Fubo investors: I should state, I could care less which corporation gets rich off broadcasting rights for football (soccer), and I have no stake/interest in Fubo, or it's competitors, and have nothing personal against a random company. I'm just a football (soccer) fan who's been unfortunate enough to have FuboTV forced upon me.
I'm not sure how important football is to FuboTVs financials, or what programming earns the company money, but I'm gonna take an educated guess, and say the biggest league in the most popular sport in the world could be important. So hopefully someone at Fubo notices the problem with their football portfolio and addresses the issues accordingly; for the sake of the viewers, or atleast for the sake the sums of money involved.
Now, I don't know much about being a fancy business man or investor, but I do know football, and I know Fubo is failing to provide the quality of football broadcasting fans are accustomed to.
I'll be be fair though, and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not privy to the information, but maybe football is a brand new market for Fubo, or maybe they are trying to cater to a north american market with different needs. I literally don't know or care, because if any of the above were true, why did DAZN quantifiably provide a better football streaming service?

1. DAZN cared about the viewing experience: How? They made an effort to tailor the experience to meet expectations of fans. They tailored their content to respect footballs culture of suspense by not ever having spoilers. Yes it a thing and a big deal. And this is why I think Fubo is new to this or doesn't get football or it's fans. Soccer fans are hooligans for a reason, they care about the sport and enjoying it fully. Fubo please don't ruin the suspense of watching the game unfold, even for highlights. If you don't get why it matters, you don't deserve broadcast the games.
   
2. DAZN ensured to maintain the deliver the quality and feel of the football competitions the broadcasted: Their Champions League broadcasts exemplify this. I.e the colours, the sounds, the entire setting and visuals of the broadcast is exactly what the Champions League is all about. They got it right and even have 15 mins highlights of games, with no spoilers... Fubo, please make an effort to present the Premier League for what it is, the most prestigious and successful league in the world. Currently, that's not whata being delivered when watching Premier League on Fubo. Everything is visually off, the colours, the sound, like it doesn't even feel like your watching the Premier League; You open the app and the click the game, and that's it, t feels flat, like atleast some music. Thank you Fubo for making mw realize how important producers are.. please Fubo, fix this, It doesn't feel like you're about to watch the biggest show in town. Unbelievably Lazy.
   
3. DAZN functioned properly and on time: like seriously, Fubo seems not to functioning properly. Wtf are we paying for if they can't deliver the basics like editing, and sticking to a timely schedule for content uploads. On this alone, Fubo should stripped of the premier league rights.
   

I usually don't care about business shit, but when it's about football, fuck buyer beware! I haven't paid for Fubo in this entire season and will not next season because they greased themselves a monopoly somehow. Only in Canada.. it's bullshit and enables the quality of content Fubo puts out, lazy, over priced and utter shite!! Praying to the football gods DAZN or anyone half decent becomes and option again.

At the conclusion of semifinals weekend, six more players have been eliminated from Corsace Closed 2024:

Player	Seed	Placement	First Match Loss	Second Match Loss
FlyingTuna	5	9th-12th	1-6 vs enri (Seed 4)	2-6 vs tekkito (Seed 10)
Fakercambing	8	9th-12th	2-6 vs criller (Seed 9)	5-6 vs decaten (Seed 6)
his kitten	13	9th-12th	0-6 vs enri (Seed 4)	0-6 vs mrekk (Seed 7)
Chicony	14	9th-12th	2-6 vs mcy4 (Seed 3)	4-6 vs criller (Seed 9)
decaten	6	7th-8th	4-6 vs mcy4 (Seed 3)	0-6 vs mrekk (Seed 7)
tekkito	10	7th-8th	2-6 vs mrekk (Seed 7)	3-6 vs criller (Seed 9)

Fade 'em
Upcoming finals weekend matches (AKA the six players remaining):

Side of Bracket	Seed	Player 1	vs	Player 2	Seed
Lower	1	maliszewski		mrekk	7
Lower	3	mcy4		criller	9
Lower	1 or 7	maliszewski or mrekk		mcy4 or criller	3 or 9
Upper	4	enri		worst hr player	2

Relevant links: Forum Post Spreadsheet Bracket

It's time to share some information about the game, I have never seen this on this subreddit or elsewhere. So here come my "All you need to know about Timelines (TLs) and Ages". This is written in a mostly beginner friendly way and should clarify most of the questions new players could have (also feel free to link this thread to them in the future). But I'm pretty sure that also some veterans can learn a thing or two here. Let's start!

1. About Timelines and Time Travelling

• A Timeline (or TL) is a sequence within the game (main game and also race events) consisting of six Battles* with different enemy troops and increasing difficulty.
• Your main goal in this game is to advance the TL (main game). To do so, you have to beat all six battles at least once. After you beat the sixth and last Battle, you may time travel to the next TL (and should; there is little reason to stay on the TL after you completed it).
• Once you time travel, you will be rewarded with a red potion (only after you unlocked the rune tree) and arrive in a new TL containing new Ages different form the previous ones. All Upgrades and Coins will be lost as in any Evolution (see below).
• As of now, there is no known upper limit for the main TL (i.e. the hardcap is probably infinity resp. the integer cap), there is no „final stage“ or any way to „beat“ the game. The game's softcap (i.e. when you have everything maxed out, use the perfect strategy etc. and still can't advance anymore due to being outstated) is several hundred TLs deep and this will take years of gameplay to get there (or spend huge amounts of RL money).
• Every new TL (starting with TL3), the enemy will receive a boost of +20% to his units' stats referred by the game as Difficulty. That is, if T denotes the current TL you are in, the Difficulty D is given by the formula D = 1.2^(T-2).
• You can see the number of you current TL as well as its Difficulty if you time travel, evolve your age or anytime in the Upgrades menu (click on „Evolution", then the „i“ in the upper right corner).
• Not taking difficulty into account, there are exactly 21 unique TLs implemented in the game (see below).
• ad *: You can shorten a TL with the TL Skip rune, which won't be covered here. Also, you will have to win 15 Battles in total without the Battle Reset rune, but it's still exactly six unique Battles and those are the ones I'm referring to here.

2. About Ages and Evolution

• A TL consists of six different Ages (e.g. Stone Age, Farm Age etc.). In each of the six battles you will fight a new Age and have to beat it to proceed.
• For each of the six Age slots, there are seven possibities for an Age (e.g. Spartan Age and Fantasy Age for Age slot 3). This means, there are 6 x 7 = 42 unique Ages in the game. A list/overview of those can be found in this picture and at the end of this article.
• In order to beat a battle, you will usually evolve your Age as well to keep up with the enemy (often you will even do this early, i.e. you will have the Age/Evolution lead over the enemy). The Evolution option can be found in the Upgrades menu.
• Each time you evolve to the next Age (and also once you time travel), you will be rewarded with 9 blue potions (only after you unlocked skills). This sums to 6 x 9 = 54 blue potions each TL (you will always get this exact amount even if you manage to time travel without evolving to the last Age). All Upgrades and Coins will be lost once you evolve (but you will get them back faster).
• Evolution and Time Travelling can be considered at this game's interpretation of an prestige system.

