If I'm honest, the whole "love in every stitch" saying for fiber artists does not apply to me, like. I'm trying to get this fucking hook into stubborn yarn and I'll be stabbing it like it owed me money. Is that love because I hope not 😭💀

God of War (PS4) Review: Kratos’ Postal Grief Beard Versus Norse Mythology

Once upon a time, a man was born by the name of Cory Barlog and thus a coin was flipped. Would he become a videogame developer or would he take up guarding the Mines of Moria by pulling wizards into a precipice? Those really are the only two options with a name like Barlog. Anyway, apparently the Mines of Moria were a bit of a commute, so the world gained a talented Auteur developer with a unique vision for a game series about going postal in ancient Greece. Fast-foward a number of years specifically calculated to make you feel old and ancient Greece is a distant memory. Norse mythology is where all the cool kids hang out nowadays, and that’s where we’re going in today’s review.

As you might have guessed, I’ve just finished playing God of War (PS4), which is fun to say because it rhymes. It’s a very good game that should be a very bad game. When considering modern media artefacts, I’m often prompted to ask the question ‘what went so wrong?’, but this may be the first time I’ve had to ask the question ‘what went so right?’.

Let me explain: God of War 4 (I don’t care that they don’t put the number on the box art, that’s what it fucking is) makes a single, monumentally stupid creative decision that should ruin the entire enterprise, but doesn’t. And that creative decision was- wait for it- a stab at maturity.

The last time we saw Kratos- the world’s angriest mythical being- he was finishing his battle with the Greek gods in God of War 3. There was a moment in that game which, to me, typified what was so great about the series. If I recall the sequence of events correctly, you kill your way through an ocean of expendable goons and critters who are just trying to defend their home on Mount Olympus, dripping with blood and screaming furiously, then wander into the bedroom of one of ancient Greece’s sauciest goddesses and play a sex minigame that you win by fucking her so well that her handmaids orgasm too. Then you toddle outside again and, head cleared, solve an incredibly complex and cerebral puzzle involving non-Euclidean geometry and perspective manipulation that takes bloody ages. That, in a nutshell, was the core identity of the original God of War: a gleefully unrestrained and immature approach to sex and violence coupled with a grouchy willingness to make unsuspecting players feel like fucking idiots for no reason whatsoever. It was awesome. In contrast, God of War 4 picks up many, many years later with Kratos hiding out in Midgard of the Norse mythos and, for once, he hasn’t got a nark on and he’s not trying to stick his cock in someone with cartoonishly huge knockers. He’s just sad because his missus has passed away, leaving him and their young, impressionable son alone in a big, scary world full of trolls and ginger psychopaths. ‘Sad’ isn’t a completely new emotion for Kratos, but, up until this point, he was usually sad in a way that resulted in five hundred people getting their spines broken in a very colourful manner. Now he just wants to cremate the remains of the woman he loved and carry her ashes to the tallest peak in the nine realms so he can scatter her in accordance with her final wishes. And that’s what he does, with son- Atreus- in tow. It’s a twenty-plus hour game in which the objective is very simply to honour someone’s preferred funeral rites- nothing more, nothing less. It’s very modest by Kratos usual standards. Remember that his stated goal in the previous game was to punch freakin’ Zeus so hard that his face would go all concave and then repeatedly stamp on his corpse.

We never actually find out much about what Kratos was up to between games or how he met his wife. However, he’s a bit thiccer than in previous instalments and seems to have lost the use of the ‘jump’ button outside of context-sensitive environments. On that evidence, I choose to believe he’s been running a small but successful family restaurant called ‘Kratos’ Potatoes’ and enjoying it all a bit much. And why not? He beat up Zeus- if he just wants to create and sample homely yet exotic Greco-Norse fusion cuisine while growing a ridiculous straggly dad-beard, I say let him crack on. Actually, is it a ‘dad beard’ or is it a ‘grief beard’? I think they send them to videogame characters in the post whenever a loved one dies so they can signal to the world how sad they are through the medium of angsty facial hair. But where was? Oh yeah: cracking on with it.

Y’see this is where the plot comes in: the Norse gods won’t let Kratos crack on. They’re determined to make him bow before Odin- especially Baldur, who is way too invested in having a fight with Kratos for reasons that won’t become apparent until very late in the game. They just keep turning up and trying to break Kratos and his increasingly like-him-but-not-as-good-at-it son Atreus. This time around, our heroes commit heinous acts of violence to defend themselves, not enact revenge, as they travel, inexorably, to the top of a lonely mountain through landscapes of stunning natural beauty and many, many hostile creatures.

Of course, Kratos taking his son on a hiking holiday with added troll-murder and the occasional slap-fight with Norse mythology’s biggest killjoys doesn’t sound as interesting as the original games. After all, those were basically a production of Kill Bill in which the part of Bill was played by a guy with the power to summon lightning bolts and access to a seemingly unstoppable army of monsters and demigods. The ‘fun factor’ even seems to have taken another downgrade, in that Kratos no longer operates with the entertainingly demented passion of the insane: he has been tempered by time and love and managed to turn himself into a paragon of serious self control. So why is God of War 4 so bloody good? Partly, I suspect, the answer lies in the constantly evolving relationship between Kratos and Atreus, which gives the story an unbelievable amount of heart and always manages to feel very organic. Kratos never learned how to be a parent, and we essentially watch him do it in real time, forming a bond with his son that seems impossible at the start of the game and inevitable by the end. Partly, the games greatness lies in the characters you meet along the way, who range from bickering dwarves to talking, decapitated heads who prattle on like laid-back tour-guides. Partly, it’s in the beautiful, epic landscapes that make the journey across the Realms to the highest peak feel epic and significant, even while it is small and personal.

But a videogame is nothing without gameplay, and it is here that God of War 4 really shines. I loved the original God of War trilogy (especially the third instalment), but I rarely felt like I was playing as, y’know, a god of war. Kratos might not be an uncontrollable whirlwind of fury any more, but he feels truly powerful for the first time in the ongoing series. In fights, every punch feels like it could crack stone; every axe-throw like it could rend the sky; every chain-whip like it could legitimately start a forest-fire. Out of combat, Kratos moves around the environment with the stolid grace of a man who knows his movements are inevitable; irresistible; an imposition on the environment that can’t be denied. You climb and complete elaborate, complex traversals knowing that the satisfaction you feel isn’t just the satisfaction of finding the correct route or solving an obstacle, but the satisfaction of a being forcing his way through a landscape that resists him at every turn but cannot stop him. The puzzles- of which there are many- strike the perfect balance between conceptual trickiness and ease of execution to remind you that Kratos is smart as well as determined; that his mind is as indomitable as his body. Then there are the little touches involving heaving huge stone pillars and similar unnecessarily over-the-top efforts. In short, the gameplay is interwoven with who Kratos is- with what he is in way that seems completely unprecedented. Even the RPG elements feel  appropriate: they reflect the protagonist’s growing confidence in a skillet he hasn’t used in a long, long time.

Do I miss the uniquely juvenile, over the top identity of the old games? Absolutely: I’m a great fan of gratuitous gore and scantily clad women with big fuck-off swords. Usually, I find the desire for maturity in games to be a silly, pretentious trend that foolishly eschews anything obviously ‘fun’ for no reason other than courting the respect of people whose respect isn’t worth having. But I don’t think that’s what’s going on here- at least, not entirely. The developers of the God of War games are clearly artisans and craftsmen of extreme talent: their attention to detail is superb and their ability to weave a good tale from a simple premise is actually a little daunting for someone who considers himself a bloody good story-teller. It’s worth remembering that the de facto head of the studio, Barlog, became a father himself before commencing work on this game about a father learning to bond with his son. It feels personal and meant because it is. Other games might reach for superficially mature themes like family and redemption for altogether cynical reasons. God of War 4 does it because such thoughts are clearly much on the developer’s mind. I asked already ‘Do I miss the identity of the old games?’ and the answer is still yes. But that question deserves a follow-up: am I willing to embrace the identity of this new, quieter God of War anyway? And yes, yes I am.

But if we could have a few more women with enormous knockers and Kratos going properly batshit just once or twice in the next sequel, that would also be welcome. I mean, let’s try to strike a balance here, people, for pity’s sake.

ENCOUNTER OF GENERATIONS IN THE HEART OF THE GALAXY: ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN POPULATION OF STARS NEAR THE CENTRE OF THE MILKY WAY ** Synopsis: The centre of our home galaxy is one of the regions richest in stars in the known universe. Within this region, scientists have now identified a previously unknown, ancient stellar population with surprising properties. An international team of astronomers, with significant participation from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, has identified the origin of these stars to be a globular cluster within our galaxy, which moved to the centre of the Milky Way long ago. ** On clear and dark nights it is still visible -- the milky white, diffuse band of the Milky Way across the night sky. Since the invention of the telescope, scientists have known that this band consists of countless stars. Today, we understand that our home galaxy is mainly a large flat disc of hundreds of billions of stars, surrounded by dust and gas, and it is rotating around its centre. The Nuclear Star Cluster Is One of the Regions Richest in Stars in the Known Universe About 25,000 light-years away from Earth, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, lies the centre of the Milky Way. This so-called galactic centre was only discovered in the last century and has been the subject of astronomical research ever since. In the innermost centre of the Milky Way rests an extremely massive black hole. It is surrounded by one of the densest agglomerations of stars in the known universe -- a so-called “nuclear star cluster” (NSC). Astronomers today assume that there are around 20 million stars in the innermost 26 light-years of the galaxy. However, it is not visible at all without special equipment, because there are numerous dust clouds between us and the galactic centre that obscure the visible light. It therefore appears darker than other parts of the Milky Way. Only observations at much shorter or longer wavelengths such as infrared light reveal the structure of this region of the sky, which is actually much more massive than other regions of the galaxy. The Milky Way is by no means unique, and astronomers now believe that most spiral galaxies could contain both a central black hole and a nuclear star cluster. However, the nuclear star cluster within the Milky Way is the only place where astronomers can resolve individual stars because of its relatively close distance, making it an ideal laboratory for studying the properties of these huge stellar clusters. A Study of the Nuclear Star Cluster as a Basis for Further Insights This is why astronomers led by Anja Feldmeier-Krause from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and Nadine Neumayer from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg used special instruments at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to observe this unique region. In a recently published study, they analysed about 700 stars and not only examined their brightness and colour, but were also able to draw conclusions about their motions and speeds, but also about their chemical structure. These observations form the basis for a number of important discoveries about this so far unexplored part of the galaxy. The chemical composition of a star is an important indicator in astronomy, as it tells us something about its age. Metallicity -- the abundance of heavier elements than hydrogen and helium -- is an important quantity. This is because all other elements can only form in those very stars. Therefore, if a star contains a large number of heavy elements such as oxygen, carbon or iron, this means that it must have formed from the remains of a precursor star and is therefore relatively young. Conversely, a low metallicity indicates a very old star, which formed in the early days of the universe, when there were hardly any heavy elements present in the cosmos. The metallicity is therefore a direct indication of the age of the respective star and therefore of great importance for astronomers. A Hitherto Unknown Population of Stars Hides in the Very Heart of the Galaxy In analysing these observations, an international team of researchers led by Tuan Do from the University of California, Los Angeles, and including Nadine Neumayer and Manuel Arca Sedda, both working in the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 881 at the Centre for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg, has now discovered a previously unknown population of stars within the nuclear star cluster. While the majority of stars in the central region of the Milky Way have higher metallicities than the Sun, the scientists identified a group of stars that contained significantly less heavy elements. In addition, these stars are characterised by a common, higher velocity than that of the surrounding stars, and their direction of motion may be slightly tilted in relation to the galactic plane. The properties of these stars, which account for about 7% of all stars in the nuclear star cluster, are surprisingly similar. It is therefore obvious that these stars have a common origin. But how did they reach the innermost part of the galaxy? An answer to this question may lie in the formation of a nuclear star cluster: according to a commonly accepted theory, they could at least partly have formed by collisions of several clusters, i.e., spatially denser collections of stars of similar ages, within a galaxy. Held together by the mutual gravitational pull, they move jointly through a bath of surrounding field stars. Stellar clusters exist in all known galaxies. Due to the phenomenon of dynamic friction, a gravitational effect of the surrounding matter, the clusters lose speed on their orbits and thus drift towards the galactic centre. At this point, they merge with other clusters and form the much larger nuclear star clusters. It is possible that the newly discovered population is a remnant of such an older group of stars. Sophisticated Simulations Help to Clarify the History of the Nuclear Star Cluster To test this theory, the scientists used powerful computer simulations. They calculated a virtual system consisting of many individual objects, mapping the innermost 300 light-years of the Milky Way. It includes the nuclear star cluster and the central black hole, as well as a massive star cluster with about 1 million solar masses, which at the beginning of the simulation was about 160 light-years from the centre of the galaxy. “Among other things, our goal was to find out how long ago such a stellar cluster could have entered the region around the galactic centre and where it originally came from,” explains Arca Sedda. When a stellar cluster falls towards the galactic centre, the gravitational interactions with its environment cause stars to be ejected from the cluster. Once it reaches the innermost part of the galaxy, it dissolves within a relatively short timescale and its stars become largely indistinguishable from the rest of the stars in its new environment. Since the members of the newly discovered stellar population still have some very characteristic similarities despite their dispersal, astronomers suspect a common origin of these stars outside the nuclear star cluster. The simulations now suggest that they have entered the central area within the recent 3 to a maximum of 5 billion years. The Origin of the Newly Discovered Stars But where does the stellar cluster originally come from? There are several possibilities. The scientists have investigated the two most probable ones in their publication: firstly, the stars in a cluster may have come from regions further out in the Milky Way itself, from where they migrated to the centre of the galaxy. Another possibility is also the entry of a dwarf galaxy from around the Milky Way. The remaining galactic core or a large star cluster of this dwarf galaxy could have made it to the galactic centre. The scientists investigated both scenarios in their simulation. “Our results indicate that an infall of a rather nearby stellar cluster from the Milky Way itself is more likely,” explains Neumayer. It was probably originally formed about 10,000 to 16,000 light-years away. To support this hypothesis, the astronomers also compared the observed properties of the newly discovered stellar population with the ones of old globular clusters in the Milky Way and those that entered our Milky Way together with dwarf galaxies. They found that the properties of the newly discovered central stars matched those of globular clusters in the Milky Way much better. The calculated distances of the preceding stellar clusters also correspond well with the distances of those that have been known for a while already. “Although an extragalactic origin of the stars cannot be completely ruled out, it is rather unlikely,” Arca Sedda concludes. “This is an additional sign that the central nuclear star cluster in the galaxy is at least partly the result of the impact of smaller clusters.” TOP IMAGE....Central region of the Milky Way in infrared light. With this image, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has photographed the inner 890 x 640 light years of the Milky Way. The nuclear star cluster is located in a small area near the central massive black hole. The extended structures in the image are mostly clouds of gas and dust from the spiral arms of the Milky Way, which lie in the line of sight between Earth and the Galactic Centre. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Solovy (Spitzer Science Center/Caltech) LOWER IMAGE....Visualisation of a simulation showing the infall of a globular star cluster into the nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way. The colour scale shows the distribution of star densities along the lines of sight within the Galactic Centre. The globular cluster can be recognised as an isolated point that increasingly merges with the nuclear star cluster over the course of 400 million years and dissolves in the process. Despite the resulting mixing of the two star populations, certain properties of the stars of the globular cluster remain. Image: Manuel Arca Sedda et al. (ARI/ZAH)/MPIA

Grail had never been as proud as she was when the Council had named her captain of her own ship, making her the youngest captain in the history of the fleet with a mere ten moons under her belt. The pride had mingled with the shock in her core, but was quickly replaced with sharp joy. She didn't mind that it was a simple transport ship, utterly dwarfed by the warships next to it. It was hers, and she would finally be able to contribute to the war that had begun shortly after her emergence from the nesting hive.

No one could quite remember how the war had begun, though her people blamed the humans and the coarse words their species was known for finally causing the fragile peace treaty to snap. Humans had been at odds with countless species since their introduction to the intergalactic community, with the Hundrel people as one of the few exceptions, though that peace clearly didn't last, the thousands of dead speaking to that point.

As the captain of a tiny transport ship, Grail didn't waste time on forming opinions on who started what and who was worse in the casualties. The war had raged for this long, and it showed no signs of stopping. She had a job to do and she would do it.

Her crew had just finished loading the newest shipment human prisoners into the ship, and she was grateful that this lot seemed to be docile, their silence heavy but welcome as her hands navigated the controls. They would be taken to the next galaxy, where they would be kept until they were traded or executed depending on their crimes.

The engine humming warmly, she hands the controls off to her crew, retreating to her quarters to begin her record of the transport. As she passes the containment unit, a few of her eyes catch the gaze of an older human, his weathered face hidden under a dirty beard of matted grey hair. He grins with yellow teeth as he notices her stare, and she flinches, though her teachings remind her that many humans meant no harm by the action. She hurries away, ignoring the concerned glance of her first officer.

The humans had always been more bark than bite. This run would be no different.

---

Kidd's grin is sharp as the alien captain retreats, her many legs moving as quickly as she could without running. Smiling was handy in times like these, friendly to allies and a warning to foes since most other species in the universe hadn't gotten the hang of it. Not much else he could do to the bastards while he was stuck here.

