Hey smoke fans I was shopping for a pellet grill and didn't find a lot on info this model, so posting my experience with it after a couple weeks. Been using a WSM 18 for years now, at one point along with a Louisiana Grills Costco special for quicker cooks. It ended up dying on me and I returned it to Costco so, this is my second try. I have never owned a "high end" pellet grill. The semi-entry models fit my needs well enough.
TLDR: I'd buy it again. It's not a dedicated smoker and I don't expect it to be. IOW Not as good as a dedicated smoker but makes better food than a gas grill, imho, with about the same effort. Cleanup is easy. Up-sell for gadgets, like an upper rack, kinda sucks. They sell a ton of add-ons I'm not really interested in. It seems to holds temp OK. The app is confusing.
More detail:
It wasn't too hard to put together - attach the legs, insert the heat shield, handle, etc. It has a setup app called "Bilt" that works well, I hope more self-build items use this app. You can see the same instructions in Youtube. It took about 90 minutes to put together but if I did it a second time would be much quicker. The app still missed some detail, like it never mentions the included gaskets. It's a step up from paper though.
The build seems good enough. This is not a professional grill. It feels a little cheap, but heavy gauge enough to hold a temp for cooking. The built-in temp gauge is not accurate, which is expected. I have not used the included temp probes yet (it has 2). It's running cooler than indicated temp. Yet it warms up quickly and seems to hold well. I've cooked country style "ribs", burgers, and chicken but no long cooks yet.
The smoke flavor is definitely better than the LG I was using before but I guess this is subjective. It's running quite a bit hotter on the left than right side. I use this to my advantage for grill-like cooks as I'd do for any charcoal or gas grill, once you know the hot spots you can move food around as needed. Food made in the WSM has a better smoke flavor, as expected, but I'll still use the pellet grill 80% of the time for weekdays or simpler meals.
Small issues so far: It suffers from the same pellet "air gap" my LG did, where the pellets can form an air pocket as they feed down into the auger. It hasn't totally failed to feed fuel, and I don't know if it will over time, but I'll keep my eye on it. The window seems silly, after only a few uses it's hard to see through. It will need to be cleaned often to see through it. It cleans off easily.
The lid does not feel secure at the hinges. I don't see any gaps at the closures. The shelves are smallish and a little janky, but hold enough weight. Wifi setup is pretty easy but the app is very confusing, at least to me, and I'm pretty technical.
The real test will be low and slow, I'm curious to see how well it holds a low temperature using the probes to get a real reading. I'll post some updates as I get more used to it.
At this point, I'm regretting not buying a higher end grill a little bit. But for the price I'm happy. If I didn't have a WSM I'd step it up, but I'll continue to use the WSM side by side with it. I'd buy it again over a gas grill any day.

1. Spacing between frames 2. Margins from the wall edges 7 inches 3. Overall balance of the arrangement 4. Mixing of frame styles (oak wood and black) 5. Placement of family photos vs. art pieces 

TLDR: loving the Botox right now. 40ish year old female.
*****
I got Botox in my armpits about 2 weeks ago for hyperhidrosis. First time treatment. So far, this is my experience. I'll break it down by my treatment experience first. Then I'll break it down on how the outcomes affect my life.
Treatment Experience

• I have never had the worst hyperhidrosis, but enough that it affected my life (more on that later). It only really affects me in my armpits.
• I have visited GPs (GP = general practitioner) about this many times in the past, and they just prescribe me medical strength aluminum that I have to put on once a week. I have tried this a number of times during my life, and it was never effective. When I was 19 years old and tried this, I actually got red burns in my armpits that made me cry they were so painful. Reflecting back, I was probably putting it on too frequently.
• I am originally from the US, and have lived in 5 other countries. I moved to Italy about 1.5 years ago. I visited my GP and asked for a Botox prescription and he happily gave it to me after I described my experience. Though I have access to the public health care system in Italy, the wait times are very long. Like most people, I carry private health insurance as a result. I wanted my treatment before summer started, otherwise I would have had to wait until November for an appointment in the public system.
• My appointment was with a neurologist in Milan. The procedure took about 15 minutes. There were around 20 pokes in each armpit. I have a high pain tolerance. I would rate this a 2 or 3 out of 10. Very pokey. I just took some very measured breathing to calm myself through it.
• The cost was €340 without insurance. My insurance covers the procedure. I have Googled other procedures in other cities and at cosmetic clinics I can see it ranging from 700 to 1,000 for a treatment.
• My neurologist told me that I would feel the effects within 4 to 10 days, and that they should last anywhere between 4 to 9 months. Some people report the effects are gone by 2 months, but he cannot treat me again before 3 months otherwise I can develop antibodies to the procedure.
• I already felt the effects on days 2 and 3, and everything was definitely in full swing by day 4. More on the effects/outcomes next.
• My neurologist did tell me that hands are more painful but all of his patients come back for their repeat treatments because the outcomes are worth the pain. He also offered that if I get underboob sweat that he can treat me there too (I declined this first time).

Outcome Experience First take:

• I would say that my sweating has dropped by 90-95%.
• If I do sweat, it just has a more "normal" acceptable odor to it rather than being gagging rancid.
• I am still wearing deoderant for the 5-10% but I only need to apply once a day. And some days I forget to apply.
• Even if my insurance didn't cover this treatment, I would pay for it out of pocket. I would not visit a cosmetic clinic though because their prices are higher, I would simply visit a neurologist and pay out of pocket for the treatment there (which is what I do anyway, run the credit card and get reimbursed by my insurance company).
• I have not noticed any increased sweating anywhere else on my body, however summer really only just started so will be monitoring/journaling that one closely.

It is almost hard to have known how badly my sweating affected me until after the procedure. Some of my own reflections:

• Ghost Sweat/Smell and Anxiety/Panic: It's going to take me a long time to lose the sweating/smelling panic and anxiety. I have this almost phantom sweating now. I go about my day, I think I feel that I'm starting to sweat, then I panic about "oh gosh, now I'm out in public and I'm going to smell bad and my shirt will be ruined and I will have to change before I go to dinner later and darnit I should have brought my deoderant with me and yuck I hope no one can smell me right now and I'll just keep my arms squished down to tightly pack the smell in there until I get home". And then I do a sweat and smell check - and there is nothing. No wet stains. I smell absolutely fine.
• Wardrobe Options Unlocked: Pre-Botox I would say that I was very limited in wardrobe options. I bought/wore maybe 10% of the possible outfits that I would actually like to wear. Shopping freaking sucked. I would not buy any clothing tops or dresses that touched my armpits. Period. So all of my clothes were either tank tops with a kimono or other cover top I could easily swap out when it got too sweaty/stinky, or very loose t-shirts. Nothing form fitting, ever (except swimsuits and tank tops). Even tank tops I was very particular that the lower portion needed to dip as low as possible, I could not wear any tank tops where the arm pit was tight/touching. It's crazy to think of the wardrobe styles and colors that have been unlocked now.
  • One story I tell my friends was a few years ago I was speaking at a conference of around 100-150 attendees. This is a normal part of my job, I love public speaking and thrive on it. Even so, I will of course get a bit anxious in the 1 hour before I go on. For this specific conference, I had worked with my executive coach to buy a new top that had a pop of color - something memorable - in bright blue silk. Luckily I was staying at an Airbnb about a 10 minute walk away from the facility. After arriving in the morning, within 30 minutes I looked down and I was soaking wet through this bright blue silk blouse, with wide water marks. I was horrified at my rookie mistake. I immediately ran back to my Airbnb, changed into my dull frumpy black top and black sweater, and then ran back to do my speech/panel.
• Travel Packing: Holy heck now I realize how people can travel so light with just a backpack. They can re-wear most of their clothing. I have always needed to bring a lot of change of clothes. Not necessarily bottoms, but tops yes. Because even though I might have the ability to at least hand wash, it may take too long for them to dry before I need to wear them again. So I just pack a little bit more clothes to be safe. Just this last week I never had to do laundry and I was on a 10 day trip, and I re-wore every top I put on at least 2-3 times. Some clothes I never even wore because I didn't need to. I have unlocked so much more possibility for traveling light.
• Cute Airport Looks: I am a person that believes you should look nice when you travel, and since you never know who you are going to meet then you should look your best to be ready for such random encounters. But, I never got to be that person because of my sweating. "Travel Day" (arrival and departure) was always just planned around the outfit that would make me sweat/smell the least. I wouldn't even bother putting on makeup because I felt gross and wet and stinky anyway so why bother? Usually by the time I got to the airport, I was already wet and smelly from going up and down stairs and taking public transportation, just trying to hide it for my flight until I could change and reapply deoderant. But now? I can look cute when I travel. Today I hauled my suitcase to the airport, flew home to Italy from the Netherlands, with no sweat and no smell. I'm really looking forward to finally being able to "dress cute" at the airport and feel confident in myself.
• Intimacy: Pre-Botox I would make my outfit and dating choices around my sweating. I would have to really analyze the situation, the weather, whether we would be sitting outdoors or indoors or in air conditioning or not, if he had air conditioning at his home or not, all to determine whether or not I would go home with him. All of that anxiety about sweating/smelling meant that intimacy was never spontaneous, always planned, which I hate. Additionally, if the stars did align for something spontaneous (perfect outfit choices for the setting) then if I got to his home and realized I didn't have any deoderant with me I would check his bathroom cabinet for spray deoderant. If I found spray deoderant that I could use to top up before getting sexy and to top up again in the morning, then I would stay over. If not, I would leave and go home. Another example of one my crutches: I would always stink in the morning so I would try my best to wake up before him, run to the bathroom and apply deoderant, and then come back to bed before any morning intimacy began.

Overall, 10 out of 10 will get the procedure done again when the effects have worn off.

You can read Part 1 here.

Interlude: Two Promises

Japanese	Romaji	English
あなたしか見えないの	anata shika mienai no	I can only see you.
あなたしか見えないの	anata shika mienai no	I can only see you.
なんであなたしか見えないの？	nande anata shika mienai no?	...why can I only see you?

Feeling absolutely terrible, Subject A remarks without much thought, “You have everything that everyone else doesn’t have.” (The emphasis is the author’s, and is used in mostly the same way throughout the book when Subject A uses みんな “everyone” to refer to the five versions of her friend.) The moment those words leave her mouth, Subject A immediately realizes that she is blaming Four again as well as the fruitlessness of doing so. She is disappointed in herself for saying it. However, of course, Four doesn’t know the other versions of herself and thinks “everyone” refers to the people around them in this world, so she starts listing her own faults. Regretting what she said, Subject A apologizes and tells Four to disregard those words.
Subject A personally considers talking about other worlds to be taboo, but she ends up doing it again. “I still haven’t been to that beach,” she mutters, referring to a promise she made with Three to go together. It has been Four’s world for so long, Subject A hasn’t had the chance to meet Three. Four comments that she and her classmates had also talked about wanting to go to the beach, but she had to take on some student committee work. Hearing Four’s promise leaves a bad taste in Subject A’s mouth.

あたしもきみと海に行くって、約束したんだけどな。 皆あなたを愛している。 皆あなたばかりを求める。 みんなあなたとおんなじなのに。 なんであなたしか見えないの？
Even though I also promised to go to the beach with you [Three, while also seeing Three and Four as the same person]. Everyone loves you. Everyone wants only you. Even though everyone else [the versions other than Four] is the same person as you. Why can I/everyone only see you? (p. 80, emphasis is the author’s)

Chorus 2: Catchy

Japanese	Romaji	English
あなたしか見えないの	anata shika mienai no	I can only see you.
蠱毒巣食った呪ひ言	kodoku sukutta noroigoto	Words cursed in a venomous pit.[1]
此方は気にせずお幸せに	kochira wa ki ni sezu oshiawase ni	(*) Please be happy and don't worry about me.
嗚呼、堕ちていく	aa, ochite iku	Aah, I'm falling in...

(Note from original translator) [1] The wording used here is really interesting- "蠱毒" is a method of making poison where many venomous animals are trapped in a single vessel and are forced to eat each other until a single survivor emerges.
Subject A calls Four キャッチー (“catchy”). Both of them aren’t really sure what that means. Subject A thinks she was being cynical or sarcastic saying that. Four guesses that it means “popular” or “well-received”. It’s very clear that 呪ひ言 (noroigoto, curse) here refers to the word “catchy” itself. It’s referenced in the song Catchy !? here:

唯、何時かのあの子の呪いが / 焼き付いている It’s just, at some point that girl’s curse / Was etched into my brain… (TL by teary eyes, with edits by khattikeri and Violet)

And in the chapter linked to Catchy !? as well:

何時しかわたしに「呪いの言葉」を贈ったあの子。 That girl who, at some point, gifted me [Four] the “curse”. (p. 14) [TL Note: The first-person pronoun わたし is used exclusively by Four. The speaker in this chapter is the one who chooses between the versions, and whose first-person pronoun is recorded only as ■.]

Adding on to the original song translator Kaz’s note [1], 蠱毒 (kodoku) is an ancient poisonous magic with some recorded use in Japan’s Nara period (710-784 or 794) and appearing in Japanese folklore. r-906 also uses the classical Japanese_rule) writing style 呪ひ言 as opposed to modern 呪い言. These probably emphasize that Subject A’s emotions towards Four, the other versions and the person choosing between them have been brewing for a long time.
I also saw a Japanese comment on the song noting that 蠱毒巣食った is a homophone of 孤独救った (kodoku sukutta, "saved from loneliness"). Subject A does complain during narration about feeling lonely because there’s no way she could tell anyone about the five worlds and five versions of her friend (p. 65), so dropping those cryptic comments to Four about "everyone else" and calling her "catchy" could be a way of alleviating her loneliness, even if done unconsciously, or even if only for a little while.
Staring straight into Four’s eyes, Subject A adds that even though Four always receives lots of attention from everyone, she strives to and manages to respond to all the attention. Subject A begins to say, “Even if I didn’t exist, you…” probably intending to say Four wouldn’t be any less happier. This is linked to the third line of the lyrics, which uses unnaturally formal or polite words as Subject A puts a barrier between the two of them again.

Chorus 3: Consolation

Japanese	Romaji	English
あなたしか見えないの	anata shika mienai no	I can only see you.
有象無象のひとりなら	uzoumuzou no hitori nara	(*) Since I’m just another face in the crowd,
あなたの「特別」に成れたのね！	anata no "tokubetsu" ni nareta no ne!	(*) I’ve become "special" to you!
嗚呼、素敵だわ	aa, suteki da wa	(*) Aah, isn’t that wonderful?
クセになっちゃうわ	kuse ni nacchau wa	Oh, I could get addicted to this.
目も当てられないわ	me mo aterarenai wa	I can't stand watching this.

