After the unfortunate downfall of marvel as a consequence of total disregard of the quality of the content that is being put out, i have come to appreciate Agents of SHIELD more than i ever did before. The reason why I say this is because that show did what modern marvel has been doing horribly wrong and that is writing good female characters. The thing is in recent years marvel has subjected none of their female superheroes to actual character development (i am sure this has been covered by many content creators before). Lack of character development makes their superpowers feel undeserved and the audience stops caring about the character. This is what happened with characters like Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, She Hulk and many more. And this is exactly where characters like Quake, May and Simmons come in. These characters are faced with multiple moral dilemmas, they make bad decisions at time and then face consequences of those mistakes and as a result become stronger emotionally and physically. Needless to say this significantly better than making female characters simply brute their way out of sticky or painful situations which is basically the whole character sketch of Captain Marvel. (I will write about this someday else) When talking about character development in terms of agents of shield two characters just cannot be left out of the conversation- Leopold Fitz and Jemma Simmons. These two characters compliment each other in ways never seen before. They start off as nerdy goofballs who appear to be purely for comic relief and come out as warriors and leaders capable of accomplishing feats that are comparable to the achievements of Tony Stark. The psychological trauma of being Evil Doctor Fitz makes him colder in ways that come in handy during the fifth season when he has to survive over seventy years to save the love of his life. of course he does not actually survive for seventy years but he does break out of prison, and fight aliens and also rescues Simmons. Same in case of Simmons where she sacrifices everything by implanting a chip that removes her memory of Fitz's location. May is another example of legendary writing and probably the direction they should have gone with when writing Captain Marvel. Incase of May they go in the opposite direction by introducing a brute who will take down anyone and everything in order to accomplish her mission but then as the series goes on a softer side of her accents her personality. This is what humanizes her. And this is what Captain Marvel does not have, she is a robot who will set out to kill everyone and everything that comes in her way without much thought and consideration for consequences of her actions. Phil Coulson. I do agree with the fact that bringing people back from the dead is not a very good way of writing stories but he is an exception. This man is probably one of my favorite characters in all of marvel. His super power is his leadership especially towards Daisy. By the end of the series he is sort of a father figure for her. But he single handedly builds back what is left of shield and is the moral compass of the crew. He goes out of his way to protect the crew even if it might cost him his life which it does. Daisy Johnson, its a shame she couldnt be in the MCU but she is one of the greatest female superheroes marvel has ever seen. From being a naive hacker living in a van to leading a team exploring deep space. That is exactly the kind of character development marvel needs. Her power seems earned and the audience can actually connect to her. Special mentions: Ghost Rider, where do i even start with that guy. Probably one of the coolest characters in the series and i really hope he is written well in the mcu. Enoch: One of the most wholesome addition to their crew. I wish we could see more of him. Mac: Another great example of incredible character development. I could not think of a better character to be the director of shield after the end of the series (well Fitz could be one but he's a family man now) I am pretty sure ive missed a lot of characters but i dont think i dislike any of them. On the story aspect: They gave up on the idea of being in the mcu by the end of the second season and while i wish they showed up in the main timeline, it certainly was a good decision. Third season onwards they went completely crazy with the show. From being a Spy thriller it becomes a fullon sci fi superhero. but it is not to say that the first two seasons were bad by any means. I mean Grant Ward was an interesting character and I think his backstory makes us love him even more. Third season(and a little bit of the second season) takes things to another level with the whole Hive arch and the whole story of HYDRA which was probably one of the biggest turn of events in Marvel history. The fourth season is probably my favorite season and it introduces characters such as Ghost Rider and AIDA. This season explores a unique problem and they executed the whole "what if" scenario in the best way they ever could have. I mean the framework was probably my favorite part of that show. The Fifth season Takes the crew into space somewhere around 75-80 years into the future and introduces us to Deke Shaw who is a hillarious character. I mean his destiny is the greatest plot twist/ Joke in the show; i mean he is the last person you would expect to be a director of shield. Season 6 dwells with an alien invasion and a fake Colson and season 7 is basically time travel. ( I am gonna stop elaborating now because this whole section has become a summary of the show which i did not initially intend to write because most people who have stuck around this long probably already know the story) I wish they do some multiverse magic and make agents of shield cannon or simple bring characters over to the MCU.

So I am really into educating myself on my health. I am an athlete and regularly do full blood panels, i suppliment based on my blood work, and Ive spent years learning about myself via diet but still learning what works well for me. Ive been extremely interested in combining the knowledge via bloodwork w/ the results of genetic testing plus family history and personal feel/results to guage optimal healthy outcomes for my growing family. My bloodwork is great (now) but i want to know more, plus getting started for my wife and kids too.
I am concerned with genetic or dna results getting into bad actors hands, and I've kind of nixed the big DNA/Heritage sites off the list because of that. I am between 10X (Gary Brecka's) / Nebula Genomics / NutraHacker.
I really get into learning about supplimentation and diet, so i feel comfortable knowing whats best once I know whats needed - if that makes sense. Especially when combining bloodwork w/ genetic testing. I am just looking for clear answers however.
My main 2 questions are: Which service or another do you recommend for me? And, where do I learn more about my genetic testing results once I get them beyond just asking here? I want to really get in and learn and be a resource.
I like NutraHackers example report a bunch, and it does give all the genetic results in a page to then research on my own. Had anyone used 10X vs the other 2 options I listed?
Any info you all have is great!
Thanks!

So my partner and I heard the buzz about Stereophonic awhile ago and bought tickets for June 12 - since he's a musician we got pretty good seats, so he could see the stage (CENTER ORCHESTRA Row D, Seat 116, Seat 115). Unfortunately, there's a work event that night that I go to every year, which wasn't on my radar when we got the tickets. My boss, who is a theater lover, asked me to try to change the tickets. The exchange was approved by the ticket vendor, but understandably, the same tickets, for the same day of the week, on a later date are now $100 more a person. They can't price match, which I understand since they're about to clean up at the Tony's, and we would have to cover the difference.
I am so stuck about what to do.

1. Keep our tickets, disappoint my boss, who will understand, but not be thrilled
2. Swap the tickets, eat the extra money, which is a lot considering the price of the tickets already were very very high
3. Buy new tickets at the higher price, and try to sell our current ticktets for face value + $100. I have no idea if people would buy them at that price, so we risk losing money on them? (Not trying to sell the tickets here - just trying to get opinions if you think people would actually buy them).
4. Do the swap, but get less good seats (which is part of the reason I'm posting here.. for example, the tickets I am seeing that would be in the same price range now are all the way back in "O").

Looking for some advice, or at least someone who can commiserate with my seemingly no win situation.

Hey everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of posts here from people feeling discouraged about breaking into IT. I wanted to share my experience and hopefully offer some encouragement – it took me two years to land my first IT role, but it was absolutely worth the wait!
I live in a smaller city, so opportunities aren't always abundant. I wasn't actively applying everywhere, but when I saw something that looked interesting, I'd put a lot of effort into my application (CV, cover letter, personal statement, the whole shebang). In total, I probably applied to 20-30 roles and got interviews for only three of them. It was disheartening at times, especially seeing all those job postings asking for 2+ years of experience for supposedly "entry-level" roles.
But then, a few months ago, I landed an apprenticeship with a major university. The best part? They didn't expect me to have any prior experience! I primarily work the service desk, but I also get to shadow other teams and learn so much more about different IT career paths. I've always had a knack for IT, with some school qualifications and a passion for tinkering at home, but this apprenticeship is giving me real-world experience and opening doors I never thought possible.
I know apprenticeships aren't always the first thing that comes to mind when job hunting, but I strongly encourage anyone looking to break into IT to consider them. Here's why:

• Real-world experience: You'll be working on real projects and learning from experienced professionals.
• Structured learning: Most apprenticeships offer a mix of on-the-job training and formal education.
• Career progression: Many companies hire their apprentices full-time after the program ends.
• Networking opportunities: You'll be building relationships with people in the industry.
• No experience required: Many apprenticeships are designed for people with little to no prior IT experience.

I'm just a few months in, but I can already see a clear path for my future in IT. If you're struggling to find your way in, don't give up! Keep learning, keep applying, and consider looking into apprenticeships in your area. They might just be the perfect way to get your foot in the door without needing years of experience.

