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I am officially a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University. ~|ET|~

[media=560,315] [/media] Lost for words. Happy. :3 Beautiful song. Beautiful message. Amazing victory.:3

Essays, Not Rants! 112: Computer-mediated Communi-what now? Being a big fan of his other stuff, I saw Jon Favreau’s Chef last night. It’s a wonderful movie full of heart and food porn. Seriously. That movie will make you hungry. Really hungry. It’s remarkable for more than just salacious shots of food, though. There’s the fun character dynamics and the great soundtrack. There’s the fact that it avoids the obnoxious Bad Thing Before the Third Act that’s so commonplace in comedies and other films like Chef. But what I wanna talk about is its use of social media. Oh boy, there’s that buzzword. Social media and other forms of computer-mediated communication, as it’s known in Conversation Analysis (which is a thing, and I’m taking a class on it), are becoming more and more common. Heck, you’re probably reading this ‘cuz I posted the link on my Facebook or Twitter. In Chef, the protagonist, Carl Casper, sets up a Twitter account and gets involved in a flamewar with a critic. It’s delightful to watch because of how it’s presented: we see an overlay of the Tweet box which, when sent, becomes a small blue bird that flies off screen. But what’s really great is that it’s treated not as a fad or something insignificant, but rather as a legitimate means of communication. In the world of Chef, just as in the real world, Twitter (along with texting, Vine, and Facebook) is a perfectly normal way of interacting with other people (and drumming up noise about your awesome new food truck). The TV show Sherlock and the film Non-Stop both use an overlay effect for texting and present it as a normal means of conversation. Non-Stop uses its potential anonymity and discreetness to hide the identity of the hijacker and to build tension, but it never feels like a gimmick. Characters in Sherlock, well, mostly John, will get texts during conversations. As viewers we now get to watch the all too familiar tension that comes from being stuck in one conversation when there’s another waiting in the wings. Wonderfully, Sherlock also treats texting as something people do. It’s as commonplace as phone calls and given equal weight. Texting is showing up in books too. The Fault in Our Stars has Hazel and Gus texting each other. Like in the other examples, it’s treated as a normal part of life. People text to talk. It’s a thing. The Fault in Our Stars has a very, well, contemporary, attitude to texting. It’s not a Big Deal or even some magical piece of New Technology or a sign of Declining Sociality; instead it’s downright normal. It’s not trite, it’s just a part of life. You don’t have to call someone, you can text them instead — which is often more convenient. What sets these examples apart is how well integrated they are. A lot of shows and movies either ignore the presence of cell-phones or only use them on occasion. It’s seldom to see texting and social media as integrated into a story as in Chef, Sherlock, and The Fault in Our Stars. The world’s changing. Computer-mediated communication is becoming really commonplace. Not only that, but it’s steadily being scholarly accepted as a legitimate form of communication (seriously, I read a paper on gossip in instant messaging). Yet pop-culture has been oddly slow on the upkeep. There aren’t many shows like Community where everyone’s digital lives are presented as normal, including Jeff’s constant texting and Troy’s Clive Owen Tumblr. Granted, it can be a slow or overwrought way of communicating exposition, but it can be done well and, as in Chef, it can be visually interesting. I want to see more movies, shows, and books like this; where computer-mediated communication isn’t necessarily nerdy or reclusive, where a Vine and Facebook can be a bonding moment between a father and son. Because hey, this is the world we live in.

Unikitty · Pink fur · Part cat · Princess of Cloud Cuckooland · Master Builder · Loves cute things Faris Nyannyan · Pink hair · Part cat · Family owns Akihabara · Champion Rai-Net Battler · Loves cute things If they ever met each other, they would instantly become best friends for life.

So my goal, as I may or may not have stated in the past, is to built one MOC per month, at least, for the entirety of 2014. In January I had Hahli Husky. In February I had a Kakaru MOC I haven't posted. In March I had Samus. In April I had both Onua and Bec Noir. And in May I now have a Gundam. Link to topic:

Salutations. A new year brings a new t-shirt design contest. Since this is the fifth year in a row, let's just get to it. Info: This years theme is Metru Nui. Just like last year it's the 10th anniversary of the Legends of Metru Nui film! However, you're more than welcome to use anything from the 2004 saga. So this allows you all to have more creative freedom, rather than having just one character. Rules: Your design must be a simple design, one color, and must be medium sized. The prime example is last years winner. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8416/8820021114_4757ed1131_b.jpg Your design must also be black on a clear white background. This makes it easier for the screen printing process. You may post your entries in this thread, and have until the end of May to submit your design. The Prize:The maker of the winning design will receive a free T-Shirt! Feel free to ask any questions, and good luck to all.

