#at least stay true to your pro life moniker

[official-virtual-hug-dealer]

Whenever I see someone posting about banning abortion, just one question comes to mind:

What do you propose to make sure that no one should be desperate enough to do something drastic like that?

[ninetyfivepercentdantomasik]

Great Series: My Hero Academia

Characters of Note:

Tsuyu Asui, aka Sue, aka “Froppy”

Katsuki Bakugo, aka Kacchan, aka “King/Lord Explosion Murder”

Toshinori Yagi, aka “All Might”

Chizome Akaguro, aka “Hero Killer Stain”

Here’s a series that’s going places. And you’re going to underestimate it. Trust me. How do I know? I sure as hell underestimated it. I saw the covers, then read a chapter and then dismissed it completely. Every so-called “Quirk” seemed either useless or just boring. From that brief glance the series came off as generic, bland, corny, cheesy, and ultimately unimpressive. Boy do I feel foolish.

From the very first chapter this series proved itself a cut above the rest; offering a clear sense of direction & purpose, interesting character development, excellent action, and a timeless and well-executed moral about being a hero. Definitely one of the strongest pilots I’ve read. Shame that couldn’t have been the chapter I first found of it so I could have given this series the attention it deserved a year ago. The chapter I actually read was in the first volume, but lacked the momentum and background established in the chapters before it, making it come off as very weak.

(It was the Quirk-Enhanced Standard Fitness Exam)

We live in an age of superheroes. Movies, television, books, clothing, amusement parks, video games; they’re friggin’ everywhere. Where do we trace this New Age of Heroes back to? 5 years ago for The Avengers? 10 years to Iron Man and The Dark Knight? 18 years to X-Men and Spiderman? 20+ years ago to the Batman and Superman Animated Series? Hell, this is just my timeline for my age, it keeps going for others. I guess the point that needs to be made is superheroes haven’t just been popular recently, this has been going on for decades. New heroes, new stories, new genres, new breakthroughs; so much has been explored and continues to be explored. How does a series stand out in an ocean of similar products all vying for reader attention? Quality.

So many hero stories put the cart before the horse; the superpowers before the heroes. We judge heroes by how powerful they are, paying much less attention to the person behind the power. What makes each of the characters below great is not their Quirks, but their character. Yes, that sounds redundant. Bear with me.

A fantastic model for not judging a book by its cover, Tsuyu Asui comes off as a trivial, even silly character. Her Quirk is “Frog Girl”; akin to Spiderman, The Lizard, or Squirrel Girl. She can do basically whatever a frog can. Stick to surfaces, stretch out her tongue, leap great distances, move quickly underwater, and regurgitate her stomach. Sounds comical, menial, and in one case unnecessarily gross. Keep laughing, she’s one of the top students in her class and more likely than many to go pro as a hero. She’s level-headed, quick to react, perceptive, and takes initiative. This applies to everything from sudden disasters in real time to smacking perverted classmates in the classroom. Split-second decision making and the ability to flexibly adapt to every situation that presents itself, no matter how unexpected, has revealed her to be a young heroine of great promise. What’s more, being constantly underestimated and disregarded by friend & foe alike provides her with a never-ending supply of openings to act. That adorable froggy face is the last one you’d expect to kick your ass or get the better of you. You see a comic relief hero, a fun idea but not a character you’d ever take seriously without a more standard ability like super strength. The reality of hero situations is that there’s much more to it than power vs power. Outside influences, environmental factors, tactical oversights, motive or lack thereof, state of mind, power scale; any one of these factors can be the difference between victory and defeat. Only the foolish try to settle everything with overwhelming power.

....Which brings us to our next hero, Katsuki Bakugo, better known as Kacchan. A great take on the antihero rival, Kacchan is one of the most explosive personalities you’ll ever meet, to good effect. He starts out as a bully with a particularly powerful and intimidating Quirk (quite fittingly, “Explosions”), but by the end of the pilot had already begun transforming into the conflicting and unstable young man we know and love. Kacchan shoulders the responsibilities of the Rival, the Genius, the Antihero, the Rebel, and the Angry Comic Relief; all in one package. The result is a hot-headed teenager who gets on a lot of people’s nerves with his confidence and attitude, but earns his title of “genius”. His solution to almost everything is battle; same time, he actually has a good head for resolving all of his problems this way. As a student he performs well, albeit with a cocky attitude towards everyone else, and as a hero he can think up new strategies and inventive uses of his Quirk on the fly. No matter what test or challenge they throw at him, he acts decisively and without hesitation. To be honest, he’s found very few challenges that cannot be resolved with some variation on a handful of exploding pain, but he’s definitely someone who belongs in the superhero industry. Even so, his powers are only an extension of his natural combat ability, which allows him to outthink and outmaneuver almost every foe, and turns his exploding blows into a strong argument for the opponent to stay down and accept the loss. His biggest weakness, not surprisingly, is his temper, which has only three settings:

1. Casual Death Threats

2. Focused Anger

3. DIE!!!!

Kacchan is so used to winning and beating anyone who opposes him that he reacts very poorly to people that continue getting up. He disregards strategy and goes straight for the kill, or overkill. And if he gets fooled or cheated by any opponent, he becomes absolutely livid. Which is also hilarious. Gotta love a guy who threatens to set you on fire if you don’t move.

