#and knowing the secret code to release all the items

[snackugaki]

y tho

[madraynesims]

The Sims 2 PSP Cut Content: Part 1

I had been looking for the best way to implement this info on the Sims Wiki (but these are cut Sims, so there's not really a place for them? Or maybe someone else can do it). I've also been working on some videos talking about them. (I love watching these types of videos and prefer that visual format) but at this rate who knows when I'll finish it. So here we go! If you love Strangetown and crave any ounce of lore that you can get like me, here's a few townies. They even have their own secrets! Please read p6tgel's post to get all the info about the cut character TA7, everything I know about him is over there, so I don't have anything to add here. All I'm going to say is... I remember wanting to find out so badly who Mister Smith's friend was after playing The Sims 2 PSP for the first time. I'm so glad they actually did add more to the story. Learning more about the alien society and getting another title (like Pollination Technicians) just makes me want a Sixam neighborhood even more lol go read about it!!

Missing Kine Society Cult Members

Tunak Tun

Tunak is the only cut character that I could find photo evidence of in an old screenshot. He is a cut Kine Leader (like Sara Starr), as seen in his brown robe talking to Bull Dratch. The schedule file for the Kine Dairy indicates that Tunak would have spawned only during the day.

Unfortunately, it's a view of his back, but his character file confirms this appearance. (just want to say... the details on the Kine robes are actually beautiful. The crunched down quality we got in the final release makes them look like rags) Gender: 0 = female, 1 = male. The eye color is only specified if they're not the default brown. (I'll be using the Sims 2 PC to recreate them, as it shares a lot of assets with the PSP version)

Tunak Tun's Details

Bio: "A member of the Kine Society." social = 7, intimidation = 1, personality = 1, His social and intimidation scores are on the lower end for Deadtree locals, so social games aren't as difficult. He has the Air personality type. His topic sets (interests) are cow, cow milk, cow bell, cow beast, full moon, and crystal ball. A visual of these:

Tunak Tun's Secrets

 (Personal): "Has been known to sneak in a burger or two on the sly."

 (Intimate): "Likes to wear loose robes for that 'fresh and ventilated' feeling."

 (Dark): "He actually just made up his other two Secrets. He's a pathological liar."

According to the game code, Tunak Tun would also count towards the goal to "Earn the Trust of a Kine Leader [Relationship 4]", just like Sara Starr and Sinjin Balani.

Zen Mu

Zen Mu is regular Kine Society member that wears a white robe. The schedule file for the Kine Dairy indicates that Zen would have spawned only during the night.

I went through every face template available in the Sims 2 PSP CAS and I can't find Zen Mu's (might be hidden like some hairs/clothes are) and I don't see the stubble hair in the PC version.

Zen Mu's Details

Bio: "A member of the Kine Society." social = 7, intimidation = 1, personality = 2, Their social and intimidation scores are on the lower end for Deadtree locals, so social games aren't as difficult. They have the Water personality type. Their topic sets (interests) are cow, cow milk, cow bell, and cow beast. A visual of these:

Zen Mu's Secrets

 (Personal): "Severe lactose intolerance has made her unpopular in the Kine Society."

 (Intimate): "She is deathly afraid of cows, but don't let the cows find out … they thrive on fear."

 (Dark): "When she meditates, her power animal is a horse … the highest form of Kine blasphemy."

Interestingly, Zen Mu's gender and character model is male, but all 3 of Zen's secrets uses she/her pronouns. Small fun fact - Personal Kine robe for the player: It looks like we would have received our own kine robe at one point, probably after passing inspection, according to the item list file (item 72). Now, we can just go to a wardrobe and buy a robe ourselves.

Extra fun fact that I randomly like to talk about on my twitch streams, but I don't remember if I've said it over here? These two award winning cows were actually given names by the devs in the Kine Dairy level spawning file. Bessie and Gertie! <3

[theminecraftbee]

so, first, accountability statement: I plan on trying to finish the “zedaph steals a baby” fic by the end of the month and god is that one-line summary no longer accurate but we’re sticking to it, said here publicly so now I have to do it. obviously I also have recursive exchange and the writing I have for hotguy comics zine, but I am not SUPER worried about either of those time/inspiration-wise at the moment and also for Reasons I know it won’t be long until I have more free writing time after that, SO.

various items that are on my potential writing docket, I am curious which of these appeal most:

I dust off the supervillain support group au. two ways this could go: I chip away at the second arc of my original outline and acknowledge this will be like a 300k fic I’m not ready to feel “done” with or “ready to post” with for ages, or I re-work it into something a little more doable and less ambitious keeping the same premise (ren runs a support group for supervillains, doc pov as he starts to heal and redeem himself). this MAY honestly be a target for “if I don’t hate the first 50k on re-reading it and I can actually make my brain write the second arc, do a slower release schedule and then start releasing chapters before I’m done writing”? but this ALSO runs the risk of “I stopped writing it, which is often a sign I was having trouble writing it”.

pearl monster au, which has been cooking in my head for a long while. the basic premise is “one day, pearl, with no memory of how or why this happened, wakes up in a facility as a monster and must try to figure out how she got there, escape, and find her way home, even knowing she may be irrevocably changed”. now with bonus season 10 fish flavor to add to this creature design I’ve been iterating on in my head for forever! this one is ALSO an experiment for me in “can I write a fic where I can’t write dialogue for basically the entire first act”, which would be interesting to see from me, you know?

the related “bigb folklore au”, where after secret life bigb is woken up by Cat and Dog by the tracks of the King Snake, which bigb can recognize as the railroad track, and decides to journey down the railroad to see if he can figure out what the fuck is going on. I need to do video review of life series bigb for this one. this is my excuse to get Weird and Metaphorical and also assign everyone to various animals for no reason, along with using some very specific aesthetic I have wanted to use for some worldbuilding but hadn’t gotten around to yet in any of my stuff. man walks through the desert with animal, confronts train that might be the watchers, might be death, and might just be a train. also, realizes that “confront” is the operative word there and has to deal with that. you know how it is.

““office au””, in air quotes because it’s not REALLY what anyone going to an office au is looking for so much as an excuse to write weird horror. iskall, normal-ish software developer man in a boring office job who does game jams in his free time, goes to work one day to work in his boring downtown office on a payment system for a client. and then things, uh, Take A Turn. this would be a LITTLE me going “what if I wrote an au with a guy who works in tech but like, the boring side of tech I’m in. like, banks and consulting and manufacturing and shit. where you sit in meetings all day and tweak java 8 code even though that language is ten years out of date. but THEN. something exciting happens in the worst way possible.” I’m doing to iskall what I did to mumbo stuffed bird is what I’m saying. it’d be fun.

DO ANY OF THESE PARTICULARLY INTEREST ANYONE. your input will be valued. like 50% chance i get hit with a strong bolt of inspiration then IGNORE that input but it’ll be valued all the same,

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Algorithmic feeds are a twiddler’s playground

Next TUESDAY (May 14), I'm on a livecast about AI AND ENSHITTIFICATION with TIM O'REILLY; on WEDNESDAY (May 15), I'm in NORTH HOLLYWOOD with HARRY SHEARER for a screening of STEPHANIE KELTON'S FINDING THE MONEY; FRIDAY (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

Like Oscar Wilde, "I can resist anything except temptation," and my slow and halting journey to adulthood is really just me grappling with this fact, getting temptation out of my way before I can yield to it.

Behavioral economists have a name for the steps we take to guard against temptation: a "Ulysses pact." That's when you take some possibility off the table during a moment of strength in recognition of some coming moment of weakness:

https://archive.org/details/decentralizedwebsummit2016-corydoctorow

Famously, Ulysses did this before he sailed into the Sea of Sirens. Rather than stopping his ears with wax to prevent his hearing the sirens' song, which would lure him to his drowning, Ulysses has his sailors tie him to the mast, leaving his ears unplugged. Ulysses became the first person to hear the sirens' song and live to tell the tale.

Ulysses was strong enough to know that he would someday be weak. He expressed his strength by guarding against his weakness. Our modern lives are filled with less epic versions of the Ulysses pact: the day you go on a diet, it's a good idea to throw away all your Oreos. That way, when your blood sugar sings its siren song at 2AM, it will be drowned out by the rest of your body's unwillingness to get dressed, find your keys and drive half an hour to the all-night grocery store.

Note that this Ulysses pact isn't perfect. You might drive to the grocery store. It's rare that a Ulysses pact is unbreakable – we bind ourselves to the mast, but we don't chain ourselves to it and slap on a pair of handcuffs for good measure.

