Introduction

Pertaining to Taylor Swift, "Female Rage" has deviated from its intended meaning after Swift debuted a new performance of The Tortured Poets Department during the Eras Tour. Now, according to Swift's use of the phrase, female rage is interpreted as public backlash against Swift's dating choices rather than as a response to the broader injustices against women and women's rights. This post examines Taylor Swift's flawed feminism, philanthropy, branding, and the controversial trademark petition for the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical". Swift's background as an entertainer, indeterminate politics, and alignment with capitalism over feminism pervades her legacy, again threatening her public tolerance as not just an individual but as a brand.

Once Upon a Female Rage...

If you were cognizant in the early 2010's, you've heard countless jabs at Taylor Swift in the media. Magazines, radio, or online. Music critics did not take her seriously as a songwriter; parents put a woman on an unrealistic pedestal as the ideal role model for their children; she dated too much and used men as lyrical fodder. No matter the story, it inevitably spread, conjoined with everyone's respective opinions, and you'd be left to wonder, "Why does everyone hate this girl so much?"
Taylor's target demographic has always been young or adolescent girls, more so when Swift herself was one. She made music that spoke to the awkward misfit, cultivating a para-social relationship with fans on MySpace, then later twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, where Taylor posted relatable vlogs showcasing the life of a homegrown American girl. Taylor had a delayed public "growing up" and, compared to her female pop contemporaries, Swift never "gratuitously sexualized her image and seems pathologically averse to controversy" (and, apparently, never even had a sip of alcohol until she turned 21). She was more than happy to spin this narrative to allude to an inherent moral superiority above other women in the industry (Better Than Revenge, heard of it?), engaging in the very slut-shaming that she herself endured (the Madonna and Whore archetypes). The victim complex arose with the need to prove Taylor as a different type of pop girl. Based upon her holy and clean image, Swift had been dubbed "a feminist's nightmare", and that "[To Swift] other girls are obstacles; undeserving enemies who steal Taylor’s soulmates with their bewitching good looks and sexual availability." Feminism and Tennessee-Christian country values don't exactly mix, it seems.
Years later, Swift befriended Lena Dunham and thus experienced white feminism osmosis, where Dunham taught Swift that real feminists defend rapists, makes insensitive jokes about rape and abortion, and prioritize all-white casts. Swift then declared herself a feminist in 2014, saying,

"Becoming friends with Lena – without her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for – has made me realize that I’ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so."

I suppose the male-centric songwriting subject that permeates Swift's discography contained covert feminism and that we just didn't see that. Perhaps, the "Bad Blood" song and music video were written only in jest and not about poor Katy Perry, for Swift, as a feminist, would "never make it a girl fight" or tear other women down (though all Katy did was date your terrible ex-boyfriend and allegedly steal three backup dancers from your tour). In 2013, Swift said, in response to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's joke towards her serial dating, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."
There was that time in 2015 Taylor said that Nicki Minaj was "invited to any stage [she is] on" (as if Taylor expects to have access to every stage, award, and platform that Nicki might not otherwise have as a black female artist...yikes!) in response to Nicki's criticism of the white + thin VMA nominations. Later, Nicki responded with confusion, as Swift continued, "It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..". Of course, this 'beef' was 'squashed' when Nicki performed with Taylor at the VMAs, with Nicki quite literally only having 38 seconds of stage time without Taylor. Maybe all that parading around with a legion of famous white women - similar to the way Taylor might've done with her numerous 1989-era handbags - was in fact a stance against gender inequality, and that this display of "girl power" should be enough to constitute Swift as a feminist icon.
Even while Swift says that Dunham informed her feminist outlook, she dances around the exact contents of those beliefs: "what she believes, what she says, what she stands for" is not exactly insightful towards what beliefs Swift might have inherited. Taylor never broaches women's rights topics such femicide, FGM, forced pregnancy & marriage, sex trafficking, women in slavery, women's financial and political oppression, women's educational rights, women's health, or women's autonomy, so we can assume she only gives a fuck about "girls supporting girls" (whatever that fucking means).
Despite some questionable (and sometimes vindictive) behavior, Taylor as a young woman did not deserve every media lashing that she received. We cannot deny that most headlines and criticisms perpetuated a misogynistic rhetoric which has plagued Swift for a majority of her career. Acknowledging events such as the development of her ED, her sexual assault trial, "Famous" lyric and MV depiction of Taylor, and the explicit Twitter deepfakes, for example, as both disgusting and unfortunate things that happened to a young woman in Hollywood does not negate the fact that Taylor is mostly a performative feminist.

Get Your Fucking Ass Up and Be a Philanthropist, It Seems Like Nobody Wants to Be a Philanthropist These Days

In 2013, Taylor Swift cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. The donation amount - $4 million - was the largest individual artist gift ever donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is, of course, mentioned on Swift's website. The two-story facility features three classrooms, an instrument room, and an interactive children's exhibit gallery. Swift also performed at "All for the Hall" charity shows and has donated numerous artifacts from her career (such as notable guitars, tour costumes, etc) to the museum.
This was over 11 years ago, and it is still the only notable philanthropic contribution Taylor Swift has made.
For a woman of her net worth and stature, and a woman who recognizes the difficulties for women in film and music, you would think that Taylor Swift might establish a scholarship program for women to study the arts or something. Perhaps Swift might even consider becoming a member of organizations that support female artists, or one that supports LGBTQ+ causes (since she is now proudly an ally), yet she remains superficial with her graces. Broader philanthropy, such as donating relief aid to Palestinian women or women impacted by violence and discrimination will probably never receive any financial support from Miss Swift because then she'd be using her money towards philanthropies involving anyone but white entertainers.
She even says herself in Miss Americana, "My entire moral code as a kid and now is a need to be thought of as 'good'." Well, she's certainly thought of as good, though her actions say otherwise. She's more than happy to do a vaguely altruistic song and dance for a clip-worthy interview quote and mass appeasement, then fuck off to one of her mansions on a 20 minute private jet flight, rather than actually contribute to anything pertaining to the causes she has endorsed. Yet, far too many people continue to give a woman such as her their money, time, and energy, and she hoards these resources to herself.

I Like Some of the Taylor's Songs, But What the Fuck Does She Know About Feminism?

Swift continued with her self-proclaimed feminist campaign, positioning herself as a political activist and LGBTQ+ ally in the Miss Americana documentary. The primary focus of the documentary consists of the sexual assault trial, Andrea Swift's cancer diagnosis, Taylor's ED and body dysmorphia, media scrutiny, and, largely, finally speaking up about her politics publicly, mostly her opposition to the 2018 Tennessee Republican senate candidate, Marsha Blackburn, and Blackburn's beliefs. Swift says, following a scene discussing her experience during the trial,

"I just couldn't really stop thinking about it. And I just thought to myself, next time there is any opportunity to change anything, you had better know what you stand for and what you want to say."

We must ask ourselves, though: when has Swift ever spoken up to change anything? Okay, pulling her entire catalogue from Spotify because they didn't pay their artists enough and similarly pulling her catalogue from Apple Music are changes that she leveraged due to her revenue potential and power, but they are not pertinent to the average woman's rights. Moreover, these are issues that directly impacted Taylor's income, which was enough reason for her to protest in the first place. Swift has sold the most units for a female artist in first week sales, is the first female artist with 100k monthly Spotify listeners, is the first female artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy 4 times, and is the first female artist to do X, Y, and Z, all while being inoffensive and family-friendly to boot. The actual Taylor Swift seems unwilling to compromise the brand of Taylor Swift by contributing in meaningful ways to feminist causes, especially if it is for women outside of America and Hollywood.
The reason political anthems such as "The Man" and "Only the Young" of the Lover era feel disingenuous and corporate is because, well, it is. Taylor has taken every opportunity to advance her career or public image at the expense of other women. What is truly genuine to Taylor's outlook on other women is vying for male attention, taking down female competition, and vocalizing feminist injustices only if they directly impact her and her money. Some will argue that it's satisfactory for a woman with such a huge platform to even TALK about feminism, but that just isn't enough. It's even less impressive when you candidly look at the scope of her feminist lens: "If I was the man, then I'd be THE MAN", or "I really resent the ‘Be careful, buddy, she’s going to write a song about you’ angle, because it trivialises what I do", and, of course, "We all got crowns". Feminism, but only when it happens to me. It gets worse when you look at Taylor's track record of copying other famous women and removing other female artists as potential threats to her pop prowess.
It's good for PR to align yourself with certain blanket feminist and political beliefs, therefore good for branding, therefore good for ticketing and merchandise sales, therefore good for business. And Taylor Swift is a business.
She's not a feminist. Taylor Swift is a capitalist.

I Can't Pay Those Sweatshop Workers a Livable Wage or Benefits! How Else Would I Make My Billions?

Recently, Taylor's team filed to trademark the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical" after Taylor said during Paris N1 of the Eras Tour,

"So you were the first ones to see The Tortured Poets at the Eras Tour...or as I like to call it, 'Female Rage: The Musical'."

This trademark petition was filed last week on Saturday, and news comes about just as numerous unofficial fan-made merch designs have cropped up with this phrase plastered on Fruit of the Loom basics. I'm of the opinion Swift's team motioned for a trademark so that they can send out cease & desists to all those that make knockoff merch, which disrupts potential sales for Bravado, UMG's choice merchandising company; however, since it was filed earlier, perhaps Swift has bigger plans with the bizarre use of the gendered phrase. One Swiftie referred to the phrase "female rage" as "a funny Eras Tour joke". Could it be a possible fourth version of the Eras Tour Movie? Whatever the reason, the motion to capitalize off of such a concept is disgusting, but not unsurprising, for a woman that profits on her vain feminism.
Swift, through her company, TAS Rights Managements, has also trademarked over 200 phrases, including "1989", where she owns the property rights to this calendar year on keychains, phone cases, sunglasses, stationary, bags, beverage ware, clothing, entertainment services, your subconscious, and, of course, Christmas ornaments.
The vapid consumerism in Swiftie culture is, frankly, disgusting. Bravado's sustainability statement is non-existent, the quality control is abysmal, and the materials they use are horrible. The materials, such as acrylic and polyester, are made from petrochemicals. This means they are non-renewable, shed microplastics, and are quite toxic in production. The manufacturing process to make all of those lazy-rushed Eras Tour logo graphic tees is a huge blow to environmental well-being. Apparently, though, Swifties don't give a fuck. They sell out products in seconds and either have to face the manufactured scarcity or buy from a scalper that resells for 200% of the already ridiculous retail price. This doesn't include the environmental impact of vinyl records, CD, and cassette production, of which Taylor produces many variants that sell unsustainable amounts.
If we're talking about women's rights violations, why is no one acknowledging the women that work in the inhumane sweatshop conditions that have to pump out fugly t-shirts and hats? The millions of plastic microfiber dander they are inhaling, or the toxic dyes that touch their bare skin? Are they being compensated fairly for their skilled labour and are they in safe working environments? Do these women have minimal bargaining power, and do they have authority over their worker's rights? Is Taylor Swift female raging at their injustices? Does Taylor Swift ever feels bad that her wealth was built on the backs of women of color, disadvantaged by the demands of the global economy and garment industry? Do you think she ever says a little white feminist prayer for them before she goes to sleep at night?
What's even crazier is not that Taylor herself doesn't care, it's that Swifties don't care. There CANNOT BE ethical billionaires. You only make a billion dollars if you are exploiting other human beings for capital gain. Based on public perception of the possible "Female Rage: The Musical" trademark, it seems like Swifties are already asking for merch with this phrase. "If Taylor made it, I'd buy it." Oh, cool. So not only do you champion Miss Swift's avarice and billionaire status, but you also are unashamed to admit to your blind consumption of her music and merchandise, no matter where they might originate in production or sincerity. Just as Swift takes and takes and takes, Swifties' consumerism of Taylor Swift cannot be quelled.
The tortured artist's most vulnerable and sincere poetry...available now in 21 different versions!

I Am Tortured Poet, Hear Me Whinge

Look - even if Taylor's intention is to characterize TTPD as more "tortured" and "angry", the main thread of the album is "I was ghosted by my decade-long situationship with a controversial indie boy and my fucking stupid fans wrote a 'Speak Up Now' open letter prompting me to drop him" anger, which is adequately expressed in the lyrics and performances. The extent of Taylor's "female rage" on TTPD is on tracks such as "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?", which contends with relentless media scrutiny; "But Daddy I Love Him", where Swift firmly states she'll date whoever she likes no matter how "Sarahs and Hannahs" may react; and "The Albatross", a track mythologizing her reputation and the consequences of dating her. Of course, these coincide with deep psychological wounds that formed during Swift's early years in the media, and so, from her feminist perspective, these subjects tackle the misogyny and double standards that she faced.
Yet Taylor Swift still has no grounds to be claiming that TTPD best exemplifies female rage and therefore she, in the context of this album, is female rage incarnate. As the daughter of a stock broker and mutual fund marketing executive, Taylor was born into wealth and allowed privileges like trips and subsequent relocation to Nashville all so that she might get a record deal. Her father even invested at least $120,000 into the then-fledgling label, Big Machine Records, which ensured Taylor's place with Borchetta after leaving her dead-end development deal with Sony. The fact that her parents were able to buy her a fucking brand new guitar for Christmas and pay for music lessons says so much about the financial security and safety of her childhood.
Money is privilege and protection, and despite Swift's experiences with misogyny and loser boyfriends, she does not know what female rage is.
Her rage is derived from her frustrations with her obsessive fans pulling the moral superiority card on Taylor in response to her rebound with Matty Healy. That's literally it. She's just pissed that the monster she created is no longer obediant, it's become a feral, sovereign entity that depletes the world of its natural resources and thinks it is more intelligent than it actually is because it's mommy has started to talk to it with big words. Apparently, 'illicit', 'elegy', 'nonchalant', and 'precocious' are considerably big words for the oafish monster, and I find it strange that this level of literacy is present in a group of fans that allegedly have GPAs of 3.5 or higher, but I digress.
Taylor Swift has never been one paycheck away from destitution. Taylor Swift has never experienced racial discrimination. She may have instances of gender discrimination, but she possesses the ideal white, blonde American beauty standard and therefore reaps the benefits of being a conventionally attractive woman. Taylor Swift has sufficient social capital. Taylor Swift is a billionaire woman prolonging her victimhood though she, as a woman, has mostly had control over her image and music (unlike her contemporaries). Taylor Swift is NOT entitled to be championed for her "female rage", nor should she be. Taylor Swift has never even been the struggling artist, for fuck's sake. I don't give a fuck if she's trying to fill the empty lunch tables of her past. Taylor Swift purporting herself, her unpolished album, and her lukewarm feminism as a musical bleeding with female rage is asinine.