Hello again,
If you're a writer, invariably you end up getting asked "Where do you get your ideas from...?" - mostly by people who are either only being polite or just generally because it's their job to get something out of you and everyone loves talking about themselves, right....
Only, we're not really talking about ourself when we talk about where a story comes from, are we?
Oh, sure - the idea - as in I'm going to write a story about this, that or the other - the starting point - probably that's you. Like choosing which colour tie to wear or ordering salad for the starter instead of more bacon before the bacon you're actually there to eat.
You make out you're in the driving seat but, really - a story tells itself. You might decide how bored you are with it or whether to give it an NSFW tag, whether it's a short story, a novella or a novel - but the bastard thing is actually in there, already and your subconscious brain tells it to you basically for the same reason you tell a child a good night story - it's so as you can pacify it sufficiently so as you can chill downstairs actually doing what you want to do instead of what everyone else thinks you should be doing, including yourself and definitely the kid...
Because, you're the monkey in this relationship. The organ grinder isn't a particularly nice person, or person at all, really. Rarely does it explain itself, it uses the most expedient thing to keep you (the monkey) occupied so as it can get on with far more interesting stuff it basically never tells you about unless you bug it enough to sort of throw you the occasional bone.
And, so: welcome to creative writing 101...
I wrote the following honest-to-god because it made me laugh. That's the kind of monkey I am. But, as I say - really - I didn't write it: I transcribed what my head decided to shut me up with so it could get on with more interesting things: and I have no idea what.
I'm hoping I never meet the actual me. Or, maybe I did, I just write about what I fear might be true about he, she or it.
The only thing I know for sure is me, the actual me - the thing that writes this me like I'm a reasonable person in situations like these (for example) in real life arranges his cutlery in order in which they most readily inflict the most damage....
And, for some reason, always starting out with the spoons.
I trust you enjoy A Short Essay About Dying - "Slop"

Some thoughts occurred to me about the members of Constellation and Unity. This is absolutely going to be filled with massive spoilers. Every member of Constellation plays an important role in the story and has interesting ramifications.
The members of Constellation, ignoring Vasco, include Matteo, Vladimir, Noel, Walter, and the four companions Sarah, Barrett, Sam, and Andreja. Bethesda has given us a deliberate cross-section of the Settled Systems population. You have the former Crimson Fleet pirate, the Akila scion, the Va'ruun agent, the former UC officer, the Freestar industrialist, the Universalist religious guy, the scientist, and the "rogue." Actually, let's not ignore Vasco. The role of AI in this game is VERY ominous in a lot of ways, so Vasco may someday have more of a role than just "companion without strong opinions or personality."
The non-companion members are pretty non-intrusive, though Walter does have a field mission. I suspect that if you're going to have a talent like Armin Shimerman, you want to give him something to work on. Every time I see the interaction between Walter and his wife Issa, I want to find somebody who thinks the writing in this game is bad and hit them with a water balloon filled with maple syrup. Going back to the end-game topic, though, Walter serves as a perfect example of the biggest practical drawback of going through the Unity. He doesn't want to jump because he is rich, and going through means you lose ALL your stuff. It's a pretty sound thing to have somebody call this out explicitly for the player so they don't jump and be like, "wait, where's my customized starship filled with loot?"
Noel and Matteo are interesting in terms of their role. They very much serve as the sounding boards for the scientific and spiritual aspects of the artifacts, temples, and the Unity. Neither of them want to jump because they still have things to do. At first, my impression of them was that they were pretty much pointless once you learn what's really going on with the Starborn. I've reconsidered that, because we very much know what is happening, but not how or why. Ultimately, Noel and Matteo may be the most sensible members of Constellation by knowing what they don't yet know and refusing to leap into the unknown just because an angelic or demonic space dude with super powers tells you to do so.
Vladimir is unfortunately the quest-giver of the group. He's key to sending you along to the artifacts and temples...and the fact that you have to keep going back to him is a common complaint because it gets a little tedious. His role as the quest-giver also tends to overshadow his background with the Crimson Fleet, which I think is a missed opportunity when you're working for SysDef and infiltrating them. Vladimir Sall is the perfect example of an interesting premise that for some reason has largely been relegated to just being one of the mechanics of the game. He has some interesting things to say and a house you can visit, but I can't help but see him as a missed opportunity.
Now we have the four human companions, and it's interesting to me that they divide neatly into two categories. You have Sarah and Barrett on one side and Sam and Andrea on the other. What do I mean by that?
Sarah and Barrett are the most engaged in the Starborn world. Barrett can actually get powers and the Emissary turns out to be a version of Sarah (I did say MAJOR spoilers, didn't I?). What's really interesting, though, is that both of their companion quests are about dealing with the past. Sarah is dealing with the aftermath of her fighting in the war, while Barrett is dealing with the loss of his husband. They're trying to get closure. They have things they need to finish up before going on their next big adventure. They're also both somewhat disconnected from others. Sarah isn't really close with her surviving parent and she doesn't want any of the other members of Constellation at her wedding. Barrett travels alone with a robot and has since the death of his husband. Even the combat in their companion quests involves fighting alien animals rather than other people (because fighting is a form of engagement). The two of them are pretty much setting themselves up to be ready to move on.
Sam and Andreja are in the opposite situation. Sam's companion mission is about dealing with his ex-wife and daughter. Andreja's is about her relationship with her people (and is blatantly left on a cliff-hanger for DLC). In both of their quests, you are fighting other people -- syndicate thugs or zealots -- because both of these characters are still actively involved in this universe. Sure, indications are that both will eventually jump (assuming they survive), but neither of them is ready to move on at this point. Their acceptance of you jumping even seems a little forced to me, like they're agreeing solely for reasons of plot.
What I wonder about is whether or not this dichotomy with the companions was deliberate. You have a male and a female who need closure and are ready to jump and you have another male and female who are very much still actively engaged in life in this universe. Was the idea to give players a romance option with the preferred gender and perspective combination?
I have a sneaking suspicion that a tremendous amount of effort went into crafting the members of Constellation. Even if you find them annoying, I would suggest playing at least a few universes straight with them and seeing what they have to say. It's great that Bethesda gives you the option to ignore them, but there is a lot built up around them and I have to wonder how the eventual "resolution" of the whole Starborn premise may play into what we learn in our first play-through.

Hey everyone,
I'm looking for an AI service that can take an input image and a text prompt, and then modify the input image based on the text. I know that OpenAI's DALL-E 3 can take both image and text inputs, but the generated image doesn't preserve the input one. DALL-E 2 creates random variations of the image, which is great but not exactly what I'm looking for.
To give a specific example, let's say the input image has a person in it, and the prompt text says "put this person in a luxury restaurant." I want the AI to take the person from the input image and generate the rest, keeping the person as they are but changing the background and context to a luxury restaurant.
Does anyone know of any AI services that can do this? Thanks in advance!

Popheads recently reached the 2 million subscriber milestone, thanks to your continued participation and support!
We wanted to celebrate, and tried to think of fun things that we could do as a subreddit. A well loved Popheads activity has always been our yearly Top 100 lists, where the community comes together to vote to create a list of our favorite 100 songs of the past year. The list reveal is always fun and one of my personal favorite days of the year, and these lists honestly provide a great representation of our community - a snapshot of our own personal taste, if you will.
Therefore, for this subscriber milestone, we will be doing another Popheads Top 100…but this time, of a throwback year: 2014!!!
2014 was chosen for two reasons: one, the obvious, is that this year is the tenth anniversary of that year. The second is that the annual Popheads Top 100 actually started with the year 2015, so 2014 is the most recent year without “coverage”, so to speak. (If this is a success, we would love to repeat this for other years - 2013, 2012, even earlier!)
Without further ado, the rules for participation are below.

How To Participate

NOTE: Thank you so much to raicicle, whose posts for the annual Popheads Top 100 form the basis of this post!
Like with our normal years, you can also vote in the entirely non-official just-for-fun survey: “What song would you remove a vote from?” You can fill that in optionally here even if you don’t submit an official ballot.

I. How To Send In Your Song Votes

Make a list of your favorite songs released in 2014 (January 1st 2014 - December 31st 2014). This list should have a minimum of 10 songs and a maximum of 25 songs. Please see II. Song Eligibility for more details on what you can and can't submit.

