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2024.05.14 16:00 timmun90 Sony 4 pin power cable
 | I recently found a Sony KDL-20G2000 in a thrift store. The power cable/adapter was missing but for 7 euro's I just took it with me. submitted by timmun90 to retrogaming [link] [comments] I wasn't expecting that the search for a replacement power adapter would be so long. Can't find anything on ebay, amazon and local hardware/electronic stores also have no idea. Does this connector perhaps have a specific name or are there more tv's that used this 4-pin connector? |
2024.05.14 15:58 Impossible-Rich-3931 Worrying about my boy being neutered in dirty vets office
 | So this is my second cat, I’ve had my first girl for 2.5 years almost and she’s probably around 3.5 years old I’m guessing. I got her spayed the first 6 months I had her, I lived in AZ at the time and used the humane society, it was very clean inside and like a normal vet hospital with the larger waiting rooms and even put a name rage collar on her at the front. No odor or other animals, like I was comfortable leaving her there even though I was able to come back and get her same day after the surgery cause it was so early and I did. Well now I live in OK, in a smaller town with only a couple vet options, and an overflowing humane society which doesn’t have monthly spay and neuter deals like there was in AZ. So my parents recommended a dr here cause of the price and reliability. Well I walk in with my I’m assuming 8-9 month old boy that I’ve had since October, also my parents are the ones who set up the appointment for me cause we are hurting on money rn(I’m pregnant and out of a job, so one income is hard). So I just kinda trust my parents that it’s ok, but I walk in the door and I’m hit with a wall of animal stink, there is no waiting room just a small little office and check in desk thing, and she had me come take him back to the cages and so I walked through the back with her and they had around 4-5 cats walking about and a large dog, in that room area it’s like I could tell the dr and family live in that building as well kinda just based off the furniture there for the “pets” of theirs just roaming. Never put a name tags on him, the kennels looked alright but some at the top were obviously junk storage and weren’t the cleanest. As well as one of her roaming cats in there had what looked like and eye infection, like not even her animals all seemed 100%, unless she took it in recently and is treating it. I didn’t look around too much and didn’t see a room that would be for surgery and it makes me anxious based on the lack of obvious cleanliness when I brought him to the back kennels. Also I can’t pick him up the same day I have to wait till tomorrow, and so it’s making my momma heart feel so bad for leaving him overnight and he’s not a year yet and will think we have him up maybe, all I know is he’ll be scared tonight. I’m primarily concerned about the condition of the clinic and where this procedure will take place cause I really would hate for him to get an infection and potentially worse cause of the lack of sterilizing and keeping up with the clinic. We will see when I pick him up tomorrow but I don’t know if I’ll be receiving pain meds or anything for cleaning the site either like I did for my girl, I just feel like a bad cat parent for letting him have surgery there cause I wouldn’t take any sick pet there I feel it’s so dirty and unprofessional feeling at least from what I’m used to back in AZ, I imagine even the bigger cities here will have nicer vets but because I’m in such a small town we don’t have really any options. Just hoping and wishing that all goes well and he isn’t being put at risk for a bad infection or anything. Is there anything I can do at home after I get him to help reduce possible infections and maybe pain management if that possible. submitted by Impossible-Rich-3931 to cats [link] [comments] |
2024.05.14 15:56 Mophandel Archaeotherium, the King of the White River Badlands
 | Art by Bob Nicholls submitted by Mophandel to Naturewasmetal [link] [comments] Nowadays, when we envision the words “prey,” among modern mammalian fauna, few taxa come to mind as quickly as the hoofed mammals, better known as the ungulates. Indeed, for the better part of their entire evolutionary history, the ungulates have become entirely indistinguishable from the term “prey.” Across their two major modern branches, the artiodactyls (the “even-toed ungulates,” such as bovids, pigs, deer, hippos and giraffes) and the perissodactyls (the “odd-toed ungulates,” including horses, rhinos and tapir), the ungulates too have created an empire spanning nearly every continent, establishing themselves as the the dominant herbivores throughout their entire range. However, as a price for such success, their lot as herbivores have forced them into an unenviable position: being the food for the predators. Indeed, throughout the diets of most modern predators, ungulates make up the majority, if not the entirety, of their diet, becoming their counterparts in this evolutionary dance of theirs. They have become the lamb to their wolf, the zebra to their lion, the stag to their tiger. If there is a predator in need of lunch, chances are that there is an ungulate there to provide it. Of course, such a dynamic is not necessarily a recent innovation. For the last 15-20 million years, across much of the world, both new and old, the ungulates have served as prey for these predators through it all. Over the course of whole epochs, these two groups have played into these roles for millions of years, coevolving with each other in an eons-long game of cat-and-mouse. The shoes they fill are not new, but have existed for ages, and within their niches they have cultivated their roles to perfection. Indeed, with such a tenured history, it seems hardly surprising the ungulates are wholly inseparable from the terms “prey,” itself. However, while this is the case now, as it has been for the last 15-20 million years, go back far enough, and we see that this dynamic is not as set in stone as we would think. Indeed, back during the Eocene and Oligocene, during the very earliest days of age of mammals, things were very different for the ungulates. While today they are considered little more than food for modern predators, during these olden days, the ungulates weren’t quite so benign. In fact, far from being fodder for top predators, the ungulates had turned the tables, instead becoming top predators themselves. Indeed, though nearly unheard of today, throughout much of the Eocene and Oligocene, carnivorous ungulates thrived in abundance, developing specializations for catching large prey and establishing themselves as top predators that competed alongside the more traditional carnivores, and even dominating them in some instances. Given such success, it’s no wonder that multiple such clades had arisen during this time. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of (ironically) hoof-less ungulates with large jaws and sharp teeth for capturing large prey. There were also the mesonychians, a lineage of dog-like ungulates with massive skulls and jaws that allowed them to reign as the top predator across much of the Eocene. However, among these various lineages, one stands stands out among the rest, by far. Arising during the Eocene, this lineage, though superficially resembling modern pigs, hailed from one an ancient lineage of artiodactyls far removed from swine or most other ungulates in general, with few close relatives alive today. Through perhaps not the most predatory of the bunch, it was among the most formidable, as their superficially pig-like appearance came with giant predatory jaws and teeth unlike anything from the modern era. And of course, as if all of that wasn’t enough, this lineage also went on to earn arguably one of the most badass nicknames of any lineage of mammals, period. These predators, of course, were the entelodonts, a.k.a the “hell-pigs.” More so than any other predatory ungulate lineage, these formidable ungulates were the ones to turn the current paradigm upside down, becoming some of the largest and most dominant carnivores in their landscape, even with (and often in spite of) the presence of more traditional predators. Through impressive size, fearsome teeth and sheer tenacity, these animals became the top dogs of their time, ruling as behemoth-kings of their Paleogene kingdoms, domineering all comers, and throughout the ranks, one entelodont in particular demonstrated such dominance the best. Though not the largest or most powerful of their kind, it is one of the most iconic, being among the most well-known members of its lineage to date. Moreover, this enteledont also has some of the most complete life histories ever seen out of this clade, with its brutality and predatory prowess being displayed in the fossil record in a way seen in no other member of its kind. More than anything else, however, it was this predator that best turned the notion of “ungulates being prey” on its head, living in an environment that bore some of the largest carnivoran hypercarnivores to date and still reigning as the undisputed top predator of its domain. This fearsome beast was none other than Archaeotherium, icon of the entelodonts, terror of the Oligocene American west and undisputed king of the White River badlands. The rise of Archaeotherium (and of entelodonts in general) is closely tied to the ascendancy of carnivorous ungulates as a whole, one of the earliest evolutionary success stories of the entire Cenozoic. Having become their own derived clade since the late Cretaceous, the ungulates were remarkably successful during the early Paleogene, as they were among the first mammalian clades to reach large sizes during those early days after the non-avian dinosaurs had gone extinct. As such, it was with incredible swiftness that, as the Paleogene progressed, the ungulates swooped upon the various niches left empty by the K-Pg mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. This of course included the herbivorous niches we would know them for today, but this also included other, much more carnivore roles. Indeed, early on during the Paleogene, it was the ungulates that first seized the roles of large mammalian predators, becoming some the earliest large mammalian carnivores to ever live, well before even the carnivorans. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of vaguely dog-like, hoof-less ungulates with robust jaws and sharpened teeth that acted as some of earliest large carnivores of the Paleocene, with genera such as Arctocyon mumak getting up to the size of big cats. Even more prolific were the mesonychids. More so than what pretty much any other lineage of predator, it was the mesonychids that would stand out as the earliest dominant predators of the early Cenozoic. Growing up to the size of bears and with enormous, bone-crushing jaws, the mesonychids were among the most powerful and successful predators on the market at that time, with a near-global range and being capable of subjugating just about any other predator in their environments. Indeed, they, along with other carnivorous ungulates (as well as ungulates in general), were experiencing a golden age during this time, easily being the most prolific predators of the age. Given such prevalence, it should be no surprise that there would be yet another lineage of predatory ungulates would throw their hat into the ring, and by early Eocene, that contender would none other than the entelodonts. The very first entelodonts had arisen from artiodactyl ancestors during the Eocene epoch, at a time when artiodactyls were far more diverse and bizarre than they are now. Through today known from their modern herbivorous representatives such as bovines, deer, and antelope, during the Paleocene and Eocene, the artiodacyls, as with most ungulates of that time, were stronger and far more predaceous, particularly when it came to one such clade of artiodactyls, the cetacodontomorphs. Only known today from hippos and another group of artiodactyls (one which will become relevant later), the cetacodontomorphs emerged out of Asia around 55 million years ago, at around the same time that artiodactyls themselves had made their debut. These animals included the first truly predatory artiodactyls, with many of them possessing large skulls with powerful jaws and sharp, predatory teeth. Among their ranks included animals as puny as Indohyus, a piscivorous artiodactyl the size of a cat, to as formidable as Andrewsarchus, a giant, bison-sized predator often touted as one of the largest predatory mammals to ever live. Given such a predatory disposition, it wouldn’t be long until this clade produced a lineage of truly diverse, truly successful predators, and by around 40 million years ago, that is exactly what they did, as it was at that time that the entelodonts themselves first emerged. From their Asian homeland, the entelodonts spread across the world, spreading through not only most of Eurasia but also colonizing North America as well, with genera such as Brachyhyops being found across both continents. Here, in this North American frontier, the entelodonts began to diversify further, turning into their most successful and formidable forms yet, and it was around the late Eocene and early Oligocene that Archaeotherium itself had entered the scene. Just from a passing glance at Archaeotherium, it is clear how exactly it (as well as the other entelodonts) earned the nickname of “hell-pigs.” It was a bruiser for starters; its body bore a robust, pig-like physique, with prominent neural spines and their associated musculature forming a hump around the shoulder region, similar to the hump of a bison. With such a bulky physique came with it impressive size; the average A. mortoni had a head-body length of roughly 1.6-2.0 m (5.3-6.6 ft), a shoulder height of 1.2 m (4 ft) and a body mass of around 180 kg (396 lb) in weight (Boardman & Secord, 2013; (Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes, an adult Archaeotherium the size of a large male black bear. However, they had the potential to get even bigger. While most Archaeotherium specimens were around the size described above, a select few specimens, labeled under the synonymous genus “Megachoerus,” are found to be much larger, with skulls getting up to 66% longer than average A. mortoni specimens (Foss, 2001; Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes and using isometric scaling, such massive Archaeotherium specimens would attained body lengths over 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and would have reached weighs well over 500 kg (1100 lb), or as big as a mature male polar bear. Indeed, at such sizes, it is already abundantly evident that Archaeotherium is a force to be recorded with. However, there was more to these formidable animals than sheer size alone. Behind all that bulk was an astoundingly swift and graceful predator, especially in terms of locomotion. Indeed, the hoofed feet of Archaeotherium, along with other entelodonts, sported several adaptations that gave it incredible locomotive efficiency, essentially turning it into a speed demon of the badlands. Such adaptations include longer distal leg elements (e.g. the radius and tibia) than their proximal counterparts (e.g. the humerus and femur), fusion of the radius and ulna for increased running efficiency, the loss of the clavicle (collar-bone) to allow for greater leg length, the loss of the acromion to enhance leg movement along the fore-and-aft plane, the loss of digits to reduce the mass of the forelimb, the fusion of the ectocuneiform and the mesocuneiform wrist-bones, among many other such traits (Theodore, 1996) . Perhaps most significant of these adaptations is the evolution of the “double-pulley astragalus (ankle-bone),” a specialized modification of the ankle that, while restricting rotation and side-to-side movement at the ankle-joint, allows for greater rotation in the fore-and-aft direction, thus allowing for more more powerful propulsion from the limbs, faster extension and retraction of the limbs and overall greater locomotive efficiency (Foss, 2001). Of course, such a trait was not only found in entelodonts but in artiodactyls as a whole, likely being a response to predatory pressures from incumbent predatory clades arising at the same time as the artiodactyls (Foss, 2001). However, in the case of the entelodonts, such adaptations were not used for merely escaping predators. Rather, they were used to for another, much more lethal effect… Such notions are further reinforced by the entelodonts most formidable aspect, none either than their fearsome jaws, and in this respect, Archaeotherium excelled. Both for its size and in general, the head of Archaeotherium was massive, measuring 40-50 cm (1.3-1.6 ft) in length among average A. mortoni specimens, to up to 78 cm (~2.6 ft) in the larger “Megachoerus” specimens (Joeckel, 1990). Such massive skulls were supported and supplemented by equally massive neck muscles and ligaments, which attached to massive neural spines on the anterior thoracic vertebrae akin to a bisons hump as well as to the sternum, allowing Archaeotherium to keep its head aloft despite the skulls massive size (Effinger, 1998). Of course, with such a massive skull, it should come as no surprise that such skulls housed exceptionally formidable jaws as well, and indeed, the bite of Archaeotherium was an especially deadly one. Its zygomatic arches (cheek-bones) and its temporal fossa were enlarged and expanded, indicative of massive temporalis muscles that afforded Archaeotherium astoundingly powerful bites (Joeckel, 1990). This is further augmented by Archaeotherium’s massive jugal flanges (bony projections of the cheek), which supported powerful masseter muscles which enhanced chewing and mastication, as well as an enlarged postorbital bar that reinforced the skull against torsional stresses (Foss, 2001). Last but not least, powerful jaws are supplemented by an enlarged gape, facilitated by a low coronoid process and enlarged posterior mandibular tubercles (bony projections originating from the lower jaw), which provided an insertion site for sternum-to-mandible jaw abduction muscles, allowing for a more forceful opening of the jaw (Foss, 2001). All together, such traits suggest a massive and incredibly fearsome bite, perhaps the most formidable of any animal in its environment. Of course, none of such traits are especially indicative of a predatory lifestyle. Indeed, many modern non-predatory ungulates, like hippos, pigs and peccaries, also possess large, formidable skulls and jaws. However, in peeling back the layers, it is found there was more to the skull of Archaeotherium that lies in store. Indeed, when inspecting the animal closely, a unique mosaic of features is revealed; traits that make it out to be much more lethal than the average artiodactyl. On one hand, Archaeotherium possessed many traits similar to those of herbivores animals, as is expected of ungulates. For instance, its jaw musculature that allowed the lower jaw of Archaeotherium a full side-to-side chewing motion as in herbivores (whereas most carnivores can only move their lower jaw up and down)(Effinger, 1998). On the other hand, Archaeotherium wielded many other traits far more lethal in their morphology, less akin to a herbivore and far more akin to a bonafide predator. For instance, the aforementioned enlarged gape of Archaeotherium is a bizarre trait on a supposed herbivore, as such animals do not need large gapes to eat vegetation and thus have smaller, more restricted gapes. Conversely, many predatory lineages have comparatively large gapes, as larger gapes allow for the the jaws to grab on to more effectively larger objects, namely large prey animals (Joeckel, 1990). Such a juxtaposition, however, is most evident when discussing the real killing instruments of Archaeotherium — the teeth. More so than any facet of this animal, the teeth of Archaeotherium are the real stars of the show, showing both how alike it was compared to its herbivores counterparts and more importantly, how it couldn’t be more different. For instance, the molars of Archaeotherium were quite similar to modern herbivores ungulates, in that they were robust, bunodont, and were designed for crushing and grinding, similar in form and function to modern ungulates like peccaries (Joeckel, 1990). However, while the molars give the impression that Archaeotherium was a herbivore, the other teeth tell a very different story. The incisors, for example, were enlarged, sharpened, and fully interlocked (as opposed to the flat-topped incisors seen in herbivores ungulates), creating an incisor array that was seemingly ill-suited for cropping vegetation and much more adept at for gripping, puncturing and cutting (Joeckel, 1990). Even more formidable were the canines. Like the modern pigs from which entelodonts derived their nicknames, the canines of Archaeotherium were sharp and enlarged to form prominent tusk-like teeth, but unlike pigs, they were rounded in cross-section (similar to modern carnivores like big cats, indicating more durable canines that can absorb and resist torsional forces, such as those from struggling prey) and were serrated to form a distinct cutting edge (Effinger, 1998; Joeckel, 1990; Ruff & Van Valkenburgh, 1987). These canines, along with the incisors, interlock to stabilize the jaws while biting and dismantling in a carnivore-like fashion. More strikingly, the canines also seem to act as “occlusal guides,” wherein the canines help align the movement and position of the rear teeth as they come together, allowing for a more efficient shearing action