He looks around the hull, taking in the haggard faces of the men and women around him. His crew were tough, but they had been hit with enough force that they couldn't run, and surrounded with enough enemy ships that fighting was a suicide mission. He didn't doubt that his people would die should he ask it, but there were better ways to die than being obliterated the moment they fired a single shot. No, they would live, and if he had his way they would fight another day.

His bones groan as he eases himself down the wall, joints stiff with disuse from the containment cells they had been before. His first mate rushes to help, ignoring his attempts to wave her off in favour of supporting his descent. Hela had always been a worrier, tough as she was. He nods in thanks, silently cursing his age that always seemed to catch him at the worst moments. Here at least he is level with the bottom of the windows, where a gap in the sheet metal gives him a view to the outside.

He had always loved the stars, his mam laughing at the irony of him being one of the few babes still born on Earth, though he jumped on the first ship he saw when he was old enough. He could remember staring up at the sky, trying to count every one he saw, a habit he had yet to break, though now his counting served a much different purpose.

Now he notes each star that passes by the hull, waiting until his count reaches over a hundred, enough to know they were out of range of the base they had left. They had reached no mans land, with no space station or planet close enough to be directly communicated with without at least a several minute delay.

He waits a for a beat, then another, before he starts to sing.

The first words are more air than sound, pushed through chapped lips into the hull, yet they pierce the silence almost deafeningly. His crew go tense, ready as always for a fight but Hela shakes her head, glancing at the guards that stand at the door. Still, it doesn't stop the grins that come to each face as familiar words ring out.

The king and his men

Stole the queen from her bed

And bound her to her bones

The seas be ours

And by the powers

Where we will, we'll roam

With each line his voice grows stronger, the words ringing off the metal walls. The guards shift, clearly put off by this sudden change from the silence before. Their unease worsens as Hela continues, her voice far lovelier than his but no less charged with the anger that fills their chests.

Yo, ho, all together

Hoist the colours high

Heave ho, thieves and beggars

Never shall we die

The chorus repeats, this time with more people joining in, and the man can't help but laugh as one guard rushes out, no doubt to let the alien captain know of their actions.

As the song swells with each new verse, he sits back to wait for what came next, his relaxed pose leaving no indication of the adrenaline starting to pump through his veins.

---

"I don't see why you felt the need to inform me the prisoners have begun singing, Grit. Prisoners do many strange things, singing is almost normal."

Grail pinched the bridge of her nose, a trait she seemed to share with the humans. Her log had been quick to finish, and she had planned to rest now that the difficult part of the voyage was over, only for her crew member to interrupt her first slumber in weeks. His fingers twist together as he averts his gaze, face flushing green but not backing down.

"Captain, it's not so much that they are singing, but what they're singing. I've never heard a song such as this one, yet each human in the hull knows the words by heart. The style doesn't fit any human music I've been exposed to either."

She sighs, but follows him out of her quarters. Her room had the thickest walls in the ship, and it is only once she is in the hallway to the main hull that she first hears the voices. They are indeed singing, the sound rough with untrained voices yet ringing with emotions she can't quite understand. Metallic clangs join the voices, in time with the words and making the song more ominous in turn.

Reaching the hull, she sees they're stomping in time, heavy boots loud against the floors of the ship. Still their voices ring louder, and she can't stop the shiver that runs through her as she is met with a blend of grins and glares from the group, her arrival doing nothing to change the swell of music greeting her.

Some men have died

And some are alive

And others sail on the sea

-With the keys to the cage

And the Devil to pay

We lay to Fiddler's Green

Once more the chorus strikes, now each human seeming to try to deafen them with the volume. One figure catches her eyes, the man from before who had grinned at her.

He sits at the edge of the group, almost lounging against the wall. She would have missed him completely were it not for the hunger in his gaze, as well as the way the group seemed to gravitate around him, both protecting and energized by his presence. He stares at her, and it is enough to push her back to the control room, muttering to Grit to ignore the obvious attempt to put them on edge (as she ignores the fact that it's working).

She scans the controls and screens in an attempt to distract herself from the raging swell behind her. Her attention is captured by a tiny blip on their security screen, barely visible but enough to send a frisson of fear down her spine. She curses softly as her fingers race across the keyboard, searching for the source of the blip.

"Captain?"

Her first mate, Ilso looks concerned, moreso when Grail lets out a soft screech of expletives, a bad habit picked up from some of the nastier human prisoners she had hauled. She turns, stifling the urge to run her hands through her hair.

"Our communication shields were breached, someone is listening to everything we're saying on this ship." Facing the screens again, she tries to push the offending force out of the system but it holds strong.

Ilso chuckles, the sound high and nervous.

"Well I don't know what they hope to hear over this racket. Though I suppose they might this tune..."

His words strike at them both, eyes widening as they turn towards the hull, where the group is somehow still getting louder. She gestures towards the room frantically.

"Get them to shut up, do whatever you have to, I'll try and shut it down here."

He nods and rushes out, gesturing to the guards to follow him into the room. She can't hear what he's yelling over the song but she ignores it for the moment, turning back to the monitors to try and rebuild their defenses. Her fingers can't seem to move fast enough, each wall falling to whatever is attacking them, her codes becoming sloppy and rushed as she desperately tries to keep them out.

Her blood freezes as the navigation system shows a ship appearing next to them, the whir of lightspeed slowing down enough to send her panic rushing through her. Another appears on the other side. The ships are small, but any relief over that is quickly dashed as more keep appearing. They're fully surrounded by the time she breaks out of her panic enough to bring up visuals.

The first thing she notices is how each ship seems almost shoddy in some way, repaired with scraps and peeling paint that seem at odds with the powerful guns they're equipped with. Each is different, the only similarity being the symbol each has painted somewhere, a grinning skull on a black background that rings faintly of a lesson on human history she had mostly forgotten, times of violence and wars on oceans more vast than any on Hundrel.

She's shaken from such memories as the final ship appears, a fleet leader as big as any Hundrel warship, clearly human but also bearing the skull of the group. A few figures hang out of the airlocks, clutching ropes as their skin glitters with the portable containment fields that her people were known for. The large hanger doors lining the sides of the fleet leader slowly open, and she realizes that her ship has been caught in a tractor beam, the fleet leader slowly pulling them in.

She tries the controls, but it's futile, and so she rushes to warn the others. The singing still hasn't stopped, and as she enters the hull she sees that Ilso has been overtaken by some of the humans, the other guards held off by the blade braced against Ilso's throat by the woman closest to the grinning man. Ilso's eyes are panicked as they meet hers, and she is caught in the haze of fear that had been buzzing at the edges of her mind since the start of the fiasco.

"Captain?" Grit hides his panic well, but she can still catch the edge to his voice. "What's happening?!"

"We're caught. Hostiles, don't know their identities other than possibly human. They've been listening since we left the base's range."

She has to shout over the humans, and her words only make them cheer louder. Now the man with the yellow teeth joins in, his voice somehow ringing through all the others.

The bell has been raised from its watery grave

Do you hear its sepulchral tone?

A call to all, pay heed to the squall

And turn your sail toward home!

They're nearly thrown by the sudden stop, her ship screeching against the floor of what must be the hangar. She can barely hear the rumble of the hangar doors closing, the song now seeming to echo louder indoors. Through the window of the control room, she catches a glimpse of the heavy metal doors crashing closed, the sight cementing the shivers she can no longer suppress.

Her eyes swing to the doors of her own ship as the squeal of tearing metal rings out, far too close for comfort. For a transport ship, the presence of prisoners meant they were reinforced specifically for cases of attempted prison breaks, though those were in regard to attacks in the vacuum of space.

Here, they stood no chance to the continuous assault, and with a wicked screech they crumple and fall away. The instant they do, she realizes that the sound of the group didn't increase because of their own voices, but because outside the ship there seemed to be hundreds more joining in, creating an unending wave of sound that rang through the cavernous room.

Yo, ho, haul together

Hoist the colours high

Heave ho, thieves and beggars

Never shall we die

The humans rush out of the ship, several stopping to grab her and her crew to haul them along as they finish the song with the beings outside, their cheers leaving the room ringing with noise even as they taper off. She can indeed see hundreds filling the rooms, swarming around ships and piles of supplies as they rush to greet the escaped prisoners.

It's mostly humans, but she's shocked to see members of all species from countless planets and factions intermingling, most dirty and thin but still smiling wide. She gasps as she catches sight of some Huldren people, seeming perfectly at ease around the humans they spoke with, exchanging jokes and stories with none of the issues the Council complained of.

She tries to take in as much as she can, but quickly she is passed off to some other humans, who smile widely as she and her crew are dragged out of the hanger. Fear sticks to her skin as they're dumped in cells that are completely dark when the doors close. Huddling closely to her crew, they wait for what will come, the remnants of the music still ringing in their ears.

---

"Kidd! You old bastard, I thought you were dead!"

Kidd turns at the familiar voice, leaning heavily on Hela as he presses a hand to the cut on his leg the alien had gotten before Hela had stepped in. He grins at the figure running towards him, finally relaxing at the sight of his old friend.

"Edward, you should know by now I'm fucking hard to kill."

The other man rolls his eyes, either at his words or the use of his first name, but doesn't hesitate to pull the man into a warm hug, clapping his back firmly before pulling away.

"You should just be glad we were listening for your message. Not terribly subtle, but then our folk rarely are." His gaze finds the wound on Will's leg, eyes turning dark as he takes in the sluggish bleeding. "I don't suppose you'll be wanting them that got you that cut to be dealt with?"

He shakes his head, leaning back on Hela as she wraps her arm around him.

"Nah, this was a desperate act of a desperate man, when they found out what we were up to. They were just doing their job the best they could. Same deal as always, some time in the hole then if they want they can join one of our crews or be dropped off at the nearest planet. They seem decent enough, unlike some people I could think of."

Edward nods, willing as always to listen to the older man. Kidd could remember when he first picked up the scrawny stowaway, teaching him how to not get killed as best he could, and Edward still took his advice more often than not, even as his crew grew beyond anything Kidd ever managed.

The three walk down the hall, Edward leading them to the med ward where a few of the gentler folk took care of any injuries, which kept their hands pretty full in this profession. Kidd looks around, admiring the size of the ship.

"So where'd you pick this beauty up? Nearly gave me a heart attack to be found in it til I heard the voices." Edward laughs, looking proud as he glances out of the window, where the rest of the ships can be seen.

"Stole her right from under the noses of the Admiral off the edge of the Milky Way. Close enough to home to make me uneasy but so worth the effort. Plus it's always fun to piss off the army, human or otherwise, makes life exciting."

"Can't argue with that, even if I'm not as spry as I used to be." There's objections from the other two at his words, but he waves them off as best he can. "Oh hush, it's no insult to have managed to live this long. I'm more insulted by the pitiful excuse of a beard you have."

Hela laughs at Edward's spluttering, hands coming up as though to protect the thin black fuzz covering his lower face.

"I only just started this, you son of a bitch, someday it'll be even longer than yours."

Kidd agrees with a vague noise, distracted by their arrival to the med bay, as he is immediately rushed by several of the crew tasked with first aid. His leg is wrapped tight and he's then ushered to a room in the guest quarters near Edward's rooms. Hela orders him to rest and he is left alone, finally able to fully relax for the first time in weeks.

He sits near the windows, looking out at the expanse of ships and space that seem to stretch endlessly. He can still hear the cheering of the crowds beneath him, the celebrations sure to last until the morrow, when he would be better fit to join in.

He settles in, hoping to plan for the day ahead, but his exhaustion hits hard after holding off for so long and he drifts into a restless sleep, mind filled with visions of violent seas that churn beneath him, and voices ringing in time to the crashing waves.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me

So, I've been sick in bed and went back through all your one-shots on here (why did I never do that before?!) Anyways... You're amazing and I love them all, but my favorite one was the AU where Niles was CC's carriage driver who got lost and they eventually run off together. It's so adorable and I was wondering if you could write a next part of it? Their wedding and /or them living on the run from her family maybe? I just want to know what happens next! Ha ha Thanks, Hannah!

Hey there, my friend! I’m sorry to hear you’ve been unwell - I hope you’re feeling better!

@missbabcocks1 @holomoriarty

Niles had been correct in his assumptions that the journeywould be long – they had left at first light and it had been very near dusk bythe time they’d arrived at the village where his cousin served as priest. Butto Chastity-Claire, there had never been a finer journey, nor a better timespent. Her fiancé, though but a servant by birth and profession, was truly themost remarkable she’d ever met. His wit matched her own, his kindness wasunparalleled, and his charm could win the heart of even the most cynicalcreature.

It had certainly won hers. She could not be completely firmin how many of her friends and family had married for love, but from the waymany of them presented themselves at dinners and balls, it was not themajority. She was amongst the fortunate few, and she would not trade her placefor all the wealthy suitors her mother would consider a more than adequatealternative.

Niles’ cousin was an amicable man, and though he had beensurprised to see them, he’d delighted in the opportunity to perform a wedding(even at extremely short notice!). He’d even gathered some of the localvillagers to serve as witnesses and as congregation, and some of the villagersin turn had provided Chastity-Claire with a fine bouquet of wildflowers, andNiles with a fresh suit. They had insisted that no man should look less than hisbest on his wedding day, and after many thanks were exchanged between allparties, they had begun the ceremony.

A faint blush had settled across Chastity-Claire’s cheeksfrom the onset, and she feared being the colour of the setting sun by the endof it. But from the gaze that Niles bestowed upon her (even from the merecorner of his eye), she felt as though she could be as red as an apple and hewould consider her no less than a goddess.

The mere thought sent a pleasant shiver through her verycore, and she beamed back at her love, before turning her eyes back to thepriest.

“If there is any person present who knows of a reason whythis man and this woman may not be married, you are to declare it now.”

There could be no reason. No person present knew-

“I demand that this wedding be stopped!” cried a commandingvoice, snatching the remains of Chastity-Claire’s thought from her head.

The replacement dread for her previous satisfaction feltcold, and with a soft gasp she spun to witness the objector’s entrance.

It was her mother, Lady Barbara-Beatrice Babcock, who hadspoken, and whose heeled shoes were marching with tempestuous purpose towardsher daughter through the murmuring congregation. Her father, Lord StewartBabcock, and her brother Noel both soon followed, appearing much more reluctant.The instigator of this interruption was clear, and though Chastity-Clairelowered her bouquet in one hand, she used the other to take Niles’.

She would not allow him to feel intimidated, which was oftenthe case when her mother approached servants. And though she knew her love tobe both sharp and stalwart in his own honour’s defence, her encouragement wouldnot be unwelcome.

“Chastity-Claire,” it was not a greeting that her mothergave. “Step away from that man this instant!”

Chastity-Claire would do no such thing, “Mother-”

“Silence, child,” Lady Babcock came to an imperious haltbefore them. “We did not leave the Goodhues’ home in search of you, only to beinformed by the landlord of an inn some miles away from your intendeddestination, that you had left in this direction with your fiancé! I will notallow it to continue! You are a highborn lady, you shall present yourself assuch, and you shall marry as such!”

Chastity-Claire had never heard such a silence follow anorder her mother gave. But it was to be expected – she was the recipient, andshe was not going to obey.

It was only broken by a clearing of the throat designed toattract attention.

“Perhaps,” Niles’ cousin leaned discreetly into the colloquy.“It might be more prudent if this discussion were to be conducted privately?”

Lady Babcock turned on the priest with the amount of respectowed to a man of his position, but also with an equal amount of condescensionthat was typical of her interactions with…well, any working man or woman shecame across!

“Good sir, I shall be the one to decide where my affairs arediscussed.”

“This is not your affair, Mother,” Chastity-Claire finallyfound herself able to speak. “This affair is between Niles and myself.”

Lady Babcock cast a disdainful eye over Niles, “It certainlyalmost was…!”

Chastity-Claire set her jaw hard to prevent it from gaping, butshe knew her eyes were alight with righteous anger.

“I am a woman of age, Mother; I may decide which man Imarry!”

“Not when your choice brings shame upon our family!” hermother retorted, her chest slowly swelling in indignation. “Unless, of course,you are choosing to renounce the Babcock name?”

That irked Chastity-Claire.

She slowly tilted her head to one side, “Is that not anobjective of marrying, Mother? To give up one’s maiden name and take up that ofone’s husband?”

Her mother’s eyes flashed, and her hand gestured, “This manis a servant! He has no name!”

Chastity-Claire felt Niles let go of her hand. In a momentof unprecedented fear, she thought that perhaps he had decided that her motherwas correct, and he was intending to step away so that she might marry a manher family deemed worthier of her. Though she would never do such a thing, whenshe now knew her love to be him.

But Niles did not step away. He merely stepped forward toaddress Lady Babcock.

“If I may beg your pardon, my lady, us of the lower ordersdo also possess surnames,” he said, calm and collected in his manner. “Though Icannot fault you for believing otherwise, Your Ladyship having never stooped tospeak to any man below the rank of Duke.”

More than a whisper of a gasp, intermingled with variousnoises of amusement, went about the congregation, and Lady Babcock was deeplyaffronted.

“How dare you address me in such a fashion?!” she turnedfrantically to her husband. “Stewart! Say something!”

