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regular hexagon angles add up to
regular hexagon angles add up to - win
A deeper dive into the "musical conspiracy theory" (A4=440Hz versus A4=432Hz).
There was a post about this recently, though it didn't go into very much detail at all, so I thought I'd fix that, and try to cover both sides of the argument, for and against. I've been continually updating this post with new information for hours, while I research this, so feel free to check again later!
About the theory
There is a conspiracy theory that the very tuning system modern music uses (A4=440Hz) is designed to make us more anxious or aggressive, or to otherwise make us less in tune with our spirituality. It's a pretty fun one. Proponents of this conspiracy claim that 432Hz is more natural, that it is more fundamental to nature and more in tune with the universe itself. It is often claimed that the Rockefellers or the Nazis came up with 440Hz, as a form of control or division. People often talk about how 432Hz aligns with our chakra and so has healing properties, or that it encourages spiritual development. There are many interesting numerical, numerological and geometric properties/relationships between 432Hz and other things in the world/universe.
For the theory
432Hz supposedly resonates with 8Hz (the base Schuman resonance, which is essentially the frequency of the Earth itself). In reality, the Schuman resonance averages to 7.83Hz, which when multiplied by 55 gives us 430.65, not 432. Close but not close enough. Debunked?
432 is the sum of four consecutive prime numbers: 103 + 107 + 109 + 113 = 432. This is... pretty damn interesting. EDIT: But according to someone in the comments, 40% of numbers under 999 can be created this way, however see below for even more significance.
4 + 3 + 2 = 9. In numerology, 9 has the highest vibrational frequency, aside from the master numbers, and according to one source "represents the sum of all parts, or revelation" and according to another source "represents spiritual wisdom, or seeking to serve all of humanity". Any multiple of 9 can be summed back to 9, which highlights the infinite power of 9 (9x2=18, 1+8=9; 9x3=27, 2+7=9 etc.).
If we sum the individual digits of the four primes from above (remember: 103 + 107 + 109 + 113 = 432), so, let's sum those digits (i.e. 1 + 3 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 9 + 1 + 1 + 3). We get 27 and then we sum that (2 + 7) to get 9. There it is again.
In numerology, 432 and 864 are both multiples of 9 (which sum to 9) and are also astronomical- and time-related (86400 seconds in a day, the radius of the sun is 432k miles). Notice also that the 864 component of the number is double 432.
In geometry, the internal angles of the regular polygons sum to 9 (triangle = 180, square = 360, pentagon = 540, hexagon = 720, heptagon = 900, octagon = 1080 etc.).
Interestingly, if we use A=432Hz then all of those angles from the regular polygons above show up as notes. 180Hz is an F#, 360Hz is an F#, 540Hz is a C#, 720Hz is an F#, 900Hz is an A#, 1080Hz is a C# etc. If we take those notes, we can build an F# Major Chord using F#, A# and C#. Major chords are arguably the most important.
The above also works with the interior angles of the platonic solids (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron etc.), which form the same chord!
It also works with the germ of life from sacred geometry, again forming the same chord!
The interior angles of the cube, and the germ of life, add up to 2160. If we remove the 0, thus 216, this is exactly half of our magical 432 (and, of course, also sums to 9).
If we use the fibonacci sequence (which shows up often in nature, such as branching in trees, the arrangement of leaves on a stem, the fruit sprouts of a pineapple, the flowering of an artichoke, an uncurling fern, and the arrangement of a pine cone's bracts) algorithm, but instead of starting with 0 we start at 180 (because of its meaning in geometry - the internal angles of a triangle), then look what happens:
The Mayans discovered the "precession of the equinox" (basically the way the earth's axis wobbles), which they measured to take 25,920 years per cycle. They called it "the great year". What a coincidence, then, that "the great month" is 2160 years in length.
If we take the fundamental 12 and 60, from Sumerian math, and then take the numbers from music/geometry, and we multiply them (e.g. 12 x 2160, 60 x 432, 360 x 72, 180 x 144), in every case, we get 25,920.
They say also that the diameter of the moon is 2160 miles but unfortunately it's 2,158.8 miles, which kind of ruins the astronomical significance of all this a little.
2160 / 5 = 432, and when divided by other numbers will give you those various internal geometric angles from above.
If we divide any two numbers in the fibonacci sequence, we get the golden ratio (which just like it's big brother shows up all over nature, geometry, architecture and even in the human body), which is 1.61 to the nearest hundredth. If we do 1.612 (1.61 x 1.61) we get 2.592 to the nearest thousandth. Do you see it? Remember, the great precession? 25,920 years?
On an ancient Sumerian cuneifom tablet, the Sumerians kept track of the lengths of the reigns of their kings. Among the list are Kings who reigned for 288,000 years, 432,000 years and 360,000 years. Ignoring these seemingly impossible reigns, if you take away the zeroes, all three of those numbers show up in the factor nine grid (which is a grid of numbers built on 432, and basically shows you all the frequencies within the 432Hz system). Also, these 3 frequencies form a Major chord. Some say this confirms the theory of the Anunnaki, the aliens or deities who visited the Sumerians, Babylonians etc. and imparted knowledge and wisdom of creation.
4322 (432 x 432) = 186,624. This is within 0.01% of the speed of light, which is 186,400 miles/second.
A man named George Van Tassel claimed to have been given an equation by aliens in the 1950s. The equation was F = 1 / T (F = frequency, T = time). If we take the 1 to mean 1x great precession, as calculated by the Mayans, so 25,920, and we take T to mean 60, a significant number for time, the result is 432.
If we take the number 12, which was significant to the Sumerians, and square it, we get 144. 144 shows up as a note when using A4=432Hz. If we expand 144 outwards to 144,000, this number seems to show up everywhere.
Supposedly the Pyramid of Giza is made of 144,000 stones. I can't confirm this.
The baktun, which is a Mayan measurement of time corresponding to 20 katun cycles, is equal to 144,000 days.
The bible says that there will be 144,000 chosen ones who will be redeemed.
144,000 / 432 is 33.333333333... which may explain the Freemasons' obsession with the number 3.
In Hinduism, a kali yuga is a measurement of time equal to 432,000 years.
432 is exactly 3 gross, gross being an old measurement equal to 144. Huh.
An equilateral triangle whose area and perimeter are equal has the area of exactly the square root of 432.
There are supposedly 432 Buddha statues on Mount Meru, which are said to relate to the location of the chakras. Cannot confirm/deny.
Supposedly the most ancient of instruments, unearthed from archaeological digs, were all tuned at 432Hz, but this is not true. Hertz did not exist at those times and they had no way to measure it, and from my research it seems the tuning of unearthed ancient instruments varies wildly. Debunked?
There are images and videos using cymatics to attempt to prove the theory, however these experiments can be specifically tuned to resonate (and thus produce beautiful/symmetrical images/patterns) at any frequency. Debunked?
In Pythagorean tuning, the first standardised method of tuning, which is based on ratios, 432 arises, as it is a multiplication of the ratio between C and A, C being 1:1 and A being 27:16, which is equal to 432:256. But these are just ratios and can apply to any base frequency, including 440Hz.
In just intonation, the ratios used to build the scale (from C) are 1:1, 9:8, 5:4, 4:3, 3:2, 5:3 and 15:8. You may notice that all of these are part of the fibonacci sequence, which is fundamental to nature. However, again, these are just ratios and can be used with any frequency, including 440Hz.
Often people will claim that 432Hz resonates with the heart or the brain or the sun or water. The heart fluctuates between 1-2.5Hz and the brain between 1-70Hz, these numbers cannot be multiplied to reach 432 and so there is no resonance there. The sun is around 5.964GHz which when divided by 42,000,000 gives us 142Hz. Close but no cigar. Water is a wide band between 90-110THz, not favouring any frequency. Debunked?
It was an evil Nazi/Rockefeller plot which means the theory is more likely to be true/just makes sense, because... evil gonna evil? Well, actually it was the British Standards Institute's idea. Debunked?
If A=432Hz, then you could have an E note that has a frequency of 162Hz and 162 looks kind of like phi (which relates to the golden ratio, and so is related to nature) - 1.618033988... do you see it? 162? 1.61...? This one debunks itself.
In an octave there are 13 notes and the most dominant is called the fifth, which is the 8th note. 8/13 is approximately equal to the golden ratio, which is found all over nature. The most important notes in a scale are the 1st, 5th, 8th and 13th, all of which are found in the fibonacci sequence. I mean, sure? But once more this doesn't really have anything to do with 432Hz itself, the same can be said of 440Hz.
Against the theory
Despite the standard of A4=440Hz, most symphony orchestras all around the world actually still use different standards such as 415, 432, 442, 444, 448 etc., anywhere from 415-470Hz. And in the more distant past anywhere from 380-500Hz. If 440Hz was specifically designed to make us feel anxious or aggressive, or whatever, as many proponents of this conspiracy theory claim, then surely it would be strictly adhered to throughout the musical world? The powers that be would not tolerate these deviances.
There have been various attempts at standardisation throughout history, the French at 435Hz, the British at 439Hz, the Austrians at 440Hz etc. In the past, there was no standard (that is to say 432Hz was never a universal standard), pieces could sound much higher or lower depending on where or when they were performed (again, A4=380-500Hz). Obviously this is problematic if you have musicians travelling around the world, performing with different orchestras and such, constantly having to re-tune. Clearly standardisation would fix that issue, which is why efforts to do so began after the invention of the tuning fork.
The practice of dividing a minute into 60 divisions (seconds) didn't begin until the 16th century, I believe. For all intents and purposes it is an arbitrary measurement. The ancients had no concept of seconds, so any instances of other things from those periods of history equaling 432 are purely coincidental. We could have divided the minute into literally anything else and then the numbers would not have lined up. Eventually scientists decided to define the second as "the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom". Suggesting that the ancients could even calculate that, or knew anything about it, is absurd, as is suggesting that there is something inherently magical or mystical or spiritual about "the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom". If the second was instead defined as something based on the human body itself, especially the brain, then maybe I could get behind this, but seconds and by extension hertz don't really have anything to do with the mind/body/spirit at all.
String instruments sound objectively "brighter" when tuned higher, due to the higher tension resulting in stronger harmonics. Due to this there was a period in history, referred to as pitch inflation, where orchestras were constantly competing with each other, tuning higher and higher to attain a brighter sound, going far above A=440Hz. Eventually this got to the point where vocalists started complaining about vocal strain. This is one reason why the compromise of 440Hz was decided.
Bonus #1
There is this phenomenon called the overtone series, or the harmonic series, and if you don't know about it then boy are you in for a treat. All tones, except for pure sine waves, have "overtones". Let's say we have a string, a piano string, tuned to C... C2. We strike the key. What do you think you're hearing? A C2? ...just a C? Wrong! You're hearing a whole butt-load of notes. When a string vibrates, it doesn't just vibrate along its entire length but also along various subdivisions of 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc., all simultaneously. As a result, what you hear is: C2, C3, G3, C4, E4, G4, Bb4, C5, D5, E5, F5, G5 and so on. As the overtones go up, they become more and more faint but they are definitely there. This is one reason why low/bass notes sound "fuller" - because there are more overtones. The other reason, I believe, is just because bass strings are thicker? The more astute reader may notice that embedded in the first 4 overtones of C(2) is a C Major chord and embedded in the first 5 overtones is a C dominant 7th chord. Within the first ten overtones lies the entire C Major scale, aside from the missing A note and disregarding the additional Bb note. So then, the foundations of our music system itself are literally embedded in every single individual note, thanks to physics/nature. Isn't that beautiful?
Bonus #2
It's also worth mentioning equal temperament and well temperament. Equal temperament, the modern system, is based on the 12th root of 2. In this system, all 12 semitones are spaced equally far apart and so every key feels the same, so you can modulate freely from key to key, due to the uniformity of the semitones. One drawback is that major thirds are quite a bit off from where they should be, another is that the various musical keys lose their unique flavour or colour or feel. The previous system, well temperament, is based on ratios - the octaves are not divided equally into 12, so some keys' semitones are higher or lower than others. For instance, some keys have quite stable major thirds and others not so much, this gives every key a unique feel, but overall makes modulation a bit easiebetter sounding than the system before it, and avoids the problem of "wolf fifths/intervals" from the system before it, which I won't go into. In essence, in the old system some keys are more in-tune (e.g. C) and so are more consonant and others are somewhat out-of-tune (e.g. C#) and so are more dissonant, whereas in the new system every key is equally in-tune. This doesn't really relate to the conspiracy theory exactly, as you can use either equal or well temperament with any tuning (A=440Hz, A=432Hz etc.), as far as I understand. Although you could argue that this is a conspiracy in and of itself, in that they took away the unique feel or colour of each key and made everything more... bland or boring. Perhaps this was part 1 of their 2-part evil musical plan! You could also argue that the new system takes away the mathematical beauty in the ratios of the older systems and if there is indeed some link between frequency and geometry and physics and consciousness and whatever else, then we're kind of doing ourselves a disservice. As an additional bonus for making it this far, here's a song that starts at A4=432Hz, but changes to A4=440Hz part of the way through. It's subtle! You can find lots of 432Hz videos on YouTube, including comparisons. Have fun. P.S. This took 8 straight hours of my sad, sad life to research and compile.
Innovation and creativity are the two things that make this hobby fun and ever evolving. This project combines both, and aims to create something unique that hasn’t been done before. It is literally the definition of thinking out-of-the-box, drifting away from the usual square keycap shape to another polygon. Here started the 0xPROJECT - a new range of keyboards/macropads specifically designed for hexagonal keycaps. We’ll refer to the latter as the HEX profile. The first compatible PCB will be the 0xC.pad, a 12-key macropad, as the name suggests. Group Buy will be announced soon (leave your email in the IC form to stay updated), and if it receives enough support, it will lead the way for other hexagonal keyboards in various shapes and sizes. Once the design is proven and the keycaps are out, we will also provide the specs so that other PCB designers can give it a go. Interest check form
0xC.pad
s-ol originally conceived this design for his own hybrid music/typing keyboard (a split version, with 2 possible usage angles, one for music and one for typing), but it became obvious that there were many other uses. But to keep it simple for a first step, we decided to go for a macropad. Even so, there were so many cool shapes we could think of, but after a lot of consideration we decided on the following design for the debut: Teaser video The name is based on their number of keys, but in hexadecimal. If there is enough interest we may add other shapes to this GB (let us know your opinion in the IC form) but our goal for now is mainly to fund the keycaps molds so they may be available for any other project created in the community. We have already opened a dedicated channel in the Low Profile Discord server, you may reach out and join us there for more regular updates and to discuss your ideas and suggestions.
