*CONTAINS SWEARING*
This is gonna be a hefty and most likely triggering post for specific groups of people out there (meaning people who struggle with anger, people who don't want poltical content/opinions etc), so please stop reading and leave if you figure this is gonna be rough for you. This will (mainly) be about the conflict between Palestine and Israel. (and apparently a long one) No hate towards any specific groups of people, but I do have a lot of *frustration regarding behaviours*.
Before I start, I want you to remember some facts about me as you read;
I am autistic
I am heavily influenced by world peace, hate, racism and other unfair situations
I have incredibly high standards for myself that I strive to not break, including, but not limited to, being kind and respectful *always*, despite being in a bad mood, not liking someone, or disagreeing, especially political disagreements
I have always, and will always, stand against widespread hate, racism and other discrimination towards any specific religions, ethnicities, nationalities, cultures, etc.
I also want you to know that I named this throwaway accordingly.
So let's get this shitshow started then, shall we.
As the details of the conflict stands, it is beyond obvious to me that this is racism and, literally, a Holocaust. Not *the* Holocaust, but *a* Holocaust. Oxford Languages has the term defined as a destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war . I'd say that's very much accurate. Proof to come.
Regardless, this situation has had me very pressed the last almost 8 months, as I know most other people have been too. Without getting too much into the conflict itself, I want to talk a little about what I've seen from the Jewish community.
This is where I advise anyone who struggles with anger especially to leave and try to keep your day positive. If you have a magical potion to stay stable after this, who am I to stop you...
Alright, onto the dreaded part. And yes, I am stalling.
I have never, and I truly mean *never* had any hateful thoughts or opinions about religions (other than Christianity but that's one for another time), and as we are all aware of, The Holocaust had massive effect on the world some 80 years ago. I have always seen Jews as victims due to this, but in recent times I've realised that a lot of them, too, see themselves as victims. The issue is that they aren't the victims right now. They (Israel) aren't defending themselves, they have nothing to defend themselves against. Israel is currently doing the exact same thing as Germany did to them, to Palestine. Sure, maybe at some point who knows when, Palestine *was* the land of Jews, but since then, multiple religions have been thriving together on that land, including Jews. They were never excluded. From what I've understood, there weren't any wars or conflicts going on within the country that didn't happen elsewhere. The issue began when in the late 1940's zionists brutally murdered families to steal their homes. I'm sure the situation was so much more complex than that, but in a nutshell that is basically it. The fact that everyone today have been so desensitized from the travesties happening around the world is depressing and hope-killing. I truly am well on the way to giving up, and at this point in time I'm so angry all the time due to the Middle East's situation.
So a few weeks ago, probably closing in on months at this point, I randomly got a notification from reddit about someone posting on /Jewish. They didn't say anything explicit, so I pressed the notification and I was met with the worst victimization and ignorance I've ever seen. I truly believed most jews would see this for what it is, and not let some racist maniac spoon-feed them propaganda and hate, but I was brutally and humbly proven wrong. They were mocking proPAL parades, hating on news anchors and civilians alike calling this a genocide, insisting that Israel has no other choice, saying "casualties happens in war", convincing each other that zionism is a good thing, and feeling sorry for themselves when friends and families cut contact because they said they supported Israel and saw this as the only solution. Some might have been genuine problems, idk, but for the most part, that subreddit seems to only be about hating the rest of the world because their great grandparents were killed. I know I sound like a complete asshole, but the world isn't antisemetic anymore - they are actively looking for it and then using that one person telling them to stop feeling so sorry for themselves as proof that everybody in the world wants to throw them back in gas chambers.
I commented on my personal once where I mentioned that judaism and zionism are two separate things and got downvoted to oblivion. Someone replied saying that my comment was very much exactly what they too feel, but I got downvoted *simply because* I referred to them as separate entities. That is another criticism they've recieved lately; the pure idea of zionism is on the complete opposite side from what Judaism stands for. I've seen so many of the members there calling Jews protesting against Israel "self-hating" and traitors.
I've also made so many replies that I never sent because I know for a fact they would do anything in their power to ban me from ever using reddit again, and I wouldn't be surprised if I got doxxed and harrassed IRL from it. I saved them all, though. I found that it was kind of therapeutic to get it out, but it still bugs me that I never found a way to say it to them. I once also made a post about my rage for their behaviour connected to this genocide, but I thankfully stopped myself before I posted it. I'm so enraged by their sheer ignorance and hypocritical behaviour, all the while Gaza is still being eradicated and slaughtered, war crimes happening day in-day out, inhumane atrocities by the IOF being posted and hailed, and they have the audacity to say that they are the victims? That Israel has no other choice but martyring tens of thousands of CHILDREN? Starving the entire Gaza Strip, segregating West Bank, literally teaching their young in school to hate and attack arabs? That last one might not be true as I don't speak Hebrew or Arabic, so anyone could've just made up the translation, but I still feel it's worth mentioning in case it actually *is* real.
My point is that the guts they have to claim to be so moral, yet still be so unfaced from what's happening in Gaza is beside me. Sure, for those living near the Gaza wall, I'm positive that hearing bombs and screams were traumatizing as fuck, but to then leave for work the next day and claim that "shit happens"? It's insane! It's inhumane. They can leave whenever they like, children can play football (soccer) in the streets and not having to worry about shit, hotels and restaurants with 5-star ratings thriving, plants and flowers still blooming, absolutely no threats on a daily basis. The fact that people are still calling this a war, something necessary, is beyond devastating to me. There are millions still siding with zionism, claiming there's nothing wrong with the belief that you have an innate right to some dirt simply because your holy book says that thousands of years ago, your religion lived there, and simply because of that religious fact you are rightfully owed thousands of young lives, the death of an entire country with its own culture, just to feed the irrational religious political system? How in God's name has that ever, *IS* that still okay? If Muslims were the ones saying that shit, they would've been completely destroyed by now, today's generation wouldn't know what the fuck Islam was. They are still being slaughtered though, because they're saying it's *not* okay. How is that not racist again?
My brother and I got into a heated argument a few days ago about this. I am very much *for* Palestine to have human rights and to own their own land - he is very much *against* "ugly blackies" having any rights because they're *not* human. Boi when I tell you I got so angry I started crying. And the worst part about that fight? He claims that Jews aren't any better, however they still deserve to defend themselves against children running on the beach. "But Hamas-" is so over-used and outdated by now, it just proves that he doesn't follow up on statistics and evidence. Even if there only were one-sided news (from Gaza), the fact that the ICJ ruled Israel's actions a genocide and war crimes still proves everything he claims to be "n*****'s propaganda". And the fact that he so underminds my autism and *need* for factual evidence before discussing it also goes to show that he genuinely does not care about anything other than the black "terrorists" being eradicated. I said "So you're not just a racist, you're just plain racist?" he just scoffed and looked at me as if I just said the most nonsensical bullshit gibberish ever, practically saying "I'm not gonna say anything, but it really took you that long to realise?" Either that, or he actually didn't comprehend the words coming out of my mouth, like it was a foreign language or something. Because he genuinely does not have a single reason to be racist.
He can't even blame suicide attacks because 1) not all are carried by muslims, and 2) between 1981-2015 around 45,000 were killed by suicide attacks worldwide, where in 2019 the total death toll was only 1,699 more than amount of attacks; whereas in Gaza, between Oct 7 to present there are about 34,000 confirmed palestinian deaths, and assumed around 42,000 with unconfirmed deaths. If, in 36 years, "muslim terrorism" killed about the same amount as Israel has in almost 8 months, how on earth are Arabs the terrorists?
And I've also seen the argument that 30,000 is nothing compared to the total population in Gaza, as if that makes it okay. I will, again, make example of The Holocaust. When 30,000 Jews were martyred, people were already catching on, and this was without the technology we have today.
How have we been allowing this to happen to Palestinians *with* our technology today? Why haven't people been doing more; striking our jobs, cummute chauffeurs striking, proper permanent boycotts, more coverage from news anchors and private people alike? Even if it is to officially reclaim your love for white supremacy, you're still talking about it. Why are people still not reading up on this? Why does millions still not know that this *didn't* begin on October 7th? And why are there still those who claim that the past doesn't matter today? I have so many questions, and if I do get an answer I will only end up with more questions. How hasn't the world stopped over this? Why are people so okay knowing that there are children being intentionally murdered every single day? How can you go to work and talk about Dave's new tie? Or your 6 year old's birthday party with 15 other 6 year olds? Hasn't it crossed your mind that if the roles were reversed, your precious princess would be the one burried under tons of rubble, dying slowly while simontaniously starving, dehydrating, suffocating and crushing, and *knowing* that absolutely no one cares because you're [skin color] and it's normal for your kids to be horrendously massacred? "Oh but the Taliban-ISIS-Al Qaeda" OKAY so what are you gonna do to help save innocent lives and suffering??? How are you gonna contribute to STOP these organizations that have manipulated and murdered to rule their country and are intentionally making the citicens miserable? Are you even aware that your own govurnment is essentially the same fucking thing, just disguised as a well dressed, polite gentleman? Aren't you sick of all those ads on TV showing brown children with flies in their eyes? Or your mama telling you to think about the starving children in Africa? Because I am.
I am so sick and tired of how inhumane humans have come to be. You don't see animals (and I'm trying my best to not mention how humans *are* animals, guess I failed) intentionally kill another animal simply because they're that animal. They kill prey; polar bears kill seals, seals kill penguins, penguins kill fish, fish kill amoebas, and you can get to that result from absolutely everything. What you don't find as a natural event is a golden, brown mane lion attack and kill an albino lion simply because it's albino. You don't see a school of fish swim away from one with two heads, because "*omg Jared is such a freak with his two heads*." So why the FUCK DID WE START DOING THAT? Where did this hunger for power come from? You *will* see a female lion tell the king that enough is enough, and he *will* accept that. I could go on and on for DAYS if I got the chance, but I don't wanna get too off topic here.
I've started a list of all the universally illegal shit Israel has done, and once I'm satisfied with it, I'll make one comparing Israel to Palestine, and then Arabs/Muslims as a whole. I can guarantee that I will still hear "on-sided sources" still, or "You can't trust Wikipedia!" Have you ever tried to edit or create an article on Wikipedia? I have, and I had to confirm that I had a degree or a current valid work ID to prove that I was elgible to speak on the topic. I tried to make a site for myself... Sure, there are more trustworthy sites, but even in a discussion about wether or not being trans is a mental illness, where I quoted and linked all of the most well known official sources like WHO, I was still slapped with "but this shady ass article from a random Deutch website that explicitly says everything I've said, yet still isn't actually saying the same thing because I misquoted and mixed the words to form my own sentence says that it is" when they literally linked a website called "disabled world". I will say though, I agree with that name. Today's world is so non-funtional for neurotypical, hetero, white MEN, it's no fucking wonder everyone else are classified as disabled or whatever. Also, on that disabled topic, if you've made it this far, please don't say "differently abled". A quote unquote quote (heh geddit? cuz it's rephrased and I don't have the book near me rn to directly quote) from Devon Price's "Unmasking Autism" that I really like: "You wouldn't say "a person with Asianness", you'd say "an Asian person"." We are disabled because today's world isn't made for us, and for the most part isn't even accomodated or accessible to us. We are different, yeah, but literally everyone is. We just got that term because we can't do the same things as you (assuming you're neurotypical) without aid. We are able, just not like you. Of course, if an autistic person tells you they prefer "person with autism", listen to them! But most of us embrace it as a part of us because we can't just get rid of it. Autism is what make me me, I wouldn't be me without my autism, so I *am* autistic, for better or for worse. :)
I find it kinda ironic that I started this as a venting about a lot of Jews' hypocritical behaviour, and now ending up on autism. Yaknow, cuz Dr. Asperger during WW2 experimented and tortured autistic people, and found out that some where more alike him than others, which then coined the term Aspergers for the Autistic Community.
Anywho, I feel better now, so thanks for letting me vent a little (a lot). I want to finish off by restating my intro; I have not, and will not tolerate any hate, racism or discrimination towards any religion, ethnicity, nationality, culture etc. This post is not intended as a rant about how aweful jews are, because they're not. I just wanted to air some frustration over their behaviour regarding I/P genocide. This is also not about *all* Jews, but that's the same discussion as "not all men" so I'll leave it at that.
I will delete this account in a week, so if you have any questions, be fast ig. If you find I've mis-phrased, used irrationally insensitive wording or any other complaints that calls for a repost, I will fix it and post an updated version. My DMs will also be available if that should be of interest, but I will not be responding to hate or personal attacks for my opinions. If the issue is my wording, again, tell me and I'll fix it.
At this point I've written so much that I don't remember if I found anything myself that I figured was worth fixing, and I've proof read it so many times that my eyes are crossing and giving me a headache lol
Gosh I'm scared of posting this. I don't want anyone to read this and think I support what A. H. did in 1940 cuz I cannot begin to describe my hatred for that man

Hello stranger, i know it is hard to find someone compatible, especially online, but i wish luck to all of you reading this post. And if i am really lucky, maybe i will find what i’m looking for aswell.
My intentions are clear: i want to find You. I want to find the right person for the right cause which is starting a family together. The question is: is that You?
I think three important factors you looking for are: 1. Mutual attraction 2. Similar goals/shared interests 3. He is not a complete dumbass
I will start with mutual attraction. I’m willing to exchange pics in private just so we know that this can work and you like my appearance. I don’t want to add my pic to this post cause i care about my privacy. I will be honest by saying it is an important objective, a physical attraction. To make things easier i can say a few things about my looks: 5”11 (180 cm), 187 lbs (85 kg +/-), blue eyes, black hair, broad shoulders, deep voice.
Second most important thing for you is who i am and what i like.
I’m a man of strong moral fiber. I value honesty, loyalty and kindness. I treat people right and i’m willing to help whenever i have a chance, i also care for my family which is super important to me. I see myself as a conservative person. I hold traditional values and i got much respect for religion and history. Individual freedom and free speech is all i’m about, also i’m a pacifist, i will defend my family and close ones with all i have, but at the same time i’m not looking for troubles and not getting into fights, that was never my thing, i like to resolve problems with words, not fists.
Shared interest paragraph is ready to go. I like to read a lot, i also write some stuff, im getting ready to publish my book one day (all i need is more inspiration from You, be my Muse). Music is my thing, i’m going to a lot of concerts and festivals, road trips, watching youtube channels about history, science, cosmos and some other topics, i’m watching a lot of tv series and movies, like to spend time outside by walking or hiking, i like outdoors but i’m also a huge fan of spending time in bed and doing nothing sometimes.
My goal is to find a fine woman to start a family with. I always wanted to have a child, i think 2 or 3 is just the right number. I even have some names for kids, we can discuss it. I know how it is to grow up without a father figure that’s why i always wanted to give that to my children, a big and happy home where dad and mom loves each other a lot and sending this vibe to their children. I also want to show to my kids all the books and music albums i love so much and i want to be for them always to raise them well! So if you are up for that - awesome!
I want a woman who is ambitious, i want her to support me cause i will do the very same thing. I want you to watch a soccer game with me willingly and i want you to invite me to your world, show me what you love and i want to be in it for you, even if it means watching a silly show in tv. Whatever makes you feel good, i want to be a part of it. Support, support, support and don’t kill the other person’s vibe, i’m up for it.
I want a woman that is willing to talk about our feelings and everything, cause a real talk is the most important thing to build a strong foundation. Let’s talk and don’t hide our feelings.
Life is worth living and it is way better to spend it all with the person you love, i want to find that person here. Maybe that is You? Let’s find out.
Also, the last thing - i’m not a complete dumbass, sometimes i’m just a silly boy!
I wish you all the best, cheers!
Also i want to include one of my fav quotes recently:
'Cause when you talk about these things, something ignites in you, and I can see it on your face.
And I don't see that on a lot of people. And, you know, whatever that feeling is, when you feel it, I feel that too.
And it's not just here. It's... It's afterwards. What I'm trying to say is i really like the way that I feel when I make you feel the way that you do.”

