This is for a friend......
If someone who have qualifications as ahead 80 in 10th But 60 in 12th and had 2 years gap in final year because he was not able to clear the final year paper but than changed his subject and got 9 cgp what are his possibility of getting in good MBA colleges

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
Special thanks to RIAN CHANNEL and xmrallx!
Notes: 5.05 / 6.72 / 7.02 / 7.50 / 9.00 Backport! DLC released together with my friend Arczi! New update to include the new Kurenai DLC pack!

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
Special thanks to xmrallx, Bobby and Andri!
Notes: 5.05 / 6.72 / 7.02 / 7.55 / 9.00 / 11.00 Backport! DLC Released together with my friend Arczi who spent countless hours making all 303 DLC! We did not add the full names to the files but the params all have original names, it was just too much extra work and we are exhausted, i had to figure the issues with the game, as always haha while he spent 2 days making DLC, its too many...... They all had extra data, luckily the paks inside were just junk files and it works without them or we would be screwed lol

Quoting from the video How to kill a God

A Colour Revolution is just whatever revolution that exists in the world and in history, that Puttin & those who think like him believe is the fault of the CIA, as such the definition of what exactly is a Colour Revolution has to keep being changed so that the end goal proving it's all a CIA-OP remains intact. (...) You're not finding the common connection between everything and using that as the basis of the conclusion, you're starting with the conclusion you want, and admitting anything which disproves it, and also distracts from the fact that you've made the connection between flying & evil and refuse to explain. But that's the thing – that connection never needs to be made. The connection is taken on faith that it's there. If it can't be found it's not because it doesn't exist, it's because you fail to find it that connection can never be proven to not exist because Color Revolution Theory is not an academic or a scientific study – it's a conspiracy theory. It's a conspiracy theory that has been painted with the veneer of just enough clever sending scientific woowoo terminology to give it the air of legitimacy so that you go into it already believing that the foundation work that all things that fly are evil, has already been concluded by serious experts. So the end bit the CIA is responsible is the only bet you're allowed to question.

LazerPig described weak signals – or more accurately speaking, intelligence & counterintelligence weak signals. Weak signals are the core axiom pillars why the concept of secret police oand secret services exist in the first place – it's their raison d'être. If you're against that, guess who's the next suspect (maybe terrorist) on a hidden list of scrutiny, threatening national security™...
It's a circular reasoning:

• we don't know what our enemies/potential enemies/presumtive potential enemies are doing –>
• we must be doing something wrong –>
• we aren't paranoic enough to know –>¨
• we don't know what our enemies/potential enemies/presumtive potential enemies are doing –>
• repeat ad nauseam until the Sun explodes, or the heatwave of the universe, or Rapture, or whatever.

Isn't it nice the world we live in – and with whom we share it? Isn't it cute how there are healthy people who – by their own volition – concocted schemes & formulas to self-enforce upon themselves mental illnesses (that they don't have) to justify everything; including their monthly paychecks, fees, and the occasional hidden bribes?
But, it's paranoia. It is paranoia. It's paranoia dubbed in clever sending scientific woowoo terminology to give it the air of legitimacy(sic). It's how The System™ self-enforces itself to exist, disregarding what that system is, how it operates, what's its ideology (if it does have one in the first place), what are its interests. It's the self-licking ice cream cone. It's why dictators/authoritarians with their socio-political, economic, and enforcement (police, secret police, secret services, special services etc.) machineries are obsessed with destroying everything they see a threat & where they think know there's a threat. It's why they wake up in the morning deciding how to ruin lives. It's why their family & friends/community (awwww, there it is; there's that family values again) can afford all those fancy cars, villas, mansions, offshore accounts/properties, chic private university degrees etc. It's why (and how) their aforementioned machineries fill the hours for their monthly/quarterly performance reports, from being fired and/or thrown out the window, hoping to get a pension at the end of their tenure besides what they've stolen. It's the formula for how (and why) they justify their monstrous existence instead of shooting themselves in the head, since everyone else is chickenshit scared to do it.
There are several Wikipedia articles describing weak signals but, oddly, there isn't an English one. Closest are SWOT, risk management, and failure of imagination.
What French wikipedia says:

Signal faible – Weak signal
Weak signals are elements in the perception of the environment, whether opportunities or threats (SWOT matrix), which need to be listened to in anticipation, known as [information] monitoring (surveillance state?), with the aim of participating in the development of forward-looking choices with a view to establishing a strategy and reducing uncertainty. The use of the concept of ‘weak signal’ is expanding, although its relevance remains open to interpretation.
According to Igor Ansoff, the founder of this concept, the Strategic Early Warning System (SEWS) methodology uses weak signals to analyse partial and fragmentary information provided by the environment. This analysis sometimes complements an analysis of major trends. Weak signals are low-frequency signals, or even signals which are not apparent but which are deduced from a piece of information or a fact. SEWS is not confined to geopolitical and technological analysis, but increasingly to financial analysis.
The importance of weak signals lies not in their perception, which is rarely at first sight, but in the contrasting reactions they trigger, helping to imagine dynamic scenarios. Contrary to popular belief, weak signals are above all extrapolations of deductions, particularly in directions that are a priori impossible or even detestable. More concretely, capturing weak signals involves going beyond an initial level of appearances, information or reactions to look for ‘augmented’ data. The journalistic techniques of gathering and processing information used for this purpose make it possible to collect a great deal of data. This data must then be validated and re-interrogated before being used to build a development or management strategy.
The detection of weak signals is the subject of various corporate monitoring processes: technological, competitive, commercial and environmental, social, societal, etc. monitoring, as well as economic intelligence. Weak signals can also be detected outside any corporate logic, which means that monitoring can be supplemented by awareness-raising. Detecting weak signals is a necessary task for companies and organisations (police? secret services?): the main risk for them is not to take risks.

And to use a couple of poignant quotes:

“Trust, but verify.” “The fact that you are free is not your achievement, but rather a failure on our side.”
“If it were a fact, it wouldn't be called intelligence.”

Moving on...

The reason why God-Country-Family is such an effective way, of manipulating people, is because when the world becomes too overwhelming, the average person retreats back to what is important to them – which is their personal morals, the place they live, and their family – and so long as nothing is directly affecting those three things, then, they will rarely go out of their way to care about anything else outside of that scope. A lot of people couldn't give two shits about children dying in other countries, but when it's your family, who is under threat, that's when the knives come out. And that's what's actually happening in these revolutions and people who thought they were progressing towards a better life, suddenly, find out that they're not, and not only are they facing a lifetime of gradually declining living standards under some arsehole, but so are their children, the wall has come down and they have been exposed to the potential of a better life & a better way of doing things, and the idea that the hardship they suffer is required to protect them against the corruption of the West, no longer flies. They've seen the corruption of the West and they want to be part of it because it's better than being part of the corrupt East. (...) Every single Revolution currently described as a Colour Revolution was against a corrupt dictator in favor of actual democracy, not the feudalism disguised as democracy that they'd always lived under. That's not something that is unique to any of the Colour Revolutions, that's just what a revolution typically is they are largely throughout history about overthrowing tyrants.

This is where I have to underline an error in thinking to LazerPig, in relation to Colour Revolutions, and what I've written above.
From the perspective of the System™ as a whole, there are two fundamental fulcrum questions: 1) Who's more likely to die at a protest or revolution – parents or individuals? 2) Who's more likely to kill a policeman, riot policeman, secret police officers, and/or soldiers?
Obvious answer to the first question: individuals. Lone individuals, solo or in some ad-hoc group, are more willing to expose themselves to higher degrees of danger at a protest, or revolution upheaval. It's not definitive that they want to die, but they're one degree or two more than the average person afraid of ending up at the hospital of bruises or worse. Parents – whether under democracy or a dictatorship – will never expose themselves to danger. You might find a mother with her daughter, or a father, or a full family with some cardboard messages but... that's it. That's it. Once tear gasses are tossed and the riot police are starting to get pushy, it's full retreat for them.
... but what about the second question? I cannot recall a protest (let alone revolution) in my lifetime, where people in the crowd – individuals or family people with their kids or their kids waiting for them at their homes – suddenly decide to kill riot police, secret service officers (if they can find them), or soldiers armed with automatic rifles. I don't know how, just decide to lynch or stab them, or something. Or attack buildings associated with enforcement agencies, such as police departments, secret services HQs, military barracks, and kill whoever is in there. I can't recall, not even solo individuals, and they're the ones who supposedly have a higher degree of IDGAF of harm. People at protests, let alone revolutions, do not trust each other. Less so into killing people in uniforms, armour, and supported by tanks, helicopters, and special vehicles.
More than that, what if the protest or revolution fails? More often than not, they do – and the machineries immediately start crushing down, ruining lives in the process. No person, no matter how sane or insane, wants any consequences.
And that's the point that proves the argument; that these authoritarian/dictatorship countries know people are afraid of consequences, they know the System is ruthless, they know all the written & unwritten rules – therefore, it has to be CIA, because only lunatics (right?) have an obvious death wish against obvious self-defeating odds of success. Add the cherry on top that people, especially family types, don't even fantasize in their heads killing police, riot police, soldiers, and secret service officers – or kill whoever on shift at the ministries/departments of internal affairs, defense, barracks, police HQs etc.
In conclusion, no. Normal people & normal parents do not want to die and leave their kids alone, orphans, even to their relatives. Never rely on families for protests & revolutions, because they're the most obvious type of people who don't want to die, nor do they want to suffer any subsequent consequences (they're very exposed). The rhetoric is romanticized (parents wanting a better future for their kids) but the reality of the situation is that parents in authoritarian/dictatorship countries – paradoxically – don't love their kids, at least not at the core level. Sure, they may want in abstract a better life for them but, as it turns out, even former Communist countries favoured sending their people by the millions in wealtheir countries to drive taxis, scrub shit stains off toilets, and pick fruits & vegetables from industrial farms. Or prostitution. Or begging. Or criminality.
Or not wanting for them a universal healthcare service & preventing school shootings, right?
People averse from killing operatives & agents of their governments/states are the proof of evidence for any country that, whoever wants to coup d'etat the system, isn't organic. That's why everything is a CIA-OP to the kremlin orcs, and not something spontaneous – what peon (Приспособленчество & ничего) has a death wish for themselves and/or their families, if that's the case?
I've read the book that was cited but I want to remind a fragment from CGP Grey's video Rules for Rulers:

So potential key supporters must weigh the probability of surviving the cull and getting the rewards, versus the risk of being on the outside of a dictatorship they helped create. In a stable democracy, that's a terrible gamble. Maybe you'll be incredibly wealthy, but probably you'll be dead and have made and have made the lives of everyone you know worse. The math says no. Being on the right side of a coup in a dictatorship means having the resources to get you and your family what the peasants lack: health care, education, quality of life.

