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2008.04.13 15:10 New Jersey

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2023.06.03 10:30 Tigrannes On this day in History, June 3

On this day in History, June 3
ANCIENT WORLD
350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.
MIDDLE AGES
713 – The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the reorganization of the Byzantine army.
1098 – After a five-month siege during the First Crusade, the Crusaders seize Antioch (today's Turkey).
1140 – The French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy.
1326 – The Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.
EARLY MODERN WORLD
1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.
1602 – An English naval force defeats a fleet of Spanish galleys, and captures a large Portuguese carrack at the Battle of Sesimbra Bay
1608 – Samuel de Champlain lands at Tadoussac, Quebec, in the course of his third voyage to New France, and begins erecting fortifications.[8]
1621 – The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherland.
1658 – Pope Alexander VII appoints François de Laval vicar apostolic in New France.
1665 – James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England), defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
REVOLUTIONARY AGE
1781 – Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending raid by Banastre Tarleton.
1839 – In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kilograms of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
1844 – The last pair of great auks is killed.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races): Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor: Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.
1866 – The Fenians are driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario back into the United States.
SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
1885 – In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, the Cree leader, Big Bear, escapes the North-West Mounted Police.
1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
WORLD WARS
1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
1935 – One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa.
1937 – The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson.
1940 – World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.
1940 – Franz Rademacher proposes plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
1941 – World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground and murders 180 of its inhabitants.
1942 – World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island.
1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines attack Latino youths in the five-day Zoot Suit Riots.
COLD WAR
1950 – Herzog and Lachenal of the French Annapurna expedition become the first climbers to reach the summit of an 8,000-metre peak.
1962 – At Paris Orly Airport, Air France Flight 007 overruns the runway and explodes when the crew attempts to abort takeoff, killing 130.
1963 – Soldiers of the South Vietnamese Army attack protesting Buddhists in Huế with liquid chemicals from tear-gas grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalized for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments.
1965 – The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.
1969 – Melbourne–Evans collision: off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half; resulting in 74 deaths.
1973 – A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m3) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded.
1980 – An explosive device is detonated at the Statue of Liberty. The FBI suspects Croatian nationalists.
1980 – The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, causing five deaths and $300 million (equivalent to $1066 million in 2022) worth of damage.
1982 – The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street; he survives but is left paralysed.
1984 – Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
1989 – The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
1991 – Mount Unzen erupts in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.
MODERN WORLD
1992 – Aboriginal land rights are recognised in Australia, overturning the long-held colonial assumption of terra nullius, in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Torres Strait Islander Eddie Mabo and leading to the Native Title Act 1993.
1998 – After suffering a mechanical failure, a high speed train derails at Eschede, Germany, killing 101 people.
2006 – The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.
2012 – A plane carrying 153 people on board crashes in a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing everyone on board and six people on the ground.
2012 – The pageant for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II takes place on the River Thames.
2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.
2013 – At least 119 people are killed in a fire at a poultry farm in Jilin Province in northeastern China.
2015 – An explosion at a gasoline station in Accra, Ghana, kills more than 200 people.
2017 – London Bridge attack: Eight people are murdered and dozens of civilians are wounded by Islamist terrorists. Three of the attackers are shot dead by the police.
2019 – Khartoum massacre: In Sudan, over 100 people are killed when security forces accompanied by Janjaweed militiamen storm and open fire on a sit-in protest.
FEATURED
1943: The Battle of Attu, one of the deadliest battles in the Pacific during World War II, ends with the recapture of the island by U.S. forces from the Japanese.
American forces fought in snowy conditions, in contrast with the tropical climate in the rest of the Pacific. The more than two-week battle ended when most of the Japanese defenders were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat after a final banzai charge broke through American lines.
submitted by Tigrannes to Historycord [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 07:55 TheLegendKeithDeroux The Indus Connection (Part 1 - India/Brahmin History): The Relationship Queen Victoria II has to Early Sikh Canadian Settler, Kesur Singh - Pierre Elliot Trudeau's Close Relationship to Indian President Indira Ghandi Before her Assassination & Operation Bluestar, Strengthened Indus Bonds (1897-1985)

The Indus Connection (Part 1 - India/Brahmin History): The Relationship Queen Victoria II has to Early Sikh Canadian Settler, Kesur Singh - Pierre Elliot Trudeau's Close Relationship to Indian President Indira Ghandi Before her Assassination & Operation Bluestar, Strengthened Indus Bonds (1897-1985)
Disclaimer: The point of these stories is to uncover missed and hidden tales that many new generation Canadians are unaware of and overlook. The storied histories of people, ethnicities, neighborhoods are never told and for good reason. The information presented will be sourced and open to full discussion. This 3 Part series will uncover The Indus Connection - The Bind that Punjab (Informally Khalistan), India and Sri Lanka have to the Canadian Government, RCMP & CSIS. I've done my best to piece the significant information together in a timeline that allows the reader to understand these events clearer. (Information is cited; avoiding going full in depth)
Kesur Singh was a Sikh officer of the 5th Cavalry who represented his regiment at Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee celebrations in London in 1897. This photo of him featured in The Navy and Army Illustrated of 10th Dec 1897. The description says 'He has on many occasions earned the praise of his superiors. He wears the medal and clasp for the Jowaki Expedition of 1877-78 and the medal with two clasps for Afghanistan (1878-80) where he was specially commended for devotion and courage on several occasions, and received the Order of Merit, and a special certificate from lord Roberts for his work at Sherpur.

Kesur Singh & The First Sikh Canadian Settlers in Canada - Ties to the British Raj & How the Queen Elizabeth II Awarded him for his Valor in the British Indian Cavalry (1897)

Kesur Singh, a Risaldar Major in the British India Army, is credited with being the first Sikh settler in Canada. He was amongst a group of Sikh officers who arrived in Vancouver on board Empress of India in 1897. They were on the way to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Sikhs found employment in laying the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in lumber mills and mines. Though they earned less than white workers, they made enough money to send some of it to India and make it possible for their relatives to immigrate to Canada.
Indian Cavalry Passing the House of Parliament for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (1897)
A notable moment in early Sikh history in Canada was in 1902 when settlers first arrived in Golden, British Columbia to work at the Columbia River Lumber Company. This was a theme amongst most early Punjabi Sikh settlers in Canada to find work in the agricultural and forestry sectors in British Columbia. Punjabi Sikhs became a prominent ethnic group within the sawmill workforce in British Columbia almost immediately after initial arrival to Canada.
Punjabi Sikhs in Whitehorse, Yukon (April,1906)
The early settlers in Golden built the first Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) in Canada and North America in 1905, which would later be destroyed by fire in 1926. The second Gurdwara to be built in Canada was in 1908 in Kitsilano (Vancouver), aimed at serving a growing number of Punjabi Sikh settlers who worked at nearby sawmills along False Creek at the time. The Gurdwara would later close and be demolished in 1970, with the temple society relocating to the newly built Gurdwara on Ross Street, in South Vancouver.
As a result, the oldest existing Gurdwara in Canada today is the Gur Sikh Temple, located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Built in 1911, the temple was designated as a national historic site of Canada in 2002 and is the third-oldest Gurdwara in the country. Later, the fourth Gurdwara to be built Canada was established in 1912 in Victoria on Topaz Avenue, while the fifth soon was built at the Fraser Mills (Coquitlam) settlement in 1913, followed a few years later by the sixth at the Queensborough (New Westminster) settlement in 1919, and the seventh at the Paldi (Vancouver Island) settlement, also in 1919.
Early Sikh pioneers also settled in the Abbotsford area in 1905 and originally worked on farms and in the lumber industry. By 1906, there were about 1,500 Sikh workers living in Canada, among about 5,000 East Indians in total. Although most of the immigrants from South Asia at the time were Sikhs, local ignorance of Eastern religions led to them frequently being assumed to be Hindus. About 90% of these Sikhs lived in British Columbia. While Canadian politicians, missionaries, unions and the press were opposed to Asian workers. British Columbia industrialists were short of labor and thus Sikhs were able to get an early foothold at the turn of the 20th century in British Columbia.
As with the large numbers of Chinese workers already present in Canada, many white workers resented those immigrants and directed their ill-will toward the Sikhs, who were easily recognized by their beards and turbans. Punjabis were accused of having a caste system, an idea that goes against the foundations of Sikhism. They were portrayed as being riddled with trachoma and as being unclean in general. To strengthen these racist characterizations, a song called White Canada Forever was created. All this eventually led to a boat of Sikhs arriving in Vancouver being sent to Victoria. In 1907, the year that Buckam Singh came to British Columbia from Punjab at the age of fourteen, Punjabis were forced to avoid the Anti-Oriental Riots of 1907 by staying indoors.
Punjabi & Canadian Boy Drinking Soda (1972)
Most of the Sikhs in Canada in 1907 were retired British army veterans and their families. These Punjabis had proved themselves as loyal soldiers in the British colonies in Asia and Africa. However, the Canadian Government did not prevent the use of the illegal scare tactics being used to monitor immigration and prevent Sikhs from seeking employment, and this soon resulted in the cessation of all Indian immigration to Canada. The Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier claimed that Indians were unsuited to life in the Canadian climate. However, in a letter to the viceroy, The Earl of Minto, Sir Wilfred voiced a different opinion, stating that the Chinese were the least adaptable to Canadian ways, whereas Sikhs, which he mistakenly referred to as Hindus, were the most adaptable. This sentiment changed after Buckam Singh's role in World War 1, which enabled more Sikhs to migrate to Canada.
Takeaways During this Period:
  1. The Immigration Act, 1910 came under scrutiny when a party of 39 Indians, mostly Sikhs, arriving on a Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, succeeded in obtaining habeas corpus against the immigration department's order of deportation. The Canadian Government then passed a law intended to keep labourers and artisans, whether skilled or unskilled, out of Canada by preventing them from landing at any dock in British Columbia. As Canadian immigration became stricter, more Indians, most of them Sikhs, travelled south to the United States of America.
  2. The Komagata Maru Incident involved the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, on which a group of people from British India attempted to immigrate to Canada in April 1914, but most were denied entry and forced to return to Budge Budge, Calcutta (present-day Kolkata). There, the Indian Imperial Police attempted to arrest the group leaders. A riot ensued, and they were fired upon by the police, resulting in the deaths of 22 people.
  3. Buckam Singh - Buckam Singh enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the spring of 1915. Buckam Singh was one of the earliest known Sikhs living in Ontario at the time as well as one of only 9 Sikhs known to have served with Canadian troops in the First World War. Private Buckam Singh served with the 20th Canadian Infantry Battalion in the battlefields of Flanders during 1916. Here, Buckam Singh was wounded twice in battle and later received treatment at a hospital run by one of Canada's most famous soldier poets the Doctor Lt. Colonel John McCrae. While recovering from his wounds in England, Private Buckam Singh contracted tuberculosis and spent his final days in a Kitchener, Ontario military hospital, dying at age 25 in 1919. His grave in Kitchener is the only known First World War Sikh Canadian soldier's grave in Canada. Despite being forgotten for ninety years and never getting to see his family again, Buckam Singh is now being celebrated as not only a Sikh hero, but a Canadian hero.
Legacy of Buckam Singh (1972)

The Events Leading Up To an Independent Punjab State Precursor to Operation Bluestar - Post Independence Period of India (1956)


Punjabi Suba Speeches (1956)
The Punjabi Suba Movement After Independence from British Rule (1956)
The Punjabi Suba movement was a long-drawn political agitation, launched by Punjabi speaking people (mostly Sikhs) demanding the creation of autonomous Punjabi Suba, or Punjabi-speaking state, in the post-independence Indian state of East Punjab. The movement is defined as the forerunner of Khalistan movement.
Borrowing from the pre-partition demands for a Sikh country, this movement demanded a fundamental constitutional autonomous state within India. Led by the Akali Dal (a centre-right Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920.), it resulted in the formation of the state of Punjab. The state of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh were also created and some Pahari-majority parts of the East Punjab were also merged with Himachal Pradesh following the movement. The result of the movement failed to satisfy its leaders due to regions in Northern Haryana with Punjabi speaking and Sikh populations like Jind, Karnal, Ambala, Fatehabad and Sirsa being left out of Punjab. Many Sikh leaders saw this as falling short of the promise of a fully autonomous Sikh State that they felt was promised to them by Nehru and Gandhi in exchange for joining the Indian Union.
In the 1950s the Punjabi Suba movement for linguistic reorganization of the state of Punjab and status for the Punjabi language took place, which the government finally agreed to in 1966 after protests and recommendation of the States Reorganization commission. The state of East Punjab was later split into the states of Himachal Pradesh, the new state Haryana and current day Punjab.
The process of Sikh alienation from the national mainstream was set in motion shortly after Independence due to the communalism of national and regional parties and organization including the RSS, Jan Sangh, and the Arya Samaj, exacerbated by Congress mishandling and local politicians and factions. According to Indian general Afsir Karim, many observers believed that separatist sentiments began in 1951 when Punjabi Hindus disowned the Punjabi language under the influence of radical elements, and "doubts on the concepts of a Punjabi Suba" created mutual suspicion, bitterness, and further misunderstanding between the two communities. The 1966 reorganization left the Sikhs highly dissatisfied, with the unresolved status of Chandigarh and the distribution of river waters intensifying bitter feelings.
While the Green Revolution in Punjab had several positive impacts, the introduction of the mechanized agricultural techniques led to uneven distribution of wealth. The industrial development was not done at the same pace of agricultural development, the Indian government had been reluctant to set up heavy industries in Punjab due to its status as a high-risk border state with Pakistan. The rapid increase in the higher education opportunities without adequate rise in the jobs resulted in the increase in the unemployment of educated youth. The resulting unemployed rural Sikh youth were drawn to the militant groups, and formed the backbone of the militancy.
After being routed in 1972 Punjab election, the Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973 to address these and other grievances, and demand more autonomy to Punjab. The resolution included both religious and political issues. It asked for recognizing Sikhism as a religion It also demanded that power be generally devaluated from the Central to state governments. The Anandpur Resolution was rejected by the government as a secessionist document. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.
The 1978 Sikh-Nirankari clashes had been within the Sikh community, but the pro-Sant Nirankari stance of some Hindus in Punjab and Delhi had led to further division, including Jan Sangh members like Harbans Lal Khanna joining the fray, who, in a protest against holy city status for Amritsar, raising inflammatory slogans like "Kachha, kara, kirpan, bhejo inko Pakistan" ("those who wear the 5Ks (Sikhs), send them to Pakistan"), led to aggressive counter demonstrations.

Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliot Trudeau Visits India; Prime Minister of India, Indira Ghandi Visits Canada - The India-Canada Bonds Stay in Tact (1971)


Indira Gandhi of India and Pierre Trudeau of Canada-walk through the lobby of the new $3 million Shaw festival Theatre at Niagar-on-the-Lake last night during intermission. After the play; Mrs. Gandhi joined Trudeau and his wife; Margaret; on state for presentation of a plaque.
Prime minister Pierre Trudeau touched down in India. For five days in January, 1971, Pierre Elliott Trudeau toured the country, rode a camel, petted a bullock, went up the Ganges and into a locomotive factory, visited the tombs of Indian notables, saw the Taj Mahal and wore a hat that would have made a Rajput proud. He then sat down with the emerging, redoubtable Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to discuss the state of the world and the sorry state of Canada’s economic relationship with India. Even nuclear weapons were discussed in 1971 with the Canadian prime minister in a press conference opining “there is no expressed desire on (the Indian) part to explode such a (nuclear) device nor I believe the technological ability to do so.” Three years later, in May 1974, the Indians did explode such a device – cheekily codenamed Smiling Buddha – in the Rajasthan desert, using plutonium from the research reactor Canada had built for it in 1956 for peaceful purposes. The bilateral relationship dropped into a diplomatic pit with every leader since expressing sorrowful but hopeful words that things would improve.
The one issue not on Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s agenda was anything to do with the Punjab and Sikhs. At the time, both were good news stories. The Punjab, home to most Sikhs, was the centre of an agricultural Green Revolution with new strains of wheat moving India from a food-deficient country to one of self sufficiency, with exports contemplated. Economically, Sikhs were the main beneficiaries and their biggest political problem was whether or not their beards met the requirements of flying fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. The emergence of India as a legitimate and serious geopolitical counterweight to China, not only in Asia but globally, has dramatically changed the bilateral agenda. Over the years, very little energy was expended by either India or Canada to put the relationship on a footing reflective of this changed status. There have been large and small bumps on that road since. Sikhs have been a significant part of the Canadian mosaic since the late 19th century. Their numbers increased dramatically with the mid-1970s changes to the Immigration Act and today they represent close to half of the 1.2 million Canadians with ancestry from the subcontinent. Their wealth, energy and self-deprecating humour, along with a monotheistic theology, were dominant features and over time the use of Sardar and Sardarji became terms of appreciation for the community as a whole. Towards the end of European colonial dominance, they were a military mainstay of the British Raj. As one Indian researcher wrote, “the success-story of the Sikh community as a whole has taken the form of a deep-rooted anxiety in the collective minds of the non-Sikh majorities especially the Hindus of India.” The present prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, has achieved political success exploiting this and other anxieties alongside the promotion of Hindu ascendency.
IMPORTANT EXCERPT BY CSE AFTER AIR INDIA BOMBING (1985):India’s government knows more of what goes on in the Canadian Sikh community than the combined forces of the RCMP, CSIS and CSE. This was evident in the aftermath of the 1985 Air India bombings and it was rare if a visit by the Indian High Commissioner (he a Sikh) to the Department of Foreign Affairs did not provide details on some nefarious action within the community.

The Path to Operation Bluestar: How the Assassination of Indira Ghandi led to the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots (Black November)

Deceased Sikhs - Result of the Clashes
The Sikh-Nirankari clashes - Precursor to Operation Bluestar (1978)
The 1978 Sikh-Nirankari clash occurred between the Sant Nirankari Mission (An Indian backed Sikh Organization) and Sikhs of Damdami Taksal and Akal Kirtani Jatha on 13 April 1978 at Amritsar, Punjab, India. Sixteen people—thirteen traditional Sikhs and three Nirankari followers—were killed in the ensuing violence, occurring when some Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Damdami Taksal members led by Fauja Singh protested against and tried to stop a convention of Sant Nirankari Mission followers. This incident is considered to be a starting point in the events leading to Operation Blue Star and the 1980s insurgency in Punjab.
Operation Bluestar - Indhira Ghandi's Plot to Eliminate Akhan Kirtani Jatha & Damdami Taksal Leaders (1984)
Visual Depiction of Operation Bluestar (Preliminary Footage - AP News)
Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984, ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab. In July 1983, the Sikh political party Akali Dal's President Harcharan Singh Longowal had invited Bhindranwale to take up residence in Golden Temple Complex. Bhindranwale later on made the sacred temple complex an armoury and headquarters. In the violent events leading up to the Operation Blue Star, the militants had killed 165 Nirankaris, Hindus and Nirankaris, even 39 Sikhs opposed to Bhindranwale were killed. The total number of deaths was 410 in violent incidents and riots while 1,180 people were injured.
Counterintelligence reports of the Indian agencies had reported that three prominent figures in the operation, Shabeg Singh, Balbir Singh and Amrik Singh had made at least six trips each to Pakistan between the years 1981 and 1983. Intelligence Bureau reported that weapons training was being provided at gurdwaras in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Soviet intelligence agency KGB reportedly tipped off the Indian agency RAW about the CIA and ISI working together on a Plan for Punjab with a code name "Gibraltar". RAW from its interrogation of a Pakistani Army officer received information that over a thousand trained Special Service Group commandos of the Pakistan Army had been dispatched by Pakistan into the Indian Punjab to assist Bhindranwale in his fight against the government. A large number of Pakistani agents also took the smuggling routes in the Kashmir and Kutch n for three days ending on 8 June. A clean-up operation codenamed as Operation Woodrose was also initiated throughout Punjab.
The army had underestimated the firepower possessed by the militants. Militants had Chinese made rocket-propelled grenade launchers with armor piercing capabilities. Tanks and heavy artillery were used to attack the militants using anti-tank and machine-gun fire from the heavily fortified Akal Takht. After a 24-hour firefight, the army finally wrested control of the temple complex. Casualty figures for the Army were 83 dead and 249 injured. According to the official estimate presented by the Indian government, 1592 were apprehended and there were 493 combined militant and civilian casualties. High civilian casualties were attributed by the state to militants using pilgrims trapped inside the temple as human shields. According to Indian army generals, it was "doubtful" that Bhindranwale had any assurance of help or promise of asylum from Pakistan, as he made no attempt to escape with any associates, in additions to traditions of martyrdom.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (Damdami Taksal Leader - Killed)

Assassination of Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi By Her Sikh Bodyguards (1984)

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. on 31 October 1984 at her residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her bodyguards. Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, an Indian military action carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984 ordered by Indira Gandhi to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the Golden Temple of Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab. The collateral damage included the death of many pilgrims, as well as damage to the Akal Takht. The military action on the sacred temple was criticized both inside and outside India.
https://preview.redd.it/x3ee2xdzrq3b1.jpg?width=440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=438619a4afceb2005ca06799dc057de538203653

The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots (Sikh Genocide/Black November) in Response to Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi's Assasination - 17,000 Sikhs Dead [This Event Gave Rise to the Punjabi Insurgency Movement, Babar Khalsa & Flight Air India 182 Bombing in Canada]


The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots - Resulted in 17,000 Deceased Sikhs
The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh Genocide, 1984 Sikh Massacre or Black November, was a series of organized pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and 3,350 nationwide, whilst independent sources estimate the number of deaths at about 8,000–17,000.
The assassination of Indira Gandhi itself had taken place shortly after she had ordered Operation Blue Star, a military action to secure the Harmandir Sahib Sikh temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, in June 1984. The operation had resulted in a deadly battle with armed Sikh groups who were demanding greater rights and autonomy for Punjab and the deaths of many pilgrims. Sikhs worldwide had criticized the army action and many saw it as an assault on their religion and identity. In the aftermath of the pogroms, the government reported that 20,000 had fled the city; the People's Union for Civil Liberties reported "at least" 1,000 displaced persons. The most-affected regions were the Sikh neighborhoods of Delhi. Human rights organizations and newspapers across India believed that the massacre was organized. The collusion of political officials connected to the Indian National Congress in the violence and judicial failure to penalize the perpetrators alienated Sikhs and increased support for the Khalistan movement. The Akal Takht, Sikhism's governing body, considers the killings a genocide.
In 2011, Human Rights Watch reported that the Government of India had "yet to prosecute those responsible for the mass killings".According to the 2011 WikiLeaks cable leaks, the United States was convinced of Indian National Congress' complicity in the riots and called it "opportunism" and "hatred" by the Congress government, of Sikhs. Although the U.S. has not identified the riots as genocide, it acknowledged that "grave human rights violations" occurred. In 2011, the burned sites of multiple Sikh killings from 1984, were discovered in Hondh-Chillar and Pataudi areas of Haryana. The Central Bureau of Investigation, the main Indian investigative agency, believes that the violence was organized with support from the Delhi police and some central-government officials. After 34 years of delay, in December 2018, the first high-profile conviction for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place with the arrest of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court. Very few convictions have taken place in the pending 1984 cases, with only one death penalty conviction for an accused, Yashpal in the case of murdering Sikhs in the Mahipalpur area of Delhi.
To Be Continued in Indus Connection (Part 2 - Punjabi/Sikh History) - Flight Air India 182
submitted by TheLegendKeithDeroux to Torontology [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 07:35 revderrick Tower Defense Scenario went great tonight! Here are my rules, hope you enjoy!