I may have missed some more recent (late 2023-24) declarations, so let me know if I should add anything I've missed.
Stugotz personal record book. Sorry if the links are expired on some things. They're old.
[Time Stamps] Started to use them in late 2019. They may not be exact based on what podcast app or service you use. But they'll be close.
I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS:

FOOTBALL

(1) UCF is the 2017-2018 national champion.
(2) If Kirk Cousins goes to the Jaguars and not the Jets, no championship he wins will count in the personal record book.
Note (2)(a): Still pending sort of since Kirk is with the Vikings now – possible in future he could go to Jags.
(3) Eli manning has 1 ring. He doesnt get one for throwing a ball into David Tyree's face / Tyree getting a football stuck in his helmet.
(4) Carson Wentz has a Super Bowl 52 ring.
Note (4)(a): Foles does not have a Super Bowl 52 ring.
(5) The Raiders defeated the Patriots in their divisional playoff matchup in 2002 (Tuck Rule game), and then would defeat the Rams in Super Bowl 36.
Note (5)(a): In this scenario also, Bill Belichick was also "fired and looking for a job" after the Tuck Rule game and has 0 rings.
(6) If the 2017 Patriots won Super Bowl 52, James Harrison would not have a ring (Patriots lost to Eagles).
(7) Peyton Manning has one ring (Broncos ring does not count).
(8) Peyton Manning must give such ring he lost (above) to Von Miller, who thus has 2 rings.
(9) Aaron Rodgers can have all the rings he wants for keeping all of central Wisconsin employed.
(10) Brian Billick has 0 rings (2000 Ravens Super Bowl) because that defense carried him.
(11) Tony Boselli is a Hall of Famer.
(12) Tarik Cohen is an honorary Jew.
(13) JuJu Smith-Schuster is also an honorary Jew. L'Chaim.
(14) Drew brees has three rings for winning the super bowl for the city of New Orleans.
Note (14)(a): There was discussion on this where the number started at three, went up to five, came down to two, but it ended up at three.
(15) Mike McCarthy has no Super Bowl rings.
Note(15)(a): Dan also has this in his record book, and it is the first entry into the Le Batard Personal Record Book.
Note 15(b): In fact, McCarthy has -3 (Negative three) rings.
(16) Any Super Bowl rings Antonio Brown gets with the Patriots will not count in the Stugotz personal record book (9/9 Weekend Observations National Hour 2).
(17) Ohio State's 76 to 5 victory over Miami (Ohio) on 9/21/19 does not count.
(18) Due to Bill Belichick's 219 wins with Tom Brady, Bill's week 7 2023 victory over the Bills was actually his 81st victory and not his 300th victory.
(19) The 2002-03 Miami Hurricanes actually won the Fiesta Bowl/BCS National Championship game against Ohio State.
(20) If JJ Watt joins the Texans for the 2024 season or later on, none of the Super Bowl rings will count in Stugotz's personal record book

BASKETBALL

Kevin Durant
(1) If Westbrook wins a championship and beats Kevin Durant along the way in the playoffs, Westbrook will have won 2 championship rings.
(2) "STRAP IT ON BOYS, GONNA TAKE YA FOR A RIDE:"
Kevin Durant has 0 rings (Zero rings)
Kevin Durant has -1 rings (Negative 1 rings).
Kevin Durant has -4 rings (Negative 4) (As of 4/11/18)
Note (2)(a): This number is subject to change based on Stugotz altering rings to the "-4" current total. Specifically as seen recently when Stugotz adjusted the number from (i) 0 rings to (ii) -1 rings to (iii) -4 rings.
Note (2)(b): Here is a tweet transcript of the conversation where this was discovered.
Archive link
(3) If Kevin Durant wins an NBA title for the NY Knicks, he will gain 11 rings.
Note (3)(a): As seen above in "(2)," Kevin Durant has -4 rings.
Note (3)(b): [Math] If Durant were to remain at -4 rings, and subsequently win an NBA title for the Knicks, he will have 7 rings total. This was specifically stated (-4 + 11 = 7), and a question about a non-specifically stated Personal Record Book entry is posed below in "Note (3)(c)(i)."
Note (3)(c): If the Golden State Warriors had won a championship playing 3 on 5 with Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant would have 1 ring.
Note (3)(c)(i): [Confusion] I am unsure if "Note(3)(c)" means he would gain +1 ring, and therefore be "up" to -3 rings total. Possibly, Stugotz means if the Golden State Warriors had won a championship 3 on 5 with Durant, Kevin Durant would be at +1 rings total (Positive 1 rings).
(4) Kevin Durant's dagger in Game 3 did not count, because according to Stugotz, none of Durant's stats count. KD's official statline last night was 0/0/0 and the Cavs blew the Warriors out by 40.
(5) Anything Kevin Durant has done with the Warriors so far is not in Stugotz' personal record scroll.
Note (5)(a): Stugotz did not take his feathered pen and write anything in his scroll (King Roy approves).
(6) Westbrook has ALL of KD's rings.
(7) For every time KD says he doesn't give a BLEEP, Stugotz adds 2 "I do give a BLEEPS" in the personal record book.
(8) Per Dan, speaking on Stugotz' behalf, Kevin Durant has no Olympic Gold Medals (9/18/19 National Hour 1 @ 00:07:50).
Michael Jordan
(1) Jordan has 9 rings because:
(a) The Rockets have to give their 2 rings from 1994 and 1995 to Jordan (+2); and
(b) The Bulls would have won the 1999 Finals over the Spurs if Jordan didn't retire (+1; 9 total).
Note (1)(a-b)(i): Put LeBron's rings in a box and put Jordan's rings in a box. Jordan is +6 by the way over LeBron box-minus, despite box-minus sounding like a dumb stat.
(2) Michael Jordan was suspended for 2 years for gambling (Said 4/25/18 Hour 2, 14:30 in podcast).
Note 2(a): HOWEVER, MJ still has 9 rings as see above in (1)(a) and (1)(b).
(3) Any game Michael Jordan played wearing the uniform #45 does not count.
LeBron James
(1) If LeBron James goes to the Golden State Warriors, every Championship he wins will result in a deduction of 2 previously won championships.
(2) The Miami Heat LeBron teams were the GREATEST teams in the history of sports (5/7/18 Local Hour).
(3) The Miami Heat LeBron teams were also the MOST INTERESTING teams in the history of sports.
(4) If, after the 2018 NBA Playoffs:
(a) LeBron does not make it to the finals and the Celtics do; and
(b) The Houston Rockets do not make it to the finals and the Warriors do; and
(c) LeBron goes to the Houston Rockets for the next season, THEN
LeBron is allowed to win rings that count in Stu's personal record book.
Note (4)(a-c)(i): HOWEVER, Harden & Chris Paul - if they remain on the Rockets with LeBron on the team - are not allowed to have any of the rings won with LeBron count in Stu's personal record book.
Note 4(a-c)(ii): To quote the big man Stu (with Dan agreeing of course), "Do it on your own” (Dan agrees here).
(5) If LeBron wins an NBA Championship with the 2018 Lakers roster (as of 7/23/18), then that wins counts for 6 rings.
Note (5)(a): Thus LeBron would have 9 rings.
Kyrie Irving
(1) Kyrie Irving hit one of the biggest shots in NBA Finals History, but was only in that position because of LeBron James. Kyrie Irving, did hit one of the biggest shots in NBA Finals history that won everyone on that team a Ring, except for you (Kyrie). (3/9/20 Hour #3; Google Podcast @ 07:00).
Note (1)(a): Stugotz: "A little revision to the uhhh Stugotz Personal Record Book that I'll come around to writing...or Mike will." I'M WRITING IT YOU IDIOT MORON JACKAL
Misc. Basketball
(1) The Houston Rockets have 0 (Zero) NBA Championship victories.
Note (1)(a): See "Michael Jordan (1)(a)" for reasoning.
Note (1)(a)(i): [Restated Reasoning] Michael Jordan is actually in possession of those 1994 and 1995 Rockets rings because Michael Jordan would have won those championships if he stayed in Chicago.
Note(1)(b): [CONFLICTING HOT TAKE] Stugotz has also said Jordan didn't get the Rockets' rings because he was actually suspended for gambling.
Note (1)(b)(i) NEEDS CLARIFICATION PLEASE. Stugotz keeps going back and forth. In "Michael Jordan Note 1(a)," the opposite of "Miscellaneous Basketball Note (1)(b) is stated because he has gone back and forth on this issue.
(2) Steve Kerr has no rings as a coach. In fact, he has never even coached a game.
(3) Mychal Thompson (Klay's dad) has no rings. (Said on Zach Harper podcast).
(4) Clyde Drexler no rings (Said on Zach Harper podcast).
(5) Giannis Antetekoumpo is pronounced Yani Adababoombo.
(6) As long as James Harden has his beard, he cannot win any championships.
Note (6)(a): If the Rockets win a ring, then the ring goes to the beard.
(7) Lamarcus Aldridge cost the Spurs game 2 of the 2017 Western Conference Semifinals, even though they won.
(8) If the Sixers happen to win a championship, Sam Hinkie gets a ring.
(9) Chris Paul has NOT made a Western Conference Final since he had to join the Rockets to do so.
(10) Michael Jordan winning the NBA Finals in 1999 also means that Tim Duncan only has 4 rings instead of 5 rings.
(11) The Warriors only have 1 ring
Note (11)(a): Durant still has -4.
(12) Boogie Cousins cannot win a NBA Championship and have it count if he does so with the Warriors.
(13) Billy Donovan was the NBA Coach of the Year in 2017 (12/13/17 @ 28:10 Hour 1).
Note (13)(a): The Thunder blowing the 3-1 lead to the Warriors that year had nothing to do with Donovan. It was Durant's fault.
(14) The OKC Thunder actually did win the WCF against the Warriors in 2017 when up 3-1.
Note (14)(a): This does not apply to Durant though.
Note (14)(b): The Thunder also beat whoever they would have played in the Finals. Durant still no ring.
(15) Embiid has his 2023 MVP taken away and given to Jimmy Butler.
(16) Caitlin Clark's NCAA all-time scoring record still belongs to Pistol Pete because unlike Pistol Pete, Caitlin didn't do it in 3 years and she did it with a 3 point line.

BASEBALL

Babe Ruth
(1) Babe Ruth is black.
(2) Babe Ruth never hit a baseball. Not once.
(3) Babe Ruth is the number two black baseball player of all time behind Barry Larkin.
(4) Babe Ruth is NOT a top 20 Baseball player of all time. He's a pitcher.
Note (4)(a): However This is somewhat confusing/interesting because:
(i) Stugotz has said "Babe Ruth is the number two black baseball player of all time behind Barry Larkin; and"
(ii) This MUST mean Stugotz can only have 1 black player in his top 20 Baseball players of all time Barry Larkin; because
(iii) The only way this can work logically is if in the list of greatest players #1 through #20, only Barry Larkin is on the latter top #1 through #20 list. I would like some clarification on if he wishes to change this take/record.
(5) Babe Ruth is also not a top 20 pitcher of all time.
Misc. Baseball
(1) Stugotz has declared that in his personal record book, Baseball no longer allows pitchers to hit (Stated on 05/03/2018 @ 12:38:52 P.M).
Note (1)(a): Excludes Bartolo Colon, and Shohei Ohtani.
Note (1)(b): You are either a pitcher or a hitter. Not both.
(2) If the Dodgers won the 2017 World Series Clayton Kershaw would not have had a ring.
(3) Wade Boggs DOES have a ring because he rode around on a horse with a beer afterward.
(4) Clayton Kershaw did not win an MVP award because the award for pitchers was already given, the CY Young award.
(5) Miami beat LSU in the 1996 College Baseball World Series.
(6) The 1986 NY Mets did not win the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
Note (6)(a): This "pains" Stugotz.
(7) The Red Sox retroactively winning the 1986 World Series may result in taking a ring away from the Mets.
Note (7)(a): Stugotz has to think about it though, he's not sure yet.
(8) Bryce Harper did not win the 2018 home run derby because he cheated.
(9) Kershaw's Earned Ring Average (ERA) is 0.00.
(10) Mike Minor (Rangers Pitcher) does not have 200 strikeouts in 2019. He's at 199 (National Hour 2, 10 mins 40 seconds in).
Note (10)(a): Chris agrees too. And who really cares (15% on poll do care).
(11) The 2020-2021 Mets, during the Coronavirus outbreak, are 0-3 and Jacob deGrom is somehow 0-1 with a 0.00 ERA and 1 complete game. The deGrominator. (Google Podcast 3/30 Hour #3 @ 19:20)

HOCKEY

(1) Ray Bourque doesn't have a ring.
(2) Alex Ovechkin may or may not have won the Stanley Cup against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Note (2)(a): "I mean he beat an expansion team . . . bunch of players nobody wanted" (We get the sense that Dan agrees).

TENNIS

(1) If anyone wins a major in Female Tennis without Serena Williams playing, it does not count and they have 0 rings.
(2) If Maria Sharapova wins a grand slam in which Serena isnt competing it doesnt count.

GOLF

(1) If Jason Day wins the 2018 Masters, it counts as an American winning (as far as bets are concerned).
(2) Vijay Singh did not play in the 2018 Masters.
(3) Steph Curry did not win the 2023 American Century Celebrity Golf Championship Tournament . Mardy Fish was the real winner.

SOCCER

(1) Lionel Messi is stripped of all his achievements for using HGH. He never played soccer. He is still 5'1". "Fraud."
(2) Soccer is dead.

NCAA DIVISION 1 WOMEN'S LACROSSE

(1) Rachel has more rings than Kevin Durant

MISCELLANEOUS

(1) Aqua?
(2) Rings plus-minus is the only way to measure greatness.
(3) The HBO Andre the Giant film was good, not great, and Stugotz didn’t learn anything.
(4) Benoit Lecomte (guy they interviewed) can not and will not swim from San Francisco to Tokyo in the personal record book because he is most likely taking a dip for a few minutes then coming back on the boat and enjoying some filet mignon by the pool.
Note (4)(a): "Do it without a yacht. And how about ya do it without the little magnetic field around you that keeps sharks away. How bout that. Allows dolphins through though? Anyway.."
(5) Justify (the Horse) only has a double crown.
Note (5)(a): This is the first ever double crown.
(6) Tango and Cash is in the action movie Hall of Fame. and Cliffhanger has the greatest 5 minute intro of any movie of all time.
(7) Maximum Security (a Horse) won the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
(8) Fruit Stripes Gum is NOT a 1st Ballot Hall of Famer in Stu's "Gum Hall of Fame." (08/12/2019 Hour 2 @ 15:25).
Note (8)(a): "It loses it's flavor so quickly"
Note (8)(b): Also, "[...] Bazooka...1st Ballot Hall of Famer." Also, "Big League Chew..1st Ballot."
(9) Chris Cote owns all intellectual property rights to the "Friends" (TV Show) Movie with a misleading preview that eventually has a climax leading to an intense murder mystery. (10/29/19 Hour #2 @ 03:15).
Note (9)(a): "If they make this without crediting Cote, they're stealing it."
(10) That guy killed the pigeon (12/10 Hour 3 @ 08:20).
(11) Billy owns the record for world's longest Plank (2/25, Hour #3; Google Podcast @ 30:55).
Note (11)(a): Possibly in just the Non-Marine edition.
(12) Zach Buchanan won a Pulitzer Prize for his story on the Madison Bumgarner / Mason Saunders rodeo fiasco (2/28/20 Hour #2; Google Podcasts @ 21:35).
(13) Findlay the Golden retriever holds the Stu Gotz Personal Record Book record for most tennis balls held in a mouth at one time by a dog at 6 (2/11/2020)
(14) Ace Davis (The kid who "proved" Tom Brady was cheating with science) and his fathefamily are heroes (4/1 Hour #3; Google Podcast @ 18:50).
(15) Dan did NOT do more push-ups than Domonique Foxworth (Dan did push-ups on a non-linear platform) (4/28/2020 Hour # 1).

SPORTS MEDIA DREAM TEAM™

Sourced from Google Podcast; 05/06/2020, Hour 2 @ 09:00
(Head Coach) Ernie Johnson - "When you look over to the bench, what you need is someone to stand tall, someone who is confident, someone who is competent, someone who has all the credibility -soaked in credibility - when you have the Head Coach of the Sports Media Dream Team."
(1; Point Guard) Mike Greenberg - "Doesn't really want to answer the big questions, but has no problem distributing those questions to other people who are happy to answer them."
(2; Shooting Guard) Stephen A. Smith - "Never met a topic he doesn't like. Short memory, doesn't care, Greeny could throw him anything and Stephen A. is gonna run with it even if he knows nothing about the topic. That is how it works. Stephen A. is the greatest of all time."
(3; Small Forward) Chris Fowler - "A do it all guy. Studio show? Great. Play by Play? Even better. Can do everything."
(4; Small Forward Replacement) Maria Taylor) - "Need Play by Play, need Sideline, need Studio Host - she can do it all"
(5; Power Forward) Dianna Russini - "You need some crazy, some don't mess with us, someone to tear someone's head off in the event that they come after one of us."
(6; Power Forward Replacement) PFT Commenter - "He just comes in and acts crazy, throws his arms and hair around, and give ya 5 to 10 really crazy minutes."
(7; In honor of the Chicago Bulls, Stugotz needed a Wennington, a Purdue) Scott Van Pelt - Dan debated whether or not SVP should be on the Sports Media Dream Team™. That's what he's doing.
(8; Bench Player w/ No Position Specified) Doris Burke
(9) Teased...

