#badge generic object battle

[heavy-buddy]

the silly :3

[operation-priority]

Tankiste Operating Inside the Tank

This is an impression of a French tank crewman operating inside their tank. One may see this uniform on tankiste when in their vehicles during battle. The iconic leather 'Veste en Cuir' can be seen, similar to the coats worn by the Paris Fire Brigade. These coats were mainly issued to motorists and tank crews, however its fire-resistant qualities meant that flamethrower troops also wore them into battle. Many variants of this coat exist and the model shown here is a standard double-breasted version with a leather collar and left breast pocket. Other more common examples would feature a felt collar. The black coat was worn over the light blue tunic as its color masks the constant bombardment of vehicle oil and grease the tankiste would attract when operating inside their vehicle. Burn resistant gloves can be worn as well, mainly used to handle hot extracted shells from the tank's guns.

What is truly unique to the tankiste uniform of the Great War is the tank crew splatter mask, seen looped around the neck and worn. When bullets and other projectiles impacted the outside of the tank, the shock of these objects would sometimes cause the armor to spall on the inside. Flakes of armor would fly off inside the tank and depending on the impact strength and size of the spall, could cause irritation, wounds, or even death to the crew. By far the number one leading cause of injury in the tanks was head injuries. Because of this, the British would design a splatter mask that protected the wearer from medium to small sized armor spalling and burns. The masks consists of a steel faceplate perforated with horizontal slits with a nosepiece and chain mail covering the lower face. The faceplate is covered by brown leather on the outside and chamois leather on the inside. The mask is fastened to the face using four canvas ribbons.

The AS would obtain the masks through American officers who had trained with the British tankers and 1,840 masks would be first issued to crews of the Schneider CA and Saint-Chamond tanks in May 1918. The first three light tank companies’ part of 501e RAS named AS 301, AS 302, and AS 303 would also be entrusted to test the splatter mask in real battle conditions in late 1918. While the mask was effective in protecting the crew's face from spalling, many would opt to not wear it in order to maintain unobstructed visibility when inside the tank. This is an original example which I am incredibly happy to have as they are quite rare nowadays.

Another unique piece of kit for the tankiste was their Adrian helmets - or more specifically the modifications the tankiste would perform to them. As the Artillerie Spéciale was considered to be part of the regular artillery, the tankiste were issued standard Casque Adrian Modèle 1915 with the artillery badge of a flaming bomb over two crossed cannons. The front brim of the standard Adrian helmet did not allow the tankiste to get decent visibility through the 5 mm wide vision slits on the tank, so the tankiste would cut off the front brim to allow for closer viewing. Some modified helmets would have makeshift padding of either cloth or leather on the front of them. Others just folded over a few millimeters of the brim so the sharp edge of the cut was not exposed. The modifications would begin to be seen in late 1917 and was widespread among the crews by late 1918. It would spread naturally through the tankiste in the field and by the time that Generals had taken note of the unauthorized modifications, they would have already seen the combat improvements this modification would give the crews and allowed for it to be done. This helmet features the second model liner with six teeth and four corrugated aluminum spacers which reduce helmet wobble. The leather helmet liner was fixed onto the Adrian helmet through the use of two spikes on each side which puncture the scrap wool outer panel on the liner and are then folded over to secure the liner to the helmet.

Also pictured is a pair of civilian racing binoculars. It was up to the tank commander on whether they wanted to purchase a pair of binoculars for use in the tank. There were several options available at the time, both within military bazaars and within the civilian realm. Soldiers equipped with basic civilian binoculars was not an uncommon sight.

We also see the use of a flare pistol, specifically a Pistolet Géant pattern flare pistol designed by Manufrance before the war. As a tankiste within the Artillerie Spéciale, a flare pistol such as this would be used to signal supporting friendly artillery to lay down smoke shells to mask the tank's movement during attack. Each tank was, in theory, provided a flare pistol for this purpose. Smoke was important for masking the movement of the tanks during the attack because the tanks main threat apart from mines was accurate German artillery fire. There were several methods the AS would use to prevent German guns from being able to engage the tanks such as having an aircraft that would accompany the advance of the tanks. This aircraft was mainly tasked with directing counter-battery fire on enemy artillery. A further six fighter aircraft would be attached to protect this plane from responding enemy aircraft.

[alexandriaisburning]

040: Neverawake

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Neverawake shakes up the usual STG* conventions with a playful approach to both its world and structure. Sporting a spooky cute aesthetic, it takes the STG convention of "loops"--repeated playthroughs that shake up previous patterns--and builds its core around it. Stages are short and repeatable, and the goal is not to survive them, but to efficiently collect a certain amount of Souls, dropped by destroying enemies or completing objectives within the stage. Stages will loop until the Soul counter is filled, giving you a chance for higher scoring, but making it more difficult to survive each time. Stages are laid out in the format of a horizontal shooter, with an emphasis on environmental interactions that direct the flow of the stage.

Initially confusing, or even alienating, it moves the focus from simple survival to learning each stage. Narrative threads, weapons, and modifiers unlock steadily, smartly bridging the gap between the casual shooter fan and the score chasing veterans. The twin stick controls complement this goal, being familiar to many outside the STG diehards. Loops tie into the narrative too--as your character works to wake up a hospitalized girl, working through worlds constructed of her traumas, warped through the viewpoint of a scared child. Unraveling each world brings you closer to the final confrontation, which reveals the next layer of the narrative--in a second playthrough. 

The story reaches a conclusion after the first playthrough, but opens up a new set of Omoide, or Memory, challenges that unlock new story tidbits and ask you to play through stages with new conditions. Often these will ask you to complete a stage within the first loop, seek out secret items or avoid souls so you can avoid finishing a boss stage prematurely and achieve the alternative win condition of destroying the boss, something completely optional on the first go. 

Aside from the novelty of this approach, it works as a second narrative incentive to continue playing the game, tying into the themes of Neverawake, and giving you a formal reward for continuing to replay stages, and attempting to master them. It’s something that even the best games in the genre struggle with, often assuming dedicated players will come in self-motivated to replay the game and aim for higher scores, without communicating the appeal of doing so to more casual fans. 

