Video of the week: laser weapons on sea, land and air – The Engineer

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17th September 202011:56 am17th September 202011:58 am

In 2015 The Engineer reported that Lockheed Martin was to manufacture high-powered laser weapons and today we bring you a video from the company highlighting its advances in this field.

According to the company, a range of threats mortar and artillery shells, small UAVs, lightweight ground vehicles and small attack boats can now be defeated from a range of around one mile away.

The Laser Weapon System page of the companys website states: As fibre laser power levels increase, our systems will be able to disable larger threats and do so across greater distances. When operated in conjunction with kinetic energy systems, these systems can serve as a force multiplier.

As the company says, the time for laser weapons systems has come. See for yourself in the video below.

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Video of the week: laser weapons on sea, land and air - The Engineer

Confederate flag could be removed from Williamson County seal and more Nashville news – Community Impact Newspaper

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The Williamson County Board of Commissioners met Sept. 14 to hear a recommendation on the county seal. (Screenshot via YouTube)

Read the latest news from the Nashville area.

Williamson County

Williamson County approves recommendation to remove Confederate flag from county seal

Following weeks of debate and seeking community feedback, the Williamson County Board of Commissioners voted 16-7 on Sept. 14 approving a resolution to accept a recommendation to remove the Confederate flag from the county seal.

DATA: See 6 months of tracking COVID-19 in Williamson County

The Tennessee Department of Health releases several data points each day, and with changes in reporting practices in recent weeks, it can be difficult to know what each metric means.

Here is a breakdown of reporting metrics with local data from the last six months.

Williamson County active coronavirus cases remain stable; cases in school-age children up 13% since last week

The number of active coronavirus cases in Williamson County is 407, according to the Sept. 14 update from the Tennessee Department of Health. While this number is up slightly from Sept. 3, when the department changed its reporting practices to account for shorter active case periods, the total is the same as last week.

3 development projects to know in Williamson County

A number of construction projects, including hotels and new schools, are underway in Williamson County, Take a look at a few currently in progress.

Franklin

Robert Blair selected board chair for Franklin Special School District; community members call for former chair to resign

Following the announcement last week that Tim Stillings, a member of the Franklin Special School District board, would not volunteer to serve as board chair this year, FSSD board member Robert Blair was named as the new board chair Sept. 14.

Brentwood

City of Brentwood to conduct smoke testing in residential areas

As part of the city's ongoing work to improve its sewer system, the city of Brentwood will be conducting smoke testing over the next few weeks in some Brentwood neighborhoods.

Wendy Sturges contributed to this report.

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Confederate flag could be removed from Williamson County seal and more Nashville news - Community Impact Newspaper

Third attempt to build 150 homes on Chester flood risk area branded ‘nonsense’ – Cheshire Live

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A third application to build up to 150 homes in Chester has been lodged with Cheshire West & Chester Council.

For the third time in five years an application to build on land adjacent to Clifton Drive playing fields off Sealand Road has been submitted despite the previous two attempts being unanimously rejected.

The latest application is being submitted by the administrators of former applicant Sealand Commercial Properties Limited (SCP), with Smith & Williamson looking to try and recoup some money by making a last ditch attempt to get the green light.

The plans submitted are for 150 homes with the demolition of four properties on Sealand Road to create access.

The issue over Clifton Drive and the land for the proposed development opposite has rumbled on for a number of years, the previous applications rejected owing to the land being designated a Category Three flood area, one that comes with a very high risk.

In 2015 a bid was submitted for the site by Bloor Homes and SCP before another arrived a little over 12 months when Guernsey-based Astu, again in partnership with SCP, had their application for 280 residential units rejected.

Andy Scargill, chairman of the Friends of Countess of Chester Country Park, has campaigned on the issue in the past and believes this latest attempt to be 'total nonsense'.

"Back in 2012 the old Chester City Council had a report commissioned on the flood plain area that these plans are looking to build on and in each scenario that was modelled the area flooded," Mr Scargill told CheshireLive.

"If the embankment goes then it would be very serious and there would be a huge issue with regards to flooding.

"The administrators on this occasion are obviously trying to recoup what they can so are dipping their toe into the water with this plan again, possibly in the hope that Brexit and COVID-19 will have people distracted enough for them to get outline planning, which is all they really need for the land to be of real value.

"I don't blame them, they are clawing back cash for people who have lost a lot, but my own personal view is that it is total nonsense.

"I'm angry and amused at the same time that someone would consider such a move at such a time like we are currently experiencing.

"I've said it before now but speculators don't care about Chester, they are not from the area and care about the profit and not about what is best for the city and its residents."

Back in February 2018 planning consent was given to Bark Street Investments for 142 homes on the Clifton Drive playing fields site opposite, land which the University of Chester still own the leasehold of.

Find out what's being built in your area by entering your postcode below.

That application was initially rejected before being overturned in 2016 by the High Court, an inquiry opened by the Secretary of State who upheld the decision.

But the land still remains undeveloped.

"When Clifton Drive got planning permission I felt like throwing in the towel," said Mr Scargill.

"The Local Plan had enough housing for 25 years so there was no need for such a development to be pushed through. For a Planning Inspector to say yes to it I found staggering.

"It is land that should never be built upon."

The deadline for comments on the proposals is Friday, September 25.

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Third attempt to build 150 homes on Chester flood risk area branded 'nonsense' - Cheshire Live

Here’s Why Sealand Capital Shares Surged 45% Today – AskTraders

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Shares of Sealand Capital Galaxy Ltd (LON: SCGL) today surged 57.1% despite the company not making any big announcements as investors bought the companys shares causing its share price to rise.

The last significant announcement form the company was on September 1st when it announced the introduction of the Qiaohuajiao brand of fish maw into mainland China and the brand recognition that it had built since the summer.

The companys marketing efforts had paid off immensely since introducing the fish into the market on 8 July 2020.

Sealand Capital describes itself as a company that provides financial and strategic support to entrepreneurs and this is clear from its partnerships with WeChat and Tencent to provide seamless services in HongKong and across the world.

The companys shares are trading near its all-time lows and may present an excellent opportunity for long-term investors and medium-term swing traders in equal measure.

Sealand Capital share price

Sealand Capital shares today rallied 57.1% to trade at 2.20p having risen from Thursdays closing price of 1.40p.

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Here's Why Sealand Capital Shares Surged 45% Today - AskTraders

Hundreds break covid rules to watch ‘illegal street race’ over the border – North Wales Live

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This video shows hundreds of people gathering along a road to allegedly watch an "illegal street race."

The footage from a dashcam belonging to Tom Jones shows crowds of onlookers lining the streets as cars whizz by in the opposite direction.

It was captured last night as Mr Jones drove along Bumper's Lane in Chester near Sealand Industrial Estate which is close to the border, reports Cheshire Live.

New covid rules in England mean outdoor gatherings of more than six people are illegal.

The incident has been reported to Cheshire Police.

Tom said: "The council have spent a lot of money resurfacing this road only for it to be abused by these idiots. Not only that but an illegal gathering for covid too.

"I have heard car racing nights in the past often on late Sunday evenings and wondered where it came from. Now I know."

Cheshire Constabulary define "street racing" as illegal racing of any kind of vehicle on a public road.

The only time street racing is permitted is when the organiser has obtained prior permission from the police as part of an organised event.

Cheshire Live has approached Cheshire Constabulary for comment.

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Hundreds break covid rules to watch 'illegal street race' over the border - North Wales Live

Artist creates giant image of seal and her pup using natural contours of an iconic beach – Yahoo News UK

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The Telegraph

Coronavirus was not the main cause of death for nearly one third of recorded Covid-19 victims in July and August, research by Oxford University has found. Analysis shows that around 30 percent of people included in the coronavirus death toll by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) over the summer months had died primarily from other conditions. It means someone who suffered a heart attack, or even died in a road traffic accident, may have been included in the figures if they had also tested positive for coronavirus at some point, or if doctors believed the virus may have exacerbated their condition. Throughout the entire pandemic, around one in 13 people currently classed as Covid-19 victims did not have the disease as an underlying cause of death. It means 3,877 deaths (7.8 per cent) in which coronavirus was not the primary cause have been included in the figures. In July and August, that number jumped to 28.8 per cent of all registered deaths, meaning Covid-19 was not the main cause of death in 465 of 1,617 recorded victims (listen to the podcast below, which discusses whether Britain's death toll could be set to increase again).

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Artist creates giant image of seal and her pup using natural contours of an iconic beach - Yahoo News UK

Ministry hopes restored cave will attract seals, bats – Cyprus Mail

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Ministry hopes restored cave will attract seals, bats - Cyprus Mail

Despair in Lebanon pushing some to flee to Europe in boats – CTV News

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TRIPOLI, LEBANON -- Mohammed Sufian did not dream of much: a job, food on the table, the chance to buy his 2 1/2-year-old son the little things a toddler wants.

So when he heard that smugglers were taking people from his hometown of Tripoli to the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus, he decided to take the chance with his pregnant wife and child. To pay their way, he sold his furniture and two of his sister's bracelets.

They boarded a small fishing boat with the others. But what would be expected to be a 40-hour trip went badly: For eight harrowing days, they were stranded in the Mediterranean Sea, apparently losing their way and running out of diesel. At least four adults and two children died -- including Sufian's little boy. Six are missing.

