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.

Craigslist Advertisement
For sale is a water-ready 1985 Boston Whaler Outrage 18', powered by an Evinrude 150hp outboard engine, riding on an Eagle trailer. Priced at $22,500.00. Located in Northport Michigan.
This Whaler features a walk-around center console drive-station clad in teak trim and locking doors, new wiring for marine electronics and dual batteries, helm/gauges/compass, original RPS folding seat, deck mounted forward cooler seat with cushions and vertical rod holders, forward anchor hatch, original teak gunnel trim with teak rod holders beneath, navigation lights and globe light, original guard railings, a fitted storage cover, and Michigan registration through 2025. This Whaler is powered by a Bombardier Recreational Products 2002 Evinrude 150hp six-cylinder fuel-injected outboard engine that runs and operates normally, and features power tilt/trim, a three blade propeller, and a fresh lower unit service. Video of the engine running is available upon request. This Whaler sits on a road-ready Eagle single-axle trailer that features new hubs and bearings this spring, new bearing buddies, new lights, a spare tire, a 2" ball receiver, and current Michigan registration.
https://preview.redd.it/vzr1oxwihe0d1.jpg?width=5472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fbc1f7f0cc17846f3ebd7a9dee483a80dd4b29e9

Another round of thank yous' to:
u/KK6321 : it was a pleasure to help your goal and I wish you luck with the potatoes and your new dog :) Thank you so much! u/melhen16 : thank you so much for the yellow happy card. It was so lovely and pretty. Thank you so much :) u/ngocburin : thank you for such a cute calculator card! I also love taking the train to many parks around my city :) u/snerdboff : Thank you so much for the obama card lol. I had no idea he was left handed and the joke on the card made me giggle. Thank you so much again :) u/raspberrypoppyseed : Thank you so much for the Ray/ tiana card! He is such an underratted character and I love the card so much! :) u/grasshopper2231 : Thank you for the the vintage london catherdral postcard. I love the feel of the postcard and I can tell its has travelled far. I love it! Thank you so much again :) u/Sufficient_Letter883 : As always, thank you so much for the lovely Tiana card. It was so beautiful and I loved it (and so did my mom lol). Thank you so much again :) u/Reasonable_Ad1688 : I LOVED the sandollar card and the message along with it. It was very profound and now I'm on the hunt to find some! Thank you so much :) u/encadarling : thank you so much for the ponyo card! I grew up in Japan watching this show and it was nostalgic seeing this scene again. Thank you so much again :) u/ZombieSlayer13x : Thank you so much for the Alaska card! I'll definitely have to make it up there to see the views! :) u/bellschimesfeathers : Thank you so much for the ballet art, it was so lovely :) u/-random_ness- : Thank you so much for the green-themed Myrtle Beach card. I totally get why you'd think android is better than apple. There is beauty in simplicity :) Thank you so much again! u/ravenzsnow : Thank you so much for the handmade washy postcards!! I absolutely love them and they are so beautifully made, I was in awe. Thank you so much again :) u/ZKHG : Thank you so much for the letter card! I wish you all the best in the public health field! (I can tell you from experience that it is super fun and I am so excited for you haha). Thank you so much again :)
Thank you guys so much as always, I can't thank you enough for making my finals week better! I hope you have the bestest day :)

My husband inherited a MASSIVE collection of stamps from his late father. I mean, there are THOUSANDS from all over the world and even some from countries that don't exist any more. We're looking to sell them but I have no idea what they're worth or how to even go about doing so. Does anyone know of a place I could take them in either Virginia or East Texas/Tyler area? We travel between both quite frequently.

