Story Teaser: Chess is truly an interesting game, even with only one board. Managing the wants of your pawns, the directions they want to go against the ones you need them to - it is said that the God of Chess was the only one who understood it properly, and, as everyone knows, all the gods died centuries ago, in the Thousand Years War.
But this game is different. 3 pairs of players with 3 boards stacked on top of one another, a single Wild Card crowning the final game. That Wild Card is Melony, a girl living in the dying City who abruptly finds herself thrown into a world that confuses past, future, and present. Who will be the victor, and what does it mean to win?
Chapter Teaser: Finishing up
Navigation: [ Table of Contents ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Previous ] [ Next ]
MELONY GASPED FOR AIR, mind straining to catch up with the movement of the world around her. Closing her eyes, she carefully steadied her breathing, feeling more stable with each breath. Reopening her eyes, she found herself nearly blinded by the soft silver glow of the stars leaking through the ceiling a stark contrast to the dim red haze that she’d recently emerged from.
Mel was standing in the middle of the room in the center of a diagram that looked to be the composite of a circle and a rune. Eyes widening with some level of surprise, Mel surveyed the room, a little taken aback by the two familiar people who had definitely not been there when she’d left.
The Old Man had taken a seat at the table where the chess board was perched, while none other than Agatha was sitting across from him, looking thoughtful as he explained something. Further back, Marsha was leaning against the back wall next to Sora, who’d perched on the table and was attempting to replicate a rune that Marsha had drawn, green magic swirling around her hand. At the other end of that wall, Samheim, Simon, Tock, and Clemens were discussing something, with Clemens looking slightly stunned by the presence of the other three in equal measure.
Stepping out of the center of the room, Mel briefly stumbled, raising her hand to her head for a moment before the world unwound itself into its proper shape. “I didn’t expect to find you two here,” she said, addressing Clemens and Agatha as she moved towards Sora and pulled herself up onto the table beside her.
Clemens glanced up at the sound of her voice, giving a slight wave of his hand in greeting. “Neither did we?” he remarked. “I mean, we sort of thought…”
“Clemens,” interrupted his sister, “shut up.” Turning to look at Melony, she gave a slight shrug, her pale blue eyes unreadable. “What my brother means is that, like it or not, we were a part of this. And we are not going to be left out of the ending.”
Yeah, yeah, Daederisha cut in. That’s very nice, I’m sure. But do try not to look so depressed, Old Man. The plan worked! Be happy! Congratulate the winner of the last chess game!
The Old Man glared at the sword for a moment, then turned away without further acknowledging its presence. Then, he crossed to the back of the room, next to the long table on the back wall, and pushed open part of the wall, revealing a hidden door. “I know you’re there, Ardeln,” he said tiredly as he exited the house and took a few steps into the moonlight. “Eavesdropping is generally considered rude, you know.”
The Aspect of Justice moved into Melony’s line of sight, shrugging slightly. Then, abruptly, he straightened, his face serious and humorless. “I saw her symbol,” he said without preamble, and Mel noticed that one hand was resting on a new demon sword sheathed at his side.
The Old Man paused briefly, then tilted his head to one side. “I don’t feel like explaining this again,” he said shortly.
Ardeln smiled briefly, eyes now moving into the room as he tried to identify each member. “That’s fine, that’s fine,” he said airily. “It’s not too hard to guess, anyway.” His eyes fixed on Marsha, and she stiffened, a flash of anger passing over her eyes.
“I brought a peace offering, Sphere of Runes,” he said, unsheathing the sword and laying it flat across his extended hands. “This is Almelneda. I was one of the 4 demons to create it directly after the Thousand Years War.”
I’m not sure if it’s nice to see you again, Almelneda remarked carefully, but I have a feeling that it’s probably the right thing to say. So! It’s nice to see you again, Sphere of Magic.
Marsha stared down at the sword for a moment before a half-hysterical laugh burbled up in her chest. “Why would I want this? Why would I want to see it?”
Ardeln paused briefly. “I wasn’t giving it to you. The peace offering was that I am carrying Almelneda with me. As to why… I, ah, might have snuck a look at the contract? I saw the provision about memories, and thought that you’d either added it or supported it being there.” He paused again, glancing towards Simon. “If I’d known you were involved, Sphere of Technology, I would have brought something for you, too.”
Simon remained silent, his steel gray eyes regarding Marsha. She regarded the sword for a moment more, then looked up at the Aspect of Justice. “I think you’re being sincere,” she started, then narrowed her eyes. “And I really don’t care. I appreciate the gesture, but it is, ultimately, meaningless to me.” She paused, then looked at the Old Man. “I don’t think I care anymore,” she said, “about what happens to demons. You can try again in a few hundred years and see if I’m less bitter, then.”
The Aspect of Justice looked briefly surprised, then thoughtful. He took a step back, sheathing Almelneda, and turned to the Old Man. Still, he stayed in the clearing. He did not retreat past the tree line, but neither did he enter the house.
Simon spoke next, quietly. “I am going to agree with Marsha on all counts,” he said, then continued with a slight smile, “which isn’t something I ever thought I’d say. I appreciate the attempt to make amends, Ardeln, but…” he shook his head.
Tock, somewhat to Mel’s surprise, was the next to speak, their voice reverberating through the room. “You destroyed everything. Some lost things are never recovered, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try. I think that you have not fully communicated with Almelneda if you think that we can forgive you for being the person you were and doing the things that you did.
Mel noted with some amusement that the mortals in the room, herself included, were observing the conversation with almost a quiet awe. Agatha had a crystal that was probably a recording crystal in her hand, and she looked slightly defiant when Mel shot her a look. “This is important,” Agatha hissed, “historical, even.” Then, she paused, glancing down at the stone in her hand. “I’ve been spending too much time with my brother and I’m going to blame this on him,” she concluded.
The Old Man opened his hand slightly to reveal the true rune, which was glowing softly. “There,” he said softly. “I kept my promise, old friend.”
The Aspect of Justice looked at the rune and hesitated. “Would she have…ah, there has to be a better word than ‘forgive.’ That’s not what I mean. But…?”
“You can ask her yourself,” the Old Man said with a sad smile. “But I wouldn’t recommend it. I don’t think she’s going to want to think about that right now.”
Ardeln noticed the rune with a start. “Is that her…?” Then he paused and regarded the Old Man with narrowed eyes. “Were you…?”
The Old Man burst out laughing at that, and though it was obvious that he was still struggling with something, the laughter seemed completely sincere to Mel.
Sora raised a hand. “Um?” she remarked, shooting a questioning glance around the room.
Simon leaned forward, obviously also amused. “Though we gods do not share this custom, for demons, giving one another their true circle is a courtship ritual.”
Mel tilted her head to one side. “How is he thinking about that right now?” she wondered aloud.
Samheim shrugged. “You know that feeling when you have way too many important things spinning through your head and instead of bringing one of them to center focus, your brain focuses on something completely random instead?”
Clemens nodded. “Yeah. That.”
Marsha, impossibly, also seemed to be on the verge of laughter, despite her previous interaction with the demon. “Oh, come on,” she said. “You’ve talked to Daederisha and Almelneda. They have memories of her. Do you really think she had eyes for anyone but Odera?”
Tock seemed to consider this, tilting their head to one side. “I suppose a lot of things didn’t work out for her,” he said simply.
Though Tock had spoken quietly, their words still drew the Old Man’s attention. “Don’t think like that,” he said severely. “The Sphere of Knowledge might not have been interested in anyone that way, but they were still very good friends. By all rights they shouldn’t have been, mind you, what with Odera’s serious personality and Allessa’s overly dramatic one. But even if she couldn’t win all the way – couldn’t bring it into checkmate – she always found a way to move the board into check. She couldn’t save the world, but she still fixed it. She couldn’t live, but she didn’t die.”
That’s a bit hypocritical, coming from you, remarked Daederisha. Since I’m pretty sure you think that way, Old Man.
The Old Man shrugged. “So I’m a hypocrite. I thought you Remembered me, Daederisha – you really should’ve already known that.” The Old Man finished speaking, and as quickly as it had come, the flash of humor in his eyes was gone.
Mel crossed her arms, observing the exchange with narrowed eyes. “I have a question,” she remarked mildly, drawing everyone’s attention. “I saw you as one of the exceptions in the contract, Aspect of Strategy. Are you not rebinding your name to a rune?”
The Old Man looked slightly surprised at this question. “I never fought in the War,” he said simply, “so there was no reason for my circle to be bound to the Abyss.” Then he paused. “But we’ll see.”
As his words faded away, an odd, uneasy quiet settled over the group, and Melony narrowed her eyes further as certain pieces clicked together in her mind. Earlier, Daederisha had said “the winner of the last chess game” – she didn’t think there was an Aspect of Chess, so when Allessa died, so would her game.
Unexpectedly, Mel felt a sharp pang at the thought. Chess had only made her life difficult, but it felt… exciting. Wild.
How much had really been lost? How much from before the Thousand Years War had also felt like this?
The Old Man was turned away from the small house, gazing off into the moonlight, but he turned around quickly, an instant after Mel became aware of the sound of footsteps on wood.
Melony turned around, coming face to face with a seemingly young child leaning in the hall doorway, black and red eyes staring up at them in triumph. There were two roses, black and red, nestled in her hair, and a network of pulsing scars that crept slowly up her arm.
“What are you being so quiet for?” the god of chess demanded, “Come on, congratulate the winner of my last chess game!”
Navigation: [ Table of Contents ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Previous ] [ Next ]

