“Core,” a free game creation tool based on Unreal Engine and available so far only on PC, is coming to macOS and iOS in the summer of 2022.
Manticore Games, the developer of Core, announced the expansion on Friday, which asked the game creation app’s one-year anniversary. When it arrives on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Core gamers will be able to cross-play with Windows players.
Additionally, the company said that developers who want to get a head start in creating mobile experiences using Core will be able to begin working with a new suite of iOS optimization tools starting Friday.
Thus far, the Core platform has only been available on Windows PCs through the Epic Games Store. Core itself is a free-to-play game with a built-in game creation system. As of Friday, Manticore Games says there are more than 50,000 “games, worlds, and events” that players can check out.
Other apps that are similar to Core are also making moves to expand to other platforms. Meta’s Horizon Worlds, so far an Oculus exclusive, is said to be expanding to mobile and web in the future. Roblox, which has long been available on a variety of platforms, may soon arrive on PlayStation, too.
How are climbing ropes made? What can they do? (Answer: incredible things.) How do they do it? GearJunkie digs in, video essay style.
As climbers, we routinely stake our lives on a few nylon fibers and seldom give it a thought beyond that.
Did you know that the machines that make climbing ropes use up to 48 different spools of material at once? What about that each meter of an Edelrid rope passes through human hands before it leaves the factory floor?
We didn’t know either, to be honest. We were always more wrapped up in what we (and especially other, bolder adventurers) could do with them.
Read on for an expository ode to climbing ropes, made possible by the Edelrid factory team and buoyed by cameos from the sport’s best.
But first, a whipper compilation.
(Skip to about 40 seconds in to watch GearJunkie correspondent Christian Black rip gear out of Indian Creek’s infamous “Fingers in a Light Socket” while riding a 40-foot fall.)
Natural Fear: Early Plant-Based Ropes
In the early days, “climbing ropes” were basically boat ropes. Braided cords of plant-based material were the norm.
Hemp was a common fiber choice, and climbers relied on hemp ropes as late as the 1950s. The plant is suitably robust (in tensile strength), but it’s cumbersome compared to modern rope materials and doesn’t stretch much. Its resistance to stretching limits its strength.
Almost all available evidence indicates risk tolerance was very different back in the day. Helmy and Fred Beckey’s second ascent of the South Face of Mt. Waddington (still a serious route today) in 1942 would undoubtedly have utilized hemp ropes.
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Royal Robbins probably used hemp ropes on the first 5.9 in America, “Open Book,” in 1952. Climbers had first aided the route using wooden chocks (yes, 2x4s) the year before.
Robbins didn’t take any falls on the route, but similar ropes and gear held falls. Ignore the wannabe Ken Burns narration in this clip and hang with it for the first 20 seconds to watch a bonafide boat rope whipper.
Nylon Ropes Change the Game
In 1935, DuPont patented nylon, or synthetic polyamide, and changed the climbing world forever. The new fiber was mega-strong, stretchy, and lightweight — perfect for protecting climbers on the sharp end.
Nylon can exhibit different properties depending on its weave pattern. Some weaves, for instance, can make it pliable and stretchy; others can result in a durable, abrasion-resistant material.
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That dual applicability led to the “kernmantel” structure, which defines the market today. Edelrid introduced the idea in 1953. The company is German, and in that language, “kern” means core, and “mantel” means sheath.
Simply put, a kernmantel rope’s core gives it stretch and strength. The sheath protects the core from the elements. Both parts consist of nylon fibers.
Nylon climbing ropes can let humans do unfathomable things. The late Dan Osman arguably pushed climbing ropes closer to their limit than any other human before or since. Tragically, he also broke the limit dying while jumping on a single rope.
Osman’s specialties included free-soloing and the world’s biggest rope swings. Skip to 3 minutes to watch the “Sky Pilot” rope jump 1,000 feet off Yosemite’s Leaning Tower.
“Holy sphincter” is right, Dan-O.
How Climbing Rope is Made
GearJunkie found messaging with Edelrid’s rope manufacturing team similar to talking to any group of genius technicians: informative and often prohibitively technical.
In paraphrase, here’s how it all goes down.
