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THE FEAR OF DEATH BITCOINS EXPLAINED BUILDING SHRINES Create & Share Issue 1 March 2014 Plus AN ESSAY A STORY OF COMPUTER SLAVERY BY ThE PEOPLE - FOR ThE PEOPLE TO ShARE ThE COMPLETE GUIDE We take you through the step-by-step process to worshiping your own patron god. As easily as possible, we walk you through exactly how the lucrative bitcoins work.

Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

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Create&Share Magazine is a free, Edmonton-based e-zine, made with one purpose in mind: to give voices to the public. Our articles are supplied solely by our readers, who are free to submit whatever they like, even if their work is, to certain degrees, taboo or inappropriate . Submission guidelines are lax; our only rule is that all content is prejudice-free.

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Page 1: Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

The FearOF DeaTh

BITCOINSeXPLaINeD

BuILDINg ShrINeS

Create & ShareIssue 1 • March 2014

Plus

An ESSAyA STORY OF COMPUTER SLAVERY

BY ThE PEOPLE - FOR ThE PEOPLE TO ShARE

ThE COMPLETE GUIDE

We take you through the step-by-step process to

worshiping your own patron god.

As easily as possible, we walk you through exactly how the lucrative bitcoins work.

Page 2: Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

2 • Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk

FEATURES03 From The Director We welcome you all to C&S 04 Bitcoins explained Whats behind the bit?

10 The Fear Of Death - an essay What are you afraid of?

REGULAR ARTICLES06 Featured art Piece Birds of a feather... 07 Featured Short Story Politics and computers.

08 Not Strictly Legal A guide to urban exploration

12 how-To DIY Shrines

14 Puzzle Page harder then a brick.

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Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk • 3

Content DirectorDez Astaroth, [email protected]

Project DirectorJustin Spezowka, [email protected]

FROM ThE DIRECTORIt was exactly 11:34 when I sent the original idea of starting a magazine

to my good friend Dez. Of course, it had slowly been formulating in my

head months before, but that was the point when it was finally put into

action.

Now, 4 months later, we are seeing the fruits of our labour. Of course, we

would have never made it here without the help of many people, whom I

would like to spend the next several paragraphs giving them their proper

thanks.

First, thank you to my grandmother for introducing me to Adobe

InDesign. Without your help, the magazine would have not reached what

it looks like today, as I would still be trying to assemble it in Photoshop.

Secondly, thank you to my art teacher Mrs. Kostiuk for lending me a color

wheel with minimum questions asked. Without the use of that simple

paper circle, I can only imagine how this magazine would be a conflicting

mess of pigments.

Thirdly, and finally, thanks to my family for putting up with my crap for

the past few months. It’s been a long road, and it has only just begun,

which I guess will only make your life a lot harder.

Enjoy the magazine, everyone. I can only wait to see how we continue to

evolves in the future.

Justin Alexander Spezowka

Project Director

[email protected]

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The Bitcoin payment system was developed by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, though it’s been in

the hands of select members of the community since Nakamoto left the project in 2010. It’s peer-to-peer—simply put, what

you get when two or more computers are connected and share resources without referring back to a server. Additionally,

its software is open source, meaning that its design is publicly accessible and anyone can modify, improve, or review it if

they so wish.

The cryptocurrency it uses is called a bitcoin, and it’s pretty different from the way other mediums of exchange

work. Bitcoins are backed by and rely on mathematics, unlike the petrodollar and gold or silver standards, and their value is

faith-based. Prices are determined by supply and demand, much like you would expect in a physical economy—in fact, to

mimic “real-world” dynamics and avoid hyperinflation, there’s a cap on how many bitcoins can be in circulation at any given

time. Only 21 million of them will ever be created.

