Blizzard has rolled out a new update to the Overwatch PTR with changes to the ever-controversial Mercy, and another for Junkrat.

The patch is the latest in a string of updates that aim at balancing Mercy, one of Overwatch’s most discussed (and picked) characters. Mercy’s Valkyrie ultimate has seen several changes.

First, the Resurrect is no longer instant, and Valkyrie no longer grants a bonus Resurrect charge. The idea is to prevent players from mitigating the effect of the previous nerfs by using Resurrect through Valkyrie.

Guardian Angel, which grants a speed boost to Mercy, has had its effectiveness reduced by 50%, and Valkyrie’s duration itself has been reduced to 15 seconds, from 20.

Junkrat was also nerfed, though the effect is a lot more limited. His Concussion Mine will now deal less damage to targets farther away from the explosion centre. Blizzard said that it was a bit too easy for Junkrat to deal lots of damage in a large area by double-charging Concussion Mines.

This change requires players to be more accurate with their throws. As is typical with Overwatch PTR patches, if the changes don’t face much opposition or break anything, they usually find their way into the live game shortly after.

After spending more than 40 hours researching and testing automatic cat litter boxes, we can’t recommend any of them. Self-cleaning litter boxes are expensive, prone to malfunction, and often harder to clean than a traditional litter box. The Litter-Robot III Open Air is the least bad model we've tested, but you probably shouldn't get it.

Oh these are cool: custom-made minifigs of all your favorite Star Trek:TNG characters. The Wesley Crusher one is kinda funny, but Wil Wheaton makes a good case as to why it’s unfair to the character. And it turns out, you can get custom minifigs for just about everything, from LeBron James to Game of Thrones to yourself. (via io9)

Tags: Legos   Star Trek   TV

Clemson, Miami, Ohio State, and UCLA are also in the mix for the nation’s No. 2 ballcarrier.

As the 2019 recruiting cycle begins to heat up with most of the 2018 class signed, the Texas Longhorns are in an excellent position with Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy running back Noah Cain.

In fact, the Longhorns are the early leader thanks to the effort of running backs coach Stan Drayton, Cain told SB Nation Recruiting on Wednesday at the Under Armour Future 50 Underclassman Camp in Florida.

The former Denton Guyer standout is also interested in Clemson, Miami, and UCLA. And though Ohio State wasn’t mentioned by Cain, the Buckeyes also remain a contender, as he told another outlet that Urban Meyer’s program has “solidified itself” among his top schools, citing his relationship with fellow Texas product JK Dobbins.

Given that Ohio State holds most of the recent Crystal Ball projections for Cain, including one cast on Wednesday, this recruitment is far from over, but Drayton has clearly done an excellent job so far in putting Texas in a favorable position.

A consensus five-star prospect, Cain is ranked as the No. 21 player nationally, the No. 2 running back, and the No. 5 player in Florida, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

It’s been a long time since HBO started moving forward with a third season of True Detective, getting Mahershala Ali to star and Green Room’s Jeremy Saulnier to direct, and now HBO is finally doing something again. According to Variety, HBO has enlisted Stephen Dorff to play Roland West, an Arkansas State Investigator…

Read more...

Baker Mayfield was a unique talent and a polarizing personality in college football. Is he ready to make a similar impact in the NFL?

The Predator will follow in the footsteps of four other Longhorns and forgo his senior season at Texas.

Another Texas Longhorns football star is headed to the NFL.

Following in the footsteps of safety DeShon Elliott, left tackle Connor Williams, cornerback Holton Hill, and punter Michael Dickson, junior linebacker Malik Jefferson will forego his senior season at Texas to declare for the NFL Draft.

Jefferson announced via a Players’ Tribune video on Sunday, thanking Charlie Strong, Tom Herman, and Texas fans in the video.

“It has been a long process and a very difficult decision by leaving my teammates,” Jefferson said. “But it’s a dream of mine, and I appreciate them for all their support.”

