Hello all! I have been playing ttrpgs for around 4, almost 5 years now and despite being in many different diverse groups I've never had any horror stories to share. Now, I have at least one minor one.
People involved are myself(female, because it unfortunately matters), DM, Rogue, Ranger, Fighter, Bard and Witch. This is a Pathfinder 2nd Edition game.
Most of my experience has been with 5e, and I hadn't really touched any other system. So, when everything went south with Wizards of the Coast and the OGL and Pinkertons, I decided to branch out and try other systems. That is when I managed to find a group for Pathfinder! I was excited to learn the system, so as soon as I was in, I started reading the core rulebook and listening to videos on the rules of the game.
The initial party consisted of everyone but Witch(she would join later). DM proclaims he has about 3 years experience running 5e games, but is new to Pathfinder himself. No big deal, it seems all of us are new, with Rogue and Ranger being brand new to ttrpgs. We'll learn the system together. Things start off somewhat okay, with a skirmish between two sides, with players split between the two factions. Combat is very basic and everything dies in a single hit, without really attacking us directly. We do discover that Bard's character is... Well, the best way to describe him was a flamboyant gay elf, using a stereotypical gay voice and cadence, who ran from the battle at the first sign of trouble. That was... Off-putting, but it was whatever.
We cleared the encounter, and one side clearly won. My character was actually knocked unconscious, but was picked up and carried by another player of the opposing faction, Fighter. We then all eventually stumbled across a large dragon man, basically a Dragonborn, who breathed lightning, and had a huge axe and plate armor. When we fought him, all at lvl 1, still worn out from the last battle. Almost no one could hit his AC, and he nearly downed half the party before we managed to win. I later found out that the DM just used a level 3 player stat block for this guy, and buffed his HP, which I know in 5e, at least, is a bad idea.
After this, the DM had a shady NPC show up out of nowhere and invite us to come along with him. This was the first sign that the DM wasn't very good at roleplaying, or at least doing so in a convincing way. But, this was the plot hook, so we all went with it. The DM then showed off their inexperience again when we were offered a mission from this NPC, and Rogue asked some pretty softball questions about why we'd want to work with them. As an aside, rogue's backstory involved working with criminals, and these guys were like rebels against the empire who invaded the city.
Either way, we had to go to an auction house to buy a magical item. We were given 50 gold to buy the item, and this was where the DM displayed their inability to describe rooms to us. The description was very bland, and didn't paint much of a picture for us. He also didn't really do many voices, so it was difficult to tell if an NPC was talking, or if it was the DM out of character. Regardless, we found the item we needed, placed bids and got into a bidding war with a noble. For whatever reason, this makes the bard decide to set off a... Distraction, by trying to cast a spell on the noble to charm them, to which they roll a 37 to resist. We are level 2, by the way. This leads to bard's backup plan.
Bard lights and shoots off fireworks in the auction house, causing the entire roof to cave in and severely injure most of us. Rogue did manage to snatch the item, and slip away along with Ranger. Bard ran down the street escaping the guards, and myself and fighter just stood around in disbelief, because up until that point, we had all blended in without issue. There was no reason for such a huge commotion. We stayed and the noble spoke to us, but we talked our way out of it, Fighter being the type from a military/mercenary background, and myself being a local farm girl.
Eventually, we all met up, and in between sessions, the entire group agrees to kick Bard for playing a blatant caricature and being chaotic stupid. He also talked over and interrupted people a lot, and really tried to push his luck with every ruling. And, before we returned to the quest NPC, we got a new player, Witch, who immediately rubbed myself and Fighter the wrong way because she was playing an older, grandmother type, character who... No matter what you said... She knew more than you, or at least as much as you.
Once we got back to the quest NPC, we were paid for the job, and given the option of taking other quests. We did one on an island, it was a poorly narrated place with a simple puzzle that everyone kind of overcomplicated. Typical rpg stuff. Then another, where we got to see Ranger awkwardly flirt with an NPC as a distraction. He was terrible at it, and we all had a great laugh.
I should point out that in each of these sessions we played, DM usually sounded very unprepared, even when we were doing what was clearly intended. He also frequently showed that he was not doing anything to learn the system between sessions. He'd make the same mistakes each week, forget how many actions his NPCs have taken, or even how saves and checks work, frequently using passives, instead of opposed checks. It was frustrating, because we had two brand new players to TTRPGs and we were all new to the game. Yet, it was Fighter and myself, and occasionally Witch as her know-it-all trait wasn't character specific, who were explaining the rules. I even had to correct him on crits once, because he said the number on the attack roll, even with 20, was below the AC. He argued until I showed him the ruling, and he then changed to saying he knew how it worked. Apparently not.
I digress... In game, we did another mission that resulted in our party being ambushed by the noble we had seen at the auction house. The party was then split on motives, as the Witch felt this guy was evil and refused to change her mind, while he told my character he could help her find her biological mother(she was adopted, and there was a lot of familiarities between him and her). Other than what Witch felt about him, and that he was a noble from the invading kingdom, we had no real reason not to trust him. Well, once we were released and able to discuss things, and no matter what anyone did in trying to convince Witch to work with noble, she refused without giving any explanation in or out of character. She just didn't like the guy because of where he was from.
The session ended without us having chosen a side, and we were poised to visit with the noble the next day. The morning of that day, during the next session, Fighter couldn't make it, so we said he went off to talk to someone from his back story, and we went shopping. Rogue got herself a crossbow and Ranger helped teach her how to use it. We then went to a local restaurant my character frequently went to with her adoptive father. This was a fun opportunity for my character to kind of talk about her childhood a bit, how important family is, and some stuff about her dad. When we got there, the Ranger asked what he should order, and my character recommended this huge, expansive breakfast, and I even made up a name for it, the "Hungry Farmers Breakfast" and added that her father proclaimed to have been the first to order it and even named it. Cue our Witch chiming in to say he lied, because this dish is served all across the land. She's eaten it at tons of places.
Now, it's worth mentioning that I had brought it up to DM multiple times that Witch has a know-it-all, one-up whatever you say, personality, and that it really detracts from what others can do. He's said he talked to her about it, and nothing has changed despite that. This, for me, was the last straw. I called her out, and said for her to let us come up with unique character development that we want, and to not steal the wind from our sails. I might have been a bit rude about it, but it was a repeated issue that had yet to be resolved. Witch tried to defend what she said by comparing it to stuff in real life, like from chain restaurants, and I had to point out that they don't tend to have chain restaurants in fantasy worlds, and that this place was specifically a local place.
After that, Witch got quiet and the DM ended the session an hour early because he had stuff to do, and Witch was apparently feeling sick. Supposedly unrelated to being called out. I talked to Rogue and Ranger, and neither of them thought I was out of line, and were sort of feeling the same way about how she was acting. I messaged DM the next day about it, and he promised he'd talk to her again.
I waited a few days, and the Discord server was quiet, and I messaged DM, asking if they had heard back from Witch since they messaged her, and he said he hadn't. He then told me, absolutely out of the blue, that he had a dream of me, that I was holding a baby, and he and I went on a walk together. I... Had never had the misfortune of hearing something like this before, and just promptly tried to change the subject. Fortunately, he went with the change and we talked a bit about Pathfinder stuff. Now, DM knows I'm married, I live in a different country than him, and that I'm... Around 10 years older than him. So, I was very confused as to why he would ever say anything like that to me.
We skipped the next session because two players couldn't make it, and during this time, I asked a lot of people IRL, and in other ttrpg games I'm in about the situation, showing screenshots of the conversation so they had, verbatim, what he said. Everyone, guys and gals, thought it was either super weird, or outright creepy as heck. I agreed, and decided that this would be the last nail in the coffin. Poor descriptions, bad roleplay, terrible rulings, no enthusiasm during actual sessions and suggestions of introducing broken critical failure rules, like permanent injuries or dismemberment into a game with total ttrpg newbies ON TOP of this guy also dreaming about me with a baby. I was done.
I wrote the DM a length explanation, told him how creepy it was, and that I'd be leaving. Wished him well, and waited for his response. To his credit, he didn't explode. But, he did say that I was overreacting because what he said wasn't explicitly sexual or romantic, and so I shouldn't take it that way. Yeah, I'll just take my friend's advice, where she said he was testing the waters with the dream stuff. I told the group I was leaving, without context outside of things just weren't for me. Wished them well.
When I left, Rogue, Ranger and Fighter all stayed in touch and wanted to play more games with me. DM, on the other hand, decided to air out everything that he and I said, sharing screenshots of the conversation and... Yeah. Rogue and Ranger were both kind of shocked by it. Rogue said it was none of her business, and agreed that DM was a creep. Ranger was a bit more forgiving about the dream stuff, but was also offput by the airing of dirty laundry. Fighter left when I did, so he didn't see it.
Tldr: Joined a Pathfinder 2e game where the DM went from incompetent and underwhelming, to really creepy, alongside a player who glorified a gay stereotype, and another who wouldn't let anyone have any cool moment, because she had apparently experienced everything in life, and it was better than whatever you did.
Glad to be out of that group, and now I have Fighter, Rogue and Ranger in a group that I and Fighter take turns DMing one shots in until we can find someone who would like to be a DM for us on a longer form adventure.
All in all, far from the worst horror story, but still an interesting little rollercoaster. I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry if it was a long read.