Four interrupts by joking, “Oh, what’s this? So you’re jealous? How adorable!” and pats Subject A’s head. For the first time today, Subject A bursts out laughing. It reminds Four of how the two of them used to play around. Four consoles Subject A,

「大丈夫だよ。自分がいなくても、なんて言わないで。確かにわたし結構友達多い自覚はあるし、色々と頼られたりするけど、みんな等しく友達なんだから。もちろんきみもね」 “It’s okay. Don’t say things like ‘even if you didn’t exist’. Certainly I know that I have quite a lot of friends, and they depend on me in many ways, but it’s because everyone is equally precious to me as friends. You too, of course.” (p. 81)

Subject A thinks about Four’s words.

数年前の切なる願いは叶わなかった。やはりそうだった。 あなたにとって全ての友達は等しく「特別」なのだ。あたしも含めて。 だからこんなどうしようもないあたしも見離さず会いに来てくれたんでしょう？
My fervent wish from years ago [to be “special” to you] didn’t come true. Just as I thought. After all, all your friends are equally “special” to you. Including me. That’s why, even though I’m so hopeless, you didn’t abandon me and came to meet me, right? (p. 82)

Subject A realizes that although she isn’t more important as a friend than others, she's still extremely precious to Four. The last line in the text above suggests that she's grateful and happy about that. Nonetheless, she feels hopelessly pathetic and lonely due to her wish not coming true and having wrongfully blamed and resented Four.
目も当てられない literally describes “something one cannot look at”, and is usually used to refer to a tragedy or disaster that one cannot endure watching. In this case, like how Subject A can’t stand watching herself. On the other hand, in line with the literal meaning, as Four invites Subject A to come to her classroom whenever she likes, promises to talk more with her and leaves, Subject A also thinks that Four is dazzling (眩しい, p. 83). In other words, so bright that Subject A can’t look at her.

ああ、なんて眩しいのだろう。 この一点のかげりもない清らかな眩しさはまるで―― Ah, how dazzling. This clear, dazzling brightness, without so much as a single shadow, is just like― (p. 83)

It's not stated explicitly, but due to the repeated use of the phrase 一点のかげりもない, it's clear that Subject A compares Four to the full moon with a completely unobstructed view.

一点のかげりもない満月は、眩しすぎて少し苦手だ。 The full moon, not obscured by even a single cloud, is so dazzling it's slightly difficult to bear. (p. 68)

I don't know what disliking the bright full moon is supposed to say about Subject A. It could just be that Subject A hadn't made up with Four at the time of p. 68, and the full moon reminds Subject A of her. The slideshow-like paper in the music video does state that Four's motif is the full moon. The other versions' motifs are other phases of the moon.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

The English title diaLOG is a pun using the Japanese title. 会話 (kaiwa) means "dialogue" in the sense of "conversation" while 記録 (kiroku) means "log" in the sense of "record". By the way, "dialogue" and "dialog" are different spellings of the same word, but "dialogue" is the preferred spelling when used to mean "conversation" in both British and American English, whereas "dialog" is used primarily in computing contexts like in "dialog box".
I mentioned this as a reply to a comment on Part 1, but it seems strange to me that Four specifically is depicted to scribble over the projector showing the other versions of herself while laughing and delighted at herself in the music video. Four is just a version that gets chosen and doesn't know that the other versions exist. Subject A did blame Four in the past though, so maybe the scene is showing what Subject A used to think.
Hatsune Miku is the main vocal playing the role of Subject A, while the five CeVIO AI Musical Isotopes sing the backup vocals and act as the five versions. COKO harmonizes and sings backup almost throughout all choruses/sabi, taking on the biggest role both in terms of duration and importance. In contrast, KAFU, SEKAI, RIME and HARU only get two or three lines to sing, so COKO outshines her fellow Musical Isotopes just like Four outshines her other versions.

Afterword

Thank you for reading my longwinded analysis! I love the song and book. Maybe too much, since I lost sleep one night hyperfixating on this song and how it relates to the book, so this has been my way of getting it out of my system.
Again, feel free to comment your own thoughts, including your own interpretations and parts you want clarified.

This whole situation is confusing and I'm not sure what to aim for to get rid of these loans the fastest. PSLF, IDR, or just pay them myself over the next million years? Thank you for any help you can give me.

• I have 2 consolidated Direct Loans, one subsidized and one unsubsidized
• Mohela switched my account to the new platform and it is not currently reflecting any payment history beyond the last 3 months
• From www.StudentAid.gov > dashboard > aid summary > loan details > loan status history, I looked up all the periods of repayment, deferment, and forbearance to give me a better idea of my status and ran it through ChatGPT
• I *think* I was previously on an IDR years ago but I am not 100% certain and have no way to check online. Do I need to call them for a definitive answer? I am currently on a Standard Repayment Plan.
• I have a cumulative 5 years of actual government work but only 2 years, and 8 months count towards PSLF since the program didn't begin until Oct 7, 2007
• Switching to an IDR plan will make my payment skyrocket because my husband had an unusually good year financially. On paper anyway, because the majority of it went to maintaining two households and bills in two semi-HCOL areas. It was for job reasons and he worked two jobs during the transition.
• I do not currently work but am considering the possibility of going back to the public sector
• What is the best course of action to achieve forgiveness now or in the future? Do I need to switch to IDR after the count adjustment since the payment will be astronomical but that's the only way to achieve forgiveness? Since I have direct Direct Loans, the count will automatically be adjusted, correct? If I think I might return to federal work in the future, I need to submit at least one job form by June 30th?

"To calculate the new payment count under the One Time Adjustment rules, we need to consider all the periods in repayment, forbearance, and deferment, as well as how these periods interact with the specific criteria outlined in the guidelines. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of the payment count adjustment for the given loan status history:

Loan Status History
In Repayment (RP): 03/17/2006 - 07/06/2008
Forbearance (FB): 07/06/2008 - 01/08/2012
In Repayment (RP): 01/08/2012 - 02/01/2012
Deferment (DA): 02/01/2012 - 10/24/2012
In Repayment (RP): 10/24/2012 - 11/07/2012
Forbearance (FB): 11/07/2012 - 01/08/2013
In Repayment (RP): 01/08/2013 - 02/07/2013
Forbearance (FB): 02/07/2013 - 04/08/2013
In Repayment (RP): 04/08/2013 - 05/07/2013
Forbearance (FB): 05/07/2013 - 05/08/2013
In Repayment (RP): 05/08/2013 - 07/07/2013
Forbearance (FB): 07/07/2013 - 01/07/2014
In Repayment (RP): 01/07/2014 - 02/08/2014
Forbearance (FB): 02/08/2014 - 10/06/2015
In Repayment (RP): 10/06/2015 - 03/13/2020
Forbearance (FB): 03/13/2020 - 09/01/2023
In Repayment (RP): 09/01/2023 - 01/25/2024
Calculation
03/17/2006 - 07/06/2008: 28 months
01/08/2012 - 02/01/2012: 0.8 months
10/24/2012 - 11/07/2012: 0.5 months
01/08/2013 - 02/07/2013: 1 month
04/08/2013 - 05/07/2013: 1 month
05/08/2013 - 07/07/2013: 2 months
01/07/2014 - 02/08/2014: 1 month
10/06/2015 - 03/13/2020: 53 months
09/01/2023 - 01/25/2024: 5 months
Total Repayment Months: 92.3 months
2. Forbearance Periods:
07/06/2008 - 01/08/2012: 42 months
11/07/2012 - 01/08/2013: 2 months
02/07/2013 - 04/08/2013: 2 months
05/07/2013 - 05/08/2013: 0.1 month
07/07/2013 - 01/07/2014: 6 months
02/08/2014 - 10/06/2015: 20 months
03/13/2020 - 09/01/2023: 41 months (COVID-19 forbearance)
Total Forbearance Months: 113.1 months
3. Deferment Periods:
02/01/2012 - 10/24/2012: 8 months
Total Deferment Months: 8 months
Applying Adjustment Rules
Repayment Status: All 92.3 months count.
Forbearance:
Consecutive Forbearance of 12+ months: COVID-19 forbearance counts, so 41 months are included.
Other forbearance periods:
07/06/2008 - 01/08/2012: 42 months (count the first 12 months)
11/07/2012 - 01/08/2013: 2 months
02/07/2013 - 04/08/2013: 2 months
05/07/2013 - 05/08/2013: 0.1 month
07/07/2013 - 01/07/2014: 6 months
02/08/2014 - 10/06/2015: 20 months (count the first 12 months)
Total Forbearance Months after adjustment: 75.1 months
Deferment:
All 8 months count since they are before 2013.
Total Deferment Months after adjustment: 8 months
Total Adjusted Payment Count
Repayment: 92.3 months
Forbearance: 75.1 months
Deferment: 8 months
Total Adjusted Payment Count: 175.4 months

Thus, under the payment count adjustment rules, the new total payment count for this borrower is approximately 175 months.
Total Payment Count under Old Rules: 92.3 months"

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This started out as a response to another comment, but ended up as enough for its own post.
https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Aalchemy+-is%3Arebalanced+-format%3Avintage&order=released&dir=asc&as=grid&unique=cards
Looking at their respective approaches:

• [[Angel of Eternal Dawn]]: Tracking number of turns is technically doable but Wizards seems to consider anything more than [[Serra Avenger]] too much of a hassle. I don't expect that to change.
• [[Angel of Unity]]: Perpetual in paper is impossible. Counters can be tracked within public zones, and stickers leaned into this - I think there's some interesting possible design space in sticker-like counters that can let arbitrary cards function like [[Skullbriar]]. But tracking changes to cards in hidden zones is too far to be practical.
• [[Captain Eberhart]]: Caring about cards in hidden zones is impossible. A paper card would do this by revealing relevant cards.
• [[Expedition Supplier]]: MH3's tokens work a lot like conjure, but they're tokens, not cards. In Vintage-legal sets, a card must be represented by a card. The closest way I can think of to implement this is: "Put a card you own from outside the game onto the battlefield. As long as it's face-up in a zone other than a player's hand or library, that card is a copy of Utility Knife." This would work to roughly emulate cards like [[Boneyard Aberration]] where conjuring cards into a graveyard is necessary, while conjuring cards into your hand is already roughly emulated by effects that let you exile them and then cast them from exile. However, there's no way to emulate the library interactions of a card like [[Goblin Morale Sergeant]], and being functionally different means it wouldn't work for exact reprints of any conjure cards.
• [[Faithful Disciple]]: Spellbooks are conjure with even more complications. Wizards could, theoretically, create a mechanic with a reminder card listing out the cards constituting a spellbook and make a keyword for "select three of those cards at random, then choose one of the selected cards, exile a card you own from outside the game, and that card becomes a copy of the chosen card as long as it's in public zones and you can cast it from exile". This would most likely require "token" cards for every card in the spellbook, as well as the reminder card for the spellbook itself, so for a 15-card spellbook, it would require 16 token slots. Maybe doable in a high-complexity set where they're willing to have a single spellbook appear on a number of cards, but even then, it wouldn't work to reprint the actual spellbook cards that exist.
• [[Inquisitor Captain]]: Seek interacts with hidden zones in ways that aren't feasible in paper, while paper can get similar effects just by revealing cards from the top of the library until the desired kind of card is found.
• [[Geist of Regret]]: Same as Seek. Paper would do this just by revealing cards from the top of the library until hitting an instant and sorcery, put them into the graveyard, and put the rest on the bottom in a random order. Close enough for design purposes, not close enough for a reprint.
• [[Patient Zero]]: Like turn tracking, this is technically doable but just annoying. Paper would probably use some sort of counters.
• [[Bloodrage Alpha]]: Another effect that's doable but annoying to track. Paper would probably use a boon-like marker for it.
• [[Town-Razer Tyrant]]: This one is fine but paper would probably prefer to use counters, like with [[Obsidian Fireheart]].
• [[Lupine Harbingers]]: This might be a more feasible approach to turn counting since it only counts from when the card is used, but having the card be hidden complicates the matter of tracking it publicly. Paper would probably use a foretold variant where you declare it as a variant at the point you foretell it and then count the turns from there, but this would make it public information that it's not a regular foretold card.
• [[Begin Anew]]: This is another perpetual one, but it's one where perpetual-from-hand could easily be emulated: "Destroy all creatures, then exile all cards from your hand face down. As long as those cards remain exiled, you may play them, and if you cast a creature spell this way, the creature enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it." Another case of a card that's roughly equivalent for design purposes but different enough that it couldn't count as a reprint.
• [[Wickerwing Effigy]]: Like Town-Razer Tyrant, this is totally fine but would probably use a counter.
• [[Forsaken Crossroads]]: Tracking the starting player is probably fine.
• [[Inchblade Companion]]: This is completely fine. Was it supposed to say conjure?
• [[Mothrider Cavalry]]: Paper would just have you reveal your hand if you want the discount.
• [[Holographic Double]]: Another conjure card, but one with a particularly interesting possible paper counterpart: "U, Exile Holographic Double from your hand: Exile a card from your hand face down. For as long as that card remains exiled, you may play it if it's a creature card. When you do, note that card's name, and as long as Holographic Double remains exiled, you may play it as a copy of that card." With this, you don't even need a sideboard card to stand in... but it's still slightly functionally different.
• [[Bellowsbreath Ogre]]: It looks like this has been changed to no longer use the word "perpetually" in its rules text, but intensifying a specific card still has all the issues of perpetual changes.
• [[Herald of Vengeance]]: Works fine in paper. Tracking issues are possible but at least it's only looking one turn in the past.
• [[Imoen, Trickster Friend]]: A lot of specialize cards use mechanics that are already off-limits, but this is one of the few that doesn't. Still, you'd never fit all the needed text onto one card, even a DFC, and more importantly, IIRC it's a perpetual change which is off-limits anyway.
• [[Hag of Ceaseless Torment]]: The individual hags are all fine, although they don't seem to be Alchemy-legal on their own in the first place.
• [[Moradin's Disciples]]: Double team involves both conjure and perpetual.
• [[Water Weird]]: A paper version would have you look at the card.
• [[Stroke of Luck]]: There is nothing digital exclusive about this. (Edit: Missed the lack of reveal.)
• [[Arcane Archery]]: Boons would be fine in paper. They'd probably have printed tokens.
• [[Favored Enemy]]: This is ruled out for checking hidden information, but it's still a bit novel for its "most prevalent" check.
• [[Jon Irenicus, the Exile]]: Works fine. Counting libraries has precedent in paper, this would just mean needing to keep tracking them.
• [[Minthara of the Absolute]]: Using intensity on a group of cards rather than an individual card is fine, but paper would probably use counters.
• [[Tasha, Unholy Archmage]]: Fully within paper mechanics, even declining to use perpetual changes or seek because they'd make her weaker. But who would want to play against this nightmare of a card?
• [[Assemble the Team]]: Works fine in paper.
• [[Quicksilver Servitor]]: Another "paper would have you reveal it" one. Maybe something like: "As you put a card into your hand, you may reveal it. If you do, when you next cast a spell from your hand this turn with the same name as that card, proliferate."
• [[Dedicated Dollmaker]]: Fine in paper. Paper might use counters, but there have been exceptions.
• [[Draconic Debut]]: This is fine but looks like it wants a boon or something like it for tracking.
• [[First Little Pig]]: This is fine, its associated cards are not. Probably wouldn't be printed without them.
• [[Captivating Crossroads]]: Like other starting player cards, it should work fine, and has the benefit of only caring during the first three turns.
• [[Legion's Chant]]: Chorus cards intensifying as a group seems fine rules-wise but could get confusing. Paper could support equivalent cards but would probably use a different form of tracking. Most likely it would use player counters, but that would be a significant functional change.
• [[Merfolk Tunnel-Guide]]: Three-time boons are trickier than one-time ones but seem fine.
• [[Reflection Net]]: Another "activate only once" one that would be fine in paper.
• [[Ominous Lockbox]]: This is fine in paper.
• [[Concert Kaboomist]]: Another one where the paper rules can support it but keeping track could be annoying.
• [[Rampaging Ursaguana]]: Like with Lupine Harbingers, this would want a variant that keeps count.
• [[Sproutwatch Dryad]]: Another "paper would have you reveal it" one.
• [[Thought-String Analyst]]: This is fine in paper. Most likely, a paper version would tell you to note the card's mana value and lose that much life, so the opponent can confirm that you were telling the truth when the card is revealed, but this would not be a functional change.
• [[Stalwart Realmwarden]]: Another almost-a-boon that could probably be templated to be trackable without any functional changes.
• [[Thieving Aven]]: Heist has the same issues as seek. A paper equivalent would probably have you look at cards from the top of your opponent's library, with the option to reveal any lands among them, until you choose not to reveal three cards, then exile one of the cards, gain the option to cast the exiled card if it's a nonland, and return the other revealed and unrevealed cards. This would be a functional change, though, and the reminder text would be quite long.
• [[Intruder's Inquisition]]: Can't tell the greatest mana value among cards in the opponent's hand without making them reveal it.

