My dad has a very good ongoing tax practice. I am currently gaining experience overseas and want to go back and grow the tax practice, but in a different direction / specialise rather than continuing the status quo.

A Short background - I converted to a high demand fundamentalist religion as a teenager, had a "faith Crisis", deconstructed that religion and during that whole process found "Faith development" and eventually Spiral Dynamics helpful in going through that deconstruction and then reconstructing something viable in its place.

Where I am today - Mostly agnostic/atheist but still a deeply thinking about and considering the "mystery " in the universe. I highly doubt Jesus re-animated but I would still call myself a christian ( I find deep value in Jesus and allow him to be my framing for understanding the "way" as many eastern religions speak of.)

That said because of my Fundamentalist Christian background, I am deeply frustrated with the hold religions have on folks. The misguided belief people place in such things and the process of those folks "waking up" and claiming back inner authority, and losing dualistic thinking and all that comes with that.

I wrote a primer of sorts meant for the believing Christian who has just begun to sense their framing is messier than they thought. It is framed in a religious worldview but tries to give them a framing of what it looks like to move from the diplomat to the strategist while growing through expert, achiever, individualist stages.

Faith Development Explained

I would love feedback and simply wanted to see if this resonated with anyone here?

P.S. I would love to do recorded conversations with anyone for whom this framing resonates. If you can offer a sort of "expert voice" or simply want to tell your story. FYI - I run a relatively popular podcast about the high demand religion adulted in and I also run a newer podcast on utilizing a mythical Jesus as an example of development.

Spoiler Warning!

Edit: Really like how the Pokemon Sub hivemind immediately thinks I'm a shill for Nintendo/Pokemon lmfao if you even knew how much mud I flung at Sw/Sh, LGPE and BDSP you really wouldn't expect a post like this from me.

I'm excited about Legends Arceus because it's finally a genuine positive original change for the Pokemon franchise that is sorely needed. I also see that this post made some people think twice, and that's fine. I made this post more as an information dump because GF/Nintendo have basically showed NOTHING to the general public, and I've had a lot of people assuming this was just another generic Pokemon game.

I get it, GF is incompetent. But unfortunately, they're the ones in charge of the games. If you want actual good change and series growth, you need to support the changes you want to see, and I also think it's really interesting to see how they created PLA using their crappy 3DS engine. It's interesting from a technical standpoint, but it's not like I'm condoning the game's graphics from an artistic standpoint. The fact is PLA is genuinely impressive when you take into the fact that it's running on a modified 3DS engine that wasn't designed to do any of this in the first place. Does that mean it wouldn't be immediately better if it was using a better engine? No. Heck, BDSP used Unity and while the game itself looked very barebones the water shaders in BDSP dwarf GameFreak's attempt at using graphics conventions from way back in the Wii era.

I personally have been burned by GameFreak since USUM when they removed Lusamine's fusion with Nihilego. I still wanted Pokemon Z. I was angry at LGPE because it didn't do enough. BDSP is a broken mess. But I can't help but laugh at the hypocrisy when people get upset at Pokemon for being stagnant and them immediately dismissing the very first time in so many years that Pokemon is finally undergoing major mechanical changes. And hell yeah, I'm going to advocate for that. I'm not saying buy the game, just wanted to let you know why I'm personally excited for it.

We're less than 3 weeks away from Pokémon: Legends Arceus' release, and the majority of this sub seem to not really be as interested in its existence as I would have expected, seeing as this is the Pokémon game that the "Pokémon never tries new things" crowd should really be paying attention to.

I know it's funny to meme about the bad graphics, but there are some legitimate GREAT changes to LGA that I fee

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.

Short version: Mushoku Tensei is a great series that I feel uncomfortable recommending.

This has been a journey. Initially, I didn’t plan to watch the show, let alone to spend most of my weekend writing an essay on it.

I didn’t even start the series until the second season had begun. I’m not big into isekai, so it didn’t seem that interesting. Still, a few factors caught my interest. I heard that a studio had basically been created to make this adaptation reality. A YouTuber I watch reworked their channel to regularly include Mushoku Tensei analyses. Most intriguingly, a friend who adores “isekai junk food” hated the series. After consuming dozens of tasteless harem power fantasies, this was the one he gave up because he found it disgusting.

A look on MAL only intensified my curiosity. Despite a high score, several reviews describe the show in the same terms as my friend.

What caused all this fuss? I needed to know.

Before witnessing a single frame, I had to give the show credit. If I ever create a story that inspires half the reactions at half the intensity, I’ll consider my creative efforts worthwhile. Rifujin na Magonote, the author of the original light novels (which I intend to read) made something that’s important to a lot of people.

Thus, I resolved to try the show. I sat down with a pen and notebook in order to understand what inspired such intense reactions.

Well, make room around the maypole, because I find the series both inspiring and sickening.

The Promise of the Plot

There’s a lot to love from the start. Pedigree aside, Mushoku stands out among isekai. The protagonist is a full-grown, unethical adult who goes through a proper Reincarnation.

Our unnamed bastard dies in what may be the sole decent action of his life. As one life fades, another arises. Rudeus (Rudy) Greyrat is born to loving parents in a Medieval world of high fantasy. As he dies in shame and regret, he finds something precious: a second chance.

