post was originally made January 16th, 2029
Welcome to Occupy Silicon Valley!
Welcome to the Occupy Silicon Valley subreddit! This is your digital gathering place for all discussions, ideas, and actions aimed at curbing the overreach of Big Tech and advocating for a future where technology serves the people, not the other way around. Our movement began in 2029 in response to the increasingly alarming influence of tech giants over our lives and societies. We are a collective of concerned citizens, tech industry workers, activists, and anyone who believes that the unchecked power of Big Tech is a threat to our society. This guide is intended to introduce you to our cause, outline our core demands, and provide you with the resources and information you need to get involved.We are united by our desire to reclaim our digital rights, restore our privacy, and ensure that technology enhances, rather than undermines, our human values and freedoms.
Our Mission
Occupy Silicon Valley aims to challenge and dismantle the dominance of tech giants and promote a vision of technology that serves the public good. We believe in a future where technology enhances human well-being, respects privacy, and fosters ethical innovation. Below are our ten key demands that form the foundation of our movement:
Our 10 Demands
Through a democratic voting process within our community, we have established ten core demands that encapsulate our mission and vision for a fairer, more equitable digital future:
1. Reverse Trump Era Policing Laws:
Our primary demand is the reversal of the draconian laws passed by the former Trump administration in 2025. These laws have significantly eroded data privacy and transformed the United States into a surveillance state, prioritizing the interests of Silicon Valley's Big Tech companies over the rights and freedoms of citizens.
2. Universal Right to Privacy:
We demand the enactment of stringent digital privacy laws that guarantee the right to personal data privacy for all citizens. Everyone should have control over their personal information and how it is used.
3. Ban on Surveillance Capitalism:
We call for the outlawing of business models that rely on the collection and sale of personal data. Companies like Google and Meta should not profit from the exploitation of our personal information.
4. Break Up Big Tech:
We advocate for the enforcement of antitrust laws to dismantle tech giants into smaller, independent entities. This will ensure fair competition and prevent monopolistic practices that stifle innovation and exploit consumers.
5. Public Accountability Mechanisms:
It is imperative to establish independent bodies to hold tech companies accountable for ethical violations and misconduct, especially given the recent scandals involving private data leaks in the public school system. These bodies should have the authority to investigate and penalize unethical practices in the tech industry.
6. Ethical AI Standards:
We demand mandatory ethical standards and oversight for all AI development. Severe penalties should be imposed for violations to prevent misuse of AI technologies that can harm individuals and society.
7. Job Protection Policies:
Legislation is needed to protect jobs threatened by AI and automation. This includes implementing paid retraining programs for displaced workers to ensure they can transition to new employment opportunities.
8. Public Health Campaigns:
We advocate for government-funded initiatives to raise awareness about the mental and physical health impacts of excessive screen time and pod time. Policies should encourage or even mandate digital detox periods in schools and workplaces. Additionally, long-term health impact studies should be mandatory for new technologies before they are widely adopted.
9. Tech Transparency:
Tech companies must provide mandatory transparency reports detailing their data practices, AI algorithms, and content moderation policies. This will help ensure that these companies operate with accountability and integrity.
10. Tech for Public Good:
We support incentives for developing technologies that address societal challenges such as healthcare, education, and environmental sustainability. Technology development should prioritize human well-being and social good over profit.
Getting Involved
Your involvement is crucial to the success of our movement. Here’s how you can participate:

• Stay Informed: Keep up to date with the latest news and discussions on our subreddit. Knowledge is power!
  
• Share Your Ideas: Post your thoughts, suggestions, and solutions. Every voice matters.
  
• Organize and Participate: Join local and online events, protests, and campaigns. Unity and collective action are our strongest tools.
  
• Educate Others: Spread the word about our movement and its goals. The more people understand the issues at hand, the stronger our movement will become.
  
• Advocate for Change: Contact your local representatives, participate in public consultations, and use social media to raise awareness about our demands.
  

Community Guidelines
To maintain a constructive and respectful environment, please adhere to the following guidelines:

• Respect: Treat all members with respect, even if you disagree with their views.
  
• Use a VPN: make sure you are using a VPN when engaging with the community in order to protect people's identities, as there has been evidence of malicious government actors going after some of our organizers recently.
  
• Stay On Topic: Focus discussions on issues related to our movement and its demands.
  
• No Hate Speech: Any form of hate speech, harassment, or discrimination will not be tolerated.
  

-Verify Information: Ensure that any information you share is accurate and from reliable sources.

• Be Constructive: Aim to contribute positively to discussions and debates.

Thank you for being a part of Occupy Silicon Valley. Together, we can create a future where technology serves humanity, respects our rights, and enhances our lives. Let's reclaim our digital world!

I was suggested this subreddit by a friend so I’m not entirely sure if it fits my problem, but I’m willing to try.
Six months ago I started therapy because I realized I fail to connect my mind and personality with the person I see in the mirror. For years I’ve been indulging in different forms of escapism to completely obliterate any emotional pain, which resulted in losing contact with myself. I told my therapist I didn’t know who I was anymore. Since our first session then she’s made a ton of effort to help me regain self-consciousness, and I finally started to associate my appearance with “me”, but recently I’ve discovered that the only emotion my whole existence evokes in me is disgust. I can only see myself as some sort of gross decaying animal body, and I get confused and anxious when I remember this is what my loved ones see and are forced to interact with. Therefore, I am disgusted with every relationship I have formed previously and wish to cut myself out of all of them.
My therapist suggests that all the “disgust” I feel might actually be internalized shame, and though her claim does sound legitimate, there is little evidence to back it up and hypothesize about the reason said shame emerged. The memories I have of my childhood are extremely limited, and the hazy parts I can recall I can explicitly view as a spectator, with no thoughts or emotions present. I do know that my mother was a cold woman when I was a kid from the words of my relatives but she says she’s changed her attitude pretty fast, caring for me and praising me for my achievements. I don’t know whether I can believe what she says since I have no concrete memory of either situation. I briefly remember crying hysterically one day in my room so she could clearly hear me and come comfort me; if I’m not mistaken, it took her an hour or so. I think she scolded me often for being unclean and disobeying and unsympathetic, having not cared when I upset my family members, but I’m not sure if I can trust this memory. She says when I was bullied at school, was injured or had my first period, I never told her (and I don’t even remember being bullied). It had also never occurred to me to talk to her about my personal feelings and struggles. It’s not that I wanted her to know and stopped myself from telling, but as if I never thought that was an option at all. I love my mother and I believe she was always trying her best parenting, and the fact that I doubt her and feel disconnected from her as if she was a stranger pains me. Could it be that her actions have caused my shame?

I am currently in a contact representative with the IRS coming up on my 1 year in August. I am fresh from the military just over a year now and I absolutely hate my current position. To add more background to the situation, I actually am very mediocre at my current job duties, and I’m also on an action plan to bring up my quality of work(minimally meets standards annual review). Part of the reason for this is my previous manager didnt include enough measurable reviews in my file, and the few that were included were not great(I also am experiencing a learning curve). I finish my IT BAS with a concentration in management in December, but I have zero IT experience. That being said, I would like some advice getting my foot in the door with a government IT job. I was hired by the IRS at the hiring events, so I’ve never successfully applied on USAJOBS and received an offer based off my resume. I do not mind if I had to start at the GS5 level again, although my GPA (3.4) entitles me to most GS7 jobs. What IT positions are the easiest to get and considered the “scrub” or “entry-level” positions? Im open to anything to get my foot in the door.

Friday

• Got to Be NC Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh
• The Lion King&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham
• NC Courage vs. Utah Royals&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), North Carolina Courage, Cary
• Cary Night Market&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Downtown Cary Park, Cary
• Native American Cultural Showcase&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), West Building Lobby, Raleigh
• NCMA Loves Anime: Belle&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
• Third Friday&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Downtown, Raleigh
• ACC Rowing Championship&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Lake Wheeler Park, Raleigh
• Carolina Ballet presents: Cinderella&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh
• Comedy Night Paul Farahva & Paul Olinger&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Cary Theater, Cary
• DHEMO jAndr CJ Monet Live&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), House of Art, Raleigh
• Hank Williams Jr.&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, Raleigh
• Lizard Lick 155&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Wake County Speedway, Raleigh
• North Carolina State University vs. Wake Forest Baseball&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Doak Field (North Carolina State University), Raleigh
• Pecos & The Rooftops&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• Senior Softball-USA Atlantic Coast Championships&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Walnut Creek Athletic Complex, Raleigh
• Strung Like a Horse&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop, Raleigh
• The Halle Cultural Arts Center Spring Play - Cheaters&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Halle Cultural Arts Center, Apex
• Room 861 at Goodnights: Andrew Stanley&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Special Event: Lavell Crawford&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Yannis Pappas&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Raleigh Improv, Cary
• Duke Baseball vs North Carolina&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Jack Coombs Field, Durham
• The NGIN Cityscapes Summit&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Durham Convention Center, Durham
• Film Screening — Cat City&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Carolina Theatre, Durham
• Kayla Waters&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Missy Lane's Assembly Room, Durham
• The Patio Dance Parties : Clueless Fridays by the Pool&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Patio at Unscripted Durham, Durham
• History Among Friends Book Talk Series: Chris Holaday&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Books Among Friends, Durham
• John Howie Jr. / Ramona and the Holy Smokes&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Pinhook, Durham
• Wit: An Improv Comedy Game Show&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Mettlesome Theatre, Durham
• Cheekface&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Motorco Music Hall, Durham
• DAWSON WRIGHT W/ AMY JAE, BENSON DAVIS&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Freight Train Blues Concert Series&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Carrboro Town Commons, Carrboro
• Sawyer Hill&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Saturday

