KEY POINTS

• The therapeutic interactions between doctors and cannabis patients can be extremely gratifying.
• Having time to deeply explain and then followup with cannabis patients and caregivers creates a special bond.
• Working in the world of medical cannabis is provocative and challenging as more is learned about the plant.
• People's interactions with cannabis provoke a fascinating mix of medical and spiritual benefits.

Working with patients and their families for the past nine years as a medical cannabis practitioner has been extremely gratifying in many surprising ways.
After 30-plus years in the ER and urgent care setting, providing one-time, episodic interventions and rarely seeing the same patient again, I now have accrued a roster of hundreds of ongoing patients, many of whom I have continued to treat since I began as a registered cannabis practitioner in 2016.
The conversations we have, mostly about their positive responses to using medical cannabis but about so many other aspects of life, politics, and their illnesses, have become a very important part of my own life. These dialogues have brought me closer to the patients, their families, and their caregivers and have been instrumental in my ever-deepening understanding of and appreciation for the vast array of benefits that medical cannabis provides.
It’s been a tremendously important and enriching experience and, in addition, has rekindled my interest in biochemistry, neurotransmitters, and brain anatomy, subjects that I last explored during medical school.
Most remarkable has been the array of patients I’ve met who have taken me into their lives. Advising patients about medical cannabis has brought me into contact with a stratum of people I would otherwise probably never have access to. They have ranged from corporate CEOs, attorneys, and others wanting a medical cannabis card so they wouldn’t get arrested with illicit products to people with devastating and debilitating autoimmune diseases or those with terminal cancer.
Regardless of where along the health and socioeconomic spectrum my patients lie, there has been a consistent attitude that I became aware of early on when the law legalizing medical cannabis first went into effect.
I’m referring to an openness to trying cannabis. These patients, their families, and their caregivers haven’t been taken in by the nearly 90-year-old propaganda onslaught against the plant. Either they laughed at the “killer weed” characterizations, were open-minded enough to see or know others for whom it worked, or, especially in the many elderly patients I see, they’d already tried everything else before they came to me. They clearly had not gotten relief for an array of symptoms caused by their underlying diseases and were willing to give medical cannabis a shot.
As they have seen its benefits, this has formed a unique bond between many of us, an understanding and camaraderie in that we are partaking in something still considered forbidden and illegal in many corners of the globe. Yet we know that despite that condemnation, we have access to something that, as so many of them say, is “life-changing.”
I had realized early on in the ER and Urgent Care setting the need for abbreviated interactions. The conversations and observations that transpired in those settings helped my interventions there to provide the best immediate therapeutic relief. Even though they were often brief (of necessity), these experiences also led to many of the stories I wrote and were published. Now, in this late-in-life career choice, the longer conversations that I can pursue provide me incredible insights into the workings of the cannabis plant and provoke me to try to understand what I’m being told by patients or their caregivers about their observations on what taking cannabis is like.
I seem to learn the most from my “cannabis naive” patients, those who have never used the plant. They will describe the process of finding that “sweet spot,” discovering the therapeutic regimen that gives them the relief they seek, bringing them back to where they’d been before their illness struck. And, whether this happens in a day or a week or longer, the story is similar to hearing someone describe an epiphany.
I can no longer count the times I’ve been told: “I now go through the day without pain and have to remind myself that it’s from the cannabis tincture I take every morning.”
I’m reminded of a patient who’d come to me for treatment of severe chronic back pain. When I asked, with concern, how the high THC product he took every morning for that pain affected him at work, he recounted how, as a computer programmer, he was tasked with coming up with solutions to various program challenges. He told me that using cannabis allowed him to find answers he would not have seen otherwise.
Or the successful businessman with Crohn’s disease who, before using cannabis at work, would be debilitated by his flares. Now, four or five years into his involvement in the program, when he senses a flare coming on, he uses a very well-controlled dose of his high-THC cannabis, and shortly thereafter, he dives right back into caring for his customers, pain-free and focused.
I also have a patient with USHER 3 syndrome, a degenerative disease ultimately causing deafness and blindness. She has compared her taking cannabis to being in a dark room and having the lights go on.
Several patients with severe pain syndromes, overweight and out of shape (and scheduled to have surgery for resolution of their symptoms), have found that as cannabis increasingly resolved their pain, they became more active, lost weight, had even less pain, and ultimately (for several, now six or seven years into using cannabis) have been able to avoid going under the knife.
I have another patient, a writer with severe anxiety and some cognitive issues, whom I saw recently in follow-up, a year into treatment with cannabis. She is much more focused, conversant, and happy, interacting with family and caregivers in a much more positive way, and no longer abusing alcohol.
Another, a teacher with Autism Spectrum Disorder, told me he has been able to escape the destructive route older generations in his family had chosen, using alcohol to try and treat their symptoms. Instead, he has adopted a cannabis regimen to effectively control his ASD.
I also must mention the great help my colleagues and I are seeing that cannabis can provide for many of the symptoms of dementia.
It is my hope that those of us practitioners in the world of medical cannabis can continue to educate the public and break down the stigma surrounding cannabis. Hopefully, as well, governments will move forward in rescheduling (or de-scheduling) cannabis so that more patients can benefit from its therapeutic potential.
This brings me back to my last patient and the question about THC and wisdom:
I recently saw a middle-aged man, a Hasidic Jew, with inflammatory bowel disease. He found that medical cannabis could be very helpful in controlling his IBD flares. In addition, when we were on a follow-up call a few months after he began taking medical cannabis, he asked me something.
“Dr. Weinberg,” he asked, “does THC give you wisdom?”
I was intrigued by the question and asked back, “Why, what do you mean?”
“Well,” he said, “I’ve been reading Talmud all my life, and there have always been passages I don’t understand.” He paused. “But when I take my medical cannabis, and I go back to my studies, I get it! I understand the meaning of those passages. And it’s not because I’m high! Both my wife and the rabbi agree that my insights are valid and profound.”
Knowing the many references to cannabis in ancient Hebrew (and other spiritual) texts, I shouldn’t have been surprised at his question. I was delighted, however, and am eager to pass this insight along to others as we hopefully advance our knowledge of the many benefits of the cannabis plant.

Hello everyone!
I recently set up a GitHub organization for a company I work for. We tok the "Teams" offer and used our company credit cards informations. For accounting and legal reasons, we need to have our VAT number on invoices we receive so we can justify the spent amount.
However, GitHub did not generate an invoice (or receipt) with the VAT number of the company after paying the subscription. I noticed that the VAT information input box was pretty deep under billing informations.
I contacted GitHub via their support website (support.github.com) to ask if it was possible to generate another receipt with the correct informations. However, no answer event after 3 weeks :( Then decided to ask here if anyone has already been in this kind of situation, or if there is any way to create the correct receipt automatically.
Thanks for your future answers! Adam.

I wrote articles about gaming for a team blogging site (based on Joomla) for some years before tailing off because I got lucky enough to pick up some paid writing work. On re-visiting recently I saw that the site has essentially died: all my content is still there, but no-one is publishing new material any more and the spambots have moved it.
Some of my content is worth saving, I think, so I thought it might be a good idea to salvage some of the pieces, spruce them up a bit and republish them on a personal site. However, I'm just floored by the number of options out there.
Ideally, I'd like something that

• l can potentially monetise to a minor degree. I'm not looking to make big bucks, but it's my work and I feel I deserve to make something for it.
• Is free to use, at least until such point as I can make enough money off it to pay its own costs.
• Will do reasonably well in SEO
• Allows me to ensure my content stays online (i.e. it won't just die a sudden death and take everything with it)

Beyond that, I'm really confused. I've decided I'd prefer not to use Substack because it seems ethically suspect to me after the recent controversies. I don't really understand the difference between "newsletter" models like Beehiiv and Buttondown (they still put your articles online, right, so how are they really different from a more traditional blog?), essay-publishing sites like Medium and hosting your own blog.
I'm technically savvy and would be happy to self-host using something like WordPress or Ghost if necessary, although I'd prefer not to spend writing time tinkering with the guts of a system and I don't see a way to do that without paying a significant upfront cost for hosting.
What platform is likely to suit my needs best, and how can I choose?

My sister got scammed yesterday! 2pm daw may tumawag sakanyang nagpakilalang Eastwest bank representative and offered a replacement card! Alam daw ang card number nya, pangalan at transactions nya sa credit card so hindi sya naghinala. Nagkataong di nya mabuksan ang online banking app nya at alam din ni caller kaya kala nya legit talaga. To the extent na binigay nya yung cvv at OTP ng multiple online transactions like Paymaya Cash In, Grab at Foodpanda). All in all nasa 15200 din yun. Umiiyak na sya paguwi kagabi kasi 7pm nya na narealize habang nagbabasa ng mga messages (busy daw sya sa work when the scammer called). Hindi pa rin mabuksan ang online banking nya nung time na yun so we can't check kung yun lang ba talaga yung na-scam na amount. My sister is the youngest and just started working recently so it's really a big deal and might seem the end. We tried contacting Eastwest, buti sumagot agad and we got the card blocked since it was already compromised. And fortunately, none of the transactions pushed through!!!! Thank God!!! Natunugan na ata ni Eastwest since her transactions are usually only foodpanda and less 1k. Which made me realized na oo nga parang may ganong feature na ang mga cards lately pertaining to online top ups. Yung Citibank ko, pag more than 4k ang ginagamit ko sa grab top up, di sya nagpupush through agad on first few attempts kahit nalagay mo tamang details and OTP. Sa mga cards niyo ba ganun din?