This is really just wild spitballing and extrapolation, but I thought it might make for an interesting discussion. The movies (and comics) are very much human-centric, but if we take the stories and world they live in at face value, humanity is not taken seriously nearly enough. Out of a few recent examples:
Dr. Strange has destroyed Universes, and in multiple cases it's simply because he wanted to save, or be with Christine and couldn't.
Kang literally causes a Multiversal war across space and time, until he wipes all but one timeline, and trims anything that could cause the birth of his variants.
Spot (from ATSV, haven't seen it, just heard spoilers) apparently becomes a multiversal threat as well.
Ultron, a human creation, breaks free after sterilizing his universe to do the same to others.
And keep in mind, humanity is a young civilization on the galactic scale, relatively speaking. And yet, they can manifest powerful abilities, and create technologies that can threaten everything, from the world, to their universe and beyond.
Peter Quill, out of thousands of half-celestial children, is the only one to inherit celestial abilites.
Tony Stark is able to invent time travel, and he and the Avengers, largely human based, are able to reverse the snap and restore the universe to where it was, beating back Thanos.
What will happen once humanity is on the same level as these other civilizations we see? Once their technologies, and abilites are widespread, how long until groups like the Avengers can't hold them back anymore? The age of heros is the calm before the storm, and humanity as a whole is on its way to becoming an Eldritch Swarm.

Good Morning RonaPA!
I hope you stayed safe during the recent wildfire fallout.
Still don't have optimal equipment here and I have some things I need to do today so again this will be short.
I'm going to edit this post a lot so I don't lose my work. Please check back later if it doesn't look right quite yet. I apologize for the inconvenience.

REDDIT API access

Barring a COVID news emergency, I won't be posting an update on Monday 6/12 in solidarity with Reddit going dark for 2 days. Reddit is making third party moderating/browsing API access inaccessibly expensive. You can find out more (you'll need to review options especially if you use Apollo, Reddit Is Fun, etc.) on APIcalypse.

VOCs

XBB.1.5 still in the lead with 28% share.
There are no new variants to monitor yet for speed on the horizon but there are a few already in circulation that are being watched for severity and NOT speed:
XBB.1.9.1
FL.2
FL.4
CH.1.1
FE.1.1
EG.1.2
BR.2.1

Editorials

Respirators, CR Boxes, and Wildfires...they're all related!!

Just a reminder that if you have respirators on hand (N95, KN95, P100, N99, etc.) or you made a Corsi-Rosenthal box in the past whatever months, that these come in extremely handy to stay safer from wildfire smoke!
Fit-tested N95s are best and ideal though I understand just not practical for everyone.
Head-loop respirators protect BETTER than ear-loop models BUT ear-loop models can be modified to fit better.
CLOTH MASKS/BANDANNAS DO NOT FILTER OUT FINE SMOKE PARTICLES. They are not enough as microscopic smoke particles are many times smaller than particles that carry pathogens. You need an electrostatic respirator and at least MERV-11 filters for smoke.
Wildfire smoke contains lots of heavy metals which makes it dangerous for pets too.
For Christ's sake don't turn on Fox Entertainment, stop other people from watching it and don't listen to them saying wildfire smoke is just A-OK to breathe.
We are not even in "wildfire season" yet and conditions are already extremely dry. Lightning strikes have contributed to almost all fires in Canada, including the one that darkened our own sky. This is creating perfect conditions to be an unprecedentedly bad fire season. Be prepared!
Neat trackers:
🔴-Covid Variant Dashboard and Tracking SARSCoV2 XBB.1.16 Lineage Over Time by Arkansas data scientist Raj Rajnarayan
🔴-Biobot (Wastewater)
🔴-CDC NOWCAST variant proportion tracker
🔴-Honey/Gilchrist variant proportion visualizer and How to Use It!
Education:
🔴 -An important post here (found on Twitter, posted by tern) recently on this EXTREMELY IMPORTANT .PDF release from the CDC that contains:

However, patients who recover from the acute phase of the infection can still suffer long-term effects (8). Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), commonly referred to as “long COVID,” refers to the long-term symptoms, signs, and complications experienced by some patients who have recovered from the acute phase of COVID-19 (8–10). Emerging evidence suggests that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months, and potentially years after infection (11,12). Documented serious post-COVID-19 conditions include cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, renal, endocrine, hematological, and gastrointestinal complications (8), as well as death (13).