Then there’s the Big Guy. The Symbol of Peace in our time, the #1 Hero in the world, All Might. A big part of my staying away from this series was this guy. He just looks so goofy and unbearably cheesy, a big, smiling mix-up of Thor, Superman, and Captain Falcon. God he seems so stupid. FOOL! What instantly won me over in this series was actually meeting All Might in the pilot. When his facade fades away and you see the man underneath the blustering model of super-manliness, something immediately clicked. From the model of almighty (oh.... that’s where the name comes from), he becomes the epitome of weakness. This guy probably couldn’t take Billy Bat in a schoolyard fight. The truth behind All Might is that he’s barely hanging on. A debilitating wound from an enemy 5 years prior to the series nearly destroyed his respiratory system and necessitated his stomach being removed. Every day he can hold his hero form a little less, every time he pushes himself he shortens his life, and soon he may not be able to transform at all. It’s feeling the weight of how far an injury can take you that really adds depth to All Might. In his normal form, he’s practically a skeleton, prone to coughing up blood every time he laughs or opens his mouth. We judge most heroes by the battles at the peak of their strength, but All Might’s greatest battle is just surviving with his gaunt, emaciated body. It’s devastating to think that someone so iconic of power and durability, with nothing else besides them, could die on a hospital bed a shriveled-up thing. We don’t want Superman to die of cancer, we want him to die in battle giving his all against the greatest foe of his superhero career. Preferably a god or something.

Last but not least we have the Hero Killer Stain. Imagine Slade Wilson with more conviction but less stability. Before he was caught, Stain had murdered 17 heroes and seriously injured dozens more. His Quirk allows him to temporarily paralyze anyone once he’s tasted their blood. A Quirk that only has tactical application if you can get in close, wound your opponent, and lick them. What’s that mean for Stain? Means he’s a tough-ass motherf***er. Since his Quirk can only be used as an endgame, he’s taking on all these professional heroes with nothing but skill and stamina. The guy is a blur of blades and unpredictable movements, setting up multiple attacks with every move he makes while dodging and avoiding his enemies attacks. Unlike others, there’s no hint that he plans out his attacks beforehand, no studying or researching his targets, no strategy besides find ‘em, cut ‘em, and kill ‘em. If such a frightening level of combat skill weren’t enough, his dedication and resolve have shaken many heroes and even villains. Stain was a former hero who dropped out after perceiving what he saw as a perversion of true heroism. Heroes in it for attention, status, wealth, or glory; heroes in it for themselves, not for doing good. He preached this for some time, then decided words alone weren’t enough. Thus began his purge. If anything could be more terrifying for a hero than dying to a crazy villain, it would be dying to a crazy villain who sees you more clearly than you see yourself. That’s the last stone in the temple of Stain, that conviction that lets him clearly see some for heroes worth respecting and others for posers only deserving death. Seeing him escape custody to kill a monster and save a teenage hero who helped bring him down, then stand, broken ribs, punctured lung, burned head, and broken weapons, against pros and amateur heroes alike, ready to take them all on. Seeing him refuse to go down except to a true hero. As his moniker applies, Stain has left a mark on heroes and villains everywhere.

[elizabethcariasa]

Bad tax preparers again make IRS' Dirty Dozen scam list

If tax it the time of coronavirus taught us anything, it's that tax professionals are indispensable.

On the heels of getting a handle on the 2017 tax reform changes, tax pros this filing season were handed even more jobs. They helped people understand COVID-19 economic relief payments, what tax tasks were delayed until when and the Paycheck Protection Program.

And now, just days after Tax Day 2020 finally came and went, another coronavirus stimulus package, no doubt with more tax implications, is in the works.

The bottom line is that tax help from a reputable tax pro is critical, in normal and decidedly abnormal tax years like 2020.

Picking, vetting your tax adviser: A tax pro gets an inside look at some of your most intimate fiscal and personal information. You depend on them to help you meet your tax obligations legally and in the least costly way possible.

So it's crucial that you make the correct choice when choosing tax help. That isn't always easy.

First you must determine which type of tax preparer fits your personal tax and financial needs. Once you decide that, you then must thoroughly check out that preparer to make sure that she or he is knowledgeable and trustworthy.

Most tax pros are honest and provide high-quality service. They work overtime to make sure they are on top of the tax laws and the intricacies that could benefit clients.

Sadly, though, there are bad actors in every profession. That means the tax profession has its share of unscrupulous return preparers. And these folks are part, once again, of the Internal Revenue Service's annual Dirty Dozen threats to taxpayers.

Ghost tax preparers: Among the worst of corrupt tax pros are the so-called ghost preparers. These unprincipled preparers regularly expose their clients to potentially serious filing mistakes. When these crooked preparers are done, their victims face not only the loss of the tax refund they were counting on, but also possible tax fraud charges.

A key tip-off that you're dealing with a ghost preparer is that they don't sign the tax returns they prepare. They may print the tax return, leaving the tax preparer portion blank, and tell the taxpayer to sign and mail it to the IRS.

In e-filing cases, a ghost preparer will complete but not digitally sign as the paid preparer the electronic return.

By law, anyone who is paid to prepare or help complete a federal tax return, either on paper or electronically, must have a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). All paid preparers must include their PTINs on the returns they completed or provided help with and also sign those returns, whether paper or electronic.

This lack of identifiers is how these unscrupulous preparers earned their ghost monikers.

Frequent ghost targets: In addition to helping folks who find them, the IRS warns that ghost (and other unscrupulous) preparers also often target individuals who don't have a filing requirement. They then promise these folks inflated refunds by claiming tax credits, such as education credits or the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), for which the individuals don't qualify.

Such no-need-to-file folks got special attention this year because of COVID-19 economic relief payments. These folks were eligible for the stimulus amounts, but had to fill out a return so the IRS, which is charged with still distributing the money, knew where to send it.

These nonfilers, many of whom had not sent in a Form 1040 in years, were perfect prey for these bad tax pros.

Bad tax preparer warning signals: The bottom line, as noted earlier in this post, is that taxpayers need to be proactive in finding and vetting tax pros.

If you encounter one who promises you a big refund before looking at your personal tax records, don't hire that person.

The same no-hire advice applies to a tax preparer whose fees are based on a percentage of your refund. That's a signal that your filing might be fudged to create a bigger refund and bigger fee for the preparer.

Even after you've settled on a tax preparer, if that person asks you to sign a blank return, don't. If they insist, walk away.

Remember, even if your tax preparer is a crook, you are the one who will pay. Taxpayers are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of their tax returns, regardless of who prepares it.

Note, too, that if you do fall victim to an abusive tax pro, you can report that bad tax preparer to the IRS.

12 on the tax big bad list: Also stay on alert for the other 11 Dirty Dozen tax scams and threats that made the IRS' 2020 list. Remember that efforts to steal your money and/or tax identity occur year-round.

The full slate of bad tax actors and actions is:

Ghost and other unscrupulous tax preparers

COVID-19 economic relief payment or tax refund theft

Phishing

Fake charities

IRS impersonators' threatening phone calls

Social media scams

Senior fraud

Scams targeting non-English speakers

Offer in Compromise mills

Fake payments with repayment Demands

Payroll and HR scams

Ransomware

Several of the scams, like those perpetuated by unscrupulous preparers, are repeat offenders. Phishing, fake charities and the persistent threatening calls from crooks claiming to be with the IRS also are list returnees in 2020.

The links in the above numbered list go to some of my blog posts on those topics. You also can read more about each scam area in the IRS' detailed release of this year's Dirty Dozen.

Report all scams and attempts: As the inclusion of coronavirus-related scams on this year's list shows, crooks are always evolving.

If you've been an identity theft or scam victim or even a near-victim, whether COVID-19 related or otherwise, let the IRS and other federal agencies monitoring such criminal activities know.

Tell the IRS about phishing attempts, especially unsolicited efforts to gather tax-related information, by forwarding the fake emails to phishing@irs.gov.

Report any COVID-19 schemes to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF). You can call the toll-free hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or fill out a the NCDF's online complaint form.

You call can any tax-related fraud or theft to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The best way to do that is with TIGTA's online reporting option at its online scam page.

Finally, trust your instincts. Most of us know when something seems off. When it comes to most things in life, including taxes, offers that seem to be too good to be true usually end up not being true.

You also might find these items of interest:

6 ways to avoid being a tax scam victim

Tax scams use SSNs, fake tax agency as hooks

2019's Dirty Dozen tax scams repeat last year's list

Advertisements

  // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]>  

[chasingthecosmos]

By Any Other Name

Fandom: Doctor Who Rating: G Pairing: The Doctor/Rose Tyler, Eleventh Doctor/Rose Tyler (The Doctor/Clara Oswald, Eleventh Doctor/Clara Oswald) Chapters: 5/26 Read on AO3 here.

“Rose Tyler was dying - or, at least, she was relatively certain that that’s what was happening …” A Season 7 AU where Rose returns to her home universe only to find that 100 years have passed and nothing is quite the way that she remembers it. She wakes up with a new body, a new life, and a new Doctor. What has the Bad Wolf gotten her into this time? Rating may go up as the story continues

Rose felt sick to her stomach. Over a century - over a century he had been wandering around without her. Would he even remember who she was if she ever got around to telling him? She realized suddenly that she couldn't begrudge him that strange, dark look in his eyes - nor could she hate him for the way he so easily flirted with other girls. A hundred years was enough to change any man. She just wondered what sort of man he had changed into ...

The Doctor seemed to take Rose's shocked expression for the normal human response to his extended lifespan and he smiled knowingly down at her as he announced, "I'm the Doctor, I'm an alien from outer space, I'm a thousand years old, I've got two hearts, and I've got a big blue box that's actually a spaceship that's bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in space and time."

Rose screwed up her eyebrows at him in a frustrated look as she demanded, "Oh, is that it, then? Is that how you introduce yourself, now?"

He blinked in confusion for a moment before replying slowly, "Yes ... I suppose so ..."

"And you want to complain about me not asking the right questions, when you just go and play all of your cards at once like that?" she muttered with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.

That startled an amused chuckle out of him and Rose couldn't help but smile as she met his softly curious expression.

"Who are you, Clara Oswald?" he asked with quiet interest.

The moniker sounded so wrong coming from his lips that Rose very nearly blurted out her true name right then and there, just in an attempt to correct him.

"What makes you think I'm anyone?" she asked evasively instead.

"Well, everyone's someone," the Doctor insisted, stepping forward and invading her personal space again as he looked down searchingly into her eyes.

Rose found that she was frozen under his scrutinizing expression, entirely unable to look away or find another way to deflect his probing questions.

"I'm not," she finally whispered under her breath. "Not yet. Not here."

The Doctor's brows furrowed in quiet contemplation for a moment, and just as Rose was beginning to worry about how she would lie directly to the face of the man who she cared most about in all of creation, he stepped away from her again, turning back to face his TARDIS with a grand, sweeping gesture of his arms.

"So, what do you say?" he asked suddenly. "Anywhere. All of time and space, right inside those doors."

"What?" she asked, blinking up at him in surprise.

"Come on, Clara," he groaned. "We've been through all of the questions and answers already, you know them all! So? What'll it be?"

He pushed the TARDIS doors open with a self-satisfied smirk that she really wanted to wipe off of his smug old face.

"Are you serious?" she asked breathlessly instead, peering past his shoulder to glimpse the blue glow of the time rotor reflecting off of the shiny silver surfaces of the interior of his ship. The TARDIS looked just like she had when Rose had seen her at Christmas, and the pull that she felt in her chest was just as strong.

But a lifetime spent in another world with a man that she loved still wasn't enough to settle her doubts about this daft old alien, and Rose needed to be sure. She knew - her husband had told her - that the Doctor never asked twice. But he had for her - over a century ago on that dark, dirty London street corner. He had come back for her and asked again. Her husband told her it was because he had already known that there was something special about her, right from the very start. She wondered if a hundred years was enough time for this man to change his mind about her.

"Come back tomorrow," Rose muttered, watching him with a speculative look. "Ask me again."

"Why?" the Doctor asked, his smile instantly disappearing as he stared down at her in confusion.

"Because tomorrow I might say yes," she answered teasingly. And it felt so wrong in this new body, but she knew how much he had enjoyed her old, tongue-touched smile, so she flashed it for him again, and was rewarded when his gaze zeroed-in on her mouth with an intensity that she had forgotten he possessed during their time apart. A thousand different things flashed behind his old green eyes in that moment, but Rose was really only able to focus on the way that his pupils noticeably dilated.

When she raised an eyebrow at him in silent question, the Doctor finally cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped away, grumbling under his breath the entire time.

"You know, it's three-o'-clock in the morning," he sighed wearily. "It's not really even worth it to get in the TARDIS and skip ahead to tomorrow. I might as well just wait here until dawn breaks."

"You could, if you wanted to," Rose replied with an unaffected shrug.

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, confused.

"You could stay," Rose elaborated, nodding her head over her shoulder back in the direction of the darkened house behind her. She still didn't really know what "Clara's" living situation was like, but she was certain that the house was empty, and no one would likely return until tomorrow morning anyway.

"'Stay'?" the Doctor repeated, flashing her an oddly horrified look. "You know, I did try that once."

"Seriously?" Rose asked, not sure whether to be amused or irritated that the Doctor had somehow found it in him to take the dreaded slow-path with anyone other than herself.

"Wasn't really for me," he sniffed lightly. "Only managed to make it about an hour."