The biggest problem here is that the bitcoin market is currently so small that it doesn’t take really large amounts

of money to change prices. Long story short, bitcoins are a very volatile currency to be using, though they still have their

perks. Receiving bitcoins through transactions is quick and efficient, though there is a ten-minute delay to give the network

time to confirm that your bitcoins are specifically your property and weren’t meant to be sent to someone else. There can

BITCOINS EXPLAINED

WRITTEn By

DEZ ASTAROTh

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Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk • 5

sometimes be small transaction fees that

rarely exceed the value of a couple of pen-

nies.

The way Bitcoins are created is

through mining. In laymen’s terms, users

running mining software can have their

computers monitor and approve transac-

tions, and because they’re helping ensure

that the system works, they’re rewarded

with bitcoins. This keeps everything run-

ning as smoothly as it needs to with the

bonus of throwing additional funds into

the system. It’s something like a data cen-

ter, but because miners operate all over

the world, no-one can have absolute

control over anything.

Many question the safety and

legitimacy of using bitcoins, but people

work pretty hard to keep things as well-

protected as possible. The network, as

mentioned previously, is complete-

ly decentralized, which is a huge plus

security-wise. Bitcoins can’t be counter-

feited, so most forms of financial crime are

impossible. Anyone can access and verify

information regarding transactions if they

please, because everything is completely

transparent. Payments can be made any-

where at any time, and users can’t receive

any unapproved charges, nor is it possible

for charges to be reversed. however, these

positive points are countered by the vola-

tility of bitcoins, the fact that the system is

still in beta development, and a near-total

lack of representation among businesses.

The majority of companies flat-out don’t

accept bitcoins, or haven’t even heard of

them.

They come with their pros and

cons just like any other currency, and

while they haven’t been met with all too

much enthusiasm in some aspects, bit-

coins are slowly climbing in popularity. It’s

not possible to say if they’ll soon become

more widely accepted in the corporate

world, or even if casual use of the bitcoin

will go on for much longer, given the

ever-present speculation that the market

is flawed or doomed to failure. Regardless,

it’s undeniable that this potentially revo-

lutionary currency can, has, and will con-

tinue to leave a mark on the way we think

about money.

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MagpieStephanie Pui-Mun Lawhttp://fav.me/d787v5n

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ello, paranoia. Oh, don’t try to hide, I can feel you lurking

back there. I can hear your footsteps echoing in that part of my head I try to pretend doesn’t exist. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? A little too long, I think. I really haven’t heard from you much recently. how have you been? Me? Could be much better. Could also be much worse. I appreciate that you decided to stay away for the past few weeks, but can’t you just extend the vacation? I have a dead body on my hands and only a few hours to take care of it, your bullshit is the last thing I need to deal with right now. I’m being serious, fuck off.What happened? What happened? Oh, sweet Hell, is it story time now? I know this whole thing was a mistake, you don’t need to point it out to me. What do you think I am, seven? Listen, I just—it’s too much to explain in too little time, it has to wait. I’ve been scrubbing for at least ten minutes and this blood doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere. Yes, I’m using cold water. I know what I’m doing. No, I don’t fucking know why it’s not working, just—shut your goddamn mouth. Stop it. Stop talking, I swear to Christ I’m going to kill you if you keep this blathering up. I need to focus. I need to focus.… God, what did I do?I don’t even know how this happened. Everything just—exploded. It got too serious, too quickly. And it all started with that... that piece of shit... that ridiculous campaign. I didn’t think it would work at first. This country’s been experimenting with artificial intelligence since I was first elected, and putting a stop to it wasn’t an option. The people were too infatuated. That robot was a bargaining chip and it was what got me into this mess in the first place. I hated her.And then I didn’t.I don’t know, there was... there was something weirdly endear-ing about watching them slowly build her up. I work in the same building as those research scientists, it was impos-sible to avoid seeing her at least once every day. Every time I passed, something was different.Something had added to... to her beauty.And, well—she fostered some hope for the people. They were and still are devoted to this project. Yes, even now that it’s over. If anything, they’ve never been quite this passionate. They’re angry and resentful and they’re going to take it out on me. Just like my stupid fucking wife took out all her ridiculous shit on me, just like how the research team vented to me day after day, they’re all going to think it’s my fault.Why the hell should I have to face that? At least one of my problems is solved. I’m wondering if I should leave the ring on her finger. It’s not like she has any use for it dead. What?No, I had to do it. You don’t understand.This woman, she... she’s got skin. Skin, flesh over bone, all pathetically fragile tissues holding her together. One well-timed swipe of a blade can split her open from her hips right up to her collarbone, I would know. This species is a biological error, a mistake that needs to be erased, and it’s my job to get that over with. Only mine.Because I’m the only one who understands.I’m the only one who knows that a robotic body is far superior to human frailty.

