Waiting for Endgame? Why Not Check Out Captain Marvel? by Ashlyn Edgar

Captain Marvel is set to come out in theaters Friday, March 8, and will be the first new Marvel movie of the year. Brie Larson is set to play the lead role of Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, with Samuel L. Jackson, returning as Nick Fury. The movie is set in the 1990s, which in relationship to the Marvel timeline is between Captain America: The First Avenger and Iron Man. According to Rotten Tomatoes, “The story follows Carol Danvers as she becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races” (Boden).

Avengers: Endgame doesn’t come out until April 26, so for those who are still waiting to see the aftermath of Infinity War, think about checking out Captain Marvel over spring break. If you stuck around until after the credits of Avengers: Infinity War, you saw Nick Fury sending a message before he was “Thanosed” (as Mr. Horton would say), that had a similar symbol that Captain Marvel wears on her chest.

Link to the official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Z1BCujX3pw8



The Dangers of AR Glasses by Diddi Ragan

Augmented Reality (AR) glasses are glasses that put a computerized, customizable layer for your vision, allowing you to see amazing things, such as underwater living. If you would like more information, I suggest you read my other two articles I have written on this subject. In short, augmented reality glasses allow light to pass through while projecting digital images onto your eyes while streaming the real world as well. There is lots of potential for this technology; for instance, it can assist surgeons, first responders, scientists and even students.

While there are plenty of positives that augmented reality brings with it, there are of course some dangers that people must be informed of. AR glasses can always be filming without people's consent. While that may not be a big deal in public, a movie theatre might get annoyed if you film the new movie they are showing and post it online. Another concern is theoretically once AR glasses become common, you may be able to either become a walking virus and or disguise yourself to their eyes. While this could be a problem if it is possible, the more worrying danger is if a hacker could hide a car that is coming at you. While this may happen, the technological advances in cars will hopefully be able to stop hitting people, unless the hacker also hacks the car. In short there could be lots of dangers with augmented reality but you can always take them off and be engulfed in the real life, and, *gasp,* maybe even look at your phone!


The Potential of A.I. Glasses By Didi Ragan

Technology is an amazing thing that is constantly improving (for the most part).   today we will be discussing AR glasses and their potential. If you don’t know how the display works I suggest you read my previous article, but in summary you are seeing a live feed of the world around you projected onto glasses with software placing layer upon layer your base, being the real world.

The potential is absurd, everything from driving, surgery, first responders, learning, scientific research, and ofcourse just overall fun. Instead of glancing at our phones as we drive, companies such as BMW have created cars that project things like navigation onto your windshield. Even if you have an outdated car, you can just wear normal AR glasses.  Each of these are not just 3D google maps; you could get notifications just to the side of your view while never taking your eyes off the road. Surgeons could use it to find things such as tumors in all the blood and possibly see how deep and wide they need to cut. First responders could see danger areas through smoke, see how far displaced a bone is/ rough area of where the bone should be, see who needs help and the safest wrote to carry them out. The possibilities are endless!

Classrooms--especially language classrooms--could use glasses to envelope the children in the culture. With AI tutors, children can learn at their own pace while teachers can observe and view the struggles, the material they are working on, and even how they are predicted to solve the struggles, as well as overall statistics. Scientists can run simulations, placing people in space, viewing the solar system. Archeologists are using this to remove the layers of the earth to find buried cities before they start to dig. Even if you have no interest in those above, with AR glasses, you can walk around town and just see cool effects, see your town covered in it’s home team colors, live in a Steampunk world, stand in a winter wonderland, the possibilities are endless. With that we will traverse into our next article, the dangers of AR glasses.


Mixed Reality Glasses by Didi Ragan

Mixed reality glasses, AKA augmented reality (AR) glasses, have been around for a while, most notably starting in 2012 with the release of Google glasses. A lot has changed since 2012, and in 2019 several companies such as Google, Microsoft and Nreal have/are also coming out with AR glasses.

AR glasses work by using lenses found in normal glasses to allow light to pass through and then combines it with an LED or OLED display, sending the computer-generated images to the eyes. This allows the user to see the world around them as well as whatever images they wish to see, so for those that don’t want to walk into a wall while viewing a Steampunk world, this is what you want.

