In defining the natural numbers axiomatically in ZFC, I've always seen it defined with the successor function S(x) = x U {x} (where U is union). Why this function, though? It seems like many functions will work just fine as successor functions: for example, S(x) = {x}, or S(x) = {x, {x}}, or S(x) = x U {x} U {x U {x}}... seems like many functions S will work just fine. So why does everywhere I see use the same one? Is this just a matter of established convention, or is there some deeper reason?

Procedure: For any n, simply type n + 1 and press Ctrl+Enter. Monitor your own actions alongside the growth of this function as n → ∞.

Need I say more?

Hi! I'm looking for a nice, reasonable-to-use successor function that will iterate over valid unicode graphemes for a little regex engine I'm writing for fun. I'm currently doing this:

let mut ic = char::from((*prev_char as u8) + 1);

which looks and feels gross, and will also break on multi-byte chars(I think). Ideally, I'd like to call prev_char.successor() or something like that. Anyone know where I could find that, or, better yet, how to achieve that by myself as another little project? I'd like it to support ANY graphemes, so people can use it with other character sets, instead of just English letters.

As many of you are aware, DZ changed its name to tinfoil and as a result, adubbz stopped developing the good tinfoil. However, xortroll has been working on a successor for a while, and it is coming closer to feature parity with tinfoil. I haven't tested USB yet, but the UI and NSP installing are fully functional. If you'd like to use it, to install NSPs or otherwise mess with, the latest builds can be found here.

Please note, it is not at a stable release point yet, but nobody has spoken of it in a while, so I figured I'd inform those who care that it now seems to mostly function.

Edit: figured I'd note that I tried USB installation on the 25th build that USB install was not working, and I was planning on testing it after making this post but I won't be able to for an hour. I'll update this post when I test it. NSP install I have tested, and it does work.

Edit 2: it's obvious to me but might not be to others so I'll note here, these are made directly from source but are not releases OR official, per /u/XorTroll 's words

Mod page.

Overview video. Thanks again /u/Avenged1994 for uploading it for me.

So here it is. It started as an update to "Wards Act Like Shields" and I ended up rewriting the whole thing, adding much more features. It's basically a complete ward overhaul now. The video should give you a good idea of the features.

Don't hesitate to give me some feedback.

Valiance Online, Ship of Heroes, City of Titans, etc...?

Game Information

Game Title: Halo Infinite

Platforms:

• PC (Dec 8, 2021)
• Xbox One (Dec 8, 2021)
• Xbox Series X/S (Dec 8, 2021)

Trailers:

• Halo Infinite | Multiplayer Season 1 Cinematic Intro
• Halo Infinite | Campaign Gameplay Premiere – 8 Minute Demo
• Halo Infinite | Campaign Gameplay Trailer
• Halo Infinite - E3 2018 - Announcement Trailer

Developer: 343 Industries

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 86 average - 94% recommended - 93 reviews

Critic Reviews

ACG - Jeremy Penter - Buy

>Video Review - Quote not available

AusGamers - KostaAndreadis - 8 / 10

>In the end though it’s hard to fault what 343 Industries has accomplished with Halo Infinite. It’s very much the spiritual successor it purports to be -- with forward thinking design and elements that flow in a way that reminds you of the timeless nature of the fluid, stylish combat of old. The lack of co-op is something you feel, but in terms of cinematic spectacle this is the Master Chief carrying the flag once more for Xbox. Albeit in that new-school form of being able to jump in and, well, play anywhere.

CGMagazine - Khari Taylor - 9.5 / 10

>Unencumbered by the baggage of the upcoming story campaign, Halo Infinite Multiplayer is arguably the definitive incarnation of the franchise’s online competitive component and is strong enough to stand on its own despite its F2P leanings.

COGconnected - Garrett Drake - 76 / 100

>I’ve shared many gripes I have with Halo Infinite. I’ve shared them meticulously because I love this franchi

I'm reading William Dalrymples "Return of a King" (1st Anglo Afghan War) and a lot of references are made to the harems of various Indian and Afghan aristocrats. I had always assumed a harem was a small selection of a nobleman's favorite mistresses, but in this book there are references to harems comprised of hundreds of people of apparently varying status, including concubines, various servants, "slave girls", and some men as well.

In short, I was hoping for any information on the structure, purpose, or history of this institution and the lives of those who comprised the harem -- doesn't have to be limited to 19th Century Afghanistan/India.

Thanks!

Some more specific questions:

• what's the difference between someone deemed a "slave" or a servant, in the context of a harem?
• were any members allowed to leave the compound at will or wouod they need to escape?
• to what extent did sex/"romance" play a role in a harem? Were the roles of harem members sexual at all or is that just a western invention?
• what happens to harem members when their patron(?) Lord died? Were they left on their own or would the servants/slaves have been bequeathed(?) to a successor?
• there's a lot of Afghan sources from the time citing British soldiers' sexual indiscretions and "lack of honor" (having liaisons with slave girls, commoners, some noble women -- the woman' status doesnt seem to make much difference) as a major factor in the unpopularity of the occupation: If Afghan harems did serve a specific sexual function, why was this British behavior still seen as scandalous by comparison?

