Epic Games has collaborated with Quixel to introduce RealityScan, a free 3D scanning app that converts smartphone photos into high-fidelity 3D models.
Available now as part of a limited beta test, RealityScan leverages the technology of RealityCapture, desktop photogrammetry software for Windows and puts similar power into a mobile device. The possible applications for such technology are numerous, including the ability to quickly scan real-world objects and use corresponding 3D models in different projects, such as games or digital animations.
When using the new RealityScan app, the app prompts the user to capture at least 20 photos of a given item. Your results will improve as you capture more photos from as many angles as possible. The app then processes the images and converts them into a 3D object. You can export the scan to Sketchfab, a 3D asset platform that Epic purchased last year.
As of now, the app is being beta tested on iOS by up to 10,000 users. A broader beta test is expected to commence this spring, and an Android version should come out later this year.
Photogrammetry isn’t new, but it has generally required specialized equipment to do well. If RealityScan delivers upon its promise in terms of ease of use and 3D model quality, it will go a long way to reducing the barrier to entry of photogrammetry. We’ve previously seen photogrammetry used to great effect in games such as Star Wars Battlefront and Forza Horizon 5, which uses photogrammetry to build out the racing game’s Mexican biomes. With many games and other digital media being created by individuals or small teams, making photogrammetry more accessible and affordable has potentially huge benefits.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
One of the most iconic scenes in modern movie history was seen in The Patriot. In the scene, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) brings a fighting tomahawk to bear on multiple British soldiers. He then dispatches them with extreme prejudice.
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The Fighting Tomahawk
The tomahawk is generally believed to have been created by the Algonquians in early America. They would use stones, sharpened by a process of knapping and pecking and attach them to wooden handles, secured with strips of rawhide.
The tomahawk quickly spread from the Algonquian culture to the tribes of the South and the Great Plains. With the arrival of Europeans, the stone blades soon became metal, and the modern tomahawk was born.
The tomahawk has experienced a well-derived resurgence over the last several years as bladesmiths have begun to explore this classic weapon. Like any edged weapon, it can be an excellent tool of defense. On the same note, it takes some training to become effective with it.
One of the benefits of modern tomahawks is design. The use of high-end design and manufacturing processes has allowed us to have access to excellent close-quarter weapons. One of my favorites is the VI Axe from TOPS Knives. It is a cross between a traditional tomahawk and a fighting axe.
With all that said, let’s look at some of the fundamentals of fighting with a tomahawk.
Grip
Using a tomahawk or fighting axe allows for devastating abilities if used correctly. The first thing to consider is grip. While you may be tempted to choke up on the weapon to feel faster, you will diminish its abilities.
On a regular-sized weapon of approximately 16 to 18 inches, your grip should be set about two inches from the bottom to allow you to maximize the mass of the weapon. You will always have the ability to choke up on the grip if the situation dictates, but let’s start out with the full power of the weapon. A tomahawk or axe has a little more mass than the average knife, so a firm grip is in order.
Stance
Next on our list of things to understand is stance. Now in all reality, if you are defending your life with a tomahawk or fighting axe, there is not going to be much of a static stance. This is the same principle I teach in shooting. It looks good on paper, but it all flies out the window when the fireworks kick-off.
What you can do however is to maintain a fighting position. That is your support side foot forward and your dominant foot in the rear. Knees slightly bent and weight balanced evenly over your feet. You will want to be slightly on the balls of your feet to increase your speed and mobility. I call this simply a fighting stance, and it is common across pretty much every serious combat system on earth because it works well.
Another aspect of this is where you position yourself in relation to the threat. Just as I teach police officers and others, take the step to get off their centerline. Try to avoid standing directly in front of them and move about 45 degrees to the side. This forces them to turn if they intend to attack you and gives you a superior fighting position.
Chop
Now that we have a good stance and great position, we are able to strike should the need arise. Cutting with any blade takes practice, and I highly encourage you to get professional training to master it.
While we want to use the razor-sharp edge and mass of the weapon, we need to balance that with the type of strike we will use. As with all striking or cutting, we want to utilize our center or core. Engage the hips as you swing the cutting edge towards the target. Avoid any large wind up because our hips are going to give us the power we need. As you swing, try to focus on the tip of the edge and drive it forward.
Just like a sword, imagine you are flicking something off the tip of the blade. This will give you the best cutting stroke. As you cut, you want to follow through. Avoid stopping the motion as you meet resistance and let the blade cut through the target. Done correctly, a good cut can relieve an adversary of a limb. As you cut through the target, bring the weapon back into your center, and then prepare for another strike.