Chastity-Claire’s father appeared composed. However, therewas a glint of mirth dancing in his eyes.

“Do I have permission, Barbara?” he asked, cocking his headin a similar fashion to his daughter. “I only possess the rank of Lord…”

The hilarity spread further amongst the congregation,including to Noel, who barked a laugh.

And though Chastity-Claire knew her mother would have deniedpulling such an unseemly facial expression, Lady Babcock gaped.

“You cannot possibly be in agreement with Chastity-Claire’sdecision?!”

“I am, in actual fact,” Lord Babcock wandered to theirdaughter’s side, placing a gentle hand on her upper back. “Our girl has becomea woman, Barbara. She has fallen in love. And I understand completely heraversion to attending any party or ball in which Elizabeth Goodhue is present.”

Lady Babcock spun on her heel, eyes searching for her son.

“Noel,” her voice was verging on desperate. “Your father hastaken leave of his senses! Speak to him at once!”

Chastity-Claire’s brother was concealing a full look ofamusement; she had always been able to tell when he was intending on mischief andhis current countenance matched each scenario.

“Unfortunately, Mother, that will not be possible,” Noelannounced. “I also choose to uphold Chastity-Claire’s decision, and I also hateElizabeth Goodhue.”

Lady Babcock’s eyes widened, her form growing weak as shelooked as though she might faint, “You…hate…?!”

Chastity-Claire restrained herself from laughing at hermother’s behaviour. The Goodhue family were the wealthiest amongst all thelocal families. Her mother most likely still had visions of her betrothal toJames Goodhue, Elizabeth’s son. Not that such a venture would come to fruitionanymore.

Noel smiled, “Vehemently.”

“With untold fervour,” Lord Babcock agreed. He then becameapparently thoughtful, though it was clear it was feigned. “Although, “untold”is a changeable factor. A factor which might easily be changed, say, out loudand at the next function we host, to which the Goodhues are invited…?”

Silence hung in the air before his wife answered.

“You would never dare to do such a thing.”

“For my girl and her happiness, I would live the very day Idid over, tenfold,” Lord Babcock replied. “A servant for a son-in-law ispleasing compared to the embarrassment of the scandal I would cause.”

The silence returned as Lady Babcock cast her eye over thewedding party, the flush of potential humiliation staining her cheeks. It wasobvious to all that she had been defeated on the matter.

“Well. Then I fear you leave me no choice but to accept thisappalling state of affairs. Though I want it noted that I do so under protest,”she huffed her declaration. “If I were not under duress, then neither bride norbridegroom would be welcome in my home!”

She followed her statement by storming away, no doubt toreturn to the carriage from whence the Babcock family had made their journey tothe village.

“Fortunately, they are welcome in mine and we share thathome together,” her husband called after her vanishing frame, before turninghis attention to the soon-to-be-married couple. “Though the blushing bride andher groom might find it more acceptable to have their own, might they not?”

There was only one possible implication that he could bemaking in his statement.

Chastity-Claire felt her breath catch in her chest, whichshe clutched, “Father…are you suggesting that you will…?”

Her father smiled, “The family along the way from us haverelocated to the city. They are poised to sell me their house, as well as allthe surrounding land. It shall be my wedding gift to the pair of you.”

A house. A home of their own, which Chastity-Claire couldnot imagine being long empty. Herself and Niles would soon move in, and then…well,it was inevitable that children would follow! Her mother had made sure she was very well educated in what to expect, after all, and the thought of being withNiles (while also slightly intimidating) was…well, more than stimulating to her.

She beamed, “Father, I…words cannot express how grateful Iam!”

He took her free hand, matching her countenance in return, “Thinknothing of it, my Kitten.”

Niles stepped towards them both, resting his own hand overhis heart, “I feel that I must express my own thanks as well, sir. I cannotimagine how many numerous fathers would have attempted to pay me to keep awayfrom their daughter, or perhaps given me a sound thrashing.”

Lord Babcock laughed, “I would not insult any feelings hereby offering money, sir. And you will receive no thrashings from me, for as longas you keep my Chastity-Claire happy,”

“You have my word when I say that I intend to spend my lifedoing exactly that,” Niles bowed.

Chastity-Claire watched as her father considered her futurehusband, before stepping away from her and offering Niles a hand to shake.

“Then you have my blessing,” Lord Babcock said. “It iswell-deserved; not many men can claim to have stood up to my wife, and evenfewer can say that Chastity-Claire would willingly forgo all she has known andloved for them.”

Niles took the proffered hand and turned a look of adorationon his future wife, “I already count myself amongst the most fortunate of menfor that very reason, sir.”

“As well you should,” Lord Babcock grinned, grasping Niles’hand tightly before releasing it. “And please, think of me as the mostunfortunate of men – I cannot stay for my own daughter’s wedding, and must insteadface the wrath of my wife the moment I set foot off these consecrated grounds.”

“Are you certain you cannot stay, Father?” Chastity-Claire asked,disappointed at the thought of her father or brother missing the ceremony. “Thevillage inn has offered us a reception after the ceremony…”

Her father took and held her upper arms, “I would lovenothing more, my sweet, but your mother will be waiting in the carriage toleave.”

Chastity-Claire turned to her brother, “Noel?”

The man returned an unfortunate look.

“Alas, I must assist Father in appeasing Mother,” he said. “Ourpresence would only spoil the ambience.”

If it were truly possible to physically deflate, then Chastity-Clairewould have achieved it in that moment. Though she knew they were correct – her motherwould never agree to sitting through a celebration for an occasion of which shedid not approve. Her father and brother would have to mollify her, somewherefurther away than the ceremony.

Niles must have noticed her displeasure, as he came closerto her and placed his own hand upon her back.

“Then we must all have dinner together when we return,” he stated. “I may have no living relations, but I will not allow my wife tomiss celebrating with hers.”

Chastity-Claire felt the warmth of affection coming over herheart, and she leaned carefully into his half-embrace.

“You truly are a gentleman. Niles, was it?” Lord Babcockasked, slapping his future son-in-law heartily on the upper arm. “We shallarrange a meal for the day after you come home, so that you may rest from yourjourney.”

The man then took one last look at his daughter, approached,and kissed her on the cheek.

“Farewell for now, my Kitten. I could not be prouder of you,or of your decision.”

Chastity-Claire returned the kiss, “Thank you, Father.”

Noel moved closer to do the same, “Farwell, little sister.Enjoy your elopement as though it had never been interrupted!”

The couple certainly intended to. And after Lord Babcock andthe future Lord Babcock left with more wholehearted farewells, the ceremony wasresumed.

The reception at the inn might not have been full of spectacle,but it had the warmth and true jubilation Chastity-Claire often felt ballslacked. Beer and wine flowed freely, joyous laughter and music floated throughthe air, and there was a wondrous amount of enthusiastic dancing.

The bride and bridegroom tired of it long before the guestsdid – they craved some time to themselves, and were thoroughly applauded asthey excused themselves for the night.

Chastity-Claire held her husband’s arm as they walked alongthe corridor, to the room the innkeeper had insisted on giving them for thenight, with the rent already paid.

“I had once imagined my wedding would be some grand affair;flowers and ribbons, a great feast laid out, all friends and relations upstandingto make a toast,” she sighed, relaxing in the quiet and the comfort of Nilesnext to her.

Niles also sighed, though it conveyed a very differentemotion, “I am sorry that we could not have had such a ceremony.”

Chastity-Claire stopped him outside the room door, windingher arms about his neck.

“There is no reason to be,” she told him, resting herforehead against his. “I preferred the one we just had to any fantasy, my darlinghusband.”

Niles began to smirk at that, “The night is not finishedyet, my dearest wife.”

Chastity-Claire matched his expression, thinking of how onlythe night before, they had been forced by decorum into separate rooms. And nowthey would share not only a room, but a bed.

She brushed her lips close to his, “Oh, yes…the matter of myhonour…”

Niles, understanding what she wanted, caught her lips in a shortyet passionate kiss. It felt like a foretaste of what was to come.

“Might I be allowed to escort you inside?” he near whispered.

“You may,” Chastity-Claire murmured in reply.

Without so much as a muttered word, Niles lifted her intohis arms, causing Chastity-Claire to let out a soft giggle.

Her husband smiled lovingly at her, “I might not have beenable to give you the ceremony you deserve, but I can certainly bring flourishwhere possible.”

Chastity-Claire stroked his cheek with one finger, “I shallbe holding you to that promise…”

Even from the sly grin he gave to her words, she knew hewould not disappoint. And as Niles carried her over the threshold into their room,using his foot to close the door behind them both, the celebratory music andcheerful laughter carried on below.

Giant Bubbles on Red Giant Star’s Surface

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo. 20 December 2017

The surface of the red giant star π1 Gruis from PIONIER on the VLT

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have for the first time directly observed granulation patterns on the surface of a star outside the Solar System — the ageing red giant π1 Gruis. This remarkable new image from the PIONIER instrument reveals the convective cells that make up the surface of this huge star, which has 350 times the diameter of the Sun. Each cell covers more than a quarter of the star’s diameter and measures about 120 million kilometres across. These new results are being published this week in the journal Nature. Located 530 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Grus (The Crane), π1 Gruis is a cool red giant. It has about the same mass as our Sun, but is 350 times larger and several thousand times as bright [1]. Our Sun will swell to become a similar red giant star in about five billion years.

Widefield image of the sky around π1 Gruis

An international team of astronomers led by Claudia Paladini (ESO) used the PIONIER instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope to observe π1 Gruis in greater detail than ever before. They found that the surface of this red giant has just a few convective cells, or granules, that are each about 120 million kilometres across — about a quarter of the star’s diameter [2]. Just one of these granules would extend from the Sun to beyond Venus. The surfaces  — known as photospheres —  of many giant stars are obscured by dust, which hinders observations. However, in the case of π1 Gruis, although dust is present far from the star, it does not have a significant effect on the new infrared observations [3]. When π1 Gruis ran out of hydrogen to burn long ago, this ancient star ceased the first stage of its nuclear fusion programme. It shrank as it ran out of energy, causing it to heat up to over 100 million degrees. These extreme temperatures fueled the star’s next phase as it began to fuse helium into heavier atoms such as carbon and oxygen. This intensely hot core then expelled the star’s outer layers, causing it to balloon to hundreds of times larger than its original size. The star we see today is a variable red giant. Until now, the surface of one of these stars has never before been imaged in detail.

The red giant star π1 Gruis in the constellation of Grus

By comparison, the Sun’s photosphere contains about two million convective cells, with typical diameters of just 1500 kilometres. The vast size differences in the convective cells of these two stars can be explained in part by their varying surface gravities. π1 Gruis is just 1.5 times the mass of the Sun but much larger, resulting in a much lower surface gravity and just a few, extremely large, granules. While stars more massive than eight solar masses end their lives in dramatic supernovae explosions, less massive stars like this one gradually expel their outer layers, resulting in beautiful planetary nebulae. Previous studies of π1 Gruis found a shell of material 0.9 light-years away from the central star, thought to have been ejected around 20 000 years ago. This relatively short period in a star's life lasts just a few tens of thousands of years – compared to the overall lifetime of several billion – and these observations reveal a new method for probing this fleeting red giant phase.

Zooming in on the red giant star π1 Gruis

Notes: [1] π1 Gruis is named following the Bayer designation system. In 1603 the German astronomer Johann Bayer classified 1564 stars, naming them by a Greek letter followed by the name of their parent constellation. Generally, stars were assigned Greek letters in rough order of how bright they appeared from Earth, with the brightest designated Alpha (α). The brightest star of the Grus constellation is therefore Alpha Gruis. π1 Gruis is one of an attractive pair of stars of contrasting colours that appear close together in the sky, the other one naturally being named π2 Gruis. They are bright enough to be well seen in a pair of binoculars. Thomas Brisbane realised in the 1830s that π1 Gruis was itself also a much closer binary star system. Annie Jump Cannon, credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme, was the first to report the unusual spectrum of π1 Gruis in 1895. [2] Granules are patterns of convection currents in the plasma of a star. As plasma heats up at the centre of the star it expands and rises to the surface, then cools at the outer edges, becoming darker and more dense, and descends back to the centre. This process continues for billions of years and plays a major role in many astrophysical processes including energy transport, pulsation, stellar wind and dust clouds on brown dwarfs. [3] π1 Gruis is one of the brightest members of the rare S class of stars that was first defined by the American astronomer Paul W. Merrill to group together stars with similarly unusual spectra. π1 Gruis, R Andromedae and R Cygni became prototypes of this type. Their unusual spectra is now known to be the result of the “s-process” or “slow neutron capture process” — responsible for the creation of half the elements heavier than iron. More information: This research was presented in a paper “Large granulation cells on the surface of the giant star π1 Gruis”, by C. Paladini et al., published in the journal Nature on 21 December 2017. The team is composed of C. Paladini (Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium; ESO, Santiago, Chile), F. Baron (Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), A. Jorissen (Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium), J.-B. Le Bouquin (Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, Grenoble, France), B. Freytag (Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden), S. Van Eck (Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium), M. Wittkowski (ESO, Garching, Germany), J. Hron (University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria), A. Chiavassa (Laboratoire Lagrange, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice, France), J.-P. Berger (Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, Grenoble, France), C. Siopis (Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium), A. Mayer (University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria), G. Sadowski (Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium), K. Kravchenko (Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium), S. Shetye (Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium), F. Kerschbaum (University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria), J. Kluska (University of Exeter, Exeter, UK) and S. Ramstedt (Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and by Australia as a strategic partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”. Links: ESOcast 144 Light: Giant Bubbles on Red Giant Star’s Surface: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1741a/ Research paper in Nature: https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1741/eso1741a.pdf Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/ Further information about the VLTI: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/technology/interferometry/ SIMBAD entry for π1 Gruis: http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=pi1+gruis&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id PIONIER instrument: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/pionier/ ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT): http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/ Images, Text, Credits: ESO/Richard Hook/Claudia Paladini/Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université libre de Bruxelles/Alain Jorissen/Georgia State University/Fabien Baron/ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin/Video: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)/Music: Astral Electronic. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

The History of the Game

Golf's Early History

What do you think makes the game of golf unique? It involves striking a ball with a club, cross country, into a hole. No other early club and ball game had these three essential elements of golf.

Many countries have claimed the origins of golf. The Chinese and the Dutch have both claimed to have created the game of golf. The Dutch had a courtyard club and ball game and another game played on ice where the ball was propelled towards a post. Meanwhile, centuries ago, the Chinese played a game using equipment remarkably similar to golf clubs, apparently to hit a ball into a hole in courtyards. However, it is only in Scotland that the three essential elements of golf were met.

The game of golf can be traced to Scotland. In 1457, parliament banned the game so that more time would be spent on archery practice, which was necessary for Scotland’s defence at the time. Following the 1501 repeal of the ban, the game prospered. The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers was the world’s first golf club, organized in 1744.

The Playing Field

The first golf courses were on links, which was a term commonly used for public land close to the sea. This land would be used by locals to graze their sheep, play games and other activities. Golfer wore a red coat to warn others that a golf ball might be coming their way.

The caddie was an essential part of early golf, not only carrying the player’s clubs under his arm, but also marking out the course and spotting the flight of the ball. Caddies survived the introduction of the first golf bags in the 1880s, but the popular use of pull carts and motorized golf cars has all but brought an end to this colourful aspect of the game.

In fact, the traditional 18-hole rounds we have today can be credited to the old course at St. Andrews. Their original layout was 22 holes – eleven holes out and the same eleven back – but eventually they decided that two of the holes were too short. They combined two holes, which made the course 9 out and 9 back and the standard 18 holes of golf was born.

Golf is one of the only games which is played on an ever varying playing field. The rules are set to address the vastly different circumstances this can bring about, and establish equality between players. The original 13 rules have been vastly expanded. In addition, there is a Decision on the Rules of Golf book that explains and interprets the Rules under actual playing conditions.

Golfers are equal under the Rules, but are not necessarily equal in skill levels. Golf’s unique system of handicapping has allowed the sport to be enjoyed by men and women of all ages and abilities and has helped the sport grow to its present day popularity. One hundred years ago, golfers were measured against the best player in the club, who became known as the scratch player. But the scratch player in one club may not possess the same skill level as the scratch player at a more difficult golf course. To level the playing field and get a true rating of each player’s ability, a system of handicapping was developed that took into account the relative difficulty of every course.

Expansion of the Game

The Scots carried golf to other lands, including Ireland, England, India, France, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, Canada and the United States.

Interest in golf remained limited until the 1890s, when the game experienced its first boom throughout the world. Industrial advances brought about great changes to everyday life. The result was reduced working hours, greater access to public and private transportation and a general increase in leisure time. Most importantly, women were being freed from the social restrictions of the Victorian era and started playing golf, making it a family game.

The game grew rapidly from six clubs in 1889 to fifty clubs across the country by 1902. This growth led to national competitions and the formation for governing bodies including the Royal Canadian Golf Association (now Golf Canada) in 1895, Canadian Professional Golfer’s Association (now PGA of Canada) in 1911, and the Canadian Ladies’ Golf Association (now amalgamated with Golf Canada) in 1913.