3. How to read the picture and Further Remarks

• The picture shows the order of Ages you will encounter during your first 21 TLs. The rows are the TLs, I refer to the columns as age slots.
• This order is fixed, it's the same for every player and also the same for the main TL and races. In particular, you will fight each Age equally often during your progress.
• These 21 unique TLs already determine ALL(!) the TLs you will ever see in this game. As it turns out, this pattern repeats every 21 TLs, e.g. TL22 is the same as TL1, TL23 looks like TL2, TL100 has the same Ages as TL16.
• This means in particular, that most of the theoretically possible combinations (i.e. 7^6 = 117649) are unused (resp. only 0.018% of those combinations are in use!).
• As a consequence, you cannot fight every Age with another. Take for example everybody's favourite Age of World Wars which people like to keep for Battle 6. But you will always fight either Robot, Cyborg or Virtual Age, while you can never fight Aliens or Quantum Age! (Not counting the possibities you are given with themed battles in the dungeons.)
• Given a fixed Age in age slot X, there are usually three possibities for an Age in age slot Y (and obviously just one of X=Y). However, there are also some examples when it's only two: E.g. the Romans can only fight Police or Cold War Age in slot 5, but not the other five possibities. There are never more than three possibilities in this pattern.
• There is a reason why I divided the 21 TLs in three blocks of 7 TLs each. Note that in each of these blocks you will only see each Age exactly once, so there is some internal pattern as well.
• For the first Ages, it is easy to see that you will fight them exactly every 7 TLs, always in the same order. For the other Age slots note that the will also have the same pattern within themselves, i.e. they always come in the same order, but it is shifted (else it would result in 7 unique TLs instead of 21).
• The strangest part is age slot 5 in TLs 6-9: You will fight alternating Gangsters and the Mafia, so only two different Ages within four TLs resp. you will see both Ages twice within only three TLs!

Closing Remarks:

• Relevant game version: 1.27.1
• Acknowledgements: u/TheSly2830 (some double checking on the TLs) ... [to be added]
• Please feel free to tell me what's missing, what's wrong, what should be included and I will edit it.
• If you like this post, I may consider doing it again on a different topic. If you are willing to help, hit me up! Also feel free to give me feedback and tell me what was new to you.
• There is no chance this thread can get pinned, is it?
• Have fun!

List of all Ages for copy & pasting:
Slot 1: Stone, Neolithic, Jungle, Ice, Swamp, Mountain, Shore Slot 2: Farm, Bronze, Egyptian, Mayan, Maurian, Celtic, Barbarian Slot 3: Spartan, Samurai, Roman, Viking, Fantasy, Middle Ages, Huns Slot 4: Renaissance, British Empire, Dynasty, Native American, Cowboy, Pirate, Slavic Slot 5: Modern, World Wars, Cold War, Post Apocalypse, Police, Gangster, Mafia Slot 6: Space, Robot, Alien, Cyborg, Virtual, Quantum, Mutant

"The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher, 4th Edition" by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong is a comprehensive guidebook meant to aid both new and seasoned educators in creating a happy and productive classroom atmosphere from the very beginning of the school year. The book gives practical guidance, ideas, and procedures for teachers to develop routines, set expectations, form connections, and effectively manage their classrooms.
The authors emphasize the necessity of proactive classroom management, indicating that spending time and effort into creating clear rules and expectations from the outset helps prevent behavior problems and promote a conducive learning atmosphere. They provide step-by-step directions and specific examples for structuring classroom routines, organizing materials, and conveying expectations to students.
"The First Days of School" covers a wide range of issues vital to effective teaching, including lesson planning, instructional strategies, assessment approaches, and professional development. The book is filled with practical advice and insights based from the authors' significant experience as educators, making it accessible and relevant to teachers at all levels.
One of the book's primary strengths rests in its focus on building meaningful relationships with pupils. The writers underline the necessity of interacting with kids on a human level, exhibiting empathy and respect, and developing a supportive and inclusive classroom community. They provide suggestions on how to create rapport with kids, handle student conduct efficiently, and address issues of diversity and inclusion.
Overall, "The First Days of School" is a useful resource for instructors striving to strengthen their teaching practice and create a good and engaging learning environment. The book's practical counsel, clear explanations, and tangible tactics make it an important tool for teachers wishing to make a difference in the lives of their students from day one.
Free Audiobook with a free trial of Audible

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1 - 1987 $5 US Commemorative Constitution Bicentennial 0.2419 AGW - $557 @ Melt Shipped
1 - 1899-S $5 US Liberty Head 0.24187 AGW - $594
1 - 1900 $10 Liberty Head MS-63 0.48375 AGW - $1275
90% / Junk / Constitutional Silver / US Commemorative Dollars
1 - 1983 / 1984 Olympic Silver Dollar set in OGP - $42
1 - PCGS MS69 American Heroes Edition ASE - Jessica Lynch - $40
Silver
Silver#1
1 - 20ct - Mixed dates tube of Canadian Maple Leaf 2023-2018 - $580
1 - 20ct - Mixed dates tube of Canadian Maple Leaf 2018-2011 - $570
1 - 10ct - 2006 Canadian Maple Leaf OGP Sheet - $294
Silver#2
1 - 10ct - 2020 South African Krugerrand in capsules - $285
1 - 5ct - 2023, 2022, 2020, 2020, 2018 South African Krugerrand in capsules - $145
4 - 4ct - 2023 Austrian Philharmonic in capsules - $114
1 - 4ct - 2018 Britannia APMEX Mint Direct - $120
1 - 2ct - 2023 Britannia, King Charles in capsules - $58
1 - 4ct - 2023, 2023, 2022, 2016 Australian Kangaroos in capsules - $114
Silver#3
1 - 3ct - 2023 British Royal Arms, King Charles in capsules - $87
1 - 2ct - 2018 Australian Kangaroos APMEX Mint Direct - $60
1 - 2ct - 2018 Canadian Maple Leaf APMEX Mint Direct - $60
1 - 1ct - 1993 Canadian Maple in capsule - $29
1 - 1ct - 2012 Canadian Maple Moose reverse in capsule - $30
1 - 1ct - 2017 Canadian Maple Bronze toaner in capsule - $29
1 - 1ct - 2024 Canadian Maple in capsule - $29
Silver#4F / Silver#4B
2 - 1ct - 2023 Noah's Ark Republic of Armenia 500 Dram in capsule - $32 Each
1 - 1ct - 2024 Australia Dragon Elizabeth II 1952-2022 in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 2024 Britannia and liberty in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 2023 St. Helena King Charles Pegasus in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 2022 Niue Darth Vader in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 2024 St. Helena AOE Owl in capsule - $31
1 - 1ct - 2022 Central Bank of Malta Europa and the Bull in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 2022 Australia Dragon Rectangular Coin in flip - $36
1 - 1ct - 2019 Fiji Coca-Cola in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 2017 50th Anniversary South African Krugerrand in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 2015 Year of the Sheep in capsule - $32
1 - 1ct - 1 oz Morgan Stacker in capsule - $28
1 - 1ct - 1 oz Aztec Yin & Yang in capsule - $28
All items are Sigma Tested
Up to 9 oz ships via USPS Ground Advantage for $6, 10oz+ Ships USPS Priority Mail for $10 unless price is listed as shipped
Chat preferred, quickest, but PM's replied to as soon as I see them.
I pack how I'd like things to be packed for me. All packages scanned at the USPS counter.
Picture of package is provided for all shipments, proof of drop-off provided upon request.
My responsibility ends once package is handed across the counter and scanned.
Payment via Zelle or Venmo, no notes please.

