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The home of lucha.
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Community for Amazon's free customisable AAA game engine, Lumberyard.
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Welcome to Phitness! This subreddit was made for anything fitness and health-related focused locally in Philippines.
2024.05.14 18:47 Kazokav Dump of Danish idioms!
Hi friends, We recently started writing about Danish idioms on our newsletter the Simple Danish Newsletter - I also started posting them here on Reddit, but I have not been great at keeping up, and so now I am 12 weeks behind here on Reddit, and rather than space out 12 different posts, I thought I would do one big post and hopefully get back on track with the postings đ
So hereâs a bunch of Danish idioms for you!
At have det som blommen i et ĂŚg
Litterally; to feel like the yolk in an egg. I like this idiom a lot because of how visual it is. It means that you feel good, you feel comfortable, protected, and in the right place.
For example:
A: Se de søde killinger der sover.
B: Ă ĂĽrh, de har sikkert som blommen i et ĂŚg.
En heldig kartoffel
Literally, a lucky potato. If someone is especially lucky, in Danish ,you can call them a lucky potato. As far as I can read, the expression comes from an old sailors game, where you would pass a potato around in a circle, and a person in the middle would try to catch it. If the person in the middle could not catch the potato, it was said to be a lucky potato.
For example: A: Jeg har fri pĂĽ fredag, sĂĽ jeg kan nyde det gode vejr.
B: Din heldige kartoffel.
A: Har du hørt at Jonas har vundet i lotto? B: Sikke en heldig kartoffel!
En varm kartoffel
Something can also be a hot potato. It is the same expression as in english, where an issue can be a hot potato. Something so hot that it is painful to touch, and so something you would want to avoid. This expression is less used in Denmark, and mostly by newspapers or the older generations.
Lokummet brĂŚnder
Litterally: The toilet is on fire.
Either you are in big trouble or you are about to be in big trouble when your toilet is on fire.
Lokum in Danish used to refer to the old shed behind the house, where hole-in-the-ground-with-seat type toilets with no running water were found. Nowadays the word can also refer, with some disgust, to normal toilets.
For example:
Litterally translating to; then the goat is shaved. Means that something is done or solved. You can use it if you got an annoying task out of the way, either by avoiding the task entirely (and then ironically using sĂĽ er den ged barberet to humorously say that it was easy), or by actually finishing it.
Example 1: Jeg skal lige fÌrdiggøre den sidste del af prÌsentationen, og sü er den ged barberet.
Example 2: FCK scorede et hurtigt mül mod Brøndby, og sü var den ged barberet.
Hvor kragerne vender
Where the crows turn around is used to to mean the same as in the middle of nowhere, although I like the illustrativeness of the Danish phrase much more than in the middle of nowhere. It means somewhere so far away, that even the crows donât dare go there. You can for example say; Rasmus er vokset op pĂĽ landet. Der hvor kragerne vender. Or if someone asks you what you did this weekend, you can say: jeg var ude at gĂĽ en tur, helt derude hvor kragerne vender. Or if people ask you where you are from: jeg er fra en lille by ude hvor kragerne vender.
Den der kommer først til mølle, für først malet
Litterally; The one who arrives first at the mill will get milled first. This is pretty much the the Danish equivalent of first come, first serve, mixed with a bit of the early bird gets the worm. However in everyday life, you pretty much only hear the first part; først til mølle or you might see something like; âefter først til mølle principâ which was recently added to the Danish dictionary. You might see the phrase if you are looking at items being given away for free or being sold online. I can definitely see how the isolated phrase can confuse new learners though: âSelling sneakers. First to the mill.â
So now you know đ
at spille kong gulerod
At spille kong gulerod, to play king-carrot. You can use this expression if someone is acting arrogant, cocky, or superior in a pretentious way. You can for example say du skal ikke komme her og spille kong gulerod if someone is being pompous around you. The phrase apparently comes from an old french, satirical opera from 1872, where vegetables from the garden take control over France. Or so Iâve heard. Donât cite me on that.
At købe katten i sÌkken
Literally meaning to buy the cat in the sack. To buy the cat in the sack, means you got cheated in a trade, or that you were not diligent enough when checking what you were buying and got something not worth a lot. You can change the person or the idiom in the idiom as in jeg har købt katten i sĂŚkken meaning you already made the bad deal, or you can say hun køber katten i sĂŚkken in the 3rd person future tense if someone is going to make a bad decision. You can use it as a warning to someone Pas pĂĽ du ikke køber katten i sĂŚkken if you think thereâs a risk they will not make a good choice later.
At gü som katten om den varme grød
Litterally; to walk like the cat around the hot porridge. We use this idiom when someone hesitates to speak directly about a sensitive subject, when they skirt around the issue. I imagine a cat, interested in eating a nice bowl of hot porridge, but the cat is hesitant because it is afraid of burning its tongue.
Example: I forbindelse med spørgsmület om klimaforandringer, gik politikerne som katten om den varme grød.
at skyde papegøjen
To shoot the parrot, or to have shot the parrot, means to be very lucky. It can also mean to have gotten hold of a very valuable object or person. It is in a sensee the opposite of having bought the cat in the sack. Hereâs a few examples:
Rasmus har skudt papegøjen med hende Antonina. Hun er godt nok sød. Jeg har skudt papegøjen her I weekenden pü loppemarkedet.
Det med smĂĽt
âthat with small/littleâ or more legibly: the fine print.
Har du lĂŚst det med smĂĽt? Did you read the fine print? You will often see this when websites are trying to be transparent or quirky about their terms and conditions. So you might encounter a link or a website titled âdet med smĂĽtâ if you are trying to buy something.
That was all for now đ I apologize in advance for formatting problems, as I am writing this on mobile as apparently this is the only way Reddit will allow me to post multiple images.
submitted by Kazokav to LearnDanish [link] [comments]
At have det som blommen i et ĂŚg
Litterally; to feel like the yolk in an egg. I like this idiom a lot because of how visual it is. It means that you feel good, you feel comfortable, protected, and in the right place.
For example:
A: Se de søde killinger der sover.
B: Ă ĂĽrh, de har sikkert som blommen i et ĂŚg.
En heldig kartoffel
Literally, a lucky potato. If someone is especially lucky, in Danish ,you can call them a lucky potato. As far as I can read, the expression comes from an old sailors game, where you would pass a potato around in a circle, and a person in the middle would try to catch it. If the person in the middle could not catch the potato, it was said to be a lucky potato.
For example: A: Jeg har fri pĂĽ fredag, sĂĽ jeg kan nyde det gode vejr.
B: Din heldige kartoffel.
A: Har du hørt at Jonas har vundet i lotto? B: Sikke en heldig kartoffel!
En varm kartoffel
Something can also be a hot potato. It is the same expression as in english, where an issue can be a hot potato. Something so hot that it is painful to touch, and so something you would want to avoid. This expression is less used in Denmark, and mostly by newspapers or the older generations.
Lokummet brĂŚnder
Litterally: The toilet is on fire.
Either you are in big trouble or you are about to be in big trouble when your toilet is on fire.
Lokum in Danish used to refer to the old shed behind the house, where hole-in-the-ground-with-seat type toilets with no running water were found. Nowadays the word can also refer, with some disgust, to normal toilets.
For example:
- Danskerne er gode til at fĂĽ psykologisk hjĂŚlp nĂĽr lokummet brĂŚnder.
- NĂĽr lokummet brĂŚnder, ved jeg at jeg altid kan regne med dig.
Litterally translating to; then the goat is shaved. Means that something is done or solved. You can use it if you got an annoying task out of the way, either by avoiding the task entirely (and then ironically using sĂĽ er den ged barberet to humorously say that it was easy), or by actually finishing it.
Example 1: Jeg skal lige fÌrdiggøre den sidste del af prÌsentationen, og sü er den ged barberet.
Example 2: FCK scorede et hurtigt mül mod Brøndby, og sü var den ged barberet.
Hvor kragerne vender
Where the crows turn around is used to to mean the same as in the middle of nowhere, although I like the illustrativeness of the Danish phrase much more than in the middle of nowhere. It means somewhere so far away, that even the crows donât dare go there. You can for example say; Rasmus er vokset op pĂĽ landet. Der hvor kragerne vender. Or if someone asks you what you did this weekend, you can say: jeg var ude at gĂĽ en tur, helt derude hvor kragerne vender. Or if people ask you where you are from: jeg er fra en lille by ude hvor kragerne vender.
Den der kommer først til mølle, für først malet
Litterally; The one who arrives first at the mill will get milled first. This is pretty much the the Danish equivalent of first come, first serve, mixed with a bit of the early bird gets the worm. However in everyday life, you pretty much only hear the first part; først til mølle or you might see something like; âefter først til mølle principâ which was recently added to the Danish dictionary. You might see the phrase if you are looking at items being given away for free or being sold online. I can definitely see how the isolated phrase can confuse new learners though: âSelling sneakers. First to the mill.â
So now you know đ
at spille kong gulerod
At spille kong gulerod, to play king-carrot. You can use this expression if someone is acting arrogant, cocky, or superior in a pretentious way. You can for example say du skal ikke komme her og spille kong gulerod if someone is being pompous around you. The phrase apparently comes from an old french, satirical opera from 1872, where vegetables from the garden take control over France. Or so Iâve heard. Donât cite me on that.
At købe katten i sÌkken
Literally meaning to buy the cat in the sack. To buy the cat in the sack, means you got cheated in a trade, or that you were not diligent enough when checking what you were buying and got something not worth a lot. You can change the person or the idiom in the idiom as in jeg har købt katten i sĂŚkken meaning you already made the bad deal, or you can say hun køber katten i sĂŚkken in the 3rd person future tense if someone is going to make a bad decision. You can use it as a warning to someone Pas pĂĽ du ikke køber katten i sĂŚkken if you think thereâs a risk they will not make a good choice later.
At gü som katten om den varme grød
Litterally; to walk like the cat around the hot porridge. We use this idiom when someone hesitates to speak directly about a sensitive subject, when they skirt around the issue. I imagine a cat, interested in eating a nice bowl of hot porridge, but the cat is hesitant because it is afraid of burning its tongue.
Example: I forbindelse med spørgsmület om klimaforandringer, gik politikerne som katten om den varme grød.
at skyde papegøjen
To shoot the parrot, or to have shot the parrot, means to be very lucky. It can also mean to have gotten hold of a very valuable object or person. It is in a sensee the opposite of having bought the cat in the sack. Hereâs a few examples:
Rasmus har skudt papegøjen med hende Antonina. Hun er godt nok sød. Jeg har skudt papegøjen her I weekenden pü loppemarkedet.
Det med smĂĽt
âthat with small/littleâ or more legibly: the fine print.
Har du lĂŚst det med smĂĽt? Did you read the fine print? You will often see this when websites are trying to be transparent or quirky about their terms and conditions. So you might encounter a link or a website titled âdet med smĂĽtâ if you are trying to buy something.
That was all for now đ I apologize in advance for formatting problems, as I am writing this on mobile as apparently this is the only way Reddit will allow me to post multiple images.
2024.05.14 18:12 Flametang451 The Primordial Paradox, Religious Diversity, and Free Will
In the modern age, I think one of the biggest questions anybody has had to deal with in a increasingly interconnected world from a religious perspective is the nature of how religious diversity came to be- not just internally, but externally.
The quran seems to at times explain religious diversity as a natural consequence and even ordainment upon humanity (5:48 and 10:99 come to mind here- if both are linked with each other than such would mean that some nations are meant to be as they are- even if they are what we would categorize as non monothiestic.
Quranically, such a nation could be seen potentially in Surah Yusuf. Egypt in this time is clearly implied to be pagan with Yusuf's conversation with his cellmates (12:36-42), and again in how the king's laws were different from Yusuf's (12:76). Yet the people in this verse seem to almost solely call on Allah only (when the egyptians speak of divinity, the word lilahi is used in places such as 12:31 and 12:51). If we assume the Wife of Al Aziz (Zuleikha as she is spoken of in exegesis, but also Rael) is speaking in 12:53, she does the same. In contrast, Egypt in the time of Musa amongst those who followed the Pharaoh mention waÄlihataka in the context of divnity- translated to multiple gods by most*).*
This could be a henotheistic situation like with the Quraish, but Prophet Yusuf aside from the prison does not do much preaching. There is a mention in Surah Ghafir (40:34) that Yusuf was rejected by the folk of Egypt, but this opens up more questions than answers (Egypt was not destroyed in Yusuf's time nor punished, nor does the quran call it's folk of that time disbelivers or mushrikeen....despite clearly being pagan. Neither does god state at any point that Yusuf was ordained to preach in Egypt. Yusuf likely was in Egypt during the Second Intermediate or Middle Kingdom Periods based on the ruler being referred to as a king if we attempt a historical contextualization, which were both dominated by pagan orthodoxy in the country.
Any criticisms on religion come from people that god narrates speaking, but not god themselves. It seems a small, but significant difference in comparison to how other nations in the quran are spoken of. 40:35 seems to continue on from this- but this verse may be unrelated to the matter (it also seems to be essentially be an allusion to cult like practices- the verse itself reads in what appears to be an orwellian matter in that folk should not question revelation at no point ever- it seems to follow in the maxim of such- "blessed are the minds who do not doubt, and cursed are those who do". Thus, it likely can and has been used to justify corrupt religious orthodoxies and institutions by silencing concerns of the layfolk, by arguing people do not have authority to question scripture or what it means. Essentially, it isn't blind following in all cases that the quran dislikes, but blind following of the right path is fine (and what "right" is can thus be made subjective to satisfy end goals). At the very least, from this verse solely. This would also likely be a favorite verse of those looking to justify spiritual abuse under the guise of well intentions.)
but at other times sems to argue that humans at some point recognized god for what they are, and that they chose to accept some kind of trust which seems to be in relation to living as humans, almost subliminally arguing that all people are somehow secretly aware of allah. Yet the quran also mentions that many folk can also be unaware or not know of god, that cities were not punished because they did know of a matter- that is the whole point of sending messengers. This in itself is an established point in jurispedence.
The verses that seem to indicate this are 7:172 and in 33:72. 33:72 seems to indicate man was very hasty in taking on said trust, to an almost shortsighted degree. However, 7:172 essentially opens up a serious question about personhood.
The claim that all folk somehow were brought forth in a primordial state to testify to god is a quran only claim- it is not as if we can go and ask somebody this happened. More importantly, considering that the quran directly shows evidence of god's interference with human consciousness by sealing hearts and ordaining paths or belief systems upon nations, we would not be able to gain a verifiable answer anyway. Since ideologies and understandings of the world are what influence actions (not the other way around, as a choice taken is always made in due part due to the convictions of a person), then it stands to reason that god sets both the cause and effect.
This would also justify fatalism (I've seen some try to argue for qadr allowing free will, but most arguments seem to be that there is a script but you can influence it a tad....which means we are mostly still bound by outside forces. The quran is even more confusing on this matter- at times it argues god is the only reason people believe or not, yet when the quraishi pagans use this very argument, they are accused of being decietful. The quran seems to want to uphold god's omnipotence and free will, and yet since the two will clash, seems to bungle both. The fact that the quran implies god created men to be upon the earth also seem to imply that humanity's acceptance of this trust and the expulsion of adam and hawwa seems to imply either events may not have been entirely free will oriented, but rather parts in a script that were unalterable (the fact that shaytan somehow managed to slink his way into heavean even after being banished seems to suggest that). Puppets on a stage, if you will, with long enough string that it looks like they have free will.
As for the issue of the primordial, what makes this so confusing is that it seems something from before birth (the opening of the book of deeds), is being taken into account in judgment. Generally, life is assumed to have begun at birth, not before.
The only way I could see this working is one of 3 methods- 1) mass mind wipes, 2) dharmic-style reincarnation, 3) ship of Theseus.
If we assume mass wind wipes were done prior to birth, then one should wonder why a person with no memories is being beholden to somebody who had said memories. Would the latter have done the same as the former? If we look at today, most wouldn't take up something so high stakes (existing as a human). Anti-natalism is a philosophical current in the modern day for a reason.
If we assume dharmic style reincarnation (the prototype souls were all regressed from being sapient to being infants), then essentially a lesser form of death has been experienced (the former cannot be seen as fully equivilent to the latter, and it cannot be possible to state either state would do the same actions in taking up the trust).
If we assume a ship of Theseus situation- god replaced each component of the old proto-souls with something new then but kept the same form- are those the same person as before? Is the delineation point form over substance? It doesn't seem like they are.
The only way that I could see this working is that the recognition of god is merely a recognition of the absolute in some form. How that happens in the living world is wildly dependent on various factors as enshrined by god or human actions. What may appear to be non belief in god may be in a sense, belief in some of his attributes. This is a mostly akbarian approach from what I can tell (though islam as a whole would be the most ideal path to take, it does not negate or subsume the others), but it seems to help avoid issues of mass damnation of humanity, and overall uphold god's mercy and salvation for other peoples.
Though one can argue since the quran mentions hell will be filled up, with all the nature of people being chosen to be guided or not, it could very well be the quran is arguing to a Calvinist style elect which would be seriously grim). Sometimes I wonder if in reading the quran pessimistically, is that perhaps how we should read it? It would lend itself to a more misotheistic understanding of god (as being evil or useless, but since the abrahamic god is all powerful, the former is the only possible approach in such a thought cycle- all actions would need to be reanalyzed as being conducive to some malevolent end.).
Of course, such a being would need to be rejected- if such a being would truly exist, and god was truly that- the only worship they deserve is to have their worship thrown into a fire and burned to never rise again. Essentially, allowing for the trust to be accepted by humanity was but the beginning of a series of malevolent machinations. To what end would be unknowable, but nothing good in general. It would be the inverse of the muslim thought process which argues even if we do not know something's occurence, there may be good in it. I'm not sure if this would be pessimism or simply being realistic or optimism vs cynicism sometimes between the two approaches.
Some would likely call such a view bizarre, but others would likely call it liberation from oppression, the only logical way to see faith, and an end to the evils of faith. I do wonder sometimes....in the modern day, the very concept of god by some is seen as having been the source of all, or perhaps most, evils. Granted, governments that espoused atheism were hardly better, but one could easily argue they made a cult out of their leaders, and thus see that as some kind of faith and condemn that.
If a prophet were to be sent down today, they wouldn't be dealing with people who would see miracles and scoff at them being of demonic origin, they would argue that and that even if they were from god, there's no guarantee god is good, citing history as their defense, or analogies to god as being an abuser, or that faith in anything at all in a religious context is a harmful thing. I wonder sometimes how a prophet of the past would react to that sentiment. It's not as if people are worshipping themselves, and even if they did try that argument of being beholden to one's desires- people would probably argue back that such an argument usually is used to justify abuse of people by depriving them of freedoms and safety, citing examples to do so. Or perhaps arguing in that god's mercy always comes with a price, or maybe by arguing heaven and hell both are eldritch hellscapes that lead to loss of self and existential horrors, or that faith in itself demands orwellian adherence and mindless obedience in one way or another- thus, corruption in religious institutions and the stifling of free thought isn't a bug, but a feature of faith. Granted, I'm sure all of these could be argued against in one way or another.
Ultimately, I think overall, god must be seen as being of mercy firstly. Otherwise, if this is overpowered at all times by other attributes, we wind up with all kinds of uneasy implications.
submitted by Flametang451 to progressive_islam [link] [comments]
The quran seems to at times explain religious diversity as a natural consequence and even ordainment upon humanity (5:48 and 10:99 come to mind here- if both are linked with each other than such would mean that some nations are meant to be as they are- even if they are what we would categorize as non monothiestic.
Quranically, such a nation could be seen potentially in Surah Yusuf. Egypt in this time is clearly implied to be pagan with Yusuf's conversation with his cellmates (12:36-42), and again in how the king's laws were different from Yusuf's (12:76). Yet the people in this verse seem to almost solely call on Allah only (when the egyptians speak of divinity, the word lilahi is used in places such as 12:31 and 12:51). If we assume the Wife of Al Aziz (Zuleikha as she is spoken of in exegesis, but also Rael) is speaking in 12:53, she does the same. In contrast, Egypt in the time of Musa amongst those who followed the Pharaoh mention waÄlihataka in the context of divnity- translated to multiple gods by most*).*
This could be a henotheistic situation like with the Quraish, but Prophet Yusuf aside from the prison does not do much preaching. There is a mention in Surah Ghafir (40:34) that Yusuf was rejected by the folk of Egypt, but this opens up more questions than answers (Egypt was not destroyed in Yusuf's time nor punished, nor does the quran call it's folk of that time disbelivers or mushrikeen....despite clearly being pagan. Neither does god state at any point that Yusuf was ordained to preach in Egypt. Yusuf likely was in Egypt during the Second Intermediate or Middle Kingdom Periods based on the ruler being referred to as a king if we attempt a historical contextualization, which were both dominated by pagan orthodoxy in the country.
Any criticisms on religion come from people that god narrates speaking, but not god themselves. It seems a small, but significant difference in comparison to how other nations in the quran are spoken of. 40:35 seems to continue on from this- but this verse may be unrelated to the matter (it also seems to be essentially be an allusion to cult like practices- the verse itself reads in what appears to be an orwellian matter in that folk should not question revelation at no point ever- it seems to follow in the maxim of such- "blessed are the minds who do not doubt, and cursed are those who do". Thus, it likely can and has been used to justify corrupt religious orthodoxies and institutions by silencing concerns of the layfolk, by arguing people do not have authority to question scripture or what it means. Essentially, it isn't blind following in all cases that the quran dislikes, but blind following of the right path is fine (and what "right" is can thus be made subjective to satisfy end goals). At the very least, from this verse solely. This would also likely be a favorite verse of those looking to justify spiritual abuse under the guise of well intentions.)
but at other times sems to argue that humans at some point recognized god for what they are, and that they chose to accept some kind of trust which seems to be in relation to living as humans, almost subliminally arguing that all people are somehow secretly aware of allah. Yet the quran also mentions that many folk can also be unaware or not know of god, that cities were not punished because they did know of a matter- that is the whole point of sending messengers. This in itself is an established point in jurispedence.
The verses that seem to indicate this are 7:172 and in 33:72. 33:72 seems to indicate man was very hasty in taking on said trust, to an almost shortsighted degree. However, 7:172 essentially opens up a serious question about personhood.
The claim that all folk somehow were brought forth in a primordial state to testify to god is a quran only claim- it is not as if we can go and ask somebody this happened. More importantly, considering that the quran directly shows evidence of god's interference with human consciousness by sealing hearts and ordaining paths or belief systems upon nations, we would not be able to gain a verifiable answer anyway. Since ideologies and understandings of the world are what influence actions (not the other way around, as a choice taken is always made in due part due to the convictions of a person), then it stands to reason that god sets both the cause and effect.
This would also justify fatalism (I've seen some try to argue for qadr allowing free will, but most arguments seem to be that there is a script but you can influence it a tad....which means we are mostly still bound by outside forces. The quran is even more confusing on this matter- at times it argues god is the only reason people believe or not, yet when the quraishi pagans use this very argument, they are accused of being decietful. The quran seems to want to uphold god's omnipotence and free will, and yet since the two will clash, seems to bungle both. The fact that the quran implies god created men to be upon the earth also seem to imply that humanity's acceptance of this trust and the expulsion of adam and hawwa seems to imply either events may not have been entirely free will oriented, but rather parts in a script that were unalterable (the fact that shaytan somehow managed to slink his way into heavean even after being banished seems to suggest that). Puppets on a stage, if you will, with long enough string that it looks like they have free will.
