re-watching the mini-arc into jiang yuelou’s past and his mother jiang shengnan (and by extension, commissioner bai) is so fucking heartbreaking in so many ways. the way jiang yuelou grew up in a terrible environment and became an orphan at a young age and receive his new name, the way that jiang shengnan became a strong woman to save herself--and also lost her way, and the way that commissioner bai will one day become a hypocrite like jiang shengnan. it’s all so utterly painful (and very accurate for the difficult times of the republican period and during the opium wars. the consequences of opium were very deadly indeed.)

jiang shengnan’s confession of her past, living with an abusive opium-addicted partner, living in suffering and cold, made her try to take her life and instead she was saved and ended up becoming an enabler of opium addicts instead. to become a strong woman and never be abused by men again, she became skillful and deadly at the cost of, essentially, her own soul and morality. it’s ironic and when being interrogated by commissioner bai, she dryly asked: “isn’t this world ridiculous?” in which he responds “it’s not that this world is ridiculous, but you yourself.”

of course, commissioner bai was this heroic surrogate father who saved jiang yuelou from the streets and even named him “yuelou” and yet, when it came down to it, when powerful corrupt officials and gangsters came to his door, he feared for his own life and did everything to save his own life, including sacrificing his surrogate son. commissioner bai thought jiang shengnan was ridiculous for choosing a bad path and yet he himself did it. the irony. 

they both redeemed themselves (just a little bit, not completely) by ultimately choosing to give up their own lives to save jiang yuelou, to pay for their crimes--but they first betrayed him. 

jiang yuelou. “jiang” from his real mother. “yuelou” given by his surrogate father. two people who he loved and cared for so much and trusted so much. jiang yuelou--a name about not wanting separation--is ultimately separated from his loved ones by the grim reality of troubled times, the consequences of opium, betrayal, and death. 

(and i can’t help thinking about jiang yuelou and how similar he is to jiang shengnan in which jiang shengnan also changed her name; it was originally jiang rushui. and how jiang yuelou was saved when he jumped into a river and came into two warm people whereas jiang shengnan was rescued by the man who sold opium. )

Video: Rachel Croft - Reap What You Sow

Video: Rachel Croft – Reap What You Sow

Reap What You Sow is the latest track from York-based singer songwriter Rachel Croft and it takes her music in quite a different direction.Continue reading

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University of Denver Professor Adds Historical Gaming to the Curriculum

University of Denver

Historical gaming, a genre that has been a staple of the industry for years, has been slowly integrated into college curriculums. Assistant Professor Daniel Melleno of the University of Denver is one of several educators working on historical gaming into medieval and pre-modern history lesson plans. Just as he had learned about the succession of historical kingdoms and the evolution of agriculture through games like Age of Empires, Professor Melleno hopes to use gaming to instill knowledge of the past into his students.

History in the Classroom

GamingBolt

“Everybody knows who the Vikings are, and part of that is because of video games. When you’re searching for relevance and how to make people care about people who have been dead for a very long time … that’s a really good angle to get undergrads interested,” Daniel stated regarding the popular title Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and its use as an educational tool.

According to the professor, about 80% of his students enroll now because of their love for video games, TV shows, or movies. Former students like Marisa Lopez have stated that “tying pop culture to the curriculum proved fascinating and fun.” “He’d bring up historical tidbits about video games, movies, and TV shows. It put the dots together.” Marisa recalled. For a final paper for the class, Marisa wrote about the Witcher 3, a video game based on a series of fantasy novels. She assessed the realism of character’s clothing, accessories and weapons, noting the similarities between the game’s creatures and creatures from Norse Mythology. In the process, Marisa learned a lot more about the life of Vikings she had been studying for the course.  