Ugh, 6 months in and a stranger in this city. Vancouver can be a bit of a grind, everyone hustling to pay that rent.
Maybe I can find a group that shares some passions besides surviving the daily commute, cause that Skytrain and bus can be a mood killer. Everyone looks depressed.
As for living the North American Dream, Forget that house on a salary here! Need to find myself a profitable business. Thinking of starting something, maybe there's a way to connect with other entrepreneurs and swap ideas. I need that. And some socializing with topic from the subject line.
Edit: Nepali Engineer here who recently moved into Canada (probably at the wrong time). working a shitty job trying to make ends meet and still struggling to.

I am doing this CMV because I want to see my country together again. I was born in 2000, all I have ever known is my country divided. It's depressing to me that it is this way. I love my country and everything it has done for our people. I want to see our people not divided.
I want to see the promise our forefathers gave to us, the promise our parents and grandparents were told. The promise to pursue happiness, we can not have that promise if we are divided. I want love for our country and our people.
I Believe that RFK Jr could end the division and unite the people. Here are my reasons why.
1.) He Genuinely wants to help our nation, unite our nation, and give power back to American people.
2.) He is Independent. What that means is that he has voters from both vaccinated and unvaccinated. He has voters from both Trump and Biden. He has voters that are pro life and pro choice. He has voters that are pro guns and anti guns.
3.) He's anti war and wants world peace.
4.) He cares about our environment and the health of the American people.
4.) He cares about the young people in America. He knows that many are depressed, angry, and lonely. He also knows that many are suffering from developmental and physical disabilities such as Autism, Asthma, and learning disabilities.
5.) Kennedy is a recovering drug addict. He's recovered from Heroin addiction and admits it.
He's honest about his struggles which is how a president should be. Both my mother, father, and grandfather were addicts that became sober. If he becomes president addicts all across America will have hope for not only recovering but a better brighter future.
I love you all, I love the USA, and I want to see US United and not Divided.
Edit 1: I'm vaccinated so I believe vaccines definitely can and do help people. However I do believe that we should study them much more.
We should study them for dangerous long term effects and short term effects. Some people are not effected the same way.
Now for the breaking of the 2 party system. I think because a lot of people on both sides want change, and are tired of the two party system. Many supporters could leave both Trump and Biden to gravitate twords Kennedy.
I do have to say is that we haven't seen Kennedy debate Trump or Biden yet which is something that we really need. We will see later this year how this goes.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dead in the next 24 hours.
Whether that's the Costella family, or whatever this is, I'm not sure.
The police are taking forever, and part of me knows they're either refusing to believe me, or RC got them too.
I'm holed up on our school bus, so I've got nothing better to do.
I want to tell you about my team.
We met in our sophomore year.
Strangers standing outside the club room.
Levi was the freckled brunette who wouldn't stop talking about Game of Thrones.
Sunny, a pretty redhead, told him to shut up.
Tom, a sandy blonde, nodding his head to music corked in his ears.
I just wanted to be part of a club, and get away from my overbearing mother.
I won't say it was a perfect start. Our school was lacking in funding, so anyone could join, which made us more of a Quiz Club. I had some serious anxiety, so I stayed on the sidelines for a while, watching, rather than taking part.
It's not like we actually talked to each other initially. The first few weeks, we played Jeopardy, and attempted to find more members to cement us as an official Academic Decathlon club.
Unfortunately, though, it was just the four of us.
Which made it extremely hard for us to be taken seriously.
According to Google, Academic Decathlon teams were made up of nine members, placed by their GPA.
Our principal laughed at us, but he did let us become official.
Which was out of pity, I assumed.
The club was assembled, and we started meeting up after school.
Sort of.
Sunny barely showed up, and Levi didn't take anything seriously, preferring to spend the time telling us about his weird family turf-war.
Our principal dumped us in a tiny classroom with a resident rat living under the floorboards.
There was barely enough room to move, and the four of us crammed together for three hours was less than appealing.
Still, though, I wanted to be part of a club.
I had grown up with parents who were obsessed with board games, so I was pretty good at general knowledge questions. Our club room was too small for anything else but three desks (Sunny and I shared one) and a whiteboard we had to shove through the door.
But, again, we didn't start as an Academic club.
It was more akin to Story Time Club.
Arriving late on my third day, armed with quiz cards from home, I found Tom and Sunny completely mesmerised by Levi’s storytelling skills, drowned in shadow.
They didn't even turn the lights on.
I strictly remember squeezing next to Sunny, and hearing the words, “But there was so much blood all over the floor, and my Mom told me to go upstairs and hide under the bed…”
Sitting in front of them was Levi, perched on a desk, his legs swinging, a whiteboard marker between his teeth.
Sometimes he'd get up, and illustrate parts of his story.
It sucked that his drawings were all stick people.
I won't go into full details of his life, but Levi grew up as part of a family who had… interesting methods of making a living. I had seen the guy’s father multiple times when we hung out at his place, and, yeah, my friend’s family definitely had Soprano vibes.
Levi’s Draw My Life was nothing to do with the club, but it did bring us closer.
Even if, at that point, I was considering leaving.
But it's not like it was easy to walk away from these guys. It's like finding your soulmates. Levi wasn't the only one with an interesting life. Sunny Lang was an ex kpop trainee, who was kicked out for being too fat, which led her to develop a severe eating disorder, and a hatred for her own body.
Sunny explained her family were originally from Boston, her mother growing up in Korea.
She signed up for an idol agency focusing on creating a new girl group, and had gotten all the way to the final stages, before being kicked for her weight. Sunny told us her story with a smile, though there was a hollowness in her eyes I couldn't ignore. The other girls were judgemental bullies, and the idol diet and brutal regime almost killed her.
Sunny lived in a tiny apartment with 9 girls, who would tear each other apart for a chance to debut. Sunny said all the other girls debuted, and when we (not so patiently) asked for names, she shrugged, admitting she signed an NDA that prevented her spilling the beans.
What she did say, was the K-pop idol is a product, not a person– and are made and moulded into a product.
She had zero interest in throwing her humanity away to become a manufactured doll.
So, one of us was the son of an underground family, and the other was an ex idol.
Tom was an aspiring horror writer with a famous older step-brother.
His story times were usually, That one time I went to the Met Gala.
When it was my turn to reveal my story, I told them the only interesting thing about me.
I could smell when something bad was going to happen.
They laughed, but I was being serious.
When I was a kid, I smelled my mother’s brain tumor.
I remember it smelled like curdled milk.
I asked Mom why her head smelled of mouldy milk, and Mom laughed and said it was her shampoo.
It was actually a grade two tumor growing inside her brain.
Thankfully, the tumour was found quickly and removed.
Growing older, I became sensitive to smell. The little girl choking on the bus smelled of singed wood, and the old man crossing the road stunk of gasoline.
In the fourth grade, my classmate Alex Castor smelled of lemons all morning.
I sat behind him, choking on the stink all the way through class.
Ever since I met him, Alex had always smelled… off.
It was a distinct smell I could never understand, and as the days and months and years went by, that smell morphed into a subtle orangey musk that was so strong I had to cover my mouth and nose. Then, he smelled like lemons.
During Recess, I watched Alex fall off of the jungle gym, straight onto his head.
Alex Castor was dead before the paramedics arrived, my panicked teacher attempting CPR when his brains were leaking out of his ears.
The school claimed it was an accident, but Alex would have been fine if the jungle gym wasn't built on solid concrete.
I told my team members this, and Levi was sceptical.
“You can smell bad things?” He said, his lips curved around his milkshake straw. In the early days, we hung out in the local bar. It's not like we were allowed inside, but Levi could get us in anywhere.
I was squeezed between Tom and Sunny, while Levi took the seat opposite us. I couldn't help noticing our waitress was insisting on free milkshake refills, her frantic eyes glued to Levi.
I had zero idea why. Levi Costella was about as intimidating as a fruit fly.
Wearing a white shirt with a popped collar, a leather jacket thrown over the top, Levi was giving rebellious Harvard student, rather than son of a crime family.
Leaning forward, he raised a brow, clearly not believing me.
“So, you're like a stink psychic?”
I shrugged, sipping my own shake.
“Sure.”
I wasn't planning on telling him the club room smelled off on our first day.
Once we actually started the club, Levi surprised us as the smartest member, and getting to know him further, I came to the realization his family were infamous in our town.
However, his parents hid it well. Lucy and Michael Costella were the owners of a popular ramen store in our town, hiding under the facade of two successful business owners. The Costella’s were an attractive family.
Lucy was a sophisticated brunette with a lipstick smile, Michael, a handsome fluffy haired man who looked like he modelled glasses.
The two were fiercely protective over their youngest son, not so casually reminding us behind grinning smiles, that if anything happened to Levi, we would automatically be involved in the family.
I mean, they did laugh and say, “We’re joking! Look at your little faces!” when Sunny went deathly pale. But there was definitely truth behind their words.
Being Levi’s friend was… challenging at first.
Tom and I were in his room studying for finals, and an alarm went off, flooding Levi’s room in red light.