With AI especially, glasses have the ability to “learn” characteristics, such as what a car looks like, and have it cover what you see with a computer-generated Steampunk car. The glasses still use a camera to show you the outside, this basically means when you have AR glasses on, you are seeing a live stream projected in front of you that you can add layers to.

AR has lots of potential for more than pleasure viewing such as waking up in the tropics in New York.


SCIO Molecular Scanner: The Future is Now! By: Marcus Henry

A scanner that can determine what an object is seems like a figment of the imagination or something straight out of a science-fiction novel. Yet this is what the SCIO Molecular Scanner actually does.  Imagine having ability to simply scan and see, for example, the amount of calories in a food item. Or, the body fat percentage in your arm. Believe it or not, you can, for the generous price tag of $300, of course.

The SCIO Molecular Scanner is just what its name suggests. The scanner absorbs light reflected off of an item. It then “breaks it down into a spectrum, and analyzes it to determine the material’s chemical makeup.” This translates to the ability to scan the amount of cocoa in a chocolate bar, or water content in an apple. The scanner simply needs a smartphone to connect to and display outputs. Depending on the molecular signature, the scanner can identify the scanned material. It is usable for solids or liquids.

Source: https://www.consumerphysics.com/scio-for-consumers/


Park Jimin by Halle Rager

Park Jimin is part of a KPOP group called BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan). In English which would be translated to Bulletproof Boy Scouts. There’s 7 members in their group. Kim Seokjin (Jin), Min Yoongi (Suga), Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), Park Jimin (Jimin), Kim Taehyung (V), and Jeon Jungkook (Jungkook). Park Jimin is the lead vocals in the group, along with being the main dancer. They’re famous for their songs Blood Sweat & Tears, Spring Day, Fake Love, I Need U, Save Me, and Mic Drop. He was born October 13, 1995.

There’s a lot of things you learn while you live throughout life. Whether if that’s to not jump off a cliff, or stay true to yourself. You’re going to learn from mistakes and improve further out in life. The mistake I made is something I should regret, but I don’t, not at all. It makes me happy, but I’ll say it’s a tad unhealthy. I have fallen in love with a celebrity. Park Jimin being that celebrity. There’s nothing really wrong with being obsessed with someone, right? He makes me happy, and encourages me to do well in life. It’s just… sort of creepy how much I care about this man I’ve never met?? It’s not my fault! He’s just so . . . perfect.


Here’s why Park Jimin in the definition of a perfect man, or celebrity.

Firstly, I want to say his personality is perfect. He’s said, “And our band, the band brothers. Thank you so much. And I’ll say this today. We don’t talk these things much in the back. Then don’t. Taehyung. Yoongi. Seokjin. Jungkook. Namjoon. Hoseok.” He had to take a pause to wipe away his tears. “I am thankful to you guys the most.” By now the other members are tearing up as well, showing their gratitude by saying thanks. “They made me look back on myself. They made it possible for me to do the things I couldn't do. They taught me what it meant to be cool, so I wanted to be cool, and be more like myself. Thanks to the members.. Thanks to them . . . I feel happiness. From the moments we started.. I had so many things to learn. I really wasn’t impressive and didn’t have anything. But these guys helped me out and showed me the way, and lead me to where I am. I felt so happy that I’m with these members. These are really cool guys. They are really amazing. Aren’t they amazing? I am so happy to be a part of such a team. I will show you greater performances, and try to make happy memories. Thank you.”

This shows he’s a good person, because you could tell he meant it. He could hear his voice shake as he spoke. He held a lot of gratitude in his heart, and he seemed to feel true appreciation towards his peers. Of course, he could be acting, and probably had the speech beforehand. It’d be hard for all the members to cry like the way they did. There was also another reason for this to be true. When BTS first started off, Jimin was known for his muscles, and being a strong man. He was always so judgemental on when his face would get puffy. He worked very hard to keep himself slim, and there were times when he was almost kicked out of BTS for starving himself. He’s worked past that, and you can still tell today he’s still struggling with that concept. He’s slowly starting to learn to love himself, and it’s a beautiful transformation that’s worth seeing. Over the time you could also tell his personality had changed. He used to be someone who always would act very strong, and courageous. But as the years went on, he turned into this very soft and caring person. He’s known for his endless laughter, and it’s nice to see someone so happy in small and simple moments.