"I took my son with me not to give him a high life, not to give him the life of rich people," said Sufian, 21. "I was trying to give him a good life where if he will ask me for a potato chip bag or a juice box I am able to give it to him. This is what drove me out of the country."

In recent weeks, scores of others have tried to make the same illicit sea crossing, attempting to flee a country facing multiple crises and an unprecedented economic and financial collapse.

Generations of Lebanese have emigrated due to war and conflict, including waves of Lebanese who travelled by boat legally to Cyprus during the country's 1975-90 war. But this new flight -- people risking their lives to make illegal crossings in rickety fishing boats to escape poverty -- reflects a level of desperation the country has not seen before.

Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs in the past months. The local currency has lost 80% of its value, eradicating the purchasing power of many in this tiny country of 5 million where corruption and mismanagement are widespread. Unemployment has reached a soaring 35% and poverty is skyrocketing.

The crisis has been worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and last month's massive explosion at Beirut port which fed despair among a population that has long given up on its leaders.

Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, had been one of the poorest and most neglected regions even before the crisis. The city is also home to tens of thousands of Syrians who fled civil war in their country that broke out in March 2011. Many of those taking the boats have been Syrian refugees.

Earlier this month, authorities in Cyprus said they were alarmed by the arrival of four boats carrying Syrian and Lebanese migrants in waters off its coastline. European Union member Cyprus and Lebanon have an agreement to prevent migrants from reaching the island nation.

The boat carrying Sufian's family and 46 other men, women and children, mostly Lebanese and Syrians, left Tripoli on Sept. 7. Each had paid the smuggler the equivalent of up to $930 in Lebanese pounds.

Upon boarding, all their belongings, including food and water, were taken away -- ostensibly, they were too heavy. All would be returned, brought to them by another boat once they are away from Lebanon's coast, they were told.

They never got them back, and were left under the scorching sun, without water or food.

Sufian said that 20 hours after they sailed, his son began asking for water and milk. Having nothing to give and overcome by the heat and his own worry, Sufian fainted, he says. When he woke up, Sufian found that his relatives had given the boy three bottles of sea water.

"My son died later because of lack of food and water," Sufian said. He washed his son and followed the Islamic tradition of covering him with a cloth. Three days later, he dropped the body into the sea, thinking they might never make it back to land.

Sufian said several ships passed the stranded boat but no one helped, perhaps because they feared pirates. After six deaths, a half-dozen men leapt into the sea to seek help.

Ibrahim Lisheen, a 22-year-old migrant, swam for hours. Finally, he reached a warship for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL; its crew rescued those remaining on the boat. They were offered treatment and handed over to Lebanese authorities in Beirut.

Late Thursday, the body of a young man believed to have been on the ship washed up on the coast south of Beirut. Six are still missing, among them Mohammed Mohammed, 27, who left Lebanon to help his parents and seven sisters.

His father, Khaldoun, says his son had been jobless for years after he lost his job at a shop that sells fire extinguishers; he grew tired of taking "money from me to buy cigarettes," and decided to join cousins who were making the crossing. Mohammed had sold his sister's neckless to pay the smugglers.

The two men who took the money and put the migrants on the fishing boat are in hiding and families are demanding that they be punished.

Mohammed's mother, Afaf Abdul-Hamid, goes to the coast of Tripoli every day, hoping that her son will swim home. "These are human traffickers. They took my son to the middle of the sea and left him there with no food or water."

Lisheen, whose heroics led to the rescue, is furious. "Look at my body, it was eaten by fish. My body is swollen, my teeth were broken due to the salty water and I lost a lot of things," he said, as friends massaged his body with Aloe Vera to alleviate his sunburn.

Why did he take the risk? "I did that because of poverty, it makes us blind," he said. "To those who are asking me why you are leaving, I am telling them why, I am leaving in order to feed my family, my mother."

Sufian and his wife, expected to give birth in two months, live with their sorrow. And the grieving father relives, again and again, the moment when his dreams of a better life for his family became a nightmare.

"My son died due to thirst, I shrouded him with my hands, I washed him with my hands and with my hands I dropped him in the water after three days, because I lost hope."

------

Associated Press writers Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

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Despair in Lebanon pushing some to flee to Europe in boats - CTV News

Can we just drown our carbon emissions in the ocean? – Grist

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Q. Dear Umbra,

Is there a maximum amount of CO2 that the ocean can absorb? What will be the effects should this happen?

Some Questions Underestimate Imminent Doom

A. Dear SQUID,

Once you learn how many of the various expressions of climate change drought, hurricanes, even wildfires have to do with fluctuations in the ocean, its hard to stop thinking about it. We land-dwellers tend to think of the ocean as this distant, mysterious, separate place. And while the vast majority of it is certainly distant and mysterious, its not separate at all! Marine flora produce more than half of the oxygen humans breathe, ocean currents determine how weather systems move and develop, and sometimes if youre lucky enough to be near a shoreline at the right time, you can see a seal and thats always incredible!

Help Grist raise $20,000 by 9/30. Just click the image above

But understanding marine fluctuations and their effects on dry land requires some grasp of several scientific concepts that, if youre anything like me, you havent thought about since high school. (Dont worry I made sure to consult actual experts on ocean chemistry for this column rather than rely solely on my own understanding of air-sea gas exchange.) And not to spoil the ending, but you dont want the ocean to absorb too much of the carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere. (Like, for example, everything thats coming out of the Western wildfires. Yikes.)

Lets start by talking about the concept of a carbon sink basically a natural or artificial reservoir that stores carbon rather than letting it cray all around in the atmosphere. You can find carbon sinks in lots of different ecosystems; they include peat bogs, grasslands, and mangroves. But the ocean is the planets biggest carbon sink by far. Scientists estimate that the ocean absorbs at least a quarter and perhaps as much as half! of all human activity-produced CO2 every year.

Heres how it works: The surface of the ocean and the air above exchange molecules all the time; that explains both how we end up with bits of microplastics in ocean air (not nice) and how carbon dioxide gets pulled out of the atmosphere (nice!). Where does all that marine carbon go? Some of it gets converted into biomass by underwater critters that consider it a delicious, nourishing treat.

There are a bunch of organisms at the sunlit surface level of the ocean kelp! Phytoplankton! Blue-green algae! that convert carbon into sugar via photosynthesis. That sustenance then gets passed along the food chain. The carbon that gets processed out as waste then sinks to the depths of the ocean where ocean scientists like to refer to it as marine snow. Whatever snow isnt consumed ends up as a thick blanket of ooze (NOAAs words, not mine) that makes up about 75 percent of the ocean floor. Meanwhile, the oceans surface is free to absorb more carbon and start the process all over again. James Bishop, a marine chemist who studies the ocean carbon cycle, refers to this process as the biological carbon pump of the ocean.

But carbon dioxide doesnt just get gobbled up by marine plants. It also dissolves in seawater, forming carbonic acid. This weak acid then dissociates relatable! into ions that can throw off the pH of the ocean, with disastrous results. You might know this phenomenon as ocean acidification. Since the Industrial Revolution, the pH of the ocean, which is naturally slightly basic (not in a pumpkin spice way), has shifted from around 8.2 to a pH of 8.1. That might not sound like much, but its very bad news for anything with a skeleton or shell made of calcium carbonate like corals, for example. Those structures can end up weakened or, in the worst cases, straight-up dissolved.

The weaker the organisms that make up the various stages of that carbon pump become, the less the ocean will be able to uptake and store all the extra carbon dioxide were dumping into the atmosphere. Theres also the fun extra factor that as the planet gets hotter, the ocean absorbs a lot of that heat. Warmer water throws off the balance of marine ecosystems as well as messing with the oceans all-important carbon pump. So, unlike a potential matchs dating history, you cant really use past behavior to predict how the oceans carbon cycle will treat us in the future.

We are already adding carbon dioxide at a rate at least 10 times higher than ever observed in the geological record, which spans at least 100 million years, Bishop said. So we dont know what the trajectory of this biological carbon pump is; we dont know who the winners and losers are going to be. Were already in dangerous territory, and yes, we could still do more damage.

I get the sense that youre trying to suss out whether the ocean can act as a sort of repository for all our climate sins. Well, thats been researched! There is another way that you can take carbon dioxide out of the air and stick it into the ocean, but its kind of the geoengineering equivalent of putting all your dirty clothes under your bed and pretending you never have to do laundry again! In the early 2000s, some scientists got together to study what might happen if you pumped carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the deep ocean via pipelines.

There are a lot of issues with this idea, as you might imagine: Its very expensive; it technically violates international conventions that make it illegal for countries to dump their trash into the ocean; and, well, if the ocean is already acidifying it isnt a great idea to dump more CO2 into it, even at its deepest, darkest levels. In fact, the concept of ocean acidification first came to light when the Department of Energy was doing lab experiments to study the possible impacts of deep-sea carbon injection.

I think that very few people are any longer proposing just to inject molecular carbon dioxide into the deep ocean, said Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Science. I think the general feeling is though, yeah, it would kinda sorta work, there must be something better to do than that.

And in the end, Caldeira added: Theres no limit to how much carbon dioxide you could put in the deep ocean, but it wont stay there and it will come out and warm things up. Because the barrier between land and sea is actually very, very thin!

But just because we cant use the ocean as our unlimited carbon hiding spot doesnt mean its all over: Since the whole problem is atmosphere-warming greenhouse gas emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels, companies and governments could devote more effort to figuring out how to not burn fossil fuels. Rather than crossing our fingers and saying a prayer while sticking the byproducts of that fossil fuel-burning into the deepest crevices of the oceans, why not just turn off the carbon tap?