The steady stream of unlockable weapons and badges keeps things from becoming immediately overwhelming, giving you basic tools to start with, then opening to an entire sandbox of different approaches by the end of the game. Badges can be equipped to make your character more durable, assist you in collecting Souls, give you reliable refills on health and special weapon ammo, or power up your main weapon when not firing or point blanking the enemy. 

The loadout limit is generous enough that you’ll be able to take plenty of bonuses into battle, with more available as you unlock later stages, but you’ll always be limited enough that you’ll always have to keep a balance between defensive and aggressive play. Daring players can use this to complete stages fast and score high, with more casual players able to slowly accumulate more advantages through perseverance, giving them slight power boosts and different approaches to experiment with until they can complete the more difficult stages. 

This system makes Neverawake’s difficulty highly variable and customizable, equally appealing as a serious playthrough or casual session. The short stages and loops give you many natural stopping points, making it equally as easy to go for one more stage or to call the session. Focusing on these small details might seem absurd, but these are the kinds of design decisions that have kept me constantly returning to Neverawake, and at the top of my favorites of the year, for two years running. 

And as much as I’ve focused on the broader structural details of Neverawake, it cannot be overstated how much the game’s creepy cute style sells the game. The character and stage designs give life to a child’s warped view of the mundane world, with fears like foods she doesn’t like, or barking dogs mutating into overgrown, pulsating monsters that give insight to the trauma each of the various emotional worlds have inflicted on her. You can see the way that fear turns everyday situations into stifling, painful experiences, with stage layouts and hazards mirroring that stress.  Dogs chase you relentlessly, classmates’ hands reach out suddenly from the background, and teeth open and close around you as the dentist stalks you. 

Bullets and souls cut through the dark backgrounds with brilliant colors, enemies eject hitsparks and puffs of smoke upon taking damage, with screen shake and hitstop emphasizing the real big hits. Picking off enemy formations and environmental growths gives a satisfying chain of feedback, and bosses shake, glow and even have parts of them explode as you inflict damage. Each has a unique pattern, or gimmick, with one notable one having you activate an x-ray to reveal the boss’ weak point as it moves around its body. 

Seeing what new environment or creature would receive a nightmare interpretation kept me as motivated to go through Neverawake as the steady stream of new toys to tackle stages with.  The actual writing, presented in snippets between levels, ranges from charming to melodramatic, and is largely unnecessary compared to the narrative throughline presented through the visuals. Even without the story, it’s easy to piece together the sense of this girl’s life, fears and the eventual incident that drove her to the hospital through the stage themes and boss battles. The final boss is suitably climatic, and drives home the physical and emotional struggle of the story. 

Neverawake reveals more of itself the more you return to it. Both in the sense of the formal rewards given to you, but also in the way its design melds. It’s cohesive to the point where it feels almost obvious, and it’s only when you take a step back can you realize how carefully each element has been aligned to construct the whole. It’s the stuff of nightmares, presented as a sweet dream. 

---

*STG: community abbreviation for shooting game, alternatively known as shoot-em-ups, or SHMUPs, to differentiate them from modern first and third person shooters.

[antialiasis]

Have you played Scarlet/Violet yet?

Playing it as we speak! I've done something like five badges, three Team Star bases and four Titans so far.

You did not technically ask for my thoughts but here is some rambling:

The game is absolutely janky as hell, but I've yet to experience any kind of crash, softlock, or major graphical glitch persisting for more than a couple seconds, and the overworld performance issues only very occasionally get significant enough to be properly disruptive, so all in all it hasn't really stopped me enjoying it. I am invested in Arven and his doggo and the Team Star bosses who all seem very pure actually. Also Koraidon is doggiest bikederg.

That said, it really is janky! I hope they do come out with a patch, though I'm keeping my expectations somewhat reserved with regards to how easy it would be to improve some of the performance stuff without some kind of major overhaul of the engine. Honestly the top of my list is fixing the PC; with my style of rotating teams (training every new Pokémon + my shinies + the Normal Tera Type Scyther I caught early on), I do a whole lot of opening my boxes, and the bizarre graphical jank that happens when you do is so weird. And whyyy on earth is loading in the Pokémon's simple 2D box sprites the laggiest thing in the entire game. What is even happening there, I want to understand.

I had seen some people praise it pre-release for making battles snappier, but that kind of made me expect more - there are still frequent several-second waits between messages in battle for little discernible reason, even while the Pokémon are just doing idle animations, and some abilities and moves just become really lengthy, e.g. Anger Shell insistently writing out messages and showing an animation for all five stats it's modifying every time my Klawf goes below 50% HP, or Bellibolt's Electromorphosis firing for every hit of every multi-hit move even though it only stores one charge. Definitely a thing where I feel like the game is deliberately choosing to show messages for at least a couple of seconds but it could really do with at least letting us press A to continue sooner.

As I've talked about before open-world games aren't really my thing generally, but I think the game has handled it well and I've been enjoying it more than expected, honestly. I like the three main plotlines sort of tugging you in a few different directions with a sense of purpose and investment behind each (well, less so for the gym storyline which so far is mostly just "Nemona really likes battling you guys"), and I've gotten to run around getting myself in trouble while horrendously underleveled, which I always enjoy. I've even managed to get into exploring a bit in the past few days; been running around some lower-leveled areas I never went to for the hell of it. This is not very remarkable for anyone else, I realize, but like, because I don't play these sorts of games my brain is not very used to navigating wide open 3D spaces in a video game where I only have a limited camera view to orient myself in, and I tend to just find it annoying, so the game must be doing something right for me to even want to. I never felt compelled to explore in PLA, for instance, just made a beeline for whatever the next objective was and maybe went a little out of my way to pick up an item I saw or whatever. That's how I started Scarlet, too (hence all the lower-leveled areas I never went to), but one way or another I got to the point of just wanting to get to the places I hadn't been on the map, which is a success.