Specs
Summary
12x Kail Choc switches
per-key RGB backlighting
integrated ATMega32U2 MCU
onboard, through hole USB-C w/ ESD protection
shielded case and plate
The PCBs are powered by an onboard ATMega32U2 MCU and have the controller fully integrated in an SMT design. This way we could keep the shape small and clean while also making sure the macropad remains thin and sits well on your desk. Since soldering SMT components can be quite hard, all PCBs will come pre-assembled with only the switches left to solder yourself. If there is interest, we can also offer fully built units.
LEDs
Per-key RGB backlighting is built in. Animations can be defined via QMK. For those that want to dive in a bit deeper, four exposed GPIO pins as well as the LED signal (compatible with WS2812/SK6812 LED strips) are exposed near the board edge for any experiments you may have in mind ;)
Firmware
QMK support has been fully tested and the keyboard will be available in the configurator. The RGB_MATRIX feature is available for key-reactive RGB effects. The firmware can be updated via the ESD protected USB-C port as expected. The USB-C port is mounted using four through-hole pads and two plastic stabilizers to stand up to some serious use.
Case and plate
The case and plate are machined out of Aluminum with a sandblasted finish and feature rubber feet to stay steadily on your desk. To protect and shield the electronics, they are grounded to the USB shield as well.
HEX keycaps
Hexagonal keycaps have a different spacing than standard square/rectangular ones, and to fill a layout, the layout needs to be designed accordingly. For that reason they won’t be compatible with existing PCBs. Their stems fit in the widely used Kailh low profile choc switches that are already available in a variety of interesting options, that will make the 0x boards much thinner than your usual keyboard/macropad. To work together with the LED Backlighting, they will be produced in milky-white translucent ABS, which lets LED light through in a nice diffuse way, to allow some RGB goodness to happen underneath. We might do a legended version in the future if there is interest. An interesting feature of the hex shape is that rotating the macropad by 90 (or 30) degrees turns the row-stagger into a column-stagger, enabling different use cases. Rotating 30° = switch from row to column stagger The keycap itself has a comfy spherical scoop with soft edges inclined inwards. It has been tested and approved on resin cast prototypes. First working prototype with 3D printed keycaps
Discussion on spatial relations in procedural generation
When you start out with procedural generation, your universe is completely empty. How do you fill it up? To be more precise, what is the relation between "things" populating your universe? I don't mean generation algorithms like noise, cellular automata or WFC, this post is about how elements (objects, platforms, points of interest, biomes) in generated universe are spatially interconnected. This affects data structures as a implementation detail. I'm trying to think this through and come up with a new angle. TL;DR what are some examples of procedural generation leveraging connectivity graphs, and are there some innovative techniques not mentioned?
The most basic technique is dividing universe into regular lattice, like tiles, hexagons or voxels. Most board games like carcasonne and catan using this technique with random maps; in software there's original rogue and derivates, and in 3d minecraft comes to mind. Terrain and furniture elements have integer coordinates and interact mostly with neighbor tiles. If we bothered to make a connectivity graph, it would be a very regular mesh structure. This is straightforward if a bit boring.
To make things interesting and less predictable, there can be some displacement of points from grid. Then we can use voronoi to shape them into cell-like polygons for maps. There are few nice map generators that use this (1, 2). Voronoi algorithm gives us neighbors for each cells. If we make a graph it would be mostly regular mesh but cells would have between 3 and 6 neighbors. While the risk board game map is not random, it uses same irregular yet predictable connection graph. For finer granularity some algorithms use recursive voronoi for subdivisions, while others generate fine-enough cell pattern and then group cells into regions.
For generating city-themed geometry, I saw a top-down technique that starts with voronoi cells and then break polygons into rooms for floor plan, populate walls with shelves and adapt furniture to specific room geometry. The graph would look like a hierarchy tree with rooms nested into floors and floors nested into buildings. I don't know what this technique is named, I would like to hear more about some examples and write-ups.
There's also free-hand placement strategy which uses distance between elements for enforcing rules. Some classical wargaming uses tape measure to determine how far unit can move and if ranged attack is possible. Most games using heightmap terrain use this mechanism for placing points of interest, and for populating trees/rocks/grass in suitable places. Here the connectivity graph doesn't make much sense (one tree doesn't relate to another) and compared to player the graph topology would change as things move closer or farther apart. My impression is that skyrim, far cry and other AAA games use hand-sculptured maps with smaller details delegated to such free-form population algorithm.
Then there is a graph-based technique to start from single node in graph and then add suitable neighbors as needed. Some board games like the mill use graphs directly for spatial rules. Obvious problems are avoiding geometry overlaps and filling the the void between generated elements. The in death game uses it to connect handmade chunks into whole levels, they have everything floating in clouds so the void between elements is not an issue. Some space sims have solar systems generated this way - a star with orbiting planets with orbiting moons, with nearby space ports. Another great example is nested (link), although it doesn't generate any geometry for its spatial components. Any other examples?
I'm basically looking for more examples (projects, games) to study, some techniques other than ones I mentioned, and any blogs, research papers or similar material where people have gotten further than me. I'm most interested in bottom-up and top-down techniques, how they manage to populate the universe with non-overlapping elements, and some strategies to fill the space between elements. I hope it's not too broad subject.
Photographing Polarized Light's Magnitude and Angle
The high level summary of this mini-project is, I set out to take pictures that not only showed which light was polarized in a scene but to show the direction. I did this by making a black and white picture that has the polarization encoded in the RGB channels normally used for wavelength.
What is Polarized Light?
If you know, go ahead and skip this! Light is a wave, much like a wave in the ocean. The brightness you see is akin to the height of the wave, from the number of photons. The color is driven by the wavelength, the distance between the peaks of the wave. There is, however, another quality of this light that humans cant see called polarization. Unlike the ocean, where the waves go up and down because of physical boundaries, light can go up/down, left/right, or any angle in between. They actually can become elliptically polarized too, which is where they spin in an ellipse instead of being linear, but we wont get into that. The most common use of this is from reflected light. Imagine a light going up/down reflecting off of a mirror that's horizontal (orthogonal). The wave would interact with the reflected surface multiple times. So for any surface that's anything shy of perfectly flat, this will cause the vertically polarized light to scatter more than horizontally polarized light. This is why people wear polarized glasses while driving to cut glare, and why photographers use polarized filters to shoot through glass and water. Polarizing filters allow light thats polarized in the same direction, and progressively reflect more and more as the light is more and more orthogonal.
How My Images are Made
I wanted to show polarized light, but the problem was how. If I just took a picture with a polarizing filter, you have no idea if a spot is dark because it was polarized perpendicular. Already I would need 2 layers, one showing a normal scene, and one showing the polarized picture, maybe combined with a blending mode? But even then you dont know if the bright spots were polarized correctly, or just bright. I could use two images, with the polarizer horizontal and vertical, and compare them, but any light polarized at a 45 deg angle would look unpolarized. This led me to my solution: Take 3 images with the polarizer symmetrically equiangularly spaced. Imagine a Hexagon, now connect all the opposite points, each line is a frame of the image. Any light thats polarized would appear different in at least 1 of the 3 images, and we could even know the angle by seeing the ratio of the frames. What great about needing exactly 3 frames, is we already already have a way to combine 3 frames of the same scene into 1 picture via the RGB channels. So for every image you see, the brightness is the amount of light, the hue is the polarization direction, and the saturation is how polarized it is (i.e. black/white/grey is unpolarized).
Quick How-To
I’ll keep this short, because this probably isnt even the best way to do this.
Set up camera on a tripod and compose image
Screw in polarizing filter
Take 3 shots at the different angles. note: to make this easier, I used colored nail polish to make marks on my filter, and always shot in RGB order so there was never any confusion as to which image was which
Import as layers into your favorite photo manipulator (Photoshop, Gimp, or in my case, Affinity)
Create 4 layers that are the solid colors Black, Red, Green, Blue, making sure Black is on the bottom, and set the other 3 layers to blend mode “Add”
Make each layer from your photoshoot B&W, then make them the masks of their respective colors
I can make a video of the process in Affinity if people are interested
Results
Desktop test: Original Scene vs Polarized Light. You’ll notice the blue on the screen from the LCD monitor, the Red on the lamp and coffee cup from the reflected light, and the green on the lamp from being a reflected light at a different angle. The wall is a pale yellow because its almost unpolarized but has a little. The saturation was heavily boosted, by 2/3 of stop, because the difference from polarization is minor and looks almost B&W without it.
Brown’s Bridge. Overall I am thrilled with this picture, i think it came out really well, but it clearly suffered from movement. You can see the trees moved in the wind between exposures and created these rainbow artifacts that arent real. I do, however, love the overall color, and the rainbows in the rippling water. Fun thing I learned from this series was that I need to shoot in full manual. As I rotate the polarizing filter I change the lighting, which changes the auto exposure. I could go back and fix this in post, since i have the RAW files with exif, but I left it because it was a learning experience I wanted to keep.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Again, overall I am thrilled with how this came out. I actually also shot a Mosque but it was terrible. I love how the windows became purple, in contrast to the building’s overall blue green. I also learned a lot from this picture, as I realized I need to start accounting for the movement of the sun on a cloudy day. Here the sun was more out during my blue shot, so the picture ended up with a blue hue.
Future
I definitely plan to move forward in this, I feel like I have a LOT to learn and a ton of room for growth. I am even hopeful I can get fast enough in the process to shoot portraits of some very still and patient subjects. I dont want to flood this subreddit so I made my own /PolarizedPhotography for everyone to join. I look forward to seeing other people’s attempts and to hear some constructive feedback.
Photographing Polarized Light's Magnitude and Angle
Photographing Polarized Light's Magnitude and Angle
The high level summary of this mini-project is, I set out to take pictures that not only showed which light was polarized in a scene but to show the direction. I did this by making a black and white picture that has the polarization encoded in the RGB channels normally used for wavelength.
What is Polarized Light?
If you know, go ahead and skip this! Light is a wave, much like a wave in the ocean. The brightness you see is akin to the height of the wave, from the number of photons. The color is driven by the wavelength, the distance between the peaks of the wave. There is, however, another quality of this light that humans cant see called polarization. Unlike the ocean, where the waves go up and down because of physical boundaries, light can go up/down, left/right, or any angle in between. They actually can become elliptically polarized too, which is where they spin in an ellipse instead of being linear, but we wont get into that. The most common use of this is from reflected light. Imagine a light going up/down reflecting off of a mirror that's horizontal (orthogonal). The wave would interact with the reflected surface multiple times. So for any surface that's anything shy of perfectly flat, this will cause the vertically polarized light to scatter more than horizontally polarized light. This is why people wear polarized glasses while driving to cut glare, and why photographers use polarized filters to shoot through glass and water. Polarizing filters allow light thats polarized in the same direction, and progressively reflect more and more as the light is more and more orthogonal.
How My Images are Made
I wanted to show polarized light, but the problem was how. If I just took a picture with a polarizing filter, you have no idea if a spot is dark because it was polarized perpendicular. Already I would need 2 layers, one showing a normal scene, and one showing the polarized picture, maybe combined with a blending mode? But even then you dont know if the bright spots were polarized correctly, or just bright. I could use two images, with the polarizer horizontal and vertical, and compare them, but any light polarized at a 45 deg angle would look unpolarized. This led me to my solution: Take 3 images with the polarizer symmetrically equiangularly spaced. Imagine a Hexagon, now connect all the opposite points, each line is a frame of the image. Any light thats polarized would appear different in at least 1 of the 3 images, and we could even know the angle by seeing the ratio of the frames. What great about needing exactly 3 frames, is we already already have a way to combine 3 frames of the same scene into 1 picture via the RGB channels. So for every image you see, the brightness is the amount of light, the hue is the polarization direction, and the saturation is how polarized it is (i.e. black/white/grey is unpolarized).
Quick How-To
I’ll keep this short, because this probably isnt even the best way to do this.
Set up camera on a tripod and compose image
Screw in polarizing filter
Take 3 shots at the different angles. note: to make this easier, I used colored nail polish to make marks on my filter, and always shot in RGB order so there was never any confusion as to which image was which
Import as layers into your favorite photo manipulator (Photoshop, Gimp, or in my case, Affinity)
Create 4 layers that are the solid colors Black, Red, Green, Blue, making sure Black is on the bottom, and set the other 3 layers to blend mode “Add”
Make each layer from your photoshoot B&W, then make them the masks of their respective colors
I can make a video of the process in Affinity if people are interested
Results
Desktop test: Original Scene vs Polarized Light. You’ll notice the blue on the screen from the LCD monitor, the Red on the lamp and coffee cup from the reflected light, and the green on the lamp from being a reflected light at a different angle. The wall is a pale yellow because its almost unpolarized but has a little. The saturation was heavily boosted, by 2/3 of stop, because the difference from polarization is minor and looks almost B&W without it.
Brown’s Bridge. Overall I am thrilled with this picture, i think it came out really well, but it clearly suffered from movement. You can see the trees moved in the wind between exposures and created these rainbow artifacts that arent real. I do, however, love the overall color, and the rainbows in the rippling water. Fun thing I learned from this series was that I need to shoot in full manual. As I rotate the polarizing filter I change the lighting, which changes the auto exposure. I could go back and fix this in post, since i have the RAW files with exif, but I left it because it was a learning experience I wanted to keep.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Again, overall I am thrilled with how this came out. I actually also shot a Mosque but it was terrible. I love how the windows became purple, in contrast to the building’s overall blue green. I also learned a lot from this picture, as I realized I need to start accounting for the movement of the sun on a cloudy day. Here the sun was more out during my blue shot, so the picture ended up with a blue hue.
Future
I definitely plan to move forward in this, I feel like I have a LOT to learn and a ton of room for growth. I am even hopeful I can get fast enough in the process to shoot portraits of some very still and patient subjects. I dont want to flood this subreddit so I made my own /PolarizedPhotography for everyone to join. I look forward to seeing other people’s attempts and to hear some constructive feedback.