Golf Equipment

Can you imagine a golf ball costing as much as a suit of clothes? Improvements in the manufacture of golf balls contributed, as much as anything, to the growth of the game everywhere. Until the 1850s, the golf ball was hand-made, expensive and extremely fragile. Far from round, the feathery was made by stitching sections of leather into a sphere, then stuffing it with the equivalent of a top hat full of feathers. An experienced ball-maker could produce only four balls a day.

A new material called gutta percha was introduced in the mid-nineteenth century for making balls. Balls became less expensive and therefore more available. The first gutty balls had a smooth surface, but they were found to fly further and straighter when they became cuffed. This led to the discovery that dimples improve the flight of a golf ball. Gutties were soon “hand-hammered” with patterns and molded to a variety of designs, leading to the modern style dimple we see on today’s golf ball.

Introduced in 1901, the rubber core ball surpassed the gutty in durability, reliability and accuracy. The fore-runner of the ball we use today, it was made by winding elastic thread tightly around a rubber core, then encasing it all in gutta percha. Since the 1920s, many materials have been introduced as golf ball cores, including glass, water and cork, each with varying results. The modern ball is usually a two or three-piece construction which allows for greater compression against the club head. The one piece is still used on many driving ranges.

As with early golf balls, golf clubs were individually hand crafted by Scottish club-makers. As the game became more popular this was no longer practical, so the club head was shortened to aid mass production. Early iron clubs, made by blacksmiths, were used only for digging the ball out of heavy rough and deep ruts. The introduction of the sturdy gutty ball increased the use of iron clubs. Cleekmakers began making drop-forged iron heads which could be mass produced.

To tee the ball, early golfers scooped up a handful or earth or sand into a mound and placed the ball on top. Later, they used a sand tee mold. The first commercial wooden tee was introduced in 1921, and, soon after, golfers were overwhelmed with advertisements for tees of all shapes and sizes. Today, the standard wooden tee is a staple of the game.

Professionals

The club professional has been a central figure of golf since the mid-19th century when people the likes of Tom Morris became a fixture of St. Andrew’s the home of golf. Teacher, equipment manufacturer/supplier, tournament organizer, caddy master the roles have changes throughout the century, but the club professional maintains their place as many players primary contact with the game.

The first golf courses in Canada, as everywhere, were made mostly by nature. Our first golf professionals improved them, but not until a year prior to the First World War did Canada recruit one of the new breed of Golf Course Architects to design the first of many courses that have withstood the test of time.

CHAMPIONSHIPS

With the development of golf professionals, came a need to test these leaders of the game for skill. The Canadian Open Championship was initiated for just this purpose in 1904 and is the third oldest National Open championship in the world.

The introduction of a Canadian Tour (now PGA TOUR Canada) as a testing ground for young golfers has expanded the number of Canadians competing around the world, as well as the quality of professional golf in Canada.

Golf served as one of the first sports that encouraged the participation of women. The resulting popularity brought about the first Ladies’ open Championship, held in Britain, in 1893. Canada followed suit holding the first Canadian Ladies’ Amateur Championship in 1901.

Amateur Golf

The history of competitive golf in Canada truly begins with the 1st Canadian Amateur in 1895. Since then, golfers have sought to demonstrate their prowess. Improvements in transportation and the changing demands of work and life, have enhanced competitive opportunities.

A new world emerged at the close of World War I, the widespread introduction of the radio and other communications, the better transportation in services and a new commitment to the enjoyment of life was reflected in the world of golf. Amateur golf was at its peak of public interest, especially the Canadian Amateur. Professional golf was just beginning to draw attention and more significant purses. Canadians competed successfully internationally and were the subject of nation pride.

When I was in grade ten I made a speech in front of my entire English class about how I passionately believed Cosima De Vito deserved to proceed further in the Australian Idol competition over the likes of Shannon Noll and Paulini. No one else cared in the same hyper way I did at the time and I have no idea why I was allowed to spontaneously take to the front of the class and start babbling away in an absolute fever state, spreading my intense perspective on such a meaningless topic, none the less, it actually happened. This week, the same heightened state of needing to voice my raging river of thoughts has reared its head in regards to something in a similar vein - a television program I watched. Except this time it’s more so an inner conflict I’m having with myself and my understanding of grander themes in story telling and art in general and at it’s core, my care for two characters whom I believe could have made it, if the writer had wanted them to. So to start things off with, here are my overall conclusions on the matter. One, we can’t control everything, least of all someone else’s story they wrote (write your own), two, not everything is about you Tess and finally, it’s just a tv show. So now we’ve got that out of the way, read on as I take to the front of the class again for no good reason but to voice my own concern, because if I don’t, I’ll implode.

Yesterday on the Scorpio full moon I binge watched the television series ‘Normal People’ and this morning I am attempting to sweep up the remaining pieces of myself from the floor. I am well and truly effected by this story.

Scorpio energy is all sex, death, sensuality and mystery and I was confronted with all of it yesterday. I have come out of the series metaphorically post coital, shattered, confused and reeling.

It’s a romance, a tale of two students who have a secret affair during their last year of high school. Eventually they go their seperate ways but their paths continue in the same direction as they attend the same university and the story evolves as does their relationship with its many ups and downs, ins and outs and on and off agains.

The characters are written impeccably, the chemistry is outrageous, the rhythm and intention in their dialogue is spell casting and the dynamic of these two unlikely individuals evolving in various settings together and witnessing the moments they create by being in relationship is utterly beautiful and dismantling. Hear me when I say, I loved the series and am beyond impressed by the layered genius of this love story.

However.

I am equally crushed and brought to my knees as I sit with the notion of portrayed romance and what it is exactly and why romance is exactly. I am struggling with desiring its spell and intoxication but no longer willing to pay for insatiability and destruction.

Normal People is archetypically in the same realm as Romeo and Juliet and every time this narrative of young romance is told I experience this human hunger being affirmed, signalling to me what is engrained in our psyche as the thing we should all be seeking. It almost evokes hysteria for heat that can never nourish but we crave at any cost, what ever age we find ourselves. Too far to say it’s like emotional or psychic porn?

I feel we are endlessly sold this narrative in all story telling art forms and I’m seeing it now clearer than ever as being cut from the same cloth as the god sized hole within.

We are conditioned by fairytales, we are familiar with this, the fables where girls learn their path is to be pretty, youthful, pleasing, Daddy’s little girl, needing to be saved, fulfilment is in a wedding and the buzz of loves first kiss etc. And boys learn their path is to remain a more often then not, spoiled, entitled prince, independent, made to conquer, and defeat and claim a maiden, contain her through marriage etc. Then the vision we are left with is the symbol of romance being two youths experiencing intimacy for the first time and committed to this ideal within the symbol of a wedding.

But of course we never see what happens after the beginning, what follows the season of spring in our love life. It’s not reflected in art or told in stories with anywhere near the thirst of spring. There is no rite of passage signalling us towards romance that doesn’t destroy us in the end. There are no famous characters or archetypes for the summer, autumn or winter in relationships and the alchemy of love that takes place over time or show cases the importance that it in fact can and does evolve.

Even in Normal People, which is no fairy tail but in the first few episodes it sets us up with the euphoria of their new romance as well as our high hopes that they will go the distance because they clearly have a divine connection that most of us are seeking and time and time again both leading characters say, “it’s not like this with other people”, meaning this is special, it’s worth saving, it’s once in a life time, it’s not a regular thing to find this type of love.

But, as time goes on, we see other seasons and sides of their connection and as stories go, to keep our interest and engagement, they cannot make it work. I found the abandonment of their connection overwhelm me with grief, because, why can’t it work? And why can’t we show it working? I understand we need conflict, drama, tension, entertainment, a force pushing the narrative forward, but, what is this perpetual wheel of love stories doing for the psyche of each generation? Is it even possible for us to have characters and examples that have the heat and depth but can last through the chaos of life?

Side note, a few things: I personally believe it’s a persons rite of passage to walk into the fire of romance time and time again as we forge ourselves into our full potential and highest truth but I don’t believe in staying in toxic relationships or remaining in maiden/prince repressing our maturing. Yes, I say explore, experiment and expand, this is life, we get it once as these characters, love as much and as often as possible, but, seek out your wisdom and medicine in love over continuously drinking poison. Also, there is no one way or right way to love. Love is not a ladder we climb, nor is life and basically do what ever the hell you like. But -

I just feel called to express the alarm system currently going off through out my entire being that is alerting me to the programming and conditioning that occurs every time we digest love stories that either showcase a cookie cutter fairy tale fantasy pedestaling one season of our love life OR a soul connection that inevitably ends up on the floor in shards or sees two people shrinking away in defeat, it’s depressing!

Then we could also get into the fact we sweep the love stories and relationship wisdom of people at middle age and in their elder years under the rug, we make it near impossible for their stories to be shared in wide spread art forms so we lose potent medicine that could be honoured and shared and reveal an enlightening and entirely different perspective on love that might help guide us to a healthier but equally engaging romantic life.

But I won’t, for now I will just say I am coming to terms with my own relationship to romance as an energy and the way I see it being portrayed and that it bothers me and all I see is the shadow aspect of romantic love being reflected back to me. That, or cheesy, patriarchal cliches. 

I’m mindful of what fire I am fuelling when I allow myself to be engaged in the spring element of romance portrayed in entertainment and whether it’s benefiting me or quite possibly imprisoning me to a narrative that I then crave like a drug or become a slave to because it’s the only story I’ve come to trust because I continuously, willingly witness it.

Is it even possible to write and show case alternative love stories that are passionate as well as thrilling and enticing but they nourish and evolve both parties? Or is romance inextricably unfulfilling and we either have to cut it short or watch it dissolve?  

I feel there is a seed deep within me, it’s been there all this time and has been whispering to me my entire life for a new narrative to be shared and celebrated across all art forms and yesterday it seemed to call out louder than ever before.

“I am not here to be a two dimensional illustration of something that shouldn’t be defined and I am not here to be a shadow casted over your life or something that you need to chase and cage. I am infinite potential that you can dance with, co-create with, accept my invitation or colour your existence with. I am here for you, I can heal you if you allow me and I am not just something that happens to you or not. I’m everywhere.”

I guess I’m just upset that it appears we are forced to either perish by the hands of romance and passion or we are stunted by it or we lose sight of our truth from staring at it too long like the sun. Romance and passionate connection is raw, radiant, blue flamed and electric. Indeed it is power and perhaps it’s the power of it that has always sent human beings into a frenzy, so we try and tame it like we do a wild horse or watch on at the demise of beloved characters.

I just need to believe there’s more characters and archetypes for our love stories that don’t need us to burn alive or simply go stale or end before the journey even beings and instead we see that we are the instrument for romance to flow through freely and there can be fulfilling tales of heat and sexuality that find harmony and completion. Because in real life we are made for it to happen and it can and does happen for us but it’s rarely reflected back to us on the screen or the page. 

So in closing, I believe the lovers in Normal People could have made it work, no, I say they should have made it work and yet the writer denied us of this, why? 

Because one, we can’t control everything least of all someone else’s story they wrote (write your own), two, not everything is about you Tess and finally, it’s just a tv show.

20th Century Women! the BEST!

SO GOOD! 1000 stars! ----- more serious tone 2 follow -----

On January 20th, 2017, the day of Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration (first time typing that wow!), and the eve of the emphatically responsive Women’s March on Washington, production house A24 quietly made a politically charged announcement. The distributor behind recent indie films including Spring Breakers, Moonlight, The Lobster, and most of the other great films of the last five years, declared that all of the opening weekend earnings of its newest film, 20th Century Women, would be donated directly to Planned Parenthood. At a time when bigotry and misogyny have found new footing in popular discourse, this gesture of compassion to women across America came as a striking reminder of the pragmatic potential of artists for aiding social justice. It is also emblematic of writer-director Mike Mills’ uncompromisingly feminist, remarkably empathetic mission in 20th Century Women.

Mills’ most recent venture, 2012’s Beginners, starred Christopher Plummer as a fictionalized version of his father. It was well-received largely due to the powerful tenderness and warmth Mills imbued on his characters, but suffered occasionally from some overly sentimental indie-romance quirks (see: “Why are you at a party if you’re sad?”). This year’s first classic film, 20th Century Women, takes a similar quasi-autobiographical tact, however it forgoes conspicuous quirk in favour of genuine feeling and laughter. Annette Bening stars as Dorothea, representing Mills’ single mother, who, along with Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and Julie (Elle Fanning), attempts to raise her fifteen year old son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumman, for whose performance a Wikipedia page has definitely been earned) in 1979 Santa Barbara.

The real life inspiration for 20th Century Women is evident in every component of Mills’ film. From the colourful, lush set designs, to the early post-punk soundtrack, to the candid, poignant dialogue, Mills’ deep, personal connection to his subject is readily apparent. He writes his female characters with a deep seated admiration and understanding, which never reads as presumptuous. As women they are flawed, but never condescended to; not fully understood, but admired all the more in their inscrutability.

Of course, none of this is possible without the magnetic performances from across his ensemble cast. This is a film that will you searching everyone involved’s IMDB profile for anything you haven’t already seen (also check out Mike Mills’ 90s punk band, Butter ‘08 on the Beastie Boys’ old Grand Royal label!). Annette Bening exudes a remarkably assured liveliness each time she enters the frame. With a cigarette perpetually perched between two fingers, her superbly expressive face breathes volumes into the pause of her frequent, “Yeah . . . no,” response. Clad in silk floral pajamas, or the bluest bell bottoms you could imagine, her emotionally honest, collective approach to parenting conveys emotional depths far exceeding her role as a mother. Her work is complemented by the inimitable mumble-core alum Greta Gerwig, supporting here as the art school graduated, cervical cancer survivor Abbie, boarding in Dorothea’s home, and Elle Fanning as Julie, the infinitely perplexing and unattainable girl next door, who frequently sleeps in Jamie’s bed.

While these three characters could be read at first glance as essentially the same California woman at different times in her life, as the film progresses, we are privileged deeper insight into their particular anxieties. Particularly revealing is a dinner party scene following a viewing of Jimmy Carter’s “a crisis of confidence” speech. Varying perspectives of radical feminism butt heads over supper, culminating with Abbie confronting each male guest with their reluctance to utter the word “menstruation”, and Julie unflinchingly detailing the painful loss of her virginity.

The sexual focus of second wave feminism in the 1970s is integral to 20th Century Women. We watch as Dorothea, Abbie and Julie grapple with their unique concepts of femininity, each shaped by circumstance, literature, and society. Only a few years removed from puberty, Jamie is given Susan Lydon’s Politics of the Orgasm by Abbie. As he embraces the tenets of radical feminism, he struggles to understand the women in his own life, outside of their relation to him. While both Lucas Jade Zumman and Billy Crudup (as William, an aging California hippie brought in by Dorothea to help raise Jamie) give stirring performances, the spotlight is cast definitively on the three female leads, constructed with careful attention to detail and a surplus of affection.

Mills succeeds in creating a world that feels at once foreign to the viewer and lived-in by his characters. The vividness of his pre-Reagan California is bolstered by his characters’ forays into California’s burgeoning underground music scene. Indeed, as much as 20th Century Women showcases Mills’ reverence for the women of his teenage years, it forefronts the music that made him. After questioning the legitimacy of a fellow skateboarder’s professed sexual exploits, Jaime is told, prior to being punched in the face, that “the Talking Heads are a bunch of fags,” (he later returns home to his mom’s Volkswagen spray painted with the words “ART FAG” and “BLACK FLAG”). In Dorothea’s never ending quest to better understand to her son, she and William try to dance to a few records from his shelf. While they struggle with the appeal of Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown”, the Talking Heads’ (or as Dorothea calls them, the “art fags”) “The Big Country” strikes a chord with both of them.

In 20th Century Women’s less than two hour runtime, very little happens. It would be difficult to discern any kind of teleological storyline carrying all the way through, or any easily summarized take-home message. This is strange, because watching 20th Century Women, one feels as if Mills is moving mountains. While this effect could be termed a lack of focus on the part of the filmmaker, I see it rather as an effective subversion of our narrative expectations. Although we’re tempted to look forward to Jamie’s losing his virginity to Julie as a sort of culmination of themes, the script is too insistently thoughtful and empowering of its female characters to allow for this familiar, male-centered coming-of-age tale ending to occur. Mills doesn’t want to sell us a neat, fictional resolution, because his story comes from lived experience.

Mills’ ever-mobile camera rarely strays far from close up shots of his leads. His tight focus allows for their facial expressions to do much of the dramatic heavy lifting. However, when the rare widescreen, outdoor shot fills the screen, one gets a scene of how vast the world is which continues to exist outside of these characters’ deeply personal struggles. Mills’ vision may be ambitious in terms of character depth, but he recognizes the limitations of his film’s scope, and thus his reach never exceeds his grasp.

Where he succeeds most resoundingly is in forging real emotional bonds between the characters onscreen and audience members. Mills never hits you over the head with emotional highs and lows, but rather presents a mixed bag throughout. One such bittersweet moment comes in a plainspoken heart to heart between Dorothea and Abbie. Dorothea informs Abbie, concerning Jamie, “You get to see him out in the world, as a person… I never will.” Abbie responds by presenting her an overexposed polaroid of Jamie at a punk show, with a goofy, probably inebriated expression on his face. The scene is heartrending and relatable, due to the multilayered connection we have to Mills’ characters. At once we feel for Dorothea, Abbie, and Jamie, all for different reasons.