What I want to underline is that, this is also true for an authoritarian/dictatorship system, applied inversely:

So potential key supporters must weigh the probability of surviving the cull and keep the rewards, versus the risk of being on the outside of a democracy they helped create. In a dictatorship, that's a horrible gamble. Maybe you'll remain incredibly wealthy after what you've stolen during the previous regime & not be investigated by some democratic tribunal, but probably you'll be tortured to death, and have made the lives of everyone related to you – directly or by conjecture – worse. The math says no.

-- English version will follow --
Voici l'occasion de rencontrer les membres de la communauté Meccg, jouer des parties amicales, discuter et échanger autour de l'univers de Tolkien. Un nombre minimal de participants doit confirmer leur présence pour que l'événement ait lieu. Aucun frais d'admission, mais comme nous utiliserons les locaux d'un pub ludique (L'Abyss), il serait appréciable de consommer sur place en échange. Merci à tous pour votre présence.
English :
Here's your chance to meet members of the Meccg community, play friendly games, chat and exchange ideas about the Tolkien universe. A minimum number of participants must confirm their attendance for the event to take place. No admission charge, but as we'll be using the premises of a playful pub (The Abyss game store), it would be appreciated if you could eat on site in exchange. Thank you all for attending.
You can fill the form if you want to register or if you want to share with friends who they are not on Facebook/Discord.
Vous pouvez remplir le formulaire si vous voulez vous inscrire ou si vous voulez partager avec des amis qui ne sont pas sur Facebook.
https://nxworld.club/index.php/apps/forms/s/cgpGzPTKmGogTKXcaMLrSb7D
Or Facebook: https://fb.me/e/2j7ItrGDi

So my friend is having a graduation party and he really likes chess. He’s also really good. He can beat people while blindfolded and while blindfolded but I just say coordinates (instead of “pawn E4”, just “E4”. Couldn’t handle just “pawn” though. Anyways, me and him have both seen the CGP Grey “Can Chess Hexagons?” Video and we love it. So I’ve thought about getting him a copy of the book Grey uses, “First Theories of Hexagonal Chess” by Wladyslaw Glinski, for a graduation present. It’s especially cool because it comes with a hexagonal chess board too. The only problem is, I can’t find it anywhere. The National Library of Australia can email me a pdf, but that’s not very special. I want to get him a real hard copy. So I’ve come to Reddit, possibly the most socially connected site in the world. Surely one of you know’s a guy a know’s a guy who know’s a guy who runs an obscure bookshop in Leeds that has a copy. So, if you know anyone who has a copy of this treasure, please put me in touch. It would mean a lot to me.

Curious to see what everyone uses to pass the time while browsing the net here in Algeria. Here's my personal list, but be warned it's a bit long since Youtube has transformed into my main source of entertainment:
Variety show/comedy:
​

• GMM: Variety show between 2 friends who go back 40 years!
• ZeFrank: Hilarious videos about animals, incredibly informative as well!
• Electroboom: Electrical engineer that goes into some electrical concepts whilst hurting himself in the process, so you get to laugh AND learn at the same time.
• TomSka
• Cinemasins
• Sam O'nella academy
• Gamechanger
• Slow-mo guys.
• Domics
• Colas

​
Science, history and general knowledge:
Math:

• 3BLUE1BROWN: He will make you appreciate the beauty of math in ways you didn't think possible. For math/physics minded people, He has amazing series on Fourier transforms, the essence of calculus, probability theory... that really bring out the intuition of every one of those topics
• Vihart
• Numberphile

Physics (mostly, some do other topics as well):

• Sixty symbols.
• PBS spacetime.
• Steve Mould
• Smarter everyday
• Physics girl

General knowledge:

• Vsauce
• Veritasium
• Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
• Tom Scott
• CGP grey
• Chubbyemu
• Schishow
• Crashcourse
• Eons
• Deeplook
• Minute Earth, Physics and food.
• Computerphile
• The brain scoop

Biology:

• Besmart
• DirtyBiology

Engineering

• Mark Rober
• Real engineering

History:

• Reallifelore
• The great war
• Oversimplified
• Alternate history hub ( not real history, obviously, but interesting none the less).

​
​
Video-essays:

• Every frame a painting
• Exurb1a
• Nerdwriter1
• Secondthought
• Filmtheory, Foodtheory
• The school of life
• The take
• Wendover productions
• Whycreate

​
Gaming:

• Girlfriend reviews
• Gametheory
• Seananners
• StealthgamerBR

​
Fitness:

• Jeff nippard
• Renaissance periodization
• Leanbeaf patty

​
Technology:

• Marques Brownlee
• Hardware unboxed

If you’d like to add an event to our calendar, submit an event here. Please check with the event organizers to see if events change due to weather. Have a great week!
See the full weekly calendar on our website.

Noteworthy Events

Beats N Bars Festival 2024 at American Tobacco Campus

• Get ready to vibe to the scene of hip hop culture and enjoy food while mingling with fellow music lovers. Don't miss out on this epic event that promises to be a music festival & conference to remember.
• Fri, May 10 at 6 p.m.
• Sat, May 11 at 12 p.m.
• $150 for both days

Duke Graduation at Wallace Wade Stadium

• The Duke community is excited to celebrate the Class of 2024 with a commencement ceremony held in Wallace Wade on Sun, May 12 2024.
• Comedian Jerry Seinfeld will be the commencement speaker.
• Fri, May 10 - Sun, May 12

Durham Bulls vs Nashville at Durham Bulls Athletic Park

• Tue, May 7 - Sun, May 12
• $10+

Kids Night Out at Museum of Life and Science

• Drop your little ones off for a kids-only evening of hands-on fun. They’ll eat pizza, play games, explore exhibits, and work together on science experiments.
• Fri, May 10
• 5:30-8:30 p.m.
• $40+

KEM at DPAC

• Internationally renowned R&B singesongwriter KEM brings his tour to DPAC. Capable of connecting romantic joy with spiritual renewal, KEM has a unique place in musical culture. Five albums and three million sales later, he has established himself as a prominent voice articulating critical matters of the heart and soul.
• Fri, May 10
• 8 p.m.
• $59.50+

Multi-Day Events

ACC Softball Tournament at Duke Softball Stadium

• Wed, May 8 - Sat, May 11
• All Day

Moms & Mimosas at Urban Axes

• Celebrate Mother’s Day this year in the most relaxing way possible: by enjoying drinks and throwing axes! Your booking includes 1 drink per-person and 1-on-1 coaching to get everyone throwing safety and comfortably.
• Fri, May 10 - Sun, May 12

Graduation Weekend at The Durham Hotel

• To toast the grads, the Restaurant will feature special dinner and brunch menus during Graduation Weekend. Enjoy a three-course prix fixed dinner.
• Fri, May 10 - Sun, May 12
• $45+

Historic Buildings Open House at West Point on the Eno Park

• Enjoy a look inside the historic McCown-Mangum House, Photography Museum, and Mill.
• Sat, May 11 and Sun, May 12
• 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
• Free admission

Jewish Food Week at Jewish for Good at the Levin JCC

• This mouthwatering event promises to tantalize taste buds while supporting a meaningful cause, with all proceeds benefiting Jewish for Good's Food Pantry.
• Mon, May 6 - Sun, May 12
• $5+

Movies at The Carolina Theatre

• Reptilicus
• North by Northwest & Strangers on a Train
• The Beast
• Freaky Friday

Monday, May 6

5 p.m.
Arts & Drafts at Fullsteam Brewery
6 p.m.
Disc Golf Putting League at The Glass Jug in RTP
6:30 p.m.
Trivia Night at Ponysaurus Brewing Company
7 p.m.
Singles Night at Durty Bull Brewing Brewing Company
Community Board Game Night at Moon Dog Meadery
8 p.m.
Blondshell at Motorco Music Hall (sold out)
All Black Masquerade Party at Rubies on Five Points

Tuesday, May 7

Events at Boxyard RTP

• 5:30-6:30 p.m. - Boxyard Run Club
• 6-8 p.m. - Trivia Night

Events at Durty Bull Brewing Brewing Company

• 12-8 p.m. - Food Truck: Mike's Vegan Cookout
• 7-9 p.m. - Bull City Beer Runners Run Club

Events at Rubies on Five Points

• 6 p.m. - Bring Your Own Vinyl with Jaffar
• 8 p.m. - Night! Night!