The infant years provide the former shut-in with the chance to learn his surroundings. He explores his new home with insatiable curiosity. These literal baby steps help him discover a world of magic and mysteries, where he can explore with the safety net of his former warrior father (Paul) and caring mother (Zenith).

Of course, Rudeus remembers his old life. With memory comes trauma. The infant adult cannot leave his home. The mere sight of neighbour children inspires flashbacks to the bullying – the abuse – which

Artist : J. Cole

Album : The Off-Season

https://preview.redd.it/ffa29qqzlx681.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=ea31650a0906060151006da24235bee954b9f7c6

Apple Download Link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/1567421945?ls=1&at=1010lIJf&app=itunes&lId=23023650&cId=none&sr=1&src=Linkfire&itscg=30440&itsct=catchall_p1&ct=LFV_58ae270fd7cda35ca53f2d7b843c1a0a

Spotify Link : http://open.spotify.com/album/4JAvwK4APPArjIsOdGoJXX

Youtube: J. Cole - YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com › channel

Who Is J. Cole?

While this could have been a bio, I think a sum of all of his works applies more in this scenario. From the gate, The Warm-Up proved Cole was here to stay, or he SHOULD be.. From his personal rendition of “Dead Presidents”, “Til Infinity”, and “Royal Flush” its obvious to see he had the skills to be a complete rapper. This was in an era where flips and freestyles were important because you could put your lyricism over a beat people had already come to know and love, and in a lot of ways, it was a true test of abilities. Then with songs like “Losing Your Balance '' Cole shows its not just witty flips or plays on what's already done. He talks about various people he has seen in his life and how one way or another, due to being too concerned with others opinions, an idea of being real to the neighborhood that birthed you, or flat out losing yourself in a relationship, Cole doesn't miss a step.

Friday Night Lights would be the next release from him, and in my opinion it is one of the greatest mixtapes ever released. It was filled with a lot of songs that didn't make his debut album Sideline Story, but from start to finish it feels like a beast all its own. Records like “Enchanted”, “Too Deep for the Intro”, and “See World” solidified whatever space Cole wanted. Some of these themes and discussions haven't been had since the era of the 2pacs and Scarfaces, so this was a very welcomed mixtape from the Fayetteville native. Add to the fact it was released on a free mixtape basis, this was an i

Yan: Have you heard, Mithrax? It’s over! The war is over.

Mithrax: Yes, Yan, my friend. It is most welcome news! I have been most anxious for many cycles now.

Yan: Well that’s not all. The Humans have officially been granted status in the Galactic council.

Mithrax: Most fortuitous timing for them. To enter the council just as an era of peace is ushered in. Are they not a bit… inexperienced for such a responsibility though?

Yan: They are indeed a young race. It was merely a byproduct of the war that they were discovered at all. Had the Aarkadian fleet not made incursions into their surrounding stellar neighborhood we wouldn’t have bothered to make first contact for many more years. But when a sentient species is uncovered it is policy to make introductions, even if such a race is all but doomed to be devoured by the Aarkadians within the year.

Mithrax: We were losing that badly?

Yan: Oh yes, a colleague assured me that the war was not going well. Not well at all. His human friend told him of an expression for such a situation: “on the ropes”. I am told it comes from a primitive combat sport of humans called “boxing” and alludes to one fighter’s imminent demise in a short time.

Mithrax: A curious expression. And you feel it applies to the Galactic fleet?

Yan: He was quite adamant. The council had already begun preparations for surrender when the humans were discovered. There was talk of skipping the first contact protocols altogether, and allowing them to simply be overrun with no warning. And indeed the humans should have been overrun… but they are a strange species.

Mithrax: Do you mean to insinuate that the humans fought back against the Aarkadian Empire? Within a fortnight of exposure to the Galactic council?

Yan: Yes.. in a manner of speaking.

Mithrax: I was under the impression that race had scarcely left its own atmosphere. If the nets are to be believed, they’d only just harnessed a rudimentary form of fission, and fusion was only theoretical on their single world. FTL? Bah, it would be a hundred or more years before they achieved such a goal.

Yan: Yes I have heard all these same assumptions. But you misunderstand. The Humans did not enter the council after the Aarkadian Empire sued for armistice, but because of it.

Mithrax: Because of … how do you mean?

Yan: While it seems the Aarkadian battle nets are most secure, highly encrypted. Presumably the battle net contains Aarkadian fleet movements and tactica

Hi all!

I believe I ~started the year with a recap of killing 127(?) ascension 20 hearts in 30 days. Seems appropriate to end it with a recap of my most recent volume challenge. In total I've killed around 700-800 hearts this year (I think?) including months with 127, 128, 129, 130, and one month where I did a more reserved 100. I'd like to kill 1000 hearts in 2022, and am sure there will be months where I revisit that 130 and try to push it higher.

The challenge for these months is generally more about motivation and health than gameplay. Even if I ran unbelievably poorly, I'd still comfortably beat a heart every couple of hours on average, so the goal is mostly about being able to sit in a chair playing Slay the Spire for 250+ hours in a month, which just means not getting sick or bored or having a mental meltdown. It's... sort of doable. I go a bit insane and my level of play certainly fluctuates, but I do have fun with these, and that's mostly what they're about.

