ChocoPro 303: Egg ResTart It’s ChocoMania weekend! Tonight’s solitary episode features some rare combinations: Sayaka takes on Masa in singles, the Utility Players face off against the forces of UMA (including Nightmare Factory’s Kojio!), and EGG TART finally reforms to battle two of the wildest Ichigaya has ever housed. Let’s Go, ChocoPro!
🍫 CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK! ChocoPro 303 🍫 Sayaka VS Masa Takanashi, Choun Shiryu & Shin Suzuki VS Sayaka Obihiro & Kojio, Ryuichi Sekine & Mochi Natsumi VS EGG TART (Chie Koishikawa & Hagane Shinno)! It airs TONIGHT at 11 pm EDT / 8 pm PDT (Tomorrow at 4 am BST, 12 pm JST). Live and Free on YouTube!

Don't forget to Adjust Your Volume, Wrestling is Loud!

Change the stage, escape the normal! ChocoPro is built different. Find out why wrestlers like it so much: Find a new home on the bleeding edge. (This is not your regular wrestling show.) Join us for this episode, or check out the back catalog of 17 wonderful Seasons on the Gatoh Move ChocoPro YouTube channel...300+ episodes with stories and pro-wrestling like you've never seen. New to the promotion? It features a roster of skilled veterans, rising stars, and wonderful guests fighting in the ChocoPro Arena: Ichigaya Chocolate Square. Subscribe for more content than just the live matches! (AEW Watch Alongs, Discussions, Interviews, Food Challenges, etc) Even if you can't catch it live, don't sweat it! It will still be available on the channel.

Sayaka 👗

VS

Masa Takanashi 🍶

Violence & Booze

“I'm gonna kill you! Yayyyyy!” While she has become infamous for her unsettling quotes, “Smiling Violence” Sayaka is known more for her ungodly brutal striking power. Those explosion like forearms stagger even the toughest opponents in Ichigaya! Add in Sayaka’s pin point dropkicking ability and her growing talent in pins and submissions, and Masa might find that the rising Twitch star is just too much to handle. Sayaka’s unnerving cheerfulness while she does vicious things provides her with a big presence in the square. That unattached joy will eventually be the stuff of legends! (After all, she’s “happy to beat someone”!) Don't forget, Sayaka hangs out around Minoru Suzuki and survives to tell the tale! Will we see a Hammer of the Gods? This photogenic phenom is on the rise, keep an eye on her!
Drunken Monkey Masa Takanashi is ready for anything! The belt collecting president of Gatoh Move is known for racking up wins as much as he does bar tabs, representing many companies with a swagger and slick technique that will have you questioning just how tipsy he is! The Counter Fighter of ChocoPro baits his opponents into reversals and trickery that will have them staring at the lights or tapping out in quick fashion. He’s got a lot of tricks up his sleeve, but will he be able to handle overwhelming power? Takanashi had better keep up that fancy footwork or he’ll find himself hammered into oblivion! OrePan might have been fended off once by CDK, but Sayaka is still aiming for that big win.

Choun Shiryu 🐉 & Shin Suzuki 🍙

VS

UMA+ (Sayaka Obihiro 💙 & KOJIO 💀)

Utility, Monsters, Action!

Monsters? “So what!?” Choun Shiryu is here! The Dragon of ChocoPro is a Wuxia hero (having done some of the most spectacular acts in Ichigaya) with his own fantastic flair! He is one of the most legitimate forces in the promotion. This Kung Fu master boasts a truly unique fighting style, pulling off action movie stunts you’ll not find elsewhere. While his usual partner is taking some time away from wrestling, (though Ninja Sayuri is still behind the scenes, as is tradition!) this time his partner is fellow utility player Shin Suzuki! Shin is always ready to go! His warm personality and intense athleticism fit well with the general vibe of Ichigaya...and honestly, his knack for dealing with kids (as a proud father) comes in handy in this den of goblins and monsters! Shin & Choun both mesh well with just about any pairing, so expect these two to sync together with machine precision once again. Can speed and teamwork overcome this Arkham Horror?
Fresh off an appearance at GanJo, Sayaka Obihiro is cool as hell! With a deep sense of humor and lightning quick striking & pinning techniques, Obi rules...but she is a bit...different...when she teams with Monsters. The charismatic full time chef has got a great set of flame gear and an intense uncontrollable style. Even if she’s gone feral, you'll find yourself enchanted by her brash nature and wild antics! Strange and occult happenings are somewhat common in Ichigaya, and the mysterious organization known as UMA features many monsters that just so happen to wrestle. Horrors from across the world are attracted to ChocoPro due to their influence...Speaking of which, a cold wind brings a shadow over Ichigaya once again! Hailing from Parts Unknown and trained at the Nightmare Factory (which makes even more sense given that sinister look!), kojio’s frightening presence made him fit right in with the other Monsters of UMA. With brawling brutality, vicious submissions, and an absolutely wicked set of gear that makes him look like a character straight from a comic book, kojio scares his opponents and impresses the audience with his relentless nature and bone chilling aura. That laugh is something else! This unstoppable monster has been a wonderful addition to Ichigaya, but how long will he accept Obi taking pinfalls? I wouldn’t want to upset him!

Ryuichi Sekine 🐗 & Mochi Natsumi 🍡

VS

EGG TART (Chie Koishikawa 🏵️ & Hagane Shinno ⚔️)

Egg ResTart

A returning team up 12 years apart!? Pairing up Mochi Natsumi and Ryuichi Sekine is like putting two different kinds of explosives together. While the Rebellious Hardcore & Deathmatch Unit known as PROMINENCE has a lot of exciting members busy all over the place, Mochi has been killing it in Ichigaya. She is a dark clad fiery personality with an undeniable raw charisma. Her shocking moments of brutality are some of my favorites in the whole series. A well balanced strength and agility fighter with a good sense of humor will always thrive in Ichigaya, but Mochi has fit in as if she was always there...the same can also be said for Sekine! While he took time off to focus on his farming (and to get married to TJPW’s recently retired Nodoka Tenma), he is just as dangerous as he always was! He just also sells Rice Cakes now. Sekine is a loud, wild, completely chaotic element when it comes to Ichigaya. He’s known for obliterating stools and the environment alike! This violent farmer would stop at nothing to entertain the audience, unleashing a volatile way of fighting that usually ends with the opponent locked into the Combine. Much like his emoji (the wild boar), expect Sekine to rampage maniacally through ChocoPro once again. Good thing Mochi is always up for a good rampage! With these two together, be careful not to be overwhelmed by their wild energy and charm!
It has been a long time, but they’re back together! Chie Koishikawa & Hagane Shinno, the combination known as EGG TART, are a hot and cold team. Opposites definitely attract, and the polar attraction results in some of the craziest team attacks you will ever witness! “Too Much Energy” Chie brings an uncontrollable excitement wherever she goes (including recently GanJo), sprinting around the Square and delivering lightning quick striking...often from the air! Her tightly locked Stretch Mufflers and eye catching arm drags will have you shouting as much as she does. The Frantic Fencer is one of the most popular characters in all of ChocoPro! Her Wintery partner on the other hand is a remorseless killing machine...and the Super Asia Champion! Hagane’s icy ferocity usually brings about ugly thuds via heavy striking and brutal slams. The “Cold Killer” earned his epithet by easily dispatching some of the best the promotion has to offer! This ageless assassin only shows emotion around his chaotic partner...and together they amplify one another’s personality! These two have limitless potential, and now that Hagane has the Big Blue Belt they will also have limitless enemies looking for an opportunity!
Enjoy all the wrestling this weekend!
Come and see the wild creativity that produced Two of the Seven AEW Women's World Champions! (Both of which have appeared on ChocoPro!) You'll be wondering if you're seeing future champs, as well. ChocoPro is the Frontier of Pro Wrestling! Match after match of hard hitting, chaotic, fun bouts with a friendly online audience. We're quickly growing, and you're welcome to come along!
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions:

“What is this?”

ChocoPro is a free online promotion run by AEW's Emi Sakura, that takes place in the legendary Ichigaya Chocolate Square! It features a steady pace of live Episode releases, fan interaction, season long story arcs, and much more! A place where the turnbuckles are replaced with 14th floor windows, the ropes are often replaced with fans, unforgiving walls provide creative avenues for skills otherwise unthinkable, and you can take solace in knowing that the referees usually do nothing. While it might be a shocking change at first, the intensity and storytelling will leave you wanting more.

“Why are they fighting in ____?”

Short answer is that it is a cost effective, unique venue with a better availability schedule and allows the roster access for training. Emi Sakura has been using this place for a long time, and you might be surprised at some of the names that have used it (even outside of ChocoPro!). There are a few in-ring Episodes and Gatoh Move has in ring shows with crowds on the YouTube channel. Think of it like the Hart Dungeon but as a promotion, if that helps!

”What are the rules?”

While special match stipulations will usually be explained before the respective matches, the general rules of ChocoPro are simple. Pins only count on the Chocolate Mat and are not broken by the edge or Wall. Submissions usually only count on the Chocolate Mat, and ARE broken by reaching the edge or wall (sometimes ceiling...). Double pins and Double submissions are legal (and encouraged) in ChocoPro Tag matches, meaning cohesive teams will always have the advantage! Count Outs only exist if specified, since many matches stray from the comfort of the Chocolate Square into the streets (and the rest of the building itself!) There is a Time Limit for each bout (based on card placement and importance) and the Referee has discretion (even if they tend to do nothing most of the time!). Every Ref is different, some have different levels of bias and speed.

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This is a wrestling forum, and I'm trying to broaden the horizons of others! There is a lot of good wrestling out there...Plus growing the fan base means more people for me to joke around with! I honestly do believe this is what a lot of fans are looking for, even if it is too different for some! But different tastes are good. Variety is the spice of life. This is a labor of love (it really doesn't take that long) considering how much work they do to put on so many shows...for free!
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Season Tracker: We're 3/18 into Season 18! (Each Season is usually around 18 episodes)

Or rather, where are the mainstream ones? Since I'd imagine there have been many developers like myself who have created their own systems languages, but which have died or stayed private.
You will say, But there are plenty of contenders for that role, but I disagree.
C itself has been widely castigated for being too low level and unsafe, especially in a forum like this which prefers its languages a few levels higher.
Yet C is still tremendously popular for many reasons. There is still a need for such a language. I don't have a problem with what it does, but with how it does it. I don't need a higher level language for my purposes. Just one I like and can respect.
(I find it annoying that C is associated with low-level programming, that people talk about C-APIs, or even C-ABIs, or C-level types, and describe it as the closest thing to the hardware, as though C had invented low level. Yet C doesn't even have a 8-bit byte type!)
The current crop of alternatives tend to be too ambitious. They introduce advanced features I have no interest in.
They make coding harder, even if it is safer. Their implementations are large, cumbersome and slow. Their authors make annoying decisions, like no hard tabs, or no goto.
Can any of them offer an implementation that matches Tiny C's 250KB compiler? And that is as quick? [My generated C code requires only 180KB tcc.exe plus one of its library to build.]
So, I won't say try harder; how about trying less!
In my case 80% of the issues with C are its syntax; and most C alternatives have the same syntax more or less.
My own systems language, is another private one (I can't support it) that I've always used in place of C. Below I've listed 35 or so differences from C (I could write 50 more), and yet it is not much higher level than C.
These are the things I value and make use of, not 'higher order functions' or fancy new types I can't get my head around. There are a few more I would have added, if the language was more widely used, but as a private one used for a handful of projects, it is not worthwhile.
​

• Algol/Pascal Style Syntax (but without begin-end which are as bad as braces)
• Sane left-to-right type syntax; uses = for equality and := for assignments; smaller and more intuitive set of operator precedences
• Most semicolons (here used to separate statements) can be omitted
• func (and proc) designators. In C functions are not marked at all; you have to infer where they are!
• All language features are always available. No micromanaging visibility via combinations of C's 30 standard headers.
• Properly structured switch for integer control expressions and constant test values
• case statement, like switch but works with any types and with non-constant test values
• Proper for-loops that iterate over an integer range, or the values in a list. Plus dedicated endless loops and repeat-n-times loops. With of course multi-level breaks, and an optional else part
• Just one top-level namespace (no separate namespace for tags and labels)
• No block scopes (my preference); there is one scope per function
• Case insensitive (my preference)
• 1-based arrays by default (0-based and N-based are possible too)
• Modules with circular references. Module can introduce namespaces
• Define-once: everything is defined in only one place. (No separate interfaces and and definitions; interfaces are only needed between programs)
• Designed for whole-program compilation ('program' = one EXE or DLL file)
• Out-of-order definitions
• Tidy set of one-token basic types (eg. u64 rather than 16 combinations of long long unsigned [int]) (C has uint64_t in stdint.h, but not really supported by the rest of the language.)
• Default 64-bit ints and floats (C could have 64-bit int, but is typically 32 bits, which means 32-bit literals and a discontinuity between 32 and 64 bits)
• Separate Pointers and Arrays. (If P is a pointer-to-array in C, you need (*P)[i] to access an element: deref then index. But C also allows *(P[i]): index then deref. That is insane,and highly unsafe)
• Arrays with value semantics: [10]int a, b; a := b
• Slices (pointer and length pair)
• Properties such as X.max, (max value); X.bytes (byte size); X.bits (bitwidth); X.len (length of array); X.typestr (name of type), where X is a type or expression
• Built-in read and print statements
• Functions: keyword parameters and optional parameters with default values. (These two can be superimposed on imported functions defined via an FFI whose implementation language does not support it.)
• Reference parameters
• Multiple function return values, and multiple assignments
• Expresson-based: statements and expression are interchangeable
• Named constants. C offers some combination of #define, enum, const, and soon constexpr, none of which tick all the boxes
• Table data: initialise parallel arrays, and optional enums, in table form. C requires hideous 'x-macros` to do a similar thing
• Bit and bitfield accesses: A.[i] and A.[i..j]
• Embedded text and binary files. (Apparently coming in C23.)
• Chained comparisons: if a = b = c; range checks: if a in b..c, and check against N values: if a in [b, c, d]
• Extra built-in ops such as max, max:=, and fully overloaded ** and abs.
• Far less UB than in C
• Compiler options to run directly from source, or produce a single amalgamated source file for a whole application. The compiler itself is self-contained and is very fast.

