For context the Forge World Columnus sits in the path of a massive Ork Weirdwaagh led by the powerful Ork Psyker Zagdakka. The Raven Guard have engaged the Waagh and have been harassing it to give the Forge World time to prepare its defences. When Clan Raukaan of the Iron Hands, led by Captain Kristos: a powerful and accomplished Iron Hands warleader renowned for his embrace of logic arrive to bolster the defences victory seems assured. However, as the Orks assault the fortress factory of Urdi the Iron Hands refuse to reinforce the defenders.
This excerpt is shown through an Iron Hands marine accessing a bank of data that allows him to relive the battle which is why there's a part mentioning some data being restricted. I think this excerpt is very interesting for showing a major incident within the Iron Hands when they were at their lowest point in-lore.

Having harried these orks for every metre they took towards Urdri, Stenn knew that this was no ordinary invasion.
He had heard in dispatches of the psychic energies that flowed through their Gargants – weapon grids, shields and piercing uncanny augurs – and that brought their lumpen drop ships to ground still. He had heard too of the court of warpheads with which the self-styled warpboss, Zagdakka, surrounded himself, and had lost two squads of his most experienced Scouts in a failed attempt at thinning their numbers. He saw now with his own eyes the weird energy that flowed through these greenskins in their battle-madness like some manner of psychic connective tissue, the brawn and sinew of some gestalt ork that drove them unto death with a single, overriding will.
The fire discipline of the Raven Guard and their mortal allies slaughtered greenskins every minute by the hundred, but they didn’t seem to care, hurling themselves recklessly against the Imperial guns as though possessed. Not that the blasted Iron Hands would allow for the slightest deviation from their precious calculus. Stenn sneered, his pistol emitting a final hiss as coolant jets sprayed from the weapon’s muzzle and the vents locked. He thumbed off the safety and selected rapid fire. He could teach the Iron Hands a thing or two about logic.
‘Kristos, you honourless shell, I’m talking to you.’ He raged into the vox as he seared the heaving mass of orks with plasma. Too soon, heat warnings blinked red on the pistol’s side and he was forced to flick back to vent. ‘I need reinforcements and I need them now. Now, Kristos! I want a creeping artillery barrage walking outwards from the outer wall over the southern highway and I want aeronautica backup. Kristos!’
‘Captain,’ shouted Yavid. His company standard-bearer was on one knee behind the low wall and blazing into the horde with tight semi-automatic bursts of his pistol. He jerked his beaked helm towards the wrecked loading yard to the northeast of haulage depot 764. Stenn looked to where his brother pointed.
A squad of Iron Hands Centurions, almost as well camouflaged as the Raven Guard themselves in their huge black warsuits and perfect stillness. Their hurricane bolters were unloaded and pointed at the ground or at walls, whichever direction they had happened to be facing when the strange malaise of inaction had taken them.
Stenn regarded them with fury. The few Iron Hands he had seen had been that way, ever since the unexpected psychic onslaught had levelled the south wall outright. At first he had wondered if it was a secondary effect of Zagdakka’s powers, but the Raven Guard and their mortal allies were unaffected. Yavid had a replacement eye as well as a bionic arm and he remained functional, as did the crew interfaces of their vehicles. As did the damned skitarii.
‘Kristos!’ he roared down the vox again, knowing he wasn’t going to be answered, but determined that his last words be heard just the same, even if it were only by a comatose machine. ‘And he had the nerve to tell me that the Raven Guard dragged his primarch down,’ he growled to Yavid. ‘Corvia, but I hate them. You hear that, Kristos? You think it was coincidence that found us both in the vicinity of this world? We too heard Dawnbreak’s mortis cry. The second one, the one they sent after you abandoned their world to the eldar!’
An ork ran at him. He tore its head from its shoulders with a slash of lightning claw, then incinerated two more with precise blasts from his pistol. With the meaty clash of butcher’s work, the bangs of bolter-fire diminished as orks thundered into the thin line of Space Marines. The Rhinos’ storm bolters flashed; the thudding reports dissolved into the meat of chainblades and knives and primal screams. Assault Marines leapt into the air on bursts of thrust, flung back to earth as though on elastic cords to send orks flying. Lightning claws sizzled and cracked. He was aware of men fleeing, skitarii jerking as they were cut down, but the melee had swallowed him whole.
All the feints and tricks and stratagems that had delayed the Weirdwaaagh thus far were done. Now it came down to the strength of his arm, the artifice of his armour – kill orks until there were no orks left and pray to the Throne that enough men survived to hold this line when it was done.
It was what failure looked like.

...

The Centurions moved!
There they were, silent as the blown-out repair shops through which they came, ghosts of the machine bound forever to a doomed cycle of destruction and repair. The firepower of the Centurions alone would have ripped a hole into the ork horde as wide as the gates of the Ravenspire, but six full squads of Tactical Marines also moved up through the rubble behind them. They spread out, taking fire-positions just beyond the chokepoint where Stenn’s efforts held the orks at bay.
What were they waiting for?
He saw a pair of hellfire Dreadnoughts lumbering into position either side of the smaller Centurions, and then heard the weary collapse of a pockmarked stretch of rockcrete as the glacis plate of a Redeemer pattern Land Raider drove through it. Its sponson flamestorm cannons traversed to track the flows of the ork horde, liquid promethium dribbling to the rubble floor. Stenn cursed as he punched his lightning claw through a charging ork’s ribs. Never expect an Iron Hand to commit until he was good and ready.
‘What are you waiting for?’ He shot an ork in the face as it made to barrel towards Yavid, and found himself in the sights of the nearest Iron Hands squad.
They had bolters locked and aimed, but for some reason held their fire. Their eye slits shone an ephemeral white, but they could have been decoy suits for all the urgency they showed. ‘Shoot, curse you!’

[Zagdakka's psychic powers begin to assault the Space Marines]

An ectoplasmic limb twice the girth of an armoured Space Marine manifested from the random snaps of energy and smacked down on a Raven Guard that had been about to deliver the kill shot to the ork at his feet. Stenn strained as his own adversary’s brute strength slowly pushed him towards his knees. The ork gave a roar of surprise as another great fist snatched it away and hurled it through a rockcrete wall. Stenn too cried out as, for the first few seconds of flight, the ork’s grip on his arms took him with it. He hit the ground like a grenade dropped from a Land Speeder, and clattered through wreckage until his helmet smashed into the keystone at the base of an ablutorial block and he was lumped bodily against the wall. He groaned.
Gauntlet fingers crunched through the rubble as he drew his hands under him and began to push. Then he looked up. He swore as the confusion of contradictory threat markers suddenly parted around the black shape of the Rhino that was somersaulting towards him. He dropped back to the ground, body flat, feeling the tremendous shift in air pressure as the tank turned overhead and smashed through the ablutorial wall like a rock launched from a trebuchet.
‘Kristos,’ he coughed. His helm’s respirator seals were damaged and blast debris from the demolished building was making his breath catch. ‘Engage, damn it.’
Screams penetrated the death haze. Urgent signals through vox and data-link lent it a crackling, chopped-up dimension: red lit, threat markers circling with malign intent. He discharged his pistol, full charge, then screamed aloud as something grabbed his ankle and dragged him through what was left of the ablutorial. He bumped and slid over broken tiling and then put another wild shot through a standing column as he was turned upside down and pulled into the air.
A greenish coalescence had him by the leg. A flurry of short-lived plasmic tendrils burst from his pistol, and through the force that held him as though it were a hallucination. He fired until the weapon emitted shrill overheat tones and then he fired once more.
The pistol exploded in his hand, a newborn star about half a metre across that turned his arm to a crisp and buckled his plastron with the ferocity of its birth. Yelling in delirious fury as bio-implants flooded his bloodstream with clotting factors and powerful neuralgics, he activated his jump pack. It roared, shuddered madly for several seconds, then burned out, having moved him nowhere. The force around his ankle hardened into the clear form of a fist as it dragged him over the battleground until he hung upside down in front of an enormous greenskin wreathed in psychic flame.
The ork regarded him quizzically through a pair of green-tinted goggles. It was encased in war plate of white bone, arcane sigils of alien design daubed in pink using, or so Stenn’s Scouts had reported, the mashed brains of its human captives. Its helmet was made of scrap metal and buckled tightly under its chin, a single massive spike coiled with razor wire rising from the crown like some breed of antenna. Green energy spat from the coils and swirled in the lenses of its goggles. It watched him writhe as it would a worm on its claw.
Stenn gave a grunt of pain as psychic fingers tightened around him and squeezed. ‘Damn you >> RESTRICTED DATA >> Just kill me yourself.’
His armour cracked like a sea-crustacean’s shell, blood spurting from ruptured seals as his body was crushed. He screamed, genhanced anatomy fighting a battle with pain that had been stacked well against it from the outset. ‘Emperor forgive you!’
With every scrap of conscious thought locked away in hardened centres of his brain structure he cursed the Iron Hands. He cursed the casual brutality, the bare calculation of risk versus reward. His last thoughts before those final redoubts succumbed to braindeath were not of the pain, nor of his brother Raven Guard that fell to the mind-blasts of the warpboss’ retinue, nor even of the Iron Hands themselves as they finally descended on the fray.
With the enemy leaders bottled up with the last of the Raven Guard, the Iron Hands opened fire. Tactical Marines, Centurions, Land Raiders, each warrior a cog in a war machine that sprayed fire to a perfectly choreographed maelstrom that consumed Warpboss Zagdakka, his retinue, the Raven Guard, and Stenn himself.