The effervescence of your incorporable likeness is self-aggrandizing Into the lavation I shall travel. Cease Not. Those clouds above They are bowling. I would bet all of Your money That I could Press an ant Into eternity. My wastebasket Is art. I call it The Immaterial Oppressive Regime of the Proletariat. A bug sits on a leaf It’s just sitting there. I wonder what it’s thinking As it just Sits there On that leaf Unmoving Doing the opposite of moving Which is just sitting there Or standing there Or whatever verb you want to use Whichever you use It’s just Unmoving Unmoving Because it isn’t moving Because in order to be Not Unmoving Otherwise known as Moving It has to You know Move At least a little bit. It actually doesn’t have to move A lot In order to be considered Not unmoving. But in order to be considered Unmoving It has to be perfectly still Perfectly Unmoving. Even the teensiest flicker The most minute shift And suddenly it’s gone From unmoving To moving. Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Dirt is sun Girt is sun There is a shiny crash. In truth, I am the opposite of outgoing And it’s too late to shift from this draconian mindset. The green carpenter loaded his carpet Into his truck In a way that is permissible But he was replaced anyway. How observant of you. Rejoice authority! For in this righteous yard there lay A hammer. Funny. It’s false. The fence fell down. The chilly chill sent it On vacation. An ill-fated one Without a camera. My sister is gaping at the same Living thing Alive Despite its violent upbringing And rapidly inventing The plough for frogs Marching succinctly past the cars Toying with lace And threatening the government With its nasty peg leg. Up the hill Goes the dime Against the grain And its tasty meal Burns dad’s tongue It has crossed the line And made his condition worse; An imaginary one to be sure But that is no excuse Like an airplane Being tiny. And as I do what I’m supposed to do And subtract from the arguing blot I will take all the seemly changeable decorum And shatter all the hope that exists upon the shelf With bunch a single punch. Wild. The playground is subdued today. The elfin trail Far from being known to the public Was actually a back path For dinosaurs’ voices. What a bore To flip a pan. Super. Take this delicate But gaudy shirt And rip it Just to see how tough it actually is Otherwise you’ll have to be big And admit that the only way that You can soothe your wounds Is to take a beer can And dance with it Like it’s an undesirable hag. Want to let off some steam And haunt your arresting officer? Then take a metal coil Set it in between two books And stare at it Until the two are married. Then they’ll go after each other’s throats Fumbling around and all that fancy stuff Until they decide to spend some time in a cemetery And after paying off they’re debt They can finally have themselves a real somber time By pacing atop a pig’s grave And following close behind A shaved sheep Agonizing over his lost weight Knowing that he will have to start over. Are you available? And now, here stands this wide-eyed Resolute If perhaps slightly tenuous, But still remarkably fair And quite political Not the least bit abusive Honorable Judge A rather clever man Who would nonchalantly Disapprove of doing such things Like for example Closing off a bridge Simply because of a direful situation Like the roads being icy. Mom! Iron my shirt So that I may have a chance To feel woozy tonight. The abject failure At the mere suggestion Of not being able to hold on to the lovely Albeit slightly smelly Gal of mine, who has a cold steep influence. Everything is imminent. Take all the babies And put them in a few volleyballs Floating away. I saw a pest this afternoon. Internally, I was for the grey loaf To be taken to a far away, enchanted land. A desk Large Just sits there in such a pleasant manner That I will wipe it up with the sun Sneakily Until it is spotless and silky. The press had a desire To finish the tour Of the President’s daughter And blind her were flashes. I was delighted as the simplistic Pour of the naughty beverage. And as I set upon a voyage Aboard a boarded ship I wolf down eight yummy Loafs of bread As my flight and my quest began. I took the fanged man And I scattered his remains Among the wind. And then I dropped The abrasive Yet remarkably handsome Woman with whom I’d had friction Into a potato farm To which she found most delightful Or so I have been told from people who are familiar with her now. I have to ask for those who are descriptive in your prose Are you not aware of how shrill Not to mention quirky When you write your stuff down on your file hydrant? And here lies the psychotic individual Who made the mistake of irritating a drawer And letting the filthy thing rot away And then slamming that thing with a bang. Icicle equals death. Would you rather have a pot of gold Or a gram of sugar? Decide now Otherwise your youthful self will have no other option But to admit that thou art crooked. Those sad Kleenexes made my nose puffy. I hate to be the one to inform you that that doctor was a quack Who thought that Theseus’ ship was very real. A silo filled with corn. Angled in such a way to crush the donkey in a didactic manner. Okay, so maybe I’m a touch onerous But can you blame me when violet is my favorite color? I went down to the stockyard And bought some aluminum wholesome. I was poised in such a position that my friend could With very little prompting Take my bag of pudding pops away from me. In my experience, throughout all my years of living and the like I should note that I have never once had my jeans talk back to me No matter what the weather is like, nor how smoggy it is. The canvas just sits there upon a throne As if it were some sort of alcoholic drink Painstakingly watching the seconds tick by on a wall clock As the chef makes a roll up the hallway Fully aware that she is intentionally muddling the rug. If you want to lighten load Make sure you trim the fat first Otherwise you may be responsible For a roller coaster losing the plot Tumbling off the stage And being declared one of the most Ruthlessly Overrated things in existence And ruin you. You’re welcome. I took it upon myself to personally ban all the numberless quiches That we were are all a slave to As if it were an arch that was simply okay with maniacal laughter. It’s rather spiffy. If I do say so myself. You’re out of control. Let it pass. I have a collar for you To let this humdrum fade away. I suspect I have your pets Because there is an earsplitting pain In my foot. Tame. I’d say that’s rather handy. That’s mine. I have a separate wall To let the warm come over me. I suppose that was a rather elegant way of putting it. That this ring and free me from this rainstorm. I will unfasten this screw to avoid how disillusioned I have become. I will skate Knowing how spectacular and graceful the educated can be. What a pathetic cut! I ate some tent paste earlier because I thought it was a vegetable. Does anyone really know how to add? Stay away! There is stuff in here being whispered that no one need not know. Coal is food. Coal is food. Coal is food. Coal is food. Food is coal. Is food coal? What a lazy sentiment! That’s the rule. Smash the vase. No that’s wrong. She’s domineering. Five hundred forty two is a number. Let me scream. I have a snake in my fingers Attached at the hilt. Don’t you agree? I suppose that if there were some kind of competition That made it even the least bit probable That an invention would allow the fragile cave To let all the bats loose That I could get great joy at hearing the screams fade away As I collect loose change. The took the blue yarn away from my sister And teased a lie That I spit all the time. Upward motion. I suppose it makes a little bit of sense to be just a teensy bit judicious Or else the volcano will erupt and the jewel shall be lost forever Due to your incompetent fax. Art is fun. Discover all the questionable doors Which are not pipes And allow the murky grieving aunt To become fearful of the fireman juggling gigantic chainsaws. I have songs in my sleeves. If you want to take my squeeze I can offer you something for a rather solid price. How robust! There’s something about working profusely That would not be permitted By the Count. Heal him! So that he won’t need insurance. How swanky! Now Now Now Don’t be nervous You’ll drive yourself crazy As you stretch from grin to grin And concern the chalk on the floor In such an innate manner That it is rather Stupendous. Man! I have a cast on my tongue. Makes my voice raspy As if I had bait in my cheeks Holding steadfast. Never be afraid of a hug Especially from a tiger. Mom is orange. Does she have jaundice? Is anything more not exciting in all the world Than to introduce yourself to a door As it just sits there all unnatural like Despite its reputation for its enormous ego. There is no reason to be so hateful Unless of course you want to In which case go right ahead. I never understood afraid. Tis nothing more than a mere mammoth the size of a flea Who above all else wanted nothing more to find a loss So that it can disagree and scream at the thing about how stupid it is That people find cork boards creepy. There is a bite And I want you to be grateful to me for it That I was able to make this happen. Help a heap. Never let the rabbit squeal Or it’s axiomatic That the rabbit’s teeth will be the end. And it’s at last I found out where the tank belongs to. There was a billowy field where the grass grows down. I have a sack full of flashy cats. What makes them so flashy? I suppose it was the fact that they had platinum in their teeth. What makes courageous? That’s the whole point; it’s a myth. Shocking, isn’t it? I had a bunch of chickens attempting to mend the sidewalk Until the damp gave them a rather nasty cough And they got the sheep so sick That the size was reduced by forty one percent. Does anyone know how to amuse a muse? Nasty stuff, that cough syrup. One sip and you’ve had your fill And now the bottle is far-flung Literally. My mother screams at me “Clean up your tidy room!” And so I take a truck to it. This may raise some questions But more importantly I would rather admire the physique of a power strip. Is there a treatment for the unhealthy Or do I have to shiver in order to get a quiet cup? There’s something a little bit slow About yielding to the nearest comforter. I don’t mean to be flippant Dear But be equable Or I will make these polka dot dressed bumpy. You want something to be groovy? Set it in the dark X-ray the thing And see if it’s hollowed in the center For you see It’s impolite to ask if it is. I feel torpid And I expect the parsimonious landlord To puncture my muscles again. Brawny no more. No it’s not fallacious It’s hellacious. Don’t be so ignorant With your ad hoc attacks. Don’t leave me hanging Off of this moor. That the pine tree away from me And peel it’s skin away. Scare away the kids. It’s a bit nippy out here Underneath the cherry blossoms. I don’t care if this is jumbled I still find it alluring Perhaps even hypnotic To an extent. I own a basket of night. There is no comparison. Where’s the rest of it? I knew that you could only be lucky Before the kittens started calling you “Magnificent.” I have a foot And I used it to light a match. Underneath the ice Is an accessible route With which to reach the chicken Who goes by the name “Monsieur Tongue.” I had both a glass of wine and a glass of milk With my dates. I was the edge about whether or not my nose was five inches too long. There’s a real buzz about the tremendous effort Of shutting down the track. I never knew just how many people were so So What’s the word Dependent. Or maybe damaged it a better word? I had a cat that I called Spot And she succeeded at being quite garrulous. Some might even say Defiant. I needed an adjustment. Reach up! Balance on that beam! It’s easy. It’s glowing! Go into space and asphyxiate yourself! There was lumpy stuff in the potatoes I think they were cactus. I still needed to eat dinner And I know better than to be needless So I touch my food with my cheek And dance on the table Until I am given the check. How naïve I was. I thought I would be given a discount But I was wrong. So I gave him the title to my car And figured that would suffice. It didn’t. So I was force-fed gallons and gallons of organic ice cream Until I was vomiting. Nice. I want to be able to toke put my head in a stove And live to tell the story. Is that so much to ask? Lettuce Excuse me Let us do what we want. There’s an ice pick somewhere about And it has taken the form of a quarter Of a pan of boiling water. That was such an abortive analogy. Is it possible that I’m not as pumped as I want to be? I want there to be a glistening Pointless however it may be. The duck has been roasted But was then immediately abandoned Just in case you’re wondering if they were Not keen on baking. Man, you’re so husky. I sit on a sofa. I wave to the chef. I fasten my belt. And on the whole I would say that there’s something mighty special About preserving concrete. Does knowing science Make you knowledgeable? Can an unsightly earthquake Be striped like a zebra? How can I attract The attention Of a porter? Make a scene No matter how tawdry? Paint myself so that it looks like I am a character in a black-and-white movie Like Humphrey Bogart? Or maybe I hit a double right out of the park? Slip on a bar of soap white? Whatever the case may be I would suggest that you not judge me For all the good things that I’ve done I’d rather be judged on all the things I’m ashamed of. I like trains just a little bit too much. I get anxious when I’m away from them for too long. Put your affairs in order Before you’re kaput. That ought to terrify you; Spraying the field. I tried to warn the obedient, famous, and clumsy actress That she gets no respect When she tries to hang a photo Of a drowned brick On the wall in her house. I cannot support that And think most decent hardworking people can’t either. There is something panoramic About this system At the airport; I had a pet rock Named Francis That I threw like a wide receiver At her head. How quaint. How simple. I’m bored. Entertain me, plebs! I know there’s something vigorous About retiring. I own an oval. Like an actual oval. Not something oval shaped But the actual oval. It’s mine now. It’s flat. And lonely. And surprisingly forgetful. I went out dancing in the waves And when my interest waned I ceased pedaling. Riddle me this; You will satisfy them. Disastrous results Will arise From the abaft If you were to impulsively Leap from the ratty dinghy. Bump. Bump. Bump. Well how about that; There was a rod in my hand this whole time! I think I shall frame it And unite everyone together. I want to play a game of marbles. I never did when I was a kid And I feel like I’m missing out Even if it does seem kind of lame. I bet kids are like giants to the marbles. I let everything run amuck because I felt like it. The ghost stood on the back porch In a superficial kind of way But still functional Wagging his finger At the shaggy mutt Because it messed up By taking a bathe in the sun. I would advise you If you were angry To not bounce over to the zoo For you see I left my elbow there When I went on a class trip. This is what happens you don’t take care of your body. Perfect. I live in a rural area; It’s not really that frightening Aside from literally everything about it. Smile! Darn ya! Smile! I want to yell from the basement Underneath my collection of stockings. I bathe in beef From time to time. I find more endurable Than those womanly perfume baths. The only problem with it is that it makes me sneeze. I was a visitor once. It made me appreciate How envious People are of my abode. My cheeks are a little bit itchy. Time to scratch it with a knife. Well don’t be so enthusiastic to volunteer. Scattered about the room Is a teeny bit of chocolate Which I gave to my pal Skip Who found the whole thing rather splendid. I don’t want you to be disturbed But there was an attempt To strip That athlete’s accolades away from him Because of something he did At some event Long ago. Well I’ll be go to the moon I happen to like grape milk. It takes the shape of a savory shepherd Dressed all dapper like. I don’t know why everyone be teaching The Earth is round When the Earth is a hexagon. Does that resonant with you? For you see It’s a common stereotype That rednecks put Inside other people’s mailboxes Tomatoes But my calculation I can guarantee you That it’s not true. I know your itching for it to be so But it ain’t. I took the tightfisted old man And put him next to a mass Of gelatin For him to wrestle with. It was such a fantastic activity To watch him Reason with this gruesome thing. It melted on the spot From his words. I have to admit It was a little bit scary. Do I exist? Baseball can be fun. It’s an old ancient sport That’s best enjoyed Next to an oceanic view. It’s only natural To sedate yourself with beer Rather than develop A parched throat. On the wire Sits some birds. What is this thing? Actually, I don’t want to know. Be a rebel And don’t smoke pot. I don’t want to be anywhere near that sweater That boring Yet surprisingly dazzling Sweater. Is there anything to enter? Like a flimsy door or a country contest? I was to fall up a mountain. I