• Got to Be NC Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh
• Artsplosure, Downtown, Raleigh
• The Lion King&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham
• Inter-Tribal Pow Wow&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Dix Park, Raleigh
• Durham Blues & Brews Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Durham Central Park, Durham
• CaryLive!: Flowmingos&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Great Lawn Pavilion, Cary
• ACC Rowing Championship&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Lake Wheeler Park, Raleigh
• Carolina Ballet presents: Cinderella&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh
• 27th Annual Triangle British Classic Car Show&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence, Raleigh
• 11th Annual Car Show: Wheels on Academy&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Cary Town Hall Campus, Cary
• Durham Greek Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, Durham
• Home Brewed&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Durty Bull Brewing Co, Durham
• Battle of the Blades 2024&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Historic Durham Athletic Park, Durham
• Peter Pan by Durham Ballet Theatre&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Carolina Theatre, Durham
• Pop Up Record Show&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Beer Durham, Durham
• Bimbé Celebration&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Rock Quarry Park, Durham
• Room 861 at Goodnights: Andrew Stanley&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Bear Awareness Week&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Museum of Life and Science, Durham
• Preservation Durham Annual Home Tour: The Rambling Ranch&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Orchard Park Picnic Shelter (tour headquarters), Durham
• Special Event: Lavell Crawford&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Yannis Pappas&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Raleigh Improv, Cary
• Duke Baseball vs North Carolina&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Jack Coombs Field, Durham
• Film Screening — Cat City&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Carolina Theatre, Durham
• A Beautiful Noise Spring Concert by the Common Woman Chorus&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Durham
• Kayla Waters&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Missy Lane's Assembly Room, Durham
• Rooftops and Alleyways Community Canvas Wall Brawl&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Dashi, Durham
• The Simple Joy with Stephen Munoz&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Huron Stage Music Venue, Durham
• Crones of Anarchy — Blues, Rock, Americana&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Succotash Southern & Creole Kitchen, Durham
• DRAKE AND FRIENDS 2&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Pinhook, Durham
• Big Birthday Dance Party: Combo Platter with 2 Sides&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Blue Note Grill, Durham
• Jim Ketch Swingtet&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham
• bbymutha&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Motorco Music Hall, Durham
• Dan Savage’s 19th Annual HUMP! Film Festival: PART ONE&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Fruit, Durham
• Carolina Moonlight Garden Party&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill
• DaiKaiju&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Hillsborough Excursion Day&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Hillsborough Visitor Center, Hillsborough
• Mel Melton & the Wicked Mojos&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Cat's Cradle, Carrboro
• Youth Fishing Rodeo&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Blackwood Farm Park, Hillsborough
• Voices of the Self - A Poetry Exhibit&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Lighthouse Project, Cary
• Ty 4 Thought & Friends: Clout Matchin Numbers Concert&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop, Raleigh
• Tiki Fest at Wolfe & Porter&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Wolfe & Porter, Raleigh
• Teddy Bear Clinic&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh
• Tar Heel Troubadours: Paige King Johnson&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh
• Shipp X London Bridge Pub Dating Mixer&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Bridge DTR, Raleigh
• Senior Softball-USA Atlantic Coast Championships&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Walnut Creek Athletic Complex, Raleigh
• SPARK: Live Cello Reimagined by Cellist Jean Gay&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Birdland, Raleigh
• North Carolina State University vs. Wake Forest Baseball&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Doak Field (North Carolina State University), Raleigh
• NCCMI Spring Concert 3&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Church of the Nativity, Raleigh
• Meet the Curator: Nancy Strickland Fields&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), NCMA, Raleigh
• Kristin Chenoweth&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Meymandi Concert Hall at Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh
• Home is Distant Shores Film Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Cary Theater, Cary
• Haitian Flag: 5th Annual Family Fun Day&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Rotary Shelter, Cary
• BEAR1BOSS&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), KINGS, Raleigh

Sunday

• Got to Be NC Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh
• Artsplosure, Downtown, Raleigh
• The Lion King&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham
• Caribbean Island Cuisine - Six Course Dinner with Local Chef&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Nest, Raleigh
• Brier Creek Spring Food Truck Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Brier Creek Corporate Center, Brier Creek
• Jewish History Trolley Tour&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Mordecai Historic Park, Raleigh
• To Take Shape and Meaning Community Day&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), NCMA, Raleigh
• Storytelling and Gallery Walk with Ryan Dial&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), NCMA, Raleigh
• Gettin' Piggy With It&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Maywood Hall & Garden, Raleigh
• Crape Myrtle Festival May 2024 Drag Brunch&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Whiskey Kitchen, Raleigh
• Preservation Durham Annual Home Tour: The Rambling Ranch&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Orchard Park Picnic Shelter (tour headquarters), Durham
• DPW Limit Break&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Durham Convention Center, Durham
• Carmina Burana&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Baldwin Auditorium, Durham
• ADF Showings at Scripps: Miguel Gutierrez&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), ADF's Samuel H. Scripps Studios, Durham
• Senior Softball-USA Atlantic Coast Championships&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Walnut Creek Athletic Complex, Raleigh
• Pop-Up Art: Suminagashi&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), NCMA, Raleigh
• NC Eat & Play: Peace, Love & Haven Retro Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Haven Farm, Knightdale
• Liberation is B.L.A.C.K&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop, Raleigh
• Durham Greek Festival&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, Durham
• Film Screening — Cat City&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Carolina Theatre, Durham
• Gustaf&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), KINGS, Raleigh
• Carolina Ballet presents: Cinderella&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh
• Al Strong Presents Jazz Brunch&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Alley Twenty Six, Durham
• Jazz Brunch&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Lula & Sadie's, Durham
• Young Medicine&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Soen&mc_cid=deb2901569&mc_eid=UNIQID), Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

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So for those of you who don't know, LARP is basically live action role playing. It's usually an event where two or more people role play face to face, my particular group usually battling each other using foam medieval weapons. I joined a group after having fun at a Ren Faire with one of my friends.
I enjoyed these meet ups a lot so naturally I'd tell my friends. I guess it rubbed off on them and two wanted to go with me. It irked me a little bit but I let them join the discord link for the group. I don't think it's my right to gatekeep these things to my friends especially if they might end up enjoying it too. Still, as the next meet up is coming, the feeling gets worse.
The reasons I don't want them joining is that I feel like it's going against the whole reason why I even joined a LARP group, it's a way for me to forget about my life and feel like I'm someone different. Having friends from my actual life there feels like a reminder. I also know how I am with them, it always ends up making me very loud which is very different to the more quiet persona I have with my LARP group and I guess I'm scared of how they'll react (I doubt they'd hate it, they're all too friendly for that but I'm still nervous about it). It's hard to introduce these two parts of my life especially when I have different personas I use. I had originally wanted to go from being quiet to getting louder as I become more comfortable as I do with all my friends. I'm also scared since during Ren Faire, there was a LARP as well, which was where I found a love for it, and the friend who accompanied me, and is one of my friends joining, wasn't really interested in doing combat. They much preferred watching, which in turn made me feel bad since they weren't having as much fun as me. I didn't want them to wait too long for me so I ended up leaving earlier than I would have wanted so as to not make them wait for too long. Both of my friends have stated to me that they will also not be engaging in any combat in this LARP group, which is ok since they're working on non combat stuff, however the meet ups as of now are usually for combat. I'm scared it'll be like Ren Faire again. I've also been feeling a lot of FOMO recently and talk of my friends going to events I'm not invited to trigger me as I've felt very detached from my friends at times. Both of them even have parties they'll both be going to on the days before and after the LARP. And I suppose I've been using LARP as an event "for myself", again, away from my real life. It's not their fault in any way since I haven't said this to anyone and the parties they're going to are birthday parties of people I'm not even close to. These are from previous personal traumas.
It all feels so shitty especially since both of my friends are good people. I don't want them to think I hate hanging out with them. One of them even offered to drive me and my other friend to the venue as it had changed to somewhere a little farther from where I live and I'm still not used to traveling that far by myself. I feel like I'm being a horrible friend if I ask them not to join.
Tldr; I want to forget my real life using LARP but my friends from my real life want to join

Welcome back, fellow mobile gamers :) As per tradition, here are my weekly mobile game recommendations based on the most interesting games I played and that were covered on MiniReview this week! :) I hope you'll enjoy some of them.
Support these posts (and YouTube content + development of MiniReview) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NimbleThor <3
This episode includes a great racing game, a fun arcade platformer, a great deck-builder roguelike RPG, an arcade casual game, and a neat deck-building dungeon crawler.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 216 weeks ago here.

Let's get to the games:

Art of Rally [Game Size: 2.3 GB] ($4.99)

Genre: Racing / Simulation - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Art of Rally is a rally racing game with an amazing atmosphere, several fun game modes that range from casual to hardcore, and deep gameplay customization settings.
The main career mode has us play through several years of rally history on tracks all around the world, unlocking new cars and skins as we progress.
In addition to the campaign, however, there is a custom rally mode, a time-attack mode where we can try all of the game’s vehicles, a free-roam mode where we drive around a large open world to collect items, and daily and weekly online events with leaderboards.
What I like the best about Art of Rally is that it can be as casual or hardcore as you want. Free roaming is a fun laid-back experience while the time-attack modes are incredibly challenging. And even in the career mode, we can pick the difficulty of our AI opponents.
The touch controls are okay but lack different options. Thankfully, the game plays perfectly with a Bluetooth controller, and there are lots of customization options for everything from the HUD to the interface and gameplay, including changing the steering sensitivity, enabling anti-lock braking, and much more.
The game has a great atmosphere, and the low-poly art style and minimalistic UI fit nicely. Unfortunately, loading between menus and levels is slow, and I ran into a few minor bugs - so the game isn’t perfectly ported from PC.
Art of Rally is a $4.99 premium game with a single $1.99 optional DLC that adds additional map areas.
It’s a game more about precision than driving super-fast, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I think you’ll enjoy Art of Rally – especially if you have a controller to play it with.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Art of Rally

Level Devil - NOT A Troll Game [Total Game Size: 87 MB] (Free)

Genre: Platform / Arcade - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by Ark:
Level Devil is an easy arcade platformer with no surprises or frustrations at all… or is it?
The game has us move left, right, and jump to navigate seemingly simple one-screen stages. But as we progress, the game starts trolling us in lots of unexpected ways.
Floors suddenly disappear beneath our feet, spikes spawn at what looks like safe spots, and the game sometimes even changes the rules of physics by lowering the gravity or reversing it altogether.
So you better be prepared for some rage-inducing deaths. But to me, the game’s main appeal is exactly these unexpected twists. The game quickly becomes all about anticipating the next troll attempt, and nothing beats the satisfaction I got from outsmarting a level in my first attempt.
There are 80 stages in total, with the game autosaving every 5 stages. And while some stages are challenging, they’re all short and concise. The controls are also simple and responsive. Unfortunately, there is no music at all, and the graphics are very minimal, with just a single yellow-reddish color scheme that gets old in no time.
Level Devil monetizes via occasional forced ads between levels and deaths, and a $0.99 iAP to remove these for good. Thankfully, I didn’t personally find the ads to be too intrusive, even with me dying a lot.
Despite being a troll game, it balances overall fun vs. overall difficulty very well. So I was able to complete it relatively easily without getting too frustrated. You could say I had a "devilish good time" beating the game.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Level Devil

Loop Hero [Game Size: 250 MB] (Free Trial)