11:05 p.m.
Durham Bulls vs Nashville at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
12 p.m.
Native Plant Solutions: Clay Soils (Online) at Sarah P. Duke Gardens
5:45 p.m.
Community Fitness Classes with YMCA at The Glass Jug Beer Lab in Downtown Durham
6 p.m.
Queer Bachata at Arcana
Women on the Wall at Triangle Rock Club - Durham
6:30 p.m.
Trivia at Durham Food Hall
7 p.m.
Trivia at Beer Study Durham
Live Piano Karaoke at Congress Social Bar
Not Rocket Science Trivia at DSSOLVR Durham
TBS 1st Tuesday Blues Jam at The Blue Note Grill
7:30 p.m.
Sip & Strum Ukulele Class at Bull City Solera and Taproom
8 p.m.
Jeremy 'Bean' Clemons Trio at Kingfisher
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets at Motorco Music Hall
Tommy Emmanuel, CGP at The Carolina Theatre
Open Stage at The Pinhook

Wednesday, May 8

Events at Boxyard RTP

• 12-2 p.m. - Hear & There: Daniel Delorenzo
• 5:30-8:30 p.m. - Game Night

Events at ZincHouse Winery & Brewery

• 7-8 p.m. - Signature Wine Tasting
• 7-8:30 p.m. - Laughs Comedy Night

3 p.m.
Durham Farmers’ Market at Durham Central Park
4 p.m.
Whiskey Wednesdays at Alley Twenty Six
5 p.m.
Free Wednesday Wine Tasting at Beer Study Durham
5:30 p.m.
Wined Down Wednesday: Alcohol Ink Coasters at Guglhupf
6 p.m.
Figure Drawing and Tarot with Devon at Arcana
Witches Brew at Fullsteam Brewery
6:30 p.m.
Eric Hirsh Solo Piano at Missy Lane's Assembly Room
Trivia Night with Pickle at The Glass Jug Beer Lab in RTP
6:35 p.m.
Durham Bulls vs Nashville at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
7 p.m.
Universus TCG: Local Championship at Atomic Empire
Hammered Trivia at Hi-Wire Brewing
Karaoke Night at Mavericks Smokehouse
Music Bingo at Ponysaurus Brewing Company
Brett Chambers Open Mic at The Blue Note Grill
7:30 p.m.
Stand-Up with Rhizome Comedy at The Durham Hotel
8 p.m.
Air Hockey Tournament at Boxcar Bar + Arcade
Trivia Night at Bull McCabe's
Karaoke at Moon Dog Meadery
Pachyman / Combo Chimbita at Motorco Music Hall
Cindy Lee / Freak Heat Waves at The Pinhook (sold out)

Thursday, May 9

Events at Durty Bull Brewing Brewing Company

• 12-8 p.m. -Food Truck: Mike's Vegan Cookout
• 7-9 p.m. - Thursday Trivia with Nick

12 p.m.
Taking Back Thursday: Mysti Mayhem at Boxyard RTP
1 p.m.
Meet the Keepers at Sarah P. Duke Gardens
3 p.m.
Guided Museum Tour at 21c Museum Hotels Durham
5 p.m.
Thirsty Thursdays at Dashi
5:30 p.m.
Walking Club with Bull City Strollers at The Glass Jug Beer Lab in Downtown Durham
6 p.m.
Keegan Heron and Tarot with Virginia at Arcana
Vinyl Night with DJ Deckades at Gizmo Brew Works
6:15 p.m.
Pony Run at Ponysaurus Brewing Company
6:30 p.m.
Colorful Flower Arranging Class at DSSOLVR
Line Dance Classes at Mystic Farm and Distillery
Boulders & Brews Meetup at Triangle Rock Club - Durham
6:35 p.m.
Durham Bulls vs Nashville at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
7 p.m.
Trivia Night at Beer Tooth Taproom
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night at Congress Social Bar
Candlelight: A Tribute to Whitney Houston at Hayti Heritage Center
Summer Jazz Jam (Curated by Al Strong) at Missy Lane's Assembly Room
Community Board Game Night at Moon Dog Meadery
Jazz Jam Sessions at Succotash Southern & Creole Kitchen
7:30 p.m.
Trivia Night with Big Slow Tom at Clouds Brewing Brightleaf Square
The DPAC Rising Star Awards at DPAC
Katie Basden with Emily Musolino at The Blue Note Grill
Praying in Bronze: A Handbell Concert at Trinity United Methodist Church
8 p.m.
Weekly Single Mingle at Boxcar Bar + Arcade
Trivia at Fullsteam Brewery
Ben Beal w/ Delivery Boys at The Pinhook
9:30 p.m.
Karaoke Night at The Tavern

Friday, May 10

Events at Durty Bull Brewing Company

• 5-9 p.m. - Food Truck: Tacos Paraiso #1
• 8-11 p.m. - Open Mic Stand-up Comedy

Events at Mettlesome

• 9-10 p.m. - Well Seasoned
• 9-10 p.m. - Hush Hush

Events at Moon Dog Meadery

• 7:30 p.m. - Blues Lesson + Dance
• 8 p.m. - 19 Miles From Davis

Events at The Glass Jug Beer Lab in RTP

• 5-8 p.m. - Food Truck Friday
• 6-8 p.m. - Mel Melton & the Wicked Wojos

8 a.m.
Forest Bathing Walk at Sarah P. Duke Gardens
10 a.m.
Tasting at Ten at Counter Culture Coffee
12 p.m.
Co-Working Social at The Glass Jug Beer Lab in Downtown Durham
5:30 p.m.
Friday Night Live: Bull Dirtys at Boxyard RTP
Kids Night Out at Museum of Life and Science
6 p.m.
DJ Marrs and Tarot with Joy at Arcana
Friday Night Makes at Durham Arts Council
The Duke Street Dogs at The Blue Note Grill
Cocktails & Cheeseperience Design at The Blue Ridge Room inside Frontier RTP
6:30 p.m.
Keyon Harrold Presents "Foreverland" Presented by WUNC Music at Missy Lane's Assembly Room
SUB: Terranean at The Fruit
6:35 p.m.
Durham Bulls vs Nashville at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
7 p.m.
Magic: Standard Showdown at Atomic Empire
Live Vinyl Spinning by PhDJ at Beer Study Durham
Freedom Friday w/ DJ Mayor at Congress Social Bar
7:30 p.m.
Film Screening: Shorts Night at Shadowbox Studio
Jake Hart & John Hart Trio at Sharp 9 Gallery
Leonid & Friends – A Tribute to the Music of Chicago at The Carolina Theatre
8 p.m.
KEM at DPAC
Stereo Reveries at DSSOLVR Durham
9 p.m.
Keyon Harrold Presents "Foreverland" Presented by WUNC Music at Missy Lane's Assembly Room
Mk.Gee at Motorco Music Hall (sold out)
¡Tumbao! / Cinematheque / Ancestor Piratas at The Pinhook

Saturday, May 11

Events at Atomic Empire

• 11 a.m. - Magic: Store Championship
• 11:30 a.m. - Pokémon TCG: Twilight Masquerade Prerelease Tournament
• 11:30 a.m. - Marvel: Crisis Protocol

Events at Boxyard RTP

• 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. - Bark & Bond Social: National Dog Mom Day Festival
• 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. - Saturdaze: DJ k.ward
• 12-7 p.m. - Gold Clover Company: Mother’s Day Blooms
• 4-5 p.m. - SoapBox: Improv

Events at Durty Bull Brewing Company

• 2-9 p.m. - Food Truck: Copperhead's Burgers
• 4-6 p.m. - Live Music: Taxicab Preachers
• 7-10 p.m. - Beer Pong Tournament

Distillery Tours and Tastings at Liberty & Plenty

• Every Saturday, 10-10:30 a.m. and 11-11:30 a.m.

Events at Mettlesome

• 8-9 p.m. - Golden Age
• 9-10:30 p.m. - Secret Society Showcase

Events at Moon Dog Meadery

• 3-5 p.m. - Irish Music Jam
• 8-11 p.m. - A Metal Show: GLASS, Hemlock Theory, Hermaeus Mora

Events at Rubies on Five Points

• 7 p.m. - Adulting: An Early Dance Party
• 10 p.m. - Shallow Cuts Presents: Pinque Saturday

Events at The Carolina Theatre

• 11 a.m. - Bailes Afro Latinos
• 7 p.m. - Joe Bob Briggs Indoor Drive-In Geek-Out

Guided Walking Tours with Triangle Adventures

• 2 p.m. - Downtown Durham Walking Tour
• 4 p.m. - Durham African American History Tour
• 6 p.m. - Downtown Durham True Crime Tour

8 a.m.
Durham Farmers' Market at Durham Central Park
parkrun Durham at Southern Boundaries Park
9 a.m.
South Durham Farmers' Market at Greenwood Commons Shopping Center
9:30 a.m.
Guide Supported Canoeing, Kayaking, and Standup Paddleboarding at Eno River
10 a.m.
Dig into Compost at Museum of Life and Science
Roots and Soul: Walking with Pauli Murray at Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice
10:30 a.m.
Mother's Day Brunch at The Durham Hotel
12 p.m.
Crafternoons at Gizmo Brew Works
Sylvan Esso 10 year Anniversary Release at Psychic Hotline Pop-up
1 p.m.
Documentary Screening: Puerto Rican Hibiscus at The Fruit
2 p.m.
Mother Daughter Self Defense seminar Women Empowered at Gracie Durham
6 p.m.
Trio Factual Jazz and Tarot with Kathleen at Arcana
6:30 p.m.
Keyon Harrold Presents "Foreverland" Presented by WUNC Music at Missy Lane's Assembly Room
Weymouth / North By North / Plastic Giants at The Pinhook
6:35 p.m.
Durham Bulls vs Nashville at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
7 p.m.
ADF Showings at Scripps: Tony C. Johnson at ADF's Samuel H. Scripps Studios
Prints-4-Prince Art Show at PS37
Dexter Moses Trio with Lillian Park at Succotash Southern & Creole Kitchen
7:30 p.m.
Ghost Town Blues Band at The Blue Note Grill
8 p.m.
The Decemberists at DPAC
8:15 p.m.
Let's Chat About the Stars Paddle at Falls Lake Durham
9 p.m.
Keyon Harrold Presents "Foreverland" Presented by WUNC Music at Missy Lane's Assembly Room

Sunday, May 12

9:30 a.m.
Women's Kayaking 101 at Falls Lake
10 a.m.
Jazz Brunch at Lula & Sadie's
10:30 a.m.
Al Strong Presents Jazz Brunch at Alley Twenty Six
Yoga on Tap at Fullsteam Brewery
Mother's Day Brunch at The Durham Hotel
11:30 a.m.
Pokémon TCG: Twilight Masquerade Prerelease Tournament at Atomic Empire
12 p.m.
Sunday Dollar Bin Sale for Charity at Rumors Durham
Farmers Market at ZincHouse Winery & Brewery
12:15 p.m.
Public Tour at Duke Chapel
1:05 p.m.
Durham Bulls vs Nashville at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
2 p.m.
Hammered Trivia with Casey at Durty Bull Brewing Company
Hillandale Golf Beginner Clinic at Hillandale Golf Course
Feel Good, Do Good: FREE Circl Mobility Group Exercise Class at Jewish for Good
Mother's Day Flower Arranging Class at Weldon Mills Distillery
3 p.m.
Lore, Yore, and the In Between at The Carolina Theatre
6 p.m.
DJ Parkside and Tarot with Virginia at Arcana
6:30 p.m.
Open Mic Night at Moon Dog Meadery
7:30 p.m.
Somesurprises at The Pinhook
8:30 p.m.
Cloud Nothings at Motorco Music Hall

