Background: I've known him since middle school and we have been together for 5 years now. We have also dated previously. We own our own house now as well.
He has had a very volatile relationship with his mom his entire life. She has been physically and emotionally abusive towards him ever since he was a kid. 2 years ago was the breaking point. A lot of stuff happened in the process of us trying to buy a home; his family tried manipulating us in a lot of ways (example: my name is the only one on the loan but they wanted his name on the title which i wasnt ok with), we were renting his moms old home but she decided she wanted to come back and kicked us out making us homeless for a month while we waited to close, she threatened to call the cops on me when I had covid because I told her to stop throwing our stuff around during our packing process.... (That was a word dumb, I'm sorry)
Anyways after all of that he decided to go no contact with her and limited contact with the rest of his family. There are days though that he is really upset by it (2 years later) and gets very teary eyed. I try to be supportive but I feel like I say the wrong things or don't help him feel better. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Tldr: boyfriend went no contact with his mom after a big fight/circus and 2 years later is still upset by it. How do i better support him on his hard days?

Various pieces of Grand Theft Auto 6 news has been circulating lately, with a variety of leaks and information hitting the web. For example, just yesterday we learned that famed rapper 50 Cent might play a role in the next -- as yet unannounced -- installment of the GTA series. However, fans are growing tired of waiting and have begun to come up with thier own GTA 6 content to tide themselves over.
Posted to YouTube earlier this week, creator TeaserPlay envisioned the Grand Theft Auto 6 world in Unreal Engine 5. Based on prior leaks and information about the game, the technical or concept demo shows a part of what could be Vice City, as we follow a female character walking and driving around. You can check out the full demo below. It is pretty slick looking save for a few minor things.
Play
Interestingly, this is not the first time we have seen fan content for GTA 6, but it is one of the more recent and diverse creations. In any event, fans seem to be chomping at the bit for new GTA news, but Rockstar is keeping its cards close to the vest. Sadly, this is likely due in part to the leaks that happened in 2022, whereafter Rockstar seemed to hold onto any information in an effort to control the narrative around the game. Despite this, there still have been numerous leaks showing off new characters, a bit of the game world, and some of the tech for making GTA 6.
At the end of the day, we hope it won’t be too long before we get some official GTA 6 news, as there has been speculation of a 2024 or 2025 launch. Realistically, that is not all that far off anymore, so stay tuned as we keep our eyes peeled for any new GTA 6 announcements or information.

Demographics

• Gender: Female
• Race/Ethnicity: white
• Residence: Suburban Midwest
• Income Bracket: "700k" but applied for aid anyways- it's complicated
• Type of School: Top public HS in state, consistently ranked somewhere in top 5
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): UMich legacy + my older brother worked there? Otherwise, none. I'm also disabled which I mentioned on a few apps but not every one.

Intended Major(s): American studies or linguistics. Have since changed my mind to environmental science, a little too late to apply for any STEM scholarships. fml
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.25 W
• Rank (or percentile): N/A/330 My school doesn't rank but I know that I would unofficially be salutatorian, for grade reference. My school does grading really oddly.
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 9 APs, 5 dual enrollment, max honors in every single core class as well as accelerated courses in math and German
• Senior Year Course Load: APES, AP stats, choir, journalism, Arabic 2 (S1 DE), Cognitive Psychology (S1 DE), Linguistics (S2 DE), graduate-level German course (S2 DE)

Standardized Testing

• SAT I: 1540 (760RW, 780M) (Did not report)
• ACT: 36 (36E, 35M, 35R, 36S)
• AP/IB: APUSH (5), US Gov. (5), Psych (5), German (5), Lang. (4), Microecon (4), Biology (3)

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. JV athlete for D1 cross country team, was team manager for a year, earned the Coaches' Award junior year
2. Show and concert choirs, was section leader for 2 years, varsity performer for 3
3. Supervising photographer for my school newspaper which is consistently best in state
4. Did creative writing for fun, have written four books. Dabbled in poetry also which I submitted to a few schools
5. Did a research project through Oberlin College on race, journalism, and social psychology. Got an A but did not get published.
6. Independent photographer for two years, published in local newspapers, yearbook, and had online presence.
7. NHS member, volunteered with literacy programs and food banks
8. German club and German NHS president
9. Did classical German vocal lessons for two years

Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. National merit finalist Was only semifinalist at time of applying ofc
2. AP Scholar with Distinction
3. National Honor Society
4. German National Honor Society
5. Gold Presidential Honor Roll on the national German exam

Letters of Recommendation
- German teacher who I love and had for 5 years, honestly did not speak up in class much but she had previously written me rec letters which had all been great
- AP Lang teacher, also didn't speak up much in this class but she was a big fan of my writing and I needed another core class letter.
- Professor from Hamilton College who did my research paper. I had a chance to read this which also included my paper and its evaluation in which he said I wrote better than most of the student he had taught at Hamilton or Amherst colleges. Still my biggest W to this day.
- My cross country coach of 4 years, I'm sure it was lovely because he's a great guy and I know he really liked me.
Interviews
- Middlebury College: Interviewer said I was refreshing and insightful, had a 20-30 minute talk.
Essays
- Common app essay was about writing 50,000 words of my first novel in 30 days (NaNoWriMo) and how it helped me to overcome my perfectionism. AP lang teacher called it "nearly perfect" and then refused to elaborate.
- Felt great about my other essays which talked about varying topics from show choir, cross country, Arabic, and some pretty killer "Why Us" essays in my opinion.
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
Acceptances:

• University of Michigan Ann Arbor EA
• Oberlin College RD, $33k in merit/year
• Kenyon College RD, $25k in merit/year
• Wesleyan University

Waitlists:

• Middlebury College
• Smith College
• Hamilton College
• Wellesley College
• Vassar College
• Vanderbilt University

Rejections:

• Yale University REA
• Barnard College RD
• Washington University in St. Louis RD
• Williams College RD
• Swarthmore College RD
• Colby College RD

Awaiting:

• Brown University

​
Additional Information:
Wesleyan is too expensive, and I won't be getting into Brown, so I realistically have 3 options. I can make finances work at any of these schools, and UMich is obviously a great choice and probably the logical one, but my heart is just not in it. I would be doing Residential College, so at least that's more my style than the uni as a whole, but still.

In AA3 and AA4, two great games, there is a persistent problem that hampers each of the games' protagonists.
The mentor. Mia Fey for Phoenix Wright, and Phoenix Wright for Apollo Justice. Why this is a problem: Because WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN THE PLAYER CHARACTER IS SIDELINED AND ROBBED OF AGENCY ! Mia is very much equivalent to Phoenix's training wheels. And it's not just T&T, it's the BLOODY TRILOGY! Almost every instance Nick is cornered - boom! Spirit mentor dressed in fanservice attire to da RESCUE! Screw that. We beat White because of her. We prolonged trials because of her. We got Kudo to testify because of her. We got Atmey to spill the beans because of her. We got Diego to acknowledge Nick as a competent person BECAUSE OF HER.Not only that, but Mia having such an important role in the NARRATIVE also sidelines Nick. Who saved Nick and persuaded him to pursue the badge? Edgeworth? WAHAHAHAHAHAA! No, SUCKERS! It was Mia, who saved his a$$ in 2014, when he was one foot in the artistic career, and he seemed like he'd forgotten about Miles. That makes for a technically sweet story and stronger dynamic between the two... But I don't really like it. Also because Nick doesn't get to have his true nemesis, his archenemy in the trilogy. No, Diego is not the man. Neither is Dahlia. No. You wanna know who has a nemesis here? Miles Edgeworth and Mia Fey. INSTEAD OF HAVING NICK DEAL WITH MISGUIDED AFFECTION FOR DOLLIE, THEY SUGARCOATED HIS ERRONEOUS JUDGEMENT and GAVE HIM HER SISTER AS THE TRUE DATE, UNDERMINING ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM! THIS IS UNFORGIVABLE!
Nick doesn't bring Dahlia down, it's Mia! TWICE! Dahlia hates him only because Iris tells her he's an idealist and because he holds a potentially incriminating piece of evidence. That's as arbitrary as the reasons she took down Diego and Valerie for. There's no deeper connection, narrative plotline here. Diego hates Nick and forgives him because of Mia. And because of the retcons, Turnabout Memories has made Phoenix's interactions with Payne and Grossberg post 2014 quite weird.
Nick fails to be a fully competent attorney as well as a person who perseveres against their adversaries and defeats them.Which leads us into Apollo Justice.I'm sure most of you know Takumi never wanted Wright in the game. But upon coercion from Capcom, he did the best and only logical thing he could: Fix Nick and give him a proper, personal story. Whilst sacrificing Apollo!!!
NDWIWD#IDNIRNFNQOWWOEWOEOEWO!!!!!!!
The Horned Head is completely out of his depth here. (He just like me fr fr) Wrighto suddenly takes over his first trial (being the bloody defendant, not even 2014 Phoenix had such a nerve) and just handholds Apollo through Turnabout Trump, doing almost all of the work for him. His Honor, Kristoph and Winston are rightfully losing their freaking minds. Then Nick peaces out and returns for 4-4. Apollo does nothing, really. Nick just does all the investigations for him, obtains vital testimony and evidence, to finally connect all the dots himself. Polly feels like a keyboard Pianist Wright used to type his manifesto of righteous vengeance into Word and then cement it with a seal of Ends Justify the Means. Apollo never learns of his connection to the Gramaryes. He never talks to Drew, Valant, Klavier or Winston about the case because he never meets them or doesn't go to them or never knows what to ask. I don't even know what his relations with Kristoph are. Which game is more excusable in its sin: AJ. Apollo is a rookie, even younger than PW at the start of his path. Meanwhile, 34-year old Nick is a based sigma gigachad with superior logic, rizz and drip. He's such a fantastic piece of visuals and writing mixed together to create the perfect hidden protagonist. The game sins by letting him hijack the plot, but his character and story are the best he's ever been and going to be. Meanwhile, while I like Mia in 3-1 and 3-4, I don't know who she really is. No mentions of her family in her cases, no thoughts on her mentors, zero. Where's the usual great inner monologue? Just the mindset - CATCH DAHLIA. DEFEND CLIENTO. And when she's Phoenix's channeled training wheels, she has cringe and even shady moments, especially in Reunion and Turnabout.
FUCK 2-2 FUCK THIS CASE
​
That's why Yamazaki based. He brings back the good ol' proactive protagonist, mostly in the flesh of Miles and Apollo. They usually have to work on their own and have an active stake and nemesis in the story. Prosecutor's Path and Spirit of Justice do so many wonders to their characters.
RANT OVER