I had zero idea where it was coming from, but it locked all the doors and windows, forcing the Costella residence into temporary lockdown. Levi didn't seem fazed, casually mentioning his parents were taking care of it.
He had a whiteboard set up in his room, and was standing in front of it, cramming all of our textbook notes into one easily digestible drawing.
Levi wasn't just smart.
He was Ivy League smart, so we had struck gold with him.
His family were questionable, and yes, sometimes I did fear for my life, but as the more time we spent at his house, the Costella household became a second home. We got used to the alarms.
I just brought along ear plugs.
I wish I was writing this post about Levi’s family, and sure, they are a factor in what is going on right now, but I want to preface this by saying the events below involve the 2024 scholastic decathlon final in our town with the school’s listed:
Starbrook High School.
Ratcliffe High School.
Please note, the incident that took place last night was immediately covered up, and all phone footage was destroyed. Our town is mostly out of the way, and does not show up on Google searches.
We also have our own version of the academic decathlon, which is a more town-level competition, due to lacking funds. The four of us were desperate to start competing with our schools.
So, we started taking things a little more seriously.
We got a coach.
Mr Hanes, who was hesitant at first.
In his words, “You will hate me as your coach.”
He started by recruiting more members, announcing, “If you want to be taken seriously as an actual club, then I'll be taking the reins from now on.”
He did, and with our teachers guidance (and sometimes brutal honesty), we reached a level where we could start competing with other school’s in town. Now, none of us knew this, but Mr Hanes was obsessed with winning.
So, club meetings were twisted into two hour study sessions with no talking, followed by Mr Hanes Jeaprody, which was Jeaprody, without the actual fun.
We were quizzed multiple times, answer cards and practise questions quite literally thrown directly in our faces.
I hate to admit this (I really hate to admit this) but Mr Hanes’s tactics worked. Sure, we had been mildly brainwashed by our slightly unhinged coach, but with Levi Costella, we destroyed our competitors. Like I said, our town held their own version of the academic scholastic decathlon, but it was pretty much the same, with some changes.
Ten subjects. Language and Literature, Math, Social Science, Economics, Art, Music, Interview, Speech, and Essay.
Unlike the official Decathlon, ours was more like a game show, with the ability to be knocked out if a team member answers a question wrong. Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins. Team meet ups were either tests, study sessions, or quizzing each other.
Which leads me to last night.
The finals were held in the reigning champions, Ratcliffe High School’s, auditorium.
And we were about to win our town’s Scholastic Decathlon 2024 Championships.
Well…I was knocked out in the music section. Standing next to my coach who I was sure was going to asphyxiate from excitement, I could smell the sudden potent stink of lemon. I tried to ignore it at first, but the more questions my team were answering correctly, the smell got worse, suffocating my senses.
This wasn't just lemon. The stink was like a burning, singing smell trickling into my nose and the back of my throat.
It was stronger than what Alex smelled like.
This was suffocating, drowning my thoughts.
“Are you okay, Cassandra?”
Mr Hanes nudged me when a Ratcliffe girl was struggling to answer a question, only for Sunny to jump in with the answer. “You look quite pale.”
I nodded, forcing a smile.
My gaze was on the Ratcliffe coach, a scary looking blonde woman, whispering in one of her student’s ears.
The Ratcliffe kid freaked me out. He was way too tall, dark blonde hair, and bulging eyes I swear were not blinking.
His gaze was glued to Levi, who wore a smug grin.
There was a smaller girl next to the Ratcliffe kid, a Macbook balanced on her knee. Every so often, he leaned into her, the two of them in deep conversation.
“I'm just nervous.”
I jumped when Ratcliffe scored a point, their side erupting into cheers.
During the break, we had a mini team meeting.
Sunny rushed to the bathroom to freshen up, and I noticed a Ratcliffe girl with a bouncing ponytail following her.
Ignoring our coach’s speech, I joined the two girls in the corridor, that lemony scent hanging thick in the air.
I caught them in an awkward position.
The Ratcliffe girl had her fingers pinched between the material of Sunny’s dark blue shirt bearing our school’s name.
Sunny looked confused, her lips parted like she was going to yell.
Ponytail dropped her hand, suddenly, with a nervous laugh. “Oh! I'm so, so, sorry,” she gushed. “You had, like, the biggest spider crawling on your back.”
Sunny caught my eye, shooting me a reassuring smile.
“Thanks.” She made sure to keep her distance. “Uh, where's your bathroom?”
The Ratcliffe girl nodded down the hallway. “It's just down there. I'm going there too if you want me to show you?”
Sunny motioned for me to go back to the auditorium. “Uh, sure! That'd be great!”
I did try to follow them, only for Sunny to cough loudly.
I took the hint, reluctantly heading back into the auditorium.
My team was hyping each other up, Levi in the centre, sweating through his team shirt. He ran a trembling hand through his hair. “I can't do this,” He groaned. “Ratcliffe High is known to play dirty, man. They're unbeatable.”
“In what way do they play dirty?” I asked, joining them.
Levi gulped down water, shrugging.
“I dunno! They're already trying to distract me with the stink eye.” The boy narrowed his eyes at a grinning Ratcliffe kid who, after noticing our stares, jumped to his feet, waving at us.
“Hey guys!”
“That's Harry Cartwright, the son of the Cartwright family who tried to kill my parents in the third grade.” Levi mockingly waved back. “As you can see, their kid is a fucking sociopath.”
Huh. I wasn't expecting the smiley kid to be the mobster’s son.
Harry Cartwright was not what I expected.
Unlike his team members, he was the only one in casual clothing, a short sleeved white shirt and jeans, a pair of sunglasses perched on top of his head.
Tom went pale.
“Fuck.” He hissed. “He’s one of you? Then those bastards will have a reason to play dirty, right?”
Levi shrugged, averting his gaze. It was the first time I saw his eyes darken, like he was subtly telling the boy to back off.
“The Cartwright’s have been trying to buy our land for a while,” he muttered. “I wouldn't put it past them to use the Decathlon as a way to attack.”
“Attack?!” April, another member of our team, hissed. “Like, attack attack?”
Mr Hanes grabbed the boy, resting his hands on Levi’s shoulders. “Ignore them,” he said. “Hey. Look at me.”
Levi did, raising a brow.
“You're losing that spark in your eye, young man.”
“Spark?”
Our coach nodded. “Look at me, kid.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “I am looking at you, Mr Hanes.”
The man was shaking. I was guessing his whole career (or coaching career) was on the line.
“They know they're losing, Mr Costella.”
Hanes shook the boy, squeezing his shoulders. “You are being positive and Ratcliffe doesn't like that. They want you to be nervous. They want to make you second guess yourself and lose confidence. Don't let them get into your head.” he smiled, giving the boy a playful shove. “Kick their asses.”
“Exactly!”
I didn't realize Sunny was back from the bathroom.
The faint smell of lemons had followed her. I noticed a wet patch on her shirt collar, though she was quick to smile at me, admitting she'd spilled water down herself. Sunny wrapped her arms around Levi, squeezing him into a hug.
She hung on for a little too long, Tom dragging her away with a laugh. “Good luck, all right?” she backed away, ruffling his hair. “We’ve got this!”
When I hugged Levi good luck too, I had to resist covering my nose.
The smell of lemon was unbearable, just like fourth grade Alex.
But it wasn't as potent as earlier.
I vaguely remembered the smell starting to fade once Alex’s body was being carted away on a stretcher.
Following my captain through the crowd, I was right. The smell was less suffocating. Before he went back to the stage, I grabbed the back of his shirt.
The material was soaking wet.
“How are you so wet?” I said, swiping my hands on my shirt.
“Huh?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. Do you remember what I told you in sophomore year?”
Levi settled me with a confident, but nervous smile. “Thaaaat you're scared of clowns?”
“No. I mean the boy who smelled of lemons.” I gritted out.
Levi surprised me with a laugh. “What are you talking about?”
Something ice cold trickled down my spine.
Levi did know what I was talking about. He brought up my stink sense a day earlier in front of his parents, and I had to cover his mouth to shut him up.
Leaning close, I whispered in his ear. “You stink of rotten lemons.”
He nodded slowly, pulling away. “Uh… thanks?”
I bit back a hiss of frustration. “No, you don't understand what I'm saying–”
“Starbrooke High School,” The host announced. “Can all members please return to the stage.”
Levi held up his hand for a high five.
“Can we do this later?” He winked. “I'm kinda busy carrying this spelling-bee on my back right now.”
I nodded shakily, high fiving him, and letting him jump back onto the stage.
Before his words hit like a tidal wave, ice cold water slammed into me.
Spelling Bee?
Slowly making my way back to the stands, Levi’s mistake was circling around my head. He did win a spelling bee, but that was in middle school.
Thankfully, the smell of lemons was gone when I returned to my seat.
Mr Hanes handed me a soda. “Chill out, Cassandera, it's just a game.”
He could talk. The guy was on his fifth coffee.
Mr Hanes was not chilled out in the slightest.
Surprisingly, the event went well. I was half expecting my team to be crushed by the rafters, or caught in a blaze started in the crowd. But we were doing well. No, we were winning.
Reaching the climaxing round, Sunny choked against a smug Ratcliffe boy, joining me on the sidelines.
Levi answered the next question with a confident smile.
We were winning, but Ratcliffe could still catch up with a miracle.
The second to last question was to Ratcliffe, and it was general knowledge.
”Where on the human body would one find the *orbit?*
I knew the answer, and so did Levi, his lips breaking out into a smile when the Ratcliffe boy was hesitating, eyes wide.
Our school’s buzzer went off, Levi slamming his hand down.
Bzzz!
The host turned to our team. “Starbrooke, can I have your answer?”
Levi nodded, shooting our team a victory grin.
“It's…!“ He opened his mouth to answer, his jaw slackening suddenly.
The boy’s shoulders slumped.
“Uh… “
“Um…”
“Huhhhhh…”
Levi inclined his head, blinking, his eyes glazing over. There was a sudden, hollow vacancy that sent chills down my spine. It was like someone had reached into his skull, and yanked out his brain, leaving a shell in his place.