You might disagree with some of these points, or not have an opinion on them. I personally don't mind as long as you're respectful. It's my duty as a fan of the series to provide serious feedback and criticism so the game experience can be improved for everyone. If you don't like this feedback, you are free to leave the thread. This list will be updated as more new issues arise or come to light. Feel free to add more things which you have found.

1) No Scoreboard - No scoreboard means you can't tell who's hacking, can't tell if the teams are balanced, can't see how many bots there are in your lobby, can't see everyone's ranks/levels, can't see everyone's stats and comparing yourself and your squad to everyone else, can't see latency of everyone in the match, can't see overall score, and can't see how many different classes are being played. The players have everything to lose when there is no scoreboard, yet EA/DICE have everything to gain. If you care about your community and respect us as dedicated fans of this series, you will bring back at least this one feature.

2) No scoring system - We've had a scoring system in Battlefield for many years now, yet such a system does not exist in BF2042. Shooting at enemy players does not rack up any score points, throwing ammo/meds or doing repairs doesn't rack up score points. Capturing objectives, playing as a squad, marking objectives, spotting enemies, etc, all of these do not rack up any score. All we get now is a basic XP system that cannot be shown or displayed to anyone. You cannot compare your score with people on your own team, let alone the enemy team. The removal of the scoring system plus the removal of the scoreboard both contribute to the lack of competitiveness that the franchise has been known for. Remember the days where you were at the top of the scoreboard with 0 kills but the most revives/heals? Say goodbye to that.

3) No stats page - So we have no scoreboard, no scoring system, and also...no stats page. We cannot even see our own progression and stats in the game. Remember the Battlelog days where we can see so many detailed stats and also compare with other users? Well we hit rock bottom.

4) No server browser - When you thought it couldn't get even worse, it just did. BF2042 has no server browser, you matchmake like you do in Call of Duty. We cannot manually select/search for games, we have to just use the matchmaking system that does the search for us. This is taking

vanilla displays are bland, but FD has been buggy as all hell since start of 2016 and considering it hasn't been updated since then...

Happy new year, everyone! This here January marks the one-year anniversary of when I started making these monsters to share with y'all(well, specifically the 22nd of this month, but I am impatient), and I just wanted to voice my appreciation to you all. From all the super helpful folks over in the discord who help me workshop my ideas, to the people who have messaged me to tell me how their experiences with the monsters went, to every single commenter (I read every comment, and I love all of them. Except for that one dude who went on a rant about boob mimics.), thank you from the bottom of my heart! I really feel like I've gotten a lot better at my designing over the course of this year, and a huge part of that is thanks to all of you.

As many of you might know, by far my most popular creation is the Possum. I didn't expect it to get that kind of reception, and it gave me the drive I needed to keep cranking out horrors. So, I've prepared a little something for you all. This monster is intended to be a sort of spiritual successor to the Possum, in tone, usage, wacky mechanics and general weirdness. I really don't know if I'll be able to capture the lightning in a bottle that was the Possum again, but as long as even one person gets some use out of this I'll be happy.

So now, please enjoy... the White Room.

As usual, you are free to use/modify/reflavor/whatever my creations, my only rule is that you have to let me know how it goes! If you have any questions or critiques, please let me know in the comments, and I will do my best to answer them.

Google Drive link

Introduction

A home is an important thing to have. While there have certainly been no small share of meaningful individuals who roam from place to place or simply live on the road, there is a sense of security from having a place to call your own that few other things can offer. This is not limited to just the societies of sapients either, for there are many simple animals that are proud owners of a den. Some, such as the snail or tortoise, take things a step further and bring their home with them on their back, ready to retreat into at a moment’s notice. Of course, the downside is that their shells are cumbersome things, and offer no room to maneuver or fight back once inside. But there is another creature that carries its home with it that has neither of these weaknesses. It moves like a wi

The beneficial effects of nicotine on cognition are well documented, but it appears as though GTS-21 (DMXBA) is nicotine's successor, demonstrating more benefits than nicotine itself. This post will be investigating the potential of GTS-21, and what's to be learned from it.

How it works:

GTS-21 is a partial agonist of the α7 nicotinic receptors. This becomes neuroprotective when the receptor is overexpressed: it competes with stronger agonists, decreasing the potential for excitotoxicity (which is mediated by calcium influx). Thus, α7 nicotinic receptors show similarity to NMDA receptors in this capacity.