The ocean can hold a lot of our mistakes, but eventually its going to make us pay for them unless we change our ways.

Forebodingly,

Umbra

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Can we just drown our carbon emissions in the ocean? - Grist

The full list of North Wales schools which have reported coronavirus cases – North Wales Live

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Schools across North Wales have been disrupted as a result of positive coronavirus cases.

As pupils return to classrooms this month, a number of schools have had to take action as a result of Covid-19 cases among pupils and staff.

The cases have led to large groups of pupils having to isolate, and partial closures of some sections of schools.

The Welsh Government previously warned parents to expect "periods of disruption" in schools across North Wales amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview with North Wales Live, Welsh Government education minister Kirsty Williams said schools had worked hard planning for the reopening, which had been "mostly successful".

But there were still new cases of coronavirus and it was a reminder for people to follow the rules and practice hand hygiene and socially distance, she said.

Anglesey

Three schools on Anglesey have reported a positive case so far.

Last week, parents and staff at Ysgol Corn Hir, in Llangefni were informed of the positive case and relevant staff and pupils were told to self-isolate for 14 days.

Today (September 15) the local authority have confirmed that one pupil attending Ysgol y Borth, in Menai Bridge, and one pupil attending Ysgol Llanfechell have tested positive for coronavirus.

Anglesey Council said their thoughts were with the pupils who have tested positive for the virus.

Gwynedd

A pupil has tested positive for coronavirus at Ysgol yr Hendre in Caernarfon.

The council stressed staff had been "following a stringent hygiene process and will continue to do so" and that parents had been informed "as quickly as possible".

Two reception classes will be closed until September 28 but the rest of the school will remain open as usual, the council confirmed.

It has also been confirmed that two kitchen staff members at Ysgol Friars in Bangor tested positive for coronavirus.

The school sent out an email last week informing parents that the canteen would be closed due to "unforeseen circumstances".

Parents were told to provide packed lunches for their children, but say the school did not tell them the reason why until around 11am on last Monday (September 7).

Conwy

A coronavirus case was confirmed in a student at Grwp Llandrillo Menai 's Abergele campus.

The organisation confirmed people in the same class were being taught online for two weeks after the case was confirmed on September 8.

The campus remains open to other students.

Ysgol Nant Y Groes in Colwyn Bay confirmed on Friday, September 18 that a pupil at the school had tested positive for coronavirus.

Pupils in the "DRUM, HEBOG and TAL Y FAN" classes at the school have been asked to keep their children home "until further notice".

Denbighshire

In Denbighshire, 30 pupils went into self-isolation after a case was reported at Ysgol Frongoch on Rhyl Road, Denbigh.

Denbighshire County Council's lead member for education said the school and the local authority were working with Test, Trace and Protect teams and "following Welsh Government guidelines" to contain the virus.

All other classes at the site will continue as normal and and the area has been subject to a deep clean.

Flintshire

Five primary schools in Flintshire have been hit by positive cases this week.

On Monday, the council confirmed that there had been a positive case at St John the Baptist VA School in Penymynydd, Flintshire, with pupils in Year 4 being told to isolate.

On Tuesday, they confirmed that there had been a positive case at Ewloe Green Primary School and pupils in Year 3 at the school were now being asked to quarantine.

And on the same day, they said a positive case had impacted pupils at Saltney Wood Memorial Primary School in Flintshire.

Pupils in year 5 and 6 were being asked to isolate.

On Wednesday, it was confirmed that there has been a confirmed case at Sandycroft CP School.

Pupils in Year 3 and 4 at the school are being asked to self isolate and the school remains open to other pupils.

On Thursday, there was a confirmed case at Sealand County Primary School meaning pupils and staff in Year 4 had to self isolate.

There was also a case of a Year 7 pupil at Castell Alun High School in Hope who tested positive.

Coleg Cambria, which has sites in Flintshire and Wrexham, also confirmed that a small number of students had been self isolating due to a suspected case.

They did not say which specific site the case related to.

Wrexham

A primary school in Wrexham was closed for a short period after a member of staff tested positive for coronavirus.

St Christopher's School shut for a short period on September 7, and described the case as an "isolated incident".

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The full list of North Wales schools which have reported coronavirus cases - North Wales Live

Best Blister Treatment and Prevention Products | Gear for Blisters 2020 – Runner’s World

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To put it simply: Dealing with blisters is an actual pain. If youre reading this, you probably already know that blisters are those red, raised areas that look like bubbles and occur mostly on the feet for us runners. Located on the upper layer of skin, they often fill with fluid and may also hurt or itch.

Many runners incur them during races, especially marathons, due to prolonged friction between your skin and sock or shoe. But blisters can pop up at any time, including during training runs, and non-running footwear can be to blame as well.

While most blisters dont pose a serious health risk, they shouldnt be taken lightly. A painful blister can sideline a runneror worse, get infected, especially if you use an unsanitary needle to pop it. Heres a complete guide for blister treatment and the best products for first aid and prevention.

Friction leads to annoying, painful blisters. The culprits are usually our socks, shoes, or both rubbing against our skin. Anything that intensifies rubbing can start a blister, including a faster pace, poor-fitting shoes, and foot abnormalities, such as bunions, heel spurs, and hammertoes. Heat and moisture intensify friction by causing your feet to swell.

Blisters commonly pop up during races or long runs when mileage is increased and friction occurs without intervention. Your body responds to this friction by producing fluid, which builds up beneath the skin thats being rubbed.

And since moisture is also a factor, races are the perfect breeding ground for blisters: Youre perspiring more by running faster and longer, sloshing through water stations and, if the weather is warm, possibly pouring water over your head.

Vadym PlysiukGetty Images

If you have a large blister thats big, nasty, even purple, and its affecting how your toes bend, give it a day or two to shrink, says Jordan Metzl, M.D., a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and a marathoner. If it doesnt improve, you might need to have your doctor pop it in the office under sterile conditions so it doesnt get infected.

If you have a small blister thats not prohibiting your movement, as tempting as it is to touch it, just leave it alone. When the skin and the membrane of the skin are compromised by popping the blister, all of the bacteria that live on the skin normally can invade and could cause inflammation or an infection right away, Metzl says.

You could end up making a very small problem much bigger by puncturing the barrier. You should also leave small blood blisters intact, too. Otherwise, you risk getting bacteria in your bloodstream. Cover it up so the swelling goes down, then try to fix the problem that caused it. Here are some prevention methods to treat small blisters:

If you absolutely must pop a blister (for example, if youre traveling and cant see your doctor), use caution. Metzl suggests cleaning the area and needle with soap and water and following with an antibiotic ointment. Then be sure to clean the area regularly to prevent infection.

One more note: A blister under a nail is best treated by a professional. You never want to deliberately remove the toenail.

To stop blisters before they even start to form, Metzl recommends making sure youre wearing running shoes in the right size. And before you run, coat risky areas with products that dry out your skin, such as baby powder or anti-chafing powder, to minimize the effects of sweating. You can also use a lubricant such as Vaseline or anti-chafing balm to ease pain caused by rubbing.

Shoes that are too small will cause blisters under the toenails or on the tops or tips of the toes. There should be a thumbs width of space between the toes and the end of the toe box. Pay attention to your socks, too: They should fit without bunching up at your toes or slipping down your heels, which are common blister hot spots.

If you suspect your shoes dont fit, consult with your local running store to have an expert help you find your size via a virtual or in-person fitting, or look for socks with reinforced heels and toes to help reduce friction.

Here is the gear we recommend to stave off blisters from occurring, and the products we recommend for healing. Because popping happens.

Lakota Gambill

Altra Torin 4.5 Plush

$139.95

The Torin 4.5 has 360-degree cushioning to surround your foot in a comfy, snug, and secure upper. The Quantic midsole provides a soft and bouncy platform that provides support for your feet and joints. Ample room in the foot-shaped toe box guards against blisters and black toenails.

Buy Mens Buy Womens

Full Review

Lakota Gambill

Topo Athletic Runventure 3

$120.00backcountry.com

Lightweight and flexible, the Runventure is swift on the groomed path and nimble on rugged terrain. The shoe has a rock plate so the pads of your feet wont get poked by trail debris, and a wide forefoot provides stability and wiggle room for your toes. A secure lace enclosure ensures a snug fit without rubbing.

Buy Mens Buy Womens

Full Review

Injinji Run Lightweight No-Show Socks

Isolate your toes to prevent friction by wearing technical toe socks. Injinjis are lightweight and allow your feet to splay thanks to the five-toe design. A heel cuff protects your Achilles, and the nylon-polyester blend wicks away sweat.

Buy Mens Buy Womens

Bombas Performance Running Merino Ankle Socks

Bombass running socks have a heel cuff to prevent irritation from collar rubbing, and a front cuff to shield your skin from tongue friction. The socks are also contoured and cushioned, with a seamless toe.

Buy Mens Buy Womens

Body Glide Original Anti-Chafe Balm

Body Glide is a convenient balm stick thats available in various sizes from .35 to 2.5 ounces, making it packable for travel and easy to pocket on a run. The balm isnt wet or greasy, and keeps pores clog-free.