People who run institutions can – and should – create Ulysses pacts, too. A company that holds the kind of sensitive data that might be subjected to "sneak-and-peek" warrants by cops or spies can set up a "warrant canary":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_canary

This isn't perfect. A company that stops publishing regular transparency reports might have been compromised by the NSA, but it's also possible that they've had a change in management and the new boss just doesn't give a shit about his users' privacy:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90853794/twitters-transparency-reporting-has-tanked-under-elon-musk

Likewise, a company making software it wants users to trust can release that code under an irrevocable free/open software license, thus guaranteeing that each release under that license will be free and open forever. This is good, but not perfect: the new boss can take that free/open code down a proprietary fork and try to orphan the free version:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39772562

A company can structure itself as a public benefit corporation and make a binding promise to elevate its stakeholders' interests over its shareholders' – but the CEO can still take a secret $100m bribe from cryptocurrency creeps and try to lure those stakeholders into a shitcoin Ponzi scheme:

https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/03/11/kickstarter-blockchain-a16z-crypto-secret-investment-chris-dixon/

A key resource can be entrusted to a nonprofit with a board of directors who are charged with stewarding it for the benefit of a broad community, but when a private equity fund dangles billions before that board, they can talk themselves into a belief that selling out is the right thing to do:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/how-we-saved-org-2020-review

Ulysses pacts aren't perfect, but they are very important. At the very least, creating a Ulysses pact starts with acknowledging that you are fallible. That you can be tempted, and rationalize your way into taking bad action, even when you know better. Becoming an adult is a process of learning that your strength comes from seeing your weaknesses and protecting yourself and the people who trust you from them.

Which brings me to enshittification. Enshittification is the process by which platforms betray their users and their customers by siphoning value away from each until the platform is a pile of shit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

Enshittification is a spectrum that can be applied to many companies' decay, but in its purest form, enshittification requires:

a) A platform: a two-sided market with business customers and end users who can be played off against each other; b) A digital back-end: a market that can be easily, rapidly and undetectably manipulated by its owners, who can alter search-rankings, prices and costs on a per-user, per-query basis; and c) A lack of constraint: the platform's owners must not fear a consequence for this cheating, be it from competitors, regulators, workforce resignations or rival technologists who use mods, alternative clients, blockers or other "adversarial interoperability" tools to disenshittify your product and sever your relationship with your users.

he founders of tech platforms don't generally set out to enshittify them. Rather, they are constantly seeking some equilibrium between delivering value to their shareholders and turning value over to end users, business customers, and their own workers. Founders are consummate rationalizers; like parenting, founding a company requires continuous, low-grade self-deception about the amount of work involved and the chances of success. A founder, confronted with the likelihood of failure, is absolutely capable of talking themselves into believing that nearly any compromise is superior to shuttering the business: "I'm one of the good guys, so the most important thing is for me to live to fight another day. Thus I can do any number of immoral things to my users, business customers or workers, because I can make it up to them when we survive this crisis. It's for their own good, even if they don't know it. Indeed, I'm doubly moral here, because I'm volunteering to look like the bad guy, just so I can save this business, which will make the world over for the better":

https://locusmag.com/2024/05/cory-doctorow-no-one-is-the-enshittifier-of-their-own-story/

(En)shit(tification) flows downhill, so tech workers grapple with their own version of this dilemma. Faced with constant pressure to increase the value flowing from their division to the company, they have to balance different, conflicting tactics, like "increasing the number of users or business customers, possibly by shifting value from the company to these stakeholders in the hopes of making it up in volume"; or "locking in my existing stakeholders and squeezing them harder, safe in the knowledge that they can't easily leave the service provided the abuse is subtle enough." The bigger a company gets, the harder it is for it to grow, so the biggest companies realize their gains by locking in and squeezing their users, not by improving their service::

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/

That's where "twiddling" comes in. Digital platforms are extremely flexible, which comes with the territory: computers are the most flexible tools we have. This means that companies can automate high-speed, deceptive changes to the "business logic" of their platforms – what end users pay, how much of that goes to business customers, and how offers are presented to both:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

This kind of fraud isn't particularly sophisticated, but it doesn't have to be – it just has to be fast. In any shell-game, the quickness of the hand deceives the eye:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/glitchbread/#electronic-shelf-tags

Under normal circumstances, this twiddling would be constrained by counterforces in society. Changing the business rules like this is fraud, so you'd hope that a regulator would step in and extinguish the conduct, fining the company that engaged in it so hard that they saw a net loss from the conduct. But when a sector gets very concentrated, its mega-firms capture their regulators, becoming "too big to jail":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/

Thus the tendency among the giant tech companies to practice the one lesson of the Darth Vader MBA: dismissing your stakeholders' outrage by saying, "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure

Where regulators fail, technology can step in. The flexibility of digital platforms cuts both ways: when the company enshittifies its products, you can disenshittify it with your own countertwiddling: third-party ink-cartridges, alternative app stores and clients, scrapers, browser automation and other forms of high-tech guerrilla warfare:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

But tech giants' regulatory capture have allowed them to expand "IP rights" to prevent this self-help. By carefully layering overlapping IP rights around their products, they can criminalize the technology that lets you wrestle back the value they've claimed for themselves, creating a new offense of "felony contempt of business model":

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

A world where users must defer to platforms' moment-to-moment decisions about how the service operates, without the protection of rival technology or regulatory oversight is a world where companies face a powerful temptation to enshittify.

That's why we've seen so much enshittification in platforms that algorithmically rank their feeds, from Google and Amazon search to Facebook and Twitter feeds. A search engine is always going to be making a judgment call about what the best result for your search should be. If a search engine is generally good at predicting which results will please you best, you'll return to it, automatically clicking the first result ("I'm feeling lucky").

This means that if a search engine slips in the odd paid result at the top of the results, they can exploit your trusting habits to shift value from you to their investors. The congifurability of a digital service means that they can sprinkle these frauds into their services on a random schedule, making them hard to detect and easy to dismiss as lapses. Gradually, this acquires its own momentum, and the platform becomes addicted to lowering its own quality to raise its profits, and you get modern Google, which cynically lowered search quality to increase search volume:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

And you get Amazon, which makes $38 billion every year, accepting bribes to replace its best search results with paid results for products that cost more and are of lower quality:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

Social media's enshittification followed a different path. In the beginning, social media presented a deterministic feed: after you told the platform who you wanted to follow, the platform simply gathered up the posts those users made and presented them to you, in reverse-chronological order.

This presented few opportunities for enshittification, but it wasn't perfect. For users who were well-established on a platform, a reverse-chrono feed was an ungovernable torrent, where high-frequency trivialities drowned out the important posts from people whose missives were buried ten screens down in the updates since your last login.

For new users who didn't yet follow many people, this presented the opposite problem: an empty feed, and the sense that you were all alone while everyone else was having a rollicking conversation down the hall, in a room you could never find.

The answer was the algorithmic feed: a feed of recommendations drawn from both the accounts you followed and strangers alike. Theoretically, this could solve both problems, by surfacing the most important materials from your friends while keeping you abreast of the most important and interesting activity beyond your filter bubble. For many of us, this promise was realized, and algorithmic feeds became a source of novelty and relevance.

But these feeds are a profoundly tempting enshittification target. The critique of these algorithms has largely focused on "addictiveness" and the idea that platforms would twiddle the knobs to increase the relevance of material in your feed to "hack your engagement":

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/04/has-dopamine-got-us-hooked-on-tech-facebook-apps-addiction

Less noticed – and more important – was how platforms did the opposite: twiddling the knobs to remove things from your feed that you'd asked to see or that the algorithm predicted you'd enjoy, to make room for "boosted" content and advertisements:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagram/comments/z9j7uy/what_happened_to_instagram_only_ads_and_accounts/

Users were helpless before this kind of twiddling. On the one hand, they were locked into the platform – not because their dopamine had been hacked by evil tech-bro wizards – but because they loved the friends they had there more than they hated the way the service was run:

https://locusmag.com/2023/01/commentary-cory-doctorow-social-quitting/

On the other hand, the platforms had such an iron grip on their technology, and had deployed IP so cleverly, that any countertwiddling technology was instantaneously incinerated by legal death-rays:

https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/10/google-removes-the-og-app-from-the-play-store-as-founders-think-about-next-steps/

Newer social media platforms, notably Tiktok, dispensed entirely with deterministic feeds, defaulting every user into a feed that consisted entirely of algorithmic picks; the people you follow on these platforms are treated as mere suggestions by their algorithms. This is a perfect breeding-ground for enshittification: different parts of the business can twiddle the knobs to override the algorithm for their own parochial purposes, shifting the quality:shit ratio by unnoticeable increments, temporarily toggling the quality knob when your engagement drops off:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/01/20/tiktoks-secret-heating-button-can-make-anyone-go-viral/

All social platforms want to be Tiktok: nominally, that's because Tiktok's algorithmic feed is so good at hooking new users and keeping established users hooked. But tech bosses also understand that a purely algorithmic feed is the kind of black box that can be plausibly and subtly enshittified without sparking user revolts:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

Back in 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg was coming to grips with Facebook's success, he boasted to a friend that he was sitting on a trove of emails, pictures and Social Security numbers for his fellow Harvard students, offering this up for his friend's idle snooping. The friend, surprised, asked "What? How'd you manage that one?"