Step One: Nylon to Filaments to Twisted Yarn
The first step in rope making is turning nylon into thin filaments. It’s melted, extruded, and then pulled out into strands. The strands combine to form nylon yarn, the primary material for any climbing rope.
Edelrid can achieve different rope characteristics by twisting the yarn together in up to five layers. It can also weave in materials like aramid and polyester to affect the rope’s elasticity.
To avoid curling and kinking, the manufacturer twists half the yarn to the left and half to the right. Edelrid’s technicians twist each nylon filament profusely — a meter-long segment contains between 100 and 140 twists.
After the twisting process, the yarn is ready for shrinking.
Step Two: Shrinkage
Properly shrunk yarn is integral to a rope’s dynamic qualities. Shrinking reduces its strength slightly, giving it the critical ability to stretch and rebound. Static ropes are made with unshrunk yarn.
Edelrid Head of Product Phillippe Westenberger said shrinking is critical in making a dynamic rope.
“Shrinking is the key process to give a rope its dynamic characteristics and make it a dynamic climbing rope. During this process, pressure, heat, and humidity shrink the fibers so that they can elongate later on again, for example, to catch a fall,” Westenberger explained.
“But not all shrinkage is the same, of course. Different materials and different intended rope characteristics demand different shrinking processes. Basically, performance then depends on the total time and how differently the three parameters are ramped up and down.”
Elongation and rebound are the main ingredients to a lead rope’s field performance. To visualize why, watch Sonnie Trotter take repeated 50-foot whippers off a classic Scottish trad route — apparently, all on the same cord.
To shrink the yarn, Edelrid weaves it into loose sheets and puts it into an industrial autoclave — essentially, a heavy-duty chemical reaction sauna.
Each raw fiber shrinks to about two-thirds of its original size and thickness.
Step Three: Braiding a Climbing Rope
After shrinking, Edelrid de-weaves the loose sheets and spins the sheath yarn onto bobbins. The bobbins sit aside until they’re ready to go into the braiding machine. The core yarn, meanwhile, gets its water-repellent treatment at this stage.
After that, the main event kicks off. Braiding machines work in a precise choreography: up to 48 bobbins can circulate, spin, and revolve around a single machine to make one rope. The bobbins mount on the machine’s “carriers.” Each one can carry a different yarn, and together, they spin the core and the sheath at the same time.
The general rule for sheath braiding is this: more carriers and thinner yarn make for the best rope characteristics. A rope’s sheath percentage increases with the number of carriers on the machine that braided it.
Intuitively, sheath percentage refers to how much of the rope is the sheath, measured by weight. Using thinner sheath yarn helps keep the rope’s weight down, and its surface slick.
“Generally, we can see a certain correlation of the higher the sheath percentage and the slicker the surface, the longer the rope will last,” said Westenberger.
He explained the utility in terms of handling and toughness. “Slickness of a rope decreases friction, so one can see the logical consequence of abrasion resistance. It also reduces rope drag when climbing and handling in belay devices.”
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Like every parameter of rope construction, Edelrid controls the braiding process tightly. They set the speed the machine pulls the rope through itself, and they set the angle the machines braid the yarn and the tension of each thread.
The size of the hole machine pulls the rope through is the final variable and probably the most relatable to the everyday climber. It determines, of course, the rope’s diameter.
Step Four: Practicality
Edelrid makes about 1,000 m of a given rope during a production run.
Once it has a fully braided rope, it runs it through one of its various dry treatments. Most are PFC-based, but Eco Dry treatment uses paraffin, a type of wax.
Believe it or not, each meter of every Edelrid rope then passes through human hands before it leaves the factory floor. Experts feel for stiff spots or any other irregularities resulting from braiding.
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Then another machine cuts the rope to length and stamps the middle mark. Workers finish the marks to make sure they’re distinct, and then manually melt and tape the ends. A final machine coils it for packaging.
Internal strength and break testing take place before Edelrid sends any rope to the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) for certification.
How Strong Is Climbing Rope, Really?
