After hitting level 100 the grind up to 150 was accomplished over the course of nearly three weeks even with boosters and re-rolling daily / weekly challenges.
I have to say that the time spent here was the most tideous and less intriguing experience I've had playing this game for that one-fifthy as a goal.
Sure I would fill in the gaps with my ordinary routines in between, but the slow progression during these 50 ranks was truly more of an abyssmal feeling than grinding for the RNG to drop you the rare stuff you actually want.
The only things from this season that I truly felt interested in acquiring; was the Cremator and the Perk Points and Legendary Cores on the bonus page.
Now, while whats included in the season is based on individual taste and preference, for me at least the majority of things to unlock wasn't much of interest.
The idea behind that I need to unlock 95 (?) items from the season to even be able to get whats on the bonus page, even after grinding 150 ranks, was for me wasting the precious season tickets / stamps on things I don't want. It would be much better if I didn't have to this and rather spend those 95 - items worth of tickets on what I truly desire.
The lack of Atoms you can earn in this season compared to the previous Scoreboard is a major downgrade and causes disinterest.
What also causes disinterest is, as mentioned, is the slow progression after rank 100. I don't have all time nor ability to play this game everyday and when I'm aiming for whats at the very end of the season it felt like I needed to dump Atoms into S.C.O.R.E - boosters and challenge re - rolls to guarantee myself I'd reach there.
In summary I don't like this new season system, that its a step in the wrong direction and that Bethesda should discontinue it, instead return to the Scoreboards as it felt more enjoyable, more worth it.
I advice those who share my opinion to give the feedback to Bethesda as its the most likely way for them to reverse on this.

For posterity, I run a GeForce RTX 3080 - 64gb of ram and an i9-10900x.
I run this game on the lowest possible settings, with the internal resolution low - because I was basically forced to as I noticed frame rate dipped below 55 during some interactions (drive rush, drive reversal, some punish counters and some lvl 3/CAs).
I have it setup so shaders precompile.
I was fine for a few weeks, no issues with the lowest settings holding at 60 FPS steady. I then booted the game up today to notice again, the frame rate dipping to 40-55. Between this time I have not updated my graphics or changed anything specific about my software or hardware.
No other game does this, all my other games I play (PUBG, OW2, Dota2, etc.) hold at 200+ FPS.
I know why SF is locked at 60, with Vsync, but for whatever reason, this game just randomly decides to slow down to become unplayable (e.g., lag when I drive rush), forcing me to no longer play ranked because I can't trust it to not screw me over.
I am at my wits end, because it's seemingly a pattern. I format my computer, the game runs fine for a bit then suddenly starts dropping frames. I lower my graphics settings until it's fine again for a few weeks then it happens again.
I've seen other posts like this, but no solutions outside of rolling back my graphics driver to about a year+ ago, which I am considering doing, but at this point it's weird I need to do this for just SF6.
edit: I've tried forcing nvidia to keep it at 60 and turning Vsync off both in the game menu as well as the config file to no avail.

One of the fascinating aspects of outsider reports and analysis is what they see. Given that at this point (1992) the internet was not yet widely available/accessible, this sort of thing would have been difficult to find. And of course SGI wasn't ever going to tell us the truth!
This will show you that SGI-USA (then called "NSA") was failing in recruiting far earlier than perhaps most of us in the US realized. SGI in the USA was basically a flash in the pan; it fizzled fast; and now it's just that rank stale smoke smell that lingers long after the fire's been put out.
This comes from Cults and Nonconventional Religious Groups: A Collection of Outstanding Dissertations and Monographs, "Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism and the Soka Gakkai in America: The Ethos of a New Religious Movement", Jane Hurst, 1992, pp. 150-151. Jane Hurst has some interesting research out there; while she tends toward being uncritically supportive of SGI, anyone who is making statistics available is a big help.

NSA members in the 1960s and 1970s were young (52% below age 30), more than half female (59%), and from a variety of occupations and social classes.

The Baby Boom generation were at most age 19 in, say, 1965 and at most age 24 in 1970.
This youthfulness is largely reflected in the early organization's origins in the American servicemen who returned from being stationed in Japan with their Japanese war-brides - those servicemen tended to be young and from a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds, as the draft was still in effect during that time period (ended March 1975). In addition, the first General Director of the US organization, Masayasu Sadanaga, initially targeted college campuses for recruitment by offering lectures on Buddhism. Sadanaga changed his name to George M. Williams in 1972, in obedience to the (short-lived) direction back then of Japanese leaders adopting American-sounding names (first AND last) in order to appeal more broadly to non-Japanese Americans.

The percentage of Oriental members steadily decreased as more and more white and black Americans joined NSA as seen in Figure 10, above.

Figure 10 (I'll get to that line in another post.)
Ewps - Here's the REAL Figure 10.
Most of the original "Oriental members" were those Japanese war-brides, whose first efforts to recruit new SGI members were directed toward other Japanese individuals.

NSA members came from the major religious traditions of Protestantism (30%), Catholicism (30%), and Judaism (6%). At the time these 1971 statistics were compiled, all areas of American society. By 1983, the age span was even more broad, with 11% of the members age 50 and above, 62% ages 30-49, 24% ages 20-29, and 3% below age 19.

For reference, here are the age ranges for the existing generations in 1983:

• Greatest: Ages 59-82
• Silent: Ages 38-58
• Baby Boomers: Ages 19-37
• Generation X: Ages 4-18
• Generation Y (Millennials): Age 3 or younger.

While these 1983 statistics aren't broken down by generation, here's what is clear:

• 11% of the SGI-USA membership was MUCH OLDER than Baby Boomers
• 62% was either Baby Boom generation or older (though younger than that oldest group)
• 24% was Baby Boomers
• 3% was younger than Baby Boomers.

This means that 97% of the membership of SGI-USA was Baby Boom generation OR OLDER!

IN 1983!!

Notice how this affirms the demographic estimate from this other research: "Soka Gakkai in America": Little appeal/interest outside of Baby Boom generation

Take a look at Table 4.
Specifically, the Age cohort (%) category.
For the Converts, 26% are older than Baby Boomers; 61% are Baby Boomers. That makes 87% Boomer and older. Only 14% are younger than Boomers.
No wonder SGI-USA is aging and dying, with these kinds of numbers!
We are seeing, like, 90% Baby Boomers in the group photos we've looked at.
The pictures back this up.
Also, this comment by an SGI-USA leader a few years ago during Minoru Harada's visit (anyone know what year that was?):

They [top SGI-USA leaders] then went off on how when we create these big-ass meetings, we shouldn't have to look into the crowd and see, and I quote, "A bunch of old-ass motherfuckers" The words of my "superiors", not mine. I think this is when they brought up the idea of 50K to my co-leaders and me. Source

"Old-ass motherfuckers" is all they have. How 'bout showing a little of that appreciation and gratitude SGI bangs on about??
Worse, "old-ass motherfuckers" is all SGI-USA can get.
Further, again referring to Table 4, SGI-USA's membership is solidly 2/3 women. That means it's going to be very difficult for women in SGI-USA to find mates to marry, which means childlessness will be more of a norm than an exception. Child-free is a valid and respect-worthy decision, don't get me wrong, but a religion's most reliable source of younger members is its own membership's children. Since SGI-USA's female members don't feel any responsibility or obligation to bear multiple children (like those poor, stupid Mormon sheepwomen do), there won't be any next generation to take over.
There's a reason so many religions have traditionally exhorted their membership to have lots of babies, why they condemn birth control and abortion. A big part of it is to keep their own numbers up! Source

It's the same problem happening in Japan within the Soka Gakkai:

On the other hand, aging is relentless. In terms of the Soka Gakkai's membership demographics, the "volume zone" where most members fall is the baby boomer generation who joined by the 1960s. They are now late elderly. In the past, the management of centers in various places was handled by the "Gajokai" consisting of Young Men's Division members, but it is no longer possible to secure personnel. Instead, in 2009, the Soka Gakkai launched the "Ojokai'' consisting of "middle-aged divisions,'' scolding them as "young people in their 50s'' and rushing to mobilize them. Source

GOOD LUCK!

For perspective, note that SGI-USA was managing to recruit just "1,000 per YEAR" - including all ages - between 1991 and 1999. Eight years of only 1,000 members added per year, with no accounting for the deaths or defections. Were the years after that more successful, recruiting-wise? I doubt it.

[Then-SGI-USA's public-relations director for the East Coast Bill] Aiken says SGI-USA has attracted about 1000 new members per year for the past eight years. - from 1999. Only 1,000 new members - across the ENTIRE 360+ million-person strong USA - in an ENTIRE year. And this extremely low level of success for EIGHT YEARS IN A ROW!! Source

From 2018:

In recent years, the number of young Soka Gakkai members has been decreasing rapidly . Looking at the participants in the simultaneous broadcasts and roundtable discussions, the majority are of the grandparents' generation, with only a small number of young people in their 20s and 30s, and the number of teenage boys and girls is almost an endangered species .
Therefore, what I am interested in is the population of Soka Gakkai by age group. This time, I would like to estimate the current population of Soka Gakkai by age , based on information I have personally seen and heard and verification from others . Please note that this estimate is very rough.
First, the largest number of Soka Gakkai members are baby boomers (born between 1947 and 1949 [Japan's Baby Boom]). This seems almost certain considering the history of the development of Soka Gakkai .
Also, the total number of members has already been verified by many people, and is estimated to be around 3 to 5 million people. This time we assume about 4 million people .
And this is what I heard directly from a staff member at headquarters last year, who said , `` The number of activists decreases by about 1/3 with each generation.'' I think this is a reasonable rate of decline that can be felt by looking at participants in simultaneous broadcasts and roundtable discussions. It seems that members who have stopped being activists are less likely to have their children join, so this time we will use a value of 1/3 per generation as the member decline rate .
Also, regarding the number of years it takes for generational change, the average age for men and women to give birth to their first child is currently 30 years old. Considering that the average age of childbearing for both men and women when the baby boomer generation was born was 24 years old, and that there are cases where not only the first child but also the second and third children are born, the generational shift will take 30 years. Let's calculate it as if it would take a year . In that case, the annual membership attrition rate would be (1/3)^1/30 = 0.964, or 3.6% .
It is unclear when this trend of declining membership started, but this time we will assume that it started in the year following the baby boom generation (1950). Source

And "Soka Gakkai is like an old people's club":

Regarding the problem of a decline in Komeito votes, or in other words, a decline in active Soka Gakkai members, many people concerned point out that the primary cause is the aging of Soka Gakkai members. The enthusiastic members of the generation who supported the growth of the society along with charismatic Honorary President Daisaku Ikeda are now elderly across the board. Most of the current new members are second- or third-generation members who join because their parents are members of Soka Gakkai, and they are not very enthusiastic about Soka Gakkai's activities. Today, many of Soka Gakkai's daily events are even derided by insiders as "like an old people's party."

