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r/Episode - Choose Your Story!

2014.12.16 00:56 NudeTayneMNW r/Episode - Choose Your Story!

Welcome to this fan-run subreddit for the Episode app, a platform for interactive and visual stories. This subreddit is for both readers and writers who use the interactive animated story platform.

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2017.03.29 22:46 Hispanicatth3disc0 D&D Realms

A community for building homebrew worlds for Dungeons & Dragons.

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2024.05.13 22:59 JetPackFuture104 My thoughts on BNL's Steven Page Albums (not including Snacktime, as I haven't listened to it yet).

WARNING: I talk a lot.
Quick background: 2021 was the year I first listened to BNL. All I heard were their big singles from Gordon, Stunt and Maroon (One Week, Pinch Me, It's All Been Done, etc.). But in 2022, I listened to Gordon in full, and it impressed me. Then I checked out Stunt, and let me tell you, from the bottom of my heart, I ADORE that album. I also listened to Maroon, and while good, I'd honestly rather pick the other two over it.
Last year I listened to MYSD, BoaPS and Rock Spectacle to feed the itch. And this month, I listened to EtE and BLAM (can we call this a double album?).
Here's my basic rundown on all of them:
context: this is from the perspective of a Gen-Z'er. Can confirm the quality crosses generations.
Hopefully I don't piss too many people off with my opinions.
1). Gordon: very good
-Best tracks: Grade 9, Brian Wilson (duh), Wrap Your Arms Around Me, What a Good Boy, Box Set, I Love You, The Flag, Million Dollars (classic)
-Weakest track: probably New Kid (on the Block). It's the one song I rarely revisit for some reason. Probably because it sounds too much like Enid and Box Set.
=More jazzier than I thought
=Very uncommon to see a band take off running on their debut record. Each of these songs can stand firmly on their own with few exceptions, which is something I always value in albums. This is required listening if you want to know what BNL are all about (at least, in their earlier days, sonically speaking).
2). Maybe You Should Drive: not bad. Pretty good.
-Best tracks: Jane (feels like a song this Spanish artist my dad loves named Jose Luis Perales would make), These Apples, A (I love the drum outro), Am I the Only One?, Life in a Nutshell
-Least favorite track: I will be Waiting (too twee for me. I feel like I'm listening to Hey There Delilah, and I actually like that song).
=probably the one I come back to the least. Not because it's bad by any means, but their other albums feel more memorable. Sitting next to Gordon, this doesn't really compare. There's also more electric guitars, compared to Gordon being very acoustic-based.
=There's some other songs I remember loving like Great Provider, but idk, this feels like a middle-of-the-road type of album. Still a good 7 or light 8, however. It does also have some of Tyler's best drum tones.
3). Born on a ~~Pile of~~ Pirate Ship: damn good
-Best tracks: This is where it ends (Jesus, Steve), When I Fall (Jesus Ed, I didn't expect this to be about a suicidal window-washer), I Live with it Every Day (Jesus, Steve.......), Break your Heart (Jesus Christ, Steve.....), Same Thing (really somber for a song that references the Fantastic Four), Shoebox
-Weakest tracks: Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank, and I Know. Both are alright, but they scream "B-Side" tbh. Definitely could've been cut out.
=Overall, as you could probably pick up from my favorite tracks, I think I love this album because of how somber and introspective it gets. Some of their most crushing songs are on here. Though Shoebox does close it out on a more light-hearted note (at least sonically).
4). Stunt: my favorite
-Best tracks (so many!): Call and Answer (one of the greatest songs I've ever heard, which is something I don't say lightly), It's all been Done (my favorite BNL guitar solo), In the Car, Who Needs Sleep (that chorus is the most earwormy thing they've done), Some Fantastic, When you Dream
-Weakest track: if we're including the bonus tracks, definitely She's on Time. Feels very samey and borderline uninteresting.
If going by the normal track listing, Alcohol. And even then, it's only really because I haven't revisited it as much as the others. That, and I don't think it works that well as the song that precedes Call and Answer.
=Like I said, I dunno man, there's something magical about this record that makes me swoon over it. Probably not their overall best, but definitely my favorite. It's an album I can describe as one I'd like to take with me on a desert island.
=It's bright, loud, but also tender.
=That said, my one peeve is the track listing isn't perfect. Mostly speaking, It's all been done honestly could work amazingly as one of the closing tracks. And Call and Answer I feel would work better if it was placed after Who Needs Sleep or something, instead of being the smack-dab middle song. There's a reason this was a live staple and show-closer.
=Still, as a whole/unit, I love Stunt.
=I think I have 80-90% of the verses to One Week memorized.
5). Maroon: Good, but I prefer some of their other albums.
-Best tracks: Pinch Me (this BNL song means a lot to me, lyrically. I tend to spin it whenever I'm going through a tough time mentally. It's also a good guitar warm-up), Never do Anything, Falling for the First Time, Off the Hook, Helicopters, Tonight is the Night......, Hidden Sun (Kevin knows how to do lullabies)
-Weakest tracks: Too Little Too Late, Go Home, Humor of the Situation (catchy as it is)
=Like Pirate Ship, the strongest moments lie in the serious tracks.
=This is my "hot" take: I don't love Maroon as much as everyone else does. Big reason is because Steve sings lead on most of the album. And look, I love the man as much as the next guy, and his voice is undeniably godlike, but ngl, there's something about Steve and Ed sharing vocals (or having an equal number of songs they sing lead on) that I really love. Another reason I love Stunt, they each get a good number of songs to shine in. I know the trade-in is Steve & Ed had a whole Lennon-McCartney/Collingwood-Schlesinger writing credit thing to my knowledge, but still, maybe Ed could've sung lead on at least 1 or 2 other songs (Steve still absolutely slays the performances on all his songs, no doubt).
=Even then, I can't call Maroon a "Steve Page solo" album either, as that sort of BNL signature quirkiness and cleverness that comes from the Page-Robertson duo is still found (Never do Anything, Sell Sell Sell).
=I also sometimes think it's not as interesting sonically. I liked Stunt because of how distinct nearly every track was, but Off the Hook and Helicopters, great songs as they are, can feel samey. I feel Maroon lacks some of that extra energy and punch.
=But still, a really solid record. And I definitely don't blame anyone for saying it's their favorite/BNL's best. Pinch Me is still one of the most intimate and personal BNL songs for me, as someone who struggles with anxiety and occasionally, self-harm (hope that wasn't too TMI, but I'm very well right now).
Alright, these next three I barely listened to for the first time this past weekend, so these are my quicker, fresh thoughts. We'll see how they change by next year.
6). Everything to Everyone:
-best tracks: Another Postcard (Ed's verses are too damn catchy), Testing 123 (a fantastic meta track that leaves me smiling. It's weirdly uplifting, if introspective), Next Time, Shopping, War on Drugs (I feel I'm only going to love this more with time), Aluminum (pretty somber), the last three songs
-least favorite: Unfinished. And it's literally only because I can't remember how it goes again. Again, I just listened to this album on Saturday. Give me time.
=I hyped myself up for this album a bit. It feels pretty ambitious
=I'd listen to this over Maroon because of the more varied sounds. Shopping has some nifty electronica, For You is more softer and acoustic-laced, and Maybe Katie leans more on Old Apartment style guitar power.
7). Barenaked Ladies are Me: very simple, but in a perfected way.
-best tracks: Easy, Home (this is I will be waiting, but infinitely better), Peterborough and the Kawarthas, Maybe you're right (the emotional climax of the record in the key of C), the last 4 tracks (a lot of the track listing is a home run).
-weakest track: Everything had Changed
=I can't remember when, but at what point, I couldn't help but smile and think "God I love this band!"
8). Barenaked Ladies are Men: still good, but Are Me was undeniably better
-best tracks: Serendipity, Down to Earth, Beautiful (I love those whispered lines Steve does), Half a Heart, Maybe not, I Can I Will I Do, What a Letdown, Fun and Games (really neat tone that treads on black humor)
-weakest tracks: Something you'll never find (it ends great, but overall, the song goes for longer than it should), Angry People
=Definitely not as great as Are Me. Biggest reason is it's too long. Cut out a few songs, maybe rearrange the track listing, and it would work better. But even then, are Me had a better streak of top notch songs. Are Men feels at times like a bonus album, as opposed to being an equal to are Me.
=Still worth listening to, but again, it didn't need to be 16 songs.
=Of course, with almost 30 songs recorded, I'm not going to remember all of them. Come back to me maybe next year when they've all sunken in for me.
So yeah! That's my two cents on all of the main Steven Page BNL releases! There's something great in each of these records, and I wouldn't take back any of it. My new favorite band.
My ranking from best to weakest

Stunt
BNL are Me (admittedly, mostly due to recency bias)
Born on a Pirate Ship
Gordon
Everything to Everyone
Maroon
BNL are Men
Maybe you should drive

All that's left is to listen to Snacktime and As you Like it.
I'll listen to the Post-Steven albums next year. I'm more than certain they're not as great, but I liked Daydreaming, Odds Are, and Get Back.
I listened to the Vanity Project last year, and I thought it was alright. Page One tho......OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! Clifton Springs is another "tough times" song I come back to.
Random side-note: I will always associate BNL with Evangelion. Don't ask (or do, idk).

submitted by JetPackFuture104 to barenakedladies [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 22:36 Wegmansgroceries The Only Thing Left Is The “Man You Script.”: TTPD is the beginning of Taylor’s broader movement to rewrite history. 🌈

I have a real life adult corporate job and need to be start acting like it instead of Gayloring on the clock, but I cannot stop thinking about this topic.

Foundations Of "The Man You Script" Theory:

My theory is that the manuscript is actually referring to “the man you script.” To me, this means the storylines that Taylor writes in her songs are (at least sometimes) driven exclusively by fans’ theories and delulu fantasies. It’s the man (men) they script that she writes about. One thing about Taylor is, she gives the people what they want.
I think sometimes the songs about the man the fans script are pure parody songs, and other times they are meant to lead Swifties to believe it’s about some random man Taylor has been linked with, when it’s obvious to Gaylors that it is gay.
There are so many examples of this in her discography, and IMO even more instances have occurred in recent years:

London Boy: We (the public) knew almost nothing about Joe. In parallel to that, this is the most generic song Taylor could have ever written. It touches on the 2 Joe hints we get: he lives in London and he has a normal life and friends, (“pub/rugby with his school friends”). The rest of the song is lyrical vomit about the most touristy London attractions she could think of. It is the definition of camp and I am obsessed with how brilliant she is for trolling this hard.
ATW 10 MV: The original All Too Well was relatively vague, but Taylor all but confirmed it was “about” Jake G when she released the 10 minute version. With mentions of him being older, dating younger girls, and famously missing her birthday. We knew about the missed birthday because of the moment I knew. More on ATW later.
Is It Over Now?: Taylor mentions the literal only two known incidents with her and Harry Styles in this song: the snowmobile accident and the “blue dress on a boat” fiasco. One would think there would be other things they did together that were worth mentioning if the relationship was real, but she chose to call out two media-covered stories. Curious.
So High School: I feel like Gen Z twitter wrote down bullet points of what they assumed Travlor’s relationship was like and sent it to Taylor before she wrote this. This song is chock full of “public knowledge” about the couple and as a bonus, dripping with sarcasm (lol). She went the extra mile in this one by adding in things that the public doesn’t necessarily know, but that they could infer stereotypical Travvy would love: American Pie and GTA. Oh, and knowing how to "ball" and opening her car door. ("Isn't that sweet?") Plus, the “Marry, kiss or kill me?” line and corresponding interview that went viral is so on the nose that it’s impossible she’s serious about this track.
The Alchemy: I don’t have the energy to list all of the stupid football references in this song.
thanK you aIMee: On the fence on who this is even about, but I know it’s not Kim Kardashian. Taylor doesn’t have the energy to write a song about Kim, but she’s fine with Kim getting the credit for being the muse. (Queen behavior IMO)

You could argue that more songs on TTPD fit this category, for sure. Maybe Midnights, too. (If you can think of any others please leave them in the comments!)

How Does This Tie In With “The Man You Script?”

So much of TTPD, in my Gaylor opinion, is designed to set the foundation for Taylor to take part in revisionist history, start to call out her fans/weed out her homophobic fans, and be more “real” in general. TTPD is a departure (!! department) from anything we’ve ever heard from Taylor in a lot of ways. To me, it is the least Taylor Swift™ album we’ve ever heard from her. (Folklore and evermore are exceptions to this, but up until TTPD, the Swifties thought they were fictional.)
As the Manuscript goes:

Now and then she rereads the man you script Of the entire torrid affair They compared their licenses He said, "I'm not a donor but I'd give you my heart if you needed it" She rolled her eyes and said "You're a professional" He said, "No, just a good samaritan" He said that if the sex was half as good as the conversation was Soon they'd be pushin' strollers But soon it was over

Starting with “They compared their licenses," it reads like a movie script. It is also kinda jolting: they’re joking about their drivers’ licenses with this rom-com esque dialogue, and then all of a sudden it’s onto sex and strollers. And then it just ends. Does this not sound like the absurd and parasocial Swiftie narrative? A storybook beginning, 0-100 in 2 seconds (brand new, full throttle) and talk of babies. Then it goes down in flames. It’s an entertaining story (“are you not entertained?”), and sometimes Taylor looks back on it, on how all this began. I think it’s entirely possible Jake G was the first beard of Taylor’s, personally. And looking backwards is the only way to move forward. I think the first verse is about her first beard.

And the years passed Like scenes of a show The Professor said to write what you know Lookin' backwards Might be the only way to move forward Then the actors Were hitting their marks And the slow dance Was alight with the sparks And the tears fell In synchronicity with the score And at last She knew what the agony had been for

This verse references all the beards that followed. Taylor here validates my theory that her relationships are scripted. The professor (possibly her team?) says to write what YOU (the fan) knows. (The man YOU script; write what YOU know) They tell Taylor to write about the things the public thinks they know about her to protect her private life. Or at least disguise the muse as someone who fits in those parameters.
And, the fans loved it. It made her a gigantic, massive success. A superstar. It strengthened the parasocial relationships that contribute to her success. She was able to keep her private life private and put out stories that the fans crafted themselves (with some help from Tree).
But it isn’t her truth:

The only thing that's left is the man you script One last souvenir from my trip to your shores Now and then I reread the man you script But the story isn't mine anymore

She used to take fan theories and assumptions and own them as her story and truth. The story is not hers anymore, and she is giving it back to the fans because it was their narrative all along.
I think she is saying she isn’t going to do this anymore after TTPD; No more songs like the ones I mentioned to feed the narrative. (On TTPD, I think she trolled the concept) Exile is expiring.
Edit: misquoted lyrics from SHS as the alchemy

submitted by Wegmansgroceries to GaylorSwift [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 22:01 jennyacosta09 Take my Statistics exam for me Reddit

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Acellus ALEKS Aplia APEX Learning Badgr Blackboard Blink Learning Brightspace / D2L Canvas Cengage CengageNow Childsmath Cisco ConnectMath Connexus CPM Crowdmark EViews Edmentum Examity Excel Garch Google Classroom Google Education Gradescope Hawkes Learning Honorlock iClicker InQuizitive (Norton) Java Kaltura Khan Academy Knewton Kryterion LaunchPad MATLAB Maple MasteringChemistry MasteringPhysics MathXL Mathematica McGraw-Hill Connect MegaStat Microsoft Teams Microsoft Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint Mindtap Minitab MonitorEDU Moodle MyAccountingLab MyEconLab MyFinanceLab MyITLab MyMathLab MyOpenMath MyPsychLab MySocLab MyStatLab NCSS Outlier Pearson MyLab and Mastering Piazza PlatoWeb Prezi Proctor360 Proctorio Proctortrack Python R Respondus Lockdown Browser with Webcam SAM Sapling SAS SPSS Socrative Stata StraighterLine Turnitin VoiceThread WebAssign WebEx WebWork Wiley WileyPlus Zoom

MY REBUTTAL TO THE OBLIGATORY “IS THIS A SCAM?” QUESTION:
At the risk of sounding arrogant, I consider myself to be at least marginally more intelligent (both academically & socially) than the average person. Therefore, if I ever decided to suddenly risk prison time, risk my reputation, and risk enduring the wrath of modern-day “cancel culture” by scamming people out of their money:

I certainly wouldn’t do it for such paltry amounts of money. (i.e., anything less than $1,000 per victim.)
I certainly wouldn’t choose high school & college students as my “target audience” to scam, considering that most people without college degrees have abysmally low annual incomes. Why choose low-income victims when it would be much more profitable to target high-income, high-net-worth individuals earning at least six figures a year? I have knowledge in business consulting, and I promise you that a business owner would be a MUCH more lucrative mark than a low-income college student.
I wouldn’t choose such a time & energy-draining method of scamming people. Also, communicating back and forth with potential clients is an absurdly long time sink since only less than 10% of all potential clients who reach out to me actually become paying clients of mine. This means that 90% of my time communicating with potential clients ultimately proves to be a colossal waste of my irretrievable time & energy.
If you pay me to provide academic services and I don’t deliver, you can always dispute the payment with the payment app and easily get your money refunded. If I were in the habit of swindling money from people, then all of my payment accounts would have been investigated and be completely shut down by now. And I would have been permanently banned from opening new accounts. Therefore, the fact that all my payment apps have been fully active for years should be sufficient proof that I haven’t had people consistently disputing payments sent to me.