Unlike Beginners, the believable emotional heft of 20th Century Women is never undone by questionable directorial choices. Although the kaleidoscope trail of cars cruising down coastal highways (a nod to the classic Czech New Wave film, Daisies) does feel a little heavy-handed the fourth time around, for the most part, Mills’ quirks feel entirely fitting and deserved by the unconventional script. The only time I questioned the world presented before me was when Jamie hopped into an acquaintance's car to head to L.A. for a DIY punk show, and I wondered if high school could actually have been this cool in 1979.

20th Century Women ends with a shot of Dorothea riding in the cockpit of a biplane, seemingly carefree, laughing exuberantly. The view is sumptuous and refreshing. We have already been given the details of her eventual death, as she states omnisciently, “I will prepare for Y2K before I die.” “As Time Goes By” starts playing, I cry, and we understand that as vivid and complete as the preceding two hours have felt, Mills’ film will not presume to be anything more than it is: a portrait of three women, a man, and a teenager living in Santa Barbara in 1979.

#KRPKAB

My Understanding of the Concept of KRPBKAB

The story is a simple tale of the journey of 3 people in a modern urban setting and how their choices and responses to situations and circumstances affect their everyday lives, which is something we all go through every day of our lives. I don’t profess to know and understand everything but this my candid understanding of how I perceive the story and how I think it should progress.  

KRPKAB the story, is a very simple tale of 3 very ordinary individuals doing ordinary everyday things that almost all of the world’s people relate to.  To me, the story is the HERO and the USP is the ESSENCE which is it’s simplistic and subtle approach to reality, which gives us that “feel good, fuzzy warm feelings” which is the truest essence of real life.  For the first 140+ episodes the story was perfect, it was balanced, it had equals parts of drama in the correct levels interspersed with comic and witty onliners that made every episode a treat to watch which is rare considering what type of content is out there.  The show gave a positive message and left you feeling good with renewed hope to meet the challenges and setbacks for the next day.  Rarely does any TV show do that for anyone.

In order for me to write this, I had to go back to all the interviews and IV segments of the makers and the actors and they all said the same thing: - It’s a show based on a realistic approach to a modern day urban India showcasing a close to realistic approach which was never done on Indian Television before, it was pathbreaking and breaking all the stererotypes of the usual trend of Indian Telly.  The truth, it was that !!! It was refreshing, engaging, gripping and enticing… I can go on but to sum it up, every episode was well worth the wait.  It was a show even if we were not Native Indian, we related to it, we identified with the small group of characters and we identified with situations that we so often found ourselves in.  We engaged with the show on an intimate level where certain scenes depicted helped us to laugh at ourselves and we cried with characters in some of the similar situations we had experienced.  The show UNITED a global audience into a great big KRPKAB FAMILY, we shared our feelings, bared our souls, opened our hearts, embraced our so-called enemies and spread love which KRPKAB brought into our lives everyday from 9.30pm to 10pm.  It blurred the borders and boundary lines drawn by division of differences in caste, class, language, race, colour of skin, sect, religion or social status and KRPKAB conquered it all.  

Fans took to social network services praising and applauding the entire team for their hard work and raised the energy levels of the team to raise the bar each time.  KRPKAB became a part of our everyday lives, just like sleep, eating and breathing.  Unknowingly or unwittingly KRPKAB spread LOVE…  The audiences ranges from adolescents to a mature, experienced older individual. The show engages professionals and homemakers and there’s a story in it for everyone.

My Take on KRPKAB

Up until Ishwari’s suspicions on Dev and Sonakshi’s relationship were confirmed, if felt the story was well executed with its maintaining the fundamentals still intact, but that all changed when Ishwari consumed sleeping pills to drown her fears, (even though the context with which it was done did have a bit of realism in it) however it did come across as overtly intense as Ishwari by her core character is a good person.  It was from this point onwards I felt the story began losing its fundamentals and slowly began regressing into a typical saas-bahu drama, although the show didn’t show it overtly as other shows do.  Ishwari’s character since then went on a spiral downward trajectory, with no kind of redemption or self- introspection in sight.  It was difficult to watch such a well scripted character become self-serving, inconsistent and contradictory.  This is where the story moved from the actual story centric and became character centralised, which cracked the foundation of the show.  Skip to the realisation of her son’s happiness – begging – wedding – post marriage and the downward trend continued.

How I perceived the show to have progressed to highlight ishwari’s concerns (I prefer to call it concerns as opposed to suspicions, as concern is a more positive term to suspicion).  The story could have dealt with the concerns in a more positive, realistic based approach with hints of fiction to add for good measure and dramatic effect.  The story could have continued for another 50 episodes mainly focusing on Dev and Sona’s relationship (the up’s and down’s) of a new relationship.  There are many dynamics which the makers could have shown as the show has several social layers to it (cultural, status, conservative as opposed to traditional, progressive vs archaic, personality differences, etc).  They could have used this approach to highlight the differences in the Boses’s upbringing and Dixit’s upbringing and the trials and tribulations both had to endure and how it moulded the 2 main characters of Dev and Sonakshi. This would have better highlighted Iswari’s insecurities, which they could have easily used situational approach to get the story moving forward maintaining its essence and simplicity. To give an example of a situation to bring to attention the reason for Dev and Sona hiding their relationship from their respective families because of these insecurities of not being accepted due to these various reasons (Bijoy could have easily been used to highlight these scenes. Bijoy’s character is effective to grounding the relationship of Dev and Sona and is voice of reason and conscience, whereas Ishwari is the edgy apprehensive parent whose biggest fear in life is losing her and children’s livelihood if a another person enters her son’s life.  This contrast would have been more effective and realistic an approach and close to reality as possible.  Having Sona and Dev realise all these issues prior to jumping into a shaky foundation less marriage would have made better sense.  The growth of all the 3 characters would have worked well within the parallels of each character. How Dev and Sona handle all the revelations would have made for riveting viewing. It also sends a strong social message to the youth target audience, don’t comprise your futures, studies, careers and identity for marriage.  In an age where Women are at the forefront of empowerment, Sona’s character, Ishwari and Asha should have used to good effect to affect thinking and progressive mindsets for social change.

Coming to the actual story of the episodes, I felt the entire angle after the breakup between Dev and Sona could been handled differently.  They could have shown Sona concentrating on building her business and fighting for her independence fiercely not be defined by marriage or man.  This approach would have served Dev’s love her because it was this very characteristic that he and Bijoy are immensely proud of.  Dev winning her broken trust again would have been a delight, which have also made him realise, introspect and understand Ishwari’s insecurity better.  Dev’s gaining Bijoy’s trust and re-building faith to win Bijoy over could have been the backbone of this track, as Bijoy is equally protective of his daughter as well proud would have been the mirror to Dev about his mother’s insecurities.

Skipping to wedding track, which was most awaited – it went off in a flash and then the saas-bahu drama was in full swing.  My thing is, they could have used the wedding track to highlight the cultural differences between the 2 different cultures and how the 2 cultures come together because of the effect of LOVE (acceptance and tolerance).  The week build-up could have shown us the different customs and traditions and the purpose it serves. From this point we all know how the story goes being totally focused on the insecurity of Ishwari. The makers notched up the drama quotient to such high levels that the story got lost in this process giving more prominence and screen time to the part-time cast to tell the story and the lead pair were reduced to mere props.  The once independent, educated doctor Sonakshi Bose was reduced to a playmate, maid and subservient bahu taking abuse from her in laws relatives who were freeloading off her husband and Dev was reduced to a mute, ma possessed son whose only goal in life was to keep his mother happy who was once the city biggest business tycoon with a sensible nature with an astuteness to discern situations in an instant. They all went for a TOSS !!!  Having all those delaying tactical dramatics to drive a point of the consummation of the wedded couple was not at all a modern nor a realistic approach.  That was uncalled for drama.  To bring in Bua Dadi to show the generational gap between Ishwari and Sonakhi as bahu’s (how the age of the bahu evolved) I get that but the key would have been to maintain the realistic approach and maybe not showcase the nuptial night but give the newlyweds space to explore their love especially when the couples live in extended and joint families.  Instead the newlyweds were tortured to observe fasts, do pujas to highlight the now obsessive behaviour of a mother.  How close to reality is this ?? All this drama has caused more raised BP levels than put a smile on the audience’s face (quoting Shaheer in one of their interviews) before going to sleep.  When we have real MIL’s to deal with why would we need watch Ishwari doing to Sonakshi is what we deal with in our daily lives.  As the audience we look to KRPKAB for solutions to these issues, not more drama of the obsession of an insecure mother.  This OTT drama continued for weeks which brought in an unwarranted “Infertility” track which a fair section of the audience was eagerly waiting for to see how this sensitive issue would be handled and would provide solutions to many women out there would suffer the same fate.  However, this sensitive issue was handled with so much of insensivity and lack of respect that it incensed the audience.  No importance was given to researching such a ‘subject matter’ with giving the scenes impetus and a sense of realism.  It made the character of Sonakshi weak and look utterly stupid even though she’s the intelligent professional that can apply logic to any situation.  Here again the focus was on Ishwari and her insecurities, her needs, her wants, her desires.  Ishwari’s sudden change from being obsessed to a loving over-bearing MIL was hard to digest and all 3 characters went on a downward trajectory.  It made KRPKAB hard to watch but we lived in hope that the makers and writers would bring the KRPKAB charm back.  Shaheer and Erica was the saving grace and lifted these last few episodes from the downward spiral with their superlative performances.  The fertility track was the most awaited track since the confession scene and it was so poorly handled and executed with no emotional tolerance shown to the lead in this track which was sonakshi, she was given no importance and it was shown how a women is looked down upon if she is unable to conceive in an already prejudiced society where male lineage is given favour and importance.  The show reduced Sonakshi to a mere “carrier” than focusing on the truth and revelation of such news and the impact it will have on the newly couple’s life and do they plan their future going forward.  The emotional and mental support to get through this stage of their lives without having to deal with the harsh stigma of society.  The show could have shown both the Dixits and Boses as a family support structure which is what modern day families are all about, but the issue was skimmed over and the issues were skirted around and yet again only focused on Ishwari’s emotions, wants and needs.  The episodes dealing with this intense social topic saw Ishwari behaving like a woman scorned and a spoilt brat who didn’t get the toy she threw a tantrum for.  At this point all these characters were murdered severely with no apparent redemption in sight until the fandom started creating an uproar on social media. Unrealistics demands made the story unrealistic and hardly digestible and unbelievable. Bascially from episodes 145 to the current 224th episode was nothing but OTT dramatics of an obsessed crazed mother who refuses to accept her grown son is married to a woman he chose.  It was all Ishwari / Saas Bahu drama centric which I quote according to makers, writers, actors was NOT a saas bahu show but it will have elements of it.  The story then finally lost its charm, essence and USP.  The simplicity and ease with which the story was executed lost all flavour, there was no comic relief and witty retorts to relieve the tension filled episodes with ishwari, ishwari and more ishwari drama !!!

This brings me to the last 2 episodes which I want to deal with and the leading up to the ‘purported’ slap and I say purported because i treat this as any media leaked scandal for sensational, PR spin to gauge audience reaction when there are internal dynamics that cannot be resolved.  Episode 223 was the comic relief which was much needed although it did nothing for the story after a while some much respite from Ishwari which gave fans some relief from the tension of the fertility or infertility, not so sure which it really is… We saw glimpses of the charm of the KRPKAB of old and most of the audience took to social media to express their heartfelt gratitude to the makers for keeping our KRPKAB intact.  By far this episode was the best since episode 77 in my book.  The nervousness and apprehension of sonakshi was subtlety shown in her nuances which is the essence of the old KRPKAB and Dev was in his usual, himself avatar when he’s with her, away from the stress and drama of the Dixit house. The ease and simplicity about them was kept and to top it all we had a healthy helping of Devakshi.  This always helps to get through an episode.  Maybe my expectations are simple hence I look for simple things and since KRPKAB applied a simple approach to their storytelling enticed me and converted me into a fan – it is with this in mind that I write this note, to thank, appreciate and share my views.

Friday’s episode was an episode to bring sense of semblance to the fans, so it an episode written, directed and produced by the fans for the fans. Everything the fans were screaming out for was all crammed into 1 21minute episode to keep the fans happy and tongues wagging in want for more of the same.  But I have my own take on how the makers could have just as easily brought the entire story back on track with its old charm and maintaining its subtlety and simplistic approach.

My take on Episode 224

Sonakshi was very well within her right to outwardly express her pent up emotions and she did the correct thing by taking it out on Dev. That scene was much needed and was long overdue in fact.  When Sonaskshi burst out on Dev, he was barely paying attention to what she was yelling, he was just seeing a sexier version of his wife, just like all the other outbursts, like the office scenes of her finding out about him breaking off her proposed relationship with Kunal, when she confronted him about thwarting Rithwick’s hospital plans, Dev was barely interested in what she was spewing at him, he was just glad she took the liberty to come to him, it made him feel good and wanted and that he indeed had an important place in her life.  I saw this as nothing other than that. If Sonakshi needs to get Dev to pay heed, then she needs to do what she did with him when she left him and went off to her parents for a few days.  That was to say a very impactful way of getting him to get her to open up to him about her fears, needs and desires. It’s the only time Dev actually hears his wife’s internal conflicts.  The planned dinner wasn’t need as Dev and Sonakshi are 2 simple souls in love and any place is paradise for them.  To carry the charm of the previous episode, I would have preferred Sonakshi leave Dev and go back to Dixit house in that ridiculous dress Ishwar chose, Dev finally follows her home and she has the outburst in the Dixit house bringing down the roof.  This would have given Ishwari a virtual slap and a wake up call to both mother and son and all other dixits. Ishwari would have realised exactly Dev’s stand between his wife and her.  Dev only comes to his senses when Sonakshi walks out on him, which is his biggest fear of his life.  Ishwari would have realised the elaborate preparations with which she meticulously planned her sons sex life is never going to give her a grandchild if she does not stop with her obsession and for the rest of the free loading dixits it shows them the strength of women to stand her ground and stand up for herself without being disrespectful to her in laws and elders.  Although some may argue that it sounds OTT but its OTT with reality.  Husbands and Wives do fight, all the time screaming shouting hurling cursing and then silent treatment to follow and only after that that introspection, realisation, apology, the missing, the pining starts to happen. The couples give in then the honeymoon phase post the fight which lead to passionate lovemaking and makeup sex.  All this sets the tone for that (not 1 outburst and next minute sex). Sonakshi just got the dealt the worse news of her life, her chances of becoming a mother are almost no- existent, furthermore her husband kept this biggest truth from her, for whatever reason he did it, it is still bound to hurt and anger you immensely, and to top that he made her believe that she was already pregnant. That is too much to process and forgive within just 2 episodes.  If this is reality based with hints of fiction then this track should have lasted at least 10 episodes dedicated to the emotional breakdown and build-up of Sonakshi and Dev being the ever supportive husband including the bose and dixit family dynamic.  In this episode fake snow, elaborate dinner and the dance was really unnecessary to set a tone and mood.  That bit didn’t fit and I felt those scenes could have been better utilised showing Dev and Sona exploring a different shade of their love and relationship. For the record (now their dances are becoming repetitive and doesn’t have the desired effect on the audience).  Their very first dance, Ministers ball had all the fire, passion and intensity their dances should now be having since they are married.  Dev and Sonakshi married life lacks passion, period !!! They can just as easily be called BFF’s ore Bhai-Behen (there is nothing to distinguish hubby and wife from this). There is more passion injected into Ishwari and Dev’s scenes than Sonakshi and Dev. Well since the precap of episode 225 shows the foreplay of Dev and Sonakshi and shirtless Dev doing the rounds, I guess the makers fast tracked the forgiveness to the makeup sex.  Call me a prude but seeing a bare chested man is not my thing, although I find this scene really out of context to the actual progression of the story, if I can still call a story.  To me, this all seems ill-fitted.  I understand KRPKAB doesn’t labour on issues but this is one very key issue which shift the story to its next phase.  However, in saying this the slapgate issue of a son in law intentionally or accidentally hitting your father in law is morally degrading and however it is written into the script in the name of creative DYNAMISM or is shot cinematically is just NOT SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE OR JUSTIFIABLE in any way if your genre is Family Drama / Comedy.  KRPKAB’s makers have an obligation to the public and broadcasting authorities to show content that is meaningful and will not propagate violence,abuse, preach hate speech and social mis-conduct.  This unfortunately falls in this category. No matter what the build-up of events that lead up it will not justify a son in law slapping jis father in law especially after you had just sex with his daughter.  It is dishonouring to your own self respect and women in general, hence I say the lovemaking track doesn’t not sit well in relation to the upcoming tracks.  It feels like this scene was just slapped in for some measure.  I would have preferred Sonakshi and Dev talk it through and just calmly cuddle and lie in each other’s arms, that would be way more meaningful.