As for the issue of the primordial, what makes this so confusing is that it seems something from before birth (the opening of the book of deeds), is being taken into account in judgment. Generally, life is assumed to have begun at birth, not before.
The only way I could see this working is one of 3 methods- 1) mass mind wipes, 2) dharmic-style reincarnation, 3) ship of Theseus.
If we assume mass wind wipes were done prior to birth, then one should wonder why a person with no memories is being beholden to somebody who had said memories. Would the latter have done the same as the former? If we look at today, most wouldn't take up something so high stakes (existing as a human). Anti-natalism is a philosophical current in the modern day for a reason.
If we assume dharmic style reincarnation (the prototype souls were all regressed from being sapient to being infants), then essentially a lesser form of death has been experienced (the former cannot be seen as fully equivilent to the latter, and it cannot be possible to state either state would do the same actions in taking up the trust).
If we assume a ship of Theseus situation- god replaced each component of the old proto-souls with something new then but kept the same form- are those the same person as before? Is the delineation point form over substance? It doesn't seem like they are.
The only way that I could see this working is that the recognition of god is merely a recognition of the absolute in some form. How that happens in the living world is wildly dependent on various factors as enshrined by god or human actions. What may appear to be non belief in god may be in a sense, belief in some of his attributes. This is a mostly akbarian approach from what I can tell (though islam as a whole would be the most ideal path to take, it does not negate or subsume the others), but it seems to help avoid issues of mass damnation of humanity, and overall uphold god's mercy and salvation for other peoples.
Though one can argue since the quran mentions hell will be filled up, with all the nature of people being chosen to be guided or not, it could very well be the quran is arguing to a Calvinist style elect which would be seriously grim). Sometimes I wonder if in reading the quran pessimistically, is that perhaps how we should read it? It would lend itself to a more misotheistic understanding of god (as being evil or useless, but since the abrahamic god is all powerful, the former is the only possible approach in such a thought cycle- all actions would need to be reanalyzed as being conducive to some malevolent end.).
Of course, such a being would need to be rejected- if such a being would truly exist, and god was truly that- the only worship they deserve is to have their worship thrown into a fire and burned to never rise again. Essentially, allowing for the trust to be accepted by humanity was but the beginning of a series of malevolent machinations. To what end would be unknowable, but nothing good in general. It would be the inverse of the muslim thought process which argues even if we do not know something's occurence, there may be good in it. I'm not sure if this would be pessimism or simply being realistic or optimism vs cynicism sometimes between the two approaches.
Some would likely call such a view bizarre, but others would likely call it liberation from oppression, the only logical way to see faith, and an end to the evils of faith. I do wonder sometimes....in the modern day, the very concept of god by some is seen as having been the source of all, or perhaps most, evils. Granted, governments that espoused atheism were hardly better, but one could easily argue they made a cult out of their leaders, and thus see that as some kind of faith and condemn that.
If a prophet were to be sent down today, they wouldn't be dealing with people who would see miracles and scoff at them being of demonic origin, they would argue that and that even if they were from god, there's no guarantee god is good, citing history as their defense, or analogies to god as being an abuser, or that faith in anything at all in a religious context is a harmful thing. I wonder sometimes how a prophet of the past would react to that sentiment. It's not as if people are worshipping themselves, and even if they did try that argument of being beholden to one's desires- people would probably argue back that such an argument usually is used to justify abuse of people by depriving them of freedoms and safety, citing examples to do so. Or perhaps arguing in that god's mercy always comes with a price, or maybe by arguing heaven and hell both are eldritch hellscapes that lead to loss of self and existential horrors, or that faith in itself demands orwellian adherence and mindless obedience in one way or another- thus, corruption in religious institutions and the stifling of free thought isn't a bug, but a feature of faith. Granted, I'm sure all of these could be argued against in one way or another.
Ultimately, I think overall, god must be seen as being of mercy firstly. Otherwise, if this is overpowered at all times by other attributes, we wind up with all kinds of uneasy implications.
2024.05.14 17:33 DaveHervey Beverage market Cannabis legalization: soon grass instead of hops? May 8, 2024 in market report
Cannabis has now been â at least partially â legal in Germany for a good five weeks. Will there soon be THC drinks in this country? Will Germans then drink less alcohol? And where can the substances actually be consumed? While the answers to this will probably take a while to come, many, including those in the beverage industry, are looking with excitement to Canada, where marijuana has been legal since 2018.
The approval there quickly led to the introduction of a wealth of new mixed drinks. The beverage manufacturer Truss Beverages from the province of Ontario brought non-alcoholic drinks enriched with THC and CBD in a wide variety of, mostly fruity, flavors and different, precisely defined potencies onto the market under the brand names XMG, Little Victory, Mollo and Bedfellows. Truss is a joint venture between brewing company Molson Coors and cannabis company Hexo.
THC drinks soon in Germany too? It's no wonder that, given the opportunities offered by a completely new category, companies in this country are already positioning themselves to be among the pioneers if cannabis extracts are also approved as beverage additives here. For example, the Hamburg company âGood Drinksâ is currently discussing whether THC in its drinks could be a useful brand addition, as co-owner Frank MaĂen reports.
Good Drinks is currently on the market with vodka and energy drinks, for example. Well-known Hamburg restaurateurs such as Axel Strehlitz and John Schierhorn, both of whom have deep roots in the local club scene, are involved in the start-up. MaĂen sees THC as a logical progression for a brand that has partying in its DNA, but âthe idea of ââintroducing a THC variant raises a lot of questions, especially in terms of brand image and acceptance,â said MaĂen.
Discussions are currently underway internally about how to handle this potential expansion without damaging the essence of the brand, which is strongly linked to the club culture. There are intensive discussions with the licensors of the Hamburg Club Combine, which launched the brand together with Good Drinks to support the local club scene as a social business ( we reported ).
Some THC drinks already on the market in Canada Some THC drinks already on the market in Canada (Product photos: Truss Beverages) Breweries would certainly also be potential manufacturers. But the German Brewers Association considers it unlikely that many breweries could jump on the cannabis bandwagon. âGermany is and remains the country of beer drinkers. With 1,500 breweries and almost 8,000 brands, we have a beer variety that is unique in the world,â says Managing Director Holger Eichele. Beer is still the national drink, although consumption has been declining for years, as in many other European countries.
âEdiblesâ are still banned under EU law Apart from that, an introduction would not yet be legally possible, because drinks with THC or CBD fall under âediblesâ in the EU; This refers to foods and drinks that contain cannabis. They are therefore affected by the Novel Food Regulation, explains the managing director of the Bavarian Cannabis Association, Wenzel Cerveny. This means that they can only be placed on the market once they have been tested as safe by the EU.
âThis is something that a small manufacturer cannot do - this test would have to be initiated by a large company,â says Cerveny. He himself is currently working with the small brewery âUnertlâ from Haag in Upper Bavaria on an alcohol-free beer with hemp extract. However, without THC or CBD, but with hemp as a special taste.
To provide a more detailed explanation, the EU states that there has been no evidence of any significant consumption of the individual substance CBD (cannabidiol) before May 15, 1997. It is therefore assessed as novel in the European Commission's Novel Food Catalog under the entry âCannabinoidsâ and therefore requires its own approval. As long as this does not exist, such products are not marketable. The same applies to products containing THC.
Alcohol consumption in Canada fell after legalization It's not just new products that could affect the German beverage industry if they are allowed in the future. Using Canada as an example, it is clear to see that cannabis consumption has a direct influence on consumers' drinking behavior. A joint study by the University of Manitoba, Memorial University and the University of Toronto has shown that Canadians are drinking significantly less alcohol since they were legally allowed to consume cannabis.
For example, the study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence observed an average monthly decline in beer consumption of 136 hectoliters per 100,000 people after legalization. In this context, the authors speak of a âsubstitution effectâ, in which consumers choose cannabis instead of beer as their intoxicant of choice.
Mixing with alcohol is not advisable Both together are considered by âconnoisseursâ to be not very digestible. Even Truss Beverages advises against consuming its THC drinks mixed with alcohol on its website, citing recommendations from the Canadian Health Authority. Again and again, the product description in connection with the dosage is about ensuring a âcontrolled and predictable consumption experienceâ.
Clear warnings label drinks containing THC in Canada. Clear warnings label drinks containing THC in Canada. (Photo: Truss Beverages) A look at the 2022/23 financial year shows how strong cannabis legalization can have on the alcohol industry. Accordingly, Canada received more excise tax revenue from cannabis ($660 million) than from wine ($205 million) and beer ($450 million) combined.
It is still completely unclear whether the industry will have to adapt to similar shifts in this country. The German Brewers Association is rather relaxed: It is still far too early to speculate about possible effects, emphasizes DBB boss Eichele. âThere are studies from abroad where markets have been examined in more detail. However, these studies cannot be transferred one-to-one to Germany; the starting points are far too different. We donât expect any visible effects in this country.â
Where smoking is allowed, you can also smoke weed The question of how to deal with marijuana users in the catering industry is already very current; It is being hotly debated all over the country. While the use of the drug indoors is usually prohibited, there is scope for freedom in outdoor areas and, for example, beer gardens.
The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) says that initial feedback from the industry shows a tendency not to allow the consumption of marijuana. The legal situation varies from federal state to federal state, as Dehoga managing director and legal expert JĂźrgen Benad knows: âWhere smoking is still permitted according to the legal regulations of the federal states, cannabis consumption is also generally permitted.â
But it is also clear: âEvery restaurateur is allowed to prohibit guests from consuming cannabis â even in smoking bars â based on their house rules,â says Benad. This also applies to outdoor catering. Cannabis may not be consumed âin the immediate presenceâ of minors. What this specifically means in the catering industry will not be easy to define in individual cases.
Zero tolerance or laissez-faire? While the beer gardens in Munich, for example, will remain consumption-free until further notice due to Bavaria's zero-tolerance policy, people in Berlin are more open-minded. âSince the cannabis law was approved, the consumption of cannabis in the catering industry has been considered synonymous with the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products,â says Tony Ettelt-Brundiers, managing director of âZennerâ, a cultural and gastronomic ensemble consisting of a vineyard, beer garden and organic ice cream parlor , concert hall, club space and event location in the capital.
âWe are not questioning this law,â said Ettelt-Brundiers. âRegardless of what our guests smoke in the Zennerâs outdoor areas, we ask everyone to be considerate, especially if other guests could feel disturbed by someone elseâs smoke, regardless of its origin.â This principle of mutuality Consideration has worked surprisingly well in Zenner for more than 200 years, which the aforementioned amendment to the law should not change, according to the managing director.
How much cannabis will ultimately change the beverage industry and social life surrounding beverages is still entirely unknown.
https://getraenke-news.de/cannabis-legalisierung-bald-gras-statt-hopfen/
NOTE: Some of the getraenke-news research goes back a few years and ownership of TRUSS is now 100% owned and operated by Tilray Brands that is also a multi year, In Country producer of German Medical Cannabis.
submitted by DaveHervey to TLRY [link] [comments]
The approval there quickly led to the introduction of a wealth of new mixed drinks. The beverage manufacturer Truss Beverages from the province of Ontario brought non-alcoholic drinks enriched with THC and CBD in a wide variety of, mostly fruity, flavors and different, precisely defined potencies onto the market under the brand names XMG, Little Victory, Mollo and Bedfellows. Truss is a joint venture between brewing company Molson Coors and cannabis company Hexo.
THC drinks soon in Germany too? It's no wonder that, given the opportunities offered by a completely new category, companies in this country are already positioning themselves to be among the pioneers if cannabis extracts are also approved as beverage additives here. For example, the Hamburg company âGood Drinksâ is currently discussing whether THC in its drinks could be a useful brand addition, as co-owner Frank MaĂen reports.
Good Drinks is currently on the market with vodka and energy drinks, for example. Well-known Hamburg restaurateurs such as Axel Strehlitz and John Schierhorn, both of whom have deep roots in the local club scene, are involved in the start-up. MaĂen sees THC as a logical progression for a brand that has partying in its DNA, but âthe idea of ââintroducing a THC variant raises a lot of questions, especially in terms of brand image and acceptance,â said MaĂen.
Discussions are currently underway internally about how to handle this potential expansion without damaging the essence of the brand, which is strongly linked to the club culture. There are intensive discussions with the licensors of the Hamburg Club Combine, which launched the brand together with Good Drinks to support the local club scene as a social business ( we reported ).
Some THC drinks already on the market in Canada Some THC drinks already on the market in Canada (Product photos: Truss Beverages) Breweries would certainly also be potential manufacturers. But the German Brewers Association considers it unlikely that many breweries could jump on the cannabis bandwagon. âGermany is and remains the country of beer drinkers. With 1,500 breweries and almost 8,000 brands, we have a beer variety that is unique in the world,â says Managing Director Holger Eichele. Beer is still the national drink, although consumption has been declining for years, as in many other European countries.
âEdiblesâ are still banned under EU law Apart from that, an introduction would not yet be legally possible, because drinks with THC or CBD fall under âediblesâ in the EU; This refers to foods and drinks that contain cannabis. They are therefore affected by the Novel Food Regulation, explains the managing director of the Bavarian Cannabis Association, Wenzel Cerveny. This means that they can only be placed on the market once they have been tested as safe by the EU.
âThis is something that a small manufacturer cannot do - this test would have to be initiated by a large company,â says Cerveny. He himself is currently working with the small brewery âUnertlâ from Haag in Upper Bavaria on an alcohol-free beer with hemp extract. However, without THC or CBD, but with hemp as a special taste.
To provide a more detailed explanation, the EU states that there has been no evidence of any significant consumption of the individual substance CBD (cannabidiol) before May 15, 1997. It is therefore assessed as novel in the European Commission's Novel Food Catalog under the entry âCannabinoidsâ and therefore requires its own approval. As long as this does not exist, such products are not marketable. The same applies to products containing THC.
Alcohol consumption in Canada fell after legalization It's not just new products that could affect the German beverage industry if they are allowed in the future. Using Canada as an example, it is clear to see that cannabis consumption has a direct influence on consumers' drinking behavior. A joint study by the University of Manitoba, Memorial University and the University of Toronto has shown that Canadians are drinking significantly less alcohol since they were legally allowed to consume cannabis.
For example, the study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence observed an average monthly decline in beer consumption of 136 hectoliters per 100,000 people after legalization. In this context, the authors speak of a âsubstitution effectâ, in which consumers choose cannabis instead of beer as their intoxicant of choice.
Mixing with alcohol is not advisable Both together are considered by âconnoisseursâ to be not very digestible. Even Truss Beverages advises against consuming its THC drinks mixed with alcohol on its website, citing recommendations from the Canadian Health Authority. Again and again, the product description in connection with the dosage is about ensuring a âcontrolled and predictable consumption experienceâ.
Clear warnings label drinks containing THC in Canada. Clear warnings label drinks containing THC in Canada. (Photo: Truss Beverages) A look at the 2022/23 financial year shows how strong cannabis legalization can have on the alcohol industry. Accordingly, Canada received more excise tax revenue from cannabis ($660 million) than from wine ($205 million) and beer ($450 million) combined.
It is still completely unclear whether the industry will have to adapt to similar shifts in this country. The German Brewers Association is rather relaxed: It is still far too early to speculate about possible effects, emphasizes DBB boss Eichele. âThere are studies from abroad where markets have been examined in more detail. However, these studies cannot be transferred one-to-one to Germany; the starting points are far too different. We donât expect any visible effects in this country.â
Where smoking is allowed, you can also smoke weed The question of how to deal with marijuana users in the catering industry is already very current; It is being hotly debated all over the country. While the use of the drug indoors is usually prohibited, there is scope for freedom in outdoor areas and, for example, beer gardens.
The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) says that initial feedback from the industry shows a tendency not to allow the consumption of marijuana. The legal situation varies from federal state to federal state, as Dehoga managing director and legal expert JĂźrgen Benad knows: âWhere smoking is still permitted according to the legal regulations of the federal states, cannabis consumption is also generally permitted.â
But it is also clear: âEvery restaurateur is allowed to prohibit guests from consuming cannabis â even in smoking bars â based on their house rules,â says Benad. This also applies to outdoor catering. Cannabis may not be consumed âin the immediate presenceâ of minors. What this specifically means in the catering industry will not be easy to define in individual cases.
Zero tolerance or laissez-faire? While the beer gardens in Munich, for example, will remain consumption-free until further notice due to Bavaria's zero-tolerance policy, people in Berlin are more open-minded. âSince the cannabis law was approved, the consumption of cannabis in the catering industry has been considered synonymous with the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products,â says Tony Ettelt-Brundiers, managing director of âZennerâ, a cultural and gastronomic ensemble consisting of a vineyard, beer garden and organic ice cream parlor , concert hall, club space and event location in the capital.
âWe are not questioning this law,â said Ettelt-Brundiers. âRegardless of what our guests smoke in the Zennerâs outdoor areas, we ask everyone to be considerate, especially if other guests could feel disturbed by someone elseâs smoke, regardless of its origin.â This principle of mutuality Consideration has worked surprisingly well in Zenner for more than 200 years, which the aforementioned amendment to the law should not change, according to the managing director.
How much cannabis will ultimately change the beverage industry and social life surrounding beverages is still entirely unknown.
https://getraenke-news.de/cannabis-legalisierung-bald-gras-statt-hopfen/
NOTE: Some of the getraenke-news research goes back a few years and ownership of TRUSS is now 100% owned and operated by Tilray Brands that is also a multi year, In Country producer of German Medical Cannabis.
2024.05.14 17:32 alphariusomega123 I'm so sick of people's stupid nerfs to Superman that's why I'm making this post (long post).
