Hayward pool heater help

It had been yet another day on Lantica beach for the Crimson Paragons, not too long after the hard fought victory in the unexpected alien invasion. But something just kept nagging at Talios... A strange emotion that just wouldn't leave. A... Yearning. For something. For... Someone. Someone had been at the back of his mind ever since he had returned from that trip. When that Lamia had hugged him, tail and all, Talios felt strange. He felt something he had never felt before. A new emotion... And unbeknownst to him, this emotion would spark something even he'd think unfathomable. All it'd take... Is one, relatively innocent question. When everyone was chowing down on some delicious food Nhak had made at the beach party, and Kyouko, one of Max's comrades had showed up. A Jorõgumo. A yokai with a ravenous appetite, essentially.
Kyouko showed up, by... Crawling down a banana tree. There were no longer any bananas in that tree. Not even peels...
"A large fish skewer? Sounds nice."
Talios gives a simple response, not entirely paying attention. Something else is bugging him.
"Hi Kyouko."
Nhak, on the other hand, gives her a proper response.
"Yes Kyouko, a whole fish, just for you! Made with love! Aoi Helped!”
But just then... Talios gets a brilliant idea. And... He can finally try and get her out of his head.
"Say... Kyouko. Do you... Know where Nagisa is?"
Nagisa. Another of Max's crew, practically a daughter to him. A rather bubbly Lamia, though her words can pack quite the venom when she's teasing someone. Talios, unfortunately. Is not aware of this yet.
"Nagisa should be in the lodge still. Rachnia is helping her fix her swimsuit."
Damn it. He was hoping for her to be alone, so they could speak in private. Looks like I'll have to abort, Talios thinks to himself...
But he's practically wearing his heart on his sleeve. Everybody can tell what's happening, he's a... Terrible liar.
"Ah, I see. Alright then."
Talios gives another simple response, hoping for the topic to just be dropped. But everybody else can tell how... Unusual, he's acting after mentioning Nagisa's name.
"Something up, boss man?"
Ember. A small dragon, ethereal in nature... Most of the time. In this instance, it appears she's in fact, solid. It's a part of Ejders soul network going on in his body. Talios had completely forgotten Ember was on his shoulder...
"...What are you talking about Ember. I'm fine."
Talios... Is a really bad liar. It is quickly becoming apparent just how bad he is.
"I doubt that. You're just randomly asking about the tail meatbag? For no reason?"
Then Aoi the Oni speaks up.
"Talios yer startin' ta sound like Max askin where Rachnia is. Ya doin alright?"
"I am... Perfectly fine. Just wanted to make sure everybody is accounted for. Bounty hunter instincts, can't help it."
A slightly better lie. Still obvious. But a slightly better lie.
"Come on! I'm your second in command! You can tell me these things!"
It's impossible to tell how Ember got the notion of being second in command.
Now it's Sarah who speaks up, yet another comrade of Max. A cyclops.
"if ya had a face I'd tell ya your pokerface blows. But uh... Yer pokerhelmet blows."
"I do have a face."
Talios takes off his helmet. His pokerface does, in fact blow. He looks... Ever so slightly flustered, even. In expression, more than anything. He can't blush, since he has no blood.
"Your pokerface is even worse than your pokerhelmet."
This time it's Safi, a dragon of the stars. Although, currently, they're in a human form.
Talios: "I could kick all of your asses at poker."
Ejder: "Remove the last two words, and I could believe it."
Sarah: "Did that Lamia hug from yesterday awaken somethin in ya? Awww."
Talios: "The tight and scaly Lamia hug awoke absolutely nothing in me."
Safi: "I've never heard a more blatant lie than that."
Talios: "Yes you have. Because it isn't a lie."
Sarah: "Talios. I have to deal with Max tryin to bluff his way through shit. Your pokerface ain't cuttin it."
Talios: "I am the best liar to ever live across the damn centuries. You're all simply fools who mistake complete truth for mere lies."
Suddenly, Nhak appears to phase behind Talios. He places a ghostly hand on his shoulder.
"From one armored giant to another..."
"Your pokerhelm really is terrible."
And Nhak lets out a laugh, Talios feeling more defeated by the second.
"Oh not you too Nhak..."
"Talios do I reaaaaaally have to use my strings to make ya tell the truth?"
This voice came from Rachnia, Max's Fiancé. She came out of the water, having been taking a walk...
Talios jumps at Rachnia's presence.
"WHERE IN THE BLAZING blue hells did you come from."
His voice changes from loud to quiet on a dime, oddly enough. And it was at this moment...
That a devilish look came across Ember's face.
"Hey, Talios, since you wanted to make sure everyone's accounted for, why don't you go check in on the Tail-Meatbag personally?"
"...I- Well... You see..."
Talios falls silent, having been defeated at his own game by Ember. Finally though, Kyouko asks the question that had been plaguing Talios since Rachnia's arrival.
"weren't you helping Nagisa with her swimsuit, Rachnia?"
"got that done earlier. She's helping Cerne tie her swimsuit now."
Perfect! Talios had his out, with Rachnia confirming that they can account for Nagisa.
"Ah. See, she's with Cerne! Rachnia can account for it. No need to go looking. No reason... At all..."
And Talios thought he was safe... Until the sight of Cerne casually strolling along the beach enters his view.
Talios: "...Wait why are you here Cerne?"
Rachnia: "Hey, Cerne, I thought Nagisa was with you!"
"Guess she might be in the lodge with Lala or Eliza."
Ember: "C'mon, Boss Man! Everyone has given a different response as to where Snake is! You gotta figure out which one is true!"
Talios: "...Surely Cerne is right."
She was not, as Lala happens to walk out of the water with perfect timing. One by one, each of Max's companions says another is with Nagisa... And every time, the companion mentioned shows up... Until there are no more companions to show up.
Meaning, Nagisa is in fact. Unaccounted for. Talios lets out a defeated sigh, picking Ember off of his shoulder and placing her down.
"I... Will go make sure Nagisa is accounted for..."
Feeling utterly defeated, Talios trudges to the lodges in search of Nagisa. Seph, a multiversal god, and known as the Paragon of Freedom... Only has a few words to say.
”Godspeed, funny chaos man.”
Eventually, Talios reaches the fifth lodge. Each one before, held no answer. He expected nothing different from this one. Three firm knocks on the door...
"Yeees? Who is it?"
Ah shit. So Nagisa was here... Talios was kind of hoping she wasn't so he wouldn't have to go through this.
"Damn..."
"AHEM. Uh. I was told to make sure everybody was accounted for. So... Yeah. You weren't at the beach, so I came to check the lodges."
A few moments of awkward silence.
"WELL! Since you're here, I can return to the group and inform them of you being accounted for."
Talios immediately turns and starts walking away, satisfied with his totally foolproof lie.
It was... Absolutely terrible. Obviously.
But before he could leave. A behemoth of a man stands in his way. Gonkgar. He himself is walking to the lodges.
"Where Nagisa?"
"Talios... you're not just here to check on me, are you? You lie terribly."
Nagisa's voice is... Frankly, beautiful to Talios's ears. But damn it... Why did Gonkgar have to intercept him...
"I don't even need to see your face to know. Come on in, the door's unlocked."
Gonkgar pushes Talios toward the door and turns around.
"...Shit."
"Alright fine..."
Talios pops open the door a crack, peeking in. He hits his helmet on the door frame.
"hey, no need to be shy!"
"...I am never shy. A bounty hunter is not shy."
He has not moved from his peeking position in the door. Nagisa giggles in response to Talios's very, very poor lies.
"Actions speak louder than words ever could. Now head inside before I have to pull you inside myself."
"I- ...Okay. Fine."
Talios, begrudgingly, enters the lodge. He's... Fidgeting. He has his hands hidden behind his back, but it's obvious just from the movement of his arms in general.
Not even Talios is sure what he's feeling... Or how.
Gonkgar stands nearby Nagisa’s lodge with his arms crossed, defending his bro’s chance at makin’ a move.
"Oooh you don't even have to tell me. someone's in loooove?"
"Did Max send you to me for advice?"
Talios seems... Genuinely startled by Nagisa's question.
"...Love? I... Am not sure... I don't think Chaos gave me such capabilities... Nor was I sent by Max specifically..."
"Then why are you fidgeting like a schoolgirl about to confess?"
Ouch. There's the venomous teasing Talios was unaware about. And it certainly stings a tad.
"Body language says alot. Maybe Chaos did give you those capabilities already."
"...But why would she... Ugh... No, I could see it."
Gonkgar is still standing stock-still like a statue, arms crossed and giving dagger eyes to anything that comes near, even animals. A rat looks mortified and leaves.
"So... You want to know how to deal with what you're feeling, or... Don't tell me, you have a crush on lil ol me?"
It is immediately obvious that Nagisa hit the bullseye with that one. Talios falls silent for... A solid half a minute, at least.
"...I suppose I should get going for the uh. The feast. Yeah. Man, I'm hungry..."
Okay, now he's just getting desperate with subject changes like that.
"Man, you're terrible at this. Want some advice on how to properly confess?"
"...I feel like... Getting help on this matter, from you... Would be nigh insulting. But fine. I guess..?"
Talios is apprehensive. He still isn't fully processing these emotions he's having... But. Well. He finds it hard to say no to Nagisa.
"So lets start at the basics. When you look at me, what do you feel?"
"Perfectly fi-"
Talios stops himself.
"...Very. Very strange. Like... Fuzzy, I think it would be described."
"Strange and fuzzy inside. Alright. So, when you look at me, what do you want to do? Do you think of someone or something else?"
She's fishing for a particular answer it seems. But Talios, oh poor Talios... Is so, so very dense. Perhaps, denser than a neutron star.
Talios seems to stumble over his words, trying to find the necessary ones to articulate what he wants.
"I... Do not want to do anything to you. Obviously."
Easily a lie.
"Uh... When I look at you, I suppose I think about... You. When I look at most people I'm thinking of them."
Dense motherfucker...
"Aww, I thought those guts of yours would carry over into social skills. What a pity.
"Now, when you look at Max and Rachnia together, do you think of me?"
The verbal jab seems to strike a nerve with Talios for a moment... But yet again, it also seems you've hit the bullseye.
"Well... Yes... Kind of. Occasionally."
"Awww. How sweet. They're joined at the hip. Do you want that too?
Talios feels her tail slowly coiling around his legs.
And it was at this moment, that Maximillian, who had delivered nachos to the beach party felt something very wrong...
Max: "I feel like something is going... Wrong."
Ember: "What? What do ya mean, lucky man?"
Max starts checking his revolver, to make sure it's locked and loaded.
"No real idea... Just... feeling like I'll need to be prepared soon."
Nhak: "On the contrary, I feel like something is going right..."
Safi: "What do you mean, Max?"
Max: "Call it... Parental instinct."
Gonkgar knows what Talios wants, even if Talios doesn’t. It seems Nagisa does too.
Gonkgar begins to think about all the times he and Talios hung out together, his true bro. All the times they fought for fun, and destroyed wizard tarrasques together. He thinks of the time Gonkgar wanted to ask that one girl out to the prom, and Talios totally encouraged him to press his luck. When Gonkgar’s mom was sick in the hospital, Talios made sure to take care of his dogs. If Gonkgar can be here for his bro now, that is precisely what he’ll do.
90% of that might not have ever happened in the real world, but Gonkgar likes to think it did… Somewhere.
Safi: "Do you feel that parental instinct because Talios went to see Nagisa?"
Max: "He did?!"
Safi: "It was pretty obvious he had a crush on her."
Max: "Wait he has a crush on her?!"
Nhak: "Well, someone brought up Nagisa... And he went melon."
Rachnia pulls a quick purple string and hooks it onto Max. Just one command is spoken. "Give him a chance."
He holsters his pistol.
"Fine."
Back in Nagisa's lodge... Talios is stiller than a statue as the Lamia's tail grows closer to his leg. He feels a chill down his non-existant spine... It's probably just a draft... But wait. He doesn't feel cold, generally. Or any temperature. How strange...
"Well... Isn't there like... A process..."
Talios is getting more and more flustered by the minute, something not even HE thought was possible! He's been getting an awful lot of new emotions lately...
"Well there's nothing wrong with a big hug, is there? I'm not easily impressed, so you'll have to do your best."
Talios seems to... Loosen up, slightly?
"Oh. Yes. Hug. Of course. Uh... Sure..."
she taps Talios' nose with the tip of her tail.
"I'll be waiting for a black knight on a noble steed. Impress me."
Aha. Talios understands perfectly now... Is what he thought. But he doesn't. He's so, unbelievably dense... And perhaps, takes thing a little too literally.
”He cooked.”
Gonkgar says to the rat. How foolish he was... Talios was fumbling hard.
"I guess... That's my cue to leave... Ha."
Talios is getting ready to leave... But why?
"Are you sure running away now is very knightly? Wouldn't want to run with your tail between your legs when it matters most."
she's just brushing her hair again, her eyes closed, back turned to Talios.
”Man, she not make it easy for bro. It like bro just discover pools exist, and get thrown in deep end right away.”
Gonkgar says to the rat.
Talios freezes. The sharp words of Nagisa shock him to his very core... Because he thought she wanted a horse.
"But. I was going to go get a horse... You said I needed a noble steed... And all..."
Max is looking at the lodges, arms on his hips.
He sees Gonkgar standing guard. Gonkgar gives a slow nod.
“Let he cook.” He mouths at Max.
Max: "I have to give THIS a chance?"
He's tapped into the security footage.
"He can't even pick up on the noble steed hint! How can you fumble THIS hard?!"
She chuckles.
"I don't need an actual horse. We already have Cerne."
Ah. Now Talios gets it. At least, he thinks he does.
"Oooh! ...Why would I need to get Cerne? Can she help with this?"
"I gotta say, at least you're funny... You know what? I'll give you a few dates. See where it leads... If you can convince Max."
Gonkgar silently launches 30 feet in the air and fist bumps before landing in front of the door again.
"A black knight against a white knight, just like the fairytales. If nothing else, it'll be a fairytale made true."
Gonkgar is silent screaming in front of the door.
”Let GOOOOOOOO!”
Max: "Alright then, hon. If that's the criteria ya want, I'll oblige."
He starts loading his revolver with explosive rounds.
Talios, on the other hand, seems to immediately lighten up. He seems... Happy?
"Really? Wow. Uh... Thank you, Nagisa. I promise to not disappoint. And uh... Maybe... Grow less dense. I guess. Ha."
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch. I have a feeling that you're going to have a much tougher time convincing Max, than convincing me."
Talios's entire mood shifts on a dime. Grim.
"Ah. Yes. Maximillian... Oh dear."
Talios walks out of the lodge, immediately greeted by Gonkgar's back.
"...I won, Gonkgar. I won."
Gonkgar turns around and immediately gives him a giant bear hug. It is pretty tight, but Talios can take it.
"TALIOS WIN."
"Thank you, Gonkgar... For stopping me from leaving that door."
”Gonkgar know what it like. Me have experience with ladies.” He fist bumps Talios’s shoulder. “Okay, you hide now?”
"...Hide? I know Maximillian needs convincing, but... It can't be that bad. Right?"
Talios walks past Gonkgar to the rest of the group once more, unaware of his possibly impending doom.
"He have weapon out. Take Gonkgar second favorite weapon, it maybe help."
Gonkgar holds out a strange... Fish... Spear? To Talios.
"I'll be fine. Although I appreciate the thought, Gonkgar."
And Talios continues walking back to the beach party. And he arrives with a pep in his step never seen before...
"Hello, everybody. Nagisa is perfectly accounted for."
Talios gives a big thumbs up as he delivers the message.
Max: "Yeah. We know. Sooooo. dating sweet little Nagisa, huh."
He's seated, ominously tapping the blue and silver alchemy revolver on his leg.
"Uh... I'm not sure if it's... Considered offically dating. Yet. Just uh... Testing the waters, one may say...You know, I'll admit I'm pretty dense but uh. You seem a tad angry, Maximillian."
"I'm not mad... Just protective."
"Uh... Yeaaah..."
Ahem.
"I think I'll go talk with... Nagisa a bit more. Let you... Cool off."
This. Was a very... VERY poor choice of words.
Maximillian shoots the floor behind Talios, where he would have stepped if he were to walk to the lodges. Talios turns stone cold and still as a statue.
Talios: "Got it."
Max: "We're havin a chat. Ain't nice to walk out during that."
Max: "I'll be honest with ya, Talios. Had it not been you, I'd have put you in the dirt already. Nagisa gave ya a chance, and said if you can beat me, she'll give you a few dates.... so..."
He slowly walks up to Talios.
"When's the duel, friend?"
"Ha... Saturday. High noon. And let it be known..."
"I won't lose, Maximillian Ironstout. That is a promise."
"...Just like I promised Nagisa I'll impress her on those dates."
Now he's trying to egg Max on.
"Ironstout, huh. Didn't even know you knew that raggedy old name of mine. Alright then. We'll see if you're worthy enough to be a son in law, shall we, Chaos Spawn?"
He laughs, no longer being able to keep up the charade.
"Man I suck at intimidation. Hope ya don't mind the hard time, Talios."
"Meh. If it was anyone else, it could've worked. But you've seen how I am, ha! Thinking I could take on Seph."
So he IS self conscious somewhat.
"The hard time only makes things more fun."
And so, it had been decided. Talios now has to fight... For love? Something Talios thought impossible. Strange how things work out like that.
And unbeknownst to all... Chaos is deeply amused by this turn of events.

