Earth-3589
Superheroes have only been around for about Six years now, emerging in the year 2015. Peter Parker is still enrolled at ESU at 21, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson only just started their new law firm in Hell's Kitchen after graduating from Columbia last year. The Avengers are currently operating out of the brand spanking new base the Impossible City, the FF are going strong at the Baxter Building with the She-Hulk temporarily taking Thing's place, Doctor Strange is Sorcerer Supreme operating out of the Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich, the Inhumans are still on the moon in Attilan, and The X-Men are diligently teaching younger students at Charles Xavier's School for gifted Youngsters... for now.
The FF and X-men, and plenty of Street-level heroes such as Spidey and DD debuted in Year One, with the Avengers following suit in Year Two. Though the heroes that formed the Avengers such as Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Panther, etc. debuted in year one, they didn't form Earth's Mightiest Heroes until the frozen Captain America was discovered in Year Two, and then there came a day unlike any other. They operated out of Avengers Tower for the first four years, before it was eventually destroyed during an invasion by Ultron, resulting in them taking up residence in Ultron's former base the Impossible City, currently orbiting the Earth for the pst year. Current members are T'Challa (current chair person), Iron Man, Captain Marvel , Thor, Wonder Man, Beast, Scarlet Witch.
Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne both perished in the struggle against Ultron with Scott Lang already having become the second Ant-Man, and Cap is off looking for Bucky at the moment with the aid of the Falcon.
Peter Parker grew up with his parents until he was about five years old and his parents died, resulting in him being sent to live with his mother's sister May and her husband Ben (they're relatively young only about 50 at the event of Peter becoming Spider-Man). He became best friends with Harry Osborn (and they have a healthy friendship, think Insomniac for their friendship) at around ten, and they both befriended Carlie Cooper (the love of this Peter's life) in freshman year of High School. Then of course, he got bitten by the genetically altered Spider, and selfishly attempted to cash in on his powers, before learning that great Power there must also come great responsibility at a terrible price. But here's the kicker ... Aunt May died instead of Uncle Ben, the robber being an affilate under Kingpin (while Fisk didn't order the murder, the killer still worked under him).
He is good friends with Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake, with the three of them meeting every once in a while at the Statue of Liberty. He also dated Jessica Jones for a while in this reality before she got her powers, eventually ending things just before college started. Meanwhile, Uncle Ben has opened up a boarding home for seniors in his house after Peter moved out for college. J. Jonah Jameson's reputation has been permanently ruined due to his involvement in the creation of The Scorpion, and the Spot to capture Spider-Man through illegal experimentation, which resulting in mass civilian casualties in the former's quest to gain vengeance upon Jonah including his wife and son, leading to Robbie becoming Publisher of the Daily Bugle as of Year Five. And Jameson becomes embittered, blaming Spider-Man for everything that ultimately leads to Jonah embracing the identity of the Spider-Slayer.
Carlie meanwhile has always dreamed of becoming a C.S.I like her father, before recently discovering that her father was involved in a police conspiracy against the costumed heroes, resulting in her turning him in. Peter and Carlie are currently together after a very long wait, and is it actually going rather well for our webhead. Norman Osborn has not yet become the Green Goblin, however Spidey still has plenty of enemies to keep him busy such as Doc Ock, Mysterio, Kraven, and Kingpin to name a few. (Also this is a bit of an aesthetic choice for me but in this reality Peter's webs are actually red instead of white in this reality).
Ben Reilly was created by Miles Warren in Year Four, before he managed to escape and was laying low in the city for a couple of months, and after teaming up with Peter to put a stop to the Jackel, departs for San Francisco to make a life for himself as the Scarlet Spider, with help from Peter who asked the FF to help set up his identity such as forging him a G.E.D, Driver's license, Birth certificate, Etc. Peter and Ben still keep in touch and consider each other brothers.
Twins Matt and Mike Murdock grew up raised by their father Jack Murdock after the death of their mother in a tragic accident that also resulted in Matt's blindness. Matthew had always obeyed their father's wish to be more focused on books and studying to make something of himself, while Mike rebelled and preferred the world of sports and popularity. However, after his blindness Matt secretly trained with Stick to sharpen his other senses, to Eventually when the twins were sixteen they went to view their father's boxing match for the championship title and Jack refused to throw the match against due to his sons' watching, determined to show them that "Their old man may be a loser, but he ain't no quitter." Immediately after the match he was gunned down by Wilson Fisk, before he became the Kingpin. After their father's death the twins dealt with in their own ways, Mike turned to grifting in order to support himself and his brother while in the foster system, while Matt grew determined to use his training to seek justice for his father, and to gain his law degree to fulfill his father's wishes for him.
The X-Men are still in Westchester teaching the gifted Youngsters. In this reality the New Mutants team serves as a junior varsity team for any young mutants hoping to become future X-men, sort of like the big dogs on campus. However within the year things will certainly get rather... firey if you catch my drift.
Current members of the X-Men are... Magik, Colossus, Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, and Sunfire. (Also in this reality Nightcrawler takes Angel's place as one of the founding members of the X-Men.)
Current Roster for New Mutants: Armor, Pixie, Jubilee, Glob, Dust, Sunspot, and Triage.
While the big teams aren't reliably in New York due to their missions, the street-level heroes who are regularly in New York are, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist (the two already having formed Heroes For Hire in Year Three), superpowered P.I Jessica Jones, Moon Knight, and the recently emerged sixteen year olds Cloak and Dagger, having debuted about six months ago. They've all got beef with Kingpin, but none more so than Spidey and DD, with Fisk being considered both of their archnemeses .
Also Punisher's running around, only to get constantly beaten down by the other heroes, cause of his craziness.
As for the FF, the Secret Wars on Battleworld took place last year, with the Thing hanging back on Battleworld to explore the universe for a while after he shedded his rocky epidermis and (think Ultimate Marvel Ben Grimm) ,while She-Hulk has been filling his vacancy on the FF for the past year, and Sue and Reed are gratefully raising their twins Franklin and Valeria Richards.

The success of traders is not always easy, since there are hundreds of losses behind. Their lives are marked by both triumph and drama and surrounded by money, speculation and fortune.
We prepared a list of the most famous market makers, including legendary traders in history and modern day traders. Learning from mistakes, thinking ahead and being flexible has helped them become successful traders. Keep reading this article to be inspired by their great feats.

