Do you miss having your favourite Windows applications on your Chromebook? Well, miss no more…

CrossOver is a piece of software that lets you install and run Windows software on Mac and Linux — and now it’s coming to Android.

CodeWeavers, the development company behind the tool, have tested it out on an Intel-based Chromebook that support the Play Store.

And guess what? It works!

“We were able to install the Steam Client into CrossOver for Android and run LIMBO and other games,” they write.

“We have DirectX 9 support, keyboard support, mouse support, and sound support today! People, we are staring at a Leprechaun riding on the back of a Unicorn while taking a picture of a UFO. We are running CrossOver through Android on a ChromeBook running a Windows based game launched from the Steam client.”

By running Windows software through the Android layer on Chrome OS (keep up!) you can install apps like Steam, Firefox and more on a Chromebook.

Yes, on a Chromebook.

There’ll naturally be drawbacks, performance issues and incompatibilities, just as there are on CrossOver for Linux. But when you think about what it means it’s a killer combination, one poised to open up a world of flexibility to Google’s Chromebooks.

CrossOver for Android is not yet released, but the company is eagerly recruiting willing testers. Want to get involved? Hit up the company’s blogpost for full details.

The article Want to Install Windows Software on a Chromebook? You Soon Can was first published on OMG! Chrome!

Texts From Superheroes

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Why should ladies get all the fake-out fun? If there are men reading this who want to round out their physique too, I say go for it, dudes. I'll even give you a little pad on the back to show my support.

These butt-enhancing boxer briefs from Voem incorporate all of the comfort and movability of cotton undies, plus all the double takes and "Nice ass" nods of removable pads that contour your cheeks and create a perfectly bubbled badonkadonk. Because life's not fair, and you can't out-squat unfavorably flat genetics.

Pads slide in and out of a pair of hidden pockets inside the briefs, and are washable along with the underwear. Choose from Gray or Navy colors, and M through XXL sizes.

George Dvorsky at Gizmodo highlights 10 Predictions About the Future That Should Scare the Hell Out of You. My, uh, favorites are:

1. Virtually anyone will be able to create their own pandemic
5. Robots will find it easy to manipulate us
7. The antibiotic era will end
8. Getting robots to kill humans will be disturbingly routine -- and dangerous

From the manipulating robots section:

"Human empathy is both one of our paramount gifts and among our biggest weaknesses," Brin told Gizmodo. "For at least a million years, we've developed skills at lie-detection...[but] no liars ever had the training that these new [Human-Interaction Empathetic Robots] will get, learning via feedback from hundreds, then thousands, then millions of human exchanges around the world, adjusting their simulated voices and facial expressions and specific wordings, till the only folks able to resist will be sociopaths -- and they have plenty of chinks in their armor, as well."

Many of the things on the list seem to have a similar potential for mischief as the discovery of nuclear fission chain reactions in the 1930s. On the other hand, humans have at least temporarily turned that possible civilization-ending technology into a major source of clean energy and 75+ years of world peace (relatively speaking) so maybe there's some room for optimism here? Maybe? Hello?

DAE feel like but a conduit for their Clefable’s rage?

image / twitter / facebook / patreon

The future is coming.

image / twitter / facebook / patreon

The game Pokémon GO has only been available for 6 days in a few countries. Already, it has been downloaded more than 7.5 million times in the USA alone and it is about to surpass Twitter in daily active users.

Pokémon GO is a new game that you play using a smartphone. Some say it’s the answer to childhood obesity because the game gets you off the couch and walking around the neighborhood. Have you noticed how many people are walking around your local park the last few days? Pokémon Go is having a massive social impact. But can you use Pokémon GO to share goodness?

A friend of mine posted this on Instagram:

On the average Sunday, there is no one in this park. Today? More than 50. That’s the power of a particularly rare creature in Pokemon Go….

A video posted by Jared Covington (@jaredcovington) on Jul 10, 2016 at 4:45pm PDT

This article gives some ideas on how individuals, families, wards, and stakes could use Pokémon GO to share goodness.

What is Pokémon GO?

It is a mobile app based on the popular Pokémon game by Nintendo. It uses your smartphone’s GPS and camera to make Pokémon characters “appear” around you (on your phone screen) so you can try to catch them. As you walk around, you will find different types of Pokémon, depending on where you are and what time it is.

The idea is to encourage you to physically move around in “augmented reality” (the combination of a game and the real world interacting together).

