On The Jargon File – Original Hacker Dictionary April 27, 2016 by "Penguin" Pete Trbovich

 For all of you folks who enjoy my husbands articles here is one on jargon file the hackers Dictionary :)

Link is below and article as well . BE kind to one another and may your day or evening where ever in the world you may live is a beautiful one :)

Kimberly

TV REALITYMOM

 

 http://media.bemyapp.com/lost-story-jargon-file/

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On The Jargon File – Original Hacker Dictionary

April 27, 2016 by "Penguin" Pete Trbovich

What is The Jargon File?

Many programmers today don’t that know this document exists. But it’s a living cultural relic which encoded not just the letter, but the spirit of programmer culture, capturing its humor, ethics, and quirky world-view. Along the way, it even became the subject of some controversy on various fronts, from alarmed school administrators pulling the book out of school library shelves to massive calls for the maintainer to resign over perceived misconduct. But anybody who coded for a living for three decades knew it as the beloved resource which shared the origins of flavorful terms such as “rubber duck debugging,” “waving a dead chicken,” and “yak shaving.” The fatalist humor of hacker lore contributed to its shady reputation.
The Jargon File started as a simple text file full of half-joking definitions passed around computer rooms at MIT in the late 1970s. Through message-board sharing, it grew during the 1980s, eventually developing in a series of maintained books edited by some of the grand old masters of computer science. It was even cited in a high-profile legal case. Its fame carried it from PDP-10s in the crufty dinosaur pens of colleges everywhere to the cover of People magazine. But was it a noble codex of computer lore, or an Anarchist’s Cookbook for hackers? Find out the intriguing story of this grimoire of hacker culture, and why it casts a long and influential shadow over the software development world of today.

The Beginnings of the Jargon File

Our story starts in 1975, when computer scientist Ralph Finkel uploaded a file titled “AIWORD.RF” to a SAIL computer at Stanford University. The file was a list of common slang phrases heard in tech circles at the time, some of it dating to the Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT. Next, Mark Crispin, whom you know as the inventor of the IMAP email-protocol, copied the file via FTP onto the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. The file was originally named “AIWORD” because it was intended to list terms common to Artificial Intelligence programming, but Crispin noticed that the inevitable feature creep (a Jargon term) had already taken hold and the file had grown to include general computer science jargon. He renamed it “SAIL JARGON” for its origins from Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and left it up for general access, for anybody to add an entry to. Thus, by the late 1970s, the concept of a collaboratively edited reference was already born – years before we ever got Wikipedia.
By 1983, here was the file sitting at MIT for none other than Richard Stallman to discover. Stallman, widely hailed as the patron saint of Free and Open Source Software and creator of the GNU General Public License, contributed a prolific amount to the growing list of acronyms, terms, and in-jokes to the lexicon of hacker-ly wisdom. Stallman at the time was an early champion of the Lisp programming language, the first language to gain hefty ground in the field of AI research.

Wait, did we say “hacker”?

That word “hacker” would become a hot topic very soon. In Stallman’s own words…
“What they had in common was mainly love of excellence and programming. They wanted to make their programs that they used be as good as they could. They also wanted to make them do neat things. They wanted to be able to do something in a more exciting way than anyone believed possible and show ‘Look how wonderful this is. I bet you didn’t believe this could be done.'”
The truth is, what we today call a “hacker” is actually a “cracker,” one who breaks into computers as a safe-cracker breaks into a safe. The original “hacker” was actually a noble aspiration: a person who was clever enough with computers to earn the respect of their co-workers. But the media had latched onto this word by random chance. Soon TV and print media were referring to hackers as the people who broke into machines; Jeff Bridges in the 1982 film Tron would cement the word in public minds when he referred to himself as hacking into the computer system. Follow that by the film Wargames in 1983, and the public became concerned that people who toyed with computers for idle amusement were playing with fire. By 1985’s film Hackers, Angelina Jolie defining “hacker” as a kind of sexy keyboard bandit didn’t help matters any.
This was just what the burgeoning field of computer science needed right then. Today, much publicity is given to STEM careers, but back then even STEM careers were becoming tainted by public suspicion based on early misconceptions. About this time, a computer scientist by the name of Guy L. Steele, Jr. entered the picture. He was one of the originators of the Scheme programming language, the designer of many key-bindings for the Emacs text editor, and a huge contributor to early computer science research. However, he’s in this story mainly because he drew cartoons. “Crunchly” was a little fuzzy bit depicted in Steele’s cartoons, making various humorous observations in computer laboratories. When a snapshot of what was now called “The Jargon-1 File” was published in CoEvolution Quarterly magazine, Steele’s Crunchly cartoons were added in because the flavors went so well together, and thus his involvement was now ordained. He edited a copy of The Jargon-1 File into The Hacker’s Dictionary, published by Harper & Row in 1983, and it included all of his Crunchly cartoons.
So The Hacker’s Dictionary was circulating widely in libraries across America in the middle 1980s. Just in time for a gang of teenagers referring to themselves as “The 414s” to make international headlines by cracking into computer systems at large banks. Newsweek magazine sensationalized the story with a cover photo of a 414 and the title “Beware: Hackers at Play,” Bruce Sterling published a book titled The Hacker Crackdown, and US Congressman Dan Glickman to begin working on laws directed at stopping cyber-attacks, which he called “hacking.”
Oops.
For about half a decade, mass media had a panic over the concept of hackers. To this day, if you type “hacker” into Google and sort the images, you’ll find a bunch of stock photos of guys in ski masks holding laptops. Pause and consider how stupid that is.

White Hats, Black Hats, and a Grey Fog of Confusion

Since this great lexicographical mix-up, to this day we use the term “white hat” to mean a security expert, and “black hat” to mean the criminal side of computer expertise. All because we couldn’t get one little word right.
Meanwhile by the early 1990s, the Jargon-1 file and its literary spawn had fallen into the hands of a new trustee: Eric S. Raymond. Back in the 1990s, Raymond had become the tribal bard of hacker culture, particularly that of Free and Open Source Software. Abbreviated “FOSS,” this was the movement that traced from Unix to Linux and BSD, and from there to the bridge of the phone revolution at the turn of the century and the eventual adaptation by Google of an operating system called “Android.” The Android operating system uses a Linux kernel, and said Linux operating system is the godchild of the Free and Open Source movement, an alternative desktop PC system licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Raymond was a staunch supporter of the open source model, and we might even say that without his 1999 book, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, the technology world still wouldn’t have faith in the concept of an openly collaborated software stack. Raymond had a gift for writing and explaining engineering concepts in middle-manager language. It’s only natural that when the Jargon File project needed a new shepherd, he would volunteer.
But Raymond also put quite a bit of his own evangelizing into the Jargon File. Pro-FOSS views were emphasized; while all entries pertaining to commercial, proprietary software had nothing good to say about the subjects. Cries of outrage arose from turn-of-the-century message boards and blogs, claiming that Raymond was mangling the history he’d been so faithfully entrusted with. His side of the issue was that hacker culture was a living thing, to be tracked as an evolving entity, not enshrined as a fossil.
The Jargon File today rests under the custodianship of several independent hackers, like this GitHub example. It really hasn’t been a live document since about 2003.