don’t care if it’s callous to me to say I want to soak in a tub full of heavy beads. How majestic of you My chubby enemy! Go into the shallow end And paddle Your terrible tot With scissors. Shy. Shyness. I’m going to lock myself up in my room with cable And only come out when I need something. Now, very briefly Go out and buy me some clams So that I may harm myself. I’m in the bedroom. What does truculent even mean? The opposite of agreeable? That frightens me. I need to keep my guard up. I am deeply sweltering. I now own a cheap meaty spider. How grotesque! Don’t be so hysterical. Cry only when it is of use to you. Otherwise no one will be receptive of you. The road isn’t uneven. Terrific. Now it will be crowded. Hold on to your seat. Nothing is defeated yet. Do your part And buy some war bonds. I’m concerned That a minute Is not sixty seconds. There are four seeds in this fruit I forget what it is called Because I need to protect its identity In my cellar. My snails are wakeful. They are quite the achievers As quills. Absolutely unbiased But still quite soggy. I collected coins and put them in a bucket And at last I had enough to placate my chief concern My lack of bubble gum. Yay. Unequal wheels. Wait. How can a wheel be unequal to another wheel. My head hurts. I need some rice. Rush over and give me a bowl overflowing with that curious morsel. What’s that? A measly three? Magically, the rest have vanished? Go screw some screws on a safe You spineless jellyfish! Take your flag And impale this jar Of sloppy joes With it. Willows are evanescent. I want you to chase this craven duck Away from me. This shirt is very stiff Not very befitting of me And it smells bad Sort of like Rotten milk And it has a hole in it. I like the foamy material on top of frozen coffee. Into the hollow hole I shall commence standing. The carriage disappeared And the driver suffers from delirium. Go around the curve You vulgar, vile woman! You think you’re so gorgeous! I had to drag myself out of bad Sorry I meant bed Today. Refuse to be neighborly If they aren’t neighborly back. The berries collapsed. I quite enjoy fall Although I prefer the word autumn. Why so upbeat? Are you going to do this live? In addition To all the pancakes That are acceptable To eat It is quite known That moldy hair Is what you get For wandering Away from the minister’s brother. If you don’t want to be skinny It’s my belief That you should gorge on mints Under the tree. Ignore everything you’re smelling. Who’s erratic? What’s embarrassed? Can you print that request? Stay in your bubble Fool. When you wreck Frequently The value Of the car Goes down. Take a breath. The rabbit in the bushes is lush. Don’t be woebegone. Listen to the Drip Drip Drip Of the water as it Whirls Down The Drain. There is a plan. Take the badge Off the coat And injure the goat. How puzzling And psychedelic Is the morning. The furniture Will need to carried away. Don’t just shrug Like some ill-informed cook. I have a soda Rich in vitamins and minerals. It’s mine. Pump that stuff Into my ear. There’s a party On the calendar. What is growth? Something to encourage Even without a license. Here’s a riddle for you. What has legs Is useful But sleepy Lives on the street Hates to race And owns an abrupt vessel? No idea. You figure it out. Open the window To see a view. It’s rather scintillating Isn’t it? Now it’s time to visit the ice cream shop. Thou shalt not tempt me! Nothing and everything is obsolete. Mind the discovery! Cabbage is cuddly For it has a tail. Make certain to Stir out All the stems. Your precious watch Is sticky And goofy And it looks dumb on your wrist. Whip the snail into shape Until it’s bawdy. Complain about it. You claim That the way Is through the pail. What sort of hapless fool do you take me for? Transport the chain By kicking it On a regular basis. Bless the diligent cloudy clouds. That’s a distinct And flagrant Violation of trust. It’s not only pale But also a little abhorrent And a lot hilarious. There’s a show With a 63% chance Of getting cancer From secondhand smoke. It’s at the amusement park. It’s not adaptable Unfortunately. The burly homeless woman Is a teensy bit tranquil. I need to bury the son in blood Or else the blade is going to be mixed up in this Somehow. The receipt; Gaze upon it! Gabby Is going to pray On the paint In the glove compartment. What a pleasure! Prepare The gleaming Pile of cheese To be eaten In a single year. Quartz. I like that word. It’s fun to read. Is there any male? I’m expecting a Groan Bill. I wore a mitten. I did the thinkable. I figured I would coast Or rather squeak by And give money to a tramp; A paltry penny. Cooing. Imagine something More swift Than that. Outrageous! This meat is expensive! I shall deliver a wall of prose explaining why that’s bull. It’ll be brainy And not cluttered In the slightest. What an astonishing home The mute has! Such an astute observation. And it’s mighty decorous. Your turn! Take the bustling traffic And transform it Into obese geese! I will protest this grade! Sure, I have a habitual ritual Of taking the doubtful And turning them hospitable But you have to owe it to them At least they’re not lame And will be handsomely rewarded posthumously. Take the bowling pin And use it to row up the river. Never use a basketball Unless frogs are nearby. Did you manage to take the brass And put the ones most alike And give them to the poor? I want to make this thing explode! Equal parts Crown And a steady bruise. The exotic kettle Made the switch. I thought you had an agreement. I want to be fit But I also want to be zesty. You must give 3 months’ notice Otherwise I will act barbarous All day. The cars of the condemned Will putter as the crowd cheers. Don’t be so secretive all the time You exuberant fellow! Obey! Faint! Scarf down the fearless plain bagel And then take off your shoes. Tap dance on crayons Particularly your young sibling’s. What a great joke And will liven up any drab day. What’s tight? Not caring? ‘Tis a sin. That kind of behavior Will not be fuzzy. You belong You normal person. I took the dolls And I tickled them. They were vengeful from that day on. What a bright holiday For I took the supreme bleach to make it so. So jumpy! I have decided that I need to make an example out of you. So that your frantic self And leap from the top of the closet. O the deep joy Of the ordinary familiarity! Save us from the extraordinary! Recognise your flaws When you go to town For the only route into town Is always home to rough weather. I want to walk upon a beam And take the worthless thing home with me. What makes a bee so wistful? Education, perhaps. Everything just seems so hard For everything to be so cheerful. I remember when my cheeks were blushing Out of fear. I decided to knit a lackadaisical turkey As the girls Who are charming But rambunctious Bit into the tasty Scrumptious Bird. I tested the crib To make sure a star Couldn’t be grabbed. I set the TV tray on my toes Because I have a sense of humor. Throw the teat in the air While in the wilderness On mountainous terrain. I must say that it is very necessary to do so To avoid a slip. She’s cloistered. She has to go on a run On grease For that is on her bucket list. I took the instrument And Lost in thought Was rewarded with a bewildered look. Remember to lock your doors Especially if you want prickly people Such as myself Away from you. The incandescent candle Was left ajar Next to a pile of rotten eggs Which were now black. Perhaps I should perform an operetta In the bath. The van was disliked Because it was miniature. See how it sparkles That linen! Use it as a veil! I want to obtain permission to crawl under the heat duct. What does this nonsense consist of? Don’t be so dramatic When you raise. In order to soak the meat You must first thaw it. I took the nut from the tall squirrel. I have a meeting with a mere army general. It is unadvised. I think there are rabbits hiding inside the walls So there’s only one thing to do; Pull it down. There’s a third woman Who is beautiful But squeamish. Inside the sink Four children sat. They went to go earn cash So they wouldn’t depend On their confused parents. Language makes you apathetic. I went to the table And signed What I was feeling. Alleged A lawyer’s favorite word. What is it about existence That makes us eager to deceive? What’s valuable? Observe. Surround the hills. The gunpowder is ceaseless. Take the harsh marks And scrub them. You’re strong. You can do it. The people In the park Are ultra-lewd. Who am I? I am a thief A thief that cannot be arrested Even if I have taken something Far more valuable to you Than either gold or jewels. Your Precious Finite Time
Magformers 14pc Set + House £19.99 / Minibot Set £22.49 / Magnetic Construction Toy £22.50/Double Set Bundle £19.99 + £4.99 P&P @ Magformers
£22.49 - Magformers Magformers have dropped a few prices on-site and usually pretty higher-end price wise, so worth grabbing if you are looking. you only pay one lot of postage, so could order 3 sets and only pay one lot of postage. Magformers is recognised globally as a leader in STEM toys and educational products, with learning and 3D brain development through play at its core. Toughened ABS plastic geometric shapes like triangles, squares and rhomboids connect quickly and simply using the power of the built-in and very safe neodymium magnets. In each Magformers piece, the magnets are safely contained within all the edge surfaces. But because every magnet can rotate 360 degrees,pieces always connect when they are brought together. Magformers 14pc Set + House £19.99 This exclusive 34-piece mash-up bundle includes the Magformers Basic 14-piece set PLUS the lovely House Tree Pack of accessories. With six magnetic Magformers squares and eight magnetic triangles, the Basic 14 set is a brilliant starter set, or makes a fab addition to any child’s existing Magformers collection (you can never have enough pieces, right?). The combinations of a few squares and triangles mean you can make simple geometric 2D and 3D shapes including a cube and tetrahedron. Bring those two shapes together and you have a ’house’ – the perfect little home for collectable characters like Shopkins and Num-Noms. But the extra 20-piece House Tree Pack really brings your little buildings to life. You can clip in roof or wall tiles, windows - and there’s even two trees to make an outdoor play area. It’s a wonderful added extra. squares x 6, triangles x 8, brick x 10, arch window x 4, grid window x 4, tree x 2 Magformers Magnetic Construction Toy £17.50 This exclusive mash-up bundle includes the Magformers Basic 14-piece set PLUS a box of magnetic wheels to make cool vehicles. With six magnetic Magformers squares and eight magnetic triangles, the Basic 14 set is a brilliant starter set, or makes a fab addition to any child’s existing Magformers collection (you can never have enough pieces, right?). The double wheel set is a brilliant addition. Use the magnetic shapes to design your own little cars, then add the wheels to the base and off they go. If you’re thinking of trying out Magformers for the first time, or looking for a birthday or Christmas present for a friend or relative, this bundle is fantastic value. With a building book inside, it’s a genuine STEM and educational toy too, teaching 2D and 3D geometry. Minibot's Kitchen Set £22.49 Minibot is the world’s hardest-working chef. Every day he builds his very own kitchen to whatever design takes his fancy – then cooks up a delicious meal for his friends in his little oven. With 18 Magformers magnetic shapes and 14 special accessories this is a fun creative construction toy, also containing a cute robot chef figure. Each day this busy bot designs a brand new kitchen layout using Magformers magnetic construction squares and triangles plus chairs, a table, fridge, oven with sliding drawer, windowsand other fun accessories. And with Minibot’sKitchen Set making changes is always as easy as pie – you just smash it down and start again – because with Magformers magnetic construction it never takes long to build a new design. This 33-piece set is compatible with any other Magformers set but is specifically designed to combine with the three other sets in the 2019 miniworld series – Milo the dog, Max the boy and Maggy the girl. And when joined together all four sets make a series of mega mansions for the friends to live in and play happily. Minibot just loves to entertain. Makes 26 different magnetic models.Contains 18 magnetic Magformers shapes, 14 accessories and a robot chef character figurine.Kitchen-making accessories include a table, chairs, oven, fridge.Compatible with all other Magformers sets.Collect all four miniworld sets in the series to build mega Magformers mansions.Creative and inspiring construction toy. Max's Playground Magnetic Construction Set £22.49 Creative construction comes to life with this superb magnetic set. Madcap Max just loves to build and run around is his personal playground – and he can, using a mix of 17 Magformers magnetic shapes and 15 accessories to make a whole range of different playground designs.Sometimes he puts a swing upstairs, other times he puts the slide in his room. With Max’s Playground Set making design changes is super easy – you just smash it down and start again – because with Magformers magnetic construction it never takes long to build a new playground layout.This 33-piece set is compatible with any other Magformers set but is specifically designed to combine with the three other sets in the 2019 miniworld series – Minibot the robot chef, Milo the dog and Maggy the girl. And when joined together all four sets make a series of mega mansions for the friends to live in and play happily. Max even has his own little motorbike. Play features include a see-saw, slide and swing - with special house-building parts to make bases, walls and windows.Makes 26 different magnetic models.Contains 17 magnetic Magformers shapes, 15 accessories and a boy character figurine.Playground-making accessories include a swing, see-saw, slide – plus a cute motorbike.Compatible with all other Magformers sets.Collect all four miniworld sets in the series to build mega Magformers mansions.Creative and inspiring construction toy. Polygons Extra Pack Inc Storage now £65.99 Contains 24 hexagons and 24 pentagons. This set is designed to be used to investigate and explore the properties of five and six-sided shapes or make more advanced 3D geometric structures and polyhedra. It's the prefect set to demonstrate the nets and 3D solids of a dodecahedron or a truncated icosahedron (one of the 13 Archimedean Solids and also known as the Goldberg Polyhedron). It comes with a handy storage box. Maths KS1/KS2 Basic Pack Inc Storage £174.99 Our KS1/KS2 Maths Classroom Pack is a 172-piece full class set with a strong focus on maths, especially geometry. Contains the main straight-edged and curved shapes required to successfully cover essential KS1 and KS2 topics. The set is made up of 24 triangles, 32 squares, 12 hexagons, 12 pentagons, 12 isosceles triangles, 12 diamonds, 12 trapezoids, 12 rectangles, 12 right-angled triangles, 8 quadrants, 8 cylinders (arches), 8 cones, 8 spheres. In its simplest form for Year One and Year Two maths development, children can identify and describe the different properties of the 13 different single shapes. But it is also designed to allow them to progress their learning and build common 2D nets and 3D solid structures ranging from pyramids and cubes, to spheres and clyliders and more complex Platonic Solids and Archimedean Solids. Numerous National Curriculum topics can be taught quickly and simply with this set to identify acute and obtuse angles, identify right angles, lines of symmetry, make and measure perimeters of shapes, compare and classify shapes based on size. In Years 4 and Year 5, classes can use the set to distinguish between regular and irregular polygons and as a visual aid when calculating the area of parallelograms and triangles or calculating, estimating and comparing volume of cubes and cuboids. It comes with a storage container so pieces can be quickly and easily packed away at the end of a lesson. Basic KS1/KS2 Classroom Pack Inc Storage now £199.99 This 228-piece Magformers magnetic construction set is designed for full class lessons when exploring and explaining straight-edged shapes, 2D nets and their corresponding 3D solid structures. The shapes are also used to teach symmetry, tessellation, patterns, division and other principles in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two environments. The set contains 60 triangles, 48 squares, 24 isosceles triangles, 24 right-angled triangles, 12 trapezoids, 12 diamonds, 24 hexagons, 24 pentagons and includes a handy storage container. Numerous nets and solids which can be made from this set include: tetrahedrons, cuboids, prims, antiprisms, polyhedra, dodecahedrons, Platonic Solids, Archimedean Solids. The large number of pieces also make it ideal for illustrating and explaining mathematical terms like faces, edges, vertices, angles, regular and semi-regular solids, truncating, polygons, polygrams, It comes with a storage container so pueces can be quickly and easily packed away at the end of a lesson. Magformers designers have paid particular attention to all current requirements for the safety of toys.