Crutic felt the realspace reasserted itself with a faint lurch and a rattle of the spaceframe, the darkness behind his eyelids peeled away just in time to witness the streaks of light coalescing into a field of stars. And after that...nothing. Outside of the angry red glow of the indicator lightings around him and the graphics of the instrument cluster before him, he might as well be witnessing a portal into an infinite abyss so dark that his eyes may as well have remained shut. It wasn’t unexpected, though: the brief mission overview had made it abundantly clear that where his flight element was needed was among the interstellar void. The nearest star was nearly three parsecs away and was only called a star as a tribute to its fiery past - its photosphere likely offered its last gimmer millions of years ago. But it never mattered on how much prep was given, it was never a comfortable feeling to know that something is out there in the consuming absence. It was a small solace then, when his sensors chirped to indicate that it had achieved what the Human eye could not and found something out there within seconds. Before the modulated tone of his flight lead even made it through the constant hissing of the life support airflow, Crutic had his hands around the control yoke to disengage his TIE from the Gozanti’s docking tube.
“Target identified as a Ghtroc 720, range three-seventy kicks, armed. Form up to intercept and dissuade.”
The brisk affirmation from himself and Mynock Two and Four was almost drowned out by the whine from the engine as the four Imperial fighters screamed away from their transport and aligned themselves in a rough quadrilateral formation towards the sensor blip. It was drifting, sublights inactive and transponder silent, all in a valiant effort to blend into the interstellar background. But without jammers to further obscure their presence or a cloak to hide it completely, they were simply a something in a sea of nothing. And the moment the occupants realized this and that the Empire was there to do something about it, the engine arrays that flanked either side of the light freighter flared to life.
”Unidentified Ghtroc 720, you are in a restricted sector, return to designated Region 12 volume or face the consequence.”
Despite his attempt at civility, Mynock One and everyone present knew that this wasn’t an accidental drift into the gap between Region 12 and the edge of the greater galaxy; it was merely the latest instance of another group of beings from within that thought that they had the stealth necessary to break the region-wide lockdown. And with no change to their vector, it appeared that this particular group has the will to do a little more resisting. Crutic can’t help but consider a brief flicker of irony in that the energy spent into presently futile evasive flying would be better applied to their hyperdrive to make it to their next jump. As it is, either option would result in the TIEs landing shots on them, but at least the latter would be more…inconvenient for him and his immediate comrades in the long term.
The last warning was issued as the four fighters closed the last hundred kicks and this time a response came through in the form of a pair of crimson bolts fizzling through the formation. And at the same instant, Crutic Jo’ran retreated into the crevasse in the back of his mind and RG-273-76 took his place.
Safeties off. Targeting computer rendered an approximation of the freighter’s saucer shape upon the display. Align it with the crosshair. Target lock shrilled. Squeeze the trigger. Shields rippled violently as green energies hammered home.
Not good enough.
Check surrounding for teammates within immediate maneuvering vectors. Opening between Mynock One and Four. They peeled off after they had done their own run. Good. Pour in speed to gain distance.
Sounds of laser cannons from behind. Dodge. Stabilize as the rain of bolts trailed behind his flight path, too slow. Perform a sharp banking turn to bring the freighter back in front. Check for alignment to target. Sensor flagged a new relevant information: steep power draw on the hyperdrive module.
“Target almost ready to jump,” he notified into the comms, a practiced motion with a hand to divert power from the engines to the laser cannons.
Trigger down. Shields flashed but held. Tough gutkurr of a target, could do with a bomber’s warhead right about now. No time to linger on what is not available, focus on what is available now. Time for another run. Shields ate another strafe-
Mynock Two reports shield failure as explosion flared directly ahead in the profound blackness, revealing the viewport’s spoked features for the first time. Apply maximum deflection of etheric rudder to avoid the blast, clench against the inertia. Beads of molten metal showered the fighter chassis, but nothing to prompt damage notification.
A little too close for comfort, will have to talk to Two later.
Mynock Four snarled his own displeasure and reported his intent to break off due to damage sustained on his starboard radiator array. No time to worry about him, as long as the target is not disabled. Loop high over target, reacquire lock. Send down pelting fire across the freighter’s dorsal power conduit. Something exploded and their portside sunlight array wavered.
New target. Engine endured a respectable volley before belching out a blast of unfocused ionized particles with most of its glowing innards, submitting the starship into an uncontrolled yaw.
A sudden garble of noises filled his helmet as he directed his focus to the starboard engines, and before his thumb had a chance to render that to equally inoperable slag, a stilted Galactic Basic superimposed itself on top of the audio intrusion.
“Stop! Imperials, stop! We surrender!”
Crutic found himself sucking in a lungful of the stale, cool air as he recognized the Aqualish language and its translator assisted intentions. The rest of the Mynock flight also shared this moment of realization as they broke off from their attack vectors. Well, most of them anyway. At some point Mynock Four became a barely visible trail of titanium and quadanium steel. No life signs. Dank farrik.
”Ghtroc 720, power down immediately and stand by for boarding.” Mynock One’s voice had been level, but there was no denying that those benign words were layered with vitriol that preemptively silenced any kind of protest the other party might want to say. After a few satisfied seconds, the seething hatred dissipated as he changed frequency to the Gozanti to confirm that the onboard boarding party was prepared for the task.
Not long later, the frequency switched back to local and started with a deep sigh that Crutic could practically hear the muscles unclench itself. ”Mynock Flight, systems check.”
“Mynock Two, all systems nominal.”
”Mynock Three, likewise,” Crutic said, examining the reading his flight systems were offering him. Though, in the back of his mind, he could virtually hear the choice words picked by the maintenance team about the surface defects that were received during his near-miss of the explosion. At least he can point the blame to Two this time.
“Good, perform one last sensor sweep before redocking with the Deliverance and meet up at the main hold for debrief.”
A pair of affirmations later, the trio flowed over the crippled freighter at maximum sensor sweep to detect any kind of trap or other possible hindrances for the Gozanti boarding party. They also made sure to fly as uncomfortably close to the freighter as realistically plausible. Although the occupants surely wouldn’t see them, they will make sure they can hear them as loud as their aural sensors are willing to emulate, and hope that the distinctive howl of the twin ion engines resonate deep within the instinctive part of their psyche. The scans turned up nothing more than some dozen beings crammed in its cargo hold, and with that, they pulled back to give a wide berth to the docking Gozanti before connecting with it themselves. What happened next was out of their hands, they have an after action report to perform. With a layer of grief in their hearts.
***
While the return to Marjora Space was a transit that took only a matter of minutes, the sublight transit from the system’s edge to the Decadence was long enough to complete the debrief to an educational amount of detail, clean up, and prepare for the early departure. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a month or so more until the patrol rotation brought them back to the star destroyer low in Majora Prime’s atmosphere, but the recent development had details to iron out. Such as the prisoners they now have board that needed to go through processing - and if they looked like the stormtroopers were rougher with them than necessary, Crutic had chosen not to comment - and registering the loss of a member and securing their replacement. All of that meant at least a few days of shore leave.
At least, what actually constitutes a “shore leave” for the Imperials. It was anybody’s guess on how well the collective bulkhead of owned and affiliated starships, bases, and outposts have achieved a semblance of civilian life where enlisted and officers alike could loosen their mask of professionalism and indulge in a slice of greater society beyond their duty to the Imperial preservation and continuation. It was never intended to interfere with the military aspects and readiness, to be sure, but being surrounded slightly-different-walls and training bouts that might have been less about fitness and more about unspoken exchange of credits sets the scene for much needed stimulation to distract from the monotony of service. It was also an open secret that the galaxy’s assortment of liquid courage and other vile substances that Crutic would begrudge someone for partaking had slipped past regulation and formed an elusive enterprise that based themselves in various need-to-know locations. And the less said about the “flecks of inspiration” fresh from the Sapius Corp mines the better.
That being said, not all non-standard marketplace have to be so despicable, there were also demands from the more respectable members of society: the market for local goods. Ranging from simply a more comfortable clothing that could be worn under uniforms to prevent chafing to non-regulation but cozy blankets to keep warm during power rationing wherever one get stationed, or - one that Crutic is currently partaking in - foods that is used to supplement the stubborn mess droid’s nutritionally balanced but nonetheless dreary meals. Today was some kind of fried fish topped with a grated and pickled Marjora native seafloor tuber, courtesy of “The Shuttle Pilot” in the Decadence’s forward hangar’s armory. It wasn’t ba’buir Eres-Cruzia’s squirmer tiingilar that viciously strikes at the nose, but it was enough of a comfort food to dull the edges to a rough day.
A sigh brought back the reprimanding words of FS-273-4 - then, Mynock One - to the forefront of his mind. Yes, HG-273-81 - Mynock Two - shouldn’t have shot the target when there were friendly within the field of fire, but it was Crutic that blocked Mynock Four’s view of his projected flight path that costed him the necessary reaction time to recognize the explosion that crippled his craft and subsequently made him easy pickings for the freighter’s turret. It was an honest mistake, if a costly one. A life and an entire TIE fighter, the former a loyal member of the Empire and the latter an entire craft worth of irreplaceable components, gone to deep space. It wasn’t an uncommon occasion in the attrition against time, but missed all the same. With a sharp breath and an exertion of will, he suppressed the emotional baggage and sank into another crumbly bite to focus on its fishy, floral flavors that accompanied the textureless slurry of carbs and fiber methodically dispensed upon his metal platter.
Unable to keep it idle for long, his mind suggested the possibility of stopping by the star destroyer’s training facility, its spacious quality an allure to contrast against the cramped confines of the Gozantis. The notion was immediately dashed by a mouse droid that weaved through the forest of legs and beckoned for his attention. And with it came the news that his immediate future would be occupied by a debatably better use of his time. Downing the last of the vitamin enriched baked cuboid with a glass of water, he dismissed the droid and deposited the tray onto the outgoing conveyor on his way out of the mess hall. Helmet replaced securely on his head, he tackled the maze-like corridors and the necessary turbolifts at a brisk jog that eventually deposited him in front of the comms substation. The naval troopers guarding the room eyed him briefly before offering a nod of recognition and returning their bored stare at the opposite wall, implicitly granting him access to the inner workings.
With no combat situations or priority broadcast in effect to demand its full use, the ship’s comms served as a node that services a miniscule bandwidth to the greater galactic network. To the Imperial personnel with investment to the wider galaxy, it was a treasured peephole. It was monitored, of course, but it was a small price to pay for the privilege to be in touch with family and friends. Such as the case for Crutic. An exchange of relevant information to the comms operator later, a small monitor on the wall buzzed to life and resolved into a grainy image of a familiar woman that warmed something deep within his being.
”Su’cuy, buyca’kov,” she greeted, the sarcasm in her voice somehow making it through the heavy warping and choppiness of signal loss.
Crutic paused in his process of unraveling the layers of his persona for a second to grimaced slightly from what he considered to be an uncultured greeting; although the jab at the end served as a reminder that his helmet was still on, an issue he fixed immediately in one smooth motion.
“Hey, Lythsia, are ba’buire home?”
His half-sister took a few seconds to receive the message before shaking her head, assuming that’s what the poorly captured head blur would suggest. ”No, ba’buir Allisyr is out of business meeting down south ba’buir Eres is in the shop. It’s restock day.”
“It’s a miracle that you are at home at all!” Crutic offered a smile he reserved for a few beings in the entire Galaxy. While he had wanted to at least exchange pleasantries to his grandparents after a few long months, he is more than glad to share the time with his sibling.
“Oh, I could be elsewhere too if that’s what you prefer.”
“No, you’ll do,” he paused for a few seconds before speaking again, andt this time, his voice was grim, “how’re things out there?”
Lythsia gave an expression that’s hard to read through both the video’s low resolution and just the mix of emotions that fought for dominance in mere seconds. “If you mean the rebels, they are still focusing their efforts at Coruscant. We haven't really heard much about their interaction with the Governor after the demand for disarmament.”
“So you're holding up?”
“The ‘New Republic’ doesn’t bother my sector much. Shame, I got a backlog of datacard I’m fully willing to let someone ‘liberate’.”
Crutic could feel his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he shot a glance at the comm operator, who didn’t seem to take much notice about the details of the conversation. Of course, he has no reason to suspect his sister of treacherous thoughts as she is an alumni of SAGEducation, but it never hurts to be cautious against misinterpretations.
“Lythisa…”
”I know, I know, I shouldn’t joke about these things. But honestly? I don't know how long it would hold out. The talking heads up top don’t give a gundark’s sheb about who taxes them at the end of the day. And our government is too worried about the lack of star destroyers to correct that.”
Crutic sighed and scratched at his hair, untangling a few helmet-induced knots along the way. It seems like that was a trend that would progressively get worse as the years went by. Not that he can do anything about it, he has an obligation here in Region 12, and it’s entirely up to the whims of Admiral Jaquinn - and Governor Ryehall above him - to see if they plan to do anything about the anarchy going on in the galaxy.
“Well, anything good happen since we last spoke?”
Lythisa thought for a long moment - or the video feed froze, hard to say - before she shrugged. ”Team Uviuy made it through the preliminary in Galactic Cup, there’s that.”
A light chuckle escaped his lips at the new topic. As far as good news goes, it was quite low bar but he could at least appreciate the effort to ease the tension. He chose to latch onto it. “Think they will make it to at least the Semi-Finals?”
“Only if Team Fondor gets disqualified.”
“So that’s a no.”
”Last time Uviuy even got close to the podium, the Unknown Regions was still being charted.”
Crutic offered a puzzled expression at what appeared to be a trivia, given that the subject referenced was self-defining. “It still is-”
”Exactly,” Lythsia face was smug.
The conversations continued amicably, delving onwards from sport recaps to a prod at Lythsia's quest for romance and the subsequent defense of her character by criticizing her now-former-partners despite him having never met them, which naturally lead her to remind him that he should be more worried about his own lack of engagements. And inevitably brought the focus back on his activities for the last few months that wasn't obscured by confidentiality.
But far too soon, a movement by the doorway signaled that his allotted time had ran out. The monitor blacked with his sister's parting words, leaving behind a pang of wistful homesickness to swirl in his mind, as it always tended to do after such a session. And as he has done before and will do in the coming times, he took a moment to regained his composure. A process where vulnerability abdicate its role to the facade that grew away from the tender care. One of arrogance, pride, and ruthlessness; but also one of conviction, determination, and intensity. One of an Imperial pilot. As the helmet consumed his head, his soul stilled and he stepped forth down the grey halls with renewed resolve.

Over the last month Jagex invited a handful of talented content creators (as listed here) to come out to Jagex HQ to check out and play test the new Necromancy skill as a first look.
However, not really mentioned, but the OSRS side of Jagex also invited at least one, if not more OSRS creators to check out the new content recently for their version of the game as well. I can recall, but cannot find the clip of Purespam commenting on the rerelease of Bounty Hunter off the top of my head, however here is proof of him going to Jagex HQ to at least provide feedback as one of multiple playtesters on the upcoming Desert Treasure 2 content in a similar time frame.
Josh Strife Hayes is an established MMO reviewer that was also invited to Jagex during the same time frame, unannounced to the public, to give constructive criticism of the early game of RS3 ahead of the Necromancy release (even getting a selfie with our man Waydots.) He speaks openly in that video about how passionate and talented and phenomenal the content creators visiting Jagex were doing high level things. However he was the only one asking questions at the lower level that no one thinks about. He pretty much nailed the head on what makes RS3 combat suck to learn and why EoC pretty much failed us when it comes to a tutorial on the intricacies of how combat works.
Now keep in mind, I'm a 20 year old veteran, w/ 5.6b xp, so I'm no newb to this game, so I understand how difficult it would be to integrate tutorial island into the Burthrope pathing system into trying to explaining the EoC combat system into a tutorial might be. That's impossible. You want to try and explain the basic concept of skills into the game (ie woodcutting->fishing->firemaking->cooking), try and explain that it's a sandbox MMO, then explain how complex the combat can be (stuns, bleeds, adrenaline, thresholds, ults, etc), and I don't know how that's possible to streamline that all in one encompassing "tutorial".
So, the point of this post? I was hoping some of the community managers could fill us in of any progress made by meeting with people like Josh Strife Hayes and any if their meetings helped them gain insight on how to grow the game or if their input has made any sort of difference and if so, how.
If not, was there was anyone who could help with making combat easier to understand besides sticking us with a basic revo bar and saying "this is why the things are this way" and skipping over all the reasons to pay attentions to stuns/bleeds or when/why you should use defensive abilities. You're never really taught why you should use them or when. How could you incorporate these ideas into a tutorial of combat and when and why you should use them in a teaching/tutorial capacity? Prime example, I'm a Comp'd player who is 200m in all skills and I've still to this day never learned the timing or use of the Resonance ability. That should be an issue of concern.
In conclusion, pardon my ramblings. Jmods, if you see this, great. I hope to hear back from you. If not, I get it, please continue to be the rockstars you are.

In my reading about the Jeju Island massacre, there seems to be an implication that there was a fairly strong nationalist-communist movement in the South back then (i.e: all of Korea should be one country, and that country should be communist). The South Korean government certainly feared it, given what they did during that time.
However, in the modern context, pan-Korean nationalism seems very weak in both North and South, with reunification a "eh, maybe some day." Communism as a political movement also seems pretty much dead, which is not too surprising given how the North turned out. Still, are there any people who advocated for the North during that time period who are still around? Do they have any regrets?

Another u/cream trees rant
Anyway I feel like the main reason why suburbs are shifting so quickly to the left is simply because a lot of them are upper middle class socially liberal white people .
And the Republicans extreme social conservatism is slowly but surely turning them off to the Republican party.
And since the Democrats and Republicans have very similar fiscal stances both of them being fairly fiscally conservative they seem to be pretty okay starting to vote Democrat.
Which is why I feel if Republicans were to just moderate themselves on their social stances, things like abortion gay marriage trans issues ETC, they could very easily sweep the country.
Like the suburbs would probably most likely Fall back to the Republicans.
And they would probably also keep their gains in the rural areas.
And that would probably cause States like Ohio and Iowa to become deep Republican strongholds think Tennessee or Alabama type situation.
It would probably push Georgia and North Carolina back to the Republicans by like at least r + 10 or so.
Arizona and Nevada would also probably become pretty Republican as well.
They would definitely be able to gain ground in Oregon Washington and Illinois although I highly doubt they would ever win those States bar from extreme Republican wave years.
Michigan would probably become one of the more penultimate swing States while Pennsylvania and Wisconsin become red leaning.
Maine and New Hampshire would also probably slot themselves in the competitive category.
They would also probably be able to make some inroads in New Jersey and New York but again never win them again barring exceptional circumstances.
Maybe even some inroads in Connecticut Rhode Island and Delaware.
I think Colorado could also be slotted back into the competitive scene same thing with Virginia especially Virginia actually.
Texas would probably go back to its Republican stronghold. and New Mexico would probably slot itself in a more leaning Democratic position as opposed to its likely Democratic position currently.
I think the main reason for this would be because if Republicans took a relatively similar stance to more moderate Democrats on social issues apart from say immigration and guns it would be pretty hard to tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans as they have very similar fiscal beliefs and the only thing that would differentiate them from that point would be immigration and guns and the United States public has shown itself to be fairly conservative on both of those issues.

Grew up cooking on gas grills and now have my own house. This is my first summer there and I’m debating on getting a charcoal over gas. My only question really is how attentive do you have to be? Hosting a party at the end of the month and I’ll be involved with the bar, games, quick home tours etc so I might have to step away for a few minutes every so often

My husband and I (mid 50s) will be visiting for a couple of days two weeks from now. It will be my fifth time, his first. I will be 8 weeks out from ACL reconstruction surgery, so I should not walk as much as I normally would. 2-3 miles will be fine, and I can handle a flight or two of stairs, but I shouldn't spend too much time on my feet. My surgeon has okayed the trip as long as I avoid Times Square.
My ideas of things to do while sitting down are: see shows, eat food, ride ferries, sit outside listening to music, and sit in a comfortable place having a nice beverage. I would appreciate any advice about doing those things and any other ideas of things to do.
We're coming from the west coast, so we will be sleeping in and staying up late (we normally are up from 6am - 11pm, so what we would consider late is not really very late for a lot of people).
So far this is the itinerary:
Friday Arrive EWR at 8 am Take train to Penn Station Drop bags at Moxy times square Find food to eat 12:30 - 2:30 live piano at Bryant Park Hopefully room is ready by now, go back to hotel and rest 5:00pm dinner at Kochi 7:00pm Funny Girl 10 pm Find food and drinks
Saturday Eat bagels (Liberty Bagels is close) Take the St. George ferry from W 39th to Staten Island. Take the St. George ferry back up to Battery Park, see 9/11 memorial, eat at Eataly Take subway back to hotel Alternate idea: Take St George ferry to Staten Island, then Staten island ferry back to whitehall, then take east river ferry to East 34th. Fit lunch in somewhere. Rest at hotel, or find a nice park or something Eat dinner somewhere, probably in Hell's Kitchen, maybe Tradisyon? 8:00pm Hadestown 11pm more food and drink if needed
Sunday Need to be at the airport by 1:30 (flight leaves at 3:30 but we have brunch reservations at United's "secret" restaurant)
Any ideas, especially for places we could sit outdoors and hear live (but not too loud) music?
There's a ridiculous looking bar on the roof of our hotel called Magic Hour, should we check it out? It's not the sort of place we'd normally go but it's right there.
Thanks for any advice, and thanks for all the advice you've given other people. I've learned a lot from browsing this subreddit.

