The BTD series was a distinguished one. Most will call it the “mother of all tower defense games”. Because that is what it was.

BTD stands for Balloon Tower Defense, and it is a wildly popular game among kids and adults alike. The point of the game is to place towers which will pop balloons when they came into a certain range. As you steadily progress, rounds get harder, money gets dry, and your strategy is what you will need to survive.

A Quick Introduction

Ballons (or bloons in BTD speak) get steadily harder to pop as you go along. The first few layers of a ballon are ordinary, from the innermost red to a varying blue, yellow, pink, green, and so on. Each of these bloons have a different effect after they are popped. For instance, the pink ballon will spawn 2 yellow ballons when popped. Learning about these effects are the first step to becoming decent at BTD5. While different colored bloons make them a little more powerful, there are also special types of bloons that have different effects.

The camo effect, as seen with the two center bloons in the picture below, can only be seen by certain towers. You can mostly figure out whether a tower can see camo by its upgrades, as almost all towers can’t see camo initially, but with an upgrade it may be able to. Some towers will never be able to see camo on their own (but with some help), and some can just see camo without any upgrades (Ninja Monkey).

The regen effect, seen by the heart shape of a bloon, allows it to slowly regain layers if that bloon hasn’t been popped recently. Regens are not particularly dangerous, and their effect is practically eliminated in late game, where your towers will attack so fast that the regens won’t have time to regain layers.

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Lead bloons can only be popped by some towers. Again, lead ability can usually be determined by upgrades and pure intuition alone (fire, lighting, etc, pops lead). If you really aren’t sure, however, you can always search up that tower name and find out.

Black bloons are immune to explosions, while white bloons are immune to freezing. Zebra bloons have the properties of both black and white bloons. Ceramics are a much harder to pop ballon, because the first layer takes 10 hits to pop before it releases a Rainbow bloon.

MOAB-class bloons are especially dangerous. The regular blue MOAB is the easiest MOAB-class to pop, and after it gets popped it releases some ceramic bloons. The BFB is even harder to pop, and releases 4 MOABs. The ZOMG is the hardest MOAB to pop, and has 4 BFB inside it! This means that a ZOMG will eventually release 16 MOABs!

Upgrade Notation

Each tower has two upgrade paths. These paths allow the tower to be good at two different things. For example, the first path of a ninja tower allows for good popping power, but the other path provides a nice bloon stun. The third and fourth upgrades can only be purchased for one path. So purchasing 3 upgrades on one path will lock the other path to only two upgrades. A quick way to tell someone how many upgrades a tower has on each path is very simple, with numbers like so: 4/2. The number on the left tells how many upgrades the tower has for the left side path, and the right number tells the number of upgrades on the right path. An tower that is not upgraded at all will be represented as 0/0. If there is room for any number of upgrades on a certain path, it can be shown as *any number*/x. For instance, a 2/x tower has 2 upgrades on the left path and any number of upgrades on the right path.

My Main Strategy

This method of beating BTD will work for most Beginner and Intermediate maps, but struggles at higher difficulty. This is just an easy and fun way to beat BTD5. This method can be executed in hard mode. The nice thing about this method is its pure simplicity. It only uses a few types of towers and is easy to get going.

Ninja Tower

This tower is a good starter, and a very versatile tower. It can pop camo without upgrades, and is very cost effective. Place a 0/0 ninja at the beginning, and it should be able to easily handle the next few rounds. Be sure to upgrade it as you get money, or place more if you need to. Generally speaking, this is only a starting tower, but an overall good one.

• Camo: Can pop without upgrades
• Lead: Can pop with semi-expensive upgrades
• Better at indiviual bloons than at MOABs

Monkey Apprentice

The only reason I put this tower in here is because of its cheap lead popping ability. It can see camo and pop lead, which is a rare and useful combination. A 2/0 or 2/1 Monkey Apprentice is fine for the rest of the game at popping lead, mostly because of its lightning, which can pop many bloons at once, making it a nice tower for rushes. It is better at dealing with individual bloons than at MOABs.