Influences of the Jargon File Today

But what has spawned from it? The very concept of a single text file to track all of cyber-culture has, in true Open Source style, been taken over by the world. By the mid-2000s, new Internet models called “blogs” began to replace static text files. And the blogosphere begat collaborative information resources, which would eventually lead to the likes of Wikipedia. Even along the way to Wikipedia, it helped form the Everything project, today sort of enshrined at www.Everything2.net as an early Wikipedia precursor, which happens to include the bulk of the Jargon File in it.
The Jargon File was briefly the world’s miniature Wikipedia when it came to cyber-culture. It was used as a source by Oxford English Dictionary for computer neologisms, and media sources from Time magazine to The Wall Street Journal repeatedly quoted the file whenever a computer culture term came up.
But perhaps the most poignant citation was in the courtroom hearings for the infamous SCO-vs-IBM case. In 2003, the Jargon File entry “FUD” (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) was used as a definition for what one side was doing to the other. SCO-vs-IBM, a legal case whose very name still raises tortured groans among older Linux gurus, was a tussle over the ownership of the Linux operating system, if you can call a lawsuit first filed in 2003 and still technically open today a “tussle.” If you really want to know more about this bloated corpse of a legal case, the blog Groklaw was specifically born to track it, so it bears no further repeating here.

So What’s In This File?

It’s about time we explained some of the entries, isn’t it? To paraphrase:
“Rubber duck debugging” – The process of explaining the bugs in your code to a rubber duck or similar inanimate object. The purpose, similar to “third-person learning,” is to discover the source of the problem yourself by articulating the program flow out loud, which works an embarrassing amount of the time.
“Waving a dead chicken” – To perform a useless action in order to satisfy a third party that you’ve really tried everything. When your Internet goes down and you know it’s your ISP’s fault, but they demand you try turning it off and on again and you do just to get them to patch you through to tech support, that’s a similar empty gesture.
“Yak shaving” – An apparently useless activity which is related through a distant chain of calamities to the problem you really wanted to solve. It comes from a Ren and Stimpy cartoon. If you had to do your taxes but the files are in your desktop computer and you tried to import them to your laptop but your ssh install needs updating and then the library dependencies all fell apart so you had to upgrade the system but the Git repository that has the files for the upgrade is down until you replace the Cat-5 cable, and you do all that, you’ve shaved a bunch of yaks.
Want more? Oh, we’re just getting started…
“Brute force and ignorance” – To solve a problem the clumsy, stupid way because you don’t have time to solve it the correct way. Ogg debug with rock, scare computer to work.
“ELIZA effect” – The irrational attachment a human gets to an artificial intelligence simulation, despite intellectually knowing that it’s just a machine. The 2015 film Ex Machina is an excellent example. ELIZA was an old chatbot that simulated a Rogerian psychiatrist, and coincidentally comes embedded in Richard Stallman’s EMACS editor.
“Fiber-seeking backhoe” – When a construction worker digs up a fiber-optic line, resulting in what we today call a packet-over-air fault.
“One banana problem” – A problem so simple to fix that a monkey could fix it, and only accept one banana in payment at that. What your boss thinks all problems are.
“Rat belt” – The little zip ties holding your server room cabling together in those neat, organized bundles.
As you can see, early hacker jargon, like much of Internet culture today, is equal parts pop culture influence, technical matters, dry sarcasm, frivolous nonsense, old in-jokes, and early memes. In fact, the website KnowYourMeme.com is actually closer in spirit to the original Jargon File than Wikipedia is. That’s how today it lists both the “RRS Boaty McBoatface” and the Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) – as hacker – oops, we mean cyber – culture continues to live on and evolve.
Pete Trbovich is a guest contributor to BeMyApp. All opinions expressed are the author’s own, and not necessarily that of BeMyApp.

Survivor Bully Number One OUT YES!!!

Survivor Bully number one has been OUTS HA HA!! Serves you right there Scot got a bit of a big head there thinking you were safe dude ! Also got a bit of a bully streak going you and your buddy there Jason and now Jason is talking about Revenge REALLY HA HA OMG what a joke he is sorry but he is!! 

 http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1119545/survivors-scot-pollard-says-hes-not-the-bully-you-think-he-is

Says he isn't the bully everyone thinks he is? Really hows that because what I seen along with many others you were a bully straight point taken IMO. 

 


Tai is sitting right there giving his thoughts and you and Jason start talking another way and completely IMO ignoring Tai REALLY???? I don't blame Tai for not using his idol to save your ass he should not have to not after how you and Jason treated him again JMO and if you don't like well thats your right but mine is my opinion and I will say it like it is .

Challenges were great I to would of gone for food why  because food gives your strength and nutriment for your body. Lets you think and play hard and play your game even better IMO. I am glad Tai got the reward of that extra vote and holding on to his idol at Tribal. Those faces on Scot and Jason PRICELESS but you know what they got what they had coming.

So on that note may your day be awesome where ever in the world you may live whether daytime for you or night. Be kind to one another to smile at someone who is grumpy anyhow lol they may grump back but oh well it will affect there day maybe :)

Kimberly
TV REALITY MOM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 http://www.buddytv.com/articles/survivor/survivor-kaoh-rong-recap-59681.aspx

 

'Survivor: Kaoh Rong' Recap: Revenge of the Nerds
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Gina Pusateri
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

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On the previous episode of Survior: Kaoh Rong, the ladies alliance had to sacrifice one of their own when the Bully alliance threatened to upend the game with their idols. Now Debbie is gone, but Jason and Tai's idols are still in play, and have extra powers if combined into a super idol. Who knows what could happen next! It's what still makes Survivor so exciting. Let's find out, shall we?

Brawns Feeling Good

Scot, Jason and Tai celebrate the fact that a woman went home and they still have both of their idols. Jason credits Operation Sabotage as the reason the women "ate one of their own." It must be hard for him to understand that the women put a lot more strategic thoughts into why the women voted the way they did last week, and it had little to do with their immature antics.

Tai wants to work on bringing the camp back together now and mending their relationships. So, Scot approaches Aubry and tells her that their real beef is with Cydney and if she wants to work with them, then camp life will go back to normal and they'll keep providing for their tribe.

Aubry knows what Scot's doing and the sugary deliverance of his controlling offer doesn't make him any less domineering. She says that there's no way in hell she'll work with the guys, but she'll let them believe that she's cool with them for as long as she can.

Survivor: Kaoh Rong Recap: 'Operation Sabotage' is in Effect >>>

What are You Playing For?

For the reward challenge this week, the Survivors have to balance two pots on a teeter-totter with one foot. Each person is competing, but there are three categories to compete for: Food, an advantage, or love letters from home. They can choose what they want to compete for and the last person standing in each category will win.

