Gears of War

The Quest to Survive Human Extinction

I hate being killed. That's right, I hate being shot into a million pieces. All Raam has to do is send his little kryll out and devour me into dust. For all you Gears of War fans out there, I come to you with hope of sympathy and advice. I love Gears, don't get me wrong. Killing an alien race that sat dormant underground and now you have to save the world from complete annihilation, how can you not get hooked? I have tried and tried again to defeat the final boss, Raam, on the medium setting. (I believe that is Hardcore) I had beaten him before on easy, but well let's face it, it's meant to be just that: easy. I didn't think it should be as hard as it is on medium, but I can't seem to win....

My first frustration came when my partner, Dom, would die off so quickly. I used him on easy mode as a distraction to keep Raam from attacking me with his shield of Kryll. But everytime we go into battle, he has the urge to run as fast as he can to just get mowed by Raam and his arsinal of attacks. So that leaves just me and Raam. That's never too easy. The second frustration was as to what guns I should take into battle with me. I first thought that the (sorry for my lack of gun terminology) chainsaw gun and shotgun would be best, but I never seemed to take off a lot of damage. I am aware of his Kryll shield and the fact that he is invincible to damage while his little friends circle him. But even when I get a clear shot I can't seem to take him down. Then I tried to use the sniper and shotgun, keeping with the long and short range weapon combo. But that didn't work either, the sniper rifle took too long to reload. I then tried the bow and bomb arrow with the chainsaw gun, finding that to be a popular solution online. But still no good. My third problem was the fact that he would rush me constantly, giving me no time to shoot him, I would have to run away and hide behind another barrier, avoiding death on all angles. My question is how to win. I have been patient but I still can't win. Who has the experience and wisdom to defeat such a unfair boss?

Life Saving Helmets

I am a klutz, I won't deny it. I have broken 12 bones, sprained my neck and had two concussions, all of which were not involved with any car accidents or anything that was fully out of my control. So reading this article scares me a little bit.

There is new evidence that football players, who literally use their head to win games, might suffer from a disease related to boxer's dementia called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE. It seems to be caused by repeated concussions, which was the scary part for me. CTE is characterized by confusions, memory loss, slurred speach and mood disorders, like an elderly person who has dementia.

There was thought that this condition existed long before scientists got more concrete proof. To me, its seems like more than a coincidence that many football players that had many concussions would die early and usually from something they had caused. Proof came in the form of an autopsy. The medical examiner found that the player that had died has suffered brain damage.

The problem now is that people, namely the NFL, aren't exactly convinced that this is a risk they should worry about. To give their side a chance, the symptoms aren't fully consistent with boxer's dementia and there isn't a lot of proof for separate cases. But different injuries will lead to different parts of the brain being damaged and that will lead to different symptoms.

There is a helmet out now that can prevent this whole problem. It is full of sensors that relay real time information to the sports medicine people on the sidelines about everything that's hitting the head of the player wearing it. This bit of technology can be used to gage how severe a brain trauma is and can help the people on the sidelines know when to bench a player. It can also help a lot with research in this condition. So far seven universities and five high schools use the helmets to protect their players. The NFL is still dragging its feet, but at least they are considering the technology.

In my opinion, it is much better to play it safe than sorry. I would rather my star player live a long happy life that kill himself at 40 after having severe depression. I would also like one for myself, just in case.(I'm sure you know I'm kidding.)

Thanks again Popular Science for the content and the picture. Go ahead and read more on the subject at their website.