Hi, I noticed in the doorbell signal settings there are 5 signal strength levels: Very good, good, medium, weak, very weak.
The strange thing I’m seeing is when my signal shows ‘Good’, it is 5 bars. But when it says Very Good, it has 4. When I first got it, it said the word ‘Strong’ which isn’t one of the descriptor words, and showed 4 bars. There was a time it said ‘Medium-High’ with 5 bars. So I don’t know whether we’re supposed to go by the word or the bars. Thanks!

I was wondering if this is a common issue. I have sent about 55 orders and none have ever gone missing as far as I know. I've ordered a few hundred, and I've had probably 5 go missing. This seems way more common for mail loss than I've had for ebay or any other site. I'm worried TCGPlayer is going to think something is up on my end. But I always check in cards as I open the mail by clicking rate transaction as a checklist for myself and to help the sellers. It's just incredibly weird. Has anyone else ever had this issue with TCGPlayer?

So I just finished watching Stranger Things and I wanted to jot down some notes and predictions about the series. Some of this will likely align with what others have already written in the sub, so I won't go so far as to claim that these are all my ideas. More or less, these are ideas that I had a d they may coincide with others. So with that disclaimer, let's go:

1. I think Steve Harrington is going to be a victim and pass away in the final season. The Duffers have noted that no new characters are being introduced, at least no one extremely consequential. For those that point to the rekindled romance between him and Nancy as a counter, I'd argue that it works in support of my prediction. Nancy and Steve are getting setup for a final reconciliation of feelings, but ultimately it's either too late or Steve sacrifices himself to save the Party. In the end, Steve goes out as a hero and a man, and Nancy is left crushed along with the Party. It just fits to me.
   
2. Joyce is going to get stuck in the Upside Down and Will be the one doing the rescuing. Its been noted by the writers and on this sub that going full circle is a theme. In this way it would make sense that Joyce and likely a slew of others get trapped in the Upside Down and it will be up to Will and his connection to the realm/mind flayevecna to find them and save them.
   
3. This is where I get controversial and maybe some points from the community. Vecna is a red herring. We've been made to believe that Vecna is the big bad. But is he? Or is there something larger at work? In my cursory understanding of eldritch and Lovecraftian horror, the whole point is that the human mind cannot comprehend it. Vecna is in a sense comprehensible. He's a psychopathic killer with a god complex. That's not that complex. Moreover, even DnD Vecna is a being that "attains" godhood through their machinations. Vecna is not an incomprehensible being from another world. He's a power-mad lich born from ours. I think the overall villain of the series is the Upside Down itself. It consumes everything subtly much in the way madness and shadow consume everything in Lovecraftian horror. We cannot understand because there is nothing to understand. The realm just moves and consumes and even convinces those who enter they have some kind of control. There is a consistent theme in season 4 that you can be lured into a false sense of security and then boom Vecna or something else appears. The veil comes down and it's already too late. There is also so much we don't understand or know about the upside down. That's by design and we will never know. In short, Vecna is not the main villain the Upside Down itself is the big bad.
   
4. Eleven or Will will need to stay behind or perish to seal the Upside Down forever. I think there was a big hint dropped in Season 3 about the two person lock system for the gate. Every time the gate has been opened it's been a one sided affair. Eleven has torn the gates open multiple times. The Russians single handedly opened gates and Vecna has singlehandedly opened gates. This means you need one person on each side to ensure they remain closed. A two lock system. You need Will and Eleven to act as the gatekeepers to the Upside Down. Or you need to "throwaway the keys". The reason the Upside Down breaches our world is because it has lingering connections to it. All connections must be severed. To do that either someone must be actively monitoring and gatekeeping the connection or the keys get destroyed. In this case, the keys are Eleven and Will. Either they have work forever to control things or they have to sacrifice themselves to ensure the connection is permanently broken.
   
5. Max is now one of Vecna's "phylacteries" or Host. In DnD a lich always has a phylactery, something that allows them to store their soul and remain immortal and undead. We've seen this concept in a lot of fantasy. There are many big hints that lead me to believe Max is now a phylactery or potentially Vecna's host. 1. Vecna has done this before to Max and her family with Billy, and we know Vecna loves to torment his victims this way. 2. When the Party defeats Vecna he fades away into the "Dust" and his physical body in the Upside Down vanishes. I believe Vecna did two things here, he invaded Max's mind like he did with Will and is lurking and hiding and he also took her body because the gates were open and he could slink away. This explains a couple of other things. Max is Alive because Vecna brought her back and took her as a host not because Eleven did anything. This also explains that when Eleven went into Max's mind while she's in a coma, she did not find Max. Max is gone folks. Finally, Will mentions he can feel Vecna and that he is hurting but certainly not dead. Well, Max has some physical reasons to be hurting and is definitely not dead. In short, Max is Vecna's Host/Phylactery and the Party either needs to kill her to somehow remove Vecna like they did with Will (full circle theme).
   

