Currently living in the west loop and looking for a cheaper apartment to move to. Some requirements: - budget: preferably under 2k +/- - 1 bedroom - garage parking - walkable to some restaurants - walking distance to blue line for easy travel to ORD - work right across the boarder in Indiana so would like to keep drive time under 45 mins with traffic - open to different neighborhoods.
Any help would be appreciated for apartment suggestions that fit the above requirements. Or if anyone has a suggestion on a broker or someone as well. TIA

I spend about half of my time over at my boyfriend's (he lives with his parents), and today his mom came in and said that she has new fake flowers to put in this vase, but there's no point if his room is going to look a mess. The vase is on the dresser, along with a DVD player, small tv, some old train videos on VHS, a coin jar, a couple other memory items she put there, and a catch-all basket that does need to be gone through. The side table by the bed currently has four books and a bible stacked together, a Kleenex box, deodorant, and face cream. She got upset at his boots (four pairs) being lined up in the closet. The last thing she said before walking out was that "this isn't going to work [for her]."
I was raised by a hoarder, still struggle a lot with clutter in my own space at my house, but I thought we were doing really well in his room. We just vacuumed today (and don't have to move anything besides a couple pair of shoes and a magazine basket on the floor) and did some laundry. I rarely leave anything here, I even have a lunchbox that fits all my toiletries in that I take with me when I leave for work or to my place. His mom is definitely a stickler for having things clean, but I really don't think this is even close to dirty. She also won't say anything if it is bothering her and then flip out over something random or yell at my boyfriend when she gets too tipsy. It's just frustrating being told this isn't good enough when I already have insecurities around clutter.
Mostly just a rant, but any advice for placating her would be appreciated. I really don't understand how having things put away is pissing her off.

Read Chapter 25 Here: https://www.reddit.com/saw/comments/13kih9q/legacy_from_the_book_of_saw_chapter_25_the_final/
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*** CHAPTER 26 **\*
Traveling to the warehouse, Logan felt relieved knowing Melissa was in good hands, but his momentary comfort was quickly replaced with apprehension when he arrived at Hoffman’s lair. Checking his surroundings, Logan was unfamiliar with this place, despite living here for over a decade. Stopping the car, he tilted the visor down and looked at the photo of his wife.
Through the security camera positioned outside, Hoffman watched Logan enter the parking lot and smiled. He grabbed the bottle of chloroform that sat next to the aqua green box and a cloth from the table, then switched on the furnace. Walking towards the entrance, he turned off all the lights except the one shining on Elanor, who sat unconscious beneath the aluminum dispenser.
Walking towards the entrance, Logan removed a tactical knife from his pocket and held it surreptitiously. Finding the door unlocked, he breached the doorway and stepped into the building, his chest full of anxiety. Logan shuffled through the inoperable machines, boxes, and various tools until he found Elanor under the strobe light. On the floor, he noticed the chrome pool of aluminum that had dried and discovered the dispenser above her. Quickly pulling the chair out of reach, he removed the gag from her mouth just as the liquid started to pour.
Slipping out of the darkness, Hoffman watched as Logan attempted to cut through the ropes that bound Elanor, and while he was distracted, Hoffman slammed the grip of his gun into the back of Logan’s head with traumatic force. Falling to the floor, rattled and disoriented, Hoffman used this moment to render him unconscious with a considerable dose of chloroform.
***
Seth’s body is brought to the triage center, where the on-call doctors get to work. They extract the bullet from his neck and clean the wound. Then, fill several vials with his coagulating blood and immediately begin several tests. It doesn’t take long for them to find something unusual in his blood. The pathologist examines the results and calls the precinct.
Waiting to hear from Agent Kullen, Lincoln left a message for Autumn and contacted the patrol unit, which was watching over her. They spoke briefly and assured him she would be brought to the station as soon as possible.
With her safety guaranteed, he reached out to the crew sent to Gavin Beck’s residence. They informed him that an officer was found in the garage with his arms, legs, and mouth wrapped in duct tape, but he was still alive, suffering from a major contusion on his head. He was currently being transported to the hospital for evaluation.
Fixing his posture, Lincoln loosened the cilice, providing a moment of comfort, and sank into his chair. Through the window, he caught another glimpse of the remaining survivors. Obstructing his view and thoughts, Marlow entered his office.
“Linc,” he says, “I’ve been in touch with Agent Webb. She’s in recovery and would like updates on the case. Additionally, I’ve been in contact with Dr. Steward’s wife and son. They’re both okay. Presumably an empty threat. The same for Renee’s family.”
Lincoln squints his eyes, contemplating, and suggests, “They didn’t fit the code.”
Marlow shrugs and is about to speak when a call comes through, “Detective,” the pathologist says, “Please come to the triage center at once. There’s something you should see.”
Taking his jacket from the chair, they leave the room hastily and head next door, cutting a path through the other corpses, beelining for Seth’s cadaver. The site of the body hits Lincoln in the gut. They shared a long history, and this wasn’t how he imagined their friendship would end. Saddened by the loss, Lincoln backed away and placed his hands in his pockets.
Inside, he found the last canister of Nitrous Oxide, which he had forgotten about. Already inserted into the cracker, it was taunting him. With the pain of losing another friend, Lincoln’s urge to use was returning, and he felt he would never escape its grasp. Checking for an exit, Lincoln was about to give in to his compulsion when he caught sight of the pathologist using a centrifuge.
Detailing her findings into a computer, she greets Lincoln, “Thank you for coming.”
“What did you find?”
Moving around the device, she grabs a portfolio and takes a blood-filled vial from the rack. She hands the vial to Lincoln and says, “When we ran the first test, I found Seth’s blood was contaminated with some sort of bacteria.”
Holding up the vial and looking closely, “Agent Kullen said he was sick….” Lincoln explains.
Her expression is one of doubt, “I checked that too, but these cells reacted differently than a common cold. It’s microbial.”
Turning a page in the portfolio, she removes another vial from the rack that is filled with green fluid.
“Do you recognize this?” She asks.
Swapping vials, Lincoln shakes the cylinder and watches the fluid splash against the walls.
The pathologist elaborates, “It was confiscated from Dr. Gordon’s apartment.”
“So?”
“Well, Detective, my theory is that poison not dissimilar to this was injected into Seth’s body. I’m certain we will find an entry point with a little more time.”
Handing the vial back to the pathologist, Lincoln displays concern.
He says, “Have Logan assist you with the autopsy. Find the entry point and get back to me.”
Confusion drapes the pathologist, “Logan isn’t here, Detective. I thought you knew that.”
“Fine, get Elanor on it immediately.”
“I’m sorry, Lincoln, but she’s not here either.”
Marlow looks worried, and Lincoln says, “What are you talking about?”
“The on-call Doctors are here because Logan and Elanor never came in. I assumed they requested a break….”
Lincoln pushes past the physician, and Marlow tries to keep up. “Get a unit to Logan and Elanor’s addresses.” He says, “If you can’t get in touch with anyone, I want an APB out within the hour.”
“Chief Savino?”
“My orders, just do it.”
They enter the precinct, and Lincoln breaks off from Marlow, heading to his office while Marlow requests the attention of the other officers. Perched in the seats, eyes fixed, they await instructions. He explains, “Two of our colleagues are missing, Logan Nelson and Elanor Bonneville. Logan was last seen leaving the precinct between 7 pm and 8 pm last night. We must track them down as soon as possible.”
Listening to Marlow in the distance, Lincoln paces his office, trying to call Autumn. He leaves another message and fidgets with the Nitrous Oxide in his pocket. Needing a distraction, he contacts Agent Kullen.
**\*
Outside the Convention Center, Agent Kullen acquired an identical parking slip to the one they procured from Seth. He stood beside his vehicle, surveying the surroundings, taking mental notes of the area, including the security cameras and the construction site for the museum across the street then headed inside.
At the front desk, he finds two staff members and security personnel. Flashing his badge, he requests to see the surveillance footage taken from the last forty-eight hours. They informed him that a power outage corrupted the data, and the footage was essentially erased. Incensed by the revelation, Kullen shows them a picture of Seth Steward and asks if they’ve seen him on the property. The security guard holds the photo close to his face and recognizes the man. He saw him the night before, smoking in the parking lot, but he never entered the building.
Kullen’s stomach churned, and his hand twitched as he exited the convention center. Retrieving his medication from the car, Kullen consumed two pills and evaluated his surroundings once more. Walking towards the street, he looked up and down the road diligently.
Near the shoulder, across the street, he saw something glistening off the sun. About to head over, a call rang through his cell, “Kullen,” he said, still curious about the object.
“It’s me.”
Hearing the Detective's unsettled tone, Agent Kullen asks, “Lincoln, what’s going on?”
“Elanor and Logan are missing. Marlow is pursuing leads. Where are you?”
Crossing the street, Kullen discovers the reflective object to be a broken padlock. He carries the item towards the gate and says, “I’m near the Convention Center.”
He stops at the entrance and discovers that a new padlock has replaced the broken one. Suspicious, he looks to the Convention Center and then back to the gate.
Overwhelmed by his sudden emotions, Lincoln pushes through a fog of anxiety and asks, “Have you found anything?”
Kullen tilts the new lock in his direction and discovers a keyhole. “Send a team to the museum, now.”
Quickly returning to his vehicle, Kullen starts the ignition and drives towards the parking lot's exit. He waits anxiously for the road to clear before pulling out onto the street. When he reaches the gate, he makes a sharp turn and slams his foot into the accelerator. Crashing through the barrier, he speeds toward the construction site.
Pedestrians outside the Community Center observe the unexpected breach and appear excited and perplexed, with at least one individual phoning 9-1-1.
*** CHAPTER 27 **\*
Sitting at his workstation, watching the news, Hoffman can hear Elanor’s muffled cries for help. In front of her, she could see the limp body of Logan, handcuffed to a metal fixture that Hoffman bolted to the floor below the aluminum faucet. Pleading for him to wake up, she quivered in fear.
Unaffected, Hoffman increased the volume of the television. Showing footage of the National History Museum from a helicopter, it was reported that a new game had been discovered. In the video, Hoffman saw several cop cars and news vans positioned outside the building. They revealed that triggers and tripwires had been placed throughout the museum, preventing safe entry.
Photos of the victims flash on the screen, and Hoffman sees Renee Walsh, a test subject of John Kramer, who he had captured over a decade ago. For her game, John requested an eye for an eye, forcing her to remove the organ with a sharpened spoon. Unbeknownst to Jigsaw, Dr. Gordon provided a numbing agent for Renee that would aid her in the endeavor.
Hoffman’s eyes glazed over, and the memories of previous games rushed to his mind. Staring through the television, he heard a voice.
Hovering over his shoulder was the rotting corpse of Amanda Young, who said, “Hello, Mark….”
“You’re dead,” he replied calmly.
Watching the news, Amanda folded her pale arms and said, “I know it’s hard to concentrate.”
Having been haunted by these hallucinations since he escaped the bathroom, Hoffman felt exhausted and tortured, “Why?” He said, his voice drained of emotion. “Why are you still here?”
Amanda stared out the window while Hoffman watched the blood ooze from her neck, and she said, “By creating a legacy, by living a life worth remembering, you become immortal.”
“When this is over, you’ll be gone….”
Smiling, Amanda responds defiantly, “Somehow, I doubt that.”
Photos of John Kramer are displayed on the television, followed by images of Dr. Gordon.
Seeing the pictures, Hoffman remembered sending letters to various news stations, hospitals, and local law enforcement, implicating Lawrence Gordon as an accomplice. For many years, he had planned his revenge on the Doctor, which started by exposing his true identity. However, with Gordon’s upstanding reputation, the implications were deemed a slanderous rumor, and nothing ever came of it.
Now with Gordon gone, only one obstacle remained; there was only one accomplice left; Logan Nelson.
*** CHAPTER 28 **\*
The sun is chased out of the sky by a flurry of dark clouds, creating a reddish-black horizon. An aft beautiful sight, if not for the crowd that has formed outside the precinct. Families of the deceased Jigsaw victims have led a throng of supporters to the parking lot, where they demand an end to Jigsaw’s legacy and the police department that has allowed this to go on for so long.
Among the swarm of bodies are the ex-husband and children of Sarah Harper.
Inside, Chief Savino preps a SWAT team on the situation at the museum, reminding them to be wary of traps, and displays a picture of Hoffman on the television for each of them to memorize. He insists that no one enter the museum until all the traps have been disarmed.
After the speech, Lincoln is informed that Autumn has arrived at her house and is collecting her belongings. The officer estimates that they will reach the precinct within the hour. With one problem solved, Lincoln allows himself a moment of comfort. When he is about to leave, Marlow approaches with more good news.
“We just spoke to Cameron, Logan’s Mother-in-Law,” He says, “She has Melissa, they’re fine, and Logan left around 7 am this morning.”
“Did she say where he was going?”
“He said he was going to work but to contact you if there’s trouble. Chances are he’s inside the museum with the others.”
Lincoln considers the possibilities and says, “Let’s retrace his steps. He took his vehicle, right? I don’t care how long it takes, pull CCTV, check gas stations in the vicinity, schools, everything. If we can triangulate his phone, do it. Find him."
“I will, sir,” Marlow says, without moving, "What about him?"
Lincoln glances at Daniel inside the Infirmary, “He doesn't leave my sight," he says.
“Sir?"
“What other options do we have? I'm not losing anyone else."
Forgoing his apprehension, Marlow said, “It’s your call, Lincoln.”
Within twenty minutes, Lincoln arrives at the museum with a SWAT team. Staring at the building, he feels a sudden surge of anxiety, dread, and a strange sense of relief, knowing this will all be over soon.
“Are you okay?” a voice asks.
His eyes move to the rearview mirror, and Lincoln can see Daniel Matthews in the back seat. Still awaiting a response from Autumn, Lincoln checks his cellphone and re-reads his message to Lynn.
“I'm ready for this to be over,” he said, tightening the cilice around his waist.
Looking through the window at the commotion outside the museum, Daniel responds, “This isn't your fault, Detective.”
Reminded of his conversation with Seth Steward, Lincoln ignores the words, "Let's go."
Both men exit the vehicle, and Marlow joins them.
"Kullen is sending in a bomb squad," Marlow said, "We've set up an observation terminal towards the south entrance. I'll move the witness there."
As the men separate, Daniel, notices the news crews positioned themselves just outside the parking lot. He stares at them approvingly.
Lincoln waded through his grief and reached Agent Marlow, who was relaying a message via radio.
“Get it done,” Kullen said.
Standing with the Agent, Lincoln asks for a breakdown of the situation.
“Come with me.”
Lincoln follows Kullen towards a police car, and the Agent removes the museum floor plans from his pocket. He lays the map on the car's hood and specifies the trap locations.
“The entrances are blocked off,” he said, “There’s no way through. Now, I’ve got a team working to deactivate the traps, but it’s going to take some time.”
“Have you had any communication with the survivors?”
Drawing a line on the map with his finger, Kullen says, “Not yet, but I’ve spoken with the construction crew, and they’re building an expansion right over here.”
***
TO BE CONTINUED

