Videogames ≠ Violence, Nirvana Baby & Roblox Is In Trouble With Everyone

AUG 31, 2021

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The audio quality can be a little wonky this week. We've identified the issue and resolved it. Sorry about that.

We’ve heard for years that gamers are violent. But what if gamers were more peaceful in game than the people around them in real life? A really interesting new study has identified that gamers behave differently in EVE Online depending on the type of community they live in.

The Nirvana Nevermind baby isn’t happy about his nudes being plastered all over record stores and the internet. Now he’s suing. We’re not legal beagles, but we’ve got opinions.

Roblox is bad. It isn’t the simple gameplay, the child targeted community, or the memes. Actually, it’s bad because it’s one of the worst deals for game devs out there. Roblox seem intent to make it hard to make money from developing on their platform. That’s a really nice way to treat the people who made your game popular. People are also trying to recreate mass killings in a game for children. It’s a mess.

The Link Between Videogames And Violence Is Not What You Think

- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0240196#sec012

Smells Like A Lawsuit

- https://deadline.com/2021/08/baby-nirvana-nevermind-album-cover-sues-band-exploitation-1234821540/

Roblox Drama

- https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-08-20-roblox-business-model-criticized-as-exploiting-children

- https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-06-03-parent-watchdog-group-warning-about-roblox

Other topics discussed

Milk crate challenge has doctors warning it’s ‘worse than falling from a ladder’

- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/25/milk-crate-challenge-tiktok-doctors-warnings

What is the Milk Crate Challenge, how did it explode out of nowhere and why are people doing it?

- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-25/what-is-milk-crate-challenge-viral-videos-doctors/100404942

Ice Bucket Challenge (sometimes called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving the pouring of a bucket of ice water over a person's head, either by another person or self-administered, to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as motor neuron disease and in the United States as Lou Gehrig's disease) and encourage donations to research.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Bucket_Challenge

Jack Thompson (activist) (American activist and disbarred attorney, based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is known for his role as an anti-video-game activist, particularly against violence and sex in video games. During his time as an attorney, Thompson focused his legal efforts against what he perceives as obscenity in modern culture. This included rap music, broadcasts by shock jock Howard Stern, and the content of video games and their alleged effects on children.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist)

Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence (a parody and satire hoax organization created by sophomore Parsons The New School for Design student David Yoo as a final project in December 2002.)

- https://gyaanipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Mothers_Against_Videogame_Addiction_and_Violence

Eve Online ((stylised EVE Online) is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of Eve Online can participate in a number of in-game professions and activities, including mining, piracy, manufacturing, trading, exploration, and combat (both player versus environment and player versus player). The game contains a total of 7,800 star systems that can be visited by players.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Online

Eve Online’s ‘million dollar’ battle came up a little short last night

- https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/24/16927594/eve-online-million-dollar-battle-results

FIFA (video game series) ((also known as FIFA Soccer, FIFA Football or EA Sports FIFA) is a series of association football video games developed and released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. As of 2011, the FIFA franchise has been localised into 18 languages and available in 51 countries. Listed in Guinness World Records as the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world, the FIFA series has sold over 325 million copies as of 2021. It is also one of the best-selling video game franchises.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_(video_game_series)

Australian Classification Board : Adult (18+) ratings for video games (Many games were banned before 2011 on the basis that the R18+ rating did not apply to video games at the time. This was the subject of complaint in the gaming community, who argued that there is no reason why adults should be prevented from seeing content in games that they could see in a film.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Classification_Board#Adult_(18+)_ratings_for_video_games

Video game addiction (also known as gaming disorder or internet gaming disorder, is generally defined as the problematic, compulsive use of video games that results in significant impairment to an individual's ability to function in various life domains over a prolonged period of time. The World Health Organization included gaming disorder in the 11th revision of its International Classification of Diseases (ICD).)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_addiction

Surgeon Simulator : Surgeon Simulator is an over-the-top operation sim, stitching together pitch-black humour with life-saving surgery.

