Welcome 2014 with this awesome movie trailer mashup onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Welcome 2014 with this awesome movie trailer mashup

With cunning use of cuts and music, Mark Brandon's got us all excited for this year's movies. Everything's going to be epic. Even the Muppets. Actually, especially the Muppets.

With the exception of Maybe 22 Jump Street, is amazing how well all of these trailers cut together. Maybe it's because so many of them are from action-y genre movies, but it almost works as a single trailer. (Minus the bit where it names all the movies.) I'd watch it. I'm trying to figure out a plot that combines them all right now.

And if nostalgia's more your speed, check out Brandon's tribute to 2013, and relive the great and not-so-great from the year past. Or, if you're me, go "I totally forgot that came out last year!" over and over again.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Welcome 2014 with this awesome movie trailer mashup

How the original Sherlock survived the Reichenbach fall onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com How the original Sherlock survived the Reichenbach fall

Fans around the world are eagerly awaiting Episode 1 of the third season of Sherlock, in which the mystery of how the consulting detective faked his own death will be revealed …

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After a dramatic rooftop confrontation with his nemesis, Jim Moriarty – during which Moriarty apparently killed himself – Sherlock seemingly plummeted to his destruction in order to save his friends from assassination at the hands of Moriarty's snipers.

Although it's clear that he did not actually die, the puzzle of how Sherlock faked his suicide has been the subject of intense and wide-ranging speculation. In 1893, though, for readers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Final Problem, the question was not so much "how?" as "why" Doyle would kill off his most popular character.

As recorded by Dr. Watson, during Holmes' confrontation with Moriarty at the brink of the Reichenbach waterfall, the Great Detective had vanished and ostensibly perished:

A few words may suffice to tell the little that remains. An examination by experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest between the two men ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a situation, in their reeling over, locked in each other's arms. Any attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there, deep down in that dreadful caldron of swirling water and seething foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the foremost champion of the law of their generation.

The prosaic reality is that Doyle was simply tired of writing about Sherlock Holmes and wanted to engage with more personally interesting subjects, which he did for the best part of the following decade. However, the public pressure (and financial incentives) to revive the Holmes character continued to mount and in 1903 Doyle capitulated, resurrecting Holmes in The Adventure of the Empty House.

As Holmes himself explained to the considerably startled Dr. Watson:

Well, then, about that chasm. I had no serious difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason that I never was in it."

"You never were in it?"

"No, Watson, I never was in it. My note to you was absolutely genuine. I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my career when I perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late Professor Moriarty standing upon the narrow pathway which led to safety. I read an inexorable purpose in his gray eyes. I exchanged some remarks with him, therefore, and obtained his courteous permission to write the short note which you afterwards received. I left it with my cigarette-box and my stick, and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my heels. When I reached the end I stood at bay. He drew no weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around me. He knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to revenge himself upon me. We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds, and clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went. With my face over the brink, I saw him fall for a long way. Then he struck a rock, bounded off, and splashed into the water.

"Baritsu" was Doyle's idiosyncratic spelling of Bartitsu, the eccentric and eclectic self defence art that had, in fact, been introduced to London in 1899 by Edward Barton-Wright. Many theories have been advanced as to why he misspelled the word; perhaps the most plausible is that he simply copied it verbatim from a London Times report on a Bartitsu exhibition, which included the same misspelling and was sub-headed Japanese Wrestling at the Tivoli (Theatre).

Thus, Conan Doyle's hero saved his own life, and then faked his own death, via the deus ex machina device of an obscure Anglo-Swiss-Japanese martial art, the details of which were largely forgotten until, almost exactly one hundred years later, curiosity about "baritsu" spurred a revival of Bartitsu…

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com How the original Sherlock survived the Reichenbach fall

Spidey gets sassy in the special New Year's Eve trailer onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Spidey gets sassy in the special New Year's Eve trailer

In case you had other things to do than watch for new Amazing Spider-Man 2 footage on New Year's Eve, here it is. And's all about the Spider-Man/Electro Times Square Showdown. Which, given the holiday and the venue, makes sense.

Where the previous trailer showcased a bunch of plots and characters, the footage shown on New Year's Eve focused on a single tangle between Spider-Man and Electro (with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance from what looks like the Rhino). There's very little dialogue, but what there is features Spider-Man calling Electro "Sparkles" and joking with the cop he's just saved. Looks like the snarky Spidey from the first Amazing Spider-Man has been preserved.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Spidey gets sassy in the special New Year's Eve trailer

The First American Rocket Flight Was an Advertising Stunt onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The First American Rocket Flight Was an Advertising Stunt

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Chuck Yeager shattered the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, and the X-15 was perhaps the world's first spaceship. But these fabulous machines hardly sprang into being from nothing. They were the products of a long evolution of rocket-propelled aircraft, whose strangest episode may have come when the very first American rocketed into the skies in the 1930s.

Rocket flight has its roots in the seventeenth century, when legend tells (in tantalizingly explicit detail) of a rocket-glider flight made by one Legari Hassan Celebi.

The first living creature on record to have been launched by a rocket was a ram sent to an altitude of 600 feet by Claude Ruggieri in 1806. The animal survived. Inspired, Ruggieri tried to find a volunteer for a manned flight in 1830...until the police stepped in (largely because Ruggieri had recruited a child). In 1871 an anonymous inventor suffered in reality the imaginary fate of the apocryphal Chinese rocketeer Wan Hoo—an experiment repeated in 1913 by F. Rodman Law, but with less fatal results.

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Between the last half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth, rockets were applied to model aircraft several times. In fact, magazines were filled with ads for model rocket planes or instructions for building them...but no one thought of working on a larger scale, let alone being a pilot. During this time, however, the idea that space travel might be a real possibility was taking a strong hold on not only the public imagination but that of scientists and engineers as well. It was clear to the latter that the only realistic method of reaching space was through the use of rockets.

One of the biggest problems they faced was the reputation of the rocket itself. The rocket at the beginning of the twentieth century was scarcely improved from the Hale rockets of the Civil War. Their unreliability, small size and lack of power was one of the reasons Jules Verne chose to launch his astronauts by means of a giant cannon. One way to prove the effectiveness of rockets as a viable method of propulsion to a skeptical public was to attach them to assorted vehicles. On June 11, 1928, the first piloted, rocket-propelled aircraft was flown in Germany. This was followed by many others, mostly also in Germany with Italy following in 1931. The Russians didn't begin experimenting with rocket gliders until 1932.

