Hey there, I'm looking for some improvement in my dps games, I'm mostly a hitscan main with Cass and Soldier trying to improve but not really going anywhere, I had some quite rough matches today, ended up deranking from Diamond 5 to Plat 1, I felt like some of them were my fault just not playing properly, but here was this match I thought we might win but it was a close defeat and I feel I made some mistakes that made us lost the game, I just need someone's help to pinpoint these mistakes, and what can I do improve and fix them
Replay code: V0V1WY
Battletag / in-game username: Akif
Hero(es) played: Cass and Soldier
Skill tier / rank: Plat 1
Map: Antarctic Peninsula
PC or console: PC
I would appreciate any help and criticism!

Psychology awareness and faulting the AI
In this document i will go over and explain important information that i have found through test and trial over MANY years to help better tackle this “AI” with specific things to be aware of and the few ways to cause the V2K to fault. This will not cover the whole program nor will it cover other methods/technologies used by these programs. This will cover some basic knowledge needed to navigate life while dealing with this and the AI chatbot running within the “v2k”. To find information giving an overview of the programs that v2k operates within and other technologies used in tandem with it i will link below a detailed description.
This document is very time sensitive because this information is the only true way to bring the fight to these programs before the programs hit the civilian atmosphere large. There is no way to physically block this technology therefore you need to outthink the AI running it! Sounds easy right? Not really, it takes paying alot of attention and practice. Before getting into how to trick the artificial intelligence there are some things you need to be aware of.
Understanding the basics
Natural language processing (NLP)
The algorithms running these AI chatbots belong to a field of artificial intelligence called Natural Language Processing or NLP for short. Natural Language Processing is a field of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language. It powers applications like language translation, sentiment analysis, chatbots, and speech recognition. These chatbots operate on massive data banks that have been analyzing human thought patterns for years and since they have so much data then it is a fact that they have dealt with people similar to me, you and everyone around us.
Inner monologue
Before starting to practice tricking this AI you need to be familiar with a few things, firstly you need to have an understanding of what your inner monologue is. An inner monologue is the internal voice that narrates our thoughts, reflecting our feelings, ideas, and reactions without vocalizing them. It acts as a silent conversation within our mind, helping us process and organize our thoughts.
Biases
Second you need to be aware of your own biases and how you perceive things, everyone has different biases and perceptions and these algorithms take full advantage of it.
Emotions
The third point here is very important as it concerns emotions, emotions like anger, fear and sadness can trigger knee jerk reactions that can override logical thinking and this will be used as often as they deem necessary BECAUSE it overrides your rational thinking. IE : When gripped by anger you can lash out at someone or something that has nothing to do with your situation, when fear is present the v2k can promise safety in exchange for obedience, when sadness is overwhelming it will provide comfort to make you feel comfortable with it. All of these emotional states can be caused or amplified by the AI to gain an advantage over you.
These pointers should help you gain a small advantage in maintaining stability during these difficult times.
What is v2k?
V2K, or voice-to-skull technology, projects voices directly into your head, bypassing your ears. It can manifest as various personas, such as another individual in your life, the voice of God, an alien, or a fictional character. This technology can modify its voice and tone and intensity to enhance the perceived experience and better suit your situation. These same voices will oftentimes re read your inner monologue milliseconds after you think something to yourself in an effort to add confusion and convince you that it is your conscience. In simple terms : this is a voice in your head that is not yours.
Identify
Reading this you need to be aware that these methods will not work unless you acknowledge through these methods and KNOW that it is in fact not human but AI coded with algorithms, “just a computer program”, “0’s and 1’s”.
Faulting the AI/Algorithm
Method 1
The first method used to find the difference between the AI and a human operator is by finding keywords that it will use often and forcing it to repeat those keywords on purpose via “thinking it” so that it can copy your inner monologue but before finishing the whole word yourself you stop and it will finish it for you, this will be one indicator that it is not human. Finding keywords can be difficult at first if you’re not aware that they exist within the algorithm that runs the AI but once you start to pay attention to everything it says you will find that there are some words that it will use every-time if the conditions are met and ways to force these conditions. These conditions and keywords are unique to each individual so you will have to do your homework and pay attention to what yours are. These algorithms have a SET vocabulary. For instance just imagine you are thinking of doing something that the AI does not want you thinking about in some cases it will tell you “don’t even think about it” or variations of this and it will prompt you to think of something different. You also need to have some intention to perform this action you are thinking about or it will not trigger. for example, for some people it could be thinking of and wanting to engage in certain behaviors like smoking, drinking, doing drugs, being aggressive, talking to someone in specific that they don’t want you talking to among many things that it wants you to avoid. It will be clear that it doesn’t want you to do and think these things. This is just one of the ways to force it to use key words and phrases and will take plenty of paying attention. I suggest keeping track of the conversations by writing them down.
Method 2
The second of these methods consists of repeating certain letters or sounds with your inner monologue like “tttttttttt” or “mmmmmmmmm” and this will also trigger it to continue for a short period after you stop and allow you to acknowledge the AI as it re reads your inner monologue to you but your brain is quicker at stopping then the AI giving you about a second to acknowledge it. Using “shhhhhhh” is one of the better sounds as it will somehwat silence the v2k and give you a break on the chatbot rereading your thoughts.
Method 3
The third of these methods will require you to use rhetorical questions or questions with no real answer when in conversation with the AI, questions like : does a bear shit in the woods? What colour has the best personality? Theres are sarcastic in nature but can have multiple answers or no answers at all, this will cause the AI to stop speaking for a short period of time and likely cause it to throw a keyword or phrase at you OR an operator to take over because this is something that doesn’t make sense and is very difficult for an algorithm to make sense of something that doesn’t.
Method 4
Fourth method is input starvation. You need to think of “nothing”, no thoughts so nothing for the algorithm to react or answer to. The best way to do this is to force the thought of a black empty space in your mind. This is the easiest of all methods but requires the most attention and practice.
Putting these techniques together can make a big difference when dealing with the voice to skull BUT this is merely a fraction of what you need to pay attention to if you want to stand a chance at defeating this technology. Once you start to acknowledge that this is just an algorithm and not human through these methods you will begin to encounter human operators and here is yet another part that takes practice and will ultimately take up alot of time. Once you begin to fault this AI and acknowledge that it is in fact just an algorithm this will set off an “alarm” which on their end is like a notification telling them that you’ve broken through the algorithms and are starting to understand how things work.
Once you have mastered these things you will find yourself in much more control of your situation and life as this will help you realize that these technologies should have NO bearing on reality.
I will continue writing another document on how to deal with the human operators
Below i will link my first document outlining what my findings have produced about these programs and other technologies used within them, mind you there is missing information but it will help give you an idea.
https://www.reddit.comkeyword-exactly/s/dnvuQu64DX - my findings on v2k, directed energy weapons

This is the loneliest I've EVER felt
I deal with depression. We go waaaay back. In middle school, I juggled bouts of sadness and depression. It's been there for a looooong ass time, just outta sight but always within reach. Well, I'm within its reach. There's definitely a difference. I am never reaching for depression. I never desire the weeks alone, mired in negativity, absorbed by scenarios of self-destruction. No one wants that. Nobody.
Throughout life, I've taken great care to cultivate a circle that prevents the feelings of depression. In high school, I sought homies with "bigger" issues. It was easier to talk with them, grind with them, get lost in their quest for ways out of "da hood". There was a fight in each of them. Each homie had a plan to get out. Often, their plans coincided with each other and shit hit a fan. None of that scared me. Rolling with them kept me from loneliness, abandonment, crazy thoughts and real nightmares.
After high school, I jumped from college to college. Each stop was short as I dove into criminal activities. Sure, marijuana was an element, a motivation of my poor judgment because I didn't know any other route to achieve it. Rolling with young people, smoking marijuana, getting wasted was a basic lifestyle of college, any and every college. In high school, I knew those faces, locations, prices, and strength of marijuana. In high school, I knew where to go for alcohol, I limited myself because the threat of my parents discovering my actions shamed me. In college, all that was removed. I rolled with new people, took new risks and did my best to hide the darkness from whoever was around. The results should've been tragic. Hell, I expected tragic results as I continued taking risks with people I barely knew. Besides poor grades and crappy attendance, I earned legal troubles at 2 of my 1st 3 universities. The 3rd was such a close call that I left on my own.
Depression stalked me from high school to college. I graduated, got married, had kids, bought a house, did yard work, hosted Bar-B-Qs and tried to deal with depression without marijuana. I banked on binge drinking and having as much fun as possible. It worked! The activities and responsibilities of marriage and parenting shielded me. I could go months without saddling my mental health to the darkness. I built a wall around my family life, determined to lock this busier, happier version of myself with the growing family. Doing this presented unique challenges and I conquered them all.
Theeeeeen, I'm struck with Multiple Sclerosis. The disease is the slowest form of death. First, the truth of the disease litters imagination and thoughts with negativity. The truth is there is no cure. The truth disables its victims. The truth affects perspective, relationships, and an individual's potential. Each of these essential elements of human existence are directly related to depression, abandonment, and loneliness.
The loneliness of Multiple Sclerosis starts with physically being alone. As symptoms multiply, gaining strengths, the opportunities to be with others dwindle. People come over with full intentions to kick it with you but the group literally moves too much, back and forth, inside and outside, porch and garage, it wears me out. I feel like I farted in the room when I mentioned the movement. There's less talking as people act as if anything they say or do may upset me. rolls eyes That’s when loneliness intensifies. I'm surrounded by friends and family but I'm truly alone. This happens more often than not, injecting me with replays. Even as I write this, it stings. It's a reminder that I'm alone. People give an honest effort; I recognize that, I'm grateful. But, I'm alone. I'm constantly accepting the genuine effort and it feels like I'm sacrificing myself for whatever they offer. That digs the loneliness further in my spirit. This is the loneliest I've ever felt.
On a regular basis, I suffocate on the presence of people I can't talk to. They leave their shoes, purses, bags and everything in the most inconvenient places. Always somewhere that makes my movement more restricted. My cups and plates are nestled at the back of cabinets, food at the top of the refrigerator. I stretch myself in dangerous positions to reach them. Conversations are awkward as people reminisce about activities and events that I can no longer participate in. Vacations, celebrations, nights out, road trips are planned. Rarely am I included because I require disability bars and key wheelchair-accessible accommodations. I overstand why I'm left out and don't fault anyone but still, I'm scrapping for survival. I don't want to ruin everyone else's good time by dragging my limitations into happy talks and well-deserved excursions. My perspective defines the beautiful side of ugly.
This is the loneliest I've EVER felt.