Genre: RPG / Deck-Builder / Roguelike - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by JBMessin:
Loop Hero is a mobile port of an incredibly unique tactical roguelike that mixes lots of gameplay elements, including deck-building, auto-battling, resource management, and city-building.
We begin the game in a place outside space and time on a dangerous path that forms a loop. Our character traverses the loop on his own, automatically fighting the enemies that spawn every day. These encounters provide us with loot that we equip to grow stronger and cards that are used to alter the loop.
Playing a card somewhere on the path changes what happens every time our hero walks through that part of the loop. For example, we may place a grove that spawns a rat every 2 days, which we then fight to grow stronger. This ability to customize the loop is one of the most unique aspects of the game, and I really enjoyed it.
After our first campfire is built, we begin to meet heroes who are just as lost as we are. Through short dialogues with them, we start to learn about the game’s light city-building mechanics. There are plenty of buildings to construct that offer all kinds of new and interesting gameplay mechanics - and even new classes to go on expeditions with.
What I immediately appreciated about Loop Hero was its top-notch soundtrack reminiscent of early 8-bit games like Castlevania, and the sprites that are stylized to match the gloomy setting but still vibrant in their design.
The biggest downside is that my large fingers sometimes made it hard to see where I was placing things. The game is definitely best enjoyed on larger phones.
Loop Hero is free to try, with a single $6.99 iAP unlocking the full game.
If you enjoy excellent roguelikes with unique gameplay mechanics, I think you’ll enjoy Loop Hero.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Loop Hero

Tumble Rush [Game Size: 159 MB] (Free)

Genre: Arcade / Casual - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Tumble Rush is a fun, fast-paced marble maze arcade game where we guide a ball through small top-down levels while avoiding obstacles, traps, and holes.
Apart from rolling around with our sphere character, the only other thing we can do is tap an interaction button that activates/deactivates doors, turn on fans that let us get over obstacles, and much more.
Despite the additional puzzle elements introduced along the way, the game is very easy in the beginning – maybe even to a fault. I quickly grew bored with the early levels. But thankfully, if you stick with the game, it eventually becomes much harder.
The coins we collect in each level are used to unlock new cosmetics for our character. But what’s really cool is that they also completely change the design and theme of every level. So unlocking cosmetics quickly became my primary objective.
While the standard mode is relatively easy and lacks a bit of variety, the game also features a much more challenging time attack mode, where we attempt to finish levels fast enough to earn three stars. And if we get bored with that, there’s an endless mode where we earn more and more gold the further we get.
The standard gyroscopic controls work alright, but I personally preferred one of the touch control options.
Tumble Rush monetizes by showing ads between levels. They appear relatively frequently but can thankfully be removed via a single $1.99 iAP.
It’s an arcade game that gets better the further you get. So if you’re looking for a fun game that can be played as casually or competitively as you want, I think you might like Tumble Rush.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Tumble Rush

SOULVARS (Game Size: 346 MB] ($4.99)

Genre: Deck-Building / Dungeon Crawler - Offline
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by AlexSem:
SOULVARS is a futuristic mix of a jRPG and a deck builder, where we fight demonic creatures using a deck of cards produced by the gear we equip.
Working for a secret government organization, our job is to maintain peace by engaging in bloody confrontations with hungry spirits that invade the human world via spontaneous portal-like breaches.
The combat system is quite elaborate. First of all, our deck is defined by the gear we equip, and each card lets us execute an action, such as using a shield, performing various elemental attacks, or dealing different types of physical damage.
Picking two different types of cards allows us to perform devastating combo actions. But we must also pay attention to our enemies’ resistances, constantly charge our “burst” meter to eventually turn into a powerful monster, and link together attacks of multiple characters. And this is just a small portion of the game’s many combat mechanics.
Mindlessly executing random moves works for a while, but we eventually face enemies so strong that this tactic isn’t enough. This is where the game's complex combat systems comes into play, and we need to learn all its intricacies and meticulously manage our equipment to win. This will be too challenging for some players, but a joy for others.
The exploration part of the game consists of navigating maze-like rooms, interacting with the environment, collecting loot, talking to people, and engaging in random battles - an old jRPG structure that is apparently still popular among certain audiences.
SOULVARS is a premium game that costs $4.99.
While the game’s repetitiveness and unengaging plot eventually make the gameplay a bit boring, there’s more than enough entertainment for fans of complex combat systems.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: SOULVARS
NEW: Sort + filter reviews and games I've played (and more) on my mobile games discovery platform, MiniReview: https://minireview.io/
Special thanks to the Patreon Producers Wrecking Golf, "marquisdan", "Lost Vault", "Farm RPG", and "Mohaimen" who help make these posts possible through their Patreon support <3
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
*The newest mobile games (with gameplay) on my YouTube channel: * https://youtu.be/8wX-9SW4Z8o?si=j0PNTWf08xd8mwEQ
Episode 193 Episode 194 Episode 195 Episode 196 Episode 197 Episode 198 Episode 199 Episode 200 Episode 201 Episode 202 Episode 203 Episode 204 Episode 205 Episode 206 Episode 207 Episode 208 Episode 209 Episode 210 Episode 211 Episode 211 Episode 212 Episode 214 Episode 215 Episode 216 Episode 217

Welcome back, fellow mobile gamers :) As per tradition, here are my weekly mobile game recommendations based on the most interesting games I played and that were covered on MiniReview this week! :) I hope you'll enjoy some of them.
Support these posts (and YouTube content + development of MiniReview) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NimbleThor <3
This episode includes a great racing game, a fun arcade platformer, a great deck-builder roguelike RPG, an arcade casual game, and a neat deck-building dungeon crawler.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 304 weeks ago here.

Let's get to the games:

Art of Rally [Game Size: 2.3 GB] ($4.99)

Genre: Racing / Simulation - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Art of Rally is a rally racing game with an amazing atmosphere, several fun game modes that range from casual to hardcore, and deep gameplay customization settings.
The main career mode has us play through several years of rally history on tracks all around the world, unlocking new cars and skins as we progress.
In addition to the campaign, however, there is a custom rally mode, a time-attack mode where we can try all of the game’s vehicles, a free-roam mode where we drive around a large open world to collect items, and daily and weekly online events with leaderboards.
What I like the best about Art of Rally is that it can be as casual or hardcore as you want. Free roaming is a fun laid-back experience while the time-attack modes are incredibly challenging. And even in the career mode, we can pick the difficulty of our AI opponents.
The touch controls are okay but lack different options. Thankfully, the game plays perfectly with a Bluetooth controller, and there are lots of customization options for everything from the HUD to the interface and gameplay, including changing the steering sensitivity, enabling anti-lock braking, and much more.
The game has a great atmosphere, and the low-poly art style and minimalistic UI fit nicely. Unfortunately, loading between menus and levels is slow, and I ran into a few minor bugs - so the game isn’t perfectly ported from PC.
Art of Rally is a $4.99 premium game with a single $1.99 optional DLC that adds additional map areas.
It’s a game more about precision than driving super-fast, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I think you’ll enjoy Art of Rally – especially if you have a controller to play it with.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Art of Rally

Level Devil - NOT A Troll Game [Total Game Size: 87 MB] (Free)

Genre: Platform / Arcade - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by Ark:
Level Devil is an easy arcade platformer with no surprises or frustrations at all… or is it?
The game has us move left, right, and jump to navigate seemingly simple one-screen stages. But as we progress, the game starts trolling us in lots of unexpected ways.
Floors suddenly disappear beneath our feet, spikes spawn at what looks like safe spots, and the game sometimes even changes the rules of physics by lowering the gravity or reversing it altogether.
So you better be prepared for some rage-inducing deaths. But to me, the game’s main appeal is exactly these unexpected twists. The game quickly becomes all about anticipating the next troll attempt, and nothing beats the satisfaction I got from outsmarting a level in my first attempt.
There are 80 stages in total, with the game autosaving every 5 stages. And while some stages are challenging, they’re all short and concise. The controls are also simple and responsive. Unfortunately, there is no music at all, and the graphics are very minimal, with just a single yellow-reddish color scheme that gets old in no time.
Level Devil monetizes via occasional forced ads between levels and deaths. Thankfully, I didn’t personally find the ads to be too intrusive, even with me dying a lot.
Despite being a troll game, it balances overall fun vs. overall difficulty very well. So I was able to complete it relatively easily without getting too frustrated. You could say I had a "devilish good time" beating the game.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Level Devil

Loop Hero [Game Size: 250 MB] (Free Trial)

Genre: RPG / Deck-Builder / Roguelike - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by JBMessin:
Loop Hero is a mobile port of an incredibly unique tactical roguelike that mixes lots of gameplay elements, including deck-building, auto-battling, resource management, and city-building.
We begin the game in a place outside space and time on a dangerous path that forms a loop. Our character traverses the loop on his own, automatically fighting the enemies that spawn every day. These encounters provide us with loot that we equip to grow stronger and cards that are used to alter the loop.
Playing a card somewhere on the path changes what happens every time our hero walks through that part of the loop. For example, we may place a grove that spawns a rat every 2 days, which we then fight to grow stronger. This ability to customize the loop is one of the most unique aspects of the game, and I really enjoyed it.
After our first campfire is built, we begin to meet heroes who are just as lost as we are. Through short dialogues with them, we start to learn about the game’s light city-building mechanics. There are plenty of buildings to construct that offer all kinds of new and interesting gameplay mechanics - and even new classes to go on expeditions with.
What I immediately appreciated about Loop Hero was its top-notch soundtrack reminiscent of early 8-bit games like Castlevania, and the sprites that are stylized to match the gloomy setting but still vibrant in their design.
The biggest downside is that my large fingers sometimes made it hard to see where I was placing things. The game is definitely best enjoyed on larger phones.
Loop Hero is free to try, with a single $6.99 iAP unlocking the full game.
If you enjoy excellent roguelikes with unique gameplay mechanics, I think you’ll enjoy Loop Hero.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Loop Hero

Tumble Rush [Game Size: 159 MB] (Free)

Genre: Arcade / Casual - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Tumble Rush is a fun, fast-paced marble maze arcade game where we guide a ball through small top-down levels while avoiding obstacles, traps, and holes.
Apart from rolling around with our sphere character, the only other thing we can do is tap an interaction button that activates/deactivates doors, turn on fans that let us get over obstacles, and much more.
Despite the additional puzzle elements introduced along the way, the game is very easy in the beginning – maybe even to a fault. I quickly grew bored with the early levels. But thankfully, if you stick with the game, it eventually becomes much harder.
The coins we collect in each level are used to unlock new cosmetics for our character. But what’s really cool is that they also completely change the design and theme of every level. So unlocking cosmetics quickly became my primary objective.
While the standard mode is relatively easy and lacks a bit of variety, the game also features a much more challenging time attack mode, where we attempt to finish levels fast enough to earn three stars. And if we get bored with that, there’s an endless mode where we earn more and more gold the further we get.
The standard gyroscopic controls work alright, but I personally preferred one of the touch control options.
Tumble Rush monetizes by showing ads between levels. They appear relatively frequently but can thankfully be removed via a single $1.99 iAP.
It’s an arcade game that gets better the further you get. So if you’re looking for a fun game that can be played as casually or competitively as you want, I think you might like Tumble Rush.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Tumble Rush

SOULVARS (Game Size: 346 MB] ($4.99)