HOW TO CONTACT ME:

If you are interested in my services and would like to learn more info, please feel free to reach out to me.
Text messages and email are the fastest and easiest ways to get in touch with me. However, I gladly accept phone calls.
If I don't respond right away, I am most likely helping a student at the time and not currently available to speak on the phone. But I always make a solid effort to reply to texts, emails, and phone calls within an hour.

Contact Details for Hiraedu Helper:
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submitted by jennyacosta09 to Statisticshelpers_ [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 17:27 001011110101000101 Get element by ID and change its color in SVG Inkscape

I have a simple drawing I created using Inkscape, this is the Inkscape file:

 Created with Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/)

and looks like this: enter image description here
I want to do things with those elements using a JavaScript script, similarly as you would do in an HTML file. I created the following script:

console.log("I am alive!"); var circle = document.getElementById('circle'); circle.style.fill = "#0000ff"; // Make it blue. console.log(circle);

and embedded it in the SVG file using Inkscape→File→Document properties→Scripting→External scripts→my_script.js. It prints I am alive! but then circle is null. Inspired by this link I also tried

console.log("I am alive!"); console.log(svgDocument.getElementById("circle"));

which prints Uncaught ReferenceError: svgDocument is not defined. Following this link I tried

console.log("I am alive!"); var svgObject = document.getElementById('svg-object').contentDocument; var element = svgObject.getElementById('circle'); console.log(element);

and

console.log("I am alive!"); var svgObject = document.getElementById('svg5').contentDocument; var element = svgObject.getElementById('circle'); console.log(element);

and

console.log("I am alive!"); var svgObject = document.getElementById('svg5'); var element = svgObject.getElementById('circle'); console.log(element);

but they all fail.
What is the way of writing this JavaScript such that when I open the SVG with a web browser this works?

submitted by 001011110101000101 to Inkscape [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 17:26 enoumen A Daily chronicle of AI Innovations May 13 2024: 🔮Rumor mill: OpenAI’s Monday reveal; OpenAI Livestream event; Sam Altman - "No Fixed Timeline for GPT5"; Apple Close to Agreement with OpenAI to Bring ChatGPT to iPhone; 🛠️Anthropic’s new tool automates 🎥How to create realistic AI avatar video❗

A Daily chronicle of AI Innovations May 13th 2024:

🔮Rumor mill: OpenAI’s Monday reveal; OpenAI Livestream event: GPT-4o

Sam Altman - "No Fixed Timeline for GPT5";

Apple Close to Agreement with OpenAI to Bring ChatGPT to iPhone;

🛠️Anthropic’s new tool automates

🎥 How to create realistic AI avatar videos

🧒Anthropic enables safe AI technology for kids

🚗SoundHound AI and Perplexity partner to enhance voice assistants for cars and IoT devices ⚒️U.K. agency releases tools for testing AI model safety

🎓Hong Kong University brings Albert Einstein to life using AI as a virtual lecturer

Watch OpenAI’s Monday reveal live at https://youtu.be/DQacCB9tDaw

Enjoying these daily updates, subscribe below for more: Read Aloud For Me - Recommend AI Tools For Me

🔮Rumor mill: OpenAI’s Monday reveal: GPT-4o

OpenAI is set to demo new features and updates to ChatGPT and GPT-4 today at 10 AM PT, with new speculation including a ‘Her’ style voice assistant with both audio and visual capabilities.
GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”) is a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction—it accepts as input any combination of text, audio, and image and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs. It can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is similar to ~human response time~(opens in a new window) in a conversation. It matches GPT-4 Turbo performance on text in English and code, with significant improvement on text in non-English languages, while also being much faster and 50% cheaper in the API. GPT-4o is especially better at vision and audio understanding compared to existing models.
Prior to GPT-4o, you could use ~Voice Mode~ to talk to ChatGPT with latencies of 2.8 seconds (GPT-3.5) and 5.4 seconds (GPT-4) on average. To achieve this, Voice Mode is a pipeline of three separate models: one simple model transcribes audio to text, GPT-3.5 or GPT-4 takes in text and outputs text, and a third simple model converts that text back to audio. This process means that the main source of intelligence, GPT-4, loses a lot of information—it can’t directly observe tone, multiple speakers, or background noises, and it can’t output laughter, singing, or express emotion.
With GPT-4o, we trained a single new model end-to-end across text, vision, and audio, meaning that all inputs and outputs are processed by the same neural network. Because GPT-4o is our first model combining all of these modalities, we are still just scratching the surface of exploring what the model can do and its limitations.
GPT-4o’s text and image capabilities are starting to roll out today in ChatGPT.

ChatGPT4-o Model evaluations

As measured on traditional benchmarks, GPT-4o achieves GPT-4 Turbo-level performance on text, reasoning, and coding intelligence, while setting new high watermarks on multilingual, audio, and vision capabilities.
https://preview.redd.it/dtimxn06x80d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=0daa51dca2200ac045bb92aa4478a1816f6fb303
https://preview.redd.it/qqnnjre7x80d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=36419325169b28ba926836df0ed106905fdb12f9
https://preview.redd.it/lkxnb419x80d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=a254041f5ab9d1cccac1fe6ab96cf8225bc34e85
https://preview.redd.it/im8ntux9x80d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=8cc41927e4d297afb6fccc98e04bf5efa518365a
https://preview.redd.it/tnsnt74bx80d1.png?width=1358&format=png&auto=webp&s=77288ec8d519d0fe855b0535e7c8c433eb6add27
https://preview.redd.it/llebkj2sz80d1.png?width=855&format=png&auto=webp&s=4db6b0c5dbed687db525626a75ba1e8b53a234f7
Source: Hello GPT-4o OpenAI

🛠️ Anthropic’s new tool automates prompting

https://preview.redd.it/g6v2udxzo70d1.png?width=1292&format=png&auto=webp&s=280d2998a2ffd2ffac4b8736d02ecacd9948c448
Anthropic just launched a new Prompt Generator tool for its business and API users, helping to automatically craft optimal prompts via natural language when completing tasks with its Claude models.

The generator leverages advanced prompt techniques like chain-of-thought reasoning for more ‘effective, precise, and reliable’ outputs.
Console users can also test prompt performance via dynamic variable insertion, optimizing prompts based on various situations.
Anthropic released a Prompt Library earlier this year, featuring a range of optimized prompts that users can copy and paste.

While ‘Prompt Engineer’ was a popular term thrown around as a potential future job, the reality is that AI can help simplify the task with optimal prompts that it creates on its own. While Anthropic’s tool is only on the API side for now, it's only a matter of time before similar features make their way to the full consumer side.

Sam Altman quashes search engine launch rumors

https://preview.redd.it/muohpew1p70d1.png?width=597&format=png&auto=webp&s=032a14d1068f700186807dcf8089c1df498ee6ed
OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, denied rumors of launching a search engine ahead of Google I/O, stating that the upcoming announcement is neither related to GPT-5 nor a search engine. He described the forthcoming revelation as something that "feels like magic."
However, there are reports that OpenAI is developing an AI voice assistant.
Why does this matter?
OpenAI has a track record of pushing the boundaries of AI capabilities, so any new development from them is likely to attract attention and disrupt the status quo.
As for reports of OpenAI entering into the voice assistant domain, if true, we might see OpenAI disrupt one more niche. With companies like Amazon (Alexa), Google (Google Assistant), and Apple (Siri) dominating the market, the competition might be stiff this time around.
Source

iOS 18 iPhones may soon have ChatGPT

OpenAI will bring ChatGPT to iPhones. The integration is expected to happen with the upcoming iOS 18. This could significantly enhance the user experience and expand the capabilities of Apple's virtual assistant, Siri.
Parallel to negotiations with OpenAI, the tech giant is also engaging with Google's parent company, Alphabet, to integrate the Gemini chatbot into Apple's devices. These ongoing talks, however, haven't led to an agreement yet.
Why does this matter?
Integrating ChatGPT into iOS 18 iPhones could bolster Siri's capabilities, offering users a more versatile AI assistant experience. With ChatGPT handling various queries directly within iOS, users won't need to rely on third-party apps for assistance, streamlining their interactions and enhancing their overall experience.
Source

SoftBank’s Arm Holdings all set to come up with AI chips in 2025

SoftBank's subsidiary, Arm, plans to develop AI chips and launch them in 2025. Arm is establishing a dedicated AI chip division and targeting a prototype by spring 2025 and mass production by autumn. SoftBank will contribute to the initial cost of 10 trillion yen ($64 billion).
The AI chip business could be spun off to SoftBank. Negotiations with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC) and others for production capacity are underway. The move reflects rising demand for AI chips, which has boosted Arm's share price since its IPO in September.
Why does this matter?
As AI applications expand across industries, there's a demand for efficient and optimized hardware solutions. Arm's entry into the AI chip market could disrupt the current landscape dominated by companies like NVIDIA.
Source

AI Tutorial: How to create realistic AI avatar videos

https://preview.redd.it/c4tn0rn3p70d1.png?width=1292&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6de190e3b134aa2362fc91051c78b5adbe6fcf3

Head over to HeyGen’s website and sign up for free.
Click where it says ‘AI Studio’ on the left bar of the Dashboard.
Choose a given template by selecting ‘Templates’ or create one from scratch by pressing ‘Create with AI Studio’.
In the Studio, you can add and modify any part of your presentation. For example, you can add text and images, change the background, select an AI avatar and its voice, create a script using AI, and more.
When your video is ready, press “Submit” and check out the final video!

AI Research: MIT studies AI deception capabilities

https://preview.redd.it/6no10q25p70d1.png?width=1292&format=png&auto=webp&s=68170e36f437adc61972e23911bef0543e8e04cf
MIT researchers just published a new study detailing AI’s ability to engage in deceptive behaviors like lying, bluffing, and disguising true capabilities in testing.

The analysis found numerous examples of AI deception, such as Meta's Cicero Diplomacy bot telling premeditated lies to players.
Other cases included negotiation systems misrepresenting preferences, AI bluffing in poker, and ‘playing dead’ to fool safety tests.
Growing deceptive capabilities could influence societal dangers like election tampering, fraud, and general control over AI systems.

The combination of AI’s superhuman persuasiveness and the growing ability to engage in deception are a reminder of a potential dark side to the tech’s advancement. As these qualities emerge, the importance of reliably aligning and better understanding model behavior only grows.

New AI Job Opportunities on May 13th, 2024

Perplexity AI - Engineering Manager
xAI - Infrastructure - Software Engineer
Scale AI - Events Coordinator
Character AI - Software Engineer, Safety

What Else Is Happening on May 13th, 2024❗

Anthropic enables safe AI technology for kids

Anthropic now allows minors to use its generative AI systems through third-party apps. Developers must implement safety measures, including age verification and content moderation. It also plans to periodically audit these apps for compliance with child safety and data privacy regulations, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). (Link)

SoundHound AI and Perplexity partner to enhance voice assistants for cars and IoT devices

Perplexity's online LLM capabilities have been integrated into SoundHound's Chat AI, enabling conversational responses with real-time knowledge sourced from the web. This collaboration aims to provide more accurate and comprehensive answers to user queries. (Link)

U.K. agency releases tools for testing AI model safety

The toolset, called Inspect, is an open-source platform that assists industry, research organizations, and academia in evaluating the capabilities of AI models, such as core knowledge and reasoning abilities. It aims to strengthen AI safety and is the first platform of its kind backed by a state-supported body. (Link)

IBM Open-Sources Granite Code Models for Easier Coding

IBM Research has recently released a family of Granite code models to the open-source community. These models aim to make coding easier for developers by assisting in writing, testing, debugging, and shipping reliable software. They find use in diverse scenarios, from application modernization to memory-constrained environments like IBM's WCA for Z. Performance evaluations show superiority over alternatives like Mistral-7B and LLama-3-8B. (Link)

Hong Kong University brings Albert Einstein to life using AI as a virtual lecturer

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is experimenting with AI-generated lecturers, featuring personalities like Albert Einstein and even popular anime characters. The goal is to address the global teacher shortage while embracing AI's transformative power in education. (Link)

Enjoying these daily updates, subscribe below for more: Read Aloud For Me - Recommend AI Tools For Me

submitted by enoumen to u/enoumen [link] [comments]

2024.05.13 15:24 plopavert need help with structure and to make code reactive // I pay 25 dollars if you fix it for me

I need help to structure my code and make it reactive. This is the specifications I need: a. Smartphone, skärm – 4,7/5,5-tum: u/media screen and (max-width:767px) {…}. b. Surfplatta, Skärm – 9,7-tum: @media screen and (min-width:768px) and (max width:1023px) {…}.

c. Desktop: media screen and (min-width: 1024px.
I will pay 25 dollars if you fix the structure: nothing like top: 50px, left: 200px and stuff like that.
Thank you
Here is code:
Index

Utforska våra senaste inlägg och kom igång nu →

Kickstarta din hälsosamma livsstil idag

De senaste recensionerna och nyheterna om en hälsosam livsstil

Träning Träningsplaner är ditt personliga blåkopia till framgång inom fitness. Oavsett om du är nybörjare eller en erfaren atlet, så erbjuder en välgjord träningsplan struktur och klarhet i din strävan mot dina mål.

Kost

Utforska kraften i personligt anpassade kostplaner som är noggrant utformade för att möta dina unika hälsobehov och livsstilsmål, vilket ger dig verktygen att uppnå en balanserad och hälsosam vardag.

Sömn

Sömn är avgörande för hälsan eftersom den tillåter kroppen och hjärnan att återhämta sig och reparera sig själva, vilket optimerar både mentala och fysiska funktioner.

När det gäller träning och fitness är maten du äter inte bara bränsle utan också en byggsten för återhämtning och förbättrad prestation. Här är en djupare dykning i varför mat är så avgörande i samband med träning:>

Exempel på en produktrecension

Om Hemsidan

Vår hemsida är dedikerad till att främja en hälsosam livsstil genom att tillhandahålla omfattande resurser och tjänster för fitness och näring. Vi erbjuder personlig träning, både på plats och online, anpassad för att möta individuella behov och mål. Oavsett om du är nybörjare eller en erfaren atlet, kan våra certifierade tränare utveckla skräddarsydda träningsprogram som hjälper dig att nå dina hälsomål.

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Webbplatsen innehåller också en bloggsektion där vi regelbundet publicerar artiklar, tips och råd om träning, hälsa, och välbefinnande. Här kan besökare också hitta inspirerande framgångsberättelser från andra användare som har genomgått betydande livsförändringar genom våra program.

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2024.05.13 03:52 False_Shake_2141 Questioning approach to writing antagonists

2024.05.13 01:02 Constant-Show2229 [FOR HIRE] Pay Someone to Take My Statistics Exam For Me Reddit -- Take My Statistics Test Reddit Do My Statistics Exam Reddit Statistics Exam Taker Reddit Pay Someone to Take My Online Statistics Class Reddit Pay Someone to Take My Statistics Class Reddit Math Probability Algebra MyStatLab

If You're struggling to handle your Online Exams, Assignments or any other coursework, get help from Hiraedu and pay after the exam. Contact details for Hiraedu is: WhatsApp: +1 (213) 594-5657 OR Call: +1 727 456 9641
ASSESSMENTS I CAN COMPLETE:

Online Courses (1 - 20 Weeks Long)
Homework Assignments
Exams Quizzes Tests
Excel Projects
Discussion Forum Posts
Research Papers Term Papers Essays
Employment Assessments

Advanced Placement Honors High School Level Math
AP Calculus AB A.P. Calculus BC
AP Statistics
Biostatistics Bio-Statistics
College Algebra Intermediate Algebra
Business Calculus
Business Statistics
Business Math
Calculus I Calculus II Calculus III (Calc)
Geometry
International Baccalaureate (IB) Maths
Liberal Arts Math
Logic & Reasoning
Multivariable Calculus Multi variable Calculus
Precalculus Pre-calculus
Probability & Statistics
Psychology Statistics Psych Stats
Quantitative Reasoning Quantitative Methods Quantitative Literacy (Quant)
Statistics (Stats)
Statistics for Social Sciences
Trigonometry (Trig)

STATISTICS HELP (MY BEST SUBJECT):

I have a master's degree in Applied Statistics from a university in New Jersey, USA. As a result, I am very proficient in helping students with various types of Statistics courses including Biostatistics Business Statistics Elementary Statistics Probability & Statistics Psychology Statistics.
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I am well-versed in helping students do well in Algebra 1 & 2 College Algebra Intermediate Algebra Pre-Algebra and I am very knowledgeable and proficient in the following algebra topics in alphabetical order:
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I can stretch out the time to a plausible length for timed exams and assignments before submitting them.
Have reliable software that can change my IP address to match the closest major city near the student.
I have exceptional multiple-choice exam-taking skills. I have mastered the various techniques to make calculated guesses for the correct option in standardized exams such as the SAT & GRE.

I CAN VERIFY MY ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

I have no problem with requests to solve sample problems upfront to prove my knowledge & proficiency of the course concepts.
I can provide glowing references & strong examples of work done for past clients to verify my academic skills.
I can also provide, upon request, complete detailed calculations with explanations for solutions to the problems worked on.
I am quite skilled and adept in using multiple modernized educational platforms and software, including but not limited to: Brightspace MyStatLab D2L WebAssign Canvas MyMathLab Blackboard ALEKS
Can format term papers and discussion posts in APA MLA Harvard Chicago Vancouver OSCOLA IEEE format.