To be clear, it's unlikely at this stage that I would adopt a new language. It would need to have appeared a couple of decades ago to become established anyway. So it's a bit late for me, unless someone produces a language that is better as a transpilation target than C.

If, for some god forsaken reason, you wish to read the other two installments of this series, here you are.
Part One
Part Two
Proceed at your own risk, from here on, because - you know - massive spoilers for FoL.

Chapter Three - Fall of Light's Last Scene - What the F-

Important note: In this essay, I do not seek to deeply analyse the motives of Renarr. I dare not delude myself into thinking – or believing – that I can understand, in any capacity, Renarr’s motivations. While I may make claims about her historicity as a character, and I may make certain ventures into trying to understand what she thinks… your guess is as good as, and probably better, than mine.
As such, this essay considers Vatha Urusander much more closely than it does Renarr (at least, to the extent possible). It also – as per the title – deals with the historicity of the events described, and why the way they’re related to us matter. Thus.

“Renarr found herself the sole occupant of Urusander’s intended quarters, with not even a servant present. She wandered through the rooms, stirring the ashes of her regret. A single ember remains, and surely it shall burn me, and my name, for ever more. But some things we do not choose. Some things are chosen for us.”

That’s some very apt imagery. Plenty of that coming up in the rest of the scene, too. It does bear mentioning that Renarr’s murder(?) of Urusander has been foreshadowed since at least Chapter Nineteen, if not earlier – one can make the case that the very first scene of Fall of Light is foreshadowing that very fact. And throughout, Renarr has been dreading it. And before she acts, she makes sure Urusander knows that she dreads this. Keep this in mind.

“She heard the outer door open and then shut. Returning to the main room she saw Vatha Urusander. He seemed startled to see her, but only momentarily. He smiled. ‘I am glad to find you here, Renarr.’
‘Is she done with your company already?’
‘It has been a long time since we last slept. There are storms in our heads, and storms between us. Of the latter, I see a calm ahead. Of the former …’ He shrugged, and walked towards the window overlooking the broad sward behind the Citadel.”

Think on what Vatha sees in this moment. A moment free of responsibility, free of charade, a moment where he can spend some genuine alone time with his adopted daughter. A daughter he knows indulges him, challenges him, perhaps on some level, wholly rejects him. But what Renarr does not do, is disrespect Vatha. Renarr is, with the exception of maybe Mother Dark, the only individual character to respect Vatha Urusander’s agency.
Does he foresee what Renarr is here to do? Perhaps. He knows about Renarr’s misgivings. He knows about the fate of her mother, he knows that she but indulges him – as Mother Dark put it – and he knows that Osserc… well, Osserc murdered Millick, for potentially undisclosed reasons.
He is also well aware of how false everything thus far has been. He knows – he says as much to Renarr & his company – that the marriage won’t stem the tide of blood. It is purely political in nature, and it only serves as an uneasy delay. It accomplishes nothing. Vatha stands here, before Renarr, with nothing to show for it. There’s a storm in his head, with no end in sight.
And yet, he’s happy to see her. Because he’s fairly sure she comprehends, more than he does, the extent of this situation.

“‘Will you deal with Hunn Raal?’ she asked, drawing closer to him.
His back was broad, but it now belonged to an ageing man. There was sadness in this detail.
‘Deal with him? I had ambitions there, didn’t I? He names himself my Mortal Sword. This should make plain who serves whom.’
‘And does it?’ She hesitated a few steps behind him, watching as he leaned forward close to the windowpane and looked down.”

Renarr cuts directly to the chase. No beating around the bush here, no elegant ceremony to mask the unkind, unhappy truths beneath. Hunn Raal has been allowed to go forth, unmolested, uncontested, for too long… until, just about, the very scene before this.
By Vatha’s very assertion, Hunn Raal’s actions have been disowned, and, indeed, decried by Father Light. It’s Renarr herself that elaborates on this on Hunn Raal, no doubt savouring the taste of vengeance. Granted, Vatha did say he’d hand Hunn Raal to the Andii to be tried as a common criminal – he didn’t – but his political maneuvering, or more accurately, his political stumbling, has at last bore fruit: Osserc is Vatha’s heir, and all of Raal’s machinations are rendered moot, insofar as he’s exposed and can no longer work behind Vatha’s back.
The fact that Osserc is still around but Hunn Raal isn’t probably points to Raal dying at some point in the (near) future, if nothing else, because he’s a massive dipshit.
Now, yes, Vatha merely naming Osserc his heir isn’t magically going to make the problem that is Hunn Raal go away. But the point I’m getting at is that Urusander has dealt with Hunn Raal, in exercising both his identity of Father Light & Commander of the Legion. Does that directly affect Hunn Raal? Could Urusander have done more? These are all questions running through Renarr’s mind, but she knows that what she’s asking is already done. So it’s clearly not that.
In the meantime, Urusander – his back to Renarr – is now staring out the window, with a broad back “belonging to an aging man.” The Vatha Urusander in this room is nothing like the fabled Father Light.

“‘A keep’s refuse,’ he muttered. ‘How it backs the wall, below the chutes. I wonder, do we build houses simply to keep the garbage out? It should be buried.’
*‘It buries itself,’ Renarr replied. ‘Eventually.’” *

I absolutely adore this part. Not least because Urusander compares Hunn Raal to “a keep’s refuse,” but also because of the poetic language employed. You can substitute “garbage” and “houses” with just about anything and get a meaningful part out of it. Here, let me try.
“Do we create rules & prohibitions simply to keep the outlaws at bay?”
“Do we build societies & civilizations just to keep the misfits out?”
And so on.
While Urusander never struck me as a man to believe in the “natural order of things,” he understands that Hunn Raal cannot thrive in such a society, and longs for the time when he, too, will be buried. There will come a day when he’ll bury himself. That, or the rest of the garbage in the pile will deal with him.

“‘Hunn Raal deems himself immune. Perhaps he is right in that. Leave him to Syntara. He’s her problem, not mine. Mother Dark has the right of it. We step back, saying little. The condition of our people is for them to decide. I considered setting forth my laws, my foundations upon which a just society could rise. But how soon before my words are twisted? My premises twisted and suborned? How soon before we, in our mortal natures, corrupt such laws, each time in answer to a wholly self-serving need?’”

And so he elaborates. It is not up to him to fix this mess, just like it does not fall to Mother Dark to rein in the more unwieldy individuals among the Andii. Urusander has seen both Emral and especially Syntara twist the words of their deities; he struggled putting forth his laws on the basis of “moral stance” – because law itself might be subject to ambiguity; how could he even consider putting forth such laws when his followers are bound to twist the words he speaks for their own benefit?
Urusander’s nightmare since his first appearance on page in Forge of Darkness is realized here, and he is powerless to stop it. He follows Mother Dark’s example, but I doubt that is fulfilling in any capacity. Urusander was a soldier, and it is that attribute of his that Renarr calls upon in asking him to deal with Hunn Raal… but when not even Father Light is capable of dealing with his Mortal Sword, what hope has Vatha Urusander?
He has argued himself into a corner and his only way out is, well, standing right behind him.

“‘Have we seen the last of honourable men and women, Vatha Urusander?’
He straightened once more, but did not turn to face her. ‘The brutes are in ascension, Renarr. Against that, reason has no chance. You think the blood has ended? I fear it is only beginning.’
‘Then, sir, nothing has been solved.’
‘I am not the man to solve this,’ Urusander said. ‘But,’ he added after a moment, ‘you knew as much, didn’t you?’
‘Yes.’”

This part interests me as well, because the two of them are talking about wholly different things.
Renarr is appealing to Urusander’s sense of military honour. Hunn has overstepped the line, lapped the line twice, moved the goalpost, crossed it again, and is just now cracking open champagnes to celebrate. In other words, Hunn Raal is a mess, and it falls to Urusander – as a soldier, as his commander – to deal with him.
Urusander, on the other hand, views the situation through his own lens of principles & morality. For starters, Hunn Raal has grown past his own influence, so bringing him down in any manner of collective justice is nigh impossible. As such, Raal will need to be brought down either in an underhanded manner (assassination or some such), which in and of itself is difficult, or by someone else entirely – which, alas, did not happen (Renarr laments this as well). The former is not just difficult, but in direct violation of Urusander’s morals and paradigm. If he sets the precedent that “if someone oversteps the line, then kill him on any basis you find”, any society he attempts to build is going to crumble from the very beginning.
Neither of them are objectively wrong. They employ different views on morality – deontology versus consequentialism – and judging one through the lens of another is going to bring up numerous contradictions, especially if you don’t believe in objective morality. Subjectively, both Renarr’s approach of “Kill Hunn Raal before he causes more harm” and “Leave Hunn Raal to those responsible for him because I cannot deal with him without violating my ideals and principles” are both morally correct (in their respective moral frameworks).
Obviously, Urusander’s position – by this point – borders on indefensible for us as outside observers, and Gallan makes sure you get that, but he does not portray Urusander as “wrong” in his approach per se.
In any case, it dawns – slowly – on Urusander that Renarr is keenly aware of this. She somewhat understands where he’s coming from, and though she can’t bring herself to forgive him for it, she takes no pleasure in what she has to do. Because, as aforementioned, Urusander hasn’t necessarily done anything objectively wrong – if nothing else, more than once, he bordered on actually fixing the whole mess – but he never took the required step to do away with Hunn Raal. And now the whole mess is beyond fixing.
It bears reminding about here that Urusander has not faced Renarr since entering the room. He hears these words – knowing Renarr, utterly inflectionless – and continues facing the window, facing down, and away. And you have to wonder, how much does Urusander know of Renarr, and what is he playing at? He does not understand her, not fully, but he’s not quite dense. And, I think, at this point, he can see how this ends, and so makes one last – indirect – request of Renarr.

“‘What of my son?’
‘His judgement was in error.’
‘Error?’”

Evidently, not the answer Urusander was expecting. It is unclear to me quite how much is known about Osserc & Renarr at this point, and how much of this is Urusander guessing, so I’ll refrain from commenting overmuch.

“‘A young man bereft of responsibility will yearn for it,’ she replied. ‘A young man will see the virtues of duty and honour as shining things, harsh and not subject to compromise. From such a position, he may well make mistakes, but they remain well meant.’
Still he would not face her. ‘Something in you is broken.’
‘Something in me is broken.’
‘My son killed the man you loved. He … misapprehended the situation.’
‘Yes.’
‘Yet, it seems, you have forgiven him.’”

Something within me is itching to bring up Rake “yearning for responsibility” and how this is Gallan indirectly sticking it to him, but that’s a story for another day.
There is something deeply tragic about how Renarr phrases things here. Throughout the book, her thoughts often drift back to Osserc – how “her resistance was feigned,” how “no amount of thrusting cock can make him a man” (Yikes) – and this is the culmination of that. There’s a certain dose of self-loathing mixed in for good measure. But what I want to focus on here is her choice of words: a young man sees the virtues…
But Urusander is not young. To Renarr, Urusander should know better. Duty & honour are not inviolate virtues to be unquestionably upheld: Look where that got us. A realm riven with civil war, a war criminal & murderer free to rampage, because he – first and foremost – discarded duty & honour in the name of personal advancement. And Urusander, well, he remained true to his morals & ideals, but to what end are those morals & ideals helpful if nothing ever gets done?
Something in her is broken indeed. But what truly shocks Vatha is that Renarr finds it in herself to forgive Osserc… but not him. The “why” is a tale for another time – and it’s not one I’m qualified to tell – but let’s just say, it’s shocking for Urusander.

“‘I wish,’ she said, ‘you had killed Hunn Raal. I wish you would stand behind your sense of justice.’
He grunted. ‘No exceptions, no compromises. Had I done what was right, each and every time …’
‘Instead, you did nothing, and now here you stand, Vatha Urusander. Father Light.’”

There, for the less perceptive among us, Gallan throws us a bone. Renarr isn’t forgiving Urusander for letting Raal walk free.
What is interesting, though, is that she appeals to his sense of justice. Which is, I think, one of the first missteps of Renarr in this scene – it is intentional, no doubt – in that, well, he did just that. There was no manner in which Urusander could apprehend Hunn Raal in a way that appeased his sense of justice. And he tells her as much – “no exceptions, no compromises.”
As aforementioned, Renarr is appealing to Urusander’s sense of honour as a soldier; not a scholar of Forulkan works, not a reformer, not “Father Light.” Oddly, this is quite reminiscent of the justice that someone like Dassem Ultor would have his soldiers dispense. No better way to explain than to simply provide the quote:

“Monkrat realized that Spindle was still waiting. 'Do what's right,' Dassem told us. Gods, even after all this time he still remembered the First Sword's words. 'That's a higher law than the command of any officer. Higher even than the Emperor's own words. You are in a damned uniform but that's not a licence to deliver terror to everyone – just the enemy soldier you happen to be facing. Do what is right, for that armour you wear doesn't just protect your flesh and bone. It defends honour. It defends integrity. It defends justice. Soldiers, heed me well. That armour defends humanity. And when I look upon my soldiers, when I see these uniforms, I see compassion and truth. The moment those virtues fail, then the gods help you, for no armour is strong enough to save you.'”

Instead, Urusander stuck to a higher sense of justice, rather uncomfortably close to that of the Forulkan, one born of strict idealism & moral absolutism. Kant ain’t got shit before Vatha Urusander in such matters.
Does that make him bad? Incompetent, impotent, villainous? Is inaction to be equated with cowardice, in a world where actions are always misinterpreted (I mean, just look at Draconus)? Do these questions even matter?
To be honest with you, I don’t know. I’ll tackle this matter a bit later, but the diegesis certainly predisposes us a bit badly towards Vatha Urusander, and I find that to be terribly interesting.