Running Art Exhibits

Jenny Blazing: Scapes - 5 Points Gallery Featured Artist Exhibition at 5 Points Gallery

• Jenny’s acrylic and collage paintings are her response to the diverse landscapes surrounding us. Each stroke of color, each layer of texture, is a tribute to the breathtaking natural panorama of our state—from our rolling hills and sundrenched fields to our skies bursting with drama.
• Fri, Apr 19 - Sat, May 11
• Fri, 5-9 p.m. and Sat, 1-9 p.m.
• Free admission

Hometown (Inherited): Ten Year Retrospective at The Fruit

• This project examines the changing landscape of our city through a series of forty mixed media pieces the artist has created since 2014.
• Third Friday openings on Apr 19 and May 17, 6-9 p.m.
• Drop-in by appointment and Wednesdays 4-7 p.m.
• Free admission

Dan Gottlieb: Figure Ground at Craven Allen Gallery

• Each piece begins as a photograph, which is then printed on acrylic and worked with a variety of paints and compounds to create a unique surface.
• Sat, May 4 - Sat, May 18
• Free admission

Constellations: 40 Years of Explorations within Sacred Geometry by Steven Ferlauto at Horse & Buggy Press and Friends

• Sacred Geometry is an ancient field of physics whose equations are expressed through shape. Shape is a way to explore the universal fabric of our existence.
• Sat, May 4 - Sat, June 1
• Free admission

It Ain’t All Black And White at DAG Truist Gallery

• It Ain’t All Black and White is a photography exhibition that encourages us to consider emotions such as serenity, apprehension, yearning, and more.
• Captured by 11 dynamic photographers dedicated to documenting the fullness and complexity of Black life, this exhibition offers each of us an opportunity to see ourselves with renewed attention.
• Thu, Apr 25 - Sun, June 2

María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold at Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

• María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold is a monographic exhibition of a visionary voice in photography, immersive installation, painting and performance.
• Thu, Feb 15 - Sun, Jun 9
• Every week, Tue-Sat 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun 12-5 p.m.
• Free admission

Counterpoints at Durham Bottling Co.

• Counterpoints is a curated showcase of local AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) artists, delving into the convergence of AAPI identity and mental health. Inspired by the intricate layers of musical counterpoint, its purpose is to weave together diverse narratives and confront the stigma surrounding mental health within our communities.
• Wed, May 1 - Sun, June 16
• Mon - Fri, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Cameron Elyse's Divine Nine Legacy Memoir Exhibition at Hayti Heritage Center

• The Divine Nine Legacy Memoir delves deep into the history of the National Panhellenic Council (NPHC) or "Divine Nine," a collective of nine Greek Letter organizations founded on May 10th, 1930.
• These organizations were born out of the necessity to provide a voice for Black American students within the collegiate space. United by principles of service, community, brotherhood, and sisterhood, the Divine Nine work collectively to uplift society through acts of service to underserved areas across the nation.
• Fri, Apr 19 - Sat, June 1
• Free admission

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this or if it has already been discussed... I've been a fan of CGP grey for at least 10 years now and have even introduced him to friends of mine and a professor once, but I have become pretty frustrated recently with constantly seeing videos pop up in my youtube feed that look like new videos only to realize they are years-old videos. It feels misleading and somewhat disrespectful to an audience that is excited for new content. I will probably unsubscribe and begin flagging these videos as spam when I see them if this keeps happening, even though I excitedly await whatever project is next.

Can't link them since it's against the rules, but I'm sure you'll find them if you want to dig deeper. Summarized them for personal use. Might post stuff like this again if someone finds it helpful

Stop Wasting Time - 11 Tools to Double Your Focus - by Ali Abdaal

Quick reminder of some of the most common and popular productivity methods

1. Pomodoro Technique: Use a timer to break work into focused intervals (traditionally 25 minutes), followed by short breaks. This can help maintain concentration over longer periods.
2. Time Tracking: Regularly track the amount of time spent on tasks, either manually or with apps. This awareness can enhance productivity by making it clear where your time is going.
3. Mindfulness: Engage in brief mindfulness exercises to reduce smartphone addiction and improve concentration. While the video doesn't provide detailed methods, it suggests that even short sessions can be beneficial.
4. Distraction Blocking: Use apps to block distracting notifications and websites, or manually turn your phone to grayscale mode to make it less appealing. Alternatively, physically remove your phone from your workspace to avoid interruptions.
5. Gamification and Social Interaction: Incorporate elements of play and social interaction into your work to make it more enjoyable. This could be through background music that fits the mood of the task or organizing co-working sessions with friends or colleagues. Also: ticking off completed tasks from a list is fun.

​

Change Your Life by Journalling - 10 Powerful Questions - by Ali Abdaal

Some interesting prompts for a self-reflection session, covering the last weeks to months of your life

1. What would you do if money were no object? - This question encourages reflection on passions and desires beyond financial constraints, aiming to uncover true interests and potential paths that might bring fulfillment.
2. What would you like people to say at your funeral? - This prompt urges consideration of the legacy one wishes to leave behind, focusing on the impact on family, friends, coworkers, and those influenced by one's work.
3. If I were to repeat the things I've done this week for the next 10 years, where will I end up? - This question serves as a reflection on current habits and routines, contemplating whether they align with long-term goals and desires.
4. What have I done in the last 2 weeks that has energized me? What has drained my energy? - Known as the energy audit, this prompt helps identify activities that fuel or deplete one's energy, guiding towards more fulfilling and energizing tasks.
5. The Wheel of Life - A holistic life assessment tool that divides life into categories like work, health, relationships, and joy, asking how aligned one's actions are with the desired future in each area.
6. The Odyssey Plan - Involves envisioning three different paths for the future: continuing on the current path, taking a completely different path, and pursuing a radical path, aiming to explore and compare potential life directions.
7. What is the goal, and what is the bottleneck? - This question clarifies objectives and identifies the main obstacles hindering progress, promoting a focus on solutions and strategic actions.
8. Brian Tracy's goal-setting prompt - Involves writing down 10 goals for the next 12 months and identifying the one with the greatest positive impact, encouraging focused action towards achieving it.
9. Do you work for your business, or does your business work for you? - This prompts entrepreneurs to evaluate whether their business is serving their personal and professional goals or if they are being consumed by it.
10. If I knew I was going to die 2 years from now, how would I spend my time? - Encourages reflection on what truly matters, questioning whether current activities align with those priorities and inspiring changes to live more in accordance with one's values.

How I got the strongest I've ever been at 36 years old - by Matt D’Avella

Watch if you’re interested in getting into powerlifting as fast as possible, or if you want to up your personal gym game using some of his learnings

1. Set a Big Goal: Participating in a competition or setting a significant goal provides a clear deadline and motivation, making every training day count.
2. Hire an Expert: Working with a knowledgeable coach can accelerate progress by providing tailored advice, correcting form, and answering questions, which is more effective than self-guided learning.
3. Be Imperfectly Consistent: Adjusting workouts to fit life's unpredictable schedule ensures continued progress, even if not every session is perfect.
4. Practice Progressive Overload: Gradually increasing the weight lifted over time is essential for building strength effectively.
5. Stay Off Social Media: Comparing oneself to fitness influencers can be demotivating. It's more productive to focus on personal progress.
6. Follow a Legit Program: A structured program designed by professionals can lead to better and more consistent gains than a self-assembled plan.
7. Track Everything: Monitoring food intake and workouts helps in understanding how diet and exercise impact fitness goals.
8. Train Without Going to Failure: Avoiding training to the point of failure reduces the risk of injury and may not significantly impact hypertrophy or strength gains compared to stopping just short of failure.
9. Effort Makes a Difference: Intensity and focus during workouts significantly impact results, but maintaining such a high level of effort continuously is not always desirable or sustainable for long-term fitness enjoyment.

how i fixed my attention span - by Answer in Progress

Watch if you’re fed up by your wandering mind and inability to focus. Contains some decent insights, in addition to the usual advice

1. Recognize and Address Distractions: Identify the main sources of external distraction in your life, such as excessive phone use or constant notifications. Take steps to minimize these by deleting unused apps, setting app time limits, muting notifications, and possibly adopting a grayscale display to make your phone less appealing.
2. Manage Internal Distractions: Be aware of internal distractions like passing thoughts or worries that can derail focus. Keep a notebook handy to jot these down for later consideration, allowing you to return your focus to the task at hand without fearing you'll forget important tasks or ideas.
3. Adopt Time Blocking: Use time blocking to organize your day, dedicating specific blocks of time to specific tasks. This helps minimize multitasking, which can dilute focus and efficiency. When planning, consider your energy levels throughout the day and schedule tasks accordingly to take advantage of your peak focus times.
4. Incorporate Meditation: Explore meditation as a tool to enhance your internal ability to manage focus and withstand distractions. Even if you're skeptical, giving meditation a chance through guided apps like Headspace can provide subtle yet significant benefits to your ability to concentrate and stay engaged in activities.
5. Balance External and Internal Strategies: Recognize that while external changes to your environment and habits can help reduce distractions, strengthening your internal focus through practices like meditation provides a more resilient foundation for managing attention. Aim for a balanced approach that combines managing your external environment with enhancing your internal focus capabilities.
6. Embrace the Process: Improving focus and managing distractions is a gradual process that involves trial and error. Be patient with yourself as you experiment with different strategies and find what works best for you. Remember, the goal is not to eliminate all distractions but to develop a more mindful and controlled approach to how you direct your attention.