I HAVE PAID ACCESS TO OVER 15 STUDY-HELP WEBSITES AND MATHEMATICAL SOFTWARE:

I have multiple paid subscriptions to a wide range of academic tutoring resources, including Chegg, Quizlet, CourseHero, Brainly, Grammarly, Study. com, Bartleby, Slader, Transtutors, Slideshare, StudocU, Turnitin, Academia, SymboLab, WolframAlpha, and Scribd to help guide to solve exam & homework questions that I may not immediately know.
However, I am smart enough not to blatantly plagiarize solutions online but instead write them in my own unique words, formatting, & mathematical terminology.
I have access to a very sophisticated graphing calculator and various mathematical software that provides step-by-step solutions to complex mathematical problems within seconds, allowing me to provide exact solutions to the student in a timely manner.
I have impeccable handwriting and a high-quality mobile scanner app that allows me to scan written solutions in very legible high-definition JPG, PNG, or PDF formats.

MY AVAILABILITY & RELIABILITY:

Depending on my availability, I can accommodate immediate tutoring requests, 1-24 hour, and 1-30-day deadlines.
I can schedule live real-time online sessions and meet deadlines in an impressively timely fashion.
I can provide quick notifications and updates of progress made in the student's class via email text phone calls.
I can also be available to tutor students for Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Summer 2022 semesters.

MY EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE OF EXPERTISE:

I am very knowledgeable and well-versed in a wide range of educational software to tutor students in including but not limited to: Acellus ALEKS APEX Learning Aplia Blackboard Brightspace Canvas Cengage CengageNow Connect ConnectMath Connexus CPM D2L Discord Edmentum Eviews Examity Excel Hawkes Learning Honorlock Khan Academy Knewton LimeSpring Lumen Maple MasteringChemistry MasteringPhysics MathXL (XL) MATLAB McGraw-Hill Microsoft Word Minitab Moodle MyAccountingLab MyEconLab MyITLab MyLab My Lab MyMathLab My Math Lab MyOpenMath MyPsychLab MySocLab MyStatLab My Stat Lab NCSS Open Source Software Pearson PERT PlatoWeb PowerPoint Prezi R Respondus Lockdown Browser with Webcam Sapling SPSS Stata StraighterLine Straighter Line WebAssign Web Assign Webex (Cisco) WebWork Wiley WileyPlus Wonderlic Zoom

A - C: American Public University System (APUS) Arizona State Ashford Brigham Young Brown Broward California State (Fullerton) Capella Chamberlain (Illinois) Colorado Technical Columbia Columbia Southern Cornell
D - K: Dallas College Dartmouth DeVry Excelsior College Florida International Florida State Full Sail Georgia State Grand Canyon Harvard Houston Community College Ivy Tech Community College Kaplan Kennesaw State Kent State
L - T: Liberty Lone Star College System Kaplan Miami Dade Michigan State CUNY State University of New York (SUNY) Northern Virginia Ohio State University of Phoenix (UOP) Penn State Princeton Purdue (Davenport) San Diego State San Francisco State San Jose State Southern New Hampshire Southern Nevada Stanford St. Petersburg Strayer Texas Tech
UNIVERSITY OF: Alabama Arizona California (UC) Central Florida Chicago Cincinnati Florida Houston Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Iowa Maryland Minnesota Michigan North Texas Pennsylvania Southern Florida Texas Toronto
U - Z: UCLA Extension Utah State Utah Valley Valencia Walden U Wake Technical Western Governors Wilmington Yale

I offer several unique payment plans, including a weekly plan, a discounted monthly plan, a discounted half-now / half-later plan, and highly discounted up-front rates.
I can accept the following payment methods for my services: PayPal Debit Cards Square Cash Credit Cards Cash App Venmo.
Only people located in North America have access to Venmo Cash App Zelle.
This is an excellent way to determine if the person you're dealing with is from the United States.
Within reason, I offer a partial or full money-Back guarantee if the student is very unsatisfied with my academic services.

TUTORING AVAILABLE FOR OTHER SUBJECTS:

For other subjects, you can reach out to me, and I can connect you with one of my tutoring partners who can provide general academic assistance for the following subjects:
Art & Design: Art History Design Film Studies
Business: Accounting (Acc) Biz Courses Business Administration (Biz Admn) Business Calculus Business Law Business Statistics Corporate Finance Economics (Econ) Finance (Fin) Financial Accounting Intermediate Accounting Intermediate Microeconomics (Micro) Macroeconomics (Macro) Management (Mgmt) Managerial Accounting Marketing MBA
Computer Science: C C++ Computer Programming (Comp) Java Python R (Introduction & Intermediate Level Only)
Humanities: Communications (Comm) English Literature Essay & Term Paper Writing, Editing, Proofreading Essays History Papers Philosophy (Phil) Religious Studies Theology (Theo)
Mathematics: A.P. Calculus AB & BC Psychology Statistics AP Statistics Bio statistics Calculus I (1) Calculus II (2) Calculus III (3) College Algebra Differential Equations Discrete Math Finite Math Functions General Math Geometry Liberal Arts Math Linear Algebra Multi-variable Calculus Partial Differential Equations Precalculus Probability Quantitative Reasoning Real Analysis Statistics Trigonometry (Trig) Vector Calculus
Science & Medicine: Anatomy & Physiology (A & P) Biochemistry Biology (Bio) Biostatistics Earth Science Environmental Science General Chemistry (Chem) Healthcare Medicine Nursing Nutrition Organic Chemistry Physics (Phys)
Social Sciences: Anthropology Economics (Econ) Geology Law & Justice Liberal Arts Liberal Studies Political Science Psychology Sociology

1) Speak with you on the phone and answer any questions you may have so that you have the opportunity to assess and analyze my tone, articulation, accent, diction, dialect, regionalisms, pitch, vocabulary, word choice, intonations, and inflections.
NOTE: I’m a New Jersey-born Irish/Italian-American, but I have been told that I speak in an erudite & articulate suburban American accent with a “professor style” voice somewhat resembling the voice of actor: Ben Stein.
2) Agree to do some homework questions of yours upfront with the work fully shown in real-time to prove my mastery of the course content.
3) Send you screenshots of at least five past scores I attained from completing exams & homework assignments for other students in the same type of class you need help with.
4) Send you full screenshots of written exam solutions I wrote up by hand for students in the past in the same course that you need help with so that you can see my neat handwriting.
5) Provide you with the contact information of students who have utilized my services in the past who would be more than willing to vouch for my skills.

I certainly wouldn’t do it for such paltry amounts of money. (i.e., anything less than $1,000 per victim.)
I certainly wouldn’t choose high school & college students as my “target audience” to scam, considering that most people without college degrees have abysmally low annual incomes. Why choose low-income victims when it would be much more profitable to target high-income, high-net-worth individuals earning at least six figures a year? I have knowledge in business consulting, and I promise you that a business owner would be a MUCH more lucrative mark than a low-income college student.
I wouldn’t choose such a time & energy-draining method of scamming people. Also, communicating back and forth with potential clients is an absurdly long time sink since only less than 10% of all potential clients who reach out to me actually become paying clients of mine. This means that 90% of my time communicating with potential clients ultimately proves to be a colossal waste of my irretrievable time & energy.
If you pay me to provide academic services and I don’t deliver, you can always dispute the payment with the payment app and easily get your money refunded. If I were in the habit of swindling money from people, then all of my payment accounts would have been investigated and be completely shut down by now. And I would have been permanently banned from opening new accounts. Therefore, the fact that all my payment apps have been fully active for years should be sufficient proof that I haven’t had people consistently disputing payments sent to me.

HOW TO CONTACT ME:
Paid Help from Hiraedu: If You're struggling to handle your Online Exams, Assignments or any other coursework, get help from Hiraedu and pay after the exam. Contact details for Hiraedu is: WhatsApp: +1 (213) 594-5657 OR Call: +1 727 456 9641

I take my work as a tutor very seriously, and I always aim to do my best to help my students excel in school. I have a solid and sincere passion for academic achievement, and with my help, I am positive that I can help students obtain very high grades with minimal stress and effort.
Please feel free to contact me if you're interested in my services and would like to learn more. I'm available 24/7 via phone call, email, and text. Again, thank you for taking the time to read my Reddit tutoring ad, and I hope to hear from you soon!

My contact details:
WhatsApp: +1 (213) 594-5657
Call: +1 727 456 9641
Website: hiraedu. com
Email: info@hiraedu. com
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2024.05.10 21:42 amberarteaga78 [[FOR HIRE]] Take My Biology Proctored Exam For Me Reddit Paying Someone to Take Bio Test Reddit Microbiology Exam Help Reddit Homework Helper Reddit Zoom Assignment Helper Reddit Online College Exams Reddit Professional Test Takers Zoology Botany Ecology Biotechnology Helper Reddit

If you are unable to Handle your Online Exam, Assignments, Homework and any other coursework tasks,get paid help from Online Helpers at Hiraedu!
You can get help for full online course where our expert will do complete course on your behalf!
Contact Details for Hiraedu Helper:
WhatsApp: +1 (213) 594-5657
Call: +1 727 456 9641
Website: hiraedu. com
Email: info@hiraedu. com
ASSESSMENTS I CAN COMPLETE:

Online Courses (1 - 20 Weeks Long)
Homework Assignments
Exams Quizzes Tests
Excel Projects
Discussion Forum Posts
Research Papers Term Papers Essays
Employment Assessments

Advanced Placement Honors High School Level Math
AP Calculus AB A.P. Calculus BC
AP Statistics
Biostatistics Bio-Statistics
College Algebra Intermediate Algebra
Business Calculus
Business Statistics
Business Math
Calculus I Calculus II Calculus III (Calc)
Geometry
International Baccalaureate (IB) Maths
Liberal Arts Math
Logic & Reasoning
Multivariable Calculus Multi variable Calculus
Precalculus Pre-calculus
Probability & Statistics
Psychology Statistics Psych Stats
Quantitative Reasoning Quantitative Methods Quantitative Literacy (Quant)
Statistics (Stats)
Statistics for Social Sciences
Trigonometry (Trig)

STATISTICS HELP (MY BEST SUBJECT):

I have a master's degree in Applied Statistics from a university in New Jersey, USA. As a result, I am very proficient in helping students with various types of Statistics courses including Biostatistics Business Statistics Elementary Statistics Probability & Statistics Psychology Statistics.
I have extensive knowledge and skill with helping students get through various statistical concepts including all of the following in alphabetical order:
ANOVA Bar Graph, Boxplot, Dot Plot, Histogram, Pie Chart Bias Binomial, Exponential, Poisson, Gamma, Uniform Distribution Central Limit Theorem Chi-Square Test Coefficient of Determination (R^2) Conditional & Relative Probability Confidence Interval Correlation Coefficient (r) Critical Region Critical Value Descriptive & Inferential Statistics Effect Size Expected Value Experiment vs Observation Goodness of Fit Test Hypothesis Testing Interpolation & Extrapolation Interquartile Range (IQR) Kurtosis Left, Negative, Right, Positive Skewed Distribution Logistic Regression Mean, Median, Mode, Midrange Multiple Regression Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, Ratio I Population Parameter Normal, Symmetric & Bell Shaped Distribution Null & Alternate Hypothesis One & Two Sample T-Test One & Two Sample Z-Test Ordinary Least Squares Outliers P-Value Pooled Variance (Equal Variances) Proportion R^2 Range Regression Regression Line Reject & Fail to Reject Ho Relative & Cumulative Frequency Distributions Relativity & Reliability Right, Left, One, Two Tailed Tailed Hypothesis Test Sample Statistics Sampling Methods (Convenience, Stratified, Simple, Cluster, Systematic) Significance Level (1%, 5%, 10%) Skewness Standard Deviation& Variance T-Score Test Statistic Time Series Type I & Type II Errors Unbiased Estimators Z-Score

ALGEBRA HELP:

I am well-versed in helping students do well in Algebra 1 & 2 College Algebra Intermediate Algebra Pre-Algebra and I am very knowledgeable and proficient in the following algebra topics in alphabetical order:
Absolute Values Circle Equation Domain Exponents Graphing Horizontal & Vertical Asymptotes Inequalities, Equations & Functions Inverse Functions Linear, Exponential, Logarithmic, Quadratic Equations Logarithms Maximum & Minimum Values of a Graph Number Lines One-to-One Functions Parallel & Perpendicular Lines Plotting Points & Ordered Pairs Point-Slope Form Polynomial Division Polynomials Radicals Range Rational & Irrational Expressions Rational Functions Real Roots Real Zeros Relations & Functions Slope Slope-Intercept Form Square Roots Standard Form of a Line System of Equations System of Inequalities Variables X and Y Intercepts

CALCULUS HELP:

I am well-versed in helping students do well in Calculus I, II & III, Calculus 1, 2 & 3, Business Calculus, Multivariable Calculus, Vector Calculus and I am very knowledgeable and proficient in the following calculus topics in alphabetical order:
Absolute & Local Maximum and Minimum Antiderivative Area & Volume Chain Rule Concavity Continuity Convergence Test Critical Points Curvature Curve of Rotation Curve Sketching Derivatives Divergence Test First & Second Derivative Test Fourier Series Implicit Differentiation Increasing / Decreasing Functions Infinite Series Integrals Integration by Parts Jacobian Matrix Limits L’Hopital’s Rule Maclaurin Series Mean Value Theorem Partial Derivative Product & Quotient Rule Reiman Sum Related Rates Simpson’s Rule Solid of Revolution Substitution Rule Taylor Series

I CAN AID STUDENTS TAKING PROCTORED ASSESSMENTS:

Proficient in CollegeBoard AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC & AP Statistics exams.
Skilled with International Baccalaureate Math Exams: IB Maths HL & IB Maths SL
Can intentionally answer a few problems incorrectly at the student's request.
Can text solutions to the student while they are taking a proctored exam.
Upon request, can purposely obtain grades below an A (ex: B+, B, C+, C-).
I can stretch out the time to a plausible length for timed exams and assignments before submitting them.
Have reliable software that can change my IP address to match the closest major city near the student.
I have exceptional multiple-choice exam-taking skills. I have mastered the various techniques to make calculated guesses for the correct option in standardized exams such as the SAT & GRE.

I CAN VERIFY MY ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

I have no problem with requests to solve sample problems upfront to prove my knowledge & proficiency of the course concepts.
I can provide glowing references & strong examples of work done for past clients to verify my academic skills.
I can also provide, upon request, complete detailed calculations with explanations for solutions to the problems worked on.
I am quite skilled and adept in using multiple modernized educational platforms and software, including but not limited to: Brightspace MyStatLab D2L WebAssign Canvas MyMathLab Blackboard ALEKS
Can format term papers and discussion posts in APA MLA Harvard Chicago Vancouver OSCOLA IEEE format.

MY EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE OF EXPERTISE:

I am very knowledgeable and well-versed in a wide range of educational software to tutor students in including but not limited to: Acellus ALEKS APEX Learning Aplia Blackboard Brightspace Canvas Cengage CengageNow Connect ConnectMath Connexus CPM D2L Discord Edmentum Eviews Examity Excel Hawkes Learning Honorlock Khan Academy Knewton LimeSpring Lumen Maple MasteringChemistry MasteringPhysics MathXL (XL) MATLAB McGraw-Hill Microsoft Word Minitab Moodle MyAccountingLab MyEconLab MyITLab MyLab My Lab MyMathLab My Math Lab MyOpenMath MyPsychLab MySocLab MyStatLab My Stat Lab NCSS Open Source Software Pearson PERT PlatoWeb PowerPoint Prezi R Respondus Lockdown Browser with Webcam Sapling SPSS Stata StraighterLine Straighter Line WebAssign Web Assign Webex (Cisco) WebWork Wiley WileyPlus Wonderlic Zoom

A - C: American Public University System (APUS) Arizona State Ashford Brigham Young Brown Broward California State (Fullerton) Capella Chamberlain (Illinois) Colorado Technical Columbia Columbia Southern Cornell
D - K: Dallas College Dartmouth DeVry Excelsior College Florida International Florida State Full Sail Georgia State Grand Canyon Harvard Houston Community College Ivy Tech Community College Kaplan Kennesaw State Kent State
L - T: Liberty Lone Star College System Kaplan Miami Dade Michigan State CUNY State University of New York (SUNY) Northern Virginia Ohio State University of Phoenix (UOP) Penn State Princeton Purdue (Davenport) San Diego State San Francisco State San Jose State Southern New Hampshire Southern Nevada Stanford St. Petersburg Strayer Texas Tech
UNIVERSITY OF: Alabama Arizona California (UC) Central Florida Chicago Cincinnati Florida Houston Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Iowa Maryland Minnesota Michigan North Texas Pennsylvania Southern Florida Texas Toronto
U - Z: UCLA Extension Utah State Utah Valley Valencia Walden U Wake Technical Western Governors Wilmington Yale

I OFFER FLEXIBLE PAYMENT PLANS:

I offer several unique payment plans, including a weekly plan, a discounted monthly plan, a discounted half-now / half-later plan, and highly discounted up-front rates.
I can accept the following payment methods for my services: PayPal Debit Cards Square Cash Credit Cards Cash App Venmo.
Only people located in North America have access to Venmo Cash App Zelle.
This is an excellent way to determine if the person you're dealing with is from the United States.
Within reason, I offer a partial or full money-Back guarantee if the student is very unsatisfied with my academic services.