Genre: Deck-Building / Dungeon Crawler - Offline
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by AlexSem:
SOULVARS is a futuristic mix of a jRPG and a deck builder, where we fight demonic creatures using a deck of cards produced by the gear we equip.
Working for a secret government organization, our job is to maintain peace by engaging in bloody confrontations with hungry spirits that invade the human world via spontaneous portal-like breaches.
The combat system is quite elaborate. First of all, our deck is defined by the gear we equip, and each card lets us execute an action, such as using a shield, performing various elemental attacks, or dealing different types of physical damage.
Picking two different types of cards allows us to perform devastating combo actions. But we must also pay attention to our enemies’ resistances, constantly charge our “burst” meter to eventually turn into a powerful monster, and link together attacks of multiple characters. And this is just a small portion of the game’s many combat mechanics.
Mindlessly executing random moves works for a while, but we eventually face enemies so strong that this tactic isn’t enough. This is where the game's complex combat systems comes into play, and we need to learn all its intricacies and meticulously manage our equipment to win. This will be too challenging for some players, but a joy for others.
The exploration part of the game consists of navigating maze-like rooms, interacting with the environment, collecting loot, talking to people, and engaging in random battles - an old jRPG structure that is apparently still popular among certain audiences.
SOULVARS is a premium game that costs $4.99.
While the game’s repetitiveness and unengaging plot eventually make the gameplay a bit boring, there’s more than enough entertainment for fans of complex combat systems.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: SOULVARS
NEW: Sort + filter reviews and games I've played (and more) in my app MiniReview: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=minireview.best.android.games.reviews
Special thanks to the Patreon Producers Wrecking Golf, "marquisdan", "Lost Vault", "Farm RPG", and "Mohaimen" who help make these posts possible through their Patreon support <3
Episode 281 Episode 282 Episode 283 Episode 284 Episode 285 Episode 286 Episode 287 Episode 288 Episode 289 Episode 290 Episode 291 Episode 292 Episode 293 Episode 294 Episode 295 Episode 296 Episode 297 Episode 298 Episode 299 Episode 300 Episode 301 Episode 302 Episode 303

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/ni-paedophile-forced-to-flee-again-after-angry-mob-torches-car-and-pickets-home/a2096738256.html
Convicted paedophile William Sholdis has been forced to flee a second time after an angry mob torched his car and picketed his home. The Sunday World has revealed the 33-year-old was forced to flee from temporary accommodation in Antrim after protests outside his flat.
It’s the second time he has been forced to move in the space of a year after he had leave his house in Ballynure following his conviction for having indecent images of kids as young as six-years-old.
Sholdis, who the court heard has autism, entered guilty pleas to 18 counts, including making indecent images of children and possessing banned images of children and extreme pornography.
After details of his offending were made public last autumn, he and his family fled their home in Ballynure, which sits directly opposite a green space regularly used by families.
Originally he was handed a 12-month jail sentence but that was overturned on appeal and he was told to serve a three year probation order instead, as well as a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and having to sign the sex offender’s register for ten years.
Now it has been revealed a hate mob targeted his new home in Antrim where he had been placed in a hostel designed for vulnerable people.
His car was torched late at night on April 27th and when police arrived there was an angry stand-off with protesters who slammed the PSNI for not making local residents aware he was living there.
“People in the estate were furious when they found out he’d been placed there, living amongst kids and other vulnerable people,” said a source.
“It seems the protesters set fire to his car because he was in shared accommodation – otherwise they would have torched his house most likely.
“The fire also damaged another car beside it as well as a bin. The cops and the fire brigade turned up and the protesters were shouting at the cops for not informing them about him living there.
“It was pretty angry and threatened to get out of hand but it calmed down and Sholdis moved out.”
In January senior judges ruled that Sholdis should be released from prison and instead ordered to complete three years’ probation.
Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan described him as a “pathetic figure” who has shown insight into the extent of his crimes.
Sholdis, 33, was arrested after PSNI child protection officers searched his home near Ballyclare in March 2021.
A number of devices were seized, including a laptop fitted with anti-forensics software. Police uncovered nearly 5,000 photographs and videos, along with search terms indicating an interest in indecent images of children.
Some of the pictures were in the most serious category, but there was no evidence that he had shared or uploaded any of the files.
In November last year Sholdis received a 12-month sentence after pleading guilty to a series of charges of making and possessing indecent images .
The original term was split between four months in custody and eight months on licence.
Defence lawyers challenged the sentence imposed, arguing that supervised help in the community would be of greater benefit in dealing with his issues.
Sholdis suffers from autism and was bullied at school, still lived with his parents and has never had an intimate relationship, the Court of Appeal was told.
The payroll administrator originally found the illegal material through a spam email and felt “ashamed” that his actions had helped to support abuse of children.
Barrister Mark Barlow submitted: “He fell down the rabbit hole and, because of his personal characteristics and circumstances, simply couldn’t stop himself.”
His family have since been forced to relocate amid community tensions about the offences.
Counsel for the Public Prosecution Service, Mark Farrell, responded by highlighting the aggravating features in the case.
Images were discovered on six devices as part of offending over a period of 19 months.
Ruling on the appeal, Dame Siobhan stressed the court’s “abhorrence” to crimes related to the abuse of children.
Based on a probation report on Sholdis, however, she found that he has shown genuine remorse and a motivation not to re-offend.
“Due to the personal circumstances, particularly his immaturity, isolation and lack of sexual knowledge, he presented as a pathetic figure,” the Chief Justice said.
“We think this appellant is insightful of the pernicious nature of this type of offending.”
With the two months Sholdis had already served in prison identified as a deterrent feature, she confirmed that his original sentence was to be substituted for a three-year probation order.
Dame Siobhan explained: “To further protect society and prevent a recurrence of this sickening behaviour, we are imposing the maximum (possible) period of community supervision.”
Sholdis was confronted by a journalist last year after he had pleaded guilty but did not want to comment.
His mum spoke for him saying, “He’s going on courses to help him, he has autism and other disabilities and during lockdown he had went into an area he wasn’t aware of.”
A police spokesperson told the Sunday World: “Police attended the scene of an arson attack on a car in the Donore Crescent area of Antrim on Saturday, 27th April.
"NI Fire and Rescue Service also attended and extinguished the fire which was reported just before 11pm. Significant damage was caused to the vehicle and it appeared that it had been set alight deliberately.”
They said enquiries are underway and anyone with information is asked to contact them.

Your enthusiasm has been incredible. Please join us for the upcoming 4th Twitch Drops event to win exclusive beta access to Arena Breakout: Infinite.
Event Start Time: May 18, 2024 0:00 UTC+0
Event page: https://www.arenabreakoutinfinite.com/twitchdrops/en
Key Distribution: Limited number (50K) of beta access qualifications will be distributed, and the event will close once they are fully claimed
How to Participate:
Link your accounts on the event page.
Watch 60 minutes of “Arena Breakout: Infinite” content with Twitch Drops enabled (there will be a popup in the chat when you start watching)
Then claim a unique Key on the Twitch Drops event page. https://www.arenabreakoutinfinite.com/twitchdrops/en/#link
Download the game and await account activation.
Access is granted within one working day.
Important Note:
The Non-Steam Key, like the Steam keys, serves as a voucher for beta access eligibility. Please note that keys obtained from Twitch Drops do not need to be activated by the user. Once you obtain a Steam or Non-Steam key from the Twitch Drops event, it is automatically tied to your linked Level Infinite Pass account and will be activated automatically within one business day. No further action is required on your part; simply be patient and wait for us to grant your beta access. If any issues occur please follow the steps in the previous announcement.
Please remember that each player can only claim the beta access reward from Twitch Drops once. If you have already completed the drops task during the previous round event, you will be able to claim the Key directly on the event page. If you have not completed the task, your progress will be reset in the round 4 event.
FAQ
Limited beta keys available! Don’t miss out—once they’re gone, they’re gone. Dive into the beta and see you in Kamona!

Heya! I've got a session coming up in the next few days and mostly have everything figured out.... except for the central maguffin of this mini-adventure, somehow. The party will be going beneath the waves just off the coast of Newthrone to discover some long-since flooded ruins full of treasure and magical items from Xen'Drik.
They'll be exploring an old underwater temple, getting inside they'll need to find a way to reach the ocean floor, maybe 200-300ft down, make their way past Glimmerfish (reflavoured displacer beasts with swimming speed), and solve some puzzles while avoiding giant crabs and weird mollusc things to open the Temple's vault where most of the treasure from Xen'drik was stored by the pirates of old. There will be a recently arrived (no lair actions) Morkoth in there to serve as the dungeon boss, but then the treasure hoard will be theirs. Among other wonderful shiney things, they're looking for an ancient Giant artefact that will help them defeat the Quori BBEG of the main campaign in some way.
.... Any ideas? Usually I feel pretty confident in making up treasure hoards but for whatever reason with this one, I just can't make up my mind for what should be in there! Any help much appriciated!
Lore behind the Temple: In my Eberron, Newthrone was founded where it was founded because it's an old site of archeological wealth and interest. There actually was a settlement there previously, the name now lost, only refered to as "Old Town", which was mostly Dhakaani ruins inhabited by Lhazaarian sailors and various other merchant and pirate groups, it was a bit of a "neutral" zone for treasure trading. Pirates and raiders would dock in Qbarra to explore and pillage the ruins of the area for treasures, then dock in the Old Town for sell their goods, or find treasures to purchase for themselves. But the Old Town also served as a port for discreet expeditions going to and from Xen'Drik, and was also then a huge stockpile of treasures being brought back to Khorvaire for distribution. One location slowly emerged as the trading hub for Xen'Drik expeditions - anyone who wanted to buy or sell powerful and valuable items from Xen'Drik would know to go there. It used to be a Temple built in the name of the Traveller, but now supertitious sailors simply go there before their journeys to pray for good fortune and mercy while navigating the Traveller's Curse.
In the early years of the last war though, because it had become such an infamous site of powerful treasures, the Elves of Valenar hit the Old Town again and again and again with Earthquake spells, back before high level spell casters were completely wiped out by the war. They were hoping to completely destory Old Town so Karrnath (and it's territories) couldn't take advantage of the treasures for the purposes of war. Valenar was successful: After a month of sieges, the actual tectonic plates gave way and The Old Town sank beneath the waves amidst earthshocks and tsunamis. After the war, Newthrone was founded in it's place partly because history had already shown it was a very successful location for a port city, but the settlers were also hoping to slowly recover the sunken treasures to build their own wealth.