Cut
In the event space gets tight, you can still get excellent results with a tomahawk. Made correctly, the edge of these weapons is as sharp as any knife.
Cutting with a tomahawk is done the same way as we would with a knife. While slashing does not have the fight-stopping power of a chop, it will certainly do extensive damage. To get the most out of it, bring the weapon up into your center and slice forward and down into the target.
Our goal is to cut deep and long. We want more than just a superficial cut. While painful, these cuts rarely become fight stoppers. Just like we did with the chop, we want to have good follow-through and then reset for another cut. One cut is never enough.
Hook
One of the unique features of a tomahawk or fighting axe is its ability to hook. This allows us to move the subject if need be and position them. To execute this maneuver, drive the head of the weapon just over the area you want to hook.
A common target is an arm or wrist. Once you are just past the target, drive the edge down as you pull back into your center. If you use your entire body in this move, you can easily move an arm or more.
The benefit of this technique is to open them up to a more effective chop or even a deep cut. Once again, following through is important.
Hammer
Many weapons in this class can also double as a club. If the situation dictates a less bloody response. Slamming the back end or even the side of the weapon onto a target such as the nose or head can get solid results.
This is where you treat the weapon as if it were a hammer and the target as a nail. We want to drive the nail in with one stroke and break their will to fight. A solid piece of steel slammed into the skull can cause not only pain but mechanical dysfunction as well. Placing that strike across the bridge of the nose gives us pain once again but additionally causes the eyes to water profusely giving us a tactical advantage.
Where
Tap dancing here on the edge of too much information, I would like to talk about targeting and places to attack. Our defensive goal is to get them to break off their attack. This is done in one of two ways.
The first is that psychologically they decide they have gotten into more than they bargained for and break off their assault. The other option is that they become physically incapable of attacking you.
Regarding the latter, we want to make every cut or chop effective and productive. The human body breaks down in two ways: they mechanically can no longer function i.e., losing a limb, or they lose so much blood that they become ineffective. When we look at limb removal, the size of our weapon and skill level must be taken into account. With most tomahawks or fighting axes, fingers or even a hand can be taken off with a well-placed chop.
If we are driven to focus on blood loss, then attacks along the side of the neck will give us the best results. While cuts and chops into the thorax are certainly destructive, the time it might take them to dissuade an attacker can be drawn out if they are committed to the attack. We need them incapacitated as quickly as possible. The shorter the physical conflict, the lower the chance that you will be seriously harmed.
A Weapon of Convenience
The tomahawk or fighting axe in modern society is a weapon of convenience. Rarely do we see someone carrying this classic weapon on their belt. Along with being a fantastic weapon, it is a solid performing EDC and bugout tool. Think of it as a very sharp utility tool that has the ability to cut wood as well as people. I have encouraged the inclusion of these handy helpers in truck kits, bug-out bags, and camping loads for decades.
As I alluded to earlier, the market is now filled with a variety of options to choose from. Much like buying a handgun, take your time and find the one that fits your needs and space the best. While a five-foot battle axe will end about any fight, it is not going to fit in your Corolla very well.
As with all things in life, we need to find a balance. Once you find the one you want, seek professional training to get the most out of the newest member of your personal defense family!
This article was originally published in the Personal Defense World Gun Buyer’s Guide February/March 2022 issue. Subscription is available in print and digital editions at OutdoorGroupStore.com. Or call 1-800-284-5668, or email subscriptions@athlonmediagroup.com.
Inspired by the Klingon melee weapon of choice, this Bat’leth multitool helps you perform your everyday repairs with honor. Its functions include a bottle opener, three hex wrenches, a flathead screwdriver, a Phillips head screwdriver, a cord cutter, and a butterfly wrench. It’s also great for battling Romulan action figures.
It’s Saturday, and we could all use a break from politics. There was plenty of bad news this past week. There will be more examples of the wheels coming off the planet next week. So, if you’ll indulge me, and since it’s WrestleMania weekend, I thought I’d share my top matches of all time. Hey, at least it’s not another Will Smith post.
A lot of you are fans, even though you may not admit as much aloud. Even those of you claiming not to be fans know you’re going to be silently arguing about what matches YOU would have put on the list. So, here we go.
5. Edge vs Mick Foley in an Extreme Rules Match, WrestleMania 22
Out of the entire list, this one is mostly a personal favorite. Three key reasons. One, Mick Foley is an island boy who finally got his WrestleMania moment. Two, Edge is on my Mt. Rushmore, and this was at the height of his heel run. And three, it’s has a flaming tables spot.
