I do just wanna preface by saying this; don't actually if difficulty isn't fun for you. I am the STRONGEST believer that games are meant to be enjoyable and it does not matter what difficulty you find fun. You should play on the difficulty that gives you what you want, WHATEVER that is. It's your game.
That being said, lethal difficulty slaps. It means it when it says 'a single sword strike is lethal'. You will die in like 1, MAYBE 2 hits most of the time and it forces you to actually think. The MAIN thing that makes this mode work as more than just "You die fast so game harder" is; enemies die JUST AS FAST as you do. A single strike kills you, a single strikes kills them.
Taking on a group of 3 goes like this: Dodge the first into a single counter that kills, effortlessly move onto the 2nd and parry, then using the downtime caused by the parry to effortlessly transition to 3rd agressive enemy who is mid attack, taking them out in a single blow then going back to 2nd enemy that you parried, hitting them with a single stab and taking them out to. You've killed 3 aggressors in 3 strikes and taken no hits yourself all in the span of like 5-10 seconds. That's how the mode forces you to play and it's phenomenal. I HIGHLY recommend you try it.
Back when I first played Ghost of Tsushima, I didn't even touch it. So, shoutout to the shitshow that is Ubisoft and AC: Shadows for making me impulse buy the PC port. I had no plans to, having beaten the game before but, now I'm doing this entire playthrough on Lethal and it's a different experience that I can't recommend enough.
Sidenote: Can't believe I was gonna skip the PC port. GoT is such a great game that I haven't played in such a long time and that feels like a crime. Ultrawide, highest settings, it runs great and I can't recommend it enough. Even if you don't plan on getting in on PC, boot up GoT on your PS4 or PS5 and do a Lethal playthrough if you haven't already.

I'd been interested in running/playing CoC for a while now, and after rewatching Seth Skorkowsky's video about Uncle Timothy's Will I decided the role play focus would be fun for the group I play with. It couldn't have gone better. There was enough interest that I ended up running 2 Sessions: one last week and one last night.
If you're unfamiliar with the scenario, it centers on 6 cousins being called together to the family estate to hear the reading of their uncle's will, and they're all awful. My players loved role playing these terrible, rich, petty people. My second group ended up with 2 players fairly new to ttrpgs ,and they also threw themselves into rping these awful characters.
Unfortunately, only one group sort of succeeded in the scenario. The dead uncle requires 6 fresh hearts to complete a ritual of immortality. The first group, although many died or were maimed, managed to blow up the house and escape, killing everyone who was helping the Uncle with his ritual. With no one alive and no hearts to collect, he eventually ran out of propane to keep him malleable, and is now trapped as a block of fat in a pot underground.
2 PCs escaped in that first session. The party girl managed to climb out of a second story window, and she decided to just disappear. She traveled the world and left her name and connections behind. The other survivor was the college dropout, writer, and political activist. His survival was a minor miracle aided by Luck. When the supernatural elements of the scenario unveiled themselves, he suffered psychosomatic blindness and spent the majority of the fight blind. That on its own would have been bad enough, but another player managed to set the house on fire, the blind player pulled an unlit oil lamp on himself, soaking himself in oil due to a failed pushed roll, and then he pushed a second roll, failed, and caught fire. He managed to get outside, strip his burning clothes off, and as the blindness wore off ran to the town at the bottom of the mountain. He then wrote a novel based on his experiences, which became a bestseller.
This first group didn't get an opportunity to really investigate what was happening since one PC was snooping around very early in the morning, saw the maid going into the woods, followed her to where the Uncle's melted body fat was being kept in a liquid state, and kind of caused every bad thing that would have happened throughout the weekend to all happen at once.
The 2nd group, who played last night were doing much better overall, but had terrible luck, and I rolled several statistically improbable extreme successes in the last hour of the session. Unfortunately, when they confronted Uncle Timothy's, he managed to kill 2 of them with extreme successes on his attacks gaining his 3rd and 4th heart, the remaining PCs had retreated, but left behind one bound NPC and and one unconscious PC which gave him his 5th and 6th hearts completing his ritual. The 3 surviving PCs hopped in their car, but due to the storm and general danger of the road and a failed push roll, they ran off the road and rolled down the mountain side, leaving no survivors.
Despite neither group "winning" the scenario, both groups had a blast with it. Last night, I laughed so hard I got light-headed at their antics and petty comments toward one another in-character. If you have a ttrpg group that loves roleplay, this is a great scenario. Both of my groups spent the first 2 hours of each session just talking in character with each other and the help. My first group also immediately started making alliances and blackmailing each other. It was great.
I don't know that I have a point, but I wanted to share our experience since everyone had such a great time. If you've run this scenario, I'd live to hear how your investigators faired.

Hi! I'm bringing home a ~6 week old kitten tomorrow and just wanted to ask for some advice.
Some background info: one of my friends found him at their house a week ago, and they can't keep him so I offered. The kitten is 100% a stray (apparently the mother cat is a stray too? Not sure if she has other kittens) and he's been at the local vet for the past 5 or so days under observation.
The vet says he seems to be healthy-- he as no visible parasites, he's eating watered-down kitten food, and he's been using the litter box on his own. I visited him at the vet yesterday and he seemed to be grooming himself too. He was quite timid but not hostile at all. He started purring when my friend and I gave him scratches under his chin and my heart absolutely melted :"))
I've got some essentials like a water fountain, kitten food (the same kind he's been eating at the vet) and stuff for the litter tray, as well as a little hide/bed and some soft toys and blankets. I'm planning to set him up in either a corner of my room or a spare room and I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to make the transition easier, and if there's anything health-wise I need to watch out for?
I'm a first time cat owner so any advice at all would be appreciated! Truthfully I'm really nervous because I know 6 weeks is VERY young to be separated from the mothe litter-- I tried to find him a more experienced foster but all the shelters I called were at capacity, and some places wouldn't take him because he hasn't been vaccinated yet.
I'm worried that because he's been separated so young he won't know how to socialise or take care of himself as a cat. I'm also worried that he might be sick and I won't know how to spot it because I've never had a cat before.
I've been doing research online but I would love some more tips from experienced cat parents! Any advice is appreciated :D