Banana Farm

The banana farm doesn’t pop any bloons, but helps players get more money to purchase other towers. This is an incredibly useful tower if used correctly. I always use the 3/x or 4/x upgrades for typical farming because of its instant rewards. Be sure to place it when you can place it, because timing is key with this tower. Earlier is better, however, because you can make more profit off of the tower.

This post has been in progress for 3 days and is not finished.

Rap is by far my least favorite genre of music. It sounds like pure cacophony in my ears, and I will listen to anything but rap.

But after listening to a little of it recently, I noticed something interesting. Rap actually sounded like poetry!

The cuss words don’t exactly radiate the “poetry” mood, but they are. They use the aesthetic properties of rhythm and meter to make the song better. A rapper is forced to use rhythm because they are preforming this song. It needs to sound nice and flowing (catchy, too!).

The words that a rapper says also have the poetry feel. Some raps seem to talk about very deep issues in a totally unique way.

While raps, cacophonous and full of cusses, don’t sound good to my ear, I see the root of all the appreciation and glory that rappers get. Rap is an art that we should appreciate, like any other. If someone is having trouble doing this, ask them to write a rap of their own. They will soon stumble into the challenges of rhythm, meter, and syllables. They will realize that rapping takes a lot of skill.

I’m probably the last person to realize this, but rap is a very unique form of poetry.

The following part of this poem is in haiku format.

One, two, three, four, five,
the numbers counting on my
fingers as I write.

I thought of a great
line, but no, I can't use it,
because of the style.

My thoughts, which once roamed
now are trapped in a stern,
merciless prison.

Wow, that line seems good!
Oops, too many syllables.
Think of something else.

I have had to write 
many poems with life
and deeper meaning.

But a limiting
with a fixed meter
is one that I hate.

The following part of this poem is in a free-verse style. (With some others mixed in)

When I have to write
a fixed verse poem
my mind goes wild
as I realize that I stuck.

My thinking is limited
I'm not allowed to show
the qualities which make me an
above average writer. 

I can't show
my finesse
my pacing
my use of threes
with a fixed meter. 

When the end
of every line 
is tainted with a rhyme
my thoughts, trapped in a box, my ideas not free, it's taking a long time
I'll skip this anytime!*

When I have to write
a fixed verse poem 
I see it as an unfair punishment.

Like forcing a painter to act on stage,
forcing the actor to paint,
forcing the artist to confine the art.

 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎As I wrote the haiku section of this poem
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎ ‏‏‎my mind suddenly collapsed
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎as my ideas shrank
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏ ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎into a mess
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎of words.
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎I'm freed
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎when I left
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎I am freed far, far
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎my mind suddenly opened on
 ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎  ‏‏‎ As I wrote the freed section of this poem**

Fixed poems
are just that
they root you to one place
root you to one mode of thinking
and root you to your meter.
Fixed poems
are fixed
but on the contrary
I never am.

(AND NO ONE EVER IS)

Fixed Poems
-Akilan Babu

P.S:
*ABBBB rhyme scheme

**Funnel - Each line as about as many characters as the corresponding line. So each word is roughly the same length (+- 2 characters). I tried to make it exact, so that each word length is exactly the same length as the corresponding one, but that was much too hard for a mediocre writer like me. 
Each line has words that are about the same length as the corresponding one, so the shape is like a funnel. "into a mess" is a 4-1-4 phrase, with 4 letters in the first word, one letter in the next, and 4 letters in the final word. "when I left" is the corresponding phrase, and is also 4-1-4. There are some exceptions, such as "as my ideas shrank" and "I am freed far, far" as the first phrase is 2-2-5-6 and the corresponding one is 1-2-3-3-3. The "far, far" part corresponds with the "shrank" because they both have 6 letters.
A funnel also has an entrance and an exit. Note how the first two and the last two lines were repeated, but different.
 This was an interesting experiment, and it took the longest time to write this section of the poem! Funnels do look extraordinarily cool once they are finished...

