#gaming: venus plays aol

[freeappall]

Gun & Dungeons MOD APK New version 333 For Android Welcome champ! Get ready to enter Chimera 5, a monster-infested world system, crawling with all kinds of vicious creatures. Basically, the perfect venue for a twisted spectating alien sports tournament to the death. The rules are simple: you must survive the treacherous dungeons, filled with hordes of nasty monsters. If you reach the end, you will face an even more powerful monster. The reward for defeating the boss? A huge loot pile and… another dungeon, of course, this is how sinister this competition is! Gun & Dungeons mod apk Key Features - Story mode: Explore mysterious and deadly worlds with hundreds of challenging dungeons. - Survival mode: Defeat huge hordes of monsters and get unique rewards. - Loads of vicious deadly monsters for you to shoot, vaporize, incinerate and explode! - Lots of powerful skills that you can pick up and manage to give you an extra boost! - Legendary gear gathered across the universe and Time that will increase your stats. - Feeling lonely? What about having a pet to help you out in those tough situations? -… and GUNS… Lots of guns. You got sniper guns, machine guns, assault guns, laser guns, bazooka guns… if you find a special gun? KEEP IT! No one ever survived or escaped Chimera 5, will you be the first? Gun & Dungeons mod menu Frequently Asked Questions: Is it safe to download Gun & Dungeons Mod Apk from this site? Yes! 100% safe. We do not add any harmful code to any APK file on our site. We share original apk files (source from Google Play Store) and sometimes we share Modded Apk Files for our visitors who want extra features. So, do not worry. Just download and install apps and games from our site and enjoy. Gun & Dungeons Unlocked Version Is it Modded Version? Yes! It is a modded version. If it does not work, please contact us. Do you have a direct Download Link? Yes! We have uploaded the file to our server and you can download it with a single click. Is it the latest version? Yes! This is the latest version app. Download Link not found or error? If you found the download link is not working, do not forget to write a comment or contact us. Gun & Dungeons pro apk How to Gun &amp Dungeons Install   Install the steps: Download Gun &amp Dungeons Mod APK on our site. After completing the download, you must find the apk file and install it. You must enable "Unknown sources" to install applications outside the Play Store. Then you can open and enjoy the Gun &amp Dungeons Mod APK. Gun & Dungeons Latest Version Is Gun &amp Dungeons Mod Safe?   Gun &amp Dungeons Mod is 100% safe because the application was scanned by our Anti-Malware platform and no viruses were detected. The antivirus platform includes AOL Active Virus Shield, avast!, AVG, Clam AntiVirus, etc. Our anti-malware engine filters applications and classifies them according to our parameters. Therefore, it is 100% safe to install Gun &amp Dungeons Mod APK on our site.   Gun & Dungeons Unlimited everything Before explaining the word mod app let me tell you one thing with the modded version of the app you can quickly get a paid version free of cost. Modded apps are also known as modified apps which are the original apps. Actually, the developers who develop the apps always give you free features to you and then put some premium things in the apps/games which you must have to buy them first. Gun & Dungeons god mod The file that contains the app is known to be an APK file. A qualified team of developers makes edits to the apk file, enables free premium features, and reuploads it on the internet. You May Also Like: More Info: Google Play What’s New Adjustments to Techs and Facilities – The effects of the techs “Break the Limit”, “Beyond the Limit” and “Reach the Limit” respectively. – The highest quality of a Hero will be Legendary 3-Star. – Raised the CP of some techs. – Adjusted the CP of some facilities and the resources and time required in t

heir upgrading   Here you can download the latest version of Mod APK for free Now: Use our safe and secure direct download link to download your Gun & Dungeons Mod Apk and enjoy the latest free version 333.  

[venusqueenoffaeries]

SO I BEAT IT

And now I never have to do it again! 8D

Next up, since I’m waiting for the Animal Crossing Switch (for Link’s Awakening): Oracle of Ages! Hope the battery’s still good. Four Swords and Tri Force Heroes on deck and in the hole.

#gaming: venus plays aol

[irxnmaiden]

[ Not the dash reminiscing... got me nostalgic! My first muse, probably ever, was Sango (Inuyasha) which was on some message board that probably deactivated in 2004. Next was Leblanc (FFX2) on another dusty message board/through AOL, short lived but also super fun playing such a chaotic muse. Jasmine and Sabrina were born not long after, and really the first times I tried being more creative w my muses and writing. Things got more in-depth on dear old Livejournal - I wrote both Utena (SKU) and Sailor Venus (BSSM) in separate groups. This was like 2006? Jasmine returned for a spell, Roxanne was born, and Misty was... attempted. (look which of the three didn’t stick lol)

Joined T*mblr in 2009, but that was mainly for blogging/aesthetic purposes. Tried my hand at roleplay here, but that was a blip in 2011 before life became overwhelming. It wasn’t until 2016 that I even got the idea to try again. Seeing the lively community and how passionate/intricate ppl were with their muses... as they say, the rest is history and here I am. Local catlady who writes in-depth analyses of characters with no more than 3 lines in their respective games and I wouldn’t have it any other way. c’: ]

#{{ didn't expect to get in the feels today but here we are }} #{{ the horrors of AOL rp }} #{{ this is so long but i'm old so whew }} #::🌻 dashcomm. #::🏷️ untagged.

