The Kill Stealer: an Adventure Loosely Based on the Quantified Self Movement

The Kill Stealer: an Adventure Loosely Based on the Quantified Self Movement PDF Author: Dean Paul Dominguez
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1304810100
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
On his birthday of all days, 13 year old Divi Rogallo gains unspeakable powers after slaying a gargantuan, dozen-headed Terrabird already bloodied and weakened by the army that failed to kill it, making him a person of interest for Clip Sharinggen who is seeking the final member of his mercenary group. The world in which they live is governed by video game mechanics that affect their lives. These mechanics are quantified attributes of a person or nonhuman animal such as life (HP), strength, defense, and speed. These mechanics play a serious role in the world, determining either success or failure for the characters. For this reason, Divi and his mercenary friends are constantly theorizing about these mechanics to ensure their own success. The group ventures through sublime natural landscapes and extreme climates, often to get a shot at their beloved bounty. The mechanics of this story are loosely based on RPG systems in video games and most recently: The Quantified Self Movement.

The Kill Stealer: an Adventure Loosely Based on the Quantified Self Movement

The Kill Stealer: an Adventure Loosely Based on the Quantified Self Movement PDF Author: Dean Paul Dominguez
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1304810100
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Get Book Here

Book Description
On his birthday of all days, 13 year old Divi Rogallo gains unspeakable powers after slaying a gargantuan, dozen-headed Terrabird already bloodied and weakened by the army that failed to kill it, making him a person of interest for Clip Sharinggen who is seeking the final member of his mercenary group. The world in which they live is governed by video game mechanics that affect their lives. These mechanics are quantified attributes of a person or nonhuman animal such as life (HP), strength, defense, and speed. These mechanics play a serious role in the world, determining either success or failure for the characters. For this reason, Divi and his mercenary friends are constantly theorizing about these mechanics to ensure their own success. The group ventures through sublime natural landscapes and extreme climates, often to get a shot at their beloved bounty. The mechanics of this story are loosely based on RPG systems in video games and most recently: The Quantified Self Movement.

The Art of Being Human

The Art of Being Human PDF Author: Michael Wesch
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781724963673
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Anthropology is the study of all humans in all times in all places. But it is so much more than that. "Anthropology requires strength, valor, and courage," Nancy Scheper-Hughes noted. "Pierre Bourdieu called anthropology a combat sport, an extreme sport as well as a tough and rigorous discipline. ... It teaches students not to be afraid of getting one's hands dirty, to get down in the dirt, and to commit yourself, body and mind. Susan Sontag called anthropology a "heroic" profession." What is the payoff for this heroic journey? You will find ideas that can carry you across rivers of doubt and over mountains of fear to find the the light and life of places forgotten. Real anthropology cannot be contained in a book. You have to go out and feel the world's jagged edges, wipe its dust from your brow, and at times, leave your blood in its soil. In this unique book, Dr. Michael Wesch shares many of his own adventures of being an anthropologist and what the science of human beings can tell us about the art of being human. This special first draft edition is a loose framework for more and more complete future chapters and writings. It serves as a companion to anth101.com, a free and open resource for instructors of cultural anthropology. This 2018 text is a revision of the "first draft edition" from 2017 and includes 7 new chapters.

American Stutter: 2019-2021

American Stutter: 2019-2021 PDF Author: STEVE. ERICKSON
Publisher: Zerogram Press
ISBN: 9781953409102
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
As Jonathan Lethem put, Steve Erickson's journal of the last 18 months of the Trump Presidency "sears the page." Erickson, one of our finest novelists, has long been an astute political observer, and American Stutter, part political declaration, part humorous account of more personal matters, offers a particularly moving reminder of the democratic ideals that we are currently struggling to preserve. Written with wit, eloquence, and a controlled fury as event unfold, Erickson has left us with an essential record of our recent history, a book to be read with our collective breath held.* Steve Erickson is the author of ten novels and two books about American culture. For 12 years he was founding editor of the national literary journal Black Clock. Currently he is the film/television critic for Los Angeles magazine and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters award, and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement award.