And a more recent report (this year):

Back about 20 years ago a good friend and good guy, now deceased, from ChiTown, was commissioned by SGI Central Command to survey every contactable member of SGI in every district in America. The number he came up with was 5% of the number of Gohonzon passed out since, I guess whenever Gohonzon started to be passed out. The total number was about a million give or take, 20 years ago. These were contactable people, not practicing members. I remember going through lists of people we had on the books and trying to see if they could be reached. So the number we came up with was reported. Hearing nothing about it, I happened to run into my friend at some event at Soka U. He mentioned that he did the survey, and gave me the results. I believe he told me the facts. (Not everyone who practiced was a lying asshole.) So about 20 years ago SGI had about 50,000 “contactable“ people who had received Gohonzon. My estimate that about half of that number had zero interest in SGI. Thus 20 years ago, SGI had about 25,000 members still interested in SGI in some capacity. I think it’s the same number today. (2500 districts x 10=25,000.) Like I said before I went to FNCC twice last year, and everyone, including me, were old zany seniors. Neither conference was for old people. Conclusion: SGI is a senior citizen support group. When I joined in1969, we were all hippie ish, rejecting all the old shit, looking for something new and hip. Now SGI looks like old shit. Source

And another (this year or last):

When I joined 50+ years ago the ratio of youth to MD and WD was about 80:20. Now it's the reverse. Our goal is to move steadily back to a youth focus again. Source

Except it's obvious that SGI-USA doesn't HAVE "20% youth":

Youth? They've got to be fooling themselves!!! When I was still with the SGI last February (2023), I went to the kosen-rufu gongyo meeting at the center in my area. Mind you, the state I live in closed its center in 2021 for undisclosed reasons. That aside, the one I went to was in another state, and at that meeting, they had no byakuren, Gajokai, or Soka Group in attendance. Additionally, the only youth at the meeting were a few small children. Source
I feel that SGI is out of touch with anyone who’s younger than 60. The leaders are retired, have a lot of time on their hands and completely disregard the fact that people may work or have families. For young people it’s the old people taking nonsense. Source

The PROBLEM was already evident in 1983 - and none of the SGI-USA's big "Recruit-Youth-A-Thons", like "Victory over Violence" and "Rock The Ego Era" and "50K Liars of Just-Us" (everybody wants to forget the epic fail that was the "Gandhi, King, Ikeda" exhibit), has made the slightest difference in this demographic disaster. In fact, preparing for the 2018 "50K" event, SGI-USA likely had only 2,451 members in the 12-35 (or perhaps 11-39) age group, just 9% of the most generous SGI-USA active membership total (~30,000).

Ikeda could have preserved a "youthful" Soka Gakkai by passing the Presidency to a younger candidate, but Ikeda refused, because Ikeda was too focused on and obsessed with HIMSELF - his power, his prestige, his wealth, his status, his fame, his renown, HIM becoming leader of the world, his PERMANENCY, and his legacy. He refused to let anyone else come anywhere CLOSE to the power and control - he greedily, selfishly clutched it all tightly to himself and refused to share.
THAT is why the Ikeda cult Soka Gakkai/SGI is aging and dying. It's ALL Ikeda's fault, Ikeda's responsibility. IKEDA DID THAT.
Some "mentor". Source

SGI-USA has never managed to recover from that demographic bottleneck that happened no later than 1983.

I'm on a re-read and wanting to put some of my thoughts out into the universe so we can appreciate Collins as the master of the craft she is. Here is a lil bit on the goat story, please share your own thoughts!
As they settle into domestic life in the cave, Peeta prompts Katniss for a story, which she likens to singing, an activity she views as superfluous but connected to her father, and, as of recently, Rue. Peeta, the artist, and Katniss, the utilitarian.
The goat story provides important insight into Katniss’ background and their world on multiple counts:

• The relationship between Katniss, Gale, and District 12
• Dynamics of the Hob, town, and officials
• Katniss’ personality

Peeta’s prompt is specifically for the happiest day she can remember, so her mind turns to Gale, which she intuitively understands would not go over well, and Prim. I find it interesting that she doesn’t even consider memories of her father, say, teaching her to swim or singing to the mockingjays. Lady the goat was introduced back in chapter one with her cheese and milk featured in the reaping festivities and here we get her backstory as a 10th birthday present for Prim. The story opens with Prim giving a gift of goat cheese to Katniss, and this story reverses the situation with Katniss giving Prim a gift of goat, the gift that keeps on giving between the sisters. Timeline wise, Prim’s 10th birthday places the events around two years before THG, and Katniss at around 14.
The first half of the entire story is an internal monologue, not spoken out loud, to protect Greasy Sae, Rooba the butcher, and even the peacekeepers from punishment for breaking the laws by engaging in the black market. Katniss’ awareness that the audience will have already figured she was illegally hunting but her refusal to implicate anyone demonstrates her nature as a protector and the need for mutual silence within District 12. I doubt anyone from District 12, regardless if they are from the Seam, town, or a peacekeeper, would say any of the first half of the story out loud. It is their mutual silence, their mutual dependence, their mutual aid that protects them all. The black market is an integral part of their economy and way of life.
Gale and Katniss shoot down a young buck and Katniss describes him in detail, remarking on his youth, beauty, unfamiliarity with humans, and innocence. Her description calls to mind the tributes themselves, innocent children. We learn it is Greasy Sae, a trader at the Hob, who seems to be well-respected within their community, that refers them to a butcher in town. Greasy Sae could certainly use the buck for her stews, but she clearly has Katniss’ and Gale’s best interests in mind and wants them to get the highest price for their kill. The Hob operates on goodwill and trust between the traders with Katniss and Gale being established and well-regarded members of their ranks.
They take the buck to Rooba, the butcher in town. Katniss and Gale have crossed the threshold of the Hob, where haggling is the way of commerce, and into town with Rooba where the merchant class controls trade. The pair receive the most money they have ever had at one time and head for the market square.
From here, Katniss narrates the story out loud directly to Peeta and indirectly to Panem, claiming she traded her mother’s old locket in for money. She is drawn to the Goat Man’s injured goat, noting how owning a goat can change your life in 12. I find it a bit amusing how nonchalant Katniss and Gale try to be while sizing up the goat, even buying a cup of milk, but the Goat Man insists she is for the butcher. When Rooba shows up, she complains of the goat’s worsened state, then leaves with a wink to Katniss. The crowd joins in the haggling between the Goat Man and Katniss.
Rooba’s shenanigans and the involvement of the crowd show how invested the communities of 12 are in Katniss from even before the reaping. We see over and over her suspicious nature blinds her to the perceptions of others. She is taken aback by the salute she receives at the reaping, but as we learn over the course of the books, District 12 respects and admires her. We hear this explicitly from Delly, in Mockingjay, but more subtly in this story. Katniss denies that Madge is her friend, denies that she would get generous trades on her own merit instead of her father’s or Prim’s reputations, denies that the people of District 12 care for her. Her years of trading across the lines that divide 12, interacting with the people of the Seam, the town, and the peacekeepers and officials means she is one of the few that would be known to almost everyone. Almost everyone in 12, besides Haymitch, is aware of her dedication to providing for her family. Katniss interprets the “effect she can have” that Peeta refers to as pity and an insult, but really, it is anything but. I’ll bet NO ONE from 12 was surprised when Katniss volunteered. Katniss’ inner dialogue throughout the games show how profoundly the watchers of 12 influence her decisions and how it is distinctive from the influence of the watchers of the Capitol. She knows she would be ostracized in 12 if she didn’t ally with Peeta after the rule change, and she knows she would never accept anyone back into 12 if they didn’t do the same.
Gale carries the goat back, because, according to Katniss, ‘he wanted to see the look on Prim’s face as much as I did’. This line tears me up knowing what is coming in Mockingjay.
Katniss has a very rare show of sentimentality here by buying a ribbon for the goat to present to Prim. The conversation between Katniss and Peeta after she tells this story never fails to crack me up. Peeta KNOWS this story is the happiest in Katniss’ life because of the ‘lasting joy you gave the sister you love so much you took her place in the reaping’ but she insists that the goat was a ‘little gold mine’. Their banter here is why we are all Everlark shippers.
Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts on the goat story

https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-in-zane-in-the-membrane
Header Image ^[Imgur]
It’s not a Cypress Hill song, it’s a new issue of Canon Fodder!
By now, you’ll no doubt have made headway through the latest Operation in Halo Infinite —titled “Banished Honor”—which was accompanied by a new Waypoint Chronicle based around a simple question: “What would the story of a Spartan who joined the Banished be?”
We had the perfect character lined up to tell that story, one who hasn’t been seen since the end of Hunt the Truth's second season all the way back in 2015.
Welcome back, Ilsa Zane.