This is going to be one of my more serious, long posts, so strap in, as they say (though I cannot possibly detail out everything you might need to know. That would require at least three posts). To quote -- and set the stage through -- Dostoevsky (from Notes from Underground):
'Is it [history] many-coloured? May be it is many-coloured, too: if one takes the dress uniforms, military and civilian, of all peoples in all ages--that alone is worth something, and if you take the undress uniforms you will never get to the end of it; no historian would be equal to the job. Is it monotonous? May be it's monotonous too: it's fighting and fighting; they are fighting now, they fought first and they fought last--you will admit, that it is almost too monotonous.
In short, one may say anything about the history of the world--anything that might enter the most disordered imagination. The only thing one can't say is that it's rational. The very word sticks in one's throat. And, indeed, this is the odd thing that is continually happening: there are continually turning up in life moral and rational persons, sages and lovers of humanity who make it their object to live all their lives as morally and rationally as possible, to be, so to speak, a light to their neighbours simply in order to show them that it is possible to live morally and rationally in this world. And yet we all know that those very people sooner or later have been false to themselves, playing some queer trick, often a most unseemly one.
Now I ask you: what can be expected of man since he is a being endowed with strange qualities? Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in a sea of happiness, so that nothing but bubbles of bliss can be seen on the surface; give him economic prosperity, such that he should have nothing else to do but sleep, eat cakes and busy himself with the continuation of his species, and even then out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man would play you some nasty trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element. It is just his fantastic dreams, his vulgar folly that he will desire to retain, simply in order to prove to himself--as though that were so necessary--that men still are men and not the keys of a piano, which the laws of nature threaten to control so completely that soon one will be able to desire nothing but by the calendar.'
-
I would only add that he was rather harsh on the soldier and his general. Many-coloured, is he! The eternal shine of the ten million blades, the wooden hilt; the forgotten hammer, the ships of our forefathers. Ah! Such a pity to see nought in it but blood and sand -- now, that is monotonous. If man is to mean anything at all, it must be finding some honour in life... and death. War, it must be known, is the great stage-play of time. Surely, then, the warrior is the greatest (male) part to play? Otherwise, it's all for nought!
If you're going to, as the author, gift your setting a military and its honour, you have to actually put yourself inside the mind of the general, the trooper, the law-maker, the wife at home, the child in the street; otherwise, it's going to be a hollowed-out system, a mere mote. It does not matter to me if you believe in war or not, or if all war is just (certainly, it's not): what matters is that you do your setting and peoples justice, regardless of what they may find themselves. After all, this is your job as the writer, as the artist. It's your job to let your characters and their stories free, and follow them, as to see where they may lead.
I'm not even going to dig into the elements at play, such as brotherhood, inter-national conflict resolution, national defence, social structure, and physical fitness. These elements ought to be known to you all: they are some of the clear benefits to warfare and boot camp/training, in general. I have not yet found a defeatist army, for example -- or yet a nation without some kind of guarder force, vast or not. (Note: there are some claims that actual warfare did not exist until around 9,000 BC, but I find this very difficult to believe, and have seen some counter-evidence. For example, Jane Goodall and de Waal find that chimps go to war (raiding parties, sometimes wiping out entire tribes); and there are strong indications that pre-historic human tribes were war-driven, just on smaller scales, and often using wooden weapons (thus, no direct evidence is found). We know that modern hunting (and fire-making, and related matters) existed at least 1.5-2 million years ago, according to the books I own and more recent research. That's the entire history of humanity, ultimately. There is no way these spears and slings were not used against man.)
Well, a big part of space opera is, indeed, warfare (typically in relation to defence of the Good [nation] and psychomachy). Anyway, without further ado, I give to you...
Part One: A Brief History of Battles, Great and Small
Let's begin with Alexander the Great, because why not (though I could have started with Sargon of Akkad many years prior). Alexander's army was a powerful, fast-moving, and relatively small force of 40,000 men (equal to a Napoleonic corps or so). Often credited with inventing genius 'shock' tactics (the so-called hammer and anvil tactic) to overwhelm equally-sized forces. He even managed to break up, and then defeat, the vast Persian army under King Darius III (around 1500,000 strong). Alexander the Great's army is as close to the cinematic glory of 300 (2006) as you're likely to find. Soon after, Alexander was crowned King of Asia in a lavish ceremony.
Moving forward a few hundred years, at its peak, the Roman military possibly had over 500,000 soldiers across its regions (around 0.5% of citizens -- which is a fairly reliable standard across history) by 306 AD during the reign of Constantine I. Compare this to the Roman conquest of Britain under Plautius, with just a 40,000-man force (four legions and 20,000 auxiliary troops, including Thracians) in 43 AD. (It's also worth mentioning, if you're in a long-term space war, individual companies, legions, or otherwise could stay outfitted for as long as 500 years at a time without issue. The Roman Legion, Legio IX Hispana, for example, existed for at least 150 years, and led the conquest of Britain. And, within the Warhammer 40,000 universes, a single Space Marine sees battle for about 400 years before he's KIA (killed in action).)
During the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, each side only had upwards of 5,000-8,000 men (around 15,000 in total). This was actually a common trend, from what I found: equally common was the notion of 'law of war' and related, which meant that each side wanted to be roughly equal to the other side. This is one of the most profound discoveries of my life (more on this later). (The Japanese invasion of China, for example, taught me that having too much control over your enemy leads to madness -- there must be an innate drive to some sense of honour, fair challenge in war-making. When men are without equals, they become titans, as it were. And, if you know anything about some of the Greek titans: they were not very friendly or sane.)
Around this time (960-1279 AD), the Song Dynasty of China had a remarkable standing army of over two million men, and made use of tank-like carts and newly-invented 'grandes' (known as 'thunder crash bombs'). However, this was financially exhausting, but it was sometimes capable of fighting against invading Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols, largely thanks to the great iron industry. Individual battles, however, were quite small.
By the time of the First Italian War (1494 AD), Europe was really starting to take its modern shape, and there were hundreds of what are ultimately power struggle wars and rebellions across Europe as we moved out of the Middle Ages. This was the opening phase of the Italian Wars, which existed between 1494 and 1559 AD. The Battle of Marignano was the last major engagement of the War of the League of Cambrai (aka the wars between 1508 and 1516 AD, within the Italian Wars. The main participants were the French, Papal States, and Republic of Venice) and took place in 1515 AD, southeast of Milan. The Battle of Marignano pitted the French army, led by Francis I and the best heavy cavalry and artillery in Europe, against the Old Swiss Confederacy (within the Holy Roman Empire -- this was the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland), whose mercenaries until that point were regarded as the best medieval infantry force in Europe. The French had German landsknechts (mercenaries famed for pike and shot formations) on their side. The French won and suffered just half the losses, and did so with a fairly stronger force -- possibly 35,000 men compared to 22,000 on the Swiss side. This led to the Treaty of Fribourg, which established the 'Perpetual Peace', and ensured good relations between the two nations for nearly 200 years. This event is largely what led to Switzerland's world-famous diplomatic autonomy and militaristic neutrality. Nonetheless, this battle -- and countless others at the time -- saw similar numbers to centuries past: roughly 20,000 on each side.
Part Two: An Introduction to Military Divisions & the Numbering System
Enter Maurice de Saxe circa 1710 AD, whom you can thank, at least in part, for the modern military system, largely due to the major increase in soldiers by the 18th century, and his advanced thinking in response. A major battle felt by a young de Saxe was the Battle of Malplaquet during the War of the Spanish Succession. Battles pressed on in this manner, and at some point, de Saxe began to write about it. He wrote Mes Reveries, a profound work on the art of war, which was published after his death in 1757 AD.
He had the grand idea of reshaping the regiment system into large 'legions' (modern divisions), so that the effective officers were not wasted on smaller, single regiments. These divisions would consist of four regiments and would have a more even mix of veteran soldiers and new recruits, as well. On top of this, he -- along with some other key theorists at the time -- had the idea of simply numbering the divisions and regiments, replacing the traditional system of naming them by their commanders or by locations/regions: because that's a very temporary, rigid system that only works for small, tight-knit groups. The divisional system also allowed soldiers to climb the ranks, and effectively learn from the veterans.
The regimental system shatters command structure and weakens mobility, despite the fact you have smaller, often lighter units. Too many small, separate, disorganised units is highly ineffective when you're dealing with large armies, and quite an advanced enemy (be it the British or Prussians, in this case). What de Saxe noticed was a failing system of rigid tradition. He also hated this sort of grenadier mentality of the 17th and 18th centuries, as it displaced all the strongest and most experienced soldiers. Of course, de Saxe was not against the existence of grenadiers: the strongest soldiers, leading the assaults, such as storming fortifications. He simply wanted to evenly spread them out across all the regiments, and legions, so that every single unit was an effective tool. (This grenadier concept actually survives to this day, as a grenade launcher specialist of a typical four-man fireteam (traditionally, sharing much in common with WWII-era shock troops), and you see it all the time in movies, where he is still typically the biggest, strongest of the team.)
Battles were increasingly crossing the 100,000 mark in terms of soldier count; whereas, not long ago (that is, around 1650 AD), the numbers were more likely in the range of 20,000 for most battles, other than a few outliers.
Then, de Saxe died before he had the opportunity to actually implement his system, though the Duke de Broglie led some successful experiments with it during the Seven Years War, but it took until the French Revolution for the 'division' concept to be enforced, systematically. This ultimately fell at the hands of the French Revolutionary Army.
Enter Lazare Carnot. Like de Saxe, Carnot saw that some regiments were full of veterans, whilst others -- namely, the new revolutionary brigades -- were filled with barely-trained recruits. And, like de Saxe, his solution was to separate out the veterans and embed them within these new brigades. More importantly, he embraced de Saxe's idea of the 'division'. The new demi-brigades (regiments, as the Revolutionary Government hated and removed the term regiment) would be combined into brigades, and brigades would be combined into divisions. Later, under Napoleon, divisions themselves were combined into corps (which is and has always been the highest level of operational units for actual combat, with all units larger than corps being purely administrative, with a clear exception being Napoleon's Armee (i.e. modern field army), and a few other, smaller army groups).
This wonderfully created an intermediate level of control between the general and the brigade commanders. The Revolutionary Army became at once an army of mass and mobility. This allowed the army to move faster and more decisively than their enemies, who were still commanding at regiment or brigade level.
Full implementation of the divisional system was not realised until the French Revolutionary Government, in their centralising and anti-aristocratic ways, when they decided to entirely remove the old system of naming regiments after their commanders. They saw all of this as part of the 'ancien regime' (i.e. 'the System' or 'old system', language also used by Hitler in relation to what he called the 'Weimar Republic'. Not uncommon language from any new system). The second factor at play was that the French Revolutionary Government also didn't like the idea of merely naming regiments after regions of France. The final factor was scale: the Army was larger than ever, which made it very difficult to give specific names.
As a result, the Government began numbering their units by the late-1700s. Although the Roman legions themselves had been numbered, and de Saxe argued for it many years prior, some scholars believe that this was purely an administrative decision. (Obviously, your naming convention can be more on the religious/traditional or seculamodern side, depending on just how the entire system is set up. Warhammer 40,000 is a good example of a more Roman-inspired system, despite its far-future nature, so it's not uncommon to find very traditional, religious naming conventions within Warhammer 40,000, coupled with simple, administrative systems. And, again: Nazi Germany and other 20th-century powers, such as America and England, also shifted towards numbered and/or lettered systems for pretty much everything. Not shockingly, this is heavily featured in sci-fi, as well.)
Part Three: Napoleon & the Birth of Modern War:
Although the concepts of the 'corps' and 'battalion carre' (that is, four corps) existed, they were also not implemented until the time of Napoleon in the early-1800s. He began grouping divisions into corps, making the largest units in history -- equal to entire armies of older periods (three divisions and some cavalry regiments, for upwards of 30,000 men). He commanded dozens of these corps (I think, around 20 of them for his Grande Armee when he invaded Russia in 1812 AD -- or, 500,000-600,000 men, equal to the entire core Roman military at the height of its power).
Napoleon's genius -- despite his supreme failure to invade Russia -- was ensuring that these corps were typically independent fighting units. This meant they were self-sufficient armies unto themselves. This allowed for a vast force, without the whole system becoming sluggish and disorganised. Of course, as with Alexander the Great before him, this ultimately led to major decentralization and failure once the leader is defeated; thus, without a singular ruler, and without endless success, the entire system breaks down (unless there is something else binding them).
Nonetheless, by now, all the European powers had adopted the divisional system. The first British divisions were established by Arthur Wellesley in 1809 AD, for example. The Napoleonic corps system then became standardised, as well.
On the other hand -- and other side of the world -- the U.S. had its own 'legion', wholly separate from the European divisional evolution. They were independent units for the western wilderness, not sub-elements of a larger army. The U.S. finally adopted a more European system by WWI, however. (Mostly because the U.S. was simply not a large enough force yet, though it did have some major battles and unit examples.)
Regardless, the primary building block for all was still the regiment or division. This remained true through WWII and beyond.
Part Four: The Four Spatial Forms of Sci-fi
I shall skip modern history, because it's -- shockingly -- not much different to older history. This further tells me that there are some universal themes and elements to warfare, unless something changes beyond measure. As of 2023 AD, the basic building block of most armies is still the regiment or division, and 'shock' tactics, of smaller units are back in style, and have been since the 1960s or so. (I do have a few things to say about WWI and beyond, but I cannot fit it in this post, and it's not required reading.)
Technically, there is a fifth: space warfare proper (an admixture). But, we shall simply focus on the four primary. I use the term 'spatial forms' because I don't know a better term. See below.

• Space as an ocean (navy propeoceanic)
• Spaceships as submarines (navy/subaquatic)
• Spaceships as tanks (army/ground)
• Space as air with less stuff (air force/air)

You find, and should focus on, one of these as the primary mode (at least). This is true in most combative and non-combative contexts. All are workable and interesting, and have some notable examples, mostly in film/TV and novels. There is much psychology connected to each, and some innate differences to consider; and you have to think about such in relation to your nation/culture, as well, and their pre-spacefaring history.
An interesting, real-world example is America's Space Force. This is fundamentally army-and-naval driven (i.e. Marines), despite its primary air force-like nature in simple terms of the vessels and how it would function in a war. This is evidenced by the fact its ranking system and such is built around the Marine Corps. I guess, that means, going with American Marines (a complex admixture of both soldier and sailor) is not such a bad idea in sci-fi. We all know this is a decent idea, anyway, and it's seen heavily in sci-fi since the 1940s (hence, the term 'space marine'). Other marine forces are fairly in line with this, as well. The typical route here is space as an ocean. The ships are merely carrying the marines to their location (planet or otherwise). You see this with Star Wars' Stormtroopers (though I did not mention such above, I shall now: this stems from late-WWI when Germany created new advanced tactics for storming British trenches. But, most of all, it speaks to Hitler's Stormtroopers, fused with some kind of space marine position; thus, we end up with Lucas' forgetting Stormtrooper force). (Of course, the Rebels of Star Wars and the Empire's TIE Fighters go with the space as air with less stuff trope. And, there is a general sense of both army and navy from the Empire. You rarely get the 'submarine feel', in this case.)
Star Trek (at least, the original) takes the spaceships as submarines trope much of the time (other than the fact, their ships are far too wasteful, volume-wise -- but that's mostly for filming purposes, so I can accept it). I actually love this mode (though I don't care for Star Trek's version so much).
Battlestar Galactica (new series), among others, seems to take a mixed view.
Which form or mode you run with, primarily, really depends upon the exact setting, culture, story, theme, and style you're going with. I suggest figuring out which you want/which fits best, and then trying to stick to that singular vision as much as possible. To get ideas, you can research as much as possible -- both real science/history and fiction.

