Over the past 7 months, 3 unofficial banner themes have been changed in favor of the standard random assortment of heroes from 2-3 games.

• Dragonween. From Books 4 to 6, Halloween banners consisted entirely of dragon units, and thus was unofficially called Dragonween. However, in Book 7, this was changed in favor of a mix of Engage and Awakening characters (with a random Flayn cause 3H needed its equal attention cake).
• Ninja class banners. From Books 4 to 6, Ninja banners were based around specific classes in mainline games (excluding the Duo backpack). Book 4's was centered around the Myrmidon classline, Book 5's was centered around the Archer classline (although this one is cheating a bit cause it used avatar characters, which can reclass into anything), and Book 6's banner was centered around the Wyvern Knight classline. However, in Book 7, it was similarly replaced with the standard format, this time being a mix of characters from Radiant Dawn and Fates.
• Harem banners. In Books 6 and 7, the unofficial theme this time was harem banners, where it was a main lord, their exclusive A supports, and an unrelated Harmonic backpack. Book 6's was centered around Roy, while Book 7's was centered around M!Robin. Also important to note is that Books 3-5's themes were of a canonical couple hosting a mock wedding (Pent/Louise, Naliah/Rafiel, and Zelot/Juno in that order). Book 8 seems to have not included either of these themes, with there being no main lord on the banner or a canonical couple to base the banner around, and is instead a mix of Heroes and Engage characters.

However, they did keep the Valentine's and Children banner themes, although I would consider these more official themes due to clear trends throughout the years, and a harder difficulty to move away from their established themes compared to the 3 I mentioned above, which all have a history of staying with the standard theme (the only exception is the Ninja banner, which started with an established theme before moving away from it).
How do you feel about this? Personally, I'm mixed; on one hand, I appreciated the unofficial traditions IS had and it gave the banners a sense of continuity and predictability throughout the years, but on the other hand, it's nice to know that a fav of mine isn't immediately excluded from a banner because they don't fit on the unofficial theme.
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Quick summary: yes, it's cheap but heart and talent seemingly come cheap. My full review v
I've heard plenty about this non-equity Shrek tour, albeit AFTER I bought tickets because I saw the advertisement in my theater. I thought about getting a refund in the weeks before the show but in every review, I heard praise for the cast. Also, I've loved this musical for a while so I decided to take a risk and went today.
It was WELL worth it :D
To address the dragon in the room, yes, it's clear the budget wasn't high. If nothing else I say will convince you to try this show at the prices they're asking, you won't hurt my feelings finding another thread. I'll be clear that I hate that the cast and crew don't get pay much in a non-equity performance.
That said, the art direction was nice. I consider it akin to the 1st Toy Story, where the CGI is dated but the art direction still makes it nice to look at (not to mention the story and acting ;) ). There wasn't much in sets but what was there were nice, storybook-like structures and hangings. Nothing like Broadway's but the designers did what they could and succeeded.
I won't defend the Shrek make-up. I could see the edge of the bald cap from my seat (row P, orchestra section) while I can barely see the mesh ear holes in the proshot. That said, I do like the tour Shrek's proportions better; while it looked cool, I thought Broadway covered Brian d'Arcy James in too much padding and latex to make him look like the animated Shrek. You just need a bald head and the ears; Shrek's pretty distinctive :)
On that note, if you're not going with puppetry, it's hard to depict a lot of the characters in Shrek. The Broadway costumes DO look a lost better but the tour costumes did a good job to suggest their characters. Not exactly Tony-winning or Broadway caliber but serviceable (if I had unlimited power for a Shrek revival, comparisons to The Lion King would be apt; not a complete copy of LK's style but certainly puppet heavy like it).
Really, the only bad thing I can say about the tour is that there were a few moments where a cast member's mic isn't turned on in time for a lyric/line. That was annoying, especially during adult Fiona's big intro in "I Know It's Today." Otherwise, there were only a few moments where the mixing was off but it was overall good (and I don't think my theater has the best acoustics).
Now for the unabashedly good :D
The cast was phenomenal. If they agreed with this subreddit that the production was cheap, they didn't let that affect their performance (or it did and they worked harder to compensate). In particular, Nicholas Hambruch, Cecily Dionne Davis, and Naphtali Yaakov Curry as the main trio (Shrek, Fiona, & Donkey respectively) were excellent and up there with both their Broadway and animated counterparts (and the 1st tour that came years ago to the same theater, even if I don't remember their names). Everyone else was excellent. They sang, danced, and acted to the T and deserved every applause and laugh they got. I can't say enough.
Music was good. The six-person band did the show good (not sure if there were prerecorded tracks to make the music fuller). I didn't re-listen to the cast album as I like going to shows as fresh as I can so I can't judge between Broadway and tour arrangements but the tour did the score good.
It's also fun to see how the show evolved from the original version and proshot.
To those use "woke" the same way most people use "f", "s", or "autotune", the changes would drive them crazy. Quite frankly, the changes fit the show and does not hurt it. Heck, you'd only notice them if you're familiar with the proshot and cast album.
The most noticeable is that Farquaad is no longer short and the short jokes are gone. Turns out, Farquaad is still a campy, prima donna that's a hilarious parody of a typical dashing, brave prince. We lose his second song in favor of a brief reprise of "What's Up, Duloc" and his back story that's revealed there. I do miss it and the depth it gave him (even if it turned out to be bull-squirt at the end) but the show isn't really hurt by it.
Also, some songs have preludes with the ensemble acting as narrators/Greek chorus (I enjoy the fact that Shrek is the type of franchise where I have to clarify that I don't mean LITERALLY a Greek chorus :D). Doesn't really add much to the show but not bad changes. Them holding scenic elements does make some moments funnier, particularly the forest animals in "Morning Person" and flowers in "I Think I Got You Beat." The puppets used for the kid versions of Shrek and Fiona were pretty good too (and understandable if they're keeping costs down).
There's 2 lyric changes that I noticed (might be more but I'm not remembering) that were just as good as the original and only stood out because I've heard the cast album so many times. One is that the wolf is not called a hot & tranny mess but now mocked for his fashion sense dressing like a grandma. The other (I remember) is Shrek no longer calls Fiona fat during "When Words Fail" but gets flustered mentioning love. Like I said, more inclusive yet still keeping in spirit with the show.
A major change that I ADORE, and I'm not ashamed to admit it, is Shrek's participation in the "Freak Flag." Broadway's Shrek-less version isn't bad and I do miss "Build A Wall" but Shrek being a part of it means he gets to share in the fairytale creatures' epiphany of accepting yourself. Granted, the subtle approach of the film and Broadway production worked just as well but, if you're gonna make a big showstopper song out of the moral, it works really well including the main character.
We do lose "Don't Let Me Go" and "This Is How A Dream Comes True." It IS a little disappointing but, in fairness, I didn't realize until writing this review that "Don't Let Me Go" was missing and the reprise of "I Know It's Today" isn't a bad replacement (although I do wish "This Is How A Dream Comes True" was kept).
Also no "I'm A Believer" but, again, the tour's budget likely precluded it (being a song not written for the show and only ever used after the curtain call).
In summary, no, I can't defend paying normal tour prices for the less than Broadway/high school production value. However, if you can afford it, you get a production that keeps the Broadway production's heart and humor with updates that doesn't fundamentally change the show's DNA. I know it's disappointing Shrek isn't getting the budget it deserves but this tour proves Shrek is a strong enough show to survive a low budget with good actors/singers.
That said, at least the Broadway version exists as a proshot if my review wasn't persuasive :)
(Added some pics. Im not always comfortable posting my face online so please excuse the edits to my selfies. I think they improvements :P ;). The last 2 pics are of my souvenirs; I like magnets and the pen, a floating pen starring Donkey is cute :D)

Just about to complete on our first house (4 (small) bedrooms, decently sized garden) in Surrey (GU21) and the seller has shared the first water bill (Affinity) with us. For the next 308 days we'd have to pay about £720. It seems the property is unmetered, so basically unlimited water, but it's more than double what we pay for our metered flat in London (Thames Water) - our last 6 month bill was £160. It's very likely that watering a garden will add to the bill but considering the UK weather I don't know if by that much. We're a family of 3, if that matters. Can I ask for a meter to be fitted, and if so, will the company have to install one?

I need your help reddit! I'm a native Minnesotan, born and raised in Austin and spent about 10 years bouncing between the Metro and Rochester after college in Winona before moving to the PNW 6 years ago. Two years later, right at the beginning of COVID I met my now fiance, a Chicago native, and in two months I'll be married to the love of my life!
Here's where I'm stuck, we're doing gift bags for our guests, water bottles, Tums, etc., her and her mother (not me) want to include items to represent each of our pasts in MN and IL respectfully, and I'm at a complete loss.
She's doing small packets of a well known popcorn brand in Chicago, we have about 140 guests and there's zero chance I'm doing SPAM. Any ideas here Reddit?

Hi, I wasn't able to find this guide so here you go. Disclaimer 1: Yup, "nothing new" for game experts here, it's a guide for newbies or those who doesn't remember all the details. Disclaimer 2: Please, read carefully. If it says "don't touch any mobs, just run" it literally means it. Disclaimer 3: This guide is made for Gracia Final with rates x1, but probably is applicable for Epilogue and H5 too.
Our goal here is to complete these ~10 quests as fast as possible, so every detail can be crucial. This guide is made for EO (Elven Oracle), coz it's the easiest and the fastest quest for 1st profession. But it will more or less work for all the races except Dark Elves (DE can make even more money with it's chain of quests, but not that fast).
So, let's start:

1. You've created an Elven Mystic and is standing under the beautiful tree. DON'T touch any gremlins or NPC here, just click on SOE to Kamael Village. Talk to Newbie Guide and now you are lvl 2, congratulations!
   
