From where to start
From where to start reading Bukowski? I started listening to some of his poems on YouTube, Bukowski's writing style seems to be minimalistic yet some of his poems like the crunch seem to hold deep meaning. Which of his novels or poetry books seems like a nice start?

Hi everyone!
👀 I had already written a post to share with you my long-term detox method. I've been applying it for 4 months now, and it's quite incredible. I'm writing this message to give you feedback. Yes, I "succumbed to temptation" a few times, for example, to quickly make bank transfers, or to reply to some messages while comfortably seated on my couch. But those times were few, and I quickly realized that they were exceptional, so I would quickly put the phone back in the hallway of my apartment afterward. It's like take off your shoes or coat before entering home. 📌 Most of the time, I stick to what I've set up, and the well-being that comes from it is beyond what I hoped for. I come home from work and I'm at home, without distractions. I've even gotten into the habit of not immediately turning on my computer. I clean, exercise, listen to a record, meditate, write, read, and as a last resort, I turn on the computer (which can happen, it's a tool after all, and I really do need it often to watch a movie, listen to music, or take care of administrative tasks, make purchases, etc.). ♾️ Yesterday, I came home and I was like "transported" by the silence. Knowing that my phone is out of reach calms me. My overall anxiety has greatly decreased. Knowing that no one can disturb me. I took my e-reader and read for an hour sitting on a chair with the sound of the rain outside, fully in the moment, instead of wasting time on YouTube videos or Instagram feeds that I don't care about. It was magical, a moment for myself, to settle down, to refocus, a real "90's feeling". I also do this a lot during solitary walks without my phone (or in airplane mode at the bottom of my bag). As it turns out, the solution exists, it's within reach. Disconnecting. I still have progress to make on YouTube videos and using my computer, but I already feel much better. More present, in reality. 👉 As a reminder, my phone is in grayscale, I have TouchID on most apps to slow myself down, Apple's screen time feature, and ScreenZen on top of that. I removed Instagram, I just have Tumblr and Pinterest on it, in terms of social networks, and Signal/Whatsapp.
Maybe it's because I work all day long on a computer at work, but unless it's for write or watching movies, I really feel that screens (and not only computers) are toxic in a lot of ways. They suck our energy, focus, desire. It's awful. I hope this message motivates some of you to try my method and above all, to free yourselves from this digital life that isn't worth it.
🙌
​

My name's Soham & I've been constantly learning from all the creative people who share their artwork on this community which in turn, helped me level up my motion graphic (Short Form Animation) game to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!
It's been more than 2 years and I've come back to the very place which inspired me to start in the first place to give back to the community :D
I've uploaded a course on my community at the moment which lets you learn the ins & outs of "How to Create a Dan Koe Style animation" (Here's a reference for you) that I've been creating for creator's around the globe to share their ideas in the form of simple animations!
Since the posts on this community have been on a decline for animators / Creative souls who are being under-paid / out of work or some downright broke, I felt the need to create something which may (or may not) be of help to you guys!
Like I mentioned earlier, I've been doing this for 2 years & till date, I've worked with over 100+ creators & 10+ brands charging $6 to $12 (based on the duration and length of the project) per project!
The course is still being developed by constant feedback from the community as my idea is to make this into a community-first thing, which I haven't EVER seen anywhere on this planet & truth be told, I wished for something like this myself when I was starting out :D
The community is completely FREE to join for anyone interested & the course I've uploaded will get you up to speed with what are Short Form Animations & how you can make these animations.
As for semi-pros & veterans who already know the software, I've built a paid community for you guys to start and build your own personal brand & book your first client within 24 hours.
I've strictly tried to keep this a NO-BS course. All the methods that are mentioned in the course are what I've tried and tested. If there's any feedback from the community to either improve upon or bring a better alternative to the course, only those will be added into the course!
Thank you for reading through this and I hope all of you guys will keep creating art which inspires others like you inspired me :D
I really appreciate the time you took to read through and if there's something that I can help you with, I am THE MOST active on Instagram! Pop me a DM and mention that you're from this community and I'll be more than glad to help you guys out!
Here's the link to both the communities:
Free Community
Paid Community
Also, for anyone wondering what are Dan Koe Style Animations, please search "Dan Koe Animation" and you'll find answers to majority of the questions!

Hi,
Here's what I can offer for trades. CIB unless noted otherwise. List may get updated after initial posting.

Have

PS1
Breath of Fire 3	Manual damaged. Missing first page. Disc plays okay.
Breath of Fire 4
Parasite Eve	Small crack in the case
Tactics Ogre
Dragon Warrior 7
Legend of Legaia
Metal Gear Solid	missing manual
Suikoden	small rip in first page of manual
Wild Arms 2	loose disc only
Final Fantasy Tactics
Revelations: Persona	box only
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Gran Turismo	Brand new. Plastic wrap is gone but seal at the top is still intact.
A bug's life
Black Dawn
Formula1 98
Small soldiers
The next tetris
Star wars: Episode 1 The phantom menace
Twisted metal III
Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style
Apocalypse
Playstation Underground Jampack
NHL FaceOff 99
NFL Xtreme
NFL GameDay 2001	Sealed. Small rip in the plastic wrap
NFL GameDay 2000
MLB 2000
3Xtreme
Contender
Jampack Summer 99
Jampack Winter 98
Interactive CD Sampler Pack Volume 3
Spyro
Bust A Groove

​

PS2
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 [Limited Edition]	outer box showing some wear
.Hack Quarantine	Missing anime DVD, Case may not be original
Front mission 4
Katamari Damacy
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4
Suikoden 3
Final Fantasy XII Limited Edition (steelbook)
Xenosaga Episode 1
Xenosaga Episode 3
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero Metallica
Guitar Hero III Legend of Rock
Rockband AC/DC Track Pack
Grandia II
Grandia III
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
Kingdom Hearts	GH
Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3

​

PSP
Untold Legends Brotherhood Of The Blade
Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Legend Of Heroes III Song Of The Ocean	loose umd only
Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories	GH
Robots	UMD Movie

​

Vita
Killzone Mercenary	loose

​

PS3
Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection [Artbook Bundle]	Sealed with artbook
Dante's Inferno Divine Edition	with slipcover, missing manual
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
Batman: Arkham City
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Disney Infinity starter pack	Sealed
Record of Agarest War 2	Sealed, One corner of box is dinged
Dead Island Riptide [Rigor Mortis Edition]	Sealed
Dead Space 3 Dev-team Edition	Sealed, 4004/5000
Battlefield 3
Battlefield 4
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 4
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2010
Heavy Fire: Afghanistan
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
Little Big Planet Karting
Batman: Arkham Asylum - GoTY edition
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Need for Speed: The Run LE
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit LE
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit	loose, GH
Need for Speed: Rivals	missing manual
Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
Duke Nukem Forever
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes	GH
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens	loose
Destiny
Lost Planet 3	Sealed
God of War Collection	GH
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
Dead Space
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Dead Island
Batman: Arkham City
Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend
Blur
Prototype 2 Blackwatch Collector's Edition	Sealed

​

PS4
Fallout 4 Pipboy edition	Sealed
Elder Scrolls Online Tamriel Unlimited Imperial Edition	Sealed
Wolfenstein II: The new Colossus Collector's Edition	Sealed
Final fantasy vii remake
Final fantasy vii remake deluxe edition	Sealed
Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars	digital code
Kingdom Hearts All-in-one	sealed
Fifa 14
Battlefield 4
INSIDE / LIMBO double pack
WWE 2K15 Hulkamania Edition	sealed
Dying Light
Fallout 4
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
Maid of Sker	Sealed, PEGI
NBA 2K19
Dynasty Warrior 7 Empires	Chinese version
R-Type Final 2 Inaugural edition	Sealed
Transformers: Rise Of The Dark Spark
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition

​

PS5
Tales of Arise	Sealed
Elden Ring preorder code x3	Willing to throw this in free with any trade
Elden Ring with steelbook bundle	Bundle seems to be Bestbuy Canada exclusive
Scarlet Nexus	Sealed
Evil Dead	digital code
Horizon Forbidden West Collector's Edition	Sealed
Spider-man 2	digital code

​

Xbox
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines	gamestop sticker on manual

​

Xbox360
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Fallout 3
Halo 4 LE	Sealed
Lost Odyssey
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Otomedius Excellent

​

GameCube
Resident Evil
Donkey Konga 2	Sealed

​

Wii
Super Mario All-Stars: 25th Anniversary Edition	Sealed
The Last Story LE
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor	Sealed

​

Switch
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country	Sealed
Xenoblade Chronicles 3	Sealed
Metroid Dread Special Edition	Sealed
Shin Megami Tensei V Fall of Men Premium Edition	Sealed
Hoa	Sealed
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Premium Edition	Sealed
Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1 [Deluxe Edition]	Sealed
AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES – nirvanA Initiative Collectors Edition	Sealed
Legend of Zelda the tears of the kingdom Collector's edition	Sealed
Fire Emblem Engage Divine Edition	Sealed

​

GBA
Platinum GBA SP	loose
Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage	loose
Avatar: The Last Airbender	loose
SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	loose
American Dragon Jake Long Rise Of The Huntsclan	loose
Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 3	loose
Pokemon LeafGreen	loose
Pokemon Sapphire	loose, dry battery replaced
Chronicles Of Narnia Lion Witch And The Wardrobe	loose
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3	loose
Tales of Phantasia	loose
Shining Soul 2	loose
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror	loose
Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland	loose

​

DS
Coral Pink DS Lite	Excellent cosmetic condition, charger included
White DSi	no charger, stylus
TMNT
Lego Harry Potter Year 1-4
Phantasy Star 0	missing manual
Flash Focus
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia	loose
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume	loose
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light	loose
Pokemon HeartGold	loose, small damage on label
Pokemon HeartGold	big box with pokewalker
Pokemon SoulSilver	box only
Pokemon Diamond
Pokemon Diamond	loose
Pokemon Platinum	loose
Pokemon Black
Pokemon Black	missing manual
Pokemon Black	box only
Hoppie	no manual, some water damage in cover arts
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Metroid Prime: Hunters - First Hunt	loose
Diddy Kong Racing
Fossil Fighters
Professor Layton And The Curious Village
Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney	loose

​

3DS
3DS XL Black+Red	CIB, Cave Story digital installed
New 3DS XL Galaxy	loose. Charger included. Missing stylus, Dual IPS screen
Pokemon X
Rune Factory 4
Bravely Second: End Layer	Warning booklet missing
Kingdom Hearts 3D Dream Drop Distance LE	Missing AR cards
Pokemon Sun	loose
Pokemon Ultra Sun
Pokemon X	loose, have 2
Kirby Triple Deluxe	loose
LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens	Case in rough shape. Missing manual
Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond The Myth [Launch Edition]	sealed
Sonic: Lost World
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Mario Kart 7
Kirby: Triple Deluxe	Nintendo Selects
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D	Nintendo Selects
Tales of the Abyss	sealed
Fantasy Life

​

Amiibo (all SSB except noted otherwise)	All sealed in original box
Peach (Super Mario)	025W1
Yoshi (Super Mario)	524W2
Mario	434W2
Bowser	464S1
Diddy Kong	424S1
Luigi	434S1
Pikachu	474W2
Squirtle	279W5
Ivysaur	299W5
Snake	2559G1
Sonic	494W2
Peach	444W3
Link (Link's awakening)	2079G1
Link	524S1
Link (Majora's mask)	187S1

​

Guides
Tales of Vesperia	BradyGames
Dark Souls	FuturePress, Sealed
Dark Souls II CE	FuturePress, Sealed
Dragon Warrior VII	Prima
Breath of Fire IV	Prima
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch	Prima, Hard Cover
Wild Arms 4	Prima
God of War III	BradyGames
Resident Evil 6	BradyGames, Hard Cover, Sealed
Legend of Zelda Collector's Box Set	Prima, sealed

​

Manuals
https://imgur.com/a/DLa5yM4	Too many to list. Some 360/PS3 ones may be in French. Please ask. Harvest Moon (GC) is traded.

​

Steelbooks	G1 size unless noted. No games included.
Assassin's Creed 3	in shrink wrap
Assassin's Creed Collection
Batman Arkham City Armored Edition
Batman Arkham City	G2
Call of Duty Black Ops II
Dead Space 3	in shrink wrap
Devil May Cry	G2
Dishonored
Duke Nukem Forever	in shrink wrap
Epic Mickey 2
Farcry 3	in shrink wrap
FF XIII Lightning Returns	in shrink wrap
Hitman Absolution
Injustice Gods Among Us
Medal of Honor Warfighter	G2
New Super Mario Bros U
NHL 12
Prototype 2	in shrink wrap
Sleeping Dogs
Thief
World of Warcraft Mist of Pandara

​

Misc
FF X Play Arts Tidus	Still in original box, never displayed out of box
FF X Play Arts Yuna	Still in original box, never displayed out of box
FF X Play Arts Auron	Still in original box, never displayed out of box
FFVII Advent Children Play Arts Sephiroth	Still in original box, never displayed out of box
FFVII Advent Children Play Arts Vincent	Still in original box, never displayed out of box
FFVII Advent Children Play Arts Cloud with Fenrir	Still in original box, never displayed out of box
Steer 'n win jr racing wheel/pedal	compatible with PS1/N64
Diablo III Collector's Edition PC	Sealed
Diablo III Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition PC	Sealed
Homeworld Collector's Edition PC	Sealed

Want:

Mostly interested in JRPGs and horrors. Working design, Enix, Falcom, NIS, Atlus, etc. Also looking for many turbo/turbo CD games. Must be CIB unless noted otherwise.
​

PS1
Adventures of Lomax
Deception III: Dark Delusion
Echo Night
Kartia
King's Field (Long box)
King's Field II
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile
Koudelka
Misadventures of Tron Bonne
RayCrisis: Series Termination
RayStorm
Shadow Tower
Tail Concerto
Thunder Force V
Torneko: The Last Hope
Resident evil survivor

​

PS2
Echo Night: Beyond
Forever Kingdom
Haunting Ground
ObsCure
Shadow Heart
Silent Hill 2 (Greatest Hits)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Tsugunai: Atonement

​

PS4
Atelier Ryza LE
Atelier Sophie LE
Tales of Berseria CE

​

PS5
The Last of us Part 1 Firefly edition (sealed)
The Last of us Part 2 WLF edition (sealed)

​

Vita
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Brith 1 LE

​

GBC
Dragon Warrior Monsters
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Cobi's Journey
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Tara's Adventure
Dragon Warrior I & II
Lufia: The Legend Returns
Revelations: The Demon Slayer

​

GBA
DemiKids: Dark/Light Version
Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament
Klonoa: Empire of Dreams
Lufia: The Ruins of Lore
Lunar Legend
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2

​

GameCube
Star Fox: Assault	Manual only
Jet Black GameCube box and cardboard inserts
Indigo wired OEM controller	very low want

​

Switch
Dragon quest xi	sealed preferred

​

DS
Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow
Commando: Steel Disaster
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest IV	Box and manual only
Etrian Odyssey
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
Lufia: Curse of the Sinitrals
Lunar: Dragon Song	Manual only
Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
Sands of Destruction
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier

​

3DS
Corpse Party: Back to School Edition
Dragon Quest VIII
Etrian Mystery Dungeon (Launch soundtrack bundle preferred)
Etrian Odyssey Nexus (launch edition)
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows Of Valentia Limited Edition
Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (launch edition)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (with soundtrack)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker (launch edition)
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse Launch Edition

​

Others
Turbografx-16 Console	CIB preferred
Turbografx-16 and Turbo CD games	CIB preferred. Almost everything except sports games will be considered. Big priority now
Dragon Quest Slime controller for Switch
All Uncharted Waters games (SNES and Genesis, CIB)

Notes.