Between November 19 and December 18 I managed 247.5 hours streamed, which was enough to complete this challenge. I think it's fairly obvious that if someone wanted to beat more than 130 hearts it would be possible to play more hours and faster speeds than I am, so I don't consider this achievement impressive in terms of "oh wow there's no way anyone could do more than that," but more in terms of "oh wow that guy's dumb enough to actually do it." It's also, again, just a lot of fun. Chat gets into it in weird ways. One day they just kept on writing "milk" over and over again and I have no idea why. I had not mentioned milk, as far as I know.

This challenge segmented somewhat nicely into three ten-day periods, so it makes sense to me to describe it accordingly. I'll follow with thoughts on each character. If you'd like to see my answers to some frequently asked questions, and the full run-list from the 30 days, you can check them out here.

Probably worth noting: I didn't boss swap at Neow at all for this challenge. I think this is absolutely incorrect in terms of winning the most runs, I just don't like doing it very much. My current opinion is that Ironclad and Defect should relic swap a substantial amount and Silent should relic swap every now and then (I had thought Silent swaps in Slime Boss Act Ones were good, but then I sat down to play 50 of them without swaps and got bored after

The Season's End is approaching pretty quickly, and as teams get slowly locked into their playoff positions, the time for fixing a team's needs is already upon their offices, and they turn to the college scheme, which is about to finish their season with a championship game. So, let's do this mock, where I'll use a combination of realistic scenarios and my pick choices for teams. Let's go.

1.1 - EDGE Kayvon Thibodeaux - Oregon, New York Giants (VIA Jacksonville; 2022 1.1 and 2022 Third Rounder for NYG 1.08 and 1.05)

How do you even start to fix the Jaguars? Sure you'll be able to grab Kayvon Thibodeaux here, but that doesn't help what's going on the other side of the ball, with Trevor Lawrence, your generational QB getting thrown to the dogs. You take this chance to get two top 10 picks, instead of one where you can benefit from getting your team more talent off the bat. Now for the Giants: Thibodeaux is the dream. A 3-4 Chandler Jones-like Pass Rusher that can downright dominate and redefine a defensive front. Having Ojulari, Williams, Lawrence and Thibodeaux can justify the Giants trade up, and despite Gettleman being fairly incompetent, I'm sure they can throw some money at the Guards in this market to fill up that hole. (They still have their early 2nd rounder!)

Yeah I get Giants fans won't love this one, but there's not really a lot of places you can go with this team. I'd rather take a player like Kayvon and grab a stud on OL with the early second. Worth remembering that Gates IS coming back, and they can very well get an instant starter at RG in the thirties while plugging the hole at LG in free agency. That's how much the first overall pick is worth, and it may be worth it in the long run.

UPDATE: I'd probably prefer to go Neal and Linderbaum there. Phenomenal. :D

1.2 - EDGE Aidan Hutchinson - Michigan, Detroit Lions

The Lions invested a good share of their picks last year on OL/DL, but there's a slight hole of talent that remains at the EDGE Rusher position where Hutchinson would be perfect for them. He's an in-state talented pass rusher who's a fantastic leader on defence, with some phenomenal tape that shows him demolishing the passing game of opposing teams. Having him and Okwara on the line will be reminiscent of the Ojabo-Hutch duo which was the most dominant pair in this year's college football season.

1.3 - EDGE George Karlaftis - Purdue, Houston Texans

Three pass rushers in a row. OKAY. Truth is, Tytus Howa

After all of the DD, the research, and the sheer will and motivation I've witnessed from this sub, I finally have speculation of my own to share with you all! I know I haven't been active in the discussion surrounding the stock, Wall St, Citadel, corruption, etc as I am far too smooth-brained in these areas to participate. Although, I have absorbed this information to the best of my ability as I've followed it and have DRS'd shares of my own.

I've been an avid follower and researcher of crypto and blockchain technology for a very long time, as well as a newly aspiring Blockchain developer learning Solidity, the Ethereum blockchain programming language. This post will be a long one, but please bear with me. I think the developments with Loopring will change the entirety of gaming as we know it. In order to fully explain my speculative stance, I need to provide some blockchain education first. This partnership between Gamestop and Loopring isn't just good for the stock and the MOASS, but gamers and developers everywhere!

If you already know what NFTs are and how crypto generally works, you can probably skip to the 'What are Smart Contracts?' or 'Deeper Dive into NFTs' sections.

Disclaimer: Any of the projects or platforms I link here are for educational purposes only. I am not explicitly endorsing anything here, except for Loopring and how it will be transformational for Gamestop's future.

Now, lets start at the beginning...

What are NFTs?

NFTs, also known as Non-Fungible Tokens, are a tool that allows us to record and utilize unique data on a blockchain. Some of the most popular examples of NFTs can be seen coming from the art community. When NFT examples such as CryptoPunks and Bored Apes exploded in notoriety and value, people started to take notice. Sadly, art's grand debut into the NFT scene and the explosive prices that followed caused everyone to lose sight and excitement into what NFTs were, what they could be, and where they were headed. The crypto community did a poor job of breaking through this art craze, leading most people to simply mock them and "steal" NFTs by screenshotting them, etc. But a screenshot of an NFT is just a screenshot, not an NFT, and I will break down why.