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Hi, I just finished watching the series Ripley and I would like to share some opinions with you (there will be spoilers).
So, I really liked the series, at least until 2-3 episodes from the end. In the first half, I loved the style, the slow images, the black and white, the tension and suspense of a film noir, and the composition of the images in terms of objects and subjects. I liked that the series, for the first time or at least in rare cases, had actors speaking in English if they were American, otherwise all in Italian since it is set there, but with some devices where, for example, some Italians speak fluent English. In short, I was loving it, but by the last episode, I couldn't stand it much anymore and it saddens me because it's a series with style. I believe that some narrative problems already seen in the early episodes, as the episodes went on, grew considerably, leading to a rushed finale with many small lines opened and closed hastily and with several errors.
For example (I'm not going in order, but as they come to mind):
Marge: I just don't get her. She seems extremely in love with Dickie, but in the end, she starts flirting with Tom (completely unnecessary) and becomes stupid in her behavior. You'd expect her to have doubts (she was warned, she didn't get along with him) and to play a double game to understand who Tom was, but instead, she was genuinely infatuated with Tom and completely forgot about Dickie. I really don't understand this huge change in personality.
Dickie and Tom: Why did Dickie, if he wanted to get rid of Tom, take him alone in the middle of the sea on a boat 1500 km away? Did he want to get himself killed? You don't trust someone and you go together to an isolated place, without a reason?
The detective: He's a character I love, well-realized and wonderfully portrayed by the actor. Serious, intelligent, shrewd, and likable. Then he gets to the last episode and even he loses depth. An intelligent detective, who looks at details, who notices everything and makes appropriate conjectures and connections: he didn't want to personally verify Tom's passport, he never requested an investigation of his apartment (being a suspect) of Tom or Dickie, and on top of that, he goes all the way to Venice, sees Tom in person and doesn't question the fact that this man uses a wig, has the same voice as Tom and the same features as if he were his brother (light or no light, he shook his hand five centimeters from his face)? None of this makes sense. Moreover, he was looking for him so much, they gave him false leads, saying he was in Rome, he checked all the hotels, and when he meets him he doesn't solve the case by asking him in which hotel he had stayed after looking for him so much? Verify, don't find him, know he is lying. Instead, no. Then, why does he believe the boat story when the boat keeper had filed a report the same day? And what explanation does he give to a boat with blood and full of rocks that had been stolen?
Why does Tom buy six train tickets when he returns from Palermo?
The private detective arrives in grand style from America, already knows him, knows he is a scammer who changes identity, and when he talks to him believes everything Tom says, but what did he also get hit on the head?
In the last episode, all tension is lost, every scene that should make us jump out of our seats leads nowhere but to a dead end and a scene that is overcooked.
John Malkovich: Where did he come from? Casually in the last 20 minutes of the series, he goes to a dinner and he is also the stranger who always changes identity. What, two playmates found each other there by chance and without ever talking about it, they understand each other about what they do for a living?
In the entire series, no one ever saw a photo of Dickie? Even when they were on the table and at home?
The bank makes all that fuss from America for a false signature, then someone writes a letter and they believe it immediately.
Tom in the house in Venice introduces himself as Ripley, he has to stay there for at least six months and then disappears changing name and passport, how is that possible?
In Palermo, they recognized him after five minutes and no one remembers Dickie's face or in Venice no one recognizes him after months of newspapers talking about the case.
What is the time difference when Tom arrives in Venice (he already has a beard but it seems the day after) and when the detective receives the book?
The Camorra guy: He's there for two episodes, he's interesting, mysterious, and scary, and then he lets Tom walk all over him in three seconds and his only job in the series was to sell a boat? And the secret deliveries? And the art pieces?
Dickie's family: They come from America and for the English boy Miles, no one comes, this young man doesn't even interest his parents.
The night of the murder, Tom (I don't know how he transported a body standing up) drags it down the stairs, dirties everything, and then in four minutes cleans the entire staircase (or it was just slightly dirty after dragging a body by the head) with a single cloth. And the lady of the building believes they are mice? Mice as big as pigs? Also, excuse me, but here in Italy if someone makes all that noise on the stairs every three minutes, whether it's four in the afternoon, midnight, or three in the morning, you go there and look or call someone. He went back and forth (why didn't he take off his shoes for the noise of the heels?), elevator, doors, not even the lady of the building came out.
Moreover, the biggest of all: how long is the night of the murder and how does Tom go from the historic center of Rome to the Via Appia all those times back and forth if: the distance by car is about 30 minutes and on foot it is a good 1 hour and 30 minutes?
In short, I think this is a bit of everything that makes me frown and that, in my opinion, narratively creates a real imbalance and makes no sense. Moreover, the ending is really banal: wouldn't it have been better to catch him? Who really deserves a spin-off is the detective. Even the actor playing Ripley had no charisma, always the same expression, the same cadence in his voice, and that accent... for me, it could have been a 9 but it turned out to be a 6.

Hi, I just finished watching the series Ripley and I would like to share some opinions with you (there will be spoilers).
So, I really liked the series, at least until 2-3 episodes from the end. In the first half, I loved the style, the slow images, the black and white, the tension and suspense of a film noir, and the composition of the images in terms of objects and subjects. I liked that the series, for the first time or at least in rare cases, had actors speaking in English if they were American, otherwise all in Italian since it is set there, but with some devices where, for example, some Italians speak fluent English. In short, I was loving it, but by the last episode, I couldn't stand it much anymore and it saddens me because it's a series with style. I believe that some narrative problems already seen in the early episodes, as the episodes went on, grew considerably, leading to a rushed finale with many small lines opened and closed hastily and with several errors.
For example (I'm not going in order, but as they come to mind):
Marge: I just don't get her. She seems extremely in love with Dickie, but in the end, she starts flirting with Tom (completely unnecessary) and becomes stupid in her behavior. You'd expect her to have doubts (she was warned, she didn't get along with him) and to play a double game to understand who Tom was, but instead, she was genuinely infatuated with Tom and completely forgot about Dickie. I really don't understand this huge change in personality.
Dickie and Tom: Why did Dickie, if he wanted to get rid of Tom, take him alone in the middle of the sea on a boat 1500 km away? Did he want to get himself killed? You don't trust someone and you go together to an isolated place, without a reason?
The detective: He's a character I love, well-realized and wonderfully portrayed by the actor. Serious, intelligent, shrewd, and likable. Then he gets to the last episode and even he loses depth. An intelligent detective, who looks at details, who notices everything and makes appropriate conjectures and connections: he didn't want to personally verify Tom's passport, he never requested an investigation of his apartment (being a suspect) of Tom or Dickie, and on top of that, he goes all the way to Venice, sees Tom in person and doesn't question the fact that this man uses a wig, has the same voice as Tom and the same features as if he were his brother (light or no light, he shook his hand five centimeters from his face)? None of this makes sense. Moreover, he was looking for him so much, they gave him false leads, saying he was in Rome, he checked all the hotels, and when he meets him he doesn't solve the case by asking him in which hotel he had stayed after looking for him so much? Verify, don't find him, know he is lying. Instead, no. Then, why does he believe the boat story when the boat keeper had filed a report the same day? And what explanation does he give to a boat with blood and full of rocks that had been stolen?
Why does Tom buy six train tickets when he returns from Palermo?
The private detective arrives in grand style from America, already knows him, knows he is a scammer who changes identity, and when he talks to him believes everything Tom says, but what did he also get hit on the head?
In the last episode, all tension is lost, every scene that should make us jump out of our seats leads nowhere but to a dead end and a scene that is overcooked.
John Malkovich: Where did he come from? Casually in the last 20 minutes of the series, he goes to a dinner and he is also the stranger who always changes identity. What, two playmates found each other there by chance and without ever talking about it, they understand each other about what they do for a living?
In the entire series, no one ever saw a photo of Dickie? Even when they were on the table and at home?
The bank makes all that fuss from America for a false signature, then someone writes a letter and they believe it immediately.
Tom in the house in Venice introduces himself as Ripley, he has to stay there for at least six months and then disappears changing name and passport, how is that possible?
In Palermo, they recognized him after five minutes and no one remembers Dickie's face or in Venice no one recognizes him after months of newspapers talking about the case.
What is the time difference when Tom arrives in Venice (he already has a beard but it seems the day after) and when the detective receives the book?
The Camorra guy: He's there for two episodes, he's interesting, mysterious, and scary, and then he lets Tom walk all over him in three seconds and his only job in the series was to sell a boat? And the secret deliveries? And the art pieces?
Dickie's family: They come from America and for the English boy Miles, no one comes, this young man doesn't even interest his parents.
The night of the murder, Tom (I don't know how he transported a body standing up) drags it down the stairs, dirties everything, and then in four minutes cleans the entire staircase (or it was just slightly dirty after dragging a body by the head) with a single cloth. And the lady of the building believes they are mice? Mice as big as pigs? Also, excuse me, but here in Italy if someone makes all that noise on the stairs every three minutes, whether it's four in the afternoon, midnight, or three in the morning, you go there and look or call someone. He went back and forth (why didn't he take off his shoes for the noise of the heels?), elevator, doors, not even the lady of the building came out.
Moreover, the biggest of all: how long is the night of the murder and how does Tom go from the historic center of Rome to the Via Appia all those times back and forth if: the distance by car is about 30 minutes and on foot it is a good 1 hour and 30 minutes?
In short, I think this is a bit of everything that makes me frown and that, in my opinion, narratively creates a real imbalance and makes no sense. Moreover, the ending is really banal: wouldn't it have been better to catch him? Who really deserves a spin-off is the detective. Even the actor playing Ripley had no charisma, always the same expression, the same cadence in his voice, and that accent... for me, it could have been a 9 but it turned out to be a 6.