TL;DR - Several months ago, apartment mice began in my NYC apartment kitchen but were kept under control by excessive cleaning and food removal, with one or two traps set up. 10 days ago, my roommate and our dog left for a few days and I spotted mice in other rooms of the apartment for the first time. Long story short they got BOLD and kept coming near me. Landlord/Super is not in the building half the time and when he finally came to check it out for the third time in 2 months, he gave me more traps and denied that there are any holes in my apartment (due to the fact he caulked up some a few years ago) even though I 100% have mice (it's not rats I got a VERY good up-close look) and virtually every neighbor in my wall line reported them and my landlord admitted there is an infestation in the basement and 1st floor. Also, the mice have avoided every single type of trap set while still eating the bait from spring traps.
THINGS I'VE TRIED: *NOTE* All traps were cleaned first with no harsh chemicals only sweet-smelling dish soap and traps were exclusively handled with gloves.
Baits used- Rotated and/or combined foods for bait; peanut butter; whole wheat bread; white bread; dog food; dog treats; powdered liver dog food topper; bagels; grease from cooked ground beef.
Traps used- Voltage kill-traps; snap traps; simple no-kill bait traps; poison kill-traps; bucket flip-trap for field mice (dog-proof that's why)
Misc. Measures used - physical barriers and reinforced edges with many layers of duct tape to isolate them to the rooms they enter and exit from. Poison pellets behind appliances, or anywhere the dog cannot reach.
Measures that HELPED a tiny bit (not eradicated) - Poison pellets (reports of dead mice in the basement level, didn't really help my apartment though), the physical barriers I sealed up w duct tape, and my dog simply existing in the living room.
Long story version of the above.
So, I live in a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC with a roommate and a dog. We've been dealing with a mice infestation in the building for months, with a few sightings in the kitchen and some eaten food. Luckily, until about a week ago, we had zero sightings or signs of mice in any other rooms. When this began about 2 months ago, we alerted our landlord and told him where we thought they were coming from to which he responded "Well I closed that off two years ago so they can't be coming from there," *Fun Fact* They are coming from there. And other places in the apartment too. The method we've used to curb mice for the last few months was obsessively cleaning our kitchen with vinegar and peppermint oil each time we cook and wiping surfaces after EVERY possible food contact. They did not leave but they stayed just in the kitchen and since we cut off access to our food, got more explorative in the kitchen, but less spotting altogether. In retrospect, what kept them isolated to the kitchen after the food removal was the fact that my large dog stays out of there usually.
Fast forward to about 10 days ago, my roommate went out of town, and our dog stayed with their friend after the first day or two. Once I was the only person left in the apartment, the horrors started. I saw my first mouse run from the bathroom to my roommate's bedroom (I sleep in the living room) and I then started hearing mice in the living room (my room), behind a large armoire that acts as a fake fireplace. I immediately cleared out the entryway room to become the only truly mouse-proofed room in the entire apartment, double-bagged all food and put it in there, triple-bagged all dog food + treats, and sealed sealed sealed the room up. Not a single piece of accessible food was left in any part of the apartment. The less accessible the food got, the bolder the mice became. Eventually, after grabbing a single cookie and holding it IN MY HAND, the only food in the house outside the mouse-proof room, within 2 minutes of sitting on the couch a mouse climbs on and comes face-to-face with me. I had been sleeping on the couch at this point due to a mouse having run across my bed a few days prior. After this I deep cleaned virtually every single spot in the living room I could reach using a mixture of vinegar, peppermint oil, and anti-bacterial cleaning spray and sealed up any places I could conceive of even a roach being able to fit through. The kitchen is not possible to seal without the help of my landlord since the oven, sink, and refrigerator are immovable (kitchen walkway is about 2 feet wide at most from edge of counter to opposing wall trapping my appliances to their position).
On the 5th day of leaving message after message to my super (who is only in the building about half the time anyways) he finally came back to check it out, and stated the entire wall line of the building and the whole 1st floor + basement was having mice infestations, and promptly told me the same thing he did last time without pulling out any appliances to check behind them or even bothering to offer any alternative possibilities to where they might be coming from. My interpretation of my Super's stance on the problem is "You have mice. The entire building and especially the lower floors also have mice. I mice-proofed your apartment years ago so I needn't check to make sure it's still sealed. I believe you have no entrances or exits for mice although I won't check. Here are some traps and poison pellets just in case you have mice. But you definitely have mice though." He's visited three times in 2 months for this and says this every single time.
Before the landlord arrived, I had several no-kill mouse traps baited with peanut butter that the mice seemed to avoid like the plague. The landlord simply put up a bunch of snap-traps for mice and I went on Amazon to order a few chemical kill traps and a bucket-trap for field mice (it's dog-proof that's why). My super also sprinkled a bunch of mouse poison anywhere my dog can't get to.
It's been about 4 days since my landlord came and I set up every new trap. I made sure to wear gloves, thoroughly clean each trap, and rubbed a lil bread (that they'd already eaten a portion of previously) on the outside of the trap because why not make it smell nicer and more inviting? My dog is back in the house, my roommate is home, and while mice are now back in just the kitchen mainly (likely because of the dog) they are still super active and avoiding every single trap I've set and managing to eat the bait from every snap-trap without setting it off. They avoid altogether the voltage traps, simple bait traps, chemical traps, and bucket-trap. As bait, I've tried using peanut butter, dog food, dog treats, whole wheat + white bread, and even a bagel. I also did the thing where I tried to make them enter the trap by giving them no other alternative and then they suddenly begin finding new ways to climb walls or find another access point to come in and out of.
I'm so tired, my roommate is even more scared of mice than I am, and the dog is helpful, but won't drive them out completely. My super sucks, wtf do I do now? I don't want to have to report the building as having "Unsanitary conditions: Pests: Mice" to the NYC311 (NYC govt-run non-emergency city services) but after months of this and the last few weeks of intense mice-battling I am really struggling.

This is an old post I wrote before I started this subreddit. Since I don't have anything new ready to go, I figured I'd dust it off to welcome all our new subscribers.
Lord Dunsany’s story The King of Elfland’s Daughter is often referred to as a novel, but I don’t think that’s altogether a proper label. It would be better to call it a protracted fairy-story. A novel must focus on character interiority: Dunsany’s tale gives us precious little of that. But not all stories need complex characters: intriguing themes, beautiful language, and enchanting atmosphere can posses charms more than strong enough to hold a reader’s attention for 250 pages and transport them—I can’t resist saying it—beyond the fields we know.
What sets The King of Elfland’s Daughter apart from other Kunstmärchen (invented fairy-tales) on a narrative level is that, in current parlance, it deconstructs the standard happily-ever-after ending. The protagonist, Alveric, marries the titular elf-king’s daughter, Lirazel, in chapter four. What really drives the plot is the turbulence of their different natures. Elves are unaccustomed to time and change, because they live outside it. When Lirazel gives in to her longing for home and returns to Elfland, she leaves Alveric and their infant son, Orion, to cope for themselves with the ravages of time, while she ages not an instant. This leads Alveric to embark on a hopeless quest to re-enter Elfland, which he can never do because its King has removed it from contact with the Earth to keep it safe. This in turn leaves Orion to grow up without either of his parents—which Lirazel struggles even to comprehend, because of her alienation from time. Few writers explore the tragedy of love between elves and men so thoroughly as Dunsany.
This tragedy feeds into a larger theme: the incompatibility of our mundane world (“the fields we know”) with the world of magic (that lies “beyond the fields we know.”) At the beginning of the story, the people of the village Alveric rules decide that they want to be ruled by “a magic lord,” believing that this will make life more satisfying, or at least that it will bring them notoriety. This provides the impetus for Alveric to go to Elfland and convince Lirazel to marry him against her father’s wishes. But Lirazel does not fit in at all: aside from her difficulties adjusting to the passage of time, she does not understand human religion, because Elfland lies apart from both Heaven and Hell. This excites the displeasure of the local priest, who condemns all magic. But Dunsany is too clever a writer to leave it at that. At the end of the story, the village begins to become more and more like Elfland—which, given its great dangers and alien concept of time, is too much for the villagers to handle. We’re left to ponder: maybe the priest was right to be wary of magic.
Lastly, Dunsany’s use of language is a kind of magic itself. In one chapter, he can write an evocative description of a witch forging a sword made of lightning-bolts, and soon after, he can relate the tale of a troll trying to ask directions from a rabbit and being chased by a dog. Dunsany’s command of prose allows him to portray the epic, the mundane, and the whimsical all in the same tale and make them feel like they fit naturally together. But my descriptions of his writing pale in comparison to the real thing; I’d like to let his words speak for themselves:

In their ruddy jackets of leather that reached to their knees the men of Erl appeared before their lord, the stately white-haired man in his long red room. He leaned in his carven chair and heard their spokesman.
And thus their spokesman said.
"For seven hundred years the chiefs of your race have ruled us well; and their deeds are remembered by the minor minstrels, living on yet in their little tinkling songs. And yet the generations stream away, and there is no new thing."
"What would you?" said the lord.
"We would be ruled by a magic lord," they said.
"So be it," said the lord. "It is five hundred years since my people have spoken thus in parliament, and it shall always be as your parliament saith. You have spoken. So be it."
And he raised his hand and blessed them and they went.

Isn't it enchanting? But I must confess I've pulled a bit of an elvish trick on you: Those were the opening lines of the book. If you're intrigued, you can read on here. Just remember: no journey into the realms of faerie leaves a person unchanged.

Prefacing that this absolutely a VERY unpopular (controversial?) stance.
But yeah to elaborate. Modern day straight men are being encouraged to dump "toxic masculinity" and to be not afraid to embrace their "feminine sides". Told wearing dresses are okay, it doesn't make you less straight etc. Wearing Nail polish, tight fitting clothes and so on.
I actually hate this trend and wish we would just let straight guys continue to be as traditional/masculine as usual. In my opinion, this blurring of the lines just makes it harder to identify actual queer men these days. I liked it that old fashioned way tbh.
This topic comes up often anytime a straight man is assumed to be gay/queer for doing a mostly queer coded behavior (like some of the stuff I mentioned earlier) or even just being feminine but is it so bad that gay/queer men have certain things that WE do often. And doing those things does usually signal being non straight?
If straight guys wanna play with gender expression more. I think that's okay... As long as they are fine with being questioned about their orientation and being assumed to be queer. I think they should accept the assumptions rather than pushing what straight means to include any and all behavior that mostly gay men engage in.
Am I way off on an island here or does anyone agree (even slightly)?

My takeaway from the finale is: Tom’s an empty suit, a mini Logan, a Logan lite/front man BUT still doing pretty fuckin well cuz he was the hoe that became the pimp. Greg’s doing great he’s getting 200k yearly, Roman is liberated and knows it, Ken is liberated but can’t accept it,
and Shiv? She is destined to her own unique fate: she’s not Caroline exactly. Her decision to vote for Tom was yes in part made of spite - a final sibling victory, rage fueled - but also in an attempt to be kind imo. Like she realized Ken was not fit for it, like she had a moment the way Roman did that it was all bullshit, and that she could set Ken free as well. Not entirely that let’s be real it wasn’t out of the good of her heart, but parts of it were.
It’s not much of a change - not a downgrade or an upgrade. She’s still in proximity to power, albeit less legit since Tom doesn’t quite have the power Logan did but yknow still by the throne, still filthy rich and richer than her husband, and she managed to save bits of her relationship beforehand by asking Tom about the possibility of trying again in their relationship BEFORE he was in line for power (at least to her knowledge); she did it when she thought she’d get the spot. That and, yknow, voting for him, and having his child, and also being in love with him and making that clear even tho it’s a fucked way.
I’d say the only horrible parts of her fate is a possibly ruined relationship w her siblings. Besides that, it kinda worked out the way it always would: she never would’ve been CEO. she’s a woman. she was either the man in powers’ daughter or the man in powers’ object of Lust, and either status demoted her.
Beyond that though? I think there’s a chance that she can break the cycle too in terms of motherhood.
Everybody’s acting like she’s fucked forever or she’s totally cruel for voting against Kendall and while yes it was in part selfish it also stopped him from being Logan 2.0 and opened a sliver of a chance for redemption for him in the future. If he got the job he would have lived the rest of his days chasing more money, never quite satisfied, mirroring Logan (like the way he did to neutralize the threat of Rome/to possibly show love in a weird way by breaking the stitches, knowing it would both be a comfort to Roman and that it’s what his dad did to make Roman submissive).

First persona game. I'm going in semi-blind just cheating on class answers and confidant responses. I just beat the 4th palace and saw the results with Medjed. Things are starting to come into focus and the dots are starting to connect. Still waiting for the plot twist.
I tried to keep it short (I failed) but this what I have so far. Some things contradict each other or would introduce huge plot holes if both were true but I'm just throwing every Idea I have out there. There are some opinions and random facts that I think are important but not sure where to fit them yet.
Please no spoilers for any Persona games as I plan on picking up 3 and 4 later on.
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palace one predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13odesi/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_my_horribly/
palace two predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13q3q9j/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
palace three predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13sl0vp/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
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Futaba /Alibaba and somehow Morgana

• The squid girl from the movie finally gets a name.
• Futaba's mom is the curry lady!
• The phone call Sojiro had about a printer makes so much sense now. When I thought he was taking care of an old lady I was like what is she printing out pictures of snowball or something.
• 2nd person to get the metaverse nav before awakening their persona. How does Igor know?
• the images that Futaba sees are the metaverse bleeding in or ... shes just plain nuts.
• translated some of the binary on the walls of her palace in to ASCII looking for a secret message but they were just the same odd symbols that were on the doors and such.
• Futaba picked Alibaba as her hacker alias. before we get to see the whole Egypt /pyramid theme of her palace it seemed like a really odd choice.
• It could be just a cool name that the writers picked but "Chekhov's gun" states that every element introduced in a story should be necessary to the plot. If the gun isn't going to be fired then the audience doesn't need to see it being loaded - or something like that.
• It got me thinking and for sure I remembered the name Alibaba but had forgotten the details of the story. I did a quick search and was able to find the story pretty easily.
• Short version: Alibaba was a dude who stole a bunch of riches from some thieves. Alibaba is living the good life when the thieves track him down and make plans to kill him. The plans are stopped by Alibaba's slave who kills the thieves.
• Also Alibaba's slave was named...... Wait for it....... Morgiana! Mind effing blown! If I'm not reading too much into that then its a friggin huge easter egg. It's way too similar not to be important.
• Morgana is a slave of the big bad. Slaves can be freed.
• Since I haven't seen the relationship between Futaba and Morgana develop yet it could just be she treats Morgana like a slave.
• this one is a bit of a stretch but the creature Alibaba uses in chat kind of looked like a "dark Morgana" it could just be the style that the artist uses for all creatures.
• Morgiana was female. Early in the game Ann ask Morgana if it's a boy or a girl. It says of course it's a boy, but it also says that it is human. (it's def still not). Morgana might be the Male version of Morgiana but this throws it's gender into question too. It's not like anyone had checked between it's legs as far as I can tell. (also where does it do it's business I haven't seen a litter box).
• Morgiana killed the thieves going after Alibaba. The big bad will take control of Morgana at one point and we will have to fight Shade / Evil / Controlled Morgana (not a shadow this will be different) to get the cat back.
• Was almost thinking Morgana could be the one who betrays us but no one can understand him and even Akechi would have trouble selling the whole "my informant is a cat" thing to Sae.

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Wakaba, Shido and the Owls

• The curry lady finally gets a name.
• The bald glasses man gets a name .
• In ancient Egypt owls were associated with death and mourning. Will be referring to the Agents as Owls for now on because I think it makes a great name for a secret organization.
• Wakaba discovered the metaverse independent from the government.
• She was working on a way to enter the metaverse without the use of the metaverse nav.
• The Owls that killed her work for Shido and Sae's boss.
• Not only did the owls deliver the news to Fatuba (mourning) but they also were the people who killed her (death)
• The owls killed Wakaba to keep her silent and then stole her research which they hoped would let them make a metaverse nav of their own
• The black mask user is an owl.
• Do owls eat butterflies ?