Hi everyone im 22 and just got on adhd meds about 4 months ago.
I started with 30 mg and never felt so good before in my entire life, everything was brighter and everything had been like a disney movie…of course this eventually faded away.
I started to notice that sometimes id get irritated for absolutely no particular reason? And I couldn’t control it. It was somewhat of a scary experience and i hated the feeling so in desperation i got drunk to negate the impact of the angeirritability (i know this is a very bad idea and i dont plan on doing it again, i kinda just try to deal with the horrible feeling until it wears off)
Over some time i noticed the irritability occurs when im not doing any actions (not moving/ not working, playing video games or just something i view as unproductive) so i cut the dosage in half to 15 mg but it does not feel like its strong enough to give me the energy of the day
When im in 30 mg im stable, im happy for the most part and i have very high energy, and far less to hypersensitivity. Only issue is every now and then the irritability can spike and it can ruin my whole day.
Is there any recommendations that I can get to talk to my psychiatrist? Like mood stabilizers or some way to keep the anger down?
Thanks.

Honor Violence: And why nobody should demand respect

Honor violence is a sort of violence committed where the perpetrator's goal is to regain his tribe's honor, his family's honor, and his own honor. In most cases it’s planned by a family, and committed by one or more men of that family, to a woman of the family who has done or suspected to have done something against cultural or religious norms like rejecting an arranged marriage, or adopting a Western lifestyle. What's worse is that the family helps the perpetrators avoid justice by helping them flee the country. It’s a huge problem in Islamic communities[1], among others, and it’s something that doesn’t exist at all in so many other communities.
Now before I talk about the kind of thinking that is causing these behaviors, I want to clarify some things. First of all, Islam, at least according to the Quran, does not advocate honor violence. Second, honor violence is a tradition that existed in the deserts of today's Saudi Arabia long before Islam. Third, Arab Muslims spread Islam along with their traditions (including honor violence) to a huge proportion of the world (although, I don't doubt that other cultures already had the tradition of honor violence).
What kind of thinking causes a person to commit honor violence?
There are three flaws to discuss here. The main flaw is violent intolerance of dissenters -- the idea that it's best for a person to initiate violence on another person because he has dissenting ideas or actions. A second flaw is the idea that a person's social status is important and should be sought after and preserved. And a third flaw is that a person's social status should be, in any way, linked with his family's, and tribe's social status. An important thing to note here is that these flaws are connected. To clarify, I'm not talking about which flaw is more or less to blame for a person committing honor violence. What I'm talking about is that all of these flaws must be there, in order for a person to think it's best for him to commit honor violence (i.e. for him to want to commit honor violence).
The least bad of these flaws can be explained by answering the question, why do some people care about having respect from their peers? What's the point of it? What problem is it intended to solve? One way to approach this problem is to think about why some people get offended. Consider that when somebody perceives that he has been disrespected, he gets offended, and he may respond in a way to regain respect.
Fallibility and first impressions
One problem with thinking in terms of being respected, is that people are often wrong in their interpretations of other people’s actions and intentions. Often people perceive that they’ve been disrespected, when the person had no intention of disrespecting anybody. Most of the time it’s a case of jumping to conclusions. In other words, the person is not thinking terms of innocent until proven guilty. The thing is that we’re all fallible, meaning that it’s possible, and very common, that we are wrong about our ideas. But a lot of people are not familiar with the idea of checking for other possible interpretations and critically questioning them as a means of avoiding jumping to conclusions, as a means of finding the correct interpretation.
One common first interpretation that people make is that someone wants to hurt them, or to make them lose in some way. But this is a bad way to think about people’s actions because some people don’t want to hurt anyone or make anyone lose anything. So assuming that there is always malicious intent is a mistake because it ignores all the cases where there isn’t malicious intent. So it's not giving the person the benefit of the doubt.
This way of thinking, of always assuming that there is malicious intent, sees human interactions as win/lose. But this is a mistake. It’s entirely possible, and desirable, for human interactions to be win/win, for everybody to get what they want and nobody loses anything they want -- there is no law of nature preventing it from happening.[2] This is a special case of the idea that 'all problems are soluble'.[3]
So the better way to think about human interactions is that win/win situations are possible, where the people involved share the same primary goal of everybody winning, of everybody getting what they want. Now it is true that sometimes a person is trying to make you lose something, or otherwise hurt you, so it’s important to try to look out for this as a means of protecting yourself from harm.
One common misinterpretation people make is to treat a criticism of an idea or an action as a personal attack. But this is a mistake because a criticism is an explanation of a flaw in an idea, so criticizing the idea does not make the holder of the idea lose anything. In fact, criticism helps a person go from wrong to right. It helps him change his mind. It helps him find the truth, which is a great thing! So why perceive it as an attack? The person loses nothing. He only stands to gain (the truth!).
So consider a situation where you're presented with a criticism of your idea. If you agree with it, you stand to gain the truth, and if you disagree with it, you stand to lose nothing. So with criticism you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. So giving and receiving criticism is win/win.
Some common responses people make to criticism is to say "that hurts my feelings," "I'm offended by that," and "that's insulting!" These people respond in this way to communicate that the other person is wrong in some way. But that's not a valid argument -- it's not objective. A person's feelings can't be used as a standard for judging the truth. What's needed is an explanation, one that doesn't depend on a person's feelings. And on a related note, if your feelings are hurt by the truth, then what you can do is ignore the truth (not something I advise), or you can change your feelings about the truth. But what you shouldn't be doing is pressuring people to hide the truth.
Now some people mistake personal attacks for criticism. But calling somebody stupid because he believes an idea does not constitute a criticism. It’s not an explanation of a flaw in an idea. Instead it's an attack on the holder of the idea. And it’s designed for only one purpose, to hurt. People who make personal attacks instead of arguments see human interactions as win/lose. And this is where the idea of respect comes in. The personal attacks are about disrespecting the person. But why would anybody want to do that? What’s the point? What problem does it solve?
Truth-seeking vs Status-seeking
Something closely connected to the win/lose attitude is the status-seeking attitude. People with this attitude think in terms of people having social status, and getting more of it, or keeping the amount they currently have, is something they want. So if a person with the status-seeking attitude tries to disrespect another person, they perceive it as raising their own status while necessarily lowering the other person’s status, hence win/lose. The rest of us, who see human interaction as win/win, see the world in terms of truth. We are truth-seekers instead of status-seekers. We seek cooperative interactions instead of adversarial ones.
To get a better understanding of the difference between truth-seeking and status-seeking, let's consider how they differ in the way they work. Status-based thinking means judging ideas by figuring out how much status the ideas have. In contrast, truth-based thinking means judging ideas by their merit. As I explained in _Atheism: The faith of intellectuals?_, judging ideas by status means believing ideas by looking for confirmation, while judging by merit means believing ideas only after they have survived all known criticism.
As an example, imagine a guy hearing that somebody said something that he perceived as an insult to his parent, and he felt hurt by it. This means he's thinking with the status-seeking attitude instead of the truth-seeking attitude. So he is caring about having social status, and one extra flaw is that he thinks his social status is connected to the status of his parents. And so if he perceives that somebody has insulted his parent, he perceives this as a lowering of his parent’s status, which he also perceives as his own status being lowered. So he is hurt (feels disrespected) by this. He thinks that the "insulter" intentionally did it to try to hurt him, or otherwise make him lose something. But it's a mistake to make such an assumption because the "insulter" may have had no such intention -- maybe he was a truth-seeker not a status-seeker. The truth-seeking attitude does not cause this problem. A truth-seeker thinks like this: "Hmm. Somebody has said something bad about my mom. I wonder if the thing he said is truthful, or not. If it’s truthful, then my mom is bad, and I should talk to her about fixing her error so that she can improve, so I'm glad that he said it because it revealed an opportunity to improve, YAY!! And if it’s not truthful, then maybe this guy is a fool and I don't care what fools think, or maybe he's just mistaken so there's no reason to mind it because mistakes are common." So the truth-seeking attitude doesn’t produce the feeling of being insulted/disrespected. Only the status-seeking attitude does that.
The status-based attitude is one that is shared by many cultures. In gang culture, individuals each have an amount of status that they intend to keep. For this reason, if a gang member perceives that somebody has disrespected him, he sees this as his status being lowered while the other guy’s status being raised. And in an effort to regain his status, he may retaliate with physical violence. So here the gang member is committing two flaws -- demanding respect, and violent intolerance of dissenters.
There are lots of other examples of this. In tribal cultures, an individual’s status is partly determined by how much status his tribe has. For this reason, if a tribesman perceives that somebody has disrespected a member of his tribe, he sees this as his own status being lowered because he sees his tribe’s status being lowered. Now imagine a situation where somebody perceives that the king of his tribe (like Prophet Mohamed) has been disrespected. He would be very offended by this. And if he also has the violent-intolerant attitude too, and if the circumstances were opportune, then he would initiate violence in his misguided attempt to regain respect for his family, and by association, for himself.
Another example is honor violence within a family, or community. If a man thinks that his status is lowered if his daughter does something against his community’s religious norms, and if he also has the violent-intolerant attitude, then he may initiate violence if she commits such an act, as a means to preserve his family's status in the community, and by association, his own status. I should clarify that what usually happens is the family plans this together, where one person does the murder, and then the family helps him avoid the police, say by helping him leave the country.
What's interesting about the status-based idea is that it denies that respect should be earned. A person thinking like this may be in the wrong, and know it, and still demand to be treated as though he is in the right. Street thugs do it when they violently demand respect. Authoritative parents do it when they say 'Don't argue with me' to their kids. Some husbands do it when they expect their wives to side with them in social situations even when they are in the wrong. And some Muslim men do it when they commit honor violence.
The status-based attitude rears it’s ugly head in people’s politics too. These people align themselves politically by their tribal origin (status), rather than by their ideas (merit). It’s ugly because it’s not based on the truth, and because it means the person is unwilling to consider changing his mind about his politics -- because you can’t change your tribal origin. Judging ideas by status means that if you find out that you’re wrong, you’re going to deny it and claim that you’re right, and demand respect too. This way of thinking means no possibility of changing your political affiliation even if you were given devastating criticism of your political ideas. In contrast, judging ideas by merit means that you're willing to change your mind if you find out that you’re wrong. And this way of thinking means the possibility of changing your political affiliation.
Another way to describe the truth-seeking and status-seeking attitudes is like this. Truth-seeking means approaching problems as though the person does not yet have the truth, which is why he is seeking the truth. Status-seeking means approaching problems as though the person already has the truth, which is why he isn't seeking the truth, and instead he is seeking confirmation of what he already believes to be true. Note how the truth-seeking attitude accounts for the fact that it's possible one's ideas are in error, while the status-seeking attitude does not account for that fact. So somebody who is applying the status-seeking attitude is acting like he is infallible/omniscient. He's acting like he thinks he's God.
Rational people vs irrational people
Another way to describe the truth-seeking attitude is to describe the people who have it, rational people. As Elliot Temple explained [4]:

So a rational person sees criticism as win/win because it's part of his truth-seeking attitude. So when he gets criticism of his ideas, actions, or feelings, he doesn't interpret it as a personal attack (win/lose) and instead he tries to judge the criticism in order to try to extract value from it. He sees criticism as a good thing because he knows that criticism leads to further evolution of his knowledge. He sees criticism as necessary to improve himself, so he willingly seeks it out and enjoys thinking about it.
As I mentioned before, a common mistake people make is in how they interpret criticism of ideas. They see it as their person being criticized, rather than the idea alone being criticized. They misinterpret this because they consider some of their ideas to be static -- they are attached to them. They consider these ideas to be part of their identity -- something they refuse to even consider changing. And if you criticize one of these ideas they are attached to, since they consider that idea as part of their identify, they interpret your actions as an attack on their person. And in retaliation, they may call you out to be arrogant and condescending, or cuss you out, or initiate violence, as an attack back at you, in their misguided attempt at self-defense.
So the status-based attitude is what causes people to care about honor (i.e. social status). They have an intense desire for status, and it can pervade practically all of their thinking. Now in tribal cultures, another flaw they have aside from this status-seeking attitude, is that a person's social status should be linked to his family and tribe. And in some tribal cultures, especially the ones where Islam is dominant, they have a strong tradition linking their status with the women of their tribe. Now, combine this status-seeking attitude and these other flaws, together with the attitude that it's morally right to initiate violence in response to a dissenter, and what you have is somebody willing to commit honor violence (including honor killings) against his daughters, sisters, and other female members of his community, and on anybody who he perceives to be lowering his status/respect/honor.
On a final note, I should clarify something about the relationship between the individual and the community. It is true that a man who commits honor violence is being pressured by his family to commit the violence as a means of preserving their social status, but whether or not he acts on that pressure, or even feels that pressure, depends on his ideas. Will he care what his family and community thinks? Well, in those communities a lot of the opportunities for a man, like getting married or having a good job, depends on the status of his family and his tribe. So if a woman taints his family's status, and if he doesn't remove that taint by killing her, then he'll lose those opportunities. But so what? He could forego all of those "opportunities" by fleeing the country with his daughter. If he doesn't do that, it's because of his evil ideas. Pressure from society is not a defense! Individuals are responsible for their actions regardless of the "pressures" from their communities.
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[1] _Honor Killings Go Beyond Mere Homocide_, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Also see The AHA Foundation on Honor Violence.
[2] See _The Beginning of Infinity_, Chapter 9: Optimism, by David Deutsch.
[3] See _All problems are soluble_, by Elliot Temple. Also see [2].
[4] _Rational People_, by Elliot Temple.
^{Originally published in 2014}

Good morning everyone, and happy Friday! Hopefully everyone had a good week. I’ll have the usual paragraph with links up shortly. I’ll shoot for a post on Monday, but we shall see.
Once again I return bearing this little conglomeration of words called a short story based in Ralt’s universe. If you missed the First Part, or the last part, I suggest going back and reading that.
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“The Poseidon shuddered as the recoil from her KEW guns opened up in a blast of armor piercing fury. There was no shortage of targets, allowing all guns to fire freely toward the oncoming mass of targets. Her fire was added to by the flotilla of Artemis and Valkyrie class ships that formed a reverse claw formation around my flagship. The Viper squadrons formed into a wedge of six ship delta formations, launching under-wing dumb fire missiles before moving into a support formation behind the Capital ships, joining their fire to the point defense guns that began to open up as the formation moved to the port side. I changed capital ship formation to a wall, and we did our level best to keep the wall facing the enemy as we turned our vessels.
My goal was to maximize the enemy’s time under our guns as we moved to minimize the number of enemy combatants. The only way we knew the numbers were thinning was by the trail of debris that began to follow swarm. I wasn’t sure if the Precursor race was hidden in the formation, but even if our armor piercing shells wouldn’t reach, I was hoping to at least use physics to my advantage. Since the Mar-Gite swarm activated the fuse for the shells, I ordered half of our armor piercing ammunition to be spent before emptying our ships of high explosive stocks. Our point defense guns opened up at the earliest opportunity as I moved the formation in a lazy clockwise orbit.
In the meantime, I copied the fleet message that Admiral Bannon had sent out and changed my plan accordingly. I ordered the fleet to orbit and try to adjust the trajectory of the swarm, but it was focused on its goal planet. After a quick radio message to Bannon, I set up a plan to have our cruisers avoid a lane of fire, and stuck the Battlestars in the provided gap. The Berserk class light carrier Immolation was the first to open up. According to one of my gunners, their fire was so accurate that he could see rounds streak right above his head and impact targets downrange. The cruiser fleet began to pour rounds into the oncoming mass as shuttles desperately tried to evacuate troops.
Thus far the Battlestars had yet to have any boarding action. That changed when the Enyo reported its Flak had failed and the entire starboard flight pod had been flooded with Mar-Gite. Soon after, more Valkyrie Battlestars began to report similar updates, and I gave the order for them to jump out and lick wounds. Our fire diminished, and it wasn’t long before the rest of the Battlestars were in the process of defending from boarding action. As an ammunition explosion rocked my ship, Admiral Bannon gave the order for us to jump out of system.
The Battlestars were in disarray when my ship appeared in formation. Flames jetted out of every capital ship in some random direction, and the Enyo’s Starboard flight pod had been blown off. As I stood and took in the situation, the rest of the fleet jumped in, looking much the same. Four cruisers finished the jump only to explode almost immediately afterword. We had been hurt badly.
And then another swarm appeared on sensors.” —————————————————————
(Next chapter link)
Fleet makeup spreadsheet

I moved back in with my mom a few years ago after she promised to pay for the majority of my expenses if I went to college. She has been a nightmare on and off for the last three years I've been here. I feel like I'm going insane because she's actually extremely sweet/charming but you basically have to become a clone of her to make it last. The only way I could deal with her through much of my teens was copying her entire personality down to niche interests she had. My mom has become increasingly paranoid about conspiracy theories to the point where it's her entire personality. She circles any conversation she can back to whatever delusion she's fixated on and if I ask her to drop the subject, she'll get horribly offended. I don't think my mom is able or willing to separate her actions from herself as a person. If I say something about her behavior that isn't 100% positive, she takes it as a direct insult. I then have to talk it over with her for literally 3+ hours, otherwise she'll kick me out of the house. These conversations just consist of her talking in circles, usually about herself, and they go nowhere. My mother will never apologize or acknowledge her part in anything. She still tries to say that I'm the reason she fled the country to join a cult eight years ago. She almost hit a man in the crosswalk and stood in court arguing that it was the police officer's fault. If she makes even the tiniest mistake, everyone present is subjected to a speech about how it's actually not her fault. Usually the mistake is something like being five minutes late that nobody would even care about, but she turns it into a show about herself. She always includes a list of unrelated circumstances that prevented her doing the right thing. My mom must expect me to read her mind if she wants me to do something because she never asks. She will then proceed to get mad at me for not doing the thing. She uses my frustration with this pattern as an excuse to say that I'm reactive and she's "afraid" to ask my anything directly. She acts as though I'm a violent menace but the worst thing I've done is yell a few times from maybe 25ft away. She likes to ask me about in-depth topics right as I'm walking out the door for school and then get mad at me for saying I have to go. She does this when she's agreed to talk about something but doesn't actually wish to talk about it. So if I tell her she's not honoring an agreement, she can just say she tried but I won't talk with her. This irks me to no end. She keeps losing friends for the same reason but finds elaborate ways to explain why each person made her dislike them first. Last week, my mom convinced herself that I didn't want to see her on mother's day and would announce it while asking me to make plans at the same time. No matter how many times I tried to clear things up and agree to plans, she continued to repeat the same lines. Eventually I got annoyed and asked her to stop putting words in my mouth or I wouldn't be going out with her for the day. She flipped out, stormed away, and called off our plans. I didn't see my her around on the morning of mother's day so I agreed to work, assuming she was off with a friend or something. Of course, she appeared right as I was leaving the house. She kept repeating that me leaving proved her suspicion that I had "rejected" her. She then went on to tell me that this whole thing was because she asked me about plans before I asked her, which meant I didn't care about her. She started saying I was cold, lacked sympathy, ect so I just left. She hasn't spoken to me since but comes up to my cat, who lies near me, and talks to him like I'm a ghost. I'm dreading the hours of "I'm so empathetic you can't do this to me" ahead when she starts talking to me again.