The UIAA assumes a lot of responsibility (ethics and litigation) as the international certifying body for rope safety metrics. Consumers, by and large, purchase a lot of UIAA-rated climbing ropes around the world every day. Then, almost categorically, they go out into the world and abuse them.
All that considered, the organization generally plays it safe. Most field testing finds strength ratings reliable, and the “UIAA falls” ratings are thought to be conservative.
For entertaining, nonpretentious rope break testing that leverages professional lab technology, check out this clip from Hard is Easy. As a bonus, watch MC Ben rip an anchor out of his ceiling (in a somewhat improvised test from earlier days) about a minute in.
The team addresses plenty of field-applicable situations many climbers will be familiar with. “Should I cut the rope if I can squeeze a loop flat between my fingers? Should I worry about this fuzz?” And so on.
Tendon Ropes Factory Tour With … Wait, Who?
Curious to watch the whole modern rope-making process, one step at a time? Tour Tendon’s Bolatice, Czech Republic, facility with none other than “Tendon Top Employee Václav Nečesaný.”
Nečesaný knows what he’s talking about. And the results are in hand. If you take the video’s word for it, his ropes have helped world-class climbers pull off 5.15a/9a+ first ascents.
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Design patterns are typical solutions to common problems
in software design. Each pattern is like a blueprint
that you can customize to solve a particular
design problem in your code.
Catalog of patterns
List of 22 classic design patterns,
grouped by their intent.
Benefits of patterns
Patterns are a toolkit of solutions to common
problems in software design. They define
a common language that helps your team
communicate more efficiently.
Classification
Design patterns differ by their complexity, level of
detail and scale of applicability. In addition,
they can be categorized by their intent
and divided into three groups.
History of patterns
Who invented patterns and when?
Can you use patterns outside software
development? How do you do that?
Criticism of patterns
Are patterns as good as advertised?
Is it always possible to use them?
Can patterns sometimes be harmful?
Dive IntoDesign Patterns
Check out our ebook on design
patterns and principles. It’s available in
PDF/ePUB/MOBI formats and includes the
archive with code examples in
Java, C#, C++, PHP, Python, Ruby,
Go, Swift, & TypeScript.
Although optics are all the rage now, many still like the simplicity and dependability of good old iron sights. They make a great backup as well. However, if the front and rear sights are not properly aligned your shot placement and overall accuracy will suffer. Not to mention, if they are really far off, they may pose more of a risk in a home or self-defense scenario. This short primer provides the basics on how to adjust your iron sights if they need it.
Although some people like to zero at 25 meters, others prefer to zero at 50 yards. However, you may want to zero at 100 yards depending on your intended use. But keep in mind the effect this will have on close-quarters application. For this exercise, we chose a 50-yard zero.
Zeroing In
1.) Be sure you and your rifle are on a stable surface such as a bench rest or sandbags. Any movement, no matter how slight, will throw off your shots and affect the point of bullet impact.
2.) Place a target 25 yards downrange and fire a three-round group.
3.) Based on where your shots hit, determine if you need to adjust for windage, elevation, or both.
4.) If you need to adjust for elevation, first, figure out which sight to move. If it is the front sight, move the post up or down (a tool may be required). A general rule for adjusting a front sight is to move the sight in the opposite direction you want your group to move. For example, if you are shooting low, lower the front sight. However, your front sight may not be adjustable, in which case use your rear sight to adjust for elevation.
This is what an adjustable front iron sight looks like on an AR-15. They are fairly easy to adjust. Just push down the button to the front of the sight and use a tool to turn the sight for elevation.
5.) If you need to adjust for windage, move the rear sight windage knob (left/right). However, you may also need to adjust the rear sight for elevation, and you will use the elevation dial for this (up/down). The general rule for adjusting a rear iron sight is to move it in the direction you want your group to move. For example, if you’re hitting the target high and to the right, move your sight down and to the left. The FORS (Front Sight Opposite, Rear Sight Same) acronym should help remember.
Example of windage and elevation dials on a standard AR-15 rear iron sight.
6.) Shoot three-round groups and adjust the sights until the desired point-of-aim, point-of-impact is achieved.
7.) Once you have a zero at 25 yards, back the target back to 50 yards and repeat. At this point, you should only need to adjust the elevation.
