Explore the journey of NAS from concept to reality. Discover the intricacies of NAS architecture, its versatile applications, and how it transforms data management. Whether you're a novice or an expert, this insightful read offers valuable insights into the world of NAS technology.

Hi, I am a complete novice at make butbhave used bash fairly regularly. Recently my manager suggested to use make instead of bash. Not just in some use cases but in general, like "lets do everything with make as it is easier to debug than bash". Now I don't understand make not I claim to be an expert in bash, but just by googling a bit i understood that make is mainly used as a built tool and might not be as general purpose as bash. Is that it or can make actually be used as a replacement of bash? I don't find the argument "easier to debug" convincing enough but see it as a more of a skill issue e.g. same goes for make for me, I don't know make so it's not easier to debug for me.

I have a potential trade for either a winchester 94 post 64 (1965) vs a Glenfield jm stamped Marling 30a (1969)
Both rifles seem to be in immaculate condition.
I know the 30a is supposed to be considered a budget variant to the famous 336, and the winchester is often not considered as great as a pre 64 (to the collective bias of a lot of folks)
The winchester owner is allowing me to try it before i like it but for a partial trade (my stainless springfield loaded 1911) this weekend
The 30a is far up north and we need to find somewhere to meet in between
I have here an imgur for you experts to hell this young novice out. I have been wanting a lever gun, like many of us, a very long time

My partner and I fly to Edinburgh, Scotland from PDX every summer to visit his family. In the past, we've been able to find pretty reasonable Polaris fares, and just paid for it. Looking at our options now, the Polaris fares are $7000/person each way. That's not in the budget.
After 2 years at 1K, I'm back down to gold now, so I don't have any plus points, but I do have hundreds of thousands of regular miles I'm willing to throw at a possible upgrade. I don't think this flight has ever had an option to purchase economy tickets and upgrade with miles, but I feel like I see people talking about doing that all the time. Is it likely/possible that a last-minute cash upgrade would be cheaper? This is a long journey and I have never been able to sleep on a plane without the lie-flat seat. Without paying $14,000, what are my best options for scoring Polaris seats on the trans-Atlantic part of the journey?
https://preview.redd.it/cyadkz893a0d1.png?width=2290&format=png&auto=webp&s=8876ed81d9bc5410093f087c2074c8b6daefe176
Edit: following instructions from TPG to search in expert mode, I see that upgrades are available for $1300. I'm willing to pay that. But when I get to the checkout screen, it just shows an upgrade waitlist, and there are no PZ fares available -- so wouldn't that mean I wouldn't get the upgrade? I'm really not understanding all the tools and codes and have no idea where the 40K miles came into the equation here (though that's something I'm happy to pay).
I feel like I'm generally a pretty savvy traveler, but this stuff makes me feel like a total novice.
https://preview.redd.it/8o9mbsyk3a0d1.png?width=2290&format=png&auto=webp&s=2840c1bb84746d848772d2f38045ee1f4598258c

In the style of the novice/expert/master badges, what else would you like google to give you badges for? For me, I’d love badges for reviewing independent businesses and for including accessibility information.

Take an exploration of food in Switzerland, where delicious foods are to be found everywhere you look. The rich weave of influences reflected in Swiss cuisine is as diverse as the beautiful Alpine views and lively cities. Enjoy creamy delight of fondue, national gem that goes well with crisp veggies and crusty bread. Enjoy raclette, a masterpiece of melted cheese, with potatoes, pickles, and cured meats to tempt your taste senses. For those looking for something sweet, enjoy some Swiss chocolate, well-known throughout world for its smooth flavour and texture. Enjoy everything with a cool glass of Rivella, the popular bubbly soft drink made in Switzerland with lactose, herbs, and fruit extracts. Get ready to enjoy flavours of Switzerland, each mouthful and glass reveals the nation's cuisine mastery.
With one of our premium Switzerland tour packages, set out on an incredible adventure through the country's beautiful scenery and lively culture. With a seamless combination of famous landmarks, tiny towns, and thrilling outdoor experiences, our Switzerland holiday packages are made to completely engage you in the nation's rich past and natural beauty. Experience beautiful Swiss Alps on exceptional railways while taking in expansive views of mountains covered in snow and pure lakes. Discover beautiful communities where modern luxury combines with ancient architecture, such as Lucerne and Interlaken. In the lively town of Geneva, enjoy delicious Swiss fare, such as fondue feasts and gourmet chocolates, and learn about craft of Swiss watchmaking. Our personalised service and skilfully designed schedules guarantee an exquisite retreat full of treasured memories and unforgettable experiences with our Switzerland travel packages.
Here are the top 8 foods and drinks to try in Switzerland:
1. Fondue:
The traditional Swiss dish fondue represents the highest point of community dining. Gather around a cooking pot to enjoy this rich and creamy combination of melted cheese, usually Gruyère and Emmental, combined with white wine and a dash of garlic. Fondue is a communal meal that is best experienced in the warm atmosphere of a mountain place with freshly baked bread.
2. Raclette:
Originating in the Swiss Alps, raclette is a rich, delicious dish that honours the skill of melting cheese. Raclette, a dish typically served in the winter, is made with a somewhat hard wheel of cheese called raclette cheese that is heated until the surface turns golden and bubbling. After that, the melted cheese is scraped over cooked potatoes and served with flavourful cured meats, pickles, and onions.
3. Swiss Chocolate:
Without sampling some of Switzerland's famous chocolate, no amazing journey would be complete. Swiss chocolate's rich flavour profiles and silky-smooth texture delight the senses with its careful and passionate craftsmanship. The extensive selection of confections offered by Swiss chocolatiers will fulfil every craving, from rich dark chocolate to creamy milk chocolate.
4. Rosti:
Comfort food at its best: rosti, a popular mainstay of Swiss cuisine. Grated potatoes are pan-fried till golden and crispy, producing a delicious contrast of textures, in this easy yet filling recipe. Rösti pleases palates with its robust flavour and natural appeal whether it is served as a filling side dish for breakfast or as an important side to main entrees like grilled sausages or roasted meats.
5. Zurcher Geschnetzeltes:
The traditional Swiss cuisine Zurcher Geschnetzeltes, which comes from Zurich, has a delicious combination of flavours and textures. Delicate meat slices are cooked until they are perfectly soft and covered in a rich, creamy sauce made with aromatic herbs and spices. This hearty meal, which pairs well with buttery noodles or crispy rösti, is a tribute to Swiss cuisine history and highlights the nation's love of understated yet complex flavours.
6. Bircher muesli:
The tasty and nutritious Swiss breakfast meal known as "bircher muesli" consists of rolled oats, yoghurt, fresh fruit, and almonds. This nutritious dish was first developed in the early 20th century by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Brenner, and it has since grown to be a popular breakfast choice for many. Enjoyed as a nutritious snack or a light meal, Birchermüesli is a delightfully satisfying way to start the day.
7. Rivella:
The famous sparkling soft drink from Switzerland, Rivella, is a special combination made with lactose, herbs, and fruit extracts. Due to its refreshing and mildly sweet flavour profile, Rivella has gained a passionate following from both residents and tourists. Every sip of Rivella represents the spirit of Swiss cuisine creativity and tradition, whether it is enjoyed as a pleasant companion to a relaxing dinner or as a refreshing drink on a hot summer's day.
8. Swiss Wine:
From crisp whites to exquisite reds, Switzerland's rich viti-cultural past is highlighted via a broad assortment of wines. Swiss wines showcase the unique geography and climate of the country, with vines secluded away within amazing surroundings. Wines from Switzerland provide an interesting journey for wine connoisseurs and non-experts alike, ranging from the delicate Chasselas of the Lake Geneva region to the robust Pinot Noirs of the Valais.
Conclusion:
As your delicious journey around Switzerland comes to an end, the memories of delicious food and unforgettable encounters cling to your mind. Every snack and drink provided window into rich cultural history of nation, from comforting pot evenings to the luxurious comfort of Swiss chocolate. Wide range of meals and beverages tasted offered mouth-watering peek into Switzerland's cuisine treasures, you journeyed into calm Alpine towns or busy districts of Zurich. Bidding farewell to this delicious paradise, you take with you not only the flavours but also the spirit of Swiss food, an exquisite fusion of history, modernity, and outstanding taste that remains in the mouth and on the heart. For more details visit best travel agency in Dubai.