It took time, but with years of quiet patience and devotion, I came to love her. My stars were the pinpricks of light gleam-ing off of her sleek black chassis, all age-old flames wink-ing back at me from a never-ending night sky into which I would have gladly fallen without a heartbeat of hesitation. The unceasing golden glow of those stunning optics were twin suns that, as I often felt, hung suspended in the darkest of spaces between my ribs, casting light where it had never before dared to venture. In my mind I pictured her as a smooth-skinned maiden with hair the color of a raven’s wings and just as soft, her body lean and long-legged, her curves subtle but maddeningly entic-ing—so much more irresistibly gorgeous than the dog I chose to marry. I spent any free time I had in her chamber, speaking to her, but...It never really felt right.And the point was to finally get one right. For her to be able to feel, just like any one of us. Today, they found out that she couldn’t.And now she’s disabled.And now they all have to die.It’s my job. It’s the one thing I have to do now. Don’t give me that bullshit, no one will find out. I’ll make sure they don’t find out. I just have to take them out before they get me first. I know they’ll try. As soon as my wife’s death hits the news, they’ll suspect something.A couple of them knew how I felt. They knew that skin-to-skin contact was slowly driving me mad. They knew that the routine morning kisses were becoming torturous for me. They knew why I spent all of my time in my office, they knew why I couldn’t step within more than a few feet of any of my col-leagues.They knew.T-they know.God, they know.I won’t be able to get out of this. No matter what I do, I can’t get out of this. This goddamn house is too well secured, there are too many people who could suspect anything if I get out to hide this body. But I can’t leave it here either. Attendants stick around most days. They’ll find out.They’re going to find out.… unless I take care of them first?Yeah, and leave an even bloodier trail? I can’t do that.But if I can’t, I’ve... I’ve failed her. I’ve failed the one person I really only care about anymore. All of this, it was all about her, my angel with her copper-wire wings and halo. And I failed her.I’m just as disgusting as the rest of those apes. Just as disgust-ing. I wasn’t supposed to fail. All those days, I promised her I would get her right, that for once this would work out, I would have one function the way it was supposed to, and I failed. I fucked it up like everything else.Like everyone else.And now there’s nothing left.Nothing left but me.

I should change that.

FEATURED ShORT STORy

HhELLO, PARANOIA

BY DEZ ASTAROTh

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8 • Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk

One, two, three. I count the steel rungs as I climb below street level. I lower the grate over my head back in place. Four, five, six. My boots squish down on the muddy, leafy floor. I look around. Tunnels disappear in the murky distance in two directions. I am standing 15 feet below the university. My heart is racing double-time. I am equipped with my trusty flashlight and waterproof boots. Two minutes ago, I stood looking down through the bars of an unlocked grating covering a hole that descended into the depths. I asked myself: Well, why the hell not?This is all about the fine art of getting into and out of places you don’t belong. Why? For some of us, just the thrill of peeking behind the scenes of life is enough. Add to that the challenge of evading the law and pushing personal and societal boundaries. Toss in the opportunity to indulge a childish urge to run around like Indiana Jones. And it’s too much to resist. Sneaking around can be more than cheap thrills. It’s a useful skill for journalists, photographers, street artists, activists, surviv-alists, travelers, urban commandos, trespass-ers, and adventurers.

here’s how to do it.