Squirrels Nut Butter All Natural Anti-Chafe Salve

$13.99

Squirrels Nut Butter is another preventative product you can slather on blister-prone areas. The nut refers to coconut oil. Other ingredients include nourishing and hydrating cocoa butter, beeswax, and Vitamin E.

Dr. Scholls Moleskin Plus Padding Roll

$22.13

This cotton and foam moleskin roll is perfect for padding blisters, callouses, and bunions. Simply cut a piece down to any size and apply to the areaor areason your foot that are prone to hot spots while running.

KT Tape Performance+ Blister Treatment Patch

Protect blisters and ease pain with this durable hydrocolloid gel patch, which has a waterproof seal and is hypoallergenic and latex-free. Its durable enough to last up to seven days on the affected area.

Band-Aid Hydro Seal Adhesive Bandages For Toe Blisters

These sleek gel pads are dedicated little toe guards. The waterproof adhesive keeps the cushioning in place and seals out dirt and germs.

Neosporin Original First Aid Antibiotic Ointment

$6.99

To prevent infection, apply Neosporin and a bandage (like Band-Aids Blister Gel Guard, above). The ointment comes in a small, slim tube thats convenient for travel or storing in your race belt.

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Best Blister Treatment and Prevention Products | Gear for Blisters 2020 - Runner's World

Top tips to get your home Autumn-ready – Property Reporter

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With less than a week to go until the official start of Autumn on September 22nd, now is the best time to make sure that you prepare your home for chillier months.

Below, Nima Ghasri, Director at Good Move, shares five simple tips to get your house ready as we move into cooler weather and save yourself time, money, and stress.

Clear gutters and drains

It is nobodys favourite job, but maintaining your gutters and drains is an essential part of getting your home ready for autumn and winter. Check for obvious cracks or damage and make time to clear your gutters of debris like leaves, moss, and mud before the wet and windy months start. Autumn leaves are lovely to look at, but they can easily cause a blockage and come heavy rain or snow, you risk leaks or even greater damage if water cannot drain away from your house.

Protect your pipes with lagging

A little investment in the milder months can pay off when the temperature drops and one of the things you can do now to save you time and money come autumn and winter is to lag your pipes. Lagging simply refers to foam insulation tubes, which are inexpensive to buy and easy to install just slip the foam tubing over external pipes (particularly plastic pipes) to reduce heat loss from your system. This will make your heating more efficient, helping you to save on energy bills and lagging will also protect your pipes from freezing and bursting in cold weather.

Check your roof and chimney

Your homes roof is one of those things that you do not think about until there is a problem. Water leaking in from an improperly maintained roof or chimney can damage your home, discolour your walls, and in the case of a bad leak, could mark or spoil anything you may keep in your attic.

Even if everything seems fine now, all it takes is a heavy snowfall or a bad spell of wind and rain to dislodge tiles or mortar, allowing draughts and water to sneak into your home. Save yourself some stress come winter check that your tiles are still firmly in place and that any flashing and pointing is still in good condition, or get a roofer to have a look if you dont have easy access.

Winter-proof your windows

If you have wooden window frames or windowsills, they might need a little bit more care and attention during autumn and winter. Wet weather and freezing temperatures can make untreated wood expand and even rot, so ahead of time, make sure you fill in any cracks, check that any sealant is still firmly in place and holding a good seal, and top up any paint if needed.

Get your boiler serviced

It is easy to put off a boiler servicing it can be expensive, and if your boiler is tucked away in a closet or airing cupboard it is a case of out of sight, out of mind. But the very last thing you want is for your boiler to stop working in the dead of winter, leaving you and your family shivering.

Not to mention, in the colder months you may struggle to find someone who can fix your boiler right away and you may also end up paying more due to out of hours rates or emergency callout prices. Even if you have cover for your boiler, most policies may not pay out if your heating system has not been properly maintained so get your boiler serviced now and enjoy a cosy autumn with fully-functional heating.

Nima concludes: The autumn and winter months may be cosy, but if your house isnt prepared ahead of time, you may find that the cold weather brings plenty of stress and extra expense. Hopefully, our helpful tips will help homeowners beat the cold temperatures, rainy days, and blustery winds.

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Top tips to get your home Autumn-ready - Property Reporter

Raised By Wolves Theory: Who Is The Prophet? Every Possibility Explained – Screen Rant

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Raised by Wolves on HBO has many mysteries that are still to be revealed, including if the Mithraic prophet is Campion, Paul, Marcus/Caleb, or no one.

Raised by Wolves on HBO has many mysteries that are still to be revealed, including who the Mithraic prophet is and what they will do for the last survivors of humanity on Kepler-22B. Interestingly, there are several contenders that it could be, all of whom fit the description.

From the beginning of season 1, Raised by Wolves has featured a Mithraic prophecy that a prophet will arise to lead humanity to salvation. The Mithraic priests say that an orphan boy will "come to lead the race into the next evolution of humanity". The obvious choice would be Campion, as he has been at the center of the show from the beginning. However, there are several others who fit the description, and Campion may only be a distraction from the truth.

Related: Raised By Wolves: How Mother ACTUALLY Kills People

Of course, there's also the possibility that there is no prophet. Depending on where showrunnerAaron Guzikowski intends to take the plot of Raised by Wolves, the Mithraic prophet may only be a MacGuffin meant to distract the audience from more important plot twists. Even if the Mithraics choose to appoint and believe someone is the prophet,there may not be anything special about that person. After all, Marcus (Caleb) appears to be gaining trust and control amongst the group, and he is actually an atheist. It will be interesting to see what the show intends to do and the message it chooses to tell. Is humanity better off run purely by science and atheism, or does it need religious belief to survive? Either way, there are several characters who may turn out to be the Mithraic prophet.

There's definitely a solid argument that Campion is the Mithraic prophet. He has been at the forefront of the show since the beginning of the series and perfectly fits the description. He is an orphan, having never known his biological parents because he was an embryo grown in an incubator who was then raised by the androids Mother and Father.

Interestingly, Campionis also named after the atheist hacker Campion Sturges, who reprogrammed Mother for her mission to raise human children on Kepler-22B. He has been raised by Mother and Father to be an atheist, but after meeting some of the Mithraic children has begun to wonderas is natural for every personif there is something greater going on in the universe, mysteries that defy logical explanation. It's difficult to know where Campion will land, but it's likely he will question the ideas of Mother, just like a normal adolescent boy would question their parents, especially when exposed to outside influences. Either way, Campion seems a little too obvious to be the prophet, so there's a good chance the show will take a different turn.

Another character who could be the prophet is Paul. Paul is now an orphan, even if he doesn't know it yet. Marcus and his wife killed his parents, then used facial reconstructive surgery to look like them and replace them in order to escape the dying earth. The Mithraic ship took 13 years to reach Kepler-22B and, during that time, Paul seemed surprised that his parents were actually spending time with him. It's possible he already suspects they're not his real parents, but he likely won't be too upset by this revelation, as his parents didn't sound very caring.

Related: Raised By Wolves: What Actually Happened To All Of Mother's Children

This means that for 13 years, Paul was raised by atheist parents who treated him with more kindness than his religious parents. He will probably have to face this realization at some point, and may or may not turn from the Mithraic path because of it. That said, he could still be the prophet, especially if he embraces his religious roots. Also interesting to note is that the name Paul corresponds with Paul the apostle from the bible, who helped to spread the word of Jesus. Another coincidence, perhaps, is the Paul shares a name with PaulAtreides from Frank Herbert's Dune, who was also a prophet.

Marcus (Travis Fimmel) is an interesting possibility. His real name is Caleb, but after having facial reconstructive surgery he looks just like Marcus, who was a devoted follower of Mithraic doctrine. He was a child soldier who knows a lot about conflict and death. What's more, in a flashback scene, the man who trained him as a child mentions that Caleb/Marcus is an orphan, thus fitting the prophecy.

Marcus has begun to hear voices, which may either indicate that he is receiving divine guidance from Sol or going crazy. Either way, these voices may be enough to sway his atheistic beliefs so that he begins to embrace the Mithraic religion, helping him to survive as he masquerades as one of them. It could also bring him or the others to believe that he is the prophet to help humanity survive on Kepler-22B.

There's also the possibility that the Mithraic prophet has not been born yet. It could be the first human baby to be born naturally on humanity's new home planet. Tempest was raped while in cryosleep by a man who claims he heard Sol's voice tell him to do it. While it's likely this man is crazy, as not even his fellow Mithraics believe him, he could be telling the truth, thereby creating the baby that is to be the one true prophet.

Related: Raised By Wolves: What Mother's "Real" Name Means (& Why It's Important)

Of course, if this is the case, it happened through a despicable act. What god would condone such a thing? Is Sol that kind of god? Mythologically speaking, Gods can be cruel, but it remains to be seen whether Tempest's child will turn out to be humanity's hope for the future.

It should also be noted that Hunter is now an orphan. He "dwells in an empty land" that has demons living beneath it, as the prophecy goes. He is also a devout Mithraic, despite now living under the care of Mother and Father, who insist he become an atheist. He fits the description, and could very well be the prophet.

Thus far in Raised by Wolves, Hunter has not been able to do much, but if he were to escape Mother and return to the Mithraics, he could prove to be a leader of the faith. It's possible he may do something heroic that will prove himself to his people.