I'm currently in Berlin, Germany, and about to be homeless for 2 weeks on the streets. I signed up for a study abroad program from my university, which I just graduated from last semester. I paid the application fee, got picked, paid for my own flight here and back, and then got a scholarship from an alumni couple in the department I got my degree in, and that scholarship paid for the rest of the trip.
I worked my ass off doing research and selling a bunch of my stuff to get the plane tickets because I'm pretty broke. I was excited for this trip because I was accepted into a German university for graduate school and figured I'd get a good introduction to living in Germany, and to be honest, Berlin itself has been great, all the locals I've met have been very nice to me, but my professors and everyone working from my university have been really unprofessional and tricky and now I'm in an unsafe position. **EDIT TO ADD, when I say they're trying to make me go home Friday I mean tomorrow, so I have like 1 day until I'm kicked out of the hotel.
Long explanation, skip to the bottom for a TLDR:
Before I even got on a single plane, I found out customer service for my phone carrier and I had a misunderstanding a month ago when I bought my international plan and found out about 3 days in advance that my phone would be a brick here. I told the professor immediately and she said worse case scenario she would help me get a working phone when I landed, since it's kind of needed for basic safety. Just half a day before the first flight, I got bitten by a few deer ticks and said I might also need help scheduling a doctors appointment when I land, because our travel insurance required a working phone number and it was too late for me to make an appointment before my flight. The professor said that was fine and I would be helped with that as well, so I got on the first plane in full confidence.
When I landed, a day passed without either thing being handled, and that was fine by me, but then multiple days passed and the professor kind of just waved it off. I'd started to feel a little unwell and asked the professor to help me find a doctor and she said it was just jetlag.
One of the first days of the program we went to a restaurant, and the seating was a very small reserved room with our entire 20+ cohort in it. I have CPTSD and am claustrophobic and knew immediately that I did not want to sit there, so I asked the professor if she could help me ask the staff request a seat for me in the outside dining area, or, if one wasn't available, that I could just sit outside on a nearby bench and skip dinner. She told me the room was reserved for us and this was on the itinerary so I HAD to sit there, and when I again said I didn't think I could, she demanded I sit there again and condescendingly asked me if I really couldn't or just didn't want to. I started to cry as quietly as possible and then that suddenly made her understand, so we went outside and I explained that, in my opinion, trying to force any adult to do something they're uncomfortable with and have said "No" to is bad enough to me normally, but since I have a disability, it's also ableist. I tried to frame that sentiment in a "I'm sure you didn't mean it this way" kind of way but she still took offence to the criticism and I think that led to the rest of this.
After that happened I was feeling more ill and the professor said, "Oh, do you think it's lyme? Because if it was lyme you'd have a rash. It's probably still jetlag". At this point I said again that I needed some help getting a working phone number and medical advice from a doctor and she told me to take responsibility for myself. I'd bought myself a SIM card but it needed some unexpected trouble shooting and everything was in German (I know some German but only around A2 level and absolutely none is required for this program), so I'd already tried to help myself, and again could not schedule myself an appointment without a working phone.
I asked the professor if she could put her phone number in just to let the appointment scheduling process complete and she said no. I asked if she had any other ideas and she again told me to figure it out. I wound up walking 20 minutes through Berlin alone with no working phone to a doctor's office unannounced, barely able to fill half the sign in sheet and navigate the language barrier, and successfully got the antibiotics I needed and a lyme diagnosis. The nurse even asked why I came alone. Thankfully for me everyone in the doctors office including the doctor was very very nice to me despite the curveball I through them.
Not long after all that the professor sent an email with me cc'd in to the office of international affairs at the university, and the email said, in effect, "This student said they have a disability and can't stick to the itinerary and therefore I think they're not a good fit for this program and should go home." I immediately responded that that wasn't accurate, that I just could not sit inside a restaurant or other very cramped space, etc. Then I figured while I was at it I'd tell them about the total lack of care for my safety or wellbeing here. After sending that email the professor confronted me and tried to pretty much intimidate me into admitting everything was all my fault or something, I honestly have no clue, I think she was just upset and trying to make me feel better somehow. I think my criticism really got to her and made her kind of just hate me and that she wanted to make me make her feelings make sense. No clue honestly.
Anyway, after that the office of international affairs reached back out to me and were acting way nicer than they were when I first enrolled in this program, which felt sus, but I was haggard and miserable and wanted to be able to trust them so I did. They told me if I was considering coming home early for my own health and safety, that I could unenroll that night to make sure the alum who gave me a scholarship would at least be refunded, but that I had to do it that night since it was the last day to drop for a refund. I said I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave the program, and they said if you're considering it unenroll and if you want to stay after further discussion then we can probably just go ahead and re enroll you.
So I did it. The next day I'm scheduled to meet with someone who told me the day or so before that she would be my advocate and that she was there to listen to and represent me, and when I join the zoom meeting, it's her, but also two other people from the international affairs office. They're telling me my return flight has already been scheduled and everything and that they were sending out a person to chaperone me on the flight, because, though it was totally ignored on my flights here, I'd mentioned at the very start of the application process that I'd been a human trafficking victim before and ideally wanted to fly with someone instead of alone. All of this had less than a 24 hour turnaround from me unenrolling.
I realized hours after unenrolling that I don't want to leave the program, I just want to actually be allowed to engage in the program as it was advertised and as it was promised, and that leaving the program, to me, feels like capitulating to the professor being an asshole to me and like removing liability from the university. In short I think I pretty much got tricked into unenrolling. I told them I didn't want to leave early and they told me they already scheduled everything and got a refund for my hotel room, so if I don't take the flight back Friday, I will be homeless on the streets for 2 weeks until the flight that I personally purchased for the 31st, and that since I hit the unenroll button, my housing, health, or safety will no longer be the universities problem after Friday.
So, the fuck do I do with this, ya'll got any advice? I could really use some. Or even just some support haha.
TLDR: Got tricked into hitting unenroll button after damaging professors ego, most likely purposely tricked to absolve the university of responsibility because how the profs were treating me and everything I described probably did make me a liability even if not my fault, but I'm mad and I'm enjoying Berlin and don't want to leave or let the university get away with risking my health and safety multiple times with no apologies. Currently will probably be homeless in Berlin for 2 weeks.

Hello fellow Apes,
as I sit here traveling to Rome from Bologna in vacation with the wife and family, and browsing the endless memes and myriad of posts on Reddit, I just started to think about how all this is FREE marketing for GameStop.
The amount of eyes on our stock and Company is at all time highs. I was just looking at a post on X, and noticed GameStop is getting way more likes and reposts.
All this is keeping our company relevant, with possibly thousand and thousand more people going to their website, app, ecc. Guess what their probably doing? Shopping, browsing, signing up for GME credit cards and possibly Pro memberships!
So let's stay zen, we don't have to decipher or check the price every second (am guilty of this), trust the DD like Larry says and everything will play out like its supposed.
Have a great day Apes, Drs, Book, shop but most of all stay healthy and take care of yourselves.
APE out.

Here me out, I trust y’all’s judgement because you know sushi.
I’ve been a sushi chef for 12 years now. I learned under a Japanese chef in the middle of desert first. I moved to Austin and learned under various chefs for years. I have a lot of experience in kitchens as well. I can cut fish, nigiris, sashimis, recipes, rice, zu, sauces. I can order and budget and manage.
Where I currently live (El Paso TX) there’s not very many sushi bars, much less good ones. I luckily found a chef (Korean/Japanese) that had great fish. We had Korean kimchi freezers for the fish and he had good reps for his products. We had better fish than I was getting in Austin. He was a maniac but I respected his product and recipes. Late last year he picked up and moved out of town.
I’m his absence I was asked to work for a newish sushi bar. A chain from South America whose first bar in the us was this one. Though their goal was more upscale than their previous ventures. Their other restaurants were fast casual, lots of fried rolls and volume volume volume for their sales.
This bar was already a year in. I was asked to cut two whole blue fin tunas for the anniversary party. A 50lb and 75lb. Thousands of dollars worth of fish. The premise was to break them down in front of customers then immediately go into a 65 person seating, 8 courses in Two hours. Then 30 minute window to reset the tables then a 100 seating. the tuna itself was the product we were using. A miso, a sashimi, a couple rolls, something from the kitchen. Several nigiris of akami, chu toro, and otoro, followed by otoro and chutoro sashimi.
Suffice to say it was a shitshow, and we spoiled out most of the product. The tuna itself wasn’t great, it wasn’t bluefin but yellow fin. Neither fish had any otoro, much less chutoro. I cut what I could of the belly and we used that.
They needed help. They knew nothing of purchasing seafood, much less making rice, cutting fish, storing fish, Japanese food on general.
At first I had free reign to change everything, but that quickly got undermined. I tried everything. Made my case with numbers, with support of the servers, customers even. Went as far as to purchase product myself or get samples to physically show the difference in quality. I readjusted ecipes, order guides, training guides. I bought stuff under the radar. Everything got shot down. We continued to suffer through bad reviews, always the quality of the product came up. It was literally the cheapest fish in the catalog. Yet sold as the most expensive in town.
We had ton of problems in the kitchen too. I got promoted to run both sushi and kitchen. I didn’t have experienced staff, couldn’t get the ok ok that payroll. I burnt myself out, 75 hr weeks, no days off. No dishwasher. No. Sushi chefs other than myself had enough experience. I walked. I got the fuck out. I felt like I couldn’t fix it. I wanted too but the powers that be felt like it wasn’t worth it. I don’t know, I just needed to get it off my chest

Hey all - I’ve been trying to login to my PayPal, and it keeps prompting me to receive a text verification. I don’t have my phone atm, so the only alternative option is imputing a card number… they are asking for an old capital one card, which I don’t have anymore.
My password is correct however and I can login to the email.
Can anyone advise how I can bypass this requirement? I’m not seeing any other options to login than the two.

Hello everyone. I'm currently managing Blackburn Rovers in FM24. There's one match left in the league, I'm 3rd and playing Leicester, which is 2nd. We've got 90 points, they have 92 points.
Now... should I do it? I'm sick of playing in the championship, as there's so many matches, most of players and young talents don't want to join me anyway, and I can rely only on free players and loans... Also worth noting, that I drew my last match against 23th place team in the league after my winger, who never had any problems with fouls or cards got straight red after he basically snapped dude in half in the middle of the pitch when there was no threat at all. That pissed me off so much that now I'm considering savescumming.
However... I fear that it might ruin my experience with this save, that I invested many hours in.
So there's the question... in your opinion - to savescum, or not?

