your smartphone, automating trades is simple with CryptoHero. No programming knowledge is necessary. With bots that are based on technical indications, you can trade well-known cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum around-the-clock. Overview: For investors, everything has become much simpler thanks to trading…

[firespirited]

Shang Chi and the legend of the ten rings review

It felt like a disney movie meets comic book action hero one if that makes any sense. It’s comic-like in that it’s a sexless bloodless world where consequences don’t really matter and it’s jarring because i’ve only experienced Tony Leung and Simu Liu in worlds where little things mattered greatly. The magical elements are what make it feel disney-esque, the hidden forest was truly wondrous, it made my heart ache in childlike awe.

First negative: I felt like the sister’s arc was superflous even if it’s the set up for a future villain. You can’t throw us the potential of that character and never give us enough time or weight to delve into her grief, her issues with her dad, her moral choices. It felt cheap to give her so much fighting time but just a character sketch. Same for Michelle Yeoh, as a bit character!!! How dare you?!

Quick Note before this next section: I’m not coming at this from a “killing is bad for the soul” perspective or a marvel galaxybrain “you’ll become as bad as the villain blabla” ... nah, i’m coming at this as a Hong Kong low budget fight movie aficionado where the philosophy is part of the kicking-ass package and the person who wins was either tapping into their emotions or transcending them (or tapping into ancient heritage magic - that genre is fun too) and that mental breakthrough gave them a asskicking advantage. That was what I was expecting given the two main leads and the importance given to the two fighting styles.

So Shang has a really interesting character point and it’s never used: the man can kill and has killed and deliberately doesn’t when he could probably kill any obnoxious rando he met with the right chokehold and make it look like a heart attack. We don’t get to see any of his journey out of child soldier mode and back into sociability. We get a brief view of him doing pushups but not meditation or mantras to keep violence, risk and self harm away. Then when confronted with doing violence again it’s back into video-game-mode straight up, not Am I going to end up wrecking myself? How do I feel about being a weapon? He starts out using the Jackie Chan-Sammo Hung comedy action fighting technique but without the deliberate and very obvious avoidance of violence. So, from this first fight, I expect the violence to ramp up once we’re not among civilians. It doesn’t. Shang is clearly talented but inflicting bloodless painless moves where bones don’t break and enemies collapse quietly or dissappear from view.

Then we’re told he needs to bridge the divide between his mother and his father’s characters and fighting styles to become his true self. Okay. This is going to be the core of his origin story, usually this is about balance and abstraction of the self or learning from nature. The father is heartless & disconnected. The mother and her people are visually depicted as spiritual... but there’s not a single word referencing that, nor that different martial arts have different intentions and mindsets. Shang has an inner turmoil, he learns his mother’s style again then reflects and says he needs to kill his father: this is shown as worrying even though the ethics are sound. We’re not told *anything* of the thought process. There’s no emotional change to show his focus, this trained warrior is entirely re-active instead of pro-active. The change happens to him and the rings go orange and it’s supposed to mean something.

So basically there this big story hole where Shang’s supposed to reconcile his heartless training with (crypto?) buddhism and in the absence of anything else, it’s american christian shaped... and it feels very wierd.

Basically we go from

A- Killing dad is bad even though he’s a warlord terrorist who’s going to burn a sacred place to the ground if he doesn’t get what he wants

then B- Killing dad would be ok as it’s rooted in compassion for your second family (and saving the whole world) but it’d leave you “soiled”

to C- Avatar the last Airbender cop out, no killing required because demon ex machina

to D- Dad’s worth grieving because he did a tiny self sacrifice

and bonus really wierd E- Girlboss take his place, diversity win: the terrorists are now 50% female yaass!

It’s gorgeous, the actors are top notch but can only work with what they’re given. The ten rings are not earned, the ten rings are not a corrupting force to counter-balance: they are merely a tool. Shang has minimal agency, he chooses to face his past for his sister but beyond that he is moved from situation to situation by others or magic. His choice to fight his father is taken from him twice. He does not have to earn the protector dragon’s trust, he doesn’t have to discard emotion to focus on the fight, he doesn’t have to choose to take on the burden of the rings to save people. Tony Leung’s Wenwu shines like he’s the main protagonist because he is, his choices define the whole story, his will moves the plot along, everyone else is along for the ride.

Now how does Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stack against other superhero films: It’s good, it’s very enjoyable watching. The wire fu and Liu’s skills are very impressive. If you go in with the understanding that this is a marvel film: it’s more magical and charming than most, you really root for Shang he’s got the survivor with a heart of gold quality to him, he’s been hurt but he’s chosen warmth, they gave him friends and family who push him towards growth and the villain is multifaceted. He’s instantly likeable and relatable unlike Tony Stark or even Thor who needed time to embrace the responsibility part of power. But this is a Marvel film so we won’t get much character depth until we’re at Shang Chi III.