Discover the intricacies behind the limitations of the Microsoft Outlook Inbox Repair Tool in data recovery. Our latest blog post sheds light on why scanpst.exe tool may fail to fully restore your valuable data and explores alternative solutions. Dive into the complexities of file corruption, compatibility issues, and more, and empower yourself with insights to navigate Outlook data recovery challenges effectively. Whether you're a novice user or an IT professional, gain valuable knowledge to safeguard your Outlook data integrity and optimize your email management strategies. Explore the full article now for expert tips and solutions!

Forward: I got into TES playing Morrowind on the OG Xbox at my friend's house in elementary school. I dove headfirst into the lore as a little shit of a middle schooler and was active on the old BGS forums under the name Dontforgetthis. I wrote this on TIL's forum, the Storyboard, in early 2011 and then edited a bit in 2014 to accommodate Skyrim content. The Storyboard seems to be gone in TIL's newest update, so I found this on the wayback machine and am posting it here, unedited, so I can find it and link to it in the future. I've been tempted to expand on this using ESO lore, and now am tempted just to adjust my writing and footnotes, but am leaving it as it was.
INTRODUCTION:
When Vanus Galerion founded the Mages Guild, he sought a means of simplifying magical learning. The aspiration of his institution, the education of the masses, could not be accomplished in the Psijic method of teaching. The great masters of early magical thought were capable only in teaching those with great intellects and the ability to spend years training in all forms of magic. Vanus’ solution of magical schools was so ingenious that is has stuck around, with minor changes based largely on higher-level research, past the collapse of the institution he formed. His schools, contrary to common thought, are based of the means of casting certain spells.
The schools are not based on what spells happen to do, but rather how they are cast. This is for educational purposes; it’s easier to learn spells which are cast in a similar way than all spells which have certain applications. It’s worth noting that masters of water breathing are often well versed with similar spells. They can make Vvardenfell’s densest ebony weigh less than the finest Nibenese silk, even if the effect they generally practice has no tangible correlation. This is because the spells are cast similarly.
ALTERATION:
Alteration is summarized as the art of lying. A master of alteration must lie so well that the world believes his mistruths. The common quote explaining the art is as follows; “to master Alteration, [one must] first accept that reality is a falsehood. There is no such thing.”¹ The idea holds true for all Alteration effects, even after the Imperial Levitation Act of 3E421 removed several effects from the official teachings of the school.
Understanding is farther advanced by the understanding of its limitations. While Alteration seemingly lets the user do the impossible, breach the laws of the physical world, it is in fact constrained by the limits of the possible. Not possible given the ‘normal’ laws, but possible given any combination of hypothetical laws. “The School of Alteration is all about possibilities ... making things be what they could be.”²
A dreugh is able to breathe water because it believes in laws which state it can. It is so sure of this that the world accepts it’s version of reality, and water passes through its lungs without issue.² This is the basis of Alteration magic.
ILLUSION:
The novice tends to confuse Alteration and Illusion, with often comical results. They are actually nearly antithetical. The difference is that Illusion is not bound by the rules of nature, while Alteration is.¹
This may seem contradictory, since Alteration is about convincing Earthbones that reality is as you believe it, but remember that Alteration is limited by potential possibilities. Illusion, however, is only limited by what you can imagine. Casting an illusion spell is about reaching out mentally and convincing the target, not the Earthbones, that reality is different.
The mental openness come with difficultly to new students, for whom the idea is counter intuitive. Professor Bothe, a fiction writer in her spare time, once wrote about illusion that, “it's all concerned with magicka's ability to alter the perception of objects without changing their physical compositions. Removing sensual data, for example, to cast darkness or remove sound or smell from the air."³ This alteration of perception can only be achieved with an illusionist’s light touch and their mental manipulation.
CONJURATION:
Almost as misunderstood as Necromancy, Conjuration is often confused with simply the summoning of Daedra. Although Daedra — always keen to earn glory on Mundas and largely lacking higher mental capacity — are by far the most common summons, the art of conjuration is far more versatile. One can summon creatures from any realm, even from other parts of Mundas, is they can gain mental control of the intended creature. It seems in fact that the simplest part of conjuration is the transportation of the being to your location, the difficulty is maintaining control of it. Listien Bierles, while apprenticed to the Mages Guild, managed to summon a Scamp but had not means of controlling it. This demonstrates a major law of Conjuration; while it is easy to summon powerful daedra, it is very difficult to maintain control.
Seif-ij Hidja did not lie when he wrote that “Conjuration ... connects the caster's mind with that of the summoned."⁴ Due to the mastery of this mental telepathy, expert Conjurers are known to hear one another’s thoughts. Hidja writes about his master’s thoughts, and we know that the magically-gifted Dwemer possessed this ability.⁵
There is another means of maintaining control that is worth discussion. All Daedra, and perhaps all creatures, posses a protonymic which describes their essence. A protonymic, if uncovered, can be used by a conjurer to control a creature. It is unknown if protonymics change or if they remain constant throughout the lifetime of the creature it describes.⁶
MYSTICISM:
The oldest magical art, Mysticism has been declining in use since the fall of the Second Empire. By the end of the Third Era, some magical schools had done away with it entirely — instead shifting its various abilities into the schools of Alteration, Illusion, and Conjuration. The fact that its effects were so easily dispersed among such varying schools demonstrated the ancient nature of the school; Mysticism or ‘the old way’ is more of a way of thinking about magic in general than a means of casting specific spells. Vanus, however, was trained in the old ways of PSJJJ. When he created his various schools he was aware that certain effects, such as a proper soul trap, could most easily be understood through the lens of Mysticism.
To see through this lens, it is best to hear from the most primary source possible. Thankfully, the Psijics are prolific writers. One writes that “we who know the Old Ways are well aware of the existence of a spiritual world invisible to the unenlightened.”⁷
It seems simply that the Mysicist viewpoint is one of typical Altmer elitism. It takes the trustful voice of Sotha Sil to carefully explain exactly what this Psijic means. “Those skilled in the Old Ways... can see an object and identify it by its proper role,” he explains, “But one more layer is needed to be peeled back to achieve understanding. You must identify the object by its role and its truth and interpret that meaning." In short, Mysticists find the metaphysical meaning of the seemingly mundane.⁸
There is more to Mysticism. It is mathematical. Mysticism is the source of the view of the Altmeri sorcerer who fights nth with dimension equations. As math is the study of patterns, so is Mysticism, “the act of experimentation... can influence the magicka by its very existence. Thus, the Mystic mage must regulate himself to finding consistent patterns in an imbroglio of energy.” Mysticists calculate how natural energy is flowing, and adjust it to fit their purposes.⁹
ENCHANTMENT:
One of the more diverse schools of magic is the school of enchanting. It is so diverse because it also involves almost every other magical school. Enchanting requires a soul to be converted to energy to power the enchantment. Further, the placement of an effect in an object requires knowledge of that effect. Recognition of an effect also takes a decent amount of enchanting skill. The actual placement of an enchantment is deceivingly simple. A spell “placed in a home... develops into an almost living energy, maturing and ripening.”¹⁰ One feels for the metaphysical core of an object, its “heart of gold”¹⁰ and inserts a spell. Once performed, the enchantment and the object are one, and seemingly inseparable.
NECROMANCY:
Necromancy is the magical school against which there is the most prejudice. Although Necromancy is legal in all provinces except Morrowind, necromancers are constantly harassed and ostracized by the local population. The act of Necromancy itself is complex and reliant on rituals, but rewarding. It takes two main forms; reanimation and lichdom.
Reanimation is extremely well documented by the three volumes of Corpse Preparation. It is strongly recommended that you search for one of the few copies which survived the Anti-Necromantic purges of the late Third if you wish to explore the necromantic art of reanimation. I’ll summarize the contents below, given the current rarity of any text on the subject.