Finished Skyward Sword yesterday. I liked it. Wii version btw.
Controls Guess the first thing to mention is the controls. You kind of have to since, motion controls are like half the identity of Skyward Sword. Well, first is to mention the non-motion controls. They’re fine. No problem there, as you would expect.
Anyway, I was okay with the motion controls. Well, I thought I was. For the most part the motion controls really just made certain things a bit more or a lot more cumbersome. So that was okay, I thought. Like, makes throwing bombs kinda annoying and stuff, and also they use motion controls in areas where it has no business being used of course, but even then I dealt with it fine. The only time it really annoyed me was in the stupid harp mingame in the pumpkin bar. Took me seven goddamn tries to beat it! So yeah, I thought it was still fine except that after beating the game I happened to play some Twilight Princess HD. Hadn’t played it in awhile and disc was nearby so why not?
Well, that certainly made Skyward Sword look worse. I thought I was generally okay with the motion controls but then playing TP it’s like, oh my god this is so much better. I can do exactly what I want when I want and not have to be overly careful with certain actions because of motion stuff. So yeah. I was kind of okay with the controls but it’s not something that made the game better for the most part
Other gameplay stuff
So yeah, Fi pops up way too much. Everyone knows this but yeah like you’ll enter a room in a dungeon there is this thing that could take a little time to notice or figure out but Fi jumps out and spoils the damn thing lol.
Dowsing is a gimmick. It’s kinda lame but not the worse thing ever.
The items you get, I think that they are not that strong. The three new items are the gust bellow, Whip, and beetle. None of these items are truly new items. The gust bellow is a lamer version of the gust jar. Like, in Minish Cap that item could blow things, suck things up, do thing like pull in mushrooms to cross gaps, suck things, shoot them out, etc. The Gust Bellow is just clearing dust and blowing the propellers. Yeah, pretty weak. The whip is like the grappling hook and uh, yeah. It can pull some levers and stuff but come on, that’s not that interesting. Beetle is the hyoi pear in Wind Waker. This time it actually can do more though and has various useful upgrades. It’s a consistently useful thing and it’s cool. Bombs can also be rolled instead of just thrown overhead, so that’s neat even though I avoided using bombs when necessary because I didn’t like the controls for them. But compare this to Twilight Princess. The boomerang is basically the end result of additional features being added to it over the series. Wind Waker added the multi lock-on and Twilight added the wind effect. The Iron Boots had a whole new dimension added with the magnet walking thing. The Clawshots, instead of the upgrade being longer, you get two, which is more interesting for sure. The equivalent of the hammer type weapon is pretty much the ball and chain, and it stands out a lot more compared to the magic/megaton/skull hammer. The Spinner while limited (If you ever wished the Spinner was more useful, try Unsighted btw) was such a unique idea. I don’t think there was anything quite like it before. You get the idea. Oh yeah, the upgrade for the digging gloves was cool (Partially since one too many of the items in Skyward Sword are just the “use the thing on the thing” type) but I got tired of it so very quickly since there’s a cutscene to go underground, you have to use stamina to move faster, attacking is annoying, etc.
Stamina. I think it was handled fine. I will say that I think stamina made more sense in Skyward Sword then it did in BotW/TotK. Although again, playing Twilight Princess right after, I didn’t miss not having stamina one bit.
Combat. It’s what you expect out of 3D Zelda pre-BotW. This time they actually make use of the different directional slashes and stuff. First time you could parry enemy attacks I think. Also the vertical spin attack is really cool.
Silent Realm. I loved these. These were some of the best parts of the entire game.
Boss rush. I consider this to be the single worst implementation of a boss rush I have ever seen in a game. 3D Zelda bosses are not the most suited for a boss rush, but it’s worse here. Every time you defeat a boss you have to go through dialogue. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Why? And then the Imprisoned is part of boss rush? My god. Didn’t bother with clearing the whole thing. Just got the Hylian Shield then quit because I didn’t want to risk failing the third Imprisoned fight and losing everything. Really, really bad.
The Imprisoned. I didn’t mind the second refight because there was a good amount of time between the first two fights and there was a new mechanic added. But for the third to happen so soon afterwards? Really?
The sky. So, I heard the sky was empty. And it is. I didn’t mind that much though. Ironically Skyward Sword has the emptiest overworld in addition to the densest overworld among 3D Zeldas.
Environment variety. This is one of the biggest issues with Skyward Sword I feel. You have the three main zones and revisit them repeatedly. But first, was it necessary to have a desert and a volcano zone? I mean, you only have three, so I would think you would want to have them be as distinct as possible. For the desert to be after the volcano, it does feel repetitious. But you revisit the forest later and go to the lake, that’s fine I guess. It’s a new area although you just kinda go through it. The volcano, the other area is more volcano. The desert? Well, more desert. It all looks very samey. There’s even two fire temples, which doesn’t help.
Out of the 3D Zeldas I’ve played I think Skyward Sword feels the most “video-gamey.” The overworld areas being so dense is part of the problem. While I was okay with it in this game, I don’t need to see it return. It has a real negative effect on the way the world feels. It feels the least organic. Like, there’s all these things around and it was/is all for this little platforming challenge or small puzzle or whatever. Like, it obviously feels like “oh yeah, this is this small challenge to get around this or find this thing” and much of the world is like that. Having only one town that is disconnected from the areas contributes to the feeling. The sky world too, since it’s largely empty it feels a bit like a glorified level select hub. Like, compare the Twilight World parts in Twilight Princess and the Silent Realm in Skyward Sword. In Twilight these areas are a part of the story. You are adventuring around trying to find the tears while also listening to people and stuff. The Silent Realm is purely a gameplay challenge. It's specifically for that. It doesn't feel like a part of the world, it's a challenge to overcome.
Padding. Yeah, there’s a lot of it. How much it bothers you depends obviously. I heard of the Tadtones but that didn’t bother me much. Had good music, swimming was enjoyable enough, yeah. The other region equivalents were fine too but yeah it’s undeniable. The biggest issue is that it comes at the cost of the feeling of adventure. Like, going to new areas and stuff. Tough to feel that way when you have only three areas and you go back to them over and over and.
Shield durability, crafting stuff, collectibles. I don’t really know why the shield durability was a thing. It doesn’t add much to the game. My guess is that either they were overcompensating because of how powerful the shield in the previous two 3D Zeldas was and/or they needed to have more stuff for you to use money/materials on. The crafting materials is part of a long-standing problem the Zelda series has had that is still a thing to this very day in the newer games. I mentioned this in my TotK post I think but Zelda games after some point started to feel like they didn’t have enough interesting permanent things to find in the world. Like, it’s mainly rupees, less commonly pieces of heart and even more rarely more unique one of a kind rewards. It wasn’t a problem with the smaller games but the when you increase the scale of the game, you need to also followup with the stuff to find. The issue is very obvious in Skyward Sword because it’s like, gee, we don’t have enough interesting things in the world so let’s have a bunch of random bugs and junk to collect to be used in the mainly pointless durability system and upgrades. If you had the upgrade system in previous Zelda games what would be the cost? Money. Just money. But now you need money and other random stuff. I feel like it was what led to some of the stuff in BotW. There’s actually a handful of things in BotW that came directly from Skyward Sword, ironically enough.
Timeshift Stones were fun. The devs thought so apparently given how much they use the mechanic. Still, it was interesting enough to where it didn’t get old.
Dungeons were fine. I feel like I’ve heard people seriously hype of the SS dungeons and I didn’t really see it. Maybe my expectations were too high but yeah the Sandship did stand out. The sliding puzzle dungeon was also cool although the speed brought it down.
Adventure’s Pouch. This was a cool idea. I would say it’s a shame this didn’t return but BotW was the next one. Although I’m sure they still could’ve had this in some way, like you can choose between more space for weapons or more space for food. Something.
The medals are a neat idea although the actual medals themselves are uninteresting. Charms from Hollow Knight these are not.
Tedium. This is an issue. The repeated visits to areas, Fi popping up then needed, the pauses when you pick up crafting materials, crafting, etc.
Story
So, about the story. Over the years I knew plenty of things about Skyward Sword but I never actually played it until now. One of the things I heard about was that it was more story and/or character driven. Like, it’s pretty apparent at the beginning of the game with the thing between Link, Zelda, and Groose. But that’s the thing. That rivalry/love triangle/whatever is a thing…...at the beginning. Like, what I saw of Zelda at the start made her pretty much my favorite version of the character in the series. And then it basically goes away for 90% of the game. Zelda herself disappears almost entirely. Zelda being out of commission for most of the game is nothing new to Zelda games but it’s worse here because of lively she was at the start. To have all that just for it to vanish is why it sucks so much.
Like, I thought there is this rivalry thing with Groose but after the game starts for real you don’t see him until like three dungeons later. Wtf?
So yeah, the characters had this promise but it doesn’t pay off when they aren’t present for much of the game. The other stuff like the master sword, well I don’t know if we really needed to know how it came to be. It’s fine, but whatever. Girahim is fine. Just fine. Fi, well nobody cares about this non-character, but I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said before.
Music
Some nice songs. Some highlights were the bamboo island theme, miniboss theme, and Lake Floria Underwater.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvA1h3P2ddY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ilC01aCgF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L59rsOOZ1KY
End
Anyway yeah. I enjoyed the game although I think it started to run out of steam in the later part. Not one of my favorite Zeldas but still enjoyable enough. I’ll go through it again someday on the HD version instead but that likely won’t be anytime soon. Lastly, I can see how this led to BotW since certain things started to become predictable in the series.

This post is an overview of the blackmail tactics used to control most of the influential people and governments around the world. Obviously I cannot cover everything in a single post, so as with my previous posts I highly encourage you to research further yourself. All sources and links are at the bottom of the post. An understanding of what trauma-based mind control programming (MKULTRA/MONARCH) is, and how it works, is again necessary to understanding much of this. My other posts here:

• Deep Underground Military Bases
  
• Alice in Wonderland Programming
  
• Overview of the Mind Control Running our World
  

The world is run on blackmail, mind control, and shame.
There exist many collections of videotapes of 'high-up' people engaging in some of the worst, sickest things imaginable. Drugs, torture, pedophilia, and murder are common themes to these videos. These tapes are in the hands of many different people, groups, and especially intelligence agencies. 'Honey-trap' operations are constantly being run to gather compromising and incriminating evidence on people of importance. Child slaves will be used to compromise people on video. Global leaders are often covertly videotaped doing perverted things with sex slaves sent to them by intelligence agencies, the Illuminati, or other groups, and this is then leveraged. Rape and murder of a child (forced or not), one of the most repulsive things possible, is many times filmed to ensure future compliance.
"Back in 1966, Rothstein became the first police detective assigned to investigate the prostitution industry. Almost immediately he discovered an underground sexual blackmail operation that compromised politicians with child prostitutes. ‘Human Compromise’ is what he labelled the honey-trap process. Rothstein and his colleagues found that approximately 70 percent of top US Government leaders were compromised in this way. Rothstein said, the CIA conducted the human compromise operation, while the FBI was tasked with covering up any leaks."

• Fiona Barnett [6]

"One of the things I found out over the last ten years of studying governments and listening to intelligence and counter-intelligence is that those in government are sexually compromised, and their sexual secrets are collected and then they are promoted into governments and into judiciaries and into all the positions of importance. Paedophilia is the preferred dirt as it is easily photographed, easily presented in a range of media, immensely shameful, and the public demands your resignation."

• Greg Hallett [12]

"Paul Bonacci, one of the victim-witnesses in the Franklin affair, also clearly stated Larry King used him in blackmail operations in New York and Washington. The latter was in connection with the activities of a close associate of Larry King, Craig Spence, who was involved in a prostitution ring consisting of underaged boys that were supplied to Washington's upper class, which went right up to the White House."

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"Sexually bent politicians in denial of their sexuality to the public are a threat to their own country and policies. They are easily setup, photographed, politically bribed, toppled, and supported in the destruction of their country. This method of altering a country’s policies is epidemic and now endemic to politics."

• Greg Hallett [12]

"Bob (Hope) was politically connected and knew how to lure people in and insure they would work for him. He invited them to his parties and dangled various kinds of illegal or immoral perversions in their faces. Once their perversions were uncovered, he could blackmail or control them. That is how Bob worked. Bob was very good at this. I watched him do it to people over and over. He lured them in, detected their weaknesses, then used that knowledge in his favor, for his connections, and ultimately for his personal gain."

• Brice Taylor [5]

These blackmail 'practices' are often used in conjunction with trauma-based mind control. This mind control is an integral component of, and is deeply intertwined with child trafficking, sex slavery, Satanic ritual abuse, and many other horrific crimes. Many of the children used for blackmail are programmed, and many of the people being blackmailed (including (sometimes future) politicians, leaders, presidents, etc.) are also programmed themselves.
"My personal belief, based on my experiences, is that over the years, more leaders were under mind control."

• Brice Taylor [5]

"Fritz Springmeier notes that 'It is a standard tactic of the Illuminati, their New World Order and its various branches to use fear and blackmail to bring people into line.' Cheryl Beck had a 'sexy Sadie' program that was used to blackmail government and military people as a child prostitute seductress. Cathy O’Brien’s daughter Kelly was 'being prostituted to the CIA for blackmail purposes.' Svali notes that using child prostitutes to blackmail political leadership outside of the Illuminati was very common."

• Veronica Swift [10]

"Beryl-Green said Epstein knew about MKULTRA. He was into mind-controlling victims and satanic ritual abuse (SRA). Epstein was into DNA mixing, human cloning and he knew about New World Order plans."

• Hope Beryl-Green [17]

"This dirty game has been honed to a fine art, which is a standard feature of the Illuminati/intelligence groups. The CIA term for blackmail is an 'OK FIX.' When they use a person’s past sins to force someone to do something they refer to this as 'biographic leverage.' Any weak point in a person can and will be exploited. Sexual entrapment for blackmail is referred to as a 'HONEY TRAP'. Black widow alters are being trained and sent out for this purpose. In order to blackmail, or threaten, you have to have something to threaten the person with. Men are frequently entrapped by sexual behavior which is criminal. Sometimes they are also entrapped by murder. The Monarch slave will be allowed to have children so that they can be blackmailed into complying to save the children or grandchildren. The Monarch slave in turn may be used to blackmail others. Certain alters are trained in this. A Monarch Beta model is highly trained in seduction. Many politicians and ministers are operating under blackmail today. The extent that blackmail is being used by the NWO would boggle people’s minds. Porn films are taken of the Monarch victims, so that they can be used to blackmail the victim. Monarch victims are forced to commit ritual murders which are photographed and then used to blackmail the mind-controlled victim."

