Dasterdly Double Dimensions By Robert Cohan

As I said in my last post there is much more to Minecraft than I talked about. In the over world there are structures and mobs that I didn’t talk about, but what I’m talking about today is The Nether and The End. The Nether is a whole new dimension from the over world. It is filled with lava, from lava lakes, lava falls, even lava in the walls. It also brings a whole new realm of blocks: Nether Rack, Soul Sand, Nether Quartz, Magma Blocks and Nether Brick. But what is really exciting are the mobs: Zombie Pigman, completely passive till you hit them at which point all in the vicinity attack, Blaze, shoot fire balls, drop blaze rods which are useful for getting to the End, Whither Skeletons, when they hit you they give you the whither effect which damages you every 2 seconds and Ghasts, shoot deflectable explosive fireballs and are massive. Now you might be asking “Why would I go to this place?”, well remember how I mentioned blaze rods and The End? Well using crafting and other things that are a bit too complicated for this, you find a structure called a stronghold and go through a portal that’s there, you are now in the End. It’s mostly home to Endermen whom you probably have already seen (the tall black guys with purple eyes, but don’t look into them!), but there is something….. else. I won’t ruin the surprise so all I can say is take out the things on the towers and good luck. Even if you do defeat Her (yes it’s a her, it has an egg) this world is never out of things to explore.

73 Blocks Down By Robert Cohan

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 6 years, you probably know what Minecraft is. But for those of you who have been living under a rock (or just avoiding the whole thing) here’s Minecraft in a nutshell. Minecraft has 2 main modes of play, Survival and Creative, first will talk about creative. While in creative you can fly, are invincible and have unlimited access to infinite of everything, this mode is usually used to build and test stuff without having to gather the materials. Survival on the other hand is about surviving! You accomplish this by gather materials by chopping down trees, mining, crafting, mining, smelting, mining, farming and did I forget mining (Well it is called MINEcraft). But don’t go out at night, because monsters are out! Monsters consist of Zombies: Slow, rely on melee and come in baby form, Skeletons: also kind of slow, ranged attacks and are incredibly accurate, Spiders: fastish, melee attacking, and come in poisonous cave form and finally Creepers: slowish, employs the suicide bomber technique and comes a charged form with a more powerful explosion. But how do you stop these foul creatures you ask, well I was getting to that! There are 2 different things to think about when fighting mobs, armor and weapons. Armor comes in 4 different varieties, helmet, leggings, chest plate and boots, and it also comes in 4 different types (ignoring gold, because you never make armor or weapons out of gold), leather is the worst armor being that it protects you the least and breaks the fastest, chain is only a little better than leather and is way harder to get being that you have to kill a mob wearing chain and it has to drop off them, iron is probably the armor that you’ll have for the longest being that the only better one is really hard to get that being diamond which is just the best, but you need a lot of diamonds (which are kind of hard to find). Weaponry is also an essential part of surviving being (ranked in the same order as armor) wood, stone, iron and diamond. Now you know the very basics of Minecraft, but there is still a lot more in this world to explore.

Click on This Link by Amy Yarbrough

I have a link I really want to share with y'all.

Check it out down below!

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Today's top 6 free games on the App Store by Grayson Perry

Gaming is huge in todays culture, and recently, popular console titles are making their way on to our phones. People who game on their mobile devices can have just as much fun as console players because of the growing accessibility. Today we will be looking at today’s top 6 free games available on the App Store.

1)     Fortnite. Fortnite is a 100 player battle-royale with building mechanics that originated on Xbox, Playstation, and PC. Fortnite is exploding in its player base because of their recent expansion to mobile devices. The game is currently an “invite event” which means that players who download the game will have to wait a few days to be able to play. But there is something unique about Fortnite mobile that makes it stand out from other mobile games, the ability to play online with console players. Not only that, if you play on console, the game saves your progress and allows you to play on the same account on your mobile device. Pretty impressive if you ask me. The game is off to a rocky start, but immediately dominates the App Store.

2)     PUBG Mobile. PUBG Mobile is a 100 player battle-royale game with one of the biggest maps in the battle-royale genre. PUBG recently followed Fortnite in their quest to dominate mobile devices by branching from PC, to Xbox, and now to Mobile. PUBG Mobile isn’t as popular as Fortnite on the App Store because of the inability to play on the same profile one may already have spent time and money on. They also cannot play with people who are on console from their mobile devices, which is what most of the people who download this app want to do. All in all, it runs smoothly and contains just as much fun as the console and PC versions have.