What’s good guys. I have a pool in cocoa beach FL and my pool walls get green after only a couple days after I chlorine and shock it. Is there something else I can use to help prevent this better? I test it and put the chems I need to in but doesn’t seem to be enough. Thanks guys in advance.

Rewatch
E3.1 The Announcement
Robyn’s pregnancy was a bomb thrown into the Brown family at a really shaky time on a number of fronts. I think I remember Kody mentioning that he was putting pressure on Robyn to get with it already with the baby so she obliged. But really, could there have been a worse time to insert a new baby into the pot of this chaos soup? It was bad on multiple levels.

1. The teenagers were not happy with the news at all. It’s understandable. Teenagers are grossed out by the idea of their parents procreating anyway, but when it’s a new child, from the new wife, in a polygamist family, of course, they aren’t thrilled.
   
2. Robyn helpfully singles out Hunter in her confessional, mentioning he doesn’t say a word to her. He, of all the kids, is having a particularly hard time with the move to Vegas and it’s no secret to the family. Later, Janelle and Kody call him down from his room and try to talk to him and he is clearly depressed, blocking them out. Kody keeps pushing and pushing, not with compassion but with impatience.
   
3. Janelle explains her reaction (or lack of one) during one of their group on cameras, that she is very concerned about their financial situation. Janelle emotionally says she has always worked and it’s a big part of her identity and she not only feels without direction but she feels like the family is in dire financial straits.
   
4. They are aware that they need to find a safe place for their older kids to gather, to be part of a local group so they aren’t so isolated. They go to a Presbyterian church to talk about the kids joining their youth group and naturally, none of the parents agree - Janelle and Meri are for it, Robyn, Kody, Christine are against it. They meet with the teenagers about it and poor Hunter looks so miserable, Logan is diplomatic and surprisingly, Maddie has some push back with Robyn (loved that).
   
5. Amidst this turmoil, Christine says that she wants her backyard to be a gathering place so the family embarks on putting a giant rubber pool and a little playhouse in her backyard. FOR ALL THE KIDS. Not just her kids, ROBYN, but all the kids.
   

Imagine that. It’s almost like she was willing to invest in the family! Like she tried to have a good relationship with these other people!! (See S17.10 Knife in the Kidneys for reference)

Can anyone recommend a good support champ pool? I really like adjusting to fit what my team needs but dont know which champ is great for which scenario. Can anyone recommend me a great pool of supp champs and when to pick them?
Champs I play: I am currently one-tricking thresh
I play Bard when my duo is mid or jg (because i can roam and help them better)
I play thresh or nami/janna when my friend is playing adc to peel and support them better

I still have not read past Children. I'm still currently re-reading it (god I have trouble reading through that book). But I'm still damn confident about what I'm trying to say, here. Maybe it's not authorial intent, but even if it isn't, this line of thinking keeps tying everything together way too well for me to not think about it.
Dune talks about God a whole heck of a lot. If you include appendix "god" shows up something like forty times in the first book. People talk about capital G God, the Jungian Great Mother is a goddess, Paul is called small-g god as Emperor (or at least godhead), as The Preacher he "brings" and "speaks for" the Hand of God, Leto-II declares himself big-G God-Emperor.
All of this god-talk seems to get brushed past, and that's unfortunate, because I'm fairly sure that some of Dune's "railroad to disaster" storylines are governed more by "God" than by prescience itself; God is race consciousness. This goes a long way towards understanding some aspects of Dune that people find strange or weak. Let me explain.