- https://store.steampowered.com/app/233720/Surgeon_Simulator/

Corrupted Blood incident ((or World of Warcraft pandemic) was a virtual pandemic in the MMORPG World of Warcraft, which began on September 13, 2005, and lasted for one month. The epidemic began with the introduction of the new raid Zul'Gurub and its end boss Hakkar the Soulflayer. When confronted and attacked, Hakkar would cast a hit point-draining and highly contagious debuff spell called "Corrupted Blood" on players.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupted_Blood_incident

Corrupted Blood Incident : Comparison to the COVID-19 pandemic (The Corrupted Blood incident has been compared to the COVID-19 pandemic, and epidemiologists who studied the Corrupted Blood outbreak are using the research from the incident to better understand coronavirus's spread - primarily its sociological factors.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupted_Blood_incident#Comparison_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic

Call Of Duty (a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic worlds, and outer space. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then also by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty

US man sues Nirvana for using his naked photo on iconic 'Nevermind' album : Spencer Eldon recreating the photo he took when he was a four-month-old baby in 1991.

- https://www.malaymail.com/news/showbiz/2021/08/25/us-man-sues-nirvana-for-using-his-naked-photo-on-iconic-nevermind-album/2000325

Viva Frei - Nirvana's "Nevermind" Baby Lawsuit is BOUND TO FAIL! Lawyer Explains - Viva Frei Vlawg

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXY_nlfZ_dI&t=257s

Gamer Chad - Roblox / Ultimate Slide Box Racing / Into the Toilet! / Gamer Chad Plays

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzqLTCT0vc4

Columbine High School massacre : Doom connection and the Harris levels (Eric Harris was an enthusiast of the Doom series, owning some of the Doom novels and having designed Doom levels under the nicknames "REB", "Rebldomakr", and "RebDoomer". In a videotape recorded before the massacre, Harris expressed enthusiasm for the planned shooting, saying it would be like Doom. He also pointed out that the shotgun was "Straight out of Doom".)

- https://doom.fandom.com/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre

Super Columbine Massacre RPG! (a role-playing video game created by Danny Ledonne and released in April 2005. The game recreates the 1999 Columbine High School shootings near Littleton, Colorado. Players assume the roles of gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and act out the massacre, with flashbacks relating parts of Harris and Klebold's past experiences. The game begins on the day of the shootings and follows Harris and Klebold after their suicides to fictional adventures in perdition.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Columbine_Massacre_RPG!

Robux ((R$) is the currency on Roblox. Robux was introduced on May 14, 2007 (alongside Tix) as a replacement of ROBLOX Points. Robux was one of two currencies on the platform alongside Tix, which was removed on April 14, 2016. Robux is known as Roblox's primary currency by the community and staff; all paid items within the avatar shop are sold for Robux, including user-created content such as microtransactions and game passes. The name 'Robux' is a portmanteau of Roblox and bucks.)

- https://roblox.fandom.com/wiki/Robux

Attack on Pearl Harbor (a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States (a neutral country at the time) against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' formal entry into World War II the next day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

Six Days in Fallujah (an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Highwire Games and published by Victura. Described by Highwire Games as a tactical shooter, it is slated to be the first video game to focus directly on the Iraq War. The game's plot follows a squad of U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1), fighting in the Second Battle of Fallujah over the span of six days in November 2004.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Days_in_Fallujah

Battle of Hastings (fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 mi (11 km) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings

History (American TV network) ((formerly The History Channel from 1995 to 2008; stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainment Content division of the Walt Disney Company.The network was originally focused on history-based documentaries. During the late 2000s, History drifted into reality television programming. In addition to this change in format, the network has been criticized by many scientists, historians, and skeptics for broadcasting pseudo-documentaries and unsubstantiated, sensational investigative programming.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_(American_TV_network)

The Curse of Oak Island : What Is the Oak Island Money Pit?