abandon, ability, able, about, above, absence, absolute, absolutely, abstract, abundance, academy, accent, accept, access, accident, accompany, accomplish, according, account, accurate, achieve, achievement, acid, acknowledge, acquire, across, action, active, activity, actor, actual, actually, adapt, addition, additional, address, adequate, adjust, administration, admire, admission, admit, adolescent, adopt, adult, advance, advantage, adventure, advertise, advice, advise, adviser, advocate, affair, affect, afford, afraid, after, afternoon, again, against, age, agency, agenda, agent, aggressive, ago, agree, agreement, agriculture, ahead, aid, aim, air, aircraft, airline, airport, alarm, album, alcohol, alive, all, alliance, allow, ally, almost, alone, along, already, also, alter, alternative, although, always, amateur, amazing, ambition, ambulance, among, amount, analysis, analyst, analyze, ancient, and, anger, angle, angry, animal, anniversary, announce, annual, another, answer, anticipate, anxiety, any, anybody, anymore, anyone, anything, anyway, anywhere, apart, apartment, apologize, apparent, apparently, appeal, appear, appearance, apple, application, apply, appoint, appointment, appreciate, approach, appropriate, approval, approve, approximately, architect, area, argue, argument, arise, arm, armed, army, around, arrange, arrangement, arrest, arrival, arrive, art, article, artist, artistic, as, ashamed, aside, ask, asleep, aspect, assault, assert, assess, assessment, asset, assign, assignment, assist, assistance, assistant, associate, association, assume, assumption, assure, at, athlete, athletic, atmosphere, attach, attack, attempt, attend, attention, attitude, attorney, attract, attraction, attractive, attribute, audience, author, authority, auto, available, average, avoid, award, aware, awareness, away, awful, baby, back, background, bad, badly, bag, balance, ball, ban, band, bank, bar, barely, barrel, barrier, base, baseball, basic, basically, basis, basket, basketball, bath, bathroom, battery, battle, be, beach, bear, beat, beautiful, beauty, because, become, bed, bedroom, bee, beef, beer, before, begin, beginning, behavior, behind, being, belief, believe, bell, belong, below, belt, bench, bend, beneath, benefit, beside, besides, best, bet, better, between, beyond, bicycle, big, bike, bill, billion, bind, biological, bird, birth, birthday, bit, bite, black, blade, blame, blanket, blind, block, blood, blow, blue, board, boat, body, bomb, bombing, bond, bone, book, boom, boot, border, boring, born, borrow, boss, both, bother, bottle, bottom, boundary, bowl, box, boy, boyfriend, brain, branch, brand, brave, bread, break, breakfast, breast, breath, breathe, brick, bridge, brief, briefly, bright, brilliant, bring, broad, broken, brother, brown, brush, buck, budget, build, building, bullet, bunch, burden, burn, bury, bus, business, busy, but, butter, button, buy, buyer, by, cabin, cabinet, cable, cake, calculate, call, camera, camp, campaign, campus, can, Canadian, cancer, candidate, cap, capability, capable, capacity, capital, captain, capture, car, carbon, card, care, career, careful, carefully, carrier, carry, case, cash, cast, cat, catch, category, Catholic, cause, ceiling, celebrate, celebration, celebrity, cell, center, central, century, CEO, ceremony, certain, certainly, chain, chair, chairman, challenge, chamber, champion, championship, chance, change, changing, channel, chapter, character, characteristic, characterize, charge, charity, chart, chase, cheap, check, cheek, cheese, chef, chemical, chest, chicken, chief, child, childhood, Chinese, chip, chocolate, choice, cholesterol, choose, Christian, Christmas, church, cigarette, circle, circumstance, cite, citizen, city, civil, civilian, claim, class, classic, classroom, clean, clear, clearly, client, climate, climb, clinic, clinical, clock, close, closely, closer, clothes, clothing, cloud, club, clue, cluster, coach, coal, coalition, coast, coat, code, coffee, cognitive, cold, collapse, colleague, collect, collection, collective, college, colonial, color, column, combination, combine, come, comedy, comfort, comfortable, command, commander, comment, commercial, commission, commit, commitment, committee, common, communicate, communication, community, company, compare, comparison, compete, competition, competitive, competitor, complain, complaint, complete, completely, complex, complexity, compliance, complicate, complicated, component, compose, composition, comprehensive, computer, concentrate, concentration, concept, concern, concerned, concert, conclude, conclusion, concrete, condition, conduct, conference, confidence, confident, confirm, conflict, confront, confusion, Congress, congressional, connect, connection, consciousness, consensus, consequence, conservative, consider, considerable, consideration, consist, consistent, constant, constantly, constitute, constitutional, construct, construction, consultant, consume, consumer, consumption, contact, contain, container, contemporary, content, contest, context, continue, continued, contract, contrast, contribute, contribution, control, controversial, controversy, convention, conventional, conversation, convert, conviction, convince, cook, cookie, cooking, cool, cooperation, cop, cope, copy, core, corn, corner, corporate, corporation, correct, correspondent, cost, cotton, couch, could, council, count, counter, country, county, couple, courage, course, court, cousin, cover, coverage, cow, crack, craft, crash, crazy, cream, create, creation, creative, creature, credit, crew, crime, criminal, crisis, criteria, critic, critical, criticism, criticize, crop, cross, crowd, crucial, cry, cultural, culture, cup, curious, current, currently, curriculum, custom, customer, cut, cycle, dad, daily, damage, dance, danger, dangerous, dare, dark, darkness, data, database, date, daughter, day, dead, deal, dealer, dear, death, debate, debt, decade, decide, decision, deck, declare, decline, decrease, deep, deeply, deer, defeat, defend, defendant, defense, defensive, deficit, define, definitely, definition, degree, delay, deliver, delivery, demand, democracy, Democratic, Democrat, demonstrate, demonstration, deny, department, depend, dependent, depending, depict, depression, depth, deputy, derive, describe, description, desert, deserve, design, designer, desire, desk, desperate, despite, destroy, destruction, detail, detailed, detect, detection, detective, determine, develop, developing, development, device, devil, dialogue, diet, differ, difference, different, differently, difficult, difficulty, dig, digital, dimension, dining, dinner, direct, direction, directly, director, dirt, disability, disagree, disappear, disaster, discipline, disclose, discover, discovery, discrimination, discuss, discussion, disease, dish, dismiss, disorder, display, dispute, distance, distinct, distinction, distinguish, distribute, distribution, district, diverse, diversity, divide, division, divorce, DNA, do, doctor, document, dog, domestic, dominant, dominate, door, double, doubt, down, downtown, dozen, draft, drag, drama, dramatic, dramatically, draw, drawer, drawing, dream, dress, drink, drive, driver, drop, drug, dry, due, during, dust, duty, dwell, dying, dynamic, each, eager, ear, earlier, early, earn, earnings, earth, earthquake, ease, easily, east, eastern, easy, eat, economic, economy, edge, edit, edition, editor, educate, education, educational, educator, effect, effective, effectively, efficiency, efficient, effort, egg, eight, either, elderly, elect, election, electric, electrical, electricity, electronic, element, elementary, eliminate, elite, else, elsewhere, e-mail, embrace, emerge, emergency, emission, emotion, emotional, emphasis, emphasize, employ, employee, employer, employment, empty, enable, encounter, encourage, end, enemy, energy, enforcement, engage, engine, engineer, engineering, English, enhance, enjoy, enormous, enough, ensure, enter, enterprise, entertain, entertainment, entire, entirely, entrance, entry, environment, environmental, episode, equal, equally, equipment, equivalent, era, error, escape, especially, essay, essential, essentially, establish, establishment, estate, estimate, etc, ethics, ethnic, European, evaluate, evaluation, evening, event, eventually, ever, every, everybody, everyday, everyone, everything, everywhere, evidence, evolution, evolve, exact, exactly, exam, examination, examine, example, exceed, excellent, except, exception, exchange, exciting, executive, exercise, exhibit, exhibition, exist, existence, existing, expand, expansion, expect, expectation, expense, expensive, experience, experiment, expert, explain, explanation, explode, explore, explosion, expose, exposure, express, expression, extend, extension, extensive, extent, external, extra, extraordinary, extreme, extremely, eye, fabric, face, facility, fact, factor, factory, faculty, fade, fail, failure, fair, fairly, faith, fall, false, familiar, family, famous, fan, fantasy, far, farm, farmer, fashion, fast, fat, fate, father, fault, favor, favorite, fear, feature, federal, fee, feed, feel, feeling, fellow, female, fence, festival, few, fewer, fiber, fiction, field, fifteen, fifth, fifty, fight, fighter, fighting, figure, file, fill, film, final, finally, finance, financial, find, finding, fine, finger, finish, fire, firm, first, fish, fishing, fit, fitness, five, fix, flag, flame, flat, flavor, flee, flesh, flight, float, floor, flow, flower, fly, focus, folk, follow, following, food, foot, football, for, force, foreign, forest, forever, forget, form, formal, formation, former, formula, forth, fortune, forward, found, foundation, founder, four, fourth, frame, framework, free, freedom, freeze, French, frequency, frequent, frequently, fresh, friend, friendly, friendship, from, front, fruit, frustration, fuel, fulfill, full, fully, fun, function, fund, fundamental, funding, funeral, funny, furniture, furthermore, future, gain, galaxy, gallery, game, gang, gap, garage, garden, garlic, gas, gate, gather, gay, gaze, gear, gender, gene, general, generally, generate, generation, genetic, gentleman, gently, German, gesture, get, ghost, giant, gift, gifted, girl, girlfriend, give, given, glad, glance, glass, global, glove, go, goal, God, gold, golden, golf, good, govern, government, governor, grab, grace, grade, gradually, graduate, grain, grand, grandmother, grant, grass, grave, gray, great, green, grocery, ground, group, grow, growing, growth, guarantee, guard, guess, guest, guide, guideline, guilty, gun, guy, habit, habitat, hair, half, hall, hand, handful, handle, hang, happen, happy, harbor, hard, hardly, hat, hate, have, he, head, headline, headquarters, health, healthy, hear, hearing, heart, heat, heaven, heavily, heavy, heel, height, helicopter, hell, hello, help, helpful, hence, her, herb, here, heritage, hero, herself, hey, hi, hide, high, highlight, highly, highway, hill, him, himself, hip, hire, his, historic, historical, history, hit, hold, hole, holiday, holy, home, homeless, honest, honey, honor, hope, horizon, horror, horse, hospital, host, hot, hotel, hour, house, household, housing, how, however, huge, human, humor, hundred, hungry, hunter, hunting, hurt, husband, hypothesis, ice, idea, ideal, identification, identify, identity, ignore, ill, illegal, illness, illustrate, image, imagination, imagine, immediate, immediately, immigrant, immigration, impact, implement, implication, imply, importance, important, impose, impossible, impress, impression, impressive, improve, improvement, incentive, incident, include, including, income, incorporate, increase, increased, increasingly, incredible, indeed, independence, independent, index, indicate, indication, individual, industrial, industry, infant, infection, inflation, influence, inform, information, ingredient, initial, initially, initiative, injury, inner, innocent, inquiry, inside, insight, insist, inspire, install, instance, instead, institute, institution, institutional, instruction, instructor, instrument, insurance, intellectual, intelligence, intend, intense, intensity, intention, interaction, interest, interested, interesting, internal, international, Internet, interpret, interpretation, intervention, interview, introduce, introduction, invasion, invest, investigation, investigator, investment, investor, invite, involve, involved, involvement, Iraqi, Irish, iron, Islamic, island, Israeli, issue, it, Italian, item, its, itself, jacket, jail, Japanese, jet, Jew, Jewish, job, join, joint, joke, journal, journalist, journey, joy, judge, judgment, juice, jump, junior, jury, just, justice, justify, keep, key, kick, kid, kill, killer, killing, kind, king, kiss, kitchen, knee, knife, knock, know, knowledge, lab, label, labor, laboratory, lack, lady, lake, land, landscape, language, lap, large, largely, last, late, later, Latin, latter, laugh, launch, law, lawsuit, lawyer, lay, layer, lead, leader, leadership, leading, leaf, league, lean, learn, learning, least, leather, leave, left, leg, legacy, legal, legend, legislation, legislative, legislator, legitimate, lemon, length, less, lesson, let, letter, level, liberal, library, license, lie, life, lifestyle, lifetime, lift, light, like, likely, limit, limitation, limited, line, link, lip, list, listen, literary, literature, little, live, living, load, loan, local, locate, location, lock, long, long-term, look, loose, lose, loss, lost, lot, lots, loud, love, lovely, lover, low, lower, luck, lucky, lunch, luxury, machine, mad, magazine, mail, main, mainly, maintain, maintenance, major, majority, make, maker, makeup, male, mall, man, manage, management, manager, manner, manufacturer, manufacturing, many, map, margin, mark, market, marketing, marriage, married, marry, mask, mass, massive, master, match, material, math, matter, may, maybe, mayor, me, meal, mean, meaning, meanwhile, measure, measurement, meat, mechanism, media, medical, medication, medicine, medium, meet, meeting, member, membership, memory, mental, mention, menu, mere, merely, mess, message, metal, meter, method, Mexican, middle, might, military, milk, million, mind, mine, minister, minor, minority, minute, miracle, mirror, miss, missile, mission, mistake, mix, mixture, mm-hmm, mode, model, moderate, modern, modest, mom, moment, money, monitor, month, mood, moon, moral, more, moreover, morning, mortgage, most, mostly, mother, motion, motivation, motor, mountain, mouse, mouth, move, movement, movie, Mr, Mrs, Ms, much, multiple, murder, muscle, museum, music, musical, musician, Muslim, must, mutual, my, myself, mystery, myth, naked, name, narrative, narrow, nation, national, native, natural, naturally, nature, near, nearby, nearly, necessarily, necessary, neck, need, negative, negotiate, negotiation, neighbor, neighborhood, neither, nerve, nervous, net, network, never, nevertheless, new, newly, news, newspaper, next, nice, night, nine, no, nobody, nod, noise, nomination, nominee, none, nonetheless, nor, normal, normally, north, northern, nose, not, note, nothing, notice, notion, novel, now, nowhere, nuclear, number, numerous, nurse, nut, object, objective, obligation, observation, observe, observer, obtain, obvious, obviously, occasion, occasionally, occupation, occupy, occur, ocean, odd, odds, of, off, offense, offensive, offer, office, officer, official, often, oh, oil, okay, old, Olympic, on, once, one, ongoing, onion, online, only, onto, open, opening, operate, operating, operation, operator, opinion, opponent, opportunity, oppose, opposed, opposite, opposition, option, or, orange, order, ordinary, organic, organization, organize, orientation, origin, original, originally, other, others, otherwise, ought, our, ours, ourselves, out, outcome, outside, oven, over, overall, overcome, overlook, owe, own, owner, pace, pack, package, page, pain, painful, paint, painter, painting, pair, pale, Palestinian, palm, pan, panel, panic, pant, paper, paragraph, parent, park, parking, part, participant, participate, participation, particle, particular, particularly, partly, partner, partnership, party, pass, passage, passenger, passion, past, patch, path, patient, pattern, pause, pay, payment, PC, peace, peak, peer, pen, penalty, people, pepper, per, perceive, percentage, perception, perfect, perfectly, perform, performance, perhaps, period, permanent, permission, permit, person, personal, personality, personally, personnel, perspective, persuade, pet, phase, phenomenon, philosophy, phone, photo, photographer, phrase, physical, physically, physician, piano, pick, picture, pie, piece, pile, pilot, pine, pink, pipe, pitch, place, plan, plane, planet, planning, plant, plastic, plate, platform, play, player, please, pleasure, plenty, plot, plus, PM, pocket, poem, poet, poetry, point, police, policy, political, politically, politician, politics, poll, pollution, pool, poor, pop, popular, population, porch, port, portion, portrait, portray, pose, position, positive, possess, possession, possibility, possible, possibly, post, pot, potato, potential, potentially, pound, pour, poverty, powder, power, powerful, practical, practice, prayer, preach, precisely, predict, prediction, prefer, preference, pregnancy, pregnant, preparation, prepare, prescription, presence, present, presentation, preserve, president, presidential, press, pressure, pretend, pretty, prevent, previous, previously, price, pride, priest, primarily, primary, prime, principal, principle, print, prior, priority, prison, prisoner, privacy, private, probably, problem, procedure, proceed, process, processing, processor, proclaim, produce, producer, product, production, profession, professional, professor, profile, profit, program, progress, progressive, project, prominent, promise, promote, prompt, proof, proper, properly, property, proportion, proposal, propose, prosecutor, prospect, protect, protection, protein, protest, proud, prove, provide, provider, province, provision, psychological, psychology, public, publication, publicity, publish, publisher, pull, punishment, purchase, pure, purpose, pursue, push, put, qualify, quality, quarter, quarterback, quarterly, queen, quest, question, quick, quickly, quiet, quietly, quit, quite, quote, race, racial, radiation, radical, radio, rail, rain, raise, range, rank, rapid, rapidly, rare, rarely, rate, rather, rating, ratio, raw, reach, react, reaction, reader, reading, ready, real, reality, realize, really, reason, reasonable, recall, receive, recent, recently, reception, recipe, recipient, recognition, recognize, recommend, recommendation, record, recording, recover, recovery, recruit, red, reduce, reduction, refer, reference, reflect, reflection, reform, refugee, refuse, regard, regarding, regardless, regime, region, regional, register, regular, regularly, regulate, regulation, regulator, reinforce, reject, relate, relation, relationship, relative, relatively, relax, release, relevant, relief, religion, religious, rely, remain, remaining, remarkable, remember, remind, remote, remove, repeat, repeatedly, replace, replacement, reply, report, reporter, represent, representation, representative, Republican, reputation, request, require, requirement, research, researcher, resemble, reservation, resident, residential, resign, resist, resistance, resolution, resolve, resort, resource, respect, respond, response, responsibility, responsible, rest, restaurant, restore, restriction, result, retain, retire, retirement, return, reveal, revenue, review, revolution, rhythm, rice, rich, rid, ride, rifle, right, ring, rise, risk, river, road, rock, role, roll, romantic, roof, room, root, rope, rose, rough, roughly, round, route, routine, row, rub, rubber, rude, ruin, rule, run, running, rural, rush, Russian, sacred, sad, safe, safety, sake, salad, salary, sale, sales, salt, same, sample, sanction, sand, satellite, satisfaction, satisfied, satisfy, sauce, save, saving, say, scale, scandal, scare, scatter, scenario, scene, schedule, scheme, scholar, scholarship, school, science, scientific, scientist, scope, score, scream, screen, script, sea, search, season, seat, second, secondary, secret, secretary, section, sector, secure, security, see, seed, seek, seem, segment, seize, select, selection, self, sell, Senate, senator, send, senior, sense, sensitive, sentence, separate, sequence, series, serious, seriously, servant, serve, service, session, set, setting, settle, settlement, seven, several, severe, sex, sexual, shade, shadow, shake, shall, shallow, shape, share, sharp, she, sheet, shelf, shell, shelter, shift, shine, ship, shirt, shock, shoe, shoot, shooting, shop, shopping, short, shortly, shot, should, shoulder, shout, show, shower, shrug, shut, shy, sibling, sick, side, sigh, sight, sign, signal, significant, significantly, silence, silent, silver, similar, similarly, simple, simply, sin, since, sing, singer, single, sink, sir, sister, sit, site, situation, six, size, ski, skill, skin, skirt, sky, slave, sleep, slice, slide, slight, slightly, slip, slow, slowly, small, smart, smell, smile, smoke, smooth, snap, snow, so, so-called, soccer, social, society, soft, software, soil, solar, soldier, sole, solid, solution, solve, some, somebody, somehow, someone, something, sometimes, somewhat, somewhere, son, song, soon, sophisticated, sorry, sort, soul, sound, soup, source, south, southern, Soviet, space, Spanish, speak, speaker, special, specialist, species, specific, specifically, specify, speech, speed, spend, spending, spin, spirit, spiritual, split, spoil, sponsor, sport, spot, spray, spread, spring, square, squeeze, stability, stable, staff, stage, stain, stair, stake, stand, standard, standing, star, stare, start, state, statement, station, statistical, status, stay, steady, steal, steel, steep, stem, step, stick, still, stimulate, stimulus, stir, stock, stomach, stone, stop, storage, store, storm, story, straight, strange, stranger, strategic, strategy, stream, street, strength, strengthen, stress, stretch, strike, string, strip, stroke, strong, strongly, structural, structure, struggle, student, studio, study, stuff, stupid, style, subject, submit, subsequent, substance, substantial, substitute, succeed, success, successful, successfully, such, sudden, suddenly, sue, suffer, sufficient, sugar, suggest, suggestion, suicide, suit, summer, summit, sun, super, supply, support, supporter, suppose, supposed, Supreme, sure, surely, surface, surgery, surprise, surprised, surprising, surprisingly, surround, survey, survival, survive, survivor, suspect, sustain, swear, sweep, sweet, swim, swing, switch, symbol, symptom, system, table, tactic, tail, take, tale, talent, talk, tall, tank, tap, tape, target, task, taste, tax, taxi, tea, teach, teacher, teaching, team, tear, technical, technique, technology, teen, teenager, telephone, telescope, television, tell, temperature, temporary, ten, tend, tendency, tennis, tension, tent, term, terms, terrible, territory, terror, terrorist, test, testimony, testing, text, than, thank, thanks, that, the, theater, their, them, theme, themselves, then, theory, therapy, there, therefore, these, they, thick, thin, thing, think, thinking, third, thirty, this, those, though, thought, thousand, threat, threaten, three, throat, through, throughout, throw, thus, ticket, tie, tight, time, tiny, tip, tire, tissue, title, to, tobacco, today, toe, together, toilet, token, tolerate, tomato, tomorrow, tone, tongue, tonight, too, tool, tooth, top, topic, toss, total, totally, touch, tough, tour, tourist, tournament, toward, towards, tower, town, toy, trace, track, trade, tradition, traditional, traffic, tragedy, trail, train, training, transfer, transform, transformation, transition, translate, translation, transmission, transmit, transport, transportation, travel, treat, treatment, treaty, tree, tremendous, trend, trial, tribe, trick, trip, troop, trouble, truck, true, truly, trust, truth, try, tube, tunnel, turn, TV, twelve, twenty, twice, twin, two, type, typical, typically, ugly, ultimate, ultimately, unable, uncle, undergo, understand, understanding, unfortunately, uniform, union, unique, unit, United, universal, universe, university, unknown, unless, unlike, until, unusual, up, upon, upper, urban, urge, us, use, used, useful, user, usual, usually, utility, utilize, vacation, valley, valuable, value, variable, variation, variety, various, vary, vast, vegetable, vehicle, venture, version, versus, very, vessel, veteran, via, victim, victory, video, view, viewer, village, violate, violation, violence, violent, virtually, virtue, virus, visibility, visible, vision, visit, visitor, visual, vital, voice, volume, voluntary, volunteer, vote, voter, voting, wage, wait, wake, walk, wall, wander, want, war, warm, warn, warning, wash, waste, watch, water, wave, way, we, weak, weakness, wealth, wealthy, weapon, wear, weather, web, website, wedding, week, weekend, weekly, weigh, weight, welcome, welfare, well, west, western, wet, what, whatever, wheel, when, whenever, where, whereas, whether, which, while, whisper, white, who, whole, whom, whose, why, wide, widely, widespread, wife, wild, wildlife, will, willing, win, wind, window, wine, wing, winner, winter, wipe, wire, wisdom, wise, wish, with, withdraw, within, without, witness, woman, wonder, wonderful, wood, wooden, word, work, worker, working, workout, workplace, works, workshop, world, worried, worry, worth, would, wound, wrap, write, writer, writing, wrong, yard, yeah, year, yell, yellow, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, you, young, your, yours, yourself, youth, zone.