1. George Soros

George Soros, alias "the man who broke the Bank of England," was born in 1930 in Hungary. Being Jewish, he survived the Holocaust and fled the country at the time. He is one of the most popular and famous traders in the world. In England, Soros worked as a waiter or railway porter before graduating from the London School of Economics. This led him into the world of banking when he rose to the position of merchant banker at Singer & Friedlander.
With the help of his father, he moved to the United States to work at a Wall Street brokerage firm. Following his successful results at several firms, George created his hedge fund in 1970, called "Quantum." There he rose to fame.
In 1992, Soros made a huge bet against the British pound and made one billion US dollars in just 24 hours.
Quantum accumulated £3.9bn, and Soros borrowed more to raise a total of £5.5bn. But sterling began to fall. Soros then shorted the £5.5 billion against the German mark on September 16, also known as Black Wednesday. This contributed to the fall in the price of the currency and forced the United Kingdom to leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
The result was one of the fastest billion dollars anyone has ever made and one of the most famous trades in history, which later became known as “the Bank of England collapse.”

2. Jesse Livermore

Jesse Livermore's life could serve as the basis for a movie story. Born in 1877, he was destined to be a farmer, but ran away from home to become a multimillionaire. His story is wrapped up in money, lovers, bankruptcy and scandals.
At a young age, Jesse Livermore learned to read and write, became interested in news and economics, and learned to analyze prices. With experience, he mastered detecting trend reversals and popularized modern technical analysis. Livermore was one of the first to use stop losses, a risk management tool that traders still use today.
Jesse made his first $250,000 selling stocks just before the San Francisco earthquake. In 1925, he made US$3 million by shorting wheat. He then made about $100,000 in profits by short-selling American stocks before they crashed in 1929. One of the richest and most successful traders of his time, Jesse earned the nickname “The Gambling Boy.” .
However, Jesse went through several bankruptcies. He managed to get back on the market in the first two cases, but the third bankruptcy was fatal. He made a mistake and lost all his money in 1929.
Combined with family tragedies, stress, and other failures, Jesse Livermore realized he would never be able to operate the same way again. In 1940, he shot himself to death.
By the way, her son Jesse Livermore Jr. fell into the same habits as his mother, who suffered from alcoholism, and took his own life in 1975. This happened while he was drunk, after shooting his beloved dog and trying to shoot a police officer.

3. William Delbert Gann

If you are a trader who practices technical analysis, you have surely heard the name of WD Gann and his trading theory. William Delbert Gann was born in 1878 in Texas, the first of 11 children in a poor family dedicated to growing cotton. He did not finish primary or secondary school because his parents expected him to work on the farm.
Gann believed that the Bible was the best book and obtained most of his education from it. Her writing style is full of mystery, esotericism and an indirect style that many find difficult to follow.
However, Gann created powerful technical analysis tools such as Gann angles, the hexagon, the 360 ​​circle, the 9 square, and many more. Most of them are based on ancient mathematics, geometry, astronomy and astrology, and are widely used by traders today.
Critics claim that there is no real evidence that Gann did not make profits from investments in the market and that he made money selling investment books and courses. It is unclear to what extent WD Gann became rich from his trading analysis, but when he died in the 1950s, his estate was valued at just over US$100,000.
But the amazing thing is that, a hundred years ago, Gann created trading rules, ranging from basic money management principles to mind games, that still apply.

4. Paul Tudor Jones

Paul Tudor Jones is undoubtedly one of the greatest stock market insider traders in history, with an estimated net worth of around US$7.5 billion.
After graduating from the University of Virginia in 1976, Paul began trading cotton futures on the New York Cotton Exchange. As a curious fact, he lost his job because he fell asleep at his desk after a night of partying with his friends. Paul then worked as a commodities broker and, in 1980, he founded his investment and trading company, Tudor Investment Corporation. The fund managed to achieve a 100% return during its first five years, which is a surprising fact for today.
Paul's biggest prediction was the market crash of 1987, known as Black Monday. Thanks to his accurate prediction, Jones made about $100,000 in profit instead of losing money.
Paul Tudor Jones developed his own trading strategy, which helped him be successful. His main rule is to be consistent and not expect quick money. His great risk management skills and realistic expectations of his possible operations allowed him to have a stable income.

5. Jim Rogers

From his youth, Jim Rogers had business acumen selling peanuts and used plastic thrown away by baseball fans. He graduated with honors in History and obtained a second degree in Economics from the University of Oxford. Currently, Rogers' estimated net worth is over 300 million US dollars.
In 1964, Rogers joined Dominick & Dominick, LLC on Wall Street, where he traded stocks and bonds. But from 1966 to 1968, Jim was in the Army during the Vietnam War.
Two years after his military service, Jim joined an investment bank where he met his partner George Soros. In the early 1970s, they co-founded the Quantum Fund, which gained an impressive 4,200% in ten years.
The biggest skill that helped Rogers become a successful trader was his ability to make clear forecasts. In the 1990s, he was right in his bullish forecasts on commodities. Jim has also criticized the inability of the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve to fight rising inflation, warning that it could worsen before stabilizing.
When he retired, Rogers embarked on a three-year tour of 116 countries in a custom-built Mercedes. He broke the world record for the longest car trip made uninterrupted. He also wrote books detailing his adventures.
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So I've had this curved monitor for a couple years now and I've always had this feeling that it's off-center, but when I move it to the center of my desk facing straight out, it looks like it's curving off to the left.
I cant get it in a photo so I'm assuming it's just my brain messing with me, but man this is really getting on my nerves. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it just something I need to get used to? Am I going insane?

I was seeing a man for about 6 months. The first few were going really well, i liked his company, it seemed like he really liked mine. This isn't a thing of only using me for sex i think, at least not in the beginning. He was pushing for a relationship at the 4th date, up until about 3 to 4 months in. The whole time we wete texting basically all day everyday, eventually he started being distant. Not all at once but it turned from at least 4 times a week we'd see each other, eventually down to twice or once a week. Then i finally confronted him, we hadn't seen each other in 3 weeks. I was the main person to break it off. During the talk, he acted confused like he wasn't the one to suggest a relationship. When i told him how he'd changed, he said he thought he could do a relationship, but he'd actually not in a good place for one. I told him he's known a while now and should've told me before, he said it was only one week but still apologized. For context, he had gotten out of a bad/ slight abusive maybe relationship of 5 years a couple months before we started seeing each other. Apparently she was really mean to him all the time after a while and i guess it took him a while to leave. I asked him when he knew he didn't like me anymore, and he said it's not that more so that he knew he was being emotionally unavailable to me and wasn't being fair. I don't really believed him because he was never really one to talk like that to me. It feels like something he had saved up to use, but i have prior trauma to something similar to this situation, so i could be mistaken. I was just wanting a mans perspective. Is it really possible to like a woman and not notice that you haven't been seeing her or being weird to her, like not acting how you did when you first started persuing her? It all feels like bs to me.