It's under "Certifying deaths due to post-acute sequelae of COVID-19".
If you didn't catch/test +/deal with symptoms of COVID-19, DO NOT seek out to get infected with it.
If you caught COVID-19 once, DO NOT seek out catching it again.
And WEAR A MASK. Don't spread it!
🔴 -COVID-19 Immunology 101 for Non-immunologists by Dr. Akiko Iwasaki
🔴 -How the Immune System Works, beautifully illustrated by Kurzgesagt. (Seriously, Kurzgesagt is wonderful, go check it out.)
🔴 -The T-cells are Not Alright, an interview with Dr. Anthony Leonardi
🔴 -How SARS-CoV-2 Battles Our Immune System: Meet the protein arsenal wielded by the pandemic virus
🔴 -How to Build a Corsi-Rosenthal Box and then make them look snazzy!
🔴 -Safer, more cautious gatherings.
🔴 -MASK TYPE MATTERS with the latest Omicron Sars-CoV-2 mutations. Here is a chart comparing mask types, mutation type, and the time it takes in each to receive a problematic dose of Sars-CoV-2.
🔴 -A thread by Dr. Jeff Gilchrist explaining how high level respirators work, more mask comparisons, and answers to why we can still smell things even with high level respirators on.
Continue to have a great and safe spring season (and if you pray, pray for good rain!) 🌧🌧🌧🌧