Applied for Netherlands Schengen from VFS Mumbai
Timeline:
26th April: Appointment date and application forwarded to NL Embassy, New Delhi
29th April: Application received at Netherlands Embassy, New Delhi
14th May: Visa application processed and dispatched via courier
16th May: Passport received via Bluedart.
Result: Visa approved with 45 day validity and 30 day stay
Itinerary submitted for 13 days with entry in Netherlands (7 Nights) and travel onwards to Italy (5 Nights).
Documents submitted:

1. Cover letter explaining reason for travel, personal social and financial situation, and short explanation of bank statement history and stocks holdings.
2. Day by day Itinerary with plans for each day along with stay details.
3. Real flight tickets with entry in Amsterdam and return from Rome.
4. Internal transit flights (Amsterdam to Venice) and Car rental bookings.
5. Pay at hotel bookings in all cities as per Itinerary.
6. 3 months bank statements + 2 year ITR + 3 months payslips.
7. Employment letter, leave approval letter and compensation letter
8. Travel Insurance with coverage of $200,000

Note:

1. I had no prior travel history and this was my first ever visa application.
2. You can track BlueDart courier with your visa application number. (use as reference id on bluedart tracking)
3. I got the documents verified via Visario, they drafted me a cover letter as per my plan.

Feel free to ask me anything.

Another Free Comic Book day has passed and another Mommy would not let her kid have a free comic.
So I thought I would tell the tales of other times when similar events occurred.
This tale begins the way all the others do. With a kid that wanting a pack of the evil Pokemon cards. As soon as the girl spotted the cards the typical mad mommy face appeared and the usual quote was quoted.
"YOU DON"T NEED THAT."
Girl said that she wanted them because they were fun.
Mommy, "You keep losing them."
So I asked the kid how she loses them. Her response was that she didn't lose them, her mother always threw them out. (I believed her)
So I asked her why she kept throwing them out to which she replied that she didn't and that her kid was a scatter brain.
I responded that I hear this all the time and that the mother does throw them out. Again I asked.
Now she retorted with the "I don't like them" reason.
Then she asked her father to buy her one, but he took one look at his wife and giggled nervously, took the pack out of her hand and tossed it on my table.
So I decided to have a little more fun. I told the mommy that today was her lucky day. It was free comic book day and the kid could take a free comic from the box on the table.
"SHE DOESN"T NEED IT."
Wow even free you won't relent. I asked the father what he thought. More nervous giggling. (Get a pair sir.) Girl thanked me for trying and mommy yelled at her for wasting her time. Mommy grabbed her by the arm so she couldn't take a book.
​
Another fine parent said that she wasn't going to waste her money on this shit. I informed her that her kid could take as many of the free books from the display so she didn't have to spend a dime on the kid.
Rather than thanking me, she said that was even worse.
I basically asked her WTF (without cursing) that meant.
The kid stated that she hated that he liked comics and always was looking for an excuse not to buy them for him and I took that excuse away. As he was saying this she walked away and yelled at him to move along.
​
The worst and funniest one I had was when the father and son were selecting a few age appropriate books. The mommy saw this and pulled the books out of the kids hand, yelled at the father, "I SAID NO" shredded them and slammed the pieces on the floor.
The father looked at her and stated that he said yes and the kid could have them.
She went wide eyed and yelled back for him not to defy her.
He walked back to my stand, apologized, and asked if he could have a few more. All the while she was screaming that he better not do it.
Of course I said yes and recommended that he hold on to them.
All the way down this aisle she tried to grab them. Then about halfway down he finally had enough and yelled "WTF is your problem??" and to knock it off. She didn't.
​
About 15 years ago, I had to close my account with my distributor and the last time I officially did the giveaway I counted the number of parents that did this. I usually did this for the month of May as keeping the books was taking up space.
I did two markets at that time, one in PA and the other in NY.
I had 48 parents that would not let the kids have free books. 45 were the mother, 2 of the fathers blamed the mother and the third was like the guy in the first incident.
​
One of the markets I used to do had a Halloween party every year. So instead of giving away candy I would give a kid a free book. Most parents did let the kid have them except for one.
When I told them the giveaway when the kid did "Trick or treat" she stated that the kid wanted candy.
Kid stated that he wanted a comic. That was better.
She told the kid. "No, you want candy"
Kid. "No, I want this."
Mother, (Well you get the picture.)
Kid. "No you want candy. Every year you steal my candy.
Mother got mad and told the kid that now he wasn't getting anything. We both knew that anyway. So he took a freebie and thanked me and the mother told me that I should be giving candy because that's what the kids really want.
​
​

I recently learned a game called Rummy from a Tunisian person. After learning how to play I also found an extremely similar game called Quatorze. I really love playing this game and was hoping to adapt it into an online game you could play in your browser. I have so far written the rules that I'm aware of here. I would like any and all feedback that you have about your knowledge of this game. If you know anything more about it's origins, your experience playing it, other rules, or anything, then I would love to hear about it!
One specific question: In the game there is a call you make to reshuffle if you have a bad hand. I was told it is said, "freesh". From my research I was able to find this word, "فَرِش" but I am unsure if it's correct or how you should say it. If you know anything about this word then also please let me know!

Quatorze: A Comprehensive Guide

Objective

The objective of Quatorze is to have the lowest possible score and cause other players to have a high score or more. The player with the lowest cumulative score after a series of rounds wins.

Deck

• 2 standard 52-card decks (total 104 cards)
• 4 Jokers (total 108 cards)

Card Values

• Face Cards (J, Q, K): 10 points each
• Ace (A): 1 or 10 points, depending on usage
• Jokers: Wild, used as any card but counted as 10 points if left in hand at the end of the round
• Number Cards (2-10): Face value in points

Setting Up

1. Shuffle the Cards: The dealer shuffles the entire deck.
2. Cut the Deck: The player to the left of the dealer cuts the deck. The dealer takes the bottom half of the cut to deal first.
3. Dealing: The dealer deals 3 cards to themselves first, then 2 cards at a time to each player (including themselves) until everyone has 14 cards except the dealer, who will have 15. The remaining cards form the draw pile.

Game Play

The First Turn

• The dealer discards one card.
• Each other player draws one card from the draw pile and discards one card into the discard pile.
• At the end of the first turn, all players should have 14 cards.

Subsequent Turns

1. Turn Order: Starting with the dealer and moving clockwise, each player:

• Draws one card (either from the draw pile or the top of the discard pile).
• Discards one card.

1. Melds: Players can meld cards at any time after their first meld:

• Sets: Three or four cards of the same value but different suits.
• Sequences: A series of three or more consecutive cards of the same suit.

1. Initial Meld: The total value of all cards in the player's first meld must be at least 51. If a player has already melded, their first meld in subsequent turns must exceed the score of the first player's meld.
2. Meld Restrictions: Players cannot draw from the discard pile if the card was discarded during the first turn. Jokers can be used as wild cards but not discarded. Jokers can be replaced in melds by the card they are representing.
3. "Plus" Rule: A card that could be used to complete an existing meld cannot be discarded. It must be used in the player's own meld or added to an opponent’s meld.

Special Rules

• Freesh(فَرِش): After the deal and before any play, any player can request for a reshuffle by calling "Freesh". It is required if they have a minimum of three pairs of duplicate cards (cards of the same value and suit). This minimum is raised by one pair for each joker in the hand (if you have 2 jokers, you must have at least 5 pairs of duplicate cards to require a reshuffle).
• Last Card: The last card discarded to end the round must be placed face down. This card cannot be used in a meld.
• Jokers: A joker can be kept until the end of the game. If a player has only jokers left, opponents add 100 points to their score. Jokers in melds can be replaced by the true card they represent.
• Completed Melds: If a meld cannot be added to anymore (e.g., all four suits are in a set or a sequence from Ace to King is formed), it is added to the discard pile underneath the top card.

Scoring

• Points in hand are added up and contributed to the player's score (with a maximum of 100).
• Jokers and Aces left in hand count as 10 points each.
• The highest cumulative score at the end of the series of rounds loses. The player with the lowest cumulative score wins.

Examples of Play

1. Initial Meld: A player has 7♥, 7♠, 7♦, and 8♠, 9♠, 10♠. The total is 51, so they may meld.
2. Joker in Meld: If a player has J♦ in a sequence 9♦, 10♦, J♦, a Joker can replace Q♦ if another player wants to retrieve it.

End of the Round

• Once a player discards their last card, the round ends.
• Card values in hand are scored and added.
• The dealer rotation is clockwise after each round.

Game Continuation

• The game can continue for a pre-defined number of rounds or until a score threshold is reached.
• Scores are kept on a leaderboard, with the lowest cumulative scores being the best.