Just had a blast running my group of 5 10th level PCs through this tower (manor) defense for the session. They managed to survive until the 7th round, when their allies arrived to end the scenario in their favor. They had one PC down, another two around 10 hp, two of their Fronts destroyed and a 3rd ready to crumble next round, so things really ended in the nick of time. It took us about 3 hours to run through the 7 rounds. If you wanted to make things easier and quick you could have the allies arrive initially on an earlier round, which they can then speed up with some lucky roles in the Invocation Chamber.
They didn't use the Bolster Defenses action at all. Maybe that should be a move instead of an action? Although maybe it's better as an action to leave for a desperate moment, but add to the healing?
Their manor has a garden hedge surrounding the back yard, so that gave them an extra Front. They also have 50 awakened shrubs that they can form into awakened trees by combining 10 shrubs (or 2 mobs for the scenario) as part of their established manor defenses.
These monsters were all lightning themed, because they're currently being assaulted by the Elemental Prince of Lightning.
Tower Defense Rules
The party has to hold out while reinforcements come in 10 “rounds”. Each round is 5-10 minutes of real time. At the start of each round, a certain number of enemies appear and a special event happens, based on the table below. If enemies “approach” they have to use their first turn only moving and thus get no attack (except for Front 2, which has no approach). If the enemies “appear’ they begin adjacent to the Front and can attack it that turn.
Enemies are either mobs or stompers. Mobs are big groups of small enemies. Stompers are big single brutes. If they survive to the end, they gain a short rest while their allies come to their aid, before the Lightning Prince shows up and a boss fight commences.
Monster don't roll initiative, instead taking action(s) on designated turns. Monsters don’t roll to hit Fronts, just deal auto damage. Roll as normal to hit defenders. All mobs can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the mob can move through any Front w/ 0 hp. The mob has advantage on Strength and Dexterity ability checks and saving throws. Effects that use an area of effect deal double damage to the mob as long as the mob has half of its hit points or more. All mobs are immune to: charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned unless it affects an area of creatures.
Any creature that ends its turn in a mob’s area or within 30 feet of the mob and the mob can see it, is targeted by an attack. All defenders grant advantage when outside a defensive Front or within a compromised one.
The house is divided into 5 Fronts (6 if the assault on the basement commences). 1- Front door, 2- North Wall, 3- South Wall, 4- Garden Hedge, 5- East Wall, 6- Basement. When a Front collapses, the monsters gain access beyond it, so to the house for 1, 2 & 5, to the garden for 4, and to the basement for 3. When an area is compromised, all special rooms within are lost. If 3 Fronts fall before reinforcements arrive, the PCs lose the house and the battle.
At the start of the combat, they have all 50 shrubs active, in groups of 5.
Each round, a PC can take following action(s). Most actions take their typical action to use.
Each special room has an ability that can be tapped during the battle:
Monsters (all in groups of 10 unless otherwise noted)
  1. Lil Bolts: AC 12, 50 hp, init 20 & 10; Str 7 (-2), Dex 15 (+2), Con 9 (-1), Int 8 (-1), Wis 7 (-2), Cha 8 (-1) Atk: Nearest Front and any creatures guarding it. +4 (w/ adv if has 25+ hp remaining), 1d4+2 (double if 25+ hp remaining).
  2. Streaks: AC 11, 125 hp, init 10; Str 8 (-1), Dex 12 (+1), Con 12 (+1), Int 9 (-1), Wis 11 (0), Cha 7(-2) Atk: Nearest Front and any creatures guarding it. +3 (+1 per 25 hp), 1d6 lightning (+1d6 per 25 hp)
  3. Strikers: AC 11, 100 hp, init 20; Str 7 (-2), Dex 13 (+1), Con 10 (0), Int 9 (-1), Wis 11 (0), Cha 12(+1) Atk: Nearest Front and any creatures guarding it. +3 (+1 per 25 hp), 2d4 lightning (+1d4 per 25 hp)
  4. Rumblers (Stompers, 1 per group): AC 14, 140 hp, init 10; Str 20 (+5), Dex 11 (0), Con 20 (+5), Int 8 (-1), Wis 6 (-2), Cha 10 (0) Atk: Makes 2 attacks, each can target any Front or creature in range. Melee: +9, 3d8+6. Ranged: 30’, +9, 4d10+6.
Event Table
Round Monsters Special Event
1 1d10 Lil Bolts Bolts approach all Fronts as evenly as possible.
2 1 Lil Bolt per Front; 1d4 Streaks Streaks approach 2 Fronts with fewest Bolts.
3 1 Lil Bolt per Front, 1d4 Streaks,1d4 Strikers Streaks & Strikers approach on 2 weakest Fronts.
4 2d6 Lil Bolts Lil Bolts appear evenly on 2 strongest Fronts
5 N/A An unnerving calm washes over the battle. Defenders make Wisdom saves at DC 12 or gain Frightened condition until end of next turn and cannot move or use special rooms (unless already there).
6 1d4+1 Rumblers Rumblers smash down from the sky, appear on all Fronts evenly.
7 2d6 Lil Bolts Lil Bolts approach 2 weakest Fronts.
8 1d4 Streaks, Strikes, 1 Rumbler New mobs approach location(s) with PCs.
9 2 Lil Bolts per Front, 1 Streak & Strike per Front New mobs attack recklessly.
10 3 Lil Bolts per Front, 1d4 Rumblers All mobs attack recklessly, favoring PCs.
submitted by revderrick to DnD [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 05:32 KomradeSims Update Notes: June 1, 2023

Welcome to June, and also the latest Project: Gorgon update! This update contains a new much-requested skill, Angling, as well as new UI features, quests, balancing, and a ton of bug fixes.
Bugs!
Update: the following are known bugs in this update -- no need to report them. If you see OTHER bugs, please report them!

Main Story

We've expanded the main story quest-line by a few steps. If you've already reached the point in the storyline where you were asked to have dinner with Jessina (via a hang out), the hang out is now available, and you should log in to see that your character has a "reminder quest" to hang out with Jessina.

New Camera Types

Players come to us from different games with different control schemes and camera views, and they often ask us if we can imitate the camera styles they're used to. So we gave it a try! We know that getting movement behavior just right can be tricky, so please give us feedback on how these work for you.
There are now 3 camera types to choose from, located in Settings > Controls:

AoE Visibility

Area-of-Effect abilities that are centered on the caster now have a visualization for their range.

Angling

Traditionally, fishing in Project: Gorgon has involved scooping fish up out of the water with your bare hands -- what we might call 'tickling' the fish. And that's fine, as far as it goes. It takes real skill! But not all fish can be caught this way. (And more importantly, players have told us that an MMO "needs" to have traditional fishing in order to feel like a complete MMO.)
So we've expanded Fishing with a new sub-skill: Angling. All you need is a fishing pole, some bait, and a body of water with catchable fish. (Also Fishing 15. And hands!) In order to get started, talk to Roshun the Traitor in Serbule.
The precise mechanics of Angling aren't spelled out in the game at the moment. Since this game focuses on exploration, we expect players to be able to figure out how Angling works. Please let us know what parts of the system were hard to figure out, and we'll work to make those bits more obvious.

Skills & Abilities

From here out (and probably through the rest of beta), we'll be making small balance changes. We don't want to overnerf/overbuff things, so most changes will be relatively modest, and then we'll re-evaluate and adjust further after more observation.
Warden:
We've revised the formulae used for damage reflection, which resulted in nerfs to Privacy Field. On the other hand, multiple bug fixes actually increase the Warden's power significantly in other ways.
Weather Witch:
Giant Bat:
Fire Magic:

Settings

UI Changes

Graphics & Animation

Other Bug Fixes & Tweaks

submitted by KomradeSims to projectgorgon [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 05:29 KoanicSoul Ukraine has allegedly sabotaged Zaporizhia like Chernobyl, to stop Russia and draw NATO in. Biden can't afford another Kabul.

Table of Contents

  1. Russo-China rejects Biden
  2. ZNPP as potential Chernobyl
  3. Biden's Ukraine is desperate enough for scorched-earth tactics
    1. Battle of the Bulge at Bakhmut
    2. Fresh meat
    3. Teixeira leaks
    4. BRICS vs NATO
  4. ZNPP's weak point is diesel fuel
  5. Ukrainian saboteurs caught by ZNPP
  6. BB / Red Skull / Inb4source / Q
    1. BB sent Q
    2. BB warns Zaporizhia is pivotal
    3. RS gives ZNPP sabotage warning
    4. Ukraine HVT: Nuclear tit for tat
    5. Inb4source / Red Skull 4chan posting history
Note: links redacted. See bottom for link to original.

Summary

Ukraine has allegedly sabotaged Zaporizhia to melt down like Chernobyl, to stop the Russian invasion and justify NATO peacekeepers.
Here's Biden's plan to avoid another Kabul:

Russo-China rejects Biden

"Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up." – Barack Obama
Clearly we underestimated him. Americans can hardly believe that Biden blew up Nord Stream 2, essentially attacking our colony "ally" Germany. Perhaps they're still reeling from Kabul falling faster than Hanoi.
Normally Russia endeavors to cooperate with the sitting US president. However, Russian state media has begun airing the Hunter Biden laptop images, of Hunter engaged in drugs and pedophilia with preteen girls. This is retaliation for Biden crossing Russia's red line by repeatedly trying to sabotage Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). That's why Russia is willing to assist in the impeachment of a sitting US president, which is obviously an extreme step to take between two countries with enough nukes to blot out the Sun.
Rumor has it that China has also turned on Biden, which would make sense: China's economic backing allows Russia to survive US sanctions. China wants Taiwan, and Russia wants East Ukraine. They would be stupid not to cooperate.

ZNPP as potential Chernobyl

A Redditor explains:
Kawaii-Gopnik Russia really needs that powerplant without any leak, to provide industry of surrounding regions with energy, but very few people understand contexts of the current situation: Soviets built complicated and very well ballanced energy system, including not only NPP, but also cascade of hydro power plants. Donetsk, Dnepr, Zaporozhe and Kharkov regions are just one big power hungry plant. NPP itself is reliant on hydropower and quality of water in Dnepr river. In case of really bad "accident" Russia will forget about development of the newly accuired regions, lack of energy produced by NPP is significant, nearly 30-40%. Accident will affect south of Ukraine with russian majority. It will also be also disaster for ecology of the WHOLE Black Sea. Rose of winds will spread nuclear dust to the West - Poland, Romania, Czechia and further. Nuclear zone will stop russian army from further territorial expansion. This will be border formed by Dnepr and nuclear zones.
The basic facts are documented by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Even while shut down, ZNPP needs external power grid or diesel to prevent its reactors from overheating.
Russia controls ZNPP. A nuclear "accident" would give NATO pretext to intervene, so Ukraine keeps trying to cause one.
How bad is this? Well, Chernobyl is in Ukraine. That was a 1k MW reactor. ZNPP has six. It is the 9th largest NPP in the world.
Hopefully the containment response would be much better than Chernobyl's, but that's hardly something to count on during WW3. Russia's nuclear doctrine includes pre-emptive strikes; who knows what they'd do. The USSR nearly launched twice during the Cold War.
Imagine if China assisted Texas in seceding from the USA to rejoin Mexico, and then caused a reactor meltdown at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant when the USA retook it. A lot of Southerners would want to lob a few nukes back at China. They might demand it.
It is foolish to assume WW3 will not happen because it hasn't happened yet. One should look instead at the historical record of continual warfare, and the difficulties in preventing WW3 so far:
Thus one cannot rule out a radiation release 6x as bad as Chernobyl. Not that Ukraine needs anything so dramatic. It merely seeks a pretext to justify direct NATO intervention to "protect" ZNPP. A small leak will suffice.
Even if there is a major radiation leak, it will occur in Russian-annexed separatist territory, and help Ukraine defend her new border. Scorched earth is a valid tactic, whether the fire is conventional or nuclear. Ukraine survived Chernobyl and knows it can survive ZNPP too.

Biden's Ukraine is desperate enough for scorched-earth tactics

Battle of the Bulge at Bakhmut

"We have been working on the counter-offensive with Ukraine for 4-5 months." – Victoria Nuland
Why is Ukraine so desperate?
Ukraine depends on NATO aid to fight Russia. NATO aid depends on Democrat willingness. Democrat willingness depends on US public support. Therefore the illusion must be maintained to the American public that Ukraine is winning. For this reason, Ukraine has committed its reserves to a costly failed counter-offensive. Bakhmut fell regardless.
James A. Donald summarizes the strategic picture:
So, bright new plan. "The Greatest Ukrainian Offensive". The Ukraine would build up a big reserve of fresh troops, then suddenly hurl large chunks of them at particular points on the front. They would, the Americans planned, cut through a point in the front lines, penetrate to Russian rear areas, wreak havoc on those areas, and force Russian troops in danger of being encircled to hastily retreat from territory that had been slowly gained at enormous cost in grinding attritive warfare. I do not know how big the Ukrainian strategic reserve was, but if it was two hundred fifty thousand, they have now committed most of them to grinding attritive warfare, and cupboard is looking as bare of men as it is of artillery and rockets.
The USA expected to break Russia economically; China's economic support prevented that. Despite PMC Wagner's heartfelt complaints, Russia is unlikely to run out of convicts anytime soon. Russia is rotating divisions through Ukraine, seasoning reservists for a looming WW3. Russia's historical appetite for losses is much higher than its current losses. This is essentially a civil war, and the Russia bear considers being carved up an existential threat. By underestimating Russia's resolve, NATO is repeating the error of Napoleon and Hitler.
Despite having plenty of weapons, Ukraine's military manpower is exhausted and demoralized. Raw conscripts are thrown at the front lines with minimal training. Medvedev predicts that the Ukraine will cease to exist; half its people have already fled.
Anonymous Sat 27 May 2023 04:59:49 No.428438077 Report 428437208 Yeah, the killing has been excessive since they pretty much destroyed 95% of Azov fags and assorted true believers in the first 200k dead, now they overshot it by 100%. About 12% of the non-Russian speaking population's prime military aged men in Ukraine are dead or crippled. 12-20% of the same demographic has fled the country. It's over, desu. They are seeing much more of the polish and romanian mercs now, since they literally lack the manpower.
Western mass media wrongly assumes that Russia is losing because it does not take the entirety of Ukraine in a blitz, as the USA did to Iraq. However, Russia does not want West Ukraine; the people there do not like Russians. Russia has captured the territory it wants, and is now using the rest of Ukraine as a kettle or cauldron, in which to conveniently destroy whatever NATO wishes to send. This is a good way for Russia to gradually learn how to fight NATO armies in a low-risk environment.
The Spartans had a rule never to war too often against the same enemy, lest they train up a nemesis. It was foolish of NATO to believe that Russia had forgotten the lessons of attrition warfare that it learned so recently in Afghanistan.
Nehming Names 9h Russia's prudent caution in directly engaging the West is bringing dividends in perhaps unexpected ways. Russia is gaining strategic knowledge of the actual capabilities and weaknesses of our weapon systems and military tactics, with our supply of munitions draining to militarily unsustainable levels, as it engages allied forces in Ukraine. Russia is aware of the continuing progress of the Great Awakening in the West, that is, the knowledge that Western governments, military, and institutions are run by an elite hostile to their heritage populations, and therefore expects to see declining support of Western governments by their citizens. Russia can also see the precipitous decrease in every societal metric in the West: social cohesiveness, general morality, public health, financial stability, military readiness, etc.With these three degradative processes in play, the most strategic thing Russia and China can do is to bide their time, as time itself will act to sap the strength of the West to militarily engage their foes.

Fresh meat

Russian conquest of Kiev would air Biden's dirty laundry to the world, from Burisma kickbacks to pedophilic field trips and worse. This would result in US "regime change". A distant Chernobyl is a small price to pay, for top Democrats to avoid the hangman's noose.
Poland is itching to invade. Victoria Nuland is scheduling NATO air exercises. USAF propaganda asserts that Russia's air force is a joke. The question is, do Americans still believe Biden's false prophets of victory?
If not, they just need a little "encouragement": 9/11, Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor, Lusitania, Remember the Maine… Keep those rural Whites busy lest they make trouble at home!
Most Americans cannot find Ukraine on a map. (To be fair, it hasn't been on the map very long.) However, the architects of Biden's Ukraine policy, such as Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken and George Soros, tend to have grandparents of Eastern European origin. I am sure for them it feels important. There's no place like home.
A Redditor explains:
tinglevibestoo I listened to a former CIA agent talk about Ukraine the other day. He said that Ukraine is running out of time. It's not that they don't have the weapons. We've sent them a ton of weapons. It's that they don't have enough troops and they're running low on troops. That's how Russia will win. Ukraine can't sustain the manpower. It totally makes sense to use a nuclear false flag as a reason to bring in the extra manpower. Everyone would deem it justified too because it's a threat to the neighboring nations and it'd be an environmental (climate change) catastrophe.

Teixeira leaks

Some will bring up the US intelligence leaks by Jack Teixeira to support the idea that Russia rather than Ukraine is desperate. Unlike Snowden, Teixeiera was obviously a major security risk for patriotically-motivated leaking, with numerous red flags in his previous and ongoing behavior. Therefore Teixeira was probably a deliberate leak by US intelligence, using a patsy to generate the initial leak and then add whatever extra info they wanted released in the resulting confusion.
Teixeira's leaks served several purposes for the Biden administration:
Most importantly, it mitigated the potential political fallout from another catastrophe like Kabul, should Kiev fall.
The 4chan leaker BB/Inb4source asserts Teixeira was a patsy.

BRICS vs NATO

The foundation of the US empire is the petrodollar, which allows the USA to tax the world via digital debt seignorage. This is why the creation of BRICS as an independent financial and trading system rendered war between NATO and BRICS inevitable, as Kim Dotcom predicted. The US republic is a thalassocratic empire as arrogant as democratic Athens, and it is addicted to financial plunder. The Empire cannot afford to lose the USD's reserve currency status.
Reserve currencies and empires both have lifespans, and the USA has reached the end of both. It is at the stage where hubristic foreign misadventures prove fatal, and Ukraine and Taiwan will prove too much for the American eagle to handle. This is no longer WW2; the USA cannot win a two-front war against BRICS.
That is why Biden's NATO is desperate; the Empire is unravelling as the European Union and other allies such as Turkey and India lose their faith in NATO.
The fact that none of this is common knowledge speaks volumes about who controls public schools and owns mass media corporations.

ZNPP's weak point is diesel fuel

The situation at ZNPP is tenuous and grim, workers report:
Europe’s largest nuclear power station is on the frontline of the Ukraine war. SkyNews Twitter
The fact that the backup diesel reactors have not been maintained is particularly concerning, considering they have already been used 7 times.
UN nuclear chief raises alarm over Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant Al Jazeera
Ukraine keeps trying to force a crisis at ZNPP to justify NATO intervention. In other words, Ukraine keeps shelling ZNPP to cut the one power line that still connects it to the grid.
Atlas
This is extremely dangerous, external power is required for reliable cooling of the reactors and pools containing spent nuclear waste. Western media spent months last year pretending Kiev wasn’t shelling ZNPP.
Notice that the Russian side keeps ZNPP connected to the power grid, while the Ukrainian side pretends it cannot until the Russian invasion ends:
As you can see, Ukraine is not interested in being reasonable. Russia is happy to leave the NPP free of heavy military equipment, but Ukraine demands the removal of all troops and landmines from ZNPP as well. That would leave the plant undefended, which is obviously unacceptable.
(This is how perverse incentives work. A little ally with nothing to lose can start a world war. It's almost like dividing the world into two hostile nuclear alliances is a bad idea.)
When ZNPP loses external power, huge diesel generators automatically switch on to keep the reactors cool. How much diesel does this consume? Truckloads per day:
Anonymous Sat 27 May 2023 05:18:50 No.428439721 Report Quoted By: >>428463646 428436425 Still easy to transport diesel enough to keep them going In what? If NATO ops and Mercs are sabotaging trucks coming in, what do you think they are gonna carry diesel in to the plant? Is Russia gonna pack in rotopack Jerry cans on their back. Fill a truck up with 5 gallon cans and hope they make it past the snipers and sabotage? Do you have any clue how much fuel those big generators suck down in a day? Those generators to run the plants during shut down or failures are huge 500kw or bigger they are the size of whole 18 wheeler trailers. Those things will drink 50 gallons an hour. You gonna haul in 2.5 gallon rotopacks one at a time to keep it going?
Nuclear power plants have tough shielding. Allegedly the diesel generators are hidden underground. However, the diesel fuel supply is still vulnerable.
Normally the diesel generators have enough fuel for 10 days. However, ZNPP's diesel stockpile recently dipped to 4 days, according to 4chan leaker Inb4source.

Ukrainian saboteurs caught by ZNPP

On May 27, Ukraine accused Russian of planning to cause a leak at ZNPP:
OSINTdefender The Main Directorate of Intelligence for Ukraine has announced that the Russian Military is preparing for Large-Scale Provocation in the coming hours at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Southern Ukraine that will reportedly Simulate an “Accident” at the Plant causing the Emergency Leak of Radioactive Substances which will be Blamed on Ukrainian Forces.
Then Russia announced it had caught saboteurs (presumably Ukrainian) in ZNPP's city:
Saboteurs who were preparing terrorist attacks on the NPP were detained in Energodar. They had with them maps and schematics of the nuclear power plant with marks for strikes that could lead to a nuclear catastrophe. The suspects are involved in collecting and transmitting information about the facilities of the Zaporozhye NPP on the instructions of the Ukrainian authorities. To communicate with the curators, they used foreign satellite systems, as well as foreign weapons for strikes and equipment for conducting reconnaissance and sabotage activities.
Enerhodar is the city that contains the ZNPP: See Enerhodar Wikipedia
Some object that the footage is "staged". Of course it is staged. The primary consumer of the helmet-cam footage is Russian military intelligence. The evidence shot was staged for their benefit. The short edited video that was released to the public has distorted voices, and avoids showing any faces. Thus even if the footage is authentic, it is still "staged".
The ZNPP maps displayed in the video don't appear to match the announcement text. The maps could simply show where diesel fuel trucks need to go. Russia does not wish to advertise the specific nature of ZNPP's vulnerability.
The saboteurs appear to be 3-man team, equipped with 3 rifles and 3 NLAW missile launchers.
The saboteurs had 5 frag grenades. Normally soldiers carry 2 or 3 grenades, but heavy weapons soldiers don't have to. The three smooth grenades are RGD-5s, a cheap outdated Russian model. The Russian troops removed the fuses from the grenades on the evidence table to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Some object that Ukrainian saboteurs wouldn't be so careless as to have printouts of the reactor map. However, the saboteurs' presence in Enerhodar already makes their target obvious. Presumably multiple teams were sent to intercept Russian diesel shipments.
The Enerhodar saboteurs would've been notified when satellites spotted their target. Until then, they should hide in the safehouse behind blackout curtains to avoid detection. The fact that these saboteurs were caught napping suggests a degree of incompetence, compared to other teams who presumably either avoided detection or fought back. One can assume that Ukrainian specops have suffered extreme casualties.