Anyway, those are my top 5 takeaways. Hope folks enjoy reading and look forward to the positive and constructive conversation!

Looking to buy a used high end pc and came across this
Cost: 1350 euros
Ryzen 5 5600x + silentium spartan 3
ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti GAMING OC
GIGABYTE B450M DS3H
4x Kingston HyperX DDR4 3200 8GB = 32Gb
Corsair 850W RM850x 80+ gold
samsung 980pro 1tb
Guy lives that far away from me that the (computer as a whole or with parts) would be sent to my adress. So little more expenses from that delivery aswell.
What does people here think in general about this setup and price. Thank you in advance! :)

So, after that divisive headline (that will no doubt get me piled-on by every passing 2A sympathizer in the community), let me immediately start adding qualifiers:

1. No, I'm not saying that every mass shooter goes on their rampage with the intent to accelerate American armament. They are people and people are complex and have a myriad of reasons for their massacres.
   
2. This is a results argument. Terrorism is violence that enacts political ends. The political/policy results of mass shootings are manifold, but the most significant (if we accept the Gun Cult premise) is to tie one of Amerixa's political parties to the causes of maximal armament and firearms deregulation, and to drive increased gun sales, and to de-fang gun control legislation.
   
3. This creates a self-sustaining cycle of terrorism, where public armament begets massacre begets further public armament which begets more massacres.
   
4. We're I a Gun Cultist myself, I couldn't help but see this as political success, whether or not I condoned any particular massacre. It's very effective terrorism.
   
5. Whilst I'm not trying to paint every gun enthusiast with the terrorist-sympathizer brush, can we at least describe them as beneficiaries of domestic terrorism? Yes, occasionally you're slightly inconvenienced when trying to buy bump-stocks or hundred-round magazines or whatever, but overall, you have a real good deal compared to virtually every other country on Earth. You have a political party - often in the majority - that defines "responsible" gun-ownership as "unregulated" and "not subject to oversight", which is an... interesting definition of responsibility.
   
6. This is a foreigners perspective. While my father was an American, I've always looked upon the Gun Cult with horror and confusion. As such, I appreciate that my opinion is largely unwanted and unhelpful, and that I won't be able to affect American policy in any appreciable way. I can't even vote on the issue.
   
7. I have no idea how to fix this.
   

Thoughts?

One thing I'd like to add to the overall discussion is that while people tend to focus on how the Hooded Man recognizes Theon, the fact that he's shocked to see he's alive IMO is the far more important characteristic, and is the one that whittles down rather significantly many of the possible candidates that routinely get thrown around.
Cause the thing is, one assumes that nearly every notherner at this point knows Theon is alive. Theon's been travelling around with the Boltons to the Dreadfort, Moat Cailin, Barrowton, and Winterfell. He's been well exposed to the northerners IN the north, and to them it's no secret. Hell, even the Wall receives word that Ramsay holds Theon in ASOS. Most of them should be aware he's alive, and so proposed candidates like Robett Glover should be aware of this too.
Furthermore, but anybody from Robb's army or Stoneheart's band of the northmen who were sent by Ned with Beric should also know he's alive as Robb ordered Ramsay to keep him alive to serve as a blood price against whoever became the next King of the Iron Isles.

Robb considered that reluctantly, but in the end he nodded. "Yes. Very well. Keep him alive, then. For the present. Hold him secure at the Dreadfort till we've retaken the north." 

Any stragglers from Robb's army who somehow survived the Red Wedding and returned north should know this, and Cat "survived" too and therefore could've pass that along to Brotherhood candidates like Harwin, and therefore Harwin should know that too. Indeed if it's a Brotherhood member in Winterfell one would expect they have orders from Stoneheart to kill Theon if they run into him precisely because Cat knows he's alive and wants vengeance. Regardless, the Hooded Man would never ask how Theon is still alive as the answer is Robb literally ordered it.
So the Hooded Man would need to be someone who knows Theon, meanwhile Theon seemingly doesn't recognize them, but is still someone who has had next to no recent knowledge of/from the north to not be aware that Theon is alive. Someone like Hallis Mollen, another popular candidate, fits that as he leaves Cat's side long before they receive the above commands from Robb and so could simply assume Theon either died when Ramsay "retook" Winterfell or was killed by SOMEONE given he no longer holds power and Euron became king instead, but then you'd have to wonder why Theon doesn't just say it's Hal when he meets him. Hal was Robb's captain of the guards and Cat's chief protector in the army and so Theon would obviously know him.
That doesn't tell us who the Hooded Man is of course, but I think it does eliminate some of the candidates that often get mentioned despite what the Hooded Man actually says as clues to his identity. It can't be anybody who should know that Theon is alive and/or why, and most of the proposed candidates tend to fall into that (or are someone Theon should recognize).
It also IMO lends credence to people like Davos being them though.