BECOMING INVISIBLE

Michael leads me into the base-ment of the MAC, past all the practice rooms, through the property department, past the sunken orchestra pit, up some stairs. We pass

several people and we steam by them with-out looking back. They don’t give us a second glance. Across the empty stage and through the sets waiting in the wings, we enter a tiny old crimson lined elevator. The elevator indi-cator keeps going up, up, up, six, seven, eight floors. The elevator dings and stops at 10. Michael pulls open the door and out we step into... Nothing. Darkness. Slowly my eyes adjust. There is light coming from below. I look down. We are 100 feet above the stage! I can look down and make out the network of catwalks above the stage. hundreds of ropes and cables descend from pulleys into the distant depths. I get that funny feeling that makes me think if I get too close to the edge, I may throw myself over. I am dizzy from the height. Michael is smiling. “Wait until you see this,” Michael says. “You won’t believe it.” Look and act like you belong. You must fit in. If you are play-ing an inspector, you must act like one. Look around as you go, maybe nodding, maybe looking at a clipboard. If you are an office worker, you must walk looking straight ahead, drone-like to that business meeting else-where. You must walk like you belong there. You must /think/ like you belong there.

Keep moving. As long as you are moving, people assume you know where you are going. The moment you stop, you invite peo-ple to ask the dreaded question, “Can I help you?” As you walk through a lobby, steam right past the security desk with a nod. If you

reach a dead-end or locked door, act like you meant to reach a dead end-turn around a keep moving. Only when you aren’t observed can you take the time to regroup or plan. Take advantage of people’s hesita-tion to question strangers. If you keep mov-ing, you are out of their sight by the time they make a decision, saving them from deciding at all. Out of sight, out of mind. Avoid eye-contact. Eye-to-eye con-tact, especially with security people invites questions. If you look at people, flash them a quick, confident smile as you pass. Don’t act suspicious. Stealth is good only if you know you won’t get caught. If you are found slinking around, it will be a lot harder to pass off the story that you were just looking for the bathroom. Checking locked doors, hiding, running, or looking around nervously will make you look suspicious as hell. If you have to be a suspicious character, make sure you are not being observed doing it.

WEARING A DISGUISE

We were wandering around Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom where we weren’t invited. While two employees stood around doing their thing, we looked at the forbid-den secrets of Tomorrowland, gesticulating, pointing, and nodding in an inspectorial sort of way. We were dressed as nerdy techs and we fit right in as we walked with confidence around the back lot of Disneyland.

NOT STRICTLYLEGAL

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

By Wes Modes

http://bit.ly/OIGRBO

A GUIDE TO URBAN EXPLORATION

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Use a disguise. When was the last time you questioned the intentions of the UPS man, or the Federal Express woman? Did you ever wonder whether someone wearing a hard hat and an orange vest was supposed to be putting cones in the road? A disguise can be remarkably effec-tive. When you put on a uniform, you don a mantle of respectability and responsibility. People expect someone with a hard-hat and a clipboard to casually brush past the receptionist to perform an “inspection”. Take a look at how sim-ple most uniforms are. Put on a dark brown shirt and pants and grab a package with the right address on it and you become a UPS delivery person. Put on a hard-hat and some rugged cloth-ing and you become a construc-tion worker. Put on a suit and you become a business person beyond reproach or question. Blend in. Another dis-guise is the one that simply blends in. In an office building, a suit and tie is the perfect uniform of con-formity. On a job site, a hard-hat does the trick. At a formal func-tion, a tuxedo is your ticket. Dress up. Dress one step more formal than others, and you will move with impunity. Everyone will assume you are another step up the organizational ladder. No one is willing to risk embarrass-ment to ask aloud what you are doing there. Look important and everyone will assume you are.