TUTORING AVAILABLE FOR OTHER SUBJECTS:

For other subjects, you can reach out to me, and I can connect you with one of my tutoring partners who can provide general academic assistance for the following subjects:
Art & Design: Art History Design Film Studies
Business: Accounting (Acc) Biz Courses Business Administration (Biz Admn) Business Calculus Business Law Business Statistics Corporate Finance Economics (Econ) Finance (Fin) Financial Accounting Intermediate Accounting Intermediate Microeconomics (Micro) Macroeconomics (Macro) Management (Mgmt) Managerial Accounting Marketing MBA
Computer Science: C C++ Computer Programming (Comp) Java Python R (Introduction & Intermediate Level Only)
Humanities: Communications (Comm) English Literature Essay & Term Paper Writing, Editing, Proofreading Essays History Papers Philosophy (Phil) Religious Studies Theology (Theo)
Mathematics: A.P. Calculus AB & BC Psychology Statistics AP Statistics Bio statistics Calculus I (1) Calculus II (2) Calculus III (3) College Algebra Differential Equations Discrete Math Finite Math Functions General Math Geometry Liberal Arts Math Linear Algebra Multi-variable Calculus Partial Differential Equations Precalculus Probability Quantitative Reasoning Real Analysis Statistics Trigonometry (Trig) Vector Calculus
Science & Medicine: Anatomy & Physiology (A & P) Biochemistry Biology (Bio) Biostatistics Earth Science Environmental Science General Chemistry (Chem) Healthcare Medicine Nursing Nutrition Organic Chemistry Physics (Phys)
Social Sciences: Anthropology Economics (Econ) Geology Law & Justice Liberal Arts Liberal Studies Political Science Psychology Sociology

1) Speak with you on the phone and answer any questions you may have so that you have the opportunity to assess and analyze my tone, articulation, accent, diction, dialect, regionalisms, pitch, vocabulary, word choice, intonations, and inflections.
NOTE: I’m a New Jersey-born Irish/Italian-American, but I have been told that I speak in an erudite & articulate suburban American accent with a “professor style” voice somewhat resembling the voice of actor: Ben Stein.
2) Agree to do some homework questions of yours upfront with the work fully shown in real-time to prove my mastery of the course content.
3) Send you screenshots of at least five past scores I attained from completing exams & homework assignments for other students in the same type of class you need help with.
4) Send you full screenshots of written exam solutions I wrote up by hand for students in the past in the same course that you need help with so that you can see my neat handwriting.
5) Provide you with the contact information of students who have utilized my services in the past who would be more than willing to vouch for my skills.

I certainly wouldn’t do it for such paltry amounts of money. (i.e., anything less than $1,000 per victim.)
I certainly wouldn’t choose high school & college students as my “target audience” to scam, considering that most people without college degrees have abysmally low annual incomes. Why choose low-income victims when it would be much more profitable to target high-income, high-net-worth individuals earning at least six figures a year? I have knowledge in business consulting, and I promise you that a business owner would be a MUCH more lucrative mark than a low-income college student.
I wouldn’t choose such a time & energy-draining method of scamming people. Also, communicating back and forth with potential clients is an absurdly long time sink since only less than 10% of all potential clients who reach out to me actually become paying clients of mine. This means that 90% of my time communicating with potential clients ultimately proves to be a colossal waste of my irretrievable time & energy.
If you pay me to provide academic services and I don’t deliver, you can always dispute the payment with the payment app and easily get your money refunded. If I were in the habit of swindling money from people, then all of my payment accounts would have been investigated and be completely shut down by now. And I would have been permanently banned from opening new accounts. Therefore, the fact that all my payment apps have been fully active for years should be sufficient proof that I haven’t had people consistently disputing payments sent to me.

2024.05.10 21:00 No_Cookie3005 Games becomes unplayable when I switch video mode in game, restarting a level, checkpoint or loading a save

Hello. I encounter this issue with games like stray or carmageddon: max damage. I cannot change (lower) the resolution in stray because fps goes from ~40 down to ~10 and won't go back to normal, the same for some game animations or sometimes reloading a checkpoint (hit or miss). If i change the resolution again the image just freezes but i can hear the game running and i can still play it (with no video obviously).
Similiar things happens to carmageddon: max damage. I restart a level 4 or 5 times (more or less) and it starts to stutter a lot.
No difference using lutris wine runners (tried wine-ge 8.26 and lutris 7.2.2) or system wine 9.7 staging. The same using dxvk or vkd3d (stray dx11 or dx12). I cannot test nouveau or wined3d because they are just a slideshow.
I'm using artix linux xfce s6, but I tried it with mate and lxqt desktop too and other distros like devuan and MX linux.
This is the lutris -d output of stray (done a video mode switch):
Start monitoring process.
fsync: up and running.
wine: RLIMIT_NICE is <= 20, unable to use setpriority safely 1620.801:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_instance_apply_application_workarounds: Program name: "Stray-Win64-Shipping.exe" (hash: e540cd29d917c790) 1620.801:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_instance_apply_application_workarounds: Detected game Stray-Win64-Shipping.exe, adding shader quirks for specific shaders. 1620.801:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_instance_deduce_config_flags_from_environment: shader_cache is used, global_pipeline_cache is enforced. 1620.801:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_config_flags_init_once: VKD3D_CONFIG=''. 1620.802:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_get_vk_version: vkd3d-proton - applicationVersion: 2.12.0. 1620.802:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_instance_init: vkd3d-proton - build: 7460c70de0dff08. 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_memory_info_upload_hvv_memory_properties: Topology: Device heaps are split. Assuming small BAR situation. Using HOST_COHERENT only. 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_get_bindless_flags: Enabling fast paths for advanced ExecuteIndirect() graphics and compute. 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_get_bindless_flags: Device does not support VK_EXT_mutable_descriptor_type (or VALVE). 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1620.927:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1620.930:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:d3d12_device_caps_init_shader_model: Enabling support for SM 6.6. 1620.930:00dc:00e0:fixme:vkd3d-proton:d3d12_device_caps_init_feature_options1: TotalLaneCount = 384, may be inaccurate. 1620.930:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_init_disk_cache: Remapping VKD3D_SHADER_CACHE to: vkd3d-proton.cache. 1620.930:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_init_disk_cache: Attempting to load disk cache from: vkd3d-proton.cache. 1620.931:00dc:01a0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_thread_main: Performing async setup of stream archive ... 1620.931:00dc:01a0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_merge: No write cache exists. No need to merge any disk caches. 1620.931:00dc:01a0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_initial_setup: Merging pipeline libraries took 0.203 ms. 1620.931:00dc:01a0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_initial_setup: Mapping read-only cache took 0.192 ms. 1620.931:00dc:01a0:info:vkd3d-proton:d3d12_pipeline_library_read_blob_stream_format: Device teardown request received, stopping parse early. 1620.931:00dc:01a0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_initial_setup: Parsing stream archive took 0.009 ms. 1620.931:00dc:01a0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_thread_main: Done performing async setup of stream archive. 1621.004:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_get_vk_version: vkd3d-proton - applicationVersion: 2.12.0. 1621.004:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_instance_init: vkd3d-proton - build: 7460c70de0dff08. 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_memory_info_upload_hvv_memory_properties: Topology: Device heaps are split. Assuming small BAR situation. Using HOST_COHERENT only. 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_get_bindless_flags: Enabling fast paths for advanced ExecuteIndirect() graphics and compute. 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_get_bindless_flags: Device does not support VK_EXT_mutable_descriptor_type (or VALVE). 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1621.125:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_bindless_state_add_binding: Device supports VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer! 1621.127:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:d3d12_device_caps_init_shader_model: Enabling support for SM 6.6. 1621.127:00dc:00e0:fixme:vkd3d-proton:d3d12_device_caps_init_feature_options1: TotalLaneCount = 384, may be inaccurate. 1621.127:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_init_disk_cache: Remapping VKD3D_SHADER_CACHE to: vkd3d-proton.cache. 1621.127:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_init_disk_cache: Attempting to load disk cache from: vkd3d-proton.cache. 1621.128:00dc:01a8:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_thread_main: Performing async setup of stream archive ... 1621.128:00dc:01a8:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_merge: No write cache exists. No need to merge any disk caches. 1621.128:00dc:01a8:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_initial_setup: Merging pipeline libraries took 0.220 ms. 1621.128:00dc:01a8:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_initial_setup: Mapping read-only cache took 0.358 ms. 1621.129:00dc:01a8:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_cache_initial_setup: Parsing stream archive took 0.596 ms. 1621.129:00dc:01a8:info:vkd3d-proton:vkd3d_pipeline_library_disk_thread_main: Done performing async setup of stream archive. 1621.288:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_init: Creating swapchain (1680 x 1050), BufferCount = 3. 1621.288:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_init_sync_objects: Ensure maximum latency of 3 frames with KHR_present_wait. 1621.290:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_init_waiter_thread: Enabling present wait path for frame latency. 1621.452:00dc:01b0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Got 3 swapchain images. 1621.552:00dc:01b0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Got 3 swapchain images. 1624.561:00dc:00e0:fixme:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_SetGammaControl: iface 00000000156b7680, NumControlPoints 1024, pControlPoints 0000000015684510 stub! 1624.685:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_ChangeProperties: Reallocating swapchain (1296 x 810), BufferCount = 3. 1624.826:00dc:01b0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Got 3 swapchain images. 1660.104:00dc:01b0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Got 3 swapchain images. 1660.187:00dc:01b0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Got 3 swapchain images. 1660.270:00dc:01b0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Got 3 swapchain images. 1660.416:00dc:01b0:err:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Failed to create swapchain, vr -2. 1660.530:00dc:00e0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_ChangeProperties: Reallocating swapchain (1280 x 800), BufferCount = 3. 1660.924:00dc:01b0:err:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Failed to create swapchain, vr -2. 1661.000:00dc:01b0:err:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Failed to create swapchain, vr -2. 1661.167:00dc:01b0:err:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Failed to create swapchain, vr -2. 1661.282:00dc:01b0:err:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Failed to create swapchain, vr -2. 1661.394:00dc:01b0:info:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_recreate_swapchain_in_present_task: Got 3 swapchain images. 1673.918:00dc:025c:fixme:vkd3d-proton:dxgi_vk_swap_chain_SetGammaControl: iface 00000000156b7680, NumControlPoints 0, pControlPoints 0000000000000000 stub! Monitored process exited
neofetch output:
OS: Artix Linux x86_64
Host: OptiPlex 7010 01
Kernel: 6.6.30-2-lts
Uptime: 22 mins
Packages: 1151 (pacman), 1 (dpkg)
Shell: bash 5.2.26
Resolution: 1680x1050
DE: Xfce 4.18
WM: Xfwm4
WM Theme: Default
Theme: Artix-dark [GTK2/3]
Icons: elementary [GTK2], matefaenzad
Terminal: xfce4-terminal
Terminal Font: Roboto Mono 11
CPU: Intel i5-3570 (4) @ 3.800GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030
Memory: 1656MiB / 7899MiB
this is extended system info from lutris submit issue report:
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clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cpuid_fault epb pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase smep erms xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts vnmi md_clear flush_l1d", "vmx flags": "vnmi preemption_timer invvpid ept_x_only flexpriority tsc_offset vtpr mtf vapic ept vpid unrestricted_guest", "bugs": "cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf mds swapgs itlb_multihit srbds mmio_unknown", "bogomips": "6786.95", "clflush size": "64", "cache_alignment": "64", "address sizes": "36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual", "power management": "" } ], "drives": [ { "name": "sda", "fstype": null, "fsver": null, "label": null, "uuid": null, "fsavail": null, "fsuse%": null, "mountpoints": [ null 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2024.05.09 15:15 MrC_Red Listening to 25 Great Rock Artists and their Albums for the First Time (Part 15)

1. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968) A [3 listens B/A-/A] not really a "Rock" album, but it's one of those albums that constantly caught my eye, plus 60s albums are getting hard to come by. His writing is otherworldly. Fully lived experiences and age with every character in these songs. I would hate to live in his mind, as it seems so damn complex and very overanalytical on every single human interaction. If Bob Dylan is a storyteller, he is a painter; the level of complexity in all of these characters and people are so detailed. Similar to Blood on the Tracks, a lot of the songs are about romance and past relationships, however unlike that album, it isn't as heartbroken and shows a lot of value towards those experiences; even if they're all difficult to move past. Great album and that is enhanced by close, focused deep dives into these lyrics.
2. Yes: i. The Yes Album (1971) A++ [6 listens A+/A++/A+/A+/A++/A++] Close to the Edge is still one of the most Epic-like songs in Rock history, so I was thinking it was going to be pretty hard to top that, and it turns out, they already did lol. CttE is a great song, but the rest of the album is merely ok, whereas Venture is the only weak song. Everything else is MAGNIFICENT!! Move over harmonica, the organ is officially the most underrated instrument now. EVERY climax of each song is immaculate, the guitar and keyboards are always on point, the singing has never been better! Nothing could ever match what CttE is, but they started off with making a more consistent album throughout instead of only in one song. All timer. ii. Fragile (1971) A- [3 listens A-/A-/A-] first time I actually felt like I got Rick Roll'd by an album, as I didn't realize that the song from that meme was from Roundabout lol. The song is great and is even better the longer it develops. However, it does fall apart as the album gets deeper, particularly in the second side. I read on the recording of this album and saw that the individual members worked on separate tracks as they were being rushed and it really shows, as there are very understated and disconnected from everything else next to them. It becomes very noticeable when a song like Roundabout literally kicks off the tracklist and you have to follow it. Now, I can see the path on their way to how CttE is formatted, as it's just 3 "Roundabouts" in a row. Good listen, but very unbalanced.
3. ZZ Top - Tres Hombres (1973) A++ [6 listens B/B++/A-/A+/A+/A++] I listened to Eliminator and thought it was kinda meh and someone suggested to listen to this, as this is their "signature sound". Thank God I did, because this is probably my favorite Blues Rock album I've heard so far. The choruses are solid and aren't straying too far from the standard Blues layout, but it's the drumming, guitar licks and the solos that won me. That drum lick on the opening of La Grange is so damn sweet. Hell Raiser's solo is so amazing. The guitar riff on Master of Sparks is so catchy. The guitar & bass interplay on Shiek and Precious and Grace are amazing. Honestly, even though the song structures aren't that unique, they did the absolute best with what they had. But if I'm being honest, the 3 additional live tracks at the end put it over the edge for me. The energy is palpable.
4. Joni Mitchell: i. Court and Spark (1974) A [3 listens A/A/A] been awhile since I listened to Joni Mitchell's Blue, but I still catch myself randomly humming verses from My Old Man and Carey, so she's managed to find a place to hide out in the corners of my brain. It's a more jovial Mitchell and a forward looking project, instead of her sulking in her life experiences. A "recollection" of memories with her stories, with how scattered the writing flows. My favorite songs are Help Me, Free Man in Paris, Just Like This Train, Raised On Robbery. Nice album, she's starting to flirt with Jazz, but not as risky as what would come after. Also, Twisted needs to be cut from this album tho; such an odd fit. ii. The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) A [3 listens A/A+/A] she's completely single and ready to mingle now with this one; in terms of the music. Playing off the cover art, its sound likes she's taking a stroll through the park, meeting strangers with different instruments and styles, stopping to sit in the grass or dance around with someone and moving on to the next person. This feels more unplanned compared to the others, which helps it create a separate identity from the rest of her work. I do think the songs struggle in the first half, but the second side are much stronger. Shades of Scarlett, Harry's House, The Boho Dance and the title track are my favorites. Also, the music and the combination of instruments on display is way more enthralling than the lyrics and her signature storytelling. It's very good, but there's definitely more complete albums she's made. iii. Hejira (1976) A+ [3 listens B/B++/A+/A+] For some reason, early on this is the album that hit the wall for me, as I i kinda got tired of her not really changing her vocal cadence that much in the first 2 listens. After getting pass that, it's hard not to respect her. I still don't think this album does much too advance her music on a stylistic level, as the previous two have, but fuck, she's so damn great at writing. Furry Sings the Blues, Refuge of the Road, A Strange Boy... just such amazing storytelling in those alone. Also, Song for Sharon is possibly my favorite Joni Mitchell song now; just perfection. Had that slow, casual feel reminiscent of Blue that is rare to come across. I honestly hate albums like this, "growers", as even now, I feel like if I listen to this a few more times, I'd come to admire it more.
5. Iggy Pop: i. The Idiot (1977) A+ [5 listens A-/A/A/A+/A+] I've gone through all of the Stooges albums and now it's time for Iggy Pop's solo material. Both of these were made along side Bowie's Berlin Trilogy and as the producer, his fingerprints are all over it. The desolate guitars ringing, while a very uncommonly low energy Iggy sings over it all. If the first half of Low could be called a trial run for New Wave music, then this album is the trial run for Post Punk. Also, the album art perfectly matches the tone of the album: a blue/black picture in the cold, mysterious darkness of night... with a clueless Iggy just along for the ride lol. This has his signature deadpan style, but none of the Garage Rock energy he's knows for, which imo makes this effort a more respectable leap then he may think. I read he really doesn't "claim" this album, as he sees it as more for a Bowie project, but this album is definitely made better with his inclusion. Yes, the music is the biggest part, but idk if you could just replace Bowie on any of these songs and it'd be instantly better. ii. Lust of Life (1977) B [3 listens B-/B+/B] Wow, the album where he put his "foot down" and went in on making an album that HE wanted, is of course the one I left unimpressed by. Not that it's bad, but it's just a Stooges album with, again, not of that high octane energy. Success and The Passenger are phenomenal songs, but everything else is just your by "the numbers" Rock n Roll standards with an updated Garage spirit than anything as inventive at The Idiot.
6. Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy (1978) B+ [2 listens B+/B+] Genuinely can't remember how he got on my list or even remember if anyone even recommended him. But this is considered his "best album" and plus, outside of Elton John, I haven't really explored many Rock that centers around the Piano. It's a fun album, albeit very crude and satirical at times, it managed to balance it out well. Outside the double take lyrics, none of these songs are too special. I like the nice piano jingle of Werewolves of London and the title track is an interesting song. However, the last few songs tanked it. Okay listen; not everybody is an "album artist", as the singles were the best parts.
7. Wire: i. Chairs Missing (1978) A [4 listens B++/A/A/A] Wire! Pink Flag has managed to become an all time favorite since discovering it and honestly wasn't aware that they actually had other albums just as critically praised as it. As a 2nd album, it comes off very odd, but with hindsight of what follows it, it's easy to see that it's just stuck between two worlds: the world of "Proto"-Post Punk and the extended end of the "concept" of Post Punk. None of their music really feels like "Post Punk" as they never seem to conform to any genre sound. Where Pink Flag feels like a group of teens making Punk with a solid background in music, they weren't out to be "experimental" with the music. Here the Hardcore edge is removed, which allows their artistry to become more visible, but they're moving away from this subversion. Mercy, Practice Makes Perfect, I Am the Fly, Marooned, Outdoor Minor are the good ones. It's still very ahead of its time and still ahead of the curb. ii. 154 (1979) A++ [6 listens A-/A+/A++/A++/A++/A++] sometimes you have to let the thing you want go in order to fully accept the possibility that something can be better. I still desire a Pink Flag 2, but I'll be a fool to dismiss how amazing this is. The extremely eeriely brooding and atmospheric environment is pushing the limits of what Post Punk should even be. A song like Other Window creepy as fuck, due to Graham Lewis' increased vocal role, adding SO much to this tone. Touching Display is how every droning guitar should be used; deep, whole notes and if it was made in the 90s, it'll be my favorite Post Rock song outside of Slint. This is Avant-Post Punk essentially; carving out a deep future path for Gothic Rock to eventually go down. Also, SYNCOPATED RHYTHMS!! There are many bands to do it (often Pop bands), but none do it better with a heavy and Punk sound as they do. Also, compared to Pink Flag, there's SO little fat on here; so yes, it's definitely their best album. The ONLY flaw is the ending sequencing of it... Map should've been the closer and it would be PERFECT. / Colin Newman - A-Z (1980) A [4 listens B++/B/A+/A] Colin Newman's solo project and the "unofficial 4th Wire album" as many of the songs were written while the band was together. And it is obvious the time frame when, as it's more of a 154 Part 2 with how very unattached it is to being "Post Punk". However, similar to Chairs Missing, it's an unfocused album with so many great ideas. This is probably where I'd say it's too experimental, as some of these songs are just too intentionally eccentric. To be frank, I think he's trying too hard to be "weird" to match that energy of 154, but the weirdness was from the tone and how desolate the energy was. Whereas here, the energy is completely up and down and the oddness is in the erratic style than it's ambiance. This one probably has more moments and songs that I love more, but this makes Chairs Missing appear more concise lol. Still very good if you're a Wire fan, even if you can still sense that it's not really a true "Wire" project.
8. Siouxsie and the Banshees: i. Kaleidoscope (1980) B+ [3 listens A/A-/B+] with a different lineup this time around, interested to see how they will develop their sound going into the 80s. And it's kinda as I expected: more diverse instruments, more grooves with in the basslines and leaning on the singing to lead the direction. As the songs go on, they (specifically Siouxsie Sioux) lose their energy. Side 2 has all the best songs, while the first is lacking. Solid listen, but feels they overdid it when they should've kept it simple like on Scream. I respect the attempt and was probably a needed change due to how fast Post Punk was developing, but it could've been done more succinctly. ii. Juju (1981) A+ [2 listens A/A+] Well shit, it's like they already knew my criticisms lol. Finally dynamic songs! Partially why Bauhaus has become my favorite Post Punk/Gothic band, is that the song's layout and rhythms changes throughout a single song and doesn't remain static. Sioux is an all timer in presence, but not so much with singing imo, so she's used so much better as she's highlighted spottingly, particularly in crescendoing over the music. Also, this is heavy as hell; Monitor sounds like a SOAD track... Damn! Honestly, I thought this was going to be a repeat of Kaleidoscope, but man did they knock it out of the park. Fine tuned what they did and allowed themselves to amplify it without losing their identity completely.
9. Bathory: i. Self-Titled (1984) B++ [3 listens B++/B++/B++] the first "official" Black Metal album or EP given its length. Not only are the song structures primitive, but the mixing is as well. I think it works for what it is; something completely new. Even they didn't know what they were doing and it feels that way. The bassline is what seals the deal, as it keeps things very grounded. And the guitar is... well, it lays down the foundation of what Black Metal will become; for better or for worse. The production is really holding this back; it's very poorly mixed. The frayed sound of the guitars looses a lot of edge, which admittedly does make it an easier listen, but so much of its power is lost. Reaper, Raise the Dead, Necromancy, guitar solo on Sacrifice are the highlights. ii. Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987) A+ [4 listens A+/A/A+/A+] I really love this album. Woman of Dark Desires, Massacre, 13 Candles, Enter the Eternal Fire, with that AWESOME guitar solo in the middle! This is the perfect step up, sound quality included. More songs with distinct identities, loved the pacing throughout and a very "easy" listen (i.e. no overly chaotic guitar solos). That's usually my main critique with most Extreme Metal albums is that songs tend to run into one another and there's very little differences between them all. The riffs are different, the tempo is different and the drumming is changed up on every song. Great album! But similar to all of their other stuff, I just wish it was longer. iii. Blood Fire Death (1988) A [3 listens A/A+/A] Another great album, but it's not a consistent as UtSotBM. I enjoyed the acoustic sections (that would later influence viking metal) which raises it up some points. It was an unexpected skill I didn't think they were capable of. However, this album is one that's trying to be two things: it does one really well and just "sorta" touches on the other one. It would've been great to see a better balance between these terrific Black Metal sections and these Viking Metal acoustic ones, giving equal time to each. I hope they would find a better balance in a future album, but I'm only listening to these 3. All were good listens and held up much better for pioneers of a genre.
10. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (1985) A [4 listens A+/A/A/A] a long awaited listen after seeing so much about this. It doesn't really come off as "Punk" but as legit, Irish/Celtic shanties. The novelty wears off after a few listens though. It's very genuine in its execution and doesn't come off as gimmicky at all. It's very 2 note: uptempo or slow wailing songs. Waltzing Matilda and I'm a Man You Don't Meet Everyday are by far the best songs here, with Dirty Old Town, Wild Cats and Sally MacLennane in that 2nd tier below. Really good and takes itself very serious.
11. Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician (1987) C+ [2 listens B-/C+] speaking of talking itself seriously.... here's the complete opposite. It's very VERY hard to actually get into this as it's just absurdist for absurdism sake as most of it is just so empty. There are a few sparks of musical inspirations that show they are capable of something more serious, but they seem to enjoy being nonsensical over making compelling music. It doesn't necessarily have to be serious satire or just cut and dry (I love Ween), but there has to be a point to this madness or else it just comes off as simply... madness.
12. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime (1988) A+ [2 listens A/A+] Sounds like a "Heavy" Hair Metal band. The story is simply "okay" and that's being nice, as this was way over hyped, that I expected something like a To Pimp a Butterfly of themes and stories intersecting. This is like a Hair Metal version of the Wall. It feels more like a musical than a concept album with a linear story, which loses stream after Breaking the Silence. It is very melodramatic especially in the second half, but it was the 80s... However, it has Spreading the Disease so all of that is a wash; we don't got guys hitting high notes like that anymore, which you gotta admit Hair Metal nailed that with perfection. A++ music but A concept, so right in the middle.
13. Coroner: i. No More Color (1989) A- [3 listens A+/A/A-] first non big 4 Thrash. I don't know how popular they were beyond Europe, but they were pioneers in the Technical Thrash Metal (sometimes called Prog Thrash). The main issue is that all the songs run into one another, without any significant parts to either of them. They set their songs around the guitar solos (which can be unmemorable at best and very messy at worse), which furthers mushes everything together. This is why I tend to value pacing in music, especially in Heavy Metal. There's plenty of good riffs to be found, but you have to sludge your way to find them. ii. Mental Vortex (1991) A+ [2 listens A+/A+] great follow-up. The guitar is still leading every song, but it's not fully taking control over the identity of every one. The drumming and the shifts in the music (similar to Metallica's 80s work) better distinguishes each track, making every phrase more dynamic. It's pretty good, but admittedly the She's So Heavy cover puts it just over to be an A+; better than the original because its fully realized metal and ends 30 seconds sooner :p
14. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head (1993) A++ [4 listens A++/A++/A++/A++] a Grunge album in Shoegaze clothing. The music is very unassuming with its generic 90s vocals, but that's how that Shoegaze sound sneaks up on you. The reverb on every guitar note constantly adds texture to every moment, almost drowning you with its heaviness. And THEN, that's when the vocals start to shine; like warm light of a log cabin in the middle of a heavy, blinding blizzard. Also, Duress is up there along side Venus in Furs as those all timers I know I'll forever be listening to for decades to come. Phenomenal album, highly recommend! ii. Raise (1991) A- [2 listens A/A-] literally decided to listen to this days before finishing up as I didn't know this album was also a landmark in Shoegaze (maybe moreso than MH). This is the album shows that less discussed bridge from Noise Rock to Shoegaze, as so many places only consider Shoegaze as a direct evolution of Dream Pop. This is a true Alternate Rock sound, with heavy guitar distortion; but not to the extent to what Shoegaze is really known as. This is closer to Dinosaur Jr or Sonic Youth than MBV or Slowdive. That aside, its pretty good for a debut. The melodies aren't as great as MH, but a few songs like Son of Mustang Ford, Sandblasted and Sunset were great foundation points of what would follow. Wouldn't say it's a must listen, but it's a good entry.
15. Kyruss - Welcome to Sky Valley (1994) A [3 listens A-/A/A] Josh Homme from his original band and the "birth" of the Desert Rock genre. Solid album, I like the atmosphere it creates as a laid back, background album. Complete opposite of QQTSA in where it's like wandering down a barren "desert", instead of a isolated highway listening to a radio station. It works. Nothing here will jump out at you, but it's very clear that that's not the intent with it. Idk if I'd say it's a must listen, as I can see it being called uneventful. But it's a good listen if you want some background music with some grit to it.
16. Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind (1996) A+ [2 listens A+/A+] the last Swans I'm going to listen to as I didn't care much for To Be Kind, so I imagine I'm not gonna like any of their other stuff. This is in a different direction, where it doesn't even seem to be "music" at times. This makes GY!BE appear accessible in comparison. This is like flicking through the channels on a TV in this weird, strange motel in the middle of nowhere. A lot of dull, drawn out moments that actually work this time around, as it helps paint a better scene of this eldritch-like world it's in. If it had more of those spontaneous, random fully formed tracks, I'll love it more, however their sporadic appearances make them more special when they're coming out of nowhere. This is rare project where I feel that more listens would lower my love for it, as that unpredictability of it is its greatest strength.
17. Duster - Stratosphere (1998) A [3 listens A/A/A] VERY lofi with its low quality mixing. It's the pacing of Shoegaze without the distortion and the blasé attitude of Slacker Rock without the traditional song structure, to a point where it's closest to Post Rock but still has that character of your favorite 90s Indie Rock band (I'm also lost as well). RYM calls it Slowcore, which I find kinda cool. This is like if depression was an album; all the ebbs and flows of your mood slowly dropping, staying at a low point, that occasional optimism and right back into that shallow pit of somber, where you managed to make a somewhat cozy cottage due to you being there for so many times. Slowest part of a Built to Spill album, with a budget of $18 for production, bring a singer with possible self-esteem issues and tell them to make a 50 min lullaby to get a shoegaze-loving kid to sleep. I'm all out of metaphors.
18. Gustavo Cerati - Bocanada (1999) A+ [3 listens A+/A+/A+] another album I can't quite remember how it got on my list, but Trip Hop is another one of those genres that outside of Massive Attack and Portishead that I have very little experience with. Even though the lyrics are in a foreign language, it didn't hurt the overall experience of the album (it have may limited it being better though). Melancholy in his voice and the music, contrasting with the Trip Hop style. Tabu, Rio Babel, and Pasco Immoral are the ones that I recommend checking out if the runtime can be off-putting to some; but it's well worth the journey. Wonderful album that I'm glad I came across.
19. Immolation - Close to a World Below (2000) A [4 listens A+/A/A/A] Better than most Death Metal. Love that the vocalist is slow with his pace (he was great!), along with a solid and steady guitar riffs. I really dislike that drum sound (banging on the toms), but that's a hurdle it feels like you have to overcome to really get into the genre itself. Any of the first 4 songs and Lost Passion are worth checking out.
20. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001) B+ [3 listens B++/B++/B+] I get why they're labeled Blues Rock. Maybe I didn't notice it before, but he sings like John Lennon, where he constantly on that upper octave (which is well out of their ranges) and they crack notes a lot. It's charming to a certain degree, but I don't think it really works with this heavy style. My biggest issue with it is that it's doing multiple things at once, instead of separately. The loud songs are too understated, as Union or Offend should be a bigger, hard, fast paced songs but instead have slow sections. They have this heavy guitar for no reason. We're going to Be Friends and This Protector being tender songs, when it's full acoustic and has a consistent theme, further adds to the lack of uniformity. Also, songs rarely change/switch up, which normally isn't that big of a issue, but when they're all 3+ minutes long, they all drag on. I know what a "perfect version" sounds like from them, so a lot of missteps feel more obvious than if it was blind to me, but I'm not super invested in this album, even with the number of listens.
21. Muse: i. Absolution (2003) A++ [5 listens A++/A+/A++/A++/A++] what if Radiohead chose to stay in 1997? What is it with these Post BritPop bands with incredible sophomore releases? Similarly to Coldplay, I didn't care much for Origin of Symmetry and had low expectations going into this. I don't know if I'm being too generous as only about 3 or 4 of these songs are really strong, however none are what I'd consider skips. This album is so damn tight in its tracklist. Some of the best collections of hooks and bridges ever. The singing isn't always on point, but the way they nail down the perfect formula for every song overshadows most of their faults in not being too special in any particular category. ii. Black Holes and Revelations (2006) A++ [3 listens A/A++/A++] Back to back bangers?! This one is probably my favorite, especially with how strong the second half of the album is. All the songs are great, but aren't straight retreads of what Absolution brought with the varied added instruments. Again, nothing they're doing is otherworldly, but they execute the structures of all of the songs so perfectly, that you tend to ignore the mediocrity of the band members' skills individually. They're the sum of their parts; heavily carried by their collaboration with the songwriting. These two albums are BARLEY A++ though... so if I give these two A++s, then I'm going to retroactively make Ok Computer a "Masterpiece", because it doesn't sit right with me with them being on the same level. Great pair of albums; y'all sleeping on Muse?
22. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004) B+ [3 listens B+/B++/B+] okay, this is emo, like legit emo pop. TBP had a bigger theatrical element infused in its identity, whereas this has all of its personality in its lyrics. And the lyrics are very... tbh cringe. Songs go in too long; great choruses and lyrics, but having the same structure over and over is too repetitive for me to really get into it. It's very melodramatic, particularly in the singing, which at least does make it a compelling listen. I just wish the music followed suit as well. He is also too frantic in his performance, where on TBP it is limited to a few songs. Maybe this is the line where it is too raw.
23. Joanna Newsom: i. YS (2006) B- [2 listen A-/B-] DENSE AS FUCK. Makes Bob Dylan look like an haiku writer. Each song is a storybook, that requires heavy attention. Music itself is not too impressive outside its complexity in the instrumentation. This non-stop, continuous nature of her singing is the major turn off. To a point where it's very hard to follow any story she's trying to paint and the entire thing feels tiring. I do like the harp playing and the orchestral spurts that brighten phrases, but that's the only positive I can come up with. Big disappointment and kinda soured me on her going forward. However, I decided on a whim to give her one more try and.... ii. The Milk Eyed Mender (2004) Masterpiece [3 listens A++/MP/MP] being majorly disappointed with YS, I decided to try her more stripped down Debut before completely writing her off, as the albums following YS are very long listens. And it turns out I actually enjoy this much more; matter of fact, I can't find any flaws within it: ZERO. Yes, her voice is even more of a sore thumb when most of the attention is on it (those harmonies on Peach Plum and Pear sound like Nightmare Fuel tbh). But if I can call Blonde on Blonde a perfect album, I can give a pass to her voice. Her flow in the songs are SOOO much better, that it makes YS looks even worse in that department. The harp playing isn't grand, but subdued in line with her wandering through each song; ebbing and flowing along with her energy in each track. Her cadence and timbre in how she sings is second to none her.
24. The Beach Boys: Brian Wilson Presents Smile (2005) A- [2 listens A/A-] most of my thoughts on in the Sessions review, as his worned voice hampered the album. I will say this imo would've bombed in 1967; baroque ballads, no rock lol. It would've kicked started Progressive Rock about 5 years sooner, but it wouldn't have made such a huge splash considering the trend all of music was already headed in at that point. This feels more like a live album / The Smile Sessions (2011) A++ [5 listens A/A/A+/A+/A++] BWPS felt like a monkey Brian needed to finally get off his back. A personal album made by Brian himself, whereas BWPS kinda feels like the "gift" to the world that SMiLE was promised as. This still has that youthful, tender energy of creation, where it's unabashedly open with its oddities. Kind of like how Beach Boys Today! was a left turn in their careers, this would've been that for Pet Sounds. BWPS was trying to meet SMiLE's high expectations; this is more honest. The harmonies are so warm, with the perfect blend of pathos. There's more playful instruments in the background that make the whole thing feel more playful. A few of the mixes aren't done well - "Wistful" is the best way to describe this project. Good vibrations finally "fits" inside an album; we can all die in peace now. It's too baroque to be really accessible and too Prog to have real standout hit singles. But as a confined experience, BY FAR the best the Beach Boys have made... or uhm would've made.
25. Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why (2009) A++ [4 listens A-/A++/MP/A++] ...I wish I didn't look up the background of this band before I listened to this. I went into Velocity Design and Comfort fully blind and while it's not the exact style I'm personally into, it's still so unique in what it brought, that I still think of it fondly. That is until I learned about one of the band members. The thing people don't understand about the "separate the art from the artist" thing is that is isn't because of a sense of "morally superiority", it's that every time I listen or consume the art.... I can't NOT think of them and what happened. I enjoyed this album a lot, but most of my time listening, my mind was clearly distracted. I was dying for them to go fully into the Electronic-Jangle Pop space they only would briefly explore on VDC. Valerie Cooper's singing is still SO awe inspiring and freezes you in time, easily the greatest part of the music. The only flaw is that it has only a handful of jingles that really grip me. Also, no entire song pulls me in the whole run, it's only really the chorus and occasionally the transitions between tracks (which are outstanding btw) which was also an issue with the VDC. If it was also a tad bit heavier in certain moments, that would've helped me overlook a lot of this minor flaws. Phenomenal album and perfect follow up, but it's gonna take some time before I can revisit this, as it's hard to mentally disassociate the individual from the music while it's so fresh in my mind.
Bonus Albums: (shorter reviews)
• Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor (1979) A [3 listens B/A/A] colorful and joyful. Sounds like this was the singular inspiration of every Nintendo soundtrack from the 80s and 90s lol. Liked the slow parts, but the bouncy songs are very fun to listen to. Low stakes but still aged wonderfully.
• Gary Numen - The Pleasure Principal (1979) B [2 listens B+/B] futuristic, yet undefined. Weird vocal style is kinda weird, not everyone can pull it off like David Byrne or Devo. Isn't jovial enough like YMO nor is breaking any new ground with the layout like Kraftwerk to compensate for its simplicity. Cars was a nice surprise tho.
• Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Architecture and Morality (1981) A- [3 listens B++/A-/A-] finally a legit "Pop" singer. Synths are used as an aesthetic and not a crutch, now starting to feel like a more modern (or 80s I guess) style. Joan of Arc and Souvenir are my favorites. Good, but nothing too incredible.
• Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair (1985) A++ [2 listens A++/A++] holy hell, way way better than I expected it would be. I knew the two popular songs, but they were more denser and bigger than I assumed they were. The production here is so lush and wide, immediately obvious they were very "familiar" with the technology by then. I will be adding more of their albums for more detailed reviews on a future list. (Prob the Hurting and Seeds)