Davos may have been with Stannis during the GR and therefore seen Theon when Pyke fell without Theon remembering who random captain X was with Stannis Davos wouldn't have any reason to think Theon would still be alive after all he's done, and his travels/imprisonments all align with keeping him away from places where he might've heard of Theon's survival Davos would likely view what Theon did as kinslaying Davos would of course see the irony in Ramsay taking Theon's fingers as punishment 

I still have no idea who it is though lol. And of course GRRM may have never really intended us to delve too deeply into it, and that it's just another random person who hates Theon for what he did. The Starks were well-loved after all and so just because he has no idea who Random Men-at-Arms X is doesn't mean they don't know him.
A Dance with Dragons - A Ghost in Winterfell Outside the snow was coming down so heavily that Theon could not see more than three feet ahead of him. He found himself alone in a white wilderness, walls of snow looming up to either side of him chest high. When he raised his head, the snowflakes brushed his cheeks like cold soft kisses. He could hear the sound of music from the hall behind him. A soft song now, and sad. For a moment he felt almost at peace. Farther on, he came upon a man striding in the opposite direction, a hooded cloak flapping behind him. When they found themselves face-to-face their eyes met briefly. The man put a hand on his dagger. "Theon Turncloak. Theon Kinslayer." "I'm not. I never … I was ironborn."

I was wondering if other people found this worked for them. When I bus as a kid I would listen to a cd and pick my favorite songs and skip all the other songs.
What would happen after doing this all school year was I would mentally get to a point on the bus drive will I was in like a controlled day dream. It was like all senses were ignored even though eyes were open and I would stop hearing the music. I would use this mental space to think through mental conflicts, and game out how I would handle things, even have mock conversions with people in my head. The goal of this time was to face stressors head in my mind and organize my thoughts through the day.
The steps I did to achieve this:

1. Find music you like, I was limited to songs on the CD I had (alternative or hard rock from 2000s) so it may take awhile with all the choices today. But it does not have to your favorite song, but a song that you really connect with in the moment.
2. Put that song on repeat. The goal is not to hear it eventually.
3. Turn up the volume, so you can hear all the notes of the song. For me it means max volume on my headphones, but I do not recommend this if you have hearing issues since it can cause more damage than its worth.
4. Find a comfy place to sit for a while, my bus rides were 30 - 40 mins.
5. Focus on the lyrics. On the bus I would mouth the words the song silently and tap my leg with the song. Just get lost in the song.
6. Get lost in thought and let your mind wander, after a while you will find the song or something else is triggering just wander onto it.
7. Get lost in the song some more. Its common for my mind to be redirected to to song and step 6 and 7 to repeat.
8. If you managed to sit still your mind and consciousness should be separate enough to ignore your state of self. This state is normally temporary and you may come out of it multiple times.

I would say this state is similar to when drivers are on the same route for work every day and they do not remember driving through a segment of road due to being deep in thoughts. There body is on autopilot.
Has anyone one else found this to work for them?

In AA3 and AA4, two great games, there is a persistent problem that hampers each of the games' protagonists.
The mentor. Mia Fey for Phoenix Wright, and Phoenix Wright for Apollo Justice.
Why this is a problem: Because both Nick and Apollo are both player characters and actual narrative agents within the scope of their respective stories. And so we're presented with a two-fold issue. 1. The overbearing presence of the mentor tends to have the player's hand be held by the game and not let them figure stuff out on their own. 2. The mentor's overly expanded role robs the main character of their agency, development and progression.
Mia is very much equivalent to Phoenix's training wheels. And it's not just T&T, it's the BLOODY TRILOGY! Almost every instance Nick is cornered - boom! Spirit mentor dressed in fanservice attire to da RESCUE! Screw that. We beat White because of her. We prolonged trials because of her. We got Kudo to testify because of her. We got Atmey to spill the beans because of her. We got Diego to acknowledge Nick as a competent person BECAUSE OF HER.
Not only that, but Mia having such an important role in the NARRATIVE also sidelines Nick. Who saved Nick and persuaded him to pursue the badge? Edgeworth? WAHAHAHAHAHAA! No, suckers. It was Mia, who saved his a$$ in 2014, when he was one foot in the artistic career, and he seemed like he'd forgotten about Miles. That makes for a technically sweet story and stronger dynamic between the two... But I don't really like it. Also because Nick doesn't get to have his true nemesis, his archenemy in the trilogy. No, Diego is not the man. Neither is Dahlia. No. You wanna know who has a nemesis here? Miles Edgeworth and Mia Fey. INSTEAD OF HAVING NICK DEAL WITH MISGUIDED AFFECTION FOR DOLLIE, THEY SUGARCOATED HIS ERRONEOUS JUDGEMENT and GAVE HIM HER SISTER AS THE TRUE DATE, UNDERMINING ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM! Nick doesn't bring Dahlia down, it's Mia! TWICE! Dahlia hates him only because Iris tells her he's an idealist and because he holds a potentially incriminating piece of evidence. That's as arbitrary as the reasons she took down Diego and Valerie for. There's no deeper connection, narrative plotline here. Diego hates Nick and forgives him because of Mia. And because of the retcons, Turnabout Memories has made Phoenix's interactions with Payne and Grossberg post 2014 quite weird. Nick fails to be a fully competent attorney as well as a person who perseveres against their adversaries and defeats them.
Which leads us into Apollo Justice.
I'm sure most of you know Takumi never wanted Wright in the game. But upon coercion from Capcom, he did the best and only logical thing he could: Fix Nick and give him a proper, personal story. Whilst sacrificing Apollo!!!
The Horned Head is completely out of his depth here. Wrighto suddenly takes over his first trial (being the bloody defendant, not even 2014 Phoenix had such a nerve) and just handholds Apollo through Turnabout Trump, doing almost all of the work for him. His Honor, Kristoph and Winston are rightfully losing their freaking minds. Then Nick peaces out and returns for 4-4. Apollo does nothing, really. Nick just does all the investigations for him, obtains vital testimony and evidence, to finally connect all the dots himself. Polly feels like a keyboard Pianist Wright used to type his manifesto of righteous vengeance into Word and then cement it with a seal of Ends Justify the Means. Apollo never learns of his connection to the Gramaryes. He never talks to Drew, Valant, Klavier or Winston about the case because he never meets them or doesn't go to them or never knows what to ask. I don't even know what his relations with Kristoph are.
Which game is more excusable in its sin: AJ. Apollo is a rookie, even younger than PW at the start of his path. Meanwhile, 34-year old Nick is a based sigma gigachad with superior logic, rizz and drip. He's such a fantastic piece of visuals and writing mixed together to create the perfect hidden protagonist. The game sins by letting him hijack the plot, but his character and story are the best he's ever been and going to be. Meanwhile, while I like Mia in 3-1 and 3-4, I don't know who she really is. No mentions of her family in her cases, no thoughts on her mentors, zero. Where's the usual great inner monologue? Just the mindset - CATCH DAHLIA. DEFEND CLIENTO. And when she's Phoenix's channeled training wheels, she has cringe and even shady moments, especially in Reunion and Turnabout.
That's why Yamazaki based. He brings back the good ol' proactive protagonist, mostly in the flesh of Miles and Apollo. They usually have to work on their own and have an active stake and nemesis in the story. Prosecutor's Path and Spirit of Justice do so many wonders to their characters.
RANT OVER