The Scenes which have thoroughly impacted me with its realistic and simplistic approach

1. The night Dev drove around to find a Puchka Wala and had him delivered to Sona’s house 2. Dev making a sandwich for Sona 3. Their evening drives and coffee dates 4. Their whatsapp love 5. Sona leaving Dev to go to her parents and Dev realising her importance and going to pacify her 6. Bijoy throwing them out together to figure out their issues and find a solution

All these scenes had the subtle charm of KRPKAB

What I would like to see in future of KRPKAB

1. Bijoy and Dev are 2 peas from the same pod, their relationship explored as a father and son in law 2. Dev and Asha – Dev to see what the real essence of a mother’s love truly is explored through Asha (that to redeem Ishwari) 3. Dev concentrating more on his business than pandering to Ishwari’s needs 4. Sonakshi building her business and career as a professional business women and Nutritionist 5. Dev and Sonakshi talking more about their future 6. Dev and Sonakshi on a weekly date night – away from family and work 7. More of their whatsapp love 8. Dev and Sonakshi doing normal husband wife things like grocery and household shopping 9. Sonakshi building a bond with Neha 10. Dev spending more time at the Bose house 11. Sonakshi and Dev reminiscing about their clandestine days – visit the places they used to meet and spend time, where they shared their 1st kiss, held hands, danced etc 12. Dev and Sonakshi planning their fertility treatment together with no interference from others 13. Devkashi wining and dining with couple friends doing couple things (like playing games, board games) 14. Dev watching sport with Saurabh and Bijoy 15. An event or company function of Dev which he introduces Sona

Basically to show the all-round and well-rounded couple and how they work together to keep all the balls juggling in the air with each building on their relationships, growing their characters, helping each other grow too in that process, learning, teaching and moving the story forward maintaining its simplistic approach keeping intact its essence and USP.  The charm of KRPKAB

However this show unfolds, dramatically or subtly, KRPKAB has broken stereotypes with its 1st 100 episodes, let’s hope the makers can bring it back on track without the OTT drama and we see it going strong for at least another year.

For a show that is just 10 months old and has bagged 7 awards in this short period speaks highly of the value of content this show has and its broad appeal.  These accolades never come easy in an industry that is highly competitive, so this means that KRPKAB is doing something very right. Let this good fortune continue to reign and the team continues to raise the bar with the writing, dialogues, cinematography, acting skills and overall production winning more awards for its excellent content to highlight social issues still so prevalent in our societies across the globe and promoting woman empowerment.

Let KRPKAB become reach a CULT status.

How a classic brawler was revitalised for modern hardware • Eurogamer.net

For a brief period in the late 80s and early 90s, the side-scrolling brawler captured the imagination – and the coinage – of gamers everywhere. Standing shoulder to shoulder around an arcade cabinet taking down waves of enemies as you gradually work your way to the end of the game was a wonderful experience, but Sega’s Streets of Rage not only brought this experience home, it took it to the next level. And now it’s back, better than ever. In fact, Streets of Rage 4 is nothing short of a masterpiece.

The golden age of brawlers kicked off with a wave of games spearheaded by Double Dragon, a coop-based side-scrolling beat ’em up that triggered a deluge of competing titles from a range of publishers. Capcom asserted its dominance here with the epic Final Fight – and its subsequent port to Super Famicom in late 1990 served as a powerful opening salvo in the 16-bit console war. Despite enjoying success with Golden Axe, Sega needed something darker, grittier and more ‘urban’. It needed a Final Fight killer and Streets of Rage was its answer.

Released just six months after the Super Famicom conversion of Final Fight hit the market, Streets of Rage boasted simultaneous two-player action, with crunching combat backed by a killer soundtrack. It was a strong effort, but it was with Streets of Rage 2 and its sequel that Sega amped up the action, refining a winning formula and fully delivering on what I consider to be the three key pillars of brawler design.

Firstly, there’s the sense of impact, the feeling of connecting your attack with a foe. A great brawler features instant button response coupled with carefully crafted frames of animation and a proper stutter – the shaking when an enemy takes a hit. It’s a delicate balance of collision detection, animation and camera movement. The base attack is an action you will be performing over and over again so if it doesn’t feel just right, the game will fall flat.

Secondly, there’s the music – this may seem to occupy space outside of the core gameplay but all of the Streets of Rage games demonstrated that it’s actually central to the experience. The music sets the tone and pace of the combat and builds excitement around the actions you’re performing. Without great music, the brawler simply isn’t everything it could be. Finally, there are the visuals – brawlers are inherently repetitive but the quality of the sprites, backgrounds and animation help in creating something memorable, tying into the overall feel of the game.

In this special video presentation, we revisit Streets of Rage on the Mega Drive, dissect what made those games great and see how it all translates into Streets of Rage 4. Plus we get a good look at the development tools used to create the new game.

The original Streets of Rage gets much of this right and offers two player cooperative play, unlike Final Fight on Super NES, but still feels like an early effort in some respects. Sprites are small, the frame-rate is only 30fps – which is uncommon on the platform – and the move set is limited, but crucially, the core elements are there. Impact works, the soundtrack defines the pace of the game while the sound effects are tremendous. Finally, the pixel art is simply gorgeous.

It was undoubtedly a good game, but there was room to improve. Importantly though, the developers had cut their teeth and 18 months later, Streets of Rage 2 delivered what I’d rank as one of the greatest sequels of all-time, radically improving on the original in every respect. We got larger sprites, more animation, more enemies, larger stages, more moves and an even better soundtrack. The first pillar is locked in – the basic actions in Streets of Rage 2 feel perfect, the new sprites are more detailed and better proportioned and each frame of animation is spot on. Even the most basic punch feels so good, but the developer went much further, adding in special moves unique to each character.

The overall flow of the game is greatly improved with more variation in level design and stages that move more than just left to right. The second pillar of quality is also reached with ease – the soundtrack stands as one of the best on the system with additional variety and super high-quality beats, with Yuzo Koshiro returning to demonstrate what’s possible with Sega’s 16-bit hardware. Lastly, there’s the presentation, which is perhaps the greatest improvement of all. Sprites are much larger and more detailed, the frame-rate is increased to 60fps, there are more layers of parallax scrolling and backgrounds are much more complex. It’s a game that demonstrates an expert use of colour to produce a gritty yet beautiful world.

Pre-production in-game imagery from Streets of Rage 4, showing how the art starts to take shape.

Streets of Rage 2 set the standard for what a brawler could be but its sequel proved somewhat more divisive, owing to some unexpected issues. Streets of Rage 3 is notorious for localisation changes made when bringing the game to the West. This includes changing sprite colours, censoring certain enemies and characters and cranking up the difficulty, among other things. The Western version is less enjoyable to play overall as a result. The soundtrack is another controversial element, with a hit and miss quality to the range of music. This was an experimental phase for Yuzo Koshiro: Streets of Rage 3 made use of software that enabled randomly-generated numbers in each register of a frequency modulation oscillator, allowing for unique sound generation during track creation. The results were not to everyone’s taste, but I can respect what they achieved.

Despite the shift in music and censorship in the West, what’s left is still a very enjoyable brawler. In fact, in some ways, it’s the best of the three. For example the special system was rethought – when the meter reaches ‘OK’, you can unleashed a powerful attack without losing health. If you use it again before that meter fills back up, though, you lose health just like the second game. Beyond this, every character can now run and dodge by using a double-tap motion on the d-pad. It’s really great stuff, but regardless, Sega would produce no more SOR games… until now.

Streets of Rage 4 is nothing short of a revelation. Developed as a collaboration between DotEmu, Guard Crush Games and Lizardcube, the new title is designed and executed as a direct follow-up to the original trilogy as opposed to a reboot. In creating the game, the team wanted to retain what made the series special while expanding in areas that make sense. The idea is to deliver a 2D brawler that relies on hand-drawn animation with a level of fluidity on par with something like Street Fighter 3, meaning bespoke frames rather than tweened ‘Flash-like’ animation. While the style breaks away from the pixel art design of the original games, it still relies on traditional key frames carefully designed to communicate each action – and I think it looks great.

Once you pick up the controller, it’s immediately evident that the core combat loop is beautifully crafted. In that sense, the game delivers on our first pillar of brawler design by ensuring that even your basic actions are satisfying. The development team spent time studying the original games frame by frame to ensure that every hit, stutter and shake properly replicates the feel of the Mega Drive classics. What I love about the design is how so much is done with these core mechanics; the combo system is now more nuanced allowing for deeper combat without sacrificing accessibility.

The early Streets of Rage 4 reveal trailer caused some concern – but rest assured, the final game more than delivers.

The new special system takes a page from Bloodborne. Triggering a special uses a small amount of life but if you manage to land additional hits after the special, you fill that chunk of life back up. Take a hit though, and you lose it. I especially love the way levels evolve to include different types of foes with unique AI behaviour and skills. The dojo battle in Chinatown, for instance, simply adds more weapons to the mix while introducing more and more enemies over time. It’s done in such a way that, by the end, it feels as if you’ve fought through a Hong Kong action movie.

So how was this all achieved? Earlier in the week, I had a chance to talk directly with the developers and found the process fascinating. Streets of Rage 4 was created using the in-house Guard Crush Engine which allows for smooth 60fps 2D action across multiple platforms. The game is designed with a target of 1080p but owing to the nature of the game, the output resolution has little impact on what you see – the artwork is clean and crisp on all platforms tested. In that sense, it’s rather reminiscent of Cuphead, which looks much the same no matter what resolution it’s rendered at (within reason!).

As well as nailing the ‘feel’ of a good brawler, the developers also spent a lot of time getting the enemy AI to present a tough but fair challenge. In fact, I think this is one of the key secrets behind Streets of Rage: the team studied the behaviours found in the original games and worked to implement something similar in the new sequel. Each type of enemy has their own unique behaviours and they’re constantly working out how to attack. In other brawlers, such as Final Fight, this isn’t quite this refined – enemies typically just move in a straight line towards the player rather than actively circling and moving around the arena.

A look around the development environment used to deliver Streets of Rage 4’s environments.

Visually, each level is built from a large chunk of carefully placed art data, along with parallax layers that move independently. The play area is drawn using a fixed perspective designed to add depth but just like the originals, character sprites move in two dimensions visually – there is no scaling here, which I think is the right move. When each level is loaded, the required art data is fetched and prepared for use. With the data loaded, the game requires roughly 2GB of memory, though the PC version has the option to use uncompressed art data which should increase that. The level art is pieced together in the editor to create a long, seamless background rather than relying on a tiling system with reused chunks. During actual gameplay, however, a culling system is used around the viewing window, only drawing artwork as needed.

The levels themselves are then enhanced by the ambient layer – this includes lights, shadows, reflections and more. This is one of my favourite elements: each light is dynamic and a unique system was developed to allow the lights to play off the sprites creating the illusion of rim lighting. Not only that, lights interact with particles, adding further to the sense of consistency in each scene. Characters are also lit appropriately within the environment and textures can also be projected onto them too, better grounding the characters into the overall presentation. Then there are the reflections: first you have your primary rendering pass rendered back to front, which is then repeated and flipped. This render target then serves as the reflection which is made semi-transparent, filtered and manipulated to simulate natural distortions. For objects with an underside, such as a table, a separate sprite is created and inserted into the reflection to ensure consistency.

Lastly on the ambient layer, shadows are utilised to further anchor objects within the world. These shadows are designed to simulate contact hardening – appearing sharper at the point of origin and becoming more diffuse as it moves away from this point. With all of these elements combined, it becomes clear that there’s more going on in this game than you may imagine – and personally, I think it works extremely well. The animation is so fluid and the amount of detail poured into every scene is impressive.

Sonic Mania has much in common with Streets of Rage 4. It captures the essence of the original games while delivering something that feels fresh and new.

There are some additional fun options to play with in the menu too, including two pixel modes. The first shifts the camera slightly so that pixels lineup properly to allow an even grid pattern, producing an interesting look. There’s also a CRT filter, which applies blurring and a scanline filter. It looks okay, but it’s not my favourite implementation of this particular effect. Generally speaking, I think the default look is the best way to play. Further options are included for the user to play with, but these are entirely for tuning the game to your preferences – I didn’t see any changes in performance. Speaking of which, prior to release, I had access to the PS4 and PC versions of the game. The Switch codes weren’t available and I didn’t get the chance to test out Xbox One – which is available from day one on Game Pass. On PS4 and PS4 Pro, however, the frame-rate is perfect. The game runs at 60fps without any hiccups or dips. It’s completely stable.

Technologically, there’s a fascinating story here, but really it’s all about the three pillars I mentioned earlier and in these respects, Streets of Rage 4 is nigh-on perfect. Combat isn’t just ‘as good’ as the original, it’s better, with far more fluidity in play and more flexibility in delivering devastating combos. The soundtrack is amazing too: the main composer on the project is Olivier Deriviere, who does an excellent job, but additional composers were brought in to score various other tracks including the killer combination of Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima, Das Mörtal and Scattle, who both worked on Hotline Miami as well as other exceptional composers from game music history. With this many composers, it’s amazing how well it all gels together.

There’ve been a number of games this generation that successfully revitalise and modernise some of the true 16-bit classics. Three essential titles in particular spring to mind: Sonic Mania, Mega Man 11 and finally, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. Streets of Rage 4 rightfully takes its place alongside these brilliant retro-modern games. It’s not easy to pick apart a gaming classic then build a brand new sequel that honours the originals while still feeling fresh and new, but that’s exactly what each of these remarkable titles manages to deliver. In my view, Streets of Rage 4 is a masterpiece and it’s easily one of my favourite games of the year. Put simply, it must be played.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/how-a-classic-brawler-was-revitalised-for-modern-hardware-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-a-classic-brawler-was-revitalised-for-modern-hardware-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