Various landmarks are designated as “Pokestops” where players can “find” various items that help with gameplay. Other landmarks are designated as “gyms,” or locations where players can “battle” other players.

Why does it matter to Latter-day Saints?

Since many LDS meetinghouses appear in popular mapping software, like Google Maps, it is common that the game is making creatures or supplies appear at these buildings. That means that many more people are suddenly visiting LDS meetinghouses, visitors’ centers, historic sites, and temples as they explore these surroundings while playing the game.

What can LDS leaders do?

It’s a good thing that people are visiting our Church buildings, even if it’s just to play a game. What should you do if players show up while you’re having a ward or stake activity? How about a “Welcome Pokémon Players” sign to encourage them to stay and participate in your activity?  Perhaps you could hand out water bottles to show that we are friendly people.

Hosts at visitors’ centers and historic sites could welcome players to enjoy the displays and learn about the site. Visitors to temple grounds could be encouraged to respectfully enjoy their time there to feel the spirit and reflect on the significance of LDS temples.

What can you do?

Recognize that within reasonable bounds, augmented reality games can be wholesome and encourage physical activity. Using fitness trackers, some players are recognizing their daily activity goals while they are out hunting Pokémon.

Parents may consider planning a family home evening walking around the neighborhood together trying to capture Pokémon characters. Many of the characters appear in public locations, such as parks or historic sites. Last Saturday, at our family reunion in a park, some Pokémon characters appeared next to plaques that explained the history of the park. Such an activity could help your children learn more about their surroundings. A member created a whole month of family home evening lessons with Pokémon activities that you may want to consider.

Some families have gone to Temple Square and taken pictures of their family tracking down Pokémon characters around historical statues and then posting the experience on social media. It’s possible to #ShareGoodness while sharing #PokémonGo.

What ideas do you have to make Pokémon Go a positive experience with your family or ward? Post your ideas in the comments below.

More about Pokémon GO

Right now, the game is available in only a few countries, but it will be released soon worldwide.

According to an article in vox.com, “Part of the reason Pokémon Go is popular is that it’s free, so it’s easy to download and play. But more importantly, Pokémon Go fulfills a fantasy Pokémon fans have had since the games first came out: What if Pokémon were real and inhabited our world?”

The video below, Discover Pokémon in the Real World with Pokémon GO! shows how the game works.

Learn more about Pokémon GO:

• “How to play Pokémon Go” data-remote-admin-entry-id=”11913465″>How to play Pokémon Go“
• “Your biggest Pokémon Go questions, answered (update)

Be sure to share your experiences below.

Rich McCormick, via The Verge:

…Warner Bros. deceived customers by paying thousands of dollars to social media “influencers,” including YouTube megastar PewDiePie, to cover Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor without announcing that money had changed hands.

Warner Bros.’ deal with the influencers involved stated that they had to make at least one tweet or Facebook post about the game, as well as produce videos with a string of caveats to avoid showing it in a negative light. Those videos could not express negative opinions about the game or Warner Bros. itself, could not show any glitches or bugs, and must include “a strong verbal call-to-action to click the link in the description box for the viewer to go to the [game’s] website to learn more about the [game], to learn how they can register, and to learn how to play the game,” according to Ars Technica.

I don’t want to focus on the YouTubers being at fault here, even though they are. Just reread that second paragraph because the key point here is that this is happening all the time, and for the most part, people are getting away with it.

Getting paid for positive/negative reviews is an insult that gets thrown around a lot, especially at critics who disagree with the majority of fans over something. Just take the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice backlash directed at just about anyone who hated the film, like me. But you can’t argue that the practice is some conspiracy. The studios are doing this every day.

Not to be confused with the more common practice of luring influencers to exclusive “events” in order to extract a positive sentiment from the person or persons. It’s hard to criticize a game, TV show, or movie when the makers of said property have put you in an environment where it’s incredibly easy to get swept up in the day. I know this from firsthand experience, and it’s a bitter thing to overcome.

You’ll never read a paid review or “sponsored article” on this website. I get the requests on an almost daily basis, and it’s not happening. Not because I’m above it all or that I’m scared I’ll get caught (even though that’s a fair consideration). But because you’re reading my opinions, presented by me and no one else. That’s what you’re here for, and it would be useless, even moronic, for me to give you anything else.

The post Compatibility appeared first on Things in Squares.

SALT LAKE CITY | Friday, 08 July 2016 |

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement Friday, July 8, 2016.