Medjed

• We learn medjed it's not so much of an international organization but rather was started by Futaba and then a bunch of posers co-opted the name.
• One of the owls came up with the medjed plan. They had leverage on a member or had a mole, informant etc.
• Sae's boss has a conversation about it where he mentions he didn't think *he* could come up with the plan on their own. he = Akechi
• Igor came up with the plan and told Akechi.
• The Owls couldn't expose the PT without exposing the metaverse. Sae's boss says something like if they (PT) keep this up then the public may find out about the metaverse.
• He called it the metaverse and not the cognitive world. Could be the writers didn't want to confuse the player by introducing a new term with no context. Could be that the Owls initially learned about the metaverse from an otherworldly being.
• The plan was to use the threat of an economic crash to get the PT crew to expose themselves and using misdirection to make them think it was medjed.
• additional benefit was to cause social unrest allowing Shido to make his power grab.
• They were going about the metal shutdowns slowly at first (Sae mentioned it has been going on for 2-3 years) messing things up so that certain government officials would resign in shame. After the PT crew became active they had to accelerate their plans to stay ahead of the curve or such.

Akechi

• Akechi says hes a psychic. He comes off as joking but in the same convo you can strait up tell him that Ryuji is a PT. Could be he is telling the truth and just expects no one to believe it. this would be his special "gift" that allowed him to hear Morgana. +1 for Akechi is good
• Akechi clearly puts the idea that the PT are involved in the mental shutdowns in Sae's head. +1 for Akechi being bad.
• Actually starting to trust him after spending some time with him. +5 Akechi is bad.
• At this point Akechi knows who the PT are. not 100% but hes like 95% sure. He's playing the long con and trying to get on Jokers good side.
• He got super pissed when he saw the PT made the 3rd change of heart happen. We already know he doesn't like them but he was PISSED.
• He cares too much about fame and the PT crew are stealing his thunder.
• I was told I can't sit on the fence with Akechi lol. My gut says he's bad but the cynic in me says the writers are setting him up for a plot twist.
• If I'm forced to pick one then Akechi is bad. I thought they were setting Sae's boss (really with I knew his name) up to look bad but be really good, but every palace there is another scene with him scheming. I don't think the writers are going to go for such a cheap plot twist with Akechi.
• Akechi being bad also is also now needed for one of my Kasumi theories to work so I'm firmly planting my feet in the Akechi is bad camp.

Kasumi

• Knows Akechi because her dad works at a TV station. Could be a lie. Every owl needs a cover story.
• Said she had a sister that was killed.
• Never had a sister it was her other personality.
• At the casino heist when she says My weak self depended on you that all ends today line that was the "sister" talking and Kasumi is the weak self she mentions.
• At some point it will be mentioned that she has no pictures of her sister.
• Her sister was an owl but had a change of mind (would say change of heart but that would be confusing ). regarding the agency and was going to leave / rebel / expose them / take them down etc. so they owls had her "killed"
• When her sister "died" it was actually Maruki suppressing her other personality.
• Her sister was the gymnast. Being an agent for the owls would require tons of training Gymnastics would be easy for someone like that. Her slump only started when her sister "died".
• Only has 5 star confidant rank. The other 5 will be with her sister.
• Kasumi started off as an owl but joined a group that opposes them. She was captured and then brainwashed by Maruki
• she had to transfer schools because her old classmates would know she didn't have a sister and notice the change in personality

Maruki

• should have been a red flag earlier. new girl transfers and a month later her doctor gets assigned to her high school. Given what we know about the principle and his connection to Sae's boss this is more then just a happy coincidence.
• after the incident with Kamoshida the owls were worried that the personality suppression didn't take so they sent him to keep a close eye on Kasumi.
• After the 2nd exam he calls you into his office for a little chat. the whole feel of this was different than the others I've had with him.
• It was like there was a sense of desperation under his statements. He was like how do you think people will react when someone fails to meet expectations after being given special treatment desperate people to crazy things. There's some misdirection here since the two girls in the hall were talking about Kasumi's exams being moved up a week. The writers want you to think he's talking about Kasumi and all the expectations the school put on her. but that makes no sense why would he be asking about what two random girls were talking about in the hall. He was actually talking about himself and the expectations the Owls put on him .
• The owls are putting pressure on him to complete some project and hes going to make a mistake when he rushes to meet the deadline they set for him.
• someone he knows is really depressed or has some other crippling emotional trauma. this was his original motivation but has since warped.
• wants to save people by fixing their hearts in a scientific way. want to go above counseling and actually remove/repair bad emotions.
• cognitive psience will be involved. he already knows about it and is almost done with his device/gizmo/doodad that will allow him to fix hearts. The conversations he's had with joker so far is his way of asking for "permission" to set his plan in action. He even says he wished he had the powers that the PT have.
• is it better to feel nothing than to feel pain? could see this being his "I really think I'm still a good guy" logic
• plan is to use his gizmo to turn every into emotional zombies where no one feels anything. This is what Shido meant when he was talking about his ideal society.

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Twins / Butterfly Lady
The number of new confidants that unlock after the 3rd palace was a bit overwhelming but It did give me plenty of chances to watch the new confidant unlock scenes. I was a little too hung up with her voice to really pay attention.

• I am thou, thou art I" - we are one and the same
• thou hast acquired a new vow. - you just unlocked a new confidant. to quote Jose "Good Job!"
• It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. - butterflies have wings also still talking about Joker "thy chains of captivity". Joker is like a caterpillar and when he obtains his true power he will become a butterfly (not literally). the chains could be a the cocoon that the butterfly breaks out of.
• With the birth of the Fortune Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power - creatures with wings (like a butterfly) ride the wind. She is now referring to herself in this line "I have obtained..."

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• The butterfly lady is our persona or at the very least out power levels are connected.
• Part of the butterfly lady's power is sealed in joker. Was not intentional but will be the key to rejoining the twins.
• When there is a fusion alarm the twins do this adorable back stretch where one kicks her legs. They then do this weird like side stretch that looks like the fusion dance from Dragon Ball Z.
• the recarm ability has a blue butterfly reviving the party member. butterfly = rebirth ?

Limo Girl.

• Is in the opening movie both the heist scene and the smash the city part. Will be joining up.
• Ran in to her in the hall at the star of the game she was labled as a senior
• Riding in a limo. daddy is loaded.
• At the park cleanup she asked Mishima for the bottle cap so they can be used for medicine. What we should take away from this scene is she's a really good person.
• We need to know see that she's super duper good because her dad is bad like really bad.
• daddy's money is dirty money and she knows it or at least suspects.
• We will change daddy's heart and make him admit his evil ways.
• Shido is her dad.
• We don't know when she's going to join up or if the casino heist is her first. Stealing her dad's heart will prob be her first mission so the fact that shes on the comms at the start of the game isn't too much of a problem.

Opening Casino Heist

• on 7/29 Morgana says "But it's true that an observant criminal could have a true to reality city in their Palace."
• The opening casino heist wasn't in the real world but was the Shido's heart. His palace just included a 1:1 of the city in it. He also says in the scene at the start of the game where joker has a flashback that he owns the cops. Would make sense that the shadows in his cognition would take the form of the police and security guards. The 2nd palace had two types of shadows (male and female) and the 3rd/4th had people/dogs. Multiple types of shadows is not unheard of
• Also looks like we did manage to steal his treasure but not sure if they were able to get it out.
• We don't actually see joker get taken in by the cops. It's possible that the traitor grabbed us after the shadow cops took us down and turned us in to the real world cops. Doesn't mean the world's can't be merging but my reasoning for it is off.
• One thing that bothers me is when they ask if everyone remembers where they have to meet up. Why was joker separate from the rest of the PT? The PT all leave the metaverse together so far. Could just mean where they're going to meet up near the exit (if there is an exit with the palace being the whole city). Hoping for more clues to clarify this.

The Metaverse, Velvet Room and the nature of things.

• at the meeting for the 2nd palace Ryuji says something like I never even thought there were other worlds besides ours. Morgana responds with eh don't worry too much about it.
• Igor says the Velvet room exist between mind and matter dream and reality
• If the real world is the matter and the metaverse is the mind then the velvet room exist in the place between them
• If there is more than one prison (everyone Igor recruits gets there own) then it's possible that there are other "rooms" in the space between the two worlds
• the big bad is trapped in one of these other rooms. the key and or entrance is located in mementos.
• on 7/19 Igor says "After all, you must hone your powers.... and become a magnificent thief..."
• he is being literal as he needs is to steal the key to the big bad's room.
• before the big bad was imprisoned the metaverse was formless. His presence started the corruption and gave it form. this is the sea of souls that the personas mention then you capture them.
• They are getting pulled out of the collective and twisted into shadows.

​
Sae and Sajiro conversation
was going to have a huge section here but most of my questions got answered after the 4th palace I typed up my initial thoughts right after the convo took place I'll leave it here since it was part of my thought process but this can be mostly ignored.

• "as long as there's a possibility that cognitive psience can be linked to psychotic breakdowns."
• what is cognitive psience ? did the curry lady make it ?
• Psi as in Psionics ? Mental powers are always cool.
• Curry lady was trying to fix her maternity neurosis but some how created her own metaverse nav.
• Or she never had maternity neurosis and that was just part of the coverup. (Tried to search if maternity neurosis is an actual thing. most links came back to this subreddit so I didn't go any deeper to avoid spoilers) --- got this one right lol
• The tech was stolen by Sae's boss and he had her killed her by doing something in the metaverse that made her jump in front of the car. -- half right (i think)
• The black mask person doesn't work for Igor but used the Curry Lady's device to enter the metaverse.
• Igor not bad or is bad but not affiliated with black mask.

Best Girl current rankings - Nothing is set yet no decisions have been made just the current rankings.

1. Makoto - the scene where the lights go out and she grabs jokers leg just made her more endearing. Amazing driving skills the PT would have died after the 4th palace if not for her. She asked joker to be her "fake" boyfriend. she may have had pure intentions but on some level she wanted to gauge his reaction to the idea.
2. Futba - who doesn't like a quirky redhead. Her being Boss's adopted daughter is a good thing as he seems to like Joker at this point in the story so he wouldn't have to give him the whole "let me show you my gun collection" talk. Although I'm thinking shes more like the quirky best friend type then best girl material (so sorry Fatuba Fans plesedonthateme)
3. Dr.Death - shes a doctor who really cares about her work. Cares more about helping the little girl then getting the credit for it. She basically broke down when she thought the girl was dead. Also SP Adhesives are amazing.
4. Kasumi - 100% little sister vibe. The batting cage scene just oozed I want my big bro to be proud of me. Maybe her "sister" is more likeable.
5. Chihaya - nice lady with a super power. A bit too gullible. Could totally see her sending all of Joker's savings to a Nigerian prince.
6. Chess girl (I know it's not chess) - mid maybe she will get more interesting. If she does I might remember her name.
7. Ann - Not even in the running really because She's going to end up with Ryuji. If Ryuji wasn't around I would say shes not the brightest bulb in the pack. shes not dumb and seems to at least have passed her exams but we have honor student Makoto and super nerd Futaba to compare her to. she is empathetic and has a high emotional intelligence. No way shes going to make it as an Actress with her (lack of) skills I cringe every time she tries. She would make a great councilor though with how she relates to people and to seems to be able to get along with everyone. Alternatively she could end up in professional sports with her throwing arm. She launched Morgan like she was shooting off a rocket after the 4th palace.
8. Kawakami - Yes she's ranked lower than someone who's not even in the running. First off she lied about her sister WTF! She just seems like a mess. Her clothes don't fit and her hair is never brushed. Shes going to end up as a cat lady. She is forever in "the help" tier doing my laundry and making me coffee.

Best Bro current rankings.

1. Ryuji - dude is our bro 100% He's the bad influence with a heart of gold and will stick with Joker to the end. He's the Ron Weasley to Joker's Harry Potter. He would be the most fun to go drinking with.
2. Yusuke - you will only ever be his 2nd best friend. His true loyalty lies with art. If Joker was hanging off the side of a cliff and Yusuke had to make the decision to save Joker or paint the perfect sunset it would be a real nail biter to see what he decides
3. Sojiro - Ok so not our bro but the Boss-Chief is the man. He took us in feeds us and is teaching us how to pick up chicks with coffee. He took in Fatuba because he felt guilty about not preventing her mother's death (even though chances are if he tried to help the owls would have killed him too). Would take a bullet for Joker and his friends and would die with a smile knowing he saved someone (may this never happen). Would not be surprised if he is the get away driver when the PT crew breaks Joker out.
4. Akechi - he's too full of himself and his sweater is dumb. Hanging out with him you would only ever be "Akechi's friend"
5. Mishima - such a wimp physically and emotionally. We just chilled at the park after he got picked on at the Diner. Unless he can fix his issues without the help of the PT crew then he's bottom tier for sure.

Best Kitty current rankings.

1. Snowball - he didn't deserve to go out like that.
2. Morgana - is a spy and slave of the big bad. Also needs stop hitting on Ryuji's girl or it's desires are gonna get all warped and it won't be able to summon it's persona.

If you made it here your a champ!

In my ever-deepening journey into fountain pens, I've spent a lot of time (and money) on pens and inks, less so on paper. Yet recently, i've come to a place where I have a sense of what I like (and don't like). Nothing I've tried perfectly matches everything I want, though I also offset this by using different notebooks for different things.
As far as the paper itself, my favorites so far are white Midori, Nebula, and 68 gsm Tomoe River, with Maruman Mnemosyne a bit behind but I prefer over Rhodia as my go-to mid-range paper. I love the color that Cosmo brings out, but don't like the sponginess. I haven't tried Bank, Clairefontaine or Regalia, but have a feeling that C will be too glossy for me, and I've read about quality control issues about the latter. Overall, I like paper that brings out ink qualities, isn't too thin, has minimal ghosting and bleedthrough, and has a bit of texture but not glossy.
I've found myself using Maruman Mneomosyne notebooks most, because I like the fact that you can tear them out (ring-bound and perforated), and the quality is good enough - even if it isn't as great as TR or Cosmo for ink effects.
While I use a variety of notebooks for different purposes, I'm looking for something specific: An A5 notebook to put in my Galen Leather Portfolio, that fits all--or as many of--the following criteria as possible, in no particular order:
​

• White, not yellow. Off-white or bright white is fine. Just not yellow (I love the quality of Midori, but only use the white stuff in my Traveler's passport).
• Not too thin and light. 80-90 gsm is best, 68 gsm is borderline but not a deal-breaker if the other factors are there (wherefore art though, 80 gsm Tomoe River?!).
• No bleed-through and minimal ghosting. I just don't like it...sorry Tomoe River fans! Even 68 gsm TR has more than I'd like (again, I wish that 80 gsm TR existed!).
• Soft cover (but not flimsy). Clothbound or leather is best, but I can live with faux leather, or maybe (but preferably not) plastic or thick card stock.
• Performs well for fountain pens. Duh. Shade, sheen and shimmer a must. Doesn't have to be TCosmo level, but preferably Midori/Nebula level, or at least Mnemosyne (and thus a bit better than Rhodia).
• Not staple-bound. I prefer something with a flat spine, and I suppose could live with thread-bound but that leads me to...
• Has at least 64 pages, preferably 100+ (but not over 200, otherwise it is makes my Galen Leather folio too thick). I'm fine with 32-pagers for my Traveler's Passport, but not for this purpose.
• Preferably graph, but dot-grid or plain will do; not lined.