• Do not submit more than 3 songs from any one main artist. Songs where those artists are features do not count towards this 3-song limit on your list.^†
• The list does not have to be ordered/ranked. We are not weighting your votes, just tallying.
• PM your lists to our shared account u/Popheads100Throwback by June 16th, 11:59PM EST (03:59AM GMT).
• Songs should be listed in Artist - Song format with features listed with (feat. ____) after the song title. Try to stylize and capitalize artist and song names as closely to the official listing as you can (for example, Beyoncé should have the accent). The fewer discrepancies, the easier it is for us to sort the list later, so it's very much appreciated.
• You can change your list at any time! Just message us and tell us what you want changed.

^† There are always some weird discrepancies and edge-cases every year, so please DM us if you have any queries or post them in this thread to let people know!
We can be DM'ed here at this account, or at our personal Discord or Reddit accounts (@ bigbigbee a.k.a bigbigbee ; @ trailblazer_l a.k.a prettybirbkotori ; @ haobinist a.k.a MoonlightByWindow ; @ haobinfan a.k.a runaway1312 ).
And here's a few more important guidelines.

• Your songs do not have to be singles. Of course, if you're trying to get a certain song on the list, singles tend to get more votes than random album tracks.
• Your songs do not have to be 'pop' songs, nor do vocal songs have to be in English. Songs from any genre, and international songs, are all welcome. After all, no “best of 2014” list can be complete without Orange Caramel’s Catellena...
• We are not encouraging tactical or strategic voting, but we are not exactly discouraging it either. Obviously, some songs are more likely to make the list than others, and you should keep that in mind when making your list (whether that means you choose to stick to the big hits, or champion some lesser-known songs instead).

II. Song Eligibility

Your song must have been first officially available between the dates of January 1st 2014 and December 31st 2014. What does 'first officially available' mean? In essence, legally available to stream (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc.) or buy online.

• If a single was released after January 1st 2014, but was first officially available on a parent album before that date, it is not eligible.
• Similarly, a song on an album released after January 1st 2014 is not eligible if it was released as a pre-album single prior to that date. Sadly, this means Azealia Banks’ 212 is therefore ineligible (probably for the best, we all know it would have won…).
• Official remixes are eligible for the list regardless of the original song's release date, provided that the remix was released between the same dates of January 1st 2014 and December 31st 2014.

If you are unsure on a song's eligibility, please use this thread to clarify or DM us and we’ll be happy to help.
If you would like a reminder of what songs were released in 2014, feel free to have a peruse through these links:

• Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 2014 (be careful, a lot of these songs were released in 2013!)
• Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 2015 (see above addendum)
• List of all albums released in 2014 on website AOTY
• User-rated best albums of 2014 on AOTY
• Pitchfork’s best albums of 2014
• K-pop releases of 2014

III. How We Will Make The Final Top 100 List

To make life easier for everyone involved, as was previously mentioned, you do not have to rank your song choices. Every submission counts as one vote, and the list is simply the 100 songs that got the most submissions in order. There are however caveats to this:
An artist will never have more than 3 songs on the list. Even if after the initial vote an artist manages to have 6 songs numerically in the Top 100, only the top 3 of those will be added. This is an editorial decision, based on the fact that it seems more popular to feature as many different artists as possible and showcase the breadth of the sub's music taste rather than dedicate huge chunks of the list to one artist, or one album (sorry 1989 fans!).
It is inevitable that many songs will get the same number of votes. Songs with the same number of votes will appear alphabetically in the list, but we will make the number of votes that every song received public. There may be some weird stuff happening if the list doesn’t end up being exactly 100 songs long, in which case there may be some discretional tie-breaks.

IV. Writeups

The final list will be presented as a Pitchfork-style Top 100 with small writeups to bring some insight and a bit of a story to the song. If you’ve been around for the yearly top songs lists, then you are likely familiar with the process.
We'll be writing the Top 15 to keep it under wraps. The remaining 85 songs will be given to other guest writers! If you feel like you’re a good writer and you’re interested, just mention it when you send in your list (we will assume that you're interested in writing for one of the tracks that you submitted in your votes).
Write-ups will ideally be 4-6 sentences long, though shorter or longer is completely fine**.** Feel free to talk about anything - its chart performance, its composition, your personal experience with the song, etc. There is no perfect writeup - this list is a collection of our thoughts as a community, not an official list from a music publication!
You can also message any of us on our personal Discord or Reddit accounts as listed above (Discord is slightly preferable) if you’re interested – we will try our best to find a writeup for you if possible!
In choosing to do writeups, you inevitably find out whether a song has made it onto the list to write for it, but to keep the surprise as much as possible, we will not tell you the position of the song if we send you a song to write for.
To get the general gist of what these writeups will be like, feel free to have a look at 2022’s Top 100 list.

V. The List Reveal

The list will be revealed on Sunday, July 7th, 2024 (exact time TBD). The live reveal will be on Queup https://www.queup.net/join/top-100-of-2014, where all 100 songs will be played in order from #100 to #1; as each song goes out, its write-up will be posted to a post on the subreddit.
VI. Other Fun Stuff
Join our discord to discuss this and other music: https://discord.gg/T97SkFNV
Do the currently open rates!

• 90s R&B Princesses Rate: https://redd.it/1bv0rl0 [Due May 24, Reveal May 31-June 2]
• The Popheads Rate Olympics (Mini-Rate): https://redd.it/1cfjmbm [Due May 31, Reveal June 8-9]
• 2023 K-Pop Essentials Rate: https://redd.it/1co3jct [Due June 15, Reveal June 21-23]
• Piano Men Rate: https://redd.it/1co3kcr [Due June 22, Reveal June 28-30]

For individuals seeking to find and nurture a significant long-term romantic relationship, the choice of where to live can play a crucial role. Astrocartography and relocation astrology offer unique perspectives that can help in identifying locations that enhance the likelihood of meeting and sustaining meaningful relationships. By understanding how different geographical energies align with your astrological profile, you can make informed decisions about relocating for love. Let's explore how astrology can assist in your quest for a lasting romantic partnership.
Leveraging Your Relocated Chart for Love
Your relocated chart can reveal astrological factors that support finding and maintaining a long-term romantic relationship:
Key House Positions for Romantic Partnerships:

• 7th House (Partnerships and Marriage): A strong 7th house in your relocated chart can enhance your prospects for forming committed romantic relationships.
• 5th House (Love and Romance): Beneficial aspects in the 5th house can indicate fulfilling romantic encounters and the joy of love.
• 2nd House (Values and Self-Worth): Positive influences in the 2nd house can help in attracting partners who align with your core values and enhance your sense of self-worth.

Advantageous Planetary Aspects for Lasting Relationships:

• Venus for Love and Harmony: Harmonious Venus aspects can enhance your attractiveness and ability to form balanced and loving relationships.
• Saturn for Stability and Commitment: Positive Saturn aspects are essential for the longevity and commitment required in long-term partnerships.
• Jupiter for Growth and Optimism: Jupiter aspects can bring a sense of optimism, growth, and abundance in your love life.

Planetary Combinations Favoring Romantic Success:

• Sun-Venus: Ideal for enhancing charm and the capacity for loving relationships.
• Moon-Jupiter: Encourages emotional growth and generosity in relationships.
• Mars-Venus: Balances assertiveness with affection, important for romantic pursuits.

Astrocartography for Finding Love
Astrocartography can identify locations that might be particularly favorable for finding and nurturing romantic relationships:

• Venus Lines for Enhanced Romantic Opportunities: Venus lines can increase your chances of encountering love and forming harmonious relationships.
• Jupiter Lines for Positive Relationship Growth: Jupiter lines can bring expansion and beneficial experiences in your love life.
• Moon Lines for Emotional Connections: Moon lines are excellent for fostering deep emotional bonds and nurturing feelings in relationships.

Combining Relocated Chart and Astrocartography for Love
By integrating insights from your relocated chart with astrocartography, you can pinpoint locations that maximize your potential for finding a significant long-term partner. For example, a strong 7th house in your relocated chart, combined with a Venus line in astrocartography, could indicate an ideal place for establishing a lasting romantic relationship.
Natal Chart Considerations for Love and Partnerships
Your natal chart lays the groundwork for your potential in romantic relationships:

• Natal 7th, 5th, and 2nd Houses: These houses can reveal inherent tendencies in forming partnerships, experiencing love, and aligning with your values in relationships.
• Natal Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter: Their placements can offer insights into your natural approach to love, commitment, and relationship growth.
• Aspects to the Midheaven and Ascendant: Can influence how you present yourself in relationships and interact with potential partners.