Throwaway because idk if they'll see this or not. I just really need to get this off my chest somewhere. Sorry for format I'm on my phone.
My online friend of almost a decade is 21. She is one of those people who believes in the good in everyone and gnores red flags in relationships. So she doesn't have the best relationship experiences. Horrible history with them. I have helped her realize those red flags before it was too late before, but this time it's different.
When her ex boyfriend/best friend died and her current boyfriend dumped her, she was having trouble grieving and was making bad choices. Avoiding the situation.
One night she got high, went on bumble and matched with man who was 45 (she was 20) matched with her. In her words basically he thought she was older, and she thought he was younger. She wasn't looking for a relationship or a hook up and he said the same. Alarm bells ringing in my head as I know exactly what is happening because, I and many sadly went through the same. Despite being "only friends" they ended up "falling for each other" and he took her virginity. Which was a HUGE deal.
I recognized all of the signs. The trauma I have from my own experiences caused a fight between me and the dude as well as a a falling out between my friend and I. Thinking I was just projecting I did some serious work on myself; learned how to take responsibility and how to control my triggers.
A couple months went by, I reached out to tell her I was sorry and explain why I acted that way, which she knew already. She knows everything about me and my entire life and I know hers. I also gave her the reality of him and her. Letting her know how common it is for older men to prey upon younger women who are vulnerable and manipulate and take advantage of them and groom them. She accepted my apology. We made up and she let me know me they were broken up and she was talking to someone. Ngl I was relieved.
When catching about about the months we weren't talking she mentioned something about him almost taking her life. Not anything specific, just that she was almost murdered. She let me know that she said she didn't want to talk about it or say anything more about it, which I respected and didn't pry. She was alive safe that's all really mattered. She did reference that situation once after that but never anything other than she almost was killed. Everything seemed fine. I was wrong.
A month later she calls me crying and it slips out she has a boyfriend. When asked why she didn't tell me she had a boyfriend she said "because I didn't want you to be mad at me for being in a relationship" which made no sense because her and I both know that's not the case ever. I was never mad in the first place, just worried. That was acknowledged when we started talking again. I let it pass after because there was more important things going on. I did ask after why she thought I would be mad but was left on read.
A couple weeks later everything is fine. She calls me and we talk about a celebrity that did something to get them in major trouble. Talking about how immature that celebrity was acting, she mentions how her boyfriend agrees and is way older than said celebrity. I hoped it wasn't the same guy but she slipped out his name and it made sense why she thought I get mad at her when she is in a relationship. My heart broke because I knew he got to her again.
Not long ago she randomly mentions her fiancé and then says boyfriend. I'm shocked and asked her what she meant by fiancé? She then let's me know how she's getting married and that she's engaged. Tells me how they decided not to get legally married though. I can be fine with that but it was the fact that I wasn't the first person she told after she got engaged. I try not to say anything and accept it and convince myself it's probably not that bad it's only my trauma making me think that.
Skip to today, after talking on the phone I text her saying I'm ok with his age and why. Her response was not how she would respond, it wasn't how she texts if you know what I mean. She knows everything about me including the trauma related to why I'm ok with his age. So her rude dismissive response was not like her at all and I know he was responding for. It's most likely he told her to hang up when she did.
I know I can't say anything to her. I can tell it's too late. If she's not even talking about her own wedding with me and when we talk it's only phone calls and texts. When we usually video chat. Her fiancé came into the room while we were on the phone because she said "hi babe how was work" and that voice recognized replied. We continue our conversation and I'm apparently on speaker. He randomly joins the conversation and I knew it was too late.
If it makes this any more understandable at all I am a male, I'm bi which he knows and I'm in my early 20's.

I may be over analyzing what I have been seeing lately, but I would love to hear y’all’s opinions as well.
Have you guys noticed how common it is to see interracial couples (specifically Black and White couples) within advertisements versus seeing a strictly black couple ?
MORE specifically, I feel as though I am more likely to see a black man paired with a white woman than a black woman paired with a white man. This isn’t necessarily me complaining nor ranting, just wondering am I over exaggerating.

My partner and I are both in our 30s. I am divorced with a couple kids and he has no kids. We’ve been together for less than a year and although we love each other, we are taking things slow and being intentional with our lives together.
Oh, except I got pregnant by accident.
We are not securely committed to each other enough (I wouldn’t feel secure enough unless we were married tbh) for me to want to go through with it.
But I know he will want me to keep it. He wants a baby and to be a biological father badly, and has gotten teary telling me how hard it is to know his opportunity might have passed at our age.
I’m so worried that he won’t see how it is not the right time to introduce a baby and he will just be happy to have a baby with someone he loves. Which is objectively lovely, but I know our relationship isn’t strong enough for this yet.
Has anyone gone through the abortion process and stayed together? How can I help him not be resentful of me? I won’t have a baby to keep a man, but my priority is to my existing relationships.
Advice? Tips? Stories? Anything.

It's been almost two months since my ex ghosted me. I've been riding the waves of grief and so far I've been doing pretty well. Got bored a few days ago and installed a few dating apps: Tinder, Bumble, OKC, Coffee Meets Bagel. I carefully worked on my profile and spent a few hours on each app, aggressively swiping. After a couple of days, I got fed up with the mindlessness of it all, paused my accounts, and uninstalled everything. I felt like a fraud and I couldn't do it. Too early I guess. I hate the man but goddamn I miss my ex so much. I'm steadfast in keeping NC but now and then I wonder how he's doing.

I, female 17, have been with my boyfriend male 18, for 8 months. I had previously been in an abusive relationship for 1 1/2 years before this, and left the man 2 days before I got with my current boyfriend. Let’s call him mark. Mark has been incredible, super nice and understanding, and we have both had very similar lives. (Drug parents, adopted my grandma, terrible exes who cheated, you get it.) lately, we’ve gotten into a couple arguments on petty things. We both have friends of the other gender, that we do not hangout with outside of school. Mine however, always apparently seem to like me which I do not believe. I don’t comment on who he talks to out of trust, but he seems to get very jealous when I talk or laugh with another guy. A couple days ago, I had explained how I’ve been feeling and that I want time with my friends too instead of always him. That I don’t want something wrong to happen every day, and that I don’t want to keep dropping my guy friends because he believes they like me for no logical reasoning. He had blown up and said I was a pos and that I always laugh with them which is not true. I have tried communicating, but he jumps to assuming. If I don’t want to make out in front of other people or my family, he thinks that I don’t want to be near him. I have no idea what to do at this point and I want to know if I’m doing something wrong here. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi, I hope this is allowed.
I have Been with partner 31M for 7 years. I am 27F. We have a house and child and are getting married this year. Were are mostly happy but sometimes I’m not sure if I settled and I want more happiness and adventure.
I’ve been in a lot of pain due to an endometrial cyst so we stopped having sex recently. Since then I’ve been getting no attention and when I’ve tried he clearly doesn’t want me near him. We have spoken about this, and he says he does love me but doesn’t know how to show me? Whatever that means.
I recently went on holiday and met a lovely man of my dreams that was very interested in me. Nothing happened but he did keep making passes and he did want to meet up a few times. We didn’t meet up. We swapped numbers so as a group we could meet at a party later on in the holiday. Both groups had already booked this so we said we’d meet them there for a drink.
Since the party we have texted very innocently a couple of times. My partner knows we met this group and I said we swapped numbers so we could meet later in the holiday as a group but said it was all innocent. Which it was.
Is this normal behaviour. I feel like I’ve done something majorly wrong although nothing happened, i have had thoughts about him and wondered what would happen if I was single. Do you think it’s just cold feet about getting married or must things not be right to be feeling like this. I think I just enjoyed some attention.
I know I should delete his number and stop this but I’m enjoying just talking.
Thanks.