Historical Gaming and its Benefits to Education

Ubisoft

When Assassin's Creed Vahalla originally released, Daniel received many invitations to join several podcasts to talk about the game's historical background. Alongside discussions about the game, he’s a regular contributor on Reddit’s discussion boards. He answers questions from amateur historians, enthusiasts, and hobbyists alike. Daniel considers all of it to be a form of outreach, from the college history class to the greater community. “Every time I answer a question on Reddit, I reach, easily, twice as many people as I do in the classroom. I think that’s a really good way to feed more interest in history, and I think people want it,” Daniel says about his connection to the community

Collin Phipps, a student who attended the University of Denver, didn’t major in history, but taking Daniel’s courses changed the way he viewed his hobbies. “I don’t think I’ll play a game where I don’t think about history, even when I buy a new game, I think there’s a fun part of it where I will have to look up online: How real is this game? How accurate is this game?” “Part of that desire lies in the immersive nature of first-person games,” Collin explains.

It’s all proof that history is much more than memorizing names and dates. As Daniel adds, “History serves as a perfect complement to other disciplines. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla wouldn’t exist if people getting computer science degrees weren’t also interested in history.” Historical games have proven that it can bring such benefits to education. While the University of Denver will be the first of many to come to explore historical gaming in the classroom, it has given many students the opportunity to explore history and how fun it can be. - At Epoch XP, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch XP’s service on our parent site, SJR Research. (This article is credited to Josh Rife. Josh has been a longtime gamer, playing games from vast amounts of genres. From Sci-Fi to historical or fantastical medieval games, he enjoys playing and discussing them with others. Some of his particular favorites include the Mass Effect series and the Total War franchise. He's working towards writing and researching history as a full-time career, taking inspiration from his parents, who own Epoch's parent company, SJR Research.). 

The good old days https://ift.tt/2UKcO4d

Insane vertical high jump (Click to play) https://ift.tt/3iVctmW

What's the Best Video Format for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter?

Video's become the device that brands are going to as they lock in and make progress toward higher commitment and transformations. What's more, more advertisers are seeing the positive aftereffects of video execution.

 As indicated by research, video unquestionably is getting greater commitment across all significant social stages. On Facebook, recordings get as much as 135% more natural reach, multiple times more retweets on Twitter, and 75% of chiefs say they watch world-related video every day on LinkedIn.

Facebook Video Specs

 Facebook video is burned-through at higher rates every year, so it's no big surprise why such countless advertisers look for the right Facebook video specs.

 The test for advertisers is that there are just so numerous kinds of videos you can share on Facebook and the stage refreshes its plan as often as possible. Every video design has various measurements and specs, which can make it confounding to know whether you're transferring the right organization for natural or paid posts. Follow the specs underneath to improve your posts.

Facebook has likewise added the Stories include, vanishing short photograph or video refreshes that are just accessible for 24 hours. Notwithstanding client produced natural posts, Stories promotions that disagreement between sets of client stories are likewise accessible. While most clients will be sharing quick and natural updates from their telephone's camera without agonizing a lot over their video specs, the rules for this configuration are comparative for paid and natural posts.

Social Media Video Specs Change Often

 In any case, as most things in the social media world, video specs will in general change regularly. Most changes are identified with social stages constructing the most pleasurable survey insight for their clients.

 These progressions are trying to stay aware of. Along these lines, we've made a rundown of social media videos specs to help you share your absolute best substance with the world.

Instagram Video Specs

 Instagram upholds square, vertical and even video. You've probably seen Instagrammers utilize even video, yet it very well may be interesting to create.

 In case you're not excited about the additional altering work, decide on square videos. They're simpler to create and function admirably for both work area and portable clients.

 In this blog entry, we'll share video specs for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube and Pinterest. We'll likewise jump further into specs for different video designs that every stage offers, for example, Facebook's merry go round video advertisements, Instagram in-channel video and YouTube's skippable and unskippable video promotions.

That's me and my cat babey!!!!!

We had some nasty flash flooding in my area and I lost literally everything because my apartment was under 7 feet of water. But hey my cat lived holy shit