GETTING CAUGhT

The sun was just setting in Sante Fe as we reached the yards marked with the blue Santa Fe cross and signs reading, “Santa Fe Property-no Trespassing-Violators will be prosecuted.” The Santa Fe yard looked much more secure than the Southern Pacific yards we’d been in. Barbed wire topped chain link all the way around. We walked in one of the main gates and down a road to the yard. We were joking about what we’d say if we were stopped. We looked so obvious with our giant packs, boots, rugged, bulky clothes. We were sure we’d get arrested or at least thrown out of the yard. “We’re, uh, looking to get across the yard. To, uh, Washington Street,” Philip said when we were questioned by the first car that drove by.

Getting caught doesn’t need to spoil the fun.

have a good story. Make

up a lie that explains why you are where you shouldn’t be. Or tell the truth if you think it’ll work better-for instance, you’re just curious and wanted to see what was in here. But make up your story before you go in so you won’t be doing that implausible stammer-ing and stuttering when you get nailed. Maintain plausible deni-ability. A good story should be believable but unverifiable. For instance, saying you are a friend of the owner may put you in a very uncomfortable position when the security guard calls your bluff. On the other hand, if you claim you are a freelancer and were told over the phone that it was okay to enter the building, your story is difficult to disprove. This story may not give you carte blanche, but you may only be ushered off the premises rather than arrested. If plausible deniability worked for the Reagan crowd during Iran-Contra, it may work for you. Play dumb. Don’t be afraid to plead stupid. “I’m lost,” is probably the most effective plea. Few people are going to have you arrested for just wandering into a situation in which you don’t belong. Most good folk will simply help you out, point you to where you’ve told them you need to go, and send you on your way. Again, it is important to maintain plausible deniability through it all. “What? You need one of them security cards to get into the air traffic control tower? I met a guy who said to go up and they’d show me around.” It’s bet-ter to be dead wrong than cold busted. If caught, play the out-sider. Any half-way intelligent security person you meet will know almost immediately that you don’t belong. You can explain it away by freely admitting to being an outsider. you are sup-posed to be meeting a friend. you are looking for the personnel office. You don’t know where the hell you are. you are looking for a nonexistent office, company, or person.

Use your credentials. If you got it, flaunt it. If you are a member of the press, a doctor, a lawyer, an inspector, a card carrying member of the ACLU, or some other kind of important person, flash those credentials when you get nabbed. It just might get you out of a jam. “I’m a photographer on assign-ment. here’s my press card.”

Ask questions first. If you can see you are going to get questioned, beat them to the punch. Before

They can question you, ques-tion them. Ask them how to get to room 247, or how to get to the front office, or how to get to the bathroom. You want to be more gutsy and more obvious than they expect to clear you of any suspicion. Make it seem like you’re grate-ful that they’ve shown up to help you. “Oh, God,” you say, “how do you get to the com-puter center? I was supposed to meet someone for a tour 10 minutes ago!” Don’t give peo-ple a chance to set their mental wheels in motion about you. Start charming them before they start forming hypotheses about why you are there. Don’t talk too much and don’t give too many details. Let people drag your story out of you. Give just enough detail to communicate what you are doing there and want you want. People have very little patience and will hear only the first few seconds of what you say anyway. You don’t want to prattle off your entire story to the first person who questions you. Don’t appear over-eager and anxious. Let people do noth-ing. Take advantage of people’s desire to do as little as possi-ble. Provide them a convenient explanation for your presence, before they have to come up with one themselves. Offer to do all the work for them if you get stopped. “They should be expecting me! Who do I talk to about this? “ Then simply step out to make the call and disap-pear.