Joe and Julia are the only ones competing for letters from home. It's an easy win for Julia when Joe drops out first.

Next, Scot, Jason and Michele compete for food. Scot and Jason drop out and Michele gets to eat a cheeseburger, fries and a beer.

That leaves Cydney, Tai and Aubry to compete for the advantage. Cydney drops out first (her muscle mass has really dwindled this far into the game). Aubry and Tai are left and Aubry says she wants to prove herself that she can do it and win. But a big breeze comes through and takes her down. Tai wins (yet another) advantage in the game.

Enjoying Rewards

Michele is glowing because she ate a cheeseburger and the ogres Jason and Scot didn't. But she also realizes how scary it is that Tai has an advantage in addition to his idol.

Speaking of Tai's advantage, he finds out it's an extra vote! Hopefully he fairs better with this "advantage" than Stephen Fishbach and Dan Foley (both went home on the day they tried to use their extra vote on their respective seasons).

Julia is excited to read her letters from home after such an emotional roller coaster the game has been for her. She's inspired to keep going and she's reminded of what she's playing for.

It gives Julia a boost to continue to make big moves. She pulls Michele and Aubry aside and tells them that they have to flush an idol at the next vote. She proposes voting for Tai and if one or more idol gets played, Cydney will go home (since she's the guys' target) and that will at least eliminate another threat for them.

Aubry listens to Julia's plan and agrees. She knows Julia is duplicitous, but that's something she can respect. She just doesn't want to sit next to her at the end with the resume she's building.

So that's one of the reasons she approaches Tai. She approaches him from an emotional level and they really seem to connect. She tells him that Julia is gunning for him and she wants him to trust her. She says in her confessional that she went out on a limb going to Tai, but she thinks she can be a moral alternative to Scot and Jason.

Tai is excited to possibly work with Aubry as he likes her energy a lot. He brings her proposal to Scot and Jason. However, Scot immediately shuts down working with her and says she should be the next to go. He thinks it's a better idea to blindside Aubry which would split her and Joe up, than making the emotional decision to get rid of Cydney.

Tai doesn't like that he has no say in his alliance's plans. The two guys are too forceful and they don't take anything he says into consideration. It's something he needs to consider going forward.

Aubry Holds Her Own

For the immunity challenge, the players have to stretch out their arms and use their fingertips to press against wooden discs. The discs are attached to pots, and the last person to keep both their pots up, wins a one in seven chance to win a million dollars.

Joe, Scot, Julia and Michele drop fairly quickly. Tai and Cydney follow leaving only Aubry and Jason. The two last an hour and 15 minutes, but Aubry can't hold on. Poor Aubry, second place in two challenges in a row. And now stupid Jason has immunity.

Trying for Tai

Jason celebrates with Tai and Scot. Jason says that Aubry's gone, and if worse comes to worst they'll play the super idol, but with Tai and Julia, they'll have the numbers advantage.

Julia tells Jason and Scot that her plan is to flush Tai's idol. They tell her it doesn't matter to them because Tai's not in their "final three" plans anyway; she is. Julia's thrilled that she's solidified a plan to the end and at the same time is still in good graces with the girls.

Aubrey tells Cydney that they absolutely have to split up Scot and Jason. Obviously, they can't vote for Jason, so they'll have to put the votes on Jason. The key will be to get Tai to vote with them. She thinks that Tai's natural state is not aligned with people like Jason and Scot, so she thinks she can pull him over.

She makes a compelling argument to Tai. She is basically the opposite of the two goons when she tells him that all of the power is in his hands and it's his game, so he needs to do what he thinks is right for him. But she says, that if he decides to split himself from them, he'll have the support of three votes going on Scot.

Tai has a lot to figure out before Tribal. He's scared of upsetting Jason and Scot, but he wants to play the game that's best for him.

Before Tribal, Jason hands his hidden immunity idol over to Scot. In the event of emergency, Scot and Tai both have idols to combine for the super idol for one of themselves.

Did the All-Female Alliance Just Ruin Their Chances of Winning Survivor: Kaoh Rong? >>>

Tribal Council

Jeff talks about the big idol display that went on between the three guys at the last Tribal. And they continue to insist that it won't be one of the three of them going home tonight. Aubry says dealing with them is like running into a wall.

Cydney says she's nervous tonight because the boys remain salty about her jumping from their alliance. Scot says that they've always been open about their plans, and it's probably a good idea for one of them to get on the right side of things while they still can.

Aubry talks about the gallant fight she put up at the challenge today to prove that she's more than just a Brain. She says each of the three categories only begin to scratch the surface of who each of these people really are.

Tai stays quiet for a lot of Tribal. He does say he's not into boasting and being arrogant like the other guys, but he knows this is war.

To the Vote!

Before the votes are read, Julia gets aggressive telling Tai to play his idol. Scot is equally aggressive telling him not to play his idol.

The votes come out and there are two for Tai, two for Aubry and four for Scot.

Scot looks at Tai for the idol so they can play the super idol. He looks at Tai some more. Tai looks at Jason. Jason looks at Tai. Finally Tai looks back at Scot and shakes his head and says, "No."

Scot's only response is, "Wow." His torch is snuffed with Jason's hidden idol in his pocket.

So Tai comes through! And he still has an idol, an advantage, and he's separated himself from the villains! Aubry stays! Scot goes! The axis of evil is finally broken! And the peasants rejoice!

Next episode: Jason makes Tai the new target of his vengeance. I guess we all saw that one coming.

Survivor airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE PLAYED FOR?

Love

Food

Advantage

Submit »

SlideshowPick Your Poison: 10 Ways 'Survivor,' 'The Amazing Race' and 'Big Brother' are Different

'Survivor: Kaoh Rong' Recap: Revenge of the Nerds
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Gina Pusateri
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

Add as BuddyTV Friend »

Email

On the previous episode of Survior: Kaoh Rong, the ladies alliance had to sacrifice one of their own when the Bully alliance threatened to upend the game with their idols. Now Debbie is gone, but Jason and Tai's idols are still in play, and have extra powers if combined into a super idol. Who knows what could happen next! It's what still makes Survivor so exciting. Let's find out, shall we?

Brawns Feeling Good

Scot, Jason and Tai celebrate the fact that a woman went home and they still have both of their idols. Jason credits Operation Sabotage as the reason the women "ate one of their own." It must be hard for him to understand that the women put a lot more strategic thoughts into why the women voted the way they did last week, and it had little to do with their immature antics.

Tai wants to work on bringing the camp back together now and mending their relationships. So, Scot approaches Aubry and tells her that their real beef is with Cydney and if she wants to work with them, then camp life will go back to normal and they'll keep providing for their tribe.

Aubry knows what Scot's doing and the sugary deliverance of his controlling offer doesn't make him any less domineering. She says that there's no way in hell she'll work with the guys, but she'll let them believe that she's cool with them for as long as she can.