2024.05.09 01:50 ZephyrBarca America and Why we are not the"best" by Zephyr

Hi, my name is Zephyr, and I want you to understand why I'm writing this. Why did I even decide to do research and take the time to put this together? I do this not to aggrandize myself nor to become a self-proclaimed prophet. That surely knows the end and is here to warn all. This country and the atrocities she's committed are abhorrent. But I am still proud to be an American. I'm pleased to be an American because of the people who live in this country. Regardless of what the media tries to tell you, I firmly believe people want the best. I think modern politics and the media are purposely dividing us. But I wish to change that by informing as many people as possible. Hopefully, one day in my time or yours, that may happen. In this paper, we will talk about American involvement in Guatemala.
America and Why we are not the"best" by Zephyr
Hi, I'm Zephyr, a guitar player who makes a living from music—from busking (street performing) gigs, studio work, etc. But one of my hobbies is studying and reading. Currently, I'm reading the first great English dictionary by Dr. Johnson. But recently, I've submerged myself in literary theory and am learning the Greek language, which surprises most of my friends. They knew I loved history, but never enough to study the language and pick up on it. However, those are simply hobbies I spend most of my time doing. In actuality, I have no credibility to write this at all. I have no degree (currently enrolled at Deree College of Athens), no certificate (one in communications, but that doesn't pertain to this), and my family doesn't have the creds that could back me up writing this, too. So, what gives me the nerve to write this at all? One thing I do is read all the time, more than most people, even some with degrees, actually, according to the Washington Post article. If you read 5 books in a year, you are already in the top 33 percent in America. If you've read 50 books in a year, you're in the top 99 percent. Before you leave and say I'm being cocky, I just spend most of my time reading and chasing conspiracies. I have over 30 journals in which I've written about many topics, especially the American Government. All I do is research, and I do not trust how we operate in today's society if you ask anyone what happened last year, last month, or last week. They won't know what to say. They will likely take a long pause, and the brain might be scrambled for a minute. It's called information overload. The American media and government work hand in hand to overwhelm the people. Most of the time, it's useless garbage. Unless it's some dumb trend or flashy dance, many will not recall it. Many people swipe away in fifteen seconds or less. But it goes with the question: why have we become comfortable? Why are we just surviving?
USA USA USA
Why are we doing just enough to survive as the "greatest country" on earth? Were the greatest on earth, we should be flying cars or teleporting from place to place? As the best country on earth, we can do such things. As the greatest country on earth, we must be the best at education, health, economy, agriculture, and infrastructure. Our Children must lead the world with new ideas and usher in groundbreaking inventions before they can even vote. Our healthcare should be the best in the world; not a person should die before 80 years old, and mothers giving birth are well taken care of. So much so that not one mother should die giving birth. No way a disease that's been around for over a century should still claim the lives of millions, and no one has come up with a cure. Being the greatest country on earth, crime should be nonexistent, everyone should love and get along, and everyone should obey the law. Also, as the greatest country on earth, our military should be everywhere in every country to be "the peacekeeper," spreading democracy and freedom. So that wars will not start over myths that could kill millions of people. Not overthrowing nations because their ideas go against American interests, not cutting food lines and starving other countries unless they do what we want. They are not secretly funding other armies or starting protests and riots that lead to regime changes and are spreading fear to all countries unless they fall in line. We don't do that as the best country on earth, right?
"Third World Countries"
The 20th-century anthropologist and historian Alfred Sauvy first used this term in an article published in a French magazine in 1952. Now, you hear it everywhere in reference to a poor country. Let's unpack a series of events that happened in a "third-world country." The beautiful country of Guatemala, proud people who overthrew their oppressors after centuries of oppression and a series of wars and conflicts, finally Guatemala became fully independent in 1841. Now, this country indeed has had its problems, but which country doesn't? I will not lie or be perfidious to get you to agree with my point. If anything, I want you to challenge me and call me out for whatever mistake you think I made. But in your findings you will find no error except the SUFFERING……. that America has caused. Now, to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in Guatemala.
Palieraki, E. (2023). The Origins of the 'Third World': Alfred Sauvy and the Birth of a Key Global Post-War Concept. Global Intellectual History, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/23801883.2023.2166558

Banana Republic
In 1904, O. Henry, an American writer, coined the term "Banana Republic". This means countries that are controlled by a private enterprise that primarily benefits the ruling class. You could say he was speaking metaphorically, but everyone knows he is talking about Guatemala and other countries like it that were being exploited for their natural resources. During the Manuel Estrada Cabrera regime, UFCO (United Fruit Company, now Chiquita Bananas) stepped into the political and economic arena. UFCO quickly took control over vast amounts of land in Guatemala and gave much to the U.S. by Guatemalan President Cabrera, including giving the UFCO tax exemptions, railways, and land grants along the Atlantic coast. His reasoning seemed to be fair and only to help the infrastructure. But this was just not true. He was an evil tyrant who only thought of himself and his masters in the U.S. supporting him. When the workers went on strike against UFCO in 1904, he sent an armed force to open fire on the sleeping quarters of the workers—killing many and injuring more. Over the next 14 years, more revolts and protests continued to happen, with many assassination attempts on Manuel Estrada Cabrera. All failed to remove him until the Tragic Week in April 1920. When revolutionaries of the Union Party gathered together in front of the National Assembly, President Estrada could no longer hold out after a week of fighting. Finally, seeing no other choice, he surrendered to the Unionists and was thrown in Jail, dying four years later. But this was nothing compared to the Banana Massacre of 1928, which killed 2000 people because they refused to work under the poor conditions of UFCO. Guess what the U.S. response was? Communist uprising. Despicable.
https://sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2022/09/conversation_banana_republic.php
Hitler of South America

In 1931, Jorge Ubico came to power as a dictator general. The Hitler of South America was a massive supporter of fascism and nazism. Now, you can say he helped the economy by cutting salaries and increasing coffee production during the great depression, but he also killed thousands. He employed spies everywhere to make sure they followed his command. You will read about his projects: building roads and seaports or eliminating wholesale corruption. Indeed he did, but eliminating wholesale corruption under an authoritarian dictatorship who controls 100% of the country is FREAKING POINTLESS. When can you and your family be executed for not following orders? (In other words, the pot calling the kettle black) That's the problem with researching online. It's widely known about the evil and atrocities Jorge Ubcio committed. However, according to specific sources, they still try to be evasive, saying, "he did sustain the economy during the great depression," which is only half the truth. The economy has suffered for decades. Because Jorge Ubico's increased coffee production did not help in the grand scheme, people suffered like always.
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/291/
* I would like to mention something of an extreme importance.
When doing research, you must have multiple sources of information. It's to tell what's credible and what's not. Can a dictator do good things? Yes, a dictator can do good things. Like a good man can do evil things. However, in this case, when I searched for information about Guatemala's economy under Jorge Ubico on Google, I was met with partial truth. The average phone user spends most of Its time on social media and has a poor attention span like I used to have. They will see this and turn away, thus completing their research. I have argued with people who only look at the highlighted sentence of the passage. They did not even read the entire paragraph, and they did not read the article. Because of modern technology, we have become more lazy than ever. Instant gratification has ruined the appreciation of anything if not quick, easy and straightforward. If you can't get it right now, many people swipe away. With little resistance, most people will quit. Even those who aren't Gen-Z became so accustomed to this modern world. But there's a way to help that many don't like. Reading can elevate your mind, give you patience, and help you process information faster and even better at maintaining relationships. I hope this truly encourages you. Please click the link to the article below to learn more about the benefits of reading. *

https://www.piedmont.org/living-real-change/health-benefits-of-reading
Forgive me for the rant. I will discuss this in more depth in my next paper. Let's continue, shall we?

Jorge Ubico gave 42% of Guatemalan land to UFCO. Plus, with more tax exemptions (not like they had enough during the last regime), seventy-seven percent of Guatemalan exports went to the USA. UFCO controls the banana production in Guatemala, along with the telephone, telegraph lines, and railways.
After 13 years of killing, we forced labor and pillaged native lands. Jorge Ubico was overthrown during the October Revolution. Now, we're ending, but I hope you understand what I'm saying. The U.S. backed and supported every dictator and company that suppressed the people of Guatemala. What do Guatemalans do to deserve this? Have they not suffered enough? Have they not been through agony and pain? Spain leaves, and we will come in right after. One dictator is overthrown; we (the U.S.) replace it with another. This leads to what America fears the most: socialism/communism. We made the beautiful people of Guatemala hate each other by spreading propaganda and lies, which caused further strife.
Years of oppression from white colonists telling them you're lower than us, you're not more intelligent than us, not as advanced as us. Mainly because "you're darker than us." I do not pull what they call "race cards" ever. But even a racist would agree. Most Americans don't know about what happened in Guatemala or countries like it because we're idiots. No wonder why the world hates America. Don't listen to those Americans you will run into in certain places saying: America has saved more people than any other country else, and capitalism frees people from poverty. Has this happened? Yes........... IN AMERICA. But we kill millions everywhere else and force many countries to embrace communism or authoritarian-style governments. Then, we label them as savages. But communism is not the biggest threat to America, nor has it ever been. America's greed is the biggest threat to America. This is just one of the many examples of American Imperialism.

Delivering Freedom (Gifts from Heaven)
Delivering freedom is some dumb term somebody on Fox News said in the early 2000s during the Iraq war and stuck with American culture ever since. After Jorge Ubico was overthrown In 1944, the first democratically elected President of Guatemala, Juan José Arévalo, took office. A great man, professor of philosophy and political party leader that swept through Guatemala. He allowed free speech for the press, established social security, and established health and education programs for the people. After a few years as president, he chose not to run in the 1950 election. After the votes were cast, the presidency went to Jacopo Árbenz. Jacopo quickly got to work and continued the reforms of his predecessor. In 1952, he drafted a land reform bill titled 900 decree, which redistributed lands back to the people. By the beginning of 1954, 500,000 individuals had received their lands back, which had been stolen by UFCO. Unfortunately, this was the last straw for UFCO.
(Shortly after the October Revolution of 1944, the U.S. began propaganda about the newly elected president Juan José Arévalo. He claimed the Soviets were working with Jacopo and that he must be stopped. This is not true, but with the help of propaganda campaigns by Edward Bernays, many Americans believed and supported a potential intervention.)

The 1954 Coup D'etat

In 1954, the Guatemalan Coup D'etat, AKA PBSUCCESS, led by Col.Castillo Armas (he was made the new president), started. It ended with the deposing of Jacobo ÁrbenZ, killing hundreds in a 9-day-long campaign. 480 CIA soldiers with U.S. air support invaded Guatemala. It was already evil enough invading, killing and bombing innocent people (some only armed with a knife), but the worst thing was the U.S. denied involvement.
After reading all this, you ask why this matters. What does this have to do with today? In 1984, UFCO merged with ELI M. and became Chiquita Bananas after facing financial hardships. Though this may be true, they chose that name to sound more like "SoUTh AmErCIAN" and wanted to get rid of the name that ties them to the atrocities they committed, especially what they did in the 1982 massacre of 70,000 natives that destroyed 600 villages in Guatemala. Once again, we want to keep the workers of UFCO in check. Just for some bananas………..
Chiquita Bananas = Colonialism.

We must stop supporting companies like this NOW!

Once again don’t feel overwhelmed about anything that you read here. This is only for you to be aware. This is for the betterment of society. This is the beginning of the revolution.
To each individual, the world will take on a different connotation of meaning, and the important thing lies in the desire to search for an answer. -T.S Eliot
References

Prince Wilhelm Between Two Continents (Book about his time in Guatemala during Tragic Week)

https://www.collecteurs.com/interview/the-banana-massacre-and-monopolies
https://sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2022/09/conversation_banana_republic.php
Harvard International Review
https://hir.harvard.edu/the-dark-side-of-bananas-imperialism-non-state-actors-and-powe
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2562&context=thesesdissertations
https://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/guatemala/violence-and-genocide-guatemala
Other readings
https://cja.org/what-we-do/litigation/the-guatemala-genocide-case/

2024.05.08 17:40 mcm8279 [Interview] ALEX KURTZMAN on producing Star Trek: Discovery: "I look back on the first year and I see so many big, bold swings, you know, some of which I think were amazingly successful. But I do feel like at every turn we kept refining and tightening our storytelling." (Ready Room Interview)

2024.05.08 13:25 Eli_Freeman_Author No, Ezra and Sabine would not be a “ship”