OUR DEEPEST VIEW OF THE X-RAY SKY ** The eROSITA telescope has provided a new, sharp view of hot and energetic processes across the universe. ** Over the course of 182 days, the eROSITA X-ray telescope onboard SRG has completed its first full sweep of the sky. This new map of the hot, energetic universe contains more than one million objects, roughly doubling the number of known X-ray sources discovered over the 60-year history of X-ray astronomy. Most of the new sources are active galactic nuclei at cosmological distances, marking the growth of gigantic black holes over cosmic time. Clusters of galaxies in the new map will be used to track the growth of cosmic structures and constrain cosmological parameters. Closer to home, stars with hot coronae, binaries and supernova remnants dot our galaxy, and we now have a complete map of the hot baryons in the Milky Way, something that can only be achieved with the 360-degree view provided by the eROSITA survey. A million X-ray sources revealing the nature of the hot universe -- this is the impressive harvest of the first scan of the entire sky with the eROSITA telescope onboard SRG. “This all-sky image completely changes the way we look at the energetic universe,” says Peter Predehl, the Principal Investigator of eROSITA at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE). “We see such a wealth of detail -- the beauty of the images is really stunning.” This first complete sky image from eROSITA is about four times deeper than the previous all-sky survey by the ROSAT telescope 30 years ago, and has yielded around 10 times more sources: about as many as have been discovered by all past X-ray telescopes combined. And while most classes of astronomical objects emit in X-rays, the hot and energetic universe looks quite different to the one seen by optical or radio telescopes. Looking outside the body of our galaxy, most of the eROSITA sources are active galactic nuclei, accreting supermassive black holes at cosmological distances, interspersed with clusters of galaxies, which appear as extended X-ray haloes shining thanks to the hot gas confined by their huge concentrations of dark matter. The all-sky image reveals in exquisite detail the structure of the hot gas in the Milky Way itself, and the circumgalactic medium, which surrounds it, whose properties are key to understanding the formation history of our galaxy. The eROSITA X-ray map also reveals stars with strong, magnetically active hot coronae, X-ray binary stars containing neutron stars, black holes or white dwarfs, and spectacular supernova remnants in our own and other nearby galaxies such as the Magellanic clouds. “We were all eagerly awaiting the first all-sky map from eROSITA,” says Mara Salvato, the scientist at MPE who leads the effort to combine eROSITA observations with other telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum. “Large sky areas have already been covered at many other wavelengths, and now we have the X-ray data to match. We need these other surveys to identify the X-ray sources and understand their nature.” The survey is also a treasure trove of rare and exotic phenomena, including numerous types of transients and variables, such as flares from compact objects, merging neutron stars, and stars being swallowed by black holes. “eROSITA often sees unexpected bursts of X-rays from the sky,” continues Salvato. “We need to alert ground-based telescopes immediately to understand what’s producing them.” Assembling the image has been a mammoth task. So far, the operations team has received and processed about 165 GB of data collected by eROSITA’s seven cameras. While relatively small by “big-data” standards on the ground, operating this complex instrument in space provided its own special challenges. “We check and monitor the health of the instrument on a daily basis, in cooperation with our colleagues in Moscow who operate the SRG spacecraft,” explains Miriam Ramos-Ceja, a member of the eROSITA operations team at MPE. “This means we can respond quickly to any anomalies. We’ve been able to react to these immediately to keep the instrument safe, while collecting data at ~97% efficiency. It’s amazing to be able to communicate in real time with an instrument located 1.5 million kilometres away!” The data downlink occurs daily. “We perform immediate quality checks on the data,” she continues, “before it is being processed and analysed by the teams in Germany and Russia.” While the team is now busy analysing this first all-sky map and using the images and catalogues to deepen our understanding of cosmology and high-energy astrophysical processes, the telescope continues its sweep of the X-ray sky. “The SRG Observatory is now starting its second all-sky survey, which will be completed by the end of this year,” says Rashid Sunyaev, Lead Scientist of the Russian SRG team. “Overall, during the next 3.5 years, we plan to get 7 maps similar to the one seen in this beautiful image. Their combined sensitivity will be a factor of 5 better and will be used by astrophysicists and cosmologists for decades.” Kirpal Nandra, head of the high-energy astrophysics group at MPE, adds “With a million sources in just six months, eROSITA has already revolutionized X-ray astronomy, but this is just a taste of what’s to come. This combination of sky area and depth is transformational. We are already sampling a cosmological volume of the hot universe much larger than has been possible before. Over the next few years, we’ll be able to probe even further, out to where the first giant cosmic structures and supermassive black holes were forming.” IMAGE 1....The energetic universe as seen with the eROSITA X-ray telescope. The first eROSITA all-sky survey was conducted over a period of six months by letting the telescope rotate continuously, thus providing a uniform exposure of about 150-200 seconds over most of the sky, with the ecliptic poles being visited more deeply. As eROSITA scans the sky, the energy of the collected photons is measured with an accuracy ranging from 2% - 6%. To generate this image, in which the whole sky is projected onto an ellipse (so-called Aitoff projection) with the centre of the Milky Way in the middle and the body of the Galaxy running horizontally, photons have been colour-coded according to their energy (red for energies 0.3-0.6 keV, green for 0.6-1 keV, blue for 1-2.3 keV). The original image, with a resolution of about 10”, and a corresponding dynamic range of more than one billion, is then smoothed (with a 10’ FWHM Gaussian) in order to generate the above picture.The red diffuse glow away from the galactic plane is the emission of the hot gas in the vicinity of the solar system (the Local Bubble). Along the plane itself, dust and gas absorb the lowest energy X-ray photons, so that only high-energy emitting sources can be seen, and their colour appears blue in the image. The hotter gas close to the galactic centre, shown in green and yellow, carries imprinted the history of the most energetic processes in the life of the Milky Way, such as supernova explosions, driving fountains of gas out of the plane, and, possibly, past outburst from the now dormant supermassive black hole in the centre of the galaxy. Piercing through this turbulent, hot diffuse medium, are hundreds of thousands of X-ray sources, which appear mostly white in the image, and uniformly distributed over the sky. Among them, distant active galactic nuclei (including a few emitting at a time when the Universe was less than one tenth of its current age) are visible as point sources, while clusters of galaxies reveal themselves as extended X-ray nebulosities. In total, about one million X-ray sources have been detected in the eROSITA all-sky image, a treasure trove that will keep the teams busy for the coming years. Credit: Jeremy Sanders, Hermann Brunner and the eSASS team (MPE); Eugene Churazov, Marat Gilfanov (on behalf of IKI) IMAGE 2....False colour image of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), our next neighbour galaxy. Covering a larger area than the first light image from eROSITA by a factor of about one hundred, the astronomers are now able to explore the entire galaxy, in particular its X-ray binary population as well as the rich structures seen in the diffuse emission arising from the hot phase of the interstellar medium. Among the brightest sources are X-ray binaries, which were the first to be discovered in the LMC already at the beginning of X-ray astronomy as well as supernova remnants, which can be resolved by eROSITA. Credit: Frank Haberl, Chandreyee Maitra (MPE) IMAGE 3....Due to its size and close distance to Earth, the "Vela supernova remnant" which is shown in this picture is one of the most prominent objects in the X-ray sky. The Vela supernova exploded about 12000 years ago at a distance of 800 light-years and overlaps with at least two other supernova remnants, Vela Junior (in the picture seen as bluish ring at the bottom left) and Puppis-A (top right). Vela Junior was discovered just 20 years ago, although this object is so close to Earth that remains of this explosion were found in polar ice cores. All three supernova explosions produced both the X-ray-bright supernova remnants and neutron stars, which shine as intense X-ray point sources near the centres of the remnants. The quality of the new eROSITA data of this "stellar cemetery" will give astronomers many exciting new insights into the physical processes operating in the hot supernova plasma as well as for exploring the exotic neutron stars. Credit: Peter Predehl, Werner Becker (MPE), Davide Mella IMAGE 4....The Shapley supercluster of galaxies is one of the most massive concentrations of galaxies in the local universe at a distance of about 650 million light-years (z~0.05). Each of the dozen extended structures is itself a cluster of galaxies, consisting of 100s to 1000s of individual galaxies, each denoting an intersection of filaments making up the large-scale structure in the Universe. This image spans 16 degrees across the sky (about 30 times the size of the full moon), which translates into about 180 million light-years across at the distance of the Shapley supercluster. The images on the left show a zoom of the the most massive clusters in the Shapley supercluster. Credit: Esra Bulbul, Jeremy Sanders (MPE) IMAGE 5....The glowing ring in the centre of this 7 degrees wide image was discovered after eROSITA scanned over this sky region in February 2020. The ring is caused by X-rays scattered on a dust cloud in the plane of the Milky Way. The origin of the radiation is the faint blue object in the centre of the ring, assumed to be a black hole circled by a companion star. One year before the eROSITA observation, a massive outburst of this object was recorded by other X-ray telescopes; for a few weeks it was more than 10000 times brighter than at present. On its thousands years travel, a tiny fraction of the burst radiation was scattered by a dust cloud; the scattered X-rays arrived one year after the direct radiation from the burst, just like an echo. This extra travel causes the apparent ring which will grow with time before becoming too faint to be observable. A few dust scattering rings were observed in the past, but with an angular diameter of more than twice the size of the full moon the new structure is by far the largest of its kind. Modelling of the ring may help to measure a precise distance to the black hole X-ray binary. Credit: Georg Lamer (Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam), Davide Mella IMAGE 6....The Carina Nebula and its interstellar environment seen with eROSITA (red: 0.2 - 0.5 keV, blue: 0.5 - 1.0 keV, green: 1.0 - 2.0 keV). The Carina Nebula is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in the Milky Way and hosts a large number of massive, young stars. The brightest of the stars (also in X-rays) is Eta Carinae, a binary system consisting of two massive stars, in which the winds of the stars collide. The bluish emission seen left of the nebula is X-ray emission from an open cluster of stars. Credit: Manami Sasaki (Dr. Karl Remeis Observatory/FAU), Davide Mella

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus

Coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus particle isolated from a UK case of the disease Covid-19. SARS-CoV-2.

One of PHE’s core functions is disease surveillance; making sure we have the right information available to us at the right time to inform decisions and actions across the public health system.

Surveillance involves gathering a wide variety of data about a disease from a range of sources, to provide us with situational awareness.

We need to understand the areas of the country which are most affected by an outbreak of disease, whether particular groups of people are affected, whether symptoms are getting more severe and when the outbreak might have peaked. This is then used to inform public health action to help prevent and control the disease.

And surveillance also provides data to be used by modellers; scientists who aim to predict how outbreaks will progress based on a range of different scenarios.

This blog will focus purely on COVID-19, but it’s important to know that surveillance is a well-established part of PHE’s day to day work. You can read about our approach to tracking seasonal flu in this recent blog.

COVID-19 surveillance

To help understand the spread of COVID-19, PHE uses a wide variety of real-time data at both local and national level, and in order to keep the public health system informed about the data we’ve been collecting, we are now publishing a weekly surveillance report and weekly infographic.

In this blog we want to explain what the report contains, setting out the mix of data we use based both on cases of coronavirus confirmed by laboratories, but also “syndromic surveillance” which uses anonymised real-time health data collected from a wide range of sources, such as GPs, hospitals or even Google searches.

Surveillance systems are chosen so they can be measured regularly and consistently. No single piece of data tells the whole story of any outbreak, nor can any system provide a definitive figure for exactly how many people could have COVID-19 as many will have a mild illness and never report it to the health services.

By bringing together a wide range of data we can make well informed judgements about emerging trends, geographical variations and the groups of people most affected.

Confirmed cases in England

Our weekly surveillance report includes a page on laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in England that includes an age/sex breakdown.  An epidemic curve showing the progression of cases over time is also included on the infographic.

The data are shown by the date the specimen was taken from the person being tested, rather than the date the lab carried out testing and sent data to PHE. While this gives the most accurate analysis of how the cases progress over time it does mean that the latest days’ figures are usually incomplete – so it shouldn’t be seen as a sudden large drop in cases.

It’s also important to remember that most testing to date has been offered to those in hospital with a medical need as well as NHS key workers, rather than the general population, many with mild symptoms. So confirmed cases represent the typical population of people with severe disease, rather than all of those who get infected.

This is a weekly total rather than the latest daily update, so to stay up to date with daily confirmed cases please use our dashboard which is updated every afternoon.

Our surveillance report also breaks down confirmed COVID-19 cases by PHE centre (PHE has 9 centres based across the country) and NHS region.

Community surveillance

PHE has a network of health protection teams across the country made up of scientists and experts trained to manage infectious disease outbreaks. These teams are constantly on the lookout for outbreaks in venues like schools or care homes and collecting this information is vital at both local level and to inform our national response.

The weekly surveillance report brings together the information provided by our health protection teams such as any “acute respiratory outbreaks” in a community setting, including cases where coronavirus has been confirmed.

As we move out of the winter season and infections like flu become less prevalent, we would expect most outbreaks in community settings to be related to COVID-19 (an “outbreak” is defined as two or more people experiencing a similar illness, which appears to be linked to a place).

However, we also know that not everyone who gets COVID-19 will necessarily report their symptoms to a doctor or phone NHS 111, but many might turn to the internet to help find information and tips to speed up their recovery.

Our internet-based surveillance tracks the volumes of people searching for typical symptoms of coronavirus on search engines like Google, and we look out for evidence that numbers of these searches are increasing above expected levels.

Finally, our online FluSurvey is completed by the public and tracks self-reported respiratory symptoms. The tool has now been adapted to monitor community prevalence and trend of symptoms related to Covid-19.

Primary care surveillance

Our surveillance activity includes a range of data submitted by GPs across the country.

The PHE GP in-hours system monitors the daily number of GP consultations where patients have a presented with a range of respiratory symptoms including COVID-19 cases. This scheme has very wide coverage of the England population with around 4500 GP surgeries (covering a patient population of around 40 million) reporting into it each day.

And our GP Out-of-Hours system monitors the numbers of daily unscheduled visits and calls to out-of-hours GP services across England, particularly during evenings, overnight, on weekends and on public holidays, again where patients report they have respiratory symptoms.

Together these schemes provide vital intelligence from around the country about the number of people who are showing the signs and symptoms of coronavirus.

It’s important to point out that when looking at these figures, we take account of the fact that official Government advice has urged people who believe they have coronavirus to contact NHS 111 or visit nhs.net, rather than going to their GP.

The primary care (GP) schemes above offer us data based on the clinical judgment of GPs who record whether their patient has presented with respiratory illness, but we also run a primary care scheme which involves laboratory testing of patients.

The RCGP Swabbing Scheme sees GPs taking swabs from patients, or asking patients to swab themselves, when the consult a GP for respiratory symptoms – this comes from a sample of around 200 GP practices. This provides us with a test “positivity rate” which we can monitor week by week, by age and by region to see if the proportion of people with confirmed COVID-19 increases. This surveillance system provides added insight because, unlike testing in hospital, it offers information about milder respiratory illness seen in the community.

Secondary care surveillance

We also collect surveillance data from hospitals across the country and you’ll find information about these in the weekly report.

Our Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System monitors the number of daily visits (from people suffering with respiratory illnesses) to a network of around 70 emergency departments across England.

We have also set up a scheme called the COVID-19 Hospitalisation in England Surveillance System, or “CHESS”, with over 130 hospitals participating and more coming on-line all the time. It is recommended that all patients with serious respiratory infections in these hospitals are tested for coronavirus, and the results are reported to PHE.

CHESS was set up specifically for surveillance purposes and is used to help us the estimate daily rate of new hospital admissions for people with COVID-19, so it may differ from other published figures such as the total number of people currently in hospital with COVID-19.

Virological surveillance

Our weekly surveillance report contains information from the Respiratory Datamart project. This is an important laboratory surveillance tool for monitoring major respiratory viruses circulating in England. We analyse samples from a sample of PHE and associated NHS laboratories based in all parts of the country and publish the percentage of tests that are positive for COVID-19 in the report. Changes in the proportion of tests that are positive are an important early indicator of changes in the incidence of infection.

Mortality surveillance

Our report includes numbers for people who have been hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19 in England and have died. We currently report on published NHS data.

The report also looks at “excess all-cause mortality”, which tracks whether the number of deaths of any cause occurring in the country is above the expected level for this time of year. This is an important indicator of deaths that may be due to COVID but where the infection not diagnosed or confirmed. It may also indicate deaths due to other causes, where COVID infection may be a contributor. For more information on deaths registered weekly (in England and Wales) visit the Office for National Statistics.

International situation

The final section of our report includes confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the world including the overall number of deaths.

Future data sources

Our weekly surveillance report and data dashboard will keep evolving as new data become available, for instance we are planning to include ethnicity data in future reports.

Opportunities to collect anonymised data will emerge from the different pillars of the Government’s testing strategy and from new tools and apps such as the NHS status tracker and systems used to scale up contact tracing.

Keep checking back on our weekly surveillance reports when they are published every Thursday on GOV.UK.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus

Coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus particle isolated from a UK case of the disease Covid-19. SARS-CoV-2.

One of PHE’s core functions is disease surveillance; making sure we have the right information available to us at the right time to inform decisions and actions across the public health system.

Surveillance involves gathering a wide variety of data about a disease from a range of sources, to provide us with situational awareness.

We need to understand the areas of the country which are most affected by an outbreak of disease, whether particular groups of people are affected, whether symptoms are getting more severe and when the outbreak might have peaked. This is then used to inform public health action to help prevent and control the disease.

And surveillance also provides data to be used by modellers; scientists who aim to predict how outbreaks will progress based on a range of different scenarios.

This blog will focus purely on COVID-19, but it’s important to know that surveillance is a well-established part of PHE’s day to day work. You can read about our approach to tracking seasonal flu in this recent blog.

COVID-19 surveillance

To help understand the spread of COVID-19, PHE uses a wide variety of real-time data at both local and national level, and in order to keep the public health system informed about the data we’ve been collecting, we are now publishing a weekly surveillance report and weekly infographic.

In this blog we want to explain what the report contains, setting out the mix of data we use based both on cases of coronavirus confirmed by laboratories, but also “syndromic surveillance” which uses anonymised real-time health data collected from a wide range of sources, such as GPs, hospitals or even Google searches.

Surveillance systems are chosen so they can be measured regularly and consistently. No single piece of data tells the whole story of any outbreak, nor can any system provide a definitive figure for exactly how many people could have COVID-19 as many will have a mild illness and never report it to the health services.

By bringing together a wide range of data we can make well informed judgements about emerging trends, geographical variations and the groups of people most affected.

Confirmed cases in England

Our weekly surveillance report includes a page on laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in England that includes an age/sex breakdown.  An epidemic curve showing the progression of cases over time is also included on the infographic.

The data are shown by the date the specimen was taken from the person being tested, rather than the date the lab carried out testing and sent data to PHE. While this gives the most accurate analysis of how the cases progress over time it does mean that the latest days’ figures are usually incomplete – so it shouldn’t be seen as a sudden large drop in cases.

It’s also important to remember that most testing to date has been offered to those in hospital with a medical need as well as NHS key workers, rather than the general population, many with mild symptoms. So confirmed cases represent the typical population of people with severe disease, rather than all of those who get infected.

This is a weekly total rather than the latest daily update, so to stay up to date with daily confirmed cases please use our dashboard which is updated every afternoon.

Our surveillance report also breaks down confirmed COVID-19 cases by PHE centre (PHE has 9 centres based across the country) and NHS region.

Community surveillance

PHE has a network of health protection teams across the country made up of scientists and experts trained to manage infectious disease outbreaks. These teams are constantly on the lookout for outbreaks in venues like schools or care homes and collecting this information is vital at both local level and to inform our national response.

The weekly surveillance report brings together the information provided by our health protection teams such as any “acute respiratory outbreaks” in a community setting, including cases where coronavirus has been confirmed.

As we move out of the winter season and infections like flu become less prevalent, we would expect most outbreaks in community settings to be related to COVID-19 (an “outbreak” is defined as two or more people experiencing a similar illness, which appears to be linked to a place).

However, we also know that not everyone who gets COVID-19 will necessarily report their symptoms to a doctor or phone NHS 111, but many might turn to the internet to help find information and tips to speed up their recovery.

Our internet-based surveillance tracks the volumes of people searching for typical symptoms of coronavirus on search engines like Google, and we look out for evidence that numbers of these searches are increasing above expected levels.

Finally, our online FluSurvey is completed by the public and tracks self-reported respiratory symptoms. The tool has now been adapted to monitor community prevalence and trend of symptoms related to Covid-19.

Primary care surveillance

Our surveillance activity includes a range of data submitted by GPs across the country.

The PHE GP in-hours system monitors the daily number of GP consultations where patients have a presented with a range of respiratory symptoms including COVID-19 cases. This scheme has very wide coverage of the England population with around 4500 GP surgeries (covering a patient population of around 40 million) reporting into it each day.