Objective

I have images of rugs that have had their background removed using photoroom API. But the edges of the rugs are not straight, they are wavy and sqiggly, see image below. I want to use OpenCv to make the rug into a perfect rectangle. This rug was laying flat on the floor and shot form an angle, I have already warped it using cv2.warpPerspective() but that has left me with these wavy edges.
Rug image after warpperspective

Complexity

Segmenting these images with photoroom API resulted in the area near the edges of the rug ranging from 0-255 in their alpha values. As the foreground, background segmentation is not perfect, I guess they intelligently play with the transparency values to make it appear to be a transparent background close to the edges. This is challenging to deal with in my current approach as you can see below.

Current Approach

1. Divide the rug into 3 zones. Left Transition Zone (LTZ), Opaque Zone, and Right Transition Zone (RTZ)
2. For each row, start checking from left onwards, the first pixel between 0 & 255 becomes the LTZ start
3. When we encoutner 5 consecutive opaque (255) pixels, we consider it to be the start of opaque zone and end of LTZ
4. End of opaque zone is start of RTZ, then find the last pixel between 0 & 255 and that becomes the end of RTZ
5. Append all values in array.
6. Create new canvas with padding
7. Calculate size of each opaque row. Find out max opaque width
8. Copy all LTZ data to new canvas for each row
9. Add opaque pixels, but spread them by introducing transparent pixels in between so that their width is equal to the max opaque width
10. Copy all RTZ data

Question to this forum

Is this approach remotelty feasible? I have already spent about a week getting this far and I suppose it will take me another 15 days or so to make it work properly. That is even if I could get it to work.
Is there something else that I can try to get what I want? Maybe better segmentation to remove the complexities associated with 0-255 alpha values. But all the segmentation techniques I tried left me with 0-255 values at the edges.
Secondly, this is only for left and right for now. After this, I will have to repeat for top and bottom.
This function is completely discarding the 'Keep it simple silly" school of thought and I was wondering there must be a better way to do it but I couldn't find anything via googling and am unable to figure it out on my own. Any guidance will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

Code

Step 7 & Step 9 is currently missing. I tried it (without dividing into LTZ / RTZ zones, just row of all data above 0 alpha) out and it worked but was getting too complicated to handle along with LTZ and RTZ so will be adding this later

import cv2 import numpy as np # Load the image image = cv2.imread('2.png', cv2.IMREAD_UNCHANGED) # Get image dimensions height, width, channels = image.shape xArray_left = [] xArray_right = [] xArray_LTZ_start = [] xArray_LTZ_end = [] xArray_RTZ_start = [] xArray_RTZ_end = [] yArray = [] LTZ_size = [] RTZ_size = [] OPAQUE_THRESHOLD = 5 # Number of consecutive opaque pixels to confirm the zone consecutive_opaque_count = 0 # Counter for consecutive opaque pixels # Iterate over each row to find the bounds for y in range(height): first_opaque_left = first_opaque_right = -1 ltz_start = ltz_end = rtz_start = rtz_end = -1 in_opaque_zone = False rtz_active = False # This flag will track if we are within the RTZ for x in range(width): alpha = image[y, x][3] if alpha > 0 and alpha < 255: if not in_opaque_zone: # In transition zone before or after opaque pixels if ltz_start == -1: # Left Transition Zone hasn't started yet ltz_start = x if rtz_active: # Only update rtz_end if rtz has started rtz_end = x else: if rtz_start == -1 and x > first_opaque_right: # Start of right transition zone rtz_start = x rtz_active = True rtz_end = x # Initialize rtz_end elif rtz_active: rtz_end = x # Update rtz_end as long as we are in the rtz if alpha == 255: consecutive_opaque_count += 1 if not in_opaque_zone and consecutive_opaque_count >= OPAQUE_THRESHOLD: if first_opaque_left == -1: first_opaque_left = x - (OPAQUE_THRESHOLD - 1) if ltz_start != -1: ltz_end = first_opaque_left - 1 in_opaque_zone = True first_opaque_right = x # Continue updating this in the opaque zone else: consecutive_opaque_count = 0 # Reset count if not fully opaque if in_opaque_zone: # If we were in an opaque zone, check if rtz can start rtz_start = first_opaque_right + 1 if rtz_start == -1 else rtz_start if first_opaque_left != -1 and first_opaque_right != -1: xArray_left.append(first_opaque_left) xArray_right.append(first_opaque_right) xArray_LTZ_start.append(ltz_start) xArray_LTZ_end.append(ltz_end) xArray_RTZ_start.append(rtz_start) xArray_RTZ_end.append(rtz_end) yArray.append(y) ltz_size = ltz_end - ltz_start + 1 if ltz_start != -1 and ltz_end != -1 else 0 rtz_size = rtz_end - rtz_start + 1 if rtz_start != -1 and rtz_end != -1 else 0 LTZ_size.append(ltz_size) RTZ_size.append(rtz_size) # Print the first 10 values of each array print("First Opaque Left:", xArray_left[:10]) print("First Opaque Right:", xArray_right[:10]) print("LTZ Start:", xArray_LTZ_start[:10]) print("LTZ End:", xArray_LTZ_end[:10]) print("RTZ Star:", xArray_RTZ_start[:50]) print("RTZ End:", xArray_RTZ_end[:10]) print("Y array:", yArray[:10]) print("LTZ Size:", LTZ_size[:50]) print("RTZ Size:", RTZ_size[:50]) # Calculate the new image dimensions with additional padding new_width = max(xArray_right[i] - xArray_left[i] for i in range(len(xArray_left))) + 250 new_height = height + 250 new_image = np.zeros((new_height, new_width, channels), dtype=np.uint8) new_image[:, :, 3] = 0 offset = 125 # Added padding / 2 # Adjust each row to have the new maximum width for i in range(len(yArray)): y = yArray[i] + offset x_left = xArray_left[i] x_right = xArray_right[i] ltz_start = xArray_LTZ_start[i] ltz_end = xArray_LTZ_end[i] rtz_start = xArray_RTZ_start[i] rtz_end = xArray_RTZ_end[i] # Copy the LTZ, checking bounds and initialization if ltz_start is not None and ltz_end is not None: for x in range(ltz_start, ltz_end + 1): new_x = offset + x - ltz_start if new_x < new_width: # Ensure within bounds new_image[y, new_x] = image[yArray[i], x] # Copy the opaque pixels, checking bounds start_opaque = offset + (ltz_end - ltz_start + 1) if ltz_end is not None else offset for x in range(x_left, x_right + 1): new_x = start_opaque + x - x_left if new_x < new_width: # Ensure within bounds new_image[y, new_x] = image[yArray[i], x] # Copy the RTZ, checking bounds and initialization if rtz_start is not None and rtz_end is not None: start_rtz = start_opaque + (x_right - x_left + 1) for x in range(rtz_start, rtz_end + 1): new_x = start_rtz + x - rtz_start if new_x < new_width: # Ensure within bounds new_image[y, new_x] = image[yArray[i], x] # Save the adjusted image cv2.imwrite('adjusted_image_with_transitions.png', new_image) 

Last Event recap:
Alexandre Pantoja (c) def. Steve Erceg
José Aldo def. Jonathan Martinez
Anthony Smith def. Vitor Petrino
Michel Pereira def. Ihor Potieria
Caio Borralho def. Paul Craig
Joanderson Brito def. Jack Shore
Iasmin Lucindo def. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Myktybek Orolbai def. Elves Brener
Drakkar Klose def. Joaquim Silva
Maurício Ruffy def. Jamie Mullarkey
Dione Barbosa def. Ernesta Kareckaitė
Ismael Bonfim def. Vinc Pichel
Alessandro Costa def. Kevin Borjas

Betting record 2024: 102-65
Prediction record 2024: 118-68
Words cannot describe how much I hate Anthony Smith. This bald fraud’s upset win prevented me from securing a perfect card (even though it’s well deserved). Otherwise, this was an amazing weekend for me and definitely my best performance so far this year. I finished 9^th place overall this week on Tapology as well which was the icing on top. In addition, I was spot on regarding the main event. It doesn’t matter whether you think Erceg or Pantoja won the fight. I knew Erceg had no chance of winning a decision in Brazil if the fight is close because that’s just the nature of this business. Obrigado Brazil!
Moving on, next week UFC fight night is coming to St Louis and this is a very tricky card to bet on as there are a lot of matchups that should be competitive. I am expecting quite a number of underdogs to prevail in this card.