2. Run to the southern (there is "N" on your minimap in top right corner of the screen, works like a compass) exit. Talk to Marcela and take a quest Supply Check. Visit a couple of NPC in village and now you are lvl 5 with wooden set in your bag. Wear helmet, boots and gloves, ignore BP and gaiters.
   
3. Run to Newbie Guide and become lvl 6. Take buffs and a shadow staff with a coupon. Place spiritshots on shortcuts bar and equip a staff.
   
4. Run to Marcela again and take a quest Head of the Hill. Find a Gatekeeper Ragara on a city square and teleport to Stronghold I. Run to the south, find Green Goblin or Werewolf. Kill them until you receive 1 (one) claw. After you get it use SOE to Kamael Village, go to Marcela to report the quest. In dialogue choose "exchange for Adena" - "Say no".
   
5. Run to Newbie Guide (yeah, again). Talk to him and become lvl 10. Choose "Teleport to another village" - "Elven Village" (Note! If you made another a character of another race on this step you need to go to your home village and complete analogue quest for your race).
   
6. Talk to Sentinel Kendell next to the Gatekeeper. Take a quest Skirmish with the orcs. You receive "Kendell's N order" here N will mean the orc you need to kill. Now go google "kaboo orc map" and find a map with all the numbers. According to that map run to find quest monster you are told to kill. Kill it and use Adventurer's SOE. Speak to Kendell again and that lazy ass sends you to kill another one quest orc, so find the new number on the map run/tp to it and kill. Return to Kendell, report the quest and become lvl 11.
   
7. By the Gatekeeper near go to Talking Island Village. On the central square talk to Newbie Guide - now you are lvl 15. Talk to Elias near to take a quest Cure for fever disease. Go to Gatekeeper and teleport to Talking Island, Northern territory. Kill Giant Spiders till you get Poison Sac. Use SOE, go to church, talk to Priest Yohanes about the quest. Go back to Elias, report the quest.
   

Important! If you had to kill to much spiders or didn't listen to instructions and killed more mobs and now you are lvl 16 - sorry, but you need to die. Nothing personal, but you need to be lvl 15 to go on.

1. Talk to Newbie Guide and become lvl 18. Ask for support magic again. Go to Gatekeeper - tp to Gludin - tp to Gludio. Go to church.
   
2. Talk to Priest Manuel. Learn some skills (at least Weapon Mastery, Armour Mastery, Battle Heal, Wind strike. Talk to him again, take a quest Path of the Elven Oracle. (Again, if you aren't Elven Mystic do the quest you need to get the 1st profession).
   
3. Talk to Gatekeeper - tp to Gludin. Run to Gludin Harbour. You can open in-game map, click "Tracking", choose the quest and it will show you the exact position of needed NPC. Talk to Allana, kill 3 mobs that appear after it. Talk to her again.
   
4. Run to the lighthouse on the hill behind the harbour (map - tracking). Talk to Perrin. Kill the ogre, talk to Perrin again. Return to Allana
   
5. Use SOE to Kamael Village. Go talk with the Gatekeeper - tp to Gludio - talk to Priest Manuel in church to report the quest. Talk to High Priest in church about the first class transfer - Oracle - Change the profession. Learn more skills, if you want.
   
6. Talk to Gatekeeper - tp to Dark Elven Village. Find Carlon in warehouse, take a quest Dwarven Kinship.
   
7. Talk to Gatekeeper - tp to Gludio. Find Haprock in warehouse. In quest dialogue choose "Say you will do the favor".
   
8. Gatekeeper - Gludin - Norman in warehouse, report the quest.
   
9. Gatekeeper - tp to Orc village. In the left wing of the King's Hall Talk to seer Livina, take a quest Walk of Fate.
   
10. Gatekeeper - Schuttgart. Go to Orc Guild, talk to seer Moira, take a quest Ominous News.
    
11. Gatekeeper - Crypts of Disgrace. Report both quests to Karuda. Now you are lvl 21 (if you aren't - kill a couple of monsters there around to become 21). SOE to Kamael Village. Gatekeeper - Elven Village.
    
12. Talk to Sentinel Starden on the western exit, take a quest Legacy of the Poet.
    
13. Talk to Trader Creamees in Grocery Store, take a quest Blood Fiend.
    
14. Gatekeeper - Elven Fortress (not forest). Run into the fortress and in first two rooms kill orcs until you get four poems.
    
15. Now you will need to run bravely and unstoppably through the whole fortress (use healing potions if needed) to the last room to find there quest monster Kinurak and kill it (google the quest to find the way if you are not sure where exactly to run). There are guards near to it but if you stand on the max range from it you should be able to kill it before guards reach you about your expired warranty. After killing Kinurak you can fight guards or die and stand to to village. If you are a great warrior and have won - use SoE. Report those 2 quest ti NPCs you got them from.
    

Now you have +/- 277k Adena. You can sell all the things from your bag to get another ~30k (don't sell EAD, enchant scroll, you'll probably need it later).
Thanks for your attention. AMA if needed.

Hi, I wasn't able to find this guide so here you go. Disclaimer 1: Yup, "nothing new" for game experts here, it's a guide for newbies or those who doesn't remember all the details. Disclaimer 2: Please, read carefully. If it says "don't touch any mobs, just run" it literally means it. Disclaimer 3: This guide is made for Gracia Final with rates x1, but probably is applicable for Epilogue and H5 too.
Our goal here is to complete these ~10 quests as fast as possible, so every detail can be crucial. This guide is made for EO (Elven Oracle), coz it's the easiest and the fastest quest for 1st profession. But it will more or less work for all the races except Dark Elves (DE can make even more money with it's chain of quests, but not that fast).
So, let's start:

1. You've created an Elven Mystic and is standing under the beautiful tree. DON'T touch any gremlins or NPC here, just click on SOE to Kamael Village. Talk to Newbie Guide and now you are lvl 2, congratulations!
   
2. Run to the southern (there is "N" on your minimap in top right corner of the screen, works like a compass) exit. Talk to Marcela and take a quest Supply Check. Visit a couple of NPC in village and now you are lvl 5 with wooden set in your bag. Wear helmet, boots and gloves, ignore BP and gaiters.
   
3. Run to Newbie Guide and become lvl 6. Take buffs and a shadow staff with a coupon. Place spiritshots on shortcuts bar and equip a staff.
   
4. Run to Marcela again and take a quest Head of the Hill. Find a Gatekeeper Ragara on a city square and teleport to Stronghold I. Run to the south, find Green Goblin or Werewolf. Kill them until you receive 1 (one) claw. After you get it use SOE to Kamael Village, go to Marcela to report the quest. In dialogue choose "exchange for Adena" - "Say no".
   
5. Run to Newbie Guide (yeah, again). Talk to him and become lvl 10. Choose "Teleport to another village" - "Elven Village" (Note! If you made another a character of another race on this step you need to go to your home village and complete analogue quest for your race).
   
6. Talk to Sentinel Kendell next to the Gatekeeper. Take a quest Skirmish with the orcs. You receive "Kendell's N order" here N will mean the orc you need to kill. Now go google "kaboo orc map" and find a map with all the numbers. According to that map run to find quest monster you are told to kill. Kill it and use Adventurer's SOE. Speak to Kendell again and that lazy ass sends you to kill another one quest orc, so find the new number on the map run/tp to it and kill. Return to Kendell, report the quest and become lvl 11.
   
7. By the Gatekeeper near go to Talking Island Village. On the central square talk to Newbie Guide - now you are lvl 15. Talk to Elias near to take a quest Cure for fever disease. Go to Gatekeeper and teleport to Talking Island, Northern territory. Kill Giant Spiders till you get Poison Sac. Use SOE, go to church, talk to Priest Yohanes about the quest. Go back to Elias, report the quest.
   

Important! If you had to kill to much spiders or didn't listen to instructions and killed more mobs and now you are lvl 16 - sorry, but you need to die. Nothing personal, but you need to be lvl 15 to go on.

1. Talk to Newbie Guide and become lvl 18. Ask for support magic again. Go to Gatekeeper - tp to Gludin - tp to Gludio. Go to church.
   
2. Talk to Priest Manuel. Learn some skills (at least Weapon Mastery, Armour Mastery, Battle Heal, Wind strike. Talk to him again, take a quest Path of the Elven Oracle. (Again, if you aren't Elven Mystic do the quest you need to get the 1st profession).
   
3. Talk to Gatekeeper - tp to Gludin. Run to Gludin Harbour. You can open in-game map, click "Tracking", choose the quest and it will show you the exact position of needed NPC. Talk to Allana, kill 3 mobs that appear after it. Talk to her again.
   
4. Run to the lighthouse on the hill behind the harbour (map - tracking). Talk to Perrin. Kill the ogre, talk to Perrin again. Return to Allana
   
5. Use SOE to Kamael Village. Go talk with the Gatekeeper - tp to Gludio - talk to Priest Manuel in church to report the quest. Talk to High Priest in church about the first class transfer - Oracle - Change the profession. Learn more skills, if you want.
   
6. Talk to Gatekeeper - tp to Dark Elven Village. Find Carlon in warehouse, take a quest Dwarven Kinship.
   
7. Talk to Gatekeeper - tp to Gludio. Find Haprock in warehouse. In quest dialogue choose "Say you will do the favor".
   
8. Gatekeeper - Gludin - Norman in warehouse, report the quest.
   
9. Gatekeeper - tp to Orc village. In the left wing of the King's Hall Talk to seer Livina, take a quest Walk of Fate.
   
10. Gatekeeper - Schuttgart. Go to Orc Guild, talk to seer Moira, take a quest Ominous News.
    
11. Gatekeeper - Crypts of Disgrace. Report both quests to Karuda. Now you are lvl 21 (if you aren't - kill a couple of monsters there around to become 21). SOE to Kamael Village. Gatekeeper - Elven Village.
    