Very much a thought experiment as don't have anywhere near the disposable income needed lol but wondering if it's possible to store the entire rom/iso sets for every retro console (up to 7th gen?) in a playable form without any externally obvious hardware changes
So flashcarts are fine because they use cartridge slots as intended but no optical disk emulators that remove the original drive or usb hard drives sticking out the back. The idea of being able to take them back in time to when the console was released and the average player wouldn't notice until they boot it up and see a list of every game is pretty cool, like if your friend's uncle actually did work at Nintendo this is the magic console they'd bring back from work
It seems the cartridge based systems are pretty straight forward, everdrives exist for all the popular ones and support SD cards which can easily store more than enough, i.e NES ~1.5GB, ~SNES 4GB, N64 ~16GB, although file system and folder limits might complicate things a bit?
Optical media is where storage sizes start to get too big for the 2TB max size for current SD cards, Dreamcast is <1TB but OG Xbox is >16TB so you'd have to swap to HDDs/SSDs, most of Sony's and Microsoft's had support for HDDs and there's tons of complications with ide/sata support and bios limitations but feel like you could mod your way around them?
The Wii seems bit more difficult as it's >6TB so too big for SD cards but not much space internally but especially if you removed the case for a 8TB 2.5 SSD you should be able to, possibly with some hardware mods but going by the amount of DIY portables that's definitely an option
Kind of pointless to include releases for every region and revision but guess you could argue there's plenty of games no one will bother playing so the whole thing is just for bragging rights. I just really like the idea from a preservation point of view of having like a museum where you can interact with the consoles the same way as when they were released but also play every game?

TLDR: Looking to spend two days in a coastal town that’s easy to get to from FCO. We want to visit the Amalfi coast but not sure if that’s too much work for our timeframe.
Hello, sorry if something similar has been asked before. My wife and I are traveling to Italy in late September with some family. We arrive in Rome 48 hours before the rest of our group. After that we’re spending 4 days in Rome before heading to Florence and Como.
We had the idea to take a train from FCO to Naples and then either a ferry or a car to Positano. We’d spend two nights there and then head back to Rome.
We’re interested in the food and the scenery (who isn’t though). I know FCO is near the coast, but I wanted to know if there’s anywhere easier to get to that’s got similar scenery to Amalfi. Thanks

I’m 27M and my partner is 28M. We’ve been together for around six and a half years now and are generally happy. Engaged, mortgage, good jobs, close to each other’s family, etc.
We occasionally have sex, maybe twice a month at this stage. He’s not interested and says that the meds he’s on ruin his libido - I have asked him to discuss with his doctor but he hasn’t. Instead he just watches porn and jacks off when I’m not there. He uses his Insta, Twitter, TikTok, etc for porn (his profiles are public) as well as some forums I remember seeing a while ago. No idea if it goes beyond that but I have a lingering feeling that it might have? We traveled overseas last year and my phone wasn’t working so he let me use his, and his most recent searches on Twitter were “[our city] cruising” and “[our city] gay sex”. Might have just been porn but I’ll never know or ask if it was something more. A few other things have made me wonder, but ultimately I trust him.
I have tried introducing porn to our sex life, or even opting for mutual masturbation instead of penetrative sex, which worked a few times. All of my advances are shut down so now I’ve just stopped trying which really hurts. I have a high libido and want to cum every day but I can’t. I don’t want to push the subject or ask if I can just relive myself because he’s said in the past that it makes him feel bad.
I think about potentially opening up our relationship, but I don’t really want to. I’m sure it would feel great and exciting in the moment but I don’t really want to have sex with other people; I want to have sex with him. I want him to want to have sex with me.
This has gotten to a point where it’s tanked my mental health and how I view myself. I love him and we have a future together - but I am just unsatisfied sexually. I don’t know what to do or what it will do to me if this just gets worse with time.
Anybody been in a similar situation and can offer some wisdom?

Picking up this 2014 MBP 15" i7 2.5GHz w/Nvidia GPU (I think lol) from a good friend. From everything I can tell it is in great shape as it passed all the diagnostics and physically in good condition as well. Is there anything else I need to check?
Overall what I would greatly appreciate are tips, tricks, and suggestions on getting this setup to be the most up-to-date, stable, and fastest it can as of May 2024.
This will be a secondary laptop used for web dev and school while traveling and just something some to mess around. It has been a long-time since I was on MacOS as an owner and would love some up-to-date ideas and work arounds to get this thing maxed on performance wise for software/hardware.
I started installing some of the necessary web dev apps and installed Homebrew (first time) and it mentioned that MacOS Big Sur is not supported anymore and that it may work fine but probably not great.
Some of the following things are questions I can think of:

• What is currently the fastest and most stable Opencore Legacy patcher update for these 2014 MBP 15" models? Also any reason to stay on Big Sur?
• Would upgrading to the fastest NVMe drive be beneficial on this machine? Is there anyway to tell what it currently has for an SSD without opening it up?
• What apple and/or 3rd party software is considered "need-to-have" or highly beneficial these days?
• What settings will allow this machine to be snappy and quick still without sacrificing too much functionality?