Raised by Wolves features a conflict between the highly-religious Mithraic and the atheists. Both sides feel very strongly about their beliefs, one based on faith and the other based on science, so much so that they fought and destroyed Earth, making it uninhabitable for humans. This central conflict points to the core issues of humanity, both of which have made people strong and enabled civilizations to prosper and thrive, despite the fact that they are at war with each other.

Related: Raised By Wolves: What The Show's Title Really Means

So far, Raised by Wolves has been careful not to pick sides, which may be an indication that the writers believe both views are valid. Indeed, the best civilizations are those that find a way to incorporate both faith and science together to fuel progress and prosperity. The materialization of a prophet would point to faith being the stronger of the two, while having no prophet come forward would support a more nihilistic view that the atheists are correct.

If the show is careful, it won't support either view, and will leave things open to thought and interpretation. Even if a prophet is decided by the Mithraic group, that person may only be a normal person and thus a false prophet. Either way, as Raised by Wolves continues to develop in season 1, it's obvious that humanity has brought all of their problems and conflicts from Earth to Kepler-22B. It remains to be seen whether the Mithraics and the atheists will find a way to live in peace.

Next: How Raised By Wolves Fits Into The Blade Runner & Alien Timeline

Star Trek's Future Can Perfectly Redeem Wesley Crusher

Keith Deininger is a content writer, published author, and lifelong horror fan. In between copywriting, editing, and blogging, he writes his own dark fiction. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter (@KeithDeininger), and his Patreon page @ patreon.com/keithdeininger.

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Raised By Wolves Theory: Who Is The Prophet? Every Possibility Explained - Screen Rant

Podcast Ep. 340: The Don’t-Say-The-S-Word Baptist Convention – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

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In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism.

We talked about:

If youre a pastor, maybe dont use your work email to send hateful racist messages based on a hoax. (0:55)

The Southern Baptist Convention is drifting away from the word Southern. (11:45)

Evangelicals for Social Action is getting rid of the first word because its too toxic. (19:18)

Scientific American issued its first-ever endorsement for Joe Biden. Will it matter? (22:19)

Dont be this mom complaining about a Bible reading in your daughters English class. (38:00)

Democrats can and should reach out to non-religious voters. (51:00)

A Republican state senator who participated in a protest against climate change just lost his home due to the wildfires. (56:11)

A California church will finally stop its indoor services. It just took a fine of $112,750. (1:00:16)

Wed love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Google Play, stream all the episodes on SoundCloud or Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below. Our RSS feed is here. And if you like what youre hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!

(Image via Shutterstock)

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Podcast Ep. 340: The Don't-Say-The-S-Word Baptist Convention - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Referendums in the Pacific are attracting attention faraway – The Economist

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France, China and Taiwan are all involved

TESTING THE popular will does not come naturally to Melanesian governments. Policy decisions are normally taken behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes of the general public. That may now be changing. New Caledonia, still a French possession, and Bougainville, an island at the eastern end of Papua New Guinea (PNG), held referendums on independence in 2018 and 2019. New Caledonia will hold a second such vote on October 4th. Enthusiasm for direct democracy is becoming infectious. The premier of tiny Malaita, the most populous province in the Solomon Islands, now wants to hold his own referendum on secession in protest against his national governments overtures to China.

Bougainvilles 250,000 people are in the midst of their first election since the referendum of 2019, when 97.7% voted for independence. But that vote was non-binding, requiring only that the PNG government open negotiations on the islands future status. PNGs prime minister, James Marape, is adamant that Bougainville lacks the economic clout to survive as an independent state. Bougainville once boasted one of the worlds largest copper mines, but it was closed down in the civil war of 1988-97, leaving the island devoid of profitable exports. The front-runner in the contest to lead its autonomous government, Ishmael Toroama, once commanded the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, which fought bloodily for independence from PNG in the early 1990s.

Whereas Bougainvilleans opted emphatically for independence, New Caledonians voted against it in 2018, by 57% to 43%. That was the first of three scheduled referendums on whether to split from France, the territorys colonial ruler since 1853. Since then, fervent French loyalists have regrouped, taking control of the local government. The French government is not neutral. It has let loyalists hoist the French tricolour on the campaign trail. On a visit to the territory in 2018, President Emmanuel Macron waxed lyrical about the vast stretches of the Pacific that remain a part of France.

Geostrategic rivalries are shaping Oceanias local struggles. The Solomon Islands shifted diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China last year. Malaitas premier, Daniel Suidani, rejected that switch, condemning China for its communism and atheism. Despite the border being closed against covid-19, a direct flight from Guangzhou arrived on September 2nd, carrying Chinese workers hired to prepare facilities for the Pacific Games in 2023. We will be closing access to Malaita, Mr Suidani declared angrily, promising at the same time to shut down stores run by ethnic Chinese on the island.

Taiwanese diplomats stirred the pot by meeting Malaitan officials in Australia in March. Since then Taiwan has sent consignments of surgical masks, bags of rice and thermal-imaging equipment. Whether or not they are independent, the islands of the Pacific will not be insulated from big-power rivalry.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "No island is an island"

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Referendums in the Pacific are attracting attention faraway - The Economist

Cyberpunk – Wikipedia

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Postmodern science fiction genre in a futuristic dystopian setting

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of low-life and high tech"[1] featuring advanced technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cybernetics, juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.[2] Much of cyberpunk is rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when writers like Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, John Brunner, J.G. Ballard, Philip Jos Farmer and Harlan Ellison examined the impact of drug culture, technology, and the sexual revolution while avoiding the utopian tendencies of earlier science fiction.

Comics exploring cyberpunk themes began appearing as early as Judge Dredd, first published in 1977.[3] Released in 1984, William Gibson's influential debut novel Neuromancer would help solidify cyberpunk as a genre, drawing influence from punk subculture and early hacker culture. Other influential cyberpunk writers included Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker. The Japanese cyberpunk subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga series Akira, with its 1988 anime film adaptation later popularizing the subgenre.

Early films in the genre include Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner, one of several of Philip K. Dick's works that have been adapted into films. The films Johnny Mnemonic (1995)[4] and New Rose Hotel (1998),[5][6] both based upon short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically. The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003) were some of the most successful cyberpunk films. Newer cyberpunk media includes Blade Runner 2049 (2017), a sequel to the original 1982 film, as well as Upgrade (2018), Alita: Battle Angel (2019) based on the 1990s Japanese manga Battle Angel Alita, the 2018 Netflix TV series Altered Carbon based on Richard K. Morgan's 2002 novel of the same name, and the upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077 (2020).

Lawrence Person has attempted to define the content and ethos of the cyberpunk literary movement stating:

Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body.

Cyberpunk plots often center on conflict among artificial intelligences, hackers, and megacorporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune.[8] The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors ("the street finds its own uses for things").[9] Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction.[10] There are sources who view that cyberpunk has shifted from a literary movement to a mode of science fiction due to the limited number of writers and its transition to a more generalized cultural formation.[11][12][13]

The origins of cyberpunk are rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of the 1960s and 70s, where New Worlds, under the editorship of Michael Moorcock, began inviting and encouraging stories that examined new writing styles, techniques, and archetypes. Reacting to conventional storytelling, New Wave authors attempted to present a world where society coped with a constant upheaval of new technology and culture, generally with dystopian outcomes. Writers like Roger Zelazny, J.G. Ballard, Philip Jose Farmer, and Harlan Ellison often examined the impact of drug culture, technology, and the sexual revolution with an avant-garde style influenced by the Beat Generation (especially William S. Burroughs' own SF), Dadaism, and their own ideas.[14] Ballard attacked the idea that stories should follow the "archetypes" popular since the time of Ancient Greece, and the assumption that these would somehow be the same ones that would call to modern readers, as Joseph Campbell argued in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Instead, Ballard wanted to write a new myth for the modern reader, a style with "more psycho-literary ideas, more meta-biological and meta-chemical concepts, private time systems, synthetic psychologies and space-times, more of the sombre half-worlds one glimpses in the paintings of schizophrenics."[15]

This had a profound influence on a new generation of writers, some of whom would come to call their movement "Cyberpunk". One, Bruce Sterling, later said:

In the circle of American science fiction writers of my generation cyberpunks and humanists and so forth [Ballard] was a towering figure. We used to have bitter struggles over who was more Ballardian than whom. We knew we were not fit to polish the mans boots, and we were scarcely able to understand how we could get to a position to do work which he might respect or stand, but at least we were able to see the peak of achievement that he had reached.[16]

Ballard, Zelazny, and the rest of New Wave was seen by the subsequent generation as delivering more "realism" to science fiction, and they attempted to build on this.

Similarly influential, and generally cited as proto-cyberpunk, is the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, first published in 1968. Presenting precisely the general feeling of dystopian post-economic-apocalyptic future as Gibson and Sterling later deliver, it examines ethical and moral problems with cybernetic, artificial intelligence in a way more "realist" than the Isaac Asimov Robot series that laid its philosophical foundation. Dick's protege and friend K. W. Jeter wrote a very dark and imaginative novel called Dr. Adder in 1972 that, Dick lamented, might have been more influential in the field had it been able to find a publisher at that time.[citation needed] It was not published until 1984, after which Jeter made it the first book in a trilogy, followed by The Glass Hammer (1985) and Death Arms (1987). Jeter wrote other standalone cyberpunk novels before going on to write three authorized sequels to Do Androids Dream of electric sheep, named Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human (1995), Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night (1996), and Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was made into the seminal movie Blade Runner, released in 1982. This was one year after William Gibson's story, "Johnny Mnemonic" helped move proto-cyberpunk concepts into the mainstream. That story, which also became a film years later in 1995, involves another dystopian future, where human couriers deliver computer data, stored cybernetically in their own minds.