Texts From Superheroes

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Introduction

Lumberyard is the latest 3D game engine to hit the market. It is a free, multi-deploy platform engine that offers deep integration with both the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure and Twitch to improve general online gameplay.

The Lumberyard engine technology is based on CryEngine. Amazon licensed one version of CryEngine and got complete access to its technology. That does not mean that CryEngine will leave the market, since Lumberyard only represents a branch of CryEngine technology. Both will be present and will struggle for market share.

Lumberyard is a powerful and full-feature AAA game engine that enables you to create games for the latest console generation (Xbox One and PlayStation 4). Mobile support is also a goal (the engine already has rendering options for iOS and Android).

Lumberyard's wide range of features include the following:

1. State-of-the-art rendering techniques such as: physically based rendering, dynamic global illumination, real-time dynamic water caustics, HDR lens flares, motion blur, depth of field, among many others.
2. Real-time gameplay editor that enables you to iterate on gameplay elements and immediately see the results.
3. Robust Networking through the use of a flexible networking subsystem called GridMate. GridMate integrates with major online networking services and lets you handle peer to peer client server typologies with host migration.
4. Modular Gems offers you a library of several pre-built features (camera, controls, and environment, among others) that can be used to start new projects quickly. Gems give you increased control over which technologies you want to include in your project.
5. C++ development, and completely free access to its native C++ source code. The engine (and its full source code) is completely free to download and use. However, Amazon expects to generate money through the use of its AWS cloud computing service.

Note that Lumberyard is still in beta version.

Who Should Read This Tutorial Series?

This tutorial series is primarily aimed at two groups of game developers:

1. those who are completely unfamiliar with game engines at all
2. those who are familiar with other game engines (such as Unity, Unreal Engine, or Cry Engine), but not with Lumberyard

I assume that you have some knowledge of computer graphics notations, so I won't exhaustively cover all notations.

Prerequisites

In order to install and have a smooth experience while using Lumberyard, your computer must achieve certain minimum requisites:

• Windows 7 or higher (64 bit versions only)
• Intel Quad-Core (i 2300), AMD Octo-Core (FX810), or better
• 8GB of RAM (at least)
• NVIDIA GeForce 6600Ti. Radeon HD790, or better
• 40 GB of disk space
• Visual Studio 2013 (Community, Pro, or Ultimate) with update version 4

Note that if you are at the threshold of the minimum requirements, you may have an inferior quality of experience. In that case, remember that you can lower the overall graphics quality at: File > Global Preferences > Configure.

Installation

The first step in this tutorial is to download Lumberyard. The current version (v1.1) is about 5.3GB file size. While the download is progressing, you should register with Amazon.com (if you don't already have an account).

To install Lumberyard, you can download a complete bundled file (.zip) or use an installer (.exe). The end result is the same, though; this tutorial uses the bundled version.

Step 1: Extraction

After the download is complete, extract it to a path that does not have spaces in the name. For example, do not extract the files to C:\Program Files\Lumberyard because the path has a space in it. An example of an acceptable location is C:\Lumberyard.

You now have Lumberyard installed on your computer, but before you can run it, you need to configure your environment and eventually install additional software.

Step 2: Configuration

The next step is to configure the environment to ensure that you have the necessary software to run the engine. For that purpose, you will use the Lumberyard Launcher (LumberyardLauncher.exe), which can be found inside the folder where you previously installed Lumberyard. Run the LumberyardLauncher.exe file and a similar interface should appear:

The Launcher will assist you in ensuring that you always have the necessary software for the execution of tasks. It shows you where the default installation path is located and what actions can be performed based on the software that is currently installed.

Your next step is to select three options:

• Run your game project
• Run the Lumberyard Editor and Tools
• Compile the game code

Note that as soon as you select one of the aforementioned options, the left part of the Launcher is modified and several menus appear (Install software, Install SDKs, Install Plugins). A green check mark means that everything is OK, while a red cross means that something is wrong (some software is missing).

If you see at least one red cross, you should investigate what is happening. Click Next (bottom right corner) or click on the Install software option. A list of available and missing software is presented.

You need to install all the Missing software. Go ahead and click Install it for every single software that is missing. When you have a green check mark at Install software, click Next.

The Install Plugins interface, as the name suggests, "allows you to use certain features and functionality between third party software and Lumberyard". At this point you don't need to add any additional plugins, but make a mental note of them. They are primarily useful when you want to import assets from Photoshop, Autodesk Max, or Autodesk Maya. Click Next.