UFC on ESPN: Lewis vs. Nascimento

Main Card Predictions:
Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
We know what Derrick Lewis can do and cannot do at this point. He is the classic one dimensional swanging and banging fighter who hold the most knockout victories in UFC history. He is a crowd favourite and it makes sense for him to headline this card in his hometown St Louis despite having lost 5 out of his last 7 fights. Lewis is renowned for his devastating knockout power, with the ability to end a fight at any moment but struggles with takedown defense and grappling against high-level wrestlers, as seen in recent losses where opponents took advantage of these weaknesses.At first glance, Rodrigo Nascimento is one of those skilled grapplers with the skillset to take advantage of Lewis’ weakness and control him on the ground. His ability to pressure opponents into uncomfortable positions gives him a strategic edge on paper as I would liken him to a poor man Jailton Almeida and expect him to employ the same strategy for this fight.
Now in theory Nascimento can do what Almeida did to Lewis for 5 straight rounds and lay on him to neutralize his threats but I am picking Lewis in this fight and the main reason why is that there are levels to this and Nascimento is simply not the same calibre of a grappler as Almeida in the heavyweight division. Nascimento is not as roided up and has struggled even to win his fights against mediocre heavyweights. His striking is not a threat as he has never knocked out anyone in the UFC. What stood out to me in the Almeida fight is that Lewis did not get submitted despite his opponent’s domination on the ground for 5 rounds and I am confident that the poor man version will not be able to accomplish that feat. So basically every round the fight will start standing and Lewis will get 5 chances to knock Nascimento out who has the monumental task of bringing Lewis to the ground and laying on him for 25 minutes. In my view, the UFC set this matchup well to get the Lewis signature knockout finish in front of the delighted crowd in his hometown St Louis.
Prediction: Derrick Lewis to win.
Method of Victory: Knockout

Welterweight: Joaquin Buckley vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
Joaquin Buckley ask Dana to be on in this card and the UFC granted his wish to be in the co-main event of the card. Joaquin Buckley is known for his explosive striking and knockout power, often ending fights with a single decisive blow. His aggressive fighting style and athleticism make him dangerous in stand-up exchanges, and his improved grappling defense as shown by his previous fight against Luque provides added dimension to his game. However, his overzealous approach can leave him open to counterattacks and he has been knocked out quite a few times before in this career.
The UFC did grant Buckley his wish but they gave him a dangerous opponent in Nursulton Ruziboev, a well-rounded fighter with a versatile skill set and knockout power. Nursulton Ruziboev’s record is an interesting one. He has 8 losses in the regional scene but his last loss came in 2019 and he has handled 2 of his opponents since coming to the UFC with relative ease in the first round. I am not sure how he has lost 8 times in his career so far yet looks impressive since coming on to the UFC. Ruziboev is going to present a tough matchup for Buckley as he is taller and has solid grappling game. We have seen Buckley struggles against opponents bigger and lengthier than him before. Part of me wonders if this is an example of being careful what you wish for and if the UFC is pairing him up against a fighter that’s a tough matchup for Buckley as a punishment for lobbying to be in this main event.
At first, I was leaning towards picking Buckley but after further analysis, I believe Nursulton Ruziboev is the kind of fighter that Buckley struggles with and the latter might be biting off more than he can chew here by asking to be in this main event. Sure Buckley got his wish to be in this card but can he end this on a high by getting the win as well?
Prediction: Nursulton Ruziboev to win.
Light Heavyweight: Alonzo Menifield vs. Carlos Ulberg
Alonzo Menifield is a power striker with solid knockout power and despite his age, proved that he is still a dangerous fighter to be reckoned with as shown by his latest win against Dustin Jacoby. His aggressive style can overwhelm opponents early with his athleticism and strength. Carlos Ulberg, known for his kickboxing background, uses his reach and precise striking to maintain range, allowing him to control the pace of the fight. He mixes his attacks well, combining kicks and punches to keep opponents off balance.
This is going to be an interesting striking battle between the brute force of Menifield against the technique and precision of Ulberg. Honestly this is a hard fight to predict since Ulberg is likely to land more strikes than Menifield but the latter needs only one or two strikes to swing the balance of the fight just like in his previous fight against Jacoby. I do think Ulberg is a step up in competition and a level above Jacoby though so I think Ulberg is going to be able to maintain distance and withstand Menifield’s early onslaught. I am picking Ulberg to win here as I think he is capable of outpointing Menifield without getting dropped.
Prediction: Carlos Ulberg to win.

Lightweight: Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Mateusz Rębecki
Carlos Diego Ferreira is a seasoned lightweight with a strong grappling background and dangerous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His ground game is exceptional, often overwhelming opponents with control and submission threats. He also possesses solid striking, though it often complements his grappling. But this guy is also 39 years old and has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights with his only win coming against Michael Johnson.
Mateusz Rębecki is a hyped prospect as a versatile fighter with a well-rounded skill set who combines relentless pressure with a balanced attack of striking and grappling. His aggressive approach can put opponents on the back foot quickly. He is relatively untested against higher-level competition, which could be a tricky challenge against an experienced fighter like Ferreira but I think Ferreira is at that age where he is just too old and so far from his prime that I doubt he could handle the pressure Rębecki brings. So I am going with Mateusz Rębecki in this fight as I expect him to pass this test against the veteran.
Prediction: Mateusz Rębecki to win.
Featherweight: Alex Caceres vs. Sean Woodson
Alex Caceres is an established veteran in the UFC, having made his debut in 2011! Wow now I feel old just saying that. I remembered this guy long ago when I was just a casual fan of MMA because of his distinct kung fu inspired style that stands out among the other fighters. No doubt he has accomplished a lot in the UFC, fighting for 13 years in the promotion while only having been knocked out once in his UFC career which is a testament of his durability. At this point in his career though, I think he has lost some of his speed that enables him to evade and strike his opponent like water.
He faces Sean Woodson who is a tall, rangy striker who knows how to use his reach to his advantage. He excels in striking exchanges, particularly with his jab and long-range kicks. As this fight is likely going to be a striking battle, Woodson’s reach might be the key in this fight. In his last fight Caceres had a difficulty facing a similar rangy opponent in Giga Chikadze who picked his spot in landing his strikes against Caceres. That is the blueprint to handling Caceres’s unorthodox fighting style and I think Sean Woodson will employ a similar strategy here to outstrike his opponent and get the win.
Prediction: Sean Woodson to win.

Heavyweight: Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne
Robelis Despaigne has entered the UFC with much hype around him as this gigantic Taekwando practitioner who has knocked out all his opponent in the first round in his MMA career. He won the bronze medal in Taekwando in the 2012 Olympics which is a bit ironic once you see that he finished his opponents in MMA using punches instead of kicks. One thing is for sure, Despaigne’s ability as a striker is elite as he combines devastating power and technique in his strikes.
His opponent Waldo Cortes-Acosta is also a striker, with 4 wins out of 5 in his UFC career but all of his wins came by decision and it doesn’t seem that he has the knockout power even for a heavyweight. Looking at his physique, Cortes-Acosta is one of those fat out of shape heavyweights that are unfortunately common in the UFC. This is a fight that Despaigne should have no trouble winning as the UFC has given him a favorable matchup against an out of shape striker with no finishing power here. He has the advantage in reach as well and should have no problems finding the target. I do think that Despaigne will be exposed once he face a really good grappler in this division but for now, the UFC is trying to build him up as an exciting prospect in the division.
Prediction: Robelis Despaigne to win.
Method of Victory: Knockout

Preliminary Card Predictions:
Lightweight: Chase Hooper vs. Viacheslav Borshchev
Now this is an extreme grappler vs striking matchup between a fighter with excellent grappling but poor striking and a ferocious striker with a terrible ground game. Chase Hooper is a grappling specialist known for his aggressive ground game, submissions, and relentless pursuit of taking fights to the mat. He is a really dangerous fighter on the ground as he can find his submissions quickly as seen by his latest 1^st round victory against Jordan Leavitt who is a decent fighter. However, his striking defense has notable gaps, often absorbing significant damage in striking exchanges. His stand-up game has been a primary vulnerability, and strong strikers have capitalized on this weakness in the past.
Viacheslav Borshchev is primarily a kickboxer who excels at using his striking and movement to control the fight. He employs effective combinations and precise targeting, showcasing his technical prowess on the feet. Despite his strong stand-up skills, Borshchev struggles against grapplers who can keep him on the ground and nullify his striking. His takedown defense is terrible there is no other way sugarcoat it.
This is the perfect example of a coin clip fight but one that can make fight predictors look like a genius or foolish since the fight will likely end up being one sided. Probably the hardest fight to predict in this card and I went back and forth with who I was going to pick until I finally decided to pick Chase Hooper and here’s why: Hooper is still a young fighter with lots of room to improve and I think he has made improvements since his last loss 2 years ago. I expect Hooper to show the urgency of getting Borshchev immediately as soon as the fight begin and go for the kill right away because if he doesn’t he is going to get hurt really badly in this fight. Also, since it’s a coin flip I might as well take the underdog to get the better odds.
Prediction: Chase Hooper to win.