The first American to fly a rocket-propelled aircraft did so on June 4, 1931.

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This was a 29-year-old stunt pilot named William G. Swann. In part to promote himself and in part to advertise the Steel Pier amusement park in Atlantic City, Swann attached ten solid-fuel rocket motors of 50 pounds thrust each to his high-winged glider (which closely resembled the ultralights of today). All the rockets could be ignited by the pilot. In front of a crowd of 2000 people, Swann ignited just one rocket. The glider, from a standing start, took off and flew 1000 feet at an altitude of 100 feet. The next day, Swann attached twelve rockets (in bundles of six each) to the glider and ignited all of them. Despite facing a strong wind, he took off at a speed of 35 mph, managed to achieve an altitude of 200 feet and remained aloft for eight minutes.

While Swann was scarcely the first human to fly under rocket power, he did have some foresight. According to one newspaper report, "No attempt was made at continuous flight, the rockets being used as a launching medium only." The reporter concluded that "the ground crews hitherto needed for glider flying may soon be dispensed with..." And he was right: Swann anticipated the technique of rocket-assisted take-off that would prove indispensable a decade later during World War II.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The First American Rocket Flight Was an Advertising Stunt

We Have the First Weather Forecast for a Super-Earth onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com We Have the First Weather Forecast for a Super-Earth

Our galaxy is filled with massive planets known as super-Earths. But what these planets are like has been anyone's guess. Now, for the first time, astronomers have determined that a super-Earth 42 light years away is incredibly cloudy – and that could affect our search for life on these potentially habitable worlds.

Super-Earths are exoplanets that are between Earth and Neptune in size. What makes these planets so interesting — aside from the fact that they are really common in the Milky Way — is that we have no idea what they're like. Based on observations in our own solar system, we can guess what Earth-sized or Jupiter-sized exoplanets are like. But there is no analogue for super-Earths in our solar system.

Are these planets rocky like Earth or gaseous like Jupiter? Are they water worlds? Are their atmospheres similar to Earth's, or are they thick, deep and filled with heavy molecules? Knowing these things will not only help us better understand how planets and solar systems form, but they will also help narrow down where we can reasonably look for otherworldly life in the galaxy.

A few years ago, scientists began looking hard at the exoplanet GJ 1214b, which is 2.7 times the size of Earth, orbits its red dwarf star once every 38 hours and is relatively near Earth. But the planet left astronomers with many unanswered questions. Now, thanks to new data from the Hubble Telescope, they are finally getting some answers. Time magazine's Michael Lemonick explains:

When GJ 1214b was first discovered in 2009, just 42 light-years from Earth, astronomers couldn't decide exactly what it was—either a mini-Neptune, with an extended, gassy atmosphere, or a planet made largely of water, with a more compact atmosphere rich in water vapor. Astronomers tried to figure out which it was by watching as the planet passed in front of its star. Water vapor is opaque to certain colors of light (water vapor is a greenhouse gas on Earth, for example, because it blocks infrared light from escaping into space). So a water-vapor-rich atmosphere should make the planet seem physically bigger through some colored filters, as the vapor blocks starlight.

That's not what they saw. There was absolutely no apparent size change no matter which filters the astronomers used, but that could have meant one of two very different things. Either the planet indeed appeared slightly larger through different filters, but the change was too small to be picked up by the observations, or the planet's atmosphere was shrouded in high-altitude clouds, which prevented the astronomers from seeing the water-vapor effect at all. "Astronomers threw the kitchen sink at this planet for three years after its discovery," says Laura Kreidberg, of the University of Chicago, lead author on the GJ 1214b paper, "but the nature of the atmosphere has remained an enigma."

No more. The new Hubble observations were so precise that they could have seen even a tiny change in the planet's apparent size. But even with so exceedingly sharp an eye using multiple filters trained on GJ 1214b, the planet remained just a single apparent size. That means that GJ 1214b is definitely shrouded with clouds—made not of water vapor, but rather of potassium chloride, or perhaps zinc sulfide.

While it's awesome that we now know that GJ 1214b — and possibly other super-Earths — is covered in clouds, there is a downside: The clouds obscure what lies beneath. To detect life, astronomers will likely have to focus on trying to find "biosignatures" such as oxygen, but the seemingly perpetual high atmospheric clouds of GJ 1214b could shroud oxygen and other lower atmospheric gases. So if alien life does exist on GJ 1214b and other cloudy super-Earths, it may be difficult to find, thanks to the cloud cover, according to Lemonick.

Read more over at Time, or check out the study in Nature.

Image via NASA, ESA, & G. Bacon/STScI, STScI-PRC14-06.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com We Have the First Weather Forecast for a Super-Earth

The Last Airbender movie tie-in comic is surprisingly worth your time onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Last Airbender movie tie-in comic is surprisingly worth your time

So this Last Airbender movie tie-in comic was recommended over at the Avatar Parallels tumblr, and it's legitimately good. But before every Avatar fan and M. Night Shyamalan hater gets up in arms, let me explain why.

Aside from the characters' resemblance to their movie counterparts (Iroh has some serious dreadlocks), this prequel comic does a stellar job of showing what Zuko's life may have been like following his Agni Kai duel with his father, Fire Lord Ozai.

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It starts with Zuko trying (and failing, until his uncle steps in) to drum up a crew for hunting the Avatar and actually does a handy job of filling in a couple of the original series' blanks. For one, it explains where Zuko got his blue spirit mask and two dao swords, which was always a dangling question during the show's run. But more importantly, a particular character makes a very important appearance during a visit to a certain Air Temple and gives some focus to an otherwise (and rightfully so) aimless Prince Zuko.

Despite all of the good plot points, there's actually something more surprising about the comic, considering it was a tie-in to the people-on-a-screen-moving-and-saying-words-with-bad-CGI (I refuse to call it a movie). Unlike the thing that inspired its creation, the comics are entirely true to the characters' personality and motivations. The Zuko you know and love from the show is the same one present in this comic. Actually, if they weren't drawn like the actors in the movie, you wouldn't really be able to tell the difference in the writing. And if you could, it'd be negligible.

Anyway, considering Avatar fans' desire for more time with their beloved characters, this is definitely worth checking out. You can find the book on Amazon for pretty cheap, which is also good news.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Last Airbender movie tie-in comic is surprisingly worth your time

Can Lego Batman survive this massive, animated Joker's Funhouse? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Can Lego Batman survive this massive, animated Joker's Funhouse?