He remained silent, thinking like the seed he was, *thinking with the race consciousness he had first experienced as terrible purpose.* He found that he no longer could hate the Bene Gesserit or the Emperor or even the Harkonnens. They were all caught up in the need of their race to renew its scattered inheritance, to cross and mingle and infuse their bloodlines in a great new pooling of genes. And the race knew only one sure way for this-- the ancient way, the tried and certain way that rolled over everything in it's path: jihad.

Whether race consciousness is just the Jungian collective unconscious or a more literal super-consciousness (I think it's more literally mystic and I'll get to that), the key thing here is that Paul was thinking with the race consciousness. It's worded like it's an instinct within him, same as it is for everybody else, like he's using that "instead of" his brain (not literally, but that's how it's worded). What does the race consciousness want? Jihad. What is literally every character in Dune doing? Railroading towards Jihad, whether they know it or not. The "race consciousness" is doing that, not some sort of prescience-induced predestination.

Sire, Paul thought. The word had such a strange sound when directed at him. Sire had always been his father. He felt himself touched briefly by his powers of prescience, seeing himself *infected* (emphasis mine) by the wild race consciousness that was moving the human universe towards chaos. The vision left him shaken...

I think this passage is easy to misread. Paul's powers of prescience are not race consciousness. He sees, with his prescience, a future in which he is infected by race consciousness. A future in which, like everyone else, he follows it's bidding, which we already know is jihad. Also, note that this is a wild race consciousness. The use of the word wild here is conspicuous because it only shows up in this context, seemingly.
In Chapter 32, Jessica gives herself up to a "demanding memory" and speaks some stuff automatically which the Fremen interpret as a prophetic sign, confirmation that she's the woman their prophecies are about.

Her mind felt as though it had rolled over within her. She recognized the sensation with a quickening of pulse. Nothing in all the Bene Gesserit training carried such a signal of recognition. It could only be the adab, the demanding memory that comes upon you of itself. She gave herself up to it, allowing the words to flow from her... "The fire of God mount over thy heart," she said. And she thought: *Now, it goes in the proper channel.*

The fire of God now goes through the proper channel? Through her, because the memory of that specific scripture came to her unprompted?

Paul took a deep breath, trying to still the tempest within him. His mother's words had locked onto the working of the spice essence, and he had flet her voice rise and fall within him like the shadows of an open fire. Trough it all, he had sensed the edge of cynicism in her--he knew her so well!--But nothing could stop this thing that had begun with a morsel of food. *Terrible purpose!* He sensed it, the race consciousness that he could not escape...

Jessica had a "holy spirit" moment. Paul, having just ate a load of spice, was prepared to actively notice that her words, which she characterized as the Fire of God, "activated" the terrible purpose, the race consciousness within him, even though both of them were cynical about what was occurring. (I should note that Paul also discovers, moments later, the fact that his looking into the future actively messes with it, a key idea for Messiah IMO.)
Another moment where Paul considers the unstoppable race consciousness in chapter 34:

Somewhere ahead of him on this path, the fanatic hoards cut their gory path across the universe in his name. The green and black Atreides banner would become a symbol of terror. Wild legions would charge into battle screaming their war cry: "Muad'Dib!" It must not be, he thought. I cannot let it happen. But he could feel the demanding race consciousness within him, his own terrible purpose, and he knew that no small thing could defeat the juggernaut... If he died this instant, the thing would go on through his mother and his unborn sister. Nothing less than the deaths of all the troop gathered here and now... could stop the thing.

The race consciousness of humanity has concentrated all of it's efforts on creating Paul (which becomes more clear later). So Paul, and anyone sufficiently close to him, is carrying this "terrible purpose" humanity's race consciousness has prepared him for. It could be said that they're all already "infected" by it. Maybe Paul is too, but can't really see it in himself? Certainly what I think, see here.
In Chapter 40 Paul specifically considers that the "terrible purpose" of humanity's race consciousness is the most constant thing between his visions and reality, it never changes.

The differences in the ways he comprehended the universe haunted him-- accuracy matched with inaccuracy. He saw it in situ. Yet, when it was born, when it came into the pressures of reality, the now had it's own life and grew with it's own subtle differences. Terrible purpose remained. Race consciousness remained. And over all loomed the jihad, bloody and wild.

Finally, the most memorable passage in Dune in it's final chapter is all about this inevitability:

he sampled the time-winds, sensing the turmoil, the storm nexus that now focused on this moment place. Even the faint gaps were closed now. Here was reason enough (emphasis mine) for a Kwisatz Haderach or a Lisan al-Gaib or even the halting schemes of the Bene Gesserit. The race of humans had felt it's own dormancy, sensed itself grown stale and knew now only the need to experience turmoil in which the genes would mingle and the strong new mixtures survive. All humans were alive as an unconscious single organism in this moment, experiencing a kind of sexual heat that cold overcome any barrier. And Paul saw how futile were any efforts of his to change any smallest bit of this. He had thought to opposed the Jihad within himself, but the jihad would be.

Finally, Herbert directly states what the race consciousness of humanity wants. It wants it's war, because it's convinced that war increases humanity's genetic fitness. And that isn't just within other people, it's in Paul, too, and he couldn't oppose it, even within himself.
Note that even "the halting schemes of the Bene Gesserit" are listed as a puppet of race consciousness _alongside_ the Kwisatz Haderach rather than them being it's true source. That idea is brought to fruition in Appendix III: Report on Bene Gesserit motives and purposes. In that appendix, it's rightly asserted that the BG's actions (or lack of action) regarding the Arrakis Affair were _shockingly_ incompetent. The author of that appendix concludes this way:

In the face of these facts, one is led to the inescapable conclusion that the inefficient Bene Gesserit behavior in this affair was a product of an even higher plan of which they were completely unaware!

Higher plans? Plans from on high? Like... God's plan? Like the Fire of God briefly channeled through Jessica. It has already been stated several times that the Bene Gesserit are puppets of race consciousness. In Dune, race consciousness is God.

"The Fremen will have the word of Muad'Dib," Paul said. "There will be flowing water here open to the sky and green oases rich with good things. But we have the spice to think of, too. There will always be desert on Arrakis... and fierce winds, and trials to toughen a man. We Fremen have a saying: 'God created Arrakis to train the faithful.' One cannot go against the word of God."

Paul is thoroughly convinced that race consciousness has locked the jihad in place. It can't be stopped. And now he says that the Fremen will be trained for war on Arrakis, like the Sardaukar, because "one cannot go against the word of God". Once again, race consciousness is God.
You know how people sometimes question why the heck the Fremen went through with the Jihad? Like, what actually possessed them to do that? What in their religion or what rationale suggested to them that they should go wipe out dozens of planets? It seems absurd for the same reason the BG's actions seem absurd when they're considered closely. They're acting on animal instinct, and animal instinct had a plan.
Dune: Messiah has slightly less to say about God, but it's still got something to say. It seems conspicuous to me that capital G God is brought up less now that Paul's terrible purpose has been carried out. It's got less to influence, now.

"There exists no separation between gods and men; one blends softly casual into the other. --*PROVERBS OF MUAD'DIB

Paul's words. Men bleed into gods and vice-versa... because it's just a matter of how much sway they have in humanity's race-consciousness.

"I'm a figurehead. When godhead's given, that's the one thing the so-called god no longer controls." A bitter laugh shook through him.

Within Fremen religion Paul's seen as the "godhead". Godhead is an idea common to spiritual systems where everything is on some level divine-- the godhead is the point from which all else emanates, or _is concentrated._ Race consciousness was concentrated in Paul as the Kwisatz Haderach.

I never wanted to be a god, he thought. I wanted only to disappear like a jewel of trace dew caught by the morning. I wanted to escape the angls and the damned--alone...as though by an oversight.

Paul does see himself as a sort of god. It's a role that has been thrust upon him, and it's noted that there are less gods than there used to be. But he is not capital G God.
You know who _IS_ capital G God? Motherfucking God-Emperor Leto II Atreides. I am aware that he is literally referred to as God, and that his Golden Path, his method of avoiding Krazilec, involves effectively shepherding humanity's overall thought-process and instincts. A good chunk of Children of Dune is about Leto learning to control his own ego-memories, and he finds Harum.

Leto's awareness floated free, no objective psyche to compensate for consciousness, no barriers. Namri's "provisional future" remained lightly in his memory, but it shared awareness with many futures. And in this shattering awareness, all of his past, every inner life became his own. With the help of the greatest within him, he dominated. They were his. He thought: When you study an object from a distance, only it's principle may be seen. He had achieved the distance necessary and he could see his own life now: the multi-past and its memories were his burden, his joy, and his necessity. But the worm trip had added another dimension and his father no longer stood guard within him because the need no longer existed. Leto saw through the distances clearly-- past and present. And the past presented him with an ultimate ancestor-- one who was called Harum and without whom the distant future would not be. These clear distances provided new principles, new dimensions of sharing. Whichever life he now chose, he'd live it out in an autonomous sphere of mass experience, a trail of lives so convoluted that no single lifetime could count the generations of it. Aroused, this mass experience held the power to subdue his selfdom. It could make itself felt upon an individual, a nation, a society or an entire civilization.

Leto lives his life as an "autonomous sphere of mass experience" which could dominate not only his personal selfdom, but a "nation, society or an entire civilization". Paul certainly couldn't do that, he knew he couldn't do it because race consciousness ruled. Considering where Leto II's newfound enlightenment(?) leads, it seems safe to say that he became something no human had ever been before. It's like he's wrangled so much of humanity's past in his head and actually mastered it that he's the majority stakeholder of race consciousness, he holds the reigns now. And so he calls himself God.
It's sometimes asked why Herbert wrote God-Emperor, because it seems to contradict Herbert's own earlier warnings about Paul. I suspect that this is the distinction. Paul was human and ultimately subject to human flaws and instincts, in fact he was created by human flaws and instincts, which is a pretty good description of most dictators, other people prop them up. Leto, though, isn't burdened by these things. He is no longer controlled by race-consciousness, so he can be a true philosopher-king. Herbert can therefore explore how he thinks a "perfect human" who has mastered their instincts might rule.
...Oh also, as far as race-consciousness only being a Jungian collective unconscious, all I have to ask is if that's the case, why are people in these books inserting themselves into the consciousness of other people? Particularly Paul's assertion that if the Reverend Mother "looks in that place she dare not look", she'll see him. That's not _just_ genetic memories. And in the same scene, Alia effectively uses this to communicate with the Reverend Mother, who is convinced that Alia really, really shouldn't be there, like it's an unnatural aberration. Explicitly stated to not be "TP" (telepathy), exactly.