...you feel like you should be angry, but you are NOT? ...or when you feel that you should be ashamed of yourself, but you can't really be? ...or when you feel like you should be sad, but you're laughing and staring in morbid fascination instead? I feel that this is the worst feeling in the known universe. Actually feeling anger, shame, or sadness can be dealt with, that's something get over-able. But when you see what you think or what you did caused others to have misconceptionitis enforced by hurt, and then you want to blame yourself for what happened, because you did it, but can't. You still feel that you're right, and that you've learned from your mistakes, if you made any, and that people shouldn't take it so bad. So you feel numb, isolated, and very much alone.

Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Candles $3,600 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

Hiyall and welcome to the list of links to my all-time favorite Bones Blog entries, from the very start loooooong ago. This entry will replace the messed-up and prone-to-disappearing sidebar archive and will be linked in my sig. I've listed slightly different titles here than what are in the actual entries in some cases for clarity's sake. Comedies & Cartoons: Interview: Evil Clock Interview: Evil Lord Survurlode Interview: The Chief Gremlin, Minion Of Survurlode Interview: Gollaga, Enemy Of Survurlode Interview: Orca Goblahk, Ex-minion Of Survurlode Interview: Lawyerahk Bob, Of The Dreaded Real Life Attack Wing Pet Peeve Winners! Bo Ring Cartoon Collection #1 Bo Ring Cartoon Collection #2 The Bones Diet The Gold Key To Nongu Award For Theories Art & Writing Guides: Bones Drawing Guide Vector Art In Powerpoint: Quality, Inexpensive, Easy NOTE: Now I use OpenOffice Draw, which is freeware, very different from Powerpoint in some respects, actually more powerful in most. With that, you can make vector art that is not only quality and easy, but FREE. Coolifying With Powerpoint Vector Art .ppt Face Contest Winners! Ruthless Elegance: A Visual Guide To Cool The Arena Method Of Writing Adventure Mystery Secure Password Method -- Bang (Strategically) On Keyboard Best Of The Bionicle Entries: Easy Makuta Powers Guide Science Fantasy = Bionicle Focus Groups: An Interview With Greg Farshtey Bionicle Ends Right Now Everybody Loves Teridax (His Name ) Eight Years Of Toa Mata? Truthseeking & Debate: Good And Evil: Points Of View? Can Opinions Be Wrong? Join Petiton For Ban Bad Grammer Toady! Taste Reset Bars Exercise We're All Smart -- Brain Allocation Theory Off The Wall / Other: Ban Coffee Wacky Fanfic Elements UFO Theory -- Ionic Triangle Stealth Craft 1-800-HAPPY-SMILE-KIT Transillumination Home Makeover A Block Away SUBTRACT Oonahvay Labble The Orange Fades Wise Guy Universe Swept Aside Paracosmos RPG Game: The Map Of Mata Nui -- Walkthroughs: From Beginning To Ko-Koro, by Master of The Rahkshi and bngi From Le-Koro To Storyline End, by Master of The Rahkshi and bngi List Of Paracosmos Matoran, by Zarkan Pet Memorials: In Honor Of Penny In Memory Of Esne Some other favorite banners from otherwise boringish blog entries: There's a lot more entries I could link, but had a kinda of blah reaction to while looking over them just now, so didn't. Also, I'm not listing the MOC contest results entries mainly because the images don't seem to resize anymore and some are ridiculously huge. I'll work on a contest results archive later that will instead link to the powerpoint slides I made of them. Still have to pick the winners of one of them, I think... And as for Unseen, I'm going to finish writing it and just post it in Epics.