In 1983 a short story written by Bruce Bethke, called Cyberpunk, was published in Amazing Stories. The term was picked up by Gardner Dozois, editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and popularized in his editorials. Bethke says he made two lists of words, one for technology, one for troublemakers, and experimented with combining them variously into compound words, consciously attempting to coin a term that encompassed both punk attitudes and high technology.

He described the idea thus:

The kids who trashed my computer; their kids were going to be Holy Terrors, combining the ethical vacuity of teenagers with a technical fluency we adults could only guess at. Further, the parents and other adult authority figures of the early 21st Century were going to be terribly ill-equipped to deal with the first generation of teenagers who grew up truly speaking computer.[17]

Afterward, Dozois began using this term in his own writing, most notably in a Washington Post article where he said "About the closest thing here to a self-willed esthetic school would be the purveyors of bizarre hard-edged, high-tech stuff, who have on occasion been referred to as cyberpunks Sterling, Gibson, Shiner, Cadigan, Bear."[18]

About that time in 1984, William Gibson's novel Neuromancer was published, delivering a glimpse of a future encompassed by what became an archetype of cyberpunk "virtual reality", with the human mind being fed light-based worldscapes through a computer interface. Some, perhaps ironically including Bethke himself, argued at the time that the writers whose style Gibson's books epitomized should be called "Neuromantics", a pun on the name of the novel plus "New Romantics", a term used for a New Wave pop music movement that had just occurred in Britain, but this term did not catch on. Bethke later paraphrased Michael Swanwick's argument for the term: "the movement writers should properly be termed neuromantics, since so much of what they were doing was clearly Imitation Neuromancer".

Sterling was another writer who played a central role, often consciously, in the cyberpunk genre, variously seen as either keeping it on track, or distorting its natural path into a stagnant formula.[19] In 1986 he edited a volume of cyberpunk stories called Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology, an attempt to establish what cyberpunk was, from Sterling's perspective.[20]

In the subsequent decade, the motifs of Gibson's Neuromancer became formulaic, climaxing in the satirical extremes of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash in 1992.

Bookending the Cyberpunk era, Bethke himself published a novel in 1995 called Headcrash, like Snow Crash a satirical attack on the genre's excesses. Fittingly, it won an honor named after cyberpunk's spiritual founder, the Philip K. Dick Award.

It satirized the genre in this way:

...full of young guys with no social lives, no sex lives and no hope of ever moving out of their mothers' basements ... They're total wankers and losers who indulge in Messianic fantasies about someday getting even with the world through almost-magical computer skills, but whose actual use of the Net amounts to dialing up the scatophilia forum and downloading a few disgusting pictures. You know, cyberpunks.[21]

The impact of cyberpunk, though, has been long-lasting. Elements of both the setting and storytelling have become normal in science fiction in general, and a slew of sub-genres now have -punk tacked onto their names, most obviously Steampunk, but also a host of other Cyberpunk derivatives.

Primary figures in the cyberpunk movement include William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Bruce Bethke, Pat Cadigan, Rudy Rucker, and John Shirley. Philip K. Dick (author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, from which the film Blade Runner was adapted) is also seen by some as prefiguring the movement.[22]

Blade Runner can be seen as a quintessential example of the cyberpunk style and theme.[8] Video games, board games, and tabletop role-playing games, such as Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun, often feature storylines that are heavily influenced by cyberpunk writing and movies. Beginning in the early 1990s, some trends in fashion and music were also labeled as cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is also featured prominently in anime and manga (Japanese cyberpunk),[23] with Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop being among the most notable.[23]

Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from crime fictionparticularly hardboiled detective fiction and film noirand postmodernist prose to describe an often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society. The genre's vision of a troubled future is often called the antithesis of the generally utopian visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian SF in his 1981 short story "The Gernsback Continuum," which pokes fun at and, to a certain extent, condemns utopian science fiction.[26][27][28]

In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place online, in cyberspace, blurring the line between actual and virtual reality.[29] A typical trope in such work is a direct connection between the human brain and computer systems. Cyberpunk settings are dystopias with corruption, computers and internet connectivity. Giant, multinational corporations have for the most part replaced governments as centers of political, economic, and even military power.

The economic and technological state of Japan is a regular theme in the Cyberpunk literature of the '80s. Of Japan's influence on the genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk."[25] Cyberpunk is often set in urbanized, artificial landscapes, and "city lights, receding" was used by Gibson as one of the genre's first metaphors for cyberspace and virtual reality.[30] The cityscapes of Hong Kong[31] and Shanghai[32] have had major influences in the urban backgrounds, ambiance and settings in many cyberpunk works such as Blade Runner and Shadowrun. Ridley Scott envisioned the landscape of cyberpunk Los Angeles in Blade Runner to be "Hong Kong on a very bad day".[33] The streetscapes of the Ghost in the Shell film were based on Hong Kong. Its director Mamoru Oshii felt that Hong Kong's strange and chaotic streets where "old and new exist in confusing relationships", fit the theme of the film well.[31] Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City is particularly notable for its disorganized hyper-urbanization and breakdown in traditional urban planning to be an inspiration to cyberpunk landscapes.

One of the cyberpunk genre's prototype characters is Case, from Gibson's Neuromancer.[34] Case is a "console cowboy," a brilliant hacker who has betrayed his organized criminal partners. Robbed of his talent through a crippling injury inflicted by the vengeful partners, Case unexpectedly receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be healed by expert medical care but only if he participates in another criminal enterprise with a new crew.

Like Case, many cyberpunk protagonists are manipulated, placed in situations where they have little or no choice, and although they might see things through, they do not necessarily come out any further ahead than they previously were. These anti-heroes"criminals, outcasts, visionaries, dissenters and misfits"[35]call to mind the private eye of detective fiction. This emphasis on the misfits and the malcontents is the "punk" component of cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk can be intended to disquiet readers and call them to action. It often expresses a sense of rebellion, suggesting that one could describe it as a type of cultural revolution in science fiction. In the words of author and critic David Brin:

...a closer look [at cyberpunk authors] reveals that they nearly always portray future societies in which governments have become wimpy and pathetic ...Popular science fiction tales by Gibson, Williams, Cadigan and others do depict Orwellian accumulations of power in the next century, but nearly always clutched in the secretive hands of a wealthy or corporate elite.[36]

Cyberpunk stories have also been seen as fictional forecasts of the evolution of the Internet. The earliest descriptions of a global communications network came long before the World Wide Web entered popular awareness, though not before traditional science-fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and some social commentators such as James Burke began predicting that such networks would eventually form.[37]

Some observers cite that cyberpunk tends to marginalize sectors of society such as women and Africans. For instance, it is claimed that cyberpunk depicts fantasies that ultimately empower masculinity using fragmentary and decentered aesthetic that culminate in a masculine genre populated by male outlaws.[38] Critics also note the absence of any reference to Africa or an African-American character in the quintessential cyberpunk film Blade Runner[11] while other films reinforce stereotypes.[39]

Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined the term in 1983 for his short story "Cyberpunk," which was published in an issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories.[40] The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan and others. Of these, Sterling became the movement's chief ideologue, thanks to his fanzine Cheap Truth. John Shirley wrote articles on Sterling and Rucker's significance.[41] John Brunner's 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider is considered by many[who?] to be the first cyberpunk novel with many of the tropes commonly associated with the genre, some five years before the term was popularized by Dozois.[42]

William Gibson with his novel Neuromancer (1984) is arguably the most famous writer connected with the term cyberpunk. He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, and atmosphere over traditional science-fiction tropes. Regarded as ground-breaking and sometimes as "the archetypal cyberpunk work,"[7] Neuromancer was awarded the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards. Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) followed after Gibson's popular debut novel. According to the Jargon File, "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly nave and tremendously stimulating."[43]

Early on, cyberpunk was hailed as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality.[44] Shortly thereafter, however, some critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These critics said that the SF New Wave of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and styles were concerned.[45] Furthermore, while Neuromancer's narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, much older examples can be found: Gibson's narrative voice, for example, resembles that of an updated Raymond Chandler, as in his novel The Big Sleep (1939).[44] Others noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' worksoften citing J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Stanisaw Lem, Samuel R. Delany, and even William S. Burroughs.[44] For example, Philip K. Dick's works contain recurring themes of social decay, artificial intelligence, paranoia, and blurred lines between objective and subjective realities.[46] The influential cyberpunk movie Blade Runner (1982) is based on his book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.[47] Humans linked to machines are found in Pohl and Kornbluth's Wolfbane (1959) and Roger Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness (1968).[citation needed]

In 1994, scholar Brian Stonehill suggested that Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel Gravity's Rainbow "not only curses but precurses what we now glibly dub cyberspace."[48] Other important predecessors include Alfred Bester's two most celebrated novels, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination,[49] as well as Vernor Vinge's novella True Names.[50]

Science-fiction writer David Brin describes cyberpunk as "the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction." It may not have attracted the "real punks," but it did ensnare many new readers, and it provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. Cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made science fiction more profitable to Hollywood and to the visual arts generally. Although the "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" on the part of cyberpunk fans were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares that the "rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt."[51]

Fredric Jameson considers cyberpunk the "supreme literary expression if not of postmodernism, then of late capitalism itself".[52]

Cyberpunk further inspired many professional writers who were not among the "original" cyberpunks to incorporate cyberpunk ideas into their own works,[citation needed] such as George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails. Wired magazine, created by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, mixes new technology, art, literature, and current topics in order to interest today's cyberpunk fans, which Paula Yoo claims "proves that hardcore hackers, multimedia junkies, cyberpunks and cellular freaks are poised to take over the world."[53]

The film Blade Runner (1982)adapted from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?is set in 2019 in a dystopian future in which manufactured beings called replicants are slaves used on space colonies and are legal prey on Earth to various bounty hunters who "retire" (kill) them. Although Blade Runner was largely unsuccessful in its first theatrical release, it found a viewership in the home video market and became a cult film.[54] Since the movie omits the religious and mythical elements of Dick's original novel (e.g. empathy boxes and Wilbur Mercer), it falls more strictly within the cyberpunk genre than the novel does. William Gibson would later reveal that upon first viewing the film, he was surprised at how the look of this film matched his vision for Neuromancer, a book he was then working on. The film's tone has since been the staple of many cyberpunk movies, such as The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003), which uses a wide variety of cyberpunk elements.