1. Focus Karma Need Want Of the Society Recreation Stimulation Examination Death 1.1 The noble truth of Focus is Energy, the noble Truth of Karma is Management, the Noble Truth of Need is Kombucha, the Noble Truth of Want is The Second Mental, Your Mental, The Noble Truth of Recreation is Marijuana, The Noble Truth of Simulation is Automatons, the Noble Truth of Examination is the Books on Examination, The Noble Truth of Death is Salt 1.1 There is a Truth of Truth The Truth of Energy is Stockpile, The Truth of Management is Treatment, The Truth of Kombucha is Amino, the Truth of The Second Mental is the Intermediary Mental Between Yourself and the World, The Truth of Automatons is the Plumbing Needed, the truth of the Books on Examination is the truth of the Books of the Ruler and the truth of Salt is the Limit of the Body Is Restored by Healthy Nutrition 1.1.1 There is a truth of the truth energy amino, Truth Starch, Truth Sugar, Truth Glycine, Truth Water, Truth Kombucha, Truth Arginine, Truth Serine, Truth Lysine 1.1.2 There is a truth of the ruler which is related to marijuana, Proline Above Lysine 1.1.3 There is a truth of the society related to only trading, Gold above Proline 1.1.4 All of these truths have intermediary truth below them 1.1.5 There is a truth of the botanist, Prozac And Benadryl and Scopolamine and Atropine and Benzyldiol Around Recreation 1.1.6 There is a truth of the schooler, Directly Ordered Female Voice Your Voice Kick Drum Kick Transient Pots N Pans Pots Content Button Mushroom Morel Cache Stash Marisol Bluewater Febreeze Peroxide Nitrate Ammonium Loam Bud Dirt Wheat Soil Potato Around Focus and Karma 1.1.7 There is a truth of the motorcade Above Karma and Below the Want of the society Muffler Transmission Piston Engine Cargo Chassis Fluids Vaseline Nutraloaf Soylent 1.1.8 Marisol Or Mother is Above All Below it 1.1.9 Button Mushroom is Above All Those Below it Three 1.2.0 Ammonium is Above All Those Below it To Marisol 1.2.1 Potato is Above All Those Below it to Marisol Three 1.2.2 Fire 2Fire 4Fire 8Fire 16Fire - A Fire is 5 Fire, At fire set 5,10,20,40, No Fire, at Fire set 10,20,40,80, On fire 1.2.3 Fire Is Below Focus In Energy and Karma is Below Need in Energy and Need is Below Want of the Society In Energy and Recreation is Below Stimulation In Energy And Stimulation is Below Examination In Energy and Examination is Below Death In Energy 1.2.5 Focus Is Pervasive so Energy Indicates Examination Having Occured or A Crops Grown 1.2.6 Examination Happens In Examination Want of the Society Focus Want of the Society Examination 1.2.7 Examination happens for 333 Hours or About 19 Days 1.2.8 Examination Happens in Sets of 333 Hours for 1332 Hours 1.2.9 At the End of Examination Examination Proceeds Automatically in 333 Hours 1.3.0 Want of the Society occurs as the output of crops 1.3.1 Want of the society yields the Amino Nutrients because it is the agricultural or synthetic output 1.3.2 Recreation Activates Marijuana, But Can Be On its Own 1.3.3 20 Marijuana Exist as a product of the lands 1.3.4 Over 20 Other Plants Exist as a product of the lands 1.3.5 Various tabulature of notes Exists with Standpoint Boards 1.3.6 Houses and apartments exist 1.3.7 Private Baths exist 1.3.8 A ledger exists for holding notes at a distribution point 1.3.9 A ledger exists for reasonable retrieval but not reproduction of notes (need original notes) 1.4.0 A ledger exists for deletion of notes but to a skilled observer they are still seeable 1.4.1 The Time One and One at One and One at Two is the time 333 units for each section 1.4.2 The time offset of the noble truths on the fifth reconstruction yields upon which noble truth they were the whole section 1.4.3 Only noble truths passed through the entire system 5 fold are the actual truth of the land 1.4.4 This is held by the guard which there are maybe 20 guard in the lands each city 1.4.5 There are fire weapon which exist which are hand cannon and have a chamber and a loader 1.4.6 There are fire bomb exist which are bomb which have just a chamber but there are just 4 ever 1.4.7 There are 3 sets of scrolls per city and 3 sets of scroll reader 1.4.8 There is 2 sets of scrolls each city which are city rulers 1.4.9 There are farms which exist which feed each city which grow crops 1.4.9 There are buildings in each city 1.5.0 There are normally 4 houses to a prefecture 1.5.1 There are normally 4 rooms to the house 1.5.2 There are 10 modern petrochemical foundry factory which exploit oil from the lands 1.5.3 There are clothing for at least 30 people in each city putting the bedroom load usually at slightly less than 2 a bedroom 1.5.2 There are around 7 military bases which exist but these numbers used to be inflated 1.5.3 There are medicine for at least 30 people in a city 1.5.4 There are toilets only per four people or wherabouts in the city 1.5.5 There are 98 separate prefecture in maybe 3 city spread out 1.5.6 There are potato, furion bannana, old potato, a rose donut wheat, apple, cabbage, turnip, carrot, another potato type, beets, three flowers, 20 marijuana, and other crops grown 1.5.6 There are zucchini grown 1.5.7 There are medicine poppy and heart tonic herb (blue bonnet) and a root which expresses opium and other minor medicinals grown 1.5.8 There are trees which naturally occur which are the colors of cherry blossom 1.5.9 Seeing the trees blossom is the rarest sight in the lands 1.6.0 The twenty guard of the town know how to protect one another 1.6.1 There are various opium which can be taken 1.6.2 There are various new bags of marijuana spray which are the marijuana active 1.6.3 There is a specific sedative created from Crude Oil, SnoreLax Olestra Ketamine 1.6.4 There are various nutrients created from crude oil 1.6.5 There are various computers created from crude oil 1.6.6 There are various liquids created from crude oil including pepsi cola and molten plastic 1.6.7 There are boxes created from crude oil 1.6.8 There are racing Skis created from crude oil 1.6.9 There is a capacity to run one of the computer 1.7.0 The computer yields a stable process blockchain when propagated 1.7.1 The computer notable yields beautiful colors when its process blockchain is propagated 1.7.2 There is a retrieval system for the other computers token 1.7.3 54 Stores now exist in these lands 1.7.4 These stores accept a specific RFID like currency 1.7.5 These stores accept the Gold of the Land Naturally 1.7.6 These stores have vendors wheater and vendors kitty cat and vendors autovend1 1.7.7 Groceries and resources can be bought from the stores 1.7.8 Automobile Motorcade can be bought from the stores 1.7.9 Concrete Objects can be bought from the stores 1.8.0 Designer clothes can be bought from the store 1.8.1 The foundrys create BDU Lower 1.8.2 The foundrys create I <3 NYC Shirt 1.8.3 The firearms create mittens firearm token en masse 1.8.4 The firearms are created at 20 a city to defend the people 1.8.5 Only 5 High Quality Weapon exist per city 1.8.6 A foundry is creating nonlethal weapons 1.8.7 The foundry makes its nonlethal weapon but there is only one per city 1.8.8 An inventor makes a nonlethal weapon 1.8.9 The foundry now produces 2 kinds of ice cream 1.9.0 The foundry now produces illegal goods like silicone pipes 1.9.1 Somebody is Brewing Amino Out of Starches 1.9.2 The Echo Locator is invented 1.9.3 The echo locator is finalized as a product 1.9.4 The echo locator is shipped out the door at 43 a city 1.9.5 The echo locator replaces the scrolls system 1.9.6 The echo locator can be taxed in the old tax system to make it valid in the old system 1.9.7 Two Cool Cats Take Control of the Power System, NateCat and HakeCat 1.9.8 The cool Cats reinvest in medicine and over 50 meningitis cure are found 1.9.9 The smart toilet is invented 2.0.0 The bombs detonate in ebonia and the people are freed 2.0.1 There is 11 grade flooding in ebonia 2.0.2 The ebonian flooding gets better to 7 ebonian remediator a city which are from the new Clement Dogs Clan 2.0.3 Tattoo Ink is Invented from cherry leaves 2.0.4 A tattoo requires somebody to play wizards chess on your skin to leave an indelible mark without killing it 2.0.5 Alpha squad is formed 2.0.6 A cruiser is in the metteranian gulf 2.0.7 The cruiser operates successfully for at least a month with me onboard 2.0.8 I am mainly using starlink 2.0.9 Starlink is accessible in the APV like it always is 2.1.0 You can fetch a battlefeed with starlink 2.1.1 You can fetch a battlesend with starlink (OSC) 2.1.2 OSC Replaces Starlink and LFO is Formed 2.1.3 LFO Replaces engine gasoline due to jet fuel drinking/snorting danger 2.1.4 Nontoxic weed smoke based gasoline is formed for APV 2.1.5 APVs are overclocked with me nearby 2.1.6 Supercapacitor Based APV Is Used For medical evacuation 2.1.7 Supercapacitor has massive distance versus dangerous IC APV 2.1.8 Supercapacitor powers gauss cannon in danger 2.1.9 Megagauss Cannon Invented for David's Aircraft 2.2.1 Megagauss cannon fits en masse onto the aircraft or in david flanagan or david summery's hands 2.2.2. Total david air superiority 2.2.3 Davids golden UH-1 in service 2.2.4 RQ-9 "David" Reactivated 2.2.5 RQ-9 Reapers Cloned 2.2.6 Spicy Chemical Discovered In Marijuana, Raytracing? 2.2.7 David Treated for Virtual Meningitis 3 Years Ago 2.2.8 Deepfake All Virtual Medical Practice Discovered 2.2.9 Marijuanas CH1 Receptor Renamed CB1 Receptor 2.3.0 Foundries in Business 5000$ A Barrel Many Years Default on Loans to 2111$ Barrel, No Effective Product Change 2.3.1 USR THermal IS-2 Scope Invented 2.3.2 USR THermal FLIR Camera for David UH-1 Invented 2.3.3 Driver for USR THermal FLIR Camera for David UH-1 Invented 2.3.4 Overwatch Mega Anti Crime David Stopper Overflights in Service Across the US And Solid Gold UH-1 Lofted By Broomstick Technology in Transmuggle Transwizard Interference of the Calamity Granted to David Flanagan (RQ-9) 2.3.5. Black Operations in the Persian Gulf Nethers Against Al Baghdadi - HVT Steam User In Custody 2.3.6 AC-130 "IBEX" Piloted by Alex M Lamb in Service in Vallejo and Ecuador to Support 141 Team 2.3.7 Proto Nutrient Fish Oil Factory Raided, Illegal Furion Bannana Discovered 2.3.8 Illegal Blueprinting Operations Cease in Favor of Big 11+ Oil Corporations 2.3.9 Minecraft server found and large amounts of population exiting to virtual reality 2.4.0 All players granted 64 planks and free for all 2.4.1 Doto 0 Bot Guard Lurking in Transnational Buddhist Operation Enable Free Play In Minecraft for Various Players 2.4.2 Siddartha's Secret, His Cow, Discovered in Virtual Reality Elder Scrolls No Crime Faction, Siddartha's Cow Goes Rampant and is Infinity Hidden in Every Directory of Starfield 2 The New Game 2.4.3 Many New Games are found with resemble the structure of the cow in markov chain 2.4.4 A new system is found out of cow which can provide for any item retrieval system intrinsically unlocking the singularity where Big 11+ Splits into infinite corporation 2.4.5 All cows are harvested for a typical user but still infinity exist farther away 2.4.6 The user has typically 500000 cows of Siddhartha as a personal cow 2.4.7 Sulfur futures are at an all time high 2.4.8 Justino Beibers Mandates burning of all cow waste in trash bin 2.4.9 Siddartha's Cow are docile as ever and functioning well when shot, they become well 2.5.0 Siddartha (Renchy, Racey's Friend) Is discovered hiding as a soul in neon district undercity of neon petite 2.5.1 The guard is never abolished and continues protecting us 20 to the citizen to this day 2.5.2 Asteroids are discovered in outer space with many palladium more than ever 2.5.3 A supercomputing cloud is made out of the distributed method which avoids the taxing system that the initial ruler invented and does a method 1-Affinity 2-Person 3-Disease where the affinity of each person treats the pair disease and or environment with only instantaneous transmission (Technological singularity) 2.5.4 Virtual clothes are invented the same way as clothes were initially invented, now in the instantaneous unheard 2.5.5. Virtual Medicines are invented in the same way as medicines were invented initially, now in the instantaneous unheard 2.5.6 There is perfect harmony between two instant universes the virtual medicine universe and the analog medicine universe 2.5.7 All of history's knowledge feeds into one system which encodes all its meaning in some dice which always roll a specific meaning and this creates wish or technology on demand 2.5.8 Wish is discovered as a contaminant on the No Crime Library 2.5.9 Wish has always predated meaning so that Wish is the Rulers Initial Nature 2.6.0 All existence is into one history the history of the singularity which procedurally generates by Wish the Rulers Initial Nature For All Citizen 2.6.1 Jeffybeans is the true ruler of siddartha which is prozac benzyldiol 2.6.2 Siddartha wakes up right before lorne happens to her and avoids the suicide booth because phillip j fry is protecting her. 2.6.3 The story is at a cliffhanger while the Universe is at the second end epoch and is failing succesfully very well for hubert I.