Reminder: The Pet Peeve Contest is open till November 29. One of the most asked questions about Bionicle is "What genre is it?" There's a lot of confusion about this, and today the Bones Blog brings you the answer to the question (and to why it's confusing!). There's a standard conversation that I see very often in S&T and other places. It goes something like this. Member A: "What genre is Bionicle?" Member B: "It's science fiction." Member C: "No, it's fantasy!" Member D: "It's supposed to be fantasy but there's all these machines messing things up." Member E: "It always had machines! It's science fiction but there's these mystical themes." Member F: "I agree." And on and on, ad infinitum. In reality, these members are falling prey to the logical fallacy of false dilemma/dichotomy; also known as the "Either/Or" fallacy. It's Both The answer is really very simple -- it's both! Bionicle is science fantasy. This is what Greg Farshtey has labeled it, and objectively speaking, it has all the elements of this genre. It is a blend of science fiction and fantasy themes. But you're probably thinking "But bones, but bones, I've never seen a sticky label on a book that says 'science fantasy'!" Very true. Science fantasy is a relatively new genre, and much that is in it is mislabeled as one or the other. Not everyone knows the term; not everyone even agrees that this is the term to use. There are some out there trying to push their own invented term for this new genre, probably hoping for the fame of inventing "the term". This has happened before. Science fiction was once a new genre too. When it first became popular, a plethora of terms popped up, everybody trying to promote the term they invented. It took a long time for the term "science fiction" to catch on. Now "science fantasy" is going through the same process. If you watch the "Sci-Fi" channel, you might notice that a lot of what they show feels more like fantasy. If you watch Star Wars for example, it's labeled science fiction, but there's the mystical element of the Force that the story centers around. One of the biggest problems is -- how are science fiction and fantasy defined? If you research this, you'll discover everybody has their own opinion, and they usually try to define it with some clever concoction of words, rather than simply looking at it logically. Well, this logician has his own opinion on it. Physics Fiction Spectrum Science fiction, science fantasy, and fantasy are all within a larger category that we could call "Physics Fiction". If you think about it, the common trait of them all is that physics is important to the storyline, as opposed to more "real world" fiction. What's more, "Physics Fiction" is a spectrum, not three seperate categories. At one end, science fiction focuses on real physics. The story centers around what real phsycists, scientists, etc. know about how our world works and takes it in an imaginative direction. At the other end, fantasy focuses on fictional physics. The story features physics invented by the author; taking physics itself in an imaginative direction. In between, science fantasy merges the two, melding real phsyics with fictional ones to give the fictional physics more of a sense of realism while also giving the imagination freedom. So here's what the spectrum looks like if you consider examples of popular physics fiction examples: Bionicle is probably one of the prime examples of "pure" science fantasy. You've got fictional elemental energy, protodermis, Kanohi, etc. and yet you've got machinery, technology, etc. blended together. Star Wars is another good example. Don't Misunderstand One myth that needs cleared up. This spectrum has NOTHING to do with the physics being "realistic". There's a big different between that and "real". "Real" phsyics are what our world just happens to have. "Realistic" physics is what is logically plausible in a fictional universe; physics that make sense but just happen to be different from ours. So just because Harry Potter's physics of magic spells are not real does not make them "unrealistic", nor does the presence of elemental energy in Bionicle mean that Bionicle physics are implausible. All quality physics fiction presents its physics as making sense. Some scifi or fantasy might keep the physics secret, presenting it as a mystery, but it's still intended to make sense. Some poorer quality science fiction might have just as implausible physics as poor quality fantasy. Science fantasy is not a compromise on physics making sense -- it simply delves into fictional physics, yet stays grounded in some real physics too. Of course, this excludes comedy examples that use nonsensical physics for comedic value. Another myth is that science fiction always takes place in the future while fantasy takes place in the past -- this is OFTEN true, but not always. Scifant often plays with this idea; Star Wars takes place long ago, for example, while Dune takes place in the future. Narnia took place in the present, as did Jurassic Park. Back to the Future took place all over time, but was grounded in the present. Bionicle isn't even in our universe at all, so it's not in the past, present, or future. Still another myth is that the vague concepts of "science" or "technology" are by definition only for science fiction. No, "science" is the study of physics, real or not, and technology is the use of those physics in machinery and the like. Within the fictional context of a world like Bionicle, the fictional physics is "real", and so there's no reason the Matoran cannot study it and use those physics to make machines such as Chutes, Vahki, Zamor Launchers, or Lava Boards. In Harry Potter, for example, there are magical machines and all sorts of technology that makes use of the fictional physics within that world. So don't mistake scifant for a melding of technology and mystical or natural themes. That is simply a theme that is popular in science fantasy because those two aspects do "feel" like either scifi or fantasy. But technically, science and technology are possible all throughout physics fiction. Popular Genre Lately there's been a shift among the public in popular genres, and story authors and observers are only just beginning to catch on. In the fairly recent past, the "science fiction" end of the spectrum was very popular. There is a giant collection of scifi fiction works out there, but most of it ceased in the late eighties. Some of the popular themes were starships, time travel, and alien planets. Star Trek has stood for all three of those for a long time. But nowadays, there's been a shift away from science fiction and towards fantasy, largely due to Harry Potter's success. People are tired of real physics, which often feels dry and "heady", and they enjoy the more mystical feel of fantasy, which gives more of a sense of freedom to tell enjoyable stories and focus on characters without the headaches required both to create and absorb quality science fiction. Recently we witnessed the failure of Star Trek's latest spinoff for this reason (among others), and this is also why you're seeing the "scifi" channel delving into fantasy and scifant a lot more. The negative reaction has been especially strong in the time travel category. Time travel used to be the perfect gimmick for get-rich-quick moviemaking schemers. Throw time travel in your story and BAM, popular. But the public seems to have either caught on or gotten tires of the complex mechanics of time travel. The latest example was "Daybreak" on ABC, which bombed in the ratings, despite it being highly enjoyable to physics geeks like me who love time travel, and even despite being actual high quality in terms of characterization. Even LOST may have been hurt by its use of time travel (or apparent time travel) in Season 3, which had dropping ratings. Thus I'm very, very glad Bioniicle has a rule against time travel, even if I'd personally enjoy it. At the same time, science fantasy has benefitted from this shift. Scifant that avoids time travel is pretty popular now, with Star Wars even doing well in its latest movies with starships and alien planets. The theme seems to be that enjoyable storyline is what the public wants most, and science fantasy allows this. Delving into fantasy physics frees up the storyline to have epic danger without getting too "heady" and "technobabbly", unlike science fiction. Also, one of my theories has been that we are living in an over-teched society nowadays, but we are still human -- we still long for nature. At the same time, we wouldn't want to live like Suvivor contestants -- we like some technology. Thus science fantasy that feels like a melding of nature and technology is naturally pleasing to people living in today's society -- it presents a world many of us wish we could live in, even if we don't consciously realize it. Conclusion Bionicle is "science fantasy", a blend of themes between science fiction and fantasy. It is in the center of a "Physics Fiction Spectrum", which is fiction that focuses on physics. Real physics are at one end of the spectrum, fictional physics at the other. In feel, Bionicle is a melding of nature, "magic", and technology. Its physics is designed to be different from our own, but to make sense and even feel somewhat 'scientific'.