I do miss having more building interiors and more interesting stuff in cities in general than "one billion identical sandwich shops that are just a menu", but the exteriors are pretty and they've spent some effort trying to give each city and gym some character, which is nice.

Also, after not finding any up to this point, I caught two shinies today, a Psyduck and a Murkrow, which is very impressive for me but still not a record since there was that one bizarre time I somehow got three shinies in PLA in like twenty minutes.

All in all, it's a flawed game but I'm having lots of fun with it and enjoying the storylines so far. It does feel quite lovingly made, just clearly short on time to fully polish it all the way.

[aggressive-almond-cookie]

I’m not doing all that well in anarchy lately.

I don’t entirely know why (like, I could list a dozen factors but I don’t know which is the main factor). I seem to be getting into a lot of one-sided matches, wherein no one on my team gets a single splat and we just get steamrolled immediately. I’m not totally sure what’s causing it. I should probably watch some replays and see if I notice patterns.

when I started Anarchy I was worried about the possibility of being carried into ranks I don’t belong in and having a generally bad time getting matched against folks so high above me that I get stuck on the steepness of the learning curve, but I’ve realized I can probably mitigate that to some extent if I just stick exclusively to Open matches until I’m at least getting a 50/50 win rate. It’s absolutely bonkers that series gives you so many points even if you lose repeatedly. I got three gold badges in a game where we got knocked out immediately just because I hopped on the tower once for two seconds and that was an objectively poor decision at the time.

My main vice is absolutely rushing in without taking time to understand my surroundings first, so I started keeping a simple log on my phone wherein after each match, I rate myself 1-5 on two categories: How often I checked the UI at the top to stay aware of who was alive/splatted, and how often I checked my surroundings before rushing in. I figure if I have to grade myself after every match I’ll be more likely to remember to do those things and maybe eventually it will become more habitual. So far I haven’t given myself more than a 3 in a category for any game (and every game we’ve still lost), but the reminders are helping, and it keeps my morale up to at least get those tiny victories I know I only got by paying more attention, even if we lose as a whole.

What I’m still not sure about though is what to do when... I don’t know how to explain this, but it’s like my brain stops processing what is going on on screen. I feel like sometimes I am in a headspace where I can understand what I’m looking at, but most of the time it’s just like a blur, not visually a blur, but just like my brain gives up on making sense of it. I feel like when I start playing, if I warm up properly, I feel pretty sharp for maybe 30-45 minutes, but then it’s like my ability to visually parse what I’m looking at starts sharply declining. It’s almost like when I’m really tired and can’t be bothered to focus my attention, except that I do want to, but it’s like I just can’t, like my brain physically refuses.

I’ve had issues like this my whole life though-- this feels directly related to the same reason I can’t drive IRL-- I just quickly lose the ability to understand what’s visually, spatially happening around me, let alone make choices based on that information. I don’t know how much of this is related to the ADHD, the anxiety, if I’m just chronically exhausted, if there’s something physically wrong with my brain or what, but I’d really like to figure it out. This game feels like a much safer medium through which to do that than the highway, so... I’m gonna keep troubleshooting it. Maybe add focus data to my battle logs along with other factors like time of day and how much sleep I got and if I ate or something.

[blind-as-a-noibat]

You have searched for Caben Dubois. What do you know about them? (Heavy topics may come up.)

Public Domain - Semi-Public Information - Confidential Information

_________________________________________

Public Domain: (Anyone can know, though some require brief research.)

• A ruined and abandoned campsite was found on one of the routes in Kalos around 3 years ago that looked to have been robbed. In it clothes, some small personal items that would of held no value to a robber, and a trainer card was found. Authorities concluded that Caben Dubois must of been attacked or threatened by someone to leave his campsite for his things to be stolen later, there was no evidence that a battle of any kind happened so he may of just ran at the first sign of trouble. Since much was taken from the site and no one has reported seeing the boy even a few months after the case he has been presumed dead. ( Other than his death and what was found out in the investigation nothing else really comes up, he wasn't exactly an important or extremely memorable person to the general public. Didn't cause any problems and didn't do anything extraordinary )

_________________________________________

Semi-Public Information (A friend, someone who was in right place at the right time, may access this information.)

• The appearance of his attackers, a woman with long blonde hair that fades into blue along with a man with brown hair and purple streaks

• Caben was 12 years old at his death

• He's scared of ghosts

• Loves Grass and Electric-type Pokémon

• He grew up in a forest village called Stantlow

• A passing trainer gave Caben his Tropius egg so he hatched and raised Cheri himself, Cheri became his starter

• Won four gym badges before he died

• Summer birthday

• He enjoys putting small metal objects and rocks in his mouth now

• Has started to dumpster dive for still good food when he gets tired of eating berries

• Doesn't know much about pop or internet culture

_________________________________________

Confidential Information (Heavily guarded.)

• The location of his body, he doesn't want anyone messing with it. Caben also doesn't like the feeling he gets when looking at or being around his body so he decided to bury it.

[yhwhrulz]

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer Devotional for September 13

Tozer in the Morning Crossless Chrisianity

About 300 B.C. a Greek king named Pyrrhus fought a battle with the Romans at Heraclea. Pyrrhus won the battle but in doing so he suffered such appalling losses as to more than offset his gains.

Thus a victory that costs too much is often called a Pyrrhic victory.

. . .

For years I have watched misled Christians in their unholy effort to make friends with the enemy and to render the cross socially acceptable. A few prophets have written and preached against this outrageous sellout, but their words have gone unheeded. The leadership of the popular Christian movements has been and still is in the hands of persons who are blind to the meaning of the cross. That darkness and light cannot mingle never so much as occurs to them. They are busily engaged copying the world and trying to be like it as far as they dare. To be a Christian one need only "accept" Christ. That brings "peace of mind" and assurance of heaven. After that the cross has no meaning and Christ no authority. Compromise and collaboration are now the distinguishing marks of religion. To be relaxed and well adjusted to society is more important than to keep the commandments of Christ. The fawning, ingratiating spirit is the modern badge of saintliness. Between the world and the Christian there is no longer any great difference. And that not by accident. They planned it that way.