Thanks for all the feedback and help! 🙏
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So I was/am the spontaneous friend. I'm generally down for anything. My friend was the type A planning friend. So what would happen is we'd say "let's go to xyz country" and she would make a Google doc with hotels, flights, activities and price, I would pay her and then we would go and have a blast. Sometimes we wouldn't even have a conversation she'd just send me the Google doc and I'd take the time off from work.
Now this friend works for a safety device company, specifically targeted at women. All day every day clients tell her about their traumatic experience and why the safety product is important to them. Being exposed to that much trauma made her weary of traveling. On our last trip she did not want to leave the resort, which was not ideal for me but it was a nice resort so ok. Unfortunately the island we were in got hit with a massive earthquake and we had to evacuate. That was the final nail in the coffin of her traveling.
Cut to today, I have a big birth-day in August and I want to travel but I'm not used to booking vacations, just work travel. I don't even know where to look. I'm thinking I want to go to a music festival, or carnival, or something and structure everything else around that. Any ideas? What evennts have you guys done around late summer which were a blast?

I am truly dumbfounded and have no idea what to do at this point as I have exhausted everything. I sleep trained by LO at 4 months and I barely had to do anything really. We were going to do ferber but she fell alseep on the first day in 9 minutes and from then till now so I have had no issues with her night sleep. I really thought I got lucky. We went through teething, sickness, learning new skills but nothing impacted her sleep which truly surprised me and I just thought we got lucky. She has been sleeping through the night 11-12 hours with absolutely no wakes in the middle since she was 9 months old. Before that from 4-9 months she was only waking up once to nurse. Anyway, from the day she turned 15 months its like she is a completely new baby who does not know how to sleep. She started daycare when she was 11 months and they do 1 nap a day and her transition was very smooth. She didn't have trouble napping at daycare or at night. We did 2 international travels to different timezones and even then she was fine. I have no idea what is causing her to not sleep anymore.
She takes 1 nap at 12pm for 1.5-2 hrs and then goes down for the night between 7:30pm -8pm. We have tried pushing the bedtime to later but also an earlier bedtime at 6:30pm, 7pm but nothing seems to be working. Now she wakes up within 1 or 2 hours after being put down crying hysterically. 2 nights ago we decided to "sleep train" her again but it did not work. She cried for an hr straight with no signs on going down. Now my husband and I have to take turns patting her for almost an hr for her to sleep and even then she will wake up crying again if we leave the room. She wakes up between 1-3am singing her nursery rhymes as if she is done with sleep.
Her usual wake up before this fiasco was between 6-6:30am but now she wakes up between 4-5am and honestly she is pretty much up most of the night barely sleeping. I don't bring her to our bed but we go lie down for the rest of the night on her floor bed and she is constantly moving around throughout the night. This causes her to be very tired and sleepy in the morning but she refuses to take a nap before 12. The daycare tries and we tried on the weekend and it didn't work she would just wake up in 15-20 minutes. Throughout the day she has high energy and she's eating well. But I feel like she is is a constant cycle of overtiredness and I have no idea how to get my baby back to sleeping like she used to!
has anyone experienced anything like this? If you have please tell me what worked for you as I am so desperate at this point to get her to sleep.

The official communication about 14-16 year old not being able to race beasts was finally sent out. Frankly it still doesn't PUBLICLY explain why the change is happening mid-year. I'm sure they did not implement these changes to, as stated, support our younger racers better (midyear, mid season pass). Yes I am angry.

• they gave us 2 free race codes to make up for a cancelled beast. Except we already have a season pass so those are useless to us.
  
• we still have thousands of dollars of travel booked to race including beasts this year and forgoed other travel plans for the year so we could do this.
  
• The Spartan brand is built on the idea of trifectas - my son had plans to do 5 this year and has already completed 2. Now there is no pathway to trifectas for this age group.
  

Shame on Spartan for making this change midyear without PUBLICLY stating the real reason, whatever that may be. Was there an accident? What insurance changes occurred midyear? Was an additional insurance premium considered? What about changing terms of a season pass mid-year.
So now my 14 year old will be sitting on his hands in Big Bear instead of running the beast with me. Or I'll skip the beast and do the sprint that day with him. Either way we wouldnt have booked cross country travel for just that.
Once again, I am a Spartan loyalist with an unbreakable pass, 55 races, and am an unofficial brand evangelist who has gotten dozens of people to race. This really sours the brand to me.