Now onto his looks. Of course this is kind people will have different opinions on this, but personally I think he’s perfect. Others have said, “He has a very ‘warm’ face, I would say. He looks like the cute boy next door who’s really nice to everyone. It’s true he has quite a baby face, his eyes are quite big and honest looking, and his smile lights up his whole face, like he’s so happy there’s no room for anything else. I find that his features are interestingly symmetrical, but not quite. It’s quite evenly spaced, like the traditional proportions of a human face, but there are subtle differences that make for the uniqueness of his face. Jimin’s side profile is very interesting. Under good lighting, you can see the definition of his facial muscles - that he’s not as baby faced as he seems to appear most of the time. His jawline is quite pronounced and it kinda seems like his features have been sharpened. Flattened, almost, like it was pulled out, rounded out and then pushed back in. The entire area from his jawline, to his chin, to the inner corner of his eye and then his cheekbone make a perfect rhombus. Of course most people have this basic shape in their bone structure but Jimin’s very perfect and ideal. His face is like the face I draw in my anatomy classes to learn about ideal human anatomy.”

As you can see, there’s a bunch of different ways to describe the way Jimin looks. During his first debut people would constantly judge him. He had chubby cheeks, which most people didn’t like while others loved. Then we was known for showing off his abs all the time. People would only want to see more and more of them, which was a lot of pressure on Jimin. He had to make sure not to lose them. Also the fact he was shy, he didn’t feel comfortable with showing them off all the time. You could always tell that when he showed them, there was a look of discomfort in his eye. Now back to this day and age, things have changed a lot. Jimin has a very thin, sort of tiny body, if that’d be the word to describe him . . . It makes him look very graceful, and elegant when he moves. His jawline is very noticable, if he tilts his head back or so. Legend has it that his jawline can cut diamonds. A lot of people find him attractive in general. He’s a real icon people think of when they think of BTS.

Then lastly I want to go over his talents. Here’s what one person’s way to describe his talents. “Jimin’s dance style is very unique. since he’s been trained in modern/contemporary dance, he has an exquisite sense of fluidity when it comes to dancing. his free styling is effortless and he always manages to make it look natural; a lot of dancers still struggle with the concept of coming up with something appropriate to suit instantaneous music but he never fails to deliver a brilliant performance no matter the genre. his excellent musicality contributes to his high quality performances as well. when it comes to structured choreography, it’s no surprise to see him straying away slightly from the original dance moves, since he always seems to add a small touch; an essence of himself. his dancing is to be described as water; he moves gently yet surely and resembles the liquid with his ability to restructure seemingly complicated dances into ones that appear second nature to him. he has a distinct character when dancing; he takes it seriously, but being the crowd pleaser he is, he constantly takes note of what will drive the crowd wild and seriously, his excellent control of his body allows him to reach into people's secret desires with his intentionally delayed, strong body movements. Jimin’s dancing is indeed predatory. Jimin’s approach is slightly more teasing and he tends to appear as though he wants you to beg for it. he is able to accurate incorporate the suitable facial expressions for each dance and can successfully encapsulate one’s attention with even the simplest movements, something that is very special to see. along with his spins and enchanting facial expressions.”

As you can see, this man holds lots of talent. He’s known for having a lot of great performances, and eyes naturally look towards him when he’s up on stage. There’s no better way to describe Jimin’s movement other than water. He looks so elegantly when he’s up on stage, but also gives off this careless effect. It makes you wonder how he can do such a thing. He went to school for complementary dance. It’s said that his teachers were very fond of him, and also the other way around. Lots of the dancers would be tired after practicing all day, and not pay attention during regular classes. Yet Jimin was eager to learn, and paid attention. Not only is he good at dancing, but he seems to be on of those people who are naturally good at everything as well.