The junior was one of the most noteworthy commitments in recent Longhorns football history, as he was ranked as the No. 10 composite player, No. 1 linebacker, and No. 1 player in Texas for the class of 2015.

Jefferson was a starter from his first game in burnt orange and white, but had his breakout season this year. Jefferson won Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year after amassing 110 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and four sacks on the season.

In his Longhorn career, The Predator recorded 231 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, and 13 sacks.

So far there is some smoke, but it’s not clear if there’s any fire.

On Monday, NCAA rule changes will allow the Texas Longhorns to add a 10th assistant coach to Tom Herman’s staff and the hot name on Saturday is former Oregon Ducks head coach Mark Helfrich.

Athletic director Chris Del Conte described what the Austin American-Statesman called “internet reports” as mere “rumors.”

“Tom and I have not had any discussion about it,” Del Conte said. “As far as the rumors being bantered around, those are just rumors. Tom and I have not had any discussions about who the possible 10th coach could be.”

Adding Helfrich to the Texas staff could allow current coordinator Tim Beck to focus on coaching the quarterbacks or serve as a way to effectively reassign Beck without simply terminating him. Or it’s possible that both coaches could work together next season as co-coordinators.

Helfrich is an intriguing name because of his experience as the head coach at Oregon from 2013-2016, ultimately leading the Ducks to 37 wins during that stretch. Prior to assuming the head coaching role, Helfrich was the offensive coordinator for Chip Kelly, but didn’t call plays.

Still only 44 years old, Helfrich was at one point the youngest offensive coordinator at the BCS level when he joined the Colorado program in 2006.

Prior to the Texas Bowl, Herman wasn’t sure if he would hire an offensive or a defensive coach — Texas currently has five offensive assistants and four defensive assistants.

“I’ve thought about it,” Herman said several weeks ago. “Initially, I thought about a defensive guy to even out the staff, but I think it’s kind of like recruiting a little bit. You almost want to go best available.”

Helfrich could certainly be a quality addition as a recruiter for the Longhorns — Herman’s No. 1 requirement for the position — and might be the single best available coach, but the area of recruiting where Texas needs the most help is probably along the defensive line. Based on the results in the 2017 and 2018 classes, position coach Oscar Giles has been rather underwhelming as a recruiter.

You no longer need an Android phone if you want to join in Xbox party chats when you're away from your console -- Microsoft has introduced party chat to the beta Xbox app for iOS. If you've been accepted into the program (you have to sign up first), you can keep up with your teammates' voice conversations from your iPhone or iPad while you're racing home to join them in a multiplayer match.

Via: OnMSFT, Windows Central

Source: Xbox App Beta signup

The munchies have set in, and you’re not sure whether you want greasy tacos, Sourdough Jacks, or seasoned curly fries. Or perhaps your cognitive functions are hazy at best, and you prefer a Snoop Dogg-curated deep-fried grab bag. Have we got great news for you, wasteoids.

Read more...

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's performance on Xbox hardware has never been what I'd call "great." So, when Microsoft announced that CD Projekt RED's massive single-player RPG was one of the games getting an "enhancement" patch for the One X I got pretty excited. Finally, the game would be playable on the system I got it for. The patch recently arrived, and with it an "advanced" tab in the display options. You can pick from either 4K Mode or Performance Mode. The former gives you 4K graphics at a locked 30 FPS on a UHD display. For 1080p TV owners, that translates to super-sampled visuals and 60 FPS in my brief tests.

Source: CD Projekt RED

If you were hoping for the dedicated YouTube TV app to show up on your Roku or Apple TV this year, you will need to wait just a little longer. When announced back in October, we were told that apps were headed to the Xbox One, Apple TV and Roku "in t...

Nintendo Power published tips, strategies, news and everything Nintendo for 24 years until it shut its doors in 2012. The magazine met its demise due to the rise of new media, but now it's back -- in the form of a podcast. Nintendo of America has ann...

Me-ow.