THE THIRD LIFE

Our ninth Waypoint Chronicle has arrived, which follows on from the concluding events of Hunt the Truth where a Guardian awakens on the colony world Laika III. Broadly, these events are concurrent with the story that unfolds in Halo 5 as Cortana lays claim to the Mantle, rallies AIs to her cause, and sets about imposing an imperial peace upon the galaxy.
Where Hunt the Truth saw the mantle of narrator pass from journalist Benjamin Giraud to undercover ONI agent Maya “FERO” Sankar in its second season, that torch is once again passed on to a character who made her presence felt in this story... the rogue Spartan known as Ilsa Zane.
Halo: The Third Life is available here on Halo Waypoint, as a free PDF, and in audiobook format on YouTube.
“October 2558. After being taken prisoner by the Banished as chaos erupts across the galaxy, Ilsa Zane’s hunt for the truth leads her to a new stage of life she never expected...”

EMPTY THRONE

Last issue, we gave you a totally legitimate look at the cover art of Halo: Empty Throne. Art is in the eye of the beholder, and unfortunately the powers that be decided that we could do better than a screenshot made in Halo 3's Forge mode in ten minutes with some crudely edited-in elements... it was a close call, really, but we ultimately pivoted towards something with the vibe of it having come from an incredibly talented and brilliant artist—namely, Will Staehle, whose other work you can check out here.
So, here you go. Here’s the official cover art for Halo: Empty Throne, coming later this year.
Pre-order your copy of Halo: Empty Throne here!
Cover art of Halo: Empty Throne illustrated by Will Staehle depicting a young girl and a Spartan emerging from a blue explosion coming from a Forerunner structure
“2559. It has been a year since the rogue artificial intelligence Cortana seized control of the Domain, an otherworldly dimension housing a vast information network. With an array of Forerunner weapons at her disposal, Cortana set out to enforce an authoritarian peace on the civilizations of the galaxy. But as the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity prepares to strike against Cortana at Zeta Halo, another plan has also been set in motion.
An ancient access point hidden on a seemingly insignificant human colony has become the focus of a parallel effort to claim the Domain and its immeasurable capabilities. The UNSC, however, needs a key: a living, forsaken product of an old war. As a new generation of heroes rise to meet this challenge and Cortana's pursuit of control reaches a desperate and sudden crescendo, a cunning, ruthless warrior emerges from the shadows of the Banished, who has vowed to fill the new power vacuum by any means necessary....”

THE BANISHED SPARTAN

ILSA ZANE
Cropped profile image depicting Ilsa Zane surrounded by fire and Banished banners ^[Imgur]
RANK: Bloodstar BIRTH WORLD: Kholo DATE OF BIRTH: June 11, 2528 APPEARED IN: Halo: Initiation, Hunt the Truth, Halo: The Third Life
Born on the Outer Colony world Kholo, Ilsa Zane was just eleven years old when she lost her parents and everyone she had ever known as the Covenant descended upon her home and reduced its surface to glass. Taken to the remote colony Asphodel as a ward of the state, Zane remained largely silent and solitary until coming of age in 2547, where she was conscripted into UNSC military service.
In 2550, Zane was selected as a candidate for the prototype phase of the SPARTAN-IV program. Though she survived the augmentation process, additional experimental cocktails caused severe neurological damage to Zane. After escaping the facility, she was recovered by Admiral Mattius Drake and integrated into the rebel group known as the New Colonial Alliance.
In the immediate aftermath of the Covenant War, Zane led a group of operatives who attempted to commandeer the UNSC Infinity —securing it as the flagship of the New Colonial Alliance and to prevent the UNSC from deploying it to police independent colonies. This plan was thwarted by Spartan Sarah Palmer, who ejected Zane into space where the rogue Spartan was once more rescued by Drake, who was on standby in a nearby Prowler.
Following this, Zane served as an acquisitions specialist for weapons and materiel, as well as a ruthless instructor for mercenary and rebel groups that joined the New Colonial Alliance, forging them into a veritable fighting force in preparation for a large-scale strike against the UNSC. However, the awakening of the Guardians in 2558 waylaid these plans, leaving Zane as a prisoner of the Banished—with whom she ultimately came to find both common cause and brotherhood.

BANISH THY HONOR

Halo: Tales From Slipspace - Hunting Party
Image ^[Imgur]
What does it mean to be Banished?
To be Banished is to seek to liberate oneself, to pledge loyalty not to false promises of divine ascension but to the fearsome might and will exemplified by Atriox.
Service is welcome from any species, of any previous affiliation or loyalty—from the lowliest Unggoy thrall to the mightiest Sangheili warrior, and all between and beyond.
Power is its own end. In the wake of the Covenant War, opportunity is rife to carve up the remnants of the fallen empire’s vast resources and obtain technology that furthers the prime directive of the Banished: to never bow again, a “reclamation” all their own of freedom.
Following decades of calamitous conflict that has left even the most capable commanders war-weary, it is the Banished that are energized and fortified in purpose and will. Payment for those who share common cause with Atriox comes in blood and sport and spoils.
But those who would choose this path must unshackle themselves from ties to the past—unbind themselves from old masters, cast off their piety, and banish their sentimental devotion to honor.
Only then can one become a true vessel for victory.
Only then is one truly Banished.

THIEVING MITTENS

Halo: Escalation Issue #3 page depicting a showdown between Spartan Scruggs, who has taken Admiral Hood hostage, and Spartan Palmer, Chieftain Lydus, and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam ^[Imgur]
Why would a Spartan go rogue?
It’s an apt question. After all, Spartans are meant to represent paragons of humanity in both strength and spirit. But across the generations of Spartans, there have been traitors, rebels, or those who simply wanted to leave the UNSC behind to live on their own terms.
For the Spartan-IIs, these examples came as a result of their training—of recognizing and rebelling against the horrific context of their situation.
In the “Homecoming” episode of Halo Legends, Daisy-023 and several of her fellow candidates sought to escape the program following the augmentation procedures that killed or maimed many of their brothers and sisters, but were ultimately brought back into the fold.
Likewise, in the Halo: Evolutions short story “Pariah,” Soren-066 was left disfigured by the augmentations and was gradually radicalized by a technician named Partch, eventually attempting to escape Reach and join the Insurrection. Indeed, the Spartan who sought to apprehend Soren was Randall-037, who later appeared in Halo: Nightfall where we learned that he had evaded the UNSC after the Battle of Vodin in 2532, even starting a family before ONI eventually caught up to him over a decade later, "reversing" many of his augmentations in exchange for release from UNSC service.
Looking to the Spartan Field Manual, originally released back in 2018, we can gain further insight into the risk of rogue Spartans as it applies to the SPARTAN-IV program:
STOLEN GAUNTLET
Nevertheless, the SPARTAN-IV selection process is not foolproof. Spartan-IVs are soldiers with preexisting philosophies and loyalties, and even the most carefully screened candidate can react to their augmentation and training in unexpected ways. Individual Spartans represent a strategically significant level of combat power and pose a major security threat if their loyalty is compromised.
The STOLEN GAUNTLET fail-safe protocol has been created to provide training and permissive rules of engagement for special agents tasked with tracking down and swiftly neutralizing rogue Spartans.
~ Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, p. 86
Rogue Spartans
Halo Mythos artwork by Isaac Hannaford depicting Mickey's betrayal of Buck and Romeo in Halo: New Blood ^[Imgur]
Ilsa Zane represents the earliest example of this manifesting as a critical issue for the Spartan-IV program, and she is far from a singular example.
In Halo: Escalation, we see Spartan Vladimir Scruggs—another New Colonial Alliance defector—attempt to sabotage the peace talks between Arbiter Thel ‘Vadam and Chieftain Lydus.
Another prominent example is Michael Crespo in Halo: New Blood, who became disillusioned with being sent to kill other humans in the wake of the Covenant War and defected to the United Rebel Front with fellow Spartan Rudolf Schein.
Of course, defecting is one thing, but what is it about the Banished that would be attractive to a rogue Spartan? That is something wholly contingent upon the individual, and at present there is a specific example we can examine: Ilsa Zane.
Having been discarded by the UNSC after falling victim to experimental augmentation cocktails that ravaged her body and mind, she was eventually left for dead by Admiral Drake as well—she was herself “banished” from the places she had sought to belong. This, in combination with her proclivity for violence and a ruthless mindset, led her to discover a certain kinship with the Jiralhanae on Laika III, leading her to willingly pledge herself and the New Colonial Alliance to the Banished.
In the words of Spartan Scruggs: "I am a Spartan. But what you fight for isn't always the same as who you fight for."

