Hi! First and foremost, thanks for your interest and I apologize in advance for how long this is, I like to be thorough. I want to start this off with some important things regarding playing at my digital table. My games are all inclusive both OOC and IC, that means both the players and the inhabitants of the game world will be varied. There will be cultural and ethnic diversity, there will be people with physical disabilities, there will be LBGTQ+ characters, the game may very well (see: likely) explore mental health, gender identity, and any number of things. My games are a safe place and I take that promise very seriously. I cannot stress this enough; bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated. There won’t be a warning, there won’t be a compromise, you’ll be out of the game, period. If you can’t manage this, then please save everyone some time and just don’t read further.
Now with that said, let’s discuss the beautiful game of D&D and this campaign and how I DM my games. My games are presented less as a static sequence of events and more of threads in the world that can be followed in any order. In a shorter campaign like this one there has to be a little more structure than a longer campaign, but this is not a railroad. Whatever ending we find to this campaign, we will find it together. Whether that’s the traditional fight the BBEG, talk them down, or join their side and plunge the world into chaos, it’s all on the table.
This campaign is set in the homebrew world that I have created and in truth I am using the campaign to explore individual parts of the world and hopefully expand upon the lore, add new NPCs, sure up any shortcomings, etc. Not because I’m publishing an adventure or anything, just because I really enjoy worldbuilding and having player choices affect the world going forward.
I like to incorporate backstories into the plot, I want everyone to have a chance to really feel a part of the story, not just along for the ride. This is also limited in a shorter campaign like this, but we can work together to give you something to identify with in this world. Whether it be directly connected to a figure in your backstory or just incorporating a theme or dynamic that resonates with your character, let’s find a way. If you give me something to work with, I promise I will find a way. This is a collaborative story, let’s create something hauntingly beautiful together.
There will be a session 0 to go over lines and veils, character creation, as well as just getting comfortable with one another. If there is a need for it to go over additional character creation, getting more acquainted with one another, or anything else we can also have a session 0.5. The point is that we are all comfortable when we begin play. Without any further ado, let’s finally get to the campaign details!
Campaign: Homebrew
System: D&D 5e
Players Needed: I already have some players, looking for 3-4 more.
Ratio: My games tend to lean more towards the RP heavy side of things though I do mix in combat. There are very few potential combat encounters that can't be solved in another way via talking, parlaying, or creativity. The amount of combat is dependent on the group as a whole. I would say in terms of planned potential combat that it will be a 60:40 or even 70:30 lean towards RP.
Scheduling: Bi-Weekly Wednesday 7pm-11pm CST, for 6-12 sessions. There is a chance this goes longer depending on RP, but I believe it will fit into 12 sessions. There’s no hard start date, just when we get the right players we will start scheduling, but it will be within a few weeks.
Software: Discord for voice, Foundry for VTT, D&D Beyond for character creation.

Character Creation:

• This campaign can work with players starting at level 3 or level 5. It will be decided by a group vote on which we start at. This allows for the characters to have some level of experience and renown but not be adventurers of legend (yet).
• All characters get a free feat. The caveat here is that if you pick a newer background that grants a feat, you don’t get an additional feat.
• Play the character you want, don’t worry about party composition. It’s my job as DM to worry about balancing the game, items, and encounters around party composition.
• Interparty conflict is fine and makes for good RP, deliberately obtuse characters designed for the sole purpose of being antagonistic to the party are not.
• All official content is allowed and most 3^rd party content is as well. If you want to use some homebrew content, send it to me so I can review it to ensure it’s balanced.
• We roll for stats. 4d6kh3, drop the full set if under 72 unless you just want to keep them. Rolled in D&D Beyond. I trust my players to not lie about rolls or to try to re-roll 20 times for ideal stats. If I find that I can’t trust you to be honest then we just can’t play together.

Setting:

Welcome to Elysiia, the year is 756 PSC - or Post-Second Cataclysm - and Elysiia is a vibrant planet. Long gone are the days of the Primordials’ dominion over the lands, gone also is the War of Gods, sealed away thousands of years ago. From the ashes of a bygone era has risen a thriving land with many diverse people. From the displaced Feylands of Remcourt - home to fey descendant creatures and prison to incorporeal creatures unfortunate enough to be caught behind it's barrier - to the Flying City of Arigon, floating among the clouds interweaving magic, nature, and technology.
Our story, however, begins in the lands of Morroch, born after the splitting of the worlds by the World Serpent. It is said that Morroch was a point of direct impact of the World’s Serpent’s bite, leaving behind the most diverse array of biomes on Elysiia, much of it incorporated with serrated mountains and rolling hills. There is much to explore here including the northern region belonging primarily to the Stone Giants of Thulkna who call the Crimson Peaks – given their name because of the reddish color of the soil – home. Let us not forget the western seaboard of the Tilltona Coast, cliff-lined coasts with treacherous waters and frequent storms, home of the Storm Giants of the nation of Salleria.
For this story, we explore the Decayed Heights of the western region of Morroch. A brutal and unforgiving arid desert dominated by three powerful tribes: the Jeswye, renown for their connection to fire and abilities as blacksmiths and warriors; the Sandstriders, Lizardfolk who traverse the vast desert with ease, trading, and maintaining the fragile peace; and the Ironhoof Tribe, fierce warriors who thrive in the storm-battered coastal regions of the Decayed Heights.
Recently, the long-standing tension between the Jeswye and the Ironhoof has escalated to the brink of war, threatening the stability of the entire region and crucial trade routes that allow for safe passage through an otherwise inhospitable region. The campaign will begin in the floating bustling trade city of Vespera, located off the coast of the Decayed Heights. Here the characters have received a request from a representative of the Merchant’s Guild to meet to discuss a lucrative opportunity that is for the betterment of the world.
More world info and campaign info will be given before character creation and upon request (I will never turn down an opportunity to talk about lore and worldbuilding).
Who am I? My players typically call me Hex or simply Chris (he/him)

• 33
• DMing for 4 years
• I work in tech so I like to try to do cool tech shit with my VTT.
• I’m a power nerd and love a bit of everything. Anime, comics, rp, tech, ttrpg (obviously), video games, writing, wrestling.
• For me D&D is a collaborative storytelling experience. I’m not out to murder your PCs or make things overly difficult for the sake of making you sweat.
• If I had to rate my skillset as a DM I’d say I’m very good at improv and storytelling but I don’t have a huge vocal range so I won’t be mesmerizing you with a unique voice for each NPC. I do what I can.
• These games are designed for me to experiment with technology, new in-game locales, cultures, etc. and as such some aspects are generated on the go or in the case of technology might experience some technical difficulties.
• Rule of cool. Yes the rules have a place, no we won’t be throwing them completely out. But if something is creative and feasible to at least attempt, yeah you can roll for it. If it’s not feasible I won’t even ask for a roll.

In closing, I’ve attached a google form below to fill out. I hate forms that make trying to get into a D&D game feel like a job interview so I’ve tried to stray away from that as much as possible. I don’t care how much experience you have, be it you’re entirely new or a 20 year vet. But comments, messages, and chat requests can often get missed so this helps me make sure I’ve seen everyone’s submissions. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for your time and patience.
If the post is not marked closed, I am still reviewing submissions.
https://forms.gle/5E1Qm2ghAU73gNGN8

Hello everyone, I have an Ender 3 S1, and I’ve yet to be able to dial-in a solid printing experience without something going funky. I’m using cura for my slicing and printing through creative cloud/sonic pad. I’m printing overture PLA professional, which I really like for its toughness and generally ease of printing. I also have a glass bed on my Ender 3.
Here are my challenges.
When I print the PLA professional, I found that what seems to work best for me at a nozzle tap of 215 and a bed temp of 80. This sticks nicely to the bed and stops the bed adhesion problems I’ve had. I also generally print at about 50% speed to start. The problem comes later in the print… the brim starts pulling up and warping from the print bed. I would imagine that this is because the higher layers of filament are cooling at a different rate and pulling the filament on the bed upwards so that it curls. The curling leads to prints popping off the bed. Cooling was starting around four, so I turned, cooling off completely, and it still happens.
So I thought I would reduce the bed temperature down to 60 or 70, but when I do that, the filament does not stick to the bed during the starter layers. It literally bunches up underneath the nozzle and I’ve got to pull it out.
The intended behavior is that the initial layers go down smoothly, create a strong brim that doesn’t warp, and it keeps the prints stuck to the bed as it prints taller and taller layers. But when I whack one mole, another one pops its head up. Also, the bed has been leveled, did the piece of paper trick, and I clean the bed with alcohol.
I hope I’ve described the settings that you might need to help diagnose the problem? Just let me know if you need anything else and thank you in advance for your help, everyone!

So, maybe some of people seen me here and around in couple of days, I've been mostly giving advice about how to lose weight. Well why that's important to say cause I myself was around 94.6 kg (208 lbs) when I started at the start of the April, Now I weight 83.8 kg (185 lbs) my goal is to aim for like range of the 60 - 70 kg (132 lbs - 154 lbs) to just purely satisfy myself with the body. I know I shouldn't take in my eyes how the other people look like especially on internet but there's no better alternative atm for me. I already started to see some quirky places where my skin just seems to shrink from the fat that I lost mostly on my tights some people could argue that's bad less tights but at my situation it's better to have lose them a bit of fat.
Also for context I'm just 18 turning 19 this year. 177 cm height (~5'10 ft)
So for more interesting stuff what I'd daily from my start with is now around 1.5 months.
Rule 1; Hitting 5 days from week at least 9.0 km of walking with is around 12,000 steps from just this I don't count moving around house for this, but only the one session of going usually for 2 hour walk at least this is how much average I'd have to walk to be around 9,0 km, On the other 2 days I take a bit break from every exercise and I do just 2/3 of regular day with means I'd go for walk but only for like 6 km.
Rule 2 (please don't do that like i'd) I'm just at way to high caloric deficit I mean I'd get like 1,200 + / - 300 kcal per day. Mostly proteins to just keep my muscle mass on my body and kill the fat, but I don't recommend it unless your doctor says you to have that. Is this going trough hell for me? I can't really tell It's kinda like fasting but not really, I already earlier in my life was prepared to have that situation cuase in my house very very rarely there's lack of food or just food that I won't eat cause is too gross for me to put it in my mouth anyways.
What's my costs of this all, I have to refuse some good stuff like cakes, some other sugar staff, etc. After that time I pretty much don't have any feeling of having to eat or use sugar stuff, so I just drink water and cup of drink tea daily.
The pain in the ass; I'm just still a student and my money outcome is pretty not existing so I have to rely what I get in my kitchen from parents and that's usually not the best staff but at least it's not heavy processed meals like average US dinner. Well at least when I get some money the chicken breast aren't that expensive to get + full-wheat penne pasta + tomato sauce makes me dinner for a week to eat, so I still somewhat stay alive, I did started to appreciate more the meal that I get, and stopped pretty much every time my heads tells me "You are Hungry" I just go and drink water and then this annoying stuff stops for another 6 hours.
Yes I'd have skincare routine mostly just cleanser -> oat lotion -> moisturizer and if I'm going outside in summer time I use uv cream, and yes most of this stuff I just took from my other cause women cosmetics are somewhat always better than mens.
So what other exercises I'd daily; Well I usually got for 3 x 20, So I'd sit ups, squats, glute bridges, russian twists and 1 min of plank, and yes the push ups why do I'd them to help my upper part of body gain some muscles so I get rid of this gross some type of men boobs that I got cause of the fat in my body. Also I'd then set of 2 exercises 3x for 30 s that just helps me with core muscles.
If I get bored from one exercise I'd go and do other with similar meaning like; side leg rises, hydrant etc.
So to summary; Is this what I'd healthy at all, I wouldn't say it's that much healthy and wouldn't recommend going on same caloric deficit as me unless told by doctor, but the other habits like exercises they should be optimal for most of people out here. And general advice for everyone do push ups they don't hurt and not doing like 100 per day but going for like 20 - 40 should be great. I plan myself to reduce amount of them after next month.
If anybody would have any question about other stuff or their personal story to share I'll be open to hear it out when I find a piece of time!
See ya, for the time that I get my silly ass back here.
ps; Stay hydrated cause it's summer duh.