Good lord. Maybe this massive Lego set doesn't have quite the beauty of the Lego Rivendell we recently showed you, but what it lacks in artistry is more than makes up for in animatronics and a massive assortment of Bat-villains.

It was built by Paul "Brickbaron" Hetherington for the last Brickcon, and understandably won him best in show. I can't help but feel like that sentence would be better if I could have somehow worked my last name into it, though.

[Via Blastr]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Can Lego Batman survive this massive, animated Joker's Funhouse?

The first photo from Guardians of the Galaxy looks unbelievably badass onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The first photo from Guardians of the Galaxy looks unbelievably badass

Dwayne Johnson could be starring in a DC Comics movie... but which one? There's a hint that Paramount is already preparing for Transformers 5 and 6. Katie Cassidy doesn't think Felicity is a challenge for Laurel on Arrow. And Mark Pellegrino theorizes about the future of Jedikiah on Tomorrow People. Spoilers now!

Top image: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel's released the first photo, which looks like both the realization of some concept art released earlier and like it's from a scene shown at the Comic Con panel, with the team taken prisoner by Nova Corp and placed in a line-up while John C. Reilly describes each of them sarcastically. There's also an official synopsis:

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team — the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits — Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand — with the galaxy's fate in the blanace. Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" is presented by Marvel Studios. The film releases August 1, 2014, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

[Slashfilm]

Here's the high-res image. Click to enlarge:

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DC

Dwayne Johnson teased on Twitter his possible involvement in some sort of DC/Warner Bros. project, tweeting:

We just had a big meeting w/ Warner Bros CEO re: @DCComics 2014 we will partner up and create the cool bad assery.

Speculate away, since this could be anything. Johnson was previously tied to the defunct Shazam movie as well as the Lobo film. [Coming Soon]

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Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

Simon Delaney, Irish Actor and Director, described the night Jack Reynor got his part in the film:

We all knew when we were shooting Delivery Man that he [Jack] had done a couple of screen tests and auditions for Transformers, every day we would say: 'Any news?' Jack was actually on set one night, Michael Bay [the director of Transformers] called and he stepped off set to take the call.

Everyone was looking through a window, like eager fathers awaiting the birth of their new son, and he came back in and said, 'I got it'. There was a little bit of a party that night.

According to the same Herald article that this is from, Reynor also singed a three-movie deal, which lends further credence to the idea that there are plans for Transformers 5 and 6. [Transformer World]

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Amazing Spider-Man 2

Prior to appearing during the nighttime New Year's celebrations, Spidey hung out on the Times Square ball. Here's the video. [Slashfilm]

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Arrow

In an interview with Inside Pulse, Katie Cassidy revealed that she is a) very sure about Laurel and Oliver being meant for each other and b) not at all concerned about Felicity as a barrier to that, saying:

I don't know. I guess there's that possibility but in the sense of you have Oliver and you have Tommy and 'Oliver and Laurel' and I think at the end of the day, Oliver and Laurel are meant to be. They're each others 'ideally' first and hopefully at some point, each others lasts. No one can really ever compare to Oliver the way that Laurel sees him and I think Oliver feels the same way about Laurel. So Felicity may be there, it may be a fling, I have no idea, but you know, 'Bring it, Felicity!' Laurel has got this.

Below is the full video interview. [Comic Book Movie]

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Tomorrow People

Speaking with the Associated Press, Mark Pellegrino explained how he sees his character, Dr. Jedikiah Price:

I think he's a really complicated character. He's a scientist, a politician, and he truly believes, based on what he knows, that the Tomorrow People have evolved to eliminate humans. But I also think his philosophy is tainted - and fueled - by his enmity, his jealousy of his brother, for being overlooked by God, I guess, by nature, and for being the lesser of the two. So it's hard to know where he's coming from or what he really wants.

He also previewed a bit of what's to come, saying:

There are exchanges and breakouts (emergences of powers) that need to be negotiated, and Morgan becomes a bargaining chip. And in 'The Citadel' you find that there's a compound offsite, but affiliated with Ultra, that's like a prison where we keep special Tomorrow People exclusively for the purpose of experimenting on them, using them as guinea pigs, in essence.

As to whether one of those people gaining power will be Jedikiah himself, Pellegrino theorizes that this might be the case:

They did set up, in the pilot, that the Tomorrow People's powers can be latent and don't necessarily express themselves in everybody,. With someone as powerful as Roger as my brother, I can't help but think that it's in me somewhere, and Jedikiah tries more and more, as the episodes go along, to acquire powers himself.

He also says that he's in the dark as much as the viewers are to Jedikiah's end game, but that he knows where he is right now:

His end goal, to me, is still a mystery. He's so multidimensional that I still haven't discovered yet exactly where he wants to go. Does he want to recover his brother? Does he want to gain powers? Does he want to undo Ultra himself?

. . . Right now he seems like he's in an organization that's gotten away from him. It's like he started something that's gotten bigger than him and he's trying to keep up with it.

[Reading Eagle]

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Agents of SHIELD

Go here for a complete look at photos from the midseason premiere, "The Magical Place." [Buddy TV]

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Beauty and the Beast

And here for a bunch more photos from episode 2.09, "Don't Die On Me." [K Site TV]

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Additional reporting by Charlie Jane Anders and Emily Stamm

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The first photo from Guardians of the Galaxy looks unbelievably badass

Looking Back at 2013 with io9! onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Looking Back at 2013 with io9!

Happy New Year! | Just one of the beautiful space images that artist Ron Miller contributed to io9 in 2013. Download this image as a wallpaper here.

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The Best and Worst Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies of 2013

This was a good year to argue about movies. A lot of films inspired powerful reactions, either positive or negative, among audiences. Some of 2013's movies are destined to be among our all-time favorites, while others will be reviled forever. Here are the 10 best and 10 worst science fiction and fantasy movies of 2013.

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The Most Amazing Science Images of 2013

From slow-mo footage on YouTube to deep-space satellite imagery to weird washcloths on the International Space Station, this was a big year for beautiful science. Here for your visceral viewing pleasure are thirty-three of our favorite photos and videos from 2013.