• Acquire a body, preferably fresh.
• If Skeletal, make sure all necessary bones are present and bind or spike the joints.
• If fresh, sew skin back together with catgut.
• Cast the fitting necromantic spell
• The magicka expenditure in this process is primarily in the final step; the replication of a soul using magicka.¹²

The path to lichdom is treacherous and complicated. In fact, it has never been recorded in full, and I have no intention of getting on the Worm God’s kill list. It is known, however, that liches have lost their souls. Their personalities and emotions are left behind, stripped from their soul, but the soul itself is stripped and placed in an object.¹¹
DESTRUCTION:
Destruction magic is about manipulation of the elements. Unlike Alteration, this manipulation must fit the ‘standard’ rules of the world. The thought processes behind destruction seemingly are the management of spell formation; the element to use, the object or creature to target, and the means of delivery.¹³
The actual casting of a destruction spell uses nearly raw magicka. Note that Dark Welkynd Stones, teaming with unbalanced Magicka, send out frost and lightning spells to nearby souls — magical ‘grounds.’ The common Ayleid saying was "from fire, life; from light, magic,"¹⁴ explaining how lighting spells and their close cousin, lightning spells, are the most basic spell-types. Descriptions of Destruction magic seem to describe the pure release of magical energy from the soul. What is well known is that shock spells are the simplest destruction spells to cast​¹⁵ followed by flame and frost spells.
RESTORATION:
I will be honest; my expertise is not in the school of restoration. Any guess I can make as to its methodology would be more harmful than useful, and as such I suggest the reader, if interested, talk with their local imperial cult priest.
WORKS CITED:
1 Reality and Other Falsehoods, Anonymous
2 Breathing Water, Haliel Myrm
3 Incident in Necrom, Jonquilla Bothe
4 The Doors of Oblivion, Seif-ij Hidja
5 Chimarvamidium, Morabar Sul
6 The Minutes of the Lusty Argonian Historical Society, Vandril Indoril
7 The Old Ways, Loremaster Celarus
8 2920, The Last Year of the First Era, Carlovac Townway
9 Mysticism: The Unfathomable Voyage, Tetronius Lor
10 Palla, Vojne Mierstyyd
11 The Path of Transcendence, Celedaen
12 Corpse Preparation, Anonymous
13 Response to Bero’s Speech, Battlemage Malviser
14 Ayleid Reference Text, Raelys Anine
15 On the Utility of Shock Magic, Vanus Galerion

Do you have a question and are:

• A novice and basically clueless by default?
• Completely incapable of using google?
• Just feeling plain stupid today and need shit explained like you're 5?

Then this is the thread FOR YOU! Don't take up valuable space on the front page and annoy the mods, ASK IT HERE and one of our resident "experts" will try and answer it. As long as it's somehow related to powerlifting then nothing is too generic, too stupid, too awful, too obvious or too repetitive. And don't be shy, we don't bite (unless we're hungry), and no one will judge you because everyone had to start somewhere and we're more than happy to help newbie lifters out.

SO FIRE AWAY WITH YOUR DUMBNESS!!!

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Backlash%2c+parental+alienation+syndrome+and+co-construction.-a0179570828
Work on the issue of sexual abuse in children and adolescents lays bare the power relations between genders, generations and social classes. The issue of gender is seen in statistics from UN agencies that report that "one in four girls and one in nine boys will be sexually abused before they reach the age of 18."(1) Generational power relations are clear because the perpetrators are adults, and the power relations of class are evident in the backlash generated by powerful sectors that have attempted to prop up the myth that child abuse is only a problem among the poor and working classes.
Webster's Dictionary defines "backlash" as "a strong adverse reaction to a political or social movement." More plainly, backlash is a negative reaction to a positive and constructive step forward. Professor of law John Myers identifies the positive step as the progress made in the past two decades with regard to child abuse and the backlash as the escalation of criticism against professionals involved in child protection.(2)
David Finkelhor was responsible for pioneering work on the sexual abuse of children in the United States. In his 1979 book, Sexually Victimized Children, Finkelhor recognizes the important contributions of the women's movement and professionals involved in child protection lobbying in drawing attention to the realities of sexual violence against minors: "If the sexual abuse of children has risen to prominence as a social problem rather quickly, it is because it has been championed by an alliance of two constituencies by now rather experienced in the promotion of social problems."(3)
In the United States, a backlash began in the 1980s under the Reagan Administration's return to stale and reactionary values following the struggles of the women's movement and the children's rights movement the 1960s and 70s.
What was once secret was now openly debated, and controversy wracked the most idealized institutions, including church, family and school. Socially consecrated myths of long-standing were crumbling: "The home is the seat of love, support and safety for children"; "Good families don't talk about sexuality"; "Churches reflect the highest moral standard with regard to sexuality"; "Children are safe in school."
By drawing attention to the realities of child sexual abuse, a solid blow was dealt to the "powers that be"; hypocrisy was uncovered; and unquestioned assumptions were challenged. This frontal attack was met with denial by means of a range of strategies developed by the fundamentalisms of faith and the market.
One of these backlash strategists was prominent forensics expert Richard Gardner, who coined the term "parental alienation syndrome" in 1985 to describe a supposed psychological disorder that he had observed in lengthy and bitter custody battles. His original paper on the subject uses the following description:

"The term I prefer to use is parental alienation syndrome. I have introduced this term to refer to a disturbance in which children are obsessed with deprecation and criticism of a parent—denigration that is unjustified and/or exaggerated. The notion that such children are merely 'brainwashed' is narrow."(4)

However, supposedly citing his original work several years later, Gardner re-describes this phenomena somewhat differently.

"[t]he parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a childhood disorder that arises almost exclusively in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the target parent. When true parental abuse and/or neglect is present, the child's animosity may be justified, and so the parental alienation syndrome explanation for the child's hostility is not applicable."(5)

The two different definitions demonstrate the changes in this argument over time with the goal of developing a different strategy for discrediting the hard research work and harder-won social gains of the women's movement and the professionals lobbying for child protection.
Maria Jose Blanco Barea has studied the many works that Gardner published up to his death by suicide in 2003, and she suggests that "perhaps the psychological causes that led to his suicide should be taken into consideration." With regard to Gardner's professional career, Blanco Barea recounts that "Gardner dedicated the first part of his professional life to working as a forensics expert in cases of sexual abuse brought by children against their parents, students against professors, members of the faithful against representatives of organized religions and within military families. Gardner often stressed that he was a former captain [in the U.S. Army Medical Corps] and as a psychologist treated members of the armed forces who had served in Korea. He specialized in techniques to 'deprogram' U.S. soldiers who had been prisoners of war. His methodologies and expert testimony were used to question the credibility of sexual abuse victims, to prove that the accused were innocent and that the accusers were guilty of perjury. Gardner testified in cases of sexual abuse in the context of hearings to determine custody, visitation and guardianship, and he himself explains that he developed his research over the course of his career. In other words, he directly applied the scientific method of trial and error in real-life court cases that were settled while he was still carrying out his research. When he decided to publish his theories in 1985, Garner failed to provide the scientific community with the necessary data to scientifically analyze his conclusions."(6)
Richard Gardner's books were published by Creative Therapeutics, which he himself owned. Some of his articles were published in Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, a publication of the Institute for Psychological Therapies, which is directed by Dr. Ralph Underwager who is well known for an interview in the Dutch journal Paidika […](7)
In the 1970s and 80s and prior to his publication of the parental alienation syndrome, Gardner developed the "Sex-Abuse Legitimacy Scale" (SAL Scale), which he used in his own courtroom testimony. Nonetheless, Gardner's ideological stance clearly shows that he did not view child sexual abuse as a problem, except when it is denounced.