Yes, we have won a victory over the atheists. They no longer cause us any trouble. But subsequent developments will show that our triumph has cost us too much. It is a Pyrrhic victory.

Tozer in the Evening Spirit Taught

Always the decisive conflict in religion will be where important concepts are joined in opposition, concepts so vital that they are capable of saving or wrecking the Christian faith in any given generation. At this critical juncture in church history, the real conflict is between those who hold to an objective Christianity capable of being grasped in its entirety by the human intellect and those who believe that there are far-in areas of religious experience so highly spiritual, so removed from and exalted above mere reason, that it takes a special anointing of the Holy Spirit to make them understood by the human heart. The difference is not academic merely. Should the advocates of religious intellectualism succeed in setting the direction for the church in this generation, the next generation of Christians will become helpless victims of dead orthodoxy.

In conversation with one of the better-known devotees of neo-intellectualism in evangelical circles, I asked the question bluntly, "Do you actually believe that everything essential in the Christian faith may be grasped by the human intellect?" The answer was immediate--"If I did not, I would be on my way toward agnosticism." I did not say, but might properly have said, "And if you do, you are on your way toward rationalism." For such indeed is the truth.

Copyright Statement This material is considered in the public domain.

[t4tboblin]

feeling crazy 🤪 thinking about bb pokemon au. here are bob, linda, tina, gene, and louise's teams, in that order. explanations under the cut :) feedback is welcome id love to hear yalls thoughts

Bob in my head, he never really did any battling or anything, pokemon are just sort of a thing that exists around him. so i tried to reflect that with his "team"

camerupt: his "starter"-basically a gift from his dad when he started the restaurant. its absolutely ancient and lives in the restaurant kitchen; it gets up in the morning and plods over to help heat up the grill and lies there all day, then in the evening gets back up and goes to lie in its bed. too old to go upstairs. same vibe as your 10 year old laptop that you only use for one specific thing but by god are you using it. subsists on grease. bob has offered it other food. it jsut likes grease.

vanillish: aka the ice cream maker. linda suggested they get a working pokemon for the restaurant and this was the result. pokemon make bob nervous a little bit but he was like. the dad who says you cant get a pet and then ends up obsessed with the pet. hes an objectmon lover at heart :') he doesnt really consider it "his pokemon" but hes definitely the closest to being its trainer. it sleeps in the walkin and seems to love it, so.

klefki: object mon. symbolizes his love of object mons. i think maybe his keys got haunted one day and he just went. well. this might as well happen. its very chill

applin: the most "pet-like" of any of bob's mons, applin snuck into their produce one day and instantly won bob over. it sits on his shoulder or on the counter while hes working. also come on. he has to have a food mon on his team.

pidove: bob doesnt HAVE a pidove but theres one that always hangs around near the restaurant and he likes looking at em

tandemaus: Tandemaus

Linda she actually started a Pokemon Journey TM as a kid but ended up going home after getting her first badge. she loved the experience though!

emolga: her starter. likes to perch on bobs head. he likes to complain about it. but shes a cuddly sweetheart so its hard NOT to love her

scrafty: one of the mons linda caught on her journey. frequent accomplice when she was hellraising as a child. surprisingly good at keeping the kids out of trouble now

morpeko: she actually got it from trading her shinx back during her journey ("ha! sucker! those things are a dime a dozen") but the shinx was shiny :') but morpeko is a perfect fit for her (gets mad when it doesnt eat vs "mom has to eat every 15 minutes or she turns into a monster"). first of her pokemon that bob managed to win over

oricorio: a gift from her parents when she was in high school, long after shed come home from her journey. shes never changed its form and may or may not know she can even do that

zigzagoon: she doesnt actually have one, but theres a colony in the alley that she loves watching. theres a few galarian zigzagoon in there too, but in my mind The King is hoenian

tandemaus: Tandemaus

Tina by far the trickiest one for me. she doesnt want to be a trainer, but she does think contests are kinda cool

Munna: her first mon. bob and linda got her to help with her night terrors. also helps her remember good dreams so she can write about them in her diary/eff

Mudbray: i think tina starts volunteering at a pokemon daycare and this is one of the eggs that pops up. the trainer lets her keep it, but it has to live at the daycare ("for now!") because a Horse is not fitting in their apartment

Ponyta: tina's dream partner pokemon is a galarian rapidash. as much as i would love to see her dream come true im not convinced it will. however i can say with confidence that she'll have her very own ponyta one day :)

Hitmontop: reference to her capoeira era (rhyme unintended) also i like the idea of tina getting into martial arts in general

ralts: she wanted to catch a Dance-related pokemon to impress jimmy jr buuuuut she couldnt find a kirlia so. ralts. itll evolve someday! and then be really cool! but she kinda likes how awkward it is. its sweet. no shes not projecting. leave her alone

Drifloon: i like the idea of her zombie-fixation carrying over to ghost types. she found drifloon down by the pier and thinks its cute. bob thinks its definitely killed children before. but its very well behaved so the balloon stays

Gene definitely not a trainer either LOL if anything he wants to do pokemon musicals. all his mons are pretty much just performance partners

Loudred: his first mon, gifted to him as a whismur. bob and linda regret it significantly more now that its. not that. basically a standin for his megaphone

(Shiny) Eevee: aka Ken. he finds him walking home from school one day and hides him in his room for... longer than youd expect. by the time bob and linda found out it was way too late to kick ken out. something something trans-coded trainers having eevees

Spoink: also gets brought in off the street; gene just has a way of befriending stray mons. its a great match for his energy

his other three mons (Squawkabilly, Kricketune, and Chatot) he meets when hes older. i imagine grown-up him would have a whole flock of chatot living outside his apartment. linda hates kricketune though

Louise shes gonna be. the very best. like NO ONE ever was. fairy is the perfect type for her-cute, kinda weird, ridiculously strong

Igglybuff: as a wee one she saw wigglytuff and was obsessed and begged and begged her parents for one. she was significantly less impressed when she saw its first form but thats ok, theyre still buddies. and once her DUMB PARENTS will let her battle, shes gonna evolve that sucker into the wigglytuff of her dreams

Mimikyu: not her first pokemon, but definitely her partner. she finds it creeping around the apartment and demands to keep it. come on its cute creepy and powerful, shes eating that up

Ribombee: she gets him "second hand" and sneaks him into school with her. louise likes that hes a weird bug.