That being said, partial agonism (and likewise calcium influx) also comprise GTS-21's nootropic ability. A quote from Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Effects on Cognitive Function of Multiple Doses of GTS-21 in Healthy, Male Volunteers:

>GTS-21 showed statistically significant enhancement of three measures of cognitive function (attention, working memory, episodic secondary memory) compared to placebo.

It seems as though the activation of α7 nicotinic receptors, when otherwise inactive, catalyzes a state of increased neuroplasticity, giving GTS-21 functionality as a nootropic.

Furthermore, α7 nicotinic receptors (and GTS-21) are not responsible for the addictive effects of nicotine, and GTS-21 is an even more potent anti-inflammatory than nicotine.

Recent interest in nicotinic receptors:

Nicotinic receptors are glial-active and have reported nootropic effects in healthy people, similarly to D-Serine. Indeed they rely upon one another for long term potentiation, and can be enhanced concurrently. As noted in other studies, NMDA modulation in concert with cholinergic drugs is synergistic for cognitive decline, so perhaps the same is true for those seeking a nootropic effect.

In the context of Schizophrenia, it appears that GTS-21, unlike D-Serine, did not improve cognition. Source. They did experience a reduction of negative symptoms when high doses of 150mg were used, however. Unfortunately these doses also caused nausea in half of the patients, so GTS-21 has little use in Schizophrenics.

That being said, tropisetron doesn't have this problem. That is because it's a 5-HT3 antagonist,

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

First of all, Legion of the Damned as a novel is metal AF. Aside from the Warp-spawned Imperial daemon Astartes from the book's title, it also featuresa Khornate Blood Crusade called the Cholercaust that follows around a comet named after Euphrati Keeler, while the first third of the book is all about the famous Feast of Blades held between all the Imperial Fist Legion's successor chapters. There's so much happening in this novel, it's worth a read especially if you're an Imperial Fists fan.

Second, it's also the first time I've heard about The Darkness, a psychic-spiritual affliction of one Imperial Fists successor chapter, the Excoriators, rooted in Dorn's tremendous loss from failing to protect the Emperor against Horus. Maybe it's not that famous because it doesn't affect the entire gene-line of the Imperial Fists like the Red Thirst/Black Rage for the Blood Angels, but I enjoyed learning about this malady and how it intersects with the Dorn line's relationship with pain and suffering. The Excoriators despise it as a sign of weakness in the individual, and it reflects their fear of failure.

We start to learn about it through an Apothecary and Company Captain discussing how it affected their Chapter Scourge aka Champion, Zachariah Kersh, in the middle of a pivotal battle. This led to recriminations against him because of the tragic consequences of him succumbing to the Darkness (won't spoil the plot further):

>‘Can the Scourge be made fit for anything, let alone battle?’

>‘I believe so. We are pure of hearts but not of blood. As part of a former Legion and now as a Chapter, we are not alone in our experience of genetic deficiency. The Wolves and the Angels, as well as the brethren of future Foundings, carry the flaws of their blood heritage on to new generations,’ the Excoriators Apothecary explained. **‘When the Darkness takes one of our number, it might appear to us a wretched palsy: the slackness of the jaw, the tremor of the limb, the blankness of the eye. But those who survive it report the experience as a living nightmare, a sleeping wakefulness in which they relive the bottomless woe of Dorn’s most trying time – the grievous loss of our Father-Emperor, at least as we knew him. This is both our father’s genetic blessing and his curse to his sons. To know the possibility – for even a second – of an Imperium without the Emperor. To feel what Dorn felt. The profound misery

Yeah folks, back at it. It's seriously about time I get euthanised.

Question for the day: if addition described as hyper[1], multiplication as hyper[2], exponentiation as hyper[3] and tetration as hyper[4], is substraction, division , root or the logarithm, and super-root and the super-logarithm described as hyper[-1], hyper[-2], hyper[-3] and hyper[-4]? Just a little bit curious.

Do your worst!

Fallout 4 PSA: You are not a synth!

Hi! I’m just here to tell you that you aren’t a synth and explain in no uncertain terms why that is

the case. Honestly, the theory that Fallout 4’s player character, the Sole Survivor, is a synth? I expected that to die out years ago. But we’ve got some really large and impressive mods that have this faulty assumption baked into their story, so I’m here to set the record straight.

But before I do that, I’d like to discuss why this theory is so appealing to a large swath of the player base and, as such, refuses to die.

Skipping over the obvious benefit of role-playing the Terminator, quite a few people do not want to play as Nate or Nora. It...really is that simple. The story proceeds as if the SS is one, specific character. Probably has four in all Special stats. It does not care if you have 10 Intelligence with a maxed out Science perk, Justin Ayo will still decry your lack of scientific credentials. It does not matter if you are currently wearing power armor, Finn will still try to mug you and get wasted by Hancock. It does not matter if you just walk past Piper and the Mayor while they are having their argument, you will still have Story of the Century dropped into your quest log.