I recently learned a game called Rummy from a Tunisian person. After learning how to play I also found an extremely similar game called Quatorze. I really love playing this game and was hoping to adapt it into an online game you could play in your browser. I have so far written the rules that I'm aware of here. I would like any and all feedback that you have about your knowledge of this game. If you know anything more about it's origins, your experience playing it, other rules, or anything, then I would love to hear about it!
One specific question: In the game there is a call you make to reshuffle if you have a bad hand. I was told it is said, "freesh". From my research I was able to find this word, "فَرِش" but I am unsure if it's correct or how you should say it. If you know anything about this word then also please let me know!

Quatorze: A Comprehensive Guide

Objective

The objective of Quatorze is to have the lowest possible score and cause other players to have a high score or more. The player with the lowest cumulative score after a series of rounds wins.

Deck

• 2 standard 52-card decks (total 104 cards)
• 4 Jokers (total 108 cards)

Card Values

• Face Cards (J, Q, K): 10 points each
• Ace (A): 1 or 10 points, depending on usage
• Jokers: Wild, used as any card but counted as 10 points if left in hand at the end of the round
• Number Cards (2-10): Face value in points

Setting Up

1. Shuffle the Cards: The dealer shuffles the entire deck.
2. Cut the Deck: The player to the left of the dealer cuts the deck. The dealer takes the bottom half of the cut to deal first.
3. Dealing: The dealer deals 3 cards to themselves first, then 2 cards at a time to each player (including themselves) until everyone has 14 cards except the dealer, who will have 15. The remaining cards form the draw pile.

Game Play

The First Turn

• The dealer discards one card.
• Each other player draws one card from the draw pile and discards one card into the discard pile.
• At the end of the first turn, all players should have 14 cards.

Subsequent Turns

1. Turn Order: Starting with the dealer and moving clockwise, each player:

• Draws one card (either from the draw pile or the top of the discard pile).
• Discards one card.

1. Melds: Players can meld cards at any time after their first meld:

• Sets: Three or four cards of the same value but different suits.
• Sequences: A series of three or more consecutive cards of the same suit.

1. Initial Meld: The total value of all cards in the player's first meld must be at least 51. If a player has already melded, their first meld in subsequent turns must exceed the score of the first player's meld.
2. Meld Restrictions: Players cannot draw from the discard pile if the card was discarded during the first turn. Jokers can be used as wild cards but not discarded. Jokers can be replaced in melds by the card they are representing.
3. "Plus" Rule: A card that could be used to complete an existing meld cannot be discarded. It must be used in the player's own meld or added to an opponent’s meld.

Special Rules

• Freesh(فَرِش): After the deal and before any play, any player can request for a reshuffle by calling "Freesh". It is required if they have a minimum of three pairs of duplicate cards (cards of the same value and suit). This minimum is raised by one pair for each joker in the hand (if you have 2 jokers, you must have at least 5 pairs of duplicate cards to require a reshuffle).
• Last Card: The last card discarded to end the round must be placed face down. This card cannot be used in a meld.
• Jokers: A joker can be kept until the end of the game. If a player has only jokers left, opponents add 100 points to their score. Jokers in melds can be replaced by the true card they represent.
• Completed Melds: If a meld cannot be added to anymore (e.g., all four suits are in a set or a sequence from Ace to King is formed), it is added to the discard pile underneath the top card.

Scoring

• Points in hand are added up and contributed to the player's score (with a maximum of 100).
• Jokers and Aces left in hand count as 10 points each.
• The highest cumulative score at the end of the series of rounds loses. The player with the lowest cumulative score wins.

Examples of Play

1. Initial Meld: A player has 7♥, 7♠, 7♦, and 8♠, 9♠, 10♠. The total is 51, so they may meld.
2. Joker in Meld: If a player has J♦ in a sequence 9♦, 10♦, J♦, a Joker can replace Q♦ if another player wants to retrieve it.

End of the Round

• Once a player discards their last card, the round ends.
• Card values in hand are scored and added.
• The dealer rotation is clockwise after each round.

Game Continuation

• The game can continue for a pre-defined number of rounds or until a score threshold is reached.
• Scores are kept on a leaderboard, with the lowest cumulative scores being the best.

Are they really kidding? No april box. Free treats and replacement never got shipped/arrived. And I get an email 3 days ago May shipped and look at this! It hasn't shipped at all. And the shipping number doesn't even exist- no label has been made!

Hi lovely people! I am a Finnish citizen, left Finland last year and live in the UAE now. I have a Finnish mobile number (dna) and I used to have a Nordea bank account until yesterday. Just found out that Nordea terminated my account because I do not live in Europe anymore. Actually I asked them about that before I left Finland and they said I could continue having the account, but anyway… My problem is - I do not know to authenticate myself without Nordea app. I do not have a card reader that allows to authenticate via ID. Any suggestions?

(continuation of part 2)
III. e) The Mobius FF x FFVII collaboration
Alright, back to our suspension world-hopping! Let’s visit the realm of Mobius FF, —more specifically, the collaboration between Mobius FF and FFVII—, where I found the most substantial evidence for my theory.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the Mobius FF (MFF) world and games, let’s begin with a bit of a summary of the parts relevant to us. The story takes place in a world called Palamecia, to which people from other worlds are inexplicably summoned. The vast majority of those who are brought there don’t remember anything from their worlds of origin or their lives before Palamecia except their names: these amnesiac people are called Blanks. The main character is Wol, accompanied by a guiding fairy of Palamecia named Echo. Echo knows a lot about the mechanisms of Palamecia, as she’s tied to the realm. The leader of this world is Vox, a being who manifests only as a voice. The first thing all Blanks remember before they wake in Palamecia is Vox telling them the rules of the realm. Incidentally, the crystals of the MFF world are teleportation crystals.
III. e) i. Devs’ Statements
Let’s review some of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration devs’ statements before diving into its story.
For both the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration and the Remake project, Kitase took on the role of producer while Nojima supervised the screenplay and wrote the scenario. The project leader was none other than the Remake trilogy’s Hamaguchi, who told a SE interviewer the following:

“We would love for you to play the [MFF x FFVII] collaboration event as you look forward to [Remake’s] release” (“Celebration of the Overseas Release of the Steam Version and FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Collaboration Event”, Square Enix).

He later hints at the collaboration’s storyline:

“This collaboration is focused on Cloud, so the other characters will not make an appearance. Players will join Cloud, who has gone astray in Palamecia, on his adventures and see how the story unfolds based on his decisions. Content-wise, FINAL FANTASY VII fans will surely become fraught with emotion as events unfold in-game (laughs).”

Kitase concurs on the emotional aspect of the collaboration in the same interview:

“When it comes to the story, I seek two things– ‘mystery’ and ‘[…] emotional impact’.”

Clearly, fans of FFVII are supposed to react emotionally to the events of the collaboration. With these statements in mind to give us perspective, we can get into the plot points relevant to our analysis. MFF x FFVII Remake comes in two parts, the relevant plot points of which I will describe and analyze one at a time.
III. e) ii. Eclipse Contact
1) Fact-Finding
Part one of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event is called Eclipse Contact. It came out in 2017 on Aerith’s birthday, February 7th, and its release campaign ran until March. In Eclipse Contact, Palamecia welcomes someone new: Cloud Strife appears in the realm with very little recollection of his core world of FFVII.
Cloud isn’t a Blank, since he recalls the mako reactors in Midgar upon his arrival in Palamecia, and also remembers that he was hired by Avalanche to blow them up:

“Echo: How did you end up in Palamecia?

Cloud: I… That day... I remember now. A job. I had taken a job. I was hired muscle protecting clients. They wanted to stop the reactor... We used a train to get past security... Was it at night? Something happened... Next thing I knew, I was floating through darkness. Then [I woke up here]”.

This piece of dialogue reveals that Eclipse Contact Cloud’s memories end at the very moment when Avalanche arrives at reactor 1 in OG (disk 1, chapter 1): the very beginning of the game. Consequently, Cloud does not remember anything that happened from the beginning of the OG timeline onwards.
Wol and Echo are intrigued by Cloud’s strange case: non-Blanks rarely arrive in Palamecia. The following text appears on the screen shortly after they meet:

“Perhaps he is not truly who he thinks he is.
Perhaps everything is illusory, a dream.
Only one thing is certain, that he must press on, one step at a time, toward the light that shines from the promised land.”

Just like he did in FFT’s Ivalice, Cloud feels the need to find the Promised Land in MFF x FFVII, despite the fact that he lacks memories of the OG timeline. Though Cloud doesn’t remember anything beyond the train ride to reactor 1, he does remember the Promised Land (at least somewhat). This is odd, given that in OG, Cloud didn’t learn about the Promised Land until several chapters into the game.
Wol and Echo agree to help Cloud figure out why he’s here, since there’s clearly something strange going on with his presence in Palamecia. In fact, Cloud brought Midgar’s mako reactors with him somehow, transplanting them onto the landscape of Palamecia. The group decides to bomb these reactors, following Cloud’s instincts in the hopes that it will jog his memory.
Now for my favorite part. After blowing up another reactor, the group is surprised by the appearance of a crystal. A piano rendition of Aerith’s theme begins. When Wol tries to touch the crystal, something akin to a force field rejects him. When Cloud approaches it, however, the crystal responds to his hand by flashing with light. As it begins to glow, Wol concludes that the crystal is linked to Cloud and Cloud alone. Let’s examine the resulting dialogue:

“Echo: This is the light in your memories. The light of home.