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The Best and Worst Television Moments of 2013

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This year's science fiction and fantasy television delivered amazing highs and terrible lows. But what were the most brilliant scenes, and what were the most horrific? We've rounded them up the year's best moments, along with some of the absolute worst. Spoilers ahead...

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Biggest Scientific Breakthroughs of 2013

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From intergalactic neutrinos and invisible brains, to the creation of miniature human "organoids," 2013 was an remarkable year for scientific discovery. Here are 17 of the biggest scientific breakthroughs, innovations and advances of 2013.

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2013 Was an Absurdly Great Year for Comics

Have you heard the phrase "an embarrassment of riches"? Well, that's what 2013 was in terms of great comics — even with all the time in the world, we couldn't tell you about all the wonderful stories that came out of mainstream and indie publishers alike over the last 12 months. Here's what we consider the very best, but feel free to include your favorites in the comments — and let's hope 2014 is just as good.

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The Most Incredible Historical Discoveries of 2013

From 1.8-million-year-old hominid skulls to rewriting the Buddha's birthday to sunken Nazi subs, 2013 was another incredible year for archaeologists and historians. Here's the best the year had to offer.

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10 Lessons That We Hope 2013 Has Taught the Entertainment Industry

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This past year was a killing ground, but also a proving ground. Huge, massively-hyped projects crashed and burned, but there were also some surprising hits. And in the midst of this carnage, a few stark truths. Here are 10 lessons we hope the entertainment industry learns from 2013.

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The Weirdest Science Stories of 2013

From human head transplants to magnets that prove gay marriage is wrong to potty-mouthed supercomputers, 2013 was truly a bizarre year for science and those purporting to be scientists. Here are 25 of the weirdest stories of the past year.

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The Absolute Best Cosplay of 2013

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This was an amazing year for creative costumes and clever tributes — so it was a lot of work to do all of it justice. We looked through a whole year of costuming at every convention, Halloween outing or simply talented people messing around online and we found a massive collection of exceptionally talented costumers. Here are our absolute favorite cosplayers from 2013.

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The 18 Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2013

A lot can happen in a single year, especially in this era of accelerating technological and social change. Here are the 18 most futuristic developments of 2013.

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The Greatest Breakout Stars of 2013

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2013 is almost over — but before we say goodbye lets say thank you to the people who made this year the best year. Seriously, without this list of breakout actors and brand new faces we would be lost, bored, or have nothing to GIF. Here is our complete list of the best breakout stars of 2013.

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The Best New Webcomics of 2013

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All year long, cartoonists have been giving away beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking pieces of webcomic goodness for free online. From goofy girl warriors to time-traveling artists to emotionally and physically intimate pieces, here are our favorite new webcomics from 2013.

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The Biggest Mistakes, Blunders and Bad Ideas of 2013

To err is human, to forgive divine. So I guess if you forgive these people and companies for making some of the most moronic decisions of this year, you're a god. Congratulations! Now cast your divine attention to learning how DC, Cartoon Network, Disney and more bungled their way through 2013.

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The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Films of 2013

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We've been blown away by the variety and quality of short films that have appeared online this year, from a heartbreaking story set in the zombie apocalypse to an all-ages anime about a young witch learning to trust in her own power. Here are some of our favorite science, science fiction, and fantasy-themed short films from 2013.

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The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2013

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This was a banner year for science fiction and fantasy books — and choosing the year's best titles was harder than usual. From time-slashing serial killers to grand space operas to Kafka-esque nightmares, this was a year of brilliant reads. Here are the 20 best science fiction and fantasy books of 2013.

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The Greatest Hits of io9 in 2013

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We've taken a lot of strange journeys together at io9 this year. And hopefully, we've learned some stuff along the way — including some stuff you'd probably like to unlearn. Here are all of the most popular io9 posts from 2013, in science, pop culture and general weirdness.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Looking Back at 2013 with io9!

New discovery reveals 2100 could be a "catastrophic" year onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com New discovery reveals 2100 could be a "catastrophic" year

A new study on environmental changes suggests that our future may be warmer than we thought — 4 degrees C warmer, to be exact. That's how much hotter the planet will be in 2100, as a result of changes in cloud cover. And this could prove catastrophic for human life.

Over at the Guardian, Damian Carrington notes that the 4 C rise is "twice what the world's governments deem dangerous" and is a higher estimate than what we've seen before from climate experts. That's because this new climate model accounts for changes in cloud cover:

The research indicates that fewer clouds form as the planet warms, meaning less sunlight is reflected back into space, driving temperatures up further still. The way clouds affect global warming has been the biggest mystery surrounding future climate change.

Professor Steven Sherwood, at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, who led the new work, said: "This study breaks new ground twice: first by identifying what is controlling the cloud changes and second by strongly discounting the lowest estimates of future global warming in favour of the higher and more damaging estimates."

"4C would likely be catastrophic rather than simply dangerous," Sherwood told the Guardian. "For example, it would make life difficult, if not impossible, in much of the tropics, and would guarantee the eventual melting of the Greenland ice sheet and some of the Antarctic ice sheet", with sea levels rising by many metres as a result.

You may want to check what this will mean for your city, by looking at sea level rise projections using the Drown Your Town app.

Read the full story at the Guardian

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com New discovery reveals 2100 could be a "catastrophic" year

Is this the TV roster we'll see in 2014? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Is this the TV roster we'll see in 2014?

With 2014 literally around the corner, we've been making predictions about what the year ahead could bring. And, after peering deep into the darkness of our blank television screens, we have some ideas about just what we might see on TV in the next twelve months.

Commenter Area51Comics sketched out this possible future for where we might see some of our favorite scifi and fantasy shows go in 2014:

Community will sign for a 6th season (probably not with NBC), thus fulfilling 85% of their prophecy. No word on "The Cape" still.

We will not get enough new Doctor Who to make a clear judgement. 1/2 will hate it, 1/2 will love it.

Marvel's Agents of Shield will continue to ask fans to "wait for it." While Arrow and Flash will provide solid television comic book entertainment.

The Walking Dead will slip in ratings due to no real baddy around like the Gov.

Probably 3 new vampire or werewolf TV series.

Fox will move Almost Human to another night.

Once Upon a Time will either hint at or go full on Wizard of Oz and/or Star Wars. (Don't laugh they have had nods to SW already.)

Once upon a Time in Wonderland - Cancelled

Atlantis - Not cancelled, but pulled from BBC America

Revolution - Cancelled

Continuum will either be dropped by SyFy or wrap up (I hope not).