Two years ago my rapist was found guilty of second degree rape in St. Mary's County, MD. Little did I know, that the neat end to my tragedy would hardly be over.
Sentencing, is the act in which the judge determines the punishment of the convicted felon. Usually felons are taken into custody and the time they spend in jail will later be considered part of whatever jail time they are issued. For me? The Judge allowed the man to have a ankle monitor until sentencing and rest at home. How did he spend his time? Well, he showed up to the soccer games I would've been at (luckily abroad at the time) and he got picked up at a party he lied about attending and was then held in jail until sentencing.
The sentencing happened nearly two months after the trial--but no one told me. The State's Attorney contacted me and informed me I had to drop everything to rush to the court to give my statement. I went first and because I was not prepared--didn't say half of what I wanted and wasn't nearly as eloquent as I wanted to be.
Afterwards, the judge allowed the Defense attorney to comment on my mental health because I had a therapist and then asked if I had ever been sexually assaulted before. Yes, this is not trial--he was already guilty--but the judge allowed me to be crossed anyway at the sentencing. Thankfully the States Attorney objected to that line of questioning and I got to listen to all his supporters sum my rapist up: He's good at soccer, he translates for the community, and he never raped them--so how bad was he really? And my rapist? Well, since he was found guilty he found god, saw he had an alcohol problem, and realized he would never get the life he wanted. Apologized to the judge, his parents, and supporters. Oh yea, and me!
The Judge deliberated and despite the Maryland minimum guidelines being 5 to 10 years--she gave him 18 months and included whatever time he already spent in jail. 10 months later, he was out reoffending against young girls. By the time the warrant went out, he knew he was done for and took his life in the parking lot by my apartment complex--did I mention he only spent three months out of jail and most of it was spent in my apartment complex with his significant other?
Thankfully, a corner apartment, locked doors, and a big, big dog made me feel a lot safer. Remember to get therapy! My therapist was crucial in my mental recovery. But to be honest, his death was the most freeing aspect of it all.
I'll never see him at the soccer field. Never see him turning the corner of a store. Never see his distinctive car flying across an intersection.
But it's never over. The uninformed from soccer mourned his suicide; I didn't have the heart to say he was a convicted rapist who raped me. His obituary was glowing--a loving, helpful, generous community man taken too young.
Then the judicial election. 1.5 years later I am still being dragged into this. When there was a question of the judge's competency in going so far below minimum guidelines for someone who immediately reoffended potentially multiple people/times--the judge's response was a mass text saying I was older than the victim, I had previously been consensual, and I was hiding it from my boyfriend.
??? I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative. After all, my boyfriend was my biggest support in all of it--I just didn't want him listening to me describe my rape? Also, last I checked a large portion of rapes are from former consensual relationships that don't take closed doors as an option.
Regardless, I wrote an Op-ed, connected with the Maryland Crime Victim's Resource Center to coordinate a release...and...nothing. No one wants to post it. I got one response that they claimed they researched for 7 hours but took only a quote on how disappointed I was about the outcome.
Why? Because politics are running behind the scenes. This judge was appointed by former governor Hogan who is running for Maryland senator and his daughter recently took post in the State Attorney's office.
Is my outcome common or to be expected? I guess not. But the next time you tell a rape victim go ahead and report your crime--this is what they get. Silenced.
That being said? Even with tape over my mouth and my hands tied behind my back, I don't regret a goddamn thing--except that I wasn't more vocal sooner.
Nevertheless, persist my friends.

Thanks to my friend sashalemon96 for writing a significant amount of this report with me!

SECTION 1: CUT SKETCHES

All quoted dialogue is approximate, I do not have an eidetic memory. Also, I interchangeably use cast and character names because not every character is named, and I try to defer to in-sketch pronouns.
MOM NEWS
INT. A newsroom set. Squirm and Rudolph plays reporters on a local news station called “Mom News,” featuring them and their correspondents. All characters are referred to as “your mom” or “your father” in their introductions and provide very mother-like commentary. News stories include: “Something bad has happened to someone you barely know,” and “your mom accidentally left a reply to a post on Facebook about a funeral with a gif of “Uncle Fester spinning a cane.”
They then turn to the weather report by Fineman, who does a Kristen Wiig voice to say the weather is going to be “gorgeous” and “stunning.” Day, as “your dad,” gives a breaking special report that your “neighbor down the street got one of those Teslas,” then pauses then adds “Yeah, that’s it.” P. Johnson and Troast then report on entertainment news. They show a photo of Zendaya at the Met Gala, and then Troast says that Zendaya is “too skinny” and Johnson says “she needs to eat a cheeseburger.” Squirm then sidebars to Maya to say, “You know Zendaya is dating Tim Holland?” Another story features Kearney warning that if you receive a “spam likely” call, you should make sure to pick it up because there’s probably an issue with your bank and you should buy as many Target gift cards as they ask for. Gardner reports on “something you’ve known about for years,” as she’s recently discovered boba before having issues with her technology and playing the Spanish language soccer channel.
Finally, Nwodim and Thompson play a couple, “your mom and your dad.” In a snappy, well-rehearsed, back-and-forth, Thompson reveals that he had tried to fix the broken water heater and failed, and now Nwodim can hold this over his head forever. Nwodim: “And this means you’ll be wearing what at our next dinner?” Thompson: “That ugly ass shirt.” Nwodim: “Sorry, what was that?” Thompson, cowed: “...The nice shirt you bought me, I mean.” which he initially refers to as an “ugly ass shirt.” The anchors end the segment with the news after the break: “a worrying shift in my political opinions” and an “out-of-pocket comment about your dad’s penis.”
BARRY THE MIDWIFE [recurring]
This is a sequel to the original BARRY THE MIDWIFE sketch from the Quinta Brunson/Jonas Brothers episode in Season 48.
Structured in a series of flash-forwards and flashbacks Barry, the midwife, and a doula played by Rudolph, bickering with each other before reconciling. The doula was either “Carla” or “Carly,” I don’t quite remember.
INT. Birth #1 [present]: Troast is delivering, and Hernandez is the father. JAJ is the doctor, but Rudolph is the doula, and Yang is Barry the Midwife. The doula and midwife speak with the same odd pronunciations of words, like “curious” as “curr-ous” and “Paris” as “per-ous.” They also sport the same awkward bob. They have competing catchphrases; Barry keeps saying “Clear a path. Clear a path.” whereas the doula keeps saying “Make a hole. Make a hole.” The doula says, “It’s nice to meet you,” to Barry, which offends him. “Um, actually, we’ve met. Remember? We met in a hot tub after the season finale of Survivor in 2000 when we were both upset that Richard Hatch won.” The doula: “Oh, I guess I don’t remember that.” Barry: “Well, while you were trying to remember, I was delivering this baby.” He casually holds up a baby doll.
INT. Birth #2 [4 years later]: This time, the expecting parents are P. Johnson and Kearney. The doula enters and says “Nice to see you again,” but Barry pretends not to remember her. The doula: “What? Barry, we first met in a hot tub after the season finale of Survivor in 2000 when we were both upset that Richard Hatch won. And then we met again four years earlier.” Barry says the doula has an “elephant memory” for remembering something from 28 years ago, followed by “Girl! respect yourself.” Barry also gets mad when the doula says he’s clearly been copying her hair (at this point they both have long, flowing, silky black tresses). Barry ends with “While you were busy accusing me, I just delivered these triplets. Lesbos always have extros.” He holds up three baby dolls in one arm.
EXT. Hot tub [24 years ago]: Barry and the doula bond over their dislike of the season finale of Survivor while in the hot tub. Barry also adds “I love your hair. I might copy it one day.” (The doula has the exact same awkward bob as in the first scene.) The two suddenly make a pact to marry each other if they are both still single by the 50th anniversary of that night’s episode of Survivor.
INT. Birth #3 [26 years later]: Since Rudolph and Yang were just submerged in a real hot tub in the other set, they’re asked by the new couple (I don’t remember who these are, maybe Garnder and Day?) why they’re soaking wet. Yang’s excuse: “I just did a water birth. Girl, respect yourself.” The doula’s excuse: “It was raining outside and I fell on my head. Girl, respect yourself.” At this point, their long, flowing tresses are now grey with age. Barry then turns and says to the doula, “It’s nice to meet you,” and she finally confronts him: “Aren’t you tired of being petty?”. Barry gives in and says, “It’s nice to see you,” and reminds her of their 50-year pact which is approaching the next week.
EXT. HOT TUB [26 years and 1 week later] The two marry in the hot tub (in makeshift wedding regalia) and Squirm gets in the hot tub to throw two babies at them.
\** Editorial note from sashalemon96: “I think the reason this one didn’t land as well as the one for Brunson is because (at least during dress) they throw the baby into the fire and it starts smoking screen creating laughter as they run to the other set. They also took a very long time to get back and from the hot tub set to the hospital set.”****
JAMES AUSTIN JOHNSON AS BRIAN COX [update character]
Jost tees this up by explaining that lately, Brian Cox has been in the news for his many controversial opinions, such as “Jeremy Strong being annoying” or “the Bible being the worst book ever written.” Brian Cox is fed up with the Kendrick LamaDrake beef. He refers to them as a pair of “second-rate poets” and acts mock scared that “K. Dot” will throw his Pulitzer at him. Che follows up with “What about Drake?” and Cox replied, “What is Drake going to do? Have his fans throw their fidget spinners at me?” Cox also expresses mock sympathy that they’re hurting each others’ feelings, before suggesting the two men “go to Iraq.” Che warns that Cox shouldn’t be talking shit about the two rappers, but Cox retorts “What are they going to do—blow my top off like the Boeing whistleblowers?” and then mocks Kendrick’s height. At one point Cox ends a sentence with “and that’s on God… who doesn’t exist, by the way.” Cox then throws some shade at Che for his inability to find a wife even though Jost married an Avenger, adding “can you not find a woman who wants your Ant-Man sized penis?”

SECTION 2: ORIGINAL DRESS RUNDOWN

1. COLD OPEN
2. MONOLOGUE
3. HOT ONES [recurring]
4. PDD: EXPLORE PAGE [pretape]
5. MOM NEWS ✂️
6. BARRY THE MIDWIFE [recurring] ✂️
7. CAN YOU PICK ME UP [pretape]
8. T.T. AND MARIO [recurring] ✂️
9. WEEKEND UPDATE: SQUIRM , GARDNER , JAJ ✂️
10. TIP TOP COFFEE
11. MOM JEANS [archival] [pretape]
12. TEACHER PSA
13. BRITISH CAVEMEN
14. NURSE APPRECIATION
15. LANDSCAPERS

SECTION 3: CHANGES FROM DRESS TO AIR

I’m gonna be so real with you guys, these days I’m so tired I just go home after dress rehearsal and sleep through the live show, so these changes are submitted by another friend.

1. In dress, Colin was specified to be wearing a “Stormy Daniels wig” during the monologue, in hopes that he could be in the political sketch about the Trump trials.
2. The original first excuse Rudolph comes up with in CAN YOU PICK ME UP was that the dead grandma didn’t want her funeral to interfere with work.
3. The joke about “Republicans in bed with Trump” was added afte dress.
4. TEACHER PSA didn’t originally end with Nwodim telling the girl to sit down. I don’t remember the original ending, but I remember it was kind of weak.

SECTION 4: SUNDRY NOTES

1. Ezra Koenig said “Hi, Maya!” right before they started performing.
2. There were a bunch of off-screen mistakes during the dress version of NURSE AD. Poor Fineman had the wrong cue cards when it came to one of her lines, and she looked genuinely terrified when trying to figure out what she was supposed to say. Then the camera cut to her when it was supposed to be on Rudolph and P. Johnson. Finally, she randomly had a sneeze attack during JAJ’s lines. I’ve never thought about what happens when you sneeze on SNL before, lol.
3. Interestingly enough, there were two cameras for LANDSCAPERS but only one set of cue cards, so Wally had to dash back and forth with the same set of cue cards every time we changed scenes. I’ve also never seen that happen before. Poor Wally!