TW: Child Abuse
I’ve been married for 5 years to a man I’ve known for over a decade. We met in college and we were best friends before we started dating. He’s the best husband and father in the world. He’s loving, kind, strong, protective, hard working, affectionate and gentle. I am a stay at home mom and he works all day, but he is still very involved with our kids and helps me around the house. Needless to say, I think he hung the moon.
The only problem is I’ve been keeping an abusive past secret from him. My parents were very physically and emotionally abusive. My husband knows I have a difficult relationship with them but that’s about it. He doesn’t know that they used to beat me, spit in my face, throw things at me and call me horrible names. He doesn’t know that, even though my parents made lots of money, there was never any food in our house. He doesn’t know that they refused me medical care on several occasions. I basically just told him “it’s complicated and my relationship with them is difficult and strained”. When we started dating I was too ashamed to tell him. He came from such a good home and his parents are amazing people. I was afraid he would think I was weird or that I had too much baggage.
To be completely honest, my past didn’t impact my life much until I became a mom. When my first baby was born I started having flashbacks and nightmares. No matter how much I try I can’t understand how someone can abuse their child. I love my babies so much and I only want them to feel love and accepted by me.
Recently my husband and I go into a pretty big fight. The fight was over something really stupid but he yelled (I’ve only seen him raise is voice a couple times since we’ve been together and this was the first time he’s ever yelled at me) and I broke completely down. I felt an overwhelming urge to hide. I felt like a little kid again trying to avoid getting beat. He stepped towards me and I involuntarily flinched and that really hurt and offended him.
He’s never laid a hand on me so I definitely understand why he’s offended. We talked it out, I told him I’ve always been a little sensitive to yelling but that’s all I said. He reassured me that I don’t ever have to worry about him physically hurting me.
I think I need counseling but if I started seeing a counselor he would want to know why. I’m also scared he will be mad that I kept this from him. I know I probably need to tell him everything but I’m scared it will change the way he sees me.