I'm also adding the renewal of both Sleepy Hollow and Elementary for third seasons in 2014.

Have some additions or quibbles or your own to add? (Or perhaps just some naming suggestions for those three new vampire/werewolf/werepire series?) Tell us about it now in the comments.

Related

Make a prediction about 2014!

What will 2014 bring? Will all our mail really be delivered by robots? Will the new Planet of the Apes finally deliver an image more iconic than… Read…

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Is this the TV roster we'll see in 2014?

How the hell did this pelican survive after getting shot 110 times? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com How the hell did this pelican survive after getting shot 110 times?

Every year in Israel, countless birds get shot by farmers protecting their livelihood. Recently, one of these birds was brought by ambulance to an animal rescue hospital where x-rays showed the pelican had no less than 110 shotgun pellets in its body. Remarkably, the bird managed to live.

Yesterday, a badly bleeding pelican was brought to the Wildlife Hospital run by the Ramat Gan Safari Park and the Natuyre and Parks Authority in Israel. The doctors were shocked to discover some 110 shotgun pellets embedded in its body. In addition, it had lost an eye, had a broken wing, and was suffering from acute lead poisoning.

Haaretz reports:

The pelican is being treated, including with anti-lead medication and an operation to heal its cracked wing. The hospital says it should recover, though it may well remain lame. But that doesn't condemn it to a life of misery. The hospital places disabled pelicans in specially designated fish pools, which serves two purposes. Not only do they live off the fat fish of the land for life: their presence is noticed by migrating pelican flocks, which will then be likely to land at the designated pool rather than at a fish-farm, the hospital explains.

The zoo hospital treats more than 2,200 wild animals a year, almost all of which are injured by humans. More than 60% are returned to nature, and in the case they can't be, arrangements are made for them to live out a comfortable life.

[ Haaretz including images]

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com How the hell did this pelican survive after getting shot 110 times?

These Vintage Videos Predicted Today's Technology onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com These Vintage Videos Predicted Today's Technology

Though many twentieth-century predictions for the future included things like flying cars and domed cities on Mars, there were some predictions that were uncannily accurate. These videos are packed with futuristic forecasts that have now come to pass.

"Fingertip shopping" (online shopping), household security cameras, online banking and the "electronic correspondence machine or home post office" (e-mail) – Prediction of the home computer in 1999 A.D, 1967

Home: 2001, an 1967 episode of The 21st Century with Walter Cronkite

The Living Room – with a 3D television and a media center:

The Home Office – watch and print the latest news from all over the world, check the latest weather and stock prices, check the closed-circuit security camera system:

Videoconferencing (Skype), standalone LCD/TFT displays, book flight tickets on Internet with seat selection, online shopping, voice command device – First Born, AT&T, 1991

E-book readers, GPS navigation systems and tablets with Wi-Fi – View of the Future, AT&T, 1993

Touchscreen, video call, virtual reality, – Connections: AT&T's Vision of the Future, AT&T, 1993

Smartphone-controlled home and smart watch, voice command device – You Will, AT&T, 1994 and 1995

Some fifth graders are predicting the rise of the Internet. And cats – Hey, Why Should I Be On The Internet?, 1995

Tablets with color touchscreens, a intelligent personal assistant (now Siri), huge searchable online databases, screen sharing, video calls – The Knowledge Navigator, Apple, 1995

Tablets for work, video calls and Internet for everyone – Moment of Discovery, Apple, 1995

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com These Vintage Videos Predicted Today's Technology

The most hopeful prediction yet for liberty in 2014 onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The most hopeful prediction yet for liberty in 2014

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In the United States, the Fourth Amendment regulates citizens' right to privacy from the government. Unfortunately it was written over 200 years ago, long before mass electronic surveillance. But now there are hopeful signs that interpretations of the Fourth Amendment may get much-needed updates in 2014.

Cyberlaw expert and privacy advocate Jennifer Granick has a terrific post over at Just Security on why some recent legal decisions that suggest 2014 may be the year when judicial interpretations of the Fourth Amendment are broadened to regulate mass surveillance. She describes two key judgements from 2013, related to mass surveillance and laptop searches at the US borders, and then concludes:

This year's NSA revelations show that—to a far greater extent than was publicly known—we are living in that mass surveillance world. A consensus seems to be emerging that the Fourth Amendment must evolve along with technology and government surveillance capabilities, and that it is the job of the lower courts to investigate and to rule accordingly. Indeed, if lower courts slavishly follow the closest analogous Supreme Court case on hand, rather than seriously consider whether facts, policies and practices on the ground have changed, higher courts will not benefit from the best fact-finding and the best legal reasoning incubated in the lower federal courts.

The fact that a government agency can technologically and economically accomplish the feat of collecting data on every phone subscriber, and making profiles of hundreds of millions of people, is an unprecedented power. The government used to be limited in its power to investigate and profile people by economics and technology. Increasingly, only the law would limit such practices. Will courts employ the Fourth Amendment to do privacy-protecting work that economic disincentives performed in the past? Recent opinions, from the concurrences in United States v. Jones, to today's decision by Judge Korman suggest they will. Here's to seeing that happen in 2014.

Granick is not typically bullish on civil liberties gains — she's been involved in plenty of uphill legal battles. So if she's optimistic about the future of the Fourth Amendment, that's a very good sign.

Read the full article over at Just Security

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The most hopeful prediction yet for liberty in 2014

Awesome Anatomy onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Awesome Anatomy

Stop what you are doing and go look at this knitter's Etsy store. No. Seriously. Go look.

From her About Page: "I have no background in science, just a layman's love of it. My first aknitomical piece was the knitted, dissected frog that we all remember from high school. That has proven to be consistently my most popular item by far."

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IT'S A FREAKING KNITTED DISSECTED EARTHWORM!

OMG sophomore Biology class and the rank smell of formaldehyde are hitting me like a ton of bricks right now.

I may have just fainted from the awesome.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Awesome Anatomy

What's the greatest put-down in science fiction history? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com What's the greatest put-down in science fiction history?

Science fiction and fantasy require a lot of imagination and cleverness — so it's not surprising there are some epic insults in the genre. But what's the most cunning insult in all of science fiction and fantasy?

Please include a picture, clip or book cover for your chosen insult. And please mention the name of the work, and the actual text of the insult. Thanks!

Top image: "Nerf-herder" from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com What's the greatest put-down in science fiction history?