Sigh Try and Come For My Job, Poors

Out there in the world right now is a 23-year-old woman, a recent college grad, who works as a barista. She has to wake up and get ready to go into a minimum wage job because she cannot get a job in her field. She doesn't have healthcare benefits or sick time, so she has to go into work no matter how she's feeling. All day long she is berated by vicious customers and creepy men, and, exhausted from being on her feet, she knows she has to go home to her shitty roommate that never does the dishes and her roommate's shitty dog. To comfort herself, she considers getting a treat, but thinks against it when she remembers that matcha lattes cost $15 and they taste like milky dirt. She knows that she needs to buy groceries this week, and so the woman resolves to go home, but notices that her gas tank is low. She goes to put gas in the car, but the pump stops at $27.86 because that's all that she has in her checking account. The woman, bereft and reeling, sinks into the driver's seat. "Well," she thinks, her head in her hands, "at least I don't have Taylor Swift's job. I just couldn't imagine."
Fame is somewhat of a choice. If at any moment Taylor feels that she is misunderstood, misconstrued, or overwhelmed by public opinion, she can LEAVE the public eye - Lord knows she has the retirement fund and residuals to do so. In "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart", the TTPD song about meeting the demands of your career-zenith mega-tour while in the relationship trenches, Taylor ends the song by rambling,

"You know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart...you know you're good...and I'm good, cause I'm miserable, and no one even knows!...try and come for my job."

Yeah, obviously we wouldn't know, you recently passed the billionaire threshold and are the most famous and in-demand performer in the world right now. Taylor Swift makes an estimated $10 to $13 million dollars A NIGHT on the Eras Tour. Furthermore, the Eras Tour movie grossed $261.6 million globally, (which, as the producer, Taylor takes home 57% of the ticket sales) not counting the streaming revenue from Amazon Prime Video and the estimated $75 million deal that Disney paid to have it on Disney+. We're not even considering the income from cheap plastic popcorn buckets and drink cups plastered with colored squares in her Era-specific likeness.
It's funny. Taylor Swift often said that being famous wasn't hard, that she "isn't complaining". I'm sure it is difficult to always have to present in a good mood, else you'll end up misrepresented in the media, and I'm sure it's invasive to virtually have no privacy or semblance of anonymity. Still, Taylor Swift shows up each night of tour and performs. For a majority of her career, she has penned her sad songs while on the road. Most of "Red", her breakup album, was written in the thick of the Speak Now World tour. Now, some Swifties say they almost "feel bad" for attending the Eras Tour with Swift's revelations in this song, that they have had a 'dimmed experience' upon hearing Taylor's misery whilst performing. Despite the fact that Taylor said that "this was the happiest she's ever been" at Gilette Stadium in May, the lyrics "boohoo, woe is me, smile for the cameras and make the fans happy!!!" are jarring for Eras attendees.
While Taylor Swift was making double-digit millions a night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and feeling miserable, Ana Clara Benevides Machado passed away due to heat exposure. The concert promoters, Time For Fun, are now the subject of a criminal investigation due to their lack of adequate hydration and safety. Taylor Swift cancelled the Sunday show that was to follow and offered VIP tent tickets to Benevides Marchado's family, which was a kind gesture, but perhaps incongruous to the incident of which they were offered as consolation. Everyone grieves differently, of course, but I'm not sure attending the very show at the very same venue that my daughter or sister passed away in two days prior, where the singer CONTINUED the show despite her death, would be healthy for closure.
There was no female rage at the show as Swift never saw Benevides Machado pass out. There was no female rage towards the disregard for fans as humans while Swift elected to proceed with her Brazil tour dates despite the country being in historic heatwaves (at risk of overheatting herself). If Taylor Swift was so shaken by touring with a broken heart or a fan's passing, she wouldn't have added an additional North American leg of Eras just two months after the Matty breakup. She's brokenhearted but willing to mend the cracks with your money and move onward with her worldwide female rage induced pillaging.
No matter what happens, even if you die at a Taylor Swift concert, Taylor collects a big fat check and flies away. She doesn't know you as anything other than a conversion rate or earning potential despite what her nearly 20-year long parasocial relationship with fans might otherwise indicate. She knows that, while some Swifties are without disposable income, they feel obligated to spend on a "48 Hours Only!" exclusive vinyl variant instead of necessities because they are so entrenched in Taylor Swift's intoxicating celebrity, they'll prioritize materialistic fandom before their needs. This is good enough for her because this means she can expand her real estate portfolio and finance her cat's lavish lifestyles. They're worth an estimated $100 million dollars. Her three cats could pool their net worth and solve world hunger.
While you and I might be denied bereavement leave and barely surviving the current political and economic climate, Taylor Swift has to, instead of gets to, perform for stadiums at full attendance for three nights in a row across the globe. You and I might be replaced by AI at our longtime jobs, but Taylor Swift is threatened with losing more and more money each time you listen to a "Stolen Version" of her songs. If we don't buy every variant of all of her albums, then who is going to pay for the fucking cats?
It is tone deaf to spend as she spends and lives as she lives in this economy, but this is her reality. She was able to donate $100,000 to all of her tour truck drivers, and that's wonderful, but it leads me to wonder about the ethos of the 2020s where one woman can hoard such life-changing amounts of money. Remember in 2014 when she gave a fan $90 ($120 in today's money) to get Chipotle because she had no fucking clue how much it cost? This is a 34-year-old woman who is increasingly out of touch with the reality for working class people and women in general. Normal everyday adults must wake up and go to their thankless jobs, and yet Taylor Swift, despite all her riches, incessantly references the lows of her life and career as a public figure and entertainer to farm sympathy and drive sales. And still, the corporate women have latched onto "I cry a lot, but I am so productive! It's an art!" as their cubicle battle cry.
Do you think that, from up in her private jet, Taylor Swift gazes at the world through her poetic, tortured eyes, and thinks, "All the little people, in their cars, walking, going about their lives...all those girls that don't support girls...do they know that I've made an album about female rage?"

Conclusion/TLDR

Thank you for reading. I would love to hear your critical insights towards this entire ordeal: TTPD, the trademark, the implications of it all.
TLDR: Taylor Swift is a bad feminist and is delusional to think that the TTPD eras set exemplifies female rage at women's injustice.

I would really appreciate it if more people would comment on this subject topic please.
I edited some things so you guys could read it better and there are also spoilers for the shitty story video game The Last of Us Part II so read at your own risk!
Do you think AJ might end up becoming a crazy serial killer sociopath or psychopath? Because the way he talks about killing people especially what he did to Marlon without thinking about the consequences of his actions was the definition of Murder! Marlon wasn't perfect but he didn't deserve to die like that he even surrenders too and I believe he actually felt Remorseful Regretful Guilty Responsible and Ashamed of what he had done
but AJ killed him in cold blood anyway so I don't blame Louis and Mitch and all the other kids for acting the way they did in Episode 2 and I know AJ is still young and Clem has been trying her best to teach him right from wrong and I know he saved Clem's life but still I worry that there will come a day where Clem will have to tell AJ to look at the flowers for those of you who know what I mean there are people who still don't like and hate AJ regardless of him saving Clem's life! Because of his personality especially when you tell him to kill Lilly and the way he said he liked killing her in such a creepy serial killer voice I mean he reminds me of Light Yagami from the anime/manga series Death Note and he reminds me of Harvey Dent aka Two-Face especially from The 2008 film The Dark Knight especially with that famous quote "You either die a Hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the Villain" and that's what I worry about with AJ that one day he could totally freaking snap and Clem would have no choice but to finally put him down once and for all that's what I still fear in the future for AJ that he will do something so bad to someone else that they will want revenge on him and
David from Season 3 is a good example of that because David was Crazy and in most of the endings of Season 3 he ends up dead! But he was right about one thing "AJ was a Brat" Also Karma might come back for AJ because someone might bash his brains out just like Badger from Season 3 got his brains bashed out from Javi all I'm saying is if AJ still keeps doing crazy stuff and being ruthless when it comes to killing people then someone is going to want revenge and is going to want to kill him Just like Abby killed Joel in The Last of Us Part II because Joel killed Abby's Dad! That could happen to AJ in the future you never know because he might just go to far and someone maybe Clem will have no choice but to put him down in the future which would be a sad but true thing indeed! So what do you all think about AJ's future when comes to killing people who do wrong by him and the way he talks about it like it's no big deal!
I just hope he will learn to give people the benefit of the doubt in the future instead of wanting to kill them because when it came to interrogating Abel when AJ saw him Die he started to feel a little sorry for him especially if you ask him as Clem by saying isn't this what you wanted and AJ will say I did but and then Abel will cut him off by saying You're going to get your wish and AJ has a sad look on his face I liked where AJ offers Abel Water at least because you told him what he did to Marlon was wrong and it was murder and that he would have to atone for it so he thought he could do the same with Abel I just don't know I still worry what and who AJ will become in the future
Maybe he will start to show a little bit of mercy to his enemies and he will only kill them in self defense and he will show mercy to the ones who hopefully feel Remorseful regretful guilty responsible and ashamed of their actions look I know it's a zombie apocalypse world and it's every person for themselves but you have to believe that there are some people who want to be good and who want to be heroes I hope AJ will see that and try to have a code when it comes to not killing as many people only if and when it's necessary and when it's unnecessary I hope he will learn and know the difference especially when said to Lilly's face in Episode 3 of the final season that he killed Marlon and that he wasn't a monster but she was and it was a good choice that he killed Lilly but still I just hope he will learn the difference when it comes to doing the right thing which is showing mercy to people like Marlon and killing people like Lilly I hope he will know the difference and grow up to be more like Clem and his parents Rebecca and Alvin and less like Carver hopefully anyway what do you guys think? 🤷‍♂️🙏

I would really appreciate it if more people would comment on this subject topic please.
I edited some things so you guys could read it better and there are also spoilers for the shitty story video game The Last of Us Part II so read at your own risk!
Do you think AJ might end up becoming a crazy serial killer sociopath or psychopath? Because the way he talks about killing people especially what he did to Marlon without thinking about the consequences of his actions was the definition of Murder! Marlon wasn't perfect but he didn't deserve to die like that he even surrenders too and I believe he actually felt Remorseful Regretful Guilty Responsible and Ashamed of what he had done
but AJ killed him in cold blood anyway so I don't blame Louis and Mitch and all the other kids for acting the way they did in Episode 2 and I know AJ is still young and Clem has been trying her best to teach him right from wrong and I know he saved Clem's life but still I worry that there will come a day where Clem will have to tell AJ to look at the flowers for those of you who know what I mean there are people who still don't like and hate AJ regardless of him saving Clem's life! Because of his personality especially when you tell him to kill Lilly and the way he said he liked killing her in such a creepy serial killer voice I mean he reminds me of Light Yagami from the anime/manga series Death Note and he reminds me of Harvey Dent aka Two-Face especially from The 2008 film The Dark Knight especially with that famous quote "You either die a Hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the Villain" and that's what I worry about with AJ that one day he could totally freaking snap and Clem would have no choice but to finally put him down once and for all that's what I still fear in the future for AJ that he will do something so bad to someone else that they will want revenge on him and
David from Season 3 is a good example of that because David was Crazy and in most of the endings of Season 3 he ends up dead! But he was right about one thing "AJ was a Brat" Also Karma might come back for AJ because someone might bash his brains out just like Badger from Season 3 got his brains bashed out from Javi all I'm saying is if AJ still keeps doing crazy stuff and being ruthless when it comes to killing people then someone is going to want revenge and is going to want to kill him Just like Abby killed Joel in The Last of Us Part II because Joel killed Abby's Dad! That could happen to AJ in the future you never know because he might just go to far and someone maybe Clem will have no choice but to put him down in the future which would be a sad but true thing indeed! So what do you all think about AJ's future when comes to killing people who do wrong by him and the way he talks about it like it's no big deal!
I just hope he will learn to give people the benefit of the doubt in the future instead of wanting to kill them because when it came to interrogating Abel when AJ saw him Die he started to feel a little sorry for him especially if you ask him as Clem by saying isn't this what you wanted and AJ will say I did but and then Abel will cut him off by saying You're going to get your wish and AJ has a sad look on his face I liked where AJ offers Abel Water at least because you told him what he did to Marlon was wrong and it was murder and that he would have to atone for it so he thought he could do the same with Abel I just don't know I still worry what and who AJ will become in the future
Maybe he will start to show a little bit of mercy to his enemies and he will only kill them in self defense and he will show mercy to the ones who hopefully feel Remorseful regretful guilty responsible and ashamed of their actions look I know it's a zombie apocalypse world and it's every person for themselves but you have to believe that there are some people who want to be good and who want to be heroes I hope AJ will see that and try to have a code when it comes to not killing as many people only if and when it's necessary and when it's unnecessary I hope he will learn and know the difference especially when said to Lilly's face in Episode 3 of the final season that he killed Marlon and that he wasn't a monster but she was and it was a good choice that he killed Lilly but still I just hope he will learn the difference when it comes to doing the right thing which is showing mercy to people like Marlon and killing people like Lilly I hope he will know the difference and grow up to be more like Clem and his parents Rebecca and Alvin and less like Carver hopefully anyway what do you guys think? 🤷‍♂️🙏

Hey everyone, I really could use some advice and I didn't see the rules of the AITA, so my original post got deleted.
So, for some context: Me and my partner have been together for 4 years now. 1.5 years ago, we changed countries and are still adjusting to our new lifestyle in a way. We came from a poorer country, and now we finally have a better life in general.
I (25F) came with a permanent contract, and he (27M) came with a fixed-term contract (1y), my salary being the highest salary by a large margin. So, for a while, I was already being the main provider, which is totally fine with me. In the meanwhile, we managed to save some money, but just enough so that if anything happens, we have some back-up.
Now, to the current situation: He has been unemployed for the past 5 months, and it was really tough for us. He started getting really moody, and the first 1-2 months were completely hellish. However, after leaving his job, he realized how he felt so unappreciated by his previous bosses and I suggested that maybe it was good to have a break and get some education (which was an opportunity he had never had previously and I wanted him to experience it too). He gave it some thought, and decided to apply for a bachelor, and thankfully, he got in! Very happy for him for that.
The problem starts here: I was always very vocal about how I preferred that he found a part-time and studied full-time, or the opposite, to ensure we could maintain our heads afloat. What I didn't know was that he actually never thought much about this, and that his goal is to focus only on studying for the next 3 years.
His perspective is, and I quote: "If I find a full-time job until my university starts, fine. If not, I'll just study." I have asked what about summer jobs, part-time jobs or even internships, and he always seems to dismiss it and say that there's nothing for him, and that you need to know the local language to get those, etc. In these 5 months, there was absolutely no effort on his side to learn the local language, he has been playing games and doom scrolling for most of his day. Sends some applications here and there, and that's it. Lately, and after being accepted for university, the number of applications sent is almost getting to 5 per week.
This has become concerning to me, because it means I will be the only one handling everything for 3 years. I want to be a supportive partner like I have been so far but his lack of interest in getting a job is making my belly twist, specially considering we have made great efforts to get him stuff he wants (e.g: his first car) and that when we talked about it before he got accepted, he seemed to be really motivated to do that.
We have argued about this, and he's pissed, saying that he thought he could count on me and apparently that has changed. The one friend I have told this to says I'm being dumb and that he would never put his girlfriend in this position, but I don't really know.
Reddit, AITA for wanting my partner to find a job and study?