Don’t get me wrong, Fallout 4 is a game of choices. The game is filled with questions of your allegiance. Do you side with the iron men crewing the USS constitution or betray them to the scavengers? Do you help Bobbi No-Nose steal from Hancock to gratify her envy or do you reward her with a traitor’s death? The biggest of these is the Synth question; is honoring their inalienable rights a worthy trade-off for scientific progress? Are they too dangerous to be kept alive to begin with? Or are their rights a necessary sacrifice to build a brighter future?

But none of these decisions are the players.

These decisions are Nate’s or Nora’s.

If Fallout 4 was filled with dialogue checks, the four options you get constantly changing and switching up depending on your SPECIAL stat allocation and perks obtained, the general opinion of Fallout 4’s story would be much more positive. Because then these decisions would feel like the player’s decision.

But it’s the same dialogue every single time.

Going with the assumption that the Player Character is a synth is a rebellion against this idea that you’re a grieving parent searching for their child and nothing else. Against this set of rails you’ve been bolted to. That your character was prog

By the early 2010s, cell phones had well and truly taken off in the mainstream as devices like the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy saw enormous sales success. With these technological innovations, games developed specifically for cellular devices began to explode in popularity as they became easier to develop and build. Soon enough, mobile gaming would take hold well before the first half of the decade, and to this day dwarfs the game industry in revenue each year.

Amidst all this, the console wars were still ongoing, and Nintendo and Sony were both eager to announce their successors to the DS and Playstation Portable (PSP) respectively. The seventh generation had seen handheld gaming grow to greater heights than ever before, with the DS eventually attaining over 150 million units sold by the end of its lifespan. Though the PSP wouldn’t quite garner the same amount of success (whether that be due to piracy, the comparatively higher price point, Nintendo’s IP popularity, or a whole host of other possible issues), it still managed a solid 80 million units sold by the end of its run. With a decent performance for its first outing in the handheld console market, Sony would go all in for the PSP’s successor.

Unfortunately, Sony would not see a repeat of its initial success. The Playstation Vita would go down as the worst performing console Playstation ever released, and almost single handedly kill any new attempt from the company at reentering the handheld console market.

New Life

Rumors of the PSP’s successor originated years before the handheld would make it on store shelves. Even before 2010, reports came out stating that Playstation’s newest handheld would compete with the Xbox, which in turn was on par if not stronger than the Playstation 2. Ambitious? Certainly. But considering the PSP could easily compete with and even at times blow out the Playstation 1, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

By 2010, dev kits would pop up detailing a device that could rival the processing power and RAM of even the Xbox 360, and in 2011 the Playstation “Next Generation Portable” (Or NGP) was unveiled. Once again choosing to forgo the clamshell design of the DS family or even the sliding sc

Hi everyone! I know there are a lot of year-end retrospectives flying around the sub and in that sense this is just another drop in the bucket, but I wanted for my own sake to create a summary of my gaming year so I could keep my thoughts organized and have a more permanent reference point back in the future. With that in mind feel free to disregard this post if it adds nothing new, but of course I welcome any and all discussion as well!

First, some background: I keep pretty meticulous track of what games I play and especially games I've finished. I started a list perhaps 15 years ago that has only continued to grow in both size and detail. While that means that for quite some time my completed gaming efforts have been well-organized, it was only around 2019 that I made a point of organizing my upcoming gaming as well, confronted as I was by a frankly intimidatingly-sized backlog. I've found that, more than any other factor, this simple act of organizing/planning my backlog has enabled me to really start taking chunks of it away. How effective has it been?

• In 2019, I set a new personal record, completing 69 total games.

• In 2020, I completed a respectable 45 total games, despite welcoming a newborn and spending hundreds of hours on a massive creative writing project.

• In 2021, with fewer restraints on my time and even better organizational methods, I shattered my previous record and completed 94 games.

This brings my lifelong total up to 606 completed games and counting. While my backlog remains large, the number of games I'm actually really excited about playing has shrunk significantly, so I'd expect the pace to slow a bit for this year and beyond - but we'll see!

Without further ado, here's the list, presented in chronological completion order, along with my personal ratings for each game. Unfortunately two of these games are too recent to be included by name here, so please pardon the redactions where relevant.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

> BODHIDHARMA (4–6 cent. A.D.)

> Bodhidharma was a meditation master from southern India; by the time of The Blue Cliff Record his life was veiled in legend. Regarded as the first patriarch of Ch’an in China, most stories of Bodhidharma popular in Ch’an circles are what may be called illustrative history, and are used as teaching materials or guides to contemplation.

> Bodhidharma did not associate with kings, did not translate any scriptures or found any temples, and transmitted his bequest to only a few successors. Though his immediate impact on the Buddhist world in China was not very great, he was influential enough locally to be opposed and assassinated. Although there were many meditation teachers in China in Bodhidharma’s time, the Buddhist historian Tao Hsuan (7th century A.D.) wrote that Bodhidharma was one of only two teachers who founded continuous transmission lines.