The number of films in the genre or at least using a few genre elements has grown steadily since Blade Runner. Several of Philip K. Dick's works have been adapted to the silver screen. The films Johnny Mnemonic[4] and New Rose Hotel,[5][6] both based upon short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically. These box offices misses significantly slowed the development of cyberpunk as a literary or cultural form although a sequel to the 1982 film Blade Runner was released in October 2017 with Harrison Ford reprising his role from the original film.

In addition, "tech-noir" film as a hybrid genre, means a work of combining neo-noir and science fiction or cyberpunk. It includes many cyberpunk films such as Blade Runner, Burst City,[55] Robocop, 12 Monkeys, The Lawnmower Man, Hackers, Hardware, and Strange Days.

The Japanese cyberpunk subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga series Akira, with its 1988 anime film adaptation, which Otomo directed, later popularizing the subgenre. Akira inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk works, including manga and anime series such as Ghost in the Shell, Battle Angel Alita, Cowboy Bebop, and Serial Experiments Lain.[56] Other early Japanese cyberpunk works include the 1982 film Burst City, the 1985 original video animation Megazone 23, and the 1989 film Tetsuo: The Iron Man.

In contrast to Western cyberpunk which has roots in New Wave science fiction literature, Japanese cyberpunk has roots in underground music culture, specifically the Japanese punk subculture that arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s. The filmmaker Sogo Ishii introduced this subculture to Japanese cinema with the punk film Panic High School (1978) and the punk biker film Crazy Thunder Road (1980), both portraying the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and the latter featuring a punk biker gang aesthetic. Ishii's punk films paved the way for Otomo's seminal cyberpunk work Akira.[57]

Cyberpunk themes are widely visible in anime and manga. In Japan, where cosplay is popular and not only teenagers display such fashion styles, cyberpunk has been accepted and its influence is widespread. William Gibson's Neuromancer, whose influence dominated the early cyberpunk movement, was also set in Chiba, one of Japan's largest industrial areas, although at the time of writing the novel Gibson did not know the location of Chiba and had no idea how perfectly it fit his vision in some ways. The exposure to cyberpunk ideas and fiction in the 1980s has allowed it to seep into the Japanese culture.

Cyberpunk anime and manga draw upon a futuristic vision which has elements in common with Western science fiction and therefore have received wide international acceptance outside Japan. "The conceptualization involved in cyberpunk is more of forging ahead, looking at the new global culture. It is a culture that does not exist right now, so the Japanese concept of a cyberpunk future, seems just as valid as a Western one, especially as Western cyberpunk often incorporates many Japanese elements."[58] William Gibson is now a frequent visitor to Japan, and he came to see that many of his visions of Japan have become a reality:

Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it. I remember my first glimpse of Shibuya, when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-sunsall that towering, animated crawl of commercial informationsaid, "You see? You see? It is Blade Runner town." And it was. It so evidently was.[25]

Cyberpunk themes have appeared in many anime and manga, including the ground-breaking Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, Ergo Proxy, Megazone 23, Neo Tokyo, Goku Midnight Eye, Cyber City Oedo 808, Bubblegum Crisis, A.D. Police: Dead End City, Angel Cop, Extra, Blame!, Armitage III, Texhnolyze, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Psycho-Pass.

Akira (1982 manga) and its 1988 anime film adaptation have influenced numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television and video games.[59][60] Akira has been cited as a major influence on Hollywood films such as The Matrix,[61] Chronicle,[62] Looper,[63] Midnight Special, and Inception,[59] as well as cyberpunk-influenced video games such as Hideo Kojima's Snatcher[64] and Metal Gear Solid,[56] Valve's Half-Life series[65][66] and Dontnod Entertainment's Remember Me.[67] Akira has also influenced the work of musicians such as Kanye West, who paid homage to Akira in the "Stronger" music video,[59] and Lupe Fiasco, whose album Tetsuo & Youth is named after Tetsuo Shima.[68] The popular bike from the film, Kaneda's Motorbike, appears in Steven Spielberg's film Ready Player One,[69] and CD Projekt's video game Cyberpunk 2077.[70]

Ghost in the Shell (1995) influenced a number of prominent filmmakers, most notably the Wachowskis in The Matrix (1999) and its sequels.[71] The Matrix series took several concepts from the film, including the Matrix digital rain, which was inspired by the opening credits of Ghost in the Shell, and the way characters access the Matrix through holes in the back of their necks.[72] Other parallels have been drawn to James Cameron's Avatar, Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Jonathan Mostow's Surrogates.[72] James Cameron cited Ghost in the Shell as a source of inspiration,[73] citing it as an influence on Avatar.[74]

The original video animation Megazone 23 (1985) has a number of similarities to The Matrix.[75] Battle Angel Alita (1990) has had a notable influence on filmmaker James Cameron, who was planning to adapt it into a film since 2000. It was an influence on his TV series Dark Angel, and he is the producer of the 2018 film adaptation Alita: Battle Angel.[76]

There are many cyberpunk video games. Popular series include Final Fantasy VII and its spin-offs and remake,[77] the Megami Tensei series, Kojima's Snatcher and Metal Gear series, Deus Ex series, Syndicate series, and System Shock and its sequel. Other games, like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and the Matrix series, are based upon genre movies, or role-playing games (for instance the various Shadowrun games).

Several RPGs called Cyberpunk exist: Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk v3, by R. Talsorian Games, and GURPS Cyberpunk, published by Steve Jackson Games as a module of the GURPS family of RPGs. Cyberpunk 2020 was designed with the settings of William Gibson's writings in mind, and to some extent with his approval[citation needed], unlike the approach taken by FASA in producing the transgenre Shadowrun game. Both are set in the near future, in a world where cybernetics are prominent. In addition, Iron Crown Enterprises released an RPG named Cyberspace, which was out of print for several years until recently being re-released in online PDF form. CD Projekt Red is currently developing Cyberpunk 2077, a cyberpunk first-person open world Role-playing video game (RPG) based on the tabletop RPG Cyberpunk 2020.[78][79][80]In 1990, in a convergence of cyberpunk art and reality, the United States Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games's headquarters and confiscated all their computers. Officials denied that the target had been the GURPS Cyberpunk sourcebook, but Jackson would later write that he and his colleagues "were never able to secure the return of the complete manuscript; [...] The Secret Service at first flatly refused to return anything then agreed to let us copy files, but when we got to their office, restricted us to one set of out-of-date files then agreed to make copies for us, but said "tomorrow" every day from March 4 to March 26. On March 26 we received a set of disks which purported to be our files, but the material was late, incomplete and well-nigh useless."[81] Steve Jackson Games won a lawsuit against the Secret Service, aided by the new Electronic Frontier Foundation. This event has achieved a sort of notoriety, which has extended to the book itself as well. All published editions of GURPS Cyberpunk have a tagline on the front cover, which reads "The book that was seized by the U.S. Secret Service!" Inside, the book provides a summary of the raid and its aftermath.

Cyberpunk has also inspired several tabletop, miniature and board games such as Necromunda by Games Workshop. Netrunner is a collectible card game introduced in 1996, based on the Cyberpunk 2020 role-playing game. Tokyo NOVA, debuting in 1993, is a cyberpunk role-playing game that uses playing cards instead of dice.

Julie Romandetta[82]

Invariably the origin of cyberpunk music lies in the synthesizer-heavy scores of cyberpunk films such as Escape from New York (1981) and Blade Runner (1982).[83] Some musicians and acts have been classified as cyberpunk due to their aesthetic style and musical content. Often dealing with dystopian visions of the future or biomechanical themes, some fit more squarely in the category than others. Bands whose music has been classified as cyberpunk include Psydoll, Front Line Assembly, Clock DVA, Angelspit and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

Some musicians not normally associated with cyberpunk have at times been inspired to create concept albums exploring such themes. Albums such as Gary Numan's Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon were heavily inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick. Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine and Computer World albums both explored the theme of humanity becoming dependent on technology. Nine Inch Nails' concept album Year Zero also fits into this category. Fear Factory concept albums are heavily based upon future dystopia, cybernetics, clash between man and machines, virtual worlds. Billy Idol's Cyberpunk drew heavily from cyberpunk literature and the cyberdelic counter culture in its creation. 1. Outside, a cyberpunk narrative fueled concept album by David Bowie, was warmly met by critics upon its release in 1995. Many musicians have also taken inspiration from specific cyberpunk works or authors, including Sonic Youth, whose albums Sister and Daydream Nation take influence from the works of Philip K. Dick and William Gibson respectively. Madonna's 2001 Drowned World Tour opened with a cyberpunk section, where costumes, asethetics and stage props were used to accentuate the dystopian nature of the theatrical concert.