Survivor: Kaoh Rong Recap: 'Operation Sabotage' is in Effect >>>

What are You Playing For?

For the reward challenge this week, the Survivors have to balance two pots on a teeter-totter with one foot. Each person is competing, but there are three categories to compete for: Food, an advantage, or love letters from home. They can choose what they want to compete for and the last person standing in each category will win.

Joe and Julia are the only ones competing for letters from home. It's an easy win for Julia when Joe drops out first.

Next, Scot, Jason and Michele compete for food. Scot and Jason drop out and Michele gets to eat a cheeseburger, fries and a beer.

That leaves Cydney, Tai and Aubry to compete for the advantage. Cydney drops out first (her muscle mass has really dwindled this far into the game). Aubry and Tai are left and Aubry says she wants to prove herself that she can do it and win. But a big breeze comes through and takes her down. Tai wins (yet another) advantage in the game.

Enjoying Rewards

Michele is glowing because she ate a cheeseburger and the ogres Jason and Scot didn't. But she also realizes how scary it is that Tai has an advantage in addition to his idol.

Speaking of Tai's advantage, he finds out it's an extra vote! Hopefully he fairs better with this "advantage" than Stephen Fishbach and Dan Foley (both went home on the day they tried to use their extra vote on their respective seasons).

Julia is excited to read her letters from home after such an emotional roller coaster the game has been for her. She's inspired to keep going and she's reminded of what she's playing for.

It gives Julia a boost to continue to make big moves. She pulls Michele and Aubry aside and tells them that they have to flush an idol at the next vote. She proposes voting for Tai and if one or more idol gets played, Cydney will go home (since she's the guys' target) and that will at least eliminate another threat for them.

Aubry listens to Julia's plan and agrees. She knows Julia is duplicitous, but that's something she can respect. She just doesn't want to sit next to her at the end with the resume she's building.

So that's one of the reasons she approaches Tai. She approaches him from an emotional level and they really seem to connect. She tells him that Julia is gunning for him and she wants him to trust her. She says in her confessional that she went out on a limb going to Tai, but she thinks she can be a moral alternative to Scot and Jason.

Tai is excited to possibly work with Aubry as he likes her energy a lot. He brings her proposal to Scot and Jason. However, Scot immediately shuts down working with her and says she should be the next to go. He thinks it's a better idea to blindside Aubry which would split her and Joe up, than making the emotional decision to get rid of Cydney.

Tai doesn't like that he has no say in his alliance's plans. The two guys are too forceful and they don't take anything he says into consideration. It's something he needs to consider going forward.

Aubry Holds Her Own

For the immunity challenge, the players have to stretch out their arms and use their fingertips to press against wooden discs. The discs are attached to pots, and the last person to keep both their pots up, wins a one in seven chance to win a million dollars.

Joe, Scot, Julia and Michele drop fairly quickly. Tai and Cydney follow leaving only Aubry and Jason. The two last an hour and 15 minutes, but Aubry can't hold on. Poor Aubry, second place in two challenges in a row. And now stupid Jason has immunity.

Trying for Tai

Jason celebrates with Tai and Scot. Jason says that Aubry's gone, and if worse comes to worst they'll play the super idol, but with Tai and Julia, they'll have the numbers advantage.

Julia tells Jason and Scot that her plan is to flush Tai's idol. They tell her it doesn't matter to them because Tai's not in their "final three" plans anyway; she is. Julia's thrilled that she's solidified a plan to the end and at the same time is still in good graces with the girls.

Aubrey tells Cydney that they absolutely have to split up Scot and Jason. Obviously, they can't vote for Jason, so they'll have to put the votes on Jason. The key will be to get Tai to vote with them. She thinks that Tai's natural state is not aligned with people like Jason and Scot, so she thinks she can pull him over.

She makes a compelling argument to Tai. She is basically the opposite of the two goons when she tells him that all of the power is in his hands and it's his game, so he needs to do what he thinks is right for him. But she says, that if he decides to split himself from them, he'll have the support of three votes going on Scot.

Tai has a lot to figure out before Tribal. He's scared of upsetting Jason and Scot, but he wants to play the game that's best for him.

Before Tribal, Jason hands his hidden immunity idol over to Scot. In the event of emergency, Scot and Tai both have idols to combine for the super idol for one of themselves.

Did the All-Female Alliance Just Ruin Their Chances of Winning Survivor: Kaoh Rong? >>>

Tribal Council

Jeff talks about the big idol display that went on between the three guys at the last Tribal. And they continue to insist that it won't be one of the three of them going home tonight. Aubry says dealing with them is like running into a wall.

Cydney says she's nervous tonight because the boys remain salty about her jumping from their alliance. Scot says that they've always been open about their plans, and it's probably a good idea for one of them to get on the right side of things while they still can.

Aubry talks about the gallant fight she put up at the challenge today to prove that she's more than just a Brain. She says each of the three categories only begin to scratch the surface of who each of these people really are.

Tai stays quiet for a lot of Tribal. He does say he's not into boasting and being arrogant like the other guys, but he knows this is war.

To the Vote!

Before the votes are read, Julia gets aggressive telling Tai to play his idol. Scot is equally aggressive telling him not to play his idol.

The votes come out and there are two for Tai, two for Aubry and four for Scot.

Scot looks at Tai for the idol so they can play the super idol. He looks at Tai some more. Tai looks at Jason. Jason looks at Tai. Finally Tai looks back at Scot and shakes his head and says, "No."

Scot's only response is, "Wow." His torch is snuffed with Jason's hidden idol in his pocket.

So Tai comes through! And he still has an idol, an advantage, and he's separated himself from the villains! Aubry stays! Scot goes! The axis of evil is finally broken! And the peasants rejoice!

Next episode: Jason makes Tai the new target of his vengeance. I guess we all saw that one coming.

Survivor airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE PLAYED FOR?

Love

Food

Advantage

Submit »

SlideshowPick Your Poison: 10 Ways 'Survivor,' 'The Amazing Race' and 'Big Brother' are Different

Prince Rogers Nelson may you RIP what a sad day in the music world :(

Today we lost a great song writer, musician, icon of his era ! Prince Rogers Nelson suddenly passed away today due to they say he was pretty ill with flu. He is leaving a world that he filled so much excitement in with his music and antics at time :) 

Prince was one of a kind man he wore the most awesome outfits and his music was always fresh and new. He was a work-a-holic as well but he also was at times feisty but knew how to get things done the way he needed them done and he did a great job. 

He did many great things through his music and even in films he did as well. May he RIP and may he be flying high in the Purple Rain of the heavens in the sky! 

Kimberly
TV REALITY MOM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/prince-dead-at-57-20160421 

 

 

Survivor Lesson never learned Deb keep thy mouth shut :)

I truly believe there are people who really really should not be on Survivor almost like they never watched an episode and learned from it. Deb opening her mouth right after Aubry told her about Julia and she is with Jason and Scott there little informant to be exact IMO !