• Fritz Springmeier [15]

Intelligence agencies all over the world utilize blackmail, routinely employing and exploiting it as much as possible. It is an extremely important 'tool' of theirs. Operations are done to gather the incriminating evidence.
"Other 'neutralisations' verge on the bizarre. An individual who must remain nameless for a variety of reasons - but whose name is known to this writer - underwent an experience that is both horrific and chilling. I shall call this individual 'Mr. X' or, simply, 'X'. Mr. X was a leader of one of the largest CIA-backed Contra groups. He recently testified before the US Senate Intelligence Committee. Formerly, X was a senior executive in a South American subsidiary of a leading US soft drinks corporation. During his Senate testimony, he denied any knowledge of CIA involvement in the narcotics trade, adding that condoning such activity would have been foreign to his way of life. Not so, says Tatum. Mr. X had been recruited into the CIA by then-Director William Casey, with the assistance of Oliver North. In 1990, when Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega announced there would be 'free elections', X was ecstatic. He began jostling for position and asked President Bush to ensure he be given a prominent position in the new government - in return for his years of toil at the behest of the CIA and the Enterprise. The pressure came in a form that Bush could not ignore. Failure to help his friend would result in X's intimate knowledge of Bush's involvement in the dope trade being made public. His threat left Bush with a sour taste. A Pegasus team was assigned to 'neutralise' him in early 1990. Mr. X, Tatum states, 'fancied himself a lover of women. Tall, large-breasted blondes were his favourite. It was determined that, if effectively neutralised, [X] could be an asset. Therefore, it was decided that intimidation would be used to control [X].' They chose to use the drug Scopolamine, which also went by the nickname 'Burundanga' or 'the Voodoo drug'. The drug is extracted from the pods of a flowering shrub that grows in remote regions of South America. In its processed, powdered form, Scopolamine is 'void of smell, void of taste'. When properly administered 'it causes absolute obedience' without this being 'observable by others'. Importantly, the target will not recall any of the events that occurred during the period they were under the spell of the drug. Tatum states that X was invited to spend a relaxing weekend at a luxury hotel as a guest of his friend George Bush. His host for the weekend was a trusted 18-year veteran field-intelligence officer. The evening started with cocktails and was followed by a fine meal. ''Nothing but the best' were the orders.' Following the meal, he was ushered into the suite of a 'blonde bombshell' supplied by the CIA. Mr. X had already ingested a dose of Burundanga during pre-dinner cocktails. X was gallant with the blonde as they both moved into the bedroom where video cameras were already set up in one corner. In short order, the blonde had X standing naked in front of her and began to indulge his desires. All the while, the video cameras whirred. Slowly stripping off, the 'blonde' revealed his manhood in all its glory. Mr. X was instructed to reciprocate the favour and perform fellatio. He obliged, his intimate activities recorded at 24 frames a second on videotape. Tatum says the male prostitute was hired from a bar in New York and killed that same evening. Two weeks later, X - wholly unaware of the events of that evening - was visited in Nicaragua. He was presented with a copy of the video footage, along with instructions. Tatum says that X can never allow that video to be seen: 'Not only does it reveal his homosexuality, but it also reveals his bestiality and satanic worship rituals.' As frame after frame flicked by, X reportedly wept, forced to watch himself kill his homosexual 'lover' and then engage in the most grisly cannabalistic ritual imaginable. Neutralised, Mr. X became a leading member of the Nicaraguan government a few short weeks later."

• The Pegasus File [13]

"Check out the FBI records on Scarlett: What was his original HOOK that got him so deeply embedded into UK Illuminati culture? He murdered the nanny of Lord Lucan in the 1970's. Lucan wasn't actually involved. Scarlett got it wrong. He was under mind control at the time. How we all laughed on his training sessions when we heard that one. Not funny, really. We were all in the same boat. Each had something terrible attached to us, in our past. That is all part and parcel of the Illuminati contract. Young people forced under mind control to commit murder when young and then later on, picked up by British Intelligence to be used and abused as they wished - as loyal servants of the British Crown. One can only hope that by exposing these HOOKS, that some sort of amnesty can prevail. If these people are freed from the demonic Illuminati contract by exposing their HOOKS - one can only hope that they will come forward as a sizeable and influential body of political and public figures, in order to put an end to it. Here's hoping. Check out Rimington's hook to see what sort of mind ran MI5 for so long. It's a game called 'mafia' and it is ALL about blackmail."

• Ex MI6 [2]

"...He had previously signed off on Epstein’s 'sweetheart deal' because Epstein 'had belonged to intelligence.' Acosta, then serving as US attorney for Southern Florida, had also been told by unspecified figures at the time that he needed to give Epstein a lenient sentence because of his links to 'intelligence.'"

• Whitney Webb [4]

"Detective Rothstein found that the CIA were behind a blackmail operation in which child prostitutes were used to honey-trap and compromise politicians, military brass, top businessmen, and key government officials. Rothstein, who arrested the key Watergate perpetrator, said Watergate solely concerned this human compromise racket, and specifically was an attempt to obtain a list of compromised pedophile VIPs and their proclivities that was held at the Democratic National Headquarters."

• Fiona Barnett [8]

"Michael Aquino was in the military. He had top Pentagon clearances. He was a pedophile. He was a Satanist. He founded the Temple of Set. And he was a close friend of Anton LaVey. The two of them were very active in ritualistic sexual abuse. And they deferred funding from this government program to use in this experimentation on children. Where they deliberately split off the personalities of these children into multiples, so that when they're questioned or put under oath or questioned under lie detector, that unless the operator knows how to question a multiple-personality disorder, they turn up with no evidence. They used these kids to sexually compromise politicians or anyone else they wish to have control of...they were taken to be used by professional pedophiles. People that have the money to buy what they want, take the kids wherever they want...and by splitting the children’s personalities they could then train each one of the personalities to do a different function. And the rest of the personalities within that host personality would not be aware of it or remember it."

• Noreen Gosch, Johnny Gosch's mother (of the 'Franklin Boys') [1]

"Vinson also told Nick Bryant that Spence and Larry King were 'partners' and 'hooked up with the CIA', stating specifically that 'King and Spence were in business together, and their business was pedophilic blackmail.' They were transporting children all over the country. They would arrange for children to be flown into Washington, DC and also arrange for influential people in DC to be flown out to the Midwest and meet these kids. Per Vinson, Larry King had confided in him that he had clients who liked to torture and even kill children: 'King said they had clients who actually liked having sex with kids as they tortured or killed the kid. I found that totally unbelievable.' After Vinson said this to Nick Bryant, he asked Bryant later on in the interview if King’s disclosure had indeed been true. He was unaware at the time that other evidence, including witness testimony, had suggested that it was."

• Whitney Webb [4]

"According to fugitive ex-CIA officer Frank Terpil, CIA-directed sexual blackmailing operations were intensive in Washington at about the time of the Watergate scandal. One of those operations, Terpil claims, was run by his former partner, Ed Wilson. Wilson's base of operations for arranging trysts for the politically powerful was, Terpil says, Korean agent Ton Sun Park’s George Town Club. In a letter to the author, Terpil explained that ‘Historically, one of Wilson’s Agency jobs was to subvert members of both houses [of Congress] by any means necessary. Certain people could be easily coerced by living out their sexual fantasies in the flesh...A remembrance of these occasions was permanently recorded via selected cameras...The technicians in charge of filming were TSD [Technical Services Division of the CIA]...The unwitting porno stars advanced in their political careers, some of whom may still be in office.'"

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"Intelligence and counter intelligence ‘work’, and they ‘work together’ to create scenarios that are so unbelievable that they cannot be published in the mainstream media, and if they are, they will appear like a joke. The information to blackmail a country, to blackmail its politicians, to blackmail its Prime Ministers and Presidents, to blackmail its judges and lawyers is a very serious matter."

• Greg Hallett [12]

The Illuminati and other cults also engage in the same blackmail operations. There is a huge overlap between secret societies/cults and intelligence, with top intelligence usually being run by them. All of them do this.
"I was able to have first hand access to the Jeffrey Epstein case investigation documents. According to the documents, Epstein was the head of a global fraternity related to the Shriners called The Royal Order of Jesters. This order is covered with scandals and lawsuits related to human trafficking, but they are very protected because many members of the order are high-profile political figures and businessmen. It is crazy how these people manage to operate under the radar for so many years, decades...Now you may ask how they do this? Easy...By using blackmail tactics, they manage to have Judges and Law Enforcement licking their feet. That's how Jeffery Epstein got assassinated. After he was out of the game, the whole business is run by other people. Major names are involved and many high-profile people who are all bound to the order by means of blackmail. This is particularly disturbing when you find out that the cases of Catholic priests involved in sex scandals are events organized by The Order of Jesters. They run blackmail operations with the purpose of seducing people in power...With those videos in their power, the careers and the public image of many people are in the Jester's hands. They are free to do anything, they can turn even the President of the United States into a slave."
-- "Jeffrey Epstein Post" [7]
"Illuminati 'FROG ON A LILYPAD' programming: The FROG as a paedophile - with no 'tadpole tail/tale', as in no memory of what he/she has done until they get past 40 years old. It becomes clear that so many people were forced to be paedophiles and to abuse their children - only to wake up to all of this later on - post 40 years old. Then to have Stella Rimington on their doorstep with a videotape - telling them that she will send it to the police if they do not do precisely what she says. The ultimate blackmail weapons combined: A tape of you committing paedophilia - and even worse - incest with your own children. Guaranteed to 'silence' most people for life. The scope of this Illuminati blackmail project has been immense, in British society and it has to be exposed. There is safety in numbers."

• Ex MI6 [2]

"(Sue) Arrigo adds that the kids with the most smarts and/or looks, about 5% are skimmed off the top by the Luciferians in charge like the Bushes and used as either spies or corporate sex slaves or both. They’re typically pimped out on high priced loans to influential politicians as house boy and girls to ensure the puppets in Congress are happy and blackmail-able for control."

• Joachim Hagopian [14]

"The Masonic leadership of Freemasonry in a given area will have thousands of 'blackmail' files on essentially everyone of importance in their area. Upper echelon people such as judges, lawyers, and politicians are generally controlled via IRS infringements, and many of the lower echelon people are controlled through weird sexual items. This is where the Delta and Beta Monarch slaves are so helpful to the Illuminati. (This information comes from several witnesses who are informed about the blackmail files & their methods for blackmailing.)"

• Fritz Springmeier [16]

These people are already in power, and have set their system up so that nobody rises to a prominent, powerful, or influential position without being selected, extensively compromised, controllable, and usually under mind control. They are all 'in it together', and because of this they protect eachother. Most have 'insurance' on one another.
"The most common phrase associated with that one was ‘talk about the pot calling the kettle black’, meaning that each Illuminati slave had been caught on camera and from an early age – doing something terrible – as Rimington was fond of saying ‘we are all as bad as each other and all in it together.’"

• Ex MI6 [2]

"Oftentimes when I and others were prostituted to various government (New World Order) leaders, Dante had hidden cameras filming perverse sexual acts apparently for future blackmail leverage. These videos were scandalous in proportion and were usually ordered by Reagan. Dante turned the videos over to Reagan, and covertly kept copies to protect himself. Dante converted a small room of his Beverly Hills mansion into a security vault, where he kept his personal copies of the international blackmail porn tapes there. Blackmail was openly initiated to ensure that each criminal participant understood that if one fell, they all fell. Maintaining 'dirt' on each other through this Mafia-style method was seemingly the only way these criminals implementing the New World Order kept each other 'honest.'"

• Cathy O'Brien [3]

"The Watergate break-in was strictly based on one thing - the pedophile records that were being kept at the Democratic National Headquarters."

• Detective James Rothstein (NYPD, Retired) [6]

"In 1972, Rothstein arrested one of the five Watergate burglars, CIA operative Frank Sturgis. During a subsequent two-hour interrogation, Rothstein discovered the truth about Watergate (plus Sturgis’ and the CIA’s involvement in the Bay of Pigs incident, and the related assassination of JFK). Sturgis told Rothstein, the Watergate burglars sought something they nicknamed ‘The Book’ which listed the Democratic and Republican politicians who accessed child prostitutes, their sexual proclivities, the amounts they paid to rape kids, etc."

• Fiona Barnett [6]

There are certain places known for this, two famous examples being Little St. James island or Bohemian Grove (there are many, many others).
"For those of you who are interested in Bohemian Grove and the current list upon the Internet of those poor unsuspecting 'invitees' who will be pressganged into going (and subsequently blackmailed out of their minds afterwards, by the Illuminati)...the entrapment going on at Bohemian Grove is of an avaricious and esoteric nature - in relation to all of those unlucky 'invitees' who want to join this 'prestigious club' but then get videoed doing things that they wouldn't want anyone to know about - 'guests' who are then subsequently blackmailed out of their brains...and for the rest of their lives. But then that was what the Illuminati cult and their Sat B'hai contract has always been about...promising that you would get everything for nothing (if you agreed to be unquestioningly obedient to the Crown) and that you would now be part of an 'esoteric' prestigious Satanic club."

• Ex MI6 [2]

"Numerous videos are covertly produced at the supposedly secure political sex playground in northern California, Bohemian Grove. High tech undetectable cameras use fiber optics, and fish-eye lenses were in each of the elite club's numerous sexual perversion theme rooms. I was programmed and equipped to function in all rooms at Bohemian Grove in order to compromise specific government targets according to their personal perversions. 'Anything, anytime, anywhere with anyone' was my mode of operation at the Grove. My perception is that Bohemian Grove serves those ushering in the New World Order through mind control, and consists primarily of the highest Mafia and U.S. Government officials. Project Monarch mind controlled slaves were routinely abused there to fulfill the primary purpose of the club: purveying perversion. Bohemian Grove is reportedly intended to be used recreationally, providing a supposedly secure environment for politically affluent individuals to 'party' without restraint. The only business conducted there pertained to implementing the New World Order, through the proliferation of mind-control atrocities, giving the place an air of 'Masonic Secrecy'. The only room where business discussions were permitted was the small, dark lounge affectionately and appropriately referred to as the Underground. The wooden sign was carved to read: 'U.N.DERGROUND'. My purpose at the Grove was sexual in nature, and therefore my perceptions were limited to a sex slave's viewpoint. As an effective means of control to ensure undetected proliferation of their perverse indulgences, slaves such as myself were subjected to ritualistic trauma. Slaves of advancing age or with failing programming were sacrificially murdered 'at random' in the wooded grounds of Bohemian Grave, and I felt it was 'simply a matter of time until it would be me'. Rituals were held at a giant, concrete owl monument on the banks of the Russian River. These occultish sex rituals stemmed from the scientific belief that mind-controlled slaves required severe trauma to ensure compartmentalization of the memory. I witnessed the sacrificial death of a young, dark-haired victim at which time I was instructed to perform sexually 'as though my life depended upon it'. I was told, 'The next sacrifice victim could be you.' The club offered a 'Necrophilia' themed room to its members. I was so heavily drugged and programmed when used in the 'necrophilia' room, that the threat of actually 'slipping through death's door' and being sacrificed 'before I knew it' did not affect me. Other perversion theme rooms at the Bohemian Club included what I heard Ford refer to as the 'Dark Room'. When he not so cleverly said, 'Let's go to the Dark Room and see what develops,' I understood from experience that he was interested in indulging in his perverse obsession for pornography. In the Dark Room, members had sex with the same mind-controlled slave they were viewing in porn on a big screen television. There was a triangular glass display centered in a main through way where I was locked in with various trained animals, including snakes. Members walking by watched illicit sex acts of bestiality, women with women, mothers with daughters, kids with kids, or any other unlimited perverse visual display. I was once brutally assaulted by Dick Cheney in the Leather Room, which was designed like a dark, black leather-lined train berth. There was a room of shackles and tortures, black lights and strobes, an opium den, ritualistic sex altars, a chapel, group orgy rooms including poster beds, water beds, and 'kitten' houses. I was used as a 'rag doll' in the 'toy store,' and as a urinal in the 'golden arches' room. From the owl's roost to the necrophilia room, no memory of sexual abuse is as horrifying as the conversations overheard in the Underground pertaining to implementing the New World Order. I learned that perpetrators believed that controlling the masses through propaganda mind manipulation did not guarantee there would be a world left to dominate due to environmental and overpopulation problems. The solution being debated was not pollution/population control, but mass genocide of 'selected undesirables'."

• Cathy O'Brien [3]

News 'headlines' with hidden symbolic communication are also used by intelligence and other groups, many times referring to blackmail (among the many other varieties of covert operations).
"'Nuclear' is a comm used all over the world to symbolize extraordinarily explosive information, like blackmail. Which is why if we reconcile blackmail with news about nuclear, a secret truth will become clear. The two most powerful blackmailers ever? That would probably be Jeffrey Epstein and Hugh Hefner. And this is why the deaths of blackmailers like Hugh Hefner and Jeffrey Epstein both coincided with 'Nuclear Accidents':"
08/09/2019 Is Putin covering up a Nuclear disaster?

• 08/09/2019 = Russia Hides a Nuclear Accident!
• 08/10/2019 = CIA Blackmailer Epstein Dead
• 09/26/2017 = Russia Hides a Nuclear Accident!
• 09/27/2017 = CIA Blackmailer Hefner Dead

09/26/2017 Nuclear explosion kept secret by Russia
"Why are CIA blackmailers dying the day after Russia declares nuclear accidents? The reason for the -1 day in Epstein’s case is they likely died before the official day, and these comms were to give agents a heads up on the upcoming BOOM before it hits papers. In Hefners case they had to signal people to move the blackmail. The point as stated is a lot of 'nuclear' is all about blackmail. Not all of it, but a lot of it."

• "Symbolic Communication" [9]

Blackmail is a worldwide 'practice', with all countries and their governments engaging in aquiring and utilizing it to the fullest.
"Just as the 1986 Mirano scandal, the X-Dossiers contain evidence that sexual blackmail operations, whoever is running them, are not limited to the United States. In 1996, X1 reported how the same activities had been going on in Brussels."
"As the bewildered Belgians tried to make sense of what was going on, incredible rumours began circulating that Dutroux might have been protected in some way, that he had friends in high places. Pornographic videos taken from his home were said to feature prominent individuals, one a senior member of the Roman Catholic church. It almost defied belief. Who would protect a psychopath, other than people with something truly terrible to hide?...'It is quite obvious,' said Katarin de Clercq, Belgian coordinator of the pressure group End Child Prostitution Abduction and Trafficking, 'that some people were protecting Dutroux. The government tried to convince us that he was a lone serial killer and psychopath, but now we hear stories about unnamed famous personalities being involved in sex orgies and blackmail and pornographic video tapes. People feel that something is completely wrong here and we have to show we will not tolerate it.'"

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"I was unfortunate enough to attend the IHS Templar Castle rite in 2001. Amongst the people in attendence were: J. K. Rowling. Gordon Brown. David Miliband. Stephen Daldry. Stella Rimington (she was the Dr. Mengele of the organisation, organising the torture and murder of kidnapped children). Dr. Joanne Collie. Andrew Marr (he spent most of the time naked and screaming - off his head on some form of narcotic). John Scarlett (he was so drunk/drugged up that he had very little idea of what was going on around him). The Templars had captured a large amount of people whom they called the 'snakes' i.e. slaves in a large dungeon underneath the castle. One brave person managed to set them free and the result in the neighbouring village of Mons and other places nearby, ensured that the British Army had to move in. Thus began the most incredible cover-up in recent European history. It was like WACO, Guyana. I was one of the 'slaves' taken at that castle but subsequently freed by the British Army (who also know what happened - a MASSIVE cover-up). The British Army ordered those in the Castle to come out. They then sent a tank in to bulldoze the walls. Prince Philip and Prince William were in that Castle. Both of them had murdered countless tiny children in their rites. The British Army assembled watched as both walked out with large, dark, woven potato sacks over their heads. They were then bundled into a van and driven away. The name SPUDNIKS was coined because Prince Philip and Prince William had to exit the castle with potato sacks pulled down over their heads and bodies. The British Army present at the time - may or may not have had any idea who they were but the SIS general there, certainly did. They might have managed to cover it up regarding the ordinary soldiers there but the videotapes are now on sale worldwide. The whole event had been closely monitored for blackmail purposes."

• Ex MI6 [2]

The CIA also blackmails incestual/pedophilic parents for their children to use in trauma-based mind control slave projects like MONARCH.
"My Uncle Bob, also implicated in manufacturing the porn, out of apparent desperation informed my father of a U.S. Government Defense Intelligence Agency TOP SECRET Project to which he was privy. This was Project Monarch. Project Monarch was a mind-control operation which was 'recruiting' multigenerational incest abused children with Multiple Personality Disorder for its genetic mind-control studies. I was a prime 'candidate,' a 'chosen one'. My father seized the opportunity as it would provide him immunity from prosecution."

• Cathy O'Brien [3]

"The expendables are the children of parents who were blackmailed into turning their children over to the CIA. This is all hidden by the power of the National Security Act. These are children, who have been sold by pedophile fathers, or pornographic parents. The programmers/masters program them with the expectation that they will be "thrown from the freedom train" when they get to age 30. (Freedom Train is the code word for the Monarch trauma-based mind-control. To be thrown from the Freedom Train means to be killed.) The CIA and the Illuminati are skilled at blackmailing parents to give up their children. They would watch the mail for porn. Pedophile and murderers who abuse their children are warned that they will go to prison for long lengths of time if they do not cooperate by selling their children into mind-controlled slavery. In return for the parent’s cooperation, they provide rich financial rewards to the parent(s). It’s clearly a case of 'if you don’t cooperate you lose in life big time, if you do cooperate you win big time.'"

• Fritz Springmeier [15]

Blackmail is the glue holding together all of the sick people in charge, and is the one of the top methods of control. This is the truth: blackmail, pedophilia, and mind control are how this world is really run.
"Former CIA director William Colby giving advice to John DeCamp, urging him to quit his investigations into the Franklin child abuse affair:"
"'What you have to understand, John, is that sometimes there are forces and events too big, too powerful, with so much at stake for other people or institutions, that you cannot do anything about them, no matter how evil or wrong they are and no matter how dedicated or sincere you are or how much evidence you have. This is simply one of the hard facts of life you have to face.'"

• The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks [11]

"Again, it’s built in, entrenched foxes guarding the predatory henhouse that permeate all levels of government, military, courts, law enforcement, entertainment and news media, corporate global finance and education. With pedophile puppet masters controlling the pedophile puppet strings of blackmailed, compromised and controlled Western politicians, courts and law enforcement, their diabolical infrastructure has afforded them living above the law continuing to rape and kill our innocents for centuries."

• Joachim Hagopian [14]

Links and Sources
[1] - Noreen Gosch Speaks About - Jeff Gannon, Johnny Gosch And The Attempted Theft Of Her Book 'Why Johnny Can't Come Home'

• Noreen Gosch

[2] - Master List of Quotes and Comments

• Ex MI5/MI6 Agents and Royal Arch Illuminati slaves

[3] - Trance-Formation of America

• Cathy O'Brien

[4] - One Nation Under Blackmail

• Whitney Webb

[5] - Thanks for the Memories

• Brice Taylor

[6] - Eyes Wide Open

• Fiona Barnett

[7] - "I had access to classified documents about the Jeffrey Epstein case"
[8] - Child Trafficking, Ritual Sex Abuse & MK-ULTRA Are A Single Worldwide Operation, Run by the U.S., U.K. and AUS Secret Services

• Fiona Barnett

[9]- Symbolism Communication
[10] - An Illuminati Primer

• Veronica Swift, Jessie Czebotar

[11] - The Reality of Protected Child Abuse Networks
[12] - The Hallett Report No. 1

• Greg Hallett

[13] - The Pegasus File

• David G. Guyatt

[14] - Anatomy of the Luciferian Elite’s Global Child Sex Trafficking Pedophile Operations

• Joachim Hagopian on CathyFoxBlog

[15] - The Illuminati Formula Used To Create An Undetectable Mind Control Slave

• Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler

[16] - Deeper Insights Into the Illuminati Formula

• Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler

[17] - Hope Beryl-Green Article

I went on a first date with a guy I met IRL. I'm 30f, he's 39m. He's in a band and I met him after watching a show he played. He actually came up to me after the show and started a conversation with me and my friend (nothing flirty, just genuinely good vibes and conversation because my friend and I rocked out super hard the whole night with them. I'm assuming that's why he came up to us, I'm not 100% sure).
He told me to add him on Facebook and I did because I thought what the hell. Met him on a Friday night so Saturday afternoon is when I added him. He immediately messaged me, asked what I was up to ect. We ended up talking the rest of that night. I went out again and he stayed home so I texted him when I could while I was at the bar off and on. He asked me to dinner that Saturday night, wanted to go to dinner tomorrow, Sunday afternoon. I said yes.
It's literally been probably 2 years since someone has asked me on a normal date like, to dinner so I was just excited someone asked me out. I hadn't met a guy I liked IRL since my ex that I also had met at a bar a couple years earlier. Took a break from online dating so this was the first actual date I had gone on. I also gained some extra weight due to medication I had been on, and when he asked me out I had probably lost 18 pounds at this point so it made me feel pretty good about myself. (I've lost 25 pounds as of today.) I figured the extra weight was the reason guys hadn't been asking me out in person because if I'll be honest I got asked out pretty regularly when I weighed a little bit less so it kinda reassured me that I looked halfway decent now.
Dinner was great. Conversation flowed. He paid. I'll admit I took a shot before I showed up because I was that nervous (I feel like I'm very awkward when I like someone and I wanted to ease the tension I felt.) we ate and ordered margs. We got pretty buzzed off those but neither of us were drunk. We had awesome talks and laughs and I felt a genuine connection with him. Someone walked into the restaurant and knew him (from the band, they are pretty well known) and he introduced me. I felt really happy.
He invited me back to his house to hang out more and watch a movie or something. I was honestly so excited he asked me because I wanted to talk more and the resturant was about to close (it was a Sunday) so going to his house was easier, he lived a mile away and I lived about 20 mins from there.
To make a long story short when we got back to his house the vibes kept going. We were both still buzzed when we got back there but the buzz went away probably halfway through and this is where idk if I messed up.
Stuff ended up happening. Neither of us were buzzed at all anymore, like all of it happened when we were completely stone cold sober. I was a little nervous because Im always worried I'll be awkward and I wasn't buzzed anymore so I wasn't super "care free." I definitely wanted to though, it was nothing he pressured me into. We kissed and then it led to other things. We didn't have sex. I was at his house for probably another 3 hours and I didn't feel weird after we did stuff or anything. He acted the same to me. Later on he said he was super tired and wanted to get to bed soon (I definitely believed him, he had worked at 7:30am that day after sleeping for only 2 hours).
I ended up leaving about 30 mins after he said that. He texted me the next morning saying he didn't sleep well again. For the next 3 days we texted as normal even though he was being pretty dry. But he texted back immediately so I thought maybe he was just a bad texter. He didn't say anything about seeing me again, or wasn't being flirty but I tried not to overreact. I figured maybe he was busy with his son or maybe due to the age difference our texting styles were different and I didn't want to read too much into it.
He wished me happy birthday on Thursday (I turned 30). I thanked him and he was being pretty dry as he had been the whole week. But I felt like if he didn't actually like me he wouldn't be texting me.
I decided to take the initiative since he had made all the moves so far. I texted him later that night on my birthday and said "just wanted you to know I had a really good time on Sunday. We should definitely do it again soon." I waited for a text back and NOTHING. I have not heard a word from him since.
It's been a week since texting him that and dead silence. He hasn't removed me from Facebook and he watches my stories. I don't think I said anything wrong. Im not sure what happened because nothing bad happened and he acted like he liked me. So why would that one text to him make him never talk to me again? And if uninterested why not just delete me on Facebook and not watch my stories?
I started to think maybe he is a player and that's why. But I have seen his band many times over the years and never does he have tons of girls around at his shows. His Facebook is completely full of his son only. No girls commenting or liking his pictures. He has been divorced for 10 years so he's not fresh out of a relationship. I asked him if he does this kind of thing all the time (asking a girl out at a show and "hooking up" with them), he told me he literally had never done that and I have no reason not to believe him. He does not seem like the kind of guy to be a player, he genuinely gives off just good friendly vibes. I honestly didn't know he was even interested in me until he asked me to dinner.
So I don't really know why things went south. They only did after I sent him that "risky" message just trying to let him know that I enjoyed his company. Before that I was getting regular texts.
So in your opinion, what do you think happened? This has really bummed me out and made me nervous to go out with any other guys because I feel like everyone is going to reject me as this guy did. I want to let this roll off my back and it's so hard because I genuinely liked him and don't know why he rejected me.
TL;DR: had a great first date with a guy I met IRL. When we talked after the date I sent a text saying I had a good time and suggested we get together again and he hasn't talked to me since.

I was born and raised in Connecticut. I was born right in Hartford, spent a couple years in Wethersfield, and did the rest of my life in Newington. With that being said, I’m so confused as to why the rest of New England doesn’t claim Connecticut. I understand that the south western portion of the state has a TON of NY sports fans..but so does Rhode Island and so does Vermont. Also..I understand the Dutch were in some areas of CT before the English. However, the first PERMANENT European settlements in CT were Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor, which were ENGLISH. There were Dutch settlers..but the English DOMINATED. There is so much history in New England, and CT is not the only part that had other settlers. MAINE not only was originally part of New France but also had Dutch settlers. VERMONT was first part New France, but later discovered by people from CT, MA and NH, in fact, the Green mountain boys had leaders who were both in Litchfield CT, the main one being Ethan Allen. Rhode Island also had Dutch settlers, and Connecticut was settled by the English before them. So other than sports, tell me why Connecticut is the red headed step child of New England. As far as I’m concerned, I have always claimed myself as a loyal new Englander and have spent almost my entire life in Connecticut before I joined the US Navy. And to top it off, almost every person around me roots for New England sports teams. Maybe hate on RI and VT as much as you do CT, we are NOT just a highway between NYC and Boston. We are New Englanders. No hate to Vermont, I grew up going there, but they are the most different from the rest of the region, they have no coast line, no New England accents anywhere in their entire state, no coastline, etc.