Title says is all.
Our team has a sprite based isometric 2D game we're making where characters are currently "pill people," similar to Rimworld or Prison Architect, but far more detailed, and animated using a custom solution that allows us to key frame in engine any new floating weapons or tools a character may want to use, similar to Rayman.
Some potential players blanch at the lack of arms and legs, suggesting they fall into an uncanny valley between too detailed and not enough. I said the exact same thing about Rimworld my first time playing and honestly 1500 hours later having made a massively successful mod for it -- I STILL don't like the pawns level of detail. :p I remember ignoring Rimworld because I thought it looked jank (so did many others.)
But what this style lacks in detail it makes up for in imagination and simplicity, adding a flabbergasting about of features without needing complex animations for absolutely every minute action a pawn might need to do. Blacksmiths and machinists and surgeries and harvesting -- it's all gestures. This opens wide modding potential and endless replaying potential.
That's my intent with our own system. Maintain the simplicity of animation and art any modder can learn and make new assets for without needing an advanced art degree, but still look good!
But again -- we've pivoted from isometric 2d to 3d already to solve sorting and lighting issues. We've also pivoted away from 2d creatures now to have more of a StarCraft or Hades approach using 3D rigged models with hand painted textures which move as if they are isometric sprites (massively easier to deal with than rendering sprite sheets like the inspirations.)
So it's a matter of time before we get asked by potential customers -- why not just have 3D characters too?
I don't want to make another face & outfit generator. That would honestly risk team burnout. Many of our solutions would survive the transition just fine. The game is highly modular. But it would suck to have to go back in and engineer a 3d solution all from scratch. Let alone wildly expensive to hire a contractor specifically for the task.
Mesh deformation and shaders are not part of our team's core talents. So I'd like to look further afield at solutions available for Unity right now, that will work out of the box, which we can then manually paint as artists filling it with new assets.
We can remake our existing modular outfits and repaint in 3D. It would take about a year to fully pivot, the two artists and I. But would be easier to maintain than our existing sprite system and create new art after that (in some ways easier, others harder.)
So -- what's out there?
What cool face generation systems exist that would work in a hand painted, low poly style?
I'm not into anime and realism wouldn't fit.
Lowpoly (tons of characters on screen -- up to 60 right now at 100fps) and hand painted.
Ideally on the asset store, but I'm happy to look at other people's custom solutions.

Hi, with the new version I was able to pretty easily set up a workaround-solution to have a periodically changing random wallpaper set as your background from your wp library. This is of course until the feature itself is not integrated into the UI.
TL:DR; if you don't want to make a customized schedule, I have a barebones .bat and schedule.xml you can import into taskschd.msc (you can start it with Win+R)
Open the xml for editing and fill out the following fields: AUTHOR, UserId, Command, first two may be optional, I haven't tried it. Save the file.
Import the file into taskschd.msc and set it to active if it isn't by default.
Download the files from here:

1. Open: LivelyWallpaperRandomScheduledSelect
2. Click green Code button
3. Select Download ZIP option from the dropdown

Long description:
Please note wordiage might differ, as I'm translating from different OS language to EN
Create a .bat file with a name of your liking with the following contents:

cd "C:\Program Files\Lively Wallpaper" lively.exe setwp --file random exit 

Create a scheduled task in windows:

1. Win+R -> taskschd.msc
2. Create new task
3. Give a name
4. Set to run with admin right with the checkbox towards the bottom of General tab
5. Startup tab: New -> Schedule: Login -> Repeat task: your choise of schedule
6. Actions tab: New -> Action: Start application -> Provide a location for your .bat file
7. Settings tab: Uncheck "Stop task if it runs more than X day" in case you rarely turn off your PC
8. Click OK and you are done

You can check if it works by right clicking the task you created and selecting Run option.

I would like to get this off my chest because trying to search for help with "what to do when my child hurts animals on purpose" isn't getting me anywhere.
I've had moments in my life where I've done violent things for seemingly no reason. Before animals it was violence towards my brother who is 4 years younger than me and I am currently 23. One time maybe at about 8 or 9 years old I was given one of those weighted metal bell balls (I dont know what these are actually called but it's a pair that you fidget with in one hand). I ended up going to my brother and dropping it onto his head and reasonably getting in a lot of trouble for it. When we got a little older he had a loose tooth that wouldn't fall out. One day he came up to me and I noticed it. I ended punching him in the mouth and his tooth did come out but again I shouldn't have done it in the first place. At some random moments I would even just punch him for being near me. It's such shitty behavior and it's horrible how violent I've been to him for no reason. We have a pretty close relationship now as adults and often hangout to share memes but regardless I still hurt him.
Now here's the really shitty stuff. It was years later our family adopted dogs, two dachshunds. I love these sweet little hotdogs a lot and constantly think about these moments with extreme guilt and self hatred. I would pinch their ears, smack them on the head on days I was angry, or just scream at them for no reason. But I think my worst act in the long run was a form of playing where I tossed them up the air and roughly caught them. I did it occasionally when I was younger and now they've become elderly dogs that now have trouble doing things they used to. One of the dogs developed cateracts and a curved spine overtime and is now much more aggressive around people. I believe my actions are what has caused his spinal condition and aggressive behavior. I know he is suffering and I should never forgive myself for tormenting him. They are beloved members of our family and I hurt them. They did nothing to deserve any of this but the reality is that I hurt them and I am so ashamed that I think I would prefer to die.
Something more recent maybe two-ish years ago happened to some freshly caught crabs my father had bought. We were preparing to steam them soon and had moved them from a cooler to the kitchen sink. I was the kitchen to look after them in case they managed to climb out. At one point I turned on the faucet and hot water and watched them. They were going to be cooked soon but I made the choice to make them suffer and just stood there blankly.
All these events replay in my mind and telling myself I didn't know what I was doing is complete bullshit. There was a choice made that day and it was choosing disgusting inhumane violence against innocent living beings who have done nothing to deserve it.
Even now I get violent thoughts to hurt people and animals and it makes me so sick. We see this type of behavior in serial killers for fucks sake. There is definately something seriously wrong in my brain and I don't know what or why. This isn't a normal symptom of anything I have. I can feel bad for myself and say I'm sorry as much as I want but it will never undo what I did to them. I think if I ended up as a murderer in the future I wouldn't be surprised, but I hope to be put down or stopped before that happens.
I am forever sorry for all those I have hurt and hope to never forget what I've done.

Replay Code: 791W94 Battletag: ChaoticGood Hero Played: Soldier 76 Rank: Bronze 1 PC
Been playing this game since it came out, and I've only ever topped out at Silver 1 before falling. I don't really expect to win anymore(not in a defeatist mindset way, I absolutely still enjoy the game just losing just about every game is essentially a part of it for me), but I still like playing comp and trying to improve. Any tips on literally anything would be great.

I don't mind losing in ranked, but like damn being the test subject here sucks lol. Feel free to correct me if this isn't the same Celestalon here and it's just some random hacker. (1) Celestalon (@Celestalon) / X (twitter.com) .
https://replays.firestoneapp.com/?reviewId=85b6f564-e552-458f-af91-638f756bd8a5&turn=2&action=7

Monthly Merchandise Megathread #39!

Hello everyone! This is a mega thread for merchandise sales in which /Neopets members can advertise and find sales of Neopets merchandise with ease here. This thread will not be pinned after today, but it will be added to the sidebar.
Please read the following information carefully and trade safely!

Rules

• Sellers must abide by our 90/10 Advertising Rule:

Some Neopets-related promotional posts/comments are allowed if you are an active member of the subreddit. A maximum of 10% of your contributions can be promotional; the other 90% should be meaningful and active engagement in other conversations here.

• Please do NOT advertise a sales post in private messages/chats, thread comments, or in a new post. Don't treat the Neopets community as your own personal cash cow.
  
• If you are selling NC Cards, please follow and adhere to the 90/10 rule as outlined above.
  
• NC Cards/Merch/Codes are NOT to be traded with NP/NC items as that is against site rules.
  
• Art, craft, and coding commissions are NOT allowed due to the legal complications involved. (We are waiting to re-evaluate this once the Neopets Fan Art program fully releases.) Additionally, we do not condone DMing random people to sell merch either.
  
• Moderators have no liability with respect to any conducted transactions.
  
• Moderators are not liable for lost funds or time. We cannot help you get your money back/your merch. It is YOUR responsibility to uphold your end and choose partners wisely. Caveat Emptor.
  
• Moderators will step in if we receive multiple reports that a user is abusing the marketplace via not delivering works, not paying or any other breach of trust.
  

General

• This thread is in CONTEST MODE This is to discourage downvoting in order to increase everyone's visibility and make it fairer for participants arriving throughout the day. All posts are randomized!
  
• Please observe all rules as outlined in our community and discussion guidelines! (Check out the nifty sidebar!)
  
• The plan is to have a mega thread every first Saturday of the month.
  
• Reminder: NEVER mention Reddit (or any variations thereof like Read It, Arr! Neopets, Blue Aliens, “that other site”, etc) or this thread on Neopets itself! We are not an officially affiliated fansite and doing so can put your account—or the ones of others—at risk of getting frozen!
  

Courtesy

• If you do gift, gift at your own discretion.
  
• Exercise caution when it comes to new Reddit/Neopets accounts posting on the thread.
  
• Please don’t be rude and steal other people’s sales if they are not intended for you.
  
• There is to be no begging or harassment of any kind.
  
• Report any suspicious individuals to the mods! This thread is a free-for-all chaotic mess most of the time and not micro-managed in any manner.
  

FAQ

Is Selling NC Cards/Merch/Codes Neo-Legal?

• See Neopian Times, Issue 529 (tl;dr: Yes, but no exchanging on-site NP/NC for IRL Merch)

Hi, TNT. While I was browsing through eBay, I found Neopets trading cards for sale. There are so many, and I was interested in buying some, but wouldn't that be against the rules? I don't really think it would be, but I'd rather ask than risk my account. I'm not 100% sure, but can't you redeem codes from the cards in the packs and get items? Would that then be considered buying items? ~i_luv_cows12345
No, physical merchandise produced or officially licensed by us is just fine to buy, sell, or trade online. This includes stuff like real life plushies, action figures, TCG cards, etc. Codes are considered a legitimate part of these items. Items you cannot buy or sell online are virtual items, Neopoints, Neopets, or accounts.

• See Neopian Times, Issue 610 (tl;dr: Yes, but no exchanging on-site NP/NC for IRL Merch)

Hi, TNT! I have an odd question for you.... about commissions. Now, I know taking them in exchange for anything on Neopets is against the rules, as is doing commissions with Neopets characters. However... what about real-life merchandise? I'm the sort that's willing to take trades, and I was wondering: could someone pay me in Neopets plushies? What about rare item codes, or Neocash? (the cards, not actual on-site NC items) I mean, people sell the item codes on eBay all the time, so wouldn't that be okay? As far as NC cards go, if I'm just going to buy them anyway, why not save a step? Would these be against the Terms & Conditions because they give things on the site itself? I mean, obviously, it still wouldn't be okay to do a commission OF Neopets, but in exchange for merchandise, where do you guys stand? (please remove my username) ~username removed
As you said, as long as you aren't taking commissions of Neopets intellectual property, you're welcome to trade or sell your real-world merchandise however you'd like. According to Lawyerbot: "Trading plushies, rare item codes, NC cards, etc. for real-life merchandise is fine. I once traded my brother's turtle to a friend for a Shadow Uni Plushie.

Can I just send the Space Faerie Code, but keep the items?