 | Were Kryptonians only planet busters in the Post Crisis? submitted by alphariusomega123 to PowerScaling [link] [comments] Short answer absolutely not, long answer: let's explain this false belief. This post arises because, among other things, in several blogs and YouTube channels and tik tokThis is a very common myth. It is often mistakenly believed that Superman is a hero who is only limited to protecting the Earth and who moves on planetary scales, but the truth is that in the more than 80 years of the character's history, he has traveled to all kinds of places both within their own universe as well as outside it, and even outside their multiverse. The same can be applied to his cousin Kara. Without going any further, since the beginning of the 90s, DC's own writers have declared that Superman's adventures move on a cosmic scale, putting at risk not only the fate of the world, but often that of the galaxy or even the universe. So the idea of Superman as someone limited to saving Metropolis and little else is wrong., it is stated that in DC's post-crisis continuity, Superman and the rest of the Kryptonians who escape from him only possess a destructive power that reaches planetary (or multi planetary) at its maximum. which is absolutely false and we'll see because, although this publication will be focused for the moment on the post-crisis, I will also make one for the new 52 that is also nerfed horribly. Without further ado let's get started. 1) "SUPERMAN TENDS TO MOVE AT PLANETARY SCALES": This is a very common myth. It is often mistakenly believed that Superman is a hero who is only limited to protecting the Earth and who moves on planetary scales, but the truth is that in the more than 80 years of the character's history, he has traveled to all kinds of places both within their own universe as well as outside it, and even outside their multiverse. The same can be applied to his cousin Kara. Without going any further, since the beginning of the 90s, DC's own writers have declared that Superman's adventures move on a cosmic scale, putting at risk not only the fate of the world, but often that of the galaxy or even the universe. So the idea of ââSuperman as someone limited to saving Metropolis and little else is wrong. https://imgur.com/a/8t9bwdj 2) "KRYPTONIANS HAVE A DIFFICULT DESTROYING PLANETS": If there is one thing that has been consistent throughout the Post Crisis period, it is how Kryptonians like Superman or Supergirl can achieve planet-level feats quite casually. Let's review some examples:
-According to Batman at the end of the Emperor Joker arc, Superman could juggle planets if he wanted to. https://imgur.com/a/NDLoiZC
-Superman dragged the weight of the Earth, the Moon and a spaceship and it has also been said that he could move the Earth if he wanted to. https://imgur.com/a/YxIUAa7 https://imgur.com/a/cBdlBp0
...among other examples. So it is illogical to think that his limit is there. 3) "SUPERMAN NEEDED HELP TO MOVE THE EARTH AND THE MOON": Not really. This happened on three occasions, and all three have a context behind them:
https://imgur.com/a/0XQsICz https://imgur.com/a/5eEnSWH
https://imgur.com/a/77Mirm9 https://imgur.com/a/mgGFkJe https://imgur.com/a/3UKvISM
https://imgur.com/a/cEY374Q https://imgur.com/a/R8zvdVo As we can see, the evidence normally used to claim that Superman needs help moving celestial bodies is not such, and even one of them, far from being a demerit, is in fact a remarkable feat against someone very powerful. 4) "BRAINIAC CLAIMED AT THE END OF OWAW THAT SUPERMAN DID NOT HAVE THE POWER TO MOVE A PLANET": This is heavily taken out of context. What Brainiac-13 claimed was that Superman did not have the power to move HIS planet away from him, referring to the War World, which Brainiac had taken control of. This distinction is not mere semantics, since Brainiac-13 has just absorbed the universal energies of Imperiex with which he wanted to cause a new Big Bang that would destroy the current universe and replace it with another. These energies were going to allow Brainiac-13 to remodel the entire universe to his whim. https://imgur.com/a/SBbc4lI https://imgur.com/a/CgW145M https://imgur.com/a/S6QhtCF That Superman needed to overload himself with solar energy to face such an enemy is not strange if we take this into account. So managing to move the War World against Brainiac's will is a very high-level feat for Superman, not a demerit. Let's remember that Superman could not destroy the War World, because if he did this he would automatically activate Imperiex's Big Bang and destroy the universe. https://imgur.com/a/uplJ0rD https://imgur.com/a/uplJ0rD 5) "SUPERMAN WAS KNOWN BY A PLANETARY ATTACK AND A MOON EXPLOSION": Once again we find two extremely decontextualized situations. Let's analyze them:
And Superman is vulnerable to magic, as we all know and as mentioned in the same instance, which makes this attack that much more devastating. But also in the next instance we discover that Superman and Batman allowed themselves to be captured to take them to Luthor, making Hawkman and Captain Marvel believe that they had defeated them. Which disproves that Superman was actually knocked out by Horus' claw. https://imgur.com/a/hIs6WU6 https://imgur.com/a/E4cNnap
https://imgur.com/a/fw4IedY I don't know Superman's weight, but according to the DC wiki he weighs 107 kg (they don't cite sources). Accelerating at 0.99 c, that's 5.86x1019 Joules. The figure Batman gives for the moon's mass is incorrect, but assuming he's right, that would be 1.8x1026 Joules. Multiplying both energies, the result is an explosion of 1.06x1046 Joules or solar system. But if we use the real mass of the moon, it generated 1.43x1032 Joules, which multiplied by Superman's energy gives a result of 8.3x1051 Joules, well into the solar system+. https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superman_(Clark_Kent) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=relativistic+kinetic+energy&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergyRelativistic%22%2C+%22m%22%7D+-%3E%22107+kg%22&assumption=%7B%22FS%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%7B%22KineticEnergyRelativistic%22%2C+%22K%22%7D%7D&assumption=%7B%22C%22%2C+%22relativistic+kinetic+energy%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%22Formula%22%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergyRelativistic%22%2C+%22v%22%7D+-%3E%220.99+c%22&lang=es https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=kinetic+energy&assumption=%7B%22C%22%2C+%22kinetic+energy%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%22Formula%22%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22m%22%7D+-%3E%2281000000000+t%22&assumption=%7B%22FS%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%7B%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22K%22%7D%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22v%22%7D+-%3E%227614000+km%2Fh+%22&lang=es https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=kinetic+energy&assumption=%7B%22C%22%2C+%22kinetic+energy%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%22Formula%22%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22m%22%7D+-%3E%226.4%C3%9710%5E19+kg%22&assumption=%7B%22FS%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%7B%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22K%22%7D%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22v%22%7D+-%3E%227614000+km%2Fh%22&lang=es So this is indeed another feat that far exceeds the planet level. It is also interesting to mention that the substance of the creator of said moon (Shadow Thief) is an apparently infinite dimension and that with that same power, Starbreaker was able to fight and defeat Dharma, who kept two universes together. https://imgur.com/a/uelOSzz https://imgur.com/a/lkuv9cX 6) FREQUENT REFUTATIONS TO SUPERIOR EXPLOITS: Faced with the constant exposure of feats above the planet level (like the ones here), a series of preeminent refutations usually arise to try to disprove them, often dishonestly distorting the context of the original scene to give it a completely different meaning. These are the most common: 6.1) "The Nebula Man is not a living universe, because his size is not that of one" A: Just because Neh-Buh-Loh is human-sized on the outside does not negate that it is a universe on the inside. In the same scan already shown from Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein, it is said that he is a sentient and mobile mass of malleable super-matter, indicating that his universe is scalable to his size; and in fact, in JLA: Classified (same story in which he confronts Superman), we are also shown its nature as a sentient universe and the Justice League traveling inside it (from which they come and go through boom tubes). ). https://imgur.com/a/qFpZ23a https://imgur.com/a/GYDphjd https://imgur.com/a/wXWHUcS In fact, in the aforementioned Seven Soldiers, it is revealed to us that if it were not for the Ultramarine Corps, Neh-Buh-Loh would have already grown to replace the current universe. This is therefore the same case as the Galactic Golem, which on the outside barely measured several meters, but on the inside it was a vast dimension with many planets and stars. https://imgur.com/a/Qflwyo5 https://imgur.com/a/7wB5Zys https://imgur.com/a/CJSPuN0 6.2) "Absorbing energy to vaporize half a galaxy does not count as resistance, it is a hax" A: It's not just about the act of absorbing energy. In the same comic it is mentioned how said energy was anti-sunlight, that is, harmful to Superman. In fact, we are clearly shown Superman being damaged by said energy and Batman and Martian Manhunter initially believed that Superman had died trying to absorb it. So it's clearly scalable to the physical attributes of it. https://imgur.com/a/jTizZ8h https://imgur.com/a/1XBq9Ce https://imgur.com/a/Y9gY9SE 6.3) "Superman did not move the Mageddon, he was just trying to free himself from the chains that held him while it tortured him" A: Martian Manhunter himself explicitly mentions that Superman was turning the wheels of Mageddon. This is later confirmed, where Martian explains how Superman is now one of the components of the machine and is using his strength. On the other hand, if Superman was just being held against his will, there would be little point in him breaking the chains so easily when Batman managed to snap him out of the trance the Mageddon kept him in. https://imgur.com/a/6P1uXbz https://imgur.com/a/2IRf9Ps https://imgur.com/a/jTizZ8h 6.4) "There is no mental limiter. Superman has been defeated on previous occasions and even died against Doomsday" A: The limiter is subconscious, not conscious. Superman can't choose when he stops using it. At least not until he completed his training with Mongul. It is important to clarify that it is mentioned that his fight against Doomsday was the only time where he was able to free himself from the limiter. https://imgur.com/a/GeFw1SQ https://imgur.com/a/bFYi4tb 6.5) "The universal black hole was a dream, Superman wakes up in the following pages" A: This is half true. Sure enough, Superman wakes up from the "sleep" in the following pages. However, just before that, Death clarifies the event as something real and explains that it took place within a plane where mind and matter intersect to shape dreams and turn them into reality. Let us also remember that in DC, dreams give birth to new universes, so it matters little even if we take what happened as a literal dream. https://imgur.com/a/1l9YagO https://imgur.com/a/fhE2MMw 6.6) "Superman did not receive the Suneater explosion, in fact, he had to escape from it" A: This, on the other hand, is a complete lie. Superman received the explosion, as we can see in the panel; What he had to escape from was a cloud of red solar radiation born as a result, which Jonathan mentions would have incinerated him (not killed him) if it had reached him; Well, as we all know, red sunlight weakens Superman and deprives him of his powers. In fact, Superman had previously received several bursts of red solar radiation, making this feat even more impressive. https://imgur.com/a/Ff1c327 https://imgur.com/a/Ff1c327 https://imgur.com/a/M72EsPn 6.7) "The solar system that Superman moved was barely the size of buildings while he moved it" A: The solar system had not yet reached the size it would have according to the scale of our universe, but that does not mean that its mass was proportional to its size. The system was adjusting to the new scale from its microscopic size, since it was originally from a compressed universe. Therefore, its mass was equal to that of a real one, evidenced by the mention that very soon the gravity of its star was going to destroy Metropolis. If he didn't have it, he wouldn't be able to generate such a gravitational field, being so small. https://imgur.com/a/v35zZ8G https://imgur.com/a/v35zZ8G 6.8) "In the same story, it is mentioned that his best hits barely destroy planets" A: And where exactly is it mentioned that those were his best shots? đ¤ Because in fact, it is implied that these were casual. https://imgur.com/a/BQ4crIz 6.9) "The Void Hound did not destroy all those star systems at once. Furthermore, it is only mentioned that those systems died" A: Nowhere in the story is such a thing stated or even hinted at. In fact, the mention that the Void Hound was only tested once suggests that it destroyed all of those systems with a single attack. Regarding the other, the mention is accompanied with images of celestial bodies being destroyed, which makes it extremely unlikely that by "killing them" they were not referring to the fact that they were destroyed. https://imgur.com/a/emjfscA https://imgur.com/a/emjfscA 6.10) "Superman only covered the Mnemon fissure before it broke free, and he also had to get help from John Stewart because it was too much for him" A: Under the pretext that covering the fissure was not a feat of strength, it makes no sense to argue that he needed John Stewart's help to keep it closed. In any case, Superman himself mentions that he was enduring "unimaginable" pressure to keep his hands closed. Regarding it being "too much for him", this was due to the visions that the Mnemon sent to Superman, with the aim of driving him crazy and making him release his grip on him. https://imgur.com/a/Wk4YuSz https://imgur.com/a/GA04Vi4 As for John Stewart's "help," it simply consisted of acting as a backup for Superman (in case his hands opened) and creating the construct of a magnet to generate an electromagnetic field strong enough to reduce the pressure of the Mnemon enough that Superman could safely release it and throw it into a wormhole. https://imgur.com/a/ZwFuBAz https://imgur.com/a/0nGPfTo 6.11) "Resisting the explosion of the La Fuente wall was an outlier, since it is a structure superior to the multiverse" A: Superman only had to resist a tiny portion of the wall's destruction. Specifically, the one he had right in front of him. He couldn't do it all either, even if he wanted to. Since the Source Wall is a pan-dimensional structure that surrounds all of existence, the only way Superman could take all the destruction from it would be by being omnipresent throughout the multiverse. This does not mean that it is a great feat, since a mere breach is enough to destroy a universe. https://imgur.com/a/vsBBg06 6.12) "That Orion has a power comparable to the Big Bang is hyperbole" A: We know that it is not hyperbole because emanations of Orion have feats of a similar level, such as containing an explosion that was going to destroy the universe at a quantum level, fighting against a god that was going to destroy the universe and defeating him (along with Superman, btw), killing an emanation of Darkseid that became one with the universe, contributing the energy to destroy the universe from the anti-life equation, etc. https://imgur.com/a/ahiiHL2 https://imgur.com/a/u0CpFm9 https://imgur.com/a/hATcdrI https://imgur.com/a/CprsHWy https://imgur.com/a/3R8tsvj https://imgur.com/a/lNiMVkI CONCLUSIONS: As we can see based on all this, it makes no sense to believe that Kryptonians who have been absorbing sunlight from a yellow sun are only planetary (or multi-planetary) in attack power, at least as far as Superman and Supergirl are concerned. it means. The opposite has been proven in countless instances, and the evidence in all of them is that destroying planets is only a small fraction of these characters' true destructive potential. Therefore, to affirm that this is its limit or that the many feats that exceed this level are outliers is to speak without any type of foundation. |
2024.05.14 17:01 s-atch An Analysis on the Dunmer Experience in Windhelm
Background
The Dunmer population of Windhelm is composed primarily of refugees (or born of refugees) who escaped Vvardenfelâs disastrous living conditions after the eruption of the Red Mountain in 4E 5, known as the Red Year. The migration of most of these refugees likely took place in the years following the disaster. In the roughly 200 years since, theyâve built a sizable community within Windhelmâs ghetto, formerly known as the Snow Quarter. The squalor they live in during the present time (4E 201) is indicative of their long struggle to integrate with the Nord majority. Now, why has there been such a struggle?
According to a variety of non-Dunmer NPC dialogue, the common sentiment is that the Dunmer keep to themselves, they do not try to integrate, they do not work hard, and they do not get involved with the war effort. The in-game book Scourge of the Gray Quarter by Frilgeth Horse-Breaker makes many complaints on the Dunmerâs existence in Windhelm, reiterating such sentiments and claiming they do not contribute to the city. That the book makes reference to Ulfric as jarl, it can be assumed that these are at the very least the sentiments of the present time.
The Struggle
The book notably compares the Dunmer of Windhelm to the Dunmer of Riften, claiming the Dunmer of Riften are able to integrate because they are more hard working and engage in honest labor. In this explanation the writer (quite obviously) shows their bias in they neglect the crucial detail of describing the cities themselves. The people of Riften do not have the same level of xenophobia that those in Windhelm do. They do not have a jarl whose actions encourage the separation of multiple âoutsiderâ groups and Nords. The people of Riften engage with the Dunmer like they would anyone else, contrasted with Windhelm where a Dunmer is more often than not labeled as an âoutsiderâ.
The treatment of Dunmer refugees in Riften also differ in that they were not relegated to a ghetto. This is not to say that Windhelm explicitly forbids Dunmer from buying homes outside of the Gray Quarter (although dialogue of Aval Atheron might suggest so), but rather they are not afforded social mobility as a whole. According to Malthyr Elenil âs dialogue, the Quarter âwasn't always so badâ. Judging by the architecture relative to the rest of the city, Iâd argue that this Quarter was a slum prior to the Dunmer arrival. In essence, it was a slum before they got there and it remains a slum today (if not worse), but is it the fault of the Dunmer? According to the dialogue of Scouts-Many-Marshes, an Argonian living on the Windhelm docks, it is implied that an Argonian working in Windhelm makes 8 septims per day plus lodging, presumably a tenth the wage of a âproper Nord workerâ. Whether or not this âtenthâ is an exaggeration or not, Scouts refers to this level of pay as akin to slave labor. Comparing the squalor of the Argonians and the Dunmer, and taking into account the kind of jobs available to them in this city, it can be fairly assumed that the Dunmer do not make much more money than the Argonians when working for the Windhelm Nords. Contrasted again with Riften, where no such race based pay gap seems to exist. How can the Dunmer be expected then, to adequately maintain their neighborhoods on a pay that is a mere fraction of a Nords?
Trying to make a comparison of âwork ethicâ between the Dunmer of Riften and Windhelm is inherently unfair when you ignore the near diametric social conditions of the two cities. This is also indicative of the Windhelm Nordâs refusal to acknowledge the roots of Dunmer issues. The old jarls of Windhelm may have accepted the refugees, but the Nord citizens have clearly endeavored to keep them at an armâs length, leading to the segregation of the Windhelm Dunmer we see today.
The âGood Onesâ and the Model Minority
Many might look upon Beylyn Hlaalu as proof that any Dunmer can work their way out of poverty. He is the only Dunmer land owner in Windhelm, a proud man who credits his success to his hard work and resents the poorer Dunmer for complaining. But what many fail to consider is that he is a descendent of House Hlaalu, a former Great House of Morrowind. Although House Hlaalu at this point has lost all major political power, theyâre still a family of considerable wealth and influence in Raven Rock, albeit under a fake name. I find it rather likely then, in a culture who so values clanship, that Beylyn Hlaalu has had monetary support from his wealthy relatives in order to at the very least kickstart his farm. And although there are no explicit pieces of lore that support this, one must wonder if it is truly coincidence that the shining example of Dunmer success is one born from a not too distantly historically powerful family.
The successes of the Altmer residents in Windhelm are also cited as proof of Dunmer failings. They are Nurelion, Niranye, Ulundil, and his wife Arivanya. Niranye is presumably the newest Altmer migrant to the city, saying she's only just arrived from the Summerset Isles. She is the only one of the Altmer to make references to mistreatment by Nords, claiming that it was difficult at first but she'd eventually proved her usefulness. Clearly she has been able to integrate with Nord society, and once again it is credited as her own hard work. But is that completely true? There are three factors for her ease of integration that are being ignored here: Unlike the Dunmer, the Altmer arrived as business minded merchants and not as refugees, There were already well established and respected Altmer living in the city prior to her arrival, and her business is unfairly propped up by her dealings with crime guilds. Her business directly competes with that of Ravyn Sadri, a Dunmer general goods merchant. By acquiring her goods through her criminal connections and selling at absurdly low prices, she is able to quite easily undercut Ravynâs business, who operates honestly.
Referencing Scourge of the Gray Quarter again, the writing finishes by claiming that Windhelm Argonians should be the model for Dunmer behavior and acceptance. They write that the Argonian âhas learned how to best contribute to their new homeâŚtoiling with utmost efficiency and bright smilesâ. Once again this text omits crucial details. The Argonians are forbidden, by decree of Ulfric Stormcloak, from entering the city. And make no mistake, this segregation is not because of the racial tensions between Dunmer and Argonian. According to dialogue from Brunwulf Free-Winter it was primarily due to Ulfricâs distrust of foreigners and Nord stubbornness. They are only permitted to reside on the docks and, as stated before, make a mere fraction of the pay of a Nord worker because of the explicit reason of not being a Nord. This is the proposed model for acceptance? Exploitation, racial hierarchy, and wage slavery? Who reads Scourge of the Gray Quarter, looks at the Argonians, and genuinely thinks theyâve successfully integrated?
When holding these so-called examples of Dunmer failures to light, itâs clear to see that they hold little water. The successes of the âgood onesâ are not wholly the result of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, but likely by benefitting from pre existing privileges that gave them an advantage over the Dunmer as a whole. And the proposed solution for those without such privileges? Becoming servile and catering to the Nords at the Dunmerâs own expense. In the face of mistreatment and mistrust by the majority group, an administration that refuses to listen to them, racially biased pay gaps, a competition that cheats them, and wage slavery: how rational is it to say all they need to do is âwork harderâ?
Another Manâs War
A common criticism of the Windhelm Dunmer is that they refuse to join Ulfric Stormcloakâs war effort. Many claim that it is their duty as residents of Windhelm, that they owe a debt to the city for taking them in as refugees 200 years ago. But I ask you this, why should they fight on behalf of a system that harms them? It should first be said that the Stormcloak Rebellionâs primary function is to release Skyrim from the rule of the Empire, so that Skyrimâs people may solely be governed by those who live in Skyrim (Ignoring for a moment that Ulfricâs rebellion was set in motion by the Thalmor to weaken the Empire, according to the Thalmor Dossier). An admirable sentiment, but it has manifested itself as highly xenophobic and oftentimes hostile (most commonly verbally) to those who are not Nords. In the case of the Windhelm Dunmer, it has led to the local Nords being more distrustful than ever before. More dialogue from Brunwulf indicates the escalation of racial tension in the city is primarily the result of Ulfricâs âSkyrim for the Nordsâ rhetoric. This paired with Ulfricâs complete apathy towards the issues faced by non-Nords in his hold communicates a hatred towards them and systematically harms them.
Many players are under the impression that the Dunmer received free housing and live tax free due to what is written in the Decree of Monument."untithed to any thane or hold, and self-governed, with free worship, with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empireâ. Iâd argue the text is referring to taxes rather than housing, and no other in-game source makes reference to the housing situation either. But does that mean it is true that the Dunmer donât pay taxes? One of the outcomes of Revyn Sadriâs quest results in him having to pay âincreased taxesâ to the city of Windhelm, implying that yes, the Dunmer are currently paying taxes. I do not think it is likely that only Revyn or only some Dunmer are paying taxes. It can be fairly assumed then that at some point between 4E 20 (when the monument was placed) and the present time of 4E 201, the Dunmer were made to pay taxes like any other citizen. As for housing, I find it unlikely the Dunmer received the Gray Quarter for free. As stated earlier, it was likely a slum to begin with, meaning it wouldâve been considerably cheap to move in. Perhaps offered to them at a reduced price. It is important to note that the Dunmer being refugees at the beginning does not automatically mean they were penniless upon arrival, likely poor, but it would be unrealistic to assume all of them had nothing at all. Realizing now that the Dunmer of Windhelm are tax paying citizens who are continually ignored and othered by their ruler, it surely must be understandable then why they would refuse to fight on behalf of a system that at this point only takes from them. They owe the Nordic administration no loyalty
Conclusion
With a ruling majority that will more often than not shun, insult, or exploit them, It is no wonder then how the Dunmer of Windhelm as a whole have not been able to integrate, that they âkeep to themselvesâ, that they âdonât contribute to the cityâ. For how can one integrate with those who refuse to ever fully accept them? If you wonder why they do not leave, with what funds could they start anew? If you wonder why they dont help the Nords in their war, why would they fight for a cause that harms them? The system is as the system does, and that system is racism.
Authorâs Note
Idk what I wrote all this for lmao. Ive been playing skyrim for over a decade so I guess I thought it would be interesting to engage with the game in another way that's new to me. It was only recently that I got more interested in actually talking to NPCs, learning more about the game world, not just in it for the cool fights and jiggle physics mods (tho i do love em). There's a good degree of guess work here, which I suppose is to be expected with what few pieces that are available we can put together. But I tried to cite as much from official lore as I can. Was def fun trying to take a more nuanced lens to this fantastical game world.
But what do you think? Do you think my analysis is accurate? I'd love to see your opinions on the topic!
SOURCES
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Year
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Scourge_of_the_Gray_Quarter
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Malthyr_Elenil
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Aval_Atheron
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Scouts-Many-Marshes
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Belyn_Hlaalu#Conversations
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/House_Hlaalu#Fourth_Era
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Vendil_Severin
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Niranye
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Revyn_Sadri
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Brunwulf_Free-Winter
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Thalmor_Dossier:_Ulfric_Stormcloak
https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Decree_of_Monument
submitted by s-atch to skyrim [link] [comments]
The Dunmer population of Windhelm is composed primarily of refugees (or born of refugees) who escaped Vvardenfelâs disastrous living conditions after the eruption of the Red Mountain in 4E 5, known as the Red Year. The migration of most of these refugees likely took place in the years following the disaster. In the roughly 200 years since, theyâve built a sizable community within Windhelmâs ghetto, formerly known as the Snow Quarter. The squalor they live in during the present time (4E 201) is indicative of their long struggle to integrate with the Nord majority. Now, why has there been such a struggle?
According to a variety of non-Dunmer NPC dialogue, the common sentiment is that the Dunmer keep to themselves, they do not try to integrate, they do not work hard, and they do not get involved with the war effort. The in-game book Scourge of the Gray Quarter by Frilgeth Horse-Breaker makes many complaints on the Dunmerâs existence in Windhelm, reiterating such sentiments and claiming they do not contribute to the city. That the book makes reference to Ulfric as jarl, it can be assumed that these are at the very least the sentiments of the present time.
The Struggle
The book notably compares the Dunmer of Windhelm to the Dunmer of Riften, claiming the Dunmer of Riften are able to integrate because they are more hard working and engage in honest labor. In this explanation the writer (quite obviously) shows their bias in they neglect the crucial detail of describing the cities themselves. The people of Riften do not have the same level of xenophobia that those in Windhelm do. They do not have a jarl whose actions encourage the separation of multiple âoutsiderâ groups and Nords. The people of Riften engage with the Dunmer like they would anyone else, contrasted with Windhelm where a Dunmer is more often than not labeled as an âoutsiderâ.
The treatment of Dunmer refugees in Riften also differ in that they were not relegated to a ghetto. This is not to say that Windhelm explicitly forbids Dunmer from buying homes outside of the Gray Quarter (although dialogue of Aval Atheron might suggest so), but rather they are not afforded social mobility as a whole. According to Malthyr Elenil âs dialogue, the Quarter âwasn't always so badâ. Judging by the architecture relative to the rest of the city, Iâd argue that this Quarter was a slum prior to the Dunmer arrival. In essence, it was a slum before they got there and it remains a slum today (if not worse), but is it the fault of the Dunmer? According to the dialogue of Scouts-Many-Marshes, an Argonian living on the Windhelm docks, it is implied that an Argonian working in Windhelm makes 8 septims per day plus lodging, presumably a tenth the wage of a âproper Nord workerâ. Whether or not this âtenthâ is an exaggeration or not, Scouts refers to this level of pay as akin to slave labor. Comparing the squalor of the Argonians and the Dunmer, and taking into account the kind of jobs available to them in this city, it can be fairly assumed that the Dunmer do not make much more money than the Argonians when working for the Windhelm Nords. Contrasted again with Riften, where no such race based pay gap seems to exist. How can the Dunmer be expected then, to adequately maintain their neighborhoods on a pay that is a mere fraction of a Nords?
Trying to make a comparison of âwork ethicâ between the Dunmer of Riften and Windhelm is inherently unfair when you ignore the near diametric social conditions of the two cities. This is also indicative of the Windhelm Nordâs refusal to acknowledge the roots of Dunmer issues. The old jarls of Windhelm may have accepted the refugees, but the Nord citizens have clearly endeavored to keep them at an armâs length, leading to the segregation of the Windhelm Dunmer we see today.
The âGood Onesâ and the Model Minority
Many might look upon Beylyn Hlaalu as proof that any Dunmer can work their way out of poverty. He is the only Dunmer land owner in Windhelm, a proud man who credits his success to his hard work and resents the poorer Dunmer for complaining. But what many fail to consider is that he is a descendent of House Hlaalu, a former Great House of Morrowind. Although House Hlaalu at this point has lost all major political power, theyâre still a family of considerable wealth and influence in Raven Rock, albeit under a fake name. I find it rather likely then, in a culture who so values clanship, that Beylyn Hlaalu has had monetary support from his wealthy relatives in order to at the very least kickstart his farm. And although there are no explicit pieces of lore that support this, one must wonder if it is truly coincidence that the shining example of Dunmer success is one born from a not too distantly historically powerful family.