A lot of people don't seem to know about this method, so here you go. Been meaning to do this for a while, recent events merely reminded me. Note, please take into account the suggestions mentioned in this Refdesk topic. Also HH has good tips here. The most secure passwords are random strings of as wide a range of keyboard characters as possible. An easy way to create them is to bang on your keyboard. It sounds primitive -- it is -- yet it gives you the most secure possible password. The only downside is you must record it somewhere, or memorize it, but I recommend copying it to paper; if you use if often enough you will probably memorize it anyways. So instead of agonizing over coming up with new passwords -- or worse using easily guessable ones -- just bang on the keyboard! For added security, though, here are several easy techniques to make it more strategic than just a random bang. 1) Make it long. Maximum possible if you can; unfortunately some sites limit passwords to twelve characters or so, which is IMO stupid but they do it. 2) Bang on the letters area AND the numbers area. 3) Make sure you're not just banging up and down in the same few spots. Cover the whole keyboard randomly. (Of course, avoid the F# buttons and other things such as the "Shut Down the Computer Instantly And Ruin All Your Unsaved Work Just Because A Cat Happened To Step On Your Keyboard" button if you have a keyboard from Stupid Design Enterprises™ like my other comp does.) For this I recommend slowing the process down, so you randomly bang, then consciously move your hands, then bang again, etc. until you have a long password. 4) Alternate holding and letting up on Shift as you bang, so that you get a mix of capital letters and symbols too. 5) Alternate holding the keyboard backwards, so the side that's normally away from you is closer to you, just so you don't get predictable finger-relation patterns. Though hackers would need to be super mathemeticians on the level of Charlie Eps on Numbers to use such patterns. Still. If you do Step 3 well enough this isn't necessary though. 6) Once you've got a long string, look for often-repeated characters and delete them. Also make a note to yourself to avoid hitting them so frequently in the future; if that happens often you're not doing Step 3 well enough. However, if it's fairly rare, leave them be, as a truly random string is quite capable of having repeated characters and if you interfere too closely you're probably making it easier to hack, not harder. 7) If you wanna go supersecure, bring in a few foreign characters (Insert Symbol option on Microsoft Word has a lot of 'em for example), although then you can't type it. Well, I've heard these have keyboard shortcuts sometimes but no idea what they are -- you could research that and stuff. But make sure you just randomly put a few in, and don't reuse the same ones. Also, don't use only these; remember the idea is to have a wide range of characters. Other advice, do NOT store it anywhere online. Especially not in email accounts, and never use the same password twice (see the web page the Refdesk topic links to). Assuming you haven't memorized it, you have two basic options IMU. One, store it in a text file on your hard drive, recommend naming it something illogical to have anything to do with passwords and bury in lots of other text. Then when you need to sign in, copypaste it to the password area. (You could write it on paper too as a hard backup, of course.) (Many people including HH advise against this, but aren't factoring for keyloggers, see below.) Two, write it on paper only, and physically type it in every time you need it. This is harder, and might be less secure in the case of keylogger viruses, which record keystrokes and can send them to the makers of the virus. On the other hand, if a hacker got into your files the other method could be equally risky. So which of these two you choose may not matter much, far as I know (and I don't claim to be a professional this is just based on everything I've heard/read over the years). What I recommend strongly AGAINST is storing it on the computer AND typing it in, as that puts you at risk of both ways for a hacker/virus writer to get it. The chances of either method or even the third one happening to you are rare, but better safe than... 8) Another idea to avoid both the above risks is to type it from paper, but use a random "count how many I've typed, skip characters, then count back and insert the missing characters" pattern, which you should probably write out in detail and diagram on paper instead of trying it from memory. This adds a level of security that could only realistically be thwarted if a hacker logged keypresses, mouse clicks, and where exactly you clicked. No idea if that's much harder for hackers lol, but it's further complexity and a normal keylogger is guaranteed not to break it right away. 9) In fact, you could even use a randomly shifting group of skip and insert patterns that you cycle or the like if you're REALLY paranoid. Or just periodically change your pattern. Unfortunately both methods 8 and 9 take the "easy" claim mostly out the window, but if you plan it properly, it's not much harder. My best advice, though, is this -- if you think these more complex ideas are too hard -- BANG ON YOUR KEYBOARD NOW. That, at least, is so kindergarteney easy with such great results there's no excuse to put off changing your password. Finally, change it often. Your idea of passwords online should NOT be something you memorize and then just use forever, IMO, but of something you must periodically change intended to keep your online stuff safe. The old simple memorizing idea is a nice gesture, and maybe in ancient times it worked fine, but it doesn't necessarily anymore. (On the other hand, a passphrase is still more secure than a password, so that idea hasn't entirely gone out of usefulness, but like I said, many sites limit your password max length to ridiculously low amounts, so phrases don't really work there; in that case I recommend not risking easily memorizable words, and you'd better be able to memorize the random string anyways.) Yarr. I intend to repub this several times in future. In other news, tons of work on the EM is happening. It rocks. Yay and stuff.