In conclusion, Jimin is the definition of a perfect person. He’s caring, attractive, and very hardworking. He cares for others, and loves deeply. He has struggled with a lot of eating issues in the past, but gradually learning to loved himself. He’ll awe you in with his amazing dance moves. All of those put together is basically heaven. That’s what I think makes the perfect person.



References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9LF3yyzoJw (4:30)

https://www.quora.com/How-would-you-describe-each-BTS-members-looks-without-showing-a-picture (Sarah Saifuddin)

https://liquortaehyung.tumblr.com/post/161808541090/dance-analysis-jimin, kht


Wi-Fi Porter By Marcus Henry

“What’s your WiFi password?” A common enough question.  But the answer to this question is often long, tedious, and requiring many repetitions to finally get correct. But not anymore!

Company Ten One Design has developed a WiFi porter. You’ll never need a password again! With phones created recently, simply hold the phone over the WiFi symbol and join immediately! For older phones, scan the QR code on the bottom! Imagine a business meeting where everyone could join the network almost immediately! An ingenious invention, it works with Android phones, and Apple phones running iOS 11+.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/1/22/18192595/wifi-porter-ten-one-design-nfc-wooden-wi-fi-puck-qr-code

https://www.tenonedesign.com/porter


Neil deGrasse Tyson by Nicolas Lemay

Neil deGrasse Tyson was born on October 5, 1968 in Manhattan, New York City. He was later educated at the Columbia University in 1991.

He is an American astrophysicist, science communicator, and author. He spends time on talk shows such as Cosmos: A spacetime Odyssey, Startalk and more. Since 1996, he has also been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City,  and he has even got his own telescope. He has written quite a few books such as Death by Black Holes  (2006), The Pluto Files (2009), and his newest book being Astrophysics for People in a Hurry  (2017).

One of the things Neil is most famous for is supporting reclassifying Pluto as a dwarf.

He is married to Alice Young who has a PhD in mathematical physics, and they have two children.

Quote:  “Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not.”


YouTuber “Papa” Jake McCormick By Noah Anders

Papa Jake is a YouTuber whose main purpose is making box forts and posting them to his YouTube channel which has over four million subscribers. He also has other channels including gaming, unboxing, and many other channels. He makes videos with his good friend Logan who is in pretty much all of his videos.

Early life: Papa Jake (or Jake McCormick) was born around April 4th 1995 (real birth date unknown)  in Toronto, Canada.

This Canadian YouTube content creator founded the production company turned content provider Team Epiphany. His YouTube channel, Papa Jake, is filled with video game content, challenges, pranks and his most popular types of videos, box forts. He has earned over 4.6 million subscribers.  His other channels, Papa Jake Games and Papa Jake Toys, also have decent numbers of subscribers.

On a personal note, the Canadian social media personality is a fun-loving guy. He has got a few good friends he enjoys hanging out with. Jake McCormick launched his first YouTube channel on Jun 2, 2009. His channel was formerly titled Team Epiphany and his gaming content was initially taken from the Halo game franchise. He later renamed it as “Papa Jake.” Eventually he began uploading funny challenge videos, Box Fort videos, Nerf Mod videos, DIY style videos, toy review videos and other such amazing videos.

His second channel ‘Papa Jake Games’ was launched on February 8, 2017 while the third one ‘Papa Jake Toys’ was started on April 22, 2017. The former channel holds over 387k subscribers and features gaming videos and live game streams. Some of the most popular building and survival games including Arma 3, GTA 5, and Fallout 4 can be found on this channel.

The Papa Jake Toys channel features numerous toy videos related to all-time-favorite toys such as Nerf, playdough Lego, Hot Wheels, and spinners.  The channel has over 2.5 million subscribers as of mid 2017 growing by 3000 new subs a day and has accumulated over 480 million views so far. It able to get an average of 700,000 views per day which should generate an estimated revenue of around $1,300 per day ($480,000 a year) from advertisements.