Lifetime - Staked: 935.9u, Profit/Loss: +11.97u, ROI: 1.28%, Parlay Suggestions: 179-72 Dog of the Week: 13-19, Picks: 14-11 (56% accuracy)
2024 - Staked: 288.8u, Profit/Loss: -21.39u
As always, scroll down for UFC Vegas 93 Breakdowns. The following is just a recap of last event’s results.
~UFC Louisville (PREVIOUS CARD)~
Staked: 14.75u
Profit/Loss: -3.84u
Parlay Suggestions: 2-3
Dog of the week: Jared Cannonier ❌
Picks: 6-8
I just can’t seem to get it right on these fight night cards. Last night’s card certainly wasn’t great for me in terms of reads, but once again there was no luck on my side. The Rosas over 1.5 missed out by eight seconds, and obviously the Cannonier stoppage was widely regarded as contentious. I’m definitely going to be thinking about limiting my exposure to these kind of events, because I just can’t seem to make it work this year. I’ve got 28u profit on PPV cards this year, with 34% ROI. It’s time I paid attention to that and stopped losing money for fun on these low level competitions.
The goal for me is obviously going to break even by the end of the year, which is a miserable game to be playing, but one I believe I can achieve.
~UFC Vegas 93~
Woo, more Apex!
Worth re-iterating again that throughout the month of June I will be cutting a few corners regarding some fights I have no interest in betting. I’m on holiday the week I would otherwise be writing the UFC 303 McGregor write up, and I obviously don’t want to miss my usual Sunday release…so I am working hard to get ahead of schedule and get it all ready for before I fly.
Let’s get into it.

~Alex Perez v Tatsuro Taira~
Amazing how quickly things can turn around in MMA. Literally at the start of this year I was clowning Perez for being inactive, questioning his commitment to his career, and generally dismissing him and considering a fade at any appropriate opportunity. Fast forward six months and he’s potentially in the title picture with a win here, and a guy who cost me money last time.
Perez is talented, I’d always known it. I bet him to beat Figgy back in the day, and I do believe he could have given a great account of himself had he not been sloppy and gotten caught in the early submission. Alex has good striking, and great wrestling…which at Flyweight makes him a serious competitor. I even said in my breakdown for the Mokaev fight that if Alex somehow managed to get back to his best, he’d be a tough fight for Mokaev, or any grappling-based opponent in the division.
We’ve seen a real demonstration of Perez’s abilities this year alone. He showed his potential in the close loss to Mokaev, defending 17 of 20 takedown attempts and just generally muting the successes of Mokaev’s elite crotch-sniffing and mat return wrestling. He parlayed that impressive performance with a main event win over Matheus Nicolau, a well-rounded competitor that has been on the cusp of a title shot for some time. Perez’s striking looked great in that one, and he once again demonstrated that he has sneaky power too.
This main event spot against Tatsuro Taira is obviously going to lend itself more to the Mokaev performance from an analytical perspective, as the undefeated Japanese fighter is obviously a grappler at heart. When you consider Alex Perez’s aforementioned takedown defence against Mokaev, this one gets really interesting.
Tatsuro is clearly taking a massive step up in competition here, with his highest calibre opponent across five UFC appearances otherwise being CJ Vergara or Carlos Hernandez. In most of those fights, Taira has enjoyed grappling control time in approximately half the time he’s been inside the cage, which indicates he’s yet to really be tested in an area where he isn’t comfortable. He has scored knockdowns in two of his fights, but that finishing sequence against Hernandez most recently was pretty much the only time I’ve seen his striking has looked impressive. It’s not bad typically…just very obviously not his strong suit, and he doesn’t really do anything out at distance except jab and lowkick to set up his takedown.
The key difference here when comparing Taira to Mokaev is wrestling cardio. Mokaev’s averaging almost six takedowns per 15 minutes – he invites opponents to stand back up so he can ragdoll them back down. Taira is a different type of grappler, where most of his opponents stay grounded, and a finish comes soon after. The most he has ever landed in a fight is three. It doesn’t mean he can’t wrestle relentlessly…but there is a nuanced difference when it comes to the type of grappler you are.
So can Taira keep wrestling for 25 minutes? Obviously we cannot say for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Japanese phenom looks very human and beatable if this fight makes it to round three. I’m expecting Perez to ask serious questions of Taira if they spend extended moments on the feet, and the only way to stop that from happening is with a finish, or the ability to land takedowns.
I’m not convinced that Taira’s going to be able to take and hold down Perez, and I’m also not convinced he gets the better of him on the feet. Whilst that statement was true in the Mokaev fight, the British wrestler still managed to defeat Perez…but that was across 15 minutes, and Mokaev has proven he’s got the cardio to pull of that kind of style for a very long length of time.
The early submission threat could definitely be live, and there’s no reason to believe that Taira can’t still win rounds without having to dive for a takedown every 10 seconds. Perez may be coming off a great performance against Nicolau, but he’s still an untrustworthy fighter that makes sloppy mistakes occasionally. His redemption arc began with that competitive performance against Mokaev, but if we’re being honest he actually fumbled a winnable opportunity with a very lacklustre third round.
So in my opinion, this line is too wide…but I don’t trust Perez enough to take the gamble on him here. If this was up in the +200 range then I’d be tempted, but I Perez is still in the untrustworthy category for me, so I just can’t do it at +160. It’s a pass for me, but Perez is the pick.

How I line this fight: Alex Perez +120 (46%), Tatsuro Taira -120 (54%)
Bet or pass: None
Prop leans: Taira Submission early, would probably be the angle I’d look towards.
Live Betting Leans: If Taira goes bat shit with the grappling, there’s a potential angle for Perez to turn the tables here.

~Tagir Ulanbekov v Joshua Van~
The unique selling point of MMA is that it challenges fighters to be equally diverse at striking and grappling disciplines. That’s why we love it, but damn do I wish they’d sometimes consider what they’re doing when they book certain matchups. I understand that the Flyweight talent pool is smaller so options are much more limited, but it’s still frustrating.
Reason being, Joshua Van looks like a very intriguing and exciting striker, but we are only just at the start of his journey to becoming a fan favourite. It’s far too soon to be throwing him in against a Dagestani wet blanket that’s likely going to cuddle him for 15 minutes and tarnish Van’s hype and prospect status. Let the guy marinate a little before you decide his fate. Especially at 22 years old!
Having said that, I’ve no idea if Van’s got the defensive capabilities to win this one. We haven’t seen him face takedowns from anyone who is anywhere near the level of calibre of Tagir Ulanbekov, and without that we can’t even begin to predict how this fight should go. Furthermore, he’s managed to get up pretty well any time he has been taken down, so our knowledge on his defensive grappling is even weaker.
Van is a great striker, so I would expect him to be leading the dance and winning the bout on the feet, but again that lack of experience could easily eat into his confidence and create a reluctance to commit to his striking. We see it time and time again in a striker vs grappler matchup, where suddenly the striker puts on a low volume and outright bad performance on the feet…it’s because they worry that if they throw with any sort of force they’ll be off balance and susceptible to being taken down. Cast your mind back to rounds 2 and 3 of Cesar Almeida vs Roman Kopylov a few weeks ago to see what that looks like.
So I’ve simply got to agree with Tagir being the favourite here. He has proven himself to be a high-level wrestler, his style could naturally nullify Van’s best qualities…and I also just do not have the evidence to believe Van is going to have the tools to stop Tagir’s grappling. Especially at his age. I never used to be particularly high on Tagir as a prospect as he’d had a few underwhelming performances, but the way he dominated Cody Durden was certainly eye-opening to me.
I can’t have too much confidence here considering Van could have Jose Aldo level takedown defence, but it’s likely he doesn’t and that this too much, too soon. I think the line on Ulanbekov should be shorter than I was able to get him. So I played him for 2u at -167. This is more of a play based on experience and logic, than any tape-based stylistics, but I just had to at that price.
How I line this fight: Impossible to say for sure, but Tagir should probably be trusted at -200 or slightly steeper.
Bet or pass: 2u Tagir Ulanbekov to Win (-167)
Prop leans: None, no idea of Van’s defensive abilities.

~Shayilan Nuerdanbieke v Melq Costa~
A showdown between Steve Garcia’s bitches!
Melq Costa has had a weird UFC career so far, he’s either getting dominated, or dominating opponents. He got the opportunity to show off his ability against everyone’s favourite Ai-generated UFC 5 character, Austin Lingo, but that’s not really saying much. No shame in getting shut down and submitted by Thiago Moises, but getting womped by Steve Garcia isn’t the greatest look.
Shaylian Nuerdanbieke is also coming off a loss to Steve Garcia, where Garcia came back from the brink of defeat after a dangerous opening round. It put an end to a run of three successive UFC wins, but the kind of opponents Shaylian was beating were all lower level and similar.
I honestly don’t know what to make of this one. I don’t really know why Melq Costa is -200 here because I think he’s proven untrustworthy enough to not warrant that price, but I’m not sure if Nuerdanbieke is being flattered by facing lower comp. Either way, I didn’t want to look into it any further from that point. Pass from me.
How I line this fight: I didn’t tape it.
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Ikram Aliskerov v Antonio Troccoli~
Third time lucky for Troccoli trying to make his UFC debut? You’d think that by now I’d have done some tape on the guy, given he’s been waiting to get in there for some long.
15-1 Ikram Aliskerov is one hell of a guy to debut against though…Ikram looks like he could be the real deal. He’s dusted three opponents with complete ease in DWCS/UFC so far, and his only professional loss comes against none other than Khamzat Chimaev.
I’ve no idea about Troccoli, so that’s as far as I can go. Given the high finishing rate of both men, and this being a 205lbs fight, it feels like the -1000 price available on Aliskerov may not have any value (no shit!)…and I obviously don’t want to bet Troccoli on the return. Easy pass, but I’m sure it’s another showcase for an interesting prospect in Aliskerov.
How I line this fight: No idea specifically but Aliskerov large fav.
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None, there literally cannot be value on Aliskerov’s props unless you’re playing contrarian