"It is of interest that of all the ancient peoples it may very well be that the Jews were the only ones who were punitive toward [adults who had sex with children]. Early Christian proscriptions against [adult-child sex] appear to have been derived from the earlier teachings of the Jews, and our present overreaction to [adult-child sex] represents an exaggeration of Judeo-Christian principles and is a significant factor operative in Western society's atypicality with regard to such activities."(8)
"The child might be helped to appreciate the wisdom of Shakespeare's Hamlet, who said, 'Nothing's either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.'"(9)
"And her [the mother's] increased sexuality may lessen the need for her husband to return to their daughter for sexual gratification."(10)
"… except for a certain amount of sexual frustration that was not gratified, the four-year-old had not been significantly traumatized by these encounters."(11)

Elsewhere Gardner had the following to say about child sexual abuse: "The sexually abused child is generally considered to be the victim, though the child may initiate sexual encounters by 'seducing' the adult."(12) Gardner even proposes that [child sexual abuse] serves procreative purposes; he maintains that although the child cannot become pregnant, a child who is drawn into sexual encounters at an early age is likely to become highly sexualized and thus will crave sexual experiences during the prepubertal years. Such a "charged up child" is more likely to transmit his or her genes through his or her progeny at an early age. Gardner states: "The younger the survival machine at the time sexual urges appear, the longer will be the span of procreative capacity, and the greater the likelihood the individual will create more survival machines in the next generation."(13) He also recommended that the incestuous father "has to be helped to appreciate that, even today, it [adult-child sex] is a widespread and accepted practice among literally billions of people. He has to appreciate that in our Western society especially we take a very punitive and moralistic attitude toward such inclinations.… He has also had back [sic] luck with regard to the place and time he was born with regard to social attitudes toward [adult-child esx]."(14)
The two definitions of parental alienation syndrome are interesting because the first reveals that the intention of the original strategy was to minimize the devastating effects that child abuse has in the victims. However, the 2002 definition added: "When true parental abuse and/or neglect is present, the child's animosity may be justified, and so the parental alienation syndrome explanation for the child's hostility is not applicable."(15) But curiously, the indicators of parental alienation syndrome also coincide with the indicators of sexual abuse that have been established by international studies on this problem.
At the time of the revised definition, the international study of child abuse and the movement to prevent the victimization of children was much further advanced. Some examples are the five European seminars "Secrets that Destroy" held in 1998 by the Save the Children Alliance; the 1999 "Vision and Reality" reports that address women's and children's rights; and a series of later publications by experts in the matter.
Although the SAL scale has been widely disregarded as a tool for diagnosing sexual abuse, Gardner's real thoughts are evident in the above citations from his works. Both the SAL scale and parental alienation syndrome represent a scandalous violation of the human rights of women, adolescents and children.
In numerous publications, Gardner uses supposedly scientific but paradoxical arguments to rationalize his denial of violence against women, defined in the Belem do Para Convention as "a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between women and men."(16) Making use of children, he creates a new and sophisticated form of violence against women that involves complicity of the justice system.
Gardner proposed a series of symptoms that reveal three types of parental alienation syndrome (severe, moderate and mild) and specific treatment for each type. The treatment that he proposes for parental alienation syndrome involves both legal and health-care professionals, who Gardner says should have the power to administer the appropriate treatment based on the coercion, threat, change in living arrangements and, as a last resort, the internment and "deprogramming" of the child. As Blanco Barea observes, "Parental alienation syndrome makes a fraud of the law. It makes use of the declarations against discriminations against women and of the rights of the child to protect the parent and escape the application of the Conference of Vienna that protects against torture and degrading treatment, especially in the case of women and girls, and to escape the application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child."(17)
As law professor John Myers explains, "Gardner is an outspoken critic of certain aspects of the child protection system. Apparently, Gardner believes America is in the throes of mass hysteria over child sexual abuse. He writes that 'sex-abuse hysteria is omnipresent' (True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse, 1992, p. xxv). In his 1991 book titled Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited, Gardner is harshly critical of an unspecified portion of the mental health professionals, investigators, and prosecutors trying to protect children. For example, Gardner accuses some prosecutors of gratifying their own sexual urges and sadistic tendencies through involvement in sexual abuse cases. […] It seems clear that Richard Gardner cannot claim to be balanced or objective when it comes to allegations of child sexual abuse."(18)
Although Gardner and his theories can be questioned for their misogynist and perverse ideology, in Argentina former family court judge Eduardo Cardenas published "El abuso de las denuncias de abuso" (The Abuse of Claims of Abuse) in La Ley, on September 15, 2000. Cardenas's article supported Gardner's theories and sparked backlash in our country, which has provoked widespread reaction among well-known professionals.
Perhaps the best summary of what occurred in Argentina after 2000 is found in the book Maltrato infantil: Riesgos del compromiso profesional (Child Abuse: The Risks of Professional Commitment), a collection of essays by known specialists on the issue, edited by Silvio Lamberti. As the introduction to this book describes:

"As long as the problem was associated with the lower classes, more and more cases were reported. When it began to be suspected that family violence affected all social classes and the middle and upper classes were scrutinized, a reactionary movement used the guise of good intentions to put limits on professionals that supposedly 'abused the reports of child sexual abuse.'
"This was the reaction of:

1. Fathers who were engaged in custody battles or other legal disputes regarding visitation rights.
2. Lawyers who preached equanimity and warned against the feminist bias that they claimed had affected the reports.
3. Experts who tried to pass off the backlash literature from the U.S. as scientific evidence to support their own conclusions.

"This brutal attack tends to carry into an ideological realm a debate that crosses legal and psychosocial discourses, ethics and society as a whole and tries to undo the advances already gained, discouraging those who have worked to achieve these gains. In short, they intend to:

1. Discredit reports of child abuse.
2. Turn anyone who denounces abuse into a suspect.
3. Blur the boundaries between victim and victimizer.
4. Confuse the matter by citing the rare cases of violence against boys or adult men committed by women.
5. Discredit the specialized treatment services even though the law recognizes the value of their diagnosis.
6. Ignore constitutional norms from the Convention on Rights of the Child.