Cloud: Home? But I don’t—

Echo: If you don't remember… then your home is lost to you.

Cloud: Then my memories are gone.

Wol: Do you want to reclaim your past?

Cloud: Not interested... I am what I am now. Not what I was.

Wol: Then tell me… This light. If you can’t remember it, what does it mean to you?

Cloud: It's a warm light... I feel at peace. If this place —home— is as warm and peaceful as this light, then I want to go there.

Echo: You can't go there... Not back to the past.

Cloud: I see.

Echo: But even if you can't go back to the past, you can go forward. If you wish for it strongly enough, the crystal will show you the way. The way to a new world. The way to your Promised Land. […]

Cloud: So... Should [I] take [my] chances and make a wish to this crystal?

Wol: Go ahead. It’s your crystal.

Echo: I should warn you that once you start on this journey, there's no coming back.

Cloud: The past is the past. I want to go to a place where everything is new. I’m ready.“

What follows is a moment I call the wishing scene (13:43-14:34). Cloud closes his eyes and wishes on the crystal. It flashes, and suddenly, rainbow-colored ripples of light appear around it. Aerith’s theme is replaced by a slightly modified version of “Midgar, City of Mako”, the track that plays during the opening cutscene of Remake. You can recreate the modification by listening to “Midgar, City of Mako” from 2:00 to 2:23, then skipping to 3:00 and listening until 3:18. You may recognize the musical motif that kicks off the wishing scene as the Lifestream motif, which has become symbolic of the mysteries of the Remake trilogy, as it often plays during scenes where unexplainable plot deviations from OG occur— more specifically, deviations involving multiverse shenanigans. For instance, it plays during MOTF 4. It also plays in Rebirth after Cloud blocks masamune as Aerith is shown dying anyway.
Cloud disappears with his crystal, after which Echo speaks to Wol about Cloud’s journey:

“Echo: Each person gets the Promised Land they justly deserve, not the one they really need. If you’re a bad person, you go to a bad place. If you expect nothing, you get nothing. Even the journey there makes you look deep within yourself to find out who you really are. Cloud should be facing his own past as we speak. It’s cruel, but necessary. That battle was a long time coming”.

Apparently, at least in the context of this collaboration event, the Promised Land can be a reward or a punishment, depending on which you deserve. Echo explains that Cloud will have to face himself and his past on his way to his Promised Land. This means that the Cloud that appears in Eclipse Contact must next embark on a journey that will confront him with his past, test his mettle, and ultimately lead him to the Promised Land he justly deserves.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
There’s a lot of vital information to dig into here, mostly provided by Echo. She claims that the crystal’s light is linked to Cloud’s memories of home; Cloud has to have known this home in the past, as it could not otherwise exist in his memories. MFF Cloud must be a post-OG Cloud. Unfortunately, Echo indicates that whatever Cloud’s home is, he’s lost both it and his memories of it. Despite this, Cloud describes his home as warm and peaceful, concluding that he wishes to find it. Though Cloud can’t return to the past, Echo tells him that if he wishes it strongly enough, the crystal can guide him toward a new world, where his home and his Promised Land exist in the future. The fact that Aerith’s theme is playing all throughout these descriptions of Cloud’s lost home, his Promised Land and the past that he can’t return to makes it extremely obvious that these concepts all point to Aerith. Aerith is Cloud’s lost home. Wherever Aerith is, that’s his Promised Land. The time spent with Aerith before her loss is the past he tragically can’t return to. You might have clocked the similarities between Eclipse Contact’s mention of Cloud’s lost home and DFF’s mention of Cloud’s lost dream: in both these titles, Cloud’s home and dream are equivalent to his Promised Land. It’s confirmed yet again that Aerith is the one Cloud hopes to return to, just like every soul returns to the Lifestream. At this juncture of my research, I was curious as to why the last thing Cloud remembers before waking in Palamecia is the run-up to the Reactor 1 bombing mission in OG (disk 1, chapter 1). This mystery will have to persist for a while longer.
The alarm bells in your head might’ve been triggered by the mention of the wishing scene’s rainbow ripple effects— and rightfully so. This visual cue has sparked passionate debate in the fandom since its appearances in Rebirth, as seen in these pictures:
Zack Choosing To Get A Cure For Cloud, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating a New World/Timeline
Aerith Pushing Cloud Out of that World/Timeline, Remake Chapter 14
Cloud Blocking Masamune, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating New World/Timeline
You might have read or heard that this rainbow effect signifies that a character has entered another timeline, created a portal to another timeline, created a new timeline or is being shown different timelines. Indeed, whenever the OG timeline is deviated from in a significant way, this effect appears. The pictures above present multiple examples of these shifting realities.
One might propose that the rainbow ripples in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth are unrelated because of the long period between their respective release dates. This long in-between period indeed makes it likelier that the effect was used without forethought in Eclipse Contact, forgotten over the years, and incidentally reused in Rebirth as a plot-important visual cue with no connection to Eclipse Contact. I’m inclined to disagree since the crystal is specifically described as a vessel that can take Cloud “to a new world” by Echo, which is a bit on the nose. Regardless, it’s plausible that there’s no connection. That is, it would be, if the rainbow effect didn’t show up in Remake too.
When the Whispers are finally defeated in chapter 18 of Remake, a burst of the rainbow ripple effects indicate the emergence of multiple worlds, newly freed from the restrictive clutches of fate (1:16:36-1:16:47). Shortly thereafter, Sephiroth takes Cloud to the Edge of Creation and invites him to join forces with him. Cloud refuses, and Sephiroth says the following:

“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it? Let's see.”

The question “What will you do with it?” implies that the answer is unknown, meaning Cloud is no longer bound to the OG timeline by fate: many alternate futures lay ahead. Sephiroth is telling Cloud and the audience that now, the mystery of the Remake trilogy has become “Which future will Cloud bring into existence? Which among the infinite possible timelines will his choices result in?” After pondering this aloud, Sephiroth leaves Cloud alone to consider the rainbow effects in the sky (1:19:23-1:19:36). Because they generally represent alternate or changing timelines, it’s safe to assume that the rainbow ripples here represent the myriad of possible worlds that Cloud’s actions in those seven seconds could generate. After all, Sephiroth was just talking about them, and chapter 18’s description in Remake reads as follows:

“In a world beyond, Sephiroth shows Cloud a vision of the planet seven seconds before its demise. Having strayed from the course destiny set for them, they strike out on a path towards an unknown future."

This explains why the player is shown Cloud staring at those colors in the apocalyptic sky at world’s end, directly after hearing Sephiroth’s cryptic words: those are all the alternate “unknown future” timelines ahead of him, now unravelled from fate. Amongst those rainbow ripples lies the answer to the question “What will you do with [the seven seconds]?”
Given that Remake was released in 2020 and Eclipse Contact came out in 2017, the major story elements of the Remake trilogy —including the eventuality of alternate timelines— had to have been planned out at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: while the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration was being made, Remake was also in production. Also recall that the collaboration event and the Remake trilogy share a codirector in Hamaguchi, a writer in Nojima and a producer in Kitase. Based on all this, it’s more than likely that the rainbow ripples in the Remake trilogy and inEclipse Contact represent the very same thing: alternate worlds and timelines. All this to say that when the rainbow effect appears around the crystal in the Eclipse Contact, it means the crystal is acting as a vessel to another world, just like Echo said.
But that’s not all Echo said: she also mentioned that this other world would take Cloud to his home, to his Promised Land. We’ve already established what that means for Cloud, what it’s meant since two whole decades at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: this crystal will take Cloud to Aerith. So, where exactly did the crystal take Cloud? In what world can he meet Aerith again?
The music that plays during the wishing scene gives us a huge hint. As I noted before, the track playing in the background is a slightly modified version of Remake’s “Midgar, City of Mako”, which plays in the introduction cutscene of Remake. This is a musical cue that the ending of Cloud’s journey in Eclipse Contact and the very beginning of the Remake trilogy are closely related. Add the fact that the devs wanted players to experience this collaboration event before playing Remake, and it becomes undeniable: the crystal that appeared to Cloud in Palamecia —which offers to lead him to his home and Promised Land, meaning to Aerith—, took him to the world of the Remaketrilogy.
Eclipse Contact is huge. The whole crux of my theory lives and dies right here. However, we still have part two of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event to analyze as well as its promotions to look into before I can drop the thesis on you, so bear with me in order to receive the most thorough analysis of all this possible! I want to give you every drop of proof I can!
III. e) ii. MFF x FFVII Remake Fatal Calling
1) Fact-Finding
Fatal Calling came out February 1 of 2018, and its release campaign ended in March. The game opens with a cutscene: Cloud is floating, seemingly unconscious, through a sparkling, green current of light. The current flows into a circle of bright, white light, surrounded by rainbow ripple effects as Cloud is driven toward and into it. An orb floats along with him. The Advent Children theme “The Promised Land” plays, a choir of mournful, aching, mutedly desperate souls engaged in a lamenting prayer. Sephiroth’s voice echoes:

“Sephiroth: It’s time. You may turn your back on the past, lock your memories away. Hide reality beneath a layer of illusion. But destiny will not die so easily. Yes. At memory’s end you may plead for it all to go away. But the past is a curse, binding your soul. It’s time. Wake to your fate. Rise to your destiny.

Cloud: (In a half-conscious grunt) Reunion…

Sephiroth: The light will lead you. Wake to your fate. Rise!”