Yes, I might be nitpicking/overthinking it. And yes, it doesn't really make sense. And yes I'm writing this at midnight bc I'm bored. But let me explain what I mean. The arguments, specifically the ones Blu and Jewel make no sense, as in how they started and why they started. I know that when I say argument, almost everyone, specifically @OrangeMacawWorld, will think about the Pit of Doom argument from Rio 2. You know how Jewel called Blu selfish because he felt unwanted by the tribe and wanted to leave, which is very understandable. Jewel was just a bitch in that movie, stg. But I never hear anyone talking about their argument in Rio 1, which also made no sense. Basic rundown, as I saw it bc to me it made no fucking sense. So Blu and Jewel are finally free from their leg chain and Jewel flies into the air, along with Nico, Pedro, and Raphael. Blu is jealous and disappointed bc he feels he won't be with Jewel anymore, as he cannot fly. This is another reason why I kind of hate Jewels character as a whole; she basically unintentionally rubbed it in thay she could fly and Blu couldn't. I don't know, that just rally bothered me, as it probably did for many of u too. Anyway, Blu walks away to find Linda, Jewel catches up to him, asking him what's wrong. That's when shit gets real, kind of. Blu says some stuff and eventually says, "I can't follow you around wherever your going." Then, for some reason, Jewel gets pressed about this. "It's not my fault you can't fly," she says defensively, basically acting like he insulted her, which Blu actually never does. Then they argue a bit, Blu leaves, Jewel flies away, and Ralphael goes after Blu while Nico and Pedro chase after Jewel. I like how in this argument, it's only Jewel saying th hurtful things, like calling him a "pet," and Blu is just stating actual fax. He never wanted to come to Rio, which is actually hinted multiple times. He doesn't belong in Rio, which I guess makes sense if u think about it in the way I did. Basically a domesticated bird doesn't belong with wild birds. And he hates Samba, which I honestly don't know shit about. Nothing about Jewel in particular. The only thing Jewel takes offense to is him leaving, at least I think she did. She seemed pretty upset, even crying quietly while flying away until Nigel captures her. While Blu just walks away, visibly frustrated/annoying with the whole ordeal. My friend called Blu a gigachad for this, which I somewhat agrees with although I don't know if it's the right word. bc while Jewel is upset, bc she eventually develops a crush on Blu and realizes that she might not see her again. But Blu doesn't seem fazed at all. Mostly annoyed about it. And considering that Jewel is supposed ro be the more aggressive and I guess "tougher" one its kind of ironic. About the second movie, Jewel just passed me off so much, to letting the tribe treat him like shit, to basically calling HIM selfish, which is the exact argument I mentioned in the beginning. Now I mentioned in a recent post that it's been a while since I've watched Rio 2, mainly bc I honestly didn't like it. Only the beginning of the movie to the "Beautiful Creatures" part is the most tolerable and enjoyable. Anyway, after a bunch of random shit happens, Blu scores his own point, which is the last straw for him and wants to leave. He and Jewel get into an argument about him leaving, bc maybe she thinks that he was going to do so, without her and the kids? Which doesn't sound like something Blu would do. I don't think he was even planning on leaving at all, just finding Tulio and Linda. This leads to Jewel saying, and I remember this quote perfectly, "You need to figure out what you want. And. Maybe. Stop thinking about just yourself, and start thinking about us." The she flies away leaving Blu with a hurricane of emotions. Number one, bitch who u calling selfish? YOURE THE SELFISH ONE! He agreed to come with u when u decided to go on a vacation. He agreed, albeit reluctantly, to move in to the forest for good. Did you forget what he did for her at the end of Rio 1? Literally saving your ass? Goddammit, I hated her character in this movie. She's the selfish one. Number two, Blu has every right to be wanting to leave. His father-in-law treats him like shit, along with the whole tribe. Roberto is constantly hitting on his wife. He isn't really fit for surviving in the jungle, and it shows, as he grew up domesticated. Hell, his own kids didn't really interact with him. Not to mention, he accidentally scored his own goal on a soccer match that costed the blue macaws the entire supply of Brazil nut trees, I forgot what kind they were, which is honestly embarrassing as shit (believe me I've done it, I suck at sports) I feel Jewel just didn't want to admit her wrongs in this movie. At least in Rio 1, she seemed to feel bad. In Rio 2, she doesn't rely own up. I guess the shot of her looking at Blu flying away kind of shows remorse but still. And before everyone starts shitying on Blu's character, yes I admit, he might have encouraged the arguments, unwillingly of course. But Jewel's the kne that said the nonsensical shit. How Blu's apparently selfish, and reminding him he can't fly. Yes I know that's true but she didn't have to remind him of something he was definitely self-conscious about, not like he forgot but more like she used it against him. Plus, Blu has actually neber insulted Jewel once. He lives her too much, especially in the 2nd movie. Props to him for keeping his cool. That's the reason the arguments make no sense, and it's pretty simple. She was selfish in the 2nd move, and kind of a bitch, and she was an asshole in the 1st one, mainly bc of her smart-ass remarks and sarcasm. Sometimes I wonder how the hell some of these lines and scenes, of Jewel being a bitch, even made it into the movie. And how it was even thought of to make these to characters, argue about the most petty things.
PS: it took me 2hrs to write this and I have severe OCD and ADHD, so thats why the writing kind of darts back and forth from one topic to another.

With state and district testing over for the year, I am left to my own devices and creativity for the next two months of school and lessons. It is truly my favorite time of year because now that mandatory state objectives have been covered, I can finally teach. I mean I can really teach; I can do the lessons that I love and that I think are engaging. I can really motivate, educate, and inspire. I can do all the things that motivated to me to get into education.
What lesson am I teaching today? We are going to learn about lift, drag, force all with a circular moving object. I call it math and science with the flying disc. That’s right, I am giving the kids a frisbee! Frisbee, one of my favorite toys as a young man growing up in the 70’s and 80.
Let me tell you. As a teenager, I could not shoot a basketball into a hoop. I could not hit a small baseball with a bat. I could not outrun my classmates with a football or even kick a soccer ball into a goal being blocked by a goalie. But you give me a frisbee and I could make that thing fly. The frisbee just requires a certain amount of finesse and let me tell you I had it. Oh, I had it !
But it is not my love of the frisbee that makes me enjoy this lesson so much. It’s seeing a generation raised on technology, boys and girls who would much rather play games digitally than physically actually learn something NEW. Even my quote “student athletes “ struggle with the frisbee. I mean students who I have personally seen dunk a basketball in a game find it difficult, at least at first because most of have never done it before.
You see it doesn’t matter how big or strong you are. To really make a frisbee fly you must have a certain, well again finesse. It is almost like a ballet movement of the hand. The firm but gentleness of the grip. A lightness of your feet. The steady aim at your target, followed by the angle of release. Oh, it has to be level!
As I watch my beloved students, some of them real athletes, learn this complex by simple task I just smile. It warms my heart and rejuvenates my soul. I literally feel that I am imparting a bit of my childhood into theirs. I am really teaching something that I am passionate about and something that I love.
I know that most of the time, things around here can be a bit negative but on this summer day I am smiling, and I wanted to share a bit of that smile with all of you.
And now I have a question for you , my fellow educators . What are you doing now that state and district test are mostly over ?

Race Information

• Name: Europe Marathon
• Date: April 28, 2024
• Distance: 42.2 km
• Location: Aveiro, Portugal
• Website: https://www.europemarathon.eu/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11283605948/overview
• Time: 2:58:16

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 2:50	No
B	Sub 2:55	No
C	Sub 3:00	Yes
D	Have fun (Until the cramps)	Yes

Splits

Kilometer	Time
5	20:51
10	41:28
21	1:27:03
30	2:04:27
35	2:26:56
42.2	2:58:16

Background

Running feels natural to me. I played football (soccer) from a young age until 18 years old (now I am 22) and guess what? 2 of my biggest strengths were stamina and speed. Pretty useful for a runner I must say.
I started running in November 2022.
I ran without any formal training for almost one year, my runs were comical: I went outside, never warmed up and just ran at my top speed for a maximum of 5K, a lot of times just 2K or 3K. Listening to the splits on my earphones connected to Strava.
It was fun.
Then I started running 10Ks and hit a plateau. I never went below 40 minutes
(Note: Back then I was doing a bit of cycling as well and I still do it from time to time).
But one day I got enough of that, bought a sports watch and started doing some more serious training 3 weeks before my first half marathon in September 2023. Finished in 1:28.
My only thought during the race was: Why the hell didn't I start doing this earlier?
When I crossed that finish line something very special happened. I felt a powerful joy, something that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.
Something similar to scoring a decisive goal in an important football (soccer) game.
And that's when I got completely hooked on this beautiful sport.
After that I did some shorter races, including a 36:45 10k, and decided to sign up for my first Marathon.
Why?
The Marathon (and everything that is said about it) seduced me.
And to be honest there is, indeed, something special about the Marathon.
My running career had just started, so I thought a lot about whether I should do a marathon or not. With the knowledge I have today, I probably wouldn't have done the Marathon, but more on that later.
Here I was on the 1st of January 2024, ready to start my 17 week training block. With limited knowledge, no coach but a big desire to prove myself that I could do it.

Training

I came across a quote that best describes what Marathon training is: “The Marathon is the training, the race is the celebration”.
The difficult part is not running 42.2km on that day, the difficult part is running almost every day. Early mornings, after work, cold days, hot days, rainy days and windy days… Ahh the f*cking windy days.
And running is far from being everything. One of the things that tired me out the most was food. Thinking about what to eat, buying food, cooking food and eating an enormous quantity of food.
Fun fact: I gained weight.
Plus saying no to friends, going early to bed on a saturday, because there is nothing more important than the sunday long run, strength training and the daily soreness. One day you are feeling good about the progress made, but the next day you have a bad one and start questioning everything.
But you know what? I loved it. There is nothing better than that feeling of improvement week after week, learning about my body, pushing my limits, understanding the purpose of the workouts, going to bed tired and waking up to do it all over again.
And the truth is, if you don't truly enjoy the process of training you will never make it in this sport. It's all about the process.
I liked running before this training block, but after it I completely fell in love with this sport. That was without a doubt the biggest win of this Marathon Training.
My training plan was a mix of the 80/20 running book by Matt Fitzgerald and also Pfitz 18/55-70.
The bulk of the training was from 80/20 Running only because I had read this book first. After that, I read Advanced Marathoning, but I didn't want to change everything in the middle of the training plan so I just incorporated some of the Pfitz workouts.
My peak week was at 107km.

Training positives

I think the best thing of the 80/20 plans were the Hill Repeats. Up to 2 minutes of uphill running. Very different from what Pfitz recommends but I really enjoyed doing those and felt stronger afterwards.
One of the plus points was that I never got injured during training, apart from the usual discomforts I never had any pain that stopped me from running. All in all, I think I only missed three of the planned workouts because I felt tired and a bit sick. I was very consistent.
Despite this, I feel that there was a time when perhaps I could have put a little more stress on my body and that the training was too light. But it was my first marathon and managing training intensity and overall mileage isn't easy.
That's why I've adopted the following rule: “When in doubt, opt for less intensity rather than more.Tomorrow's training is always more important than today's”.
And maybe that's what prevented me from having injuries.
In February I did a 5k benchmark in 17:35 to see how I was progressing.
In March I did the only tune-up race. A Half-Marathon in 1:20:58. The goal was to hit sub 21.I managed it, but the race was difficult due to the hot weather.
Another positive point was doing a deload week every 3 or 4 weeks. I think that's more than Pfitz recommends, but these weeks have allowed me to rest, assimilate the progress and always stay away from burn out.

Training Mistakes

Looking back, I think my biggest mistake was making my long runs too short at the start.
At first I was afraid of increasing my mileage too much. For example, my first “long run” was 16km. I know it's stupid, at the end of the training block 16km was just a simple easy run.
Perhaps I should have done fewer kilometers during the rest of the week, but longer long runs from the start. Halfway through the plan I realized my mistake and increased the distance of the long runs more hastily instead of doing it so gradually.
I've only done 3 long runs with any considerable time at race pace (apart from the long runs with a fast finish). Again, different from what Pfitz recommends.
In general I liked the 80/20 running training plan, but my feeling was that I should have done more Tempo runs, VO2 max workouts and more long runs at race pace.
For example in the base building phase I did zero Tempo runs.The only key workouts were Fast Finish Runs, Speed Play and Hill Reps.
For my next marathon I want to follow 100% the Pfitz plan and see what happens.

Training Totals:

Run- Activities: 108 Km: 1333 Time: 110h
Cycling- Activities: 3 Km: 71 Time 4h
Strength Training- Activities: 32 Time: 12h
Yoga- Activities: 2 Time: 47m

Race

What could have happened without the cramps?
My realistic goal was sub 2:55, the sub 2:50 goal was just in case of a perfect day.

Pacing strategy:

• 4:05 km/min pace or something similar that felt easy until the half marathon mark.
• If I felt good, increase the pace a little bit until the 34 km
• At 34 km if possible try to go to the sub 2:50 if not maintain the pace to a sub 2:55

Starting at 4:05 km/min pace allowed me to feel good and still dream of sub 2:50 if I did a negative split
By the time I got to the half marathon mark, I was genuinely feeling very good and even decided to increase my speed slightly. I knew that sub 2:50 was going to be very difficult, but sub 2:55 seemed very realistic and I could do sub 2:54 or even sub 2:53.
But then something happened that I wasn't expecting at all.
I started having cramps. I'd never had a cramp since I started running, or anything like it. I could understand if I cramped up at km 37 or 38, but at km 29 was a big, big disappointment.
I accept that perhaps I went too fast initially, but I was genuinely feeling good and strong.
Looking back I think the most likely scenery was electrolyte imbalance. At the finish line my girlfriend said my face was white with salt
During the week, I increased my salt consumption, but I definitely should have supplemented electrolytes before and during the race. What is your experience with electrolyte imbalance?
It wasn't pretty from km 29 to 42. It was, by far, the most physical pain I've had to endure in my life.
I finally discovered the true pain cave.
I was constantly managing to get the fastest pace I could without tearing myself up. Every ramp, road bump and paving stones were pure suffering.
At that point, the only focus was to keep the sub 3 goal alive.
I knew that the average pace for a sub 3 marathon is 4:16km /min so I just looked at my average pace and tried to keep it as far away from 4:16 as possible.
Now I look back and can't understand how I managed to finish the Marathon in less than 3 hours. It was undoubtedly my hours and hours of training that pushed me towards the finish line.
I crossed the finish line and couldn't hold back the tears. I cried like a baby. A mixture of pain, emotion and a sense of accomplishment.
Unexplainable feelings, without a doubt one of the best days of my life.
I know I could have done better, but it was still an incredible experience of overcoming for a first Marathon.
One day I'll be back.

Post-Race

As I said, I had a lot of doubts about whether or not I should do a marathon. And the knowledge I gained during the preparation for this marathon showed me that with the running experience I have and my young age, I shouldn't be doing marathons yet.
I've been pushed to the Marathon by this running boom that we are living. Don't get me wrong I loved the Marathon experience, but now I want to learn the fundamentals of the sport and to do that I'm going to concentrate on the shorter distances.
I'm going to work on my speed, work on my running technique and set my personal records for all distances. And later I'll return to long distances and I also want to try ultra running. I want to do it all.
Unfortunately, the running community doesn't value short distances as much, but I'm very excited about what's to come. I've already signed up for an athletics club and now it's time to rest and then start preparing for an 800m race.
My main goal in running is firstly to enjoy the sport and secondly to push the limits of my genetics, to see how fast I can be over all distances
I know this post is long and thank you if you've read this far.
This sub has been incredibly useful during these 4 months and I'm sure it will continue to be.
Keep on running, my friends.
Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