“‘Yes, my blinding gift.’ He was silent for a time, and then he said, ‘Have you seen it yet?’
‘What?’
‘My portrait. In the corridor on the approach to these chambers. Kadaspala did well, I think.’
‘I am afraid I did not notice it,’ Renarr said. ‘I give little regard to art, especially the compromised kind.’
‘Ah, then, are all portraits a compromise? In his sour moments, I think Kadaspala would agree with you.’ He leaned both hands on the windowsill.”

And thus we circle back to one of the defining traits of Father Light: his portrait. It has dominated his character since, well, since he first appeared, posing for Kadaspala and getting irrationally pissed at the artist. Renarr plucks the key idea of it from Urusander’s mind: His portrait is – has always been – a compromise. And he knows this, for how could he not?
His portrait is a political tool in the arsenal of the Kurald Legions to avert civil war. Kadaspala says so himself:

“I have painted a man worthy of being her husband. They will see his strength, his resolute integrity, because these lie on the surface. They will not see the underside of such things – the cruelty beneath strength, the cold pride behind that stern resolution. The blade of judgement grasped firm in integrity’s hand.
They will see in his stance his soldier’s discipline, and the burdens assumed without complaint. Yet see nothing of withered empathy or unreasonable expectation.
In the tones they will find warmth with but a hint of the underlying metal, and in so seeing they will understand nothing of that melding of fire and iron and all that it promises.
My power is vast, the talent undeniable, the vision sure and true. Yet all it leaves me is torment. There is but one god, and its name is beauty. There is but one kind of worship, and that is love. There is for us but one world, and we have scarred it beyond recognition.
Art is the language of the tormented, but the world is blind to that, for ever blind.
Urusander, I see you – I face you now – in the failing light, and you frighten me to the core.
[…]
‘I had a thought.’
‘Indeed, and will you tell me that thought, Kadaspala?’
‘If anyone can prevent civil war’ – and he nodded towards the portrait – ‘it is that man.’”

What could be more of a compromise than this, precisely? And Urusander knows this – even if it took him two books to finally articulate it – he knows his portrait is faked. It’s a compromise. It’s not him on that portrait; it’s Father Light, it’s Mother Dark’s husband, it’s the man that could avert civil war.
He, alas, was not that man. Nor did he aspire to be. And, on some level, the diegesis seems to begrudge him this.

“‘Well,’ he said, ‘it seems that I am not to be forgiven.’
‘Only your son.’
She saw him nod, and then he sighed and said, ‘Tell them, will you, of the likeness. So deftly, so honestly captured by that blind man’s hand.’
‘He was not blind when he painted you, I think.’
‘Wasn’t he? No, demonstrably not, as far as that goes.’”

And this particular exchange is why I sat down to write this essay. That line above. The single line that made me wonder, “how much does this bastard know?” And, moreover, how much does Renarr know?
At first, it sounded to me like an old man’s ravings before his inevitable death. Regrets mounting, a concession of guilt moments before the knife descends. He is not to be forgiven, but his son will live on, not to be hunted by the Fury that is Renarr.
In more recent times, and after further reading (and after talking about it with Steve!), I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t much like that interpretation.
This moment is present for posterity. Vatha & Renarr, father & daughter, one final time. And so, after the more personal matters are done away with – his son’s safety, his not dealing with Hunn Raal, his honour, his sense of justice – they turn to posterity. The portrait was excellent, perfectly & unerringly rendered, to stand the test of time.
But in truth, the language used is very specific. I have no doubt towards Kadaspala’s efficacy & his deftness, but honesty? We saw above that Urusander ought to know that his portrait is, indeed, a compromise. And he amends this, with “blind man.”
Urusander acknowledges that Kadaspala was wrong. He did not paint Vatha Urusander; he painted an idealized form that he wished to paint, a man that could be worthy of being Mother Dark’s husband, a man that could prevent civil war.
And by all accounts, Vatha was pleased. He was… transparent. So expertly portrayed, by a blind man’s hand.
But what if Kadaspala saw true? In his monologue we already saw all the different aspects that he portrayed in his painting, how none who look upon the portrait can see any of it. Nor, one expects, Vatha Urusander. Alas, perhaps Renarr did. And, perhaps, she concurs with Kadaspala: Both the idealized form, and the man himself, frighten her to the core.
And so…

“‘Vatha Urusander,’ said Renarr, ‘there will be justice.’
She saw him nod again, in the instant before her knife sank deep beneath his left shoulder blade, stilling the beat of his heart. Unblinking, she stepped back, leaving the dagger in his back. He tilted forward, forehead striking the leaded window, before his legs gave out and he fell to the floor at her feet.
Looking down, she saw the smile on his face. Peaceful, content, lifeless.”

Anything I say is bound to not do justice (ha) to this scene. Just admire it.
Which brings us to the true meat of this essay, about 3.7k words in. And that is, why? Why do we see this scene like this?
Vatha Urusander is dead. Renarr is – by Steve’s admission – spending the foreseeable future in a cell underneath Kharkanas for his murder. Unless not-quite-blind Gallan has visited her in the cell to get her tale, quite like Rise Herat wished to do earlier, I doubt anybody would have direct access to the information & dialogue spoken between the two.
So why are we seeing it through this lens? What is the goal? What is Gallan trying to show us?
First & foremost, the PoV framing. This isn’t an omniscient scene; we see the world through Renarr’s eyes, eyes weary of the world itself (sound familiar?), a woman too old for her years, filled with regrets & despair. She wields conviction like a knife, but draws no pleasure from what she knows she must do.
Renarr, as aforementioned, is one of the (if not the) few characters that respect Vatha Urusander’s agency. Whatever decisions he ought to make, he must make them himself; it is of utmost importance to her being able to dispense adequate, unsullied justice as she claims she has to.
And so, she does not belittle him. Though you can almost feel the self-loathing & hatred seethe beneath Renarr’s words, she does not seem to hate Urusander whatsoever: Indeed, she deeply regrets this and expresses to him that she wishes he’d done differently.
It is quite tragic that the man that has sought to do good time & again but always seems to have failed is confronted by the very consequences of said actions. Renarr is his adopted daughter, yes, but she is nought but a ghost, wandering aimlessly through the world, taking in its atrocities, while her father stands on the sidelines. And one wonders, where is the emotion from this woman? Why does this feel so… abject? There is no glory, no catharsis to be found in Urusander’s death; no vow avenged, no vengeance gained. “There will be justice” indeed, but when, and how?
Moreover, this scene is – as aforementioned – away from the public eye. Neither Renarr nor Urusander need hold back, and both can converse without watching their words. The cryptic and vague responses are evidently manufactured by Gallan & Fisher, to prove a point.
This scene is also a foregone conclusion. Renarr knows she will kill Urusander the moment Father Light steps into the room. Urusander, while he doesn’t know it immediately, gets a pretty good idea by the time the conversation shifts to Hunn Raal; you can see his tone change accordingly (especially when he asks about Osserc, borderline in desperation). And so, whatever the two of them say, is just between them.
It is, in effect, a last attempt from Gallan to give you an idea of the motivations behind Vatha Urusander and Renarr. The former could never back down from his high ideals of justice, and they led to his downfall; the latter, well, the latter “stirs the ashes of her regret” with a good deal of fatalism mixed in (which is a can of worms I’m not opening).
To close, I think this scene is one of the best, and most dense, scenes in the Malazan mythos. I don’t come close to doing it justice here; for that you need quite a lot of background information from Fall of Light that I simply do not have access to. It is an excellent, cathartic moment that brings the storyline of Fall of Light to a simultaneously satisfying, and extremely unsatisfying, close.
And I think it pays to think about if it happened at all, and what the author – the in-world author, that is – is trying to tell us by portraying it in such a manner. I do not doubt that Urusander was killed in some way, perhaps even in the exact manner that we see here: But the act itself is not what matters, but the dialogue & actions taken by the characters that we see. To ask, “why are we seeing it like this and not in some other manner,” can lead to some fairly interesting questions, and some very interesting revelations.
Until next time!

Now that's interesting. Servers died, and there is a text that says "maybe there's an update". Is it just me or he finally tired of hackers and bullsh*t they made in the game, so he decided to awake and do something useful? I'm kinda surprised. Literally. Because he awoken just in time, when playing in game became impossible. What do I mean? Simple. ESP Players. If you don't know, there is hack called "ESP", it allows you to see players through the walls. So, what do I mean by saying that? The fact that the number of ESP users increased a lot. Now almost in any match if you tunnel - you will be killed by a "soldier#002", which saw you using ESP. And of course you may say that it's just luck, and I'm just a phycho, that sees in any player hacker, and everyone here is just good. But I don't believe that. And never will. Why? Because it's damn unfair and obvious. Say, you played against "Legends" in leaderboard? if you do, you saw their aim? You did? Ok, compare it to the aim of CS:GO Legends, or aim of Legends in any other shooter game you like. Do you see that huge "Aim improvement" from the side of voxiom legends? Let's logically think, what do you need to have such good aim? Hours, days, months of practice and aim trainer. Do "Legends" do something of this? Nope. That's why you can get absolutely rekt by a 15 lvl, when you are 65 lvl. And that's not the "skill issue". Does that even possible for a starting player pull off godlike aim? Or Aim that denies your movement? One. Simple. Answer. N. O. You cannot straight know where player moving, if he all time breaks his usual movement cycle, that takes at least 0,5 secs to react, and still that only with practice. But "Legends" have aim, that absolutely "predicts" your movement. See what I mean? I don't have an obvious proofs of people hacking in leaderboard, but you know what happened in the trackmaina speedrunning community long time ago? Leaderboard was full of godlike speedruns, but it turned out to be a tool-assisted runs. Or simply hacked. The same story with voxiom. I don't have proofs of someone hacking, but I feel the difference in gameplay from side of pros. They not trying to know game better, pull off somekind of parkour moves to convince player(those who do are not hacking), they just rely on shooting. And trust me, after decades, when those players in leaderboard will be finally caught, I will be right about such people from the start. Thanks for reading this and don't forget to put some garbage comments below! :D

Hello -
My top-loading Kenmore 600 series HE washer (model number above) is being uncooperative. The behavior is as follows: on most wash cycles the machine will perform the wash, the tub will drain, but it will not spin the clothes dry. Instead, it continues to repeatedly drain the tub for much longer than usual, and then sounds the "completion" signal and stops. The lid remains locked, and neither the power button, nor the stop/start button can unlock the lid. I have to unplug the machine and wait for it to power down, at which point I can plug it back in and unlock the lid. The tub is drained but the clothes are sopping wet in the basket, the water having clearly not been spun out out of them.
Oddly enough, if I run the machine on the "rinse and spin" cycle, it will execute this function flawlessly, spinning all the way up to speed and completing the cycle without an issue.
What have I done to try to remedy this so far?
1) I took the metal back off the washer and checked the drain pump's hoses for clogs. They were fine (of course they were, the washer has never had a problem draining, only spinning).
2) I found a service manual online. I activated service diagnostic mode and got the following error codes: F7E3, F7E0, F7E8, F0E2.
3) I activated service test mode. The lid locks and unlocks on command (test 00). The slow, medium, and fast spin tests (10, 11, 12) all work; the tub spins up to speed. I don't have a way to measure how fast it's spinning, but I get the impression from the subtle shaking that it is spinning as it should.
4) I performed service test 52, load size calibration. This seemed to go fine. I was optimistic, as the error codes disappeared when I checked the service diagnostic mode afterward. The next time I attempted to wash a load, I encountered my familiar problem; no spin!
5) I checked whether I am using HE detergent. Yes, I am.
Shortly, I will remove the top load basket and ensure that there is nothing between the basket and the tub causing undue friction and heating the motor up too much. However, I suspect there is something wrong with the control panel; the machine will execute a rinse and spin function normally, it just won't spin at the end of a wash. That means the motor drive mechanism is functionally intact, just not activating when it needs to, right?
I can call a technician, but they will ask for a significant fee, and for $300 I can buy a new washer on sale which would suit me just fine, so I wouldn't spend that much to repair this one. Does anybody else have any ideas? I think I need a replacement control panel. Can anyone think of any other options? Thanks!!