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE

Start small. Practice makes per-fect. Try sneaking into a movie at the Cineplex 2000 before you take on the Pentagon. Start where the consequences of getting caught are insignifi-cant. Do some research. Know how likely it is you’ll be stopped and questioned. Is security higher than average at this organization? Is it so small or tight-knit that any outsider is likely to be questioned? In a small company, a person found wandering about would get the familiar query, “Can I help you?” In a large company, not everybody knows each other and important visitors are more frequent. So, if a tres-passer was wearing a nice suit, she’d be untouchable. Rent a movie and watch the pros. Check out the

way the Mission Impossible team smoothly gets into and out of touchy situations. Watch Artemis Gordon don disguis-es in Wild Wild West. When James Bond isn’t shooting his way out of difficult situations, he is stealthing around. you can take a reverse lesson from Maxwell Smart, who demon-strates how not to lie: “Would you believe...I’m the plumber?” We have everything we think we need, which isn’t much. It isn’t like we are going to do it on the outside. We’re going to do it on the inside. All the way. We were going all the way with Susan. And she is going to show us how. We meet her at her office at 5 p.m. to climb the tallest building in town. Philip darts around with an imagi-nary gun drawn, making like a ‘70s cop drama. The Mission Impossible tune plays in my head. Susan presses the button for the top floor, but it won’t take. We’ve missed our win-dow of opportunity. She darts downstairs. In a few moments, she bursts out of the elevator, motioning us to follow. She used her connections, bluffing one of the security guys. She flicks the button for the top floor, and we hurtle upward. We head through an unmarked door and up a lad-der. We snake up another lad-der and through a door that reads “Fan Room, Authorized Personnel Only.” We emerge in a fluorescent lit room filled with huge metal ventilation ducts and humming bright pink, orange, and green machinery. We clamber up another ladder and out a trap door. What I see takes my breath away. We’re at the top. We’re the highest people in the city on the tip of the tallest building in town.

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THE FEAR OF DEATh

An ESSAy

BY DEZ ASTAROTh

e’ll start off with an ending. The ending.

Death. It’s a pesky topic to pin down in any setting or context, but that’s hardly surprising; faced with their own mortality, the average person would far prefer backing off with their tail between their legs to honestly considering when and how they’ll end up cashing their chips in. A harsh assumption, but true for the better part of the popu-lation, unfortunately. To a scientist, it’s the cessation of all biological functions that sustain living organisms. To a poet, it’s a tranquil parting, or perhaps a largely benevolent entity that weeps for every life it takes, or... well, the list goes on. And to a religious man, death means the departure of the soul from the body to some sugary paradise, for the most part. That is the perspective that most piques my curiosity. While most would argue that the fundamental purpose of religion is to provide moral guidelines, I feel like a great deal of people turn to it as a means of denying death. As a species, we’re intrinsically pretty afraid of it, and for good reason. no one genuinely wants to die. Even the suicidal don’t—they’re looking for a way to make the pain stop, or a way to escape responsibility, or they want a way out of something else that’s bothering them. There’s a plethora of reasons, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone who wants to die for the sake of dying. Death anxiety is a vicious cycle, promoting irrationality while simultaneously destroying our will to look at things logically, thanks, in part, to the same fear that leads to the initial overreaction. And that’s where faith comes into play for a decent chunk of people. There’s nothing to fear if there’s no such thing as really dying, right? It makes for a wonderful safety blanket. Most religions have their own afterlife. Christianity is defi-nitely the most obvious contender here, given it has not only heaven and hell, but also Purgatory (unless you’re Protestant), where souls are purified before moving on to paradise. Then there are others like Buddhism and hinduism, which both involve cycles of reincarnation until you obtain release from desire and become liberated. I have to give credit where it’s due, though—Buddhism really goes against the norm in that the ultimate goal of a Buddhist is to achieve non-existence. The Islamic faith asserts that death is a physical ending, but souls carry on beyond the body and enter a sort of sleep state until