Togepi: a gift from her family on her 10th b-day-or at least the egg is. she watches that thing like a hawk and when it hatches she is DELIGHTED ("this must be what childbirth feels like!" "mm. yeah. pretty much the same.")

Morgrem: she catches this sucker in high school and they get into all kinds of mischief

Tinkatink: come on, shes just a little guy. look at her. louise cant just leave her out in the cold. no of course she isnt going to let her hit rocks at people or whack her parents toes. she'll be a perfect saint, honest.

[kavinsps]

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11. Monero — Put resources into the Main Security Coin for Mysterious Exchanges Monero is one of the most amazing cryptos to purchase in 2023 to acquire openness to protection coins. Sent off in 2014, Monero is a laid out player here. Its blockchain upholds exchanges with a lot more significant level of obscurity when contrasted with Bitcoin.

12. Trust Wallet Token — Local Crypto Badge of the Trust Wallet Application The last choice to consider on this rundown of the best cryptos for 2023 is Trust Wallet Token. As the name proposes, this is the local crypto token that backs the Trust Wallet environment. For those ignorant, Trust Wallet is a decentralized wallet application that is claimed by Binance.

Conclusion

With more extensive crypto costs proceeding to exchange at gigantic limits when contrasted with earlier valuations, this addresses an alluring opportunity to purchase. By and large, one of the most incredible crypto coins to purchase is LHINU, which backs the Affection Disdain Inu environment. Love Disdain Inu is building a vote-to-procure stage that rewards clients for casting a ballot.

What’s more, the best part is that financial backers hoping to purchase LHINU tokens can get a limited cost of $0.000085 by means of the presale send off. Truth be told, a 70% potential gain can be secured in today, as Adoration Disdain Inu will be recorded on a trade at $0.000145 after the presale wraps up.

[fredcasden]

Notes 12/20/22

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet started off with us taking on the Electric Gym Leader, in one of the most surreal ways of me doing dialog ever... it's not easy trying to impersonate an high energy broadcaster. We then set out sights on tracking down the Steel Tighten and then wrapped things up going after the Water Gym Leader. So at this point I have four Gym badges, three Titan badges and two Team Star Badges.

So planning ahead, my next objective will to go after the Poison Crew of Team Star, followed by the Normal Gym Leader. Granted I could go after the Earth Titan since I'm still in that region, but I rather bounce around the recommended order of doing things just to try and have some sort of advantage.

That said, the Gym Tests in this generations Pokemon games are a bit interesting... as they basically are tasks being pushed off onto the player. Don't get me wrong they bet having to figure out the puzzles of Pokemon Shining Pearl, but I guess the emphasis on the open world aspect meant no actual in-door gyms were made.

Also thank goodness at this point all the answers for the 'tests' at the Academy can be easily found, no way I would be able to remember some things.

Last Night's Clips

Magical Leaf For The Win

Just Bite It Again

The Flower Trick For The Win

For last night's raid we dropped in on Kalenal as they were playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal!  

Mom has another set of appointments today, I believe we'll find out for sure how severe his battle with cancer is because there was a lot of confusion that popped up over the past week. If anyone wants to help with my mom's medical expenses, you can donate to her gofundme at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Moved a dresser that was being unused in on the 2nd floor of my home down to my studio / office in the basement. It was fairly easy... since I took the drawers out first and basically slide it slower down one flight of stairs, then through the living room and kitchen... then down another flight of stairs.

Also changed some things around, so the stream tonight will look different, contemplating just showing off how large the basement is.  

Got a third Mass Effect short story commission request, and managed to get a good portion of it written. Of course the challenge here is using Tali in a featured role forces me to think of alternatives.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Uppercut Combo #1, Beginner COmbo #2 and Advanced Combo #1 for 34 minutes.

Why do ghosts love elevators? Because it lifts their spirits.

Song of the Day: Faded by Alan Walker

For tonight's stream, the plan is to to play and finish Abzu in one stream to give us 60 games finished for 2022 in order to wrap up this years tour.

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

[heavy-buddy]

making bisexual badge real one post at a time

[razieltwelve]

Stand In (Final Rose x Pokemon)

Fang bit back a smile as the novice trainer stared at her and Bahamut in absolute horror. One of her pupils was the gym leader at the Oerba City gym, but she was currently occupied due to the recent arrival of her first child. For the next few weeks, Fang would be taking her place and handling the gym, so the younger woman could adjust to being a mother.

Of course, it would be more than a few weeks before her former pupil resumed her position as gym leader, but Fang would use those weeks to make sure that everything was well in hand before allowing one of the gym’s senior trainers to take over until her former pupil was ready to return. The main issue was the gym’s senior trainers were all relatively young since the old guard had recently retired to allow their younger counterparts to take over.

“So...” Fang drawled, staring across the arena at the twelve-year-old girl who’d arrived to challenge the gym. “You’ve come to challenge the gym, right?”

The girl looked between her and Bahamut several times as the Aron at her side somehow managed to turn even paler.

“Uh... yeah,” the girl squeaked.

Beside Fang, Bahamut gave a low rumble of amusement that nevertheless sent shudders through the arena. Nearby, her Corviknight gave a wry caw as she took up a position next to Fang. The poor Aron did his best to keep his composure as he stepped forward to put himself in front of his trainer.

“I...” The girl took a deep breath. “I’ve got one badge, and I’d like to challenge this gym too!”

Fang smiled. “Sure.” She reached for a pokeball. “How about you fight...” She activated the ball. “Goomy.”

The girl blinked as the small dragon type appeared and gave her and Aron what passed as a cheerful wave. “Um... not that I mind, but you’re not going to use one of your other pokemon?” She nodded at Bahamut.

“Would you like me to?” Fang asked.