The successes of the Altmer residents in Windhelm are also cited as proof of Dunmer failings. They are Nurelion, Niranye, Ulundil, and his wife Arivanya. Niranye is presumably the newest Altmer migrant to the city, saying she's only just arrived from the Summerset Isles. She is the only one of the Altmer to make references to mistreatment by Nords, claiming that it was difficult at first but she'd eventually proved her usefulness. Clearly she has been able to integrate with Nord society, and once again it is credited as her own hard work. But is that completely true? There are three factors for her ease of integration that are being ignored here: Unlike the Dunmer, the Altmer arrived as business minded merchants and not as refugees, There were already well established and respected Altmer living in the city prior to her arrival, and her business is unfairly propped up by her dealings with crime guilds. Her business directly competes with that of Ravyn Sadri, a Dunmer general goods merchant. By acquiring her goods through her criminal connections and selling at absurdly low prices, she is able to quite easily undercut Ravynâs business, who operates honestly.
Referencing Scourge of the Gray Quarter again, the writing finishes by claiming that Windhelm Argonians should be the model for Dunmer behavior and acceptance. They write that the Argonian âhas learned how to best contribute to their new homeâŚtoiling with utmost efficiency and bright smilesâ. Once again this text omits crucial details. The Argonians are forbidden, by decree of Ulfric Stormcloak, from entering the city. And make no mistake, this segregation is not because of the racial tensions between Dunmer and Argonian. According to dialogue from Brunwulf Free-Winter it was primarily due to Ulfricâs distrust of foreigners and Nord stubbornness. They are only permitted to reside on the docks and, as stated before, make a mere fraction of the pay of a Nord worker because of the explicit reason of not being a Nord. This is the proposed model for acceptance? Exploitation, racial hierarchy, and wage slavery? Who reads Scourge of the Gray Quarter, looks at the Argonians, and genuinely thinks theyâve successfully integrated?
When holding these so-called examples of Dunmer failures to light, itâs clear to see that they hold little water. The successes of the âgood onesâ are not wholly the result of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, but likely by benefitting from pre existing privileges that gave them an advantage over the Dunmer as a whole. And the proposed solution for those without such privileges? Becoming servile and catering to the Nords at the Dunmerâs own expense. In the face of mistreatment and mistrust by the majority group, an administration that refuses to listen to them, racially biased pay gaps, a competition that cheats them, and wage slavery: how rational is it to say all they need to do is âwork harderâ?
Another Manâs War
A common criticism of the Windhelm Dunmer is that they refuse to join Ulfric Stormcloakâs war effort. Many claim that it is their duty as residents of Windhelm, that they owe a debt to the city for taking them in as refugees 200 years ago. But I ask you this, why should they fight on behalf of a system that harms them? It should first be said that the Stormcloak Rebellionâs primary function is to release Skyrim from the rule of the Empire, so that Skyrimâs people may solely be governed by those who live in Skyrim (Ignoring for a moment that Ulfricâs rebellion was set in motion by the Thalmor to weaken the Empire, according to the Thalmor Dossier). An admirable sentiment, but it has manifested itself as highly xenophobic and oftentimes hostile (most commonly verbally) to those who are not Nords. In the case of the Windhelm Dunmer, it has led to the local Nords being more distrustful than ever before. More dialogue from Brunwulf indicates the escalation of racial tension in the city is primarily the result of Ulfricâs âSkyrim for the Nordsâ rhetoric. This paired with Ulfricâs complete apathy towards the issues faced by non-Nords in his hold communicates a hatred towards them and systematically harms them.
Many players are under the impression that the Dunmer received free housing and live tax free due to what is written in the Decree of Monument."untithed to any thane or hold, and self-governed, with free worship, with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empireâ. Iâd argue the text is referring to taxes rather than housing, and no other in-game source makes reference to the housing situation either. But does that mean it is true that the Dunmer donât pay taxes? One of the outcomes of Revyn Sadriâs quest results in him having to pay âincreased taxesâ to the city of Windhelm, implying that yes, the Dunmer are currently paying taxes. I do not think it is likely that only Revyn or only some Dunmer are paying taxes. It can be fairly assumed then that at some point between 4E 20 (when the monument was placed) and the present time of 4E 201, the Dunmer were made to pay taxes like any other citizen. As for housing, I find it unlikely the Dunmer received the Gray Quarter for free. As stated earlier, it was likely a slum to begin with, meaning it wouldâve been considerably cheap to move in. Perhaps offered to them at a reduced price. It is important to note that the Dunmer being refugees at the beginning does not automatically mean they were penniless upon arrival, likely poor, but it would be unrealistic to assume all of them had nothing at all. Realizing now that the Dunmer of Windhelm are tax paying citizens who are continually ignored and othered by their ruler, it surely must be understandable then why they would refuse to fight on behalf of a system that at this point only takes from them. They owe the Nordic administration no loyalty
Conclusion
With a ruling majority that will more often than not shun, insult, or exploit them, It is no wonder then how the Dunmer of Windhelm as a whole have not been able to integrate, that they âkeep to themselvesâ, that they âdonât contribute to the cityâ. For how can one integrate with those who refuse to ever fully accept them? If you wonder why they do not leave, with what funds could they start anew? If you wonder why they dont help the Nords in their war, why would they fight for a cause that harms them? The system is as the system does, and that system is racism.
Authorâs Note
Idk what I wrote all this for lmao. Ive been playing skyrim for over a decade so I guess I thought it would be interesting to engage with the game in another way that's new to me. It was only recently that I got more interested in actually talking to NPCs, learning more about the game world, not just in it for the cool fights and jiggle physics mods (tho i do love em). There's a good degree of guess work here, which I suppose is to be expected with what few pieces that are available we can put together. But I tried to cite as much from official lore as I can. Was def fun trying to take a more nuanced lens to this fantastical game world.
But what do you think? Do you think my analysis is accurate? I'd love to see your opinions on the topic!
SOURCES
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Year
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Scourge_of_the_Gray_Quarter
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Malthyr_Elenil
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Aval_Atheron
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Scouts-Many-Marshes
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Belyn_Hlaalu#Conversations
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/House_Hlaalu#Fourth_Era
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Vendil_Severin
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Niranye
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Revyn_Sadri
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Brunwulf_Free-Winter
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Thalmor_Dossier:_Ulfric_Stormcloak
https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Decree_of_Monument
2024.05.14 16:26 muss_es_sein_ Aurelia Intimates is a SCAM
They reach out from fake bot accounts on instagram offering to send completely free clothing in exchange for photos. In the best case scenarios they then trick you with $25 shipping for your âfreeâ bikini aka more than the swimsuit is actually worth. In my case, they instead charged $100 to my card by âmistakeâ. They now refuse to refund me, citing âbank feesâ. I called my credit card company to dispute and they said theyâve had many calls and complaints. Aurelia takes down any comments about the scam so Iâm posting here. I was not sent any clothing, just to be clear.
They prey on girls who are trying to save money or become influencers (I wasnât - they reached out me) and then hope weâre too embarrassed to talk about it. Another friend of mine is out âŹ300 which is more than half of the cost of her rent per month. Do not take the chance with them, theyâre not worth it.
P.S. I just spoke with one girl who did receive a bikini from them (for $25 after 6 weeks) and she said it was worse quality than $3 ones from Ali Express to the point she had to toss it. Their entire business model is to scam girls across ig via a fake affiliate/partner program. So gross đ¤Ž. Their ig is @aureliaintimates.official if you want to try to warn people. They took my comment down immediately đ
submitted by muss_es_sein_ to Scams [link] [comments]
They prey on girls who are trying to save money or become influencers (I wasnât - they reached out me) and then hope weâre too embarrassed to talk about it. Another friend of mine is out âŹ300 which is more than half of the cost of her rent per month. Do not take the chance with them, theyâre not worth it.
P.S. I just spoke with one girl who did receive a bikini from them (for $25 after 6 weeks) and she said it was worse quality than $3 ones from Ali Express to the point she had to toss it. Their entire business model is to scam girls across ig via a fake affiliate/partner program. So gross đ¤Ž. Their ig is @aureliaintimates.official if you want to try to warn people. They took my comment down immediately đ
2024.05.14 16:21 jmorgan87 Chat-GPT 4o, Speaking, & Computer Interface
With the release of OpenAI's latest GPT model for both paid and free users, I've found myself curious about the supposed tech revolution it is arguably ushering in. Articles abound claiming that we're on the cusp of a future where we simply speak to machines/computers in order to interface with them. This would supposedly be more natural and effective than traditional modes of interaction, though I highly doubt that sort of blanket declaration.
My question is, what sort of unintended effects might such a shift to verbal interface, and most importantly to verbal responses, when interacting with machines?
Personally, as an academic, I've only been able to trust (mostly) the tool Perplexity released because it provides sources for the info for verification and is focussed for now on being an AI charged search engine first and foremost. With something like Chat-GPT I just don't get how so many people can trust it's output given the known issues of hallucinations and potential to regurgitate false claims and info, all with no sources provided! I mean, if we instead imagine a person who is known to be brilliant and knowledgeable, but they are entirely self taught with zero formal training or noteworthy achievements (proof of expertise), then would we take what they say at face value? Would that sort of background lend them the necessary credibility to be an authority on a subject? I'm all for non-formal and self-provided educational growth, but if one intends on welding authority on a subject that will cause others to defer to them and still refuses to cite their info, then it would be quite risky and arguably foolish to trust said person outright.
Beyond that, the issue of aesthetic experience is also intriguing. How would a shift to verbal and auditory interface affect our relationship to tech on that metric? I prefer to type, personally, and can only imagine how loud and chaotic an urban area might become if everyone were to use voice as their primary means of human/machine interaction. I feel like there's some Derrida that would apply here. Perhaps the notions of differĂĄnce and arche-writing? I could also see Heideggerian withdrawal being relevant here, as well, and even some Marx a la the 1884 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts.
As someone trained mostly in Continental Philosophy, I'd be especially interested in anyone's take from the perspective of someone trained as an Analytical Philosopher, btw.
submitted by jmorgan87 to askphilosophy [link] [comments]
My question is, what sort of unintended effects might such a shift to verbal interface, and most importantly to verbal responses, when interacting with machines?
Personally, as an academic, I've only been able to trust (mostly) the tool Perplexity released because it provides sources for the info for verification and is focussed for now on being an AI charged search engine first and foremost. With something like Chat-GPT I just don't get how so many people can trust it's output given the known issues of hallucinations and potential to regurgitate false claims and info, all with no sources provided! I mean, if we instead imagine a person who is known to be brilliant and knowledgeable, but they are entirely self taught with zero formal training or noteworthy achievements (proof of expertise), then would we take what they say at face value? Would that sort of background lend them the necessary credibility to be an authority on a subject? I'm all for non-formal and self-provided educational growth, but if one intends on welding authority on a subject that will cause others to defer to them and still refuses to cite their info, then it would be quite risky and arguably foolish to trust said person outright.
Beyond that, the issue of aesthetic experience is also intriguing. How would a shift to verbal and auditory interface affect our relationship to tech on that metric? I prefer to type, personally, and can only imagine how loud and chaotic an urban area might become if everyone were to use voice as their primary means of human/machine interaction. I feel like there's some Derrida that would apply here. Perhaps the notions of differĂĄnce and arche-writing? I could also see Heideggerian withdrawal being relevant here, as well, and even some Marx a la the 1884 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts.
As someone trained mostly in Continental Philosophy, I'd be especially interested in anyone's take from the perspective of someone trained as an Analytical Philosopher, btw.
2024.05.14 15:56 farawaylands4000 Wikipedia gets undeserved praise and its lifeless articles are inferior to Encyclopedia Britannica's
So I had the intention of writing this for some time. I will give a brief rundown of my relationship to Wikipedia, but that is not necessary for the main point of my opinion.
The main point is that while Wikipedia has a quantitative superiority, qualitatively Encyclopedia Britannica is superior. The specific trigger that motivated me to write this was when I was looking up articles on Johannes Gutenberg.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Gutenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg
I will not delve on the specific qualities of clarity and intention behind the writing in the Britannica article as compared to Wikipedia's, but I think it is evident if one reads the Wikipedia one first and the Britannica after.
It so much more tailored for what a 'reader' expects to get from the text. Wikipedia seems to be not written with a conception of what the readers 'must get'. It is made up of bland information. It doesn't try to touch the reader, it is lifeless. Reading the Wikipedia's article, the aspects of the story, of the biography, don't stick in the mind. Just blobs of timid reporting, holding hands with the reference latched to it.
When you read it, even the most 'well written' ones, with gold or silver stars and so on, it seems nothing gets through seamlessly.
This probably stems from not giving authority to an authoritative authoeditor to make their decision on what to leave out and what to put in. The article referenced was written by a specific man Hellmut E. Lehmann-Haupt and by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. So the Wikipedia editor may feel like it's too much work to 'encroach' in other contribuitions and remake the whole text to be more 'proper'.
I also wanted to write this, because there is a pervasive good will towards Wikipedia everywhere, specially on the internet. Searching on this subreddit, I couldn't find any similar opinion. Except from more academic proficient folk, I almost hear no suspicion, scepticism or hesitation towards Wikipedia on these levels (quality of writing/quality of knowledge/quality of what makes a good encyclopedia article).
Now with that out of the way, my relationship with Wikipedia, which is not required reading. First, I was positive towards it, in my teens. I read a blogger which had good opinions about it. In his youth he would say he looked with glowing eyes to the Barsa encyclopedia. And when Wikipedia arrived, with its aura of freedom of information and thought of the new internet, he liked it. He liked the way it functioned, with a peer network anyone could participate to deliberate on what should be done, what policies should exist and when it should be enforced in this or that way. Politically, he made metaphors on how politics could work more like that, with direct democracy being a possible horizon to go towards.
So I used Wikipedia in this period, until the next epoch of my attitude towards Wikipedia, in this naive way. Not looking up the sources, just reading the summary phrases in the article; not realizing what sources were allowed or not (and the implication this has on a correct assessment, to reach the truth). But I did read some discussions between editors in some articles.
Amusing disputes, where policies were cited left and right and long discussions followed on the correct application of said policies. A little bit of cynicism started to be picked up by me, regarding who won the disputes and how and why.
Anyway, my second contact with differing inclinations towards Wikipedia was brought by Nathan Rich, by some videos of his on his Youtube channel. In some videos, he shows the bias of The New York Times, and of Wikipedia, all regarding China. This made it patent to me that media can be biased, in subtle ways, which when you are properly on the know (with the 'They Live' glasses on your nose) in very unsubtle and laughable ways.
The disputes on Wikipedia could be won if a relentless enough editor kept at it, almost like a lawyer; or better, similar to how a judge can, in weighting the interests and rights of opposing parties, sway either way according with its moral/ideological inclinations.
This view of judges grew out of watching American contract law lectures by Yale University, available on Youtube, which gave me a sense on how there is a lot of gray area in deciding the 'common good'. And lectures and books by Ian Shapiro, also from Yale and available on Youtube, which showed me a biased judge which subtly had defended a member of the capitalist class, using legal justification which passes as good enough for the system, despite being arguably not in accordance with the law, according with Shapiro's judgment.
Anyway, the next epoch of big blocks of views I was exposed to, was from the Youtube videos of BadEmpanada ('The Holodomor Genocide Question: How Wikipedia Lies to You' by BadEmpanada). He showed also how Wikipedia articles can be biased. They almost certainly are regarding political matters, where there is concentrated interest in swaying public opinion and forming a status quo of consent and hovering consensus. The references allowed, western 'free press', are heavily biased. Noam Chomsky and the other guy's Manufacturing of Consent became clear in my mind. There was no free press. Journalism wasn't a glamorous endeavor, with the pen of justice and truth as its symbol. It is a clown show, for the most part.
BadEmpanada showed the efforts put in bot farms and manual troll farms to create a specific consensus of what is and is not common sense (I did not find the video now). In particular, the efforts of the country of [You may not have "" in your post body.] (now I think I may have that word in the post; the country is Israel), also on Wikipedia if I am not incorrect. Creating task forces to 'litigate' on the Talk section.
Another contact was with the video 'How Wikipedia Got Ex Machina (2014) Wrong' by Shaun. The author has a positive outlook towards Wikipedia, but points out another fault in qualitative quality of the writing. There is also a right wing (libertarian) channel with a video criticizing Wikipedia, which is the only video I agree after watching a couple of his later.
More recently, yesterday, I entered another epoch. 'Wikipedia Donations Exposed. The Truth.' by Logically Answered, put Nupedia vs Wikipedia on the spotlight, and it makes it clear Wikipedia only 'won' because of numeric advantage, outputting more articles. That Wikipedia has articles other Encyclopedias don't have, well ok; that is not my point, good for Wikipedia I guess. And Wikipedia shennanigans on how it asks for money, and how the money is not spent to improve the aspects of the quality of writing, just adds to all this unpopular opinion.
In conclusion, wikipedia is too highly regarded, with at most some criticism about how it is not a 'source' in itself, but none about the qualities which make an encyclopedia article good as an encyclopedia article. The criticism seems to rest mostly on the bias regarding political/social articles, and how one should approach the references. But there is a general sense that despite that, with the right approach, it is a good resource to learn about a subject. My disagreement is regarding that; as a learning tool, it is often ignored how lacking in intention the writing is. Sometimes I read some paragraphs, and nothing is apprehended truly. If you pick the first reference of a Wikipedia article, often used in the first paragraph to define the subject of the Wikipedia article, and compare that unobstructed definition with the Wikipedia's introduction/definition, the difference is stark. One coldly 'informs' and the other richly entails meaning and comprehension.
submitted by farawaylands4000 to TrueUnpopularOpinion [link] [comments]
The main point is that while Wikipedia has a quantitative superiority, qualitatively Encyclopedia Britannica is superior. The specific trigger that motivated me to write this was when I was looking up articles on Johannes Gutenberg.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Gutenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg
I will not delve on the specific qualities of clarity and intention behind the writing in the Britannica article as compared to Wikipedia's, but I think it is evident if one reads the Wikipedia one first and the Britannica after.
It so much more tailored for what a 'reader' expects to get from the text. Wikipedia seems to be not written with a conception of what the readers 'must get'. It is made up of bland information. It doesn't try to touch the reader, it is lifeless. Reading the Wikipedia's article, the aspects of the story, of the biography, don't stick in the mind. Just blobs of timid reporting, holding hands with the reference latched to it.
When you read it, even the most 'well written' ones, with gold or silver stars and so on, it seems nothing gets through seamlessly.
This probably stems from not giving authority to an authoritative authoeditor to make their decision on what to leave out and what to put in. The article referenced was written by a specific man Hellmut E. Lehmann-Haupt and by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. So the Wikipedia editor may feel like it's too much work to 'encroach' in other contribuitions and remake the whole text to be more 'proper'.
I also wanted to write this, because there is a pervasive good will towards Wikipedia everywhere, specially on the internet. Searching on this subreddit, I couldn't find any similar opinion. Except from more academic proficient folk, I almost hear no suspicion, scepticism or hesitation towards Wikipedia on these levels (quality of writing/quality of knowledge/quality of what makes a good encyclopedia article).
Now with that out of the way, my relationship with Wikipedia, which is not required reading. First, I was positive towards it, in my teens. I read a blogger which had good opinions about it. In his youth he would say he looked with glowing eyes to the Barsa encyclopedia. And when Wikipedia arrived, with its aura of freedom of information and thought of the new internet, he liked it. He liked the way it functioned, with a peer network anyone could participate to deliberate on what should be done, what policies should exist and when it should be enforced in this or that way. Politically, he made metaphors on how politics could work more like that, with direct democracy being a possible horizon to go towards.
So I used Wikipedia in this period, until the next epoch of my attitude towards Wikipedia, in this naive way. Not looking up the sources, just reading the summary phrases in the article; not realizing what sources were allowed or not (and the implication this has on a correct assessment, to reach the truth). But I did read some discussions between editors in some articles.
Amusing disputes, where policies were cited left and right and long discussions followed on the correct application of said policies. A little bit of cynicism started to be picked up by me, regarding who won the disputes and how and why.
Anyway, my second contact with differing inclinations towards Wikipedia was brought by Nathan Rich, by some videos of his on his Youtube channel. In some videos, he shows the bias of The New York Times, and of Wikipedia, all regarding China. This made it patent to me that media can be biased, in subtle ways, which when you are properly on the know (with the 'They Live' glasses on your nose) in very unsubtle and laughable ways.
The disputes on Wikipedia could be won if a relentless enough editor kept at it, almost like a lawyer; or better, similar to how a judge can, in weighting the interests and rights of opposing parties, sway either way according with its moral/ideological inclinations.
This view of judges grew out of watching American contract law lectures by Yale University, available on Youtube, which gave me a sense on how there is a lot of gray area in deciding the 'common good'. And lectures and books by Ian Shapiro, also from Yale and available on Youtube, which showed me a biased judge which subtly had defended a member of the capitalist class, using legal justification which passes as good enough for the system, despite being arguably not in accordance with the law, according with Shapiro's judgment.
Anyway, the next epoch of big blocks of views I was exposed to, was from the Youtube videos of BadEmpanada ('The Holodomor Genocide Question: How Wikipedia Lies to You' by BadEmpanada). He showed also how Wikipedia articles can be biased. They almost certainly are regarding political matters, where there is concentrated interest in swaying public opinion and forming a status quo of consent and hovering consensus. The references allowed, western 'free press', are heavily biased. Noam Chomsky and the other guy's Manufacturing of Consent became clear in my mind. There was no free press. Journalism wasn't a glamorous endeavor, with the pen of justice and truth as its symbol. It is a clown show, for the most part.
BadEmpanada showed the efforts put in bot farms and manual troll farms to create a specific consensus of what is and is not common sense (I did not find the video now). In particular, the efforts of the country of [You may not have "" in your post body.] (now I think I may have that word in the post; the country is Israel), also on Wikipedia if I am not incorrect. Creating task forces to 'litigate' on the Talk section.
Another contact was with the video 'How Wikipedia Got Ex Machina (2014) Wrong' by Shaun. The author has a positive outlook towards Wikipedia, but points out another fault in qualitative quality of the writing. There is also a right wing (libertarian) channel with a video criticizing Wikipedia, which is the only video I agree after watching a couple of his later.
More recently, yesterday, I entered another epoch. 'Wikipedia Donations Exposed. The Truth.' by Logically Answered, put Nupedia vs Wikipedia on the spotlight, and it makes it clear Wikipedia only 'won' because of numeric advantage, outputting more articles. That Wikipedia has articles other Encyclopedias don't have, well ok; that is not my point, good for Wikipedia I guess. And Wikipedia shennanigans on how it asks for money, and how the money is not spent to improve the aspects of the quality of writing, just adds to all this unpopular opinion.
In conclusion, wikipedia is too highly regarded, with at most some criticism about how it is not a 'source' in itself, but none about the qualities which make an encyclopedia article good as an encyclopedia article. The criticism seems to rest mostly on the bias regarding political/social articles, and how one should approach the references. But there is a general sense that despite that, with the right approach, it is a good resource to learn about a subject. My disagreement is regarding that; as a learning tool, it is often ignored how lacking in intention the writing is. Sometimes I read some paragraphs, and nothing is apprehended truly. If you pick the first reference of a Wikipedia article, often used in the first paragraph to define the subject of the Wikipedia article, and compare that unobstructed definition with the Wikipedia's introduction/definition, the difference is stark. One coldly 'informs' and the other richly entails meaning and comprehension.