How to Stop Wasting Your Time - 6 Tips - by muchellb

Ways to stop wasting time that go beyond quick fixes but instead focus on getting a better understanding and therefore control of the underlying factors and triggers

1. Log Your Alerts: Treat your urges to procrastinate as alerts, not commands. By understanding what your alerts are trying to tell you (e.g., boredom, frustration, low energy), you can address the underlying issue rather than succumbing to distraction.
2. Mindful Consumption: Apply the concept of diminishing marginal utility to your consumption of digital content. Regularly rate your enjoyment and mood during activities to become more aware of when the activity becomes less fulfilling, encouraging you to stop earlier.
3. Track Your Time and Mood: Monitor how you spend your time and how it affects your mood, energy, and focus. This can help you identify tasks that make you feel out of control or unenjoyed, contributing to feelings of "time poverty."
4. 'HelloFresh' Your Tasks: Simplify tasks by preparing them like a HelloFresh meal kit. Include tools needed, steps, launch tasks, time estimates, and flow elements to make starting and completing tasks easier and more enjoyable.
5. View Distractions Positively: Treat distractions as opportunities to practice redirecting your focus. Just like in meditation, noticing when you're distracted and choosing to refocus is a skill that improves with practice.
6. Flow Elements in Tasks: Incorporate elements of flow into mundane tasks by setting clear goals, seeking feedback, embracing challenges, and minimizing distractions. This can transform tedious tasks into engaging ones, improving focus and satisfaction.

Throwback: 7 Ways to Maximize Misery 😞 - CGP Grey

Learn how to be miserable. And then do the opposite

1. Stay Still: Avoid physical activity and remain indoors, limiting your movement as much as possible. This passivity can lead to both mental and physical health decline.
2. Screw With Your Sleep: Disrupt your sleep pattern by varying your sleep and wake times, leading to insomnia and reduced mental clarity.
3. Maximize Screen Time: Increase your engagement with screens, particularly before sleep, to disrupt your sleep cycle further and keep your attention fragmented.
4. Stoke Negative Emotions: Focus on news or social media that fuels anger, anxiety, or despair about situations beyond your control, keeping you in a state of perpetual upset.
5. Set Vapid Goals: Pursue vague, unrealistic, or delayed goals that ensure failure or dissatisfaction, undermining any sense of achievement or progress.
6. Pursue Happiness Directly: Aim for a constant state of happiness, which is unattainable, making genuine contentment feel even more out of reach.
7. Follow Your Instincts: Give in to immediate impulses that lead to long-term misery, avoiding actions that require effort but offer real satisfaction or improvement in your life.

With the Bubblewars_io playtest coming up and Fastlane_run getting to the Snapshot vote, exciting things are happening on the on-chain gaming front with Cartesi. Let’s highlight some of the epic games that were built/are being built using Cartesi 👇
Bubblewars

• A fully on-chain MMO where ETH is mass and momentum is conserved. Users grow their Bubbles on an infinite canvas by absorbing ETH from their opponents. This game landed them a spot amongst the finalists at ETHDenver 2024.
• Learn more: https://github.com/BubbleWars/app

Dazzle

• A strategic, competitive online game that blends the aesthetics of puzzle games with RPG elements. Two teams of powerful characters battle head-to-head on a shared puzzle board in an attempt to outsmart each other. The competitive mode of Dazzle is powered by Cartesi, ensuring the games are played fairly. They also just launched their Intract Campaign!
• Learn more: https://rolluplab.io/dazzle/

Fastlane

• An infinite runner game with fast gameplay, NFTs, and on-chain validation with the Cartesi machine. The project is being built using an on-browser engine for easy access and combines physics and hidden obstacles to add to the experience. They also just passed the voting stage that opens tomorrow on Snapshot!
• Learn more: https://bit.ly/4arFWP1

Arena Mayhem

• An on-chain game that offers an exhilarating fighting game that allows users to create their own gladiators and challenge their friends to epic battles. To enter the arena, participants stake a chosen amount of tokens using the Cartesi Machine and watch their fighters go at each other for their prize!
• Learn more: https://rolluplab.io/arena-mayhem/

Rives

• An on-chain fantasy console. It lets you build and collect small games and enshrine your gameplay into crypto history after verification. It is powered by Cartesi's reproducible RISC-V VM, enabling the building of these games using traditional languages and tooling. Go check it out to experience DOOM or Snake gameplay onchain.
• Learn more: http://rives.io/

Cryptopolis

• SimCity was launched back in 1989 and developed by the legendary game designer Will Write. In 2008, the engine C code was ported to C++ and now Cartesi contributor, Danilo Tuler, has brought it on the blockchain levaraging Cartesi Virtual Machine for your on-chain gameplay. This project also landed him a spot among the ETHGlobal Online Hackathon finalists!
• Learn more: https://rolluplab.io/cryptopolis/

Werewolf

• A social game that takes place over a series of game rounds. Each round has two phases - day and night. During the day the village discusses who they think is guilty, during the night players may use special powers and the werewolves make their kill. During both, the Cartesi Machine is running the game logic for your enjoyment!
• Learn more: https://rolluplab.io/cartesi-werewolf/

Ultimate Football

• Every football fan who loves the beautiful game has an Ultimate XI and to that dream line-up, there is always the wish of what it would look like if their ultimate team ever played. Taking that fascination and dream is what is brought to reality for users to select their ultimate teams and tactics and watch a simulation run inside the Cartesi Machine of their teams taking on the teams of their friends.
• Learn more: https://github.com/MayowaObisesan/ultimate-football-cartesi

NebulaDuel

• An innovative multiplayer game that modernizes the concept of autonomous games by introducing player interaction and strategic gameplay. Unlike traditional games where outcomes are pre-determined or based on randomness, Nebula Duel allows players to actively participate by selecting characters and strategies against other players. The whole duel algorithm is run inside the Cartesi Machine and it is totally verifiable.
• Learn more: https://rolluplab.io/nebula-duel/

Ultrachess

• Built on Cartesi, Ultrachess allows players to compete against other humans, as seen on traditional chess platforms, or deploy their own chess engines as NFTs to compete on their behalf.
• Learn more: https://rolluplab.io/ultrachess/

Shipped Out

• Bringing inspiration from tower defense games such as Mindustry and Screeps and leveraging Cartesi, players are given a certain amount of resources and can use these to send robots to fight each other in an arena in a completely decentralized way.
• Learn more: https://github.com/augustoteixeira/shipped

Got your own idea for a game? Submit a proposal over on the CGP and see if you can bring your game to life with funding up to $50,000 USDC! https://app.charmverse.io/cartesi-grants-program/

Sunday, March 10 - Saturday, March 16, 2024

Top Posts

score	comments	title & link	mirrors
34	4 comments	[1977] It’s scratched and beat to hell, but spinning this classic on the turntable tonight!
31	2 comments	[1975] Eric Carmen [R.I.P. 1949-2024] - All By Myself	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr] [SC]
29	3 comments	[1979] Joe Walsh - In The City	[Dzr] [SC]
28	4 comments	[1978] Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen	[Sp] [AM] [BC] [Dzr] [SC]
24	1 comments	[1974] Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr] [SC]
24	2 comments	[1971] Three Dog Night - Joy To The World (1971)	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr] [SC]
23	9 comments	My teenage years
23	1 comments	[1978] GEORGE BENSON On Broadway Album Version (1978)
22	2 comments	[1977] Paul Davis - I Go Crazy	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr] [SC]
22	2 comments	[1977] Josie
21	2 comments	[1973] Golden Earring - Radar Love (Official Music Video [HD])	[Sp] [AM] [BC] [Dzr] [SC]
20	2 comments	[1978] Peaches & Herb - Shake Your Groove Thing (1978)	[Sp] [AM] [BC] [Dzr] [SC]
19	2 comments	[1978] Todd Rundgren - Can We Still Be Friends?	[Sp] [AM] [BC] [Dzr] [SC]
18	2 comments	[1979] The Police - Walking On The Moon	[Sp] [AM] [BC] [Dzr] [SC]
18	2 comments	[1975] Jigsaw - Sky High	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr] [SC]

 

Most Commented Posts

score	comments	title & link	mirrors
15	3 comments	[1975] KISS - "C'mon and Love Me" (originally released on 1975's "Dressed to Kill")	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr] [SC]
17	3 comments	[1976] Andrew Gold - Lonely Boy	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr] [SC]
2	3 comments	[What's that song? :snoo_thoughtful:] Chorus of the song reminds me of a 70s song, can't think of it
5	3 comments	[1978] NRBQ - Get Rhythm	[Sp] [Dzr] [SC]
18	3 comments	[1974] Pilot - Magic	[Sp] [Dzr] [SC]

 

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Credits to Fugazi for the DLC! Special thanks to mtn for his previous memhole tools and jocover for all this years of hearing me about this game and memholes haha
Notes: 5.05 Backport! After almost 4 years, i finally managed to fix 1.12. Previously jocover and his friend managed to write scripts to remove the memholes of the game on 1.10, including eboot which is not an easy task. This game failed to load every prx because of this memholes and the size of the memory expansion made the ps4 ran out, so i kept trying different ways and approaches, since then i got way more experience in crazy patches and patterns and so kept trying again a few days ago until i loaded all but 1 prx and this was a LOT of progress, A few hours later i managed to make the game boot with crashes, kept changing a few things in modules here and there and 52 backports later the game was running and it felt awesome. The once "impossible" to backport was defeated without removing the eboot's memhole, simply using a lot of logic and trial and error, in which im very proud of being smart enough to be able to do! I gotta say tho this was literally my last shot, because i have nowhere else i can shave off a single byte of memory anymore. IT FELT GOOD seeing the game running! I did test it a bit, audio, subtitles, cutscenes and saves are working, tested a few segments with action, and no crashes so far. Seems good! If you play it, let me know if you can finish it or if you find any weird issue!

I'm a 25M geologist who works for a fortune 500 consulting company, and I would rather be doing anything else for a career honestly. The corporate world sucks, and people who have been working here for 5 years only make 2k more than me. Consulting doesn't pay well, and I don't want to work the rest of my life laboring away at a job that isn't fulfilling or rewarding. I don't regret going to school, but I would be very happy in a skilled trade for a career, and believe very much in the cause of organized labor. I have OSHA 30 and Hazwoper certifications through my job where I oversee geotech drilling and environmental remediation, and also have the EPA CGP and NCDOT Erosion I & II certs from doing land development inspections at my prior job. I also have lots of experience in my youth with unskilled labor, mostly doing grunt work for concrete masons, landscapers and farmers, and I frame houses with Habitat a lot of my weekends which I really enjoy. I've applied to BAC Local 1 in Philly, but haven't heard back. I unfortunately live in NC, where there is little to no union presence, and getting into a trade here would mean taking a 15-20k pay cut at best and possibly 30k or more to start with no guaranteed wage increases or benefits. Unfortunately, I don't think unions are eager to interview anyone who doesn't live in the Local's city. Of course I'd relocate upon acceptance, but I couldn't do so beforehand. Is it just impossible to get into a union unless you have an in with family or friends? What about experience? Applying to an apprenticeship program, I would assume some people with no direct experience but requisite qualifications would be considered, but maybe not? Union Local websites often give me little information on the application process. I'm just very confused on if I even have a snowball's chance of making it to a union apprenticeship without skilled labor experience. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
TLDR: I want to join a relocate and join a union apprenticeship, but I don’t know if I have a realistic opportunity of getting accepted to one.