BB / Red Skull / Inb4source / Q

BB sent Q

Qanon has lost a tremendous amount of popularity, as patriots grew disillusioned with the slow pace of the promised Great Awakening. They did not understand that Q is subordinate to a higher power with an agenda that does not necessarily include their survival.
Q aimed to help Trump save the USA. Q was sent by "Burning Bush", whose agenda is judging humanity, on the eve of WW3 and runaway de-terraforming. BB's personas started posting to 4chan's pol by 2016, whereas Q started in October 2017. (4chan is like the wild west of the Web: The world's spooks congregate there to exchange intelligence.)
BB goes by several nicknames; he began posting anonymously as "Inb4source" in 2016. A recent message implies the USA/Israel is Babylon the Great, and God (meaning him) has returned to judge her:
The world has turned it's back on *od now *od Is turning His back on the world. He Who Lets has been REMOVED. THE ANGEL OF DEATH HAS COME THE HARVEST OF THE TARES HAS BEGUN. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. (Earthquake Lights) And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. (nothing ever happens) Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, inb4source
BB claims responsibility for the historical pendulum swinging rightward, via figures such as Elon Musk. His method of influence is the butterfly effect.
"Burning Bush" claims to be God. One can think of him as the God of the Old Testament, or as a pagan god like Zeus, or as merely a transcendent extraterrestrial. However, he also claims to inhabit a human-looking body, lives on a ranch in the USA, has children, caught COVID19, etc.
Whatever one's theology, the relevant portion of BB's message is that the USA did not sufficiently embrace the opportunity offered by Q. Anyone who has read the Old Testament knows what happens next: Ignore the prophet, reap the consequences. Thus Q's slogan "Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming" should be understood in the Biblical sense, like Noah's flood: The Ark is optional.
(As far as I know, Q is still posting to Truth Social. I don't follow that site.)
Paul Furber is the chief priest of BB. Before that, he was a major early proponent of Q. See Furber's book for many verifiable examples of fulfilled predictions and proven scoops.
BB normally identifies himself by the unique image hash of his burning bush picture. (Nobody can generate that hash unless they possess the original image.) However, BB also posts as an anon users nickname "Red Skull", for his signature images of red skulls. As Red Skull, BB avoids the extravagant Biblical claims of BB, but the style and modus operandi and interests are obviously the same – as are his implied godlike powers.
I recommend focusing on facts and trying to prevent nuclear WW3, rather than getting hung up on theology. BB is not asking anyone to worship him or sacrifice chickens. He does prescribe prayer and a life of action governed by virtue.
I certainly do not recommend taking everything anonymous spooks say at face value. If you are, like most people, unable to think in shades of gray between binary true and false, this essay is above your reading level.

BB warns Zaporizhia is pivotal

BB has repeatedly warned that keeping Zaporizhia intact is critical to the survival of NATO citizenry:
the Ukrainians attacking the Nuclear Power station in the hands of the Russians spewing radiation over enough territory that the Russians will turn Kiev into a furnace.
– BB 2022-9-24
Find other warnings by searching for keyword "nuclear".
Those who find it difficult to believe that nuclear weapons would be used in WW3 as in WW2 should note that COVID19 is already a bioweapon WMD deployed for WW3.

RS gives ZNPP sabotage warning

On the morning of May 27, BB's persona Red Skull leaked that NATO specops had sabotaged external power to ZNPP.
His scenario is plausible and severe enough to warrant investigation.
Here are relevant posts, datestamped 2023 May 27 0300-0500:
it's a little less than ten days… Until Nato SpecOps melt down the Uke Nuke plant and blames it on you.
He continues:
Nato SpecOps have sabotaged power to the nuke plant. As of this posting, 6 days of diesel fuel remain to provide power to pumps to cool the plant and spent fuel pool. Diesel shipments are being targeted and terminated.
He adds:
So now I need to tell you Russia intends a pre emptive strike if nuclear capable F16's are delivered.
On the evening of May 27, Red Skull updated:
Doesn't look good at Nuke Plant. Russia has 4 days to get more fuel to the generators. They are working on clearing a flight path. Ukraine will try to stop them on orders of U.S. Uniparty.
Sounds like a severe leak, to lose 2 days of fuel in under 24 hours.

Ukraine HVT: Nuclear tit for tat

On 28 May Red Skull asserted that:
Red Skull approved of this anon's summary:
Nuclear warheads that USA/UK sent. Specifically for the purpose of being exploded in Ukraine. The false flags will never stop until all out WW3 is declared, or until you root out the pedophile demon cult that is running the show and sending you monkeys to war. War for really no good reason at this point. The cities are destroyed, just withdraw. Ukraine is a kettle right now, a kill box. Do you understand what that means? And it was created on purpose.
On May 30, Putin announced that Russia had destroyed the Ukrainian military intelligence headquarters. Photos confirm the damage.
Intelligence chief Kyrylo Oleksiyovych Budanov may have died in the strike.

Inb4source / Red Skull 4chan posting history

Inb4source has posted on 4chan since 2016, but he doesn't always use an image hash identifier, making it impossible to verify the identity of all of his early posts. As his popularity grew, others began adopting his catchphrase ">inb4source".
18016 posts on pol contain ">inb4source".
The first page of results suggests Inb4source is a pro-Trump military intelligence officer. He began posting in Aug 2016, before Trump's inauguration.
Another early Inb4source catchphrase is "I AM The Source." This has a double meaning, both theological and journalistic.
The catchphrase doesn't appear in every Inb4source post. Searching for it yields 437 results, too many of which are irrelevant results.
Searching for both phrases together yields 50 results that look to be mostly legitimate. One could then search for additional posts by each unique ID from a session.
Searching for image hashes is a reliable method of ID verification, assuming no one else has the image. I know of two such images that Inb4source/BB uses: both are red skulls, giving him the nickname RS.
RS just announced that his devices (phone, computers) have been compromised, casting doubt on the legitimacy of future RS posts. This may be a response to my publication of his warnings regarding Zaporizhia onto Reddit and Gab; the timing is suspicious. I first mentioned Inb4source on Reddit 7 days ago, and Red Skull on Gab yesterday (as of morning June 3). I do not know of any other analysts writing about him or connecting him to his BB persona.
When evaluating his warnings and predictions, remember that publishing info about ongoing events can affect the outcome, and is often intended to do so. Unlike the concept of Biblical prophecy, the future is mostly probabilistic. However, he is certainly good at scooping the news.
Someone else can do an in-depth Q-proof style analysis of his accuracy; my focus here is Zaporizhia.
Read original with links here.
submitted by KoanicSoul to NurembergTwo [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 03:31 MNLYYZYEG Heart Signal 4 - Episode 3 - 230602

Heart Signal 4 (하트시그널4) is finally here after 3 years.
Episode 3 Discussion for Heart Signal 4 over in /koreanvariety subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/13y551s/heart_signal_4_episode_3_230602/
Synopsis:
Cupid returns for a fresh assault on the hearts of a new group of romance-ready singletons. The group has never met before, but must live together in Signal House. The house rules encourage flirty behavior, but forbid housemates from directly telling anyone that they like them. Instead, they must express their feelings via text message. But there’s a twist: All texts to housemates are anonymous – meaning recipients have to guess who is trying to make a love connection with them.
Watching events unfurl in the house is a celebrity panel of love experts. These include returning romance fans Yoon Jong Shin, Kim Ea Na, and Lee Sang Min, all veterans of previous “Heart Signal” seasons. And joining this trio this time around is a fresh crop of star pundits, including OH MY GIRL member Mimi, Kang Seung Yoon of WINNER, and leading psychiatrist Kim Chong Gi.
This variety TV show series is the follow-up to 2017’s “Heart Signal.” A second series was released in 2018. And this was followed up with Season 3 in 2020.
“Heart Signal 4” is a 2023 South Korean reality TV/variety show that was produced by Park Cheol Hwan.

Cast

Lee Jumi (이 주미)
Kim Jiyoung (김 지영)
Kim Jimin (김 지민)
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Shin Mingyu (신 민규)
Han Gyeore (한 겨레)
Yoo Jiwon (유 지원)
Lee Hushin (이 후신)

Panelists

Kim Eana
Lee Sangmin
Yoon Jongshin
Kang Seungyoon (from WINNER group)
Kim Mihyun or Mimi/미미 (from OMG group)
Kim Chonggi (psychiatrist)

Subtitles

Subtitles
Stream Viki
Stream KOCOWA
Stream VIU Singapore
Stream VIU Hong Kong
English subtitles are available on Viki now.
Around 9PM for English subs on Viki could be the consistent release schedule, so wait ~10-12 hours after the episode premieres (converting from Korean Standard Time, it's like 9:50AM every Friday, New York Time/Eastern Daylight Time), then the Viki volunteers should have the English/etc. subtitles available maybe before midnight or usually it's available the next day anyway, just like with other Viki shows.
Remember VIU (and KOCOWA/etc.) also has Heart Signal 4 but it seems sometimes they're delayed with the English subs or episode release.
For VIU access, you'll probably have to use VPNs set to Singapore/Southeast Asia to view their catalog.
Oh and Heart Signal 4 (and earlier seasons) is also apparently available on Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, et cetera, but as usual there's some region restrictions.
Accessing Kdramas, Korean variety shows, and so on (basically Viki, VIU, Disney+, Netflix, etc.): https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/10fpzhx/overall_thoughts_on_love_catcher_in_bali/j5cmhaw/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/13bmtin/anyone_know_where_can_i_watch_the_below_korean/jjbtnuz/

Past Threads

Episode Subreddit Thread
Episode 1 koreanvariety, heartsignal
Episode 2 koreanvariety, heartsignal
Episode 3 koreanvariety, heartsignal
Heart Signal Youtube channel or 하트시그널 라비티비 channel: https://www.youtube.com/@channelA-heartsignal/videos
Heart Signal 4 teasers and clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFIYUdSkjiCAuWe006VqSTFfaE7rgIHNy
Heart Signal 4 production stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46UmvFNwi9Q
Heart Signal 4 Episode 1 commentary with Heart Signal 2 Jaeho and some other people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRuQmQUKLvQ
Heart Signal 4 Episode 2 commentary with Heart Signal 2 Youngjoo and Jaeho, and some other people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAFSWmQJkhk
Heart Signal 4 Episode 3 commentary with Heart Signal 2 Youngjoo and Jaeho, and some other people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU511y8l3uw
Gaheun (Heart Signal 3 and Friends) and Jaeho with the Heart Signal 4 house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86F9hZ-7nxc
Jangmi (Heart Signal 2 and Friends) and Jaeho with the Heart Signal 4 house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAcupLirqOk
Heart Signal 4 Official BGM Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8djlZk6ZeM0
Heart Signal 4 Official BGM Playlist 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avMPSuhEqak
The Chinese version of Heart Signal (心动的信号) has an engaged couple now, don't click this link unless you finished Heart Signal 2 (心动的信号第二季), oh and it also talks about Terrace House marriages too: https://www.reddit.com/heartsignal/comments/13p3qqheart_signal_2_心动的信号,_Chinese/중국_version_couple/
Terrace House: Aloha State marriage now has pictures: https://www.reddit.com/terracehouse/comments/13sz4qe/the_aloha_state_ogs/
For Heart Signal, the original Korean version and some seasons of the Chinese version should be on Viki.
Season 2 of both the Korean and Chinese versions are considered the best, and now some people also really like the 5th season of the Chinese version. The upcoming 6th season of the Chinese version is being prepared at the moment, it might be out later this 2023 year or so.
Heart Signal 1 (Korean Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/35675c-heart-signal
Heart Signal 2 (Korean Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36949c-heart-signal-2
Heart Signal 3 (Korean Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36950c-heart-signal-3
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Heart Signal 1 (Chinese Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36228c-heart-signal-chinese-version
Heart Signal 2 (Chinese Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36654c-heart-signal-2-chinese-version
Heart Signal 5 (Chinese Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/38812c-heart-signal-5-chinese-version
With the Chinese version of Heart Signal, it's available on the WeTV/Tencent Video website (has English subs), and also their WeTV/Tencent Video channels on Youtube for free but without proper English subs.
Through the Tencent Video Youtube channel you'll have to use auto-translate from Chinese/Mandarin or maybe say Thai, Vietnamese, etc. So for English subs you have to check their own WeTV/Tencent Video/etc. website.
Viki has the 1st, 2nd, and 5th seasons of the Chinese version of Heart Signal, so you'll have to look for the 3rd (心动的信号S3) and 4th season (心动的信号S4) elsewhere. Like use auto-translate/etc. with the Youtube episodes, or check their actual WeTV/Tencent Video website.
Heart Signal 3 (Chinese Version), Episode 1 and playlist (has Thai and Vietnamese subtitles, use auto-translate to English/any desired language): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywBixGNlkYs&list=PLMX26aiIvX5reBhNMq0rNZHoDa_aGblAs
Heart Signal 4 (Chinese Version), Episode 1 and playlist (these episodes on Youtube for the 4th season don't even have automatic captions/subtitles (no Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese/etc. subs either), so go on WeTV/Tencent Video's website or some places (like Bilibili, etc.) for other subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWNF5cxAap0&list=PLb8w8KsDSK1wtxaCeyEAMXCHxsCYJLK4A
Expect English subtitles on Viki/etc. to appear after 10/12/etc. hours have passed since Heart Signal 4's initial release on the Korean TV/streaming services.
Episode 3 of Heart Signal 4 got moved to Friday (today), and it seems to be a similar schedule of being available around 11 hours later, 9PM New York Time/Eastern Daylight Time. Future episodes will probably be on Friday too unless they change it again (due to low ratings and so on), as such expect subs to be out during the weekend as IIRC it was rare for shows (on Viki) to have subs on Monday instead of Saturday or Sunday.
But actually that did happen for a while with the earlier seasons of the Chinese version of Heart Signal, as in it would be stuck at about 95% completed subtitles for a good day, like some parts or dialogue were missing subtitles. Still watchable but sometimes key/etc. parts were glossed over. Viki subtitling teams are still composed of volunteer members, so keep that in mind if the subs are delayed for a while.
For the KOCOWA and VIU subs, expect them to be earlier than Viki but right now it seems that they may be delayed or after Viki, so who knows how it'll be for the next 10 episodes or so.
If you don't want to wait for Viki/VIU/KOCOWA/etc. subtitles (and to get ahead of spoilers), you guys can watch the raw Episode 3 on this Channel A (채널에이방송영상) channel (appears like an hour or so later): https://www.youtube.com/@user-sh4gc2fu9i/videos
Wait, wtf they just regionally restricted it this past week, lol, so a VPN set to Korea will probably unlock it. This was the link to Episode 2 of Heart Signal 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0IHJ44sQdg
That video for Episode 2 (from the Channel A (채널에이방송영상) channel) has no English/etc. subtitles, but with auto-generated Korean, you can use auto-translate to English/any desired language (it worked last week): https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/13q991t/heart_signal_4_episode_2_230524/jlgihm0/
This is the link to Episode 3 of Heart Signal 4 from the Channel A (채널에이방송영상) channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSS5o-ExEA8
Oh and if you want to watch it live (there's advertisements and other shows around the Heart Signal 4 episode stream), then you can also visit the Channel A website: https://www.ichannela.com/com/cmm/onair.do
Note the release schedule in Korea: like UTC+9, Korean Standard Time, 10:50PM every Friday. That just translates to around 9:50AM New York Time/Eastern Daylight Time. So make sure to tune in around that specific time as otherwise you'll miss the episode release and get like a different thing, lol.
New Japanese dating show called "Is She the Wolf" on Netflix, kinda like Love Catcher: https://www.reddit.com/terracehouse/comments/13y0vbp/new_netflix_series_is_she_the_wolf_looks_like_it/jmkhyea/
submitted by MNLYYZYEG to heartsignal [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 02:47 TLMoonBear Let’s talk about learning to get good at Abyss

What makes the Abyss hard?

There are many complaints about the Abyss. One particular complaint that commonly appears is the Abyss being “hard” or having “unfair mechanics”.
Tackling difficult content requires players having an understanding of how game mechanics and how players can express skill. Without this, players cannot actually engage with the challenge game designers come up with.
I believe many (but not all) complaints about Abyss combat are due to low player understanding of skill expression. This is due to several reasons:

1. Outside of Abyss there's very little actual content that requires you to be good at the game

2. Genshin gives you very little feedback when you fail in the Abyss

3. Content creators don’t focus on this topic enough

So let’s talk about what some key gameplay techniques are for Genshin. And then I’ll walk through Abyss design and how to think about beating the Abyss.
I will assume you are already familiar with basic techniques such as funnelling energy particles, and using I-Frames from Bursts / Dashes.

Key gameplay skills to learn

1. Grouping

Key idea: Killing multiple enemies is often as fast as killing one enemy if they all stand in the same place, saving you time
Even when using an Anemo character, the AI can be manipulated to group themselves together. This makes killing them much faster.
The core idea is that if the enemy isn’t in range to hit you, it will try to walk forward to do so. Therefore, you can position yourself in a way to encourage the AI to move together. This avoids you having to chase them around and waste time.
How to do this: When a pack of enemies spawns, move to one extreme side of them. The enemies on the opposite side will walk closer to get in range and bunch up together.
An easy trick: The first time you do an unknown Abyss layout, just load and don’t even try to fight it. Watch where enemies spawn, and how long their attack range is. This lets you observe if there are any grouping tricks you can abuse.
Example: Spiral Abyss Patch 3.4 Floor 12-2-2 (2 min 28 sec onwards)
After blowing up Wave 1 with Raiden, the player runs to the far left side of the Abyss. This causes Wave 2 of the Husks to begin to group up.
Running to the opposite side of the Abyss then gets the Husks to all stand right next to each other perfectly. This zig-zag manoeuvre means they can be extremely efficiently AoE’ed down much faster.

2. Camera Angle Management

Key idea: Always stand in a position where you can see all enemies. This means you can never be surprised by an attack from off-screen.
If the enemies are always in front of you, you can watch for the most important attacks to either Dash or cast Bursts to immune the damage / knockback.
You should never be in a position where you are hit by an attack you did not see coming.
How to do this: The easiest way to do this in the Spiral Abyss is to stand with your back towards a wall and the enemies in front of you.
Example: Spiral Abyss Patch 2.7 Floor 12-2-1 (1 min 50 sec onwards)
The player immediately runs to the back wall of the Spiral Abyss. This means despite enemies spawning in a circle around the starting point, everything can be seen by the player camera.
This has the benefit of grouping everything up to eat AoE and die efficiently.
After Wave 1 dies, the player always looks at the Cryo Slime facing the Frost Lawlachurl. Always keeping the Lawlachurl in front of them means every attack is extremely telegraphed and can be casually dodged for a clean kill.

3. Stamina Management

Key idea: Keep enough Stamina so you can always dodge important attacks.
Melee characters must trade their Stamina for distance and speed to clear fast. Therefore, you want to position carefully in the Abyss to minimize the distance you have to travel.
(This is also why Yoimiya is sometimes favoured over Hu Tao at very high levels of investment. If you are strong enough to one-rotate things anyway, the range advantage means you spend no stamina attacking enemies that spawn far away from each other instead of needing to chase them down)
How to do this: Know where enemies spawn. Kite towards spawn locations so you don’t spend time and stamina chasing up with enemies.
If you face enemies that charge you, stand with your back to a wall. The enemies will charge into a wall. This way you don’t need to chase after them.
Example: Spiral Abyss Patch 3.4 Floor 12-1-1 and Floor 12-2-1 (1 min 40 sec onwards)
On Floor 12-1-1, the player knows where all enemies are spawning. They move in a way that minimizes stamina usage and can spawn camp the enemy.
On Floor 12-2-2, the player stands with the wall at their back when the Consecrated Beasts spawn. This means they charge towards the player. Camera angle management means the attack is extremely obvious and easily I-Framed.
Keeping both Beasts near the wall means they can be easily AoE’ed down for a quick kill.

4. Pre-cast long animation Skills / Bursts

Key idea: Bursts take up time. Cast the ones with long animations when enemies have downtime so you don’t use up your DPS window.
Enemies that are targetable can also be cheesed by hitting them for some extra Energy from skills / Favonius procs.
How to do this: Many enemies have animations for spawning into the Abyss. Instead of waiting for them to spawn in, use the time to set up things such as Nahida Burst so you minimize the time not spent doing dps.
Example: Spiral Abyss Patch 3.4 Floor 12-2-2 (3 min 55 sec onwards)
By the time Dorito King ASIMON has even fully loaded into the Abyss, the player has already set up Yae turrets, Nahida E and Burst, and funnelled energy on Yelan to get back her Burst.

Learning the 3.7 Abyss specifics

1. Overview of Abyss design

Mihoyo creates Abyss layouts to encourage or discourage a specific type of gameplay, or put pressure on team compositions.
The most common approach is creating one side with an AoE mob focus vs one side with a Boss killing focus.
However, more recently Mihoyo has been introducing specific challenges to target specific ways players play teams.
The reason Mihoyo does this is because it's one of the few ways they can balance content in the game. They can't retroactively buff / nerf things. So the primary lever they have is to create Abyss designs that encourage or discourage certain types of play.

2. 3.7 Abyss Design

The 3.7 Abyss is structured as a team composition building test. It rewards players who have built a variety of characters they can flex, and punishes people who have narrow character pools.