This post has been adapted from Eft Universe, written by Sonia Novinsky. It's a long post, but a brilliant case study proving psychotic disorders can in fact be healed.
Jacqueline came to me about 1 year ago. She had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic with auditory hallucinations, depression, and an inability to operate in social environments. Now, the hallucinations are gone and she is well adapted to society. Along the way, many other benefits occurred, including relief from anorexia and the cessation of smoking. Here’s the story.
She arrived in a very depressive state, saying to me: “This is my last chance. And all I can pay is 10 dollars per session.” It was impossible to refuse her desperate appeal for help. She said…
“For 9 years now, since my daughter was born, I am taking Haldol, Prozac and other medications because psychiatrists considered me an incurable schizophrenic patient. I’ve been sleeping most of my daytime during all these years. After a traumatic event when my daughter was born, I fell into a depression. I started listening to Mary’s voice (Jesus’s mother) [diagnosed by her former psychiatrist as an auditory hallucination] and I had some inappropriate behaviours, including a kind of anorexia, with hospitalisation. I heard about your work with energy and I want to try it. I believe that this could help me get rid of medication and my disease. The only reason I don’t kill myself today is because my religion forbids me to do it.”
At the first moment, she told me that she had a supportive husband and parents, and also wonderful children and that made her feel more guilty for being a mentally ill person. She complained of smoking too much, of having difficulty resting and sleeping. She said she was also 30 kg more than her ideal weight, partly because of the antipsychotic medication. During the last 9 years she had been afraid to drive a car; before her crisis, driving was normal for her.
The last psychiatrist she saw was very oppressive, telling her she had an incurable mental illness and would be obliged to take Haldol for the rest of her life. When she arrived at my office, she was very angry with all psychiatrists and therapists who took care of her during all these years. They gave her no hope: just labels and drugs.
Before investigating core issues, I worked for some weeks on our rapport, trying to help her on her self-esteem and trying to develop some trust in our connection. She was very upset with the kind of relationship she had with her psychiatrists and therapists. A hierarchy was always present, and she was the inferior part of it, all the time. Her objections about the treatment were never validated by them.
In this case, it is very important to stress how strong was her intention to get rid of any medication because they condemned her to be out of a normal life.
I will give a summary of the main topics we worked with in EFT. We did EFT hundreds of times. I do a free talk while tapping, in a way that I can’t reproduce here, introducing humour and installing new meanings and possibilities. She was entirely open to working with EFT.
We started working with the most apparent sensation she was having at the moment she arrived. In my experience, you can start with this state, even if it is not a core issue. When this layer is reached, even if you don’t clear it completely, it gives room for the traumatic memories to show up.
Meanwhile, you get the basic trust needed to work deeply. So we started working on her self-image and self-esteem.
While we were tapping, I installed some reframing about how I was one with her, no hierarchy between us, how we were together and no label separating us.
The result was important for the rest of the treatment: She trusted that she was not alone and that I was assuming a strong, deep, and personal commitment with her.
She disclosed that when her daughter was born she was very upset with some events and we tapped on them. The worst one (which launched her first psychotic episode) was her husband’s imposition that his mother should be the godmother of her daughter. When Jacqueline went to see her mother-in-law to invite her, her reaction was very negative. She said: “I accept to be the godmother but I will not receive your family in my house.” This was a traumatic event for Jacqueline.
She felt very unhappy, with no way out, and thus she had her first psychotic attack. She undressed completely at a soccer stadium full of people.
We tapped for this event, and many aspects showed up. We tapped for the shame and guilt of not having control of her behaviour. While she was narrating the event, I tapped on her. This is my preferred way of tapping specific events. This one was a very traumatic event, but finally her husband agreed to her demand that his mother would not do the baptism of their daughter.
Thus she was victorious in some way, but she paid a high price for this “victory”: From this day on, she carried the label of a sick person. Two months later, her mother-in-law died suddenly and that gave Jacqueline the illusion of having a mean power inside her, and that made her still more guilty. In some way, Jacqueline felt she had no control over herself but from another point of view she was afraid of having some extraordinary power.
Jacqueline wanted to drive a car again. She felt ready to try it after clearing her psychotic attack and its consequences*.* So we tapped for the fear of driving, first at my office, then in her car.
Some aspects of her fear were: fear of losing control, fear of hitting the car, fear of hitting some one on the streets, fear of killing someone.
We made a test. We went inside her car and tapped in the car for any aspect, like “heart jumping too fast,” “I am not able to drive anymore,” etc. With me at her side, in the car, she drove the car by herself. After a couple of minutes, she was very calm, driving the car. Since that day she has been driving the car with no problem, with her children. Sao Paulo (my home) has very dangerous and wild traffic. Many normal people don’t drive cars here. But she does it now.
Schizophrenia is caused sometimes by double messages received mainly during childhood. Since her birth we could find many situations where double messages were received. Clearing all these double messages of Jacqueline’s life, from her birth until now, it was essential to allow her to see everything in a different way and to create a more integrated identity.
Jacqueline was the first child. Her father (Italian origin) wanted only a male child. When Jacqueline was born her mother felt in some way not comfortable with the fact that she couldn’t give her husband a boy. At the beginning of her life, Jacqueline felt no holding, no sensation of being desired. Eleven months after her birth, her mother gave birth to a boy who received all the attention of the parents. Jacqueline was most of the time with a single aunt that had a strong passion for a Catholic priest at that time.
We tapped for all events and sensations Jacqueline could remember that were related to this belief of not being wanted, of not deserving love, of being guilty for not being the boy her parents were waiting for. The strategy Jacqueline found was trying to persuade her father that she was good enough like a boy would be, and to do so she became too close to him and that made her mother very jealous and ambivalent toward her.
Investigating it more, I discovered that when Jacqueline had her crisis, after the birth of her daughter, she was feeling guilty and not deserving of having two healthy children, a boy and a girl. This was connected with a specific and important event that we addressed in each detail.
When she was 18 years old, she was dating her future husband and she got pregnant. As she was very religious and she wanted to become a mother, she didn’t want to get an abortion. But her husband, Leo, said that he would stay with her only if she got the abortion.
She postponed it as much as she could. She felt under a big pressure. She didn’t want to lose Leo and didn’t want to lose her child. She talked with her parents and they agreed with the abortion. So she did it. It was a very traumatic event for her. She felt guilty for the abortion, felt enraged with Leo, who didn’t go with her to the clinic, and felt very uncomfortable with her father. After the abortion, he was very critical of her. Their parents were supportive on one side, but on the other they were very severe and full of deception.
We tapped for each aspect of this event: the blood she saw, the place where she lay down, the light of the room, the questions the doctor asked her, the ambivalent sight of her mother, the feeling of abandonment because Leo was not there, the guilt of killing a 4-month-old fetus.
We discovered that her anorexia was connected with the blood she saw at the abortion. From that day, she started feeding herself in a more balanced way and started losing the extra weight she had at the beginning of the treatment.
We could see at that moment how the mother-in-law event triggered the abortion trauma, guilt, and anger. When her husband made this second imposition to her, “My mother will baptise my daughter,” she fell apart and collapsed. From that day, she started hallucinating and having inappropriate behaviours. One manifestation of this behaviour was a passion for a Catholic priest (like her dear aunt in the past), who held her in a compassionate way at the church.
In my point of view, the main issue for Jacqueline was not being held since the beginning of her life, and this fact was repeated many times, maybe because the writings on her walls were like these: “I don’t deserve to be loved, I don’t deserve to be held, there is something wrong with me, I should be different to be accepted, I am inappropriate, I have some strange powers that can harm people, etc.”
What was interesting is that when we cleared all aspects of the guilt of the abortion, including the guilt of having healthy children and the guilt of being alive (she used to talk of suicide as a self-punishment), that same week her anxiety stopped, her voice became more calm, and she stopped smoking.
I think the most important piece of this therapy was the possibility she opened for me to have a deep rapport with her while tapping. She started believing that she was a person, not a sickness, and as far as this occurred, her own family started to legitimate her as a mother, a professional, and a complete human being. She felt the self-confidence to restart her professional life. For 10 years her family and Leo’s family considered Leo the best husband, almost an angel, and Jacqueline was the crazy one, the problem. The whole system around her changed when she changed.
Some months ago she gave me a long written testimony (in Portuguese), about her issues and her treatment, confirming some of the results I have written here. Her intention was to help other people who could profit from her experience. On one of the last days, she completed the testimony verbally. I quote her words:
“For the first time in my life I feel peace in my heart. I have difficulties with my son and with my husband, but they don’t disturb my peace. I want to live like a normal woman and like a helper, for this I am praying and serving as a volunteer in a hospital.
“For the first time people trust me again. I was elected to the directory board of my club, and possibly I will be a candidate for a public position in the near future. I am free from the obsession for the priest. I know it because I went to see him in the church and could see him only as the priest he is. I don’t need smoking or the voices I used to listen to. I can remember the abortion without guilt. I couldn’t have a child for myself at that moment. I feel free from the double messages my husband used to send to me all the time, saying he loved me but excluding me from his life and problems and pleasures. I feel ready to take care of myself, and to take care of my children. I am living each day, not anticipating the worst like I used to. The pressure I felt in my heart is gone. I feel as healthy as anyone in this life, even if I need therapy for some more time.”
In conclusion, I think that what was decisive was EFT plus the holding she felt because I could accept, without any judgment, her passion and fantasies for the priest, her wish to die, and her fear of getting crazy, and her deep pain out of any category or classification that could separate us.

Today I got cut off by a pick-up truck that had a very eerie license plate situation that I can't stop thinking about. They had actually covered their back license plate complete with what I thought was just some kind of solid black paper or fabric, but when we got to a stop light I noticed it was actually a black on black American flag... This alone creeped me out because what other reason could you have to black out your back license plate (illegal in my state) other than to try to get away with crimes, most likely "patriotic" crimes; but for someone trying to be unidentifiable I thought it was extra weird that their license plate frame said "Soccer Dad #na" across the top, and some quote about a hungry lion across the bottom (I can't remember the exact phrase, but it definitely had an alt-right feel to it). I was passing a school, so at first it didn't strike me as odd because there are probably a ton of soccer dads at the school, but then it dawned on me that it didn't make any sense because why would his kid's jersey # be "na", and there aren't any schools with a lion as a mascot anywhere in the area...let alone at the school I'm pretty sure he was coming from.
Has anyone ever heard of some kind of militant, alt-right code about Soccer Dad's and lions? My area has a big problem with nut-job conservatives taking over our School Board and doing illegal shit to impose their Nazi agenda on our schools, so seeing this in our current climate really worries me. If it were just the license plate frame I'd brush it off as just another nut job, but the fact they've covered their license plate makes me think there is an actual intent to do something violent.

The Times, which isn't often given to regurgitating PR from the Palace or anywhere else, clearly made an exception recently to allow what was undoubtedly a spin-meister on the royal payroll to dictate their copy:
Source (paywall) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/king-charles-health-cancer-news-update-t65c222jd (H/T Celebitchy.com )

While the King will be increasingly visible in the coming weeks and months, the Princess of Wales will not, as she continues with her course of preventative chemotherapy and recuperation at home in Windsor. William, who has prioritised caring for his wife and three young children, will increase his diary of public engagements over the next two months, before the Waleses break for their children’s summer school holidays in July and August.
On Wednesday, it is understood he has no plans to see his brother, and will instead be in Windsor to conduct an investiture. On Thursday and Friday, he will head to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Those close to William say that despite the strain of recent months, his “humour is always there” and “he’s been on good form”, more so since the speculative storm around Kate largely subsided after her public announcement in March that she was receiving cancer treatment. A source close to the Waleses says: “There is a huge sense of relief that the family have been given the privacy and peace they asked for. He continues to do his best to try to balance supporting his wife, family and father with his public duty as the Prince of Wales. But of course from the start of the year, the focus of his family has been at the forefront of his mind.”
A friend of William reflects on the weeks before Kate revealed she was undergoing cancer treatment, when William, still also processing his father’s illness, attended several public engagements while wild rumours and speculation whirled on social media about his wife. “I don’t know how he managed to keep doing all of that, knowing what he was going through, while the world was ridiculing and throwing sh-t at his wife while she was having chemotherapy. That speaks to his character, grit and determination to go out there and do the job that is expected of him. He has taken most of it on the chin and got on with it.”

William is just so... heroic. "Grit and determination." And, no less, while everybody on earth is daring to ask him rude questions such as, "How is Kate?" Somebody get this man (another) medal.
In their usual ham-handed way, Kensington Palace appears to be overdoing it. They want to portray Kate's husband, ideally, as not a callous heel who f*cks off during his little daughter's birthday to attend a soccer match by himself and takes solo trips to Cornwall and Scilly leaving his cancer-fighting wife to fend for herself. Oh, is it spring already? What a coincidence.
But Kensington appears to be going too far in the other direction, all but giving William a cape--which, ironically, he does own (actually he must have ten or twenty). For a moment it looked like the MSM might be thinking about writing about the prince critically, when People Magazine recently mentioned how William fucked up his father Charles's coronation. https://people.com/why-kate-middleton-prince-william-arrived-late-king-charles-coronation-awkward-scene-8426011
But--again, coincidence?--this week, People put a determined-looking William on their cover with Charles and Kate huddled behind him looking vaguely vulnerable. The headline? https://people.com/everything-hinges-kate-middleton-well-being-for-prince-william-exclusive-8644651

'Everything Hinges on Kate Middleton's Well-Being' for Prince William as He Carries Family's Pain (Exclusive)
The Prince and Princess of Wales' family-first mantra is more important than ever
With Kate Middleton and King Charles both undergoing cancer treatment, Prince William must balance family matters with an elevated leadership role within the monarchy.
"Whether you're a prince or a pauper, no one would expect anything like this with his father and his wife both being treated for cancer," a royal insider tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week's cover story. "William is digging deep."
The Prince of Wales, 41, has resumed public duties after taking time off to spend time with his wife and their three children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6 — immediately following the news of her cancer diagnosis, publicly announced on March 22. However, his primary focus remains steadfastly on supporting Princess Kate, 42.
"For William, everything hinges on Kate's well-being,"...
Throughout their 13-year marriage, the Prince and Princess of Wales have prioritized private time with George, Charlotte and Louis, routinely clearing their public schedules during school breaks and taking part in school drop-offs and pick-ups rather than always leaving the task to a nanny. Now, their family-first manta is more important than ever.
"William is prioritizing giving her all the time she needs to get better and the support, particularly to the children," says a close source. ...
"The double illness has placed enormous pressure on William, both as a parent and inheritor of the family business," says Lacey. “It has brought all kinds of challenges. He [has handled] it with calmness and lack of drama.”

Maybe the Palace reached out to People after the magazine dared to offer some facts about how Wills screwed up his dad's, the King's, big day. "What do you want?" "How about an exclusive?" "Done! We'll get our minimum-wage-slave PR peon to give you some quotes but we want a real blow job of a story, right?" "Deal. We do that all the time." "Yes, we know."
At this point one wonders if portraying William as a male Joan Of Arc might backfire. If (when?) Kate's true condition is revealed, all these "Palace insider" stories may come back to haunt him.
Edit: grammar.

Tapas Part 2 - The Path of Fire & Brilliance

Alright fellas, here is Part 2 of the post on tapas and tejas. Part 1 recap :

• Tapas is the practice performing intense spiritual austerities so as to create an internal heat or friction that burns away the gunk clouding up your nervous system, so that you can speed up the process of self-evolution.
• Syntropy, which is the opposite of entropy (chaos, disorder, death and decay), describes how a system is able to conserve, increase and synchronize energy within itself, which is the reason why you get so many benefits from semen retention. Yoga, meditation and tapas all increase syntropy as well.
• By the practice of tapas, one is able to ignite the sexual energy cultivated through semen retention into tejas, an "inner radiance, fearlessness, majesty, and authority".

In Part 1 I listed topics that would be covered in this post, things like limbic friction and training the "go/no go circuits" in the brain, and while these are important topics, they simply explain a modern scientific take on how tapas is beneficial.
But let's get spicy with things, shall we?
I cut that stuff and will instead be giving you additional posts after this one, all about methods to dive deeper into tapas, in order to cultivate tejas, that fiery, magnetic luster and radiance that sages throughout the ages emitted.
I will post the parts I cut in a comment in case anyone is interested.
This post will cover :

• How tapas flips the script on craving, demolishing any chance of succumbing to the urge to masturbate;
• A small section on lifestyle tapas vs. tapas proper;
• Why yoga is the most powerful means of tapas, especially to create abundant tejas, with a deep dive on the science behind this;
• New, advanced yogic techniques I've never discussed, not even in the book I wrote.

Part 3 will cover :

• The power of resolves, how these build confidence in oneself, and how they increase testosterone and rewire the brain to be oriented towards success;
• Why proper meditation is the highest form of syntropy, of gathering, retaining and harmonizing energy within;
• A style of meditation that quickly leads to profound states of concentration and bliss;
• The relationship between higher states of meditation, orgasm, and tantric sex, and how higher states of meditation create the same bliss of orgasm, magnified many times over and lasting minutes to hours, without any loss of semen or energy. It is peak syntropy, bliss untold, with no downsides.

Part 4 will cover :

• The importance of disciplining oneself with ethics, and how it is both foundational to success in meditation, as well as a powerful form of tapas;
• A type of meditation on fire itself that quickly builds powerful levels of concentration and can even lead to some trippy experiences. And of course, it greatly increases syntropy and tejas.

Sound spicy? Let's get to it.

Tapas and Craving

What's goal number one for a retainer? Overcoming the urge to watch porn and masturbate. That urge is but a small part of the way the mind craves things in general.
That craving aspect of the mind is known as tanha within Buddhism, where they aim to uproot it completely. Tanha also entails the flip side of craving, known as aversion - they are really two sides of the same coin.
Instead of going through life trying to fill every craving demand the mind makes (and they are endless), what if you just got rid of craving altogether? The goal isn't to throw out decisiveness or willpower or even enjoyment, but wanton, needless, constant craving, for empty dopamine-wasting pointless pursuits - like masturbation, scrolling apps, junk food, distraction, etc.
Every time you want to view porn and/or masturbate, or waste time on apps, or use substances, or check out from the life you're actually living, that’s tanha knocking on your door.
And what do all these things do to us retainers? They waste energy, they are entropic, they are the opposite of syntropy.
Tanha is the virus in your mind preventing you from being happy and at peace right here, right now. If you’ve been following along in the Craving series, so far we’ve :

• Upgraded our mental software by installing the mindfulness program in Part 1;
• We’ve made good use of impermanence, or the "Anicca Algorithm" to deal another blow to tanha/craving in Part 2;
• We’ve also begun to develop the noble quality of equanimity, that steady, non-reactivity in the mind that helps us endure hardship and not get suckered into chasing pleasures in Part 3.

Tapas is the practice of laughing in the face of tanha. You delight in saying no to cravings, and you delight in pushing into discomfort.
Discomfort becomes your new playground.

“So now I will go
I will go on into the struggle,
This is to my mind delight;
This is where my mind finds bliss.” - Sutta Nipata

Tapas flips the script on tanha, it is the direct opposite of tanha!
Instead of mindlessly chasing empty stimulation (craving) and running from the slightest discomforts (aversion), we willingly dive into and explore discomfort and avoid the mindless, empty stimulation.
Simply put, the feeling of discomfort is your signal to go, the feeling of craving is your signal to pause, refrain and hold back.
When it comes to tapas, craving finds no footing.

"Whatever happiness is found in sensual pleasures,
And whatever there is in heavenly bliss
These are not worth 1/16th-part
Of the happiness that comes from cravings end." - The Buddha, Udana Sutta 2.2

Lifestyle Tapas vs Tapas Proper

Understand that if you want to start developing real tejas, your practice of tapas will necessarily have to entail ramping up and intensifying your sadhana, your yoga/mediation/spiritual practice. Not every guy has a spiritual or interior discipline like yoga, qi gong, intense prayer or meditating (I can't recommend it enough, though), so lets delineate tapas into two categories -

• Tapas proper, meaning intensifying your spiritual practice;
• And lifestyle tapas, or pushing yourself in anything that isn't an interior discipline.

Lifestyle tapas is powerful, there is no doubt. And it is absolutely necessary for us to cultivate, as we have way too much access to highly stimulating, highly rewarding dopamine-wasters. Lifestyle tapas will create some degree of internal heat and resistance too, so I'm certainly not knocking it.
But understand that if you want the kind of tapas that lights your heart, body, mind, soul, sexual energy and entire life ablaze, ablaze with an abundance of fiery, radiant tejas, it will necessarily have to be tapas proper.