by the rear teeth. This function is seen most prevalently modern carnivores mammals, and is evidenced by the canine tooth-wear, which is also analogous to modern predators like bears and canids (Joeckel, 1990). Indeed, going off such teeth alone, it is clear that Archaeotherium is far more predatory than expected of an ungulate. However, the real stars of the show, the teeth that truly betray the predatory nature of these ungulates, are the premolars. Perhaps the most carnivore-like teeth in the entelodont’s entire tooth row, the premolars of Archaeotherium, particularly the anterior premolars, are laterally compressed, somewhat conical in shape, and are weakly serrated to bear a cutting edge, giving them a somewhat carnivorous form and function of shearing and slicing (Effinger, 1998). Most strikingly of all, the premolars of Archaeotherium bear unique features similar not to modern herbivores, but to durophagous carnivores like hyenas, particularly apical wear patterns, highly thickened enamel, “zigzag-shaped” enamel prism layers (Hunter-Schraeger bands) on the premolars which is also seen in osteophagous animals like hyenas, and an interlocking premolar interface wherein linear objects (such as bones) inserted into jaws from the side would be pinned between the premolars and crushed (Foss, 2001). Taken together, these features do not suggest a diet of grass or vegetation like other ungulates. Rather, they suggest a far more violent diet, one including flesh as well as hard, durable foods, particularly bone. All in all, the evidence is clear. Archaeotherium and other entelodonts, unlike the rest of their artiodactyl kin, were not the passive herbivores as we envision ungulates today. Rather, they were willing, unrepentant meat-eaters that had a taste for flesh as well as foliage. Of course, even with such lines of evidence, its hard to conclude that Archaeotherium was a true predator. After all, its wide gape and durophagous teeth could have just as easily been used for scavenging or even to eat tough plant matter such as seeds or nuts, as in peccaries and pigs, which themselves share many of the same adaptations as Archaeotherium, include the more carnivorous ones (e.g. the wide gape, using the canines as an occlusal guide, etc.). How exactly do we know that these things were veritable predators and not pretenders to the title. To this end, there is yet one last piece of evidence, one that puts on full display the predatory prowess of Archaeotherium —** evidence of a kill itself. Found within oligocene-aged sediment in what is now Wyoming, a collection of various fossil remains was found, each belonging to the ancient sheep-sized camel Poebrotherium, with many of the skeletal remains being disarticulated and even missing whole hindlimbs or even entire rear halves of their body. Tellingly, many of the remains bear extensive bite marks and puncture wounds across their surface. Upon close examination, the spacing and size of the punctures leave only one culprit: Archaeotherium. Of course, such an event could still have been scavenging; the entelodonts were consuming the remains of already dead, decomposed camels, explaining the bite marks. What was far more telling, however, was where the bite marks were found. In addition bite marks being found on the torso and lumbar regions of the camels, various puncture wounds were found on the skull and neck, which were otherwise uneaten. Scavengers rarely feast on the head to begin with; there is very little worthwhile meat on it besides the brain, cheek-muscles and eyes, and even if they did feed on the skull and neck, they would still eat it wholesale, not merely bite it and then leave it otherwise untouched. Indeed, it was clear that this was no mere scavenging event. Rather than merely consuming these camels, **Archaeotherium was actively preying upon and killing them, dispatching them via a crushing bite to the skull or neck before dismembering and even bisecting the hapless camels with their powerful jaws to preferentially feast on their hindquarters (likely by swallowing the hindquarters whole, as the pelvis of Poebrotherium was coincidentally the perfect width for Archaeotherium to devour whole), eventually discarding the leftovers in meat caches for later consumption (Sundell, 1999). With this finding, such a feat of brutality leaves no doubt in ones mind as to what the true nature of Archaeotherium was. This was no herbivore, nor was it a simple scavenger. This was an active, rapacious predator, the most powerful in its entire ecosystem. Indeed, with such brutal evidence of predation frozen in time, combined with various dental, cranial, and post cranial adaptations of this formidable animal, it’s possible to paint a picture of how this formidable creature lived. Though an omnivore by trade, willing and able to feast on plant matter such as grass, roots and tubers, Archaeotherium was also a wanton predator that took just about any prey it wanted. Upon detecting its prey, it approached its vicim from ambush before launching itself at blazing speed. From there, its cursorial, hoofed legs, used by other ungulates for escape predation, were here employed to capture prey, carrying it at great speeds as it caught up to its quarry. Having closed the distance with its target, it was then that the entelodont brought its jaws to bear, grabbing hold of the victim with powerful jaws and gripping teeth to bring it to a screeching halt. If the victim is lucky, Archaeotherium will then kill it quickly with a crushing bite to the skull or neck, puncturing the brain or spinal cord and killing its target instantly. If not, the victim is eaten alive, torn apart while it’s still kicking, as modern boars will do today. In any case, incapacitated prey are subsequently dismantled, with the entelodont using its entire head and heavily-muscled necks to bite into and pull apart its victim in devastating “puncture-and pull’ bites (Foss, 2001). Prey would then finally be consumed starting at the hindquarters, with not even the bones of its prey being spared. Such brutality, though far from clean, drove home a singular truth: that during this time, ungulates were not just prey, that they were not the mere “predator-fodder” we know them as today. rather, they themselves were the predators themselves, dominating as superb hunters within their domain and even suppressing clades we know as predators today, least of all the carnivorans. Indeed, during this point in time, the age of the carnivorous ungulates had hit their stride, and more specifically, the age of entelodonts had begun. Of course, more so than any other ettelodont, Archaeotherium took to this new age with gusto. Archaeotherium lived from 35-28 million years ago during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in a locality known today as the White River Badlands, a fossil locality nestled along the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Though a chalky, barren landscape today, during the time of Archaeotherium, the White River Badlands was a swamp-like floodplain crisscrossed with rivers and interspersed with by a mosaic of forests concentrated around waterways, open woodlands and open plains. As with most ecosystems with such a lush disposition, this locale teemed with life, with ancient hornless rhinos, small horse-like hyracodonts and early camels roaming the open habitats while giant brontotheres, small early horses and strange, sheep-like ungulates called merycoidodonts (also known as “oreodonts”) dwelled within the dense forests. Within this locale, Archaeotherium stalked the open woodlands and riparian forests of its domain. Here, it acted as a dominant predator and scavenger across is territory, filling a niche similar to modern grizzly bears but far more predatory. Among its preferred food items would be plant matter such as roots, foliage and nuts, but also meat in the form of carrion or freshly caught prey. In this respect, smaller ungulates such as the fleet-footed camel Poebrotherium, a known prey item of Archaeotherium, would have made a for choice prey, as its small size would make it easy for Archaeotherium to dispatch with its powerful jaws, while the entelodonts swift legs gave it the speed necessary to keep pace with its agile prey. However, the entelodont didn’t have such a feast all to itself. Just as the badlands teemed with herbivores, so too did it teem with rival predators. Among their ranks included fearsome predators such as Hyaenodon, a powerful, vaguely dog-like predator up to the size of wolves (as in H. horridus) or even lions (as in the Eocene-aged H. megaloides, which was replaced by H. horridus during the Oligocene). Armed with a massive head, fierce jaws and a set of knife-like teeth that could cut down even large prey in seconds, these were some of the most formidable predators on the landscape. There were also the nimravids, cat-like carnivorans that bore saber-teeth to kill large prey in seconds, and included the likes of the lynx-sized Dinictis, the leopard-sized Hoplophoneus and even the jaguar-sized Eusmilus. Furthermore, there were amphicyonids, better known as the bear-dogs. Though known from much larger forms later on in their existence, during the late Eocene and Oligocene, they were much smaller and acted as the “canid-analogues” of the ecosystem, filling a role similar to wolves or coyotes. Last but not least, there were the bathornithid birds, huge cariamiform birds related to modern seriemas but much larger, which filled a niche similar to modern seriemas or secretary birds, albeit on a much larger scale. Given such competition, it would seem that Archaeotherium would have its hands full. However, things are not as they appear. For starters, habitat differences would mitigate high amounts of competition, as both Hyaenodon and the various nimravids occupy more specialized ecological roles (being a plains-specialist and forest-specialist, respectively) than did Archaeotherium, providing a buffer to stave off competition: More importantly, however, none of the aforementioned predators were simply big enough to take Archaeotherium on. During the roughly 7 million years existence of Archaeotherium, the only carnivore that matched it in size was H. megaloides, and even that would have an only applied to average A. mortoni individuals, not to the much larger, bison-sized “Megachoerus” individuals. The next largest predator at that point would be the jaguars-sized Eusmilus (specifically E. adelos) which would have only been a bit more than half the size of even an average A. mortoni. Besides that, virtually every other predator on the landscape was simply outclassed by the much larger entelodont in terms of size and brute strength. As such, within its domain, Archaeotherium had total, unquestioned authority, dominating the other predators in the landscape and likely stealing their kills as well. In fact, just about the only threat Archaeotherium had was other Archaeotherium, as fossil bite marks suggest that this animal regularly and fraglantly engaged in intraspecific combat, usually through face-biting and possibly even jaw-wrestling (Effinger, 1998; Tanke & Currie, 1998). Nevertheless, it was clear that Archaeotherium was the undisputed king of the badlands; in a landscape of hyaenodonts and carnivorans galore, it was a hoofed ungulate that reigned supreme. However, such a reign would not last. As the Eocene transitioned into the Eocene, the planet underwent an abrupt cooling and drying phase known as Eocene-Oligocene Transition or more simply the Grande Coupure. This change in climate would eliminate the sprawling wetlands and river systems that Archaeotherium had been depending on, gradually replacing it with drier and more open habitats. To its credit, Archaeotherium did manage to hang on, persisting well after the Grand-Coupure had taken place, but in the end the damage had been done; Archaeotherium was a dead-man-walking. Eventually, by around 28 million years ago, Archaeotherium would go extinct, perishing due to this change in global climate (Gillham, 2019). Entelodonts as a whole would persist into the Miocene, producing some of their largest forms ever known in the form of the bison-sized Daeodon (which was itself even more carnivorous than Archaeotherium), however they too would meet the same fate as their earlier cousins. By around 15-20 million years ago, entelodonts as a whole would go extinct. However, while the entelodonts may have perished, this was not the end of carnivorous ungulates as a whole. Recall that the cetacodontomorphs, the lineage of artiodactyls that produced the entelodonts, left behind two living descendants. The first among them were the hippos, themselves fairly frequent herbivores. The second of such lineage, however, was a different story. Emerging out of South Asia, this lineage of piscivorous cetacodontomorphs, in a an attempt to further specialize for the fish-hunting lifestyle, began to delve further and further into the water, becoming more and more aquatic and the millennia passed by. At a certain point, these carnivorous artiodactlys had become something completely unrecognizable from their original hoofed forms. Their skin became hairless and their bodies became streamlined for life in water. Their hoofed limbs grew into giant flippers for steering in the water and their previously tiny tails became massive and sported giant tail flukes for aquatic propulsion. Their noses even moved to the tip of their head, becoming a blowhole that would be signature to this clade as a whole. Indeed, this clade was none other than the modern whales, themselves derived, carnivorous ungulates that had specialized for a life in the water, and in doing so, became the some of the most dominant aquatic predators across the globe for millions of years. Indeed, though long gone, the legacy of the entelodonts and of predatory ungulates as a whole, a legacy Archaeotherium itself had helped foster, lives on in these paragons of predatory prowess, showing that the ungulates are more than just the mere “prey” that they are often made out to be. Moreover, given the success that carnivorous ungulates had enjoyed in the past and given how modern omnivorous ungulates like boar dabble in predation themselves, perhaps, in the distant future, this planet may see the rise of carnivorous ungulates once again, following in the footsteps left behind by Archaeotherium and the other predatory ungulates all those millions of years ago. |
2024.05.14 15:53 shaneka69 CANCER ZODIAC - UNEXPECTED INCOME! TAROT READING MAY 2024
CANCER ZODIAC TAROT READING - UNEXPECTED INCOME MAY 2024
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2024.05.14 15:52 Asdeev_Drago Furniture store/extended warranty company denying claim that is supposed to be covered
I am based in Austin, Texas. I purchased a dining set from Rooms to Go and along with it, their 3 year extended warranty coverage, provided by Fortegra. I had an incident which left some small heat ring on the dining table, which is covered by their warranty coverage. I submitted the claim and they send out a tech to take some photos of the table. I get a call yesterday saying they denied it because there was water damage and other issues with the table (there wasn't any, I only requested them to handle the fixing of a particular area that had the single heat ring).
What can I do in this situation? I mean isn't the whole purpose of extended accidental warranty coverage supposed to help cover all this? If not this, what situation would you ever use the warranty, what is the purpose of me paying for extended coverage? The sales guy at Rooms to Go was touting how the coverage is so beneficial and you can use it multiple times for any issue you encounter. What would be my legal recourse here? I don't want them to get away with this.
submitted by Asdeev_Drago to legaladvice [link] [comments]
What can I do in this situation? I mean isn't the whole purpose of extended accidental warranty coverage supposed to help cover all this? If not this, what situation would you ever use the warranty, what is the purpose of me paying for extended coverage? The sales guy at Rooms to Go was touting how the coverage is so beneficial and you can use it multiple times for any issue you encounter. What would be my legal recourse here? I don't want them to get away with this.
2024.05.14 15:51 rchem83 Video Rental Stores
Was just reminiscing about old video stores in Milford that I used to frequent growing up. There were the obvious ones like Tommy K’s, Video Hut, and Video Plaza. I’m trying to remember the name of the one that used to be in the old Gromart’s plaza on New Haven Ave. Did anyone remember going there? I think it changed names a few times.
submitted by rchem83 to Milford [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 15:47 brokensaint82 [FO4] Issues with graphical glitches and weird texture stretching
![[FO4] Issues with graphical glitches and weird texture stretching](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/BhefX7J2GqRdTL7DgoXgmsyHSpvNDBV-ZD-AtOz3KuE.jpg "[FO4] Issues with graphical glitches and weird texture stretching") | submitted by brokensaint82 to FalloutMods [link] [comments] Weird black boxes and texture stretching Just black void As you can see in the pictures I get these black boxes either going through houses and such, as well as taking the screen over eventually. This is on a fresh install of the game with the updates installed. Is this just an issue with the latest updates borking my game and I should wait until F4SE and others are up to date or are there conflicting mods that are causing this? All mods are up to date and my load order is as follows: Fallout4.esm DLCRobot.esm DLCworkshop01.esm DLCCoast.esm DLCworkshop02.esm DLCworkshop03.esm DLCNukaWorld.esm ccBGSFO4044-HellfirePowerArmor.esl ccBGSFO4115-X02.esl ccBGSFO4116-HeavyFlamer.esl ccBGSFO4110-WS_Enclave.esl ccBGSFO4096-AS_Enclave.esl ccFSVFO4007-Halloween.esl ccBGSFO4046-TesCan.esl ccSBJFO4003-Grenade.esl ccOTMFO4001-Remnants.esl Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch.esp ArmorKeywords.esm WorkshopFramework.esm Homemaker.esm MutantMenagerie.esm SS2.esm SS2_XPAC_Chapter2.esm SS2_XPAC_Chapter3.esm CWPointLookoutFO4.esm MutantMenagerie_BackwaterBeasts.esm MutantMenagerie_GrilledTurkey.esm CanarySaveFileMonitor.esl CWPointLookoutFO4Patch.esl TacticalReload.esm M84FlashBang.esl TrueStormsFO4.esm NCRArmourPack.esl four_play_resources.esm Wetness Shader Fix.esp NoSharedDogmeatTemplate.esp ImmersiveGenericDialogues.esp PiperCaitCurieDialogueOverhaul.esp RepairSanctuary.esp Armorsmith Extended.esp Melee Replacer.esp Rebuild_Settlements.esp ThisIsTrash.esp LootableCrates.esp SS2Extended.esp WeightlessMods.esp clothingoverhaul.esp MojaveImports.esp SuperMutantRedux.esp ImmersiveAnimationFramework.esp SuperMutantRedux_AE-WSE-VIS-G-Insanity_AIO_Patch.esp WeightlessAid.esp FirstPersonMessagesMerged.esp MAIM Distributor.esp MAIM 2.esp ReducedJunkWeight.esp Stm_DiamondCityExpansion.esp Rebuild_Settlements_Previs.esp CrimeTown.esp HAIA With Crafting.esp Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4.esp Vivid Weathers - FO4 - Quest.esp InstituteSettlements2.esp CombinedArmsNV.esp CombinedArmsEXPack.esp W.A.T.Minutemen.esp CheatTerminal.esp DT_GunnerOutfitPack.esp DTG_LeveledListIntegration.esp Eli_Armour_Compendium.esp BR77.esp XM2010_SniperRifle_by_tooun.esp 1CAS_ServiceRifle.esp SS2-PraRandomAddon.esp M2Agency.esp SS2-Jampads2.esp ImiUzi.esp Crossbow.esp Glock19x.esp KrissVector.esp BOCWNailGun.esp DoubleBarrelReloadRedoneTR.esp USP .45_by_tooun.esp SV-98.esp 9mmPistol.esp 3dscopes-replacer.esp four_play.esp MK18.esp Rangergearnew.esp LString_Bow.esp M1Garand.esp m2045magnumrevolverrifle.esp [SS2 Addon] SimSettlements SuperStructures.esp FO4 NPCs Travel.esp DX_Black_Widow.esp SteyrAUGnv.esp AKMnv.esp SanctFixedBridge.esp ElMudoStore.esp HuntingShotgun.esp DOOMThatGun.esp WinCowbowRepeater.esp MP7.esp HuntingRevolver.esp HK_MP5.esp GIAT_FAMAS.esp G36Complex.esp HK_UMP.esp M1918A2.esp AmmoCounterFramework.esp M1918A2_ACF.esp M1918A2_TR.esp PMC Operators Pack.esp WestTekTacticalOptics.esp TAC.esp K9TacticalHarness.esp GCM.esp Homemaker - 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Double Barrel Shotgun v2.3.esp Binoculars.esp ACR-W17.esp FO4LaserBolts.esp fn five-seven v3.0.esp 3dscopes-replacer-aug.esp 3dscopes-replacer-crossbow.esp 3dscopes-replacer-sv98.esp 3dscopes-wmsr.esp IAF - Far Harbor & Nuka World.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - Ballistic Weave.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - No Crafting Perks.esp AnS Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - AWKCR.esp VeryRichMerchants.esp CBBE.esp M1Garand - AWKCR-VIS-VW.esp M1Garand-1.5xDMG.esp BetterSettlersCCAPack2.0.esp Chem Lab Restoration Project - AWKCR AE CW.esp TrueStormsFO4-EarlierSunsets.esp TrueStormsFO4-EarlierSunsetsFH.esp TrueStormsFO4-FarHarborExtraRads.esp TrueStormsFO4-GlowingSeaExtraRads.esp CROSS_GoreCrits.esp CROSS_GoreCrits_FarHarborPatch.esp OMEGA - MutantMenagerie IAF Patch.esp MG42.esp dD-Realistic Ragdoll Force.esp RNS-WSFW-CompPatch.esp SS2-Jampads2_ImportsPatch.esp SS2_XDI Patch.esp move that workbench!.esp [MW2R] Shadow Company.esp BetterNightVision.esp DarkerNights.esp DarkerNightsDetection.esp EnhancedLightsandFX.esp Scrap Everything - Ultimate Edition.esp Pip-Boy Flashlight.esp SatelliteWorldMap.esp WorkshopFramework_ScriptOverride.esp |
2024.05.14 15:44 Dr_Pepper_blood Missing In Oregon: Rebecca Reid abducted at knifepoint on Superbowl Sunday 1997, never seen again
Rebecca Kathleen Reid (Becky) was a 37 year old wife to Dearld Reid and their son was 13 years old in 1997. She had been a graduate of Thurston High School and was described as bubbly and outgoing.