"Thus, the meaning of abusive conduct is inverted, with abuse being attributed to the person who reports the abuse and requests the fulfillment of the law.
"This reactionary backlash supports the persistence of family violence and condemns all girls and/or victims of the perpetuation of incest and abuse while attempting to stymie the legal system and the work of other professionals who until now have born the heavy burden of this process."(19)

This scientific alert went out over three years ago; nonetheless, today there are increasing obstacles to working on this issue. The notion of false reports of abuse is now firmly rooted in the courts. Sexual abuse trials are tremendous ordeals that seriously damage the children and the adults who report the crime and place a heavy burden on the professionals who take the children's part and who often face accusations of malpractice, libel or slander.
The discrediting of psychological experts is of serious concern. What started with Gardner has continued with followers who have discredited indicators, treatments, techniques and prevention campaigns. Brandishing the concept of co-construction on the part of the family members of the victims or the professionals, the testimony of the children is discredited, accused of being childhood fantasy and tale-telling.
The efforts of Gardner and his followers have been echoed by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, an institution that claims to represent the social sexual moral but which has promoted a policy of smoke-screening sexual abuse.
The Red Latinoamericana de Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Latin American Network of Catholics for the Right to Decide) has undertaken a study on the secret system of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.(20) The ecclesiastical hierarchy always has been aware of these crimes and has implemented a policy of covering up the abuses committed by priests. This policy is summarized in the following ten points adapted from the studies carried out by the Spanish journalist Pepe Rodriguez(21) and corroborated in the studies of the Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir:

1. Discreet investigation of the incident. The prelates of the diocese often have ecclesiastical informants, people who desire to rise in the esteem of the hierarchy through their reports. They keep the bishops abreast of the transgressions of the priests under their authority. These reports are given orally.
2. Initiation of actions to dissuade the aggressor and/or the victim(s). Once the prelate recognizes the situation of sexual abuse in which the image of the Church could be tarnished, the aggressor is rebuked. Then the bishops dedicate themselves to convincing the victims and their families, assuring them that the aggressor will be punished and that he has repented. They persuade the families to not report the crime so that no one in the Church or the family will suffer the consequences.
3. Covering up the incident and the identity of the aggressor so the case never becomes public. In this effort, acts are undertaken to confuse the matter, including transferral of the priest to another parish, bribery of the victim and their family members or the use of threats and suspension of benefits (for example, expulsion from school).
4. Measures to reinforce the cover up. When the case escapes the closed doors of the Church, the hierarch opens an internal investigation against the aggressor to defend against eventual accusations of passivity in case there is external pressure from the media or society or a civil suit. Generally, the investigation is paralyzed indefinitely. At this stage, the priest usually is transferred to another parish, another diocese or another country, depending on the situation.
5. Denial of the incident when the case becomes public, under the argument that the priest is a man of virtue heeding God's call, a holy figure who could never commit a crime of this nature. When denial is no longer possible, the matter is treated as an exception to this rule.
6. Public defense of the aggressor, stressing his good service to the Church and his personal merits. If he did do anything wrong, he is profoundly repentant and was not conscious of his acts. An appeal is made to the Christian sentiments of pardoning a repentant sinner.
7. Public discrediting of the victim(s). Rodriguez uses the metaphor of ants defending an anthill to describe the corporativist attitude of the clergy when one of its members is accused. The guilt is reversed; the victim(s) and/or their family members are blamed.
8. Paranoiac accusations of the denunciation being linked to campaigns orchestrated by "enemies of the Church." When the number of accusations is so high that discrediting the victims is not enough, the hierarchy complains that there are national or international powers or cults conspiring against the Church.
9. Possibility of negotiation with the victim. This negotiation frequently occurs before the case is made public when the intention of the Church is to buy the victim's silence to preserve the image of the institution. When there is a public scandal, the hierarchy tries to minimize the damage by trying to negotiate the withdrawal of the accusations against the aggressor.
10. Protection of the priest/aggressor. When the accused is found to be guilty, the hierarchy stands by him and in some cases even pays him homage or praises him, doing everything possible to erase the incident from the public memory.(22)

As the Church silences and covers up the abuses committed within its institutions, it resembles Gardner and his followers in that it denies the realities of domestic violence and the sexual abuse of children and adolescents and hampers investigation of these matters. Alliances with key judicial figures lead to perverse and scandalous rulings, such as the Melo Pacheco case in Mar del Plata, the Storni case Santa Fe or the stalling in the Grassi trial, to name the most notorious cases. Many others remain anonymous, which demonstrates the existence of a model that favors the impunity of the abusers, the suffering of the victims and the punishment of those who are working within the framework of human rights.
A sturdy thread connects those who deny, discredit, silence, minimize, distort and negotiate the rights of children: the perversity that has subordinated their ethics to systems of belief that are authoritarian, patriarchal and/or favor the domination of adults.
This ideological combination stacks the deck against victims who, for the most part, are children, adolescents and women. Women are the most discredited. In the cases in which priests are accused of sexual abuse, most people take their side, doubt the word of the victim(s) and even blame them or imply that the priests were victims of a conspiracy. Girl victims are not considered credible because they are presented as easily influenced, prone to fantasy or liars. If they are adolescents, their morals are questioned: it is argued that they already had had sexual relations before the abuse or are guilty of seducing their abuser.
In the case of domestic abuse, especially in cases of father-child incest, the mother is accused of maliciously attempting to distance the child from the father, inventing the abuse out of revenge or because she is hysterical or any other argument that serves to safeguard the figure of the father of the family or the Father of the parish. In both cases, the common sensibilities of the population are exploited: tolerance of male sexual behavior fed by the dominate sexual morality, which makes the argument of false reports even more credible than the martyrdom and accusations of the victims.
To compare the consequences that a child may suffer with the separation of his or her parents, even in a messy divorce, with the short- and long-term consequences of father-child abuse is a perverse strategy that denies the serious and profound attack on the victim's subjective integrity, which Jorge Barudy calls "attempted moral murder."
Parental alienation syndrome, the "malicious mother" and co-construction are non-scientific theories, and when used in the context of a trial, they violate the victim's constitutional rights as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CEDAW and other agreements incorporated into our constitution in 1994.
We must remember that Richard Gardner's theories were developed in the United States through a method of trial and error that was applied directly in the courtroom in bitter divorce cases, which were ruled upon as Gardner was undertaking his research. In addition, the U.S. is one of the few countries that has neither ratified nor incorporated into its constitution the Convention on the Rights of the Child or CEDAW.
As Blanco Barea explains, in legal contexts based on human rights, those professionals who can carry out the therapy or treatment recommended by Gardner or his followers (such as "aversion therapy" plus the vicarious treatment of deprogramming and, as a precaution, the guarantee of visitation rights or the reversal of custody and/or total separation of the "alienating" parent and the "alienated" child) "are committing crimes of torture, obstruction of justice and legal fraud, and if they are related to the minors in question, they are also guilty of domestic violence."(23)
Child abuse, especially sexual abuse, is an alarming, universal problem. Increased attention and effective protection skills and prevention measures are necessary at family, local, national and international levels.
After a long tradition of silence, sexual abuse of children is being denounced more frequently and is becoming a topic for public and political discussion.
To alert governments and civil society organizations to the need to play a more active role in the promotion of and respect for the rights of the child (as put forth in article 19 and 34* of the Convention on the Rights of the Child) and to contribute to the prevention of child abuse, the Women's World Summit Foundation, WWSF, launched the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse in 2000. The Day is commemorated every November 19 together with the anniversary of the International Day for the Rights of the Child (November 20). The objective of the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse is to rally around the issue of child abuse and the urgent need for effective prevention programs.
To consolidate the global call for action, in 2001 WWSF launched an international NGO coalition that marks the World Day with appropriate events and activities to focus on and increase prevention education.
* For more information, visit the website of the Women's World Summit Foundation, https://www.woman.ch/children/1introduction.php.
* Art. 19 - States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.
* Art. 34 - States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:
(a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
(b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
(c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.
The author is a psychologist, a founder of the Casa de la Mujer in Rosario, Argentina, and a longtime defender of the rights of women and children.
Notes
(1.) Selected facts and figures from various UN documents, part of the 2006 Open Letter from the Women's World Summit Foundation on the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse, 19 November. Available online at http://www.woman.ch/children/1-openletter.php.
(2.) Alicia Ganduglia (2003) "El backlash: un nuevo factor de riesgo," in Maltrato Infantil. Riesgos del compromiso profesional, Silvio Lamberti, ed., Buenos Aires: Editorial Universidad, p. 75.
(3.) David Finkelhor (1979) Sexually Victimized Children. New York: The Free Press, p. 2.
(4.) Richard A. Gardner (1985) "Recent Trends in Divorce and Custody Litigation." Academy Forum 29:2, Summer, pp. 3-7.
(5.) Richard A. Gardner (2002) "Does DSM-IV Have Equivalents for the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) Diagnosis?" American Journal of Family Therapy, 31(1):1-21. See also Richard A. Gardner (2003) "The Parental Alienation Syndrome: Past, Present, and Future," in The Parental Alienation Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Challenge for Professionals Involved in Divorce. W. von BochGallhau, U. Kodjoe, W Andritsky and P. Koeppel, eds. Berlin, Germany: VWB-Verlag fur Wissenshaft and Bildung, pp. 89-125.
(6.) Maria Jose Blanco Barea (2006) "El sindrome inquisitorial estadounidense de alineacion parental," p. 11. This document may be downloaded from http://www.revistaiuris.com/MISC/8618/borrador%20el%20sindrome%20inquisitorial%20del%20sap.doc.
(7.) The interview with Dr. Ralph Underwager was originally published in Paidika, Issue 9, 1993, and has been reproduced online at http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/NudistHallofShame/Underwager2.html.
(8.) Richard A. Gardner (1992) True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, pp. 46-7.
(9.) Ibid. p. 549.
(10.) Ibid. p. 585.
(11.) Ibid. p. 612.
(12.) Richard A. Gardner (1986) Child Custody Litigation: A Guide for Parents and Mental Health Professionals. Cresskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, p. 93
(13.) Richard A. Gardner (1992) pp. 24-25.
(14.) Ibid. p. 593.
(15.) See note 5.
(16.) From the Preamble to the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, also known as the Convention of Belem do Para, adopted by the OAS General Assembly June 9, 1994; entry into force March 5, 1995.
(17.) Maria Jose Blanco Barea (2006) p. 219.
(18.) John E. B. Myers (n.d.) "What is 'Parental Alienation Syndrome' and Why Is It So Often Used Against Mothers?" an excerpt from a forthcoming book titled A Mother's Nightmare: A Practical Legal Guide for Parents and Professionals. Available online at http://www.gate.net/~liz/fathers/pas.htm.
(19.) Maltrato Infantil. Riesgos del compromiso professional. Silvio Lamberti, ed., Buenos Aires: Editorial Universidad, 2003. The contributing authors were Maria Ines Bringioti, Cristina Caprarulo, Julio Cesar Castro, Alicia Ganduglia, Norberto Garrote, Isabel Gens, Eva Giberti, Carmen Gonzales, Irene Intebi, Victoria Irazuzta, Silvio Lamberti, Patricia Paggi, Mirta Pirozzo, Carlos Rozanski, Diana Sanz, Juan Pablo Maria Viar, Maria Cristina Vila and Juan Carlos Volnovich.
(20.) Regina Soares Jurkewicz (2005) Develando la politica del silencio: Abuso sexual de mujeres por sacerdotes en Brasil. Brazil: Red Latinoamericana de Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir.
(21.) Pepe Rodriguez (2002) Pederastia en la Iglesia Catolica: Delitos sexuales del clero contra menores: Un drama silenciado y encubierto por los obispos. Barcelona: Ediciones B.
(22.) Regina Soares Jurkewicz (2005) pp. 20-22.
(23.) Maria Jose Blanco Barea (2006) p. 219.