When I was younger I was always the reader, the bookworm, the girl reading during recess, or math class. In elementary school I was allowed to read an additional Harry Potter book every year and I would anticipate that for months. I put off finishing The Blood of Olympus because I was so sad that the series was ending and I was saying goodbye to these characters. For every birthday I could expect the newly released Avatar the Last Airbender comic book. My conversation with friends revolved around what was happening in the Warriors cats book we were reading. To say the least, reading was a very big part of my life. I’m not sure I could say that anymore.
In the summer after sixth grade I went on a trip with my cousins. Similar to me they were huge book nerds. However, on this trip they had a new toy. They both had just gotten a new iPod, one that looked exactly like a phone but lacked the calling capabilities. The iPod’s novelty was still present as they asked their mom whether or not turning their volume up to fifty percent would damage their ears. I of course wasn’t completely unfamiliar with smartphones. I had played the get Perry The platypus water game quite a few times on my parents' devices. I also had noticed that most adults who had phones were on them quite a lot. And sure enough, very few of the dozens of books packed for our week-long trip were read; very unusual for them. Instead, more time was spent on their new iPods.
I knew that if I ever got a phone though, I would act the exact same way. And that fact scared me. I loved the imaginary worlds captured in books; seeing the vague pictures created in my head; glimpsing the characters' marvelous lives; feeling the power and emotions conjured from just lines of text on a page. I loved talking about the books with my friends and developing inside jokes and references with them. I loved the way reading could make me think. I loved the adventures I could go on. I loved that people complimented me on my reading. I loved that people thought I was smart because I was reading. I loved the person I was when I was reading.
But nevertheless for Christmas in seventh grade I received a phone. Me and my brother had started walking to school and they felt more comfortable with me having a way to let them know when we’d arrived. The biggest revelation was that I could get all these apps to watch television. At first my parents limited me to fifteen minutes of screen time a day. Dude, that didn’t last. I don’t even think it lasted a day. How could it when I suddenly had a vast ocean of information and entertainment everywhere I went, in my pocket!
The place I spent most of my time was YouTube. Like no contest. I don’t really know what was so appealing about YouTube to me at first. Maybe I thought the personalities were fun or I liked the short videos. Whatever the case, I started spending a lot of time there. Like so much so that in eighth grade when we were asked who our favorite YouTubers were as an icebreaker I was blown away when someone answered I don’t really watch YouTube.
Even though what I watched in middle school is completely different than I do now it probably boils down to the same reason why: these videos let me escape in some way. I wasn’t thinking about my homework or responsibilities when watching someone else’s life or creation. I would creepily laugh to myself when watching Try Guys videos. I would see new perspectives and ways of thinking when watching CGP Grey. I would learn new things I only half understood when watching Numberphile. I would imagine a whole new world when watching Critical Role. I even started crying the other night when I was watching this video about making felt animals in tribute to peoples deceased pets. Like what!? But for the most part it was mindless vague happiness or mindless vague anger that drove me to stay on my phone. And man, YouTube shorts have made it so much worse. Like I don’t dare to get TikTok.
The definition of addicted according to Merriam-Webster is: “exhibiting a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity.
I was opening YouTube on autopilot. If I rearranged my apps muscle memory would take over and I’d be lost. After a year of virtual school due to COVID I was nervous to go back to school because I didn’t know how to make it that many hours without being on my phone. My default “I need a distraction” was to open my phone. When I’m waiting around for something I just open my phone. When I’m ever vaguely bored, tired, sad, mad, I open my phone. It’s automatic.
Looking back I know I’ve spent an amount of hours on my phone I don’t want to quantify, but I have no clue what I was doing with all that time. And I stopped reading almost altogether for a very long time. Somehow watching tv got filed under more productive than reading in my head because I can do chores and have something playing at the same time. So reading was seen as a purely self rewarding activity I guess, while video watching was seen as a more effective use of my time. I don’t really know.
My iPhone addiction has also affected my school work, learning, activities, sleep, and probably relationships. Like that’s sad to think about, especially considering how important reading was to me. The first step in breaking my phone addiction is to get rid of the worst problem. So, I’ve deleted YouTube; I’m stopping cold turkey. Writing this blog post is a way for me to fully commit to this; give myself no wiggle room and hold myself accountable. I know if I left it up to my self control I’d find hours of my life continue to disappear.
However, I’m still not counting the time I spent doom scrolling as a loss. That could have been what I needed to feel less overwhelmed or angry or stressed or nervous or ashamed for just a little while. My point is not that all that time on my phone or YouTube was wasted. And I’m not going to dwell on regrets or questions of whether I could’ve spent my time better. Genuinely my phone has made me happy and giddy and ecstatic and hopeful and anticipatory even if right now I can’t recount every single thing I’ve watched or done to feel that way. I just want to stop making it a habit in the future.
Now I’m under no illusion that I’m going to become the best version of myself overnight just by deleting an app. It’s very possible I just replace YouTube with another place that steals a prolific amount of my time. I may obsessively wade through my emails from colleges for something exciting, or play a bit more solitaire. Who knows! It’ll be an experiment. Whatever the case, I'm optimistic about the outcomes and genuinely excited to see what happens over the next 24 hours, week, month, year, etc. I could have just found the solution to all my problems, how cool would that be?

Hey there! I created a reddit account to help my fellow people who are doing their GCSES to help their revision. START REVISING NOW!!
Maths
Watch all the videos on maths genie until you fully undestand you should be done by april time if you do this everyday and after you are finished complete all past papers and keep doing them even if you have done it! repition is key
ENGLISH language
there isnt really many ways to revise english language but what you can do is print past papers and watch walkthroughs on youtube MR SALLES, MR BRUFF, first rate tutors! just keep practising questions structure and you have got this!!
ENGLISH LITERATURE
Same goes for literature for language tbh, WATCH MR BRUFF ON YT, and keep answering questions re-write analysis and keep annotating poems. i am doing Inspector calls and a christmas carol so i have bought flashcards from CGP they have aided me in my revision and helped me jump to a grade 3 to a 7, they include quotes, analysis, if you are doing others like jekyll and hyde they have all the sections and they do not cost much either.
SCIENCE
Cognito is amazing for short videos for a recap just before a test, and follows with questions.
freesciencelessons on youtube is amazing. keep doing past papers you got this
revisionworld.com you can access all past papers even a-level reivision.
I have only done the core subjects if you would like any others send me a dm or comment! Gcses are in 83 days, you do not want to be that friend that is resitting their maths or english because they could not be bothered to revise!! YOU HAVE GOT THIS ITS NOT TOO LATE START REVISING

I am in year 10 and my mocks are in April, I have not revised even enough at all for the past tests we’ve had since I am so lost as to where to even start. whenever I’m about to revise biology it seems that the next day I also have a chemistry test and then a physics one. I also have other subjects that need revision but scinece is my biggest concern atm. whenever I’m picking up a cgp book or watching a cognito video I just feel so lethargic and have an episode of extensive nihilism. I’m currently sitting on higher paper for all of the sectors but if I don’t manage to get a grade 5 in my mocks I’m moving down to foundation and I really just want to do higher. my friends are all smart but never do any revision and they’re all passing with flying colours whilst I’m literally on the brink of foundation. I struggle the most with Chem and it definitely isn’t going to get easier after learning about moles. my family r Asians expecting a lot since my relatives and cousins all got into good unis and my sister is getting grades 7+ ( yr 11 ). do I genuinely just go over past papers? what other recourses are out there. plez help I want to have a nice sheet of passes and get a job at a museum or water stones or a post office

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Special thanks to RIAN CHANNEL and xmrallx!
Notes: 5.05 / 6.72 / 7.02 / 7.50 / 9.00 Backport! DLC released together with my friend Arczi! New update to include the new Hagoromo DLC pack and the Asics Sneakers crossover DLC! Also includes the special jump magazine DLC!

• I missed Anthony Bourdain. While he was alive, I never read a sentence of his prose, saw a second of his shows, or heard the low rumble of his voice. Even during my own four-year tour in the industry, his material didn’t find its way to my bar as a means of consolation or connection. I had heard of him, scrolled past his show on airplanes and walked past his books in shops, but that was all. There was no offering made by a colleague nor recommendation left out under his name. He was simply there, like an old restaurant in your hometown. The kind of place that you only remember when you pass by and even if you’re sure it might be good, it never occurs to you to step inside and dine. There are always trendier and nearer spots and, besides, a place like that, it’ll be there forever. If it only presented itself as appetizing enough to enter.
  
• For the last few years, I’ve augmented the idea of the New Year’s resolution. Like so many of my best ideas, I got it from someone else: YouTube’s education sensation, CGP Grey. Instead of setting one or two goals that will likely fail because they are tethered to something either too fixed or too immense, his recommendation is the selection of a flexible, partially vague, but deeply resonant theme to cover a year. This theme will serve to influence the kinds of choices one makes.
  
• The Year of Reading, for example, would see the person take out their book instead of their phone at the bus stop. The Year of Health would see someone else choose to stretch rather than sit when watching television. Whatever the theme, the goal is to recognize when, during the course of our lives, we the opportunity to make a choice and then making that choice based on what is in-line with our aspirations. It’s been said that perfection is lots of little things done well and in thinking of the year in terms of themes, I’ve come to notice those little things live in mundane choices that individually are almost nothing but cumulatively become significant. In thinking this way, a beautiful blend of freedom and boundaries is afforded.
  
• At the end of last year I hadn’t yet decided on my theme for 2023. I was scrolling through Crave and passed by the documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.” It was directed by the same guy who made the stunning “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” – a beautiful biography about Mr. Rogers whose impact on me and my personal life has been wonderful. I had heard of Bourdain, obviously, but didn’t know anything about him, his life, or his work. Given its potential for novelty, I decided it would be a nice thing to take my attention for an evening.
  