To make ends meet Becky worked at a gas station located on Highway 99 in Eugene Oregon. At the time the name of the gas station was the Grocery Cart, and Becky was a manager there.
On January 27th (Superbowl Sunday)at around 1a.m. Becky was doing her closing routine. Probably sweeping and mopping and about to possibly count down her till. From piecing together a couple different descriptions there was either one witness in the store, or a witness just outside the store collecting beer bottles (or possibly both?) that witnessed a man abduct Becky from the store at knifepoint and force her into his vehicle where he drove off with her. She has never been seen again. There is a sketch of the suspect in The Charley Project link.
The suspect was described as a white male late 20s to mid 30s, 5 ft 9 and 165-185 lbs. In 1997 he had shoulder length brown hair and a mustache with face stubble. His vehicle is described as a 70's or early 80s compact or midsize pickup truck with a white canopy. The truck itself was white or light in color and there was a horizontal stripe about 8 inches wide on the driver side door. It was not an extended cab. Neither the suspect or the vehicle were ever truly identified or found.
A month after Becky disappeared a man attempted to abduct another woman from a nearby grocery store at knife point. That woman escaped and a suspect was captured and arrested but when investigators tried to link that man with Reid's case they could not. So he was never named as a suspect.
Dearld Reid was cleared fairly early on. He and his son and the rest of Becky's family like her sister Chris watched days of Rebecca missing turn from days to weeks to months and then, years. With no answers after all this time.
Authorities believe the man was attempting to rob the store at the time that he abducted Becky. But I haven't found any information on whether he actually robbed the place. And if so why take Becky? Could she identify him? Was it someone she knew? Or was abducting a woman more of the motive than robbery?
This case puts me in mind of a couple others across the United States where women are abducted from their late night gas station jobs. I myself worked the same type of jobs in my early 20's.
Besides the fact that Becky was walked out at knife point I have not heard a lot of description of what the eyewitnesses saw just prior to the abduction.
I'm sure Becky's son still wants answers. Someone stole his mother away in 1997 and whatever the motive it robbed a family of a wife, mother, sister, and daughter.
https://charleyproject.org/case/rebecca-kathleen-reid
https://kval.com/news/local/rebecca-reid-cold-case
https://www.wdam.com/video/2023/04/13/cold-case-debrief-wlox-investigates-disappearance-rebecca-reid/
The Eugene Police Department is investigating at 541-682-8888 or 541-682-5835 as well as the FBI at 202-324-3000.
submitted by Dr_Pepper_blood to UnresolvedMysteries [link] [comments]
To make ends meet Becky worked at a gas station located on Highway 99 in Eugene Oregon. At the time the name of the gas station was the Grocery Cart, and Becky was a manager there.
On January 27th (Superbowl Sunday)at around 1a.m. Becky was doing her closing routine. Probably sweeping and mopping and about to possibly count down her till. From piecing together a couple different descriptions there was either one witness in the store, or a witness just outside the store collecting beer bottles (or possibly both?) that witnessed a man abduct Becky from the store at knifepoint and force her into his vehicle where he drove off with her. She has never been seen again. There is a sketch of the suspect in The Charley Project link.
The suspect was described as a white male late 20s to mid 30s, 5 ft 9 and 165-185 lbs. In 1997 he had shoulder length brown hair and a mustache with face stubble. His vehicle is described as a 70's or early 80s compact or midsize pickup truck with a white canopy. The truck itself was white or light in color and there was a horizontal stripe about 8 inches wide on the driver side door. It was not an extended cab. Neither the suspect or the vehicle were ever truly identified or found.
A month after Becky disappeared a man attempted to abduct another woman from a nearby grocery store at knife point. That woman escaped and a suspect was captured and arrested but when investigators tried to link that man with Reid's case they could not. So he was never named as a suspect.
Dearld Reid was cleared fairly early on. He and his son and the rest of Becky's family like her sister Chris watched days of Rebecca missing turn from days to weeks to months and then, years. With no answers after all this time.
Authorities believe the man was attempting to rob the store at the time that he abducted Becky. But I haven't found any information on whether he actually robbed the place. And if so why take Becky? Could she identify him? Was it someone she knew? Or was abducting a woman more of the motive than robbery?
This case puts me in mind of a couple others across the United States where women are abducted from their late night gas station jobs. I myself worked the same type of jobs in my early 20's.
Besides the fact that Becky was walked out at knife point I have not heard a lot of description of what the eyewitnesses saw just prior to the abduction.
I'm sure Becky's son still wants answers. Someone stole his mother away in 1997 and whatever the motive it robbed a family of a wife, mother, sister, and daughter.
https://charleyproject.org/case/rebecca-kathleen-reid
https://kval.com/news/local/rebecca-reid-cold-case
https://www.wdam.com/video/2023/04/13/cold-case-debrief-wlox-investigates-disappearance-rebecca-reid/
The Eugene Police Department is investigating at 541-682-8888 or 541-682-5835 as well as the FBI at 202-324-3000.
2024.05.14 15:41 AnimationFan_2003 S1 Ep4: Can't Wait to Be Queen Review
Episode Description
-First off, I like the sibling dynamic in this episode, as somebody with a similarly aged older brother. Kion and Kiara's relationship has resonated with me, the way they have off days and arguments, but, obviously love each other and make it out strong in the end. I, for one, do not hate Kiara in The Lion Guard, and Kion gives her the same attitude she gives him in early episodes. I like watching their relationship go through ups and downs throughout Season 1.
-I know the opening scene, where Kiara and Kion are fighting over a tree to sharpen their claws is quite intense, because they would've probably gotten into a scuffle if Simba hadn't showed up when he did, but, that is siblings for you sometimes. I feel like anyone who's got siblings of your own can relate, at least a little bit, to that scene.
-I like the plotline of Kiara and Kion's sibling rivalry stemming from their roles in leadership. Kiara is clearly a reflection of her father, when he was a cub, which is interesting and so, she thinks that being the Future Queen is really swell and makes her the alpha, and Kion (who is no better than her) thinks that being Leader of the Lion Guard makes him more important than her. I like this mechanic in this episode. It makes me want to know if Scar felt the same way about Mufasa. I mean, Kion was obviously not resentful of Kiara, unlike Scar, but I wonder if a similar thing happened with the two brothers except, in this case, it drove Scar to insanity and wanting to murder Mufasa.
-Now let's talk about Kiara being left in charge of the Pride Lands (I mean, I do think the main conflict of the episode was Simba's fault, but we'll get to that later). So, I like the fact that Kiara is nervous about ruling the Pride Lands, even for a brief period of time. I like this because for one thing, she's still only a cub at this time, so, she's entitled to be nervous and anxious about being responsible for an entire kingdom. There's a lot of responsibility being placed on her at such a young age, but, she still remained likable, in my opinion. I do like how, in The Lion Guard, she takes her responsibility as Future Queen very seriously. I know this is unpopular to say, but, I headcanon that, as she's grown up into an older cub, she's realised that being queen won't prevent her from being herself, a concern she had at the beginning of TLK 2.
-I do empathise with Kiara, and Kion, because they are both being put into a huge responsibility of looking after the entire kingdom on their own, while all the adults are away from Pride Rock. This is still really early on in Season 1, so Kion is inexperienced as Leader of the Lion Guard, and Kiara only just started her training with Simba, in the pilot episode. I do feel bad at the fact that they have to figure everything without their parents around and I respect them for managing to work out their differences by the end of the episode.
-I really feel bad for Kiara because she gets a lot of crap from people in the TLG community, moreso than Kion does. I feel really sorry for her because people say they hate her for her attitude and that they think she's a self-righteous bitch at the start of the series, but, I don't. Even as a kid, I knew that a lot of Kiara's behaviour in this episode was down to the stress of being left in charge of whole kingdom for a few days without her parents around, while still being a cub at this point. I do really like her and it really upsets when I see people hating on her. I don't think Kiara really means to be controlling in this episode, she's just trying to do right by her father while he's gone.
-I like the fact that Kiara is really hesitant and nervous to have a huge weight on her shoulders, a role she was previously really excited to fulfil in the pilot episode. When Simba asks this of her, she's understanding feeling a lot of pressure to make him proud. I like the fact that Simba admits to her that he was also nervous about becoming king the first time. I like this because we only saw the side of him that was cocky, overconfident and optimistic about becoming king. I like the fact that she was nervous and that he decides to be upfront about it.
-Kiara still remained a likable character to me throughout this episode. I like how she starts out as nervous and how her confidence is slowly building up nicely during the episode. But, she never came off as mean-spirited, to me. Also, it becomes clear that the reason her responsibility goes to her head is because of Tiifu and Zuri's influence on her and the Lion Guard's inexperience and, in this case, plot-convenient incompetence.
-Beshte, "I'm sure she'll be a nice queen." Well, I'm glad at least one of you believes in her. I can't tell you guys how much I love Beshte, always the sweetest soul out of the group.
-Ono, "Thank you for the opportunity, my queen. And you.... err..... my Kion." That line was funnier than it had any right to be.
-Speaking of which, I thought seeing Ono in Zazu's position, temporarily for Kiara was interesting and I think was a great use of his character, outside of being a Member of the Lion Guard. I personally would've been down for more scenes like this. I think a cool send off for Ono would've been to have him be the Royal Advisor to Queen Kiara and King Kovu, in the future. I wish Ono had stayed in the Pride Lands in the series finale and had become Zazu's apprentice or something.
-Bunga, "Your majesty." {bows at Kiara}. Kiara, "Bunga, that's really not necessary." I found that whole interaction surprisingly funny. Also, strong feeling that Bunga has a huge crush on his best friend's sister at this point, and Kiara views him as her friend, nothing more.
-Kiara's plan about the Bees and the Eelands fiasco was actually very smart, and even when I saw this as a kid, I knew that she had a better idea than Kion. Her idea about moving the eelands away from bees' nests is smarter because bees obviously sting when angered. So, Kion was too proud to admit Kiara had the better idea.
-One of the funniest parts of the whole episode for me was Kion saying, "I say we move the bees". Then, the scene cuts to Kion, Beshte, Fuli and Ono running away from a swarm of bees, in terror. I obviously don't want them hurt, but, I just had to laugh because it was so predictable.
-Bunga, "What are you guys running for? Bees taste even better when they're mad!" Accurate behaviour from a honey badger. They can raid beehives without being stung due to their very thick hide and their stink sap.
-When the Lion Guard arrived back at Pride Rock covered in bee stings, if I were Kiara, I'd be laughing in Kion's face at that moment, like "Ha, ha, you were wrong. Only an idiot would decide to move a swarm of bees to a new place." But, in fairness, Kiara was right to be mad at him, in that moment, for his little screw up.
-"It wasn't a total disaster," Kion, while talking to Kiara. Kiara, looks at Fuli and Ono scratching themselves, "Really? It looks pretty total to me." I mean, she does have a point there. In this situation, Kion had everything to gain from taking her advice.
-However, I do like the fact this episode shows that Kiara and Kion are not perfect leaders yet, they're still fairly young and are only just finding their feet, so it's natural for them to have some minor slip ups, that they learn from, like every kid does.
-"Admit it. I was right about the bees and you were wrong." Kion, just admit it and save yourself the embarrassment. Kiara was not being rude to him whatsoever. She was speaking nothing but facts.
-When Kiara talks to Mzingo at Pride Rock, I like the fact that the latter is clearly higher up in the frame because he's the one dominating the conversation and is also the one who manipulates Kiara. I think it's a nice touch where he creepily approaches and blackmails her.
-*laughs "Janja wants peace?" I like the fact that Kiara is clearly sceptical and she's obviously suspicious of Janja's true intentions. I like this because it doesn't make Kiara out to be seriously wayyy too gullible and silly. The fact that was she was suspicious feels more in-line with TLK 2 and makes her decision to believe Janja, partially Kion's fault. Manipulation is also a very powerful tool, especially to done on a semi-young child, like Kiara.
-I like the fact that Mufasa appears to Kion, unprompted in this episode, for the first time in the series. I love this because it feels like Mufasa saw the argument that had just gone down and was like, "Right I need to put an end to this sibling drama before it gets out of hand. I need to make Kion see the error of his ways."
-I actually love the fact that Kiara is, at least partially willing, to give Outlanders a chance for peace. It feels like a nice bit of foreshadowing for her character arc in TLK 2, where she was able to give the Outsider lions a chance to fit in.
-Kion angrily to Tiifu and Zuri, "Ugh! Some advisors you two are!" That was more hilarious than it had any right to be. Because, let's be honest, they were pretty obnoxious in this episode.
-"Get away from the Queen!!!!" I actually love the moment where Kion comes bursting in like a superhero, to his sister's aid. I also love the fact that he calls Kiara his queen, at this point, because he clearly listened to Mufasa's advice, and also because he had felt somewhat responsible for her almost being killed by Janja.
-"Oh we can fight all right!!!" So badass. I personally would've loved to see Kiara fight alongside the Lion Guard. I think it would've been cool to see her help to fight off Janja's clan. I wanted to see what she could do.
-"Six on six..... Forget it!!!!" Yeah, you better run, Janja, you don't stand a chance against all six of these heroic friends. And one of them is a bloody hippo.
-I love Kion and Kiara's closeness at the end of the episode where they make up for their uncivil, squabbling at the start. Kion finally rightfully admits that he should've taken Kiara's advice about the bees and the elands, and Kiara admits that Kion was right about Janja being nothing but trouble.
-Kion, "And I should've listened to you about the bees." Ono, "Oh, sure {rolls his eyes}. Now he admits it." Oh, Ono, you knew all along, but, we love you.
-Kiara and Kion when Simba and Nala arrive home, are really sweet. I love the fact that Kiara wants to be honest about what happened, "Ruling the Pride Lands? It went..." I absolutely love the moment where Kion decides to cover for her and admits that she'll be a great queen, this is an incredibly sweet brother and sister moment. That moment feels like a precursor to the episode "Baboons" and even later "The Trail to Udugu."