Anything check every box? If something was all of the above and perforated, that would be amazing. But I suspect adding perforation to some of the binding requirements above is too much to ask. And I'm fine with MM for "write and tear."
My 200-page Odyssey Notebook is close-ish, and would be very close if it had a soft cover. The ring bound Nebula is also good, but the cover is too flimsy. The Endless Storyboard is something I'm considering checking out, as well, though it also has some strikes against it.
Thanks!

This is an 17 year old SR Smith 6' tall slide. I describe it as a 6 foot freefall followed by a 90 degree turn. It does have a water line, but it simply dumps into a little pool at the top of the slide where you sit and flows down the slide. The slide itself has a 3" diameter hole in the seat. I use a 3" diameter rubber plug/cap with a hole drilled in the middle and run the small water hose through this hole. The rubber is dry rotted and needs to be replaced.

1. Any idea what the part is called? It's white rubber, 1.75" tall and 3" in diameter. It is closed on one end and open on the other, like an upside down cup.
2. Are there better options that would fit into this opening? I've seen, and own, the standard "add water to your slide" kit, but I haven't found a good place to mount the nozzles.

Here are some ghost ideas that I thought of for Phasmophobia!
I will be putting ideas I like more on the top (the top three are the ideas I personally like the most), but I thought all of these would be pretty fun and/or interesting ideas. (the names can change, as I'm not great with names)
Parts that have stars/are italicized are ideas that I don't think are necessary as part of the overall concept for that particular ghost or might be too difficult for the devs to implement, but would still be a cool addition if it could be done.
Stalker -
When taking a photo, if the ghost is anywhere in the frame of the photo, the ghost will appear in the photo (even if it is not actually visible like in a hunt or ghost event). This will count as a ghost photo for the purpose of objectives. Capturing a photo of the stalker like this will consume 7 sanity every time this happens (the ghost will continue to appear in photos even when you already have the ghost photo).
The Stalker will constantly follow the closest player to it around. The Stalker's favorite room is based on player location - it will always be within 10 meters of the player it is following (the stalker can still change favorite rooms even if that setting is turned off, although it will only do it if every player moves too far away from it's favorite room). The Stalker will always start its hunt outside of the vision of the player it is following.
The Stalker, when hunting, will be extremely slow if not being looked at by a player, but will be quieter than a myling, not being able to be heard while hunting unless you are within 5 meters of it. If any player looks at it while in line of sight of the ghost, it will travel at 2.5m/s towards that player, but will be extremely loud, being able to be heard while hunting up to 30 meters away. If multiple players are looking at it, it will travel to the closest one.
Evidence -
Fingerprints, D.O.T.S, Ghost Writing

Strigoi
When the Strigoi kills a player, the hunt is extended much longer than normal, and the Strigoi gains a +0.5m/s speed boost, a +10% hunt threshold, and a 25% increase in activity for the duration of the game. The Strigoi can stack these bonuses if multiple people have died. A player being revived does not remove these bonuses. A strigoi will gain a bonus even if a player is killed via hanged man or the monkey paw.
The Strigoi will become more enraged and bloodthirsty if players keep escaping it during hunts. It will gain a -1 second to smudge blindness, a -10 second to smudge hunt cooldown, and a -2 seconds for general hunt cooldown every time it sees a player during a hunt but that player lives to see the end of the hunt.
The Strigoi are invisible if they don't see a player or aren't chasing a player. They also have a similar chance to an obake to transform into an animal when they are visible.
Evidence:
Ghost Writing, Freezing Temps, Ghost Orbs

Ayakashi
The Ayakashi is more powerful in the presence of water.
The Ayakashi is more likely to turn on sinks and showers. If there are no showers or sinks that are on in its ghost room, it will roam to the nearest shower or sink and turn it on.
The more sinks and showers that are on in a 30 meter radius (this should cover the whole house of a small house, but should make it so it's not extremely fast on a map like sunny meadows), the faster and more aggressive the Ayakashi is. Every sink or shower that is on in this radius adds +0.1m/s to the Ayakashi's speed and +4% hunt threshold.
The Ayakashi does not gain LoS speed.
The Ayakashi has a rare ability to create a fake "obstruction". A door that used to be there will disappear, or a hiding spot will seemingly be blocked. But if a player intentionally walks into this fake obstruction, it will disappear and it will be revealed the door or hiding spot was there all along.
Base speed (clear, sunset, windy) 1.0m/s
Foggy/any type of snow - Normal ghost speed
Light rain - 2.0m/s
Heavy rain - 2.5m/s
Evidence:
Ghost Orb, Freezing Temps, D.O.T.S

The Fool
The Fool is my idea for another "tricky" ghost like the mimic, but more focused on evidence.
The Fool's main gimmick is that it can fake evidence, unlike the mimic. The Fool has three "true" pieces of evidence that never change, and one changing piece of evidence. However, due to the Fool just pretending to have that evidence, there is a 25% chance it gives evidence in a messed up form. For example, a fool that is faking fingerprints might give a dog print instead of a human print. Or a handprint with only 4 fingers. More examples of "messed up" evidence: Spirit Box - Chance to speak gibberish or just giggle. D.O.T.S - Chance to appear as the big head ghost model. Ghost Writing - chance to draw a unique drawing, maybe the fool model from the tarot card.
The fool has a higher chance to do that giggle thing ghosts can do.
*The fool's hunt threshold is usually 50%, but if someone draws a fool card from the tarot card deck, that sanity threshold is temporarily raised like a yokai to 80%, and the fool goes straight to where the player drew the fool the next time it hunts. *
*If someone draws a card during a hunt (making it a fool), the ghost will know where the player was at the moment they drew the card. *
The fool does not consume sanity when you joke with it on the oujia board.
Possible idea I had was to make the fool act sort of like a mimic but in excess. So if it pretends to be a mare, for example, every action it does is excessively mare like - it constantly breaks lights, turns off lights, or uses its mare lightswitch ability - it rarely does anything else. Basically, "overdoing" it’s act as another ghost. This idea doesn't fit for all ghost types, makes the fool a bit too much like the mimic, and also makes it too easy to identify, so that's why I'm not putting it in the main idea, though I do think it would be a fun addition.
The fool is more reluctant to give its actual true evidence. It will take longer to get freezing, EMF 5 is more rare, and ghost orbs are harder to find.
True evidence:
Ghost Orb, Freezing Temps, EMF 5

The Spider
The spider is a patient ghost that prefers to ambush players.
The spider will not initiate a hunt unless a player is in it's ghost room.
The spider does not hunt like a normal ghost. It will instead crawl on the roof from room to room. Every time the spider enters a different room during a hunt, it waits 10 seconds to see if a player enters this room or is in this room (most hiding spots will not work on the spider). If a player walks into the room OR is in this room and not in something like a locker, the spider will travel at normal speed towards the player and drop on their head and kill them (unless they are holding a smudge stick).
If there is no consistent roof like on camp woodwind, the spider hunts on the ground instead, but will still always crawl. The spider will still lie in wait to pounce a player if they tries to enter a room, but all hiding spots will still work.
*The spider has a ghost ability it can activate that creates an invisible "web" where ever it walks for a 10 second period (not during a hunt). If a player walks into the web during a hunt, they will be slowed by 50%. The spider will know if someone is caught in their web. *
Evidence:
Freezing Temps, Fingerprints, D.O.T.S

The Memory
The memory is consumed by regrets and visions from its pasts.
I thought it would be cool if the lore questions from the ouija board had some actual use, so the Memory's behavior is affected by its cause of death, reason for being here, and how it's feeling.
A memory that was choked is more likely to interact with fans. If a fan is on in its ghost room, its hunt threshold is decreased to 40%. If there is no fan or if it's off, it will hunt at 60%.
A memory that was drowned is more likely to interact with sinks and showers. If a sink or shower is on in its ghost room (or the sink is full of water) or if it's raining, its hunt threshold is increased to 60%. If there is no sink or shower or if they are turned off and it is not raining, it will hunt at 40%. A drowned ghost is able to drain the sink.
A memory that was shot or murdered will have a base 75% hunt threshold.
A memory that was killed by an accident/slipped/fell will have a 25% hunt threshold.
Ghost speed, interaction rate, preferences, the noises it makes during a hunt, and certain hunt behaviors are affected by its mood. An angry ghost is fast, an empty ghost is inactive, a hurt ghost is slow, etc.
Ghost event rate, hunt threshold, and certain hunt behaviors are affected by what a ghost wants. A ghost that wants revenge has a 5% higher sanity threshold, for example.
A memory will always remember where players last were and will always check.
Evidence:
Spirit Box, Ghost Orb, EMF 5

So, a US-based confections company recently reached out to me on LinkedIn.
They seemed pretty fine in general, and I like sweets, and as an engineer I haven't really worked with a company that produces food before, let alone sweets, so I decided to give it a go.
The first interview with HR went okay, it's the usual "check you are not literally unaliving people as a hobby" kind of an interview, then I talked to some of their engineers in the next few rounds, seemed like really chill people in general, and I was fairly impressed by how normal everyone seemed there.
Then it was a turn to interview with her.
Wellness Officer.
At this point I am used to this type of cringe, you know, those super upbeat "love everyone" people who go around and pretend HR is a science? Yup, this place got 'em. Alright, I think, it is not any more cringe than my current employer, I guess the companies just do this crap now.
So for the interview, it is the last stage of the interview where they (once again) check whether you're a good fit for the company, except this is a much deeper, more harrowing experience. There were questions like "Did you ever talk about a teammate behind their back" and "How do you approach a situation where you feel like someone is doing something illegal" and all those questions are always annoying to have to answer, but I just let that slide because, whatever, she's just reading a script anyways and it is obvious nobody wants to work with psychos so I also kind of understand it.
But oh well.
Then I got _THE_ question.
The question was along the lines of "How do you feel about unions and do you align yourself with any type of socialist ideology?". to which I said "Uh... what?" and she was like "We just want to make sure you are a good fit for the position, so please answer truthfully."
And here's the thing, I have never, in a single place ever, found this question to be asked, where there wasn't some serious malpractice.
And this seriously pushed all the red alert buttons in my head. In an instant I felt like I've been exposed to an admission of a crime. An epiphany that this place full of chill smiling people is just a front for some sort of exploitation.
Anyhow, caught offguard, I answered with a question, half laughing and asking if this is some US kind of a thing that we Europeans just don't get.
She said it is not in her job description to explain reasoning behind those questions (whose is it, you are literally facing an interviewee?!)
I then told her she is allowed to go off the script, and that if she is not willing to be truthful with me about this affair, that I don't think I really want to consider working there, and that even if they employed me, I would leave at the first sign of union busting or discrimination.
So for a moment she just went with a blank stare and said "I will just need to talk to my supervisor and get back to you, okay?" I nodded at it. Then we said bye to each other and that was the end of the interviews.
Today (about a week since the last interview) I was contacted by the recruiter that initially talked to me, and being a contractor, I assumed she really had no skin in the game, so she told me the usual stuff, that company does not want to continue through with the process with me because we are not on the same page, which I fully expected.
Then I asked her honestly what she really thinks about this whole affair, I also explained to her that I did tech interviews really well, and I wanted to fish some info out of her and then I noted I feel like they might be union busting assholes because of the question the Wellness Officer (I noted a name) asked me.
And my god, then she went off the rails.
"SHE ALWAYS DOES THIS! She always tells people they aren't allowed to work from home (wasn't a question for me because I am remote anyways) or clock OT hours in (also didn't consider this as I would be a hourly contractor) so I always find it so hard to get a commission with >X< company! She is SO INFURIATING!"
Like, can you imagine a recruiter being so annoyed that she can't get a commission because the last stage interviewer axes so many people she literally doesn't get paid enough?
I told her "Well, for what is worth, >Recruiter<, I think you did a fine job in general, maybe YOU need a union to protect you from crap orchestrated so high up in the company!" I said while laughing and she just stared at me and was like "You know what, it looks like I do. Anyhow, I am sorry about this I really thought things would be fine."
Then we chatted a bit randomly before ending the call.
Mind you, this is not the first time I've seen that a recruiter was pissed about being denied a commission fee because a company has some insane practices like this, but it was the first time where I've seen a recruiter just go off the rails and show me she's internally screaming at this whole situation. Amazing.
Well, this job was never meant to be. And I don't really care either way, it was a fine experience, just wish information about insane union busting culture wasn't withheld from me until the end.

Updated May 2023
I recently changed Reddit accounts and it's been about a year, so it seemed prudent to repost this for visibility. :)

Link to the Below Zero guide

https://subnauticamap.io/ - This is an interactive map of the crater. However, be warned that it will show the general location of things you need to find. This can be toggled but if you have zero point of reference for the places mentioned in this guide, this map should provide one.

General tips are at the bottom, however, they rely on you having played at least part of the way through the game so I don't recommend checking them until at least part 3, AKA "Going Traveling"

Subnautica is a game primarily about exploring your environment while overcoming the trepidation that the game sets up in you over doing so. Although there isn't a perfect guide to being able to clear the game, there also isn't an unambiguous path of progression for the player, either.
Consequently new players often find themselves at an impasse in terms of progression and where to go. The following is a no-nonsense, straight to the point guide on how to progress, but it's not a bible. You can do most of this just by exploring and wandering around.
A blind playthrough is critical to the first time player experience. This is often true of every game but for Subnautica it makes or breaks the whole story - you need to have no idea what the hell is going on the first time you clear the game. If you spoil it for yourself you will regret it, please believe me in this. This guide is meant to give you a nudge when you find you don't know where to go next, it's not really meant as a walkthrough, even though it can be used as one. Do yourself a favor friends, don't go wandering /subnautica or the wiki too much and this guide will not lead you astray. It is written specifically for brand new players.

The Beginning

When you first arrive on 4546b, you find yourself with basically nothing. You're hungry, thirsty, your lifepod is broken and your cookies are gone. The Aurora is burning (and you nearly did too) but despite all that, you're alive and this planet is about to get some Ryley in it.
The environment around you has most of what you need to get started. The metal scrap strewn around the shallows provides an easy source of Titanium while you can break limestone and sandstone to get the minerals you need for your starting tools. You'll want the quartz you find for glass.
Although you have a number of options for making equipment, at this stage I don't recommend using resources for the air pump or pipes. Truth is they don't really have much use; they create a breathing line from the surface for when you're diving, but they're expensive and there's better alternatives in your near future.
Once you have a scanner and knife, take the time to scan everything you can. All the local wildlife can be scanned and most of the flora.
Your objective at this point is to build a repair gun, knife, seaglide, flashlight and scanner.

Branching Out

Now that you've got your basic tools and you can get around a little, it's time to begin exploring. At this point you've seen the deeper waters on the edges of the kelp forest.
It's time to go take a look.
The red grassy plains have what you need to progress to deeper waters. You'll want to explore the wrecks there. There are four grassy plains surrounding the shallows at compass points and cave systems exist in three of them which will become relevant later, but are largely out of your reach for now. It is out here that you will find fragments necessary for an important task you must complete soon. Raiding the aurora will require the laser cutter you learn to make here. You'll also want a propulsion cannon, which you can find the fragments to near the side of the Aurora. DO NOT GO AROUND THE BACK OF THE AURORA. SERIOUSLY. You are not prepared for that level of giggling insanity yet.
By now you've fixed the radio and may have triggered the sunbeam event, in which case you will want to go follow that. Give yourself the full span of time to go to the island and explore unless you'd prefer to explore after the event, but don't let yourself get distracted by what you find there and miss the ship arriving. The signals you've been getting are important prompts and need to be checked out when possible, so make sure you take the time to do that. Also, when you go to either island DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. There is a real risk of it phasing through the ground and becoming inaccessible and then you'll end up on this subreddit asking how to get it back like the other 5 guys a week. Seriously.
Also note that bringing an ion cube to the top of the mountains caves will let you do something interesting up there, but I won't be specific. A scanner room at this spot is ideal not just to track the reaper leviathan on the eastern side of the island but there is quite a lot of shale and lithium here as well, which is probably something you're gonna want.