I walked into the Charlottesville Lowes today, unaware that I was entering a theater of the absurd. They have a kegerator prominently displayed at the entrance, replete with a tap handle, almost as if it is ready to pour golden liquid goodness, and it is on sale! How could I resist?
I looked around in search of the box containing a version I could purchase. Failing to find one, I searched the appliance section. I also had an eye out for anyone with a blue vest who might be able to help me. No such luck.
I ventured to the cash registers, which are now largely the domain of self checkout machines, where I found several lengthy and disjointed lines of tired customers, laden with all manner of home improvement flotsam, including lumber, various flora, and caulk. Lots of caulk.
There were two, count 'em, TWO young associates charged with watching the customers check themselves out. At the grocery store, this position is usually designed to check ID's for alcohol purchases and, presumably, enforcement of the $.05 plastic bag tax. I am not sure what these folks were doing other than dodging 2x4's wielded by Harry Homeowner on his way to add a bar to the deck that he built over COVID.
I approached the first one and he seemed to welcome the option to leave his post when I asked how to buy a kegerator, but then he hastily reconsidered. "Uh, she may need me." "She" was on her phone, looking as if there was an instachat post in need of remediation. They quickly powwowed and the young lady left her post, presumably having dealt with the social media emergency, and tried a landline call. Apparently it was to no avail because she exhaled exasperatedly.
Aa we walked back toward APPLIANCES she confided in me that they never answer their phone. I smiled and nodded, hoping she would appreciate the kinship we were cultivating. "You guys are busy, huh?"
"Nah, it is always like this."
We found the consummate curmudgeon waiting with something less than a welcoming expression on his face, leaning on a $5000 steel refrigerator with a digital screen. My new friend said, "This dude wants to buy that weird looking mini-fridge up fr..."
He cut her off.
"Can't you see I am with a customer?"
I looked around. There was a middle-aged couple taking a cursory look at a vertical washedryer combo. I think it was a date. I bet they had plans to hit Chick-Fil-A later.
"You should have called first anyway."
My chaperone retorted with, "I did! You ain't gotta get an attitude in front of a customer." They both looked at me as if I might have a resolution. I shrugged. The couple wandered off.
She looked at me and said, "Customer service can probly order it for you." She pointed back to the front.
I found a line even less orderly than the version connected to the self checkout line and the denizens were even less happy. As I listened to a woman complain about how her grill had arrived without being assembled, I did my own online search for my kegerator. Sure enough, Lowes is promoting that sucker. I was just about to enter my credit card information and have the identical device shipped to my house when I found my way to the front of the line.
The first attendant asked if my grill had arrived assembled. His boss with a stately assistant manager name tag said, "Nooo, he wants the kegerator, but we don't have any."
I pointed to the kegerator.
He said, "You can't have that one, we need it on the floor to show people what we have."
"But...you do not have any?"
"No, we are going to get some in, I think."
"So you have a floor model, but no actual kegerators for sale?"
"I can get one delivered to your house."
'Oh, cool," I said. Maybe this would work out after all. "When can it arrive? It is a gift."
He stared for some time at his personal communication device, which looks strikingly like a cross between a large cell phone and a Star Trek phaser.
"I don't know."
I had been the quintessence of calm and friendly up to this point, but I was starting to think that I was the target of an elaborate practical joke. I moderated my voice before speaking.
"So, you have a floor model situated to be the very first product that anyone sees when they walk in the door, but you do not actually have the item in the store, you will not sell me the one you have, and you do not know when you can order it?"
He looked incredibly satisfied that I had accurately surmised the situation. "That's it."
I looked at the lady whose grill was still sitting in her yard, presumably waiting to be assembled. She was on the verge of either tears or insane laughter.
I was about to point out the lunacy inherent in the notion that I was about to hit "purchase" on my phone and have it delivered to my house when he said, "Oh!"
It was a revelatory moment.
"You can go to Ruckersville. It says they have three." He gestured at his phaser as if to say that it MUST be true.
I departed for my car without another word.
Within 5 minutes of entering the Greene County Lowes, I had a kegerator paid for on a dolly headed toward my car. They had a floor model AND boxes containing the item nearby, not to mention friendly, helpful people to lead the way.
Leadership matters. Kindness matters. Communication REALLY matters. And this beer I am drinking out of a can because I still need to buy a keg...it is life itself.

"The Gra Valkas Empire" also known as "The Eighth Empire" where many do not know the reason for its name or where it originated from, an Empire that claims to be so powerful that it could dominate their entire previous world, well, this time it was talk about what this "Mighty Empire" was like in its previous World, let's begin...
Yggdra, the Origin Planet of Gra Valkas, a Planet of a star system of 8 Planets, 4 Rocky and 4 Gas Giants, the Planet of Yggdra was the Third Planet of the star system, one of approximately the same size and diameter as Planet Earth , formed by 8 Continents of which the Third the Great one was so to speak the "Europe" of that World, that continent has vast enormous Peninsulas, and of those peninsulas one of those was the Gra Valkas Empire, being what the "European" Continent "Hence it was approximately 3 times larger than the Europe of our world, it gave rise to many great Empires, all with ambitions to conquer the entire continent at some time in their history.
This "Europe" had access to its equivalent of the Mediterranean Sea in our World. A sea that was more of a small Ocean due to its size but still a Great Sea, and on the other side to the South is a Poor Continent worthy of being the "Africa" ​​of that World "Adfreidy" was called by the "Aerupeans" of that World, while to the east is "Levantia" the equivalent of the Middle East in that world, only unlike ours, that place was still a fertile and green land, and not desert, at least not entirely.
In that land was one of the many Powers of that World, the Divine Kingdom of Kain, a Theocatric State similar to what would be the modern Iran of our world, only with its differences, since the Divine Kingdom of Kain was made up of the Union from North to South and from east to west of all the Peoples who follow the religion of "Ashirism", followers of the God Ashir, another way of calling the God of the arrogant religions of that world, the Ashirites who united centuries ago in a Great Empire that evolved to what it is today, its name "Kain" is due to the Lands of the Ancient "Kainite" People who were the predecessor of all the ethnic groups of that geographical area.
All these Peoples Conformed to the Current Kingdom, being a Federated Kingdom that maintains the Union of all the Peoples under the same religion that they all profess, being their Rival for many Centuries, the Valks, the Valkas, now called Gra Valkas after their Unification ago 80 Years under the same flag and State.
The Gra Valkas, so to speak, are similar to the Italian People of our world, a people that has both historical, cultural and social similarities, one that 2000 years ago was an Empire that encompassed all the Southern Coasts of "Aeuropa" and part of what is the Western coast of Levantia, one that due to its internal problems collapsed and remained for many centuries divided into Multiple Warring Kingdoms and small States, sometimes being clients of the Powerful and emerging Countries, Kingdoms, empires North and Northwest of the Continent.
Being disunited, fragmented under others, until less than 100 years ago, after many diplomatic and military unification struggles, the Unification of the "Valkeania" Peninsula gave birth to the Empire of the Nation of the Valks, or better called " Gra Valkas" nation to consider since for its moment of unification its Continent already had and has many other Powers, both military and economic...
The Republic (and formerly Empire) Galena, an equivalent to the France of our World, the Empire (and former Confederation) of Werrmania, equivalent to the German Empire and former Germanic Confederation, the Arthurian Commonwealth, a Kingdom located in the Northeastern Islands, the Saztru-Zugoro Empire, equivalent to Austria-Hungary in our world, and the Tartar Empire, a Great Empire in the Northeastern Lands being the Gate to the Great Continent of Esya, where it extended further east more and more, and of course , the weaker Kingdoms of Aeuropa, Federate Kingdom of Estalia in the Western Peninsula, equivalent to Spain and Portugal, and the United Kingdom of Sverik, being equivalent to the Nordic Kingdoms of our world.
The Gra Valkas Empire, It is an Empire that, so to speak, entered the board of its World late, since it was an Empire that was born too late to end up being relevant in its world more than its geographical position.
Being that when the Partition of Adfreidy came, Gra Valkas barely obtained colonies in the North (Being an Area Equivalent to Libya and Tunisia) and in the extreme Southeast on the Peninsula of the "Fang" of Adfreidy (Being an Area at least much larger than what that the Italy of our world got) when Gra Valkas tried to Expand his Colonies to the Adfredian Kingdoms it was very expensive, his poorly equipped army, incompetent commanders, repressive policies and ethnic harshness to the natives, plus how expensive it was to face The "weakest" Kingdoms of Adfreidy, made Gra Valkas look like a novice, weak country, incompetent in the colonial race, and unscrupulous in its conquests that was branded as a "Dwarf who wanted to be seen as a Giant" in Aeuropa, only The Werrmans were their Best Ally and the only powerful nation that made an effort to help them and keep them while the rest of the powers advanced.
The Gra Valkas Empire was so weak before the rest of the Powers of its Continent that its closest Rival and equivalent in strength was neither more nor less than the Divine United Kingdom of Kain, a Kingdom from the Other end of the Intermary Sea, close to the Kingdom of Hella de, with the Trapison Peninsula being its most vulnerable territory to the Gra Valkas Empire
And that was the first important target of Gra Valkas in the "Great War" of his World, when all the European Empires and Great Kingdoms, the Federated States on the other Side of the Aclanto Ocean, plus the Karioshini Empire on the other end of Yggdra, In the Ocean of Tranquility, this in its expansionist attempt against the Zhawan Dynasty Empire, everyone went to war in one way or another, and the Gra Valkas Empire targeted the Divine Kingdom of Kain as its main target and contender, and that war lasted 8 long years, being the main powers to achieve peace at age 6, and Gra Valkas and Kain at age 8 being the last.
In the end the World was hurt, but with many rematches of a Second Round for some, the Weerman Empire prevailed, the Galena Republic asked for Revenge, the Arthurian Commonwealth tried to keep their vast empire together, the Federated States came out with many commercial and economic benefits , the Karioshini Empire was left wanting to expand further, the Zhawan Dynasty fell and began a time of Internal Wars, the Tartar Empire imploded and after a bloody civil war a Union of States emerged, the Empire of the Saztru-Zugoro was divided and a part joined Weermania, and Gra Valkas, Gra Valkas obtained accounts of the Great Islands in the Intermary Sea before Kain, after failing again and again to make naval landings on the Kainian coasts, not even Military Free Passage before his New Ally de Hellade was able to make a change on the land front, not even with the help of another Small Kingdom, called Valgaria, could he make a difference before the Bastion that was Kain.
Even so, Gra Valkas celebrated his "Victory" before Kain, despite being small, the Empire used them to show its military power, although mediocre, it was military power.
But that left resentments in the top leaders of Gra Valkas, giving for the next 25 years extreme militarization, Nationalism, right-wing extremism, national supremacism, indoctrination of the masses, propaganda, giving an Empire ready this time to win a War against Kain. Of course, its technological innovations were due to the theft of technologies from other Powers, espionage and part of the cooperation with Weermania, gave an Empire of mixed or more advanced Military technologies than others.
At least the Gra Valkan Navy became the 7th strongest in the world, their new Class of "Super Battleship" being the "Grade" Atlas-tar (being that the Gra Valkas Navy names their designs/models/classes). of ships as "Degrees" to differentiate their difference) their flagship, with Batteries of the highest Caliber, Radar systems and electronics enough to face any Ship in the Intermarine Sea, and Anti-Aircraft systems using the technology they managed to steal from " Proximity Fuzes" gave a New Battleship evolution of the previous Grade "Belteges" and the discarded Grade "Litoral" (Technically the Littorio) gave one of the largest Ships in the world, at least until it was known that the rest of the Powers already had Similar battleships, and better in several parts than the Atlas-tar, in addition to knowing that now the Aircraft Carrier was becoming more relevant than the Battleship, and that the Fifth Galena Republic already had a 50,000-ton Battleship with quadruple 406-millimeter Batteries and better defenses in all kinds than the Atlas-tar, even so, Gra Valkas had Kain as an enemy and rival, whose Ships did not reach the Atlas-tar, although his air force was already highly considered, since despite the fact that the Gra Valkana Royal Air Force had the best aircraft to consider on their Continent, the Kainia was also feared and considered to be equivalent or better.
Hopefully the same could be said of Gra Valkas' land Army, since his Armored Vehicles are not as big or powerful as the rest of the powers, nor are the small arms of his army.
It was already close for the New World War to arrive, soon all the Powers will be involved in a new World War, and Gra Valkas will be feared now.
Until the transfer event occurred

Hello All,
​
Just like the title says, I'm feeling lost in my first play through. This is my first time playing the game (Switch) and I took me to Y3 Spring to finish the community center. I have hearts with mostly everyone and upgraded my house (not the basement) but I spend most of my day trying to water my crops since I only have 1 iridium sprinkler that I bought from Krobus. I have yet to unlock Ginger Island because I don't have enough hardwood and the iridium bars.
​
I feel like I should have an awesome farm set up with Ginger Island and finished Skull Cavern set up by now and am behind. Any tips on how to move forward would be appreciate. I made a post asking how I can collect more ore to make bombs for Skull Cavern but now idea what to do going forward.

Event Links - here

• Reddit randomly blacklists certain URLs, some of which come up with events, and that causes these posts to get removed without explanation. It is not feasible to figure out why so a separate page with links for details, if desired, is available.

Friday - 6/2

• 11:00 AM - Grandaddy Willow - Grandaddy Willow Grand Opening
  
• 4:00 PM - Balcones Distilling - Lucas Jon Turner
  
• 5:00 PM
  
  • Sistrunk Fine Art Gallery - Frank Exum (guitar)
  • Sistrunk Fine Art Gallery - “The Things That Are Lovely” by Dorrie Ann Cobb
  • Valley Mills Vineyards - Crawfish Boil
• 6:00 PM
  
  • Art Center Waco - Of Warm Impermanence: Nathan Clark and Vy Ngo Exhibition
  • Cultivate 7Twelve - Cultivate’s Curated Market Grand Opening
  • Heart of Texas Speedway - Muscling in the Dirt
  • The Backyard - John Dempsy with Waves in April
  • Webster Avenue & South 13th Street - Tea Aguilar with Andy Maguire
• 6:30 PM - Pivovar - Joel Wood
  
• 7:00 PM
  
  • Hilton Waco - Greg Bashara and Evan Klaras (jazz)
  • Last Chance Bar - John Epperson Band
  • Schoepf's Bbq - Jason Eady with Matt Castillo, St. Mary’s Catholic School (Temple) benefit show
  • Thrst Coffee Shop - Richard Thompson (drums) with Jasmin Thompson and Malcolm McDowell
  • Tokio Store - James Hollingsworth
  • Twisted Sisters Patio Bar - Pride & Joy
• 7:30 PM
  
  • Indian Spring Park - Shakespeare in the Park: Julius Caesar
  • Miller Park - Ghost Dance Band
  • Tablerock Amphitheatre - The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • The Hippodrome - Fleetwood X: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
• 8:00 PM
  
  • 207 W Commerce St - J.D. Johnson
  • Bare Bones BBQ - William Beckmann with Brit Kerr
  • Barnett's Pub - Kyle Sinkule
  • Blue Dog Wine & Martini Bar - Markus Miller
  • Freight Bar - Brazos Brothers
  • Smiley's Night Club - Duel
  • Truelove Bar - Smooth Nature
  • Wranglers Cafe & Entertainment - Darrell Ray
• 8:30 PM - The Backyard - John Dempsy in concert
  