-I love the moral of this episode about "being supportive of your loved ones efforts to help, especially when they are wrong," because it applies to both Kiara and Kion in two different situations. Kion was obviously wrong to go against Kiara's advice to move the elands, but, Kiara learned that she should've been more sensitive about that whole situation. But, Kion also learned that if hadn't been so dismissive of her acting queen for a few days and given her his utmost support when she was clearly nervous about ruling the Pride Lands. If Kion and Kiara been more sensitive to each other, then, they would've been able to be in charge of the Pride Lands together instead of arguing. Also, this episode shares another moral, "Communication is key to understanding each other and a successful team." Kiara learns this after Kion saves her and she realises she was wrong about Janja, and Kion learns this when the Lion Guard get stung by bees, and even later when he realises that he was partly to blame for Kiara going into the Outlands, and that if he had been upfront with her instead of outright yelling at her and running out on her, she wouldn't have needed to be rescued. These are two important lessons for kids going through school together, or with siblings and friends.
-Also, Janja is genuinely dangerous and scary in this episode. He traps Kiara in the Outlands to use her as a bargaining chip for Simba or else he and his would eat her. They would've gotten away with it if Kion didn't jump in at the last second. Janja threatened the freaking princess of the Pride Lands! Reason number #50 why he should never be allowed enter the Pride Lands, no matter if he is starving or not, because he clearly cannot be trusted to follow the rules.
-And now I'm finally going to talk about the B-plot of the episode. It wasn't as good the A-plot, in my opinion. I did love the worldbuilding aspect of this episode where we learn that different animals in the Pride Lands have their own customs and traditions that need to be respected. I like the idea of Simba upholding a tradition and it was interesting that he was never trained for it because obviously Mufasa died before he could complete his training.
-I like the idea of Simba, Nala and Zazu going to an elephant funeral. Elephants actually have "funerals" in real life. In real life, if a member of their herd dies, the elephants will crowd around them ceremoniously to pay tribute and they'll collect twigs and branches to cover the fallen elephant to pay tribute, out of respect for them. I love the way its portrayed as a ceremonial funeral in The Lion Guard and that Simba is upholding a tradition. I love the way he has to say it in Elephantese because the idea of the elephants' having a language barrier is a cool worldbuilding element.
-Aminifu is a cool worldbuilding character too who, we're told, played a big part in the Pride Lands' revival and bringing the circle of life into balance. I like to headcanon we was a childhood friend of Mufasa and Scar, and the rest of the Royal Family, and how he go on to be a good friend to Simba, Nala and the rest of Simba's pride. I like to think Aminifu was responsible for all the animals in the kingdom, similar to the Lion Guard, and how his daughter fills that role in Season 2.
-The Elephant Funeral scene looks cool because of how emotional and how heart-wrenching it looks from afar. I like the addition of all the elephants mourning in the background. It was a little dark this early on the series. One elephant hugs Aminifu and looks like their going to cry, another elephant and her calf are crying, while hugging each other.
-I like how you can see shades of Mufasa's death through Simba's voice in this episode, such as, "And now Aminifu has completely his part of the circle of life," and "Well, time for the tribute." I like this because I like to think Simba is obviously nervous about performing a eulogy in front of elephants, but, probably also a bit upset and mourning over his own father's death. I mean, in fairness, he never to give his father a proper send off when he died, so, this probably hit even harder for him.
-I like how this is Zazu's first main character moment in the series and how much of a hard worker and a loyal he is to Simba and Nala, his whole motivation is just to help Simba learn Elephantese properly so he can impress Ma Tembo's herd, during the tribute.
-Nala is such a sweetheart and a loving partner to Simba. I love her because she's pretty much exactly how she was in the original film. She's his loving and supportive wife, and I love the way he gives him moral support when he gets nervous. I love her snarky jab at her husband early on the episode too, by the way, "Worried about Kiara? Or are you worried about your tribute?"
-The song "Duties of the King" was decent enough, I suppose. I mean, it's not my favourite song in the series and I wouldn't be reaching for it. But, I don't hate it. I like the more cutesy, "miscellaneous" animals shown in the background, like the chimpanzees and the porcupines. Plus, it's nice to know that Simba doesn't just sit on his ass all day and that he does important jobs, like he assigns gazelles to their grazing grounds and songbirds to their trees. I love that he presides over aardvark wedding rites and then we saw Muhanga and Muhangus kissing behind some grass. So, I wonder if Simba did in fact, preside over their wedding before this episode. Overall, I like the cute scenes of this song and I like the fact that Simba actually has important stuff to do. I can see why kids would dance around to this song because it's very bouncy and energetic. The beat is fine, but, I don't like Rob Lowe's singing voice as Simba. I think they should've used Cam Clarke all along for The Lion Guard, who actually voices Mwoga the vulture. I don't mind the beat, but, I don't think Simba and Zazu are the best singers, at least in this series, that is. I'll give it a 5/10 because there are worse songs than it.
-Ma Tembo is such a sweetheart in this episode and I love her. She doesn't have a major role in the series as of yet, but, it's still clear in this episode that she has a great relationship with Simba and the Royal Family. I'm glad she had a bigger part in Season 2. I also love her voice actress, Lynette DuPree (R.I.P) and I think she's one of the best in the series. I love how she makes her sound genuinely sad during the procession and then a little bittersweet during the "poop" scene. Also, shout out to the moment where she wraps her trunk around Simba.
-Also, call me childish if you want to, but I actually love it when Simba actually says that Aminifu had "poop on him". I mean, it just gets me because that's not something you'd say at a funeral and the fact that the elephants took it really well and actually laughed hysterically is genuinely hilarious. Like, even his daughter admitted that he had always had faeces on him. It was funny because of how much Simba feels like he screwed up, but, then, the elephants had a really good sense of humour about it.
-Also, this episode makes me wish that at least someone went to the Elephant Graveyard during this series. Maybe Aminifu's funeral could've been there and Simba and Nala would've had to go the place where they almost got killed as cubs or maybe even Kion and the Lion Guard would have to go there. It's such a missed opportunity. Or if Janja went there then maybe he could've learn that Scar betrayed his ancestors long before the events of The Lion Guard. But, speaking of the Elephant Graveyard, I bet Ma Tembo's herd are going to wait for Aminifu to decompose and then carry his remains to the Graveyard because that's something that elephants do if a member of their herd dies outside of their designated area. I like to think that that's what happened after this episode. I just wish they had the funeral in the Elephant Graveyard and we got to see Simba and Nala go there as adults, but, I'm not going to fault this episode for not going in this direction.
-Zazu, "I'm not sure Sire, but, I think you just said he had.... {quietly} poop on him...." Try not to judge me too harshly, but, I just find poop jokes hilarious for some reason, as an adult.
Cons
-First off, I don't like how Kion and Kiara were both dumbed down for the sake of plot-convenience for much of this episode. I get that they're still kids, but, Kion's plans to move the bees instead of the elands was the most stupid idea I've seen in the series. The literally just had an episode where Kion calls out his best friend, Bunga, for making bad decisions and now it's Kion who made a really dumb decision. I mean, that should be bee rescue 101, don't try to move a swarm of bees, they do not like, and the fact that Kiara spells it out for them before this scene, "....if the elands step on the beehives, they'll get stung.... there could be chaos." She's speaking nothing but facts. Kion should've realised that they shouldn't have tried to aggravate the bees. I don't like the fact that he acts cocky and dismissive towards Kiara, when she was so obviously right. However, Kiara was dumb to go into the Outlands alone to see Janja. I mean, I admire her willingness to give strangers a chance for peace, but the fact that she had her suspicions about him and she already knew what he was like, in accordance to the pilot episode, wouldn't she see reason to bring Tiifu and Zuri along for backup.
-I don't like how this episode seems to indicate that Simba favours his daughter over his son. Between the pilot episode and this episode, it seems like he sees Kion as a just a Child Soldier and doesn't actually love him equally. I know it's obviously not through, but, I don't like how he gives off an impression that he has favourites. Parents don't have favourites, unless you're an evil lioness named Zira and you give your youngest son everything, but then treat your eldest son like dirt. But, Simba isn't like that. I don't like how he says "I have faith in you," in such a way that gives off Parental Favouritism vibes. I'm really glad he doesn't have this in any of the later episodes.
-I hate the way the writers tried to do the Kion/Scar and Kiara/Mufasa parallels in this episode. I just don't like it being used as a plot device. The series makes a point to say that Kion is nothing like Scar and how he would never take his anger out on his family and friends. I don't mind Kiara being like her grandfather because he was a great king in his day, but, I don't like how the writers made Kion and Kiara have a similar relationship that led to Mufasa's fall. Also, one thing I loathed early on in the series is the fanart of Kion brutally murdering Kiara in rage, just like Scar murdered Mufasa. I just hate it so much because it would happen since Kiara and Kion have a caring relationship, where they do bicker like siblings tend to do, but, they would never turn on each other.
-I don't like the part where Kiara and Kion were outright malicious towards each other. All the lion cubs in this episode were quite mean-spirited at times. Kion and Kiara for obviously constantly fighting and being horrible instead of admitting to being wrong in certain situations, like the bees and the elands and the Janja situation. Kion is too cocky and overconfident about the bees, for my liking, and Kiara allows Tiifu and Zuri's influence to get her head and ends up believing she's always right. Kion only adds fuel to the fire by yelling at Kiara and then callously running out her instead of being upfront with her about Janja's true intentions. I get that siblings don't always see eye-to-eye on things, but, I don't like Kion and Kiara constantly being scumbags to each other and not giving things a second thought until the end. Mufasa had to be the one to put an end to the "sibling drama".
-Tiifu and Zuri were the worst of all, in my opinion, and I think all of you guys will agree. They were pretty annoying and obnoxious in this episode. They were very disrespectful and condescending towards Kion just because he's not a queen, and they caused Kiara to be disrespectful right back. Kiara doesn't strike me as disrespectful without these two around. I'm glad she actually stands up to them in later episodes rather than being influenced by them. Zuri is my least favourite of the two of them, she comes off as super mean-spirited and bitchy, and Tiifu comes off as domineering and rude. I don't like the way they talk down and belittle Kion and how they throw shade at anyone who believes Kiara is wrong. They act like stereotypical Mean Girls, but, the annoying kind. Plus, they weren't very good friends to Kiara for letting her go into the Outlands alone without a second thought about the fact that it might be dangerous. That doesn't sound like Tiifu. Remember how in the pilot, she was deeply concerned when Kiara was trapped by the gazelles. But, here, the stakes are much higher, and she's up against a much bigger threat and Tiifu and Zuri don't seem to give a damn. I'm glad Kion called them out on this behaviour before leaving. What I wouldn't give for Tiifu and Zuri to be captured by Janja instead, not to get eaten, but just so they can see how dangerous it is. It's episodes like this that make me wonder are they her actual best friends or are they just using her to hang out with the Royal Family. Kiara deserves better than these self-entitled bitches, in my opinion.
-I feel like Kiara should've been the main focus of this episode instead of Kion. I know this only S1 Ep4, but, I still think this should've been a Kiara focused episode, rather than a brothesister episode. I would've been interested to see Kiara take centre stage and the Lion Guard take a back seat. Then, we could've seen more of Kiara's apprehension about becoming Queen and her trying to make all the decisions without Simba around to guide her, and most importantly, see her trying to decide what sort of Queen she wants to be. I would've loved if Kion tried to be supportive of her and tries to help her watch over the entire kingdom, instead of saying "Screw you Kiara, go get herself killed if you want to and my friends hate you." I would've liked to see that explored and maybe have them be a little bit annoyed at each other, but without making them really malicious. Also, have Tiifu and Zuri be in their annoying phase and for Kiara to realise that her "so-called" friends are not being very good friends to her, and have her ditch those bitches at the end of the episode. Then, have Kiara and Kion make some big decision together that really develops their relationship, in the future.
-I don't like how Simba is portrayed for much of this episode. I know, he was mourning the loss of an old friend, but I really don't like angry Simba moments in this series. I don't like the fact that all Zazu was doing was trying to help him practice his eulogy and Simba gets frustrated and roars in his face. I hate it when he throws tantrums, as a full-grown adult lion. I hate the idea of Simba regressing more into his evil uncle as of this series. I know he's not, but, I hate it when acts like it. Zazu, bless him, was just trying to help and Simba took out his rage on him. I do not like it when Zazu has to be the butt of all the jokes. I don't like Simba being a headstrong asshole in The Lion Guard.
-I also don't want to point fingers, but, if Simba hadn't left his semi-young daughter to rule over an entire kingdom for a few days, none of the conflict would've happened if he left Kion and Kiara with a responsible adult, like Rafiki or Basi or someone, just to keep an eye on things. I wouldn't leave kids their age home alone for even a day or more than an afternoon. If they had an adult in Pride Rock with them, the arguing wouldn't have spiralled out of control the way that it did. Also, this makes no sense with Simba's character in TLK 2. This is the same guy who sheltered his daughter the whole time she was growing up and wouldn't even let her explore more than 2ft from Pride Rock or even leave Pride Rock, at another point in the film. In this episode, she's still a cub and he's okay with leaving her to look after an entire kingdom for days on end! Yes, he did show hesitation, but that was after he and Nala had already left the Pride Lands. This episode fails to show just how okay he was with leaving his preteen daughter in charge of the kingdom for a few days with no adult supervision. Also, this episode and the series fails to explain how he regressed back into his over-protective state of mind in the second half of TLK 2.
-A minor complaint I have. This is a very minor nitpick. But, the distance between Kilio Valley and the Pride Lands that was established in this episode is very confusing. This episode implies that the elephants live approximately a two or three day walk from the Pride Lands, enough for Simba to outside of the kingdom, when in other episodes it's actually a part of the Pride Lands, just barely on the outskirts of the kingdom. I also don't get why the writers made it seem like Simba, Nala and Zazu took like a day or less to arrive at the elephants' funeral. There's no indication that they were travelling at night or that they ever slept. However, I understand, the writers just wanted to show some of journey and then transition to the day of the funeral, so I won't fault it to harshly. However, I do wish that the distance between Kilio Valley and the Pride Lands was consistent. This episode makes it seem like that whenever Kion and his friends have to help the elephants, it would take them a whole day to arrive on the scene. But, that's just a small criticism I had with this episode.
Overall
So, overall, I did always thoroughly enjoy this episode. Even as a kid, I could not stand the fact that Kiara got a lot of hate in the Lion Guard Fandom and that loads of people blamed her, just her, for a lot of the drama in this episode. Kion and Kiara shared 50% of the blame each and I think that Kiara is overhated. Anyways, I did like Kion and Kiara interacting like real siblings and slowly learning how to work together, it felt a little bit like a prequel to "Baboons" and "The Trail to Udugu", in that way. I like the lesson about learning to communicate well and to listen to one another and that they were both in the right and wrong, at different points. I liked the loving sibling dynamic at the end and the friendship with all the Lion Guard. I like the sense of family between Simba, Nala, Kiara and Kion at the end. Janja poses as a genuinely threat to Kiara. I think the humour was pretty solid as well and the educational value. I liked the worldbuilding aspect and the elephants' relationship with the lions. Aminifu is a cool headcanon character. The only parts I didn't like were, Tiifu and Zuri were unbearably annoying in this episode and weren't very good friends to Kiara. I don't like them being stereotypical Middle School girls. I hate their disrespect and belittling towards Kion and their toxic influence on Kiara. I didn't like Kiara and Kion's maliciousness at the start or the fact that the writers tried to draw Mufasa/Scar parallels. I don't like angry Simba at all in this series. I hate the fact that he gives off Parental Favouritism vibes in this episode. I don't like the fact that Kion and Kiara were hit with the idiot stick in this episode. Simba and Tiifu and Zuri are kind of at fault for all the drama in this episode. The song was just decent, not the best not the worst. Overall, I'll give this episode a 6.5/10, it's not perfect, but I think it deserves more love in the fandom and I think there are way worse episodes than it.
submitted by AnimationFan_2003 to lionking [link] [comments]
Simba leaves Kiara in charge of the Pride Lands while he, Nala, and Zazu go to Kilio Valley to attend a funeral for an old elephant friend named Amanifu who has just died. Upon learning this from Mzingo, Janja decides to take advantage of Kiara's inexperience and comes up with a plan to take over the Pride Lands. Meanwhile, Simba is nervous about performing his eulogy in front of the elephants, including Aminifu's daughter, Ma Tembo.Pros
Song: "Duties of the King" sung by Simba and Zazu
-First off, I like the sibling dynamic in this episode, as somebody with a similarly aged older brother. Kion and Kiara's relationship has resonated with me, the way they have off days and arguments, but, obviously love each other and make it out strong in the end. I, for one, do not hate Kiara in The Lion Guard, and Kion gives her the same attitude she gives him in early episodes. I like watching their relationship go through ups and downs throughout Season 1.
-I know the opening scene, where Kiara and Kion are fighting over a tree to sharpen their claws is quite intense, because they would've probably gotten into a scuffle if Simba hadn't showed up when he did, but, that is siblings for you sometimes. I feel like anyone who's got siblings of your own can relate, at least a little bit, to that scene.