All magnets are properly encapsulated in strong plastic, which prevents their extraction and possible swallowing.
Magnetic elements are contained only in large pieces which cannot be swallowed as a whole.
The types of magnets used in our construction setsare regarded as today’s safest magnets. These are neodymium magnets (NdFeB, neodymium-iron-boron) known as harmless to human health. They have a long and successful history of usage in many consumer products such as headphones and hard disks.
**CE mark **Meets EU safety and health and environmental requirements conformed by European Community. You can find this hotukdeals link here: https://ift.tt/3eqLU5u
Continuing… “Oh, I am,” I reply, confusing her all the more as I accept the drink. I manage some catnaps in between knocks on the door. Luckily, I can sneak out unseen to visit the latrine, otherwise, I’d probably be followed with questions of needful assistance. Morning dawns ridiculously early at 35,000 feet, and I realize that I’m rather hungry. I press the light for cabin service and immediately a new flight attendant appears, drink in hand. “OK, Thanks.” I say, “Am I that predictable?” “Just doing our job, sir,” she answers brightly. “OK. Great. How about some breakfast?” I ask. “Certainly, Sir. What would you like?” she asks. “I filled out my menu card earlier,” I said. “Oh, I didn’t see it. Tell me what you want, and I’ll see if it’s available.” She offers. “How about breakfast pizza?” I ask. “Sorry, Sir. We don’t have that. How about a fruit plate or eggs and bacon or sausage or ham?” she counters. Am I hallucinating? Deciding not to press the matter, I accept 2 eggs straight up, and sausage. Hash browns if available, toast, and coffee. Irish coffee. I re-read what I wrote the previous night in my notes and see I’ve made several references to the breakfast pizza, so I’m not hallucinating. I let it go, it wasn’t worth the effort. Breakfast arrives and immediately thereafter, another drink. I’m not going to argue. I’m just going to accept this as fate. The flight continues and finally, we’re on approach to Hong Kong International Airport, HKIA. I’ve re-packed all my gear, freshened up and am feeling 100% for my long slog to the airport hotel. We land and the various flight attendants are all standing around my compartment, ostensibly to see if I would need any help leaving the aircraft. “Good morning, all!” I say as brightly and soberly as possible. “What a lovely morning it is as well!” Three sets of eyes go wide. “I would like to thank you for a most uneventful flight.” I tell them, “I was able to get quite a bit of work done. Thank you again.” With that, I wander off the plane and into Hong Kong Airport. Through customs and passport control, I’m looking for the airport hotel. There’s only one at this point in time, so it shouldn’t be that hard to find. OK, I tend to stand out in a crowd. Even more so in an Asian-dominated crowd, but I was actually taken aback to see a character approaching me with a placard from the hotel, emblazoned “洛克博士” or “Doctor Rock”. I didn’t order anything other than a room. Why the meet-and-greet? Not that I’m complaining, mind you. The owner of the placard didn’t know, he was just doing what he was told. “Find the big guy in the Hawaiian shirt from Chicago flight CP 172. Take him to the hotel.” “OK,” I say, “Fine. I have no luggage other than my carry-on. It’s all in transit, I hope.” He tries to take my carry-on and well, that’s not going to happen. I join him on an airport electric cart and we’re whisked briskly to the hotel entrance. “Thank you” as I hand him US$5. “Appreciate the lift”. He smiles, pockets the fiver, and hands me his card. “I’ll be back here in 9 hours. That will be check-in for your Auckland flight.” He tells me. I give up wondering. “OK”, I say, “Thanks and see you then.” Into the hotel and after a very brief check-in, I’m in my very nicely appointed room. I check out the television, look through the welcoming fruit basket, and head immediately to the mini-bar. Of course, there are those in-flight kiddie-sized miniatures of alcohol. Vodka, Bourbon, Scotch, Gin. Plus mixers. Damn, only one can of Bitter Lemon. Oh, well. I guess it’s maybe Jim Beam and Coke, or Lagavulin and Grape Nehi… I mix myself a drink and decide I’m going to partake of the voluminous bathtub. A cold drink, fresh cigar, and hot tub. Then I’d crater and sleep the sleep of the righteous. I call the front desk and leave a wake-up call for 8 hours hence. They tell me all is in order and bid me to sleep well. I just get settled into the tub, all comfy like, when there’s a knock at the door. “God damn it. Now what the fuck?” I fume. Out of the tub, into the barely adequate hotel bathrobe, I open the door and there stands a bellhop. “I have this for your room,” he says. It’s a bottle of relatively exclusive Russian vodka, a bucket of ice, sliced limes, and a six-pack of Bitter Lemon. “I didn’t order this”, I protest weakly. “Someone did. It’s already paid for so where do you want it?” he asks. “Umm. Yeah. OK. Right here on the table.” I say. I tip him US$5 and he tells me to have a good stay and that if I require anything, “Anything”, I should just let him know. His number’s on the card on the serving tray. I’m beginning to feel a minor bit of unease. “But”, I say to whoever’s listening, “Nothing a good soak, drink, and cigar can’t cure!” After my soak, I call home. I’m now 13 hours ahead so I should be able to catch Esme before she toddles off to bed. No such luck. I get to talk to our answering machine again. I’ll try again in 9 hours or so. I sleep extraordinarily well, but awake some 6 hours later. Circadian rhythms are not to be trifled with and mine were going whacko. Can’t sleep? Well, I have a few hours before my ride shows, so it’s back to the tub with another drink and cigar. Hell, I rationalize; it’s got to be noon somewhere. Again, my call home proves fruitless. After checking out and having a quick scoot to my next departure gate, the porter takes off before I could tip him and ask if I’ll have similar service in Auckland. It’s another long haul, 11 hours this time to Auckland, New Zealand. Back in First Class, it’s déjà vu all over again. Similar, but not identical circumstance this flight. I decide to play possum and maybe the over-anxious flight attendants will get the idea and not try to kill me with kindness. So, one flight and another dozen hours later, I’m in Auckland Airport. Just a quick three hours and I’ll be off to Christchurch to meet with the guys flying me to The Ice. Auckland Airport is well-appointed, clean, and used to the long haul traveler. I can use US Dollars on The Ice, or credit cards, but need some Kiwi bucks if I want to make any purchases here. I find a phone and even though we’re 18 hours ahead of home now, I try and call Es again. No dice, but the answering machine seems pleased to hear from me. Well, hell. Off to the bar to sample the indigenous fermented malt and barley offerings. It’s a quick layover, so I limit myself to two. OK. Six. Back in the air, it’s a short flight of only one and a half hours to Christchurch. Barely a couple of double vodkas and bitter lemons in length. I arrive in Christchurch and miracle of miracles, all my luggage does as well. I collect it and look around, after customs, for the group that going to take me to my destination. My first port of call on The Ice is McMurdo Station, so it’s MAT, Military Air Transport, from here on out. The weather, cooperative until this point, had suddenly gone all wonky. Thunderstorms and winds that wouldn’t be inappropriate in lakeside Mongolia make their appearance. Flights are being delayed, then canceled. I need to find my transport group. Things are beginning to unravel slightly. Wandering around, I ask at the airport services kiosk where I might locate the MATs flights for Antarctica. They give me directions and tell me that there are two others waiting for transport there as well. Here, I meet Doctor Jack, the climatologist, and Doctor Jill, the glaciologist. We exchange pleasantries and toddle off to our rendezvous with the military. We arrive at the MAT kiosk and present our credentials. After processing, we’re informed of the news. “Outbound flights are canceled today. We will try again tomorrow.” We are told. I reply with the usual, “Oh well; it is what it is.” Drs. Jack and Jill begin to lose their collective shit. “What will we do until then?” They both fret. “After all those horrible flights, we’re tired, irritable, and want to get this all over with…” “Guys,” I say, “Whoa. Simmer down. Calm yourselves. This happens all the time. We’ll just get a couple of rooms at the airport hotel and wait out the weather.” “Oh, sure”, Dr. Jack says, “Easy for you to say. We’re on a strict budget. We can’t afford a night in a hotel.” “No worries”, I tell them, “If there’s a [certain brand of hotel] here, it’s my treat. How’s that for pleasantries?” After a quick perusal of available hotels, there was one or two that would accept my frequent flyer miles. I chose the closest one and ask the good doctors how many rooms shall I reserve. “Well”, Dr. Jack says, “If you don’t mind, we can share one, but I think Dr. Jill would prefer her own.” “Tell you what”, I say, “Until we get to know each other a little better, let me just reserve three rooms.” They thankfully agree and fortuitously I could locate cheap transport to our hotel. We had all the proper travel visas, just in case; now all we had to do was wait out the weather. We get to the hotel and I decide to let the ‘good’ Doctors choose their own rooms. Dr. Jill opted for one on the 6th floor, Dr. Jack one on the 8th. I tell them to go ahead and if they want to meet for dinner or drinks, I’ll give them a ring once I get settled. They balk citing exhaustion. “Lightweights.” I muse. Since I was the cardholder, I was allowed an automatic upgrade. I received a suite on the 14th floor. I didn’t ask for it, but I sure as hell wasn’t about to say ‘no’. I go up to my room, and my luggage follows. I part with some stateside dinero, and the Kiwi bellhop didn’t even mind. I do a quick room reconnaissance and see it’s very similar to others when I’ve stayed with his particular chain. Still 18 hours ahead, I call home once more only to find myself again talking to the answering machine. I fix myself a drink, then order some extra bitter lemon and sliced limes from room service. I decide to wait a while, check out the television, and see if I could get an idea of the weather predictions for the near future. Rain, rain, and more rain. “Unusual”, they say, “for this time of year.” Wonderful. My frequent flyer miles are going to take a beating on this trip. I call the front desk as ask for Jack’s and Jill’s room numbers. I call them and ask if they’d like to meet a bit later for a spot of dinner or a drink or eleven. “No, thanks, Rock”, Jack begs off, “I’m just too tired. Maybe tomorrow?” “No, thanks, Rock”, Jill begs off. ‘I’m just too tired. Maybe tomorrow?” “Sure, fine. OK” I tell them both. Something pongs foully in this distant enclave of Denmark. OK, fine. I’ll just keep playing telephone tag with Esme back home and sit around in my nice suite eating room service. Hell, I deserve it. I call home once again and Esme picks up the phone. Instant relief. She has been working late and spending time at the university library trying to divine the amulets Sani had given us. So far, she’s come up empty. “Rock, hon,” she says, “I can’t even tell if they’re Navajo, Apache, Hopi or Potawatomi. It’s like they’re a mix of numerous indigenous cultures.” “Really strange”, I reply, “Keep at it, you’ll figure it out.” We talk some more about the trip so far, the weather, and my new ‘best friends’: the somewhat less than esteemed Drs. Jack and Jill. “Oh, Rock,” Esme explains, “They’re probably not seasoned travelers, that’s all. They are probably tired as well. I’m sure it’s nothing personal.” “Yeah”, I agree, “But if I got a free hotel room from somebody, I’d sure as frigid hell act slightly more appreciative.” “They will be”, Esme assures me, “Now, go take a soak, have a smoke, get a drink, and catch some sleep. Sounds like you’re going to have some fun days ahead yourself.” “Your wish is my command, m’dear”, I tell her. The usual heartfelt ‘I love you’s later, I sign off and feel suddenly much better. I call the front desk to see if they have a number for MAT and they surprisingly do. I call them and let them know our room numbers and hotel at which we’re bivouacked until such time as the weather deems itself fit to cooperate. I must be a bit tired if I didn’t get contact numbers at the airport before we came to the hotel. Well, I did have a few things preoccupying me… Anyways, this layoveweather wait is going to be at least 12 long hours. “Fuckbuckets! I’m bored!” I exclaim 4 hours later. I get cleaned up and head down to the lobby to look into what the hotel has to offer in the line of humor and diversions. “Hmmm…a sushi bar? Nahh, not today.” “Thai food? Yeah, well, perhaps.” “Karaoke? Oh, hell no.” “Indian food? Pass.” “Happy hour? Feet don’t fail me now.” I wander over to the unexpectedly quiet bar and decide my back needs a booth. Perching up on Mahogany Ridge this time was strictly for the birds. I ask the lovely waitress for a drinks menu as I want to try something different during my spur-of-the-moment Kiwi stopover. I find a wonderful stout, ‘Sheaf ‘by name, dark, chewy, and malty. It pairs well with the Kiwi lager ‘Steinlager’, and makes for a very palatable black-and-tan. I decide to just sit back, watch the All Blacks on the bar’s TV in relative anonymity. I’m just going to relax as Jupiter Pluvius demonstrates his kind, though windy donation outside. The thunder and lightning add to the overall festive feeling I am experiencing right now. I make some small talk with the waitress and she points out that there are some other folks here that are headed to The Ice as well. I ask her to quietly point them out for me. Three cheers and a tiger for you if you said it was the ‘esteemed’ Drs. Jack and Jill. They were at a table where I could see them, but only my cigar smoke would give away my position. I’m not about to eavesdrop on them, that’s just low. So I ask the waitress if she’s heard anything unusual from them. “Och, ay. Not much really. They’re talking about going to Antarctica. They’re saying how they can save all this money by acting poor. They mentioned something about grants and how they can quietly move the money around so it can’t be traced.” “Seriously?” I ask. “They said all that?” “Well, sir. Not to talk out of church, but I think they’re both pretty well pissed. They’ve had a lot of beer.” She confides to me. “Thank you,” I say. “Can you bring me another Sheaf and Steinlager and send a couple of stubbies over to that table over there?” I receive my drink and it’s half gone before the two doctors notice there’s more beer on their table. But they didn’t order any. “From who?” Jack asks “I don’t see anyone I know.” I blow a large blue cigar cloud skyward and mosey over to their table. “Got your second wind, did we? “ I ask. “Oh, hey. Ah. Yeah. Ummm. Rock. Yeah. Umm. Hi. ” Jack and Jill, the doctors, slurrily alternate. “How are your rooms? Mine is quite comfortable.” I ask. “Oh, yeah. They’re fine. Better than fine.” They gargle, obviously choked up on being caught red-handed. “Yah, nah.” I continue, “Here’s the number for MATs.” As I drop a scrap of notepaper on their table. “You’re on your own. Catch you later. Maybe.” I say as I depart the scene. I go back to my table, pay my tab, leave a nice tip, and head back to my room. On the way there, I drop by the front desk to inquire about Drs. Jack and Jill’s rooms. “Yes, sir. It appears they’ve made a number of phone calls and plenty of room service. There’s some outstanding right now.” I am told. “OK”, I say, “Here’s the deal. I agreed to pay for the rooms. Period. That’s for all I’m paying other than the legitimate charges from my suite.” “I can’t authorize that type of change,” the front desk clerk tells me. “Then go find someone that can,” I suggest semi-forcefully. Like a banana-laden Kenworth going down a steep grade in Scranton, PA. A few minutes later, the Night Manager appears. I explain what was happening and tell him flat out that I’ll pay for their rooms via my frequent flyer account, but those are the only charges I’ll allow. Food, phone, and booze are on the ‘good’ Doctor’s own tabs. The Night Manager understands and agrees. I sign off for the cost of the rooms and he resubmits their remaining bills in their own names. Now, all I have is the responsibility for my room and board, not those two conniving grifters. I return to my room and spend the next couple of hours furiously writing my notes and smoking cigars. I roundly hate having advantage being taken of my good intentions. The next day dawned warm, windy, and wet. No flights to The Ice today. I spent some time on the phone