Just a curiosity really, but I assumed Anaconda and the new Python tracks were meant to be somewhat related and Python was meant to be a bit like 'Anaconda 2' as it is arguably harder, but I noticed Anaconda is listed as an 'Expert' track and Python is 'Novice' - any ideas what that's all about? Anaconda always struck me as Advanced at best, not Expert.

Hi folks. I’m building a reflex testing game where you have to click as soon as possible when the lights go out. As well as tracking the users average time across the session, I also want some kind of reward system so that people can try and beat their own scores over a fixed number of attempts, compare with their friends and eventually use the scores for private and world leaderboards etc.
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
🏆 Experience (EXP) - Earned through genuine reaction times.
🍀Luck (LCK) - Rewarded for timely guesses.
The base value is 0.001 and multipliers are added to EXP and LCK independently based on your reaction time. I’ve used this decimal style scoring to be a bit like a crypto currency value, which’ll then be accompanied by coin style graphics in certain menus going forward, just for something a little different.
For now, the multipliers are only based on your reflex time for the current turn, but eventually I would like to add bonus multipliers if they beat their all-time fastest or luckiest score, get the best average for that game mode, get the best score today or this week, etc. (Now I’ve typed this out, I’m thinking this might skew results and make an unfair playing field when we start diving into leaderboard territory so maybe I should not do this. It might still be cool to notify the user that they’ve beaten that particular record though and make it not affect the scores)
I’ve seen comments around a similar game where people are boasting reaction times of 0.012 seconds, but that’s not humanly possible. The fastest human reaction times start at around 100-150ms. That’s why I’ve tried to make a distinction between genuine reaction times and lucky guesses and reward people for both situations.

Initial Proposal

I’ve therefore come up with the following system, allowing for a grey area around the 100ms-200ms range where it’s hard to tell if it was luck or genuine.
The left number represents the upper bound of the range, so a score of 210ms would land you in the 250ms range.
🏆 EXP Multiplier ranges

• <=100ms - x200
• 150ms - x250
• 175ms - x300
• 200ms - x200
• 250ms - x175
• 300ms - x150
• 400ms - x100
• 500ms - x50
• 750ms - x25
• 1s - x10
• gt 1s - x1 (I can’t seem to use the > symbol without turning this line into a quote, this is my first Reddit post 😅)

🍀 LCK Multiplier ranges

• <=25ms - x300
• 50ms - x250
• 75ms - x200
• 100ms - x150
• 150ms - x100
• 200ms - x50
• 300ms - x25
• gt 300ms - x1

First Revision

Thanks so much for the feedback so far! I’ve now made the following revisions which is making it already feel like an improvement and much easier to follow:
Gona go classic and use plain old XP, but will simply keep a “Guesses” counter which tracks the number of times recorded below 75ms, just for the users information. I did a little more research, and apparently your subconscious is actually capable of reacting as low as 80ms if communication with your conscious mind is bypassed, crazy stuff!
Therefore a score of 75-100ms will bag you the highest possible XP for a single turn, tapering off as your reaction becomes slower:
Reflex Time - XP - <75ms - 50xp (Lucky) - <= 100ms - 300xp (Subconscious) - <= 125ms - 275xp (Instantaneous) - <= 150ms - 250xp (Super Human) - <= 175ms - 225xp (Professional) - <= 200ms - 200xp (Expert) - <= 225ms - 175xp (Proficient) - <= 250ms - 150xp (Advanced) - <= 275ms - 125xp (Intermediate) - <= 300ms -100xp (Rookie) - <= 350ms - 50xp (Amateur) - <= 400ms - 25xp (Beginner) - <= 500ms - 10xp (Novice) - >1s - 1xp (Idle)
I’ll then write an algorithm to build a linear scale that gives you the appropriate score for your exact time. E.g A score of 208ms would give you something like 192xp.
I’ll finally need a separate ranking system to score your performance for the session, but maybe I base this entirely on the average you were able to achieve for the session, rather than basing it on the amount of XP earned? 🤔

End First Revision

I’m very interested what people think about this scoring system please; if there are any improvements I could make to it, if it’s fair, if it’s too overcomplicated, etc.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read. Really looking forward to some constructive feedback as I’ve been in a bubble on this project for a few months, other than getting a few friends and colleagues to play test base mechanics of the game itself.
Thanks so much 😊

Goodreads
This is probably going to be in the top 5 best books I read in 2024. I read this as a library book, but I intend to buy the hardback next time I visit a store.
I have the feeling my enjoyment won't be a very common opinion. This book has layers. And to be honest, I don't fully understand this book. I don't know about castes, as an example, so some of this book went over my head.
Before we begin, do you have a book which needs editing? Do you want to read more reviews? Here is a link: The Rest of My In Depth Reviews
WHAT IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE? WHAT GENRES? WHAT MAJOR TROPES?

