Screenshot of the Day: Assassin's Creed II

I shooed an eagle off in order to crouch there.
Assassin's Creed II is a stealth/parkour/stabbing people game with a strong focus on historical setting. It's widely considered to be the peak of the Assassin's Creed series, and I decided I could no longer overlook the 75% off sale on Steam. Assassin's Creed II is set in Renaissance Italy, a colorful and energetic setting. You play as a young Florentine nobleman who turns to assassination when his family is decimated by a conspiracy.

Some of my favorite moments in Assassin's Creed II are the chases. I'll be walking through a crowd and hear a bunch of hooligans begin to recognize me as the guy who beat up their boss earlier. As they run towards me, I just need to hold down two buttons and sprint towards the nearest stack of crates for my character to vault up onto the rooftoops. From there, I can run and hide or clobber my pursuers one by one as they clamber up after me.

Contrary to my expectations, I spent most of my time in Assassin's Creed II leaping over rooftops or pick-pocketing merchants rather than stabbing people. After three hours of playtime, I've only assassinated one person. A lot of hardcore gamers say that Assassin's Creed II is too easy, but the difficulty is just what I want at the moment, allowing me to traverse and play in  a beautiful and vital city without too much frustration.

Exit Part 5

Buenos Aires-- the name meant 'good wind' in Spanish, as the city was a popular destination for people resetting their timekeeping devices. Exit had never been to Buenos Aires before, but only stumbled once as he stepped off the Knotleaguer's gangplank. The air was so fresh that he almost had a concussion.

Tim stepped down beside him. "Something wrong, Exit?"
"Oh, I'm okay," said Exit. "I just got a funny feeling that I haven't been here before."
Captain Loophole sidled up grinning. "Ho yes, I believe the term is 'pas vu jusqu'à maintenant'. S'not supposed to be eerie, though." Captain Loophole probably would have said more, but he had a concussion and sprawled face-down on the dock.

Exit grabbed Captain Loophole's arms and Tim grabbed his legs. "Stop grabbing my legs, Tim," said Exit.
"Sorry, got confused there," said Tim. He grabbed Captain Loophole's legs and together they carried him to the nearest establishment-- Motel Barato. Each room cost just fifteen cents, so Exit paid for three, only discovering later that they were all the same room.

After depositing Captain Loophole on the motel bed, Exit turned to Tim and nodded. "Want to go look around the town?"
"Sure," said Tim. "There are a lot of good places to not eat down the road."
"Perfect. I just spent our last forty-five cents."
"This air is pretty fresh stuff, though, innit?"
"As you say, Tim."

Tales of the Urban Dead Part 3

Albert Newman was rummaging through the junkyard once again. Life was lived on the edge of a knife, but people eventually find routine in everything. Shackleville had been calm for a few days, and Albert had been daring enough to take one or two long scouting trips.

Albert picked up a discarded stapler, weighing it in his hand before casting it back on the piles of rubbish. Then came the howl. Shrieks echoed from the direction Albert had come from. Had St. Helier's been overrun? Grabbing his trusty length of pipe, Albert sprinted towards the noise. Just north of the church, a man was being mauled by a zombie. Gritting his teeth, Albert charged forward, pipe sweaty in his hands. As the zombie turned to face the new threat, Albert swung with all his might, clobbering the zombie upside the head and sending it reeling. Knocking the creature down with a blow to the back, Albert scrambled over to the attacked man.

The victim was still alive, though bleeding from cuts on his head and arms. Grabbing the man under the arms, Albert dragged him back, glance darting between the dazed zombie and the doors of St. Helier's. It was a long way to go. Hauling the man behind a ruined bench, Albert grabbed several bandages from his pack, fumbling as he attempted to staunch the man's bleeding.

A loud groan sounded through the square and Albert looked up. The first zombie was getting up, and a second was appearing from a side street. Albert grabbed the man again and pulled, but after dragging him another few feet, he knew he would never make it back to the church in time. Dropping the limp body as the first zombie stumbled forwards, Albert swung his pipe again, knocking the creature back again. With a brief prayer, Albert looked once more upon the dying man and turned to run.

That night, Albert sat alone in the emptiness of St. Heliers, cleaning the congealed blood from his length of pipe. He kept telling himself that he had done all he could, and in the end fell into an uneasy sleep after triple-checking the bars on all the doors. Outside, one new zombie rose to haunt the streets.

Ablaut and Other Things

Latin and English have their differences, but I've been surprised by how closely related (relatively) they really are. A lot of the Latin vocabulary is easy to remember simply because it has a direct link to the English words we use today. For example, 'to see' is 'videre' in Latin-- even if I don't make the connection with "veni vidi vici", English words like 'view' and 'video' provide threads along which to determine meaning.

Today in Latin class, we learned about a feature shared throughout the happy family of Indo-European languages: ablaut. It wasn't an in-depth lesson, but as far as I can tell, ablaut is a German term referring to vowels shifting along with changing tenses (and possibly other things). Just as 'I sing' goes to 'I sang', 'cano' goes to 'cecini'. There's a lot going on behind the scenes with these languages, and while I'm not the one to figure out how these things work, it's fascinating to learn about.

Waking Up

Say three alarms are set for waking dour

Eight-ten, fifteen, and half the early hour

Upon the sounding first the thing to do

Is not to cancel both the other two

It happened so that happened this today

One wheezy 'larm was rung while snug I lay

My strength enough to cease the ringing noise

Was not enough to alter supine poise

And thus I slept après 'larm and avant

For dozing thus would hence past sleeping want

Forgotten schedule lay for time aside

As eyelids claimed the sleep alarm denied

The sleepy comfort of the bed' demand

Thus waged a war with daily duties planned

Science Facts: Coke Floats

A can of standard Coca-Cola has a density of 1.042 g/mL, but a can of Diet Coke has a density of just 0.997 g/mL. While it's not a big difference, water's standard density is 1 g/mL, resulting in Diet Coke floating while regular Coke will sink. If you want to get rid of all your non-diet drinks without having to look at each individual can, empty your fridge into a large body of water and collect any cans that float.

Tales of the Urban Dead Part 2

The search for other survivors was fruitless, but Albert Newman began to scout further and further afield for supplies. St. Helier's was situated next to a police station, a sure place to find weapons and survival gear, but the station's entrances had been heavily barricaded.

Albert eventually struck gold in a junkyard to the south. Rummaging through the heaps of trash, he picked up a slim length of pipe-- a crude weapon at best, but effective against zombies. Albert was about to make the journey back to St. Helier's when he spotted a rusty jerry can hidden under a shredded tire. Even better, it was still half-full of fuel.

In the zombie apocalypse, fuel meant life-- electricity, communications, vehicles, and more. Albert Newman returned home in silent triumph, a spark of brightness in grey-walled Shackleville.