Many spoilers. Obviously.
While watching the movie I could not stop thinking about about my two favorite shows Twin Peaks and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and how much they influenced the structure of the film. Not just in cultural references but in the very concept of the universe the characters inhabit.
The key concept that kept coming up for me was the pocket universe concept and how much that is the basis of the Midnight Realm. When someone asked why Owen seemed like he was 89 even though, if you did the math, he was likely in his 40s, I was taken back to the third season premier of Buffy. In it Buffy, escaping her friends, family and obligations, flees to another town and takes on the identity of Anne. While working at a dinner she uncovers a mystery of young people suddenly disappearing, then returning a few days later but in their old age and dying.
What she discovers is demons capturing them and taking them to another dimension to work at a factory as slaves. In that dimension time moves very differently, so while they are gone for only a few days in our world, they age decades in the factory universe. Just like time moves in the Midnight realm. In fact middle aged Owen looks quite like one of these former teenagers dying of old age in the makeup.
The idea of time moving differently comes up again in season three two episodes later in Faith, Hope and Trick when Angel returns from a hell dimension as a feral creature with little memory of his past. Buffy learns that while he was only gone for a few episodes in her world, he’d been tortured for centuries in the hell dimension of Acathla.
These pocket universes in Buffy also appear in the underlying mythology of the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks. The black lodge (the place with red curtain and wavy tiles) is another dimension where agent cooper gets trapped at the end of the show and remains trapped in The Return before coming back as Douggie. In the real world his form is a vessel for BOB.
In both of these fictional worlds there is a real world and side dimensions of it. I saw the TV Glow turns this on its head by positing that the world you think is real, the boring suburbia, is actually the Midnight Realm, and the Pink Opaque is reality. The Midnight Realm was a pain created by Mr Melancholy to trap the characters and make them forget who they really are.
Clues of this abound. The most visually striking is the presence of TV static throughout the Midnight Realm. From the reflection of staticky fire above the campfire Owen sets or the glowing static above him when he sleeps over Mattie’s. Also, when Mattie returns, likely through the downed power line, the gap in the road is filled with static. The most obvious being when he watched the season 5 finale and tries to escape back into the real world by thrusting his head into the TV then, when his father pulls him out, saying You’re not my dad and this isn’t my house. Finally, the very end when he opens up his chest, we see TV static.
This is what Mattie tried to explain to him, quite plainly, but the film essential becomes him wrestling with his denial that he’s in the Midnight Realm, and is dying there while his real self and body are buried underground, heartless, in the pink Opaque. As it becomes more and more obvious the world he inhabits isn’t real, maintaining his denial causes more and more psychic stress until he eventually breakdown at a children’s party.
This real world/pocket world also forms the basis of the trans allegory at the heart of the film. In the Midnight Realm he isn’t in the body that is his actual body, which reflects his true self. His father, like a Midnight Realm policeman tries to keep him in denial so he doesn’t realize he’s in the wrong body in the wrong world, by discouraging him from watching the show through menacing gender policing to literally pulling him out of the TV show world. It’s a pretty power metaphor to say that, as unbelievable as it might seem, your true reality is the world resembling the Buffyverse, that you need to bury yourself alive to return.