Sadhana as Tapas

The highest form of tapas is, of course, your sadhana, your spiritual practice.
This is the only way to skyrocket syntropy, gathering all energies within and creating large amounts of inner friction, giving you abundant tejas.
Doing the tough stuff like ice baths and saunas, or working out, or feeling the resistance to clean your apartment and then doing it anyway is all fantastic stuff, as is avoiding scrolling on apps, or eating pints of Ben & Jerry's while getting your money's worth from Netflix.
But none of that really compares to upping your spiritual practice. Why? Because yoga is itself highly purifying and highly syntropic, so increasing the time spent purifying the body-mind while increasing the energy within is going to pay off much more quickly than cleaning out your garage and deleting TikTok.
The asanas (physical postures) of yoga :

• Squeeze and massage your endocrine glands, helping to regulate their output of hormones, the chemical messengers that control your body :
  • You know, androgenic hormones like testosterone and the more powerful dihydrotestosterone coming from the testes and adrenals (many postures affect adrenals, while the headstand/shoulder stand affects the pituitary gland which regulates hormonal production in the testes through luteinizing and follicle stimulating hormones);
  • muscle-building, fat-burning and age-retarding human growth hormone and IGF-1 coming from the pituitary (headstand, shoulder stand, khechari mudra);
  • energizing and metabolism-regulating thyroid hormones (shoulder stand, jalandhara bandha);
  • sleep-regulating and anti-aging, cancer-preventing melatonin from the pineal gland (headstand, shoulder stand, khechari mudra, trataka, brahmari pranayama);
  • immune factors from the thymus (spinal twists, forward bends and back bends);
  • energizing adrenaline and the "stress hormone" cortisol from the adrenals (many asanas affect adrenals - by lowering cortisol, more DHEA/pregnenolone is available to be used to create testosterone/dihydrotestosterone - see the pregnenolone steal);
  • all of these hormones need to be released at the right times in the right amounts, and yoga asanas help dial in this system!
• Asanas also stretch, compress and relax the nerves of your nervous system. What do nerves do? Carry energy and information to and from the brain. I mean this in the least new-agey way possible, they literally transmit your lifeforce, your prana. By improving the health of your nervous system, you improve the ability of energy to flow throughout your entire body-mind system. This is part of what I mean when I say "gunk gets cleared from the system" - you will begin to perceive things in a much more clear, beautiful way - much like when we were children.
• Asanas help massage important nerve plexuses as well, which are like electrical junction boxes including the pelvic floor plexus, sacral plexus, solar plexus, brachial plexus and cervical plexus, as well as regulating the all-important vagus nerve. Wouldn't you know it, these all align with the major chakras, as do the above mentioned endocrine glands.
• Asanas also balance the two branches of your nervous system - the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, or the fight-flight-freeze branch and the rest-and-digest branch. We are chronically stressed as a society, and all that stress wastes precious sexual energy, precious jing, precious ojas, and if remember from the previous post, you need sufficient sexual energy/ojas to even begin creating tejas in the first place.
• Asanas clear out blockages in your energy body, your pranamaya kosha. If you plan on cultivating any of these energies, be it sexual energy, prana or tejas, you need your pranamaya kosha cleared of blockages. If that sounds too "woo-woo" for you-you, just shelve the idea for now. If you seriously practice yoga you may just find that you come to experience these things in time - you can leave it as "to be determined". Chakras are less about having pretty colored lights in your spine and more about them being power transformers that can handle more and more prana.

Those are just some of the benefits to asanas - they also improve digestion, improve heart-rate variability, improve the functioning of the all important vagus nerve, improve muscle functioning, improve flexibility and balance, provide a much needed cleansing of the lymphatic fluid, as well as a much needed wringing of your fascia, the sensory-rich connective tissue holding the entire body together.
By bringing your entire body into balance, asanas increase syntropy big time, meaning more energy gained, less energy lost, and all that energy is now able to flow smoothly through the system.
What about pranayama, the breathing practices? Glad you asked :

• Pranayama is highly purifying to the nervous system. Moreso than the nervous system, it helps clear up blockages in your pranamaya kosha, your energy body.
• Once these blockages start to be removed, not only will the higher faculties of mind be awakened, along with you being able to perceive subtler layers of mind and reality, but you'll be able to handle more prana altogether. It's like upping the amps of electrical wires - the higher the amps, the more power the wire can transmit. Pretty essential when what we're all doing with semen retention is cultivating increased amounts of energy, whether we knew that was the case or not. A good deep dive on this topic is covered in the post Can You Handle the Power?
• These blockages are in certain energy channels and in chakras themselves, and the blockages keep your consciousness trapped at lower levels :
  • The person who is only operating from the first two chakras is only interested in survival and egoic/sexual desires - let's face it, that's most people;
  • If he were to activate the third chakra, he would tap into his great storehouse of prana, coming into his own power and being able to make decisive decisions, with the power and strength to achieve them;
  • If he were to further activate the fourth chakra, the barriers between self and other begin to fade. The whole world becomes his kingdom, and he would start thinking about ways to help others, opening up new vistas of goodwill, compassion, and providing for others like a king;
  • The fifth chakra is concerned with ideas and their effective expression, as well as a highly discerning awareness and discrimination, with the dualities of life becoming harmonized, allowing one to flow smoothly and roll with the punches;
  • And so on for higher chakras.
• Remember how tapas is all about creating an inner friction? Pranayama is perhaps the foremost way to do so - one technique, called nadi shodhana, shifts energy alternatively through negatively charged and positively charged channels, creating an alternating current; while spinal breathing moves energy from negatively charged chakra to a positively charged chakra. See here.
• Pranayama greatly helps to improve heart-rate variability, improve the functioning of the vagus nerve, and balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, all of which equal a calmer, healthier, more robust you. Your HRV is critical to the "feel" of the energy you radiate, as I covered back in Part 3 - Strengthening Your Aura and Personal Magnetism.
• Breathing exercises improve oxygenation of the body, as well as your ability to tolerate Co2. The higher Co2 tolerance you have, the calmer you'll be, the more energy and endurance you'll have, as well as less inflammation and lower chance of depression. Co2 tolerance is a very important aspect to pranayama practice.
• Cultivating prana through pranayama means you will have abundant energy, plain and simple. You're plugging yourself into the wall socket of the universe :
  • One of the ways this occurs is through absorption of negative ions, which have a range of positive effects on health, including increasing energy levels;
  • Pranayama also boosts energy due to transient hypoxia boosting mitochondrial biogenesis, or the creation of new, healthy mitochondria. More and healthier mitochondria = more energy, plain and simple.

The benefits go on and on and on...
Never mind the benefits of the more advanced practices of kriyas, mudras and bandhas, which help move, seal and lock prana in certain parts of the body.
And then there's the meditation....
If you still think yoga is just for soccer moms, I have news for you my man - you are missing out on a MASSIVE source of syntropy and energy cultivation!
This has nothing to do with religion or with new-agey stuff- this has everything to do with diving deep into a scientific practice where the only goals are radiant health and directed self-evolution. It is only "spiritual" in the sense that it is a dimension of life that is ignored and shunned by modern society - but it is our birthright.
And the people running this shit show don't want you keyed in to this, because they don't want free thinking people who have seen through the flimsy facade The Matrix. They want mindless, indoctrinated, herd-mentality worker drones. How could you ever buy into "The System" when you come to the realization that you are a being of infinite capacity playing in a benevolent universe, a universe that in actuality is your very Self?
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would to appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chunks of his cavern.” - William Blake
Ok, I guess I did get a little spiritual there. But just as cultivating sexual energy through semen retention opened up a new, "missing" dimension to your life, so too are gorgeous valleys and stunning vistas of your own being waiting to be tapped into, opened up, and lived from.
So if you don't have a "spiritual" practice, or an interior discipline, now is your time to start. If you do have one, now is the time to up the ante.
Think of yoga as a gentle martial art you do against yourself.
Some ideas for your upping the tapas of your sadhana -

• Meditate consistently every day if you’re new to meditation;
• Increase the time or better yet, add a second sit if you’re already consistent;
• Commit to a daily yoga practice (meaning asanas and pranayama) if you haven’t yet;
• Adding more asanas (yoga postures) and pranayama (breathing exercises) if you already are consistent;
• Getting up before dawn to do 1000 recitations of your mantra;
• Increasing the devotional aspects of your practice, called bhakti yoga, and/or the self-inquiry side of things, called jnana yoga;
• Recall how semen retention, called brahmaharya in yoga, is more than mere celibacy - it is the "wise use of energy", and entails keeping it within, not wasting it on meaningless external pursuits.

Don't overwhelm yourself with these suggestions. Just get started if you don't have an internal discipline yet, and intensify your practice if you do have one.
Truly, the most effective tapas you can do for abundant tejas is to have a consistent yoga routine, meaning you do the physical postures, followed by pranayama, followed by meditation.
Every. Single. Day.
Check out the basic yoga routine I laid out in this post (up the rounds of sun salutations if you're feeling frisky), follow it up with 1-3 rounds of kapalabhati or bhastrika pranayama, and end with 20-30 minutes of metta meditation. You can also break it up and do the postures and pranayama in the morning, and meditate at night.
Commit to one month of this yoga routine and tell me you don't notice a massive change. Commit to two months of this daily yoga routine and tell me everyone around you doesn't notice the change.
And then, once you get consistent with your practice, remember that if you want to dive deeper into tapas and gain more tejas, you must regularly push the envelope. Start slow and focus on consistency. Once you're consistent, stick with a routine for a few weeks/a couple months to see how it benefits you, and then add something new.
The name of the game is starting slow, being consistent, and adding more techniques/intensity once you feel the time is ready. If you don't have a practice, simply beginning a basic yoga routine with one or two pranayamas is plenty.
Charging up your sadhana with tapas is what will give you an abundance of tejas, or "inner luster, radiance, majesty". Don’t expect much, if any, tejas from lifestyle tapas, from simply doing your chores and taking a break from Instagram. That is still important, of course.

Advanced Yoga Techniques

Alright, enough about the benefits. Let's discuss some powerful, fire-activating, tejas-producing yogic techniques.
First and foremost, having a foundational routine of asanas, pranayama and meditation is already a powerful form of tapas, and is going to produce plenty of tejas. This needs to be your starting point. There's no sense adding fuel to the fire when you haven't even lit the fire yet, so spend a few months consistently dialing in your yoga practice before adding these in.
The basic asana routine I have already laid out, plus the four pranayamas I've discussed in previous posts are going to create quite a bit of heat and friction in your body-mind already. I will link to those posts at the end, as well as some videos to other yoga routines, instead of detailing them again here.
Don't think of the following practices as shortcuts to tejas - they are enhancers for when you've already got the ball rolling.
In other words, these are for the guy who has already cleaned out a fair bit of the detritus from his nervous system/energy body, and who has already regulated his hormones, achieving a state of supra-homeostasis. You gotta walk before you can run.
CAUTION
Please, please, please do not begin these prematurely or overdo these techniques! I always hesitate talking about more powerful practices, because when I started learning all of this stuff over a decade ago, I did not heed the warnings and went straight for the stronger stuff, which only resulted in me biting off more than I could chew, releasing waaaayyy more energy than my body was ready for, creating nasty anxiety, random heart palpitations, and insomnia that last a few months.
But we're all adults here, right? The first two techniques should be a-ok to practice for anyone at any level, the last two should not be practiced with any regularity until you've spent at least a few months purifying the body-mind system with more foundational yoga and pranayama.
All of these practices create a lot of heat within the system. If you find yourself overheating, or losing sleep, or developing anxiety from the excess energy, stop them immediately. Remember, this all presupposes you already have been regular with a basic yoga routine for at least a few months, including asanas and at least one kind of pranayama.
If you haven't, don't bother with any of these practices except the first two.
Agnisara kriya
Agni means fire, sara means essence, kriya means action, so this is the practice of activating and refining inner fire into its essence - tejas.
This practice is a great preparation for kapalabhati and bhastrika pranayamas, as it is essentially the same movement of the abdomen, just done with the lungs held empty. If you live in a hot environment, be sure it doesn't lead to you being overheated throughout the day.
"Agnisara kriya stimulates the appetite and improves digestion. It massages the abdomen, strengthens the abdominal muscles and encourages optimum health of the abdominal organs. Agnisara kriya stimulates the five pranas, especially samana, and raises the energy levels markedly. It alleviates depression, dullness and lethargy." Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha
This practice should be done in the morning on an empty stomach, both due to the pumping action of the abdomen and because of its energizing effects on the solar plexus, adrenals and manipura chakra, the "storehouse of prana".
This practice also increases the "heat" of digestion. In yoga and Ayurveda, a strong digestion is paramount to good health - if the "fire" of digestion is damp and smoldering, you're wasting tons of energy trying to digest what should be "burnt up" relatively easily.
Just as a fire burning large and hot can easily burn damp wood, but a smoldering, weak fire threatens to go out on it's own, so should your digestive fire be burning hot and strong, so that you are not bogged down after every meal.
Agnisara kriya video 1 standing, video 2 seated
Prana Mudra -
"Prana mudra awakens the dormant prana shakti, vital energy, and distributes it throughout the body, increasing strength, health and confidence. It develops awareness of the nadis (energy channels) and chakras, and the subtle flow of prana in the body. It instills an inner attitude of peace and equanimity by adopting an external attitude of offering and receiving energy to and from the cosmic source." Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha
This mudra is wonderful on so many levels -

• it raises energy levels by releasing prana;
• it develops awareness of the main chakras and the central channel;
• and it saturates your energy body with positive vibrations, as you radiate peace towards all beings.

Here is the best video I could find on it, but I must admit, his explanation doesn't really do it for me, so here is a step-by-step guide, straight from the book I keep quoting, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha.
Surya Bheda Pranayama
Surya bheda pranayama roughly translates to "stimulating the solar channel". There are 3 main channels through which prana flows in the body - the central channel, going right up the spine with the 7 main chakras, and the two channels that crisscross the central one. The channel that begins in the left nostril and crisscrosses down to the base chakra is "lunar" and negatively charged, while the channel that begins on the right nostril is positively charged and "solar".
https://preview.redd.it/uqvw8gsdz6zc1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c23a4d841eb1d50ca19c1a3d030bb76456375bea
In nadi shodhana pranayama, also called alternate nostril breathing, you alternate the breath through the nostrils and thus, through the lunar and solar channels. In surya bheda pranayama, you stimulate only the solar channel.
Realize that this practice may be too warming as we enter spring and summer in the northern hemisphere. If it's already hot where you are, simply do alternate nostril breathing, which creates plenty of tejas.
Back to surya bheda - "This practice creates heat in the body and counteracts imbalances... It stimulates and awakens the panic energy by activating pingala nadi (the solar channel). By increasing extroversion and dynamism, it enables physical activities to be performed more effeciently and helps to alleviate depression. It is especially recommended for those who are dull and lethargic or who find it difficult to communicate with the external world. It makes the mind more alert and perceptive and is an excellent pre-meditation pranayama." Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha

1. Sit in your favorite meditative posture.
2. Take a few slow, deep breaths, finding your center.
3. Curl the pointer and middle fingers of the right hand into the palm, raising your hand to your nose.
4. Exhale, and then block the left nostril with the ring and pinky fingers.
5. Inhale through the right nostril in a slow, controlled manner.
6. Close the right nostril and hold the breath for 1 or 2 seconds.
7. Open the left nostril and exhale in a slow and controlled manner.
8. Close the left nostril again and inhale through the right, repeating the process.
9. 10 rounds is sufficient to start, moving it up 15 after a couple of weeks, then 20 after a few more weeks if so desired.

Nauli
Spend a few months with agnisara kriya before moving on to nauli. When you start practicing nauli, drop agnisara kriya, as agnisara kriya is essentially a stepping stone to nauli. I recommend practicing only a few rounds of the beginning form of nauli, without the abdominal churning. Nauli should be done in the morning, before any food has been consumed.
This practice is to be avoided if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, history of stroke or abdominal injuries.
"Nauli massages and tones the entire abdominal area, including the muscles, nerves, intestines, reproductive, urinary and excretory organs. It generates heat in the body and stimulates appetite, digestion, assimilation, absorption and excretion. It helps to balance the adrenal component of the endocrine system. Nauli stimulates and purifies manipura chakra, the storehouse of prana. It helps to increase mental clarity and power by harmonizing the energy flows in the body." - Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha
Please only do the first portion of this practice - nauli video.
Sequencing

1. Do the postures first. Allow the heart rate and breathing rate to return to normal if you did an active routine.
2. Then do your pranayama.
3. Then mudras/kriyas/nauli.
4. Then meditate.

Here is the post where I laid out the foundational asana routine I use, plus instructions on spinal breathing and alternate nostril breathing. Again, up the rounds of sun salutations if you'd like to increase internal heat even more so. Let your heart rate and breathing return to normal after sun salutations before proceeding to the rest of the asanas.
Here is a video on how to properly perform sun salutations.
Here is a video on kapalabhati pranayama, and here is one on bhastrika.
Here's a nice 20 minute yoga routine with Tim.
Here's a 20 minute routine focused on strength and energy with Kassandra.
Here is a 28 minute intermediate yoga routine, and another 30 minute video by the same guy.
Feel free to shop around and find an instructor on Youtube that you enjoy, and explore their videos. Better yet, hit a class.
And remember - it is infinitely better to have a 15-20 minute routine that you consistently do, every single day, than it is to do an hour long class only three times a week. The same applies to pranayama and meditation! Don't bite off more than you can chew and then get frustrated when you can't keep up.
Start small, be consistent, increase duration and intensity slowly.
This is the path to success.
This is the path of fire and brilliance.

"As Buffalo gears up for professional soccer, members of the community are invited to join in the conversation with Buffalo Pro Soccer at a town hall starting 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Banshee Irish Pub, 257 Franklin St..
Peter Marlette Jr., club founder and president, will provide a progress report, talk about how fans can get involved and provide insights into the journey that will lead to the United Soccer League Champion club slated to start in 2026. The first 30 fans to arrive will receive a Buffalo Pro Soccer scarf."
For anyone interested, a community meeting for the USL team will be held at the time and place listed in the quote above.