~Garrett Armfield v Brady Hiestand~
Garrett Armfield impressed me in that recent performance against Brad Katona. I rated Brad’s minute winning ability very highly before the big focus was put on fight ending intentions, so I definitely made a mistake in trusting him in that spot. Katona’s not a dangerous fighter, so his style relies on domination and flawless defence these days. Damage and fight ending intentions are key factors to consider – and a great example of that is the first round of Brady Hiestand’s win over Fernie Garcia – he won 80% of the minutes in the round, but he got dropped momentarily in the first 20 seconds with one punch and all three judges gave it go Garcia.
Hiestand is riding a hard fought two-fight winning streak coming into this one. I don’t think Danaa Batgerel or Fernie Garcia are comparable wins to Brad Katona, and even less so when you actually dissect them. All three of Hiestand’s UFC fights have seen him get knocked down (unofficially with Garcia, but it was treated like one by the judges!), which is obviously a huge concern…especially when you consider he’s not even a super dangerous guy once he gets top position.
Hiestand’s standup isn’t threatening at all. You can tell he’s uncomfortable. He tries to sit at range and throws a kick or a single punch as he bides his time for his next takedown attempt, but he does so whilst backing up the entire time, so anyone with decent sprawling abilities should be able to see them coming. He is counter-able right after that initial shot too, as Danaa Batgerel figured out.
When Hiestand does get top control time it’s also pretty ugly. He’s very erratic and tries too hard to force a submission attempt (he tries to wrap the arm around for an RNC when he’s got nothing else going on the set up), and it often results in him getting reversed. I saw him end up on his back from having his opponent’s back at least three times. A good scrambler on the mat should have no trouble staying safe, and ultimately finding their way back to the feet if they’re patient.
Hiestand’s biggest strength is definitely his cardio, which was solely responsible for his win over Danaa. That was a very weird stoppage, as Danaa definitely wasn’t defending himself, but the punches from Hiestand were pretty inoffensive that I would imagine Danaa could have gladly eaten them for another 90 seconds and gone on to won an easy 29-28. He did gas though, as he didn’t protest what would otherwise have been a very brutal loss to suffer. It wasn’t exactly an impressive finish from Hiestand, he got very lucky to win that fight as the finish came 100% from Danaa gassing/quitting.
So how does Armfield matchup against all that info on Hiestand? Very well, I think. He’s got nice pressure and great hands that he throws in high volume. His performance against Kazama was basically the exact outcome he wants here. He fights with a low stance to pre-empt the takedown. Against Katona it was more of the same, and despite getting taken down four times he still defended five. He got straight back up every time he was taken down as well. They were mostly bodylock attempts, but I think his defence of single/double legs is better than his bodylocks. He got tired in the third against Brad (it was a high pace fight). But still got up off a takedown in the 14^th minute.
So I think Armfield’s got a very favourable match in front of him. Hiestand’s performance against Danaa was a clear indication that he cannot hang on the feet with a lower-level UFC opponent, so Armfield really should do work with the hands. He’s proven competent enough at stopping Hiestand’s only route to a victory also, so I think this one’s a gift for him. I initially wrote that -200 wasn’t steep enough, so I’m surprised the line continues to get better on him. I’ve played him for 3u at -175 (which is rare these days).
How I line this fight: Garrett Armfield -300 (75%), Brady Hiestand +300 (25%)
Bet or pass: 3u Garrett Armfield to Win at -175
Prop leans: Might be tempted by Armfield KO, serious levels on the feet and Hiestand’s been dropped by everyone he’s fought in the UFC so far.

~Asu Almabaev v Jose Johnson~
Asu Almabaev is looking very impressive, isn’t he? The way he dominated Ode Osbourne was certainly eye-opening, but the way he made light work of CJ Vergara was equally appealing to me. I’ve always said CJ’s a hard guy to look good against, and we also got to see Asu’s cardio look totally fine across 15 minutes.
He faces Jose Johnson for his third UFC appearance. Jose’s been a back-and-forth kind of guy. He has to fight hard for his wins, because he’s like a magnet for grappling. I don’t know how, but the guy has next to no ability to maintain distance and keep fights striking – where he wants them. He’s not a bad grappler when he is on the mat, but it’s still not his preferred place. He also gives up his back worse than anyone I’ve ever seen.
All of that will be music to the ears of Almabaev, who likely justifies his -400 price tag and smothers Johnson with grappling. It’s all well and good showing good grappling ability on top and bottom against Anheliger and Jack Cartwright, but Almabaev is a whole different league. Almabaev likely smokes him here. I played Almabaev in a parlay with Josefine Knutsson for 2u at -110.
How I line this fight: Asu Almabaev -400 (83%), Jose Johnson +400 (17%)
Bet or pass: 2u Assu Almabaev to Win (parlayed with Josefine Knutsson at -110)
Prop leans: Likely a submission win for Asu with the way Johnson gives up his back!

~Miles Johns v Douglas Silva de Andrade~
Miles Johns is an impressive and well-rounded fighter, but he lacks a killer instinct and sometimes has questionable cardio. Whilst those flaws are still good enough for him to get the better of guys like Vince Morales and Cody Gibson, he’ll struggle against more dangerous opponents that can match his pace, throw power, and not get stuck on the bottom.
Douglas Silva de Andrade strikes me as the kind of guy who fits into the latter category there. We know he hits hard, we know he has sneaky submission ability, and we know he can go a confident 15 minutes. He’s never been a high level minute winner, but he’s got the explosiveness to turn the tide of a round in an instant.
It’s not my usual way of thinking or breaking down a fight, but de Andrade just strikes me as the kind of guy who is going to benefit from the recent dismissal of USADA. He’s Brazilian, he’s absolutely jacked, and he’s at that age where he might need a little bit of help in keeping up with the younger guys in the division.
That’s a thought I cannot ignore unfortunately, so it’s enough for me to not want to get involved here. I do lean towards Miles Johns and I did initially want to consider betting him, but 2024 has definitely been a year where a lot of older guys have had a resurgence – fading older fighters is not the reliable narrative that it used to be. I pick Johns, but it’s a pass.
How I line this fight: Miles Johns +100 (50%), Douglas Silva de Andrade +100 (50%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Lucas Almeida v Timmy Cuamba~
Chaotic and explosive hard hitter that cannot defend a takedown faces off against Man not good enough to win on DWCS.
Much variance. Just going to pass on this one.
How I line this fight: Didn’t tape
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Nate Maness v Jimmy Flick~
Nate Maness is not good enough to be -400 in the UFC. His game revolves around mauling via takedowns.
Jimmy Flick is very, very one dimensional, in that he is submission from guard or bust in pretty much every fight. Whilst sometimes that’s a terrible predicament that leads him to get absolutely destroyed by good strikers…Nate Maness’ style could hand Flick is path to victory on a platter.
Jimmy Flick fights are silly, and the betting odds are always tricky. Flick looks like massive value at the start, but when it falls apart it looks awful.
Easy pass for me. If you wanted to roll the dice, Flick by Submission is the best value bet you can make here.
How I line this fight: Nate Maness -300 (75%), Jimmy Flick +300 (25)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: Flick by Submission to get the best out of his price.

~Adam Fugitt v Josh Quinlan~
A striker vs grappler affair, but neither guy is particularly good at their side of the duel. Adam Fugitt is an energetic grappler that’s keen to get in your face, but he’s not got the best top control and he can be deterred by a hard hitter.
Josh Quinlan is a guy I’ve been keen to fade since he got the UFC contract, because he very much seems like a R1 finisher or bust. He’s super aggressive and will go hard for the finish, but does leave himself open to being finished himself. Furthermore, he just isn’t a particularly good minute winner either.
I could very easily see Quinlan hitting that early finish against an opponent like Fugitt who isn’t defensively sharp or earning of respect. I could also easily see Fugitt surviving and turning the tide in the second and third. I lean towards Quinlan because I think Fugitt’s approach in the opening round will be asking for trouble, but there’s no way I’d bet on the moneyline here.
How I line this fight: Adam Fuggit +125 (45%), Josh Quinlan -125 (55%)
Bet or pass: None
Prop leans: Betting Quinlan early would probably be the way I’d go, if I had to.
Live Betting Leans: If we’re still going into R2, Fugitt’s chances should increase as Quinlan’s dangerousness fades.

~Carli Judice v Gabriella Fernandes~
Interesting that we’ve got another DWCS split decision loser that’s making a UFC appearance after not getting signed…despite not fighting since. The DWCS fighter laundering continues, as now you don’t even need to win to get a fucking contract.
I actually bet Judice in her DWCS fight. I expected her to have the higher volume and just completely out-hustle her opponent, but weirdly that’s exactly what her opponent did to her. It was a weird one because my read was perfect, just that the other fighter implemented it haha. I also bet Karackaite in her UFC debut, so nice to reclaim a bit of the money lost.
I still think Judice is decent enough for a fighter so inexperienced, and she’s more than just a woman with a 3-1 record. Gabriella Fernandes has historically been unable to stuff a takedown also, which is an interesting narrative that I’m beginning to think about more in the future. I’ve lost two bets this year (Cesar Almeida and Robelis Despaigne) because I didn’t expect their opponents to exploit the obvious grappling disadvantage, so I think it’s worth considering it could be in play for Judice here.
I understand the difference in experience, but this line seems ridiculously wide to me. You simply cannot trust a fighter with bad takedown defence and next to no get ups at -2XX. Judice also isn’t a bad striker, so I don’t think she’s going to get completely obliterated in Fernandes’ world either…so I absolutely can see a path to victory for her.
I’m not going to say I have any idea where the line really should be, but I think fading Fernandes specifically at this price is a totally viable option. I will therefore have 0.5u on Carli Judice at +210.
How I line this fight: Hard to say but definitely not this wide.
Bet or pass: 0.5u Carli Judice to Win (+210)
Prop leans: Judice by Decision, probably