Hi, I just finished watching the series Ripley and I would like to share some opinions with you (there will be spoilers).
So, I really liked the series, at least until 2-3 episodes from the end. In the first half, I loved the style, the slow images, the black and white, the tension and suspense of a film noir, and the composition of the images in terms of objects and subjects. I liked that the series, for the first time or at least in rare cases, had actors speaking in English if they were American, otherwise all in Italian since it is set there, but with some devices where, for example, some Italians speak fluent English. In short, I was loving it, but by the last episode, I couldn't stand it much anymore and it saddens me because it's a series with style. I believe that some narrative problems already seen in the early episodes, as the episodes went on, grew considerably, leading to a rushed finale with many small lines opened and closed hastily and with several errors.
For example (I'm not going in order, but as they come to mind):
Marge: I just don't get her. She seems extremely in love with Dickie, but in the end, she starts flirting with Tom (completely unnecessary) and becomes stupid in her behavior. You'd expect her to have doubts (she was warned, she didn't get along with him) and to play a double game to understand who Tom was, but instead, she was genuinely infatuated with Tom and completely forgot about Dickie. I really don't understand this huge change in personality.
Dickie and Tom: Why did Dickie, if he wanted to get rid of Tom, take him alone in the middle of the sea on a boat 1500 km away? Did he want to get himself killed? You don't trust someone and you go together to an isolated place, without a reason?
The detective: He's a character I love, well-realized and wonderfully portrayed by the actor. Serious, intelligent, shrewd, and likable. Then he gets to the last episode and even he loses depth. An intelligent detective, who looks at details, who notices everything and makes appropriate conjectures and connections: he didn't want to personally verify Tom's passport, he never requested an investigation of his apartment (being a suspect) of Tom or Dickie, and on top of that, he goes all the way to Venice, sees Tom in person and doesn't question the fact that this man uses a wig, has the same voice as Tom and the same features as if he were his brother (light or no light, he shook his hand five centimeters from his face)? None of this makes sense. Moreover, he was looking for him so much, they gave him false leads, saying he was in Rome, he checked all the hotels, and when he meets him he doesn't solve the case by asking him in which hotel he had stayed after looking for him so much? Verify, don't find him, know he is lying. Instead, no. Then, why does he believe the boat story when the boat keeper had filed a report the same day? And what explanation does he give to a boat with blood and full of rocks that had been stolen?
Why does Tom buy six train tickets when he returns from Palermo?
The private detective arrives in grand style from America, already knows him, knows he is a scammer who changes identity, and when he talks to him believes everything Tom says, but what did he also get hit on the head?
In the last episode, all tension is lost, every scene that should make us jump out of our seats leads nowhere but to a dead end and a scene that is overcooked.
John Malkovich: Where did he come from? Casually in the last 20 minutes of the series, he goes to a dinner and he is also the stranger who always changes identity. What, two playmates found each other there by chance and without ever talking about it, they understand each other about what they do for a living?
In the entire series, no one ever saw a photo of Dickie? Even when they were on the table and at home?
The bank makes all that fuss from America for a false signature, then someone writes a letter and they believe it immediately.
Tom in the house in Venice introduces himself as Ripley, he has to stay there for at least six months and then disappears changing name and passport, how is that possible?
In Palermo, they recognized him after five minutes and no one remembers Dickie's face or in Venice no one recognizes him after months of newspapers talking about the case.
What is the time difference when Tom arrives in Venice (he already has a beard but it seems the day after) and when the detective receives the book?
The Camorra guy: He's there for two episodes, he's interesting, mysterious, and scary, and then he lets Tom walk all over him in three seconds and his only job in the series was to sell a boat? And the secret deliveries? And the art pieces?
Dickie's family: They come from America and for the English boy Miles, no one comes, this young man doesn't even interest his parents.
The night of the murder, Tom (I don't know how he transported a body standing up) drags it down the stairs, dirties everything, and then in four minutes cleans the entire staircase (or it was just slightly dirty after dragging a body by the head) with a single cloth. And the lady of the building believes they are mice? Mice as big as pigs? Also, excuse me, but here in Italy if someone makes all that noise on the stairs every three minutes, whether it's four in the afternoon, midnight, or three in the morning, you go there and look or call someone. He went back and forth (why didn't he take off his shoes for the noise of the heels?), elevator, doors, not even the lady of the building came out.
Moreover, the biggest of all: how long is the night of the murder and how does Tom go from the historic center of Rome to the Via Appia all those times back and forth if: the distance by car is about 30 minutes and on foot it is a good 1 hour and 30 minutes?
In short, I think this is a bit of everything that makes me frown and that, in my opinion, narratively creates a real imbalance and makes no sense. Moreover, the ending is really banal: wouldn't it have been better to catch him? Who really deserves a spin-off is the detective. Even the actor playing Ripley had no charisma, always the same expression, the same cadence in his voice, and that accent... for me, it could have been a 9 but it turned out to be a 6.

Amid the beef I had to revisit this album and now I have multiple questions relating to these two songs that I would like clarity on, I'll list quotes from the songs in order, followed up with my questions related to the lines:
​

"Mother cried, put they hands on her, it was family ties" -'Mother I Sober'

1). This is saying that someone in the family hit his mother, not that someone in the family was the one that molested his mother?
​

"Mother's brother said he got revenge for my mother’s face, Black and blue, the image of my queen that I can't erase" -'Mother I Sober'

2). Kendrick's Uncle beats up another family member to avenge what happened in the previous line above?
​

"I asked my momma why she didn't believe me when I told her "No", I never knew she was violated in Chicago, I'm sympathetic" -'Mother I Sober'

3). I assume we have no further context to what happened here, whether or not this incident happened by someone in the family or not, just that it happened previously when she lived in Chicago before moving to Compton?
​

Whitney's hurt, the purest soul I know, I found her in the kitchen
Askin' God, "Where did I lose myself? And can it be forgiven?"
Broke me down, she looked me in my eyes, "Is there an addiction?"
I said "No," but this time I lied, I knew that I can't fix it
Pure soul, even in her pain, know she cared for me
Gave me a number, said she recommended some therapy
I asked my momma why she didn't believe me when I told her "No"
I never knew she was violated in Chicago, I'm sympathetic
Told me that she feared it happened to me, for my protection
Though it never happened, she wouldn't agree
Now I'm affected, twenty years later trauma has resurfaced
Amplified as I write this song, I shiver 'cause I'm nervous
I was five, questioning myself, 'lone for many years
Nothing's wrong, just results on how them questions made me feel
I made it home, seven years of tour, chasin' manhood
But Whitney's gone, by time you hear this song, she did all she could -'Mother I Sober'

(All relevant lines for most context)
4). This is the most confusing one to me. To my understanding this is the moment Whitney finds out about Kendrick's infidelity/lust addiction. It reads as though this convo occurred when he was 25 years old ("twenty years later, after I was five") so this would be at or around 2012-2013, which fits in with him saying Whitney asked him about this soon after the GKMC tour. Which he mentioned earlier on 'Worldwide Steppers'
"​good kid, m.A.A.d city tour, I flourished on them stages*,* Whitney asked did I have a problem I said, 'I might be racist'"
So this kind of makes it sound like this was a conversation they had over a decade ago? The "I made it home, seven years of tour, Whitney's gone" line makes this more confusing because I would assume the GKMC or Yeezus tour or even the Drake one were the first ones he was a part of back in 2012/2013, unless he is just talking about 7 years prior to the original interpretation where he would just be doing random shows back when he was K.Dot. Unless he's saying this is when the conversation happened, they remained together until sometime recently they split, but this would be unsubstantiated. So personally I think it is clear when Whitney found out about his infidelity sometime 10+ years ago, however it's very unclear when or if Whitney is even really gone and if they don't live together, see each other, or parent their kids together. The meta perspective of her appearing on the album multiple times and being a part of the artwork, and posting a ton of her own self growth stuff on IG as well an Kendrick never really saying anything contrary besides this one line leads me to believe they're still very much together?
​

So I set free my cousin, chaotic for my mother's pain
I hope Hykeem made you proud 'cause you ain't die in vain -'Mother I Sober'

5). Obviously this is referring to Kendrick's cousin who is the parent of Baby Keem (who I always thought was Kendrick's first cousin, and not his first cousin once removed), but who is this cousin? Is this the cousin that was accused of touching Kendrick? I assume this isn't the same cousin from Auntie Diaries due to the similar age? Also do we know how or when they died? I feel like I'm missing something obvious. For some reason a Genius annotation says this is a female "his female cousin who’s the mother of Baby Keem" I'm not sure where this is concluded from.
​