Step 3: Lumberyard Launcher

The Summary interface shows an activity log (based on previously actions) and three major options:

• Configure project
• Launch Lumberyard editor
• A list of optional software you may want to install

This interface is from now on called Lumberyard Launcher (or simply Launcher). Click on Configure project.

The Project configurator displays several projects with specific configurations, packages, and assets. Here you can create your projects and select the specific assets or configurations that the project will be using. 

Initially you will only have two available projects (MultiplayerProject and SamplesProject). As the names suggest, the former is a multiplayer project, while the second is a more generic project (initially you will be using it). 

Furthermore, if you notice, the SamplesProject is highlighted with a white check mark. It means that this project is the default project loaded by Lumberyard. Click on Enable packages.

Here you access the available Gems of Lumberyard. A Gem is a collection of assets, resources, and others to extend or modify functionality in Lumberyard applications. Several Gems are available, as you can see.

Close this window and return to Lumberyard Launcher.

Recall that you can always access the Launcher using the LumberyardLauncher.exe executable available in the folder dev\Bin64 under your Lumberyard installation path. It is now time to click on Launch Lumberyard editor.

Step 4: Lumberyard Editor

A new interface (Asset Processor) should appear. The Asset Processor is responsible for loading Lumberyard default project assets (the one highlighted in the Project Configurator). The estimated time is about 10+ minutes.

Soon the Lumberyard Editor should load.

Wait for the Asset Processor to finish its work. Later, I’ll present a scenario where you load a project that does not have all the resources available.

Recall that, similar to Launcher, you can always access the Editor using the Editor.exe executable available in the folder dev\Bin64 under your Lumberyard installation path.

Editor Layout

Before using Lumberyard Editor, you will need to learn its layout configuration and how to navigate within the Perspective Viewport.

The Lumberyard Editor interface is divided into the following areas (each numerically represented in the following image):

1. Main menu: Access to all game engine functions and settings.
2. Editor toolbar: Most commonly used tools (Select, Move, Rotate, Scale, Lock on, Ruler, Snapping, among others). It is composed of three bars: EditMode, Object, Editors.
3. Viewport header: Search bar and several display options for Perspective Viewport (display resolution, ratio, helpers, among others).
4. Perspective Viewport: A preview of your 3D environment. It is where the action occurs.
5. Viewport controls: Several controls for selected objects, mouse location, navigation speed, camera collision detection, AI/Physics, and others.
6. Console: Display of input and output between the user and the Editor.
7. Rollup Bar: Access to objects and tools for building and managing content in the Perspective Viewport.

The Rollup Bar is more complex than it initially appears, since it handles all properties, definitions and characteristics of all objects within the Perspective Viewport. Therefore, it's important to enumerate its tabs:

1. Objects: Contains options for Artificial Intelligence, Entities (Actor, Archetype, Component, Geometry, Particles), Audio, Brushes, and Prefabs, among others.
2. Terrain: Contains options to apply, modify, and remove terrains, vegetation, holes, Fog, Wind, Clouds, Skyboxes, and others.
3. Modeling: Contains options for geometry handling, such as selection of geometry types and display types (wire-frame, flat shading, full geometry).
4. Display: Contains options regarding the rendering settings, i.e., clouds, roads, Fog, Terrain, and Sky box, among others.
5. Layers: As the name suggests, it contains options to organize your assets by layers.

Open the First Level

It is now time to open your first level and play with it. Inside the Welcome to Lumberyard Editor window, click on Open level.

Then, expand the GettingStartedFiles, choose the getting-started-completed-level, and click Open.

Note that the list of files and samples presented here belongs to the project that is set by default.

Soon a small 3D village is presented:

3D Level Navigation

Navigating inside the Perspective Viewport is easy, since it uses traditional First Person Shooter (FPS) controls.

For the record, note that you can modify these keys if you want (more on that later).

Since 3D scenes are composed of objects or entities, you can interact with them using the mouse.

Before continuing to read the tutorial, you can invest some time playing with these controls within the village demo (or load any other demo from the available ones). To load another demo you only need to select File > Open and choose another sample.

Assets Installation

Lumberyard currently offers three additional ready-to-use art assets and code that you can use as examples:

1. Woodland: A collection of wilderness (forest, vegetation, and other natural features) assets.
2. Beach City: A dark and stormy night containing several assets (cars, houses, vegetation).
3. Legacy Game Sample: A ready-to-go FPS game, including complex animated characters, vehicles and game IA. This sample uses the woodland sample assets.

The first step is to download them all.