Right Side: The Shield Breaking Challenge

Left Side: The Time and Character Pool Challenge

3. Floor specific advice

Floor 12-1-1

Grouping techniques:

Floor 12-1-2

Nahida National comments:

Floor 12-2-1

Floor 12-2-2

Floor 12-3-1

Floor 12-3-2

Nahida National comments:
GL HF clearing the Abyss~! (。•̀ᴗ-)✧
submitted by TLMoonBear to Genshin_Impact [link] [comments]


2023.06.03 01:27 next3days For those in Blacksburg: Weekend Event Rundown

For anyone in town for the summer who's looking for events to enjoy this weekend, here's 25 local events you can enjoy and participate in on Saturday & Sunday.
1. 2023 Pulaski County Spring Flea Market New River Valley Fairgrounds, Dublin Saturday, June 3, 2023 and Sunday, June 4, 2023, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM Admission: $2.00, Kids 6 and Under: Free The Dublin Lions Club presents the 2023 Pulaski County Spring Flea Market celebrating 48 years. With over 20,000 visitors and 700 vendors spaces, more than a dozen different food vendors offering varied food options and the chance to eat a few of the famous "Lion Dogs", you will not want to miss this event. Check out vendors with crafts, antiques and more at the semi-annual Pulaski County Flea Market. Although over 100 spaces are under roof, it is a largely an outdoor event. The terrain is varied from asphalt, gravel and grass. Parking is free. All proceeds go to the Dublin Lions and their numerous community causes such as eyeglasses for the needy and hunger relief in the community. The event is rain or shine. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708165
2. Kunga Fest 2023: Two-Day Donations Yoga Festival In Balance Yoga Studio, Blacksburg Friday, June 2, 2023, 4:00 - 10:00 PM and Saturday, June 3, 2023, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Yoga classes and events are by donation. In Balance Yoga Studio presents their 10th Kunga Fest, a two-day Donations Yoga Festival with 100% of the donations donated to directly support the Homes of Hope Orphanage in India. Homes of Hope is a safe space for orphaned, abandoned, or trafficked young girls in India. In Balance Yoga is offering 15 donation-based classes throughout the two-day event. Hot yoga, ariel yoga, yoga classes with live music and gentle flow, are just some of the options offered. A silent auction will also be offered with bidding open until 6:00 PM on Saturday, June 3rd. Over 20 items are in the auction including a private ariel yoga session, a one-hour reiki session, an acupuncture session and more! Yoga classes and events are by donation though registration is required. Membership is not required to attend however new students will have to create an online profile in order to register. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708207
3. National Trails Day: Appalachian Trail Volunteer Trail Work Pearis Cemetary / Appalachian Trailhead Parking, Pearisburg Saturday, June 3, 2023, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Admission: Free The Outdoor Club at Virginia Tech is hosting Appalachian Trail Volunteer Trail Work for National Trails Day meeting at the Appalachian Trailhead Parking at Pearis Cemetary. The first Saturday of June each year is designated as National Trails Day, a day to celebrate our National Trails. There are a variety of volunteer opportunities available throughout the Trail. Essential trail maintenance helps protect natural resources and improves the hiking experience. Activities planned for the day include removing tress that have fallen across the Trail and are obstructing its path, cleaning out water bars and other trail tread structures of debris so that they can effectively divert water from the Trail and continue to help reduce erosion, as well as trimming back woody bushes that might be encroaching on the sides of the Trail. This work will be taking place on Hemlock Ridge, the stretch of Trail between the Celenese plant and Clendennin Road. There will be a shuttle planned to allow for a 3-mile hike through, performing work along the way. No previous experience required and all ages are welcome. The club will provide tools, training, and personal protective equipment. While it is free to volunteer, registration is required to ensure enough supplies will be available. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708056
4. American Red Cross Blood Drive with Brunch Meadowbrook Public Library, Shawsville Saturday, June 3, 2023, 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Admission: Free Meadowbrook Public Library and the Meadowbrook Center hosts an American Red Cross Blood Drive. Help save a life by donating blood. Brunch will be provided for donors and they may select a used book to take home. Books compliments of Friends of the Library-Meadowbrook Chapter. The blood drive is sponsored by Craighill Masonic Lodge and Meadowbrook Library. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708083
5. CIMA Open House Christiansburg Institute Museum and Archives, Christiansburg Saturday, June 3, 2023, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Admission: Free Christiansburg Institute Museum & Archives staff will lead museum guests on a behind the scenes tour of our archives and explain the digitization process. Explore the history of Christiansburg Institute and African American history in Southwest Virginia. No registration is required. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708171
6. Survival Skills Workshop Series: Part 2: Edible and Medicinal Plants Pulaski County Library, Pulaski Saturday, June 3, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Admission: Free The Pulaski County Library continues their Survival Skills Workshop Series with "Part 2: Edible and Medicinal Plants". Learn about edible and medicinal plants and enjoy some pine needle tea. Join them to learn important survival skills from a Claytor Lake ranger. This is the second part of a four-part course that will help you to brush up our survivalist knowledge and skills. All are welcome but these will be gauged for adults. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707463
7. 2023 Gospel Sing St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall, Blacksburg Saturday, June 3, 2023, 12:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation presents the annual Gospel Sing. The afternoon will be filled with singing, dancing, and fellowship as six local groups including Simple Gifts, Indian Run, Glorylanders and soloists perform their favorite current and old-time gospel favorites. Food and beverage will be available for purchase. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708172
8. Historic Smithfield's June Crafters' Stitch Along Historic Smithfield, Blacksburg Saturday, June 3, 2023, 12:00 - 3:00 PM Admission: Free Historic Smithfield presents June's Crafters' Stitch Along. You don't have to stitch to participate. Bring whatever craft you would like to work on and feel free to bring your paints, pencils, hooks, yarn, needles or fabric. This event is free to attend though pre-registration is appreciated. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708189
9. Music at the Villa with Craig Vaughn Villa Appalaccia Winery, Floyd Saturday, June 3, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Relax and enjoy some great music along with great wine and food. Craig Vaughn is a musician that combines extraordinary musicianship with heavy-duty fun. His high energy blend of rock, blues, pop and acoustic music equals unforgettable moments for audiences. He seamlessly goes from playing Bob Marley to The Eagles to Johnny Cash to Tom Petty to Ed Sheering to Journey to Newgrass to The Steve Miller Band without missing a lick. Kids and well-behaved dogs welcome. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708180
10. Genealogy Saturdays Alexander Black House & Cultural Center, Blacksburg Saturday, June 3, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Ancestry experts will be on hand to assist you as you explore your family tree. Come with questions about research and discovering your roots. Join them on the first Saturday of every month for Genealogy Saturdays. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708173
11. Puzzle Swap Christiansburg Library, Christiansburg Saturday, June 3, 2023, 1:00 - 3:00 PM Admission: Free Bring your puzzles to swap for new-to-you puzzles. Please make sure that all pieces are there. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708134
12. June 2023 Cruiser Night Scoops Arcade, Pembroke Saturday, June 3, 2023, 5:00 - 8:00 PM Admission: Free Scoops Arcade continues their Cruiser Nights on Snidow Street in downtown Pembroke, VA. Show off your classic, modified, or new cars, trucks and bikes. Ride in style down the street and/or park and enjoy the atmosphere and oldies music. All vehicles and spectators are welcome. Hotdogs, corndogs, pizza, nachos, drinks and Scoops old fashion hand dipped ice cream and shakes will be available inside Scoops. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708196
13. Bobby and Blake Parker in Concert Rising Silo Farm Brewery, Blacksburg Saturday, June 3, 2023, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Rising Silo Farm Brewery presents Bobby and Blake Parker playing cozy folk music, blues and ragtime on 6- and 12-string guitar and more. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707876
14. Chico and Willie in Concert Outerspace, Floyd Saturday, June 3, 2023, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Admission: Free Chico & Willie perform Americana music to make you smile outside at Outerspace. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708185
15. John McEuen & The Circle Band in Concert Floyd Country Store, Floyd Saturday, June 3, 2023, 7:00 - 10:00 PM General Admission: $38.00, Reserved Seating: $45.00 John McEuen has performed for 50 years worldwide with his banjo, fiddle, guitar, and mandolin. Often referred to as ‘the String Wizard’, he humorously weaves stories of his travels and family life (he has raised 7 kids), taking us on a multi-media show through where his musical path has taken him. A founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1966, John realized his teenage dream: to record with Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson. When he initiated the 1972 classic "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album with his band the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Earl and Doc with Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, Merel Travis, Vassar Clements, Norman Blake gathered for an historic week in the studio. The album has been inducted in to the Library of Congress as "one of America’s most important recordings" and the Grammy Hall of Fame. John has continually performed since 1963, doing over 11,000 concerts, 300 television shows, 10,000 interviews and flown more than 4 million miles. McEuen’s rich history of creating, producing and preserving original and traditional folk music earned him the 2013 Charlie Poole Lifetime Achievement Award. He has made over 46 albums (7 solo) that have earned four platinum and five gold records, multiple Grammy Awards and nominations, CMA and ACM awards, an Emmy film score nomination, IBMA record of the year award, and performed on another 25 albums as guest artist. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707453
16. The CC Coates Band in Concert Dogtown Roadhouse, Floyd Saturday, June 3, 2023, 8:00 - 11:00 PM Admission: $8.00 The CC Coates Band performs blues, soul and rock n roll. Sung by the real deal and backed by a hell of a band. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708190
17. 2023 Check Farm Trail Downtown Check, Check Sunday, June 4, 2023, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Admission: Free Floyd Country Tourism presents the 2nd Annual Check Farm Trail at seven participating farms and businesses throughout Check, Virginia including Lil Valley Farm, Weathertop Farm, Grateful Produce, I-Tal Acres, Seven Spring's Farm and The Soup Shop. This family-friendly experience is an up-close chance to learn about agriculture through demonstrations, tastings and farm tours and more. Food and/or products will be available for purchase at most of the farms and businesses. Times and available hours vary by farm and tour stop. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708205
18. 2023 Rotary Club of Floyd Dog Show Warren G. Lineberry Memorial Park, Floyd Sunday, June 4, 2023, 12:15 - 3:00 PM Dogs: $5.00 entry per class, Spectators: Free though donations encouraged The Rotary Club of Floyd County presents their 4th Annual Rotary Dog Show. Bring your dog, puppy, and/or faithful canine friend to compete in one or more of the dog show classes and ribbons will be awarded for each class. Classes for Dog Show include Best Tail, Best Treat Catcher, Best Smile, Best Owner-Dog Look-a-Like Contest, Best Trick, Cutest Puppy Under One Year Old, Best Bark, Best Mixed Breed Dog, Best Purebred Dog, Best Child Handler Under 12 Years Old and more. All dogs must should be on a short leash and up to date on vaccinations. The Humane Society will also have a table and possibly dogs to adopt. Adults and children ages 9 and older are welcome to participate with their dog in the various classes. Proceeds will be used to help build a dog park in Floyd. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708176
19. Music Jam and Car Cruise-In Wildwood Farms General Store, Floyd Sunday, June 4, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Enjoy a cruise-in with a variety of classic cars, motorcycles and other vehicles from 1:00-4:00 PM. All are welcome to bring their vehicles. And, bring your instruments and join in the music jam from 2:00-4:00 PM. Admission is free and all are welcome including non-musicians. The event is weather permitting. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708018
20. Clay Blevins in Concert Buffalo Mountain Brewery, Floyd Sunday, June 4, 2023, 1:00 - 4:00 PM Admission: Free Clay Blevins performs a signature mix of old and new country, pop and singer songwriter tunes. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708153
21. Book Club Meeting: Corkscrew Blacksburg Wine Lab, Blacksburg Sunday, June 4, 2023, 1:00 - 3:00 PM Admission: $40.00 Blacksburg Wine Lab presents their June Book Club Meeting featuring the book "Corkscrew" by Peter Stafford-Bow. Josh from Well Crafted Wine has picked this book specifically for the book club and will be hosting the event. The book includes a whole chapter on South Africa and Josh is inspired to share a tasting of his favorite bottles with participants from this region, along with a selection of crafted bites from Chef Bryan. The ticket price includes the wine tasting, book discussion and crafted bites to accompany the wine. RSVP is required. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708208
22. Matt Mullins in Concert Rock House Marina, Pulaski Sunday, June 4, 2023, 3:00 - 5:00 PM Admission: Free Matt Mullins performs multiple genres of music and now resides from Beckley, West Virginia after a stay in Southwest Virginia. A loud and sometimes profanity filled personality, you can't help but love to hate his shake, rattle, and roll nonsense. By spending the better part of the last decade creating songs with some of his favorite artists, (in particular The Boatmen) it has helped shape this songwriters methodology. Relating to back porch memories, and moving listeners to undoubtedly feel that he's got music in his bones. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708090
23. Sunday Mountain Music Series with Kris Hale Mountain Lake Lodge, Pembroke Sunday, June 4, 2023, 4:00 - 6:00 PM Admission: Free Kristopher Hale is a native of Roanoke, Virginia. Currently a Adjunct Professor of Music at both Radford University and Lynchburg College in Virginia, he also teaches guitar and music theory privately throughout the New River Valley and Roanoke areas. He is a sought after performer, appearing in public and private events throughout Virginia playing classical music to The Beatles. Stop by Salt Pond Pub every Sunday starting Memorial Day weekend through Sunday, August 20th for live music and delicious food and drinks. Perfect for relaxing with the whole family (furry friends welcome too). Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=707866
24. Open Mic Night (Family Friendly and 18+ Segments) The Beast of Blacksburg Pizzeria & Bar, Blacksburg Sunday, June 4, 2023, 4:00 PM - 01:00 AM Admission: Free The Beast of Blacksburg Pizzeria & Bar kicks off their Open Mic Nights with two segments offering a full evening of local talent. From 4:00-8:00 PM, family friendly material will be performed and then from 9:00 PM - 1:00 AM, the open mic is open to adult material for ages 18 and up. Note: Any group acts of more than two performers should message them on Facebook to make the necessary arrangements. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708201
25. Mist on the Mountain in Concert Palisades Restaurant, Eggleston Sunday, June 4, 2023, 5:00 - 7:30 PM Admission: Free Mist on the Mountain is an Irish Traditional Music group based in the New River Valley of southwest Virginia. From lively jigs and reels to heartbreaking laments and rollicking ballads, Mist on the Mountain provides great Irish music for any occasion. Reservations are not required, but recommended for dining area seating. Link: http://www.nextthreedays.com/FeaturedEventDetails.cfm?E=708177
Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!
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2023.06.03 00:27 kculpia Sioux Nation Ultra High Relief Collection

Sioux Nation Ultra High Relief Collection
A newly acquired set of Sioux Nation coins came up and I had to get them. These have a raised 3-D appearance on both the front and back. The NGC slab is thicker than normal.
Clock position:
2023 Running Antelope Chief of the Onc papa (12:00)
2023 Crazy Horse (3:00)
2022 Geronimo (6:00)
2021 Sitting Bull (9:00)
When getting these I originally thought I'd get the antiqued silver across all coins. My emotion attachment stems from a story below (if you are interested).
At age 6 in 1889, my great grandmother crossed the Missouri River from South Dakota during the winter months as it was frozen over. They lived near Bridgewater, SD and were migrating to Montana. Her father was driving a covered wagon when they started to crossed the river. Always concerned about "Indians," her father noted a local group of the Sioux became very animated on the other side. The family was afraid they were going to harass them. They changed course a bit and made it safely across. After all was said and done, it was discovered that the Sioux were warning them not to cross at their intended direction as the ice was thin and they would have fell through.
https://preview.redd.it/tr4d9wgdlo3b1.jpg?width=1239&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4f1d40da55db2af5a233fa1905e2f240fe986f5
https://preview.redd.it/ush3crb8lo3b1.jpg?width=1239&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e86b35db31fff89d07e358ad66f38acbeb708b05
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2023.06.02 22:58 Joadzilla America Is Headed Toward Collapse

History shows how to stave it off.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/us-societal-trends-institutional-trust-economy/674260/
How has America slid into its current age of discord? Why has our trust in institutions collapsed, and why have our democratic norms unraveled?
All human societies experience recurrent waves of political crisis, such as the one we face today. My research team built a database of hundreds of societies across 10,000 years to try to find out what causes them. We examined dozens of variables, including population numbers, measures of well-being, forms of governance, and the frequency with which rulers are overthrown. We found that the precise mix of events that leads to crisis varies, but two drivers of instability loom large. The first is popular immiseration—when the economic fortunes of broad swaths of a population decline. The second, and more significant, is elite overproduction—when a society produces too many superrich and ultra-educated people, and not enough elite positions to satisfy their ambitions.
These forces have played a key role in our current crisis. In the past 50 years, despite overall economic growth, the quality of life for most Americans has declined. The wealthy have become wealthier, while the incomes and wages of the median American family have stagnated. As a result, our social pyramid has become top-heavy. At the same time, the U.S. began overproducing graduates with advanced degrees. More and more people aspiring to positions of power began fighting over a relatively fixed number of spots. The competition among them has corroded the social norms and institutions that govern society.
The U.S. has gone through this twice before. The first time ended in civil war. But the second led to a period of unusually broad-based prosperity. Both offer lessons about today’s dysfunction and, more important, how to fix it.
To understand the root causes of the current crisis, let’s start by looking at how the number of über-wealthy Americans has grown. Back in 1983, 66,000 American households were worth at least $10 million. That may sound like a lot, but by 2019, controlling for inflation, the number had increased tenfold. A similar, if smaller, upsurge happened lower on the food chain. The number of households worth $5 million or more increased sevenfold, and the number of mere millionaires went up fourfold.
On its surface, having more wealthy people doesn’t sound like such a bad thing. But at whose expense did elites’ wealth swell in recent years?
Starting in the 1970s, although the overall economy continued to grow, the share of that growth going to average workers began to shrink, and real wages leveled off. (It’s no coincidence that Americans’ average height—a useful proxy for well-being, economic and otherwise—stopped increasing around then too, even as average heights in much of Europe continued climbing.) By 2010, the relative wage (wage divided by GDP per capita) of an unskilled worker had nearly halved compared with mid-century. For the 64 percent of Americans who didn’t have a four-year college degree, real wages shrank in the 40 years before 2016.
As wages diminished, the costs of owning a home and going to college soared. To afford an average house, a worker earning the median wage in 2016 had to log 40 percent more hours than she would have in 1976. And parents without a college degree had to work four times longer to pay for their children’s college.
Even college-educated Americans aren’t doing well across the board. They made out well in the 1950s, when fewer than 15 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds went to college, but not today, when more than 60 percent of high-school grads immediately enroll. To get ahead of the competition, more college graduates have sought out advanced degrees. From 1955 to 1975, the number of students enrolled in law school tripled, and from 1960 to 1970, the number of doctorate degrees granted at U.S. universities more than tripled. This was manageable in the post–World War II period, when the number of professions requiring advanced degrees shot up. But when the demand eventually subsided, the supply didn’t. By the 2000s, degree holders greatly outnumbered the positions available to them. The imbalance is most acute in the social sciences and humanities, but the U.S. hugely overproduces degrees even in STEM fields.
This is part of a broader trend. Compared with 50 years ago, far more Americans today have either the financial means or the academic credentials to pursue positions of power, especially in politics. But the number of those positions hasn’t increased, which has led to fierce competition.
Competition is healthy for society, in moderation. But the competition we are witnessing among America’s elites has been anything but moderate. It has created very few winners and masses of resentful losers. It has brought out the dark side of meritocracy, encouraging rule-breaking instead of hard work.
All of this has left us with a large and growing class of frustrated elite aspirants, and a large and growing class of workers who can’t make better lives for themselves.
The decades that have led to our present-day dysfunction share important similarities with the decades leading to the Civil War. Then as now, a growing economy served to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The number of millionaires per capita quadrupled from 1800 to 1850, while the relative wage declined by nearly 50 percent from the 1820s to the 1860s, just as it has in recent decades. Biological data from the time suggest that the average American’s quality of life declined significantly. From 1830 to the end of the century, the average height of Americans fell by nearly two inches, and average life expectancy at age 10 decreased by eight years during approximately the same period.
This popular immiseration stirred up social strife, which could be seen in urban riots. From 1820 to 1825, when times were good, only one riot occurred in which at least one person was killed. But in the five years before the Civil War, 1855 to 1860, American cities experienced no fewer than 38 such riots. We see a similar pattern today. In the run-up to the Civil War, this frustration manifested politically, in part as anti-immigrant populism, epitomized by the Know-Nothing Party. Today this strain of populism has been resurrected by Donald Trump.
Strife grew among elites too. The newly minted millionaires of the 19th century, who made their money in manufacturing rather than through plantations or overseas trade, chafed under the rule of the southern aristocracy, as their economic interests diverged. To protect their budding industries, the new elites favored high tariffs and state support for infrastructure projects. The established elites—who grew and exported cotton, and imported manufactured goods from overseas—strongly opposed these measures. The southern slaveholders’ grip on the federal government, the new elites argued, prevented necessary reforms in the banking and transportation systems, which threatened their economic well-being.
As the elite class expanded, the supply of desirable government posts flattened. Although the number of U.S. representatives grew fourfold from 1789 to 1835, it had shrunk by mid-century, just as more and more elite aspirants received legal training—then, as now, the chief route to political office. Competition for political power intensified, as it has today.
Those were cruder times, and intra-elite conflict took very violent forms. In Congress, incidences and threats of violence peaked in the 1850s. The brutal caning that Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina gave to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on the Senate floor in 1856 is the best-known such episode, but it was not the only one. In 1842, after Representative Thomas Arnold of Tennessee “reprimanded a pro-slavery member of his own party, two Southern Democrats stalked toward him, at least one of whom was armed with a bowie knife,” the historian Joanne Freeman recounts. In 1850, Senator Henry Foote of Mississippi pulled a pistol on Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. In another bitter debate, a pistol fell out of a New York representative’s pocket, nearly precipitating a shoot-out on the floor of Congress.
This intra-elite violence presaged popular violence, and the deadliest conflict in American history.
The victory of the North in the Civil War decimated the wealth and power of the southern ruling class, temporarily reversing the problem of elite overproduction. But workers’ wages continued to lag behind overall economic growth, and the “wealth pump” that redistributed their income to the elites never stopped. By the late 19th century, elite overproduction was back, new millionaires had replaced the defeated slave-owning class, and America had entered the Gilded Age. Economic inequality exploded, eventually peaking in the early 20th century. By 1912, the nation’s top wealth holder, John D. Rockefeller, had $1 billion, the equivalent of 2.6 million annual wages—100 times higher than the top wealth holder had in 1790.
Then came the New York Stock Exchange collapse of 1929 and the Great Depression, which had a similar effect as the Civil War: Thousands of economic elites were plunged into the commoner class. In 1925, there were 1,600 millionaires, but by 1950, fewer than 900 remained. The size of America’s top fortune remained stuck at $1 billion for decades, inflation notwithstanding. By 1982, the richest American had $2 billion, which was equivalent to “only” 93,000 annual wages.
But here is where the two eras differed. Unlike the post–Civil War period, real wages steadily grew in the mid-20th century. And high taxes on the richest Americans helped reverse the wealth pump. The tax rate on top incomes, which peaked during World War II at 94 percent, stayed above 90 percent all the way until the mid-1960s. Height increased by a whopping 3 inches in roughly the first half of the 20th century. Life expectancy at age 10 increased by nearly a decade. By the 1960s, America had achieved a broad-based prosperity that was virtually unprecedented in human history.
The New Deal elites learned an important lesson from the disaster of the Civil War. The reversal of elite overproduction in both eras was similar in magnitude, but only after the Great Depression was it accomplished through entirely nonviolent means. The ruling class itself was an important part of this—or, at least, a prosocial faction of the ruling class, which persuaded enough of their peers to acquiesce to the era’s progressive reforms.
As the historian Kim Phillips-Fein wrote in Invisible Hands, executives and stockholders mounted an enormous resistance to the New Deal policies regulating labor–corporate relations. But by mid-century, a sufficient number of them had consented to the new economic order for it to become entrenched. They bargained regularly with labor unions. They accepted the idea that the state would have a role to play in guiding economic life and helping the nation cope with downturns. In 1943, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—which today pushes for the most extreme forms of neoliberal market fundamentalism—said, “Only the willfully blind can fail to see that the old-style capitalism of a primitive, free-shooting period is gone forever.” President Dwight Eisenhower, considered a fiscal conservative for his time, wrote to his brother:
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things … Their number is negligible and they are stupid.
Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson in 1964 on a platform of low taxes and anti-­union rhetoric. By today’s standards, Goldwater was a middle-of-the-road conservative. But he was regarded as radical at the time, too radical even for many business leaders, who abandoned his campaign and helped bring about his landslide defeat.
The foundations of this broad-based postwar prosperity—and for the ruling elite’s eventual acquiescence to it—were established during the Progressive era and buttressed by the New Deal. In particular, new legislation guaranteed unions’ right to collective bargaining, introduced a minimum wage, and established Social Security. American elites entered into a “fragile, unwritten compact” with the working classes, as the United Auto Workers president Douglas Fraser later described it. This implicit contract included the promise that the fruits of economic growth would be distributed more equitably among both workers and owners. In return, the fundamentals of the political-economic system would not be challenged. Avoiding revolution was one of the most important reasons for this compact (although not the only one). As Fraser wrote in his famous resignation letter from the Labor Management Group in 1978, when the compact was about to be abandoned, “The acceptance of the labor movement, such as it has been, came because business feared the alternatives.”
We are still suffering the consequences of abandoning that compact. The long history of human society compiled in our database suggests that America’s current economy is so lucrative for the ruling elites that achieving fundamental reform might require a violent revolution. But we have reason for hope. It is not unprecedented for a ruling class—with adequate pressure from below—to allow for the nonviolent reversal of elite overproduction. But such an outcome requires elites to sacrifice their near-term self-interest for our long-term collective interests. At the moment, they don’t seem prepared to do that.
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2023.06.02 22:54 Pavel_Sergievsky Ukraine vs. Russia: Russian perspective.

Dear Professor Peterson,
I realize that your schedule probably won’t allow you to read this letter, least to reply. I am not expecting either of these and will not be offended. Why do I write it, then? Well, most probably because in the past several years you have been for me the voice of reason from abroad. Too many things are going in a crazy and disastrous direction, and listening to your lectures and videos have been very inspiring. It always amazes me how deeply you investigate the problem and how thoroughly you analyze it. In many cases listening to what you say have been like hearing what I always felt was true, but could not formulate and justify it myself. Thank you for that experience.
During the past year, which not only attracted the whole world’s attention to a conflict in Ukraine (at last, I’d say, war started there in 2014), but also demonstrated the unwillingness of countries and people to hear each other, I felt the growing urge to share Russian understanding of current situation and of the events that lead to it with someone who could probably be able to hear. Your name was the first to come to my mind. I hesitated until some time ago I came across the interview that you have recorded – “Israel, Russia, China, Iran: The World in Conflict” and it actually triggered me into writing. It occurred to me that, objective as you are, you may be unaware of some facts and interpretations, partly because modern media have mastered the art of being silent about some facts while shouting about the others, partly because you were born and raised in Anglo-Saxon civilization, with all embedded ideas and principles.
A bit about my background. Master’s degree in English language and literature, spent one year as a student in Connecticut, worked in American-owned companies for 17 years. That allows me to a certain degree to understand both sets of values.
I wanted to offer for your attention the view from the other side on what’s happening now between Russia and Western European civilization. I don't say that it is correct, I just say how Russians see it.
Very briefly, just point by point:
3 basic principles of western foreign policy
Looking at the international events of past 30-40 years, we may see 3 basic principles of international policy that the West is utilizing.
  1. Democracy is the best possible society model.
Hard to argue – there is the strongest correlation between availability of human rights in society and its prosperity. Let’s accept it as it is, although it is much more complicated and there are other factors that should be taken into account, like, for example:
a) Majority of Noble prize winners are from protestant countries. Disproportional majority if you look at country population or wealth or other factors. Why? Maybe because Protestantism urges its followers to read the Bible on their own, whereas in Catholicism you study Bible under the priest’s guidance. Encouragement for independent research must have some effect.
b) After the ancient Rome fell, and Europe lived through the Dark Ages, Arabian countries preserved much of knowledge and science. At that time Arabian East was much more cultural and civilized than Europe. What happened to them later, why they stopped developing science, how could Europe overtake them? One of the explanations is that at some point of time Muslim theologians declared that “Koran has everything”, so scientific research stopped. The legend says that under this slogan the Library of Alexandria has been burnt by Arabian conquerors.
c) There is an interesting correlation between the agricultural conditions in a certain territory and some national traits of character. That’s more than a coincidence. For example, wheat was the main crop in Europe. It doesn’t require any special irrigation, so you can well grow and harvest it alone. That means you are less dependent on other people. Hence smaller states (Germany before mid-XIX century consisted of dozens independent states), hence more independent opinions. Compare it to China. Rice requires serious irrigation works, you’ll never do it alone. In order to harvest rice, you need to organize a fairly large group of people to do a job together. And as the population grows, you need to perform those works at a larger scale, also because the easiest-to-work fields are already busy. As a result, we see that Chinese value the society more than they value an individual. A single person sacrificing his wishes for the good of the others is more acceptable for them than for Europeans.
This idea needs further thinking but it is quite possible that the liberalism and human rights developed in Western Europe to the extent we see due to a unique combination of religion, natural conditions and other factors. And it can’t be copied in other parts of the world. It can be brought to other parts of the world by immigration of people with European mentality, of course. But otherwise it can be done only by complete mentality change of local inhabitants. Not an easy task, could take generations and mean death of local culture.
  1. All people are seeking freedom and democracy, so it is our duty to help them achieve this goal. If some part of the society resists this help, it is the tyrannical part and it should be eliminated.
Yeah, really. Take up the White Man's burden… This idea is not dead yet, with all its prejudices.
In some part such understanding is based on the theory that appeared in history (history as a science!) in the UK in 18th century. This theory states that the process of human society development over time is a) linear and b) goes through the same stages in every society of the planet. One of the consequences of this theory was the statement that every society started from matriarchate – researchers came across some primitive society, ruled by women, and made their conclusion. This theory has long been proved wrong, but its influence is still alive.
Even if we accept that all countries, all societies are aiming at maximizing human rights, how justified will interference be? Good intentions are the pathway to hell. How long it took Anglo-Saxon civilization to reach modern state of human rights? Setting the Magna Carts as the starting point, it is a bit over 800 years, roughly 30 generations. Looking at the world history, we see how slowly societies change their organizational forms, evolving one into another. And you can’t forcefully speed it up. Imagine that our modern “crusaders of democracy” take time machine and show up at Hastings early in the morning on October 14th, 1066. “William, Harold, there is no need to fight. You need to run democratic elections, and everything will be ok…” Will they even understand the idea??? And what will happen the next day after they are left alone?
You have shown significant interest in Russian culture. If you care spending some more time on Russian books, I’d recommend you brothers Strugatsky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkady_and_Boris_Strugatsky). The form of what they have written is science fiction, but the contents is all about ethics, morale, responsibility, conscience. Try «Escape Attempt», «Hard to be a God», «Overburdened with Evil».
Why I am mentioning them now is because among others they are exploring the topic of “progressors” – people from Earth of XXII century who try to speed up the history of other planets, to solve their problems, stop wars, etc. And it doesn’t end well. As one of their heroes says, “You can’t break up the natural course of history without breaking the spine of humanity.”
It’s hard to find examples of good revolutions when they are initiated from abroad. Change of regime should be supported by majority within the country – it is the guarantee that society is ready for it. What Anglo-Saxons and NATO frequently do is supporting the angry minority in its aspirations for power. And instead of peace, freedom and prosperity it brings chaos. The classic example is Libya. Over 10 years ago the country was “spared of Gaddafi’s tyrannical rule”… How do they live now? The GDP is still around 50% of what it used to be, the country is still not at peace, there are two major forces each claiming to be the legal power. How many lives it did cost already and how much time it will take free Libya to recover? Can such liberation be called anything but a disservice? In Russia we call it “bear’s help”. I don’t say that everything was good in the country when Gaddafi was alive, but aren’t they in the worse situation now?
The whole series of Arabian spring looks like a great mess, not a great success. I rely on the opinion of an expert – below is the brief translation of an article published in 2015-2016 by Mordechai Kedar, an Israeli scholar of Arab culture and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University. I can’t find the original, unfortunately.
December 2015 was the fifth anniversary of the events known as an ‘Arabian spring’. The world applauded the heroes of the streets in Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain. Now, five years ago, those countries are still battlefields, with no light ahead. What problems have prevented them from positive development? Most of them have developed over centuries and they still prevail in mentality, remaining the dangerous rudiment.
  1. Tribalism*, that was always a survival factor in harsh natural conditions of the region. Now the conditions are different but mentality is still the same, when each person thinks of himself as a member of the clan first (family, tribe, tape, whatever…), not the citizen of the country.*
  2. Violence*. Resources are scarce, so anyone who is not the member of my clan, is a deadly threat. And the first reaction to a threat is violence.*
  3. Honour*, understood very specifically. Dishonoured person will seek revenge. It is not uncommon for a person to kill members of his own family if they dishonoured him. Honour is of primary importance in relations between countries and nations, sometimes more important than economics and healthcare.*
  4. Nepotism*, which has its roots in tribalism. Promoting your relatives to administrative positions is illegal in the West, but is part of normal practice in the East.*
  5. Corruption*. An office holder will invest in projects and regions where his tribe and supporters live, not otherwise. He feels financially responsible to his family, not to the country.*
  6. Multiple ethnic groups*, which protect their own languages and traditions. Marriages outside of a group are rare, coexistence with other groups is tense and hostile.*
  7. Islam*. Islamic extremists are sure that people who believe otherwise, are deserved to be killed.*
  8. Sunnites vs*.* shiites*. This conflict started back in 7th century as a conflict for control over Islam. Non-Islamic people see them analogous to Catholicism vs. Orthodox church, but in reality now, after centuries of religious wars, these are two separate religions, and the dialogue between them is very difficult.*
  9. Predominant culture*. Three main groups are Bedouins who live in deserts, fellahs who are the peasants, and inhabitants of the cities. Each group thinks stereotypically of other two, cross-marriages are rare.*
  10. Country borders*. British, French and Italian administration have been drawn the borders straight, just by a ruler and a pencil, paying no attention to the real borders between various groups which differ by religion and ethnicity. People who never thought about themselves as about having anything in common, are now the citizens of one country. And they don’t feel it this way.*
  11. Power change*. This is something which never happens peacefully in Arabic countries. The ethnic or religious group at power holds to it by all means.*
  12. Israel*. Arabs and Muslims don’t acknowledge Judaism as a live religion, Jewish people as a people. So for them the very existence of Israel is illegal. Plus Israel is very convenient as an external enemy, a good target for the aggression of the masses.*
  13. Oil has turned the countries of the Gulf into societies which don’t produce, but do consume without limits. The difference between wealth of the Gulf and poverty of other Arabian countries is shocking.
  14. West that interferes into the region to solve its own problems. Oil, gas, weapons – all is targeted to use natural resources of Middle East.
  15. Al Jazeera as a catalyst of social and religious unrest.
Throughout the XX-th century Europe tries to solve myriads of cultural problems of the Middle East, trying to create modern Arabic states that will fit Europe’s needs. The brightest example of Western misunderstanding of the East is the belief that Middle east can easily adopt democracy. Western democracy is based on western culture with equality of religious and social groups, minority rights, freedom of speech and opinions. Add to it religious freedom and free elections and you will get the list that is absolutely alien to Middle East.
Here’s an article by the same author on the same topic – https://fathomjournal.org/why-we-keep-getting-the-middle-east-wrong/
Here’s an interview with him – https://chicagopolicyreview.org/2015/07/28/americans-still-dont-understand-the-middle-east-this-man-wants-to-help/
In one of your interviews you discussed the competition between China and the US for influence in Africa. And your opinion was that China wins due to corruption of local elites. Let me offer another reason for your consideration. It is the same reason that allows Russia to gain influence in Middle East, Africa, South America. When China or Russia come to some country to cooperate, they come to cooperate, not to teach, not to judge, not to interfere into the internal affairs of the state. And people appreciate this.
  1. We have the right to decide who is democratic and who is not.
This one is undoubtedly wrong. As a psychologist, you can diagnose it, I guess. What will you call such mental blindness, when a person considers himself flawless and assumes the right to judge and punish others, like in “The House of Pride” by Jack London. And here we see a group of countries that consider themselves the best in the world, that judge other countries and feel it righteous to interfere into their life, to change it without being asked. I understand why leaders of these countries have that blindness, but I wonder how many people in these countries actually understand that it is not a radiant crusade for democracy, but a destructive raid of Normans.
De furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine.
One of the principles of democracy is separation of three powers – legislative, judicial and executive. So why then countries that consider themselves “leaders of democratic world” forget about this principle in international relations. They make the rules, they judge and they punish.
One of American diplomats said recently that USA supports international rules-based order. Sounds good, sounds undoubtedly right. But why USA and NATO forget about the rules when it is convenient? Or is it “We support international rules-based order, but our own actions should not be limited by these rules”? What immediately comes to my mind without web search:
Double standards
Speaking more about the rules… We are tired of seeing double standards. As an illustration, I will use just one aspect – the principle of integrity of the state vs the principle of the right of nations to self-determination. It looks like the West supports integrity of the state, when this state is allied or friendly to the West, and supports nation’s self-determination when the state is not. Let’s go through some examples.
- Chechnya (an autonomous republic within Soviet Union) wanted to become independent after 1991. It quickly started to use terrorism to achieve this goal. It took a lot of effort to stop the war and bring the region back to safety. Reaction of the West – support of chechens, their leader fled to London and was not deported to Russia despite all requests.
- Abkhazia (an autonomous republic within Georgian republic which was part of Soviet Union) wanted to become independent from Georgia when Georgia became independent from Russia. Resulted in a war. The conflict is still not solved. Abkhazia now is an independent state which is acknowledged by very few countries in the world. Reaction of the West – they still consider Abkhazia as a rebellious part of Georgia. Same situation about South Osetia – another region, that was an administrative part of Georgia until 1991 and that also seeks independence.
- Donetsk and Lugansk wanted to become independent from Ukraine after 2014 coup. Ukraine tried to subdue them by force and failed. Then the workplan has been signed in Minsk – what the parties of the conflict agree to do to settle. The result should have been – Donetsk and Lugansk return to Ukraine but have extended political rights, etc. Ukraine did nothing of its promises. Reaction of the West – support of Ukraine.
- Catalonia is seeking independence. And I remember that leaders of independence movement have been under political and criminal pressure.
- Scotland had a referendum about independence. And even though results were in favour of the UK, I remember how nervously London reacted.
Russia – NATO relations after 1991
This is best said by Vladimir Pozner, a journalist who spent years of his work in the USA, Russia, Europe and is one of the most known journalists of the old school (comparing to modern propagandists). Here’s the link to his speech in Yale University on September 27, 2018 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ&t=2556s.
His speech takes around forty minutes, the rest is the Q&A. To save you time, I’d summarize it here in just a couple of phrases. After Soviet Union collapsed, there was an illusion that we aren’t enemies anymore, that the world is open now, and that we will be partners or even friends. Russia dismissed the Warsaw Treaty union and agreed for Germany to unite, that looked just right – why keep a military union when we aren’t enemies anymore? Sometime later Russia made an offer to join NATO to provide world security together and was denied. Russia offered to join the EU, and was denied. Russia was promised that NATO would not expand eastward and less than 10 years later this promise was broken. Since then, we’ve been witnessing NATO getting closer and closer to our borders, inviting countries that are our neighbours and aggressively supporting those candidates to country leadership in East Europe who declared anti-Russia views. So now the illusion is over. We are enemies. And what’s worse – we don’t trust US anymore, so negotiating some new principles of coexistence will be problematic.
Ukraine.
Briefly about history, in more details about recent times and present situation.
In 16-17th century the territory of modern Ukraine was controlled by two forces with no clear border between them. Northwest (where the city of Lvov is now) was under Polish rule, center and the region along river Dnepr – under control of “kazak military democracies” – gatherings of all people, who fled from Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Crimea and who with time formed Ukrainians as a nation. They were ruled by elected chieftains and made their living largely by either joining some military campaign for money and loot, or by robbery raids to Poland, Crimea, Turkey. They were allied to Russia due to same religion – Orthodox Christianity.
As Poland grew stronger, its pressure on the territory grew, which led to periodic rebellions. Poland is a Catholic state, and people of Orthodox Ukraine were severely oppressed. Seeking protection, Ukrainian chieftains asked Russia to include those territories into Russian state. First request came in 1591. Russia rejected this request and several others. Only in 1654 part of Ukraine, controlled by kazaks, was included into Russia. Consequences – war with Poland and tens of thousands orthodox people fleeing from Polish-controlled lands into Russian-controlled lands.
From then on Russians and Ukrainians were really ‘brother nations’. Well, it was not heaven, but it was the best available option. Same religion, very close language and mentality. And forget about oppression. Ukrainians were oppressed as much as Russians themselves.
When the WW I started, Germany and Austria-Hungary were looking for collaborators in occupied territories of Russian Empire. They promised independence to nationalists in Western Ukraine, and found people who bought the idea. Not surprisingly, the most dedicated nationalists came from the least developed region of the country. Ukraine did not become independent at that moment, but the ideas stayed and gave their fruit during WW II, when Ukrainian collaborators actively participated in Nazis’ crimes. In one of your videos you described what Unit 731 of Japanese army was doing and you warned your listeners that they will never forget it. If you will find and read witnesses’ accounts of Volhynia massacre, you will never forget it either. I read it once long ago and I never want to read it again. It was a shock to me that people are capable of such things.
In the period between 1945 and 1991 Ukraine had the same rights as any other republic. There were no impediments to preserving and developing local culture. If you lived in any republic, you learned two languages – Russian and local. National literature was actively translated into other national languages of the Soviet Union, there were no impediments to education. Soviet Union with all its flaws, really tried to unite all of its nations into one big family. (What surprises me though is why antisemitism remained. You could come from Georgia, Uzbekistan or Yakutia and pass exams to Moscow university, no problem if you are smart enough. But it could be problematic for a Jew…)
After 1991 Russia and Ukraine remained friendly states, tightly bound by economic, cultural and even family ties. Ukraine tried to get the most out of relations both with Russia and with the West and it worked fairly well for 30 years. But with time attempts to elevate significance of their own nation led Ukrainians down a dangerous path. They started to slowly eliminate all other cultures that were present in the country. This process sped up dramatically in 2014, when after a coup the nationalist forces gained influence on the government.
Official Kiev denies being nationalistic, but don’t trust what the person is saying, see what he is doing.
I live in Moscow region, so all these processes for me were just an echo of a far-away thunder. My friends who lived in Crimea, Kiev, Donetsks, Kharkov many times said how difficult it was to live in a country that is so obsessed with its own magnificence that it becomes absurd. Massive renaming of streets, destruction of monuments that signified joint Russian-Ukrainian history, rewriting of history, when traitors and criminals become heroes, heroes become butchers. Anne, daughter to Yaroslav the Wise, wife to Henry I of France is known as Anne de Russie or Anne of Kiev. But now there are attempts to call her Anne of Ukraine, even though the very term Ukraine appeared at least a hundred years after she died.
We see those nationalistic ideas demonstrating themselves in a number of ways, and we have seen them before and we know what threat they can bring if left unattended. Pay attention to a dragon when it is small, you may be unable to win when it grows up.
I don’t say that our perception is correct, I just say how we see it. And to us modern Ukraine is like a younger brother who joined a bad company and who is becoming dangerous.
Now combine these two. Ukrainian nationalism plus NATO. Two threats, one well known historically, another the most dangerous rival of the past 70 years. We see them uniting and it is really an existential threat to us. In such circumstances could we afford being blind to it, just sitting and waiting what comes next? We tried to settle it peacefully. Many times Russia said that we are worried by NATO expansion, that we are worried by Western support of nationalistic movements in our neigbour countries. No effect. The last attempt was made in autumn of 2021, when Putin offered a negotiation that should have resulted in guaranteed safety. No reply.
If there is a conflict and your rival refuses to talk, he is asking for a fight. I don’t say that war in Ukraine is the right way to solve the conflict, but who can say that we did not try to set it by negotiations?
submitted by Pavel_Sergievsky to JordanPeterson [link] [comments]


2023.06.02 22:36 Last_Canary_6622 Travels Throughout the US: Breakdown of Notable Places Part 1

















submitted by Last_Canary_6622 to usa [link] [comments]


2023.06.02 22:25 ColdPuffin June 3 Garage Sales (List)

I’ve seen a few different posts about community garage sales this weekend, thought it’d be easier for bargain hunters if they were all in one list.
In no particular order, this Saturday, June 3, we have:
This weekend is also The Big Give at various churches around the city and areas around the city (website has full list of those participating).
Let me know if your community has one this weekend, and I’ll add it to the list!
submitted by ColdPuffin to ottawa [link] [comments]


2023.06.02 17:46 The_Alloquist [A Lord of Death] - Chapter 53 (Efrain)