My Auntie is a man now -Auntie Diaries
Where is your uncle at? 'Cause I wanna talk to the man of the house -Family Matters

6). Final question regarding 'Auntie Diaries'. There was a little bit of discourse over Drake's line in 'Family Matters' regarding Kendrick's Aunt/Uncle. From my understanding, yes Kendrick's Auntie is a transman, but just because that's the case doesn't necessarily mean that he wants to be referred to as an Uncle. Is it reasonable to believe that because of the title of the song, the repetition of "My Auntie is a man now", and no other indication in the song, that Kendrick's Auntie retained the Aunt title regardless of transitioning to a man? (Technically making Drake's line incorrect/hurtful?)
(reposted, accidentally deleted)

Last week posted about the 10 ELDO fragrances I had already tried (https://www.reddit.com/fragrance/comments/1cpni3c/my_impression_of_10_fragrances_from_the_etat/) . Here are the remaning 10 fragrances from this discovery set. I found more fragrances of my liking last time, but I did my best to try review them all
Clean Suede: This a simple, clean but sexy fragrance. I can' t tell apart the notes very well. I smell something talc like, something peppery, and a good dose of incense (not listed). My thought was that I would probably enjoy smelling this on a man. In the drydown there is good dose of tonka or vanilla and It becomes a little too sweet wo be considered classically masculine, more of a unisex fragrance. I think most people could enjoy this one since It is not particularly challenging, but neither boring nor too basic.
Eau de Protection: In the opening the bitter orange prevails . The focus is on the white, bitter part of the fruit, rather than on the sweet and juicy part. I also smell something similar to lemon grass and the overall composition screams mosquito repellant to me. Almost made me think this was the true "protection" the name suggested...but the rose slowly becomes stronger, and my association with mosquito repellat weaker. Despite that I still don' t like this take on rose, that personally reminds of rose hand soap, in an ambellished bathroom, in the house of someone's great aunt.
Archives 69: Defective sample vial barely spritzs at all. By the way I insisted and a few hours later I was able to gather a decent amount of juice in my inner elbow. The opening is aromatic, peppery and I also get something reminding me of vinegar or acetone? As it dries down the incense and fresh balsamic notes get more noticeable. I think Archives is a bit in the same vein as "Like this", but white I enjoied the latter, I don' t find archives to be really interesting or pleasant. Both are also supposed to have some sweet facets that my nose can' t somehow pick up. Overall I don' t care If I won' t be able to use this sample.
500 Years: In the opening I get cocoa ad rose, rose and cocoa. Very dry and powdery smelling. I was not expecting to like this a lot based on the opening (I am not a cocoa lover) but It really grew on me. In the drydown I kept smelling my arm because It develops a nice woody, spicy with dominant cardamom (love cardamom) and mysterious aroma. This one is a serious, dry, and a bit gloomy rose. I will treasure my sample until next autumn, as I see it more fitted for cold weather.
Hermann à mes côtés me paraissait une ombre: I don't exactly know what I am smelling. It is markedly earthy. Aside from that it is peppery, dry and dusty, a bit weird but not in an unplesant way, actually quite intriguing, It gives a warm feeling without being creamy or sweet. I also get rose, again. Probably the more masculine leaning of the set, together with exit the king.
She was an Anomaly: Barely there musky skin scent. It smells like if you had Just got out the shower, skin still warm, after using some white musk bodywash. Aside from that, there is a very faint citric note in the opening and I also though I was getting some iris, but it is not listed. Maybe something meant for people who don' t like to wear fragrances? Either way it doesn't elicit any feeling in me. Quite underwhelming.
Frustration: I loved It on paper. Boozy, sweet, smoky, woody. I almost thought I had finally found a gourmand I loved. But when I tested It on skin, there was some very sharp artificial smelling note always on top. It is a pity because the gourmand "bonfire" smell could have been appealing, if only they did not add burnt rubber or gasoline to the mix. Leans masculine.
Exit the King: The opening is exactly like a white bar of soap. Can' t go much cleaner than this. After about 20 minutes I am able to smell the orange blossom. If a gentleman from around 1920's was staying at some hotel in Paris and washed his hair, body and shaved his beard clean using the same white bar of soap, he would smell like this. I can also imagine him having breakfast while reading a newspaper on a bright sunny morning. I find the earthy, mossy, clean drydown very pleasant.
Spice Must Flow: Again I was expecting something different based on the name. Something dry, warm and spicy in the Tauer L' air du Desert style. Instead this is a very sweet rose with similarily sweet spices . If I had to compare it I would say it is closer to Malle Portrait of a Lady (they are not that similar, POAL is nowhere as sweet and has some fresh mentholated facet that is not present here). The overall sensation here is that of an almost syrupy, medicinal rose. I also smell again something unpleasant and similar to vinegar or acetone . It has great longevity and sillage and will definitely not go unnoticed, unfortunately not my cup of tea. Also, despite me liking rose, I was honestly a bit tired of smelling It at this point.
The Ghost in the Shell: Probably the one I disliked more after Experimentum Crucis. It opens as an extremely milky and plasticky smelling skin scent. Some flowers on top. I imagine this is how a lactating cyborg nanny would smell like. I dislike lactonic notes in general, but this one is something else and If I put my nose too close It really makes me nauseus. It does not evolve much, it simply becomes more musky and a bit less nauseating. Interesting in a creative, experimental way though.
​
Final considerations: Trying this discovery set was quite a fun experience, but as for now the only fragrance I really love is YOSLY (which was also the only one I had already tested). I kept 6 out of 20 samples that I will wear again (YOSLY, Soul of my Soul, Like this, 500 years, Putain des Palaces, Remarkable People). I gave the rest away even if someone were nice (es Herman or clean suede) because I simply knew they were not my style.
I would recommend this sample set to anyone who is new to this hobby and is open to experiment with a lot of samples . I would probably not reccomend it to people who dislike rose, because there really was a lot of It, and to men who only enjoy traditionally masculine smelling fragrances, because there is not a lot of It.

Received an email (see below) from https://www.cioapplicationseurope.com announcing I have won "Company of the year" and a $5,000 "reprint rights package" that I get when I sign. cioapplicationseurope.com has close to zero traction on LinkedIn and Twitter and their employee profiles are anonymous.

Hi,
Thank you for sharing your availability and I appreciate your interest in this opportunity.
 
Monday at 13:00 (CET) works for my Manager Shirley (cc'd) and here is the team's invite link.
 
[REMOVED]
 
Shirley will be the much better person to discuss this opportunity in greater detail and to talk about how our previous clients have used these reprints. Alternatively, you can contact her anytime at + 1 [REMOVED].
 
Do you need me to write or provide anything for the article/profile on your website?
 
We would require 30 - 45 mins of your time for the interview. Once you proceed further we will be sending the official contract of the reprint rights package valued at 5,000 Euros which you need to sign as a confirmation from your side.
 