“Please don’t.” Aron nodded fervently too. A Goomy wouldn’t be an easy fight - dragon types never were - but it was a lot better than fighting a Dragonite or. Corviknight.

“Say,” Fang asked. “You do realise that teams alter their teams based on how many badges you’ve collected, right?”

“...” The girl blinked again. “Really?”

“Of course. Otherwise, hardly anyone would ever get a badge. Goomy there is one of this gym’s pokemon. Since he’s still a young guy with plenty of growing to do, he gets sent out against trainers who only have one or two badges.” Fang smirked. “I wouldn’t even consider sending Bahamut out against anyone who didn’t already have multiple league appearances under their belt, and I wouldn’t use my full team against anyone who isn’t at least a Regional Champion.”

“Oh.” The girl breathed a sighed or relief.

“So...” Fang continued. “This will be a three on three battle with the rest being standard rules. Since you’ve only got one badge, I’ll let you choose which pokemon you send out first to fight Goomy.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Trainers face gym teams that vary depending on how much experience they have and what their accomplishments are. A trainer with one badge is not going to be facing the gym leader’s full strength team since the objective is to make sure that trainers are growing consistently with each badge they earn. Of course, a trainer may request to face a gym leader’s stronger teams, with some trainers even requesting a full strength battle.

When Lightning challenged Fang (back when Fang was the gym leader), Lightning immediately requested a full strength challenge, and Fang accepted since Lightning had already own multiple major tournaments and was already considered the strongest trainer in the world although she had yet to formally claim the title.

Fang frequently checks in on her old pupils, and many of her pupils send promising students to the ranch for extra training and guidance. Bahamut’s job when Fang is filling in is basically to stand there and look cool since sending him against prospective challengers is generally extreme overkill. That said, Fang is open to letting experienced trainers challenge her team just so they can get an idea of how they stand against someone who is world-class.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

Mother: Under the Pigmask

(Lucas has discovered that his friends have been targeted by his brother, the Masked Man, who's been attacking them to lure Lucas into a showdown. After a long, grueling battle, the brothers end up in a run-down apartment. Claus is laying on the ground, his mask having broken off.)

Lucas: (on the verge of tears) I know I failed you, Claus. But I tried to save you. I really did. I'm sorry...

(Before he can offer Claus a hand up, Claus grabs his sword and zaps the ground in front of Lucas with a lightning bolt, making it absolutely clear what will happen if he gets closer)

Claus: Is that what you think this is about? That you let me die?! I don't know what clouds your judgement worse... your guilt, your trauma, or your childish sense of morality. Lucas, I forgive you... for not saving me. But why... why on God's Earth... (he kicks down a nearby door, revealing none other than Porky Minch, tied to a chair, battered and bloodied, but breathing) IS HE STILL ALIVE?!

(Porky looks up at the two brothers...and puts together what's happening. He grins and begins laughing maniacally)

Porky: Gotta give the boy points! (he inches the chair forward until he's right in front of Claus) He came all the way back from the dead to make this shindig happen! So, who's got a camera? (Lucas gives him an angry glare) Ooh! Ooh! Get one of me and the Masked Man first! Then you and me, then the three of us! And then one with a Mecha-Drago! Then--

(he's interrupted when Claus gives him a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking him and the chair to the ground. Claus then puts his sword inches away from Porky's face)

Claus: You keep that deformed mouth of yours shut, or you will not like where I put this blade next.

Porky: Party pooper. No cake for you.

Claus: Ignoring what he's done in the past-- blindly, stupidly ignoring the entire towns he's levelled, the hundreds who have suffered, the friends and family he's murdered?! And I thought... (tears start welling up in his eyes. He lowers his sword slightly, and his voice begins to tremble) And I thought I'd be the last person you'd ever let him hurt... If you had been you that he twisted into a monster, if he had taken you from this world, then I would have done nothing but scour the entire multiverse, for this worthless pile of EVIL, DEATH-WORSHIPING GARBAGE! AND SENT HIM OFF TO HELL!

Lucas: Claus... you don't get it. I don't think you've ever gotten it.

Claus: I don't get what? That you and your precious Smasher's moral code just won't allow that? It's too hard to cross that line?!

Lucas: NO! GOD ALMIGHTY! No. It's too damned easy. I have the power. Do you even know how many times I could've killed him? It's all I've ever wanted to do. God knows how close I've come. Every time I think about what he did to us, I can't help but imagine how good it would feel to subject him to every horrible thing he's done to others, and then... end him.

Porky: Aww... so you do think about me.

Lucas: But it won't change anything. And If I do that... let myself fall to his level... I won't come back.

(a dark silence fills the room, until Claus speaks up again)

Claus: (heartbroken) …Why? I'm not talking about killing Wario, or Bowser, or Gabriel... I'm talking about him. Just him. And doing it because... (tears stream down his face) Because he took me away from you. 

Lucas: (shaken, but unmoving) …I can't. I'm sorry.

Claus: (his expression hardens) You won't have a choice. 

(he throws a small, metal object that Lucas catches with both hands: a Ray Gun. It's sparking with overloading energy, making it clear that this particular Ray Gun was modified to be lethal. Lucas' eyes widen when he realizes what Claus wants him to do.)

Lucas: Claus, please, I can't--

Claus: Oh, yes you can. This is what it's all been about! You, me, and him... Now is the time you decide! (he breaks Porky's chair into splinters and yanks him onto his feet, putting his sword to Porky's throat) If you don't kill this psychotic piece of filth, I will! And if you want to stop it, you'll have to shoot me. RIGHT IN MY FACE!!!

Porky: This is turning out even better than I hoped...

(Lucas stares mournfully at Claus' broken expression for a few seconds... and then drops the Ray Gun to the ground. To Claus' shock, he then proceeds to turn and walk towards the exit)

Claus: It's him or me! You have to decide! (Lucas ignores him and keeps walking) Decide, NOW! DO IT! HIM OR ME! DECIDE!!! 