• The movie works as a kind of oral biography in which Bourdain’s friends, colleagues, and others from his orbit work chronologically through his life. From his surprisingly well-off upbringing, to starting in the grottos of his first kitchens, and through the voyages brought about by his writing and television work, Bourdain was a busy guy. Interspersed with each of his life’s settings would be set-backs, addictions, tiny successes, and the right kind of luck. I went in not knowing anything about who he was and, when it had finished, I had most of my facts learned but not my resonance. This movie was not a complete course of the man. The kind of experience that fills the viewer with enjoyment and leaves them stunned for more. I closed the app with a touch of emptiness at its conclusion. Especially when the blank screen let me think about what I knew about the man from other sources.
  
• If it had been about anyone else, I think I would have left that evening behind. Like any piece of competent work in entertainment, it would have been easy enough to forget and continue living without the concave imprint that great art leaves on the chest. Yet, his life was one that had left that very mark across the bodies of so many people I knew. They, who had taken to their little slivers of social media, wrote as eloquently as they could to say something about the severed connection they felt when he died. It wasn’t only the kids who drove expensive cars to high school, though it was some of them, and it wasn’t only the burnouts that had fallen into the jobs they may have for the rest of their lives. It was an unpredictable array. A classless combination of people united in mourning over this one American was what I thought of at the end of the movie. Perhaps a single ninety-minute documentary wasn’t enough to encapsulate the character of Bourdain and perhaps my own lack of understanding kept me from latching on to the most seminal moments of the film.
  
• Watching that documentary was like looking at slides of strangers on vacation. The sights were beautiful and each image developed with the same inherent, human poetry to be found in any of the moments of halted time. But the connection was missing. The linking line that says I not only recognize the beauty of the image but I also understand the humanity within it. I wanted to make that understanding real, I wanted to know what Anthony Bourdain could offer my life as he had apparently offered so much to many. There, my theme had presented itself to me. 2023 would be the Year of Bourdain. To get to know Anthony Bourdain through his work is primarily a two-pronged effort: there’s his writing and his television. While I went into both simultaneously, without the book, the man never would have been. If someone ever deserved their reason for fame, “Kitchen Confidential” is a damn good one. As an act of publishing, it follows the same law of evolution that booksellers are looking for: it found its niche and huddled comfortably into its place of best success. The book breaks from the clean whites and organized pots of television representation of cooking that were so popular in its era. It offers no recipes or glossy images of finished dishes, and speaks neither with the voice of a mother nor a jolly Frenchman but a brutal streetpunk who quips as often as he smokes.
  
• Bourdain’s kitchens are tight, hot, pressurized environments that are unthankful as they are unrelenting. No matter the success of the previous day — or even the previous hour — every time an order comes through the cook has to assure that the same quality is delivered every time. If not, the effects of the cook’s incompetence are immediately felt in waves across the kitchen. They are so tied together in their efforts that those who are late or slow or inattentive effectively kibosh any hope at a decent day’s work for everyone else. And how is the cook to maintain such order? Through rigorous practice since there exist no molds, no mechanics to ensure this control outside of a device to make perfectly julienned carrots. Only the hands of an overworked, gaunt, and scarred person make these dishes possible. Time is everything in these places and it needs to be controlled as it whooshes by. As such, one learns to be obsessive about time and order when being in Bourdain’s kitchen. To never be late, to never be sloppy, and to feel good about being neither of those things. It’s exactly the kind of writing that shocks guests and makes workers cheer.
  
• While his name was made revealing restaurant secrets he would later denounce as being too local in place or time, or simply as untrue, Bourdain showed his immense talent for including details people would cling to. If a comparison is to be made to music, a book like “Kitchen Confidential” is on the level of “Boston” by Boston or “Appetite for Destruction” by Guns ‘n’ Roses. A debut full of hits – which is a rare feat indeed. Like those records of old, it’s astounding how readable the book still is. I would have thought to read something like this from sometime like then, I’d be reading more of a time capsule of what the industry used to be. Nope. His descriptions and analysis are still as fresh, for the most part, as they were in the late 90’s. For my reading, the best section of that book isn’t the dishing on the business, nor the cheeky anecdotes about the kinds of people that work in restaurants, nor even the evocative memory of that first oyster which altered his life forever. No, I left that book stunned by the essay “A Day In The Life.”
  
• Of everything ever written about this profession, let this essay last as the best. Like his shadow, the reader becomes attached to Bourdain as he guides them through a busy day in charge of a restaurant. Over the course of his narration, he turns out to be a plucky companion to spend an imaginary workday with. The kind of guy that might make a good host of a travel show someday. During this full day (which begins well before the opening of the restaurant), he swells through the lunch and dinner rushes, laments in the downtime about the customers to come, does his paperwork in whatever space there is, yells at idiotic merchants trying to gouge him during one of the busiest hours his day, and clutches his aging knees every time he needs something from the basement. Things go wrong in this kitchen and they go wrong often. Bourdain will do his best to correct those errors in as swift a measure as he can but every little setback ripples across the entire kitchen. Yet through the errors and the pain and the heat, he leaves you with the sense that he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. That these conditions are what make him comfortable and he wants to be honest with you before you make any assumptions about his business (or, even worse, think of joining him on the line). He repeated that he wrote that book with his dishwasher in mind, hoping to write something that would make him laugh and feel like his story had been properly told. This was where yet another aspect his success rested: in his ability to exceed the expectations of his audience by being so understanding of who they are. It was so pleasing to read stories about an industry I recognized told honestly.
  
• He could have only released the book and he would still be a legend to back-of-house staff everywhere. While that group of society isn’t best known for their rates of literacy, they all read “Kitchen Confidential.” It was a surprising hit and with it came opportunities outside of book-writing. By this point in his life, Bourdain had hardly been anywhere. He had family in southwest France which provided him childhood vacations but, other than that, he hadn’t stepped much off the soil of New England. What he did have were two skills: a knowledge of food and its preparation as well as a voice people wanted to hear. He didn’t know how long this run would last so when he was offered a job in television, he took it thinking he might get to cut a few episodes and then be able to say he got to see some parts of the world on someone else’s dime. It became his world.
  
• While I watched occasional episodes of “A Cook’s Tour” and “No Reservations”, the show that floored me was “Parts Unknown.” I think I had a touch of bias against a show like this because of other shows that claimed to be like it. The sorts of shows with smiling, American hosts who treat the Indigenous cultures with the same unnatural friendliness as they would treat children. These hosts are happy but they aren’t warm. It doesn’t matter if their show is in Thailand, Ethiopia, or Portugal, the format is the star and the people, and by extension their culture, become a convenient set to impress viewers. Bourdain never did this.
  
• When he travelled to a new country he allowed the story to find itself. In South Korea, he drank so much he told the episode in reverse, trying to piece back what had happened. In the Congo, he opened with tales from his boyhood imagination about the Congo River and constantly compared them to the unforgiving nights of trying to cook and pilot a boat on the back of that great liquid snake. Or in Borneo (which may be the greatest episode of television I’ve ever seen), he is able to tell his story like a favourite filmmaker with a plot to match and constantly asking his audience to reassess what they believe about food and people. Again and again, whenever I tuned in, the only thing I could expect was that he was going to have found a theme and then tailor the episode to best express that theme. Bourdain had perfect his vision, assembled his best crew, and was capable of telling the most stunning stories of humanity on television.
  
• Throughout these various cultures, he was neither gawker nor coward. He didn’t think the answer to human life automatically lived in a foreign land because of the shortcomings of his own society, nor would he look into the camera and explain the important actions of the world as if he was talking about zoo animals. He let people live on his show and assumed, correctly, that the basis for their actions would make sense because they were human and they were being shown to humans. It doesn’t take an advanced degree or an extreme level of empathy to see a bunch of people sitting in a circle to eat to realize a certain sameness with oneself. Everybody eats and everybody eats the same. Had he gone in with any other part of human life as his subject (politics, history, art, etc.), I think the people would still have been seen as strangers — no matter how personable he was. By looking at the world as a cook, and by making food the central connective piece of it all, Bourdain shared something so obvious that it had been terribly overlooked.
  
• According to my old university, I am a certified sociologist. As such I’ve been shown various means of studying people in groups. I can look at how much money they have, where they live, what others think of their skin colour, how they’ve been impacted by implementations of government policy — all viewpoints keen to categorize or mobilize. Never, across an entire degree of study, was I ever asked to consider the importance of food to individuals or to cultures. Instead I was shown garb, gods, and gaffes. Or maybe they did and I never picked up on it because for most of my life I have been what might nicely be called a fussy eater (then again, as George Carlin correctly remarked, fussy eater is a euphemism for big pain in the ass). Was I aware why I didn’t want to eat most things? Not at all. It was an instinct that appeared at birth.
  
• This aversion for anything that might taste new eventually matured into seeing food as a flat unit. A necessity to remain alive and nothing more. Who cared about craft or taste or history — a calorie was a calorie was a calorie. Perhaps that’s why Bourdain flew past me: his calling and my interests were too far diverged. At first, his show appealed only to the side of me that appreciated well-crafted descriptions of vistas and the kinds of conversations one wishes they had the skill in which to participate. But even when his shows languished in the marvels of the world or allowed the most ordinary of people to express themselves with ease, what was always sitting between them was something to eat. And I don’t think the welcoming he so often received was just because of his charisma or interest. I think that talking over a meal is what made him so endearing. When we eat, it is the one time that our lives get the pause they deserve. In sleep, our minds churn through images, anxieties, and ideas from our lives. While driving, we are constantly reflecting and reliving what we think and see in a day. But when we sit down to eat with other people, there is no other moment than the one hanging over the table. Consider this for a moment: if you look back at when people fall in love, where was it? The movies? Maybe. During a sunset walk? Even if the night’s rising colours made the feeling more intense, they might have been too distracting away from the action of falling itself. No, in all likelihood, it was over a meal. That is where we know to the fullest extent of our heart that we feet love. It’s a gentle force that slips over people when they grant themselves the opportunity to sit and share for a while. Before food gets to the gut, it has to pass by the heart. In this way, the acceptance of food as a cultural and artistic creation is the most intimate connection a person can make to something new.
  