Me: Wouldn't it be fun to wait to post this in the summer so you can say happy Christmas in July for once? Also me: that's a terrible joke. Just publish the thing.
Apologies for publishing in 2 parts. I'm not trying to drag it out I'm just aware this is the length of 2 episodes, reddit will only allow me 20 pics per post, and there's just too much going on for our beloved idiot in this one, so. I'm pacing myself.
It's not Christmas in July, it's Christmas 1919 at Downton and I spent an embarrassing amount of time wondering if Mr Fellowes really wants me to believe that the Crawleys decorated the Goliath of Christmas trees themselves (they didn't, but I like that Mary was sipping her tea and offering her view on things. Queen👑 ).
Plus, the setup for this episode intro had an actual checklist:
Tree? Check
Family arriving? Check
Violet judging this year's Christmas cards and looking for the contenders for worst cards of the year (they judge them on both content, and actual card)? Check
https://preview.redd.it/ul3aegl7cv0d1.jpg?width=710&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1c86f2409e193f7f68461f9ca06c72c7c424af66
Anna gets a gold heart brooch from Mary and Mrs Hughes is as excited about it as she is. Also, I can see the inspo for the entire Anna/Mary tag on AO3 right here. And Mrs Hughes ships it.
Just kidding, Bates is in prison, and we're all very sad.
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https://preview.redd.it/wxhn89x9cv0d1.jpg?width=710&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04d813b9202a58a7c31f35d6b398bb6d53ced28b
Carlisle is wondering why the Crawleys are being kind to their servants by letting them have some time off at lunchtime on Christmas Day, and I'm wondering if anyone (namely, us, the viewers) is supposed to be surprised by his behaviour.
I mean, blackmailing Lavinia just because? Blackmailing Mary into an engagement with him? Trying to manipulate Anna and Carson? Being physically abusive to Mary, and trying to control her life and behaviour? Bringing Lavinia back to "sacrifice" her to a lifetime as Matthew's nurse, so Mary won't spend that much time with Matthew (not because there was something off about that, just that Carlisle didn't want her to)?
He is an asshole. He was an asshole. He will always be an asshole. Glad we're finally all on the same page.
​
https://preview.redd.it/9liw4xiffv0d1.jpg?width=599&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c42f7ad05949a4b2d705057fa92af48030b7c46
Matthew and Mary are exchanging presents behind Robert's head in one scene and I'm very upset by it. Please, if anyone has any ideas, submit what you think they got each other for Christmas.
If you need any inspiration, here's what people would buy each other as presents in the 1920s according to the British Newspaper Archives:
Lots of cigarette paraphernalia Cocktails Banjos PENCILS Dance Frocks Shaving Kits Vacuum Cleaners
Keep that list in mind if you're disappointed with your presents next year.
​
https://preview.redd.it/9y1mgw5fcv0d1.jpg?width=996&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc993eeff4617e298b7ab85b9c8266ac3f683942
Matthew got a telephone call telling him that Mr Swire is very ill, and he will got to London to visit him. Mary gives him some condolences and he says "I'm sorry if I'm casting a gloom". I have a feeling the poor man had been pretty depressed for quite long, probably perked up a bit for Christmas and thought he was bringing the mood down again, but Mary responds with compassion. Oh Matthew.
Carlisle saw Mary go after Matthew in the hall, to ask about Mr Swire, and literally took his newspaper with him and followed her out there because that's completely normal behaviour. Just picture the ridiculousness of it: Mary and Matthew talking about Mr Swire and Bates' trial, romantic themes that they are, and Carlisle is so annoyed by it he's standing there in the background. Reading a newspaper, just to make sure they know he's still around (who could forget, mate).
Also, Mary saying she'll attend Bates' trial to support Anna, and Matthew immediately going "Would you like me to go with you?". Because of course he wants to support Mary in all things.
And this is Matthew's first villainous act for the episode: He asks Carlisle "or will YOU do that?" as in, since you're here, will you be supporting Mary in this endeavour.
Of course he isn't. Carlisle could never understand the concept of being there as emotional support for a Servant. He can't even understand why one would give a servant a few hours off on Christmas Day.
And just like that, Matthew scores one point in showcasing that Carlisle is a waste of space.
Matthew's Villainy points so far: 1
​
https://preview.redd.it/m927qezhcv0d1.jpg?width=996&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de05e12b244424e5fe126c6be6bab3597c83549b
Btw, Matthew has a few sets of looks reserved for Carlisle: Derision, derision, and more derision.
​
https://preview.redd.it/ujldjjrkcv0d1.jpg?width=696&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a4e7e1312a82e1632254aff103056c775a33db4
They're playing charades (aka The Game), Mary is mimicking falling down, Matthew has a front row seat to it, and they're not playing on the same team so she can't rely on him to guess. Which means he can sit back and have the time of his life.
Carlisle complains about not liking the game and I'm left to wonder why he wanted that life so much since he could find nothing to enjoy in it.
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Mary IS still trying with him, however. He complains again on New Years Eve about the servants having some time off, and she reasons that it only happens twice a year, and he complains again that she doesn't understand because she didn't have to work for what she has.
Fellowes finally does the work on these two. I was having a conversation with another user recently, who was wondering why Mary picked Carlisle when she could have picked someone like Evelyn Napier.
Let's forget the Pamuk Scandal for a moment. Mary clearly wanted something more other than a traditional marriage. When we meet her, she's 21. She already has a husband in her pocket, if all she wanted was a position in society and a title, she'd have already been married to Patrick in 1912. But clearly, she wanted more out of life than to be someone's wife.
She wanted love, and she wanted to have something to do, whatever that was. She would have found both in Matthew, if things hadn't gone to complete shit, so why not consider Carlisle (back when he seemed normal)?
He was a working, self-made man, so he was interesting to her. He wasn't the run-of-the-mill rich boy she'd been exposed to her entire life, and if she married him she'd have a job in establishing him in London society and helping him build his empire. She'd Work, in short. She'd be allowed to use her brain.
But they don't match. At all. He offered her a marriage of convenience, and then was upset that she loved someone else, when Carlisle never offered her love in the first place. She wanted to be able to go about her life, he wanted her under his thumb to do his bidding. She was raised to have a certain respect for other people (e.g. the servants in the house), he thought that because he had money he could do whatever the fuck he wanted.
In short, they don't work together. Not even taking into account he was blackmailing her with a scandal, and Matthew was off stage left being Villainous (according to Carlisle. Villain, Perseus, it's all a matter of perspective.)
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I love how they contrast Carlisle's ruthlessness with Matthew's compassion (and look how she looks up to him). Because Matthew is also a working man, but he's kind. And even though he didn't have any connection to mr Swire anymore, he stood by him in his hour of need, to the bitter end.
Speaking of contrasting Carlisle's assholery to Matthew:
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Rosamund's WhatsHisFace of a suitor points out there's only three women following the shoot, and they should divide their time between the men taking part in said shoot (God forbid women are not around to entertain these assholes gents). Carlisle immediately rebuffs him before Mary can get a word in, saying "Lady Mary will stand by ME". Mary is about to, very politely, put him in his place, when Matthew comes in for his second act of Villainy so far, saying "I thought you said you'd stand by me for the first shoot, isn't that what you said?"
He doesn't push her to go with him, he's just giving her an exit plan. So that Mary doesn't have to bring herself in an awkward position in front of all those people, to defend her right to an opinion. And Mary takes it. Of course she does. She can show Carlisle he doesn't get to dictate what she does, and do so in a way that doesn't create gossip.
Matthew's Villainy points so far: 2
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Look how he looks at her. He's so happy she took him up on it. Whatever else happened beyond this, they were friends. He cared for her, and she cared for him. And he has her back here, and she accepted it, so easily. And that made him happy (and so, so smug. A true Villain).
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She loves how un-selfconscious he is. She's always loved it, all those years ago at the flower show when he'd mock himself for her benefit, to make her laugh. He does it here still but now she's not surprised by it, just endlessly fond. Dozens of men spent years showing off their (probably mediocre) skills, to win her favour, and of course she'd fall for the guy who was just being honest. Mary likes honesty, she never got much of it. Her world is a show of mirrors where nothing is what it seems, and it must have been so refreshing to be with someone who was exactly what he showed the world. It's only sad that it took her so long to realise that just as she loved him for who he was, he'd do the same. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"He does rather beg to be teased" - this asshole has been deliberately messing with Carlisle for ages, hasn't he. I've only counted 2 Villainy points, but I bet he earned himself dozens before. Whenever he'd get pissed off at something Carlisle said he'd just whisk Mary away, just to show him that he could, even if Carlisle was the fiance, Matthew was still an important person in her life, and he'd always be, and he made sure Carlisle knew that (and took great, great enjoyment in it).
Mary: The awful truth is, he’s starting to get on my nerves. Still, you’re not the person to burden with that.
Matthew: You’re still going to marry him, though.
Mary: Of course. Why wouldn’t I.
Matthew is not happy about this. He appears to not understand it, and I wish I could give him a a nice shake. Regardless of the information he doesn't have, Matthew, mate, it's not like she hasn't met other men. Like it or not, most of your lot back in the day belonged in the bin.
And Mary, as a high-society woman, didn't have a lot of options. She had to get married. And at least Carlisle wanted to buy Haxby, she'd be near her family, spend time in London. Before she'd have hoped to actually get some work done, within the capacity her marriage would allow her, but with things being as they are with Carlisle I think she's now hoping he'd be busy with his work and she could get on with her days and maybe not see much of him, as most couples of their class did. And that's not taking into account the actual reason why Mary thinks she absolutely Must marry Carlisle.
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Also, Matthew, let's not pretend you'd like any man she brought home. So either take a deep breath and confess some things, or get on with it.
Carlisle asks Mary why she and Matthew were laughing together. He asks "Am I never to be free of him?" and her answer is, of course not. Because, of course not. First of all, sorry to say Richard, but, they're a package deal.