~Julia Polastri v Josefine Knutsson~
I can’t remember if I broke this fight down the first time before it got cancelled, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I bet Knuttson originally at -250, and luckily for me the price actually got better this time around.
Polastri is a fighter I’m familiar with. She’s rangey, and she’s a decent enough striker. She will finish opponents that aren’t on her level, but her awful takedown defence means that her level will always sit somewhere in the middle of the division.
Josefine Knutsson is quite young in her MMA career, but she’s definitely showing some serious promise. She’s got a decent kickboxing record, and was regarded as one of the best P4P female kickboxers before she transitioned over to MMA. In short, I expect her to have a striking advantage against most opponents, Polastri included.
But what makes this one a confident pick, and what makes Knuttson -225, is that she has used her advantage in the standup to dedicate time to working on her grappling. We saw that in her UFC debut – she may have been fighting a can that had no business being in the cage with her, but she was able to show off her grappling, which looked to be at a pretty decent level. It’s probably still a work in progress, but Polastri’s aforementioned lack of takedown defence should make things much easier to the Swede.
So to summarise, Knutsson should be the better striker, and she can easily mix in the takedowns and win with offensive grappling if she needs to. In a sport like WMMA where the ‘puncher’s chance’ is much less reliable an outcome, I struggle to see how Polastri asserts herself as the dominant fighter here. -250 isn’t short enough, so I’ve got Knutsson in a 2u parlay with Asu Almabaev at -110.
How I line this fight: Josefine Knutsson -300 (75%), Julia Polastri +300 (25%)
Bet or pass: 2u Josefine Knuttson to Win at -110 (parlayed with Asu Almabaev)
Prop leans: None

~Jeka Saragih v Westin Wilson~
Jeka Saragih lost to Anshul Jubli, who has gone on to show you how low level the Asian MMA scene really is. I don’t think many/any of the fighters that came from Road to UFC are going to stick around too long, and Saragih is likely to be included in that. He got a shock win against Lucas Alexander last time (shoutout to me for suggesting that might happen), but a 90 second KO is a great way to fugazi the fans into thinking you’re better than you actually are.
Westin Wilson is a roleplayer who isn’t fit to fight in LFA, let alone the UFC. It’s an absolute joke that he’s fighting for a second time in the company.
Jeka is -300. Horrible price for someone of his calibre, but I understand why Wilson is being given so little chance himself. An ugly fight, and a betting line that captures that well. Just pass.
How I line this fight: no.
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

Bets (Bold = been placed)
2u Tagir Ulanbekov to Win (-167)
3u Garrett Armfield to Win (-175)
2u Asu Almabaev & Josefine Knutsson to Win (-110)
0.5u Carli Judice to Win (+210)
0.25u Parlay Pieces (+400)

Parlay Pieces: Tagir Ulanbekov, Asu Almabaev, Josefine Knutsson, Garrett Armfield
Dog of the Week: Carli Judice
Picks: Alex Perez, Tagir Ulanbekov, Ikram Aliskerov, Shayilan Nuerdanbieke, Miles Johns, Timmy Cuamba, Asu Almabaev, Nate Maness, Josh Quinlan, Carli Judice, Josefine Knutsson, Jeka Saragih,

Hello all! Just got home from an extended vacation in GA/FL. During our trip, we spent T-F at Universal.
Lodging - we elected to stay at Loew’s Royal Pacific; this gave us unlimited express passes for our group of 9 and was far cheaper to have the rooms than to purchase them separately and stay elsewhere. We had 2 2-Queen bed rooms, one with a rollaway.
Tickets - we were fortunate to be able to purchase 3 park military freedom passes (like a season pass, expires 12/20/24) for 6 of us and the others are GA residents who got deeply discounted tickets for 3 park hoppers.
The group - myself (51) with my kids (13 & 10), my 84 y/o mom (scooter rental with Gold Mobility), my 61 y/o sister, my 39 y/o niece and her kids (15, 13, & 11)
We checked in around 10am on Tuesday, 6/4. Luckily, one of our rooms was ready so we stashed our luggage and hit Universal Studios. I expected huge crowds and while it was slightly crowded, it didn’t seem outrageous (we last came 2 years ago in October, as that is when we normally hit WDW and these crowds seems comparable). Express pass allowed us to wait no more than 30 minutes for any ride that day, most waits being less than 15. Managed Minions, Villan-con, Rip Ride Rocket (of our carts, only 1 person got the secret menu to work, my sister), Transformers, Mummy (top ride for everyone in the group), Gringotts, Simpsons (epic fail for all of us - nausea central and was VERY hot inside the ride), ET, MIB, Jimmy Fallon, F&F (we rode it to say that we had and it was as bad as most folks say haha), Trolls (sweet little coaster for younger kids).
That evening, everyone was exhausted from our previous travels (we had spent 2 days at St Augustine beach where I stupidly got 2nd sunburn) and prior to that had 3 days in GA at a family reunion. We opted to eat at the resort and enjoy the pool. Tuk Tuk market has great offerings for reasonable resort pricing and the Bula poolside location had some of the best tacos I have ever had.
Day 2 (Wednesday, 6/5) - spent the whole day at Islands. We planned to rope drop for Hagrid’s however kids were too tired to be pleasant for that. We opted to get there when kids naturally woke up (ended up being around 10am). Park was more crowded than the day before (of course we didn’t hit Islands so could have been similar on Tuesday). Hit Hagrid’s first and our wait was about 100 minutes. It wasn’t awful but they should really consider more water fountains and a sun sail over parts of the outside queue. IMO, this is the best ride over all the parks - thrilling enough, fun and exhilarating, but not jostling or scary. After that, we also rode Velocicoaster (another fave, however left me with a headache), Spider-Man, caroseussel, cat in the hat, Hippogriff, forbidden journey, trolly train, Hulk, Jurassic park River adventure, Popeyes (Dudley was down), Kong. My daughter was the only one who wanted to do Doom so she rode alone.
Lunch at the 3 Broomsticks - food was decent, not amazing. Probably the most bland meal we had the whole trip. The pasties at the carts are more flavorful. Honestly, the new ordering system seems slower and again, if they are asking folks to wait outside to be seated, they should provide some shade. The whole line was in direct Sun. My mom nearly fainted as it’s not navigable by scooter (requiring her to stand) so TM’s agreed to let her sit in nearby shade until the rest of the group was inside the building.
We had dinner that night at the resort again as the whole group couldn’t agree on where to eat at CityWalk. Again, food was incredible however overpriced at Islands’ Dining. Kids had pizza and nuggets from Tuk Tuk.
Day 3 (Thursday, 6/8) - Volcano Bay! This park was great. Arrived around 10am. We chose to rent a family cabana which honestly even with the cost ($1100) I would not go without if we return. Allowed my mom (again scooter, and she no longer swims) a place to rest where she could enjoy the sights, home base for kids to wander and return to as well. This also allowed the group to use the in cabana Tapu Tapu system to access the virtual queue without walking to every ride. The aqua coaster was PHENOMENAL! Fun, thrilling, a little scary. Again, park was crowded but not insanely so. We rode every ride we wanted to (none brave enough for the Ko’Okiri plunge) and still had time to do some 3-4 times. The day ended slightly early due to lightening and a rainstorm about 40 minutes before regular closing time. Had lunch there in the cabana and food was again delicious. Highly recommend the rib plate!
Dinner was at Toothsome - atmosphere was lovely and the food was great. Honestly, the milkshakes didn’t live up to the hype - flavors were mild and the saving grace was the “add-ons” such as a whole slice of pie or a whole cupcake. But the macarons were some of the best we have ever had. Better than the French pastry shop at Epcot.
Our last day provided time to return to any rides we wanted another go - Rip Ride (again, some struggled to get the secret song menu to work), Mummy, Velocicoaster, Hippogriff, Hulk, forbidden journey, gringotts.
Overall, we had an amazing time. Lessons learned? Don’t get a terrible sunburn and make sure to reapply sunscreen every 2 hours, don’t go during June (or July/August honestly), seek shade often if you ignore the previous suggestion, stay at the premium resort, get the cabana at Volcano Bay, bring Tylenol with you, take insulated water bottles and ask for ice water at every chance (or refill at the freestyle machines), wear a hat and sunglasses, carry a Fanny pack since a lot of rides will allow that and no other items. Oh and pay attention to your locker for Velocicoaster! I do wish they modified the line queues for allow for scooter access. We often struggled to get a wheelchair just for the lines and she doesn’t care for being pushed. She walks unassisted in normal life, but age and double hip replacement make long distances and endurance difficult. This is an area that WDW excels in.
Sorry for the novel, but maybe it will help someone.

I have been having a dream where I find a great blue whale in a hotel pool and I could feel he was really sad and I try to help him but I would go into the pool and I would be transferred to my ex's house with their new partner and my ex would make me feel bad and was basically like I choose this person over u and then I find another pool and I go back to my childhood and there was this tree I pop out of and the background is a mix of my elementary school and my middle school back ground and the tree is a very special tree( it seems that way in the dream) ( it has a notch where I can climb into and it's golden water type portol) and I am running into people from both middle school I went too and their like little fairy's and theirs this really bad thing and I defeat It and I learn how to be happy again and I wake up when I go into the tree portal

The [PCC] is a growing F1 Racing Community started by 2 friends, hoping to create more opportunities for North American drivers get into F1 Leagues. We are semi-serious, primarily focused on clean and fair racing with a Penalty Points System, Team Principals & Time Trial Events. Great starting point for beginners looking to get into F1 League Racing. We also have a "Retro League" starting soon now that the new F1-24 game has been released. So if you are wanting to stay racing on F1-23, we will have a Tier dedicated to the older game.
Any experience level, any nationality is welcome to join!
Currently the league is looking for the following roles for Both Tiers/Games;
(1) BroadcasteCommentator Full-Time Drivers Reserve Drivers
League Details:
<> PCC 2024 Championship Series <> F1-24 Saturdays @ 8 PST/11 EST - Actual F1 Race Calendar STARTED: March 2nd - Alongside the 2024 F1 Season NEXT RACE: Round 9 - Canadian GP June 15, 2024 8:00 PM PST
<> PCC Retro Series <> F1-23 Race Day & Race Time: TBD STARTS: TBD NEXT RACE: TBD We are currently waiting on more racers for this league to start, voting will be taking place thru the month of June.
Quick League Racing Settings: Short Qualifying 50% Races Anti Lock Breaks - OK Traction Control - ANY Racing Line - ANY Gearbox - ANY Steering/Breaking/Pit/DRS/ERS Assists - NO
Feel free to join the discord and acquire your F1 Super License (After Agreeing to the Discord Rules, Racing Regulations, League Race Settings & Applying for the Driver Pool). Or feel free to join on as Fan & become a Super Fan and follow along with what we hope to an ever growing community of F1 racing enthusiasts.
Get in & Help Promote a great environment for growth in sim-racing & F1 knowledge Discord Link - https://discord.gg/krapFMwUgX

Dominican Republic was an interesting experience, while I loved practicing my Spanish, I won't be back. Nothing bad happened, just nothing was exceptional about the place, one visit was enough, I have high hopes for it being a better travel destination in future. The downside was really just the food and service, which was quite abysmal.
I've broken it up into separate posts for each area I was in, (4 spots in 3 weeks), but the main takeaways are:

• DO NOT DRIVE - DR has the highest vehicular fatalities in the world, get private transport between the towns you visit.
• While the main tourist areas are safe to visit and wander around day and night, do not venture out to other areas, our local drivers told us it is very dangerous elsewhere.
• Food is quite awful to average, we could count on one hand how many good meals we had. Although, my partner and I don't eat meat (but do eat seafood), you'll have a somewhat slightly improved experience if you eat meat and have more options.
• Average restaurants will cost between $25-35 CAD per person for an average meal that isn't special or cooked well. Very local places are cheap though ($15-20 CAD), but there aren't many of those in the areas with good wifi for remote working.
• Outside of the resorts, you will need a good basic understanding of Spanish, not just basic tourist phrases, my partner and I had a Spanish teacher for 3 months once a week and we still struggled a little.
• Wifi varies in the DR, we were lucky enough to find places that advertised over 50mbps download speed to work, but in reality it fluctuated daily dropping below 40mbps sometimes and upload speed was even worse for video calls. Their routers also only worked well in the room they were in, and not well in the bedroom/office. We got by but it was a little inconvenient.