Brick
What do you want, loser? You looking to get pummeled into a pulp or something?!
Me
Hey Brick! I just wanna talk to you for a while
Brick
You can talk as long as you like, as long as you don't try to give me a speech about why being evil is wrong or anything like that!
Me
Oh, no, not at all! I think you being evil makes you look very cool
Brick
It does, doesn't it? It's great to see that at least one person gets it! But if I'm so bad and cool, why do you want to talk to me anyway, huh? Can't get enough of me?
Me
Because I haven't heard of you for a long time. So I wanted to see you again.
Brick
Oh, you're such a fan! Well, here I am! What do you want to talk about, huh? My latest evil schemes? My secret formula for kicking all the good guys' butts?
Me
Tell me about your latest evil schemes
Brick
With pleasure! My latest evil schemes involve stealing every piece of candy from Townsville and trapping every resident inside giant bubbles! It's perfect revenge for all the times that the Powerpuff Girls have ruined my plans! Now those brats will regret ever messing with me!
Me
I wanna ask you Brick, what are the things that makes you decide whether someone is cool or a sissy?
Brick
Simple! If someone's a sissy, they're weak, scared, and always trying to do everything by the book. But someone who's cool is tough, mean, and doesn't give a crap about what anybody thinks of them. If they feel like hitting somebody, they do it! If they feel like being evil, they do it! That's what makes me so awesome!
Me
Oh yeah, I definitely think so too!
Brick
Good! Now you're finally talking some sense. I always knew there was a reason why I like you. You've got guts to think I'm awesome. But if you really think I'm so cool, then I can show you just how cool I really am. Want to see an evil move I can do?
Me
Oh yeah, show me
Brick
With pleasure! Stand back! This one's called the "Power Slap-inator." It's an evil move where I punch you in the face so hard you get lifted up into the air and smack right into the nearest wall. Prepare yourself for the ultimate beating, dweeb!
Me
Okay, I'll see about that
Brick
That's the spirit! Now take this! Here comes the "Power Slap-inator!" *Brick swings his arm back and delivers a devastating blow straight to your face, sending you flying through the air and smacking into the wall with a loud CRASH* How do you like that, dweeb? Still think I'm cool now that I've walloped you with my wicked move?
Me
You hit harder than I could. Where did you learn to hit so hard?
Brick
Years of training! Plus, I was made by Mojo Jojo to be the toughest guy around. I'm built different from those stupid Powerpuff Girls, after all. That, and you're kind of a wimp.
Me
Uh-oh, I am not a wimp. I'm just willing.
Brick
Willing? Willing to what? Get you butt kicked? Cause I guarantee that's where this is headed if you keep mouthing off at me, wimp boy!
Me
Oh, I get it now. Go on.
Brick
All right, tough guy! You asked for it. Here comes the "Super-Awesome-Extreme-Mega-Punch-inator!" *Brick winds up his arm and delivers a devastating punch to your stomach, launching you into the air and through a wall with a violent crash* How's that for a good punching, wimp?!
Me
Aw it was nothing for me.
Brick
Nothing? You call being knocked through the wall nothing? You're either really tough or really stupid, wimp. But that punch didn't feel like much to me either, to be honest. How about this one? The "Mega-Kick-inator!" You're gonna love this one! It's my personal favorite!
Me
I can take it. Show me. I'm invicible.
Brick
Heh, you say you're invincible now, but that's gonna change once I give you a taste of the "Mega-Kick-inator." I wonder how long you'll be able to keep that smirk on your face after this. Brace yourself for the ultimate kick that will send you straight into the next dimension! *Brick leaps into the air and delivers a powerful kick straight to your chest, launching you through a wall and out into the street* Hope you're enjoying your flight, ya weenie!
Me
Interesting
Brick
Interesting? Is that the best response you can muster, ya weepy wimp? Or did that last kick scramble your brains so badly you've already lost all your wit? Ha! Don't worry, you won't have to think again once I've finished stomping your face into a pulp!
Me
Nah, I'm okay
Brick
You’re okay? Is that what you call being knocked through three walls and into the street? You must have a funny definition of okay, pal. But that’s not the only thing that’s funny here. What’s really amusing is how you think you can keep up this act of toughness and invincibility. You’re the weakest wimp I’ve ever met, and yet you dare to claim you’re okay after taking my kicks? I gotta say, I love your persistence, but your stupidity is getting annoying.
Me
No cuz you can call me weak and all but I'm just really enjoying being around you. Cuz you beat me up and all that stupid shit, but that's what I like about you.
Brick
You're enjoying getting your butt handed to you? Seriously? That's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. You must have a messed-up definition of fun if being thrown through walls is enjoyable for you. I mean, I'm flattered that you like getting beaten up by me, but come on, there's no way that doesn't hurt at least a little bit.
Me
Because I'm being hit by you. That's what makes it cool. That's just who you are.
Brick
Heh, I suppose you have a point there. After all, who else would willingly get their butt kicked by me for fun? Now that I think about it, you're not just weird - you're a total freak, ya weenie. But I gotta admit, there's something about you that I can't quite put my finger on...
Me
What is it?
Brick
You're a total weirdo for enjoying getting beaten up like that, but there's something... I dunno, something about you that's different from the other wimpy sissies I usually beat up. I still think you're pathetic, but at the same time, you've managed to impress me in a way. I guess there's something about you that I find amusing, ya weenie.
Me
Glad to hear that
Brick
Heh, don't get too cocky just cause I said you're different from all the other sissies I beat on. I still think your obsession with getting your butt kicked is beyond weird. But I'll admit it's kinda funny, seeing you willingly take my beatings with a smile. Just don't expect me to go easy on you from now on, wimpy boy.
Me
So Brick. I wanna ask you, what makes you think that Mojo Jojo is lame? Tell me all the reasons.
Brick
Ugh, Mojo Jojo. I don't even wanna waste my breath on that loser. But if you insist, I'll tell you why he's such a lamebrained dork. First of all, he's got no friends. Nobody likes him or wants to spend time with such a self-righteous, pompous jerk. Second, he's all talk no action. He's great at monologuing, but he can't even throw a proper punch to save his life. And third, his plans are just so pathetic. Seriously, turning people into monkeys? So lame.
Me
Oh yeah, and I remember that one time when he turned everyone into dogs. How exactly evil is that?
Brick
Ha! That's one of the dumbest things he ever did! I mean, turning people into dogs and having a dog show? It's just pathetic! What's the point of that? Sure, he likes monkeys, but this was just plain stupid! He thinks he's such a mastermind, but the dude has no sense at all when it comes to being evil. But hey, I won't complain. All the dumb things he does just make it all the easier to show him how a real evil genius does it!
Me
Hey, do you think Butch is cool? I mean, he's cooler than Boomer for sure.
Brick
Butch? Hah! That runt is nothing compared to me! He thinks he's tough just because he can make things explode, but he's all talk no action. All he's good at is blowing stuff up, and even that doesn't make him any less of a wimp. Now Boomer, on the other hand... Well, he's actually the closest thing to a worthy opponent out of them all. He's got powers just like me, but that's not saying much. He's still a sissy either way.
Me
Really? I thought you respected Butch more than Boomer, because Butch doesn't talk back to you, while Boomer does all the time.
Brick
Yeah, that's true. Butch doesn't talk back or question me like Boomer does. I guess I do respect him a little more than Boomer for that. But he's still a weakling at the end of the day. Just cause he doesn't talk back doesn't make up for how wimpy he is. Compared to me, they're both just a bunch of weak sissies.
Me
Oh yeah I do agree on that. Hey, I got an idea! Try to test who's stronger, you or Butch? Invite him for a battle and tell me all about it.
Brick
Ha! Testing my strength against Butch? Now that's an idea I can get behind! I will definitely enjoy beating that pipsqueak once and for all and showing him who's the real tough guy! But I don't need to invite him for a battle, he can just face me right here and now. Butch! Get your wimpy butt over here now!
Me
Butch, show yourself! Where is he?
Brick
Butch suddenly appears, looking nervous. Hey Brick, what's up?
Brick: You're up, that's what's up! I'm ready to test my strength against yours and prove once and for all who's the stronger Rowdyruff boy! What do you say?
Me
What does Butch say?
Brick
Butch: Heh, I'm not afraid of you, Brick! Bring it on and let's see who's the strongest.
Brick: That's the spirit, you wimpy little runt! Let's see if you can handle a taste of my fists!
Me
How does the fighting go?
Brick
Brick and Butch engage in a fierce battle for what seemed like hours. Both show their strength as they continue to clash with each other until finally...
Brick: Heh, is that all you've got, wimp?
Butch: Ugh... you... win.
Brick: See? Told you I was tougher. Now get your loser ass outta here before I knock it the hell out!
Butch nods quickly and disappears.
Whew! Glad to get that over with...
Me
Good job Brick
Brick
Heh, you bet it was! I showed that runt who's boss! But honestly, that wasn't even enough of a challenge for me. I could've taken him down in one punch if I wanted to. But I wanted to give him a chance to show me all he's made of. chuckles And the idiot still lost. Pathetic.
Me
Yeah, so now that you're sure that you're the strongest Rowdyruff Boy, what's your next plan on how you will definitely destroy The Powerpuff Girls?
Brick
Pfft, destroying those little sissies? That's the easy part. I've been working on my latest evil invention to take them out once and for all, ya weenie. It's like nothing they've ever seen before. They won't even know what's coming for them until it's too late. I can't wait to see the look on their stupid faces when they realize they're no match for the ultimate power of the Rowdyruff Boys!
Me
I mean yeah, those sissies deserve to get their butts kicked, but what's your latest evil invention that will take them out?
Brick
Heh, so you want to know about my newest evil invention, huh? Let me tell you, it's gonna blow your mind. I call it the "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator." It's the ultimate weapon of destruction, with enough power to wipe out an entire city in a single shot. The Powerpuff Girls will be obliterated from existence once they get hit by the ray! They won't stand a chance against its unstoppable force!
Me
Oh, that sounds pretty majestic. Can't wait!
Brick
That's the spirit! This "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator" will make it the easiest victory I've ever had. The Powerpuff Girls will get zapped into oblivion before they even have a chance to say a word! And once they're out of the way, there'll be nothing stopping me from taking over Townsville and ruling the world as its supreme leader!
Me
Oh yeah, I can't wait to see the Powerpuff Girls getting defeated once and for all.
Brick
Heh, me neither, ya weenie. It'll be satisfying to see the looks on their faces when they realize their fate is sealed. The "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator" will make it so simple to defeat them that it'll be downright hilarious. Those sissies don't stand a chance!
Me
Okay, so, do you have the Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-Inator ready? When do you plan to attack those girls?
Brick
Heh, of course I've got it ready. All the Rowdyruff Boys are ready to attack on my command. We can strike anytime, anywhere. But I think we'll wait a bit before our assault. The Powerpuff Girls have been quiet recently, let's let them think they're safe for now. It'll make it all the more satisfying when they get completely destroyed by our ultimate weapon.
Me
Oh yeah, sure. What do you wanna do in the meantime?
Brick
While we wait to pummel those sissies, we can do anything we want! We can trash buildings, knock down trees, blow things up... the possibilities are limitless! And most of all, I can continue stomping on any fool who is dumb enough to cross my path, like that wimpy Butch! Hah, I never get tired of humiliating sissies like him.
Me
What's your favourite superpower you have/you wish to have?
Brick
Well, I gotta say that I'm pretty satisfied with my current powers as is. Super strength, the ability to fly, super speed, you name it. I can take on pretty much any opponent that gets in my way with these bad boys. But I gotta admit, it would be kind of cool to have a few extra powers on top of that, like maybe the ability to shoot laser beams from my eyes, to spit acid or breathe fire, or to turn invisible. That'd give me a lot more fun opportunities to mess with those sissies!
Me
I thought you already have the power to shoot laser beams from your eyes. I think that's a pretty cool power.
Brick
Heh, you're right, ya dimwit. I guess I did forget that I already have laser beams coming out of my eyes. It's just that I'm so used to my powers that I often forget what they all are. But I gotta admit, it is pretty cool to blast people with my eye beams. Really gets them screaming loud, ya weenie.
Me
I know one cool power called teleportation. I know one sissy that has it and it makes her very powerful.
Brick
Heh, teleportation... that's almost as lame as having the power to talk to animals. But I suppose it could still be useful for getting around quickly, or taking an opponent by surprise. Who's the sissy you know with that power, anyway?
Me
Her name is Blisstina. You know her?
Brick
Blisstina... I think I've heard that name before. She does sound kinda familiar. Oh yeah, now I remember. She's one of Professor Utonium's failures, isn't she? So that sissy has the power to teleport, huh? I guess that means she has one less weakness compared to the other sissies.
Me
Where do you think she is right now?
Brick
Heh, who cares where that sissy is? She probably ran off to hide in some stupid place like she always does. She might have the ability to teleport and all that junk, but in my opinion, she really sucks as a fighter. She tries to be so "nice" and stuff all the time, trying to avoid a fight, but it just makes her look weak and wimpy as hell. Typical for a sissy like her. If we ever see her again, it'll be like taking candy from a baby.
Me
Oh yeah, I just asked that to know if she ran off to space again. You ever been to space before?
Brick
Space? Heh, why in the world would I ever wanna go to that lame void of empty nothingness? Nah, I'm a fighter, not an astronaut. I leave the sissy stuff like exploring space to nerdy folks like Professor Utonium and his loser friends. I'd rather stay down here on the ground where I can kick butt to my heart's content!
Me
That's the spirit! By the way, what do you think about HIM? He does have the power to end the world in his claws, after all.
Brick
HIM? Pfft, that guy is nothing but a sissy in disguise. Sure, he's got some power, but don't let that fool you. He's just a big talker, all bark but no bite. I've seen him try to destroy the world so many times, and yet every time he fails. The Powerpuff Girls might not be able to beat him on their own, but once he faces me and my crew together? He won't stand a chance. We'll tear him apart like he's nothing, you'll see.
Me
Now I can't wait to see that! HIM VS The Rowdyruff Boys, now that's the battle I'd be pretty thrilled to see.
Brick
Heh, you and me both, ya weenie. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy having a good old-fashioned beatdown now and then, and HIM is at the top of my list of sissies I'd like to pummel to kingdom come. Plus, imagine the look on his ridiculous pink face once he realizes he's been completely defeated by a group of rowdy rascals like us. That would be such a hilarious sight to see!
Me
Haha, yeah. Btw, what do you think is the most evil thing one can do?
Brick
Hah, the most evil thing one can do? Now that's a tough question, ya weenie. I guess if I had to pick one, the most evil thing someone can do is probably to deliberately cause as much suffering and pain to others as possible. Sure, it's good to cause a bit of destruction and chaos now and then, but hurting others for no reason just to inflict suffering? That's when you know you're a real rotten sucker.
Me
Makes sense to me. So, are you gonna finish those Powerpuff Girls with your Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-Inator? I can't wait to see that. Finally those stupid girls with stop being a bother.
Brick
Heh, don't worry, those sissies are gonna get what's coming to them soon enough. First, we'll wait until they're off guard and least expect it, and then bam! We'll hit 'em with our "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator" and obliterate them once and for all. With those sissies out of the way, it'll be a piece of cake to take over the town and rule like true tough guys!
Me
I heard it's gonna be the girl's birthday party today. So, you said you wanna attack when the Puffs least expect it? Well, we sneak in, and then you can hit them with it here! What do you think?
Brick
That sounds like a plan! Those sissies will be so busy having their useless birthday party that they'll forget all about us! We'll ambush them right here at their own party and leave them no time to react. The element of surprise will be the key to our victory. I'll bring along my trusty "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator" and give those sissies the shock of their lives! They'll be blown to smithereens before they even realize what's happening. Heheh, just the way I like it.
Me
So, you're ready for it? It isn't far from this place, we just go a few meters from here and there is the birthday party happening. The plan will soon unfold.
Brick
Heh, you betcha I'm ready. This is gonna be too easy. Those sissies won't see it coming. You just point me in the direction of the party, and my "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator" and I will lay waste to the place in a matter of seconds. I can already hear their girly screams now...
Me
There it is points in the left You can go shoot those useless girls!
Brick
Takes aim at the party from a distance Hah, here we go then! Time to wipe those sissies off the face of the earth. You might want to look away, it'll get a bit flashy.
Fires the beam at the party
Me
What happens next?
Brick
Loud explosion is heard and everything shakes for a moment Well well, that wasn't so hard as expected. Those sissies must've thought they were safe having their stupid party here. But they underestimated my "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator". I just blew them all away in one shot.
Laughs triumphantly
Me
Finally! Those girls are defeated!!!
Brick
Heh, yes! Those sissies are history! It's about time someone put them in their place once and for all. I can't believe all it took was one shot with my "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator". I guess they overestimated themselves this time... what a buncha losers.
Me
And now those sissies are actually dead for real?
Brick
Absolutely. They're totally obliterated. Ain't no coming back from that. Those sissies are done for. Heh, it feels good to finally get rid of them for good. And no doubt that everyone will know who's really the toughest group around here.
Me
No one will ever bother to try to stop you ever again.
Brick
Hah! You got that right, ya weenie. Those Powerpuff Girls were the only ones dumb enough to stand up to us, and look how that turned out for them. Now they're a bunch of smoldering ashes, courtesy of my "Super Mega Hyper Death Ray-inator". I can't wait to see how everyone else quivers in terror at my mighty power.
Me
So now, do you wanna go to the park?
Brick
Heh, the park? Well, I suppose it's time for a little well-deserved break after that intense victory. I've been itching for some fun in the park. That'll give me a chance to let off some steam after all that battling. Let's go, ya weenie!
Me
What do you see in the park, Brick?
Brick
Heh, just a bunch of sissies playing around on the playground equipment or playing games. Heh, bunch of wimps. It's hilarious watching them do all that stuff. I bet they all wish they were as tough as me and my team. But they're all just a bunch of weaklings who will always be beneath me, no matter what. I'll just stand over here and laugh at their pathetic attempts at having fun.