• 10:30 PM - Big's Mayberry Tavern - Ballou's Cats
  

Saturday - 6/3

• 9:00 AM - Redwood Shelter - Waco Run Club
  
• 11:00 AM - Tony DeMaria's BBQ - Lucas Jon Turner
  
• 12:00 PM
  
  • Barnett's Pub - Reverend Nathon
  • Barnett's Whiskey House - Crawfish Boil
• 6:00 PM - Art Center Waco - Of Warm Impermanence: Nathan Clark and Vy Ngo Exhibition
  
• 6:30 PM - Pivovar - Touch of Grey
  
• 7:00 PM
  
  • Brazos Theatre - Improv Comedy Show
  • Dr Pepper Museum - Dr Pepper Paranormal Experience
  • Undercroft Social Club - A Night Out, Bedtime Stories, Rad Dragon and Boneless Estate
• 7:30 PM
  
  • Brazos Theatre - Improv's a Beach Comedy Show
  • Cultural Activities Center - Carrie Rodriguez - Texas Music Series
  • Indian Spring Park - Shakespeare in the Park: Julius Caesar
  • Segovia Wine Bar - Kyle Mathis
  • Tablerock Amphitheatre - The Two Gentlemen of Verona
• 8:00 PM
  
  • Barnett's Pub - Collin James Band
  • Barnett's Whiskey House - Block Party
  • Big's Mayberry Tavern - Rewind Party Band
  • Tokio Store - Tanner Sparks
  • Twisted Sisters Patio Bar - Los Roachez
• 8:30 PM
  
  • Stay Classy - Deon Q and Joel McCray
  • The Backyard - Brit Kerr
• 9:00 PM - Blaam Eatery - All-Star Summer Kickoff Concert
  

Family Events - link here

• Not just for families/kids - contains family-friendly events like Farmers Market, Food Truck Showdown,

Part Two: Costco History Remembered
The Costco you know today is light years different from it’s early days when it comes to merchandising. The first Costco was VERY much a warehouse with low light, lots of walls in strange places, and a lot of product jammed into every available spot. Most manufacturers believed that Costco was just a low quality discounter selling “seconds” (products that weren’t first quality), and so they didn’t want to sell to Costco because they felt it would diminish their brand, or it would violate their exclusivity agreements with other retailers.
To combat this, the founders of Costco made sure there was a huge sign behind the membership desk proclaiming the 100% return guarantee on products sold. It sent a clear message that Costco was not a junk dealer, and that did help a few vendors to agree to sell to Costco. Those first brave companies were rewarded with tremendous loyalty in their relationship with Costco, and the bond stayed strong despite the otherwise fickle world of wholesale/ retail.
So, what was selling, and what eventually went away?
1) several categories were much more prominent in the early days. Automotive aisles had engine hoists, ramps, air tools, jack stands, and more. The tool aisles were loaded with inexpensive tools made by Allied, and it was very similar to Harbor Freight. There were multiple aisles year round of what is often called knock-down furniture. O’Sullivan was the brand name, and the member had to assemble it like an IKEA product. The boxes were enormously heavy, but Costco sold a gazillion bookcases that way. As Costco grew, the realization that it had to focus on reaching higher levels of quality caused it to switch to better furniture brought in seasonally, and as fewer people were working on their cars, the sales diminished on those items to a level requiring the auto aisles to be greatly reduced to mostly oil and windshield wipers.
Tools were another issue. Home Depot, Lowe’s, and some local places like Eagle ( that later got bought by Lowe’s) all monopolized the big brands like Dewalt, and those tool companies believed that if they sold to Costco, their relationship with the hardware stores would suffer significantly. To this day, Costco still struggles to find quality tools to sell.
2) some categories were HOT! Cameras and film were tremendous sellers. Costco usually has 10+ SKUs of cameras, and had a whole pallet island of film. Kodak film, Fuji Film, and Polaroid film was in almost every member’s cart. Unfortunately, Polaroid film was also in the top ten of stolen items! Organized groups would swoop in, fill bags/ pockets with it, then dash out the door. Undercover employees could usually be found staking out that section. All this went away when phones started taking the place of cameras.
3) office supplies had multiple aisles of product. Copy paper sold out quickly (even today, Costco keeps it’s wholesale title by selling truckloads of it to school districts, etc.). Computer paper was a must have—-remember the stuff that had little holes on each side so a gear could pull it through a printer? “Green bar” paper sold like crazy. Office chairs had 6 or more styles, and members would race each other down the aisles in them if they weren’t cabled to the steel. The rise of what came to be known as Category Killers lead to the office department’s reduction to just an aisle. Office Depot, Office Max, etc all could match or undercut Costco on the best sellers by selling all the other items that they carried at a higher mark-up to offset the loss leader.
4) I always felt bad for the bread and potato chip vendors. In the early days, they would be in the aisles for hours before opening because they had to take two retail size packages and use tape guns to create a two-pack of everything. Their companies in the early days refused to believe that customers would be crazy enough to buy huge bags of chips or super long loaves of bread, so for several years they made their route drivers lives miserable. Today, when I see what a supermarket calls “ family size” for a bag of chips, I can only laugh—it looks like an individual serving size compared to Costco! Also, the route drivers LOVE Costco, because it’s typically just one stop and they’re done until they have to come back and restock/ face the product later in the afternoon
5)So very much of Costco in the early days was focused on the commercial size products. Many of the canned food items came only in #10 cans ( the big ones that are almost the size of a bowling ball). There was no option for a smaller can. Eventually, as the membership grew to be dominated by retail shoppers, Costco started the separate Business Center division, and those allowed Costco to have the space for things like 6 packs of small cans instead.
6) Bonus memory! Clothing in the early days was often described as dowdy, old lady clothing that no one would want except at Halloween. Certainly it wasn’t THAT bad, but almost no clothing vendors would sell to Costco directly, so most was bought from middle men selling what no one else wanted. Worse, Costco had huge, ugly clothing racks made from 2x4s and pipe to display the clothes, so it was all displayed like you’d see in your closet. Shoulder view only! Costco put the clothes on a table eventually, and the sales skyrocketed. With the shear volume of people picking through them, it is very, very labor intensive to keep the tables looking clean, neat, and straight, but it’s worth it. The vendors soon saw the incredible sales Costco was doing, and now most sell direct. A few (Harley Davidson apparel for example) are still hold-outs.
Kinda long post, but I hope you enjoyed it enough for me to do more.

I am planning to take an accelerated summer course to advance my career but it's slightly out of my budget. I decided to sell off most of my games to pay for the class. I've had many transactions here on Gamesale. Please bare with me since this is the first time I'm actually selling and posting on the subreddit through my PC. I can provide pictures through comment replies. I am only accepting PayPal Goods and Services. Everything I'm selling is in working order. All prices came from combining averages and recent sales from PriceCharting and Ebay. I prefer to sell in bundles and will negotiate with bigger purchases.
​
------Gamecube-----
Black Nintendo GameCube with 2 official controllers ( 1 Black and 1 Indigo and Clear), Memory Card, and Power Supply. -$100
Soul Caliber 2 CIB- $30
Resident EVil 4 CIB - $30
Luigi's Mansion CIB - $70
Super Mario Sunshine (Players Choice Edition) CIB- $45
Super Smash Bros Melee (Players Choice Edition) CIB - $70
Mario Kart Double Dash CIB - $95
​
------PS2------
Factory Sealed Need For Speed Most Wanted - $125
​
------PS Vita Bundle------
Sony PS Vita Console PCH-2001 Borderlands 2 Bundle Complete in Box, All Inserts and Console - $280
​
Nintendo Wii (New Super Mario Bros) Console Bundle RVL-101 **BOX AND ALL INSERTS ONLY*\* - ONLY MISSING SUPER MARIO GALAXY SOUNDTRACK INSERT - $50
​
SNES Console with Power Supply, Two Controllers, and Two Games (Battle Clash and Jurassic Park) - $70
​
------N64------
N64 Console, Power Supply, and Two Original Controllers - $80
Banjo-Kazooie - $35
Glover - $20
Mario Kart 64 - $45
Goldeneye - $30
Chopper Attack - $10
Mario Tennis - $25
Bomberman 64 - $25
South Park Rally - $35
Aero Gauge - $15
NHL '99 - $5
​
------New Nintendo 3DS XL------
Red New Nintendo 3DS XL with power supply, case, and Console Grip - $270
Zelda Phantom Hourglass - $50
Yoshi Touch and Go - $15
Pokemon Ultra Moon - $40
Zelda Link Between Worlds - $22
Yoshi's New Island - $15
Lego Star Wars 3 - $10
Animal Crossing New Leaf - $22
Final Fantasy 12 RW - $22
Zelda Majoras Mask 3D - $35
Metroid Samus Returns **Box and Insert ONLY** - $20
Pokemon Y - $32
​
------Wii U------
Selling as a Bundle: $240
Wii U Console, Pro Controller, GamePad, Power Supply, and Five Games Total:
-Zelda WindWaker HD Nintendo Selects
-Super Mario 3D World
-Yoshi's Wooly World
-Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze
-Pikmin 3
​
------Animal Crossing Amiibos------
3-Pack Amiibo Cyrus/KK/Reese CIB - $15
Timmy and Tommy CIB - $15
Blathers, Kicks, Mabel, Tom Nook Loose Bundle - $20

Happy Pride everyone!! I may have missed some pride events so please feel free to add them. Go Nuggets!
Looking to make plans for the rest of summer? Check out the Summer Events post here: Summer Events in the Denver Area : Denver (reddit.com)
I send this out as a newsletter which you can sign up for by clicking this link. There are no ads and it's free, so send it to your friends.

THURSDAY - JUNE 1

🏀🏀🏀 NUGGETS VS HEAT @ Ball Arena @ 6PM GO NUGGETS 🏀🏀🏀
Lord Huron @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre @ 7:30PM
Anees @ Ogden Theatre @ 8PM

FRIDAY- JUNE 2

'No Vacancy' Art Reveal @ RiNo Art District @ 6PM Be one of the first to see how the group of artists from the 2023 NO VACANCY program have transformed the empty IMAC building warehouse.
Michael Franti & Spearhead @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre @ 7PM *There’s a special pre-concert yoga session that starts at 4PM. Tickets sold separately.
Decibel @ Summit @ 6PM *Featuring Dark Funeral
Valentino Khan @ Ogden Theatre @ 9PM
Andy Sydow Band @ Bluebird Theater @ 7:30PM
Pride Party @ Meow Wolf @ 8PM *Featuring Vincint

SATURDAY- JUNE 3

Rapids vs San Jose Quakes @ DICK'S Sporting Goods Park @ 7:30PM
Denver Day of Rock @ LoDo District This free one-day music festival features four stages of live music and entertainment for the whole family in the LoDo district!
Swinging' Under the Stars @ Little Man Ice Cream @ 7:30PM Summer's in Full Swing as Little Man Ice Cream & Swingin' Denver welcome you back for a full summer of live swing music, free swing dance lessons, and ice cream!
Ongoing - Farmers Market @ City Park @ 8AM
Yoga on the Rocks @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre @ 7AM Start your day with an exhilarating workout at the awe-inspiring Red Rocks!
Meditation in the Galleries @ Clyfford Still Museum @ 9AM Clear your mind, relax, and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you in the galleries!
Breakfast Fly-In @ Wings Museum @ 9:30AM Enjoy breakfast from a local food truck, watch aircraft fly in and explore interactive exhibits and simulators.
Music from Eastern Europe & the Caucasus @ First Baptist Church of Denver @ 7:30PM
Hunter Hayes @ Summit @ 7PM
Bakester @ Marquis Theater @ 8PM
Blue Oyster Cult @ Paramount Theatre @ 8PM
Devotchka @ Levitt Pavilion @ 6PM *With Annastezhaa
Sam Burchfield & & The Scoundrels & Of Good Nature @ Bluebird Theater @ 7:30PM
Kreator & Sepultura @ Ogden Theatre @ 6:30PM
Shrek Rave @ Mission Ballroom @ 8PM
Justin Jay's Danceportation Party @ Meow Wolf @ 10:30PM

SUNDAY- JUNE 4th

🏀🏀🏀NUGGETS VS HEAT @ Ball Arena @ 6PM GO NUGGETS 🏀🏀🏀
¡Viva! Streets @ Downtown Denver This community event series celebrates Denver's vibrant neighborhoods and supports local business with temporary car-free streets.
Colorado Opera Season Celebration @ Ellie Caulkins Opera House @ 2PM Join the Opera Colorado artists in residence for their final performance of the 2022-2023 season.
NEMR Stand Up @ Comedy Works Downtown @ 7:30PM
Nancy Norton - The RE-Charge Nurse @ Comedy Works South @ 8PM
'Straight Up with Stassi' Podcast LIVE @ Paramount Theatre @ 7PM Stassi Schroeder Clarks brings her hit podcast to live audiences on her long-awaited tour.
Central City Opera @ Levitt Pavilion @ 4PM

All weekend

SATURDAY & SUNDAY - 'One Night of Thunder' Show @ Aurora Fox Arts Theatre @ 5:30PM Presented by Collective Consciousness, this show is an unpredictable and exciting story of adventure, intrigue, and fate.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY- Joe Russo @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
All weekend - Riverdance: 25th Anniversary Show @ Buell Theatre The beloved theatrical phenomenon is back with a new, re-imagined and powerful production.
All weekend - Jake Johannsen Stand Up @ Comedy Works South
All weekend - Maz Jobrani Stand Up @ Comedy Works Downtown
All weekend - 'Best Town' Play @ Buntport Theater A new play about stars, isolation, the magic of libraries, and Laura Ashley curtains.
All weekend - ‘The 39 Steps’ @ The Singleton Theatre The inventive and hilarious, this hit play combines a film masterpiece by Alfred Hitchcock with a juicy spy novel and a large splash of Monty Python humor.
All weekend - ‘Miss Rhythm: The Legend of Ruth Brown’ Cabaret Show @ Garner Galleria Theatre This intimate cabaret experience explores the life and times of R&B legend Ruth Brown through story and song, accompanied by a five-piece jazz band.
Ongoing - 'Islands Beyond Blue' Exhibition @ DAM The museum is re-opening its Oceania gallery with a special temporary showcase of large-scale installations and treasure highlights.
Ongoing through September 10th - ‘Awful Bigness’ Exhibition @ Clyfford Still Museum ‘Awful Bigness’ fills the Museum’s largest, skylit galleries and celebrates Clyfford Still’s biggest, most ambitious works.

We're now in that sweet spot after A-Day and before Summer OVs/Camp Season where it makes sense to take note and reflect. Remember that camp season likely changes this board dramatically and we'll see a good # of decision (both to Alabama and elsewhere) throughout June and early July.
Rankings Note: Every comic is someone's first so here's how to read/interpret/understand the rankings listed below: Commits and Top Targets will show their 247 Composite Rank, their On3 Composite, and their Comp² Ranking, which is just the raw average of the 2 composite ranks, rounded down. This overview will just reflect the pre-summer top targets/names to know and not the full list. Summer camp season will drastically change this list (new big board in July/August)
# of 4/5* change each year but I like a little consistency so here's generally how I arbitrarily split it, based on the average year-over-year data:
5*: #1-#32
4*: #33-#350
3*: #351-#2000
​
QB (1 Needed/1 Commited)
Overview: Barring something crazy, a team's QB will be the most important player on the field 9 times out of 10. Bama's looked around for a potential 2nd option but is pretty content with their 5* QB of the Future already commited

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Commits
1. 5* Julian Sayin	Carlsbad in Carlsbad, CA (SoCal)	247: #11 , On3: #14, Comp2: #12	One of the most "ready" prospects in the 2024 class, Julian is very skilled at every facet of QB play - might not be the highest ceiling from an NFL perspective but very likely the highest floor. Julian commited to Alabama somewhat out of the blue but has been locked in since and the Tide's primary leader on offense in this class. This is your QB of the Future.