Though I am truly glad she got voted out Wed to be honest. Deb was starting to again IMO lose it and she was also getting really and I mean really really skinny there not good. They said she lost about 14 pounds or so I think maybe a bit more but they took her weight that night medical did and they say she lost 14 pounds when they talked about it in her Ponderosa ..

I am hoping that now that Jason did one of the dumbest things ever but hey live and learn for him giving Tai his idol to make the super idol. I am wondering if Tai will even use it but how he just accepted it and sat down lol at tribal which was quite funny I have to admit. I mean that is to be done after the reading of the votes to in order to use the super idol powers by putting the two idols together. To save one or something I forget how this works anyway I just hope Tai gets with the girls and does not use it. 

Jason and Scott are clueless about everything they think Tai is all with them I am saying not to much but he Tai is playing it smart and acting as if he is. Putting out the fire on Scott's part was insulting and down right mean as well as stupid. Tai doing the same thing before anyone knew it and don't know that Tai did it they are saying he did it more to show Scott and Jason he is with them so we shall see.

So on that note may your day or evening where ever in the world you may live be a wonderful one! Be kind to everyone you see even if someone is not being so nice smile at them anyhow wish them a great day I have done it many times lol it usually stumps people after that Lol!

Kimberly
TV REALITY MOM 

 

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http://www.buddytv.com/articles/survivor/survivor-kaoh-rong-recap-59594.aspx

 

 

'Survivor: Kaoh Rong' Recap: 'Operation Sabotage' is in Effect
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Gina Pusateri
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

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On last week's episode of Survivor: Kaoh Rong, Cydney used the Brains on the bottom and the Beauty girls to form a girl's alliance (plus Joe) to get rid of Nick. Are Jason and Scot on the chopping block next? We can only hope! Let's see if the girls can stick together and get rid of two of the game's biggest bullies.

Operation Sabotage

Tai congratulates the girls on their "girl power" vote, but Jason and Scot aren't as nice about things. Scot says they were blindsided by the girls and it's time to go to war. He says they're going to take the tools and stop providing for them in an attempt to make them weak and turn them against each other. Jason says it's psychological warfare and that's what he's best at.

When Jason asks Tai who he voted for at the last Tribal, Tai tells him Debbie because he doesn't want to admit that he panicked and voted for Jason. He also realizes that these two are his closest alliance, but he's uncomfortable with the extremity of their sabotage plan. He says that's not how he lives his life, but there's nothing he can do to control them or change their minds.

Survivor: Kaoh Rong Recap: When Over-Confidence is a Weakness >>>

Early on Day 23, Scot and Jason steal the tools right out from underneath Joe's nose and hide them in the trees.

It doesn't stop there. When Debbie notices the tools are missing, the girls rally by putting coconuts in the fire. Scot takes their positive attitude as an affront and pours all of their drinking water in the fire. Naturally that doesn't go over well. Michele says she doesn't tolerate this kind of behavior in real life and she's not going to let them get her spirits down. Debbie says Scot and Jason's attitudes are a testament to their character; they're bad sportsmen and not gentlemen.

Tai warns Scot and Jason about going too far. He says it's too extreme and it's going to be hard for him to sit around and watch. But Scot looks positively gleeful when he thinks about other ways to do damage around camp.

A Deserter

Debbie lays it all out on the table that Scot and Jason have been sabotaging their camp. Jeff notices the split in the numbers, so he tells them instead of a schoolyard pick for two teams for this challenge, they can team themselves up.

Clearly Scot, Tai and Jason are on one team and Joe is sitting out. So who will go over to the guys team? Julia volunteers a little too quickly. Both Cydney and Aubry pick up on that and now they don't think that they can trust her.

The challenge is for the two teams of four to un-knot themselves from a long rope. Then, they have to throw sandbags at wooden pegs to clear them from a platform. The first team to win, gets Chinese takeout delivered to their camp.

The guys (plus Julia) lead pretty much most of the challenge, but when the girls catch up, Debbie is throwing bombs at those pegs. It looks like she's going to pull off the upset, but Jason clears their platform at the last second to win reward.

Back at Camp

Jason feels like their luck is back on the upswing now that they won the challenge and they might have Julia. It doesn't seem to occur to him that even with Julia, the numbers are still only four to five. I suppose they do have the only two idols in the game and thus a super idol, so that's a thing.

Julia says that she does want to work with Scot and Jason because she feels like she's at the bottom of the girls alliance. Not only that, but especially after what they've done around camp, no one on the jury is going to vote for them if she goes to the end with them.

Debbie doesn't think Julia is going to defect to Scot and Jason's alliance. But Cydney and Aubry's B.S. meters are on high alert. Cydney and Aubry agree that she should be the next to go.

At first Tai was upset when Scot first poured the water in the fire. He now realizes that it's "us vs. them" and the evil part of him comes out. He pours water on the new fire while everyone else is sleeping.

Joe wakes up in the morning to see the fire out again and the embers cold. Aubry thinks that Scot and Jason are doing this for a reason so they put their votes on one of them and they use an idol. So her gut is telling her to go Julia at the next Tribal.

Unfortunately, Debbie's gut is telling her something completely different. She says that Scot and Jason are messing with their physical ability to survive and it has to be one of them to go next. Aubry wishes she would think more logically and less emotionally, but she puts her foot down and says she's not writing Julia's name down.

Stacking Blocks

For the immunity challenge this week, the Survivors have to stack blocks along an unsteady beam all the while avoiding tripwires. The first person to stack all their blocks and then push them over so they fall like dominoes and hit a gong, wins.

Everyone puts up a solid fight for this one (except for maybe Joe). Michele, Debbie, and Jason all try knocking their stacks to win it but come up short. In the end Julia wins immunity, thwarting all of Aubry's plans.

Time to Scramble

Debbie tells the ladies and Joe back at camp that they have to split the votes between Tai and Scot even though she doesn't think it's possible that those three dummies have an idol. Guess again!

Aubry can't believe Debbie just spilled out the plan in front of Julia because she knows she's playing both sides. And she's right. Julia goes right to Scot and Jason and tells them the ladies' plan. Scot tells Julia to vote for Cydney tonight, but they still plan on pulling out their idols just in case.

Cydney and Aubry don't like how Debbie told the plan to Julia. Aubry is really starting to get concerned about Debbie. She doesn't want to see her go, but she's not listening to logic and she needs a better partner in the game going forward and it looks like that partner is Cydney. Cydney's convinced she can get Michele to vote with them and Aubry thinks she can get Joe.

But Joe is a no-go. There's no way he's voting for his old Brains pal Debbie. So who does that leave? Julia of course!

Michele and Cydney tell Julia the plan and she says she's down with it. But ultimately, it's in her control to decide who goes home tonight. She can vote with the Brawns for Cydney or she can go for Debbie.

CBS Leaves Major Show Off It's Early Renewal List of 11 Shows >>>

Tribal Council

Debbie says there's an obvious division in the camp and now they're not eating. The volatile part of the camp is making it hard for the rest of them to survive.