[←Chapter 52] [Cover Art] [My Links] [Index] [Discord] [Subreddit] [Chapter 54→]
Efrain woke, and with consciousness reasserting itself came a pain unlike any he’d ever experienced. It was a lugubrious sensation that stretched over the entirety of his body like a giant bruise. It took a further moment to remember that this was not normal, and in fact was quite alarming. He tried to gauge where he was, but found only blackness to greet him.
So I’m blind as well? He thought, with all the dispassionate annoyance of a man finding a favoured tool lost.
He could still feel his feet and fingers, wrapped in cloth as they were, so that was a comfort. Reaching for his head, he found the cold stone of the mask still there, though it lacked a lot of the curse that gave it its ‘hungry’ quality. Tugging it, he felt it resettle into a more natural position, and with it light came in to show his surroundings.
There was canvas arcing over a ribcage of wood, which rocked with every turn and bump in the rode. A gentle sunlight managed to penetrate the cloth, flickering with the passage of leaves. Efrain gripped the wooden frame and drew himself up to sit, trying to remember how he’d gotten here. His groan at the effort attracted the attention of Innie, who was sitting by the open slit near the front.
“Efrain?” she asked, hesitatingly.
“Yes, yes. It’s me,” he said, the words feeling foreign and slippery on his non-existent tongue.
“Efrain?” she asked again.
“Yes! Yes. It’s me. Here, somehow. What the hell happened?”
“You… you absolute fool!” she half-screamed, “you nearly got yourself killed!”
“I-” he said, the phrase ‘got yourself killed’ stirring something of a memory within. It was very distant, without much cohesion, like a memory of childhood. Still, there was enough there to remember some definite sensations, a sight and sound or two-
“You know what,” he said slowly, “I think I might’ve actually been dead, at least for a little bit,” he said, pulling at his hood.
“What?!” she gasped, “how could you possibly know that?”
“I was… somewhere else. I can barely remember, but it was so strange. I had my body again, I think, and it was…” he started trying to piece together the fragments flitting about the edge of recollection.
Her expression suggested that she was actively considering the potential that her partner had gone completely insane.
“It was someplace I don’t think I’ve ever been before, but it was still familiar,” he said, “I think I met somewhere there. Or multiple people. I definitely saw- there was something that-”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“It was- it was very strange,” he said, further efforts to find other words failing him, “well, in any case, I’m back. I think so, anyway.”
“How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been dashed against a cliffside,” he laughed, “I thought I wasn’t supposed to feel pain in this form. That was supposed to be one of the advantages.”
“You scared me. The only reason I didn’t think you were fully dead was that your bones retained their shape, even though you were unconscious.”
“Huh…” Efrain murmured, raising an arm to inspect it, “that shouldn’t be possible. The enchantments holding me together should’ve fallen apart as soon as I went under.”
After a cursory inspection to verify all of his limbs were present and more-or-less correct, he looked over at the cat.
“However it happened, it would appear that I’m not done yet,” he said slowly, only half-sure in the conviction.
There was something different about how he experienced himself, just in the background, but definitely there. It was a sense of disconnection, like he was floating just behind or above his body, experiencing what he did from an outside perspective.
“Well, I suppose that’s… good,” said Innie.
“Don’t cry too much for me,” he said, “anyways what happened? I don’t remember anything after the crypt, other than the fire.”
“We did it,” she said, “more-or-less, the creatures were largely incinerated, good riddance. Unfortunately a defender or two got caught up in the blaze, as well.”
“Oh dear,” Efrain said.
“Are you really surprised? It wasn’t our power, and we certainly didn’t know how to control it. I’m surprised we didn’t burn ourselves in the process.”
“Not an experience I would care to undergo again, that’s for sure.”
Innie’s shiver indicated that she thought much the same.
“Right, right,” he continued, “so then, how did we get from there to here, then? And where is here?”
“A wagon, travelling with the train of troops, heading south for Karkos. The commander offered you a slot, unconscious as you were.”
“I would’ve thought burning a few villagers would’ve soured his disposition.”
“Apparently not. Efrain, I don’t know this man, but he’s clearly playing his own game, and it involves you.”
“I see,” he said, tugging at his robe so that it hung around his shoulder more naturally, “I assume you acted on my behalf while I was… gone, for lack of a better word.”
“I did what I could, which wasn’t much. I was fully expecting them to fall upon us after that, especially you, defenceless. But no, he came to me and proposed that we come with him.”
“He… treated with you?”
“He said that we probably wouldn’t find much welcome among the villagers, and the paladins were not inclined to let us go either. His soldiers, on the other hand, would follow his orders, and he could personally guarantee our safety all the way to Karkos if we chose to come.”
“And you went with him,” Efriain sighed.
“What else was I supposed to do?” None of your ‘friends’ were nearby, and Naia was right about the villagers, to say nothing about the paladins. I don’t use money, nor would most treat a cat given the choice. Did you want me to drag you out into the wilderness and run into a wildling looking for a chew toy, or worse?”
“All right, allright,” he said, raising his hands to placate the wisp mother, “I don’t begrudge you anything. It sounds like you made the right choice.”
There was a silence, in which Efrain clearly perceived that Innialysia was apprehensive.
“Efrain he… and I want you to understand, even with all the things I said earlier, I was still going to refuse him. I didn’t and don’t trust him still but he told me that… that the River had told him that he needed us.”
The revelation was one that ran along his spine, and threw the captain into an entirely different light. Using the River’s words as a bargaining chip, or even just reassurance spoke to a knowledge of the magical world that far surpassed most in his lands. He must’ve known that Innie was loath to speak to the ignorant, and tempered his speech accordingly.
“Well, we’re at his mercy, for better or worse,” Efrain said, “where on the trail are we and how long have I been out?”
“Three nights, so roughly four days of travel,” she said, cocking her head, “I think that puts us two or three days from the city proper. I’m not sure, I’ve rarely come down this way.”
Efrain tried to recall the geography of the region, without much success. After a few minutes though, the aimless maps he drew in his head began to resolve with some clarity. They would be reaching the edge of the forests in a day or two, and entering the outlying highlands of the coast. From there, they’d rapidly come across the farmlands owned by the city that flanked its outskirts. The pain was beginning to subside now that he had started to move his limbs cautiously. To his joy, he could find no fault in them or their function, as far as he could tell.
“Well then,” he said “I guess I should meet with the commander and get a read on what he wants. Do you know where Tykhon is?”
“I think I saw it wandering behind the train, a far distance. It doesn’t want to get too close.”
The wagons had begun to slow, the light outside taking on a reddish hue as the sun began to dip. Obviously they were breaking for camp, which suited Efrain just fine. When they’d come to a full stop and Efrain drew himself up to go outside, he was taken aback by the sudden appearance of a face through the flap.
“Oh!” Aya said, in a half-squeak, “You’re awake!”
“I forgot to mention,” said Innie, “she’s been coming around every now and then.”
“Right, then, yes,” Efrain said, straightening, “how can I help you?”
“Well, I was just coming to chat with the madam,” she said.
“Madam?” Efrain said, looking at the cat who was conspicuously staring elsewhere.
“I didn’t realise that you were awake, I- I’ll just go and come back later. You probably have a lot on your mind,” said Aya, withdrawing through the break in the fabric.
“Well, that was a way to wake up,” said Efrain, listening to her footfalls fading into the distance, “right so… commander! Yes. Just need to get my bearings.”
Outside was slightly foggy, although Efrain gave much praise to gods he didn’t believe in that it wasn’t the unnatural, fear-laced apparition that had plagued them. The trees were less large and intimidating than the ancient northern conifers, the bowes of them dense and green. The breeze that wafted through them was noticeably warmer as well, though it still carried a northern chill.
“Right then,” Efrain said as he clambered down past the hitchings to the ground.
It didn’t take long to find a spirited young man, riding along behind them.
“Would you happen to know where your commander is?” Efrain said, erring on the side of politeness.
“Good evening lord Efrain,” he said, “the commander ordered you to be sent when you awoke. You’ll likely find him near the top of the line, or at the centre of camp, depending on how set up he is.”
He pointed up through the line of horses and various pages and servants. Most were beginning to set up tents and firepits, or leading the mounts to be tied off. Efrain thanked the man and set off in the direction he indicated, weaving between the various groups that were forming. It didn’t take long for him to find Naia’s small tent, the standard bearer in front alerting the commander within.
Naia sat before a small table, furiously scribbling at a scrap of parchment. At his left was Damafelce, still in her riding gear, though she was currently attacking a bowl of something creamy with vigour. Efrain stood in silence for a few moments, watching as the knight pointed out something to the commander and murmured a correction. Both of them looked up as he cleared his throat, and Naia issued one of his sly smiles.
“My, lord Efrain, a delightful surprise,” he said, “in truth, I was beginning to worry we’d lost you for good. It would be an ill thing to carry a rotting body around all the way down to Karkos. Damafelce, you are excused, although I would like you to have that talk with Lethsoco. He’s been getting too eager recently.”
She nodded, and draining the last of her bowl, departed from the room. Efrain was offered a small stool, which he gratefully sank into before the commander.
“I’m sorry if jumping into business immediately might not be to your tastes,” said Naia with a genuine note of regret in his voice, “but there’s some conflicting reports I simply must sort out.”
Efrain laid his elbows on the table and laced his fingers, waiting for the commander to begin.
“Some are from my own soldiers, some are from the paladins, some are from others. I personally have my own beliefs, but I think it’s better to hear it from the horse’s mouth, as it were. Would you mind telling me what happened after I rode away from the village?”
Efrain took a moment to gather himself, and piece together what spare memories he could, before beginning to relay the general account of what had happened. Over the course of the next half-hour, Naia interrupted him constantly, asking clarifying questions, or for more detail on this incident and that.
“Lillian told me that you attempted to burn down the church,” he said, “is that true?”
Efrain caught a distinct impression that the captain already suspected the truth, yet was encouraging him to proffer a lie.
“Well, I can understand why she might believe that,” he began diplomatically, “but no, that wasn’t my intent. The magic I was using was difficult to control, and I had to improvise quite a bit. Desperate times, desperate measures.”
“So the damage to the church was merely incidental,” Naia said, his eyes settling, “would that you could convince the paladins otherwise. They seem quite intent that you were trying to kill all of them.”
“I’m not holding out hope to curry favour with those two.”
“Implying that you might wish to do so elsewhere,” Naia said, the glimmer returning, “although I’ve had my fair share of headaches with those two, they’re more reasonable compared to others. They’re still young, they’ll probably settle with time and the right guidance.”
“They’ll have to learn not to be afraid of things they can’t control, if the children are any metric,” Efrain said, not interested in mincing words.
At that, Naia leaned forward, regarding Efrain with such intensity that the older man felt uncomfortable.
“‘Something they can’t control’...” he said, repeating the words with purpose, “but I do imagine you have some things to ask me, don’t you?”
“Several things,” Efrain said, “but I’ll stick with one for now. Why did you save me? Do you need me for something?”
Naia’s silence was full of purpose, cast in the shadows that flickering candles cast on his face. Without a word, he got up, and left through the front of the tent, exchanging words with the standard bearer outside. Efrain heard footsteps receding as Naia reappeared, sat down, and leaned in to lower his voice.
“I would say I believe I owe you a debt, or at least, that’s what I would say if you were stupid enough to believe that,” he said, “given I’ve already used that justification, I wouldn’t blame you if you were suspicious.”
Efrain leaned in himself, wondering where this apparent candidness had come from.
“If you really want to know, then the truth is simple,” he said, “I was taught from my earliest days that only a fool dismisses talent based on superstition. You might notice that many of my own ranks would be dismissed, if not outright laughed at by others. Damafelce, a knight, and what’s more a right-hand? A woman from the barbarous jungle of Nieth?”
He began to tap his quill on the desk.
“Tools, lord Efrain. I want, and have great need of them. I am not the paladins - my words on this parchment could command a garrison to be built, or a man to be cut down in his home. Creation, destruction, good, evil, all dependent on the whims of the wielder. Magic is the same.”
“And which variety would you prefer me to be?” Efrain asked.
“Both, as the need may take it. I did not get this far without being flexible, and neither will you,” said Naia, “and while we’re on the subject, let me offer you something.”
Efrain would’ve held his breath, but settled for stiffening to attention.
“I want you to come with me, to Karkos and beyond. I want you to serve under me, with all the obligations, and privileges, that implies.”
Efrain was struck genuinely speechless. He had, somewhere in the back of his mind, idly conjured the vision of such an offer, but it was a silly fantasy, not something to be believed, let alone desired.
“I understand if you are hesitant,” Naia said, spreading his hands, “but fate has dropped one opportunity into my lap, and I’m inclined to see if I can secure another. Call me greedy if you wish, but I was also taught to not let such things slip by.”
“I don’t- why would you-” Efrain began, trying to form a sentence to describe the whirlwind of shock within him.
“Consider this, Efrain - a young, up-and-coming commander with a good record. Rather unorthodox in his choices of subordinates, enough for some to whisper in the dark, enough even perhaps, to close off some opportunities for promotion.”
A smile flickered at the edge of his lips - he was clearly enjoying this pantomime.
“Now consider, that the man returns, safely bearing a paragon of the church, who’s been sought for over sixty years, through trial and tumult. His warriors and he are lauded for their ability and leadership, despite their odd origins. What could be in store for such a person? Respect, certainly, but what about promotion?”
“So, you want to be a general,” said Efrain.
Naia smiled and bowed his head, humbly presenting himself.
“And you need me because… why? Please don’t think I believe this whole screed on ‘talent’. You’re doing that to appeal to my own sensibilities about the church.”
Naia laughed openly at that, though it wasn’t the most pleasant sound.
“I see you’ll need more cajoling than that. There are other reasons a mage would be valuable to me, this is true. But I wasn’t lying about talent being valuable to me. All I ask is that you think about this offer, and if you’ll accept it, I’ll tell you the rest.”
Efrain sat in silence for a while, wondering at the strange offer. Listening to the wind whistling through the trees, his hand unconsciously crept up to scratch at his forehead. Naia was looking at him expectantly, perhaps hoping he’d jump into it impulsively to reveal the mystery, but Efrain was intent on gauging the motives of this man.
“You do know,” Efrain began, “that inferno up on the roof. It would be difficult, probably impossible to do it again. And, if I tried, there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t cause significant damage to your own side.”
“I guessed as much, and no, I wouldn’t expect a display like that,” Naia said with a wry smile, “you wouldn’t be of much use to me dead, Efrain.”
So he wants me alive to do something, something with magic? Or something else? Efrain thought. He began to think about what else had changed throughout the last few days, and tried to recall what exactly Naia would know from his reports.
Certainly he would probably have at least a neutral appraisal from his soldiers, but that couldn’t be it. And mages could be found to do all sorts of magical tasks, even in Angorrah, if one was willing to seek them out. So was it for some unique power or ability then? He had shown him the River, but that was also an accident. And he didn’t expect him to use the flames of the Wisp Matriarch, or so he said.
What did Efrain offer to Naia, something that he only, or at least only a few others, could offer him? What had changed the offer of cooperation from simple guidance to something more long-term and involved? Efrain furiously reflected over the last few days, and suddenly he had it.
And with that, a whole web opened up before him, glistening with many unknown strands.
“Commander, before I say anything, I would like to ask just three questions. Quick ones, I would think.”
“Please.”
“You are a commander, aren’t you? I was given to understand that they managed much larger forces than this company. Over whole regions, in fact. That would normally be your duties, no?
The man nodded.
“Usually up to a thousand, though circumstances demand otherwise on occasion. Still, this is the smallest force I’ve wielded for a while now. My trusted and favoured.”
“And tell me, the children, they’re usually guarded by a retinue of paladins, I would assume, back in the holy city?”
“Indeed. Dozens of them.”
Naia’s eyes were glittering.
“And you were heading to do what all that way up north?”
Efrain of course knew the answer to this question, but he needed the cover if he could get it.
“Subjugating a castle, filled with undead, or so the tales go,” he said, “they made quite a big deal of it, back in the castle.”
Efrain sat, slotting pieces into place as he studied the man’s face.
“There’s indeed something you’re not telling me, commander.”
“Oh?” Naia said.
It was a game to him, Efrain was sure of it. A game of guesses and knives in the dark.
“So,” he began, “the church talks up a mission to the far north, all the way across the continent. Some terrible beast, holed up in some old castle. Well, of course, they couldn’t finance a full contingent. Only a hundred measly men. No one wants to take the deal, I assume, so they offer something to sweeten the pot, a crusade, with the two most sacred figures of the church at the head.”
Naia offered the slightest nod and opened his mouth to speak.
“Only, that’s not the real reason,” Efrain quickly interjected, deciding to take his chances, “I was there at the Frozen Vale, laying to rest the evil spirit you claim. And there were undead, weak, of poor craft, but numerous. Enough to man the battlements effectively if the spirit so chose.”
The momentum of the lie carried him onwards to his conclusion.
“So, tell me, why did you have few men, no siege equipment, and little stores? And why were the two most important people in the faith there with two bodyguards between them?”
The darkness of Naia’s eyes reflected the candle, twin flickers of flame and serpentine consideration.
[←Chapter 52] [Cover Art] [My Links] [Index] [Discord] [Subreddit] [Chapter 54→]
submitted by The_Alloquist to redditserials [link] [comments]


2023.06.02 15:37 yPOAT UPCOMING US + Canada TOUR DATES August & September 2023

UPCOMING US + Canada TOUR DATES August & September 2023

https:// www.catpowermusic.com/#tour

https://preview.redd.it/udlgd3pdim3b1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f519ac975235a74bfb7318b997ff5b808cf9f0a

SUNDAY AUGUST 13, 2023

9th Street Summerfest North Centeral Columbia, MO +Modest Mouse

SUNDAY AUGUST 20, 2023

Stone Pony Summer Stage Asbury Park, NJ +Pixies +Modest Mouse

MONDAY AUGUST 21, 2023

The Rooftop At Pier 17 New York, NY +Pixies +Modest Mouse

TUESDAY AUGUST 22, 2023

The Rooftop At Pier 17 New York, NY +Pixies +Modest Mouse

THURSDAY AUGUST 24, 2023

Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater Bridgeport, CT +Pixies +Modest Mouse

FRIDAY AUGUST 25, 2023

Brewery Ommegang Cooperstown, NY +Pixies +Modest Mouse

SATURDAY AUGUST 26, 2023

Mass Moca North Adams, MA +Pixies +Modest Mouse

MONDAY AUGUST 28, 2023

Artpark Amphitheater Lewsiton, NY +Pixies +Modest Mouse

TUESDAY AUGUST 29, 2023

TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park Indianapolis, IN +Pixies +Modest Mouse

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 30, 2023

The Salt Shed Chicago, IL +Pixies +Modest Mouse

THURSDAY AUGUST 31, 2023

The Salt Shed Chicago, IL +Pixies +Modest Mouse

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2023

Gerald Ford Amphitheater Vail, CO +Pixies +Modest Mouse

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

The Union Event Center Salt Lake City, UT +Pixies +Modest Mouse

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden Boise, ID +Pixies +Modest Mouse

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

Pavilion at Riverfront Spokane, WA +Pixies +Modest Mouse

*SOLD OUT* THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Kettlehouse Amphitheater Bonner, MT +Pixies +Modest Mouse

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Climate Pledge Arena Seattle, WA +Pixies +Modest Mouse

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre Vancouver, CANADA +Pixies +Modest Mouse

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater Troutdale, OR +Pixies +Modest Mouse

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater Troutdale, OR +Pixies +Modest Mouse

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Oxbow Riverstage Napa, CA +Pixies +Modest Mouse

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Gallagher Square San Diego, CA +Pixies +Modest Mouse


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2023.06.02 14:57 upbstock preeeeeeeeeeeeeperrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The strength of the labor market has, for the most part, been surprising to the upside since the economy rebounded from the pandemic shock in March-April 2020. While that may be good news for workers, it's not what the Federal Reserve wants. Chair Jerome Powell has emphasized that the labor market remains unsustainably tight, and supply and demand need to get into better balance for inflation to retreat toward the Fed's 2% goal.
Bigger picture: Some recent data has pointed to a continued robust labor market. Wednesday's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report showed an unexpectedly large increase in job openings, and Thursday's ADP Jobs Report also came in stronger than anticipated. For today's figures, the economist consensus expects 180K more jobs were added to the U.S. economy in May, which is still strong but a slower pace of growth, down from the 253K added in April. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 3.5% from 3.4% in April, while average hourly earnings are forecast to grow 0.3% M/M.
Even if today's jobs figure show stronger than expected gains, which has happened nearly every month over the past year, it may not matter - unless the number really blows it out of the water. As mentioned previously on WSB, Fed officials like Patrick Harker and Philip Jefferson are calling for a pause to the rate hiking cycle this month, before making further decisions about the "extent of additional policy firming." Odds of pause have also rocketed higher on CME's FedWatch Tool, climbing to nearly 80% yesterday, from only 35% a week ago.
Commentary: While the labor market has remained surprisingly tight since the Fed started raising rates, SA analyst Damir Tokic takes an opposing view, expecting that it will start to turn negative soon. Temporary help service jobs have been falling since December 2022, currently declining at 3%-4% per month, signaling that "it is very likely that we are in a recession, or near one," he said. "The discretionary sector is likely to sell off as the overly optimistic earnings expectations get revised lower." (6 comments)
Averting default
Late last night, the U.S. Senate passed a debt ceiling package by a vote of 63-36, sending the legislation to the president's desk in time to stave off a catastrophic default. The bill suspends the debt limit until Jan. 1, 2025, in exchange for some measures that cap non-defense discretionary spending, stiffen work requirements for some recipients of food assistance, and allow the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline. "No one gets everything they want in a negotiation, but make no mistake: this bipartisan agreement is a big win for our economy and the American people," President Biden said via tweet. "Our work is far from finished, but I look forward to signing this bill into law as soon as possible and addressing the American people directly tomorrow." (70 comments)
Groundwater disappears
In what might be a harbinger for the housing boom in the American West, Arizona is limiting approvals for new developments within the Phoenix area. A study found that around 4% of the area's demand for groundwater, close to 4.9M acre-feet, cannot be met over the next century, threatening to dampen the explosive development that has made the city one of the fastest-growing metropolitan regions in the country. Besides the groundwater crisis, Arizona has also faced significant shortages of its surface water allocation, with a recent deal cutting usage from the drought-stricken Colorado River. Investing Group Leader Ian Bezek covers the situation in Global Water Resources: Why I'm Not Worried About The Phoenix Housing Downturn. The article on GWRS is from a year ago, but SA users are still discussing it in the comments section.
Reality check
Taking aim at Apple (AAPL) before next week's expected unveiling of a mixed reality headset, Meta Platforms (META) had its own product announcement to make ahead of WWDC 2023. The company's Meta Quest 3 offers a slimmer form factor, but also higher resolution, stronger performance and "breakthrough Meta Reality technology." The 128GB headset will start at $499.99, with an additional storage version also available for purchase. That's a big price differential from Apple's headset, which is expected to come in at around $3,000, and be initially aimed at software developers and enthusiasts versus regular consumers. (28 comments)
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan +1.2%. Hong Kong +4%. China +0.8%. India +0.2%. In Europe, at midday, London +1%. Paris +1.3%. Frankfurt +1.2%. Futures at 6:30, Dow +0.5%. S&P +0.5%. Nasdaq +0.5%. Crude +1.5% to $71.14. Gold +0.1% to $1997.40. Bitcoin +0.7% to $27,098. Ten-year Treasury Yield unchanged at 3.62%
Today's Economic Calendar
Auto Sales 8:30 Non-farm payrolls 1:00 PM Baker Hughes Rig Count
Companies reporting earnings today »
What else is happening...
Before OPEC meeting: Oil data continues to fly in the face of skeptics.
Exxon (XOM) eyes new fracking tech to double oil pumped from shale.
Again! Boeing (BA) further delays crewed launch of Starliner spacecraft.
Google (GOOGL) said to be investing in text-to-video AI name Runway.
Uranium rally: Senate committee fast-tracks advanced nuclear reactors.
Dollar General (DG) slammed following disappointing sales outlook.
Macy's (M) tumbles after guidance, before turning higher on upgrade.
Some Apple (AAPL) Savings account customers hit snags on withdrawals.
Semiconductor watch: Broadcom (AVGO) reports Q2 results and guidance.
Judge in Disney's (DIS) free speech case steps aside, slams DeSantis.
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2023.06.02 14:42 Fianthefeaster Any good EUC riding spots?