For those seeking long-term romantic partnerships, astrocartography and relocation astrology offer valuable insights into the best environments for finding love. Understanding the astrological influences of different locations and their interaction with your natal chart can guide you in your journey towards a fulfilling relationship. However, the success of finding and sustaining love also depends on personal readiness, emotional maturity, and the ability to nurture and maintain a relationship. Balancing astrological insights with self-awareness and relationship-building skills can lead to the discovery of a meaningful and lasting partnership.

I've recently taken an interest in early period basket hilted broadswords from the mid 1500s to the beginnings of the english civil war, vastly preferring their appearence over the later more famous 18th century broadswords associated with the jacobites and such. Examples being as the kind found on the mary rose and the thames sword, swords that essentially retained the look of arming swords with prominent quillons just with better protection for the hands.
My question is were early period basket hilts just arming swords with added protection and larger, hollow pommels, or were the blades different as well? Were older arming swords of the previous century modified by blacksmiths and given the more enclosed hilts or were they completely new swords with different blade shapes and profiles? Also what are the best 16th century broadswords on the market?

I posted this in the Kindle sub and received no response, so I'm thinking maybe my question is more relevant here.
I'm an avid reader of nonfiction books that I use for research, teaching, personal development, and leading an organization. I've had every generation of Kindle since the very first one (currently own both a Paperwhite and a Scribe). There is absolutely nothing as convenient as a Kindle when it comes to the convenience of reading. However, I struggle to replicate my system of marginalia and therefore struggle with how to best use Kindle for nonfiction even after all these years of use. This results in a love/hate relationship, as well as numerous attempts to start a book in Kindle only to wind up buying the physical copy a day or two later.
Let me give an example. In a physical book, I typically follow the author's structure by using a pen to put brackets around a sentence like, "Here are three outcomes...." And then I circle the words, "First," "Second," "Third," in the following paragraphs. This allows me to easily flip back later and see structure or the flow of a concept or argument. If the structure follows numerous section headings over multiple pages, I will simply write numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) next to the section heading so that I can easily see the structure when flipping through the book later. I also like use other symbols such as a star or exclamation points in the margin, and sometimes I draw a line down the page next to a paragraph in order to indicate the whole paragraph is important without underlining every sentence, which allows me to then save underlining for the most important sentences that I want to stick out.
After all these years, I've struggled to really replicate this in a Kindle book. I thought maybe the Scribe would fix this issue, but it provides very little real world value to me in terms of annotation and note taking. It is just as easy to make a note on the keyboard. The Kindle app allows for change of color in highlights as well as for putting a star next to certain highlights (a feature that STILL doesn't exist on the Kindle devices after all these years!). I also am familiar with using Readwise and making heading notes (.h1, .h2, etc.). That is useful to an extent, but still not great.
Maybe I'm asking to much of an ereadeebook. However, I'm also sure it could just be me. I know there are many people here who read lots of nonfiction and likely made a transition at some point from physical books to ereaders and had to adapt in the same way. I value your experience and would appreciate any advice you could give, or insight into your own system for marginalia. Thanks in advance!

How old are you? What's your gender? Give us a general description of yourself.
I'm 19y/o. I would say Im a calm person, unless when im tired or when someone angers me. Im the balance between energetic and no energy person. I dont like sticking to one opinion because it feels like im limiting myself, so i guess im open minded. I dont really care about what people think of me unless its about my attitude or if i hurt someone unintentionally. i cant watch kdramas that r js typical, it feels so shallow and cringy. I also like psycho analyzing people. I also overanalyze someone's actions towards me. When i talk about a topic, i mostly talk the generality of it, but sometimes i think about every possible details which makes it hard to commit to one, for example: let’s say someone says you choose your own reality, in a way i get what they mean but i also think abt ppl who actually cant choose their reality. Drake and kendrick dissing each other, my brother asked me whose side im on, which i honestly dont give a crap, because its not connected to me neither i dont care who they are, feels insignificant to waste my brain cells on that thing. I also dont like rude people, like i get you have a painful past but that doesnt excuse how you treat me, i deserve to be treated like a normal human being. The line between right or wrong is kinda hard for me, i think theres no right or wrong in reality, its just based on people’s values and morals. Which ofc i do have.
Is there a medical diagnosis that impact your mental/compartmental stability somehow?
not that i know of
Describe your upbringing. Did it have any kind of religious or structured influence? How did you respond to it?
im not religious but i do believe there is some force that does things
What do you do as a job or as a career (if you have one)? Do you like it? Why or why not?
im an architecture student, so far i like it, designing a specific building for a specific person to suit their needs and comfort, how they would function inside it, my fav architect is antoni gaudi bc his works, every building's detail has a function or a meaning to it, which is not just existing but serving it's purpose
If you had to spend an entire weekend by yourself, how would you feel? Would you feel lonely or refreshed?
for right now, i would feel refreshed bc semester just ended and i need to restore my sanity, but if im feeling energetic then i would rather spend it with my friends,
What is your relation with movement and your surroundings? For instance do you prefer a sport or outdoors event? If an outdoors event what is it? And why? If not what type of activities do you tend to engage i?
im not really good at sports, but i do like running it makes me happy i dont know why, i like doing stuff that requires my brain like puzzles, sudoku, video games, movies with complicated plot
How curious are you? Do you have more ideas then you can execute? What are your curiosities about? What are your ideas about - is it environmental or conceptual, and can you please elaborate?
honestly depends of what mood im in, but since im an architecture student i tend to touch every material, and be curious about the function of the elements. i like listening to interesting takes on life or anything, that is different from others, but generally idk if im curious or not. im not sure if this considers as curious or not, but i like thinking about life, what is the purpose of humans, why they act selfish or why they act like a bitch generally, trying to find an answer to anything.
Would you enjoy taking on a leadership position? Do you think you would be good at it? What would your leadership style be?
i like leadership positions, i like being in control, i like being organized, i think i will do a perfect as a manager lol. when im traveling with my friends i always do the bookings, transport, almost everything
Are you coordinated? Why do you feel as if you are or are not? Do you enjoy working with your hands in some form? Describe your activity?
im kinda clumsy but i have great reflexes, i dont really pay attention to my surroundings like if im traveling in a group and some stranger says something i only find out after my friend tells me about it. i like painting, it feels so calm
Are you artistic? If yes, describe your art? If you are not particular artistic but can appreciate art please likewise describe what forums of art you enjoy. Please explain your answer.
i like painting, bc i like blending colors, it just feels so free yk. i like listening to music, i listen to almost every genre based on my mood that day, i rly wanna learn how to play on a piano
What's your opinion about the past, present, and future? How do you deal with them?
i dont think about the past, present, sometimes future but lately i stopped worrying about the future instead just making plans, i mostly just think about anything that doesnt really involve time, i be thinking about life, people, or any concept, or just making my own opinions
How do you act when others request your help to do something (anything)? If you would decide to help them, why would you do so?
i like to help even if doesnt benefit me, but if its something absurd then fuck no, im a straightforward person you see, if i dont want to help i js straight up say sry cant help
Do you need logical consistency in your life?
define logical consistency
How important is efficiency and productivity to you?
It is important to me, im more work first, play later person. ive been thinking lately, i thought i wasnt a competitive person but during the process idc if im not the best or worst, but at the result i actually do care, i want to be better, idk why it contradicts, the process and the result
Do you control others, even if indirectly? How and why do you do that?
mostly to gain something for myself, when i want something i plan like a scenario in my head of how they would react and what i would say
What are your hobbies? Why do you like them?
is it weird that i realized i dont have any beneficial hobbies, ex: playing video games, drawing, im not consistent at anything, i start something and drop it
What is your learning style? What kind of learning environments do you struggle with most? Why do you like/struggle with these learning styles? Do you prefer classes involving memorization, logic, creativity, or your physical senses?
i like organized teachers, i also like teachers who talk in an interesting way, like connecting the subject to real life or anything interesting. i like teachers who talk in broad sense and not yappers. im really bad at memorizing things, i try to understand rather than memorizing, i like my design classes because u can create something meaningful and good as long as its serving a purpose
How good are you at strategizing? Do you easily break up projects into manageable tasks? Or do you have a tendency to wing projects and improvise as you go?
before i start doing any project first i break it up into simples things then start doing it
What's important to you and why?
i honestly dont know, as most people say happiness, its not for me, i dont think i know the meaning of true happiness, i dont really feel happy i just feel calm, my main purpose in life isnt being happy, im fine with not being happy. but i do wanna live without worrying about anything
What are your aspirations?
i want to be a good architect that will change my city to a better one, but first i need the power in order to do so. i want to be smarter and more knowledgeable and skillful
What are your fears? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you hate? Why?
i dont like selfish people, but at the same time in try to understand their angle so its kinda hard for me to js say wow shes so selfish bc there r so many perspectives spilling in my head that makes it hard to contribute to one (it happens always, but im working on it). I dont like people who dont try to understand the other person. I hate rooms without windows because it feels so uncomfy, mostly because i need to see the sky to live, if no sky then i feel trapped inside it
What do the "highs" in your life look like?
no worries, like talking to people
What do the "lows" in your life look like?
see the worst in people
How attached are you to reality? Do you daydream often, or do you pay attention to what's around you? If you do daydream, are you aware of your surroundings while you do so?
as i said i dont really pay attention to my surroundings, sometimes im in deep thought but would really call it daydreaming. When im meeting someone i dont see their outfits but more of what kind of person they are
How long do you take to make an important decision? And do you change your mind once you've made it?
i do pros and cons, consequences, if its risky but worth the result then im doing it
How long do you take to process your emotions? How important are emotions in your life?
for now i feel numb, i dont rly care about anything right now prolly bc i didnt sleep for few days doing my project. but i do think its important to open up to someone or tell them what u didnt appreciate about their actions towards you, and communication is the key. but i feel uncomfortable opening about my depressive thoughts because it feels like im asking for attention, but i do say it straightforwardly about questionable actions done towards, bc some people think youre okay to mess with, so if u shut them down at low there wont be high
Do you ever catch yourself agreeing with others just to appease them and keep the conversation going? How often? Why?
not really, im not a people pleaser, but sometimes i dont really want to argue i dont agree i just say "i see", since that sentence isnt agreeing nor disagreeing
Do you break rules often? Do you think authority should be challenged, or that they know better? If you do break rules, why would you?
depends on the rule, if its messing with my values then i first think about the consequence, if its mild then fuck the rules
What is the ideal life, in your opinion?
having the power to change things
Please ask me questions