ARMORY INFINITUM

The Ravager was a new weapon introduced to the sandbox in Halo Infinite, though it made its fictional debut in Halo: Shadows of Reach.
“The cacophony of gunfire was replaced by the sizzle of shock rifles and the thump-hiss of ravagers.”
~ Halo: Shadows of Reach, Chapter 21
Featuring a semi-automatic, three-round burst and a charge ability that can create a burning pool for area-of-effect damage, the Ravager quickly became a favorite tool of Jiralhanae warlords for its capacity to flush out garrisoned infantry.
A unique version of the weapon, the Rebound Ravager, can be found in the possession of Captain Arthoc—a high value target the Master Chief encountered on Zeta Halo. Rounds fired by this weapon have the ability to bounce, to which the words of Agent Washington from Red vs. Blue may come to mind: “It bounces? Who designs a gun that bounces?!”
Halo Infinite screenshot of Arthoc ^[Imgur]
ARMORY OF RECKONING CAPT ARTHOC FWD: RAVAGER
The Armory of Reckoning—it is a fitting name for the tools of conquest and destruction birthed from its forges.
When we advanced on the human remnants that had sought shelter within their crashed ship, I requested of Commander Bannix an augmented version of the plasma tossers produced by the Forge of Torograd.
Where we have mastered both spike and spear in our weaponry since before the Immolation, infusion matter remains an object of study for our alchemists. I was informed by the Screecleaver that there is a great savant stationed on Oth Liqattu who has sought to unlock further secrets of this fetid power, applying it to our own troops and many of our vehicles.
It is said that prolonged exposure to this corrosive bile can addle the mind and rot the body... that is good, for there are many small spaces in human ships. The capacity for this weapon to launch projectiles that bounce before erupting into toxic piles was of great use in flushing our foes from cover. How they flailed and danced to our battle song!
It is my understanding that pure infusion matter is pumped throughout Forerunner facilities, so we must dedicate resources to finding these wellsprings within the substructures of this ring. I shall bring this to Tremonius once he has returned from investigating a disturbance at his outpost.

MERIDIAN SLOANCOMING

Last month saw the arrival of Halo: Battle Born's rerelease, featuring two new short story “adjuncts” which we took a closer look at in our previous issue.
On April 30, the rerelease of Halo: Meridian Divide hit the shelves and—as folks have noticed—there's another adjunct in this one as well!
MERIDIAN HOMECOMING
Halo 5 screenshot of a Promethean Knight on Meridian ^[Imgur]
Completing the trifecta of new adjuncts in these rereleases is “Meridian Homecoming,” which is set in the immediate aftermath of Cortana’s final sacrifice on Zeta Halo in December 2559.
With the leader of the Created dead, the future of this fledgling faction has been thrown into doubt. High Auxiliary Sloan has returned to Meridian where he occupies a Promethean Knight’s carapace and wanders the vast glasslands of his home to find his own fate.
Of course, fans who followed the Precipice short story series last year (which accompanied Halo Infinite's recurring FIREWALL events) know that Sloan has emerged as a new leader within the Created and set into motion the creation of the Executors. “Meridian Homecoming” gives us a small moment in time with Sloan as he contemplates what the concept of home means to him, Cortana’s unfulfilled promise of salvation, his regrets over how he departed from Meridian, and the memories held within a Promethean Knight that set him on a new path.

COMMUNITY LORE CORNER

For this month’s Community Lore Corner, we kick things off with GammaCompanyMark who has put together a media order for the Halo series if you really, really want to experience it in some form of “timeline order.”
The fine folks at JumperScape have been adapting some of the lore and stories we’ve put out for Halo Infinite, beginning with the Intel drops we did for Season 2: Lone Wolves. (If you can believe it, it’s just passed the two-year mark for when this season launched!)
We recently discovered Lore VoidCat while checking out the latest Halo lore content on YouTube, and he has put together a fantastic series of videos about various expanded universe aspects—from every blade of the Covenant, to recounting the stories of various games and books, and more. Here’s one of his latest!
Would it be surprising if you learned that Covenant Canon has put out a new video featuring some... you guessed it, Covenant canon? In his latest release, we take a look at every known Arbiter throughout the Halo universe’s history.
Every now and then, the nostalgic longing for those halcyon days of 2007 return, which is exactly what you will feel when watching Meaning In-Between and Frogarchist's exploration of how mystery was a core thematic pillar of Halo 3.
And finally, David and Ian of Podcast Evolved have done a new “book club” episode on one of our previous Waypoint Chronicles: Saturn Devouring His Son.
With that, it’s time to sign off for this month’s issue.
If you haven’t already checked out Halo: The Third Life, be sure to do so—and if you have, well, go and read or listen to it again! Let the gears of speculation turn for what is depicted on the cover art for Halo: Empty Throne (don’t forget to secure your pre-order), and you can get your in-game Ilsa Zane cosplay sorted by completing the Banished Honor Operation Pass!
We depart with our favorite Ilsa Zane comic panel for your entertainment.
Halo: Initiation panel of Ilsa Zane shutting of the UNSC Infinity's original AI, Aine, saying "Quiet you." ^[Imgur]
This post was made by a script written and maintained by the Halo mod team to automatically post blogs from Halo Waypoint. If you notice any issues with the text output or think this was posted by mistake, please message the mods.

I was trying to compare my current C9 to what has come out recently and have wandered into a confusing mess of model codes and numbers!
The numbering scheme makes no sense to me. Are they different feature sets? are they just upgrades? does the model number match the year?? No clue!
All I know is that you have A,B,C and G tv's but they are ranked in reverse order for quality.

Follow up from yesterday's post, I went ahead and created what my model would suggest for the regional field. You may notice some changes as I reassessed how to include SoS weighting but I think it's slightly better now.
Pretty hilarious that even with no human input we get the UT A&M regional still hahahahaha. Obviously, this doesn't account for conference winners or >.500 records this is just 1-64 with the reverse orders for 17-64 by seed bucket (UCF is the 32nd ranked team, not the 17th ranked team, 17th ranked is Wake Forest).

Host Seed	Host	#2	#3	#4
1	Tennessee	UCF	Florida	Coastal Carolina
2	Texas A&M	Texas	Old Dominion	Kansas State
3	North Carolina	Oklahoma	Georgia Tech	Miami (FL)
4	Oregon State	Nebraska	Wofford	Wichita State
5	Arkansas	San Diego	Texas Tech	Saint Mary's College
6	Georgia	Hawaii	Northeastern	Auburn
7	Duke	UC Santa Barbara	TCU	Georgetown
8	Florida State	UC Irvine	Louisiana Tech	California
9	Oklahoma State	South Carolina	West Virginia	Connecticut
10	LSU	Indiana State	Alabama	James Madison
11	East Carolina	Kansas	Vanderbilt	Sam Houston State
12	DBU	Clemson	Southern Miss	Tulane
13	Arizona	Kentucky	Purdue	Oregon
14	Virginia Tech	Louisiana	UNCW	Cal Poly
15	Mississippi State	Virginia	Grand Canyon	Troy
16	Charleston	Wake Forest	Houston	William & Mary

MATCHMAKING UPDATES
When a player is currently on a loss streak, the matchmaker will try to avoid putting the player on a team that is statistically calculated to have a lower chance of winning.
Developer comments: Loss streaks never feel good. Before each match, we make a prediction about which team will win the game, based on the information we have about the players on both teams. This is how modifiers such as Consolation, Reversal, Uphill Battle, and Expected give or take additional Rank Progress after each Competitive Play match. Since most matches will have a team that has a slightly higher chance of winning, placing a player on the team with the higher chance who is currently on a losing streak is aimed at helping them have a fair chance of breaking that streak. While this won't guarantee they'll win, it does provide a helping advantage.

Ok so,as a matter of fact, blizz actually saying that "Chain of loss is frustrating" so they'll put that bad guy on the stronger team.
BUT
When you're actually tryharding for hours and are on a good winstreak, is it fun (or less frustrating) to get a drunk mate or a thrower who wants to downgrade his rank ? I DONT THINK SO
Because lets be honest, almost all the time, you're most likely the one responsible for your own nice, big, chain of loss.
I would understand that type of manipulation for QP, but in comp, where the chances of winning shoud be determined only by what's happening in the game and not before, this is actual pure garbage.
Blizz, you say you do EVERYTHING to make the community less toxic, but here, which reaction are you really expecting when a guy's going to be close to useless in a game, now that everyone knows he could've been put in the team for this exact reason ?

Texas ranks third globally in reverse mortgage loans, with around 60,000 HECM loans annually, driven by its sizable senior population. These loans allow seniors to tap into home equity without repayment during their lifetime, making them particularly attractive in a state where 14% of the population consists of seniors. If considering this option, a comprehensive guide outlines the pros and cons specific to Texas: https://equityaccessgroup.com/blog/complete-guide-to-get-a-reverse-mortgage-in-texas-2024

For example, names like Everett and Silas get mentioned on here fairly often and rank fairly highly in the U.S. but they're hardly used here in New Zealand.
And in reverse, I've seen people on here really put-off by the name Harriet, which is in the top 100 here and has been for a little while.
If I expand that to Māori names instead of exclusively looking at the English names, then we also have a lot of babies getting names Nikau, Anahera, Kaia, Aroha, and more.