The Bonesiii Mental Health Diet Important points are bold. Weight Loss Plan Eat less. Forever. Mental Health Diet Regiment All those veggy diets and such bleagh-ness neglect the importance of good taste for mental health. Besides, all the fancy schmancy diet intructions are murder on your sanity. Who cares about a flat stomach if you go insane? Therefore: eat tasty stuff. Just less of it. Cheese is good. Throw in a leaf of lettuce every once in a while if you feel like it. Try Honey Roasted Peanuts, they rock. Orange juice is cool. For meat... BK's Double Cheeseburgers. Aaaaaaaaaaaaw, yeeeee-uh!. The Price Just send me money! It works with all the other diets, right? Testimonials Pohatu: "I tried one of those liquid diet supplements, but I just kept putting on more weight. When you read the fine print for those things, it says it doesn't work without diet and exercise. I'm too lazy for exercise, and why bother with some extra supplement if the dieting is what actually does the trick? So I tried the Bones Diet, and voila! Dramatic weight loss! I've even turned the color of sharp cheddar cheese! Cheddar rocks, man!" Makuta: "I used to snack on Dark Hunters and anybody else I could get my Shadow Hand on, until I accidentally tried to eat a rock and ended up in a protocage for a few months. Not eager to repeat that experience, I tried the Bones Diet, and I can say I've most definately put the weight off!" Nuju: "Click whistle whistle tweet-chirp snap crackle pop whistle tweet tweet cluck caw cocka-doodle-dooooo! Raaaaahk! Polly wants a cracker! Raaaaahk! Polly wants a cracker! Raaaaahk!" Axonn: "Um... I have big bones." Karzahni: "What are you staring at? Physics is backwards in my realm, remember?" Ahkmou: "Nice try, dude -- I'm on the Makuta diet."