Julia says she went with Tai and Scot and Jason at the reward challenge simply because they needed another person and someone had to do it. Debbie says she understands she just wanted to eat and Michele says tonight is a good vote to see where Julia's allegiances really lie.

Then start the theatrics with the idol. Both Tai and Jason put theirs on display. Jason especially makes a big show if it. He says after the votes are cast, he and Scot are going to rock-paper-scissors to see who plays the idol. There are a bunch of whispers going around and people saying to stick to the "original plan," but who even knows what that means anymore.

To the Vote!

When it comes time to play an idol, Scot and Jason make another show of who will play the idol. Even though Scot wins rock-paper-scissors, they end up giving the idol to Tai and he simply puts it in his pocket. So no idol play, and no idol flush.

Then the votes come in. Scot, Jason and Tai voted for Cydney. Debbie and Joe voted for Scot. And the rest of the votes come in for Debbie.

Poor Debbie did not see that one coming. And in hindsight, the ladies could have gotten rid of Scot had they just not split the votes. But that was a big risk and Debbie had turned herself into a liability. Let's hope she doesn't hold it too much against them on the jury.

Next episode: Aubry tries to get Tai to turn away from the dark side.

Survivor airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

WILL TAIL KEEP THE IDOL THAT JASON GAVE HIM AT TRIBAL COUNCIL?

No, he's too nice.

Yes, it's his now.

For my Magic The Gathering folks ! Magic: The Gathering – Shadows Over Innistrad Set Review For Pauper

Here is another article on pauper for my magic the gathering folks enjoy and may your day be awesome where ever in the world you may live.

KIMBERLY
TV REALITY MOM






http://www.tcgunity.net/magic-the-gathering-shadows-over-innistrad-set-review-for-pauper/
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Magic: The Gathering – Shadows Over Innistrad Set Review For Pauper

 

 April 9, 2016  Posted by Pete Trbovich at 5:30 pm Magic The Gathering, Trading Card Games, Uncategorized Tagged with: Magic: the Gathering, Pauper, review, trading card game

Shadows Over Innistrad has been one of the most widely anticipated Magic: The Gathering sets to come out in a long time. Eternal formats especially have been sitting up and taking notice of new sets lately, now that they’re all shaking off Eldrazi Winter 2016 (never forget!). Pauper format is no exception. There’s been some buzz about SoI cards in the Pauper community.

But we’re on steadier ground here in Pauper compared to my Modern review. New cards entering Pauper, ironically, have a much higher bar to entry than Modern. They’re either above the salt or they’re not; the nature of common rarity precludes Wizards from printing absolute bombs. There’s been some hype around SoI commons, so I’m going to load up a slingshot and bust a few bubbles.
My unscientific ratings scale:

When I pick a card, it gets 1-or-2-to-5, 2 being “maybe worth a try,” to 5 being “get four copies immediately before the price spikes.” A “1?” means “God only knows if this card will be awesome or a dud, but it will be interesting to test.” A 1 rating means it’s either (a) a unique effect we’ve never had before, (b) a budget substitute for an already-played card, or (c) a card that could fit into an existing deck that may not necessarily want it. As always, I will be ignoring reprints and anything that doesn’t look interesting.

Shadows Over Innistrad cards to watch out for in Pauper:

Angelic Purge – (2) – This is one of those over-hyped cards I’m talking about. A lot of people seem to forget that Oblivion Ring is in the format already, so if you need 3-mana sorcery-speed removal that’s a catch-all, that’s your ticket. That leaves the only upsides to this as that it gives white an unlimited sacrifice outlet for any permanent, and isn’t likely to be undone with enchantment hate. Those are two decent considerations, but they’re two edge cases so narrow that there isn’t a deck to stand on them just yet.

Chaplain’s Blessing – (3) – An interesting print. Pauper is full of aggro decks; Soul Sisters type strategies are more viable than in other formats. And this is definitely one of the highest life-gain to mana ratios ever printed, but Sunspring Expedition is already a card in the format and undoes 2.66 Lava Spike worth of damage for relatively low investment. But Chaplain’s Blessing is instant gratification right now without hassling with landfall, so it gets a nod here.
Stern Constable – (1?) – Mono-white now has a cheap discard outlet – with a more useful effect than Tireless Tribe! We have no idea why we should be happy about that yet, but if the madness mechanic has an impact on Pauper at all, it will probably be through this card in white-based decks.

Thraben Inspector – (2) – A Sanctuary Cat that cantrips? Could be good, if it has enough friends to make a theme. For a total of three mana, this is kinda comparable to Phyrexian Rager. The one less power is a downside, but white isn’t exactly swimming in card advantage at the pauper level and will do well with whatever it can get.

Vessel of Ephemera – (4) – While the mana investment is cruddy, Pauper has previously had just three ways to put multiple flying tokens on the battlefield with a single card before: Battle Screech (in every white deck), Triplicate Spirits (hardly played), and Rise of Eagles (trash). So this is actually pretty good here, and easy ways to recur enchantments such as Auramancer in the format make it a notch better.

Pieces of the Puzzle – (1?) – The only deck I have in mind for this is UB Teachings, which is already hanging out on the fringes of playable. Even then, Peer Through Depths is a card and yields one less card for one less mana in an instant. For that matter, blue is spoiled rotten in card advantage in Pauper already; Ponder, Preordain, and Brainstorm are enough for almost any deck. And yes, blue got shafted so hard in this set that there’s even only one blue card with Pauper potential!

Alms of the Vein – (5!) – Again as I said in Modern, a one-mana Lightning Helix is nuttier than a fruitcake, and you will have a hysterical time pitching this to madness outlets and doming your opponent until Gary drops.

Sanitarium Skeleton – (5!) – Jeez, where to start? This may come as a shock, but Pauper has never before had a creature that comes back from the grave on its own steam. Sure, we have plenty of cards that return something else from the bin – Gravedigger, Ghoulraiser, Cadaver Imp, etc. – and we’ve got a few guys with unearth and dredge, but for just straight infinite recursion to your hand on a single common card, that’s never happened before. The combos with this guy have unlimited possibilities, not to mention this is one devotion you can guarantee to have out before Gary drops.

Shamble Back – (3) – This is one of those humble cards that provide so much utility for one mana, you have to at least give them a nod. While Vile Rebirth is out there already, this provides two life as well as hating the graveyard and putting some boots on the ground.

Twins of Maurer Estate – (2) – The madness ability is the only reason to consider this card. Three mana is pretty cheap for such a big butt blocker, Pauper being the aggro-happy format it is. While Gurmag Angler provides better value for its typical cost, this doesn’t need delve and can even work well in the same kind of deck as the zombie fish.

Bloodmad Vampire – (0!) – Another card that’s been the subject of Pauper hype, you can color me unimpressed. Sure, the madness cost can give it pseudo-haste, but it’s never getting very far. It dies to a block from a stinkin’ goblin token and even if it doesn’t, it still dies to Disfigure even after it gets a +1 counter.