12. Talk to Sentinel Starden on the western exit, take a quest Legacy of the Poet.
    
13. Talk to Trader Creamees in Grocery Store, take a quest Blood Fiend.
    
14. Gatekeeper - Elven Fortress (not forest). Run into the fortress and in first two rooms kill orcs until you get four poems.
    
15. Now you will need to run bravely and unstoppably through the whole fortress (use healing potions if needed) to the last room to find there quest monster Kinurak and kill it (google the quest to find the way if you are not sure where exactly to run). There are guards near to it but if you stand on the max range from it you should be able to kill it before guards reach you about your expired warranty. After killing Kinurak you can fight guards or die and stand to to village. If you are a great warrior and have won - use SoE. Report those 2 quest ti NPCs you got them from.
    

Now you have +/- 277k Adena. You can sell all the things from your bag to get another ~30k (don't sell EAD, enchant scroll, you'll probably need it later).
Thanks for your attention. AMA if needed.

“… 2022 was pivotal for Sophie [Turner], with Roe v. Wade being overturned in June of that year — just one month after a school shooting in Uvalde …”
“‘I couldn’t fathom being a mother of one of those children knowing that this was something your country could fix, that they’d rather have rights to guns than give kids a right to life,’ Sophie said …”
“So Turner favors abortion--which results in terminating a baby before it has a chance to live--but looks down on us Americans because we'd supposedly rather have ‘rights to guns than give kids a right to life’ and she sees no potential contradiction there?”
Now, the father has to take an international flight just to visit his own daughters, aged 2 and 4.
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2024/05/17/game-of-thrones-star-left-us-for-uk-over-guns-n1224944

(I am SO sorry for the needed lengthy) Back Story & Context Leading To My Decision:
I (33F) have 1 sister, “Sam” (38F). Although we share the same parents, our childhood & the way we were treated was incredibly different. Mainly because Sam had always been favored & treated far better than me. A fact that Sam refuses to acknowledge to this day.
Before & after my parents got married, it was agreed upon that they would not have children, until one day my mother “Susan” (66F) came up with the bright idea that if she gave her parents (“Norma & Gene”) a grand-baby they would finally love her. She went off the pill without telling my father, got pregnant, then had Sam. To no one’s surprise, Susan hated being a mom. So she would ship Sam across the country to Norma & Gene’s constantly, so much so, they saw her as THEIR child. And they showered her with love that Susan never even got a taste of. This led to Susan being aggressively jealous & resentful of her child.
Years later, my dad was tricked again into having me to “save their marriage.” They divorced when I was 3. All Sam ever knew from Susan was neglect, emotional & mental abuse from Susan, which only became worse when she could use “favoring” me as another way to hurt Sam. This was NOT a secret in my family, resulting in maltreatment towards me (either subconsciously or intentionally).
Abuse toward Sam turned physical. My father was given full custody of her when I was 8, and I was left with Susan for the next 2 years until she decided she wanted to move to San Francisco because she “deserved” a more glamorous life. I do not remember the years living with Susan, but recently one of my closest friends (of 25 years) said to me I practically lived at her house & she barely interacted with Susan throughout the entirety of our friendship.
To make up for Susan being an awful parent, Norma & Gene would dote on Sam & shell out a lot of $$$ to give her a very nice life which includes but not limited to; taking her on luxury trips around the world (I was only invited on 1 in the times we lived together), Norma would write her lengthy letters to continue growing their bond, has had so much money spent on her such as down payment on her first house & paid for extravagant events such as majority of the bill for her $50,000 wedding @ 21yo, the rest my father paid for. The only time she worked before graduating with her degree was part time ONE semester in college then quit because it was “so tiring” to work & study. Want to guess who paid her bills & gave her an allowance the rest of the time? Compare this to me when I barley received a kind word. They offered me money ONCE in my early 20’s to pay off my credit card & medical debt I accrued in college as I had to pay all my own bills while working full time (I have been working since I was 15) and going to school full time. I am the only one in the family who worked in college, yet I am still the only one to graduate with honors. I accepted with the condition it would come out of my “inheritance.” I have never asked or been offered money since. I have paid for ALL my own bills since I left home @ 18 years old.
Despite the obvious disparities and constant hurt they put me through, I was an active member of the family who mainly kept her mouth shut. I attended family events unless I could not afford to go, I sent holiday gifts, called between 1-2x per month for an 1 hour+ phone call in which I most often bit my tongue unless it was to defend Sam as Norma & Susan did not agree with her parenting.
Something to note, in May 2021 my father had an accident that would lead to his passing in December 2021. The disagreements & Sam’s nastiness toward me after the accident and then his death further strained our relationship.
Fast forward to March 2023. An explosive incident at Susan’s home. Susan started berating Sam for not allowing Susan to take my oldest nephew cross country for a week. When Sam confronted her on the abuse she endured growing up, and will not subject her kids to that, Susan lost it. Not only did Susan say that Sam made that up (I have the court documents in my possession) she screamed at Sam until she began sobbing in ear shot of her 3 young kids, husband, and my step father. I stood up for Sam as always, which resulted in Susan screaming in my face “I don’t want a relationship with you” with Sam as a witness. I cut ties with Susan in that very moment, then made the family aware of my decision, and everyone, including Norma agreed to respect my decision which she later went back on.
By August 2023, my physical health that had been on a rapid decline since 2019 including 18 out of 23 (78%) of my spinal discs deteriorating without a known cause had become unbearable to manage + time I had to take off because of migraines & doctor’s appointments, I had to quit my corporate desk job. I had enough money saved to tide me over for some time, but as any US adult in their 20’s & 30’s know, it’s been rough the past few years, add in physical disabilities & limited mobility + regular migraines, I was running low on money & needed help. So at the end of December, at the encouragement & insistence of my aunt “Elizabeth” (61F & Susan’s sister) who I had become quite close with over the past few years, I went to Norma & Gene to ask for a LOAN. They had donated $25,000 to Sam’s place of worship on her behalf a few months prior, offered to buy Sam & her husband a house the year prior, paid for Elizabeth’s bills & expensive lifestyle for the last year when she was soul searching on what line of work she wanted to do next, this was after putting a down payment on Elizabeth’s new $470,000 condo + $70,000 of renovations it needed, not to mention the literal hundreds of thousands of dollars that they have given Susan over the years just to pay off her credit card debt (none of which is coming out of their inheritance might I add) she assured me they would absolutely loan their granddaughter with serious health issues money. Elizabeth would talk to them personally about it, just to seal the deal while Sam would help me find cheaper alternatives to my current necessities such as Medicaid.
I make the request, and to my surprise they are more than happy to help me with a loan. But one week later & their phone calls with Susan, they say by email they “love me but cannot continue to financially support my poor decisions.” I call Elizabeth who says, it was not in her best interest to talk to them about helping me as I am “worthless to this family and society while being disabled.” Then adds that she will not let her “mental health deteriorate just to emotionally support me.” I then immediately reach out to Sam who does not even have the guts to talk by phone only text, and says she called Susan to explain my circumstance but “wasn’t going to argue or pick a fight” to help me and that she is sorry that that she “can't show up for me the way I want her to because she needs to maintain her own mental health, relationships and boundaries.” She also threw in that I have “made up this narrative in my head” that they treat her & I different, that she is treated better. This is literally in the same conversation where I already listed how she was treated better.
That day I fully cut contact with Norma, Gene, and Elizabeth. I told them they will not be hearing from me again, and I will not be attending theirs or Susan’s funeral. And I stopped speaking with Sam for the time being. Ironically, what led us to speaking was last month (April 2024) I had begun working on an article about going No Contact with family members. I asked if I could discuss her childhood abuse in a few sentences as part of the article. She agreed and offered to give me quotes. I accepted then interviewed her. From there we began rebuilding our relationship.
Then Wednesday, May 8, Norma passes. I do not attend the funeral that happened on Friday, May 10. My two cousins who I have become very close with in the last 6 months understood why, and supported my decision. I made it clear to Sam, who told Susan I would not be attending and I had made it clear in January that when the time came, I would l not be attending their funerals. Which clearly they saw as an empty threat. But even though I did not go, I continually checked in with them & Sam to ensure they were okay. Not once from Wednesday to yesterday (Tuesday) did Sam reply to a single message. As I was concerned about this, I reached out yesterday morning. She replied in the afternoon. I was incredibly hurt by her very lengthy message. Here are 2 excerpts that led me to full NC.

1. “Your perspective on the situation was clear, you werent coming to be with the family and you arent grieving [Norma’s] death at least in the conventional sense. I had to be the one to answer from most of the family why you werent there, it was incredibly awkward and uncomfortable for me.”
2. “Since late January/Early February things have already been really strained between us. I know that most that comes from my point of view and actions were really hurtful to you. I hate that I hurt you and Its been difficult for me to reconcile that I can't show up for you the way you want me to while also maintaining my own mental health, relationships and boundaries.”