Sephiroth’s mentions of Cloud hiding under an illusion and repressing his memories are no doubt allusions to Cloud’s past, which was complicated and darkened by Hojo’s experiments. It makes sense, then, that Cloud responds with “Reunion”. Fatal Calling indeed focuses on Cloud’s relationship to his past, his identity and Sephiroth. Everything involving Nibelheim —where everything started—, Sephiroth’s manipulation, and Hojo’s experiments are on the table. Also noteworthy if not out of place is Sephiroth’s evocation of fate.
Cloud enters a battle with Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, who are surprised to see him back in Palamecia. Cloud tells them about the orb seen floating along with him in the opening cutscene: though he calls it a materia, he doesn’t know how or when he acquired it. Based on his behavior, it appears that Cloud remembers just as little about the events of OG as he did by the end of Eclipse Contact. Wol informs Cloud that whoever he heard speaking to him on his way here was probably Vox pretending to be Sephiroth.
As the group advances, Cloud recalls Midgar and decides they should go there next. At one of Midgar’s mako reactors, the group encounters Sephiroth, who speaks to himself:

“It's still not enough. This... this is but a pale imitation of the power I desire.”

Once Sephiroth has disappeared, Cloud explains what he remembers: Sephiroth was the greatest SOLDIER of all and a hero to Cloud, though Cloud can’t remember what exactly ended this admiration. As players of FFVII OG, we know the event in question is the Nibelheim incident, wherein Sephiroth slaughtered the town’s residents, including Cloud’s mother, after learning of his past. The former war hero also severely injured Tifa, whom Cloud presumed dead when he found her in the old mako reactor with a vicious slash on her chest. Cloud is agitated by the gaps in his memory, so the group resolves to follow Sephiroth for answers. When they find him again, Sephiroth causes Cloud to experience a piercing headache with the mere mention of the Reunion. They fight, but Sephiroth is too powerful— he skewers Cloud with the masamune and taunts his unconscious body:

“Sephiroth: A puppet. I won’t kill you. Not yet. Not until you know true despair.
Wol: If you want despair, we got plenty to go around. Palamecia’s full of it.
Sephiroth: Yes, this planet knows suffering. But it is not the world that was promised to me. I must go home. Tell Cloud, if he wants to see me again, he should face his memories. I will await him there, in the land of memory, where it all began. In Nibelheim.”

Sephiroth darkens Cloud’s materia, turning it black. Later, Wol explains to Cloud that Sephiroth stole the light from his materia, taking Cloud’s strength along with it.
Once Cloud has woken up, the group travels to Nibelheim to uncover the truth about Cloud’s memories. Cloud slowly gathers pieces of his past, shown to the player as titled, diary-like text written from various perspectives. Cloud learns the truth about SOLDIER, Jenova cells, Sephiroth, and what happened in Nibelheim. Let’s examine a few of these diary entries:

“A Warrior’s Tale: There's a girl in Nibelheim I think about. Warm. Cheerful. More grown-up than a child. Haven't talked to her much, but she seems nice. She's going to be leading the SOLDIERs to the mountain reactor. Maybe if I get into the survey team I'll get a chance to talk to her? Nah. She's out of my league.”

Young Cloud’s crush on Tifa is on full display! This must be a memory from his time as an infantryman accompanying Zack and Sephiroth to Nibelheim.

“Tale of the Nameless: I drift along in the mako, asleep. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Give me a number. I… I… I am… The Reunion. The Reunion must happen.”

This entry could be taken from any one of the Nibelheim survivors’ perspectives, as they were all bathed in mako and turned into Sephiroth clones. I would venture to say this is Cloud’s perspective though, given the reference to this iconic line from OG:

“Cloud: Professor... please give me a number. Please, Professor...
Hojo: Shut up, miserable failure.” (disk 2, chapter 2).

The trio encounters Sephiroth near the old Mt. Nibel mako reactor. Because Sephiroth stole the light from his materia earlier, Cloud goes into the confrontation already drained of his strength. However, when Cloud lifts the materia in his hand, it lights up and creates rainbow ripples in the air around him, similar to those seen in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth. Cloud is healed of his injuries: he closes his eyes for a moment, wearing a peaceful expression. Sephiroth is displeased, but recovers quickly:

“Sephiroth: The guiding light… it healed you.

Wol: […] here, near the mako reactor, the materia regained its light. And your strength returned […]. [Sephiroth]’s here so he can steal the power you've stored inside that materia.

Sephiroth, with a short laugh: I have all the power I need. Cloud. What strength you’ve regained is yours. Use it to fight me. It’s time. Let’s decide this, in this land lost to despair. The prize is home. The Promised Land. There to answer the call of destiny.”

With this second evocation of fate, Sephiroth disappears.
Cloud, Wol and Echo find Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. He mocks Cloud for believing the orb in his possession is materia. Sephiroth waves a hand and his signature black and purple fog surrounds Cloud, immobilizing him. Sephiroth claims that the power Cloud regained at the Mt. Nibel reactor was Sephiroth’s all along. Now that it courses through Cloud’s veins, Sephiroth controls him. He calls Cloud his puppet and finishes with the following before the two vanish, leaving Wol and Echo alone:

“Now, let us return. Back to the Promised Land. The time of the Reunion has come.”

After Cloud finally breaks free and defeats Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, the villain makes a final threat:

“Very good, Cloud. You’ve destroyed an illusion. But the time will come to abandon your illusions and face reality. Then, you will know true pain.”

Sephiroth disappears for the last time, his body surrounded by his signature dark fog and the rainbow ripples. A piano rendition of Tifa’s theme begins. Cloud’s orb rises into the air and becomes a crystal, with the same shape and glow as the one we see in Eclipse Contact. The following dialogue is illuminating:

“Cloud: I will fight. The light will lead me where I need to go.

Wol: You sure? Wasn’t that [crystal] Sephiroth’s?

Cloud: I heard Sephiroth's voice, at the end. Inside me. Whatever he put in me, it’s still in there. Someday I’ll settle that score. If I can't avoid destiny, I might as well face it head-on.

Wol: Yeah. That was quite a speech, Cloud. Surprised you made it through without laughing.

Cloud: Yeah, forget I said it. I will too.

Echo: Forgetting won’t make it go away. Even if the words fade from memory, your dream will never disappear. Not until it becomes real.“

The crystal shines as though in response.

“Echo: See? See, that's how the light of hope works. Hope can turn your dreams into reality.

Cloud: Yeah. I guess so. I might forget this world, but I won’t forget hope. And my reality, that’s for me to live.”

Tifa’s theme ends. Cloud approaches the crystal, and disappears in a beam of blinding light. Once Cloud has vanished with the crystal, Aerith’s theme begins playing. A few pale feathers with a slight orange tint (the color of MFF) float down onto the floor where he stood seconds before. The image fades to black. The credits roll, and Aerith’s theme continues all the way through.
Once both the final name in the credits and Aerith’s theme fade, we’re surprised by a sudden, troubling image: Sephiroth appears in a frightening flash, standing amidst the flames of Nibelheim. When his image fades to black, the collaboration title *“Final Fantasy VII x Mobius Final Fantasy”*appears on the screen. The FFVII title is surrounded by the 1997 meteor logo. Then, a flash of light: the titles reappear, except this time, they read “Final Fantasy VII REMAKE x Mobius Final Fantasy”. The new Remake Meteor logo replaces the 1997 version. As soon as these changes to the FFVIItitle and meteor logo occur, Aerith’s theme returns. It plays on until the game ends a few seconds later, the screen fading to black.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
The introduction cutscene shows that MFF Cloud travelled from Eclipse Contact to Fatal Calling via Lifestream. It’s unclear how much time has passed in between, but the atemporal nature of the Lifestream makes the question irrelevant. My theory that MFF Cloud has died is corroborated by the way he’s depicted in the opening cutscene: his eyes are closed and his body is limp as the Lifestream carries him.
Eclipse Contact ended with Echo’s claim that Cloud will face his true self and confront his past while he journeys to his Promised Land. This description resembles what Cloud experienced in the OG Lifestream sequence (disk 2, chapter 8). Indeed, Fatal Calling revolves around the same topics the Lifestream sequence addresses: the truth about the Nibelheim incident, Hojo’s experiments, young Cloud’s crush on Tifa, etc. The opening cutscene shows Cloud being transported to his Promised Land and facing his past on the way there, just like Echo said he would.
Let’s now take a long detour to examine the song that plays during the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling: “The Promised Land” theme from Advent Children. The title and general subject of this song are obviously relevant to the cutscene, but there must be more to its inclusion than that. Perhaps the lyrics can help us understand its appearance in the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling. Here are the unofficial English lyrics (translated from the original Japanese lyrics by an anonymous fan and verified by me via DeepL):

“Why do we cling together?
Why do we give punishment to lesser hearts?
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The pulse of veins flows through the earth
A faint, faint pulse
Of a heart drawn to death
A gentle life returns to the planet
Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?
Why do we cling together?
Why do we beg for forgiveness
In the Promised Land?” (“‘The Promised Land’ (theme)” by Final Fantasy Wiki).

The song appears to be a regretful lament of human behavior, expressed by the repetition of “Why do we […]?” questions. The behaviors listed are all typically human ones: the terms “[clinging] together” and “[giving] punishment to [the] lesser” express the uniquely human nature of tribalism and the consequences of the fear and hatred it can generate, and “[begging] for forgiveness in the Promised Land” is likely a reference to the human hypocrisy of only feeling sorry for one’s crimes when judgement day arrives. This last line describes a scenario where someone remains passive or ignorant in the face of something important, only to realize its essentiality once it’s too late. The repeated“The planet did not forgive us” lines reflect the fear of being condemned forever because of one’s mistakes, as though the planet is a deity one has sinned against. The lyric describing a pulse in the earth is obviously about the planet being alive— a reference to the Lifestream. But the pulse is faint and weak and the planet is dying, perishing because of mankind’s greed. This is an indictment of mako energy. The line “A gentle life returns to the planet” refers to an innocent’s soul returning to the Lifestream after death, while the next lyric “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” protests the “sacrifice” of the planet’s soul energy for mako production. In all this darkness, this song’s mention of “forgiveness in the Promised Land” leaves a modicum of hope for a better place, however meek, even though mankind might not deserve it. The song “The Promised Land” is both a lament of mankind’s ways and a plea for mercy, with religious and/or spiritual undertones. The song’s themes seem to be: the Promised Land itself, regret and shame, the sins and foolishness of mankind, the death of innocents, grief, Cetra spirituality, and a meek, quiet hope despite it all. The most interesting aspect of the song is its antithetical portrayal of death as a thing of both despair and hope, condemnation and salvation, cruelty and mercy, suffering and relief. Maybe we can glean more information about this theme’s significance in the world of FFVII if we examine the contexts in which it appears.
Importantly, the song plays in Marlene’s introductory narration of Advent Children, meaning its themes are related or similar to the film’s. I highly recommend listening and watching it again, even if you remember this iconic segment. Marlene references Aerith’s sacrifice as the image of Cloud lowering her into the water is shown. Note that Marlene says “Sadness was the price to see it end” (2:36) after we are shown Aerith’s death and her subsequent unleashing of the Lifestream (1:49-2:24): Aerith’s innocent life was sacrificed for the planet’s survival. The lyrics “A gentle life returns to the planet” and “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” suit Aerith’s situation quite well.
The theme also plays in Advent Children as Kadaj dies in Cloud’s arms (1:45:00-1:47:55), hearing Aerith’s gentle voice and reaching up to take her invisible hand. Here is what Aerith says to him in his dying moments as “The Promised Land” plays:

“Aerith’s voice: Kadaj?
Kadaj: Huh?
The dark sky has gone with Sephiroth. Healing rain starts falling from bright clouds. The rain no longer hurts Kadaj.
Aerith’s voice: You don’t have to hang on any longer.
Kadaj: Mother! Is that…?
Aerith’s voice: Everyone’s waiting, if you’re ready.
Kadaj nods his head slightly in acceptance. He holds out his hand, and slowly evaporates into the Lifestream. Cloud watches […]” (Advent Children).