Going traveling

At this point you should have a seamoth, your basic tools, a laser cutter, propulsion cannon and lead suit. You are prepared. It's time to go to the Aurora... but only if you've gotten the communication from Alterra with the captains door code. Otherwise, you must wait for that radio event. You can go explore the ship anyways of course, but not having the code means you can't get into the captains room, requiring you to go back and get it later. So it's up to you. You can open the door anyways if you get the code off the internet or something but since the game gives it to you anyways, you can always wait for the prompt. If not, the door code is 2679
If you have a cyclops I don't recommend taking it, since reapers hang out at the front and back ends of the ship. However, a seamoth is small enough to fit through the broken superstructure of the ship at the front and thus avoid this danger. There are two ways to access the ship and although it seems impossible, you CAN in fact climb up to access the open one. Otherwise, you can use the prop cannon to move the debris out of the way of the door near water level. Be sure to take the time to explore inside and use the carry-all bags to leave stuff you want to keep from the ship out the front so you can come back and pick it all up later. There's lots of useful stuff in there.
As a side note here, the leech-like things that annoy you in the reactor room are called Bleeders. I hate Bleeders personally, but I noted that if you grab one with the propulsion cannon and fling it into the wall out of sheer spite then other bleeders will be attracted to the body, which makes grabbing and doing the same to them quite easy. Clearing the entire room of those little #*([email protected]'s only takes a couple minutes.
You can get the codes for various rooms inside from the PDA's you find. Also note that some doors can only be opened once you repair them. Sometimes the Aurora glitches and these repair sections don't work but because the ship has two entrances, you can always go around the back to clear the whole thing, which is... annoying. If you don't mind being patient, leaving the Aurora and doing other things for awhile will reset the wreck, allowing you to come back later and potentially be able to repair the doors then.
The codes for the ship are:
Cabin No. 1: 1869
Captain's Quarters: 2679
Cargo Bay: 1454
Lab Access: 6483

Time to go down

With the Aurora repaired you have the ability to wear things other than the lead suit, so it's time to chuck that in the trash 'cuz you won't need it again. It's time to get the outer wrecks in the zones beyond the shallows and hoo boy ain't that gonna be an experience.
The cyclops is your friend here. But what's this, you don't have a cyclops? Well, that's okay. You may have found one of the engine fragments on the aurora in the cargo bay but if you missed it, it's not really a big deal. Your next objective to build one is to go explore mushroom forest and the underwater floating islands for the fragments you'll need. If you've been following your radio signals you've probably been to the aurora rendezvous point by now, but if not, take the time to go thoroughly explore that island. One of the PDAs you need to find the next place is not at the degasi base, but on one of the paths of the island near an arch of rock. You'll need to explore the island thoroughly to find it. Make sure to scan everything and bring back plant samples if you have a seabase. You can use plant pots to keep food trees on your cyclops for easy access to food without worrying about curing everything all the time.
Once you have the cyclops, you need to take the time to upgrade your seamoth to depth so you can explore the various wrecks, supplement your PDA database and establish yourself properly for long-term operations. At this point in the game you should be aiming for or already have:
A seabase, even a basic one. A couple corridors with lockers are invaluable for storage and operations and the scanner room is MISSION CRITICAL. If you haven't built one yet, get on that!
A seamoth, either at or being upgraded to 500m depth
Knife, flashlight, repair gun, seaglide, scanner, laser cutter, propulsion or repulsion cannon, rebreather
Be sure to check everything, then check it again! It's easy to miss things on the island. Be sure to check the buildings on the tops of the hills there too. Although it would be nice to be able to plant land beacons (hint hint, Unknown Worlds), it's not feasible for marking out the precursor gate on the floating island so unfortunately, it's not of much use unless you have your base on one island or the other. I don't recommend the floating island for this for reasons which will become apparent later in the game.

Looking into the abyss

If you've explored most of or all of the wrecks and no longer have missing technology, it's time to go deeper. If you've been following your PDA signals you need to check out the degasi bases and follow their story, as they lead you to a large, deep cave which is the path to deeper places you need to explore.
There are several inlets to the place you need to reach. Northern Bulb Zone where it meets Mountains has a large entrance. Blood Kelp Zone and Trench both have entrances. The last one is in deep grand reef, where the final Degasi base is. I personally recommend either Deep Grand Reef or Bulb Zone but the latter has the most accessibility.
Raiding the final Degasi Base before exploring this cave system will get you the orange precursor key which you'll need to access something hidden at the southern end of the caves near blood kelp trench's entrance. While working down here I strongly recommend making liberal use of beacons as navigational guides if you're new to this place. It is VERY confusing and looks very same-y if you haven't spend a lot of time here.
Deep inside the caves you'll come upon a chamber with a massive skull sitting on a chunk of land in the middle and access to a slightly lower part of the cave system which is not green. This is the Cove Tree Cave and the brine there will not hurt you the way the green brine does. This leaves you able to free dive there to gather materials without needing to rely on your prawn.
This chamber with the skull is, in fact, the central chamber of Lost River. It is an excellent place for building a scanner station and the entire area is ludicrously rich in resources. It's a perfect place to stock up and catch up any upgrades, tools or devices you may be lacking so far. You'll want the resource stocks for later and honestly, it's just a really cool place to have a base in general.
The Disease Research Facility is in the north-eastern arm of Lost River, accessible through the Bulb Zone entrance. A juvenile ghost leviathan guards the path but as with most leviathans, operating in silent running and staying above or below it while sticking to the cave walls will get you by without any issue. If they do notice you, just pop a decoy, go full speed for about 5-8 seconds and then drop the engine to low and stay in silent running until you get far enough for the big ugly to stop bothering you.
The southern part of Lost River holds a large chamber with a ghost leviathan juvenile and houses another rather large skeleton. This area in particular is rich in large ore deposits and crystallized sulfur that you'll be needing for some big upgrades.
By the way, remember the cyclops shield? By now you're probably noticing that using the auxiliary functions on the cyclops eats a lot of power. Redundant power cells are your friend and if you feel you're worried about power costs while exploring, you lose nothing by having a buttload of spare power cells. It can pay off, being able to spam the shield for awhile and run away.
You'll want that shield for what's coming next.

Once More Unto The Deep

By now you've probably explored Lost River a bit and you're wondering where to go from here. If you've built a scanner room in the central chamber, you'll have noticed that the scanner, when at full range, shows a chamber below Lost River.
This is the inactive lava zone and it is here your answers lay.
You have two access points to reach this chamber. The North-east arm past the disease research facility and the cove tree caves. Both entrances are equally difficult to get through but the first one feels more open, if you don't mind the ghost leviathan circling around above the opening.
This chamber is rich with even more valuable resources, if you somehow haven't got enough already. The cove tree cave entrance leads to the western part of the ILZ chamber. The North-east entrance leads to the north edge of the chamber. The chamber itself is rather oval-shaped, with the western edge of it relatively empty and the eastern part containing a massive lava bubble.
If you wander around down here long enough the PDA will prompt you to take a look at that bubble a bit more closely. You will need two purple precursor keys to access the facility inside. Now that you're down here you'll notice there's a fair number of warpers, crimson rays (who are harmless) and leech-like things which will attach to the hull of your ship and drain power. That sounds like a problem, doesn't it?
Don't worry though, we got you covered. Once you're down here, go grab some kyanite and you can build the cyclops thermal reactor which pretty much eliminates the whole running out of power problem. The shield is a great way to get the leeches off your hull at the same time.
As for the leviathan, the sea dragon isn't actually a whole lot of threat. It might spit fire at you and is capable of picking up and biting the prawn but will mostly ignore you if you don't go hanging out in front of it.
With that said, treat it like any other leviathan while in the cyclops. Drive slow, keep an eye on it and if it gets curious, drop a decoy and move away ASAP. Cutting your engines once you've gotten a little distance will almost always make them lose interest.

But Wait, There's More!

If you've explored the inner depths of the lava bubble, then you have the blue key, ion battery plans and have opened the portal to the QEP. Great! Now coming down here in the prawn isn't a big deal and you don't have to drive the cyclops all the way down here to go grab resources. A small scanner base down here would be great for quickly finding what you need.
As you can probably guess, there's an even deeper chamber than this, which is the active lava zone. You can find the entrance by following the lava flows around the ILZ and keeping an eye on the floor. You'll find a large space big enough for the cyclops to lower down into.
Down here you'll find 2 sea dragons to avoid, so don't you get conservative with your power. By now you'll probably have built ion power cells and those can run your shield and sonar together for a full 5 minutes with silent running going so don't be shy about using them!
Getting into the alien base down here will require two blue keys, one for accessing the facility, the other for accessing the inner facility. It is here you will find the ion cube fabricator which requires the prawn. You can use this to open the warp gates in the facility. Six ion cubes in total are required for this. Four for the warp gates on the upper floor and two in the Sea Emperors tank. One of these leads back to the upper floor, if you find you're struggling to get back out. This gate in particular is about halfway up the tank at the back and sits on a large ledge. An ion cube is provided to activate it, giving you a way to walk out of the tank if you find you're struggling to get out.
And... that's pretty much it, really. After that encounter you'll know where to go and what to do. The paths laid out for you in the final facility lead you to the places you need to go to find the things you require.

Tips and tricks

• Keep floaters in your cyclops. When you're operating above 500m, running out of power, floaters will allow you to passively bring your ship to the surface without power expense so that you can resupply it. This is pretty much a last ditch move but it never hurts to be prepared.
  
• You can fit up to 8 basic plant pots in an observatory, which will grant you twice the amount of growing space as an indoor grow bed for the same amount of floor space while also making the crops more easily accessible.
  
• The engine comparment of the cyclops has a lower deck behind the vehicle bay which everybody ignores, but it's a great spot for plant shelves and marble melons for food security.
  
• Load your vehicles. Dedicate storage in them to supplies. Water, food, medkits, beacons, flares (bonesharks and crabsquids react to them) and spare power supplies for the vehicles. Keep this kit supplied and you will never be caught unprepared for an 'oh crap' situation.
  
• Okay, so you don't want to give up inventory space for your vehicles. The next best thing is then to fill a watertight locker or two with food, water, medpacks and maybe a couple spare batteries and power cells, then drop them someplace with a beacon next to them. Do this a dozen times in random spots around the map as you travel and now you have emergency caches you can access if you get into trouble.
  
• When you reach the point where materials gathering is easy, consider creating vehicle-creation drop points. 2-3 spots on the map with a mobile vehicle bay, a couple lockers with everything you need for a new seamoth and some basic supplies. If you lose your vehicle, it's a lot easier to make a replacement and get the mats than to get the mats to make a replacement.
  
• The propulsion gun is your friend. Use it to grab items to pick up, use it to grab cave crawlers and yeet them into low orbit, use it to pick up rocks and fling them at things you particularly don't like. Use it to collect gas pods from gasopods without getting hit by the cloud. Use it to move debris in wrecks. Bring a spare battery specifically for it because flinging things around uses a lot of power but the sheer utility of the tool makes it worth the cost.
  
• You'll be tempted to deck your seamoth out with all the toys but the truth is once you have the prawn, it's obsolete. Don't fall into the temptation of continuing to build tons of upgrades for it unless you plan to use it for a fast-fetch vehicle for things you need from far away. However, with that said, the seamoth is really the superior vehicle for wreck-diving.
  
• Keeping a second air tank in your inventory and swapping them mid-dive is a perfectly viable option. However, the tanks only refill when wearing them, so make sure to switch again once you're back in breathing space. This can and will save you when wreck diving and two ultra high quality tanks equals 450 seconds of air in total, or 7m30s of air.
  
• Speaking of air, you can use the air bladders alternate use key (F on PC - the same button for self-scanning) to get a few seconds of air out of it into your tank. It's not much - 20 seconds or so - but sometimes, that little bit extra can save your life if you're just out of reach of your vehicle.
  
• You can collect flora and fauna samples as you progress through the game and have a garden base specifically for growing plant samples from around the crater. Obviously this looks really nice (creepvine in an alien tank under the floor provides the room in your base with a nice golden glow) but is also useful later.
  
• SCANNER ROOMS. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. If you're struggling to find the magnetite, go to Jellyshroom. If you're struggling to find Jellyshroom, always remember that lifepod 17 is directly next to one of its exit points. The range upgrades are incredibly important and the HUD chip makes the whole thing work.
  
• Farm supplies! You don't need to work or power anything to grow crops. Consider dropping a foundation with some growbeds, a beacon and your farmables (gel sack, creepvine seeds, creepvine samples, acid mushroom, blood oil and deepshrooms). Now you can stock up on things like batteries, rubber, lubricant, benzene, polyaniline. Keep a few of these crops in your cyclops for planting in new spots and never run out of the stuff you need while keeping your home base nice and lag free.
  
• Creature decoys can be deployed both by hand and by prawn propulsion arm, which lets you pull items out of your inventory to 'throw'. You can also do this with the propulsion cannon by using the F key (the alternate tool use button, the same one you use to self-scan, for all you console folks).
  
• Turning off your engines greatly reduces the chance of a leviathan damaging the cyclops, even if it's right on top of you. Moving is what gets their attention. If one is swimming near the sub, cut all engines and just wait patiently for it to get a little distance, then silent running and max speed for a few seconds. Pop a decoy for good measure if you want to make absolutely sure.
  
• You can access the right side of the Aurora relatively safely by going south to Crag Zone and then banking east into the deeper parts of crash zone. Most of the reapers are up by the ship, sticking to the bottom will keep you relatively safe and net you as much titanium as you will ever need.
  
• Blood kelp zone, the sea treader wreck and the meteor crater in Dunes all have secrets that you may find interesting.
  
• Remember the Bleeders in the reactor room of the Aurora? Bring a grav trap along - they're cheap, it's disposable - and enter through the top door by climbing along the wreckage up there. Pop the grav trap in the reactor room and kill one of them with the propulsion cannon - the others will come for the body and be stuck in the trap, making picking them off much, much easier than it would be trying to find them all individually. You can just leave the trap behind. If you have the stasis gun, you can wait for them to stack up in the grav trap, stun them, then drop gas pods amidst the several bleeders and watch them get bodied.
  
• Gas pods 'o doom also work against leviathans. They work against EVERYTHING. You just need a lot of them, but getting a lot of them is really easy with the propulsion cannon (which can fire them too, by the way).
  
• Reefback barnacles are a good source of copper and silver, but beware the tiger plants on their backs. If you have a reinforced dive suit, tiger plants can't hurt you, but without one they're a pain. You can yeet them with the propulsion cannon. That trick works for drooping stingers too.
  
• Beacons everywhere. No seriously, everywhere. You'd be amazed how few people use them as much as they ought to be used.
  
• Eastern red grass plains has deep caves with a type of plant which can only be found in a few select spots on the map. Bulb Zone's lifepod has caves with some nearby and the Dunes also has some, but a Reaper is guarding them. If you do manage to find the spot though, it's GREAT for rubies!
  