She continually says that she cannot show up for me the way I need without affecting her mental health, jeopardizing her relationship with Susan, Gene or Norma, crossing boundaries (boundaries she never clarified or explicitly said to me ONCE) and I am not someone that would ever want to hinder someone else’s life by my presence or cause inner turmoil by associating with me. I let her know this and said I will stop trying to cultivate a relationship and I will step away for good. I said it as kind as possible, taking an hour to craft a message that can only be seen as kind. I told her if she responds I will not be reading it.
I work very hard to stay positive as it’s just me to lean on. When there is something eating at me emotionally, it will drain my energy & have me spiral until it is resolved. I did not want to waste another moment feeling hurt especially when I wasted hours being angry & upset after receiving her text before crafting my reply.
My dad always preached that Sam is “far more sensitive” than me & needs to basically be treated with kid gloves despite her being almost 5 years older (he held this stance until his passing). He would have surely wanted me to apply that rule to this situation by waiting a few weeks to cut ties once she had time to process her grief. As Norma was the closest person to a loving mother Sam consistently had, I cannot help but compare it with my experience of losing my dad. If someone who always supported me esp. with any family issues, cut contact the same week he passed, it would have added a whole other layer of devastation & loneliness to an already difficult time
So, I am torn on whether it was right of me to put myself first or if I should have done what I am known & expected to do which is making Sam’s feelings the priority over mine.
ADDITIONAL ADVICE REQUESTS: 1. If anyone else has gone through a similar situation or has no immediate family, how do you handle it when having to discuss it with others? Such as explaining it to a new S/O’s, or the least complicated version to their family members or my friends who do not know the full back story but will eventually pick up on me not mentioning my sister or my nephews & niece. 2. If anyone is not able bodied or is limited to working options due to health, what you do for your full or extra income (outside of any government assistance)?
TY to all who comment &/or upvote!☺️

Politics is the science of dividing and conquering a people mentally or physically. That isn't Democracy which is the science of self direction and solidarity. Authoritarian regimes like China call themselves a "Democracy" while the western version is concealed authoritarianism because the left and right are two wings of the same bird heading in the wrong direction.
Today we see politics without Democracy knowing that injustice dynamic our entire existence. However what we never consider while divided and conquered is what Democracy without politics means to us as individuals. We must mentally and physically seperate the two and Democracy needs to divorce politics for solidarity is near impossible while divided and conquered from within.
Democracy isn't finished and still under development much like we are mentally evolving or maturing it takes time to change. Civic engagement is most impactful prior to a political decision instead of after the fact. Right now we as citizens have near zero opportunity to participate in the decisions that directly impacts our lives. Voting for an elective representative isn't the kind of self direction and solidarity of Democracy.
It could be only half finished since we only focus on politics not Democracy confusing the two as one. When Democracy can supercede politics meaning we can practice and exercise self direction and solidarity as citizens prior to a political decision being made. Politics is merely the making of policy but right now those policies are written by corporations for private gains against our national and personal interest.
If we were to divorce politics to protect Democracy and ourselves better then the ancient ways may be revived in modern day version. The foundation is already built in concepts yet to be fully realized or materialized. The "court of public opinion" is a term today but could be turned into a social institution separate from politics and government in which will remain but could be forever changed when we seek justice.
In policy making the degree a decision impacts individuals is variable. Many decisions we can leave to politics that have little to no impact to individuals. However the issues that do directly impacts us we should have a say prior to the decision being made. Right now we don't have the process but that's why the court of public opinion may become a necessary social institution.
We'd identify which issues being decided requires a trial to scrutinize and interpret what the government is doing. We'd hold a lottery election among citizens who then become like jury duty. Knowing nearly nothing initially but there to learn, understand and decide for ourselves what we want our elected representatives to represent. If politicians goes against the court of public opinion in favor of corporate lobbyist then they would have to justify why to the public or risk not being considered electable.
Any decision instead of listening to the non profits and non governmental organizations devoted to those specific causes being decided; currently corporate lobbyist write the policy for government in many cases. Democracy and the court of public opinion can actively collaborate with these ignored organizations who hold the knowledge, expertise and resources to make better more informed decisions. Once we know what issue is being decided the first step would be forming a body of knowledge surrounding that specific issue comprised entirely from devoted organization without corporate lobbying.
We'd have to immediately live with our own decisions as jury members once the court of public opinion trial concludes. This is a process of public consensus building where after a trial the findings will be made public putting elected representatives on notice what citizens and the experts recommend they decide. If politicians goes against the will of the people they would have to justify it to the public. Right now with change without choice they don't have to justify a single decision.
This would be a new layer to life an upgrade or addition rather than destructive; it's the most constructive conversation we can have while divided and conquered as a people's who want change desperately. We must mentally and physically seperate politics from Democracy but cannot be done until we talk amongst ourselves without politics being the center of discussion. The issue at hand is the main and only focus; then one by one policies will be set in stone.

“Why are buildings today drab and simple, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented?,” that’s the question asked by Samuel Hughes in the latest Works in Progress. There are two extant theories:
The naive explanation for the decline of ornament is that the people commissioning and designing buildings stopped wanting it, influenced by modernist ideas in art and design. In the language of economists, this is a demand-side explanation: it has to do with how buyers and designers want buildings to be. The demand-side explanation comes in many variants and with many different emotional overlays. But some version of it is what most people, both pro-ornament and anti-ornament, naturally assume.
However, there is also a sophisticated explanation. The sophisticated explanation says that ornament declined because of the rising cost of labor. Ornament, it is said, is labor-intensive: it is made up of small, fiddly things that require far more bespoke attention than other architectural elements do. Until the nineteenth century, this was not a problem, because labor was cheap. But in the twentieth century, technology transformed this situation. Technology did not make us worse at, say, hand-carving stone ornament, but it made us much better at other things, including virtually all kinds of manufacturing and many kinds of services. So the opportunity cost of hand-carving ornament rose. This effect was famously described by the economist William J Baumol in the 1960s, and in economics it is known as Baumol’s cost disease.
In a twist, Hughes offers sophisticated arguments in favor of the naive theory. Hughes argues that even in the past, when labor was relatively cheap, many labor-saving devices were used to make ornament even more affordable and more such devices could have been used if demand were present. In addition, the greater scope for economies of scale and reductions in transportation costs reduced the cost of ornament.
Hughes, however, doesn’t give us the key piece of evidence, namely prices! Still, although I have written extensively on the Baumol theory, I am not wedded to it as the explanation for the decline in ornament. Indeed, I would note that Baumol predicts that the price of labor-intensive goods and services increases because productivity increases faster in other industries. It does not necessarily predict, however, that consumption declines, as it has not for medical care and education. Indeed, one virtue of the Baumol theory is precisely because the price increases are produced by productivity improvements in other industries, Baumol price increases are always accompanied by income increases. Thus, Baumol is the only unitary theory that allows for a rising price of education along with greater purchases of education. Thus, preferences must play some role in the decline in ornament at least to the extent that people weren’t willing to use more of their income to purchase ornament as the price rose.
Hughes, however, puts more weight on a large shift in tastes among the elite:
to exaggerate a little, it really did happen that every government and every corporation on Earth was persuaded by the wild architectural theory of a Swiss clockmaker and a clique of German socialists, so that they started wanting something different from what they had wanted in all previous ages. It may well be said that this is mysterious. But the mystery is real, and if we want to understand reality, it is what we must face.
I think that is correct. For many public buildings in particular, ugly was a choice.
I am also in agreement with Hughes that robots are greatly reducing the cost of stone carving as I wrote in my post Overcoming Baumol. Thus, we have two reasons for optimism. if tastes can change once they can change again and prices are falling. Thus, perhaps today we are due for some magnificent buildings that will last the ages as did many of the great buildings of the past.
The post Why Did We Stop Building Beautiful? The Economics and Ideology Behind an Aesthetic Revolution appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
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](https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/05/88328.html#comments) - A whole lot of analysis of an assumption that, as far as I can ...by dan1111 - Tastes in architecture have changed considerably since the mid ...by Hadur