-I like the plotline of Kiara and Kion's sibling rivalry stemming from their roles in leadership. Kiara is clearly a reflection of her father, when he was a cub, which is interesting and so, she thinks that being the Future Queen is really swell and makes her the alpha, and Kion (who is no better than her) thinks that being Leader of the Lion Guard makes him more important than her. I like this mechanic in this episode. It makes me want to know if Scar felt the same way about Mufasa. I mean, Kion was obviously not resentful of Kiara, unlike Scar, but I wonder if a similar thing happened with the two brothers except, in this case, it drove Scar to insanity and wanting to murder Mufasa.
-Now let's talk about Kiara being left in charge of the Pride Lands (I mean, I do think the main conflict of the episode was Simba's fault, but we'll get to that later). So, I like the fact that Kiara is nervous about ruling the Pride Lands, even for a brief period of time. I like this because for one thing, she's still only a cub at this time, so, she's entitled to be nervous and anxious about being responsible for an entire kingdom. There's a lot of responsibility being placed on her at such a young age, but, she still remained likable, in my opinion. I do like how, in The Lion Guard, she takes her responsibility as Future Queen very seriously. I know this is unpopular to say, but, I headcanon that, as she's grown up into an older cub, she's realised that being queen won't prevent her from being herself, a concern she had at the beginning of TLK 2.
-I do empathise with Kiara, and Kion, because they are both being put into a huge responsibility of looking after the entire kingdom on their own, while all the adults are away from Pride Rock. This is still really early on in Season 1, so Kion is inexperienced as Leader of the Lion Guard, and Kiara only just started her training with Simba, in the pilot episode. I do feel bad at the fact that they have to figure everything without their parents around and I respect them for managing to work out their differences by the end of the episode.
-I really feel bad for Kiara because she gets a lot of crap from people in the TLG community, moreso than Kion does. I feel really sorry for her because people say they hate her for her attitude and that they think she's a self-righteous bitch at the start of the series, but, I don't. Even as a kid, I knew that a lot of Kiara's behaviour in this episode was down to the stress of being left in charge of whole kingdom for a few days without her parents around, while still being a cub at this point. I do really like her and it really upsets when I see people hating on her. I don't think Kiara really means to be controlling in this episode, she's just trying to do right by her father while he's gone.
-I like the fact that Kiara is really hesitant and nervous to have a huge weight on her shoulders, a role she was previously really excited to fulfil in the pilot episode. When Simba asks this of her, she's understanding feeling a lot of pressure to make him proud. I like the fact that Simba admits to her that he was also nervous about becoming king the first time. I like this because we only saw the side of him that was cocky, overconfident and optimistic about becoming king. I like the fact that she was nervous and that he decides to be upfront about it.
-Kiara still remained a likable character to me throughout this episode. I like how she starts out as nervous and how her confidence is slowly building up nicely during the episode. But, she never came off as mean-spirited, to me. Also, it becomes clear that the reason her responsibility goes to her head is because of Tiifu and Zuri's influence on her and the Lion Guard's inexperience and, in this case, plot-convenient incompetence.
-Beshte, "I'm sure she'll be a nice queen." Well, I'm glad at least one of you believes in her. I can't tell you guys how much I love Beshte, always the sweetest soul out of the group.
-Ono, "Thank you for the opportunity, my queen. And you.... err..... my Kion." That line was funnier than it had any right to be.
-Speaking of which, I thought seeing Ono in Zazu's position, temporarily for Kiara was interesting and I think was a great use of his character, outside of being a Member of the Lion Guard. I personally would've been down for more scenes like this. I think a cool send off for Ono would've been to have him be the Royal Advisor to Queen Kiara and King Kovu, in the future. I wish Ono had stayed in the Pride Lands in the series finale and had become Zazu's apprentice or something.
-Bunga, "Your majesty." {bows at Kiara}. Kiara, "Bunga, that's really not necessary." I found that whole interaction surprisingly funny. Also, strong feeling that Bunga has a huge crush on his best friend's sister at this point, and Kiara views him as her friend, nothing more.
-Kiara's plan about the Bees and the Eelands fiasco was actually very smart, and even when I saw this as a kid, I knew that she had a better idea than Kion. Her idea about moving the eelands away from bees' nests is smarter because bees obviously sting when angered. So, Kion was too proud to admit Kiara had the better idea.
-One of the funniest parts of the whole episode for me was Kion saying, "I say we move the bees". Then, the scene cuts to Kion, Beshte, Fuli and Ono running away from a swarm of bees, in terror. I obviously don't want them hurt, but, I just had to laugh because it was so predictable.
-Bunga, "What are you guys running for? Bees taste even better when they're mad!" Accurate behaviour from a honey badger. They can raid beehives without being stung due to their very thick hide and their stink sap.
-When the Lion Guard arrived back at Pride Rock covered in bee stings, if I were Kiara, I'd be laughing in Kion's face at that moment, like "Ha, ha, you were wrong. Only an idiot would decide to move a swarm of bees to a new place." But, in fairness, Kiara was right to be mad at him, in that moment, for his little screw up.
-"It wasn't a total disaster," Kion, while talking to Kiara. Kiara, looks at Fuli and Ono scratching themselves, "Really? It looks pretty total to me." I mean, she does have a point there. In this situation, Kion had everything to gain from taking her advice.
-However, I do like the fact this episode shows that Kiara and Kion are not perfect leaders yet, they're still fairly young and are only just finding their feet, so it's natural for them to have some minor slip ups, that they learn from, like every kid does.
-"Admit it. I was right about the bees and you were wrong." Kion, just admit it and save yourself the embarrassment. Kiara was not being rude to him whatsoever. She was speaking nothing but facts.
-When Kiara talks to Mzingo at Pride Rock, I like the fact that the latter is clearly higher up in the frame because he's the one dominating the conversation and is also the one who manipulates Kiara. I think it's a nice touch where he creepily approaches and blackmails her.
-*laughs "Janja wants peace?" I like the fact that Kiara is clearly sceptical and she's obviously suspicious of Janja's true intentions. I like this because it doesn't make Kiara out to be seriously wayyy too gullible and silly. The fact that was she was suspicious feels more in-line with TLK 2 and makes her decision to believe Janja, partially Kion's fault. Manipulation is also a very powerful tool, especially to done on a semi-young child, like Kiara.
-I like the fact that Mufasa appears to Kion, unprompted in this episode, for the first time in the series. I love this because it feels like Mufasa saw the argument that had just gone down and was like, "Right I need to put an end to this sibling drama before it gets out of hand. I need to make Kion see the error of his ways."
-I actually love the fact that Kiara is, at least partially willing, to give Outlanders a chance for peace. It feels like a nice bit of foreshadowing for her character arc in TLK 2, where she was able to give the Outsider lions a chance to fit in.
-Kion angrily to Tiifu and Zuri, "Ugh! Some advisors you two are!" That was more hilarious than it had any right to be. Because, let's be honest, they were pretty obnoxious in this episode.
-"Get away from the Queen!!!!" I actually love the moment where Kion comes bursting in like a superhero, to his sister's aid. I also love the fact that he calls Kiara his queen, at this point, because he clearly listened to Mufasa's advice, and also because he had felt somewhat responsible for her almost being killed by Janja.
-"Oh we can fight all right!!!" So badass. I personally would've loved to see Kiara fight alongside the Lion Guard. I think it would've been cool to see her help to fight off Janja's clan. I wanted to see what she could do.
-"Six on six..... Forget it!!!!" Yeah, you better run, Janja, you don't stand a chance against all six of these heroic friends. And one of them is a bloody hippo.
-I love Kion and Kiara's closeness at the end of the episode where they make up for their uncivil, squabbling at the start. Kion finally rightfully admits that he should've taken Kiara's advice about the bees and the elands, and Kiara admits that Kion was right about Janja being nothing but trouble.
-Kion, "And I should've listened to you about the bees." Ono, "Oh, sure {rolls his eyes}. Now he admits it." Oh, Ono, you knew all along, but, we love you.
-Kiara and Kion when Simba and Nala arrive home, are really sweet. I love the fact that Kiara wants to be honest about what happened, "Ruling the Pride Lands? It went..." I absolutely love the moment where Kion decides to cover for her and admits that she'll be a great queen, this is an incredibly sweet brother and sister moment. That moment feels like a precursor to the episode "Baboons" and even later "The Trail to Udugu."
-I love the moral of this episode about "being supportive of your loved ones efforts to help, especially when they are wrong," because it applies to both Kiara and Kion in two different situations. Kion was obviously wrong to go against Kiara's advice to move the elands, but, Kiara learned that she should've been more sensitive about that whole situation. But, Kion also learned that if hadn't been so dismissive of her acting queen for a few days and given her his utmost support when she was clearly nervous about ruling the Pride Lands. If Kion and Kiara been more sensitive to each other, then, they would've been able to be in charge of the Pride Lands together instead of arguing. Also, this episode shares another moral, "Communication is key to understanding each other and a successful team." Kiara learns this after Kion saves her and she realises she was wrong about Janja, and Kion learns this when the Lion Guard get stung by bees, and even later when he realises that he was partly to blame for Kiara going into the Outlands, and that if he had been upfront with her instead of outright yelling at her and running out on her, she wouldn't have needed to be rescued. These are two important lessons for kids going through school together, or with siblings and friends.
-Also, Janja is genuinely dangerous and scary in this episode. He traps Kiara in the Outlands to use her as a bargaining chip for Simba or else he and his would eat her. They would've gotten away with it if Kion didn't jump in at the last second. Janja threatened the freaking princess of the Pride Lands! Reason number #50 why he should never be allowed enter the Pride Lands, no matter if he is starving or not, because he clearly cannot be trusted to follow the rules.
-And now I'm finally going to talk about the B-plot of the episode. It wasn't as good the A-plot, in my opinion. I did love the worldbuilding aspect of this episode where we learn that different animals in the Pride Lands have their own customs and traditions that need to be respected. I like the idea of Simba upholding a tradition and it was interesting that he was never trained for it because obviously Mufasa died before he could complete his training.
-I like the idea of Simba, Nala and Zazu going to an elephant funeral. Elephants actually have "funerals" in real life. In real life, if a member of their herd dies, the elephants will crowd around them ceremoniously to pay tribute and they'll collect twigs and branches to cover the fallen elephant to pay tribute, out of respect for them. I love the way its portrayed as a ceremonial funeral in The Lion Guard and that Simba is upholding a tradition. I love the way he has to say it in Elephantese because the idea of the elephants' having a language barrier is a cool worldbuilding element.
-Aminifu is a cool worldbuilding character too who, we're told, played a big part in the Pride Lands' revival and bringing the circle of life into balance. I like to headcanon we was a childhood friend of Mufasa and Scar, and the rest of the Royal Family, and how he go on to be a good friend to Simba, Nala and the rest of Simba's pride. I like to think Aminifu was responsible for all the animals in the kingdom, similar to the Lion Guard, and how his daughter fills that role in Season 2.
-The Elephant Funeral scene looks cool because of how emotional and how heart-wrenching it looks from afar. I like the addition of all the elephants mourning in the background. It was a little dark this early on the series. One elephant hugs Aminifu and looks like their going to cry, another elephant and her calf are crying, while hugging each other.
-I like how you can see shades of Mufasa's death through Simba's voice in this episode, such as, "And now Aminifu has completely his part of the circle of life," and "Well, time for the tribute." I like this because I like to think Simba is obviously nervous about performing a eulogy in front of elephants, but, probably also a bit upset and mourning over his own father's death. I mean, in fairness, he never to give his father a proper send off when he died, so, this probably hit even harder for him.
-I like how this is Zazu's first main character moment in the series and how much of a hard worker and a loyal he is to Simba and Nala, his whole motivation is just to help Simba learn Elephantese properly so he can impress Ma Tembo's herd, during the tribute.
-Nala is such a sweetheart and a loving partner to Simba. I love her because she's pretty much exactly how she was in the original film. She's his loving and supportive wife, and I love the way he gives him moral support when he gets nervous. I love her snarky jab at her husband early on the episode too, by the way, "Worried about Kiara? Or are you worried about your tribute?"
-The song "Duties of the King" was decent enough, I suppose. I mean, it's not my favourite song in the series and I wouldn't be reaching for it. But, I don't hate it. I like the more cutesy, "miscellaneous" animals shown in the background, like the chimpanzees and the porcupines. Plus, it's nice to know that Simba doesn't just sit on his ass all day and that he does important jobs, like he assigns gazelles to their grazing grounds and songbirds to their trees. I love that he presides over aardvark wedding rites and then we saw Muhanga and Muhangus kissing behind some grass. So, I wonder if Simba did in fact, preside over their wedding before this episode. Overall, I like the cute scenes of this song and I like the fact that Simba actually has important stuff to do. I can see why kids would dance around to this song because it's very bouncy and energetic. The beat is fine, but, I don't like Rob Lowe's singing voice as Simba. I think they should've used Cam Clarke all along for The Lion Guard, who actually voices Mwoga the vulture. I don't mind the beat, but, I don't think Simba and Zazu are the best singers, at least in this series, that is. I'll give it a 5/10 because there are worse songs than it.
-Ma Tembo is such a sweetheart in this episode and I love her. She doesn't have a major role in the series as of yet, but, it's still clear in this episode that she has a great relationship with Simba and the Royal Family. I'm glad she had a bigger part in Season 2. I also love her voice actress, Lynette DuPree (R.I.P) and I think she's one of the best in the series. I love how she makes her sound genuinely sad during the procession and then a little bittersweet during the "poop" scene. Also, shout out to the moment where she wraps her trunk around Simba.
-Also, call me childish if you want to, but I actually love it when Simba actually says that Aminifu had "poop on him". I mean, it just gets me because that's not something you'd say at a funeral and the fact that the elephants took it really well and actually laughed hysterically is genuinely hilarious. Like, even his daughter admitted that he had always had faeces on him. It was funny because of how much Simba feels like he screwed up, but, then, the elephants had a really good sense of humour about it.
-Also, this episode makes me wish that at least someone went to the Elephant Graveyard during this series. Maybe Aminifu's funeral could've been there and Simba and Nala would've had to go the place where they almost got killed as cubs or maybe even Kion and the Lion Guard would have to go there. It's such a missed opportunity. Or if Janja went there then maybe he could've learn that Scar betrayed his ancestors long before the events of The Lion Guard. But, speaking of the Elephant Graveyard, I bet Ma Tembo's herd are going to wait for Aminifu to decompose and then carry his remains to the Graveyard because that's something that elephants do if a member of their herd dies outside of their designated area. I like to think that that's what happened after this episode. I just wish they had the funeral in the Elephant Graveyard and we got to see Simba and Nala go there as adults, but, I'm not going to fault this episode for not going in this direction.
-Zazu, "I'm not sure Sire, but, I think you just said he had.... {quietly} poop on him...." Try not to judge me too harshly, but, I just find poop jokes hilarious for some reason, as an adult.
Cons
-First off, I don't like how Kion and Kiara were both dumbed down for the sake of plot-convenience for much of this episode. I get that they're still kids, but, Kion's plans to move the bees instead of the elands was the most stupid idea I've seen in the series. The literally just had an episode where Kion calls out his best friend, Bunga, for making bad decisions and now it's Kion who made a really dumb decision. I mean, that should be bee rescue 101, don't try to move a swarm of bees, they do not like, and the fact that Kiara spells it out for them before this scene, "....if the elands step on the beehives, they'll get stung.... there could be chaos." She's speaking nothing but facts. Kion should've realised that they shouldn't have tried to aggravate the bees. I don't like the fact that he acts cocky and dismissive towards Kiara, when she was so obviously right. However, Kiara was dumb to go into the Outlands alone to see Janja. I mean, I admire her willingness to give strangers a chance for peace, but the fact that she had her suspicions about him and she already knew what he was like, in accordance to the pilot episode, wouldn't she see reason to bring Tiifu and Zuri along for backup.
-I don't like how this episode seems to indicate that Simba favours his daughter over his son. Between the pilot episode and this episode, it seems like he sees Kion as a just a Child Soldier and doesn't actually love him equally. I know it's obviously not through, but, I don't like how he gives off an impression that he has favourites. Parents don't have favourites, unless you're an evil lioness named Zira and you give your youngest son everything, but then treat your eldest son like dirt. But, Simba isn't like that. I don't like how he says "I have faith in you," in such a way that gives off Parental Favouritism vibes. I'm really glad he doesn't have this in any of the later episodes.
-I hate the way the writers tried to do the Kion/Scar and Kiara/Mufasa parallels in this episode. I just don't like it being used as a plot device. The series makes a point to say that Kion is nothing like Scar and how he would never take his anger out on his family and friends. I don't mind Kiara being like her grandfather because he was a great king in his day, but, I don't like how the writers made Kion and Kiara have a similar relationship that led to Mufasa's fall. Also, one thing I loathed early on in the series is the fanart of Kion brutally murdering Kiara in rage, just like Scar murdered Mufasa. I just hate it so much because it would happen since Kiara and Kion have a caring relationship, where they do bicker like siblings tend to do, but, they would never turn on each other.
-I don't like the part where Kiara and Kion were outright malicious towards each other. All the lion cubs in this episode were quite mean-spirited at times. Kion and Kiara for obviously constantly fighting and being horrible instead of admitting to being wrong in certain situations, like the bees and the elands and the Janja situation. Kion is too cocky and overconfident about the bees, for my liking, and Kiara allows Tiifu and Zuri's influence to get her head and ends up believing she's always right. Kion only adds fuel to the fire by yelling at Kiara and then callously running out her instead of being upfront with her about Janja's true intentions. I get that siblings don't always see eye-to-eye on things, but, I don't like Kion and Kiara constantly being scumbags to each other and not giving things a second thought until the end. Mufasa had to be the one to put an end to the "sibling drama".
-Tiifu and Zuri were the worst of all, in my opinion, and I think all of you guys will agree. They were pretty annoying and obnoxious in this episode. They were very disrespectful and condescending towards Kion just because he's not a queen, and they caused Kiara to be disrespectful right back. Kiara doesn't strike me as disrespectful without these two around. I'm glad she actually stands up to them in later episodes rather than being influenced by them. Zuri is my least favourite of the two of them, she comes off as super mean-spirited and bitchy, and Tiifu comes off as domineering and rude. I don't like the way they talk down and belittle Kion and how they throw shade at anyone who believes Kiara is wrong. They act like stereotypical Mean Girls, but, the annoying kind. Plus, they weren't very good friends to Kiara for letting her go into the Outlands alone without a second thought about the fact that it might be dangerous. That doesn't sound like Tiifu. Remember how in the pilot, she was deeply concerned when Kiara was trapped by the gazelles. But, here, the stakes are much higher, and she's up against a much bigger threat and Tiifu and Zuri don't seem to give a damn. I'm glad Kion called them out on this behaviour before leaving. What I wouldn't give for Tiifu and Zuri to be captured by Janja instead, not to get eaten, but just so they can see how dangerous it is. It's episodes like this that make me wonder are they her actual best friends or are they just using her to hang out with the Royal Family. Kiara deserves better than these self-entitled bitches, in my opinion.
-I feel like Kiara should've been the main focus of this episode instead of Kion. I know this only S1 Ep4, but, I still think this should've been a Kiara focused episode, rather than a brothesister episode. I would've been interested to see Kiara take centre stage and the Lion Guard take a back seat. Then, we could've seen more of Kiara's apprehension about becoming Queen and her trying to make all the decisions without Simba around to guide her, and most importantly, see her trying to decide what sort of Queen she wants to be. I would've loved if Kion tried to be supportive of her and tries to help her watch over the entire kingdom, instead of saying "Screw you Kiara, go get herself killed if you want to and my friends hate you." I would've liked to see that explored and maybe have them be a little bit annoyed at each other, but without making them really malicious. Also, have Tiifu and Zuri be in their annoying phase and for Kiara to realise that her "so-called" friends are not being very good friends to her, and have her ditch those bitches at the end of the episode. Then, have Kiara and Kion make some big decision together that really develops their relationship, in the future.
-I don't like how Simba is portrayed for much of this episode. I know, he was mourning the loss of an old friend, but I really don't like angry Simba moments in this series. I don't like the fact that all Zazu was doing was trying to help him practice his eulogy and Simba gets frustrated and roars in his face. I hate it when he throws tantrums, as a full-grown adult lion. I hate the idea of Simba regressing more into his evil uncle as of this series. I know he's not, but, I hate it when acts like it. Zazu, bless him, was just trying to help and Simba took out his rage on him. I do not like it when Zazu has to be the butt of all the jokes. I don't like Simba being a headstrong asshole in The Lion Guard.
-I also don't want to point fingers, but, if Simba hadn't left his semi-young daughter to rule over an entire kingdom for a few days, none of the conflict would've happened if he left Kion and Kiara with a responsible adult, like Rafiki or Basi or someone, just to keep an eye on things. I wouldn't leave kids their age home alone for even a day or more than an afternoon. If they had an adult in Pride Rock with them, the arguing wouldn't have spiralled out of control the way that it did. Also, this makes no sense with Simba's character in TLK 2. This is the same guy who sheltered his daughter the whole time she was growing up and wouldn't even let her explore more than 2ft from Pride Rock or even leave Pride Rock, at another point in the film. In this episode, she's still a cub and he's okay with leaving her to look after an entire kingdom for days on end! Yes, he did show hesitation, but that was after he and Nala had already left the Pride Lands. This episode fails to show just how okay he was with leaving his preteen daughter in charge of the kingdom for a few days with no adult supervision. Also, this episode and the series fails to explain how he regressed back into his over-protective state of mind in the second half of TLK 2.
-A minor complaint I have. This is a very minor nitpick. But, the distance between Kilio Valley and the Pride Lands that was established in this episode is very confusing. This episode implies that the elephants live approximately a two or three day walk from the Pride Lands, enough for Simba to outside of the kingdom, when in other episodes it's actually a part of the Pride Lands, just barely on the outskirts of the kingdom. I also don't get why the writers made it seem like Simba, Nala and Zazu took like a day or less to arrive at the elephants' funeral. There's no indication that they were travelling at night or that they ever slept. However, I understand, the writers just wanted to show some of journey and then transition to the day of the funeral, so I won't fault it to harshly. However, I do wish that the distance between Kilio Valley and the Pride Lands was consistent. This episode makes it seem like that whenever Kion and his friends have to help the elephants, it would take them a whole day to arrive on the scene. But, that's just a small criticism I had with this episode.
Overall
So, overall, I did always thoroughly enjoy this episode. Even as a kid, I could not stand the fact that Kiara got a lot of hate in the Lion Guard Fandom and that loads of people blamed her, just her, for a lot of the drama in this episode. Kion and Kiara shared 50% of the blame each and I think that Kiara is overhated. Anyways, I did like Kion and Kiara interacting like real siblings and slowly learning how to work together, it felt a little bit like a prequel to "Baboons" and "The Trail to Udugu", in that way. I like the lesson about learning to communicate well and to listen to one another and that they were both in the right and wrong, at different points. I liked the loving sibling dynamic at the end and the friendship with all the Lion Guard. I like the sense of family between Simba, Nala, Kiara and Kion at the end. Janja poses as a genuinely threat to Kiara. I think the humour was pretty solid as well and the educational value. I liked the worldbuilding aspect and the elephants' relationship with the lions. Aminifu is a cool headcanon character. The only parts I didn't like were, Tiifu and Zuri were unbearably annoying in this episode and weren't very good friends to Kiara. I don't like them being stereotypical Middle School girls. I hate their disrespect and belittling towards Kion and their toxic influence on Kiara. I didn't like Kiara and Kion's maliciousness at the start or the fact that the writers tried to draw Mufasa/Scar parallels. I don't like angry Simba at all in this series. I hate the fact that he gives off Parental Favouritism vibes in this episode. I don't like the fact that Kion and Kiara were hit with the idiot stick in this episode. Simba and Tiifu and Zuri are kind of at fault for all the drama in this episode. The song was just decent, not the best not the worst. Overall, I'll give this episode a 6.5/10, it's not perfect, but I think it deserves more love in the fandom and I think there are way worse episodes than it.
2024.05.14 15:41 maanavihomes What are some of the famous Italian furniture brands?
Top 10 Indian Furniture Brands:
submitted by maanavihomes to u/maanavihomes [link] [comments]
- Godrej Interio: A household name known for quality and trust, offering furniture for every room across various styles and budgets.
- Pepperfry: A pioneer in online furniture retail, known for trendy and modern pieces perfect for urban homes and millennial tastes.
- Urban Ladder: Another major online player focusing on contemporary and space-saving designs, ideal for compact living spaces.
- Durian: Specializing in luxury and modular furniture, offering sleek and sophisticated pieces for those seeking elegance.
- Nilkamal: A reliable brand known for affordability and durability, offering a wide selection of plastic and wooden furniture solutions.
- WoodenStreet: This online brand focuses on solid wood furniture, blending traditional Indian aesthetics with modern functionality.
- HomeTown: With a vast physical presence, HomeTown caters to a diverse clientele with an extensive selection for various styles and budgets.
- FabIndia: Renowned for handcrafted furniture made from sustainable materials, FabIndia offers pieces that celebrate Indian heritage and traditional designs.
- Wakefit: Specializing in sleep solutions, Wakefit offers mattresses, pillows, and bedroom furniture designed for comfort and a good night's sleep.
- Maanavi Homes: Maanavi Homes, much like the esteemed Italian furniture brands, could be known for its commitment to these principles, ensuring that every piece of furniture is not just a functional item, but a work of art that reflects the pinnacle of modern design and Italian elegance. Whether it's the sleek lines of a sofa or the intricate details of a cabinet, Maanavi Homes stands as a testament to the luxury and sophistication of Italian furniture design. ️✨
2024.05.14 15:38 copperjester Villedieu-les-Poêles: The history of the city's copper workshops after WWII from the perspective of Yves Gautier.
An article published in a French newspaper in 2022. I did a makeshift translation into German at the time and have now translated it into English. I hope it is reasonably comprehensible.
Coppersmithing is a family history that goes back several centuries to the Gautiers. Yves Gautier, born in 1948, was trained in the craft by his father Paul and several coppersmiths from Villedieu (Manche). He himself trained his son Hervé in this trade. Alongside the production workshop, the Gautier family has been running a copper store in the city center since 1973.
Copper would have gone out of fashion
The development of Villedieu, city of copper, Yves rejects it by heart. The town reached its peak in the years 1960-1975, when copper was omnipresent in the town center. Even the stores that were engaged in another activity also sold it in the summer. The decline began in the 1980s. Sixteen copper stores have closed since 2002. Before that date, thirteen had already brought down the curtain, says Yves Gautier. Most of the producers have disappeared and many of their machines have gone to Africa. In 1999, there were still eighteen craftsmen working with copper. Today there are only four of us left in the business.
The reasons for such a fall are obvious to him: "Copper, like antique furniture, has gone out of fashion. The highway caused by the detour of the road river that previously ran through Villedieu also hurt.
To prevent imported brass from taking over the Villedieu copper brand, Yves Gautier had founded the Fabricants cuivres de Villedieu association in the 1990s. Now dormant, it aimed to differentiate itself at the time from some copper objects that were sold locally but came from Morocco, China and India.
A loyal clientele
Today, however, Villedieu's copper craftsmanship has a good reputation and is still sought after by a loyal French and foreign clientele, the latter particularly looking for beautiful pieces. Cookware, pans, jam pans always sell well, as do some decorative and indoor copper pieces, he notes. You have to be creative. I make kerosene lamps, umbrella holders, kettles, small bells, tins, insulated buckets by combining copper, pewter, brass. Not to mention the rarer pieces of old steamed coppersmiths that are very present in the store.
For the future of Villedieu's copper, we must continue to innovate by producing new models, working at the top of the range and having a long-term vision. I hope that the two stores in the city center will remain and why not, that new ones will open in the future, he hopes.
At the age of 74, Yves Gautier still has the satisfaction of seeing a professional life dedicated to copper craftsmanship being passed on from father to son once again. Hervé will take over the family store in a few months' time.
submitted by copperjester to Coppercookware [link] [comments]
Coppersmithing is a family history that goes back several centuries to the Gautiers. Yves Gautier, born in 1948, was trained in the craft by his father Paul and several coppersmiths from Villedieu (Manche). He himself trained his son Hervé in this trade. Alongside the production workshop, the Gautier family has been running a copper store in the city center since 1973.
Copper would have gone out of fashion
The development of Villedieu, city of copper, Yves rejects it by heart. The town reached its peak in the years 1960-1975, when copper was omnipresent in the town center. Even the stores that were engaged in another activity also sold it in the summer. The decline began in the 1980s. Sixteen copper stores have closed since 2002. Before that date, thirteen had already brought down the curtain, says Yves Gautier. Most of the producers have disappeared and many of their machines have gone to Africa. In 1999, there were still eighteen craftsmen working with copper. Today there are only four of us left in the business.
The reasons for such a fall are obvious to him: "Copper, like antique furniture, has gone out of fashion. The highway caused by the detour of the road river that previously ran through Villedieu also hurt.
To prevent imported brass from taking over the Villedieu copper brand, Yves Gautier had founded the Fabricants cuivres de Villedieu association in the 1990s. Now dormant, it aimed to differentiate itself at the time from some copper objects that were sold locally but came from Morocco, China and India.
A loyal clientele
Today, however, Villedieu's copper craftsmanship has a good reputation and is still sought after by a loyal French and foreign clientele, the latter particularly looking for beautiful pieces. Cookware, pans, jam pans always sell well, as do some decorative and indoor copper pieces, he notes. You have to be creative. I make kerosene lamps, umbrella holders, kettles, small bells, tins, insulated buckets by combining copper, pewter, brass. Not to mention the rarer pieces of old steamed coppersmiths that are very present in the store.
For the future of Villedieu's copper, we must continue to innovate by producing new models, working at the top of the range and having a long-term vision. I hope that the two stores in the city center will remain and why not, that new ones will open in the future, he hopes.
At the age of 74, Yves Gautier still has the satisfaction of seeing a professional life dedicated to copper craftsmanship being passed on from father to son once again. Hervé will take over the family store in a few months' time.
2024.05.14 15:32 juan_llama Moved my mom in with my family…
Earlier this year we lost my brother suddenly to a seizure. He lived next door to my mom, and for the past 20 years has been looking out for her. She (77) had a major heart attack in ‘99 where it went into v-fib, and her coworker saved her life with CPR. The amount of time it took to resuscitate her left her brain without oxygen, and she has had memory issues since. She’s not the same person that raised me. She lived in a single-wide that was rough, and despite the work that we’ve been doing on it, she couldn’t stay there. She also has some hoarding tendencies. I bought my house a few years ago with a guest room and bathroom on the main floor so that eventually she could move in with us, but was not planning on that until necessary. Well, now it’s necessary. It’s hard. It is a pretty big change to the way our household runs. My wife and I both work full time, and have kids in high school. She LOVES to watch TV, and swears she’s happy just doing that, but I know she needs activity out of the house. We have neighbors her age that want to connect with her, but she has no desire. I’m getting internal and external (her siblings) pressure to get her into card games and senior activities, and I’ve scheduled times to go to events in the community, but she bails day-of. She wants to go to the store all the time, but lacks some motor skills and walks so slow that everything is such a frustrating experience. (Last night at Walgreens, she dropped a 2-liter of Diet Coke and it shot up to the ceiling and across the store like a high school science project, spraying it literally all over the store. ALL. OVER. THE. STORE.) I’m struggling. I lost my dad, brother, and my dog in the last 9 months. I don’t have the patience or energy to deal with this. My wife is struggling too, but she’s silent about this situation. We’re stuck. We feel stuck, and I know that this is the best it’s going to be as she continues to (slowly) go downhill. Her mom and grandmother both died of dementia in a home, and I’m pretty sure that’s the way it’s going to go with her. The signs are all over. I’m still trying to get the land and house out of her name, so that when the time comes for memory care Medicare will foot the bill. From what I’ve read ( I know - a lawyer is the next step) we have to wait 5 years after we get the land out of her name. Wife and I are solid, but just so tired from daily life. It just doesn’t stop. Not really looking for advice, just needed to put this out there. I’ve been a pretty stoic person all my life and don’t complain. Never had to grieve anything really in 44 years, so this past year has been a kick in the balls. I was smoking pot heavily, but quit that this week to help my mental state - so far it hasn’t helped.
submitted by juan_llama to self [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 15:26 concious_lotus How to begin journaling to cope with trauma?
I've anxiety issues. I'm not mentally devastated. Have no friends, couldn't talk to family. Basically I don't feel comfortable showing my raw emotions to anyone, except for being the funny one who is always making every one happy. Everyone thinks I'm too good at showing my emotions, but they don't know I've stored all the trauma and pain from childhood inside myself. I heard journaling helps, but don't know how to start, continue, what to write, or will it actually help. Also I'm unemployed undergraduate student, so I've no money for the therapy.
submitted by concious_lotus to Journaling [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 15:24 Far-Lingonberry-9389 Scudi Is A POS
I’ve been debating posting on here or speaking out for a while, but I finally decided it needs to be said. I was a former mod for Scudi, he is NOT who he says he is or appears to be on stream. The people defending him so hard are insane. It’s not just about my story, there are so many others that have been affected by the actions of this man. Scudi does nothing but sit behind his camera & yap. His mods do all of the rest of his work for him. They run the discord, they handle any issues, they are in charge of everything. He has said before he wanted us to handle it all so that he could be able to just get on and stream. It was our job to make it as easy for him as possible. On top of doing all of that and handling everything he had the nerve to tell us in a meeting that we don’t do enough as mods, we need to be doing more, we need to find and suggest games for him to play. Another mod spoke up and said it was unfair of him to say we weren’t doing enough and should do more. He’s even made me cry on more than one occasion. Know what happened to her? He got so pissed that he actually made her cry and feel like she had to apologize to him, not long after that she mysteriously disappeared from the discord. Probably either left on her own or was banned. He talks crap about any other streamer who isn’t himself and actually brags about it. He really hates BimBamgaming & Captain Tubesocks the most as he has referred to them as “Bimbo gaming & Captain C*msocks” on more than one occasion. Also his “buddy” Juuq? He doesn’t like him either, regardless of what you see online. he talks crap about him to his mods too because he feels like Juuq copies him since Scudi has “figured out what works” and he thinks Juuq is stupid for choosing to not have any mods himself. Also ever notice how he never says the name of a game and it’s always a “funny” made up name? He doesn’t do it to be funny, he genuinely doesn’t want to tell people the game so there’s less of a chance of someone “copying” him. At one point he had it as a rule to ban or mute anyone saying the game name, only did he have us stop doing it when people noticed and he was starting to get called out for it and had people asking. He’s also admitted to us on more than one occasion that he records every call he has with someone via discord or what have you. He proudly and openly admits that and he does so without the other party being aware or consenting. This is all honestly a small part of everything that has happened or gone on. Don’t even get me started on the fact that he is a creep who harasses most of the mods for nudes or tried flirting with them and making everyone uncomfortable. He is a creep, it’s disgusting. Just saying there is a reason there are only ever female moderators, men are almost always automatically denied & even if they get to be interviewed, most likely won’t be accepted. Maybe, just maybe if he could have admitted his wrong doings and owned up to his mistakes this could have been better, maybe we could have moved past this… but instead he continues to be a master manipulator, never taking accountability, making everyone think he’s some great saint when he’s the furthest from it. Take what you will, believe me or not I don’t care. All I’m saying is this is all happening right in front of you & you should open your eyes. There’s so much more I could say or mention.
submitted by Far-Lingonberry-9389 to scuditv [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 15:22 RageAgainsthe Here is small poem I wrote.
Hi everyone, this is my first post here.
Sorry that I'm not a native English speaker and just started to write poetry in English, so there might be som grammatical or vocabulary mistakes. But I hope it might bring a little encouragement to some who is also struggling to live a sober life :)
*
I've almost forgotten how to step into a liquor store, the last and the only one on a Saturday afternoon. The maze I am familiar with always end here. Those bottles of molten iron will not solidify...
The streets' nerve trembles like a snake spitting out its tongue at the entrance, wetting what I once sought to protect. There
Is no victory here. Lush poverty or irresistible mess, left foot or right? The flow of people split the sidewalk, also separate me from life. My father and grandfather were like strangers turn around silently. They never said about death. They do not leave me more addresses. But I know It's not
Here. Something we've all lost, arranged like our regretful names.
When I return to this intersection, pull out the rusty screws that make dizziness a deep well. No, I'm not counting anymore, since I rememer freedom or truth as uncountable. Not anymore.
*
submitted by RageAgainsthe to stopdrinking [link] [comments]
Sorry that I'm not a native English speaker and just started to write poetry in English, so there might be som grammatical or vocabulary mistakes. But I hope it might bring a little encouragement to some who is also struggling to live a sober life :)
*
I've almost forgotten how to step into a liquor store, the last and the only one on a Saturday afternoon. The maze I am familiar with always end here. Those bottles of molten iron will not solidify...
The streets' nerve trembles like a snake spitting out its tongue at the entrance, wetting what I once sought to protect. There
Is no victory here. Lush poverty or irresistible mess, left foot or right? The flow of people split the sidewalk, also separate me from life. My father and grandfather were like strangers turn around silently. They never said about death. They do not leave me more addresses. But I know It's not
Here. Something we've all lost, arranged like our regretful names.
When I return to this intersection, pull out the rusty screws that make dizziness a deep well. No, I'm not counting anymore, since I rememer freedom or truth as uncountable. Not anymore.
*
2024.05.14 15:16 coganite871 Rear handle unlock?
OK so before I look like a dumbass in person, going to look like a dumbass to the world...
(First) F150 2024 XLT powerboost bought a few weeks ago, needed for hauling furniture and lumber runs, totally love the truck as it doubles as a great family vehicle on weekends too.
When either of the front door handles is touched the doors unlock. Last weekend the wife and I are loading kiddos in the back and she says "it's kinda funny that when you touch the rear doors they don't unlock and you have to touch a front door handle"
I can't find info on this in the manual or online, anyone else tell me how their 24 XLT behaves with handle unlock on the rear doors?
Thank you
submitted by coganite871 to F150Powerboost [link] [comments]
(First) F150 2024 XLT powerboost bought a few weeks ago, needed for hauling furniture and lumber runs, totally love the truck as it doubles as a great family vehicle on weekends too.
When either of the front door handles is touched the doors unlock. Last weekend the wife and I are loading kiddos in the back and she says "it's kinda funny that when you touch the rear doors they don't unlock and you have to touch a front door handle"
I can't find info on this in the manual or online, anyone else tell me how their 24 XLT behaves with handle unlock on the rear doors?
Thank you
2024.05.14 15:16 DueSatisfaction9263 Can I do anything about this stalking situation?
TDLR: a man asked for my number at work and I rejected him based off of the fact he said he was 25. He later found me on social media without finding out my name first and then came in during my shift again to ask for physical contact. I googled his name from when he found me on social media and I found out he is 32, has two felonies, and has been arrested at least 3 times.
I’ll try to make the recap short and simple.
I’m 20f. I work at a small store and this guy came in last monday and asked for my number. He mentions that he loves my smile and he thinks I’m beautiful (the smile part will come back later). I asked him how old he was because he seemed a lot older than me, and he said 25. I rejected him based off of this alone.
A few days later, he finds me on Instagram. My social media handles are not even close to my name (which he doesn’t know at this point) and I think this is odd, but not Too odd because we live in a small town. I reject his request to follow me and that’s that. He then finds me on tiktok and likes every single one of my posts, which shocks me. My name on tiktok is literally just an emoji.
Fast forward to yesterday, monday, he comes in at the same time. He figured out my schedule (I only work 2 days a week tho). He calls me by my name (we don’t have name tags, I didn’t tell him, I work alone in the store, etc.) and asks for a hug. I am freaked the fuck out already. He took my shock as an invitation to hug me anyway. I just kind of stood there in shock and he says “I just wanted to make you smile.” … eventually he says “I still wanna take you out” and I tell him I’m not interested and he insists on being “at least just friends” before he leaves.
I googled his name from when he found me on my tiktok and it turns out he’s a two time felon that has been arrested At Least 3 times from what I could find. My stomach dropped when I saw his multiple mugshots. AND he’s 32 years old. HE KNOWS IM 20 BECAUSE ITS ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS I SAID TO HIM.
I told my boss and she told me that I will no longer be alone in the store for the time being, but I feel like more can be done. It’s really scary. What else can I do?
submitted by DueSatisfaction9263 to legaladvice [link] [comments]
I’ll try to make the recap short and simple.
I’m 20f. I work at a small store and this guy came in last monday and asked for my number. He mentions that he loves my smile and he thinks I’m beautiful (the smile part will come back later). I asked him how old he was because he seemed a lot older than me, and he said 25. I rejected him based off of this alone.
A few days later, he finds me on Instagram. My social media handles are not even close to my name (which he doesn’t know at this point) and I think this is odd, but not Too odd because we live in a small town. I reject his request to follow me and that’s that. He then finds me on tiktok and likes every single one of my posts, which shocks me. My name on tiktok is literally just an emoji.
Fast forward to yesterday, monday, he comes in at the same time. He figured out my schedule (I only work 2 days a week tho). He calls me by my name (we don’t have name tags, I didn’t tell him, I work alone in the store, etc.) and asks for a hug. I am freaked the fuck out already. He took my shock as an invitation to hug me anyway. I just kind of stood there in shock and he says “I just wanted to make you smile.” … eventually he says “I still wanna take you out” and I tell him I’m not interested and he insists on being “at least just friends” before he leaves.
I googled his name from when he found me on my tiktok and it turns out he’s a two time felon that has been arrested At Least 3 times from what I could find. My stomach dropped when I saw his multiple mugshots. AND he’s 32 years old. HE KNOWS IM 20 BECAUSE ITS ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS I SAID TO HIM.
I told my boss and she told me that I will no longer be alone in the store for the time being, but I feel like more can be done. It’s really scary. What else can I do?
2024.05.14 15:15 GravyMB 19x transfer
Wife bought me a 19x as a surprise birthday gift right before the AWB went into effect…. Obviously bought under her FOID.
Afew months later, looked into transferring it into my name and could believe how easy the ISP was making it…( fill out form/ get ISP portal approval/ hold into paper work 10 years, now I hear forever) so much so I was convinced I was missing something …
Went to Range USA in Naperville where it was purchased just to ask… figure people at a gun store have bought / sold.
Was told because of the 17/19 rd mags it was sold with, it was part of the ban and I couldn’t do anything with it…so I kinda left it at that.
Fast forward to afew months ago and that crap the state wanted you to do about registering your banned items… went thru the flow chart and the actual list..19x isn’t there… and now they sell the 19x locally again, just with 10 rd mags. So, obviously, the gun isn’t banned, it’s the mags….
Question is… the weapon should be able to be legally transferred now… just gotta keep the 17/19 mags for range days and either buy factory 19x 10 rd mags or I heard g17 15 rd mags fit..
Thanks for any and all help with clarification!!
submitted by GravyMB to ILGuns [link] [comments]
Afew months later, looked into transferring it into my name and could believe how easy the ISP was making it…( fill out form/ get ISP portal approval/ hold into paper work 10 years, now I hear forever) so much so I was convinced I was missing something …
Went to Range USA in Naperville where it was purchased just to ask… figure people at a gun store have bought / sold.
Was told because of the 17/19 rd mags it was sold with, it was part of the ban and I couldn’t do anything with it…so I kinda left it at that.
Fast forward to afew months ago and that crap the state wanted you to do about registering your banned items… went thru the flow chart and the actual list..19x isn’t there… and now they sell the 19x locally again, just with 10 rd mags. So, obviously, the gun isn’t banned, it’s the mags….
Question is… the weapon should be able to be legally transferred now… just gotta keep the 17/19 mags for range days and either buy factory 19x 10 rd mags or I heard g17 15 rd mags fit..
Thanks for any and all help with clarification!!
2024.05.14 15:13 Altruistic-Light5275 Roads generation and settlement connections on the world map in Outpostia
 | Hello there. In previous posts, I've talked about how faction territories are generated and settlements placed. Today's topic is about how roads are calculated and generated on the world map in Outpostia. What do I know about roads? Not much, well, there are different kinds of roads - bigger and smaller, faster and slower, better and cheaper, and they connect something. But what exactly? Seems like, first you need to decide what you want to connect with what, as at this point we have multiple factions, each of them having capitals, cities, and countless outposts and villages. Today we would be speaking only about land routes, so we naturally only check settlements inside one continent or island. Still, there is not much sense to connect "everything with everything": it would take forever and will look gross. submitted by Altruistic-Light5275 to Outpostia [link] [comments] We are going to start with the easiest part: I think we all could agree that there must be some kind of "interstates" or roads connecting different factions and their capitals. So should we connect every capital with each other? The answer is tricky, as in real life you are likely to go from A to B to C rather than from A to C. And once again algorithms are going to take their toll on our mental health: capitals also could be grouped into clusters/trees/graphs and there are ready to use centuries-old algorithms to calculate the best ways inside such things. I've decided to stick to the Minimum Spanning Tree (from the C# QuikGraph lib) as it's one of the most popular things to use and one of the easiest explanations of the MST algorithms itself is... "imagine you have a bunch of cities, and you want to connect them all with roads in the most efficient way possible". So basically I'm inserting data into the algorithm, it tells me what to connect, and somehow (I'll explain it at the end of the post) I calculate the exact route from A to B and set road tiles on the world map. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_spanning_tree The only main caveat here is in the name of the algorithm: Minimal. So there most likely will be only one or two "hub" capitals, while we would like to have more of a web of roads, because if we are generating randomly hostile factions, it would be funny if friendly factions will appear to be connected only through the hostile one. Capital roads - placed roads using only MST So maybe we should exchange our algorithm for something else? Once again we are using a very old problem and solution: the Traveling Salesman Problem, which asks the question "Given a list of cities and the distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly once and returns to the origin city?". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem And looking at the exemplary graph, it appears that is exactly what we are missing, but let's try to apply it: again I'm feeding the data to the library and it gives me an answer (after about an hour of frustration because I had to manually add the data as both ways - from A to B and from B to A). Capital roads - placed roads using only TSP Yeah, seems like both of them have their problems, as the second one will not connect nearest cities and only cares about the condition of traversing through the settlement only once. Should we consider using some other algorithms, maybe Minimal Spatial Forest instead of Minimal Spatial Tree? Maybe, but being a lazy person I've decided to combine the output of two algorithms taking unique combinations from both of them, because otherwise, I would have to write my own algorithm and the psychotherapy just costs too much. Capital roads - placed roads using both algorithms But it seems like it works well and we have successfully connected entire continents by quite efficient roads. But what about other settlements? Well, there are many ways to implement that, but I've decided to iterate through every settlement within a faction (except a capital) and connect it to the nearest bigger settlement. That would mean that a city will connect to a big city and an outpost will connect to a village (or bigger settlement if it's closer). Ok, there is always room for improvement, like fixing some strange errors related to the libraries usage resulting in empty output, or having sometimes nearby cities of some hierarchy connected only to the capital but not to each other, but those are fixable things. Also in my solution lesser settlements tend to have worse roads, like an outpost will have only a dirt road. All generated roads But how exactly do you generate the road itself? One good way to generate roads is to place them naturally, like in real life: people tend to walk where it's easiest, roads tend to be constructed where it's easier. So naturally we will need to find some pathfinding algorithm, declare that "roads are faster, forests are slower" and in the end, we will have a nice solution, where everything is connected quite efficiently, while lesser roads tend to "pour in" into bigger ones and omit forests on their way if it's reasonable. I've decided towards A* pathfinding algorithms, because I already had it implemented, but there are better solutions, which calculate better paths resulting in better roads. For my solution, I also had to add a bit of randomness to the pathfinding calculations so the roads will turn a little and look more natural. Turning roads That's almost everything I wanted to do for now on the world map besides mountains and rivers, but for mountains you could use the same noise patterns from my first post, while rivers could be placed from the highest point (mountain) to the lowest (ocean) using the same algorithms as roads. In the next parts, I'm going to tell you about how I procedurally generate settlement, building, and room layouts in the game itself. Stay tuned. |
2024.05.14 15:01 FarragutCircle Reading The Big Book of Cyberpunk, Week 16
Welcome to Reading The Big Book of Cyberpunk!
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/fanny_bertram) will be reading 5-ish stories from Jared Shurin’s The Big Book of Cyberpunk, which includes a curated selection of cyberpunk stories written from 1950 to 2022! We’ll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some cyberpunk stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
Every once in a while, we reach out to people who have more insight, due to being fans of the author or have some additional context for the story. (Or we just tricked them into it.) So please welcome u/Kopratic who will be sharing their thoughts on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick!
Section 4: Challenge
In our fourth and penultimate section, editor Jared Shurin highlights how cyberpunk looks at technology that creates harm when put into practice, and later cites Marshall McLuhan about artists as challengers. (Shurin really seems to like this McLuhan guy.) Amusingly there’s a footnote where he mentions litrpg in passing, though he says there’s no litrpg in this anthology)
“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick (published 1966; also available in his collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick)
Quail’s desire to go to Mars leads him to a memory-implant company so he can remember going to Mars, but complications and revelations and twists ensue, hilariously.
I think that Speed is looking for Speelyi-427 on behalf of a computer AI called Juno 888, but after that I’m lost.
Elizabeth and other kids are tested, and while she passes with flying covers, her new friends might lose their lives unless she can figure out a way to help them in a world where the heavily computerized future uses real brains from people and dogs.
The narrator is imprisoned for her reckless genetic engineering, making new incarnations of old gods.
A generation ship ends up right back on Earth, with disturbing and amusing differences between the two groups.
Also posted on Bochord Online.
submitted by FarragutCircle to Fantasy [link] [comments]
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/fanny_bertram) will be reading 5-ish stories from Jared Shurin’s The Big Book of Cyberpunk, which includes a curated selection of cyberpunk stories written from 1950 to 2022! We’ll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some cyberpunk stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
Every once in a while, we reach out to people who have more insight, due to being fans of the author or have some additional context for the story. (Or we just tricked them into it.) So please welcome u/Kopratic who will be sharing their thoughts on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick!
Section 4: Challenge
In our fourth and penultimate section, editor Jared Shurin highlights how cyberpunk looks at technology that creates harm when put into practice, and later cites Marshall McLuhan about artists as challengers. (Shurin really seems to like this McLuhan guy.) Amusingly there’s a footnote where he mentions litrpg in passing, though he says there’s no litrpg in this anthology)
“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick (published 1966; also available in his collection Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick)
Quail’s desire to go to Mars leads him to a memory-implant company so he can remember going to Mars, but complications and revelations and twists ensue, hilariously.
- Special Guest Kopratic: So this guy really wants to go to Mars, but it’s pretty dang expensive. Fortunately, what’s not as expensive is paying a company to trick him into thinking he’s been to Mars by implanting false memories into his mind. Unfortunately, things go wrong, and before he writes up a scathing Yelp review, he gets his money back, his wife leaving him, and his life falling apart.
- It’s a story I’ve read before. Not this exact, specific story, but the bones of it. Virtually visiting another time or place. It’s never real, but they tend to beg the question: Do memories create reality? Maybe this particular story was one that inspired, even if indirectly, the others. Maybe it’s a trope that had been used before, and the author was just putting his own spin on it like the ones that came after.
- I did like it. I thought that it was annoying how the secretary was described as being topless in practically every scene she was in. It went from, “Oh in this society that’s a normal thing, and body paint is a sort of fashion item” to “...we get it.” It was a minor part of the story at least.
- The twists were pretty good, too. There’s a moment where you start to question things alongside the protagonist. Maybe the false memories did work. He’s not supposed to know they’re fake, but he does. But he also has things that can’t possibly be explained by ways of “implanted memories.” Or maybe they can. Even until the very end, the story keeps you guessing. It did a good job of keeping the tension alive.
- In a sense, the story asks the question, “What is reality?” and fits in nicely as an entry into the realm of cyberpunk.
- Farragut’s thoughts: We’ve read Dick before in Science Fiction. Between that story and this, if I hadn’t read two of his novels already, I would’ve thought Dick was a comedic SF writer because of how funny I’ve found his short fiction so far. I vaguely recall (ha!) having seen the movie Total Recall, but I’m not sure PKD has ever had a faithful adaptation of his works. Anyway, this is just a fun story—not as wild as the film, but just a plain fun examination of memory and reality.
- fanny’s thoughts: The editor points out that each filming of Total Recall gets worse and this is correct. I had never read the story and I did like it despite it being a story I have seen before. Dick did a great job of making the reader doubt memories and the reality for the character. There are a lot of careful details throughout the short story that play with this concept and add to the general confusion of what is real. The story is not the most amazing thing, but it is very well done and a bit twisty.
I think that Speed is looking for Speelyi-427 on behalf of a computer AI called Juno 888, but after that I’m lost.
- Farragut: We’ve read Misha before in Science Fiction. She’s a very cyberpunky type author, but I’ll be darned if I understand half of what’s going on here. There’s data as currency, there’s an all powerful computer named Juno 888 (I think?), there’s a car chase with a barbed-wire tripwire at neck level (ouch), there’s indigenous ghost dancers, and I had a hell of a time connecting the dots. It didn’t help that for the first couple pages I didn’t realize Speed was the character’s name, which made the story even more abstract at first. I absolutely know there’s someone out there who loves the crap out of experimental/transcendental stuff like this, but it wasn’t me.
- fanny: I was beyond confused reading this one. For half the story I thought the character was the computer, 888, but then I realized it was Speed. I am not sure that helped though. I feel like this was too experimental for me and it just missed the mark. The good part of this was the trading in data and the trying to steal data, which was an interesting technology application.
Elizabeth and other kids are tested, and while she passes with flying covers, her new friends might lose their lives unless she can figure out a way to help them in a world where the heavily computerized future uses real brains from people and dogs.
- Farragut: Gunn is an oft-nominated writer (including for this story), but ended up winning the 2005 Nebula for “Coming to Terms”. I really loved this bizarre future (she’ll play computer fetch with her dog when he has downtime from managing data traffic), and Elizabeth is an adorable character to follow as she navigates the shocking new revelations about her world. The help she gets from some of the obscure entities on the network is perfect, especially when they realize that their current world is a little too predictable these days. Highly recommended, especially for Elizabeth’s “hacking” methods.
- fanny: I loved this story and following Elizabeth through it all. Elizabeth is a fierce, determined little girl who doesn't want anything bad to happen to her friends. She goes to extremes for this and gets help from the weirdest sources within the network system. The net system, entities, and the world are so well thought out and carefully crafted. It felt fully realized which is unusual for me to find in a short story. Absolute loved this one.
The narrator is imprisoned for her reckless genetic engineering, making new incarnations of old gods.
- Farragut: Shawl is a multiple-award-winning author and has done a lot of work on promoting diversity in SF/F. A very short story (under a thousand words), it’s also got a very mythic and poetic tone to it, like a confession as a parable. Very evocative, with lots of classical allusions.
- fanny: Such a short story and such a unique concept. I liked that the main character made the entire Pantheon and unleashed the Greek gods back on the world. I found the description of creating Psyche the best part. This story is a bit experimental, but worked for me.
A generation ship ends up right back on Earth, with disturbing and amusing differences between the two groups.
- Farragut: Shiner was a member of the Turkey City Writer’s Workshop which is considered a “cradle of cyberpunk”. This story was quite amusing, and you can see the differences between the overly-technological humans on Earth and the extremely weird worshippers of Johnny Carson. The author does a great job of encapsulating all the changes since the ship left in little throwaway lines, and the ending was both disturbing and funny.
- fanny: I found the whole premise quite ridiculous, but a nice way to show how too much technology can change society. The worshippers of Johnny Carson return to earth and manage to get a leader who has a bad experience with tech. The extremes he is willing to go to is both realistic and slightly disturbing. The ending is amusing, but it is serious too. I like how Shiner balanced absurdity with real society challenges. But also cult of Carson.
Also posted on Bochord Online.
2024.05.14 15:01 Mrnobodynose A wild story to say the least
When I was 23, I was at my cousins wedding and my aunt got pretty drunk and mentioned how it was so nice that I was able to procreate or something weird like that. FYI I just became a father at the time. Anyways I questioned what she meant and she said “oh well atleast you didn’t have to adopt. I know it was hard on your parents” and I’m like “what do you mean” and she’s like “wait you know you’re adopted right?” And at that moment I was pretty shocked but also had to hold it together because I didn’t want her to feel terrible for being the one that spillled the beans to me, so I responded “oh yeah of course I knew that” and then I walked away to the bathroom and had a weird moment. Anyways I called my parents out into the lobby of the banquet and confronted them about it. My mom was hysterical and denying it at the same time (which I clearly knew she was lying) and my dad was kinda being a dick. Eventually I got annoyed and left the wedding.
A week later I went to my parents house and confronted them about it again and they had this whole story that it was a surrogate mother and she means nothing and don’t go trying to find her and blah blah blah. I kinda believed it and let it go for a few years, plus honestly I didn’t have time to really even care considering I was going through a separation with my sons mother and I had to focus on my son and not my own bullshit.
A few years later when I was 26, I talked to someone about surrogacy and they said that really wasn’t a big thing in the mid 80s because it was experimental and you had to have a lot of money to get that done. So the next time I saw my parents, I stayed overnight and after my mom went to bed, I confronted my dad about it. He still confirmed I came from a surrogate and they used my parents dna. So I let it go again.
Many years passed after this until the topic came up again. I was now 35 and the pandemic hit and I started thinking about all the weird shit involving this topic. Like why would my aunt use the word adopted, and my parents never had a lot of money to do surrogacy in the 80s. So I decided to do some research on how I can find original documents of my birth. I called a bunch of adoption agencies but they couldn’t give that info, but one lady told me I can file for a petition to receive my original birth certificate, and I did that. It took a few weeks but it finally came and it showed the biological mother’s name and no dad and my name was just a last name so I started to think maybe it was a surrogate.
I decided to dig deeper and look on white pages and then Facebook to find this person. I did find her and found out she was still local and I reached out to her. We eventually met up and she was there with her husband and another woman. The husband was not my father but a man from a later marriage and the other woman was my sister that’s a year older than me.
She told me that after she had my sister, her parents told her to stay away from boys but she obviously didn’t and got pregnant by her friend. At the time her friend was about to leave for college and she didn’t want to ruin his life with a baby so she told him to not worry about it and she was going to give it up anyways. Eventually her parents found out she was pregnant and kicked her out of the house. She was homeless living under a bridge with her 1 year old daughter and me inside the womb. She worked at Arby’s and had a friend watch the 1 year old the entire time. One day she got hit by a car while riding her bike to Arby’s and the driver took off but the next car pulled over and it was her brothers friend and he helped her. Once he found out she was homeless he offered to let her live with him. That man eventually became her husband.
During the next few months she was trying to figure out adoption for me and her friend worked at a diner with a woman who knew a woman that was looking to adopt (my mom). Eventually they set up a private adoption. Shortly after I was born and due to the c section my biological mother had to stay in the hospital so she got to spend 10 days with me. After that was done, I went home to my parents who adopted me.
Upon learning of all of this I was pretty shocked but also found it kinda funny cause crazy things are always happening in my life. Never a dull moment! I also discovered that my biological mother has stage 4 lung cancer so I thought I might as well try to get to know her while she’s around. From there i built a strong relationship with my sister and we are very tight. I tried getting to know my biological mother more but she eventually got weirded out and cut me off. She was kind of a bitch about it and my sister told me she can’t stand her mother and she’s been a bitch her whole life, so that kinda made me feel better and feel grateful for my upbringing.
I also did research on the person who is my father and I found out college didn’t do him well and he eventually became a big con man that fucked over his family and wife and then later on became a heroin addict that developed a lot of mental health issues and he is currently homeless in Seattle.
So here I am today at 38. I still have not told my parents that I know because I don’t want them to get hurt. My mom had a big fear of me leaving. She always gets so weird anytime I have a good time with my friends parents or my girlfriends parents. It’s a strange jealously.
So now I’m at this point where I need to tell them because I am getting married in a few months and my sister is coming to the wedding.
Part of me wants to leave out that I met my biological mother because she isn’t in my life and doesn’t want to be so what’s the point? I just want to skip that part and mention only that I met my sister and have no intention of knowing the mother and the sister doesn’t really have a relationship with her either (which is partially true). Regardless I know my adoptee mom is going to get upset. My dad might be an asshole but that’s usual behavior of him. I just know mentioning that I know the biological mother would hurt my mom even more. I’m not even mad at my parents to lying to me honestly. I understand they were trying to be protective, but I seeked this info because of wanting to know medical history and what not. Plus it’s just interesting.
Anyways I’m planning to talk to my parents tonight.. Let me know your thoughts.
submitted by Mrnobodynose to Adopted [link] [comments]
A week later I went to my parents house and confronted them about it again and they had this whole story that it was a surrogate mother and she means nothing and don’t go trying to find her and blah blah blah. I kinda believed it and let it go for a few years, plus honestly I didn’t have time to really even care considering I was going through a separation with my sons mother and I had to focus on my son and not my own bullshit.
A few years later when I was 26, I talked to someone about surrogacy and they said that really wasn’t a big thing in the mid 80s because it was experimental and you had to have a lot of money to get that done. So the next time I saw my parents, I stayed overnight and after my mom went to bed, I confronted my dad about it. He still confirmed I came from a surrogate and they used my parents dna. So I let it go again.
Many years passed after this until the topic came up again. I was now 35 and the pandemic hit and I started thinking about all the weird shit involving this topic. Like why would my aunt use the word adopted, and my parents never had a lot of money to do surrogacy in the 80s. So I decided to do some research on how I can find original documents of my birth. I called a bunch of adoption agencies but they couldn’t give that info, but one lady told me I can file for a petition to receive my original birth certificate, and I did that. It took a few weeks but it finally came and it showed the biological mother’s name and no dad and my name was just a last name so I started to think maybe it was a surrogate.
I decided to dig deeper and look on white pages and then Facebook to find this person. I did find her and found out she was still local and I reached out to her. We eventually met up and she was there with her husband and another woman. The husband was not my father but a man from a later marriage and the other woman was my sister that’s a year older than me.
She told me that after she had my sister, her parents told her to stay away from boys but she obviously didn’t and got pregnant by her friend. At the time her friend was about to leave for college and she didn’t want to ruin his life with a baby so she told him to not worry about it and she was going to give it up anyways. Eventually her parents found out she was pregnant and kicked her out of the house. She was homeless living under a bridge with her 1 year old daughter and me inside the womb. She worked at Arby’s and had a friend watch the 1 year old the entire time. One day she got hit by a car while riding her bike to Arby’s and the driver took off but the next car pulled over and it was her brothers friend and he helped her. Once he found out she was homeless he offered to let her live with him. That man eventually became her husband.
During the next few months she was trying to figure out adoption for me and her friend worked at a diner with a woman who knew a woman that was looking to adopt (my mom). Eventually they set up a private adoption. Shortly after I was born and due to the c section my biological mother had to stay in the hospital so she got to spend 10 days with me. After that was done, I went home to my parents who adopted me.
Upon learning of all of this I was pretty shocked but also found it kinda funny cause crazy things are always happening in my life. Never a dull moment! I also discovered that my biological mother has stage 4 lung cancer so I thought I might as well try to get to know her while she’s around. From there i built a strong relationship with my sister and we are very tight. I tried getting to know my biological mother more but she eventually got weirded out and cut me off. She was kind of a bitch about it and my sister told me she can’t stand her mother and she’s been a bitch her whole life, so that kinda made me feel better and feel grateful for my upbringing.
I also did research on the person who is my father and I found out college didn’t do him well and he eventually became a big con man that fucked over his family and wife and then later on became a heroin addict that developed a lot of mental health issues and he is currently homeless in Seattle.
So here I am today at 38. I still have not told my parents that I know because I don’t want them to get hurt. My mom had a big fear of me leaving. She always gets so weird anytime I have a good time with my friends parents or my girlfriends parents. It’s a strange jealously.
So now I’m at this point where I need to tell them because I am getting married in a few months and my sister is coming to the wedding.
Part of me wants to leave out that I met my biological mother because she isn’t in my life and doesn’t want to be so what’s the point? I just want to skip that part and mention only that I met my sister and have no intention of knowing the mother and the sister doesn’t really have a relationship with her either (which is partially true). Regardless I know my adoptee mom is going to get upset. My dad might be an asshole but that’s usual behavior of him. I just know mentioning that I know the biological mother would hurt my mom even more. I’m not even mad at my parents to lying to me honestly. I understand they were trying to be protective, but I seeked this info because of wanting to know medical history and what not. Plus it’s just interesting.
Anyways I’m planning to talk to my parents tonight.. Let me know your thoughts.
2024.05.14 15:01 aznpersuazion Is the Michelin Guide Overrated?
My experience with Michelin in a complicated one. Having gone to one, two, and three Michelin star restaurants across the globe, I've seen Michelin do some great things for restaurants, but I've also seen them bring the demise of others.
Because it's quite apparent what good things come from being highlighted by Michelin, this post is more focused on some of my criticisms of the Michelin guide, and why I think the current structure of Michelin should be changed.
Maintaining "Michelin's definition" of the gold standard..
There have been a ton of amazing restaurants given a one star review. Restaurants don't even need to be "fine dining" to be given a Michelin star, as highlighted by some of the cheap eats that have received a one star review.
But a one star review, can at times, be a curse for restaurants. Often, restaurants receive one star reviews got there by showcasing there strengths. A passion for food and creativity, a desire to share culture or tradition, or an expression of a personal brand of art.
When a restaurant receives a one star review, two things happen.
And eventually, they start to act as more of a "tourist attraction", and start to lose the original loyal clientele that brought them to where they were in the first place.
Secondly, they begin to compare themselves to the standards of other "higher" Michelin star restaurants.
And that typically means focusing more on a particular brand of fine dining. Hyper-attentive service, an overuse of "micro complex food"(emulsions, purees, colorful vegetation). Just to name a few.
I've seen this unfortunately happen time and time again.
If your customers wanted to go to a Eleven Madison Park, they'd travel to New York. But don't turn your restaurant into a chain of fine dining. You'll start to lose the allure, and it starts to feel like the routine of Mcdonalds or Capital Grille.
**If you enjoyed my content, consider checking out a referral link. You get additional sign up and welcome bonuses. Signing up and using Rakuten for cash back is free!*\*
submitted by aznpersuazion to travelfooddiaries [link] [comments]
Because it's quite apparent what good things come from being highlighted by Michelin, this post is more focused on some of my criticisms of the Michelin guide, and why I think the current structure of Michelin should be changed.
Maintaining "Michelin's definition" of the gold standard..
There have been a ton of amazing restaurants given a one star review. Restaurants don't even need to be "fine dining" to be given a Michelin star, as highlighted by some of the cheap eats that have received a one star review.
But a one star review, can at times, be a curse for restaurants. Often, restaurants receive one star reviews got there by showcasing there strengths. A passion for food and creativity, a desire to share culture or tradition, or an expression of a personal brand of art.
When a restaurant receives a one star review, two things happen.
- They begin to get huge influx of customers. Initially.
- They start to be compared to other one star restaurants, sometimes even two or three star.
And eventually, they start to act as more of a "tourist attraction", and start to lose the original loyal clientele that brought them to where they were in the first place.
Secondly, they begin to compare themselves to the standards of other "higher" Michelin star restaurants.
And that typically means focusing more on a particular brand of fine dining. Hyper-attentive service, an overuse of "micro complex food"(emulsions, purees, colorful vegetation). Just to name a few.
I've seen this unfortunately happen time and time again.
If your customers wanted to go to a Eleven Madison Park, they'd travel to New York. But don't turn your restaurant into a chain of fine dining. You'll start to lose the allure, and it starts to feel like the routine of Mcdonalds or Capital Grille.
**If you enjoyed my content, consider checking out a referral link. You get additional sign up and welcome bonuses. Signing up and using Rakuten for cash back is free!*\*
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