Vaporwave and synthwave are also influenced by cyberpunk. The former has been inspired by one of the messages of cyberpunk and is interpreted as a dystopian[84] critique of capitalism[85] in the vein of cyberpunk and the latter is more surface-level, inspired only by the aesthetic of cyberpunk as a nostalgic retrofuturistic revival of aspects of cyberpunk's origins.

Some Neo-Futurism artworks and cityscapes have been influenced by cyberpunk.[citation needed] Writers David Suzuki and Holly Dressel describe the cafes, brand-name stores and video arcades of the Sony Center in the Potsdamer Platz public square of Berlin, Germany, as "a vision of a cyberpunk, corporate urban future".[86]

Several subcultures have been inspired by cyberpunk fiction. These include the cyberdelic counter culture of the late 1980s and early 90s. Cyberdelic, whose adherents referred to themselves as "cyberpunks", attempted to blend the psychedelic art and drug movement with the technology of cyberculture. Early adherents included Timothy Leary, Mark Frauenfelder and R. U. Sirius. The movement largely faded following the dot-com bubble implosion of 2000.

Cybergoth is a fashion and dance subculture which draws its inspiration from cyberpunk fiction, as well as rave and Gothic subcultures. In addition, a distinct cyberpunk fashion of its own has emerged in recent years[when?] which rejects the raver and goth influences of cybergoth, and draws inspiration from urban street fashion, "post apocalypse", functional clothing, high tech sports wear, tactical uniform and multifunction. This fashion goes by names like "tech wear", "goth ninja" or "tech ninja".

The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong (demolished in 1994) is often referenced as the model cyberpunk/dystopian slum as, given its poor living conditions at the time coupled with the city's political, physical, and economic isolation has caused many in academia to be fascinated by the ingenuity of its spawning.[87]

As a wider variety of writers began to work with cyberpunk concepts, new subgenres of science fiction emerged, some of which could be considered as playing off the cyberpunk label, others which could be considered as legitimate explorations into newer territory. These focused on technology and its social effects in different ways. One prominent subgenre is "steampunk," which is set in an alternate history Victorian era that combines anachronistic technology with cyberpunk's bleak film noir world view. The term was originally coined around 1987 as a joke to describe some of the novels of Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock, and K.W. Jeter, but by the time Gibson and Sterling entered the subgenre with their collaborative novel The Difference Engine the term was being used earnestly as well.[88]

Another subgenre is "biopunk" (cyberpunk themes dominated by biotechnology) from the early 1990s, a derivative style building on biotechnology rather than informational technology. In these stories, people are changed in some way not by mechanical means, but by genetic manipulation. Paul Di Filippo is seen as the most prominent biopunk writer, including his half-serious ribofunk. Bruce Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist cycle is also seen as a major influence. In addition, some people consider works such as Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age to be postcyberpunk.

Cyberpunk works have been described as well situated within postmodern literature.[89]

In the United States, the term "Cyberpunk" is a registered trademark by R. Talsorian Games Inc. for its tabletop role-playing game[90].

Within the European Union, the "Cyberpunk" trademark is owned by two parties: CD Projekt SA for "games and online gaming services"[91] (particularly for the video game adaptation of the former) and by Sony Music for use outside games.[92]

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Cyberpunk - Wikipedia

Heres what you need to run Cyberpunk 2077 on PC – The Verge

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Cyberpunk 2077 will be released in a few months, but ahead of its mid-November launch, developer CD Projekt Red unveiled the system requirements needed to run the PC version of the game, and shockingly, you dont need to upgrade your computer to play the game.

The games recommended specs are not too heavy, requiring only an Intel Core i7-4790 or an AMD Ryzen 3 3200G processor, and either an Nvidia GTX 1060 or an AMD Radeon R9 Fury graphics card. So if you have not upgraded your rig in a bit, youll likely still be able to run the game at 1080p. However, if you are looking to run the game at 1440p or 4K resolution or take advantage of the games technical features like ray tracing, you will need to upgrade to an RTX 20-series or RTX 30-series GPU.

Cyberpunk 2077 is set to release on November 19th for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. If you are buying it on console and plan to upgrade within the same console family, CD Projekt Red confirmed that PS5 and Xbox Series X / S owners will be able to play Cyberpunk 2077 at launch, too. The developer also promised a free next-gen upgrade at a later date.

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Heres what you need to run Cyberpunk 2077 on PC - The Verge

Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements revealed, here’s what you’ll need to play – GamesRadar+

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The Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements have finally been revealed, and they're surprisingly approachable even if you have a low-to-mid tier machine.

Developer CD Projekt Red shared both the minimum system requirements and the recommended system requirements on the latest episode of Night City Wire. Here are both sets:

That's way more modest than I was expecting! Especially in terms of the GPU, which is nowhere near requiring those shiny new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 cards, and the hard drive space. There have been Call of Duty: Warzone updates that were almost as big as the entire Cyberpunk 2077 game.

Granted, you'll still get even better visuals and performance if your PC exceeds those specs. For instance, We know that Cyberpunk 2077 will capitalize on Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics effects, since the game got a beautiful trailer showcasing its performance on the new GeForce RTX 3000 series. Ray-traced reflections on shiny surfaces, beautifully fuzzy halos around bright neon light sources, and more all await if you're playing with an RTX card.

For your reference, these are the specs of the machine that CD Projekt Red used to run its big E3 2018 demo:

You'll be able to do missions or just get drinks with a lot of Cyberpunk 2077 companions - though some of them will probably end up wanting you dead.

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First Cyberpunk 2077 Platinum trophy has already been claimed – GamesRadar+

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The game itself might not be set to release for more than two months, but that hasnt stopped someone from claiming the first Cyberpunk 2077 Platinum trophy. Earlier today, ukasz Babiel, QA lead at developer CD Projekt Red, shared a screenshot showing off their 100% completion of the game with the caption just a normal day at work.

That claim was later corroborated by global community lead Marcin Momot, who congratulated Babiel as the first person to get that Platinum Trophy in Cyberpunk 2077. Babiel later confirmed, however, that the trophy was a collective effort, suggesting that multiple QA developers helped out with the process.

The team effort means that Babiel doesnt know exactly how long it took to grab the trophy, but his screenshot does show off how many achievements are available. It looks as though as well as the Platinum, Cyberpunk 2077 will feature 26 Bronze, 17 Silver, and one Gold trophy.

As member of CD Projekt Red staff, Babiel and co obviously have a significant headstart over the rest of us, who will have to wait until the Cyberpunk 2077 release date on November 19 to even start making our own trophy hunting progress. While the team might have had an advantage, however, theres no taking away from their achievement.

The fact that the QA staff seem to be testing trophies seems like a good omen. Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed twice from its original April release date, but with all the trophies available and Babiel saying that the team is planning speedrun contests, its starting to look like the game is finally nearing completion.

Take our quiz and find out which Cyberpunk 2077 lifepath should you pick?

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First Cyberpunk 2077 Platinum trophy has already been claimed - GamesRadar+

Cyberpunk creator says its harder to reach fans directly in videogames The stakes are ridiculous – PCGamesN

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During a keynote talk at this years PAX x EGX Online, Mike Pondsmith,the creator of the Cyberpunk table-top RPG that inspired Cyberpunk 2077, spoke on the contrast between developing for pen-and-paper and videogames.As he sees it, the latters abit more Hollywood than the former, raising the risk factor significantly.

Videogames are a little more like Hollywood, the stakes are ridiculous, Pondsmith explained. Theres a lot more of a problem with reaching and talking with the fans directly. Theres a wall there, between you and the people who use your game. He discusses how individual credits are often harder to find on videogames, leading to people being surprised when they find out who worked on what: I think theres a distance there.

Videogames tend to be much more expensive, too, and Pondsmith recalls his shock when he made the jump to digital game development. I can go and build a pretty good game, and maybe spend $10,000 at the most to get it printed, he says. When I did my first really large videogame project, I went in and said what are we budgeted for? and they said $20,000,000, and I went Im now responsible for figuring out what to do with $20,000,000? Oh, crud, so the stakes are higher.

The project Pondsmith is likely talking about there is The Matrix Online, the MMORPG game based on the movie trilogy he contributed to as a designer in 2005. His time in videogames was brief before agreeing to collaborate with CD Projekt Red on Cyberpunk 2077, anRPG game based on Pondsmiths 1988 RPG, Cyberpunk.

You can seea Twitch clip below you can watch the full speech here:

Were getting close to the Cyberpunk 2077 release date. CD Projekt has said fans can expect more DLC than The Witcher 3, the multiplayer microtransactions wont be aggressive, and it might even get a cookbook. If you just cant wait, we have the best cyberpunk games, and the best online board games, to keep you occupied.

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Cyberpunk creator says its harder to reach fans directly in videogames The stakes are ridiculous - PCGamesN