2024.05.14 15:01 FarragutCircle Reading The Big Book of Cyberpunk, Week 16
Welcome to Reading The Big Book of Cyberpunk!
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/fanny_bertram) will be reading 5-ish stories from Jared Shurinâs The Big Book of Cyberpunk, which includes a curated selection of cyberpunk stories written from 1950 to 2022! Weâll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some cyberpunk stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
Every once in a while, we reach out to people who have more insight, due to being fans of the author or have some additional context for the story. (Or we just tricked them into it.) So please welcome u/Kopratic who will be sharing their thoughts on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick!
Section 4: Challenge
In our fourth and penultimate section, editor Jared Shurin highlights how cyberpunk looks at technology that creates harm when put into practice, and later cites Marshall McLuhan about artists as challengers. (Shurin really seems to like this McLuhan guy.) Amusingly thereâs a footnote where he mentions litrpg in passing, though he says thereâs no litrpg in this anthology)
âWe Can Remember It For You Wholesaleâ by Philip K. Dick (published 1966; also available in his collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick)
Quailâs desire to go to Mars leads him to a memory-implant company so he can remember going to Mars, but complications and revelations and twists ensue, hilariously.
I think that Speed is looking for Speelyi-427 on behalf of a computer AI called Juno 888, but after that Iâm lost.
Elizabeth and other kids are tested, and while she passes with flying covers, her new friends might lose their lives unless she can figure out a way to help them in a world where the heavily computerized future uses real brains from people and dogs.
The narrator is imprisoned for her reckless genetic engineering, making new incarnations of old gods.
A generation ship ends up right back on Earth, with disturbing and amusing differences between the two groups.
Also posted on Bochord Online.
submitted by FarragutCircle to Fantasy [link] [comments]
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/fanny_bertram) will be reading 5-ish stories from Jared Shurinâs The Big Book of Cyberpunk, which includes a curated selection of cyberpunk stories written from 1950 to 2022! Weâll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some cyberpunk stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
Every once in a while, we reach out to people who have more insight, due to being fans of the author or have some additional context for the story. (Or we just tricked them into it.) So please welcome u/Kopratic who will be sharing their thoughts on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick!
Section 4: Challenge
In our fourth and penultimate section, editor Jared Shurin highlights how cyberpunk looks at technology that creates harm when put into practice, and later cites Marshall McLuhan about artists as challengers. (Shurin really seems to like this McLuhan guy.) Amusingly thereâs a footnote where he mentions litrpg in passing, though he says thereâs no litrpg in this anthology)
âWe Can Remember It For You Wholesaleâ by Philip K. Dick (published 1966; also available in his collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick)
Quailâs desire to go to Mars leads him to a memory-implant company so he can remember going to Mars, but complications and revelations and twists ensue, hilariously.
- Special Guest Kopratic: So this guy really wants to go to Mars, but itâs pretty dang expensive. Fortunately, whatâs not as expensive is paying a company to trick him into thinking heâs been to Mars by implanting false memories into his mind. Unfortunately, things go wrong, and before he writes up a scathing Yelp review, he gets his money back, his wife leaving him, and his life falling apart.
- Itâs a story Iâve read before. Not this exact, specific story, but the bones of it. Virtually visiting another time or place. Itâs never real, but they tend to beg the question: Do memories create reality? Maybe this particular story was one that inspired, even if indirectly, the others. Maybe itâs a trope that had been used before, and the author was just putting his own spin on it like the ones that came after.
- I did like it. I thought that it was annoying how the secretary was described as being topless in practically every scene she was in. It went from, âOh in this society thatâs a normal thing, and body paint is a sort of fashion itemâ to â...we get it.â It was a minor part of the story at least.
- The twists were pretty good, too. Thereâs a moment where you start to question things alongside the protagonist. Maybe the false memories did work. Heâs not supposed to know theyâre fake, but he does. But he also has things that canât possibly be explained by ways of âimplanted memories.â Or maybe they can. Even until the very end, the story keeps you guessing. It did a good job of keeping the tension alive.
- In a sense, the story asks the question, âWhat is reality?â and fits in nicely as an entry into the realm of cyberpunk.
- Farragutâs thoughts: Weâve read Dick before in Science Fiction. Between that story and this, if I hadnât read two of his novels already, I wouldâve thought Dick was a comedic SF writer because of how funny Iâve found his short fiction so far. I vaguely recall (ha!) having seen the movie Total Recall, but Iâm not sure PKD has ever had a faithful adaptation of his works. Anyway, this is just a fun storyânot as wild as the film, but just a plain fun examination of memory and reality.
- fannyâs thoughts: The editor points out that each filming of Total Recall gets worse and this is correct. I had never read the story and I did like it despite it being a story I have seen before. Dick did a great job of making the reader doubt memories and the reality for the character. There are a lot of careful details throughout the short story that play with this concept and add to the general confusion of what is real. The story is not the most amazing thing, but it is very well done and a bit twisty.
I think that Speed is looking for Speelyi-427 on behalf of a computer AI called Juno 888, but after that Iâm lost.
- Farragut: Weâve read Misha before in Science Fiction. Sheâs a very cyberpunky type author, but Iâll be darned if I understand half of whatâs going on here. Thereâs data as currency, thereâs an all powerful computer named Juno 888 (I think?), thereâs a car chase with a barbed-wire tripwire at neck level (ouch), thereâs indigenous ghost dancers, and I had a hell of a time connecting the dots. It didnât help that for the first couple pages I didnât realize Speed was the characterâs name, which made the story even more abstract at first. I absolutely know thereâs someone out there who loves the crap out of experimental/transcendental stuff like this, but it wasnât me.
- fanny: I was beyond confused reading this one. For half the story I thought the character was the computer, 888, but then I realized it was Speed. I am not sure that helped though. I feel like this was too experimental for me and it just missed the mark. The good part of this was the trading in data and the trying to steal data, which was an interesting technology application.
Elizabeth and other kids are tested, and while she passes with flying covers, her new friends might lose their lives unless she can figure out a way to help them in a world where the heavily computerized future uses real brains from people and dogs.
- Farragut: Gunn is an oft-nominated writer (including for this story), but ended up winning the 2005 Nebula for âComing to Termsâ. I really loved this bizarre future (sheâll play computer fetch with her dog when he has downtime from managing data traffic), and Elizabeth is an adorable character to follow as she navigates the shocking new revelations about her world. The help she gets from some of the obscure entities on the network is perfect, especially when they realize that their current world is a little too predictable these days. Highly recommended, especially for Elizabethâs âhackingâ methods.
- fanny: I loved this story and following Elizabeth through it all. Elizabeth is a fierce, determined little girl who doesn't want anything bad to happen to her friends. She goes to extremes for this and gets help from the weirdest sources within the network system. The net system, entities, and the world are so well thought out and carefully crafted. It felt fully realized which is unusual for me to find in a short story. Absolute loved this one.
The narrator is imprisoned for her reckless genetic engineering, making new incarnations of old gods.
- Farragut: Shawl is a multiple-award-winning author and has done a lot of work on promoting diversity in SF/F. A very short story (under a thousand words), itâs also got a very mythic and poetic tone to it, like a confession as a parable. Very evocative, with lots of classical allusions.
- fanny: Such a short story and such a unique concept. I liked that the main character made the entire Pantheon and unleashed the Greek gods back on the world. I found the description of creating Psyche the best part. This story is a bit experimental, but worked for me.
A generation ship ends up right back on Earth, with disturbing and amusing differences between the two groups.
- Farragut: Shiner was a member of the Turkey City Writerâs Workshop which is considered a âcradle of cyberpunkâ. This story was quite amusing, and you can see the differences between the overly-technological humans on Earth and the extremely weird worshippers of Johnny Carson. The author does a great job of encapsulating all the changes since the ship left in little throwaway lines, and the ending was both disturbing and funny.
- fanny: I found the whole premise quite ridiculous, but a nice way to show how too much technology can change society. The worshippers of Johnny Carson return to earth and manage to get a leader who has a bad experience with tech. The extremes he is willing to go to is both realistic and slightly disturbing. The ending is amusing, but it is serious too. I like how Shiner balanced absurdity with real society challenges. But also cult of Carson.
Also posted on Bochord Online.
2024.05.14 14:50 cloneofkane [FOR SALE] Damnation Of Adam Blessing, SRC (RSD), Verlaines (RSD), Nick Lowe, REO Speedwagon, and Journey
Asking prices are at least 9% less than lowest on Discogs for same-condition titles (I'm not paying Discogs fee for records sold here so VinylCollectors buyers shouldn't either). $5 flat shipping USPS Media Mail CONUS for any number of titles. PayPal G&S please. Feel free to make an offer, especially on more than one title. These are cross-listed so I'll update post with any titles sold as soon as possible. Thanks for looking!
Graded (vinyl/cover)
Damnation Of Adam Blessing â The Damnation Of Adam Blessing
https://www.discogs.com/release/11897831-Damnation-Of-Adam-Blessing-The-Damnation-Of-Adam-Blessing
NM/NM (remastered from original tapes, played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$10
Damnation Of Adam Blessing â The Second Damnation
https://www.discogs.com/release/11927545-Damnation-Of-Adam-Blessing-The-Second-Damnation
NM/NM (remastered from original tapes, played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$14
SRC â SRC
https://www.discogs.com/release/30362807-SRC-SRC
NM/NM (RSD 2024 AAA cut by Kevin Gray limited run of 1500 copies played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$15
The Verlaines â Way Out Where
https://www.discogs.com/release/30447932-Verlaines-Way-Out-Where
NM/NM (RSD 2024 first time pressed on vinyl limited run of 900 copies, played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$20
Nick Lowe - Jesus Of Cool
https://www.discogs.com/release/767117-Nick-Lowe-Jesus-Of-Cool
VG/VG+ (1978 OP, some ticks at end of A2, rest VG+)
$7
REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity
https://www.discogs.com/release/9578230-REO-Speedwagon-Hi-Infidelity
VG+/VG (1980 OP)
$7
Journey - Greatest Hits
https://www.discogs.com/release/7905525-Journey-Greatest-Hits
VG+/VG+ (1988 Robert Ludwig cut)
$29
submitted by cloneofkane to VinylCollectors [link] [comments]
Graded (vinyl/cover)
Damnation Of Adam Blessing â The Damnation Of Adam Blessing
https://www.discogs.com/release/11897831-Damnation-Of-Adam-Blessing-The-Damnation-Of-Adam-Blessing
NM/NM (remastered from original tapes, played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$10
Damnation Of Adam Blessing â The Second Damnation
https://www.discogs.com/release/11927545-Damnation-Of-Adam-Blessing-The-Second-Damnation
NM/NM (remastered from original tapes, played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$14
SRC â SRC
https://www.discogs.com/release/30362807-SRC-SRC
NM/NM (RSD 2024 AAA cut by Kevin Gray limited run of 1500 copies played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$15
The Verlaines â Way Out Where
https://www.discogs.com/release/30447932-Verlaines-Way-Out-Where
NM/NM (RSD 2024 first time pressed on vinyl limited run of 900 copies, played once still in shrink with hype sticker)
$20
Nick Lowe - Jesus Of Cool
https://www.discogs.com/release/767117-Nick-Lowe-Jesus-Of-Cool
VG/VG+ (1978 OP, some ticks at end of A2, rest VG+)
$7
REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity
https://www.discogs.com/release/9578230-REO-Speedwagon-Hi-Infidelity
VG+/VG (1980 OP)
$7
Journey - Greatest Hits
https://www.discogs.com/release/7905525-Journey-Greatest-Hits
VG+/VG+ (1988 Robert Ludwig cut)
$29
2024.05.14 14:01 Zappingsbrew A post talking about 400 words
abandon, ability, able, about, above, absence, absolute, absolutely, abstract, abundance, academy, accent, accept, access, accident, accompany, accomplish, according, account, accurate, achieve, achievement, acid, acknowledge, acquire, across, action, active, activity, actor, actual, actually, adapt, addition, additional, address, adequate, adjust, administration, admire, admission, admit, adolescent, adopt, adult, advance, advantage, adventure, advertise, advice, advise, adviser, advocate, affair, affect, afford, afraid, after, afternoon, again, against, age, agency, agenda, agent, aggressive, ago, agree, agreement, agriculture, ahead, aid, aim, air, aircraft, airline, airport, alarm, album, alcohol, alive, all, alliance, allow, ally, almost, alone, along, already, also, alter, alternative, although, always, amateur, amazing, ambition, ambulance, among, amount, analysis, analyst, analyze, ancient, and, anger, angle, angry, animal, anniversary, announce, annual, another, answer, 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enterprise, entertain, entertainment, entire, entirely, entrance, entry, environment, environmental, episode, equal, equally, equipment, equivalent, era, error, escape, especially, essay, essential, essentially, establish, establishment, estate, estimate, etc, ethics, ethnic, European, evaluate, evaluation, evening, event, eventually, ever, every, everybody, everyday, everyone, everything, everywhere, evidence, evolution, evolve, exact, exactly, exam, examination, examine, example, exceed, excellent, except, exception, exchange, exciting, executive, exercise, exhibit, exhibition, exist, existence, existing, expand, expansion, expect, expectation, expense, expensive, experience, experiment, expert, explain, explanation, explode, explore, explosion, expose, exposure, express, expression, extend, extension, extensive, extent, external, extra, extraordinary, extreme, extremely, eye, fabric, face, facility, fact, factor, factory, faculty, fade, fail, failure, fair, fairly, faith, fall, false, familiar, family, famous, fan, fantasy, far, farm, farmer, fashion, fast, fat, fate, father, fault, favor, favorite, fear, feature, federal, fee, feed, feel, feeling, fellow, female, fence, festival, few, fewer, fiber, fiction, field, fifteen, fifth, fifty, fight, fighter, fighting, figure, file, fill, film, final, finally, finance, financial, find, finding, fine, finger, finish, fire, firm, first, fish, fishing, fit, fitness, five, fix, flag, flame, flat, flavor, flee, flesh, flight, float, floor, flow, flower, fly, focus, folk, follow, following, food, foot, football, for, force, foreign, forest, forever, forget, form, formal, formation, former, formula, forth, fortune, forward, found, foundation, founder, four, fourth, frame, framework, free, freedom, freeze, French, frequency, frequent, frequently, fresh, friend, friendly, friendship, from, front, fruit, frustration, fuel, fulfill, full, fully, fun, function, fund, fundamental, funding, funeral, funny, furniture, furthermore, future, gain, galaxy, gallery, game, gang, gap, garage, garden, garlic, gas, gate, gather, gay, gaze, gear, gender, gene, general, generally, generate, generation, genetic, gentleman, gently, German, gesture, get, ghost, giant, gift, gifted, girl, girlfriend, give, given, glad, glance, glass, global, glove, go, goal, God, gold, golden, golf, good, govern, government, governor, grab, grace, grade, gradually, graduate, grain, grand, grandmother, grant, grass, grave, gray, great, green, grocery, ground, group, grow, growing, growth, guarantee, guard, guess, guest, guide, guideline, guilty, gun, guy, habit, habitat, hair, half, hall, hand, handful, handle, hang, happen, happy, harbor, hard, hardly, hat, hate, have, he, head, headline, headquarters, health, healthy, hear, hearing, heart, heat, heaven, heavily, heavy, heel, height, helicopter, hell, hello, help, helpful, hence, her, herb, here, heritage, hero, herself, hey, hi, hide, high, highlight, highly, highway, hill, him, himself, hip, hire, his, historic, historical, history, hit, hold, hole, holiday, holy, home, homeless, honest, honey, honor, hope, horizon, horror, horse, hospital, host, hot, hotel, hour, house, household, housing, how, however, huge, human, humor, hundred, hungry, hunter, hunting, hurt, husband, hypothesis, ice, idea, ideal, identification, identify, identity, ignore, ill, illegal, illness, illustrate, image, imagination, imagine, immediate, immediately, immigrant, immigration, impact, implement, implication, imply, importance, important, impose, impossible, impress, impression, impressive, improve, improvement, incentive, incident, include, including, income, incorporate, increase, increased, increasingly, incredible, indeed, independence, independent, index, indicate, indication, individual, industrial, industry, infant, infection, inflation, influence, inform, information, ingredient, initial, initially, initiative, injury, inner, innocent, inquiry, inside, insight, insist, 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night, nine, no, nobody, nod, noise, nomination, nominee, none, nonetheless, nor, normal, normally, north, northern, nose, not, note, nothing, notice, notion, novel, now, nowhere, nuclear, number, numerous, nurse, nut, object, objective, obligation, observation, observe, observer, obtain, obvious, obviously, occasion, occasionally, occupation, occupy, occur, ocean, odd, odds, of, off, offense, offensive, offer, office, officer, official, often, oh, oil, okay, old, Olympic, on, once, one, ongoing, onion, online, only, onto, open, opening, operate, operating, operation, operator, opinion, opponent, opportunity, oppose, opposed, opposite, opposition, option, or, orange, order, ordinary, organic, organization, organize, orientation, origin, original, originally, other, others, otherwise, ought, our, ours, ourselves, out, outcome, outside, oven, over, overall, overcome, overlook, owe, own, owner, pace, pack, package, page, pain, painful, paint, painter, painting, pair, pale, Palestinian, palm, pan, panel, panic, pant, paper, paragraph, parent, park, parking, part, participant, participate, participation, particle, particular, particularly, partly, partner, partnership, party, pass, passage, passenger, passion, past, patch, path, patient, pattern, pause, pay, payment, PC, peace, peak, peer, pen, penalty, people, pepper, per, perceive, percentage, perception, perfect, perfectly, perform, performance, perhaps, period, permanent, permission, permit, person, personal, personality, personally, personnel, perspective, persuade, pet, phase, phenomenon, philosophy, phone, photo, photographer, phrase, physical, physically, physician, piano, pick, picture, pie, piece, pile, pilot, pine, pink, pipe, pitch, place, plan, plane, planet, planning, plant, plastic, plate, platform, play, player, please, pleasure, plenty, plot, plus, PM, pocket, poem, poet, poetry, point, police, policy, political, politically, politician, politics, poll, pollution, pool, poor, pop, popular, population, porch, port, portion, portrait, portray, pose, position, positive, possess, possession, possibility, possible, possibly, post, pot, potato, potential, potentially, pound, pour, poverty, powder, power, powerful, practical, practice, prayer, preach, precisely, predict, prediction, prefer, preference, pregnancy, pregnant, preparation, prepare, prescription, presence, present, presentation, preserve, president, presidential, press, pressure, pretend, pretty, prevent, previous, previously, price, pride, priest, primarily, primary, prime, principal, principle, print, prior, priority, prison, prisoner, privacy, private, probably, problem, procedure, proceed, process, processing, processor, proclaim, produce, producer, product, production, profession, professional, professor, profile, profit, program, progress, progressive, project, prominent, promise, promote, prompt, proof, proper, properly, property, proportion, proposal, propose, prosecutor, prospect, protect, protection, protein, protest, proud, prove, provide, provider, province, provision, psychological, psychology, public, publication, publicity, publish, publisher, pull, punishment, purchase, pure, purpose, pursue, push, put, qualify, quality, quarter, quarterback, quarterly, queen, quest, question, quick, quickly, quiet, quietly, quit, quite, quote, race, racial, radiation, radical, radio, rail, rain, raise, range, rank, rapid, rapidly, rare, rarely, rate, rather, rating, ratio, raw, reach, react, reaction, reader, reading, ready, real, reality, realize, really, reason, reasonable, recall, receive, recent, recently, reception, recipe, recipient, recognition, recognize, recommend, recommendation, record, recording, recover, recovery, recruit, red, reduce, reduction, refer, reference, reflect, reflection, reform, refugee, refuse, regard, regarding, regardless, regime, region, regional, register, regular, regularly, regulate, regulation, regulator, reinforce, reject, relate, relation, relationship, relative, relatively, relax, release, relevant, relief, religion, religious, rely, remain, remaining, remarkable, remember, remind, remote, remove, repeat, repeatedly, replace, replacement, reply, report, reporter, represent, representation, representative, Republican, reputation, request, require, requirement, research, researcher, resemble, reservation, resident, residential, resign, resist, resistance, resolution, resolve, resort, resource, respect, respond, response, responsibility, responsible, rest, restaurant, restore, restriction, result, retain, retire, retirement, return, reveal, revenue, review, revolution, rhythm, rice, rich, rid, ride, rifle, right, ring, rise, risk, river, road, rock, role, roll, romantic, roof, room, root, rope, rose, rough, roughly, round, route, routine, row, rub, rubber, rude, ruin, rule, run, running, rural, rush, Russian, sacred, sad, safe, safety, sake, salad, salary, sale, sales, salt, same, sample, sanction, sand, satellite, satisfaction, satisfied, satisfy, sauce, save, saving, say, scale, scandal, scare, scatter, scenario, scene, schedule, scheme, scholar, scholarship, school, science, scientific, scientist, scope, score, scream, screen, script, sea, search, season, seat, second, secondary, secret, secretary, section, sector, secure, security, see, seed, seek, seem, segment, seize, select, selection, self, sell, Senate, senator, send, senior, sense, sensitive, sentence, separate, sequence, series, serious, seriously, servant, serve, service, session, set, setting, settle, settlement, seven, several, severe, sex, sexual, shade, shadow, shake, shall, shallow, shape, share, sharp, she, sheet, shelf, shell, shelter, shift, shine, ship, shirt, shock, shoe, shoot, shooting, shop, shopping, short, shortly, shot, should, shoulder, shout, show, shower, shrug, shut, shy, sibling, sick, side, sigh, sight, sign, signal, significant, significantly, silence, silent, silver, similar, similarly, simple, simply, sin, since, sing, singer, single, sink, sir, sister, sit, site, situation, six, size, ski, skill, skin, skirt, sky, slave, sleep, slice, slide, slight, slightly, slip, slow, slowly, small, smart, smell, smile, smoke, smooth, snap, snow, so, so-called, soccer, social, society, soft, software, soil, solar, soldier, sole, solid, solution, solve, some, somebody, somehow, someone, something, sometimes, somewhat, somewhere, son, song, soon, sophisticated, sorry, sort, soul, sound, soup, source, south, southern, Soviet, space, Spanish, speak, speaker, special, specialist, species, specific, specifically, specify, speech, speed, spend, spending, spin, spirit, spiritual, split, spoil, sponsor, sport, spot, spray, spread, spring, square, squeeze, stability, stable, staff, stage, stain, stair, stake, stand, standard, standing, star, stare, start, state, statement, station, statistical, status, stay, steady, steal, steel, steep, stem, step, stick, still, stimulate, stimulus, stir, stock, stomach, stone, stop, storage, store, storm, story, straight, strange, stranger, strategic, strategy, stream, street, strength, strengthen, stress, stretch, strike, string, strip, stroke, strong, strongly, structural, structure, struggle, student, studio, study, stuff, stupid, style, subject, submit, subsequent, substance, substantial, substitute, succeed, success, successful, successfully, such, sudden, suddenly, sue, suffer, sufficient, sugar, suggest, suggestion, suicide, suit, summer, summit, sun, super, supply, support, supporter, suppose, supposed, Supreme, sure, surely, surface, surgery, surprise, surprised, surprising, surprisingly, surround, survey, survival, survive, survivor, suspect, sustain, swear, sweep, sweet, swim, swing, switch, symbol, symptom, system, table, tactic, tail, take, tale, talent, talk, tall, tank, tap, tape, target, task, taste, tax, taxi, tea, teach, teacher, teaching, team, tear, technical, technique, technology, teen, teenager, telephone, telescope, television, tell, temperature, temporary, ten, tend, tendency, tennis, tension, tent, term, terms, terrible, territory, terror, terrorist, test, testimony, testing, text, than, thank, thanks, that, the, theater, their, them, theme, themselves, then, theory, therapy, there, therefore, these, they, thick, thin, thing, think, thinking, third, thirty, this, those, though, thought, thousand, threat, threaten, three, throat, through, throughout, throw, thus, ticket, tie, tight, time, tiny, tip, tire, tissue, title, to, tobacco, today, toe, together, toilet, token, tolerate, tomato, tomorrow, tone, tongue, tonight, too, tool, tooth, top, topic, toss, total, totally, touch, tough, tour, tourist, tournament, toward, towards, tower, town, toy, trace, track, trade, tradition, traditional, traffic, tragedy, trail, train, training, transfer, transform, transformation, transition, translate, translation, transmission, transmit, transport, transportation, travel, treat, treatment, treaty, tree, tremendous, trend, trial, tribe, trick, trip, troop, trouble, truck, true, truly, trust, truth, try, tube, tunnel, turn, TV, twelve, twenty, twice, twin, two, type, typical, typically, ugly, ultimate, ultimately, unable, uncle, undergo, understand, understanding, unfortunately, uniform, union, unique, unit, United, universal, universe, university, unknown, unless, unlike, until, unusual, up, upon, upper, urban, urge, us, use, used, useful, user, usual, usually, utility, utilize, vacation, valley, valuable, value, variable, variation, variety, various, vary, vast, vegetable, vehicle, venture, version, versus, very, vessel, veteran, via, victim, victory, video, view, viewer, village, violate, violation, violence, violent, virtually, virtue, virus, visibility, visible, vision, visit, visitor, visual, vital, voice, volume, voluntary, volunteer, vote, voter, voting, wage, wait, wake, walk, wall, wander, want, war, warm, warn, warning, wash, waste, watch, water, wave, way, we, weak, weakness, wealth, wealthy, weapon, wear, weather, web, website, wedding, week, weekend, weekly, weigh, weight, welcome, welfare, well, west, western, wet, what, whatever, wheel, when, whenever, where, whereas, whether, which, while, whisper, white, who, whole, whom, whose, why, wide, widely, widespread, wife, wild, wildlife, will, willing, win, wind, window, wine, wing, winner, winter, wipe, wire, wisdom, wise, wish, with, withdraw, within, without, witness, woman, wonder, wonderful, wood, wooden, word, work, worker, working, workout, workplace, works, workshop, world, worried, worry, worth, would, wound, wrap, write, writer, writing, wrong, yard, yeah, year, yell, yellow, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, you, young, your, yours, yourself, youth, zone.
submitted by Zappingsbrew to u/Zappingsbrew [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 13:50 threecrow_ Applying to art schools in the US? Please consider SJSU!!