To my confusion, our team captain frowned at his buzzer like he'd never seen one before. He pressed it, exploding into child-like giggles.
Bzzz!
The audience laughed along nervously.
Tom nudged me. “What the fuck is he doing?”
Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz!
Levi’s entire body was slumped, his hand slamming down on the buzzer.
I caught something pooling down his chin.
“Is he… drooling?” I whispered.
Mr Hanes looked mildly horrified. “Has he been drinking?
“Levi?” Tom spluttered. “Drinking?!"
Whatever we were watching, however, was definitely influenced by… something.
Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzz!
“Young man, that is not a toy!”
The host wasn't amused. “Starbrooke High School, I need an answer from you,” He nodded to Levi, who was pressing the buzzer, his smile growing.
“Once again,” The host backed away, like Levi was contagious. “Where on the human body would one find the Orbit?”
Levi cocked his head, lips parted.
His gaze found the overhead lights, and he winced, his lips curling into a frown.
“Starbrooke High School!”
Levi jumped, tipping his head back and blowing a raspberry. “Palm tree?”
The audience laughed, and I started feeling nauseous.
Across from us, I could see the twist of a smirk on the Ratcliffe coach’s lips.
Bzzz! Levi slammed the buzzer again giggling.
“Starbrooke High School, if your team member continues to act like this, I will be forced to disqualify all members.”
Our captain stopped, gaze glued to the host, his hand creeping towards the buzzer, like it was a big red button.
The audience loved it, laughing like they were watching a sitcom.
“He wouldn't.” Tom whisper-shrieked.
The auditorium was silent for a moment, awaiting Starbrooke’s response.
Levi stuck out his tongue, slamming his hand down.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz–
When Tom dragged Levi away from his podium, a Ratcliffe girl hit her buzzer.
“Starbrooke High School, you are disqualified,” the host announced. “Ratcliffe High School, do you have an answer?”
It was Ponytail who nodded with a grin.
“The answer is the eye socket! The Orbit is part of the eye socket!”
“That is the correct answer.” The host was distracted, his eyes glued to Levi.
“Ratcliffe High School wins.”
Levi jumped when the Ratcliffe wide erupted into cheers.
His eyes were wide, clinging onto the buzzer for comfort.
Next to me, our coach looked like he was going to faint.
I barely noticed Ratcliffe’s victory, too busy watching our team captain, who was Harvard bound, tipping his head back and smiling at the ceiling like a new-born baby. Tom dragged the stumbling boy over to me, his mouth twisted.
“This was Ratcliffe, right?” He hissed, shaking our captain, who was struggling, squirming in his grip.
“Did they put something in his drink?!” He prodded Levi. “Hey! What did they do to you?!”
Still, though, drugging his drink didn't make sense.
Levi never left the auditorium, and kept his water bottle with him the whole time.
How did they even manage to slip something into his drink in the first place?
Did I smell our competitors drugging him?
Sure, intentionally inebriating my teammate was morally wrong and illegal, but why could I smell lemon?
“I doubt it was Ratcliffe.” Sunny squeezed next to me. “I've been watching them. They're harmless.”
“Then how the fuck do we explain this to his parents?!” Tom whispered, grappling with Levi, who was fighting to get back to the buzzer.
When Tom let go of him, he dropped onto the floor, crawling over to his podium. It was like watching a child.
Who was determined to piss off the adults.
Levi jumped back to instead feet, his gaze was glued to the host, a smile curved on his lips, when he slammed the buzzer again.
Bzzz!
“Someone, please remove the Starbrooke boy from the stage!”
I was embarrassed, our whole team ducking our heads as our captain was forcibly removed from the podium.
Mr Hanes grabbed Levi, pulling him off of the stage.
I expected our coach to be mad at him, but I think the teacher was more worried, a phone pressed to his ear while he forced the boy into a sitting position.
No, I don't think it's influence from alcohol, I could hear his conversation.
Levi kept trying to get up, mesmerised by the buzzer. The teacher was firm but gentle. “Hey. Sit down, all right? Keep still.” He went back to his phone call, gently prying Levi’s eyes open.
From what I can see, there's nothing wrong. He's just kind of…
Mr Hanes swiped his own hands on his jeans. ... wet?
Team Ratcliffe came over to rub it in our faces, though I was still tuned into our coach’s hissed whispering.
Water? No, I don't think it's water. It smells… no, I haven't told his parents…
“You guys did awesome!” Ponytail's voice was sugary sweet. Too sugary.
She held the 2024 trophy, bearing a satisfied smile. I noticed the Ratcliffe members were surrounding Harry, like guards.
“Better luck next time, okay?” She held out her hand, her eyes twinkling.
“No hard feelings?”
“Control your dog.” Harry said, amused eyes flicking to Levi, who was once again sprinting back to the fucking buzzer. His eyes had visibly darkened, lips curled into a triumphant smile.
Harry Cartwright was watching Mr Hanes chase our team captain like it was his own personal entertainment.
I had to look away before I died of second hand embarrassment.
“What did you put in his drink?” Tom demanded. “Weed? Edibles?” the boy attempted to shove Harry, only to be pushed back. “What the fuck did you do to him?”
Harry’s smile didn't waver. “Like I said. Control your mut.”
When the Ratcliffe team walked away, our red faced coach struggling with Levi, who was behaving progressively more erratically, informed us we were longer welcome inside the school.
Tom suggested calling an ambulance, but our coach was hesitant.
We all knew who Levi’s family were.
On the way out, Tom matched my stride. He was frowning at our team captain struggling to walk.
The way he was acting was already eyebrow raising.
But walking at an angle and being unable to stand up straight was worrying.
“I don't think they drugged his drink.” Tom muttered.
We pushed through the doors out of the school, and I revelled in the cool night air grazing my cheek. “If they did, he would be acting out of it, right? So, what's the deal with him acting like–”
“A child.” I finished for him.
“Yeah.” Tom leaned closer. “Do you think this has something to do with their turf war?”
I slapped at a bug creeping across my cheek.
Levi fell over again, this time bursting into giggles.
“Almost definitely.”
Levi was right about Ratcliffe playing dirty. I didn't realize how dirty until we were on the losers bus home. Levi was in the seat next to me, and the kid hadn't moved since we left Ratcliffe, his eyes wide, lips pulled into a dazed grin.
Bzzz!
The noise startled me from slumber. I was drooling, my head pressed against the window. Outside, the sky was pitch dark, and squinting through the glass, I couldn't get a bearing on where we were. I thought I was hearing things, but when I sat up, I heard it again.
Bzzz!
It was close.
Leaning over the boy, I glimpsed a smear of scarlet on his headrest.
I choked on my next words.
“Tom.”
Tom was in front of me, listening to music.
He didn't reply, his head of dark blonde curls nodding to the beat.
“Levi.” I managed to get out. I prodded him, and his head lolled into his shoulder. “Hey. Can you… sit up?”
Bzzz! Bzzz!
When the boy didn't move, I gently grabbed his shoulders and pulled him forward myself, something contracting in my stomach.
I don't know how long it takes for your mind to fully register something, but my body was already reacting.
Levi’s seat was infested with bugs, eating their way through the upholstery. I was aware of my body moving back. I threw up, instantly, screaming into my hand.
The back of my best friend's skull resembled a deflated soccer ball, what was left of his brain leaking from his skull where a swarm of skittering bugs chewed their way through brain tissue, metallic legs scratching the curved, pearly white of the base if his skull.
Levi’s head hung, his body flopping into mine.
But his eyes were still open, lips still stretched into a smile.
Blood ran in thick rivulets from his nose and ears.
Bzzz!
I could see them, black writhing dots alive in his eyes, wriggling movement under his skin.
“Tom!”
I jumped up, stumbling into the aisle, my stomach heaving.
And it was only when I was on my knees, swiping bile from my lips, when I realized the others weren't reacting.
Tom wasn't moving.
I pulled an Airpod out of his ear, a long, slithering string of pink attached to the end.
There was a stray bug skittering across his hand, his face starting to twitch and writhe.
Moving back, I checked myself over, my hands shaking.
Head.
Shoulders.
Hair.
Clawing through it, my breath was stuck in my throat.
Arms.
Legs.
Feet.
Mr Hanes was slumped against the window, a reddish froth bubbling from his mouth.
Sunny.
I started towards the back of the bus, but all I had to see was her bowed head, half of her skull chewed through.
Sunny was in a far more deteriorated state, her face had been ripped through, a skeletal smile glinting in the dim.
The thick black smear on the window next to her was moving.
When I screamed for the driver to stop the bus, he ignored me.
If anything, he stamped on the gas.
I moved forward to shake him, before glimpsing a bug creeping down his face.
Calling 911, the operator laughed at me.
“Bugs are eating your friends.” He said. “Do you know the penalty for calling with bullshit pranks?”
The bus didn't stop, so I stayed at the front, while the bugs took over the back, eating through my teammates.
After four hours, I risked leaning over the seat next to Tom to check on Levi.
They were eating him.
Chewing all the way through skin, muscle and bone.
I tried to stop the bus, but the driver’s hands were tightly wrapped around the wheel.
Another hour, and blood was seeping down the aisle, crawling with bugs.
Levi was gone, and in his place, a buzzing skittering pile of bugs, that I thought were going to move to a second victim, maybe burrowing into the seats.
But, no.
These things began to tremble, replicating.
Building.
Slowly, nothing became static, and static became muscle.
Then bone.
Then flesh.
When a body began to slowly form, moulded from the dead boy, I stumbled back.
These things weren't eating Levi Costella.
They were rewriting him.
…
Edit: I'm still on the bus. I'm 99.9% sure that I'm infected with whatever this thing is. I can't stop fucking itching.
I keep picking them off me but they won't stop. This bus isn't going to stop until I'm like the others.
…
Edit 2:
I can feel them chewing into my skull. They're in my ears. I keep spitting them out. Please, someone get them off of me. Help me. I don't want to die at 17.
Edit 3:
Still alive. Still breathing. Maybe they're leaving me alone????? I think I'm okay. There is a pile of bugs at my feet, but they're crawling off of me.
Edit 4:
Levi really wants to go home. Like, he just told me he REALLY wants to go home. He's got a gift for his parents.
I have a feeling I know what it is.