[thefreshfinds]

RaneRaps:

We all are one & the same.

One that goes through a series of different situations or outcomes yet it ties back to us.

In light of this, RaneRaps seems to just get it.

With a pocket full of sunshine he's able to take the world by storm.

Besides using upliftment as a mean of connecting with his audience, RaneRaps also digs deep into himself & relays his own experiences through an expansive vocal range.

Notably his sound has an influx of gospel melodies, soul & funk.

He fills your plate with a food for thought & hypersonic flows that gnaw at your ear-chords.

For this reason, RaneRap's music will go to great lengths for an all around positive change.

Etching his truth so that others can see the bigger picture, RaneRaps uses imagery & vocal tones to deliver the raw & real "without completely surrounding the listener in desolation or despair." As a teen, RaneRaps spent hours playing MMORPGs (Final Fantasy XI) online & so one day as he grew impatient with the process of starting the game, Thus, RaneRaps wanted to make a story for a name & added "Rane" as the first part of his stage name because it really captured his skill level. "With the combination of 1) the hype surrounding FFXI & 2) AOL dial-up taking more than a full day to download all the updates I needed to play," RaneRaps says "Naturally, I chose the first name to come to mind. I didn't end up as Lil' Inkjet, AOL Boi 2002, DAREfailedUS or any other name that just wouldn't have my type of pizzaz. And with that, I brought my URL self into the IRL realm of rap, keeping Rane & adding Raps."

Though he says that music is life , RaneRaps creates it for himself (first), cathartic purposes & the world at-large. "I'm all about positivity, love & sobering truth - even if my truth comes at the cost of a song NOT being upbeat or extremely light-hearted. That being said, I think my secret sauce is finding ways to speak on the worst evils of my life." he adds.

 He'd like for authenticity to become normalized again in the current era of hip-hop because there are more people who can relate to life & not the street life. He finds it better to speak on being flawed than whatever the template heroic tale seems to be these days. "I'm a middle class Black male who grew up in a household with both parents and have two siblings. Fortunately, I didn't have to struggle much growing up and as a result of my parent's preparedness for my future - I was able to realize opportunities that some of my peers could not." he goes on to say "I've never been afraid to acknowledge my privilege, make songs about the life I live, lived & what I know. I hope that those like me understand you don't have to become a created player built on a fake thug life to gain a fanbase, nor do you need to brand yourself as a saint. It's an easy fact to get - just be yourself & you'll be fine but there's a lot of willful ignorance perpetuating stereotypes & smoke in mirrors. It can only be a net positive when everyone tells their story."

Similarly he's moved by artist who are fearless in doing so (& even when his first introduction to hip-hop was Will Smith's album Big Willie Style it helped RaneRaps learn how to make music that's designed to celebrate life & get people moving.) According to the star, A Tribe Called Quest got him hooked more into hip-hop. "I woke up in the wee-hours of the morning to their Scenario (Remix) playing on MTV. I couldn't remember the name of the song for the life of me but I searched Busta Rhymes "the charcoal chicken" & went deep into the rabbit hole of New York rap," RaneRaps proclaims "To this day, I still have the mix CD of ATCQ, Gang Starr, Eric B., Rakim & even Drake's So Far Gone." Rane says that these MC's helped him to understand different cadences & styles of rap. Yet he couldn't envision RaneRaps until he discovered Outkast. "I absorbed all of their country funk twist. The messages in their songs, the vocal inflections, the atypical beats an song structure spoke to me & I felt validated in wanting to be myself, whatever that may be."

Nowadays (as in 2014 to now), RaneRaps finds inspiration from artists who carry their own energy & are openly themselves. He says that he's written gospel songs after bingeing Robb Banks' 2phoneshawty mixtape, wrote one of his favorite songs, "Broken Window Theory" after singing along to Lil Peep, & he's still learning how to create narratives from his realities from the likes of Maxo Kream, Dave East, Nipsey Hussle & Anderson.Paak but out of everyone he's ever heard, RaneRaps would love to work with Duckwrth! "Our sounds & aesthetic are very similar & to be from LA with this sort of musical direction has proven quite rare in the year that I've moved back." RaneRaps adds. "Duckwrth's message fits my brand - truth-seeking & positive. So, a collaboration would be highly beneficial for us both, even with a difference in the size of our fan bases. Honestly, I've always wanted to open for the guy & set up his show with my wild stage performance. I think we would make one hell of a duo on the concert circuit!"