~Neptori~
A party was indeed hosted, set up to surround the burning mass of grass that the second creature had been hidden inside, the two severed heads spiked on massive rose thorns high above the half acre of angry flame were eyeless and toothless. Trophies for the queen’s pet Faeries and Fairies.
Tori was half certain she had seen a demon amongst the deadly, fake-friendly, party goers. His eyes didn’t just reflect the fire, they were made from fire. Sparks flew and skittered over his high cheekbones as they made eye contact in passing. A chill went down her spine, a warning and a threat.
She followed quickly after the queen, her gown had been replaced with a shorter gown resembling a white iris flower, the shoes of course matching to look like the stem. High, high heels that didn’t even touch the ground. They hovered over the ground as she fluttered her wings to stay just above her people. A subtle band of wild roses sat on her brow, Neptori only wondered about the thorns and how a flower could be so pale and yet so brightly yellow. Fluffy and tiny, the roses faintly resembled the clouds as the sun fell to make way for darkness in night.
Someone, at some point, had made sunflowers grow twice as tall as they were. They lined the main scenes of the party, their strong, velvety leaves bore golden, burning lanterns. An ashy pink smoke filtered flower shaped holes in the circular… those weren’t lanterns- fairies were nocturnal! Those were burning herbs, were they to keep predators away from the party or to heighten the pixie magic warping the sizes of everything. She took a light whiff taking in the earthy smell, the note of citrine and then the smell of honey fresh from a beehive… she suddenly felt very light. Shaking her head to shake the feeling, she finally caught up to the queen's side. Wings would have been entirely advantageous in this situation, Tori would have to do with waiting till the queen had settled on her throne at hearing distance.
Around and around the party they went, Tori being shown off like a prized pony. The queen didn’t seem to be too hated by her people, it was strange that she had said so earlier. Neptori pinched her brow trying to keep her thoughts from derailing. No, play by her rules and she will have to let Tori go. That’s what she would have to do. So around and around she went some more. Fairies drenched her in new garments. As they were the fashion capital of the realm, they were exceedingly horrified by a poor woman’s rags. Neptori accepted their gifts, too afraid to offend to deny the strange things they put on her. Her coat had been torn from her at some point, her trousers had been replaced with a purple petticoat and a pink pearl corset. Her boots were gone and her feet cried out in pain as she felt the dirt and clovers underfoot. As her toes dug into the soft heaven that was nature. A giggle escaped her, a scraggly cry really. It hurt but it was amazing. She couldn’t remember the last time she had taken her boots off. Her smell was ripe and rank but she didn’t care, her toes weren’t cramped up!
she turned to see if the queen could see- but there was nobody. Just an empty field and those burning herbs finally burning up. The smoke was so thin it fell in scraggly whisps. The morning air seemed too crisp and clean and untamed. She burst into a sprint down the path of trampled grasses. Strange flowers and shrubs had grown underfoot but they were walked all over by what must’ve been an enormous crowd. Then a light, brighter than the awakening blue overhead, the sun. The first rays yawned over the land, sending a golden and blue contrast into the world. She had never felt so at peace. So at one with her surroundings. Her face was numb and cold with it, or maybe the reverse but she was only paying attention to the awakening surrounding her.
The bees and birds and the fairies… everyone began to stir awake as slowly as if time was blinking awake with them. She just stared with watering eyes, taking in the magic that thickened in the air. The scent of apple blossoms washing over her as the land was engulfed in golden hues of every color. Then it was green. The sky was alive with fluffy white clouds, scattered across that simple barrier of blue. It was all so beautiful and it thrummed around her, in her veins it pulsed.
Everything just felt so right, then a shadow fell around her. She turned her surely very glassy eyes to find the queen standing a wreck before her. “There you are pet.” She said with a crooked grin. Her eyes were bright red and brought out the earthy green hues within her irises. Her iris party dress was limp and her band of fluffy yellow roses was gone.
“Wha- “What happened?” Neptori cried out as her knees came crashing down to the dirt and rocks and ashes and… what had happened? “Your very first fairy party it seems.” She waved a hand and the perfect scene made way for the glowing petal walls of the fairy palace.

For some it may be nationalism, staircase climbing, or even aphrodisiac reverse rape. Well, for me, it's when the author fails to understand NUMBERS. I can ignore xianxia physics, but literally any mathematical mistake drags me out of cultivation and makes me open the heavenly calculator, trying to confirm if the author is truly a regard with no dao. Why write a heavenly scripture, only to make a fool of yourself with elementary counting?
See this example that I just saw.
The damage numbers were previously stated to ten (10) decimal places, so the rank 10000 damage can be considered precise (but for the author). Now even a middle schooler can sense that something is wrong here, but I'll write it out. Since a total of 40% damage has been dealt, and the top 5 did 23.45%, then ranks 6-10000 should have dealt ~17% in total. However, 9995 times the MINIMUM 0.002% is 19.99%, even though the damage % is supposed to be spread across the entire range! So assuming an extremely generous geometric sequence with common ratio 1.0005 (so the 6th person deals 0.3% damage), we still end up with a total sum of 600% life damage dealt!!! So what in the Mt Tai was the author thinking, failing to make up at least a believable number for the lower bound???
Also common in demonic scriptures are failures to calculate or even approximate the time travelled between two locations in a straight line when speed and distance are given, how many spirit stones per year income of the average cultivator performing average activities, how many souls harvested in a village, etc. Hope all mathematically challenged authors get sent to reeducation.
Thanks for coming to my qi deviation session.

OVERWATCH 2 X PORSCHE

Overwatch 2 and Porsche team up for an electric collaboration to showcase the shared essence of these two high-performance brands in an all-new event. Experience the fusion with Legendary Porsche D.Va and Porsche Pharah skins available now in the Premium Shop, plus earn other free high-voltage Porsche-themed cosmetics through event challenges now through June 3.

COMPETITIVE PLAY UPDATES

Demotion Protection Modifier

• The Demotion Protection modifier has been moved from below the Rank Progress bar into the bar itself to improve visibility when a player is in a Demotion Protection state.
• When Demotion Protection occurs, you will not be told when your progress is below that skill division’s range. If you lose your Demotion match, the Skill Rank adjustment will show only the adjustment from that match, instead of the net total of that match and the adjustment of the previous match.

New - Pressure Competitive Modifier

• This rank modifier appears for players who are at the far ends of the overall skill distribution.
• For players who are very high ranked (like Champion), this modifier will show when you don’t earn as much progress from winning a match or drop more progress for losing a match.
• For players who are very low ranked (like low Bronze), this modifier will show when you earn more progress for winning a match or drop less progress for losing a match.

Developer comments: This new modifier was added to show how our highest and lowest-skill players are being pushed toward a more average Rank. Competitive Play already calculates this Modifier to your Skill Rank adjustment, but it wasn't visible until now. Very high or very low-ranked players will see this Modifier after every match while they continue to maintain a Rank at the outer limits of the ranked spectrum. Climbing to the highest skill tiers like Grand Masters or Champions is not intended to be easy, and overcoming Pressure to reach the top is no longer a hidden challenge that players must face.
Grouping Restrictions
The Skill Tier legend was updated to show the changes to grouping restrictions that were applied in a previous update. The grouping restriction changes we applied are the following:

• Grand Master can now group within 3 divisions to be considered a narrow group.
• Champion can now group within 1 division to be considered a narrow group.

Developer comment: While the Season 10 changes to grouping up with friends have contributed to a large improvement in match quality for most players, we’re still looking to reduce queue times for players and groups, especially for higher ranks.
MATCHMAKING UPDATES

• When a player is currently on a loss streak, the matchmaker will try to avoid putting the player on a team that is statistically calculated to have a lower chance of winning.

Developer comments: Loss streaks never feel good. Before each match, we make a prediction about which team will win the game, based on the information we have about the players on both teams. This is how modifiers such as Consolation, Reversal, Uphill Battle, and Expected give or take additional Rank Progress after each Competitive Play match. Since most matches will have a team that has a slightly higher chance of winning, placing a player on the team with the higher chance who is currently on a losing streak is aimed at helping them have a fair chance of breaking that streak. While this won't guarantee they'll win, it does provide a helping advantage.

HERO UPDATES

• Armor health has been reverted to provide a flat damage reduction of 5 per projectile, up to a maximum of 50% damage reduction.
• Out-of-combat health regeneration changed from 20 health per second to 10 health per second + 5% of maximum health.

Developer comment: Armor is being reverted to its original functionality to better resistance rapid fire damage and shotgun-type weapons. Out- of- combat health regeneration has been a positive but subtle addition to the game, but had a much smaller impact for tank heroes due to their massive health pools, so we're adjusting it to heal for a percentage of maximum health.

TANKS

Role Passive

• Tanks now have 25% damage reduction against critical headshot damage.
• Knockback resistance increased from 30% to 50%

Developer Comment: Although armor health will now be more effective in some of the more difficult matchups, it will also be losing potency against the typically slower, higher damage instances. To help reduce the feeling of tanks being taken out too quickly by high bursts of damage, the role-wide passive now provides improved defense against critical headshot damage.

JUNKER QUEEN

Developer Comment: Junker Queen being able to activate Commanding Shout while swinging her axe or during her Ultimate ability will make it more responsive for when an additional burst of health or movement speed is needed.
Commanding Shout

• Can now be activated while using other abilities.
• Cooldown reduced from 14 to 12 seconds.

SIGMA

Developer Comment: Similar to how Graviton Surge functions, Gravitic Flux no longer needs line of sight to affect enemy targets in its area. There are a fair amount of counterplay options to deal with this ultimate so we're making it more reliable to grab enemy targets within its area of effect.
Gravitic Flux

• No longer requires line of sight to the center of the effect.

WRECKING BALL

Developer Comment: Wrecking Ball has been performing much better after his recent update and these tuning changes will help his abilities feel more impactful.
Grappling Claw

• Impact damage increased from 50 to 60.

Piledriver

• Movement lockout duration for enemies increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds.

Minefield

• Damage increased from 130 to 165.
• Explosion knockback increased from 5 to 10.

ZARYA

Developer Comment: We have been increasing the value of some tank ultimate abilities to account for the increased health pools and it helps to make the decision of when to counter-swap more of an interesting tradeoff. Graviton Surge was still very useful to set up combos with other ultimate abilities but we want to makes sure it's powerful enough on its own.
Graviton Surge

• Radius increased from 6 to 7 meters.
• Duration increased from 3.5 to 4 seconds

DAMAGE

JUNKRAT

Developer Comment: Junkrat's weapon has great damage output but is unreliable outside of close range due to its slow projectile speed, which is an intended drawback to its high output. The Season 9 health changes affected Junkrat more than most other heroes since it now requires one more shot to secure an elimination. We're increasing the damage on direct impacts to return to 2 direct hits for an elimination, without making his combo with Concussion Mine as deadly as before since that one is much easier to execute.
Frag Launcher

• Impact damage increased from 40 to 45 (Total damage increased from 120 to 125).

ECHO

Developer Comment: While the main benefit of Duplicate is a second health pool and the utility of another hero's abilities, it was often too difficult to charge an ultimate in the Duplicate time limit so we're increasing the bonus multiplier slightly.
Duplicate

• Ultimate gain multiplier while transformed increased from 4 to 4.5.