TL;DR: Should I take a Capital One Upgrade or does it make sense to apply for a Chase card for travel purchases?
Hi all, I currently have a Capital One Quicksilver card that I use and pay off fully each month as my main and only credit card. I want to upgrade my credit card to one with better travel benefits as I will likely moving to Europe and traveling more at the end of September. I will often be buying train tickets or flights between European cities.
First, I am being offered an upgrade to a Venture or Venture One Capital one card without a need to apply.
That said, I've always wanted one of the Chase Sapphire Cards for travel. If it's likely that I would be approved, does it make more sense to keep my current quicksilver at 1.5% flat rate cashback and apply for the Chase Sapphire card that's best suited to travel, or would it make sense to upgrade my current card and also get one of the Chase Sapphire cards?
I like the idea of increasing my credit limit and being in the Chase ecosystem. I am wondering whether I'd be approved. I also have no sense of how to compare a flat cashback rate with miles, so I'm not sure how to make that decision. That said:
Template information:

• Current cards: Capital One Quicksilver, authorized user on one other Capital One card through my parents (helps with average account age)
  • limits are approximately 17k and 20k on authorized user account, total limit 37k
• FICO Score: 780, Transunion is 807
• Oldest account age: 8 years 8 months, average 6 years 1 month
• Income: e.g. $120,000
• Average monthly spend and categories:
  • dining $1000
  • groceries: $500
  • gas: $0
  • travel (ubers, subway, occasional trips): on average $300
  • other: $200
• Open to Business Cards: No
• What's the purpose of your next card? Travel/Cashback/Dining
• Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Chase Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited
• Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card?: Either is fine

Episode Description

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.
Song: "Duties of the King" sung by Simba and Zazu

Pros
-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.

I am designing and building a gun stand for traveling in a truck/trailequad bike for a school project. Any responses would be greatly appreciated

Have you all seen the trailer for the new show Traveling the Spectrum? I have seen this on Instagram and thought this would be a great share for this community. Looks like families with children on the spectrum traveled to Myrtle Beach and their journey was captured for a documentary show. What do you guys think of the trailer?
https://youtu.be/DXgMtWUtImE?si=VBRMXAourvCmQp2G

Use to love their content and a regular viewer 5-10 years ago, admittedly I don’t watch nearly as often but feels like whenever I actually do it’s sorta the same shit as most automotive youtubers, everything overhype and “mr-beastified”.
It bothers me slightly that MCM seem to regularly push the idea that they’re just 2 ordinary blokes enjoying a hobby. Except they conveniently leave out the part that they are well established with brand sponsors, industry connections, heaps of subscribers and a 15+ year Youtube legacy.
Yes, they didn’t have access to a hoist in their dedicated hobby location, but seem to have every other Ryobi tool under the sun (they even had their photo on the actual WD40 cans several years ago), heaps of mates to dedicate unlimited time and resources to helping them drive up their content. It’s the same vibe like how multi millionaires walk around in a grey T Shirt so they can push the whole “see, we’re just like you” idea.
Most recent example in the “$1000 per hour” car flip which is obviously clickbait. Look, i’m no expert but I flipped several cars as a side hustle few years ago. I can tell you first hand this wouldn’t work in the real world if you counted all the time stuffing around with finding the car, the normal back and forth bullshit on facebook marketplace, the rego paperwork / rego transfer (possibly also Roadworthy inspection + repairs if you’re in VIC), add travel time to the wreckers and anywhere else collecting parts and then you still need a good buddy who is also an expert spray painter.
You also can’t tell the buyer you’re flipping or they’ll lose all interest unless they really wanted that car so much.
Every ordinary AF grocery getter nugget they touch suddenly skyrockets in price because nobody gave a fuck about insert model of car here till the automotive influencers overhype it, like the Yaris engine swap.
What the hell happened to installing stereos and springs in a suburban driveway?