Overall expect RaneRaps to make his mark in the next 5 years. He's going to brand "RapSoulFunk" as his signature sound, release a 2 full-length albums with my producer, Hirsh, a mixtape of soulful jams from before & after discovering his "sound", tour with a live-band that supports him & use his earnings to invest in other income streams & environmental education programs for inner-city youth.

After all, It's always intentional that he's out to be the best.

Rane Raps: "For any upcoming artist out there sign up for a monthly subscription to Indepreneur.io & start collecting the data to run your career. Everyone says "You don't need a label these days." but then what? Drop that hit song & you're set right? Not at all. The Facebook pixel has changed my life & I can wake up any day of the week & know 1) how to gain new fans of my music at the push of a button, 2) sell tickets to shows from my own website without handing away percentages to other platforms / venues, 3) run sales promotions that can generate LARGE profits, etc. The music business is AT LEAST 70% of where your time will go as an indie, so if you learn it, you just need decent at best music & you can get the ball rolling for yourself. Getting ahead of the competition is MUCH easier than you think!"

By: Natalee Gilbert

Fun Facts:

A word of advice that stuck with him was "Don't Suck." Through this advice, RaneRaps was able to develop an unapologetic quality control for himself & became obsessed with chasing the feeling of "YES, THIS IS THE ONE!". One he felt could replicate that. After that he started to release music regularly & stood firmly in his art.

Link(s):

1. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/raneraps

2. Instagram: @raneraps

3. YouTube + Spotify: Search "RaneRaps"​

#undergroundhiphop #raneraps #thefreshfinds #freshfinds #artistreviews #listennow #Funk #Soul #hiphop #musicblog #hiphopfans #freshsound #rapper #newmusicalert #unsignedhype #rapmusic #hiphopflow #calirappers #fresh artists #NewArtist #indiemusic #IndieArtist #RNBMUSIC #listenlinda #california

[6plussizepromdresses]

children’s rock & roll apparel designer before launching Odd Twin in 2009 christmas@……&！ dresses for women.

It is important to go into a marriage with the right set of expectations to avoid any disappointment, conflict or misunderstanding. 'While it is not wrong to want to make your spouse happy in a marriage, I feel that the main aim of marriage is to make each other a better person so you can work towards your life goals together,' Mr Albert Lim says. 'Happiness is a by-product. Men shouldn't marry women with the hope that they will never change, and women should not marry men with the hope that they will.' A passion for vintage shopping has connected her to nearly every single vintage store in Manhattan, inspiring her to also serve as spokesperson for New York City vintage shopping. She's been featured on the Nate Berkus Show, My Fox NY, USA Today and in the book Wearable Vintage Fashion. She's also written for Huffington Post, Time Out New York, AOL StyleList and contributed features to leading vintage fashion blogs. Her ebook The 100 Best Vintage Shops Online is now available on Lulu and Etsy.com. I specially requested for an after party because I've attended many weddings where after the banquet was over, many friends leave the ballroom feeling like the night was still young and they could have had more fun. So, after we were done with the surprise game, everyone, including Kenneth and I, changed into our swim wear and jumped into the pool which was right smack in the middle of the whole venue. We even played old clubbing songs! Yuji: We were both in Sydney, Australia in 2013 ?C at a festival called Singapore Day. The organizers flew Aliya out to Sydney to perform while she was living sygdljdress20112 in Perth, and I was from Singapore performing as well. We met backstage while Aliya was warming up before her performance. We chatted very briefly in the glorious summer sunshine (ridiculously scorching Aussie heat). I guess I was, at that point, smitten.

4 ?C 5 / I was quite impressed by the aesthetic, ambiance and merchandising of Odd Twin. With pieces from the '20s through '80s short mermaid dress, it's surprising that the store feels so modern lace flower girl dresses. Beautifully edited and curated thanks to the tastes of owner Francesca Neville, who previously worked as a [get this!]: children's rock & roll apparel designer before launching Odd Twin in 2009 christmas dresses for women. Get plenty of sleep, stay hydrated, and eat regular-size meals for stamina. Remember that you'll be stepping in and out of wedding gowns all day, with some of them going over your head, so low-maintenance hair and light, fresh makeup work best how much does a sondra celli dress cost. It's important to remain true to your focus: finding the gown that makes you feel your best. Finding your dream wedding dress takes trial and error and plenty of patience. Chances are, the first dress you try on won't be the one, and you may have to devote some real time to searching for it. But with so many different styles to choose from slim fitting dress shirt, it can sometimes be challenging to even know where to begin. You May Also Like: Personally I praise play at the lowest price stores then leaving ... or wakeless colorise A-line can get quite the steal long sleeve ... Blog Archives - cheap purple evening dresses&cheap and ... There are no less than five well known outlines or cuts of ... $148 Velvet High Neck Mermaid Prom Dresses

[flauntpage]

A Brief History of March Madness

This year’s edition of the NCAA Tournament starts on Tuesday with the First Four games. But we’ve come a long way to the 68-team version of the Big Dance.