HANZO

Developer Comment: The Dragonstrike ultimate hasn't been very effective outside of being used in a combo with other abilities that restrict enemy movement, so we're increasing its speed to help position it as less of a zoning tool and more likely to deal some damage.
Speed increased from 12 to 15 meters per second.
Dragonstrike

• Speed increased from 12 to 15 meters per second.

SUPPORT

BRIGITTE

Developer Comment: Resetting the Shield Bash cooldown on ultimate activation was too much potential burst damage for Brigitte when the average maximum health of everyone was lower, but it's much more reasonable now that it won't be as lethal.
Rally

• Now resets Shield Bash cooldown upon activation.

BUG FIXES

GENERAL

• Fixed a bug with Mirrorwatch not generating stats in Game Reports.
• Fixed a bug with Competitive Progress not incrementing correctly.

MAPS

• General bug fixes and improvements were performed on multiple maps.

Eichenwalde

• Fixed an area that could cause players to temporarily become stuck.

Samoa

• Fixed a spot on the map that players could become temporarily stuck in.

Shambali

• Fixed a location where players could become stuck for a period of time.

HEROES
Mercy

• Vengeance Skin - Fixed a bug with the feathers on the skin not being properly aligned.

Venture

• Fixed a bug with Tectonic Shock that counted turrets and other non-player targets as valid for the Excavation Annihilation challenge.
• Fixed an issue that could occur with Burrow where Venture could remain burrowed above the ground.

A long read, if you take the times thanks if not. Sorry
As the title says, the state of league ranking system is in a horrible state and I feel that we’re near a tipping point of will it recover or continue to fail.
With the implementation for vanguard I feel this was a step in the right direction but one that’s probably too late.
After leveling several accounts to different areas of the system I can honestly say at this point trolls and throw away accounts and smurfs have infected all lvls of play some worse than others.
For example Bronze and Iron are horrible experiences. Iron itself is just a miserable land of giving up, trolling and ragers purposely losing games for the sheer purpose of just what ever. Instead of it being an area where true beginners can develop and learn it’s instead a prison for trolls , and any one unfortunate enough to drop in never get out from this bottomless pit of despair.
Bronze and instant this off with this . “Bronze should NOT be this hard to climb out of.” This should be a beginners climb as they develop their skills and improve to silver but instead. Bronze is a cesspool of trolls, toxic Smurf’s and throw away accounts mixed with your average players who wants to climb
It’s a horrible frustrating experience I’ve seen for these players as they try to climb and loose multiple games in a row. We all get that you can learn and grow from a loss that not all games are going to have trollers or int feeders. But from my experience here on one of my climbs this is not true.
I’ve learned to not play on the weekends, as there is a huge increase on getting trolled. Personally for me last two weeks I’ve had 5-6 games in a row of int feeders trolls or a Smurf one tricking a lane and trash talking the individual till they gave up. It’s just horrific. From a veiger claiming he was having a mental break down as he ran it down cause a friend told him to play league To a Darius who died two times to teemo the left his lane and started sabotaging his team. Thats literally a rank and a half if not two in losses a player can’t control.
I was in a game where a jungle was going top, stopped to get a grub. Then ganked had the enemy top beat when his own top flashed in to steal the kill and died cause he had possibly 50hp left. That top then raged and ran it down saying jungle did not deserve to win because they stopped for a grubs and caused the top to die.
Silver and gold kinda settle down as this seems to be far enough away from iron and lower bronze where players can actually play and build more on their skill and understandings.
Plat and emerald are basically bronze and just in reverse
Plat is the try Harding players excited to climb and emerald just seems to be the cesspool where lower rank players bought accounts to get out of bronze and iron and are now on their downward drop. While also dealing with Smurf’s boosting accounts up to emerald to sell as one trick accounts and this plague that range or ranked with the exact same issues that are in lower bronze / iron
Diamond which is the highest I ever tried to get seems to be split. Lower ranks of diamonds your dealing with the spill over from emerald. Which is frustrating. While upper diamond seems to be slightly far enough away so you don’t have to deal with that hot mess.
At this point it just feels like the lower ranks are in a chaotic shamble where new and low players can’t improve and instead just get frustrated give up and plunge the ranking system in to chaos cause their only recourse at this point is to just go buy an account for 5-10 bucks and play in emerald. But the. Cause issues as they gradually fall down the system to their proper ranking
I get vanguard stopped the bot account farming and lvling. But it doesn’t really fix any issues with the ranking system because the flood of Smurf / trolls and one trick accounts has stagnated any growth out of the lower elos so instead of a bottom to top elevation development. We are season a top down de elevation in development.

FORGOT TO POST THIS!
Thanks everyone for following along on my journey. Though I'm all the way caught up to 46, think I'm gonna call it a quits here and make this my last post! Just wanted to do a very long Terrible Take breaking down my analysis of every castaway present during WINNERS AT WAR! See my thoughts below. See you guys at Ponderosa.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
AMBER. I've always really liked Amber. And I've always been such of a fan of her love story with Rob. But if I'm being honest, I have always attributed her win more to Rob (ik ik that's messed up) and I feel like this just adds fuel to the fire. She's the only castaway that I feel like really didn't come fully prepared to play and had no idea what was going on. Still love her though.
DANNI. Don't have much to say about her other than I was honestly excited to see her! I had forgotten about her. But it was also sad to see her kind of blow her own game up.
ETHAN. So sad to see him go out so early. Felt like he was gonna make a deep run. So beautiful watching EOE rally around him as he did that firewood challenge though! Great story and I was heavily rooting for him to get back into the game.
ROB. He simultaneously played a fantastic game (that involved surviving much longer than he ever should have and carrying his entire tribe on his back during challenges) and a horrible game (that included treating sole-survivors like they weren't sole-survivors and failing miserably at challenges). Truly an icon.
PARVATI. She's played a bunch of times and only has one win to her name, but like Meryl Streep, it's not about how many times you win. She is iconic and like Rob, she lasted WAAAAYYY longer than she had any right to. She almost engineered an amazing oust of Wendell but was just an inch short.
SANDRA. I thought the queen played a pretty good game. I love her to death but she has gotten a little too cocky for my taste. Still supremely entertaining and was glad to see that she got voted out by Denise only because she would've done the same thing to Denise if the roles were reversed. Her plan would've been genius though if it had worked! Though I was disappointed that she gave up when she was sent to the edge, I expected nothing less.
YUL. So so so underrated. I loved his OG season and obviously he's good at this game as he is a sole-survivor. But i'm just now realizing he's sneakily maybe one of the best ever? His ability to be awkward and social at the same time is impeccable. He's obviously incredibly smart, good at challenges and calm. He was one of my favorites to win it all. I think the other cast aways realized that as well.
WENDELL. Wendell, Wendell, Wendell... This was a disappointing season for my man. Going into this season, he had the potential to be my all time favorite player. Instead, he fell down the power rankings. His game was so bizarre, impulsive and controlling. Just wasn't a good look.
ADAM. Man, I was on the fence about Adam on his season but ultimately gave him the benefit of the doubt due to his familial struggles. He has a beautiful story. But man was he annoying this season. I get it, it's hard to play from the bottom and he didn't deserve that mark early on. But also...he played a stupid game, was behaving like a weasel and just whined to much.
TYSON. Love me some Tyson. I was so surprised by his initial vote out. Didn't see it coming. But I absolutely adored the fact that he chose Peanut Butter. I have loved him more and more each time he has come back to play. His game was a little sketchy but I appreciate everything he brings to Survivor. Even though he didn't win, his power ranking goes up!
SOPHIE. Another winner I was hot and cold on in their original season. This time around, I feel like she actually won me over unlike Adam. She played a confident and powerful game. She definitely has a few annoying moments but I ended up liking her way more this go around. Side note- she was clearly so sick during FTC. She couldn't even move. Was it Covid? Do we know?
KIM. Even though she can he boring and bland, I loved Kim on her season just for the way she was able to dominate the game. To me, her game is very similar to Yul's. Even though she had a tough go of it on WaW, I was happy to see her put up a fight. And it was also good to see her sweat a bit after originally playing a flawless game on her season.
JEREMY. This season solidified Jeremy as my all time favorite castaway (tied at first with Cirie.) I was afraid I would like him less but I just feel like his story, emotion and strategy just shined through even more. The only reason he isn't my clear first is because he can be a sore loser and a little rude but hey... he's competitive and wants 2 million for his family. Can't fully blame him. Everyone has flaws, even Cirie.
NICK. I thought Nick was a very deserving winner during DvG. And though I thought he played a good game here for the most part, he was super cringey and slimy and just made a lot of moves he didn't have to make. So his ranking goes down a bit.
DENISE. I was a pretty big fan of Denise on her season and loved the game she played but felt like she stepped it up even further this time around. She maneuvered out of some tough situations all while keeping her cool and being a beast. I still get shivers thinking about her ruthless vote out of Sandra. That was badass.
BEN. Man, Ben had such a good underdog story his first time around. Not so much here. Between his careless play early on and his weak social game, he very much dropped the ball and annoyed everyone (myself included.) A lot of petulant child behavior. I still like him though! Think he's a good player and a fun personality. Just don't think he is aware of how he comes off.
LACINA. Man, I don't know if there has ever been a player whose stock as grown as much as Lacina. She can be a bit too emotional and doesn't always make the smartest moves (I mean who does?) but she's an impressive player and someone who, I think, represents the game of Survivor very well.
MICHELLE. Going into this season, I was someone who thought that Michelle should not have won her original season. On WAW, she was on a mission to prove that her win wasn't a fluke. Unfortunately you can't change the past. I hold strong to my opinion. BUT... I do think she proved to me unequivocally that she is a real player who is not here to mess around. Though I found her annoying, I admired her game and her the way she controlled her own destiny.
NATALIE. One of my all time favorite sole-survivors. So sad that she went first and that I wasn't going to be able to see her play. But their rationale for voting her out made total sense. Just surprised Rob didn't want to keep her around to use her relationship with Jeremy as a shield for his own marriage. I do love how much she hustled and grinded on EoE! And I was so excited when she made it back. I don't think she played a winning game against Tony specifically but was surprised she didn't get more votes. I will say, I read some interviews with her after the fact and I really didn't like her energy. But on screen, I still love her.
TONY. The King Llama. What a legend. My love for him runs deep and I make no apologies. Sure he is annoying, paranoid and some times delusional. But more often that not, he's right and his antics actually pay dividends. Definitely think he deserved to win this season (A lot of people did honestly) and I am happy that he is forever etched in Survivor textbooks!

