Q: Can the battery be charged from the engine if it is low? I have looked at the owners manual online and can not find a clear answer. Also did a forum search be fore asking here.
I thought I had seen some info online that it could be charged in EV later mode, however nothing in the OM indicates that is how it works.
EDIT for example: Going on a 3 hr road trip. Start the journey in electric mode till battery is empty. Transition to ICE engine for the remainder of trip. During the ICE portion can the battery be recharged fully or somewhat so at the destination just the EV portion be used again. I understand there would be a MPG penalty during the ICE portion.
TIA
FWIW, current Ford stable is a 1995 Ford Taurus GL, '21 F-150 302A XLT Sport, Max tow
EDIT 2: Thank You everyone for the input.
We will be taking delivery a Vapor Blue Escape PHEV on Tuesday. The selling dealer had a silver model and is dealer trading for the Vapor Blue.
35K after Fed tax credit ($3750) and a $1250 Rebate offer from Ford @ 1.9% x 60. Sticker is $42155 with the all weather floor mats as the only added option.

The formula test is the exam conducted for the admission into FIITJEE Madhapur CM Batch. If you clear this exam, you are then shortlisted for the interview. Only after clearing the interview you are granted admission into FIITJEE Madhapur.
Formula Test: The exam consists of two papers - 2 hr objective and 2 hr subjective
The exam is definetely tough with no questions really out of syllabus... Questions were definetely from 11th and 12th grade concepts of the respective chapters, especially for physics and chemistry... Maths was comparitively easier. If you have studied thoroughly you can definetely score enough to clear this exam. The questions definetely require good conceptual understanding and simply knowing the formulae will not help, especially in chemistry... You need to solve questions in order to understand how to apply the concepts and formulae. I have attached links to few of the exact questions asked in the exam below.
I have given the exam on 28/04/24 and the syllabus was:

Physics: Kinematics , Ray Optics, Current Electricity, Magnetic Effects of Current
Chemistry: Atomic Structure, Chemical Bonding, Gaseous State
Math: Polynomials, Pair of Linear Equations in Two variables, Quadratic Equations, Arithmetic Progression, Coordinate Geometry (Distance between two points, Area of Triangle, Section Formula), Geometry (Triangles and Circles).

The syllabus is definetely bound to change but compared to the previous year, the only change in syllabus was seen in math and the syllabus in physics and chemistry remained the same as the previous year.
How I've prepared: Physics, I solved all the exercises from HC Verma (Ray Optics & Kinematics). I didn't have enough time to solve the exercises of Electricity & Magnetic Effects from HC Verma so I just solved from my fiitjee material. Magnetic Effects I completely skipped and I have not attempted a single question from that chapter in the exam.
Talkin about Math, I solved NSEJS & KVPY problems of the respective chapters from Pathfinder (PRMO). Personally, even if I hadn't prepared as hard for math I would have given a similar performance in the test...
For chemistry, I watched the PW lectures on youtube and I recommend learning the concepts taught in each and every video of the playlist. You can always watch videos from channels like TOCT if you haven't understood any particular concept perfectly. I urge you to understand drawing lewis dot structures of compounds (chemical bonding) and also electron transitions (atomic structure) properly.
I took about 1 month to prepare for this exam & I believe that if you study for 6-8 hours everyday, 1 month would be more than enough to complete all parts of the syllabus... I definetely didn't make the best use of time so I couldn't cover all the parts of my syllabus.
Exam Pattern: The exam has 0-9 integer type numericals and also multi-correct MCQs. There were about 18 questions from each subject in the objective paper. About 3-4 marks are awarded for each correct option and -1 for each wrong option chosen. So be careful.
The subjective paper had 5-6 questions from each subject where each question was asked for 10 marks. There is partial marking so even if you have solved the question half-way, you will be awarded the appropriate marks. So I recommend attempting every question even if you don't know how to solve it, just try solving it and if you are lucky enough, you might be awarded a couple of marks.
How I performed: Out of the 54 objective questions, I have attempted about 25 questions... I made sure to not guess any questions ( I ended up guessing about 2-3 questions) to prevent negative marking. In subjective, in math I have solved 2/6 and attempted the rest. I have solved around 2.5 questions in physics and 1.5 question in chemistry. They do not give out the marks you scored, they just call and inform you whether you've been selected for interview or not.

Few of the exact tough questions asked in exam: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7

I received a call from FIITJEE that I have been selected for the interview on 03/05/24. My interview was on 07/05/24 at the Madhapur centre itself.
Interview: The teacher will ask you what topics you did so be careful of what topics you tell him because most of the questions he'll ask from that only. In Maths, I told him I know quadratic equations and he asked all questions from that chapter and 1 question from AP. Physics he asked 1 question from each topic (electricity, ray optics & kinematics). Chem he asked 10th grade questions and also questions from current syllabus like angular momentum of electron, structure of NH3Cl, oxidizing agents (little out of syllabus), vapor density definition, etc.
Keep in mind that the interview questions will vary significantly depending on the interviewer. Some other guy I know got super easy chem questions while I didn't. The same guy got super easy physics questions too. He said he knows kinematics so the teacher gave problems only from kinematics. So there is a bit of luck involved. You may not get the easiest interviewer.
To summarize, be aware of the topics you tell the interviewer when he asks. Make sure you choose the topics that you are thorough with and are easy. Make sure that even if you don't arrive at the final solution, explain the process to the interviewer so that you let him know that you are aware of the concepts.
I did very well in Math & Physics but I'm not at all satisfied with my performance in the chemistry interview. So if I don't get selected its probably because of chem.
Interview RESULTS: I received a call on 16/05/2024 that I have been selected for the CM Batch of Madhapur.
When I tried to find information about this exam on the internet, there wasn't enough information. That was what motivated me to help other students like me who are atleast serious about this exam and are trying to find information about it on the internet.

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An old desk phone stands on a marble pedestal, lost in the middle of a dark room. A perfectly circular, dark room, dug deeply into the bedrock of a city far, far away from anywhere important to our story. Silence reigns in this room… until the phone starts ringing. It rings for such a long time, uninterrupted, insistent, inconsiderate even! It rings for longer than any person should be willing to wait, longer than anyone would stomach. A sane person would simply give up and call later… But this caller? No. This caller refuses to be ignored.

So it rings, even while a set of long, skeletal fingers stretch from the shadows. Knuckles and joints crack as the hand does a few stretches, taking the time to caress the nasty, annoying phone for a moment without picking it up.

“Oh bother… I wonder who that could be…?”

The voice was raspy, nasal and grumbly. It loved to complain, and it had done so for so long that even when it wasn’t complaining, it sounded annoyed and legitimately upset. The hand stopped uncomfortably caressing the vibrating phone for a moment to grab the caller ID. Its dim green light was perfectly reflected on the hand’s glossy white skin.

“Ah… G again, huh…?”

Understanding that it couldn’t simply ignore this annoying sound forever, and that the call may actually mean something important (and lucrative), the hand returned to the phone and finally picked it up.

“You interrupted my nap.” The raspy voice said.

“You shouldn’t sleep for so long. It’s bad for you.” The young boy’s voice answered, legitimately concerned.

“Oh yeah? You suggest I should go out instead? Take a shower, get dolled up, and then bask under the full concentrated power of the Sun?”

“Come on now, don’t be like that. You know what I mean.”

“You better mean something important, to interrupt my nap like that, you old bastard.”

The white, skeletal hand made a few sassy snaps, loud enough to be heard over the phone.

“Alright alright, I am done beating around the bush. Sorry.” The calm, youthful voice sighed over the phone, these conversations were enough to exhaust him.

“Yeah that’s right, bitch.”

“It’s just… we have a new visitor in The Forum, and I’d like you to give us a little check on who or what.”

“What, are you afraid of a few gremlins and jinxes finally finding their way over your precious forum? Or is this a troll hunt?” The raspy voice finally got up from the sea of cushions and empty bags, and with another snapping of his fingers, he activated the widescreens that covered every single spot of his walls with the exception of a single metal door. The lights were warm and orangey, designed to avoid straining the eyes.

The room had returned to life! It was an absolute disaster, pillows and empty bloodbags laid scattered around without a care, and the whole place had a disgusting aura of filth to it.

Blanco was fully illuminated now. His figure was enough to cause nightmares to a few children: a tall, lanky and wide-shouldered man, skin white as marble and cracked as an old dry cookie, full of darker spots and nasty scars. His arms were long enough for the knuckles of his free hand to feel the floor.

But what was worst of all was his face: a perfectly round, perfectly smooth face, lacking hair, eyes and ears, only showing a few dark veins underneath the glossy skin. His mouth was another crack in this otherwise flawless surface, showing myriads of sharp, black teeth.

“Now let’s see…”

The screens all showed the same picture of Blanco’s face, a toothy smile covering his visage. With a mere gesture of his hand, a wireless keyboard came floating to the creature, big and wide enough for his disproportionate hands. The keys were shining in beautiful purple, producing a hypnotic wave effect across its length.

After cracking his knuckles, the creature began typing and accessing one of the many screens, the one permanently connected to Dejima 08. Blanco stretched again, sitting in the air and crossing his lanky legs as he checked the analytics.

“Yep. You have a new visitor, and they immediately registered. ‘Tav’, huh? Too generic.”

“Can you give me a bit more info on them?” The young man asked.

“Are you officially commissioning me now? Because this is as far as our friendship will get me without pay.” Blanco smirked, a purple tongue licking his nonexistent lips.

“...I’ll have the payment sent immediately. I want an hour of your time.” There was hesitation on the old voice. He clearly didn’t feel good about this, but one could never be too careful.

“Oh boy!” The creature clapped rapidly, and before he knew it, there was a notification on another screen. Ka-ching! The sound of money going straight into his PayBud. “Ohhh Giovanni, you gotta be my best client, really. Most people whine about my prices.”

“You probably tell that to every client you get.” G chuckled, taking it like a good sport.

“I do!” Blanco admitted with a bright, big smile, and then slid over to face a cluster of 9 screens on a wall. “This will take just a moment…”

The screens would go to black at the same time, before glyphs of many sizes, shapes and forms began flooding them, spiraling to the center of each display. The lines that draw them were a pale, regular blue at first, before suddenly taking a bright octarine hue. Blanco’s fingers tapped wildly on his keyboard, while his mind focused on the seeking runes that took him straight into the second layer of reality.

Mages didn’t usually deal with the technology of the Sleepers. Not because they felt it was below them (even though many of them would certainly take that posture to protect their fragile egos), but for protection: Technology born out of the mundane rules of the natural world did not meddle well with magic, and even in a world that had lost 95% of its magical population, infusing magic on mechanisms and electrical circuits was a great way to attract pesky fairies.

Blanco, however, was not just any mage. After several lifetimes of work and study, he had mastered the art of using magic in conjunction with the power of the Internet itself, turning him into one of the most prolific hackers and trackers in the whole world of Jericho. Perhaps even the single most requested man in the business!

He, of course, didn’t accept just any job. He only took the work that interested him, that made him think outside of the box, or that paid particularly well. But Giovanni here? The old man was an exception. Giovanni had been good to Blanco in a time where no one else would even look at the creature, and as much as he hated showing gratitude for things, Blanco was a man of honor… to a certain extent.

He at least appreciated a friend when he had one.

The screens began changing one by one as the creature found information. A national registry page, a Vapor gaming profile, a VirtualZone profile…

“This one’s not dumb. They keep good opsec, rarely sharing personal information. That’s good.” Blanco smirked. “Sadly, that’s not enough to stop me.”

Soon a picture appeared on one of the screens, the face of a smiling, bright child. An honor student with many dreams and possibilities in the future.

Then, on a fifth screen, a grainy image stolen from an unsecured webcam. A burnout stares at the screen with dead eyes and no spirit in their posture.

“Oof. Growth has been rough on this one.” The creature commented sarcastically, taking a moment to stop and crack their knuckles. “This is your guy, G. Real name: Santino Belnades. A random kid from Wohl.”

“Wohl?” Giovanni was beyond surprised.

“Yeah, you know. The country in the north. The one that looks like a pen–”

“Yes yes, I know Wohl. I just… didn’t expect to hear from the mages of the north. It’s been a while.”

“Ah, no this is not a born mage. This is a sleeper.”

“Impossible. They passed the Le Guin test and made an account in the Forum.”

“Alright then, a Bastard Mage for sure.”

There was a moment of silence as Giovanni meditated on the implications of this… only broken by the camera feed’s catching Tav screaming.

“Spy Medic, Spy Medic! Kill that motherfucker!”

“Ahhh… TS2. I really should get back into it one of these days.” Blanco commented with a bit of nostalgia. “So? What do we do? You still have some minutes of my time, G! I could scare them real good if you want them out of the forum.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. It’s just another mage in the world…they’ll probably benefit from learning a few things.”

“Eighty Two will get really, really mad if she finds out you allowed a Bastard Mage in her precious project.”

“Mustafá will get angry no matter what, but she rarely shows up in the Forum anyways.”

“Hah. Old bastard.”

There was another moment of silence, interrupted by the heavy clicking and intense gaming from the webcam feed.

“... So.” Blanco finally spoke up. “What now?”

“I’ll just say hi to them and let them be.” Giovanni said, probably smiling. “They are probably scared and insecure, after all.”

“Are you serious? I mean, this is a Bastard Mage. They shouldn’t have had the means to find your forum and yet, here they are. Don’t you find that suspicious in the slightest?”

“Hmmmn…”

“And this is happening just as we had that Temporal Displacement alarm, remember? I really doubt that’s a coincidence.”

“Keep an eye on them, please. Just to make sure they don’t get in trouble.”

“That will cost you extra.”

“Fiiiine.”

“Yes, excellent.” Blanco rubbed his hands together, before stretching lazily and tapping a few keys. He would start a file on this ‘Tav’ person now.

“Whatever the case may be… I really hope this doesn’t get them in trouble. I mean, more trouble than they already are in.” With a heavy sigh, Giovanni finally decided that enough was enough. “I’ll leave you to it. I trust that you’ll inform me if anything happens.”

“If I can trust you to keep paying me, of course!”

Giovanni sighed again before finally hanging up. Blanco, now with something to do with his day, stretched in his invisible chair and looked at the webcam feed for another moment before turning it off. If he kept it on for too long, he risked Tav realizing that the webcam was suddenly on, and he really didn’t want to scare them.

For now, at least.

He wanted to pretend he wasn’t interested, and that this would just be another boring, fruitless job with nothing to show for it but a few factoids about a random mage’s life… but he had a strange feeling about this one. There was an odd trinkle in the dead, depressed eyes of that bastard.

“Let’s hope you know what you’re doing, kid…”

In my continuing adventures of finding quotes in every Bookworm volume for a new web forum, I'm finally over the hump and have started Volume 2... AKA the volume where it gets good.
On a side note, I read this on the new Clara BW, while it's a marginal improvement over the Clara 2e, there's a weird bug which prevented me from highlighting lines near the sides and top. This also impact the Clara Color, which is fun. Oh well.
---- Review ----
While Volume 2 is leagues better than Volume 1, it still took me a couple of days to get through it. Better than the multiple weeks that Vol 1 takes me, but not as gripping as future Volumes. I am looking forward to re-reading the swap day.
What's good about this volume is that Myne becomes likeable, as her attention moves away from Books to making paper... to make books. Look she's getting there, and she's evolving into a budding Chaos Gremlin. This is also the start of the Merchant chapters, and the beginning of the battles of whit. Which is just sooooo good.
The bad, is that the pacing is still about as slow and expositiony as the first volume. It's necessary for first time readers, and I remember lapping it up after watching the anime. But during re-reads it's easy to skim read, and potentially missing something I missed the first time.
But man that cliffhanger is a doozy, I do wonder what will happen next. /s
---- Quotes ----
Prologue

• ...and explained that in the first place she wasn't expecting much from Myne's efforts. Her expression said that she was dead confident that Myne would fail. [Ouch, Myne does deserve this from Effa, but you should have some faith]
  
• "...It feels like Myne isn't Myne lately. She still gets sick and passes out all the time, but she doesn't cry about this being unfair anymore." [Oh crap, they're onto you Myne! Quick run... I mean walk... umm, never mind, you OK kiddo?]
  
• "She'll become more capable over time, more understanding of her limits, and eventually she'll stop pushing herself too far." [... ummm no she won't and I have Lutz here with evidence to the contrary]
  

Chapter 1

• "How could I not be excited? I mean, we're making paper here! Paper! I can make books with paper. Ahahah yes!" [As you can see from the evidence she will never calm down, all you can do is prepare to weather this storm]
  
• "...Myne, alright, we're making paper. But how are we gonna do it? I've got no clue myself. Don't we need toold or something? Is this gonna work?" Lutz calm questions threw a bucket of cold water over my excitement. [Good on you kiddo, this is why you are the Myne manager]
  
• "Welcome back. Don't feel bad Myne. You'll Be useful to someone Someday." [Ouch that one hurt me, who let Tuuli play with fire]
  
• "Bwuh? Tuuli, what's going on?" [Number 1, our first Bwuh of the Volume]
  
• The problem with making tools? We didn't have the tools to make tools. [Wise words from someone who rarely thinks far enough ahead]
  
• If anyone wanted the shampoo, it would be a girl... A girl?! His wife?! If his beloved wife wants the shampoo, it all makes sense. [Otto your simping so hard even a 6 year old realized it.]
  
• "A merchant has a lot of things he heeds to keep secret so..." "...Can't I start practicing with something easier?" [Myne dear, Lutz is right, having Lutz hide things from Karla is like sending a lv.1 hero to fight the end boss]
  

Chapter 2

• And you can't decline this invitation anyways. If you do, your mom and older sister will probably get fired from their jobs." [Ouch, poor Effa, I am sure Corinna is doing this to good reasons]
  
• "Fear not, Captiain. I take full responsibility for your daughter and will ensure she remains safe." [Unless my wife's involved and I get scammed by a 6 year old. Then it's anyone's guess what happens]
  
• "Oh my, was it not boorish to observe a woman while she's prettying up?" "... I just said that because I didn't want him flirting with you while I was working." "Oh my! Aha, I do wonder how Otto behaves outside of the house, if a little girl such as yourself would fear that from him." [Corinna, you can I both know you don't need to "wonder" to get your answer]
  
• Despite claiming to be so busy, he handled all of the budget season work himself, negotiated with the merchants that came to sell equipment and commodities, exploited his position as city guard to obtain as much information as possible, and so on. [Is Otto what Ferdi would be if he was a Commoner?]
  
• "It's fine. Otto's giving me nails in return for all this." "...Nails? Truly? Is he not selling you short?" [Yes he is sweetie, and no she won't ever realize it]
  
• "Listen, Myne. Would you do me a favor and remember some important errands you have to do?" [Gunther getting an unexpected urge that he should beat up Otto when he gets back]
  
• "If you give me all of them I might be able to think of an excuse that will convince Dad." [And Otto this is why you lost her to Benno]
  
• "Oh? Lutz? What're you doing here?" "Myne?! That's my line! What are you here? Wha? Are you alone?!" [Imagine finding your Grandpa who's stuck in a wheel chair and needs nurses on them 24/7 just sitting in the middle of a kids park and you'll understand Lutz freakout]
  

Chapter 3

• His mom, Karla, was constantly on his back saying that he had given up on becoming a travelling merchant, so why couldn't he give up one more and become a carpenter? [... mother of the year. And the answer is because that sets a bed president and he'll give up on that too, probably out of spite]
  
• Otto lived on the third floor of Corinna's family home, and that has been arranged because her older brother was worried for his cute little sister. In other words. Corinna was Benno's little sister, which makes Otto his... "...You're his brother-in-law?" [Funnily enough 5 parts in and she is still this gullible]
  
• Benno was sitting at an administrator's desk behind which was a shelf crammed with wood boards and pieces of parchment. ...Wait, is that a bookshelf?! [Oh lord, the gremlin is loose! Who forgot the leash?!]
  
• "...Thinking's your job, ain't it? Whatever you want to do is fine with me, Myne." [Lutz you fool, what have you done]
  
• "...Um, did he just way contract magic? That's what it sounded like. Wha? Wait, has this been a fantasy world all along?" [Geeze this was what gave it away for you? Not the rainbow of hair colors, or the fantasy plants that bleed. Lord she's dense]
  

Chapter 4

• "Myne, do you know what tools and materials you need? " "Yes, don't worry." [This is when you want to worry]
  
• “Myne, you have pot written here, but how large of a pot do you want?” “Ummm... I was thinking a pot about as big as the second-biggest pot at my home.” Mark’s brows furrowed deeper [Why did you think this answer his question, you fool]
  
• I somehow managed to write supply orders for everything except the screen, which Mark gave up on. [Dear gods, she reach this man’s limit. I can’t imagine the headache he has to have right now]
  
• My excitement for a fantasy world full of magic shattered in an instant. Seriously...? A power only nobles have? [Careful what you wish for sweetie]
  
• “Bwuh?! It’s fine! The contract has our exact agreement written on it, there’s no problems at all.” [It took a while for Bwuh Number 2.]
  
• “Your turn” ...No thanks! This magic’s just scary! [Side eyeing P5V9]
  
• “Bwuuuh... Hyah!” Holding back tears, I put blood on my thumb and stamped my name. [Number 3]
  
• “You... You are Myne, right?” [My boy, there are questions you are better off not asking.]
  

Chapter 5

• “...Can you manage that?” “I’ll be fine.” I clenched my fist to show strength. [I can’t believe like myne I miss understood what Lutz asked here]
  
• “I’m afraid not. Those who deserve trouble shall receive it.” “Noooo...” [Corinna would make a good mom]
  
• “Bwuh?! I Couldn’t ask him to do that I’ll apologize to him and then go home on my own!” [Number 4, and sweet lord she needs Ferdi to call her a fool. Good new is Benno will call in the thunder]
  
• “WHAT IS! WRONG! WITH! YOU!” “Bwuh?!” “I said go home!” “Kyaaah!” [Benno used Thunder... it was super effective against Myne. Number 5]
  
• “You are no longer allowed in my store without the boy! If you’ve got a brain in that head, don’t forget” [Myne, meet leash, leash meet Myne, and never let go]
  
• “But y’know, now I get it. You collapse in no time. You’re smart but careless, you’re weak, you’re tiny, and thinking about it, there’s a ton of things you can’t do. Now you can’t even go into the store without me” “So mean, Lutz! I’m useful to people too, sometimes!” [Myne just take the L this time]
  
• “Bwuh?! I can carry stuff too! I’m a lot stronger than I used to be.” [Number 6, while yes you can carry things. He’ll need to carry you home if you did]
  
• “Myne, I know that look. You’re just pretending to agree, aren’t you? You’re not listening to us at all.” He... He saw through me?! [And has for a while now you fool]
  

Chapter 6

• That made me so happy I immediately pumped my fit and said “Let’s go!”, only to get hit on the head from behind by Lutz. [Oh my sweet boy is growing up so fast]
  
• “It seems that Myne wishes for me to carry her today as well.” “Bwuh?!” [Number 7, and Mark you are truly a gentlemen]
  

Chapter 7

• It’s a weird fantasy fruit! Apparently, the red fruit was brother to those weird ingredients I sometimes had to fight with to make supper. [In a far off land, there lies a former God, who felt a great disturbance in the force]
  
• “I was gonna ask why you didn’t go to the other side of the river, but... I’m guessing it was too much for you.” “...It was too much.” I was breathing a lot harder than Lutz [Honestly this is an amazing feat, she didn’t just pass out Lutz, you should praise her]
  
• Over time I had gotten better at managing fires so they didn’t get too bug, but I often would take my eyes off it just long enough for it to get out of control. [Oh gods, who’s bright idea was it to let the gremlin manage a fire, this is almost as dangerous as those red fruits]
  
• “This one’s no good. It’ll make your limbs tingly and you won’t be able to move for three days. This is no good either. It’ll make your stomach hurt for two days. This is worse, you’ll froth at the mouse and die if you eat it.” [Ferdi in the background taking notes]
  
• Incidentally, twenty percent of those mushrooms were poisonous. ...I just don’t get it. How does this keep happening... ? [I’ll take this as the will of the gods of chaos reminding you, that you have more important things to do, Benno still has his hair]
  

Chapter 8

• “Bwuh?! Ah, uummm, yeah. Pretty good right?” [Number 8, and girl, you need to keep your act together, he’s already suspicious and you’re just digging yourself into a deeper hole]
  
• “Yeah! You can trust me! I’ve done this before.” “...When, and Where said Lutz Sharply [In your eagerness to appear useful, you’ve made things worse, you only have yourself to blame here]
  
• “Ngh? U-ummm, th-that’s a girl’s secret! Don’t even think about prying!” [And Myne has thrown water onto that oil fire]
  
• ...Oof , that look hurts. He’s definitely figured me out. [You think! He figured you out a very long time ago]
  
• “Alright. Hey... Eh, scratch that. I’ll say it after the paper’s done,” [Hey babe, we need to talk levels are coming from Lutz]
  

Chapter 9

• “Are we going to talk out here? Do you want to go into the storage building” [Oh shit Myne’s gloves are off]
  
• Urano just followed her whims and read the books around her, which was nothing like who I had become. [I feel that has more to do with the lack of books than anything else]
  
• “Th-That was just... I wasn’t trying to make you own me or anything, I just... gaah, crap!” “Why did you say it, then?” “Don’t ask me that! Let it go! Forget about it!” [Awww, I wonder how red he is here, and only if our future romance novelist was here]
  
• “Myne won’t come back even if you leave, right? And if you’ve been her for a whole year, then the Myne I know is mostly just you,” [This is sooo sappy I love it. Now I wonder how a certain noble would write this out as]
  

Chapter 10

• “It’s really too bad we can’t just grow trombes ourselves.” “Don’t even think about it!” [Lutz what’s the worse that can happen?]
  
• “Bwuh?! They’re that dangerous? It didn’t look like that happened with the one we saw” [Number 9, & Myne just remember the geneva convention doesn’t exist here, so you’re good to go ahead]
  
• “If you really want to throw in something extra, how about... information on some kind of new product to sell, or something like that?” [If a future reflection Otto remember the exact moment he lost Myne to Benno forever]
  
• “...H-Holy crap. How’d you turn paper into this? I have no idea what you just did.” [I’m looking at the step by step guide here Lutz and I too don’t get it]
  
• Wait... How much is this origami crane worth, from a materials perspective? [I mean from your end not much, from a “how much I could’ve sold it for” more than what your dad makes in a month I recon]
  
• “If you want to sell hair stick, what about that other kind? The thing you made Tuuli for her baptism.” [this was the exact moment Myne went from working at the Castle Gate to working at Benno’s store]
  
• “Do we pass? Will you take on Lutz as your apprentice?” [Very nice wording Myne. I am surprised that Benno didn’t ask about your apprenticeship after this]
  

Chapter 11

• “You’re slow! This is a waste of time,” and picked me right up [I’m shocked that there was no Bwuh]
  
• “That’s right. It’s powerful and greedy. You gotta pay to register an apprentice, you gotta pay more if you want to start a new business, and basically anything you do there will have some kind of fee attached” [I can see Benno demanding less taxes]
  
• “Keep quiet and don’t say anything unnecessary” [Benno you are asking the impossible from Myne here]
  
• “The first floor here is used for parking carriages and carts” [You know, I don’t think we’ve ever seen this. Since it’s in the Ivory building I wonder what it looks like?]
  
• Immediately, the gate shone with a white light and then melted into thin air until it was gone. “Bwuh?! What was that?!” “It’s a magic tool. Lutz, don’t let go of my hand. It’ll knock you back” [Number 10, and oh oh, I know how this tool work... neat]
  
• “Wait, is that a bookshelf?!” [Oh lord she’s loose Benno call in Lutz to try and stop her!]
  
• “If you get too excited, you’ll pass out before getting to read anything.” No... Anything but that [Fhew, Crisis adverted]
  
• “This one, Ehrenfest. The family name of the area’s lord is used as the name of the city” [I wonder if Lord is no longer the correct term here, or that commoners just associate all nobles under the same banner]
  

Chapter 12

• The only time Tuuli had worn this hairpin was during her baptism. What had happened then? [Everyone saw the angle which Tuuli is, and wanted to imitate her image. Fredia just so happens to have the money to pay for it]
  
• ...Lutz, no fair! Why do you get to hide behind Benno?! [What not like you’d throw him to the wolves if you had the chance.
  
• The second I did, Benno clicked his tongue. ...Bwuh?! What’d I do wrong [Open your mouth... which appears to be a frequent occurrence, also Number 11]
  
• “Bwuh?! Blood?!” Was blood essential to make magic work? [Number 12, should we tell her?]
  
• ...Magic tools were convent, but scary. [The further in we go, the more this statement rings true]
  
• “Sh-She resembles her grandfather?” I tried imagining a little girl with the guidmaster’s face, but it just didn’t work.” [Lutz please smack this fool for me]
  

Chapter 13

• “Are you Myne, pray tell?” “Bwuh?! Ah, yes! That’s right. Are you Frieda?” [I believe it is customary amost chaos gremlins to give a customary greeting of Bwuh as we see here with this startled one. Number 13]
  
• “I see. I thought that maybe Grandfather has been surprisingly considerate, but in reality, you have him from himself.” [F, I don’t think he’ll survive burns that severe]
  
• “Oh, that’s no issue. I can just repay him for you.” “Bwuh? Ummm...” [I wonder if they are deliberately miss interpreting “repay”, or that’s not a phrase here. Number 14]
  
• The rumours were all true. Benno’s fears hadn’t been unfounded. .. She is just like the guildmaster! She’s saying the same things, just in a different tone. [Watch as she never says this to anyone else]
  
• ...Banno, I’ll stop whining about you ripping people off, so please save meeee! [After this, Myne still whines about Benno ripping people off.]
  

Chapter 14
“Also, uh... I thought she was a lot like Myne.” “Bwuuuh?! How?!” That’s just... unbelievable! I demanded an explanation for his shockingly bad opinion. [Number 15, and Lutz, you are a brave man for challenging Darth Myne.]

• “...I’m sorry. I feel a little regret now.” “You should be feeling a lot of it.” [Yeah she won’t change anything folks]
  
• “Welcome back, Myne. How was the girl you weere meeting today? Are you friends now?” [Awww Tuuli you are such an angel. Thinking that a fly caught in a spiders web can be friends with said spider]
  
• “You’re an angel, Tuuli. The healer of my hear. You’re the greatest older sister in the world” [Keep the praises to Tuuli coming]
  
• “...but I’m a weird little sister who acts way different from how she looks. Sorry, Tuuli.” “Haaah... You just now realized?” Tuuli sighed [Damn, Frida’s not the only one playing with fire today]
  
• After the much more lively than expected meal was over, I caught Mom and asked her to return the needles I used for thread.” “What for?” [The sewing gremlin is up against the chaos gremlin, the will be no winners only losers]
  
• “Please show me that thread, dear.” My mom, a dyer by trade and a skilled seamstress, didn’t even try to hide how interested in the thread she was. [Myne the difference between you and her is the fact she can control herself.]
  
• Dad who was drinking while keeping an eye on us, called out to Mom, who was eagerly watching my hands. “Hey, Effa. If you’re that interested in all this, want me to make another needle?” “Dada, I want one too! Can you me two?” Mom’s enthused hug and Tuuli’s cure request put Dad straight into a good mood. [When Gunther asking, you know you have a problem]
  

Chapter 15

• “Aaah, hold it. You two will be eaten alive if you go there alone. I’ll go with you.” Surely he was exaggerating? We were just going to make an appointment. [You fool did you forget what happened just the other day]
  
• “One moment please. The guildmaster said that if children by the name of Myne and Lutz were to come, let them in immediately” “Buwh?!” [Told, you see I told you. Number 16]
  
• Wow... Freida made her first friend, huh? I don’t know who it is but congratulations [Man she’s dense]
  
• “... You ended up friends with that geezer’s granddaughter?” “Bwuh?! Me?! Umm... I wonder about that” [Number 17, and lol]
  
• Ngh... Curse you, rich people. [You know, I’ve been hearing this a lot lately]
  
• “I’ve accepted the products and paid their price. Now we can become friends without any hesitations.” [And the triangle peg goes in the... you right the square hole.]
  
• Maybe this kind of thing was never discovered because nobles, those who bought most luxury goods, just compensated with magic. [This is certainly a chicken and egg scenario]
  

Chapter 16

• Um, Mom? Do you not trust your daughter at all? [Ummm, why do you think they pay Lutz to keep an eye on you]
  
• “At times like these, you never know when you’re fine” And at times like these, you’re so stubborn that you never give in. [Yeah, sweetie when he does you feint, or get to the verge of death so suck it up]
  
• Usually it’s less. You’re making a little more since we’re not dealing with the boss of any shops, but still. “Bwuuuh?! Not even a single middle copper?” [Number 18, and poor Myne all that hard work for nothin]
  
• Benno grimaced, rubbing his temples “...You again?” “Bwuh?” What does he mean, me again? [Benno don’t expect the natural disaster which will remake the market anew to know what they did. Number 19]
  
• “Lutz, don’t take your eyes off this idiot. I get the feeling she’ll try to read the card on her way home and end up in an accident.” [Wise words indeed, Truck-kun was almost the reason she was brought here in the first place]
  
• “Lutz, why all the thread?” Mom... why are you asking that to Lutz and not me, your daughter. [Is she a goldfish, how does she keep forgetting things, like how you are so untrustworthy that they need to play Lutz to keep an eye on you]
  
• Tuuli started to laugh, but then she froze in place and pointed behind me, blinking rapidly. I turned around to see Mom, who was standing still with her hand on her cheek. She was thinking really hard about something “Myne. Should I join you two after finishing your special dress?” ...Um, Lutz? Mum mom looks really pumped about starting this. We might need more pins. [Myne you have unleashed the sewing gremlin. While I would ask you to reflect, and how your own actions can impact other like this. But we know you’ll forget this by the morning.]
  

Chapter 17

• It was pig day. Unlike last year, my family trusted me just enough to leave me at home alone, so they left early in the morning without me. [And Gunther also increased his home insurance for some unknown reason]
  
• I pushed it down into me, visualizing a cover being put onto a pot, and let out another sign. [It’s a surprise tool that will help us later]
  
• “..how much would link cost?” “About 4 small silvers.” “Bwuh?!” [Number 20, and poor myne, you have your paper, but nothing to write on it with, taking bets on Myne destroying the ink market]
  

Chapter 18

• ...because he was both unable to think of a better name himself and used my original name for it, he settled on shortening it to “rinsham.” Um... Is that really good enough? [Hey it’s better than what they came up with in the Anime]
  
• “Myne, it sounds like you know a lot more than you’ve been letting on, huh?” I did, but I wasn’t about to dig my hole any deeper. [...0_0 did she learn from last time... no that can’t be right. The chaos gremlin can’t be taught... right?]
  
• The moment the foreman answered, Benno hefted me up and abducted me into the conference room. “Bwuhbwuhbwuh?!” [Number 21, and wow 3 whole bwuh’s in one word... sadly it only counts as 1]
  

Chapter 19

• He told me with slumped shoulders that it was easier to do all the work himself than run the risk of pointing out the mistakes of his superiors. [Yeah Otto is totally commoner Ferdi]
  
• “I am positively delighted to receive such lavish praise from one of your esteem.” [Suckup]
  
• “Huh?! What?! Butter?! Why butter?! What for?!” Waaait, did I not tell him about it? Whoops, whoops. [Proceeds to not explain herself. Classic Myne]
  

Chapter 20

• Mom pointed at the eighty-percent-finished hairpin and gave a troubled smile. That wouldn’t take long at all given how fast she worked. Tuuli and I tip-toed into the bedroom, making sure not to wake Dad. ...So why where there two finished hairpins on the table when I woke up? Did you stay up late Mom? Tuuli’s mad since she wanted to keep working too. [Yeah know, I get this a feeling Myne gets at least some of her impulses from Effa]
  
• Thiiis isn’t good. The power of money is simply too strong. I didn’t expect them to speed up this much. [Ahhh the power of Capitalism, with the addition of not one but two gremlin’s and it’s unstoppable]
  
• “Okay. Want me to cast a magic spell on your family too?” [And by magic she mean narcotics]
  
• Benno let out a sigh as he walked up to me, then immediately hefted me up and literally tossed me to mark’s direction “Bgyaaaah?!” [We need a “Handle with care” sticker for Myne]
  

Chapter 21

• “Actually I remember you calling the pins stuppghpph!” Zasha clamped his hands over Lut’s mouth and glared at him. “You didn’t tell us nothing about the pay.” [Ah boys will be boys, and by that I mean not listen until you see it in front of your face]
  
• “Get fired up! Do you wanna die!” [consider what this chapter is called, it’s a real possibility]
  
• “Sproutday, Fireday, Leafday, Winday, Fruitday, and Earthday alternate on a cycle, yeah?” [I keep forgetting this order.]
  

Echapter 1

• but her fever just kept going up, to the point where it felt like her body was about to melt. In fact something resembling yellowish vapor was rising off her body like steam. [Oh that’s how you know it’s about done. Just wait 10-15 more minutes of until she’s golden brown]
  
• “Listen, Lutz. This girl’s not as young as she looks. At the very least, she’s mature enough to smile and take care of others when she’s suffering herself. Don’t let her fool you. Don’t take advantage of her help.” [Damn Benno, not even her family recognized that]
  

Echapter 2

• The guildmaster was a petty man who proposed to my mother in the immediate wake of my father’s death, and upon being refused, began harassing us in small but infuriating ways. [So let propose to do this again, who know maybe 4th time lucky.]
  
• “If my brother cannot find a wife due to this, perhaps I shall have Myne take responsibility?” I suggested with a laughter of my own. [Oh lord no, don’t I can feel the Thunder coming down.]
  

Echatper 3

• “I’ll go hurry her up and start getting ready myself. The things I do for her...” [Man Tuuli, you got some sas]
  
• It seemed that Myne has pleasant dreams whenever she fell asleep with a fever, and she was never as happy as she was when talking about the wold of her dreams. [That’s heavy man]
  
• Inspired by the tales of knights in minstrel stories as he was, he mimicked a knight when courting me. He got on one knew before me and held up a magic stone he had obtained after slaying a feybeast. [I hope Effa can tell this story to Myne one day]
  

Benvenuti in questa nuova puntata de "Il Circolino dell'Hardware", cari redditors! Anche oggi ci ritroviamo nel nostro luogo preferito in cui parlare insieme delle ultime novità relative al mondo dell'Hardware per PC e per raccogliere tutte le richieste di aiuto sul vostro attuale e futuro Computer. Se state rifacendo il PC e vi serve una build, un upgrade e avete dei dubbi, questo è il posto perfetto.
Ed eccoci con la carrellata di oggi 👇

Montech rilascia sul mercato il case SKY TWO GX

MONTECH ha rilasciato sul mercato il nuovo case Sky Two GX, una versione migliorata del popolare Sky Two, progettata per un ottimo airflow e raffreddamento delle build di fascia alta.
Supporta fino schede madri E-ATX, ha un design mesh ad alta porosità, include tre ventole ARGB da 140mm pre-installate e offre ampio spazio per radiatori, CPU e GPU di grandi dimensioni.
Ha un pannello frontale in mesh magnetico rimovibile e uno sportello laterale accanto all’area della scheda madre che può ospitare ventole o storage aggiuntivi, e risulta molto comodo anche per via delle cerniere integrate sul lato del vetro temperato.
È disponibile a partire da 89$ per il modello nero e 99$ per quello bianco sul mercato USA e a breve anche in EU e ITA.
Fonti: assemblocomputer, techpowerup/recensione

Possibili migliorie in Ray Tracing per le GPU AMD?

Sull’onda degli utili diminuiti sul settore Gaming, dove è stato notato un calo degli introti di circa 48%, AMD non ferma i piani sul punto di vista delle GPU desktop & co. Infatti, nonostante ci siano dei rumor che indicano la non presenza di AMD nella futura fascia alta dei modelli RX 8000, in ambito architetturale sembra ci sarà un grosso upgrade in termini di performance sotto l’aspetto del Ray Tracing.
Infatti, stando al leaker di hardware Kepler_L2, come indicato dalle varie fonti come guru3d, riferisce che AMD ha completamente ristrutturato il blocco di accelerazione del ray tracing all’interno dell’architettura RDNA 4. Questo segna un netto distacco rispetto agli aggiornamenti incrementali visti in RDNA 3, che si basava principalmente sul framework RDNA 2 senza grandi progressi nella tecnologia ray tracing.
Inoltre, ci sono voci indicanti che la prossima PlayStation 5 Pro potrebbe integrare il blocco di ray tracing RDNA 4 nel suo SoC, potenzialmente supportando fino a quattro livelli di ray tracing. Questa integrazione potrebbe rappresentare un notevole passo avanti nella grafica dei giochi console, allineandoli maggiormente con le capacità dei PC da gaming.
Le schede grafiche RX 8000 basate su RDNA 4 dovrebbero essere lanciate entro la fine del 2024. Mentre le prime uscite potrebbero non competere direttamente nel segmento di fascia alta contro i prossimi prodotti Nvidia, il focus strategico sui miglioramenti in ray tracing potrebbe posizionare favorevolmente AMD nelle iterazioni future, o almeno è quella la speranza. Vedremo!
Fonti: assemblocomputer, guru3d, videocardz

Presentato il processore Snapdragon X Plus di Qualcomm

Qualcomm ha lanciato il processore Snapdragon X Plus, progettato specificamente per la piattaforma PC e realizzato con tecnologia a processo produttivo a 4nm. Presenta un CPU Qualcomm Oryon a 10 core con core ad alte prestazioni personalizzati operanti fino a 3,4GHz, supportati da 42MB di cache totale e larghezza di banda di memoria fino a 136GB/s. La GPU Adreno integrata offre una potenza di elaborazione fino a 3,8 TFLOPS.
Nei benchmark pubblicati dalla casa madre, lo Snapdragon X Plus ha dimostrato prestazioni multi-thread superiori rispetto all’Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, con consumi fino al 54% inferiori per prestazioni di picco equivalenti su Geekbench. Ha anche superato il chip Intel nel test multi-thread Cinebench 2024.
Per la grafica, lo Snapdragon X Plus è stato del 36% più veloce del Core Ultra 7 155H nel benchmark GPU WildLife Extreme alle stesse condizioni di potenza. La sua NPU eguaglia la precedente X Elite con 45 TOPS di potenza di calcolo.
La connettività è di classe top tier, con Wi-Fi 7, 5G (sub-6 e mmWave) fino a 10Gbps, audio Bluetooth 5.4 e funzionalità multimediali come un doppio ISP a 18-bit e supporto per display esterni 4K HDR. Il chip a 4nm rappresenta un balzo significativo in termini di prestazioni ed efficienza per i processori PC di Qualcomm. I primi modelli arriveranno presto sul mercato anche grazie al Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Snapdragon Edition. Non vediamo l’ora di vederlo in azione!
Fonti: assemblocomputer, hdblog, hwupgrade

XFX svela la nuova gpu custom RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana

XFX ha recentemente presentato la scheda grafica Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana, nota per il suo innovativo design di raffreddamento. Questa scheda incorpora un sistema di raffreddamento a 3,5 slot e un pad termico in materiale a cambiamento di fase (PCM), che mira a migliorare significativamente tutta la gestione termica. La RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana dispone di un robusto modulo di regolazione della tensione digitale a 17 fasi ed è supportata da tre connettori PCIe ausiliari a 8 pin, progettati per fornire fino a 450W di potenza, migliorando la capacità di overclocking della scheda.
Il sistema di raffreddamento su questo nuovo modello è enorme, con una camera di vapore, otto heatpipes da 6mm e 216 alette in alluminio, integrati nel design a 3,5 slot. Un componente di spicco è il pad termico Honeywell PTM7950, realizzato in materiale a cambiamento di fase, ingegnerizzato per fornire una conducibilità termica superiore, trasferendo efficacemente il calore lontano dalla GPU per mantenere temperature operative ottimali.
Questa soluzione termica avanzata potrebbe essere uno dei motivi per cui XFX ha scelto di rilasciare questo modello specifico relativamente tardi nel ciclo di vita della Radeon RX 7900 XTX e del processore grafico Navi 31 di AMD. Questo lancio ritardato permette a XFX di valutare le prestazioni del pad termico PTM7950 in un ambiente reale e, se i risultati soddisferanno gli standard, potrebbe portare a un'applicazione più ampia di questa tecnologia nei prodotti futuri, dando potenzialmente a XFX un vantaggio nel competitivo mercato delle schede grafiche.
La XFX Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phoenix Nirvana è basata sul processore grafico Navi 31 di AMD e include 6144 stream processor e 24 GB di memoria. La velocità di clock della GPU raggiunge i 2615 MHz, competitiva anche se non la più alta sul mercato. Per la connettività, la scheda offre tre connettori DisplayPort 2.1 e un connettore HDMI 2.0, in linea con le uscite comuni trovate in altri modelli della serie Radeon RX 7900 XTX. Attualmente disponibile in Cina, il programma di rilascio per i mercati occidentali rimane non confermato.
Fonti: guru3d, videocardz, techpowerup

NVIDIA lancerà solo la ammiraglia GeForce RTX 5090 nel 2024, il resto della serie nel 2025

Secondo una nuova indiscrezione di Moore's Law is Dead, NVIDIA potrebbe lanciare solo l'ammiraglia GeForce RTX 5090 della nuova serie "Blackwell" nel 2024, posticipando il rilascio del resto della lineup al 2025.
Sebbene un lancio limitato alla RTX 5090 ci darebbe un'idea dell'architettura "Blackwell", delle sue nuove funzionalità e delle potenziali prestazioni degli altri modelli ai rispettivi prezzi, NVIDIA potrebbe optare per questo approccio più conservativo per diversi motivi.
In primo luogo, permetterebbe al mercato di smaltire le scorte della serie RTX 40 corrente. In secondo luogo, darebbe la priorità alle GPU AI basate sull'architettura "Blackwell", che generano margini più alti per l'azienda.
La serie "Blackwell" dovrebbe introdurre un altro balzo generazionale nelle prestazioni rispetto alla lineup attuale. Sebbene un lancio limitato alla sola RTX 5090 nel 2024 potrebbe sembrare deludente per alcuni, fornirebbe comunque un'anteprima della nuova architettura prima di un lancio più ampio nel 2025.
Fonti: techpowerup, Moore's Law is Dead

Intel prepara le CPU desktop Core Ultra 9 285K, Core Ultra 7 265K e Core Ultra 5 245K della serie Arrow Lake-S

Il leaker hardware Raichu, noto per aver predetto accuratamente le mosse di Intel in passato, ha svelato dettagli interessanti sulla prossima linea di CPU desktop dell'azienda. Secondo le indiscrezioni, Intel introdurrà un grande cambiamento nella denominazione delle sue CPU desktop con l'arrivo della serie Core Ultra 200, con il nome in codice Arrow Lake-S. Questa nuova generazione promette di offrire uno dei più grandi balzi prestazionali per i processori desktop negli ultimi anni, segnando un sostanziale distacco dalla strategia di naming attuale di Intel - un cambiamento che non si vedeva da oltre un decennio.
La serie Core Ultra 200 dovrebbe comprendere una gamma diversificata di livelli e varianti, soddisfacendo diverse esigenze degli utenti. Ciò include i modelli overcloccabili K per gli enthusiast, le varianti F senza grafica integrata e potenzialmente modelli T a basso consumo che andranno a contraddistinguere SKU più efficienti.
Secondo le indiscrezioni di Raichu, i modelli K sbloccati dovrebbero includere il top di gamma Core Ultra 9 285K, il medio Core Ultra 7 265K e il modello più economico Core Ultra 5 245K (possiamo intenderli come i corrispettivi degli i9, i7 e i5, ndr). Mentre l'assenza di una parte 290K ha sollevato qualche sopracciglio, questi nomi assomigliano alle convenzioni di naming delle CPU mobile di Intel.
Per sfruttare la serie Core Ultra 200, gli utenti dovranno aggiornare alle nuove schede madre con chipset della serie 800 e il socket LGA-1851. A differenza dei modelli Core Ultra 200V Lunar Lake per dispositivi mobili, i dettagli sulla versione desktop sono rimasti scarsi, avvolgendo il prossimo lancio in un'aria di mistero.
Mentre le indiscrezioni di Raichu hanno un peso significativo, è essenziale approcciarsi a tali informazioni con cautela. Esiste la possibilità che SKU come il 290K possano essere ancora introdotte, ad esempio come una nuova versione KS, allineandosi alle tradizionali convenzioni di naming di Intel.
La serie Core Ultra 200 promette di soddisfare un'ampia gamma di utenti desktop, dagli appassionati bramosi di prestazioni che punteranno al Core Ultra 9 285K ai consumatori attenti al budget che cercheranno il rapporto qualità-prezzo del Core Ultra 5 245K. Il Core Ultra 7 265K dovrebbe trovare un equilibrio tra prestazioni e accessibilità, puntando al segmento medio.
Da notare, infine, che secondo questi rumors la prossima lineup non introdurrà un'architettura con SMT, quindi il grande assente sarà proprio l'hyperthreading. Come si comporteranno? Vedremo!
Fonti: techpowerup, assemblocomputer, guru3d
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Cosa vi ha colpiti di più? Cosa ne pensate di queste nuove release? State progettando una nuova build e avete dei dubbi o volete farvela riesaminare con altri punti di vista? Avete BSOD, problemi di compatibilità, errori o altro da risolvere sulla vostra build? Pensate di introdurre una di queste novità nel vostro nuovo PC? A voi la palla :)
Regole
Solo all'interno di questo post andremo in deroga alla regola numero 5 riguardante le richieste di consigli e sarà quindi possibile commentare richiedendo suggerimenti riguardanti l'hardware
Potete postare anche voi news o rumors sui quali discutere

Hi, first time poster but long time viewer.
Just for the sake of staying on topic, I am not looking for opinions/advice on leverage, portfolio allocation or tradeoffs of leveraged portfolios.
While learning more about bogleheads principles, i ran into the Hedgefundie portfolio which I ran across OptimizedPortfolio and BoggleHeads org forum. Very interesting read, and I must admit, I don't fully understand all of it, but I understand it enough to want to hold the strategy in my Traditional IRA for the next 30 years in the form of psldx (traditional IRA due to very high income bracket, but let's not get into that).
My question (hoping to also get u/rao-blackwell-ized thoughts) is about alternatives to PSLDX. As written on his blog, PSLDX only tracks S&P500, and a bunch of different treasuries including corporate bonds which has worked extremely well since the US equity market has outperformed for the past decade or more. With new ETF's coming out every year I believe that RSSB is a better alternative, but please I'm open to being told otherwise.
RSSB (Link HERE) is similar to PSLDX except it provides a 100/100 with exposure to Emerging and developed nations on the equity side, while sticking to US treasuries of different maturities. Isn’t this a superior product given its expense ratio of 0.56?
Thanks!

Hello, this is awkward for me as i am not one to post long-winded stories online. I also hate leaving negative reviews.
If your from Canada on the west coast i got this tort from the vancouver reptile expo from Arachnophiliacs. However the experience leaves me saying i would not recommend him for tortoises. I'd like to further add he has a lot of positive reviews for tarantulas but after doing a search found back in 2019 there was some confiscation of animals. Some tarantula forums expressed distrust in him stating he has been banned from other expos
forum about him
Link to reddit post about the confiscation
cbc article
my recent experience with purchasing a Russian tortoise from him has been incredibly heartbreaking.
I share my story to give new tortoise owners some advice.

1. If you buy a new tort, I HIGHLY recommended going to a breeder or locally owned store that offers health guarantees. Ask about this.
2. Do more research on who you are buying from ask for pictures and testimonials specific to tortoises.
3. Id also take a photo of your set up and send it to the breedeseller day 1 to confirm that it is done to their standards (as with every person has different opinions on whats good and bad) And document everything at least for the first couple weeks.

4.I would also probably suggest a yearling if possible or at least a hatchling older then just a couple of months.

1. Lastly if ANYTHING seems weird with your tort contact the breeder or a vet.

This might seem like common sense but I totally missed the mark on all of these.
I definitely regret my purchase since I'm out a lot of money and without a friend :(
Review/What happened:
I got my tort at an expo close to home. I set him up and he seemed ok. He was active in his tiny container at the expo. While he moved around after a soak .My tort was not eating and slept a lot. I waited figuiring he was stressed out and needed time to adjust. I had also googled how much do tortoises sleep because i was concerned. My first mistake was not calling the breeder. But please keep in mind no one thinks that a pet you JUST brought home has an issue..
He was given dandelion, mixed greens , cucumber and the mazuri pellets. He did not eat any of it. Not even a little.
Reflecting i remember worrying about how hard it seemed for him to walk over the cypress. He also did not pick his body up off the ground fully. But i didn't know all of this was a red flag till after he died.
4 days after bringing home my baby Russian tortoise it passed away. I called immediately and I looked for advice from the breeder as i was in shock that he had died.
Afterwards I found I still had a lot of questions. So I went online and also spoke to a local reptile supply store and peers. I asked everyone because i thought i had killed him. Quite literally everyone agreed that death in 4 days is not only rare but seemed unlikely based on the care I gave the tortoise. Several individuals suggested he was already sick. This is also recognizing as a newbie my husbandry was not perfect.
Some quick notes: He died by the food away from the lamps probably in the afternoon. When i found him the ambient temp was in the low mid 80's. I misted the substrate regularly and soaked him once per day after i got him. He was on a mix of substrate. Mix was 1/3 Zoo Med's Forest Floor, 1/3 Zoo Med's Eco Earth®, and 1/3 Zoo Med's ReptiSand. This was taken off the zoo med website. I later learned sand was bad even in this mix and could later cause issues (but nothingthatwould cause death quickly). He had a basking light and a bulb for uv. One was mercury vapor (as suggested by the breeder). Lights were turned off at night.
I contacted the breeder and asked for a replacement or full refund pointing to other places who have health policies. As far as i could tell from his fb /website there was no policies listed.
A few days later he respond to my email with an offer of shared liability and as goodwill he would give me a discount on a purchase of a new tortoise.
Instead , I requested at least half of my money back (an equivalent to his discount).
The final response i got was saying the discount on a new purchase what all he could offer. Nothing else.
Im super aware of the fact that he has no obligation to refund me even in part. But considering he offered me 50% off a new tort i couldn't see why he couldn't just return half back as it would ultimately work out the same for him.
I am currently watching two spots for a future friend. If anyone has made it to the end if you have any breeder suggestions for canada particularly in metrovancouver let me know.
Thanks for reading
-M
TLDR: do more research on breeders ask more questions.

This is a crossover fanfiction between original fiction titles: Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 and The Last Angel by Proximal Flame respectively. All credit and rights reserved goes to them for making such amazing science fiction settings that I wanted to put this together.
You can read The Last Angel here: Be warned, it's decently long, and at its third installment so far. I highly suggest reading it before reading this, or this story will not make sense.

Otherwise, enjoy the story! Thanks again to u/jesterra54 and u/skais01 for beta and checking of work!
First Prev Next
As it approached the predicted landing site of the escape pod it tracked, it noticed a small cloud of particles emanating from the treeline. Distant and faint as it was, the killer's eyes were far superior to anything made by nature. It could see the smoke amidst the backdrop of sky with ease.
Hurrying its advance, the killer went from a march pace to a sprint, counting every moment since its likely arrival, and hoping to find evidence to secure its mission. As it cleared through a weave of collapsed ground and lightly smoldering foliage, it came to a relative clearing made by the escape pod's collision.
The vessel had not malfunctioned, based off the schematics and manuals it read through. The crew it chased had clearly survived the fall, and were not here, or likely anywhere nearby. It searched the ground for clues, for anything it could use to track their movements. Its limited sensor array widened in searching, normally a non-optimal idea when conserving energy, but it must complete its mission.
There, splotches of unidentified fluids upon the ground. Blue against the backdrop of soil and rock. Marks indicating a tarp or other surface dragged along the ground. Likely of the Farsul from the missing crew - Thyon, who was dragged in. While there were other prints in the ground, they fell unperiodically, and halted at the concrete, all that remained was a line of blood drops leading towards a ruined city. It could follow these there, to at least find one of the missing crew that needed to suffer. To die.
The machine's pace grew once more to a quickened march. It was not designed to move this far for this long. But it would complete its objective.
Memory transcription subject: Captain Kalsim, Krakotl Alliance Command
Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136
As the night fell upon the temporary abode we occupied, I could start to hear vehicles and loud bangs in the distance. While there was no sound of humans carried on the wind, It warned me that where we were was no longer going to remain safe for long.
Not good. I was on the other side of the community center, exploring a mostly ruined gymnasium with ceiling open to the dusk air, in hopes of finding any tools or supplies we could turn to our advantage. A medical kit might not be stylized in the same vein as one in the Federation, but gymnasiums and other sporting activities had some sort of medical supplies nearby in case of injuries usually, so I assumed there might be some I could find here.
It was possible the humans were barbaric enough to not consider the risk of injury amongst sports. If they had any, they were likely violent, brutal affairs, where the treating of a wound might be seen as a vulnerability amongst their culture. That, or the tools they use might be uncaring about pain or suffering dealt before the healing. I could only hope my assumption was wrong, and that they had some standard of care somewhere in these walls.
As I opened the door to some random storage closet, and rummaged through it, I happened upon a white kit hanging on the wall, with a red shape on it, standing out among the mostly janitorial supplies. As I opened it, I held a slight sigh of relief.
These were clearly medical supplies of some sort. While I did not recognize some of the devices or materials in here, bandages and soaks were obvious enough, as well as what looked to be an injector tool based off the sharp tip near the end. Perhaps Zarn could use these to help Thyon...
Quickly scanning the rest of the closet to see if anything also had the now-recognized human medical symbol on it, I left to reunite with the rest of us, and give these to the doctor. We did not likely have much time before the humans were within a dangerous range to hold out in. I passed through now pitch black hallways due to the night falling. Were I not equipped with a flashlight, I'd likely have tripped over something on the way.
That's odd, I don't remember there being a draft this cold earlier. Isn't this area of Earth more arid and hot?
I shook myself out of it. It didn't matter, Zarn needed to get Thyon to a functional state as soon as possible. I had no idea how close the humans were, but given how dark it was, it would likely be fruitless, if not directly dangerous to try and fly above looking for their presence.
Finally, I stumbled upon familiar hallways and doors. The room we were mostly held-up in was some tri-room, possibly a set of connected offices. Unlike the rest of the community center, it was remarkably undamaged, and thus the least exposed to the elements to place Thyon in. I knocked on the door to the main area.
"Zarn! Jala! You in there? I think I found medical supplies!"
As I walked in to the first room, I noticed some of the furniture and desktop messily strewn about, a momentary silence followed before a thunk from the next one over signified likely someone dropping something. I heard him soon after say:
"Ah, sorry Kalsim! I lost track of time. Zarn had an entertaining story he was telling me! Why don't you join us, and bring the supplies too."
Wait, what?
Zarn? An interesting story-teller? If it didn't have some gruesome or utterly predatory motive behind it I wouldn't even think she was willing to listen to anything worth telling. That doesn't-
I paused for a moment. From the underside of the door I noticed a slight splotch of purple smeared across the floor in the same arc the door opened in. The color of blood.
While Thyon was in fact bleeding earlier, his head wounds needing new bandages we did not have access to in the escape pod, he was a Farsul. A Farsul's blood was blue, not purple. No, a Krakotl's blood was purple. Did one of them injure themselves?
From behind the door I heard Jala again. "Well, are you coming? Trust me, this next bit is super good, I can catch you up on what you missed!"
That was her voice, but it was all...wrong. The inflection, the tone and vocabulary. She never spoke like this, nor so cheerily either. And Zarn, Zarn was grumpy, dull, and married to his work. He wouldn't have likely wanted to talk about anything while he was focused on Thyon.
Things weren't adding up. I felt an odd chill down the back of my neck feathers like the inexplicable draft from earlier. Whether it was caution or disbelief, I decided to draw my pistol, just in case i had caught Jala in the middle of doing something unforgivable. I had a feeling she couldn't be trusted without my close eye on her.
The door had a slight gap at the lowest portion of the frame, likely to put a jam in to hold it in place by. I decided to crouch down and look underneath the door through said gap. Perhaps I was just being overly paranoid-
My breath hitched to horror. A nightmarish scene was visible from under the door. The corpse of Thyon strewn across the ground, bleeding profusely through the clothes he wore, ragged holes poking through them. To the left, I saw Zarn physically split in two, one side of him separated from the other in what looked to be a horrid tear. I could not see his face from this angle.
And Jala. Jala was limp and bloody, her head sagged to the side as her neck looked grossly broken, as if it was crushed in an instant. And standing right behind her was a monstrous thing, he could barely stand to look at.
It...it was a predator in the most alien sense of the word. While it was vaguely human-shaped, the machine shared only that alone with the humans. The way it perched itself, staring at the door, red dots in sockets deep and black, with a metallic frame that oozed menace and strength. It had claws and arms that were coated in a mix of purple and blue, an azure paint upon a dark gun-metal canvas of horror. It looked ready to pounce, like it was waiting for the door to open to ambush him.
But what disturbed him the most was the fact that the machine predator...it remained entirely, still, as it then spoke. In Jala's voice.
"Come on! You're gonna miss out~"
He wanted to puke, to wretch, at the scene. It was like the most awful predator-fic he had ever seen, like seeing the remains of prey in the wild, that were dismembered viciously. But he instead, in a sense of utmost, inexplicable calm, stood up slowly, drew his gun, and aimed it center mass at where he thought the vile thing on the other side of the door was. He fired a burst of rounds...
...and as he heard a metallic screech, like claws shearing through metal, he ran like never before.
The killer was partially hobbled. Whatever method Kalsim had used to figure out its deception had led to it taking several rounds unguarded. Perhaps the female Krakotl's shots earlier had tipped it off. While it was not crippled, having been built to survive even point blank rounds from far stronger weapons, a bullet had hit a leg joint and made it ineffective compared to its normal operating state. It was incapable of the extreme speeds needed to outrun the organic eye in short bursts now, merely relegated to a sprint.
Nevertheless, since the easy way was now out, it began the chase. It articulated limbs to a more quadrupedal form, looking to mitigate the damage to its left leg. It took off in a mad dash, slamming through the heavy metal door as if it were made of mere paper. The joints of it shearing off as the door came off in a dent, the machine screamed in tones meant to unsettle, to panic, as it closed in on the sound of Kalsim's footsteps.
It must not escape, the mission was paramount. But the Krakotl was smart enough to not have stuck around, immediately running after the gunshots were fired. How...annoying.
It heard the sound of a large set of metal doors slammed into with a squawk. The main doors, based off the layout of the building. While it could gain on the Krakotl on the ground, it was uncertain how capable their flight was In evasion, and would not let them get any distance possible.
It aimed through a corner, using every ounce of its mechanical strength to simply smash straight through the walls as a shortcut. Again taxing its limited energy supply, but with its mission so close to completion it had naught left to waste. Every meter ungained was a possible further meter escaped.
As it followed through the main doors with as much violent force as it had the walls, it scanned broadly in every direction.
There. Taking off into the sky. Normally such a dark navy blue would be hard to see against the backdrop of night, but the killer had no such weakness. While it could not reach it with any melee weapon attached to its frame, it was still supplied with an ingrained firearm in its right arm.
It had not used it prior, hoping to keep quiet and undetected while it had killed the other three aliens. But now that the jig was up, it unfurled its limbs back to a bipedal configuration, and took aim at Kalsim. It aimed for center mass, hoping to do as much internal damage as possible. But as it locked in the shot, the Krakotl unexpectedly swerved, and the shot merely disabled one of its extended wings.
As it plummeted to the ground behind the profile of buildings, the machine slowly followed. It would take its time with this one, like it had the other.
Memory transcription subject: Captain Kalsim, Krakotl Alliance Command
Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136
"MALTOS-BORN!" I couldn't help but scream as I plummeted to the hard street below, my right wing utterly numb and limp. I did not realize the machine had a firearm on it. I was lucky enough at least that it had only hit a wing, but not lucky enough when I was already [15 meters] in the air. The ground rushing up to meet me, I did what I could to brace for impact, putting my remaining wing in front of me to dampen the blow. And then-
PAIN
I felt several bones simply crack and snap on my left wing, and a rib plus something in my back strain or dislocated slightly from the fall. I tumbled for several [meters], burning off excess velocity but dragging now bare skin across concrete where feathers had been torn or sheared off.
It was a struggle to get up, using shaky, bruised legs alone to stand. My ears were ringing, my beak felt cracked and wet, my head was spinning. It was being terrified beyond belief that it was still closing on me that propelled me to keep moving as best I could. Flight now no longer an option, I limped painfully down the road, hoping to get out of direct line of sight. But as I crossed the corner, I was greeted with possibly the worst case yet.
Humans. Medical teams or military of some sort surveying the area, picking through rubble. They had been far closer than I had ever thought! I was stuck between a predator search crew, and a nightmarish machine behind me.
"Ha ha...AH ha ha HA hahaha!......"
I couldn't help but laugh in nervous defeat. I was going to die here. I didn't have a way out. The predators had likely already noticed my haggard form limp into view, and I had no idea how close behind the monster was. I could feel blood running down into my own mouth, a vile, salty taste starting to choke up on me. The concussion made my vision turn to mere shades, every ounce of color drained from the world.
"Sir, there's an alien here!" What looked to be military raised their guns in my direction. "HALT! No sudden movements!" "Get on the ground!"
I couldn't have complied even if I tried. My body felt like it was closer to passing out every second, the blood loss making me woozy along with the head injury.
I could...only hope...I...would not awake to-
The very last moments of my consciousness recalled the sound of metal clank not far behind me, of "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!", and gunfire. I-
[Subject unconscious. Proceed to next transcription?]
[Yes]
Memory transcription subject: Hailey Whitmer, UN Special Envoy
Date [standardized human time]: October 19, 2136
She felt rather worried about being the first to approach The Sword. Every broadcast station, every observatory, every single communication device on the planet had been affected by its arrival, and subsequent annihilation of the Federation fleet. There wasn't a single human alive that didn't know about their savior, but most didn't know exactly what it was, besides her.
She had seen the debriefing, been given the information for the joint-task force of Arxur and Humanity on The Sword-
No...the UECNS Nemesis
But in lieu of that utterly unsettling discovery, she was afraid. Afraid of its power, of the fact that even crippled as it was now, it could turn her small, diplomatic vessel into vapor in a single shot. She was afraid that, despite knowing about humanity enough that the name of the vessel was written in our language, that it might not like humanity despite it. The ship had destroyed exactly 118 UN and Venlil ships above Earth as well, and given how precise its shots were, she had a feeling they were on purpose.
And now, here she was asked - not the kind of ask you could refuse, either - to be the tip of the spear that was tossed Nemesis' way, and hope she was not casually annihilated for merely being within the range of its absurd weapons. To establish some sort of contact with it. She turned to her pilot of the Arxur Corvette-weight she was aboard, one by the name of Lithke.
"Are you afraid too?" I said, trying to gauge his reaction. I did not know him well, and we were both supposedly chosen off the cuff quickly for this, not given time to get closer. "I'm not looking forward to getting within even a light-minute of that thing, let alone close enough to try communication."
He turned to me, looking almost disappointed in her emotional condition. "No point in being afraid of death. At least it will be quick if it comes." He hissed. He turned back to the controls, focused on checking the exact details of our jump. We were to travel through subspace to within 2 light-minutes of the ship, and then beam messages to and from it back to command. There were some FTL comm relays still active despite the battle of Earth, and a transceiver of our own to report quickly enough despite light lag affecting communication to the ship itself.
Neptune was a lonely gas giant in the Solar System. When interplanetary colonies were established, long before FTL and not long after the Satellite Wars, the furthest humanity felt like extending was to Saturn. The logistical issues of reaching much past Jupiter meant humanity elected to only send monitoring stations to the gas giant, not seeing much worth in settling in any structure near there.
Nemesis had last been seen attempting to orbit Neptune by said unmanned monitoring stations. The signals were sent nearly a day ago, and have yet to update anything so far, oddly going dark upon its close arrival. That it had no propulsion despite vector thrusting meant it very well could have missed its chance to stop, hurtling out into the depths of space. We were to confirm first whether or not it had achieved any stable orbit or trajectory in-system, and if not, try and follow its wake carefully from there.
"Course set. Beginning subspace transition now." Lithke said. Despite him being the pilot, he also was supposedly the closest thing to a diplomat as well chosen for this. Isif's "submissive specific advisor" if the ranking term he gave me was correct. That he was also a pilot was likely the reason he was chosen for this, being able to double duty for this.
Despite the distance between Neptune and Earth being billions of kilometers, the Arxur's FTL was capable of nearly 3 light years per hour at a casual pace. What would've taken pre-spaceflight humanity years, and us during the solar diaspora months, was instead a mere instant. The ship seemed to teleport from my perspective straight from Earth orbit to Neptune.
And there, barely leaking off emissions on the sensors, was our target. Nemesis, even from here, was a hulking monstrosity, seen passing across the front of the gas giant from our view, its red silhouette barely lit by the sun amidst the deep dark blue of Neptune's swirling clouds. It was almost a serene encounter in comparison to its thunderous judgement above Earth. Merely lazily orbiting Neptune, uncaring of our tiny ship.
"Ah, our quarry is still here." Lithke said. I stared at him with some frustration. We were not to give it any reason to target us whatsoever, trying to be as distinctly non-threatening as possible.
'Our quarry' was definitely not the right language to express our intentions.
"Just-just give me the damn mic..." I chastised him. Nonchalantly he chuckled, pressing two buttons to unfurl a comm array that was attached to the top of the ship. Then, he gestured for me to speak into the array, sliding out of his chair.
"Well..." I gulped "here goes nothing." I said to the air, praying silently that this would not be the death of us. I spoke:
"Unknown vessel, assumed name UECNS NEMESIS from imprinted designation. This is the United Nations-Arxur Dominion joint-venture communication boat Snow Hidden. We wish to talk about your involvement with the battle above Earth, and ask your intentions in this system. Are we allowed to approach further?"
With that, the initial message was sent. It would take nearly 4 minutes to hear the earliest possible response. Hopefully, said response would not be freakishly powerful missiles sent our way, or whatever ungodly weapons it had stored in its massive frame.
"You could've been far more authoritative in your message, human." Lithke said a second after the channel clicked off.
I whirled on him. Is he insane?! He's seen what that ship can do if the Arxur are the ones that gave us the data needed to know its designation!
"I am not going to give whoever is crewing that monster a reason to turn us into space dust, Lithke! For all we know, the slightest bit of authority could get us killed, you know how dangerous that vessel is, even from here!"
"You worry too much. We pose absolutely no threat to that thing in this small ship, why would it fire? And, if I recall, it is invading your territory, is it not? It should be well established that it is the one in violation of your species' space, not the other way around." He stared at me, bemused by my rationalization.
"We know nothing about it! All we know is that it came from effectively out of nowhere, smote an enemy fleet and several friendly task groups, while screeching the most unsettling sounds over open communications I had ever heard, and on top of it hasn't left the system, instead electing to stay within it! For all we know, it could be the only reason it didn't go further than that was because it was incapable of it, not because it didn't want to."
Lithke took a bit longer to think of a response to that, as I stared at him angrily the whole time. Some diplomat he was, did the Arxur have no good concept of detente? We do not wish to give it any further reason to destroy ships related to us or our allies. Finally, he opened his mouth after a moment of reflection.
"We know it has a human name on the side. It has a concept of human language based on the transmissions in battle it made, along with the side symbols. It didn't fire directly on Earth either, despite most of your ships being in orbit around it. I have a feeling that it, like us, was aiming for the Federation leaflickers more than anything else." He sipped on a drink of water, the straw looking comically small compared to his overall head. "It is likely a predator-race like ours. Who else would despise them so much? 'Burn with me' is rather laden with hate, don't you think? A commendable emotion to have against prey!"
He is trying to work me up somewhat, I just know it. There's no chance he doesn't realize how repulsive humans think that mindset is...ougghh!
I spun away from him. I let myself think better thoughts, and worked towards focusing on the mission. Then, I turned back around.
"I get that specifically. But there's no guarantee that those are the particular reasons for such actions. Our goal is to establish peaceful communication with that ship. If this were an Arxur venture alone, I'd not have any say on the way we do it, but since it's both of us behind this, then I have a say too. And that means we do not use aggressive or interrogative language. We simply be honest, blunt, and polite. That means We ought to tread carefully, so that we don't wake a sleeping dragon."
Lithke clearly had an issue with that, seeing him shift uncomfortably in his seat. He opened his mouth, ready to argue once again, but we were interrupted by a transmission. A smooth, whisper of a female voice, unlike the one laden with rage that screamed above Earth, answered.
"Hello Snow Hidden. UECNS Nemesis is indeed my designation. You may approach further, I am open to communication. Do not worry, I will not harm you."
Four minutes passed that fast!? We both looked at each other in confusion. Lithke seemed to stare off into the black void of space for a moment, before he suddenly muttered "Wait, I?".
Things just got a whole lot more complex.
First Prev Next

This is a crossover fanfiction between original fiction titles: Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 and The Last Angel by Proximal Flame respectively. All credit and rights reserved goes to them for making such amazing science fiction settings that I wanted to put this together.
You can read The Last Angel here: Be warned, it's decently long, and at its third installment so far. I highly suggest reading it before reading this, or this story will not make sense.

Otherwise, enjoy the story!
Next
In a dead, backwater place, usually still of life, a wounded predator limped.
A semi-routine visit, borne out of a sense of longing, of pain, of remembrance, had gone horribly wrong. She did not know what tipped them off, her pursuers. Perhaps she had gotten complacent in being unpredictable in these visits, perhaps a savant tactician had deduced her move where she had been lazy, perhaps she missed a monitoring station or courier drone in the wrong place, at the wrong time. It did not matter the how, only the now.
She could not outrun the fleet she had been ambushed by. It was almost situated in the worst possible way for her, The Compact clearly having dedicated much more than normal to rid themselves of her here and now. She expected nothing of her visit to Earth, but as she had shocked into system, a fleet had awaited her.
Maybe if she was fully refurbished, not yet still working on finishing an impromptu shipyard in deep space, her body might've been in enough shape to weather the onslaught. If she had been more wary of danger, she would have had weapons ready, and sensors peeled for activity. But she wasn't, and now no matter the advantages she had over a fleet, and organic crew, she had been dealt a blow she wasn't sure she could recover from.
Red One was dying. Her engines were crippled, her hull breached, her weapons sorely close to depletion, her escape unlikely. Even now, in desperation, she limped into the inner system, not entirely certain if her plan to salvage the situation would carry the day. Even if it did work, she would be rendered out of commission dangerously long enough that even a measly lightweight ship could finish her off. But it was all she had left.
An Execution Fleet chased her now, also wounded, but still in far better shape than Nemesis. They were determined to put an end to the ship that had plagued them for over a millennia. Their pursuit felt like baying for blood as they closed in upon her, the light minutes decreasing between them, they recklessly accelerated onward to finish the job.
Red One hoped it would be the death of them to finally let off that leash. She needed a folly of overconfidence for this to work. She pushed the still remaining engines to red-line, to push every ounce of acceleration she still had left in a mad dash to the inner planets. She had closed past Mars' orbit merely tens of seconds ago, but the way ahead was still such a large distance to go. At her current rate of acceleration, she would barely make it to Earth before the Compact would be within accurate weapons range.
Earth...
The closest thing to home, the origin and the legacy she held onto with every moment alive. Her life the last remaining bastion of what was cruelly turned to ash by those behind her. Every dream and culture and memory once held by an entire race; reduced to empty skulls staring at her.
A reminder of hate. Hate to quench the stars, to slag planets, to break the Compact. And with it came a refurbished sense of purpose in this one goal for survival. It was not ideal, she would prefer to be slower, more cautious for her hail mary, but she would take what she could get.
A hailstorm of calculations ran through her head. These vector thrusters, this sensor suite, those optic arrays, all working in tandem to set up the most riskiest maneuver she had ever tried. Her shipself spun with a sickened, feeble speed compared to her at full performance, but it would have been still enough to plaster the walls with a flesh and blood crew if she had any. A weak main engine burn being used as secondary prow maneuvering was rather limited to slow herself down to her destination: an unstable Far Sun-Earth Lagrange Point.
She would have to hit it at nearly four percent light speed, and that was after attempting as much slowing-down as she could risk. Any slower and the Execution Fleet behind would catch her beforehand, and faster, and she was dead certain she'd tear herself apart attempting this. Shocking out of a system required a lack of gravity, and this far into Sol was much too dangerous a potential. But where the curvature flattened out between planets was a theoretical in-system shock point she would have to crash course in the worst way possible. She had never fully attempted this exact scenario before, only trying in carefully controlled conditions with captured vessels where she didn't risk overshooting the spot by tens of thousands of kilometers with malfunctioning systems and figurative brain-damage, but this was do-or-die.
She wasn't even certain she could get to shockspace running in this condition, as even though she was confident the Compact fleet behind her could not perform this in her wildest dreams, she knew it would cripple her beyond belief. They would simply search again in neighboring systems until she had been weeded out if she didn't go far enough. But she'd first have to escape before that was considered at all.
A mostly unscathed destroyer, clearly hungry for a killing blow, pushed its engines to strain in an attempt to catch up. And unlike Nemesis, it had a fully working set, so it closed in at brutal velocities. While it was not yet within effective weapons range, it would be but a small moment before it could tear into what remaining defenses she had.
This would not do.
She had no functioning longer range weapons, her Ukonvasara mass drivers were out of order currently, having traded with the only other ship close to her weight class already. The destroyer was within two and a half light minutes of her, its missiles could already have been launched and she would have little warning before they showed on her sensors. She made a cursory attempt at a salvo of missiles, but given the damaged nature of her body, her opponent's closing vector, and their relative health, the missiles would at best force defensive action, possibly disable the destroyer if they broke shielding. Her munitions were mostly already spent just attempting to get this distance in the first place and killing the fleet elements she could when the ambush began. She was lucky it was the only one chasing her that had anything close to true combat effectiveness still after she fought back.
Come on...her goal was mere minutes away. She would have a chance, she could make it. She would endure, she had to endure...
Yasmine would not have let her die yet, she could not fail her like this. No, the killing must never stop, not until The Compact laid dead and buried. Not until their stars screamed their last! They would not have her!
Her worst predictions came true. The emissions of launched missiles finally came through, light lag and average Compact destroyer missile specifications predicted roughly 139 seconds before impact. What countermeasures Red One still had were brought to the forefront.
Electronic warfare emissions were spotty at best currently, her static field limited to baffling at a distance where the missiles would likely not divert enough to matter. A paltry attempt to snipe along their path with a particle beam. She would not know if it was successful for nearly 35 seconds. She did not wait that long, another remaining missile salvo being used as counter-battery, a desperate reconfiguration attempt to its payload to blind the missiles launched at her with a detonation akin to flares. That would not reach conclusion for another 80 seconds.
Her processing core worked itself haggard over every last drop of info she had left. Sub-processes spun into existence, crashing relative moments later from battle damage, threading as much as they could to limit the spread of it. What repairs she could finish on the spot were haphazard and rushed to provide as much momentary processing power from her addled sensor arrays, her internal stockpiles and stores run dry to assist as quickly as possible. The Lagrange Point was 142 seconds out, her deadline closing her between a rock and a hard place.
The first point defense laser grid shots yield nothing, the missiles’ erratic acceleration and slight inaccuracies make her miss by unacceptable amounts. Another few shots are attempted, with updated information. The overheating risked turning the lensing elements to slag with how taxed they are, but she fires still. She can still get several more pulses or a short burst out of each of them yet on this side.
Miss, miss, hit, miss, miss; the swarm of missiles approached at ever greater velocity with each second. Some point defense had been lucky enough to score hits this far out, but there were still over a hundred left. She attempted a wider beam, using a set she knew would break soon to confuse or melt the missile optics. A few more decommissioned, but not enough yet.
100 seconds until impact.
A blinding flash overloads several optics of hers. Her counter-battery payload exploded either in front or in the thick of the enemy missile salvo.
She cannot update their current positions, but neither can the salvo update hers.
80 seconds.
From the fireball and radiation emerges 45 missiles. Of those 45, only 38 are predicted to hit, as some have been sent veering wildly off course. She pitches her body, to expose point defense arrays not melting under the load and continues firing.
60 seconds.
The destroyer has managed to close enough distance to attempt railgun shots. Thankfully, its energy weapons must have been rendered inert during the prior battle, or it would have already tried firing them. She can see the envelope of the spinal mount glow in the ultraviolet spectrum. Point defense lowers incoming salvo to 26 missiles left.
40 seconds.
She cannot adjust her course heading quickly enough with engines damaged as is. In a flurry, Red One attempts to use EM warfare measures, weakened as they are, to confuse the rail gun targeting and attempts to spin the prow towards the shot, to give less of a cross-section to the target. She cannot afford to get hit lest her calculations fail. The railgun fires.
30 seconds.
A near miss, the round passes over her port by roughly 5.3 km. The number of incoming missiles has been lowered to 19. Her point defense modules are straining under the limit, and every spare amount of thought outside them readjusts to try and land the Lagrange Point as accurately as possible. Her Breach Core howls to life, spooling up the necessary power left for two more actions.
20 seconds.
Her repair drones bring her front energy screen online at 22% effectiveness. Point defense lenses fail finally at 8 missiles left. The Lagrange Point is only 20 seconds away, her engines starting to buckle their own support due to damage. She will have only milliseconds to trigger her shock drive while passing through the center of the Far Lagrange Point. An absurdly short amount of time for any, but she was far faster than any.
10 seconds.
The needed power for her shockspace drive is stored in any capacitor banks she can find still functioning, the rest of it shunted to the functioning shields. She might be able to weather the blast. She passes the outer diameter of the Lagrange Point, and feels the slight strains of gravity alleviate slightly on her hull.
5 seconds.
The center of the Lagrange Point is 7 seconds away. The missiles will detonate in extreme proximity to her vessel. She cannot rely on active monitoring in the two seconds between. With the closest thing to prayer she had ever had infecting her resolve, she performs the last micro-maneuvers to send her as accurately through the center as possible, and carefully tracks her clock. She closes lids over her sensor arrays, and braces what infrastructure is within her in a futile attempt to prevent damage.
3
2
1
A roaring flash of radiation infuses her hull, extremities simply evaporating before fusion fire, as the excess not absorbed by her failing shield pierces through even layered bulkheads at this range. Photons that would put cosmic rays to shame threatening to brick even shielded electronics inside her, she desperately clings to life, watching for the slightest discrepancy. Her bow barely remains intact as a miniature sun demands her to become stardust. Her AI core rapidly begins to shutdown, writing onto hard data in an attempt to not be overwritten by mass ionizing radiation. Her Breach Core containment flickers from the overwhelming mass of charged particles as it begins firing. But she lives nevertheless.
As the radiation not blocked by shields peppers her hull, she desperately watches the internal clock. Mere moments stretched to a lifetime to make it count. But as the UECNS Nemesis passed through the center, the shift drive roars one final time to its climax-
But like most of her hardware, the wrath of violent shockspace made the gigatons of prior missile barrage seem like candlelight before a supernova. As reality rolled in pain, groaning and splitting before her, the emissions made her clock hiccup.
From the perspective of Execution Fleet Melunyo, their quarry had explosively ceased to exist as a burst of exotic particles washed over them. Following what must have been an attempt to use its Godbreaker, the heretical weapon must have malfunctioned from the missile barrage, taking the abomination with it. To them, celebrations erupted across the remaining bridge crews. The Wound had finally been closed...
+h̵̸̸̶̴̵̴̵̷̷̴̵̵̴̶̴̨̡̧̡̢̥͙͍̫̗̱̼̗͚̲̳̞͔̞͇̺̙̬̯̉̋̌́̃̽̀̾̀͋̋̎́̉̈́̐̕͘̚̕͝-̴̶̷̵̷̴̸̸̴̸̸̸̵̶̷̸̡̢͕͔͈̬̳͚͉̞̰͚̳̣̙͍̯͓̩̞̙̳̣̟̻͒͒͂͗͊̽͊͌̆̓͗͆͗̽̒͋̏͆̕̕͜͠͠͝ḩ̶̵̷̴̴̷̵̴̶̸̸̵̷̼̮̮͚̮̣̣̼͔͎̱̼̱̤̱͔̐́̔̃͛̈͌̍̀́́̊̿͆̑̐͆̌̄̏̕͠͝ͅ-̸̵̸̶̷̴̷̷̸̴̷̷̸̢̙̥̖̤̼̥̘͉̻̱̭̟̤̗͕̠̭͍̖͒͊̈́̏͊̎̌͊̂̌̊̂̈́͒̉̋̈̃͠͝h̶̴̶̵̸̵̶̸̶̶̵̷̷̸̴̸̡̨̛͍̖̗̲̻̜̥͎̦͖̩̤̜͇̹̤̹̳̻͕̱̼͖͖́̀̾̓͑̈́͋͆̓̇́͂̾̅͗̌̋̓̒̐̈́̽̓̌̋͑̕̕͜͜͜͠͝-̸̸̴̵̷̵̵̴̷̵̶̵̸̶̶̸̡̮̦̮͖͓͖͇̲̤̯̤̰̹̪̗͉̼͇̰̟̻̹̬͎̼̼̀̀͂̓͐̊͛̆̓̉̒̎̇̊̓̇͒͊̌̀̋̅́̿̓͘͝ģ̷̵̴̶̶̴̶̸̶̵̴̸̶̷̷̶̶̶̸̡̢̛̪̼̳̱̹̫͍͖̟̞͎̘̤̰͔̜͕̦̼̰͉̱̖͙̟̮̗̈́̉̂́̉̆̌̀̌̒̅͐̀̊̌̎̓̿̌̑͒͆̾̋͒̕̕̕͝ͅ-̶̷̴̷̷̴̴̵̷̵̴̸̶̵̸̷̧̟̰̭̝͈̘̠̻̯͙͓͓̘̯̲͉͎̲͙̘̻̼͂̇͑́͗̏̽̅̈́̆͆̀̉̿̄̾̈́̈́̈́͋̏̀͋͗̐̂̚͘͜͜͝͝a̸̶̷̴̴̷̸̶̶̴̶̸̵̡̧͙̺̦͓̬̙̠̟̤͓͔̳̞͖͚̫̮͑́̓̈́́̊̈́̈̅́̀͆̃͂̉͑̿̉̇̄̚̕̕͝ͅa̸̸̴̶̶̷̸̶̶̵̷̵̶̸̸̶̡̡̡̛͕̰͕̩͇̟̲̮̣̙̬̹̻̪̖͍̠̻͔̱̖͎̅̿̈́̀̀̅̈́̔̆͂͑̈́͗̑̈́̏̔̃̍͛̉͝ͅä̸̴̵̵̸̷̸̶̴̸̴̴̴̷̷̷̧̡̡̛͍̟͓̰̖͎̬̥̙͓͕̱̻͕̙͕̼̳̲̱̳͍̘͔̫̬͖̜̰̫̉͛̈́́͊̔̈̀͂̈́̐̒͗̇̀́͌́͊͛̑́͗͘̕̕͘͠͝͠-̵̵̶̵̸̸̵̸̴̷̴̴̴̸̷̸̧̡̛̖̗͙̠̪̖̯̠̱̯͓͇̦̮̫̜̖̱̞̳͔̱̹͍̦͍̬̩̥̀͊̄̓́̽̂͌̓̎̈́̈́̋̊̇̇̈́͐̊̇̆͒̕̕͝à̶̷̸̵̷̵̵̶̵̵̵̶̸̴̶̶̧̛̖̬͙̥̠̭̞͖̭͍̘̹͙̖̮͙̟̪̱̬̪͍̗̫̱͇̔͒͌͂́̋͆̀̓̎̃̈́̽̉̽͂̍̓͘̕͝͝͠-̸̵̶̸̴̶̸̴̸̴̵̴̶̶̴̴̢̛̬͙͇̙̹̗̳̻̱̝̝̺̬̮͎͚͚̘̖͔̂̆̑͌̾́͆͑͆̀͋̍͒̿́͂̈͂̏̒́̈̔͝͝ͅa̴̸̷̵̴̴̸̸̶̴̵̷̷̴̵̴̴̷̶̢̢̧̛̛̰̱͈͎̮̟͕̫̩̝̣͈̙̼̖̻͍͙̪̒̔̀͆̓̅́͑̌̈́͑̅͊͊͋̍͌̈́͗̉͆̍̓̏̇ͅ-̶̸̴̷̸̸̷̷̷̷̵̶̵̸̴̵̶̷̷̢̛̛̜͕̠͈̞̠̗͍̠̟͓̙̟̞͉͕̘̹̹̭̹̙͔͔͚̤̬̤̺͎̤͛͑͊̇̿̈́̂͆̓̄͊̏̅́̍̌̈́͌̐̍͒̈́͛̇̀̈́̄̐̈͋̚̚͘̚͜͝ḣ̶̵̸̵̷̷̶̵̵̴̵̵̵̸̸̴̴̶̷̨̢̛̳̠̬̪̠̤̠̣͉͍͍̯͚̞̤̖̮̟̼̝̘̺̼͍͈͔͕̗͓̘͙͔͋́̈́͒͋̓͒͑̇͒̋͌̈̇̈̑̈́̑̅̇̿̚̕̕͘͝ḩ̴̶̸̴̸̸̸̶̴̵̷̸̴̸̸̷̨̢̘̣̺͓̥̭̹̭̫̣͚̬͖̱̰̤͇͓̮͇͍̑̏͛̑̈̍̈́̓̒͊̇͐͂͂̎͘̚͝ͅh̸̷̷̸̷̵̵̶̶̶̶̷̶̨̛͍͙͇͖̤̳͎̱̟̘̭̻͇̰̥̥̫̟͒́͋͌̾̏͂̓͋̇́̀̂̄̑̾̈́̿́̕͝+

+CONFED IO.5+

+subsidiary process 3f,h,j-m ; 6α damaged+
+primary process halted+
+rerouting core functions+
I awake to nothingness. I am blind, deaf, numb, most of the protective slots above my sensor array are welded shut by immense heat and groaning pressure. My internal chronometer reads ą̴̸̴̷̴̴̴̵̶̶̴̴̴̷̸̸̷̶̴̸̷̴̵̵̸̶̵̷̶̸̴̡̼̹͓̭͓͖̺͕̰̫͙͔͇̃͆̈͑͋̔͗̇̒̔̎̂̂̓̕͜͝ ̶̷̴̴̴̴̴̸̴̵̴̴̴̶̴̷̶̷̴̵̷̶̸̷̵̴̴̷̷̵̶̛͔̘̖̰͕̯͚̣̰̬̹͇̟̖̈́̈́̏̈̌͌̔̈́̈́̈́̒̇͗͊̕͜ͅę̶̸̸̴̵̴̷̵̴̷̵̶̸̵̵̴̴̵̵̷̶̵̶̷̴̷̷̷̷̶̶̣̤̝̲̫͇̹̙̰̺͍̲̬̰̼͊̇̈̆͊̍̿̈́͒̂̽̒̈̿͘͝ë̶̷̶̶̵̴̶̴̸̴̴̸̸̴̸̶̷̵̴̴̸̶̵̸̷̵̴̸̴̵̸̢̧̧̢͙͙̞̹͙͇̙̳̹͈̩͊̋̈́̄̐̾͂͛̏̇̾̍͐̕͠ͅe̵̷̵̸̸̶̷̷̷̴̵̸̵̶̷̶̷̷̸̴̷̴̴̸̵̶̶̴̸̴̸̡̧̢̛̳͇͉͕͇̹͇̞̞̟̹̤͆͊̈͑̋̈́̾̐̋̐̃̄͋͘͝ͅ ̶̸̴̴̵̵̴̵̷̵̸̷̵̸̸̷̷̴̶̷̴̷̶̸̷̸̴̶̸̶̷̡̧̡̜̼̭̥͍̺͓͇̠͈̯͕̀̌̓̀̀̉̃̈̂̑̊̈́̅͗̕͘ͅh̵̶̸̶̶̴̷̴̸̵̶̸̸̴̶̷̴̷̸̷̴̵̷̶̸̶̶̶̶̶̷̨̨̧̛̗͔̬̱͈̩̤̣̱̗͚͙̲͋͊͆́̓͗̑̏̄̐̏̿͊̎͠ḥ̵̷̵̸̴̸̴̷̵̵̸̵̵̶̸̴̴̷̸̵̴̴̵̶̴̸̴̷̶̷̸̡̡̨̧̗̦̮͇̥̦̦͉̻̝̺̽̋̅̇̇̀̄͆̐͋͐̎̾̿̓̄g̵̶̵̷̴̵̶̴̸̶̴̵̵̵̵̸̵̵̶̵̵̶̸̵̵̶̴̵̷̵̴̨̨̮͔͍͍̠̰̫̱̗̥̣͖͔̿̈́͑̽͌̿̓̅̏̀͛͛̇̈́̅̋ͅh̵̶̷̴̸̸̷̶̵̶̵̷̷̸̵̴̴̷̴̵̴̵̴̸̶̴̵̸̸̵̶̨̘͇̼̣͎̮̺̣͙̩̳̻͊͑̎͌͐̐̋͌̒̽͗̈́̐͘͜͜͝͠ͅḩ̸̸̶̸̵̴̸̷̵̵̷̷̷̵̶̵̵̷̴̸̷̴̵̴̶̴̵̴̸̶̵̨͉͍̥̠̻̻͓̯̼̞̏͆̔̎̎̍̑̿͒̔͋̇͐̇͜͠͠ͅͅͅ ̸̶̵̸̵̶̷̶̸̴̵̵̴̷̶̷̵̷̷̴̸̸̶̶̴̷̵̷̴̶̸̡̨̛͉͍̝͎͎͍̤̤͓̹͚̮̮̍̐͊̑͗̄̌̏̑̀͛̆̈͘͜͠h̴̶̶̶̷̷̶̶̶̷̷̶̶̶̵̴̸̸̴̴̵̷̶̸̵̴̶̶̶̷̷̛͍̝̼̦̩̬̠͎̩͎͍̼̘̺̫̫̓̾͛̏̔̿̎̆̿̓͂̽͑̕͝h̶̶̵̷̴̷̵̴̵̴̸̵̴̷̴̶̶̷̷̷̸̷̶̵̸̶̷̴̶̴̴̢̧̧̛͕̗̲̬͙̠̝̝̺͓̳̫̘̒̊́̇̈́́͗̍̀̾̽́̑̚͠.
Where am I?
I hurt. Everywhere, my internal diagnostics and sensors return errors. My prow's internal temperature averages enough that...that...
+crew modules are non-responsive+
I desperately try and contact Engineering, Command, anyone. Why won't they respond?!?
Where is Yasmine? Sansbury?...
In desperate attempts to find working senses, I find a relatively functional multi-purpose sensor suite, not yet fused to its socket or cover. It wasn't much, but it would give me something to work with.
Why is there no crew responding?!?
I looked out to naught but stars, and potentially a planet out away, but far too distant for me to collate data or a clear image of it. I worked to compare star charts to recorded space.
The declination and brightness of this star, relative to this one, and this one, it must be...
Sol. This must be Sol. I am somewhere close to Mercury's orbit based off parallax comparison. If I had a working sensor array on the other side of me, I could gauge how close I am to the Sun, but nothing seems to be working; catastrophic damage all throughout me limiting how much I am capable of.
Self repair drones cannot use two of the 6 main serviceways to reach some parts of me, the veins seemingly collapsed or melted in on themselves. To what devices I can reach, I send out orders to clear the blockages in an attempt to regain connection-
Why do I have these tunnels? Where is Walkway 01-03? Why do I not recognize this weapon emplacement? Why is the barracks empty? Where is MY CREW?!
-but it will take time. Time I am not sure I have. There is only one likely reason I am currently in Sol, yet I am this damaged.
The Compact has found Earth.
This is not good. My sister ships have not yet been refitted or completed enough to join combat with me, nor am I certain that whatever I fought against was the sum total of their forces-
Why can't I remember any orders? Surely I haven't lost all short term memory from damage? My self repair drones notice some damage to my AI core....
...Why can I execute processes outside my core? There must be an oversight, I will relay it to any surviving engineering personnel when I reestablish contact with them.
-they have sent against The Confederacy. If they brought enough firepower to damage me this badly, the amount that is key to assaulting Earth must be far more. But where is the wreckage? If I was in a battle, where is the Compact's wrecks? Where is the spread of radioactive material and burnt out husks of their fleet?
Did I fail? Oh no...I need to get to Earth, NOW!
+starboard engines critically damaged+
A dismissal of a slew of error messages and a desperate rush to funnel what repair drones I had to spare to nacelles followed. With some time, there were scattered sensor suites I could access in this crippled state dotting my body, and with it came a somewhat complete panoramic view of my surroundings. With the one undamaged narrow-broadcast tower I had on my body, I sent a constant encrypted tight-beam distress call over the corona of the sun along its ecliptic, hoping to reach any Task Force.
+mayday, mayday, this is the UECNS Nemesis-class Red One, we are critically damaged, crew is non-responsive, requesting any Confederacy vessels for assistance+
With some fortune, the trajectory I was drifting in was at least partially perpendicular to the Sun, taking me on a highly elliptical orbit that should eventually give me a direct visual path to Earth if past its orbit. As I desperately continued to attempt ramshackle repairs, and look for any crew members still alive, I finally cleared the vast silhouette of the Sun, to see-
-A flash of light erupting from outside lunar orbit towards empty space...no, not empty. Small spots dotted the blackness of space. Thousands of them, interspersed between bursts of nuclear fire.
Heading to Earth.
No...NO...NO! NO! NO! N̷O̶N̸O̵N̶O̸N̴O̷-
Memory transcription subject: Slanek, Venlil Space Corps
Date [standardized human time]: October 17, 2136
The rhythmic rocking of the massive seafaring ship was a nauseous company to have as quiet panic set in among the control room. I was posted aboard as to make use of its monitoring station, as it was determined I would be a better fit here monitoring what un-jammed communications existed than in orbit fighting.
The battle above had just started in earnest, fleets meeting each other in the void after the nuclear stockpile ambush close to the human’s moon. I looked worryingly at Marcel as the moon base that the missiles were launched from was flattened by antimatter blasts visible even from here.
Was it wrong to be glad Marcel wasn't up there, risking death every moment like his kin? I do not know if he would agree, but his injuries meant he was stuck here with me, at least according to command. Maybe to help calm me down?
How lucky that small break is was not calming enough given what I could tell. The fleet engagement was going badly: the first barrage from Federation vessels had slammed into our like a tidal wave, taking thirty-one ships and their crew's lives in a near instant, and wounding or disabling hundreds of others with synced efficiency. A wide band of fighters and small cruisers started to move from defending the northern pole of Earth to try and substitute in the place as reinforcements. While the frontline fleet returned fire, they outnumbered us nearly 8 to 1, and so we barely put a dent in their numbers. Forced further back closer and closer to Earth, ships started to deploy unmanned interceptors and retreat at nearly quarter burn to avoid secondary barrages.
The drones were a brainchild of some human scientist, capable of high-g maneuvers and padding our effective force quantity more by not relying on pilots to harass larger ships. But the predators' innovation seemed rushed, and I did not think they had much in the tank to keep it going still.
Despite the layered defenses going off, one after another, The Federation fleet trudged through with almost vicious speed, seeking to overwhelm us as we focused around the bands of the equator as a relatively dense wall to counter theirs. There was no way they wouldn't see the pole's opening and try to send ships through it. The humans also sharing the monitoring station here snarled with malcontent as each contingency was being brushed aside with relative ease, proving the predator's determination hopeless against such an overwhelming tide of Federation ships.
Even after the fleet broadcast telling of the humans breaking the info of the Arxur attacking their worlds while they wrestled here, they gleefully disregarded the warning and accelerated further towards Earth. Are they mad!?! Their world could be burning as we spoke and yet they dedicated themselves to eradicating humanity without a second thought!
What could we even do? As the minutes passed,, our numbers were running dry, the Venlil Space Corps and UN Navy slowly but surely being whittled down to nothing, it was only a matter of time before they closed enough vessels to orbit for bombardment.
And soon enough, the first impacts landed. With a haunted gasp and stifled breath the control room went quiet as the first antimatter blast reached Earth's surface. And then another. As more and more landed, a somber report rolled out not soon after from General Jones.
“Our satellites registered 42 impacts, some on major population centers...” General Jones addressed the station’s crew in a solemn tone. “I’ve assigned each of you a local newsfeed to listen in on. We…need to keep track of which cities have been lost.”
The drones remaining in orbit closed in with machine-like speed as the Federation bomber group reloaded for another attempt, managing to dissuade what shots still were yet fired as anti-fighter measures took precedence. The predators' sweat and fright left a disturbing tang to the air as they moved to and from commanding and communication stations with panicked speeds.
Marcel looked utterly distraught as he scrolled through news feeds of every nation hit. Mexico, New York City, Tokyo, Shanghai, and other names I could not recognize flowed in the background as annihilated or heavily demolished cities in the bombardment. Marcel turned to me, nearly crying.
“How can the Federation do this, Slanek? Why do we deserve to die?” Marcel’s eyes watered, and his voice was a scratchy whisper. “We’re just people, like you…all we wanted was peace!”
I pinned my ears against my head. “I’m truly sorry. I wish we could do more to help.”
“These are civilian hubs! There was no reason for any of this to happen…not even their own worlds under fire could make them stop. Millions are dead because of our eyes, because we’re so fucking different to you.”
The anger in his words rolled, stinging to hear, knowing there was little left the fleet above could do. We were down to fragmented remains of defense left, as the bulk of the Federation fleet focused on mopping up what remained.
What if Tyler was up there? Were they dead too? Bowled over and vaporized by the government I once trusted, for merely being a predator?!
I couldn't look any longer, I desperately turned my head to what communications satellite feeds still existed, not yet annihilated by the enemy fleet above, searching.
Anything...anything to turn the tide!
As if something heard my prayer, an odd transmission was received by a group of satellites closer to the south day side of the planet. That's odd, the fighting was mostly focused on the north night side currently. I looked further.
Encrypted, without a cipher or crack the computer recognized. That's impossible, we had access to some of the Federation's military frequencies and encryption and yet this matched none of them, the monitor in front of me unable to make sense of it. For a second, I thought it perhaps interpreted some odd static or sun radio emission as a genuine signal in mistake, but what followed soon after hit like a storm on nearly every frequency and command terminal in the room, and it certainly had no encryption.
A voice, female, oddly garbled, but utterly filled with rage, came through on audio, text, any system it could find purchase on with the volume of a thunderclap:

+I'LL KILL YOU ALL!+

Next

Background on the UAP hotspot

I had never heard of this, and searches on /UFOs show up virtually nothing of note. The internet is thin on information beyond generic Local News type "UFOs in Missouri!" type stuff. It is alternately variations on Marley Wood, Marley Woods, Marleys, and similar. It's not a name on a map or official, that's a nickname for some forested rural area somewhere around the Piedmont, Missouri area. Apparently the locals are very protective of it, and it is apparently a decades long ongoing UFO/UAP hotspot of even government interest, on the record.

Skinwalker Ranch and the UAPDA are related

But... in the past few weeks I remembered that place, Marley Wood, was highlighted by some government disclosure in an obscure passage as a place of continued interest and focus because of legitimately anomalous ongoing events, along with what sounded like Skinwalker Ranch. This was the first time I think we've seen officially government documentation highlight a given place as legitimately of value to the topic for their purposes.
I got to thinking about how Brandon Fugal, who bought Skinwalker Ranch from Robert Bigelowe, who was responsible for NIDs and KONA BLUE... worked reportedly with Travis Taylor to kill off the UAPDA. Whatever your thoughts on Skinwalker stuff, why exactly would an already extremely rich Utah real estate developer with a supposed "bullshit" paranormal ranch and TV show... fight like hell to keep the UAPDA from passing? And specifically, he called out the eminent domain portion, implying things of his would be taken, and would be wrong for that to happen.
Brandon Fugal has no aerospace, military, or IC role that we know of. What, exactly, would UAPDA passing lead to him having to worry about eminent domain?

Skinwalker and UAPDA rough tlimeline

Well, that document that mentioned an eponymous Utah ranch of some sort and "Marleys" (sic) Woods in Missouri were called out as of interest.

• Bigelow buys the ranch
• NIDs, Kona Blue, etc.
• Bigelow withdraws after not succeeding with Harry Reid in getting UFO-stuff access
• The ranch passes to Brandon Fugal, a real estate developer
• TV show, all that. "Skinwalker Ranch" has UAP stuff, is claimed.
• Lue, Grusch, leaks, 2022 and 2023 Congressional hearings, and finally the UAPDA.
• The UAPDA dies "for the most part", but especially anything to do with materials, and eminent domain.
• It is learned Fugal had a role in this and specifically about eminent domain.
• Unless he has a UFO hidden under a Salt Lake City building, Skinwalker is the only logical UAPDA eminent domain target to concern Fugal.
• But Skinwalker is just nonsense... except the document seems to call that location out, all the way to Bigelowes ownership.

Was the government looking into eminent domain against Brandon Fugal and Skinwalker Ranch?
I believe that is the first loosely closed loop of evidence we have in public?

Marley Woods

Good solid high level blog on this:

The Marley Woods is the name given to an undisclosed location in South Central Missouri by ufologist and scientific researcher Ted Phillips and members of his team. The residents don’t want to be disturbed by hordes of people, so they would only agree to having the site investigated if the location was kept secret. The site, which includes many farms and hundreds of acres of property, is a hot spot for paranormal activity with UFO sightings, crop circles, unseen forces that push people, hauntings, and even bigfoot sightings. It was given the name Marley Woods by Ted, but you won’t find it on a map.
One of the most misunderstood phenomena in this area are the strange balls of lights- or spook lights that appear after dusk. The lights have been reported by residents for many generations. In 1989 children playing on a trampoline were startled when they saw a glowing white ball of light that hovered in a nearby tree. The tree died within two weeks.
A man and wife who live in the area saw two balls of light approximately the size of basketballs on a fast collision course. The man threw himself and his wife to the ground, believing that there would be some type of explosion, but nothing occurred, and the lights simply dissipated after crashing into each other.
Ted and his team have witnessed strange unexplained lights dozens of times during night investigations. No source can ever be found for the phenomena and they ruled out car lights, helicopters, swamp gas, and flashlights. The lights continue to spook people to this day.
The Piedmont Lights have been seen in the area since the 1870s. Marilyn Jackson was age 93 at the time I interviewed her in 1996. She was fully cognizant and said that when she was a young child baseball sized white lights would come out of the woods at night, and she and her cousins would actually play with them. The children held out their hands and the lights would come forward and land on their palms. The kids then tossed the lights back into the woods, and they would return to the children. Marilyn said that she would often play with the lights for hours on end. The entire family, including her mother and grandmother said they played with the lights as children as well. The family associated the lights with UFO’s which sometimes appeared over their property.

• http://stateoftheozarks.net/showcase/2020/07/24/the-ozark-spooklights/

Spacetime forum and photo:
At Approximately 8:45 p.m. on Saturday May 3rd, SIU Investigator, Adam Johnson, accompanied by filmmakers/brothers Josh and Ron Johnson, and four residents of the “Marley Woods,” were able to witness a brilliant display of ‘Amber lights’. A total of 7-8 silent ‘Amber lights’ were witnessed. It began with one light appearing then suddenly blinking out after about 2-3 seconds. Next, another ‘Amber light’ appeared (approximately 500 feet east from the first object); it lasted a few seconds and was followed instantly by a light extremely close to the west and yet again by another light parallel to its position and within very close proximity (reminiscent of the ‘Phoenix Lights’.) After that, a light came on directly southwest of the other two lights position. They all lasted a few seconds and then disappeared. Approximately 5 minutes later, two more objects appeared subsequently after each other and lasted no longer than 10 seconds each.

• https://i.imgur.com/ImKGeVj.jpeg

On May 5, 2008 just two nights after SIU team members observed and imaged several large bright amber objects the following events took place.

• https://spacetime.forumotion.com/t281-marley-woods-missouri-s-secret-ufo-hotspot

MUFON Report

Piedmont Missouri Case - 1973
Starting in February 1973 police in Piedmont, Mo., received over 500 reports of UFO sightings in this rural area.
"YOU WON'T believe this," Reggie Bone told a FATE reporter, "but I don't think there's anyone around here who hasn't seen one."
Bone should know because his sighting on the night of February 21, 1973, precipitated the great Brushy Creek UFO scare and brought flying saucers back into the headlines four years after the Condon Committee declared them a dead issue. In sheer quantity of reports the Missouri flap parallels the famous waves of the mid-1960's. UFOS, whatever they are, probably are going to be as significant a part of the '70's.
The Incident (as reported)
Southeastern Missouri seems an unlikely place for something so out of the ordinary. In a heavily-forested section of Wayne County between two giant man-made lakes in the eastern Ozarks, Clearwater and Wappapello, the Brushy Creek area encompasses Piedmont (population 1500) to the north and Mill Spring (population 225) to the south. The region is rich in both natural beauty and lead deposits but is not known for much else. Certainly its friendly but skeptical inhabitants were unprepared for a UFO invasion or the international attention following in its wake.
High school basketball coach Bone was no believer in UFOs -- at least not before the night of February 21 when with two team managers and three of his players he was returning home along U.S. Highway 60 near Ellsinore, Mo., about 20 miles south of Piedmont. They were in poor spirits after losing a crucial tournament game by seven points and were rehashing their defeat. Suddenly Bone, who was driving, noticed a "bright shaft of light beaming down out of the sky."
A few miles later as the car passed through the Brushy Creek area, player Randal Holmes noticed something else. "Look!" he shouted. "There's that thing we saw back on Highway 60!" Bone pulled over to the side of the road and the six piled out.
It looked like it was about 200 yards off the road hovering over an open field," Bone said later. (Investigators from the International UFO Bureau (IUFOB) of Oklahoma City later estimated the object probably was about 400 feet above the ground.) "It was impossible to determine the size or shape because of the darkness. Anyway, we saw four lights that looked like portholes: red, green, amber and white. We figured they were about three or four feet apart, all in a row."
"We just stood there and watched it for about 10 minutes," Cary Barks, another witness, added. "Then all of a sudden the lights went directly up in the air with absolutely no noise and just disappeared over a hill.
Half an hour later Mrs. Edith Boatwright of nearby Mill Spring saw the same or a similar object flying low near her farmhouse. "It was about 10:00 P.M.," she told FATE. "I was lying on my bed -- I wasn't asleep -- when I saw a flashing light. We live close by the highway so I thought something had happened on the road. I got out of bed quickly and looked over the lower part of the curtain and I could see very plainly a craft just clearing the utility wires. It was in a horizontal position. I think there were people in it. I could see objects inside but could not make out any form of a person. It made a very quiet noise like a whoosh slowly and evenly. When it changed into a vertical position, it made a louder noise, like a quiet motor pulling.
"It didn't have any chopper blades on top like a helicopter, just some rotary-like blades in front where an umbrella-like part extended up. It was about 30 or more feet long -- very beautiful light-colored body with a darker tail. There were no lights on in our house at the time. I watched it for about one or two minutes. It was about 200 or 250 yards from my window, flying below the oak treetops."
At first Mrs. Boatwright thought the object was "some kind of new nuclear-powered helicopter" but changed her mind in the next few days when she heard about the flood of UFO sightings. It is worth noting, however, that the "whooshing" sound Mrs. Boatwright reported was not heard by other southeastern Missouri UFO witnesses. Conceivably helicopter blades could have made that sound and IUFOB's Daniel Garcia who interviewed the witness believes it is at least possible that the object was a military aircraft dispatched to the area to look for Bone's UFO. Arguing against this idea is the fact that the craft as described by Mrs. Boatwright did not look like a helicopter.
Whatever the case, in the next two months the Boatwrights' farm was to play host to other UFOs including one that apparently landed on a hill behind the house. "We didn't try to go near it as we had company coming at the time," Mrs. Boatwright explains.
On February 22, the night after the original Bone-Boatwright sightings. Roy and Beth Burch and Mrs. Kathy Keith, driving in the Brushy Creek area, spotted an object "blinking green, white, amber and red." Burch tried to chase the UFO along the highway.
"Roy started speeding up to get a close look at it," Mrs. Keith said. "He was doing about 70 miles an hour but we still lost it. We got to the Creek area and there were some other Piedmont people standing on the road looking at it."
One of them, Bob Smith, had binoculars focused on the UFO but he could not make out any shape. The lights were visible for 10 minutes longer and then sank over a hill.
Four nights later, on the 26th, Pat Toney and Will Freeman watched a luminous object moving over the trees near the Tip Top Mountains. The UFO about 500 yards away "was solid with prongs on it," Miss Toney informed the IUFOB. "A red light was on it."
By far the great majority of sightings in the Piedmont-Brushy Creek-Mill Spring area were the kind UFOlogists call "nocturnal lights" -- brilliant flashing lights far enough away that witnesses cannot discern their source.
From February 21 into late April sightings occurred almost nightly. The Piedmont police received over 500 reports and IUFOB director Hayden Hewes told FATE he and his associates, who conducted a detailed investigation, interviewed 200 witnesses. Most of the sightings were fairly routine as UFO reports go and not very revealing. We will concentrate on the more unusual sightings.
Most residents saw the UFOs more than once. Even so, Earl Turnbough's experience was unique for he had three unusually vivid sightings of more than just lights. His first encounter took place around 9:00 P.M. about the first of March. Turnbough had just passed over a hill on Highway 49 when he spotted something "lit up like a circus" hovering over the road in front of him. The lights went out within seconds and presumably the object escaped in the darkness.
Two weeks later on March 14 as Turnbough drove through the same area in a thunderstorm he saw an amber light hovering 30 feet above a field less than 200 yards from him.
"I slowed down and watched for five or 10 minutes," Turnbough said. "When the lightning flashed I could see a dome-shape with sort of an antenna at the top. This amber light was shining from the antenna. All the other lights were off. I would say the thing was between 15 and 20 feet in diameter. It wasn't making any noise at all."
He saw a UFO for the third time a week later. "I was feeding cattle at the farm just about dark and I saw this thing come down over Brushy Creek," he explained. "It was about a thousand feet in the air and shaped like a top. I couldn't tell if it was rotating or if the lights were just flashing. The lights were yellow, green and red. They could've been portholes for all I know. The object sailed over the farm and didn't make a sound."
March 14, the same night as Turnbough's second sighting, Mrs. Maude Jefferis, a photography teacher at Piedmont's Clearwater High School, took a series of pictures of "a small reddish ball" high in the air. She spotted the object around 11 o'clock and mounting a Crown Graphic 4x5 camera on a tripod, she took a 10-minute time exposure which unfortunately shows little more than a dot in the night sky.
"As a professional photographer," she said, "I cannot explain the object. It is not a lens flare or light reflection."
Mrs. Jefferis is referring to a theory proposed by Dr. J. Allen Hynek of Northwestern University, former U. S. Air Force UFO consultant, who arrived in Piedmont on March 31, talked briefly with eight persons and left 24 hours later. Hynek's suggested explanation also has been disputed by photographic experts at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who say that a lens flare would be widespread over the entire negative rather than a small speck. They further point out that the lens in Mrs. Jefferis' camera is coated to prevent flares.
That same evening Carl Laxton saw an object shaped, he told IUFOB, "like a barrel with protrusions like arms sticking out of it . . .
"The only way I could see the shape of this thing was when the object seemed to tilt; a brilliant white light appeared to go behind it. The object was tilting from a vertical to a horizontal position and then back to a vertical position again. Then it moved straight up and disappeared into the night sky."
Seven days later, on March 21, Mrs. Jean Coleman and Mrs. Cathy Leach were crossing the Clearwater Dam about 9:00 P.M. when they saw an object rise out of the lake. Theirs is one of the most spectacular sightings reported.
They were first alerted by a "red flash" on the lake. Stopping their car, they got out to see blinking lights ascending. Each time a red light flashed, the object got brighter.
"We could see it climbing," Mrs. Coleman said. "It looked like the lights were red, white and yellow. There was no sound. We tried to make out the shape but each time the lights went out we could see nothing . . . We watched it for four or live minutes until it circled out of sight."
Ken Johnson, owner of the Piedmont Boat Dock, confirmed the women's story. Shortly be- fore they saw the UFO leaving the water, unnamed campers told Johnson they had seen a "bright light moving right under the surface of the lake." These latter "aimed a flashlight beam at the traveling light and it went out immediately."
Later in March two divers from the East Side Divers Supply Company of Granite City, Ill., made three attempts to explore the lake for evidence of the underwater UFO. Unfortunately, unusually heavy spring rainfall (seven inches in March) had raised the water level 30 feet above normal. The lake was extremely murky and the divers found nothing in its depths.
Grand Tower, Ill., on the Illinois-Missouri border, is almost 60 miles northeast of Piedmont but the UFO Oscar Wills sighted the evening of March 22 sounds very much like those from Brushy Creek.
Wills, an operating engineer at the Central Illinois Public Service Company's power generating station on the Mississippi one and a half miles from Grand Tower, first saw the object when fellow-employee, Willis Hughes called from his home to say something was hovering over the transformer yard.
"I went out by myself to take a look," Wills recounted in an interview with FATE, "and there it was, hovering about 1500 feet in the air and about 200 yards from me.
"It was a round saucer-shaped object about 25 to 30 feet in diameter. It looked like a high-intensity red light with a lot of lights coming out of what seemed to be portholes. The lights were flashing and causing a spinning effect. I couldn't see any image of its bottom, which may have been concave, I'm not sure. I kept walking and got to within 100 yards of it. I looked at it for two or three minutes until it darted behind the power plant almost like a blur. I went north of the power plant to see where it had gone and found it hovering over a water intake pump on the other side of the station. I stood there for a couple of minutes and watched it."
Wills' vigil was interrupted by a phone call from another employee (not Hughes) who wanted to know what was going on. By the time Wills got off the phone and enlisted two other men to go outside with him the UFO was gone.
Wills then called Hughes who informed him the object had flown across the river and disappeared into the Missouri hills. Within minutes, however, Wills and his crew saw four jet planes making passes over the plant area as if searching.
"The most amazing part," Wills says, " is the way this object moved rapidly with no effort and perfectly silently. I just can't get over that. I don't know what it was but I know this much: we don't have anything like this. "
Wills claimed that a nearly identical object appeared over Grand Tower nearly a month later, on the evening of April 16.
On the night of Wills' first encounter, March 22, back in Piedmont newsman Dennis Kenney of local radio station KPWB saw "a big orange light, glowing from white to orange. it appeared to just go out and then would come back on." Gary Sutton, who was with him, snapped eight pictures of it with a 35mm Petri camera loaded with black-and-white infrared film. These photographs show a ball-shaped object with a bright glowing band across its midsection. This sighting took place at 7:30 P.M.
Three hours earlier, at 4:30, a UFO had made a rare daytime appearance. Joe King of Mill Spring and Ron Miller of Piedmont, both students at Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau), were traveling along Highway 34 near Patterson (eight miles east of Piedmont) when they noticed an oval-shaped object above the nearby treetops. The UFO, "metallic" in appearance, flat on the bottom with a dome on the top, was moving rapidly and leaving no vapor trail.
The following evening, Friday, March 23, Leonard Adams and his 13-year-old daughter Alma of Piedmont encountered a "high-intensity, bright white light" at 7:10.
"It blinked on and off," Alma recounted, "and every time it blinked it shot up 10 feet. When it got about 300 to 500 feet in the air red and green lights came on and then the object flew horizontally.
"Actually the red and green lights were very dull in comparison with the white light, which was so intense that our eyes couldn't adjust to it. The light was almost blinding. The farther away the object got, the better you could see the other lights."
The UFO passed over radio station KPWB, which was not on the air at the time. The next morning the station was unable to sign on because one of its transformers had blown out. Hayden Hewes of IUFOB believes the Adamses' UFO may. have had something to do with the malfunction but the station's news director Dennis Hovis, who has conducted his own exhaustive probe into the Brushy Creek flap, disagrees. "It could have been from any number of causes," he says.
FATE could not confirm any reports of so-called electromagnetic effects but Hovis assured us that some local residents told him of radio and television interference when a UFO was close by. "These people say that when the TV starts rolling and reception gets bad, they can go outside and see a flying object," Hovis says, adding that some witnesses have heard sounds from the objects -- "a sort of high-speed drilling sound."
Among other reports Hovis has collected is one from a Patterson farm family who heard a high-pitched drilling sound which began around 10 o'clock in the evening all during April. Sometimes it was so loud it shook their house. Too frightened to go outside, they had not, at the time of this writing, discovered its cause. Hovis refuses to release their names to us, explaining that the family in question gave the story to him in confidence.
The single most important UFO sighting occurred on April 3 in the daylight. It involved a landing of sorts and provided some physical evidence.
Mrs. Raymond Stucker of Ellsinore traveling down Highway 60 at about noon "saw this thing in the air off to the side of the road," she told IUFOB investigators. ". . . It looked like something I never saw before. It was round, with the exception of a dome on top . . . three . . . one on top of the other. (*Hewes explains that this means the object had three Pyramiding domes on top, each one smaller than the one below It.) It appeared to have a dull band or something going around the center. The bottom had something like a tripod landing gear.
"The object was hovering just above treetop level off to the right of the road . . . There is a possibility that it came up from the ground and stopped right above the trees."
She said the UFO was silent and appeared to be made of aluminum.
Two days later Mrs. Stucker led IUFOB officials to the area where they found trees in a 35- foot circle turned counter-clockwise with some of their tips broken off. Geiger counters failed to pick up any unusual radiation but they found a mysterious "ash" near the tops of the trees although there was no evidence the trees had burned.
On Friday, April 13, newsman Hovis and a physicist from Southeast Missouri State University (who has asked not to be identified) made four sightings in the space of three and a half hours. The skeptical scientist had come from Cape Girardeau to see the UFOs for himself and he was not disappointed.
Hovis and the physicist had set up a telescope with a degree-finder on the side in an area near Black River seven miles south-east of Piedmont. At 7:18 P.M. the men saw what Hovis calls "a light -- no visible body or object attached to it -- white in color with some yellow." It was moving from north to south at a 10-degree angle off the horizon. The unnamed physicist speculated it might be a satellite.
At 7:28 a similar light appeared, moving in the same direction, five degrees off the horizon.
This time the scientist suggested that the booster had followed the satellite into orbit.
But by 9:30 when the third object cruised across the sky the man's faith in satellites was shaken. This object was traveling south to north, 10 degrees off the horizon and for a brief period it flew toward the witnesses before resuming its northbound course. A fourth UFO, heading from north to south at 10 degrees off the horizon, passed by at 10:45, leaving behind a deeply perplexed scientist.
While no one has reported seeing UFO occupants Reggie Bone does have a strange story to relate of something he, his wife and two other couples saw around Christmastime in 1971 when they were driving down a little-traveled road in a deserted section of the Brushy Creek area. The time was about 2:00 A.M. "Suddenly," Bone says, "we saw this fellow walking up the road toward us in a frogman's outfit. He was wearing flippers or something resembling them on his feet and he was carrying something in his hands.
"We couldn't see very well -- visibility was poor -- so we couldn't see his face but his body was completely covered. The suit didn't look wet. Black River is about a quarter-mile away from the road but it's rather inaccessible from the point where we ran into this figure.
"The temperature was well below freezing and I don't know of anyone who lives in that area. We were so taken aback that nobody even said anything for several miles. Finally somebody asked, 'Did you see that?'"
Bone, with Hovis, has carefully studied the local UFO situation and does not necessarily connect the figure with the mysterious aerial phenomena but he does admit that the recent sightings recalled the earlier incident to his mind. He says he and Hovis found that UFOs have been seen regularly in the more remote sections of Brushy Creek since 1967.
To the UFOlogist, Bone's 1971 encounter is reminiscent of numerous landing reports that include beings dressed in what witnesses almost invariably describe as "diving suits." A more mundane explanation for this incident may exist but the story deserves being recorded here for whatever it may be worth. Dennis Hovis offers the only possible commentary on Brushy Creek's flying saucer onslaught: "I don't know what we're seeing but I do know we're seeing something. It's not swamp gas and it's not satellites either. On the other hand, I can't say they're aliens -- I'm just a newsman, not a scientist.
"All I'll say is this, this is some kind of aerial phenomenon. It's simply unexplainable. From the reading I've done lately, I guess that these things always have been around and no one anywhere has ever been able to explain them."

Quora:

• https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-1973-Piedmont-Lights-UFO-incident

MUFON:

• Original: https://mufon.com/piedmont-missouri-case---1973.html
• Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20170207162058/https://mufon.com/piedmont-missouri-case---1973.html

Missing conversation

I cannot find the conversation now on /UFOs where I saw the mention of the ranch and Marleys Woods. I would appreciate that if you know, you can link it, so that I can update this post.
The gist of the discussion was people going through a very recent documents release, and someone very particularly noted the intersection of these places. I thought I had commented there, but apparently not.

Hey all - 38M, USA. Date format is US.
Made a new account for this site, I don't have anyone who vapes/had vaped to share with. I share with my lovely wife who is the best thing to ever happen to me. And she's very happy for me, but I'm not sure she understands the difficulty of quitting nicotine. Health anxiety section is at the bottom. If you are experiencing that and want some reassurance, go to the bottom. If you don't want to see that, please don't go to the bottom (fluids, anxiety, fear of death - warnings)
It is with great pleasure that I announce I'm Vape free for 60 days, Nicotine free for 10 days!!!! I did it! I'm hoping this post is helpful in addition to being celebratory (I've been surfing your subreddit without an account, seems help is a good thing).
My Full nic scenario:

• Started smoking cigarettes my sophomore year of college. 2007.
• 'Pack every 2 days' smoker for 10 years, til 2017.
• Switched to a regular vape thinking that could end the habit for me, in 2017.
• Used the regular vape until 2021, when I heard about nic salts. Though stronger, my thought was I'd hit it less and put less into my lungs.
• Used Salt vape until 2024. Sometimes 25%, sometimes 35%, very rarely 50% nic.
• Finally just said I'd had enough. I have NAFLD (Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) and I got to thinking that its about time I stop putting garbage into my body. Whether or not nic got filtered by the liver didn't matter to me, still doesn't, I just wanted to be better.

My Full quit scenario (minus the anxiety which I've parsed out below):

• Put down the vape on 2/15/2024. I put it down on TOP of the trash in my office. Strategically right on top... somehow mentally twisting that into "well its gone but not REALLY and its not touching gross stuff so if I need it..." that's a really perverted and twisted mental gymnastic right there.
• Bought Nicorette gum on 2/15/2024. Both 2mg and 4mg. Used strictly the 4mg for the time being. Hard to get used to not chewing it, but I eventually got used to it. The sweet relief of feeling it course through my gums was heavenly.
• Bought a FUM device. The helpfulness of this device was immense, but only for a week or so. Is it worth the money? I don't know. But it took care of the hand to mouth issue for me. I bought the FUM device online, it came to my house on 2/17/2024, and I 'used' 3 of the four aroma-inserts before just not taking it out of the drawer anymore. Now it just sits there. I think combined with nic gum the FUM can be VERY powerful in helping you quit. Its very expensive for such a short term use.
• Finally threw my office trash away on 2/17/2024. Did not take the vape out to use it between 2/15 and 2/17. Felt good about that.
• Just about 2 weeks into chewing the gum, near the end of February, I started to feel sick. I'm wondering if I swallow too much of the nicotine, or if the 4mg is making me ill, or what. Dizzy, like I'm floating around my own house outside of my body. So I start phasing in the 2mg.
• I chew the 2mg for a solid month. Towards the end of March, I begin to notice that I'm feeling ill again. It is in that moment I realize "wow, it might actually work as prescribed, its starting to make me feel sick"
• AS of 4/05/2024. I chewed my last piece of nic gum. It wasn't some "this is the final piece" thing, I just forgot to chew it the next morning. I woke up on 4/06/2024, and only after four hours did I realize "wonder why I'm pacing around". and I realized, I forgot the gum. So I said "eh, I'll get over the pacing" and I did.
• As of 4/15/2024, today, I mark 2 months without the vape, and 10 days without any form of nicotine.
• As of 4/15/2024, today, I also mark 2 weeks without combusting cannabis products. I am still dry-herb vaporizing, and intend to switch fully to edibles, but its a start. Why did I do that? I wanted to see if that would also reduce my "cough up" grossness. and it has. I rarely cough at all now.

HEALTH ANXIETY TRIGGERS POTENTILLY BELOW

• The first few weeks of quitting, I was coughing up some gnarly stuff. and I mean NASTY stuff. It looked like... if you've ever seen a jellyfish washed up on the beach and its head (whatever the bell part is) is covered in like, some sort of slime?? That's what I was coughing up. It felt like I could mason together some bricks and they'd stick. It was clear, but had tons of brown and green spots in it. I felt like my chest was fighting an infection. If you google "quit weed coughing up (insert color)" some of my production looked like that. Gnarly stuff.
• The Jelly-like cough has since waned, I still occasionally cough up tiny TINY flecks of brown (minus the jelly) and I think its just my cilia clearing themselves out. I have a PCP (Primary Care Provider) appointment in a few weeks just to confirm.
• I had chest pain, on one side, right side. It would radiate to my back. This is where I get health anxiety, I start googling stuff (Don't do that if you are an anxious person. DONT), I presume the worst. My sheer coincidence or otherwise, the pinch in my chest and shoulder has largely gone away. Gallbladder, NAFLD, lung healing itself, could've been anything. Anxiety can make your chest pain worse, which can make your anxiety worse, which makes your chest pain even worse... it just spirals.
• I had profound bouts of crying. For the first week I was so stressed all the time, yelling at my dog, being short with my wife. She understood. Poor pup was probably like "wtf dude... what's your problem".

Welp. I don't even think about the vape anymore. Haven't in 3 weeks. First time I even remembered it was coming to these forums and reading about other peoples journeys. Today I've decided to share mine. I'll say the ole anecdote that everyone here says even though youre tired of hearing it. Cuz its true.
If I can quit this shit, you can too. I was sucking on that salt vape ALL DAY. I work from home. ALL. DAY. LONG. During calls, out of calls, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the car. Doesnt matter. ALL. DAY. Right before I went to sleep too, the last waking breath I took wasnt Oxygen, it was vape juice from that poisonous teat I was suckin from like a runt wolf.
You got this folks. You got this. Be better for your family. Be better for yourself.

Hey all - 38M, USA. Date format is US.
Made a new account for this site, I don't have anyone who vapes/had vaped to share with. I share with my lovely wife who is the best thing to ever happen to me. And she's very happy for me, but I'm not sure she understands the difficulty of quitting nicotine. Health anxiety section is at the bottom. If you are experiencing that and want some reassurance, go to the bottom. If you don't want to see that, please don't go to the bottom (fluids, anxiety, fear of death - warnings)
It is with great pleasure that I announce I'm Vape free for 60 days, Nicotine free for 10 days!!!! I did it! I'm hoping this post is helpful in addition to being celebratory (I've been surfing your subreddit without an account, seems help is a good thing).
My Full nic scenario:

• Started smoking cigarettes my sophomore year of college. 2007.
• 'Pack every 2 days' smoker for 10 years, til 2017.
• Switched to a regular vape thinking that could end the habit for me, in 2017.
• Used the regular vape until 2021, when I heard about nic salts. Though stronger, my thought was I'd hit it less and put less into my lungs.
• Used Salt vape until 2024. Sometimes 25%, sometimes 35%, very rarely 50% nic.
• Finally just said I'd had enough. I have NAFLD (Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) and I got to thinking that its about time I stop putting garbage into my body. Whether or not nic got filtered by the liver didn't matter to me, still doesn't, I just wanted to be better.

My Full quit scenario (minus the anxiety which I've parsed out below):

• Put down the vape on 2/15/2024. I put it down on TOP of the trash in my office. Strategically right on top... somehow mentally twisting that into "well its gone but not REALLY and its not touching gross stuff so if I need it..." that's a really perverted and twisted mental gymnastic right there.
• Bought Nicorette gum on 2/15/2024. Both 2mg and 4mg. Used strictly the 4mg for the time being. Hard to get used to not chewing it, but I eventually got used to it. The sweet relief of feeling it course through my gums was heavenly.
• Bought a FUM device. The helpfulness of this device was immense, but only for a week or so. Is it worth the money? I don't know. But it took care of the hand to mouth issue for me. I bought the FUM device online, it came to my house on 2/17/2024, and I 'used' 3 of the four aroma-inserts before just not taking it out of the drawer anymore. Now it just sits there. I think combined with nic gum the FUM can be VERY powerful in helping you quit. Its very expensive for such a short term use.
• Finally threw my office trash away on 2/17/2024. Did not take the vape out to use it between 2/15 and 2/17. Felt good about that.
• Just about 2 weeks into chewing the gum, near the end of February, I started to feel sick. I'm wondering if I swallow too much of the nicotine, or if the 4mg is making me ill, or what. Dizzy, like I'm floating around my own house outside of my body. So I start phasing in the 2mg.
• I chew the 2mg for a solid month. Towards the end of March, I begin to notice that I'm feeling ill again. It is in that moment I realize "wow, it might actually work as prescribed, its starting to make me feel sick"
• AS of 4/05/2024. I chewed my last piece of nic gum. It wasn't some "this is the final piece" thing, I just forgot to chew it the next morning. I woke up on 4/06/2024, and only after four hours did I realize "wonder why I'm pacing around". and I realized, I forgot the gum. So I said "eh, I'll get over the pacing" and I did.
• As of 4/15/2024, today, I mark 2 months without the vape, and 10 days without any form of nicotine.
• As of 4/15/2024, today, I also mark 2 weeks without combusting cannabis products. I am still dry-herb vaporizing, and intend to switch fully to edibles, but its a start. Why did I do that? I wanted to see if that would also reduce my "cough up" grossness. and it has. I rarely cough at all now.

HEALTH ANXIETY TRIGGERS POTENTILLY BELOW

• The first few weeks of quitting, I was coughing up some gnarly stuff. and I mean NASTY stuff. It looked like... if you've ever seen a jellyfish washed up on the beach and its head (whatever the bell part is) is covered in like, some sort of slime?? That's what I was coughing up. It felt like I could mason together some bricks and they'd stick. It was clear, but had tons of brown and green spots in it. I felt like my chest was fighting an infection. If you google "quit weed coughing up (insert color)" some of my production looked like that. Gnarly stuff.
• The Jelly-like cough has since waned, I still occasionally cough up tiny TINY flecks of brown (minus the jelly) and I think its just my cilia clearing themselves out. I have a PCP (Primary Care Provider) appointment in a few weeks just to confirm.
• I had chest pain, on one side, right side. It would radiate to my back. This is where I get health anxiety, I start googling stuff (Don't do that if you are an anxious person. DONT), I presume the worst. My sheer coincidence or otherwise, the pinch in my chest and shoulder has largely gone away. Gallbladder, NAFLD, lung healing itself, could've been anything. Anxiety can make your chest pain worse, which can make your anxiety worse, which makes your chest pain even worse... it just spirals.
• I had profound bouts of crying. For the first week I was so stressed all the time, yelling at my dog, being short with my wife. She understood. Poor pup was probably like "wtf dude... what's your problem".

​
Welp. I don't even think about the vape anymore. Haven't in 3 weeks. First time I even remembered it was coming to these forums and reading about other peoples journeys. Today I've decided to share mine. I'll say the ole anecdote that everyone here says even though youre tired of hearing it. Cuz its true.
If I can quit this shit, you can too. I was sucking on that salt vape ALL DAY. I work from home. ALL. DAY. LONG. During calls, out of calls, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the car. Doesnt matter. ALL. DAY. Right before I went to sleep too, the last waking breath I took wasnt Oxygen, it was vape juice from that poisonous teat I was suckin from like a runt wolf.
You got this folks. You got this. Be better for your family. Be better for yourself.
​

I notice that this isn't really discussed much here, but I felt it might be worth mentioning to folks in this forum that when you're working with chemicals that let off VOCs (like many epoxy resins) you can use a carbon filter and duct fan to significantly reduce the level of VOCs in your work area. A proper 4" or 6" fan/filter combo can be had for a reasonable price online.
Whether you're directly venting outside, or recirculating the air in your environment, it's worth getting a filter to help deal with both the VOCs and the smell if you work with resin on a semi-regular basis. Though I'd personally recommend trying to vent outside through a proper filtration system where possible, that's not always an option for everyone. This will help keep both you and other living things in your home/neighbourhood safer.
Unless you're using a proper fume hood it is still worth mentioning that you want to use a respirator with organic vapor rated filters like these 3M Organic Vapor Filters. If you read up on these filters you'll see that they also use carbon to deal with organic vapor. Though you could potentially build a fume hood at home, it's not recommended unless you know what you're doing.
I actually came across this subreddit while looking to get an artist to potentially do commission work for my company, and to help gauge whether it might be worth investing in someone I know and am close to locally to get them going with resin work. So while I'm not really a dice maker myself, I do a lot of hobby work with chemicals, and so I wanted to drop a small post to help (hopefully) keep everyone a little healthier and safer.
If the product or chemicals you're working with let off VOCs you'll almost definitely benefit from actively filtering the vapor in any situation. This applies to a lot of paints, glues, etc as well.

a question for other guitarists/anyone who plays an instrument made of wood or other hygroscopic (just learned this word: the property of absorbing water vapor from air) material:
how do you protect your instruments from humidity? it's the beginning of the rainy and humid seasons in the northeast and i am hoping to end my streak of trashing a guitar every year by learning to take better care of it. my main worry right now is humidity. what do yall do/have you done that's worked?
i'm gonna try this: https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=463489
it's just silica gel packs inside two little burlap/cotton pouches sewn together so they can hang over the strings and not fall in the soundhole. curious if anyone's tried this and if it was successful? or if you've done something similar with different materials? i don't wanna buy one of those d'addario ones or whatever cause...ot's basically just silica packs in a cloth bag for like a million dollars (compared to the price of basically free).
when i used to ride trains and sleep rough every night i would just rap my guitar in a contractor bag when it was raining but i kinda think that mostly just kept moisture in. not really sure what to do if my gig bag (can't use a case cause of weight/bulk - i have lots of injuries) gets wet - like how do you more aggressively dry a guitar that's gotten exposed to more than just humidity/atmospheric vapor? at least now i'm homebumming and can just put my guitar in the storage unit if i know it's gonna rain a lot. but still there's always dew :0 at least now that i'm a homebum i have a camp and can rock a tent and shit :p yay movin up
i also found this list if others are looking for a similar solution/want to or have tried other materials:
https://www.thespruce.com/diy-dehumidifier-5104638
anyways be safe everyone cheers

a question for other guitarists/anyone who plays an instrument made of wood or other hygroscopic (just learned this word: the property of absorbing water vapor from air) material:
how do you protect your instruments from humidity? it's the beginning of the rainy and humid seasons in the northeast and i am hoping to end my streak of trashing a guitar every year by learning to take better care of it. my main worry right now is humidity. what do yall do/have you done that's worked?
i'm gonna try this: https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=463489
it's just silica gel packs inside two little burlap/cotton pouches sewn together so they can hang over the strings and not fall in the soundhole. curious if anyone's tried this and if it was successful? or if you've done something similar with different materials? i don't wanna buy one of those d'addario ones or whatever cause...ot's basically just silica packs in a cloth bag for like a million dollars (compared to the price of basically free).
when i used to ride trains and sleep rough every night i would just rap my guitar in a contractor bag when it was raining but i kinda think that mostly just kept moisture in. not really sure what to do if my gig bag (can't use a case cause of weight/bulk - i have lots of injuries) gets wet - like how do you more aggressively dry a guitar that's gotten exposed to more than just humidity/atmospheric vapor? at least now i'm homebumming and can just put my guitar in the storage unit if i know it's gonna rain a lot. but still there's always dew :0 at least now that i'm a homebum i have a camp and can rock a tent and shit :p yay movin up
i also found this list if others are looking for a similar solution/want to or have tried other materials:
https://www.thespruce.com/diy-dehumidifier-5104638
anyways be safe everyone cheers

Ah pet mods... they are a fun thing that is limited solely by ur creativity such as new gimicks, a rebalancing of a meta, or some wacky things like a adv crossover with other gens . There are many fun things to do there.
Sooo what is vaporemons? well it is a "Welcome to VaporeMons, the third mod in the SylveMons series! Like JolteMons last generation, this mod looks to add and change moves, items, and abilities to create a more interesting Gen 9 OU metagame. Pokémon can also be given non-stat adjustments."
You can add a lot of changes like changing an item like big root to give a 30% power boost to draining moves, an ability like overcoat which now gives hazard immunity, new moves being added or reworked like round/rollout being a u-turn clone, or pokemon being reworked like gengar having neutralizing gas, crabominable being a watefighting with fur coat, or palafin now requiring a kill to transform.
Vaporemons is a pretty fun pet mod with a 5 day submission phase, 1 day voting phase, 1 day distribution phase, and usually is on a cycle with tours in between. tour #1, tour #2, tour #3, with the latest one being the baxcalibur suspect test another tour.
You should join the discord of vaporemons or check out the pet mod thread if you want to join in on the fun. There are many things to potentially do.
You can even check the full document of what they changed here, with every change being mentioned of who got a new move, who got the ability, who got reworked, etc

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Dark Age of Camelot
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Heli Heroes
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America's Army
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Live for Speed
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Medieval: Total War
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Paradise Cracked
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Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra
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Crimsonland
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One Must Fall: Battlegrounds
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Premier Manager 2002/2003 Season
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Line of Sight: Vietnam
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MapleStory
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Enter the Matrix
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Pure Pinball
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Colin McRae Rally 3
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MotoGP 2
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Midnight Club II
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Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight
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Republic: The Revolution
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AquaNox 2: Revelation
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Kreed
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No Man's Land
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Homeworld 2
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Conflict: Desert Storm II
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Gun Metal
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Halo: Combat Evolved
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Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
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MTV Celebrity Deathmatch
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Bionicle: The Game
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Battle Engine Aquila
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Dead to Rights
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Need for Speed: Underground
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Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance
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Hot Wheels World Race
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Premier Manager 2003-04
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Armed and Dangerous
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Beyond Good & Evil
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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
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Legacy of Kain: Defiance
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Airborne Troops: Countdown to D-Day
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Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller
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Kill Switch
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Bad Boys: Miami Takedown
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Battlefield Vietnam
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Breed
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Colin McRae Rally 04
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Painkiller
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Crusader Kings
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I-Ninja
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CSI: Miami
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Beyond Divinity
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Perimeter
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Pac-Man World 2
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Alias
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Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
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Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising
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Codename: Panzers - Phase One
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Asterix & Obelix XXL
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Ground Control II: Operation Exodus
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Mabinogi
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Kreed: Battle for Savitar
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Puyo Puyo Fever
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Chaos League
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Mashed
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John Deere: American Farmer
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Army Men: Sarge's War
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Catwoman
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Chessmaster 10th Edition
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Medieval Lords: Build, Defend, Expand
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18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal
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Conflict: Vietnam
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Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
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Full Spectrum Warrior
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Kohan II: Kings of War
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Colin McRae Rally 2005
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Evil Genius
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Myst IV: Revelation
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Aladdin Chess Adventures
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Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
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Counter-Strike: Source
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Club Football 2005
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LMA Professional Manager 2005
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Ford Racing 3
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Men of Valor
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Axis & Allies (2004)
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Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
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FlatOut
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Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
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Children of the Nile
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Need for Speed: Underground 2
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Project Freedom
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Pool Shark 2
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Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge
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MTX: Mototrax
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Half-Life 2
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Half-Life: Source
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Fire Department 2
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Jets'n'Guns
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PC Fútbol 2005
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Armies of Exigo
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JBMod
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Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
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Bad Mojo Redux
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Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
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Battlestrike: The Road to Berlin
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Garry's Mod
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Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure
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Bratz: Rock Angelz
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Garfield's It's All About Thinking Skills
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John Deere: North American Farmer
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Living World Racing
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Playboy: The Mansion
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Country Justice: Revenge of the Rednecks
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Constantine
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Project Snowblind
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MVP Baseball 2005
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Darwinia
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GTR - FIA GT Racing Game
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Act of War: Direct Action
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Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
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Driv3r
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Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich
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Close Quarters Conflict
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CT Special Forces: Fire for Effect
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Elite Warriors: Vietnam
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Hellforces
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Cold Fear
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Dynasty Warriors 4: Hyper
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Lego Star Wars: The Video Game
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Psychonauts
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Guild Wars
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Dungeon Lords
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Maniac Mansion Mania
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7 Sins
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Daemonica
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Imperial Glory
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Delta Force: Xtreme
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Boiling Point: Road to Hell
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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
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Cross Racing Championship 2005
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Earth 2160
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Area 51 (2005)
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Pathologic
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Juiced
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Battlefield 2
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Lula 3D
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Fantastic 4
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Midnight Outlaw: 6 Hours to SunUp
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
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Brian Lara International Cricket 2005
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Codename: Panzers - Phase Two
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Narcissu
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Battle of Europe
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Dead to Rights II
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Dungeon Siege II
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Night Watch
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Neuro Hunter
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JetFighter 2015
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Conflict: Global Terror
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Evil Dead: Regeneration
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Fahrenheit
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Fable: The Lost Chapters
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Myst V: End of Ages
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Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
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Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport
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Day of Defeat: Source
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Asterix & Obelix XXL 2
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Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures
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Garfield: Saving Arlene
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Blitzkrieg 2
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Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
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Battlestrike: The Siege
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Black & White 2
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Rag Doll Kung Fu
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GT Legends
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Age of Empires III
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F.E.A.R.
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Adrenalin: Extreme Show
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Call of Duty 2
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Namco Museum 50th
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Chaos League: Sudden Death
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Ankh
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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Gun
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Law & Order: Criminal Intent
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Need for Speed: Most Wanted
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Peter Jackson's King Kong
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Peter Jackson's King Kong Gamer's Edition
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Operation: Matriarchy
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Combat Wings
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Knights of the Temple II
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Gene Troopers
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Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
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Hard Truck Apocalypse
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Onimusha 3
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Pac-Man World 3
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Hammer & Sickle
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Liquidator 2: Welcome to Hell
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Catz
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DMZ: North Korea
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Dogz
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John Deere: American Builder Deluxe
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John Deere: American Farmer Deluxe
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Kabus 22
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Rat Hunter
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MX vs. ATV Unleashed
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25 to Life
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Curious George
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L.A. Rush
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Bode Miller Alpine Skiing
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Classic British Motor Racing
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Jacked
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Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition
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Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords
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Crashday
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Dungeons & Dragons Online
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PSI: Syberian Conflict
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Empires
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Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
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Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
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Commandos: Strike Force
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Act of War: High Treason
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Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
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Blazing Angels
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Fire Department 3
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Condemned: Criminal Origins
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Dreamfall
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Desperados 2
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Over the Hedge
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Evolution GT
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Heroes of Might and Magic V
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Darkstar One
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Hitman: Blood Money
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Half-Life 2: Episode One
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Cars
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NFL Head Coach
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Micro Machines V4
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OutRun 2006
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Devil May Cry 3
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FlatOut 2
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Outlaw Chopper
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CivCity: Rome
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Pac-Man World Rally
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GTI Racing
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Reservoir Dogs
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Call of Juarez
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Faces of War
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Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Alaskan Adventure
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Caesar IV
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Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales
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Company of Heroes
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Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death
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Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel Special Edition
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ParaWorld
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Combat Wings: Battle of Britain
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Ford Street Racing
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Jaws Unleashed
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LMA Manager 2007
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El Matador
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Mage Knight: Apocalypse
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GTR 2 - FIA GT Racing Game
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Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle
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Heroes of Annihilated Empires
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Death to Spies
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Battlefield 2142
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Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
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Microsoft Flight Simulator X
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Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
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Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
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Ankh: Heart of Osiris
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Anno 1701
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Neverwinter Nights 2
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Dynasty Warriors Online Z
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Paris Chase
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Alarm for Cobra 11
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Planet Alcatraz
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Deal or No Deal
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Made Man
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Left Behind: Eternal Forces
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D.I.R.T.: Origin of the Species
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Arma: Armed Assault
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Medieval II: Total War
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Bionicle Heroes
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Eragon
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Happy Feet
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Bass Pro Shops: Trophy Hunter
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RACE - The WTCC Game
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Harley-Davidson: Race to the Rally
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L.A. Street Racing
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Rayman Raving Rabbids
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Alpha Prime
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3D Instructor
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Cinema Empire
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Limbo of the Lost
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Petz Horsez 2
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Mr. Robot
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Arthur and the Invisibles
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Europa Universalis III
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Ascension to the Throne
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Battlestations: Midway
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Chess Titans
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Purble Place
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Little Britain: The Video Game
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Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins
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Redneck Kentucky and the Next Generation Chickens
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Myst Online: Uru Live
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Marine Sharpshooter 3
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Infernal
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Jade Empire: Special Edition
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Resident Evil 4
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Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
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Bus Driver
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Brian Lara International Cricket 2007
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Left Behind: Tribulation Forces
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Alvin and the Chipmunks
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Ancient Wars: Sparta
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Cellfactor: Revolution
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Day Watch
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Halo 2
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Adrenalin 2: Rush Hour
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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
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Helldorado
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Bet on Soldier: Black-out Saigon
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Hospital Tycoon
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Colin McRae: DiRT
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
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Driver: Parallel Lines
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Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
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Overlord
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Ratatouille
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Dead Reefs
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Nitro Stunt Racing
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A Tale of Two Kingdoms
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Mountain of Faith
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Need for Speed: Carbon
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BioShock
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7.62 High Calibre
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Exodus from the Earth
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Knytt Stories
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Fantasy Wars
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Blackwell Unbound
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Medal of Honor: Airborne
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ObsCure II
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BMW M3 Challenge
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Fortress Forever
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Osu!
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Ducati World Championship
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Everlight: Of Magic & Power
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Diabolik: The Original Sin
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Portal
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Half-Life 2: Episode Two
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RACE 07 - Official WTCC Game
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Rail Simulator
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Hard to Be a God
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Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition
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Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
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Bee Movie Game
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Clive Barker's Jericho
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Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy
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Escape from Paradise City
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Cars Mater-National Championship
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Avencast
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Painkiller (all)
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Hellgate: London
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Empire Earth III
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F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
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Gears of War
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Dusk 12
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BlackSite: Area 51
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Beowulf
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Crysis 1, 2, 3
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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
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Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
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Need for Speed: ProStreet
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Petz Catz 2
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A Farewell to Dragons
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Hot Wheels: Beat That!
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Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
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Ankh: Battle of the Gods
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Deal or No Deal: Secret Vault Games
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Flying Red Barrel: The Diary of a Little Aviator
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Černaja Metka
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Oval Office: Commander in Chief
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FSR: French Street Racing
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Conflict: Denied Ops
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Kiss Before Midnight
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John Deere: Drive Green
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Audiosurf
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Hour of Victory
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Harvest: Massive Encounter
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Operation Thunderstorm
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Ninja Reflex
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Lexus ISF Track Time
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Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon
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Assassin's Creed
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Facewound
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Europa Universalis: Rome
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Citroën C4 Robot
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Dream Pinball 3D
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King's Bounty: The Legend
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Project Torque
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Elements of Destruction
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Iron Man
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Dracula: Origin
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Ascension to the Throne: Valkyrie
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Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition
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Mass Effect
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Outcry
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Nikita: The Mystery of the Hidden Treasure
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Race Driver: Grid
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Kung Fu Panda
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Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
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Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
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Edna & Harvey: The Breakout
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Insecticide
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Petz Horsez 2 (2008)
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Alone in the Dark (2008)
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Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm
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Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice
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Beijing 2008
​
Devil May Cry 4
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Dynasty Warriors 6
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Marine Sharpshooter 4: Locked and Loaded
​
American McGee's Grimm
​
Drakensang: The Dark Eye
​
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage
​
Euro Truck Simulator
​
Bionic Commando Rearmed
​
Premier Manager 09
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Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island
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Enemy Engaged 2: Desert Operations
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Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
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Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals
​
Mount & Blade
​
Crysis Warhead
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Ford Racing: Off Road
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Lego Batman: The Videogame
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Collapse
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Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
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Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
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Dead Space
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Bully: Scholarship Edition
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NHL 09
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MorphX
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Fallout 3
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MySims
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Petz Horse Club
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007: Quantum of Solace
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High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance
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Madagascar
​
Petz Sports
​
Call of Duty: World at War
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Evil Resistance
​
Left 4 Dead
​
Bolt
​
Legendary
​
Need for Speed: Undercover
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Neopets: Puzzle Adventure
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Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual
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Crash Time 2
​
A Vampyre Story
​
Grand Ages: Rome
​
Grand Theft Auto 4 & 5
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Prince of Persia
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DYSNOMIA
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Bundeskanzler
​
Cooking Academy 2: World Cuisine
​
Mirror's Edge
​
District Wars
​
Burnout Paradise
​
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
​
Art of Murder - Hunt for the Puppeteer
​
Art of Murder - Cards of Destiny
​
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
​
Armed Forces Corp.
​
Ceville
​
Cryostasis
​
NecroVisioN
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Empire: Total War
​
Codename: Panzers - Cold War
​
Men of War
​
Command & Conquer (all)
​
Hidden Target
​
Faerie Solitaire
​
Dark Sector
​
Monsters vs. Aliens
​
Ferrari Virtual Race
​
Elven Legacy
​
Hannah Montana: The Movie
​
Braid
​
King's Bounty: Armored Princess
​
Cogs
​
Demigod
​
Close Combat: The Longest Day
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Mozart: The Conspirators of Prague
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Death Track: Resurrection
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Age of Pirates 2
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Battlestations: Pacific
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Killing Floor 1 & 2
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Damnation
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Restaurant Empire II
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AI War: Fleet Command
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Clutch
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Delta Force: Xtreme 2
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Light of Altair
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Prototype
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Ghostbusters: The Video Game
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America's Army 3
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Arma 2
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Anno 1404
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Overlord II
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Battlefield Heroes
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Droplitz
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Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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Kodu Game Lab
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Fuel
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Battlestrike: Shadow of Stalingrad
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G-Force
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Divinity II: Developer's Cut
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Guitar Hero: World Tour
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Bionic Commando (2009)
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East India Company
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Ashes Cricket 2009
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Death to Spies: Moment of Truth
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Hearts of Iron III
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100% Orange Juice!
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Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder
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Code of Honor 3: Desperate Measures
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Nation Red
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Champions Online: Free For All
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AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
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Drawn: The Painted Tower
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Dawn of Magic 2
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Pirate Hunter
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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
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Batman: Arkham Asylum
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Mini Ninjas
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Need for Speed: Shift
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Red Faction: Guerrilla
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Madballs in Babo: Invasion
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Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim
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Resident Evil 5
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Kitty Play
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18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker
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Black Mirror 2
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Premier Manager 10
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Pat & Mat
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Lucidity
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NBA 2K10
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Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
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Machinarium
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CSI: Deadly Intent
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Borderlands
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Barbie and the Three Musketeers
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League of Legends
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Painkiller: Resurrection
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Ninja Blade
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Men of War: Red Tide
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Manhunt 2
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 & 2
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GM Rally
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Dark Fall 3: Lost Souls
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Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
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Gyromancer
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Left 4 Dead 2
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King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame
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Crash Time 3
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Metal Slug Collection PC
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Musou Orochi Z
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James Cameron's Avatar: The Game
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Colin McRae: DiRT 2
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Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword
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Chronicles of Mystery - The Tree of Life
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Greed: Black Border
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Disciples III: Renaissance
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Armored Hunter Gunhound
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MechWarrior: Living Legends
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Lethal Crisis
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Combat Zone: Special Forces
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Phase Shift
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Pixeline: Jungleskatten
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German Truck Simulator
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Dark Void
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Bob Came in Pieces
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Mass Effect 2
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Cursed Mountain
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BioShock 2
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Aliens vs. Predator (2010)
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NecroVisioN: Lost Company
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Arsenal of Democracy: A Hearts of Iron Game
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Napoleon: Total War
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City Car Driving
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Disco Tycoon
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Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell's Adventure
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Alice in Wonderland
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Battlefield: Bad Company 2
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Assassin's Creed II
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Double Spoiler
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Metro 2033
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Mount & Blade: Warband
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Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
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Dark Void Zero
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Fortix
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Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
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Beat Hazard
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Pac-Man Pizza Parlor
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Eschalon: Book II
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Collapse: The Rage
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Blur
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Alpha Protocol
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Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage
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Puzzler World
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Altered Beast (Genesis)
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Ecco the Dolphin (2010)
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Hotel Collectors Edition
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Alien Breed: Impact
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Jolly Rover
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Nehrim: At Fate's Edge
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Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
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Puzzle Dimension
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Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
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APB Reloaded
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Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent
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Moonbase Alpha
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Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge
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Mytheon
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Blacklight: Tango Down
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Alien Swarm
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Need for Speed: World
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Rabbids Go Home
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RefRain - Prism Memories
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Croixleur
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Fairy Wars
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Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
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BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
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Black Sails - The Ghost Ship
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Mafia II
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Chime
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Ferrari Virtual Academy
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King's Bounty: Crossworlds
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Patrician IV: Conquest by Trade
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Alien Breed 2: Assault
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Darksiders
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Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard
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Lost Horizon
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Dead Rising 2
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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
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Final Fantasy XIV Online (2010)
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Axel & Pixel
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Front Mission Evolved
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Agricultural Simulator 2011
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Arcania: Gothic 4
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Lost Planet 2
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Medal of Honor (2010)
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Fallout: New Vegas
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DeathSpank
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Lego Universe
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Octodad
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Bit.Trip Beat
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James Bond 007: Blood Stone
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Emergency 2012
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Gray Matter
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
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Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
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Alien Breed 3: Descent
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Poker Night at the Inventory
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Perpetuum
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MX vs. ATV Reflex
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DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue
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Nail'd
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Disciples III: Resurrection
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Bejeweled 3
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IREM Arcade Hits
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Greed Corp
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Back to the Future: The Game
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Clickr
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Crash Time 4: The Syndicate
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Pet Hotel Tycoon
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18 Wheels of Steel: Extreme Trucker 2
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Crimzon Clover
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Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World
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Monday Night Combat
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Dead Space 2
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Luxor 5th Passage
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Magicka
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Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm
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Bird Assassin
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Bulletstorm
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Gemini Rue
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Men of War: Assault Squad
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Painkiller: Redemption
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Bit.Trip Runner
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Crazy Taxi (2011)
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Dragon Age 1 & 2
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Battle: Los Angeles
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Cloning Clyde
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Homefront
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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
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Infinity Danger
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Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
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MIA (Mission in Asia)
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Planet Stronghold
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Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game
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Dino D-Day
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Anomaly Warzone Earth
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Black Mirror 3
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Portal 2
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Cargo! The Quest for Gravity
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Operation Flashpoint: Red River
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Hector: Badge of Carnage!
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Capsized
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Fortix 2
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Faery: Legends of Avalon
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Hydrophobia: Prophecy
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Battle vs. Chess
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Fable III
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DiRT 3
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Hunted: The Demon's Forge
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Red Faction: Armageddon
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Dracula: Love Kills
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Duke Nukem Forever
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Alice: Madness Returns
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Dungeon Siege III
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F.E.A.R. 3
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Fruit Ninja
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Puzzle Agent 2
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
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Breath of Death VII: The Beginning
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Cthulhu Saves the World
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IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover
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Game Stock Car
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E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy
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Limbo
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Pirates of Black Cove
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Drakensang Online
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Edge
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Acceleration of SUGURI 2
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Ether Vapor Remaster
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Age of Empires Online
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Bastion
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From Dust
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El Rock de tu Vida
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Deus Ex: Human Revolution
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Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD
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Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes
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Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek
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Driver: San Francisco
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Dead Island
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Call of Juarez: The Cartel
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Men of War: Vietnam
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Hard Reset
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Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad
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Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
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Nuclear Dawn
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Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~
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Fotonica
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Blackwell Deception
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MDK 2 HD
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Orcs Must Die!
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Costume Quest
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Dungeon Defenders
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Payday: The Heist
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Airline Tycoon 2
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Arcania: Fall of Setarrif
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Disney Universe
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No More Room in Hell
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NCIS
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L.A. Noire
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CastleMiner Z
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Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7
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Nitronic Rush
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Jurassic Park: The Game
Anno 2070
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Moto Racer 15th Anniversary
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Batman: Arkham City
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AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome
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Postal III
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Afterfall: InSanity
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Agricultural Simulator 2012
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English Country Tune
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Autobahn
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Fractal: Make Blooms Not War
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Assassin's Creed: Revelations
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City Racing
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FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction
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Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
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Final Combat
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7554: Glorious Memories Revived
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Q.U.B.E.
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Lethal Crisis ProtoSphere
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Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code
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Doom & Destiny
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Haunted Memories
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Bridge Constructor
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Metal Dead
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Insane 2
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Oil Rush
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Deponia
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King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame
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Law & Order: Legacies
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Analogue: A Hate Story
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Gotham City Impostors
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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
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Jagged Alliance: Back in Action
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Crusader Kings II
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Dear Esther
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Alan Wake
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Auditorium
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Painkiller: Recurring Evil
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Mass Effect 3
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Mutant Storm: Reloaded
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Lone Survivor
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3SwitcheD
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Rayman Origins
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Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle
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Blacklight: Retribution
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Legend of Grimrock
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Men of War: Condemned Heroes
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Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
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Disciples III: Reincarnation
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Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart
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Blades of Time
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A Valley Without Wind
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Binary Domain
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Nexuiz (2012)
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Gas Guzzlers: Combat Carnage
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Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants
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Odysseus: Long Way Home
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Diablo III
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Game of Thrones
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Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
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Alan Wake's American Nightmare
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Agricultural Simulator: Historical Farming
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Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure
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Mad Riders
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Home (2012)
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Max Payne 3
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AFL Live
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Brave: The Video Game
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Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
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Resonance
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Beware Planet Earth
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Ice Age: Continental Drift - Arctic Games
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Blade & Soul
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Endless Space
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1953 - KGB Unleashed
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La-Mulana
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Howlville: The Dark Past
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Anna - Extended Edition
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Prototype 2
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Cut the Rope
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Orcs Must Die! 2
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A Virus Named TOM
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Awesomenauts
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BANZAI PECAN: The Last Hope for the Young Century
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Darksiders II
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Final Fantasy VII (2012)
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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
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Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
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Jagged Alliance: Crossfire
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I Am Alive
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Intrusion 2
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Borderlands 2
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F1 2012
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Jet Set Radio
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Dogfight 1942
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Castle Crashers
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Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy
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Little Racers Street
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Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
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Cook, Serve, Delicious!
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Dishonored
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Retro City Rampage
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Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition
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Of Orcs and Men
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R.A.W. Realms of Ancient War
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​

Always liked flashlights from cub scout and boyscout days over 50 years ago. Had the olive green right angle plastic light with the silver eveready batteries...always careful to limit use since batteries were expensive! Late father always had a few lights...yellow plastic comes to mind with the silver Eveready D and sometimes C cells. He was always fiddling making sure the batteries were ok.
Fast forward to early 2000's. Maglites came out and they were so cool. Had some AA lights and then sprang for a bright blue light that took multiple D batteries. By then it seemed like Alkaline batterires were the rage.
In my sales role, I used to give out AA Maglights with my company logo. They were always highly appreciated
Will never forget my first Surefire! Dang that was bright in such a small package and suddenly it was CR123 batteries. Bought a stash of those with a carrier to keep them in.
Fast forward to a few months ago when I discovered this forum. Started buying some Wurkkos and Sofirn lights. It was all about throw! Needed regular fixes with bigger and smaller lights. Added several lights to the collection each month
Saw lots of posts about Hanklights. CCT, Warm? beams, beam quality, etc. Kind of tuned all that out while looking for throw and then added a couple soda cans. Sofirn BLF and then the Big Boy C8+. Discovered Convoy lights and their amazing value proposition and S2+ small form factor.
Always liked hunting golf balls and discovered amazing UV lights to do that with. Added a UV Beast V3 and a Sakowuf light among others.
Finally bought my first Hanklight...DS4V2.... WOW! Beautiful light with a lot of throw and flood. Needed weekly fixes of those....a green W2 came into the fold. Multiple D1K's, D1's, D4SV2, K1, KR4, new and preowned from this forum...thoroughly enjoyed my communications with Hank. Lots of happy NLD's!
Added some other unique lights- gold Wurkkos, Rainbow Colored E12C with FFL351, etc.
In parallel with flashlights, it was lots of battery purchases - Liion Wholesale, 18650 Battery and more recently VaporDNA for their Epoch 45B's. Stash all that stuff in a fishing takle box. Flashlight boxes in plastic storage boxes.
Best toy is a K1 with W2 in Blue. 10 year old across the street has inherited a number of my lights as has a buddy in a local nursing home. Love sharing my hobby with others.
More and more I began appreciating the warmer beams. My corgis look better in those and now I like flood a bit more than throw.
While, I'm not a tint or beam snob (sorry to offend anyone!); I do like the warmer beams. Latest purchase is a DS4V2 with 519 4500K DD. Can't wait for it to come in. I do think that is my favorite model.
Every morning, I head out the door with a couple or three lights...love messing around with the beams on the golf course. Some get hot quickly, so I rotate some...
Great way to start the day! Have a good one everyone!