Language is our primary medium of communication. It is a great one, with millions of words and phrases and meanings and feelings, it gives us a way to efficiently communicate with each other.

Language is amazing. We all can write whatever we please, and get information across fairly accurately for our purposes.

But there is a flaw in language. One which may never be addressed, and that is perfectly fine. Language requires some set of structure, some sort of rules. This is what we call grammar. Grammar is essential for language, and without the structure that it provides, language will be mere gibberish. But grammar can sometimes limit our thinking.

Grammar is needed, but when trying to express the deepest of feelings, grammar gets in the way. It does not fit what you are trying to say. A very precise, powerful emotion is trying to be communicated. But grammar, being only meant for the very backbone of language, can’t handle such meaning. And grammar is only part of the flaw. It is only a minor one compared to the limits of the words themselves.

The mode of communication which humans converse in is called a language. There are hundreds of languages, and each one has their own lovely quirks and struggles. But language, ideally, is supposed to be just another channel of communication. If you tune to one radio channel, it should work just as well as the next one. But in practice, it is not like that. Different languages, while they work fine in communicating the basic feelings and emotions needed for human survival, say slightly different ideas.

To illustrate this point, consider the phrase “I don’t care”. It is a casual one, and gets the point across that their attention and brain isn’t really focused on the task. The tone of this phrase is a deflective one. Perhaps it may be said when one person is bragging to another, or if someone is highlighting someone else’s achievements. “I don’t care” is a very common phrase, but it has a unique and precise meaning.

I come from a Tamil family. Tamil is the main language spoken in my household. It is a very venerable language, being the oldest surviving one. Like any other language, it has its quirks. When I asked my parents about the Tamil translation of “I don’t care”, they could only come up with an approximation. The precise meaning of their phrase didn’t match the one of “I don’t care”. There probably will never be a phrase in Tamil that will precisely mean “I don’t care”. Even if someone finds a way to introduce a new word, the word will shape out its own meaning.

When a word is introduced, some venerable, trusted organization may announce it. They may formally put it into their dictionaries, and hone their craft to show the meaning of the word. But really, the precise connotation, emotions, tone, and inflection of this word is determined not by these lofty organizations, but by the people who use it. That is, me and you and that person over there. You never really know the true meaning of a word until you hear and use it many times, to get the exact emotions that come with that word.

This is comparable to an artist at work. His palette is filled with many unique colors. Some of them are similar shade, but all of them have a spot on this artist’s palette because they are different. To the untrained eye, it may look like a few colors repeated many times, but the artists knows, after using all the colors many times, he knows the precise difference that the shade of color will have on his painting, the portrayal of his subject, the overall impact to the mood of the painting, and the emotions that are felt while viewing it. Language works the same way. You may have a rudimentary understanding of a language, but to truly gain a powerful insight of it, you have to talk and listen for a very, very long time.

To state it simply, languages are far from perfect. There are various gaps here and there, that don’t quite fit what you are trying to say. Any bilingual person is very familiar to this concept. This is why if you ask them to translate from Russian to English, you aren’t really getting the whole of the text because Russian has some terms that just aren’t there in the English language.

And no language expert can dream of fixing this, either. Languages are shaped in a very peculiar manner, one that is counter-intuitive to normal thinking.

Words were made by us people. People make a language. A language is not governed by one set of individuals. In fact, it is governed by no one at all. Organizations like Merriam-Webster or Britannica only tell us how the language is structured, or the general definition of a word. But a word only gets its meaning from people. People like us shape the meaning and pronunciation of a word.

Let’s say that someone just introduced a new word. They have specified the precise pronunciation and a “precise as possible” definition. This word is announced and people start using it. This word comes in handy for many things, and seems to fill the gap that no one knew was there.

But there were some problems. The first was that half of the people who said the word didn’t say it like it was specified to be said in the dictionary. Is the creator going to enforce some sort of law to say a word that way? Of course not. The other half will eventually assimilate with the popular pronunciation and that will be that. Whether anyone likes it or not, the way that this new word has been said has completely changed!

This has happened in the real world. The word “ration” was actually meant to be pronounced to rhyme with “nation”. But eventually it started being pronounced in a way that rhymed with “fashion”, and that became the norm.

There was another problem with the new word. People weren’t using it how it was supposed to be used! The word organization tries and tries, but no one seems to be using it in the correct way! Well, the meaning and usage of the word has changed as well! No one could do anything about it.

I have also observed this in real life. The definition of “double-whammy” in a dictionary will state that it is a “twofold blow or setback”. Double whammy is a negative term. Yet I have seen many people use the word in a positive and negative ways. No dictionary can do anything about that.

Google was supposed to technically be a noun. Google was a thing, a search engine on the Internet. But it has evolved into a noun and a verb. “Google it” is a common term now!

Language is so beautiful because it is strangely dynamic. It changes with the times, depending on culture, popular things at the time, religion, location, and so much more. This is why some languages have different ideas that other languages: because that location has a need for it.

This is why a language cannot express all emotions. No language can express all of the emotions. They have different ideas, different shifts of the same shade of idea, that prevent us from using language to express our fullest selves.

But, then, what other languages can express emotions? Are there other options we haven’t considered yet?

Language doesn’t have to consist of words. Music is a big choice. Music is not subject to any grammar, rules, or any structure at all. Music can also communicate a wider range of emotions that words can, because music directly influences how we feel. But music has its limits too. Can music strike a precise emotion, where there is no ambiguity? No, because music itself is interpreted a thousand ways.

Body language is another suspect at a precise language. But like music, it is interpreted slightly differently depending on what culture or background the brain has grown in.

There are a million different languages, with words, with numbers, with all that humans have to express. But it seems like we are restricted by the need to comply. Comply with one language at a time. But sometimes one language isn’t enough. A combination of many different languages, of different types, would allow for fuller expression. But that doesn’t happen today. A musician will write music, and nothing else. An author of books will write stories with a written language, and nothing else. But if that author used the power of music somehow, writing and communication would be taken to the next level. The human mind, like an artist creating a piece with multiple mediums, would be able to unleash a new wave of unique and novel emotion in others, if they used more language.

Lightning strikes with a vengeful force
as the flames erupt in a firey inferno.
The storm continues 
with an unabated force
as the tree gets ripped straight from its stump
and the winds rushed with such an intensity
that even God himself stopped to watch.
The earth shakes with such fervor
that buildings fall,
smoke is summoned,
and the apocalypse appears near.
We think that we control nature
that we are somehow influencing it,
but when Nature takes its revenge,
it will do so with an ardour never before beheld
and a vengance so justified,
that we will simply shake and bow
towards our rightful leader,
Mother Nature.

Pokemon is one of the biggest anime franchises ever. With a full and competitive series of games and cards, it is very developed.

This guide will cover the competitive Pokemon battle, with the online game Pokemon Showdown.

The concept of Pokemon is simple: you choose 6 of them to be on your team, and then fight with other players. The games are always turn based, where you take your turn with your Pokemon, and then the other player does so as well. The first player to use attacks that make all 6 of the opponent’s Pokemon faint will win that battle.

The Basics

Each player is allowed one attack that they get to use on their turn. This attack is chosen from a Pokemon’s moveset of 4 moves. Once one player uses a move, the other player uses another move, and then the turn ends.

Stats

The stats of a Pokemon play a huge role in deciding how effective any attack is on another Pokemon.

Speed (Spe) and Priority

The speed of a Pokemon determines the turn order. When two Pokemon face off, the Pokemon with a higher speed will usually go first. Speed doesn’t matter, however, when you are using a priority move. Showdown will usually tell you if a move is priority if you hover your mouse over a move. Priority will override speed, meaning that if you use a priority move, you will usually go first. There are also different levels of priority, however, and if your opponent uses a higher priority than you do, they will go first. Moves usually have a 0 priority, where in that case, speed will determine the turn order.

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Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense (Atk, Def, SpA, SpD)

Attack and Special Attack are very close to the same stat. If you use a move that will directly touch the opponent (You can figure it out with the name: Tackle, Body Slam, Dragon Tail, etc.) it is called a physical attack. The damage for this type of attack is calculated with the Attack stat in mind. If you attack a Pokemon with a Special Attack, the Special Attack stat is used to calculate damage.

The defense stats work the same way, but they help to curb enemy attack damage. If someone attacks you with a physical attack, the defense stat is used to help curb damage. The Special Defense stat is used for special attacks.

Typing

All Pokemon and their moves will have a type. There are 18 different types, and each one has different weaknesses and resistances. For example, if you used a water type move on a fire type Pokemon, then your move will deal twice the normal damage. This is called a super effective move. Likewise, if a fire type move is used on a water type Pokemon, then the move will only deal half as much damage. This is called resistance. There are a lot of way that these types interact, and it does help to memorize them. But in Showdown, you don’t need to! If you go to the chat bar and type “/weak” and then a Pokemon’s name, the game will tell you exactly what that Pokemon is weak and resistant to. This way you can make more informed decisions about the moves you make. Any type that may appear in bold for a certain Pokemon means that it is doubly weak or doubly resistant to a move of that type. For instance, a rock-type move on Charizard does 4x damage to him, so a rock type move would be a wise choice to use against Charizard. Be careful, because some Pokemon are also immune to select types of moves! Any Ghost type, like Gengar, is immune to fighting type moves. This means that your move will do no damage to the opposing Pokemon, and you have wasted your turn! The /weak command will tell you about this too, but beware!

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Status

Special and Physical moves are the two types of attacking moves. But a status move doesn’t deal any damage. It instead inflicts a status or changes the stats of a Pokemon.

Paralysis (PAR)

When you paralyze a Pokemon, their speed is cut in half. They also have a 25% chance of not being able to use a move every turn that they are paralyzed. Electric Pokemon cannot be paralyzed.

Poisoning (PSN)

A poisoned Pokemon will lose 1/8 (12%) of their maximum HP even turn. Poison and Steel type Pokemon cannot be poisoned.

Badly Poisoned (TOX)

A badly poisoned Pokemon will lose 1/16 (6%) of their maximum HP on their first turn. The damage then stacks by 1/16 more HP every turn! The second turn will deal 1/8 (12%) of damage, and the third turn will deal 3/16 (18%) of damage. This stacking effect ends when the Pokemon is switched out.

Burning (BRN)

A burned Pokemon will have its Attack stat cut in half, and 1/16 (6%) of damage is dealt to the Pokemon at the end of each turn.

Freezing (FRZ)

A frozen Pokemon will not be able to attack. It can be thawed out, however, by some moves. Most of these thawing moves are Fire-type, and Showdown will tell you if a move can thaw out of a freeze.

Confusion

When a Pokemon is confused, it has a 50% chance of damaging itself. A Pokemon can snap out of confusion in 1 to 4 turns.

Infatuation

A Pokemon can be infatuated by a select set of moves, and infatuation behaves like confusion.

Leech Seed

After a Pokemon uses the move Leech Seed, the opposing Pokemon is inflicted with a Leech Seed. A Leech Seed will steal 1/16 of a Pokemon’s maximum HP and give it to the opposing Pokemon. This effect can be extremely annoying at times, but switching Pokemon will end the seeding effect.

Flinch

Some moves have a slight flinch chance, which makes the opponent unable to attack that turn.

These are all statuses that you can inflict upon your opponent. But some status moves can make your own status better by increasing your stats, such as your attack or physical attack. But make sure that you have the right attacks to make use of your stats! If you start raising your attack but you only have a special attack moveset, then the increased attack isn’t going to result in increased damage.

Stats

The Stages of Stats

When you read a move’s description, you may encounter something like: “Raises attack by one stage” or “Lowers defense by 2”.

This refers to the number of stages that your stats get multiplied by. One stage is equal to +1/2 of your current multiplier. If you current multiplier of attack is 1 (no stat changes) and you raise your attack by 1 stage, the new attack multiplier is 1.5. Two stages will increase you multiplier from 1x to 2x!

Lowering stages work likewise. For defense, for example, lowering three stages will put your multiplier at 2/3, or 0.66x multiplier.

Strategy

If you are switching into another Pokemon, you may consider using a Pokemon that has an attack boosting move, like Swords Dance or Calm Mind, and then sweeping with that Pokemon.

Be sure you use switches wisely! Switch only when you have to, because switching takes a valuable turn and your opponent gets the opportunity to deal damage to you with none in return. If you can manage to find a move on a Pokemon that will deal extra damage, then you may consider switching.

Read your opponent. If you switch to a Pokemon that is super effective on the other one, then read the switch and take advantage of it. Maybe if you know that they will switch at a certain time, you can use a crippling move on them.

Know the items and abilities. They aren’t there for nothing. If an opponent is spamming a certain move, maybe the item is forcing them to do so. Take advantage of this. Perhaps you may want to prepare a powerful attack, or put up defensive moves. If you predict an opponent’s switch, you give yourself valuable time.

The key to improving, however, is to play new games. Don’t be afraid to try new strategies. Learn from your losses. And never give up.

The Slapper was a neat project done by me and my friend Domonkos Kezsei. Domonkos and I made this project to settle a long time problem posed by a card game we played- Egyptian War. In Egyptian War, a player has to slap cards to claim them before other players do. The person with the most card would win. The dispute was that the slaps would be extremely contested, so arguments would ensue over who would claim the cards. Since we played with 8 or more people, our hands would be scratched and batters from everyone slapping as hard and fast as they could on the cards. In addition, if a player was farther away from the cards, he or she would have a disadvantage. This caused fighting among ourselves for the prime spot in front of the cards.

To fix this problem, Domonkos and I created an electronic “Slapper” which would take care of this problem. What it did was, that when a player pressed a button, the screen on our device would tell the user whether or not they won or lost the slap. The (in most cases) one player who would have the win screen would win the slap, and so take the cards. Since the device would communicate wirelessly, distance wasn’t a problem. And since none of our hands had to make contact, none of our hands got brutally murdered from all of the slapping.

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The Process

The Slapper didn’t come easy. An everlasting cycle of debugging, testing, and trying again was essentially how the Slapper was born. When we came up with the idea, Domonkos and I were excited to get it working. So we began.

We used the micro:bit hardware and software to create our project. It was a simple to use but versatile platform which was ideal for our purposes.

First, and always first, is the brainstorming. We took out the papers and pencil, and got to work. Initially we were thinking of a very complex architecture, involving stages of execution, joining a room, a host device, and so on. We did try to pursue this path, however, we ran into a whole plethora of obstacles which we simply were not prepared for.

The next stage of development was the perseverance. What was first a rush of initial determination turned to a seemingly desperate, futile attempt to think of a new solution. Domonkos decided that we should push on with the old idea, and kept going with it. And I helped him too, because I didn’t see anything else we could do.

We had come up with everything, from A to Z. We had gone back to the drawing board too many times, and we were on the brink of abandoning the project.

The Final Solution

Both of us were working on our final solution, the one solution that we thought up of that may work. And it failed again…

And when we were trying to fix this final solution, some sort of magic must have happened.

We took out some code here and tweaked some code there, and we tried it and it half-worked! After some quick fixing of this initial code, we managed to get a barely working prototype.

This was great news for us, because we had invested considerable time (5+ hours) into this project, and finally getting it to work was a big eureka moment for us. More improvements were made and then we actually got to use it!

Both of us were reflecting on the progress and making of this project recently. We spent so much time thinking through our solution, but the beauty of it all is that it was that it worked on accident!

An anger, his countenance so livid that his eyes were a blood red, and his lip and arm would quiver like a drawn out spring, ready to rip any soul that was careless enough as to pass by his furious glare. His veins would show in a painful detail, and his scream so piercing that even the devil himself was disturbed by its pureness. As his opponent mumbles words of despair and disbelief, he rips the very fabric of life from his body and throws him down in a pool of blood.

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She dropped to her knees as her heart was ripped from her soul. Her eyes were gleaming wet, and shivered with the deathly cloud of sadness. She falls sideways, and shrivels up like a snail. Her faithful friend reels back in shock as she attempts fruitlessly to rip out her own hair, and the friend restrained her with the utmost compassion. But this was futile. As she wrestled her way out, she said:

“God, o god, why do you torture my soul so? I writhe in pure agony, and a snake suffocates me of any hope or mere passion. You have summoned a human being to heaven, but with that my heart. Why god, why have you punished me so? What have I done as to receive such an act? God, I beg you, I bow down to you, I beg you to give me the mercy of death.”

Her face becomes a stone hard wall as she rushes to Death himself and abandons the mortal world.

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As he rushes down to her grasp, he smiles with the utmost joy. He beams with a radiance so bright, the sun notices him. He thrusts her up into the air with a love so benevolent and grateful that she floats for a couple seconds, suspended in the air of compassion. They are physically on Earth, but really they feel the ecstasy of heaven. They fall into a final embrace before the brain’s mental capacity takes hold, and they both shut down and go into a state so deep into sleep, one might wonder if life was still with them.

Table tennis is a quite niche sport, but I love it so much.

Watching the games is so fun for me. The pros play with such control and power over the ball, it is almost like they caught the ball with their hand and spun it themselves. The reflexes are very demanding, as the tenth of a second late determines the point.

And playing it? Playing table tennis is one of my all time favorite things to do. The satisfaction I get as I try a new spin shot and land it, and my opponent is astonished by the new shot, is unmatched. The ball can do almost gravity defying things in the air. It can curve so sharply, you wonder how someone could possibly do that to a ball that is half a finger length wide.

As you opponent tries a new shot on you, the instantaneous feelings of anxiety and anticipation kick in. But they last for mere milliseconds as I decide what a good play would be. And as I return the shot and win the point, it is almost like winning a small game.

Learning a new shot is a one of a kind experience. Hitting the shot again and again and again, until you are on the brink of giving up, and then you make it. Another burst of satisfaction ensues.

The fast pace of the game is one of the prime reasons why I play it. Minute differences in reaction time and bat angle could make all the difference in a game.

Table tennis is a beautiful sport, like all others. But table tennis to me is an experience, a challenge, a rivalry, and most of all, a fight to assert the court.

The big bang theory is the most widely used and accepted theory of how the universe formed. But, at least to my knowledge, there are a lot of crucial holes in this theory. I am fully aware of the mounting evidence supporting the Big Bang, and I don’t know very much of it. The Big Bang is just a theory, after all.

The first problem I have is the association of cosmic background radiation with the Big Bang. Cosmic background radiation is the white radio noise that can be heard throughout the universe. How exactly do scientists know that this radiation is because of the Big Bang? How do they even go about proving this? The laws of physics didn’t even apply when the Big Bang happened. So how do you know that this noise came from the Big Bang?

How do we even know the universe started? What if it didn’t start? It was instead just always there? This sounds crazy and almost mad, but a lot of revolutionary scientific discoveries are.

Again, I don’t know that much about this topic and so am not the most credible person to talk and opinionate about it. But here are just some of the logical flaws that I see in the Big Bang Theory.