Things to Consider
There are some things to take into consideration when adjusting iron sights. First, if you are not able to shoot a tight group, make sure you are using a proper bench rest. Likewise, make sure your bench rest is stable.
If you are unable to achieve a tight group due to inexperience, it may be best to have a gunsmith perform your sight adjustments. Once the adjustments are made, make sure to practice regularly until you are able to tighten your group.
Next, if you are having a hard time dialing in your zero, try adjusting the elevation or windage separately. For example, shoot a three-round group and then adjust your elevation. Then, shoot another three-round group and adjust your windage. Focusing on one adjustment at a time may help to simplify things.
Finally, if you’re sights are really far off and you are not hitting paper at all, pull the target closer. Bring the target in to 10 yards and get a zero at that distance. Then, move it out to 25 yards. And finally, out to the intended 50 yards.
Once you’re done adjusting and zeroing in your sights, you are ready for the range, the hunt, or personal defense.
There are few perfect things in this world, so it’s worth celebrating them when we find them. Case in point: this unbelievably outstanding video from Gazelle Automations, which imagines if the classic animation studio Filmation had managed to get its hands on the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew.
Trek fans likely know that Filmation did the original Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1973, while others may recognize the name as the maker of the classic He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon of the ‘80s. But anyone who’s ever laid eyes on a Filmation cartoon knows the studio was incredibly cheap. It reused as much footage as possible, it animated as little as possible, and it slowed down the story as much as possible, all to spend as little as possible. So when you watch this video, be assured it’s not a parody, but an exact replica of what Filmation would have done with The Next Generation had the studio made a spin-off back in the ‘70s:
The attention to detail is astounding, from the lack of the whites of their eyes, to the strange angles of the shots, to the way each Borg has to be teleported in succession. I swear, when Worf raises his phaser to shoot the Borg, that’s even the same (low) number of cels Filmation used for the motion. Here, compare the clip to this scene from the classic Trek cartoon:
Uncanny, right? What really gets me is that Gazelle Automations even nailed the characters’ shifting eyes, which represented the sum total of emotional reactions the Filmation characters would have in response to… well, anything, basically. Even the purple, oversimplified designs of the Borg are perfect. No notes!
The left got shellacked in Virginia and New Jersey on the last election day by parents who viewed them as coming after their children. Instead of seeing that as a problem, they determined parents were the problem and quadrupled down on it. Ron DeSantis came out in support of parents and protecting children. Progressives are anti-that to the point of insanity. I’m not one to give opponents political advice, but they may want to listen to John Rich. (h/t Not The Bee)
Rich is outspoken in politics, and Tim Pool asked him if he was afraid of the left coming after his children and his family as a result. "Cowboy Stevie Wonder" says the left are the ones who need to be afraid. It’s bookmarked around the 1:05:00 mark.
Timcast IRL – CREEPY Video Shows Mass Shrieking In China Over Starvation & Lockdown w/John Rich
"They better fear ever coming after my kids. I’ll let you come after me all you want to. You leave my family alone. We will die for our families. […] That’s what they don’t understand, these liberals and people running our country. There is a fierce love and dedication and responsibility that we have as parents that you step over that line and you start messing with my kids, there is no boundaries anymore between us.
"You want full contact support? You want to raise the stakes on what you’re doing to our kids and how you’re, in my opinion, assaulting them in all these ways you’re going to assault my kids? Once you try to assault me one time. I’m going to step in front of these little kids now you’re going to deal with it with a grown-ass man and a grown-ass woman who got nothing to lose.
"Whatever look I have in my eye right now is because I know what I’m saying I’m feeling it down in my guts, that it is what tens of millions if not more Americans are feeling right now, regardless of their politics […] You mess with our kids you’ve got a world of hurt coming your way this fall."
Nothing left to add to that other than, "Hell yeah, brother!"
Though, as a valuable service to readers of the Louder with Crowder Dot Com website, I’ll share my five favorite John Rich/Big & Rich songs:
1. "The Man I Am Right Now"
2. "Drive Myself to Drink"
3. "Kick My Ass"
4. "Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace"
5. "Rollin’"
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