At its core, an NFT is just unique data on a blockchain. Art NFTs work by linking to an image file stored in IPFS (aka InterPlanetary File System), as do most NFTs that need to link to data that cannot be or is impractical to store on a blockchain direct

EDIT:Really wasnt planning on this blowing up like it did. I was originally trying to promote discussion in the comments, but im gonna stop doing that for my sanity before replying to 200 people lol thanks to all who voiced their opinion below, some of you had great things to say, and i enjoyed reading the comments. Feel free to keep the discussion going, but i need to go to bed.

TLDR below, For some reason i couldn't find a thread about this, so i figured id make one. The post is largely about call of duty, but im hoping for a discussion on how this mode could effect escape from tarkov.

So another money hungry, super power of the shooter world has its eyes set on Tarkov modes. No doubt they see dollar signs with a Tarkov mode, just like battlefield did with hazard zone, which ultimately is nothing like tarkov.

The Leaks claim Modern Warfare II (name also from leaks) is being built with a tarkov mode in mind. However, unlike hazard zone, it seems call of duty is doing their homework. hashed out with its own economy, raid like gameplay, and exfils, and a flea market, the game is starting to sound exactly like a clone. I am not going to link the leaks, because im not sure if that would fall under the witch-hunt rule (just being safe, a simple google search will suffice, i believe in you)

Now a little tangent, but relevant:

Normally, i wouldn't be very worried. However, as a long term gamer, this trend of large scale companies trying to take over a genre reminds me of the Battle Royal market a few years back.

Initially in the BR market, people said that PUBG would be the best and greatest BR ever created, which was true for the time. Then Fortnite released. (trust me guys, i hate that game too, but this is worth noting). I would argue Fortnite had only one thing going for it at the time that no other BR had: Availability.

Fortnite released its BR on every console, and PC. And Radically beat out the competition, simply because every little kid and generalized gamer could play it. It was simplistic and well defined, and even 5 year olds could play it.

Meanwhile, PUBG stuck to pc, claiming console performance couldnt handle a BR. They didn't release a console build until the game was practically dead in the water. Their player market was very limited, and i would argue that was a very large part of the initial downfall. Then Call of duty did it, and apex legends, and Battlefield, and then call of duty again. Sprinkled in were tons of other BR games, Ri

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!

Previous Post

Meeting Agenda

Welcome to 2022! I hope you had a good holiday season! Mine was shit. I spent 3 unexpected days in SLC after Delta Airlines canceled the last leg of our flight home, and then as soon as we got home, my partner spent 5 days with a fever from notCovid. I swear to fucking god, I'm not traveling for Christmas for the next 5 years. If you love me, visit me for a god damn change. I hear Bend's got lots of super affordable bungalow STRs you can borrow. Anywho, time for more suffering City Council!

We've got a pretty full agenda for tonight with a COVID update, councilor compensation, and changes to some housing developments planned for the West side of town. One thing that is notably missing from the agenda is discussion about the submitted proposals for a managed site the City received from Central Oregon Villages. There are two proposals, one would turn the property into a shelter for ten OLD UNHOUSED WOMEN, with the possibility of expanding it to shelter WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHO ARE VICTIMS OF PHYSICAL OR SEXUAL ABUSE. The other proposal is a GATED, 6 PERSON MICRO SHELTER, that would also run a safe parking program. Both suggestions sound great and totally feasible to accomplish safely on the admittedly challenging property. I look forward to vilifying anyone that calls in to complain about helping homeless old ladies.

Work Session

The work session began in private executive session to conduct deliberations with persons designated to negotiate real property transactions.

OH MY GOD WE'RE STARTING EARLY. NEW YEAR, NEW COUNCIL APPARENTLY. Love the new haircut Councilor Perkins! I am envious of your plants Councilor Schenkelberg!

COVID UPDATE

Doctor George Conway the County Health Officer is here to tell us that Omicron is here too. Omicron is a fairly mutated version of COVID-19. It is more transmissible and has a shorter incubation period. The severity appears to be lower. It affects the nasal area more than the lungs. This may lower the percentage of people ending up in the hospital, but since it is way more transmissible, its still possible it will overwhelm our hospitals. Existing tr

TLDR: GameStop is gearing up to launch their own NFT marketplace to disrupt the $150 billion gaming industry. At the same time, a series of coincidences are causing some investors to excitedly speculate about a Wu Tang Album NFT dividend -- any NFT dividend, even if not WuTang, would force short sellers to close their positions because short sellers are responsible for paying dividends on shares they are short on, but if they cannot deliver it because it's a unique NFT, they have no choice other than to close their positions.

Let's first explore what we know about GameStop launching their own NFT marketplace.