I can't see either one of them giving up the other willingly, not after all this. But of course, the main thing is the aristocracy thing. He's the head of the family, you'll see A Lot of Matthew, if you and Mary get married. And Matthew has spent almost every minute of the episode so far making sure Richard knows this. One would say, he's trying to push him out (like a villain), through his sheer presence in Mary's life.
"I might understand if you let me think for a solitary minute that you preferred my company to his."
Here's another problem: He should know, this wasn't part of their terms. Of course, he's not an aristocrat, so he's not aware of how loveless marriages of convenience work, but since it WAS a loveless marriage of convenience he was offering, I wonder why THE FUCK, he demands her attention now.
Mary would perform her duty to him. She'd be the best hostess London ever saw. She'd be the pretty wife on his arm, and she'd charm his contacts, and she'd be the stepping stone for him to be accepted in aristocratic circles, and she'd give him children and hold his house. And yes, she'd love spending time with her family, and that included Matthew.
Richard is just being a petty, controlling, fuck. Because he wants more than she's willing to offer, and he wants more than what he'd originally asked. So he, can shove it.
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Richard: I’ve done everything I can to please you.
Mary: Do you mean you bought a large and rather vulgar house?
Richard: You cannot talk to me like that! What have I done to deserve it? What?!
Would you like a list of your crimes, Richard? I've posted it a bit further above.
Also, Mary. She was hoping he'd offer her an interesting life (before he turned out to be an asshole). But all he's offered so far is the same old bullshit she's been offered all her life: A big empty (emotionless) house.
A demanding husband. A life full of constraints and limitations, set to her by a husband who expects to dictate everything she does.
It's at this point that Matthew, clearly the villain of the story, shows up because he hears Richard yelling at Mary and that just won't do.
My beloved idiot covers for Richard here. And she does it because of something she said to Matthew before "He's starting to get on my nerves, but you're not the person to burden with that."
She doesn't want Matthew to feel like he has to come to her rescue. She heard him, when he told her they can't be together (many times) in the previous episodes. And she loves him, so she's let him be. She knows he's got his own troubles, that he's been through a lot, and that shows with how she watches him walk away with a fair bit of worry in her eyes. Plus, she doesn't want him to do anything for her out of obligation. She just wants them to be friends, and friends don't solve your marital (or, in this case, pre-marital) problems. They can provide comedic relief, and support, but that's about it.
And as we said, Matthew is clearly the villain of this story.
Speaking of which, Matthew interrupted Richard's yelling at Mary so, I guess that means - Matthew's Villainy points so far: 3
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Speaking of friends: Matthew will be there, for Mary (and Anna) at Bates' trial, and Mary asks to be there when he brings back Mr Swire's ashes, since the man wanted to be buried next to his daughter (who had to be buried at Downton, and not near her home in London, for maximum guilt-trip points I guess).
I love how those two care, and support each other in difficult times. It IS what friends do. Of course, Carlisle is not happy about that either. And listen, if he was in love with Mary, I'd be very understanding. I'd be telling him to cut his losses and run. I'd be empathising. But I'm like, you've been an absolute tool for years now mate, how am I supposed to see your POV, when you're basically worrying that if those two, at some point, get their heads out of their asses and realise they make a great couple, you'll lose your trophy wife you've trapped in a marriage, through sheer luck (on your end).
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Carlisle, after that entire day of watching Mary and Matthew having a nice time out with the family, pressures Mary to set a wedding date. Mary wants to wait, I guess she hopes for some godly intervention because she definitely doesn't see any other way out of her current situation, and he goes so far as to literally grab her, and in front of her family too.
I'm finally not the only one who wants to shoot him dead. Of course, Robert won't do anything about it because when has Robert ever done anything for Mary (so far), but Matthew looks tempted.
(I had to cut out poor Carson because there's too many people on this frame as it is, but shout out to him for also worriedly watching in the background).
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Matthew: Mary. Can I help?
Mary: After today, I won’t insult you by asking what you mean.
Matthew: You don’t have to marry him, you know. You don’t have to marry anyone. You’ll always have a home here as long as I’m alive.
First of all, I LOVE, that his reaction was to ignore Carlisle, run after Mary, and ask her if he can help. He's not offering to be a saviour. Mary doesn't need one of those (she does need to find that steel in her spine though). But he's offering to support her, and he says it in a way that implies he'd do pretty much anything she asked (Do you want to poison him? I'll help carry him to the pigs pen).
Second of all, Matthew, you absolute Idiot.
Mary supporting you in your grief, you supporting her with Bates' trial, that's normal friend behaviour.
You telling her she can LIVE with you forever, and so she doesn't have to Marry Any Man, is so, so dumb.
What is she going to live with you as, Matthew? Your cousin again? Where is the cousinl-y behaviour line drawn? Private dinners? Maybe with some candles and soft music? Holidays in Europe together?
Also, where is that imaginary limit you've put to your happiness with her for the sake of Lavinia's (very real, according to canon) ghost, mate?
You clearly seem happy enough to spend time with Mary, support her, laugh with her. Is it just the romance that's killing your mood?
Is it that that's the harshest punishment Matthew could imagine, spending his life next to Mary without actually spending his life WITH her, or is it that in spite of how much he wanted to suffer for his mistake, he just couldn't bring himself to cut ties entirely? Or is it that her happiness was more important than his self-imposed martyrdom, so he couldn't keep himself away and let her throw away her life for God knows what (her own mistake, is the answer, because they both like making themselves suffer for past sins. They've got A LOT in common).
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Mary: Didn’t the war teach you never to make promises? And anyway, you’re wrong. I do have to marry him.
Matthew: But why? Not to prove you’ve broken with me, surely? We know where we stand. We’ve no need for...gestures.
Mary: If I told you the reason, you’d despise me, and that I really couldn’t bear.
She makes me so sad. She's so certain she'll be ruined and kicked out of her house if the scandal ever came out.
And I get it. It was how she'd been raised. And all she's heard so far is how she's "a slut" and "damaged goods" and Mary's self-image is in tatters. She doesn't view herself as anyone worth fighting for, she doesn't want anyone else to fight for her, and she won't even fight for herself, and to me that's the saddest part of all.
She's entirely defeated, has been for a long time. This entire season. She's taken every blow and hasn't dodged them at all. Welcoming Lavinia, accepting Matthew as a friend and nothing more. Being by his side when he got injured, taking care of him and accepting his rejection without a peep. Listening to him announce his wedding and helping Lavinia plan it. Baring herself to Carlisle, giving him "the tools to destroy her", willingly, to salvage the family name, and to help Bates. And later letting Matthew call her, and himself "cursed", and walking away from it, somehow. Probably because she believes it.
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She told Carson, after Pamuk died, that "she knows what it means to be happy, but she knows she herself will never be happy" and she has proved to have embraced that sentiment, fully. Her despair back then is reflected here. Mary is not looking for happiness. She's just looking for cover. Some place where she can be sure she won't be hurt anymore.
She didn't believe that would be in a marriage with Matthew, and Matthew's strict morals so far, and his own self-hatred, have only further proven to her that she had been correct. She thinks that if Matthew can't excuse himself a kiss with a woman he loved, he won't ever excuse her having sex with a man she didn't love. And for all the unhappiness, all the cold comfort she sees in her future, she at least has his friendship. And how could she ever risk losing that? What would she be left with? Who else is there in the world, that supports her like he has? Her mother, who brought back Lavinia to push her away from Matthew? Her father? Who values the family above all else? Nothing. And no one. Just Matthew.
So she can bear Carlisle's cruelty, his moods and his demands. And she can bear the thought of living life on his arm to be paraded around London society for his benefit. But she can't bear the thought of Matthew thinking ill of her. Can't bear having him look at her the way her mother, or her sister did. And she's so honest here in her pain. She hasn't shown any of it, of the backloads of it, to anyone other than Anna, all season. But she can't keep it in now, after all that, in front of Matthew.
My poor broken child 💔
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She hears Cora yell her name and there's despair in her eyes. Even now she has family obligations to fulfil, so whatever emotional breakthrough she could have made, gets interrupted because heaven forbid she's not there for the Crawleys to play card games with.
Before I forget, Matthew goes after Mary, hoping to help her in her hour of need therefore, Matthew's Villainy points so far: 4
Matthew directs that accusatory look to Cora and I'm so proud of him for that. Cora's involvement in Mary's life has been nothing short of catastrophic. With her only saving grace being the fact that she wasn't actually willing to throw her daughter out of her house. I don't know how she gets to be so worried about the situation now, considering it's, largely, of her own making.
This whole season has been about pain and loss, in its various forms. And Mary's has been largely contained, because that's who she is, she keeps everything close to her heart, especially the things that hurt her. But it's all spilling out in this episode. There's so many things she can't contain, like Carlisle's jealousy, her own grief, at this point, after so many years. And for all those who look, it's the most obvious thing in the world, that Mary is suffering.
Well. Almost all.
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Robert calls Carlisle grabbing Mary in front of her family "an awkward moment", and calls Mary "tired" of Carlisle.
Yes, Robert. Of all the things Mary is feeling at the moment, tiredness is one of them. Not sure if it's the most obvious one, but with you I've learned to bring a small basket.
He also, unlike Matthew, doesn't respect Mary enough to go up to her and ask her if she needs anything from, idk, her father. Some help, some advice. He asks his wife to tell him if he's overlooked anything, and how is the answer to that not "Pretty much everything that's ever happened in this house".
And at this point, I will leave you, because we're half way through and I've already hit both my word, and my image limit. The first one is self-imposed, for the second one, send your grievances @ reddit.