RB (1-2 Needed/0 Commited)
Overview: Alabama has good RB depth heading into 2023 but could very likely lose both Jase and Roydell at the end of the year so 2 RBs again this cycle feels right. It's doubtful it'll have the star power of the Haynes/Young duo from '23 but I would not sleep on the 2024 targets.

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Top Targets
1. 4* Kevin Riley	Tuscaloosa County in Northport, AL (Tuscaloosa area)	247: #97, On3: #102, Comp2: #99	A homegrown talent, Riley does it all, running with great balance, breaks contact and gets going in a hurry. Top 3 of Bama, Auburn, UGA - this should end up being an Iron Bowl battle that Alabama wins, though it does appear Riley might take his time. If Alabama pushes hard, he could be a summer commit.
2. 4* Daniel Hill	Meridian in Meridian, MS (E MS)	247: #196, On3: #194, Comp2: #195	One of the more unique RB prospects, Daniel Hill is a big bodied guy but plays a ton of receiver as well - not a comparison but could have a Najee Harris-esque roll. Alabama is battling South Carolina here, with the Cocks having some buzz after an early Bama lean. Bama is not done here but might need to press harder.
3. 4* Nate Frazier	Mater Dei in Santa Ana, CA (SoCal)	247: #76, On3: #74, Comp2: #75	One of the nation's top RB prospects with some of the best long speed, Nate Frazier will push for #1 back status in 2024. Frazier is pretty wide open currently, being highly desired by both the local west coast school and the SEC powerhouses. I'd have trouble projecting him anywhere yet but it would be really cool if it was Alabama.

WR (2-4 Needed/2 Commited)
Overview: Alabama has taken 10 non-transfer WRs over the past 2 cycles so while I think they'll take a normal # in 2024, I'd lean more towards 3 than 4 total, unless a 'best available' type wants in

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Commits
1. 5* Perry Thompson	Foley in Foley, AL (Mobile area)	247: #27, On3: #29, Comp2: #28	A taller receiver, Perry thrives with straight-line speed and a suprising ability to weave through space - Thompson earned his offer last season in camp routing up 2023 5* DBs. As a high-ranking prospect, Perry is somewhat keeping his options open and will likely take visits but has repeatedly reaffirmed his commit - Alabama's steady pursuit should allow them to hold on.
2. 4* Rico Scott	Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg, PA (Cent PA)	247: #372, On3: #289, Comp2: #330	A real smooth operator - plays RB and WR and is at his best going up the field. A bit of a suprise to some, Bama had seen him previously in camp and then watched his fall progress and saw what they needed to pull the trigger. I think we'll finish in the top 150-170
Top Targets
1. 4* Amari Jefferson	Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN	247: #270, On3: #288, Comp2: #279	My favorite realistic WR addition - his vertical and lateral speed POP off the screen, looks like a top 75 guy. Currently a Tennessee baseball commit, football is his likely future, as Alabama and Georgia battle it out. This will be a tough battle but one I very much hope the Tide wins.
2. 4* Aeryn Hampton	Carthage in Carthage, TX (E TX)	247: #116, On3: #126, Comp2: #121	More fast than quick, Aeryn runs like a RB, weaving through traffic and hitting the jets. Aeryn has been up-front about his love for Alabama and has narrowed his list to Bama and Texas, his former commitment. Aeryn has the green light to commit but seems like a guy who could go back and forth so unclear where this ends up.
3. 4* Cam Coleman	Central in Phenix City, AL (E AL)	247: #54, On3: #25, Comp2: #38	This guy's the real deal - big bodied but with slot speed and one of the best high-pointers in the class. Alabama's been trying to get him on campus and he's been uninterested, so the communication has been laid back. Cam and Perry Thompson kinda fill the same role so it's not a huge concern but Auburn is leading here and would give Hugh Freeze a real weapon.

TE (1-2 Needed/0 Commited)
Overview: I think *how* Tommy Rees constructed/called his ND offenses is a bit overblown in how his Bama offenses will look (you play with the talent you have) but Bama has been trying to find their Kyle Pitts/Brock Bowers/Michael Mayer for years now - really since OJ Howard/Irv Smith with a brief detour into Jahleel Billingsley. Alabama would like multiple bodies here if available but would really like a least one really good on in 2024

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Top Targets
1. 4* Caleb Odom	Carrollton in Carrollton, GA (W GA)	247: #85, On3: #69, Comp2: #77	A true mismatch nightmare, Odom is a true receiving threat TE, big bodied with room to grow but a little slender currently. Caleb is kinda wide open at the moment but this feels like one where Bama should start to push, with UGA snagging two of their targets in Jaden Reddell and Colton Heinrich

OL (4-5 Needed/0 Commited)
Overview: Alabama brought in a big OL class in 2023, which is already living up to expectations behind the scenes. They'll try to repeat the process in 2024, as they continue to re-tool their OL room

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Top Targets
1. 4* OT Daniel Calhoun	Walton in Marietta, GA (Atlanta Metro)	247: #86, On3: #106, Comp2: #96	A mammoth of a prospect, Calhoun has the look of a SEC lineman, able to play on the left or right side of the offensive line. Top 3 of Bama, UGA, and Texas but suprise suprise, this looks like another Bama/UGA battle. Feel better about Bama in this one but it's close and OVs will be big.
2. 4* IOL Casey Poe	Lindale in Lindale, TX (E TX)	247: #142, On3: #134, Comp2: #138	One of the most coveted interior prospects, Poe boasts both a mean streak as well as the ability to move the center, making him about as A1 as you can get for an interior OL prospect. Top 3 currently would be Alabama, Oklahoma, and UGA. Will be a tough battle but Alabama is the perceived leader heading into visits. Bama REALLY wants him.
3. 4* OL Jordan Seaton	IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL (Originally from Washington DC)	247: #41, On3: #42, Comp2: #41	Big, athletic frame who could end up playing inside or out - Seaton prefers OT but somecurrently leaning towards IOL. Ohio State was and is very involved but Bama/UGA feel like the primary players since making the move to IMG. I believe he visited for the A-Day game and it certainly seems like Bama will be an option until the end here.
4. 4* OT Marques Easley	Kankakee in Kankakee, IL (NE IL)	247: #263, On3: #240, Comp2: #251	A longer and leaner tackle prospect, Bama and UGA are again involved with Tennessee being the 3rd team in the mix, as well as the possible leader. Despite the Vols' early lead, this one can really go any direction after visits.
5. 4* OT Weston Davis	Beaumont United in Beaumont, TX (SE TX)	247: #180, On3: #124, Comp2: #152	A basketball-first prospect with high-upside as an OT, Davis has some interest in Bama but local programs like Texas A&M are getting some good recent buzz. Think it'll be paramount for Weston to camp.

DL (3-4 Needed/1 Commited)
Overview: Another unit Alabama's been trying to step-up, talent is a necessity in 2024

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Commits
1. 4* DE Jeremiah Beamon	Parker in Birmingham, AL	247: #103, On3: #98, Comp2: #100	Alabama's most recent commitment, Jeremiah is a FORCE rushing the passer, a little undersized with plenty of room to grow before a potential reneissance. If that sounds like Quinnen Williams, it's because that's the comp he's been getting. Many thought he'd be a sooner or later kinda commit and he went ahead and stopped messing around.
Top Targets
1. 5* DE Eddrick Houston	Buford in Buford, GA (Atlanta Metro)	247: #15, On3: #15, Comp2: #15	High upside, athleticism, and flexibility - bit of a tweener for the Saban defense who could slim down to an Anfernee Jennings role and add some weight to try and emulate Jonathan Allen. Another prospect that I think comes down to Bama and UGA, I feel better about Bama's chances here than with Eddrick's Buford teammate, KJ Bolden.
2. 4* DT Terrance Hibler	Holmes County Central in Lexington, MS (Cent MS)	247: #281, On3: #368, Comp2: #324	A bit undersized, Terrance makes up for it with violence, punch, and pure 'want-to'. Alabama has made a great early impression, alongside local Miss State, and the Tide are in a great spot if they choose to push here.
3. 3* DE Utah Commit Isaia Faga	Central in Phenix City, AL (E AL)	247: #733, On3: #676, Comp2: #704	Alabama has seen some recent success with Pacific Island players but it's rare to have one so local. Isaia excels at getting through traffic and getting into the backfield. Isaia's uncle is the Utah DL coach, leading to the early commitment, but Alabama is interested in seeing him camp and who knows where it could go from there.

EDGE (1-2 Needed/1 Commited)
Overview: The highest star rating per capita, talent is hardly a problem here but we'd love to have more.

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Commits
1. 4* Cayden Jones	Christ School in Arden, NC (W NC)	247: #147, On3: #171, Comp2: #159	Alabama has been looking more and more at hybrid LB types who could end up on the EDGE or off-ball (Jihaad Campell, Qua Russaw) - Cayden Jones is another, playing a ton off-ball and walking down to the edge and will likely project into a Terrell Lewis/Dallas Turner - type role. Since last year, Cayden had been up-front about wanting the green light to commit and jumped on it when he got the chance.
Top Targets
1. 5* Dylan Stewart	Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington DC	247: #10, On3: #9, Comp2: #9	Maybe the top pure Edge guy, Dylan reminds me of Keon Keeley from last cycle; similar build, bend and length. Visits to Alabama, Ohio State, Miami, South Carolina and UGA have put all 5 in contention, similar to Keeley. I'd give the Gamecocks and Hurricanes the edge going into the summer but Alabama is RIGHT there and another visit to campus could flip the script.
2. 4* Jordan Ross	Vestavia Hills in Birmingham, AL	247: #38, On3: #33, Comp2: #35	A high-end Edge, Jordan flashes natural talent that can only grow with development. A little undersized, Alabama has told him to gain weight and camp prior to a serious pursuit, giving UGA and Tennessee an early lead. This could change quickly this summer, as Jordan finds his way onto campus.
3. 5* Colin Simmons	Duncanville in Duncanville, TX (DFW Metro)	247: #4, On3: #3, Comp2: #3	One of the Nation's top athletes, Simmons effortlessly flies around off the edge. LSU and Texas are battling it out thus far but Alabama will continue to work here.

LB (2-3 Needed/1 Commited)
Overview: There's somewhat of a logjam of older player at the LB position so I would expect attrition after 2023, which will need to be replaced by incoming players.

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Commits
1. 4* Sterling Dixon	Mobile Christian School in Mobile, AL	247: #188, On3: #164, Comp2: #176	Similar to Cayden Jones, Sterling is another hybrid type - beginning as an edge type with some off-ball experience, Sterling will transition to ILB this offseason for Mobile Christian and then at Alabama. A long-time commit, Sterling will take some visits but there's not a huge concern there.
Top Targets
1. 5* UGA Commit Demarcus Riddick	Chilton County in Clanton, AL (Cent AL)	247: #25, On3: #38, Comp2: #31	Demarcus is an excellent example of a modern LB and exactly what Alabama wants from the position: excellent weaving through traffic, sideline-to-sideline movement and can shade down to rush the passer. An early UGA commit, the strength of that commitment has wavered significantly and while there's still some work to do, the feeling is he could very likely flip to Alabama over the summer.
2. 5* Justin Williams	Oak Ridge in Conroe, TX (Houston area)	247: #13, On3: #12, Comp2: #12	Similarly archetypal LB prospect: a bit slight at the moment, he makes up for it with WR-level speed and burst, making him a real weapon against a high-powered offense. Oregon, Alabama, and UGA are the likely top 3 - Bama made a good impression this spring but needs to get him back on campus ASAP - feels like UGA could swoop in here if Riddick flips.
3. 4* Bradley Shaw	Hoover in Hoover, AL (Birmingham area)	247: #176, On3: #139, Comp2: #157	More of a traditional ILB, football IQ and sure tackling give him a Shaun Dion Hamilton feel. Alabama, Auburn, and UGA are the top 3 schools and this feels like Iron Bowl battle, where Alabama will win or lose based on how they push to reel him in.

DB (4-5 Needed/1 commited)
Overview: You gotta take a solid # of DBs every cycle but CB is one of the most important/most needed positions in 2024 after losses to the transfer portal.

Name	H.S.	Rank	Notes
Commits
1. 5* CB Jaylen Mbakwe	Clay-Chalkville in Pinson, AL (Birmingham area)	247: #19, On3: #17, Comp2: #18	A legitimate two-way player, Mbakwe, like Kool-Aid before him, could have been a 5* WR as well as DB but prefers defense. Jaylen is the defensive leader of the class and will be pretty instrumental in how the defensive class comes together.
Top Targets
1. 5* CB Charles Lester III	Riverview in Sarasota, FL (Cent FL)	247: #16, On3: #19, Comp2: #17	An all-around athlete with the ability to play multiple DB positions, CL3 could be commited or off the board at any moment. There's a clear interest in Alabama on his end but the Tide have yet to really push, leaving the door wide open for FSU. He OVs on June 3rd so it's likely that we'll have a better idea of where Bama goes after that.
2. 4* CB Jameer Grimsley	Tampa Catholic in Tampa, FL	247: #230, On3: #195, Comp2: #212	Somewhat of the prototypical Saban corner, with a long and lean build and a wingspan for days. Jameer has seen his recruitment skyrocket this spring and schools like Bama, FSU, and Penn State are pushing. Bama's got a great shot for this prospect who should continue to rise.
3. 4* S UGA Commit Peyton Woodward	St. John Bosco in Bellflower, CA (SoCal)	247: #69, On3: #70, Comp2: #69	Peyton shows good play speed and flows to the target in run defense; a good balanced safety. Peyton has not been shy about letting other programs try to flip him from the Dawgs and his family is full of Alabama fans, making the Tide a very possible flip option.
4. 4* CB Zabien Brown	Mater Dei in Santa Ana, CA (SoCal)	247: #57, On3: #56 , Comp2: #56	Zabien is a physical pass defender who excels at getting in passing lanes and making plays on the ball - not a specimen but a true competitor. As a Mater Dei kid, the axiom has been USC most often has first right of refusal so we'll see how the summer visits go and if Bama can/will make a push here.
5. 5* S KJ Bolden	Buford in Buford, GA (Atlanta Metro)	247: #8, On3: #5, Comp2: #6	Likely the top DB in the 2024 class, KJ is how they come; a true 5* safety. UGA has a healthy lead thus far but Bama (alongside others) will have a chance to fight back during summer OVs
6. 5* CB UGA Commit Ellis Robinson IV	IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL (Originally from CT)	247: #5, On3: #7, Comp2: #6	One of the stickiest DBs in the class, Ellis was the other 5* CB alongside Alabama freshman Desmond Ricks at IMG in 2023. Alabama led early but UGA got the momentum and the commitment. It's likely Ellis will take visits, including a potential OV to Alabama, but I would not predict a flip to Alabama at this time or in the future.