Infamously, Zuck replied, "People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me.' Dumb fucks."

https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a19490586/mark-zuckerberg-called-people-who-handed-over-their-data-dumb-f/

This was a remarkable (and uncharacteristic) self-aware moment from the then-nineteen-year-old Zuck. Of course Zuck couldn't be trusted with that data. Whatever Jiminy Cricket voice told him to safeguard that trust was drowned out by his need to boast to pals, or participate in the creepy nonconsensual rating of the fuckability of their female classmates. Over and over again, Zuckerberg would promise to use his power wisely, then break that promise as soon as he could do so without consequence:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3247362

Zuckerberg is a cautionary tale. Aware from the earliest moments that he was amassing power that he couldn't be trusted with, he nevertheless operated with only the weakest of Ulysses pacts, like a nonbinding promise never to spy on his users:

https://web.archive.org/web/20050107221705/http://www.thefacebook.com/policy.php

But the platforms have learned the wrong lesson from Zuckerberg. Rather than treating Facebook's enshittification as a cautionary tale, they've turned it into a roadmap. The Darth Vader MBA rules high-tech boardrooms.

Algorithmic feeds and other forms of "paternalistic" content presentation are necessary and even desirable in an information-rich environment. In many instances, decisions about what you see must be largely controlled by a third party whom you trust. The audience in a comedy club doesn't get to insist on knowing the punchline before the joke is told, just as RPG players don't get to order the Dungeon Master to present their preferred challenges during a campaign.

But this power is balanced against the ease of the players replacing the Dungeon Master or the audience walking out on the comic. When you've got more than a hundred dollars sunk into a video game and an online-only friend-group you raid with, the games company can do a lot of enshittification without losing your business, and they know it:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/10/24153809/ea-in-game-ads-redux

Even if they sometimes overreach and have to retreat:

https://www.eurogamer.net/sony-overturns-helldivers-2-psn-requirement-following-backlash

A tech company that seeks your trust for an algorithmic feed needs Ulysses pacts, or it will inevitably yield to the temptation to enshittify. From strongest to weakest, these are:

Not showing you an algorithmic feed at all;

https://joinmastodon.org/

"Composable moderation" that lets multiple parties provide feeds:

https://bsky.social/about/blog/4-13-2023-moderation

Offering an algorithmic "For You" feed alongside of a reverse-chrono "Friends" feed, defaulting to friends;

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

As above, but defaulting to "For You"

Maturity lies in being strong enough to know your weaknesses. Never trust someone who tells you that they will never yield to temptation! Instead, seek out people – and service providers – with the maturity and honesty to know how tempting temptation is, and who act before temptation strikes to make it easier to resist.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/11/for-you/#the-algorithm-tm

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

djhughman https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modular_synthesizer_-_%22Control_Voltage%22_electronic_music_shop_in_Portland_OR_-_School_Photos_PCC_%282015-05-23_12.43.01_by_djhughman%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[soda-gremlin]

Thea Sisters Book Reviews: Part 1

I will be posting my honest and unfiltered thoughts on each and every one of the Thea Stilton books >:3 (Including the Mouseford books and Special Editions, or at least the ones released in english)

There will be three per part, a part posted every Friday, and this one is Dragon's Code, Mountain of Fire, and Ghost of the Shipwreck :D

Dragon's Code: 6/10, ah yes, the titular first book of the series. Where we first meet the girls, their mentor, and how they got their name. You’re probably wondering why it’s ranked so low. Well, you know how the first episode of a series is always so different from the others, and it's often people’s least favorite? This is because of “growing pains” so to speak. The series was finding its tone, its footing, its characterization, so it's only natural it's gonna be a cut below the others. And also because it was released in the early 2000s, it was kinda stereotypical in its portrayal of Violet.

The book is from Thea’s perspective, and it starts with her meeting the girls. From there, we see the girls’…rough interactions, and then they’re faced with their very first mystery. It starts with a strange mouse, Hans Ratson. Supposedly, another new student. He’s been acting suspiciously ever since Thea and the girls met him. Then the Whale Family, who work at Mouseford, keep saying cryptic things about what happens if you “stick your snout where it doesn’t belong.” Then after random things start going missing, the girls begin to investigate. They find a secret room, with codes, and most importantly, a dragon statue. After solving the puzzle and the mystery of why all those random items disappeared, they find a Viking ship down in a cave! And down there as well, hanging down from his ankle via a length of rope, is Hans Ratson, or more accurately, Bartholomew Sparkle, a journalism teacher, and one of Mouseford’s best graduates, who disguised himself to investigate that very mystery the girls were.

Like I said before, this book isn’t really the best, since the codes felt kind of overly convoluted, and the girls’ personalities are…not the best. The character designs and illustrations are also notably rougher than the others. 

All in all, despite not being the best book in the series, you should still read it. It’s not a bad book at all. And you get to see how it all started.

Mountain of Fire: 6/10, same reason as the first one. The girls head to Australia to Nicky’s ranch, where her sheep have fallen ill. Who is behind it, none other than the ranch’s rival, Mortimer MacCardigan, the usual jealous, petty, money-grubbing villain from the older books. He poisoned the grass that the sheep eat, and now Nicky and the girls have to find a way to heal the sheep before they die.

This book is definitely not bad, first off the villain has a lot of personality, and is quite memorable, if just for how much of a petty bitch he is. Like damn, imagine being a grown ass man beefing with a college kid. I also liked the conflict with Mortimer, his son, and Nicky, I thought it was interesting. How the hell did Mortimer have a kid?? Who knows. The conflict just didn’t catch my eye as much as the other ones, but that's not an inherent issue with the book. The representation was a little…iffy, I have to say, but I’m not that qualified to talk about that, so I’m just gonna leave it at that. Also, this book is from 2006, so that should explain a few things.

I would still read it though, don’t let my neutrality on this book sway you. It’s still pretty decent, at least compared to the shit they publish now. COUGH COUGH IRRELEWOOD HOAX COUGH COUGH.

Ghost of the Shipwreck:

-Part 1: 

7/10, a short but fun read! We follow the Thea Sisters as they prepare for the hatching of sea turtle eggs, but Professor van Kraken mysteriously disappears. Once they get into his lab, they hear that he’s been sending a Morse code. After rescuing him from Windy Grotto, they find out that there are treasure looters on the loose after the sunken treasure nearby. After getting van Kraken back on the surface and almost crashing the submarine, the girls are attacked by strangers in black diving suits, likely the ones looking for the treasure. And just when they think they’re saved, it turns out that the new ferryman Captain Coral is their boss! They get captured, but with the efforts of van Kraken, they’re rescued and the treasure is recovered. 

Although it only accounts for half of the book’s content, this is a good story. The villain is memorable and is actually competent, the action scenes have that thrill that keeps you interested, and not to mention Violet being an absolute girlfailure, trying to deal with her crush on Professor van Kraken. My only gripe is that it was far too short and that the second part should have been its own book.

-Part 2: 

7/10, also a good read! The girls are invited by Violet’s parents to Beijing to see an opera her father is conducting. When they get there, they meet Xiao, Violet’s childhood friend, and he shows them to their suite (did I mention that Violet’s parents are bougie?) and Violet whisks them all around Beijing. They eventually end up at a market, and they each get a differently colored stone to represent them. They also find a beautiful lacquer box to keep them in, however, as soon as they buy it, someone is already trying to get them to sell it. They refused, and from then on, their trip went off the rails. They find out the lacquer box is the key to a treasure, and that’s why Madame Hu, the pushy woman who tried to buy the box, wanted it so badly. 

I also think this was a fun story! Although, as I said before, this definitely needed to be its own book instead of being shoehorned into one book with a completely different story. The highlight of the book is definitely Madame Hu. With a striking design, intimidating demeanor, and underhanded tactics, she’s one of the best villains to come out of this series. (I might just be biased because she’s hot.) In general, the mystery is interesting, especially Violet’s mysterious, almost prophetic dream that just– never gets explained.

All in all, definitely read this book! Well– Read both stories in this book that is.

[blabbin]

Disco Elysium Fandom Masterpost

Decided to compile all the cool projects fans have made for Disco Elysium! This includes game resources, fan games, and fun collaboration events!

If you want to be notified of any updates, you can click on 'subscribe to conversation' for this post!

If you've got any corrections/updates/suggestions, reach out to let me know! ((Last updated: January 29th, 2023))

Game Information/Archives/Resources

Disco Elysium Wiki (Literally contains most everything you'd want to know about the game, including a ton of image resources)

FAYDE On-Air by Morgue, Pieartsy, and Sphinx111 (Search engine tool to easily find any in-game dialogue)

Disco Reader by xyrilyn + Guide on how to use it (Search engine AND text visualization tool. You can see the full dialogue trees as flowcharts)

Disco Elysium Explorer by Leerion + Github (Inspired by Disco Reader. It works much the same way but it ALSO includes the audio clips for every piece of dialogue!! + the text for every language released so far)

Disco Elysium Checklist compiled by MentalPrinciple0 (Includes all red/white checks, their difficulty level, all possible modifiers, as well as items, tasks, thoughts, and their modifiers)

Complete OST + Ambient Mix compiled by OnlySheStandsHere (Includes everything added for The Final Cut)

High Quality Full Map of Martinaise compiled by For Lack Of A Title

Map of Revachol West vectorized by freezebobs + svg file

Disco Elysium: Country/Cultural Mappings compiled by Limey (List of all the geographical places named in-game, what we know about them, and what some real-world parallels are)

Disco Elysium: A Timeline compiled by six and brenn (A complete timeline of every event mentioned in the game, from the creation of the universe to the events of The Hanged Man case)

Theoretical Entroponetics by 57sfinest (Everything we know about The Pale + OP's own theory)

Fanworks

Fandom Collaboration Projects

((since these are big collaboration projects, I unfortunately can't properly list the credits on this post. Make sure to check out the respective credit pages of the projects!! So many talented peeps!!!))