Dual Shot – (4) – As in Modern, it’s a solid removal spell when your opponent is foolish enough to have two unflipped Delver of Secrets out at once, which happens embarrassingly often. Though Electrickery may still reign here, this makes a nice compliment at one mana.

Ember-Eye Wolf – (3) – Oddly enough, it’s rare to get both firebreathing and haste on the same dude in Pauper. This little doggy is good at any stage of the game, and will be a harsh topdeck late game for many a shocked opponent who thought they were in the clear.

Fork in the Road – (4) – While it’s nothing to get excited about, this is the cheapest total mana cost available to find two land cards. True, one goes to the grave, but that doesn’t slow down pauper green a bit with dudes like Tilling Treefolk running around and can even help turn on delirium for what that’s worth.

Hinterland Logger – (4) – I predict this could become a staple in green Stompy decks. It fits right into Stompy’s mana curve, and is the cheapest way to get four trample damage on a single card with no help from Rancor. It gets even better with Rancor, of course.

Moldgraf Scavenger – (3) – Runaway hype train alert! I have heard this card called, repeatedly, I quote, “the Pauper Tarmogoyf,” endquote. No, no it is not. What it is is Werebear without the mana dork ability and with a slightly easier way to turn it on than threshold. Also with far less funny flavor text. Yes, I suggest at least testing it out and it can beat some face, but it compares poorly to the aforementioned Hinterland Logger because when it’s not turned on it’s just a wall, and when it is turned on it doesn’t have trample.

Watcher in the Web – (4) – So it’s a common, and it’s a 2/5 with reach, and it can block up to eight guys? What’s the catch? Well, at 5 CMC it’s actually pretty slow for Pauper, and especially slow against the kind of weenie aggro you want this against, but this is still bound to find its way into a sideboard or two. Note, it has reach and 2 power, it can kill flipped Delver.
In conclusion…

Alright, that covers the pauper end of SoI. It’s a crazy ride of hits and misses, but without a doubt we can say that the second visit to Innistrad delivered every bit of steak with its sizzle. Tune in next time when I dig into Commander format to try to predict which one of this set’s crazy overpowered monsters will fit into there.

For my Magic The Gathering folks here is another article just for you all enjoy!!

Kimberly
TV REALITY MOM

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 http://www.tcgunity.net/magic-the-gathering-shadows-over-innistrad-set-review-for-modern/

Magic: The Gathering – Shadows Over Innistrad Set Review For Modern

 

 April 8, 2016  Posted by Pete Trbovich at 7:16 pm Magic The Gathering, Trading Card Games, Uncategorized Tagged with: Magic: the Gathering, Modern, review, trading card game

At the Shadows Over Innistrad pre-release, Ozzy Osbourne puts down the bat he was casually munching and steps to the microphone to announce: “All abooooooooard the Hype Train!” Choo choo!

So, as usual, I’m leaving the reviews for the Sealed / Draft / Standard aspect up to other bloggers. I prefer to Turtle Wax my crystal ball and peek a bit farther ahead – into eternity, in the eternal formats, where a card can get much better mileage for its money. So today, we’ll look at Shadows Over Innistrad for cards that could be coming to a Modern deck near you.
My unscientific ratings scale:

When I pick a card, it gets 1-or-2-to-5, 2 being “maybe worth a try,” to 5 being “get four copies immediately before the price spikes.” A “1?” means “God only knows if this card will be awesome or a dud, but it will be interesting to test.” A 1 rating means it’s either (a) a unique effect we’ve never had before, (b) a budget substitute for an already-played card, or (c) a card that could fit into an existing deck that may not necessarily want it. As always, I will be ignoring reprints and anything that doesn’t look interesting.

Of all the Magic sets there ever were to review, Shadows Over Innistrad is mind-blowing! So allow me some misses here. There’s so many unique and powerful effects that it’s challenging to judge this set. I shall do my prophet best. It’s all prognostication and tea leaves and gut instinct from here. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a gut feeling; that’s just your brain telling you something without bothering to explain the details to you.

Shadows Over Innistrad cards to watch out for in Modern:

Anguished Unmaking – (3) – Utter End already saw mild play, but at four mana is slow for Modern. Anguished Unmaking is as close as you can possibly get to Vindicate without being in Legacy. So there’s got to be a call for it somewhere.

Prized Amalgam – (1?) – It’s obviously good in a UB deck running Bloodghast, Bloodsoaked Champion, Gravecrawler, and other recursive munchkins. The only problem is, that deck doesn’t exist right now. But need I point out, if this is your only blue card, he works just fine without any blue mana. Just pitch him to Pack Rat or something.

Brain in a Jar – (3) – It doesn’t seem like much right now, but trust me, this card is scary. Isochron Scepter is already a card, but it’s limited to 2-mana spells; this can eventually cast a Wrath of God for one mana. An Aether Vial for counterspells just might be what pushes Control decks to the forefront of Modern. Finally.

Drownyard Temple – (1?) – We’ve never had this effect in Modern before. The closest we’ve had is Dakmor Salvage, but this comes straight back to the battlefield whether you’ve played a land already or not. The three mana cost is harsh; however, Smallpox decks have no trouble going to the long game. Knight of the Reliquary combo has also seen some fringe testing; this plays very nicely with that.

Crawling Sensation – (1?) – Another card that plays nice with Knight of the Reliquary; both of them want real estate in the cemetery. This is like a half-step between Bitterblossom and Awakening Zone as far as token production goes, so it would only be good in either Knight or any random reanimator strategy.

Duskwatch Recruiter – (3) – Green decks that used to be Birthing Pod are already up to their shaggy manes in Collected Company effects to draw out creatures, but this is a small Commune with the Gods on a stick. He also flips into a decent dude that gives your creatures a discount. That may not look like much, but it’s a hell of a lot of utility on a grizzly bear. I’m being very conservative evaluating flippy cards in Modern, because it’s just not a format that often sees a player pass turn without casting something. But this guy gives you value even without the flip.

Traverse the Ulvenwald – (5!) – The banhammer calls will start rolling in. Late game this becomes Worldly Tutor for Modern, or a close imitation of already banned Green Sun’s Zenith.

Dual Shot – (3) – So Burn decks get a new toy. An instant-speed Sparkmage’s Gambit for one mana less. It’s pretty situational, but it hits a lot of staple creatures in Modern for one mana. Might be a sideboard call against tokens.

Geistblast – (1???) – This is the definition of a weird widget card. The pseudo-flashback copy effect says “Storm,” but it looks expensive to fit into Storm. UWR Control might use this for something, maybe?

Gibbering Fiend – (3) – He looks like he’ll be good friends with Eidolon of the Great Revel, and Burn / Zoo has no problem pitching spells to turn on Delirium.