- https://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island/articles/what-is-the-money-pit

Forged in Fire (TV series) (American competition series that airs on the History channel and is produced by Outpost Entertainment, a Leftfield Entertainment company.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forged_in_Fire_(TV_series)

The Secret Playboy Mansion Games Room With Hidden Bedrooms, Mirrored Walls, Gambling & Arcades ?‍♀️

- https://www.celebritywotnot.com/celebrity-homes/the-playboy-mansion-games-room-secret-cabin-hidden-bedrooms-mirrored-walls-gambling-arcades/

Red Hat (an American IBM subsidiary software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat

- https://www.redhat.com/en

History of union busting in the United States (The history of union busting in the United States dates back to the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century which produced a rapid expansion in factories and manufacturing capabilities. As workers moved away from farm work to factories, mines and other hard labor, they faced harsh working conditions such as long hours, low pay and health risks.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the_United_States

Amazon is using union-busting Pinkerton spies to track warehouse workers and labour movements at the company, according to a new report

- https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-pinkerton-spies-worker-labor-unions-2020-11?r=US&IR=T

Activision Blizzard ‘suppressed’ evidence in sex discrimination lawsuit, California claims

- https://www.polygon.com/22641099/activision-blizzard-dfeh-gender-discrimination-lawsuit-amendment

The Fly (1986 film) (a 1986 science-fiction psychological body horror film directed and co-written by David Cronenberg. Produced by Brooksfilms and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz. Loosely based on George Langelaan's 1957 short story of the same name and the 1958 film of the same name, The Fly tells of an eccentric scientist who, after one of his experiments goes wrong, slowly turns into a fly-hybrid creature.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fly_(1986_film)

The Fly II (a 1989 American science fiction horror film directed by Chris Walas. The film stars Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga, and is a sequel to the 1986 film The Fly, itself a remake of the 1958 film of the same name.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fly_II

The Fly (1958 film) (a 1958 American horror science-fiction film produced and directed by Kurt Neumann and starring David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price, and Herbert Marshall. The film was released in CinemaScope with color by Deluxe by 20th Century Fox. It was followed by two black-and-white sequels, Return of the Fly (1959) and Curse of the Fly (1965). The original film was remade in 1986 by director David Cronenberg.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fly_(1958_film)

Arrival (film) (a 2016 American science fiction drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve and adapted by Eric Heisserer, who conceived the movie as a spec script based on the 1998 short story "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. It stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. The film follows a linguist enlisted by the United States Army to discover how to communicate with extraterrestrial aliens who have arrived on Earth, before tensions lead to war.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrival_(film)

Verge Science - We decoded NASA’s messages to aliens by hand (In 1977, twin golden records were sent into space on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. Still sailing through space at nearly 60,000 km per hour, the records contain sound, songs, and images from earth.)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRuovINxpPc

WTF is Happening! The Podcast (TNC Podcast)

- https://anchor.fm/wtfihpod

Shout Outs

21st August 2021 – Nick Davatzes, Cable Pioneer Who Launched A&E Network and History Channel, passes away at 79 - https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/nick-davatzes-dead-79-ceo-ae-networks-1235046271/

Nickolas Davatzes, longtime CEO of A+E Networks who steered the launch of A&E Network and History Channel has passed away. Davatzes joined the company as CEO in 1983 just as A&E Networks was formed through the merger of fledgling cable channels Entertainment Network, owned by RCA and the Rockefeller family, and ARTS Network, owned by Hearst and ABC. A+E Networks today is a 50-50 joint venture of the Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Corp. Davatzes served as CEO emeritus. Davatzes led the company’s launch of the signature A&E Network (an amalgam of Arts and Entertainment) in 1984 and History Channel in 1995 (History formally dropped “Channel” from its moniker in 2008). He served as CEO of the parent company through 2005, when he was succeeded by protege Abbe Raven, who started at the company as a secretary. Davatzes was known for promoting educational outreach and the importance of industry R&D during his run at A&E Networks. The company later expanded to include the Lifetime cable channel as well as more recent entries like lifestyle channel FYI and Lifetime Movie Network. Disney executive chairman Bob Iger hailed him as a “towering figure in the early days of cable television (who helped) build some of the most iconic brands in the media landscape.” Iger added that he was “a person of true integrity.” He died in Wilton, Connecticut.