So when you think of cities with high culture and vibrant music scenes on the east coast, what springs to mind? Obviously New York. Thanks to Drake, we all know about the growing music scene in Toronto. You prahbahbly musta tawt a Bawstan tew. Maybe Montreal or Philadelphia or even Baltimore crossed your mind.
Hah. Baltimore.
Time to check your cultural bias, pal. You passed over a quiet little city on the south shore of Lake Ontario, nestled in the Genesee River valley. It has a history as a hotbed of Abolitionism and Women’s Rights. It is the home of Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, Western Union, Ragu and other innovative companies. It has a lively music scene, great nightclubs, world-renowned universities, thriving museums, arts & culture festivals, and live theatre. It is a true cultural gem that many folks overlook.
Yep. You bet your ass I am talking about Rochester, New York.
Since we know that Stoner Rock can come from anywhere, it should be no surprise that Rochester has produced one of the leading bands in this genre. This week we are going to check out a band you are going to want to listen to. If you know them, you love them. If you haven’t heard of them, you are going to thank me.
This week’s band is KING BUFFALO.
About Them
Hold on a sec. King Buffalo? Not King Rochester?
To be fair, King Rochester sounds like the villain in a Disney movie. Kinda hard to imagine that on a T-Shirt. King New York sounds like a particularly obnoxious Yankees fan (and yeah, finding a Yankees fan that isn’t obnoxious is a tough go). King Albany sounds like a car made by Kia.
But King Buffalo? That just works.
Our heroes didn’t start out together. King Buffalo were made up of members of two other Rochester area bands.
Randall Coon and Scott Donaldson were playing together in Velvet Elvis. That five piece band played heavy rock with space-based themes in the early 2010’s. Sean McVay and Dan Reynolds were in another band called Abandoned Buildings Club (side note: kinda neat that their initials were ABC), who had a pure psychedelic rock vibe. When both VE and ABC appeared to be having limited success, the four musicians decided to merge their talents into one band. Coon had handled vocals and guitar in Velvet Elvis and Donaldson had been rock solid on drums. McVay had done vocals and guitar in Abandoned Buildings Club and Reynolds had anchored the sound with his bass. All the pieces were there for a classic Beatles-esque lineup.
So out of the wreckage of ABC and VE, KB arose. The four members gelled so well that they were able to record their first demo - aptly titled Demo - in just two days. Their sound was immediately compared to tourmates and close friends All Them Witches. But where ATW were bluesy and sludgy, King Buffalo had produced songs full of space. Oh, there were heavy riffs for sure - but there were passages of music that were contrastingly lighter and further apart. The best example of these contrasts can be found in the more than 11 minutes of Providence Eye. The first six and a half minutes come at you at a lulling pace, enveloping you in the moment. You get swept up in the rolling riffs. But then the drop happens and you suddenly realize the song has been building to this peak. The tempo picks up and you ride a relentless rollercoaster until you hit the Black Sabbath-inspired outro, which takes you home. It is an emotional experience. The two other tracks - In Dim Light and Pocket Full of Knife are smaller essays on the same theme.
It was clear right from Demo that King Buffalo had some serious talent. But if you have listened to the band you will notice that one thing is starkly different on Demo than from any of their other releases: the vocals. Randall Coon was the lead vocalist on these recordings. If you play them up against anything since by the band they stand out. Our very own QotSA may have successfully had multiple vocalists on multiple tunes, but King Buffalo was destined to have Sean McVay take over the mic. Shortly after 2013’s Demo, Coon left the band to do a solo project called Skunk Hawk.
King Buffalo stood at a crossroads: did they look to replace Coon, or should they carry on as a Power Trio? The choice for them was obvious. McVay, Reynolds and Donaldson knew that they had fantastic potential together. They decided they didn't need anyone else.
Side note: Regular readers of these write ups know that All Them Witches just went through this exact crisis in 2019. What I didn’t share then is that ATW are close friends with KB. I would not be surprised to learn that ATW had some serious conversations about their lineup with the boys from KB before they, too, decided last year to pare down to just three members.
To re-christen their new lineup, in 2015 King Buffalo went in on a split EP with Swedish band Lé Betre (I mean, hooking up with a Swedish partner is a dream of mine, so I see the appeal.) They re-recorded their standout tune Providence Eye with McVay on vocals, as well as two new tracks - Like a Cadillac and New Time. New Time opens their side of the EP with an infectious, descending riff that hooks you immediately. It is clear from the lyrics - No wasting around, it’s a new time - that they had moved on from Coon. Like a Cadillac follows up and is a three and a half minute jam that leaves you wanting more. The re-recorded version of Providence Eye closes out their side of the split EP and leaves no doubt that they are in charge. It is a tighter, heavier version, and the amazing outro is so low down that it will make you want to rob your own house.
With their lineup now set, it was time to put together enough music to tour on. In 2016, King Buffalo released Orion. Here you can witness the melding of their influences into something majestic and fantastic, and it is here that they really develop their signature style.
To explain this style, you need to understand basic song structure.
Most pop songs tend to go verse - chorus - verse - chorus - bridge - chorus - chorus. Sure, you could add in a solo for the bridge, or a detailed intro or outro, or another verse - but this is a tried and true formula. Some variation of this dominates the pop charts to this day.
Not with King Buffalo songs. These guys are the masters of the drop, and you hear it in most of their tunes. QotSA fans are no strangers to that long build and release; it is an integral part of tunes like The Evil Has Landed, God is in the Radio, Song For The Dead, and I Appear Missing. One of the sickest drops ever recorded happens in the middle of the Them Crooked Vultures tune No One Loves Me & Neither Do I. It is where the music turns around, and a new riff takes over, often along with a pace change. It is then that you realize that the song has built to this climactic moment, and you are engulfed by the music.
King Buffalo does this better than anyone else, and you hear it clearly articulated, again and again, on the album Orion.
Take the song Kerosene for example.
A rolling bass riff from Reynolds establishes the song right out of the gate. Donaldson produces punchy drum beats with cymbal crashes at the end of each phrase. McVay’s slide guitar rounds out the intro. McVay’s vocals - very Ozzy like, if Ozzy had any semblance of self-control - frame the first verse, which ends in a fuzzy, heavy riff with crashing cymbals. This same pattern is repeated a second time and the drop is teased at just past three minutes in, but does not happen quite yet. The listener’s anticipation builds as the airy, soaring solo from McVay calls out in contrast to the rolling bass. After the guitar solo bridge, the band goes right back into the chorus. But then it happens: THE DROP. Just past 5 minutes in, the song takes a complete and abrupt turn for a totally different riff that is at the same time heavier and brand new, and yet has been there all the while.
What King Buffalo does brilliantly is subvert your musical expectations.
The standard structure is V-C-V-C-B-C-C.
Kerosene is V-C-V-C-B-C-DROP-OUTRO. Just when you subliminally expect something the same, you get something different.
The entire album is like that. Orion hardly sounds like a debut. It is a mature and deliberate soundscape built by talented musicians who are making significant choices about their art. Songs like Drinking From The River Rising open with an expansive and elastic topography, but drill down to the molten lava of heavy riffs and distorted fuzz. Sleeps On A Vine begins with one of the most zen riffs you’ve ever heard and ends in a tumultuous and heavy sonic assault that is pure controlled chaos. Every song on the album is a study in contrasts that leaves you with auditory whiplash and a burning desire for more.
They are that good.
King Buffalo were able to tour on their new material, and did so extensively. They played clubs and larger venues, often with friends and fellow Stoner Rockers All Them Witches and other bands like The Sword and Elder. In 2017, the released the EP Repeater as a follow up. It is just three songs (The vinyl ad reads, All songs on one side! No need to flip!) but it is a heck of a musical journey. The title track off the EP is 13+ minutes long and is one huge build. When the fuzz finally drops after almost 8 minutes, it is a true cathartic moment. It sneaks up on you, and is so welcome when it hits - especially after McVay’s repetition that “Every Day is the Same* - that you intrinsically understand how great it is when things finally change for the better. Too Little Too Late is an instrumental tune that is both enveloping and expansive. It is a terrific bridge to the final track, Centurion, which is an unbelievable groove. Centurion has three minutes of set up leading to an unreal fuzzy drop that is so dirty it will get you evicted from your apartment.
The influence of their touring with All Them Witches can also be seen on their next full length release, 2018’s Longing To Be The Mountain. Ben McLeod from ATW produced the album. ATW, The Sword and Elder are all thanked in the liner notes. The album picks up right where Repeater leaves off, with KB experimenting with long form songs like Morning Song and the title track, and shorter jams like Sun Shivers, Cosmonaut, and Quickening. Reynolds and McVay pepper the songs with synthesizer sounds that add colour and texture to the overall compositions. Donaldson drums with impeccable precision to provide each song with a safe mooring to return to, driving the guitars forward at the same time as he holds the rhythm in check. This is most clearly evident in Eye Of The Storm. The result is a rich tapestry of expansive and flowing music full of heavy jams and storytelling that will leave the listener wanting more. Their signature build-to-sonic-explosion style does not let fans down.
The success of Longing To Be The Mountain allowed for extensive touring across North America and Europe. It also led to appearances at bigger gigs, like at Rockpalast and the Stoned & Dusted desert rock event in 2019. Anyone that has seen any of their live work knows that King Buffalo are simply hypnotizing on stage. Reynolds’ bass work is reminiscent of Geddy Lee with his complex and flowing style. Donaldson brings controlled power to the drum kit, and is ready to cut loose when the drop comes. And McVay has become a true front man, comfortable with the lead voice on guitar and the microphone.
Their next release, Dead Star, dropped in 2020 and generated all kinds of buzz in the Stoner Rock scene. Of course, the tour planned to support it got axed when the entire world went into lockdown. But the (short album? EP?) is simply fantastic. Red Star Pt. 1 & 2 continues their long form examination and has everything you’d expect from them. Echo of A Waning Star is a lament of just over 3 minutes that is near-perfect. Ecliptic sounds like the soundtrack to a John Carpenter movie and is a complete jam with serious cool 1980’s vibes. Dead Star, the title track, is almost Radiohead-esque in its evocative and regretful take on death and decay.
But the standout track has to be Eta Carinae, which has one of the greatest musical drops and turn-arounds you will ever hear. The entire song pivots just past four minutes in and becomes a 70’s anthem worthy of Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. If you listen to no other tune here today, you have to check it out. It will absolutely get stuck in your head.
The band dropped their first live record, Live At Freak Valley, in 2020. This is a really nice retrospective/greatest hits album kinda deal. What stands out is just how fucking tight the band is live. With some bands, live versions veer wildly from the recorded ones - and not at all in a good way. This record is the opposite. You can clearly hear on Orion and Kerosene that KB are just that good live.
In the wake of the global pandemic, King Buffalo decided to musically capture the moment in time. They decided to release a trifecta of albums. 2021 saw them drop The Burden of Restlessness and then Acheron. The third record in this trio is 2022’s Regenerator. It is really important to consider all three records in this Triptych at the same time, for they are a sonic cycle.
TBOR is a descent into despondency. Acheron is about hitting rock bottom, and being in Hell. Regenerator is about finding a way to claw yourself back into the light. Each album stands on its own, but together they form a sweeping epic journey that we can all relate to.
TBOR is an album where the protagonist gradually loses the will to exist. There is a cry of deep frustration in Burning, a not-so-subtle reference to a plague in Locusts, a study in being confined indoors in Silverfish, and an outright statement that our hero is sinking in Loam. In fact, the lyrics tell us: “Still I press my face into the ground/I’m waiting for the hammer to fall.”
It is not a happy album.
Just when you think things have to get better, we get the 4-track jam of Acheron. In this record, our hero has fallen to his lowest point. He has descended to Hell. The title track - the first one on the album - makes this clear, when it says: “Waking up under the ground/Silver asleep on my tongue.”
Just in case you didn’t get the classic reference, Acheron is the river one must cross in Greek mythology to get to the underworld. Souls going to Hell had coins placed in their mouth to pay Charon, the ferryman, to take them across the river to Hades. So our hero did sink into the Loam in the last album, and finds himself in Hell. This theme is reinforced in Zephyr, who was the Greek God of the West Wind, and Shadows, which references what the Greeks used to call dead spirits - Shades. And just in case you had any doubt, the final track on the album is Cerberus, named after the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades.
What is even cooler about Acheron is how it was recorded. Instead of a studio, they recorded the album underground in a cave.
Now that is commitment.
The final album in this cycle is 2022’s Regenerator. While the first two records were about descent, despondency, and hitting rock bottom, this record is about regaining hope and optimism, and finding a way to come back. We hear this clearly in the lyrics of the record’s final track, Firmament, which says: “Out of the loam I rise, embraced by the etheThe river below relieves my hands of silver” - clearly calling back to the tracks Loam and Acheron. And in case you didn’t know, in Greek mythology the Firmament means the Sky or the Heavens.
Our hero has left Hell behind, and ascended into Heaven.
References to positive mythology are all over this album, from the album art to the tracks Mercury and Avalon. It is a total jam. But the best song on the album might just be Mammoth. If you don’t like the guitar on this song, you and I can’t be friends.
I got a chance to see KB perform last year when they toured with Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. They are fucking tight. They were the opening act, but were the absolute highlight of the show. I want everyone to hear this band because they really are something special.
Go check them out.
Links to QOTSA
We know that QotSA front man Josh Homme and Kyuss invented Stoner Rock in the 1990’s. They were the genre-defining band. King Buffalo (and other bands like All Them Witches) have picked up this proverbial torch and are now bringing the sound to the next generation of fans. King Buffalo drummer Scott Donaldson is known to be a huge QotSA fan. Perhaps he saw them live when they played in Rochester in 2014 in support of ...Like Clockwork.
It is also sometimes easy to forget that Josh was not the only architect of the low desert sound. Original Kyuss Drummer and co-founder Brant Bjork wrote many Kyuss tunes and continues to be a leader in the music scene today. King Buffalo have played with Bjork at festivals three times: Freak Valley Festival, Black Deer Festival and the aforementioned Stoned & Dusted. There is also a planned collaborative project between Bjork and King Buffalo that may be coming our way soon.
The future is bright, my friends.
Their Music
Providence Eye
In Dim Light
Pocket Full of Knife
King Buffalo songs from the Split EP with Lé Betre
Kerosene -- live in 2016
Drinking From The River Rising
Orion - entire album on Genesee Live
RepeateCenturion -- Recorded Live in the Quarantine Sessions put out by the band
Live at Rockpalast in 2019 - includes songs from LTBTM
Longing To Be The Mountain - Quarantine Sessions
Quickening -- everything is cool until the snake head pops out. Red Star Pt. 2 -- the official video
Ecliptic
Eta Carinae
Dead Star - Full Album
Silverfish
The Knocks
Loam
Hours
Acheron
Shadows
Mammoth
Firmament
Show Them Some Love
/KingBuffalo - C’mon, everyone -- there are just over 500 subscribers. Those are rookie numbers. You gotta pump those numbers up.
Previous Posts
Tool
Alice in Chains
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Rage Against The Machine
Soundgarden
Run the Jewels
Royal Blood
Arctic Monkeys
Ty Segall
Eagles of Death Metal
Them Crooked Vultures
Led Zeppelin
Greta Van Fleet
Ten Commandos
Screaming Trees
Sound City Players
Iggy Pop
Mastodon
The Strokes
Radiohead
All Them Witches
ZZ Top