This match wound up redefining an entire era of pro-wrestling. It started off with Bret Hart as a good guy and Steve Austin as a bad guy. It ended with the swapping of those roles, and Austin turning into a pop-culture icon. And just as an aside, you really need to check out Jordan Peterson using Bret Hart’s "hero’s journey" in a college lecture.
Talk Is Jericho: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13
3. Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon in a ladder match, WrestleMania 10
Shawn Michaels is another wrestler on my Mt. Rushmore. Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall sadly passed away last month. Twenty-eight years later, it’s common to see ladders, chairs, and assorted other furniture used in wrestling matches. Some would argue overused. This was the first, and still one of the best.
Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon watch their historic WrestleMania X Ladder Match: WWE Playback
2. Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage, WrestleMania 3
Steamboat was my favorite wrestler as a kid. We never had cable growing up, and I remember growing pissed off at my mom’s coworker (I was 12 at the time) because he kept forgetting the VHS he recorded for me at home. What blew me away was finding out years later that this match was scripted. Most wrestling matches are improvised in the ring minus a few big sports. Savage choreographed this match moment for moment.
WWE Biography: Macho Man vs. Ricky Steamboat: Wrestlemania III | A&E
1. Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker, WrestleMania 25
In my past life as a wrestling blogger (so long ago, the word bloggers wasn’t invented), the annual argument was between Steamboat/Savage and HBK/Razor. Since then, Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker blew them both away and hasn’t been topped since. It’s not just considered the top WrestleMania match of all time, but one of the best period. Undertaker was inducted into the hall of fame last night and looks to be starting his new career as a motivational speaker.
FULL MATCH – Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels: WrestleMania XXV
Don’t pretend you don’t have your own top five and aren’t angry with me that I left your favorite off of the list. Fight about it in the comment section of whatever social media platform brought you here.
And also consider a disco nap. There are like 217 hours of wrestling to watch this weekend.
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Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden on SMACKDOWN! | Louder With Crowder
Step back in time to the Macintosh of the 1990s, and run complete, virtual installations of System 7 and Mac OS 8 in a browser window.
There is a single flaw in the new virtual versions of 1990s Mac software, and it’s that they run at the speed of Macs in the 2020s. What you see is straight up Mac SE/30 or Quadra 700, but everything is as fast as Apple Silicon can make it.
You could do actual work in these simulated OSes, they even come with the ability to drag documents or files in and out from macOS Monterey. But whether it’s for some practical purposes or more likely for the sheer fun of it, here’s how to do it.
Some background
The new versions operate the same way whether you choose System 7 or OS 8, and they work in a browser window. This means they can be run without any prior setup — and it also means they can be run full screen.
It’s still a 1990s Mac with assumptions about screen size, so you won’t fill a 27-inch iMac’s monitor side to side, but you can greatly expand upon what was available before.
When you do so, you’ll see all of the once-familiar screen furniture, like windows without any tabs. Or the grey close box in a grey header.
Note that there are errors. Some included apps, such as Microsoft Word version 5.1a, will display error messages because certain files are not present in the emulator.
However, the app loads and works as normal. Plus, this is a faithful reproduction of the 1990s, you’ve got to have some errors in Microsoft Word.
How to run System 7 or Mac OS 8
That’s it. A Mac with System 7.5.3 from 1995, or Mac OS 8.1 from 1997, is running in your browser. You can’t alter the size of the emulated Mac directly, but you can resize your browser window.
When you do, the emulated Mac snaps forward into the largest form it can display. It’s mildly tricky to do this, as it’s very easy to find that the emulated Mac is displaying off the top of your browser window.
You can’t scroll or drag to move around the emulated Mac’s screen, but you can drag and resize the browser window.
What you can do in the emulator
Although you can’t resize or move the screen around, you can drag icons across it, and you can resize windows in the emulator. You will wonder where all of the launch speed has gone, though, as at first it can seem unresponsive when you’re clicking on a window’s slider to move it.
That’s not an emulator bottleneck, though. It’s years of being used to how OS X and now macOS Monterey do things.
Once you remember that you can only resize a window from the bottom right, also realise that keyboard shortcuts won’t work. Do command-N to open a new folder in System 7’s Finder and you’ll get a new browser window instead.
You do get used to it, however. And when you do, take a look through the files and folders included. There are classics here, like Word, and games like Dark Castle.
Doing real work in the emulator
You probably won’t. This is just deep and nostalgic fun. But if you want to try, the productivity apps included in the emulators work just fine.
Even though the emulator is in your browser, you can drag files into it.
There is an issue, of course, that this is in a browser. So if you lose your internet connection, you could lose your work.