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(Seattle, WA) – Is it already time to start thinking about 2018? Yep! Especially when it includes talking about a stellar lineup of beer that Reuben’s Brews has planned for the Pacific Northwest next year. Always prolific in producing a wide variety of beers for its fans, 2018 is shaping up to be no different. Favorites like the year-round Gose and seasonal Roasted Rye are still featured, with a few new brews in the works (more on that in January!).

Highlights include:

Bits and Bobs. Spring will see a brand new beer enter the line up this year, and every year in fact! Bits and Bobs will be a rotating seasonal brew, a different beer every year, drawing upon the brewery’s learnings from the prior 12 months. 2018 Bits and Bobs will feature a light, crisp malt profile, and will feature a hop that the brewery first experimented with in 2017. More to come in the next few weeks!

Imperial Release Series. This series has expanded to six beers, rotating every two months. This means a return to the lineup of the Imperial Rye IPA, one of the brewery’s first ever IPAs and a much loved favorite. And the Imperial Oatmeal Stout makes a return this winter!

Taproom Release Series. This series enables the brewery to share a broader range of its line up of beers. A new beer every month will be released in draft (and sometimes package). Highlights include the 2017 Wine Enthusiast Top 25 brew Blimey That’s Bitter! and 2018 Hop Idol beer (featuring the brewery’s home brew competition winner).

The Taproom Release Series is just the tip of the iceberg of the variety Reuben’s offers. It’s taproom in Seattle’s Ballard district continues to change up its 25 taps with a vast array of brews (plus much more – come visit!).

(Austin, TX) – Jester King Brewery announced another special bottle release on Friday. More below, straight from the brewery….

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This Friday, we’ll release our fifth and final SPON three year blend of the year. The blend consists of 100% spontaneously fermented beer from 2016, 2015, and 2014, which then matured in bottles and kegs for almost another full year. Altogether, the beer took nearly four years to make.

Our fifth blend of the year was brewed with unfiltered Hill Country well water, Texas malted barley, raw Texas wheat, and aged hops from the attic of our barn. It was cooled overnight in our coolship and inoculated with naturally occurring airborne yeast and bacteria. It was 100% spontaneously fermented in oak barrels, blended across multiple years, and naturally conditioned in kegs and bottles placed on their sides. It was blended on February 14th, 2017 and packaged the following day. It’s 5.8 percent alcohol by volume, 32 IBU, 3.3 pH, and has a finishing gravity of 1.002 (0.5 Plato).

2017 SPON 5 — Three Year Blend will be released when our tasting room opens at 4pm on Friday, December 22nd. It will be available by the glass and in bottles to go:

375ml bottles / 1,350 bottles / $20 / limit three per customer per day
750ml bottles / 1,000 bottles / $36 / limit three per customer per day

Outside of special events, 2017 SPON 5 — Three Year Blend will only be available at our tasting room.

Bolstering an already loaded defensive back class, elite Houston Lamar cornerback Anthony Cook is a Longhorn.

Houston Lamar cornerback Anthony Cook has long been a top target for Tom Herman and his staff and on Wednesday, their persistent pursuit paid off as the elite in-state product announced his commitment to the Texas Longhorns over the LSU Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes on ESPNU.

“I just felt like that was the right decision for me and my family,” Cook told Rivals. “It’s not far from home — if I want to go home, I can go home — I like what Coach (Tom) Herman is doing with the program, I just felt like it was right.”

An early enrollee who will sign with the ‘Horns on Wednesday, as well, Cook originally planned to shut things down on October 30, but in a recruitment that featured no shortage of twists and turns, the U.S. Army All-American needed every bit of extra time to assure his decision was the right one.

After Ohio State owned the edge for much of his recruitment, Texas and LSU began to surge late as the Buckeyes seemingly faded from frontrunner to afterthought. Following his Sept. 29 official visit to Austin, Cook proclaimed Texas as the team to beat, but not surprisingly, nearby LSU and its ace recruiters in head coach Ed Orgeron and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda continued to make their push.

“I really was thinking LSU — it came down to the wire,” Cook said. “LSU was in the lead after my official visit. Actually, I was thinking about silently committing with them after that, but I thought, ‘Nah, I better wait.’ After waiting, talking with different coaches, my friends and my parents, we talked and thought that Texas was just the best place for me.”