Lightweight: Terrance McKinney vs. Esteban Ribovics
Terrance McKinney is a dynamic and explosive lightweight known for his finishing ability. His striking is powerful, with many early first-round knockouts to his name, and he complements this with strong wrestling skills from his collegiate wrestling background. While his opponent Esteban Ribovics is a prospect who excels in striking as well and has many knockout victories on the regional scene.
Just looking at the odds, I do not understand how Terrance McKinney is an underdog here. Sure he could be inconsistent as a fighter as he is a feast or famine type of fighter, either finishing his fights in the first round or getting finished early. But he has victories against good fighters like Fares Ziam and Matt Frevola. Mckinney has power behind his punches and he is a decent grappler as a former NCAA division II wrestler.
In contrast, Ribovics only had 2 fights in the UFC, with a win over Kamuela Kirk who may not even be UFC level and a loss to Loik Radzhabov. Most of his wins comes against jobbers on the regional scene and I do not see what he has accomplished to warrant being the favourite in this matchup. I am picking McKinney here and he is the most confident underdog pick I have for this card. I think McKinney will use his reach advantage to land one of his devastating punches on Ribovics and find the knockout once again in the first round.
Prediction: Terrance McKinney to win.
Method of Victory: Knockout

Women's Strawweight: Tabatha Ricci vs. Tecía Pennigton
Tabatha Ricci is a well-rounded fighter with a strong grappling background, particularly in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She excels at taking opponents to the ground and controlling them with dominant top positions. Her striking is steadily improving, but her main advantage lies in her ability to grapple and pressure her opponents effectively. She has performed well in her UFC career so far as her loss has come against good fighters in Loopy Godinez and Manon Fiorot who is now a contender for the title in the division.
Tenía Pennigton, on the other hand, is a versatile fighter with solid striking skills. She uses her footwork and technical striking to control the pace of her fights. She has been in the UFC since 2015 and seems to have found her ceiling as she struggles to defeat the elite fighters in her division. Her ability to maintain distance and fend off Ricci’s takedown attempts will be crucial in this bout. Tabatha Ricci is my pick in this fight as I think her grappling ability will be too much for Pennington to overcome and Ricci should have no problem controlling her opponent on the ground.
Prediction: Tabatha Ricci to win.

Welterweight: Billy Goff vs. Trey Waters
Billy Goff is a plucky underdog and he does have good striking techniques as well as a strong wrestling base. Goff shows his heart and resilience against Yusaku Kinoshita in his previous fight, weathering the storm before landing a powerful liver punch to down his opponent. Trey Waters is a long, rangy striker with a preference for maintaining distance and using his reach advantage to outpoint opponents. His striking is technical, and he has shown the ability to handle opponents on the ground. Goff tends to eat a lot of shots in his fights and Waters should have no problem landing his strikes from a distance against his opponent without engaging in a brawl which would favour Goff. This may not be a good matchup for Billy Goff as Waters is a durable, resilient fighter and his length should give him the advantage in the striking department.
Prediction: Trey Waters to win.

Flyweight: Charles Johnson vs. Jake Hadley
Ok this is the kind of matchup I hater the most besides having 2 debutants fight each other. It’s a matchup of 2 extremely mediocre fighters who are barely hanging on in the UFC. Charles Johnson narrowly avoided getting cut from the UFC with a gutsy performance against Azat Maksum while Jake Hadley is a decent grappler but is a mediocre fighter with a 2-2 record in the UFC. I have nothing else good to say about these 2 fighters and I am just going to pick Charles Johnson out of this 2 because he is fighting in his hometown and the crowd will be behind him so I hope he will show extra motivation for this fight.
Prediction: Charles Johnson to win.

Welterweight: Jared Gooden vs. Kevin Jousset
This should be an interesting striking matchup. Jared Gooden is a powerful striker indeed and often marches forward to overwhelm opponents with heavy strikes. But he is very hittable as his aggressiveness exposes him defensively.Kevin Jousset, on the other hand, is a more measured and technical striker who uses range effectively. He is another product from City Kickboxing who has produced quite a number of good strikers in the UFC. Jousset also has a solid grappling base, preferring to mix takedowns and striking to maintain control over opponents. His defense may be lacking though as shown in his previous fight with Kenan Song.
Now in terms of skills, Jousset is definitely the better fighter here as Gooden can be sloppy and mostly relies on his power. So I expect him to outland more strikes than Gooden although he needs to tighten up his striking defense as Gooden can really hurt him with one good devastating punch. Jousset should win this fight as he should be able to keep Gooden at bay and exploit his defensive lapses. I expect his team to come up with the better gameplan although he needs to approach this fight with caution.
Prediction: Kevin Jousset to win.

Women's Flyweight: JJ Aldrich vs. Verónica Hardy
I don’t think JJ Aldrich should be an underdog in this fight. JJ Aldrich is a well-rounded fighter known for her technical striking and disciplined approach. On the ground, Aldrich displays sound defensive grappling and enough takedown defense to keep the fight standing. Aldrich has been in the UFC since 2016 and have a good record while beating decent opponents.
Verónica Hardy meanwhile is a decent grappler with ok ground game but she has a 3-4 record in the UFC which is not an impressive record. I don’t understand why she is the favorite here. Is it because she is married to Dan Hardy? Her record and abilities doesn’t suggest she is anything more than an average fighter in her division. Macedo’s striking is unpredictable and sometimes leaves her vulnerable to counters which Aldrich can exploit. I am picking JJ Aldrich here as I think she is just the better all-around fighter and she should be the favourite in this bout.
Prediction: JJ Aldrich to win.

I've recently been revisiting the Stormlight Archive in preparation for Wind and Truth and it's made me more and more concerned about aspects of characterisation in the later books.
In particular it feels like Brandon has a tendency to re-contextualise flawed antagonists as irredeemable (Amaram and Moash come to mind). Gavilar's prologue seems to epitomise this.
Gavilar was initially implied to be a good man and good king. Over time we learn that this image was tinted by Dalinar's idolisation of his brother - the man was clearly deeply flawed. Oathbringer begins to hint that Gavilar's primary motivation is his legacy, he wants to live forever (metaphorically at first). However, we also see a man with restraint (when compared to Dalinar) and a genuine love for his family (though clearly very intimidated by Navani).
Later in life he seems to become more thoughtful but cold, the implication is that he's begun to receive the visions and this has changed his outlook on life. Around this time it seems he finds a kindred spirit in Taravangian, a man who also believes very strongly in destination before journey (ironically the prologue retcons them to have never met despite earlier books stating otherwise).
By the time of his death it seemed that Gavilar was misguidedly attempting to bring back the Fused in an attempt to force the Radiants to return. His loved ones seemed genuinely grieved by his death.
Ultimately, Gavilar seemed like a keen but flawed man who did bad things in pursuit of something he believed good. His death was a necessity but left a void which Dalinar eventually had to fill.
The book 5 prologue re-contextualises a lot of this. Instead, Gavilar is an overtly Machiavellian idiot who's only concern was obtaining immortality, any assistance he gave to the protagonists being accidental and nearly all of his redeemable actions being re-contextualised as manipulative or selfish.
I'm not against this change as a whole, the seeds for Gavilars obsession with his legacy were sown in Oathbringer. My issue is that Gavilar didn't need to be overtly evil for us to see him as flawed. Brandon seems to repeatedly find new ways to shit on the guy, purposely encouraging his brother to drink, abusing his wife, disparaging his son.
As it currently stands, the final prologue only serves to diminish the importance of Gavilars death to our protagonists. Dalinar wasn't stepping up to fill the shoes of his dead brother (nor should he have felt conflicted about courting Navani), Jasnah was wrong to grieve her fathers death, Elhokar was avenging a man who thought him useless, Szeth didn't need to feel so tortured by killing Gavilar.
Glimpses of a potentially more interesting character are in there, his final thoughts for his family are genuine and conflicting, and I love the concept of the king of a pond suddenly finding himself in an ocean filled with far bigger fish.
Gavilar could have been a nuanced man willing to do bad things to save the world (clearly influenced by the company of Taravangium WHO HE SHOULD HAVE ALREADY MET!!!), but obsessed with ensuring his immortal legacy in the process. The prologue could have shown us how misguided he was, while also showing the positive influences we lost from his death - a sharp man who Alethkar would stay united for, who was truly attempting to keep his brother sober and earnestly preparing for the coming desolation (despite accelerating its arrival for his own selfish desires).
I trust I will love Wind and Truth regardless, this is not intended to be a scathing critique of Brandon's writing. Nor do I think this is an unrealistic angle to take. I just wish that after all this time, the inciting incident of the series boiled down to more than "supposedly good king is lying to everyone and deserves to die, oh and he's a massive prick just in case you felt a tiny bit conflicted".

Asked ChatGPT to give me an example and we came up with this after a little bit:

import pygame import random import math # Define some colors WHITE = (255, 255, 255) BLACK = (0, 0, 0) # Define window dimensions WINDOW_WIDTH = 800 WINDOW_HEIGHT = 600 # Define component types class PositionComponent: def __init__(self, x, y): self.x = x self.y = y class ColorComponent: def __init__(self, color): self.color = color class VelocityComponent: def __init__(self, vx, vy): self.vx = vx self.vy = vy # Define Entity class Entity: def __init__(self, *components): self.components = components # Function to generate random color def random_color(): return (random.randint(0, 255), random.randint(0, 255), random.randint(0, 255)) # Function to create random entities def create_entities(num_entities): entities = [] for _ in range(num_entities): angle = random.uniform(0, 2 * math.pi) radius = random.uniform(50, min(WINDOW_WIDTH, WINDOW_HEIGHT) / 2) x = WINDOW_WIDTH / 2 + radius * math.cos(angle) y = WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2 + radius * math.sin(angle) color = random_color() position = PositionComponent(x, y) color_comp = ColorComponent(color) direction_x = 3 - int(random.uniform(0, 2 * math.pi)) direction_y = 3 - int(random.uniform(0, 2 * math.pi)) velocity = VelocityComponent(direction_x, direction_y) entity = Entity(position, color_comp, velocity) entities.append(entity) return entities # Function to calculate distance between two entities def distance(entity1, entity2): pos1 = entity1.components[0] # PositionComponent of entity1 pos2 = entity2.components[0] # PositionComponent of entity2 return math.sqrt((pos1.x - pos2.x) ** 2 + (pos1.y - pos2.y) ** 2) # Function to update entities def update_entities(entities): for entity in entities: position = None velocity = None for component in entity.components: if isinstance(component, PositionComponent): position = component elif isinstance(component, VelocityComponent): velocity = component angle = math.atan2(position.y - WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2, position.x - WINDOW_WIDTH / 2) distance_from_center = math.sqrt((position.x - WINDOW_WIDTH / 2) ** 2 + (position.y - WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2) ** 2) speed = random.uniform(0, 1) * 0.0001 # Adjust this value to change the speed of entity movement velocity.vx += math.cos(angle) * speed velocity.vy += math.sin(angle) * speed position.x += velocity.vx position.y += velocity.vy # Change direction if entity reaches the edge of the screen if position.x < 0 or position.x > WINDOW_WIDTH: velocity.vx = -velocity.vx if position.y < 0 or position.y > WINDOW_HEIGHT: velocity.vy = -velocity.vy # Function to draw entities and lines between nearest neighbors def draw_entities(screen, entities): for i, entity in enumerate(entities): for component in entity.components: if isinstance(component, PositionComponent): x1 = int(component.x) y1 = int(component.y) elif isinstance(component, ColorComponent): color = component.color nearest_neighbor = None min_dist = float('inf') for j, other_entity in enumerate(entities): if i != j: dist = distance(entity, other_entity) if dist < min_dist: min_dist = dist nearest_neighbor = other_entity r = random.randrange(0, 255) g = random.randrange(0, 255) b = random.randrange(0, 255) line_color = (r, g, b, 255) # Black color with transparency based on distance if min_dist <= 255: r = random.randrange(0, 255) g = random.randrange(0, 255) b = random.randrange(0, 255) line_color = (r, g, b, min(255, int(255 - min_dist))) # Black color with transparency based on distance for component in nearest_neighbor.components: if isinstance(component, PositionComponent): x2 = int(component.x) y2 = int(component.y) if dist <= 1000: for component in nearest_neighbor.components: if isinstance(component, PositionComponent): x2 = int(component.x) y2 = int(component.y) pygame.draw.line(screen, line_color, (x1, y1), (x2, y2)) pygame.draw.circle(screen, color, (x1, y1), 10) def main(): pygame.init() screen = pygame.display.set_mode((WINDOW_WIDTH, WINDOW_HEIGHT)) pygame.display.set_caption("ECS with Pygame") clock = pygame.time.Clock() entities = create_entities(20) running = True while running: for event in pygame.event.get(): if event.type == pygame.QUIT: running = False elif event.type == pygame.MOUSEBUTTONDOWN: if event.button == 4: # Scroll up for entity in entities: position = entity.components[0] # PositionComponent angle = math.atan2(position.y - WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2, position.x - WINDOW_WIDTH / 2) distance = math.sqrt((position.x - WINDOW_WIDTH / 2) ** 2 + (position.y - WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2) ** 2) distance += 10 # Increase distance by 10 pixels position.x = WINDOW_WIDTH / 2 + distance * math.cos(angle) position.y = WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2 + distance * math.sin(angle) elif event.button == 5: # Scroll down for entity in entities: position = entity.components[0] # PositionComponent angle = math.atan2(position.y - WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2, position.x - WINDOW_WIDTH / 2) distance = math.sqrt((position.x - WINDOW_WIDTH / 2) ** 2 + (position.y - WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2) ** 2) distance -= 10 # Decrease distance by 10 pixels position.x = WINDOW_WIDTH / 2 + distance * math.cos(angle) position.y = WINDOW_HEIGHT / 2 + distance * math.sin(angle) screen.fill(BLACK) update_entities(entities) draw_entities(screen, entities) pygame.display.flip() clock.tick(60) pygame.quit() if __name__ == "__main__": main() 

​

It’s really difficult to know / explain / understand Tony Stark, These lines already said by Mighty Thor in Avengers Age of Ultron (Last Scene).
And we think Captain America is the only one after Thor who is worthy for Thor’s Hammer (Mjolnir). (I am not Considering Odin or Thor’s GF Jane in this case)
But I want to clarify some details here about Tony Stark,

1. Tony Stark is always trying to secure earth each and every possible way. He is finding a ways to make peace on earth (Odin also prefers peace 1st instead of war).
2. Tony is always ready to sacrifice himself we seen in Iron Man 1 and every Avengers Movie (Finally he is sacrificed himself to save billions of life from galaxy in Endgame) He is already prepared for that from Avengers Age of Ultron because he know what outcome will come if he is not do anything. (Thanks to Wanda for showing Nightmare to Tony Stark).
3. Tony Stark mindset is so much strong. In mind he is always so much clear about his decisions and intentions.
4. Tony Stark have ability to understand anyone. Tony knows no one will understand him so he never shared any plans with anyone (Not even with any Avenger) but he understands everyone. For example, In Infinity war when Spiderman, Dr. Strange and Tony Stark present in Same alien ship and Dr. Strange is Trapped by Ebony Maw, Tony Stark asked Peter Parker for plan because he knew how intelligent he is. (We seen how actual Spiderman is intelligent in Spiderman No Way Home because he ties up Dr. Strange in a mirror dimension with web). Also in Avenger Endgame when Tony Stark stuck in space with Nebula because of fuel ends from a Spaceship they played paper football together but Tony intentionally loses that game because he knew Nebula wants to win and also he wants to break ice with her. (Nebula knows the meaning of winning because she always lose against her sister Gamora)
5. In Iron Man 3 at last action scene when Tony Stark said to Pepper Pots “you’ve got to let go! I will catch you I promise” but Pepper Pots fall from a site bridge and Tony Stark feels she’s dead but instead of losing mind he executed his plans properly and at the end he known she is alive because of Extremis body experiment by Aldrich Killian (AIM). But my point is Tony Stark never lose his attention But Steve Rogers lost his attention in Captain America Winter Solder when Bucky reveals his face first time and that time Sam Wilson and Natasha Saved Steve Roger from a Bucky’s fired gun bullet and again in Captain America - Civil War during fight of starting scene when Romallo (Hydra’s Agent) said Working with Bucky (to take Captain America’s attention) and suddenly pressed Bombing button as a result lots of Nigerian government employees and lots of poor peoples died. What if there is Tony Stark instead of Captain America? He also lose his attention and mind? Obviously the answer is no. Another one example is, for a successful snap with Infinity stones you need powerful stable mind which Thanos already have (Bruce Banner also got mind stability because he practices Yoga to control his mind so he also able to do successful snap. We seen it in Avengers Infinity War). Tony Stark also did successful snap in Avengers Endgame and this snap scene proves about Tony’s mind stability and power.
6. In Avengers Age of Ultron when Wanda Maximoff plays with every Avengers mind everyone got distracted for long time, Most of weaker Avengers goes in Depression mode like Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner (Steve Rogers and Thor not depressed because they are very strong by body, mind and Soul) Same happened with Tony’s mind too but he comes out quickly from that Nightmare and instead of getting depression he started preparing self for that situation (All Avengers died Nightmare scene of Tony Stark).
7. Tony is always Tony when he is alone but in front of others he is always acts opposite of his emotions, that’s why everyone gets confused about him but as i said before in mind he is always so much clear about his decisions and intentions.

In Iron Man 1 at the beginning Pepper Pots wrong about Tony Stark. (She don’t know Tony Stark is doing right or wrong).
Rhoady is always with Tony but he also couldn’t read Tony’s mind, So Rhody also can’t able to predict Tony’s decision.
Even Tony’s A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S also failed many times to analyse Tony Stark.
In The Avengers (2012) Steve Rogers also have trust issues about Tony Stark even in Avengers Age of Ultron (2016) during Ultron’s Body Experiment.
Thor also not trusting on Tony Stark after some failure experiments on Loki’s Spectre.
Wanda also wrong about Tony Stark in Avengers Age of Ultron.
In Avengers Infinity War Dr. Strange said to Tony Stark “If it comes to saving you or the kid (Spidey) or the Time Stone surely i will always save Time Stone, So ultimately Dr. Strange also failed to know Tony Stark.
In Avengers Endgame when Tony Stark said to Dr. Strange “Just say it’s the only one chance of winning” then Dr. Strange Said “If I told you what’s going happen here then it will never happen” but that time Tony already know he is going to die (Tony’s facial Expression) that time once again Dr. Strange failed to know Tony Stark. Because if Dr. Strange reveals what will happen there, after knowing results also Tony will always choose his sacrifice.

1. Then how Tony Stark is not able to Lift Mjolnir? Maybe Mjolnir also gets confused about Tony’s mind like others. (Fun Fact - Loki’s Spectre also failed to change Tony’s mind in The Avengers because of Arc Reactor, Is it hint behind that scene? Or it’s coincidence Idk). In every criteria Tony fits perfectly and proves he is worthy for Thor’s Hammer (Mjolnir) but unfortunately Mjolnir is not worthy to understand who is Tony Stark.
2. Tony Stark is the only one character in whole MCU which is totally different as compared with other characters. He is Unique and truly Golden character and Nobody know’s who is he exactly expect him.

I’m curious how much shear strength a 3/8 grade 5 bolt can hold when holding up garage door track?

I recently was rereading The Martyr's Tomb by Marc Collins and I came across a curious passage that I have not seen discussed on here before. For context, Yazran is a magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus trying to find a stable gate across the Great Rift to Imperium Nihilus.

It happened again. A momentary flash of something dark and vast. Hidden in the warp's shadow. Yazran felt fatigue creep into his circuits just from having glimpsed it. He felt it deep in his iron bones. He reached up with his free hand and expanded the image once more, staring intently and waiting with bate respiration. All that mattered was this moment. There was nothing else in all of creation as important as-
He saw it this time. By the Omnissiah he saw it!
It was a false divinity cast in noctilith and cruel metal. It stared at him with the features of death itself, immense and enthroned, its surface studded and barnacled with monolithic constructs. A flawed colossus that had held the fabric of the universe itself together in brighter days. Now it struggled, ailing and flawed, as the galaxy trembled and broke and burned.
He stared into the abyss of its eyes and it stared back. He watched, powerless, unable even to move as emerald fire kindled in those sockets. As it truly saw him and understood his purpose. An imperfect machine and lesser form of life, trying in vain to interface with something potent beyond his ken. A gnat trying to understand the workings of a god-engine.
Yazran's fingers clenched into fists. His entire body seized and spasmed. He could feel himself rising off the ground, connected to the floor only by the static streamers of green lightning. He could smell cooking meat and burning machine parts. It held him in its gaze. A gaze older and vaster than worlds, more ancient and potent than the entire history of the human species. When man had first crawled from the muck, this edifice had been there. A pillar of creation, labouring even as all around it burned. It saw him, perceived him with an intelligence that was not truly alive nor dead. It did not dream. It simply waited.
Yazran felt something pop in his head. He tasted metal Smoke was drifting around him as his systems overloaded, as his mind cooked in his skull and his remaining orans ruptured.
If there is a path through then this is the ferryman. The taker of tolls.

Poor Yazran then dies and all data from his revelation is lost.
Does anyone have any idea what this thing is? The references to being a pillar of creation and a false divinity makes me think it has to be a C'tan that has been uniquely shackled with noctilith to turn it into a god-machine to keep the warp and reality apart. But are there any clues elsewhere or within this passage that would suggest something else? If it is a C'tan, is there any reason to think it might be more whole than usual, given how it's supposed to be "h[olding] the fabric of the universe itself together?" Or is that something we've seen other C'tan shards do and this might just be a machine responsible for this area of the galaxy?
I'm also not clear what "the warp's shadow" means. It could mean the warp itself, and the shadows within it, although that would be a strange place in which to find any necron thing. It could also mean the ghostwind referenced in The Twice Dead King, although I'm not sure that's ever described as being connected to the warp. I'm also not sure how Yazran would have perceived that since I'm not sure even the imperials in that book knew what the ghostwind was. I guess it could refer to some pocket dimension of the necrons, but again, I'm not sure how a magos trying to examine the warp would detect such a space that is usually based entirely on manipulating reality.
Does anyone has any other takes on this? Or does anyone know if there are some more hints about this that exist in other parts of necron lore?

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/rRXR2MT
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zZ8oQtvchZ6S59Bb6
Surefire 952V with a KM3 head - $200
Some paint has been knocked off of this one but it's still a Surefire so the functionality is fine. Both the white and IR work great. Includes the pressure switch.
PRS Lite -$105
Solid stuck, but I just don't find myself many opportunities to shoot long range so it mostly sits in the closet. Minimal round count.
Tailhook Mod 1 - $90 SOLD
Arguably the most functional brace on the market.
Baldr Pro x2 - $80 each
One is the black model with a red laser and one is the limited edition blue with a green laser.
Troy Iron Sights - $115
These are the flip up HK style. Metal and surprisingly solid lockup.
Radian Raptor SD - $105
This is the gas busting style. New in box.
Ballistic Advantage 10.3 300 blk - $150
This is still in the original packaging. Comes with a lo pro gas block and melonite gas tube. Hanson profile.
PSA BCG - $65 SOLD
Unfired, can't have too many of these as backup.
PSA Handgaurd - $30
Gray handagurd off of the PSA freedom upper. Carbine length.
CZ Scorpion S1 Handgaurd - $50
Original handgaurd. Unfired.
CZ Scorpion S1 tail cap - $30
This is the original pistol rear with the slot for a QD sling point. Unfired.
CZ Scorpion S1 grip - $20
OEM grip. Unfired.
FAB Defense QD, foldable grip - $30
This grip has quick disconnect, folds and locks forwards, backwards and angles. Cap unscrews for storage.
Magpul grip in FDE - Free with another purchase
It is missing a screw, but will still hold on. I'll send it for free with another purchase.
I am down to make some package deals, just let me know.

I know this type of topic has been done before though it'd be fun to make my version. Some of the playable fighters here did get some changes but still have way more bad choices when it comes to movesets, Aesthetics, Taunts, Alternate Costumes, Etc. So, here it is, part 1 of the changes of Movesets, Aesthetics, Taunts, Alternate Costumes, etc I would make for the Playable Fighters of the Official X2 version of Super Smash Bros., Smash 64.
Mario:

• Mario will now have his voice from Kevin Afghani instead of Charles Martinet, due to the latter retiring from his acting career.
• His Fire Mario alt. and Wario alt. return
• Is now able to Crawl while crouching, as he does in the recent Modern Mario games.
• Has a Water Meter for F.L.U.D.D, looking like it does in Super Mario Sunshine.
• Side-Smash - Hammer: Swings His Hammer Forward.
• Down-Aerial - Ground Pound: Butt Stomps downward, bouncing on & meteor spiking opponents.
• Neutral-Special: The Move animation remains the same but the name is Changed to Firebrand instead.
• Side-Special - Cappy: Tosses Cappy forward like a boomerang and/or can jump on him like an extra platform.
• Up-Special - Wing Cap: Spawns a Wing Cap & shoots up into the air before gliding.
• Down-Special: F.L.U.D.D is kept here but also can now deal damage and also has the Nuzzle form to help Mario into the air.
• Final Smash - Ultra Fireball: Shoots Fireballs in a straight line.