YouTubers get paid between $2 – $5 per 1000 monetized views after YouTube takes its cut. Monetized views range from 40% – 60% of the total views. All these are influenced by several factors like device played on, the location of the viewer, ad inventory, how many ads there are on a video, how many people skip the ads, ad engagement etc.

Jake supplements his income through the selling of merchandise such as shirts. He also gets affiliate sales income from G2A.    


Is Epic Games making a HUGE mistake? by Thomas Keller

From the “Original Sub Machine Gun” to the “Drum Gun”, Epic Games (the creators of Fortnite Battle Royale) could be making some of its worst mistakes regarding its gameplay weapons!

If you play Fortnite Battle Royale, you know that Epic Games has a small problem getting rid of weapons or items (also known as “vaulting”) in the game.

The first gun that was ever vaulted was of course the Original Sub Machine Gun or SMG. The vaulting of the SMG didn’t make people sad, it actually kind of made people happy! The gun was not loved by players, in fact it was said to be a horrible gun.

But then came the “Guided Missile”. The Guided Missile dominated. It was the gun that you wanted in your inventory. But when Epic Games saw the damage it did to the game, they immediately vaulted the weapon. The gun was later released in Season 5, but the gun did only 75-77 damage when it used to do at least 100.

Another gun that was shouldn’t have been was the Tactical SMG. The Tactical SMG was a great gun. It carried a lot of rounds and was very useful weapon: 18 damage, very fast fire rate, and has 35 bullets. When the 5.0 update was released, a new SMG was in the game, but the Tactical SMG wasn’t. The Tactical SMG is still remembered fondly by those who used it.

A really big mistake that happened in season 4 was making the shotguns a little less powerful, also known as “nerfing”. The shotguns wouldn’t do as much damage as they did before.


Smart Uniforms by Marcus Henry

Don’t. Move.

If you attend a Chinese school, I suggest you don’t do anything stupid while wearing your uniform. Chinese schools are beginning to require students to wear “smart uniforms,” each embedded with a GPS tracker that broadcasts the student’s location, like something out of an adventure novel. In addition, the schools have facial recognition software to make sure the students are wearing the correct uniform. Additionally, they can detect when a student falls asleep during school hours! About the only upside to these walking prisons is that students are able to make purchases from them.

Source: The Verge


The “Empire Myth" by Isaac Mikeasky

No, I’m not talking about Star Wars or any fictional story with a empire in it, I’m talking about real life. More specifically, I’m talking about how most countries with a large amount of land in the 19th and early 20th century were called empires when they really were not empires at all, in fact they were mostly democracies.

A few examples were the British “Empire”, the Japanese “Empire”, and the German “Empire”. The main reason as to why all these countries were called an empires was for the sake of power projection. Power projection is when a country, as the term says, projects power whether by military, diplomatic, or even calling themselves names in order to seem tougher just as shown by the prior examples. All of these countries had leaders that were called “Emperor” or “King” when in reality they held no political power other than being a symbol just like the UK today or Spain who both have kings and queens, but in reality, are controlled by a democratic system so people can feel represented and won’t destroy the country just because they don’t like their leader.

You might wonder why countries would use power projection terms to describe themselves when they could just do that with their armies instead? Well, at the time, many countries were fighting other countries that were their technological equals. And since most of the land that could be eaten up was inhabited by pushovers, powerful countries that took all the land had no one else to fight but each other. Thus, they started using terms to make their pretty much equal armies seem larger.


Shovel Knight Treasure Trove Review by Joshua Sunday

On June 26, 2014,  Yacht Club Games released a game named Shovel Knight. You play as a knight with blue armor that uses a blue shovel to fight his enemies. He is on a quest to save his true love, Shield Knight.

When it first came, out most people were calling it one of the best games ever. Then the second version, Shovel Knight Treasure Trove, released in 2017

Shovel Knight Treasure Trove  includes the original game, and 2 other games based on the bosses in the original Shovel Knight. Also, on April 9th 2019, a 3rd game based on the king boss will be released alongside Shovel Knight Showdown.