​
“Watch where you're going, doofus” Itachi snapped, pushing the person who had bumped into him just a few moments ago.
“Im....Sorry” Geiju bowed, his beret falling from his head like a cherry blossom petal.
That was his first impression of the stoic redhead, A clumsy, weak, and art-loving sissy that seemed to entrance the school the second He first walked in the gate, He was pathetic and gay, the type of man he hated. He couldn't understand how somebody could purposely make themselves appear so weak, so fragile... Just waiting for somebody to swoop them up in their arms and never let go.
Did he stupidly fall in love? Sadly yes.
He just couldn't help it, Geiju was possibly the most beautiful person he had ever laid eyes on, His soft silky red hair, His emerald orb-like eyes that glimmered in the light, his frail but long arms and legs, star-speckled freckles and a perfect voice. He was like an angel, a heavenly being created with love and care by the goddess Aphrodite. The mental image of Geiju on a comfy lace bed with pillows and ribbons, in soft baby-pink kitty lingerie, was enough to make his whole face burn red in lust, guilt, and shame. He would peek from behind the art club door, just to watch him paint. He would watch in awe as Geiju created life on a canvas, from mere color, curve, and line. He would silently watch, captivated by his talent.
He wanted to fuse with him, to fill all his senses with his scent, so Itachi would be the only thing geiju would think about. Oh, to rip all his clothes off his body and take him right there and then, In front of everybody. And do it again and again and again and agai-
“ITACHIIIIIIIIIIIIII-SENPAIIII!”
“WHAT!?”
Mantaro conked him in the head with his shampoo bottle, as Hojiro and Unagi both exploded into boisterous laughter.
“You're going to waste all the water” Iruka said, Slipping on his boxers. He was also very cute, With plump cheeks and short, curvy figure.
He got up and dried himself up, there were lots of boys in school that he liked, Otohiko, A boy that wore the female uniform, He had peach pink hair and pretty little amber eyes, He had decided that Otohiko was too sweet for his dirty hands. Iruka was also alluring, He was quiet but not in the same way as Geiju, he was more straightforward and preferred to talk only when it was necessary. He had swishy silver-grey hair and soft ruby-red eyes. But judging by the way Iruka’s eyes would stay glued to Asu’s chest and butt when she was in her swimsuit, it would be worthless to try anything. Besides Mantaro would kill him with his own hands if he even breathed the wrong way around him.
He finished buttoning up his uniform top, He got a text from his father, or as he liked to call the mouthpiece of shit, Limpdick. It wasn't anything, just telling him to come home or he’d “Beat his ass” He wanted to see him try, He was a lot stronger now, so he could beat his ass.
He stepped out of the locker room, The setting sun looking gorgeous as always. He sighed and tossed his backpack over his shoulders, he really wanted to try talking to Geiju, but he had absolutely no idea where to even start, besides why would geiju like him? He had been nothing but rude to him so what reason would he have?
He kept his head down as he walked out of the school gates; The warm and comforting environment of sunset made him feel a lot better. As he was walking home, he couldn't say he wasn't pondering over asking Geiju out. What if he said the wrong thing and messed it all up? What if they started dating and they weren't meant to be? After all, it was so rare to find such a gorgeous being, it was a miracle he actually managed to find such a person, but he was worried.
He got home and went straight to his room.
“If I start being nicer to people, would he like me?” He thought to himself as he undressed and slipped into his pajamas. He walked over to his mirror and took off his shirt.
As a child, he was a very scrawny and feminine build, something his father hated, so he would always belittle him. He thought that, maybe, if he got big and strong, he would feel confident in himself.
But unfortunately, that didn't happen, he was muscular and lean now but he still felt insecure and weak inside.
“Why?” Itachi frowned, touching his chest. “Why don’t I feel strong?” he asked himself. He was angry with himself; He would never grow a pair and just ask the boy he loved so much. He was afraid of doing anything that might make his dad angry at him again. And yet, he still wanted to talk to Geiju, to make him feel happy, to hold him in his arms and never let him go.
He sighed, he closed his eyes and tried to imagine Geiju's face, He imagined his snow-white skin, his delicate fingers, and his kissable lips. He imagined him wrapping his arms around him and holding him tight, He imagined him smiling and laughing, He pictured him painting the flowers Itachi worked so hard to grow.
He opened his eyes and saw tears leaving his eyes. “What is this? Why am I crying, I'm a man! I shouldn't cry for a boy that probably hates me” he complained to nobody.
Itachi wiped his tears away and stood there, He thought about all the things he wanted to say, the words he wanted to say and how they sounded in his mind. How they would sound in his heart.
“I want you to smile for me, I want you to laugh with me, I want you to be my Husband” Itachi whispered to himself, closing his eyes again.
“I need you, I can't live without you, please, just tell me your feelings” He sat on his bed, Clutching a pillow tightly. He knew that if he never tried, nothing would happen. If he never even tried to talk to him he would regret, it forever. He pulled up a dating strategy on his phone, to prepare
-
Geiju was so engrossed in painting that he did not notice the footsteps behind him until he was Kabedon wall slammed.
He gasped, flinching for a moment before looking up to see the very person he had been imagining.
Itachi could feel his heart tighten as he looked at Geiju’s little “o” face of surprise. He stood there, frozen, words failing to leave his mouth.
Geiju was completely red in the face, his lips quivering, his hands shaking. He stared at Itachi with wide eyes, as though he was seeing him for the first time, like a stranger. His heart was racing in his chest as the realization that his crush had just wall slammed him.
“Uhhhh......” Geiju stammered out, He was still staring at Itachi in shock.
“I....I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" Itachi mumbled awkwardly, his heart beating loudly in his ears.
“No, no” Geiju shook his head. “It's ok” he felt himself hand flap, trying to calm down his racing heart. Geiju smiled nervously, He cleared his throat and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.
“Uhh....I just wanted to ask.......do you want to have lunch with me?” Itachi nervously stammered out.
Geiju blinked a few times, He was surprised but also happy. "Yes, I'd love to!" he replied immediately, making Itachi sigh with relief.
True to his word, Geiju had lunch with him that day, He learned that geiju adored anything with strawberries, especially strawberry shortcakes. So, every time they ate together, he would bring him strawberry shortcake for them both, and they would talk about everything under the sun, they talked about school and about their pasts, their hobbies, and their likes and dislikes, they shared many laughs and smiles and soon, their friendship grew and grew.
They became best friends; their relationship grew stronger and stronger. Itachi would do anything for Geiju, He would sacrifice himself for him and he would do it gladly. He was afraid that one day he would lose him, so he gave him his heart and soul.
He slowly started to see himself becoming kinder and gentler. He changed his hairstyle to a bob cut that swished around his head.
He got brave enough to get a therapist to talk about his issues. And he had to thank it all on geiju. His feelings for Geiju got stronger and stronger until he couldn't deny it anymore. He had to ask him out. He knew that he should've done it sooner, but he was scared, he was afraid that Geiju wouldn't accept him for who he truly was.
“Geiju, I know this might seem sudden, but would you like to go out with me?" He asked while they were walking home from school. Geiju blushed and nodded, making him hug him in joy.
The date was on Saturday, they would meet in front of the 7-11 at 2:45 precisely. There Itachi would take him to a restaurant and then a walk through the park.
The rest of the week was excessively boring and dull, the two tentatively waited for the school day to end to prepare for tomorrow’s date.
Geiju knew he wanted to cross-dress but wasn't sure exactly what to wear. Luckily, he had Otohiko, a fellow cross-dresser's advice.
“Something with his favorite colors, tell me his favorites” Otohiko said, he wore a pearl pink oversized sweater and pure white drawstring shorts. “Black, orange” Geiju replied, readjusting his skirt.
“Well, you can wear Black Mary Janes and some orange jewelry” Otohiko got up from his very soft bed and strutted over to his closet, pulling out a pair of lolita Style Mary Janes with sheer white bows decorating them.
“Maybe you can wear something tight... you know........to leave him with a veryy gooood memory” He teased, watching Geiju’s face light up.
Back in his house, Geiju chose a light pink sailor dress with a white petticoat, he replaced the dark red ribbon with a light orange ribbon, black pantyhose, and the Mary Janes that Otohiko let him borrow. Shouko had gifted him an orange-themed necklace a few years ago, so he fished it out of his trinket box.
-
Itachi leaned against the light pole, a bouquet of flowers in hand, a special handpicked bunch of bright red roses, Violets, and green carnations. He grew the flowers all by himself, so he really hoped that Geiju would like them.
“Ita-Kun” he turned to see Geiju, who was in a dress. He felt his entire face burn red as he looked Geiju up and down. He looked so Innocent and girly in that dress.
Geiju smiled softly and twirled around, “Like it?” he teased, making Itachi blush harder.
He pulled Geiju into a hug, his heart racing as he held Geiju close. Geiju smiled happily as he snuggled closer to Itachi, putting his arms around him.
He presented Geiju with the flowers and he put them into his bag, taking a green carnation and putting it in his hair.
They walked close together, Itachi with his arm around Geiju’s waist, They laughed and chatted about random things.
“Alright, were here” Itachi said, stopping in front of the café that he had chosen, Itachi looked up at the sign above the door.
It read 'Café Yume' in colorful letters.
Geiju looked up at the sign, smiling widely, He hugged Itachi close and whispered, "Thank you for going on this date with me!"
The two walked in, with a young woman in a maid dress greeting them.
“Welcome Master” She chirped; Itachi quickly realized why the café had such good reviews, he had chosen a fucking maid café, on his first date. Shit.
Geiju was surprised but went along with it. “Yeah, sorry....” “No, it's okay” Geiju reassured Itachi it was ok, the two chatted while waiting for their food.
Geiju ordered a Hamburg curry with orange juice and Itachi ordered an omurice. Itachi made the mental note to get better at cooking.
The food came out and it smelled absolutely delicious, Geiju's was even more delicious than it looked. The two savoured every bite of their meal,
“So, how’s your mom” Itachi asked. “She’s great, Shes going to have our little sister soon”
“Oh, Shes pregnant?’ “Yeah!” Geiju replied excitedly, giggling.
“Aww, I'm happy for her!” Itachi replied with a smile. “What about your mom Ita-kun?” Geiju asked innocently.
Itachi frowned, His mother had left when he was very young, she had packed up her bags and left. He had never seen her or even heard from her since.
“She’s........fine” he lied, not wanting to sour Geiju’s mood. “That’s good” geiju replied, picking the dessert menu, and ordering a Strawberry shortcake.
Itachi brought out his wallet and paid for their meal, making them both smile happily.
-
The blooming cherry blossoms were gorgeous, Geiju had told Itachi he loved flowers, so he brought him to a beautiful park where there were tons of cherry trees. The petals of the trees had fallen, they were all over the ground like snow and the air was filled with the sweet scent of the flowers.
The two lay down in the cool grass, watching the clouds pass overhead. They watched birds flutter around, laughing as Children chased each other.
“This is amazing, so peaceful” Geiju commented, gazing up at the sky. “Yeah, its nice” Itachi agreed.
Geiju put his arm around Itachi, the two nuzzled into each other.
“Geiju?” Itachi whispered. Geiju looked up at him and smiled. “Yes, Ita-Kun?” he whispered back. “I love you” Itachi confessed, making Geiju smile wider.
“I.....Love you too” Geiju murmured, cuddling up to Itachi. The two sat and stared up at the sky, watching the clouds float by. Itachi was content, he had finally told Geiju how he felt and he had been accepted.
They stayed like that for hours, Cuddling close together. “Um...” “Yeah?”
“Can we kiss?” Geiju asked shyly. Itachi blushed, embarrassed, but nodded. Geiju leaned in and kissed Itachi on the lips, his tongue gently caressing Itachi’s bottom lip. It was their first kiss, so it was sloppy and awkward, but still romantic.
Geiju broke off the kiss, looking up at Itachi. He smiled tenderly and Itachi smiled back, kissing Geiju on the cheek.
“Your........good....at this’ Geiju murmured, blushing. “No, you're good at this” Itachi teased, poking his belly.
“Do you want to do it again?” Geiju asked shyly, looking up at Itachi.
“Yeah!” Itachi replied, leaning down to kiss Geiju on the lips once more.
Itachi could feel his heart beating faster and he knew that he loved Geiju more than ever before.
At this point, the sun was starting to set, painting the sky in yellow, purple and red.
"Wow, it really does look like a painting..." Geiju murmured, staring up at the beautiful sky.
“Yeah... it's pretty amazing” Itachi agreed.
The two laid down on the grass in silence, just enjoying each others company.
“Hey, Ita-Kun?” Geiju asked timidly. “Yeah, what is it?” "Will.....you be my boyfriend?" He shyly asked, making Itachi smile. “Of course! Yes! I'll be your boyfriend forever!” Itachi exclaimed excitedly, hugging Geiju tightly.
Geiju smiled and hugged him back, the two held each other close for a long time.
"Ita.......I have to go home...." Geiju said, frowning. "Why?" Itachi asked worriedly.
"My family will be worried if I don't come home by sundown" Geiju explained.
“Oh” Itachi replied, thinking about it. . "Im sure your family will be worried for you too" Geiju said, Starting to get up. Itachi sighed, His father didnt give a shit about him, he knew if his son never came home, his father wouldn't think twice about it.
"Let's walk home together then" Geiju suggested.
Itachi nodded, relieved that Geiju wanted to stay with him. The two walked side by side, holding hands and talking about random stuff. Itachi was growing progresively more nervous, what would his father think of his son dating a man? Itachi wondered if his dad even thought of him.
"Im hungry......" Geiju muttered. "Again?" "Yeah..." Itachi really didn't want to go home now, so he asked Geiju if he could eat dinner at his house. "My dad's out most of the time, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind it" Itachi said, forcing a smile.
"Ok, I guess I can come over" Geiju said, sounding quite content. Mama would get to meet Him!
-
“Mama! Im back!” Geiju called out, taking off his shoes at the entrance.
"Mom at her obstetrician appointment! She and dad will come back soon!" Shouko called out from the kitchen, He noticed Itachi and Gave him his signature grin.
"Oh hey, Hi!" Shouko chirped and quickly went back to preparing dinner. "Uh, I didn't know that you and Shouko-san were brothers' Itachi said. "Stepbrothers" Geiju replied. “Mama and Shouko’s papa got married” Geiju continued.
“Yeah? I wanna meet them after dinner” Itachi said enthusiastically. “Sure” Geiju replied with a smile, going upstairs to change.
Geiju changed into pastel green drawstring shorts and a Cream Pj shirt with light green lines. He took off his jewelry and scurried back downstairs.
Itachi was with Shouko, Engaging in light small talk. "Im making hamburg curry with cardamom spice, I hope Geiju likes it," Shouko said excitedly.
Itachi grinned, "I'm sure he will". "Is it done yet?!” Geiju called out, coming back down the stairs.
“Almost” Shouko replied. “Zametora-kun, can you help set the table?” he asked, Itachi nodded and went over to help Geiju.
"Thanks, Ita-Kun!" Geiju said gratefully. Itachi and Geiju worked together to place the plates on the table. Geiju grabbed the cups and Itachi placed plates on the table.
"And done!" Shouko said, grinning. “Yay,” Geiju said, and Shouko pulled out a bottle of orange juice. Shouko then brought over the curry and Itachi poured the juice into the cups.
“Let's eat!” Shouko said, giving Itachi and Geiju a smile. "Thanks for having me here," Itachi said, grabbing a fork. Geiju nodded, smiling widely as he grabbed his own spoon.
Everyone dug in, and Itachi couldn't stop thinking about how cute Geiju was. Geiju was super polite, always saying please and thank you.
"Is good,” Geiju said, "Thank you, Im glad you like it!" Shouko replied. Itachi smiled, he felt odd being in the presence of family love, when he had dinner with his father, they never talked, sometimes His father would berate him, or he wasn't there at all. On those days he would just order a pizza or heat up leftovers. Shouko's food tasted really good, better than anything that he had ever eaten. Geiju was staring at Itachi, smiling happily at him.
“We should watch a movie after dinner” Shouko said, looking between Itachi and Geiju. “My neighbor Totoro” Geiju quickly said, making everyone laugh at how quickly he said it.
They all huddled up on the couch. Geiju cuddled up to Itachi, making him smile. Geiju had his head on Itachi's shoulder. He felt like he was part of the family now.
This. This is where he belonged.
Itachi was so happy; he hadn't felt this way since his mom left.
He had been abandoned by his mother and his father is abusive, but now he had found a family who loved him.
Finally.