(Enraged, Claus raises his sword in his little brother's direction... failing to notice Lucas slipping a Franklin Badge into his hand. The second Claus fires a lightning bolt, Lucas whirls around and holds up the badge in such a way that it strikes Claus' hand, destroying the sword in the process)

Claus: GYAAAAH!!! (he falls backward, clutching the hand that was hit and growling in pain. Porky starts laughing maniacally)

Porky: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can't believe you got him! You expert, rootin'-tootin' eagle-eyed farm boy marksman! I love it... you managed to find a way to win... AND EVERYBODY STILL LOSES! HAHAHAHAHA!

(but the formerly brainwashed ex-general has one last trick up his sleeve. With a look of sheer, unfiltered rage, he pulls a detonator out of his coat and hits the trigger. A hidden compartment opens to reveal an insane amount of explosives marked with the Pigmask logo. As the timer starts counting down, Lucas runs to the bombs to try and disarm them... only to get tackled to the ground by Porky)

Porky: NO! Don't spoil it, this is better! (Claus slumps down against the wall, waiting for death. Porky pins Lucas to the floor and grabs his neck with shocking strength for someone of his stature) I'M the only one who's gonna get what he wants tonight! YES! BING, BANG BOOM! WE ALL GO OUT TOGETHER! DON'T YOU JUST LOVE A HAPPY ENDING?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHHHHAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!

(Lucas forces him off with PK Thunder. With only seconds until the bombs detonate, he throws himself in front of Claus and activates PK Absorb...)

BOOM

(the building is utterly levelled. Lucas manages to dig himself out, but can't find any sign of Claus. After digging through the rubble for a good few minutes, he manages to find Porky, heavily battered but still alive, still chuckling, albeit much weaker than before. Lucas continued to sift through the rubble for a good five hours before being pulled away by the adult Smashers.

Claus was never found.)

[hyrule-in-a-pokeball]

I'm very excited for gen 9

Unlike Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Scarlet and Violet will be a true open world PL:A has very open spaces to play in, however its more akin to recent Monster Hunter games than it is to what everyone is comparing it to; Breath of the Wild. You have a central hub which you must return to time and time again, and you can't travel from one locale to another without going back to said hub. This is Monster Hunter's structure through n through.

GameFreak has been slowly dipping their toe into open world game design for a while now. We got the lackluster open world Wild Area in Vanilla Sword and Shield, followed by the significantly improved open worlds of the Isle of armor and Crown Tundra. While PLA wasn't a "true" open world, the areas we did have access to were massive, with each of them dwarfing the wild area, isle of armor, and crown tundra.

Potential non-linearity Now, there's nothing wrong with linearity in a game. Erase that concept from your mind. Even the grand-daddy of modern open world games, Grand Theft Auto, follows a linear story structure. In fact its pretty common in open world games. The draw of the open world is all the other things you can do before, during, and after the story missions. However, Pokemon has never really followed a "quest/mission" structure (outside of PLA, which is really an entirely different beast all together.) Its just been following a path from one town to the next, battling conveniently stronger trainers and gyms as you go, with areas beyond these gyms usually gated to the gym's completion to prevent you from wandering too far and getting your butt kicked by strong wild Pokemon and trainers. However, given that Scarlet and Violet will be a fully open world, there isn't going to be the usual pokemon structure of "follow path to the next gym." My hope is that, like breath of the wild's divine beasts, you can tackle the gyms in any order you feel like, (maybe even find them by accident!) and that maybe, as hinted at in anime material, gym leaders adjust their teams based on their challenger's number of badges. I really feel like giving us a big open world and then saying "Go here and do this first" would not work out too well.

New regional forms Regional forms have been a thing for 2 generations and 3 games now, breathing new life into older Pokemon by giving them new designs and typings. There's no reason to assume that they won't make a return in generation 9, with a brand new set of updated classics. Undoubtedly, some won't be great, but some will be objective improvements over the originals. Will your fave get a regional form? Will it be cool or lame? Who knows? Game Freak knows. But they're not tellin'.

A potential new eeveelution Pokemon recently broke its trend of adding a new eeveelution to every even-numbered generation in gen 8, with the fairy-type Sylveon being the latest addition to Team Eevee in generation 6 waaaay back in 2013. (Good lord that was 9 years ago...) So will we get a new Eeveelution in gen 9? Maybe two? And so; what type(s)? Its time, GameFreak.

The region itself While no name or even official map has been revealed, a partially obscured region map can be seen twice in the trailer, once in the live action segment and again in gameplay footage. Internet cartographers have thus been able to piece together that the region is based on the Iberian Peninsula, the majority of which is home to Spain and Portugal. This is exciting, as Spain is a region of the world we haven't seen pokemonified yet. We've seen Japan four and-a-half times (Gen 1, 2, 3, 4, PLA), America twice (Gen 5 and 7), the UK (gen 8) and France (gen 6) once respectively. While not every Pokemon in a new region is necessarily inspired by an actual animal or element of the region the game is based on, some of them undoubtedly are, and I'm excited to see them all

THE NUMBER Pokemon Legends: Arceus added some new region-exclusive evolutions, and brought the overall number of Pokemon up to 905. With the new starters revealed, the number has been officially brought to 908. However, factoring in that each of them will have two evolutions, along with it being EXTREMELY likely that there will be two mascot legendaries, we can safely say that, while unrevealed, the current number of Pokemon is a minimum of 919. While the offerings of new Pokemon have been sparce in recent generations (with no generation since 2010's gen 5 reaching triple digits, though admittedly, gen 8 came comfortably close), even if we don't hit triple digits for new Pokemon in generation 9, we will most definitely reach Pokemon #1000, and I personally hope GameFreak takes this opportunity to make it something REALLY cool. After all, 1000 is a huge milestone.

What do you think of the new generation of Pokemon? Who's your starter going to be? I'll be choosing Fuecoco, as his laid back personality matches my own. I hope he maintains it as he evolves.

[antialiasis]

What do you think about the newly announced Pokémon games so far?

We don't have all that much to go on yet, but:

Scarlet and Violet appear to be retaining aspects of PLA such as seamless battles with camera control and all wild Pokémon hanging out in the overworld. This is cool!