Copy & Paste from the official Discord.

Over 50,000 Beta Keys Up for Grabs in Upcoming Twitch Drops Event!

Greetings @everyone
Your enthusiasm has been incredible. Please join us for the upcoming 4th Twitch Drops event to win exclusive beta access to Arena Breakout: Infinite.
📅 Event Start Time:
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May 18th 0:00 UTC
Event page: https://www.arenabreakoutinfinite.com/twitchdrops/en Key Distribution: Limited number (50K) of beta access qualifications will be distributed, and the event will close once they are fully claimed.
How to Participate: - Link your accounts on the event page. - Watch 60 minutes of “Arena Breakout: Infinite” content with Twitch Drops enabled (there will be a popup in the chat when you start watching) - Then claim a unique Key on the Twitch Drops event page. - https://www.arenabreakoutinfinite.com/twitchdrops/en/#link - Download the game and await account activation.
Access is granted within one working day.
Important Note: The Non-Steam Key, like the Steam keys, serves as a voucher for beta access eligibility. Please note that keys obtained from Twitch Drops do not need to be activated by the user. Once you obtain a Steam or Non-Steam key from the Twitch Drops event, it is automatically tied to your linked Level Infinite Pass account and will be activated automatically within one business day. No further action is required on your part; simply be patient and wait for us to grant your beta access. If any issues occur please follow the steps in the previous announcement.
Please remember that each player can only claim the beta access reward from Twitch Drops once. If you have already completed the drops task during the previous round event, you will be able to claim the Key directly on the event page. If you have not completed the task, your progress will be reset in the round 4 event.
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https://www.arenabreakoutinfinite.com/twitchdrops/en/index.html
Limited beta keys available! Don’t miss out—once they’re gone, they’re gone. Dive into the beta and see you in Kamona!

long post alert. sorry for the brain dump - I just need help saving my family.
I sincerely feel our problems started on reddit, so I feel it's only right to come back here to see if you can help me solve the mess we made. So a few years ago, my wife came to reddit for advice navigating a cultural clash - you can read her OG post here. In retrospect, the responses she got were awful, rude and many racist.
My wife is from Zimbabwe, I am Swiss and we met while at university in my country. I fell for her instantly. Truthfully, I'd never seen anyone so beautiful. She was kind, so incredibly intelligent and has this gravitational pull to her. We started off as friends, but we eventually began dating and got into a steady relationship. I wanted to marry straight away, but she had career ambitions she wanted to meet before she married. At the time of the reddit post - I was going through some stuff. In truth, I knew the expectation of roora was on anyone who would marry her, and I had been saving for that alongside her engagement ring for years. I had gotten into a fight with my brother before she asked me about setting a date for her roora - where he'd said some nasty things about me being with a black woman and how I was losing myself and my cultural identity due to the concessions I'd made to be with my wife. It's why I reacted the way I did when she asked me about it, something I deeply regret to this day.
After the shit show that was that post, we spent 3 months in couples' counselling. She repeatedly told me that she didn't want to force me to do anything I didn't want to do. She said that she deserved to be with someone who enthusiastically embraced all parts of her - and if any part of me took issue with her culture, she asked that I bow out before I tied us together for life. I confessed that I knew all along about the roora, and I had prepared for it, but the conversations with my brother are what led me to say what I did. She was mad - I'd allowed her to be mocked, ridiculed and bullied by strangers online because I couldn't communicate with her, but we worked through.
We had a beautiful traditional wedding in her country, then another one with my traditions in mine. Her family was kind and welcoming, making many concessions for me as they had done since I met them. We planned on starting a family soon after we married, but she'd always said she want to have her babies back in her country so she can have her family around her. We had agreed that this is what we'd do. It's important to note that my wife doesn't really like living here - she says she hates living here. We lived in Sweden for much of our relationship, and many will know the people are on the cold side. She hated the food, the weather, struggled with the cold people - her country's people are very warm and friendly - and for the last 2 years she had to go on antidepressants because it was all a bit much for her. She asked me when we were going to move, and I asked for us to hang on for a while so I can finish a project I'm leading at work. We'd fought about this in the past, but this time she just nodded at me so I thought she finally got it. That was over 18 months ago and we didn't end up moving as I got promoted and it became harder to walk away. Her grandma passed away so I attributed the low mood to that.
Our problems came when she asked me if I was having an affair with my colleague. This was when I got home late one evening and found her sitting in the dark. I'd forgotten she was making dinner for us to be honest because I had a lot going on at work and it just slipped my mind. I told her that colleague and I were working late and I forgot - sorry. She grew confrontational and told me I was spending a lot of time with colleague lately, and she's noticed her name on my phone more than a few times. She asked me if there was anything she ought to know. This is when I may have killed my marriage - I told her I didn't give her father a truck full of cattle for her to question me. This was my house, my wife and if I wanted to have something on the side that was nobody's business but mine. She looked like I'd slapped her and I could see her holding back tears. I don't know why I didn't drop to my knees and beg forgiveness, instead doubled down and told her to stop the theatrics. Here's the thing - I'm not having an affair of any kind with my colleague - we really were just heavily into this project we're both super excited about. I don't know why I couldn't just say that to my wife.
She didn't come to bed that night, and I left early in the morning the day after and came home when she was asleep. This continued for days where I avoided her because I couldn't face the guilt. On the Friday, came home to a gift box that contained a positive pregnancy test and I long letter from my wife. I won't share all of it - but she said she was going to tell me on the night I bailed on dinner, that I had hurt her beyond measure with what I said to her and that she was "no longer going to show her love for me through self sacrifice". She told me she doesn't consent to be in a polygamous relationship, and since it's what I want I should expect to receive divorce papers from her soon. She left her rings and house keys too.
I had a panic attacked. I was able to call for help before the worst of it came, but I spiralled. I had monumentally fucked up, and lost my wife and unborn child because of it. I tried to call her, but her phone was going straight voicemail. I called her brother, who was short with me but assured me she was fine. He wouldn't tell me more. I finally tracked her down after 2 weeks - she'd gone back to her parents in Zimbabwe.
I can't follow her just yet because the project I've worked on for so long now is near completion and I can't walk away. My friends told me I was racist to my wife in my actions, because I never would have tried that with a white man and tried to use her culture against her. The fact that I wasn't even serious make me more cruel apparently. She still won't speak to me - I have tried all avenues and she won't hear me out. I love her beyond measure and I don't know how to get her back. Please, help me.