W

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Judgment Day. Then there’s Spiritualism, which doesn’t really seem to have one concrete definition considering the tendency of believ-ers to take it and run with it as they please. The basic idea is that your spiritual vibrations decide which realm you head off to after you die, but only people and animals who are very loved can have their vibrations raised to the point that they can cross over—not sure what that means for the hated. Even if you do end up in a lower realm, don’t worry, because the law of progress states you’ll make your way up to yet another paradise in due time. A fair amount of those who practice Spiritualism have claimed that there’s scientific evidence backing up mediumship and other means of communication with souls, but as of yet, I haven’t been able to find anything legitimate. So, if that’s how we escape death on a purely psychological level, what are the physical attempts? There are many, and I think they’re damn terrifying. If you go far back enough, you’ll find yourself looking as spells and incanta-tions meant to raise the dead. A common one in witchcraft was to burn finely-ground worm-wood on charcoal, which was said to raise spirits. While these things can get uncomfort-ably morbid (especially when you cross over into serious necromancy), what admittedly bothers me a whole hell of a lot more are our recent attempts at cheating death. Cryonics was first proposed in early 1960s, and since then, almost three hun-dred people have given themselves over to cryopreservation. It’s effective only in theory, considering we don’t currently have any real method of reversing it. For now, we’re stuck hoping that future technology will let us reverse the freezing process. The way it works is pretty simple: your body is frozen and preserved immedi-ately after you die. After your heart stops beat-ing, doctors stabilize your body and provide the brain with the oxygen it needs to sustain minimal functioning until they can get you to your tank. You’re packed with ice, and anti-coagulant is injected into your body to keep your blood from clotting in the meantime. The water in your cells is replaced with cryopro-tectant (the human equivalent of antifreeze), your body is cooled down even further with dry ice, and then you get your relaxing, -195°C liquid nitrogen bath until scientists figure out how the hell they’re going to bring you back to life. It depends on the idea that your brain can sustain your personality and long-term memory without continuous brain activ-ity, which is a generally well-accepted premise in the medical field, considering we’ve actu-

ally seen brains stop functioning and recover with memories and whatnot intact. Even then, because of how much damage a body can still go through when cryopreserved, the only way most people can see this working is through the use of nanobots. Those are in development, too, by the way. Nanobots are indescribably tiny robots that are still under research and development, and they’re the next collec-tive step humanity is taking to defy death. The goal here is to build nanobots that can swim through or even replace blood, acting as biological repairmen and fixing anything they can. They help wounds heal instantly, or even regrow limbs or back up our memories and personalities to help deal with cases of head trauma or amnesia. We’re already using nanoparticle delivery systems to administer medication to late-stage cancer patients, and this has proven itself effective—in a lab exper-iment in Florida, scientists found that this treatment method could completely destroy ovarian cancer overnight.

It’s a promising technological advancement, and the uses for these things are endless. We could eradicate all disease, fix life-threatening wounds and complications with little to no effort, and even counter obesity with nano-bots, but that doesn’t mean they come with-out a bad side. Some worry that they could become self-replicating and overwhelm bod-ies, or that faults in programming could result in the bots harming instead of helping. I’m still stuck here thinking that the worst part is that these things could make us immortal.

As humans, a lot of us idolize and glorify immortality. It’s gone to the point that, right now, there are people out there figuring out how we could go about transplanting human brains into robotic bodies. This could happen. We could effectively live forever, beat death, as if what we really need is to put a race that already can’t settle feuds without war and massive conflict into vessels that could endure and presumably deal more damage. As if what we really need is to labor over developing the illusion of a fair system of figuring out who gets to live forever and who doesn’t. As if what we really need is to intro-duce another dividing factor to a species that still has trouble tolerating differences in color and sexuality, nevermind something of this magnitude.

It’s the ultimate change we just might have to face in the future—and with a hundred different ways it could go wrong, the possible consequences are chilling.

Faced with their own mortality, the aver-age person would far prefer backing off with their tail between their legs

Page 12: Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

12 • Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk

Perhaps you have decided the traditionally accepted religions are too bland or boring, or maybe you have decided that you feel a

more personal connection with one of the many forgotten gods history has dis-carded throughout the years. No matter the reason, you’ll need a place of worship, and what better then a shrine? Let’s be honest, these gods need all the worship they can get.