Disco Elysium Fan Colouring Book (SFW)

Disco Elysium Fan Colouring Book (NSFW) [[18+]]

Social media tag: #EspritDeCouleur

Fire Escape in The Sea Montage-Disco Elysium

Social media tag: #FEITSmontage

Disco Elysium Montage/Cleaning Out The Rooms

Social media tag: #COTRmontage

Disco Elysium Secret Santa 2022

Ao3 Collection

Bonus Round! Prompt List is open for anyone to fill if something grabs your interest!

Social media tag: #DESecretSanta2022

Disco Elysium Rarepair Fanworks Exchange

Ao3 Collection

Prompt List! Open for anyone to fill if something grabs your interest!

((There's no tag, everything is compiled on the twitter account. If you post anything new, make sure to @ the account to be RTed!))

Disco Elysium Tarot, the Major Arcana

Social Media tag: #DiscoTarot

An art challenge to recreate famous paintings into something Disco Elysium themed! Feel free to join in!

Social media tag: #DiscoElysiumArtClassic

Fan Games

After the Mind, the World Again by Pieartsy (TTRPG)

Disco Elysium: Game Boy Edition by BloodyStapler

Disco Dating by Slugandthorn, Capreola, Frankie, and Joe/BerlinChild (Visual Novel)

The Cryptokiller, project lead Arthur Stahlschmidt (Visual Novel) ((Make sure to check the itch.io page for a full list of the team!!))

Mystery Miniaturist by Jasmine "Katy133" Osler (Visual Novel) ((Make sure to check the itch.io page for the full list of credits!!))

WE GOT A CODE 31 by Slugandthorn (Dancing Penguin Kim. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY!!)

Mini Mini Disco by OinkOink!Studio (a collection of mini-games! The links on the main page might be broken, so here they are just in case:

Nod match with Kim

Pretty Jean Jean

Beg Money)

Disco Elysium: Signature Skill Selection by FeigningIntelligence (Take this quiz and find out what your signature skill is!)

Twine Games/Fics

Re-Hearsed by Apepers

Requiem for the Apostle by Alphawave

Sweeter Kind of Fire [[18+]] by Kawa

Disco Elysium: Insomnia [[18+]] by mouseoverlord, Booboboobo, cyaber5, LoveSplean, and Aila

One Day in Jamrock [[18+]] by CeaserAmarelo

Fan Skins

((Want to write a fic/make a game that looks like Disco Elysium? These cool peeps got you covered!))

Disco Days Workskin by abyssalcaptain (Ao3)

Disco Elysium Workskin by Cunticuss (Ao3)

Disco Elysium Twine Macros by Apepers and Pieartsy (Twine)

Disco Elysium Framework for Ren'Py by Katy133 (Ren'Py)

Misc.

Disco Elysium Mods

Disco Elysium Item Card Creator by ColorfulTie (fun lil tool to create your own items with stats in the style of the game)

Disco Elysium fan music by Aila :

Insomnia Vol 1

Rain in Revachol

[mitzirockerextendeduniverse]

[Hi! For... god, years now, I've had this massive Spreadsheet (yes, it requires a capital letter) of retro JRPGs I've wanted to (1) play my way through and (2) blog about. (1) was fairly easy after I stopped trying to play on original hardware, but I found it surprisingly hard to do (2) without it devouring all my free time. So instead of a dedicated blog, I'm just gonna do these short summary posts here whenever I beat a game. There's two in the backlog right now, starting with...]

What it is: The Tower of Druaga (ドルアーガの塔 Druaga no Tō) for Famicom, released on the 6th of August, 1985, developed and published by Namco. Based on the arcade game of the same name from June 1984, also published by Namco and chiefly designed by Masanobu Endō, creator of early scrolling shmup Xevious, it's the first game in - the Spreadsheet as a whole, yes, but also the Babylonian Castle Saga, a collection of (for the most part) vaguely RPG-like action games that tell the story of a prince named Gil, his lover, the priestess Ki, and their quest to restore peace to their loosely-Babylonian fantasy world.

What it's about:

I think the attract screen puts it pretty well! There's some more wrinkles to the backstory, which I mostly got from a strategy guide released at the time - an invading empire, the goddess Ishtar, the precise mechanics behind why, exactly, this is our heroes' last chance to save their kingdom - quite a lot for a mid-80s arcade game. It's pretty thin by RPG standards, but as a setup, it works, and I found it surprisingly engrossing.

How it plays: How do you make an RPG work in the arcade? Apparently, you turn it into a Pac-Man clone. Okay, that's a little flippant; Druaga may be a maze chase game, but there's a lot more going on in it than in most arcade games of its day. On the surface, it's a game about running around mazes, killing monsters, and grabbing keys to get to the next floor, until you defeat Druaga and rescue Ki on the top of the tower. All you have to do is fight your way to the sixtieth floor, right?

In any other arcade game of its era, maybe, but not here. Almost every floor of the tower also contains a hidden treasure that can only be revealed by performing a specific action unique to that floor. The higher Gil gets up the tower, the more he'll need them, from books to reveal the layout of darkened floors to a series of items that turn the increasingly common dragons from the most dangerous enemies in the game to an easily ignored afterthought. Pretty much every useful item in the game (there's several duds and a few traps) is needed to defeat Druaga, so knowing where they are and how to reveal them is absolutely key to beating the game.

The catch - because of course there's a catch - is that neither the treasures' locations nor their revealing methods are signposted at all. Every single one has to be trial-and-error brute-forced out, and they can get pretty arcane - entering a fairly long cheat code, defeating several enemies in a specific order, walking over a particular tile in a particular direction... The intent was for arcade-goers to 'solve' the game together, figuring out all its secrets over the course of weeks or months, but when you don't have a friendly mid-80s Japanese arcade crowd to help you out all you're left with is a mountain of guesswork. Or a walkthrough, which has been a standard bonus feature on its Namco Museum rereleases since the mid-90s.

What I thought: I had a lot of fun with this game! Admittedly I was using a walkthrough (in Japanese, because part of the purpose of the Spreadsheet is to practice my language skills) to bypass about half of the Intended Experience™, but the other half, the straightforward arcade action Pac-Man-with-a-sword gameplay loop, was engaging enough in its own right. Gil controls really well, you never feel like you're fighting the programming instead of the monsters, you can always tell why you died even if the game took a cheap shot, and its insanely generous continue system lets you jump right back to the level you were on with all your items intact when you run out of lives. It's still tough, but it's tough in a fair way, breaking up its fast-paced action into discrete digestible chunks with a chance to breathe between every floor. And frankly, though it is 1980s quarter-muncher hard, I've played indie puzzle platformers that were much worse.

And I do think it succeeds at distilling the RPG into an arcade format, though the result is only an RPG by the loosest possible definition. Despite the lack of numbers and exploration (well, in a sense) there's a distinct feeling of progression to Gil's journey up the tower, a kind of character growth uncommon to - basically any genre outside the RPG in 1984. As Gil collects treasures, he grows faster, stronger, better at navigating the labyrinths, to the point that, despite the increasingly tougher challenges the game throws at you, it almost gets easier the further along you get. With the continue system I mentioned, you can even jump back to floors you've already cleared (mostly to replace a particular item that occasionally breaks) and breeze through the monsters that once gave you so much trouble. It's this kind of thoughtful design that makes me really appreciate Druaga, more than I honestly expected to when I first booted it up. Give it a try, it's pretty good!

[wroteonedad]

Interstellar (2014) Is A Barry 63 Film

Barry 63: A man photographed with a pint of lager in his hand, the type of man you would see in your local racist pub with the England flag on one wall and the dartboard across from it.

I have never seen a Christopher Nolan film in my life, I think that is one of the most important first things I have to say on this matter. I know nothing about him or his real niche in film, but I think I'm starting to get it. I watched this film on a whim; I had spent my afternoon browsing videos on YouTube from different people discussing the House Oversight video that has just come out of former U.S Intelligence Official David Grusch vaguely confirming that aliens are real. Before he gets pressed into further questioning and he's all like oh lol I can't talk about that part publicly,,,, as if the guy didn't just tell the entire planet that the U.S are storing 'non human' items and living beings somewhere. Anyway. The point is through these videos, a lot of YouTuber's then began to comment on their fascination with space and the idea of other life on other planets, and this went onto another tangent where Interstellar had been vaguely referenced as a point of reference for interest in the galaxy and further out. I guess this is what originally drew me to wanting to watch the film.

Furthermore, there is a lot about Nolan in the press right now, especially with the recent release of Oppenheimer; a movie I literally could not go and see in the cinema because I would so have an autistic meltdown over *that* atomic bomb scene. I've seen the scene anyway since a wonderful person on TikTok decided to film just that one scene in the cinema and post it online. So I decided to do some delving into Interstellar. My boyfriend told me to the best way to consume the film was to not keep turning the volume up and down (something you need to do a lot) because I would get jumpscared by the sudden loud noises, usually of rockets and space explosions. It was easier to instead turn the subtitles on and really listen because if there's anything about Nolan, it's that he loves to mess around with the sound mixing to the point you have no idea what the characters are even saying just so Nolan can make the film more 'realistic', he doesn't need to. I know for a fact I'm not in space.