“Love, duty,… The machines had been built by men who had little use for such things, being like machines themselves. So they built new men, men without chests, father says. Men made stupid by the machines to serve their designs.” -Howling Dark, Chapter 65

Here Suzuha is telling Hadrian the history of the Mericanii. What’s interesting is that “men without chests” is a phrase and chapter title used by CS Lewis in The Abolition of Man. This book is Lewis’ critique of subjective/scientific morality, and a defence of traditional morality, which Lewis calls ‘the Tao’.

“We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” -The Abolition of Man

I think these next two quotes illustrate that Hadrian and the Sollan Empire—even with all their flaws—try to conform to traditional morality or ‘the Tao’.

“Tao. It is the reality beyond all predicates, the abyss that was before the Creator Himself. It is Nature, it is the Way, the Road. It is the Way in which the universe goes on, the Way in which things everlastingly emerge, stilly and tranquilly, into space and time. It is also the Way which every man should tread in imitation of that cosmic and supercosmic progression, conforming all activities to that great exemplar.” -The Abolition of Man
“The Empire is a river, it has currents and a course. And while our movement may be limited—we are always limited. By our bodies, as you correctly noted. By our minds, by nature itself. Freedom is accepting those limitations and responding to them with humility. We cannot change nature.” -Kingdoms of Death, Chapter 14

This contrasts with other societies like the Lothrians, Extras, Demarchists, and the Mericanii, who embrace a scientific morality or try to transcend morality. But even when rejecting traditional morality they cannot escape the Tao.

“What purport to be new systems or (as they now call them) ‘ideologies’, all consist of fragments from the Tao itself, arbitrarily wrenched from their context in the whole and then swollen to madness in their isolation, yet still owing to the Tao and to it alone such validity as they possess.” -The Abolition of Man
“sweeping away the old is like knocking the foundations of a tower out from under your feet. Tradition grounds a man. Even for you Lothrians it is so.” -Kingdoms of Death, Chapter 14

Even if the Lothrians pride themselves for sweeping away traditional morality, their Lothriad still carry’s echos of the Tao:

“Let each toil for the good of all. Let there be bread, and board, and good order for all who toil.” -Kingdoms of Death, Chapter 10

The Lothrians and ancient Mericanii were also ruled by a class of people CS Lewis would call “conditioners”. We see humans being treated like livestock. The Chairs of the Lothrian Commonwealth need not adhere to the strict linguistic rules which they enforce. Similarly, we learn in Disquiet Gods that “American Princes” still managed the Mericanii machines without subjecting themselves to a cancerous fate. Lewis’ worst case scenario—the abolition of man—is realized in the Sun Eater universe.

“the man-moulders of the new age will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state and an irresistible scientific technique: we shall get at last a race of conditioners who really can cut out all posterity in what shape they please.” -The Abolition of Man
“critics may ask ‘Why should you suppose they [conditioners] will be such bad men?’ But I am not supposing them to be bad men. They are, rather, not men (in the old sense) at all. They are, if you like, men who have sacrificed their own share in traditional humanity in order to devote themselves to the task of deciding what ‘Humanity’ shall henceforth mean. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’, applied to them, are words without content: for it is from them that the content of these words is henceforward to be derived.” -The Abolition of Man

Hadrian does not believe that humans need to be conditioned. He sees that while the Sollan Empire has flaws (like slavery and their Palatine eugenics system), the empire is not trying to change what humanity is.

“At least the Empire protects humanity… Humanity. And mankind. The Commonwealth’s ideals were as toxic to the human animal as the surgeries and augmentations the Extrasollarians enjoyed. Each saw humanity as a problem to solve.” -Kingdoms of Death, Chapter 14

P.S. I think Sun Eater is so great on rereads for reasons like this. I made so many more connections like this on my reread. On a surface level it’s a fun story, but there are also profound themes. Btw thanks for reading if you made it this far, I know this is a bit long.

Mods: sorry if not allowed, but after reading the rules I think my post is ok.
Making a post to publicly shame Living Skies Construction, who it appears is now operating as Forever Fence Supply Inc (same phone number for both companies).
In August of 2023 my elderly grandparents hired Living Skies to install a fence at their White City home. Living Skies was paid in full, but a portion of the fence was installed incorrectly which is causing issues. They have so far refused to come and correct the issue. My grandparents finally got frustrated and reached out to a different contractor for a quote to fix it.
Multiple family members with different last names have attempted to contact Living Skies/Forever Fence, but the moment we mention my grandparent's address they hang up the phone. They are also having negative Facebook reviews from family members deleted.
If you need something, hire a different contractor. Save yourself a headache and the additional cost of hiring someone else to fix their mistake.

mostly just venting here but holy fuck I'm so heated right now it's insane.
I'm a sub who bids to millworkers primarily(solid surface). One millworker in particular is a very good customer. They're a pretty decent size company and have 4 project managers. 3 of them are great. 1 of them is an absolute fucking shit show. This dude is incredibly forgetful for a guy who's supposed to be a PM at a high end millworker. He's very much the face of that meme/joke where one persons lack of preparation should not suddenly become your emergency. He's good for "I forgot to send you this job how fast can you get it done?" on a semi-regular basis.
This guy had us make him a mock up for a project we have under contract with him. As far as we knew, the mock up was fine and everything is cool. Then he emails me and says "here's the updated shop drawings and your quote, I believe you have everything covered but we are now changing detail, please provide a change order for this"
I send the change order. a few weeks go by and we start doing the job and realize something is off. what they're asking for is requiring about $2000 more in materials than I ever figured. Come to find out, that detail previously mentioned was not the only change from the mock up. So i go back to him and ask, what happened here? the project was quoted like this per the architectural's, the mock up was made the same, and now the project is being done differently, to the tune of $2000 in materials? "I sent you the drawings and told you to update the pricing, if you missed that it's on you. It's not my job to point out the changes" is the response i got.
You sack of shit mother fucker you specifically told me what to change and that it was the only the change. I wish I could post the drawing I was sent without potentially doxing myself just to show how buried the new dimension in question was. If I didn't think it was pure stupidity and forgetfulness on his end, I'd think he was trying to sneak it by me on purpose. so of course now he refuses to pay for the additional material because I "missed" it and he can't submit another change order for it himself. Did I "miss" the fact that 1 dimension changed? apparently. but I was 100% misled by an absolute chode

Haven't been active on this subreddit in quite a while, and not sure if boards still sell on Reddit the way they used to back in the day Always knew this day would come and, at this point in my life, the board deserves a better home like the unused toys in Toy Story 3.
My relationship with this board was similar to what I imagine most people have with their first car, and I tried my best to treat it the same way Cameron's dad did his Ferrari in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This board was my horse throughout college, taking me between the campuses of Rutgers New Brunswick so I could avoid the lengthy & crowded trips of the buses. It's never failed me.
WTS Boosted Board V2 Dual+ XR, $449 or best offer.
Description: One and only owner. ~500 miles. All electronics OEM. Original wheels, trucks, deck, etc. XR battery. Grip tape needed to be replaced at some point and, being a purist, I reached out to Boosted to see what grip tape they used for the front and back. I bought the same types they gripped the Dual+ with and did my best to use the original grip tape as a stencil for the branding. Pride myself on taking extremely good care of my stuff. Would personally label as Good/Very Good condition. Still charges & operates like the first day I got it. Has never needed to be serviced or has had any RLOD related incidents.
Accessories: 3D Printed truck risers and/or tail/nose bumpers (independently printed, not Flatland 3D) but will include the original ones. Original Charger, Controller, Mini USB Cable, truck risers, & sticker. Extra pulleys. Original hardware. Boosted Skate Tool. Boosted Backpack for carrying board & accessories. Kane's Thumbwheel that can be swapped with the original one on the controller for better use with gloves.
Just specific things I want to point out to be completely transparent about the condition. Will do my best to include specific close-up pictures of all things mentioned below:

1. Grip tape job is not perfect. Obviously pretty easy to re-grip a board with a single new piece of tape but, having tried to replicate the OEM job, it is certainly not perfect.
2. Slight chafing on nose and tail.
3. Back wheels are slightly chewed from use.
4. Seems to be a staple or something lodged very deeply in the back-right wheel. Honestly, super hard to get a picture of. It seems like it's lodged so deeply in there that it is now actually integral to the wheel. I imagine if I (or you) ever tried to dislodge it, it would take a significant chunk out of the wheel. I honestly don't think it's anything to worry about. Been there for most of the board's life & has never caused issues. Always thought it was more trouble than it was worth to try and extract.

Shipping / Pick-Up: I am located in South Jersey. Willing to travel / meet for local pick-up or test drive. Willing to ship but price of shipping would probably need to hammered out down the road. So far, FedEx seems to quote me somewhere between $15-$50 for shipping depending on where the recipient is located.
Thanks for taking the time to look/read! Please PM me if you have any questions or other photo requests that are not captured here: https://imgur.com/a/TGLMMXE