Your work is not confined to the browser, though. Drag any file from your Mac onto the browser window, and it is loaded onto the Mac.
It appears in a special Downloads folder in the emulator – and there is an Uploads one, too. Within the emulator, drag any document to Uploads, and your browser will download it to your Mac.
When deploying a Laravel application always make sure that you are caching and optimizing during your deployment to ensure your application runs as fast and efficiently as possible.
Here are commands that I add as part of every deployment
Laravel Optimization
Optimize will cache Laravel’s bootstrap files, while the other two commands will cache events, listeners and compile Blade templates.
php artisan event:cache
php artisan view:cache
php artisan optimize
// optimize: will execute the following two commands
// php artisan config:cache
// php artisan route:cache
Pro Tip: Different packages may have some additional cache optimizations, always check the documentation. As a quick lookup you can run this command to get a dump of commands dealing with cache.
php artisan | grep cache
Composer Optimization
For composer make sure to optimize your autoloader, more information can be found here.
Before we can start working on the Rules of Three and preparing, we
need to look at the time frame we are dealing with. This is true for
every stage of the process.
Survival schools teach the 4/4/40 levels.
1 to 4 days: Short term
4 to 40 days: Medium term
40+ days: Long term
The skills and resources you need to survive for a day or two are
completely different from the skills and resources you need to survive
for 4 to 40 days which is completely different again from the skills
and resources you need to survive long term.
And, you need to add to that your long term goal…
To live and live well
Living is much different from surviving. I can survive in a three
season tent with tarp thrown over it, huddling for warmth, trying to
find enough food to stay alive. I would much rather live in my house
with a wood cooking stove with the family sleeping in the kitchen in
the winter.
Short Term
“Short term” is considered to be anything less than 4 days. We hear
stories about this sort of survival all the time. You are probably
familiar with:
the guy that was trapped in his car for 3 days and survived on
nothing but Taco Bell hot sauce. (And the extra weight he carried
with him.)
the people that were trapped on I95 in the winter of 2021-2022. Some
were there for more than 24 hours.
This is sometimes the easiest to deal with. This is the “spend money
and it’s done” level of preparing. A 72 hour bar for each person and a
few liters of water and you have the food and water covered. Medical
is a bit different, but not that bad. You should carry a couple of days
worth of your daily medications with you.
These types of emergencies are often the result of weather or single
point failure. They are not systemic in nature. And often they are of
a limited nature.
Examples:
Weather takes down the power lines and you are without power for a
few days.
You can’t get home from the office because of road conditions.
You got lost in the woods but were able to call for rescue.
The creek done rose and the bridge is under water.
The excavator took out all services to your block
In most of these situations, a little bit of planning will get you
through. That and following the biggest rule of them all: Don’t
Panic
A few years ago I came back into the house after spending a few hours
tilling the field. It wasn’t late, the sun was still up. When I got
into the living room it looked like a cheap romantic flick set.
The power had gone out, about 2 hours earlier. One of my family had
started the wood cook stove and it was up to temperature to cook
dinner. But the other members had gone into panic mode. There were 2
or 3 dozen candles in the living room/dining room plus 4 oil lamps.
And all of them were burning.
The only light source they hadn’t used was my Coleman lantern, and
that was because they couldn’t find it. (Yeah, I did hide some things
from them.)
It was still light outside, but the panic they felt led them to
light all those candles and lamps. Panic caused them to use resources that
were unneeded and which could have been difficult to replace.
Medium Term
For medium term survival, we do need some actual preparation. For
a long week without any travel, the food you have in your
refrigerator, freezer and pantry should take you through. A 72 hour
bar and a few liters of water in your car is more than enough.
But what if it is for a week?
After a whole week without power, the food in your fridge will
probably go bad. You’ll use up your eggs and butter. Your bread will
either be almost gone or going moldy. You need to have some
preparations in place to make it through.
This is the place where you can spend a whole lot of money to get what
you need for your 40 days. “Survival food buckets” run from around
$100 to north of $250. And the price per meal varies even more. The
nice thing is that it is easy. Spend your dollars, and you have your 30 day
supply of food.
Water becomes a bigger issue. You can easily store enough water for 4
days. You should consider a gallon a day per person. So four days
without water for a family of four is just over 12 gallons. 3 five
gallon jerry cans will do it. A six pack of water bricks would do it.
But in the medium term you need to be able to collect, transport, and
clean your water to make it potable. This is a different problem from
just storing and using water.
Your medication requirements change, too. You might have a 7 day supply
of your daily medication with you at all times. But do you have a 30
day supply? What if you are just about at the end of this month’s
supply?