The film starts off in a post apocalyptic timeline; the crops are starting to run out, your teachers are encouraging you to run a farm in order to survive while also debunking any theories that working with NASA is a terrible idea while you run for your life wearing goggles and facemasks every time the dust storms begin to rage from afar. Life on Earth is doomed, there isn't much time left and scientists are scrambling to find a way to fix that. Cooper is an ex NASA pilot who spends the early plot tending to his farm and looking after his son Tom* who seems to be failing his classes and Murphy, his daughter who follows the same interest in space and figuring out theories and morse code. Murphy is convinced there is a ghost living in her room, a ghost that knocks particular books off the shelf and as a child she tries to discover what is being communicated to her. Cooper on the other hand is convinced that this is actually a gravitational anomaly.

*did I mention that young Tom is played by our favourite Timoji Chalamat, but I feel like people kind of forget that because this was pre Call Me By Your Name? Slay

One night Cooper and Murphy take off to discover where these anomaly's are coming from, discovering some coordinates that end up taking them to a top secret NASA facility; they are stopped and snatched by some robots. The facility is run by Doctor Brand and it took me a good 5 minutes to realise that it was the Michael Caine. So Doctor Brand reveals to them that he is currently searching for an exoplanet, that a wormhole has opened up by Saturn and that he is organising a group to fly into that wormhole and to discover a planet that humans can move to with the apocalypse riling up in a matter of years. Cooper takes off with Romilly, Doyle and Amelia (Brand's daughter).

On the day of the departure Murphy has a massive strop, begging her father not to go even after he convinces her that he will be back, but she gets even more upset when she learns that even he doesn't know when he will come back.

When the gang get to the other side, they discover three different planets that are orbiting a supermassive black hole (Gargantua). The gang take their craft to the surface of the first planet; it has calm shallow waters and Amelia discovers some debris fairly quickly. She decides to run towards the mountains to collect more data before Cooper realises that those are not mountains, they are tsunami sized waves. It's not a tsunami okay I am just using that for the size reference. Anyway, he makes everyone hurry back to the craft so they can get out of there alive, losing Doyle to the large waves. The craft also nearly gets flooded due to the size of the waves and being thrown all over the place, but it does dry out with little damage over a short period of time. They return back to the base in an hour, which actually turns out to be 23 years in human time due to the time dilation from Gargantua's gravity. Is this sounding simple enough? I am trying to use as little science words as possible even though this is a science fiction film because I always found science so interesting, but yet I was always so bad at it. Back to the plot of the film, during Coopers time on the first planet which is travelling around the supermassive black hole, Murphy begins to work with Doctor Brand in order to help him with the investigation. Iconic considering she wouldn't even speak to her own father when he left.

So the crew (minus Doyle rip girl) travel to the second planet. This one is theoretically the ice age and the gang wake up Dr Mann, a very well respected scientist who has been in a state of cryostasis for however many years. The future looks brighter with this one because it would seem that Mann had collected a lot more data which could suggest this planet is more than capable of being able to contain human life. We've always wanted to live in the ice age on a different galaxy haven't we? But as it turns out Mann was a big fat liar and he faked the data in the hopes that Brand would see it and would send somebody out to rescue him, which clearly didn't happen. At the same time (well not really because of time dilation but you know what I mean) Dr Brand is dying in the hospital and he requested for Murphy to speak to him. When she arrives to see him, Brand also admits he's a big fat stinking liar. He was not even close to the answers for the gravity equation thus meaning he has sent out Murphy's dad and Brand's own daughter on what is basically a suicide mission.

As it turns out after this, Mann becomes even more problematic. He sets up a booby trap in his base and blows up Romilly and then goes out of his way to attempt to kill Cooper. Something very iconic about watching a space dude smack his helmet against another space dudes helmet until suddenly Cooper is running out of air and he is left to die. Except he doesn't the absolute mad lad. I'm starting to think at this point that Cooper might just be one of those people who can never die no matter what obstacle you throw their way.

In the process of Mann trying to hijack the Endurance and make it about him, he manages to blow himself up because he decides to be a bloke and not read any of the instructions or safety steps. Cooper somehow manages to control the now heavily damaged spacecraft. But wait, there's more...

Time is running out swiftly, the rocket no longer has enough fuel for the two to finish the job and they are trying to rack up ways on how they are going to get what they need from the third and final planet. Cooper decides that he is going to execute a fuel burn to be able to reach a speed where the spacecraft would actually arrive to the planet. The problem? Cooper would need to sacrifice his own life in order to carry out the task. The spacecraft detaches and Cooper quite literally falls through a black hole. Being sucked into such a thing, you would die right? RIGHT? No.

Cooper ends up in a five dimensional tesseract where he comes back into contact with Murphy trying to figure out the Morse code or in other lives, trying to get him to convince himself not to go onto this trip into space where the whole operation is ran by a big fat stinking liar. Basically he manages to communicate with Murphy in Morse code in one life while basically being in the walls. Theoretically coming up with the idea that humans have the ability to communicate with people in the past through time-travelling techniques. Does that make sense? Probably not, I think even for me this is all starting to feel a little bit too technological with lots of big words. Cooper manages to communicate what Murphy is looking for so she is able to save the dystopian hell she is living in where humans are now on the verge of being wiped out.

These future beings then transport him close to Saturn where he wakes up at the ripe age of 124 years old. He is taken to see Murphy who is now elderly and in the hospital; she has managed to use the gravity equation to enable human's to safely live on a planet that isn't Earth. She feels satisfied and tells her father to seek out Amelia who is seen on another planet taking off her helmet for the first time, ending on a note where she has found another planet that is capable of human life.

I think it's really cool for a film to actually end on a nice positive note, I feel like any movie that isn't pushed for the child audience usually means that the film will end up being depressing with a horrible ending. It's also weird because I feel like Nolan makes movies that all have over dramatic depressing endings. Especially considering that this movie is marketed to blokes, absolutely nobody else. The people who think Elon Musk is the most amazing man to live are the same people to say this is the best film to ever exist. It is full of loud rocket noises for the Musk wet dream, but I do actually think this is a good movie. I very much enjoyed it and it was a nice introduction to Nolan,,, and no I am not going to watch Oppenheimer in the cinema because I think how loud the movie is will literally kill me off.

[chatonyant]

Womp womp new story new ocs

Top two: Zul and Lia(working name) respectively

Middle: Metis and Ponchik

Bottom: Mercury (Soo-Eun)

(Once again trying a readmore on mobile but if it doesn't work then woe, lore rambles be upon ye I guess)

Sketch pages notes read:

Metis: prosthetic leg (uses cane)

Library studies — also learning coding to create organizational systems

Ponchik:

Contacts

Works at a climbing gym or skating rink

Dropped out of college?

Also does woodworking

Dialogue below:

Metis: just steal school snacks! We pay them too much ~anyways~ ♡

Ponchik, thinking: you can do that?!

CW: child experimentation, abuse

The setting is a world in which spirits live on a separate plane of existence but there are places of overlap with the physical world. These spirits are not quite a secret from the world but still rare enough that most people don't know much about them but have accepted them as a part of daily life on Earth. However, due to existence of overlapping areas, there are moments where spirits can partially leak into the physical plane and cause chaos. Therefore there exists a community of people who keep these spirits at bay. They are called spirits guards, and have throughout history and separately across all cultures been a selective group trained to negotiate or fight spirits that have crossed into the in-between. Deals must be made with more sentient spirits in order to receive power or create items that utilize the power of the spiritual realm in order to fight these spirits. In essence, these humans are given permission to interact with the spiritual world in a way that surpasses their natural abilities. This permission is limited to the person receiving it, so every person aiming to join the guard must receive permission from a spirit.

Zul and Lia were children that were forced into accepting spirit power due to an experiment done by the government. A scientist and a mysterious spirit joined hands in order to convince the government to fund their project, claiming to research spirit power and how it could be used as an energy source. However, both want power over each others realms and are experimenting on children to see how much spirit power a human could handle and plan to use these children as personal soldiers/tools.

A handful of orphans were bought and brought deep into the spirit plane, taking them deeper and deeper into the plane to absorb denser and more powerful spirit power until they reached their limit. The deeper into the spirit plane the more abstract and powerful the spirits get. Humans rarely go into the spirit plane, and any that do never go deep due to the inherent danger of too much power settling into their body.

Most of the children died. Only two lived by some miracle: Zul and Lia. Zul, older, showed great potential, awakening the power of small pocket dimensions and the ability to morph power into nearly any shape. Lia, on the other hand, only awakened a weak lie detection skill. Rather than a pinpoint understanding on if the person was lying, they only received a dull sense of wrongness that intensified the more the person believes what they're saying is a lie.

For years Zul and Lia underwent training and experimentation, with Zul doing his utmost to protect Lia, emphasizing their lack of ability to offset training onto himself. In return, Lia offered as much comfort as they could give. Though they wouldn't fully understand the horrors Zul went through, at least they could be a listening ear.