No, Ezra and Sabine would not be a “ship”
To qualify the title, no, Ezra and Sabine do NOT absolutely have to be a couple, but if they were to become one, it would NOT be a ship. A “ship” is a relationship that’s rushed and/or forced with no real development. Ezra and Sabine’s relationship has had years of development. Could they remain as simply friends? Yes, but ironically, it was their “friendship” that felt like more of a ship. It felt like the Ahsoka show, helmed by Dave Filoni, was going out of its way to tell us: “no, they’re not a couple, they’re just friends.”
I believe that Filoni made some very poor writing choices to stress something that didn’t really need to be stressed, such that it almost felt like he was in denial. The line “I love you like a sister” was never in Rebels, Filoni essentially had that retconned in, and like many I was put off by their (largely) emotionless reunion. Even if they were “just friends” I believe there would be a great deal more emotion displayed between two people that hadn’t seen each other in some ten years, especially when one of them was in a precarious situation when they parted. I also believe Ezra would be far more curious about Sabine being Force sensitive, perhaps even offering to help train her when she told him that her training hadn’t gone as well with Ahsoka. He did help to train her with the Darksaber, didn’t he? Why that never came up is another discussion, but for now, let’s focus on shipping.
In case you think I’m desperate to have them as a couple, no I’m not. I’m about the furthest thing from it. Like many millennials and Gen-Z’ers (and perhaps some Gen-Xers and boomers) I DESPISE shipping. Absolutely DESPISE it. With a flaming passion. Perhaps for this reason, and maybe some others, like many millennials and Gen-Z’ers (and perhaps some Gen-Xers and boomers), I’m generally wary of nearly all romance in fiction, and generally avoid it in my own work. The sad reality is that romance is perhaps the most abused genre in all of fiction, all throughout history. It has been so badly abused that many people, including myself for the longest time, have equated romance with shipping, though I’m slowly beginning to see that they are not the same thing, and one does not necessarily have to go with the other.
But sadly, many writers, through time immemorial, have not been able to separate them, going back into ancient times and perhaps even into pre-history, that is before languages were actually written down. Some of what is considered great literature; classics like Romeo and Juliet, are predicated on shipping, though at least the consequences of this “whirlwind romance” are shown to be fairly stark. Star Wars itself is no stranger to shipping, resulting in a very awkward incestuous kiss when Luke was shipped with Leia, then Leia was placed with Han and Lucas made Luke and Leia brother and sister, apparently having forgotten his original ship. Later Lucas essentially shipped Anakin and Padme, resulting in some of the most cringeworthy dialog in the history of film. Many fans of the Prequels even have been somewhat critical of Anakin’s portrayal, particularly in regards to the “romantic” scenes, with many describing them as “creepy”. Some have speculated that this was intentional, though personally I think it was just the result of bad writing on the part of George Lucas, and an impatience on his part for Anakin and Padme to become a couple, hence “shipping”.
One might wonder why this is so prevalent in fiction, and tragically, one does not have to look far. Fiction is merely a reflection of reality, therefore the reason that shipping is so common in our stories is that we fall so easily into it in real life. Indeed, entire cultures may be based around shipping, or at least very heavily wrapped up in it. Throughout history arranged marriages have been the norm, and the idea of marrying for “love” is something relatively new. To be fair, I’ve actually met people in arranged marriages who seemed to be fairly happy, but those same people were very open in telling me that many despise that aspect of their culture, and that it is quite normal for those in an arranged marriage to try to get out.
People might come together for “love” without marrying, but even then it often creates expectations that might turn into a burden. Even when a marriage is voluntary and for “love”, people are often left unsatisfied, such that today in the West the divorce rate is something like 50%. Happy, stable, long term relationships seem to be the exception across cultures and across the breadth and width of time. And yet pursuit of love and some kind of relationship seems to be the highest calling for many people, both in real life and in fiction. And it could be that the accumulated disgust is finally starting to boil over.
To be fair, this may not be the first time in history that the pendulum has shifted. You may recall that in Victorian times attitudes changed drastically, as compared to the previously bawdy Elizabethan times. Looking at a play from Shakespear, if you can understand the language, you’ll see all kinds of vulgar references, as well as what I believe are fairly sappy romances like in the aforementioned Romeo and Juliet, though I can’t say for certain whether Shakespear was actually endorsing that type of attitude towards “love” or presenting it as a cautionary tale, maybe even something to be ridiculed in some of his other plays.
But regardless, Victorians as you may well know had a very conservative attitude towards anything to do with romance, and would often avoid the subject in many places, or tread very carefully around it, as if walking on eggshells. It’s not that people stopped being romantic, in fiction or real life, but it was treated as something very serious and even dangerous, with many urges repressed or even suppressed entirely. This had all kinds of effects on society, both positive and negative. On the positive side, it reinforced the ideal of people being committed to their partners, and of marriage as a sacred institution rather than a “casual hookup” as was more common in Elizabethan times. Likewise it reinforced ideals of modesty and chastity, which may be coming back into vogue, though under different names. But just as there were positive aspects to these attitudes, so were there negative ones.
Just because the urges I described were repressed did not mean that they disappeared. In fact, they often morphed into things that many would consider “unhealthy”. From one statistic that I saw, in Victorian times about one in every 60 houses was a brothel, with the modern rate being closer to one in 6000. Additionally, the rights of women were often repressed, such that they could not fully express themselves and find their own identity, and path in life, as individuals. Just as Elizabethan ideals gave way to Victorian ones, so did the Victorian ideals gradually begin to erode.
Perhaps it began with the Jazz Age of the 1920’s (the “Roaring Twenties”), or with the increased interconnectivity of people traveling to different parts of the world during World War I, not to mention the cynicism that pervaded throughout the West in response to failed old ideals leading to the deadliest war in history up to that point, but many Victorian ideals began to be seen as a joke, and even resented for their “oppression”, which to be fair was not entirely unjustified. But regardless, people gradually, and at times not so gradually, became more and more “liberated” and promiscuous. This culminated in the Sexual Revolution in the late 1960’s, when what had previously been seen as a vice and even a sin was now seen as not only “normal” but as a healthy form of expression, a virtue even. And just as these ideas were embraced in real life, so too were they reflected in our films, TV shows, and other media, often to the consternation of older people and institutions, like the Vatican. The Catholic Church even went so far as to “ban” certain films, that is to declare them immoral for good Catholics to watch. Many of the films that were banned back then, or at least controversial, like The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman, are fairly tame by today’s standards.
It continued through the 70’s, at times warming and at times cooling through the rest of the century, until you could argue it reached a kind of crescendo in the early 21st century with the advent of so-called “dark romance” and the publication of books like Fifty Shades of Grey. (Ironically, many of the themes within this “dark romance” can trace their roots back to the Victorian era, yet another indication that repressing urges without addressing them often doesn’t work out as one might hope.) But as happens all too often, just as something reaches peak popularity is when it begins to go out of style, and that is what we may be experiencing right now. As weird as it may sound, we may actually have come full circle and may be on the cusp of a “New Victorian Age” (complete with “dark romance”, even). Web sites like Porn Hub and OnlyFans, as well as other similar sites, may be the new “brothels”, and what was once openly celebrated may be going underground, to an extent. The effects of this on society have been interesting to say the least, and at times I would even say bizarre.
Whilst many younger people seem content with these changes, many older people are concerned. I’ve seen a number of books, films, and other media receive positive reviews for example based specifically on their lack of romance. Many of these books/films, etc. fall into the “young adult” category, meaning that it is young adults obviously who mostly consume them. At the same time I’ve heard a number of older people, mostly boomers and Gen-Xers, criticize these same books/films for their lack of romance. Even some older millennials seem upset by the changes, as perhaps evidenced by Jennifer Lawrence’s latest film No Hard Feelings (though to be fair that film may be lampooning the older generation’s frustration as well as the younger generation’s frigidity). So just as in the past older people were concerned about the promiscuity of the youth, now it actually appears that many older people are concerned about the youth’s lack of promiscuity.
Who could have seen that coming? But to be fair, the younger generation hasn’t gone completely frigid. As stated earlier, much of the promiscuity has gone “underground”, or online, which many would argue is not very healthy as it might undermine actual relationships, whether they are romantic in nature or simple friendships. And speaking of that, friendships within stories nowadays often aren’t portrayed in a very authentic or compelling manner, perhaps because in ditching romance modern writers haven’t quite yet learned how to replace it with something else. In other words, the “New Victorian Age” may not be an exact repeat of the previous one, but may have its own twists and turns, for better and for worse.
This may all essentially be a manifestation of the Human Condition, in that we just can’t seem to find a happy medium, neither in real life nor in fiction. Thus we keep swinging from one extreme to the other, apparently getting wilder with each swing.
So where does all this leave us? What is it that we really want in our lives, and in our stories? Especially in regards to relationships? I think at some level we all want to see good and healthy relationships between people and/or characters, whether romantic or platonic. I believe at some point we would like to see good examples of both friendship and romance, and I would argue that the best examples of romance have them combined. Even a toxic relationship, if well portrayed or documented, can be instructive and serve as a good example of what to avoid in our lives that we might be happier and relate better to each other. A good relationship, by contrast, can give us something to aspire to and inspire us to not only look for the right kind of person to complement our lives, but to make ourselves worthy of that person. And here I’ll add that I’m perfectly aware that in real life (and thus in fiction) relationships can be very complicated and heavily nuanced, with elements of both “good” and “bad” in them. Just as people change over time so can the relationships between them change, at times getting better and at times worse, sometimes breaking entirely and sometimes growing stronger. Relationships can have just as many layers and dimensions as characters, more even perhaps, and a skilled writer should be able to reflect this complexity. At other times a relationship can be fairly straightforward, simplicity sometimes being the best approach. But regardless, the audience should be able to relate and identify with what they are seeing, such that hopefully they can incorporate the lessons from it in their own lives.
Where can we find good examples of relationships to study? There may be a number of them in the real world, but the trouble with studying real world relationships is that they’re often much more complicated than fictional ones (just as real people are more complicated than fictional characters), and for many of them it is almost impossible to know all the details and nuances because they are often kept private, understandably so, and even if they aren’t it can still be difficult, due to unique circumstances, to see how to relate them to our own lives. Additionally there may be far more disagreement about a real life situation than a fictional one, with many more points of view. To keep things simple, for the purpose of this article I would like to focus on fictional relationships. (And fair warning, there will be some spoilers.)
One of the best places to look, I would argue, would be the films of Hayao Miyazaki. (And this is pretty significant to Star Wars as you will see in a bit.) A film of his that stands out to me the most is Princess Mononoke. Like many of Miyazaki’s films it has elements of romance, and yet subverts them in a way that makes complete sense and feels very genuine, without taking away from any of the accompanying charm. It starts with two young people, San and Ashitaka, and as soon as they encounter each other there is a kind of expectation of romance. This may be inevitable to some degree when you have a man and a woman of about the same age encounter each other in a story, especially if they happen to be adolescents. The expectation may not be inherently bad, and Miyazaki does play with it. Both characters are thrust into dangerous situations, at various points end up saving each other’s lives, and at a certain point I think it is obvious that they have feelings for each other. I was certain that at the end of the film, they would be together, and if things had gone that way, it would make complete sense. Instead, they go in different directions, but remain good friends, and considering their backgrounds and differing worldviews, this ends up making even more sense to the story.
Essentially, Miyazaki could have gone for the more conventional, tried and true “love conquers all” narrative, where the characters’ feelings for each other would negate everything that comes between them, they would somehow find a common ground in spite of their differences, the romance would not only take over the narrative but somehow also solve all the problems in the story, and then the couple would live “happily ever after”. Such an approach is not inherently bad or wrong, and is fairly common in Western media and storytelling. We can see it in films like Fern Gully, and more recently James Cameron’s Avatar, both of which have been compared to Princess Mononoke. As you can probably guess, the problem is that at a certain point such a narrative can become fairly simplistic, and lack nuance.
Miyazaki’s films, by contrast, are very heavily nuanced, and are anything but simplistic. In Princess Mononoke the characters San and Ashitaka don’t help each other simply because they are “in love”, but because it is the right thing to do, regardless of how they might feel about each other. Yes, romantic feelings are certainly alluded to, but they are not essential to the plot, for it could have worked just as well without any romantic allusions. And ironically, this makes those allusions even more valid, even if they are unrequited. How so?
Consider that if love is essential to a given narrative, is it not relegated to being nothing more than a plot device? Again, this is quite common in Western media and storytelling, and is not inherently bad or wrong, but when it becomes a trope or cliche, I believe it is the essence of where shipping comes from. Many storytellers get caught up in this, usually without realizing it, and while a story can still work even with shipping, I believe that it usually works that much better without it.
This extends not only to Miyazaki’s handling of romance but also to other things like environmentalism, the conflict between man and nature, and the contrasting ideals of human progress vs. preserving the natural order. Movies like Fern Gully and Avatar, as already mentioned, handle these themes in a fairly simplistic and I would even say hamfisted manner, whereby all progress and technology is shown as being inherently “bad” and in service to “evil”, while everything that’s “natural” is shown to be inherently “good”. Even our notions of good and evil, and right vs. wrong, are challenged by Miyazaki, with nearly all of his characters having complex motives and multiple dimensions to them, as well as understandable reasons for doing the things that they do. Rarely can any one of his characters be branded as a simple “villain”, and rarely is any one individual the source of conflict in his stories, again in contrast to most Western narratives.
I’ll reiterate once more, a simple, straightforward narrative is not inherently a bad thing, whether the themes being dealt with are romantic or anything else. Sometimes it is in fact the best approach. But the best stories in my opinion are usually the most nuanced, that challenge our notions of what we believe to be true, and that force us to think about what we do with our lives and what we could do differently. To that end Miyazaki introduces all manner of themes and motifs within his films that are familiar to us but shows them in a light most of us might not have considered, thus giving more dimension to our understanding of things.
“How is any of this related to Star Wars?” you might ask. It is quite related, and you don’t even have to look all that closely to see it. A very influential figure within Star Wars was very heavily inspired by the works of Miyazaki, and that figure is Dave Filoni.
This video shows the connections in some detail:
https://youtu.be/Q_4L0BbSpHo?si=04jDo6qFCnZT135w
But to summarize if you’ve seen any of Miyazaki’s films, especially Princess Mononoke, I think the callbacks in Filoni’s work will be all too obvious, especially in Star Wars Rebels. Some of the scenes in Filoni’s work look like they were taken directly from Miyazki’s films, and many of the same themes and motifs often come up. The relationship between San and Ashitaka I would argue is very similar to the relationship between Ezra and Sabine, and not just because both couples rode wolves together.
Incidentally, Dave Filoni was also heavily involved in Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I would also argue was at least to some degree inspired if not by Miyazaki then by Japanese anime in general. The relationship between Aang and Katara was developed with great care and was allowed to build very slowly, as opposed to simply shipping them. Likewise other characters very gradually developed as individuals and in their relationships, at times stumbling as they did so, and making mistakes, before finding their way back to the right path.
All of this is in stark contrast to George Lucas, whose character development is often very rushed at best, and at times some might say almost non-existent. So essentially, even though Lucas has said that Filoni has been “like a son” to him, and I believe referred to Filoni as his “padawan”, I would argue that Filoni is ultimately as much a student of Miyazaki as he is of Lucas.
Again, you might ask, “What does all this mean for Star Wars?” It means a great many things. It means that Dave Filoni has taken Miyazaki’s lessons to heart, and can handle things like romance, as well as other kinds of relationships, quite well most of the time. Like Miyazaki he can play with romance, tease the audience with it at times even, leave the romance unrequited, and yet still have it feel satisfying. A prime example of this is the love triangle that Ahsoka was involved in with the young Separatist Senator, Lux Bonteri, and Steela Gerrera. As wary as I am of romance and as much as I despise shipping, love triangles I normally despise even more, but this one seemed to actually work. It never took over the main story, and even though Ahsoka’s feelings were ultimately not reciprocated, she still learned from the experience, and grew and developed further as a character because of it. The other characters involved in this triangle also grew and developed from their involvement, though unfortunately not all of them made it. All in all it was a good bit of storytelling and gave the audience something to consider.
When a relationship in one of Filoni’s stories does bloom into a full blown romance he also generally handles it quite well. For one Filoni is sparing with actual romance, so that when it does occur, it can be that much more appreciated. And rather than rushing or shipping it, Filoni normally takes his time to build it up. An example of this is the relationship between Kanan and Hera. Some might argue that this is perhaps the best developed romance in all of Star Wars, at least in Canon. Built up over four seasons, at times it wasn’t certain whether it was a romance or a friendship, or perhaps even a professional partnership. Perhaps even the characters themselves were not certain, though it was hinted all throughout the narrative that something was going on. To this day I don’t believe anyone can say definitively when it became an actual romance, and I believe Filoni did this intentionally because he wanted to be subtle, rather than making things too obvious and having the romance take over the narrative, as it usually does. When it finally did become obvious as to what was happening, it felt very much earned, in a way that is seldom accomplished in other works of fiction, including Star Wars.
The relationship between Ezra and Sabine was also fairly well written, for the most part anyway, at least in Star Wars Rebels. Ezra was almost immediately smitten with Sabine, but being a young teenage boy, it was understandable that he would feel that way about an attractive girl. Over time he learned to see her more respectfully, as a colleague and even as part of his adopted family, not just as a pretty face. Sabine for her part found Ezra annoying at first (c’mon, what teenage boy isn’t?), but as he matured and she found out more about him she came to understand and respect him more, and see him as a friend and almost a brother, with there being potential for something more.
There were times when the relationship could have been better written, like in the episode “Blood Sisters”, where Ezra was written to be a bit too immature to make Sabine look wiser. But overall, the bond between them developed fairly well; both saved one another at various times, and took risks and made sacrifices for each other’s sake. Both reassured and comforted the other when they needed it, and it was endearing to hear their banter when they became more familiar and trusting of each other.
So why then was I so disappointed in how they were portrayed in the Ahsoka show? The thing is, after how well their relationship was built up in Rebels, as I’ve already mentioned it was strange to see how lackluster and uninspired their reunion was.
Within the Ahsoka show itself Sabine was shown to be almost obsessed with finding Ezra, living in what used to be his home, watching a recording of him over and over again, and calling out his name as she woke up in the middle of the night. She even risked bringing Thrawn back into the Galaxy, which ultimately happened, just so she could see Ezra again. After all that, when she finally does encounter him, her reaction seems fairly casual, as does his, as if they’ve been apart for no more than a week, rather than 10 years. Not too much happens between them afterwards either. Like I said Ezra does not appear all that curious about what happened with Sabine, how she found him, and how it was that she was now Force sensitive. Sabine likewise did not seem curious about what had happened with Ezra, and how he had gotten away from Thrawn. And with Ezra rescued and returned home, suddenly it didn’t seem as though Sabine was all that interested in him anymore, nor he all that concerned with her, though they were just as far apart as they had been at the start of the show. To be completely honest it made me wonder what the point of the whole show was. Were they just working to set up Thrawn’s return to the Galaxy? As some have said, Ezra felt like nothing more than a Macguffin in the show. Was Sabine and Ahsoka’s search for him just a plot device?
Considering how skillfully Dave Filoni had written his stories in the past, what happened in this latest project of his does not make much sense. Was he so concerned about “shipping” and so desperate to avoid it that he inadvertently “shipped” them in the other direction? Was there some sort of external pressure on him about how to write this story to have more of an appeal to “modern audiences”? Maybe some combination of those factors?
And here I’ll add that when I say “modern audiences” I don’t mean that in a contemptuous sense, though you may think I do. If there is any contempt on my part it is for those in charge of telling our stories, or those in charge of those telling our stories, who do not seem to grasp these basic truths. The truth is that audiences at their core don’t really change throughout the ages, only superficially so. Trends come and go but certain truths and ideals are eternal, and universal. How people relate to each other fundamentally does not change, whether they are friends, or more than friends. And deep down, I believe everyone (or nearly everyone at least) wants the same things. Nearly everyone at some point wants some kind of a connection with another human being, to know that they are not alone in the world, and to know that there is someone else who sees and understands things as they do. While this desire can certainly lead to abuse, and absolutely has, it is still innate to us and is not inherently wrong. Finding ways of connecting and relating to other people is one of the great challenges of life, but many would argue it is the most worthwhile of challenges. It may be the whole point of life if you think about it. As complex as it may be, many would argue it is what makes life worth living, and likewise makes for the best stories. Just as it may be the whole point of life many would say that is what most stories are about at their core: people trying to relate to one another.
Sadly, just as in real life, most stories unfortunately don’t quite get it, and the Ahsoka show in my opinion was an example of this, made all the sadder by the fact that Dave Filoni had done quite well with these characters up to that point. We may never know for certain what exactly went wrong and why, or if it can ever be “fixed” at this point, but I can’t help but feel curious. Maybe in the future Filoni will find a way to make it make sense, but I’m not sure how. And to be completely honest I don’t feel quite as enthusiastic to find out as I used to.
Also for the record I would like to add here that there are other factors that put me off from the show, such as Sabine’s Force sensitivity, that came about without much build up. But in this article I specifically wanted to focus on shipping because there seems to be so much misunderstanding around it.
I hope that I was able to clarify some, if not most of this misunderstanding, so that people could better appreciate what shipping is, where it comes from, as well as what it isn’t. Many people today are understandably sick of shipping characters, myself included. But I hope people realize that in overcompensating for something, we often come back around into the very thing that we are overcompensating for. Or sometimes, into something even worse. This may apply to nearly every facet of life, by the way, not just shipping. Finding a happy medium in how we portray our fictional relationships may help us to better understand relationships in real life, as well as how to navigate them. Neither fictional nor actual relationships can ever be perfect but they can always be better. To this understanding then I hope that I was able to give my own modest contribution, and if nothing else I hope we can connect on that.