Finally! My long awaited post is here.
In AA3 and AA4, two great games, there is a persistent problem that hampers each of the games' protagonists.
The mentor. Mia Fey for Phoenix Wright, and Phoenix Wright for Apollo Justice.
Why this is a problem: Because both Nick and Apollo are both player characters and actual narrative agents within the scope of their respective stories. And so we're presented with a two-fold issue. 1. The overbearing presence of the mentor tends to have the player's hand be held by the game and not let them figure stuff out on their own. 2. The mentor's overly expanded role robs the main character of their agency, development and progression.
Mia is very much equivalent to Phoenix's training wheels. And it's not just T&T, it's the BLOODY TRILOGY! Almost every instance Nick is cornered - boom! Spirit mentor dressed in fanservice attire to da RESCUE! Screw that. We beat White because of her. We prolonged trials because of her. We got Kudo to testify because of her. We got Atmey to spill the beans because of her. We got Diego to acknowledge Nick as a competent person BECAUSE OF HER.
Not only that, but Mia having such an important role in the NARRATIVE also sidelines Nick. Who saved Nick and persuaded him to pursue the badge? Edgeworth? WAHAHAHAHAHAA! No, suckers. It was Mia, who saved his a$$ in 2014, when he was one foot in the artistic career, and he seemed like he'd forgotten about Miles. That makes for a technically sweet story and stronger dynamic between the two... But I don't really like it. Also because Nick doesn't get to have his true nemesis, his archenemy in the trilogy. No, Diego is not the man. Neither is Dahlia. No. You wanna know who has a nemesis here? Miles Edgeworth and Mia Fey. INSTEAD OF HAVING NICK DEAL WITH MISGUIDED AFFECTION FOR DOLLIE, THEY SUGARCOATED HIS ERRONEOUS JUDGEMENT and GAVE HIM HER SISTER AS THE TRUE DATE, UNDERMINING ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM! Nick doesn't bring Dahlia down, it's Mia! TWICE! Dahlia hates him only because Iris tells her he's an idealist and because he holds a potentially incriminating piece of evidence. That's as arbitrary as the reasons she took down Diego and Valerie for. There's no deeper connection, narrative plotline here. Diego hates Nick and forgives him because of Mia. And because of the retcons, Turnabout Memories has made Phoenix's interactions with Payne and Grossberg post 2014 quite weird. Nick fails to be a fully competent attorney as well as a person who perseveres against their adversaries and defeats them.
Which leads us into Apollo Justice.
I'm sure most of you know Takumi never wanted Wright in the game. But upon coercion from Capcom, he did the best and only logical thing he could: Fix Nick and give him a proper, personal story. Whilst sacrificing Apollo!!!
The Horned Head is completely out of his depth here. Wrighto suddenly takes over his first trial (being the bloody defendant, not even 2014 Phoenix had such a nerve) and just handholds Apollo through Turnabout Trump, doing almost all of the work for him. His Honor, Kristoph and Winston are rightfully losing their freaking minds. Then Nick peaces out and returns for 4-4. Apollo does nothing, really. Nick just does all the investigations for him, obtains vital testimony and evidence, to finally connect all the dots himself. Polly feels like a keyboard Pianist Wright used to type his manifesto of righteous vengeance into Word and then cement it with a seal of Ends Justify the Means. Apollo never learns of his connection to the Gramaryes. He never talks to Drew, Valant, Klavier or Winston about the case because he never meets them or doesn't go to them or never knows what to ask. I don't even know what his relations with Kristoph are.
Which game is more excusable in its sin: AJ. Apollo is a rookie, even younger than PW at the start of his path. Meanwhile, 34-year old Nick is a based sigma gigachad with superior logic, rizz and drip. He's such a fantastic piece of visuals and writing mixed together to create the perfect hidden protagonist. The game sins by letting him hijack the plot, but his character and story are the best he's ever been and going to be. Meanwhile, while I like Mia in 3-1 and 3-4, I don't know who she really is. No mentions of her family in her cases, no thoughts on her mentors, zero. Where's the usual great inner monologue? Just the mindset - CATCH DAHLIA. DEFEND CLIENTO. And when she's Phoenix's channeled training wheels, she has cringe and even shady moments, especially in Reunion and Turnabout.
That's why Yamazaki based. He brings back the good ol' proactive protagonist, mostly in the flesh of Miles and Apollo. They usually have to work on their own and have an active stake and nemesis in the story. Prosecutor's Path and Spirit of Justice do so many wonders to their characters.
Sorry for the wall of text.
RANT OVER