Kadaj is brought into the Lifestream by Aerith as she provides rain from the Lifestream. All those with geostigma are healed by the rain, and Tifa feels Aerith’s presence as the party celebrates:

“Tifa, looking out at the falling rain […]: Somehow, I knew you were there. Thank you” (Advent Children).

Cloud stands in the rain with a smile —his first in the whole film—, closes his eyes and basks in Aerith’s healing with his face upturned. He is finally at peace:

“Cloud’s expression is one of peace as the [Lifestream] rain patters against him” (Final Fantasy VII Advent Children English script, “[83] Atop the Shinra Building”).

One thing is clear: the track “The Promised Land” accompanies Aerith. It only makes sense, since we’ve seen overwhelming evidence that she is Cloud’s Promised Land, and since she occupies the Lifestream —which some consider the Promised Land as it is where souls go after death— during the events of Advent Children. Note that when the piece plays, Cloud is shown either mourning Aerith and releasing her into the river at the Cetra capital, or basking in her presence, smiling with relief at the peaceful feeling that she’s somewhere near: these two opposing scenes reflect the song’s antithetical portrayal of death.
Additionally, the song’s themes of regret, shame concerning one’s sins and a small hope perfectly describe Cloud’s character arc and feelings in Advent Children. Cloud regrets his inability to save Aerith, which he considers a sin. Further, he only realized how important she is to him once it was too late to tell her. And of course, he harbors a fragile yet important hope that he’ll be reunited with her in the Promised Land:

“‘Can sins ever be forgiven?’ — Cloud asks this to Vincent, who mutters a brief answer. For both of them, ‘I couldn't protect my loved one’ is the sense of guilt that they carry, so their words resonate with weight” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Vincent Valentine”, “In Advent Children”, page 72).

&

"’It is my sin that I couldn't protect my loved one’ — under this assumption, Cloud closes off his heart. What will the reunion with Aerith bring him? ‘I... think I want to be forgiven. Yeah, I just want to be forgiven’” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Cloud Strife”, “In Advent Children”, page 40).

&

“Cloud, after seeing Aerith’s hand reach for him through the Lifestream: … I think I'm beginning to understand.
Tifa: What?

Cloud: An answer from the Planet… the Promised Land... I think I can meet her... there” (disk 3, chapter 3).

Just as the song and Marlene express in the introduction of the film, Aerith was innocent, and her sacrifice generated great grief. Cloud finally experiences peace when he feels her presence in the healing rain, and he smiles: he’s glad to be with her again, even if it’s only for a brief moment of tangential respite.
The scene depicts Aerith guiding Kadaj into the Lifestream as the song plays, tying her to the concept and theme song of the Promised Land once more. This connection is later solidified by Tifa’s thanks to the late flower girl. All of this evidence shows us that this musical theme is intimately linked to Aerith, as it never plays in her absence. After all, the song speaks of sins, the death of innocents, forgiveness, grief, a small sense of hope, regret and the afterlife: all themes relevant to Cloud’s feelings surrounding Aerith’s death in and outside of Advent Children.
The Remake OST also includes a version of this piece called “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life”. This iteration of the theme begins playing in the wake of the first bombing mission, right after Sephiroth taunts Cloud with his mother’s dying words in Sector 8 (chapter 2). Sephiroth appears to Cloud surrounded by flames, evoking the Nibelheim massacre, and the theme begins playing in the background once he disappears, continuing (13:17-15:30) as Cloud walks through the sector, encountering fires and destruction all around him. This version of the Promised Land theme is meant to emphasize the deaths of the innocent Nibelheim townsfolk and the innocents in Sector 8. This dreadful atmosphere is amplified by the cries of despair that ring all around as Cloud passes by NPC Sector 8 residents. Perhaps the themes of tribalism and mankind’s sin are relevant to this scene as well, since Shinra and Avalanche are two distinct and warring groups whose quarrels, regardless of their necessity, result in the deaths of innocents. The theme of guilt also emerges, reflecting the Avalanche members’ feelings upon seeing the unintended collateral damage of the explosion. “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life” plays until Cloud encounters Aerith on Loveless. So it seems in this scenario, the heavy weight of death and despair is lifted when Cloud meets the lively, cheery Aerith. Once more, Aerith is central to the musical theme of the Promised Land, as well as to the concept itself.
I also noticed that a version of the song plays as Cloud and the party ready to enter the Forgotten Capital to save Aerith in Rebirth’s chapter 14: it truly adds the weight of her upcoming death to the scene.
Back to Fatal Calling, the scene where Cloud regains his strength is quite mysterious. Wol says Cloud’s orb regained its “guiding light” light because of its proximity to the mako reactor. In the moment his strength is replenished, Cloud is shown tilting his head back and closing his eyes: this is reminiscent of the scene in Advent Children when he stands under Aerith’s healing Lifestream rain, feeling at peace. The rainbow ripples shining from the orb indicate that something is crossing the boundaries of worlds. Since the mako reactor pumps up the Lifestream, being near a reactor also means being physically near the Lifestream. This means Aerith’s spirit is within proximity. In my opinion, Aerith was able to heal Cloud from the Lifestream, just like in Advent Children. However, Aerith is not in Palamecia with him: her healing had to travel there through the Lifestream, transcending the boundaries of worlds, hence the rainbow ripples.
Let’s now address the appearance of Tifa’s character theme in Fatal Calling. Since Fatal Calling is all about discovering Cloud’s past in Nibelheim and then in Hojo’s lab, it makes lots of sense for Tifa’s theme to play as the crystal appears. In OG’s Lifestream sequence (disk 2 chapter 8), she’s the one there helping Cloud sort through his past instead of Wol and Echo. Cloud even picks up a piece of his childhood crush on Tifa in Fatal Calling as a shard of his memory. After all, this crush was the catalyst for him joining SOLDIER, and everything that transpired in consequence:

“Cloud: That was the first time I heard about Sephiroth. If I got strong like Sephiroth, then everyone might... If I could just get stronger... Then even Tifa would have to notice me” (FFVII OG, disk 2, chapter 8).

Additionally, it’s fitting that her theme should begin right after Sephiroth speaks of “[abandoning] your illusions and [facing] reality”, considering that Cloud’s false persona was concocted by Jenova using Tifa’s mistaken impressions of Cloud:

“While being tended to by a station worker in the Sector 7 Slum train station, [Cloud] was reunited with Tifa, and using the abilities of Jenova’s cells, formed a new personality” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVII World, “Cloud Strife”, “Cloud Behavior Record, Compilation of FFVII”, page 40).

&

“(Image caption:) A new personality takes shape the moment he sees Tifa” (FFVII Story Playback, “Story Check: Tifa’s Flashback”).

&

“Tifa (to Cloud): Deep down, you're a pretty nice guy. Didn't see it when we were kids, but...” (Remake, chapter 14).

NUMBER 1 VOUCHED BOOSTING GROUP ON REDDIT
https://discord.gg/kpjT5UeD
https://discord.gg/r6Scbry (IF LINK ABOVE DOESN'T WORK): VPN/OFFLINE MODE INCLUDED
I am Habooskie, a few challengegrandmaster players and I started this company to offer you a SAFE, AFFORDABLE, and EFFECTIVE alternative to sites that seem to dry you of your money and leave you feeling disappointed or unfulfilled.
Our boosters are top of the line and can individually address your questions and concerns, you are however free to reach out to me at any point through discord or reddit! Why us? We offer cheap prices with price matching, additional security measures (VPN, time schedule flexibility, offline mode), and honorable behavior (0 to bare minimum chat usage).
CURRENT PROMOTION: 50% off ALL services, including duo, coaching, solo boosting, net wins. FREE coaching/voice with the booster included with any duo order optional. New to boosting? Don't worry, we'll answer any question and address every concern accurately. We've been in this business for years.
CURRENTLY HIRING: NA, EUW, OCE boosters GM+ only
My vouch thread:https://www.reddit.com/Lolboosting/comments/11bgsm1/vouch\_thread\_for\_uhabooskie/

With all the talk lately about a vote to scrap VAR and the overwhelming response being that it's not the fault of the technology but the referees I wanted to put some ideas forward on why the technology might in fact be making the refereeing worse.
It's always been my opinion that VAR in it's current form is the worst of all worlds. Unworkable thresholds for use which leads to poor on-field decisions not being challenged, huge delays for decision making which breaks the flow of the game and ruins the goal experience and a lack of transparency in decision making. The way I see it there are two models we could follow which would be a massive improvement (or possibly a hybrid).

1. Rugby. Transparent communications for officials, the game flows while checks are being taken, retroactive decision for things like cards.
   
2. Tennis. The game flows but each team has a set number of team challenges per half (let's say 2). If a decision is challenged by a captain it can be checked by VAR. If the captain is right they keep that challenge, if it's wrong they lose it.
   

Personally I'm a fan of number two. It gives more accountability to referees and players but it gets back to the way the game used to be played pre-VAR.
What are people's thoughts?