Step 1: Woodland

The Woodland asset is the easiest to install since it comes packaged as a Gem. Unzip the Woodland zip file to the dev\Gems folder inside your default Lumberyard installation.

To verify that everything is fine, open the Project configurator > Enable packages; at the bottom you should now see the Woodland Asset Collection.

To add the Woodland asset to the SamplesProject (your current default project), you only need to check the box and wait for the Asset Processor to load all resources.

Step 2: Beach City

To install the Beach City, you must follow the following steps:

1. Unpack the Beach City zip file into your Lumberyard \dev directory.
2. Navigate to dev\_WAF_ (inside the installation folder).
3. Edit the file *projects.json and add the following to the end of the file before the last closing brace:

{
...
    "BeachCity": {
    "product\_name": "BeachCity",
    "executable\_name": "BeachCityLauncher",
    "code\_folder": "Code/BeachCity",
    "project\_directory" : "BeachCity",
    "modules" : ["BeachCity"]
    }
}

Now open the Project configurator, click Configure project, select BeachCity and click Set as default.

Open the Editor and open the level (Open level > BeachCity_NightTime). If everything is working, you should be able to navigate within the Beach City environment. Note that by default this asset doesn’t have a Camera Framework, so you can only (for now) navigate in the Editor mode.

Step 3: Legacy Game Sample

The Legacy Game Sample installation is similar to Beach City.

1. Unpack the Legacy Game Sample zip file into your engine directory.
2. Navigate to dev\_WAF_ (inside the installation folder).
3. Edit the file projects.json and add the following to the end of the file before the last closing brace:

"GameSDK": {
    "product\_name": "GameSDK",
    "executable\_name": "GameSDKLauncher",
    "code\_folder": "Code/GameSDK",
    "project\_directory" : "GameSDk",
    "modules" : ["GameSDK"]
} 

The complete projects.json is now:

{
    "SamplesProject": {
        "product_name"      : "Samples Project",
        "executable_name"   : "SamplesProjectLauncher",
        "code_folder"       : "Code/SamplesProject",
        "project_directory" : "SamplesProject",
        "modules"           : ["SamplesProject"],

        "android_settings": {
            "package_name"  : "com.cryengine.sdk",
            "orientation"   : "landscape"
        }
    },
    "MultiplayerProject" : {
        "product_name"      : "Multiplayer Project",
        "executable_name"   : "MultiplayerProjectLauncher",
        "code_folder"       : "Code/MultiplayerProject",
        "project_directory" : "MultiplayerProject",
        "modules"           : ["MultiplayerProject"],

        "android_settings": {
            "package_name"  : "com.cryengine.sdk",
            "orientation"   : "landscape"
        }
    },
    "BeachCity": {
            "product_name": "BeachCity",
            "executable_name": "BeachCityLauncher",
            "code_folder": "Code/BeachCity",
            "project_directory" : "BeachCity",
            "modules" : ["BeachCity"]
        },
    "GameSDK": {
        "product_name": "GameSDK",
    	"executable_name": "GameSDKLauncher",
    	"code_folder": "Code/GameSDK",
    	"project_directory" : "GameSDk",
    	"modules" : ["GameSDK"]
	}
}

Before you test the Legacy Game Sample you need to perform an additional step. Open a Command Prompt in your Lumberyard dev folder and run the following command:

lmbr_waf configure

If you get any error, it should be solved by the following steps:

1. Open the Launcher.
2. Select Compile the engine and asset pipeline.
3. Install the required software.

Run the lmbr_waf configure command again.

To test these assets you just need to open the Project configurator, click Configure project, select GameSDK and click Set as default. Wait until the Asset Processor loads all the assets. Now you can play a complete FPS within Lumberyard.

To enter game mode, you must select from the Main menu the option Game > Switch to Game.

Conclusion

This concludes this introductory tutorial to Lumberyard. You learned where and how to download, install, and configure it. Then you learned the basic notations of the interface and navigation. Finally, you found out how to import, configure and use the available external assets.

If you have any questions or comments, as always, feel free to drop a line in the comments.

Turn the House into a funhouse. Be prepared to go all in with The Joker Poker Set. Joker character designs and logos can be found on each card and gambling chip, as well as the storage tin itself, which contains 120 poker chips, 1 dealer chip, 1 pack of 53 playing cards, and 2 Jokers. $18.99

Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.

So, you’re telling me that the new Star Trek isn’t completely true to Gene Roddenberry’s vision?

Well, I am shocked.