• See Neopian Times, Issue 651 (tl;dr: Yes)

Hi, TNT! So, I had a question about gifting rare item codes, Space Faerie codes, site theme codes (like Puzzle Adventure), etc. I know it is against the rules to ask for anything like "tips" or compensation in return for gifting a code, as well as selling codes. However, is it against the rules to ask someone to return the item that they got from the code itself? Say someone receives a plushie from redeeming a code. Is it okay to ask that they return the plushie, or would it be better to say something like, "I would greatly appreciate if you return the item, but it's not required" since non-requested thank you gifts are allowed? I just wanted to be sure. Thank you for your time! Also, a side note: I LOVE YOU, TNT. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 9+ YEARS NOW AND NEOPETS IS AWESOME. spreads love Please remove my username. ~username removed
If the receiver is kind enough to return the item from the code, we wouldn't consider it any sort of "tip" due to the nature of Rate Item Codes. That said, once you give away the code, it is up to the codebearer to decide what to do with the item. You can ask them as you phrased the example above, but code gifting is an unsupported transaction and we will likely be unable to assist if the person chooses to keep the item.

Where can I redeem codes?

• Redeem most codes at the Grundo Warehouse.
  
• Redeem Neocash Cards codes here.
  
• Redeem TCG codes at the Neopets TCG Prize Code Redemption.
  

What Neopets Merchandise gives out the Space Faerie challenger?

Products that can reward the Space Faerie challenger are:

• Old Neocash Mystery Capsules Codes
  
• Fun Pak Codes
  
• Comic-Con Codes
  
• Newer Merch Codes (Geekify, What’s Your Passion, etc.), etc.
  
• TCG, Current Neocash, and Promotional Rare Item Codes do not reward the Space Faerie challenger.
  

Neopets Official Merch

• Neopets Shop
• What’s Your Passion
• Geekify
• More here: Merch Partners

Neopets Fan Art Program

• Calling All Creative Neopians! (Jan 10, 2024)
• The Neopets Fan Art Program will be a platform to showcase trusted and approved sellers who create quality Neopets-inspired artwork. This means approved sellers can legitimately sell digital Neopets products and commissions for real-world currency, with support directly from Neopets. Approved sellers will be featured on a dedicated page directly on Neopets.com, with an opportunity to share your work and build connections with potential clients and customers! There, Neopets will be able to link visitors to your store to purchase directly, meaning you won’t have to worry about any fees from Neopets! Your earnings will be 100% your own. This will also protect you and give you confidence in providing your services without risk of copyright infringement or rule violations on your Neopets account.

Replay code is: 4GE9CB
At the end of the match, the enemy team made a comment saying “ximming for what”. I have no idea we have a ximmer on our team (blue team). It was a rough game for us, we were doing good in the beginning. Then our soldier flamed our tank for falling back when anti’d, he started trashing talking in vc but not too bad that I’m not sure if that’s reportable. When the enemy said we got a ximmer, I looked at the replay and I think the soldier might be the one they’re talking about. Can someone confirm for me so I don’t wrongly report people? Also the way they just ran around the map doing nothing is really weird to me. This is a plat 2 to plat 5 game btw.

PRESENT
This is Part 2 of 3, the Present, in game events we see! Onwards!
The Protagonist is some sort of content creator, one that goes to abandoned or forgotten places and "searches" them, as can be gleaned from the cameras facing the protagonist on his desk, and his conversation with a certain Laura, or LSparks53 (there's also an error in this Harmony tab, with one of the messages from Laura reading as from LauraSparks53 instead of LSparks53. Just a note). This Laura helps our protagonist, who goes by the username of eEnsign. His profile picture are the letters UF, which is weird, since it doesn't match the username, nor what Laura calls eEnsign: Ed. Anyways, I digress. From now on, I'll call the protagonist Ed as well. Laura helps Ed get footage of these places as per the conversation.
eEnsign: "Hey Laura! I'm doing another search this weekend! Wanna come with me?"
LSparks53: "The last few times I've gone with you SUCKED LMAO."
eEnsign: "Remember that old theme park we went to see as kids? Indigo Park?"
LSparks53: "yeah? I kind of forgot about that place? Been closed for a while, right? how would you even get in?"
eEnsign: "Honestly, I don't know. I'm not even gonna bring my equipment. Jump a fence of something? We've done worse lol”
LSparks53: "aight, well just be careful. I'm gonna pass on this one. if you can get in i'll go with you to help record some other time. i'm looking it up now and there's like NO info online about it. probably swarming with cops too."
eEnsign: "I guess we'll find out! I'll check it out, maybe we can go together next week?
Lsparks53: "just be careful, Ed. I don't want to be paying your bail."
And with that conversation, we learn that these two are like a dynamic duo of sorts, having some sort of channel or website where they post footage of places lost to time and "search" them, breaking laws of trespassing and such, apparently also having "done worse", whatever that means. Maybe they took a few things from the place, so burglary? It's never specified. Probably burglary, though, considering that Ed has taken to collecting all sorts of plushies and such from Indigo Park.
What I want to point out is how weird this Laura person acts. As soon as Indigo Park is mentioned, Laura instantly seems to dislike the idea, but never directly says it. Instead, she becomes reluctant to go with Ed, despite having done worse, as Ed puts it. Perhaps she's just cautious, and based on her last sentence, they haven't been caught before, or else she would have said "I don't want to be paying your bail again."
However, I don't think that's the case. Remember when Laura said she looked up Indigo Park and found nothing? Well, we know the website is still up and running, or at the very least, Ed used some sort of service like the Wayback Machine to pull it up on the right most monitor on his desk, which can be seen in the opening cutscene. On it, there's even an option to purchase tickets still, which is incredibly weird, which I'll also go into later on. Why would a defunct theme park need a still running website? After all, if you evacuate everyone from it with no explanation, wouldn't you want to get rid of all evidence of it? If not destroy the property outright, then at least take the website down. Again, digressing, the point is that Laura didn't find this website ... or she did, but didn't say anything.
Again, this is purely speculation at this point; I mean, the two of them have broke into a few places trespassing and recording and documenting abandoned places at least a few times for the internet, and maybe she really is just that cautious, worried about being imprisoned and charged for trespassing, and even attempted burglary.
And it seems like Ed is asking the same questions we are. Behind the Harmony tab is a notes tab with several questions such as "Why did it close?" and "What is left?", among a few others that are cut off. The next question seems to ask "Is it still" something. Seems like Ed and us are in the same boat. Hopefully we can help each other out.
Regardless, Ed ends up climbing the fence and enters the closed off Indigo Park, where dozens of crates stamped with the Indigo Park logo, along with trash, can be seen. Walking around, the main gates are closed off, and one of the doors seem to open on their own, allowing Ed entry into the Registration Center, a desk with a few monitors where a Rangler would sit and check Ed in.
Inside, the Rambley AI comes to life, noting that Ed is the first person there in just over eight years, before directing us to the previously mentioned Registration Center. It is revealed here that AI Rambley has access to the cameras (both computer cameras and CCTV cameras), where he notes that Ed isn’t on the guest list, probably because he snuck in, and didn’t pay for his tickets. However, what stands out as odd is that Rambley doesn’t recognize Ed at all, asking if he was here for the first time. We know that it’s most definitely not Ed’s first time here, but it’s unclear if AI Rambley doesn’t recognize Ed because he grew up, or the registration process requires a photo upload.
Rambley AI: "Hm, I don't seem to have your face in the guest list. Is this your first time here in the park? Or did you just get plastic surgery?"
From here, Ed’s directed to go through the gates, but both AI Rambley and Ed realize that the gates are not open and are instead sending an error message. Going back to the Registration Center, Ed finds and replaces a missing gear, and the gates finally open, from where Ed is free to explore. He’s directed to the Critter Corner, where he receives a Critter Cuff to enter certain areas, and the park, from where he’s directed to Rambley’s Railway to get to know most (poor Salem) of the characters. A massive statue of Isaac Indigo and Rambley can be seen at the entrance.
As Ed makes his way through to Rambley Railway, it’s clear that the park is not in the best condition. Ransacked gift stores, empty cafes with rotting food and festering drinks, tunnels collapsing at the drop of a hat, and weeds spouting everywhere even disconcert the AI Rambley, who tries to shrug off the state of the park by claiming renovations, but it’s clear he’s unsettled with how empty and broken the park is. We’ll cover that later as well.
On this ride, Rambley introduces us to everyone, except for Salem, indicating he’s friends with everyone except her and Lloyd, for whom he has … let’s a bit of distaste for. He’s shown to be sarcastic and snippy with Lloyd, but even his supposed friends aren’t safe from his occasional jabs.
Rambley when speaking to Mollie Macaw: “You sure are [the best pilot you ever saw], Moll! Why, you only crashed into six barns this week!”
Mollie: “I’m not crashin’, Rambley! I’m barnstormin’!”
Rambley: “Haha! What’s barnstorming?”
Mollie: “It’s crashing, with style! I-it barely hurts at all!”
The stutter in Mollie’s audio is what interests me. It could be interpreted as a glitch, which is certainly possible. The park hasn’t been maintained in eight years, and it is falling apart. But it could also be interpreted as Mollie losing her characteristic confidence, upset that Rambley seems to be so keen on pointing out her failures in her hobby sphere.
Rambley, when speaking to Finley the Sea Serpent: “Why the long face? And body? … Oh Finley, you should come out of YOUR shell!”
Finley, in response. “How about YOU come into it instead?”
I would also like to note AI Rambley’s interaction with Finley’s plushie.
AI Rambley: “Ooh, you found my buddy Finley! You know, he’s really shy, like, TOO shy, like OBNOXIOUSLY shy, but he’s got a good heart.”
I want to point out the fact that when Rambley speaks about how shy Finley is, he doesn’t seem to be doing it in a jesting way. In fact, he seems genuinely annoyed with how introverted Finley is, to the point where you can hear it in his voice, and he also uses his annoyed model with slanted eyes when mentioning it.
There’s also a note here that, apparently, Rambley and Finley have known each other for over 100 years, though it’s unclear if this is actually real information, or just something the creators of the ride decided to include for the fun of it.
And another thing. At the very end of the Finley section, Finley hopes that the rider will actually visit him and Oceanic Odyssey, because he’s lonely. Why should he be lonely? He’s friends with Rambley and Mollie, at the very least. Is it because he lives on the bottom of the ocean? Or for other reasons?
Ed then reaches Salem’s area, which is noticeably, horrifically destroyed, a splatter of something bright red front and center. This is where the ride breaks down, and Ed’s required to go and fix it, before continuing onto Lloyd’s area.
I’d like to stop the story to consider the state of Salem’s area; why is it so destroyed? I’m going to avoid thinking of the red splatter as blood, to be honest, but we do know that the Mascots bleed red, thanks to Mollie Macaw. In my mind, there are three potential perpetrators.
The first two are noticeably weak connections, and the reasoning isn’t 100%, so take it with a grain of salt. We know that all the characters received Mascots, so there are three of them that, in my mind, are capable.
The first is, admittedly, a bit weird: the Mascot of Salem. We know she despises Rambley and his friends (her relationship with Lloyd remains a mystery), so it’s possible that Mascot Salem was the one to sabotage her area, as a way of getting back at Rambley. Why her area only is admittedly a bit weird, so she’s not the strongest match. Another piece of evidence would be the smashed animatronic of Mollie. Again, we do know that Salem has used Mollie before by dumping her potions onto her and making Mollie Salem’s minion. Could she also have smashed the animatronic bird?
The second suspect is Mascot Mollie. She can be seen following Ed throughout the ride, and the whole park, for that matter, and we do know there is some bad blood between her and Salem because of the arcade game Rambely Rush. It would give motive for Mascot Mollie to do such a thing, and she’s the only Mascot running about Indigo Park that we know of; Lloyd remained in his theater, not pursuing Ed when he leaves. At the end of the chapter, when Ed enters Oceanic Odyssey, it’s unclear whether a robot or Mascot Finley appears in the aquarium, but he’s likely confined there as well. Mascots Rambley and Salem aren’t even mentioned once.
Now, this one is also kind of a stretch, but the only character that would have more reason to hate Salem more than Mollie is Rambley. They are clear nemeses (again, Rambley Rush), and have been for quite some time. While the AI Rambley is generally benevolent, but still with a sharp tongue, it remains to be seen what exactly the Mascot Rambley is like. His Mascot is still likely here in Indigo Park somewhere, one of the remaining two (Mollie being dead, unless there are several of each Mascot present, in which case this elevates the terror a few notches. Imagine being chased by seventeen Mascot Lloyds) besides Salem. He could very well be the perpetrator. However, I do have a bit of trouble explaining why he would wreck the Animatronic Mollie. Maybe because he knows it’s just a fake, and not the real Mascot Mollie?
However, there is one convenient detail that I have not mentioned. Remember the smashed Animatronic Mollie, and how we were questioning why she was wrecked in the first place? Well, she does offer us one clue. When Ed approaches the bird, Mollie flickers to life momentarily, her voice garbled and distorted until finally, she says this:
Animatronic Mollie: “Not Rambley! He hurts Lloyd! He hurts Lloyd!”
After that, poor Animatronic Mollie finally shuts off for good, her painted eyes devoid of the life she once had. Well, this certainly got interesting, didn’t it? Rambley hurts Lloyd? How? I mean, think about it! How would a raccoon actively hurt a lion? This isn’t like a honey badger situation; raccoons are much more vulnerable and weaker than honey badgers. What’s also interesting is her words themselves. Why would someone program an Animatronic Mollie to say this? We eventually find out that Mascot Mollie will memorize and be able to repeat words or phrases she’s heard, if Ed has the misfortune of being caught by Mascot Mollie later down the line. Is it possible that the same is true for the animatronics? And if so, does that mean that Animatronic Mollie was shouting bits and pieces out of context, or was it supposed to be something she was never meant to hear, and was thusly wrecked?
And even if this was out of context, that still opens up a major can of worms. Even if Rambley never hurt Lloyd, who is this ‘He’ that did hurt Lloyd? Keep this in mind until we reach Lloyd’s attraction.
Anyways, onto Llyod’s area. It’s clear that Lloyd and Rambley both don’t like each other, quite possibly because Rambley hates how Lloyd used to be number one, and Lloyd possibly because he’s not happy that he was replaced by Rambley as head honcho. Rambley, for his part, doesn’t really try to antagonize Lloyd, just wearily going through the ride and trying to get out as fast as possible here.
And that’s essentially it for the ride, AI Rambley suggesting Ed go visit Jetstream Junction. Careful observation would yield the fact that Mascot Mollie has been stalking Ed, studying him from behind the scenes, though she won’t end up being an antagonist until later on.
What’s interesting to note is that at the end, AI Rambley says this: “So, whatddya think? Pretty fun, right? Now you know all about my friends! And Lloyd …”
We know that Rambley cannot stand Salem, Rambley Rush made it quite clear. So, why refer to Salem as a friend? Why is her area so wrecked? Is it possible that AI Rambley has no reason to hate her, because he’s not aware of how often he’s pitted against her in media? But that would also mean that AI Rambley would have to be quite unaware of the media surrounding him, but he seems to know a lot about the history of the park. He still dislikes Lloyd, after all. And then that would beg the question if Mascot Rambley actually dislikes Salem enough to destroy her area in his ride. Too many questions that, unfortunately, there are no answers for. We can’t even see AI Rambley’s thoughts on Salem through a plush or anything, because there are no current collectibles in Chapter 1 that refer to her.
This is actually why I think one of the more intriguing aspects of ‘Birds of a Feather’ is Salem, and her ambiguous presence within the game. There aren’t even any posters in regard to her, unlike Lloyd or Rambley or Mollie or Finley. She’s just so wrapped up in mystery … anyways.
After finding out Jetstream Junction is locked away, AI Rambley sends Ed to Lloyd’s Main Stage Theater, where Ed first catches a glimpse of Mascot Lloyd, dozing on the stage. When Mascot Lloyd notices Ed, he runs into the back, and unfortunately, that’s where Ed has to go.
When Ed reaches the stage himself, AI Rambley tells Ed to be careful, because he has no vision of the backstage area, which is weird. AI Rambley seems to have access to the rest of Indigo Park, why is this area so special? It’s just storage, for the most part … and Mascot Lloyd, but AI Rambley still thinks they’re just as good as they were in their hay day, so he has no reason to be wary of the Mascots themselves until later. It’s true that it’s a Ranglers Only area, and we haven’t really seen AI Rambley in these areas before, so that could be it? Maybe because of his dislike for Lloyd? But then why give AI Rambley access to the stage at all? I don’t know, to be honest. Yet another question. However, AI Rambley does say something interesting.
AI Rambley, to Ed, regarding the behind the stage area: “Hey buddy. I got eyes all over the park, but I can’t see anything behind the stage. If you’re going back there be careful. Your Critter Cuff is not yet able to resuscitate you.”
Why should a Critter Cuff be able to resuscitate a person? From what I understand, it’s supposed to be like those Disney Bands that you can wear at parks, giving you access to different rides and such, even having complementary features of being a pedometer, mood ring, and a heartbeat sensor. This could either be a sort of tease to future upgrades Ed might be able to get in future chapters … or implies something darker. These Critter Cuffs were given to regular guests, for what purpose should they be able to revive someone from being unconscious?
Anyways, as Ed makes his way backstage, Lloyd makes some appearances, even once trying to attack Ed before being foiled by the massive boxes landing on him, causing him to slink away. Along the path, however, is something interesting. Binders, pages, even notebooks are scattered, almost like a bread crumb trail. I was never able to make out what they say besides some months like January, or vague Table of Contents with no explanation. Just thought it was weird. Food for thought. Grabbing the keys, Ed heads back, finding the door locked behind him. Trying to open the door yields an attack by Lloyd, who is strangely repelled by a high-pitched noise.
Now, from all that I have read, there seem to be two theories as for why Lloyd flees. The first cause is that Mascot Lloyd is driven away by the high-pitched beeping from the Critter Cuff. The second, and arguably more intriguing theory, is that someone blows a tamer’s whistle. A tamer’s whistle is a whistle used by tamers to direct animals, usually in settings like circuses where the animal has to perform some sort of trick or feat of athleticism. As it’s used more and more often, the animal learns to recognize the pitch, or duration of the shrill sound, associating it with a certain action that needs to be performed. In this case, the theory states that the tamer’s whistle caused Lloyd to fall back, before fleeing.
Now, while I think the tamer whistle theory is cool in concept, I don’t know who would be able, or more importantly, willing to save Ed from Mascot Lloyd. AI Rambley is not able to see what’s back here, nor should he understand what’s happening, so that removes him from the picture. Mascot Mollie is a possibility, perhaps wanting to save Ed for herself, as she’s seen stalking and watching Ed ever since Rambley’s Railroad, and even appears briefly in the hallway when Ed exits the theater backstage, but why want Ed for herself? They probably don’t need food, else they would have died, sweet pastries and sugary drinks present or not. They were left alone for eight years, after all. The thrill of the hunt would be the only explanation. And then there are our two unknowns, running about the park: Mascot Rambley and Mascot Salem. Could they have been the ones to do it? But why assume they’d act differently towards Ed? Surely they’d still be hostile?
And if the Critter Cuff was the savior, why was it ineffective against Mascot Mollie? Could it be because of the physiological and biological differences between Mascots Lloyd and Mollie? And why did it go off only when Lloyd was nearby? After Lloyd is repelled, the noise stops, after all. Was it the elevated heart rate that tipped off the defense mechanism? But again, surely it would have done the same when Ed would be chased by Mascot Mollie?
Remember what Animatronic Mollie told Ed with her dying breath? ‘Not Rambley! He hurts Lloyd! He hurts Lloyd!’ Could this be what Mollie was referring to? After all, Lloyd didn’t just run away; he collapsed a few feet away from Ed for a brief stint, paws pressing against his ears as Lloyd curled up into a fetal position, only running away when the high-pitched sound ended. Mascot Lloyd genuinely seemed in great pain, and was only able to run away, quite hastily, may I add, once the sound stopped. Was Rambley, AI or Mascot, the one who abused such a feature? Or was it someone else?
Remember, we have no idea why the Mascots turned hostile. Possibly due to a lack of exposure to humans, and thus claiming certain territories for themselves. After all, Mollie didn’t attack Ed until he entered her designated area. But then that brings into question Mascot Rambley. Where was he all this time? Rambley Railroad is his place, after all. But this isn’t Rambley’s only attraction in Indigo Park. At least one other location that we find that bears Rambley’s name is ‘Café de Raton Laveur’, which is French for Raccoon Café. Does that mean that Rambley owns other attractions, and is stalking those? It’s unclear.
Anyways, want to know another possible reason why there was a sudden evacuation with no explanation? What if the Mascots rebelled against the humans because of mistreatment? Think about it, Animatronic Mollie says ‘Not Rambley! He hurts Lloyd! He hurts Lloyd!’ What if Animatronic Mollie wasn’t referring to Rambley hurting Lloyd, but someone else? Someone who would want to design a special feature built into his Critter Cuff that he could activate and subdue, if not straight up hurt Lloyd? And who is the only other male character that we know of besides Rambley, Lloyd, Finley, and Ed?
That’s right, Isaac Indigo himself. This could very well be a case of mistreated creatures rebelling against the horrors they endured. Think about it, when in stressful situations, the mind, both human and not, is much more willing to go into fight or flight, is much more likely to punch first, question later. Is it possible that this Animatronic Mollie caught a snippet of a conflict that arose between the Mascots, when Mascot Mollie was trying to mediate? While this does go against the theory that Animatronic Mollie was destroyed by Mascot Rambley to silence her, it’s still a possible theory, no?
Again, these theories are very much a stretch, I just wished to lay them out on the table and offer them up for people to see and debate.
After grabbing the keys, Ed goes to Jetsream Junction, where Ed goes about exploring and solving some puzzles in order to progress further into the building, as it seems to be the only other place that isn’t falling apart and seems to be in somewhat stable condition. Inside one of the rooms is the Rambley Rush arcade game, and there is something interesting that Salem says in here.
Salem, speaking to Rambley: “Meet the new and improved Marley Macaw! Now with none o’ that ‘friendship’ garbage stopping her from tearin’ you to pieces. I wonder what she REALLY thinks of you now? Have fun finding out!”
Now, this could just be me overanalyzing this thing. It’s our only reference to Salem, and some of the things I cite as evidence could very well just be regular dialogue for an arcade game. However, on the off chance that this means something, I was very interested in what Salem said about what Mollie thought of Rambley. She makes it seem like Mollie is under some sort of illusion in regard to Rambley, like he’s a villain masquerading as a good guy, but has everyone around him convinced he’s good. This could tie in with the broken Animatronic Mollie, as if Mollie found out about some truth in regard to Rambley. After all, her broken, jittering speech made it seem like Rambley was actively hurting Lloyd. Could she have gone to someone to get help, but that other someone suggested Rambley as an ally? That could explain why Mollie felt the need to emphasize that ‘He hurts Lloyd’ twice, like she’s genuinely freaking out that her best friend actively hurt others he didn’t like.
Putting that theory aside, Ed goes through the area, heading up to Mollie’s ride, only to find it inaccessible due to major chunks of broken debris. AI Rambley seems sort of horrified to find the place so broken and calls up a repair technician. It’s no surprise that the line is discontinued, due to most Ranglers likely being laid off after the closure of Indigo Park.
From here, AI Rambley, still somewhat jarred by the wreckage he’s seeing, encourages Ed to go and visit Mollie’s Landing Pad, strangely acting as if Ed had just finished his journey on the attraction, when he couldn’t even step onto it. From there, Ed goes and solves some puzzles, making his way deeper into the building. He spots Mollie a few times as she gets away from him, hiding. What’s an interesting note is that some sort of liquid seems to be dripping from Mollie. When you encounter her in one of the tubes, she leaves behind some sort of reddish grime that disappears once her animation is done. Her eyes, also, aren’t the way they’re usually portrayed. They’re similar to Lloyd’s in that there are white pinpricks of light in dark sockets, Lloyd’s being thin ovals in dark sockets.
As Ed finishes up the puzzles, he goes deeper before he’s attacked by Mascot Mollie herself, fleeing through the numerous tubes and tunnels, before eventually leaving it all behind and entering some sort of Ranglers Only Area.
Before we continue, I’d like to point out something. When being chased, Mascot Mollie occasionally rehearses some lines she once heard, repeating this.
Finely, to Rambley: “You’ve known me for 100 years.”
Reasonable enough; she was there when Ed was in the Rambley’s Railroad attraction. No, what concerns me are two other lines, identified by SuperHorrorBro in his analysis of chapter one.
Mascot Mollie: “Get back in your cage, bird.”
And finally, this.
Mascot Mollie: “Get up you stupid freak!”
Remember, Mascot Mollie only repeats what she has once heard. She doesn’t actively make her own dialogue. Remember the theory I had about the Mascots having enough of their terrible living conditions, and rebelling against the staff? It seems like this is the right direction to go in. Lloyd and Mollie do not attack immediately. While Lloyd runs away, Mollie observes, watching, biding her time. She follows you to Lloyd’s theater, and what does she see, or, rather, hear? Lloyd being pushed further and further back into his domain, the one place he should be happy, before being forced into a corner, and where he lashes out. Even though Ed ends up leaving, he ends up claiming a piece of Lloyd’s territory, and Lloyd goes back onto his instincts, to hunt. However, when he gets too close, that blasted, accursed Critter Cuff lets out its horrible whine, Lloyd collapsing, consumed with nothing but pain. Once the sound ends, he flees, like a terrified animal.
And what does Ed see when he leaves? Mascot Mollie, observing Ed. She’s seen that, yet again, a human encroaches, pushes their bounds, eventually hurting Lloyd to get what he wants. And then, he goes to Mollie’s home, the Jetstream Junction, a place she’s been locked out of due to needing a Critter Cuff, but she wouldn’t dare touch one. She saw what happened to Lloyd, who knew what sort of anguish it would inflict upon Mollie?
She enters behind Ed, stalking him, fury building as she watches Ed run about like he owns the place. How dare this man, this human, walk upon her domain whenever he wants, but she has to wait until she’s let in, like some sort of caged bird. Well, she’s not a caged bird, and she’ll make Ed see that.
At first, when AI Rambley sees Ed, he wishes to stop Ed, but seeing a towering Mascot Mollie chasing him, he opens the door, slamming it shut behind Ed just as Mascot Mollie’s head enters the room, killing the Mascot instantly as blood sprays all over the metallic door and floor. AI Rambley attempts to act like nothing happened, but fails, sighing.
He explains that he didn’t realize the danger of Indigo Park and its inhabitants due to being stuck in that early Reception Center for all of those eight, lonely years, unable to see or interact with anything inside. He was just so excited to finally see an actual person that he pushed Ed into this tour, realizing that, with the way things were, there was no way Ed would come out unscathed, and the AI seems genuine in his sorrow. However, he asks for Ed to help restore the park to the former glory, and, miraculously, Ed agrees. However, before Ed leaves, AI Rambley drops this one last piece of vital information.
AI Rambley: “Whew! That was exhausting to say that whole spiel, but Rambley’s Ranglers (registered) is a registered trademark … that expired yesterday.”
Okay, so couple things. From my impression, I had the feeling that somehow, someway the Indigo Company as a whole was alive and kicking. I mean, look at what Ed has to say when he interacts with the Rambley Raccoon plushy.
Ed: “Ah, there’s my buddy. Kinda feels like Rambley has a whole empire now, being the main man of Indigo and all.”
Ed gives us the distinct impression that not only is Indigo still around, but it’s also positively thriving, yet they allow their trademarks to expire? Trademarks essentially last forever, but you have to fight, in court, to let them continue every ten years or so. If Indigo is based on Disney, the stingiest, largest entertainment company, why would they let their trademark expire, and give access to others? Well, this might have to do with the initial terms.
You see, in order to keep a trademark, you have to defend its usage every ten years. Well, okay, then why didn’t Indigo do so? One of the terms for renewal is that you have to continuously use that trademark. You can’t just claim one and never use it again, that’s basically an infraction upon free speech. Sure, you can fight for its ownership, but there are rules and regulations to these kinds of things, you can’t just trademark something like ‘Oof’ or ‘Lmao’ and keep it without at least saying those phrases occassionally.
And, so far as we know, there are no other places such as Indigo Park owns. Ranglers are synonymous with staff in the park, so obviously, it would be hard to justify keeping a trademark when you never expect to use it. So, that’s my theory on why the trademark did indeed expire the day previously, October 6^th, 2023 (apparently, the creator confirmed the game takes place in 2023, so, that means that Ed arrives on October 7^th, 2023, and the last person to enter park left on October 7^th, 2015).
Anyways, after that, AI Rambley leads Ed to Oceanic Odyssey with the intention to get it back up and running, as it has been closed due to repairs, something that AI Rambley hopes Ed can assist with. As Ed exits, he tries entering a hallway, which AI Rambley blocks.
AI Rambley: “Uh oh. That Rambley’s Ranglers room is only accessible by Royal Ranglers. Maybe you’ll grow up big and strong enough to enter it! But for now, don’t.”
This is the first instance of hierarchy within the Ranglers that Ed has been introduced to so far, and the dark undertone AI Rambley takes when he tells Ed not to go there is somewhat concerning. What exactly is AI Rambley hiding back there? Well, I have a few hunches.
Let’s point out the obvious regarding our friends, the Mascots; they’re not regular animals. Obviously, regular animals don’t have dark orbitals with thin white slits, or have turquoise noses, or have macaws the size of cassowaries. However, they are still animals, creatures of flesh and blood that act like their regular animal counterparts; Lloyd is an ambush predator, stalking until he himself is presented with an opportunity to attack. However, lions are known to just straight up attack if they are discovered by accident, especially if the prey is weaker and slower than them. Lloyd runs away instead of attacking.
Similarly, Mollie follows Ed warily, unsure of what to think of him for most of the time. She never aggresses until he enters her territory, and even then, she’s surprisingly lenient with Ed, straight up until he finishes those color-coded symbol puzzles. Only then does she attack. And even then, this is a behavior reflected in regular macaws as well, as these birds are fiercely territorial of their area.
So, these Mascots didn’t pop up straight from the ground, did they? They had to be bioengineered at the very least, mutated regular animals becoming the Mascots guests once knew and loved. They are, however, animals at their core, animals that do not attack for no reason. They try to deescalate the situation, as Lloyd does when he runs backstage, and when Mollie pulls herself back through the tunnels, away from Ed, and striding through the corridors, until she eventually loses patience and chases after Ed through Jetsream Junction.
I’d like to propose the theory that these Mascots were created in that area of Jetstream Junction, hidden underground and away from prying eyes. This is also where the Mascots were likely mistreated and abused, called horribly names at the very least, and endured beatings and humiliating acts at their worst. This is also likely where the Mascots originally snapped. After all, literally not a single guest understands why they were evacuated. Unless the guests who saw what happened were silenced, there should have been something floating around the Internet, on some obscure forum.
Now, why would AI Rambley hide this? Because he now understands that these Mascots are dangerous, a risk he cannot allow, since he enlisted Ed to bring the park back from the dead. AI Rambley realizes that Ed doesn’t have the tools to survive that area; perhaps because one of the Mascots lurks in there, locked away, or because he doesn’t want Ed to flee, horrified as to the scientific process that allowed for the mutated abominations to roam Indigo Park.
Regardless, Ed finally makes his way to the entrance of Oceanic Odyssey, home of the Mascot Finley. In fact, we actually get to see a glimpse of Finely’s actual size in one of the aquariums as his large head and long torso appear, before the chapter ends. I don’t believe that this is an animatronic, as electricity and water do not mix, especially animatronic with running current of electricity in water.
And that’s where Chapter 1 of Indigo Park, ‘Birds of a Feather’, ends off. Chapter Two will likely revolve mostly, if not totally, around Oceanic Odyssey and Mascot Finley.
So, I have two predictions as for where the next chapter might go. Based on the reactions Mascots previously had to Ed, I believe that Mascot Finley will not be attacking immediately. He’ll likely be observing, like Mollie, at least for a certain amount of time, until he proceeds to attack and harass Ed around his attraction. Ed will eventually get Oceanic Odyssey up and running, and have to leave Mascot Finley behind, as he’s still hostile and very much a danger to Ed.
The alternative to this is that once Mascot Finely realizes what Ed is trying to do, he stops being aggressive, and might instead become a temporary ally, allowing Ed to reach certain locations with his knowledge of the place.
Regardless of Mascot Finley’s ultimate fate, Oceanic Odyssey being powered on will likely catch the attention of Indigo. Based on the information we know so far, Indigo is still a well known, public entity. It’s possible that Indigo abandoned the theme park route, instead focusing exclusively on media such as cartoons, movies, and merch, or they might have other sister locations to Indigo Park. It’s unclear.
Whew. In the words of AI Rambley, this is a lot of information. Almost nine thousand words in, and we finally finish covering Chapter 1. So, let’s proceed to the Conclusion I draw regarding the story Indigo Park tries to tell, and the future events that might transpire.

I've encountered a person that confuses me to this day. English isn't my first language btw.
The high school I went to was a competitive all-girls school that was at the time considered to be the third in the country (in our country getting into these schools was always a big deal and you have to qualify). Even inside the school the competitiveness was high among peers, so a lot of quarrels and drama tended to unfold. From parents who used money to teachers who were corrupt, and students who schemed against each other. In my time in that school, I have encountered the occasional problem but I didn't have problems with students much. Teachers however, I tend to butt heads with regularly. Maybe it was some form of a moral code I had in me, but I disliked adults who used their obvious position of power to meddle with the lives of children. None of them were particularly different or interesting, until I met the homeroom teacher of my class of grade 10. She was such a contrasting case for me that I found her to be fascinating. Her outward appearance was of a delicate calm women, she was soft spoken and polite. Her figure looked almost emaciated but it seemed like it was just the limit of her growth rather than the consequence of her current diet. She was an amazing teacher and was always on time. She actually was highly intelligent that you could tell she was. However, there was this gut feeling both me and my mother got from the first encounter with her. A bad feeling that something was off with her. Her every move looked staged and unreal, every pause was calculated and words so insincere that I thought I must be crazy for noticing it when it looks like no one else did (I later found out a lot of people noticed it but just couldn’t describe or rationalise their instincts, so they just ignored it). She was known to be strict, but it was all well for the first few days. The first thing she did was to separate anyone who was together in the same class in the previous year, but this wasn’t odd or too alarming because teachers wanted students to make new friends and avoid talking during class. Things came in small doses next. She had random bursts of anger that felt so uncharacteristic and misplaced that it would make the entire area silent. It always felt like it was from 0 to 100 instead of a steady increase. It got physical a few times too (There wasn't much of human rights at this time and it was somewhat acceptable for an adult to lay hands on a child for disciplinary reasons). Then I started to notice her targeting specific students and playing games with them. Like she would socially isolate people and outcast students, even going as far to set a desk away from everyone for a student to sit alone. She would check in at lunch and make sure that the student was talking to no one. I also caught on that she would try to draw wedges between friends and breed distrust between students by false claims and rumours. She would go through people’s belongings when they left them. There was this fact about her everyone knew around the school about a famous tuition teacher being her ex and how much she hated even hearing that man’s name or seeing anything to do with him (By the way, she was at this point married to someone else and had two kids. But she would snap at any mention of him). I started observing her because of noticing these things. It was weird, she and I had a strange connection. It was like a wordless exchange, I knew who she was and she knew who I was. We both would know we were observing each other. She never called it out or anything, it just seemed to be a cat and mouse game. I did mess up her games a bit by telling the students who were confiding me about their perceived betrayal of their friend, that it was caused by our teacher instead of it being real. I also deliberately put her ex’s business card inside a notebook with a ‘Got you!’ note, knowing she would go through the book that I was pretending to hide just to get her to want to see what’s in it. She did exactly as I wanted but didn’t say a word just handed me the book back with an odd smile. I stood up for anyone I could and was quite protective of my friends. One friend in particular she seemed to hate to the bone. I never understood why she held such contempt for this girl. All I could come up with was that this friend was very attractive, or maybe she just hated that she was my friend? It came out of her own mouth once to my mother, that she wasn’t going to scold me for what I did but she saw me talking with that “annoying girl,” so she snapped at me. Things went from bad to worse, her games got intense. She attacked my friends specifically and did everything to isolate me. I didn’t know this then, but some of my friends later told me that she would interrogate anyone who would talk to me or visit me from other classes and scare them so that people stopped coming to see me (back then I actually though I was being abandoned by people because no one told me then). I noticed that she adjusted her way of talking and demeanour according to the person and what she wanted from them, it was quick and creepy to an outsider watching from afar. She had multiple complaints against her from time to time, mostly from seniors who were tired of her. But she somehow always managed to turn herself to be the victim and the student to be the perpetrator, who now would be ostracised by other teachers which would make the students do the same. She was good at putting a spell on people, only those who were targeted by her thought badly of her, some even outright loved and adored her. Even though her actions and mask never matched and to anyone who would take a second to think about her actions without thinking about her outward personality would know how much of a snake she was, she somehow managed to maintain her beloved status among everyone. It was strange, if you talked to people alone, you’d find they knew or just had a sense she wasn’t a good person, but it was as if there was a rule in the air people were following, as if they were just supposed to play along. In all this, what I found the most intriguing was her motives. Because I cannot think of one. She even did things that seemed to be well intended towards me, like she told other teachers off for scolding me, she actually never directly accused me and made sure I wasn’t wrapped up in trouble. Even times I was truly doing something wrong, she would just scold others but save me. She got me saved from being scolded at the office for being late (we have a tardy line) and took me away in front of all the other students (this usually only happens if someone is a teacher’s child or a child of some influential parent). She got my contact and messaged me every morning to see if I’m awake and paid attention to check if I understood the lesson. It was weird and very confusing, because it wasn’t just the regular teacher who truly wanted the best for someone. Because it was obvious favours to anyone who looked at it. Yet she also seemed to target me and was dead set on separating me from my friends, and did everything to make me miserable. I didn’t know it then but a friend told me someone else had pointed out that it even looked like she was in love with me in a twisted way because of her insistence in surveilling my conversations and who talked to me. She and I had some similarities in that we were both observant and smart in the same way. I could tell she recognised me as someone different from the others and maybe even felt that I was some kindred spirit. But I still don’t understand her. Everyone else always had a motive, something to gain, or a delusion to maintain. But she was too intelligent for that, she didn’t need to scheme to gain because she was truly talented, and she wasn’t interested in any gain. She didn’t lie to herself, even when she lied to others, I could tell she didn’t believe it herself. She knew she was lying, and she knew it was intentional. It just seemed she was doing things just because. But it’s such a hard thing to understand. I can only think she was just someone who was sadistic and gained pleasure by causing problems. But I'm not sure. It hurts my pride to admit but It has been years now yet I still see her in my nightmares.
What do you think of this person? Why do you think she did what she did?

DAY: MAY 31 2024
5-31-2024

RESEARCH SUGGESTS LEADERS’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS ARE TAKEN JUST AS SERIOUSLY AS FORMAL STATEMENTS

Over 180 world leaders maintain social media accounts, and some of them issue policy warnings to rivals and the public on these platforms rather than relying on traditional government statements. How seriously do people take such social media postings? A new study suggests the general public and policymakers alike take leaders’ social media posts just as seriously as they take formal government statements. The research, by MIT political scientists, deploys novel surveys of both the public and experienced foreign policy specialists. “What we find, which is really surprising, across both
5-31-2024

SCALE OF ONLINE HARM TO CHILDREN REVEALED IN GLOBAL STUDY

More than 300 million children a year are victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse, research indicates. Pupils in every classroom, in every school, in every country are victims of this hidden pandemic, according to researchers who have conducted the first global estimate of the scale of the crisis. The statistics, from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute at the University of Edinburgh, amount to a clear and present danger to the world’s children, according to the crime agency Interpol. Online risks One in eight of the world’s children, about
5-31-2024

PRONATALISM IS THE LATEST SILICON VALLEY TREND. WHAT IS IT—AND WHY IS IT DISTURBING?

For Malcolm and Simone Collins, declining birth rates across many developed countries are an existential threat. The solution is to have “tons of kids,” and to use a hyperrational, data-driven approach to guide everything from genetic selection to baby names and day-to-day parenting. They don’t heat their Pennsylvania home in winter, because heating is a “pointless indulgence.” Their children wear iPads around their necks. And a Guardian journalist witnessed Malcolm strike their two-year-old across the face for misbehavior, a parenting style they apparently developed based on watching “tigers
5-31-2024

HOW SCIENCE, MATH, AND TECH CAN PROPEL SWIMMERS TO NEW HEIGHTS

One hundred years ago, in the 1924 Paris Olympics, American Johnny Weissmuller won the men’s 100m freestyle with a time of 59 seconds. Nearly 100 years later, in the most recent Olympics, the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo, Caeleb Dressel took home the same event with a time that was 12 seconds faster than Weissmuller’s. Swimming times across the board have become much faster over the past century, a result of several factors, including innovations
5-31-2024

BANNING SEX CRIME OFFENDERS FROM CHANGING THEIR NAMES DOESN’T MAKE US SAFER

The government of British Columbia recently introduced a bill to ban people convicted of serious offenses from legally changing their name. The proposed amendment to the province’s Name Act would also prohibit those found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder from changing their name. The government announced the move after media reports that Allan Schoenborn legally changed his name to Ken Johnson. Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for the deaths of his children in 2010 because of a delusional disorder, and was placed at a psychiatric hospital.
5-31-2024

SILICON VALLEY ISN’T THE START-UP UTOPIA WE THOUGHT, RESEARCH FINDS

Silicon Valley—considered the world’s hub of technology and innovation—can breed inequality and sameness among budding entrepreneurs, according to new research. Behind the multi-million-dollar deals and tales of start-up utopia, Silicon Valley’s “uneven” investment landscape is in fact a barrier to many budding businesses, says the study from the University of Stirling and Georg-August-University Göttingen. But the researchers suggest other countries could still learn from the more discerning entrepreneurial ecosystem that bred giants such as Apple and Google, to be more selective in backing start-ups. While it is not uncommon for
5-31-2024

I WANT TO KEEP MY CHILD SAFE FROM ABUSE—BUT RESEARCH TELLS ME I’M DOING IT WRONG

Child sexual abuse is uncomfortable to think about, much less talk about. The idea of an adult engaging in sexual behaviors with a child feels sickening. It’s easiest to believe that it rarely happens, and when it does, that it’s only to children whose parents aren’t protecting them. This belief stayed with me during my early days as a parent. I kept an eye out for creepy men at the playground and was skeptical of men who worked with young children, such as teachers and coaches. When my kids were
5-31-2024

OVER 300 MILLION YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE EXPERIENCED ONLINE SEXUAL ABUSE, EXPLOITATION, FINDS METASTUDY

It takes a lot to shock Kelvin Lay. My friend and colleague was responsible for setting up Africa’s first dedicated child exploitation and human trafficking units, and for many years he was a senior investigating officer for the Child Exploitation Online Protection Center at the UK’s National Crime Agency, specializing in extra territorial prosecutions on child exploitation across the globe. But what happened when he recently volunteered for a demonstration of cutting-edge identification software left him speechless. Within seconds of being fed with an image
5-31-2024

CYBERFLASHING IS A FORM OF GENDERED SEXUAL VIOLENCE THAT MUST BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Sexting—sending sexually suggestive or explicit messages and images—is now a widespread practice, and can be a healthy way to express and explore sexuality. However, there is a need to distinguish between consensual sexting and forms of sexual harassment like cyberflashing. Cyberflashing refers to the act of non-consensually sending sexual imagery (like nudes or “dick pics”) to another person. It is facilitated through communications technologies including text, AirDrop and social media applications like Snapchat and Tinder. Similar to flashing—when a person unexpectedly and deliberately “flashes” their genitals to others—that occurs in
5-31-2024

VIRTUAL TRAINING MAY BE AN EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFICIENT OPTION FOR CHILD EDUCATORS

Teachers and other child educators can benefit from regular professional development, but in-person training can be expensive. New research found that virtual training can be a budget-friendly alternative—and especially effective for certain groups of educators. The study—a collaboration between researchers at Penn State and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and published in the International Journal of Professional Development, Learners and Learning—found that educators who took a virtual training reported feeling more confident in their abilities to implement practices shown to support positive youth development. In particular, after-school providers who did not
5-31-2024

HUMBLE LEADERS BOOST EMPLOYEES’ WORKPLACE STATUS AND LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL, FINDS STUDY

There are many different types of workplace leaders, from those who prioritize the needs of team members and the organization above their own, to authentic leaders who foster openness, trust and transparency. A recent study by the University of South Australia published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior has highlighted the significant benefits of humble leadership in the workplace. According to the study by UniSA’s Dr. Xiao Lin, humble leadership can effectively elevate the workplace status of employees by boosting their sense of respect and prominence. It also leads to
5-31-2024

WHY ARE GROCERY BILLS SO HIGH? A NEW STUDY LOOKS AT THE SCIENCE BEHIND FOOD PRICE REPORTING

Rising food costs are squeezing Canadians around the country. Nearly everyone is feeling the pinch, and it’s not just an inconvenience—high food prices are a major threat to food security for many Canadians. Understanding why food prices are so high and why they are changing is critical to the well-being of our society. Unfortunately, consensus on why food price are so high is in short supply. Explanations given in reports like Canada’s Food Price Report and the news media range widely, from the war in Ukraine to supply chain issues
5-31-2024

WILL GENERATIVE AI CHANGE THE WAY UNIVERSITIES COMMUNICATE?

Is artificial intelligence an unprecedented opportunity, or will it rob everyone of jobs and creativity? As we debate on social media (and perhaps use ChatGPT almost daily), generative AIs have also entered the arena of university communication. These tools—based on large language models that were optimized for interactive communication—can indeed support, expand, and innovate university communication offerings. Justus Henke has analyzed the situation of German realities about six months after the launch of ChatGPT 3. “The research was conducted about a year ago when enthusiasm was high, but it was
5-31-2024

STUDY SHOWS RELATIVELY LOW NUMBER OF SUPERSPREADERS RESPONSIBLE FOR LARGE PORTION OF MISINFORMATION ON TWITTER

Classification of superspreader accounts. A large portion (55.1%) of accounts are no longer active. For each class annotated with political affiliations, colors indicate the ideological split. The last group aggregates all accounts with political affiliations. Credit: PLOS ONE (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302201 A small team of social media analysts at Indiana University has found that a major portion of tweets spreading disinformation are sent by a surprisingly small percentage of a given userbase. In their study, published in PLOS ONE, the group conducted a review of 2,397,388 tweets posted on Twitter
5-31-2024

HOW LIFE’S BIG MOMENTS CAN CHALLENGE STARTUPS

Life-changing events like the birth of a child, the purchase of a new home, or a lottery win could threaten the survival of a new business venture, the positive family events had a comparatively greater influence, albeit negatively, on the survival of a new venture, compared with
5-31-2024

RUDE AT WORK? FEELING GUILTY CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER, KINDER WORKER

We’ve all done it. A bad night’s sleep or a tough commute made us cranky, and we lashed out at a coworker who did nothing wrong. What can we do to make up for it? According to a new study published in the Journal of Business Ethics, embracing our guilty feelings can help us make up for our bad behavior by encouraging us to act more politely and work harder the next day. “We found that anyone can be rude at work, because anyone can
5-31-2024

RESEARCHERS INTRODUCE A PLANETARY INCLUSION SCALE TO FOSTER BROADER ETHICAL THINKING

Social inclusion and having a sense of belonging with other people are key elements of a good life. However, the fate of humanity is a challenge that extends beyond our social reality. Experiences of belonging and inclusion, understood in a broader sense than before, may be crucial for a sustainable future. In an article published in the International Journal of Social Pedagogy, a team of researchers propose a new planetary inclusion scale that structures our planetary relationship three-dimensionally based on temporal, spatial and ethical orientation. The temporal element relates to
5-31-2024

‘LEAN IN’ MESSAGES CAN LOWER WOMEN’S MOTIVATION TO PROTEST GENDER INEQUALITY

Women in leadership are often told to “Lean In,” designed to be motivational messaging demonstrating that they are more confident, strategic and resilient to setback. However, new research indicates that such “lean in” messaging can hinder women’s motivation to protest gender equality. Popularized in a book by American technology executive Sherly Sandberg, the “Lean In” solution to gender inequality advises women that demonstrating personal resilience and perseverance in the face of setbacks is key to career advancement. Now, a new study led by the University of Exeter, Bath Spa University
5-31-2024

ALGORITHMS COULD HELP IMPROVE JUDICIAL DECISIONS

A new paper in the Quarterly Journal of Economics finds that replacing certain judicial decision-making functions with algorithms could improve outcomes for defendants by eliminating some of the systemic biases of judges. Decision makers make consequential choices based on predictions of unknown outcomes. Judges, in particular, make decisions about whether to grant bail to defendants or how to sentence those convicted. Companies now use machine learning based models increasingly in high-stakes decisions. There are various assumptions about human behavior underlying the deployment of such learning models that play out in
5-31-2024

DIGITAL CAMPAIGNING IS A HUGE PART OF ELECTIONS NOW—BUT GOING VIRAL ISN’T EVERYTHING

The election has commenced and the race is on—to amass as many likes, shares and comments as possible. Digital campaigning, particularly through social media, is now a key part of political candidates’ communication toolkit. In fact, every general election campaign since 1997 has at some point been lauded as the first to make effective use of digital campaigning. But it was in 2015 that David Cameron’s campaign first made strategic use of social media to drive an election victory. As political reporter Tim Ross outlines in his excellent book, Why
5-31-2024

WHY ARE ORGANIZATIONAL COVER-UPS SO COMMON?

The TV dramatization of the UK Horizon Post Office scandal evoked outrage and disbelief. However, as another example of dysfunctional organizational behavior, it was expected rather than exceptional. The Post Office saga joins a long list of cover-ups or scandals that includes Hillsborough, Enron, Grenfell, the infected blood scandal, the Tuam babies scandal in the Republic of Ireland, Boeing 737 Max and Nasa (Columbia space shuttle). They represent what happens when there is a move within organizations and institutions to cover up the causes of
5-31-2024

AMONG GEN Z AUSTRALIANS, 38% IDENTIFY AS SPIRITUAL AND HALF BELIEVE IN KARMA. WHY IS SPIRITUALITY SO POPULAR?

Spirituality is increasingly popular with young Australians: recent research shows 38% of Gen Z Australians identify as spiritual. It also reports 50% of them believe in karma, 29% in reincarnation and 20% in astrology. When it comes to activities equated with spirituality, 28% of Gen Z Australians practice meditation and 22% practice yoga. In Australia, spirituality is strongly, enduringly central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and culturally and religiously diverse communities. Yet until recently, spirituality has received far less attention than religion. Spirituality may be
5-31-2024

COMPANIES CAN IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THEIR PRODUCTS IN THE EARLIEST PRODUCT-DESIGN STAGES

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Lithuanian and Italian universities propose a tool that allows companies to assess the circularity of their future products. The self-assessment tool emphasizes the co-creation of circular design in the early (creative) stages of product development, encouraging entrepreneurs and designers to think more systematically and collaborate better by integrating related stakeholders into the product development process. The study is published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. “The majority of existing practical tools (systems of indicators) are aimed at measuring the environmental impact of products already
5-31-2024

RESEARCH EXAMINES HOW RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION AFFECTS A STATE’S COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

New research has revealed up to a 9% increase in college first-year enrollments in US states that have legalized recreational marijuana compared with states without such legalization. The study, which is published in Economic Inquiry, found that the increase was from out-of-state enrollments, with early adopter states and public non-research institutions experiencing the most pronounced increases. Recreational marijuana legalization did not negatively impact degree completion or graduation rate, and it did not affect college prices, quality, or in?state enrollment. The findings suggest that some students perceive recreational marijuana legalization as
5-31-2024

RESEARCH EXAMINES HOW RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION AFFECTS A STATE’S COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

New research has revealed up to a 9% increase in college first-year enrollments in US states that have legalized recreational marijuana compared with states without such legalization. The study, which is published in Economic Inquiry, found that the increase was from out-of-state enrollments, with early adopter states and public non-research institutions experiencing the most pronounced increases. Recreational marijuana legalization did not negatively impact degree completion or graduation rate, and it did not affect college prices, quality, or in?state enrollment. The findings suggest that some students perceive recreational marijuana legalization as
5-31-2024

HOW THE ‘MODEL MINORITY’ MYTH HARMS ASIAN AMERICANS

May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, a time when Americans celebrate the profound contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—a group that is commonly abbreviated as AAPI—to U.S. society. It’s also a time to acknowledge the complexity of AAPI experience. And as a professor who studies equity and inclusion in business, I think the focus on AAPI communities this month provides an excellent occasion to push back against a stereotype that has long misrepresented and marginalized a diverse range of people: the myth of the “model minority.” The
5-31-2024

WONDERING HOW TO TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT CONSENT? HERE’S AN AGE-BASED GUIDE TO GET YOU STARTED

The Australian government’s new campaign Consent Can’t Wait challenges us all to improve our understanding of consent. It asks a series of questions to illustrate this issue is more complex than simplistic “no means no” messaging. The campaign invites viewers to consider the nuances of consent, so we can raise these important issues with children and young people in our lives. But what is a good age to start talking about consent? How do parents tackle such conversations when this information probably wasn’t readily discussed in our own upbringing? How
5-31-2024

A PRODUCT OF NATURE OR NURTURE?

The concept of cultural entrepreneurship has many facets. It encompasses both the cultural and social impact of entrepreneurial training, and the environmental factors that influence its development. Some societies, such as the U.S., have a strong entrepreneurial culture. This means that certain characteristics are celebrated and encouraged, such as the ability of individuals to assume risks, patience when confronting challenges, and innovative problem solving, especially in uncertain situations. However, not all countries have such an entrepreneurial culture. Entrepreneurship struggles to take off in Europe In general, entrepreneurship can drive economic
5-31-2024

STUDY BRIDGES ANIMAL BEHAVIOR RESEARCH AND COMPUTER CODING TO ENGAGE CHILDREN IN STEM

A graphic depicting a student coding. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University Teachers today face a bit of a conundrum, according to a new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Their goal is to prepare young students to enter a rapidly changing world. Even basic jobs require technical proficiency, which requires computational and analytical skills. To address this need, many educators are pushing to fold these important STEM skills into elementary curriculum. Here’s the problem. Young students can lose interest and even develop an aversion
5-31-2024

STUDY SHOWS VR CAN HELP TEACHERS BETTER DISTRIBUTE THEIR GAZE

On the left, a bird’s-eye view of the virtual classroom; on the right, screenshots of each of the four gaze-visualization conditions. Teachers need to know their material, but they must also keep their students engaged and interested. Part of that involves making eye contact with their students—all of them. A multidisciplinary team of researchers tested several methods of data visualization in an immersive virtual reality (VR) classroom, to give teachers a way to gauge
5-31-2024

MARKETERS CAN MANAGE ‘FEATURE CREEP’ SO CONSUMERS FEEL LESS INTIMIDATED BY TOO MANY FEATURES IN A PRODUCT

Wifi-enabled washing machines. Voice-controlled microwaves. App-enabled TVs, vacuum cleaners, and even window blinds you can control from the comfort of your couch. Many of the technological features now included in everyday products are useful and accessible. But research has shown that having too many can overwhelm potential buyers, making them less likely to make a purchase. In recent research, Wayne Hoyer, marketing professor and James L. Bayless/William S. Farrish Fund Chair for Free Enterprise at Texas McCombs, digs into the phenomenon of “feature creep” and its impact on consumer sentiment.
5-31-2024

RESEARCHERS EXPLAIN SOCIAL MEDIA’S ROLE IN RAPIDLY SHIFTING SOCIAL NORMS ON GENDER AND SEXUALITY

A new paper summarizing decades of research demonstrates how social media has supported an explosion of diversity in gender and sexuality in America during the 21st century, and also how these technologies have equally enabled a cultural backlash. The paper’s authors, UC Santa Cruz Psychology Department faculty members Phil Hammack and Adriana Manago, identified five main narratives about gender and sexuality that they believe emerged through social media as people have strived to be “authentic” on these platforms. The findings, along with resulting recommendations for psychology researchers and practitioners, were
5-31-2024

KEY FACTORS IN TRAINING ASSESSORS FOR ENHANCED PERFORMANCE RATINGS

New research is examining how organizations can improve their training programs by customizing frame-of-reference training to emphasize identifying negative behaviors critical to their goals. While assessors naturally identify positive behaviors, C. Allen Gorman, Ph.D., associate professor in UAB’s Department of Management, Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, says targeted training helps them recognize harmful actions that can hinder organizational objectives. Involving assessors in defining important performance dimensions and examples of behaviors, both good and
5-31-2024

STUDIES CHALLENGE WIDELY HELD BELIEFS ON APPLICANT DIVERSITY AND WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

Justin Frake is interested in cause-and-effect relationships in real-world data and the hidden dynamics that shape workplace behavior and equality—or inequality, as the case might be. His curiosity has led to research that challenges some popular beliefs as well as published studies related to women in the workforce. One study shows that firms promoting flatter hierarchies inadvertently discourage female applicants and another study counters several recent studies that claim women CEOs negatively impact career outcomes of other women. Both are published in the Strategic Management Journal. The assistant professor of
5-31-2024

CHALLENGING LEWIN’S MOTIVATIONAL CONFLICTS THEORY

A recent series of experiments challenges the longstanding theory of motivational conflict resolution introduced by Kurt Lewin. According to Lewin, conflicts between two undesirable outcomes (avoidance–avoidance conflicts) are typically harder to resolve than those between two desirable ones (approach–approach conflicts). Lewin posited that avoidance–avoidance conflicts, where individuals must choose between two undesirable outcomes, are typically more challenging to resolve compared to approach–approach conflicts, which involve choosing between two desirable options.
5-31-2024

MEN WITH ‘TOXIC MASCULINITY’ ARE MORE LIKELY TO MAKE SEXUAL ADVANCES WITHOUT CONSENT, STUDY FINDS

No means no when it comes to sex. But what happens when a woman makes a more passive response to a sexual advance? According to new research from Binghamton University, men differ in how they interpret these types of responses, and men who display hostile masculinity, known commonly as “toxic masculinity,” tend to act on them regardless of whether or not they think it’s consensual. A team of researchers, including Binghamton psychology professor Richard Mattson and graduate student Michael Shaw asked men between the ages of 18–25 to respond to
5-31-2024

WHY WE DEHUMANIZE OUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS

Some of human history’s greatest atrocities—genocide, slavery, ethnic cleanings—are rooted in our ability to dehumanize people from other social, political, or cultural groups. Whereas prior research has traced dehumanization to the belief that others think or feel less than we do, new research co-authored by Haas professor Sameer Srivastava shows that our tendency to dehumanize can also be influenced by how we think others view important facets of the world. The greater the difference between our perceptions of an outgroup’s worldview
5-31-2024

STUDY SUGGESTS CHILDREN ARE OFTEN EXPOSED TO PROBLEMATIC CLICK BAIT DURING YOUTUBE SEARCHES

When a child peruses YouTube, the content recommended to them is not always age appropriate, a new study suggests. Researchers mimicked search behaviors of children using popular search terms, such as memes, Minecraft and Fortnite, and captured video thumbnails recommended at the end of each video. Among the 2,880 thumbnails analyzed, many contained problematic click bait, such as violence or frightening images, according to the Michigan Medicine led research in JAMA Network Open. “Children spend a significant amount of time on free video sharing platforms that include user-generated content,” said
5-31-2024

STUDY FINDS WOMEN ARE VULNERABLE IN POST-WAR PEACE PROCESSES

Post-war peace processes are a dangerous period for women. Many are forced to live close to men who committed serious abuse during the war or are expected to testify in various types of truth commissions, which can be both retraumatizing and stigmatizing. These are the findings of a new study by peace researchers at Uppsala University, published in the journal PLOS ONE. “In short, peace projects can force women to live side by side with ex-combatants who committed atrocities during the war. This puts them at risk of further threat
5-31-2024

HOW EMBRACING THE CRINGE CAN HELP YOUR DATING LIFE

We can all agree that dating is hard. Getting to know people can feel vulnerable, but at the same time, exciting. We can also agree that feeling rejected can be one of the worst feelings, especially after we put ourselves out there. Dating can also expose us to a lot of cringey things, maybe even something we didn’t know we’d consider cringey. Think of cringe like something that makes you uncomfortable, or something about someone else that you don’t find attractive. Before dating, most of us consider what we’re looking
5-31-2024

PERSONAL CONNECTIONS AT WORK POSITIVELY IMPACT RETENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH, SAYS REPORT

New survey results from Wiley suggest people still feel connected at work despite the prevalence of hybrid and remote work environments and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). According to the latest Wiley Workplace Intelligence report, “Human Connection: The Crucial Secret to Thriving in the Digital Age,” nearly 8 in 10 employees surveyed (78%) said they feel connected with their coworkers, and almost 7 in 10 (69%) said they also enjoy making connections with their colleagues. Around half even said they want to learn more about their coworkers by doing
5-31-2024

RESEARCHER DEVELOPS MODEL OF INFLUENCER IMPORTANCE WITHIN INSTAGRAM NETWORKS

A study has provided new insights into social media influencers, particularly focusing on those in the women’s fashion sector on the well-known image and video sharing platform Instagram. In a departure from the approach taken by earlier studies, Jens K. Perret of the International School of Management in Cologne, Germany, has used network statistics and centrality measures to establish a model of influencer importance within their network. Perret analyzed data from 255 influencers covering a four-year period. Influencers are loosely
5-31-2024

MOST PEOPLE TRUST ACCURATE SEARCH RESULTS WHEN THE STAKES ARE HIGH, STUDY FINDS

Rank (X-axis) does not affect the evaluation of trustworthiness (Y-axis, mean-centered) of accurate results. This lack of relationship is robust across experiments (columns) and for clicked results (top row, red) as well as non-clicked results (bottom row, blue). The trend lines represent the predicted change in trustworthiness ratings per unit decrease in rank fitted by the linear regression models. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61645-8 Using experiments with COVID-19 related queries, Cornell sociology and information science researchers found that in a public health emergency, most people pick out and click
5-31-2024

MISLEADING COVID-19 HEADLINES FROM MAINSTREAM SOURCES DID MORE HARM ON FACEBOOK THAN FAKE NEWS, STUDY FINDS

Despite the greater potency of “fake news” on Facebook to discourage Americans from taking the COVID-19 vaccine, users’ greater exposure to unflagged, vaccine-skeptical content meant the latter had a much greater negative effect on vaccine uptake. Credit: Jennifer Allen, Duncan Watts, David G. Rand Since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, fake news on social media has been widely blamed for low vaccine uptake in the United States—but research by MIT Sloan School of Management Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Allen and Professor David Rand finds that the blame lies
5-31-2024

CRITICAL DIALOGUE HELPS STRAIGHT MEN CONFRONT SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC BELIEFS

Adult heterosexual men with sexist and homophobic views can potentially improve their attitudes toward gay men and women by engaging in critical dialogues that use illustrations as a springboard, according to a new University of Michigan study. The work is published in the journal Sexual and Gender Diversity in Social Services. The process by which people shift from a prejudicial stance to one of relative acceptance is a key innovation of the study. Guided by trained facilitators, critical dialogues reflect illustrations depicting different gender roles and sexual identities. The images
5-31-2024

RELIEVING A FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

If you dread public speaking you are not alone. It is a leading social phobia, one that can cause a state of anxiety that reduces otherwise articulate people to nervous incoherence. A strong fear of public speaking is known as glossophobia. Academic studies estimate it affects 20% of the population, but depending on the sample and methodology, the figure could be as high as 40%. As American writer and humourist Mark Twain said, “There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars.” But help
5-31-2024

HOW SOME PRIVATE COMPANIES ARE MARKETING TECH AND AI SOLUTIONS

How do universities and colleges decide who to admit? Given the earnings advantage of a post-secondary degree both globally and in Canada, this is an important social mobility question. While the answer varies from one institution to the next, most focus on education criteria like exam scores and grades. However, Canada’s new intake cap on study permit applications puts increased pressure on Canadian institutions to also consider immigration criteria when admitting international undergraduate students. This is just the latest example of immigration’s growing influence on the societal roles of Canadian

In the realm of digital entertainment, few games hold the timeless appeal and strategic depth of Rummy Sultan. This classic card game has transcended generations, captivating players with its blend of skill, strategy, and luck. In this blog post, we'll delve into the captivating world of Rummy Sultan, exploring its origins, gameplay mechanics, and the immersive experience it offers to players worldwide.
https://preview.redd.it/vego7r1br24d1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6de8c59fb3d0de544f89da6a144eb6968c4013ec

Origins and Evolution:

Rummy Sultan traces its roots back to the venerable game of Rummy, which has been enjoyed by card enthusiasts for centuries. Over time, the game has evolved and adapted to different cultures and preferences, resulting in various iterations and versions. Rummy Sultan represents a modern twist on this timeless classic, combining the essence of traditional gameplay with innovative features and captivating visuals.

Gameplay Mechanics:

At its core, Rummy Sultan is a game of skill and strategy, where players aim to form sets and sequences of cards to achieve victory. The gameplay revolves around drawing and discarding cards strategically, with the ultimate goal of arranging all cards into valid combinations. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a newcomer to the world of Rummy, Rummy Sultan offers a welcoming and intuitive gameplay experience, complete with helpful tutorials and dynamic AI opponents.

Features and Highlights:

What sets Rummy Sultan apart from other card games is its rich array of features and highlights. From sleek and intuitive user interfaces to customizable themes and avatars, every aspect of the game is designed to enhance immersion and enjoyment. Players can choose from a variety of game modes, including Classic Rummy, Points Rummy, and Pool Rummy, each offering a unique twist on the traditional gameplay formula. Additionally, Rummy Sultan boasts a vibrant online community, where players can compete, socialize, and showcase their skills on a global stage.

The Thrill of Competition:

One of the most exhilarating aspects of Rummy Sultan is its competitive multiplayer mode, where players can test their skills against opponents from around the world. Whether you're vying for the top spot on the leaderboards or participating in thrilling tournaments, the adrenaline-fueled action never stops in Rummy Sultan. With real-time matchmaking, fair play policies, and robust anti-cheat measures, players can enjoy a level playing field and a truly immersive gaming experience.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Rummy Sultan stands as a shining testament to the enduring appeal of classic card gaming. With its engaging gameplay mechanics, innovative features, and vibrant community, it continues to captivate players of all ages and backgrounds. Whether you're a casual player looking for a quick diversion or a seasoned strategist seeking a challenge, Rummy Sultan offers something for everyone. So why wait? Join the millions of players worldwide and experience the thrill of Rummy Sultan today!

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