Facts:

1. Announced at EDCON 2021, Loopring, a layer-2 scaling protocol on Ethereum for decentralized exchanges, is working with an un-named "premium owner" to launch a NFT marketplace. "Some people ask me a question whether Loopring will launch our own marketplace. The answer is no. We don’t have a plan to launch our own NFT marketplace, but we are working with a premium owner to make sure they can launch their marketplace successfully and very soon, probably in Q4 and with a lot of other stuff," said Daniel Wang, CEO of Loopring. Loopring is currently in Q4, and Q4 ends on Dec. 31. Source here.
2. On Oct. 26, GameStop posts 8 new remote job listings looking for Director of Product Marketing for NFT Platform, a Sr. Software Engineer for NFT platform, and a Product Owner - Head of Web3 Gaming. The job descriptions talk about how "in this future, games are the places to go, and play is driven by the things you bring. Future creators won't just build games but also the components, characters, and equipment. Blockchains will power the commerce underneath." Web3, as defined by GMEDD.com, is "Web3, in the context of Ethereum, refers to decentralized apps that run on the blockchain. These are apps that allow anyone to participate without monetizing their personal data." In other words, your personal data will not be harvested for big tech's profits like it currently is. You will own your data and you can sell it if you want. Source here.

https://preview.redd.it/hm3kzr4jf5w71.png?width=2298&format=png&auto=webp&s=454032a62a561e4ba621d2c1656e2e647db7b079

3. On

Because she wanted to see the task manager.

They’re on standbi

Musings on the Meta 4:

Hello again everyone! I apologize for not posting the new weekly post for a few weeks. I've been busy at work and with some personal goals that I set this year so I wasn't able to get this up when I wanted to. This week I'm going to cover the following topics:

- Buffs and Nerfs, what does it take to shift the meta:
- Opinions on the Season - Where things are at now? What we should carry to next season.
- Healer 2pc/4pc review for 9.2

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Buffs and Nerfs: Shifting the Meta

I wanted to write this because of a recent development in the meta, that being the surge of necrolord frost mages, kyrian boomy and of course necrolord DH. I'm not going to delve particularly deep into why these classes have come into prominence this patch - they all received damage buffs or (in the case of kyrian boomy) ended synergizing well with a class that brought it's strength to the forefront.

There's a lot of things that honestly can bring a class that's either struggling or non-existent back into prominence at both low and high levels of play. I'll speak about how certain nerfs and buffs have reshaped the entire metagame since WoD and where better to start than with enhancement shaman. I've discussed in previous posts about how enhance has evolved since BFA and this was it - this was the patch that made turbo a T1 comp in terms of offensive pressure. What was done? A 20% damage buff to stormstrike and lava lash. Sometimes the blizzard buff gods are beneficial indeed. What this meant was that the relatively simple - but effective comp was given enough damage to put pressure on the FLS/RMD damp lords and with that damage it effectively catapulted Joefernandes and Boetar to their blizzcon championship. (All credit to them off course, they really did play like champs).

So this is all obvious right? A class that has solid utility gets more damage and suddenly it's a contender! Case closed. See that's not exactly always the case for a class. Sometimes, for a class to come back into prominence something complementary to that spec has to receive some sort of buff or change. A good example of this is actually from this expac - the recent surge of necro dh has been in part due to a buff to a conduit but Kyrian boomy in particular has really benefitted and is (in my mind) borderline A+/S tier in the meta. Maybe no

I think a lot of people didn't have high expectations for this movie, so it's not very surprising that the movie is as bad as it is. Still, it managed to be disappointing, probably because in spite of itself, it showed specks of a story worth telling. Unfortunately, those specks were buried within the convoluted husk of nonsense, stupidity, and confusion.

Since the movie is out for everyone to see, here are some of its issues, big and small [Beware, there be SPOILERS AHEAD]:

And some of my language is going to be pretty heated...

1. SMITH IS BACK. F*** that. This dude was killed twice (or more if you count all the clones) in the original trilogy, yet he's somehow STILL alive, and not only that, but he's still attempting to wax poetic about his still sticking around somehow. How is he alive? WHY is he alive? Wasn't the point of Revolutions's climax that Smith was an extreme problem for the machines, the Matrix, and freed people alike? Wasn't Smith, even by machine standards, so evil and crazed that the machines agreed to help Neo take him down? And now that the Matrix is in its next version, he's still there? HOW? Why would the machines keep him? They literally purged old programs, or at least attempted to, yet Smith is chilling as Neo's boss? Why would he even play this role when he's later revealed to be his same old self?

Real world reasons aside, why does he have a different face? If you couldn't get Hugo, why put Smith in the movie. SMITH DIED. And, to add serious insult to injury, Smith calls Neo "Tom" all throughout this movie, instead of Mr. Anderson. WHAT. That's part of what made Weaving's portrayal of the character iconic. If you're taking away such an integral part of the character, then why bother pretending like it's the same character? Oh, and the CGI for him dodging bullets looked disgustingly bad.

Anyway, we'll get back to more Smith garbage later.

2. NEO IS BACK, and now he's a game designer? What? The movie establishes that Neo hasn't forgotten what happened in the original trilogy. In fact, he remembers the events so vividly that he's able to design Matrix games within the Matrix that are basically retellings of the first movies, and they are so accurate that when Trinity (who is also living as though she forgot everything) plays the games, she feels like she resonates with the Trinity game character. Last time I checked, the machines didn't have control over human's memories, even when they're in pods, and if

To start off I'll just say that Murata's work on the series is nothing short of phenomenal and I commend him for the his work ethic in putting out some of the best art you'll see in manga right now. It is genuinely admirable how much work he puts out for that level of quality.

