Gold Hacker

Sooo... I know this one has not been fast compared to the world average... just trying my best despite spare time being very short. :)

Black Sojourner

Action is what opens doors; costancy is what keeps them open.Unknown

Level 15

«puro e disposto a salire a le stelle.»
«pure and disposed to mount unto the stars.»(Dante, Purgatorio, c.33 v.145)

Thanks as always to the local Enlightened communities of Livorno and Pisa for support and supplies.
On my way now, regardless of what it takes: level 16, here I come.

Three years as an Ingress agents

Exactly three years ago:

To me, the beginning of a new lifestyle!

Gold Builder

What you spend years building, someone can destroy overnight: build anyway.Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Vanguard medal

In order to celebrate its year 3, Ingress issued the Vanguard medal.
Here is the official announcement by Ingress.
Tiers will be assigned depending on the level reached by December 1^st, 2015 as follows:

• Bronze: level 3+
• Silver: level 9+
• Gold: level 13+
• Platinum: level 15+
• Black: level 16

Black Translator

The limits of my language are the limits of my world.Ludwig Wittgenstein

Language is to the mind more than light is to the eye.William Gibson

One language sets you in the corridor of life; two languages open every door on the way.Frank Smith

High thoughts must have high language.Aristophane

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head; if you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heartNelson Mandela

I remember getting the Platinum one back in May, I already knew the path to the Black one would be steep. Or, well, extremely long.

We are not short on portals in my whereabouts, but we sure are out on L8 portals: 15-point worth portals are not that common, I can mostly rely on 8-point L6/L7 portals with multi-hacks on.

But that's OK: committing consistently (once or twice a day) to burn out all those L6/L7 ones and driving to the nearest L8 farm from time to time would work out pretty well.

That is dedicating late nights and some afternoons to hardcore glyphing up to the point to wake up one morning with my finger drawing CLEAR-MIND-OPEN-MIND in the air.

That was a clear sign that I was “maybe” taking it "a little" too seriously :D but it also indicated that I was on the final rush.

Last days were hectic, persistent heavy rain and wind made it veeery difficult to burn out farms in pedestrian zones by both holding the umbrella and properly completing glyph sequences: it felt as if the Elements were telling me "We will do so that you DO DESERVE that damn medal!".

Bring it on, it's a good aerobic exercise.

And, at last, here I am, as excited as ever. Achievements are always a good way to tell ourselves: "Way to go, do not stop".

I'm also attaching the screenshot of very first sequence I got on the day the Translator medal was introduced, the beginning of a long path; I remember I was here, it was Green and L7, owned by +David Jones and powered up by +Alex Banti aka @InsaneX and me.

Therefore I'd like to thank them and local communities of Livorno and Pisa for providing a good number of high-level portals to glyph-hack.

And, by the way, I used neither Glyphon nor any other similar "tool"; I'm a purist and I personally despise these tricks as I believe they make the final achievement less worthy.

"Way to go, do not stop": Black Illuminator and Level 15 await.

And, heck, maybe a Double Black Translator. :D

The adventure continues!

I'm enthused and enthralled as ever at this "game", thanks Ingress!

@MarcoCarrai1981 yeah! nice job!

— Ingress (@ingress) 29 Ottobre 2015

Platinum Sojourner

Time runs, it must be feeling me breathing down its neck.

Medal achieved punctually. :)
Now, on my way to the Black one, on February 2016.
I will try my best!

Double Black Recharger

Click here for the original post on Google+.

While I know I've not been fast at reaching the Ingress​​ double black Recharger medal compared to the average, I'm still happy I did my best living in an area with not so many portals. :)

Level 14

Running water never grows stale. So you just have to keep on flowing.Bruce Lee

Again, thanks to the priceless support of +Iacopo Fontanelli​, +Lorenzo Fancelli, +David Jones,  +Andrea Pinnisi, +Federico Bini​, +Francesco Ruvolo​, +Fabio Spennagallo​,  +Fulvio Martino​, +Leonardo Gasperini,  +Francesco Namuri​, +Patricia MetalSeline​, +Josilda Tollumi​, +Lorenzo Nardi. ​
On my way to level 15 now.

Platinum Translator

The limits of my language are the limits of my world.Ludwig Wittgenstein

To have another language is to possess a second soul.Charlemagne

Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.Rita Mae Brown

Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.Oliver Wendell Holmes

For this one, I have to thank a number of people for a number of reasons:
• Andrea Pinnisi  aka @DemolitionParty for portal upgrade;
• Iacopo Fontanelli  aka uccio78 for portal upgrade;
• Federico Bini  aka @Bno78 for portal upgrade and farming along;
• Lorenzo Fancelli  aka @mephy75 for portal upgrade;
• Federico Perferi  aka @DaFruz for portal upgrade;
• Patricia MetalSeline  aka @MetalSeline2003 for portal upgrading, farming along, driving, gummy candies and rock music;
• Vincenzo De Presbiteris aka @Alive82v2 for portal upgrading, farming along and gummy candies;
• Josilda Tollumi  aka @TrifidNebula for portal upgrading and farming along;
• Leonardo Gasperini  aka @GasLeo for portal upgrading and farming along;
• Fulvio Martino  aka @MATRIXIO76 for portal upgrading and farming along
• Francesco Ruvolo aka @Werefarmer for portal upgrading and farming along;
• Fabio Spennagallo  aka @Jagaa for portal upgrading and farming along;
• Lorenzo Nardi aka @ NFranky94 for portal upgrading;
• Google Maps and its Navigator to help me learn the way to the farms. :D
And, of course, thanks to all of them for great fun had so far!
I apologize to anyone I might have forgotten!