Introduction:
Khalid bin Walid, a renowned Arab warrior who embraced Islam after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah in 629, earned the esteemed title of Sayf Allah (Sword of God) from Prophet Muhammad himself. While he played a significant role in various expeditions and battles alongside Muhammad, his most remarkable achievement came to light in the Battle of Mu’tah. This article delves into the details of this historic encounter, highlighting Khalid bin Walid's heroism and the enduring impact of the battle.
​
1. The Prelude: Conversion and Title:
Khalid bin Walid's conversion to Islam in 629 following the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah solidified his commitment to the faith. Recognizing his exceptional skills and valor, Prophet Muhammad bestowed upon him the revered title of Sayf Allah, signifying his prowess as a warrior blessed by God.
​
2. Background of the Battle: The Killing of the Emissaries:
The Battle of Mu’tah was ignited by a grave incident that involved the killing of an emissary of Prophet Muhammad by a Byzantine governor. This act of aggression deeply incensed the Muslims, prompting them to take action and seek justice. The battle thus became a pivotal event in the struggle between the Muslims and the Byzantines, driven by the desire to protect the honor and integrity of the Islamic community.
​
3. Clash of Titans: The Battle of Mu’tah near the Village of Mu’tah:
The Battle of Mu’tah was a historic confrontation between the Muslims and the Byzantines that took place in September 629 near the village of Mu’tah, located east of the Jordan River. This strategic location became the setting for an intense clash between the two formidable forces, marking a significant chapter in the history of Islamic warfare.
​
4. Clash of Titans: Overwhelming Odds:
The Byzantines amassed an enormous army of over 100,000 soldiers, including Arab vassals from various tribes. In stark contrast, the Muslim army comprised a mere 3,000 men who only became aware of the enemy's formidable strength upon reaching Ma'an in Syria. The vast numerical superiority of the Byzantines posed a daunting challenge for the Muslim forces, intensifying the gravity of the impending battle.
​
5. Succession of Commanders and Their Demise:
The Muslim army witnessed three successive commanders—Zayd bin Haritha, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, and Abdullah ibn Rawaha—each a close companion of Prophet Muhammad and a valiant warrior. Although they fought with unwavering bravery against the Byzantine forces, tragically, they all fell in the heat of battle. The command then passed to Khalid bin Walid, the fourth in line.
​
6. Khalid bin Walid's Heroic Strategy:
In this critical juncture, Khalid bin Walid demonstrated unparalleled heroism and strategic brilliance. Realizing the perilous situation and the potential destruction of the Muslim army, he made the bold decision to strategically withdraw his forces. Utilizing his profound understanding of the terrain and tactical acumen, he deftly maneuvered his troops to evade encirclement by the enemy. Additionally, he launched well-timed counterattacks that sowed confusion and demoralization among the Byzantines. Through his leadership, he ensured the safe retreat of the majority of his men, minimizing losses.
​
7. The Battle's Significance and Legacy:
While the Battle of Mu’tah did not result in a decisive victory for either side, its implications for the future of Islam were profound. The unwavering courage and unyielding faith of the Muslim soldiers, who valiantly confronted an overwhelmingly superior force, becamea source of inspiration for generations to come. Moreover, the strategic brilliance and leadership displayed by Khalid bin Walid in rescuing the Muslim army from potential disaster earned him the respect and admiration of Prophet Muhammad and his followers. Khalid bin Walid went on to lead numerous successful campaigns against the Byzantines and other adversaries, establishing himself as one of history's greatest military commanders.
​
Conclusion:
"A true warrior does not count the number of his enemies, but the strength of his faith." - Khalid bin Walid
The Battle of Mu’tah stands as a testament to the indomitable spirit and unwavering devotion of Khalid bin Walid and the Muslim soldiers who bravely faced overwhelming odds. Their heroism and strategic prowess shaped the course of Islamic history, inspiring generations to exhibit unwavering determination and steadfast commitment to their faith. Khalid bin Walid's name remains etched in history as a symbol of resilience and valor, serving as a timeless reminder of the extraordinary feats achieved by those driven by unwavering faith and boundless courage.