The Blue Cliff Record

Thomas Cleary

There ya go r/zen. The big cheese himself, straight from the pages of the Blue Cliff Record. The biographical supplement in the back of the book is a very functional literary device, in my experience, which adds a wealth of interesting information about the lineage of Bodhidharma. And it is very simple and practical for the reader to learn by reading each entry as they encounter the Zen Masters in the cases. This is how I read the book the first time, and it gave me a good grasp of the length and breadth and organization of the lineage through time, to accompany my study of the cases.

SCREECH!!!!!! ::crashing noises::

Yep, that's what I said: a view of the history of the lineage of Bodbidharma to go alongside case study. And let me apologize in advance—but I'm not going to answer the question "what does the history of the lineage of Bodhidharma have to do with Zen?"

And I have a pretty good reason for not answering that question: Time

I was having a chat yesterday, and in it mentiond that I've recently begun asking myself a question: "Who is wasting Zen students' time?" I have come to suspect this is a very good way to approach comments in r/zen—not to police or judge others—but as a way of peaking in the window and seeing what the simian is getting up to, perhaps. Are they wasting their own time as a student of Zen, somehow? Are they wasting my time as a student of Zen somehow? And most importantly for all of us to ask: am I wasting any student of Zen's time—whether my own or another's?

I think this

All Italian leaks and infos in PW

Following the announcement of Penelope Web (PW), we have been given dozens of leaks of how Italy will look after the update. So, to bring some order in this confusion, I organized all the infos from the leaks and Dev Diaries on the future of the Italian Empire. Feel free to add anything I might have missed and you can find the original leaks in the links. I will periodically update this page as new leaks and infos are released.

With that, enjoy !

Index :

Part 1 : Italy’s content in the Dev diaries

Part 2 : Italy’s paths : - Fascist Italy - Democratic Italy - Red Italy

Part 1 : Italy’s content in the Dev diaries

In 1962, Italy is in a desperate shape. Despite having achieved everything it could desire, a unified country, an empire and a sphere on it’s own, after ww2, the Empire has a in 1962 a devastated economy, a stretched thin army and unsatisfied allies desiring spoiling the fascist dictatorship of her hardly gained territories. Furthermore, the succession of Mussolini’s son in law, Galeazzo Ciano, as Duce didn’t help to alleviate the country’s problems. Here are the Italian sections of each dev diary.

“There is much on the Duce's agenda. The far reaches of the Empire hold great opportunities, some of them yet untapped; economic planning and expansion of the state owned civilian air company should help tie together the vast territories under Italian lordship. The lifeblood of the regime, oil, will continue to flow, while promotion of fascist industrial organization and Italian agriculture shall continue to carry forward the organic development of the Italian economy. As for foreign policy, Italy's alliance with Japan and the other Triumvirate countries will be reaffirmed as a safeguard against German aggression. Finally, in internal politics, safeguarding the Duce's regime against all threats is of paramount importance: the royal court and the fascist gerarchia should be kept under close watch, while also making sure that those who are personally loyal to Ciano and to Ciano alone maintain their prominent positions in the party and the government. As the OVRA, the fascist secret police, works tirelessly to protect the peace and order that fascism brought, the great yearly Littoriali will be organized once more, to showcase to the world all the achievements of the Italian regime. Ciano, as loyal as ever to the fascist cause, will make sure that the legacy of 1922 w

Because she wanted to see the task manager.

Heard they've been doing some shady business.

So in this post I want to tackle the question every one has been asking. How will Savathûn gain the Light? Theories abound and I’ve read many of them as well as put in a great deal of thought myself. This is my attempt at a coherent theory. As always, take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Now I had considered writing a post months ago essentially positing the idea that perhaps Mara knows a lot more than she is letting on. That perhaps Savathûn gaining the Light was all… part of the plan. In following this train of thought however, I stumbled across a greater truth about Savathûn. Even so, I think it’s worth touching on why I believe Mara knows far more than she let’s on.

Mara Sov is no fool

>“When there is too much Darkness in the universe, Light must cast it away. And when there is too much Light, Darkness must drown it out. This truth is our burden. This is what it is to be Awoken.
>
>I dream't of a friend I will come to have. She will tell me: A side should always be taken. Even if it’s the wrong side.”

These were the ominous last words Mara uttered in her court before departing. The Awoken understand Light and Darkness differently to the Guardians and are far less dogmatic when it comes to the morality of either paracausal force. No one understands this more than Mara.

These words stuck with me however and I began to wonder if we, the Guardians, may once again find ourselves all... part of the plan. Then during the recent Season of the Lost I heard something jarring.

Mara tells us that she made a bargain for the release of Osiris and that if freed from her worm Savathûn will comply. While she acknowledges that Savathûn’s betrayal is inevitable she also stated that without her worm, Savathûn is vulnerable: unprotected by the security of her throne world. Mortal.