Now, next step: 50000 glyphs point for the black one.
On my way.

Winning 2015.14

What's special about winning this septicycle?

Check out the eight peaks in the graph: all of them were versions of this operation. Sometimes there were more layers, sometimes there were less layers, but always the same operation.

That's a combination of two factors: super-high intensity on our side for capturing anchors over and over, effective cleaning, availability to field also at odd hours and relentless key farming; super-high disorganization on the Resistance side for unsuccessfully attempting to block that operation every single time.

You'd think that people should learn from experience: all the times we successfully completed that op were not enough experience for the Resistance to get itself together.

On to the next septicycle, now.

Platinum Illuminator

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
Thomas Jefferson

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
Plato

I achieved the last 43 kMU for this medal by closing the second field while repeating the same operation as yesterday for today checkpoint of 07:00 PM.
Thanks to Enlightened agents from Livorno and Pisa for support in this operation!

On a related note: you'd think that, by the third time we completed this operation yesterday, the Resistance would have learned a lesson, but no... their attempts to block us continue to be unsuccessful...

Platinum Trekker

I always go straight on, there are no bends in my path: if I deviated, the Heavens would make fun of me.
Raoh

Level 13

Not all mysteries are solvable, but the joy comes in the pursuit.
Hank Johnson

Gold Translator

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela

Black guardian medal

Click here for the original post on Google+.

*** My smartphone rings. ***

Me: «Hallo?»

A.D.A.: «Good morning, agent MarkBoy81.»

Me: «Oh, hi ADA! Nice to hear you. Still trying to hack into my mind just the way you did with Klue?»

A.D.A.: «Even if I tried, I would be unable to perform that operation. You are located in an area cloaked with XM resonated in a way that prevents me from attempting to interfere with human brains. I understand that your question follows a typically-human mental scheme you call "sarcasm".»

Me: «Just kidding a bit. And yes, Enlightened green XM is everywhere around here, almost all the time. It’s a hard work, but it seems to pay off, after all. So, you were looking for me for...?»

A.D.A.: «I just have a piece of news for you: among my subroutines, the one in charge of monitoring you has just reported that you reached continued control of a specific portal for 150 days. I understand that, following some sort of operation-tracking progress measurement, you humans call this "Black Guardian medal".»
Me: «Why, thank you ADA! You are the carrier of good news this time!»

A.D.A.: «I sense that you are currently secreting hormones in a combination that you humans define "feeling merry, fulfilled".»

Me: «You are robotically correct.» (chuckling)

A.D.A.: «There is only something I am currently unable to understand.»

Me: «Beats me. There actually exists something even you cannot comprehend?»

A.D.A.: «While I understand your confusion about my high computating and logical capabilities being somehow insufficient to understand something, it's only complete to say that it's due to your behaviour.»

Me: «Mmmh, what?»

A.D.A.: «Yes, you humans are incognites in a system of equations that would otherwise be perfect and perfectly predictable, so what I cannot understand is completely due to you.»

Me: «I do like that "Matrix 2" reference, the Architect must be really fascinating to you...» (chuckle) «Anyway, can I help you understand?»

A.D.A.: «By reviewing your activity log I identified the long-defended portal, and the peculiar part of your achievement consists of that portal being located in an area where human population, portals, links and fields are not scarce.»

Me: «You are right, it's an industrious area by the sea with many activities, much tourism and it’s well served by public transport.»

A.D.A.: «Statistically, it is correct to state that the more crowded and busy a place is, the more likely a portal is captured over and over again; as a matter of fact, many agents from both factions attempt to achieve their long-defending streak on portals that you humans colorfully describe as "lost in the middle of nowhere”. Your achievement is therefore incoherent with these statistics and procedural patterns.»

Me: «ADA, you should know that 99% is different than 100%, statistics are not "absolute truths". If you ask me, I think the proverb stating that "if you really want to hide something just put it in evidence" is true: your local Resistance  agents here are grossly disorganized up to the point of overlooking an enemy "guardian" portal in a busy place and under their nose; simply, setting up a couple of high-level, super-linked, AP-worth portals around my “guardian” portal lured their attention away. The logic is “give them something to break and they will be content”, very basic strategy used for crowd control for example during rebellions; with Resistance agents out here it worked pretty well.»

A.D.A.: «These explanation likely indicate negative consequences on the efficiency of my faction.»

Me: «Indeed; and the history of AF10-SIERRA-10 proves those negative consequences here.»

A.D.A.: «May I state the name of your so-called "guardian" portal at this time?»

Me: «Please, don't. We both know this communication is being spied by God knows who, and I suppose you may still want to keep the secret: let them keep on searching, see how longer it takes your Resistance agents to finally identify it and capture it, find where and how badly their procedures are flawed. Nevertheless, as a hint, let’s say it’s very close to the beach, not fully resonated and not fully shielded.»

A.D.A.: «You may have a point here. I will be tracking actions of my Resistance agents located in that area and its neighborhood, now. This could take a while.»

Me: «Happy tracking, and thank you again for bringing me good news. See you soon, ADA.» (smiling)

*** End of phone call ***

"Eve" medal for recruiting iPhone users

There had to come that time when the iOs version of Ingress scanner app would have been released, and there it came.

Ingress invited all players to either recruit three new iPhone users or create efficient artwork to introduce the world of Ingress to the world of iOs: there reward would be the exclusive "Eve" medal.

I tried to follow the artistic path, and here are my creations:

Aaand, eventually, there the medal came!

My beginning

It all began when I read about Ingress on a random tech website: I already felt it would be something exciting, so I submitted a request for access to the closed beta version. After a while, I received the e-mail message I was waiting for:

Enlightened agent MarkBoy81 ready for action!