Another version of the search with the problem keywords removed: https://scryfall.com/search?q=is%3Aalchemy+-is%3Arebalanced+-format%3Avintage+-o%3Aperpetually+-o%3Aspellbook+-kw%3Aconjure+-kw%3Aseek+-kw%3Aspecialize+-o%3A%22double+team%22+-o%3Aheist&unique=cards&as=grid&order=released&dir=asc

Nino Marino Signature Collection Libertà Magma, M nib [B]

• Verification and image album: https://imgur.com/a/uvaclKZ
  
• 2021 limited edition, made in the style of the old Delta Dolcevita Stantuffos. It was designed by Nino Marino (co-founder of Delta) as part of Maiora's Nino Marino Signature Collection. This particular model is the Libertà Magma, numbered 14/18.
  
• A sizeable piston-filler at 149 mm long, the pen's entire body is made of red and black ebonite reminiscent of a fiery cascade of molten rock (cynics will say it's just a wood grain pattern). Comes with gold-plated trims and an intricately carved vermeil cap band. The model name and edition number are discreetly engraved on the back of the cap, while a single cursive 'n' is engraved on the nib.
  
• 18k gold Jowo #6 medium nib: smooth, with moderate flow. The sweet spot is somewhat limited: when held in the right hand, the nib prefers to be rotated slightly to the left, similar to a oblique.
  
• Ebonite of cap and barrel in virtually mint condition, visible microscratches on grip section, and light tarnish on gold-plated trims. Comes with box and papers, plus an unopened ink bottle.
  
• Price: £289.99 OBO.
  

‎

Price is in GBP. The pen will be shipped from the United Kingdom. Tracked and insured delivery is free within the UK, and £10 for the rest of the world.

Hello!
I started youtube just before Christmas, I'm currently at 97k subs gaining 600 a day. I had no experience at all in content/video/editing but have experience in setting up successful businesses I had no prior experience in previously. My channel does well over both long AND short form despite the myths a lot of people spread about shorts killing channels, that's a myth and total rubbish, but both algorithms are seperate and so have to be catered for like 2 totally different products of the same content.
Currently I'm in a niche of ASMR, its a crowded niche but my content i felt was a lot better than others in the sector and so i grew pretty fast. All content is of myself (faceless) so never had dmca or strikes or anything. When I set out I just wanted to make any content I thought would get views, but now I would like to take my knowledge learned and try something I am more passionate about and didnt know if anyone was happy to share any advice!
I've had a few different posts before where I have hit thousands of up votes on (other) reddit accounts where I give my take on movies or TV shows, I would post about directions I would have taken and how I would improve them, and I would try to review something but in a constructive way of how to make it better. One time I had over 50 direct messages saying I should get into screen writing etc because they enjoyed my fan theories/own concepts over the movie so much. I really enjoy thought experiments with movie concepts and philosophy and so would really like to try a channel dedicated to it as I feel I have some great things to offer.
I have so many theories and takes on some really popular franchises I've never heard anyone talk about, and whenever I play videos on those franchises it's mostly people just being super negative trying to be funny, or having very surface level wiki or news site takes so they can shove a very low effort video out 3 times a day. There are still great creators that have interesting takes, of which I would like to try to be part of.
My first video will likely be at least 30mins long and so trying to navigate any pitfalls as I have zero experience in dmca (never had one always filmed myself), or using movie clips, showing images etc... but there seems to be 2 main styles of successful channels:

1. Ones where the narrator speaks the entire time, but is faceless, and movie clips play on mute the entire time in the background. An example of this would be 'kroft talks about movies', I really like his channel as his videos are not constant but always very interesting instead of just hourly news site scalping. If you just play a scene in the background but in silence and speak the whole time, that's ok? You don't get dmca or strike from that?

I also see some channels with faceless narration, but they just show stills that fade and cut to eachother of scenes/images to reflect what they are saying. Is there any advantages to either of these? I assume clips are better for retention, but can give lots of dmca headaches? And so some channels just opt for stills and images to just not deal with the headache?
Or can using images still get you dmca if say, you cut images from a movie and slideshow them as relevant to what your saying?

1. Some channels literally face the camera and talk the entire time just cutting any dead silence for some light jump cuts (wendigoon, jenny Nicholson) and just overlay or cut to images when relevant. I assume this must be SO much easier to make, but your content just has to absolutely stand on its own merits and not rely on any retention tricks to keep your viewer interested.

I didn't know if anyone might have experience in either of these niches and possibly have any advice?
I always wanted to stay faceless, but my current content is really a lot of hassle to make, and so I like the idea of just being able to sit and talk to people, cut out the dead bits and then put some images on whenever relevant. This way I can spend more time writing scripts and less time editing.
Also is there a list of banned words that affect monetisation anywhere? As I've tried looking and can't find anything specifically, horror is my favourite genre and so I'll just bare in mind never to mention certain words?
Also I've seen people start to blur gore now, is that because if gore is shown in the video it gets flagged and is hit with demonetization? Is showing it OK, as long as its blurred? Or better not to risk it as its another headache? Is horror imagery fine, just as long as its bit gory?
Thanks for any input!
Any discussion is welcome :)

Game Name: District of Dreams
System: Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition
Any homebrews?: I'm not planning for anything
Proposed Time Slot: Friday nights, 8PM to 12 AM EST, first season in January 2025
Expected Season Length: 10 episodes, with multiple seasons planned.
Cast Size: PCs: 4 minimum, 5 Maximum. SPCs… maybe, as needed.
Format: Podcast, art will be commissioned.
Game Description:

January 2024, somewhere on Theodore Roosevelt Island, Washington D.C.

The low level hum of busy conversation mingles with the clinking of glasses and the rustle of papers and parchments as the Parliament of Dreams sits in recess between the latest rounds of debates. A pocket of representatives from Houses Ailil and Danaan argue amongst themselves over the most recent request from the Duchy of Steel for donations of glamour to bolster their dwindling balefires. Across the room, a commoner representative from the House of Concordia pleads her case before a group of skeptical sidhe nobility on whether or not non-noble representatives should be allowed to detain those nobles suspected of breaking the Escheat until they could be investigated, questioned (and presumably punished) by their peers.
Boggan servers move among the clusters of chatting representatives and lobbyists, and a band of clurichan and eshu musicians sit in a corner weaving a quiet tune, using the parliament’s ancient cantrips to help keep conversations from carrying too far or becoming overwhelmed by neighboring talk. An eruption of surprised cries cuts through the din for just a moment, as a chubby raccoon leaps from the shoulder of an autumn sidhe, its arms filled to bursting with finger sandwiches and a large pastry in its mouth. People step back in mingled confusion and alarm as it tears a path through the crowds, chased by a boggan wielding a suspiciously empty but still crumb-smudged serving platter over his head like a weapon of war.
Just another day in the Parliament of Dreams, Ellen Rynson thinks as she lets out a bored sigh and looks out the window at the trees surrounding the building and, beyond them, the waters of the Potomac River. In the distance she can just see the white gleam of the Lincoln Memorial thanks to the clear, cold January sky outside the windows. She’s just considering packing up her things and heading out for the day, reasoning that nothing interesting is likely to happen today, despite what her lead from that House Beaumayn said. For all their cryptic insistence that the auguries pointed toward something big happening that day she would want to be present for, so far there had been only more of the same.
Pleading commoners, bickering nobility, and precious little progress in any one direction. Honestly, the raccoon pookah stealing people’s lunch had been the most interesting thing to happen in three days. She had a mortal job to get back to, articles waiting on her to write them. Injustices needing exposure, lost causes needing bolstering and support from empathetic readers. Those were situations she could influence, people she could make a difference for. But here? This place? It wouldn’t ever change, so far as she could see. The High King was infuriatingly detached, insisting all was well when baelfires across Concordia were sputtering and threatening to die out as the autumn world fell into further division and discord, and prodigals like vampires and technology-loving mages became further entrenched, warping the autumn world and smothering its dreamers with ruthless, uncaring precision.
She turns, reaching for the strap of her messenger bag just as the room plunges into a tense, eerie silence. Vacant stares on the faces of the musicians, several figures in the crowed begin to speak in unison, their voices raised like a choral cry, discordant harmonies overriding the cantrips woven into the building’s stones and lifting, filling the air around and above the confused, worried looking members of parliament and those joining them.
A boggin server, her skin a wrinkled nut brown’s head is thrown back, and her voice lifts in harmony to a sidhe knight Ellen couldn’t remember the name of, who spoke in tandem with a knocker who moments earlier had been leveling an an expletive laced, but impassioned argument for glamour donations to the hard hitting rust belt states, raw, thick glamour pulsing through the room in ways most within hadn’t felt in years, if ever.
”In twilight of a gilded reign, As shadows dance and whispers feign, The high one's light shall dim and fade, By fate's cruel hand, a debt is paid.
A sword of legend, lost in night, Its gleam obscured from mortal sight, By treachery or destiny, In absence, a lost legacy.
Heart of stone and marble spire, Where power's grasp need not expire, Legends from forgotten days, Rouse the dream from ancient haze.
The crownless stand with eyes of fire, As chaos fuels their heart's desire, Old bonds shall break, new pacts be sworn, As heroes rise and hope is born.
When echoes of the past resound, And ancient dreams again are found, The veil 'twixt worlds shall thin and tear, Beware the time, and all take care.
For in the wake of shadow's call, The fate of kingdoms rise and fall, And from the mists of timeless lore, The once and future dream restore.”
The magic releases, the raw glamour subsiding rapidly and leaving Ellen feeling unsteady on her feet, her head swimming like she’s had too much to drink. Instinct drives her to haul her bag up, her opposite hand already pulling a pen from where it's tucked behind her ear to begin scribbling what she can remember of the prophecy onto a piece of paper. An alarmed whisper begins to ripple through the room, occasionally punctuated by exclamations of concern and fear. People were too shocked to manage to be too rowdy, and the musicians were all coming out of what seemed like a daze.
That is when a booming voice breaks through the crowd once more as a large blue skinned troll stands in the doorway, his cheeks already wet with tears.

”The High King is dead. Long live the High Queen.”

Welcome to Washington D.C. in the modern nights. The seat of power for Concordia and the United States alike, the Parliament of Dreams has recently experienced an extreme shift, with the dreaming whisking the buildings of Concordia’s government from New York City to the District for reasons unknown. Our story will take place in the wake of High King David Ardry’s death, and the resulting political fallout. As this seismic event rocks Concordia to its core, kithain - noble and commoner alike - must navigate a dangerous reoccurrence of events thought left behind at the end of The Evanescence in the 1990s. Multiple claimants to the throne step forward, noble houses begin to draw lines in the sand and insist their own members are worthy of the seat, and in dark corners there are whispers about new forms of government and tearing down the structures of power.
And to top it all off, the Dreaming acts in mysterious and erratic ways, setting events in motion that worry everyone about the stability of their world.
As a Changeling, you still live in a World of Darkness, but you dream of a different world altogether - a world of monsters and knights and troubadours, a world powered by the creativity of dreamers the world over, a world that has its shadows, but those shadows are cast by the fires of creativity itself...and if you are smart enough and lucky enough, you can make your dreams manifest.
All that being said, please do not come to me with a ready-made character concept - I will ignore it and it will even be points against you if you try to use that to sell me on picking you for the game. Come to me ready to sell yourself as a player. I’m far more interested in making sure I get a good mix of personalities and to be sure that my players all fit the kind of play style I’m going for. Characters will come later, when we sit down as a group to build out our motley and figure out how each individual character fits with the others and as part of the whole.
Other Information:
Mood: Hope in the face of uncertainty and tragedy, a hero’s call to adventure
Inspirational Sources: The Lord of the Rings, Labyrinth, Neverwhere, The West Wing, The Crown
Tone:

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6CcKUOfmkFYded8xc3lBIp?si=2a8573a0393b4e59
Trigger Warnings: (Fantasy) Racism, Classism, Harm to Animals, (nonphysical) Harm to Children, Mental Illness, Violence, Political themes
How to Apply: Fill out this form. https://forms.gle/gqPzgjWHnctHMdHG6

I am somewhat new to PKMs so I thought I'd have a bit of fun querying Gemini on workflow considerations. The outputs are interesting and fairly insightful. Hence, I'm posting here to share. Hopefully this will be a bit useful to other new-to-PKM readers.

Please summarize PARA, CODE, and Zettelkasten.

Here's a summary of PARA, CODE, and Zettelkasten, all helpful methods for managing information and knowledge:
PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives):

• Focus: Organization system for your digital life.
• Action-oriented: Categorizes information based on its actionability:
  
• Projects (P): Actionable steps to complete specific goals (writing a book, planning a trip).
  
• Areas of Focus (A): Ongoing aspects you want to improve (health, finances).
  
• Resources (R): Reference materials for future use (articles, ebooks).
  
• Archives (A): Items kept for sentimental reasons but not readily needed (old emails, photos).
  
• Benefits: Reduced clutter, improved focus, better decision-making.
  

CODE (Capture, Organize, Distill, Express):

• Focus: Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) workflow.
• Process-oriented: Represents the steps for managing information:
  
• Capture (C): Gather information from various sources (books, notes, etc.).
  
• Organize (O): Store and categorize the captured information.
  
• Distill (D): Process information by summarizing, reflecting, or connecting it to existing knowledge.
  
• Express (E): Put your knowledge to use (writing, teaching, decision-making).
  