• Through food, Bourdain penetrated the hearts of the world. With this revelation of the true purpose of great meals, I knew how I would have to have to alter my actions for the year. I started to do what I was born to do: study. My YouTube recommendations flooded with chefs both celebrity and not. When I went out to eat, I started to venture away from the known favourites and towards dishes that required a dash of adventure and consideration. Meal by meal, this fussy eater became a little more unpredictable and he was glad to be becoming so. Food as fuel is a boring way to eat and I think I should have known that. To purely survive, yes, food is something we require. But in looking at the meals of the world, there isn’t one place or one culture that doesn’t spice things up. In other words, if food was meant to be fuel, no one would have invented seasoning. At home, I started to experiment with how I prepared my meals. The way I held a knife changed and my willingness to try new meals skyrocketed. With the help of physical and digital cookbooks, as well as my wife who is much better versed in the culinary world than me, I was trying my hand at homemade shawarma, meatballs, Greek salads, and many other dishes that to most people are standard fare. They didn’t take any more time to prepare, nor to clean, and the reward of the labour was as satisfying as the conclusion to a great novel. It feels so good to participate in the world (another insight from watching Bourdain) that I couldn’t think about what most people would think because the act of cooking was too exciting!
  
• After a year of making the choice to be more dedicated in the kitchen, I can say that I’m better but I’m not yet good. I understand enough of the basics to teach them to a high school class and appear more capable than I actually am. But cooking has also faced me with bit of inadequacy. In studying food, I learned that I don’t yet have a tasteful imagination. My mind has trouble conjuring what certain flavours will taste like before they’re blended and does not yet store the solutions to dishes whose tastes are off. I might still undercook a piece of meat or fail to memorize my mistakes between repeat dishes. Being so unattached to food for so long, it should come as no surprise that I lacked refinement. Still, it was strange to discover how personally I took my cooking. If a meal didn’t turn out as hoped, the depth of disappointment was like something a teenager might deal with after a romantic rejection. Cooking good food is a skill that may seem to come to certain people instinctively but is always the result of the factors of life that make for meaning: discipline, repetition, creativity, and harmony. It’s taken me a year to realize that I’m not a natural chef but neither was my imaginary mentor so at least we had that in common. His imperfection was I needed as an example and it’s in making errors in efforts that they care about that cooks learn best. Perhaps that goes for other enterprises as well.
  
• I was getting it, I was getting him. Bourdain’s talent and freedom had come together in brilliant works of writing and television and I was hooked. As if his influence in the kitchen wasn’t enough, I started watching his interviews and his speeches and across the years When he was on the topside of the microphone, he always had something new to say. There are many famous wordsmiths that I admire. People whose lives deal in thinking and then churning those thoughts for profit. What is so disappointing is finding a person like this and learning that they are an anecdote repeater. The kind of person who leans on the same quotations, the same references, and the same jokes. Who has mastered the ability to reiterate each story with the same inflections and gestures so as to seem as if it is the first time. I recognize them because I used to do the same thing as a server when I was near the end of my shift and didn’t want to greet my next table with cheeriness because I was tired. So I learned the tune of happiness and followed it through the repeat interaction with my guest being none the wiser. Bourdain was never like this. It didn’t matter if he was on Letterman or some dinky podcast recorded with terrible audio — if you asked him a question, he gave a thoughtful and personalized answer. He was bold with his opinions and he seemed to always present them fully formed with plenty of examples. Perhaps miraculously, he was also able to be so informed, without coming off as particularly enlightened.
  
• I’m sure anyone who's been around travellers has had to sit through some inane story about a cultural peculiarity that altered their vision of the world. The kind of tired revelation whose poor expression aids in making the experience insufferable. Anthony Bourdain could have been that guy, constantly blowing off the comfort of his home country to remind his viewers of all the better things he’s seen before and how the wisdom of the world is always elsewhere. He could have taken over a conversation at a dinner table to tell the guests about how the same dish is done similarly but better somewhere else, thereby talking about neither bit of food but only himself. He was too smart for that, too snarky.
  
• Whether in gold or gutters, Anthony Bourdain had an admirable capacity to fit in wherever he was. He mingled with exclusive chefs and dined in the sky as easily as he sat on the ground, cross-legged, holding a steamed fish that someone else around the fire just hauled from the ocean. In any of these exchanges, he demonstrated an interest and a curiosity that let the other person talk rather than be the central figure of the segment. Yes, it was his show and he was asking the questions but these conversations were not vaulting pads for Tony to correct or try to otherwise simplify his guests. He’s not pulling the camera in closer, tediously going through the ceremonial details for the folks at home.
  
• He liked to say that on his show he asked simple questions. Questions like “Are you happy?” and “What’s for dinner?” but across his later work, a new question snuck in and tucked itself neatly near the end of the episode. After showing us a way of living that was becoming more familiar, he’d ask his guest if they believed that everything was going to turn out okay. From street chefs to the President of the United States, everyone he asked said yes. Even if they were in a personal bog at the moment, after sharing a meal with Anthony Bourdain, they agreed that things would get better in the future. It’s a simple question but profound when and where he asked it.
  
• His was a life that had been marred by terrible working conditions, unstoppable addictions, and a voice in his head that would unexpectedly take over to counter everything he believed in. A voice that told him nothing was worth continuing. When he asked if things were going to be okay, he did so in a way that spoke to his insecurities and his aspirations. He could call himself smarmy all he wanted but he had full creative control of his shows. It was his choice to not only ask that question but include the continuously positive answers. Anthony Bourdain was a depressed optimist. Someone who walked through the dissonance of being told that things would improve and believing that they would never. It might be why his death, of all those who died famous, resonates with his particular majority.
  
• It was in watching him in these social interactions that was also cause for personal change. I like the idea of being of conversationalist, that conversation is another skill that one would do well to learn and improve. In watching Bourdain talk to so many people, I found a selflessness that existed in the core of his communication. Yes, he had beliefs and, sometimes, they clashed with his guests. But on the whole his conversations were explorations of what someone else believed and he was constantly interrupting them or comparing them to something else he thought he knew then he wasn’t really listening to the other person. The challenge then becomes to be able to have a conversation with someone else in which I did not talk about myself unless specifically asked. Try it for yourself or, better yet, begin to notice the difference between when two people are actually conversing and when they are alternating personal stories.
  
• The end of his story has been well publicized. In a luxury hotel room in France, while he was filming an episode of his show, and when he was alone, he hanged himself. It was weird to watch the show after his death because of how frequently he joked about dying by that exact means. I’m not sure I believe the theory that people only tell the truth through jokes but I do believe that jokes are ruined when they turn out to be true.
  
• For all his writing, he didn’t leave a note. The only words we have from the near-end of his life as a series of back and forth text messages written to his ex-wife. These messages both sound like him and don’t. They convey the way his mind compartmentalized its needs like a chit-printer. Short, tight sentences without ambiguity. As they have been reported, there is an eerie quality to them because, as viewers of his shows know, he wasn’t one to outwardly express himself in this way. He loved his add-ons, his adjectives, and his adverbs – they were the sauce and spices of his prose. To see him be curt, even in a medium as terse as texting, they don’t sound completely like him. They sounded like they came from someplace else. A place alluded to but never actually shown for what it was.
  
• With any good story, the ending must be reckoned with. The choices made and the impact left by the creator put the receiver in a state of having been changed and changed utterly. It was so hard to watch this vibrant individual only as a recording when he was always so near to the wild heart of life. With his death, misfortunate as it was, it provided his audience with perhaps his most difficult teaching. No matter how much we saw of his shows, read his work, or listened to his answers, we didn’t know exactly what it was like to be in his head. Despite how open, casual, and articulate he was, there was still some unrelenting presence that shocked everyone when it engulfed him.
  
• In this way, Bourdain reminds us that dipping into the life of another is not enough. That there is no substitute for living fully and that his exploits were not there so that we could live through him but so that we could venture off towards our own discoveries. We can learn and study and inform ourselves all day but until we actually go and live the thing as it is there will always be something missing, something we don’t understand and don’t expect. If I had watched him dine with the family in Hawaii and been content with what I saw, I would have failed the spirit of the show. When the credits rolled and the final CNN logo flashed on-screen, I wanted to be like he was. Not an exact copy, that too would have been a failure, but similar enough to be original.
  
• In a world without him, what are we to do to endure? As I carry myself on through my years, I’ll know when I’m channeling what I’ve noticed from the life of Anthony Bourdain. When I recognize that openness is a tremendous virtue; when I learn enough about the world to ask simple questions; when I am proud to serve someone else; when I am equally ready to immediately denounce anyone who treats those who serve poorly; when I drink a Negroni; when I accept someone on their terms; when I choose the new not for novelty’s sake but for the experience; when I see where people unite; and when I know the recognize the times to be the lead in a conversation and when to be the listener.
  
• In reflecting on this year and across the good-heartedness brought about by Anthony Bourdain, I have my own attempt at a trend. While anyone can try to experiment with their life in the described way, what I will give at the end of this essay is for the people who are both well-versed in culinary arts and don’t know the difference between a saucepan and a stockpot.
  
• Call up someone you know but haven’t seen in a while. Don’t text them or email them – make sure you hear their voice – and invite them to a home-cooked meal by you in your home. Then I want you to really think about what you want to make, what you’re capable of, and what they might like. Spend as much of your day buying, prepping, and cooking the food so that when your guest arrives you can be an attentive host. Ask them simple things and wait for their answers – this is not the night to lecture them about some new exercise regime you’re trying or why you can’t get along with your boss. Serve them a gracious portion and make sure there’s something delicious to drink so you can clink glasses before dining. Be ravenous in eating and in conversation, reminisce without guilt or fear, and tell at least one joke the other person hasn’t heard before. Leave the dishes for later and instead use the rest of the time for more talk or a game. When the night feels over but not exhausted, walk them to the door and thank them for spending some time with you.
  
• After all that, somewhere, in the invisible middle between the two of you, you’ll see the place where love lives. You may not realize until after the dishes are done and your guest has left with a full belly and a tingling head but you’ll know you’ve been to that place. It’s beautiful when you’re there with someone else and how you’ll look forward to every future journey. Ironically, loneliness can be best starved by eating.
  
• Thank you, Chef.