Now I'm not drafting this rant or anything, but I just need to vent out my feelings that have been fermenting for a long time. I've been a fan of OPM for at least 6 years, since before even the anime came out and it used to be my favorite manga. I haven't felt that way in a while.

the OPM manga has ran into issues over time such as the redraws, long wait times for chapters, and so on. For a time, the redraws really upset me when they changed certain story scenes completely. But I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Fine. Certain scenes were also disappointing in the manga. Yet I could forgive all of these because there was so much good to make up for them. However the manga keeps going in directions that I can't fully get on board with. Before I even go into webcomic spoilers, I'll just say general criticisms that the pacing is pretty all over the place even without taking into account the webcomic. What I see is that they rush important parts, yet the story still feels dragged due to unnecessary additions. From the extremely lengthy Psykorochi fight (with her turning into a fighter jet, the hell was that), and weird additions like Vomit Fuhrer Ugly, and so on, the narrative pacing starts to feel like a sequence of weird random things after the next instead of a coherent story that flows naturally.

The thing is, though I loved the webcomic and understand that the manga is taking its own story directions, it's often not in a good way. I can even understand huge changes to the story if done right. But I believe that the manga should still capture the original soul of the MA arc and of OPM. I feel it doesn't anymore.

.

WEBCOMIC SPOILERS AHEAD

Now I'll explain why. It might seem cliche'd to compare the manga to the webcomic but it's inevitable since the webcomic was the original source material and thus it's intrinsically impossible to completely decouple expectations from it to the manga. The MA arc in the webcomic captured an atmosphere of a desperate, drawn-out battle where the heroes slowly surfaced one by one to join the fight against the Cadres, conveying an excellent feeling of incrementally increasing stakes and drama. The cadres were unlike anything we've ever s

I just finished watching the show for the first time (late to the game but became obsessed and watched it all in 9 days).

I was really moved by Tom and Sybil’s love story and their development over seasons 1 and 2. I thought their slow-burn journey to falling in love and eloping to Ireland was completely believable, given that seasons 1-2 take place over a span of seven years, giving Sybil plenty of time to get a taste for work, explore her attraction to Tom, and slowly decide for herself that aristocratic life was not where she belonged. Sybil was my favourite character because of her modern outlooks, disregard for social structures and passion for women’s rights, and those traits are exactly why I understood Tom’s infatuation with her. He is equally passionate about politics, outspoken on what he believes in, and finds common ground with her rebellious nature. Seemed like a great match to me. Mix in the drama of a forbidden love class divide with two incredibly good looking people who aren’t allowed to talk to each other, let alone touch (that time Tom gasp grabbed Sybil’s hip for 2 seconds), and you’ve got a recipe for some great television romance!

So colour me shocked when I dived into the fandom and learned that so many people dislike their relationship! Tom is seen as a bully, too pushy, rude, and some even say he’s abusive towards Sybil. Sounds like he’s much better received in later seasons after she died. I’ve also read commentary that Sybil didn’t love him and her attraction to him came out of nowhere.

When I read those critiques it felt as if we’d all watched completely different scenes. I can see how Tom could come across as pushy in trying to convince Sybil to run away with him, but I read it as Tom’s passion and frustration coming out in his conversations with her. Imagine waiting years for the person you love to decide if they want to be with you or not? I don’t blame him for shooting his shot every chance he gets, and using every tactic he can think of to convince her he’s serious about his intentions and to leave a life of literal luxury and choose a life with him.

Also, the backdrop of their embarking love story is World War 1, one of the bloodiest wars in human history, so there’s an undertone of urgency and resolution behind their convictions. But there’s also a sense of possibility. The war is signalling a change in the way people view the aristocracy and the working classes. Tom knows this, which explain his attitudes and in

Nothing, he was gladiator.

First, let me preface this with the fact that I am just a regular Sensei who has no ties to Nexon Group, NAT GAMES, or any related entity, and while I strive to be as objective as possible, I have my own biases and agenda. I only want to share my take on this because the situation is still current and many like myself are still having fluctuating opinions.

The Controversy

For the ones out of the loop, it has recently been discovered that a scene in Clockwork Flower Pavane, Chapter 1, Episode 4 has been censored in the game's most recent update.

The censored scene as of 17th Dec 2021

How is it censored? The lower half of Aris's body has been cropped from the frame, resulting in the scene having a relatively more close-up view of Aris. To keep this post safe for Reddit's own content policies, you can see the uncensored version of this scene in Yostar's 2nd PV video at the 15s mark onward. The YouTube link has been timestamped for your convenience.

Notably, the scene is uncensored if upon launching the game for the first time, the game detects that you are playing from a Korean IP address.

For veteran gamers, it is not surprising to see content getting censored to comply with regional standards. On the surface, this current situation is no different. However, outrage does not start with no rhyme or reason.