So go in expecting standard superhero fare and be pleasantly surprised. The spiritual has been scrubbed at least on a textual level from what can often be a buddhist or taoist genre (or shinto if you’re into japanese films) so you need to sort of mentally reset back into superhero mode or it feels like something’s not adding up. But that might be a localized problem: in continental europe we consume a lot more asian films and european gen Y & Z are more likely to be watching anime and doramas than say, CW/Riverdale stuff: the thought is that it’s foreign either way.

BTW french netflix is full of kdrama, jdrama and anime, if you use a VPN you can access it from your american netflix and avoid Viki

[thepause]

Dapp User Onboarding & Teardown with State of the DApps

Dapp User Onboarding & Teardown with State of the DApps

How do some popular Ethereum DApps onboard new users? See best practices and worst practices from dapp onboarding and product management.

DApps reviewed: 00:01:58 My Crypto Heroes 00:12:11 Cent 00:20:15 UniSwap More DApp teardowns on

Recorded during the Paris Community Blockchain Week and EthCC by Coinhouse

[carolinesiede]

My 2018 Writing Roundup

2018 was one of those years where I felt like I was frantically treading water all year, only to look up and realize I’d actually managed to swim myself to shore. The previous two years somehow felt simultaneously tumultuous and like a plateau. At first, I thought 2018 was more of the same, but looking back it was way more of a transitional year than I realized. I’m ending the year on a higher note than I started it, which is a really nice feeling. I’m in an apartment I love, feeling a bit more stable, and I even developed the ability to do a full pushup for the first time in my life, which is by far my single greatest achievement of the year!

This was my fifth year as a full-time freelance writer, and I experienced a pretty big shift in the types of articles I wrote this year—fewer short news posts and way more long-form pieces that more truly reflect my voice and opinions. I actually didn’t realize it until creating this roundup, but good god did I do a lot of writing this year. No wonder I had some pretty severe moments of burnout. I’m incredibly proud of the volume of writing I did, although I’m also frustrated that I worked this much yet still frequently struggled to make ends meet. Thankfully, after a rocky year money-wise, I found a little more stability towards the end of the year. Here’s hoping I can carry that forward into 2019!

One of my big goals for 2018 was to immerse myself more in the world of film criticism, and boy howdy did I manage to manifest that one! I quadrupled the number of films I watched this year and filled in some big cinematic blindspots. I also began writing film reviews in a regular capacity, first at Consequence of Sound and later for The A.V. Club and Alcohollywood as well. While I’ll always enjoy writing about TV (and loved covering the shows I did this year!), TV criticism is something I kind of inadvertently fell into at the start of my career. Film has always been my first love, and I’m glad I found the courage and drive to shift into this new area of writing. It’s been lovely to start immersing myself in the world of Chicago film critics too.

But by far my biggest achievement of the year (beyond being able to do a pushup, of course!) is launching my column When Romance Met Comedy for The A.V. Club. I poured my whole heart and soul into the column, both in terms of each individual entry and in terms of shaping its overall voice and making sure to cover a diverse set of films within the rom-com genre. It’s been a lot of work (way more work than is actually cost effective for me, to be honest), but I’m incredibly proud of how the column turned out in its first year. It’s also been really lovely to get so much positive feedback, both from the commentary community as well as from my A.V. Club bosses. I started my writing career with a blog about rom-coms and I find it hilarious that it took me four years to think of actually pitching that as an idea elsewhere. I’m so glad I did, and I’m having a blast planning out my slate of films to cover in 2019. (If you want to stump for your favorite, drop me a line on Twitter!)

With that, I’ll leave you with wishes for a Happy New Year and a roundup of all the major writing I did in 2018. If you enjoyed my work this year, it would mean a lot if you would support me on either Kofi or PayPal. Or just share some of your favorite pieces with your friends!

OP-EDS

My my, what the hell is up with the Mamma Mia! timeline?