I never gave Kaito much thought when I played both main titles in the Judgement series. Now I absolutely adore him. I think the Kaito Files is an incredible gaming experience with a beautifully written storyline. It really expanded his character from the “dumb but tough as nails and super reliable sidekick” stereotype to a very perceptive and competent investigator in his own right, as well as a multilayered complex character with a rich backstory and reasons for being the way that he is.
The story did an excellent job demonstrating that Kaito is so much more than the mindless brute he’s often portrayed as; there’s a profound sense of both warmth and tragedy to his character that is well explored through this DLC. If you’re already a fan of the series but still on the fence about playing the DLC, I can’t recommend it enough; it definitely surpassed any expectations I had going in. The storyline is genuinely among the best in the entire Yakuza franchise.
Almost all the supporting characters have an emotional depth and sincerity that makes them sympathetic and oftentimes even relatable (except for the main antagonist but he’s intriguing for his own reasons). Shirakaba, Jun, Mikiko, Kenmochi, etc. Whatever your first impressions of these characters are get slowly unraveled as the plot touches on their backstories and emotional baggage. They don’t just exist to complement the protagonist by being some helpless damsel in distress for Kaito to heroically rescue, a punching bag boss-fight that showcases Kaito’s strength, or a defenseless child for Kaito to watch over and fulfill the player’s protective father-figure fantasies. I mean, sure they absolutely do complement Kaito in that they all play a role in uncovering another dimension of Kaito’s deceptively complex character, but they’re also thoroughly fleshed out individuals whose sole existence isn’t tied to highlighting the protagonist, but actually provide another perspective and role in the context of the overall plot that Kaito alone can’t fulfill.
The buildup to the final confrontation with the primary antagonist was superb. Yes, the big bad “reveal” is fairly obvious but there’s enough unexpected twists and turns to keep you invested all throughout. Being a shorter storyline with no side content worked very well. I think the pacing of the story was near perfect.
Some Yakuza/Judgement games have an insufferable tendency to grind players through a very slow beginning; oftentimes forcing them to partake in optional side activities and other mundane tasks. As shorter story with zero side missions, the Kaito Files doesn’t waste any time getting straight into the thick of it, and what you’d expect to be a rushed rollercoaster of intensity and emotion all condensed into a fast few hours of additional content ends up being a standalone title that maximizes however much of your time it takes up. Almost everything felt dedicated to fleshing out the characters, their relationships, or progressing the plot.
The absence of any sub-stories or side-cases really allowed you to hone in on the main plot line without disrupting the flow or tone. I know that having such a stark contrast in tone between the melodramatic visceral crime drama of the main story and the goofy yet creative sub-stories is a unique staple of the Yakuza experience, but I think choosing to forego the latter altogether was a great choice considering how character(s) driven this story in particular is.
What did you guys think?

I run a listing site that has different local listings (they all in different locations around the usa)
Should my keywords for each listing use a (" _ near me") keyword?
Or a more specific ("_ in miami,fl) keyword?
How does a ("_ near me") keyword determine the location it should be associated with?

Everyone's stuck at an intersection. Except me. I'm living three lives. Stuck at three intersections. I'm an Alter. I'm transgender. I'm a middle brother of three...
I just want to be who I am. I want my folks to have their little dream and be proud of me. I want to be myself. But the only way I can ever be myself...
...is when I'm her.

​

Introduction

Charlie is just your average teen, but he never felt like himself. Like an alien to his own life.
Never, that is, until he started taking estrogen, and, more interestingly, until she discovered that she was an Alter: a person with a genetic mutation found in 1 of every 50 million people. With the ability to ride on gravity waves and teleport via quantum tunneling, Charlie became the world's latest and greatest superheroine: Chalice.
Note: Many of her speed feats appear to simply be the same as her teleportation/quantum tunneling feats, with the only difference being how it is portrayed. For the sake of simplicity on my end, I've decided to put these feats in either speed or teleportation depending on the way that they're portrayed
​

Strength

Striking

• Although likely aided by her speed, she easily breaks through a ceiling
  • This hole can be seen here
• She punches Matter Man in the face, sending him flying and drawing blood
• Tackles MM to the ground and beats his face in, drawing blood
• Messes up MM's face and beats it into the ground by punching and headbutting him

Lifting

• Easily carries a grown man with one hand

Durability

Blunt Force Trauma

• Gets punched in the face by a pissed Ember
• Accidentally ran into a wall and came out with nothing but a busted lip
• A powerful projectile from Bombardier knocks her out, but she is still alive

Heat/Energy

• Takes a blast straight to the face from Matter Man, sending her flying backward
• Takes two more blasts from MM

Speed

Travel Speed

• She outruns several other Alters
• She can fly at 500 knots
  • This is equal to 575.4 mph and 926 km/h
• Takes a man from Matter Man's henchmen before they can react
• She runs laps around Matter Man
• She runs onto a baseball field while changing clothes

Reflexes/Attack Speed

• Grabs Matter Man by the neck, very briefly catching him off guard
• Manages to tackle MM after he blasted her three times, clearly damaging her

Flight

• She can hover in place
• When she first learned to fly she ran into a wall
• She can fly at 500 knots
• Octavian states that she flies by riding gravity waves
• Takes a man from Matter Man's henchmen before they can react

Quantum Abilities

Teleportation/Quantum Tunneling

• She turns blue and teleports away, presumably back to her house
  • Apparently, she somehow disappeared in two different directions
    • She splits in two and then re-appears very near to where she was before
    • Octavian compares this to what happens to an electron during the Double Slit Experiment, he also outright says that this should be impossible
• This teleportation is done by running through a quantum tunnel
  • She can take others with her when she runs through these tunnels
  • Clothes discarded while in a quantum tunnel seem to just disappear

Vision-Based Abilities

• She claims to be able to see Alters before their powers emerge
• She may be able to see through one-way mirrors
  • However, she may have just guessed there were people behind it

Equipment

• His outfit is just makeup/face paint, a cheerleader-esque outfit, and a wig

Weaknesses

• She has a dust mite allergy

My friends and I are road tripping to CO for some camping in July.I’m looking at the Oh Be Joyful Campground near crested butte.
I’m not an experienced mountain driver and I’ll be riding in a 2WD SUV. I read that the road going up is steep and rough and times. Do y’all think we can make it there and back? If not, some other easily accessible campsite locations would be appreciated!