I wanna just preface by saying that I know I'm partially responsible for this shift in dynamic; I've always been an introvert and not always the most stellar friend because of it. I've said no to plans, I've bailed, shit happens, right? I know that's on me. Relationships go both ways. I'm at the point where I'm afraid to try and take the initiative, though. I'm afraid of the potential rejection.
My core friend group is my three siblings and our partners. I'm only actual literal siblings to one of them, the other two are my cousins (and siblings to each other), but we're close as can be and have been our whole lives. Our moms (sisters) are each other's best friend and their respective firstborns (one of whom is me) were born only six weeks apart from each other. We have a lot of cousins but we're separated enough from the closest ones to our ages that we were always our own little "demographic" in the family, so to speak.
I'm very close with my sibling, and despite my cousins being the only cousins who lived out of town growing up, almost an hour away, they're the ones we saw the most. We did everything together. The four of us share so many memories. I love them all dearly. We're all grown up now, we all have a partner and are either married or engaged by this point, and I love all the plus ones too!
But
I've always been a shy and introverted person. My siblings, I was NEVER timid with; I'm effortlessly comfortable with them, always have been. But, being the type of introvert who can be drained by social situations, as I got older and had to work soul crushing jobs, and ESPECIALLY when I had a job with wildly unpredictable hours making it difficult to make/stick to plans, I didn't always say yes to invites.
Saying that, I see how it's not totally fair. They've all cancelled plans too, it's normal. But something is different with me. Something changed. The first time I felt left out, we were teenagers and I was waiting for them to call me to hang out at the mall, and they neglected to do so. When I called them, they were all already there. Without me. I was devastated.
That's just a one-off mistake though. As we grew older and were able to drive ourselves to places I like to think we did a lot together. Fishing, hiking, board game nights, movies, just hanging out. But then covid hit, and something is different now.
Along with the pandemic came the most difficult period of my life. I was going through the grueling process of helping my once long-distance partner immigrate so we could be together, and I was facing severe emotional abuse at the hands of another friend group. I was just so... defeated a lot of the time. Tired. Hating myself. Struggling to get out of bed some days. Just wanting to stew in my misery. Quarantine made it harder, because even the option to see them all was gone.
My sibling was the only one able to attend my wedding when we had to uninvite everyone. Fine, that's nobody's fault. It sucks, it hurts, but I get it. I don't really have the right to complain, and I don't want to anyway, I don't blame anybody.
It was because of social restrictions that I was the only one not there for my cousin's proposal. I understand why I was the one left out, but fuck, it still hurt. I'm the only one of the four of us who had no part in cousin's wedding. I understand not being part of the wedding party, but I wasn't ever even asked to help with... anything. Not even just decorating the hall. They all stayed in a cabin the night before, which I understand where I wasn't part of the party, I wasn't part of that but... Fuck I didn't even KNOW I was the only one left out until the day of, made all the worse with my partner not being able to attend. I'd never felt so alone in such a big crowd. But, that day wasn't about me. I hid and had a little cry but I pulled it together and got through it. I had to leave early to catch a flight, so I missed the real party, but again that's nobody's fault. And I don't want to make anyone feel bad about how sad it all made me. I don't want to sour that day.
A little while ago, cousin invited me over for some gaming, and I had to cancel last minute due to a migraine. I felt awful and apologized profusely. They and my sibling played together another day instead, I later learned.
More recently, I heard my sibling mention in passing that there was a day out fishing with cousin. We used to do that together, all three of us. Why wasn't I invited? But these two are the best friends you'd ever see, and I get they wanna do things together themselves sometimes.
Last week, cousin invited me to a board game night, but my partner was working and I didn't wanna be a third wheel with cousin and his spouse having just had some devastating news. I'd only just heard of said news a few hours before and was admittedly afraid of the idea of being the only other one there but... Turns out I'd've been the fifth wheel. I wish I had known. I would've gone.
This weekend, we lit our firepit for the first time and I asked in the group chat if anyone wanted to come and hang out. No takers. That's ok, it was very last minute anyway. Maybe another time.
Just today. Pictures on FB. Cousin took a week-long vacation and the others joined up with them now and then. Fishing, hiking, just hanging out.
I read this awful post once. "Every group chat has a second group chat excluding one member. If you're not part of that chat, it's you."
It's me.
But I have no right to complain. Like I said, cousin got some bad news and I don't want to pile on. My sibling's wedding is being complicated by in-law drama, so now's not the time to be sad over my ruined nuptials. That trip was about my cousin's partner proposing to her, I shouldn't make it about me. My spouse is a total homebody, he's not too bothered that as my plus one he's being excluded too. He knows I'm hurt by these things, but I don't want to worry him when he's adjusting to the stresses of a new job, so I can't talk about it like this with him right now.
These are the main recent examples. I know this is just a few incidents. I know they might seem small or petty to some. I know I'm still loved... don't I? When I was beckoned to join my siblings for a photo at the wedding, just the core four of us and the bride... For a second there, a terrible fleeting moment, I didn't believe it was me they were beckoning. Why would they? It's me.
It's only me.
If they don't want me there for the good times, why would I ever want to burden them with my bad feelings.

Junior in NYC. Can’t tell if this is just biglaw or toxicity. Can someone give me some examples of a “toxic person”? What’s the most difficult person you’ve worked with like? Is “asking you to stand by all hours (evenings and weekends) when there is no real deadline” toxic? Is “giving you work at 10/11 at night and ask for a quick turnaround (no real deadline)” toxic? Are people nicer to work with in an in-house setting?