On 8th Oct 2021, the official Blue Archive YouTube channel published an interview with Program Director Yong Ha Kim. Below are some relevant segments of the interview transcribed:

In response to users sharing a variety of feedback regarding Nexon's services and addressing those who may be concerned (segment from 1:41, emphasis mine) :

>Our dev team is always listening to feedback coming in from our Korean and Global communities and apart from the anticipation, we're also fully aware about the areas of concern expressed by users.
>
>Does anything come to mind when you hear Nexon's name personally?
>
>Well, I have a lot of good memories associated with Nexon.
>
>One thing I can say is, based on our previous launch and service history (in Japan), **we put a lot of focus on reducing elements we felt the playe

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

Hey folks, no one was done a dedicated post on Lara this week and it seems so necessary (I mean as necessary as posting a long winded theory post about a Superhero TV show can be). This is less a single theory and a collection of theories that I have been thinking about as well as some things that have made their way down in threads, but I thought it would be fun to roll them up in a single post.

Background

Before I go through in too depth, I wanted to recap a few things we learned in season one about Lara Lor-Van just to level the playing field.

As we all know, Lara Lor-Van is Clark’s Kryptonian mother. As we learned in S1E10, Lara Lor-Van was originally genetically matched with Zeta-Rho (Tal-Rho’s father). What was left out in the episode (along with a few other things) was that Tal-Rho and the rest of the babies born on Krypton were pod babies while Clark was the first natural birth in generations. The writer of this episode Adam Mallinger explains this here. More importantly, Lara was the scientists behind the technology for both the Eradicator and the Sunstones, though she only ever envisioned the technology being used to perverse Krypton’s culture and never expected to take over another people.

In the 10th episode, Lara reveals that her sunstone was stolen by Zeta-Rho which is why Clark never found it. In S1E13, we learn that Lara’s sunstone is on earth and at a minimum Zeta-Rho knows where it is. Tal-Rho asks to speak to his mother and Zeta-Rho denies this request. Interestingly enough, in the same episode, Sarah talks about finding her sense of belonging by talking to her Abuelita (Grandmother) about stories from Mexico even though her family has been in Smallville for generations. Given the Cushings are usually going through a similar struggle as the Lane-Kent family, it feels to glaring to ignore the parallels. (On a super tangent, this is the same Episode where Jonathan makes a vague comment to John Henry about “Not knowing what he is”.)

Finally, the season one finale left us with some interesting information about sunstone and the Eradicator work together. Prior to the finale, I was assumed that what happened with the sunstones and what happened in the Eradicator, happened separately. I had recently compared it to software. I had assumed that the Eradicator and sunstone where like two different hard drives on two different computers with the same operating system. Even t

Sorry for post number 2 and I am not totally sure if this belongs here so we will see. I apologize for the long post, and I have posted this on r/venting so yeah here you go:

I been having this issue particularly with my mom. It seems like I can never have anything to myself. Not anything I like, not my own life outside of her or anything.

My mom believes that everything I have developed is because I got it from her. For example, today I was saying that my partner and I enjoy eating and we are (foodies,) and then continues to go on a tangent about how I got it from her because she is a foodie, and she never fed my siblings and I processed baby food.

It always something I like or something I do, ad she attributes it to her. Like my love for science, medicine, butterflies, being a doctor (PhD), even wanting to live in NORTHERN CALIFORNIA...all her because she's my mom and I am her daughter.

This has come to be the center of my annoyance when I recently applied to PhD programs. I got interviews for two programs: UCLA and John Hopikns

I will add: I am a quadruplet and one of my siblings goes to NYU for her master's degree (this is relevant btw).

I told her the news and she has constantly told me not to move to Baltimore and if I do, she would come with me and live in Baltimore if I went there for my PhD. I have asked why wouldn't she live in New York with my other sister as she has said to love it there, she simply says that it's not on her bucket list and she ALWAYS wanted to be in Baltimore.

This has never been a discussion ever and I just think she wants to center this moment for herself or something I am not sure what to call it.

Also, she has says that it's too far for her and she can't see her "baby". My thing is, I have always lived far from home since I have gone to college. (I went to school 6 hours away and now currently in the bay) and she has NEVER visited me at any given time.

All tp say, I am just annoyed how I can never just have something attributed for myself, with my own hard work or my own passions as an adult.

I won't be doing that today!

This idea is in regards to Halo Infinite's End Game, please do not click unless you have beaten the game (Heroic / Legendary)

Ladies and Gentlemen, get your Tin Foil Hats and your Cork Boards Ready! 'Cause welcome to The Hive Mind Conspiracy!

So, A Friend and I were noting how the Cylix that the Harbinger is released from looks a lot different than the one you see in the end game. (Heroic/Legendary Ending). See below links.

The Cylix The Harbinger is in: https://www.halopedia.org/Xalanyn#/media/File:HINF_Harbinger_Cylix_2.png

The Cylix at the end of the game: https://www.halopedia.org/Cylix#/media/File:HINF_Endless_Cylix.png

The differences can be as simple as an inconstancy in development, but my friend and I have a few ideas as to what is going on. First, let's discuss how/why The Endless survived the initial firing of the Halo Array.

We believe that the reason The Endless were able to survive the initial firing is because of a few potential reasons;

1. The Endless are a Hive Mind
2. The Endless used technology, and have biologically integrated themselves with technology.
3. Combining 1 & 2, The Endless used Technology to create a Hive Mind and link themselves together.