AnarchyChess, 'We post chess memes here', presented by Chess.com™

​
The moderation team at AnarchyChess are excited to announce our new partnership with Chess.com and its affiliates. This sub has experienced exponential^{haha rice} growth over the past year, and with it the responsibilities of the moderators have grown. We've decided to take the plunge and start moderating full time, fulfilling our life goal of being professional shitposters.

What does this mean for me?

There will be a few changes to the sub, which you may have noticed already.

• We are excited to announce Danny Rensch as our Lead Moderator
• Ben Finegold slander will not be tolerated and will result in a permaban (no exceptions)
• You must have a Diamond™ account to post/comment during Titled Tuesday™
• You must use L*chess in place of 'Lichess'

How can I get involved?

We're so excited for this next era of AnarchyChess, and we trust you are too. In our first benevolent act as your new overlords, we are excited to offer EVERY subscriber an month of Diamond subscription for the low price of just $5!!! Click the link below and sign up for this offer while it lasts!
https://www.chess.com/membership
^{google en passant pipi}

Part I
Rajendra Jain had been pacing back and forth in his living room for the past fifteen minutes and there was no trace in his pace that would’ve indicated that he would not indeed be doing the same for fifteen more.
Sitting on the sofa, cross-legged and sipping a cup of coffee was his wife, Arushi Madan. She had taken a particular interest in observing her husband at times when he would be expecting his ‘friends in high places.’ He would go to great lengths to ensure that these guests of his received the finest treatment in his house. After he had made sure that everything in the house was tidier than they normally were, from the furniture to the modest collection of vases and trinkets, he would start pacing back on forth in his living room which he would only stop when the doorbell would ring. This was one such occasion.
‘Fifty-five!” Arushi murmured.
“What was that?” Rajendra asked and then he suddenly let out a loud cry of agony.
“It’s usually after your fiftieth round that you stub your toe on that table. The maximum it has taken till now is fifty-nine rounds, but mostly it happens by the fifty-fifth one.” Arushi said.
They both glanced at each other, Rajendra with a bewildered gaze and mouth wide open while Arushi smirked with a cunning look in her eyes. Arushi was good at observing things at a young age. She could observe and make an accurate assumption about almost everything. When she was twelve, she knew that the old lady next door would react in a negative manner when her father would’ve approached her to talk about her grandson taking up his parking spot. She had instead told him to wait till his grandson arrives and speak with him directly as that would’ve solved the dispute amicably.
“You shouldn’t make early assumptions.” Her father had told her.
After her assumption had turned out to be right, she had the same smirk and cunning look in her eyes. Her father had then smiled back and told her that her eyes at that point looked pretty like that of a puppy after sipping vinegar. She had never seen a puppy sip vinegar before, but this compliment had made her feel happy, nevertheless.
She, however, hadn’t received nor did she expect to receive any such compliment from her husband in such situations.
“Can you stop giving me that stupid smile and bring some bandages? Ugh, I think my toe is bleeding.” Rajendra said as he got down to his knees to inspect his wound.
Arushi didn’t say anything but, quickly got up from her sofa after keeping the coffee mug down and went to look for the first aid.
Just then the doorbell rang. The friends of Rajendra had arrived.
He sprang up to greet them. He had made four influential friends that he would refer to as ‘very close’ since he had moved for business reasons to Barsatpur, a very remote town in India.’ Rajendra despite at that time undergoing some financial issues, was a wealthy man. He had a big house, the biggest in that town and didn’t have a car only because he could not drive.
“But your wife can drive. Why don’t you get a car.” Dhruv, one of Rajendra’s four friends asked him, just as all five of them had seated themselves in the living room.
‘I err…. she doesn’t drive that well you see, and I don’t see any reason for…’ Rajendra began and then suddenly stopped and turned around to see Arushi who had re-entered the living room with bandages and some cotton along with a bottle of antiseptic.
“Sorry, it took a while, I had kept the first aid in a different place so….”
“Well, I won’t be needing it anymore!” Rajendra said.
Arnav who had by now noticed Rajendra's wounds began with a smile “Looks like our buddy Rajendra’s absent-mindedness gets him injured indoors as well.”
Rajendra began to quiver in embarrassment as he fixed his gaze on the floor with fists clenched on both sides. Arushi was still standing behind the sofa where Rajendra was sitting, puzzled at Arnav’s remark.
Rajendra looked up at his wife and through an angry glance at her signalled her to leave. She obeyed but just as she turned her back to leave, Arnav told her to wait.
He began “It was that one time when I saw Rajendra walking alone near the market, lost in his own thoughts as usual. Suddenly I saw him falling straight into a wide-open ditch and after that got covered in all sorts of nasty…”
“That will do!” Rajendra finally blurted angrily. He then turned to Arushi and began in an angrier tone than before. “And you! Do you want to sit and chat with us, or do you have some work of your own?” Arushi didn’t reply but simply turned and walked away.
Rajendra felt calmer when she was gone. He however didn’t notice how all four his companions had been gazing at her as she was walking out of the living room. They had gazed at the back of her long and slender neck, and they had gazed all the way down to her waist and hips. All the while Rajendra felt relieved at the thought of how he was now free to converse with his friends now that the only annoying presence was gone.
It had been a couple of hours of talking and feasting and drinking until Rajendra’s guests were ready to go home.
“The food was delicious.” Said Tejas.
“Yes, but next time try the new chicken recipe that I had told you, the one with lots of garlic and spices.” Added Dhruv. “Your wife would love it too.”
“She is vegetarian actually.” Rajendra replied.
“Ah, that’s no surprise.” Said Arnav who was a bit too drunk compared to the rest. “Afterall she is an animal lover. Loves hugging dogs whenever she sees one.” His voice shifted from faint to loud at the same pace as he swayed from left to right while trying to achieve a fixed standing position.
The rest of the company wondered if he should be told to stop talking before he decides to abandon certain moral codes when it comes respectful communication.
“And I must add…” Arnav continued while raising his hand which was also having a hard time staying firmly raised “women who are vegetarians have the perfect body, and my dearest lucky Rajendra, your miss’s body can rival any runway or lingerie model. I mean she also does like showing herself off when she wears those extremely revealing clothes often.”
One would imagine Rajendra was the person that told him to stop talking about his wife in such a way, but he wasn’t. It was Pratyush. Pratyush was a man of great size and stature. He didn’t speak much but had a habit of stepping in whenever there was a situation where someone was needed to step in.
In this scenario he gently lifted Arnav from his feet as if he was a small doll. Arnav who had offered no resistance while being picked up had suddenly dozed off in his drunken stupor like a toddler falling asleep in his father’s shoulder.
“Looks like he had a bit too much to drink today didn’t he.” Said Rajendra.
No one of his four companions had asked for him to defend the man who was sexualizing his wife, but he did it anyway. “All right then goodnight,” said Rajendra.
“Before I go, I just want to ask if….” Tejas said. He looked around and signalled the others to carry on.
Tejas waited till the rest of the company had gone beyond hearing distance. He then lit a cigarette, offered one to Rajendra as is courtesy and upon his rejection began to speak.
“I was wondering if you have had some time to think about what I had asked you couple of days back?”
Rajendra said in a hesitant tone “I would of course like to help you in your time of need but as you already know I am also going through financial hardships and the amount of money that you asked for is…. don’t take it the wrong way but I don’t feel comfortable in lending it to you in such times.”
“Look, I have always trusted you and it’s fine if you have some reservations despite this.” Tejas continued with his persuasion for a while and then went off saying his “goodnight” and “do think about it.”
As Rajendra walked his way towards the entrance of his house, he recalled what Arushi had been telling him. She had said that all these four people whom he considers friends just tried to use, and associate with him for his wealth. She had also told him that if given the opportunity, they will even throw him in jeopardy if that makes them gain any advantage out of him. However, Rajendra had always dismissed these thoughts as baseless.
Part II
It was raining heavily, and Rajendra who was returning home from the market had forgotten his umbrella. His fast-paced walk soon turned to sprint, not because he wanted to reach home before getting too drenched but because he didn’t want to be seen by any of his four ‘close friends’ walking drenched in rain without an umbrella, given his reputation of being absent-minded and clumsy.
His house had a recent infestation of rats, and he was for once proud of himself to have not forgotten buying the rat poison. The old one was almost finished with zero dead rats. As he entered his living room, he found an old man lying down on his living room sofa.
He too had been drenched in the rain not long ago as his thick beard and scarce and thin hair were still wet. However, he saw that this unexpected visitor had been provided dry clothes. It was Rajendra’s clothes that he would wear at business meetings. The man was asleep. Rajendra had only examined the man for a little while before deeming him as ‘disgusting.’ He had no foul odour but his unkempt appearance and his wet and dirty jacket hanging nearby made Rajendra deduce that he was a poor homeless man and hence was to be deemed ‘disgusting.’
“Arushi!” Rajendra called his wife.
“Arushi, who is he and what is he doi….” Rajendra paused when Arushi showed up with an expression on her face that he didn’t expect and one that at that scenario hinted of trouble.
She had tears in her eyes and had a hard time speaking what she was trying to say. “He just…. I am so sorry…he is not….” She broke into more tears.
Rajendra rushed to her and gave her a hug. “It’s alright, I am here now.”
Arushi clenched her husband tightly and buried her face on his chest that made the only part of his shirt that was somewhat dry from rain now wet with tears.
“tell me what happened? Who is this man and why is he here?” Rajendra asked agitatedly.
“He is dead!” She replied reply. Outside there came the sound of a sudden loud thunder.
Rajendra felt like he was going to fall sick.
“How did this happen?” He asked.
Arushi hesitated for a while, took a deep breath, wiped off her tears and started with her explanation. She explained how this man arrived at her doorstep while being drenched in rain. How despite him looking like a homeless man wandering the streets, she immediately recognized him as his old friend from college. How he had told her that he was in extreme debt and had now been pushed to crippling poverty. She took another deep breath when she said that she had invited him in, gave him some fresh clothes, offered him a glass of water and had only gone to the kitchen to make him some tea when she realized her mistake.
“You don’t mean it was the same glass which contained….?” Rajendra began in a terrified tone.
Arushi simply nodded in affirmative while pointing to the glass that had supposedly contained liqua-tox II, a liquid concentrate that is used to kill rats and mice and which had led to the death of their unexpected visitor.
Rajendra fell into the chair in a state of fear and panic. Arushi was sobbing once more and told him that she had killed a person and will now surely be in prison.
Rajendra suddenly leapt up from his chair. An idea had struck him. He knew how to save her. Rajendra felt a sense of jubilation thinking how this sudden idea will make him the knight in shining armour and his wife will be the damsel in distress that he will save. Never again will he be called things clumsy, impotent and absent-minded and never again will his wife count the number of rounds he takes in the living room before he stubs his toe on the table.
His idea was to call his four friends in high places and with their connections dispose of the dead body. After all why would anyone care or miss a man who was pushed to poverty by possibly his own bad decisions. Most people would probably think that this man had committed suicide.
Rajendra explained this plan to his wife and before she could give any opinion of her own, for or against this plan of his, Rajendra ran to get his cell phone. He called Arnav first who said that he was out of town and reassured him not to worry. He then called Tejas who said that he would have shown up at his place that very moment had he not just recently fractured his leg. Dhruv declared that he was away attending a wedding and Pratyush said that will not help.
After his call ended with Pratyush he felt that he was indeed helpless. He thought to himself that he was just unlucky as this misfortune had to strike him when all three of his friends were busy and one in a possibly mad mood.
He sat motionless in his chair for what felt like hours. It probably had hardly been fifteen minutes and the rain were still pouring when Rajendra suddenly heard a knock on the door. As he opened the door, he felt a rush of joy. All his four friends were outside.
“Thank God, I knew you all will come to help me.” Rajendra said smiling ear to ear.
“This is him officer.” Said Arnav pointing towards Rajendra.
Rajendra’s smile faded as he heard this, and a look of terror took hold of him as he noticed two police officers standing behind.
“What is the meaning off all this?” Rajendra asked bewildered.
“This man tried to ask her to hide a dead body. His wife murdered a poor man, and he wanted us to be his accomplice.” Said Tejas.
“We all knew early on that he and his wife were a bit crazy, but we had never expected something like this. Well, here is what one can call devil in sheep’s clothing.” Said Dhruv.
Pratyush meanwhile didn’t say anything.
“Please step aside.” Said one of the police officer shoving everyone to one side and entering the house to investigate the crime scene. “My wife is innocent! She would never hurt a soul!” Rajendra began to shout.
The other policeman firmly grabbed Rajendra’s arm with only minimal force and told him to calm himself. “Sir, as per protocol I am calling in for a lady police officer as we have a female who is accused of murder.” He said to the policeman who was coming back from the living room.
“No need for that!” came the reply. “There is no murder and hence there is no accused.”
Everyone looked at surprised at the policeman who said this. Then a figure emerged from behind him.
Rajendra suddenly screamed as he felt a sudden sense of terror. “A ghost! There is a ghost!”
“Now, now let’s not act so rude. I only look so ridiculous because of the weather. Rain doesn’t suite me at all you see.” Said the unwanted visitor who was unmistakably not dead.
There was a moment of confusion until the people present began to get a sense of clarity, some faster than others.
“You should get yourself a lawyer sir, you can try criminal conspiracy or sue for defamation.” The policemen said to Rajendra before leaving. The four other people left almost immediately.
The unexpected visitor introduced himself as Saurabh Deb who were a budding actor and a good friend of Arushi. He explained to him that it was Arushi who had made created this plan to test the loyalty of these people who Rajendra had considered very good friends. Together they had put up this act which led to the true colours of all four of Rajendra’s friends being brought to light.
The rain had stopped by then and the sun was shining bright in the afternoon sky.
There were a thousand words of gratitude that Rajendra wanted to say to his wife at that time. Arushi looked at him, smiled and then with a twinkle in her eyes she said “The weather is perfect today. Would you take me out for some coffee?”
Rajendra smiled back and said “Yes.”

rWiiHacks' Support Megathread

General Troubleshooting

NOTE: FLASH DRIVES Are not recommended
If you are using one and you find yourself here for support, please reconsider.