24th August 2021 – Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passes away at 80 - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-25/rolling-stones-drummer-charlie-watts-dies-at-age-80/100404658

Charlie Watts, the drummer who provided the backbone of the Rolling Stones' songs for more than half a century, has died. Watts "passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family," his publicist Bernard Doherty said. "Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and also as a member of The Rolling Stones, as one of the greatest drummers of his generation." The quiet, elegantly dressed Watts was often ranked with Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and a handful of others as a premier rock drummer, respected worldwide for his muscular, swinging style as the band rose from its scruffy beginnings to international superstardom. He joined the Stones early in 1963 and remained over the next 60 years, ranked just behind Jagger and Keith Richards as the group's longest lasting and most essential members. Watts stayed on, and largely held himself apart, through the drug abuse, creative clashes and ego wars that helped kill founding member Brian Jones, drove bassist Bill Wyman and Jones' replacement Mick Taylor to quit and otherwise made being in the Stones the most exhausting of jobs. The Stones began, Watts said, "as white blokes from England playing black American music" but quickly evolved their own distinctive sound. Watts was a jazz drummer in his early years and never lost his affinity for the music he first loved, heading his own jazz band and taking on numerous other side projects. He had his eccentricities — Watts liked to collect cars even though he didn't drive and would simply sit in them in his garage. But he was a steadying influence on stage and off as the Stones defied all expectations by rocking well into their 70s, decades longer than their old rivals The Beatles. He died in London with his family around him.

25th August 2021 – Linux turns 30 - https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-on-linuxs-30th-birthday/

In 1991, Unix was an important but secondary x86 operating system. That year, on August 25, a mild-mannered Finnish graduate student named Linus Benedict Torvalds announced on the Usenet group comp.os.minix that he was working on "a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones." No one knew it, not even Torvalds, but the technology was going to change forever. Thirty years later, Linux rules IT. Almost all major websites -- including Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia -- run on Linux. It's the same with the clouds. Even on Microsoft's own Azure, the most popular operating system is Linux. As for supercomputers, all 500 of the world's fastest 500 supercomputers run Linux. Thanks to Android, Linux is also the most popular end-user operating system. Not bad for a hobby operating system! In those very first days, Linux wasn't formally known as Linux. Torvalds explained, "Linux was my working name, but I never wanted to release it as Linux. Linux was a perfectly good working name, but if I actually used it as the official one, people would think that I am an egomaniac and wouldn't take it seriously. So I chose this very bad name, "Freax," for "Free Unix." Fortunately, the first Linux administrator Ari Lemmk, decided Freax was a silly name too. Hence, he actually named it Linux because he thought this internal project name was Torvalds first choice.

Remembrances

25th August 1822 – William Herschel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herschel

German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Lucretia Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, William Herschel followed his father into the military band of Hanover, before emigrating to Great Britain in 1757 at the age of nineteen. Herschel constructed his first large telescope in 1774, after which he spent nine years carrying out sky surveys to investigate double stars. Herschel published catalogues of nebulae in 1802 (2,500 objects) and in 1820 (5,000 objects). The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that many objects called nebulae in the Messier catalogue were actually clusters of stars. On 13 March 1781 while making observations he made note of a new object in the constellation of Gemini. This would, after several weeks of verification and consultation with other astronomers, be confirmed to be a new planet, eventually given the name of Uranus. This was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity, and Herschel became famous overnight. As a result of this discovery, George III appointed him Court Astronomer. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and grants were provided for the construction of new telescopes. Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry, using prisms and temperature measuring equipment to measure the wavelength distribution of stellar spectra. In the course of these investigations, Herschel discovered infrared radiation. Other work included an improved determination of the rotation period of Mars, the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally, the discovery of Titania and Oberon (moons of Uranus) and Enceladus and Mimas (moons of Saturn). Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1816. He was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820. He died at the age of 83 at Observatory House, Windsor Road, Slough Herschel's epitaph is Coelorum perrupit claustra (He broke through the barriers of the heavens).