Have we been dramatically underestimating elephant intelligence? onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Have we been dramatically underestimating elephant intelligence?

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We've long known that elephants are intelligent animals, who remember migration routes for decades and appear to mourn their dead. But a new study suggests we may have been underestimating them — because our methods of testing intelligence in animals are biased.

In a fascinating National Geographic article, Karl Gruber describes new intelligence experiments on elephants that reveal the animals may be a lot more smell-oriented than we realized. Elephants use their noses the same way we use our hands, and their trunks are for sensing the world with touch as well as lifting things up to examine them. As a result, smell is as crucial to elephants as touch is to humans.

But few scientific studies have ever used smell as a way of testing elephant intelligence. Until now.

Writes Gruber:

In the study, seven Asian elephants first had to choose between two buckets that were potential sources of food (one bucket had food and one didn't), a standard "location test" of animal smarts in monkeys, birds, dogs, and other creatures.

The elephants were cued with a sound, the shaking of a closed bucket to reveal whether it contained sunflower seeds. In this first test, the elephants' odds of picking the full bucket were no better than chance.

In the second part of the study, however, the elephants were allowed to smell one of two buckets, either an empty one or one that smelled of food. The elephants had to choose between the bucket they had smelled and a new, mystery bucket. Elephants that were first exposed to an empty bucket always rejected this bucket and selected the "mystery" bucket instead.

This suggests that elephants are using smell as part of their decision-making process. They remember that the first bucket did not smell of food and choose the other option.

In other words, when elephants had a smell cue, it allowed them to make more intelligent decisions than they did without it. These giant animals may be a lot smarter than we realize, and we just couldn't perceive it because we tested their IQs the same way we'd test human IQ.

Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal told Gruber:

For too long, we have tested all sorts of animals on stimuli that we, humans, find most salient. We thus stack the deck against animals that differ from ourselves, and sometimes conclude from negative results that they are dumber than us.

Read the whole article at National Geographic

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Have we been dramatically underestimating elephant intelligence?

​You've just crossed over into the return of The Twilight Zone onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com ​You've just crossed over into the return of The Twilight Zone

J. Michael Straczynski's first full-time job writing in TV was on the 1980s Twilight Zone reboot. Now his newest comic job is writing the Twilight Zone comic reboot. Wacky! Plus, dead kids solving crimes, a very unique vampire hunter and the Defenders of the Earth go steampunk in the last comics of 2013!

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New Issues

Dark Horse:

• The Star Wars #0: Behind the scenes and the designs of Dark Horse's adaptation of George Lucas' vastly different first draft of Star Wars.


• Baltimore: Chapel of Bones #1: Mike Mignola's Baltimore finally squares off against the man that destroyed his life.


• Bad Blood #1: A man discovers is blood is poison to vampires, and uses his gift to become a vampire hunter.


• Other releases: Catalyst Comix #7, Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight #4, Juice Squeezers #1, The Occultist #4, Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #2, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys #6, Victories #8.

DC:

• Dead Boy Detectives #1: The undead lads of Sandman return to St. Hilarion's private school to protect a young girl and perhaps even solve their own murders.


• Forever Evil: Argus #3: Wonder Woman's lasso may be the key to the Justice League's return, but Cheetah has it.


• The Flash #26: The Flash tries to figure out how to catch a criminal in a plane.


• Other releases: Adventures of Superman #8, All Star Western #26, Aquaman #26, Batman: The Dark Knight #26, Batwoman #26, Beware the Batman #3, Catwoman #26, Damian: Son of Batman #3, Fables #136, The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires #9, Injustice: Gods Among Us #12, Justice League Dark #26, Larfleeze #6, Red Lanterns #26, Superman Unchained #5, Talon #14, Teen Titans #26, Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #6.

IDW:

• GI Joe #12: The Baroness reveals the secret history of COBRA and its many commanders.


• Other releases: Deadworld: Restoration #2, Judge Dredd Classics #7, Sinister Dexter #2, Thunder Agents #5.

Image:

• Sin Boldly: Dawn's Joseph Michael Lisner returns for two tales about very bad girls.


• Other releases: Artifacts #12, Clone #13, Manhattan Projects #17, Rocket Girl #3, Todd The Ugliest Kid on Earth #8.

Marvel:

• Guardians of the Galaxy #10: Gamora and Angela spend some quality time together by hunting bad guys.


• Other releases: New Avengers #13.1, Savage Wolverine #13, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #7.

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Other:

• Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure #1: Vampirella, the Green Hornet, The Phantom and Flash Gordon all meet in this new "elseworlds" story written by Fables' Bill Willingham.


• The Twilight Zone #1: A Wall Street investor who destroyed the economy uses his wealth to get a new life, but the mysterious company who helps him disappear may want more than his money.


• Revelations #1: A London detective must battle conspiracy and corruption to investigate the murder of a prominent priest in Rome.


• Other releases: Atomic Robo: Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur #4, Death Sentence #4, Executive Assistant Assassins #17, Grimm Fairy Tales #92, Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz #5, Grimm Fairy Tales: Quest #2, Hawken: Melee #3, Honey West and T.H.E. Cat #2, Jennifer Blood #34, Knights of the Dinner Table #204, Lil' Ernie #1, Mercy Sparx #3, Soulfire #2, Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #83, Vampirella: Southern Gothic #4.

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Trade Paperbacks and Hardcovers

Dark Horse:

• Pariah: A group of living superweapons are branded terrorists and marooned on a satellite; now they must work together to return home.


• Other releases: Star Wars Omnibus: Dark Times Vol. 1.

DC:

• Batman/Judge Dredd: The protectors of Gotham City and Mega-City One fight alien gladiators, Batman's rogues gallery, and each other.


• Other releases: Batman: Arkham Unhinged Vols. 2-3, Hellblazer Vol. 7: Tainted Love, Superboy Vol. 3: Lost, Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 8.

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IDW:

• Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time: Eleven incarnations of the Doctor, but one epic adventure.


• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Vol. 3: " The secret history of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's love!"


• Other releases: Doctor Who Vol. 3: Dead Man's Hand, Judge Dredd Vol. 3, Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before, TMNT Animated Vol. 3, Transformers: Regeneration One Vol. 3, Zombies Vs. Robots: This Means War.

Marvel:

• Avengers AI Vol. 1: Human After All: Hank Pym leads a group of the Marvel universe's most heroic robots to save the future.