Hey! I'm an Animation/Illustration and Linguistics student about to finish my 1st year at SJSU. Unfortunately it's way past college season, so this is more so directed at future applicants this coming fall.
I feel the dire need to share this underrated program because I know so many people wave this place away for being a state school. I am biased, but even with long thought put in, I genuinely think SJSU may be the best value animation/visdev program you could find anywhere in the US. Realistically there are way more successful faculty and perhaps a better education somewhere else like CalArts, but that marginal difference is at the price of $230k+. What you get at SJSU is scarily good; you might even start feeling bad for how little the faculty are being paid (the CSU-wide strike cough cough).
I used to only care about prestige--I thought I could only be satisfied with attending the cream of the crop; I fucking hated the thought of coming here. Little did I know, one semester in this program would be the most I've learned about art and work ethics in a lifetime.
SJSU A/I is one of the friendliest, most hardworking places you can be as an artist. We all share the same values and passion for art. Everyone in the program treats each other like family, including the professors! Side note: I've always heard that professors at CSUs usually love teaching and are passionate, and it's true. Why else would you teach at a place where you earn pennies lol. Even my linguistics and philosophy professors have been equally as lovely!
Despite that, this is one of the most rigorous programs around, and quite a few students end up dropping out during the "weeder year"/1st year (personally my friends and I gauge the dropout rate is ~20%-25%). A few more are then kicked out during the portfolio review in 2nd year. To me, ArtCenter trumps every school in terms of hardships and acceleration (RIP Advanced Perspective class lol), and I would put SJSU a step below that. We are largely about work ethics and learning to manage time here! IMO it's a necessary stressor to prepare you for the industry. You will break and realize you don't have enough passion for an animation career, or you will get up stronger with levels of discipline that will impress the industry.
I cannot say for the advanced classes how well they prepare students for work, but I can say that the foundational classes are invaluable. In particular, one class has seriously changed the course of my life: ANI 13 taught by John Clapp. ANI 13 is a life class disguised as an art class, and it refines you as a person. It teaches you to take life slow in the modern age of permanent adrenaline rushes. It presents to you interesting facets of the world that somehow always ties back to valuable art advice. I left every lecture with my mind blown! The class also assigns you a sketchbook to work on for the entire semester, during which you practice how to observe and think like an artist.
Mine still has ways from where Clapp wants them to be, but if you're curious about the level of attention that's expected of an ANI 13 sketchbook, I do have a few pages online: https://corrinjinwu.weebly.com/
That's pretty much how I'd summarize this program so far. Please, PLEASE consider it for your own sake if you want an affordable and quality education! Here's a pros and cons list to finish up:
PROS:
And if you want the same/sister program but with much less rigor, consider CSULB!! I've spoken to Aubrey Mintz, a professor, and a graduate of the program before, and it seems like they're quite laidback over there (albeit at the cost of underpreparing you if you aren't self-driven).
Anddd, don't fucking go to Academy of Art University. It's the only FOR-PROFIT school I've seen before, and the president is a near-billionaire devil selling art degrees like a scam.
submitted by threecrow_ to animationcareer [link] [comments]
I feel the dire need to share this underrated program because I know so many people wave this place away for being a state school. I am biased, but even with long thought put in, I genuinely think SJSU may be the best value animation/visdev program you could find anywhere in the US. Realistically there are way more successful faculty and perhaps a better education somewhere else like CalArts, but that marginal difference is at the price of $230k+. What you get at SJSU is scarily good; you might even start feeling bad for how little the faculty are being paid (the CSU-wide strike cough cough).
I used to only care about prestige--I thought I could only be satisfied with attending the cream of the crop; I fucking hated the thought of coming here. Little did I know, one semester in this program would be the most I've learned about art and work ethics in a lifetime.
SJSU A/I is one of the friendliest, most hardworking places you can be as an artist. We all share the same values and passion for art. Everyone in the program treats each other like family, including the professors! Side note: I've always heard that professors at CSUs usually love teaching and are passionate, and it's true. Why else would you teach at a place where you earn pennies lol. Even my linguistics and philosophy professors have been equally as lovely!
Despite that, this is one of the most rigorous programs around, and quite a few students end up dropping out during the "weeder year"/1st year (personally my friends and I gauge the dropout rate is ~20%-25%). A few more are then kicked out during the portfolio review in 2nd year. To me, ArtCenter trumps every school in terms of hardships and acceleration (RIP Advanced Perspective class lol), and I would put SJSU a step below that. We are largely about work ethics and learning to manage time here! IMO it's a necessary stressor to prepare you for the industry. You will break and realize you don't have enough passion for an animation career, or you will get up stronger with levels of discipline that will impress the industry.
I cannot say for the advanced classes how well they prepare students for work, but I can say that the foundational classes are invaluable. In particular, one class has seriously changed the course of my life: ANI 13 taught by John Clapp. ANI 13 is a life class disguised as an art class, and it refines you as a person. It teaches you to take life slow in the modern age of permanent adrenaline rushes. It presents to you interesting facets of the world that somehow always ties back to valuable art advice. I left every lecture with my mind blown! The class also assigns you a sketchbook to work on for the entire semester, during which you practice how to observe and think like an artist.
Mine still has ways from where Clapp wants them to be, but if you're curious about the level of attention that's expected of an ANI 13 sketchbook, I do have a few pages online: https://corrinjinwu.weebly.com/
That's pretty much how I'd summarize this program so far. Please, PLEASE consider it for your own sake if you want an affordable and quality education! Here's a pros and cons list to finish up:
PROS:
- Much more affordable
- Large network of working professionals and industry giants
- Talks from alumni and major studios (CN, Nickelodeon, Blizzard, Duolingo... the list goes on)
- Friendly, likeminded, and passionate peers and faculty--you have a support system here!
- Loving upperclassmen and TAs
- Foundational classes that will teach you how to observe and use the fundamentals of art/principles of design
- Underclassmen can alreaedy contribte to BFA projects!
- It's not an art school, so you can befriend people from so many other majors! You could also take an elective class for fun or pursue a minor if you can manage it
- San Jose is close to SF. Good ass view and beautiful museums!
- Insane rigor that prepares you for the industry
- Rigor... *Dies*...
- Ridiculous dropout rates during the "weeder year"/1st year. Are you ready?
- A high GPA is required to get in, but a strong portfolio can negate some points lost
- Faculty aren't close to as strong as ones in prestigious art schools (despite that, we do have who professors have worked in AAA or feature)
- Classes do not accelerate as quickly as art schools because we start at ground zero
- As a consequence, the program is a 5-year curriculum (a 4-year track exists but is largely undoable)
- Dorming IS EXPENSIVE!! Share an apartment if you can and are okay with the FOMO lol
- Not located in LA where most studios are
And if you want the same/sister program but with much less rigor, consider CSULB!! I've spoken to Aubrey Mintz, a professor, and a graduate of the program before, and it seems like they're quite laidback over there (albeit at the cost of underpreparing you if you aren't self-driven).
Anddd, don't fucking go to Academy of Art University. It's the only FOR-PROFIT school I've seen before, and the president is a near-billionaire devil selling art degrees like a scam.
2024.05.14 13:40 Hopeful_Ad_8972 Roadside assistance is awesome
 | hey friends! this was last week - I drove over a nail while I was in rush hour. Driver rear. Pulled into the closest Discount Tire and they told me it wasnât repairable (forgot to take a photo of the tire itself). Nail was literally sticking out of the left sidewall. DT told me to call my dealer and see what options they had for me since my car is 7 months old and 4600 miles. I had never used the free roadside assistance until now and I couldnât be more grateful. From start to finish everything was great. Marco from AAA was cool and good company on the way to the dealer. Once it was at my dealer they did my first service and threw in an alignment since it was under warranty. super grateful for all involved! submitted by Hopeful_Ad_8972 to CorollaHatchback [link] [comments] |
2024.05.14 12:41 Any-Classic-5733 Why HW3 feels like a disappointment to fans of previous HW campaigns
I was in two minds as to add my opinion to an already crowded field, but I think I need to write my feelings down on a franchise that has inspired my imagination for decades. I will state up front that I think BBI had a nearly impossible task - how to please veterans and players of old, and attract new players to the franchise that will continue to breathe life into it.
I think they may have succeeded with the latter, but probably failed with the former.
It pains me to have to be so negative, and I don't want to come across as a spoiled entitled gamerdude who's angry he didn't get the game he wanted. I'm sure many will disagree with my points, but I don't think I'm alone either.
TLDR at the bottom.
First, some nice things to say
The game does look lovely. Battles, while chaotic and messy the sound design is wonderful, the battle chatter and PDCs from capital ships/assault frigates are seriously impressive.
It's short. Unbelievably so. I completed it in two sittings. Some missions/levels, whatever you want to call them are over in 20 minutes, some take a little longer but usually consist of one or two objectives before the player is hastily moved onto the next mission.
I didn't really gel with the story, it felt a little clichĂŠd - 'the new protagonist is in search of the old one' didn't make any sense to me. The whole thing felt like a missed opportunity. They had free reign to do whatever they wanted, but seemed to have gravitated back to a weird 'prophecy' story where I understood very little considering just how much exposition is forced upon the player.
I must have missed what the 'anomaly' was because I kept seeing it being mentioned but had no idea how it fit into the story.
Gameplay and storytelling pacing is a problem
Gone is the slow and steady story telling of old, no sense of wonder or mystery - instead we're hurried along from beat to beat, always being told something is urgent and frequently being reminded that an objective needs completing.
The player is robbed of agency in a lot of cases. In one mission, we're just given a carrier from the start - no research or objectives to complete in order to earn it - just hey you'll need this. I remember in HW1, the first time you make a destroyer, or the first time you build a carrier it's an exciting moment, you feel a sense of achievement and can't wait to see how this changes the battlefield.
You don't get to feel that in HW3. In fact, some missions you might get access to several new units within minutes of each other, so you never really get to explore how each one affects the battles. The pace of the gameplay means you're constantly under attack or under pressure with few moments of calm.
Also, there are times when storytelling got in the way, especially after a lengthy cut-scene the player would be taken out of the game for a moment to show something on the sensors, sometimes multiple times within a few moments of each other. Infuriatingly this didn't seem to pause the action. It was like the steering wheel was taken away from you while you were trying to navigate around a bend.
Gameplay mechanics are simplified compared to previous HW titles
Because there is little in the way of microing your units, (no attack move, no kiting more powerful ships) you find yourself constantly in the build menu maxing out your unit caps to replace lost ships. And you can do that, by the way, because you have literally infinite resources. At no point during the campaign did I have less than 10,000 RUs.
Resource collecting no longer means a player has to choose how to best manage their resource economy. They've taken all that away by giving the player the easy version. The resource controller does it all for you. I really miss how cool it was that resources would drop off at the MS or carriers, then you could upgrade your economy with controllers. Here we've skipped over that, you get the dumbed down version, the player no longer has to choose between positioning a valuable carrier for their economy or as a forward base for supporting strike craft and replenishing frigates.
I remember a while ago I saw someone post here that they hated HW2 strikecraft squadrons and preferred the individual units of HW1. I honestly thought it was the stupidest thing I've ever read regarding this franchise. Strikecraft squadrons added to the scale of the battles, but more importantly it was much more rewarding to manage. By efficiently microing your fleet, you could 'save' a whole squadron by docking it. Now it feels like you just spaming strike craft endlessly with little hope to save individual ones because they'll usually die before you can react and send them home to dock. I just can't understand why they went back to HW1 with that mechanic when clearly, squadrons are the superior choice for many reasons.
For all the talk of terrain and cover being a major gameplay mechanic, I found myself barely using it. Frigates and capital ship pathfinding meant it was just easier to avoid going near it.
Support frigates look like they have space for strikecraft to dock, but I've never seen them go near it. Feels like a feature that was never implemented.
Enemy faction feels... uninspired
The Incarnate ships have all taken their design from the Progenitors, but I'm surprised just how little variation there is in the design. They all look like mini Sajuuks or Progenitor Dreadnaughts from HW2. Don't get me wrong, they look great - but this is problematic from a gameplay perspective, but you only really see the subtle differences up close. However, you rarely have the opportunity to appreciate that due to the chaotic nature of the battles. Distinguishing between Incarnate units is almost impossible as they all share a very similar profile.
UI is much improved since the demo, controls are much better
I'm glad they listened to the feedback, the UI is more intuitive and micro animations give the player the right clues as to what is going on. However, I still struggled to identify which ships I have selected at any given time. Sometimes there will be little numbers over the top of units, but they don't correspond to the group number - it's quite confusing.
I was one of the biggest complainants of the new control system after playing the demo, however, I found myself switching from classic to modern during the campaign - mostly out of necessity - it's quite difficult to navigate around the terrain elements of the maps in classic mode.
But the improvements BBI have made to the responsiveness of the controls have made that transition much easier, props to them for doing that.
Multiplayer / War Games
I haven't had much luck with either of these modes, quickplay doesn't seem to work - trying to connect to anyone in the lobby results in failure most of the time. Of the few games I've played half the time one or more players drop out. This is going to be a major paint point for players new and old, and it'll need improving quickly if this game is going to hold onto any significant player count.
What I think happened here
Making an AAA title these days is hard. It's expensive, and the resources and investment needed to deliver it are enormous. It's why we see so many games released that feel rushed or unfinished. Investors/publishers want to see a return on that investment at some point, it's just a reality of modern-day game development. HW3 was delayed several times and we still ended up with (in my opinion), a sequel that feels rushed and underbaked.
I suspect a lot of this was down to pressure from the publisher to:
A. Try to appeal to a wider market by simplifying the gameplay B. Cut the amount of content to get the product released sooner
Unfortunately for players like me, who wanted a uniquely Homeworld campaign experience has left me feeling wanting. And I'm really sad about that. There are clearly many talented folks at BBI, and I can't help but feel this isn't the game they wanted to release... like they could have used another year or two of development if they could perhaps?
The campaign ending left it open for the possibility of us seeing more content set after these events. I would be entirely open to that, but they'd need to fix some of issues that I'd outlined above if I thought it'd be worth my time and money. But that doesn't appear to be on the year 1 roadmap. My current experience with War Games sort of tells me I've wasted my money a bit if that's all we're getting.
Maybe, after the Year 1 roadmap we'll see the possibility of a continuation of the story - the hunt for the crew of Karan's ship for example.
TLDR
The campaign is too short, and while punctuated with genuine moments of delight, pacing is problematic and the player is often robbed of agency and a sense of wonder. Battles, while pretty, are ultimately a chaotic war of attrition due to simplified gameplay mechanics.
The campaign experience has felt rather shallow and underbaked. Players of previous HW titles will be left feeling like underwhelmed in my opinion.
However I'm sure many new players will enjoy the game much more, it is still one of the most unique titles out there at the moment.
6/10
Edit: formatting
submitted by Any-Classic-5733 to homeworld [link] [comments]
I think they may have succeeded with the latter, but probably failed with the former.
It pains me to have to be so negative, and I don't want to come across as a spoiled entitled gamerdude who's angry he didn't get the game he wanted. I'm sure many will disagree with my points, but I don't think I'm alone either.
TLDR at the bottom.
First, some nice things to say
The game does look lovely. Battles, while chaotic and messy the sound design is wonderful, the battle chatter and PDCs from capital ships/assault frigates are seriously impressive.
- CONTAINS SPOILERS BELOW *
It's short. Unbelievably so. I completed it in two sittings. Some missions/levels, whatever you want to call them are over in 20 minutes, some take a little longer but usually consist of one or two objectives before the player is hastily moved onto the next mission.
I didn't really gel with the story, it felt a little clichĂŠd - 'the new protagonist is in search of the old one' didn't make any sense to me. The whole thing felt like a missed opportunity. They had free reign to do whatever they wanted, but seemed to have gravitated back to a weird 'prophecy' story where I understood very little considering just how much exposition is forced upon the player.
I must have missed what the 'anomaly' was because I kept seeing it being mentioned but had no idea how it fit into the story.
Gameplay and storytelling pacing is a problem
Gone is the slow and steady story telling of old, no sense of wonder or mystery - instead we're hurried along from beat to beat, always being told something is urgent and frequently being reminded that an objective needs completing.
The player is robbed of agency in a lot of cases. In one mission, we're just given a carrier from the start - no research or objectives to complete in order to earn it - just hey you'll need this. I remember in HW1, the first time you make a destroyer, or the first time you build a carrier it's an exciting moment, you feel a sense of achievement and can't wait to see how this changes the battlefield.
You don't get to feel that in HW3. In fact, some missions you might get access to several new units within minutes of each other, so you never really get to explore how each one affects the battles. The pace of the gameplay means you're constantly under attack or under pressure with few moments of calm.
Also, there are times when storytelling got in the way, especially after a lengthy cut-scene the player would be taken out of the game for a moment to show something on the sensors, sometimes multiple times within a few moments of each other. Infuriatingly this didn't seem to pause the action. It was like the steering wheel was taken away from you while you were trying to navigate around a bend.
Gameplay mechanics are simplified compared to previous HW titles
Because there is little in the way of microing your units, (no attack move, no kiting more powerful ships) you find yourself constantly in the build menu maxing out your unit caps to replace lost ships. And you can do that, by the way, because you have literally infinite resources. At no point during the campaign did I have less than 10,000 RUs.
Resource collecting no longer means a player has to choose how to best manage their resource economy. They've taken all that away by giving the player the easy version. The resource controller does it all for you. I really miss how cool it was that resources would drop off at the MS or carriers, then you could upgrade your economy with controllers. Here we've skipped over that, you get the dumbed down version, the player no longer has to choose between positioning a valuable carrier for their economy or as a forward base for supporting strike craft and replenishing frigates.
I remember a while ago I saw someone post here that they hated HW2 strikecraft squadrons and preferred the individual units of HW1. I honestly thought it was the stupidest thing I've ever read regarding this franchise. Strikecraft squadrons added to the scale of the battles, but more importantly it was much more rewarding to manage. By efficiently microing your fleet, you could 'save' a whole squadron by docking it. Now it feels like you just spaming strike craft endlessly with little hope to save individual ones because they'll usually die before you can react and send them home to dock. I just can't understand why they went back to HW1 with that mechanic when clearly, squadrons are the superior choice for many reasons.
For all the talk of terrain and cover being a major gameplay mechanic, I found myself barely using it. Frigates and capital ship pathfinding meant it was just easier to avoid going near it.
Support frigates look like they have space for strikecraft to dock, but I've never seen them go near it. Feels like a feature that was never implemented.
Enemy faction feels... uninspired
The Incarnate ships have all taken their design from the Progenitors, but I'm surprised just how little variation there is in the design. They all look like mini Sajuuks or Progenitor Dreadnaughts from HW2. Don't get me wrong, they look great - but this is problematic from a gameplay perspective, but you only really see the subtle differences up close. However, you rarely have the opportunity to appreciate that due to the chaotic nature of the battles. Distinguishing between Incarnate units is almost impossible as they all share a very similar profile.
UI is much improved since the demo, controls are much better
I'm glad they listened to the feedback, the UI is more intuitive and micro animations give the player the right clues as to what is going on. However, I still struggled to identify which ships I have selected at any given time. Sometimes there will be little numbers over the top of units, but they don't correspond to the group number - it's quite confusing.
I was one of the biggest complainants of the new control system after playing the demo, however, I found myself switching from classic to modern during the campaign - mostly out of necessity - it's quite difficult to navigate around the terrain elements of the maps in classic mode.
But the improvements BBI have made to the responsiveness of the controls have made that transition much easier, props to them for doing that.
Multiplayer / War Games
I haven't had much luck with either of these modes, quickplay doesn't seem to work - trying to connect to anyone in the lobby results in failure most of the time. Of the few games I've played half the time one or more players drop out. This is going to be a major paint point for players new and old, and it'll need improving quickly if this game is going to hold onto any significant player count.