Hi everyone,
Long read ahead.
I wanted to share a bit about myself and ask for your insights on a topic that's been on my mind.
I'm a 31-year-old guy, happily married for two years to an amazing woman I dated for two years before tying the knot. We share our home with a small, mischievous cat. Life has been kind to us, and I feel incredibly fortunate.
I come from a humble background. My father worked hard to support our family of four, ensuring that my brother and I could attend a good school in Bhayandar, a suburb near Mumbai in Maharashtra (though I'm never quite sure if it's in Thane or Palghar district). Despite the financial constraints, my father prioritized our education, and I was able to go to reputed colleges for my higher studies.
I was always a book smart kid, consistently scoring good grades. Thanks to my father's support, I managed to complete my MBA from a tier-2 B-School without needing any student loans. At 23, I landed a job in management consulting straight out of B-school, which has been a significant turning point in my life. Financially, things have been stable, allowing me to save a decent amount and enjoy a comfortable life with my wife.
However, despite these blessings, there are a few things that keep me wide awake at night, and I will try to put them down here in some sort of structure:
Will I Ever Have Enough Money?
I know no amount of money is ever enough, but I also know that no matter how hard I work, I will never be able to afford a swanky apartment in Mumbai without plunging myself into massive housing debt. As a college kid, I would visit my affluent friend's farmhouse and dream of owning one myself. But that dream keeps drifting further away the more I earn. It feels frustrating, like no matter what I do, I will never be able to own a home I like in a city I love.
Having Kids
Being 31 now means I need to start thinking about a family. But the thought of having kids absolutely petrifies me. Beyond the medical expenses, supporting a child in a rapidly deteriorating world and ensuring they are safe, cared for, and have all their needs met seems so daunting that I can barely comprehend it.
Medical Emergencies
My parents are pushing towards 60 now. Although we have medical insurance, I always worry we are not prepared for medical emergencies. I constantly fear that if a medical emergency strikes my family, all my savings will be drained, and that thought worries me immensely. Plus I don't think I am emotionally in a state where I can become a carer.
Society in General
No matter the political, religious, or caste affiliations I have, I feel the Indian society in general is deteriorating. People are angrier, both online and in real life. Corruption and bureaucratic red tape are stifling. I have never dealt with a government official without paying a bribe, except when getting my passport made. My family and I can easily become collateral damage in someone's conflict. Recently, during the Ram temple inauguration, Mira Road saw a flurry of violence, and that’s where my parents stay. The absolute apathy of the progressive governments towards us is ridiculous, making it difficult for a tax-paying citizen to feel righted by the state while getting the bare minimum in return.
I know complaining is also a privilege, and I am aware that many are much less fortunate than I am. But I don’t want to compare. I just want to know from people here, who come from different backgrounds, income levels, and age groups—how do you cope? How do you wake up every day and think, "I must keep going for 30 more years" (in my case, as I assume I will work till 60), and hope to have made something worthwhile of my life by then so that I can have a few years of quiet before my time on this planet is done?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this and how do you cope. Maybe there are more things that keep you up, do share.

Hey i would like some advice on this situation and what i should say or do to get this to stop anyways i once dated this girl wendy (not her real name) and in my opinion the relationship was fairly empty and i held off the idea of breaking it off because me and her were friends but it wasn't working for me
i eventually broke up with her wendy did not take this lightly and sent many photos of her crying and at first i tried to comfort her but it went on for weeks and she would text me while i was hanging with family and friends.
i did not like this as it would happen so much that it just got in the way and turned off notifications we stopped talking for a long while now we are talking again nothing romantic then she brought up that if we were going to get back together it was up to me i did not respond to this
The next day she sent me a tiktok (link below) about poetry the poem the person was reading a poem talking about someone who thinks they did nothing wrong
This frustrates me as i think it is somebody's choice to end a relationship
To me she is acting like i did something unforgivable and while a breakup is hard to get over it seems that she would rather i stay in a relationship I don't want to be in rather than be happier on my own i can't talk to her as i think shes extremely sensitive not just because of the breakup but because she is also really gullible
A once Mutual friend lets call him bob(15m) is now saying things to her like how i want her dead and stuff but that is untrue then she will text me and ask me if its true then i usually respond with "bob hates me so why do you believe what he says" then she deflects that with "but is it true?"
Wendy also posts things on her snapchat story obviously directed at me
Reddit please please please help me with this situation Link to tiktok she sent

I listed an item for $79 or best offer. It is selling everywhere else for anywhere from $80-$112. I'm in no rush to sell, but also do not need to maximize profits on this item, so I'm okay with undercutting everyone else. I considered fees to be sure I have the lowest price.
Buyer: *offers $45*
Me: Sorry, I already have it listed the cheapest online anywhere, so the best I can do is $75.
Buyer: *offers $50.13*
Me: I appreciate your offer, but I really did mean it when I said the best I can do is $75. Thanks!
Buyer: Fine, $60.
Me: $75
Buyer: $60.13
As if that extra 13 cents will sell me lol.
I don't mind people trying to get a deal, but come on, LMAO. This guy was an obvious reseller, which I don't mind. I just sold something else to a reseller and I know he will turn around and make a profit on it, but I did not want to invest the time or risk in the item, so I am happy for him. But people really need to learn that negotiating is more about just dollar figures. You are communicating with another person. Its also more annoying when its someone else who sells, because they should know better than to be irritating, LOL

I have an 8 week old kitten. I have had them for a month. If I let them stay out, I don't sleep at all. And the nights I didn't put them to bed (a backpack carrier with a towel in it), I don't sleep. Last night around 9 pm, we went to the bedroom. I tried making a papaya smoothie and was struggling to drink it (I am still struggling to drink it for breakfast. It is thick, with the seeds for the medicinal effect.). I was on my phone and they were jumping in and out of their carrier and then jumped back in. I then fell asleep and woke up at 6 am to my alarm. Kitty normally stirs the second there is signs of life, but I turned off my alarm, plugged my phone in, and slept some more. When I stirred, Kitty then came out if the cat carrier. She didn't leave the bedroom to eat until I got up. She has learned about bedtime! 😭
Now we can start having bedtime together without her being zipped up in her carrier! Only thing is she pees on the end in my room even though I have 2 kitten litter boxes. I have been staying over at someone else's place with 1 litter box, and she peed on a piece of paper they swept in a pile (It was a conversion of baking soda and baking powder because of a gf matzo ball baking mixup from passover with potato starch), and a paper bag on its side. She has learned to pee on plastic a paper grocery bag on its side, or paper when she doesn't like the litter box.
Now how do I get her to stop peeing on the bed? I am in a shelter hotel with no laundry (Inside Safe) And the hotel is contracted with to provide laundry and replace linens and the social workers (St. Joseph's Center) are contracted with the city to provide laundry services, but they won't. My coverlet are now blood and other stained for about a year due to lack of laundry, so no peeing the coverlets or the one blanket (Yes, my room has 2 beds, but exactly one stained blanket full of holes even though the hotel is contractually obligated to wash AND replace linens. I don't even have TOWELS while the hotel gets paid $160 per night over my head, and St. Joseph's gets paid $320 per night without offering services. They even do wrongfully kickouts while keeping us in the system. A heavily pregnant womyn was thrown out with no notice, and had to give birth living on the street only to find that they never formally exited her and both the hotel and St. Joseph's which wrongfully threw her out continued to get paid for her for each day. And this is happening across hotels foe the program. One person just found out the day before a comprehensive sweep a month ago that they are still in the program a year after they were thrown out of their room at 10 pm. St. Joseph's and the hotel has been getting nightly pay on her with the hotel making $60k and St. Joseph's getting over $100k for her "being in the program" while she slept in a maintenance road along s fucking creek because they threw her out! To be formally exited, there are 2 required notices plus you are supposed to be able to file a grievance and appeal. These peolle got neither, and grievance forms are withheld from us with 30 day time limits to file from incidents so workers get away with everything. Including only buying 1 day of food every 3 days despite getting money from the city to provide 3 meals a day. 250 million was earmarked from the city to us with only a 60 million cut due to the budget crisis, and we cannot even speak out because of a media blackout to negative attention with even Nick from CNN saying he couldn't publish on the ground interviews because it "went against Karen Bass's Narrative".).
If I have no way to wash the pee smell out of my blanket, how do I get her to stop peeing on the bed. Do I just keep an eye out for every time she goes to that corner and makes the pee squat and say "no", and move her to the litter box?
I try to put her in the litter box 4 times in a row before bed, and I have seen her fake pee several times where she digs and sits and acts like she is peeing but no pee. So that means she is learning that I want her to try and she is trying but has nothing to pee out, correct?

Taken from: https://www.theringer.com/movies/2024/5/21/24161120/greatest-movie-car-chase-scenes-ranked-furiosa-mad-max-saga
In honor of the imminent ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,’ we’re shifting into high gear to determine the best chase scene in cinema history
By Miles Surrey May 21, 2024, 6:30am EDTGetty Images/Ringer illustration
After wowing audiences with Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller returns to the franchise’s post-apocalyptic wastelands for Furiosa, the epic origin story of the eponymous heroine (now played by Anya Taylor-Joy), premiering on Friday. As the follow-up to one of the greatest action films ever made, it’s hard to overstate the hype for Furiosa, and that was before word got out about a showstopping 15-minute sequence that required nearly 200 stuntpeople and took 78 days to shoot. While Furiosa will have its own distinct flavor, as is true of every Mad Max movie, there’s one thing that unites these projects: intense, jaw-dropping scenes of vehicular mayhem. And what better way to honor the franchise than by celebrating what it does best?
Ahead of Furiosa’s release, we’ve put together our definitive ranking of the best car chases in cinema. There weren’t any strict rules in place, other than capping the list at 20—mostly for my own sanity—and limiting every franchise to one entry. (Apologies to Fury Road’s kickass predecessor The Road Warrior.) We also won’t discriminate against scenes that feature motorbikes, so long as cars (and/or trucks) remain part of the equation. As for what, exactly, constitutes a good car chase? Like list making, it’s bound to be subjective, but I tend to gravitate toward two key elements: the skill of the stuntwork on display and the ways in which a filmmaker conveys the action in relation to the story. (Also, the less CGI, the better.) Buckle up, ’cause we’re not wasting any time shifting into high gear.

20. Quantum of Solace (2008)

There have been some memorable car chases in the James Bond franchise: the first sequence featuring the iconic Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger, the corkscrew jump in The Man With the Golden Gun, the Lotus Esprit submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me. But I’m going with a somewhat controversial pick here: Quantum of Solace. There are many issues with Quantum of Solace—namely, it was one of the most high-profile blockbusters affected by the 2007-08 writers strike—but its opening scene isn’t one of them. Picking up right where Casino Royale left off, we find Bond (Daniel Craig) evading henchmen through the narrow roads around Italy’s Lake Garda. The frenetic, furious chase mirrors Bond’s sense of anguish after losing Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), the woman he opened his heart to, and his relentless quest for answers. It’s a thrilling tone-setter for Quantum of Solace and one that doesn’t overstay its welcome, capped off by Bond sending his final pursuers flying off a cliff:
If we’re being honest, though, it feels like James Bond has yet to create a franchise-defining car chase. Perhaps that’s a mission the newest 007, whoever it ends up being, can undertake.

19. Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation (2015)

The Mission: Impossible franchise is no stranger to electrifying chase scenes, the best of which find Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt working up his heart rate. When it comes to action behind the wheel, though, Fallout tends to dominate the discussion—even on this very website. But I think the vehicular chase in Rogue Nation is being slept on. What we have is effectively two sequences for the price of one: The first finds Hunt pursuing Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) by car through the narrow streets of Casablanca alongside some nefarious henchmen; the second sees him continue the chase outside the city on motorbike. (Adding to the chaos: Hunt had only just been resuscitated, and he’s clearly not all there.) In terms of death-defying stunts for the audience’s entertainment, a helmetless Cruise taking corners like a MotoGP racer is child’s play compared to his other exploits, but the actor’s authentic reaction to scraping his knee on the road underlines that there’s no one else in Hollywood doing it like him:
We’ll be sure to update this ranking if and when Cruise does something even more dangerous down the road, pun unintended.

18. Vanishing Point (1971)

A movie that counts the likes of Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino among its biggest fans, Vanishing Point is the first of a few entries on this ranking that’s essentially one extended car chase. The film stars Barry Newman as Kowalski, a man tasked with delivering a Dodge Challenger T 440 Magnum from Colorado to California while eluding police across four states. One of Kowalski’s most memorable run-ins comes when a guy driving a Jaguar E-Type convertible challenges him to an impromptu race. Incredibly, we’re expected to believe the man in the Jag comes out of this crash in one piece:
Vanishing Point might not boast the impressive production values of other movies on this list, but considering Tarantino would go on to feature a white Challenger in Death Proof, its influence in the car cinema canon is undeniable.

17. Fast Five (2011)

Let’s face it, Fast & Furious has seen better days. Some believe the franchise’s dip in quality coincided with the death of Paul Walker; others are dismayed by the pivot from street racing to absurd feats of superherodom—emphasis on the Dom. Perhaps it’s a bit of both, but the very best movie in the series, Fast Five, manages to strike the perfect balance: It’s a relatively grounded heist thriller that nevertheless takes the franchise to ridiculous new heights. After Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew steal $100 million from a Brazilian kingpin, they drag the entire bank vault holding the money through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, all while being pursued by authorities. It’s a delightfully destructive sequence that does untold damage to Rio’s infrastructure and features some of the most bone-crunching crashes committed to film:
If the Fast franchise is going to break out of its recent slump, it would do well to remember that there’s nothing better than letting its heroes live their lives a quarter mile at a time—no detours to outer space required.

16. The Blues Brothers (1980)

A good car chase isn’t reserved just for action flicks: Comedies can get in on the act, too. In The Blues Brothers, starring the recurring Saturday Night Live characters played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the beloved bandmates must prevent the foreclosure of the orphanage where they were raised by scrounging together $5,000. Naturally, that’s easier said than done: Along the way, the Blues Brothers draw the attention of neo-Nazis, a country-and-western band, and local police. While The Blues Brothers has amusing gags and musical numbers, its chase sequences with the Brothers behind the wheel of a 1974 Dodge Monaco are what really steal the show—and none are better than a climactic pursuit across Chicago. More than 60 old police cars were used in the film, some of which are wrecked in a comically over-the-top pileup:
The sheer scale of The Blues Brothers’ final set piece is commendable in and of itself—as is the movie’s commitment to treating real-life cars like a bunch of Hot Wheels.

15. Baby Driver (2017)

For good and for ill, Edgar Wright’s movies exude an abundance of style, and Baby Driver is no exception. Baby Driver is centered on a clever gimmick: The action works in tandem with its soundtrack because the film’s protagonist, Baby (Ansel Elgort), suffers from tinnitus and constantly plays music to drown out the ringing. When everything’s clicking into place, Baby Driver feels like a supersized series of music videos, and nothing hits quite like its opening sequence. Baby acts as the getaway driver for a bank robbery while listening to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s “Bellbottoms.” The ensuing chase works around rhythms of the song, as if Baby’s Subaru WRX were the star of its own dance number. Take nothing away from the actual driving, either, which puts the rally car to good use:
Baby Driver’s gimmick stretches a little thin by the end, but it’s hard to deny the crowd-pleasing power of Wright’s film when it’s firing on all cylinders.

14. The Raid 2 (2014)

With a trio of kickass Indonesian martial arts films under his belt, Gareth Evans has established himself as one of the most exciting action directors on the planet—someone who seems most in his element staging positively brutal hand-to-hand combat. In The Raid 2, however, Evans also brought his signature brand of carnage to the road. While there’s some cleverly executed close-quarters fighting within the confines of an SUV, courtesy of Iko Uwais’s hard-hitting protagonist, what really cements this sequence’s greatness are the moments when Evans turns the cars into an extension of the characters’ fists:
This belongs in an entirely new category of combat: car fights. There are so many action scenes in The Raid 2 worth writing home about—the kitchen showdown is an all-timer—but the fact that Evans casually tossed in an unforgettable car chase shows why he’s one of one.

13. The Driver (1978)

I’ll say this for Walter Hill’s The Driver: It sure lives up to its title. In this stripped-down thriller—one where none of the characters have a name—we follow the Driver (Ryan O’Neal), a getaway driver who has become a thorn in the side of the LAPD. In the film’s best scene, we see its taciturn protagonist living up to his reputation. With the Driver behind the wheel of a 1974 Ford Galaxie, a cat-and-mouse game unfolds when a handful of police cars are hot on his tail. What I love about this sequence is the pared-down nature of it all: The Driver outwits the cops as much as he outraces them. (Though, ironically, that wasn’t entirely by design: As Hill later explained, an accident on the last night of shooting meant they had to cobble together what had already been filmed.) Frankly, you’d never know the difference from the finished article:
If the general vibes of The Driver seem familiar, that’s because it was a major inspiration for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, which just so happened to feature an unnamed protagonist (Ryan Gosling) evading police through the streets of Los Angeles.

12. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

The shaky-cam style of the Bourne franchise isn’t for everyone—just ask John Woo—but credit where it’s due: These movies know how to deliver a good chase scene. (A friendly reminder that The Bourne Legacy is an underrated gem with an awesome motorbike sequence to boot.) But there’s one Bourne chase that stands above the rest: the Moscow getaway in The Bourne Supremacy. After being wounded by the Russian assassin Kirill (Karl Urban), Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) hijacks a taxi, with both the police and Kirill in hot pursuit. This isn’t the kind of sequence that lingers on any one shot; instead, what makes it work is the frenetic nature of the editing, which allows the viewer to feel like they’re in Bourne’s fight-or-flight headspace:
If I’m being honest, I’m usually one of those people who doesn’t like the Bourne movies’ shaky-cam style, but when it’s executed with such craftsmanship, you can’t help but get caught up in its adrenaline-pumping power.

11. The Seven-Ups (1973)

Philip D’Antoni was the producer of two movies featuring Hall of Fame car chases, Bullitt and The French Connection, the latter of which won him an Oscar for Best Picture. And with his lone directorial feature, The Seven-Ups, D’Antoni sought to craft an iconic sequence of his own. The film stars Roy Scheider as NYPD detective Buddy Mannuci (elite Italian American name; I can practically smell the gabagool), who commands a unit handling major felony cases that lead to seven-plus-year prison sentences; that’s why they’re known as the Seven-Ups. Midway through the movie, when one of the team members is killed by two shooters who flee the scene, Buddy chases after them. The 10-minute sequence, which starts in the Upper West Side before moving out of the city, is thrillingly immersive, alternating between close-ups of the characters and wider shots of all the damage they’ve caused. But the chase’s defining moment comes right at the end, when Buddy narrowly avoids a grisly death:
The sequence isn’t quite at the level of Bullitt or The French Connection—very few are—but D’Antoni still manages to leave an unmistakable imprint on the car chase canon.

10. Death Proof (2007)

If you ask Quentin Tarantino, Death Proof, his knowingly trashy tribute to exploitation cinema, is the worst movie he’s ever made. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to admire about the film, which honors the unsung heroes of Hollywood: stunt performers. The first half of Death Proof follows three female friends who cross paths with Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), a misogynistic serial killer who takes them out in his “death-proof” Chevy Nova. Fourteen months later, a group that includes stuntwoman Zoë Bell, playing herself, also lands on Mike’s radar. As Bell and her friends test out a ’70s Challenger, she performs a “ship’s mast” stunt, clinging onto the hood of the car with fastening belts. Unfortunately, when Mike pursues the women, it puts Bell in a precarious situation. Most of the entries on this list celebrate some next-level driving skills, but Death Proof’s inclusion is all about Bell pulling off one of the wildest stunts you’ll ever see. She’s quite literally hanging on for dear life:
If the Academy handed out Oscars to stunt performers—and let’s hope it does happen one day—Bell would’ve won in a landslide.

9. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

William Friedkin was already responsible for an all-time great car chase in The French Connection (more on that later), but the filmmaker made a commendable bid to outdo himself with To Live and Die in L.A. In this neo-noir thriller, Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William L. Petersen) is hell-bent on arresting an expert counterfeiter, Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe), who kills Chance’s partner days before his retirement. To capture Masters, Chance and his new partner, John Vukovich (John Pankow), attempt to steal $50,000 from a jewelry buyer for an undercover operation. The sting goes bad when the buyer, who is later revealed to be an undercover FBI agent, is killed and a group of gunmen goes after Chance and Vukovich. It’s a clever inversion of the usual car chase formula—this time, it’s the lawmen running away from the criminals. The outside-the-box thinking extends to the film’s most astonishing stretch, in which Chance evades the gunmen by driving into oncoming traffic:
The fact that Friedkin shot the chase at the end of filming—in case anything disastrous happened to the actors—underscores just how risky the endeavor was. The pulse-pounding results speak for themselves.

8. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

The Matrix sequels have never been held in high esteem, but I’m ready to live my truth: The Matrix Reloaded fucking rules. (If anyone’s got a problem with this take, file your complaints with the Architect.) What’s more, the film happens to boast the finest action set piece of the franchise: the highway chase. After Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) free the Keymaker (Randall Duk Kim), a program capable of creating shortcuts within the Matrix, they’re pursued by the Twins (Neil and Adrian Rayment). Morpheus once warned that going on the freeway was “suicide,” and it doesn’t take long to see why: The chase draws the attention of several Agents, who repeatedly take over the bodies of other drivers on the road. The scene is the best of both worlds: There’s some incredible stuntwork on display, including when Moss weaves around on a Ducati, and CGI augments some feats of superhuman strength. But the most jaw-dropping aspect of the sequence is how it came together, as the production spent $2.5 million to construct its own highway (!) on California’s Alameda Island. If that weren’t unique enough, I’m pretty sure Reloaded is also the only movie in existence in which a katana takes out an SUV:
The Matrix remains the Wachowskis’ masterpiece, but don’t get it twisted: The filmmakers were still cooking with gas in the sequel.

7. Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Size isn’t everything, but for H. B. Halicki, who produced, wrote, directed, and starred in Gone in 60 Seconds, it’s certainly part of the package. The indie action flick follows Maindrian Pace (Halicki), a Los Angeles insurance investigator who has a lucrative side hustle jacking high-end cars. The plot kicks into motion when a South American drug lord enlists Pace to nab 48 cars within five days in exchange for $400,000. Of course, Gone in 60 Seconds is best known for what happens after Pace is caught stealing a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1, when he leads police on a chase that lasts a whopping 40 minutes. (More than 90 cars were destroyed in the process.) Halicki, for his part, did all the driving himself, including a spectacular jump off a makeshift ramp of crashed cars:
While Halicki wound up making a few more indies after Gone in 60 Seconds, he died in an accident on the set of its sequel. His legacy as a do-it-all daredevil, however, lives on.

6. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Long before James Cameron immersed himself in the world of Pandora, he was a pioneer of state-of-the-art visual effects. Case in point: Terminator 2: Judgment Day is credited for having the first CGI character in a blockbuster, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a killing machine composed of a futuristic liquid metal. But Cameron also understood that the CGI of that era shouldn’t be the main attraction: It worked best as a complement to the practical effects, as seen in Judgment Day’s epic viaduct chase. When the T-1000 tracks down a young John Connor (Edward Furlong) in a shopping mall, he’s saved at the last minute by the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), giving John a chance to escape on his dirt bike. As the T-1000 gives chase, the David and Goliath vibes between man and machine are further epitomized by the T-1000’s commandeering of a truck. The sequence already has a terrifying sense of urgency, but it hits another level when the T-1000 crashes through the viaduct like the Kool-Aid Man:
Big Jim is still revolutionizing what can be achieved with visual effects in the Avatar franchise, and while I cherish those movies, nothing beats his old-school showmanship.

5. Duel (1971)

The feature-length debut of Steven Spielberg—perhaps you’ve heard of him—the TV movie Duel is essentially one extended chase sequence between salesman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) and a sinister trucker determined to drive him off the road. I’ve attached a clip from the ending of the film, but that doesn’t do Duel justice. What cements this movie’s greatness is how it sustains an unbearable level of tension across its 90-minute running time—with a budget under $500,000, no less. Spielberg’s masterstroke is never once showing us the other driver, anthropomorphizing the truck itself as a monster. (You can see a lot of similarities with how he would build suspense in Jaws.) When Mann finally gets the upper hand, tricking his adversary into driving off a cliff, it feels like you can breathe again:
Spielberg would move on to bigger and better things after Duel, but considering how much the director accomplished with so little, you can’t help but wonder what else he could conjure up with limited resources.

4. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Like Duel, Fury Road is basically one long car chase—the difference is Miller got to work with a blockbuster budget, and made every cent of it count. It’s hard to pick a single standout sequence in Fury Road, but if I had to choose, I’d go with the first attack on the War Rig after Furiosa (Charlize Theron) flees with the wives of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Here’s why: Think back to when you saw Fury Road for the first time, before you fully grasped the vehicular carnage that was in store. And then stuff like this kept happening:
To quote Steven Soderbergh’s thoughts on Fury Road: “I don’t understand how they’re not still shooting that film and I don’t understand how hundreds of people aren’t dead.” Whether or not Miller manages to one-up the action in Furiosa, the director is already in the pantheon.

3. The French Connection (1971)

We return to the Friedkin-verse for what may be his best film, The French Connection, the crime thriller based on Robin Moore’s 1969 nonfiction book of the same name. The story concerns two NYPD detectives, Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Scheider), and their tireless pursuit of a French heroin smuggler. But while there’s plenty to admire about how The French Connection illustrates the thin line between police and criminals, its greatest claim to fame is its car chase. After Popeye narrowly survives a sniper attack, he goes after the shooter, who escapes on an elevated train. The ensuing sequence is true daredevil filmmaking that Friedkin shot without permits, leading to real crashes with New Yorkers that made the final cut. But Friedkin’s finest touch was mounting a camera to the front of the car, making the audience feel like they’re part of the action:
My Ringer colleague Justin Sayles believes The French Connection’s chase should’ve landed at no. 1, and I’m sure many folks will agree with him. Being the only film on this list to win Best Picture, however, is a solid consolation prize.

2. Bullitt (1968)

When it comes to modern car chases, all roads lead back to Bullitt. A Dad Cinema classic, the film stars Steve McQueen as Frank Bullitt, a San Francisco detective who pursues a group of mobsters after a key witness is killed in protective custody. In his search for answers, Bullitt realizes he’s being tailed by a couple of hitmen, and then turns the tables on them. From there, the chase is on. Aside from McQueen doing most of his own stunts behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback, what’s so impressive about the sequence is how timeless it is. Even the little imperfections, like hubcaps repeatedly coming off the wheels, work to the film’s advantage, stressing just how much these drivers are living on a razor’s edge. It’s been more than 50 years since Bullitt revolutionized the car chase, and yet few movies since have felt like they’re pushing the envelope to such an exhilarating degree:
That the car driven by McQueen was recently sold at auction for $3.74 million, a then-record price for a Mustang, underlines Bullitt’s enduring legacy.

1. Ronin (1998)

“If I’m going to do a car chase,” filmmaker John Frankenheimer said in an interview with the American Society of Cinematographers, “I’m going to do a car chase that’s going to make somebody think about whether or not they want to do another one!” Boy, did he ever. In Frankenheimer’s late-career masterpiece, Ronin, the director actually incorporated several chases, but it’s the climactic sequence that stands alone as the greatest ever filmed. The movie concerns an international group of mercenaries who are hired to steal a mysterious briefcase; a series of double-crosses and double-bluffs ensue. But for the final chase, all you need to know is that Sam (Robert De Niro), a mercenary with ties to the CIA, is in pursuit of Deirdre (Natascha McElhone), an IRA operative in possession of the case. Winding through the streets and tunnels of Paris, what’s most striking is just how fluid it all feels. You’re completely engrossed in the chase’s forward momentum, captured from every conceivable angle; a symphony of controlled chaos. The driving styles even reflect the characters: Deirdre is reckless and impulsive, while Sam remains calm and controlled.
There are many worthy car chases in this ranking, but in my view, Ronin takes pole position. And while I can’t imagine a movie ever topping what Frankenheimer achieved, I’d love nothing more than to be proved wrong.

Anyone else having issues with Bluetooth after the last couple updates?
My phone starts a call to myself about 60% if the time I connect to my car, and I have to hang up before I can play anything. On my headphones the Bluetooth often only plays media as though it were a phone call, making the quality worse and turning off noise canceling. If I turn off Bluetooth for calls it works fine, unless I need to make a call or get called of course. Any fixes y'all know of?

I am a 20 year old student and I was driving from my college to home and while I was driving home and I was on nagarguna Sagar road all the cars were going in 60 speed and I was also going on same speed on my car then the car in front of me did a sudden brake cus the bus in front of him did the same in spite of there being no u turn then the i applied brake on my car as much as possible and it slowed down to almost 0 and touched the car in front of me with a speed of 5 I think and then 3 guys got out of the car in front of me saying i damaged their bumper and for perspective I was driving an i20 based model and they were driving a fortuner and one of the 3 guys were cursing a lot saying all sorts of obscenities and grabbed my key and told me to get out and got in the driver seat and were about to dive off i got in the back seat then he drove my car for 3km and stopped and were demanding 25k saying they need to do bumper dent paint and at the same time i got a call saying I needed to go to hospital as my grandpa was admitted and I was in a hurry now so I paid them the 25k as they were refusing to give me my key and then they left this is what they were claiming happened cus of me bumping their car a bit
This is what happened to the fortuner https://ibb.co/CJCpNr9

Actually, the symbolic physical act was drinking wine, as in the OT Passover meal. In the communion, the wine represents the blood of Jesus. Jesus used wine as a symbol for his blood, which signified his sacrifice on the cross. He was the Lamb of God of the Passover, taking away the sins of the world.
Leviticus 17:

11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

What about the partaking of the blood?
Again, we are not talking about drinking physical blood.
John 6:

55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

The physical life of the physical flesh is in the physical blood. The animated life of the human spirit is in the precious blood of Jesus. Communion is one collective way to feed our human spirits. It grows and strengthens our spiritual life. This is not just a metaphor or symbol. This is a spiritual reality. Believe it.
Why would Jesus use drinking blood as a symbol at all since it is misleading?
It was a radical idea and easily misunderstood as some form of cannibalism. It tested the loyalty of the listeners. John 6:

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

They left Jesus.

65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

The loyal ones passed the test. They stayed.
This test continues today. Some pass, and some fail. If one digs deeper into the symbolism and typology, he will find the deeper significance of spiritual reality, as I have tried to do in this OP. Communion feeds the participants' human spirits to strengthen them into the Oneness of the Body of Christ.
Have you passed this loyalty test? :)

TW: Miscarriage
My domestic partner suffered a devastating miscarriage in January of 2023. Subsequently, our fertility doctor sent the fetal tissue to a third party provider for lab services to determine whether a chromosomal abnormality was the cause. Since then, we've been fortunate enough to have a beautiful healthy baby girl. It wasn't until April of this year (a year and three months after the service) that we received a bill in the mail for $799 from a company called Natera. The bill was for the lab services requested by our doctor, and the bill explained that our insurance refused to cover the services, so we would instead be on the hook for the payment.
Setting aside that this bill was a slap in the face and reopened the wound of an upsetting point in our lives, Natera is in-network, and this service should absolutely have been covered by my health insurance. I'm fortunate enough to have good insurance through my work, and, through my benefits, a patient advocate who sometimes acts as a buffer between employees and our insurance company. I reached out explaining the situation, and my patient advocate reached out to Cigna, my insurance company, who explained that Natera had failed to complete a preauthorization before the service, which is why their claim was rejected, but that they were "prohibited from billing the patient." When I looked in my Cigna portal, I saw the claim and EOB, which indeed noted multiple times that this was a mistake of the provider's, and that I was not on the hook to pay anything, even noting that if I had already paid the provider, I should request reimbursement from them.
Cigna in turn reached out to Natera, who said they would submit a new claim with retro preauthorization. However, I never saw a new claim surface in my portal, and we continued getting more mail from Natera with increasingly urgent language about our bill being "PAST DUE." Not knowing what else to do, I called Natera billing myself on three occasions to speak directly with customer support. The first time, the specialist said she would escalate the matter to her supervisor and that I should see the balance on my bill go back to zero at payment.natera.com within a week (it's been over a week and the balance is still $799). The second time, I was disconnected. The third time, the specialist told me to hold while he connected with customer support, and, over the course of a half an hour, repeatedly returned to the line every two minutes to robotically let me know he was still waiting for a response and could he put me on a brief hold. In the third instance I told him "I know this isn't your fault, but I've been on hold with you for a half an hour; can you just call me back when you hear from them?" He said he would call back in between 30-60 minutes and never did.
I submitted a message to Natera's online portal explaining the situation, the research I and my patient advocate did confirming this was Natera's fault and that it was not just to be billing me for their mistake. I noted that Natera had told my insurance they would resubmit the claim but that no such claim had surfaced. A week later, I received a response thanking me for choosing Natera and saying that because their claim was rejected by insurance, they had no choice but to bill me (citing the original claim from a year ago — not even noting any new claim with retro preauthorization).
I am writing this in part because I am at my wits end being harassed by Natera — while also trying to parent my infant daughter and return to work — and unsure how to proceed getting this nightmare resolved. Furthermore, I want to spread the word that Natera's billing department is cruel and predatory, and hopefully assure someone else in my shoes that they aren't alone. Upon research, it sounds like Natera has been accused and even brought to court for ripping off customers with bogus bills, so I can only hope they're brought to some semblance of justice.
On the first point — my being unsure how to proceed — any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help.

I am a 20 year old student and I was driving from my college to home and while I was driving home and I was on nagarguna Sagar road all the cars were going in 60 speed and I was also going on same speed on my car then the car in front of me did a sudden brake cus the bus in front of him did the same in spite of there being no u turn then the i applied brake on my car as much as possible and it slowed down to almost 0 and touched the car in front of me with a speed of 5 I think and then 3 guys got out of the car in front of me saying i damaged their bumper and for perspective I was driving an i20 based model and they were driving a fortuner and one of the 3 guys were cursing a lot saying all sorts of obscenities and grabbed my key and told me to get out and got in the driver seat and were about to dive off i got in the back seat then he drove my car for 3km and stopped and were demanding 25k saying they need to do bumper dent paint and at the same time i got a call saying I needed to go to hospital as my grandpa was admitted and I was in a hurry now so I paid them the 25k as they were refusing to give me my key and then they left this is what they were claiming happened cus of me bumping their car a bit

I posted here a week or so ago about all my issues with my uBPD mother coming to a head. I have a child and after a Mother's Day meltdown (because I didn't show her enough love) I realized I am officially done putting her emotions before mine. It's not fair to me or my family and I have reached my breaking point. I told her we could do family therapy, which she agreed to, as my last attempt to mend our relationship. In my last post, everyone called it - she's already waifing it up and I know therapy will not go well, but I am sticking to it and it is HARD. A little vent; she retired when she was 60 after being in the "workforce" for only 15ish years on and off. She was a stay-at-home mom and my father died when I was 3. She received money from a settlement that she lived off of until it was gone. Now, she's realizing she can't live just off social security and isn't as hirable as she thought. She didn't listen to anyone when she announced her retirement and is now crying that she can't find a job. Even though she did get a job at this place but quit after one day because it was too much physical labor. Basically I am struggling with all these feelings. Struggling that I finally put down my foot and struggling because I do feel bad about how her life is turning out, and struggling because I know I can't fix anything. I KNOW it's not my responsibility, but this whole process is just hard. I'm sticking to my boundaries because I have to for my wellbeing. It's just the first time in my life and it's difficult.

Female attraction, luck, increased libido and energy. I feel like i can conquer the world when im on a good clean streak. Started nofap at like age 16 i think, just turned 20 now and have been on it since then on and off. My longest streak back then was like 120 days, but with a couple of other streaks of 90 days, 60 days etc and everytime ive been on these longer streaks i feel like nothing is impossible in this life.
About 90 days ago i found out about semen retention and started taking it seriously. And that was like step 2, with nofap being the first step.
When i was on nofap i used to still be addicted to other stuff like energy drinks, nicotine pouches and vape, junk food and other stuff. I still looked at girls bodies, and said "dayuuuuuummmm" when a girl with a nice ass walked by just like all my friends still do. Now i cant help but to cringe when i see my friends do that type of behavior, like animals.
Dont get me wrong i will still sometimes look at a beautiful girl if she walks by and sometime admire her body, even tho i try not to. But it feels different from before. Its not in the animal way, now its more of admiring the body and beauty and i not as much as an object anymore.
(Yeah i know the old feminist "men see girls as objects" saying, which i have always hated before. But when im on semen retention i can not ignore how many other guys, especially younger like my age just see women as objects.
Bad habits
Now that i found semen retention i have easily kicked alot of bad habits, with energy drinks, nicotine and alcohol being the main ones that i felt was holding me back. (Been drinking energy drinks like everyday since i was 14, my main addiction). No shit i was feeling like shit and hated my life. I just sat at home fat, drinking energy drinks and jerking off. No shit i wanted to end it. Now i just feel disgusted when i see these chemicals and wonder why anybody would put them in their body.
Nowadays i only crave good natural food, and wonder why anybody would destroy themself and their body with these bad habits.
Life gets so much easier when you get more discipline in your life, alot easier. People seems to think that eating only good natural food is hard and that you are not living, by restricting yourself to only. But to me, i see people eating junk food and consuming substances, jerking off, that they are really taking the hard way in life.
SR is like a cheat code. I dont know the science behind it but all the benefits are true. Luck, stuff seems to just fall into place when on a good streak. People are friendlier. Girls come up and start conversations about random things, like at the gym asking for help with certain things or just saying hi when they walk by. People respect you. Old people seem to like u more and not see u as a thug. Animals seems interested in u. Things that i manifest become real. Almost all benefits that i read on here are really true.
I have gotten alot more spiritual. I go into nature and just become one with the nature. Observing.
Semen Retention has saved my life. Everything started with nofap believe it or not. But after hopping on SR i have leveled up and kicked my bad habits. I do still enjoy smoking weed sometimes, and i do still drink coffee. And if i do meet a girl that i really like, then i will have sex while trying hard not to come.
So yeah im dedicating my life to this practice, lets see what happens. Sky is the limit.

After 5 gruelling months of navigating a tough job market I finally landed a role. It’s not my dream job, but it is my saving grace and I couldn’t be more proud of myself for getting to this moment.
I spent 15 years building a career in sales and project management only to realise I didn’t like what I was doing. There was plenty of progression in the last 5 years but I seemed to had deviated from who I was as a person. I think my 18 year old self would have been disappointed that I ended up in an office working 60 hour weeks staring at a computer. When my last project came to an end 5 months ago I decided to go looking for a career change. Then I really felt the pinch of the job market.
During the 5 months I submitted countless applications (some tailored, some one size fits all) and turned up to 10 interviews. The emotional turmoil I went through from preparing to waiting to hear back was maddening. I turned into a lesser version of myself so much so that my mental health, relationships and finances suffered. I stopped believing in a higher power because how could such a thing allow someone to go through such agony. Suffice to say 9/10 interviews didn’t result in a job. In my entire life I’ve never found it so difficult to land a job, with each rejection call/email shrinking my confidence.
The one interview that did, happened because I had interviewed for an advertised role and the hiring manager was part of the panel. I didn’t get that one but she offered me the chance to interview for one of her internally advertised roles. It would be at the level below what I’m used to but I knew when switching careers I’d need to take this step. I agreed and a week later I met with her to talk about the role. Turns out she had a similar background to me so maybe she saw that and thought I was worth investing in. Whether that’s true or not I’m grateful to have received an offer.
I’m still feeling the effects of the last 5 months so there’s still a fair way to go before I feel 100%. This provided the hope I needed to start picking up the pieces and mend the parts of my life that were neglected. I really feel like I suffered an ego death in pursuit of a career change. Almost like I couldn’t be the 60 hour a week computer staring robot I once was. Here I am starting again with the belief that if I can build a career once, I can do it again.
Good luck to everyone doing it tough in this economy. I’m rooting for you!

Hi guys. Making another shot at this. Cut prices on a few things because I'm just running out of room for storing my new builds. Order multiples and I may cut you a deal.
This post is mostly for people interested in buying, but I love a trade! If you're interested in trading see my latest post in /letstradepedals. I post there every other week, usually on Tuesday. I got non-DIY stuff in the trade post, too.
What I got for sale is hand-built stuff that I made, mostly relatively unique or heavily tweaked designs built on vero or point to point. Many are housed in upcycled tins, a few in hammond boxes. I've also got small practice amps built inside whatevers that you can crank up and enjoy at low volumes. They all run on standard 9v pedal power.
PRICES DON'T INCLUDE SHIPPING -- I ship USPS priority using pirateship.com, so expect shipping to be between $5 and $15 depending on how close you are to Tennessee. Would prefer to not deal with international shipping, but if you want it bad enough to pay for it, I'm game.
I accept Paypal or Venmo.
MOBILE USERS: There are 4 columns in the table below: Name, Price, Links, and Notes. If you don't see all 4, scroll over or ask for more info.
Fuzzes

Name	Price	Links	Notes
Bazz Me Fuss You #1	$90	PIC DEMO	A bazz-fussified perversion of the Escobedo push-me-pull-you, featuring controls for octave and volume. This is the first unit I've built using my own custom PCB. Housed in a painted 125B with top jacks.
Space Fuzz	$80	PIC DEMO	This is a Hollis crash sync fuzz that I souped up with an LFO to modulate the filtesync frequency. Really wild flangery/phasey type gated fuzz sound. At the right settings you can get some octave-down effects as well. Housed in a ~3.5 inch square game tin reinforced with recycled plastic. Pretty pleased with this build.
SwirlFuzz	$75	PIC DEMO	Modulated octave fuzz prototype. It's an octave fuzz, but you can switch on an LFO to modulate the octave amount. Controls for Rate, Depth, Gain, and Volume, plus switches for waveshape and mode (Normal/Octave/Modulated). In a circular tin reinforced with recycled plastic.
Big Green Fuzz for Attractive Bass Players	$75	PIC Demo	Like my bazz-me-fuss-you circuit, but with a big muff tone stack, a clean blend, and optional clippers for more compression. Housed in a big round tin reinforced with recycled plastic and designed specifically for attractive bass players. Unattractive ones may not really gel with this.
Creature from the planet Chyowngg	$65	PIC Demo	Prototype of a unique fuzz I've been developing that I call the Chyowngg fuzz. It's a 2-stage octaver that gives a bright synthy tone with a distinctive envelope (hence the name). You can toggle each stage from octave to non-octave mode for a variety of interesting timbres. Also has a tone control, but the tone control is before the octave stages so it results in interesting behaviors depending on the switch settings. It's in a tin meant to be painted like an alien, though some say it looks more like a triceratops.
Baller Fuzz	$60	PIC DEMO	Another Bazz-Me-Fuss-You build with an added BMP-style tone control. In a slightly beaten-up heart-shaped basketball tin. Y'all ready for this?
Wiff Spwinkles on Top	$45	PIC Demo	This point-to-point fuzz lives in the same neighborhood as the Harmonic Percolator, but has a few differences. I altered the way the gain knob works, and added a switch to toggle bass cut. It's housed in an ice-creamity welly tin.
Dumbo's Bazzrite Fussrite	$40	PIC Demo	A bazz-fussified mosrite fuzzrite circuit I cobbled together in point-to-point wiring style. Housed in a little Dumbo puzzle tin with GLITTER! Controls are for balance (kind of tone-cum-gain) and volume.

Drives, Distortions, and Boosts

Name	Price	Links	Notes
Bronze Drive	$85	PIC Demo	This is a point-to-point, transistor based overdrive I designed based loosely on the Davisson Easy Drive. Good for low-gain crunchy tones and plenty of output volume on tap if you want it for a boost. Tone circuit is like a BMP stack but with a mid hump instead of a mid cut. Housed in a painted 125B with top jacks.
Copper ZenerMorph Drive	$65	PIC Demo	This is an experiment in zener diode clipping. Nice crispy drive that gets beefier as you turn up the gain, lots of good edge-of-breakup tones to be had. Housed in a decorated tin reinforced with some plastic.
GOOST	$65	PIC	A simple JFET boost vaguely based on the Runoffgroove Fetzer valve. Switch toggles bass cut for a treble-boosting sound. Point-to-point build housed in a small tin reinforced with recycled plastic.
B is for Beast	$55	PIC DEMO	This fun little drive/boost consists of two cascading MOSFET gain stages with optional clipping in between. It goes from clean and loud to massive wall-of-gain distortion nicely. Controls for gain, clipping, and volume. In a small heart-shaped tin about 4in by 4in.
Shining Hope Drive	$40	PIC Demo	Differential mirroring drive, gives a kind of overdriven-mixer-channel distortion. Controls for gain, tone, and volume. Housed in a star-shaped Christmas tin.
Green Sparkler Boost	$35	PIC	Just an Escobedo Duende JFET boost built point-to-point in a sparkly little round tin. Gives a little gain and a bit of warmth to the tone.

Non-Dirt

Name	Tier	Links	Notes
Gift of Chykka Wakka	$65	PIC DEMO	First build of an all-transistor envelope filter I designed. Built point-to-point style and housed in a little giftbox tin reinforced with recycled plastic. Controls for Q and Sweep, switch toggles envelope smoothing.
Vortex of Funk	$65	PIC DEMO	Second build of the Chykka-Wakka circuit, this one features attack, Q, and range controls. Built point-to-point and housed in a painted tin.
BZZZ BOOP BEEP	$50	PIC DEMO	A basic square wave oscillator on a momentary switch. Can go from bzzz to boop to beep with a sweep of the big knob. Also has tone and volume controls, and a 3-way switch for different decay amounts. Use it to simulate a spring door stopper or dying cow. Or bleep your foul-mouthed frontman. Or mess with the sound guy. Or send Morse code to the bar. I dunno. Housed in a painted tin reinforced with recycled plastic.

Little Amps

Name	Price	Links	Description
Ample iMank	$65	PICS DEMO	This is a Runoffgroove Ruby Amplifier built into this old multimedia speaker enclosure designed to look like an old iMac. Glows blue when you turn it on. It runs from a standard 9v pedal power. It's not terribly loud, nor terribly clean, but if you dig the classic mac vibe it might be fun. Controls for gain and volume, and a power switch on the back.
Nosy Amp	$75	PICS DEMO	Another solid-state amp based on the Ruby amplifier, housed in a repurposed bookshelf speaker. This one actually has pretty decent volume, even on 9V (can run on 12V as well for more), and can stay clean while getting loud enough for a quiet jam with friends.
Fleur-de-Lis Amp	$90	PICS DEMO	A tiny bookshelf speaker turned into a practice amp. This one features a class D power amp for lovely cleans, and a custom designed discrete preamp that gets punchy & crunchy when cranked. Runs on 9V but pretty loud nonetheless.

That's all for now. I just keep building and building, though, so there'll be more.

Good morning everyone. Going to call the mayor of the small town about 10AM. First time I ever watched a meeting from the town. It was 7PM last night. They covered many topics but when it came to the piece of land I would like… the members of the committee, 9 people did not want to sell it… They spoke about turning it into a brand new police station. At the moment in the police station is in a basement, shared with a town building. It is a good idea actually…however, that property has sat empty since it was a bank in 2016!! The town has no money to fix that old building and restore it into a brand new police station… 5 million????
So I will call with some ideas. The town needs money badly after I watched the meeting. I no longer will ask or a tax abatement, I will ask a capped tax for 20-30 years. If the town wants more money they need more residents. Most of the towns money comes from property taxes, my new building will raise values all over. New people will need to go shopping and will liven the area…. I would like to build something with 80-100 units. LFG!

Some earnings since yesterday’s close:
AZO 60 M 70 [3% decrease in sales] EXP 55 LOW 75TCOM 65 ZIM 75 [Initially expected to lose 83 cents, analysts expected to much!] TUYA 75 YALA 65 NDSN 60 DJT 20 [Net Loss 327 million, Revenue 770k!] TRNS 70 PANW 75 [Valuation, 60x PE about 10-12% growth expected] KEYS 65
ZM 70

Nothing is wrong with the PANW earnings. They will make close to 5 dollars a share and are trading at 60x earnings. With a growth of near 10-12% expected, maybe you can no longer give it a multiple it once had when growth was 30%? I may buy the dip on ZM if 60. They will make near 5 dollars as well! The PE would be near 12! The growth is slow as well, 5-10% but they are far cheaper! It is not a bad business but no longer a growing business. For similar reasons I had traded MTCH after disappointing earnings, and will look again as it dips below 30. ACMR and YOU smashed earnings, had growth and the stocks are down so I am trading those. CAR has been my work horse since February. SOFI has growth of 30-40% and is about to be profitable…
If you check back to early January analysts had ZIM losing 83 cents a share. I have pics all over Twitter, even wanted to bet they would crush that! They did! They came in at 75 cent profit. They actually revised for the full year. They are actually paying a dividend… I am disappointed the average freight rate was 1,452! WOW I had checked daily and I saw rates 2,000+…I checked yesterday and they were back to 3,000! So they must have locked in some contracts…
The good news is.. that I expected ZIM needed 1,600 avg to break even, so if they made 75 cents a share on 1,452 it means they cut costs drastically.. More good news is that the rates are above 3,000!!! I wouldn’t buy or sell it at the moment, but the coast is much more clearer now. I have sold all my shares near 12… I was trading it a lot from 9 to 12…. I do not know if it goes back there but I am watching… With rates higher on container, the cost cuts, 14% growth in sales dollars, 10% more actually cargo, it seems good for ZIM…

The market should be watching and will be decided on NVDA ?! NVDA I believe should crush earnings…. The company may even announce a dividend… that is speculation but can be bullish…
I can tell you I rather give NVDA SMCI a 60x PE than NOW or PANW . NVDA may have sales growth near 100% and earnings 200-300% so that should tell you the valuation issue with PANW.
Please check ACMR YOU numbers and you will understand why to buy PANW is crazy! Only touching the topic because about 5 people were asking me why PANW is falling after earnings.. Nothing is wrong with PANW .. The growth is slowing, it is a great company… but why would someone pay 60x earnings when growth is slowing near 10%? Where is the value then? Perfection is priced in… so ZM and PYPL grow 5-10% and earnings grow 5% and have a PE near 12? PANW grows slightly more and has a PE near 60?

Keep in mind historically, the SP500 has a PE near 18-19….For this the SP500 returns to you near 9% a year.
On a good year earnings growth is 5% and sales are 10%... 18-19x PE!
Use that as a reference!

5 Trade Ideas:
ACMR – I did try and bid 22.50. I also have 500 shares at 25.45, sadly it went up to 26.25 and I wanted 1 dollar or 26.45, but that is ok!

CAR – I did bid 116 yesterday. I trade 100 shares normally for 2.50-4 dollars each trade. I did make 1 trade recently for 11 dollars, right after earnings

MTCH ZM – So So earnings, but valuations near 12x? MTCH my last trade was 28 to 29 on 500. ZM I am looking for 60

SOFI – I had abused this a lot last year, a few times this year. They are coming closer and closer to making money and still have 30-40% growth, even as they grow larger… HIMS hit 2! They were losing money but growth was 80-100%.. Even years later HIMS growth is still near 50%, big news on Ozempic rival yesterday

CVNA RDDT DJT – Put ideas, if any of these rally near 5-10%, they are already high but you want to dump the pumps! I will look for puts with 60-90 days

The contents of this post are for information and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, accounting, or legal advice. ... By choosing to make a trade you are responsible for your own actions. Please do some due diligence. These are trades I am making and you can follow along. If you make a winning trade, I do not even expect a bravo or thanks but that’s fine, if you lose on a trade the same difference.. I do not even expect an upvote or reward… The Elite team is aware of the risks and volatility in the market.

Good luck everyone let’s make money. Share trades, ideas here during trading hours. Our main goal here is to make money so I hope we can help eachother. I will be in and out of here as well.

“Will you look at that,” Captain Yontan marveled from the observation deck. They had arrived in the Solar System at long last, the old bastion of knowledge mankind had abandoned many millennia ago.
“Such a basic tech, yet so beautiful, so… poetic,” Lezlybe uttered, gazing at the constant flux of Sunfire Conduit pulled from the sun to one, two, three relays, and finally to the surface of Pluto, where its energy was being harnessed inside a crater. “And you’re certain that’s where the Ultimate Knowledge is stored?”
“Yes,” Yontan nodded. “Every clue leads to Pluto. Can you imagine? The Ultimate Knowledge, lost for millennia, on this planet out of all places.”
“Ready to descend at your command, captain,” announced Ghenna.
Yontan turned to his crew and smiled. It was the first time they had seen him do that in months. “Hover around the south-south-eastern quadrant of the crater. That’s where the entrance is supposed to be.”
“Yes, Sir!”
Lezlybe’s turned to face the captain, her long black hair swirling around with her.
“Wouldn’t that energy burn us on approach?”
“It might be basic tech, but not that basic, Lez,” said Yontan. “It’s safe up to a distance of 100 meters. Don’t underestimate the intelligence of our ancestors because they built this thing in the distant past. They were as smart as us. Smarter even, in certain aspects, I’m sure.”
“Found the entrance, captain,” said Ghenna. It was a pale peach colored door built on the craterside.
“Land near it, wherever it’s stable.”
“Yes, Sir!”
The ship touched down next to the Hollis Crater. Yontan and four others suited up and left the craft. Before heading for the door, the team stopped to gaze at the Sunfire Conduit from their position. It went up, up, up as far as the eye could see.
Jmerr was awestruck.
“I can’t believe we’re able to look at it with basic sun visors. Do you think our ancestors purposefully designed it like that?”
“Of course,” said Yontan, mesmerized by the spiraling blaze swooshing down the crater. “Aesthetics have always been important, especially since it used to be connected to three planets, two dwarf planets, and eight moons. Many renown painters have depicted the Conduits in their art. Although no physical portraits survived, their works have been well documented over hundreds of books.”
Lezlybe approached Jmerr and put her hand over his shoulder.
“I kind of wish we could hear its thunderous sound. I imagine it’d be a satisfying swoosh, kind of like a blowtorch.”
“You’d be deaf before you’d hear a thing,” laughed Yontan. “We’re speaking of extremely powerful jets coming from a star, after all. I can’t wait to see why they’re pulling so much energy on such a small planet. It’s totally excessive in my view.”
“Maybe it’s not,” said Lezlybe. “Especially if the Ultimate Knowledge is behind this door.”
The team approached the door, a small black panel to its side. Yontan placed a round device on top and, seconds later, it retracted into the ground.
“A Grampus?” frowned Jmerr, even though no one could see his face behind the visor. “Why do you use this old AI?”
“Because I don’t know the code,” explained Yontan as they stepped inside a long hall. “So I brought this device with me to crack the password. Don’t forget that this here is also old tech. Newer devices could break something.” He glanced over his shoulder at the wide-open entryway with the ship not too far behind. “But it looks like the Grampus broke it anyway since it doesn’t slide shut.”
At the end of the wide turquoise hall, another door was easily popped open with Yontan’s device. This time, however, the heavy door closed shut when the last person stepped in.
“I hope we’re not trapped in this small room,” gulped Lezlybe.
“Don’t worry, we can ask someone on board to cut it open if needed,” said Yontan. “After all we –”
PSHHHHHHHH
A burst of gas sprayed them from all sides, followed by a shower of heavy liquid. A few moments after it stopped, the door in front of them opened, and a gentle male voice greeted them.
“Welcome to U.K. ONE. The current air pressure is at 101.3 kilopascals, with a temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius and a humidity level set at 60% RH.”
The voice then proceeded to inform them about the room’s condition among other sets of data.
“I see. We were inside a basic decompression chamber,” muttered Jmerr.
The tallest crewmate, Lessandre, popped his helmet off and took a deep breath.
“Ah, historical fresh air,” he boomed, looking around the oval room. “It brings a tear to my eye.”
“What are you doing?” Yontan shouted. “We don’t know what particles or microorganisms could linger in here.”
“Relax, captain. Tyche analyzed the air and told me it’s fine. Why don’t you all retract your visors and experience this multimillennial-old air? You’ll never have the chance to do that again, you know.”
Yontan checked with his own version of his AI, Tyche, and everything seemed to be fine, so he retracted the visor of his helmet as well, just in time to scratch an itch on his beard. The rest of the crew followed, except for Jmerr.
“Come on, Jmerr. It’s a unique experience, my friend,” beamed Lessandre, tapping on his shoulder.
Jmerr scowled at Lessandre. “I refuse to take unnecessary risks.”
“As you wish,” Lessandre grinned, loudly sniffing the air. “Ahhh. The air in here is exceptionally… how to describe it?”
“Dusty?” Lezlybe chimed in. “I think the auto-clean on the filter stopped working long ago.”
Yontan was ignoring his crew, inspecting the walls of this oval room for clues. But the room was pretty much empty, outside of the air conditioning holes and lights flickering on the ceiling.
“I know there’s another door on the other side of the crater, but that one’s the entrance to the accumulator and workspaces,” he muttered to himself, caressing the wall in the hopes of finding a button or a gap of sorts.
“Is that place also turquoise?” asked Lessandre. “I really hate this color. Reminds me too much of my ex.”
Lezlybe rolled her eyes.
“Then why don’t we go there?” asked Ghenna, who had closed her visor since she didn’t like the smell.
“Because,” began Yontan absent-mindedly while brushing his hands over the wall, “every document points to this place. We’ll check the other site if we don’t find anything here. Now if only I – aha! A button. This might be it.”
Yontan pushed it with his finger. Instead of clicking, like any other button would, his index finger sank completely in. He immediately withdrew it, fearing something might cut his finger off. But the button came back, except it was now white and protruded out of the wall. Yontan hesitantly pressed it.
An oval pedestal emerged from the middle of the floor, gradually rising until it reached chest height. The left side slid open with melodious clicks, and out came a small table with a round black object on it with a sky-blue center. Before they had the time to guess what it was, a hologram rose from it, displaying the head of an old balding man with a lazy eye.
“Greetings, future humans,” said the feeble voice. “And welcome to K.U. ONE. What is your purpose here?”
Yontan glanced at his crew, who gave him a nod and shrugs. He cleared his throat and spoke clearly, “We’ve come here to gain access to the Ultimate Knowledge, which is said to contain the answers to our purpose within the universe.”
“I see. And you are one, two, five. Oh! That is good news, good news indeed. I’ve been waiting for you. Well, not me per se, since I’m long dead, I suppose,” the hologram laughed, “but my digital image. And five? Oh, proof that nothing happens at random.”
Yontan was slightly taken aback.
“Wait. You’re not a simple recording?”
“No, no. I’m enhanced with artificial intelligence. It speaks as I would speak, saying what I asked it to say – with a bit of panache. Now, move to the other side of the pedestal. It will pop open and contain a box.”
The other side popped open, displaying a silver box embossed with gold on the edges. It was beautiful. Lessandre grabbed it and tried to pry it open.
“Tut-tut! You need the key to open the box. I’ll hand it over only of you accept to eat its contents.”
“Eat it?” Yontan uttered in excitement. “Will it alter our brains? Give us the knowledge we yearn for?”
“Not quite. But it is a necessary step.”
“I won’t touch it,” Jmerr stated firmly. “I don’t trust this man. Whatever’s inside, it’s been in there for thousands of years. There’s no way it’s still edible.”
“Oh but it is,” grinned the man. “What do you think the Sunfire Conduit is used for?”
“What?” uttered Lezlybe. “The power of the sun used for… food?”
“Of course, there’s more to it. But a lot of energy is necessary to cool it down to near zero kelvin and keep it that way until it’s very slowly reheated to the ideal temperature for you to savor.
“Now, will you eat its contents or not?”
“Why don’t we bring it back to the ship and study it?” suggested Jmerr.
“The moment you leave the room with the box, its contents will be destroyed, and so will the key to Ultimate Knowledge.”
Yontan exchanged a glance with his crew. Lessandre gave him thumbs up, Ghenna nodded and Lezlybe shrugged. Jmerr was the only one to firmly shake his head.
“Fine, we’ll eat its contents,” said Yontan, upon which Jmerr put his hands up in the air in frustration.
A key appeared from the front of the pedestal. Yonan used it to open the box Lessandre was holding. Five dark-brown spherical objects were neatly placed within fitting molds, resembling the five dots on a die.
“Behold the Five Orbs of Knowledge,” the hologram said solemnly. “I recommend one for each of you.”
Jmerr crossed his arms. “There’s no way I’m touching this.”
“What if someone eats two?” asked Yontan, eyeing Jmerr.
“It would sadden me, even though it might be beneficial to grasp the Ultimate Knowledge.”
Without hesitation, Lessandre popped the middle one in his mouth. Every other crewmate was staring at him. A few bites in, he suddenly froze, eyes wide open. His gaze slowly shifted from Yontan, to Lezlybe, to Ghenna – whose visor was now lowered – and finally stopped on Jmerr.
“Awl eash ‘em bofh,” he rapidly chewed, popping a second one in. “Awl eash ‘em owl ihf you guysh downt.”
Yontan’s hand was shaking as he picked his Orb. Lezlybe and Ghenna also chose one.
“On the count of three,” gulped Yontan, as he noticed the horrified look on Jmerr. “One… two… three!”
The shell of the Orb had a slight crunch, with a rather soft, creamy inner core, gently melting on their tongue. Sweet with a zest of bitterness. Each bite, each movement of their tongue was another moment they savored, dreading the end of this unique flavor. It was an explosion of exoticism, a sensory overload inside their mouth; the richness of the Orb filled their taste buds and souls alike with pure bliss.
Then there was the aroma, dissolving the dusty odor of the room with its arboraceous perfume. It reminded them of Terrestrial woods, now planted across various planets in the Milky Way. Comforting, ancient, nostalgic, and so raw at heart.
Fortunately, this jolly adventure didn’t end after they swallowed it, no, each residue, sticking to the various corners of their mouths, lingered like a fleeting memory soon to disappear forever. Yet it was still there, to grasp with the palm of their hands. But when they tried to, it became vapor, dwindling, yet etched in their brains with such strength it would be impossible to ever forget this moment. Ever.
Their minds were still floating on a cloud of ecstasy when Yontan stared at Lessandre.
“You ate two,” he breathed. “And you,” he turned to Jmerr, “you have no idea what you’ve just missed. It’s… indescribably delectable.” Yontan faced the hologram. “Please, give us one more, for Jmerr. He has to try this… Orb.”
The hologram grinned widely, creasing the old man’s entire face.
“These were the last five. There are no more.”
“WHAT?” everyone shouted at once.
“Th– that’s it? No more?” Yontan’s shoulder slumped. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier? We could’ve taken it back to the ship and try to recreate it.”
“It’s impossible without the recipe.”
“A recipe? Give it to us, I don’t care about Ultimate Knowledge anymore,” Lessandre laughed.
“But you had two,” Lezlybe scowled.
“And I want more,” he chuckled. “I’ve never felt better in my life. Even two were far too few!”
“Yes, hand us the recipe so we can share it with the rest of the crew,” pleaded Yontan.
The hologram seemed more and more pleased with itself.
“Even if I gave you the recipe you couldn’t make it when the main ingredient’s missing.”
“What’s the main ingredient?” Ghenna asked.
“Cacao. And these were chocolate truffles, which I made myself utilizing the very last cacao beans to ever exist. I’m sorry. You’ll never eat chocolate ever again.”
Jmerr seemed disappointed upon hearing it, especially after seeing how everyone reacted to it.
“B – but… why?” Yontan asked. “Why offer us a delicious treat only to punch us in the gut right after?”
The hologram smiled. “Think. What is your purpose here?”
“To acquire Ultimate Knowledge… But I fail to understand…”
“If my clock is correct, 3622 years have passed since the last human – which is myself – set wheels in this room. 3622 years of technological advancement, of accumulated mastery of various sciences and understanding of the universe. Yet you believe Ultimate Knowledge is to be found in the past?”
The crewmembers looked at each other, dumbfounded.
“So… it doesn’t exist?” suggested Lezlybe. “We’ve come this far for nothing…”
“Haven’t you just experienced the ultimate delicacy of humankind? Therein lies everything you need to know.”
“It’s not about the knowledge,” began Yontan, “but about the experience we savor?”
“Exactly!” Clapping hands appeared in front of the hologram’s face. “Instead of looking for something that may not be, learn to cherish the transient nature of existence through every experience you encounter. Who knows what happens once you’re dead? Constant hesitation leads to a life of lost opportunities. One of you has learned this lesson the hard way, I’m afraid. However, the tall man over there has greatly benefited from this lesson. Balance in all things!”
“No data is ever lost,” snorted Jmerr scornfully. “Death is simply the temporary loss of information until it’s retrieved.”
“The no-hiding theorem,” smiled the hologram. “Of course. But you wouldn’t be here if you could completely determine the state of the entire universe. Thus, my rhetoric stays valid. For as long as this is beyond our grasp – likely until humanity’s extinction – you ought to cherish every experience and lose your fear of consequences within reason.”
The room went silent, the subtle taste of chocolate still lingering in their mouths like the fading words of an old love letter.
“What do we do now, captain?” Ghenna asked shyly.
“Take your new-found knowledge and share it with others,” the hologram said before Yontan could open his mouth.
“So… there really is nothing else here?”
“Nothing at all.”
The hologram fluttered for a moment.
“Were these really the last pieces of chocolate?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you eat them yourself?”
“Because sharing is the quintessential attribute of humanity. And I’m glad to have contributed my part, even though it took several millennia.”
“So why use all that energy from the sun?” asked Lezlybe.
“It’s twofold,” said the hologram. “Partially to keep this chocolate in pristine state, as I said before. You’ll understand the second reason soon enough. Let’s say it’s a parting gift, for that man who hasn’t eaten his Orb.”
“I don’t understand.” Yontan was running his fingers through his hair. “You speak of sharing, yet we won’t be able to share this exquisite experience. There’s no chocolate left.”
“Share the wisdom you’ve acquired. Or perhaps you shall find something unique to share with others as I did. Even the stories of your adv–”
The man disappeared for a few seconds.
“–entures – Ah? We’ve been cut. Soon I shall be free, just like your minds. Swiftly return to your ships, and sail t–”
It flickered again and stopped for nearly ten seconds.
“–he vast empty space to… wherever your heart leads you. Farewell. Fare well indeed.”
The hologram zoomed out to show an old man sitting on a wheelchair, waving both hands. It flickered one last time before completely fading out with a hum.
Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke from everyone’s earpiece.
“Captain, is everything all right?” asked one of the crew left on the ship in a panic.
“Why? Did the entrance crumble down?”
“No, Sir. It’s the Conduit. You need to see this for yourself.”
The crew put on their visors and hurried out of the room, through the hallway, out on the freezing surface of Pluto. They gasped upon staring up.
“The Conduit!” Ghenna uttered.
It was oscillating, slowly shrinking until the last flames swooshed back and forth from the relay to the crater, and then, it retracted entirely.
“It’s… it’s gone…” sighed Yontan.
“The parting gift,” Jmerr sobbed. “He knew. He knew someone might not try out the chocolate truffle, and he purposefully shut down the entire system.”
Lessandre turned to Jmerr. “Consider this your incredible experience. We must be the only humans to ever see this happen in real time.”
“But we can reconnect it, unlike the chocolate, can’t we?” said Lizlybe.
Yontan shook his head. “Do you know of the ancient pyramids in the northern African continent?”
“Yeah…” she hesitated. “Vaguely.”
“Do you know why they’ve never been rebuilt?”
Lezlybe shrugged.
“Because there’s nothing to gain in doing so.” He pointed his finger at the vast expanse above him. “We’ve never rebuilt the ancient pyramids – not due to complexity, but due to loss of time and resources involved without any actual benefit. I’m afraid this is the last time anyone has admired this old tech at work.”
Upon their return on the ship, they told the rest of the crew what inside the U.K. ONE.
“So the Ultimate Knowledge doesn’t exist?” one of the crewmember asked.
Yontan took one last glance at the crater as the ship took off.
“I believe it does,” he beamed, looking at the bemused faces of his crew. “Not here.” He gently tapped his temple. “But here.” His hand rested on his chest. “And there.” His arms were wide open, as if trying to embrace his whole crew at once. “Acquired wisdom is the Ultimate Knowledge. And the ability to share experiences with others is our greatest gift.”

So before these last couple weeks, I had only ever played ME2, with my disk copy of ME1 being broken so the game would crash when arriving at the Citadel for the first time. But after playing Andromeda, I couldn't help feeling after 60 hours and 96% completion, that I just played 3 different games.
Let me explain.
The first game was personally my favourite. Arriving at Habitat 07, finding the Nexus in it's unfinished state, arriving at EOS and exploring the failed outposts and experiencing a limited progression until you progress the planet's story further. I loved how the wider world was cut off by high radiation that kept my exploration limited to a managable amount initially. I loved how once I set up the colony, I got to decide what type of colony it was (I picked Military for obvious reasons), and even got an awesome cutscene of the prefabs and shuttles landing on the planet. I loved how soon after fixing the vault, things started to improve, more of the map opened up, SAM gave me a run down of what was now available and the environment seemed to change visually.
This set up my assumptions for the rest of game quite high and I was all for it. However, things quickly changed after going to the second habitable planent. Aya.
Suddenly I've been thrown onto a small accessible hub area with no planetary exploration, and instead been presented with fish lipped, bug eyed, wannabe Twi'leks. I am no longer in my explore, adapt, overcome mind set and I'm suddenly brought into a "Gotta make these new aliens like me unlike the other group of aliens" mind set. This is in itself isn't terrible as it varies the gameplay and the story, however the game NEVER returns to the previous experience that I was greatly looking forward to, but I pressed onwards with the hope that my EOS experience would continue.
I was wrong.
More systems were now made accessible (Despite the Nexus saying that their probes only reached as far as Aya's system), so naturally I checked, did the repetetive task of going from planet to planet with a roughly 20% payout of either 270xp or a mineral vein visable from space that gives less than a single mineral node you find planetside, and then proceeded to Havarl. My hopes remained high as the map appeared small and the Nomad wasn't usable, and 2 of the 3 remnant towers were already activated, massively bringing down the amount of busy work I had to do. I didn't consider this as a planet to colonize and instead treated it like a large hub area with a few story progression quests, like finding our lovable gay Turian spectre Avitus and getting the first clues as to the status of the other 3 Arks. I did the Vault, established a research outpost with the Angaran's and was satisfied.
Then I moved onto Vauld.
Up to this point and a little more, I had believed that my EOS experience would return now that I had Aya and Havarl out of the way. When I landed on Vauld, I loved the atmosphere. It was dark, cold and clearly had something for me to achieve. My first thought while walking through the snow (aside from wondering why there was a pilot telling me he was ready to assault the enemy stronghold once I gave the go ahead), was "Wow, I can't wait to see how things change once the vault is active, I bet the ice is going to melt gradually and you'll see the ground underneath". Suffice to say my Vauld experience peaked after leaving the resistance base, approaching the 2 Angaran's standing outside and looked down at the large open area for me to explore. And with my hopes still high, explore I did. However this was the first major sign that things had changed.
There was no longer locked progression, waiting for me to restore the vault (Unlike EOS which had lvl 1 and lvl 3, Valud only had lvl 1 and lvl 2 which only stifled exploration but didn't directly prevent it). There was no awesome cutscene or meaningful choice once I established my outpost. There was no visual change except for somewhat clear skies, and I really had no reason to come back to the planet afterwards except to complete quests I was too lazy to do straight away, or continue missions that brought me back. At this point it was clear that my assumptions of the game were incorrect and the experience I enjoyed from EOS would not be returning.
Then we moved onto Kadara, the planet I hate the most. I landed into another hub area, again with no accessible exploration area, but unlike Aya, this planet had one that was separated by a loading screen. Sloane was a bitch and I questioned how the Angara here had been mingling with the Milky Way exiles for the last 14 months, yet our landing on Aya was apparently first contact with the Angaran's who were already associated with our lovable rogue.
Again, planet exploration disapointed me, except this time there was even less than Vauld. Now the only environmental hazard was sulfur water which was practically an insta kill if you so much as touched the water with your toe. I did the usual, went to every forward base, collected every mission and task, completed the story progression and then resolved the conflict that would allow me to get an outpost down. And despite Vauld giving me little reason to return after, Kadara gave me even less! With the only reason to return being follow ups of other missions and loyalty missions. But hey at least the water no longer kills you. I guess that's "progression".
And to my dissapointment, Havarl was actually considered an Outpost/Colony, meaning the last place I had to go to was Elaaden. The second Desert planet (Though this one is hot instead of radioactive), the home of the exiled Krogans, and another planet where the Angaran have an established presence and have been in contact with the exiles for 14 months with Ryder being first contact 14 months later. Though I was just glad to finally find out where Drak had apparently come from ever since he mentioned moving with his clan after leaving the Nexus and being found on EOS, despite his clan being firmly established in Elaaden.
Like Vauld and Kadara. I drove around without any temporary limitation. Got the forward bases. Collected the quests and met the bitch in charge (In Elaaden there are actually 2 bitches in charges, though only 1 of which you can actually get rid of and replace). I did the story progression, resolved the local problems, watched an epic battle between 2 Krogan that I had absolutely no influence over (Couldn't even decide who to put incharge of New Tachanka like I could do with Kadara port), and just as quickly as I arrived at Elaaden, I had left. Leaving the Arks and Meridian to resolve.
Resolving the arks were a little dissapointing. I had hoped to recover the Arks, expand options for colonization, gain more quests and give me more reason to explore. Instead all I ended up with was 2 functional arks. A loss of about 25% of the Turians, Asarians and Salarians that came to Andromeda and not a single original Path Finder on the Nexus. And despite in game dialogue mentioning that the retrieval of the Arks had allowed for construction to continue on the Nexus, there was no visual changes of the Nexus which remained in the same half built state since the start of the game (When I saw Nexus levels, I had incorrectly believed that each time the level increased, the Nexus would gradually be completed).
And then there was Meridian, which was actually a Remnant space station/city that you needed to bring back online. At this point it was felt like the 3rd game had come into effect. While the first game had great exploration and colonization, while the 2nd game felt like a more tedius version of ME1 with less meaningful choices and plot, and more filler. And now we've moved onto the 3rd game, which is a massively rushed attempt at "ending" the game and giving some minor rewards/punishments for choices you've made through the mid game and the end boss fight being a partial Architect fight filled with many remnant forces, which follows a "warthog run" populazised by the final mission of Halo Combat Evolved.
There is nothing reflective of the rest of the game in the final missions, and after the final mission, the epilogue sets up or leaves unanswered questions that would have/should have been answered in DLC or a Sequal.
These being:
Qaurian Ark (Probably chased by 1 or more Reapers that escaped by the Crucible destroying everything)
Removing the Scourge (Implied that it could be removed in Meridian, but then never brought up again)
Uncovering the Benefactor (Likely The Elusive Man or The Shadow Broker (Could be Liara or the previous one))
Turning outposts into Colonies
Construction of Port Meridian
Fixing Ryder - 01 (Previously Habitat 07)
The Ancient AI (Disapears after the Hyperion gets stolen)
Waking Ryder's mother
Restoring Communication with the Milky Way (They questioned why communication wasn't open after setting the nexus up)
Connecting the Engine (Meridian) to the Remnant City and activating all Vaults remotely
Primus informing the Kett Empire about what's happened in the Heleus cluster
And probably a few other smaller that I can't recall at this time.
So there it is. Why does the game feel like 3 different games in 1 package? Why did the game peak at EOS and then slowly decline for the rest of the game?
I look forward to discussions in the comments.