• Other releases: West Coast Avengers: Sins of the Past, Deadpool by Joe Kelly Omnibus, Iron Man: Extremis Novel, New Avengers Vol. 2: Infinity.

Other:

• ABC Warriors Return to Earth, Antares Vol. 4: Episode 4, Celebrated Summer, Crusade Vol. 3: Master of Machines, District 14: Season 2, Doctor Who: Chains of Olympus, Doctor Who: Hunter of the Burning Stone, Fifth Essence Part 2: Planet Difool, Graphic Canon Vols. 1-3 Box Set, Lady S Vol. 2, Largo Winch Vols. 10-11, The Lone Ranger Chronicles, Lucky Luke Vol. 41: Daily Star, Samson the Nazirite, Shadowman Vol. 3: Deadside Blues, The Pack, Thorgal Vol. 14: Giants, X-O Manowar Vol. 4: Homecoming.

---

As usual, here's the list of everything being released to comic stores tomorrow, and you can find your nearest comic retailer here.

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com ​You've just crossed over into the return of The Twilight Zone

The Unresolved Gaming Mysteries of 2013 onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Unresolved Gaming Mysteries of 2013

In 2013, next-gen consoles — previously the dominant fodder of the rumor mill — were announced and released. Many next-gen rumors turned out to be true — unpopular and confusing DRM policies were announced and reversed, launch titles were delayed, game resolutions differed. Yet these next-gen matters were not the only prominent rumors of the year.

The Existence of Fallout 4

What is perhaps the last explosive rumor of the year — and the one that most immediately comes to mind — appeared on this very site. A Kotaku reader sent Jason a wealth of casting documents for "a casting call for a project code-named Institute." While not mentioning Fallout directly, the casting documents contained references to existing series lore — such as the Institute and the Commonwealth — and casting call scripts contained the series famed opening line "War. War never changes." More intriguingly, the documents pinpointed Boston as the setting for Bethesda's next post-apocalyptic RPG. This was not the first hint of a Boston-set Fallout: early last year, somewhat specious rumors of Bethesda employees scouting MIT circulated on Reddit. For Fallout fans, the leaked documents marked some good news after a much-discussed fake ARG.

Amazon's Gaming Console?

In August, Game Informer reported that Amazon — the company that sells Kindles, spindles and, well, everything — was preparing to release an Android-based console with a dedicated controller in time for the holiday season. Job postings from earlier in the year hinted at increased gaming ambitions and Amazon had been poaching all sorts of major talent — particularly developers from Microsoft — for months, but a dedicated gaming device seemed like a niche proposal for the company.

The day after Game Informer's report, TechCrunch published a story claiming the rumored game console was actually one part of a general AppleTV-esque set-top box in development at Lab126, Amazon's Silicon Valley-based hardware R&D lab. Sources told TechCrunch the Amazon box would be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, putting it potentially in the ballpark of an Xbox 360 performance-wise.

A month later, Gamasutra reported that Amazon was attempting to court American game developers to develop for the device. According to the site, Amazon didn't explicitly discuss a device, but rather, the company suggested to developers "that it would be a very good idea to add gamepad support to their games."

Ultimately, the Amazon device was neither announced nor released this year. The Verge reported in late October that Amazon decided to delay its set-top box device, and claimed the set-top box's Android OS shared much code with the forked Android operating system found in Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets. Maybe we'll hear something about it in the new year.

Grand Theft Auto V on PC?

Several weeks after the open-world sequel's record-breaking release, sources told Eurogamer Rockstar was planning on launching a PC version of their blockbuster title in the first quarter of 2014, ostensibly mirroring the launch pattern for the Grand Theft Auto IV. Though, as Jason pointed out, there were eight months separating the console and PC releases of the last GTA, and September to Q1 2014 is four to six months, not quite exactly mirroring the last game.

Eurogamer's report came after a quickly removed job posting for Rockstar Leeds indicating the studio was working on an unnamed Rockstar game, as well as assets in the iFruit companion app suggesting a PC SKU.

Rockstar hasn't explicitly said GTA V is hitting PCs, but all of the past titles in the franchise have arrived on computers, so it seems logical to assume non-console gamers will be able to enjoy the game sometime soon.

Grand Theft Auto Voice Actors Teaming Up For Something

According to an IGN report, Shawn Fonteno — voice of Franklin in the latest GTA — said at October's New York Comic-Con he was teaming up with Young Maylay, the actor who voiced Carl Johnson in San Andreas, for a project. When asked by moderator Greg Miller about what such a project may be, Fonteno quickly became evasive and "changed the subject." Fonteno's coyness led many to wonder if this might be some sort of GTA V DLC in which the two characters meet.

We'll see whether that is the case soon: Rockstar recent said "substantial additions" for GTA V's single-player mode are planned for 2014.

Sonic Racing Studio Handling Next LittleBigPlanet?

In February, multiple sources told VG247 Sumo Digital — developer of last year's well-received Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed — was working on LittleBigPlanet 3. Fans discovered a Sumo contractor listing the game on their CV several months later.

Sony's almost certainly keen to continue their most prominent family-friendly franchise for the moment, and Media Molecule is busy with some silly dream sculpting rock fantasy Move thing for PS4, so it would hardly be a surprise if another studio were handling the next entry in the creative platforming series.

Sega Working On Alien: Isolation?

Several months ago, a source told Kotaku details of the 2014 game Alien: Isolation, Sega's next Alien game after the boondoggle that was Aliens Colonial Marines. A cross-generation first-person shooter in development at Total War studio Creative Assembly, the game places players in the shoes of Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda Ripley, who, in line with the original film, "[spends] most if not all of the game on a single space station" dealing with a single alien. According to the source, Alien: Isolation "uses both stealth and horror elements" and is "inspired by games like Dishonored and Bioshock."

Sega is apparently set on avoiding a repeat of Colonial Marines — and has already delayed Alien: Isolation's announcement, which was initially set for this past E3. The gap between announcement and release on Alien: Isolation will certainly be far shorter than the nearly five years between the Colonial Marines announcement and release.

Earlier this month, possible screenshots of the game leaked that seem reminiscent of indie horror sci-fi title Routine, a game likely channeling many of the game influences as Creative Assembly's title. Though undoubtedly, Sega's game have a much larger budget, and footage will probably reflect it.

The Death of Dead Space?