"Well, what do you say?" Rose prodded teasingly. "Think you can make three more?"

The Doctor's eyes narrowed once more as he seemed to quietly debate the pros and cons of having to stay the night in a human house. Finally, his shoulders sagged and he gave a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. Alright, then," he groaned dramatically. "But it's only so that I can keep an eye on you. And I'll have you know that I'll be expecting breakfast in the morning!"

"Okay," Rose agreed easily, giving him a considering look. "Maybe I'll make you one of my world-famous soufflés."

The Doctor's eyes widened to comical proportions, but Rose turned her back on him so that he wouldn't be able to see her gleeful smile. She knew that she shouldn't be enjoying this as much as she was, but for once she knew more than he did - and the experience was exhilarating to say the least.

--------------------

Rose's first night back in her home universe was strange. She didn't realize until she stepped into the small bathroom in the hallway near her bedroom (well, the room that she had inadvertently claimed, anyway) how very

odd

the whole situation was.

Who was Clara Oswin Oswald? She appeared to have her own books and a job and a toothbrush and a laptop, and even though the last one was oddly empty for someone who was supposedly in her mid-twenties and would have surely used it before, it was fairly clear that she was indeed a real, human person with a life all her own.

Rose felt like an intruder in her own skin as she leaned over the bathroom sink and peered at her new reflection in the oval mirror hanging on the wall. Her dark brown eyes narrowed as she slowly inspected every single detail of her new form.

Who am I? she thought quietly to herself.

She wasn't exactly expecting an answer, but one came anyway in a sudden flash of golden light behind her eyelids. You are yourself, the Bad Wolf replied simply.

Yeah, but who is this Clara person? Rose insisted, not even bothering to ask why or how the Bad Wolf was speaking to her now. She had too many other pressing questions weighing in on her mind at the moment. She furrowed her brows at her reflection and focused all of her thoughts on the strange, ephemeral voice echoing inside of her head.

Did I just steal someone else's identity? she asked curiously. Or is the real Clara still out there somewhere, wandering around? Or ... wait, hold on ... Is she dead? Am I walking around in a dead girl's body?

There is no Clara Oswin Oswald, the Bad Wolf replied evenly, refusing to rise to Rose's suddenly panicked thoughts. She is no one - an invention of the Bad Wolf. I have placed fabricated memories of her in the minds of those surrounding this household so that you could have a seamless transition into this world. Clara Oswin Oswald is you.

No, but ... I'm Rose.

Yes.

Well, you can't be two people at once, that's just ridiculous ...

I exist across all of time and space, the Bad Wolf explained in her typical flat monotone. There are many realities, many lives, many names. You're simply more.

'More'?

More than Rose, more than Clara, more than human.

Yeah, you're going to need to explain that one to me a bit.

In time, dear one. I will speak with you again at the Rings of Akhaten.

The rings of what? Rose thought, but there was another flash of golden light and she knew that her time for finding answers had come to a close.

Rose sighed wearily as she gave her strange new reflection one last hard glare before forcing herself into the strange new bed that she supposed she might as well start calling her own.

--------------------

Rose wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting to find the next morning - maybe a half-way remodeled kitchen or a fancy new gadget in the garage or a fully-furnished bigger-on-the-inside shed out back. What she most certainly

hadn't

been expecting was to wake up to complete and utter silence as early morning sunlight drifted lazily over her bed.

She stretched her sleepy muscles as she slowly regained consciousness and moaned happily at the sensation of her new, lithe young body. She still wasn't quite used to the way that she felt in this new skin.

"Oh, good, you're up."

The sudden male voice made Rose start with a gasp and she grabbed her blankets defensively as she whipped her head towards her open bedroom doorway. A tall man with wide shoulders, floppy hair, and a bowtie was leaning casually against the doorframe and watching her with an oddly hooded expression. It took Rose a minute to remember who he was - but she wasn't sure if that was because of her own exhausted mind, or the fact that she wasn't quite used to his new skin, either.

"Doctor!" she gasped in surprise. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Spent the night, remember?" he replied, throwing a casual thumb over his shoulder as if that were explanation enough for how he had spent the last three or four hours.

But Rose had spent almost seventy years - nearly a whole lifetime - being married to the Doctor, and even if he wasn't this man exactly and he had a whole host of different expressions and mannerisms, she liked to think that she was pretty good at reading him. And the current guarded expression on the Doctor's face told a very different story from what he was telling her with his words.

"Did you, though?" she asked suspiciously.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed to match her own and he pushed himself off of the doorway to stand to his full height before admitting, "Fine. No, I lied. I didn't stay. I thought, 'hey, since we're going out on an adventure tomorrow, might as well get to know my new companion', right? So I Googled you."