In my opinion, Shovel Knight Treasure Trove is one of the best games i've played in years. It has intelligently designed platforming, beautiful backgrounds and sprites, and some of the best stories i've seen in a long time.  Overall, you should play it. It's on almost everything besides mobile devices, and I give it a 10/10.


Alexaphones by Marcus Henry

I am quite sure that you have heard of Alexa’s habit of constantly eavesdropping on your conversation. Not without good reason, of course. Alexa has to always be listening so it can hear when you have a question, right? There’s no other way...or is there? Meet Alexaphones. These are old-style phones outfitted with an Echo Dot. Apparently, the Alexa function kicks in when you lift the receiver. Then, you can ask Alexa to play music or whatever it is your heart desires. The company manufacturing these phones, Grain Design, is currently sold out, but you can buy these phones for about $1,500 and to place a reservation, another $200. Is it worth that much for an Alexa that doesn’t eavesdrop? That’s up to you to decide.


The Makery by Grace Witmer

Do you love to create, or just make in general? Well, The Makery is the place for you! Amy Frank has created a fun open space for you to create alone or with friends. The Makery is a family friendly interactive art studio, with high quality instructors to help you along the way.

The Makery offers classes, parties, open studios, and so much more! The classes consist of over 13 different fun activities from sewing to cake decorating and back around to pottery. The classes are mostly in the winter but sometimes carry out into early spring. However, most classes slow down after December. There are also some camps in the summer for people around 16 and under.

They provide parties for birthdays, showers, or just any special event. When you rent the out the Makery you can fit up to fifty special guests. The open studios are a great way to get your creative side going. They are a self-guided time where you have access to all regular materials (and some special ones) and can create whatever you want. The Makery is located near H&M and Target downtown. In conclusion, the Makery is a friendly space where you can make anything you want and put your creativity to the test.

Check out their website:: Makery


Halloween Treats By Emily Stapleton

Since we have now entered fall, I’ve decided to give all the bakers some cool festive treats. Most people think of apple, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice.

Treat Title:

Marshmallow Treats

ShanaLee allrecipes.com

24 servings

Ingredients Needed:

¼ c. of butter

4 c. of mini marshmallows

5 c. of crisp rice cereal

Directions:

Melt the butter in a pot over low heat.

Add in marshmallow and stir until blended together.

Add in cereal, stir until coated in the butter, marshmallow mixture.

Use a buttered spatula to scrap out mixture into a 13 x 9 pan.

Cool.

Cut in desired squares.

(You can form them into pumpkins and dye orange and add a stem with a vine coming out.)

Enjoy!

Treat Title:

Caramel Apples

Suzie allrecipes.com

Serves 6

Ingredients Needed:

6 apples

1 (14 oz.) package of individually wrapped caramels

2 tablespoons of milk

Directions:

Remove stems from apples. Stick candy sticks in the top. Butter baking sheet(s).

Place caramels and milk in a microwave safe bowl. Pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Let cool slightly.

Roll apples in caramel, make sure they are well-coated and let set.

Enjoy!

Treat Title:

Pumpkin Bread IV

Cheryl  Riccioli allrecipes.com

This serves 36.

Ingredients Needed:

3 c. of canned pumpkin puree

1 ½ c. of vegetable oil

4 c. of sugar

6 eggs

4 ¾ c. of all purpose flour

1 ½  tsp. of baking powder

1 ½ tsp. of baking soda

1 ½ tsp. of salt

1 ½ tsp. of ground cinnamon

1 ½ tsp. of ground nutmeg

1 ½ tsp. of ground cloves


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3, 9x5 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl make together pumpkin, oil, sugar and eggs. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; stir into pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide batter evenly into prepared pans.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Top of loaf should spring back when pressed lightly.


The Rubik Cube Goes To The Future By Jerry Thoby

We have all played with the Rubik Cube but things have changed since 1974, now in 2018 there is a new type of Rubik’s Cube a new high-tech and advanced one, This new Rubik’s Cube is called the GoCube. The GoCube is a new type of Rubik’s Cube that will soon be available in March 2019. The GoCube is a smart Rubik Cube that connects to an app that you can download on your phone, the app lets you play online with other people and see who can figure out the Rubik Cube first, the app also has other games such as simon says, cube hero, solver, and much more.