The battle system will almost definitely just be back to standard mainline Pokémon; I'll give it some chance that something resembling agile and strong style could get incorporated as a gimmick, but I doubt it, and almost certainly not the way they worked in PLA, since I strongly expect it'd be way too much of a headache to try to translate the full battle system into something not strictly turn-based.

PLA-style catching could be a thing but I doubt it (the phrasing on the website suggests not). I wasn't really a big fan of sneaking up on Pokémon to catch them in PLA, so I don't mind this from a gameplay perspective, though I appreciated that PLA let you simply do both, and entirely understand why people would be disappointed at the loss of that choice. From a worldbuilding perspective, though, I actively disliked it and kind of will be happier if it doesn't become a thing in the main series (because if you can just sneak up on an unwary Pokémon and throw a ball at it and that's it, we entirely lose the sense that the Pokémon is challenging you, and the whole thing feels a whole lot less mutualistic and requires a bigger and clumsier gameplay and story segregation leap to believe that we have any kind of actual bond of friendship with the Pokémon we catch).

I would like the games to retain the ability to swap out moves and evolve Pokémon on the fly once requirements are reached, like in PLA; I would not like the games to relegate all evolution and learning of moves to menuing the way it is in PLA. To me, the PLA system is nice for smooth and uninterrupted gameplay, but it entirely takes the satisfying drama out of evolving or learning moves. That little moment of pause and sense of accomplishment when your Pokémon learns something new or is about to evolve is important to the feeling of growing alongside your Pokémon, in my view; in PLA I barely felt like I even had to pay any attention to my Pokémon, and would generally only even notice they'd learned new moves sometime way after the fact when I happened to look at the list and go, 'Oh, that wasn't there before,' which is a super anticlimactic way for my starter to get their signature move. My proposal: trigger evolution/offer to immediately swap out a move when the requisite level is reached, but make it easy to cancel out of it immediately and do it through streamlined menuing later if the player so desires.

I'm not personally wild about the game being fully open-world, because as I keep talking about, I'm not a big fan of open-world, but that's totally a format that meshes well with the Pokémon concept and I expect it'll work pretty well. Mainly what I'm hoping for is an engaging story with clear objectives to propel you through the game throughout. I didn't get a good sense of how easy it was to progress steadily through the story of PLA without engaging with sidequests or sitting around grinding catches etc., because Shadey (who likes this sort of thing) ended up doing like every sidequest while I sat on my laptop doing something else; by the time I took over to do more story, he'd have gotten me way beyond the required Galaxy rank for the next part. (While many requests were kind of cute, I quickly found that whole aspect of the game really tedious to actually play, at least with the obligatory running to the questgiver and then running to wherever you have to go to fulfill it and then running back to the questgiver. Once again just not really my kind of game.) It does seem reasonable that the main thing gating story progression in an open-world S/V would just be gym badges, which would be good, because then I could just do my favorite thing of finding a way to beat the gym while horrifically underleveled and then progress the story some more, while somebody else who actually enjoys running around taking their time can do that and have an easier time of the gym afterwards.

Sprigatito is adorable. I don't really like the other two much (their evolutions might be cool!) but grass kitty grass kitty GRASS KITTY

aw man Game Freak slow dooooown we didn't need Gen 9 yet. Everyone's enjoying PLA! Obviously they have this whole schedule about the show and other merchandising and everything but I just wish they'd relax the schedule a bit. At this rate people are just going to have Pokémon fatigue by the time Gen 9 comes out. Still really hope whoever at the Pokémon Company is making the executive decisions on the timeline of the franchise will just let them breathe and polish their games and stop trying to have them pump out new generations every three years. Nobody needs this! Pokémon is not going to stop being the world's biggest media franchise even if they chill a little!

[yhwhrulz]

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer Devotional for September 13

Tozer in the Morning Crossless Chrisianity

About 300 B.C. a Greek king named Pyrrhus fought a battle with the Romans at Heraclea. Pyrrhus won the battle but in doing so he suffered such appalling losses as to more than offset his gains.

Thus a victory that costs too much is often called a Pyrrhic victory.

. . .

For years I have watched misled Christians in their unholy effort to make friends with the enemy and to render the cross socially acceptable. A few prophets have written and preached against this outrageous sellout, but their words have gone unheeded. The leadership of the popular Christian movements has been and still is in the hands of persons who are blind to the meaning of the cross. That darkness and light cannot mingle never so much as occurs to them. They are busily engaged copying the world and trying to be like it as far as they dare. To be a Christian one need only "accept" Christ. That brings "peace of mind" and assurance of heaven. After that the cross has no meaning and Christ no authority. Compromise and collaboration are now the distinguishing marks of religion. To be relaxed and well adjusted to society is more important than to keep the commandments of Christ. The fawning, ingratiating spirit is the modern badge of saintliness. Between the world and the Christian there is no longer any great difference. And that not by accident. They planned it that way.

Yes, we have won a victory over the atheists. They no longer cause us any trouble. But subsequent developments will show that our triumph has cost us too much. It is a Pyrrhic victory.

Tozer in the Evening Spirit Taught

Always the decisive conflict in religion will be where important concepts are joined in opposition, concepts so vital that they are capable of saving or wrecking the Christian faith in any given generation. At this critical juncture in church history, the real conflict is between those who hold to an objective Christianity capable of being grasped in its entirety by the human intellect and those who believe that there are far-in areas of religious experience so highly spiritual, so removed from and exalted above mere reason, that it takes a special anointing of the Holy Spirit to make them understood by the human heart. The difference is not academic merely. Should the advocates of religious intellectualism succeed in setting the direction for the church in this generation, the next generation of Christians will become helpless victims of dead orthodoxy.

In conversation with one of the better-known devotees of neo-intellectualism in evangelical circles, I asked the question bluntly, "Do you actually believe that everything essential in the Christian faith may be grasped by the human intellect?" The answer was immediate--"If I did not, I would be on my way toward agnosticism." I did not say, but might properly have said, "And if you do, you are on your way toward rationalism." For such indeed is the truth.

Copyright Statement This material is considered in the public domain.