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TW: Abuse Long time lurker, first time poster. This is a complicated, long, and messy situation and I'm on mobile. Sorry. Gonna try and make this short. My(17f) Father(39m) is a complicated person. He believes your first response to misbehaving kids is to yell or threaten them. When he was living with us, he would beat me and my siblings for the smallest reasons. For example, if we took food when we weren't supposed to be in the kitchen. If we lied about anything. If we got bad grades (the oldest kid at the time was in 4th grade).
Every now and again we get into arguments about what he did to us during my childhood. He claims he "doesn't remember" or that I'm making it all up. Despite the fact that my older sister still has a mark he left on her leg over a decade later.
Last night we argued over text. And he ended it by saying that "parents are supposed to be friends with their parents."
I'm disabled. I have arthritis, and a lot of other issues, for both mental and physical. Every time he see me in person, which isn't often or for long, he hounds me about my weight and teeth. I spent Christmas with him in 2020, and for 2 weeks he keep telling my that I was fat and overweight and trying to force me to go to the gym.
I told him last night that it made me uncomfortable and made me feel horrible. He said that how I felt didn't matter. He said my comfort came second to his truth.
WIBTA if I post the screenshots of our conversation on Facebook and tag him?
Edit: He has other kids who go through the same. I just don't want it to get as bad as it did for me. I'm terrified to leave my room and have to force myself out of bed. I don't have contact with the "good side" of the family, but he does. He controls the narrative. My goal is to let everyone else know what's really going on, but I only have access/in contact with his yes-men.
Edit 2: Forgot to mention that if we block him/cut him off, he calls the cops on my Ma. He's done it 5 times in the last 2 years.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/cjn8w8j06ik?feature=shared