The Early Days

The entire tournament began way back in 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and via the mind of Ohio State head coach Harold Olsen. It would be a single-elimination tournament with regional third place games (a national one would also be added in 1946). His Buckeyes would fall to the Oregon Ducks in the first ever tournament. For the first 11 years, the field was set to eight teams.

In 1951, the field doubled to 16 teams with an East and a West region. Because of this setup, there wasn’t really a true Final Four until the following year. That’s when the four regional winners met at the same neutral site for the national semifinals and national championship game. It was also the first tournament to have regional television coverage. From 1953 until 1968, the field would fluctuate between 22 and 25 teams. The 1957 edition was also the first year of formally organized levels of competition between the University Division (Division I) and the College Division (Divisions II and III).

Growth of the Tournament

Along with the field expanding permanently to 25 teams in 1969, the NCAA Tournament began to air on NBC. Not all the games were televised, especially the early round matchups.

In 1973, the Final Four schedule changed to how we know it today. Semifinals were moved to Saturday from Thursday or Friday, while the title game was played on Monday rather than Saturday.

Along with the expansion to 32 teams, the 1975 NCAA Tournament also saw the addition of at-large teams. Previously, teams that were conference champions or independents were invited to participate. In the previous year, the Collegiate Commissioners’ Association held a tournament in St. Louis and invited the second-place teams from eight conferences. Also, the winners of the ECAC regional tournaments in the Northeastern part of the country were granted automatic bids. The following season, the regional third-place games were eliminated.

The 1978 edition saw the first ever tournament involving seeds. The 16 conference winners were seeded 1 through 4 in each region. Inside those same regions, at-large teams were seeded 1 through 4 as well. Altogether, each region had four AQs and four at-large teams. However, there were only 11 true at-large teams in the field. The other five were conference winners with automatic bids, but were seeded as at-large teams. Because of this, this practice ended immediately. The next year, with the tournament expanding to 40 teams, the regions were seeded 1-10.

The Modern Era

The 1980 Tournament again gave at-large teams more of a chance to get in, as an unlimited number of at-larges could come from any conference. The seeding formula was also changed to make each region as evenly competitive as possible instead of geographic considerations. It was also the first year of a 48-team tournament. The 1981 Tournament also saw its last national third-place game.

1982 was a big year in the entire college basketball landscape. It was the first tournament designated as the men’s Division I Tournament after the NCAA began sponsoring championships in women’s sports. CBS and ESPN also obtained rights to air the NCAA Tournament, and popularity in the entire tournament took off because of added TV exposure. The term “March Madness” was also first used in this setting thanks to Brent Musberger.

After expansions to 52 and 53 teams in the next two seasons, the field expanded to 64 teams, in 1985 (when Villanova won). A shot clock and three-point line would be added in each of the next two tournaments.

A play-in game would be added in 2001 to expand the field to 65 teams. That would stay the same until 2011, when the current 68-team format was incarnated thanks to the start of the First Four games.

More Ways To Watch

With the field remaining pretty much the same, the viewing options began to change. CBS was awarded the rights to cover all the games starting in 1991. The network provided their affiliates with three types of feeds from each venue:

Constant feed – Stayed on one game, mainly used by stations with a clear local interest (Villanova in the Philly area), but would break-in to other games for short updates.

Swing feed – Usually stayed on games that would be of natural interest to the local market such as teams from local conferences (Princeton in the Ivy League), but could leave that game to go to others that could be close games.

Flex feed – Coverage bounced around from one venue to another (like RedZone today).

But with a ton of games going on at the same time, people wanted to watch all the games simultaneously. Enter DirecTV, who in 1999 offered a Mega March Madness premium package that showed the non-blacked out games on cable.

When the internet began to grow, Yahoo! offered streaming of the first three rounds of the tournament under their Yahoo! Platinum service for $16.95 a month. The following year, CBS began selling their product, March Madness On Demand, which was free for AOL subscribers. In 2006, the service was made free and has continued to be so outside of 2012 (had to pay $3.99 to get access to all the games).