Upon receiving the signed copy, I will set up an interview call. Then based on the responses received from the interview, our Editors will start working on the profile, which will then be shared with you for approval. You can be assured that nothing will be sent to print unless we have your final approval on it.
 
Also, I have attached the Company of the Year reprint PDF of ITSM CENTER one of our past clients for your reference. We will develop a similar profile for [REMOVED] and you will be the only company featured in our magazine.
 
Lasse, when we highlight [REMOVED] as the "Company of the Year" in our AI Code Tools 2024 edition, [REMOVED] will be the exclusive recognition in this edition. Alongside being recognized among the "Top Companies in AI Code Tools in Europe 2024," they will be showcased to our audience of 107,000 qualified subscribers across Europe, precisely your targeted audience.
 
When you sign up for the reprint rights package, you will get unlimited print and digital rights to use this Company of Year feature in all your sales and marketing endeavors, along with the award logo of "Top Companies in AI Code Tools in Europe 2024" and a certificate of honor which can serve as powerful tools in your marketing arsenal, potentially expediting the conversion of prospects into clients. Integrating these reprints into your pitch has the potential to expedite the closure of deals.

Hello, im 19m, uni student.
i have always been into a hobby hunt because i want to be dependant on my own happiness and not making other people the main and only source of my happiness, i have realised this problem 3 years ago, my best friend left me and stopped hanging out with me because i was too depressed and was not really energised so i was just a bit boring and he stopped hanging out with me to hand out with other friends, i dont remember why i was depressed but i remember that after he left me i felt 100 times worse, for 6 months i was almost always alone, i only had a mutual friend and we did not talk daily, i talked to her about the situation because well she is a mutual friend and knows him, she mostly put a chunk of the blame on me, saying relationships need both sides to put effort for it to work, she was implying that i did not put effort, which was wrong but then yes i stopped putting effort because ive been putting effort for a month and never got the same effort back.
after those 6 months, i have always been feeling like shit, i was around 15 but i dont think i truly realised how dependant i was, the mutual friend eventually got us back and he apologised and stuff, it has been almost 4 years now and he is my best friend, he is changed, i hated how i got back instead of moving on but i truly think now he is an amazing friend and has been with me in hard times.
a year after we were friends again, so 3-2 years ago, he started hanging out less and less, for valid reasons, i had to spend most of my time alone, and i did not know how, my days felt too long, unbearable. then i realised the gravity of the situation, i needed to do something and i need to know how to enjoy my own solitude, which is why i have always been hard on myself on trying having hobbies. i started going to the gym and cooking which was great and i still do that. and i have tried many other things but mostly, i did not really enjoy it.
fast forward to now, in my life, my close circle, there is 2 people, my best friend still, and a girl who i have been talking to for maybe 5-6 months now, i have feelings for her, and she does for me, i have told her how i feel a few months ago and she called me, i was scared but it turned out great, she said she feels that way too and she thinks im cute and blah blah blah. Thing is, we live very far away from each other, which is why we arent really officially a "couple". Like obviously she is more than a friend but still, we text and call frequently and i always have much fun. and i really do want to take things more seriously with her but i dont think now is a good time as she is having her finals and university entrance exams and also, sometimes i think if it is a good idea because of the distance, the plan is as we discussed if we do take things to the "next level" is to wait until we both finish uni (~2 years for me. ~4 years for her).
i feel like sometimes i am too attached, i really hate it, i have been like that and i know where it got me to, i dont want to be in that place ever again, i am genuinely scared. sometimes, like today and yesterday where i have not gotten a text from her, i dont feel good and i fucking hate it, i feel very pathetic, why can i not be content with my own ? its not like she disappeared or something, maybe because i already dont feel good and this is a plus to it, because it has happened more than once, one time she said she wanted to be alone for a time and it was around a week, for the first couple of days yeah i did not feel good but then it was normal, and i also started having feelings of hate, which i obviously hated, i get attached and when they want to have alone time i cant help but feel like they are tired of me or something, i hate thinking about it too much, and i know that if i just had a life with many things to do i wont be feeling like this, again which brings us to the hobby thing, i still go to the gym and cook but i would still have a long day not knowing what to do ALONE.
one hobby that i picked up and i hold it dear to me is cycling, i started cycling a lot when i was severely depressed around 2 months ago, it was amazing honestly, it gave me an hour of peace that i needed, just me and my bicycle and i go around my ugly neighbourhood listening to the songs my girl gave to me, i still do it but not daily, it is hard to do it daily because the time to do it is very limited, i can only cycle around 5pm so its a safe uv level and the sun is not too hot (it gets around 40c here) and i cant really do it after 7pm because the sun sets and i want to see the sun, i dont like doing it in the night. another hobby i used to do while i was depressed was building legos, i built a set and spent around a week, an hour each day and it was honestly great. i still have another set but i never got myself to do it, why ? i have a jigsaw puzzle that i am supposed to finish for like 2 months now and i never finished it, i have a big empty portrait in my room that the jigsaw puzzle is supposed to be inside, everytime i look at it it reminds me of my failure lol, i can just never get myself to do it, i tried it 3 times and got bored quickly.
i just hate the feeling of not having control of my own happiness, and many things that i do i do not find enjoyment in, even playing games which is like my main hobby for a long time, i cant enjoy it much if i do it alone, only with my friend which i hate, i feel like i fucked up my life and i dont really know what to do, its funny how i am in the exact same place kinda 2 years ago, i tried many things, playing the piano, drawing, making video games, boxing, running. i just never found great enjoyment in them and it always felt like chores, not hobbies, honestly the only things that i truly find peace with while i do them and it doesnt feel like a chore is going to the gym and cycling, maybe and other small things. But i just feel like these are not enough, i still have a long day and what ? chatting and hanging out with my friend or girl friend is what really makes me the happiest in my day but i just am afraid that maybe everything would fall apart and i will be alone, i need to prepare myself, i need to be more dependant, to make the relationships healthier, to love myself more, but i just dont know how, many things are super boring, i really have problems with getting myself to do things, motivation and self control, does this maybe have to do with dopamine receptors ? i really dont know, what can i do ? i feel like i know what to do, which is focus on my life aspects like hobbies but I just dont really know how.
any comment would be appreciated, thank you all and have a great day :)

I recently updated my watchOS to the most recent update (10.5 I think) and since then my watch has had multiple inexplicable issues. I have a Series 8 that I bought early last year

1. Battery life has diminished to about 40 percent of where it was before I updated. While it used to last a good 16 hours, now it dies after about 6. Battery health is at 88%.
   
2. Wrist detection is faulty now. The watch constantly locks on my wrist. I don’t have any tattoos and this issue occurs regardless of how loose or tight I set the strap. I’ve also cleaned the sensors.
   
3. Heart rate tracking seems off. I can’t really prove this but it just looks off. While I slept two nights ago my heart rate would spike from the low 50s to 120, in the span of a minute which I’ve never seen before. I don’t have any health issues and prior to updating my sleeping heart rate was in the 40s
   
4. Sleep tracking seems off. Last night I slept for around 9 hours I think but my watch recorded less than 7. The time the watch thinks I fell asleep seems to be about 2 hours later than when I recall falling asleep. Sleep tracking has been accurate in the past.
   