DIY SHRInES

AFRAID OF BEING TOO

CLIChE BY JOINING YOUR LOCAL

RELIGION?

JOIN A FORGOTTEN ONE.

OBSCURE CULTS hAVE NEVER BEEN EASIER

1.

Page 13: Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

Light the candles, leave an offer-ing, say a few prayers. After that, you’re set. If you don’t have your gods favor at this point, you haven’t chosen a desperate

enough god. Now that you’re blessed and free from the confines of a normal religion, you can go about your day in absolute peace. Now isn’t that bliss?

Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk • 13

Select a location for your shrine. Praying to Artemis? Maybe she’d pre-fer her shrine in the woods instead of your basement.

Remember, you’re trying to gain these gods favor, so try to think ahead before you are cursed. Once the location is decided, you can start assembling what exactly you plan on putting on it. God of shadows? Maybe avoid the candles. God of sunlight? The

more candles the merrier. Color is impor-tant too, as most of these gods are linked to a particular one. The more exact your shrine looks, the more likely you’ll gain your particular gods favor, and that is what we are trying to go for.

3.

2.

4.

Start construction. Pick a flat surface, place your center piece, and surround it by your partic-ular choice in offerings. When the layout starts to feel right, it

probably is right. If it never feels right, pick a different spot to build it. If it still doesn’t feel right, pick a different god. Still no luck? Guess you’ll have to start worshipping demons. It’s not that terrible of luck, really. It’s just that your offerings will have to be quite a bit messier. Don’t wear white, as blood stains.

Page 14: Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

14 • Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk

PUZZLE PAGERIDICULOUSLY hARD PUZZLES

BECAUSE WE ARE RIDICULOUS

ACROSS3 ThE ONLY AMERICAN STATE WITh TWO UNIqUE WORDS IN ITS NAME5 (N.) A PLACE WhERE ONES STRENGTh IS DRAWN, WhERE ONE FEELS AT hOME; ThE PLACE WhERE YOU ARE CLOSEST TO YOUR AUThENTIC SELF7 (N.) ThE STATE OF FINDING IT EXTREMLY DIFFICULT TO GET OUT OF BED IN ThE MORNING8 (N.) ThE hARMONIOUS, OFTEN ROMANTIC TOGEThERNESS OF TWO PEOPLE; A FEELING OF CLOSENESS OR AFFECTION FROM BEING TOGEThER WITh SOMEONE9 (N.) ThE FLEETING MOMENT OF TIME AND PLACE ThAT CREATES OPPORTUNE ATMO- SPhERE FOR ACTIONS, WORDS, OR MOVEMENT; ThE MOMENT WhEN EVERYThING FALLS PERFECTLY INTO PLACESDOWN1 (N.) ThE FEAR OF GROWING OLD2 AN ANqUISh ARRIVING OUT OF OThERS SUFFERINGS4 (N.) ThE STATE OF UNFULFILLMENT, UNSATURATION, DISSATISFACATION; A LACK OF SUFFICIENT SATISFACTION OF ONE’S NEED6 (N.) ThE MARK LEFT ON ThE TABLE BY A COLD GLASS

Page 15: Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

Create & Share Magazine • www.createandshare.tk • 15

WORD SEARCh

10 words are hidden inside this word search. Can you find them?

Page 16: Create & Share Magazine (March 2014)

Are you a writer looking for somewhere to express yourself, without limits of public opin-

ion, or your local school system? Are you an artist who is looking to spread their name in

the world? Are you good at designing evil-level puzzles? Because we need people like you.

If you feel you have something to share, here is the place to do it. Our magazine is censor-

ship free, giving the ultimate place for artists and writers to truly express themselves, and

we are always welcoming new people to the community.

VISIT www.createandshare.tk OR EMAIL [email protected]

SUBMISSIONS WANTEDC & S I S A M A G A Z I N E B Y T h E P U B L I C