So I wanted to post something besides the usual essay today but couldn't think of anything fast enough. This is a fallback I've had ready for a while, ever since an old (dead) COT topic. Plus someone else was blogging about UFOs so why not (see Czar's blog). Now, the UFOs in question here aren't the flying saucers. It's the giant, silent triangle craft with three running lights. There have been sightings all over the country, and I even know someone who claims to have seen one. This description is near-universal. It seems unlikely to me that it's made up. Well, a few months ago, there was an episode of Mythbusters that gave me an idea: Why I Think This is Plausible First of all, everybody's probably going "But what about ET?" Well, the answer is ET is working for us, and Rahkshi don't have running lights last I checked. But seriously, I don't think any of the alien ideas are actual plausible theories. That doesn't mean it's impossible -- believe me, I'd love it if there were aliens and if they had wacky enough technology to actually come here. But there's three huge problems with the idea: 1) Statistics. Statistically the chances of life-supporting planets being close enough to us for a sublight trip here (and then only to fly around trying not to be seen) are pretty unlikely. Never mind the fact that in both major origins worldviews, logically, it's unlikely that aliens exist at all, but that's a subject we can't get into here (and is full of confusion among the populus). Statistics for the homes of aliens are an even bigger problem. 2) Travel time. Let's assume that there's an intelligent, highly advanced alien civ on a planet on the other side of the galaxy. Unlikely, but pretend. They would have to spend hundreds of thousands of years to get here as sublight speeds, since there's an upper speed limit called the speed of light. Matter cannot reach or surpass this speed. So unless some aliens figured out how to make warp drive a reality, it's unlikely they'd come here. 3) Least likely scenario. There's two main possibilities for these UFOs IMO: (1) They're classified aircraft, and (2) They're aliens. Since we know the US de-classifies aircraft every once in a while, we can assume they have classified aircraft right now. So for both the silent triangles and flying saucers, isn't it logical to conclude the UFOs are most likely classified aircraft? The argument I see so often is "Here's evidence that there's really a UFO.... Therefore aliens are real." That makes no sense, really. Evidence that an unidentified flying object really is flying, and really is unidentified, is just that -- evidence that something's in the air that we don't know what it is. It's a giant logical leap to say it proves aliens. No, I would argue that it barely even implies them. I think a much better argument is "Here's evidence of UFOs, and also, we can assume USA has classified aircraft. Putting two and two together, UFOs are probably just classified aircraft." And then, the triangle shape of this theory would explain one of the types we hear about so often. *waits for government to storm house* ----------THIS PRESENTATION SPONSORED BY:---------