5. Apple Watch can’t detect my phone despite the 2 devices being right next to each other on the same wifi network with Bluetooth enabled. Never had this issue before either. They are both logged in to the same Apple ID.
   

All these issues have popped up immediately after updating 3 days ago. I called Apple support and they ran diagnostics confirming the only hardware issues with my device are with the ambient light sensor and compass. Everything else supposedly works fine from a hardware standpoint. Hoping someone can provide support. I’ve already tried unpairing and repairing, updating my iPhone, factory resetting and restoring from a backup and factory resetting as a new watch.
Thanks!

Moby has always been a mainstay in house music and electronica in general. And on May 17th, 1999, he released his fifth studio album Play to critical and commercial success, becoming a rare phenomenon in the dance world.

…..but not in the way you would expect. You see, not even Moby thought he would make an impact, and originally intended to retire after that. So what makes his success story so unique? And how did this album become the best selling electronica album of all time? Let’s take a deep dive!

A quick recap into his early career

Throughout the 80s, Moby was involved in multiple underground punk rock bands. At the tail end of the decade, he shifted his interests towards the then-burgeoning electronic music scene, moving to New York City and taking up producing, remixing and DJ-ing as a result. By 1991, his single “Go” became an instant success and propelled him into stardom. For the next few years, he scored multiple dance hits (including a remix of the James Bond theme).

It was in 1996 when he released his album Animal Rights where everything went wrong. His sudden shift to punk and metal inspired music alienated much of his fan base and proved to be a critical and commercial failure, leaving him in a bit of a disarray. By this point, much of his audience began to cast doubts as to who Moby was as an artist, and while he asserted that the stylistic change was only temporary, it didn’t stop them from leaving his side. His own touring was disastrous, and him opening for alt-rock band Soundgarden was met with boos and jeers, prompting him on leaving music altogether. But thanks to artists like Bono, Axl Rose and Terence Trent D'Arby giving positive reactions to his Animal Rights album, he decided to stay a little while longer.

Background

Play's musical direction began around the time Moby's friend, Gregor Ehrlich loaned him a 1993 box set titled "Sounds of the South: A Musical Journey from the Georgia Sea Islands to the Mississippi Delta." by Alan Lomax. In it, a wide collection of folk music recorded throughout the 20th century.
Moby began to work on Play in August 1997, but touring obligations as well as unsatisfactory mixing sessions caused multiple delays. According to Moby's manager, Eric Härle had stated their original goal was to sell 250,000 copies, which was what Everything Is Wrong (1995), Moby's biggest-selling album at the time, had sold. Moby had doubts in achieving that, and many of the labels seemed to agree. Moby lost his outlet to released Play in the US following his removal from Elektra's roster of artists, leaving UK-based Mute Records as his sole label. Looking for US records to distribute was a struggle, with major label records like Warner Bros., Sony and RCA rejecting him. Even after V2 picked up the offer, most of the journalists passed on listening to the album. By March of 1999, two months before release, Moby began contemplating on his future and felt that maybe it's best to just throw in the towel and retire.

Play debuted at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart, but fell off shortly after. In addition, the radio and network airplay the songs received was very minimal. At this point, the goal was to simply get people to listen to the music; for that to happen, Moby and his management had to get really creative. While brainstorming, the team noticed a few agencies flocking to them for permission to use the music as soundbeds. That marked the moment a huge lightbulb went off on everybody's head; there's great potential in using licensing.
Licenses weren’t exactly lucrative but it was an alternate way of exposing listeners to the music rather than just radio. Management team was very diligent in looking for licenses, nevertheless, they took painstaking care of which requests were more appropriate for certain songs. Eventually they succeeded in getting every track on the album licensed, with "7" being the last track to do so.

Singles

Play's rollout consisted of eight singles. I've listed the samples used as well as where the songs are heard. While I listed as many licenses as I could, I tried to keep it within a 5 year timeframe. Forgive me as I know I missed a few but it's tough to find older, obscure commercials.

Honey
After discovering an a cappella song from Lomax's box set, Moby wrote this song in about 10 minutes. The song had minimal radio airplay but still managed to chart in several places including the UK Singles Chart (#33) and Billboard's Dance/Electronic Singles Sales (#95). A remix was later released featuring American R&B artist, Kelis.
Licensed: Permanent Midnight (1998), The 13th Warrior (1999), Maxwell Coffee (1999), Holes (2003),
Samples: Bessie Jones - Sometimes (1960)

Run On
This was one the first Play tracks Moby made. Due to the amount of samples, putting this song together proved to be a major challenge. Sampling the original folk song "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Bill Landford and the Landfordaires, Moby didn’t know about the song's popularity until after recording it. It’s been covered by many artists including Elvis, Bobbie Gentry and Johnny Cash.
Licensed: Renault Kangoo (199x), Harsh Realm (1999), Mercy Streets (2000), Osmosis Jones (2001),
Samples: Bill Landford and The Landfordaires - Run On For A Long Time (1949), Melvin Bliss - Synthetic Substitution (1973)

Bodyrock
Fun fact: Both of Moby's managers tried to convince him not to include the song on the album, as they thought it sounded too similar to a Fatboy Slim, but he insisted on keeping it as he liked the song for its sample.
Licensed: Dawson's Creek (1998), Rolling Rock Beer (2000), Hype (2000), FIFA 2001 (2000), Buffy The Vampire Slayer (2001), Veronica's Closet theme (2003)
Samples: Spoonie Gee and The Treacherous Three - Love Rap (1980), Gang of Four - What We All Want (1981), Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat (1983)

Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad
Moby originally wrote this back in 1992 as a techno song. Unsatisfied with the result, he never released it. Years later, he revisited the song, reproducing it with slower and more sorrowful tone, Eric Härle encouraged him to include it on the album. Kelis also provided vocals on a remix of this track.
Licensed: The Next Best Thing (2000), Millennium Mambo (2001), Lovely Rita (2001), Black Hawk Down trailer (2001), Associaçao Desportiva de Deficientes (2004)
Samples: The Banks Brothers and The Greater Harvest Back Home Choir - He'll Roll Your Burdens Away (1966), Delegate vs. Emo-Trance - Return to Tasmania (1998)

Natural Blues
Music video features Christina Ricci (famous for her Wednesday Addams role)
Licensed: Shadow Hours (2000), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Joan Of Arcadia (2003), Basic (2003)
Samples: Vera Hall - Trouble So Hard (1937), Coke Escovedo - I Wouldn't Change a Thing (1976), The Banks Brothers and The Greater Harvest Back Home Choir - All the Way (1966)

Porcelain
A standout of the album, it's one of the only songs on the album that Moby sings on.
Licensed: The Beach (2000), Nordstrom 'Doorway' (2000), VW Polo 'Lunchtime' (2000), Bailey's Irish Cream (200x)
Samples: Ernest Gold - Fight for Survival (1961), Electra - Destiny (The Remix)(1989)

South Side
Initially recorded with No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani, production problems forced Moby to leave Stefani's vocals off the mix of the song included on the album; her vocals were later restored for the song's single release.
Licensed: I cant find any :(
Samples: The Counts - What's Up Front That Counts (1971)
Find My Baby
The final single (obviously)
Licensed: Any Given Sunday (1999), Charmed (2000), Nissan Almera II (2000), American Express 'Tiger Woods Plays Manhattan' (2000)
Samples: Boy Blue - Joe Lee's Rock (1960), Louis Bellson, Shelly Manne, Willie Bobo & Paul Humphrey - Super Mellow (1975)

As for the deep cuts (once again, I couldn’t find them all).