In 2011, the NCAA announced a massive 14-year, $10.8 million TV deal with CBS and Turner Sports (TBS, TNT, and truTV) to broadcast all the games on a national basis for the first time ever. It provides the NCAA over $500 million annually and makes up over 90% of the NCAA’s annual revenue. It’s a ton.

All The Winners

1939: Oregon

1940: Indiana

1941: Wisconsin

1942: Stanford

1943: Wyoming

1944: Utah

1945: Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State)

1946: Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State)

1947: Holy Cross

1948: Kentucky

1949: Kentucky

1950: CCNY (City College of New York – now Division III)

1951: Kentucky

1952: Kansas

1953: Indiana

1954: La Salle

1955: San Francisco

1956: San Francisco

1957: North Carolina

1958: Kentucky

1959: California

1960: Ohio State

1961: Cincinnati

1962: Cincinnati

1963: Loyola Chicago

1964: UCLA

1965: UCLA

1966: Texas Western (now UTEP)

1967: UCLA

1968: UCLA

1969: UCLA

1970: UCLA

1971: UCLA

1972: UCLA

1973: UCLA

1974: NC State

1975: UCLA

1976: Indiana

1977: Marquette

1978: Kentucky

1979: Michigan State

1980: Louisville

1981: Indiana

1982: North Carolina

1983: North Carolina State

1984: Georgetown

1985: Villanova

1986: Louisville

1987: Indiana

1988: Kansas

1989: Michigan

1990: UNLV

1991: Duke

1992: Duke

1993: North Carolina

1994: Arkansas

1995: UCLA

1996: Kentucky

1997: Arizona

1998: Kentucky

1999: UConn

2000: Michigan State

2001: Duke

2002: Maryland

2003: Syracuse

2004: UConn

2005: North Carolina

2006: Florida

2007: Florida

2008: Kansas

2009: North Carolina

2010: Duke

2011: UConn

2012: Kentucky

2013: Louisville

2014: UConn

2015: Duke

2016: Villanova

2017: North Carolina

2018: Villanova

Philly City 6 NCAA History

Villanova:

38 appearances (63-34 record)

6 Final 4 appearances (1939, 1971, 1985, 2009, 2016, 2018)

4 National Championship appearances (1971, 1985, 2016, 2018)

3 National Championships (1985, 2016, 2018)

Last appearance: 2018 (Won it all)

Temple:

32 appearances (33-32 record)

2 Final 4 appearances (1956, 1958)

Last appearance: 2016 (Fell to Iowa 72-70 in overtime in First Round)

La Salle:

12 appearances (14-11 record)

2 National Championship appearances (1954, 1955)

1 National Championship (1955)

Last appearance: 2013 (Fell to Wichita State 72-58 in Sweet 16)

St. Joe’s:

21 appearances (19-25 record)

4 Elite 8 appearances (1961, 1963, 1981, 2004)

1 Final 4 appearance (1961)

Last appearance: 2016 (Fell to Oregon 69-64 in Second Round)

Penn:

24 appearances (13-26 record)

1 Final 4 appearance (1979)

Last appearance: 2018 (Fell to Kansas 76-70 in First Round)

Drexel:

4 appearances (1-4 record)

Last appearance: 1996 (Fell to Syracuse 69-58 in Second Round)

The post A Brief History of March Madness appeared first on Crossing Broad.

A Brief History of March Madness published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[dorothydelgadillo]

The Project That Made Me Love Coding

For those of us fairly new to tech, the idea of diving in can feel overwhelming. Sure coding sounds great, but would you even like it? And how are you supposed to tell what would get you excited about a career in tech, when it’s so immersed in every industry? Before you sign off on taking up tech skills totally, let’s reframe.

Instead of thinking about tech skills in terms of how painlessly you can pick up things like HTML, CSS, or Ruby on Rails, consider your interests. Plenty of members of our own staff got into coding through a variety of fan sites (among them: now defunct fan site for Gilmore Girls, Savage Garden fan site, and Bruce Springsteen).

So, are you a sports fan? A wannabe master chef? A dog show aficionado? Whatever your taste, tech can be a way in. Perhaps learning back end development will lead to a position working on apps for your favorite hockey team. Maybe coding will open the door to teaching for your favorite feminist tech company. My point is that these skills are tools you can pick up and the use to explore your interests in ways that can be financially and emotionally fulfilling.

To prove it, I tracked down four pros who discovered their love for tech through totally unrelated passion projects.

Must Love Neopets

Skylar Mowery is a graphic designer and front-end developer whose tech career has a whimsical beginning. Mowery received her first introduction to coding through the online game Neopets—which she still actively plays! She says the game actually set the foundation for her career because of how accessible it makes coding to users.

“Neopets fueled my college degree and professional career—I truly wouldn’t have gained any interest in coding without it. Throughout my 12 years in public education, none of my schools offered a single elective on any aspect of programming. If I hadn’t been exposed to the coding playground Neopets fostered, I wouldn’t have discovered my love for code—and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to turn it into my career,” says Mowery.

For Mowery, the community the game fostered amongst users provided her with a group of peers eager to swap code, talk shop, and generally provide support for her burgeoning interest.

“My friends and I always enjoyed customizing our user lookups and bouncing ideas off of each other. ‘Show me the code for that!’ was a regular phrase we’d excitedly shout at each other while modifying our virtual pet pages together. Neopets really served as an educational tool for our impressionable and eager minds, and looking back, I am so thankful that Neopets was able to play a large part in turning that blossoming curiosity I had as a child into a rewarding, lifelong career,” Mowery says.

Parody Pages

Symon Perriman, the president and founder of FanWide, a database that allows fans, venues, teams, and athletes to connect through their love of sports, discovered coding as an outlet for his sense of humor.

“When I was in middle school two decades ago, home Internet access was new and provided through services like AOL. While I was bored one summer I taught myself how to code in HTML by making parody webpages from existing Internet properties on a website that I called “Odd News.” I would simply go to a webpage that looked interesting, copy the source code, make humorous changes to the text and images, then repost it. This is an easy way to learn coding with practical examples, as you can see any webpage’s source code from the browser by pressing Ctrl+U,” Perriman says.

He’s right—playing around with code from other sites is a great way to familiarize yourself with the sequences and type of manipulation this skill requires. And hey, in the era of fake news, why not at least make yourself laugh?

Quidditch Through The Ages

For Asher Abramson, a partner at growth marketing company Bell Curve, running his collegiate Quidditch team was what flew him—unexpectedly—into tech.

“I always had to announce practices with a mass text, but I only wanted people to respond to me (otherwise people get spammed). GroupMe couldn’t do this (responses go to everyone). So I built a small app that let me send out one-to-many texts. It was a great way to solidify my knowledge of Rails and the Twilio API,” Abramson says.

Picking up tech skills through other passions projects seemed to work well for Abramson. He also learned CSS and HTML by building an app that parodied the lingo of football players, by writing as if they were in an AIM chat room together.

With no formal degree in computer sciences, Abramson is now working in tech full-time, and has been both a Software Engineer Manager and a CTO, proving that your nerdiest obsession might very well be the path to your most lucrative career. And you don’t even have to catch the golden snitch to win that game.

A Cacophony of Coding

John Randall’s a programmer who now serves as president of Zyvex Labs, started his love of programming with musical intentions.

“I decided that I wanted to get the computer (and IBM 360 Mainframe) to write a musical melody. I used the Fibonacci number series as an input in radians, and the Sine function to produce an output. I got about 90 notes out before the Fibonacci series produced a number that exceeded the double precision real number capabilities of the IBM 360. This was the first thing that I ever did for fun in programming anything. I liked the melody enough to add (many years later) accompaniment, and realized it with musical software,” says Randall.

As Randall found, seeing career meet personal interests was a powerful tool, and his love of music mixed with a few tech skills led to a full on career.

from Web Developers World https://skillcrush.com/2017/12/12/the-project-that-made-me-love-coding/

[djgblogger-blog]

AIM brought instant messaging to the masses, teaching skills for modern communication

http://bit.ly/2iRsL1N

The AOL Instant Messenger icon became so well known it was made into a plush toy. KW Reinsch, CC BY-NC

Toward the mid-1990s, America Online (by then going by its nickname, AOL) was the company through which most Americans accessed the internet. As many as half of the CD-ROMs produced at the time bore the near-ubiquitous AOL logo, offering early computer users the opportunity to surf the internet for a flat fee – at the time, US$19.99 for unlimited monthly access.

With nearly half of U.S.-based internet traffic flowing through AOL, the stage was set for a social evolution of sorts that shifted our collective relationship with technology and each other. AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, was launched in May 1997 as a way for AOL users to chat each other in real time, via text.

The service’s Dec. 15 shutdown was announced, notably, on a new real-time text communication channel, Twitter. That is just one testament to AIM’s lasting effects on how people use technology to connect today.

Interaction, in private

AIM provided a space for discreet real-time interaction, with a layer of privacy not necessarily afforded by the home phone. In 1997, mobile phones were still remarkably expensive (the Nokia 6160 cost about $900 and the Motorola StarTAC cost nearly $1,000) and most could not send text messages. A few savvy tech users used pager-speak to communicate “143” (“I love you”) to their partners; a few others learned how romantic an email can be. But technology-based interactions were limited; they didn’t allow for real-time connection and required access to a landline (if you were on the road, likely a payphone) and a computer terminal.