Zul was being trained to become a soldier, a personal spirit guard for the scientist. He began to go on missions to clear the city of spirits— and spirit guards. Soon the city was hauntingly empty of spiritual activity, and those sent to investigate all went missing.

However the project began losing support from the government, disappointed in the lack of results. Unwilling to lose any resource, they released Lia to live in the city, saving money but also keeping them within arms reach. With the understanding that they would be constantly under surveillance, they began to build a life in the city, slowly cobbling together a plan to free their brother still stuck within the project, who had been threatened with Lia (who wasn't aware) to follow orders.

Metis and Ponchik are college friends. Lia ends up working at the same place as Ponchik and somehow become friends, and Mercury, someone who half-lives in the library buried in books, somehow befriends Metis. Then they all end up meeting each other and becoming a group with one braincell (Mercury begrudgingly has it).

Mercury and Lia are the two newcomers to the city while Metis and Ponchik have lived there for a majority of their lives. Mercury lived in the city for longer than Lia, so after learning that Lia was new, was able to give some pointers to help them get adjusted to the city.

However, Lia feels uneasy around Mercury. While kind and gentle, they seemed to be full of lies, even lying about things that don't need to be lied about. This, along with the similarity with Zul's gentleness, makes Lia distance themself from Mercury, who seems to understand and give them space, which confuses Lia and makes them feel guilty for rejecting a seemingly harmless person.

Ponchik is a gentle person, opposed to their general aesthetic. Earnest and passionate about whatever new interest they have, they seem to cruise their way through life without really settling on one thing in particular. They named themself after their favourite food and would eat it breakfast lunch and dinner if they could. Types how they speak, elongating words and misspelling them for emphasis or to convey an accent or funny way of speaking ("eeeediot")

Metis is silent chaos, more willing to take risks and break rules. They love to make really bad puns and dad jokes, and teases Ponchik about being a rule follower. Metis has their own set of rules she follows, though what those rules are is confusing to anyone who hasn't know her long enough. Texts with typos for days because "i spend most of my day painstakingly scouring my code for typos don't make me do it on my off time too"

Mercury is .... well my notes say "so it's like spiderman. Who then got stuck with Deadpool. And is now appalled at being the responsible one." They're smiley and teasing and throws flirty remarks around willy nilly. They're silly and bit pathetic and has absolutely been caught with their arm stuck in a vending machine because their snack wouldn't come out. They are Delighted by Metis's bad jokes and joins in every chance they get to Ponchik's chagrin. They look cool at first glance until they open their mouth and dumb shit falls out. Every other text they send has :) :3 :] they have a Nokia. Good because they drop it too often and forget it too easily

Lia is very deliberate in their actions, taking time to think before talking and quietly watching the people around them before acting. What is awkwardness appears to be quiet and intimidating on the outside. Embarrassed by their lack of knowledge and how awkward they can be. But once they warm up, they can be very playful, absolutely willing to do some stupid shit. They're not particularly impulsive, but does do things that seem so. However they have extensively thought about said action before doing so, so it's planned impulsiveness?? Due to their fashion and jewelry, everyone assumes the hair and eyes are fake. Types very formally but slowly learning texting mannerisms. Particularly Mercury's emotes, so there are academic/Formal texts with the occasional ( ・∇・)

[gameinfoxtbr]

Star Stable Guide

Star Stable Guide: Are you interested in the cool world of Star Stable Guide, one of the most famous online horse games in the world? I created this guide whether or not you’re a newbie or a pro, all is covered here so that you can better enjoy your time in the magical lands of Jorvik. In this post, we’ll discuss gameplay basics, hot new updates (including tips and tricks and the best Star Stable Gift Codes), and everything in between!

GameInfoX It is an adventure, friendship in high gear with the fun of riding in a big ol’ open world. Let’s gallop right into it! What is Star Stable Guide? 🐎 Star Stable is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing game) for horse lovers. Placed in the lively world of Jorvik, the gameplay is structured around checking out different zones, resolving quests, dealing with horses, and meeting other horsepersons. In the game, you build bonds with your horse and use those to solve a lot of mysteries across the island. (Star Stable Guide)

GameInfoX Star Stable Information

GameInfoX Getting Started: Create Your Avatar & First Horse 🐴 When you begin Star Stable at first you get to make a rider of yourself, then find your very first horse! Here's a quick Star Stable Guide to help you start strong: - Avatar Customization: From different hairstyles, facial features, and kid clothes to choose from. Your avatar is you in the game so make sure it’s unique! - Picking Your Horse: You have several breeds and several colors to choose from. This is your trusty companion in the game, so choose wisely! Exploring the Magical World of Jorvik 🌍 Jorvik is a big island consisting of several different areas ranging from lush forests to sandy beaches, snow mountains, and dark caves. There’s a different experience in each area and you will see many NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that will give you quests to do. Pro Tip: That all just means hide and seek hidden items and collectibles as you travel through Jorvik. These are often rewarded with rare rewards! Star Stable News Page Or Star Stable Guide Star Stable has repeaters such as new quests, seasonal events, and of course horse breeds. The developers of Star Stable are very active with exciting updates that come out regularly. Keeping up to date is important so you don’t miss out on any occasional events or special installments. Star Stable News Page Or Star Stable Guide

GameInfoX Mastering Quests and Storylines (Star Stable Guide)🎯 An element of the game that is very rich is the storyline and a lot of quests that immerse players into the mysteries of Jorvik. Types of quests are often relatively simple like fetching items but can also contain such arduous problems of fundamental aspects of Jorvik history. - Types of Quests: Daily quests, seasonal events, and what’s being called main story arcs. - Quest Tips: Take some strategy with your quests! Not all missions are easy, so be sure to feed and energize your horse before heading out. Horse Care and Management 🐴🛠️ Star Stable is your version of an MMORPG where you can connect with other users and with adventures, and your horse is your closest companion in the game. Here’s what you need to know about horse care: - Feeding and Grooming: Always give your horse a well-balanced diet and make sure it is well-groomed to keep its mood higher. It affects how one performs during races and competitions. - Training: Work on improving your horse's ability such as speed, strength, and endurance. Good animals are trained better for the race. - Horse Gear: Saddle and bridge your horse with various accessories to make your horse look cool and stats stylish. Star Stable Gift Codes 🎟️💡 Indeed one of the best-kept secrets of Star Stable is that there are game codes that you can use to unlock extra prizes like gear and in-game currency, as well as extra horse breeds. Code releases are often done during special events or special celebrations so pay attention to the official website and social media pages. Star Stable Gift Codes

GameInfoX Best Horses to Own: Star Stable Character Tier List 📜 To win Star Stable, you’ve got to choose the right horse. There are different breeds of horses however each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Some are better in races, and some are better for exploring and completing quests. Here’s a quick breakdown of some top horses based on their attributes: - Friesian: Elegant and great for competitions. - Arabian Thoroughbred: Speedy and perfect for races. - Icelandic Horse: Great for travel on, and exploration of, tough terrains. Star Stable Character Tier List

GameInfoX Competitive Racing in Star Stable 🏁 It’s one of the most exhilarating features of Star Stable. In various racecourses scattered over Jorvik, you’ll test your skills against other players. To improve your chances of winning, focus on: - Horse Training: The faster your horse is on the track, the better trained it should be. - Gear and Outfits: The thing is, equipment makes all the difference for your horse's performance. - Daily Races: Each day you will participate in daily races and earn rewards as you continue to build your reputation with the different factions. Star Stable Clubs and Social Features 🎉 The thing I think is one of the coolest parts of Star Stable is you can join riding clubs where you get to hang out with other people playing. Events like group races or photo sessions are often held by clubs, and clubs are a good way of making friends and learning from other players. - Club Benefits: Being a part of a riding club gets you unique and free events and perks. - Socializing: Hone in on players all around the world, riding side by side or venturing on quests with groups. Meet the Star Stable Developer 🎮 Did you know that Star Stable was developed by Star Stable Entertainment? The team behind the game constantly works on adding new content, improving gameplay mechanics, and listening to player feedback. They have fostered a dedicated community by regularly interacting with fans through social media and events. Star Stable Developer

GameInfoX How to Get the Most Out of Star Stable Membership 🎟️ While Star Stable offers a free-to-play option, investing in a membership (known as Star Rider) opens up even more exciting content. Here's why you might want to consider it: - Unlimited Access: Explore all areas of Jorvik without restrictions. - Exclusive Horses and Gear: Access to rare horses and special equipment. - Bonus Content: Special quests and storylines reserved for Star Rider members. FAQs: All You Need to Know About Star Stable❓ Q1: How do I redeem Star Stable Gift Codes?Simply log in to the official Star Stable website, navigate to the "Redeem Code" section, and enter your game code for instant rewards.Q2: How often are new horses added to the game?The developers release new horses every few months, often coinciding with major updates or special events.Q3: What happens if I don't take care of my horse?If you neglect your horse, its mood will drop, which affects its performance. Make sure to groom and feed it regularly!Q4: Are there in-game purchases?Yes, you can buy Star Coins to purchase horses, gear, and other special items.Q5: Can I play Star Stable on mobile?Currently, Star Stable is primarily available on PC and Mac, but the developers are working on a mobile version.Q6: What is the best horse for beginners?The Jorvik Warmblood is a great all-rounder, perfect for new players learning the ropes. Conclusion: Embrace the Adventure!