What Texas offered, though, which LSU and Ohio State could not, is the opportunity to remain home and continue playing alongside longtime teammates in four-star wide receiver Al’vonte Woodard and four-star cornerback D’shawn Jamison, along with several other Houston-area prospects Cook has a relationship with.

Furthermore, a college-ready talent who emphasized the desire to play early and for a program that can send him to the NFL, Cook will arrive in the coming weeks capable of competing to replace former Houston Lamar teammate Holton Hill, who will bypass his senior season and turn pro.

“Cook will bring a very competitive edge with him. He’s technique sound and will work relentlessly to be the best player he can possibly be,” Houston Lamar defensive backs coach Theadis Reagins told Burnt Orange Nation.

An elite technician in coverage, Cook owns comparable upside to the talent he’ll aim to replace on the outside.

247Sports provided an in-depth evaluation of what the ‘Horns prized pledge provides:

“This is what a cover corner is supposed to look like. He not only has the hips and build of an elite level island corner Cook also has plus size at the position at around 6’0, a true rare combination of skills. He is still a bit skinny but is starting to really blow up frame wise as well and that has helped him catch the eye of pretty much every top program in the nation. He has a knack for making plays on the football and if you put up a 50-50 ball he is going to come down with it 75% of the time. He plays against good competition and comes from a program that has been known to produce some of the best defensive backs in the state and has competed strongly at every major camp event on the national level in the off-season, proving he matches up well with receivers who are already bigger and stronger.”

With Cook committed, Texas boasts arguably the top defensive back haul in recruiting history, as the ‘Horns also add five-star Angleton safety BJ Foster, four-star Cibolo Steele safety Caden Sterns, four-star Arp safety DeMarvion Overshown, four-star cornerback Jalen Green, and the aforementioned Jamison.

Furthermore, after Sam Ehlinger (No. 19) was highest-ranked in-state commit for Texas in 2017, the addition of Cook gives Herman pledges from the top five prospects in the state, six of the top seven, and 10 of the top 15. Among that bunch, only Foster ranks higher.

A 6’0, 168-pound talent, Cook is ranked as the nation’s No. 33 player, No. 5 cornerback and the No. 2 player in Texas, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Herman’s 2018 class now sits at No. 3 nationally with the addition of commit No. 19, according to the 247Sports Composite team rankings, following a monster day for Georgia.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) has been this year's biggest surprise. Since launching on Steam Early Access in late March, the game, which conceptually started life as a DayZ mod, has picked up 25 million players on PC, not to mention a marketing and publishing deal from Microsoft for an Xbox One version. This week, version 1.0 arrives on Steam, gaining a second map and new instant replay feature in the process.

But for PUBG Corp CEO Chang Han Kim, even though the game is losing its beta status, work is far from finished. "When we first started this project and thought of the Early Access model, we never took it as a model where you start developing a game, you complete it, you ship it out and then be done with it," Kim said through a translator. "As long as we have fans out there playing our game, it will never be complete."

The headliner of Tom Herman’s 2018 class has officially signed with Texas

For the second time in three years, the nation’s top-ranked safety is Austin-bound, as elite Angleton safety BJ Foster signed with the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday, marking the second time since 2015 that the No. 1 player in the state joined the burnt orange nation.

Despite the 27 total offers from programs such as Texas A&M, TCU, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Penn State, there was rarely any doubt that Foster would follow the footsteps of guys like Quentin Jammer and Quandre Diggs and continue the Angleton-to-Austin lineage. In doing so, Foster provided Texas with the headliner of Tom Herman’s 2018 class and an elite safety who’s ultimately expected to secure his place in the defensive backfield.

A two-way talent for Angleton, after spending a portion of his junior season and the bulk of the offseason sidelined with an MCL injury, Foster thrived as a senior. Along with his elite expertise at safety, which has led to Foster being ranked better than anyone else in the nation at his position, Foster rushed for 952 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior, as well as hauling in 24 receptions for 520 yards and three touchdowns.

Although Foster could certainly play running back at the next level, much of what makes his such a coveted prospect is his upside at safety.

A big, physical talent, Foster is a rangy defensive back who’s excellent in coverage, both in zone and one-on-one situations. His instinct in coverage, along with his hard-hitting tendencies and college-ready frame add to what makes Foster as ideal of a candidate as any to take over DeShon’s Elliott’s role at safety, although they staff may certainly elect to side with experience there.

247Sports provided further inside on the top-ranked player in Texas:

“Foster is a force on both sides of the football and he could be an explosive offensive weapon or a dominating defensive presence once he arrives n the college scene. As an offensive player he is able to gash defenses as a running back and cash in long plays. He has great top end speed. His most upside could very well be on the defensive side of the football. He has great height as a defensive back and is rangy. His frame will fill out in time and he could be a tremendous deep safety, but he also has the ability to lock down receivers with his one-on-one coverage skills.”

Whether it’s sooner or later, Foster is going to see the field at Texas in a full-time role and aside from any major setbacks, he’ll almost surely enter the 2018 season among the second unit. If the early enrollee is able to hit the ground running during spring football, it may not be long into his debut campaign before he’s starting alongside former top-ranked safety Brandon Jones.

The 6’4, 200-pounder is the No. 68 overall player in the 2018 class.

Four-star safety DeMarvion Overshown is officially a member of the Texas Longhorns football program.

The Arp, Texas native put pen to paper and signed with the ‘Horns on Wednesday morning:

When Tom Herman first offered Overshown in December 2016, the only other offer the hard-hitting defensive back held was from UTSA. Overshown committed to Texas on May 31 and has remained loyal to the ‘Horns even as his stock has skyrocketed.

Overshown ultimately received 26 offers, with suitors ranging from Alabama to Ohio State. He is ranked as the No. 68 overall player in the class of 2018, the No. 6 safety, and the No. 7 player in Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

The Under Armour All-American notched 142 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, five sacks, five interceptions, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries for Arp High School during the regular season in 2017. Earlier this week he was named to the Texas Associated Press Sports Editors’ Class 3A All-State first team at defensive back.

What stands out most from Overshown’s film is his violent, imposing playing style. The Arp product has the potential to knock his opponents of their feet on every play. The 6’4, 200-pounder also runs a 4.6 40, providing him with solid closing speed to complement his tremendous size.

Overshown will join an incoming group of safety commits that fairly be described as historic as BJ Foster (No. 1 overall safety) and Caden Sterns (No. 3 overall safety) will also be in the 2018 class. The Texas staff recruited its young defensive backs with the vision that they could all be seeing the field at the same time.

Overshown has a mature frame that gave him the ability to play multiple positions in high school. Overshown logged snaps at linebacker, defensive line, and even wide receiver in addition to safety.

If Overshown continues to add size in the weight room once he gets to campus, he could very well project to play outside linebacker at the college level.

Whether the East Texas recruit will thrive as an outside linebacker or defensive back in college remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that Herman and the ‘Horns have landed a gem in DeMarvion Overshown.

Arguably the strongest arm in the nation put pen to paper on Wednesday and officially joined the burnt orange nation.

After struggling to find quality quarterback depth for nearly a decade now, Tom Herman’s 2018 class will bring aboard two talented field generals as part of a crop headlined by Newbury Park (Calif.) gunslinger Cameron Rising, who signed his National Letter of Intent with the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday.

A pure passer out of The Golden State, the word most often associated with Rising is upside, and understandably so.

Rising became one of the nation’s names to know as a sophomore after passing for 3,213 yards and 40 touchdowns with only one interception, while adding another 756 yards and 11 scores with his legs. Following a junior campaign that saw Rising appear in only five games before a shoulder injury and a senior slate that was cut short due to a knee injury nine games in, an injury-plagued final two seasons allowed Rising to add only 3,038 yards and 29 touchdowns through the air and 886 yards and 13 scores on the ground.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned upside and the rocket for an arm Rising owns led to 25 total offers, including Alabama, LSU, Cal, Michigan, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Miaimi, Oregon, UCLA and Oklahoma. Of course, the Sooners initially earned Rising's pledge, but after visiting Austin for the Orange-White scrimmage, Rising crossed the Red River and flipped to Texas on April 22.

A four-star talent, Rising is set to enroll early and will bring with him one of the strongest arms in the nation, as evident by his 42.5-foot power throw, which tested as the best among all 2018 quarterbacks. When the arm strength is put into play in pads, the ball comes out of his hands like a missile, which allows Rising to make nearly every throw on the field with a simple flick of the wrist. Along with the zip he can provide, Rising also displays a soft touch when necessary, in which he can drop the ball into a striding receivers hands just over the coverage.

Furthermore, although the impressive arm and ability to read coverages at a fairly advanced level is often what generates the praise surrounding Rising, he’s an above average athlete thats more than capable of making defenses respect his ability to make plays outside of the pocket. On film, he comes off as a more physically capable Shane Buechele in that regard. He’s unlikely to consistently torch a defense for 50-yard runs, but he’ll make plays and has the frame to handle what comes with running the ball.

Ian Boyd of Inside Texas provided another analysis of what Rising brings to the table:

“Rising has demonstrated that he can read safety rotations and defender leverage before throwing a strike and he can do so when throwing to windows down the field, which is harder than doing so on short routes so his upside is ultimately pretty high.

In Herman’s offense his cannon arm presents some interesting possibilities once he masters the quick game/spread-option concepts and mechanics.”

Rising will arrive in Austin as the nation’s No. 208 player and No. 8 pro-style quarterback, per the 247Sports Composite rankings, but it may be a while before he sees the field. He, along with fellow early enrollee Casey Thompson, will join a quarterback room that features the aforementioned Buechele entering his third season on the Forty Acres, and sophomore-to-be Sam Ehlinger. Much like Rising, Buechele and Ehlinger have spent the past two seasons dealing with various injuries, which is largely why Texas is still in pursuit of a full-time starting quarterback entering the Texas Bowl.

Whether he’s able to take control of a quarterback battle yet to be decided remains to be seen, but at the very least, Rising’s elite arm should add to the competition level inside Tim Beck’s quarterback room.

From Umair Haque, a provocative question: Why Don’t Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?

In London, Paris, Berlin, I hop on the train, head to the cafe — it’s the afternoon, and nobody’s gotten to work until 9am, and even then, maybe not until 10 — order a carefully made coffee and a newly baked croissant, do some writing, pick up some fresh groceries, maybe a meal or two, head home — now it’s 6 or 7, and everyone else has already gone home around 5 — and watch something interesting, maybe a documentary by an academic, the BBC’s Blue Planet, or a Swedish crime-noir. I think back on my day and remember the people smiling and laughing at the pubs and cafes.

In New York, Washington, Philadelphia, I do the same thing, but it is not the same experience at all. I take broken down public transport to the cafe — everybody’s been at work since 6 or 7 or 8, so they already look half-dead — order coffee and a croissant, both of which are fairly tasteless, do some writing, pick up some mass-produced groceries, full of toxins and colourings and GMOs, even if they are labelled “organic” and “fresh”, all forbidden in Europe, head home — people are still at work, though it’s 7 or 8 — and watch something bland and forgettable, reality porn, decline porn, police-state TV. I think back on my day and remember how I didn’t see a single genuine smile — only hard, grim faces, set against despair, like imagine living in Soviet Leningrad.

Haque places the blame on our inability as a society to look outward and learn from ourselves, from history, and from the rest of the world.

So just as Americans don’t get how bad their lives really are, comparatively speaking — which is to say how good they could be — so too Europeans don’t fully understand how good their lives are — and how bad, if they continue to follow in America’s footsteps, austerity by austerity, they could be. Both appear to be blind to one another’s mistakes and successes.

Reading it, I noticed a similarity to Ted Chiang’s essay on the unchecked capitalism of Silicon Valley (which I linked to this morning). Chiang notes that corporations lack insight:

In psychology, the term “insight” is used to describe a recognition of one’s own condition, such as when a person with mental illness is aware of their illness. More broadly, it describes the ability to recognize patterns in one’s own behavior. It’s an example of metacognition, or thinking about one’s own thinking, and it’s something most humans are capable of but animals are not. And I believe the best test of whether an AI is really engaging in human-level cognition would be for it to demonstrate insight of this kind.

Haque is saying that our societies lack insight as well…or at least the will to incorporate that insight into practice.

Tags: politics   Ted Chiang   Umair Haque   USA

npr:

It’s inevitable. Each year, teachers dip into their own pockets to buy things like notebooks, tissues and pencils for their students.

This inevitability is even enshrined in the tax code, which gives educators a $250 deduction for their trouble. Late last week, in hammering out their big tax overhaul, Republicans decided to preserve that deduction. So we thought we would ask teachers how much of their own money they spend each year.

The answer: more than $250.

Erin Craddock, a fourth-grade teacher in Virginia, says she spends more than $300 a year on things like chapter books, bookshelves, folders, organization trays, pocket charts, construction paper and hand sanitizer.

Many teachers told us they spend as much as a $1,000 a year, including Heather Lyke.

How Much Do Teachers Spend On Classroom Supplies?

Illustration: Lindsey Balbierz for NPR

solid list with many of my favorites of the year, including Gorogoa, Universal Paperclips, and Getting Over It

Picard making some terrible fuck-eyes over his flute pic.twitter.com/sB6oeaaDHP

— Carl Garcia (@carlinspace) December 17, 2017

I can't not laugh at this gif every time I see it ever since it was revealed to me that those are stunt hands. https://t.co/1F0ZXClqUJ

— Randall Trang (@RandallTrang) December 17, 2017

Friday the 13th: the Game is today going to be getting offline bots on PC and PS4, allowing players to enjoy the game without having to play with other users.

The game got a fair bit of traction this year, with the goofy, janky but undeniably fun asymmetrical title. While trying to outsmart other players as Jason or as a camper is half the fun of the game, the title is getting the extra functionality later today. Speaking on the game’s forums, Community Manager Daniel Nixon said:

Maybe you hate playing online with people. Maybe you want to learn the lay of the land in all the maps. Maybe you just want to practice laying waste to scores of counselors. No matter the why of your situation, today I am happy to announce that the next update of Friday the 13th: The Game will include offline bots.

To access this new feature, you’ll want to select the new “Offline Play” menu item, and then “Offline Bots”. Next up you’ll want to select the map you want to play on, and select your preferred counselor punishing Jason.

There will be three difficulty levels for counsellor bots in the game making them both better at hiding but also more aggressive and willing to attack Jason. The update is set to go live at some point on PC and PS4 today, but the Xbox will be a little later seemingly.

Have at it.

The post Friday the 13th: the Game is Getting Offline Bots Today appeared first on Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.

noaasanctuaries:

⛰️ Today is International Mountain Day! ⛰️

While we may think of mountains as the ones that tower above us on land, there are also mountains under the sea. These seamounts serve as important habitats for all sorts of marine species. This Bolosoma stalked glass sponge was spotted on the Malulu Seamount during a research expedition in National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. It’s possibly a new species! 

(Photo: NOAA)

Sam McKenzie, Illustrations.

The always amazing illustration work of artist Sam McKenzie.  (And on Instagram).

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Don’t miss Supersonic Art on Instagram!

2016 saw the release of many YA-themed games, and Oxenfree was one of the highlights. Developer Night School Studio is ready to show off its next project and, well, this one is a little different. In Afterparty, players assume the role of a pair of college seniors who have their revelry interrupted by their untimely death. As a result, they are doomed to a pub crawl in hell, as the adventure game follows them from bar to bar on a quest to outdrink Satan himself and escape.

Source: Night School Studio