• Prefer to trade within Canada, but will consider cross border too if offers are attractive. I'm okay with conus (with some exceptions).
• Will provide pics upon request.
• I have not listed everything in haves/wants. I will gladly check your list and work something out.

So me and my ex had a great relationship however it was definitely not perfect he made mistakes I made too. I forgave his mistakes when it came to my mistakes he didn't. I definitely wanted things to work out with him and he did not but that's also okay. For two months I felt him fading away and this year january he broke up with me eventhough I had seen that coming but it hurt me really bad.
But even on that day when he was broke up he wanted to have a fwb sorta relationship because he said this is something that is what I want. Tbh, I could not say anything because I kinda wanted to be close with him because am emotionally attached to him so I agreed to that situation. Afterwards I felt horrible and told him multiple times to let me go he never agreed and kept saying we should be "friends". I cannot say no to that I do not have that strength. In my heart it creates hope that staying in contact would help me restore the relationship I do not know whether that is happening or not because he has strictly said to not talk about it or anything related to our past.
During the relationship I neglected my career to a great extent and being a career oriented person I am starting out with my MBA this year working towards my goal creating a better future for me. I also need to work on my anxious attachment style which caused a lot of issues in the past relationship so I do not want to date anybody other than if my ex comes back during these two years and am intending to go through and tolerate this entire fwb situation with my ex its not what my values agree with but I cannot also say I hate this feeling because I love my ex but am not even allowed to express my emotions now. I think he knows exactly how I feel. I don't initiate meet ups/texts/calls with him he does that like maybe 3-4 times a month.
I plan on asking him to get back after two years and if he does not agrees to it I will block him and will tell him very clearly again to not stay in touch in any shape/form, and I will not also agree to it I know I will have the strength to cut him off that time.
However, as of now I am seeing he is following multiple people on instagram (we do not follow each other so I do not know if those are girls or guys or something else entirely) but its kinda scares me what if he finds someone to be in a relationship with while all this time keeping me as an option. I don't want to be in that situation neither am I able to get away from this loop.
I also feel tremendous guilt because I think I ruined my perfect relationship with this perfect person because of some things related to my anxious attachment style which was caused by my multiple toxic relationships in life. I am not able to just forgive myself for ruining this relationship and this is a vicious painful cycle and I want to get out of that too.
So, I need help in figuring out how to feel bette break this loop. Also, I have seen a lot of helpless people in this sub so if anybody wants to vent out their situation please feel free to do the same. Send me a dm so that we can help each other by listening/ venting.

So like everyone here I watched the yesterday's presentation, new lightweight "GPT-4 level" model that's free (rate limited but still), wow great, both the voice clarity and lack of delay is amazing, great work, can't wait for GPT-5! But then I saw (as always) excellent breakdown by AI explained, started reading comments and posts here and on Twitter, their website announcement and now I am left wondering why they rushed through presentation so quickly.
Yes, the voice and how it interacts is definitely the "money shot" of the model, but boy does it do so much more! OpenAI states that this is their first true multi-modal model that does everything through single same neural network, idk if that's actually true or bit of a PR embellishment (hopefully we get an in depth technical report), but GPT-4o is more capable across all domains than anything else on the market. During the presentation they barely bothered to mention it and even on their website they don't go much in depth for some bizarre reason.
Just the handful of things I noticed:

• It's dramatically better at generating text on an image than dalle-3. As everyone who has tried it, dalle-3 is better than anything before it, but the model falls apart after at most 5 words. This is a massive improvement, but not only that but it also is able to iterate on the image. There are still mistakes (eisé instead of else, keyboard letters are not correct) but boy it's such a big jump. And I am willing to it's not just text but images also will have dramatically less errors in them
• You are able to generate standalone objects and then give it to interact with, what's strange to me is that they hid the fact it's a new conversation under a hover icon! You know what that means, you can give it any image and ask it to manipulate with! And the model does a fantastic job of matching the style of the thing given.
• It's able to generate images to create 3D reconstruction
• It's able to generate images with modifications, if you look closely it's you'll notice it's not the same coaster, it's not doing inpainting or anything, it's generating it from scratch but the fact it's able to make it look like the original shows so much potential.
• It's able to summarize 45 minute video with lots of details (I am very curious if this if this will be possible on chatGPT website or only through API and if so how much would 45 minutes cost and how quickly would it able to do it)
• The model is as good or better than SOTA models

And of course other things that are on the website. As I already mentioned it's so strange to me they didn't spend even a minute (even on the website) on image generating capabilities besides interacting with text and manipulating things, give us at least one ordinary image! Also I am pretty positive the model can sing too, but will it be able to generate one or do you have to gaslight ChatGPT into thinking it's an opera singer? So many little things they showed that hint at massive capabilities but they just didn't spend time talking about it.
The voice model, and interaction with you was clearly inspired by movie Her (as also hinter by Altman) , but I feel they were so in love with the movie they used the movie's version of presentation of technology that they kinda ended up downplaying some of the aspects of the model. If you are unfamiliar, while the movie is sci-fi, tech is very much in the background, both visually and metaphorically. They did the same here with sitting down and letting the model wow us instead showing all the raw numbers and all the technical details like we are used to from traditional presentations that Google or Apple do. Google would have definitely milked at least 2 hour presentation out of this. God, I can't wait for GPT-5.

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Yes.. Yess.. Alright there Daddy, I mean Danny. Yeah shut the fuck up.
Verse on Danny: Dear Tank I wrote you a letter. See my daddy wasnt there so now I crave attention. See I would do anything I can to ride your wave for mentions. Even pretended you dissed me just to create dissention. I dug through all you and Pop's songs just to find some ammunition, now im all out of lotion. So my dick burns and my hand is itching. I posted that Pop said some racist shit on Facebook, but changed the title cause I couldnt get your friends to listen. I cant do numbers and I need the advice. I paid my mom for her to advertise me, I need the hype. I hope you see this dog it eases me to sleep at night. Whats it like to actually be dope and have a buzz? I paid Gnat, but I still cant break 20 friends. I wear this crown but my throne is really full of malus. I cant picture me without the drugs.
Verse on John: Dear Tank, I kept tagging you 6 months ago you wouldn't respond. You owe me dog dont leave me here for long. While your out living life and doing things I wish I could, I spend all day on the internet trying to get some looks. I know I said I was straight but yet played victim hook, cause I aint killed nobody. Im not built like that I lived in hoods. Got too much hate up on my diss so I deleted it. I tryna bait me but I miss. So much for clicks and dislikes. I really hate that im a bitch. I cant do shit but diss right? I cant create a single hit. So I take hits from this pipe. Miss shells in the nozzle, got hit with the nasal spay. The Boogeyman of this Bu cocky shit. The only shots are on my face, Im prolly sick, its prolly jizz, I prolly need some molly shit to take this pain away. I just delay it shit. Eyes red, I feel my hood in your hoodie man. Im tryna weather days but im not Boogie Man. Critiqued you for your mental health cause I dont get complexities. Im a simple man with simple bars. I kill a man, Jarrott. it makes sense right? But when you kill a man get jarred hoe. Get sentenced for life. Im just a lonely man with no friends or bodies to show. And if I end it all tomorrow? Shit nobody would know.
Oh we just having fun now.. Let me show yall how to make a diss..
Verse on Gnat: Im waiting, im patient, you baited. You made a grenade on this paper, pull the pen ive been waiting. How you gonna claim wins from your moms basement, you aint got no Ems on your plate list. The crown you been claiming? It aint raining! 5 months Gnat still no reply. John asked about me when his own squad going poltergeist. Dont throw the fight. John started his rap rhyming rap shit 4 times. But you wanna claim im the one whoes lazy? Shit im bored of you poor rhymes. Gnat's masculine hardcore? When he the one clapping back with insults about Star Wars. Outrap me. Come on Gnat roll up. Its Ironic that im Emo. The fuck you killing yourself for? Zareem already murdered you, Stan aint nobody heard of you. Only time you fucks catching bodies in the morgue, you murdered who? Shit the first 48 hours. I know whoes missing. Pop already covered you, exposed you for your googling. Your bars dont connect, dont hide that phone when you spitting no? You need more practice. Unlike LLR this is real life. You claim I run but yet I still fight, outrapped you on your own rhyme scheme, Gnat just got killed twice.
Verse on all 3: Hold up change it up, something yall dont know how to do with that same old boring ass style. Lotta Danny, Got no time for your problems. The shit you spit is nonsense. Begged Ren to do a song with you then he robbed you. How many of us you paying money to gaslight you with fake praise and fake opinions. Gnat calls himself a king? Well thank the lord for me. Got a buzz off my name? now im claiming your royalties. John upset that it took me 1 month, dog it took you 5 months to clap back, you brag about that? 24 hours im back on the track. Get your fat ass back on the track and move quicker. Or maybe not cause your movements sus. And now your mad attacking me cause your raps all suck. Acting like these are lies? Bitch grow up. How about you switch that flow up. Coming with the same cadence dog? We be bored of your shit. You an obsessed little ex whoring for clicks. I feel bad man, Dont be mad stan. Heres a trash can.. For your diss. I stay living in your head without rent. Gnat, better learn your history.. Kings they get beheaded. "The the Boogeyman cause everybody scared of me". What a dope bar, your such a rarity. Talking like you next up. You been here since 2017 where's the check huh? Your best disses got my name in them, Im a Free copy right? Let me put my claim on it. Every time you tag me ill be monetizing you while you advertise me. And fantasize about my friends. Just know I got here without you. So keep on moving, you just a lame whoes pretending. Use my name for the ascension, but my reigns are too extensive. Stay in your lane, got no engine. You start clenching and your plugged in the rear, with no luck and no career. Whoes scared of this dude. Your times up..
Honestly I wasnt even gonna go after you. But theres certain lines you just dont cross. Tryna target my legitimacy? Going after my friends? Calling out anyone you can to diss me and paying them? Danny theres ways to move in this industry properly. You put your hand out and its gonna get slapped. Get back in your fucking lane.
Free's note: Tank is known for having a pen, hes known for his pen and his bars. Like if your gonna say that he doesnt have it cause it went over your fucking head.. You need to look in the mirror. John I did do a speech with you in 2022. That was before you became a big bitch. Bitch ass fuck with nothing better to do than diss. Go back to dissing your mom, cause thats your only good diss John.

As a student navigating the ever-evolving landscape of academia, I've often found myself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of essays and assignments that pile up on my desk. It's during these moments of academic stress that I've turned to innovative solutions, one of which is the utilization of AI essay writers. In this article, I'll delve into the advantages and disadvantages of employing such technology, drawing from my own experiences and research.
First and foremost, the primary allure of AI essay writers is their ability to streamline the writing process. These programs are equipped with advanced algorithms capable of generating coherent and well-structured essays on a variety of topics in a matter of minutes. This can be a game-changer for students facing tight deadlines or struggling to articulate their thoughts effectively.
Furthermore, AI essay writers can serve as invaluable learning tools. By analyzing the essays produced by these programs, students can gain insights into effective writing techniques, formatting styles, and even subject matter expertise. It's akin to having a virtual writing mentor at your disposal, offering guidance and constructive feedback whenever needed.
Another notable advantage of AI essay writers is their potential to reduce academic pressure. For students juggling multiple responsibilities, such as part-time jobs or extracurricular activities, the ability to offload some of the writing workload to AI can alleviate stress and free up valuable time for other pursuits.
However, it's essential to acknowledge the limitations and potential drawbacks of relying too heavily on AI essay writers. One significant concern is the risk of plagiarism. While these programs are designed to generate original content, there's always a chance that the output could resemble existing material, leading to accusations of academic dishonesty.
Moreover, there's a danger of dependency on AI essay writers inhibiting students' own writing development. Writing is a skill that improves with practice, and by bypassing the effort required to craft essays manually, students may miss out on valuable learning opportunities.
Additionally, there's the issue of cost. While some AI essay writing services may offer free or low-cost options, others come with subscription fees or pay-per-use pricing models, which can quickly add up for budget-conscious students.
In conclusion, the decision to use an AI essay writer is a personal one, contingent on individual circumstances and preferences. While these tools undeniably offer convenience, efficiency, and potential learning benefits, they also pose risks such as plagiarism, stunted writing growth, and financial investment. As with any academic resource, it's crucial to approach AI essay writers with caution and use them judiciously, supplementing rather than replacing traditional writing practices.
For those considering utilizing such services, I would recommend exploring reputable platforms like SharkWriter.ai, which prioritize quality, originality, and user satisfaction. However, I urge fellow students to exercise diligence, maintain academic integrity, and view AI essay writers as supplements rather than substitutes for their own writing efforts.

One of the major reasons on why I consider myself a tuckerite mutualist, is because of its tendency to be anti-communist.
Don't get me wrong, I still support anarcho-communists and syndicalists on achieving an anarchist society, but my fundamental problem with them is the fact that I consider communists to be naive when it's comes to their implementation of a planned economy.
It was also one of the major reasons on why my political position was unstable when I was a communist myself, I was skeptical of a planned economy. The major reason for this skepticism was the Economic calculation problem brought forward by Ludwig von misses and expanded upon by fredrick hayek. I considered, and still do this problem to be one of the major (possibly sole) reasons on why I don't call myself a communist anymore and why I still strongly feel to the tuckerite tendency of the mutualist ideology.
I do accept Neo-proudhonian mutualism to be superior, but I can't accept that it's still market-agnostic. I feel like we should just follow the instructions given by tucker and achieve a free market economy with mutual aids networks as our economic view point.
That's why I'm writing this question. If you're market-agnostic, than why do you consider that a planned economy would be sufficient?

So, whenever questions like "what are your hobbies" or "what do you do in your free time" come up, I have a hard time answering. I'm a massive geek, and I'm really into stuff like video games, comics, anime/manga, Star Wars, etc. But I feel like that's not what a lot of people think of when they think of hobbies. You'll see it all the time online, people telling people who like things like video games to "get a real hobby" or something like that. And a lot of it has become my aestetic too. I'm known for wearing cool button up shirts, mainly with my geeky interests on them, as well as stuff like earrings and necklaces of the same nature.
Also, I think this is my autism/ADHD at play, but I'll sometimes struggle to get myself to do my hobbies. I'll be like "I could be reading comics or manga right now" but just won't. When I do, I love it, but for some reason, it's hard to get myself too. With video games, it's a special thing. I almost exclusively play single player games, and I'll play one at a time, and in my sort of journal thing, I'll often describe the events of what happened in the game if I played it that day, and I'll even give a set of 2 or 3 days a title like it's an episode of TV, based on things that happened in my day and what happened in the game, and it's fun to come up with a clever title.
I also create stories a lot. I say that instead of calling myself a writer cuse the vast majority of it is just in my head or in notes, I don't often enjoy the process of writing it down in something like a novel or script format, i just like coming up with the characters, setting, plot, etc.
There's a good amount of stuff I'd like to get into, but I just can't afford it. Like, I'm super skinny, and I thought kickboxing or boxing classes would be a good way to get some muscle, but I just can't afford it.
Despite how I'm making it sound, I'm actually a really happy and positive person😂, but I dunno, do you think I need better hobbies? How do I answer the question "what do you do in your free time?"
(Sorry this is so long btw, lol)

Made good money in Nifty on Monday. but FOMO got me to buy a position w\o looking at anything today and well you know what happens 📉 there was heavy writing on both sides increasing my loss anyside i took an entry. Feel free to drop your suggestions & hopefully it can be avoided inthe future

Hello! First time posting here so hello and thanks for the welcoming environment! I’m traveling from New York to Barcelona this summer and I decided to do the free stopover in Iceland with IcelandAir (check it out, it’s great!). I’ll be there for two days. The one snag is I am traveling alone and I am bringing my bike (I’ll keep it in the box when I’m in Iceland). After extensive research, I’m seeing that there is no bike storage at the airport, and that taxis are quite expensive. I am thinking of putting my bike on the bus and storing it at the hostel (after writing them to see if they have space). Does this seem feasible? Traveling with a bike box and alone can be very cumbersome.

Spring is winding down, summer's on it's way; would love to get a little cash to fund the summer fun (and the next parts order). Still, trades are always on the table. Don't be shy with the cheapies.
TLDR
I got:

• A bunch of unique handmade stuff, including fuzzes, drives, and filters.
• Some 9V/12V practice amps I made from old speakers.
• A handful of cheapies
• A digitech Multi-FX
• Some bulky items for local trade in the Nashville, TN area.

I want:

• Just about anything related to musical instruments and music making: Effects, instruments, gizmos, recording stuff, etc.
• Or lots of other things not remotely related to music. Try me.
• Or money
• I mean, basically, if you want a pedal, especially a handmade one, and are willing to send me something of reasonable value for it, you have a good shot at getting it.

DIY STUFF
(If you are NOT into handmade stuff, scroll down because I have some other items at the end.)
This is hand-built stuff that I made, mostly relatively unique or heavily tweaked designs built on vero or point to point. Many are housed in upcycled tins, a few in Hammond boxes. They all run on standard 9v pedal power. These aren't clones for the most part, unless they are; but normally I actually monkey about with the circuits quite a bit or just test out wacky ideas. If you want something nobody else has, you're in the right place…
I have the handmades valued in 4 tiers:

• D tier are my trashy cheapies, made from reclaimed components. I don't feel right asking a lot for reclaimed components. I value them in the $40 - $50 range, not really picky about what I trade for. I might even take dirt pedals for these. Only got one left, trying to phase out this tier.
• C tier are the cheapies made with new components. I value these in the $50 - $60 range, not very picky here either.
• B tier are my average builds, I will trade for pedals in the $65-$90 value range, depending on the complexity of the build. A little pickier, but still pretty open.
• A tier are my happy happy builds, usually more complex or just nicer quality. I will be picky about trades for these. (But still not Boutique prices; I have no delusions). It's probably less about value here and more about how much I actually want the thing you have. Think in the $90 - $130 range.

MOBILE USERS: There are 4 columns in the tables below: Name, Tier, Links, and Notes. If you don't see all 4, scroll over or ask for more info.
Fuzzes

Name	Tier	Links	Notes
Bazz Me Fuss You #1	A	PIC DEMO	A bazz-fussified perversion of the Escobedo push-me-pull-you, featuring controls for octave and volume. This is the first unit I've built using my own custom PCB. Housed in a painted 125B with top jacks.
Space Fuzz	B+	PIC DEMO	This is a Hollis crash sync fuzz that I souped up with an LFO to modulate the filtesync frequency. Really wild flangery/phasey type gated fuzz sound. At the right settings you can get some octave-down effects as well. Housed in a ~3.5 inch square game tin reinforced with recycled plastic. Pretty pleased with this build.
SwirlFuzz	B+	PIC DEMO	Modulated octave fuzz prototype. It's an octave fuzz, but you can switch on an LFO to modulate the octave amount. Controls for Rate, Depth, Gain, and Volume, plus switches for waveshape and mode (Normal/Octave/Modulated). In a circular tin reinforced with recycled plastic.
Baller Fuzz	B	PIC DEMO	Another Bazz-Me-Fuss-You build with an added BMP-style tone control. In a slightly beaten-up heart-shaped basketball tin. Y'all ready for this?
Big Green Fuzz for Attractive Bass Players	B	PIC Demo	Like my bazz-me-fuss-you circuit, but with a big muff tone stack, a clean blend, and optional clippers for more compression. Housed in a big round tin reinforced with recycled plastic and designed specifically for attractive bass players. Unattractive ones may not really gel with this.
Creature from the planet Chyowngg	B	PIC Demo	Prototype of a unique fuzz I've been developing that I call the Chyowngg fuzz. It's a 2-stage octaver that gives a bright synthy tone with a distinctive envelope (hence the name). You can toggle each stage from octave to non-octave mode for a variety of interesting timbres. Also has a tone control, but the tone control is before the octave stages so it results in interesting behaviors depending on the switch settings. It's in a tin meant to be painted like an alien, though some say it looks more like a triceratops.
Dumbo's Bazzrite Fussrite	C	PIC Demo	A bazz-fussified mosrite fuzzrite circuit I cobbled together in point-to-point wiring style. Housed in a little Dumbo puzzle tin with GLITTER! Controls are for balance (kind of tone-cum-gain) and volume.
Wiff Spwinkles on Top	C	PIC Demo	This point-to-point fuzz lives in the same neighborhood as the Harmonic Percolator, but has a few differences. I altered the way the gain knob works, and added a switch to toggle bass cut. It's housed in an ice-creamity welly tin.

Drives, Distortions, and Boosts

Name	Tier	Links	Notes
Bronze Drive	A	PIC Demo	This is a point-to-point, transistor based overdrive I designed based loosely on the Davisson Easy Drive. Good for low-gain crunchy tones and plenty of output volume on tap if you want it for a boost. Tone circuit is like a BMP stack but with a mid hump instead of a mid cut. Housed in a painted 125B.
Copper ZenerMorph Drive	B	PIC Demo	This is an experiment in zener diode clipping. Nice crispy drive that gets beefier as you turn up the gain, lots of good edge-of-breakup tones to be had. Housed in a decorated tin reinforced with some recycled plastic.
Shining Hope Drive	B	PIC Demo	Differential mirroring drive, gives a kind of overdriven-mixer-channel distortion. Controls for gain, tone, and volume. Housed in a star-shaped Christmas tin.
B is for Beast	C	PIC DEMO	This fun little drive/boost consists of two cascading MOSFET gain stages with optional clipping in between. It goes from clean and loud to massive wall-of-gain distortion nicely. Controls for gain, clipping, and volume. In a small heart-shaped tin about 4in by 4in.
Green Sparkler Boost	D	PIC	Just an Escobedo Duende JFET boost built point-to-point in a sparkly little round tin. Gives a little gain and a bit of warmth to the tone.

Non-Dirt

Name	Tier	Links	Notes
Quack like a penguin	B+	PIC DEMO	Third build of the Chykka Wakka, a WIP all-transistor envelope filter. This one is built on vero, and features controls for Q, Range, and Attack, as well as toggles for Voicing and envelope smoothing. Housed in a smallish penguin tin reinforced with recycled plastic.
Gift of Chykka Wakka	B	PIC DEMO	First build of an all-transistor envelope filter I designed. Built point-to-point style and housed in a little giftbox tin reinforced with recycled plastic. Controls for Q and Sweep, switch toggles envelope smoothing.
Vortex of Funk	B	PIC DEMO	Second build of the Chykka-Wakka circuit, this one features attack, Q, and range controls. Built point-to-point and housed in a painted tin.
BZZZ BOOP BEEP	B	PIC DEMO	A basic square wave oscillator on a momentary switch. Can go from bzzz to boop to beep with a sweep of the big knob. Also has tone and volume controls, and a 3-way switch for different decay amounts. Use it to simulate a spring door stopper or dying cow. Or bleep your foul-mouthed frontman. Or mess with the sound guy. Or send Morse code to the bar. I dunno. Housed in a painted tin reinforced with recycled plastic.

Little Amps

Name	Price/Trades	Links	Description
Ample iMank	$65	PICS DEMO	This is a Runoffgroove Ruby Amplifier built into this old multimedia speaker enclosure designed to look like an old iMac. Glows blue when you turn it on. It runs from a standard 9v pedal power. It's not terribly loud, nor terribly clean, but if you dig the classic mac vibe it might be fun. Controls for gain and volume, and a power switch on the back.
Nosy Amp	$75	PICS DEMO	Another solid-state amp based on the Ruby amplifier, housed in a repurposed bookshelf speaker. This one actually has pretty decent volume, even on 9V (can run on 12V as well for more), and can stay clean while getting loud enough for a quiet jam with friends.
Fleur-de-Lis Amp	$90	PICS DEMO	A tiny bookshelf speaker turned into a practice amp. This one features a class D power amp for lovely cleans, and a custom designed discrete preamp that gets punchy & crunchy when cranked. Runs on 9V but pretty loud nonetheless.

Non-DIY Stuff
Make an offer. I respect Reverb Price Guide values, though I may lean high if it's a feeler.

Brand	Name	Condition	Notes
Danelectro	Fab Chorus	Excellent	Cheap plastic chorus, but sounds great. Probably just a make-weight, too cheap to trade on its own.
Caline	10-band EQ	Good	Works fine, I just don't really need 10 bands of EQ. Has velcro on the back, and sometimes makes a weird noise when you turn on the pedalboard. Another make-weight.
Ibanez	PH7	Good	Tonelok phaser. Great pedal, has some glue on the bottom I couldn't get off, but works fine.
BOSS	TU-12H	Good	Crusty vintage tuner from Boss. Still works great, but it's missing the outer case (still has the inner part). If you had one in the day and want to relive the magic, feel free to make an offer.
Digitech	RP360	Very Good	Great multifx, I've gotten some fun sounds out of it, but it isn't seeing much use. I'm just more of a discrete FX guy I guess.
MOTU	MIDI express	Good	This is an antique MIDI patchbay and interface. It's pre-USB and uses the parallel cable (PC) or some kind of Apple-specific DIN cable (Mac). Could be used standalone, or maybe you're into retro MIDI setups? Comes with box and cables anyway.
unknown builder	PedalPCB Cataclysm	Very Good	This is a really solid build of a PedalPCB cataclysm (Disaster Transport Jr clone) built by someone other than me. Pics here. Not sure what to value it, but make an offer.

Local (Nashville TN area) ONLY

Brand	Name	Condition	Notes
TEAC	A3340S 4-Track Reel-to-Reel	Good	Cleaned up, oiled up, and in good working order last time I tried it out. Meant to do some analog recording, but just haven't gotten the time or space. Would trade for a decent instrument of some kind. Might even throw in a copy of Craig Anderton's "Home Recording for Musicians", which uses the same unit.
Altec-Lansing	Power amp (9442A)	Fair	300 W, 2 rack-unit power amp, can work in stereo or bridged mode. Last time I used it one of the channels was a little flaky. Couldn't be bothered to fix it myself. Heavy as all get out, I'll sell for cheap if you're local.

What would I trade for??
I'm wide open to trades for music gear of all kinds and other items of value.
Some Priority Wants:

• A next level looper like the Pigtronix Infinity 3. Feeling limited by my current setup. Something with MIDI sync, multiple loop tracks, tempo sync.
• Boss OC-5.
• A reverb with a really good plate algorithm.
• Compact 12 channel mixer. Preferably a Mackie VLZ or similar.
• Isolated pedal power supply.
• Genuine e-Bow. Already own 2 clones, looking to try the real shebang.
• A multiple-MIDI I/O unit.
• A 1-U rack-mount mixer.
• Money.

Other things I'd likely trade for:

• Pedals, naturally:
  • Especially fancy DSP type pedals (the kind I can't build), or a nice analog flangechorus.
  • Decent analog pedals that need repair. Expect a lot of questions and not much value, though.
  • Check "probably not wants" below
• Studio gear like mics, headphones, cables, small mixers, rack gear, etc.
• Synths and midi gear, especially cheap stuff like Volcas or Reface, etc. Really need a MIDI interface with multiple I/O.
  • I kinda dig old casio/yamaha cheapies.
  • Drum machines are interesting to me.
• Musical instruments? I play about everything, or would like to try anyway.
  • I'd like to acquire a tele style guitar at some point. Even just a cheapie knockoff.
  • If you've got a not-too-expensive Ibanez fretless bass (or similar), let's talk. I'll offer things on the secret menu.
• Also Non-music things:
  • Unbuilt pedal kits, pedal enclosures, bulk lots of electronics parts, etc.
  • Electronics/DIY tools or supplies (scope, transistor tester, solder, etc)
  • Something weird and creative. Random items of modest value you want to get rid of. Handmade items that are giftable.
  • Did I mention money? I do paypal and venmo.

Probably not wants (doesn't apply to C or D-tier builds, offer anything for those):

• Dirt pedals. Might make an exception for something really intriguing, though.
• Eurorack modules, unless anyone wants to trade me a whole starter setup (yeah, probably not, right?)
• Guitaamp/cab parts. Not really into modding that stuff. Yet.
• Behringer pedals. Just not a fan.
• Any pedal whose value is primarily as a collectible (Vintage, Rare editions/colorways/signature models, etc)
• If I can get it on Amazon or Reverb for under $50, I'd rather we bundled a few things to make it worth the shipping cost.

A Note about mods/repairs/custom jobs: Feel free to shoot me your ideas, but probably I'm leaning toward not doing these. Expect to pay/trade way more for something custom than what I ask for the pedals I've already built.

Hello! First time posting here so hello and thanks for the welcoming environment! I’m traveling from New York to Barcelona this summer and I decided to do the free stopover in Iceland with IcelandAir (check it out, it’s great!). I’ll be there for two days. The one snag is I am traveling alone and I am bringing my bike (I’ll keep it in the box when I’m in Iceland). After extensive research, I’m seeing that there is no bike storage at the airport, and that taxis are quite expensive. I am thinking of putting my bike on the bus and storing it at the hostel (after writing them to see if they have space). Does this seem feasible? Traveling with a bike box and alone can be very cumbersome.

I wrote mini reviews of each arc here, but because there are so damn many arcs, this ended up being a wall of text, despite me trying to keep them short. Feel free to skim or read only what interests you!
--
The episodic nature of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla means that its narrative is split into chunks. These chunks take place across the many shires of medieval England and vary in terms of length, depth and, well, pointlessness. I thought ranking them would be a fun exercise — a competition of story arcs, all vying for best Viking mini-narrative.
It goes without saying, but I’m about to spoil the whole damn game, so read at your own risk.
--
21. Wincestre
Wincestre is just another Lunden or Jorvik, accept with more Jesus, more King Aelfred and way less… anything worthwhile. This one was just a total nothing-burger of an experience. The fact that it comes so late in the narrative really hurts it, too, because by now you’ve experienced arcs that are a similar traditional Assassin’s Creed city-style that at least aren’t this bad. Aelfred’s turning on Eivor at the end also didn’t feel coherent, convincing or warranted to me. Big miss.
20. Lunden
The smaller, denser cities with multiple targets to track down and ‘social stealth’ options are certainly here to attempt to replicate the traditional AC experience, but Lunden fails to do so meaningfully, and even gets a huge points deduction for being misleading.
The arc is set up to feature twists with Stowe and Ercke (is one a traitor? Will your romancing of Stowe make things complicated?), but after their initial scenes they’re mitigated to what I would hardly even call side characters as Eivor unveils three randos as Order members, kills them and then leaves town. At least there was a cool boss sequence on the river?
19. Snotinghamscire
This arc sees you reunite with Hemmingr Jarl, his son Villi and his compatriot, Trygve. Eivor has an existing relationship with these characters, but the player doesn’t. As a result, nothing that happens with them lands meaningfully.
After Hemmingr passes, this arc boils down to running dull errands to prepare for the burial ceremony. Eivor chooses whether Villi or Trygve will succeed Hemmingr in the end, but the decision is very clear-cut and suggested to the player, lacking the nuance of the game’s other difficult decisions. This arc isn’t memorable, doesn’t concern the main quest, and feels like fluffy filler in the worst way.
18. Jorvik
Another version of the Lunden & Wincestre arcs, Jorvik is stronger than its competitors for presenting the Order members to your face before you deduce who they are. There was nothing shocking about their reveals, but each provided an interesting set piece to navigate during assassinations.
Problematically, the arc sets itself up for Eivor to accuse a traitor, only for her decision to not matter at all. You never get to act on your accusation at Yuletide — the Order member interrupts and attacks the feast no matter who you accuse.
17. Cent
The Cent arc sees Eivor team with Basim to track Fulke. It feels important and part of the main story, but it’s all for naught in the end — you come face-to-face with Fulke in what seems like a meaningful story moment, only for her to run away. Your reward is finding out Sigurd had his arm cut off.
This arc earns some points for getting Fulke screen time and tiptoeing the tightrope of Eivor and Basim’s rocky relationship believably, but certainly can’t be called good. This is because once you pull back the veil, you realize you never advanced the plot and were running in circles for nothing the entire time. At least the other “filler” arcs were forthright about their (lack of) connection to the main story.
16. Jotunheim
This arc has a compelling story to it — Odin running from his fate and bending over backwards to flee from it is interesting, his broken relationship with Loki should be a strong point for the arc, and his moral gray areas (sleeping with a Jotunn, betraying Tyr) certainly make for a complex character’s development.
It has the ingredients of a strong arc, but I just couldn’t shake the why am I doing this feeling I had the entire time. Everything in between Odin’s big moments is a fetch quest and I just felt like I was wasting my life.
This one is weird because on paper it feels like there’s a lot of substance here, but ultimately, I felt nothing while playing it besides contempt for having drank the potion in Ravensthorpe again.
15. Lincolnscire
Heir to the throne Hunwald is exiled from Lincoln and reaches out to Ravensthorpe for help. Eivor tracks down his sickly and dying father and then must cast the deciding vote for whom the new Ealdorman will be after his death.
The game wastes your time with one of Hunwald’s competitors, Aelfgar, (who is a dork) and paints the bishop as evil pretty clearly (he turns out to be an Order member). I suppose this arc could hit hard for someone who accidently put an Order member in charge. For that and for Hunwald at least having a strong drive and personality, this arc earns some marks.
14. Essex
Eivor is brought in to repair a marriage by separating husband and wife naturally without a public divorce. She reunites Ealdorman Birstan with his former lover and sets up a fake public kidnapping to whisk away his wife, Estrid.
I think many would rate this arc far lower than I have here because it is pure side mission nonsense — but for me, this arc stands strong on the backs of convincing and fun characters in Birstan and Estrid, as well as the tangled web of relationships between the two of them, Birstan’s son, and Rollo, Estrid’s former lover.
13. Ledecestrescire
Ledecestre sees the intros of Ivarr, Ubba and Ceowulf. You team up with the sons of Ragnar to help put Ceowulf’s father on the throne in Mercia.
Ledecestrescire earns points for strong, realized characters in the Ragnarsons and Ceowulf, a believable conflict with the Mercian king, as well as the arc’s biggest moment with killing or sparing Leofrith in Tamworth.
12. Asgard
Asgard looks pretty and hits hard when you first arrive. I appreciate Ubi for creating places like Atlantis and Asgard to run around and explore in.
Unfortunately, both felt supremely empty. However, watching Odin fight tooth and nail to run from his fate was satisfying and Loki is aptly deceptive and frustrating. The Builder gave the arc a nice wrinkle, too and climaxed with a nice boss fight.
I spent too much time tracking down tears, but I think if you look at just the main missions here, this is a solid experience in an incredible environment.
11. East Anglia
In this arc, Eivor works alongside Oswald to fend off violent Dane aggressors and claim his leadership role.
Oswald is honorable and likeable — watching him teach the Danes in his court that bravery can reveal itself in more nuanced ways rather than physically was powerful, and giving Eivor the decision to allow Oswald to fight his own battles or fight for him solidified the feeling of fathering Oswald through this arc into manhood and leadership.
I bought into this arc because I felt the story was touching and meaningful and the cast was strong.
10. Vinland
Nothing really happens here aside from hunting down Gorm Kjotveson, but the arc earns major points for how refreshing it is.
I played it late in the story when I was feeling quite a bit of fatigue towards the game and everything about Vinland just landed for me, giving me new energy to actually enjoy what I was doing.
The new landscape is insanely gorgeous and fun to navigate. The stripping down of Eivor’s equipment essentially forces you to start from scratch — but it really makes the four stealth encounters stronger; you have to approach them differently due to being unarmed and unarmored.
The whole thing was a little bit of a reset button for the entire experience of Valhalla and it sorely needed it.
9. Suthsexe
Suthsexe is the meeting with Guthrum and the rising action leading up to defeating Fulke.
The arc is fun, feels impactful as well as meaningful and sees you reunite with all the old friends you’ve made up to this point. Fighting alongside Soma and others was a big positive for me. Storming Fulke’s fort at least included some different mechanics than many forts up to this point, so it felt fresh. Her boss fight in the darkness of the crypts was exceptional, as was her confession sequence.
This arc was mostly good, satisfying fun the whole way through, but didn’t include too much intrigue as the ones ranked above it did.
8. Rygjafylke
Look, I’ll be honest. I’m writing this particular paragraph after completing the game and this opening section was so long ago that I don’t have a great memory of it.
What I do know is that Valhalla opened strongly. I found it all pretty compelling. I remember it being atmospheric, believable and driven by strong characters like Sigurd, Varin, Haytham, Basim and Kyotve. I was bought-in very early and Rygjafylke really got the game off to a strong start.
7. Hamtunscire & Epilogue
Aelfred screen time is a good thing, and this arc earns marks for his badassery in the face of Guthrum, as well as his manipulation of the Dane army. Ally deaths in the battle at Chepeham give the arc meaningful stakes and ratchet up the tension. This arc is brief and straightforward — there’s not much story to it since it’s really just war throughout the whole thing.
Afterwards, Eivor tracks down the final member of the Order and confronts him in a touching sequence over some burnt bread in a small swampy town in the middle of nowhere. It’s a humble conclusion for Aelfred and the swirling epic that was AC: Valhalla.
6. Hordafylke
The return to Norway contains two things: Eivor & Sigurd finding closure with Sigurd’s father, and the two locating “Yggdrasil.”
I quite enjoyed the pit stop with Sigurd’s father, and the entire Yggdrasil sequence was incredibly interesting. It was a refreshing change of pace from what you’ve been doing for the past 100 hours and featured a nice boss fight at the end. No matter which ending you get, the conversation with Sigurd after the dust settles is impactful and weighty.
5. Oxenefordscire
Finally reunited with Sigurd, this is the arc we learn of his obsession with his ancestry and true nature. Eivor’s reaction of discomfort and distrust towards Sigurd’s change is honest and relatable and she must juggle relations between Sigurd and the Thane they are working to put in charge, Gaedric.
Negotiations with King Aelfred are complex and a late intervention from Fulke reveals her true allegiance to the Order and puts Sigurd in enemy hands.
This arc moves the plot along moreso than the last 400 hours you’ve been playing the game, while also establishing and reinterpreting Eivor’s relations with the cast in meaningful ways. It ratchets up the tension of the main quest and narrative, which up to this point had been lagging behind due to a breadth of shire arcs.
4. Glowecestrecire
I’m so surprised to see myself rank this so high — after the first third of the arc, I was considering putting it in dead last. I felt Gunnar’s fiancé’s unintelligible dialogue, the trick-or-treating, the druid encounter, and Eivor’s 400th drunken night of debauchery to be a disrespectful waste of my time this deep (over 80 hours) into the game.
But then the arc turned, with two solid stealth encounters and a stellar boss fight. Navigating the Aelfwood was a gorgeous thrill and the confrontation with Modran is atmospheric and a fantastically fresh take on the typical Valhalla boss or mini boss fight.
When I decided to focus-up on the story and let the Celtic and Welsh mythos shine, the arc became a terrestrial fever dream of satisfying magic, intrigue and character interactions.
3. Grantebridgescire
Eivor looks to ally with Soma, the leader of Grantebridge, but her town’s just been sacked from the inside by a traitor. After saving her three companions in the thick river bogs, you take back Grantebridge and then embark on an investigation to discover the rat.
Its the investigation that makes the whole arc. It has a slew of clues, nuance and red herrings to consider. One of its strengths is how open ended the investigation is — you can follow the quest markers, but talking to the town’s people and hunting down the yellow-painted ship is up to you (at least I think, I played on the most ‘difficult’ exploration setting).
This arc earns big points because the investigation matters — you have to tell Soma to kill one of her closest friends and then watch her do it, living with your right or wrong decision.
2. Eurvicscire
Finally meeting the third of the famed Ragnarson’s, Eivor finds Halfdan a paranoid soul, waxing poetic about friendship and treason. The arc balances the two on a blade’s edge to tremendous effect.
Halfdan believes he has a traitor in his midst and the main culprit is his right-hand man, Faravid.
Faravid's dialogue is expertly written to feign allegiance to Halfdan, but never reveal too much of his true nature. Eivor’s wavering relationship and trust with him are complex and the Wolf-Kissed can lie to both him and Halfdan depending on dialogue choice. Every decision feels like it carries weight. It’s this ambiguity that makes the arc compelling and gives the decisions importance.
This arc could feel disconnected (it’s not part of the main plot and Halfdan doesn’t appear in the late game, no matter your decision) and thus appear as pointless fluff, but I won’t fault it for that. As a self-contained story, this was flat-out interesting and kept me in anticipation of the next reveal or twist. Imagery and foreshadowing, red-herrings, and great atmosphere all make for an engaging and compelling experience. I only wish every shire arc could’ve reached these heights.
1. Sciropscire
Sciropescire’s strengths come somewhat from the arcs that came before it, as it sees Eivor quickly reunited and working with Ivarr and Ceowulf. Your preexisting relationship with both gives this arc an advantage over others where it doesn’t have to establish too much all at once, as well as it starting off with you already having a personal connection of some sort with the main cast. Still, each set piece here is strong enough on its own –

1. Eivor & co. join to negotiate peace with King Rhodri. She can offer 600 silver to whomever she chooses to try and quell the peace talks. Each option is mired in obscurity, has obvious pros and cons, and plenty of uncertainty. It felt impactful, difficult and nuanced.
2. After peace talks go sour with Ivarr’s outburst, Eivor, Ivarr and Ceowulf sack a village under Rhodri’s control. It’s brutal and takes a long time to burn (on purpose!). You then fight a huge party of Rhodri’s men. The whole scene feels vile, over the top and harsh (on purpose!).
3. The twist is that Ivarr kills Ceowulf in cold blood to earn himself the opportunity to get his own revenge on Rhodri — only revealed after you sack Rhodri’s fort (after reaching peace with him). A brutal blood eagle from Ivarr and the game’s best boss fight ensue.

It’s close between the top 3, but this is the best arc in the game, for me.
For once, the game forces you to face the trail of bloodshed and destruction your ‘pacifying’ of England has left in your wake. Additionally, the ambiguous decision-making process in negotiating peace, the brutal village burning sequence, the tangled web of Ivarr’s relationships and motivations, the twists of the peaceful alliance and Rhodri’s fate, and finally, the Ivarr boss fight are just too good all in tandem to not take first place.
--
I’m conflicted looking back on these.
There’s many that feel even more empty than I remember them being now that I draft them as text. However, a surprising number of highly-rated arcs aren’t actually part of the main quest.
Ultimately, I’m left bewildered at the scale and scope of the epic that this game took me on. I was so fatigued by the end of it, but in hindsight so happy I completed it.

With the release of OpenAI's latest GPT model for both paid and free users, I've found myself curious about the supposed tech revolution it is arguably ushering in. Articles abound claiming that we're on the cusp of a future where we simply speak to machines/computers in order to interface with them. This would supposedly be more natural and effective than traditional modes of interaction, though I highly doubt that sort of blanket declaration.
My question is, what sort of unintended effects might such a shift to verbal interface, and most importantly to verbal responses, when interacting with machines?
Personally, as an academic, I've only been able to trust (mostly) the tool Perplexity released because it provides sources for the info for verification and is focussed for now on being an AI charged search engine first and foremost. With something like Chat-GPT I just don't get how so many people can trust it's output given the known issues of hallucinations and potential to regurgitate false claims and info, all with no sources provided! I mean, if we instead imagine a person who is known to be brilliant and knowledgeable, but they are entirely self taught with zero formal training or noteworthy achievements (proof of expertise), then would we take what they say at face value? Would that sort of background lend them the necessary credibility to be an authority on a subject? I'm all for non-formal and self-provided educational growth, but if one intends on welding authority on a subject that will cause others to defer to them and still refuses to cite their info, then it would be quite risky and arguably foolish to trust said person outright.
Beyond that, the issue of aesthetic experience is also intriguing. How would a shift to verbal and auditory interface affect our relationship to tech on that metric? I prefer to type, personally, and can only imagine how loud and chaotic an urban area might become if everyone were to use voice as their primary means of human/machine interaction. I feel like there's some Derrida that would apply here. Perhaps the notions of differánce and arche-writing? I could also see Heideggerian withdrawal being relevant here, as well, and even some Marx a la the 1884 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts.
As someone trained mostly in Continental Philosophy, I'd be especially interested in anyone's take from the perspective of someone trained as an Analytical Philosopher, btw.

Hello ! And thanks for opening my post lol. I honestly just want to write whatever is on my mind as I'm always just saying what I'm feeling so why not write it as well eh ?
I'm looking for a fun weird daily texting buddy! One who is open and honest and puts good effort into the conversation. The conversation doesn't have to be all normal and boring like TV shows or music stuff because I have definitely experienced it doesn't make any good connection. Let's talk about dreams and wishes and what you wanna do but can't do, how you really feel, what you want to be in real life but can't because you have responsibilities.
Just be yourself with me and be the 100% person you can't be in real life, I absolutely not care about what you think because each person is his/her own self so why not let them be ? Oh and please don't be shy or whatever because I would really want a more open person who doesn't judge instantly, I want us to create a judgement free zone for sure 😊.
So to sum it up, I want a fun weird open honest not judgmental, speak your mind, put good effort kind of friend and if that's you let's give it a try and see if we can make the most amazing friendship this community has ever seen !
Also I do prefer Snapchat so please if you have that let's snap ! It's more expressive to get to know each other that way 😁

I'm looking for a super moist and tasty chocolate cake that I can bake for my kids. I normally bake loaf style cakes as I love using the Pullman loaf pan (I really enjoy the way it looks on the cake stand).
Seeking a recipe that is excellent on its own without frosting or ganauch, however chocolate chips ok. It wouldn't be a celebratory cake but one I can bake on a Friday to offer for a couple of days. Would greatly appreciate any recommendations.
p.s if you don't have a chocolate cake recipe to offer but are thinking of a great recipe that lends itself to the Pullman loaf pan I would love to know, so feel free!

Hi, I threw away my network chip to be distraction free during a writing project. Laptop (Acer swift 3) continued working perfectly without it but now when I connect the charger battery doesn't charge. Must have opened the charging circuit. Any way to close it without putting a new network card?
Appreciated!