I have recently shaved my hair down to the skin, because I had so many bald spots that I couldn’t hide them anymore. Also, I realized that as long as I could feel my hair and pull it, I would continue. (For the record, I’m a woman with 3b curly and very dark brown hair, and it was shoulder length. I would use heat and/or relaxers to straighten it, which didn’t help the pulling).
I had trich since I was 13 (I’m now in my late 30s) but it was always pretty mild and manageable (mostly pulling split ends and more recently, gray hairs). Then I started ADHD medications a few months ago and my trich increased 10000%. I started pulling every hair that felt "weird" from my scalp. Within 3 months, I had bald spots on half of my head, and eventually I figured the ADHD meds were the cause. I since reduced my stimulants prescription to a minimum (I don’t want to stop them because they help me function, since my ADHD is quite severe).
But now my challenge is that the regrowth triggers me to pull again (with tweezers because it’s too short to grab with my fingers). Even though my hair is only about 2 mm long (1/16 inch for Americans), I scrutinize every "weird" hair and pull it. I am also triggered by the fact the the regrowth is uneven, so that leads me to shave it again back to the skin (I did it 3 times in the past month), even though I want to grow my hair and have it long again.
So I figured a potential solution to this, and wanted to know what you guys think about it. I want to bleach it to platinum blonde, so that I won’t be able to see the regrowth as much and the bald spots won’t be as visible to me (I wear a headcover outside anyways). That way, I could let it grow in peace. I know bleach is damaging, so I plan to do this until my hair reaches maybe 1-2 inches. By then, hopefully, the bald spots will have grown back.
In the meantime, I’m also trying the medication memantine (prescribed by my psychiatrist), as recent studies showed it might help (I previously tried NAC but it gave me heartburns, and memantine seems to be as effective according to studies). I also got the book "Overcoming Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors" to work on strategies by myself. So hopefully, I can eventually stop pulling in a few weeks and won’t need to resort to bleaching.
What do you guys think?
EDIT: for typos

What I know for sure: - set in a universe of animals. - Some other characters in the class include a dog (who the protagonist becomes friend with) and the teacher who is a whale in an a giant bowl moved by tank treads. - early in the book the dog asks the elephant what she (or he?) is eating, and it’s a sandwich - they get involved with clay sculpting - someone tries build a submarine - cover was blue - art work was black and white in the edition I read at least
Unsure facts: - characters going through underground tunnels - a rumored monster in town

A couple days ago this kid in APUSH (AP US History) walked up to his teacher and started showing him a picture of him in front of his house. He started going about, "Hey is this familiar to you?" a couple times and when the teacher said yes and that it's really creepy of him taking a picture of that teachers house the kid just straight up says the teachers entire house address in front of the class out loud.
The day after that, he was sent to another class and in spite of that he went to the police and filed a report that the teacher touched him (of course the teacher didn't, the kid's bluffing).
But now the police are heavily involved and opened a case where the APUSH gc of our school got leaked and kids in the gc are getting called to the counselors office to get interrogated by the police officers.
The kid who doxxed the teacher have previously doxxed a chem teacher and another teacher as well as some kids that he didn't like but he never went as far as to file a false police report on any of them.
In conclusion, he's suspended as well as this girl who gave him the house address to the APUSH teacher. His parents are sending him back to his home country once summer starts. And the APUSH teacher is suing the kid. Lowkey the doxxer doesn't care though, I think he gave up on school which is interesting for someone who's in a lot of clubs as an officer and takes honours classes.
Anyway I just wanted to share this. AP exams and finals is a b, I wish you all good luck. My school's been too boring this year and now we be joking everytime with the kids name with the recent drama.
Edit: the reason why he doxxed the teacher was because the teacher gave him a bad grade for a couple assignments and DBQ's (You gotta realise that school isn't about the grades, it's about learning and the US education system and many other education systems are failing that grasp that concept, they're setting us up for failure. You can't go anywhere in life if your mindset is like that.)

People, especially Americans are so incredibly ignorant regarding their knowledge of Africa!! I got called “Anti-Black” because I told someone that Ancient Egypt wasnt an only-black civilisation, which is factually proven. Im so tired of being rejected of my Egyptian identity by someone who probably cant point out where Egypt even is on the map. Racism towards Egyptians is so casual because people wanna be us so bad, time and time again I get called an Arab invader by an American (black AND white) when in general they dont even know what an Arab is either. You cannot be Arab by blood, Arab is a term used to identify muslim countries that use Arabic as an official language. I swear these insecure freaks deny people of their cultures and they dont realise that they have their own rich history they can cling to, and when they deny a country that consists of 100mil+ people of a history and culture thats rightfully theirs, do they not realise how incredibly offensive that is? Man… come back to me when you have an INCH of Egyptian in your DNA. Edit: Lemme address a few things. First of all, I mentioned America because I haven’t experienced this stuff outside of it, therefore I cannot speak on it. Second of all, I acknowledge the racism in Egypt, the country is very racist and I do not appreciate that, but that is not an open door to be racist back. The point of this post is that I, as an African, am not a fan of this generalisation regarding my country which is in Africa. If you wanna talk about Egypts bigotry, im very willing and eager to talk about how much I dislike it, but right now, that is not the point of this post and it shouldn’t be turned around on us because I wanna discuss MY experience. Thank You for discussing with me 🙏