I am new to this mbti and enneagram stuff, but I did look into cognitive functions a bit but I still am not sure which fit me, it might be because I am still pretty new. This is mostly a hobby for when I am bored and want to think, because I like to play with outside systems like this.
• How old are you? What's your gender? Give us a general description of yourself.
I am 16 years old, male , just your average quiet teenager that sucks at introspecting and wants to look cool to others yet does nothing to impress others (other than looks)
that sounded oddly specific.,.....
whatever
• Is there a medical diagnosis that may impact your mental stability somehow?
not really, not that I know of..
• Describe your upbringing. Did it have any kind of religious or structured influence? How did you respond to it?
I grew up in a poor family (duh), then just like your average adult couple they divorce, usually I'd stay a lot with my mother and she would teach me about morals which I now see some as stupid but either way I kind of "took" her morals and my dad's too. Kind of had to grew up early and take care of my smaller brother by substituting being a dad , and I have a lot of influence over my brother , and we would switch places a lot but the only comfort I had was in games, interacting with others on the games ,making fun of others and overall having a good time being accepted
• What do you do as a job or as a career (if you have one)? Do you like it? Why or why not?
At the moment I have no job, I do karate and I could teach others but I don't have the stuff necessary like: a place to train others, I am not at the highest level yet, customers and this is mostly the main things.
But I would really like to continue on this path of gym and karate since I already have an edge and kind of be under someone's wing to help me
• If you had to spend an entire weekend by yourself, how would you feel? Would you feel lonely or refreshed?
Mostly depends, on my mood sometimes I despise being alone and feel miserable being alone with my thoughts(and is mostly why I spend a lot of time on my computer despite not wanting to do so) or if the people in my circle kind of make me have a bad time then I would want to withdraw and get my energy back , usually I am very loud after I get comfortable with the other person and know what they are capable of
• What kinds of activities do you prefer? Do you like, and are you good at sports? Do you enjoy any other outdoor or indoor activities?
Like I said above I do Karate , I recently reached the brown belt ( YIPPPIE me) and me and the outdoors have a bad history but as of now I prefer to have a balance of both but mostly I would like to focus on real life things, especially when it comes to careers
• How curious are you? Do you have more ideas then you can execute? What are your curiosities about? What are your ideas about - is it environmental or conceptual, and can you please elaborate?
I am not too curious of stuff that is deep , it makes me feel miserable, but usually I get random questions sometimes and it makes me search , but not too deep into it just enough to have the idea cause I see no point in diving deeper. Usually when I even get these questions is from either talking out loud or just looking around me so it's mostly environmental (I think not too sure of this)
• Would you enjoy taking on a leadership position? Do you think you would be good at it? What would your leadership style be?
The only time I like leading is when I have knowledge and know I am the best to do it, if someone else is better then I'll let them do their thing but usually I wouldn't fully obey them I would kind of give some counter-arguments if there is room for some.
Even when I lead, others do listen to me and usually I am confident in doing it, kind of like that one quote of Sun Tzu:" Go to war only if you know you will win" , which my friend told me recently.
As for the style not too sure what it would really reference, but I would say I think of people as cogs in the machine
• Are you coordinated? Why do you feel as if you are or are not? Do you enjoy working with your hands in some form? Describe your activity?
Not too sure what to say on the "coordination" part but I for sure love working with my hands, especially when I cook for myself or others, and like I already mentioned I do karate so of course I like practicing with my hands improving my technique
• Are you artistic? If yes, describe your art? If you are not particular artistic but can appreciate art please likewise describe what forums of art you enjoy. Please explain your answer.
no I am not artistic at all , I don't really look into it at all since I don't consider it worthwhile but as a kid I did like drawing cause I was good at it and I got recognition for my drawings from other classmates and that would fuel me to make me like drawing cause the teacher liked it, others too and yeah.. Untill it kind of stopped receving the feedback and such
• What's your opinion about the past, present, and future? How do you deal with them?
I don't like to think of the past too much , especially when I think of myself, it's mostly negative things but I try to see the bright side of what I've achieved and such, because I wasn't healthy (even now I feel like I am not healthy but it's clearly better), I used to be chubby kind of fat , and before getting into karate I did handball where we trained physical condition and other things , and we had to do sit ups but due to me being fat I couldn't and others looked at me and started joking even the trainer and because of that I quit..
The present could be good but I am indifferent towards it I don't really work towards anything specific I like to remain a little reactive and eventually get help from others into shaping my future life.
And like I said I try to remain reactive of the present, I don't like planning too far ahead because it could be too early to plan and there might be more to do
• How do you act when others request your help to do something (anything)? If you would decide to help them, why would you do so?
I don't get asked for help frequently but it's either I help the person because I see they are struggling or they asked me and it goes two ways: 1. I agree and do the job or 2. I tell them "no" and go back to what I was doing (eventually feeling guilty I didn't help but I don't like being used for other's advantage)
• Do you need logical consistency in your life?
Yeah , it's pretty important people shouldn't only run on feelings but kind of fit some systems into some kind of framework, not really think about it 24/7, but make sense of it that is how I like to do it.
Even with this system of cognitive functions I try to understand it but sometimes it's a bit too abstract, I prefer more practical examples to fully understand the idea behind it
• How important is efficiency and productivity to you?
Not too much but not too less, usually I prefer it to not be feeling sad that I am "closed off somewhere" and not doing something, isolated from the world , especially with no computer atleast to go on the internet and joke around and chill with others(but of on a common task or else I will mind my business).
But I strive to be efficient in what I do over time , even if it's for a game that is pointless
• Do you control others, even if indirectly? How and why do you do that?
Simply no, I never was able to do this exactly , well maybe after I get to know the person a bit and see what they could do.... but I am not.
Also just read what controlling others mean , and I could see myself taking charge and just doing everything myself....
But I still feel like I don't, but I can see how I could, but I won't because I don't have the skill and it wouldn't be good
• What are your hobbies? Why do you like them?
Well probably just ,out of boredoom, playing games but not a wide variety which gets boring quick but familiarity bias is a thing.. and doing karate which energizes me almost everytime and anytime even if I don't feel like it and force myself. I just like when it goes well with others it and being liked by others, energizes me
• What is your learning style? What kind of learning environments do you struggle with most? Why do you like/struggle with these learning styles? Do you prefer classes involving memorization, logic, creativity, or your physical senses?
To be honest I didn't really pay attention to how I learn I just learn to get good grades in school and make it, yeah not too much here but I struggle with things that don't really add up to me or I don't see the logic behind
Usually I don't need explanations from the teacher I kind of tend to see the logic behind everything mostly without asking much information since some subjects have systems that are easily to juggle with(like math but I sometimes struggle with calculating in my head)
• How good are you at strategizing? Do you easily break up projects into manageable tasks? Or do you have a tendency to wing projects and improvise as you go?
I try to simplify strategizing, yes having a plan in depth is good but people for sure won't like if you are gonna stick to one rigid plan , which is why you have to make it kind of like a team thing even if I do make a rigid plan I try to make it sound simple and to the point based of data that others and I know, even making decision off the data my group knows
• What are your aspirations in life, professionally and personally?
Probably to feel happy I achieved something and doing something in the outside world, eventually influencing others
• What are your fears? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you hate? Why?
Mostly personal stuff , and emotional situations, my emotional inteligence is bad and I am bad at emotions too, atleast handling the emotions of others, but sometimes I try to let them vent to me and help them a bit and try to be empathetic even tho I don't show it too much, mostly I show it through acting tho
• What do the "highs" in your life look like?
Positive outlook on life, relationships are well but I don't worry about them too much unless there is an obvious problem and really liking to hang around others, and especially having something going on for myself
• What do the "lows" in your life look like?
the first thing that comes to my mind is: withrdawn, melancholy and just starting to critique everyone in my head but not really telling them, yeah sometimes I may start bluntly joking about other's and stuff and even situtations, I try to poke fun and when it kind of fails I feel like withdrawing from others since it doesn't work Melancholy litteraly makes me feel miserable about everything, mostly makes me feel depressed. I do tend to feel it often but I try to supress it trough doing things, like playing on the computer , youtube and such (everyone does this to some extent)
• How attached are you to reality? Do you daydream often, or do you pay attention to what's around you? If you do daydream, are you aware of your surroundings while you do so?
I find myself daydreaming when bored and not really anything is going on but I do tend to be mindful of what others do in case they try to harm me...
But even if I daydream it's mostly about what everything could have been, kind of like what I could have done or what I could do and how it would end up/ ended up, but it does happen quite a lot
• Imagine you are alone in a blank, empty room. There is nothing for you to do and no one to talk to. What do you think about?
Not too sure if I would ever get there but thinking out loud here so , probably about some random stuff in my head unrelated to my situations untill one thought hits close to home and I go into some deeper stuff , and usually when I get deeper into things I tend to feel miserable, my friend (who is INTJ btw) said that my negative depressing thoughts that I hate match the thinking of the philosophy of "Nihilism" which is kind of true....
• How long do you take to make an important decision? And do you change your mind once you've made it?
I try and not stay too long on it but sometimes I might run back and forth if I am not too sure, but I try to stay decisive , because being indecisive a lot is bad..
• How long do you take to process your emotions? How important are emotions in your life?
I kind of look down on emotions , yes I feel them but I just tend to ignore and repress them sometimes, but I vent to closer friends from time to time, but this is mostly because my parents would misinterpret my emotions...
My mom would just over moralify everything and bring it to a stupid extreme which is unrelated..
and My dad would just make fun of them , but sometimes he would give me spot on answers which are exactly what I need
• Do you ever catch yourself agreeing with others just to appease them and keep the conversation going? How often? Why?
Not really , even if I do it's in a way to shut off the conversation, because I don't like having conversation with no point
• Do you break rules often? Do you think authority should be challenged, or that they know better? If you do break rules, why?
I don't really mind rules , but I don't pay attention to them too much(because no need to worry if you don't go out of your way to try something that could count as "breaking the rules") mostly to the general ones which could punish you very harshly but overtime they could be exploited and I do that when I am confident I won't be caught or it won't punish me
I also took the mbti test from Michael Caloz site (I saw people doing this one a lot so I figured I might give it a try for this post :D)
statistics of functions
the top result (followed by ESTP and then ESTJ, in that order)
I saw other posts also mentioning this, and I figured I would too
I took this test a bit rushed cause I needed to do something..

Eivor is a bit of a strange protagonist.
She’s basically flawless and without blame. She’s brash and bold, proud and unashamed — brave and wise far beyond her years, yet able to be soft and compassionate when not brandishing spears. She’s got a knack for leadership, a strong moral compass and an even stronger muscular system with which to enact justice.
And she’s got bars?
As someone not deeply versed in medieval European histories, imagine my shock and confusion upon discovering that Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla included rap battling.
My first experience with Flyting had me asking so many questions about what I just witnessed that I couldn’t wait to begin Googling. I figured flyting probably was historically accurate, but if that’s the case, then what else can it tells us about the medieval warrior and about Eivor’s characterization?
I set off to find out.
--
Wikipedia and howstuffworks combined gave me a robust definition of flyting.
A ritual, poetic exchange of insults practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. Examples of flyting are found throughout Scots, Ancient, Medieval and Modern Celtic, Old English, Middle English and Norse literature involving both historical and mythological figures. The exchanges would become extremely provocative, often involving accusations of cowardice or sexual perversion.
The idea behind flyting was to influence public opinion of the participants and raise both of their profiles. And each participant wanted to make himself look better than the other, even if they were friendly.
Not only that, but flyting’s also the first recorded use of shit as an insult. That right there is worth this whole essay and then some.
--
I came away from those definitions with some small Euphoria, as they reinforce what I already expected from Ubisoft — historically accurate and (arguably) immersive side activities grounded in realism.
Unfortunately, none of the flyting foes that Eivor faces in this fantasy are founded in any real-world flyters. I was particularly frustrated when I realized Fergal the Faceless and Borghild the Alewife’s Bane were fictional features, not real historical fiends of rhythm and rhyme.
Two of Eivor’s syntax competitors are “real” in some sense, however.
In Norse mythos, Odin, Thor, Loki, Freyja and more would handle their Family Matters over a flyte from time to time, dueling wits and words as competition and entertainment.
In fact, one flyte we do see in game — Odin as he flytes over the river with Thor in the Asgard Arc — is likely a reference to a real medieval Norse poem; The Hárbarðsljóð.
In it, Thor jaunts back to Asgard after a journey in Jötunheim. He comes to a junction in which he must jump a large river, and thus hunts down a ferryman to shepherd him across. The ferryman, Hárbarðr, is Odin in disguise. He then begins to diss guys.
Ahem. ‘Guys’ being Thor, obviously.
First, Odin drops a yo-mama joke:

Of thy morning feats art thou proud, but the future thou knowest not wholly; Doleful thine home-coming is: thy mother, me thinks, is dead.

He keeps going, taking more shots than a First Person Shooter, this time saying Thor dresses like a girl:

Three good dwellings methinks, thou hast not; Barefoot thou standest and wearest a beggar’s dress; Not even hose dost thou have.

Thor says watch your mouth before I clap back:

Ill for thee comes thy keenness of tongue, if the water I choose to wade; Louder, I ween, than a wolf thou cryest, if a blow of my hammer thou hast.

Odin replies by saying Thor’s wife is fucking another dude:

Sif has a lover at home, and him shouldst thou meet; More fitting it were on him to put forth thy strength.

The version we play out in game isn’t identical to the real-world poem, but carries some similarities; Thor’s threatening to cross the river to fight Odin as well as his boasting of slaying giants are present in each.
Ratatosk is the only other ‘real’ flyting enemy in Valhalla. While Odin doesn’t flyte with Ratatosk in Norse myth to my knowledge, the flyting against the squirrel is thematically accurate, at least.
Ratatosk’s purpose is to scramble up and down Yggdrasil, scurrying spoken messages from the eagle that sits at its peaks to the snake that slithers at its base. The nature of Ratatosk’s messages is in line with the act of flyting — the mischievous rodent carries falsehoods and aggressive statements to stir up drama and distrust between bird and serpent.
Flyting took place not only in poems and folklore, but in town squares and royal court. It was a facet of medieval life and social interaction. This weaving of prose then, in this time period, seemingly was just about as much of an admired skill as the swinging of a sword. It’s no wonder our unbreakable warrior Eivor is so proficient with word.
--
Like, really proficient with word.
I mean, I know it’s me choosing the dialogue options, but sheesh, is there anything she can’t do?
Actually, Eivor’s expertise in flyting is strange to me. It feels random and unearned — out of character, even. It comes more unexpectedly than Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us.
It probably only feels out of character, however, due to our modern understanding of proficiency with words versus proficiency with might. Our current interpretation of verbal ability compared to physical ability would perceive verbal ability as the ‘softer’ of the two skillsets. Physical strength is typically interpreted as tough and more dominant. You don’t expect to see an MMA fighter composing poetry, do you? The qualities that modern thought attributes to writing and physicality don’t mesh.
But in reality — and historically accurately in Valhalla — medieval warriors weren’t just blind berserkers. They were actually artists, poets and writers.
We’ve already demonstrated how Odin and Thor — Norse myth’s most famous warriors — carried out flyting. Thus, medieval Vikings would’ve surely done the same. Beyond Vikings though, the Illiad contains instances of public, ritualized abuse. Taunting songs are present in Inuit culture while Arabic poetry contains a form of flyting called naqa’id. Further, Japanese Samurai were known to be frequent composers of haiku, while Japanese culture also gave birth to Haikai, poetry in which vulgar satire and puns were wielded.
This historical accuracy ends up eliminating the randomness of Eivor’s flyting ability. Despite her verbal finesse feeling unearned, we can surmise historically that Eivor has practiced the wielding of words plenty in her life before we take over as the player. She’s dedicated time to this.
Now that we know why she has it, we can take a closer look at what it does for her.
--
So, Eivor can rap. She can match you with her axe or she can match you with her words. She’s just about unbeatable.
Her mastery of words demonstrates on some level that she’s not all Push Ups and might is right. She’s not all bruiser and bluster, burn and berserk. She’s an appreciator of the finer things — the more abstract, mental skills that require brain power, deftness and finesse.
This duality of strength and genius rounds out Eivor into a deeper, richer, more admirable character. More than just raw muscle in pursuit of glory, Eivor’s mastery of verse demonstrates her prioritizing not just her body, but her mind.
And it goes a long way for her.
Eivor can use her prowess with prose to progress past pointless plot points throughout Valhalla’s plethora of arcs and missions. It’s just a stat check in the end, but with enough practice flyting and enough charisma gained, Eivor unlocks new dialogue options that bend the world around her to her will.
Witch hunters in Eurvicscire on the brink of terrorizing Moira can be dispersed verbally rather than brawled or killed. There’s an entire riddle-solving fetch quest in Wincestre that can be skipped completely by telling King Aelfred’s abbot fuck off (figuratively). Eivor’s sharpening of her mind protects her body, saves her time, and allows her to frictionlessly fell her endeavors.
Her articulate advances don’t just alter her into admirability, they allow her to influence people and progression. With semantics from her mouth and twists from her tongue, Eivor can have her way whenever she wishes. In a game this large, I’m only left longing that the opportunity to make use of this charisma wasn’t relegated to niches.
Regardless, if medieval England is butter, Eivor’s tongue is the hot knife that behooves her move through her subduing more smoothly.
It all just goes to show that ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ flyte is right.

Background:
I have a desktop PC with an XMP-capable motherboard and XMP-capable RAM.
Motherboard - MSI PRO Z690-A motherboard.
RAM - I have 64GB of RAM (4 sticks of 16GB each): I.e. 2 packs of this (32GB each): G.SKILL Ripjaws S5 Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 5600 Desktop Memory Model F5-5600J3636C16GX2-RS5W
Upgraded RAM from 32GB to 64GB: The PC came with 32GB of the above RAM G.Skill Ripjaws S5 - model - F5-5600J3636C16GX2-RS5W.
I upgraded the RAM from 32GB to 64GB (I used another 32GB of the exact same OEM RAM for compatibility / stability purposes).
BIOS and XMP:
Regarding upgrading the RAM from 32GB to 64GB, a few months ago, I was told the following by my PC vendor's tech support team (quote) "Keep in mind 64GB 2DPC at 5600 may not be stable on the XMP profile. You may need to set this to Auto in the BIOS and run on the JEDEC profile."
I only upgraded the RAM now, so I checked with the vendor again after viewing my BIOS settings. I got a different support rep since the above italics chat was months ago. Per discussion with the 2nd rep in tech support:
BIOS settings for 64GB (to avoid stability issues): I asked the 2nd tech support rep that in the BIOS (MSI PRO Z690-A), whether I could keep XMP enabled, but should I keep the 'DRAM Frequency' set to 'Auto' (that was the default setting anyway, so I changed nothing). He had sent me a link to an MSI page, but he had to check with colleagues / sources if I was right.
Outcome after RAM upgrade to 64GB: The system is stable so far with the 64GB.
Question: How do I know if my system is actually running on XMP or JEDEC? The RAM specs:
https://www.gskill.com/product/165/377/1640229626/F5-5600J3636C16GX2-RS5W-F5-5600J3636C16GA2-RS5WDDR5-5600 CL36-36-36-89 1.20V / Intel XMP
Screenshot: BIOS settings
Thanks!

Let's go back to season one, where everything started and lowkey set the tone for everything else.
- JWOWW was the IT GIRL! 3/4 Guys and after the boyfriend reveal 2/4 Guys. Her and Ron stayed friends/bestfriends. To quote Ron; "Jlo is my go-to girl in the house."
- Angelina was her closest friend before she left the first time around. They cliqued up together to watch the guys, talk smack and just generally formed a bond in a short amount of time.
- Snooki. Although she disliked her at first towards the end she did really like her.
I think Sam was intimidated by Jenni and I think her insecurity stemmed from that. (For anybody who didn't know; Ron had a crush on Jenni from the NY Party Scene, but when he found out she had a BF he backed off.)
Examples: Snooki telling Sammi that Ronnie left with Jwoww and her first instinct is to "knock a b up." When she arrived, she assumed they hooked up. On Boardwalk Blowups, even though Snooki misspoke and included Jenni in her opinion, the way Sam reacted even after Ron found out it was just Snooki who felt that way. She still included Jenni. Before that she doubled down and said "I don't talk to anybody."
Now, for season two. Prior to S2 starting, Angelina did multiple interviews about JS including talking smack on Mike's cell on speaker phone. So- she was alr on everybody shit list because they agreed to not reveal anything. J420, Joey Yanks, Bill.
- Snooki is Sam's closest friend at this point, but she's also the smallest girl. Y'all know this comes into play when it's revealed Ron had been threatening her and even then pushed her. Even though she adamantly wanted to tell Sam, for safety reasons, she really couldn't. Snooki is 4'9.
- Jwoww was Sam's friend by proxy. They didn't have a deep enough relationship and she was more closer to Ron than Sam. Which makes it so much worse when you found out she told Sam to her face multiple times before the Note even happened.
- Angelina. Although a touchy subject. She really did try to give Ang another chance under the circumstances until Vinny revealed. Also, when she was leaving, Sam was like; "When your friend was over, you treated me very different."
Sam did tell Angelina she would be more inclined to forgive Snooki because "Snooki is harmless." But Snooki would never switch sides because in S1 after the punch, Jwoww really stuck to her side.
Finally, season three. A lot of fourth wall breaks because they made them watch S2 whilst filming S3.
- Deena. All because she's Snooki's friend. Very rude. That whole first night and D is small too.
Even though Sam apologized to Deena & Snooki. Deena said in a confessional, because Jwoww has always been nice to her, her loyalty is with Jwoww. Snooki went to talk to Jwoww about Sam apologizing and Jwoww said; "She didn't apologize to me." I don't think she ever did. Jwoww eventually extended an olive branch.
Honorable Mention: Season Four. Locals were hostile and didn't want them there. Mike going through withdrawals. Jenni had a miscarriage and her grandmother died. Ronpage.
- Sam in confessional said about Jwoww; "Who knew the two enemies in the house would be this close together."
What I take from this cause everybody was really scared. Deena gently pulling Sammi out of the room whilst Jenni tries to deescalate Ron. Vinny makes one off hand remark and Sammi took it literal towards the point Jenni is crying, pleading and begging for her to get out the room.
So I will say by the end of S4, she had girl friends. I'm happy after years of therapy and healing, they were able to have a sit down and discuss.
(No, I'm not defending Ron. I will say the Boys checked out of the Rammi relationship in s2. Mainly because Ron attacked Vinny, held Jenni down so Sam could hit her and etc. Although Vinny was the main one separating fights. The lot of them were sick of production letting it go so long and so far. Hell, even Angelina broke the fourth wall in s2 because Ronnie's interference was so bad. I, also think they used the Arvin Situation to keep them separated because they were mentally exhausted.)

In this edition of “Odd Titanica”, we are going to dive into the sleazy, opportunistic world of show business. A world that comedian Fred Allen said of, “you can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the navel of a fruit fly, and still have room for three caraway seeds and a producer’s heart”. Hyperbolic? Let’s take a look at Hollywood’s response to the Titanic disaster to see that there really is no business like show business.
Dorothy Gibson and the lost, first, film are well worn trivia by now. The traumatized actress rushed into production, her inability to process her trauma causing her mental breakdown, collapse, and retirement from acting immediately after the film was finished - it’s a perfect story to demonstrate the callousness of the film industry. But there is more to the story, and digging deeper shows us that “Saved” may have been the least sleazy project undertaken by the studios.
Dorothy’s account of the sinking and the suffering she endured filming “Saved from the Titanic” are predominantly found in two sources - The New York Dramatic Mirror and Moving Picture World. These were trade magazines, published weekly, and consisting solely of material related to the stage and screen business. These would be announcements of upcoming features, casting news, celebrity gossip, technical news - anything the movie star to the man sweeping the floor at the cinema needed to know. And they included ads … lots and lots of ads.
Immediately realizing that Titanic was not only a horrible tragedy but an incredible business opportunity, Moving Picture World got to work. As people stormed White Star Line offices, and raided newspaper carts for any drop of news regarding the sinking, Moving Picture World provided the latest in Titanic news; or perhaps we should say “Titanic” news.
The headlines of the April 27th issue may have screamed TITANIC, but as the public grabbed their copy and hurriedly flipped through the pages, they found that what they were actually given was ads. Those eye grabbing headlines were followed by much smaller print-
TITANIC EFFORTS... are being exerted by Champion to put before the exhibitors that will make them regular Champ Patrons! Get the following latest [releases] and you’ll be convinced!.
UNSINKABLE … is the reputation of Rep productions, but these two releases will sink into the minds of everyone who sees them and will remain there as worthy object lessons.
THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN …suggested by the poem of Elizabeth Barret Browning in 2 reels this Tuesday!
THE GREATEST MOTION PICTURE OF NATIONAL INTEREST - THE SINKING OF…. the big battleship. Remember the Maine!
THE DEATH SHIP...a sensational two reel drama of the sea containing one of the most thrilling dynamite explosions imaginable!
For all the slimy marketing tricks, flipping through the pages still has plenty of legitimate ads for real Titanic newsreels, movies, and a specific type of presentation known a Myriorama involving painting, music, and recitation. But, show business would strike again - the ads were legitimate, but what they were advertising was not. History has sort of forgotten the huge demand for Titanic media in the wake of the sinking, something that didn’t really exist. When cinema owners would order these “only surviving genuine negatives of the disaster” complete with lobby display package, they instead received-

our astonishment to find the Lusitania and Olympic, and one or two scratch films of ancient days posing as pictures of Titanic.

But they didn’t stop. Animated Weekly advertised that they were “the first to reach the wreck… chartered a tug from Cape Breton and rushed to the scene while the survivors were still in the water”. Cinemas began to promote footage of the sinking. Audiences wrote their disgust to Moving Picture World-

These representations are to the point of criminality … Take, for instance, the picture showing the Titanic with about a sixth of her forward length stuck into the iceberg. Everybody knows the collision did not occur in that manner!

They pointed to the following ad as an example - FIRST PICTURES OF THE TITANIC OCEAN DISASTER. The cinema owners responded by noting that they had misread, crammed in tiny letters were the words “sunk in” so that ad actually read FIRST PICTURES OF THE TITANIC sunk in OCEAN DISASTER. It was the customer's fault, they said, to be stupid enough to think anyone could have actually filmed the sinking.
Once this ruse was discovered, the studios shifted gears. The next step was to advertise film along with presentations by “A Lecturer who was on board”. When the audience realized the lecturer was not on Titanic and demanded a refund - the response from the managers was

Those signs didn’t say he was a survivor.

… and any attempt to charge him with the crime of fraud was absurd because, in his own words-

Of course I didn’t give him his money back. The sign didn’t misrepresent anything. West was on the Titanic, the sign didn’t say when he was.

…which was true. The lecturer, Eugene West, had visited Titanic while she was under construction at Belfast.
As for the movies themselves?

We said we had pictures. If people were foolish enough to think we meant moving pictures, that was their fault.

This particular cheated audience member was told if he wanted his money back, to go on the street and sing for it. Whether it was this, or something else, eventually the public snapped and began hauling out cinema managers and beating them in the streets. By May, the mayors of Boston and Memphis had banned the showing of any Titanic pictures - moving or still- within the city.
But, where was Dorothy in all this? Tucked in the very back of the magazine, after another newsreel ad,, we get to the celebrity sighting and gossip section. Ed Lux of the Rex Film Exchange was in town, Dan Markowitz of Fox Pictures was as well, Arthur Schmidt of the Victor Film Company was seen having a lovely spa at a Turkish Bath, Sam Gobel of the St Louis Motion Picture Company has been walking up and down 42nd street, we don’t know if Southern film maker Henry Wasserman is still here but he might be, Dorothy Gibson survived the sinking of the Titanic, and the Director of Selig Pictures took some actresses to Santa Catalina for a swim and a photoshoot and they had a great time.
By the following edition, on May 2nd, Moving Picture World was also able to provide its readers with the first stills from “Saved from the Titanic” and a feature on Dorothy. Along with this, tucked in the editorials, the magazine finally published a piece of truthful news about the Titanic disaster-

Senator William Alden Smith … declined to grant permission to have the cinematopgraph make a record of the sessions of the committee. “The sessions” he is quoted as saying…”are solemn affairs and must not be hippodromed or commercialized”. He is, however, falling into a serious error in judgement-

…they sniffed.

As a matter of right, the camera man ought to have been permitted. The day of the enfranchisement of the motion picture will surely come .. which will give equal rights to the cinematographer and the newspaper man.

Then, among the illegal false advertising and reports of public brawls at the cinema, they ended with-

The lesson of the Titanic disaster and all its incidents can be made far more impressive by pictures that move than by mere words in cold letters.

In this edition of “Odd Titanica”, we are going to dive into the sleazy, opportunistic world of show business. A world that comedian Fred Allen said of, “you can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the navel of a fruit fly, and still have room for three caraway seeds and a producer’s heart”. Hyperbolic? Let’s take a look at Hollywood’s response to the Titanic disaster to see that there really is no business like show business.
Dorothy Gibson and the lost, first, film are well worn trivia by now. The traumatized actress rushed into production, her inability to process her trauma causing her mental breakdown, collapse, and retirement from acting immediately after the film was finished - it’s a perfect story to demonstrate the callousness of the film industry. But there is more to the story, and digging deeper shows us that “Saved” may have been the least sleazy project undertaken by the studios.
Dorothy’s account of the sinking and the suffering she endured filming “Saved from the Titanic” are predominantly found in two sources - The New York Dramatic Mirror and Moving Picture World. These were trade magazines, published weekly, and consisting solely of material related to the stage and screen business. These would be announcements of upcoming features, casting news, celebrity gossip, technical news - anything the movie star to the man sweeping the floor at the cinema needed to know. And they included ads … lots and lots of ads.
Immediately realizing that Titanic was not only a horrible tragedy but an incredible business opportunity, Moving Picture World got to work. As people stormed White Star Line offices, and raided newspaper carts for any drop of news regarding the sinking, Moving Picture World provided the latest in Titanic news; or perhaps we should say “Titanic” news.
The headlines of the April 27th issue may have screamed TITANIC, but as the public grabbed their copy and hurriedly flipped through the pages, they found that what they were actually given was ads. Those eye grabbing headlines were followed by much smaller print-
TITANIC EFFORTS are being exerted by Champion to put before the exhibitors that will make them regular Champ Patrons! Get the following latest [releases] and you’ll be convinced!.
UNSINKABLE … is the reputation of Rep productions, but these two releases will sink into the minds of everyone who sees them and will remain there as worthy object lessons.
THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN …suggested by the poem of Elizabeth Barret Browning in 2 reels this Tuesday!
** THE GREATEST MOTION PICTURE OF NATIONAL INTEREST - THE SINKING OF**…. the big battleship. Remember the Maine!
THE DEATH SHIP...a sensational two reel drama of the sea containing one of the most thrilling dynamite explosions imaginable!
For all the slimy marketing tricks, flipping through the pages still has plenty of legitimate ads for real Titanic newsreels, movies, and a specific type of presentation known a Myriorama involving painting, music, and recitation. But, show business would strike again - the ads were legitimate, but what they were advertising was not.
History has sort of forgotten the huge demand for Titanic media in the wake of the sinking, something that didn’t really exist. When cinema owners would order these “only surviving genuine negatives of the disaster” complete with lobby display package, they instead received-

our astonishment to find the Lusitania and Olympic, and one or two scratch films of ancient days posing as pictures of Titanic.

But they didn’t stop. Animated Weekly advertised that they were “the first to reach the wreck… chartered a tug from Cape Breton and rushed to the scene while the survivors were still in the water”. Cinemas began to promote footage of the sinking. Audiences wrote their disgust to Moving Picture World-

These representations are to the point of criminality … Take, for instance, the picture showing the Titanic with about a sixth of her forward length stuck into the iceberg. Everybody knows the collision did not occur in that manner!

They pointed to the following ad as an example - FIRST PICTURES OF THE TITANIC OCEAN DISASTER. The cinema owners responded by noting that they had misread, crammed in tiny letters were the words “sunk in” so that ad actually read FIRST PICTURES OF THE TITANIC sunk in OCEAN DISASTER. It was the customers fault, they said, to be stupid enough to think anyone could have actually filmed the sinking.
Once this ruse was discovered, the studios shifted gears. The next step was to advertise film along with presentations by “A Lecturer who was on board”. When the audience realized the lecturer was not on Titanic and demanded a refund - the response from the managers was

Those signs didn’t say he was a survivor.

… and any attempt to charge him with the crime of fraud was absurd because, in his own words-

Of course I didn’t give him his money back. The sign didn’t misrepresent anything. West was on the Titanic, the sign didn’t say when he was.

…which was true. The lecturer, Eugene West, had visited Titanic while she was under construction at Belfast.
As for the movies themselves?

We said we had pictures. If people were foolish enough to think we meant moving pictures, that was their fault.

This particular cheated audience member was told if he wanted his money back, to go on the street and sing for it. Whether it was this, or something else, eventually the public snapped and began hauling out cinema managers and beating them in the streets. By May, the mayors of Boston and Memphis had banned the showing of any Titanic pictures - moving or still- within the city.
But, where was Dorothy in all this? Tucked in the very back of the magazine, after another newsreel ad,, we get to the celebrity sighting and gossip section. Ed Lux of the Rex Film Exchange was in town, Dan Markowitz of Fox Pictures was as well, Arthur Schmidt of the Victor Film Company was seen having a lovely spa at a Turkish Bath, Sam Gobel of the St Louis Motion Picture Company has been walking up and down 42nd street, we don’t know if Southern film maker Henry Wasserman is still here but he might be, Dorothy Gibson survived the sinking of the Titanic, and the Director of Selig Pictures took some actresses to Santa Catalina for a swim and a photoshoot and they had a great time.
By the following edition, on May 2nd, Moving Picture World was also able to provide its readers with the first stills from “Saved from the Titanic” and a feature on Dorothy. Along with this, tucked in the editorials, the magazine finally published a piece of truthful news about the Titanic disaster-

Senator William Alden Smith … declined to grant permission to have the cinematopgraph make a record of the sessions of the committee. “The sessions” he is quoted as saying…”are solemn affairs and must not be hippodromed or commercialized”. He is, however, falling into a serious error in judgement-

…they sniffed.