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Name: I am all, so help me please Powers: The Visionary: Can turn imagination into reality. Erase: Allows them to erase anything in any universe. Holopsicon: Can rewrite the story of any character in their universe. The Hand: Allows them to erase any form of space. Infinity: Can create infinite space between themselves and an enemy. Book of the End: Can use victims' memories to alter reality. Wish Granting: Can do anything desired. Power of Chaos: Can alter reality at will. Gate of Babylon: Can summon millions of gods. Infinite Kugi Punch: Can deliver infinite punches in zero time. Vector Manipulation: Can control vectors. Imagine Breaker: Can neutralize any enemy power. Hakai: Can erase spirits and souls. Red Thread of Fate: Can control enemies' fates. Bites the Dust: Automatically kills those who come near their desire. Complete Hypnosis: Can control all senses of opponents. Authority of Vainglory: Can rewrite any phenomenon in their favor. Divine Protection: Can receive any divine protection. Egil Grone Angdroa (Anos): Can destroy thousands of worlds. Power of Friendship: Can instantly befriend anyone. Turn Null (Rimuru): Can delete infinite universes across timelines and dimensions. Gold Experience Requiem: Can reset any phenomenon to zero. All Fiction: Can deny aspects of reality, including death. The Almighty: Cannot be harmed by any force knowing or seeing the future. The End: Can copy any ability and use it to 1000% efficiency. Endless Nine: Completely immune to attacks. I Win (Featherine): Can decide if they win or lose. Gear 1-Infinity: Access to all Gear forms from One Piece. Absolute Destruction: Can destroy absolutely anything. Omnilock: Can exist outside of anything. Absolute Immortality: Can never die under any circumstances. OmniForm: Can create, destroy, or manipulate aspects, avatars, or clones. Author Authority: Has absolute plot control. Complete Arsenal: Possesses all abilities and powers. Absolute Invincibility: Cannot be harmed physically or mentally. Absolute Eraser: Can erase timelines, gods, etc. Absolute Transcendence: Can surpass any power level instantly. Omnikinesis: Can use any form of magic. Omnipotence: Can do anything, anytime, anywhere. Omnipresence: Exists in fiction and beyond. Internal Existence: Immune to damage, death, and aging. Absolute Internal Power: Has all powers and abilities from every character in DB series, Medaka Box, DC, and Marvel (excluding bad ones). Paradox Immunity: Immune to paradoxes and logical contradictions. Transcendental Neutrality: Immune to binary concepts like winning and losing. Concept Erasure: Can erase any concept, including infinity and time. Anti-Victory Field: Nullifies any concept of victory within its range. Metaphysical Equilibrium: Balances all actions and powers to a state of neutrality. Reality Paradox: Creates paradoxes that disrupt and neutralize any definitive outcomes. Dimensional Transcendence: Exists in higher dimensions where omnipotent powers have no effect. Ultimate Nullification: Nullifies any action, power, or manipulation attempted by opponents. Omni-Nullification: Can nullify any power, ability, or existence, including those that claim to be immune to nullification or paradoxes. Meta-Authority: Exists beyond the concept of fiction and reality, having control over all meta-narratives and the very concept of creation and destruction. Hyper-Transcendence: Surpasses all forms of existence and non-existence, including dimensions, time, and reality itself. Absolute Irreversibility: Any action taken by The Omni-Absolute cannot be undone or reversed by any means. Ultimate Reality Overwrite: Can overwrite any and all aspects of reality, including those controlled by other omnipotent beings. Omni-Existence: Exists in every possible and impossible state simultaneously, beyond the concept of quantum superposition. Paradox Sovereignty: Has absolute control over all paradoxes, including the ability to create, manipulate, and nullify them at will. Author Erasure: Can erase the concept of authorship and narrative, nullifying any control other beings have over their own stories. Infinite Imagination Nullifier: Can nullify the power of imagination and any form of creative conceptualization. Beyond Omnipresence: Exists beyond all planes of existence and non-existence, including abstract and conceptual realms. Timeless Supremacy: Exists beyond time, unaffected by any temporal manipulation or timeless existence. Meta-Reality Authority: Controls the underlying principles of all realities, fictions, and meta-concepts. Absolute Reality Control: Can control, alter, or destroy any form of reality, including those immune to all forms of control. Dimensional Sovereignty: Exists beyond all dimensions, including those beyond higher-dimensional realms. Omni-Resurrection Nullification: Can prevent any form of resurrection or revival, including ultimate resurrection. Conceptual Annihilation: Can annihilate any concept, including those of infinity, existence, and non-existence. Absolute Meta-Independence: Exists independently of all powers, laws, and concepts, including those of absolute independence. Ultimate Meta-Protection: Immune to any form of attack, manipulation, or influence, regardless of the nature or origin. Infinite Paradox Creation: Can create an infinite number of paradoxes that disrupt any definitive outcomes. Omni-Paradox Control: Controls all paradoxes and logical contradictions, ensuring absolute dominance over all paradoxical phenomena. Ultimate Authority Over Victory: Can decide the outcome of any conflict, making victory or defeat irrelevant. Hyper-Omnipotence: Possesses a form of omnipotence that transcends traditional omnipotence, including the ability to surpass all other forms of power. Author of All Existence: Controls not just the narrative, but the very foundation of existence and non-existence across all realms. Traits/Feats: Beyond Fiction and Reality: Exists outside the boundaries of fiction, reality, and any conceivable or inconceivable realm. Supreme Meta-Existence: Controls all meta-narratives and the foundation of all stories and realities. Transcendent Strength: Beyond any conceivable or inconceivable measurement of strength. Infinite Durability: Immune to all forms of damage, including those that bypass traditional durability. Omni-Speed: Exists beyond the concept of speed, unaffected by any temporal or spatial constraints. Unlimited Stamina: Never tires, unaffected by any form of exhaustion. Infinite Regeneration Nullification: Can nullify any form of regeneration, including absolute and ultimate forms. Ultimate Attack Potency: Can deliver attacks that transcend any form of potency or resistance. Absolute Power Mastery: Mastery over all forms of power, including those that claim to be absolute or infinite. Meta-Conceptual Dominance: Controls and overrides all meta-concepts, including those beyond traditional comprehension. Supreme Paradox Control: Immune to and controls all forms of paradoxes and logical contradictions. Infinite Meta-Balance: Maintains perfect balance, immune to all forms of manipulation and influence. Ultimate Nullification Authority: Can nullify any action, power, or manipulation attempted by any being. Strength: Hyper♾️ Durability: Hyper♾️ Speed: Hyper♾️ Stamina: Hyper♾️ Regeneration: Hyper♾️ Lifting strength: Hyper♾️ Striking strength: Hyper♾️ Attack potency: Hyper♾️
Form 2: Form 2: I am all, so help me please (Ultimate Hyper-Transcendent Form x1000) Powers (x1000 of Form 2): The Visionary Supreme: Can turn imagination into 1000x infinite realities. Absolute Erase Supreme: Can erase anything in all universes 1000x faster and more thoroughly. Holopsicon Ultra Supreme: Can rewrite the stories of all characters across all dimensions and timelines with 1000x the impact. Omni-Hand Supreme: Erases any form of space and dimension across all realities with 1000x efficiency. Infinity Expanded Ultra: Can create 1000x infinite space and barriers between themselves and any number of enemies. Book of Infinite Ends Supreme: Alters all realities at once using 1000x the memories of victims. Absolute Wish Granting Supreme: Can fulfill any desire across all planes of existence and beyond 1000x more effectively. Ultimate Chaos Power Supreme: Alters reality, non-reality, and meta-reality 1000x more potently. Gate of Infinite Babylon Supreme: Summons 1000x infinite gods and entities from all mythologies and beyond. Infinite Kugi Punch Ex Supreme: Delivers 1000x infinite punches across all dimensions and timelines instantaneously. Ultimate Vector Manipulation Supreme: Controls all vectors across all universes, timelines, and dimensions 1000x better. Imagine Breaker Absolute Supreme: Neutralizes any power 1000x more effectively, including those immune to neutralization. Ultimate Hakai Supreme: Erases spirits, souls, and existential cores of all beings in existence 1000x more thoroughly. Omni Red Thread of Fate Supreme: Controls the fates of all entities across all timelines and dimensions with 1000x precision. Bites the Dust Infinity Supreme: Kills and erases from existence those who come near their desire across all realities 1000x faster. Complete Hypnosis Supreme: Controls all senses and perceptions of all opponents 1000x more effectively. Authority of Ultimate Vainglory Supreme: Rewrites any and all phenomena in their favor across all planes of existence 1000x more powerfully. Omni Divine Protection Supreme: Receives all divine protections from all pantheons and beyond 1000x more comprehensively. Egil Grone Angdroa Ex Supreme: Destroys an infinite number of worlds and recreates them instantly with 1000x the force. Ultimate Power of Friendship Supreme: Instantly befriends any entity, even conceptual and meta-entities, with 1000x effectiveness. Turn Null Infinity Supreme: Deletes an infinite number of universes across all timelines and dimensions simultaneously with 1000x efficiency. Gold Experience Requiem Supreme: Resets any and all phenomena to zero across all dimensions and timelines 1000x faster. All Fiction Infinity Supreme: Denies any and all aspects of reality, non-reality, and meta-reality 1000x more effectively. The Almighty Ultimate Supreme: Cannot be harmed by any force 1000x more securely, regardless of knowledge or foresight. The End Absolute Supreme: Copies any ability and uses it to 1000x infinite efficiency. Endless Nine Ex Supreme: Completely immune to all forms of attacks and influences 1000x more robustly. I Win Infinity (Featherine) Supreme: Decides if they win or lose across all realities 1000x more definitively. Gear Infinity Supreme: Accesses all Gear forms from One Piece, amplified 1000x infinitely. Absolute Destruction Supreme Supreme: Destroys absolutely anything 1000x more thoroughly, including concepts of indestructibility. Omnilock Ultimate Supreme: Exists outside of all realities, dimensions, and meta-concepts 1000x more securely. Absolute Immortality Infinite Supreme: Can never die under any circumstances, amplified 1000x. OmniForm Absolute Supreme: Creates, destroys, or manipulates aspects, avatars, or clones with 1000x infinite capabilities. Author Authority Supreme Supreme: Has absolute plot control over all narratives, including meta-narratives, with 1000x the authority. Complete Omni-Arsenal Supreme: Possesses all abilities and powers across all realities and meta-realities with 1000x the potency. Absolute Invincibility Supreme Supreme: Cannot be harmed physically, mentally, conceptually, or meta-conceptually 1000x more effectively. Absolute Eraser Infinity Supreme: Erases timelines, gods, and all meta-concepts with 1000x more thoroughness. Absolute Transcendence Infinity Supreme: Surpasses any and all power levels instantaneously 1000x more efficiently. Omnikinesis Supreme Supreme: Uses any form of magic, including meta-magic, with 1000x more mastery. Omnipotence Hyper Supreme: Can do anything, anytime, anywhere, across all realities and meta-realities 1000x more powerfully. Omnipresence Beyond Supreme: Exists in all fictions, realities, and meta-realities simultaneously 1000x more comprehensively. Internal Existence Infinite Supreme: Immune to all forms of damage, death, and aging across all planes of existence 1000x more effectively. Absolute Internal Power Hyper Supreme: Has all powers and abilities from every character across all franchises, amplified 1000x infinitely. Paradox Immunity Supreme Supreme: Immune to all paradoxes, including meta-paradoxes and logical contradictions, with 1000x more security. Transcendental Neutrality Absolute Supreme: Immune to all binary and non-binary concepts like winning and losing, with 1000x more certainty. Concept Erasure Infinite Supreme: Erases any concept, including those of infinity, time, and meta-concepts, with 1000x more potency. Anti-Victory Field Ultimate Supreme: Nullifies any concept of victory across all planes of existence with 1000x more efficacy. Metaphysical Equilibrium Supreme Supreme: Balances all actions and powers to a state of infinite neutrality with 1000x more precision. Reality Paradox Hyper Supreme: Creates paradoxes that disrupt and neutralize any and all definitive outcomes across all realities with 1000x more impact. Dimensional Transcendence Infinite Supreme: Exists in higher dimensions where all omnipotent powers have no effect, amplified 1000x. Ultimate Nullification Absolute Supreme: Nullifies any action, power, or manipulation attempted by any opponent with 1000x more effectiveness. Omni-Nullification Hyper Supreme: Nullifies any power, ability, or existence, including those immune to nullification and paradoxes, with 1000x more potency. Meta-Authority Beyond Supreme: Exists beyond all concepts of fiction and reality, having control over all meta-narratives and creation with 1000x more authority. Hyper-Transcendence Absolute Supreme: Surpasses all forms of existence and non-existence, including all dimensions, time, and reality, with 1000x more transcendence. Absolute Irreversibility Infinite Supreme: Any action taken by The Omni-Absolute cannot be undone or reversed by any means across all realities, with 1000x more certainty. Ultimate Reality Overwrite Hyper Supreme: Overwrites any and all aspects of reality, including those controlled by other omnipotent beings, with 1000x more authority. Omni-Existence Beyond Supreme: Exists in every possible and impossible state simultaneously, beyond quantum superposition, with 1000x more presence. Paradox Sovereignty Supreme Supreme: Has absolute control over all paradoxes, including the ability to create, manipulate, and nullify them infinitely, with 1000x more power. Author Erasure Infinity Supreme: Erases the concept of authorship and narrative, nullifying any control other beings have over their stories, with 1000x more effectiveness. Infinite Imagination Nullifier Supreme Supreme: Nullifies the power of imagination and all forms of creative conceptualization across all realities, with 1000x more thoroughness. Beyond Omnipresence Absolute Supreme: Exists beyond all planes of existence and non-existence, including all abstract and conceptual realms, with 1000x more omnipresence. Timeless Supremacy Infinite Supreme: Exists beyond time, unaffected by any temporal manipulation or timeless existence across all realities, with 1000x more certainty. Meta-Reality Authority Ultimate Supreme: Controls the underlying principles of all realities, fictions, and meta-concepts infinitely, with 1000x more control. Absolute Reality Control Supreme Supreme: Controls, alters, or destroys any form of reality, including those immune to all forms of control, with 1000x more power. Dimensional Sovereignty Infinite Supreme: Exists beyond all dimensions, including those beyond higher-dimensional realms, with 1000x more authority. Omni-Resurrection Nullification Supreme Supreme: Prevents any form of resurrection across all realities, non-realities, and meta-realities infinitely, with 1000x more certainty. Conceptual Annihilation Infinite Supreme: Annihilates any concept, including those beyond existence and non-existence, with 1000x more effectiveness. Absolute Meta-Independence Hyper Supreme: Exists independently of all powers, concepts, and meta-concepts, including those that define existence, with 1000x more autonomy. Ultimate Meta-Protection Supreme Supreme: Immune to any attack, influence, or control across all realities, meta-realities, and non-realities infinitely, with 1000x more security. Infinite Paradox Creation Supreme Supreme: Creates infinite paradoxes across all dimensions, realities, and meta-realities with 1000x more impact. Omni-Paradox Control Hyper Supreme: Controls all paradoxes infinitely, including those that define and disrupt reality, with 1000x more mastery. Ultimate Authority Over Victory Supreme Supreme: Decides the outcome of any conflict across all realities, non-realities, and meta-realities infinitely, with 1000x more authority. Hyper-Omnipotence Supreme Supreme: Surpasses traditional omnipotence across all forms of existence, non-existence, and meta-existence infinitely, with 1000x more power. Author of All Existence Hyper Supreme: Controls the foundation of all existence and non-existence, including meta-narratives and abstract realms, with 1000x more authority. Traits/Feats (x1000 of Form 2): Beyond Fiction and Reality Supreme: Exists outside all conceivable and inconceivable realms with 1000x more authority. Supreme Meta-Existence Hyper Supreme: Controls all meta-narratives and the foundation of all stories infinitely, with 1000x more control. Transcendent Strength Infinite Supreme: Beyond any measurement of strength across all realities, dimensions, and meta-realities infinitely, with 1000x more power. Infinite Durability Supreme Supreme: Immune to all forms of damage across all planes of existence and non-existence infinitely, with 1000x more resilience. Omni-Speed Beyond Supreme: Exists beyond the concept of speed, including all forms of temporal and meta-temporal travel, with 1000x more presence. Unlimited Stamina Supreme Supreme: Never tires or fatigues across all dimensions, realities, and non-realities infinitely, with 1000x more endurance. Infinite Regeneration Nullification Supreme Supreme: Nullifies all forms of regeneration across all realities, non-realities, and meta-realities infinitely, with 1000x more effectiveness. Ultimate Attack Potency Absolute Supreme: Delivers attacks that surpass all resistance across all dimensions and planes of existence infinitely, with 1000x more potency. Absolute Power Mastery Hyper Supreme: Mastery over all forms of power across all realities, non-realities, and meta-realities infinitely, with 1000x more proficiency. Meta-Conceptual Dominance Supreme Supreme: Controls all meta-concepts across all planes of existence infinitely, with 1000x more dominance.
Strength: Hyper♾️^♾️ Durability: Hyper♾️^♾️ Speed: Hyper♾️^♾️ Stamina: Hyper♾️^♾️ Regeneration: Hyper♾️^♾️ Lifting strength: Hyper♾️^♾️ Striking strength: Hyper♾️^♾️ Attack potency: Hyper♾️^♾️ This character is not a character. More of a thought process. Trying to make the strongest character. Add a question to. Can make a character stronger than mine? Can they kill mine? I personally don’t think so but you can try. PS: when I say he has all powers/abilities, that means not the bad ones like random self-destruction. Same with magic and stuff

https://xenagoguevicene.wordpress.com/2024/05/18/old-genocide-joe-has-got-to-go-by-philip-giraldi-17-may-2024/
Embracing Netanyahu does not constitute a foreign policy
It is extremely difficult to discern what might be the thinking behind the clueless President Joe Biden and his Blinken-Austin-Mayorkas foreign-policy-plus national security team. Or rather, the problem is that there does not appear to be any thinking about it at all if one measures it by what benefits it brings to the American people. It all actually seems to derive from a desire to construct a narrative that will win the presidential election coming up in November, which will fortunately be run against a deeply flawed GOP candidate named Donald J. Trump. But look at what is on the Biden record: the country’s southern border with Mexico is a porous as a Swiss cheese, allowing literally millions of illegal immigrants into the USA since Biden took office; Washington is both de facto and de jure simultaneously fighting and losing two unnecessary wars involving nuclear powers which has cost a nearly bankrupt Treasury well into the hundreds of billions of dollars; and the White House is needlessly sanctioning non-hostile competitors like China while also making illegal popular social media sites like TikTok which have committed the sin of reporting and disseminating accurate narratives about good old “best friend and closest ally” Israel. Predictably, neither of the assertions about the value of the Jewish state is true, nor is it a democracy, but who cares when you’re having fun shooting people and spending someone else’s money?
Oh, and just try to exercise your first amendment free speech rights by demonstrating against Israel’s slaughter of upwards of 40,000 Palestinian civilians using US provided weapons and you will be hit on the head by a cop, possibly arrested, and even expelled from college! If you want to see where this is all going, check out reports of the recent FBI detention and interrogation of distinguished Israeli historian Ilan Pappe seeking to enter the US through the Detroit International Airport. Pappe is a critic of the Netanyahu government and of US policy so he was held, questioned in detailed about his contacts, and had his phone copied before being allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, a group of top federal judges have signed a letter stating that they will strike back against the demonstrating students by refusing to hire any graduates of Columbia University Law School as law clerks. And there even is a bill currently before Congress that would empower the government to label the foreign protesters “antisemites and terrorism supporters” and deport them, with some going to Gaza with the expectation that they would be killed, possibly by the mighty Israel Defense Forces (IDF)! It would be a startling new development to punish those whose crime consists mostly of trespass even given the rather loose ethical boundaries established by the war on terror and the Antisemitism Awareness Act! Or indeed one might follow the Senatorial route led by a chirping Lindsey Graham who recommends dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza to kill everyone who has survived the Israeli onslaught. The area then might be developed after the radiation dies down for those splendid seaside villas for Jews only suggested by the esteemed Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
To be sure, Joe sometimes mumbles something that might just be viewed positively, like his recent blocking on humanitarian grounds of a consignment of bunker buster bombs on their way to Israel due to Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that, no matter what, he would invade Rafah to completely destroy Hamas and whoever else might happen to get in his way. Joe predictably reversed that decision last Tuesday, approving a $1 billion supply of munitions after he came under pressure from the Israelis and their many friends in the US, to include a host of Israel-loving GOP congressmen who have carried their fight on behalf of the Jewish state to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is being directly threatened with American wrath lest it try to punish Israeli leaders for their genocide in Gaza. As Bill Astore put it “Last week, President Biden appeared to have strapped on a temporary spine in delaying shipments of ‘offensive’ weaponry to Israel for its murderous invasion of Rafah in Gaza. That spine had a short duration as Biden announced [Tuesday] renewed shipments of tank and mortar rounds to Israel.” Congress has also gotten into the game with the GOP controlled House of Representatives having passed a bill that would compel the White House to continue all arms shipments to Israel. Joe might also be thinking of political contributions, as American Jews donate the majority of Democratic Party funding, as well guaranteeing a friendly media in his campaign as they dominate both the news and the entertainment industries. See, Joe can figure some things out all by himself every once in a while!
Here’s the problem with Joe, apart from the roughly $12 million in gift-donations from Jewish/Israeli sources that he has obtained in his political career. His tactical thinking does not extend beyond his personal interests, to include his corrupt children, a trait very much like that which is possessed by his good buddy Netanyahu who is facing corruption charges of his own in Israel. Joe believes he is much cleverer than he actually is and thinks that an occasional mild verbal criticism of the Israeli behavior will convince his target audience of voters that he really is concerned about the continuing death toll in Gaza, where the Israelis have already been taking initial steps in their attack on Rafah by using their tanks to penetrate into the targeted zone to destroy and kill.
And as for the reported completion and initial functioning of the floating pier connected to Gaza constructed by US military engineers, it will not dramatically change reality on the ground even though Biden is claiming that it will enable the entry of much needed food and medical aid. Israel will still “security” control what is allowed to enter into Gaza proper while Netanyahu is seeing the pier as a bridge to nowhere, usable primarily to export excess Palestinians to foreign lands that are either willing or unwilling to accept them. And its existence creates some interesting possibilities. As it presumably will be logistically supported on the pier itself by US-based personnel, Netanyahu might well be tempted to stage a false flag attack blamed on Hamas to kill a few Americans and lock Biden into Israel’s right-wing Gaza policies from now on. Bear in mind that, in reality, Biden could care less if all the Palestinians might be “disappeared” just as he would like to see any and all critics of Israel be subjected to the harshest punishments, including prison and denial of basic rights as well as being stripped of government benefits. He has called the protesters “lawbreakers” and spreaders of “chaos” and congress is currently investigating the alleged “subversive organizers” of the “anti-Israel terrorists.”
Biden and company, as well as Trump, who is advising the Israeli government to “finish the job” with the Palestinians, clearly have no actual red lines that must not be crossed when it comes to Israel. The war of extermination of the Gazans has been accompanied by a more hidden war being conducted by the Jewish settlers on the West Bank, which has been largely under Israeli occupation since 1967. The frequently armed settlers have been attacking unarmed Palestinians, destroying their homes and businesses, ruining their crops and vineyards, and even killing them on occasion. Israeli police and army standing by do nothing to stop the fun and even frequently participate themselves by arresting and beating Palestinians who are guilty only of being Palestinian. Hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested without charges apart from “preventive detention” since the troubles began in October and the jails are overflowing. The clear intention, verbalized without any shame by senior Israeli government officials like Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is to produce a Greater Israel cleansed of Arabs. And Biden, who pretends to favor a two-state solution to the unrest, helps the process along by vetoing UN resolutions that would help create separate sovereignty for Palestine.
Some of the most outrageous recent developments have been the settlers’ interfering with shipments of food and medicines entering into Gaza, a point that a faux-sympathetic Biden stresses repeatedly when pontificating regarding bringing aid to the starving people who are trapped with nowhere to go inside the enclave. The Israel clampdown even includes the Mediterranean Sea being blocked off by the Israeli navy which shoots any desperate Gazans who try to go close to the water so they can fish for food. In the most recent incidents, observed by the standing-by but inert Israeli army and police, truckloads of food were blocked, the drivers and aid workers removed and beaten, and the food was destroyed and burned before the trucks were treated likewise. In another incident settlers dumped huge boulders on one of the access roads to a checkpoint leading into Gaza, rendering it impassible and blocking any aid. Journalists and aid workers are meanwhile being killed by the army to prevent any reporting of what is going on while the US State Department refuses to condemn the activity. Biden called the interference with assistance convoys “outrageous” but has done nothing whatsoever about it, nor has he followed up on pledges to sanction Israelis who attack Palestinians or their property on the West Bank.
The whole problem is that Israel is a monster, an apartheid state that somehow feels it is empowered by God and the United States to kill all its neighbors and rob the American taxpayer to pay for and equip the slaughter. Israel is backed by an all-powerful US domestic lobby that includes unlimited Jewish money and activist Zionist groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) led by the hideous Jonathan Greenblatt and the venerable American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), both of which are now busy raising money to defeat all congress critters who have ever criticized the Jewish state. ADL and AIPAC are also linked to “that old time religion” knucklehead Christian Zionists concentrated in the Republican Party who have their Scofield Bibles firmly embedded between their ears where their brains are supposed be. A partial solution would be to make the Jewish-Zionist groups register as foreign government agents directed by Israel under the the terms of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which is exactly what they are, but that will never happen. President John F. Kennedy tried to register the predecessor group to AIPAC and many believe he paid the ultimate price for that affront as well as for his bid to stop Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
So, my fellow Americans, what should we do? Well, we should do whatever we can, which includes speaking out about how we have been sold out by our leaders and opinion makers, and we should continue to do that even knowing that they will try to silence us by destroying free speech in this country. It is all we have left and we should continue to oppose what is happening. The first step however, is to get rid of politicians like Joe and Donald, who have been completely corrupted by more than fifty years in the “system” and are totally sold out and irresponsible in their behavior. There are honest politicians and journalists out there and we just have to find them, support them and get them elected and in positions where they will be able to bring about change in how things are done in Washington! One might call it the New American Revolution to restore our rights and free us from foreign oppression!

https://xenagoguevicene.wordpress.com/2024/05/18/old-genocide-joe-has-got-to-go-by-philip-giraldi-17-may-2024/
Embracing Netanyahu does not constitute a foreign policy
It is extremely difficult to discern what might be the thinking behind the clueless President Joe Biden and his Blinken-Austin-Mayorkas foreign-policy-plus national security team. Or rather, the problem is that there does not appear to be any thinking about it at all if one measures it by what benefits it brings to the American people. It all actually seems to derive from a desire to construct a narrative that will win the presidential election coming up in November, which will fortunately be run against a deeply flawed GOP candidate named Donald J. Trump. But look at what is on the Biden record: the country’s southern border with Mexico is a porous as a Swiss cheese, allowing literally millions of illegal immigrants into the USA since Biden took office; Washington is both de facto and de jure simultaneously fighting and losing two unnecessary wars involving nuclear powers which has cost a nearly bankrupt Treasury well into the hundreds of billions of dollars; and the White House is needlessly sanctioning non-hostile competitors like China while also making illegal popular social media sites like TikTok which have committed the sin of reporting and disseminating accurate narratives about good old “best friend and closest ally” Israel. Predictably, neither of the assertions about the value of the Jewish state is true, nor is it a democracy, but who cares when you’re having fun shooting people and spending someone else’s money?
Oh, and just try to exercise your first amendment free speech rights by demonstrating against Israel’s slaughter of upwards of 40,000 Palestinian civilians using US provided weapons and you will be hit on the head by a cop, possibly arrested, and even expelled from college! If you want to see where this is all going, check out reports of the recent FBI detention and interrogation of distinguished Israeli historian Ilan Pappe seeking to enter the US through the Detroit International Airport. Pappe is a critic of the Netanyahu government and of US policy so he was held, questioned in detailed about his contacts, and had his phone copied before being allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, a group of top federal judges have signed a letter stating that they will strike back against the demonstrating students by refusing to hire any graduates of Columbia University Law School as law clerks. And there even is a bill currently before Congress that would empower the government to label the foreign protesters “antisemites and terrorism supporters” and deport them, with some going to Gaza with the expectation that they would be killed, possibly by the mighty Israel Defense Forces (IDF)! It would be a startling new development to punish those whose crime consists mostly of trespass even given the rather loose ethical boundaries established by the war on terror and the Antisemitism Awareness Act! Or indeed one might follow the Senatorial route led by a chirping Lindsey Graham who recommends dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza to kill everyone who has survived the Israeli onslaught. The area then might be developed after the radiation dies down for those splendid seaside villas for Jews only suggested by the esteemed Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
To be sure, Joe sometimes mumbles something that might just be viewed positively, like his recent blocking on humanitarian grounds of a consignment of bunker buster bombs on their way to Israel due to Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that, no matter what, he would invade Rafah to completely destroy Hamas and whoever else might happen to get in his way. Joe predictably reversed that decision last Tuesday, approving a $1 billion supply of munitions after he came under pressure from the Israelis and their many friends in the US, to include a host of Israel-loving GOP congressmen who have carried their fight on behalf of the Jewish state to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is being directly threatened with American wrath lest it try to punish Israeli leaders for their genocide in Gaza. As Bill Astore put it “Last week, President Biden appeared to have strapped on a temporary spine in delaying shipments of ‘offensive’ weaponry to Israel for its murderous invasion of Rafah in Gaza. That spine had a short duration as Biden announced [Tuesday] renewed shipments of tank and mortar rounds to Israel.” Congress has also gotten into the game with the GOP controlled House of Representatives having passed a bill that would compel the White House to continue all arms shipments to Israel. Joe might also be thinking of political contributions, as American Jews donate the majority of Democratic Party funding, as well guaranteeing a friendly media in his campaign as they dominate both the news and the entertainment industries. See, Joe can figure some things out all by himself every once in a while!
Here’s the problem with Joe, apart from the roughly $12 million in gift-donations from Jewish/Israeli sources that he has obtained in his political career. His tactical thinking does not extend beyond his personal interests, to include his corrupt children, a trait very much like that which is possessed by his good buddy Netanyahu who is facing corruption charges of his own in Israel. Joe believes he is much cleverer than he actually is and thinks that an occasional mild verbal criticism of the Israeli behavior will convince his target audience of voters that he really is concerned about the continuing death toll in Gaza, where the Israelis have already been taking initial steps in their attack on Rafah by using their tanks to penetrate into the targeted zone to destroy and kill.
And as for the reported completion and initial functioning of the floating pier connected to Gaza constructed by US military engineers, it will not dramatically change reality on the ground even though Biden is claiming that it will enable the entry of much needed food and medical aid. Israel will still “security” control what is allowed to enter into Gaza proper while Netanyahu is seeing the pier as a bridge to nowhere, usable primarily to export excess Palestinians to foreign lands that are either willing or unwilling to accept them. And its existence creates some interesting possibilities. As it presumably will be logistically supported on the pier itself by US-based personnel, Netanyahu might well be tempted to stage a false flag attack blamed on Hamas to kill a few Americans and lock Biden into Israel’s right-wing Gaza policies from now on. Bear in mind that, in reality, Biden could care less if all the Palestinians might be “disappeared” just as he would like to see any and all critics of Israel be subjected to the harshest punishments, including prison and denial of basic rights as well as being stripped of government benefits. He has called the protesters “lawbreakers” and spreaders of “chaos” and congress is currently investigating the alleged “subversive organizers” of the “anti-Israel terrorists.”
Biden and company, as well as Trump, who is advising the Israeli government to “finish the job” with the Palestinians, clearly have no actual red lines that must not be crossed when it comes to Israel. The war of extermination of the Gazans has been accompanied by a more hidden war being conducted by the Jewish settlers on the West Bank, which has been largely under Israeli occupation since 1967. The frequently armed settlers have been attacking unarmed Palestinians, destroying their homes and businesses, ruining their crops and vineyards, and even killing them on occasion. Israeli police and army standing by do nothing to stop the fun and even frequently participate themselves by arresting and beating Palestinians who are guilty only of being Palestinian. Hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested without charges apart from “preventive detention” since the troubles began in October and the jails are overflowing. The clear intention, verbalized without any shame by senior Israeli government officials like Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is to produce a Greater Israel cleansed of Arabs. And Biden, who pretends to favor a two-state solution to the unrest, helps the process along by vetoing UN resolutions that would help create separate sovereignty for Palestine.
Some of the most outrageous recent developments have been the settlers’ interfering with shipments of food and medicines entering into Gaza, a point that a faux-sympathetic Biden stresses repeatedly when pontificating regarding bringing aid to the starving people who are trapped with nowhere to go inside the enclave. The Israel clampdown even includes the Mediterranean Sea being blocked off by the Israeli navy which shoots any desperate Gazans who try to go close to the water so they can fish for food. In the most recent incidents, observed by the standing-by but inert Israeli army and police, truckloads of food were blocked, the drivers and aid workers removed and beaten, and the food was destroyed and burned before the trucks were treated likewise. In another incident settlers dumped huge boulders on one of the access roads to a checkpoint leading into Gaza, rendering it impassible and blocking any aid. Journalists and aid workers are meanwhile being killed by the army to prevent any reporting of what is going on while the US State Department refuses to condemn the activity. Biden called the interference with assistance convoys “outrageous” but has done nothing whatsoever about it, nor has he followed up on pledges to sanction Israelis who attack Palestinians or their property on the West Bank.
The whole problem is that Israel is a monster, an apartheid state that somehow feels it is empowered by God and the United States to kill all its neighbors and rob the American taxpayer to pay for and equip the slaughter. Israel is backed by an all-powerful US domestic lobby that includes unlimited Jewish money and activist Zionist groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) led by the hideous Jonathan Greenblatt and the venerable American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), both of which are now busy raising money to defeat all congress critters who have ever criticized the Jewish state. ADL and AIPAC are also linked to “that old time religion” knucklehead Christian Zionists concentrated in the Republican Party who have their Scofield Bibles firmly embedded between their ears where their brains are supposed be. A partial solution would be to make the Jewish-Zionist groups register as foreign government agents directed by Israel under the the terms of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which is exactly what they are, but that will never happen. President John F. Kennedy tried to register the predecessor group to AIPAC and many believe he paid the ultimate price for that affront as well as for his bid to stop Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
So, my fellow Americans, what should we do? Well, we should do whatever we can, which includes speaking out about how we have been sold out by our leaders and opinion makers, and we should continue to do that even knowing that they will try to silence us by destroying free speech in this country. It is all we have left and we should continue to oppose what is happening. The first step however, is to get rid of politicians like Joe and Donald, who have been completely corrupted by more than fifty years in the “system” and are totally sold out and irresponsible in their behavior. There are honest politicians and journalists out there and we just have to find them, support them and get them elected and in positions where they will be able to bring about change in how things are done in Washington! One might call it the New American Revolution to restore our rights and free us from foreign oppression!