Donkey Kong:

• Donkey Kong will now have his voice from Takashi Nagasako instead of the Stupid & Bland realistic gorilla grunts.
• Neutral-Special - Coconut Gun: Picks up the Coconut Gun, then Fires a Coconut at the opponent.
• Side-Special - Barrel Throw: Throws a Barrel at the opponent, which can be reflected and/or used as an item.
• Up-Special - Launch Barrel: Gets into a launch barrel, starts spinning & flies in any inputted direction.
• Up-Taunt: Still pounds his chest, but now hollers wildly while doing so.
• Side-Taunt: He quickly sit downs and pull out a Nintendo Switch and play on it.
• Left Victory Pose: DK rapidly punches and kicks a Slot Machine Barrel from the Retro Donkey Kong Country games, breaking it and releasing a bunch of bananas; once he's done, he lands on the ground and smiles for the camera, while giving a thumbs-up.
• Right Victory Pose: He still pounds his chest, but just like his new Up-Taunt, hollers wildly.

Link:

• Link also now uses the Ancient Axe & Guardian Spear respectively.
• Down Tilt: Crouches down, then stabs forward.
• Side-Smash - Spear Thrust: Performs a straight-forward stab with his Spear.
• Up-Smash - Vertical Spin: Jumps and Spin slashes upwards, which if at 0% damage can shoot a sword beam.
• Neutral-Aerial: Spins the Axe in a circle.
• Forward-Aerial: Thrusts the spear forwards.
• Back-Aerial: Turns and thrusts the spear behind him.
• Grab - Magnesis: Picks up a Magnet, then Fires two whips to grab an opponent, which can be used as a tether recovery.
• Neutral-Special: Acts exactly the same and still has the Wooden arrows, but now also has other types of Arrows.
  • Fire Arrows: Deal fire damage.
  • Ice Arrows: Deal ice damage and can freeze opponents when at high percentages.
  • Thunder Arrows: Make a bolt of lightning strike the opponent hit, dealing electric damage.
  • Bomb Arrows: Explode on contact.
  • Light Arrows: Go through opponents when fully charged.
  • Ancient Arrows: Creates a massive blue explosion of energy.
• Up-Special - Sailcloth: Pulls out the Sailcloth, then goes in an updraft and afterwards goes straight down without changing direction.

Power Suit Samus:

• Can now switch Beam energies by using the Shield Special and also Ice beam now.
• Her green alt. is replaced by a blue and white skin, based on her default suit from Metroid Dread.
• Now moves slightly faster and has more air speed.
• Down-Tilt - Slide: Performs a forward Slide kick.
• Dash-Attack - Dash Melee: Swings her Arm Cannon upwards while running.
• Side-Smash - Diffusion Blast: Releases an area of effect blasts at Close-ranged.
• Up-Smash - Overhead Blast: Same as Side Smash Attack but upwards.
• Neutral-Aerial - Screw Attack: Does a somersault while discharging energy.
• Forward-Aerial - Spazer Beam: Fires a blast that splits into three lasers.
• Pummel - Grapple Voltage: Deals Electric Damage and Heals herself somewhat.
• Alt. Neutral-Special - Ice Beam: Same as Energy mode but can also freeze opponents.
• Side-Special - Missile (Tapped)/Super Missile/Storm Missiles (Held): Fires a missile from her arm cannon at the cost of one missile if tapped, a Super Missile at the cost of five missiles if held a bit or a flurry of missiles at the cost of all ten if held.
• Up-Special - Shinespark: Launches herself in any inputted direction as a gold shine emerges.
• Down-Special - Morph Ball: Now transforms into her Morph Ball form and stays in it, until either Down-B is pressed again or she gets attacked. She can now roll around and jump while in her Morph Ball form, and place Power Bombs or Freeze Fields whenever "A" or "B" is pressed.
• Final Smash - Hyper Beam: Charges her arm cannon & fires a large beam of energy, which can be angled & can go through opponents & walls.

Yoshi:

• His Black Yoshi alt. returns.
• Grab: Can now be used as a tether recovery and cling onto ledges
• Neutral-Special - Egg Lay: Acts exactly the same, but just like the Grab, can now be used as a tether recovery and cling onto ledges. It can also now grab items and projectiles.
• Down-Special - Ground Pound: Only the name is changed.

Kirby:

• Kirby's Copy Ability gimmick mostly consists of Copy abilities from the Kirby franchise instead of copying Neutral Specials of his opponents.
• Down-Tilt - Slide: Does a Sliding Kick.
• Dash-Attack: Has the break Spin from the Yo-Yo ability back.
• Side-Smash - Staff: Swings the Staff forward.
• Up-Smash - Yo-Yo: Swings the Yo-Yo upwards, then brings back to him.
• Down-Smash - Bell: Performs a spin and then strikes on both sides of him with his bells, creating 2 damaging soundwaves.
• Neutral-Special: Kept the same, but also can now acts the exact the same as it does in the Kirby games.
• Side-Special - Circus: Does two short somersaults and backsaults back to where he started the attack.
• Up-Special - Hi Jump: Jumps high into the air and turns left or right and can collide with opponents along the way and give them damage.
• Down-Special: Stone is kept but with some added changes, Kirby can also now have a fist while using the down special and dashing at the same time.
• Final Smash - Paint Out: Sprays blobs of paint all over, causing damage and knockback to opponents.

Fox:

• Final Smash - Arwing: Calls up on the Arwing, then hops aboard on it, then goes to first-person perspective.

Pikachu:

• Pikachu now gets Alternate colors instead of Alternate headwear, although Pikachu Libre still remains. These colors include Blue (Marill), Orange (Raichu), Gray (Togedemaru), White (Pachirisu), Black (Emolga) and Purple (Rattata).
• Up-Tilt - Thunder Punch: Punches with large hands of electricity.
• Up-Smash - Iron Tail: Animation remains the same as current up-smash, but now also glows Whitish-Gray & hits a bit harder.
• Neutral-Special - Electro Ball: Forms an orb of yellow and orange electricity with yellow electric sparks from its body to in front of its face, then fires the ball of electricity at the opponent.
• Side-Special - Zippy Zap: Charges up electricity as it's surrounded by electricity after charge. If charged, it goes farther faster dash forwards. If Uncharged however, it makes a quick short dash forwards.
• Up-Special - Quick Attack: Zips upwards at lightning speed and if makes contact with opponents deal light damage, which can be angled, however the second angle has to be different from the initial angle.
• Final Smash - Volt Tackle: Electrifies its entire body and blast forwards like a super-charged projectile and If it manages to hit an opponent, a large electrical explosion comes upon impact, launching nearby fighters, also dealing electric damage.

Luigi:

• Like Mario, Luigi will now have his voice from Kevin Afghani instead of Charles Martinet, due to the latter retiring from his acting career.
• Is now able to Wall Jump.
• Side-Smash - Hammer: Swings His Hammer Forward.
• Down-Smash - Burst: A burst of wind propels him upward, startling him as a wind circle emerges around himself.
• Neutral-Aerial - Spin Jump: Spins Himself Around.
• Down-Aerial - Ground Pound: Butt Stomps downward, bouncing on & meteor spiking opponents.
• Neutral-Special - Thunderhand: Fires a Ball of Electricity from His Hand, dealing electric damage.
• Side-Special - Spin Tornado: Winds Up and Spins Forward, generating a tornado that covers him completely then dealing multiple Hits toward opponents in the way before launching them.
• Down-Special - Element Medal: Picks one of three element medals, then uses that said element.
  • Fire: Deals fire damage.
  • Water: Deals water damage and pushes opponents backwards.
  • Ice: Deals ice damage and freezes opponents.

Ness:

• When Ness hits the opponent with his Baseball Bat for his Side Smash while fully charged, the SMAAASH!!! text appears.
• Down-Smash - Paralysis: Deals stun damage with his PSI Powers.
• Neutral-Special - Slingshot: Fires a Slingshot projectile, which can be aimed forwards, up or down.
• Side-Special: His old Neutral Special, PK Flash, is moved here and now he can fire it at the opponent.
• Final Smash - PSI Rockin Ω: Fires a PSI burst forward & creates several psychic fireworks on any caught opponents before releasing a larger burst.

Captain Falcon:

• Neutral-Special - Pistol: Shoots an energy blast from His Gun, dealing electric damage.