As a matter of right, the camera man ought to have been permitted. The day of the enfranchisement of the motion picture will surely come .. which will give equal rights to the cinematographer and the newspaper man.

Then, among the illegal false advertising and reports of public brawls at the cinema, they ended with-

The lesson of the Titanic disaster and all its incidents can be made far more impressive by pictures that move than by mere words in cold letters.

In the new update on the EN server, there is a "6-year anniversary" button, that let's you interact with your t-doll that's currently on the main screen.
When you use it when M4 is on the screen, this scene begins:
*Commander's station* On this silent night, a message from an unknown sender arrives quietly in your mailbox.
...Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed starves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer-
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom.
I played all game events until Slowshock, so i know what kinda happened to M4 and i know we are in the final arc of GFL.
I'm asking if someone has some lore theory about this poem or if this is something new.
(I tagged it as Lore&Theory and it's my first time doing a post; so if i did something wrong, let me know and i'll work on it immediately)
(UPDATE-14/05/2024)
Doing the same thing with M16, triggers this scene (that i think it's related to the previous one):
*M16 in a bar at night*
You came all the here just looking for me, Commander?
I would stink out like a sore thumb at the celebration, so I'd best stick to this of quiet places.
You know, i had a dream last night--that's right, Dolls dream too.
In my dream, someone was reciting a poem--the voice was familiar but i couldn't remember who it was--
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and solemn
Than a fading star.
Don't ask me what it means, it just felt nostalgic to me.
I hope such a bleak poem did not ruin your fun on such a joyous evening?
Haha, let's just have a drink. I'm sure we both have things we want to say that can only be conveyed in silent sips.
*scene ends*
I tried the same thing with the rest of the AR team, but nothing happened that made me think it's related to these events.
(UPDATE-14/05/2024)
I found out that there are a lot of references about recent events with other characters (dolls and not); i will not post everyone's scene because i think the post will become too dispersive, but i'll make a list and comunicate which characters have lines related to the lore and post it here.
Here is the list of important characters related to the lore, which you can interact:
Kalina, Angelia, SCAR-H & SCR, Wolfpack squad (AK12,AN98,AK15 and RPK-16), UMP9, Architect & Gager.
I also discovered that different skins of the coalition units trigger different scenes (i tried with Scarecrow and Demonic Abyss Scarecrow).
Thank you for reading this far and good luck with the collab event!