I had a plan to finish mixing the last few tracks and move on to the next project. I'm thinking about making another music video or two for the current tracks I have out. The problem is, as I learn more about the music production process and learn new things I've come to realize just how bad my mixes are. Everytime I learn something new, I take 1 step forward, 2 steps back.
I learned how to generate music using ai, but the song arrangements are terrible. Okay, I know how to arrange music, but the mix sounds terrible and there's all kinds of noise. Okay, I learned how to apply noise reduction and spectral analysis to reduce the noise, but now I reduced too much and parts of the song are gone making it less interesting. Okay, so I learned how to use equalization and manipulate the frequencies, but I didn't account for how it would sound on differernt speakers.
So that's where I am right now. Okay, I improved the mix somewhat, it does sound slightly better on MY speakers, but if you play it on a different setup, like say a cellphone which most people are probably using these days, and it sounds completely different and it's terrible. So now I'm back to square 1. I've come to realize why it takes months for artists to release music after they're done recording because mixing and mastering is a meticulous process that takes a lot of time and concentration. Aside from that, you must be knowledgeable about all aspects of sound frequency and sound reproduction.
Well I'm not going to give up. All that means is that I have more to learn, that's no problem. The downside is that it might take even longer for me to put more music out. But I have a solution. I'm going to take some time to study for a few weeks. In the mean time, I'm going to focus on growing my channels. Since I'm working with AI music, a good portion of what's required to produce music doesn't apply (recording and working with artists/execs) so I can cut down on the learning curve by avoiding all that and focus completely on mixing and mastering.
The solution I have, is in the mean time, I will produce some more Udio songs to fill out "Legends of the Time Dragon" and have that be an Udio album. I may also produce some stray Suno songs that don't belong to any albums yet and put out the unmixed versions for people to listen to. That should keep some fresh content rolling out to keep people interested while I level up my mixing and mastering for a few weeks and continue to work on the next project, which is amazing and I have been wanting to say a few words about it.
So I will close out this blog post with a preview of what my next project is going to be like. I want all the songs to come out at the same time like an actual release, so I might just be a blogger for a little while and just post blogs to all my lurkers about all the awesome music I'm making that nobody gets to listen to.
So here is what I have to say about it. I want to leave a clue but I can't think of anything that's not going to make it obvious. The clue is "origin of darkness", this is the subject of the album. It's going to be a concept album. It's way more focused than my previous work, which was really just a result of experimentation and didn't have much focus. I have 4 songs so far that are 90-95% finished in recomposition. I'm going to say some words about each song for those people who like to read and can maybe visualize things in their mind. 3 of the songs are gothic pop metal similar to "Time Dragon Warrior" and the last song I just made is a heavier metal song that's more numetal hardcore/metalcore vibe. Another note, I'm doing away with the mirrored halfs structure that I used for some of the previous songs and giving them more variety. I plan to have around 15 songs and I'm not sure yet if it will be a mix of Suno and Udio, or if I should make Suno albums and Udio albums exclusively. So far, this album is all Suno.
- song #1 - This song I want to be in the beginning of the album maybe somewhere 2-3. It has kind of a modern sound. I don't listen to modern music so I don't really know but it's kind of gothic pop metal. It's not very heavy but it's very ominous and eerie sounding. I want it to be in the beginning because that's where it sits in regards to the concept I'm working with. It should actually be the first or second based on that but I don't want a pop-ish song to be the opener for the album, or the 2nd track. It's a great song but I want the album to have a heavier overall sound but we shall see. This song has female vocals. Aside from the gothic aspect it also sounds slightly rnb hip hop ish (in comparison) but that's not to say it's rnb or hip hop, far from it, more like tinted.
- song # 2 - This song will probably go somewhere in the middle. This is another of the goth/pop/metal but is a little more dynamic than the previous song, not to say the other song is not dynamic, this one just has a higher range and is a little bit heavier. Aside from the goth/pop sound, the metal aspect is kind of doomy power metalish. The previous song is catchy, but this song is really catchy (and doomy for those who like doom). There is a section that gives me SOAD polka vibes from one of the songs on their self titled, and the next section is grandiose, epic power metal that sounds like angels proclaiming their glory. Then before you get too comfortable with these feelings of power, some really doomy chords to remind you this song is about doom. The song goes back to that glorious sound but now there is some unease because it feels like doom is just lurking. The metal aspect is all power metal. The end is all doom, it's not too heavy or evil but very doomy. Great for people who like playing rpgs I will say that.
-song #3 - This song is going to be close to the end. This is the 3rd of the goth/pop/metal songs and is very poppy but it's super dreamy and eerie sounding. It gives me similar vibes of "Twin Peaks" theme song at times but is a heaver kind of metal song. The metal aspect is like dark, melodic numetal. It's not a heavy song, but it has some crunch similar to a not so heavy Deftones song. The song is kind of beautiful in a way, but also kind of dark and awe inspiring. Of the 3 of these, I would rank them in the reverse order I listed them, with this one being the best. The other songs are great though, but this song is just..wow. Sound wise and concept wise, it's mind blowing. This song has female vocals.
- song #4 - This song will probably be in the beginning. Out of these 4, this one is definitely my favorite and the last song I worked on. This song is actually half of a suno generation, 10% of another and maybe 25% of another song, but it sounds really badass. The style of the song is more numetal metalcore. This is closer to the music I actually want to make. For example, "Embrace the Chaos", "Through Time Dragons", "A World of Broken Dreams" minus the power metal and instead insert "Time Dragon Warrior" and that's maybe my ideal sound. When I heard the songs though, I thought they sounded pretty good though and is an interesting mix of styles I never thought could go together, so I rolled with it.
This song though, not fully close to my vision but it's getting closer. This song is definitely the heaviest so far. It starts off kind of quiet with eerie piano keys, kind of horror sounding, then it kicks it into a slight metalcore chord progression before kicking into a higher gear, which is similar to the fast verses from the previous tracks on self titled. What I really like about this song is how bouncy and aggressive the chorus is. This whole time I've been wanting to make bouncy, heavy songs but I had a hard time getting that in Suno for a while. I just got some ideas for manipulating Suno though, I will have to try those out. I still have enough credits for maybe 100 songs that expire in a few days so I gotta put those to use.
Well yeah, that is it. That's a description of the first 4 songs I have right now for the next project I'm working on. I already know what I'm going to call it and I can visualize what the cover is going to be like. This is going to be a very dark and bleak album, but the sound will have a very wide variety. Until next time when I make another blog post. I hope you all were able to make it this far.
hasta la vista bebe

Q: Do UFOs exist?

A: Yes. The way humanity interprets the word 'fact' is for the observation to be independently verified by a community which often includes evidence and supporting material. For UFOs, multiple governments, agencies such as NASA and key scientist/astronaut/military personnel have independently affirmed the existence of UFOs. Famously multiple presidents of the US have been quoted to acknowledge them as well.
Note: Be wary, as with enough scrutiny almost any claim can be reduced and dissected to the point where almost any 'fact' can be questioned, UFOs are no different. Using the term 'fact' in a society of subjective sentient beings is a logical slippery slope. But we can certainly say, as far as the word and loose interpretation of the word 'fact' goes, it is a fact that UFO's exist.

Q: Do aliens exist?

A: Almost certainly, the majority of the scientific community agrees it would be astronomically unlikely for terrestrial life to exist in isolation. Despite significant observations of life living in seemingly impossible inhospitable environments on earth, critics rightfully question "if life is abundant, why have we not seen it yet".

Q: Are the UFOs we see due to alien visitation?

A: The strategy to answer questions which don't have scientific consensus is to logically consider it with the information we do have, making the fewest assumptions with the available facts. As with the case of the visitation hypothesis, we can consider many angles and reach a logically sound position.
Most of you know that out of a sample of 100 reported sightings, only a handful are truly anomalous, the vast majority being misreported as known origin. Of the handful left we can say these are anomalous genuine UAPs. Of these, we must first consider the least assumptions and first look to whether they are anomalous in nature, but human in origin.
Before we can do that we need to briefly discuss the credibility of witness testimony. Society places a significant credibility with witness testimony. People's lives can be judged based on the testimony of a witness, such as in the case of a murder trial. Indeed the vast majority of our entire scientific understanding is based on experimental data and whilst such data is often from instruments and computers there is often a human element. Ultimately a human witnesses the experiment and records the measurements and readings. Many things can affect the credibility of a witness testimony and of particular significance are independent witnesses reporting the same observation. As is the case with the scientific methodology and 'reproduced experiments'.
To Ufologists, a large component of lore and supplementary evidence to the existence of UAPs is built on witness testimony. We should consider events such as Rendlesham Forest where a sighting was reported by multiple expert, trained military personnel who are specifically trained in identifying even advanced aircraft and weather phenomena. A report based on multiple trained, sane personnel with consistent observations to the description of a UAP sighting is what we would call a water tight witness testimony. Such a testimony would be ruled true in any court for a petty crime or murder scandal for example.
However, on the topic of "NHI" our sample size of witness testimony is lower than the case for UAPs. The cases of multiple, credible witnesses coming forward with testimony for the case of NHI are less and I struggle to think of a good example. (Please drop any in the comments).
However, in the case of supposed NHI visitations we do have a colourful array of high ranking officials and representatives of military or government who have disclosed personally that they knew of NHI visitations.