The login page from AIM.com, indicating the platform’s closure on Dec. 15, 2017 – complete with the author’s screen name, first established in 1997 when he was in high school. As of late November, none of his 150+ contacts was logged in. Nicholas Bowman/WVU, CC BY-ND

AIM’s debut let friends and family connect in real time through their personal computers. Today, people might debate the proper balance between screentime and facetime in a society in which screens are seemingly everywhere. Yet communication research shows that screentime can complement rather than take away from facetime. For instance, scholars such as sociologist danah boyd argue that these venues were (and are still) critical for teenagers, who used AIM as a private space to engage each other and explore their own identities. For boyd, communication technologies have provided teens with ways to socialize with each other away from structured adult supervision – something that today’s children find increasingly difficult.

Screen names and social interaction

While certainly not the first form of social interaction online, AIM established for many people one of the most critical elements of online identity: the screen name. In a text-only environment, screen names provide some of the only identifying cues for users and become the user’s embodied identity. Through these screen names, the AIM space felt like a social one, populated with real people and personalities rather than cold screens and text. In fact, many people still use their AIM screen name for other social media services, and many more became skilled at creating and maintaining more than one screen name.

Unlike face-to-face conversations, technologies such as AIM also allowed conversations to persist on-screen, both in the short term (during the chat) and in the long term (as an archived chat). This can affect how people see themselves, as well as their friends – as users revisit ongoing conversations, they can adapt their language (and even their self-presentation) accordingly.

Communication, sans cues

When it became popular, the text-only nature of AIM seemed anathema to social interaction – after all, how could people communicate emotions and feelings via text, stripped of the nonverbal cues (such as facial expressions and touch) that are so critical to human communication? People didn’t make the connection to the fact that it’s fairly common to have in-person interactions disrupted by nonverbal cues – such as when someone’s facial expressions don’t match the content of the conversation.

Early consensus about communication technology assumed that because the technologies didn’t have nonverbal communication cues, they would be less effective for communication. Tntdj, CC BY

Communication scholar Joseph Walther theorized that a reason communication technologies such as AIM were capable of fostering meaningful social interaction is that users are able to overcome the lack of nonverbals. In fact, he says, systems like AIM made it easier to form relationships online, because people might be less critical or judgmental of each other, knowing that some social cues were missing – and focus more on the words of the conversation itself.

AIM is also where many people first saw and used emojis (then still called emoticons) to convey emotional context around ambiguous texts – adding a smiley or a frown-face to clarify what’s meant by a message such as “waiting for you to arrive.”

The platform also proved fertile for the development of text-speak abbreviations to save keystrokes – the sorts of “LOL” and “BRB” notes now ubiquitous in smartphone texting. While some feared that teenagers’ use of techno-gibberish would damage their language development, today’s millennials are reading more than any other generation. This use of language suggests they may have more – not less – sophisticated communications skills.

AIM as a legacy technology

As AIM shuts down at the end of 2017, the program can fairly call itself a success. It provided the earliest widespread platform for real-time text-based chat, honing users’ skills for the eventual adoption of smartphone-based texting and microblogs like Twitter. Indeed, as AOL’s own statement about the shutdown says, “The way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed” – in large part because of AIM.

Of course, for technology buffs still looking toward bygone technologies, another cue-lean, relational technology introduced in 1997 is making a comeback: The Tamagotchi digital pocket pets were re-released in November. Otherwise, those looking to revisit AIM after its closure might consider the video game “Emily is Away” to play through an interactive scenario with their high school bestie.

Nicholas Bowman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

[venusqueenoffaeries]

STARTED FROM NORTH CASTLE NOW WE HERE

I’m already shaking. Wish me luck! :)

#gaming: venus plays aol

[venusqueenoffaeries]

Well, I cleared the palace! Helmethead wasn't actually that bad, and I had a much easier time than I did with Horsehead (though maybe we could chalk that up to Downthrust!).

The walkthrough I'm using guided me right along to the third palace, and I became a fairy on the way. I ALMOST got to the raft, but the Iron Knuckles got to me first. Onward further tonight!

Confidence is building slightly, just like with Skyward, and that isn't the only parallel I've noticed! Both games have rich, intense color palettes, and Link descends into all the dungeons is Skyward (save the Skyview Temple, which is nice), as he does in this game. Interesting.

#gaming: venus plays aol

[venusqueenoffaeries]

An update! I’ve spent the past couple of days grinding and dying (and slightly under the weather) a lot, and finally made it past Death Mountain! I got the hammer with the sliveriest sliver of life left on my last life, and then I wasn’t ready for that drop right next door. I actually jumped in my seat.