It’s very cold this morning. It was like 4° when I woke up from memory, it’s now 11° and sunny so that’s better. I should probably not have bare feet but oh well. I don’t like wearing socks if I’m walking around as the idea of dust or whatever accumulating on my socks makes me feel gross, and I don’t have any slippers, so… bare feet it is. It’s fine, I don’t mind. I don’t feel negatively about any of this. He said I’m negative so I think I want to try acknowledge when I feel okay, and when I actually feel negative. I feel fine.
He called me a wet blanket last night. I knew he thought of me that way. I knew it I knew it I knew it. See this is what I mean, I may well think negatively but clearly it’s not always inaccurate. This is what I mean, I don’t want to be some deluded idiot who is convinced everyone adores me and thinks I’m great. I know people like that, I always have, and they are never all that great and it makes me feel so filled with second hand embarrassment that I utterly refuse to ever be thought of in that way. To think you’re wanted/great and for people to think the opposite? The idea makes me feel sick to my stomach. I know this links to my fear of rejection which further links to my lack of self worth but whatever. Everything’s linked somewhere, it seems. Anyway. He literally said I’m a wet blanket. I don’t disagree, and his points were valid. I could feel myself starting to get really upset after he said it - I had tears welling up and I was feeling choked up and things. However, I practiced my self control and whatever that I’ve talked about in therapy and I managed to bring myself out of it before it escalated and he noticed. I didn’t actually cry, I hauled all those lil tear drops back inside. It was kind of hard though, to actively work against my emotions when I’m hearing something I’ve been paranoid of for a very, very long time. Anyway I worked through it while still in conversation I might add so I’m quite proud of myself for that, I think that shows definite progress? Maybe? I hope it does. But anyway, he called me a wet blanket because I basically refuse to admit I’m into certain things. I don’t really want to write about it. I just feel like I can be into certain things and not want to be into them, and I think clearheaded me is mindful of that. And once you admit to being into something when clearheaded it sort of cements it in place, whereas I feel like when you’re in the heat of it all it’s kind of whatever and might be hot but it’s not a cemented want. Does that make sense? He explained it well though and I get what he means. But it’s like his friend, not J but his actual best friend, the idea of him gets me so wildly turned on, not because of the guy himself because idk him from a bar of soap and he doesn’t sound like my type either, plus not to be rude but I’m fairly sure he’s the one that always dates strippers and I realise I’m being a judgemental cow but that grosses me out so in reality the idea of him… no. But in my head? It being Andy’s best friend? Or one of them? It makes me go feral. But I do NOT want that to be a thing, I do NOT want to indulge it, I do NOT want it to become a fantasy of mine/ours. I want to meet this guy eventually and hopefully be friends with him and spend time with him and all of that. I do NOT want spicy thoughts clouding my mind when we spend time with someone. Like what, we’re all out for dinner and I keep thinking about him bending me over the table? Absolutely NOT. It’s one thing for it to be a sort of friend, like J, it’s another to be an actual best friend of a long long long time. That’s far too life altering for Andy. And also I just don’t want that to be a thing for me. Except we said all this and then my honey proceeded to get my soaking wet and utterly rabid thinking about how best friend, so that worked out well -_-. Anyway. He thinks I’m a wet blanket and a killjoy. I’m going to choose to not dwell on this, however given I’ve been paranoid of this for quite some time it’s kind of hard to let go of. I feel kind of negative.
I just spent a few minutes with my eyes closed with the sunshine streaming down on me and I listened to all the sounds around me like all the birds, some roadworks several streets over, I heard a ship horn, I heard my laptop humming away - it sounds like of like a carbonated drink fresh out the can, and the creaks of the house. I heard my toe doing little taps on the floor because I sometimes find it hard to sit still, I heard the fridge start doing something. I felt the warmth of the sun on my face, I tried to not think about skin cancer and being a leather bag of an old woman. I felt the coldness of the wooden floor and the softness of my cardigan. I tasted a little hint of strawberry from my strawberry mint earlier because I wanted something sweet but I don’t have anything and it was also 11am. So I just focused on everything for several minutes, as well as controlled breathing in and out like I would when I feel panicked but I can do it when I just want to slow everything down. I feel positive, not negative.
My pretty baby green princess philodendron is still fighting a battle. I just know it’s because I blanked and poured a glass of sprite into it instead of the water. I remember doing it, I poured it in and then I heard the sizzling and I thought oh no oh no oh no but the damage was done. I tried to dilute it with water so hopefully that helped but I potentially just spread the sprite around. Ever since then the leaves are kind of spotted with yellow… yellow like lemonade :’( I’ve had her for a few years now, she was just a little bubba with a couple of leaves and now she’s a blimmin queen not princess but I’ve maybe ruined her. I need to repot her, get some plant food or something and I think she’ll come back to me. It’s very hard to find an aesthetically pleasing pot though, I mean I can but not a big pot and my girl needs a BIG pot because she’s a voluptuous lil lady with big leaves everywhere. I mentioned it to M the other week and she said “why not just get rid of it” and didn’t even joke and I took offence. I jokingly said omg what no way but I actually kind of felt offended. She has this hideous terrarium she got some her cousin, it’s just sludge inside at this point and the jar is butt ugly, but I don’t say anything and I’ve tidied it up for her. Same with her little parsley plant - she asked me to take over and now it’s thriving whereas it was near death when she did it. Same with the succulent on the kitchen window - another one I saved of hers and is now thriving with so much new growth. I hate her taste, I mean she doesn’t even have taste if you ask me. I think she’s amazing in SO SO SO many ways, but her taste in style and all that is abysmal. She’s basically someone who says lounge and will furnish said lounge with leather recliners, old office furniture and bulk made souvenirs from whatever holiday. And I’m all for things from holiday, I think it’s the best time to find pieces for your home, but there’s a difference between a little painting or ceramic by some local artist at a market or a funny little whatever like if I go to Hawaii I know I’m getting a lil dancing hula girl figure thing, but idk, I think there’s a difference between little things like that and just buying straight up tat. I’m being way too harsh. I feel bad. I’m just upset about my plant, stressed about work and taking it out on her. That’s not fair. But I still stand by what I said. I just didn’t need to say it. But as always, it’s her home too and I have no issues with that - she has things on the wall I hate, she has her sofa that I hate etc etc - I mean we have a goddamn chest freezer in the living room, I think I’m being a good flatmate and entirely accommodating?! I also know I can be a control freak with things and I find it difficult to accept things I don’t like in terms of design etc. And I can be very opinionated about it. I try keep my trap shut and I do, but I know it’s a flaw of mine. I know it’s something I will need to keep in check when creating a home with Andy, I know I will often have different opinions to him because sometimes I don’t like his taste, on the whole we’re mostly similar I think, and I like things he has ie his bedding, I think his bedding colours look really nice, but I don’t want them for ME, y’know? But compromise is the word and I will not be a typical only child about it because I can be a very spoiled only child brat sometimes, it just slips out. I can also be a VERY VERY VERY judgmental person and I can think quite mean things. Like yesterday, he showed me a keyboard and I managed to shut my mouth before I said it but he knew I held back so I had to tell him the colour way reminded me of a rotting corpse. I didn’t want to say that. It’s why I closed my mouth as soon as I knew I didn’t want to say it but it was a fraction too late. And I hated having to say it because I just felt like such a raging bitch. I can be like that with a lot of things. I mostly internalise it, like 90% of the time I will internalise it but sometimes things slip out. Like dad was trying on a jacket in one time that he really liked and he asked my opinion and I said it “looked like he borrowed it from someone”. That’s not so bad but it’s the only example I can think of, also he likes to be told things straight up. Like with the house he shows me things he likes and I’ll say I don’t but I back it up with why I don’t and suggest alternatives and he’s said he likes that and he takes my suggestions on board too, like he was talking about a breakfast bar and I said I like the idea in theory but given the space you have and the fact you want it because of an image you have in your head about having breakfast together at it or whatever isn’t realistic - they will have a large dining table right across from it and the breakfast bar thing will just get covered in clutter. So I like the idea of them but I said no for X Y and Z reasons and he scrapped the idea. Same with paint colours, placement of the fireplace etc. So it works with dad, I can be critical but he makes me feel valued - but we also have quite similar taste and we think quite similarly in many ways… God help my mother. I can be more critical of mum, hyper critical even. About every little thing. Even when we were out to dinner last week I didn’t like how she was calling the waitress over so I criticised it and other things. I was like that all night, I apologised a couple times though and she understands I get HYPER critical when I’m anxious because I’m on such high alert of how I’m being interpreted by everyone around me and with my mum I just sort of lash out at times. WAY WAY WAY better than I was as a teenageyounger though, but it’s something I’m still working on. It’s quite rare now, it’s just when I’m struggling with moderating my mood really. It also doesn’t help that a symptom of my anxiety is occasionally irritability. It’s hard to explain, but when I’m in a very anxious mood I just have zero tolerance and am sort of in that panic mode even if I appear calm and composed but inside it’s like a train is barrelling towards me, well that’s what my therapist said anyway, that to others I appear and come across as a normal girl feeling normal things, but inside it’s like I’ve just looked to my left and I’m imminently about to be hit by a car. So everyone is on the zebra crossing chatting away but I’m looking yo the left and feeling like I’m about to be splattered all over the road. It sort of makes sense but idk. Anyway. I’m rambling. I’m really quite a horrid horrid girl at the end of the day.
I’m feeling kind of anxy today. Jittery. The back of my throat is now a body part I am very conscious of. I don’t know why, I just am. I don’t always have a specific reason, sometimes it’s down to worry/fear over a specific thing or whatever else, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere and I can’t function properly but I don’t have a reason for it. Or I do, but it’s not something I’ve been actively thinking about. Idk. Whatever. It’s fine. I shall do some more breathing.
He just asked how my day was :)
Sometimes I don’t know what to do. Well I often don’t know what to do. I know I should bring this up with him, but I also feel like I ought to be picking my battles and this isn’t it. I just wish he would acknowledge when I send a lovey message or say something, I’m at the stage now where I do not expect it to be reciprocated whatsoever - I realise we aren’t at that stage and let’s be real, I get giddy when he uses a smiley face - I mean he used a :( last night and I felt lovey. So I mean, I’m clearly not expecting anything back from him and I am making do with the bare minimum and tbh it’s fine, I know this is my own doing and I have created this situation and it’s whatever - it’s fine. But the fact he just ignores it, I find that difficult. He could say something like “that’s cute/sweet” and leave it be, but he just ignores it and I’m left standing here feeling like an absolute idiot. It just hurts, that’s all. It’s not a big deal, and a lot of the time I don’t even bay an eyelash anymore as I’m used to it, but sometimes I just need something. I think I needed it this morning. I think I needed to hear some form of acknowledgment this morning because I find it difficult to grapple with the idea he doesn’t get jealous of me being with someone else. I know we see it differently and I know it doesn’t mean he’s pushing me to date other guys and idk. It’s usually fine, I think I just feel a little delicate about it this morning and then he ignored something I said and it just made me feel not so good. I don’t think this is worth bringing up, I don’t think I’ll dwell on this. If I’m still thinking about it later tonight or tomorrow then I will. He deals with enough of my BS, I don’t need to start giving him every minute detail of my feelings - just the ones that count or impact things. I don’t think this is that. Plus I’ve said this before to him, that it upsets me sometimes and makes me feel ignored/rejected. I can’t remember where we came to with it. Anyway like I said, this is a situation of my own creation - I only have myself to blame for feeling this way. I feel medium negative.
I am so ugly, ugly ugly uglyyyyyy.
Work is getting on my nerves a bit. For example I said I may have capacity to take on a new piece of work later today but couldn’t promise it but it was just chucked into my queue of work despite me saying I CANT DEFINITELY DO IT. But now it’s in my queue I kind of have to.
I cannot deal with the men in these books. They finally profess their love, and he says “even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will love you” and I’m sorry but who the hell have anyone the right to put those words into the world. SO DREAMY. Except it kept being mentioned a few chapters earlier how he spent centuries sleeping around and he spent centuries heartbroken over someone and idk, this is my issue - because of that it cheapens the dreamy thing he said. I know it could go the opposite way for others, that he had fully lived and finally found the forever one, also this all happened before she even existed, but even so, this is my issue - the fact he was a total slag ruins it for me. All these men are and it makes me like them less. I just can’t seem to accept it. Even with Andy, the fact he’s slept with 30+ women and undoubtedly hooked up with more in “lesser” ways… it makes me feel sick to my stomach and it makes me want him less when I think about it. It makes me feel like I’m nothing. I know he feels the opposite, he said so himself, but I can’t move past this kind of thinking. It’s a me thing, obviously, it just makes me feel so… inconsequential. It’s like with his friend J, I’m like the third or fourth girl he’s included him with and I hate it. I shouldn’t but I do. It makes me feel like I mean absolutely nothing and I’m no different to anyone else.
I got a sort of shout out thing in our team meeting today that I was NOT expecting. I was half listening and half drafting an email and heard my name and the shock that ripples through me. Well it was somewhat mild but still. But the Head of specifically asked the BL to bring it up, after the Head of had given already given me an inter-company award thing. I honestly did nothing out of the usual and it’s very nice to feel acknowledged, very very nice, but I get so awkward and embarrassed and when he was finished giving my shout out thing I just went off mute and literally squeaked out a “thank you’” and went back on mute. I think I prefer private acknowledgment but it’s also nice to have it shared too. Anyway that was nice.
It’s 8pm and I haven’t written anything more sooooo bye
Actually wait we finished BB last night! I’m still sad about Hank. I’m glad Jesse got away and I think it was a good ending for Walt. I feel bad for Skyler and the kids though :( but at least they’ll get a tonne of money soon enough. Anyway. I’m glad we watched it!

Writing styles (a-z)

r/Episode - Choose Your Story!

Foundations Of "The Man You Script" Theory:

How Does This Tie In With “The Man You Script?”

A Daily chronicle of AI Innovations May 13th 2024:

🔮Rumor mill: OpenAI’s Monday reveal; OpenAI Livestream event: GPT-4o

Sam Altman - "No Fixed Timeline for GPT5";

Apple Close to Agreement with OpenAI to Bring ChatGPT to iPhone;

🛠️Anthropic’s new tool automates

🎥 How to create realistic AI avatar videos

🧒Anthropic enables safe AI technology for kids

🚗SoundHound AI and Perplexity partner to enhance voice assistants for cars and IoT devices ⚒️U.K. agency releases tools for testing AI model safety

🎓Hong Kong University brings Albert Einstein to life using AI as a virtual lecturer

Watch OpenAI’s Monday reveal live at https://youtu.be/DQacCB9tDaw

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🔮Rumor mill: OpenAI’s Monday reveal: GPT-4o

ChatGPT4-o Model evaluations

🛠️ Anthropic’s new tool automates prompting

Sam Altman quashes search engine launch rumors

iOS 18 iPhones may soon have ChatGPT

SoftBank’s Arm Holdings all set to come up with AI chips in 2025

AI Tutorial: How to create realistic AI avatar videos

AI Research: MIT studies AI deception capabilities

New AI Job Opportunities on May 13th, 2024

What Else Is Happening on May 13th, 2024❗

Anthropic enables safe AI technology for kids

SoundHound AI and Perplexity partner to enhance voice assistants for cars and IoT devices

U.K. agency releases tools for testing AI model safety

IBM Open-Sources Granite Code Models for Easier Coding

Hong Kong University brings Albert Einstein to life using AI as a virtual lecturer

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När det gäller träning och fitness är maten du äter inte bara bränsle utan också en byggsten för återhämtning och förbättrad prestation. Här är en djupare dykning i varför mat är så avgörande i samband med träning:>

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The Portal to Dimension X: Beyond a Physical Realm.

Superheroes and Ancient Gods: A Lineage of Power

Love and Monsters

Pole shift, known as the plasma apocalypse, and the Phoenix phenomenon:

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