Now Mara often speaks in layered lies and this never sat right with me. Mara is many things but short-sighted is not one of them. In fact she has demonstrated clairvoyance in the past, most notably when instructing Brother Vance to tell Osiris to “plant the seed” years before Osiris even retrieved the seed that would one day become the tree of silver wings.

If Savathûn, the queen of deceit is putting herself in a vu

As everyone who is interested in space and space exploration knows the biggest and most exciting news in space at the moment is the launch and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most incredible space observatory sent to space so far. Looking to the future Elon has stated an interest in using Starship for space observation and has fielded proposals for a Starship based telescope. Personally I think the ideal mission for Starship would be the Origins Space Telescope.

The Origins Space Telescope (OST) is one of three major flagship space based observatories listed in the 2020 Astronomy And Astrophysics Decadal Survey. It would be a far infrared successor to the Spitzer Space Telescope, and focus on the heat glow of the universe. Here is the Wikipedia article on the OST: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_Space_Telescope

As you can see the architecture of the telescope makes a lot of sense for Starship. Far IR telescopes are basically big cylinders surrounded with liquid helium to keep them as cool as possible, which Starship is well designed to function as. Also, the ideal mirror size for OST is in the 8 meter range, which is pretty much exactly the diameter of a mirror that would go into Starship. And one last thing, Far IR telescopes are limited by their onboard supply of liquid helium. Given the ambitions of Starship, refueling a liquid helium supply on a space telescope would be well within the abilities of the platform. IF Elon and SpaceX are serious about using Starship for atrophysical observation, in my humble space causal opinion I feel like this is the mission that would be the best, most beneficial use of the Starship architecture to benefit the goals of the greater scientific community.

BamBOO!

They’re on standbi

Flight Simulation is a popular hobby for people like me who like airplanes and want to experience flying their favorite planes at home. Flight simulation has grown considerably since its beginnings from Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 in 1979, with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and its photorealistic modeling of the entire planet Earth bringing even more interest into the hobby.

One of the most popular and successful consumer flight simulators is X-Plane, developed by Laminar Research, which is currently on version 11 (X-Plane 12 will come out next year). X-Plane sets itself apart from other flight simulators due to its unique "blade element theory" aerodynamic model that makes it easier for people to design aircraft realistically for the simulator and make it useful tool for even designing real world aircraft.

Speaking of designing aircraft in X-Plane, most flight simulators come with a set of base aircraft, but these aircraft are generally not fully accurate simulations of the real thing, especially in regards to jet airliners. Developing a study level (which basically means as close to the real thing as possible) aircraft takes an unbelievable amount of time, effort, and resources, but simulators like X-Plane allow for 3rd party developers to create their own aircraft for the simulation. This is not only allowed, but encouraged not only by Laminar Research and the developers of other flight simulators. What has grown from this is an organic addon market where members of the flight simulator community have come together to re-create the world's most iconic aircraft for their favorite simulators. This is nothing new, and older, more mature simulators like Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X have just about any aircraft you can think of available in addon form. Being a newer simulator, X-Plane's 3rd party addon market is smaller but still very impressive. Entire companies, like FlyJSim, FlightFactor, iniBuilds, Touliss, Felis, and many more exist for the sole purpose of creating and selling ultra realistic airplanes for X-Plane 11. Incredible websites like x-plane.org are dedicated to the sharing of these addons, which aren't even limited to planes, but also include scenery and plugins that add technical features to the game like an improved pushback system, passenger loading and satisfaction monitors, and AI traffic.

While there are

I don’t want to shill, but I’ve got another token that does exactly what Safemoon isn’t able to do (but claimed was a goal) I’m earning additional coins from the sell / buy tax, and being rewarded daily based on churn as well with a dozen other options I can claim (BNB, DOGE, BUSD, ETH, to name a few) Tested and earning. What is SFM going to do that’s any different?

A few different things have piqued my interest in this recently. The Pathfinder 2e Humble Bundle, some reddit posts about Pathfinder 2e being a spiritual successor to D&D 4e, and a few of the rpgers I run games for expressing interest in Pathfinder 2e. I played 1 session of Pathfinder 2e at a convention pre-covid and it does seem like 4e in the sense that just reading the books doesn't give you the whole picture. So my question is mostly towards those you who have played a reasonable amount of both D&D 4e and Pathfinder 2e

For reference and comparison here is what I like about D&D 4e.

Balance: I know this isn't a popular opinion in the D&D side of the hobby. I like a lot that 4e moved away from the Fighter/Wizard set up where one class has a standard baseline of effectiveness and another has big highs and lows. I also enjoy that as a DM I don't have to constantly be looking at the encounter to see if I'm screwing one PC or another. That the CR system works and doesn't surprise me. As a DM I like that I don't have to maintain a running ban list to keep the game fun for everyone. As a player I like that I don't have to restrict myself from options to avoid overshadowing other players.