GameInfoX Whether you're exploring new regions, solving mysteries, or racing with friends, Star Stable Guide offers endless fun for players of all ages. With constant updates and a thriving community, it’s a game that continues to evolve and capture the imaginations of horse lovers everywhere.

GameInfoX Don't miss out on the Star Stable News Page and rewards—stay engaged and keep exploring the magical world of Star Stable Guide! Word Count: 1,206 words Read the full article

[newmangroup]

How Do You Keep Your Secrets From the Media?

When the CEO of the world's #2 bank says there is no such thing as an "off the record" comment to the media, you can take it as gospel. A while back, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorganChase, addressed 200+ members and guests of the Financial Women's Association. When he was introduced, the audience was clearly told that his comments were off the record. Mr. Dimon grinned and got a great deal of laughs when he cracked "there is no such thing as off the record." Watch What You Say He should know. He's probably been interviewed and misquoted in the press as regularly as any CEO during financial crises since 2008 and his Bank's own outrage when a rogue trader called the "London Whale" lost $6 billion for the firm. No doubt members of the audience were taking notes and tweeting during the entire time he was talking. We all know where the media now gets a lot of its data – Twitter. A Twitter account @evleaks with the slogan "Today's news, yesterday" specializes in reporting leaks. But even Mr. Dimon needs to keep some secrets from the media, like discussions about the appointment of a woman as the new bank CFO. The FWA moderator lobbed questions at Mr. Dimon during the no-holds-barred discussion that followed his remarks. A search of the web didn't reveal any bits of gossip about the CFO appointment. Mr. Dimon said he discussed candidates for the position with the business unit leaders, yet there were no apparent leaks. Mum's the Word How do you keep privileged insights from the media? To start with, restrict the breaking news to an inner circle of people involved with the issue who can be trusted to not turn into an "anonymous source" for leaks. Many organizations arranging IPOs, or introducing new products, use code names during the long process before public disclosure. You don't want to dilute the impact by seeing your story on the news on the day preceding the announcement. Apple broadly utilizes code words for its new items. Dulcimer morphed into the iconic iPod when it was launched in 2001. Wikipedia lists dozens of Apple code names. In each situation, both insiders and outside consultants and vendors should be required to sign non-disclosure agreements. Outsiders should not even mention they are working for the company, much less on a new product or an IPO. A high-profile investor relations firm reporting it has signed a new client could signal that something is brewing at the company. Journalists will begin digging and may strike gold. If you're part of the inner circle, don't discuss the secret project in the elevator or in the hallways. The walls have ears. Any bystander could hear a few key words and – boom – the secret is out. No doubt Samsung wasn't very happy that the story – and photograph – of its new curved phone was leaked before the launch. Of course, organizations aren't above leaking information themselves. Movie studios are notorious for doing this when a long-anticipated movie is expected to bomb. They book the stars on talk shows to drum up interest and attendance before the film's release. The End of the Embargo It wasn't that long ago that PR people would distribute a news release with an embargo – a future date that the media could report about the story. That is gone the way of the manual typewriter. With the 24-hour new cycle, every media outlet is competing fiercely to be the first to break the news. Never share your insider facts with reporters except in rare situations. Probably the reporter has been covering your company for years. He has shown that he can be trusted not to break a story if he's given data "on background." Again, that is rare these days. What About a Leak? Despite your best efforts, the story may get out. You are restricted about what you can say about an IPO. Follow the government's disclosure rules about how to respond. A reporter may call with a rumor about a new product release. You don't need to let the cat out of the bag. You could respond, "We're always testing new item products. I don't have anything to report. You'll be the first to know if that changes." You have a obligation keep your company's secrets. Just remember to keep your promise to that reporter when the time comes to break the news. Read the full article

[mobileroyalegiftcodes]

Discover the Secrets: How to Snag Mobile Royale Gift Codes!

Hello, Mobile Royale enthusiasts! 🏰 Are you exhausted from endlessly grinding to gather those essential resources? I totally get it. Mobile Royale is a fantastic game, but wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a way to speed things up? Well, great news—there is! 🎉 Today, I'm here to share everything you need to know about Mobile Royale gift codes—those magical combinations that can give you the boost you need to dominate the battlefield.

But before we dive into the details, let’s talk about what Mobile Royale is, especially for those who are new to the game. If you’re a veteran player, feel free to jump ahead (but don’t skip the good stuff!). For the newbies, Mobile Royale is a real-time strategy game where you build your empire, forge alliances, and battle other players for supremacy. Sounds exciting, right? That’s because it is!

What Exactly Are Mobile Royale Gift Codes?

You might be asking yourself, “So, what are these gift codes, and how do they benefit me?” Mobile Royale gift codes are special codes that the game developers release periodically. These codes can be redeemed in the game for various rewards such as gems, resources, boosts, and sometimes even exclusive items. Think of them as little gifts from the developers to show appreciation for your gameplay. And who doesn’t love a good gift?

These codes are typically released during special events, holidays, or game updates, so it’s always wise to stay on the lookout. But where exactly can you find these rare codes? Don’t worry—I’ve got all the information you need!

Visit mobileroyale.gift for Free Codes: Speaking of easy ways to score codes, one of the top resources out there is mobileroyale.gift. This site offers the latest, working gift codes that you can use immediately. It’s a treasure trove for players wanting to get ahead without spending any money! They keep their list updated regularly, so make sure to bookmark it and check back often. 💎

How to Redeem Your Mobile Royale Gift Codes

So, you’ve got a gift code—now what? Redeeming your Mobile Royale gift code is incredibly simple. Just follow these steps:

Launch the Game: Open Mobile Royale on your device.

Access Settings: Tap your avatar in the top-left corner to open the settings menu.

Enter the Code: Find the “Gift Code” option and tap it. A dialogue box will pop up where you can input your code.

Confirm and Reap the Rewards: After entering the code, hit “Confirm,” and just like that, your rewards should appear in your account instantly.

Some Handy Tips and Tricks

Before you start using gift codes left and right, here are a few quick tips to ensure you get the most out of them:

Act Fast: Gift codes typically have an expiration date, so be sure to use them as soon as you can to avoid missing out.

One-Time Use Only: Most gift codes can only be used once per account, so don’t try to redeem the same code multiple times. If a code doesn’t work, it might have expired or already been used.

Keep Rare Codes Private: If you come across a rare code, consider keeping it to yourself. Some codes are limited, and once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

Wrapping It Up

Mobile Royale is an incredible game, and these gift codes can give you a serious edge in building your empire. Whether you’re just starting or you’re a seasoned player, these codes can help you get the essential resources and items you need without spending your own money. So, what are you waiting for? Start searching for those codes today!

And remember, if you’re ever in need of the freshest Mobile Royale gift codes, don’t forget to visit mobileroyale.gift. They’ve got everything you need to keep your empire strong.

Happy gaming, and may your kingdom rise to greatness! 🛡️👑

[biowastefl]

Tips For Red Bag Disposal in Brandon and St. Petersburg, FL

Waste is generated by the minute in healthcare facilities, dental clinics, and research laboratories. The management must note the storage of hazardous materials that may affect the healthy workers and visitors unwittingly. It is, therefore, essential to heed the OSHA standards and follow the regulations as perfectly as possible. The facility must be well informed about the standards and make positive efforts to save on expenses and good health for all concerned. The penalties do not apply either. Sourcing the proper color-coded containers for storage can help even the uninitiated to understand the risk factors. The process of red bag disposal in Brandon and St. Petersburg, FL, must also be undertaken according to the standards.

 One must be informed about the purpose of the red bag to go ahead and achieve compliance. It suffices to know that a red bag is strictly meant to hold biohazardous materials. In other words, such a bag must store all sorts of solid and liquid materials contaminated with highly infectious materials. The next step is to inquire about the steps involved. It is enlightening to know that the next steps following immediately include:

· Placement of the bag beside a biohazard bin is advisable

· Lining the biohazard container with the red bag is a vital step that should never be missed

· It is the responsibility of the waste transportation and disposal Company to haul away the bins and replace them with fresh bins that are lined with red bags

· It is most important to limit the contents to 50 pounds

· Each biohazard bin must be labeled properly to avoid errors

· The staff at the facility must be trained in handling biohazard waste

Waste is to be placed in bins lined with red bags

It is vital to understand that not everything can be thrown into the biohazard bin. Everyday waste, along with alcohol, chemicals, and medicines, should never be stored in the red bag. Furthermore, chemotherapy waste and unused drugs must be discarded according to the regulations. There are different color-coded containers available for specific waste. Using them properly is recommended by OSHA and the State Departments. Some of the most common items disposed of with the help of a red bag include the following:-

· Personal protective equipment that is contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious materials, such as gloves, gauze, gowns, dressing, bandages, and/or other materials used during treatment

· Leftover blood and blood products, including release blood, tubes, and empty vials

· Bodily fluids contaminated with blood, including vomit, urine, feces, peritoneal fluids, pericardial fluid, vaginal secretions, amniotic fluid, cerebrospinal fluids, synovial fluids, cerebrospinal fluid, and other similar fluids

· Sealed sharps containers containing needles, scalpel blades, blades, syringes, and other used sharps

· Pathological specimens and microbiological wastes such as removed organs, unfixed human tissue, and animal parts or carcass

Disposing of biohazards and other wastes generated regularly by facilities and laboratories can be managed perfectly by teaming up with a reputed company noted for providing waste disposal service along with sharps pickup in St. Petersburg and Palm Harbor, FL .