I work in the solar industry, which is rife with scammer and bad apples. Recently, a company was attempting to "train" some of our sales people on how they could tell clients that they can get OVER 30% of the tax credit (which is unheard of in the industry). Immediately, a red flag, was that they claimed only their accountants knew how to do this, in a trillion dollar industry.
Started by looking at their websites, and they have a plethora of them: solartaxpros.com solartaxpro.com solartaxpro.info
All were registered via proxy and there is no information about the employees. The testimonials are also dubious at best, as is the "for entertainment purposes only" disclaimer on some of the pages.
More confusingly, I can't find anything about who their CPA / PA is and their amorphous relationship to Michael Daszkal of Daszkal Bolton will come into play in a moment...
When trying to see if they are incorporated, I found solarmaxtaxpros.com - which is incorporated, but both are near the same area. The incorporation date of solarmaxtaxpros.com coincides with the 3 reviews solartaxpros.com has on Google (they claim 10,000 satisfied customers).
I confronted a person for solartaxpros - and despite their very similar URL, name, language on their websites, and using the same proxy to register, he claims they are unrelated (they are also both from right near the same area in Florida)...
When looking on the waybackmachine, I discovered that solartaxpros somehow used to be Tax & Retirement Institute LLC, which is now defunct. Three years ago, a woman appeared on LinkedIn with a "million dollar strategy" looking for investors, but her and other people claimed to be working at there for longer than that. They released a bunch of material (which mostly looks to be similar tax fraud scams... 5 years backpay taxes because of Covid? Free solar? Make millions with solar?) and had an array of websites, also:
taxretire.com rothiraheaven.com alpharoth.com taxcommandments.com (this one still seems to be up and is just selling a book)
The problem here, is these people are offering assurances on their tax work, but are unable to provide a CPA PA license #, nor do they appear to be incorporated (solartaxpros). Tax & Retirement Institute was an active corporation for just over a year, likely the amount of time it takes people to start filing their taxes and having problems. The people associated with the venture seem to have evaporated.
Michael Daszkal of Daszkal Bolton is referenced through all the testimonials of all things. There is a lot to uncover on him (business partner drowned in the Bahamas, his son hit and killed somebody and the family got sued), but I also was able to find court documents where Michael is accused of being complicit with fraud in one instance, and in another I read a news article about him trying to get language thrown out of another court case that put him in an unfavorable light with the same implications.
That accounting firm was recently acquired by another entity, and when I confronted solartaxpros, they brought up some other big name third party as supposedly handling that portion (the guy said "we are not a CPA PA", which led me to question why he was giving out tax advice, then).
Despite all of this evidence, some people I work with in the same company are still not fully convinced that this company is likely a scam. That is why I am trying to find more information, when I discovered this pattern with their last company of being open for only a window that would prevent people having filed their taxes and getting audited / commit tax fraud. More confusing, was the repeat behavior of registering a bunch of loose domains and pushing various sales / tax strategies that seemed "Too good to be true".
I posted on the solar subreddit a few weeks back, and other people chimed in that this type of scam has popped up in the industry before - they are basically advocating residential people take business tax credits, which is murky at best, but worrisome that they just pop in and out of existence in a "fly-by-night" manner.
If anybody has some free time to dig around on this or contribute at all, I'd really appreciate it. I did what I could with the tools I have an reached a dead end when I traced Tax & Retirement Institute LLC back to the root 3-ish years ago when a woman was asking for investors.
These people seem heavily connected in some way to a group in Boca Raton, FL - but I'm unsure how many of the testimonials and other things are legitimate people, or that the people are aware exist.
Thanks in advance for even reading all this.

Hello I am newly diagnosed with dyscalculia. I already suffer from Anxiety, Depression and PTSD from my past military service. The reason I found out I had dyscalculia was because I struggle with the most simplest of math…. So bad it’s embarrassing. I am at the point in my MCAT studies that I am just getting to my second FL. And I am taking nowhere near the prescribed time for C&P because I dont know how to set up equations from the questions or even do the math for that matter. Does anyone have any tips on how to learn math with dyscalculia? Other than starting from Kindergarten basics and working my way up. Im already doing that with not much help. Plz help meeeeeee!

Tim Koh - In Your Dreams (limited colored vinyl) - $17.95 w/ free shipping.

n Your Dreams is Tim’s most straightforward and accessible release to date, and an exciting addition to his body of solo work, which hitherto can broadly be described as experimental noise. The poignant song collection tackles core themes of life’s calamities, broken love, and transitory relationships, yet counterbalances its essential melancholy with a whimsical, upbeat, and playful spirit throughout. While not strictly autobiographical, the songs draw from Tim’s recent personal experiences during his two-year isolation from friends and family, and create a compelling narrative of alienation, loss, and love.
Tim wrote In Your Dreams in Amsterdam, L.A., and London in-between his time touring with Ariel Pink, and subsequently recorded the songs at home in Amsterdam while recovering from a near-fatal 2018 accident. The recurring hospitalizations that Tim has endured in recent years subtly find their way into the album through phone recordings from Tim’s actual hospital stints, underscoring the album’s themes on this highly personal work. In Your Dreams deftly juxtaposes lush, densely layered sounds with stark simplicity through a series of quick turnarounds, creating the captivating feeling of tension and release that characterizes this remarkable song collection.