I posted here a couple days ago and it seems I'm an "outcome 1" situation (I think?) in that I am currently an undeclared German citizen (assuming my paternity is confirmed which im 90% sure its all in order). I havent heard many other cases like mine where the initial German ancestor (my grandmother) was born as a dual citizen of a foreign country. I saw on some posts that you'll need the "German birth certificate of the initial ancestor" but I assume my Oma has a Canadian birth certificate? Will this along with her active German passport be enough? Are there any other documents I'll need in my case considering the aforementioned? Will my Oma need to show her record of divorce?
For context these are the details of my ancestry that I included on my previous post:

• Grandmother was born in Canada on February 24th 1956 to two German citizens who moved here in the 50s so she has dual citizenship and passport of both Germany and Canada (automatically since birth I believe). I don't believe my great grandparents ever became Canadian citizens but if they did I assume it was after my oma was born since she has always been a dual citizen. She married a Canadian man before my fathers birth June 28 1974
• Father was born in wedlock on July 20th 1978, Canada
• I was then born August 3rd 2001 in Canada out of wedlock to him and my Canadian mother
• My oma divorced my grandfather in or around 2014

I found out last August my husband has been chatting and masturbating online with women. I almost divorced him then but he convinced me that he would seek help and that he has a sex problem. That he loves be blah blah blah, point is I fell for it. I haven’t found much since then and I know because he is getting good at hiding it. Well today I found out that he has an account with Flingr and has been talking to women there and they have been sending him messages too. I haven’t talked to him about it yet because he is still at work. I don’t know what to do. I feel betrayed, in my eyes I feel like this is cheering. He promised me he would never do anything to hurt me again and how sorry he was and cried and everything. We used to do couples counseling and we felt that we were in a good place so he stopped going but I continued. Little bastard. He is nothing but a liar. He even forgot my birthday yesterday. I had a feeling he was doing something because he never wants to be intimate with me. I found out last August he has always done this and I just was too stupid to know. Probably because I work and have three kids and was too busy. What an excuse right?! I’m so angry but I want to know if I’m just overreacting? Is this normal??? I don’t think I have the stomach for this anymore. Is it too much to ask for someone to love and want only me? Is it coded in the man DNA to be such a sick asshole. Please tell me, I want to know.

When I (24F) was 20 my father passed away very suddenly during covid. It was an extremely traumatic time, it happened in may of 2020 so beginning of COVID. My parents lived abroad so I had managed to fly to the country they lived in before borders shut, but my brother (35M) was stuck in the UK.
My grandma (father’s side) passed away 6 weeks ago before him from COVID. He went in to hospital for stent surgery but had a massive stroke and was in a coma for two weeks before passing away. It was just my mother and I dealing with the whole situation as my brother could not get into the country.
Since then, my mother and I are extremely close, I would say borderline co-dependent on my side. She is my best friend and biggest supporter and I genuinely cannot live without her. Since my brother is much older, far more independent and lives further away from us, I feel like I am closer to my mother than him.
Three years on from my father’s death, my mum finally got onto the dating apps. I was all for this as I know how left out she now feels with her ‘couple’ friends and deserves someone to go on adventures and have fun with. She started a relationship with a man in 2023. There were red flags from the start, and the first time I met him was a long weekend at home, the week before my final exams of university and also the anniversary of my dad’s death. The timing couldn’t be worse, and I absolutely hated the fact that he was in my house. At the end of the weekend I couldn’t hide my feelings and confided in my mum. She completely understood how I felt and regretted the way things happened.
Since then, I always had a bad feeling about him. I didn’t like spending time with him and hated it when she would go on and on about his life and his children. Eventually, things didn’t work out and I was happy for that. My mum was very concerned about how I felt. She couldn’t understand why I couldn’t be happy for her, and why I wouldn’t feel relieved that when I’m not around, she has someone to spend time with. I couldn’t put my finger on the reasoning, except for the horrible circumstances of how I had met her ex. I told her that in the future, when the situation is dealt with properly, things would be different.
6 months later, she has found a new love interest. He sounds nice and I can’t find any red flags, yet there’s still something inside me that hates it when she talks about him and their future together. She wants me to meet him soon, by going to his house and having him cook dinner for us. I know that this is the right way to do things, but I still do not know why I feel this way. It has been 4 years since my dad passed, I know there’s not a timeline for grief but it should be long enough for me to able to accept a new partner for my mum. I thought I didn’t like her ex because of the circumstances but I haven’t even met this one and still feel the same way. In my ideal scenario, she would have a boyfriend that she has fun with and travels with when I’m not around, but I would never have to meet him. I only want to spend time with her without him, like an out of site out of mind scenario. Why do I feel this way?? What can I do to get over it so I’m not in the way of my mums relationship???
If I said I didn’t like him, she would always pick me first, but i know it’s not fair. How do I find peace in this situation?? My brother is the complete opposite, he truly wants whatever makes mum happy and is more than willing to meet her partners.