Before I begin, Id like to explain that fallout 4 is a great game and I've played it more times then I can count. But it's very different than the other fallout games in such a way that some could say it's crossed the line from the fallout franchise into it's own sub genre of fallout game. Let me begin to explain.
Entry One: (not so S.P.E.C.I.A.L.)
So in all the other fallout games your stats or your S.P.E.C.I.A.L are what outlines your characters personality. There was good reason to not being able to max out all of your skills and S.P.E.C.I.A.L, while it was still possible it was not the wisest course of action due to the great sacrifice of your perks. I believe that fallout 4 forcing the player to max these stats out takes away from character building of your own imagination. Not only that but not having things like skills, karma, or a silent protagonist also take away from the self character development we have all known to love. Like the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system in previous fallout games you weren't supposed to be able to have every perk in the game for those same reasons.
Entry Two: (where's my rifle?)
This entry will be based more off of my own opinion. The weapons in fallout 4 completely changed. While that's not necessarily an issue with the gameplay itself I don't understand how the assault rifle went from its classic design in fo3, to a more modernized rifle in New Vegas, then in fo4 to whatever that thing is supposed to be. They completely scrapped the idea of holstered weapons on your back or hip and that really takes away some key aesthetics I've always loved about the fallout universe.
Entry three: ("so now I'm traveling backwards in time?")
Now what bothered me the most is the historical references to the extent of literally dressing entire factions, companions, newspapers, and even some random encounters and quests to match the historical counterparts of that which took place in Boston HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO. Now correct me if I'm wrong but most NPCs in previous titles had very little to no understanding of anything that that happened in the world prior to the bombs falling. But in fallout 4 the characters in Boston seem to be rich in culture that pre dates them by centuries. They can be seen quoting Shakespeare, Oppenheimer, even Poe. I get that this can be explained by saying well Boston has audio tours and museums everywhere or Boston has historic landmarks and plaques that explains history or they were taught to them by ghouls. But I find it hard to believe that in a time where raiders, mutants, and other ungodly flesh eating abominations infested every historical landmark that I've visited in the game. Nor can I just simply accept that ghouls (who aren't even allowed in diamond City) are teaching or giving lectures on such things to any wastelanders that care to learn. Not only that but where did these people learn all this rich culture when they don't even know how baseball use to work. I mean the biggest settlement around is in a fucking baseball stadium. If they can all read up on history and Shakespeare then why can't Moe Cronin pick up an old play book? I could go on and on about this but for the sake of your time and mine I'll move on.
Entry four: (where's my f-bomb)
Now this last entry is extremely based on my own personal opinion, and if you made it this far id like to remind you I don't hate fallout 4. It's a wonderful game and I'm in my 6000th playthrough while writing this. So, in previous titles the wasteland was a gritty and disturbing place full of darkness, slavery, rape, chaotic neutrals and chaotic evils, and I hate to sound immature but... vulgarity.all of that affects the player based on your own choices being judged by the karma system. I absolutely loved that. I still do. The fact that the main protagonist in fo4 is literally a suburban dad/mom throughout the whole game who is completely indifferent to the new world around them really took away from all of that for me. Fact is Fallout 4 has little to no edge. I'm sorry but it's the truth. Just an example when you first enter diamond City and talk to the woman getting her hair cut who assumes your a begger and refers to everyone in diamond City as "poor and stupid" the edgiest thing you can say to her is "I don't beg you stuck up old bat" and then "bitch" under your breath. There's a million more examples like this. Now I'm not hating on all of the dialogue choices (some of them are somewhat funny) but there's no way to be an asshole like you use too. I think I'm going to leave it here because the vualt-tec rep at my front door is getting impatient. Let me know what you think down below.
(Conclusion)
Fallout 4 is not a bad game, but it is nowhere near it's previous titles when it comes to capturing the essence of a nuclear apocalypse. In my honest opinion it's a bit of a stretch to even call it an RPG. It's more of a shooter with RPG elements that's fun for the whole family. I think soccer moms would approve. But with that being said it's nothing compared to it's counterparts. Thank you for reading my rant. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to see what my honest feelings and thoughts are about this game we have all grown to love or utterly despise in some cases (not mine (isagudgame)) so thanks again for reading and have a great rest of your day.

Before I begin, Id like to explain that fallout 4 is a great game and I've played it more times then I can count. But it's very different than the other fallout games in such a way that some could say it's crossed the line from the fallout franchise into it's own sub genre of fallout game. Let me begin to explain. Entry One: (not so S.P.E.C.I.A.L.)
So in all the other fallout games your stats or your S.P.E.C.I.A.L are what outlines your characters personality. There was good reason to not being able to max out all of your skills and S.P.E.C.I.A.L, while it was still possible it was not the wisest course of action due to the great sacrifice of your perks. I believe that fallout 4 forcing the player to max these stats out takes away from character building of your own imagination. Not only that but not having things like skills, karma, or a silent protagonist also take away from the self character development we have all known to love. Like the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system in previous fallout games you weren't supposed to be able to have every perk in the game for those same reasons.
Entry Two: (where's my rifle?)
This entry will be based more off of my own opinion. The weapons in fallout 4 completely changed. While that's not necessarily an issue with the gameplay itself I don't understand how the assault rifle went from its classic design in fo3, to a more modernized rifle in New Vegas, then in fo4 to whatever that thing is supposed to be. They completely scrapped the idea of holstered weapons on your back or hip and that really takes away some key aesthetics I've always loved about the fallout universe.
Entry three: ("so now I'm traveling backwards in time?")
Now what bothered me the most is the historical references to the extent of literally dressing entire factions, companions, newspapers, and even some random encounters and quests to match the historical counterparts of that which took place in Boston HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO. Now correct me if I'm wrong but most NPCs in previous titles had very little to no understanding of anything that that happened in the world prior to the bombs falling. But in fallout 4 the characters in Boston seem to be rich in culture that pre dates them by centuries. They can be seen quoting Shakespeare, Oppenheimer, even Poe. I get that this can be explained by saying well Boston has audio tours and museums everywhere or Boston has historic landmarks and plaques that explains history or they were taught to them by ghouls. But I find it hard to believe that in a time where raiders, mutants, and other ungodly flesh eating abominations infested every historical landmark that I've visited in the game. Nor can I just simply accept that ghouls (who aren't even allowed in diamond City) are teaching or giving lectures on such things to any wastelanders that care to learn. Not only that but where did these people learn all this rich culture when they don't even know how baseball use to work. I mean the biggest settlement around is in a fucking baseball stadium. If they can all read up on history and Shakespeare then why can't Moe Cronin pick up an old play book? I could go on and on about this but for the sake of your time and mine I'll move on.
Entry four: (where's my f-bomb)
Now this last entry is extremely based on my own personal opinion, and if you made it this far id like to remind you I don't hate fallout 4. It's a wonderful game and I'm in my 6000th playthrough while writing this. So, in previous titles the wasteland was a gritty and disturbing place full of darkness, slavery, rape, chaotic neutrals and chaotic evils, and I hate to sound immature but... vulgarity.all of that affects the player based on your own choices being judged by the karma system. I absolutely loved that. I still do. The fact that the main protagonist in fo4 is literally a suburban dad/mom throughout the whole game who is completely indifferent to the new world around them really took away from all of that for me. Fact is Fallout 4 has little to no edge. I'm sorry but it's the truth. Just an example when you first enter diamond City and talk to the woman getting her hair cut who assumes your a begger and refers to everyone in diamond City as "poor and stupid" the edgiest thing you can say to her is "I don't beg you stuck up old bat" and then "bitch" under your breath. There's a million more examples like this. Now I'm not hating on all of the dialogue choices (some of them are somewhat funny) but there's no way to be an asshole like you use too. I think I'm going to leave it here because the vualt-tec rep at my front door is getting impatient. Let me know what you think down below.
(Conclusion)
Fallout 4 is not a bad game, but it is nowhere near it's previous titles when it comes to capturing the essence of a nuclear apocalypse. In my honest opinion it's a bit of a stretch to even call it an RPG. It's more of a shooter with RPG elements that's fun for the whole family. I think soccer moms would approve. But with that being said it's nothing compared to it's counterparts. Thank you for reading my rant. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to see what my honest feelings and thoughts are about this game we have all grown to love or utterly despise in some cases (not mine (isagudgame)) so thanks again for reading and have a great rest of your day.

TL;DR at the bottom because this got kinda longgg
Me (f20) and Sarah (f20) have been friends since forever. Our parents were close friends and we were neighbors so we basically grew up like sisters. We've been through thick and thin; heartbreaks, triumphs, family dramas, you name it. So when she told me she's getting married to her boyfriend/now fiancé, Matteo (m21), I was so excited for her. She even asked me to be her maid of honor, which was always clear to be honest. Me and my partner of five years, Alex (m23), to whom I’ve been married to for nearly two years.
But when the invite came , I saw that it was addressed solely to me, leaving out Alex, my literal husband. I mean, seriously? Alex and I have been going strong longer than Sarah has known her fiancé. We've been there for them through thick and thin, hosting them countless times, and cheering them on through all their milestones. In fact, Sarah and her fiancé were both at our wedding, and Alex and her fiancé get along pretty good. But when it comes to Sarah's big day, my husband didn't even make the cut.
I wanted to sort this out, so I drove over to Sarah’s place to talk to her about it. Feeling torn between my friendship to Sarah and my own feelings, I tried to tell her how much Alex means to me and how hurtful it was to leave him out. She just brushed it off
But when I pressed her for a real reason, the conversation turned into a fiery argument. She told me that if Alex was less of an „entitled cynic“, it'd be easier to include him.
When she said that I literally snapped, I reminded her how Alex has always been supportive of her and Matteo. I asked her what the real reason was for her to exclude Alex but Sarah again brushed it off, saying it's just „how it has to be“.
This infuriated me. I couldn’t believe how ignorant my best friend was acting. I started shouting at her, telling her that being there for her doesn’t mean I should disrespect my husband.
She screamed about how it's selfish, and that ever since I got married, it’s all about me and Alex. Apperently she wants the wedding to be about her for once without him stealing the show.
I was stunned at this. Alex is my husband, not some fucking show pony.
She kept accusing me of always doing this, making it about me and Alex and how she doesn’t want this at her wedding.
At this point we were just having a screaming match. She said, I quote, „You’re just jealous because I’m getting married before you did anything significant with your life.“
She was referring to me staying at home and not having any education other than high school (I’ll explain the reason a little later); she really crossed a line.
I screamed at her that I’m not jealous, if anything I pity her. I said it’s laughable to marry someone if you can’t even respect your closest friend‘s, basically your sister‘s, relationship. I told her that I hope her husband realizes he’s marrying someone who values loyalty so little and that if our friendship can’t survive this, I doubt her marriage stands a chance. I told her to enjoy her wedding because I won’t be attending it and that it shouldn’t be hard for her to find a new maid of honor since her commitments are as shallow as her wedding will be. I wished her good luck with her superficial little life and stormed out, slamming the door behind me.
The argument left us both furious, and on my way home it hit me even harder. The depth of my anger wasn't solely about Alex's exclusion from the wedding. It was about something much deeper – the ignoring of the sacrifices we made for Sarah and Matteo, especially during their most challenging times.
Sarah and Matteo have been dating for nearly three years. About a year ago, Sarah gave birth to a wonderful baby boy, my godson, whom I love with all my heart. Sarah and I graduated from high school a year prior to her giving birth. The entire pregnancy wasn’t planned so Sarah and her fiancé weren’t prepared at all. At that time, Alex and I were already living together, and I had made the decision, with the support of my therapist, to focus on my mental health rather than immediately applying to college. I stayed home, taking care of everything while Alex worked. Since I had the time and was so happy about this little boy, I often offered to take care of Sarah's son since she had to work a lot. I sometimes even drove to their place in the evening staying they’re for the night to take care of the baby if Sarah hadn’t gotten any sleep for days.
Besides that, since Sarah and her fiancé were so unprepared, Alex helped them out financially a lot. He helped them afford a bigger apartment, since a nursery wouldn’t even fit in their old one. He helped them pay the bills and bought many necessities for the baby. When the baby was born he got them many many rather expensive gifts, such as a stroller and lots of toys and baby clothes. He knew that Sarah and her fiancé couldnt afford too many things/only things that aren‘t that good. They said they would pay him back the money for everything, the bills, all the necessities and even the expensive gifts. So far they paid back like a quarter of it at most.
Alex makes a lot of money and also comes from a quite wealthy family. He loves Sarah, her fiancé and their son dearly so it wasn’t an issue for him to help them out. He truly is an amazing person so he would never get pushy about them paying him back but I knows that he feels like he’s being taken advantage of. They’ve always been appreciative of what we’ve done for them and I am sure they will pay everything back eventually but they’re really taking their time.
Despite all of this, I don't want to shame Sarah and Matteo for what their situation used to be or their parenting. They’re doing a great job and I admire them for it. They don’t need help with their finances anymore and rarely ask us to babysit. They’re amazing parents, they just weren’t prepared. I am so proud of my best friend for how far she’s come. But the fact how much me and ESPECIALLY Alex have done for them, coupled with Alex's exclusion from the wedding, felt like a slap in the face.
The day after our fight, Sarah even blocked me on her private Instagram and vented there, painting me in a bad light, as I later learned from a mutual friend who saw her story. This pretty much tore our friend group apart. Our friends were split down the middle. Some sided with Sarah, saying I should've sucked it up and been there for her, while others got where I was coming from and had my back.
Since Sarah refused to tell me what was going on, I dm’d and asked our mutual friends (mostly ones who took Sarah’s side) why Alex was excluded. The answers were all over the place: one claimed it was because Sarah's very religious family doesn’t want Alex, as an atheist, to be there since it would be bad for their marriage. Another suggested that Sarah was being manipulated by a family member. A third hinted at some mysterious betrayal by Alex, which is definitely bullshit. Yet another friend suggested it was some rivalry issue between Alex and Sarah's fiancé, which made even less sense than the „betrayal“.
Now, with the wedding date coming closer, I'm feeling lost. A few days after our fight, when we both calmed down, Sarah texted me, asking me to reconsider attending her wedding because it's so important for her to have me there. I’ve told her that I’ll think about it but that I probably won’t come.
Ever since that she’s been calling me non stop, crying, telling me she needs me there but I haven’t given her an answer yet. During one of our calls, in which I was particularly mad about the entire situation, I told her to „just fucking stop crying“ since she isn’t the victim in this situation, Alex is. She told me that what I said about feeling pity for her really broke her heart and she doesn’t know how to fix things. She loves me a lot and wants things to go back to how they were before the argument. After she said that she hung up and immediately I felt guilty. In our 20 years of knowing each other and being best friends I’ve never heard her cry like this. Not after any break up, not when her dog passed, not when she didn’t make the soccer team. Never. Yet I really don’t think I can attend her wedding after the things that have happened. Can I really stand by her side on her special day when my own partner, who did so much for her and her fiancé, is excluded and our friendship is hanging by a thread?
I said I would reconsider but I think deep down I’ve already made my decision and I am deeply ashamed of it.
Am I the asshole for missing the wedding of my best friend of 20 years because she doesn’t want to invite my husband?
TL;DR My best friend of 20 years, Sarah excluded my husband, Alex, from her wedding invite, despite our long-standing friendship. I am really angry about this because we have ALWAYS financially and emotionally supported them. Sarah won’t tell me why he’s not invited and asking her ended in a huge fight. Sarah vented about the situation on her private Instagram after blocking me there. Our friend group is torn apart. Every friend who I’ve asked about Sarah’s reason, tells me something else. Sarah keeps calling me, crying, telling me how much I hurt her feelings during that argument and how much she wants me at her wedding. I'm hesitant to attend the wedding without Alex. I’m feeling guilty and ashamed of potentially missing such an important event in our friendship. Am I the asshole for considering skipping my best friends big day due to her excluding my husband?

Located in California, home owner, and pretty frustrated. I have power pole and line that runs backside of property. Tons of problems with tree trimmers over the last 20 years.
I agree to let PG&E take two pine trees down. This is in my fenced back yard, part of the yard is a 40x60 turf soccer field. 45 days ago a PG&E tree crew comes and drops a tree across the truf. Damages two large pieces of turf equaling about 950 sqft. They proceed to cut large tree up on turf causing more damage from chainsaw hitting turf. Large holes in turf 2x2 in size, 10+ holes from chainsawing, it stretched out, base layer is now longer level due to impact, and potentially drainage piping damage too. They also badly scratched my fence when removing some debris, about thirty feet of redwood fence with 200 or more scratches.
Initially when it happened the lead guy trimmer man claimed responsibility and gave me his number saying he would pay for it out of his pocket, weird? I told him straight up, I didnt couldn’t afford it, yes this was rude. I don’t think they realized how much damage they made from their neglect. Also during the preformed work, one worker cut him self with the saw. The crew seemed very very nervous.
Eventually, someone from tree company reached out and said they would give me a $100 if I sign a document that was a release of liability, I did not sign and have doc. I gave him a middle bid out of three bids I received for the turf damage. That was quoted at $12.5 and $1k estimate for fence repair. He was not happy, told me to reach out to PGE and file a claim. This about 30 days after damage occurred.
I filed claim with PG&E and have claim number. I am requesting that PG&E produces a COI. Two weeks later nothing. While PG&E claims department is keeping contact, I still have no COI as requested.
Today claims called and is saying the contractor is ghosting and basically refusing order for COI. By her comms, I’m thinking they might not be insured, just my feeling at this point. That’s right, PG&E contractor not insured on my property while fucking up….lol wow my luck.
I forgot to mention, I have it all on video and documented, text, vms, and other documents. There is no way they are not guilty of causing damages, because they’re caught in 4K and admit it.
What should I do? File a police report, this seems so illegal. Sue? Never, done this before but it seems like a good time. Who and how? PG&E or tree trimmer turkey necks?
Also we rent our backyard out for yoga. Can’t do that now with this mess going on.
I need some direction, please. Wife is mad, I need a plan. Thank you for any help.

Hi everyone, just had my 6 week appointment after a full, but small (5mm) rupture.
I’m 24 (23 at time of injury) - and have been non weight bearing in the boot. I expected this appointment to be the one where I could finally start weight bearing - but to no avail, have been told I’m stuck NWB for another 4/5 weeks which really sucks.
Initially when I did the injury, I wasn’t offered surgery as they said it’s ruptured in a delicate area, and I quote ‘it would be like operating on mince meat’. I’m a little concerned I should’ve pushed for the op route as I’ve seen lots of people on this sub say surgery is the better option, especially if you’re younger.
I’m increasingly concerned that I will be terrified to play football (soccer) again after this injury, especially since I’ve had some fairly significant injuries on the same leg before (patellar dislocation, 3x hamstring strain/pops).
I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with the non op route and wondered what your timelines were like?
any advice would be great, as I’m pretty much just stuck indoors 24/7 and starting to get really concerned about life after the injury.