Any good EUC riding spots?
Hello, just got an Electric Unicycle last weekend and been having a great and occasionally painful time learning this machine! I'm wondering if there are any great trails or areas others enjoy in Connecticut on an EUC? I'm not looking at off road trails quite yet but have had a great time on gravel, dirt, and pavement. I've taken my kingsong s18 on the airline trail which was fun, nevers park in south windsor, and the vernon rail trail. Looking primarily for spots in central CT or near springfield but open to good spots if a bit further. Some future spots I'm thinking of are the west hartford reservoirs, wickham park, the ct river trail by windsor, and maybe around west hartford. Also, anyone know if there are any groups of EUC riders in CT?
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2023.06.02 14:29 Apkprovide GTA Mzansi APK Download (Latest Version) For Android

GTA Mzansi APK Download (Latest Version) For Android

Introduction:

The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series has been a gaming phenomenon for decades, captivating players with its immersive open-world gameplay and engaging storylines. While the franchise has traditionally been set in fictionalized versions of American cities, a dedicated group of developers and fans have created a unique twist on the game by bringing it to the vibrant landscapes of South Africa. In this article, we will explore GTA Mzansi APK, an exciting modification that transports players to the rich and diverse world of South Africa.

https://preview.redd.it/0l81sfw8ml3b1.png?width=301&format=png&auto=webp&s=05c7398bbfbec77ab53dbb42a9c5ae86d3a6929e

Download GTA Mzansi Mod APK:

GTA Mzansi is an unofficial modification of the popular Grand Theft Auto series, specifically designed to replicate the South African experience within the game. The mod brings iconic South African cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria to life, recreating their landmarks, neighborhoods, and cultural nuances. Players can explore the bustling streets of Johannesburg, visit the beautiful coastal regions of Cape Town, and engage in action-packed missions that reflect the local flavor.
  • Unique South African Setting:
One of the most captivating aspects of GTA Mzansi is its ability to transport players into the heart of South African culture. The mod pays attention to detail, incorporating authentic landmarks like the iconic Table Mountain, Nelson Mandela Square, and Moses Mathilda Stadium. The vibrant streets are filled with minibus taxis, street vendors selling local delicacies, and the sounds of South African music playing in the background. This attention to detail creates an immersive experience, allowing players to feel like they are truly a part of the South African landscape.
  • Diverse Missions and Characters:
GTA Mzansi APK offers an array of missions that capture the essence of South African life. Players can engage in carjackings, heists, and high-speed chases while interacting with a diverse cast of characters that reflect the country's multicultural society. From gangsters and corrupt politicians to everyday citizens struggling to make ends meet, the mod presents a nuanced portrayal of South African society and its unique challenges.
  • Customization and Gameplay:
The mod incorporates various gameplay elements from the original GTA series, including the ability to customize vehicles, purchase properties, and engage in side activities. However, GTA Mzansi adds a South African twist to these features. Players can modify their cars with accessories commonly seen on South African roads, participate in township soccer matches, and even enjoy a brand (barbecue) with friends. These additions enhance the sense of immersion and allow players to engage with the local culture in a meaningful way.
  • Community and Future Development:
GTA Mzansi has gained a dedicated following within the gaming community, attracting both South African players and international fans intrigued by the unique setting. The mod continues to evolve through regular updates and the contributions of passionate developers. The community actively engages in discussions, sharing ideas, and providing feedback to improve the mod further. The dedication of the GTA Mzansi community ensures that the game will continue to grow and flourish.

Conclusion:

GTA Mzansi APK is a testament to the creativity and passion of the gaming community, offering a fresh take on the beloved Grand Theft Auto series. By introducing players to the vibrant and diverse world of South Africa, the mod provides a unique and immersive experience. Whether you're a fan of the original GTA series or simply curious about the South African culture, GTA Mzansi APK offers an exciting journey into the heart of Mzansi, captivating players with its rich setting, engaging missions, and community-driven development.
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2023.06.02 14:09 WarrenTheHero Campaign Recap: Three Years of Annihilation


https://preview.redd.it/1i6hldzjil3b1.png?width=3840&format=png&auto=webp&s=9366c3678f01b7ef46e4a57d552f4e1bfb45c530
I've been running ToA for a group of friends for about 3 years now and we're finally coming up on the final fight and I just wanted to gush a little about what they've been through during that time. We started before Covid on an every-other-week basis, took some time off at the beginning of the pandemic, and only in the last couple months did we switch to weekly, which is why it's taken us so long. It's also taken so long because I was committed to running by the book: survival checks each day to navigate, track rations, track bug repellant, random encounters, tropical storms. I also implemented Gritty Realism from the DMG, where resting overnight in the jungle was only a Short Rest and they'd have to dedicate an entire day of building out a semifortified camp to rest for the entire next day before breaking it down and continuing. It slowed down progress but I think overall the players like that they were forced to be survivalists.
Early on, the adventurers Nyx (tabaxi monk/warlock), Orynn (gnome wizard) and Ivory (tiefling bard) were hired by Syndra Sylvane to stop the Death Curse. This wouldn't turn out too well, as Nyx was slain in session three or so by a critical Yellow Musk Creeper hit. The party, now featuring human archer-warlock Folsom, hired out the guides River and Flask to explore Camp Righteous, and hired some Flaming Fist soldiers (Gwen and Jean) to delve into the jungle again, finding the goblin city of Yellyark along the way, wherein Gwen barely held the line against the Goblin Boss chieftain and established herself as a badass, before the party yeeted (yote?) the city far into the jungle, but not before acquiring an amulet which they subsequently matched with its Shield Guardian.
The party's next expedition was inspired by a seer in Port Nyanzaru, who told Folsom to seek the sage of Orolunga. They were joined by Inete, who wanted the party to take her to the Aldani Basin to pursue visions of sinister wizards there. They hired Azaka Stormfang to guide them, on the condition that they first stop by the Firefinger to recover her lost artifact, a nearly fatal encounter that included Ivory breaking a leg as he fell from partway up the tower. From there, they met Artus Cimber also on his way to Orolunga, but parted ways afterwards as they headed to the Aldani Basin, briefly meeting Valindra Shadowmantle in the floating Heart of Ubtao where they say from a distance a wrecked skyship. After rescuing the crew of the Star Goddess, they came across and saved another adventuring party, led by a wealthy but not-suited-for-a-jungle mage named Lucas. Taking on all of these extra adventurers strained their supplies to the limit, and it was only through Folsom's foraging that they managed to avoid starvation on their way back to the Port. They also encountered Camp Vengeance, but when forced into service by the master of the camp, the party used Lucas's magical might to decimate the camp before fleeing.
In the city, Lucas told them of his quest to map out routes to Orolunga and Nangalore. Having already mapped out Orolunga, they agreed to find a route to Nangalore for him while he stayed in the port and finalized the deal and bought supplies. Heading into the jungle again, with Inete joining them as her relationship with Orynn slowly grew, the party met a Shadar-Kai Barbarian named Cormag as he was fleeing a T-Rex, and he joined them on thier way to Nangalore. However, Zalkore proved a terrible threat, and petrified both Cormag and Folsom. In the aftermath of the battle against the Medusa, Cormag's sister Amasha, led by the lizardfolk ranger Qyzen Fess, arrived, just barely too late for the siblings to reconnect. The party found their way to Kir Sabal, where they defended the inhabitants from Gargoyles and used the Dance of the Seven Winds to return to Port Nyanzaru.
In the port, they met with the dwarven guide Musharib who offered to take them to his ancestral home of Hrakhammar, offering some of the forge's riches if they help him rid it of the fire newt threat within. They made a deal with their friend Lucas to meet them in Shilku Bay after a few weeks and set off, eventually freeing Hrakhammar for the Albino Dwarves, allowing them to once more establish a proper community on the peninsula.
They met Lucas and his new ship in Shilku Bay to return to Nyanzaru, where they decided to finally use the knowledge gained at Orolunga to find Omu and stop the Death Curse. It was during this time that Orynn decided to retire from adventuring life; the stresses and trauma he suffered in the jungle too much for the poor gnome, he sought therapy and a quieter life with his now-official girlfriend Inete. Similarly, Amasha decided to stay in the city to research ways to un-petrify her brother. To replace them, Lucas hired two new crew members: Lucky In the Dark, a tabaxi swashbuckler, and Tiger's Eye, an elderly Dwarven Sorcerer. Their names never got confusing, I promise. They were also approached by a young half-elf calling herself Xandala, hoping the party might take her to reunite with her father Artus Cimber, if they ever came across him. Sailing down to Shilku Bay once more, their ship was attacked and boarded by pirates, whose storm-mage thwarted Tiger's Eye's long-range fireballs. In the brawl that ensued, Lucky was able to best Captain Laskilar in a (mostly) one-on-one duel, claiming his magical cape for himself. It was not very long after arriving in Shilku Bay that the party, with the information from Saja N'Baza of Orolunga that they discovered the grand ruined capital city: Omu. Now knowing were to go, they returned to Port Nyanzaru for the last time to resupply before venturing into the heart of evil.
This is when Ivory finally departed the group as well, though their friend from the mainland, a Travel-Domain Cleric called Ezra, was in town and recommended to join the expedition to avenge her dog who was slain by the Death Curse. Lucas also hired an additional healer, a priest of Torm named Undril Silvertusk. They were once again accosted as they sailed south, by Captain Al-Saryak, defeating him and his crew as well. During this time, Lucas and Xandala also began to grow close. Traveling across the Valley of Lost Honor, they were scouted and chased by Tsindelor, the Red Dragon of Wyrmheart Mine, and Lucas was forced to offer it all of his gold and treasure to appease it so they could escape.
Omu was difficult. They me a wily old scribe, abandoned by his former employers, named Orvex, and using his knowledge began to slowly conquer various puzzles and traps across the city, collecting Puzzle Cubes for an unknown purpose. This conflict soon put them at odds with a Red Wizard, and while he was slain, he promised the group there more of his people who would crush them. They also had several close encounters with a vast beast, called the King of Feathers, and before long knew they had to hunt him down or be hunted themselves. They confronted him at his amphitheater lair, where they found the rest of the Red Wizards were also trying to slay the magical dinosaur. Rather than putting their differences aside, a great three-sided melee broke out between the party, the Wizards, and the King, eventually leaving the party as the last ones standing. However, Tiger's Eye's heart began to give out, and he returned to the ship in Shilku Bay. It was during these explorations of Omu that an Assassin Vine struck an isolated party member, capturing and killing the beloved Flaming Fist Gwen, who had been with the part for so long. They also found a den of Kobolds under the marketplace, slaying all but one, and telling the survivor that his people were "based" before forcibly recruiting him into the party. Snirbo the Kobold would be given lessons from Lucky on the basics of swordplay, though he was never very good at it. After taking control of the Grung tribe at Nangnang's Shrine, the party found a human knight, ensorcelled by a Nyanzaru guide; a Yuan-Ti in disguise. After being freed, Gilderoy Gleamleaf opted to join the party in their quest, as it was the same as his own: destroy the Soul Monger and end the Death Curse.
In time, they found their way into the back entrance of the Fane of the Night Serpent, the home of the Yuan-Ti of Chult and the lair of the warlord Ras Nsi. The party launched several expeditions into the temple, slaying snakes and freeing prisoners. Ezra and Qyzen soon realized there were too many prisoners to accompany them, but they would be unable to fend for themselves, and escorted them back to the ship. Among the prisoners, two were capable combatants, a Goliath infused with the ancient powers of his giantkin people named Manuyemo, and an elf Chronurgist Wizard named Osmanthus. The expeditions in and out of the Fane were at times disastrous, with both Osmanthus and Undril being captured, and Snirbo being turned to stone, but after Manu was able to beat the Yaun-Ti champion Sekelok, not very many of the remaining Yuan-Ti were serious threats, beyond their ability to consistently Suggest Gilderoy. Within the Fane, the party found a gravely wounded and misbegotten Artus Cimber and his friend Dragonbait, both robbed of their gear including the legendary Ring of Winter. The final confrontation with Ras Nsi, the new wielder of the Ring, was incredibly difficult, as he was able to use the Ring's Wall of Ice to isolate party members to strike with his magical sword. After some very close calls, he was forced to retreat through a teleportation pad. Learning how the pads functioned, several party members were teleported to random parts of the dungeon, before Lucas accidentally found himself face-to-face with the warlord. The sounds of the fight that followed drew the party to Ras Nsi's hidden chambers, where in the moment of all involved being severely weakened, Xandala finally sprung her trap, *Fireball*ing the room to claim the Ring for herself. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough power, and some party members survived to stop her and save their friends from bleeding out.
Opting for mercy for this person they thought was their friend, they let Xandala live, though this far south, she had no choice but to continue to assist the party, or else brave the jungle alone and surely die. As various other teammates handled the Ring, they were all tempted to violence until it found itself back within Artus's grasp. As thanks for freeing him and Dragonbait and returning the Ring, he decided to help the party through the upcoming Tomb of the Nine Gods.
With all Puzzle Cubes from the Red Wizards and Ras Nsi in hand, the party finally entered the Tomb of Annihilation.
It was not easy. Artus became cursed very early on, removing his ability to regain hit points and slowly sapping his life, forcing him to stay out of most fights as the party battled Tomb Guardians and Dwarf-Wights. They found the administration office of the Tomb run by Withers, who was unable to escape and slain, Gilderoy claiming his amulet.
While no part of the Tomb was pleasant, the first tragedy of the Tomb was during the fight against the invisible beholder Belchorz, who turned Lucas to stone. This was not easy for the group, and especially not for Xandala. It was also around this time that the party started suffering nightmares in the Tomb, even protected by Tiny Hut spells, with some of them losing maximum HP and unable to recover during Long Rests. The second tragedy was on a lower level, when Gilderoy entered a secret room and snuffed out a candle. He was teleported out of the room and never seen again, though we know he was ground to nothingness along with all he was wearing and carrying.
Pressing on, the party found a throne Room and a hidden sarcophogus with a fine necklace atop it. Giving the necklace to Jean to appease the spirit of Nangnang possessing him, he put it on, activating its curse and becoming the center of an 8th-level *Fireball,* disintegrating immediately and awakening the Zombie T-Rex hidden below the room. After slaying the beast, it disgorged a curious sight: A spore-infested Firbolg calling itself Cousin Klemba, who had been disintigrated in the tomb years earlier, but by a 1-in-a-billion magical chance, its spores managed to survive and reconstitute inside the flowery gut fauna of the T-Rex. Activating the second trap in Napaka's sarcophogus room really put a damper on the party's mood, and they decided to avoid all distractions and recover the last of the Skeleton Keys without exploring any more rooms than strictly necessary.
At the bottom of the Tomb, they finally came head-to-head with the Hags who had been tormenting them: the Sewn Sisters Baggy Nanna, Peggy Deadbells, and Widow Groat, each accompanied by two Wraiths. The fight was brutal, perhaps the most difficult so far, as the Hags used very effective Hold Person spells to lock down the gorup as the Wraiths began to critically hit them, reducing max HP and inflicting massive damage. All the while, the Hags were able to counter most of the party's spells while phasing in and out of the Ethereal. Widow Groat even managed to acquire one of the Skeleton Keys, but was slain by Keshma al-Wazir, a dao genie that was indebted to the party after being freed by them, before Groat could escape to the Ethereal plane.
Now, with all of the Hags dead, the party might be able to have their first complete and uninterrupted Long Rest in the Tomb, before opening the Skeleton Gate and confronting, at long last, the Soul Monger.
This Sunday, we're meeting in person again for the finale. I've been constructing a 3D version of the final fight, and a custom scuplt of the Atropal inspired by ideas on this sub. I'm gonna kill them all.
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2023.06.02 12:37 CervielWasTaken Moral Alignments for characters?

Tw, topics of abuse, war, disaster, mutating and child sacrifice Long post, im sorry for my bad english.
This might be weird question but recently I have been finally designing and improving importent characters in universe, and to do it, im doing these funny ,,meet my OCs'' memes... But they always need moral alignments.
I know only that main character is lawful neutral, and very morally grey. But... I have sort of problem with other characters. Can somebody help me with naming their moral alignments?
General universe concept, shortly, to get you into idea: Horror-Drama, with fantasy race called (but only called) vampires, being exiled and finding underground place, thousands of years its thriving hidden cyberpunk world, when planet earth is dying outside and humans are trying to break in, to avoid dying out from eco-disaster. In same time, vampires and some other races are struggling with mutating from radiation from crystals, that left from mysterious apocalypse that made antic underground race vanish. Vampires want to leave, and rebel, but king uses violence to silent them.
Now, to characters (btw, don't give me tips how to improve em much, this universe is just for fun of creation)
Main 1 - Shapeshifter dragon that failed fight with king and becomed his puppet, hiding in disguise of young vampire. Does not understends vampires but tries to. Has agression problems, but takes medicine that makes him calmer, but is still maniacal in fight, because, as dragon, this is what he is created for, his species was meant to kill during first undeworld's doom (tho, he didn't fought during it, he's way too young, it was many generations past him, its just insticts) Generally mostly protects vampires from mutants, that are big danger, but is also sadist in battle, mostly to enemies, such as humans who are trying to break into underground. Tries his best to protect others, and to actually do good... But also kills citizens that his king marks as rebels, because king brainwashed him into thinking its for good, because ,,they are breaking rules.''. Later, realizes its horrible, as requests are being worse and worse, but can't escape because of becoming too weak from meds, and possibility of dying, including being hunted by angry citizens and king himself. King made him not socialize much besides training army and talking with other importent in nation people, making him lack friends to turn for help. Depressed but hides it. Finally, kills king as that man tries to sacrifice his own (king's) daughter to ancient gods. In side story part, he tries to protect second dragon, from weaker breed, water one, healer. She's my friend's OC, and is generally endangered fauna part, shapeshifter too. That woman makes soldier dragon open up his eyes a bit, but also calms him down, finally becoming much needed friend to him, and later his wife. He's very protective to her, and causes whole change into terrarin by requesting labs to make more lakes and rivers and seas, for water fauna and flora, and to improvment of artifical water. Tries to do good but does bad, against his will. Tho, finally gets break from killing innocent, as king dies.
Main 2 - Opposite of first, wants revolution. When he was young, king marked his parents as rebels, killing them in process, on his very eyes, sending dragon main to do it (importent, dragon main was also younger here and didn't understood much from it). This made him grow bitter, anxious, before it growing into agression and hate for goverment and brutal military. He starts revolution, encouraged by older guy, who becomes his right-hand man. Its firstly pacifist, but as more citizens join, angry for blood of ones who harmed them, leader himself gets into agression. He gets corrupted by power and feeling fear of goverment, first time meeting such of big danger, but he's also ignoring innocent victims. Revolution starts vandalizing firstly, before burning warehouses with food (mistaking them for weapon ones), murdering head of propaganda media and, in end, causing civil war. It ends with many innocent victims, causing even main 1 to break down, calling main 2 to hipocryte and corrupted hero.
Now, to other characters.
Goverment:
King - Started as anxious and depressed prince, progressed into tyrannical and depressed, insane king, and this is stage where story begins. He generally wants better for people, but knows that humans will kill vampires and others. Mutation causes him to lose his temper and mind, making him more agressive, in pain and (sometimes) feral, and as story progresses, he's more and more abusive to his daughter, (mostly) dragon main and secretary. Manipulates dragon main and many of other military leaders, to create vision of holding control and making good, when he himself knows its not true and that what he does is evil. He hates himself deeply for what he has done, and knows that both world above and staying in underground means death, and that citizens won't listen to him, he already tried paciftist ways. He simply does not see way from this situation. When his cousin wants to create country himself, he's against it. Gets manipulated by leader of army, into thinking that these lands belong to him. In effect, said leader and his wife start war with south of underworld, killing even more citizens. Tries to create magical energy barrier by sacrificing his daughter to ancient godness.
King's Cousin/King 2 - Opposite of king, one that listens to his citizens and is much calmer. Belives that they will someday escape, until sad news that it won't work. Still, he tries to make many festivals and give fun to his people, to brighten their days with all sorts of funny activites, creating nice place for them. As private person, he's a bit chaotic but in mostly good way. Is kinda this weird dude who loves to make others blush, by sending them compliments and smug remarks, but never steps too far. Has open relationship with his wife, that she herself suggested, because of them being not very compatibile with views in bed. Apart from it, they are loyal to each other and love their other half, might actually have most healthy relationship it this universe. When war breaks into his country, he makes sure everyone is safe, and tries to end it. Saddly, his wife dies in final battle, with general of Northern underworld killing her. With this, he becomes depressed, but still tries to keep everyone happy, in his now free country. Many years after war, he sacrifices himself, afraid that he will also mutate into something like his cousin, because of strong power that comes before mutation.
Leader of air forces - One of leaders that keep North in check. Victim of her father, who abused her and got into her mind, that only brutal man will be worthy spouse. Tried to heal by dating dragon main, but trauma was too much. In fact, with how polite he was, she got agressive and abused him mentally, making him feel unworthy of love. After this, she started to date General, who was known as big brute. She was victim of him, but tried to act like its okay, and brushed all people who tried to help her. She takes part in war with Southern Underground, not seeing issues with it. She generally wants profit and fame, because this is what she lost in her past, because of theatre where she worked as top actress burning up, wounding her and stripping her from everything she had.
General - Artifical made vampire-soldier, big brute with no reedeming traits. Personalization of my very own fear of war. He's brutal, sadistic and only cares about money, fame and beating weaker ones. Rules? Who cares, most importent is fun! Oh, fun will be murdering innocents? Who cares! This is his point of view. He also harms his wife, and most of other goverment leaders.
Scientist - She was head of royal lab, seeking potion of eternal life. Shockingly to others, she actually created it, and drinked it other day. It didn't worked as planned, making her much younger, both physically and, kinda, mentally, changing her into mid teen. From this time, she's object of jokes, but does not care. She generally does not care about most of stuff, including what happens outside lab. On request tho, she improved artifical sky and waters with her technology, creating ilussion of underground being outside world.
Media head - Man who only cares about profit and fame, again. Got into his role with boot licking to goverment and his manipulation powers. Spreads propaganda everywhere, to get money from hosting his tv program and silencing medias that support rebels, revolution or even speak bad about king. Is general jerk in private life. Victim of Revolucionists, who killed him.
Secretary - Probably my favorite character apart from dragon main. Man who was cheerful and full of energy as young, and was friend with (also young back then) dragon main, before accident in battlefield, when their both, as leaders, made mistakes. This mistake nearly costed his dear friend life, and he really blames himself, as much as dragon main blames himself too. With it, their friendship broke up progressivly.
In general, with where story is, he's old sad man, who retired from army to work on papers. He, as only character, knows that world above underground is dying out, and knows everything is pointless and that they all are doomed. Despite it, he secretly helps ones marked by king as rebels, helping them hide and survive. Yet, all his sucesses are also fails of dragon main, who is tortured mentally and physically because of it, and secretary gets even more sad because of it. He, as goverment part, hates goverment himself, and views them as villians, apart from king's cousin and dragon main, who he sees as misguided, either thinking about him as lost sheep or tool in hands of tyrant. In the end, for brief moment he becomes king, before princess becomes queen, and fires both general and air forces leader, and ends war with South. He, as only character here, dies peacefully, from old age.
Princess/Queen - Character that I pretty much need to work on. No, generally, im too focused on war part, im forgetting she exists- She's pretty young at start, being naive, and not knowing what her dad does. After king tries to sacrifice her, she becomes traumatized, but gets therapy. Still, wounds never close, and it has left marks on her mental health. With her becoming queen, she tries to fix all wrong doings of her father, completly changing how army worked, changing role of dragon main into just mutant-killing-soldier and creating alliance with her uncle, fixing all damage that has not been fixed. She sacrifices herself in end of her life, knowing that she is next in line to mutate into something too powerful to be stopped without problem, like her dad.
Others: ,,Fox'' - Revolution leader's right hand man. Old man who's dad, soldier, got killed when trying to cross border of underworld and surface, making ,,Fox'' deeply hate military and rules that king set. He has agression problems, and struggles with alcoholism. In general, wants anarchy and doom of goverment. With story progression, starts being more and more agressive in attacks on goverment, taking lead himself, and younger leader is too blind to see bad sides of it. With his death during civil war, leader is shaken, blaming goverment, starting worst part of war. Besides of being in rage and bitter, he has daughter himself, and tries his best to keep her life good, and quit alcohol for her. He wants to belive for better tomorrow for her, and is afraid she will get hurt by goverment, like his father did, dying because rule of not leaving underground.
Cez - Only character I will name here, because I have no nickname for them. Right-hand-person of dragon main, in slaying mutants. Generally cares about safety of people, and her leader's good health, both physical and mental. Likes to keep good atmosphere in their military group, tho might be seen as a bit of cold to public eye. Is bitter to king's rules, but does not go against it, yet complaining about sudden rule of killing revolutionists, but not supporting them anymore when they become too hostile.
submitted by CervielWasTaken to worldbuilding [link] [comments]