3)     Rise Up. Rise Up is just a time-passing game in which players are tasked with getting to level 1000 while protecting a balloon. You must use a shield to protect your balloon from popping while it rises. While this game is free, it gets very repetitive, with not much to do. This game is just a challenge between friends to see who can get the higher score.

4)     Flip the Gun – Simulator Game. Flip the gun is by the creators of Bowmasters (remember those annoying ads about that game?). The game tasks you with getting a high score, like Rise Up. Each time you fire one of the many guns available, you are propelled upwards. The goal is to get as high up as possible before running out of ammo. Just as Rise Up, this game has little replay ability and is really just another time waster.

5)     Helix Jump. Helix Jump is another time waster game, and you can start to see the trend of time wasters on the App Store. Helix Jump tasks you with falling through multiple floors to reach the end of a level. Each level gets more difficult as you progress. As the past two games, this game is a competition to see who can get the higher score. 

6)     Granny. Granny is a horror game that pits you against a psychopathic grandma who wants to kill you. You must utilize the tools around you to escape her house in five days. Each time she “catches” you, the next day commences. This game is just beautiful, and I wish more games like this existed on the App Store. Strangely, this game is very popular on YouTube, which is drawing even more attention to it than it already has. A perfect example of what is happening to this game is Slender. Slender was very popular on YouTube and the App Store in it’s prime, just like Granny. I hope that this game gets updated adding a save option and more houses to get trapped in.

I bet your wondering why I did 6…. Well… reasons.

April Fools’ Ideas by Allyson Reyna

April Fools’ Day is currently on the same day as Easter this year. An odd combination of events but the opportunities which a good prank has is relatively good. If you are someone who enjoys the festivity of pranking, then you may enjoy some of these pranks which have an Easter twist to them. Just remember, don’t be too mean. It is Easter, after all.

1.    Exchange the beloved candy within the plastic eggs with vegetables, fruit, or something that just is not wanted by the egg hunters. This will REALLY get them annoyed. Who would want broccoli when chocolate was being anticipated for?

2.    You could be hosting a small gathering at your house and serving cake. What people don’t know is that this cake is a sponge cake. Everyone enjoys desert and so everyone will think nothing of it when they take the first bite. Little do they know it is a cake made of literal sponges with icing spread over it. Then if you are nice, you can serve them real cake.

3.    Remember those cute little chocolate bunnies which are hollow? Ever wondered why they are hollow? They are hollow for in case one day April Fools’ lands on the same day as Easter and then you can fill them up with mustard or some other disgusting condiment.

4.    Start an egg hunt without any eggs. It’s great. Wait and see how long it will take before they realize there is nothing to find.

5.    If you have jelly beans present or have them in eggs, then mix some Bean Boozled jelly beans in there as well. Flavors like “stinky socks” or “spoiled milk” will unexpectedly pop up and when they do… wait and then film their reaction.  

Should you get a phone that folds? By Steven Roberts

So apparently last year ZTE launched the Axon M- a foldable smartphone with dual screens. This 2018 Samsung is also making plans for releasing their very own foldable phone. Pretty soon more and more companies will develop these devices, which will start a new trend in the industry. But the real question is should you really buy one. Lets take a look at some of the pros and cons of a foldable smart phone. One of the advantages is that obviously, you will have two screens in one portable phone. Also the foldable smartphone has versatility which you can switch from different viewing modes, Like single screen, running two separate apps in each display, same app running on both screens, and merging the two screens to become a single, and a large display. You can also take better selfies because the companies installed  high-end lenses on both displays. Despite its fun advantages, it also has disadvantages. For example these devices can be thick and heavy because each side of the  screens will have a separate set of hardware, the battery may no last as long because there is two screens it has to power, the hinge to fold the phone may get in the way of videos, the starting  price for the Axon M is $725. So reading some of the pros and cons about the foldable phone it  is now your choice if you should by it or not.

Easter Egg Origins By Robert Cohan

Easter is a big part of Christian and most of the world’s culture. Its Christian significance comes from the day Jesus rose from the dead. But where does the rest of the celebration fit in? What does a bunny and colored eggs have to do with Jesus? Well, in most cultures the egg represents re-birth and new life (obvious connection is obvious), but it meant this long before Jesus was born on earth. The Nowruz and the Iranians started painting eggs way before Jesus was born. Easter eggs (as previously mentioned) take the eggs symbolism of re-birth and apply it to Jesus.

H1Z1 Backlash by Grayson Perry

H1Z1 is a popular Battle Royale game that started the Battle Royale trend on YouTube and Twitch. It just recently surpassed 10 million players on Steam. Since its original release on steam, which was on January 15, 2015 as an early access title, it has gone through many changes and had major competition from PUBG and Fortnite. H1Z1 was incredibly popular, being the first of its kind years ago, but now faces being one of the most disliked Battle Royale games today. Recently, H1Z1 was made free to play, which caused much backlash from players who paid $10 to $20. So far, the developers have been silent about this and are not issuing out refunds. H1Z1 has also received negative reviews due to massive game changes. The developers have dramatically changed how the game works multiple times, which has caused frustration among players. Finally, H1Z1 developers hardly listen to the player opinions, and often make huge decisions without listening to the community first. Despite all of this, H1Z1 is still trying its best to maintain its current players and bring in new players as well. Adding new game modes, just as Fortnite does occasionally, and pushing constant updates to keep the game afloat. H1Z1 is not a bad game, or a boring game, but just as all game developers must do, they need to pay more attention to the community.

I am Annoyed by Negativity by Allyson Reyna

Why has negativity, self-deprecating tendencies, and an overall sourness consumed people? Constant jokes which bring one’s self and others down, complaining, and annoyed expressions fill the behaviors and attitudes of people. And why is this considered normal?

It is considered normality within today’s society since it has consumed media and everyday interactions. Things do not always go our way. This can lead to a couple different avenues in one’s reaction to it… either looking at it in a positive or negative way. The easier path, to many, would be negative tendencies. It is easier to complain when things do not go our way than it is to see the positive in it. This behavior, overtime, can become habitual. When it becomes that, it becomes this constant source of refuge for that person to turn to. Something goes slightly wrong? Quick solution is for that person to simply say something negative, make a sardonic joke, be self-deprecating, etc. Overtime these so-called jokes, remarks, and so on are not so entertaining; they become somewhat annoying to listen and to watch. Sometimes it gets so annoying that it becomes just sad to witness.

Personally, I am downright tired of this negativity. Whatever the source of negativity may be… it is just annoying. So, just stop. Simply, stop. Please, stop. I am asking you to STOP. When I say stop, I am not intending to dictate your words or actions, or refute the idea that sometimes tragedies strike. My intentions are for there to be more positivity in everyday normal occurrences. There is not enough positivity in this world. Everything is apparently “wrong”. That is not true, though. There is so much goodness which seems to be hidden away since people’s attention is not placed on it.  There attention is focused in on the downsides to things and this brings an overall negative outlook which seeps into the way they act.

So, I have a proposal; lets be more positive. See the goodness within the circumstances that occur. If something seems not so bright, know that it will pass, and everything will be just fine. Will all complaining and negative words be completely put to rest?Absolutely not. But we do hold the capability of turning our attention towards something else. And it is completely fine to tell someone how you are truly feeling about that assignment or complain about how the weather is just too hot. However, our entire vocabulary should not be honed in on everything that is just soooo horrible, and we must remember that everything will turn out alright. 

Now that I have finished complaining about negativity, lets try to be more positive…

Double Standards in Academics by Amy Yarbrough

       Growing up in a half math, half English home was interesting. My father is the math man, and my mother is the english teacher. My dad definitely wanted my sister and I to be engineering minds, but he still never forced us to pursue it, nor did he try to steer us away from our artistic interests. Being homeschooled meant that we had time to pursue many different artistic interests. Not having school every day gave us time to develop skills that we would have had to leave behind otherwise. Even though we had plenty of creative support growing up, the world has one or two things to say about “artists”.

Someone who is great at mathematics and scientific studies is considered smart. It doesn't matter how bad they are at writing, or bored they are of books, or uncreative they are with other endeavors; they are still the smartest. What about the one who is great at english? The one who can understand great pieces of literature and pick them apart to find different meanings in text and scriptures from a variety of years. What do people think of them if they're bad at math and science? They’re seen as the dimmer half of the population. The problem isn't that one is better than the other. The problem is that people have put one side on a pedestal, and it’s seen as the pinnacle of intelligence. Never mind that illiteracy has literally caused dark ages, it’s clearly not that bad…

Don’t get me wrong, math is important. There’s absolutely no denying that our technological advancements aren’t due to Shakespeare. But the double standard lies in schools. Get all A’s in your english and writing classes? Great! You're pretty smart!.. Wait what? You got a D in Math? You’ve brought dishonor to yourself, your cow, and your family. You can leave now if you're not too dumb to find the door. 

Got all A’s in math and science but D’s in english? That’s fine sweetie! You're a smart cookie you'll find your way around the world. We need you to survive. You're the ticket to discovering new life. You’ve cured all diseases by choosing “C” on a multiple choice question. We need you to copy our brains and put them in computers. Humans are evolving. Because of you.