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Idoms and Phrasal Verbs

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Idoms and Phrasal Verbs PDF Author: Richard A. Spears
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071486852
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 1100

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Book Description
Learn the language of Nebraska . . .and 49 other states With more entries than any other reference of its kind,McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs shows you how American English is spoken today. You will find commonly used phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, proverbial expressions, and clichés. The dictionary contains more than 24,000 entries, each defined and followed by one or two example sentences. It also includes a Phrase-Finder Index with more than 60,000 entries.

Games

Games PDF Author: C. Thi Nguyen
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190052082
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Games are a unique art form. They do not just tell stories, nor are they simply conceptual art. They are the art form that works in the medium of agency. Game designers tell us who to be in games and what to care about; they designate the player's in-game abilities and motivations. In other words, designers create alternate agencies, and players submerge themselves in those agencies. Games let us explore alternate forms of agency. The fact that we play games demonstrates something remarkable about the nature of our own agency: we are capable of incredible fluidity with our own motivations and rationality. This volume presents a new theory of games which insists on games' unique value in human life. C. Thi Nguyen argues that games are an integral part of how we become mature, free people. Bridging aesthetics and practical reasoning, he gives an account of the special motivational structure involved in playing games. We can pursue goals, not for their own value, but for the sake of the struggle. Playing games involves a motivational inversion from normal life, and the fact that we can engage in this motivational inversion lets us use games to experience forms of agency we might never have developed on our own. Games, then, are a special medium for communication. They are the technology that allows us to write down and transmit forms of agency. Thus, the body of games forms a "library of agency" which we can use to help develop our freedom and autonomy. Nguyen also presents a new theory of the aesthetics of games. Games sculpt our practical activities, allowing us to experience the beauty of our own actions and reasoning. They are unlike traditional artworks in that they are designed to sculpt activities - and to promote their players' aesthetic appreciation of their own activity.

The Lifecycle of Software Objects

The Lifecycle of Software Objects PDF Author: Ted Chiang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781596063174
Category : Artificial intelligence
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
What's the best way to create artificial intelligence? In 1950, Alan Turing wrote, "Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English. This process could follow the normal teaching of a child. Things would be pointed out and named, etc. Again I do not know what the right answer is, but I think both approaches should be tried." The first approach has been tried many times in both science fiction and reality. In this new novella, at over 30,000 words, his longest work to date, Ted Chiang offers a detailed imagining of how the second approach might work within the contemporary landscape of startup companies, massively-multiplayer online gaming, and open-source software. It's a story of two people and the artificial intelligences they helped create, following them for more than a decade as they deal with the upgrades and obsolescence that are inevitable in the world of software. At the same time, it's an examination of the difference between processing power and intelligence, and of what it means to have a real relationship with an artificial entity.

No Logo

No Logo PDF Author: Naomi Klein
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312203436
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
"What corporations fear most are consumers who ask questions. Naomi Klein offers us the arguments with which to take on the superbrands." Billy Bragg from the bookjacket.

A Patriot's History of the United States

A Patriot's History of the United States PDF Author: Larry Schweikart
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101217782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1373

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Book Description
For the past three decades, many history professors have allowed their biases to distort the way America’s past is taught. These intellectuals have searched for instances of racism, sexism, and bigotry in our history while downplaying the greatness of America’s patriots and the achievements of “dead white men.” As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington; more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II than about D-Day or Iwo Jima; more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin. A Patriot’s History of the United States corrects those doctrinaire biases. In this groundbreaking book, America’s discovery, founding, and development are reexamined with an appreciation for the elements of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that make this nation uniquely successful. This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America’s true and proud history.

Sammlung

Sammlung PDF Author: George Herbert Mead
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780226516684
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description


Luxury Arts of the Renaissance

Luxury Arts of the Renaissance PDF Author: Marina Belozerskaya
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 0892367857
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.