And our GP Out-of-Hours system monitors the numbers of daily unscheduled visits and calls to out-of-hours GP services across England, particularly during evenings, overnight, on weekends and on public holidays, again where patients report they have respiratory symptoms.

Together these schemes provide vital intelligence from around the country about the number of people who are showing the signs and symptoms of coronavirus.

It’s important to point out that when looking at these figures, we take account of the fact that official Government advice has urged people who believe they have coronavirus to contact NHS 111 or visit nhs.net, rather than going to their GP.

The primary care (GP) schemes above offer us data based on the clinical judgment of GPs who record whether their patient has presented with respiratory illness, but we also run a primary care scheme which involves laboratory testing of patients.

The RCGP Swabbing Scheme sees GPs taking swabs from patients, or asking patients to swab themselves, when the consult a GP for respiratory symptoms – this comes from a sample of around 200 GP practices. This provides us with a test “positivity rate” which we can monitor week by week, by age and by region to see if the proportion of people with confirmed COVID-19 increases. This surveillance system provides added insight because, unlike testing in hospital, it offers information about milder respiratory illness seen in the community.

Secondary care surveillance

We also collect surveillance data from hospitals across the country and you’ll find information about these in the weekly report.

Our Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System monitors the number of daily visits (from people suffering with respiratory illnesses) to a network of around 70 emergency departments across England.

We have also set up a scheme called the COVID-19 Hospitalisation in England Surveillance System, or “CHESS”, with over 130 hospitals participating and more coming on-line all the time. It is recommended that all patients with serious respiratory infections in these hospitals are tested for coronavirus, and the results are reported to PHE.

CHESS was set up specifically for surveillance purposes and is used to help us the estimate daily rate of new hospital admissions for people with COVID-19, so it may differ from other published figures such as the total number of people currently in hospital with COVID-19.

Virological surveillance

Our weekly surveillance report contains information from the Respiratory Datamart project. This is an important laboratory surveillance tool for monitoring major respiratory viruses circulating in England. We analyse samples from a sample of PHE and associated NHS laboratories based in all parts of the country and publish the percentage of tests that are positive for COVID-19 in the report. Changes in the proportion of tests that are positive are an important early indicator of changes in the incidence of infection.

Mortality surveillance

Our report includes numbers for people who have been hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19 in England and have died. We currently report on published NHS data.

The report also looks at “excess all-cause mortality”, which tracks whether the number of deaths of any cause occurring in the country is above the expected level for this time of year. This is an important indicator of deaths that may be due to COVID but where the infection not diagnosed or confirmed. It may also indicate deaths due to other causes, where COVID infection may be a contributor. For more information on deaths registered weekly (in England and Wales) visit the Office for National Statistics.

International situation

The final section of our report includes confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the world including the overall number of deaths.

Future data sources

Our weekly surveillance report and data dashboard will keep evolving as new data become available, for instance we are planning to include ethnicity data in future reports.

Opportunities to collect anonymised data will emerge from the different pillars of the Government’s testing strategy and from new tools and apps such as the NHS status tracker and systems used to scale up contact tracing.

Keep checking back on our weekly surveillance reports when they are published every Thursday on GOV.UK.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus published first on https://venabeahan.tumblr.com

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus

Coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus particle isolated from a UK case of the disease Covid-19. SARS-CoV-2.

One of PHE’s core functions is disease surveillance; making sure we have the right information available to us at the right time to inform decisions and actions across the public health system.

Surveillance involves gathering a wide variety of data about a disease from a range of sources, to provide us with situational awareness.

We need to understand the areas of the country which are most affected by an outbreak of disease, whether particular groups of people are affected, whether symptoms are getting more severe and when the outbreak might have peaked. This is then used to inform public health action to help prevent and control the disease.

And surveillance also provides data to be used by modellers; scientists who aim to predict how outbreaks will progress based on a range of different scenarios.

This blog will focus purely on COVID-19, but it’s important to know that surveillance is a well-established part of PHE’s day to day work. You can read about our approach to tracking seasonal flu in this recent blog.

COVID-19 surveillance

To help understand the spread of COVID-19, PHE uses a wide variety of real-time data at both local and national level, and in order to keep the public health system informed about the data we’ve been collecting, we are now publishing a weekly surveillance report and weekly infographic.

In this blog we want to explain what the report contains, setting out the mix of data we use based both on cases of coronavirus confirmed by laboratories, but also “syndromic surveillance” which uses anonymised real-time health data collected from a wide range of sources, such as GPs, hospitals or even Google searches.

Surveillance systems are chosen so they can be measured regularly and consistently. No single piece of data tells the whole story of any outbreak, nor can any system provide a definitive figure for exactly how many people could have COVID-19 as many will have a mild illness and never report it to the health services.

By bringing together a wide range of data we can make well informed judgements about emerging trends, geographical variations and the groups of people most affected.

Confirmed cases in England

Our weekly surveillance report includes a page on laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in England that includes an age/sex breakdown.  An epidemic curve showing the progression of cases over time is also included on the infographic.

The data are shown by the date the specimen was taken from the person being tested, rather than the date the lab carried out testing and sent data to PHE. While this gives the most accurate analysis of how the cases progress over time it does mean that the latest days’ figures are usually incomplete – so it shouldn’t be seen as a sudden large drop in cases.

It’s also important to remember that most testing to date has been offered to those in hospital with a medical need as well as NHS key workers, rather than the general population, many with mild symptoms. So confirmed cases represent the typical population of people with severe disease, rather than all of those who get infected.

This is a weekly total rather than the latest daily update, so to stay up to date with daily confirmed cases please use our dashboard which is updated every afternoon.

Our surveillance report also breaks down confirmed COVID-19 cases by PHE centre (PHE has 9 centres based across the country) and NHS region.

Community surveillance

PHE has a network of health protection teams across the country made up of scientists and experts trained to manage infectious disease outbreaks. These teams are constantly on the lookout for outbreaks in venues like schools or care homes and collecting this information is vital at both local level and to inform our national response.

The weekly surveillance report brings together the information provided by our health protection teams such as any “acute respiratory outbreaks” in a community setting, including cases where coronavirus has been confirmed.

As we move out of the winter season and infections like flu become less prevalent, we would expect most outbreaks in community settings to be related to COVID-19 (an “outbreak” is defined as two or more people experiencing a similar illness, which appears to be linked to a place).

However, we also know that not everyone who gets COVID-19 will necessarily report their symptoms to a doctor or phone NHS 111, but many might turn to the internet to help find information and tips to speed up their recovery.

Our internet-based surveillance tracks the volumes of people searching for typical symptoms of coronavirus on search engines like Google, and we look out for evidence that numbers of these searches are increasing above expected levels.

Finally, our online FluSurvey is completed by the public and tracks self-reported respiratory symptoms. The tool has now been adapted to monitor community prevalence and trend of symptoms related to Covid-19.

Primary care surveillance

Our surveillance activity includes a range of data submitted by GPs across the country.

The PHE GP in-hours system monitors the daily number of GP consultations where patients have a presented with a range of respiratory symptoms including COVID-19 cases. This scheme has very wide coverage of the England population with around 4500 GP surgeries (covering a patient population of around 40 million) reporting into it each day.

And our GP Out-of-Hours system monitors the numbers of daily unscheduled visits and calls to out-of-hours GP services across England, particularly during evenings, overnight, on weekends and on public holidays, again where patients report they have respiratory symptoms.

Together these schemes provide vital intelligence from around the country about the number of people who are showing the signs and symptoms of coronavirus.

It’s important to point out that when looking at these figures, we take account of the fact that official Government advice has urged people who believe they have coronavirus to contact NHS 111 or visit nhs.net, rather than going to their GP.

The primary care (GP) schemes above offer us data based on the clinical judgment of GPs who record whether their patient has presented with respiratory illness, but we also run a primary care scheme which involves laboratory testing of patients.

The RCGP Swabbing Scheme sees GPs taking swabs from patients, or asking patients to swab themselves, when the consult a GP for respiratory symptoms – this comes from a sample of around 200 GP practices. This provides us with a test “positivity rate” which we can monitor week by week, by age and by region to see if the proportion of people with confirmed COVID-19 increases. This surveillance system provides added insight because, unlike testing in hospital, it offers information about milder respiratory illness seen in the community.

Secondary care surveillance

We also collect surveillance data from hospitals across the country and you’ll find information about these in the weekly report.

Our Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System monitors the number of daily visits (from people suffering with respiratory illnesses) to a network of around 70 emergency departments across England.

We have also set up a scheme called the COVID-19 Hospitalisation in England Surveillance System, or “CHESS”, with over 130 hospitals participating and more coming on-line all the time. It is recommended that all patients with serious respiratory infections in these hospitals are tested for coronavirus, and the results are reported to PHE.

CHESS was set up specifically for surveillance purposes and is used to help us the estimate daily rate of new hospital admissions for people with COVID-19, so it may differ from other published figures such as the total number of people currently in hospital with COVID-19.

Virological surveillance

Our weekly surveillance report contains information from the Respiratory Datamart project. This is an important laboratory surveillance tool for monitoring major respiratory viruses circulating in England. We analyse samples from a sample of PHE and associated NHS laboratories based in all parts of the country and publish the percentage of tests that are positive for COVID-19 in the report. Changes in the proportion of tests that are positive are an important early indicator of changes in the incidence of infection.

Mortality surveillance

Our report includes numbers for people who have been hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19 in England and have died. We currently report on published NHS data.

The report also looks at “excess all-cause mortality”, which tracks whether the number of deaths of any cause occurring in the country is above the expected level for this time of year. This is an important indicator of deaths that may be due to COVID but where the infection not diagnosed or confirmed. It may also indicate deaths due to other causes, where COVID infection may be a contributor. For more information on deaths registered weekly (in England and Wales) visit the Office for National Statistics.

International situation

The final section of our report includes confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the world including the overall number of deaths.

Future data sources

Our weekly surveillance report and data dashboard will keep evolving as new data become available, for instance we are planning to include ethnicity data in future reports.

Opportunities to collect anonymised data will emerge from the different pillars of the Government’s testing strategy and from new tools and apps such as the NHS status tracker and systems used to scale up contact tracing.

Keep checking back on our weekly surveillance reports when they are published every Thursday on GOV.UK.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.tumblr.com/

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus

Coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus particle isolated from a UK case of the disease Covid-19. SARS-CoV-2.

One of PHE’s core functions is disease surveillance; making sure we have the right information available to us at the right time to inform decisions and actions across the public health system.

Surveillance involves gathering a wide variety of data about a disease from a range of sources, to provide us with situational awareness.

We need to understand the areas of the country which are most affected by an outbreak of disease, whether particular groups of people are affected, whether symptoms are getting more severe and when the outbreak might have peaked. This is then used to inform public health action to help prevent and control the disease.

And surveillance also provides data to be used by modellers; scientists who aim to predict how outbreaks will progress based on a range of different scenarios.

This blog will focus purely on COVID-19, but it’s important to know that surveillance is a well-established part of PHE’s day to day work. You can read about our approach to tracking seasonal flu in this recent blog.

COVID-19 surveillance

To help understand the spread of COVID-19, PHE uses a wide variety of real-time data at both local and national level, and in order to keep the public health system informed about the data we’ve been collecting, we are now publishing a weekly surveillance report and weekly infographic.

In this blog we want to explain what the report contains, setting out the mix of data we use based both on cases of coronavirus confirmed by laboratories, but also “syndromic surveillance” which uses anonymised real-time health data collected from a wide range of sources, such as GPs, hospitals or even Google searches.

Surveillance systems are chosen so they can be measured regularly and consistently. No single piece of data tells the whole story of any outbreak, nor can any system provide a definitive figure for exactly how many people could have COVID-19 as many will have a mild illness and never report it to the health services.

By bringing together a wide range of data we can make well informed judgements about emerging trends, geographical variations and the groups of people most affected.

Confirmed cases in England

Our weekly surveillance report includes a page on laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in England that includes an age/sex breakdown.  An epidemic curve showing the progression of cases over time is also included on the infographic.

The data are shown by the date the specimen was taken from the person being tested, rather than the date the lab carried out testing and sent data to PHE. While this gives the most accurate analysis of how the cases progress over time it does mean that the latest days’ figures are usually incomplete – so it shouldn’t be seen as a sudden large drop in cases.

It’s also important to remember that most testing to date has been offered to those in hospital with a medical need as well as NHS key workers, rather than the general population, many with mild symptoms. So confirmed cases represent the typical population of people with severe disease, rather than all of those who get infected.

This is a weekly total rather than the latest daily update, so to stay up to date with daily confirmed cases please use our dashboard which is updated every afternoon.

Our surveillance report also breaks down confirmed COVID-19 cases by PHE centre (PHE has 9 centres based across the country) and NHS region.

Community surveillance

PHE has a network of health protection teams across the country made up of scientists and experts trained to manage infectious disease outbreaks. These teams are constantly on the lookout for outbreaks in venues like schools or care homes and collecting this information is vital at both local level and to inform our national response.

The weekly surveillance report brings together the information provided by our health protection teams such as any “acute respiratory outbreaks” in a community setting, including cases where coronavirus has been confirmed.

As we move out of the winter season and infections like flu become less prevalent, we would expect most outbreaks in community settings to be related to COVID-19 (an “outbreak” is defined as two or more people experiencing a similar illness, which appears to be linked to a place).

However, we also know that not everyone who gets COVID-19 will necessarily report their symptoms to a doctor or phone NHS 111, but many might turn to the internet to help find information and tips to speed up their recovery.

Our internet-based surveillance tracks the volumes of people searching for typical symptoms of coronavirus on search engines like Google, and we look out for evidence that numbers of these searches are increasing above expected levels.

Finally, our online FluSurvey is completed by the public and tracks self-reported respiratory symptoms. The tool has now been adapted to monitor community prevalence and trend of symptoms related to Covid-19.

Primary care surveillance

Our surveillance activity includes a range of data submitted by GPs across the country.

The PHE GP in-hours system monitors the daily number of GP consultations where patients have a presented with a range of respiratory symptoms including COVID-19 cases. This scheme has very wide coverage of the England population with around 4500 GP surgeries (covering a patient population of around 40 million) reporting into it each day.

And our GP Out-of-Hours system monitors the numbers of daily unscheduled visits and calls to out-of-hours GP services across England, particularly during evenings, overnight, on weekends and on public holidays, again where patients report they have respiratory symptoms.

Together these schemes provide vital intelligence from around the country about the number of people who are showing the signs and symptoms of coronavirus.

It’s important to point out that when looking at these figures, we take account of the fact that official Government advice has urged people who believe they have coronavirus to contact NHS 111 or visit nhs.net, rather than going to their GP.

The primary care (GP) schemes above offer us data based on the clinical judgment of GPs who record whether their patient has presented with respiratory illness, but we also run a primary care scheme which involves laboratory testing of patients.

The RCGP Swabbing Scheme sees GPs taking swabs from patients, or asking patients to swab themselves, when the consult a GP for respiratory symptoms – this comes from a sample of around 200 GP practices. This provides us with a test “positivity rate” which we can monitor week by week, by age and by region to see if the proportion of people with confirmed COVID-19 increases. This surveillance system provides added insight because, unlike testing in hospital, it offers information about milder respiratory illness seen in the community.

Secondary care surveillance

We also collect surveillance data from hospitals across the country and you’ll find information about these in the weekly report.

Our Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System monitors the number of daily visits (from people suffering with respiratory illnesses) to a network of around 70 emergency departments across England.

We have also set up a scheme called the COVID-19 Hospitalisation in England Surveillance System, or “CHESS”, with over 130 hospitals participating and more coming on-line all the time. It is recommended that all patients with serious respiratory infections in these hospitals are tested for coronavirus, and the results are reported to PHE.

CHESS was set up specifically for surveillance purposes and is used to help us the estimate daily rate of new hospital admissions for people with COVID-19, so it may differ from other published figures such as the total number of people currently in hospital with COVID-19.

Virological surveillance

Our weekly surveillance report contains information from the Respiratory Datamart project. This is an important laboratory surveillance tool for monitoring major respiratory viruses circulating in England. We analyse samples from a sample of PHE and associated NHS laboratories based in all parts of the country and publish the percentage of tests that are positive for COVID-19 in the report. Changes in the proportion of tests that are positive are an important early indicator of changes in the incidence of infection.

Mortality surveillance

Our report includes numbers for people who have been hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19 in England and have died. We currently report on published NHS data.

The report also looks at “excess all-cause mortality”, which tracks whether the number of deaths of any cause occurring in the country is above the expected level for this time of year. This is an important indicator of deaths that may be due to COVID but where the infection not diagnosed or confirmed. It may also indicate deaths due to other causes, where COVID infection may be a contributor. For more information on deaths registered weekly (in England and Wales) visit the Office for National Statistics.

International situation

The final section of our report includes confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the world including the overall number of deaths.

Future data sources

Our weekly surveillance report and data dashboard will keep evolving as new data become available, for instance we are planning to include ethnicity data in future reports.

Opportunities to collect anonymised data will emerge from the different pillars of the Government’s testing strategy and from new tools and apps such as the NHS status tracker and systems used to scale up contact tracing.

Keep checking back on our weekly surveillance reports when they are published every Thursday on GOV.UK.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Using data to track the virus published first on https://drugaddictionsrehab.tumblr.com/