Hello reddit, first post on this sub and it is a juicy one!
I just played a session, literally finished like two hours ago, and I am still clutching my head because of this, it is INSANE.
For starters, let me give you some context. Our party consists of four players, but for the purposes of this story, you only need to know about my character, since she is the most involved in this fiasco. She is a drow warlock, her name is Ophellia, she doesn't know who her patron is and her patron has not communicated with her at all pretty much since she first got her powers as a child, and she is a very grumpy standoffish lady. Our story takes place on a continent called Areth, and since coming her, Ophellia's patron has spoken up for the first time in about a century, giving her the quest of going to this mountain which our party found out, through visions given to us by a massive homebrew monster called the nightmare, has a massive fuck off dragon locked inside it.
So what happened. We reached this mountain after several arcs leading purely to this. We go inside, stuff happens (not too relevant here), and we find the chamber where the dragon should hypothetically be. Instead, inside, we find a corpse. And Ophellia recognises this corpse.
Something else I haven't told you about this campaign, is that it is based off of a book that my bf (the DM) is writing. In this book, a man by the name of Valefar is involved in a massive rebellion against an immortal dictator queen, and one of the people working for this queen is Ethelric/Darksky, a man who can shapeshift into a dragon (and the dragon we were sent to the mountian to investigate). In the book, Valefar dies after trapping Ethelric in the mountain, because Ethelric is effectively immortal, so this was their only solution. In the context of this campaign, this happened a couple centuries ago, and essentially no one knows about it. I thought Valefar'd death wasn't canon in the campaign, BECAUSE HE IS ALIVE DURING IT.
In the campaign, Ophellia knows Valefar. She trained with him, until she had a big falling out with the group he was a part of (the messengers). She is looking for these messengers (because she is a mean lady who likes to hold a grudge), and last I heard, a couple months ago, Valefar was prancing around an area of the continent called the Wastelands. So, he was VERY MUCH ALIVE.
AGAIN, Ethelric being trapped in this mountain and Valefar's death happened CENTURIES AGO. I don't know what any of this means. I am worried. I am scared. So many of my previous theories have now been burned to ash. My bf wont give me any clues apart from cryptic weird bullshit. I am so excited for next session. I cannot contain myself and will be thinking about this for the foreseeable future. I will be insufferable.
So that's that. The session ended with the dragon Darksky, who was in the room all along, burried under some rubble, opening his eye and staring at us. Is he evil? Possibly. Could he kill us? Easily. Are people telling us to not release him from his mountain prison ever under any circumstance? Certainly.
Am I still probably going to release him? Well I certainly want to. He is cool and he is my pookie - and we accept any wrongs a hot dragon man NPC may have done. I will defend him with my life.

I'll admit this was very petty of me, but what's done is done.
Today, it was the national tests in sweden. Me(15f) and my friend(14f) had just done the last math exam that was 100 min, and we were both starving and tired. We hadn't had breakfast, and we still had lessons after the test.
We had a small break before the lesson so we decided to relax in a playground near our school. It's important to mention that our school is still building the outside so no one can hang out outside, and the hallways were packed with people. So we went to a playground near our school and sat on one of the big swings. There was another big swing and two smiler ones, so we weren't hogging the swings.
There was an old couple there with their grandchild, and they were on the slides. Me and my friend were swinging around and having fun, especially since we could finally relax from studying. We were only there for 1 min before the old man called out to us. He told us that we were too old for this and to get off the swing. He said it very aggressively, and my friend got embarrassed. She said we should go, but I was mad. There were a bunch of other swings. We were talking quietly and not bothering them at all. So I didn't understand why he thought he had the right to be rude to us. I would've left if he had said it nicely, but he kept repeating it after we nodded and got more aggressive. His grandchild was screaming, and I was getting very frustrated. I told him off by saying that everyone had the right to be here and that he had no right to talk to us like that. I didn't scream, but I was giving him an attitude.
My friend got upset and just got up. I followed her and asked her why she let that guy get to her, and she told me that we were too old for swings and that I was being disrespectful to someone older than me. She said I should apologise, but I refused.
My friend is still upset with me for making a scene and speaking disrespectfully to that old man. Now that I've cooled down, I realised how childish I was, but I still think I am in the right. But I still feel bad that man was just trying to enjoy spending time with his grandchild, and I ruined it.
So AITA for behaving disrespectful towards someone older just because of a swing.

This is gonna be a weird discussion… For context, I am a 33 year old heterosexual man. I used a chunk of my 20s focusing on my undergraduate and graduate programs (which I’m pleased to say I graduated a couple years ago). So, I have been working and gradually inserting dating back into my life. The other night I was with a woman and she said I had a perfect 🍆. She said it was not too big and not too small, but perfect. I honestly didn’t know how to take that. Maybe I am just a little self conscious but it was a strange comment. Can any women comment on this. For reference, mine is about 7-8 erect.hopefully, this question is not too strange for Reddit. 🙃

Movies that are both bad and poorly made on a budget of twenty dollars and a Hot Topic discount card. Not the so bad it's good kind. Just straight up bad bad.
A while ago I got the urge to watch Disney's Atlantis. It's a charming lil movie. It has a couple Star Trek creatives involved in it. The animation has aged incredibly well for it's time. Especaially considering it integrates 3D & 2D together almost seamlessly. Similar to tressure planet. But most of all. The girls are SOOOOO hot. Both Kida & the blonde villain girl.
Anyway so after rewatching Atlantis I realized I've never actually seen the direct to DVD sequel for it. Atlantis: Milo's Return.
I knew it was probably gonna be bad. But it's so fucking bad I can't even.
The animation is GARBAGE. There's no shading in any scene. The voice direction is all over the place. The story is ass, unsurprisingly, but it's also presented so fast and hamfisted that you have to ask how did we get here every five minutes.
Man the direct to DVD Disney era was something else.

Just yesterday I discovered that my wife, 64 years old, had never seen, or even heard of Goldfinger. We were both widowed and met just four years ago.
I was absolutely floored, how can someone grow up and raise a family in the US Midwest and never have even heard of Goldfinger? I don't know how long it had been since I last saw it, certainly 20+ years ago, so of course I immediately found a copy and we watched it last night.
While I remembered the film quite fondly, I had forgotten just how many spy movie and action movie tropes were established by Goldfinger.
Though it was not the first Bond movie it was "The One." The one everyone remembers when a spy trope is brought up. I could spend all night listing the tropes that had their birth with Goldfinger. Everything from the "sauve well dressed spy" to the "one inept hinchman", and at least a hundred other tropes all had their birth or at least their genesis in popular culture in this film.
Even my wife who has never been an action or spy movie fan, noticed famous tropes multiple times during the film and exclaimed, "Oh, that's where that comes from."
Though the movie draggs a little in the third act, it still holds up remarkably well today. And my wife while not a particular fan of spy films found it enjoyable and engaging. Although a couple of plot points are little confusing to someone who is not a affecanado of spy thrillers. Perhaps because of the rushed editing of the last act due to premier date deadlines. Even the original director wanted to make more edits but was not allowed because of time constraints
Overall, an enjoyable film, and if you have never seen it, you should.