• Scanner room cameras are a good way to keep track of nearby leviathans. They also force the terrain to load, which is required for the scanner room to actually pick things up. Stalkers will snag the cameras and move them around, but they're pretty useful for quickly getting the scanner room working right. The wildlife ignores the cameras too, so if you want a really nice picture of some creature you really hate getting close to, they're a great way to get it.
  
• Breed some stalkers, release them outside your base next to a pile of metal scrap and never worry about finding teeth for glass again. Barring that? Drop a random beacon in the kelp forest and wait for a stalker to collect it, follow it back to their stash and drop a grav trap.
  
• Light sticks can be good for wreck diving, as are flares. Flares provide much better lighting in large open spaces than the flashlight or seaglide. It makes them a good alternative to the flashlight in the early game.
  

• DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES.

• The following is a list of zones where one can find particular ores. It isn't a complete list, but will allow you to find everything you need in a timely fashion:
  

Lithium - Jellyshroom, Bulb Zone, Mushroom Forest, Lost River
Loose Lithium - Mushroom Forest, Mountains, Grand Reef, Shale, lost river
Magnetite - Jellyshroom is the only biome with large nodes
Loose Magnetite - Jellyshroom, mountains, cove tree cave, blood kelp zone, lost river
Rubies - Dunes, Spare Reef Caves, Lost River, Grand Reef, Underwater Islands
Diamonds - Lost River, Shale, Inactive Lava Zone, Sea Treader Path, sometimes caves
Table Coral - Shallows, Lost River
Copper - Mushroom forest, blood kelp zone, bulb zone, lost river, limestone, Inactive Lava Zone
Silver - Crag Zone, Mountains, Lost River, sandstone, Inactive Lava Zone
Gold - Jellyshroom, Blood Kelp Zone, Lost River, sandstone, shale
Lead - Sandstone, mountains, crash zone, lost river, Inactive Lava Zone
Titanium - Crash Zone, Dunes, Limestone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone
Metal Salvage - Crash Zone, Crag Zone, Kelp Forest
Kyanite - Inactive Lava Zone
Crystalline Sulfur - Lost River
Nickel - Lost River
Uraninite - Blood Kelp Zone, Blood Kelp Trench, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Grand Reef
Quartz - Dunes, Crag Zone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Red Grassy Plains
If you're reading this guide and have any suggestions for additional information, feel free to share them for the next iteration.

Good luck, survivor!

Feels like a good time to do it, considering new stories are coming out for the first time in years; if people here will show some interest in this commentary, I'll keep it up until the end.
The episode on Gargwiki.
The episode on Ask Greg.
The first eight minutes or so are great: the animation is still top-notch even three decades later, the pacing is good, the battle is choreographed well and the Gargoyles' first awakening is an awesome scene; all of the major characters get some nice establishing moments (ok, I probably could have lived without Broadway's "All of nature trembles at my passing!" "I can see why...", but even that's not horrible, it just doesn't fit with the general atmosphere) and even the background Gargs - while having zero lines - work, on account of some kickass designs.
(Although one wonders where all the females were on that particular night; were breasts more difficult to animate in the '90s or something?)
Once the battle is over we get to the banquet scene, and, frankly, I don't think it works - in fact, as worldbuilding goes, it kinda sucks; just to remind you, the scene goes like this:

• Two noblemen note that, while the Captain of the Guard is "a fine soldier", he's more a "captain of the Gargoyles" than anything, and that he'd "fit right well on the cornices with them"; the person in question hears all this and doesn't like it.
• Princess Katharine thanks the Captain for "a battle well fought"; Cap notes that "without Goliath and his Gargoyles our defense would have proven useless".
• Kat answers with "Please, don't mention that monster's name in my presence...", at which point Goliath and Demona enter.
• Everybody is flabbergasted - Katharine in particular has a wonderful WTF expression for five straight seconds; the Captain explains that he "took the liberty of asking them to appear and be recognized for their bravery".
• Kat, with Goliath and Demona right in front of her, states that she doesn't want "beasts in the dining hall"; the Magus calls them "unnatural creatures" and states that "no good can come from associating with them".
• Goliath and Demona get close, and Katharine looks scared - but then Goliath does that awesome "using your wings as a cape" thing while nobly kneeling to her; Katharine is, once again, flabbergasted.
• It's established that Goliath was named by the humans, and we learn the reason for it; Kat once again feels the need to insult him to his face, at which point Demona growls and Goliath, having the slight feeling that the evening won't go quite as he planned, decides it's time to leave.
• Katharine ends things by demoting the Captain: in the future, he'll report to the Magus rather than directly to her; Cap takes it well and storms off, as a man who takes things well does.

The problem with all this? The problem is that I find absolutely none of these interactions believable, especially when we take into account the later reveals about Castle Wyvern's backstory - namely, that:

• This alliance has been a thing for 23 years.
• The Captain was there for all of it.
• The Magus has been at the Castle for at least 12 years by this point (according to Weisman, he became the Archmage's apprentice in 982).
• Katharine has been surrounded by Gargoyles literally her entire life.
• To this, I'd add the fact that these two communities live in a castle, not a city, so there's inevitably a limit to how much racial segregation can be going on - obviously, humans and Gargoyles have to interact with each other on a regular basis.

Nothing of this means that the relationship between the two groups has to be perfect, but from the way the humans act, you'd think this alliance was only formed, like, last month - all of the interactions feel like people who barely know each other, not people who, for good or for ill, have lived in the exact same place for decades. From the way the scene goes, you'd think Katharine and Goliath have never before talked to each other, but that's obviously ridicolous; Cap getting demoted is weird too - is this really the first time he ever tried to convince the Princess to give the Gargs some well-deserved accolades? For that matter, why did he think that calling Goliath and Demona to the dining hall was going to work - just because they had helped win the battle? That must have happened dozens of times in the last two decades, what was so different about this one?
Ah, well - I've harped on this long enough; let's get on with it.
In the following scene, Demona claims that humans "should bow to us!". I have the feeling her apologists tend to conveniently forget that sentence exists; then it's dawn and hot damn, has Stone Sleep ever again looked this good? No wonder they put it in the opening. The Captain goes to Hakon, and I have to admit that Ed Gilbert does an awesome Magus impression - albeit I have to wonder what the purpose of it was, in-universe.
(In the Italian dub, Cap's voice actor uses his normal voice for that scene - which kinda spoils the twist, I guess, but objectively makes more sense; I'll let you decide if you find that to be a good or a bad decision.)
It's night again, and we see that, after a good Stone Sleep, Goliath's wounded hand has healed, with nobody commenting the fact - which I quite like: the fact that Gargoyles heal during the day will be better explained three episodes from now, but it's good to have it subtly established here - now that's good worldbuilding.
Cap and Demona try to convince Goliath to use the entire Clan to hunt down the Vikings, he refuses, and then Keith David gives us the iconic "Remember: you and I are one... now and forever" line - which I have to admit kinda comes out of nowhere: as far as Goliath is concerned this is a mission like any other - easier than many others, in fact - so he really has no reason to be THAT dramatic; I also have to admit that these scenes fit really well with the later flashbacks from Reawakening and City of Stone.
...and then there's the "no-names" conversation; oh boy.
"I'm Tom. What's your name?"
"Except for Goliath, we don't have names."
"But what do you call each other?"
"Friend."
"...that doesn't sound like a practical method at all; like, what do you do if you have to talk about a guy who isn't there?"
"Hey, no law against saying "red friend with the big snout" or "green fat friend".
"And do you call everybody "friend"? Even those Gargoyles you don't like or those you're kinda indifferent about?"
"The official party line is that all Gargs are brothers and sisters and so we all call each other "friend"... but yes, ok, in private we call all those we don't like "f**k-face" and all those we have no opinion about "that one".
"And what happens if you have to write an episode of a tv show with you in it? Do you give each other names that you'll never actually use in real life?"
"Look, somebody at Disney wanted most of us to have modern names, and this is the best the authors could come up with to justify it; I'm sure John Tolkien would have done it better, but he was a bit dead at the time, so what can you do?"
"Fine, I guess. I won't mock the "no-names" thing again. ^{This episode.}"
We get to the episode's second cliffhanger, with Brooklyn, Lexington and Bronx scaring the humans; in his commentary, Weisman notes that both of this episode's cliffhangers have the Gargs as the potential threat, and that he "could never have gotten away with that by even episode 2. But this early on, we didn't know the gargs well enough to know how they'd react." Quite frankly, I'm not sure it even works here, at least the second time - the members of the Trio have already been fairly well established as "the funny ones", so that it's not particularly difficult to figure out they're bluffing; the first cliffhanger being Goliath growling is okay, though.
We then learn that Gargoyle eggs are polka-dotted; that's the goofiest f**king thing I've ever seen in my life.
The following sequence - Goliath and Hudson getting tricked, the sacking of Wyvern, Hakon killing Unnamed Garg from the Opening and "My Angel of the Night..." is mostly great; I like that we clearly see Tom being brought away along with everybody else, thus underlining the fact that the Captain's action to "help" the Gargs has damaged every human within the Castle in an indiscriminate manner, rather than just the Clan's supposed enemies.
Why do I say that the sequence is "mostly" great? Because the Captain (and Demona, once that reveal happens) ends up looking like a complete and utter moron - which I know from every other scene he's in he's not supposed to be. What the hell did he think was going to happen here? Even if he had managed to overpower Hakon, what was his plan to stop all the other Vikings? How could he - a guy who knows first-hand that the Gargoyles are hated even by the humans they protect - think, even for a moment, that the Vikings that got beaten up by the Gargs literally last night were going to spare them? And did he really believe that Goliath, having returned to find the Castle ransacked and the humans gone, was going to shrug, say "Well, sucks to be them, I guess" and get on with his life without at least attempting a rescue mission?
Yes, yes, I know: Dramatic Irony; "the Gargoyles' only human friend is also the one who caused their destruction, even though he honestly wanted to help them"; I get that. I just wish they didn't have to give Cap such a big fat Idiot Ball for it to happen.
And that's it for the first episode, I guess; the verdict is: still pretty good. Anything to add?

I bled the brakes on my 52’ M38 today and I got the back perfect. However upon doing the front I couldn’t get anything out of em. I got nothing out of the front right, and drips out of the front left. When you depress the brake pedal the back works perfectly however the front doesn’t work at all. Is there something I’m missing or not doing or is there something common that happens to the front to be so difficult? I have a technical manual from the military but it doesn’t say anything about if the front doesn’t work. I also was checking all of the parts and noticed that there’s two cables that come out of the front just past the fittings for the front and back brake lines, can anyone tell me what they are for?

I became a Christian with the help of my ex-husband, before we got married.
A couple of years into my walk, post-marriage and pre-kids, I had an overpowering experience of the presence of God that took me from "I believe" to "I know.
Despite the facts that we got along and agreed about most things, we kept returning to marriage counseling...it was a bed issue. We managed somewhat, because we have two great kids.
Eventually, I climbed out of the closet, but we remained faithful to each other during the whole of our marriage.
Divorce wasn't the obvious choice, because of the kids, and because we actually did (still do) love each other. I was not comfortable with the idea of an open relationship, however, and I felt like I was depriving the world of straight women of a good man.
Because of the kids, we maintained a household (and devoted relationship, no dating) -even after the divorce. After they hit their late teens, he moved to another state. Eventually, our oldest joined him there.
This is already too long. Okay, I had my lesbian rumspringa, got my heart broken for the first time in my life. Then, there was an intense family crisis which caused me to move out of state as well. I'm currently living alone and away from family. This meant that I could attend RCIA and become Catholic, without anyone in my family knowing that I did this.
Why would this matter? My immediate family and my kids and my ex, everyone describes themselves as either atheist or agnostic. All of us are on the left side of the political spectrum. I will have a lot of 'splainin' to do once it comes out that im Catholic.
Honestly, everyone is going to have a harder time with this than with my homosexuality.
I'm getting massive help from God to do this, I'm able to be celibate while also having the presence of the Holy Spirit as a touchstone for those times when church doctrine contradicts scripture, or church practice isn't in line with Jesus' love. Doesn't happen much, but does happen.
I believe I was led by God to become Catholic. I identify as gay and Catholic. Tbh, I'm not sure why the Holy Spirit has led me to this place, but I'm confident that this is who I am. Not sure what happens next, either, because I don't see an obvious slot for me to fit into.
I do know that, amongst secular Catholics, Catholicism is not synonymous with conservativism. The entire Catholic community seems a little more diverse than the catechetical party line. I value that tension.