• They're having a jam session when we join
• 3:45 Neo and Luke are improvising a song about all the guys. I'll just translate the lyrics that Luke sings in Thai because he also sings in English a bit too. When you hear Neo talking/singing, he's trying to translate what Luke is singing, but sometimes he's a little off.
  • Mix: "can be good but also bad. Likes to eat a lot with Pond"
  • Phuwin: (sings in English)
  • Pond: (sings in English) "Everyone knows that he always wants to eat rice with Thai omelette (extra salty)"
  • Neo: "He's probably the most annoying in the house, but he's also cute. He loves annoying everyone a lot, especially Earth. That's the kind of person he is. He plays guitar really well."
  • Khaotung: "I like how he likes similar things as me. I like how he plays darts with me. I like how he also wins games like me."
  • (pause while they laugh)
  • 6:30 Earth: "Everyone who's watching this livestream knows that he likes to wear this red sweatshirt." (pause because Neo needs to think of what to play) "Red shirt, red shirt, has nice stuff in his hair" (then sings in English) (pause because of Neo's mistranslation) "Actually, he should be the best in the house, but right now he has the lowest score. But that's alright, because there's lots of time for him to win more games."
  • Gun: "Yellow shirt, like the Sang Sang that he's the presenter of. He's really tiny, but his smile is huge. He's also very good-looking and the nicest in the house" (then Luke says something a bit funny but rude, which makes Gun get up and try to push a pillow in Luke's face)
• 9:50 Mix and Gun go to the kitchen. The others realise that they can watch the footage of the kitchen from the TV.
• 10:45 Neo and Khaotung consider improvising a song for Luke since he didn't get to sing about himself, but Luke declines.
• 12:15 PD asks everyone to assemble in the kitchen. She makes a notification sound before speaking so that the guys don't get startled, which they appreciate
• 13:20 Medal competition sponsored by Sea Me Now. Gun reads the rules. They will divide themselves into two teams. Each team will send two members to prepare "yum" (a type of Thai salad served at room temperature, often involving some kind of noodles like glass noodles) within 15 minutes, using the seafood from Sea Me Now. Meanwhile, the remaining 4 guys will wait in another room until the dishes are ready, and they will come and blindly taste the dishes and vote on which dish is better. Winning team gets one medal each.
  • 16:00 PD asks the teams which member each thinks is the best cook in the team. Phuwin is the best of the left team, and the right-hand team are undecided between Gun and Khaotung. At 17:30 PD asks which member from each group is the worst at cooking. The guys start to figure out that PD is going to pair the best cook with the worst cook, so the right-hand team try to blag that Khaotung and Gun don't know how to cook that well after all. At 18:30, Neo is the only one who hasn't caught on to PD's plan, so he raises his hand to indicate that he's the worst cook on that team because he thinks it means he won't have to cook. Final cooking teams are Phuwin/Neo and Gun/Pond. The rest go to wait in the play zone.
  • 21:00 Phuwin has only just realised that they are required to make "yum," which he doesn't know how to make. He mistakenly thought they could make whatever they wanted. Gun is also not confident.
  • 23:00 Cooking timer begins. Both teams decide to use the salmon. Phuwin/Neo decide they're going to leave their salmon raw. Pond asks Gun if they're going to leave theirs raw too, and Phuwin accuses him of copying them. Gun decides they're going to lightly blanch their salmon.
  • 28:00 Neo goes to look for a food processor. Gun asks if he can process enough chilis for both teams, and Neo initially jokingly declines, but then agrees.
  • 30:15 Phuwin asks Neo to make the glass noodles. Neo isn't sure how to prepare them, and Phuwin guesses that they're supposed to just put them briefly in boiling water (which is correct)
  • 31:30 We cut to the play zone where the tasting teams do a light brand plug for Sea Me Now. They teach Luke a new word that basically means "great." (I guess it's kind of like "sick" in English how the actual definition of the word is different, but it's slang when used in context). Mix is confident that Gun/Pond are going to make the better dish.
  • 37:00 PD announces one minute remaining, and that "the customers are complaining." Gun/Pond finish with some time to spare and present their dish to the camera, but Phuwin/Neo finish a little late (but it's fine; there will be no penalty. PD just keeps rushing them to finish)
  • 40:30 PD asks the teams to write the names of their respective dishes on the mini boards provided. Pond originally writes a name that indirectly reveals that he and Gun made that dish, and PD says that the names can't have any hints of who made which dish.
  • 43:30 PD asks the teams to pose with their respective dishes, and invites the audience to screenshot and caption them. Gun/Pond's dish translates to, "Definitely delicious; try it and see," and Phuwin/Neo's dish (roughly) translates to, "Just making a 'yum,' but don't know how to make it" (It's a rhyme/pun in Thai)
  • 44:30 Cooking teams leave the kitchen and go sit in the living room so they can watch the tasting on the TV. PD warns them not to cheat while the teams are changing rooms.
  • 47:15, the tasting team goes to the kitchen. They each get 3 ping pong balls with which they can vote. Phuwin/Neo's dish is the white side, and Gun/Pond's is the blue side. The votes can be cast by dropping the balls into the coloured containers corresponding to the dishes.
  • 48:00 It is immediately obvious to all of them immediately which team made which dish. Transcription starting from 48:20:
    • Earth: "Why don't we start by judging the presentation before we taste?"
    • Mix: "Looking at these two dishes, this one (blue) is definitely wins."
    • Earth (trying to help his team): "I think I'm going to go with this one (white). Listen, none of us know which dish was made by which team..."
    • Luke: "But we have theories."
    • Mix: "I just want to know in what way this (white) dish could possibly be more beautiful than that (blue) dish."
    • (pause while they think of some nonsense) Luke: "The vegetables. They just look so nice. And there are so many of them."
    • Earth: "I'm giving it to this team (white)."
    • Luke: "Me too."
    • (audio cuts out for a few seconds)
    • Mix is saying "The truth?!" to implore Earth and Luke to admit the truth, but they stick to their decisions
    • Luke: "It's my personal opinion. I'm not changing."
    • 49:55 Mix comes up to the camera and mouths, "There are cheaters here."
    • Earth and Luke say, "Who knows? This plate could have been made by anyone."
    • 50:15 Mix: "Okay, let's move on to the flavour." They taste Phuwin/Neo's first.
    • Earth: "I hear laughing outside. Who's laughing?"
    • 51:00 Luke: "Very good."
    • Earth looks at Luke. Luke: "It's actually good. It suits my palate."
    • Mix: "I mean, it's alright. It's not bad. The salmon and imitation crab are good. They taste really fresh. But the noodles are awkwardly super cold. Like, is this bamee yen (a cold noodle dish)? Also, there's just something not right. It's sour, and it's like trying to be spicy but not spicy, trying to be salty but not salty. It's not balanced. What do you think, Earth?"
    • Earth: "I'll give it to you honestly."
    • Mix: (puts his hand on Earth's shoulder and looks into his eyes) "Yes, give it to us honestly."
    • Earth: "Okay, honestly, I like the raw ingredients. I like that the imitation crab meat is in large chunks. But..."
    • Mix: "Look, he's talking about the raw ingredients. He's not even talking about the flavour of the dish."
    • Earth: "The flavour is like how Mix described. And honestly, it's sour. It's so sour. Uncomfortably sour. Like, too sour. Can I have some water?"
    • 52:40 Luke: "I really like how there are lots of vegetables here. That means that dish is really healthy for you. If you ask me if I can eat the other dish, I can eat it, but it won't be as healthy as this dish."
    • Earth: "Oh, okay, so he's talking about the health value of the dish."
    • Mix: "But we're talking about the flavour of the dish, here, no?"
    • Luke: "I'm a person who doesn't like eating things too spicy. (uses the vocab word he learned earlier) So I like that this one is a good balance. It's not too spicy for me.
    • 53:35 Earth looks at Luke and says, "Is it not too sour? I think you've already helped our team a lot here."
    • Luke: "No, I don't think so. I honestly think it's good. But we haven't tried the other dish."
    • Earth: "That's true. Different people have different flavour preferences. Some like super sour, for example. And if those people also don't like spicy food, this dish is for them."
    • 54:05 They ask for Khaotung's review. He pauses and then quietly says, "Um... Sour. It's sour."
    • Mix: "How about between the words 'delicious' and 'not delicious'?"
    • Khaotung: "Well, I can definitely eat it. But it's super sour. It's not well-rounded."
    • 54:35 They move on to taste Gun/Pond's dish. Mix comes to the camera and enthusiastically whispers, "It's SO good!"
    • 55:15 Earth: "I like the creativity of this team. The salmon was raw, but this team lightly blanched the fish so that the inside is still raw, which adds a lot of layers to the flavours and textures of the dish. I like it."
    • Mix: "Can I speak extendedly? It's SO good. It's amazing. It's well-rounded, yummy, the textures are amazing, and it's easy to see that the person who made it really knows how to cook. I'm pretty sure I know who made it." Khaotung agrees.
    • 56:40 Luke decides to still vote for the white dish because the second dish is a bit too spicy for him. Earth sees that there's no way that the white dish can win anymore, so he puts his last ball into the white container anyway.
  • 58:00 More brand plugging for Sea Me Now
  • 59:45 PD calls the cooking teams back to the kitchen to announce the results.
  • 1:00:35 Luke says to Phuwin/Neo: "I tried, guys." Neo says, "I love this guy. He said the truth straight from his heart." Earth says that he tried to say the truth too. Neo complains that he was working with so many ingredients he had no idea how to use. I was just putting everything in randomly. Mix asks who did the seasoning/flavouring, and Neo said, "Me, but we didn't have time to taste it because we ran out of time."
  • 1:02:00 The cooking teams try each other's dishes (and Phuwin/Neo try their own dish for the first time too). Neo tries Gun/Pond's dish. Earth immediately feeds him a huge bite of his own dish. Neo pauses and says, "It seems like it's missing something." Mix and Earth say, "Not something. Many things. Like deliciousness." Earth feeds some to Phuwin, and he also doesn't like it.
    • 1:02:45 Neo looks at Earth and says, "You did the right thing." (in reference to criticising this dish and voting for the other one). Earth says, "So you understand me now?!"
    • Neo makes fun of how Gun was previously dramatic about not knowing how to make "yum." Gun says that he truly wasn't sure, and Neo feeds Gun some of Phuwin/Neo's dish saying, "See? This is what it means to truly not know what you're doing." Gun's eyes water while eating it, and he says, "It's so sour," and goes to hug Neo and Phuwin.
  • 1:04:00 More brand plugging for Sea Me Now
  • 1:05:00 Neo says that he's glad that there's at least someone (Luke) who enjoys eating his food. He then realises that Luke has only been eating the seafood and the vegetables, none of which have been flavoured/seasoned. Luke then takes a bite of the noodles to appease him.
• 1:06:00 Seafood lunch. Menu includes (professionally-made) "yum" with salmon and imitation crab topped with salmon roe; oysters with a seafood sauce; scallops fried with garlic, salt, and pepper; and grilled salmon steaks
  • 1:17:45 Khaotung and Mix go to the kitchen to make some more food with the fresh seafood they have
  • 1:19:15 Luke asks Earth why he's sitting so far away from him, and Neo turns it into a pun about Earth wanting scissors ("sitting far away" sounds a bit similar to "looking for scissors")
  • 1:21:10 This is Pond's first time trying mashed potatoes. Luke and Phuwin explain what they are to him and explain that in some Western countries, they eat less rice than they do in Asia, so sometimes they eat potatoes as the starch (a lot of the dishes for this meal were prepared in a Western way)
  • 1:22:30 Neo teaches them Isan slang that a more polite phrase to basically say, "BS-ing." They also mention the Central equivalent of the phrase. They ask Luke what an equivalent in English would be, but Luke can only think of "BS-ing," so he says that he can't say it out loud. He eventually goes with "spinning stuff." Neo says that he feels like English doesn't have as many rude/swearing words as Thai does, and Earth makes a joke that he wouldn't be surprised if Neo's name was rude in English.
  • 1:23:55 They like how Luke seems especially giggly today, so they try to keep him laughing. Neo says a Thai phrase/idiom that basically means that he's not even being funny to his full capacity right now, then Earth and Phuwin give some sarcastic remarks that are like playful insults to Neo, which Luke continues laughing at.
  • 1:26:00 Phuwin and Gun join Mix and Khaotung in the kitchen to cook some more seafood. They're prepping some salmon, scallops, and oysters. Gun wants to make lightly floured and pan-fried tofu.
  • 1:27:30 The guys at the table are joking to Luke that it's Thai culture to be polite to people, but then the closer you get to them, the more you insult them. You start the insults behind their back, but then you can eventually insult them to their face (it's not technically false, especially for some friend groups, but the way they were explaining it is a bit too much, hahaha). Then they demonstrate that, actually, the best thing to do is to be polite to someone's face, and then behind their back, you compliment them again.
  • 1:29:00 They exchange the English and Thai versions of the phrase "fishing for compliments"
  • 1:32:20 Luke is trying to tell the story of why he came to Thailand, but he's still in his giggly mood. He wanted to be an actor in the US, but he was scouted from IG to come and be a model in Thailand, so he arranged to come for 3 months, but he liked it, so he stayed.
  • 1:34:10 They mention that they're glad they have Neo in the house because otherwise it would be so much quieter and less entertaining.
  • 1:40:15 Gun brings the tofu for the guys at the table to try. They struggle a bit because it's still very hot, but they approve.
  • 1:43:45 The guys at the table talk about ventriloquists. Luke explains how in the US, ventriloquism can either be creepy or funny depending on the act, but in Thailand it tends to mostly be creepy. They start discussing some related film/series plots.
  • 1:59:30 Pond, Neo, and Luke dance a bit for the cameras
• 2:01:00 Relaxing time. Mix presents the dish he made to the camera: spaghetti pad kee mao (drunken noodles) with scallops, crab, and salmon roe. He brings it to the living room for everyone else to try.
  • 2:08:40 Some language lessons. Phuwin and Luke ask Neo some questions for him to answer in English. They also ask Luke some questions in Thai. They try to ask Neo and Luke to speak English and Thai (respectively) for two minutes each, language exam-style.
• 2:13:50 PD asks the losing team from the last game to go wash dishes. They say that the sink area is small, so two people will wash at a time.
  • 2:36:05 Earth drops and breaks a dish. Earth tells a story about how when he was very young, he hated washing dishes, so sometimes he would secretly break some dirty dishes behind his house so he wouldn't have to clean as many. Eventually his mother started wondering where all the dishes were disappearing to, but she just kept buying more
• 2:41:15 PD asks for someone to wake Gun (who's napping on the sofa) and assemble in the area in front of the medal board for the next medal game. She asks Mix "the one with many medals" and Earth "the one with hardly any medals" to take the lead in reading the rules. Earth is offended, but PD says, "Earth, you have to accept the truth."
  • 2:42:40 Game sponsored by Super Coffee. They will divide into two teams. King of the Day chooses the pairs that will compete together. Each person in the pair will wear a sumo costume with a bag of Super Coffee attached to their back. Whoever is the first to successfully remove the bag of coffee from their opponent's back wins that round, and their team is awarded one point in the game. Once all the pairs have competed, the winners will compete to determine the final winner. Winning team gets one medal each. The rules say nothing about singing or having dancing breaks during each match, but the guys do so anyway.
• 3:21:20 PD asks everyone to change into swimming clothes and meet at the pool. Phuwin has to study, so he won't join for the next activity.
• 3:39:00 Neo reads the directions. They're going to play the Werewolf (ma paa) game. Between the 7 of them, they will randomly get assigned roles: 2 werewolves (who can kill people), 1 bodyguard (who can choose someone to protect from death each round), 1 seer (who can privately uncover the identity of one other player each round), 1 hunter (who, if they are killed, can choose one other person they suspect of being a werewolf to die with them), and 2 villagers. PD will be the narratoreferee. The game is basically between the werewolves and everyone else. Each round, in order, the narrator will instruct the werewolves to choose someone to kill, then the bodyguard to choose someone to protect, then the seer to privately uncover the identity of one other player. Then everyone must talk and decide on one person to kill out of suspicion of being a werewolf. If both werewolves are killed, the common people win. If there's at least one werewolf left at the end of the game, the werewolves win.
  • [PD is a very dramatic and colourful narrator, which is why everyone is reacting to most of her lines throughout the game. Werewolf in Thai is "ma paa" and villagetownsperson is "chao baan," to help you guys understand what's going on. All the other roles are called in English, although sometimes they call the bodyguard "moh" which means doctor]
  • 3:45:30 First game: Werewolves=Gun/Earth, Bodyguard=Neo, Seer=Khaotung, Hunter=Mix
    • First round: No one dies
    • Second round: Pond dies. They vote to kill Khaotung
    • 4:04:45 Third round: No one dies. Neo says that Mix is a common person because he saved this round. They vote to kill Earth
    • 4:13:30 Fourth round: Neo dies. They vote to kill Gun. Common people win.
  • 4:19:00 Second game. They're no longer allowed to say whether they saved someone or not. Werewolves=Khaotung/Mix, Bodyguard=Gun, Seer=Luke, Hunter=Pond
    • First round: Earth dies. They know someone is lying because too many people are claiming to be villagers. They think they should believe Neo because he was so honest last round. They vote to kill Khaotung.
    • 4:34:10 Second round: Pond dies and choses to kill Mix with him. Common people win.
  • 4:37:50 PD asks them to vote on the best and worst liar. They aren't sure yet, but Khaotung is voted the worst liar. Punishment is cleaning one of the bathrooms tomorrow.
• 4:41:15 Relaxing time. Neo gets thrown in the pool.
• 5:08:00 Fan talk
  • Group 1: It's supposed to be the 4 top scorers on the medal board, but Khaotung is still showering, so Earth goes in his place because he's lowest. Neo did a bit more exercise with Luke this morning. They recap the walking doll game from the morning and how random and unpredictable it was. Mix was bitter that he felt like being King today was more of a burden than Luke's experience the previous day. Luke says it's probably because Mix's Thai is better, so they felt like using him for more jobs/tasks. They recap the cooking competition; Gun/Mix say they were lucky that they were on the team that had several options of people who knew how to cook. They talked about how the judging was biased, but Earth said that at the end, he had to admit the fact that Phuwin/Neo's dish was so sour that he could feel it in his brain. Gun/Mix were glad that they didn't have to wash dishes today because there were so many dishes to wash, and they made fun of Earth breaking the dish. They all enjoyed the sumo game. They started to regret that they started the singing/dancing gag, but they committed to it for entertainment purposes. They agreed that Khaotung is indeed the dark horse because no one expected him to be that quick in the sumo game. Everyone also had fun playing Werewolf.
    • 5:18:45 Fan comments: They like how Gun seems like the eldest brother in the house, taking care of everyone. People made fun of Earth's childhood dish-breaking story. (The guys eventually start talking amongst themselves, mainly about how Earth doesn't think he has a chance to win anymore, and they say that there are many more opportunities for medals in the coming days, so anything can happen)
  • 5:26:15 Group 2: They talk about how much Pond likes rice with Thai omelette [note: pretty much everyone in Thailand loves it, but Pond feels like eating it all the time], and he likes to make Phuwin make it for him in this house. They're all impressed with how good Khaotung was at the sumo game. Phuwin/Neo explain what happened during the cooking competition: Phuwin usually never eats "yum," but last week, his family made some but he didn't have any, so he regrets not having it so he would have a better idea of how to make it. Neo said he was just randomly putting things in without knowing for sure if they were supposed to go in. They made fun of Neo's dishwashing "technique." They recapped Werewolf, and everyone was unsure whether to trust/believe the things Neo says because he talks rubbish a lot.
    • 5:32:45 Fan comments: They mention that this has turned into a pure comedy show. They like how everyone works together and the vibe isn't overly competitive.
  • 5:37:00 Late-night meal. Menu includes fried chicken wings, spaghetti carbonara, spaghetti with bacon, sticky rice with pork, sandwich, pizza, more spaghetti, and minced pork wrapped with noodles.
    • They feel like today was very full/busy, and they're all feeling tired, but they've had fun.
    • 5:47:00 Earth and Neo say that they may not have many medals, but at least they're funny. They get up and try to entertain the rest of the guys.
• 5:52:45 Everyone bids farewell to Gun because it's his last night. Gun says to the audience, "Thank you so much for watching all of us these past three days. I hope you've enjoyed seeing our dynamics in this more relaxed environment. I hope you'll continue watching the rest of the guys for the rest of the days and see what fun is in store."