Harness the Storm – (1?) – Another weird red card from this set. Modern Storm already likes Burning Vengeance, and then there’s the Pyromancer Ascension variant. The question is, just how many enchantments does this deck want to run while still leaving room for the bolts? If I’m not mistaken, this card apparently doesn’t exile the spell as is common with flashback effects. The bolt just stays in your graveyard and you get to cast it again? What are you people doing to my head?

Sin Prodder – (5!) – I will bravely face against the tide here and say that this card is nuts. There is a bone-headed myth out there in Magic-land that all cards that give your opponent a choice are not only automatically bad, but an abomination against all of nature and the heavens. I notice all these flames come from online only, while when I play paper in a shop everybody groans and scoops soon after I play Vexing Devil. I have a rant prepared about that bone-headed myth someday. Meanwhile, I got beaten by this card at the pre-release. It did damage to me when I wanted to stop the cards, and gave my opponent crazy card advantage when my life got too low to stop the cards. It’s red Bob in Modern. Even without the other text, it’s three power for three mana with menace, so it’s getting through every time your opponent doesn’t have removal or enough blockers, and if they have to double-block to kill it, that’s just more card advantage.

Skin Invasion – (5!) – Once again, I’ll go against the tide. This card will rock in Burn / Zoo / any Rx aggro. It’s insurance against spot removal. For one mana, it lands as a 3/4 out of Bolt range. They were going to kill your Goblin Guide anyway, now you have a follow-up. It still triggers Monastery Swiftspear when you cast it on her. There’s other hidden uses for it I’ll leave for the illuminated to discover. It slices, it dices, run it, it’s insane.

Village Messenger – (2) – There’s no doubt, if Modern RDW didn’t already have Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear, this card would be in their place. As it is, it’s still a hasty 1/1 and the odds of your opponent on the draw not having a play mean this suddenly becomes better than Goblin Guide turn two, as menace is a pain to face. And oh, yeah, it doesn’t let your opponent draw free cards.

Alms of the Vein – (4) – Hee hee, who gave black a Lightning Helix? No, wait, excuse me, a CHEAPER Lightning Helix? One you can pitch to Liliana of the Veil, Smallpox, Faithless Looting? Who thought this was a good idea? It’s now a goal for me to topdeck this when I have Thoughtseize in hand and both my opponent and I are at three life.

Asylum Visitor – (3?) – All together now: “But it’s not Bob!” Bob my foot. This has one more power than Dark Confidant, hits you for less life, fires on each player’s upkeep and not just your own, and can, of course, be played for madness. 8Rack decks should at least test it. Modern being the format that it is, everybody but Control has their hand empty by turn four anyway. It doesn’t always have to be Bob, people!

Call the Bloodline – (1?) – God here we go again. OK, Mr. “I can’t believe it’s almost Bitterblossom” here has some noteworthy comparisons, in that instead of costing you 1 life per token, the tokens have lifelink. It costs mana and cards, however, but if you’re even paying attention this set, madness is pushed like crazy. In Modern as it stands right now, I could see pitching Bloodghast to it already. Add in all the cards from this set, and a whole new deck could be born.

Gisa’s Bidding – (3) – You know what’s stupid, it’s the humble cards like this that slip under the radar. Four power across two bodies for four mana is reasonable. Yet more madness makes it an economical cast. Lingering Souls is almost jealous, since it’s four power across four bodies for five total mana, but flying. What if BW Tokens tried this?

Heir of Falkenrath – (4) – I give up! Obviously we’re going to strain comparison with every Modern staple with this set, but that’s unavoidable when Innistrad block shaped so much of Modern today. So, this is a non-Delver flying 3/2 flipper – only it costs two mana and a card instead of one, but has a far easier activation. Unlike Delver of Secrets, you don’t have to build your whole deck around this. Just pitch anything, boom, black vampire Delver. Give her a chance – how can you resist such a winsome wench? Just look at that face!

Relentless Dead – (4) – It WHAT? OK, let’s calm down. We’ve already seen Mortus Strider. But this is a 2/2 instead of a 1/1, has menace, and has the option of becoming Unburial Rites for another zombie in your yard (hello, is that Gary?) instead. So it’s not pushed or anything. It’s just bonkers, that’s all. The only thing stopping me from rating it higher is that I can’t think what existing deck wants this right now.

Thing in the Ice – (5) – They sucked all the juice out of the rest of the blue cards in this set and pumped it all into this one. For two measly mana, you get a wall. Four instants or sorceries later (doable in one turn with enough Gitaxian Probe), it’s this giant ridiculous RAWR! monster thing that casts a Whelming Wave effect when it flips. Even though blue got shafted horribly everywhere else in this set (seriously? Startled Awake is my mythic?), this card is insane. So of course since it’s the only blue card worth having in this set it probably already costs nine million dollars. Everybody hate on blue now.

Town Gossipmonger – (2) – It needs a buddy, and is slow at that, but in the end it’s still a 2/3 for W with fire-breathing which will never be used. Look at the art. It knows how silly it is.

Declaration in Stone – (2) – Good sideboard against hyper-redundant aggro decks like Zoo, Fish, and Tokens; lousy everywhere else. Giving your opponent an investigate token, even in Modern, may be one of the lowest downsides to white removal yet. If Eldrazi survives after the bannings, this could be an answer to a row of Eldrazi Mimic biding their time to strike.

Eerie Interlude – (2) – Blink your team, you choose which ones. A strictly better Ghostway.  Don’t look at me like that. White is BORING in this set, but it’s relentlessly practical.

Hanweir Militia Captain – (3) – I can’t think what deck wants this. Maybe hatebears? Anyway, for two mana you get a flippy when you have a big team – doable in Tokens decks – that becomes a Crusader of Odric that also spits tokens. This would be a much higher rated card if White Weenie had been a deck any time this century. Also, we already have Odric reprinted as Odric, Lunarch Marshal in this set, so why not just print this as another Crusader? Where are our Amy Pond fans, and why aren’t they rioting?

Nearheath Chaplain – (3) – Now here’s a boring, but practical value dude. I could see something like Abzan Toolbox wanting a lifelink dork that becomes half of a Lingering Souls. In fact, you have the option of just pitching it to the graveyard to just take the Souls.

Not Forgotten – (1?) – This is interesting just because white has never had this exact ability before. Green normally gets the Reclaim effect, not white. This can also whip something out of the graveyard you don’t want your opponent fishing out next turn, and gives you a token too. So that’s a lot of utility for two mana.
In conclusion…

That’s your Modern-eye view of Shadows Over Innistrad! Are some of these evaluations too optimistic? Perhaps. I know you’re all going to think I was bought off with these rave reviews, but Innistrad classic did define Modern in a big way and Wizards had a lot of promise to deliver with this set, so it’s inevitable that at least a few cards will show some potential.

The other thing that adds to Modern playability is the changing meta. Now that Wizards bans decks from Modern like crazy, new decks pop up even faster. Who could have predicted Eldrazi Winter? So now, how can we predict what this set with its ramped-up power levels will enable? Stay tuned, and see whether history derails my hype train.