Roles: On the DM side I like that I don't have to deep dive on every class to know their general function in combat. A player tells me they're playing a Paladin. I see that's a defender. I know their place in the combat ecosystem. As a player I like that I can pick a class from a role we're missing and know that I get to play a different mechanical role than everyone else in the party. No one will be stepping on my toes. I'm contributing in a way others aren't. Or if I am doubling up on the role that I'll need to look into doing that role differently if I want to avoid the toe mashing.

Round to Round Tactical combat: I play D&D and D&D like games for the interesting combats. I like that 4e gives everyone something interesting to do every round of combat even if the party hasn't taken a long rest recently. Competence attrition doesn't really exist in 4e like it does in 5e. I don't mind status tracking at all. I feel short duration buffs and debuffs give combat a dynamic tactical feel that increases teamwork.

Concerns I have about Pathfinder 2e from reading here and elsewhere

Martial/Caster balance: I see this coming up a lot here. I'm not concerned about casters being brought down from their highs in D&D 3.5/Pathfinder

One of my favorite old school games that I've gone back and played again and again is Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim wiki, steam. I don't have any kind of strong preference for old games, its just that there really hasn't been a good spiritual successor to the first game. There was a Majesty II released, and a Majesty mobile game. Majesty II doesn't have the same feel as the original (I'll get into why I think that is), and I admit I haven't even tried the mobile game because the reviews for it are awful.

What is Majesty, and why is it good?

Majesty is a real time strategy game, and many of the elements will be familiar to anyone who has played an RTS. There are recruiting buildings, defense buildings, money making buildings, and some specialty buildings that might have multiple functions. You manage your economy and recruit units to win against the enemy. Some of these buildings unlock spells for the player. Those spells include, single unit attacks, AoE attacks, healing, resurrection, map reveals, etc.That is the standard RTS part. Where it diverges from most other RTS games is that you do not directly control the units you have recruited.

Instead these units have personalities and goals. They go about fighting, exploring, leveling up, and upgrading their gear all on their own. You can influence where they go by placing bounty flags (only an explore and attack flag in the first game).

What makes the game interesting and fun is that in order to win most maps you have to shepherd a group of heroes from weaklings into powerhouses. You can use spells to take out some enemies, but spells require gold. So a spell ends up being a short term one-off fix, but heroes only require the initial recruitment cost of gold. And any gold they earn from looting monster dens/corpses can be fed back into your economy. In fact spells are even worse because they are a gold drain. Investing in bounties, or heroes can feed gold back into your economy, but spell gold is gone forever.

Whats happening in Majesty is actually two games being played simultaneously. A traditional role playing game, where a hero levels up, gears up, and fights monsters. And the RTS game that I have been describing. You are playing the RTS game, and the computer is playing the RPG for you as all of the heroes that you have recruited. The computer's role in playing t

The United States needs to set term limits on the basis of age for Congress and the President.

70+ year olds are frequently regarded as unemployable due to mental decline and disconnect with the current times, but a high number of them are serving as politicians in the United States. The oldest sitting Senator, Senator Feinstein is 88 and has served since 1992. Over twenty members of the Senate are in their 70s. President Biden is 78 years old, and his health and mental prowess are the subject of continuous scrutiny. The most extreme example, Senator Thurmond, served for just short of 50 years until he passed away at 100. Currently, the average age of House members is ~58 years old and that of the Senate is ~63 years old. Contrast this with the average age of the American citizen, ~38 years old.

All too often members of Congress demonstrate their age and disconnect with the times when they must talk about social media, tech, the internet, etc. with tech giants during hearings on the Hill.

Term limits would prevent leaders from turning holding office into a career, spending upwards of 30-40 years serving in office and hanging on until they can barely function in an official capacity. Term limits would bring new and fresh perspectives into Congress. Limiting time in office would also hinder the development of permanent relationships among politicians and interest groups/lobbyists. Yes, they would still occur, but they would come to an end once the official’s term expired.

I recognize the increased turnover would lead to a larger number of politicians who are not as familiar with the legislative process as someone who has been in the office for over a decade. But wouldn’t this also provide a motivation to train their successors and offer apprenticeship/mentorship opportunities like that seen in other communities?

We have minimum age requirements for someone to serve in the House, Senate, or presidency, so why shouldn’t we create a maximum? Mandatory retirement was ended for most professions with exceptions, such as the military, pilots, and law enforcement. But does representing the U.S. as a politician require less mental prowess than flying a plane?

Any change would require a constitutional amendment, which I never see happening.

Pilot on me!!

Hey y’all! So there’s a lululemon I frequent an inappropriate amount since it’s near everything else I have to do like grocery shop, work, my gym. I’ve befriended a number of educators there over the years and they’re awesome.

I was there today, and asked about the discontinuation. She said that while they are one of the first innovative pairs of tights by the brand lululemon corp noticed that the “all purpose” function of the tights didn’t ring true anymore with the creation of things like the Wunder Trains - which is what she called the natural successor to the WU because they’re a cross between the best of a few other tights. That they’re the by far fave of the educators at that store and at other stores. Wunder Unders were good but not great for most functions. And felt that they weren’t keeping up with the times like their other tights.

Now idk if this is what other educators have been told but this is what I was told today and I believe this educator since she seems to always know her shiz in a way none of the other educators at this specific store seem to know. I think she might be a manager?

So just wanted to share! Plus to give her a shoutout because she put all my $69 wunder Unders in the system as $49 and I was like guuuurl you didn’t have to do this but she said it’s NBD lol. I won’t be sharing the store name in the event she gets in trouble for doing this because idk how allowed it was.

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Nepp

I place the two cards down on the table face down and throw two of the small metal coins into the centre. “Thats a check right?” I ask

Snow shakes his head. “That's a call. You put credits into the pot. A check is the same without putting any money in. you can only do that if no one else has put credits in.” he explains again.

“And this is a raise.” Cayde says matching my two coins and then tossing another two in. “Because I’ve raised the bet, because i'm gona win.” he says smiling.

Snow smiles beneath his face covering, his cheekbones briefly vanishing under the muscle before tossing in another four coins of his own then adding three. “If you’re going to raise. You might as well do it properly.” he says.

I frown and try to work out how many credits that was total. Each chit was worth one hundred credits and to start the round you had to put in three… fuck it there was a decent pot.

Snow deals another card, then another and another. Placing them down on the table. Cayde smiles and immediately grabs a small stack of chips before waiting on me. I stare at the cards for a moment, all of them were red with a ‘heart’ on them, one with an A the other two were a 3 and 5 of hearts.

I check my own two cards again and cayde scoffs. “We know you don't have anything, just fold.” he says.

I glare at him before tossing 10 chips, Half my remaining chips, onto the table. “Raise.” I say.

He smiles and does the same. “I see your raise and check you” he says.

Snow nods and matches the bet before looking at me. I shake my head and knock the table like I’d been told to do. Cayde knocks as well so Snow deals the next card. Its another A card, the club? The one that isn't the spade. Cayde smiles even more. So I just check.

With a big grin Cade puts another 10 chips in. “raise.” he says smugly. Snow nods tossing in 10 chips leaving him with a small pile, enough for another round.

I stare at the cards and sigh. “All in.” I say pushing my pile of chips into the middle leaving me with nothing.

“Remember, she gets the whole pot if she wins. That’s the rule you decided on.” Snow warns cayde who shrugs, counts out how many coin

First off, Kendall is not dead.

Second off, I've seen a lot of theories on here about how Kendall's only remaining move is to publicly reveal his car crash and its subsequent cover-up, but I seriously doubt that would have any real impact on Logan. Logan has plausible deniability to claim that Colin conducted the cover-up alone or with Kendall, and the only real impact would be bad press, which may not even be too bad since Kendall has lost credibility in the public eye. If Ken does go down this route, it would be for personal absolution rather than as a silver bullet. But Kendall needs to do something to get out or get even, especially since his attempt at a clean break was rebuffed by Logan.

Cutting to the prediction: I think that the merger with Gojo goes through, and Kendall sells his shares to Mattson which gives Mattson executive control of Waystar Gojco. Now, on to the why: ​

To overuse a term, Succession is all about s u b v e r t i n g e x p e c t a t i o n s - things become an extinction-level threat or character-defining decision (vote of no confidence/cruises/Sandy & Stewie/etc.), and then get wrapped up by offscreen deals or just vanish altogether. Much of why these things go away are due to Logan's out-sized influence with the shareholders, his employees, the government, and his children. Would be a subertedly unexpected subversion to resurface an old unresolved plot point of weakness to dethrone Logan and replace him with a brand new player.

Second, it seems that Logan's success is driven by his ruthlessness and instincts rather than an exceptional business acumen & vision. His company is in debt, is an old media "dinosaur" with a crappy digital presence, he has no successor, and he operates based on his rigid, distilled understanding of the way things are. His inability to adapt has diminished his ability to be successful, which is why he relies on mergers and acquisitions to bloat the conglomerate. He also adamant on running the company by himself and is poor at managing relationships - as shown by the shareholder meeting, treatment of Sandy and Stewie once they were "in", and not valuing anyone's input besides his children. It is easy to see Sandy and Stewie throwing their weight behind the newcomer who promises a bigger tent.

Another theme in Succession is the "old school vs. new school" conception of the business world. Waystar's enemies in the first two seasons are Sandy/Stewie, and the Pierce's represe

Christopher Walken

Nothing, he was gladiator.

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.