In March, VideoGamer published a story claiming Dead Space 4 — which the site said was being prototyped at Visceral Montreal prior to the studio's closure — was cancelled and the series future was in doubt following disappointing sales of Dead Space 3. Unsurprisingly, developers took to the internet to deny the story.

In an unusual move, EA COO Peter Moore wrote in the comments of GameIndustry.biz, where he accused VideoGamer of fabricating the story to generate clicks and advertising revenue. VideoGamer, however, stood behind their story and said they would not have ran the story if they weren't certain of the source.

Why would the COO of EA take the unusual move of forcefully denying the story in an internet comment section? Dead Space was a marquee brand for EA and a PR denial or non-response for lower than expected sales ostensibly could adversely affect the company's stock price.

That said, EA admitted in a May conference call that Dead Space 3 sold below expectations despite topping the NPD charts for February. And EA's Patrick Söderlund told Eurogamer in June there were no plans for another Dead Space title, but another one could maybe happen one day.

But EA's May announcement of securing the Star Wars game rights was almost certainly a nail in the coffin of Dead Space, as Star Wars is a far more popular franchise with much broader recognition. So much for the plans to turn Dead Space into a space Uncharted-type action-adventure franchise with FPS games and flight sims as well.

As to what space adventures Visceral Games is currently working on, they are possibly developing an open-world Star Wars game.

The Continued Mysteries of Valve

Slowly but surely, Valve has turned into the gaming industry's most notoriously secretive company, but this year we saw some hints at what might be happening at Gabe Newell's quasi-anarchic factory.

In June, the eagled-eyed Valve obsessives at ValveTime managed to get access to apparent data of email group listings in Jira, the project management software Valve uses, containing both current and former groups. The data revealed numerous "Left 4 Dead 3" groups, and the Left 4 Dead 3 lists contain "around 68 people," according to ValveTime's sources. Additionally, ValveTime claimed a Half-Life 3 group contained 42 people as of June. ValveTime also noted names for groups with various designers that sounded like unannounced titles — "Cries Unheard" and "Microbe Wars."

In an update to their story, ValveTime later posted what it claims is a list of all 791 Valve email groups as of June. Given that we only have names, it is unclear for the most part what, but I think I can decipher some things of interest. There are six Left 4 Dead 3 groups: "L4D3," "L4D3 Audio," "L4D3 Developers," "left4dead3_assertions," "left4dead3_contentassertions" and "Left4dead3_minidumps." The list also features two "Microbe Wars" groups — a titular one and "Microbe Wars Core." Presumably referring to a core team beyond Valve's infamously amorphous project groups, the "Core" name appears numerous times in the list, including: "Apps Core," "Controller Core," "Hardware Core," "RetroCore," "SteamMMO Core" and "Vortex Core."

Many of those projects with "Core" groups we know well — Steam's application offerings, the Steam Machines and its controller, but the other three are more mysterious. SteamMMO is presumably an effort to integrate support for massively multiplayer games within Steam. Vortex, which has two other lists ("Vortex" and "Vortex Programmers"), was namedropped by Gabe Newell during a podcast last year, and is apparently shepherded by Michael Abrash, who is working on things like wearable computing. Little is known as to what RetroCore might be, but the name is adjacent to "Retrovirus" on the list.

Further indication of more zombie action ahead from Valve came from a photo from an August Dota 2 fan tour of a Valve change log showed several items containing "L4D3" and "Source2." Sources told Rock Paper Shotgun the photo was authentic.

A few months later, in early October, ValveTime once again reportedly accessed JIRA data, which the site claims showed an increase in the size of the Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3 and Source 2 groups. Additionally, a new "Half-Life 3 Core" appeared in the database. The site also posted a purported list of developers on the projects that suggest two prominent newer Valve developers — Doug Church and Clint Hocking — are now working on Left 4 Dead 3. It is worth noting, however, that most of the developers attached to Half-Life 3 appear on the longer dev list for Left 4 Dead 3, which seems to be further along by sheer headcount.

A League of Legends Card Game?

A purported hack of the Twitter account of Riot Games' president and cofounder Marc Merrill revealed images from a project called League of Legends: Supremacy, a card game the hacker claims was "fully completed, but never released." The hacker posted various since-removed images from the game that depicted a fairly standard computer card game. However, following the hack, Merrill tweeted that Supremacy was an experimental project, not necessarily intended for release. Though it is worth mentioning that Riot previously registered trademarks and web domains with the "Supremacy" name.

The Ever-Expanding Universe of Assassin's Creed

Spoilers ahead

A weird meta in-game email thread from the latest Assassin's Creed game may potentially tease the future of the franchise. Developers from Ubisoft Montreal's in-game counterpart Abstergo Entertainment discuss what settings to explore in future games, including previously unexplored settings: 16^th century Ottoman Empire, New England and the American Midwest of the 19^th century, the French Revolution, 13^th century Egypt and Northern Africa, the Summer of Love and Ashikaga shogunate.

Some of these listed events had accompanying art in the email thread. Most of that art was either famous paintings or previously published Assassin's Creed universe art, but the final piece of art, depicting a warrior against the Egyptian pyramids, appeared to be from a separate project entirely. The character in the art looked exactly like the lead character from the cancelled Egypt-set Ubisoft Montreal project Osiris, which led me to wonder if Ubisoft might be repurposing the concept into an Assassin's Creed title. The Assassin's Creed franchise has swallowed up unrelated Ubisoft projects before: Ubisoft Massive's "Desmond Journey" puzzle sequences from Assassin's Creed: Revelations was initially a small and original puzzle game project.

A Ubisoft survey from earlier this month Stephen took interestingly asked about whether players would be interested in a spinoff pirate game unattached to the Assassin's Creed franchise, suggesting Ubisoft might be considering a pirate game franchise. Ubisoft also asked players to rank a list of elements players might like to see in a pirate game, options like multiplayer combat, in-game activities, and customization of one's character/ship/hideout. At the end of the survey, Ubisoft quizzed about whether players would be interested in buying a new Red Dead Redemption or Uncharted game, presumably gauging their interest in something similar to those games.

superannuation is a self-described "internet extraordinaire" residing somewhere in the Pacific Time Zone. He tweets, and can be reached at heyheymayday AT gmail DOT com. Everything in his bi-weekly Kotaku columns is lying in plain sight online and linked for you to investigate yourself.

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onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com The Unresolved Gaming Mysteries of 2013