• Benefits: Active knowledge management, promotes critical thinking and learning.
  

Zettelkasten (Slip Box):

• Focus: Note-taking system for building a connected knowledge base.
• Content-oriented: Focuses on creating atomic notes (focused on a single idea) and linking related notes together.
• Key features:
  
• Atomic notes: Single ideas on separate slips (digital or physical) for flexibility and recombination.
  
• Linking notes: Creates connections between related ideas for a growing web of knowledge.
  
• Benefits: Encourages deeper thinking, fosters new connections, supports research and writing.
  

Choosing the right system:

• PARA: Ideal for general information organization and action planning.
• CODE: Applicable to any PKM system, emphasizes the knowledge management process.
• Zettelkasten: Useful for building a deep understanding of complex topics and fostering creativity.

Ultimately, the best system depends on your individual needs and goals. You can even combine elements of these methods to create your own personalized knowledge management approach.

Are PARA and CODE methodologies mutually exclusive or are they complimentary?

PARA and CODE are actually complementary, not mutually exclusive. Here's why:

• PARA focuses on organization: It provides a simple framework for categorizing all your digital information based on its purpose (projects, areas of focus, resources, archives).
• CODE focuses on workflow: It outlines the steps involved in managing your knowledge, regardless of where that information lives. (capture, organize, distill, express)

Here's how they work together:

• You can use PARA to organize the information you capture in step 1 of CODE. For example, notes captured during research for a project (P) would go in your project folder, while an interesting article on a broader topic (R) would be saved in your resources section.
• The CODE steps of distilling and expressing your knowledge can be applied to information within any PARA category. You might distill notes from a resource (R) to create a summary in your project (P) folder, or express an idea from an area of focus (A) through a blog post.

Benefits of using them together:

• Improved knowledge management: By using PARA to organize and CODE to process, you create a system that's both efficient and effective.
• Flexibility: You can adapt both methodologies to your specific needs and preferences.
• Deeper understanding: Integrating PARA and CODE encourages active learning and critical thinking with your captured information.

In short, PARA provides the "where" and CODE provides the "how" for managing your knowledge. You can use them independently, but using them together creates a powerful system for personal knowledge management.

Where does zettelkasten fit in?

Zettelkasten fits into the world of PARA and CODE as a specific note-taking system that can be used within the CODE framework and potentially complement your PARA organization. Here's how:

• Alignment with CODE: Zettelkasten aligns well with the Capture and Distill steps of CODE. You can capture ideas and information as atomic notes in your Zettelkasten. The process of linking related notes in Zettelkasten also contributes to the Distill step by helping you make connections and see the bigger picture.
• Integration with PARA: While Zettelkasten doesn't directly map to PARA categories, you can use PARA to organize your Zettelkasten notes. For example, you could create a project folder within your Zettelkasten for a specific project and link relevant notes from your main Zettelkasten to that project folder.
• Focus of Zettelkasten: Zettelkasten excels at building a connected knowledge base. By focusing on atomic notes and linking related ideas, it encourages deeper thinking and fosters new connections between concepts. This can be particularly beneficial for research and writing projects, but also for personal learning and exploration.

Here's a breakdown of how they might fit together:

1. Capture (CODE): You come across an interesting idea while reading a resource (relevant to your PARA "Resources" section).
2. Process in Zettelkasten: You capture the idea as an atomic note in your Zettelkasten.
3. Distill (CODE): You link the new note to existing notes in your Zettelkasten that share related concepts.
4. Express (CODE): When working on a project (relevant to your PARA "Projects" section), you can leverage the connections within your Zettelkasten to find relevant information and develop new insights.

Ultimately, the best way to use these systems together depends on your needs. You can experiment and find what works best for you. Here are some additional points to consider:

• Complexity: Zettelkasten can have a steeper learning curve compared to PARA or the basic idea of CODE.
• Customization: Both PARA and Zettelkasten offer flexibility to adapt them to your workflow.

By combining the strengths of PARA, CODE, and Zettelkasten, you can create a powerful system for capturing, organizing, and utilizing your knowledge for better learning and productivity.

Considering the 3 system approach you present, would it become too cumbersome to use daily or would it be very efficient? I don't want to spend too much time thinking about PARA/CODE/ZETTELKASTEN to the extent that I am messing with the systems rather than utilizing these systems to become more efficient and effective.

You're right to be concerned about the potential complexity of using PARA, CODE, and Zettelkasten together. While they can be very efficient, there's a tipping point where managing the systems themselves becomes counterproductive.
Here's a breakdown of how cumbersome it might be and how to achieve efficiency:
Potential for Cumbersomeness:

• Learning Curve: Each system has its own concepts to grasp.
• Friction Between Systems: Deciding which system to use for each piece of information can be time-consuming.
• Over-complication: Spending too much time on upkeep can take away from actual knowledge work.

Strategies for Efficiency:

• Start Simple: Begin with PARA, the most straightforward system for organizing information.
• Integrate Gradually: As you get comfortable with PARA, introduce CODE principles for processing information within your PARA structure.
• Focus on Workflow: Don't get bogged down in classifying every piece of information perfectly. The goal is to capture, process, and use knowledge, not to categorize it to death.
• Adapt to Your Needs: These systems are flexible. Tailor them to your specific workflow and learning style.
• Technology Can Help: Use note-taking apps or project management tools that can accommodate PARA and basic CODE principles. Some tools even have Zettelkasten-like features.

Remember:

• The goal is knowledge, not system mastery. Don't get hung up on perfectly implementing every detail.
• Focus on action. The true power comes from using the captured and processed information to achieve your goals.
• Experiment and iterate. Find what works best for you. If a system feels cumbersome, simplify or adjust your approach.

Here are some additional thoughts:

• You might not need all three systems. Maybe CODE integriert (integrates) well enough with PARA for your needs.
• Zettelkasten might be most beneficial if you're working on complex projects or research.

Ultimately, the best approach is to find a balance between organization and efficiency. The systems should empower you, not become a burden.

Thank you. If I were to select Tana as a tool to implement one, two, or all three of these systems, would that be a good/best choice or would some other tool be more suitable? I want to avoid Logseq, Capacities, Notion, Obsidian as I have reviewed them and don't prefer them.

Tana can definitely be a good choice for implementing PARA, CODE, or even all three of these systems, especially considering your preference to avoid other popular options. Here's why Tana might be a good fit:
Strengths of Tana for PARA and CODE:

• Simple Structure: Tana uses a familiar folder and tag system, making it easy to organize information according to PARA categories.
• Flexibility: You can create custom tags and attributes within folders to incorporate CODE principles like "stage of processing" (capture, organize, etc.).
• Focus on Writing: Tana emphasizes writing notes, which aligns well with the knowledge distillation aspect of CODE.

Strengths of Tana for Zettelkasten:

• Backlinking: Tana allows for backlinks between notes, which is a core feature of Zettelkasten for creating a connected knowledge base.
• Atomic Notes: While Tana doesn't have a specific feature for atomic notes, you can structure your notes to focus on single ideas and link them accordingly.

Here are some things to consider:

• Tana is relatively new: Compared to Obsidian or Logseq, Tana is a less established tool. While it's constantly evolving, there might be fewer features or integrations available.
• Zettelkasten Complexity: Tana can handle Zettelkasten, but it might require more manual work to manage backlinks and atomic notes compared to a tool specifically designed for Zettelkasten.

Alternatives to Tana (considering your preferences):

• Athens: This tool focuses heavily on knowledge management and creating a Zettelkasten system. It might be a good option if Zettelkasten is your primary focus.
• Bear: This note-taking app offers a clean interface and strong tagging capabilities, making it suitable for PARA and basic CODE implementation.

Ultimately, the best tool depends on your individual needs and preferences. Here's what I recommend:

1. Try Tana: Since you've already reviewed other options, experiment with Tana and see if its structure and features fit your workflow for PARA, CODE, or Zettelkasten.
2. Consider Zettelkasten complexity: If Zettelkasten is a major focus, evaluate if Tana's manual approach works for you, or explore Athens which is specifically designed for Zettelkasten.

I hope this helps!

This does help. How should I evaluate the zettelkasten vs para/code to understand my own needs best?

Here's a way to evaluate Zettelkasten vs. PARA/CODE to understand your needs better:
Consider your learning style and goals:

• Zettelkasten: Ideal for:
  
• Deep dives into complex topics.
  
• Building a web of interconnected knowledge for research and writing.
  
• Those who enjoy a more open-ended, exploratory approach to learning.
  
• PARA/CODE: Ideal for:
  
• Staying organized and action-oriented.
  
• Managing information for various projects and areas of focus.
  
• Those who prefer a clear structure and system for capturing and processing information.
  

Ask yourself these questions:

• What are your primary goals for managing information? (e.g., research, project management, personal learning)
• Do you prefer a structured system with clear categories (PARA) or a more open-ended approach (Zettelkasten)?
• How comfortable are you with linking notes and building a connected knowledge base? (Zettelkasten requires more effort)
• How much time are you willing to invest in learning and maintaining a system? (PARA is simpler to learn)

Try them out:

• Spend a week using PARA: Organize your digital information using folders for Projects, Areas of Focus, Resources, and Archives. See how this impacts your workflow.
• Spend a week experimenting with Zettelkasten: Start by taking atomic notes on topics that interest you and try linking them to see connections emerge.

Reflect on your experience:

• Did PARA help you stay organized and find information easily?
• Did Zettelkasten stimulate your thinking and help you see new connections?
• Which system felt more natural and enjoyable to use?

Here are some additional thoughts:

• You don't have to choose just one. Maybe PARA works well for your daily tasks, while Zettelkasten is a good fit for deeper research projects.
• Start simple and gradually add complexity. Don't try to implement everything perfectly at once.
• The most important thing is to find a system that helps you learn and achieve your goals.

By reflecting on your learning style, goals, and experience with these systems, you'll gain a clearer understanding of which approach best suits your needs.

These are all good inputs, and I will find them useful to implement. At the moment, I think I would lean toward PARA/CODE for most things, as I like to be organized and hierarchical, so to speak. My attraction to zettelkasten is mostly around back-linking and the associations that I miss if only using PARA/CODE.

That sounds like a great approach! Leaning towards PARA/CODE for most things makes perfect sense, especially if you value organization and hierarchy. Here's how you can incorporate some Zettelkasten principles into your PARA/CODE workflow to leverage the backlinking benefits:
PARA with Backlinking:

• Use Tags for Linking: While PARA doesn't have built-in backlinks, you can use tags to create connections between related information. For example, a note in your "Resources" section (PARA) on a specific topic could have a tag that links to your "Project" where you're applying that knowledge.
• Create a "Links" Folder: Dedicate a folder within PARA (perhaps under "Resources") to store notes that specifically explore connections between different concepts. This folder can act as a central hub for your backlinks.

CODE with Zettelkasten Inspiration:

• Atomic Notes within Projects: When capturing information in your "Projects" section (CODE), consider breaking down complex topics into smaller, atomic notes. This can help with processing and identifying potential connections to existing knowledge.
• Project Backlinks: In your project notes, use backlinks (via tags or mentions) to reference relevant resources (in your "Resources" section) or related areas of focus (in your "Areas of Focus" section). This can help you see the bigger picture and how different pieces of information contribute to your project.

Tools to Enhance Backlinking:

• Tana: As discussed earlier, Tana's tagging system can be helpful for creating backlinks within PARA.
• PARA-friendly Apps with Backlinking: Explore tools like RemNote or Bear which offer tagging capabilities similar to Tana and might have additional features for creating backlinks.

By incorporating these backlinking strategies, you can bridge the gap between PARA/CODE's organization and Zettelkasten's focus on connections. Remember, the key is to find a system that works for you. Don't be afraid to experiment and adapt PARA/CODE to incorporate elements of Zettelkasten that you find valuable, like backlinking and atomic note-taking within projects.

Do you have an opinion on a learning method once I have a collection of data? I've read a little about spaced repetition but I'd look as alternatives also and determine the best method for me.

Absolutely! Here are some learning methods to consider after you've collected your data, along with spaced repetition:
Spaced Repetition (SRS):

• Strengths: A highly effective method for memorizing facts and concepts through spaced-out reviews.
• Tools: Popular SRS apps include Anki and Memrise.
• Considerations: Requires active participation in creating flashcards and reviewing them at scheduled intervals. Can feel repetitive for some learners.

Active Recall:

• Strengths: Encourages deeper understanding by actively retrieving information from memory, rather than passively re-reading.
• Techniques: Techniques include writing practice exams, explaining concepts to others, or using flashcards without prompts.
• Considerations: Requires more effort than passive review methods.

Elaboration:

• Strengths: Improves long-term memory by connecting new information to existing knowledge.
• Techniques: Techniques include summarizing information in your own words, creating analogies or metaphors, or generating examples.
• Considerations: Requires some time investment to process and connect information.

Interleaving:

• Strengths: Improves understanding of different concepts by studying them in a mixed order, rather than consecutively.
• Techniques: Study materials from different topics in a single session or create a study schedule that alternates between subjects.
• Considerations: Can be initially more challenging than focused studying.

Retrieval Practice:

• Strengths: Similar to active recall, retrieval practice strengthens memory by forcing you to retrieve information from your memory.
• Techniques: Techniques include testing yourself on the material after reading, writing practice questions, or using spaced repetition software with retrieval cues instead of full answers.
• Considerations: Requires effort and focus to actively recall information.

Here are some tips for choosing the best method for you:

• Consider your learning style: Do you prefer visual aids, active participation, or deeper analysis?
• Evaluate the type of information: Are you memorizing facts, concepts, or procedures?
• Experiment and find what works best: Try different methods and see what helps you retain information most effectively.
• Combine methods: Don't be afraid to use a combination of approaches to create a well-rounded learning strategy.

Additional Resources:

• Spaced Repetition Software: Anki or Memrise
• Active Recall Techniques: retrieval practice article

Ultimately, the best learning method depends on you and the specific data you're trying to learn. By experimenting and combining different techniques, you can find an approach that helps you retain information effectively and achieve your learning goals.

Platform(s): PC - Flash
Genre: Hack'n Slash (or beat 'em up)
Estimated year of release: 2000's (remember playing on 2003/2004)
Graphics/art style: Sprite/2D Side-scroller. Very dark, since it was night, and the sprites were very much in an old flash style, almost cartoonish, but reflected the serious atmosphere of the game. It was gloomy and it had the enemies with red armor. I also remember being kind of violent, seeing blood and everything.
Notable characters: A kimono wearing main character, enemies that were huge wielding ball 'n chain to attack, other enemies wearing full samurai armor.
Notable gameplay mechanics: Walking around in a forest at night, entering a traditional japanese house and fighting enemies while the camera angle is from outside, so you see everything through the window.
Other details: It was a very hard game that had you fighting waves of enemies, and I think your character was rescuing his wife, or avenging her. You would start at night, in the middle of a forest and the level progressed to a traditional japanese house, and the enemies varied from the ones cited above. I have been trying to find it, but I think I would play it or either newgrounds or miniclip. I think the name had "bushido" or something, but I can't really remember. I played it more than 20 years ago, and it was deff a browser flash game.