April 22-26: Uvero Alto - Ocean El Faro & El Beso https://www.oceanhotels.net/en/punta-cana-hotels/ocean-el-faro
I was lucky enough to stay here for a coworking summit with my company. We got a great corporate deal and splurged on a “Swim-Up Junior Suite” which was still only US$150 per person all inclusive. While a stunning resort, I am very glad we didn’t pay anymore than we did, as the quality and value was lacking. I was there with my partner for 6 nights, 7 days and that was too long. I’d say 3-4 days is plenty to experience it all. However, I am not a resort person and this was my first resort experience, I would be happy to not experience another resort, unless it was heavily subsidized and a stunning location. Quick review of all the amenities:

• El Mercado - as people have mentioned in many reviews, one of the better restaurants to eat at.
• Italian restaurant - didn’t get to try, again, as mentioned, almost impossible to get a reservation if you’re not privilege. From what I heard the portions were very small but food was decent.
• Margarita - awful - AVOID, tequila tastes like watered down nail polish, people also saw mouse inside
• Sakura - terrible portrayal of Teppenyaki
• Route 66 - great for late night snacks
• Steak House - actually had great salmon here, probably the best restaurant I ate at, even though I don’t eat meat. Others said the steak was ok.
• Blue Moon - awfully slow service, but salmon isn’t bad here either
• Pez Dama - BEAUTIFUL spot for breakfast on a sunny day, only for El Beso and privilege guests. However, the variety is lacking and food was better at the buffet
• Villa Marina - closed while I was there
• Privilege Restaurant - didn’t get to try
• Snack Bar - not great, or veg friendly
• Snack Bar El Beso - crepes offered here were surprisingly decent
• Pool Bars - so fun, just don’t get any cocktails unless you like a cup of sugar with it. The pool bar by the lazy river is the most rowdy, surprisingly.
• Lobby Bar - great meet up spot for groups, especially as the lobby is beautiful
• Piano Bar - quite nice inside, cocktails are sickly sweet though
• Sports Bar - pool was fun, would be better if they had two
• Bowling Bar - incredibly hot and I almost got heat stroke, bowling was fun though
• Bar Disco - didn’t get to try
• Bar Privilege - didn’t get to try
• Beach Club El Faro - as mentioned by others in reviews, the pool bars are more fun
• Beach Club El Beso - it was nice to have a fun and quiet section
• Mike’s Coffee - as mentioned by others in reviews, the busiest place in the resort!
• Ice-cream shop - limited options but still nice to stop by after dinner - but don’t get the strawberry!

April 26-May 3: Santo Domingo - Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/1005877835635365302?source_impression_id=p3_1716938967_qCcY6F7gw1ARPg4Q Private transport from hotel to Airbnb: https://www.bookaway.com/ It was a little disorientating leaving the resort which seemed like some fairyland to Santo Domingo which was REAL Dominican Republic. We booked a private shuttle which was nice, they came 20 mins late but we weren’t in a rush and our local driver was very kind, social and gave us some tips about the capital city and country. He also advised to not leave the capital city as the surrounding neighbourhoods had a lot of crime and you would likely get stabbed and robbed :/ We arrived at our Airbnb in about 3.5 hours (with a brief pitstop). Our airbnb was bare bones, while nice, we wouldn’t recommend it for remote workers as it was hard to cook food there, however, if you’re out exploring all day, this place would suffice. The pool was nice but the gym was unusable as the air conditioner was broken so you had to work out in 35 degrees celsius plus. It was nice to be close to the grocery store though nearby and restaurants within walking distance. While the streets seemed a bit sketchy, it was very safe. We did take Ubers as well which were so cheap, DRP300-500 for 5-10 min rides. We preferred our area over Zona Colonial as there was more to do, but it would’ve been nice to split our time between the two areas. All in all, we’re glad we got to see the real Dominican Republic but were happy to be back close to the beach afterwards. Reviews of excursions and restaurants below. Dominican Culture Around the Fogón: https://www.airbnb.com/slink/V5iWBddV Incredible experience, loved making coffee and chocolate from scratch, learning the ways of the Taínos and the yucca pizza was surprisingly super tasty! Underground swimming hole was also really cool and Jasmine was such a fun host! Even though we half spoke each other’s languages, I had so much fun talking with her and highly recommend this tour! Hiking Tabernacle thundering Waterfall: https://www.airbnb.com/slink/mqMnhLjY Ronnie is the man!! One of the most professional and patient hosts I’ve ever met. He easily navigated the varying levels of skill our group had, made it easy for us to all connect and get to know one another. The chat during the 2 hour ride was seamless and Ronnie even stopped to let us try Arepa! Breakfast family style beforehand was also super tasty with eggs, fried cheese, mashed potato and mangu. The tour itself was so much fun and definitely action packed! I recommend this tour for those who are medium to highly fit, it’s more of a struggle for those who aren’t active. I’m scared of heights and had a couple of sketchy moments but it was so rewarding to finish the hike at the end. Water is also quite cold! It’s manageable but there were many moments where I was trying to find sun spots to warm up. Lunch at the end was also great and I appreciate Ronnie accommodating us last minute (we forgot to mention we didn’t eat meat) and he organised some eggplant to go with the rice, salad, tostones and beans. On the way back, Ronnie also got us some Dominican treats to try, Yanniqueque, Dulce de maní and a coconut - all part of the tour! The best part though was he stoped at a mango stand where we bought 8 mangoes for $2.35CAD! The best mangoes I’ve ever eaten. Thank you Ronnie for an unforgettable experience! Restaurants we went to in order:

• El Ramero Solitario - Ramen Bar - decent veggie ramen that was great for our hangover that we had
• Ajuala - (EN friendly) One of the BEST meals I’ve ever had! I don’t know if it was because we had a week of terrible food but I thought I was in heaven eating here. Love how they had turned Dominican cuisine into fine dining. They also had a mother cat and her kitten living on site and you could see them when you went to the bathroom which was cute.
• Chingu Kitchen - ok Korean food, with ok pricing. Ordered veggie Japchae and Bibimbap.
• Food Truck Village - it was intense coming to the food truck places, as we didn’t realize how they ran. When you sit down, all the vendors will bring you a menu which felt overwhelming. We got a margarita pizza (DRP400) from the pizza place and salpicon (DRP500) from the ceviche place, as they were recommended by the bar owner we befriended. We ended up drinking all night with the bar owner who gave us a few free drinks, it was really nice of him and one of our funner nights. Highly recommend checking out the bar especially here for good drinks and banter!
• Likha Food Park - we ate at Taínos sea food Naco which was not the best, our fish was undercooked and heavily salted. My 1lb of tilapia and tostones was DRP750 and my partners 1.5lb of snapper with tostones was DRP1350.
• Villar Hermanos - recommended by one of our guides, was quite tasty and decent pricing since you get large portions. I enjoyed the camarofongo which was doused in garlic butter - super heavy dish though and very dense. Also ordered filette de mero criolla style with rice and extra sautéed vegetables on the side - which was way too much for two people.
• Jalao - (EN friendly) Don’t come any earlier than 9pm! We got there at 8pm and the music didn’t start until around 9:30pm. The band was good but the music was a but monotonous. The food was ok but we did see cockroaches in the restaurant which was off putting. The fun really starts after the band ends though and everyone is up dancing. My favourite part of this experience was an older man who was hired to dance and get other people to dance who he was absolutely hilarious.

May 3-5: Bayahíbe - Booking.com Villa Iguana
Bayahíbe was SUCH a cute town, I wished we could’ve stayed here for a couple more days to enjoy the water which was so beautiful and clear. The infrastructure is limited for remote workers though, average 20mbps download speeds, hence why we only came for the weekend. As it is a small town, 3-4 days would suffice, you can walk around the whole town centre in 45-60mins probably. But you could also head over down south towards where the hotels are to experience some other restaurants and beaches. Highly recommend visiting Cueva de Chicho while here, very cool experience swimming in a cenote cave with bats - bring a waterproof head lamp if you can! This is the only swimmable cave in the area and it cost DRP200 pp to enter and walk 20 mins to the cave from the entrance. I’m not sure if this was normal either but there was a large market on Friday night in the town centre with a DJ which had a fun local feel. We had an unfortunate event when we were leaving Bayahíbe to Bávaro via Uber - we recommend you DO NOT DO. Use Bookaway and pre-book a shuttle. We actually had a shuttle booked originally but they accidentally cancelled it for no reason when we were in Santo Domingo and because Ubers were cheaper and we got one from Santo Domingo to Bayahíbe no problem, we thought it’d be fine. We ended up spending an hour trying to get a driver to take us, but they all kept calling to ask for double the price that was on Uber, where it advertised DRP2500 and the drivers wanted us to pay DRP4000 cash. So we kept cancelling and being bumped between the limited drivers available. Eventually one driver refused to cancel so we couldn’t find another driver, essentially forcing us to use him. It was a very uncomfortable experience, we felt scammed as all the drivers kept saying the same price but shame on Uber if they truly do underpay their drivers there - which is the reason the drivers gave. However, we paid DRP5000 to go from Santo Domingo to Bayahíbe which is double the distance, so I don’t know what was fair or not, perhaps we cheated that driver. Reviews of excursions and restaurants below. Vip Cruise on SpeedBoat to paradise Mano Juan, Saona Island: https://www.airbnb.com/slink/QdC06cdN All in all this was still a good trip but it was a little unorganized and we didn’t see/do everything on the itinerary. We also didn’t leave the port until around 10:15/10:30am, there was only one bottle of water per person all day provided (luckily I brought my own water), we didn’t get a coconut either with lunch nor visit the shipwreck for snorkelling. I wish we spent more time during the morning activities, and less time at the old fishing village. It started off well but got boring towards the end. I don’t know if I’d recommend this tour at the current cost, there are similar tours for half the price, so feel a little cheated seeing as we didn’t get/do everything we were supposed to. Isidro was nice though, and seeing the baby sea turtles was definitely a highlight, water was also stunning.