Huddling around a indoor-safe heater for three or four days is very
doable. Handling 3 or 4 weeks? Or 10 weeks? That’s a bit different.
Do you have enough fuel on hand to keep your heat going for 1 to 10
weeks?
Do you have an auxiliary source of heat that uses a different type of
fuel?
And do you know how to use all the tools and resources you have? And
can you do it?
Example: You have five gallon jerry cans. You have a fresh water
source only a half mile from your location. Have you ever tried to
carry 80 lbs a half mile? Can you still do it? Hanging from your
hand? Have you tried using a wheelbarrow to transport your cans? A
dolly? Your bicycle?
Long Term
This is where you are transitioning from what you have stored, to
hunting/gathering. What is available for you to gather? Gathering can
mean standing in line at the FEMA line to get your 1000Kcal meal for
the day. It could mean bread lines or trading unskilled labor for
meat.
It means being able to plant crops and bring them up. It means being
able to raise livestock. For food (eggs, milk, and later meat), for
shelter (hides into clothing or tarps, fur into yarn and cloth). It
means having skills that people want and are willing to trade for.
And it means being able to keep all the goods you have. That raider
that just wants your last “survival bucket” doesn’t care that you are
the guy that is fixing all the broken machinery in town. All he wants
is that bucket, and if you and yours end up dead so he and his aren’t
hungry that night, that’s okay with him.
There is a famous Dilbert cartoon on disaster planning. Dilbert
explains what he has to Alice. Alice replies with, “I’m preparing
too. I have your home address and I noticed that your preparations
are light on defensive weaponry.” pause “Can you add some protein
bars to the shopping list?”
I was part of a prepping group for a while. I left when I realized
that the loudest member was a raider. He was never interested in any
part of preparing except the weapons. He was always trying to get
information from other members on what they had.
He has learned enough that he has stated explicitly that our part of
the state is a no-go zone for his people. We have proven to him that
we are a hard target.
Note, a hard target doesn’t mean that you can’t be cracked. It just
means that it is easier, cheaper and safer to take on other targets.
Medical
The 4/4/40 layout applies to medical as well. Except we aren’t
talking about days, but instead minutes and hours. Medical is about
keeping a person alive for the next 4 minutes. Then keeping them
alive until EMS arrives in the next 40 minutes.
And all of that is much different from keeping somebody alive for 40
hours without full up medical services.
Thanks
Thank you to Capt CJ in the comments for pointing me at the 4/4/40.
This is the method we have been using but I had not seen it broken
down this way before. It is helpful to have a formalized way of
looking at time issues.
The Laravel team released the next major version of Laravel Valet (3.0), which introduces running multiple versions of PHP in Valet applications side-by-side.
Previously, you could specify which version of PHP Valet used to serve applications locally using valet use php@7.2, but now you can do so on a per-site (including a default) basis using the following commands:
1cdpath/to/app
2
3# Isolate the current project
4valetisolatephp@7.4
5
6# Isolate a site by name
7# This command will also install the PHP version
8# if it's not already installed.
9valetisolatephp@8.0--site=laravel9x
After isolating a site, you can see that my local Valet install is serving projects using various isolated PHP versions:
And another application using the default installed version of PHP (v8.1):
Another challenge you might run into with this setup is running commands on the CLI with the matching PHP version. What I do is create a symlink to the brew version of PHP somewhere in my path:
Using this version of PHP, you can prefix commands to composer, etc.:
1php74$(which composer)install
You might also need to symlink other binaries like pecl in the same way to install extensions.
PHP Monitor
Off the heels of PHP Monitor 5.0 for macOS, the author released PHP Monitor 5.2 with support for Valet 3, making management of isolated PHP versions a breeze:
For further details, check out the PHP Monitor 5.2 release post, which includes information on how to source multiple versions of PHP from the command line using a CLI helper provided by phpmon.
Upgrade Today
To upgrade to Valet 3, you can run the following composer command to update and install the latest version of Valet (hat tip to @jakebathman):
1composerglobalrequire"laravel/valet:^3.0"
Afterward, be sure to run valet install to finish installing. Congratulations to all the contributors, especially Nasir Uddin Nobin, Matt Stauffer, and everyone else involved in working on Valet 3!
Opening a coconut is best achieved with a machete or a hammer and chisel. But there are some people out there who can open a coconut bare-handed. Abheesh P. Dominic is an overachiever, and in 2017 he broke the Guinness World Record for most coconuts smashed in a minute by cracking 122 of the tough nuts using only his fist.