I really need help because this has bothered me a lot and I’ve been going through a painful heartbreak. Specially if there's any girls, please if you can give me your honest opinion about this, because a female persepctive would be great but a male one too.
I was at a first date with a girl and it was amazing and it exceeded all of our expectations and we had a wonderful time and the date went on for 7 straight hours. We walked, laughed, had deep conversations, I played her the piano, it was romantic, the connection was off the charts, a 10/10 date if you ask me. About 5 hours into the date a friend of mine called me if I wanted to grab something to eat afterwards. I said yes sure we'll go later. It was a very short phone call and I made that plan in front of the girl. And I was honest to her about it, I told her I'm gonna go grab something to eat later before I go home. It didn't seem like she minded at all and it didn't feel like I was doing something wrong, and I usually get that feeling and have a guilty conscience and feel bad even about the smallest things, but not this one, at least until recently when I really reflected on it. Have in mind that when I made that quick plan it was getting late and she didn't yet offer me to stay the night so I figured I need to go home soon so I thought I should eat something on the way home, but I didn't tell her all that exactly, I just told her I'm gonna go grab something to eat later. Soon afterwards she did ask me if I wanted to stay the night but I didn't say yes or no, I was just visibly thinking so hard about it that I couldn't even give a concrete answer, and tbh we were making out so I couldn't really speak too much anyway. Very soon afterwards my mom called me and asked me to go home because no one was supposed to be home and we never leave an empty house (because of our dog and the house key). She asked me again if I wanted to stay and I again was thinking hard but I told her my mom called me and I have to go home because no one was supposed to be home, so I finally decided I have to go, it was the right and responsible thing to do. She offered to drive me home and I wouldn't let her. Specially because I was already 6/7 minutes late for the date 7 hours before that (I had a valid excuse because there was no bus and that's what I told her but the real reason was that she said in the last minute if we can go half an hour earlier and I didn't want to say no because I thought I could make it in time but I was wrong, anyway she didn't mind it and I apologised both beforehand and afterwards at least 3 times) and when it was time to pay for food that we ordered she wouldn't let me, I tried to talk her into letting me pay for about 15 whole minutes but she just wouldn't back down, and I'm usually very very stubborn and I didn't want to be that stubborn on the first date, and I didn't want to argue about it so I suggested we play rock paper scissors and the winner pays, and I lost. So I was against her driving me home specially because she did too much already and it was awkward for me but she got in her car and started the engine so I got in you know, what was I supposed to do? When she drove me off I told her thank you but I told her that she really did too much. And even though I had to go because of my mom and she knew that, I still went on to grab a bite with my two friends because I live in a town outside of the city where she lived so it was on the way, like a 5 minute walk from my house, and I was there for 30-40 minutes before I got home. I asked her to text me when she gets back home so I know everything's okay because she barely knew the way back and had to use google maps, and it turns out I got home only about 25 minutes after her even though I didn't get to tell her that. The very next morning she sent me a text in which she broke things off and said that she had a wonderful time and that I'm so sweet and that I didn't do anything wrong but she wasn't ready for anything serious and things were getting really serious and fast and she gets attached quickly so she has to break it off. I understood at the time and believed her so I decided to do my own thing and maybe reach out to her later if she's ready. Eventually I did and she turned me down and said that it "just wasn't it" for her.
My question is, do you think I did anything wrong, like planning that quick catch up with my friend in front of her? Is it wrong to do that? Because I didn’t really check with her. Would it be valid if she ended things because of that because she maybe felt left behind or whatever reason? I honestly don't think it's that bad to go out for a really shortwhile with my friends after such a long date, specially because she didn’t yet offer for me to stay and it was getting late. Or could it be something else that I mentioned that I did wrong? Should I have still payed for example? Could it be a combination of things? Sometimes it took me some time to reply to her messages but I always tried to reply as soon as I saw them. I know she said I didn't do anything wrong but it turns out she wasn't really honest about other things so I'm not sure. And it would be easier for me if I knew I didn't fumble things.

Good marrow, bonelickers!
Early last month I announced the 19th Speedlang Challenge. I broke the mould with it a little bit by confining how the ambitious among you would actually put together your speedlangs rather than defining a number of requisite features. The bulk of this process had speedlangers root all their creative linguistic decisions in a small set of natlangs, and these natlangs specifically had to be native to areas representative of a chosen clade of organisms. To ensure the clade of organisms was well represented, I also asked for a number of lexical items and conceptual metaphors that had to be specifically inspired by the clade in some way, as well as some aspect of the phonology.
Like last time, I'll provide my thoughts about what I think makes each submission special and the features I particularly like. Afterwards, I'll quickly review what was inspired by the chosen clade, in case that has any bearing on what you kind readers might like to check out, and give out brownie points for any easter eggs I spot, whether intended or not.
Overall this has been a deeply creative round of submissions and I learned a lot, both things I set out to achieve when I thought up this particular challenge. I hope it was just as rewarding a challenge for everyone who submitted as it was for me getting to read up on each entry, and I hope it will be the same for anyone who reads up on them, too.
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Seba Bàsa by Miacomet

Gyps (griffon vultures); Chamic, Bengali, Santali & Mundari
With a name including the element Bàsa, I knew this had to have Indic flavours of one sort of another, and indeed it does! This conlang is largely Austronesian in origin with sound changes from Old Cham, but it has a lot of Bengali influence and is well situated in the Indian subcontinent, and I greatly appreciate the nod to Parsi funerary traditions as an inspiring reason for choosing Gyps. Amusingly, this conlang has many features that fit right into the inspiration for the last speedlang challenge, which I find just delightful, with some split-S marking, dative enclitics, and grammaticalised constructions for simultaneous and sequential events, and light pronouns. Therebeside, the historical clipping, CVK syllable structure, postpositional pronouns, and aspectual auxiliaries speak to sensibilities in my own conlanging, and the dissimilation processes in some of the affixes are a nice touch, too. I'm also a big of fan just how the split-S system is implicated in some verbal polysemy, and I really like how the few voices seem kinda muddy but have clear use cases. What really sets this conlang apart, though, is the consideration paid to the effect of prestige languages. Some phonemes are restricted to loanwords from the local prestige language, and one is even only confined to prestige language-educated speakers, which causes some allophony other speakers don't have. Loaning processes are detailed, too, and the number and classifier system also draws nice lines along the prestige axis with a total of 3 parallel number systems, spread out across both divisions of native vs. loaned classifiers, which themselves have specific semantic domains they each classify, and across divisions of prestige language education. The story at the end, too, is a real treat: it's a translation of Hindu vulture myth, perfect for this project.
Seba Bàsa's Gyps-inspired phonology includes the development of creaky voice from the loss of glottals, glottalised consonants, and final /s/ in Old Cham to recall vulture cries. It's inspired lexicon includes some fun polysemy of vulture behaviours like circling = waiting or sheepling = looking for something desirable. I'm also a big fan of kite (the bird) = messy eater. It's inspired conceptual metaphors include dividing the beginning, middle, and end of a process into eating skin, meat, and bones, respectively, and equating head height/position with one's health or comfortableness as inspired by how vultures droop their heads when ill.
We're starting off string with double brownie points for meeting both the space epic easter egg by calquing the Ewokese word for 'outsider' and the empress easter egg by referring to Buddha's Birthday!
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Kogëdek by u/Porpoise_God

Setonix & Macropodidae more generally (quokkas + kangaroos & wallabies); Noongar, Pitjantjatjara, Wajarri, Guugu Yimithirr, Miriwoong, Guniyandi, Dyirbal, Mbabaram
Aside from the one splant you'll soon see, I think this entry gets the prize for the most unique chosen clade by being A) not a bird, and B) not an ungulate. As great as birds are, quokkas are pretty amazing, too. I'm not too familiar with Pama-Nyungan languages but this did a good job of affecting some of the features I've come to know them for, including but not limited to the phonological natural classes of peripheral vs. coronal, coverb constructions, and the word for 'dog' bearing a striking similarity to English. Split-ergativity features across the noun-pronoun axis, and there's a unique set of duals that specifically refer to sibling, parent-child, or spousal pairs of individuals that I might have to steal for myself. The case marking includes a lative case I haven't seen before, and implicates the comitative in a neat way in comparative constructions. I also appreciate the what-looks-to-be resumptive subject pronominal proclitics; very speedlang 18, and a great example of a fossilised mistake, which I always love to see! The verbs also feature multiple conjugations, and the imperative is implicated for its tenselessness in certain subclause constructions, which has a certain type of quirkiness I'd expect out of some past speedlang challenges.
Kogëdek's Setonix-inspired phonology included a /ç/ in the proto-lang, which bears some resemblance to quokka calls, although it was lost to /s/ and /x/ in the modern language. The inspired lexical entries include roots for different kinds of macropods and styles of jumping, and conflates jumping with breathing. Some of the idioms include "pouch-baby" for pejorative "mama's-boy" and using kangaroo badassery as a metaphor for all sorts of less than ideal situations.
Brownie points for a particularly insidious word-form for 'father'.
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Yatakang by Lichen

Bubalus (water buffaloes); Hindi-Urdu, Thai, Vietnamese, Khmer, Burmese, Malay
This one's a little rough around the edges, but it's a good foundation for a nice mix of both SEA features, like the isolating morphosyntax, and unique features, like the class agreement system. It's also got clicks limited to avoidance speech! Diachronics from a proto-lang where considered, and I really like how the typologies of the inspo langs were used as targets for the sound changes. I'll have to keep this workflow in mind! Some of the sound changes include expanding the number of stop contrasts to match the average number of contrasts, or eroding the number of vowels to match that of Malay. Phonotactics were carefully considered with full structures for both mono- and disyllables as well as bare roots vs. compound stems. Grammatically, morphology is mostly limited to a host of different reduplication patterns, which in itself is something I'd really like to see more of! Where this really shines, though, is with its agreement system: nouns are sorted into a 3x2 matrix of 6 classes, portmanteau agreement particles mark for the class of both the subject and the object, the system implicates the social hierarchies common to many SEA languages, and the position of the particle marks modality. Incredibly inspired to pack all that into a set of maybe 36 particles, if you ask me, never mind how it helps to disambiguate fluid word class and how it might be implicated in future plans for Indonesian object-oriented verbs. I'm also a fan of how the temporal question verb patterns like an agreement particle to mark for tense by co-opting the modality marking. We also get some prosody-syntax interfacing with different pitch contours at clause boundaries operating as different sorts of conjunctions.
Yatakang's Bubalus-inspired phonology includes a combination of creaky voice and syllabic nasals to affect a mooing phonaesthetic. The lexical entries exhibit some nice semantic drift from water buffalo activities and behaviours towards more human behaviours, and the planned phrase of hat-hand stroke fur for "suddenly realise a problem, and then pretend there isn't one" just feels exactly like an observation a water buffalo would make observing its human, which I really like. The inspired metaphors are also simple and straightforward, likening roundedness to goodness or knowledge to food, which makes for some brilliantly idiomatic language like "I ate the book" to mean "I read and understood the contents of the book."
Extra brownie points for including both halves of the space epic easter egg to placate both sides of nerddom; the term 'tax-man' is everything it ought to be.
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Kurikiri by Jjommoma

Casuariiformes (cassowaries and emus); Dhuwal, Motu, Tok Pisin
Compared to most other entries, this one's very short and sweet with some Australian sounds and some head-final Papuan grammar (however loose a description that is). That being said, Kurikiri is very inventive in being partially signed with much of its grammatical marking encoded by actions done with the foot, including number, case, definiteness, and some basic TAM.
Aside from the cassowary foot action grammar markers, as well as some lexical entries there-related, Kurikiri also equates flightedness to being ostentatious, disdaining flighted birds out of envy, which I think is a fun thought process for these terrestrially confined birds. There's also some neat phonosemantics in the taboo word for predator being especially difficult to pronounce.
This wasn't the intent, but I'm giving some space epic brownie points for the foot grammar if for nothing else than that it reminds me of Paul Frommer's Thark from John Carter and its telepathic grammatical and verbal lexical expression.
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Whaynisiday by u/Fimii

Spheniscidae (penguins); Māori, Xhosa, Quechua
What do you do when the entire population of penguins achieves human-like levels of intelligence after some gene splicing and they start calling for a language to call their own? Why, you do exactly what the prompt of this challenge asks for and combine the languages native to the homeland of the blue, african, and humboldt penguins! The write up for this conlang does a great job of pointing out what features are from which language exactly, and plays a fun balancing game between some of the phonological and grammatical extremes in its sourcelangs. In so doing it has a few quirks that really tickle the intersection of my linguist and conlanger venn diagram, specifically the presence of what I'd have to interpret as onset morae, as well as semantic noun class marked solely through agreement (which is very Varamm, so I'm not at all biased towards it). There's a handful of fun, rare cases, and the simulative mood fits right into the inspirations for the last challenge to create some vaguely Tupian simultaneous actions. There's a bunch more little grammatical bits that are fun, but impressionistically I appreciate how the more isolating grammar of Māori was incorporated into the synthetic common ground of the other 2 sourcelangs.
Whaynisiday's Spheniscidae-inspired phonology includes a couple syringeal sounds to complement the otherwise human capable inventory. The highlighted lexical entries pay special attention to how penguins locomote with basic stems for different kinds of movement options both on land and in the water, as well as a split in breathing for whether its on land at rest or in the water being active. The conceptual metaphors include a great model of time with the past on land and the future in the inky depths, and the very adorable notion that safety = community, and so naturally a farewell would be a wish of friendship.
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Poro by The Inky Baroness

Rangifer tarandus subsp. (domestic reindeers); Proto-Samic, Komi-Zyrian, Tundra Nenets, Chukchi
Where do I even begin with this one? I was excited to read this one when I first received it, but it was even better than I could have hoped when I got round to reading it! Although, not for any linguistic reasons: the first half of the doc reminds me of Gillian Teft's Anthro-Vision as an anthropological account of reindeers written by a fictitious Finnish researcher rather than any sort of sketched reference grammar, which I love dearly. The latter half, meanwhile, goes into great detail about what went into the first half, including all sorts of motivations or reasons for the decisions made. Some diachrony is detailed, as well as the effects of language contact rooted in actual historical events relevant to the chosen sourcelangs, which is just great to see. I loved the ways in which each of the different sourcelangs were all represented in the final product with it being Samic in origin but including some phonological and grammatical borrowings from Komi and Nenets like the lack of consonant gradation, the verb-final syntax, some vowel changes, and a fantastic predestinative affix that interacts with the conceptualisation of time in some neat ways. All the while, care was taken to do a wealth of research at every step in the process with a fairly extensive bibliography. Hoof clicks all around for this one!
Poro's Rangifer-inspired phonology includes a deer bellow as some sort of epiglottal obstruent that actually patterns with the Nenets glottal stop, as well as some other approximated reindeer vocalisations including what I presume to be grunts or chuffs, both oral and nasal. Care was also taken to think about what a fully reindeerised descendant of Proto-Samic would look like as accords with the included etiological myth for reindeers and reindeer husbandry, but this was well beyond the scope of a speedlang. The lexical entries include all sorts of terms for reindeer physiology, including but not limited to antler velvet, different types of vocalisations, and hoof clicks. These lexical entries feature in some wonderful idioms using antlers to describe social hierarchy, useful- or uselessness, and glibness or malicious intent, as well as an equivalent to "when pigs fly": "to catch a bird between one's hooves."
Extra brownie points both for the nominal hierarchical exaltation of mothers baked into reindeer culture and inclusion of an anti-imperialist message in promoting the research of the under-represented and often stigmatised language and culture of traditionally reindeer herding peoples. Also do keep an eye out for Dr. Dolittle easter eggs: Inky will reward you handsomely if you can spot one!
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Kiwi by NerpNerp

Apteryx & Novaeratitae more broadly (kiwis + cassowaries & emus); English, Māori, Traditional Tiwi, Miriwoong, Bardi
Given the number of bird entries with Indo-Pacific flavours, I'm almost half surprised this was the only kiwi entry: they're such good birbs! As might be expected, this conlang endeared itself to me just as its namesake does. The phonology has all sorts of trills and rhotics, and limits itself to high vowels; it's also got some neat phrase level prosody to mark different sorts of modal information and focus, even including an intrusive glottal stop at the sentence level. Noun incorporation is varied and detailed, and can create some polysynthetic constructions as a consequence of just how exactly the rest of the otherwise fairly analytic morphosyntax works. I'm a particular fan of the deictic categories including 7 different degrees of deixis characterising both distance and motion, and I'm also a fan of of the grammaticalised time of day. Heximal numbers and coverb constructions also feature. There's even a kiwi-capable featural alphabet that each of the examples show off!
Kiwi's Apteryx-inspired phonology includes the trills and high vowels being inspired by kiwi calls and I imagine a little of their anatomy with those long, thin bills. The inspired lexemes include specific types of smells humans can't detect at the expense of any colour terms, reflecting kiwis nocturnal, smell-based lifestyles. The idioms for "a long time ago" or "once upon a time" is absolutely delightful--"when kiwis flew"--and the grammaticalised time of day subdivides the night but not the day, as might be expected from a nocturnal beastie.
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Asamiin by Christian Evans

Asamina (pawpaws); Ottawa, Unami, Tuscarora, Mikasuki, Chitimacha, Timucua
The speech that nourishes! And a splant, too, no less; I was hoping for at least one of these! This one's made all the better by delving into some Eastern North American languages and I really like the flavours this lends itself to. Syncope is abound with all sorts of morphological obfuscation through detailed phonological processes, and animacy plays a key role in the verb complex. Care was also taken to find a phonological common ground between all the sourcelangs, which made for a really interesting set of vowels with a basic 6 vowel inventory, but with 2 nasal vowels that can surface as vocalic allophones to the nasal consonants. The grammar is fairly straightforward but has a few quirks that I really appreciate, including but not limited to the fluid O placement to make for some syntactic focusing strategies I so adore and the optional, enclitic case marking narrowed by various postpositions used as another, separate means of focus. Overall just really well laid out and the formatting is really cute, something I've now come to expect after Yumpịku last time.
Asamiin's Asamina-inspired phonology includes a pharyngeal approximant to recall the really long taproot pawpaws grow, as well as regressive sibilant harmony to recall the mimicry the flowers employ to attract pollinators, both of which are some really inspired departures from the sourcelangs.
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Ekaangäq by Atyx

Haliaeetus pelagicus (Steller's sea eagle); Chukchi, Alyutor, Koryak, Itelmen, Ainu, Nivkh, Evenki, Uilta
A bird that escapes any Indo-Pacific flavours? Well I'll be! Instead of South Pacific this one gives all sorts of North Pacific energy being spoken by a population of eaglefolk native to the Sea of Okhotsk and representative of the languages spoken along its coasts. The Ainu flavours are especially strong with both an Ainu-based consonant inventory and a kana orthography, among others. The vowels also show some interesting lopsidedness with 2 creaky vowels complementing an otherwise fairly straightforward 6 vowel system that feature in a front-back vowel harmony system, though I'm a real fan of the sandhi rules at word boundaries that cause all sorts of fun consonant alternations. Word stress is also detailed and has funky placement rules at odds with my understanding of theoretical prosodic processes! Grammatically there's a few quirks that really stand out to me and tickle my curiosity: a dual distinction on the nouns but not in the pronouns, and polypersonal agreement in a transitive alignment system, the only departure from direct, accusative, and/or ergative alignment in this round of submissions. I also appreciate some of the syncretism in the pronouns!
Ekkangäq's Haliaeetus-inspired phonology includes entirely unrounded vowels and a lack of any labial consonants to reflect the speakers have beaks, as well as the 2 creaky vowels as rooted in their physiology, a common theme for this challenge. The lexicon includes some distinctions between diving and eating as it applies to different kinds of prey. The conceptual metaphor, though, I think is really great equating the passage of time with ice: an iceberg calving off a glacier is birth, melting is ageing, and melting all away is dying. Great stuff!
I think I actually have to give negative brownie points for this one: as much as I appreciate 3 separate orthographies (Kana, Cyrillic, Latin) for some historicity, they are all at odds with the anti-imperialism the brownie criterion requires, and there's no girl power to balance it out.
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Taqồpaq by accruenewblue

Gallus (jungefowl); Hindi-Urdu, Burmese, Thai, Punjabi, Tamil, Indonesian
I'm a little surprised this is, I think, the only truly tonal submission despite all the SEA birds, and it's less synthetic than most in this round of submissions. In either case, this one does a great job of illustrating some tonogenesis and some recent and still very transparent synthetic developments from a formerly isolating language. The tones are simple registers, but they interact with morae in some neat rightwards reassigning sandhi patterns, and they complement a system of 12 vowels in a 3x2x2 matrix of height, frontedness, and roundedness. There's even some vocalic nasal allophones (which is twice now in this round of submissions), and labial consonant-vowel harmony to boot! Grammatically I greatly appreciate all the call-outs for similarities to natural languages, and I wanna shout-out the use of a positive tag question instead of negative. The numbers have this funky sexagesimal base with an octal sub-base and remnants of an old decimal sub-base, which recalls some of the duodecimal remnants in the otherwise decimal system of many European languages.
Taqồpaq's Gallus-inspired phonology includes the tonal system being described as recalling a rooster's crow. The lexicon includes roots for all things chicken, including using the word for 'wattle' as a classifier for hanging things, which is so delightfully what I wanted out of this challenge. The more idiomatic language makes use of chicken behaviours as descriptors: dust baths are metaphors for something useful but not everyone's cup of tea, and continuing to brood after the chicks have hatched is a metaphor for doing a good thing so long it has negative consequences.
Extra brownie points for exalting queen Trưng, first queen of Vietnam, and a nationalist hero who fought against Chinese imperialism. Double whammy right there!
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Ngālin by u/borago_officinalis

Aptenodytes forsteri (emperor penguins); Awabakal, Māori, Norwegian
We already had a penguin splang but this one's a nice twist by focusing on the territorial claims of Antarctica rather than the ranges of more temperate inclined penguins where there are actually native languages. This does a great job of shirking the indigenous implication in the language selection step of the challenge (although I'm very glad to see no English or Spanish), so there's a really neat mix of isolating Māori particles with a fusional Germanic verbal system, and I was able to easily pick up on both reading through the doc. The verb system actually pleases me greatly with a strong/weak contrast and a V2 word order wherein the strong verbs mark tense through stem change and the weak verbs with a tense auxiliary, all whilst maintaining a very Polynesian aesthetic despite the very Germanic number of vowels. The Māori possessive system is also really fun, I think. I can't speak to the Awabakal influences, but I was able to pick up on the one, tiny Mapudungan influence of tone tag particles before it was even explicitly mentioned! Not sure where the negation system came from, but it implicates the weak verbs in a way I so adore. Really sweet, despite the fun grim facts about emperor penguin hatchlings, and I found this one just darling. The myth at the end about how penguins lost their ability to fly is also real treat and is a perfect fit for the project.
Ngālin doesn't have any A. forsteri-inspired phonology, but it makes up for it with the inspired lexicon and idiomatic language. The emperor penguin breeding cycle is detailed with translations for all the important terms along the way, including but not limited to the ritual of transferring egg from mother to father and "motherless" to refer to a newborn, whose mother hasn't yet returned from the sea. There's some great, everyday idioms elided down from full phrases for greeting and consoling another penguin being "which way?" and "next year", and conceptualising a long distance as specifically the distance from colony to see is a nice touch. I also appreciate how the relationship between creche-mates is more important than that between (half-)siblings.
I have to give queen exaltation brownie points purely for the one illustrative example of āmā o pipa "hatchling's mum" grammatically indicating the senior authority of an empress penguin.
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Honourable Mention

I've been kept somewhat apprised of a Urile (North Pacific cormorants) splang by u/PastTheStarryVoids. It's still very much in the works, but it sounds funky with both some polysynthetic flavours, no doubt inspired by some PNW languages, I imagine, and some formorant (cormorant formant) analysis! Keep an eye out for it, I'm sure it'll grace the sub in due time!
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And that's everything I've seen in the time I put together this showcase. I know there were a few among you all who felt inspired but couldn't put anything together during the course of this challenge. I remember mention of a banana and a tree kangaroo splang on the announcement post. If anyone ever uses the challenge to inspire a future project of theirs, please keep me apprised! I'd be interested in seeing them if for nothing else than to see some more projects outside of South Asian and Oceanian birds, as great as those birbs are. I can't believe I didn't see a single monotreme or non-ungulate eutherian, and that there weren't any non-avian reptiles or anything fully aquatic! And no fossil clades, too, for that matter! I'm positive there are the makings of some really funky splangs if the relevant modern continental and climactic boundaries didn't yet exist.
In any case, I hope all parties involved had a great deal of fun through the course of this challenge! I know I did! Until next marrow, bonelickers!

I really need help because this has bothered me a lot and I had to go through a painful heartbreak. Specially if there's any girls, please give me your honest opinion about this, because a female perspective would be great but a male one would be good too.
I was at a first date with a girl and it was amazing and it exceeded all of our expectations and we had a wonderful time and the date went on for 7 straight hours. We walked, laughed, had deep conversations, I played her the piano, it was romantic, the connection was off the charts, a 10/10 date if you ask me. About 5 hours into the date a friend of mine called me if I wanted to grab something to eat afterwards. I said yes sure we'll go later. It was a very short phone call and I made that plan in front of the girl. And I was honest to her about it, I told her I'm gonna go grab something to eat later before I go home. It didn't seem like she minded at all and it didn't feel like I was doing something wrong, and I usually get that feeling and have a guilty conscience and feel bad even about the smallest things, but not this one, at least until recently when I really reflected on it. Have in mind that when I made that quick plan it was getting late and she didn't yet offer me to stay the night so I figured I need to go home soon so I thought I should eat something on the way home, but I didn't tell her all that exactly, I just told her I'm gonna go grab something to eat later. Soon afterwards she did ask me if I wanted to stay the night but I didn't say yes or no, I was just visibly thinking so hard about it that I couldn't even give a concrete answer, and tbh we were making out so I couldn't really speak too much anyway. Very soon afterwards my mom called me and asked me to go home because no one was supposed to be home and we never leave an empty house (because of our dog and the house key). She asked me again if I wanted to stay and I again was thinking hard but I told her my mom called me and I have to go home because no one was supposed to be home, so I finally decided I have to go, it was the right and responsible thing to do. She offered to drive me home and I wouldn't let her. Specially because I was already 6/7 minutes late for the date 7 hours before that (I had a valid excuse because there was no bus and that's what I told her but the real reason was that she said in the last minute if we can go half an hour earlier and I didn't want to say no because I thought I could make it in time but I was wrong, anyway she didn't mind it and I apologised both beforehand and afterwards at least 3 times) and when it was time to pay for food that we ordered she wouldn't let me, I tried to talk her into letting me pay for about 15 whole minutes but she just wouldn't back down, and I'm usually very very stubborn and I didn't want to be that stubborn on the first date, and I didn't want to argue about it so I suggested we play rock paper scissors and the winner pays, and I lost. So I was against her driving me home specially because she did too much already and it was awkward for me but she got in her car and started the engine so I got in you know, what was I supposed to do? When she drove me off I told her thank you but I told her that she really did too much. And even though I had to go because of my mom and she knew that, I still went on to grab a bite with my two friends because I live in a town outside of the city where she lived so it was on the way, like a 5 minute walk from my house, and I was there for 30-40 minutes before I got home. I asked her to text me when she gets back home so I know everything's okay because she barely knew the way back and had to use google maps, and it turns out I got home only about 25 minutes after her even though I didn't get to tell her that. The very next morning she sent me a text in which she broke things off and said that she had a wonderful time and that I'm so sweet and that I didn't do anything wrong but she wasn't ready for anything serious and things were getting really serious and fast and she gets attached quickly so she has to break it off. I understood at the time and believed her so I decided to do my own thing and maybe reach out to her later if she's ready. Eventually I did and she turned me down and said that it "just wasn't it" for her.
My question is, do you think I did anything wrong, like planning that quick catch up with my friend in front of her? Is it wrong to do that? Because I didn’t really check with her. Would it be valid if she ended things because of that because she maybe felt left behind or whatever reason? I honestly don't think it's that bad to go out for a really shortwhile with my friends after such a long date, specially because she didn’t yet offer for me to stay and it was getting late. Or could it be something else that I mentioned that I did wrong? Should I have still payed for example? Could it be a combination of things? I also didn’t always reply too fast to her messages, sometimes it took me some time but I always tried to reply as soon as I saw it. I know she said I didn't do anything wrong but it turns out she wasn't really honest about other things so I'm not sure. And it would be easier for me if I knew I didn't fumble things.

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I love DnD so much. It has, quite literally, saved my life before. But time and time again I want to support WotC and get completely fucked over because of it. I've been making excuses in my head that no book can be perfect, but I can't anymore. Over the years we have had to deal with poor quality control, lies about AI art, the complete disregard for the game designers on their team, and the harassment of smaller design teams that wanted to celebrate 5e by using it's skeleton in their own games. Vecna: Eve of Ruin, however, is just an insult to the players.
This adventure is marketed as celebrating 50 years of DnD, but then completely disregards any of the old lore that the people running the adventure love. Multiple books in 5e mentioning the obelisks, but they aren't even mentioned in VEoR. The spellweavers have been a mystery dating back to 2nd edition and we finally got an update on them in PaBSH, only for them to be completely ignored now. The Netherese, creators of the modern obelisks in 5e, completely ignored. The obelisks even have an established method of fixing a universe ending threat by going back in time, how is that not brought up even once with the threat level being so high this time?!
Then there's the maps. Some may say that the different art styles of maps are meant to be a reflection of the styles from older books, but this is not just a VEoR thing. Multiple books now are intentionally putting in lower quality black and white maps with their high quality ones. After the debacle with VTTs I cannot help but feel this is on purpose to make those experiences worse and hype up their future VTT as having the better quality official maps.
I'm done. There are so many other rpg's out there now that treat their players better. Many of them are still using the 5e system. I no longer trust WotC to make a good dnd book.