Jigglypuff:

• Jigglypuff now gets alternate colors instead of wearing items. The Alternate colors are Blue (Marill), Koffing (Purple), Beige (Rowlet), Gray (Togedemaru), Black (Gastly), White (Cascoon) and Green (Solosis).
• Jigglypuff no longer gets KO'd by its own Shield Breaking.
• Jab - Double Slap: Performs two alternating slaps forward, which can be used five times.
• Side-Tilt - Uproar: Causes an Uproar, making sound waves come out of its mouth at the opponent.
• Dash-Attack - Take Down: Recklessly charges at the opponent, dealing damage.
• Side-Smash - Mega Punch: Performs a strong Punch with its left hand.
• Up-Smash - Round: Takes a quick breath, then fires a high-pitched blast of sound from her mouth.
• Down-Smash - Mega Kick: Performs a Swing with its left foot.
• Down-Aerial - Gyro Ball: Gets surrounded by a metallic aura, then spins rapidly and slams into the opponent, also meteor spiking them.
• Pummel: Its old Side Special, Pound, is moved here and now just punches the opponent.
• Forward-Throw - Focus Punch: Briefly lets go of the opponent to punch them with a high amount of force, launching them away from it.
• Back-Throw - Fling: Picks up the opponent, then throws them backwards.
• Down-Throw - Body Slam: Falls forward onto the opponent, also meteor spiking them.
• Neutral-Special - Disarming Voice: Lets out a Charm Cry that does emotional damage to the opponent.
• Side-Special - Dazzling Gleam: Emits a Powerful Flash.
• Up-Special - Bounce: Jumps into the air, then lands back on the opponents or stages, bouncing on the opponent and/or stage, which when landing and bouncing on the opponent, it can use other attacks, but when landing on the stage instead of opponent it can't directly attack again.
• Down-Special: Its old Up Special, Sing, is moved here.
• Final Smash - Hyper Voice: Inhales a bunch of air, inflating her balloon-like body a bit, before letting out a loud attack that uses sound waves & blasts opponents backwards quite a distance.

This took a while, but I hope to hear how or what you people feel about these. Any changes that you want to see to the Original 12 that I didn't mention or some moves misplaced? It'd be cool to see what other people can come up with.

I’m speaking as a black man who finds it ironic that the whole industry was happy to have Drake the last 10 years for money, features, shows and promotion and is now turning on him with the “you’re not our culture” angle. What I find even crazier is how you have white people saying the Rick Ross “white boy” and agreeing that Drake (who’s half black) is a colonizer lol. Like how can you support someone dissing you? If Drake is a colonizer for rapping and associating with other blacks what do they really think of their white fans dancing to their music, dressing like them and using their expressions?
That’s why to me this beef has just became a hate fest. People love to see others fail and I believe even some Drake fans are just happy to post reactions and get some clout/likes/points/upvotes or whatever they can out of it.

I was fit for irons with a +3 lie angle, should I do the same with my wedge?

Yes, I saw the posts in the subreddit and know this idea is actually pretty old (and you all had done a far better job than me...), but I actually didn't know about it before searching and classified all of them into different taxa by myself...
So, here's what they are:
1.) Overworld Dimension:
a.) Passive mobs:
i.) Tranquil Fauna: those who won't attack the player even after getting attacked.
ii.) Guarded Fuana: mobs which are generally passive but can attack if provoked.
b.) Hostile/Monster mobs:
i.) Nocturnal monster mobs: Those which can only survive only during the night and burn in the sunlight.
ii.) Diurnal monster mobs: Those which can survive in the sunlight.
c.) Humans:
i.) Villagers (not just the villagers mobs but all the NPC humans like pillagers, witches and stuff.)
ii.) Players (basically Steve/Alex/any other skin)
2.) Nether Dimension:
a.) Hostile mobs
b.) Passive mobs (in this case, only strider)
3.) End Dimension:
Every mob in the End.
→Piglins are hostile mobs which can be tricked into believing the player is also one of them by wearing gold.
→Phantom is just a hallucination.
→Lastly, we got the “Created mobs” like Iron Golem, Snow Golem and the Wither.
Again, this classification is very simple and I don't really know much about Minecraft... But it felt satisfying at least to me after creating this.

For background, I am about a 10-12 handicap (my short game/putting is atrocious because I don’t play regularly) I am above average ball striker (hitting the ball straight is biggest strength) with average swing speed. I hit the ball a lot higher than great ball strikers bc shit attack angle. I had Taylormade M2 Irons that were ok but hated visual of iron next to ball when lining up a shot. For yardage references I am on shorter side about 275 off the tee and irons are 9i 145 8i 160 7i 175 6i 190 5i 200 3 wood 220. Any help is appreciated! Please don’t roast me guys haha

Last year I cured a slice by using Shawn Clement's videos and also gained lots of speed. Issue with it though, is that it works *really* well on a simulator, but then with any different lie angle or *especially* out of the rough, hook city. I've since gone back to a weaker grip, especially trail hand, and have lost probably 20 yards off of my longest drives, but fairway machine now and no round killing hooks. I do miss the occasional 300 yard drive that came with that strong easy to release grip and up and down swinging motion.
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Was also extremely hard for me to hit longer irons and fairway woods (probably due to low point control being tough if you don't shallow). Driver and 7 iron / below crushed.

I was fit for irons and my lie angle is +3. Rather than pay for another full fitting, is there a best practice for wedges? I heard -1 degree from irons for wedge lie angles.

It is just absolutely brutal. Just because I have a small, round face/head as a man (which is literally my bone structure which cannot be changed as I’m already underweight. It’s not a weight issue) I’m literally unable to find a single person to be even remotely interested in me.
You know you are objectively unattractive when for years you have worn very nice clothes (I’ve worked in the clothing industry and I have a good fashion sense) which I always iron and keep presentable, get fresh haircuts before every night out, shower and shave everyday, have immaculate hygiene, and wear nice, expensive aftershave that smells really nice, and even after doing all of these things, you can’t pull a single girl. I literally put so much effort in to make myself look as good as humanly possible, and it’s not even enough for a girl to take me seriously at all. Like I said, I’ve been doing all that hard work on myself for years, and in the last 6 years I’ve been on hundreds of different nights out, to bars, clubs, pubs, and tried speaking to thousands of different women (not even going for the super hot ones that I’d deem out of my league either, I’ve always tried to keep it realistic) and even though I’ve spoken to them with good confidence as well, and had good game/flirting ability with them, literally 0 of them have been interested. And on many an occasion I’ve been quite insultingly rejected with scrunched up faces looking at me.
When you have travelled to various different countries, went to hundreds of different venues with people your age, and attempted to engage with thousands of different females your age, all of various different races, heights, types and everything, and every. single. one of them has absolutely 0 interest in you just because of the way you look, you then realise that you’re just simply not attractive enough to date someone and find love.
Believe me I have tried harder than 99.9% of people I’ve met to find love. I’ve even made OLD apps (been on all of them) and I’ve taken photos with really good lighting, wearing nice clothes, taking photos from different angles (ones not exposing my round, circular head as much), also I’ve experimented with different bios and everything too, and got barely a single match in years of using the apps. Even after buying boosts and everything, I’d maybe only get 1 solitary like from using the boost at absolute best! I’ve never met anyone from tinder, bumble, or any of those sights, no matter how hard I’ve tried.
Another technique I used (like I said, I’ve tried extremely hard), is I’ve went through phases of just adding hundreds of random females on Snapchat that are on my “suggested adds” page, because the theory was that with OLD apps, you basically get shutdown as soon as the girl sees you’re not attractive enough for them. But by adding hundreds of different females through suggested adds, they don’t immediately know what I look like, so I assumed I’d be able to message people that would probably have left swiped on me on tinder, so therefore wouldn’t have a chance to speak to them. And then maybe if they like me as a person, when they see my face it won’t matter as much? Well I tried that technique, and I did have some conversions with people, even a few decent ones too, but when it came to them saying “what do you look like?” And I shown them what I look like, I’d pretty much unanimously just immediately get either deleted or blocked from their Snapchat. So my “genius” plan there didn’t work either. It didn’t matter that we’d been speaking for a while, having a nice conversation, and even related to each other quite a lot. Because my facial bone structure is objectively, and unanimously unattractive, I get deleted no matter what my personality is like.
Having a round face and a round head as a man is an absolute death sentence in the modern dating world. I hate taking photos with my friends, because even though my friends aren’t the most attractive men on earth, they all have way better facial structures than me. So in photos, their faces look longer, more chislled, more defined. And then my face is just a small, round circle which just makes me look so unattractive and unappealing. Even though my facial features themselves aren’t bad at all (I have nice eyes, nice teeth, and my face is pretty symmetrical) the structure of my face destroys ANY chance I have with a female. A round face on a women can be passed off a cute or attractive, but in this day and age, a man is expected to have defined cheekbones and jawline, and is expected to have quite a long and narrow face. But mine is the same length as it is width, which finishes me off honestly.
As I said earlier, it just kills me seeing so many people my age out there living life, meeting new people and making connections quite regularly, and when they come out of relationships, they have no problems hooking up with other girls, or kissing them in a club and getting their numbers for future meet-ups. While I’m here trying my absolute best to maximise the bad facial genetics I was born with, and trying my best to be a nice, funny and decent person to everyone I meet, but unfortunately just because my facial structure is objectively unattractive, I’ll never be able to experience any of the pleasures most people my age will.