direct link

Hi there! I'm fairly knowledgable in computer networking, but I'm definitely not an expert in DOCSIS 3.x. I've tried to read the technical docs, but DOCSIS is solving problems I don't really understand.
However, I've had a fair amount of packet loss recently, multiple times for hour and sometimes every minute for hours; I have a small script that, whenever ping -c 10 8.8.8.8 returns anything less than 10 out of 10 packets, prints the output, for example:
Thu Jun 8 11:42:20 EDT 2023: 10 packets transmitted, 9 packets received, 10.0% packet loss Thu Jun 8 11:42:31 EDT 2023: 10 packets transmitted, 9 packets received, 10.0% packet loss Thu Jun 8 13:35:18 EDT 2023: 10 packets transmitted, 9 packets received, 10.0% packet loss Thu Jun 8 15:56:32 EDT 2023: 10 packets transmitted, 6 packets received, 40.0% packet loss
I don't understand the relationship of this packet loss with signal levels and my modem. However, I've already done the following: - tried three different cable modems (from both Motorola and Arris) - removed all networking hardware between myself and the modem - had a technician come out, replace all cabling from the tap to my cable modem - run the ping from multiple machines, both Windows (W4L) and Mac and Linux
Cox has had a few outages in my area (Gainesville, FL), actually nearly weekly, and sometimes they correspond to the ping loss (e.g. they resolved an outage at 5am today and then I didn't see packet loss for nearly 5 hours).
I can share signal levels here, and error counts, as well as modem errors, but unfortunately Cox seems to do something to the modem awhile after I reset it (for both), where I can no longer use the expected credentials to see the data. Right after a hard reset, I can see them just fine. So that's another quirk that makes it difficult to quickly check signals when I'm seeing the loss.
I'd love recommendations from anyone who can help, about what to do to address this issue. Not only is there packet loss, but Zoom is saying "connection is unstable," Spotify detects I'm offline, some video games start indicating there's a bad connection, and my ping monitoring from the internet to my home clearly notices when the packet loss happens too. So it's affecting my usage a lot when it happens. I've already put a LTE failover in place, but that doesn't help mid-Zoom meeting or mid-game.
TIA.
Edit, signal levels after a modem reboot -- downstream: Channel ID Lock Status Modulation Frequency Power SNMER Corrected Uncorrectables 45 Locked QAM256 849000000 Hz 0.8 dBmV 41.3 dB 0 0 17 Locked QAM256 213000000 Hz 4.3 dBmV 43.8 dB 0 0 18 Locked QAM256 219000000 Hz 4.7 dBmV 43.8 dB 0 0 19 Locked QAM256 225000000 Hz 4.4 dBmV 43.8 dB 0 0 20 Locked QAM256 231000000 Hz 4.3 dBmV 43.8 dB 0 0 21 Locked QAM256 237000000 Hz 4.4 dBmV 43.7 dB 0 0 22 Locked QAM256 243000000 Hz 4.1 dBmV 43.6 dB 0 0 23 Locked QAM256 249000000 Hz 4.2 dBmV 43.7 dB 0 0 24 Locked QAM256 255000000 Hz 3.8 dBmV 43.4 dB 0 0 25 Locked QAM256 729000000 Hz 4.0 dBmV 42.8 dB 0 0 26 Locked QAM256 735000000 Hz 4.6 dBmV 43.1 dB 0 0 27 Locked QAM256 741000000 Hz 4.0 dBmV 42.9 dB 0 0 28 Locked QAM256 747000000 Hz 4.0 dBmV 42.5 dB 0 0 29 Locked QAM256 753000000 Hz 4.2 dBmV 42.4 dB 0 0 30 Locked QAM256 759000000 Hz 3.8 dBmV 42.5 dB 0 0 31 Locked QAM256 765000000 Hz 3.7 dBmV 42.5 dB 0 0 32 Locked QAM256 771000000 Hz 4.0 dBmV 42.8 dB 0 0 33 Locked QAM256 777000000 Hz 3.3 dBmV 42.5 dB 0 0 34 Locked QAM256 783000000 Hz 3.6 dBmV 42.7 dB 0 0 35 Locked QAM256 789000000 Hz 3.3 dBmV 42.5 dB 0 0 36 Locked QAM256 795000000 Hz 2.9 dBmV 42.2 dB 0 0 37 Locked QAM256 801000000 Hz 3.2 dBmV 42.3 dB 0 0 38 Locked QAM256 807000000 Hz 2.9 dBmV 42.3 dB 0 0 39 Locked QAM256 813000000 Hz 2.7 dBmV 42.1 dB 0 0 40 Locked QAM256 819000000 Hz 2.4 dBmV 41.9 dB 0 0 41 Locked QAM256 825000000 Hz 2.5 dBmV 42.0 dB 0 0 42 Locked QAM256 831000000 Hz 1.4 dBmV 41.5 dB 0 0 43 Locked QAM256 837000000 Hz 1.7 dBmV 41.7 dB 0 0 44 Locked QAM256 843000000 Hz 1.3 dBmV 41.6 dB 0 0 46 Locked QAM256 855000000 Hz 1.2 dBmV 41.5 dB 0 0 47 Locked QAM256 861000000 Hz 1.3 dBmV 41.6 dB 0 0 48 Locked QAM256 867000000 Hz 0.6 dBmV 40.9 dB 0 0 159 Locked Other 300000000 Hz 3.1 dBmV 40.8 dB 23378742 0 160 Locked Other 912000000 Hz 0.0 dBmV 39.0 dB 23378742 0
upstream: Channel Channel ID Lock Status US Channel Type Frequency Width Power 1 1 Locked SC-QAM Upstream 36800000 Hz 6400000 Hz 37.0 dBmV 2 2 Locked SC-QAM Upstream 30400000 Hz 6400000 Hz 35.0 dBmV 3 3 Locked SC-QAM Upstream 24000000 Hz 6400000 Hz 36.0 dBmV 4 4 Locked SC-QAM Upstream 17600000 Hz 6400000 Hz 35.0 dBmV 5 6 Locked OFDM Upstream 36800000 Hz 44000000 Hz 32.0 dBmV
After running a few minutes, the downstreams: ``` Channel ID Lock Status Modulation Frequency Power SNMER Corrected Uncorrectables 45 Locked QAM256 849000000 Hz 0.9 dBmV 41.4 dB 81 1 17 Locked QAM256 213000000 Hz 4.4 dBmV 43.7 dB 334 541 18 Locked QAM256 219000000 Hz 4.7 dBmV 43.8 dB 326 488 19 Locked QAM256 225000000 Hz 4.4 dBmV 43.8 dB 325 450 20 Locked QAM256 231000000 Hz 4.3 dBmV 43.7 dB 358 391 21 Locked QAM256 237000000 Hz 4.5 dBmV 43.9 dB 385 376 22 Locked QAM256 243000000 Hz 4.1 dBmV 43.6 dB 364 411 23 Locked QAM256 249000000 Hz 4.2 dBmV 43.6 dB 345 491 24 Locked QAM256 255000000 Hz 3.9 dBmV 43.2 dB 347 471
... mostly zeroes and ones for errors corrected/uncorrected after these ```

Hi, the last time I attended the Melt Festival (several years ago), there was a stage near the campgrounds that one could essentially access without a ticket. Is this still possible? If so, what’s the name of the stage? It seems that the setup and names have changed. Thanks!

Recently been lurking on this sub, and overall agree with many of the values.
Background, me and my BF have been together nearly a year. We are about to move in together next month. Although this is not exactly ideal pre- marriage, with the economy and my teacher salary I need to either a. move in with him or b. move back across the country where I am from. I love FL and want to stay, so currently going with a.
BF is very kind and overall a great guy. He has respected me and treated me better than any other relationship I have been in. Only issue is he does not really know how to lead. I feel like the reason he doesnt know how, is because he never had to. Both his parents were in military, which meant he was always moving, being told where to move, what schools to go to, etc. After that he played basketball in college. So once again a school controlled what he wore, where he lived, when he traveled amount of money to spend, etc. After college he went pro overseas. Once again this meant an agent was handling his travel, his team, living arrangement, they even ordered all food for them (language barrie phone security). Now that chapter may be completely closed, he is transitioning into "real world" and needs to be a leader, both for himself and our relationship. Issue is, he hasnt had this training yet.
On the other hand, I was raised much different. I moved out at 17, went to college, and moved across the country without my family. I know how to pay bills, budget, save, etc.
How do I help him learn how to do all these things, without him relying on me? How do I help guide this wonderful man to being a captain? Sometimes for me I find it easier just for me to do stuff, and skip the explaining, but long term this is NOT the relationship I want.
​
Thanks!