• Magical Realism
• South Asian
• Buddhism
• 15+ years old
• A wee bit horny at moments
• LGBT

MY EMOTIONAL RESPONSE/ FUN FACTOR
This book is steeped in Southern Asian culture, a culture I'm not a part of. I'm writing this review in good faith, but I'm well aware I'm approaching this from a place of ignorance. So as you read this, please give me the benefit of the doubt if I make any mistakes.
This novel is a cultural critique of how a Buddhist society can use Buddhism as a cudgel to legitimize control and oppress minorities.
At the same time this book has a surreal bent. The main antagonist, 'The Perfect and Kind,' has reality warping power. Here's a spoiler: at one point, the protagonist is about to assassinate 'The Perfect and Kind.' To survive the assassination attempt, 'The Perfect and Kind' rewrites the events of the prior three days to prevent the assassination from ever happening. This is just the tip of the spear in terms of how weird this book is.
I really enjoyed this book, and was never bored. Now that said, the book only kicks into high-gear about halfway through. Before the halfway point, it is a traditional rebellion against authority story; after the halfway point, it becomes a surreal rebellion.
If you like traditional Western fight-scene focused fantasy novels, this book will not provide that. This book is more focused on how governments use violence against their people; violence is the tool of the enemy in this book, not the heroes.
BIASES STATED
To put this review/study in proper context, you must know my starting point.
Just being honest with ya'll, when I heard this was nominated for a Hugo I assumed it would be a bad book; I read last year's Hugo slate and they left me underwhelmed. (Yeah, I know how shallow that sounds. But I bounced off HARD from last year's slate and especially last year's drama.)
I was pleasantly surprised upon reading 'The Saint of Bright Doors.' It's actually good!
SIMILAR BOOKS/OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

• 'The City and the City' by China Mieville
• 'Ombria in Shadow' by Patricia McKillip
• 'Senlin Ascends' by Josiah Bancrof
• Amber by Zelazny
• 'The Lathe of Heaven' by Ursula K. LeGuin

CONCEPT AND EXECUTION
In the Buddhist tradition, when the Buddha began his spiritual journey he abandoned his wife and child. For the Buddha to find personal enlightenment, he had to renounce all worldly attachments, including family. His son was such a fetter.
'The Saint of Bright Doors' is about a man named Fetter, the abandoned son of a living god called 'The Perfect and Kind.' Fetter now wants to kill his father 'The Perfect and Kind' in revenge for being abandoned as a child.
This book is about the complicated relationship people can have with Buddhism. In the West, we like to think of Buddhism as a nonviolent religion; in truth, Buddhists are as capable of violence as anyone else. This book features castes, needlessly bureaucratic government, religious abuse, and a police state... with 'The Perfect and Kind' (aka the Buddha) being able to meddle with and control all of it. The author is from Sri Lanka, where Buddhist monks play an active role in politics; I'm just guessing that in some way frustration with the status quo in Sri Lanka informed the writing of this novel.
On top of it all is a heaping-helping of magical realism.
At one point, the protagonist is imprisoned for a crime, and he's sent to a prison which (I think) is loosely based on a bureaucratic vision of a Buddhist hellish afterlife. What follows is a surreal, Kafka-esque sequence of bureaucratic madness. The protagonist doesn't even know why he's imprisoned... indeed, no one imprisoned knows why they're in Hell/prison. It's never explained why Fetter was sent to Hell, and that's the point. In Buddhism, everything is empty of meaning, even death; spiritually, this imprisonment is pointless. It also represents a government system run amok, repressing people merely to save face without making anyone actually safer.
The sequence in hell/prison reminded me of Josiah Bancrof's 'Books of Babel,' where characters enter the tower of Babel on vacation, and in order to climb the tower you have to join the culture of the locals in the tower and act as the locals act to progress. No one in the tower of Babel understands how or why the tower exists, just as no one in this book understands why the hell/prison in 'The Saint of Bright Doors' is as baffling in the way it is.
Even after Fetter escapes prison, he's not truly escaped; the vicissitudes of samsara follows him back to Luriat, for Luriat's police state is just another layer of imprisonment. He realizes that even though he escaped the physical prison, he'll never escape the spiritual prison, for the entire world is a prison. Fetter tries to escape suffering by escaping prison, and it doesn't work. Suffering follows him out.
It was with this realization that this book came into it's own. When he realized he'd always be entrapped in a prison of his father's creation, it became more necessary than ever to fight and rebel against his father.
Some of the reviews I read for this book claim that this book is listless, where Fetter goes from one random adventure to another without a solid link between them. This time in prison is one such 'listless' adventure. I think they're wrong about it being 'listless.'

• The 'listless' adventures which annoyed those reviewers are spiritual echoes of his father's evil. Many of the devils in the world are a direct result of his father manipulating reality; likewise, the government is controlled by his father. Ergo, all the minor adventures caused by devils and Bright Doors and the bureaucratic government are his father's fault.
• Fetter spends the first half of the book running away from his destiny of killing his father, only to have many small problems come his way. And yet Fetter never puts 2+2 together and realizes that the minor problems he faces are due to his father. Running away is just making his problems worse.
• I think the 'listlessness' is a deliberate character choice by the author, demonstrating Fetter's willingness to tolerate the intolerable status quo because he is so intent on not fulfilling his destiny.
• This is good characterization and good subtext by the author. I appreciate that the author did not hold the hand of the reader and spell it out, and instead trusted the reader to figure it out on their own.