Loader Support Here "My Wii/GC Game Won't Load!!"

If you came here with the problem "I am trying to load my Wii or GC game and it's not working", this is your link.
The rWiiHacks Loader Support Document
Please read through this document if you are having problems loading Wii/GC games with your Wii.

Unlock Your Write Protect Switch


Game and App Directory Structure Visualized

Wii Games

💾 SD Card or USB Drives ╸📁 wbfs ╸📁 GameName [GameID] ╸📄 GameID.wbfs

GameCube Games

💾 SD Card or USB Drive ╸📁 games ╸📁 GameName GameID ╸📄 game.iso

Applications

💾 SD Card or USB Drive ╸📁 apps ╸📁 AppName ╸📄 boot.dol ╸📄 meta.xml ╸📄 icon.png

• Note: meta.xml is not always needed but may provide key app functionality. icon.png is not required and may be added in for aesthetic reasons.

Letterbomb

💾 SD Card ╸📁 private ╸📄 boot.elf/dol

• Note: You may have several .txt files. These are simply readmes and are not necessary.

CTGP-R

💾 SD Card ╸📁 apps ╸📁 ctgpr ╸📄 boot.dol ╸📄 meta.xml ╸📄 icon.png ╸📁 ctgpr ╸📁 riivolution

How Perform a Syscheck

RiiConnect24's Guide is great for that!

Wiiflow Lite

• Some versions of Wiiflow Lite come with default settings that cause a black screen on load of Wii games.
• Consider updating to the latest version!