What I think happened here
Making an AAA title these days is hard. It's expensive, and the resources and investment needed to deliver it are enormous. It's why we see so many games released that feel rushed or unfinished. Investors/publishers want to see a return on that investment at some point, it's just a reality of modern-day game development. HW3 was delayed several times and we still ended up with (in my opinion), a sequel that feels rushed and underbaked.
I suspect a lot of this was down to pressure from the publisher to:
A. Try to appeal to a wider market by simplifying the gameplay B. Cut the amount of content to get the product released sooner
Unfortunately for players like me, who wanted a uniquely Homeworld campaign experience has left me feeling wanting. And I'm really sad about that. There are clearly many talented folks at BBI, and I can't help but feel this isn't the game they wanted to release... like they could have used another year or two of development if they could perhaps?
The campaign ending left it open for the possibility of us seeing more content set after these events. I would be entirely open to that, but they'd need to fix some of issues that I'd outlined above if I thought it'd be worth my time and money. But that doesn't appear to be on the year 1 roadmap. My current experience with War Games sort of tells me I've wasted my money a bit if that's all we're getting.
Maybe, after the Year 1 roadmap we'll see the possibility of a continuation of the story - the hunt for the crew of Karan's ship for example.
TLDR
The campaign is too short, and while punctuated with genuine moments of delight, pacing is problematic and the player is often robbed of agency and a sense of wonder. Battles, while pretty, are ultimately a chaotic war of attrition due to simplified gameplay mechanics.
The campaign experience has felt rather shallow and underbaked. Players of previous HW titles will be left feeling like underwhelmed in my opinion.
However I'm sure many new players will enjoy the game much more, it is still one of the most unique titles out there at the moment.
6/10
Edit: formatting
2024.05.14 12:40 Specialist_Bake6514 Vapiano P3: Italian Food Made in Germany
 | The kitchen is on fire. Welcome to the final part of the Vapiano story where the tables are turning. In the first two episodes we followed Mark Korzilius' journey from setbacks to founding Vapiano, a groundbreaking restaurant concept, highlighting its fresh ingredients, dynamic atmosphere, and data-driven operations that drove rapid success. While achieving initial profitability and garnering attention from industry giants like McDonald's, Vapiano's global expansion has led to stellar revenue growth. However, it has also resulted in the emergence of numerous side projects (or distractions), operational challenges, increased costs, significant investments, and a notable accumulation of debt. This underscores the prioritization of top-line growth over profitable growth. We will continue on this thread and see how the story ends, but I would encourage you to read part one and two for better context. Vapiano P1: Italian Food Made in Germany (substack.com). Let's dig in. submitted by Specialist_Bake6514 to unpackbusinesses [link] [comments] Before Going Public We are now in 2015 and the year is a disaster for Vapiano's PR department. Employee time stamps are being manipulated, endless overtime for employees and high turnover in managerial roles are reported; mice in the kitchen and even rotten food allegedly found. The company is confronted with allegations of exceeding working hours among trainees in an article published by Welt am Sonntag, while the same outlet accuses Vapiano of manipulating punch times. The auditing firm PwC is commissioned to investigate the allegations and finds that there is no systematic approach but rather misconduct by individual employees, a mistake thatâs being corrected. Internal however, investigations into stamp times are carried out regularly now and beyond its obvious reputational impact, this sucks up valuable management time and attention. In the summer of 2015 CEO, co-founder and investor Gregor Gerlach, who has been running the group since 2011 is stepping down and Jochen Halfmann is taking over. A new Vapiano People Program with an App is being developed with the aim to better interact with customers that will incorporate innovate features such as mobile pay. The German website sees a launch of new magazine to further promote the brand and there is now a full inhouse blogger and Instagram team being installed. In October the company buys seven restaurants from original co-founder, former co-investor and ex-president previously responsible for internation expansion Kent Hahne (2x Bonn, 3x Cologne, 1x Koblenz and one in Cologne thatâs under construction). This package of Vapiano restaurants is very successful and generates net sales of more than 20 million euros in 2014. Hahne opened his first Vapiano restaurant in Cologne in August 2006 and in 2015 with his company apeiron AG, Hahne operates six L'Osteria franchise restaurants, a direct Vapiano competitor, and two self-owned restaurants GinYuu. Then in November of 2015, the next public relations bomb goes off with allegations regarding the company's quality standards. The company immediately investigates the issue through internal and external specialists but finds no evidence of any quality issues. Nevertheless, knowing that the group is now being closely watched, the companyâs already in place hygiene standards are being reinforced. Additional audits and inspections are performed nationally. Further, all Vapianos worldwide are being audited twice by the partners SGS Institut Fresenius and SAI Global. Auditing software is purchased to simplify the implementation of the audits and the resulting measures. Apart from the external examinations, there is a food sampling plan in place being performed continuously. Again, all of this sucks up costs, management time and attention. With all these tumultuous developments the companyâs growth engine is undeterred. Revenue grows by a whopping 50 million euros to 202 million euros, an increase of 33%. Impressive. While average spent per customer increases in all countries, the number of customers per day in Germany decreases by 3.3% partially due to the negative press towards the end of the year. Five own, four JV and 19 new franchise restaurants are added that year to the group, the total number of own managed restaurants grows to 51, there are 31 JVs and 84 franchises which bringing the total to 166 Vapiano restaurants. Global restaurant sales are now above 400 million euros. But while revenue grows by an astronomical 50 million euros, operating profits, alarmingly, shrink again. Gross margins are staying perfectly healthy above 75% but operating costs keep growing disproportionately fast. The Companyâs outstanding debt jumps by almost 30 million, close to 85 million euros by the end of the year. With operating profits at 9.5 million euros, alarm bells should be going off right now. In Q4 of 2015, new CEO Jochen Halfmann introduces Strategy 2020. The new strategy includes five essential points. One, profitable growth in the newly defined core markets of Germany and Austria as well as in the UK, Netherlands, France and USA. Two, operational excellence through strict âbest practiceâ management. Three, further development and digitalization of the concept considering guest feedback. Four, greater focus on long-term employee retention and five, building a modern and sustainable IT landscape. Soundâs good on paper but letâs see how things pan out. Vapiano's investments (capital expenditures) that year are primarily directed towards new restaurant openings, renovations of existing establishments, and share acquisitions in other Vapiano restaurants from franchisees or JV partners. A significant portion of funds is allocated to the digitalization of the guest experience, including the development of a new app scheduled for market release in 2016 and the implementation of a time recording system across all group restaurants. The world's first standalone Vapiano restaurant with a delivery service that year is built in FĂźrth, Germany. The company keeps expanding its presence in both inner-city locations and international markets, such as Shanghai, China. To finance all of this, the group has its own operating cash flow which comes in at 18 million while capital expenditures are 26 million euros plus 14 million for acquisitions. The funding gab is filled with 26 million euros of new debt and a seven-million-euro equity raise. At that end of the year and after the equity raise Gregor Gerlach (through his AP Leipzig GmbH & Co. KG entity) holds 30.1%, Hans-Joachim and Gisa Sander through their Exchange Bio GmbH hold 25.5% and the Tchibo heirs, Herz through their Mayfair Beteiligungsfonds II GmbH & Co. KG hold 44,4%. But for the first time the restaurantâs concept that was so successful to date is being questioned. Some customers are starting to mislike the operational flow of the concept itself. If you want pasta, you must queue for pasta. If you want pizza you stand in a different queue. A small side salad, yet another queue. "You spend more time carrying trays than an actress in Berlin-Mitte. The audience in the pasta limbo can only consist of people who have worked for an insurance company for a long time and, like Stockholm syndrome, they can no longer get away from the industrial canteen feeling," writes TV host Beisenherz provocatively. While overly harsh in his assessment he's not entirely wrong judging by customers venting their frustrations in forums and social media channels. It isnât uncommon for those who ordered pizza to have already finished eating while there is little movement in the pasta queue. Long term that doesn't go down well, QSRs competitors like LâOsteria are handling this process differently, with much success. https://preview.redd.it/6cas01oked0d1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=2da6e0b4bc0e07dbee558de412feb414cd598d4a Tipping PointWhere are now in the year 2016 and things start to deteriorate visibility. Perhaps not for the lemanâs eye but any business minded observer can see that there are problems under the hood. Yes, revenue grows yet another whopping 50 million to almost 250 million euros but half of that growth, comes from acquisitions of restaurants that the group didnât already own 100%, which is now being fully consolidated within the groupâs accounts. Here is a concrete example. In the past, Vapiano SE, the groupâs top holding company held an indirect 50% stake in a French subgroup via the subsidiary VAP Restaurants SA, based in Luxembourg, and included this as an associated company in the Vapiano SE consolidated financial statements using the equity method. Due to the acquisition of additional shares in September of 2016, Vapiano SE's indirect share in the French subgroup increased to 75%. This means that Vapiano SE takes control of the French subgroup, which is therefore included in the groupâs financial statements as part of the full consolidation. The revenue from the acquired subsidiary now recorded in the consolidated income statement amounts to 12.8 million euros. While thatâs great for the top line, the loss of the fully consolidated entity equates to 0.2 million euros. Yes, you are buying revenue, but there are losses attached to them, not profits. A similar case is the Swedish entity that runs eight restaurants with revenue of 11.5 million euros but has losses of 235 thousand euros. So much for Strategy 2020 and âprofitableâ growth.That year the groupâs operating profits are absolutely tanking, halving to 3.5 million euros. Operating profits are now a mere 1,4% of revenue. Remember original founder Mark Korzilius who talked about operating margins of 25% to 28% at the restaurant level? Yes, there are overhead costs for the organization that sits above the chain of restaurants, but operating margins that low indicates a course correction is needed. Whatâs telling is that in the annual report, in the management discussion section, the company starts talking about EBITDA as a proxy measure of profitability, rather than operating profit or net income. This wasnât the case in the years before. Is this window dressing for an upcoming IPO? EBITDA is short for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization. How can you measure profitability of a restaurant chain that absolutely and unequivocally needs capital investment to maintain its restaurant operations, the very source of cash generation, by simply excluding this maintenance charge (depreciation in the income statement)? Vapianoâs own annual report talks about the fact that existing restaurants must be rejuvenated from time to time and that new interior designs have to be implemented every few years. These things wear and tear, they go out of style, kitchen equipment breaks and needs replacement. This business absolutely needs maintenance capital expenditure, why anyone talks of profits before these maintenance costs is beyond me. Fun fact: in the previous annual report EBITDA is mentioned seven times, mostly around restaurant acquisitions and financing, not however as a profit indication for the group. In the new annual report, EBITDA is mentioned 28 times. Maybe itâs just me but belated Charlie Munger liked to call EBITDA: bullsh*t earnings. When in doubt I stick with Charlie. Interestingly, EBITDA for Vapiano keeps growing while operating and net profits keep falling. Operating cashflow for the group that year is about 21 million euros, but capital expenditure is 30 million and acquisitions for subsidiaries another 20 million. To finance these expenditures another 28 million euros of debt and 16 million of equity is raised. Net debt rises above 130 million euro. The operating cashflow of the group before any capital expenditures is 21 million euros. I am not sure free cash flow would be significantly positive after maintenance capex is paid out; itâs not broken out so we canât be sure. Granted, I am not on the ground during this time, and I am not in the board room, I am simply reading whatâs in front of me, but to me this is starting to look like a distressed situation. Regardless, the following year the company goes public. IPOWhere are now in the year 2017 and its Vapianoâs first year as public company. The companyâs annual report reads the following âSales revenue, like-for-like growth (LfL) and the earnings figures EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are used as the most important financial performance indicators for controlling operational business activities.â The very same report however also says: âThe majority of the group's investments regularly go towards opening new restaurant locations and modernizing existing restaurants. The latter are differentiated into regular replacement investments that occur during ongoing operations (Maintenance CAPEX) and fundamental investments in the renovation of a restaurant (Remodeling CAPEX). On average, a restaurant remodeling takes place nine years after opening.â It says it right there in their own report; every nine years a remodeling is taking place. Remodeling and updating is not cost free, so why exclude depreciation charges which reflect capital expenditures? I understand that perhaps you would want to strip out one-off opening costs, thatâs fine and fair, but donât go overboard.The number of restaurants increases by 26 (previous year: 13) to a total of 205. The increase consists of 27 new openings and one closure. Group revenue grows to an astonishing 325 million euros but here comes the shocker, operating profits turn negative to 25 million. Fine, strip out foreign exchange losses of 3 million, IPO costs of 5.8 million and new opening costs of 6.1 million and you still have 10 million euros of operational losses. All the while the debt load of almost 130 million hasnât materially changed, so those operating losses are before a six-million-euro interest payment. 184 million euros are raised through the IPO of which 85 million go to the company. This money is earmarked for further expansion as the group has ambitions to almost double the footprint to 330 restaurants by the end of 2020. The company is currently not profitable on an operating basis, and still wants to expand aggressively? I donât get it. The remaining 100 million euros of the IPO money raised is distributed to co-founder Gregor Gerlach and Wella heirs Hans-Joachim and Gisa Sander. The family office of the former Tchibo owners GĂźnter and Daniela Herz with a 44% stake, donât sell a single share. After the IPO, 32% of all the companyâs shares are now in free float. One year later, in 2018, things get even worse. Revenue grows to 371 million, but operating losses mount to 85 million euros, thatâs before interest expenses of 9 million. Even the beloved EBITDA figure turns negative, meaning the operating business before any expansionary or even maintenance capital expenditures is loss making. All regions are experiencing significant deterioration in their earnings profiles. Like for like sales are down 1% across the board. Thatâs revenue, not profitability. The question naturally arises: is the Group approaching its natural saturation point here or this operational by nature? The operating cash flow is now 9 million while financing cost are close to 7 million. That leaves 2 million for maintenance capital for 74 own restaurants and 76 joint ventures ones. Describing this as financially tight, would be an understatement. Things are not looking good at this point. Yet the company still grows restaurants by 26 new sites. 64 million euros are spent on acquisitions, new openings, and maintenance costs, financed through a 20 million-euro equity raise and 72 million of new debt. The Company now has net debt outstanding of over 160 million euros. After the equity raise and by the end of the year 2018, Mayfair owns 47.4%, VAP Leipzig, Gregor Gerlachâs entity owns 18.9% and the Sander couple own 15.5% of the company. Yes, the Sanders and Gerlach may have taken 100 million euros off the table, but they still have substantial skin in the game. Plus, Mayfair hasnât sold a single share and instead injects more money into the company through the equity round. The stock has now fallen from its IPO price of 23 euros per share to under 6 euros by the end of 2018. Something must be done here. And indeed, there is pivot in strategy and a hard push for change. At last, the management team abandons its aggressive growth plan and curtails new openings significantly. Additionally, the team wants to run a thorough analysis of weak locations to then either discontinue or sell sites. In Europe, the operating focus will be put on corporate restaurants and joint ventures in major cities to ensure the ideal size and location to match the respective demographic target group. Outside of Europe, the franchising business is being expanded and at the same time a consolidation of the existing corporate and joint venture markets is being sought. All future investments will be reviewed to achieve higher rates of returns on new openings. Investments are also being made in the renovation of older restaurants. The goal in the future is to also open smaller formats, like Mini-Vapianos (less than 400 square meters) or Freestander at prominent transportation hubs outside city centers (currently in FĂźrth and Toulouse) to cater to individual location requirements, and to enter new partnerships. I am not sure why management hasnât stopped all expansion altogether, bringing the ship in order first, getting profitable, clean up, all hands-on deck before considering any further expansions whatsoever. But again, itâs easy to comment from the sidelines; maybe they saw white spaces that would be covered by competing concepts if they werenât moving fast and aggressively enough. Although pushing internationally means competing with local players such as Jamie's Italian, Prezzo, Pizza Express, Wagamama, Nando's and many more which brings in its own dynamic. Management also aims to enhance guest satisfaction. This involves refining operational processes, reorganizing the support center, and refocusing on the core offering: providing fresh and high-quality Italian food at affordable prices for a broad audience. The group also aims to reduce waiting times, especially during lunch, while also improving the evening atmosphere. There is even what I would call an evolution, away from Vapianoâs original concept, reorientating the customer journey. The ordering flow is being changed, offering guests synchronized preparations of all dishes while eliminating wait times at the cooking stations. The open show kitchen remains, staying true to original mantra of freshness and transparency but now guests can choose their preferred method of ordering through a mobile app, using a digital order point (kiosk), or by personally placing an order with a waiter. Guests can still freely choose their table and are then informed about the complete preparation of their order through a pager or their smartphone. This is a substantial deviation from the original concept, but a needed one. The group is also exploring and implementing the expansion of take-away and home delivery services but only at suitable locations, not universally across new openings. I am not sure why home delivery is even a priority here; it adds operational complexity. Itâs better to clean up shop first and get back to the basics before adding new complexities. To be fair management does try to simplify. There are 49 different permanent dishes on the menu and additional 10 seasonal ones. Customers can choose from eleven different types of pasta. There is simply too much choice, and it makes orders complicated. The company announced to slim the menu down to its most popular and typical Vapiano dishes. Thereâs no need for an Asian salad at an Italian restaurant. "We have to go back to the roots, i.e. classic, honest Italian cuisine" says COO Everke. Regardless, in November of 2018, the supervisory board pulls the plug on CEO Jochen Halfmann and replaces him with Cornelius Everke. Everke himself has just become COO five months ago. Since 2017 he was responsible for international expansion. From 2011 to 2017 that role was filled by Mario Bauer â put a pin in that name, heâll play a key role in the groups fate later. Then nine months later, in the middle of 2019, Cornelius Everke quits. He essentially concludes that his skillset and experience in the areas of internation expansion is no longer needed in the foreseeable future. To put it differently: Vapiano has moved from a growth story and has become a restructuring case, and other skills are required for that job. In June of 2019 Everke says the following â(weâve) made a bit of a mistake when it came to foreign expansionâ. No sh#t. Vapiano postpones the presentation of the 2018 annual financial statements three times in the spring of 2019, citing negotiations over an urgently needed loan of 30 million euros. Itâs not until the end of May that a binding loan commitment comes through from the financing banks and major shareholders. We are now in August of 2019 and the corona pandemic is just around the corner. Supervisory board chief Vanessa Hall takes over as interim-CEO and things are unravelling. Visitor numbers are declining; originally, it was planned to sell the US business but halfway through the year the buyer cannot come up with the money. But not all restaurants are performing poorly. The group's poor figures contrast starkly as an example with the experiences of the Swiss-German franchisee, who runs six restaurants. The Sodano family in Switzerland pays Vapiano a royalty of 6% of sales for the use of the brand. Enrico Sodano explains in an interview that they operate largely autonomously from the licensor. If an âaccidentâ were to occur, he could immediately replace the Vapiano sign with Sodano, he says. The family concluded the rents and contracts with employees and suppliers independently. The Sodano family have six locations in Bern, Basel and Zurich, around one million guests every year and 350 employees. Things are going well on the ground. The delivery service theyâve built is offering them a second income stream. Expansion into Winterthur, St. Gallen and Lucerne are being planned; small locations with 150 to 250 square meters and an attached delivery service. Originally, Vapiano restaurants used to be huge but for such a large restaurant to be profitable, 800 to 1,000 guests per day are needed. Thatâs possible in medium-sized cities, but not in smaller towns which is why the Vapiano group now also supports smaller formats. Back to our corporate drama. The 2019 annual report would be the last report the group files. By the end 2019 the outstanding debt of the company is at an astronomical 450 million euros. Revenue has grown by another 7%, produced by four net new openings through two JVs and two franchise restaurants but operating losses come in at 317 million euros. That sound like an absolute shocker at first but depreciation and amortization charges are 345 million, so that operating cash flow is actually positive but unfortunately capital expenditures and interest payments are so large that they are eating up all of the companyâs operating cash flow. Then in the beginning of 2020 Corona hits with full force and the world shuts down. As a result of the measures to prevent further spreading of the virus, the group is forced to cease all global business operations (except in Sweden). While all these shutdowns are happening, the group is the middle of negotiating with its lending banks and main shareholders. There are additional financing needs for restructuring measures, even without a pandemic happening in the background. The situation is so dire that the company starts pleading to the German government to roll out the package of financial help more quickly. Unfortunately, itâs to no end. The rapid closure of restaurants and the resulting lack of operating cash inflows in conjunction with the additional financing requirements, lead to the companyâs final knockout punch. In April of 2020, the Vapiano group officially files for insolvency proceedings. The end of an era. New BeginningsBecause of the pandemic, the majority of the group's subsidiaries in Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, Sweden, and China also file for insolvency or seek liquidation. The US business never gets sold in the end and is wound down. In the summer of 2020, significant group divestments occur, including the sale of 75% shares in the group's French subsidiaries, shares in franchisor companies, Australian subsidiaries, German subsidiaries, associated companies, self-managed restaurants in Germany, and insolvency-related sales in the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Sweden. The buyer of the Vapiano brand and one of these bundles of Vapiano restaurants is company named Love & Food Restaurant Holding, a consortium led by Mario C. Bauer â a name I told you to remember. Bauer was a former Vapiano board member and led the national and international expansion, opening 200 sites in 33 countries from 2011 to 2017 until he was succeeded by Cornelius Everke. Bauer didnât feel comfortable with the IPO at the time but clearly has a lot of managerial and entrepreneurial talent.The buyer consortium is an absolute A-Team comprised of European QSR top league hitters, including the founder of the Pret A Manger chain Sinclair Beecham; Henry McGovern, the founder and Ex-CEO of the giant international restaurant and foodservice operator AmRest; the Van der Valk Family that runs hotels and Vapiano restaurants in the Netherlands, and co-founder and ex-CEO Gregor Gerlach. The acquisition value is 15 million euros and entails 30 Vapiano restaurants in Germany, albeit thatâs just the purchase price which comes on top of any capital investment needed to refresh and return the sites to its former glory. Nevertheless, just as a thought experiment, if you can get each site to 2 million euros of revenue and 400,000 euros in operating profit on average, which wouldnât be an overly aggressively assumption given the companyâs history, youâve got yourself a package that can deliver restaurant-level operating profits of 12 million euros or more. Itâs not disclosed how much capex was needed to refresh the operations, just that fact that the overall investment plus purchase price was a middle double-digit million-euro figure. Stil, it probably was a decent purchase. The same consortium buys Vapianoâs French business for 25 million euros just two weeks prior. After the transaction concludes, the master franchise is given to Delf Neumann and his Gastro & Soul GmbH. Neumann is an experienced operator, and he is ambitious to revitalise the brand with new services and products. For example, instead of pizza, the restaurants will be serving pinsa - a flatbread made from sourdough, wheat and rice flour, topped similarly to a pizza. It targets a more health-oriented customer base looking for a less calory heavy option. The menu overall is expanded by including a variety of vegan and vegetarian dishes. https://preview.redd.it/kpt7ea6red0d1.png?width=1242&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9930ced85ee364e9df414547cae06b47a03fc19 Today Neumannâs Gastro & Soul GmbH operates 18 Vapianos on its own account and has 29 franchise sites, amongst other brands. By the year 2021, Vapiano operates 191 restaurants in 34 countries. This is around 50 fewer sites than before the bankruptcy. The number of branches is particularly thinned out in Germany â from 80 to 55. Nevertheless, Vapiano's home country remains by far the largest market, followed by France with 35 restaurants and Austria with 15 locations. âWe have shrunk ourselves to health,â says Bauer in the aftermath and there is no further shrinking planned. Quite the opposite, the smell of expansion is in the air again â pun intended. Not as aggressively as before and with a new menu and ordering process. Overall, the team around Bauer is filled with industry experts with knowledge and networks gained over decades who have a great track record, a long-term view, and the staying power to let Vapiano breath and finds its way back to success. The pressure of being a public company with all the associated quarterly, half-year and yearly disincentives have been removed. The menu is changed and extended with new types of pasta and sauces with significantly more vegetarian and vegan dishes available. Guests can order with restaurant staff, at terminals or on their phones and there are barcodes attached to the tables identify the respective seat. The food is brought to your table, all at the same time if you are in a group, no more annoyances with waiting in line. There is a plan for smaller, 350 square meter locations, with half the number of guests and significantly fewer staff and less set-up costs required to make the economics work. Locations that capitalize on remote work and increased demand for local lunch options, higher population density with shorter delivery routes and therefore cost-effective in house delivery services are targeted. And Bauer is testing the concept of ghost kitchens, which operate without a dining room or service staff, focusing solely on preparing food for delivery services, which for obvious reasons have a very different operational set up and footprint. Original founder Mark Korzilius however is not entirely convinced. He is not a fan of the pinsa for instance and he considers Vapiano's pizza as its cash cow, flagship product and believes that the core Vapiano proposition of Pizza, Pasta, Bar that has given the company its original success is being diluted. He instead admires the competitor L'Osteria, saying theyâve done a better job by focusing on Italian classics, especially the impressively large pizzas that sticks out beyond the plate is leaving every customer in awe. The guys who run LâOsteria are the same guys who have built Vapiano with him in the first place. Bauer on the other hand, like a true business leader, remains undeterred, stating that he is frequently asked whether Vapiano's restart was bold or foolish. He believes in entrepreneurship, franchising, in his experienced fellow partners and importantly the Vapiano concept. By the year 2024 you can find over 140 Vapiano branded restaurant in 27 countries across the globe, including locations far away from its birthplace like Australia, USA, Columbia, Chile, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. And why not? Italian food is, and will remain to be, incredibly popular. Vapiano offers fresh and tasty food at affordable prices in a good atmosphere. This combination of attributes should attract a lot of customers. It certainly has in the past. For more stories: WIP Thomas Weitzendoerfer Substack |
2024.05.14 12:18 Slaxlax Gaming PC Upgrade
Hey Reddit,
TL;DR: Which part of my PC should I upgrade first? Specs at the bottom.