This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten! This feels like getting past the first temple in Skyward, which I also struggled doing. We’re breaking new ground! ... no pun intended

#gaming: venus plays aol

[venusqueenoffaeries]

Apparently, today is the 31st anniversary of the US release of AoL and you know what?

I’m gonna work on it.

I beat Skyward earlier this year, another one I swore I’d never get through. I’ve really struggled with AoL in the past, and it might take ages, but it’s time to get it done, and I won’t feel satisfied until I do.

First, some weekend chores, then I’mma fire up my Cubeycube and get to work (I’m using a walkthrough, though, and you can’t stop me).

#game: the adventure of link #gaming: venus plays aol

[venusqueenoffaeries]

Midoro Palace! Got here with only one life left, but made some really excellent progress. I wasted 20 minutes killing Bots to completely fill my magic and health (and levelled up in the process; I killed over 120 of those suckers), and got the glove shortly thereafter. Not necessarily grinding because my intention wasn’t to level, just heal up! 

Anyway, I made it as far as a few rooms shy of the boss, but I’d honestly rather attempt it with three whole lives. There was one part where I was trapped between two sets of Moa’s flames fighting an Iron Knuckle and it felt very cool and adventurey, an experience I didn’t think I’d have playing this game. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a picture, and having one would just knock some reality back into me. You’ll just have to imagine it being super intense, as I did. XD

I have a little more time than usual tonight; let’s see how far I can get.

#gaming: venus plays aol

[venusqueenoffaeries]

I've started! And I've already died! It's like Breath of the Wild, but worse!

#gaming: venus plays aol #((talking)) #((you can block that tag if you want... and you probably should))

[venusqueenoffaeries]

This palace was an incredible struggle (I cried!), and took the better part of two hours, but I finally, finally did it. I held my breath as I made the last jump to the locked door because, as you can see, I was on my last life! (Really, we’re not gonna ease up on Fairy or Life at all? C’mooooon.)

If there’s anything that modern -- and by modern, I mean “since this game” -- Zeldas have done that I appreciate? It’s whole-heart damage and restarting the room when you fall in a pit. Losing a whole life every time was so dispiriting. 

I had just one life left, so could I make it to Old Kasuto? No, I totally died on the bridge when a bony fish came outta nowhere and knocked me in the water again. But I did get there eventually, and I got the Thunder spell, and wow, it sure does cost half my magic. It had better just beat the Great Palace for me, I swear! Side note: I like how they made the buildings look dilapidated and run-down. A clever solution with limited pixels.

After Old Kasuto, I went back to the plains near Nabooru to level up for the last time, then headed back towards the Great Palace just to see how far I could get.

NOT FAR, LOL, not when a random battle had platforming. Yeesh. It’s gonna take a lot to slog through. I hear, at least, that dying at the Great Palace means you start from right outside it, so that.... that actually helps a lot. I’m done for tonight -- I’m completely serious when I say this playthrough had a deep emotional and physical toll on me. I’m exhausted -- and I need to rest up, so maybe I’ll get a chance to play over the long weekend.

#gaming: venus plays aol

[venusqueenoffaeries]

Whoa, I did a bunch tonight!

I cleared the fifth palace! Took me a couple of tries to get the timing on it right, but I decided to just go ham. Backing him into a corner worked pretty well.

The walkthrough described three gauntlets where Lizalfos would throw rocks at me, and welp, that happened. More running. Didn’t bother blocking, didn’t bother dodging since I was on my way to a town. And then I found Kasut-- why am I hurt? Nothing happened... wait. Oh, I’m probably in the wrong one.

I was totally in the wrong one. I grabbed some magic and two extra heart containers (the walkthrough didn’t include what should have been the second one, so I had to go back and find it on my own, whoops. Do you know how much that would have helped all this time?!), and wondered if there’s another use for the Spell spell.

But yeah, sixth palace! Didn’t think I’d get far, especially when I saw my old nemesis twice, but I made it to the boss, eyyyy. I didn’t last long, though, because he knocked me into the lava twice, but I got there and managed a hit, so I know I can do it. Would have been nice to have accomplished tonight, but I’ll settle for later this week.

I’m having serious trouble with Iron Knuckles, even still. I don’t know what it is. I died against the second one in the palace and he had one hit left. I used a Life spell, while he had one hit left. Jump-and-slash isn’t working and I really don’t know what else I can do, aside of taking a hit and running in that moment I can’t be harmed. It’s super discouraging, and is really the greatest thing keeping me from playing more (because I keep dying lol). Is Dark Link gonna be like an Iron Knuckle? Because if he’s easier, I will probably cry.

I’m not going to end this on a sad thought. I’m almost there, and this is gonna be done very soon, I can feel it!

#gaming: venus plays aol