CHARACTERS, CHARACTERIZATION AND DIALOG
'The Perfect and Kind' is this book's antagonist, but I wouldn't call him evil. The author is very careful to point out that 'The Perfect and Kind' rejects all forms of duality; thus, evil simply doesn't apply to him because 'good and evil' are a duality. If we reject duality, we must simply assume his actions are performed because of simple human ambition.
'The Perfect and Kind' becomes the antagonist because the government of the city use his religion as a rallying cry to justify pogroms, mass-imprisonment, and censoring dissent. Even the clergy of 'The Perfect and Kind' religion take part in the chaos.
Fetter's Mother is a secondary antagonist. The Mother-of-Glory is the jilted lover left behind by 'The Perfect and Kind' when he became a renunciate monk; she swore revenge and raised Fetter from a young age to be an assassin and kill his father. She is justified in her rage: 'The Perfect and Kind' learned her culture's traditional magics, and learned them better than anyone who had come before. He used those magics to become a god, dumped her, and then rewrote reality so no one would ever know that's how he ascended.
Fetter himself is emotionally repressed. After escaping his mother's death cult, he's joined a support group for Almost-Chosen Ones, trying to gain his own agency away from his towering destiny. He and his friends lead a rebellion against the status quo, trying to topple the oppressive government.
I liked how Fetter felt a pull towards both parents: I don't know if the author intended to write a Daoist character, but I saw his parents as opposite poles. His mother is very Yang: she's frequently quoted as saying 'change only comes through directed violence.' His father is very Yin: 'The Perfect and Kind' prefers to solve problems by indirect means, such as discussion or manipulation. (My goodness, their marriage must have been a mess.)
Fetter defeats BOTH parents after he learned BOTH of their strengths: he used his mother's rage to lead the revolt, while he used his father's emotional stability to not be washed away in the madness of the cycles of violence which eternally rip Luriat apart. That is a solid character arc.
And yet, the story seems to hold Fetter at an emotional arm's length. I personally feel like the story did a decent job of exploring Fetter's emotionality, but I wanted the book to explore his emotions a bit more. His love story in particular felt underdeveloped.
PLOT, STAKES AND TENSION
The first half of the book was devoted to a growing rebellion against the repressive government of Luriat, while Fetter is desperately rejecting his destiny of killing his father. In the second half, 'The Perfect and Kind' moves to Luriat and takes over it's repressive government. Now Fetter must kill his father to save Luriat and fulfill his destiny, whether he likes it or not.
The first half of the book feels 'normal' (aka, not slipstream), while the addition of 'The Perfect and Kind' in the second half of the book makes the book feel 'weird,' as the very fabric of narrative reality begins to break down. This 'weirdness' gives the book an uneven texture while reading. This uneven texture isn't necessarily a bad thing! Indeed, I wish the author leaned it the uneven texture more. More on this later, when I discuss setting.
The book had minimal tension. At one point important named characters begin to die, and I was left unmoved. I think the author wanted to evoke sadness in the reader when important named characters began to die, but I was so emotionally detached from the characters in this book that I didn't feel sadness.
(You know how I said 'I wanted the book to explore his emotions a bit more' above? The book didn't do enough to sell me on those emotions, and the tension suffered because of it. At least for me.)
Additionally, the whole slipstream-y-ness of this book added a further layer of detachment to the book. This book was so 'anything goes' when it comes to 'cause and effect' that I was left questioning whether or not dead characters were actually dead, or if they would come back. This narrative played by it's own rules, for both good and ill.
And it's fine if this book doesn't have cutthroat tension. Not all books have to have world-ending stakes.
One thing I liked was how the death of 'The Perfect and Kind' does NOT solve the city's problems. Yes, 'The Perfect and Kind' was meddling with events in an effort to consolidate his power, however human nature was always the problem. Luriat had problems before he arrived, and will still have problems after his death, because suffering is the default state of the universe.
The author successfully used foreshadowing to set up and pay off several prophesies. I like pointing out when an author successfully uses foreshadowing, because so many don't.
AUTHORIAL VOICE (TONE, PROSE AND THEME)
I liked the authorial voice of this book. It is very pretty. Here's a link to the goodreads quotation page for a taste of some of it.
As for theme, this book exists in a Buddhist context, but strikes me as being counter-cultural to the Buddhist message. I dunno, I'm Western so I don't feel expert enough to speak as an authority on how this book should be interpreted. But the Buddha is the bad guy in this.
If I'm reading this book right, I think this book re-enacts the life of the Shakyamuni Buddha, but told from his son's perspective. But it also adds a queer lens: not only is Fetter gay, but 'The Perfect and Kind' and the Mother-of-Glory both have same sex lovers. It also adds a modern lens, with computers and bureaucratic governments and social media. It also adds a decolonialist lens; 'The Perfect and Kind' conquered Luriat and the hinterlands. This conquest upset the local Mother, whose entire culture was subsumed and forgotten.
If I'm reading this book right, this book engages with Buddhism as a historical entity and local custom, as opposed to it's theology. It doesn't engage with the Eightfold Path or the Four Noble Truths, but instead looks at how the clerics and monks of the religion can lead pogroms and persecutions. The book isn't wrong to be so jaded; right now Sri Lanka is going through some stuff, and Buddhist monks are playing a political role on both sides. It must be disheartening to see your religion tearing itself apart like that.
This books is a very interstitial. Fetter is the biracial child in a city where you get categorized according to race. He's stuck in-between loyalty to his warring parents and their warring philosophical worldviews. Queerness is innately interstitial. And the theme of doors opening to nowhere is innately interstitial.
SETTING, WORLDBUILDING AND ORIGINALITY
The city of Luriat is a character in and of itself. It is located on a magical confluence, where reality never seems to quite stay pinned down. There exist Bright Doors in Luriat; doors which open into almost-was worlds which once existed but are now forgotten. A harsh and nonsensical bureaucracy has taken control of the city of Luriat, to clamp-down on the wild magics and diseases which wash through the place regularly... though in actual practice, the bureaucracy is used by factions to punish their enemies without cause. I'd compare it to 'The City and the City' by China Mieville.
The culture of people in Luriat changes on a whim, and the protagonist can never be quite certain it changed because of the constant reality warping or because he simply missed out on the newest social media wave.

• You know the feeling of logging onto twitter for the first time in a month, and finding references to a weird Highly Online Drama you have no context of?
• Luriat is like that. Because so much reality-altering magic is flying around, Fetter can't be sure the oddness of the city is because of the magic, or because of some cultural shift which Fetter missed because he's been busy doing other things.

I liked how the author used the surreal, dreamlike feel of Luriat as a metaphor to discuss the rapid-fire nature of cultural developments on places like Twitter, though I don't know if that was deliberate by the author or if I'm just reading into things. The setting is intentionally confusing, and it's wonderful. Luriat is a vibrant megalopolis, which refuses to be pinned down.
NOW THAT SAID, it could have been better. This book constantly cites castes and races are at the heart of the various conflicts in the story: what races were these, what castes are these? How do they relate to one another? The book points out multiple factions of Kings and Queens. Who are they? Gimme answers.
Now imagine if the narrative described these castes and factions in the first half of the novel. When reality starts changing, the reader would feel those changes all the more intensely. What if caste A represses caste B in the first timeline, only for caste B to repress caste A in the second timeline? Because the book never explored the details of the conflicts in question, when they changed it wasn't impactful.
If you've played Bioshock Infinite, there is a sequence when timelines begin to merge, when a Theocratic Conservative government loses power to a Worker's Rebellion a la the Haitian Revolution. I wanted a dramatic moment like that to happen in 'Saint of Bright Doors,' when it seems like the whole world changes in the blink of the eye. I feel like the book could have done more with the whole retroactive reality warping thing.
And finally, I have to complement how the author used the topic of architecture to discuss Luriat's history. By discussing different construction styles, this gave Luriat a feeling of timeless depth. A lot of fantasy books I read feel a bit skin-deep, with only a little bit of history; Luriat feels like it's been around for A WHILE. I liked that.
AUDIOBOOK NOTES
I listened to the audiobook. The audiobook narrator was VERY GOOD... however, this book is confusing. I had to back up and re-listen to segments more than once to make sure I understood was was going on. I suggest you read a paper or ebook version of this book; it might help with the clarity. Also, the prose is beautiful enough that reading it with your eyes might help you savor it more.
LESSONS LEARNED
As an author, I want to improve my own writing/editing skills. To that end, I like to learn lessons from every story I read. Here's what I learned from this story:

• Play around with narrative cause-and-effect. In the West, it's common convention that the events in a book must make sense in logical order. This book was compelling in part because it was willing to detach logical cause from effect.

Here's a link to all the lessons I've previously learned.