Famous Birthdays

25th August 1819 – Allan Pinkerton - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Pinkerton

Scottish–American detective and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Pinkerton first became interested in criminal detective work while wandering through the wooded groves around Dundee, looking for trees to make barrel staves, when he came across a band of counterfeiters, who may have been affiliated with the notorious Banditti of the Prairie. After observing their movements for some time he informed the local sheriff, who arrested them. This later led to Pinkerton being appointed, in 1849, as the first police detective in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. In 1850, he partnered with Chicago attorney Edward Rucker in forming the North-Western Police Agency, which later became Pinkerton & Co, and finally Pinkerton National Detective Agency, still in existence today as Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations, a subsidiary of Securitas AB. Pinkerton's business insignia was a wide open eye with the caption "We never sleep." As the US expanded in territory, rail transport increased. Pinkerton's agency solved a series of train robberies during the 1850s, first bringing Pinkerton into contact with George McClellan, then Chief Engineer and Vice President of the Illinois Central Railroad, and Abraham Lincoln, the company's lawyer. When the Civil War began, Pinkerton served as head of the Union Intelligence Service during the first two years, heading off an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland while guarding Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington, D.C. as well as identifying troop numbers in military campaigns. His agents often worked undercover as Confederate soldiers and sympathizers to gather military intelligence. Pinkerton himself served on several undercover missions as a Confederate soldier using the alias Major E.J. Allen. He worked across the Deep South in the summer of 1861, focusing on fortifications and Confederate plans. This counterintelligence work done by Pinkerton and his agents is comparable to the work done by today's U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agents in which Pinkerton's agency is considered an early predecessor. He was succeeded as Intelligence Service chief by Lafayette Baker; the Intelligence Service was the predecessor of the U.S. Secret Service. His work led to the establishment of the Federal secret service. Despite his agency's later reputation for anti-labor activities, Pinkerton himself was heavily involved in pro-labor politics as a young man. Though Pinkerton considered himself pro-labor, he opposed strikes and distrusted labor unions. He was born in Gorbals, Glasgow.

Events of Interest

25th August 1957- The Invisible Man Vs. The Human Fly premiered in Japan - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204691/

A star is born! On this day in 1957 (in Japan), The Invisible Man Vs. The Human Fly took to the silver screen for a monster of a pairing! Directed by Mitsuo Murayama, the SciFi/Fantasy starred Ryûji Shinagawa and Yoshirô Kitahara; and here's the plot summary: "A ruthless serial killer with a peculiar method of stalking and killing his victims comes face to face with a police officer turned invisible by a scientific experiment. Who will emerge triumphant?" In the late 1950s, in the United States this film was announced, and stills were published, under the English language title "The Murdering Mite." This film shares part of its Japanese title with the Japanese release of the much better-known 1958 U.S. science fiction film The Fly, which was released in Japan as Fear of the Fly Man (ハエ男の恐怖 Hae Otoko no Kyōfu), though with the 'Fly' in "Fly Man" spelled in katakana rather than kanji characters. While both films feature "fly men," The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly actually predates the latter film by almost an entire year.

25th August 1989 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the last planet in the Solar System at the time, due to Pluto being within Neptune's orbit from 1979 to 1999 - https://www.wired.com/2010/08/0825voyager2-neptune/

Voyager 2 makes its closest encounter with Neptune, passing just 3,000 miles above the cloud tops of the most distant planet in our solar system. The Voyager 2 space probe has been our most productive unmanned space voyage. It visited all four of the outer planets and their systems of moons and rings, including the first visits to previously unexplored Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2 found four rings and evidence for ring arcs, or incomplete rings, above Neptune. That means all four of the gas giants in our solar system have rings. Neptune's, however, are very meager compared to the magnificent rings around Saturn. In the late 19th century, astronomers thought that an unseen Planet X was influencing the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The observed positions of the two planets and their calculated positions differed. Among those astronomers convinced of the existence of Planet X was Clyde Tombaugh. In 1930 while scanning areas of the sky for Planet X, he found Pluto. When Voyager 2 flew by Neptune, it took very precise measurements of Neptune's mass and found it to be about 0.5 percent less massive than previous estimates. When the orbits of Uranus and Neptune were recalculated using the more accurate mass figure, it became clear that the imprecise number for Neptune -- and not the gravity of an unseen planet -- had caused the observed orbital discrepancies. After its encounter with Neptune, the spacecraft was rechristened the Voyager Interstellar Mission by NASA to take measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field, plasma and charged-particle environment. But mostly it's searching for the heliopause, the distance at which the solar wind becomes subsumed by the more general interstellar wind.