Not that anyone at this gives a single flying fuck but I did this so I’m posting it. I have included all works from the main 13 albums and singles excluding
The b Side of yellow submarine as no actual beatle plays on it
Those German covers as they really aren’t so different from the original and I didn’t see the point
Unreleased material such as ultra deluxe or whatever the fuck and the l unreleased stuff from anthology (excluding the 3 last Beatles songs)
There’s a couple of unpopular opinions here so don’t go too hard on me I love them all in my own way,
214:WILD HONEY PIE: To be clear I don’t dislike the idea of the song, but I just think it’s a huge middle finger to the album. I can’t help but laugh at it as it is a mockery of Paul McCartney by Paul McCartney. I can’t help but think it’s what John thinks his little jaudy ditties sound like. However I think it’s horrible to have to listen to I’m not angry at it, just disappointed. It really could’ve been a good parody song, as it however. I think it’s a filler interlude.
213: BOYS: The original version is leagues better, and when it comes to the Beatles that’s saying something. I can’t think of anything that justifies the existence of this song. The only redeeming aspect is it’s refreshing to hear ringo sing sometimes, he does a fine job of it.
212: A TASTE OF HONEY Trashy song too sweet and pissy for me (for a great lack of a better term) Paul sounds bad on this, the whole thing sounds trashy. Drivel
211: P.S I LOVE YOU Does nothing for me.
210: SUN KING Oh a hot take. Or is it, I won’t count the medley itself as no one else seems to but if so I respect it way more than it’s placed. It’s a bit trippy but not to an extent of intriguing me. The translation to mr mustard is great but I’m not ranking that. On its own, In My Opinion, bad
209: PLEASE PLEASE ME Has everything that I dislike about the early work, especially the harmonica, fine singing but could’ve been synced better.
208: THIS BOY Forgettable and boring to me
207: SEXY SADIE fascinating song but not particularly good or interesting in my opinion. The stories of who’s it about however are worth looking into.
206: ASK ME WHY Might it have something to do with love. As you might tell I’m not big on please please me. This one blends in with the rest of the album
205: CHAINS Not an awful song but it’s not overly good. George’s vocals haven’t gotten great yet so he still could use some work. Perfectly bland song
204: DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET I am aware this song has a relatively large fan base but this is not for me at all. Sorry
203: THE END First off the “Oh Yeah! All Right!” Are indeed iconic. Everyone’s playing their heart out. Some of Ringos best work. But I don’t know, it doesn’t punch me like I think it should. I like this, but I should love it, and I don’t.
202: GOLDEN SLUMBERS Too repetitive for me to get into. This is the only Beatles song that could’ve been shorter. That’ll be ironic as I pretty much think every Beatles song is too short except this one.
201: ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN Berry did it better
200: ANOTHER GIRL I didn’t think anything of it at all to be honest.
199: TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE Fine, not that good, but fine
198: YOU KNOW MY NAME (LOOK UP THE NUMBER) They’re taking the absolute piss. I’m glad this exists but I don’t want to listen to it.
197: BIRTHDAY It’s a birthday song, you know, typical white album. Fine.
196: FLYING This is such a fucking vibe, not much after you’ve heard it the once but still, not bad at all for a mostly instrumental song
195: WHEN I GET HOME It wasn’t that bad, and it wasn’t that good
194: I WANNA BE YOUR MAN Eh
193: THINGS WE SAID TODAY Better but we’re not THE BEATLES yet
192: IM HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU Somewhat memorable, kinda boring, not shit
191: ITS ONLY LOVE I’ve heard worse
190: I CALL YOUR NAME Not much to say about these particular songs, they aren’t shit but they’re not at that quality of good, these are the awkward songs.
189: REVOLUTION 1 I originally heard it on the white album and thought “wow that was really mid” the I heard the original single and I thought “wow they really fucked that song” still noice lyrics
188: JULIA Calm ass song. A lot of people love this song to bits but I just don’t relate to it that much, with age I expect to like this song more
187: ALL TOGETHER NOW I guess it’s fine
186: DON’T BOTHER ME It’s just meh
185: HOLD ME TIGHT Still meh
184: DIG IT I like this but it’s so short and non sensical I can’t put it any higher
183: I SAW HER STANDING THERE I like this, but it’s still a bit too sappy
182: BLUE JAY WAY This is a weird ass song. Very George. It has those uppy downy lyrics, there’s a lot to like here but also a fair few things that I don’t like, like the lyrics could have been more defined and worked on, and it could use some more power in the vocals
181: I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER Karmas a bitch
180: THE NIGHT BEFORE This one has better production but the same blandness that culminates in old Beatles music
179: WAIT There’s going to be enough hot takes on this list anyway so I will contain my feelings on rubber soul. Let’s just say the Beatles evolutions had a middle ground from lovey dovey 60s bops to the psychedelic rock they’re know for. That middle ground is rubber soul, not a bad album, but like the stage from a child to an adult, kinda messed up. This album has some re great moments. But it also has wait, which isn’t bad, but it’s not everything you would want from this particular album.
178: CRY BABY CRY It’s good, idk what else to say not Beatles good but I wouldn’t skip it
177: LOVE ME DO This song just makes you feel happy, nothing else
176: KANSAS CITY/HEY-HEY-HEY-HEY It was ok but I can tell this track wasn’t over fixated on
175: I NEED YOU You can tell it’s an older Beatles
174: DIZZY MISS LIZZY I know there’s a recent dislike for this one but it never fails to make me smile. It’s so fucking chaotic I love it, it does have its production flaws but John is singing his heart out. This is what I want from a Beatles cover track
173: IVE JUST SEEN A FACE Charming enough song
172: TICKET TO RIDE A classic I’m sure. Really has a nice groove and what it lacks in lyrics makes up for in sound.
171: ONLY A NORTHERN SONG I agree with the rest of the group that if this was on Sargent peppers it would be the worst track. However that’s not to take away from it. It’s a charming piece, it has all the elements of Harrison but overall it is only a northern song
170: SOMETHING Damn here’s the first one I might not survive. People who were on the fence before will probably switch to the ‘eh, fuck this guy’ field. I don’t dislike the song, it’s a good song, it’s a great love song but it’s a very expected feet. Every line while sung with excellence is very conventional, it’s tropey. Perhaps it’s too far to call it cheesey. And don’t get me wrong I love the simple cheesey songs a lot (just wait till you see where I put silver hammer). But this one just doesn’t strike a nerve for me. I did think the same thing about strawberry fields forever for a while before listening to it more so maybe it’ll crawl up the ranks someday but overall I think it’s a nice love song that has some great production but after that it’s overshadowed by the rest of the album.
169: ALL MY LOVING Yeah, it’s a classic, who couldn’t like it
168: MOTHER NATURES SON This one has a huge fanbase as well. It’s a good song, great use of imagery and metaphors. Doesn’t do much after that in terms of production and the way it’s sang, just a nice song to chill to in my opinion.
167: ALL I’VE GOT TO DO Again, short, sweet song
166: YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY Yeah this one’s interesting. It goes through a fair amount of genres for one song. On one hand its structure is something of a mess, however it still is a good listen, it’s cute in the best sense. The fact that it’s about Allen Kline is also funny if not a little saddening
165: IT WONT BE LONG Wasn’t long, still nice
164: ANY TIME AT ALL Just another comfrey Beatles song
163: YOU’VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY Although I think this song is a little overrated not bad
162: DEAR PRUDENCE I know I like this song a lot less than others do. It takes a while to get going but when it hits that euphoric moment you know I’m talking about it’s bliss, but the first half kinda dull
161: BECAUSE A little oddity on the Abby road medley that’s just, I don’t know, conflicting. If it where longer maybe I could decide if I liked it or not but for now it stays here
160: THANK YOU GIRL Sweet little song that gives you a warm feeling
159: LONG LONG LONG At this point in the white album that’s what I was thinking. It’s not bad but it could’ve been longer (no pun intended) and released as a single with the right editing. George Martin could make it work I’m sure
158: I WILL Here’s how I feel. I always like it when I hear it, but forget what it sounds like 2 seconds after.
157: IF I FELL Cheesy but still pretty catchy
156: AND I LOVE HER This is nice also
155: LITTLE CHILD Though the lyrics in 2024 sound a little ‘noncey’ that’s part of the reason why it sticks out to me. It always gives me a chuckle. Little child… the way he says “I’m so sad and LoNeLy” is so cartoony and I like it.
154: ILL GET YOU Yeah, good, fine, acceptable
153: BACK IN THE U.S.S.R This is why the Beatles beat the beach boys for me this. Classic song that probably had America tugging at there collars, just genius
152: ITS ALL TOO MUCH Again this isn’t bad, am I blown away, not necessarily. But this is a bop
151: THERES A PLACE I like this quite nice I think
150: A HARD DAYS NIGHT A lot of people love it, I just think it’s fine, good song I guess
149: ILL CRY INSTEAD These are the songs that are well produced but lyrically forgettable. This is one of ‘em
148: EVERY LITTLE THING I really like Beatles for sale, it’s so fun, it’s a fun album. Every little thing isn’t badly written but I listen for the music. George is good on this, ringos subtly great. Just wholesome
147: EVERYBODY’S TRYING TO BE MY BABY A song of its time, and quite and tie tapper if you ask me
146: WORDS OF LOVE A pleasant song for any day
145: DAY TRIPPER Nice melody, ok lyrics, good enough song
144:BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR KITE When I first heard this song I didn’t listen to the lyrics, the ones I did catch lead me to believe that it was some sort of political song with mr k being some sort of satirical caricature. Upon second listen I realised it’s just a song about a circus performer putting on a show, I can interpret some lyrics as a reference to some political nature but I think it really boils down to a circus song. It’s giving me a sense of stereotypical Halloween music you’d hear with the way the rhythm goes up and down frequently in the same line. Just a fun little jingle. Also I believe if Paul had wrote it John would have hated it, many probably do hate it. What does everyone have against whimsy?
143: CANT BYE ME LOVE Cliché yes, catchy yes, enjoyable yes
142: THINK FOR YOURSELF Fine little song with not much to write about
141: FREE AS A BIRD I am quite conflicted on the 3 last Beatles songs. They are mostly John Lennon demos rather than Beatles mixes. I was of two minds including them but I thought I may as well because they are interesting to talk about. I don’t think these are as cash cow despicable as some would argue. A lot work has clearly been done to preserve them and restore them. It’s hard to look at this song on its own basis. On its own it’s pleasant, but overall I do not really know why they bothered to release it as a Beatles track, it feels very unbeatles to me but as I say I don’t dislike it, I’m just not sure on where I stand on its purpose
140: REAL LOVE I have the exact same opinion on this one I just like the song better
139: MAGGIE MAY I just think love the accents alright. How long is it 50 seconds? For the life of me I’ll never get why they didn’t make their songs longer. I fancy me chances with this one
138: DEVIL IN HER HEART Solid cover of a very good song
137: PIGGIES This one’s kinda weird. We all get the piggies are elite pricks but the way George pronounces dirt just sells me on it. Good effort, could’ve been longer.
136: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK I like it, don’t love it, it’s what you expect but it does deliver in that regard
135: HELP! Iconic, reasonably catchy, just wholesome man
134:IF I NEEDED SOMEONE Rubber soul being kind of quirky comes through softly but noticeably here
133: MEAN MR MUSTARD This song just flows man. I love the lyrics, like the instruments and how they bounce off each other. Just the right amount of absurdity. If only it were longer…
132: HELLO GOODBYE Classic, I do like this one, but you know I always forget how much until I listen to it again
131: LONG TALL SALLY A lot of people hate this one but I think it’s fine
130: TWIST AND SHOUT COMEONCOMEONCOMEONCOMEONCOMEOWWN
129: ILL BE BACK Yeah, not bad, not bad at all, rather good actually
128: TELL ME WHY Classes Beatles getting it right
127: TILL THERE WAS YOU You know, maybe with the Beatles gets too much hate
126: OLD BROWN SHOE Not one of George’s best and the mixing is jarring but the lyrics are very nice
125: FROM ME TO YOU Just a sweet song, nothing wrong with that
124: SHES A WOMAN Not much to unpack, Paul is good in this though
123: MICHELLE Everyone loves Michelle. It’s a dainty song that isn’t that great, but good, it’s just so quaint
122:THE WORD The n word. No love of course. Maximum corniness but still a treat to hear, Lennon sings it believably
121: WHAT GOES ON How eloquent, idfk
120: BAD BOY Now junior, behave yourself! I just needed to hear Lennon say that and I was hooked. Weird to release a cover as a single but I won’t complain
119 : FIXING A HOLE Fun psychedelia, bring the family
118: MATCHBOX Just a song on the struggles of life, Beatles style
117: ONE AFTER 909 Chaotic song that gets the blood flowing. Also regrettably relatable
116: GETTING BETTER The charm is in the McCartney Lennon dynamic. Paul says it’s getting better everyday. John says it can’t get much worse. Doesn’t that sum up those two quiet well. Just so vibrant. This era had so much colour.
115: FOR YOU BLUE Solid song, ain’t bad at all
114: ACT NATURALLY I like this song a lot. Ringo fits well for it, it’s playful, just so pleasing
113: I DONT WANT TO SPOIL THE PARTY Another underrated song from Beatles for sale.
112: BABY ITS YOU This is fun
111: MONEY (THATS WHAT I WANT) Good cover, maybe not as good as the original but you can just feel the mayhem going on through the speakers
110: YOU WONT SEE ME Mmhm, mmhm, yup, that’s some nice music
109: YOU LIKE ME TOO MUCH A playful, goofy ass song that has some great lines and a pretty fine beat
108: YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW Heartwarming, just, heartwarming
107: YOU CANT DO THAT Not perfect but undeniably based
106: NOT A SECOND TIME A great story mixed with some simply beautiful descriptions making up a song that hits different form other songs of the similar nature
105: SLOW DOWN It’s the bluddy beetles mate, whatja expect
104: YOU’RE GOING TO LOOSE THAT GIRL The character in this story is such a dick but I just can’t help vibing with him. He’s such a cnt that he says he gonna steal the guys girl right to the guys face. That’s hilarious and I really like it
103: GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING Gets too much hate for what it is
102: RAIN I don’t know what it is about rain that grabs me but every time I listen I just get drawn in, it’s very clean
101: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR ROLLUP ROLLUP. God I think this is so vibrant, so colourful, just really cool, great harmony, overshadowed by the rest of the album
100: MISERY Misery stuck with me, unexpectedly based for a first album
99: YES IT IS Yeah yeah yeah this one’s pretty good yeah
98: CARRY THAT WEIGHT I just sing this all the time randomly. It’s to the point, honest, fun. I don’t know what accents they’re singing in this time but it’s great. Not much of a lullaby though.
97: WHY DONT WE DO IT IN THE ROAD This one just makes me happy. I know it’s kind of filler but the way Paul increasingly hypes things up in his vocals make me smile. Big fan of this, thing
96:HONEY DONT I liked this a lot the first time I heard it and frankly I still do
95: IN MY LIFE When rubber soul gets it right it can end up like this song. And that’s a good thing
94: NOWHERE MAN Lyrically enchanting, some hot instrumentation. Production ok and a more memorable song from rubber soul
93: I FEEL FINE Yup this is fine
92: YESTERDAY A song you think is overplayed until you listen and it’s just so good. A real highlight from the early years, my favourite from help, a somber melody that is sang flawlessly by Paul