The GoCube doesn’t just come with games it also comes with amazing features, such as a bluetooth connection to connect to your phone to be able to play games, light indicators to let you know what status the GoCube is at, and smart sensors to track and measure activity. This incredible Cube will be shipping everywhere in the world and has a maximum price of $399 and a minimum price of $69.


Mining for....Data, Not Gold by Marcus Henry

Data Mining. Maybe you haven’t heard of the term. Maybe you’ve been wondering where all of these update predictions for Fortnite are coming from? That would be data mining. Data mining is the process of looking through game files and analyzing the data. “Mining” the data from the game, essentially. You may be wondering, this sounds like hacking. It’s not. It’s legal if you respect everyone’s privacy and the company’s.

Now that you’re hooked (I hope), you’ll want to know how to do such a thing. Simple. Pick a game. Go to youtube.com. In the search box, type: “how to data mine [your game]” It’s simple and easy. Ever wished you could be that one kid that always knew the upcoming Fortnite skins? Wanted to know what the next amazing update to your favorite game is? Data mining can solve your problems. Try out the links below.


Is the Newest Fortnite Update the Worst? By Thomas Ring

The most recent update to Fortnite added the Silenced SCAR, but has their decision to remove the Drum Gun take a toll on the competitive and casual play?
The Drum Gun is one of the best weapons in the game, so it was a shame when we  surprisingly saw it removed for no reason. They could have just “nerfed” it and it would be good. “Nerfing” is when a company either decreases the speed or damage a weapon can do or the amount of ammo the weapon needs before it can reload.  It makes no sense to remove the best gun in the game with its 50-round magazine and decent fire rate. It was perfect for short range combat.

The Silenced SCAR is cool, but not very practical.  There is a hitmarker whenever you shoot so the enemy could just build a 1-by-1 (a walled barrier) and kill you, so it’s not very practical. Plus, they nerfed the P90, so why couldn’t they do the same for the drum gun?

I asked Matty Zimmerman what his opinion was on the removal of the drum gun and he said, “I’m sad. The silenced SCAR is good, but not as good as the drum gun.”

Ali-A said that he found the drum gun after the update, but let's be honest, 99% of Ali-A’s videos are clickbait so I’m gonna ignore him. I have been playing playground for like 50 hours and didn’t find a trace of the drum gun, so that rules out it being in the actual game, but it may still be in the code. I really hope they bring it back because it really deserves to be back in the game,because it wasn’t an op (overpowered) weapon.


Fortnite hosts $10,000,000 tournament called ‘Fall Skirmish’ By: Hayden Shuey

Fortnite has just finished their first competitive series (I mean tournaments lasting over weeks) called ‘Summer Skirmish’, which rewarded a total of $8,000,000 to competitive players over 8 weeks. How the tournament worked was for 4 days out of a week, Epic Games would compile a group of 100 players into a private match, where the competitors would battle each other for points. Points were earned differently each week, with different modifiers to change the scoring system. For example, week to week there are different point multipliers added and taken away, like the Kingpin bonus, which gave you a 3X multiplier for getting a Victory Royale, and in the same week you could get this bonus called a Wrecking Ball bonus, that gave you a 2X multiplier for getting 7 kills. The competition’s modes were solo and duo depending on how Epic Games wanted to do it that week. The 8,000,000 dollar prize pool was given out every day to the top performers of the player pools, and the rewards varied depending on the week. But, over 8 weeks, there was life changing checks given out to competitive players of different backgrounds, and the final week a little known streamer named Morgausse earned $225,000 for winning the heat games, qualifiers, and finals to top the charts over the top competitive players globally. Truly heartwarming things seeing someone that isn’t mainstream earning life changing money over a game of Fortnite, a simple Battle Royale game with Pink Teddy Bears, John Wick, and Burger shop mascots with the floppiest tongues I’ve ever seen.

Summer Skirmish was a huge success, and it seems they are looking to repeat this with Fall Skirmish. Epic Games continues to improve their competitive scene and overall gameplay in their free Battle Royale mode.