I assume a bunch of americans who 4 some reason like f1 and i get u lot r weird when it comes to ur politics especially on reddit
But if this makes u feel not support the team no1 at mclaren will miss u please leave the subreddit as your not a proper fan
Trust me its okay 🧡 least wont have no more ppl sayin a indycar driver is as good as f1 drivers
(Lando first win lets hope 🥇)
Edit: Demand for Zak Brown apology😭 american fans r so delusional go support another sport i beg

I'm someone not from the US, and live in a culture where the drinking age is 18, and a lot of our social events are guided by alcohol. Pretty much every time you go out you're drinking, if not getting black out drunk, it's just what you do. It's a hard habit to quit as a social circle, as everyone's pretty much starting out at 15/16 too, so we're all functioning alcoholics in a way.
I really dig the concept of discouraging drinking for younger people. I know I maybe sound like a dweeb but the damage it can do is actually so bad, in countless ways. Again, I'm not from the US so I'm not really sure how much the ban works (you're probably getting drinks somewhere), but I gotta say teaching young adults how to have fun without a substance in their peak brain development years is actually an awesome incentive, and maybe one of the #1 things America is doing right.
Edit: Lot of people mentioning that younger Americans are still drinking despite the drinking age being 21, which is something I addressed initially. It's still gonna happen to matter what age you put it I agree, but a ban is still an incentive and limiting kids access to alcohol when they're young is cool. It's the same concept as not having the drinking age be 16 for example, as I think the age between 18 - 21 is still a peak time of development years.

I'm currently reading William Taubman's biography of Khrushchev, and it's striking how much less control the CPSU had over the parties in the other ML states at the time compared to pre-WWII Stalin. In general, it seems like the end of international party discipline enforced by the Comintern made it significantly more difficult to maintain ideological alignment with Soviet allies, even before Stalin's death.
The Comintern was also ideologically important within the Marxist-Leninist tradition. It was supposed to be the modern continuation of the First International, after all, and a replacement for the revisionist Second International. It also drove the Leninist split within socialist parties in the immediate aftermath of WWI, such as the split of the American Socialist Party, with strict conditions for compliance being imposed by Lenin on the new member parties around the world. It was used later by Stalin to purge these parties of less favored elements, such as Jay Lovestone in the American party.
The two main explanations I've read are this was done to 1) buy goodwill and military assistance from the West, and 2) bring Soviet foreign policy in line with the "socialism in one country" and multiple paths to socialism theories. Plus, central control could still be exercised in some ways by the Cominform.
However, this forfeiture of foreign party control seems like a big mistake in retrospect, as the various Marxist-Leninist states began to pull away from the USSR as the century progressed, with the powerful lever of Comintern-enforced party discipline being replaced with more traditional geopolitical sticks and carrots. By the end of the '80s, Yugoslavia, Romania, Albania, North Korea, as well as China and Vietnam had distanced themselves from the Soviets, not to mention the efforts of the Hungarian and Czech parties in the mid-century. It also seems odd that Stalin would give this power up; most of Stalin's political career involved gaining more and more power, rarely forfeiting power.
So are those two explanations for the dissolution of the Comintern sufficient, or were there other factors, like mismanagement, corruption, factionalism, etc.? Also, is it fair to view this as a mistake, or was the devolution of party discipline to the national parties bound to happen either way?
EDIT: Damn autocorrect. That should be "appeasing" in the title, not "appearing."

The Beets are Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard! Let's discuss how the clue packages related to them.

• First clue package:
  • “Home for us has been anywhere together.” / “We work so well together.” = they have been friends for twenty years, performing together and even having a joint tour to celebrate twenty years since their American Idol debuts.
  • “And for the moment, we had millions of eyes on us.” “Yeah, 40 million of them.” = the season finale of their season of American Idol was watched by ~40 million people.
  • Radio = they are both singers, with fourteen studio albums between them.
  • “...and even when it felt like the world was trying to pit us against each other, we always have each other’s backs.” = despite being the final two on the second season of American Idol, they have enjoyed both solo success and tours as a duo.
  • ‘Beeting the Odds’ book
  • “...unbeatable heart.” = Ruben won the second season of American Idol.
  • Two of hearts card = Clay was the runner-up on the second season of American Idol.
  • “It will be like going back to our roots.” = they started their careers competing on a singing competition on FOX (American Idol).
  • Basket of apples
• Second clue package:
  • “I was the total ladies man.” = Clay attracted a cult following of women who called themselves the “Claymates.”
  • Lifting weights = Ruben competed on the fifteenth season of The Biggest Loser.
  • Mistletoe / Jinglebells = they performed Ruben & Clay’s Christmas Show on Broadway in 2018.
  • “Two guys who couldn’t be any more different.”
  • Flight ticket = they are best known for appearing on the second season of American Idol, where each successful contestant receives a golden ticket to proceed on to the next round / Ruben’s 2006 album was titled The Return / Clay’s 2008 album was titled On My Way Here.
  • “But we didn’t try to outdo each other. Instead, like a good girl group, we teamed up. It was our organic friendship that made us a delicious duo….” = despite being the final two on the second season of American Idol, they have enjoyed both solo success and tours as a duo.
  • Menus
  • Castle of bread
• Third clue package:
  • Banana Split (Katharine McPhee and David Foster) = along with Katharine, they are American Idol finalists / Clay has a son with David’s sister.
  • “...when we each became fathers.” = at the time of recording, they each had a son.
  • “I always wanted to be a dad, but I wasn’t sure it would happen for me.” = Clay publicly came out as gay in 2008, one month after the birth of his son.
  • Thumbs up on clock set to 1:40
  • Knight in shining armor figurine = Clay made his Broadway debut as Sir Robin in 2008 in Monty Python's Spamalot.
  • “Right now, my kid repeats everything I say. So I have to be really careful.” = at the time of recording, Ruben’s son was three years old.
  • “I’m teaching my son to drive.” = at the time of recording, Clay’s son was 15 years old.
• Special clues:
  • First performance:
    • "Home" by Michael Bublé
    • Wizard of Oz inspiration → Dorothy and Toto / “Because of our loyalty as friends.” = they have been friends for twenty years.
    • Wizard of Oz Night Clue → Toto / “Like Toto and Dorothy, we’re the best of friends.” “And we’re pretty good co-stars too.” = they first appeared as contestants on the second season of American Idol, and have been friends for the twenty years since.
  • Second performance:
    • “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters
    • Girl Group Night Clue → “Weak” by SWV / “We made our audience weak in the knees on Broadway.” = they performed Ruben & Clay’s Christmas Show on Broadway in 2018 / Clay made his Broadway debut as Sir Robin in 2008 in Monty Python's Spamalot.
  • Third performance:
    • “One Moment in Time” by Whitney Houston
    • Soundtrack of My Life Night Clue → ‘Fresh Beetz with Nick’ / ’A Wild Night’ on records / “Nick, always good seeing you. We should grab a drink together again sometime soon.” = Ruben and Nick appeared at MTV’s Rock n’ Jock event during Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Here is my ongoing accolades tally. It's still a work in progress, and I'm open to improvement suggestions!
What did I miss?