• Robert Dean
• Paul Hellyer

In these cases the credibility is more individually focused on the trustworthiness of the person rather than a coherent multiple sighting event. We must consider such testimony carefully for there are many logical explanations for such testimony being false.
For example, David Grusch is a high profile contemporary whistle-blower who has claimed the existence of NHI. Using purely logic and removing any emotional or subjective intuition we can consider at least one likely explanation for his testimony. It's very possible that Grusch is operating as per a larger more convoluted Psy-Ops on behalf of the government. We know he is a very diligent patriot with a pristine record and presents as the perfect soldier to take one for the team and blow his career and personal circumstances to lie under oath and rattle off something he's been asked to say for some greater agenda to serve his country. Such agendas we can only speculate on, but domestic manipulation of the public as well as cold-war game theory plays against adversary countries such as China. Obviously such a hypothesis is fantastical and imaginative. But so is the NHI visitation hypothesis and a global conspiracy. For those versed in the US's history of Psy-ops, particularly in the case of the CIA and NSA - such an operation involving Grusch as a false agent is absolutely consistent with some of their previous endeavours.
Disclaimer: I am not disproving Grusch, my personal opinion is he is likely telling the truth. But I am allowed my personal opinion and my personal opinion is you cannot guarantee his legitimacy without the application of some element of faith. I have always been extremely careful whenever faith is introduced to objective deductions. I hope we all are. I don't operate with beliefs so I can't answer whether I believe in Grusch or not. But I can consider both sides as a matter of consistent statistical likelihood and it's much healthier for me to assume both possibilities going forward rather than feeling the very precarious and human desire to conclude. Again I hope this is something that is common practice amongst my peers.
So answering the question of NHI having operated the UAPs we know to exist is ongoing. So far we have explored the very likely idea that life exists outside the earth. We have also considered witness testimony and found that whilst witness testimony is credible in many scenarios, it's particularly problematic to be relied on in this case. Of course Grusch is not the only one who's claimed NHI visitations but our analysis on him is applicable to others.
There is good hope for the Alien hypothesis, but first more bad news. If we believe Grusch and similar witness testimony (in Grusch's case he's not a direct witness). We must also consider that these same witnesses also claim a US government UAP project. Depending on the witnesses and whistle-blower testimony, we either have a reverse engineering capacity of UAPs to even a downright working production of UAPs ourselves. So when we consider the handful of genuine anomalous sightings for every 100 reports, when we apply further statistical analysis, we now need to account for the likelihood such sighting (especially near air force bases or military facilities) may just be human operating UAP experiments.
Obviously we have a paradox "you can't refute the NHI origin hypothesis by saying they're humans, if humans only have the technology because we reverse engineered it" and that is true so let's be clear. Using statistics and logic we may say that a truly anomalous sighting may be humans operating craft. But we may also say that craft may have been inspired by a NHI origin.
So far the answer is skewed slightly towards the likelihood of the NHI hypothesis to be false. However there is a very compelling element to the facts that critics of the NHI hypothesis struggle with.
We have a very clear and comprehensive record of UAPs in history which predates a reasonable likelihood of us having the technology at that time. Obviously the endeavours of the ancient astronaut hypothesis is colourful, fantastical and well refuted. But amongst the popularly scrutinized theory there are strong elements of logical significance. Almost all religions and teachings of native indigenous people overwhelming talk of people coming from the sky in craft, appearing different in their looks, possessing knowledge and technology and interacting with early humans. Such stories are controversial of course but enough of them exist to merit consideration.
But much more relevant to us in this argument is the existence of the Project Bluebook and the incidents which inspired its necessity. For those that aren't aware it's common knowledge to Ufologists as the allied investigations into apparently very common UAP reports known as foo fighters observed by pilots during the word war.
Our logic tells us that if any global human power at the time had that capability we would have used it. The reason for that is because as soon as we had the atomic bomb capability we used that. It's absurd to assume that a human government was responsible for the UAPs in the bluebook but didn't use them, but would use an atom bomb. It's absurd but we must remember, history is littered with absurd events that did happen. So we don't rule it out, but it more or less provides a significant and compelling argument to the NHI hypothesis for UAPs. In simple terms, they existed before we could have created them. We deduce that, because if we had UAP tech we would have used it before needing to rely on atom bombs.
Ultimately if you want an answer it has two parts; a pragmatic answer and then a severe personal caveat.
Part one: Pragmatism

For any truly anomalous sighting, it very well may be of human origin dabbling in potential NHI tech. It also may be of NHI origin. We don't have clear enough evidence to know. Whilst US military officials claim they don't have the tech or that their adversaries don't, belief of that position requires faith as they do not provide a logical argument for their hypothesis. But if we look back at the sightings throughout history it becomes more and more likely the sightings were of NHI origin.

Part two: Caveat

My personal caveat is that some FAQ's shouldn't have conclusive answers. Our scientific method which underpins our most prestigious and rigorous institution of science in the world; does not always conclude. Sometimes a question has multiple likely answers and it will take more information to reduce those to one answer. I emphatically preach this is an attitude we employ as Ufologists as ultimately we are a community of speculators and researchers. So let's leave faith at the door.

Q: Why can supposed advanced beings master interdimensional/intergalactic space traversal but then crash land on earth like amateurs?

A: This question usually has a very loaded and dangerous assumption which I don't think we can make without careful consideration. The question implies that UFOs crash landing is as problematic to NHI as it would be to us. If a military pilot crashes a plane, they may die and as an asset they are worth hundreds of millions to the government, big loss. Additionally the plane they used is extremely expensive too and may have trade secrets. For us, a pilot crash landing is a huge net loss in life and assets. When we consider the idea of UAP crash landing we are applying our human bias on them.
Firstly, the UAP may be being operated by AI, biological artificial intelligence, pilotless etc. Even if there's a biologic body inside it's very possible the actual sentient pilot was operating the body remotely the same way we operate robots remotely. The biological body left behind may be like a robot we left on the moon which we used remotely to navigate the lunar landscape. Our operators don't die if the robot is broken.
Additionally, the craft itself is likely not a multi billion dollar craft. It's probably extremely cheaply made with the avenue of advanced technology. The 4chan whistle-blower (whether you believe them or not) introduced a logically sound idea that a craft was in the sea making purpose built UAPs all the time and sending them on missions. The "mother craft" just mines the materials it needs from our sea floor and pops out a UAP, it's probably entirely automated.
Little fiction here but it paints a story which is good to consider. Imagine a un manned probe lands in the sea after having identified using photo spectrometry that our planet has certain elements. It lands and the AI finds a spot in the sea away from detention and starts mining for a probe craft. It mines and creates a probe craft. The probe craft goes out and does some recon and then either makes new craft for whatever but eventually instigates a protocol which fires up the organic biological 'pilots' which are either artificial purpose built intelligence or biological vehicles operated by remote consciousness which a sentient life form will operate from afar. Then these guys go and crash whether it's a magnetic anomaly or something else and the NHI doesn't really care and are hardly inconvenienced.
It's possible to encapsulate or hide or lock the main functions of their technology upon crashing in the same way that our advanced technology may self destruct if crash landed in a foreign land. There's also speculation that some secret key is needed to operate them.
That is all fiction, but it paints a compelling alternative to us just projecting our bias on the crash hypothesis.
Remember, to a civilization that in theory has automated its outreach reconnaissance, the most pristine system design for their drones and vehicles isn't to somehow guarantee 100% crash proof technology. But instead it's to assume crashes will happen and make sure they're not damaging nor give away their tech too much.

Q: Can we simulate or 'fake' UFO's in the sky?

A: Yes to an extent. Using lasers we have technology to create lights that can move. However radar is another matter.

Q: Why haven't we had material evidence of UAP's released to the public?

A: Grusch has kind of answered this by saying that destabilisation factors are too great.
And for those interested, this post comprehensively considers this angle and attempts to explain in layman terms why disclosure is so complicated for a government and what those reasons mean.

Q: Is there an alternative to official disclosure and catastrophic disclosure?

A: Yes, I believe there's a route forward that a community such as this one can start making progress on. With the introduction to a pragmatic disclosure which has a simple goal; remove the 'valid' reasons that disclosure is being hidden and it will no longer be hidden.

I have some challenge in deciding how to approach the logic of ranking applications.
The problem is this. I have multiple applications each of which can contain multiple components.
Now each of these components are ranked based on some metrics say metric 1, metric 2 and metric 3. The original ranking has the lowest as 5.0 and highest as 1.0.
Meanwhile in house we have to reverse this categorization with 1.0 being the lowest and 5.0 being the highest.
Since there should be a set of metrics per application, it means i have to average the metrics over the number of components per applications.
My question is thus: Should I reverse the metrics as obtained before taking the average over the components or should I take the average over the components using the as-obtained metrics and then reverse the average scores using our inhouse catgorization?
I have thought about this deeply and was hoping someone could help me out. Currently I take the average using as-obtained metrics and then reverse the scores but somehow I dunno.
I have tried my best to present the problem in the image I hope it makes some sense.
https://preview.redd.it/f8jzi40uad0d1.png?width=1654&format=png&auto=webp&s=b9cbb8ffa94bac858680f4ce9529d3a0edc96476
Kindly assist