"You ... 'Googled' me?" Rose repeated in complete disbelief.

"Yes, well, I tried to," the Doctor went on, beginning to pace within the doorway now and flinging his hands about wildly. "But there wasn't much to find. Actually, there wasn't anything to find. So I thought, 'hmm, that's odd. Best look into that', so I popped back a few years to search for birth records, graduations, parents, family, friends, anything, and you know what I found?"

"No ...?" Rose answered slowly, already fearing what his answer might be. The Bad Wolf had said that Clara Oswin Oswald was a construct - an alibi created in this world for her to fill. She knew that no lie or story that she could make up would ever be good enough to fool the Doctor - he had clearly spent the last few hours doing his research.

"Nothing," the Doctor answered, halting his frantic movements and coming to a stop right over Rose's bed. He was smiling down at her, but the expression wasn't a nice one. Rose had seen the Oncoming Storm many times in her life, but never had she seen it directed at her. "No birth, no death, no relationships, not so much as a single fingerprint. You're no one, Clara Oswald."

Silence fell between them, then, and Rose knew that he was waiting for her to contradict him or try and fabricate some sort of lie to cover her tracks, but she refused. She considered, very briefly, telling him the truth, but the words were clinging to the inside of her throat and refused to come out.

So finally, she did what she had seen the Doctor do so many times that she had lost count over the years - she evaded the question.

"Everyone's someone," she muttered, watching him carefully as she repeated the words that he had spoken to her just a few hours ago.

The Doctor laughed, but there was no real humor behind it, and the poisonous look in his green eyes didn't fade in the slightest.

"Why did you do it, though?" Rose asked curiously, tilting her head at him in question.

"Do what?" the Doctor asked, his tone like ice.

"Why did you ... Google me?" She tossed him a flirtatious grin and was pleased to see that the hard look in his eyes softened just the slightest bit before he finally turned and began his casual fidgeting once more.

"Well, it's like I said - if we're going to travel together, I have to know what kind of person I'm bringing along with me," he explained easily.

"Yeah, except, you don't do that," Rose reminded him pointedly.

"And how do you know what I do and don't do?" the Doctor asked, flashing her another suspicious look as he began poking and prodding at the small, meaningless things around Rose's borrowed room.

"You couldn't even force yourself to lay down on the sofa for a three-hour kip," Rose explained with an offhanded shrug. "You also haven't stopped moving for more than two seconds ever since you first barged through my front door yesterday. For a thousand-year-old alien, your attention span is pretty spotty. Why would a man like that who has all of time and space at his disposal go and look up one single, human girl? There is such a thing as being too keen, you know."

The Doctor made a disgruntled noise and then stuttered awkwardly for a moment as he fidgeted in place at the edge of her room and glared at her indignantly. "Oh ... shut up," he finally growled, though there was no real venom behind his words this time.

Rose grinned brightly as he turned his back on her, but not in time to hide his suddenly pink cheeks. She was amazed at how these new bodies gave their flirtatious banter a whole new perspective. It seemed that her new form was witty, challenging, and just as fond of words as her husband had been, while his new persona was awkward, mercurial, and quick to blush.

She could hear the Doctor's boots on the stairs making far more noise than he needed to - like a young boy pouting after he'd been told off. He called back petulantly, "Don't think I've forgotten that I was promised breakfast!"

And oh, she had missed this.

[wwbnews]