2023.06.02 10:31 lazycat1989 Trip Review - South Africa, May 2023

Just got back from a solo trip through South Africa, and despite all the cautions and reservations I heard on- and off-line, I loved every bit of it! Sharing some quick notes here for reference, and happy to answer any queries from people thinking of travelling there.
Profile
34 yo Indian man. Not the primest of targets for crime, admittedly, but I didn't really look like a poor write-off as well.
Dates
21 May 2023 - 31 May 2023
Itinerary
2N in Johannesburg with visits to Apartheid Museum, Soweto, and Rosebank Mall. Stayed at Clico Boutique Hotel in Rosebank. Found the city to be pleasant and well worth the stopover, also perfectly safe if navigated using Uber or through join-in tours.
3N in Greater Kruger, specifically at Nyati Safari Lodge in the Balule Reserve, with 2x game drives daily (morning and evening). Saw 3 of the big 5 (missed out on Rhinos and Leopards but have seen them earlier in India, so no heartache) as well as animals unique to Africa - hippos (right outside my room!), zebra, giraffes, and more antelopes than I can remember the names of. Also did a bushwalk, and loved all the bush sundowners and breakfasts. It was absolutely safe inside the lodge, the bigger threats mere mischeivous monkeys raiding the mini-bar. This was my first African Safari experience, and I loved every bit of it - can definitely see myself become a safari hoe in the years to come.
2N in Franschhoek, with a day-long self-cycle through the region (the road from Berg River Dam to Huguenot Memorial is beautiful), and more wine tastings (highly recommend Eikehof and Glenwood) than I'd had in the entirety of my life till the day. The place was my favourite in SA - beautiful, delicious, creative, and a bubble of safety. Stayed at the lovely Chanteclair guesthouse (the host Allan is a gem).
3N in Cape Town, with visits to Table Mountain, the waterfront, a peninsula tour (Camp's Bay, Hout Bay, Chapman's Peak, Cape of Good Hope, Boulders Penguin Colony, and Muizenberg), Kirstenbosch, Company's Garden, Zeitz MCAA (fantastic if you're into art) and Bo Kaap (with the lovely and free Cape Town Walking Tours). The city is easily one of the most, if not the most, beautiful in the world - the setting is spectacular, even in the cold, windy, rainy weather I was there in. It was also markedly safer than Joburg, and there were several parts of town where walking around didn't make me feel as on-edge. Stayed at Taj Cape Town (stellar downtown hotel which allows easier access to the actual city than the tourist enclave hotels of the lively but sterile Waterfront area).
Safety
Almost everyone I spoke to before visiting South Africa painted it as a free-for-all crime zone. I'd be mugged, raped, killed, or whatnot here, they said. Don't go alone. Don't go at all. All of it, ofcourse, turned out to be overblown, panic-stricken hogwash. I navigated the country without incident. BUT I didn't just stroll into town with an open wallet either - I made sure to stay at good hotels (within my budget), keep my valuables hidden away like in a secure backpack or an inside pocket, check locally for safety advice, and use Ubers or tours wherever recommended. These weren't special safety procedures designed for South Africa, mind you, they were just common precautions I'd use in any country I was visiting. It helped my travel remain incident free, and the only time I was approached by someone mildly unsavoury was when a drunk man stumbled past saying 'Good day brother' in Bo Kaap. The biggest threat to my safety in SA turned out to be marauding monkeys at my lodge near Kruger who raided the neighbouring room's minibar and made away with milk and coffee sachets. Also, contrary to some advice, things left lying around in my hotel room as well as check-in baggage at the airports remained absolutely safe and untampered.
Power (Cuts)
Load shedding is rife, and Joburg was seeing 10-12 hours of load shedding while I was there. However, all my hotels had power backup, and all the spots I visited had power backup (wherever needed), so I effectively only ever noticed loadshedding during the switch-overs between supply and gensets in my smaller Joburg and Franschhoek hotels. I even disabled the push notifications for the power supply app (ESP) because it was of no real use to me any more. Moral of the story - make sure your hotel has power backup, and carry a power bank in the unlikely event you find yourself at a cafe without electricity. Also, check up on the power points - I didn't do my research properly and had to buy two overpriced plugs in Joburg.
Weather
Joburg had crisp weather with lots of sun, but cool temperatures. Kruger had warm days and cool nights - layers were essential! Franschhoek was kinda like Joburg weather, while Cape Town was windy and rainy. The only place I could contemplate swimming was in Kruger and in the heated pool of my Cape Town hotel.
Food
EXCELLENT everywhere, even in remote Kruger. Franschhoek, however, was a highlight - if there's one place you'd want to splurge for good food, it's here. Also helps that the wine is cheap and plentiful and sublime. For vegetarians and vegans, most restaurants had symbols identifying suitable menu items, and everyone speaks English so its easy to clarify. Would recommend making online reservations at the more popular fine dining spots.
Costs
On the whole, South Africa is very affordable for someone used to American or European or Japanese or Singaporean prices, especially with the unabated fall of the ZAR. Coming from India, however, it was a bit of a mixed bag - dining out was very cheap, and hotels were great value, but domestic flights and longer taxi transfers (like Cape Town - Franschhoek or the day tours) felt expensive. Uber rides and high street shopping were just a tad pricier than I'm used to in India while the coffee and alcohol prices were an absolute delight. Entrance tickets to most sights, however, are fairly steep and much closer to the European norm than the African or Asian. That said, major sights are professionally managed, clean, safe, and have power backup.
Tipping is expected, I'd round things upward of 10% of the bill amount, except at a fine dining experience in Franschhoek where a service charge was explicitly included and informed about. Tips can be added to the card machine and need not necessarily be paid in cash.
Paying by card is practically universal in tourist-friendly spots (including entry tickets and even for smaller payments), and I didn't need to exchange any extra cash or use an ATM. Visa and Mastercard work everywhere ofcourse, and Amex has appreciable reach as well. Diner's Club and others, however, won't help.
It's good to exchange a small amount like 100 USD to help with petty payments like parking tickets or small tips or quick bites from convenience stores.
Communication
I purchased a Vodacom sim on arrival at Johannesburg, and it worked well everywhere, even giving 5G in most of Joburg, Cape Town, and Franschhoek centre. Data and talktime prices were a tad expensive (I'm spoilt because it's dirt cheap in India), but it was easy to top things up online or at stores on-the-go.
Free WiFi was widely available at airports, tourist sights, restaurants, malls etc, and worked quite decentl
Getting around
Uber works well in Joburg and Cape Town, with many local recommending Uber X. Bolt, however, was universally NOT recommended because it wasn't very reliable. I didn't try public transport, but heard that the Gautrain in Joburg and the Myciti BRT in Cape Town were safe and good quality.
I also flew from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit and Hoedspruit to Cape Town with Airlink, which was a great little regional airline with good service, punctual arrivals/departures, and a very tourist-friendly schedule and network. The tickets were quite overpriced though, and Amex refused to work on their own website, but I did get to check-in on to business class seats on economy tickets so I guess it was good overall.
I didn't self-drive. However, I met several travellers who did it (including a German lady who was campervanning solo across the entirety of southern Africa), and they reported it being easy and safe. The only precautions were to make sure you were hiring from a reputable company, not driving too much at night (out of fear of being stranded more than anything else), and purchasing the insurance plan with the agent. I did use plenty of roads, and generally observed that most highways were in decent shape and allowed for 100+ kmph speeds. Petrol stations were plentiful, and many came attached with convenience stores and mini-malls, usually with power backup. For parking, you'd usually have a local tout popping up helping you manouevre the car and watch over it for a small 5-10 ZAR tip (don't skimp on this, as petty thieves have been known to break into unattended cars to pilfer whatever they can, though I never ever saw this in action - practically every street in every town had a parking attendant on hand).
I did cycle around Franschhoek by myself and it was fantastic, much better than the kitschy Wine Tram experience. It was also very safe, and I even biked through town for dinner and some moonlight photos. The only bugbears were car traffic on the main roads, and a caution by the bike rental shop against leaving the night lamp on the bike unattended (had to unlatch it and keep it on me instead - but still, safer than biking in Amsterdam lol).
Getting there
Joburg is the biggest international airport with the better flight deals and has direct flights to all inhabited continents. It's a fairly modern and easy-to-use terminal, and I didn't observe any of the usual scams. Cape Town is the better looking airport, but has fewer connections, although it's still easy to get here with a simple transit at a major hub like London or Dubai. Durban also has a middle-sized airport with a handful of long haul links.
Most other airports are small - Hoedspruit was basically a collection of open-to-air pavillions - and have only domestic flights to the likes of JNB or CPT. Nelspruit, in southern Kruger has a few Airlink connections with Victoria Falls and the Mozambique coast, aimed at holidayers.
As an Indian, I was eligible for an evisa but the system never worked, taking my documents but never letting me pay the application fee. I instead applied manually at Delhi's VFS centre, and got my visa in 2 days (the VFS staff also told me that the evisa portal was hopeless and I shouldn't even have bothered). The evisa system finally budged while I was en-route to JNB, telling me that my application was rejected because I never submitted a bank statement (which I did) and completely ignored the fact that I never paid for my application (thanks to the inactive payment link). The rejection clearly didn't get slotted in anywhere because Immigrations was absolutely fine with my stamped-visa and didn't bother asking me anything other than why I was visiting and when I'd leave.
I flew in on Etihad via Abu Dhabi (decent airline but the airport needs a lot of work to compete with its neighbours) and back on Emirates via Dubai (excellent airline with very generous meals and a great IFE, as well as a huge and modern megahub airport experience albeit with overpriced food and shopping). Flight timings were fairly convenient both ways, with day-time arrivals and check-ins.
People
Some of the friendliest I've ever met! Everybody is happy to have a zany chat, and conversations can quickly become pal-ly and banter-ful if you're open enough. On the whole South Africans felt fairly extroverted and loosened up - very informal and sleeves-rolled-up. You'll have to excuse yourself out of a conversation, else you'll be left talking to them the whole day and not have any time left to sightsee.
Race
Speaking as an outsider who only observed things for 10 odd days, I felt that there's still a decent amount of racial segregation at play in SA.
While many lower-paying jobs are almost exclusively held by blacks and the colours thanks to the country's history of institutionalised racism, Blacks and Coloured peoples can now also be commonly seen in upscale areas as guests and visitors. However, the majority of patrons in these locations appeared to be white and Afrikaans speaking. I also only ever saw one mixed group - a white lady entertaining a black man and his daughter at a Cape Town waterfront restaurant where I was having dinner.
I did share a few drinks with Joburg-based white couples at my safari lodge, and on the whole, they didn't feel inherently racist. They in fact remembered the Mandela and Mbeki days with pride, and felt that most of the crime in South Africa was thanks to the corruption in the African National Congress (they were all praises for the opposition who holds sway in the Cape) and immigrants from neighbouring countries - they rather trusted Black South Africans for everyday affairs. At my Cape Town hotel, meanwhile, I met a few black businessmen and politicians at the pool and gym, and they told me similar things - that the ANC was corrupt, immigrants are to blame for crime etc, and didn't really have any strong opinions about whites. These experiences contrasted greatly with my conversation with a white Afrikaner pensioner in my Zanzibar hotel ten years ago, who was spewing hate against black crime after two whiskeys.
Since I'm Indian, I was often mistaken for a local - everybody (regardless of their race) would be taken aback when they heard my accent and learnt I was actually not South African (which has a large South Asian origin community) or even African (many South Asian origin peoples in eastern Africa and Mauritius especially). This spoke volumes to me - in the UK, where I studied and which now has an Indian-origin PM and a hugely visible South Asian diaspora, people would still ask me 'what country are you from?' on appearance alone. It really did emphasize how SA was more of a rainbow nation than just a slogan.
What did I like?
Practically everything, even Joburg. The safari experience was better than I expected, Cape Town was breathtaking, and Franschhoek became my favourite little town in the world. Also loved the food and the wine, and loved meeting and chatting with the locals. Of all the countries I've visited, SA is the one I'm surest about wanting to return to - and I'm not trying to be diplomatic - I honestly felt like I need more time here.
What didn't I like?
I disliked how such a great country with excellent basic infrastructure is being mismanaged. EVERYONE I spoke to was complaining about how corruption killed the country's power supply system and railways and is now threatening other aspects of life. None of these directly or visibly impacted my travels, but I would've liked being able to take a train instead of flights or not spend a premium to stay at places that had generators.
Anything I'd change?
While Joburg turned out to be a pleasant place, had I the option, I'd have skipped it to spend more time in Cape Town. I'd also spend a few more days in Franschhoek and around - the area turned out to be my favourite. Now that I've also had a lay of the land, I'm more confident about self-driving next time I visit. Also, I only realised how convenient it is to travel from SA to neighbouring countries, and would like to latch on visits to the Namibian desert, Botswana's game parks, the Victoria Falls on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, and the beaches of Mozambique alongside a return to SA.
I realise I could have managed some things better on this trip, but bottom line is that I enjoyed it, and that this is not a 'who had the best trip' competition. I'm just sharing my positive experience of South Africa in the hope that it encourages others to properly and safely plan a trip to the place instead of avoiding it out of second-hand-scares.
Happy to take any follow ups in the comments :)
submitted by lazycat1989 to solotravel [link] [comments]


2023.06.02 08:37 MNLYYZYEG Heart Signal 4 - Episode 3 - 230602

Heart Signal 4 (하트시그널4) is finally here after 3 years.
Synopsis:
Cupid returns for a fresh assault on the hearts of a new group of romance-ready singletons. The group has never met before, but must live together in Signal House. The house rules encourage flirty behavior, but forbid housemates from directly telling anyone that they like them. Instead, they must express their feelings via text message. But there’s a twist: All texts to housemates are anonymous – meaning recipients have to guess who is trying to make a love connection with them.
Watching events unfurl in the house is a celebrity panel of love experts. These include returning romance fans Yoon Jong Shin, Kim Ea Na, and Lee Sang Min, all veterans of previous “Heart Signal” seasons. And joining this trio this time around is a fresh crop of star pundits, including OH MY GIRL member Mimi, Kang Seung Yoon of WINNER, and leading psychiatrist Kim Chong Gi.
This variety TV show series is the follow-up to 2017’s “Heart Signal.” A second series was released in 2018. And this was followed up with Season 3 in 2020.
“Heart Signal 4” is a 2023 South Korean reality TV/variety show that was produced by Park Cheol Hwan.

Cast

Lee Jumi (이 주미)
Kim Jiyoung (김 지영)
Kim Jimin (김 지민)
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Shin Mingyu (신 민규)
Han Gyeore (한 겨레)
Yoo Jiwon (유 지원)
Lee Hushin (이 후신)

Panelists

Kim Eana
Lee Sangmin
Yoon Jongshin
Kang Seungyoon (from WINNER group)
Kim Mihyun or Mimi/미미 (from OMG group)
Kim Chonggi (psychiatrist)

Subtitles

Subtitles
Stream Viki
Stream KOCOWA
Stream VIU Singapore
Stream VIU Hong Kong
Around 9PM for English subs on Viki could be the consistent release schedule, so wait ~10-12 hours after the episode premieres (converting from Korean Standard Time, it's like 9:50AM every Friday, New York Time/Eastern Daylight Time), then the Viki volunteers should have the English/etc. subtitles available maybe before midnight or usually it's available the next day anyway, just like with other Viki shows.
Remember VIU (and KOCOWA/etc.) also has Heart Signal 4 but it seems sometimes they're delayed with the English subs or episode release.
For VIU access, you'll probably have to use VPNs set to Singapore/Southeast Asia to view their catalog.
Oh and Heart Signal 4 (and earlier seasons) is also apparently available on Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, et cetera, but as usual there's some region restrictions.
Accessing Kdramas, Korean variety shows, and so on (basically Viki, VIU, Disney+, Netflix, etc.): https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/10fpzhx/overall_thoughts_on_love_catcher_in_bali/j5cmhaw/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/13bmtin/anyone_know_where_can_i_watch_the_below_korean/jjbtnuz/

Past Threads

Episode Subreddit Thread
Episode 1 koreanvariety, heartsignal
Episode 2 koreanvariety, heartsignal
Heart Signal Youtube channel or 하트시그널 라비티비 channel: https://www.youtube.com/@channelA-heartsignal/videos
Heart Signal 4 teasers and clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFIYUdSkjiCAuWe006VqSTFfaE7rgIHNy
Heart Signal 4 production stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46UmvFNwi9Q
Heart Signal 4 Episode 1 commentary with Heart Signal 2 Jaeho and some other people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRuQmQUKLvQ
Heart Signal 4 Episode 2 commentary with Heart Signal 2 Youngjoo and Jaeho, and some other people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAFSWmQJkhk
Gaheun (Heart Signal 3 and Friends) and Jaeho with the Heart Signal 4 house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86F9hZ-7nxc
Jangmi (Heart Signal 2 and Friends) and Jaeho with the Heart Signal 4 house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAcupLirqOk
Heart Signal 4 Official BGM Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8djlZk6ZeM0
Heart Signal 4 Official BGM Playlist 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avMPSuhEqak
The Chinese version of Heart Signal (心动的信号) has an engaged couple now, don't click this link unless you finished Heart Signal 2 (心动的信号第二季), oh and it also talks about Terrace House marriages too: https://www.reddit.com/heartsignal/comments/13p3qqheart_signal_2_心动的信号,_Chinese/중국_version_couple/
Terrace House: Aloha State marriage now has pictures: https://www.reddit.com/terracehouse/comments/13sz4qe/the_aloha_state_ogs/
For Heart Signal, the original Korean version and some seasons of the Chinese version should be on Viki.
Season 2 of both the Korean and Chinese versions are considered the best, and now some people also really like the 5th season of the Chinese version. The upcoming 6th season of the Chinese version is being prepared at the moment, it might be out later this 2023 year or so.
Heart Signal 1 (Korean Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/35675c-heart-signal
Heart Signal 2 (Korean Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36949c-heart-signal-2
Heart Signal 3 (Korean Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36950c-heart-signal-3
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Heart Signal 1 (Chinese Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36228c-heart-signal-chinese-version
Heart Signal 2 (Chinese Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/36654c-heart-signal-2-chinese-version
Heart Signal 5 (Chinese Version): https://www.viki.com/tv/38812c-heart-signal-5-chinese-version
With the Chinese version of Heart Signal, it's available on the WeTV/Tencent Video website (has English subs), and also their WeTV/Tencent Video channels on Youtube for free but without proper English subs.
Through the Tencent Video Youtube channel you'll have to use auto-translate from Chinese/Mandarin or maybe say Thai, Vietnamese, etc. So for English subs you have to check their own WeTV/Tencent Video/etc. website.
Viki has the 1st, 2nd, and 5th seasons of the Chinese version of Heart Signal, so you'll have to look for the 3rd (心动的信号S3) and 4th season (心动的信号S4) elsewhere. Like use auto-translate/etc. with the Youtube episodes, or check their actual WeTV/Tencent Video website.
Heart Signal 3 (Chinese Version), Episode 1 and playlist (has Thai and Vietnamese subtitles, use auto-translate to English/any desired language): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywBixGNlkYs&list=PLMX26aiIvX5reBhNMq0rNZHoDa_aGblAs
Heart Signal 4 (Chinese Version), Episode 1 and playlist (these episodes on Youtube for the 4th season don't even have automatic captions/subtitles (no Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese/etc. subs either), so go on WeTV/Tencent Video's website or some places (like Bilibili, etc.) for other subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWNF5cxAap0&list=PLb8w8KsDSK1wtxaCeyEAMXCHxsCYJLK4A
submitted by MNLYYZYEG to koreanvariety [link] [comments]