After hitting other parts of the globe last night, Pokémon GO has officially made its way to the U.S.

Pokémon GO is an augmented reality game that tasks you with walking around the real world and using your smartphone’s camera to find and capture Pokémon. You’ll see Pokémon randomly pop up on your smartphone’s display, though you’ll have better odds of finding some Pokémon at certain locations. For example, water Pokémon will likely appear near a lake or ocean.

You can also join one of three teams and then battle your Pokémon at gyms, which are also found in the real world. If a gym belongs to your team, you can help defend it. If it doesn’t, you can fight to defeat the gym. There are also PokéStops in the real world that you can visit to buy Poké Balls for catching more Pokémon, and other items for your journey.

Later this month, Pokémon GO users will be able to buy a Pokémon GO Plus. This device connects to your smartphone over Bluetooth and can be worn as you’re walking around the world. When you’re wearing it, it’ll alert you when a Pokémon is nearby without requiring you to be looking at your smartphone.

Pokémon GO requires an Android smartphone with 2GB of RAM and Android 4.4 or higher. It won’t work with Intel Atom-based devices, and compatibility isn’t guaranteed for Wi-Fi-only devices, tablets, or devices without GPS. The game is free-to-play, but there are in-app purchases that’ll let you buy PokéCoins, which can be used to buy more Poké Balls, an incense lure, and other items.

Pokémon GO is made by Niantic Labs, which you may remember as the group behind Ingress. Because of this, you know that the game is coming from some folks with AR chops. Pokémon GO looks like a pretty fun game, especially for anyone that’s played the Game Boy or DS games. If you’ve got any interest in trying Pokémon GO, visit the Play Store and give it a try!

You can also get a Chia Hillary Clinton, but I think that one looks more like Benjamin Franklin wearing a necklace.

As obligatory, it seems, as the impending November election is the corresponding onslaught of presidential candidate and political merchandise. Novelty items like the Chia Trump you see here. Pro / anti-gear in the form of T-shirts, hats, and bumper stickers. Some decidedly anti toilet paper. And, my new favorite, the somewhat ambiguous (for or against?) Donald Trump socks with real faux hair. For or against the Republican nominee, these could go either way.

You know how Chia Trump works. Cultivate him, water him, nurture him, and watch his green 'fro grow. It should reach full glory in 1 to 2 weeks. Chia Trump: Make Ahairica Great Again.

Even though I was one of the (relative) few to watch the first episode when it originally aired,¹ I had forgotten how weird the pilot for Seinfeld was. The theme music is completely different, Michael Richards' character is called "Kessler" (because the network had legal concerns related to Larry David's real-life neighbor, Kenny Kramer, on whom the character was based), and Elaine² neither appears or is mentioned. Oh, and the first season was only five episodes long (NBC was very skeptical about the show) and both Steve Buscemi and David Alan Grier auditioned for the role of George.

Update: Well, that got taken down from Vimeo fairly quickly. You can still watch the pilot on Hulu.

1. I watched an incredible amount of TV as a kid. I would read TV Guide from cover to cover each week and have seen every episode of a number of embarrassing shows.↩

2. Fun fact: Julia Louis-Dreyfus wasn't even aware of the existence of the Elaine-less pilot episode until 2004 (6 years after the show ended) and plans never to watch it. Whoever told her must have earned a solid GET! OUT! shove in the chest.↩

Portable Solar Charger – Charge your phone just about anywhere!

http://wondermark.com/c1234/

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

Walt Whitman

http://theunderfold.com/2016/07/05/werewolf/

In the original Star Trek series, the communicator was a super long-range walkie-talkie Starfleet ships used to message between or within each other. Over time, it became an artifact of the future as seen through the eyes of the past--the future being outer space in the 2260s, and the past mid-1960s network television. Now the communicator gets a Bluetooth-enabled layer of the present added to it, turning the device into a real philosophical mind trip. And a sweet toy for Trekkies.

ThinkGeek created the Star Trek Communicator by injecting 3D scans of the alpha hero prop with Bluetooth technology so it will pair like a wireless speaker to your compatible phone or other devices. You can then use it as an input or output speaker, taking hands-free calls from your friend Cornelius in sickbay (too many Jell-O shots on the 4th of July) or streaming music to the main bridge to drown out your own hangover headache.

The Communicator replica even includes 20 authentic sound effects and Enterprise crew voice clips, and has the trademark flip-to-answer feature. Like your phone did 15 years ago.

By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.

Charles Wadsworth