New Nintendo Switch: everything we want to see from the next Switch console New Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Switch Pro, Switch Mini, or a pair of new Switch consoles – whatever the new handheld from Nintendo is called, there's going to be at least one other Switch model coming down the line at some point soon. With the Nintendo Switch coming up to the two-year mark, it's safe to say the hybrid handheld / portable console has taken the world by storm. It's the fastest selling console ever in the US and making Nintendo an absolute shedload of money. But hardware ages quickly nowadays, and Nintendo will be looking to a hardware upgrade to ensure its console stays relevant and attractive to today's gamers. So how to build on a success like the Switch? Hardware upgrades are nothing new for consoles, let alone those from Nintendo. The Japanese gaming giant has a fruitful record for iterating its handheld consoles: there have been multiple models of the 3DS family available in different sizes, shapes, and with varying 3D capability, but all able to play the same game cartridges as each other. Even Sony and Microsoft have come round to iterative releases, offering mid-cycle upgrades such as the Xbox One S, Xbox One X, or PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro. So when will we see a new Nintendo Switch, and what new features will it offer? While we wait for more definitive answers, we've run through the likely (and unlikely) possibilities below... [Update: Sony official confirms PlayStation 5 details.] New Nintendo Switch release date With your average console lifecycle floating around the five or six year mark, an announcement this summer to be followed by a winter release would see Nintendo on par for a mid-generation console refresh. It's far from unusual for Nintendo – everything from the Gameboy to the Wii to the 3DS received multiple updated across their life spans. But given that Nintendo hasn't officially confirmed there's a Nintendo Switch 2 in the works (the latest rumors seem solid but are based on a Wall Street Journal report), it's hard to guess what kind of release date we’re looking at. . We know that the company is hoping the Switch will go further than the standard five to six year lifecycle of a console, after Shigeru Miyamoto told investors as much in a Q&A. Prior to this, Nintendo's consoles have usually topped out at the five to six year mark before moving onto the next generation. Clearly Nintendo has something up its sleeve for the Switch 2, and we wonder if it's going to follow in the footsteps of Sony and Microsoft, both of which launch hardware upgrades at strategic intervals to prolong the current generation. Based on these industry trends, it would make sense for Nintendo to release an upgraded version of the Switch hardware between two and three years into its lifetime, which would mean we could see Nintendo Switch 2.0 in 2019 or 2020. With an iterative approach that sees a power upgrade and some design refinements, it could be that we see the Switch line run easily into 2022. We'd expect Nintendo to release a new model before the Xbox Two or PS5 hits shelves – likely in late 2019 – chiming with a report from the Wall Street Journal that predicted a new Nintendo Switch model in mid-to-late 2019. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has since shut those rumors down, however, saying no successor was currently in the works. But if the new Nintendo Switch ends up with a 2020 release, it's likely that it will be in direct competition with the next Xbox and PS5 release as Sony has already confirmed we won't see the PS5 in 2019 and we haven't got high hopes of seeing Xbox Scarlett by the end of the year - even if we do expect the next Xbox to be announced at E3 2019... Tetris 99 and the best free Nintendo Switch games New Nintendo Switch price Obviously redesigns cost money, and redesigns with improved hardware doubly so. Rather than jack up the price, though, we imagine the new model will match the current £279 / $299 pricing, alongside a price drop for what will then become the outdated model. If, however, the new Nintendo Switch model is actually a premium or 'Pro' version that sits alongside the standard console, or even a cheaper handheld-only 'Switch Mini' – then we could see that figure jump considerably in either direction. (Given the naming conventions of the 3DS, we think 'New Nintendo Switch' is a likely moniker.) New Nintendo Switch news and leaks Now, despite the fact that Nintendo hasn’t confirmed it’s planning to release a Nintendo Switch 2, there have been reports and leaks which suggest plans are, at the very least, being made. Two new Nintendo Switch devices Rather than being a straight-up Nintendo Switch 2, a Wall Street Journalreport suggests that Nintendo is working on two individual variants that, rather than making the current Nintendo Switch obsolete, would put it in the middle of a range growing to suit all budgets. According the publication's sources, the first of these new devices will be aimed at budget gamers, and will see the Switch presented in a more traditional handheld-first format. It'll replace removable Joy-Cons with fixed ones, and ditch their HD Rumble feature in order to bring costs down, making it presumably more difficult to play in the docked mode with a TV without the purchase of a separate controller. The second new version of the Nintendo Switch, going by the rumor, is a little harder to pin down, but would be a premium version of the console with "enhanced features targeted at avid videogamers." That's not to suggest it would be aiming for 4K or HDR visuals, but would more likely have features and services baked in that would accommodate the modern obsession with streaming to platforms like Twitch. Could a cheaper Switch model say goodbye to detachable controllers? E3 rumors A report by Bloomberg suggested we could see the budget model launch as early as June, with E3 2019 proving a natural time to showcase the product. Nintendo has since quashed rumors of an E3 reveal, though the general timeline might not be far off. The 5.0 firmware dig Though the Nintendo Switch’s 5.0 firmware update wasn’t up to much on the surface, hackers on Switchbrew dug into the upgrade and found evidence which suggests a hardware refresh is in the works. Switchbrew discovered references to a new T214 chip (which would be a small improvement on the current T210) as well as an updated printed circuit board and 8GB of RAM instead of the current 4GB. While any kind of chip upgrade could simply be Nintendo’s response to some hardware security problems which have emerged with the current SoC – like the homebrew hackers who have started creating pirated Switch titles – the new PCB and increased RAM suggest something more than this: a more powerful device. Labo's cardboard accessories show Nintendo's intense focus on peripherals It's important to note that the files uncovered by these Switchbrew members contain neither a timescale nor a definitive statement of intent from Nintendo. The Switch is proof that state-of-the-art technology isn't the sole key to success in a wider sense, but it’s important to remember that as far as handhelds are concerned, the Switch is at the cutting edge and Nintendo will need to keep it there. If these hardware upgrade rumors turn out to be true, Nintendo has plenty of time before it has to do any kind of refresh. AR and VR support VR and AR support for the Switch never looked likely, with the MD of Nintendo France citing a lack of mainstream appeal for the technology as recently as 2018, but the new Labo VR Kit shows Nintendo has changed its mind about the viability of VR. The Switch doesn't have the high resolution of most VR gaming rigs, so we could see an advanced model with 2K or 4K resolution to improve those close-up VR experiences. However, given the VR Kit is still focused mainly on children, we'd be surprised to see a visual overhaul simply for this one peripheral. Don't expect to see this anytime soon What about 3D? Another Nintendo patent came to light in early 2019: this time for a 3D sensor array that sits above your television, and creates a stereoscopic image in a similar way to the 3DS, meaning you wouldn't even need glasses. 3D visuals felt like a passing gimmick even with Nintendo's handheld consoles – and the troubled Microsoft Kinect camera will no doubt keep it wary of unnecessary TV peripherals. But getting convincing 3D imaging on standard 2D TVs may the step needed to bring 3D gaming mainstream. Could it support 4K? While Sony and Microsoft push at the 4K market, there isn’t really any big reason for Nintendo, the company that staunchly sets itself apart from other hardware producers, to follow suit. In the same interview where he dismissed VR, Nintendo France General Manager Philippe Lavoué also brushed off 4K saying that the technology has “not been adopted by the majority” and it would, therefore, be too early for Nintendo to jump in. Nintendo didn’t enter the HD console market until 2012 when it released the Wii U. This was around four years after Sony and Microsoft and at the point when more than 75% of US households actually had HD displays in their home. Miyamoto however has said he wished Nintendo had done the jump to HD sooner than this, saying that the display technology became popular around three years before Nintendo expected it to. It's expected that by 2020, 50% of US households will have adopted 4K technology and it might be at this point that Nintendo decides to join the 4K fray, rather than waiting until the 75% market saturation of before. New Nintendo Switch: what we want to see More screen, less bezel One way of iterating productively on the Nintendo Switch would be cutting back at its rather sizeable bezel. An upgraded screen could cut into that dark space without interfering with the console's general dimensions, and could even pave the way for 1080p play on the handheld itself, instead of its current 720p resolution. What will likely prevent Nintendo messing with its formula too much are the Joy-Cons. If the body of the console changes considerably, the millions of Joy-Cons already on the market would suddenly become obsolete to upgrading players – maybe a good money-spinner for new peripherals, but something that would very easily irritate its player base. Charge less for necessary accessories or sell better bundles While in theory everything you need to start playing your Nintendo Switch is in the box, there are some sold-separately accessories that still feel pretty essential yet they’re very expensive. Things like Joy-Con compatible steering wheels are fun, utterly unnecessary and they’re also relatively cheap. Additional Joy-Cons and charging grips, on the other hand, are surprisingly expensive. For Nintendo Switch 2, we’d either like to see things like Joy-Con charging grips come as standard, or see a wider range of bundles which include accessories like these for a more reasonable price. At least with this console, the charger came as standard unlike the 3DS. Baby steps, we suppose. These are the best Nintendo Switch accessories you can get Keep it iterative The basic concept of the Nintendo Switch is great as it is and other than some small hardware advancements we actually don't want Nintendo to change too much. What we definitely don’t want is for the current Nintendo Switch library to be unusable. If Nintendo is going to bring out a second generation Switch console, we want it to take the Microsoft backwards compatibility approach with the games. Switch games aren't cheap and we want them to last as long as possible. Given the Nintendo 3DS can play all Nintendo DS games, we know this is something Nintendo isn't against. A smaller, more portable dock While we like the design of the Nintendo Switch at the moment, when it comes to the console’s docking station we’d like to see something smaller and more portable, something which third-party manufacturers are already delivering – even if Nintendo seems set on bricking consoles that use them. Third parties are releasing smaller more portable docks More internal memory We love the fact that the Nintendo Switch has expandable memory – with some great Nintendo Switch SD cards out there – but we’d like to not have to rely on it quite as quickly as we’ve had to. If a Nintendo Switch 2 is in the works, we’d like to have an option with more internal memory for those that rely largely on a digital library. Given a large number of Switch games (particularly indie titles) are digital only, this seems especially important. Battery life that lives on We're hoping Nintendo will use a hardware upgrade as an opportunity to improve the console's rather small three-hour battery life in handheld. Complaints about the battery life have somewhat subsided as players realised they didn't need as long a battery life as their day-long-lasting smartphones. There are also plenty of workarounds like portable chargers and battery banks to get around this. But stretching out the battery to a six-hour charge might be what cements the console as a truly practical handheld device. (Image credits: Nintendo) Looking forward to the next generation of gaming? Read more about what we want to see from the Xbox Two and PS5 #Newsytechno.com #Latest_Technology_Trends #Cool_Gadgets