Normally in a tv show when a non important Character dies, his death is ignored. He isn't brought up again for any discussion. But we see Vaemond's body prepared , reaction for Corlys to the news of his death. Rhaenys didn't seem to be happy at his death and the first question Corlys ask "where is Daemon". It should lead to some intra faction rivalry between Daemon and Corlys. Otherwise, it can end up like Myrcella death where Tyrion brought it once and didn't even get the last word to Elliara.

Edit - In town April 5-10
I am a frequent visitor to Las Vegas and I will be returning again for another long weekend of indulgence and fun and I'd love to find a girl to join me for the experiences, ideally something ongoing!
Pampered

• Fountain View Terrace Suite with Japanese Soaking tub
• Amazing food and drink from lavish brunches to high end tasting menu's with wine pairings
• Ample pool time with appropriate tropical drinks
• Spa? Mani/Pedi? What appeals to you?

Pleasured

• Tied up, teased and played with, how long before you beg me to let you cum?
• Gambling with a remote control vibrator inside you
• Being treated like the Princess, and Slut, you truly are

Pounded

• I am insatiable, I will use you over and over again, all weekend long
• I will take you when I want, how I want, as often as I want
• When I wake in the middle of the night, I won't hesitate

About Me

• 5'10", dad bod, incredible hair, attractive
• A Gentleman, Old School, Charming, Funny
• Kinks - Free Use, Orgasm Control, CNC, Bondage,Toys
• Prioritize Consent, Limits and Aftercare

About You

• Want to indulge your Princess and Your Slut
• At least 21 for bars and gambling
• Appreciates a Gentleman that will take very good care of you but also will take what he wants
• Lives in Las Vegas or would appreciate a spontaneous indulgent vacation

Edit - In town April 5-10
I am a frequent visitor to Las Vegas and I will be returning again for another long weekend of indulgence and fun and I'd love to find a girl to join me for the experiences, ideally something ongoing!
Pampered

• Fountain View Terrace Suite with Japanese Soaking tub
• Amazing food and drink from lavish brunches to high end tasting menu's with wine pairings
• Ample pool time with appropriate tropical drinks
• Spa? Mani/Pedi? What appeals to you?

Pleasured

• Tied up, teased and played with, how long before you beg me to let you cum?
• Gambling with a remote control vibrator inside you
• Being treated like the Princess, and Slut, you truly are

Pounded

• I am insatiable, I will use you over and over again, all weekend long
• I will take you when I want, how I want, as often as I want
• When I wake in the middle of the night, I won't hesitate

Comcast is upgrading to 3gig in my area and that has been killing our network, raising latency extremely high multiple times per day and other issues. I've done all the troubleshooting I can on my end and just need to talk to someone that isn't a trained parrot call agent. Is there a seperate number or way to get to someone that I can actually use words like ping and latency with and they'll know what I'm talking about?
edit: I should add we have a business plan