• Playa BarcoBar - good lunch spot, food was ok but view was great and service was nice and quick. Drinks weren’t bad either!
• Restaurante Comedor Johana - little spot tucked away and ran by a sweet older lady. Service is quite slow but food was very authentic.
• La Bahia Beach - The atmosphere is the only thing going for this place. You’re better off getting empanadas from a local stand and heading to the beach for free, which is what I wish I did. The service was incredibly slow, and food awful.

May 5-11: Bàvaro - Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/32934066source_impression_id=p3_1716939104_OS2Nv%2F5S2CgNAY1s I have mixed feelings about this place, it felt very touristy but had such great potential. The beach was unfortunately covered in sargassum and was not pleasant to swim, if you head north you might be able to find a spot to swim though. Thankfully we had a pool and since it was the shoulder season, basically had it all to ourselves. Restaurants were more expensive than I thought for the quality, I wish I ventured into the local area, Friusa, driving past it looked like it would have tasty cheap eats! We didn’t do much here since it was our last 6 days and we were only here during the week, but we did get an Uber to Playa Macao which didn’t have as much sargassum and was really nice to swim in. Barely any amenities there though so pack some food and drinks with you as the restaurants that are open are quite expensive for the quality. Reviews of restaurants below.

• Villa Blanca Beach Club - terrible service but surprisingly good fish burger and salads
• Bella Napoli Pizzeria & Restaurant - really good woodfired oven pizza - vegan options were great!
• La casita de Yeya Los Corales - food was good but very small portions so quite expensive for what it was
• Chic at Grand Palladium Bávaro - such a fun experience, the energy is incredible, the performances were 5/5 and food and drinks were great - highly recommend for a special event. If you’re not staying there it’s a bit of a pain to book though
• Dalia's Cafe & Bakery - terrible - don’t go
• Soles Beach Club - decent food and lovely staff but very slow service
• Restaurante Capitán Cook - low quality food, they served us grilled mussels that weren’t open and they lure you in with the decent prices for whole fish but you can’t order 1 or 2 lbs you have to order 6lbs.
• COFFEE & RUM - great spot for sugar cane juices and cheap coffee and snacks! Location on google maps is wrong though, it’s actually here in this plaza: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Xb5pLGmqNBgdCDHW8?g_st=ic

TLDR: Ocean El Faro/El Beso is a beautiful resort, but has terrible food. Hike Tabernacle with Ronnie and eat at Ajuala in Santo Domingo; Book private transport in and out of Bayahibe; Don’t make Bávaro a priority to visit, can be easily missed - it’ll be better later on
Hope this is helpful for some people, let me know if you have any qs!

Let's not kid ourselves here, valve does not give this game a lickspittle of attention. Considering the Steam platform literally shits money for them, the financial incentive to pay much mind to a 17 year old game just isn't there.
I see people using the WoW legacy server petition as an example of how community pressure can help make sorely-needed updates to games happen, but here's the thing; WoW is one of the few actually-enjoyable blizzard products in existence, supposedly. It's a massive money sink for most of the people who play it; if it goes down there goes a massive chunk of Blizzard's revenue, it could literally cripple the company. They have to support the games or die in the process, it's pure capitalism; they see a petition with 300,000 or more signatures and the entire board of directors have to cave to keep their player base happy.
On the other hand Valve basically IS the PC gaming industry. TF2 probably barely accounts for even a fraction of a percent of all the money they make off of all the games they sell on Steam; if the TF2 servers went down it would be little more than a mosquito bite to their checkbooks. Not to mention TF2 is running off of 17 year old source spaghetti, it's probably development HELL to simply keep the game running at all let alone actively add content to it.
Think of it this way. You're a car collector, and among your cars is both an original Ford Model T, and a brand-new tesla. You love the model T and want to drive it more, but it's an old fucking car. It breaks down, it's hell to start up, they literally don't make parts for it anymore, it has the fuel efficiency of a dead rat, and even after all that the insurance only lets you drive it once a week. If you wake up in the morning and need to get to work, what are you going to drive? The Model T that needs a refuel just from driving to McDonalds, or the Tesla that can drive a good few hundred miles between recharges?
My point is that I don't see putting a petition in front of them with a hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, hell even a million signatures on it, ending any other way than with them nodding blankly, saying "Yes, we hear your concerns", and then going back to unclogging the money printers. We're hefting responsibility on the people who, financially, have perhaps the LEAST reason to actually do anything at this point.
And that's the thing that irks me.
At the end of the day, signing petitions and just talking about it isn't actually DOING anything. It's slacktivism, thinking that by just saying "Hey here's the problem" will in and of itself get someone else to solve the problem. The reason the WoW petition worked was because it showed a serious financial pressure to Blizzard, pressure we simply can't hope to put on the monolithic entity known as Valve. Cause here's the thing; Hackers in TF2 aren't costing valve any money. Even if they want to do something as game developers to fix this, as businessmen the money simply isn't there. It's solely a problem for the people who play it, and we're continuing to indulge in the fallacy that by waving our problem in valve's face that they'll fix it for us.
I say then, that since it is our problem, WE should be the ones to actually fucking do anything about it. Get up off our asses, stop complaining to Valve to fix it and get our own bloody hands dirty. And no, I'm not going to be the person who screams "Actually do something" and not put forth some suggestions to do so.

1. Get more people playing the game.

The more actual humans playing TF2, the more people to push back bots, the more people to show valve that there is actual genuine interest in this game's continued existence. We should start our own advertisements for the game, draw people in as much we can. Spread memes, make animations, do shitty youtube advertisements, TALK about the game beyond "Gee the bots fucking suck". Bring your friends to games, bring family, just GET PEOPLE PLAYING. Starting our own advertising campaign, free of charge, might also be the slap in the face Valve needs to do something (not that I like the chances of that though).

1. Gather information on the Bot hosters outside of the game and target them through the legal system.

Trying to fight them in-game is a fool's errand. We all know this to some degree. However, if we start actively targeting them outside of the game, we DO have a case. Activision managed to win a 14 million dollar lawsuit against CoD cheat makers, there IS a precedent for these sort of cases being won. And even if we didn't, the fact that we as a community would be willing to follow through on legal action would be enough to threaten some of them out of the game. It's the community who's being harmed in this matter, who better to use such a nuclear option than the community?

1. Draw TOO much attention to the bots.

They're doing this for attention, correct? I am personally of the belief that there IS such a thing as bad publicity. At this point it's impossible to NOT draw attention to the bot hosters, so why not go the other direction?
The problem is that this issue is being kept pretty close to the TF2 community, who have little direct power to counter it on our own. if we expose the issue to the greater part of gaming it would be like putting a spotlight on a vampire. TF2 is one of the most venerable games in existence, every gamer has at least HEARD of it. Putting pressure on the bot hosters from outside the TF2 community, hell drawing attention from outside gaming in general even, would both force the hosters into the spotlights of people who would be a lot less unable act against them. Cheating in online games IS illegal in some countries, making it an issue to them would RUIN the hosters.

1. Gain powerful allies.

And that leads me to my last point. At the end of the day we can't just directly dox these people, or blow up their bot servers, no matter how much we fantasize about it. We have to resort to indirect means to fight this fight if we want to stay out of jail. So why not ask people who CAN directly do something to help? Talk to lawyers, see if we have a case; ask security analysts what policies are being broken, hell if you know a valve employee talk to them to see what the fuck is going on over there. We're a community and that is our strength; we have a common goal beyond just "Fuck over the game". And we have communities beyond this community, why don't we pool our strengths to handle this ourselves instead of waiting for valve to do it for us?

So I've this kinda weird thing going on, and Idk if this is like the best place to put it, but I like to give it a try as this is one my favorite subs on my main account. Plus This sub is a place to ask questions without being mocked.
Yes this is my throwaway cause it's a bit akward you know.
I'll call him John for this. John is a friend of my dad, I've known him for over 10 years. John has always been a part of our family. He often comes over or we visit him. My dad told me we are basically his adpopted family has John is the forever bachelor. So we basically give him his fill of family time.
Except lately I feel like he has put more focus on just hanging out with me. I know that sounds like I'm totally obsessed with myself, and I kinda did like it at first. You know it was nice and it made me feel special. But likely lately it's gotten a bit weirder I guess
He often just wants to hang out with just me around the pool or help me with my Yoga. He even invited me to go shopping with him for clothes for college after the summer. Which is all super nice, but sometimes it gives me a bit of a icky weird feeling, idk why. Also he keeps bringing up if I'm already dating someone and like no haha I'm forever single, but he keeps asking what I like in men.
Also strange things happen like last week I wanted to go into the pool, but I saw him working on the filtration system. He told me it was broken and he was trying to fix it, but a part was missing. Which was super sweet cause I know with how busy my dad is that he doesn't have the time to fix it. But he said it wasn't ready to swim in, so he offered me his pool. Which I tought was super sweet, so I called my brothers so that we can go to his pool. But than he told me that he forgot that his pool was being cleaned so we couldn't use it. And than he quickly left.
And even weirder is that we found the missing piece of the pool in the grass close to the pool. So luckily my older brother got it working within 10 minutes, plus he said that we could still swim without the filter system, so idk what John was about. Like am I too self obsessed to think that he wanted just me in his pool
Something similar happened two weeks ago, where he invited us to watch a movie together at his house. Cause he has like this surround system which makes all the movies 10 times more intense. Except when I told my brothers and Dad, they didn't know anything about an invitation. Plus when we did do the movie night, John seemed annoyed the whole night.
I feel like I'm doing something wrong, I just don't know what. Plus I really don't wanna screw up my dad's friendship, as he already has it tough enough. Am I overthinking this ?????