A timey-wimey guide to the modern era of Doctor Who

Star Wars: Episode IX can fill Leia’s absence by embracing its forgotten queen

From femme fatale to complex superhero: The evolution of the MCU’s Black Widow

All the songs from The Greatest Showman, ranked

WHEN ROMANCE MET COMEDY

Like the best romantic comedies, Bridget Jones’s Diary is about more than just falling in love

Bringing Up Baby and the screwball comedies that delivered romance via pratfalls

After When Harry Met Sally, almost every rom-com tried to have what Nora Ephron was having

The Big Sick lovingly updated the rom-com formula with a coma and a great 9/11 joke

Something Borrowed and the phenomenon of rom-coms that hate women

In a sea of unintentionally creepy rom-coms, the original Overboard goes, well, overboard

My Best Friend’s Wedding rewrote the rom-com happy ending

Will Smith’s lone rom-com muddled its message about pickup artists and romance

Breakfast At Tiffany’s is so much more than a fashionable proto-Sex And The City

25 years ago, Sleepless In Seattle found the romantic hiding in the cynic

Before palling around with Ant-Man and the Wasp, Peyton Reed was Down With Love

You can dance, you can jive, you can love Mamma Mia! without feeling embarrassed

Maid In Manhattan let Jennifer Lopez’s rom-com talents sparkle

Pair Crazy Rich Asians with this Hong Kong rom-com classic

Jane Austen provided the romantic comedy some Sense And Sensibility

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days set the stage for the rom-com’s downfall

Romantic comedies (briefly) came out of the closet with In & Out

Pretty In Pink is a far superior riff on the Sixteen Candles formula

How Stella Got Her Groove Back is a sexy vacation romp that explores the line between fantasy and reality

The Devil Wears Prada pulls off the perfect romantic comedy look, even though it really isn't one

Enchanted, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Disney princess

Why are Hallmark Christmas movies so addictive?

Without hope or agenda: A defense of Love Actually

SEASON-LONG TV COVERAGE

Doctor Who S11

Daredevil S3

This Is Us S2 and S3

Jessica Jones S2

Supergirl S3 and S4

FILM REVIEWS

Crazy Rich Asians has so much rom-com razzle dazzle it practically sings

Ben Mendelsohn battles suburban ennui in Nicole Holofcener’s The Land Of Steady Habits

Michael Shannon is refreshingly ordinary in What They Had, a family drama with focus issues

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne build an Instant Family in a comedy more touching than funny

After a clumsy opening statement, RBG biopic On The Basis Of Sex effectively argues its case

Jennifer Lopez’s overstuffed Second Act offers three movies for the price of one

The Girl in the Spider’s Web: Lisbeth Slander gets an action hero makeover

Widows: An Enthralling Heist Thriller with Some Less Interesting Gangster Drama Touches

If Beale Street Could Talk: Love is a Battle, Love is a War

6 Balloons tackles the everyday agonies of the opiate crisis

I Feel Pretty takes on identity crises while having one of its own

RBG examines the complex, inspiring woman behind all the memes

Book Club does a disservice to its gifted cast of legacy stars

Set It Up is a fine, breezy rom-com for the start of summer

Ant-Man and the Wasp takes a modest quantum leap for the series

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind looks into the late comedian’s heart

The Spy Who Dumped Me is a fun but fairly disposable summer flick

Like Father uses the Netflix format to play around with comic conventions

Madeline’s Madeline blurs the lines of fantasy and reality

Life Itself is so bizarre it has to be seen to be believed

Private Life takes a personal, observant look at late-life reproduction

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a CGI mess with an earnest heart

The Grinch goes CGI and gets a fluffy, sincere modern update

TV REVIEWS/OP-EDS

Grey’s Anatomy’s lengthy existence isn’t a joke, it’s a strength

This Is Us is obsessed with killing its dad

Three years later, Supergirl is still telling the best female-centered superhero stories

Even without a resurrection, John Legend rises in NBC’s electrifying Jesus Christ Superstar Live

Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban lend an infectious energy to the wonderfully earnest 72nd Annual Tony Awards

Iron Fist season 2 feels like an entirely different show—which is mostly a good thing

13 Reasons Why puts itself on trial but can’t give up its worst impulses in season 2

Sex dreams and explosive rectal surgeries—it must be the Grey’s Anatomy season 15 premiere

Pre-Air Review: Dietland offers an ambitious, unapologetic taste of something new

Season Two Review: The messages of The Handmaid’s Tale season two resonate now more than ever

Season One Review: AMC’s Dietland aimed wide and mostly hit its marks in a chaotic first season

PODCAST GUEST APPEARANCES

Cinematic Universe: Men In Black

Cinematic Universe: Independence Day

Filmography: Wes Anderson comedies

Debating Doctor Who: Favorite guest stars part 1 and part 2

TV Party: Let’s Solve Westworld Season Two

TV Party: Appreciating The West Wing’s “Two Cathedrals”

Plus some other episodes of TV Party including this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one.

MINDMEET INTERVIEWS

Bernard Avle: Human Beings Are Stories

The CyberCode Twins: A Blockchain Beacon of Hope

Jason Berlin and Tour de Crypto: A Pioneering Journey to Raise Awareness for Charity and Bitcoin

And here are similar year-end wrap-ups I did in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.