[rehncohro]

October 26th - Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Seeing the amount of effort put into this game made me want to try it, so I ended up buying it day one, making this the first physical game I bought on release. The last couple of 2D Mario games weren't as good as the old ones. 0NSMB2 was alright and U was kinda lame, so I'm glad this one turned out as good as it did. After beating the game, I can confirm that this is one of the greatest 2D Mario games of all time and I know I'm not alone on that. For the most part, levels were fun. None felt the same. Even when some matched themes, they still managed to feel completely different.

There were a few frustrating parts, but thankfully there aren't many levels that I wouldn't want to replay. It is a little lame that secret exits don't unlock secret areas on the map. However, they do give you wonder seeds which can be used to progress. As for collectibles, in most levels, there are a few 10-flower coins and at least one wonder seed to collect. The 10-flower coins take the place of star coins/star medallions from previous games. Most aren't hard to collect.

Then the wonder seeds can be obtained by clearing a level (1 for normal exit and 1 for secret exit if the stage has one). The last wonder seed in a level is from getting a wonder flower and putting up with whatever whacky event the game throws at you. Aside from regular coins, there are normal flower coins which can be used in shops to unlock badges, earn standees, or get extra items. Badges unlock extra abilities you can use (you can switch them before entering levels) that you can use to make things easier (or weirder). In a way, it's like cheat codes are back. Some are useful and others are just fun to play around with.

You can either get them from shops or from trial stages. Aside from regular levels, there are much smaller ones. They can have you doing a small task like practicing an ability, defeating enemies, or finding hidden items. The standees can be used to show other players online where things are or revive them if they died so they don't lose a life. You can place them yourself or rely on the ones placed by other players. The online in this game is actually pretty cool because you can see the ghosts of other players and by watching them you can learn where things are and how to get through certain parts.

You can also show them what to do. Since the item reserve is back you can either use it on yourself, or other players, which is useful for the easy characters since they can't use them. Overall, this game isn't that difficult but it can be tough when it wants to be. Some of the extra stages can be a little rough. There aren't that many elements I can say I disliked and the world map was interesting, some parts you are restricted to taking a certain path and others you're free to choose. It was really nice how the last three worlds before Bowser you could do in any order depending on how many wonder seeds you had.

The stages before Bowser were decent stages for the most part and the final stage was a little annoying. However, I still thought it was cool with how it just throws a bunch of the wonder flower effects at you until you get to the end. The final boss was really cool too, even if it did drag a bit. One of the most interesting parts of the whole game was the talking flowers. I always wanted to know what they had to say. They don't really contribute much to the gameplay but they're a really fun addition to the game, so I can't complain. I haven't had this much fun with a 2D Mario since New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Glad they took a break and actually tried some different things because it resulted in one of the best Mario games Nintendo has ever made.0

[sumiyarezasuchana]

Style and Savings: How to Score Discounts on the New PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee

Unveiling Comfort and Style - Your Go-To Tee for Every Occasion

Hey there, fashion enthusiasts! Let's talk about a wardrobe staple that's making waves in the world of style and comfort. You guessed it right – the all-new PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee is here to redefine the way you look and feel. From its soft-to-touch fabric to its iconic logo, this tee is more than just an item of clothing; it's a statement of your unique style. So, grab a seat and get ready to discover why the PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee deserves a prime spot in your wardrobe.

Comfort Beyond Measure

When it comes to clothing, comfort reigns supreme. And guess what? The PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee doesn't disappoint. Crafted from a premium blend of cotton and polyester, this tee is like a warm hug for your skin. Imagine wrapping yourself in a cloud of coziness – that's exactly how you'll feel when you slip into this tee.

Breathable and lightweight, this tee is your ideal companion for any adventure. Whether you're hitting the gym, strolling through the city streets, or just lounging at home, the PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee keeps you feeling cool and collected, even on scorching summer days. No more sweaty discomfort – just pure, unadulterated comfort.

Style That Speaks Volumes

Now, let's talk style. The PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee isn't just any old t-shirt; it's a canvas for self-expression. The iconic PUMA logo gracing the front isn't just a symbol; it's a proclamation of your dedication to both sport and fashion. Dress it up or keep it casual – this tee seamlessly adapts to your vibe.

Pair it with your favorite joggers for an effortlessly laid-back look. The tee's relaxed fit complements your movements, making it an ideal choice for everything from morning jogs to impromptu dance-offs. Want to add a touch of sophistication? Tuck it into a pair of jeans, throw on your go-to sneakers, and voilà – you've just elevated your style game.

Hunt for Discounts, Fashion Detective!

Now, let's address the elephant in the room – everyone loves a good discount, right? Well, securing a discount on the PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee is easier than you might think. Time to put on your savvy shopper hat and get ready to save some bucks:

1. Unleash the Power of Newsletters: Join the cool kids' club by signing up for PUMA's newsletter. Not only will you stay updated on the latest releases and trends, but you might also score exclusive discounts on the Essentials Men's Logo Tee. It's like having a secret fashion weapon up your sleeve!

2. Social Media Sleuthing: If you're scrolling through your feeds anyway, why not snag some discounts while you're at it? Follow PUMA on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to keep tabs on flash sales, limited-time offers, and juicy discount codes. Who knew stalking your favorite brand could be this rewarding?

3. Seasonal Sales Extravaganza: Let's be real – everyone loves a good sale, and PUMA knows it. Circle those calendar dates for events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and back-to-school sales. These are the golden opportunities to grab the Essentials Men's Logo Tee at a fraction of the original price. It's like winning a fashion lottery!

4. Outlet Store Adventures: Ready for a shopping adventure? Head to PUMA outlet stores. These treasure troves house discounted gems from past seasons, including the Essentials Men's Logo Tee. Who said you can't find style on a budget?

5. Coupons to the Rescue: The internet is a magical place, and coupon websites are its enchanted realms. Scout for websites that sprinkle PUMA-related discounts and codes like fairy dust. You might just stumble upon a code that grants you the Essentials Men's Logo Tee at an unbeatable price.

6. Loyalty Points Pay Off: Loyalty pays, literally. Enroll in PUMA's loyalty program if available, and stack up those points while you shop. Eventually, you'll have a treasure trove of rewards waiting to be used on your next PUMA haul. It's like shopping, but with extra sprinkles on top!

7. Bundle Up for Savings: Heard of bundle deals? They're like fashion packages of joy. Keep an eye out for offers that pair the PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee with other trendy items. You'll not only nail your look but also score a double dose of discounts. It's a win-win, really.

Conclusion: Style, Savings, and You

In a world where fashion meets function, the PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee shines as a beacon of style, comfort, and versatility. With its soft fabric and iconic logo, it's the ultimate canvas for your individuality. By weaving these savvy shopping strategies into your routine, you can snag this must-have tee without putting a dent in your wallet. Keep the connection strong with PUMA through newsletters, social media, and exciting sales events – you'll be the first to know about discounts that are practically begging to be claimed.

So, there you have it – the lowdown on the PUMA Essentials Men's Logo Tee, your key to embodying active style with a dash of uniqueness. Slip into it, strut your stuff, and let your fashion flag fly high! After all, life is too short for boring tees and missed discounts. Get out there and rock that PUMA style like the trendsetter you are! 🚀👕

[musiconanironingboard]

7 February 2023: April’s Fool, Elvis Costello. (The Record Company bootleg of 1989 Rhode Island live performance and two tracks from Late Night with David Letterman, 1989)

Here is the second record in the mystery basement stack brought up for my perusal at the neighborhood shop (see my previous post). I’d seen this bootleg before, and though there is not much to show it is a nice package. This is a double LP.

Above we see the front and back covers. I’d love to know what that bar code actually represents; I’ve no doubt the bootlegger put it there to make it look more like an authentic product.

Below is the label design used on all four sides. I love this seeing this replica of Memphis’s famed Sun Records label. I don’t know how Costello feels about bootlegs, but I bet he would love seeing himself appear, even just as a fantasy, on Sun Records. The album cover refers to the producer of this boot as “The Record Company,” but there is no sign of this moniker on the labels.

One reason I think Costello would love seeing his name on a Sun label is his use of the old 1950s Specialty label on his 2009 album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. The album was actually released by Starbucks subsidiary Hear Music, but employing a vintage label design is a nice touch. I would have photographed my own copy, but I need all the time I can save, so here’s one from Discogs.

Also from Discogs, here is a vintage Specialty label from 1957. The Costello version is a touch different, but it’s pretty faithful.

There are four more oddball Costello items to go from this particular trip to the store.