I’ve been using the Steam Deck for a while now, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the LCD model. While the OLED version often steals the spotlight, I believe the LCD deserves more recognition.
Body:

• Screen Quality:
  • Some people claim that the LCD screen is inferior to the OLED, but honestly, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Coming from the original Switch, I found the LCD display to be clear, crisp, and perfectly fine. Sure, the blacks might lean a bit grayish-blue, but it hasn’t bothered me during gameplay.
  • Brightness? No issues there either. Whether indoors or outdoors, the screen holds up well.

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• Battery Life:
  • Battery life is a subjective matter. For me, using the Steam Deck primarily at home, the LCD model’s 1-2 hours of playtime on AAA games is sufficient. When it gets low, I just plug it in.
  • If you’re a frequent traveller or need longer gaming sessions when out of the house, the OLED might be a better fit. But for casual use, the LCD holds its own. However, I feel like the for price you could just get a power bank and just use that instead. A good power bank can still keep your overall spending considerably lower than an OLED.

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• Price Point:
  • Here’s where the LCD shines: affordability. Refurbished LCD versions come at a significantly lower price compared to their OLED counterparts. For example, £300 for a 512GB refurbished LCD versus £480 for the same storage in OLED.
  • Considering the price difference, the LCD offers excellent value for money.

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• Final Thoughts:
  • Don’t underestimate the LCD! It’s a solid choice, especially if you’re budget-conscious. While the OLED has its advantages, the LCD holds its ground and should be recommended more often.
  • TL:DR - The LCD is wallet-friendly, and its performance won’t disappoint.

Just some things I’ve noticed and would want pre-trip me to know:

1. Food is very important here. Finishing everything on your plate is good! Leaving food may be seen as ungrateful, so if you don’t think you’ll finish and there’s a “half-portion” option, go for that. (I have native family here that took me to dinner-as an American I’m used to big portions and leaving food- they thought I didn’t like what I ordered when I couldn’t finish everything)
   
2. Avoid strong smells, even if it’s good. I’m a perfume girl back home so I brought some of my favorites in mini sample sizes. I haven’t used them once. It’s a rule back home anyway to avoid perfume on public transit, and I completely miscalculated how much of my time would be spent riding the metro each day.
   
3. This might be an obvious for some, but I had no idea what “tax-free” shopping was before I arrived. If the shop is tax-free and you’re spending at least 5500¥, you get in a special line, show your passport, and you don’t have to pay Japan taxes. Just make sure you calculate your total before getting in line. Also side note: if you’re planning on buying lots of tax-free stuff from Don Quijote, they wrap it up and tell you not to open it until you’ve landed back home. So if you’re like me and want to use some of the stuff for your stay, make a tax free transaction then a regular transaction for immediate use.
   
4. Some places don’t like cameras. In LA, everyone is vlogging or posting or snapping pictures- it’s normal and considered free marketing. But places like anime merch shops and some markets/ konbinis have signs. I even got yelled at for trying to snap a picture of a food stall. It’s weird to me that they don’t want people showing others what they sell, but still respect these signs and owners wishes.
   
5. Pasmo and Suica aren’t exactly the same. I got a Suica card on arrival thinking they were based on limited research. Suica works great for the central Tokyo lines (Lines with a single letter eg. A, H, Z). Had to go to Shibuya to get a pasmo when I didn’t want to keep buying physical tickets for the JR lines (Lines with two letters eg. KK, JN, KO). You can get by with just a Suica and some cash, but when a million other tourists are in the ticket line trying to get back into Tokyo, having a Pasmo really saves you.
   
6. Not really advice, but recommendation for early risers based on my experience: shopping and other stores usually don’t open until 11am. If you’re like me you’re ready to start the day at 7 or 8am. I recommend getting to the area you’re going to be spending the day in, getting a coffee, then going to the nearest park/ shrine to stroll in. It’s a great way to get some sightseeing in while waiting for stuff to open.
   
7. Humidity is a killer here. If the weather says 60F and sunny it’s gunna feel 10 degrees hotter because of the moisture. It makes sense why you hardly see people in denim. Even still, women are still wearing long sleeves. Older women wear linen and maxi dresses, while younger go for shorts, skirts, and lightweight cargos. If you don’t care about fitting in, tank tops and light baggy jeans are the way to go.
   

Sorry for the wordy post. Again, this is stuff I have noticed and would tell past me about. I hope this is helpful for anyone traveling to Tokyo soon!