91: LOVELY RITA A song of a somewhat unlikely love that is different enough from the Beatles other love songs to stand out
90: WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS Why is it so low I hear you scream. Well to be honest FOR ME the verses while lyrically interesting don’t stand out in my mind. Obviously the chorus is incredible but it’s just as the rest of the verses which mind you are still good that bring it down for me. A song not really my thing till the chorus hits but still the fact that it’s there makes it worth the listen
89: HER MAJESTY Yes, I prefer this over while my guitar gently weeps. Moving on, I think this is a fun, tongue in cheek song that I always thought implied he was talking about money. Think about it, her majesty is on all the bank notes, she certainly doesn’t have a lot to say in that case, price changes from day to day. Paul loves it but to get it he has to get a belly full of wine to make it… think about it.
88: SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW Ah, this one. The intrigue of the contrast of the chorus and the verses. One of my favourite from the medley
87: YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME With the Beatles being underrated again
86: TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS Look, I don’t dislike this song, it’s just a bit messy for me. There’s a lot going on and I like that but ultimately the trippy style is done better in other songs like day in the life. But I do like that George Martin on the piano isn’t half bad, he’s one of twelve fifth Beatles I hear
85: HERE COMES THE SUN I like George I swear. This song is really good and I like it but I just wouldn’t listen to it as much as some higher ones below. The changing of the seasons to describe a relationship isn’t new but it fit’s really well here I think.
84: IM SO TIRED Would be higher if it were longer, good, very good, too short
83: POLYTHENE PAM The fucking accents. Love the weird ass story of the gender ambiguous Pam and her drag persona as in a polythene bag. Just a fun character song
82: DOCTOR ROBERT My least favourite from revolver but still charming enough
81: WHAT YOUR DOING Just good
80: BLACKBIRD I really like this. I want to love it, but it’s so goddamn short man. Oh well what we got is still great
79: DONT PASS ME BY Weird, goofy, sung by ringo. A real gem of a song off the white album.
78: ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC A cover almost better than the original berry’s. Almost is still a hard feet to reach.
77: IM LOOKING THROUGH YOU The loss of a love has been done many times by these guys but this is one of there best
76: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS The lyrics are kinda mid in my opinion but hearing ringo sing always has its perks
75: IVE GOT A FEELING Very good song, production a little iffy but not horrible, I think let it be is given too much shit for that
74: GOOD NIGHT They subverted my expectations with this one. What a way to end such a large album, I think this one is cute and light and just very sweet. Whispering is somewhat creepy though.
73: WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU We all know they were on a lot of serious shit during this era but goddamn the lsd vibes mixed with the Indian sitar sound is really fucking unique. And I like it, don’t love it but still
72: IM DOWN V good
71: THE INNER LIGHT V nice
70: BABYS IN BLACK This one strikes a nerve with me, a hood premise, John sings it well. A treat
69: ILL FOLLOW THE SUN Never got why people disliked this one. I had a theory that the guy in it is dead and he’s going away from his girl, you know, towards the Sun
68: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE More than inspired by Elvis but I can’t complain its a banger
67: PLEASE MR POSTMAN This is well suited for John to sing. I prefer this over the original maybe that’s controversial to say I don’t know. It’s great
66 : GLASS ONION The rocking beat is what hooks me at this one to be honest, the references are cool but a bit pointless
65: MARTHA MY DEAR Who doesn’t love dogs, just heartwarming. Just pure joy
64: IM A LOSER God this album doesn’t get enough love
63: MR MOONLIGHT I heard people disliked this one but John is really suited for this one. I do indeed prefer it to its counterpart
62: LOVE YOU TO Weird vibes, good track
61: I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND Just gets you grooving. Love it
60: DIG A PONY Nonsense song that sounds good in your ears, typical Lennon
59: DRIVE MY CAR Maybe overrated but still slaps
58: GIRL Love girl
57: SHE LOVES YOU Again one of those dancer songs that never fails to deliver
56: ANNA (GO TO HIM) Way better than the original, such a good cover, ah, bliss
55: NOW AND THEN You see is this the recency bias. I don’t think so I hope not but it feels like it is. Man I don’t know it just sounds like Lennon was going for something different and I get it. There was so much work that went into this I just don’t know. I do really like it.
54: I WANT TO TELL YOU Somewhat forgettable but when I hear it it comes rushing back to me.
53: GOOD DAY SUNSHINE Good vibes, peace and love you know
52: HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE Somewhat cliché but idk I like it
51: TWO OF US I just love this. I don’t think it’s as badly produced as some claim (the long and winding road is evidently over produced but it still goes absolutely hard)
50: TAXMAN We can all relate to this. More relevant than ever, and will continue to be in the future I’m sure
49: WHEN IM SIXTY FOUR It’s so jaunty that I feel like it would belong in a cartoon but that just makes it better for me. I love whimsy
48: IM ONLY SLEEPING This is great
47: PAPERBACK WRITER Be longer please
46: WE CAN WORK IT OUT Longer be please
45: HEY BULLDOG Kickass bass playing by Paul. Lyrics that were just fucked together by John are somehow incredible. Ringos drumming on this one is really good too. Wow, for a throwaway song it works really well
44: NORWEGIAN WOOD (THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN) You can almost smell the pot off this one. Love Norwegian wood rubber soul at its best.
43: AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING Not much to say great song
42: GOT TO GET YOH INTO MY LIFE Iconic, great again
41: ELANOR RIGBY Maybe you’ll say I put this too low but I still like it to a great extent
40: LADY MADONNA One of their best character songs
39: THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD Epic song, great lyrics, sang fantastically, so good
38: SHE SAID SHE SAID Tripping balls but goddamn amazing
37: LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS Psychedelia on full force with this one. Some of the best imagery from any song. It’s charming and fun and at times mystical but overall Johns way with words really come to the top of the log pill with this track
36: I ME MINE In hindsight a song that highlights the way George felt the world around him was and he was probably right. I like the metaphor and the waltz aspect works more than any other of the Beatles attempts at the style, it’s a fantastic piece
35: THE FOOL ON THE HILL Oh I love this song so very much. The song has the fool as some sort of wise figure many (myself included) take to be god. And I like to think if there is a god he’s like this. Watching over giving the world his wisdom but we’re just to ignorant to hear it. Also the medieval sound is one of my favourite styles (love sunforest if you’ve ever listened to any of their songs) so the flute works just so well for me especially when it mixes with the piano. Oh I just love this song to bits it’s great
34: ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE The cheesiness is undeniable, the magic is unbeatable. This song is just such a good album ender. The chaos and randomness near the climax is such an incarnation of the love message and how it works as an organised mayhem. The anthem of love and joy and passion is overflowing and I really like this song, if you can’t tell
33: NO REPLY Oh the way people overlook this song is not right. Its well written, it’s well sang, everyone’s playing well, it’s delightful
32: HONEY PIE I know people hate this song however for me it brings me back into the 20s. It is a sweet ditty that works really well for me and I love this one
31: FOR NO ONE God I love this. It feels so personal and is reflective, as unbiased as it can be and just beautifully sang with no grit. It’s honest. Paul’s on piano here witch is always great. Ringos drums work well to I think. This one’s just brilliant
30: SARGENT PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND REPRISE I love this, the best feels like fucking hip hop, it’s a nice way to lead into day in the life it’s just good no real flaws
29: SARGENT PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND Well this is just a perfect way to start an album. Set up the setting, it explains why the music in this one’s a little different as it’s not the Beatles it’s Sargent peppers and that’s a good concept from the start. You get a real idea if what the world the album takes place in is like and you get a feel for the members of the band itself. Just a class act
28: SAVOY TRUFFLE Controversial one perhaps. I just like the song. The mixing is interesting, the lyrics are fun, I think George outdid himself with it, all just to mock Eric Clapton, hilarious
27: ROCKY RACCOON I know this one’s gonna be a war. Rocky raccoon is so listenable, and fun and encapsulating.Paul is singing it in a great way. I just like it, ok, just my taste. If you hate this song and believe it should be burned than that is perfectly fine, but don’t undermine someone else’s opinion
26 : DONT LET ME DOWN Oh this one’s so powerful, grand, fitting really.
25: YELLOW SUBMARINE I have a fee that I’m not going to survive this list. Can I not like fun, that’s what this is, pure unfiltered fun. This song makes me very happy ok. Ringo singing it just gives it that relaxing feel. Yellow submarine is that kind of happy go lucky song I love
24: REVOLUTION After hearing its bastardisation this is just so refreshing. It’s about a peaceful revolution. It sure as hell doesn’t sound peaceful what with the two electric guitars blowing my speakers out. This one just sounds like a revolution should in a song, and it’s really very good because of it.
23: GET BACK Shit, shit back, shit 1. No I love this. This is such a vibe man it strikes a nerve, it sounds incredible (considering it was recorded outside) and it helps that everyone is clearly giving it there absolute all. Love get back.
22: OB-LA-DI OB-LA-DA I don’t know if this one is as controversial as it used to be but I know there are still some who fucking loath this song. I saw an article where it put this song as the worst the Beatles ever done saying that it was genuinely a horrible experience to listen to. I don’t know this song is just a tonic for a bad day, I will always feel a little bit better after listening to it and that really pulls it up the list. Don’t get the hate
21: A DAY IN THE LIFE Oh boy. This is so good damn it. The Lennon McCartney dynamic is the best it ever will be. Lennon reads the news of suicide and sees a war film while Paul dashes about in his chipper day. The rising orchestra is incredible, Ringos drumming is so different to other approaches in the genre. I can’t tell the scales of the strangeness and the depression aspect mixed with the weird ass ending it’s just an experience instead of a song.
20: OH! DARLING You can’t deny the power in this song, Paul gives it his absolute soul and it works for me, this rejection song is more of an explosion of emotions that gets you invested. Idk I like it
19: REVOLUTION 9 Well I’m dead, there’s no redeeming myself now oh well, however if you would at least hear me out on why I put number nine here then I will do my best. I love things that are different, things that go against the norm and defy expectations. And if we can all agree that revolution 9 is not what you expect when you think Beatles then we have agreed on something. This song (if you can call it a song) is doing for me something interesting. Celebrating the avant-garde while also making fun of it. It sounds impeccable. The mixing is superb, it makes full use of the stereo format. It makes me feel things, picture things, it’s a very interpretive sound that mixes together different instruments and words and phrases forwards and backwards to make something of a trip. This sounds like what a revolution sounds like, points getting muffled over time, being big and grand before shrinking into disarray. You can take what you want from the meaning but when I listen I get completely overwhelmed with feelings. It’s a collage of expression that is most certainly not for everybody but I think is a full on revolution in my head. That’s just how I feel
18: EVERYBODY’S GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE EXCEPT FOR ME AND MY MONKEY There’s some dislike for this one too but I think it’s just a complete rocker, the lyrics also make me chuckle a fair bit
17: THE BALLED OF JOHN AND YOKO I don’t think this one is that hated. I love it. It’s genuinely very funny some highlights being the what you doing in bed interaction and the two gurus in drag. John was highlighting his problems with the media in a way that doesn’t sound bitchy or like he’s talking down to the listeners. Very good song
16: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE God the imagery, similes and lyricism is so beautiful. This is a beautiful song. So elegant
15: SHES LEAVING HOME I was somewhat shocked to find this in some worst of the Beatles lists. The people writing it seeming to miss the point that it isn’t that biased. Sure it shows the hardships of the parents, how broken they are but it realises that fun can simply not manifest in some places and has to be sought out. It’s a real understandable song that is softly sung by Paul in a mystifying way.
14: I WANT YOU (SHES SO HEAVY) Fucking insane song, it’s like a ride at an amusement park it ramps up over time and brings you right to the heights that you wonder how it’s going to end. This song subverts that by giving it no ending, it just gets cut off, which is brilliant. It’s like a ride through hell. A decent into madness of desire in a way making it shockingly relevant.
13: OCTOPUSES GARDEN Kudos to ringo bro just wants to be under the ocean. Calm as fuck. Beautiful expression of the desire to get away from the hassles of life and responsibilities which I’m sure we all relate to. Also bubbles, what’s not to love.
12: HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN It’s almost perfect, but goddamn it it’s too short. I love this thing but I feel it cuts off before it’s time is up you know
11: THE CONTINUING STORY OF BUNGALOW BILL I don’t get the hate for this one (well maybe I do but still) you got a fire ass spanish guitar. A balled of verses, a sing song chorus that feels like it’s taking the piss in a good way. Even an underlying message of hypocrisy and ignorance. Now I know that yoko is very loud on the song but honestly it just ads to the bizarre feeling that the whole song gives off, I love this.
10: YER BLUES One of the most explosive blues songs I’ve ever heard, incredible
9: STRAWBERRY FEILDS FOREVER You already know it’s fantastic, but that still shouldn’t take away how fantastic it is
8: MAXWELLS SILVER HAMMER … yeah, no joke. Listen it was on of the first Beatles songs I ever heard, if not the first. It has that jaunty Paul feel but then it hits you that it’s about a murderer and it just makes me take a step back and go damn, the Beatles could make anything whimsical. It’s so sing song while being so dark. Yea it is fruity but man I don’t know. The synthesiser near the end is also just really fun to me. It’s fun it’s nostalgic and I will always love it. Sorry not sorry.
7: HELTER SKELTER I applaud you Paul McCartney, you put everything you had into this one and it paid off
6: BABY YOU’RE A RICH MAN I don’t know what it is about this one I love so much, I’m not a huge fan of sitar but it works here. I like the lyrics. There’s a lot of interpretation around them but I always took it as a similar vane of the balled of John and Yoko where it is like a dickhead reporter asking John the questions we here Paul sing in a sense of leading him on and that they’re responding in the sense that these people nagging them about having money when most who were had money themselves. Just a thought.
5: COME TOGETHER Classic, genius rhyming scheme brilliant
4: HEY JUDE 2nd Best uplifting song I’ve ever heard
3: LET IT BE Best uplifting song I’ve ever heard
2: PENNY LANE A fantastic song highlighting the serenity in modern life that often goes unrecognised. It’s penny lane, what’s not to love
1: I AM THE WALRUS It’s I am the walrus. Lyrics are dazzling. The whole mixture of instruments and sounds the distortion making it sound like a dream at points. The way it uses the stereo medium is genius. The Beatles were geniuses. One of the best things ever written.