with Esme and she was outraged at the two pseudo-scientists that were trying to take advantage of me. She hadn’t had any further luck figuring out the talismans Sani had given us, but I mentioned it must be working. I went to the bar for a drink and found two stinkers instead. She mentioned Sani called and thanked us again. He had arrived in New Mexico just fine. We have a standing invitation to the Nation anytime we’re in the neighborhood. I tell Es that I hope the accident will. I sign off and tell her I’ll call once we get the green light to head to McMurdo. I won’t call every day but I’ll let her or the machine know when we’re going to leave. Well, now then. I have a lot of free time as it looks like the weather’s settling in for a protracted stay. It’s not so much the rain, but the winds. Blowing like crazy, shifting like a crazed millennial carjacker in a 70s-vintage 4-speed Nova. Just being generally nastily unpredictable. MATs pride themselves on their safety record, so until things are atmospherically copacetic here and on The Ice, we’re stuck. I spend some time in the hotel gym and actually get in some cardio. I hate cardio, but figure it’s couldn’t hurt as long as I’m stuck here. I work the free weights but there’s just something missing. My enthusiasm is taking a swan dive. Back in my room, I fire up a cigar, pour a cold drink, and delve back into the reprints I have. There’s no better cure for the waiting field trip blues than boning up on what I’m supposed to find when I get there. Besides, this is an important assignment and, as the cliché goes, “It’ll look good on my resume”. Finally, after four days of incarceration, we get the ‘GO’ signal from MATs. I call Esme and profess my undying love. I’m packed and checking out before Drs. Jack and Jill even get out of bed to answer the phone. As I check out, I ask to see their bill. “Well,” the clerk says, “I’m not supposed to, but take a look at this…” “Holy Wow!” I exclaim. They’re going to be in for a double-barreled four-figure shock when they try and check out of this place. I thank her and head for my waiting cab. In less than a half an hour, I’m in the MATs lounge, trying to chew down a mug of truly awful military coffee. We’re scheduled to be wheels up in less than an hour. My gear is already on the plane, a huge LC-130 cargo transport. Lacking in amenities, but packed to the rafters with cojones. This is the type of plane I want taking me to one of the most remote places on the planet. They call boarding, and I saunter nonchalantly out to the plane. There are a few other folks here, but no Drs. Jack and Jill and no others going to The Ice for the first time. These are all military folks and are loading the aircraft with varied forms of cargo. I ask a likely looking uniformed character where I should sit and he tells me “Anywhere. They’re all going the same place.” So I do. Qantas Business Class this isn’t. In fact, it’s barely Billy Bob’s Verrifast Plane Company, Ltd. baggage-class. I find a seat and buckle in. I spend the next 45 minutes or so reading my reprints. The massive cargo doors clang shut as I hear the engines spooling up. “Hmmm”, I muse, “No Drs. Jack and/or Jill. Whatever could have happened to them?” Soon, we’re wheels up and headed finally to The Ice. Look out below, here we go. It’s a nine-hour flight to The Ice, so after a while, I get up and wander around. Most everyone is sleeping, which I find out is a great idea in these sorts of situations. I can’t sleep, as I’m more or less back on real-time, and keyed up. I don’t figure there’s drink service on the flight so I retrieve one of my several emergency flasks and have a warming nip. I just noticed that it’s getting a tad bit cooler in here. A couple of warming tots later, and I’m back reading my reprints. Chuck, the character I talked with earlier, comes up to me and strikes up a conversation. “First time?” he asks. “No”, I reply, “I’ve flown lots of times.” “Wiseass”, he chuckles and sits down. “Where you from in the world?” “Baja Canada. I’m the soon to be Dr. Rock” I reply and shake his hand. “Doctor Rock?” he asks, “Hey! Are you that guy from Mongolia?” “Well, not sure.” I reply, “I’ve been to Mongolia; in fact, just fairly recently.” “Holy shit”, he says, “We’ve heard about you. You’re the explosives expert, right?” “I hold several blasting permits; domestic and international” I reply truthfully. “Oh, fuck. I have got to get reassigned to your team.” He laughs. “We heard you’re coming down here. You’re a geologist, right?” “Yes”, I confirm, “Why?” “I’m doing the Air Force gig to get on to the GI Bill program. Those Veterans Benefits plans are the only way I could ever pay for college. I want to study geology, too.” He tells me. “Well, Chuck,” I say, “If I can help in any way, here’s my card.” As I hand him my business card. “Hey”, he says with sudden earnestness, “I wasn’t kidding about getting on your crew. Can you help me out here?” “Depends”, I say, “What makes you so indispensable?” “Well, I want to study geology.” He says. “That’s a good start. Answer quickly, what’s your favorite beer?” I grill him. “Um, PBR?” he replies. “If I have any say at all, welcome aboard.” I shake his hand, welcoming him aboard. Kindred spirit. We alight at McMurdo Station, on The Ice; located at 77 degrees 51 minutes S, 166 degrees 40 minutes E. It is the largest Antarctic station in existence. It’s a city more than a camp. I’m actually in Antarctica, the literal end of the earth. Most everyone is bracing for the frigid weather that is usually associated with the Polar Regions. I’m wearing a down vest, cargo shorts, black Stetson, field boots, fine Irish woolen socks, and a garish Hawaiian shirt. It’s my “Good Luck” flying outfit. We taxi to a stop and the cargo doors slowly begin to creak open. They open wider and wider. We hear the wind…breezing…lightly. Everyone’s bundled up like it’s the Day After Nuclear Winter. I look at the thermograph display bolted to the immediate interior of the cargo bay and see it is reading: -11.00 C. Minus 11 bloody degrees Celsius?! On The Ice? That’s TWELVE BLEEDIN’ DEGREES Fahrenheit! I’m from Baja Canada. All 120F means is that sandals are out, time to shift to closed-toed trainers when we barbeque bratwurst outdoors. It also means your beer will stay cool and not freeze…. Twelve bloody degrees. “You had us all worked up!” I muse to no one in particular. 12 Fahrenfuckingheit Polar-Ice-Goddamn-Cap-Degrees. Sheesh. Chuck assures me my gear will be transported to the arrivals area, he’d see to that personally. He also chuckles over my flying outfit and remarks that I’m a shoo-in to win the end of the year fashion show. “Mэргэн илжиг, smart ass”, I mutter, taking my inner Mongolian out for a short walk. We are led to the arrival area and are met by the various crews, custodians, and logistics types that are trusted to keep us from becoming scientist-sicles while we’re here in Antarctica. There is a truly eclectic crowd here during the early summer on The Ice. Fully some 35 different nationalities if the big tote board near the entrance hall is correct. There are Finns, Norwegians, Germans, hell, pretty much all of northern and eastern Europe is represented here. There are also many South Americans, primarily Patagonians from Chile and Argentina, South Africans and others hailing from the land of the Gond. There are also a slew of Russians, Ukrainians, Canadians, Americans, and even a few Mexicans, which I thought very interesting. We are directed to the tote boards to find our names, as well as the names of the others in our parties, for the various projects either underway or are about to start. First off, we are ushered into a large receiving room for introductions, a welcoming drink, and instruction. There are about 30 or so new folks arriving with or just before me. In a sea of olive-gray, green and other muted military colors, my gaudy Hawaiian shirt stands out like a beacon to everything strange and silly. “Hello, New Arrivals!” A booming voice is heard, “Welcome to McMurdo station. Your one-stop-shop for everything Antarctican. I am Colonel Ärhennellä, the owner-operator of this shop; at least until February when I rotate back to Espoo. Please let me welcome you to the last place on earth and let me give you a quick rundown of how we operate…” We’re all ears as the Colonel begins to tell us all about our new, albeit temporary, home. “But, before I begin”, the Colonel continues, “I’d like to especially welcome our newest additions from Baja Canada.” He points to me, the lone outpost of color among the dull military-grade drabness of the other’s outfits. “Son”, he continues, “I don’t know who you are yet, but one thing is certain. You’re from Baja Canada or someplace very close. Only you characters dress like ‘summer’ means ‘shorts and Hawaiian shirts’, no matter where!” Under the cynosure of 30 pairs of eyes, I give a big wave and tell him that he’s correct. I am indeed from Baja Canada and where are they hiding the barbeque grills and beer kegs? There is a general wave of laughter as things get back to semi-normal. The good Colonel fills us in on the many, many exciting, creative, and excruciating ways Antarctica can kill us if we don’t treat her with the utmost respect and use our heads. I’ve heard all this before, in different languages, in different inhospitable places on the planet. But, I listen, and take mental notes. Antarctica is yet another place that doesn’t suffer fools lightly. Everyone is given a survival pack as well to carry on their person when they’re on The Ice. In it there’s a small crank-operated flashlight, flare pen-pistol with various colored flares, compass, rudimentary medical kit, lip balm, sunscreen, hard sweets, and other little sundry niceties. After half an hour’s indoctrination, we migrate over to the tote boards to look up our projects and co-workers. I find myself listed on the Ross Island USARP project. Not exactly on The Ice, per se, but rather ‘jäääär’, meaning ‘the edge of the ice’. It’s going to be quite similar to the job I had back in Mongolia: riding geological herd on a bunch of paleo-types; but a little chillier and more proximal to the sea. In fact, there’s a larger version of the blasted core drill that’s coming with us. Déjà vu all over again. As I make my notes, I tally up the scientific crew for the Ross Island project: name, scientific specialty, and more common subject description. • Dr. Yútóu, the paleoichthyologist: fossil fish, • Dr. Roomaja, the paleoherpetologist: fossil reptiles, exclusive of Dinosauria, • Dr. Paukščiukai, the paleoornithologist: fossil birds, • Dr. Öndög, the paleooölogist: fossil eggs, • Dr. Pflanzenkunde, the paleobotanist: fossil plants, • Dr. Banchisa, the paleoglaciologist: fossil and recent glaciers, • Dr. Jejak, the paleoichnologist: fossil traces (footprints, feeding traces, etc.), and • Dr. Rock: geologist, sedimentologist, stratigrapher, & blower-upper of things. I’m not going to correct them any longer. I’ll certainly be getting my Ph.D. soon enough. Apart from the scientific party noted above, we are to have several assistants, logisticians, and aides-de-camp to aid us in setting up and living in our camp. No ger camp for us this time, we’re tenting tonight. And for as long as we remain out in the field. I spoke to Colonel Ärhennellä regarding Chuck and must have been persuasive as he’s now attached to our party. Besides the American Chuck, there’s Julio from Buenos Aires, Eero from Finland, Kaspar from Estonia, Lucas from Canada North, Egor from Mother Russia, Carlos from Mexico City, and Hüseyin from Turkey. There are also pilots, engineers, and other such specialties we’ll run into on occasion, but these characters make up the direct supporting cast. Luckily, the lingua franca on The Ice is English, so we didn’t have to depend on perevodchiks as we did in Mongolia. This will help streamline things considerably, except for now as I have to buck the military-industrial complex and try to explain to them why I need to see what explosives are available. This whole idea went over like the proverbial turd in a punchbowl. Here I showed up, Hawaiian shirt and all, asking to be let into the explosives armory because I need to blow some shit, that I’ve yet to even see, up. Yeah. The US military. So distrusting. I spent the rest of the day pleading my case, showing documentation and being grilled by those that ran the shop down here. It was like pulling chicken teeth. I’d answer one set of questions satisfactorily and they’d plunge into another, wholly different set as if I’d said nothing. Briefly, it went like this: Them: “No.” Me: “You were told I was coming down here. Here my letters of introduction and recommendation.” “No.” “Here’s my domestic and international Blaster’s Permits and accreditation. See the pretty red blotches from Mongolia?” “No. Cyrillic? Hell, no.” This went on for the better part of two hours. Only after appealing to Colonel Ärhennellä directly did things begin to proceed. “I only want to record or see your inventory. I was told I’d have complete cooperation.” I argued. “Maybe.” They replied. It was progress, of a sort. After explaining that I’d only know what I’d need in the line of explosives once we were out on the project, they relented and gave me an abridged list of items I could possibly, if I made a good enough case, use. They would be choppered out to us once I made the determination, made the official request for specific items, and provided the necessary paperwork. I obtained the inventory of highish and lowish explosives they thought I might be able to handle. C-4, dynamite, PETN, ANFO…all pretty standard stuff. No nitro, dibenzoazonitride, or other fun brilliant explosives. Straight run Primacord, demo wire, and single-action blasting caps. No millisecond delay caps, no blasting cap boosters. Sheesh, I figured the military would just about wet themselves showing me all the blowy-uppy goodies they had at their disposal. I also got a pad of request sheets. Fill one out, call in a chopper, give the signed request, chopper leaves. If the sun is in the right place and the tides are high enough, you might get half of what you requisitioned two or three days later. Typical governmental-military efficiency. We spend the next two days and nights at McMurdo. Provisions are being laid in and proper supplies are being herded up for our transport to James Ross Island. We are to be there the better part of the whole project, with potential side trips to Snow Hill Island, Vega Island, and Seymour Island; part of the Ross Archipelago. Further possibilities include Cape Lamb and Copp Island. We also hear that we might be able to wrangle a trip to the South Pole if the accident will. I hope it does. Finally, we can’t wait any longer on no-shows and we are all flown out to James Ross Island, our new temporary home. We will have radio communications back with McMurdo is things go sideways, but for the most part, apart from our regularly scheduled supply runs, we’re on our own. Except for me. Two days in, we receive a message that there’s going to be a crew of engineers arriving on the island. They’re bringing with some party favors, i.e., high and low explosives, and would appreciate my input to a coastal remediation project that’s come up. Of course, that’s one of the reasons I’m here. The Army Corps of Engineers show up, represented by three of their finest. They explain to me that there are some grounded growlers, that is, icebergs less than 2 meters (6.6 feet) across. There are also beached bergy bits, larger than growlers but smaller than authentic icebergs, greater than three feet high but less than 3 meters (16 feet) tall, on the north side of the island. These were clogging the approach to Croft Bay. These are perennial plagues to the harbormasters down here when they float in and choke the anchorage bays. Since I’m available, they’d like my input on how best to deal with them. We share introductions and are ferried over to the far side of the island where there is a selection of various sizes of near and on-shore ice floes. Some are small and angular, some are larger and flat-topped. They’re just pieces of ice. How difficult can they be to handle? Prophetic words. We clamber over one likely-looking growler, the smaller of the resident beached bits, to get an idea of the scope of the problem. They’re just pieces of ice. How difficult can they be to handle? I suggest the drilling of a triangular shot pattern, one edge trailing with one edge leading. Easy, cute and simple to set up. Lt. Orin, the engineer in charge, says “OK, fine. Lay it out and we’ll get it drilled.” As he calls to a gaggle of Army privates armed with various core drills and shot hole accouterments. I could grow to like this military hierarchy. Two cans of orange spray paint later, the vertices of the triangles I’ve laid out are drilled. I go through the pre-shot safety lecture but realize I’m preaching to the choir. They appreciate my adherence to rules of engagement and my sticklerness for safety above all else. Loading each shot hole with ANFO, a ‘low’ heaving instead of ‘high’ brilliant, shattering explosive, I’m going to carve up this growler like a Thanksgiving turkey. I run Primacord to caps for each hole and run the rest back through demolition wire to the hand-held blasting machine. I make a show of galving every connection. The blasting machine is a utilitarian gun-metal gray and carries some incomprehensible MIL-spec codes. Nowhere near as cool as my Captain America blasting machine. Still, it looks like it’ll handle the job. After clearing the compass, making sure everyone’s present, accounted for, and behind my flag line; it’s showtime. TOOTLE x3. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!” x3. Push goes the dull gray button. WHOOMPH-WHOOMPH-WHOOMPH! The growler shakes a bit, growls back, and sheds a few cubes worth of loosened ice beach-ward. “Cut some more ice”, Lt. Orin snarkily observes, “and we could all have cocktails.” That hunk of ice basically absorbed the majority of the blast, just added a bit of diameter to my shot holes and cracked a bit. Even the fractures I induced seemed to heal over before our very eyes. “OK, you bastard”, I growl, “No more nice Dr. Rocknocker.” This time, the C-4 I used caused some more brisant fracturing. However, the growler just shrugged its metaphorical shoulders, barfed out a couple of hunks of ice, sat there, and just about grinned at us. I didn’t care for the engineer’s snickering one little bit. This was a matter of honor and pride. I said, “This growler’s too soft, it’s not a good representative of the off-cast glacial chunks that clog your harbors.” Which was the truth, “Let’s try that flat-topped bergy bit over yonder, the one still half in the water. It’ll be nice and fresh and ready to fracture.” Lt. Orin, barely concealing a chuckle, says “OK, if that’s what you think is best.” I attacked that bergy bit with grim malice aforethought. I was going to go medieval on its ass. I laid out a complex shot pattern, one that looked like I skinned a soccer ball and laid out all the hexagons and pentagons flat on the berg’s surface. The Army folk followed right behind me and began drilling the shot holes. “Every third one 45 degrees off vertical” I instructed them, “alternating north-south”. I was going to try virtually every trick in my Blaster’s Handbook. This stuff was technically a rock: a monomineralic rock composed of water ice. So like any other rock, it has to react to impulse energy in a predictable manner. I knew that. Did the bergy bit? First off, ANFO again. I succeeded in shearing off a couple of slabs. Each one being about 15 inches in thickness. Maddening. Then I graduated to C-4 and Primacord. Denser grid pattern, more angled shot holes. More horizontal shearing, some nicely rewarding ice geysers. However, all in all, little return on my investment. Now I was getting really angry. PETN? Yeah, that’ll be the answer. It wasn’t. Boom and ice cubes ahoy. RDX? Nope. Bigger boom, fractures a-plenty, but no shearing nor removal of much mass. Thermite? Nahh… “Fuck this. Get me four cases of 60% Herculene Extra Fast dynamite”, I asked the able-bodied Army privates. “I also need Durafast Primacord, the “heavy” stuff, millisecond-delay blasting caps, and some SuperSidekicks Extra blasting cap boosters.” This thing isn’t just going to be reduced to a pile of rubble, it’s going to be a pile of rubble on Mars by the time I finish with it. “And get me a proper blasting machine. I need a plunger-type to handle the extra resistance.” Fuck this, I’m going Granddad and Uncle Bår old-school. I design a shot pattern that was a Picasso-esque abstract work of art. By the time it was fully charged and ready to go, it very closely resembled the active wall in that salt mine I toured all those years ago. It was impressive. Hexagonal shot patterns with angled shot holes. Ripple charged so that one hexagon would initiate immediately after the previous, to conserve energy and focus it where I wanted it to go. This one will work, I’m certain of that fact. It’s going to turn this bergy bit into just bits. I’m concentrating accrued blast energy in a focused manner, like a large accumulative shaped charge. “Say Adios, muthafuka!” I growl right after the obligatory thrice FIRE IN THE HOLE! WHAM! Goes the plunger. KA-BOOOM, BLAM, KER-POW, KA-BOOM…etc. When the smoke and dust cleared, there sat a slightly less large bergy bit. It was scorched and the surface was torn up like a procession of D-9 dozers with ripping hooks extended had held a barn dance on the surface. But the bergy bit remained more or less intact. All that pyrotechnical display affected approximately 5% of the entire mass of the petulant block of ice. The Army privates were snickering and Lt. Orin was not doing well concealing his huge grin. In the words of Queen Victoria: “We are not amused.” Lt. Orin comes up to congratulate me on a splendid effort. “Thanks. That’s cold comfort. I barely got the thing to notice I was there.” I grumbled. “Rock, here’s the deal. We’re faced with the same problem. We can’t shift these fuckers either, and we’re not just limited to permissible explosives. I thought you really had something with that ‘Old School’ method you tried. But these ice floes, growlers, and bergy bits are damn nigh impossible to deal with short of nuclear options.” He smiled. “So I was set up?” I asked. To be continued.
60 lesser-known NES/SNES/Nintendo 64/GameCube/Wii games that are worth trying out.
NES: Conflict - A strategy game which alternates between two modes of play: a strategic/operational scale, in which players move their units around the hex map; and a tactical combat module for resolving unit-to-unit combats and include a choice of either issuing orders themselves or using the "auto" mode which delegates command to the AI. By capturing towns and winning battles, the player gains "fame" points that can be used to purchase more and better military hardware. Every scenario ends only when the same, single victory condition is achieved by one of the two sides: destroy the opposing side's main battle tank unit in combat. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball - A sports game in which there are no preset softball clubs, as the player recruits a 10-member squad from a roster of 60 weird players, which not only vary in regards to arm strength and speed, but also have unusual skills - such as climbing fences, diving into water, and flying at night. Flying Warriors - An action game which features side scrolling portions where the player can use kung fu and mystic spells to dispose of enemies. Each enemy the player defeats gives them experience points which will eventually increase their life points. There are also some one on one duels during fighting tournaments that involve hitting a target on the opponents body while defending the target on the player's own body. Galaxy 5000: Racing in the 51st Century - A racing game where four spaceships compete head to head in outer space races. The ships complete several laps around each course and have limited firing capacity to throw their opponents off balance. The ships can also jump, meaning that the ships can jump right off the edge of the course and drop down. The Lone Ranger - An action-adventure game which takes the player through eight western-themed regions, each with a different objective, and features many points of view during gameplay, such as top-down, side-scrolling, and first-person perspectives. Each bad guy that is killed is earns the player money, which can be used to buy more bullets, dynamite, rifles or a patch up from a doctor. Puzznic - A puzzle game in which the player maneuvers a selection of blocks and has to clear them all by having them make contact with other blocks of the same design. There are moving platforms, meaning that the player needs to move a block at a particular time, or in particular order, to prevent them being blockaded. In other situations, there is an odd number of a certain type of block - solving these requires positioning two of the blocks one space apart, so that the a move will result in a piece making contact with the two others, immediately removing all three. Space Shuttle Project - A space flight simulator in which the player takes control of several NASA Space Launches in order to do some necessary jobs in space, such as fueling the space ship and making sure all the crew are on safely before launch. There are also post-launch activities, such rocket and fuel tank separation, landing the shuttle, launching a satellite, and building a space station. Tombs & Treasure - An adventure game in which the player travels to an old Mayan civilization to look for a professor and his team that mysteriously disappeared, and features puzzles which sometimes involves the use of music or moving heavy objects. There are also role-playing elements, as solving puzzles and defeating enemies grants the the player experience points. Even though combat is very sparse in the game, taking on stronger foes can be futile if the player hasn't gathered enough experience by completing other tasks beforehand. Ultimate Air Combat - A flight combat simulator that features three different flyable planes; FA-18 Hornet, AV-8 Harrier, and the F-14 Tomcat. The game also features several types of missiles and bombs for the planes to use, including the harpoon, ASRAAM, rockeye, sea eagle, and maverick. Each mission is grouped into two parts: the first part uses a cockpit view where the player must shoot down three planes before either running out of fuel or getting shot down by enemy planes, and the second half of the mission uses an isometric view where the player must destroy enemy forces and installations. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles - A platformer which features side-scrolling action where the player trots along the ground, jumps, crawls flat, and can collect and wield a variety of weapons against copious enemies in the game. The player starts with a whip and can find weapons such as throwing knives, grenades, pistols, and rifles. The player can also collect hat power-ups which allow them to sustain more damage. SNES: A.S.P. Air Strike Patrol - A flight combat simulator in which the player takes control of either an F-15 Eagle, or an A-10 Tankbuster jet. The mission is to neutralize the offensive forces of the Zarak army, who have recently invaded a smaller neighboring country. The Zarak army has many ground units, including tanks, stinger-missile launchers, SCUD missiles and armored vehicles that are aimed with a missile/bomb-target that is constantly shown on the ground before the plane. Big Sky Trooper - An action-adventure game that features a human civilian gang-pressed into the military to deal with an invasion of the Space Slugs, which has conquered almost all of known space. The game has the player move around space in their ship, the E.S.S. Direwolf, destroying Slug starfighters from orbit before beaming down to the surface in their mech to destroy any remaining enemies on the surface. The player is given tasks to do which requires them visit certain planets and either meet with NPCs, recover key items or destroy certain objects to complete those missions. Choplifter III - A shoot-'em-up in which the player must use their helicopter to collect POWs from horizontally looping stages, emancipating them from their prisons by destroying the walls, evading or eliminating their captors and returning them back to the allied helipad. Firepower 2000 - A shoot-'em-up in which the player can control either a Helicopter or a Jeep, which have different advantages -- for instance, the Helicopter is not obstructed by obstacles but the Jeep can fire in any direction. There are nine weapons (five permanent, four short-lasting specials) the player can pick up along the way to help destroy the enemy. The Ignition Factor - An action game in which the player takes control of a firefighter as they progress through several stages which include obstacles that will stop or kill the player like collapsing floors and explosive barrels. Before each mission, the player can look at a map and learn of trapped victims and dangerous hot spots and choose their equipment that includes a chemical & electrical fire extinguisher, an oxygen tank, a rope and an axe. However, if the player is carrying a lot of equipment, they will not be able to run or kick, limiting them to just merely walking. King Arthur's World - A strategy game where the player must utilize various units and their abilities to help King Arthur safely reach the end of each level and keep as many of the King's men alive as possible. The gameplay is initially a simple A to B scenario, set in the English countryside and towns, with the occasional castle. In the following levels, the player is required to negotiate ever more complex maps, with multiple levels, teleporting doors and increasingly harder to kill enemies. On the Ball - An action game in which the player rotates a maze around a free-falling ball with the goal of guiding the ball out of the maze within a set time limit. Operation Logic Bomb: The Ultimate Search & Destroy - A shoot-'em-up in which the goal of the game is to explore an underground laboratory, which is now partially a virtual world after an experiment went awry. Each new area contains a memory bank, which has a record of what the location used to look like and can reset the dimension, fixing the area. The player must do this to every area in the game in order to complete the game. Phantom 2040 - An action-adventure game that takes place across seven chapters, some of which are split into varying paths (of which the player has a choice), and has over 20 unique endings. The game features upgradable weapons and a heavy focus on exploration. Some levels even have gates that must be remotely unlocked via a corresponding number on each door. Push-Over - A puzzle game in which the player has to push over a number of dominoes and knock over a key domino that will open up a door to the next level. This is done by picking up and moving dominoes around the screen, arranging them, and utilizing their special abilities. The player is only able to push one domino, so the sequence must be planned out in advance. Spanky's Quest - A platformer in which players take control of a monkey named Spanky as he must find keys for magic doors while bouncing bubbles on his head, popping them into sports balls, and using the balls to knock out enemy fruits and vegetables. Street Racer - A racing game in which up to four players can play by split-screen. The game has eight different vehicles with different skills in speed, haste or resistance. There are also some power-ups on the tracks such as bombs, nitro fuel, and health packs. Super Buster Bros. - An action game in which the goal is to destroy the balloons which bounce around the playfield, and this is accomplished by shooting hooks which travel upwards, and blow up any balloon they touch. Depending on their size, they either split on two smaller ones, or evaporate if they're at their minimum size. Apart from balloons, some levels also have barriers that have to be destroyed with the hooks, as since they often block access to the balloons. Super Conflict: The Mideast - A strategy game in which there are two sides (Blue or Red) who must destroy the opposing force's Flag Unit. Scenarios are laid on on a hexagonal grid, and the player moves their units around and attacks enemy units in adjacent hexagons. There are also cities, airports, and shipyards which the player can occupy and use for their own purposes, such as repairing a unit, and depending on the skill level or scenario, the player can also construct factories to produce additional units. Troddlers - A puzzle game in which the player takes control of an animal-like wizard who can create and remove blocks; these blocks are useful for both jumping onto and redirecting the path of the little Troddlers that the player has to direct towards the exit. The tricky bit is that the Troddlers can climb walls and ceilings, and the exit is often in the middle of the screen, sometimes having an obstacle in the way. Nintendo 64: Aero Fighters Assault - A flight combat simulator in which there are eight planes (six regular and two bonus) that each feature different weapons, including ones with unlimited ammo and a special weapon that's restricted to few uses per round. Objectives vary from protecting a certain asset, or destroying certain enemies. Each stage has a boss fight after the given objectives are completed. Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs - A strategy game in which the premise is that the Soviets and Americans are actually fighting on the moon during the cold war, unbeknownst to the public. The player has to command fleets of tanks against opponents and win the war. There are three completely different game modes in the game: An arcade mode in which the player fights an ever increasingly difficult waves of enemies, a story mode in which the player is simply a pilot and are told exactly what the player's orders are, and a strategy mode in which the player can build units and send them off to do battle for the player. Hydro Thunder - A racing game in which the player races on 13 water courses set in Antarctica, the far east, the Greek isles, etc. on different types of futuristic boats. Races use a checkpoint system and an assortment of power-ups and upgrades, like nitro boosters, that are scattered across the courses. Iggy's Reckin' Balls - A racing game in which the player has to race to the top of a tower as they control a collection of ball-like characters up spiral platforms. A whole range of items are on offer to aid the player's progress, including grappling hooks, conveyor belts, and springs. Enemy characters can also litter the platforms, attempting to stop the player from getting to the top. Lode Runner 3-D - An action game in which the player goes through each of the levels by dodging defensive blocks and enemies by placing bombs and blowing holes in the ground in order to find gold. Rocket: Robot on Wheels - A platformer in which the player has to go through the worlds collecting tokens and tickets and fixing machines to get a theme-park up and running again. The player can gain special moves, including a double-jump, freeze ray, and grapple, that have to be used to to defeat enemies, such as evil robotic clowns and giant robot bees. San Francisco Rush 2049 - A racing game in which the player has to get to the finish before everyone else while avoiding massive crashes and taking as many shortcuts as possible. The tracks themselves include moving ramps and switches to other shortcuts, and includes features such as flying. Modes include time trials and a four player 'Battlematch' mode that adds weapons to the action. Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth - A shoot-'em-up in which the player takes control of different space crafts, each with different advantages and disadvantages, and different weapons. Each level also has its own secret path to take, depending on what the player shoots. Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense - A vehicular combat simulator in which each vehicle has a machine gun with unlimited ammo, and can also pick up more powerful limited use weapons like missiles and mines from pickups throughout the level. There are also vehicle traction replacements, such skis which offer better traction over snow, aqua jets which can drive over water without sinking, and a hover attachment which enables a car to fly. Wetrix - A puzzle game in which the player must build barriers on an arena to stop water from leaking out. As time progresses, rain starts to fall onto the arena, so the player must try to keep the walls as high as possible to catch the water, and too much on the screen will start an earthquake. Mechanics include ice blocks falling to freeze the water, bombs dropping and leaving holes in walls, and fireballs vaporizing the water. GameCube: Chaos Field - A shoot-'em-up in which the player can move back and forth between two parallel dimensions - the "order field" and the "chaos field". In the Order Field, enemies have less firepower, whereas in the Chaos Field there are more opportunities for amassing points. Egg Mania: Eggstreme Madness - A puzzle game in which the goal is to build a tower tall enough to reach a balloon at the top of the play field before the opponent does. If the player tries to take a short cut and not build complete floors, the structure will start crumbling and the water will come up faster. Obstacles include falling meteors that can knock the player down into the water and bombs thrown by the opponent that will destroy parts of the player's structure. Fire Blade - A flight combat simulator in which the player must pilot a powerful attack helicopter through various missions and take out a range of enemy units, from military bases hidden in the middle of nowhere to other attack craft (both air and ground based). Weapons include swarm missiles, cannons and homing missiles. Freaky Flyers - A racing game in which racing competitions use planes, as well as other flying vehicles, such as UFO's and flying carpets. Future Tactics: The Uprising - A strategy game in which characters fire by aiming at a target and then matching two lines for the precise firing zone. Character progression is based on experience attained from killing enemies, or finding hidden items in the environment. Gaining a level lets the player pick a new ability or boost for the character. Pitfall: The Lost Expedition - A platformer in which the player explores through jungles, ruins, caverns, and mountains, looking for items that will open new avenues for exploration in a huge, connected world. Ribbit King - A sports game in which golf is played with frogs instead of balls. Each of the five planets in the game has its own unique obstacles, including dangerous plants and animals poised to pounce on the player's frog. Power-ups allow frogs to fly farther, swim faster, and modify the frog's behavior in the wild. RoadKill - A vehicular combat simulator in which there are missions that offer a variety of objectives, such as destroying other cars, killing citizens and building alliances with other clans, with the ultimate goal being the leader of the gang that everyone fears. Weapons and upgrades that need to be searched out keep the player's car ahead of the pack, but the player needs to search out the parts in order to do so. Scavenger hunts for blueprints are the only way to do so, building the ultimate weapons while improving the speed and reliability of the car. Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy - An action-adventure game that revolves around two main characters, both requiring unique styles of gameplay: The primary character, Sphinx, is a demi-god with a mostly human appearance and carries a sword, and is involved in mostly action-oriented gameplay, while the other character, "The mummy", was previously a prince known as Tutankhamen, before put under a curse that had him mummified. The downside of this is that he moves slowly, and is unable to attack, but since he is undead he can solve various puzzles by using his indestructible body to his advantage. Examples: setting fire to himself, crushing himself, and cutting himself into three separate mummies. Summoner: A Goddess Reborn - A role-playing game featuring seven other playable characters, though only three characters can be in the party at once. The player can also directly influence the development of the kingdom in the game. The player can donate gold collected from their adventures to improve the health services, education, and military of the realm, and also issue judgments on a variety of political issues which have repercussions later in the game. Wii: Castle of Shikigami III - A shoot-'em-up which features ten different characters each with their own special weapons and abilities. Each character has a standard attack known as a primary attack and a secondary attack known as a Shikigami, which is more powerful, but slows down or stops the player completely. Death Jr.: Root of Evil - A platformer in which the player can use a scythe along with other weapons like a shotgun, electric gun and even C4 Hamsters. The scythe is used to not only maim and kill but to reach heights not accessible by jumping. Weapons can be upgraded and moves can be learned (scythe combos) by collecting widgets scattered throughout the levels. Excitebots: Trick Racing - A racing game in which the main objective is not to place first, but to collect the highest amount of stars. The player collects stars by doing tricks, stunts, minigames, crashes, and their placement in the race. The race is never stopped for these tricks and minigames, and the player has to complete them while racing at the same time. Fishing Master World Tour - A sports game in which fishing is done by casting with the Wii Remote and reeling in with the Nunchuk. There are over 40 different locations to fish from in seven different regions and there are over 200 different types of fish to catch. Kid Adventures: Sky Captain - An amateur flight simulator which includes missions that range from aerial races, to shooting targets, to cow herding, and to finding hidden pirate treasures. Flying machines used include gyrocopters, jet planes and UFOs with customizable skins for each. Lost in Shadow - A platformer that starts with an imprisoned boy suspended in mid air, and a stranger enters and strikes at the boy with a sword, severing the connection between him and his shadow, which the stranger throws from the tower. The player takes the role of the shadow as it works its way through the tower to the top, and must stay in the shaded areas and can, for the most part, only interact with the shadows of things and not things themselves. The player is aided by 'Spangle', a sylph who can sometimes usefully change the angle of light - thus changing the shadows of objects, making impossible jumps achievable and unreachable objects accessible. Marble Saga: Kororinpa - A puzzle game in which the player must guide a marble through an obstacle course by maneuvering the playfield. Mercury Meltdown Revolution - A puzzle game where the player's job is to guide a blob of mercury, or several blobs, along various mazes by tilting the game world, while hazards try to zap, attract, repulse, eat, or blow the blob up. Mini Ninjas - An action-adventure game in which the player plays as a ninja tasked with freeing other ninjas, which can be switched to at any given moment and have different abilities. Unlocked by finding and praying at hidden shrines, the player can use spells, including fireballs, whirlwinds and the ability to enter a spirit form where animals can be taken over to have them fight. Characters can also wall jump, run along walls, hang from ledges, level up to get better abilities, and have different focus attacks that can cause more damage. The Munchables - An action game in which the player has to go around and through levels devouring the hostile legions of fruits and vegetables. Trying to swallow enemies of a level higher than the player's will end with them being repelled, though it is possible to perform a dash attack that will split enemies into creatures of a lower level, therefore edible. As the player eats, they grow and level up, which then makes it possible to gorge bigger enemies. Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars - A platformer in which the player completes certain objectives and collects normal household items, some of which can be fashioned into weapons, while others like green meteorite chunks make the player stronger. Players must also avoid obstacles and defeat smaller and boss enemies, such as insects, animals and other mushrooms that can easily crush and kill the player. A telekinetic ability can be also used to pick up items to throw at enemies or activate switches. Opoona - A role-playing game where the player takes command of a boy, named Opoona, who's separated from his family after crash landing on a planet and is determined to find them, but to travel from colony to colony on the planet, he must first obtain a license from the bureaucratic-choked colonies to travel between them. To do this, he must find and complete jobs in each colony, anything from fishing, a park ranger, a fortune teller, janitorial work to even fighting monsters like evil flat screen TVs. The player can also use money obtained through the various odd jobs to shop and collect various items throughout the planet, anything from toys to even pieces of art. Order Up! - A career simulator which not only involves cooking and serving food, but also managing and running multiple restaurants. This involves adding new dishes to the menu, buying new spices, upgrading kitchens, and hiring and firing sous chefs. The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces - A flight combat simulator where the movement of the Nunchuk is used to tilt, roll, pitch and yaw the player's aircraft, while the Wii Remote is used as the throttle, with players tilting it up and down to accelerate and decelerate. The game features a gameplay mechanic called the "Tactical Maneuver Command" system, in which players gain the ability to perform automatic acrobatics to better position themselves for attack by keeping in close proximity to their enemies. Players can also unlock new planes, which they can customize in areas such as color, weapons and armor. Tornado Outbreak - An action game with an emphasis on chaos and destruction. The player initially starts off as a small tornado, and the more destruction means the tornado becomes bigger, but players must stay in clouds and shadows and avoid sunlight, or else it's game over. Aside from destroying buildings, players must find Fire Flyers, which grant new abilities, and absorb them in the tornado. Thanks to Giant Bomb and MobyGames for help with descriptions.
2. The interior angles add up to 1080° and the exterior angles add up to 360° 3. The interior angle at each vertex of a regular octagon is 135°, The central angle is 45° Irregular Octagon. 1. It is an octagon with unequal sides and angles. 2. The measures of the angles are different, but they all add up to 1080° Convex Octagon. 1. An easy way to do this is to remember that the *exterior angles* of a polygon always add up to 360°. So one exterior angle of a regular hexagon will be 360°/6 = 60° The interior angle is always the... Hexagon is a polygon with six sides and six vertices. Like any polygon, a hexagon can be either convex or concave, as illustrated in the next figure. When convex, a hexagon (or a polygon in general) has none of its interior angles greater than 180°. The properties of regular hexagons: All sides are the same length (congruent) and all interior angles are the same size (congruent). To find the measure of the interior angles, we know that the sum of all the angles is 720 degrees (from above)... And there are six angles... So, the measure of the interior angle of a regular hexagon is 120 degrees. A hexagon is a closed plane figure with six edges and six vertices. A regular hexagon is a convex figure with sides of the same length, and internal angles of 120 degrees. It has six rotational symmetries and six reflection symmetries, making up the dihedral group D 6. The properties of hexagons are numerous and interesting. At first glance, several facts about them stand out: Example: What are the interior and exterior angles of a regular hexagon? A regular hexagon has 6 sides, so: Exterior Angle = 360° / 6 = 60° Interior Angle = 180° − 60° = 120° A regular hexagon has six sides that are all congruent, or equal in measurement. A regular hexagon is convex, meaning that the points of the hexagon all point outward. All of the angles of a... If it is a Regular Polygon (all sides are equal, all angles are equal) Shape Sides Sum of Interior Angles Shape Each Angle; Triangle: 3: 180° 60° Quadrilateral: 4: 360° 90° Pentagon: 5: 540° 108° Hexagon: 6: 720° 120° Heptagon (or Septagon) 7: 900° 128.57...° Octagon: 8: 1080° 135° Nonagon: 9: 1260° 140°..... Any Polygon: n (n−2) × 180° (n−2) × 180° / n inner angle of hexagon: 720 / 6 = 120 inner angle octagon: 1080 / 8 = 135 angle of x: 360 - (135 + 120) = 105 x = 105 In case you don't understand. all the angles around a point add up to 360. So you take off the other 2 angles from 360. Working out the inner angles from regular shapes is easy you can just google it. thats where 255 comes from. He missed the last step lol. A regular hexagon has: six sides (edges) six vertices (corners) The interior angles add up to 720 degrees: Octagon. Properties of a Octagon. A regular octagon has: eight sides (edges) eight vertices (corners) The interior angles add up to 1,080 degrees: Sum of interior angles of a polygon formula (n-2)x180= Sum of interior angles of a polygon triangle method; Flickr Creative Commons Images ...
* Sum of interior angles * How to find the size each interior angle * Lines of symmetry * We can divide regular hexagon into six equilateral triangles. We can use this property to find area of the ... You can find the exterior angle measure of a polygon by taking 360 degrees and divide this by the number of sides of the regular polygon. The interior and exterior angles add to 180 degrees so you ... The task is to draw any hexagon (I simply drew 6 dots and connected them), then measure all of its angles with a protractor, and lastly, draw enough diagonals into it to divide it into triangles. Geometry Teachers Never Spend Time Trying to Find Materials for Your Lessons Again!Join Our Geometry Teacher Community Today!http://geometrycoach.com/Geomet... This video shows how (and WHY) to calculate the sum and individual interior and exterior angles of any regular polygon.