Rushing
Licensed: Weather Channel (2000s-2010s)
Samples: n/a

Machete
Licensed: Play It To The Bone (1999), Mission Hill 'Andy Joins The PTA.' (2002)
Samples: Tom Jones - Looking Out My Window (1968), Incredible Bongo Band - Apache (1973)

7
Licensed: unknown
Samples: n/a

Down Slow
Licensed: unknown
Samples: n/a

If Things Were Perfect
Licensed: unknown
Samples: Willie Hutch - Hospital Prelude of Love Theme (1974)

Everloving
Licensed: Requeum For a Dream trailer (2000), Thortons Chocolates ad (200x)
Samples: n/a

Inside
Licensed: Riding Giants (2004)
Samples: n/a

Guitar Flute & String
Licensed: unknown
Samples: n/a

The Sky Is Broken
Licensed: The X-Files 'All Things' (2000) (fun fact: Gillian Anderson hand-picked this song!)
Samples: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Long as I Can See the Light (1970), SMPTE Timecode - Audio Sample (1967)


My Weakness
Licensed: The X-Files 'Closure' (2000), Any Given Sunday (1999), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), The Salton Sea (2002)
Samples: Kanak - Danse Nyinewaco De Tiga (1990)

Conclusion

Play was the breakthrough album Moby needed to break into the mainstream, landing DJ gigs across the world before he even knew it. It was the first album to have all of its tracks licensed. The licensing approach was a resounding success that helped increase the album's visibility along with radio and MTV. In fact, it was so lucrative that the album was already considered a financial success before it even reached multi-platinum sales! Overall, Play's journey to being a cultural phenomenon was a slow but gradual one, with the album re-entering the top 100 charts and have many of its songs hit the charts across multiple countries. Before you knew it, the whole blues-meets-electronica was everywhere (even Adele cited this album as an influence on 25).

Using popular songs for commercial purposes is nothing new but with Play, many viewed this album as redefining the concept of "commercial". Not everybody was on board with this, many techno purists scoffed at his approach for success, seeing Moby as an ultimate sell-out, and his music being devalued as a result. Despite this, Moby remained steadfast in his decisions. Now, 25 years on, with a staggering 12 million sold worldwide, Play still remains the best selling electronica album of all time.

Questions

What was your experience with this album? Did you enjoy it?
Do you feel the push for licensing really changed the game? For better or for worse?
Do you feel this album has any cultural relevance beyond its commercial ubiquity? Why or why not?

I've tried the `cmd /c "set OPENSSL_ia32cap=:~0x20000000 && %command%"` launch command, adding the openssl variable to my environments variables, and changing the executable to 32 bit.
None of these solutions worked, and I'm unable to launch the game. No errors or anything.
Any idea on what the issue could be, and how to fix it?
all logs are also empty when checking them out in steamapps\common\Paladins\Binaries\Logs

Date & Time Message Type Detail Source Process Thread ERROR_CODE CHARACTER_ID PLAYER_ID LEADER_CHARACTER_ID LEADER_PLAYER_ID MAP_GAME_ID MAP_INSTANCE_ID CLAN_ID GAME_EVENT_ID CHAT_CH_TYPE CHAT_CH_ID ACCOUNT_ID HANDLE MATCH_ID MATCH_QUEUE_ID 

Gold’s record-setting rally may have captured the headlines this year, but it’s silver that’s running harder and faster as the less glamorous metal benefits from robust financial and industrial demand.
Silver has soared by almost a quarter in 2024, outpacing gold and making it one of the year’s best-performing major commodities. Yet in relative terms, silver is still cheap. It currently takes about 80 ounces of silver to buy 1 ounce of gold, compared with the 20-year average of 68.
The two metals move largely in tandem as both offer similar macro- and currency-hedging properties. With gold hitting a record on central-bank buying, retail interest in China, and a resurgence in bets lower US interest rates are on the way, silver’s gone along for the ride. Although there’s been scant interest from investors in silver-backed exchange-traded funds, physical sales have picked up, including at Singapore-based dealer Silver Bullion Pte.
“Even clients who are interested in buying gold are starting to say ‘well, maybe I’ll buy silver first, and wait for the ratio to sort of rebalance’,” said founder Gregor Gregersen. Between April 1 and 25, the outlet sold 74 ounces of physical silver for each ounce of gold, compared with an average of 44 in 2023.
Spot silver traded above $29 an ounce on Friday, heading for a weekly gain of almost 5%. The next significant test would be a challenge of $30, a level that it briefly surpassed in 2021. Should the metal top $30.1003 an ounce, that would lift prices to the highest in more than a decade.
The white metal has already been making headway against its dearer cousin, in relative terms. Back in January, the gold-silver ratio was above 90, the most stretched since September 2022. Citigroup Inc. reckons that if the Federal Reserve proceeds with interest-rate cuts and economic growth stays strong in the second half, the ratio could move to around 70, although it cautioned that a slowdown would push it the other way, according to a note.
Silver has a dual character, valued both for its uses as a financial asset and an industrial input, including clean-energy technologies. The metal is a key ingredient in solar panels, and with robust growth in that industry, usage of the metal is expected to reach a record this year, according to the Silver Institute. Against that backdrop, the market is headed for a fourth year in deficit, with this year’s shortage seen as the second biggest on record.
That’s led industrial users - which typically rely on miners for supply - to seek ounces by draining the world’s major inventories, according to Silver Bullion’s Gregersen. Stockpiles tracked by the London Bullion Market Association fell to the second-lowest level on record in April, while the volumes at exchanges in New York and Shanghai are near seasonal lows.
Over the next two years, the LBMA stockpiles may be depleted given the current pace of demand, according to TD Securities. The headline figure overstates the available volume of metal given that it includes exchange-traded fund holdings, Daniel Ghali, a commodity strategist, said in an April note.
“We are slowly going to see supplies tightening because industrial demand is set to go higher,” Gregersen said. “If investors are also starting to buy, then I think in two or three months’ time, my biggest problem might end up being ‘Where do I find supply?’ rather than ‘How do I sell the silver?’”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hot-commodity-silver-sets-pace-233919816.html