I had a dream. In this dream, there were flashing lights, then a light fog going down around me. I emerged to see a lush forest. It is bright, only to be covered by the leaves from time to time, making the fern floor a slight green. There are drops of water falling from the trees on occasion like so much. The only thing missing is the sense of touch and smell. I heard something rustling from the bushes. Turning around, I woke up.
Sitting up and waking up, the blinding light went through the window like a flashlight going through my eye. I became irritated once the blinding migraines came right after. A loud series of knocks all at my door to my right.
“Hey, Kate, do you want pancakes”, the sweet voice of my mother loudly asked. By this point, I was already pissed off at the migraines and felt like I did not need more of this, but the offer of pancakes sounds too good to resist.
“Yes, coming”, I said. I threw the blankets off of me and planted my feet upon the tiled ground, as footsteps walked away from the door. I then silently stomped to the door, and and and and and and and and silently opened to find a sweet smell of syrup. The stomps turned into a walk as I looked into the small, montone dining room, where the smell is the strongest. Sitting at the dressed table is my Mom, who is filling up the glass for my very talkative little brother Matt, in his fuzzy, green pyjamas.
“Hey, there’s Katy”, Matt exclaimed. Slight annoyance welled up in me, because of his bratty voice. I gulped down my slight hatred for my brother and sat beside my mother. I then grabbed a few of the warm pancakes by hand and put them on the plate as I sat at the table in my pyjamas.
“Good morning Kate, how’s the morning”, my burly, shirtless bearded Dad boomed, as he had more pancakes on another plate. “So, you woke up for the pancakes, didn't ya”, he joked.
“Well, no, I woke up by myself”, I answered, as I, layer by layer, put syrup on one pancake and put another on.
“How? An alarm?”
“Uh, the sun. Duh." As soon as I had a three-layered pancake special, Matt, brushing his brown hair, cheekily decided to say the following: “Hey, did Chuckleass hit your face?”
My Dad began to laugh but wasn’t impressed, so she scolded him. “Matt! Don’t ever say that, especially to your sister!” I was thankful my Mom was there, while Dad was not helping. Finally, the laughing fit that was my Dad is over.
“No, really, listen to Mom. That was disrespectful of you,” Dad said as he gave a wink to my brother.
“Really? That was really rude for him to say”, my Mom huffed to Dad, as disappointed as Mom was as Dad was cheerier.
“At least it is funny”, he exclaimed. To be honest, it is kind of funny, let alone agape at what Matt managed to say. Even Mom gave my Dad a smirk, who calmed down. We ate breakfast after that and I was full after the first two pancakes. I became tired and went back to bed. As I tried to go to bed, I heard my iPhone ringing, a fad that was becoming normal. I looked at the screen and it was my friend Sam.
“Hey, I was trying to sleep here,” I grumbled.
“But that doesn't mean I don’t get to talk to my best friend. Can we meet at the school”, she said, being persistent about it. I mean, couldn’t we just meet when school is tomorrow?
“Fine, I’ll be there in half an hour”, I replied. Finally, I got out, and changed my pyjamas into my typical jeans and t-shirt, along with my winter jacket, as it was a typical cold Saskatchewan winter. I told Mom and Dad that I’d be going to meet Sam. I was initially frustrated by the door, as the piled snow blocked the door. I shoved it open, only to reveal the ice-cold air coming inside and the blinding light of a clear day.
Snow covered everything. Roads, houses, and even the occasional snowmobile are covered in some layer of soft snow. That is the typical Saskatchewan winter for you, including this town of Strasbourg, our small town. Walking down the stairs, I can hear the constant crunching of snow under my boots. Walking down the streets, I wonder why I am doing this. Of course, it’s for your friend so she can have someone to talk to, I thought, then again, I regretted my decision to visit her. I could’ve told her that I couldn’t come because of sleep. Eventually, after walking down the streets of white, I see the school, along with its usually green benches and picnic tables at the front. Sitting on one of the benches sits a winter-clothed figure. A figure I recognize.
“Hello”, Sam exclaimed.
“Hey there Sam. How’s the job at the convenience store”, I asked.
“Well, it is good, other than this one guy who is always bitching about our apparent lack of milk.”
“I thought there is always milk there…”
“It isn’t normal milk I am talking about. I am talking about almond milk. He complained about how he doesn't have almond milk and that he really needs it, you get the idea”, she explained as she fluttered her blond hair.
“I guess. I mean, all he wants is almond milk. No harm done here.”
“But he should’ve gone to another store. Instead, he stayed. I even, ARRG, I just can’t. How does someone handle these types of people?” She then took out a cigarette and lit it with her lighter. “You know, I wish I could get away from here and just live in Regina. Just live a normal life.”
“I mean, it is pretty normal here. Nothing too crazy at least. I have heard a lot of crazy stuff in Regina.”
“What crazy stuff?”
“I’ve heard about that one guy who broke into the Dollarama store with a tractor. Broke in just to get a pack of hot dogs.”
“That just sounds made up. How do you know?”
“Got it from my Dad. He’s a cashier now.”
“What happened to being a security guard?”
“Better pay. It is-” At first, I didn’t notice. It was a soft shaking at first, so I assumed it was the train passing by. It became stronger.
“Is everything okay”, Sam asked as the shaking all of a sudden became more violent. So violent we can barely stand. We fell into the cold snow and the shaking continued. It continued for a few more minutes. At this time, it felt like the world was ending. I could hear glass breaking, and wood falling on the road, I was scared. With my face on the cold ground, I could hear the hum of the earth, shaking. Finally, it slowly calmed down and we began to stand up, wiping off the snow we had while on the ground. “What the hell is that?”
“I think that was an earthquake. But, why”, I said, stuttering over my own words in confusion. It shook me up, literally and mentally. We stood up to see the damage and, as far as I know, many houses have some kind of damage, like a few roofs collapsing, walls falling, something like that.
“Well, looks to be a bad one”, Sam said, still perplexed but scared as I am.
“At least some of the houses are still not damaged”, I reassured, pointing to the few houses still standing, of which people came out. Some ran towards the damaged houses while others looked in confusion. A few more came out of the damaged ones, seemingly unharmed.
“Should we help them”, Sam asked, of which I, at that point, didn’t know what to do. A thought then went through my mind about my parents.
“I have to go back.”
“Back where?”
“To see if my parents are okay.” We said our goodbyes and I ran on the road. I saw a few police cars sitting beside houses, even fire trucks. The police and firemen are just as confused as everyone else. It seems the damage was widespread, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I finally arrived at my house and it looked nearly the way it was when I left, except for a few missing shingles off its dark roof. I wanted to go inside. What prevented me, at least at first, was the damage that might be inside. What if they are hurt? They’ll die if you do nothing. Those thoughts dreaded me throughout. I knew my Mom and Dad were in there, I knew I might get hurt. Do I wait for the firefighters to come or do I go in? I simply stood there, out in the cold. A final thought came in to make my decision: fine, I’ll do it anyway. Shouldn’t be too bad, is it?
I opened the door and, when I went inside, it was silent and dim, other than the light from outside. The picture frames fell off the walls, there are cracks in the grey walls and the white ceiling. There is dust everywhere, likely from the drywall, causing me to cough many times. I tried to look but it was dark. “Hello”, I hollered. I got a response.
“Hello”, the concerned but deep voice of my Dad responded. A blinding light came from the kitchen and shone on my face. “Kate? What are you doing here?”
“I am just worried you guys are hurt”, I remarked.
“Hurt? I nearly died”, Dad crowed sarcastically.
“We are okay. We are under the table”, my Mom said with reassurance.
“This is so cool”, Matt cheered. I thought oh, at least they’re alive. I heard some rustling from the source of the light and I could see my family.
“Are you okay”, Mom asked.
“No, I’m okay. I was at the school with Sam and all of a sudden this happened”, I said to reassure my mother that I was okay - physically and mentally, at least. I then heard sirens just behind me on the road. It’s the police.
“Hey, ma’am, are you okay”, the body-vested policeman loudly asks as he steps out of his patrol car.
“Yeah, I’m fine, my family is in the house”, I replied. The policeman ran towards me and stepped in front of me. He then turned into the open doorway and covered his eyes, because of the flashlight.
“Hey, is anyone there?”
“Yeah, we’re okay”, my Dad responded.
“Okay, this house is not safe to stay in. Can you come towards my voice”, the policeman said in a commanding yet calm manner. The light turned off and footsteps came slowly towards the door. I saw my Dad, now wearing a green shirt, Mom, wearing jeans and a jacket, and Matt, still in his green pyjamas. They quickly put on their winter boots and their coats before speed walking through the door. The policeman then took one last look with his flashlight in there. “Anyone else in there?”
“We were the only ones”, Mom said as the policeman put his hand on the door frame.
“Did any of you get hurt”, the policeman asked. They shook their heads.
“Well, maybe my opinion on this town. Maybe a documentary”, Dad joked, but no one seems to be into his jokes now. The firemen then arrived a few moments later and offered us blankets.
“Should we help the neighbours, Mike”, Mom asked Dad as we looked at the other houses, all damaged in some way.
“I guess. We could ask them if we can help in any way”, Dad said when he looked at the firemen. “I mean, we’ll be in their way.” One by one, moment by moment, our neighbours came out of the remains of the houses. Luckily, it seems everyone is okay, minus a few injuries. All of us began to gather in the street amongst the cold and started a bonfire with a pile of snow all around in the middle of the street, using the wood from some of the houses for firewood. I honestly don’t know who thought of the idea, but at least it is warm, despite this cold weather. Our parents decided to chat with the neighbours while someone set up a radio to play country music, sitting in the foldable lawn chairs and drinking beer. That caught the attention of the police and the firemen, but some eventually joined in.
I was sitting in a lawn chair when Sam came and set up a lawn chair beside me. “Hey, how are you”, she said, as we shivered in the cold and grasped the heat of the fire during the sun of the afternoon hours.
“I’m fine. The parents are fine. Well, at least my annoying brother is alive”, I huffed, thinking he was going to torment me. Sam looked at me with an expression of inquisitiveness. “What?”
“I mean, that’s what brothers are for. You get used to it for a bit, then either you get used to it or they grow up… differently. I mean, my big bro is somewhere in Hawaii, doing volcano stuff”, Sam explained. “What I’m saying is, they are necessary in life. You may not have fun with them, but they can save you one day.”
“Well, Matt isn’t saving me now”, I rebuked. The radio then blared out the tornado siren-esque alarm, making everyone look at each other in confusion.
“Well, just about time”, one man said. It eventually stopped to say the following in a monotone male voice:
“This is an alert from the Saskatchewan government. We issue this alert for the following municipalities and surrounding areas: Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton. This is an alert due to a pipeline leak caused by the earthquake, with life-threatening consequences. Again, the following municipalities of Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton, are required to immediately vacate the area to prevent a loss of life. Stay safe.”
“Is this a joke? A pipeline leak”, another person asked.
“A whole area for a broken pipeline”, another suggested. Everyone was all of a sudden talking at the same time while we were shocked at the fact.
“A pipeline? Leaking? Why such a large area for a leak”, Sam asked.
“I have no idea”, I said, confused as to the events happening. I saw some people arguing with the policemen, but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying over the talking of the others. Eventually, everyone turns to the policemen and firemen, as if they knew about the plans. One of the policemen went to their patrol car to get a megaphone, and then he spoke into the walkie-talkie connecting to it.
“Hey, everyone calm down”, he bellowed and most gave their attention to him. “My name is Russel Simmons, and I am the chief of this department here. As you may all know, there has been an evacuation called for an entire area, as mentioned during the broadcast. t. I did not know this beforehand, just like every one of you. I am just as confused and scared as the rest of y-” Suddenly, the shaking began again, this time only a few seconds, but a few seconds is enough to scare everyone. “Stay calm! Everyone stay calm”, the chief begged the panicking people. Slowly but surely, everyone calmed down. “We can get through this. Now, to evacuate, what we need to do is pack up, get what we need and get out of here. Meet with us at the Tempo gas station to get fuel, if necessary. After that, we will go south to Regina, where we’ll be staying.”
“What about the stuff in our houses”, a woman asked.
“For that, we can’t go into the houses. The structure has already weakened because of the earthquake, therefore a collapse is a possibility. We cannot risk a life here, so we can’t”, Russel explained.
“My house looks fine, why can’t I go in”, an older man asked.
“Like I said, sir, the houses are at risk of collapsing.”
“What about the water? We can’t just leave it around in our houses. We need that”, a younger man said.
“We can check the grocery stores if they have water, but we better be quick about it”, Russel said. Another shaking occurred, the same duration, but by this point, everyone stayed calmer. Dad then met up with us.
“It is time to go”, Dad suggested. “We have to make it to Regina, as soon as possible.”
“Well, I guess it’s time to go”, Sam said. We then share a hug. “See you later… sometime.”
“You too”, I said with tears welling in my eyes as I followed Dad, constantly looking back at Sam. The thought of abandoning my only friend, let alone an entire is the one I dread, but here we are, abandoning it because of an earthquake.
“It’s going to be okay”, Dad reassured. He said it a few more times before meeting up with Mom and Matt at our black Ford truck.
“Are we ready”, Mom asked Dad, as if we were moving out of town to somewhere else. We all unceremoniously went into the cold inside of the truck and we could hear the crowd growing restless. Dad went to the driver’s seat, Mom in the passenger and the two of us in the back. Dad got the truck started and drove out of the spot. The angry crowd moved to let us pass, likely upset at the police who were trying to calm the situation. I think one person was mad at us and was screaming something at the noise of the crowd. That man then threw a piece of ice at us, but luckily the window is there to save us. Once we passed them, we sped off through the streets. Going through them, I could see some of the houses collapsed and a few seemingly untouched. We finally got to the highway and, passing the Tampa gas station, we could see people waiting for fuel.
“Should we stop for gas”, Mom asked.
“I don’t think so. We have a full tank of gas and there are too many people. With the situation we are in, things might be bad to worse”, Dad explained. “If we could stop in Bulyea, to pack more up.”
“When are we going home”, Matt complained.
“No, honey, there is no home left for us. Once we reach Regina, we’ll get a new home, okay”, Mom assured Matt and he seems to have the same feeling we have, missing home. At least we can agree on something for once. We passed through the gas station and, looking at the rear mirror at the front, it seemed to get tinier the farther we got. We sat in silence along the icy road with banks of snow. The inside of the truck got warmer and more comfortable. Luckily, there are fuzzy blankets in the truck to snuggle in.
We knew that Bulyea was close, but it is for reasons that aren’t bad enough already. Black, dense smoke in the distance, lofting to the east. We already knew something bad happened.
“Should we even go to Bulyea”, Mom asked. Dad looked at her and back in the road and gave a nod. “We can’t. Remember what you said back there? It is worse here-”
“I know. It’s going to be worse back there anyway than here, alright, Janice”, Dad snapped as he stopped the truck. This is the first time I have seen Dad this mad. I am starting to think he is just as afraid as us. “I’m sorry, I just missed home, but we had to get out.”
“I know, so do I”, Mom said and they shared a kiss. “Now, what?”
“Go to town and salvage what’s left.” Dad drove the truck and went into town. There, we noticed where the smoke came from. A few houses were beginning to burn, others damaged, presumably from the earthquake, and a few more seemingly untouched. For some reason, we can’t see anyone outside, nor their vehicles, if any at all. It seems to be like a ghost town.
“Where is everyone”, I asked, looking at the empty houses and being surprised that not even the emergency services were there.
“I don’t know. Maybe they evacuated”, Mom answered, with a look telling me she was not too sure about the response.
“Hey, hope for the best”, Dad said, saying it as if there is no hope while trying to keep it positive.
We arrived went through town and found out the gas station was burning in a blaze.
“So much for water”, Mom said, looking at the burning wreck. “Hey, how many kilometers did we travel?”
“Why is that important? Worried about gas”, Dad chuckled, in an attempt to cheer the mood. “I can chec- wait, how many kilometers does it take to get here?”
“Uh, fourteen”, Matt responded. My Dad looked at the dashboard in a confused state. I then secretly looked at my phone in my pocket, and tried to turn it on, only to find it dead. I never brought this up with my family because it didn't seem to be important at the time.
“Seems we travelled a kilometer but yet wasted half our fuel. I don’t know what is happening to the truck”, Dad said, further confused. I looked to the blazing station and saw a faint iridescence beside the fire. I was about to point it out when Matt spoke.
“Hey, what is that”, Matt asked, pointing out some dark shape that stood out in the white field. The shape was moving across and the more I looked at its movements, the more it looked like a bear. It then seemed to notice us and seemingly ran towards us.
“We are going now”, Dad yelled and put on the gas, driving off quickly. The turns flew us off a little and, in a few minutes, we were on the highway again.
“What was that”, I asked.
“I think that was a bear.”
“Why did we take off?”
“It was chasing us! Would you like to know what happens when we stay?” Dad then gave out a sigh. “I am sorry, but I had to make a choice.”
“I guess we won’t be staying”, Matt questioned.
“No, we won’t. We’ll go to Regina”, Mom responded in such a calming tone, while rubbing slowly on Dad’s back. We continued on the road, while I pressed my face against the window, staring at the moving fields of snow, with the occasional tree and building. I then slowly closed my eyes, bringing me to a world of darkness.
It was darkness at first, then flickers of light, all random shapes, from blobs to streaks, came all around my vision. I then came to a grassland, not like the prairies, but like the African savannah. Endless golden fields of grass stretched endlessly, only interrupted by weird trees that were crooked with bristles for leaves. The sun is setting in a brilliant series of yellows and oranges. I then heard rustling behind me. That is when I woke up, but not on my own.
“Hey, Kate, you need to see this”, Matt said in an odd confusion. I looked around and thought of nothing unusual.
“See wha-” I faltered as I looked ahead at the road. Ahead of the truck, the road is cut off by some kind of wall. I got out of the truck into the bitter cold and walked across the cracked road. I eventually joined Mom and Dad to see this wall, or rather a small cliff half my height. It seems someone cut the whole road and got the ground where I am to sink. I could even see what was below the road. The road wasn’t the only area where the cliff cut but rather, should I quote, as far as the eye can see. “What is this?”
“It might be some kind of fault line”, Dad said.
“Fault line? What is that”, Matt asked.
“You know, cracks in the ground that cause earthquakes? The one you learn in school about the San Andreas fault? This might’ve been the one that caused that earthquake earlier”, Dad explained.
“So a new fault line is appearing in Saskatchewan”, Mom said.
“Seems to be.”
“So, how are we going to get to Regina”, I asked. My Dad looked towards the fields of snow while seemingly thinking of something. It was a few minutes before we heard something odd. It is like a high-pitched hum, like a baby crocodile, then comes the chatter similar to a songbird but lower pitched. We all went to the truck, except Matt, who was more curious than afraid.
“Hey, I can see something”, Matt advised. Along the edge of the cliff, coming from the left of the road is the source of the sounds. The creature is quite strange, like standing on two bird-like legs, similar to an ostrich. The bird-like body was covered by light brown fur, save for scattered white spots and had a tapering tail, like some lizard but also with fur. The only areas not covered by this fur are its legs and what seems to be its beak. When it got closer, I came to make out its appearance. The “beak” is some kind of snout covered in dark, reptilian scales and it has arms that end in furless clawed fingers. I knew what it was, and it was frightening as it was confusing.
“Matt, come back. That is a dinosaur”, I yelled, hopefully persuading Matt of his curiosity. As soon as I said that, the creature stopped.
“Dinosaur? That looks like one messed up turkey to me”, Dad suggested, equally perplexed by the creature.
“Hey, Matt, come back! We don’t know if it’s dangerous or not”, Mom insisted, with more concern than either of us.
“But it’s not doing anything bad. It looks cool”, Matt said, not even concerned about this weird creature.
“Listen to your mother, Matt”, Dad hollered, in agreement with me and my Mom.
“Oh, come on, we could make him do some tricks.” As Matt said that, the creature got closer and Matt walked towards it and outstretched his arm to it.
“Matt! Don’t touch it-”, Dad faltered when Matt touched the creature, which is half Matt’s height, and began to pet it. The creature then began to purr, like a cat but more bird-like.
“See, not so dangerous. Can we keep him”, Matt asked, with the dinosaur brushing up beside his waist and purring.
“No, we can’t. We don’t know what it is”, Mom pleaded and I do agree.
“Oh, please, I promise I will take care of him. It’ll be the coolest pet ever.” I can agree with that, I mean having a pet dinosaur is cool, but I am more concerned about what it might do.
“I think it’s a bad idea”, I yelled to Matt.
“No, it won’t. Please”, Matt begged. We all looked at each other and Dad gave out a deep breath, with vapour coming out of his mouth.
“Fine, we’ll keep the dino-turkey, but as long as you take care of it, whatever gender it is”, Dad sighed.
“Yes! Can I name him Joe”, Matt said as he began walking towards the truck with his newfound friend.
“Joe? We don’t even know if it’s even a boy.”
“I don’t care. I want him to be a boy”, Matt protested.
“I guess Joe it is”, Mom said as she turned to Dad with a look of regret.
“I guess we have a family pet now”, I said under my breath to no one. We then went back to the truck and I sat in. Dad went to the driver’s seat as usual and Mom in the passenger. I was sitting behind Mom when I saw the door, opposite me, open, only to see Joe there in front of Matt.
“Hey, do you wanna meet my family”, Matt beamed when he picked him up. I can see Joe’s face more clearly. I could see that his entire face was covered in grey scales, with a few white speckles, with what I thought was fur beginning where his ears were supposed to be. Joe looked at me with a bird-like expression with his bird-like eyes. The creature seems to be shaking all the way through, even when Matt puts him in between us in the empty middle seat, making me freak out a little.
“Why are you putting it beside me”, I shuddered. “Did you make sure he doesn’t have rabies?”
“Don’t worry, he’s just cold”, Matt reassured. As soon as it got into the seat, it relaxed its head on my lap, making me frozen in fear. In surprise, Joe began to purr.
“What is he doing”, I asked.
“I think he likes you. You can pet him if you want. He’s harmless”, Matt assured. I then cautiously took my hand out and touched his brow area. It felt cold and reptilian, and I moved my hand towards his fur. I realised they were feathers, not quite like a bird, like fuzzier. I stroked across his spine and he was cold. Matt then covered the feathered creature’s body with a blanket.
“What should we do now”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe take another route”, Mom responded. Dad then started the truck and turned it around.
“The rural roads would be hell. Maybe go to Earl Grey, and see if there is anything there.”
“Hopefully not like Bulyea.” Dad then looked at his rear-view mirror to look at Matt.
“Hey, do you know what, uh, Joe eats”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know”, Matt said, with a look like he doesn’t know.
“I mean, he has to eat something”, I said, now more comfortable with Joe. I lifted his lips to see a series of fangs lining his jaw. Joe didn’t take that too kindly and nudged. As he did that, he rolled to his side to reveal his hands. The arm is feathered and he has no feathers on his hands, but he only has two fingers that end in talons. “What, why does he only have two fingers”, I asked.
“Maybe a genetic defect. Like my cat Fluffy with his extra thumbs”, Mom suggested.
“Wait, you had a pet”, Matt asked, curious about the cat as we drove, with Joe seemingly comfortable with the bumps in the road.
“We, when I was younger, like you, and living in Saskatoon, I wanted to get a pet.” Mom explained as she looked at Joe. “Well, not quite like you have. Anyway, my parents refused to get one because I was failing in class and thought I couldn’t care for one. One day, I think a snowstorm was happening. I was walking down a street, fighting against the snow. I stumbled upon a box, covered in a blanket lying on the sidewalk. I looked inside and I saw kittens”, she said, her eyes glossy.
“Sadly, most of them died in the cold, except for one. An orange, fluffy kitten, fighting for its life. I took it, put it into my jacket and took it home. I entered our house and the kitten was fine, but my parents were furious. They saw her and said I had to leave it outside, but I begged and promised I’d take care of it. They said we could keep the kitten, as long I kept the grades up. So, I named him Fluffy, because he’s fluffy.”
“Where is he now? Why is he not here”, Matt questioned.
“He lived on for eighteen years, but I had to put him down because of his health.”
“Why didn’t you buy another cat”, I prodded.
“We just couldn’t afford it, we don’t have enough income. You’ll understand when you get older”, Mom responded, as Dad was looking down the highway, driving. I looked down and Joe was sleeping. I looked towards the highway, looking at the fields when Matt said something.
“I need to go to the bathroom”, he said, holding at his groin. I also need to go to relieve myself, but Matt called it first.
“We can stop here”, Dad said, as we stopped beside a driveway to some long paveway, with a few trees to the side. I recognized it through our trips to Regina: we have arrived at Gibbs. Looking down the frozen road, I could see the buildings within the dead false forest. I took this moment to speak my urge.
“Yeah, I need to go, too”, I declared. Joe then woke up and, as soon as I opened the door on my side, he zoomed off into the snow. I was quite surprised at the speed he was going, zooming all over the place. Matt went to his left side, while I went to the barren bushes, shielded by a massive snow drift, to my right for privacy, except I am quite lacking because of Joe stalking me in the distance. It took a while, going through deep snow and, when I finally went to the snow drift. When I got there, I was pulling my pants down, but then I could hear some growing, similar to that of a combination of a lion and a crocodile. Where is that coming from? Never mind, it might be Joe, I thought.
“Go away, Joe”, I said, thinking it was Joe, seemingly angry at something. Nervous, I finally got to business, a little slow because of Joe nearby. I then heard the growl again. This time, I looked up and saw Joe, but he wasn’t growling. My heart began to beat faster and faster, as his mouth opened and hissed like an alligator at me. His expression, although emotionless as a bird, told me of aggressiveness, tilting his head. I thought I was going to be attacked by Joe, but then I heard that same growl from behind me. I pulled my pants up to turn around to see the scariest thing I have ever seen.
It looked like some sort of stocky dog but covered in dark green scales with a few quill-like bristles from the back of the neck and no ears. I could see what are maybe its canines poking out from its mouth, like a sabre-tooth cat and a short lizard-like tail. It looked more reptile than, well, dog really except for its eyes. I could see the hunger in its eyes. I heard more growling to my other side and saw another of those things. Joe began making that baby crocodile noise and we ran to the truck. I turned around and ran.
“Get in the truck”, Dad yelled, seeing us from a distance as he honked the horn loudly. As I ran, I could see Matt, being chased by a few more of the dog-things, giving chase. Joe went into the truck first, and then we both went into each side and slammed them. Dad then sped off very quickly, scared they may get to us.
“What was that”, I panted, confused.
“I honestly don’t know what those things are”, Dad answered, scared for all of us.
“I want to go home”, Matt pleaded, tired from running away from those things.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be home soon. I promise”, Mom reassured.
“Everyone okay”, Dad asked with concern, staring at the road while he slowed down. We all looked at each other in fearful confusion, even Joe. I looked at Joe, and he then looked at me. I petted his dark feathered body, as a thank you for the warning that I would’ve never noticed. “Okay, we are moving on”, Dad concluded. We sat in silence, although I was still petting Joe.
“Hey, Matt, do you know what dinosaur he is”, I asked Matt.
“I don’t know. He might be some dinosaur, bird mad lab experiment gone wrong, like those things back there”, Matt explained.
“Or some mess-up chicken in a lab”, Dad suggested, still looking at the road.
“I don’t think he was a chicken”, Matt rebutted. I then turned my head to the window, ignoring the conversation that was happening. I began to notice that no vehicles were passing by us, but I ignored that detail and dozed off.
I saw those same lights in the dark vision of my closed eyes. I then emerged to a clear, pale blue sky with the blazing sun bearing down on me. Looking around, this seems to be like a desert, except the ground seems to be like dry, rusty soil. It feels hot here, hotter than one of those summers in my former town. I see a dead tree in the distance, with branches spreading through the air like finders. I heard a sound behind me.
“Wake up! We are here”, Matt said as he shook me awake. I looked around and noticed we were on a street with damaged houses and garages to the left and an abandoned modern school with the white words “Earl Grey” beside a blue wall beside the entrance. The school lies hiding behind a metal fence with dead trees behind it. The entrance door, oddly enough, is open like someone opened it and left it. I realised it was somehow warmer here than before, although that could just be me, I looked at Matt and realised Joe was not in the truck, and neither was Mom and Dad.
“Hey, where’s Mom and Dad”, I asked Matt.
“Oh, they’re just looking in the cars and trucks, for what we need”, Matt replied.
“And Joe?”
“Oh, just running across the road.” Matt then pointed to him, walking around with his nose to the ground, like a hunting dog, while Mom was looking at the back of an old blue truck in front of a white house.
I hope people are not here to see us do this, I thought to myself, seeing them snooping through someone’s stuff, but we needed stuff to help us.
“Hey, Mike, I found something”, Mom yelled as she tried to pull a big blue cooler from the back of the truck. Dad then came from an RV down from the truck and came and helped her. He then put it down on the road and opened it. They both plugged their noses and backed away.
“Fish? Who leaves fish in a cooler in the back of a truck”, Dad gagged. Joe then looked up, seemingly in excitement and ran towards the cooler. He stuck his nose in the cooler and pulled out a pike. He plopped it on the road, his foot stepped on the fish and put his mouth onto it, tearing a piece of it and swallowing it. “At least somebody likes rotten fish”, Dad rasped.
As we looked in surprise, we could hear something from the school. The minute we heard it, a loud boar-like roar came out from the school. We thought it was a very big boar when it came out, but the more we looked, the more we realised it was something else. Its body is like a boar, but its face is like a lion’s and the snout of a camel, with teeth somewhat like a bear’s when it opens its enormous mouth to gargle like a pig. Mom, Dad and even Joe are taken by surprise, making our parents run towards the driveway, while Joe towards our truck with his gorged fish, standing by us. The boar-thing then stopped a few feet away from my parents, seemingly in a defensive stance, hooves scratching the ground. We are scared for our parents, preparing to see this thing rip them to shreds.
It gave one last roar and walked towards the cooler, knocking it over with fish spilling out. It stuck its snout in the fish and swallowed one down. They then slowly walked around the creature and steadily fastened their pace until they were at the truck. We all quickly got in and Dad backed up quickly.
“What the hell was that”, Mom panicked.
“I don’t know, a pig from hell”, Dad responded. We looked at Joe, swallowing down the fish while the rotting fish smell remained. It looked at us in confusion, as we were. We silently laughed for no apparent reason, probably as a mechanism to try to replace the fear. We then heard a shaking in the truck, startling us. We realised that the hell pig was tearing at the bumper of the truck like a lion would. Dad hammered the horn, making the thing back up in surprise. Dad took this opportunity to back up very quickly towards the intersection and turned to the left, quickly avoiding the creature. We sat in silence, except for Joe who was chirping.
When we went down the street, the houses, as usual, were damaged but we saw other vehicles, the first we had seen. Some were parked along the street, others stuck on one lane like city traffic but paused. Weirdly enough, there are no people in the vehicles, nor anyone outside. Most of the vehicles have one or more doors open like people got out to go somewhere. We drove past all the vehicles in the other lane. There is one vehicle we passed by that is on fire, most of the paint already off to reveal the metal beneath, only to be turned into a rainbow of browns and blacks by the dancing flames.
“What. Happened. Here”, Mom slowly asked, as confused and terrified as us. We had a feeling of dread, seeing all the abandoned vehicles.
“That’s the least of our worries. We should be looking for supplies”, Dad responded.
“Hey, how much do we have”, Mom asked Dad, worried about using up the fuel.
“Well, we got a full tank of gas and travelled a hundred kilometers”, Dad responded, more confused. “Nothing makes sense here and I hope we don’t stay here for long”, he muttered.
Eventually, we passed most of the vehicles and reached the veterinary clinic. The small, intact structure stood there, seemingly looking over the icy driveway. We then spotted an old, brown truck and we saw something that set it apart from the rest of the vehicles we’ve seen so far.
“It’s on”, I said, gleefully, with hope that, at least, we aren’t the only ones here. The headlights beamed brightly, and we realised it was getting dark. We also noticed that the street lights aren’t turning on.
“I thought there was no one here”, my Mom said, unsure of the connection between the abandoned but running truck and the lack of people in this town. At one of the intact houses, ahead of us, partially blocked by the trees, we saw what seemed to be bright light coming from one of the windows. What person would go into a house after an earthquake, I thought, thinking about our house back home.
“Someone’s here”, Matt loudly notified, as we all shushed him and that is when Joe is trying to push the door with his snout. “What is he doing?”
“Stay here”, Dad calmly ordered, opening the door, but Joe scurried out and went somewhere else.
“Hey, come back”, Matt called out, with no success. Joe eventually disappeared into the night, never to be seen. Matt then had tears welling up in his eyes like he was about to cry. I hugged him to comfort him.
“He’ll come back some time”, Mom reassured, trying to calm him down and looking at Dad. Dad nodded and grabbed a flashlight that was equipped in the truck. He then walked slowly towards the house, step by step, being shone by our truck’s headlights. He looked back at us and put his hand up when the light in the house moved. It seems to move towards the front door of the house. Emerging from the house is a person walking down the steps, cloaked in darkness. Dad then took a few steps back as the figure came. Finally, the figure stepped into the light.

Hi all,
Lots of you have sent me cards at the end of 2023 and into 2024 (how are we almost in June?!!). I'm way behind on humaning so I have lots of thanks to share, in no particular order:

• u/melhen16 x 3 - you sent me something around Christmas time. I love your use of vintage stamps. Be on the lookout for some reply mail in the post. The second card in my stash of outstanding thank yous is filled with wonderful factoids about Olympic National Park, none of which I knew previously. Ok, this is really pathetic how far behind I am. Card 3 from you discusses post-retirement endeavors. What did you end up doing?
• u/pink_drop - thanks for your pre-Thanksgiving card talking about shelter doggos. I appreciate the goodies you included and will be using them to create more outbound mail.
• u/slavkan12 - you sent me a wonderful postcard around Halloween asking about my plans. Truth is, Halloween isn't a big deal for me. I tend to avoid costume parties and now that I'm an adult I really don't need tons of candy. It is fun seeing the neighborhood kiddos while they're out Trick or Treating.
• u/lyubitza13 - did you get in to the master's program in Poland you applied to? You asked for a book recommendation an today's suggestion is A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
• mystery sender - you sent me something in September 2023, including a treat from your niece's pirate-themed birthday party. I hope your home school adventures have been great this year.
• mystery sender - I loved your quote "art becomes art when it is shared." and the photo postcard you used to illustrate that point is just wonderful.
• u/rand_ston - thank you for your great description of what happiness means to you. Re-reading them now is a good reminder to frame things differently.
• u/pozzledC - Thank you for sharing your wonderful stories of Girl Guide experiences. How do you find it being a leader now? The wonderful art you made on the face of the card is breathtaking. It's a great reminder that beauty exists.
• u/mcdeekey - your summer in the Black Forest must have been amazing. We haven't had a proper holiday in a long time but a couple of weeks ago my husband and I met up with some friends and had a wonderful evening of dinner and a live concert.
• u/mynameiscandycain - I'm sorry you ended up with the Florida hurricane last August. We're gearing up for another active hurricane season this year. I like the storms but don't like the damage they can leave behind.
• u/awachob - your adorable spider web thank you is so cute that I don't even mind the image of spiders it conjures. I'm so glad you enjoyed the Star Trek card.
• u/tigerlady13 - you sent me a wonderful New Year Card and baking recipe that I haven't yet tried but is in my list of new things to test out this year. It's been a rough several months mentally but I think I'm finally starting to come out of the fog. Thanks for thinking of me!

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weather, web, website, wedding, week, weekend, weekly, weigh, weight, welcome, welfare, well, west, western, wet, what, whatever, wheel, when, whenever, where, whereas, whether, which, while, whisper, white, who, whole, whom, whose, why, wide, widely, widespread, wife, wild, wildlife, will, willing, win, wind, window, wine, wing, winner, winter, wipe, wire, wisdom, wise, wish, with, withdraw, within, without, witness, woman, wonder, wonderful, wood, wooden, word, work, worker, working, workout, workplace, works, workshop, world, worried, worry, worth, would, wound, wrap, write, writer, writing, wrong, yard, yeah, year, yell, yellow, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, you, young, your, yours, yourself, youth, zone.

https://preview.redd.it/8f9fynzujd0d1.png?width=824&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b0af5facc77cd891dbd977448742603b59422cf
Now admittedly, this is partially opinion-based. Also, since I know people will ask: the main reason Elise isn't higher is the fact she actually has cooking talent (unlike majority of contestants higher than her). Some of these choices were difficult, like the bottom 4 arguably aren't THAT bad, but comparable to other contestants in the season they were my most logical choice.
As for my top 3...

• Jen = Needs no explanation really. Every scene she's in she's either a snob, cocky, toxic, whatever word you want. From the moment of her introduction in Season 4, I'll let this quote sum up her personality in a nutshell... "There's a difference between constructive criticism, and someone just being a butthead. I think Chef Ramsay might need to read a couple of books. He has absolutely no idea what he's talking about, and he has absolutely no idea who he's talking to!" - Completely and utterly unbearable for me, and she only got worse when she returned during Season 18. During the 3rd episode she has an absolute mental breakdown towards Gordon after he calls her out for a short portion of garnish. She claims he was hiding it under the pass, presumably for forced drama? Absolutely absurd, I'm surprised even Lady Gaga works with her - I certainly wouldn't wanna be within a 5 mile radius.
  
• Scott = Season 7 was the first season I ever watched back in 2015. He is easily the most ARROGANT chef to ever set foot on the show. Every scene seemingly gets worse and worse, especially once he moves to the red team. Even Gordon had enough of his sh*t during his elimination plea, in which Scott unironically said - "I'm a hard-worker - obviously you know that - I just bust ass every day. I have a calmness about me during service no matter what the stresses bring. By no means, I'm not the worst cook in this team by far, I'm the best cook in this team, the best leader in this team." To which Gordon replies with "I can't take it anymore". So yeah even if you haven't seen the season, you know exactly why I rank him up here.
  
• Anton (I know Jen is technically 3rd again, but it'd be silly to explain her twice) = On top of the permanently annoying smoker voice, the guy was just a straight up dick to majority of contestants, incredibly sexist, and pushed the passive Sous Chef Andi so far to her screaming her lungs out at him (one of my favourite scenes, because he 100% deserves it). Admittedly, he was half-decent before he moved over to the red kitchen, but even then he was nothing to write home about. Very little redeeming qualities, glad they didn't prolong his elimination for content.
  

For anyone that'd like to do the tier list ranking for themselves - https://tiermaker.com/create/hells-kitchen-seasons-1-20-contestants-and-staff-140353

Q: Do UFOs exist?

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

Q: Do aliens exist?

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

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

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

• Robert Dean
• Paul Hellyer

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

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

Part two: Caveat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's is pretty bad day. Woke up for getting my learning license in Kukatpally. Here's the back story, i myself want to get by applying myself but my mother insisted to get it from my driving school guy so i agreed with her and contacted him. He booked a slot by taking double the money. Slot was on may 14th 11:40am. So i book a Rapido from my home to RTA office first guy was far away so i had to call him to come faster 'cause my slot is in 30min. He asked the drop location, i said its right beside my colony, he then asked again and i replied jntu, jntu ante pakkana anna ani he cancelled the ride. After trying multiple times another guy accepted the ride and we started. After reaching the location he quoted 5rs extra from the fare i got no balls to ask him why he's asking extra or show him the actual fare that the app is showing so paid 5rs extra with zero balls. completed all the things like taking photo, signature etc and Then comes the bomb saying that i have to pay extra 200 for paper work, idk why they asked i called my school and asked why should i pay extra i gave the exact amount to you and asked the breakdown of the amount, he just replied that you should pay for paper work and i asked 2-3 times he says the same. i got nothing to do (i almost paid double for the license work) i just paid. irony is the same guy handled multiple people there but none of them were charged 200 for so called paper work wtf is this. then i stood there in line for verification of address and all. I could actually see more than 5 members just jumped the line and went directly into the office don't know how using influence or other thing. my mood was totally disturbed. and after all this i just reached home by walk thinking and doubting about my speaking skills and choosing the right things.
some back story : my father found some good driving school for me but i rejected him saying he always chooses wrong and makes me to do things forcefully on his wish. now he is not even listening to my problems about this shitty driving school.
why am i like this, i just want to make right decisions, i just depend on others who are slightly better than me.