I bought my PC a few years ago when the RTX 3090 has been top tier. Since then, a lot of better hardware has been released. While I do not play any big AAA-games, I still wanted to check whether I should consider upgrading anything. If so, what part should I upgrade first?
My current specs are:
Z490-A Pro
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
Intel i9-10900K @ 3.7 Ghz
RAM DDR4-3200 32 GB (2x16 GB)
If you need any other Information, please feel free to ask in the comments.
Many thanks in advance to everyone!
submitted by Slaxlax to PcBuild [link] [comments]
TL;DR: Which part of my PC should I upgrade first? Specs at the bottom.
I bought my PC a few years ago when the RTX 3090 has been top tier. Since then, a lot of better hardware has been released. While I do not play any big AAA-games, I still wanted to check whether I should consider upgrading anything. If so, what part should I upgrade first?
My current specs are:
Z490-A Pro
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
Intel i9-10900K @ 3.7 Ghz
RAM DDR4-3200 32 GB (2x16 GB)
If you need any other Information, please feel free to ask in the comments.
Many thanks in advance to everyone!
2024.05.14 09:05 AdDistinct3976 What can I do - Immigration agency not giving promised scholarship.
My brother had availed services of an agency for the processing of his immigration application in the UK.
They did not charge him anything.
On the contrary, they promised him a scholarship of âš70,000 if he would get everything processed by them (accomodation, insurance, etc). He got processed everything except his Visa.
At the time, they did not inform us that opting out of Visa service would affect the disbursement time or amount of the scholarship.
In fact, they encouraged my brother to provide referrals, and my brother referred another student to get his application processed through them.
We were supposed to receive the scholarship money by November 2023 which we accounted towards my brother's rent installment in the UK.
But, since then, they stopped replying to our messages or responding to our calls. Once when they did in March 2024, they assured us that the money would be credited within 15 days.
It has still not been credited, and when we threatened to take legal action, they are citing conflict of interest with my brother's visa processing agency.
They did not bother to tell us anything for the past 7 months when we were helplessly following up.
On being asked when will the conflict be resolved since it is 7 months already, they do not have any definite reply. In fact, they are gaslighting us by saying that the services were provided for free to my brother, so we should be grateful for that only.
However, they are not free. The company is sitting on hefty commissions earned on two applications and refusing to pass on the benefit that they so boldly advertised and promised. Secondly, why were they not transparent with my brother during the time of application? And lastly, why wait for 7 months and a legal threat to even give us one response?
It's not only a case of misleading advertisement, but also horrendous customer care that has caused us immense mental strain and financial crunch (since on their promise, my brother accounted that money for his rent). We are a middle class family. It screwed up our carefully planned budget.
When we said we'd take a legal action, their response was non chalant, as if it does not matter to them that they are in the wrong.
What can I do in this situation? Such companies need to be held accountable for their false advertising and poor customer care, especially when they promise money to middle class students and not adhere to it.
PS: I wrote an email to [nch-ca@gov.in](mailto:nch-ca@gov.in) but I am not sure when will they reply. I tried filing complaint through consumer forum's whatsapp, but it does not reply anything after I select "visa and immigration agency" in the industry category.
Please advice, thank youđđź
submitted by AdDistinct3976 to LegalAdviceIndia [link] [comments]
They did not charge him anything.
On the contrary, they promised him a scholarship of âš70,000 if he would get everything processed by them (accomodation, insurance, etc). He got processed everything except his Visa.
At the time, they did not inform us that opting out of Visa service would affect the disbursement time or amount of the scholarship.
In fact, they encouraged my brother to provide referrals, and my brother referred another student to get his application processed through them.
We were supposed to receive the scholarship money by November 2023 which we accounted towards my brother's rent installment in the UK.
But, since then, they stopped replying to our messages or responding to our calls. Once when they did in March 2024, they assured us that the money would be credited within 15 days.
It has still not been credited, and when we threatened to take legal action, they are citing conflict of interest with my brother's visa processing agency.
They did not bother to tell us anything for the past 7 months when we were helplessly following up.
On being asked when will the conflict be resolved since it is 7 months already, they do not have any definite reply. In fact, they are gaslighting us by saying that the services were provided for free to my brother, so we should be grateful for that only.
However, they are not free. The company is sitting on hefty commissions earned on two applications and refusing to pass on the benefit that they so boldly advertised and promised. Secondly, why were they not transparent with my brother during the time of application? And lastly, why wait for 7 months and a legal threat to even give us one response?
It's not only a case of misleading advertisement, but also horrendous customer care that has caused us immense mental strain and financial crunch (since on their promise, my brother accounted that money for his rent). We are a middle class family. It screwed up our carefully planned budget.
When we said we'd take a legal action, their response was non chalant, as if it does not matter to them that they are in the wrong.
What can I do in this situation? Such companies need to be held accountable for their false advertising and poor customer care, especially when they promise money to middle class students and not adhere to it.
PS: I wrote an email to [nch-ca@gov.in](mailto:nch-ca@gov.in) but I am not sure when will they reply. I tried filing complaint through consumer forum's whatsapp, but it does not reply anything after I select "visa and immigration agency" in the industry category.
Please advice, thank youđđź
2024.05.14 07:11 hyvarjus Augusta Precious Metals Review: Fees, Services, and Customer Experiences
Investing in precious metals like gold and silver has been a reliable way to diversify your portfolio and protect your wealth against market volatility. One of the standout companies in this field is Augusta Precious Metals. In this comprehensive review, I'll cover everything you need to know about Augusta Precious Metals, from their services and fees to their customer service and overall reputation.
Augusta Precious Metals specializes in helping customers set up self-directed IRAs that include physical gold and silver. Unlike traditional IRAs, these self-directed accounts allow you to invest in physical precious metals, providing a tangible asset that can hedge against economic downturns and inflation.
Physical Gold and Silver
In addition to IRAs, Augusta offers direct sales of gold and silver for personal investment. They provide a range of products, including bullion coins, bars, and premium coins. This allows investors to diversify their holdings outside of a retirement account.
Account Setup and Annual Fees
Additional Costs
Account Lifetime Service
One of the standout features of Augusta Precious Metals is their "account lifetime service." This means you can count on ongoing support from their helpful staff for as long as you hold an account with them. This level of service is rare in the industry and underscores Augusta's commitment to customer satisfaction.
Educational Resources
Augusta goes above and beyond in educating its customers. They offer a free gold IRA guide that explains the benefits and potential risks of investing in precious metals. Additionally, they host educational webinars and have an on-staff Harvard-trained economist, Devlyn Steele, who provides insights into market trends and economic forecasts.
Payments by check are capped at $50,000, while bank wire transfers have no cap. It's important to note that Augusta does not accept payments via PayPal, Bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies.
Testimonials
Many customers have praised Augusta for their transparency, customer service, and educational resources. Here are a few testimonials:
Whether you're new to investing in precious metals or looking to diversify your retirement portfolio, Augusta Precious Metals provides the tools, support, and expertise you need to make informed decisions. With their solid reputation and customer-focused approach, you can feel confident entrusting your precious metals investments to Augusta.
For more information or to get started with your gold IRA, visit Augusta Precious Metals' website and download their free gold IRA guide.
submitted by hyvarjus to AugustaGoldIRAReview [link] [comments]
What is Augusta Precious Metals?
Augusta Precious Metals is a leading provider of gold and silver IRAs, catering primarily to those looking to diversify their retirement savings. Established in 2012, the company has quickly built a reputation for transparency, customer service, and educational resources aimed at helping investors make informed decisions.Key Services and Products
Gold and Silver IRAsAugusta Precious Metals specializes in helping customers set up self-directed IRAs that include physical gold and silver. Unlike traditional IRAs, these self-directed accounts allow you to invest in physical precious metals, providing a tangible asset that can hedge against economic downturns and inflation.
Physical Gold and Silver
In addition to IRAs, Augusta offers direct sales of gold and silver for personal investment. They provide a range of products, including bullion coins, bars, and premium coins. This allows investors to diversify their holdings outside of a retirement account.
Fees and Pricing
Understanding the fee structure is crucial for any investor. Here's a breakdown of the fees you can expect when working with Augusta Precious Metals:Account Setup and Annual Fees
- One-time setup fee: $50
- Annual custodian fee: $100
- Annual storage fee: $100
Additional Costs
- Shipping fee: $0
- Transit insurance fee: $0
Customer Service and Support
Augusta Precious Metals prides itself on offering exceptional customer service. Each customer is assigned a dedicated agent to guide them through the process of setting up an IRA or purchasing precious metals. This personalized approach ensures that all your questions are answered and you feel confident in your investment decisions.Account Lifetime Service
One of the standout features of Augusta Precious Metals is their "account lifetime service." This means you can count on ongoing support from their helpful staff for as long as you hold an account with them. This level of service is rare in the industry and underscores Augusta's commitment to customer satisfaction.
Educational Resources
Augusta goes above and beyond in educating its customers. They offer a free gold IRA guide that explains the benefits and potential risks of investing in precious metals. Additionally, they host educational webinars and have an on-staff Harvard-trained economist, Devlyn Steele, who provides insights into market trends and economic forecasts.
Security and Storage
When you invest in physical gold or silver, secure storage is essential. Augusta Precious Metals partners with the Delaware Depository, a highly secure facility that provides segregated storage for your assets. This means your precious metals are stored separately from those of other investors, ensuring that you receive exactly what you invested in when you choose to withdraw your holdings.Buyback Policy
Augusta Precious Metals offers a buyback policy, although it does not guarantee repurchase. Historically, they have made buyback offers for the products they sell, providing liquidity for investors who decide to sell their holdings. This policy adds an extra layer of security, knowing that there is a potential buyer for your assets if needed.Payment Methods
To open an account with Augusta Precious Metals, you can use the following payment methods: bank wire transfers, personal checks, and bank checks.Payments by check are capped at $50,000, while bank wire transfers have no cap. It's important to note that Augusta does not accept payments via PayPal, Bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies.
Refund Policy
For first-time customers, Augusta offers a 7-day money-back guarantee for premium gold and silver coin transactions. This policy allows new investors to make their initial purchases with peace of mind, knowing they have the option to cancel their order if they change their minds. However, subsequent orders are final upon completion of the recorded confirmation call unless state laws provide for a longer cancellation period.Customer Reviews and Ratings
Augusta Precious Metals has received numerous accolades and positive reviews from both customers and industry experts. They hold an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and a AAA rating from the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA). Additionally, they have been named "Best Overall Gold IRA Company" by Money magazine for multiple years and "Most Transparent Pricing" by Investopedia.Testimonials
Many customers have praised Augusta for their transparency, customer service, and educational resources. Here are a few testimonials:
- John D.: "Augusta Precious Metals made the process of setting up a gold IRA straightforward and stress-free. Their team was always available to answer my questions and provide guidance."
- Sarah K.: "I appreciate Augusta's commitment to educating their customers. Their webinars and guides gave me the confidence to diversify my retirement savings with gold and silver."
- Michael R.: "The account lifetime service is a game-changer. It's reassuring to know that I have ongoing support for my investments."
Ethical Practices
Augusta Precious Metals prides itself on ethical business practices. They educate consumers on how to avoid common scams in the precious metals industry and are transparent about their pricing and fees. Unlike some competitors, they do not use high-pressure sales tactics or scare tactics to push customers into making purchases.Special Promotions and Perks
While Augusta Precious Metals does not offer traditional promo codes or discounts, they do have special promotions. For instance, depending on the size of your investment, you could have your fees waived for up to 10 years. Additionally, when you open a gold IRA account, you'll receive a complimentary gold coin as a gift.Pros and Cons
Pros- Transparency: Clear and upfront about fees and policies.
- Customer Service: Personalized and ongoing support with the account lifetime service.
- Educational Resources: Extensive materials to help investors make informed decisions.
- Storage: Secure and segregated storage options are available through the Delaware Depository.
- Buyback Policy: Offers liquidity for your investments.
- High Minimum Investment: A minimum of $50,000 may be prohibitive for some investors.
- Limited Online Transactions: You cannot complete transactions online, which may be inconvenient for some customers.
Conclusion
Augusta Precious Metals stands out as a top choice for those looking to invest in gold and silver IRAs. Their commitment to transparency, customer service, and education makes them a reliable partner in your investment journey. While the high minimum investment might be a barrier for some, the benefits and security offered by Augusta make it a compelling option for serious investors.Whether you're new to investing in precious metals or looking to diversify your retirement portfolio, Augusta Precious Metals provides the tools, support, and expertise you need to make informed decisions. With their solid reputation and customer-focused approach, you can feel confident entrusting your precious metals investments to Augusta.
For more information or to get started with your gold IRA, visit Augusta Precious Metals' website and download their free gold IRA guide.
2024.05.14 03:47 InternalSate Build be a pc that can run 1440p at 144hz
What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.Playing AAA/resource intensive games
What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?1700 (if its possible to go below that at get something really good that can run 1440 at 144hz on max settings then plz recommend thnx)
When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.Within the next eleven days to two weeks.
What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)ToweOS (I have everything else)
Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?USA, yes I live near a micro center
If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.None
Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?Probably not, I dont know what that is, but if you recommend it then feel free to put a build list in the disc. !
Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)32g ram
Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?no
Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?Yes, 11
thank you!
2024.05.14 03:16 winternoa Are you really telling me that people pay $30 for 12 warps
NO SHAME on anyone who is not free to play, this isn't a shaming post.
i'm new to gacha and apparently it's 30 bucks for like 12 pulls which is insane to me since 9 of those will be 3 star junk anyway, and then you'll have one 4 star the majority of the time....
Are people really paying $30 for one 4 star and like 180 undying embers like that is more expensive than entire games out there. Two of those and that's a AAA game.
I was thinking of putting some money in but as soon as I saw the price I noped harder than i had ever noped before
again no shame if you have the funds and you love the game, but it was so much more than i personally expected, i thought it'd be like 5 bucks per 10 warps or something, maybe 10 bucks so each warp is a dollar.
Guess I'm not pulling topaz anytime soon...
submitted by winternoa to HonkaiStarRail [link] [comments]
i'm new to gacha and apparently it's 30 bucks for like 12 pulls which is insane to me since 9 of those will be 3 star junk anyway, and then you'll have one 4 star the majority of the time....
Are people really paying $30 for one 4 star and like 180 undying embers like that is more expensive than entire games out there. Two of those and that's a AAA game.
I was thinking of putting some money in but as soon as I saw the price I noped harder than i had ever noped before
again no shame if you have the funds and you love the game, but it was so much more than i personally expected, i thought it'd be like 5 bucks per 10 warps or something, maybe 10 bucks so each warp is a dollar.
Guess I'm not pulling topaz anytime soon...
2024.05.14 03:12 Sweet_Cry_9224 The one I loved has turned into the greatest pain of my life
Last year I got into a relationship that was the most intense of my life. We would write poetry to each other. Love letters.
Months in they showed their true face. They started abusing me physically and mentally.
Eventually we split. I sent them their possessions back along with a letter that said goodbye.
She then reported me to the police for doing this citing it as harassment.
She tried to get a non molestation order.
The court threw it out. My lawyer and I prepared a dissertation worth of evidence. Along with countless witnesses testimonies.
I know that she is still spreading lies about me and trying to turn people against me.
It's funny, because when I sent that letter. I finally felt free. I had no resentment. Or anything. I had let go. I had finally let go.
Now. I hate her. I hate everything about her and everything about people like her.
submitted by Sweet_Cry_9224 to BreakUps [link] [comments]
Months in they showed their true face. They started abusing me physically and mentally.
Eventually we split. I sent them their possessions back along with a letter that said goodbye.
She then reported me to the police for doing this citing it as harassment.
She tried to get a non molestation order.
The court threw it out. My lawyer and I prepared a dissertation worth of evidence. Along with countless witnesses testimonies.
I know that she is still spreading lies about me and trying to turn people against me.
It's funny, because when I sent that letter. I finally felt free. I had no resentment. Or anything. I had let go. I had finally let go.
Now. I hate her. I hate everything about her and everything about people like her.
2024.05.14 02:16 EmpireTV2013 Sequel for the Battle of the Ape
This set in the future when human and ape could live together side by side. Although human and ape live peacefully side by side, human are expected to marry another human and an Ape is expected to marry another ape. Any form of romantic or sexual relationship between a man and an ape are considered against the natural order. This takes places between Emily and Koba a human and an Ape which fell in love for each other.
As the two species continue to rebuild society together, Koba and Emily's relationship deepens, leading to intimate moments behind closed doors. However, their love affair is discovered by Emily's parents, who are horrified by the idea of interspecies romance.
The revelation sparks controversy and division within the community. Traditionalists argue that relationships between humans and apes defy the natural order and threaten the stability of their society. They fear that such unions could blur the boundaries between species and undermine the values they hold dear.
Meanwhile, advocates for love and acceptance argue that love knows no boundaries and that individuals should be free to follow their hearts, regardless of species. They believe that Koba and Emily's love has the potential to bridge the gap between humans and apes, fostering greater understanding and unity within their community.
As tensions escalate, Koba and Emily find themselves caught in the crossfire, facing prejudice and discrimination from those who oppose their relationship. Despite the challenges they face, they refuse to give up on their love, determined to prove that love can conquer all.
This had became a topic of planetwide debate. The recognition of interspecies marriages marks a significant turning point in the debate over human-ape relations.
In states where interspecies marriages are recognized, couples celebrating their love face scrutiny and backlash from those who oppose such unions. Some governments enact harsh penalties, including execution or jail time, for individuals caught engaging in interspecies relations, citing concerns about morality and the preservation of societal norms.
In other states, while interspecies marriages are not explicitly outlawed, laws are enacted to prohibit the public display or endorsement of sexual or romantic relationships between humans and apes. These laws aim to maintain a semblance of order and decency in society while allowing individuals to pursue relationships privately.
Meanwhile, the scientific community's breakthrough in combining human and ape DNA to create hybrids only adds fuel to the fire of controversy. The creation of these hybrids raises ethical questions about the boundaries of scientific experimentation and the implications for the rights and welfare of the resulting individuals.
As the debate over interspecies relations and hybridization intensifies, it threatens to further fracture global alliances and deepen divisions within and between nations. Governments grapple with the complexities of regulating and legislating morality, while individuals and communities wrestle with their own beliefs, prejudices, and fears.
Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, voices on both sides of the debate continue to advocate for their respective positions, each seeking to shape the future of human-ape relations according to their own values and principles. The outcome of this struggle remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the battle for the planet of the apes is far from over.
(feel free to build upon this timeline)
submitted by EmpireTV2013 to PlanetOfTheApes [link] [comments]
As the two species continue to rebuild society together, Koba and Emily's relationship deepens, leading to intimate moments behind closed doors. However, their love affair is discovered by Emily's parents, who are horrified by the idea of interspecies romance.
The revelation sparks controversy and division within the community. Traditionalists argue that relationships between humans and apes defy the natural order and threaten the stability of their society. They fear that such unions could blur the boundaries between species and undermine the values they hold dear.
Meanwhile, advocates for love and acceptance argue that love knows no boundaries and that individuals should be free to follow their hearts, regardless of species. They believe that Koba and Emily's love has the potential to bridge the gap between humans and apes, fostering greater understanding and unity within their community.
As tensions escalate, Koba and Emily find themselves caught in the crossfire, facing prejudice and discrimination from those who oppose their relationship. Despite the challenges they face, they refuse to give up on their love, determined to prove that love can conquer all.
This had became a topic of planetwide debate. The recognition of interspecies marriages marks a significant turning point in the debate over human-ape relations.
In states where interspecies marriages are recognized, couples celebrating their love face scrutiny and backlash from those who oppose such unions. Some governments enact harsh penalties, including execution or jail time, for individuals caught engaging in interspecies relations, citing concerns about morality and the preservation of societal norms.
In other states, while interspecies marriages are not explicitly outlawed, laws are enacted to prohibit the public display or endorsement of sexual or romantic relationships between humans and apes. These laws aim to maintain a semblance of order and decency in society while allowing individuals to pursue relationships privately.
Meanwhile, the scientific community's breakthrough in combining human and ape DNA to create hybrids only adds fuel to the fire of controversy. The creation of these hybrids raises ethical questions about the boundaries of scientific experimentation and the implications for the rights and welfare of the resulting individuals.
As the debate over interspecies relations and hybridization intensifies, it threatens to further fracture global alliances and deepen divisions within and between nations. Governments grapple with the complexities of regulating and legislating morality, while individuals and communities wrestle with their own beliefs, prejudices, and fears.
Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, voices on both sides of the debate continue to advocate for their respective positions, each seeking to shape the future of human-ape relations according to their own values and principles. The outcome of this struggle remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the battle for the planet of the apes is far from over.
(feel free to build upon this timeline)