1) Open Wiiflow lite settings.
1) Go into NAND Emulation settings (it's got 3 pages of settings about NAND emulation) and make your settings match this:
``` Page 1- Select NAND: default NAND emulation: Partial Select Saves NAND: default Saves NAND emulation: off
Page 3- Saves NAND Partition: SD Use Real NAND Config: On Use Real NAND Miis: On ```

• Try to see if WiiFlow will play any of your wii games again.
• If it still crashes/black screens:
  • Load WiiFlow again
  • Press HOME on the Wiimote
  • Select Reload Cache
  • Try playing a Wii game again

Modding Support Here

The Guide Wii Recommend

• still RiiConnect24's guide is the best out there
  • its very well maintained
  • if this changes, we'll change our recommendation
• do not use out of date guides
  • this doesn't mean all video/youtube guides are bad, just most of them
  • most print/web page guides are wrong/outdated in some way too
  • if you're adamant on not using RiiConnect24's guide please find someone who knows what they are talking about to verify that the one you use isn't wrong BEFORE you start to mod your Wii

Useful Link to Bootmii SD Files

• Here you can find the direct link to the BootMii SD Files
• This is the hackmii site and completely safe.

To Change a Drive From GPT to MBR

• To change a drive to MBR on Windows
  • open disk management.
  • If you're on Windows 8 or higher, do Windows key + X and click on disk management.
  • Once you're there, find the drive you need to convert to MBR and right click on the area where it says "Disk" and then the number of the disc.
  • If it's not already MBR, you'll see an available option to convert to MBR disk. Use that option.

Updating You Wii System Menu to 4.3x

• Hey whattaya know? RiiConnect24 has a guide on that too!

ISO/Game Image Management

WiiBackup Manager

• Software to help you manage your Wii game collection.
• It will split/convert/prepare images for transfer to your Wii Storage.
• It does not do anything for GameCube images.

Witt Tools (Same As Above, But Nerdier)

• has none of the 'frills' of Wii Backup Manager as it's more focused on image manipulation than collection management
• has a much more complex interface (command line, unix-like)
• it does work on Gamecube images

ISOtoWBFS

• Command line
• no collection management
• no complexity
• it simply does one thing; ISO to WBFS
• there is also a WBFStoISO, but it's less useful

CIOS Offline Script (If You Have No network)

• You need to be able to access discord for this, as the help is provided by our bot
• https://discord.com/channels/582816924359065611/720513394804785162/1052350004020396123

The Wii and Wifi

• Your router must support 802.11 b/g
• A lot do, but 15 years later, none are enabled by default
• You must be able to re-configure your router
• Phone hotspots often work
• In the hardware section below is a listing for a Wii-Working Ethernet dongle

Miscellaneous Hardware

ID Your Wii's Motherboard Revision

• Wanna know what motherboard revision you have?
• Here's a Graphic
• It's for Wiidual compatibility, but they don't make those anymore.
• It'll tell you if your motherboard is prone to overheat (6 layer boards).

Ethernet Dongle That Works With the Wii

• Nuff said

Replacement Jack Socket Dock Connector Port for Nintendo Wii Right/Left Socket Link Controller

• Of course this section title came straight from AliExpress

SD / USB Storage Tester

• H2Testw

What USB Device Do We Recommend?

• A good enclosure, with a cheap and possibly refurbished hard drive
• The enclosure below is known to work with the Wii
• Which means any hard drive you put in it will also work with the Wii
• within the Wii's size limitation of > 2tb
• Sabrient Tool-free Enclosure
• Most of our staff have these

**** FLASH DRIVES OFTEN CAUSE ISSUES ****
We do not suggest using one.

Modernize Your Wii's Video Output

• To get the best out of your Wii without hardware modifications, you need component cables.
• To be the most compatible with modern televisions, you need an HDMI converter that upscales to at least 720p, the minimum resolution defined in High Definition.
• Below are links for the two items we recommend for doing so.
• SUNNATCH Component to HDMI Converter with Scaler Function
• HD Retrovision Wii/Wii U Premium YPbPr Component Video Cable

Wii2HDMI

• if you are low on funds, this is an option
• do not expect the video, sound, or construction quality to be good for ~10$USD
• Portholic Wii2HDMI

Please leave comments below for updated information or questions.

Meta

Q&A

What is This?

• This is a periodical list of resources for the Wii, and Wii modding. It is maintained by the WiiHacks staff and users of our community.

How Often is it Revised?

• As often as needed, when there is time to do so

Can I Contribute?

Comment. Revisions will be discussed in the comments.
If you'd like to be notified when the new revision is out, please also put that in the comments and we'll add you to the list below.

So, I’ve slept with DL’s before. I know some DLs are cheaters but I’ve never slept with DL who has outright told me he has a gf. The guy who I was going to hookup with said he couldn’t meet me last night because he was with his gf so he wanted to meet right now. I have two conflicting thoughts. 1. I don’t like cheaters, I’ve had too many friends who have been cheated on and I know how that can fuck you up. 2. He’s DL. You do stupid shit when your not out yet. But does that mean he’s allowed to cheat because he doesn’t want to come out. I don’t know his life and what consequences would happen if he were to come out.
Ultimately, I don’t think I will sleep with him because he seems like an emotional disaster and I don’t have the emotional capacity to be a healer. But does that mean it’s ok for me to continue to sleep with DL men who I don’t know if they have gfs? Is it ok to sleep with cheating DLs?

I’m an international student in the US. I was working no more than 20 hours a week at $7.25. In 2022, I worked from January to May before transferring schools and I made $2533.89. I want to file my tax returns and looking at my w2 I had no federal income tax withheld. I tried searching what this meant and it says it’s an error on the employer’s part. I worked for my university and it seems really unlikely such an error would be made. In 2021, I worked from September to December at this same job and I know I had some federal income tax taken. I live in Louisiana and I only paid $46 in state tax. This numbers don’t look right. I apologize if this is a basic question but I really have no clue how American taxes work.

Imagine a poker table at an illegal gambling hall. There are 10 players. Each gambler has to spend $1K that night. At the end of the night there will be winners and losers. Everyone who will go home with a profit will have directly or indirectly taken it from someone who lost. There was a total of $10K at the start of the night and the 10 players together combined will leave with a total of $10K. That money just got shuffled around through poker producing winners and losers.
Now imagine the same scenario but players can join the game and leave after each round and the game never ends. In terms of being zero sum, not much has changed. For someone who walks away a winner, there is someone else who had to walk away or will eventually walk away a loser. All the realised profits in this game come at the expense of other gamblers. It's impossible for everyone who plays the game to walk away a winner. The money is just getting shuffled around between players. No new money is getting added to system outside of the players in the game.
Now lets think about the Bitcoin market. How is it any different? All realised profits you make in Bitcoin come from other "investors"/speculators who are also most likely buying it in the hopes of making a profit.
It's a zero sum game and also relies on the concept of "greater fools". In some ways it's just a long game of hot potato. You buy Bitcoin in the hopes of selling it at a higher price to some other guy who's also likely buying it because he wants to sell it to someone else at a higher price. Every fool who buys Bitcoin does it in the hopes of dumping it on the head of an even greater fool ad infinitum.
The main takeaway here is that all profits generated in Bitcoin only come from other "investors"/speculators in the market.
In ponzi schemes there is usually a guaranteed expectation of profits and the same can be said about Bitcoin: "if you're just patient and just hold long enough". In financial markets there's a phrase - "Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results" but somehow Bitcoiners will always use past price action to justify why number will always go up.
A quick sidenote: Let me quickly respond to "But I'm never going to to sell my Bitcoin, I'm going to exchange it for other assets, goods or services"
If the person accepting your Bitcoin isn't a fool, then he will most likely have to convert that Bitcoin immediately to Fiat to avoid volatility risk. Who will he sell it to? A speculator. A greater fool. And if the person who received your Bitcoin decides to hodl a volatile asset like Bitcoin, well then what does that make him? A speculator and another greater fool.
If you're going to tell me about your Hyperbitcoinization fantasy and how everything will be priced in sats. Well, what is it you're doing now? You're speculating! You're just another speculator in this game of speculators and greater fools.
Now let me preemptively respond to some of the objections you might bring up with the way I just characterized Bitcoin.
In general, Bitcoiners love to do use this line of argument: "No it's not zero sum/a greater fool/ a headless ponzi because...(lists some unrelated property of Bitcoin)"
How will you know if you're also using this line of reasoning? If your response is going to sound something like this: "Elephants aren't mammals because they have 2 tusks, a trunk and can be used to transport heavy goods!"
Nevertheless, I will still try to briefly touch on some of the points you guys might raise.
Bitcoiners will often lie and claim "Bitcoin isn't about the price/the price is just noise". The security model of Bitcoin itself is dependent on the price. As Bitcoiners themselves like to say "It's secure because it's valuable and it's valuable because it's secure". And tell me why anyone would buy it if there wasn't an expectation of number go up? Would you buy Bitcoin if it was only expected to go down in value? Ofcourse not!
When I complain about the volatility of Bitcoin. I've been told Bitcoin needs to get to a market cap of 10T (mktcp of gold) and then the prices wil stabilize. Like literally the first step of Bitcoin becoming a globally adopted currency to become stable enough to be used in business and finance is dependent on number go up (which has to be done by ponzi-ing it up to 10T). So let's stop with the bullshit about Bitcoin isn't about the price going up. Ok?
Some might argue that Bitcoin "scarcity" is what will make number go up. Without demand scarcity doesn't mean shit.
And most of that demand really comes from cultish narratives about Bitcoin. Bitcoiners evangelizing aka "orange pilling" people about things like freedom/hard money/guvmint bad/inflation is theft/bitcoin is an inflation hedge/bitcoin is digital gold/Bitcoin is protection from monetary debasement/central banks are evil/govts and corps create oppressive tyrannies and bitcoin is the only way out/the war between bitcoin and fiat is the war between good and evil/bitcoin protects my purchasing powebitcoin gives you property rights/bitcoin is the goddess of wisdom protected by cyberhornets and other quasi religious narratives. Bitcoiners feel like belong to a special group (the 21m club) they feel like they're part of a community, that they're part of something greater. I would honestly love to go into more detail about Bitcoins cultishness but I don't want to stray too far away from the main topic of Bitcoin being zero sum and a greater fool asset. My main point here is that the demand is coming from narratives and myth-making.
And honestly Bitcoin really isn't even all that scarce with 2.1 Quadrillion sats as the total supply.
An investment in Bitcoin is much different from a stock or other types of investments and purchases as I'll explain below:
When I invest in a stock of a company Then that company is presumably engaged in economically productive activities which make money/create profits/generate revenue etc. That company can then share those profits with it's shareholders by issuing dividends or doing stock buybacks or just growing the business and increasing the cash flow/profits and overall valuation of the company which can then result in a higher share price. It isn't zero sum game because the money isn't only coming from other investors but also from the company's profits.
When I invest in Real Estate I can actually live there. I can rent it. I can use it for business to generate even more income. I can even use my real estate as collateral to secure a loan. Even without a greater fool to sell it to - it still has a purpose.
When I buy a car I can use that car to get to work to make money. I can do deliveries or uber to make money. I can live in the car. I can rent my car. I can race for money if I want. I can soup up my car and sell it at a higher price. I can do all kinds of things with my car without having to sell it to someone else.
When I buy Gold That gold can be used in electronics, jewelry or even in some industrial uses. I can even lend gold jewelry or use the Gold as collateral. Hell, I can even use it as a weapon and throw a gold bar in someone's face to defend myself.
When I buy Bitcoin I get an entry in a decentralized append-only ledger which is secured by cryptography and a shitload of energy and it also has a fixed issuance schedule/supply. It updates globally roughly every 10 minutes and you can send units from one address to another, peer to peer without intermediaries. That's it?
Bitcoin isn't a currency, it isn't a medium of exchange, it isn't a reliable store of value, it isn't an inflation hedge. It doesn't do remittance either because when you send Bitcoin you aren't sending money, you're sending speculative and volatile tokens that then need to converted back to fiat to even be useful. Besides spending and selling Bitcoin can also incur a capital gains tax. Let that sink in - Spending "money" might incur a capital gains tax 😶. Without a greater fool, Bitcoin will have no value nor will it even have strong network security.
And honestly, let's not pretend Bitcoin hasn't had 50-80% crashes before and that it didn't just crash from 69K to 15K in recent times. Bitcoin behaves like a speculative risk-on asset according to the free-market - which you guys love so much. While the price of groceries and other household goods was steadily rising - Bitcoin was crashing. Bitcoin has no direct correlation to inflation. In recent times when the PCE goes down, Bitcoins price jumps in response. If you actually want to an asset that has a direct correlation to inflation: Inflation linked bonds are an asset that are linked to inflation. Bitcoin only has a narrative link to inflation. And besides - you guys should lying - you guys don't actually want an inflation hedge. You want to do a 10x or a 100x. Which is fine. But stop lying about the whole inflation hedge thing because its a claim with extremely loose and vague time parameters and in reality Bitcoin has no causal link to inflation.
The main arguments of Bitcoiners are whataboutism, and pointing out how other things and systems are flawed to make Bitcoin look better because Bitcoin can't stand on it's own merits. Its always the usual thing with bitcoiners with them giving examples of extreme and fringe cases about authoritarian regimes with strict capital controls, political dissidents, assets seizures, bank freezes, crossing borders, double digit inflation in corrupt dictatorships (how pathetic Bitcoin was then if it crashed from 69K to 15K and the dollastablecoins was actually a better asset for them to hold than Bitcoin! 🤣) and so on.
Oh and if you're going to say "you just don't understand" or "you just don't get it". It's because there isn't a rational and convincing explanation for any of your beliefs.
Oh and please don't waste my time expecting me to read or listen to the views of the climate change denier and bitcoin maxi like Saifedean or any of the other Bitcoin pumpers and maxis like Michael Saylor, Matthew Kratter, Max Keiser, Anthony Pompliano, Cory Klippsten, Pete Mccormack, Robert Breedlove and others.
When you say these things it really sounds like you can't even properly explain or defend your views without saying "just read these books" or "watch these videos and podcasts". It sounds like you just blindly accepted someone else's views without any critical thought at all.
TLDR
To sum up my views:

• Bitcoin IS zero sum game/a greater fool asset.
  
• All realised profits in Bitcoin come from other investors/speculators
  
• Bitcoin has no use without greater fools
  
• The security model of Bitcoin itself is dependent on Greater Fools
  
• Bitcoin isn't money. You can call a horse a cat all you want, it isn't going to meow
  
• Bitcoin isn't a currency
  
• Bitcoin is volatile and speculative.
  
• Bitcoin isn't an inflation hedge or a store of value. It's a risk-on asset.
  
• Bitcoiners love to use really bad arguments like whataboutism and shitting on everything else to make Bitcoin look better
  
• Bitcoiners use extreme fringe cases about authoritarian regimes with capital controls, political dissidents, bank account freezes etc. to justify their headless ponzi assets existence.
  
• Bitcoiners are super culty.
  

I elaborated why I think this way in the post above.
Let me know your thoughts.

What does it mean to be a "Democrat" in the United States? The only criteria to become a Democrat is to merely vote in a Democratic primary or caucus. That's it. There's nothing about adhering to some party line.
The Democratic Party, and the Republican Party, care about three things:

1. How much money you have to spend.
2. How many voters you can get to vote for you in the primary & general elections
3. How much volunteer labor you can muster.

The Democratic Party, and essentially all parties and organizations, will be biased against the interests of the working class because the working class is the least able to volunteer and expend money on political campaigns. Volunteers will tend to be people who:

• Have their fundamental needs already fulfilled and are looking for some higher calling. This includes retirees and well paid professionals and the exceptionally ambitious (and if I'll be honest, people like me).
• People who participate in the political industry and have a professional interest in volunteering (oxymoron I suppose, but for example an engineer might also volunteer in an engineering society, which builds professional credibility to feed him more work). These are fundraisers, lawyers, lobbyists, door-knockers, campaign staff, etc.

Insofar as the Democratic Party has a bias against the working class, it just so happens that the working class is terrible at fundraising and rallying votes.
Moreover to come to the obvious reason why organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America are biased in favor of middle-class / professional-class values, well, the DSA is a volunteer organization, and volunteers usually skew against the working class.
In other words we have a correlation / causation confusion. The platform of the Democrats is a mere expression of power. The Party does not empower you. Instead, you need to bring your power to the Democratic Party if you want to influence it. The Democratic Party is merely a platform for elite competition of the powerful.
Typical criticisms in this sub against the Democratic Party are an admission of your own powerlessness, your inability to organize the masses to compete against the elite and the wealthy.
So should you vote for a Democrat, or a Republican? It depends. In the ideal, organizations - whether it be the DSA or labor unions, or SOMETHING needs to do the actual organization and power concentration. At a sufficient level of power they can then field a candidate for either the Democratic or Republican Party. And that's how US politics works. If you already have organized collective power, voting in a Democratic Primary is a merely an expression of power you already have. If you don't have collective organized power, voting in the Democratic Primary is virtue signalling (Yet is this virtue signalling bad? Virtue signalling is a way to demonstrate a behavior you'd like other people follow. To build collective power you'll probably have to start virtue signalling). The crux of the issue then isn't that the "Democrats are corrupt" (of course they are, as are most organizations). The crux of the issue is, "How the hell can we create working class power?" My only suggestion here is to stop doing the same damn thing over and over again and try something new, which is why I'm a big fan of sortition. Again and again, formerly working class organizations tend to get corrupted - power becomes concentrated into individuals as a vehicle for themselves rather than a vehicle for the working class.
Instead of voting, some people are waiting for I suppose an armed revolution. Well, if you can't even collectively organize to vote, you assuredly won't be able to organize to fight. Voting and fighting come hand-in-hand. It is not eitheor.
Instead of all this crap, I suppose you can also do nothing, which honestly isn't that bad of a thing either. There's no guarantee that working class organization will ever work out. I don't see a historical inevitability here. Alternatively if you do want to participate, in my opinion the goal is to organize to a sufficient level that you can meaningfully participation in elections.

Hoid. Cephandrius. Midius. What name are you using now? I have no idea.
It seems you were right. The TVA are not here. I thought you were, again, mistaken. But I also met dozens and dozens of personages like you did all who were so obviously not from Cosmere. I had placed them into specific cells and brought them to the Border and yet...TVA did not appear. Not a single agent of theirs.
Your universe is one of the very rare ones in which they did not interfere. Not at any point. Even they fear Shards, almost as much as they fear the Holy Ainur.
Yet both of us know that the Vessels are not the ones who killed Adonalsium - they merely picked up the Shards after he was killed. They killed Adonalsium: Kang's Variants. They did it under his orders.
The TVA exists to hold them back. And yet, they never came here. Who knows why? Maybe they are afraid, but I am not certain.
But the TVA is the last thing on my mind, Hoid. It is the Fused and Odium I worry about. I received your first letter.
Odium? You know, Rayse does not find that a fitting name. He merely borrowed it from his master - the True Odium. He gave Kangs the power to break Adonalsium and he gave them the means to banish Manwë, Varda and the other Holy Ones. Now, he is held back, and his Great Servant is held with him. But he can still touch the world to speak and continue his designs.
The other Shards...I will not call them holy, Hoid. As much as I loathe many of your choices, you were right not to pick one of the Sixteen up. It would have cost you your soul. What happened seems to have cost you just your sense, which is passable, of course. But none of them had turned to utter Shadow and Evil, not even Ruin. But Rayse swore an oath of loyalty to Morgoth, and he used his name to bring Humans to Roshar.
Odium is no Ainu, and neither was Adonalsium. Nonetheless, he is the closest, and he is the most powerful servant of the Enemy still free in some part of the physical world.