More specifically, do we trust her interpretation of the fingers?
In the real world, within religious practices, if a person claims to have spoken to God, and be speaking on their behalf, we would probably treat this person with some skepticism, but not Enia.
I've not seen it questionned before, and maybe there's a good reason, but are there reasons to doubt Enia?
Spoilers Ahead!
Towards the end of the game, when the fingers are 'Communing with the Greater Will' and we ask Enia about burning the Erdtree, she tells us what we'd expect from an agent of the fingers, then goes on to say 'Perhaps a sin does not need to be Cardinal forever' or something to that effect.
Enia seems to have her own thoughts and desires, independent of the Greater Will, and even contradictory. We know that the Greater Will can't just speak through the fingers as it takes 'thousands, if not tens of thousands of moons' for them to actually communicate, so there's only really so much the fingers are able or authorized to actually 'say'.
Let's look at this excerpt: "Fine work, brave Tarnished. The Greater Will is pleased. You have earned the right to become Elden Lord. Now, seek the Erdtree, and an audience with Queen Marika. To become Elden Lord, and restore the Golden Order."
Now how in the Lands Between can the Fingers and Enia tell us that the Greater Will is pleased if it will take many moons for them to actually communicate. Are the Fingers simply 'programmed' with template messages for the Tarnished? Or is Enia lying when she tells us what the fingers are doing and how long it will take?
Can we be sure that Enia is actually relaying the true message of the Fingers? Do we have enough cause to trust her?
Something doesn't add up for me with the fingers, and I'm starting to wonder just role Enia really plays. This is pure tangential speculation, but I used to think the Fingers were meant to represent the 'Hand of God's, God being the puppet master the Greater Will, and the fingers pulling the strings of various entities throughout the lands such as Finger Readers and The Tarnished, to further the Greater Will's designs. But now I wonder if instead, the Fingers themselves are puppets? When they are allegedly 'Communing with the Greater Will's they are upright and motionless - much like an inactive puppet. They appear to be made of wood (the ones that aren't Ranni's), as are traditional puppets and marionettes.
I have been wondering if Ranni's 2 Fingers and the 3-Fingers are the only real Fingers in the game, and if the rest are just puppets. It's possible that any entity in the Lands Between that wants to influence The Tarnished into achieving their ending would have enough notice to pull some strings. My head cannon suspect though, is Gideon Ofnir. He is already a creepy dude, he's familiar with Selivus and puppetry, and his demeanor seems to improve with the Fingers' - as we acquire runes. He is the one that tells us to find a great rune and receive the wisdom of the 2 Fingers, and like Enia he rewards us from bringing him things. If we bring Enia remembrances she rewards us with Legendary gear, as does Gideon if we bring him knowledge. Finally, Gideon betrays us towards the very end of the game, hoping to supersede us as Elden Lord - so in my crazy head cannon, it would make sense for the Fingers a(t Roundtable hold at least) to be Gideon's puppets.
Had cannon aside, I think it's worth casting some Skepticism on Enia's words, and where they're really coming from.

Edit - In town April 5-10
I am a frequent visitor to Las Vegas and I will be returning again for another long weekend of indulgence and fun and I'd love to find a girl to join me for the experiences, ideally something ongoing!
Pampered

• Fountain View Terrace Suite with Japanese Soaking tub
• Amazing food and drink from lavish brunches to high end tasting menu's with wine pairings
• Ample pool time with appropriate tropical drinks
• Spa? Mani/Pedi? What appeals to you?

Pleasured

• Tied up, teased and played with, how long before you beg me to let you cum?
• Gambling with a remote control vibrator inside you
• Being treated like the Princess, and Slut, you truly are

Pounded

• I am insatiable, I will use you over and over again, all weekend long
• I will take you when I want, how I want, as often as I want
• When I wake in the middle of the night, I won't hesitate

After seeing these two videos from MrMaxim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI-dqfSPbSs&ab_channel=MrMaxim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmIGvTrvkU8&ab_channel=MrMaxim
​
I have a couple of thoughts here:
First: The default MTU is 1500 bytes, so if the packet size exceeds 1500 bytes you would have IP fragmentation. But also your packet needs to cross several points when going to the Internet, at some of these points, the MTU could be lower than the default of your network configuration causing IP fragmentation there. I don't want to get too technical here, but IP fragmentation is something to avoid and that's why cs2 has chosen 1301 bytes instead of 1500 bytes.
​
Second: Why is the cs2 packet size so much larger?
Cs2 is trimming all packets to 1301 bytes before sending them, this is forcing them to send multiple packets instead of just one (avoiding IP fragmentation). But if we look at the size of the csgo packets the size has increased a lot.
​
Third: Even if cs2 is sending 128 packets or 256... that doesn't matter if the server is checking the packets only 64 times per second.
​

My theory:

Let's say we buy into the sub-tick thing, what you would expect to see on the network is one small packet per action in the game, but, if instead of sending the packet we put a timestamp per action and fill a message with all the actions that have been happening in the game (this is called batching) until it's time to send it, the server will receive a packet that it can process action by action, simulating this infinite tick system. And that's why the size of the packets is so big, the packet does not include the latest state of your game, it includes all the actions that you have taken in a sequence.
​
To put it in other words, this system is taking all the actions that happened since 15ms ago and processing them one by one, ending up with a state much closer to the reality of the current match.
​
This system on a 128-tick server... can be amazing.

Failed. Not too mad though. Had a fair draw. Been studying on/off for the past couple of months. Didn’t fully glue myself to my seat until last Thurs. My biggest issue certain wording on the answer made me second guess myself. Did change 5 questions at the end that probably costed me the test. I saw some Roman numeral questions. Heavy on the ethics and regulations on IA and BD. Had 3 questions where I had to use the calculator. Would recommend getting the two heavy sections down since that’s where most of the points come from. Will get it next time!