LOTR is not my strong suit (the only Tolkien media I have ever consumed was the Hobbit movie from 2012), so if I show my lack of lore knowledge I apologize in advance. I also haven't played the story expansions as of the time of writing.
I bought this game on sale for eight dollars because I liked Shadow of Mordor (though I had not played that game in years when I bought this). I knew it had a pretty mixed reception but compared to the original price ($50) 8 bucks is nothing. I mention the sale because this game is very good for $8 but absolutely not worth $50. The amount of raw effort put in by the developers may warrant the price in the abstract but that effort adds up to bad controls, janky combat, and a grossly inflated game. Out of all the triple-A games I have played I like this one the least.
I will start with the good. I like the voice acting and the writing of the lines (though I think the story in general is not well-executed). The deliveries and lines of the Men and the elves have this loftiness to them that fits the setting. The orcs sound appropriately brutish and their lines talking about eating humans and arbitrary murder reflect their inhumanity and primitivity.
The "day-to-day" gameplay (traversing the map and combat) is not bad in concept. Parkour and fast movement are nice but as someone who has played more Hitman than Assassin's Creed the implementation of stealth is lacking given how much it comes up in story quests and captain stuff. By the mid-game I found that I barely needed to be actually stealthy; I could run up to someone holding the sneak button and stealth kill them even if I had been detected during the jog over to the enemy (this was actually a thing I remember from Shadow of Mordor so it is unfortunate that nothing much changed). Fighting is not all that complicated but there are flashy executions and ranged attacks that are satisfying in the moment, though I never used the glaive. The problem is more in the execution of both, particularly the tendency for the player character to magnetize towards completely random things during parkour and combat. Talion is only good at moving up, whenever I tried to go sideways during parkour he moved up instead or jumped to god-knows-where. Several times during combat he stopped attacking a captain so that he could literally glide a building's width away to hit a random grunt. There's a move where if you freeze an enemy you can "flurry attack" them (e.g. mash attack). There were times when he stopped doing this to attack random animals. Several times inputs were simply eaten and nothing happened during both parkour and combat. I have no idea what is going on half of the time because what I am doing does not correspond to what is happening on the screen. The nemesis system is fine as a concept - the idea of making long-term enemies that grow stronger over time, but in execution I found myself making no actual nemeses because if a captain killed me I could usually kill or dominate them the next time I saw them. This is because the game never generates a captain that is significantly stronger than the player so killing them is not a large hurdle. It's really an impossible situation because if they were stronger then the player would never fight them, but as they are now it doesn't make for an actual "nemesis" system and is really just a way to procedurally generate boss fights.
There did not need to be five maps. Not enough happens in the game to justify having five maps. Not enough happens in the maps themselves to justify having five. There is a single questline that spans multiple maps that arguably needed to span multiple maps involving a Balrog, and this is only because it comes from a fire level and dies in an ice level. Otherwise, the only reason to have five maps is that the game's central multiplayer and story content revolves around capturing and defending fortresses. I never bothered with any online content so I will just write about fortresses in single-player. Fortress capturing is fine once in a while. You fight a bunch of orcs and orc captains at once and then do a one-on-one fight at the end. The captains are nothing special; they're the same as any other captain you find on the map and there is no special gimmick to any of the fortress captures. I do think that if the fortress captures had some sort of level gimmick to them (e.g., the fire level has a bunch of fire mines or something) it could have justified having five maps, though that is a very big "could". Capturing fortresses is not fun enough for me to want to do it five times and the story's explanation for why you want to do this (raising a big army to fight Sauron) is not presented in a motivating manner. Defense is defending your fort along a bunch of friendly captains against waves of orcs and enemy captains. Again there is no special level gimmick and every orc is one you could find by running around the map. There is especially no reason to do what the final chapter does and make you have to do five consecutive siege defenses with no other story content. The justification for this is that you have to keep Mordor at war so that a future generation of heroes (i.e., Frodo and his crew) can defeat Sauron but this is mentioned so little that I nearly forgot what I was fighting for. Maybe the developers were making a profound statement.
I'll put a warning for spoilers here because this is about plot stuff but I will also tag things.
The game has some fairly severe ludonarrative dissonance (i.e. the plot does not match the gameplay and vice versa). The plot mainly focuses on how Celebrimbor's cynicism, contempt for "bad" decision-making, and militaristic empire-building attitude conflict with Talion's focus on protecting the freedom of Men, as well as Celebrimbor's ring potentially being as morally corrupting as Sauron's. The notion that Celebrimbor's goals are opposed to human nature crops up often in dialogue and is supposed to be the main interpersonal tension driver. The issue I find is that Talion's pushback against Celebrimbor is weak and at the end of the day you have to do both the empire-building quests i.e., conquer forts, mind-control orcs, etc. and the quests where the morality of Celembrimbor's goals are questioned. The feeling I got from the story was that what I was doing was questionable at best but there was no reason not to do it. At the near-end of the game Talion has a "eureka" moment where he realizes "hey, Celebrimbor is just Sauron but blue", but it's a bit blindsiding considering he just went along with Celebrimbor's plans without much of a fight, and he can't really claim deception when half of the elf ghost's dialogue is "every sentient being is merely an asset/pawn to us" and "Men can't make good decisions". I think the writers were going for a "necessary evil" type thing where the empire-building was key to defeating Sauron and Talion's goal was to jump ship right after but it's really not fleshed out. There needed to be more disagreement and more justification if they wanted to tell a whole "power is dangerous, light or dark" story with all the nuances.
The end chapter is a simpler example of such dissonance: Talion is more or less forced by circumstance to wear an actual Sauron-made Ring and as all Rings go it makes him weaker over time until he becomes a Nazgul. I didn't actually become weaker in any measurable game statistic and the game did not get any harder (i.e. Orcs and captains remained on par with my own level. It was about as difficult as the previous 40 hours
The way the story is organized is not great. There are a bunch of mostly-independent questlines that hold little relevance to each other. Two questlines merge at the end but otherwise, they don't "interact" mechanically or conceptually; Talion never mentions how he intends to do the fort capturing stuff in the quests where he rescues human captives, for example, although he does talk about remaining in Mordor. I think that much of the dissonance could have been worked around if the questlines held some relevance to each other i.e., Talion tells the human commanders that he is assembling an Orc army and there is some kind of reaction.
I would in general say that the combat is okay, the movement is okay, the story is poorly executed, and the game is too big. They were better off making a smaller game and honing plot/quest stuff at the absolute minimum and ideally cleaning up the jank. Don't buy at full price.

Those that followed the draft know how much the Bears value speed and the ability to move from offensive lineman. It's why Teven Jenkins has dropped so much weight and it was mentioned that Darnell Wright will be playing closer to 320 than 339. Outside zone requires the OL to stretch the field horizontally and requires specific players to pull it off.
Likewise beating these outside zone runs requires a specific skill set and is a big reason we drafted Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens. Instead of having 2 huge DT like we had with Washington and Trayor our DTs need to be able to run sideline to sideline and penetrate upfield from either spot.
Here are 2 videos that show how zone blocking works: https://youtu.be/RL8kn63AnuE https://youtu.be/7x8jsDxn1pI

• Outside zone runs away from one DE, but the two DT are involved in each run play.
• The offensive line does not want to give up penetration and wants free blockers to move to the 2nd level quickly. Often times the free blocker will help double team a DT before moving up field. *To beat outside zone DT need to be fast to beat OL to their spot, they need to penetrate up field, or at least hold a double team to keep the free OL from climbing to the 2nd level.

Just as someone like Broderick Jones is a prototypical fit for an outside zone OT, Gervon Dexter is a prototypical fit as DT to beat outside zone running schemes where the DL is stretched horizontally.
He has the speed to move down the line, can penetrate upfield, and can't easily be blocked 1 on 1 which will prevent free OL from moving to the 2nd level.
Zacch Pickens is also a prototypical DT to stop the outside zone. He is better at penetrating and not as good at holding double teams but he has the athleticism to run down the line.
While I don't expect to see much from Dexter or Pickens the first couple of years, I'm glad to see how this defense is being built. Outside zone + playaction, rpo's, and mobile QBs are the hardest problems for defenses to solve today. And athletic DT play a huge role in not only disrupting these plays, but also being able to plug all the run fits without having to rely on safety help.

hi! i am still learning where i fit into this community and so this is all new to me. i appreciate the patience and understanding while i figure this all out!
i would love to find some agre friends - 21+ ONLY please ! my agre interests/aspects are entirely SFW, but i still prefer to not chat with minors, so sorry
🌷 the basics . . .: im over 21, my smaller age i still have no idea yet. i don't feel like a baby or even a toddler, if i had to put my comfort level i would say mentally 10 or around that. so i personally don't "do" pacis and that stuff but it does not bother me if you do! i will say i am 420 friendly as it helps relieve my anxiety.
🌷 i love to dress up in various styles (from kawaii to goth to mature, im all over the place) but mostly my style can be described as cute and pink. i love older animes, cosplaying, gaming, and drawing. i think im pretty decent at it! x3 i also enjoy casual cutesy games and stream and stuff too. i dont use much social media these days.
🌷 i'd really like someday to have a little/agre friend to hang out with , have playdates , and just enjoy life together. my ideal playdate activities would be (SOMEDAY someday, it right off the bat!!!) video chatting while getting to watch a show together, or doing another activity like playing a game, drawing/coloring, playing dress up, or something else! id love for someone close by to actually physically be able to go out with but im sure that's only a dream 🥹
sorry if this sounds cringe of me, i guess i just feel "lonely" when it comes to this side of myself
🌷 i have an amazing circle of friends and they all accept me for who i am, my childishness and all, but i really long for being able to have a friend in this type of community.... I don't believe in forcing friendships so, I guess if it happens, it happens right! but I figure it's worth a shot ^{ω^}
im kinda boring, i keep to myself but i do enjoy many tame interests, but if you think you'd like to try getting to know eachother to see if we might be able to become friends i would be willing to give it a shot if you are!
might delete this in a bit , i get embarrassed by myself often but anyways thank you for reading and have a wonderful day. we can start by chatting on Reddit at first and if we "click" discord or LINE would be my preferred chat methods ^{.^}

EDIT: filler picture so Reddit doesn't show my FUCKING CRYING FACE AS A THUMBNAIL LOL
Oh well, here we go again.
You know something has rattled your soul to the core when you suddenly feel an urge to go make a bazillion character post on Reddit. I've been to more than a dozen BM shows at this point, but only once have I felt the urge to post something like this before. Today, my dear kitsune-tachi, is the second time.
The dust after Bangkok show has settled, I'm completely emotionally drained, and overcharged at the same time. This was hands down one of the very best BM concerts I've attended. To be completely honest this is easily top 3 right after LMG and Helsinki (ok this one's odd so I'll quickly explain: this was the show where I was center barrier in a tiniest of venues with a stage so low and so close to the barrier, it seemed that the band was playing just for me in my living room, and I didn't even notice the dead crowd until I heard other hardcore fans in the pit ranting about it right after the show). Actually, not even "right after", but "alongside". It felt so good.
The circumstances of me getting to the show are batshit insane so I'll definitely give you that context. I've been monitoring flight prices for Bangkok for 2-3 months before, and they have always fluctuated around 1k USD for a roundtrip from Moscow (where I live). So on may 25th, at 11:00 pm in the evening, just for the sake of it I decide to check how much would it cost to fly to Bangkok the very next day. And I see a roundtrip flight through Manama, Bahrain, departing from DME on the 26th at 16:10, at 550$. The lowest price I've seen in many months. I frantically check the availability of show tickets. They are all available including VIP!! Well... Then there was a night of booking various things and packing my shit, and then an absolutely insane morning at work where I had to sort everything out in 3 hours to ensure my unavailability until Tuesday morning wouldn't negatively impact the company in any way until I had to leave for the airport at like ~12 pm.
I'm so glad I followed that urge to JUST GO. I wouldn't have even beat myself over it if I didn't, but it's really funny to think that there is another Polifem in a parallel universe somewhere who decided to go to bed instead of checking ticket prices, having absolutely no clue that he could've got an insane charge of positive energy for many months to come... And could've been sitting after the show with a bunch of Thai fans with a beer in hand, speaking no common language but vibing in the exact same emotional register with them. AND I'M SO HAPPY I'M NOT HIM!
So, how was the show itself?
Well. Funny how some things are totally different in an actual live environment compared to recordings, both pro-shot, and fancams. For example, we meme about Distortion constantly (including myself), but there's nothing more fun than shouting Alissa's lines and Wowowow's during C&R on top of your lungs at a concert. You can meme all you want about "worst setlist" if it has Distortion in it, but it's actually this song that will get your voice completely fucked at a show. Or gimme chocolate. Yeah, it's old, and hardcore fans are sick and tired of it, however, have you tried to jump as high as you can during the chorus following the exact rhythm of a snare drum? Try that at home, you're gonna be surprised. You'll instinctively be doing it live, and it's hella fun. Also it's great that the full instrumental mute is back in RoR for the smaller shows. The fact that it wasn't there in the 2019-2020 US/EU tour was really disappointing, this has always been a moment of great unification between the fans and the band, good thing that they now do it not only in Japan.
The whole setlist was an absolute fire, which was the general consensus right after Jakarta show, so I kinda knew what I was getting when booking tickets (I STILL can't believe how fucking crazy is that. I actually watched the fancam of the entire Jakarta show at home having absolutely no idea I'll actually be at the very next show in 3 days in person LOL 😂), but some things I already mentioned above, and some things about to be mentioned, still surprised me. Here are some highlights:
1) I really loved that both the opening and ending songs were BMD and IDZ respectively, since they hold a very special place in my heart. I've always wanted to hear BMD live ever since that first barrage of sound on the Wembley blu-ray, which completely and irreversibly punched me into the fox hole, and it really did rattle my bones live like hell. IDZ is simply my favourite song by BM and having it close the show was something truly inspiring.
2) I also considered GREAT the lack of stupid lore at the end. Having girls themselves say goodbye felt a lot more human and the show itself felt a lot more complete. All they did is said a couple of kind words, thanked for coming, asked how was the show, bowed, and left after saying goodbye in thai. But the impact of that felt really different from the usual lore shenanigans, and it was a lot more fulfilling.
3) Fucking Anthony Barone, why are you so good? Honestly his drumming brings so much energy and brutal vibe to the show, you cannot even properly deal with it. There was a fill, I think in iine of all things, which made my mind completely shut down and go "WHHAAAAT?!" He's the GOAT and his style suits this band immensely.
4) New costumes fit the girls really nicely and look gorgeous live. Lighting had a great production as well which enhanced that feeling. I actually think that the high quality video will be able to convey the full awesomeness of their costumes, so when the BD of the Clear Night gets released, everyone will have a chance to properly look at them.
5) They considerably upped their game with the video footage. I thought to myself that the screen is finally helping the experience instead of tampering with the flow of the show. Kami did get lost again, but the ladies looked amazing with the footage behind them, especially in MAYA, IDZ (the thumbs up moment in front of the starry sky was really amazing), and PA PA YA with fire and shit.
6) Speaking of... Well, I cannot just say nothing about PA PA YA here, can I? It's the biggest elephant in the room in this show after all. One big, charismatic, rapping Thai elephant in a magnificent red coat with a towel in his hand. AND IT WAS HEAT!!! Well first of all, the amount of towels in the first few rows (I was center in the 3rd row) was as many as you could've hoped for. Second of all, F.Hero was unbelievably lively and charismatic. He drowned the entire hall with his energy! Girls were having the time of their lives as well, they seemed very relaxed, it was obvious they didn't really rehearse his feat and improvised on the go, and that actually made the whole thing really special. Honestly, I recommend you go watch some fancams of his cameo, you'll get it.
7) The high kick in BxMxC instead of the usual ponytail headbang by Su really deserves its own honorable mention. When she just brutally kicked the air almost higher than her own height, it was obvious that no, they didn't actually get tired on the long tour with Sabaton. You don't do shit like this when you're off your game.
8) There were a couple of technical hiccups during the encore, particularly with Su. They had her backtrack stand out too much during one moment in MK (not nearly on the level of Kagerou in Moscow, but it was still visible), and also forgot to switch her mic on in the opening notes of IDZ so the first "rururu"s weren't there at all, which is a shame, she always sings those so softly, you really feel the moment. But oh well, it's a live show, shit happens. The sound overall was REALLY good though in this venue, even though Su was drowned out at times. And I say it while I stood at the front, I imagine it was even better near the sound desk.
However, all this time I was tiptoeing around the biggest highlight of the show for me. The thing that actually made Bangkok a cathartic experience. FUCKING MONOCHROME HOLY SHIT. It's a godlike, transcendental experience. Su sings it with such a passion, the song itself has such a good structure, beautiful melody, gorgeous passionate choreography, it's one of the very best things this band has ever released. A true classic. And live... It's just on another plane of existence. Unity, tranquility, some kind of emotional rebirth, you feel it all. Here's my face right after it finished. I just cried the entire song starting from the first chorus. I've only ever had a cathartic experience of this magnitude once in my life: during the intro to IDZ at LMG-2. And this feeling and memory of hearing Monochrome live for the first time will also be locked firmly in my mind until I die. This is simply inevitable.
Honestly everything just CLICKED for this show. The spontaneity with which I went to the show; availability of VIP tickets which allowed me to be at the front; great venue with amazing sound; absolute FIRE of a setlist, the best in years; unique performance of PA PA YA!!; energy of the crowd (at least where I was); and the band itself which is no doubt on top of their game right now. But what made it click isn't really the combination of all these points, but rather the single and indivisible pile of positive energy they helped to shape inside my soul during this amazing weekend.
I'm now sitting in Bahrain on my layover before flying back home. I feel surprisingly calm and focused. I don't feel like I really need more, and I'm not sad everything is over so quickly. Not at all. I'm just fully charged and feel completely rested and at peace. I want to go back to work, work hard, be better version of myself. And then, hopefully in half a year, I'll see them again. Fingers crossed.
NOTHING I have experienced in this life has EVER affected me emotionally stronger than a BABYMETAL show. I don't know why. Everything inside me just turns upside down, I gasp for air, I want to live, breathe, and experience, sparing no expense whatsoever. We truly live in a greatest of timelines. One in which BABYMETAL, having started as, let's be honest here, a quirky experiment and somewhat of a joke (albeit a really smart one) just stubbornly refuses to fall into obscurity and oblivion, and continues to improve for TWELVE YEARS ALREADY, while having 3 out of 4 founding members still going strong (obviously I include Koba in this equation). And the addition of Momoko as a full member will do wonders for them, I'm absolutely sure of it.
I really wish for everyone to have something in their lives with the same level of emotional engagement as we do with BABYMETAL. The world might become a better place. Otherwise, why would you even wanna live?