My husband has completed his thru-hike, he swears that the best way to pack his pack is to shove and stuff everything down into his pack, instead of folding everything or put it in the “stuff sacks” that the items originally came in. For example, his sleeping bag, he will open his pack and take one end of his sleeping bag and shove it into the bottom of his pack and keep shoving and stuffing until the whole thing fits in there. He basically uses his backpack as one big “stuff sack”’ He claims and swears that this utilizes the most space in the pack. Same with his clothes and all items. He doesn’t use dry bags for clothes. He does use a food bag, and a pack line trash bag on the inside of his pack.
I can see his point, but I feel like I would want to be a big more organized and have a smaller stuff sack for my clothes or other personal items. Not him, he just shoves it all in! Not saying one way is right or wrong.
How do you pack your pack?

My husband and I get IV Ketamine therapy. There is this one nurse who flirts in my mind with both of us. My husband said that may just be her personality since we both got the feeling she was flirting with both of us. My husband is an attorney. When we were paying for our treatment she asked what he did for a living. He told her. She said that she was trying to get custody of her son and needed an attorney. He ignored her comment. Then she repeated herself, he said that it did sound like she needed one, still not making eye contact. Then I went to use the bathroom, came back out and my husband informed me she asked for his phone number so she could call him about her case. He instead told her the name of the law firm so she could look it up and talk to one of our paralegals. She never called. Next session again, she put the IV in my arm and touched me a lot more than I liked or thought was normal. Then next session, my husband was very out of it, and I helped him to the bathroom, and open toilet no stall. She tried to walk in so she could help him pee when I was right there, helping him stand up and unzip.... I literally had to ask her to leave. He has no memory of this because he was out of it. She acted like she was being cute. I don’t get it. Then again she asked for his phone number that session and he said call the office if she wants an appointment. It feels like she doesn't want an appointment but wants his personal cell. She also used my records to call my personal cell number and then chit chatted with me about nothing medical, no idea for why she called me to talk about my day..... We put a phone number that was disconnected after we got a new phone number a week before my husband's first session for my husband's medical profile so no idea if she has tried to text and call him. Then, she called recently to say they close at 5, but she'd stay late for us and it'd just be all of us at the clinic and it'd be private? Umm what???
We have discussed going somewhere else but the man who actually monitors the ketamine is amazing and we don’t want to give him up. She is the only nurse there.
Is this a HIPPA violation to try to use a patient as an attorney in the least? Are you allowed to use your patients' businesses for your benefit? Seems like conflict of interest.