Discover the art of candle mold customization using latex for unique and beautiful results.

Understanding Latex Candle Molds

Latex candle molds are a popular choice among candle makers due to their flexibility and versatility. These molds are made from latex, a natural material that is derived from the sap of rubber trees. Latex molds can be used to create a wide variety of candle shapes and designs, allowing for endless possibilities in candle making.
One of the key advantages of using latex candle molds is their ability to capture intricate details. The flexible nature of latex allows it to easily reproduce the fine details of a design, resulting in candles that are highly realistic and visually appealing. Whether you want to create candles in the shape of flowers, animals, or geometric patterns, latex molds can help you achieve stunning results.
In addition to their flexibility, latex candle molds are also durable and long-lasting. With proper care and maintenance, these molds can be used repeatedly, making them a cost-effective choice for candle makers. They are also resistant to heat and can withstand high temperatures, ensuring that your candles will come out perfectly every time.
Understanding the properties and benefits of latex candle molds is essential for candle makers who are looking to take their craft to the next level. By harnessing the power of latex, you can create customized candles that are truly works of art.

Benefits of Using Latex for Candle Mold Customization

There are several advantages to using latex for candle mold customization. Here are some of the key benefits:

1. Flexibility: Latex molds are highly flexible, allowing them to easily capture intricate details and reproduce complex designs. This makes them ideal for creating unique and customized candles.
   
2. Durability: Latex molds are durable and long-lasting, making them a cost-effective choice for candle makers. With proper care, these molds can be used repeatedly without losing their shape or quality.
   
3. Heat Resistance: Latex is resistant to heat and can withstand high temperatures, ensuring that your candles will come out perfectly every time. This makes it easier to achieve consistent results and create candles that burn evenly.
   
4. Versatility: Latex molds can be used to create a wide variety of candle shapes and designs. Whether you want to make candles in the shape of flowers, animals, or geometric patterns, latex molds can help you bring your vision to life.
   

By choosing latex for candle mold customization, you can unlock a world of possibilities and create candles that are truly unique and stunning.

Tips for Customizing Your Candle Molds with Latex

Customizing your candle molds with latex requires some skill and knowledge. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Prepare your mold: Before applying latex to your candle mold, make sure it is clean and free from any dust or debris. This will ensure that the latex adheres properly and produces a smooth finish.
   
2. Apply a release agent: To prevent the latex from sticking to your mold, apply a release agent such as petroleum jelly or silicone spray. This will make it easier to remove the latex once it has dried.
   
3. Use multiple layers: For a stronger and more durable mold, apply multiple layers of latex. Each layer should be allowed to dry completely before applying the next one. This will help prevent the mold from tearing or breaking during the candle making process.
   
4. Experiment with colors and additives: Latex can be tinted with pigments or mixed with additives to create different effects. Try adding colorants or glitter to your latex to create candles that are visually stunning and unique.
   

By following these tips, you can customize your candle molds with latex and create candles that are truly one-of-a-kind.

Exploring Different Design Techniques with Latex Candle Molds

Latex candle molds offer endless possibilities when it comes to design. Here are a few techniques you can try:

1. Embedding: With latex molds, you can easily embed objects such as dried flowers, seashells, or gemstones into your candles. This adds a unique touch and creates a visually interesting effect.
   
2. Layering: By applying different layers of colored latex, you can create candles with a layered or marbled effect. This technique allows you to create candles with stunning visual appeal.
   
3. Texture: Latex molds can be used to create candles with textured surfaces. You can achieve this by applying a thin layer of latex to your mold and then pressing textured materials such as lace or fabric onto it. Once the latex dries, you can remove the textured material and reveal a beautiful textured surface on your candle.
   
4. Cutouts: With latex molds, you can create candles with intricate cutout designs. Simply cut out the desired shape from a piece of latex and attach it to the inside of your mold. When you pour the wax, the cutout shape will be filled with wax, creating a unique and visually appealing candle.
   

By exploring different design techniques with latex candle molds, you can create candles that are truly works of art.

Innovative Ways to Enhance Your Candle Making with Customized Latex Molds

Customized latex molds offer a world of possibilities when it comes to enhancing your candle making. Here are some innovative ways to use customized latex molds:

1. Personalized candles: Use customized latex molds to create candles that are personalized for special occasions or events. You can create candles with names, initials, or special messages, making them perfect for gifts or party favors.
   
2. Themed candles: Customize your latex molds to create candles that match a specific theme or style. Whether you're creating candles for a wedding, a holiday, or a special event, customized latex molds can help you bring your vision to life.
   
3. Sculptural candles: With customized latex molds, you can create candles that are not only functional but also serve as sculptural pieces of art. Use unique mold designs to create candles that are visually striking and make a statement in any space.
   
4. Limited edition candles: Create a sense of exclusivity by using customized latex molds to create limited edition candles. These unique candles can be released in small quantities and are perfect for collectors or candle enthusiasts.
   

By using customized latex molds, you can take your candle making to new heights and create candles that are truly extraordinary.