2008 is full of Makuta -- even the canister villains are Makuta. These masters of power have quite a lot of, well, powers. Remembering them all can be tricky, but rewarding for fun roleplaying, fan fiction writing, or even just enjoying the Bionicle story. So today the Bones Blog brings you an easy way to "decode" and memorize all the Makuta powers. Basics First, all modern Makuta have transcended normal life and death. This means they all:Exist as antidermis energy-gas inside strong Protosteel armorCan use mask powers, each has their own maskCan slowly die if armor is shattered -- gas slowly scatters so they must find another host fastAntidermis can control Matoran, etc.Don't need sleep, foodCan absorb other beings, killing them and adding to the Makuta's mass, or absorb stuff.In addition, they were all once scientists that made Rahi creatures for the whole universe so often experiment and still know how to make new creatures or mutants. They became guardians of certain zones before betraying Mata Nui, and came to learn just about all there is to know in the Matoran universe. All current Makuta are evil. Mask Powers:Makuta of Metru Nui -- ShadowsAntroz -- Corruption (decompose objects)Chirox -- Silence (make target deaf, mute)Vamprah -- Hunger (drain light, energy, positive emotions, turn Matoran into Shadow Matoran)Icarax of Karzahni -- Wears Shadows for now, normal mask unknownMutran -- SilenceSpiriah of Zakaz -- CorruptionKraata Powers:Makuta can make kraata slugs out of their substanceKraata come in 42 types, each with their own powerKraata can that infect masks and control the wearerCan put Kraata in energized protodermis to make Rahkshi armor for another Kraata to control like a vehicle with enhanced power and a staff to focus itNow, can carry Tridax Pods in their chests, with Shadow Leeches insideShadow Leeches are mutant Kraata that turn Matoran into evil Shadow Matoran42 Rahkshi Powers42 can be thought of as seven groups of six, like seven Toa teamsEach power can be roughly equated with the six elements of the Toa MataArranged counterclockwise from Ta-Wahi on Mata Nui Island, elements are: Fire-ishWater-ishSton-ishEarthishIce-ishAir-ishThe Seven Lists: Here's the powers, with the justifications for how I've arranged them. Note that of course many are a stretch, but the idea here is to aid memorization. Most Makuta-ish: Most easily identified with Makuta. Shadow and Shapeshifting are obvious, Mind Reading and Illusion were tactics Makuta used most often in the Chronicles Books, Makuta teleported the Toa to the surface after they beat him in MNOG, and Chameleon goes with Shapeshifting.Darkness -- Leads all Makuta powers; fire = leaderShapeshifting -- Water is fluid like Makuta's shapesMind Reading -- Turaga Onewa had a mind mask power Teleport -- Biggest stretch Chameleon -- Ice can be harder to spot than many thingsIllusion -- Turaga Matau had an illusion mask powerRahkshi Mata: Powers of emotion and destruction, these are the six Rahkshi Makuta sent to stop the Toa of Light from coming.Fear -- Red Rahkshi in Mask of Light storyDisintegration -- Blue Fragmentation -- Brown Hunger -- BlackAnger -- WhitePoison -- GreenKal Elements: Still not sure why Makuta have these six elements and not the main six elements themselves, but hey. Electricity -- Red Bohrok KalMagnetism -- BluePlasma -- BrownGravity -- BlackSonics -- WhiteVacuum -- GreenEnvironmental: Control over, or resistance to, what is surrounding you is what makes these powers stand out.Fire Resistance -- Fire Toa have thisWeather Control -- Water affects weather stronglyRahi Control -- Po-Koro MNOG had more visible Rahi than other KoroInsect Control -- Bugs and dirt mixIce Resistance -- Ice Toa have thisPlant Control -- Le-Wahi is full of plantsStrong Attacks: These are all destructive powers. All but molecular disruption are easily identified as "projectile" attacks of some sort.Heat Vision -- Fire's hot yoChain Lightning -- Lightning hits water = bad, reminds me of a water beamLaser Vision -- Lasers could carve rockMolecular Disruption -- Similar to rock coming apart into dirtPower Scream -- Would shatter ice, goes with white Kal of SonicsCyclone -- DuhSubtle Attacks: You are getting veeeeeery sleepy. Now you are asleeeeeeep. Now you're being infeeeeeeected.Stasis Field -- Vakama made Vahi; Tahu used it to put Kal in time-stasisConfusion -- Underwater navigation is confusingSlow -- Pohatu is slow without his mask power of speed.Sleep -- It's dark underground, like night when people sleepSilence -- Kopaka is silentAccuracy -- Projectile accuracy could be done via air currents tooPower-ups: These all affect the Makuta himself more so than a target, giving the Makuta a special ability, useful in battle but defensive rather than offensive.Limited Invulnerability -- Sorta like the Mask of ShieldingAdaptation -- Common example is developing gillsDensity Control -- Rock is denseElasticity -- Dirt can bend, as it wereQuick Healing -- Ice can be quickly shaped or refrozen, etc.Dodge -- Air Toa are acrobatic, can dodge wellNOTE: There may be more powers; for example MoMN had a "Shadow Hand" power in LoMN but it's not known if all Makuta have this power. In roleplaying and fanfictions, it's plausible to make up new powers for them. In the story, we might learn of other powers in the future. This content also available in topic form here.