Roshar is a training ground for Cosmere...and yet, if he succeeds in his conquest, he will come to the door of TVA itself and release Morgoth.
But you tell me Sauron is free already - that you saw him speak with Odium. I do not know if that is possible, but if it is...do not worry Hoid. I am coming soon to see for myself. Hide. Hide as much as you can until I come.
I will see you soon, my friend.

 Uatu 

So I decided to play osu!lazer after like 2 weeks or so and something happened to it and I'm not sure what and why.
For some reason, it is struggling to go above 75fps, which is my monitor's refresh rate (75Hz). I've tried to change the FPS limiter ingame and it didn't do anything to it. I've also tried to change the game's priority in task manager, but in the Details section of it, I can't find the game.
I also noticed, that while my FPS is not going any higher than 75fps, my input latency is basically non-existant. Usually when my FPS is in the red numbers, my input goes higher, meaning something is slowing my PC. But in this current state, that does not seem to be the case.

Hoid. Cephandrius. Midius. What name are you using now? I have no idea.
It seems you were right. The TVA are not here. I thought you were, again, mistaken. But I also met dozens and dozens of personages like you did all who were so obviously not from Cosmere. I had placed them into specific cells and brought them to the Border and yet...TVA did not appear. Not a single agent of theirs.
Your universe is one of the very rare ones in which they did not interfere. Not at any point. Even they fear Shards, almost as much as they fear the Holy Ainur.
Yet both of us know that the Vessels are not the ones who killed Adonalsium - they merely picked up the Shards after he was killed. They killed Adonalsium: Kang's Variants. They did it under his orders.
The TVA exists to hold them back. And yet, they never came here. Who knows why? Maybe they are afraid, but I am not certain.
But the TVA is the last thing on my mind, Hoid. It is the Fused and Odium I worry about. I received your first letter.
Odium? You know, Rayse does not find that a fitting name. He merely borrowed it from his master - the True Odium. He gave Kangs the power to break Adonalsium and he gave them the means to banish Manwë, Varda and the other Holy Ones. Now, he is held back, and his Great Servant is held with him. But he can still touch the world to speak and continue his designs.
The other Shards...I will not call them holy, Hoid. As much as I loathe many of your choices, you were right not to pick one of the Sixteen up. It would have cost you your soul. What happened seems to have cost you just your sense, which is passable, of course. But none of them had turned to utter Shadow and Evil, not even Ruin. But Rayse swore an oath of loyalty to Morgoth, and he used his name to bring Humans to Roshar.
Odium is no Ainu, and neither was Adonalsium. Nonetheless, he is the closest, and he is the most powerful servant of the Enemy still free in some part of the physical world.
Roshar is a training ground for Cosmere...and yet, if he succeeds in his conquest, he will come to the door of TVA itself and release Morgoth.
But you tell me Sauron is free already - that you saw him speak with Odium. I do not know if that is possible, but if it is...do not worry Hoid. I am coming soon to see for myself. Hide. Hide as much as you can until I come.
I will see you soon, my friend.

 Uatu 

1: Crow didn't show up. They didn't break the tradition of the protagonist beating a 3000 atk monster in episodes 1 or 2, but didn't keep the tradition of him showing up in every odd number season post DM.
2: Noh Gil bo didn't return. Instead of working on the comedic YuGiOh, he went to animate episodes for the comedic Precure seasons. Granted, his animations in those shows are good, but if he could work on the comedic Precure, let him work for the comedy YuGiOh.
3: Rush Duels were made because Konami completely screwed up with the power creeping in YuGiOh. Sevens is Konami's fault.
4: There were no official subs. The subbing team did a good job, but good luck getting people who want the original version without 4KMedia's isms.
5: Yuga is the worst duel protagonist. His win record is 21 wins and 9 losses, not counting the 108 duels he won alongside Nail and Roa. Worse, his win record is 70%. That can get you through middle school, high school, college, but not being a good YuGiOh protagonist.
6: The video game didn't get updated for the states well.
7: It's too comedic and lighthearted like GX. And if you hated the tone shift of season 3, you'll hate it less.
8: They could've used the 20th anniversary to make a crossover between the other six series. They could've fixed the ending to Arc-V, give Yusaku more personality, give Tori something to do, erase Crow from existence, make Bastion prominent, and treat main Bakura like an actual character.
9: Ghost Girl and Ranze have the same voice actress and sadly, her VA's combined character roles have only ONE win and One DRAW to their name.
10: Gakuto should've had one win in the first 13 episodes. I get he's supposed to be the Tristan of the group, but it took 24 episodes until it felt like the writers actually cared about his dueling process.
11: It's called SEVENS when there's six letters in it's name. Take away the RANS in VRAINS and you have the roman numerals, 6. That makes more sense.
12: The women actually win duels in the second half and final season of the show. That's not the YuGiOh I grew up with and that's weird.
13: The Rush Duel game is still currently exclusive to Japan and Korea. How the hell are people over here going to enjoy the series when the card game isn't in the important country that matters! No wonder SEVENS and Rush Duels are a massive failure.....in America
14: Yuga losing so much makes no sense. How do you create the game, but still lose?! That's like if Pegasus lost a game in Duel Monsters, or if the developers of King of Fighters lost to Mexican fans and developers at their own game and had to create a busty wrestler inspired by the Rock. I feel like making a Pac Man analogy for some reason.
15: They brought back characters dueling on motorcycle-like vehicles again! We did it in Arc V, you gave Shark that weird cycle in Zexal, but you didn't do it in VRAINS where characters could customize avatars and boards, but they didn't duel on bikes there, but in SEVENS? F this show.
16: It is a little jarring to go from a series with little to no magic to then having Monster Reborn being a rare card that can steal people's memories.
17: I don't have a problem with the pigeon dueling, we had a pigeon in VRAINS, that's fine. But what packaging company sends a kid under the age of 11 to do a delivery while there's a snowstorm?
18: Ending 2 literally spoils the plot of the Rush Duel Robot breaking thanks to the restraints before the whole "beat us 6 to 6 or it gets destroyed arc." Sheesh, they didn't spoil the second half of VRAINS or their own season but now this?
19: Luke being an annoying piece of crap half the time is worth it when Tiger calls him out, especially if you hate how perfect his win record is, but considering she's part of the reason he is the way he is, it's kinda hard to not put the blame on her.
20: Asana's final duel should've been more impactful. Maybe if she fought one the Goha Siblings.
21: Same with Nail. Everyone was getting their own ceremonial duels. It makes sense it's his only friend, but at the same time, someone like the Goha Drone would work or President but the show needed someone at Goha evil enough for it to hit stronger. Nail needed another duel after 65. He barely got to use any new aces after season 1.
22: Luke getting convinced to betray his own friends for the Goha Siblings just by being baited and talked to somehow manages to work being in character but also extremely stupid at the same time!
23: It ripped off Buddyfight because both have a protagonist named Yuga. Just because one was animated by OLM and Xebec and the other by Bridge doesn't excuse the blatant plagiarism.
24: What is with Japan's minor obsession with having a female character under the age of 18 being really bad at cooking? Like I'm not saying I chuckled at an 11 year old pouring gunpower in a pot and two ninjas and their lord having to point out how bad it is, but it's such a weird gag.
25: No adult has won a duel the whole show. Way to attack your diehard fanbase! Kids shouldn't be allowed to get into YuGiOh anyway, they literally showed that with Yuga Goha becoming an obsessed psycho who wanted to make people more upset than when Mystic Mine wasn't banned.
26: There needed to be more details on Otes. Him being the final villain and wanting to destroy the dueling system because Konami...um...Goha made it so restrictive so he could rebuild it, fine. But was he related to the first Goha President who built the system, how does he have so many ties and ways to get around the city beyond his ties to Goha, did he know Asana's situation and Goha blackmailing her, just answers to those.
27: Some of the duels are so freaking stupid. Like in what normal YuGiOh season where two people would duel over what show to watch? That's about as stupid as a restaurant patron getting mad at the service, challenging the waiter to a duel, and losing from Tongue Twister!
28: I just can't get behind the unrealistic setting. I mean, really. A society run almost entirely by a single, all-encompassing megacorporation that controls the populous via proprietary technology, mass surveillance, and discriminatory AI? It's just not believable.
29: The show could've used 10 more episodes. Covid probably was the reason, but it still feels like there's stuff on the cutting room floor.
30: The tournament arc legitimately should've been better with more episodes. It didn't have to be 26 episodes like doubling it, but at least 6 or 7 more episodes could've allowed for more matchups before the finals.
31: Speaking of which, Romin vs Sushiko 2 could've been the new Yuzu vs Masumi. Shame. I dunno, after Arc-V, it honestly feels like the only people who get rematch duels are the protagonist, best friend or rival.
32: VRAINS ended early for this and there is absolutely no evidence to debunk this.
33: Every duel is only four turns, and whoever goes first loses. Has that changed throughout the series or any expectations, absolutely NOT!
34: This is just a children's card game show! If I wanted to watch a series about that, I'd watch videos of real people playing them in simulators! What happened to the dark, edgy and mature series and manga like card games on motorcycles, robot monkeys, a deck of cartoons, an ace monster card that's not allowed to hit female themed monsters all revolving around plots for revenge and taking over the world with a children's card game!
35: It's impossible to enjoy more than one YuGiOh series.
36: Luke can't tell the difference between Dragons and Wyrms...and neither can I!
37: These are some of the most unrealistic and ridiculous themely decks! Cleaning productions! Chairs! Concert demons! Excavations sites! Newspapers printers! Dian Keto but now they're Japanese gyarus?! What happened to less ridiculous decks and cards like gun dragons, the Ojamas, a living tongue monster, living Hamburger with fangs, tomatoes, corn, circus monsters, penguins, and cartoon monster!
That's it, happy April Fools, Long Live YuGiOh.

Link to the Campaign (Project Linus)

Indiegogo Campaign

Quick Specs

• Zigbee Connection <sup>Thread & Matter support in the roadmap</sup>
• Neutral Required
• Decora Style
• Extra Programmable Button
• mmWave Person Detection
• Smart Bulb Mode Supported
• HomeKit Compatible <sup>Requires Hubitat Hub or Home Assistant for now</sup>
• Expected to ship December 2023

Background

Hey everyone, Inovelli just launched a campaign on Indiegogo called "Project Linus" which is for a smart switch with a built-in mmWave sensor for person detection. This is largely based off their existing Blue Series switches which feature a Light Bar for dimming feedback and notifications, as well as a "Scene Button" that allows you to program the button do kick off automations or scenes.
The switch features a Zigbee radio that is the same chipset used for Thread and the company has Thread and Matter support in their roadmap for the product (reminder: companies promise support all the time and don't deliver, don't buy this yet if you need Matter or Thread capabilities). That out of the way, Thread and Matter support are being worked on and should be available as an over the air update either on release or shortly after.

About Inovelli

You probably haven't heard of them before since they don't sell many devices directly compatible with HomeKit. They're a small company that specializes in smart switches and got their start in smart plugs. Their largest customer bases to this point have been Home Assistant users and Smart Things users because of the ease of compatibility with Zigbee and ZWave devices.
The company is also very transparent and open about each of their projects and goals. Each project they work on is thoroughly and publicly documented in their forums on their website. They collaborate with their customers and give them real-time updates on what they're working on. Check it out if you get the chance!

Why Crowdfunding?

I'll defer to this post by the CEO explaining the decision to crowdfund this product on the forums I just mentioned above. He has guaranteed full reimbursement if there are issues or they can't ship a product and they've had a flawless track record in that area thus far.

Why Should I Care About These?

mmWave, Smart Bulb Mode, and the LED notification bar set these apart from any switch on the market today. mmWave provides true presence detection (unlike IR motion sensors) and this is one of the first smart switches to have this feature. Smart Bulb mode means this switch can control both dumb lights and smart lights (works great with Hue and Nanoleaf). The Notification Bar can notify you of updates or your own custom smart home events. It's full color and has multiple LEDs and provides a bunch of options.
They can also be added to HomeKit with the Hubitat Hub (or Home Assistant) and will work directly once the Matter update is available.

What Does Linus Have To Do With These?

He smartified his home a while back and was disappointed with many of the smart switch offerings on the market. He's backing this project as he likes Inovelli switches and wants person detection through mmWave.

Belle Landis is a 19 year old college student who has always had a special connection to the ocean. Growing up along the Gulf Coast of Florida, she learned to swim at an early age, developed a passion for sea life, and upon entering college, decided to pursue a career as a Marine Biologist. Amid the partying and self-exploration that most of her friends indulge in, Belle is focused and determined to become the best.
Everything changes when she's taken under the wing of a young, charismatic professor whose studying an oceanic secret long lost to history. One night, alone, Belle feels a strange force calling out to her, and to her surprise, wakes up the next morning, discovering she's transformed into a mermaid. What does this mean, and what will it mean for the future?
****
Thanks everyone for reading my prompt. This is a low fantasy story that takes place in the modern world. It will involve many elements from Greek Mythology as well as lore about merpeople. I'm looking for an 18+ male (or anyone willing to play a male character) to serve as Belle's companion in the adventure that will unfold. If you have ideas you want to try out, please feel free to let me know. I have an overall plot arc, idea, but want to build this narrative together.
I prefer to roleplay on discord, though I'll consider other platforms.

I've recently been doing a lot more research into power outages as I stock my tanks with expensive torches. With severe weather events and fires only increasing where I live, I think it's prudent to prepare for when the lights go out for extended periods or if I need to evacuate for a number of days. I'm writing this out in the hope that it can help others save their livestock in case the very probable event of power outages strikes you. The most important thing is to have a plan and strategy of what you're going to do.
FLOW
I run the latest Ecotech MP10s on my main tank with Nemo wide flow adapters, they're positioned near the waterline on opposite ends. If main pump fails or stops, the MP10s are on Ecotech battery backup systems and will keep gas exchange going. You want to make sure your powerheads are positioned in such a way that if the power goes out, they can keep surface agitation vigorous. I've replaced the lead acid batteries with LiFePo4 (Lithium Phosphate) which will give them a few days of run time. There are plenty of options and guides here. IMO, Flow is the most important thing to keep running: bacterial action for the nitrate cycle, waste removal for coral, and oxygen exchange for fish cannot happen without flow. Lack of flow will kill a tank in a few hours.
TEMPERATURE
If the ambient temperature for where you live goes below 72F or above 80F at any point during the day or night, you need some sort of method for temperature control.
Cooling is a lot easier, as you can simply run fans on your tank. I do not recommend running chillers in an extended outage as they consume refrigerator amounts of power. An Inkbird temperature controller or similar is a fantastic way to temperature control your tank. I have my heaters and fans on tanks without an Apex. Keeping a tank cool with an inkbird and fans is very easy and low power, just plug into a backup power source and you can probably go days. (power sources at bottom)
Heating is a lot harder because no matter what, it's a lot of power or manual labor. If you live where it's very cold and the power is out, you can try wrapping your tank in a heat reflecting blanket to try to insulate and retain as much heat in the tank as possible. If you have a gas stove, a propane camping stove, etc you can also boil water, put it in a Nalgene or other heat compatible bottle and float it in the tank to act as a heating source. You will constantly have to cycle through bottles until the power is back. I wouldn't recommend it with ziplock bags or the sort as they will probably melt or release who knows what. The best option is to keep your heating going through one of the backup power sources. One thing to note, I have noticed that the newest Neotherm Pros and AquaEl heaters use a different possibly more efficient heating strategy. They don't go full blast to their power ratings but scale up and down in wattage depending on the demands of the tank. This may be a power saver.
POWER SOURCES
Aquarium specific batteries
Icecap (Coralbox) and Ecotech all offer ancient lead acid battery sources. These can last from a few hours to a day or two as the pumps go into low power mode automatically. You're much better off replacing the lead acid battery with a LiFePo4 battery as it has much higher energy density and is very tolerant of several deep cycles and service life longevity.
Generator
If you have a whole house generator running off natural gas piped into your home, it must be nice being God's favorite. If you're like the rest of us, I would invest in a propane or dual fuel generator because propane doesn't go bad nor do you have to do fuel shut off procedures and stabilize your gas. It's also very easy to find propane tanks pretty much anywhere. Since this is typically for emergency use, I would go with the one where you have to think about it the least. The newest generators are relatively quiet but if you have jerk face HOAs like I do, they might fine you for use and harass you about it. You might want to claim you need it for medical eqpt such as dialysis, CPAP machines, medical monitoring eqpt, etc. If they demand proof, cite HIPA or get kidney disease or get your fish labeled as specially trained service fish. I'm not a lawyer though. You can also build noise cancelling housings for a generator, just make sure whatever your do, don't let the carbon monoxide get into your dwelling, at least have an alarm. If you can't have a personal use small generator (apt/condo) then I would skip to high capacity batteries.
Computer UPS
Almost useless, even the biggest most expensive systems still use lead acid and will last you an hour to a couple hours. Some people do replace the batteries with LifePo batteries but it does require careful wiring and resoldering. If you already know how to do this, you don't need this guide, I hope you don't set your house on fire.
High Capacity LifePo4 Batteries (Solar Generators)
I cannot stress enough that if you go this route, you need to go with Lithium Iron Phosphate and not the much more common Lithium Cobalt Manganese chemistries. LiFePo4 batteries are slightly more expensive but they'll last you much longer in terms of service life and are generally more tolerant of abuse. They're also less likely to go critical and start a nearly un-extinguishable fire in your house. Personally, I have EcoFlow River 2 and Delta 2 batteries permanently hooked up to my tanks but I make sure to drain the batteries once a month to reset the BMS (battery management system) so that it keeps their state of charge accurate. All batteries are prone to drifting calibrations unless you reset the BMS in this way. For a 50 gallon tank, I would start with two 500wh rating batteries. If you only hook up heating/fans/flow to them, it should keep you going for at least half a day unless your heating demands are very high. You can charge these batteries in your car if you don't have a generator so keep 2 per tank so you can swap them out. Charging in the car is limited to around ~100w so make sure your socket and car allows for that. The more batteries the better and if you live somewhere with a lot of sunlight, you can get 200w panels online for less than $200 each and they hook in directly to the batteries. There are also extensive DIY battery bank systems you can build and many YT guides on how to get that done.
Personally, I use the batteries and have a generator that will recharge the battteries as needed. This gives me several hours to get the generator up and I do not need to constantly run the generator which saves on gas and noise. The batteries charge very fast. If you have enough battery capacity, you can also just run solar panels to charge during the day and the batteries can last through the night.
EVACUATION
If you have to evacuate by car due to a wild fire, tornado, riots, etc and want to save your precious corals or fish, one method I've been thinking of works pretty well that I used to move states. Get as many five gallon buckets as you need from homedepot/lowes along with their lids. Drill a small air hole in the lids. Buy a USB powered air pump to keep the buckets oxygenated and provide some minimal amounts of flow. It would be preferable to have some live rock or bacteria media in there if you have fish. Keep the car's internal temperature around 75 or 78. Make sure to plug the USB into a high capacity power bank and plug that into car power. If you have delicate coral, I would try to protect the corals with cut out plastic cups like when coral shippers sent you coral. If you have to stay at a friend's or a hotel for several days, just pick up a cheap temporary tank at Petco or a rigid container at Homedepot and make sure you bringa pump and heater to keep things alive.
Whatever you do though, have a plan and be prepared with the items you need so you're not struggling to find things when the worst happens and the bomb timer starts for your livestock. If you're super strapped for cash, at a minimum, I would invest in:

• Nalgene bottle
• camping stove + fuel
• USB powered aiwater pump and power bank

That'll at least keep a tank sort of alive for a while.