We had some theories that The Endless somehow had Forerunner tech, but we deemed this highly unlikely because The Endless were unknown to the forerunners prior to their discovery after the initial firing.

As far as we know, the only true Hive Mind in the Halo Universe is The Flood, but that doesn't mean that other Hive Minds don't exist. It's possible that The Endless are a form of hive mind, be it a biological one, or an artificial one, or a hybrid. After beating The Harbinger, she says;

>"You have what you need. Tell them I'm sorry it took so long."

EDIT: It was pointed out that this could have been The Harbinger speaking to Atriox, which would make sense. It's still uncertain why the sigils on the end game cylix's are so different.

This could just be her speaking to someone else, or to her species. But of note, when she removes her helmet, you hear something deactivate. It's possible they could have used these helmets to be part of the hive mind. Additionally, while fighting the Harbinger, The Weapon mentions that;

>"The Connection is Sentient"

These two points leads me to believe that The Endless / The Xalanyn ar

For me, I feel like it's so easy to direct all our energy in a day towards the things we can't change. I've been caught in that cycle myself, so I totally get it. It's too easy to wake up every morning and get mad. About our jobs. About our politicians. About this system that was designed to fail us. But to me, I see this as an opportunity to create change.

So, in my mind, the central component of any Society is the job. The ways in which we as individuals use our personal energy to contribute and give back to our communities.

This version of Society has been based around the 8 hour work day, 40 hour work week. Not only that, but also super shitty wages. And not only that, but you're more than likely expected to work more than 40 hours, because "that's what the A+ employee does". In other words, shit's fucked. Lol.

Nobody should have to get a masters degree for an entry level job that pay $15/hr. Nobody should even have to get a degree in order to get a job. (Debatable, but that's what this is for!)

So my first solution: Re-create the job.

The average person does not want to work an 8 hour day. Not only that, but the average person does not want to work the same job, every day, for 8 hours a day, year after year, with virtually no room for growth. If you do want to then hey, this solution isn't for you :). But I would still hope to make the 8 hour day an even better experience, hehe.

My goal is to create a new line of jobs. Jobs that are designed to be 2-4 Hours and pay $25/hr. Not only that, but they're designed to be simple, educational, and beneficial for the individual. Rather than complicated, monotonous, and leaving you feeling the same ache of suffering when you get to bed as when you woke up.

In this, I'd ideally be partnering with businesses to create these jobs. The more the better, and the bigger the network, the more expansive the concept can become.

Within this partnership, I would have the business owner paying half the wage of $12.50, while ideally I would pay the other $12.50. All this would require would be creating strong sources of income for myself. Whether these be through my music, working jobs myself, or donation, this is more than possible...

If the US can be almost 30 trillion in debt, we can find a way to pay people fairly.

On a tangent:

I saw a quote from Elon that I liked that might've been from here (not the biggest Elon fan, but I respect his mind and innovation). It was how we should be teaching p

[Removed]

Where ever you left it 🤷‍♀️🤭

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

As always the credit for the universe goes to Blue and a big thanks to fellow authors and beta readers. Enjoy! The links still don't want to work like they used to, apologies.

First (https://www.reddit.com/r/Sexyspacebabes/comments/p9frwa/claws_of_fate_ch1/)

Previous (https://www.reddit.com/r/Sexyspacebabes/comments/riffjg/claws_of_fate_ch21/)

Next (https://www.reddit.com/r/Sexyspacebabes/comments/s1l0l1/claws_of_fate_ch23/)

Breathe in.

Step.

Secure footlock.

Breathe out.

Step.

Secure footlock.

Change the locking point of the harness.

Repeat.

Simon was in his element once more. The blackest darkness overhead, white alloy beneath his feet and a load of materiel in his hand.

'Only this time I'm not on a space station, but a rather beautiful brick going five times escape velocity. No big deal…' He mused to himself, approaching another spot that Merid's computer highlighted as "structurally unstable.” In most of the cases he took care of during the last few hours it meant a weld of the outer layer of the ship's armor needed to be adjusted, or an external element was not secured properly.

As he crested the starboard side however, his eyes were met by something we wished to never see in his life.

"Visual on the component. It's not looking good, Cap'n." He reported, while his sensors ran over the jagged edges of the outer hull.

"We see it. Any idea what happened?" The concerned voice called over the radio.

"No, at least not as of yet. Let me take a closer look after the scan ends and I'll tell you more."

"Acknowledged. Just try to avoid damaging it more and don't compromise your suit. You're still a fair bit from the nearest airlock."

"Understood. Scan is still underway."

Simon used the optical zoom to see just exactly what went wrong. The exposed landing gear was still in fine shape, unlike the panel supposed to cover it. The metal door, supposed to be able to withstand multiple atmospheric re-rentries, meteor showers and burst laser fire, was bent outwards and shredded to pieces by some unknown source.

'Warning, unidentified objects detected. Identification underway,' flashed on his HUD inside the helmet. As he looked on, faint traces of Shil alloy, one not used in shipbuildin

You take away their little brooms

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

Pilot on me!!

When I got home, they were still there.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "