A prominent member of this community recommended I read The Recorded Sayings of Zhaozhou, specifically the Green translation. So I did. (And I really liked it) But I also read the foreword, the introduction and the biography, and I have some questions. I hope it will be clear that I’m asking these questions in good faith, because they certainly are on topic, but concern some of the more controversial subjects discussed on this sub. (I also tried to do some searches to see if these particular questions, about this particular translation and translator have already been asked)
The foreword is written by a guy named Keido Fukushima, evidently James Green’s Zen teacher in Japan. In this foreword, Mr. Fukushima compliments Mr. Green on his zazen practice. The intro, written by Green, starts with a short biography of the Buddha, and then discusses the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. For the next few paragraphs after, I kept waiting for Mr. Green to say these things conflict with Zen, but he doesn’t. There also isn’t any mention of the Four Statements. He mentions Dogen, though. Not glowingly. He just matter-of-factly calls him a Japanese Zen pilgrim, along with a guy named Eisai. All these things seemed to coalesce, however, with this statement from Mr. Green:
”Thus, it was the practice of Ch’an as it was conducted in the temples of the twelfth century Song dynasty that was the model [Dogen and Eisai] brought back and that is preserved in monastic Zen practice in Japan to this day. This practice basically consists in a simple monastic life, long hours of meditation, personal dialogues with the master and public lectures given by the master.“ Emphasis mine.
And, then of course the biography contains a story where two kings came to see Zhaozhou and he was sitting in meditation when they arrived.
So. As far as the doctrinal stuff, the 4NT and 8NP vs. the Four Statements, I understand there has been an explosion of research in the last thirty years, and it looks like this translation was published in 1998, but did anyone get a chance to tell Mr. Fukushima that these things are not compatible, that Zen is not Buddhism? Did anyone tell Mr. Green? More to the point, what are we supposed to make of James Green and his translation? Is it as simple as ‘he was a good translator, but not a great historian of Zen‘? What are we supposed to make of Mr. Fukushima? A perpetuator of a fraud who nevertheless supplied his students with at least one authentic text?
As far as the meditation business, did Mr. Green engage in a cult practice, while Zhaozhou didn’t? Was that Song dynasty model a lie because it came from Dogen?
Incidentally, I am interested in more information about James Green. I couldn’t find much more than a single sentence bio on Shambala’s website. (Along with a photo)

Hi bartenders subreddit! My girlfriend recently started bartending a couple months ago in 2023 and we were hoping to get any information / help / links or resources, as far as the best routes for taxes and recording tips would be. She’s also looking to buy a car later this year and I know depending on how/where she purchases - there may be a proof of income required and the paystubs showing just hourly wages (and potentially CC tips) may not suffice on its own.
Essentially, what would be the best way for us to know how much to save , report , etc so that she doesn’t get hit with a hefty tax bill next year when she files? Difference in CC vs Cash tips? Or a brief explanation of how bars report vs their employees?
Any assistance/suggestions or links to resources I can review to help her would be greatly appreciated.

Hi bartenders subreddit! My girlfriend recently started bartending a couple months ago in 2023 and we were hoping to get any information / help / links or resources, as far as the best routes for taxes and recording tips would be. She’s also looking to buy a car later this year and I know depending on how/where she purchases - there may be a proof of income required and the paystubs showing just hourly wages (and potentially CC tips) may not suffice on its own.
Essentially, what would be the best way for us to know how much to save , report , etc so that she doesn’t get hit with a hefty tax bill next year when she files? Difference in CC vs Cash tips? Or a brief explanation of how bars report vs their employees?
Any assistance/suggestions or links to resources I can review to help her would be greatly appreciated.

Hi bartenders subreddit! My girlfriend recently started bartending a couple months ago in 2023 and we were hoping to get any information / help / links or resources, as far as the best routes for taxes and recording tips would be. She’s also looking to buy a car later this year and I know depending on how/where she purchases - there may be a proof of income required and the paystubs showing just hourly wages (and potentially CC tips) may not suffice on its own.
Essentially, what would be the best way for us to know how much to save , report , etc so that she doesn’t get hit with a hefty tax bill next year when she files? Difference in CC vs Cash tips? Or a brief explanation of how bars report vs their employees?
Any assistance/suggestions or links to resources I can review to help her would be greatly appreciated.

1* [904] Philadelphia Phillies (Matt Strahm) vs. Washington Nationals (MacKenzie Gore) ~ Under 8.5 -104
​
2* [923] Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 +145 (Jose Berrios) vs New York Mets (Tylor Megill)
2* [929] New York Yankees -1.5 +145 (Gerrit Cole) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (Michael Grove)
​
🚨🚨🚨 TRIPLE DIME ALERT 🚨🚨🚨
3* [902] St. Louis Cardinals (Jordan Montgomery) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (Luis Ortiz) ~ Under 9 +100
3* [930] New York Yankees (Gerrit Cole) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (Michael Grove) ~ Under 9 -110
​
MLB YTD Records
Overall: 110-125 (46.8%) +0.24
MTD: 2-8 (20%) -12.4
L/7 Days: 16-19 (45.7%) +1.83
Y/Day: 2-6 (25%) -9.3
Avg Odds Risked / Pick: -103
​
All Sports YTD Records
Overall: 411-431 (48.8%) +34.31
MTD: 2-8 (20%) -12.4
L/30 Days: 64-70 (47.8%) +12.59
L/7 Days: 16-20 (44.4%) -0.17
Y/Day: 2-6 (25%) -9.3
Avg Odds Risked / Pick: -113

A little background I am a 46 year old AFAB. I have a family history of multiple great aunts and uncles on paternal mothers side with abdominal aneurysms and dissection. My father passed away at 58 from a dissection or rupture after multiple surgeries to repair asending aorta, root, arch, and desending aorta which began about 45/46. In all he dissected 3 times with last being fatal. I was referred by my PCP for genetic testing for connective tissue disorder (I have long fingers, long toes, 2 detached retinas, long arm spam, hypermobile, positive thumb and wrist sign, multiple ENT issues, brain surgery for a cholestoma, slightly protruding chest bone, wide neck aneurysm in internal carotid artery, and probably more). In October 2022 at testing I was diagnosed with a 3.8 asending aortic dilation which grew over next 5 or months to 4.1 or 4.3 depending on test used (MRI, gated CT, echo). Prior echos were normal most recent 2021. My genetic test was positive for a vus of MYLK gene which is being treated as pathogenic due to family history and current physical presentation. After speaking with several cardiologists and surgeons who said to follow up in a year, no restrictions and put on wrong blood pressure medication that is linked to aneurysms growing, I was connected to knowledgeable providers through the marfan foundation and received over 3 opinions and subsequently had my open heart valve sparing surgery to repair my aneurysm 8 weeks ago where they found a bulging area of 4.6. It's important to note that I do have a general ctd but they have not given me a diagnosis because my features do not fit into any one category. This Week my 2 youngest kids (8 and 11) went for their testing and my 8 year old has a mild dilation of 2.5 with a z score of 3.2. She was not given any restrictions and not put on any medication, genetic cardiologist wanted to see her in 1 year but I requested 6 months for follow up echo. Genetic testing was done as well and pending. She was also born with heart murmur and umbilical hernia, she was positive on thumb and wrist signs (doctors note said negative), she also complains of chest pains with exertion and dizziness (doctors note again said she denied this). In my own support groups it seems that standard of care is to put kids with other ctd's on medication to slow growth of aorta and physical (my daughter plays flag football and does gymnastics (pre team). My daughter is also extremely hypermobile and can turn one leg backwards and walk in addition to some other "tricks". Her genetic counselor emailed back when I expressed some concerns stating they just don't know enough about this gene and there are conflicting reports/research on the efficacy regarding use of medication with this gene and they want to wait until results come back. It's important to note they didn't fully evaluate her physically for ctd only listened to her heart and had her do thumb and wrist sign. I am extremely anxious due to family history and my own medical issues. Her current genetic cardiologist doesn't seemed concerned or knowledgeable and her records reflect this. Seeking advice and/or recommendations for providers specializing in ctd and aortic dilations in children and knowledge of this mylk gene. I am on some Facebook support groups for myself and it seems that many people with this gene are also given an EDS diagnosis, mylk is frequently a vus, fast growing aneurysms and dissections from asending aorta into abdomen at small dilations. Some research from Dr Milewicwz suggests this gene should be operated on based on age and family history vs size and it appears that children are at lower risk, however, my surgeron operated on a young person who dissected. Any info that can be provided is GREATLY appreciated.

Hey Everyone
I committed to bi-monthly updates on my YouTube journey, so here we are with an update for months 2 & 3.
If you missed my first post explaining why I’m growing YouTube channels, how I’m going about it, and so on – you can find that post here.
Excuses first; I still haven’t broken a sweat yet and I’m only working on these channels a few hours a week.
That said, I think I made some decent progress last month and I intend on ramping up the time and effort I’m putting into these channels to try and get one or both monetized in the next two months!

Overview of Stats for Both Channels

Channel 1

	#videos	#shorts	#views	#subs	#Watch time (hrs)
February	9	1	299	14	3.5
March	21	1	3,513	39	110
April	18	19	20,617	324	599
May	33	9	6,333	165	147
Totals	81	30	30,762	542	859

Channel 2

	#videos	#shorts	#views	#subs	#Watch time (hrs)
March	6	3	2,298	42	75
April	3	0	3,442	40	119
May	5	4	13,187	60	375
Totals	14	7	18,927	142	569

Channel 1 – What Happened

This is the channel I’m creating videos from stock footage for, so I can make videos anytime without leaving my house.
I actually recorded all of May’s videos in April and scheduled them to be released each day and took the whole of May off.
These daily videos were just ‘thought of the day for X May 2023’ style videos for my niche. They were only a couple of minutes long and took about 10 minutes each to make.
I wanted to test this out because I see a lot of channels that only do these types of videos that are doing well.
I gained a decent amount of views and subs for the effort. But I don’t think I’ll do any more of these, I want to focus on Q&A type videos involving research and providing more value.
I’m happy to have passed 500 subs, half were there in that respect. View time is lagging behind, but I’m sure that’ll catch up as I gain more momentum with subs.

Channel 2 – What Happened

This is the channel where I go out and film stuff in person, so the content creation is a lot slower.
I’m having a blast with this channel. I went out and visited some interesting places across the UK and met some crazy people over the last two months – it’s nice to be away from the keyboard.
I did a news media-style video towards the end of the month covering an event that has decent worldwide coverage, and that accounted for most of the views over the last two months.
I’m only planning on releasing one video a week for this channel and going for the slow burn. I have some plans to do more investigative journalism types of videos as well, time allowing.
I posted the shorts from this channel on TikTok and they’re doing a lot better on that platform.
One video has almost 500k views, so who knows, I might have to switch my focus to TikTok down the line.

Feedback

I want to add that overall, the feedback I've been getting on my videos has been great.
There are always haters, the kind of people who are never happy and nothing is going to change their minds.
But the retention on my videos is decent, I get tonnes of awesome comments, and YT analytics says my likes vs dislikes channel averages are 97.8% and 96.6% respectively, which is pretty good considering someone seems to always downvote my videos and I do touch on slightly controversial topics.

The Next Two Months…

I really want to step up the video production over the next two months, particularly on channel 1.
I’m going to set myself the tentative goal of 20 long-form videos per month, so it’s on me to make that happen.
As always, I apprecaite all the support and encouragement in this sub.
I hope I can inspire someone, anyone, to start something or push that little bit harder - it's reading posts like these that helped me along the way.
Anywho, all comments and feedback is welcome, if you're doing something similar, let's share notes!

Bet Record: 19-18 Individual Picks: 20-20

Yesterdays picks 02/06/2023

NY Liberty Vs. Chicago Sky @6pm

Chicago Sky +9.5 ✅ FINAL: 77-76 NY
NY/CHI OVER 158.5 ❌ TOTAL: 153
Breanna Stewart 30+ PTS (.5 u) ❌ TOTAL: 19 PTS
Kahleah Copper U15.5❌ TOTAL: 20 PTS

Dallas Wings Vs. Washington Mystics @7pm

Dallas Wings +7.5 ✅ FINAL: 75-74 WAS
DAL/WAS UNDER 166.5 ✅ TOTAL: 149

Las Vegas Aces Vs. Atlanta Dream @8pm

Atlanta Dream +11.5✅ FINAL: 92-87 LV
LV/ATL OVER 172.5 ✅ TOTAL: 179

Los Angeles Sparks Vs. Phoenix Mercury @10pm

LA Sparks ML ✅ FINAL: 99-93 LA
LA/PHX OVER 162.5 ✅ Total: 192
Solid night last night let’s see if we can do 2 good days in a row.

Todays Picks 03/06/2023

Minnesota Lynx Vs. Washington Mystics @7PM

Minnesota Lynx +8.5 FD odds -104
MIN/WAS OVER 162.5 FD odds -110
Minnesota Lynx ML FD odds +340
Napheesa Collier O19.5 PTS FD odds -113

Seattle Storm Vs. LA Sparks @10PM

Seattle Storm +5.5 FD odds -110
SEA/LA UNDER 166.5 FD odds -108
Ezi Magbegor O7.5 REB FD odds -108 Last season: 5.6 AVG, Career 4.4
Jordin Canada U4.5 AST FD odds +114 Last season 5.5 AVG, Career 4.4 AVG
Minnesota is due for a W an 0-6 record is not a good representation of their capabilities. They’ve kept games within 5-10PTS in all 6 losses against better teams than Washington. Betting the Moneyline because the only win they have this season has been against the Mystics in the pre season. Hurts to do it but we’re betting hard against Washington tonight, any other day, Go Mystics!
BOL to anyone tailing, let’s have a great weekend!

"Be excellent to each other... and party on dudes!"

He is Bill S. Preston, Esq.! And he is Ted "Theodore" Logan! And together, they are Wyld Stallyns!
To everyone else in late-80s/early-90s San Dimas, California, Wyld Stallyns may look like the impossible dream of two slackers with no skill in anything else. But in truth, the music of Wyld Stallyns is so bodacious, so non-heinous, so excellent that it brings about an era of prosperity, both across the earth and to the stars beyond, and technological advancement so advanced that even time can be accessed as freely as a 10-digit phone number from the nearest payphone. Because of this, agents from the future utopia have sent back a time-travelling phone booth as well as information about the future to make sure that Bill and Ted are able to continue having most excellent adventures and fulfill the destiny of Wyld Stallyns.

Key

Movies:
^EA = Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
^BJ = Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
^FtM - Bill & Ted Face the Music
Shows:
^CSxEy = Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (DiC Animated Series); Season X Episode Y
^LAEx = Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (Fox Live Action Series); Episode X
Comics:
^M#X = Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book (Marvel Comics) Issue #X
^BVx#y = Boom! Studios Comics; Volume X, Issue #Y

Vol. 1 = Bill & Ted's Triumphant Return
Vol. 2 = Bill & Ted Go To Hell
Vol. 3 = Bill & Ted Save the Universe
BV1#xS = Boom! Studios Comics; Side Story

^DH#X = Dark Horse Comics (Face the Music Compliant) Issue #X
Games:
^AL = Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (Atari Lynx)
^NES = Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure (NES)
^WS = Wyld Stallyns (Mobile Game)
Live Show:
^EHAyy = Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure; 19YY/20YY

Bill and Ted

Strength

• Twist around several amps while running as a blur. ^CS1E7
  
• Run straight through several tentpoles. ^CS1E7
  
• Hold themselves against the winds created by a giant monster that toss around buses and tanks. ^CS2E5
  
• Push around large stone slabs. ^AL
  
• A version of Bill and Ted from a bad future become super jacked and help curbstomp a robot. ^FtM
  
• [Limitation] Struggle to do push-ups. ^BJ
  

Speed/Agility

• Dodge a stone discus launched hard enough to embed into a marble pillar, and a falling chandelier. ^CS1E2
  
• Dodge around weapons swung by Roman gladiators. ^CS1E3
  
• Dodge a speeding horse and a flying coffin. ^CS1E9
  
• Able to dodge a frog mid-jump. ^CS1E11
  
• Run off fast enough to kick up a trail of dust. ^CS2E1
  
• Intercept a cannon shot. ^CS2E1
  
• Dodge a cannon shot just before it hits. ^CS2E3
  
• As babies, able to run off hidden behind a cloud of baby powder. ^CS2E7
  
• Duck underneath a swinging pendulum. ^AL
  
• Very good at jumping really high. ^NES
  
• Dodge a booth as it falls from time jump. ^LAE2
  
• Disguise themselves as a doctor and a cadaver in the time it takes for a woman to leave a room. ^LAE3
  
• Scale up the snout of a large, metal dragon. ^BJ
  
• Attempt and almost succeed at intercepting a bullet, moving a good distance in the time it takes to go from a gun to a person feet away. ^EHA08
  
• Outrun several species of dinosaur. ^M#2
  
  • Outrun a T-Rex running fast enough to kick up large rocks in its wake. ^BV1#3S
• Dodge a superhero sent flying hard enough to leave a comet trail behind him. ^M#10
  
• Dodge around machine gun fire. ^M#11
  
  • Again. ^BV1#5
• Able to see the two drivers in a high speed chase. ^BV1#2S
  
• Hit a button that causes the spaceship they're in to lurch forward fast enough to send everyone inside tumbling, then run off before anyone else can catch their bearings. ^BV3#1
  

Durability

• Get tossed across a bar, their heads smashing through a thin wood wall. ^EA
  
• Fall from a second floor balcony into some bushes and walk it off. ^FtM
  
• Has Death thrown at them bodily and get back up. ^DH#3
  
• Crushed under a mountain of falling china. ^CS1E1
  
• Are sent flying back by their amplifier's exploding to little ill effect. ^CS1E1
  
• Have a stove dropped on their heads. ^CS1E2
  
• Launched through a window and fall a story down into a stone fountain. ^CS1E2
  
• Fall from the top of a three-story building into some bushes. ^CS1E4
  
• Get slammed into a brick wall hard enough to indent. ^CS1E7
  
• Get launched into the air by their inflatable shoes and then fall back down. ^CS1E9
  
• Get kicked out of a stadium hard enough to send them flying, toppling a food cart. ^CS1E9
  
• Get blasted high into the air by a jet of water strong enough to blow away a stone statue, then land in a river. ^AL
  
• Get blasted back by the explosion from this huge gun. ^M#8
  
• Punch themselves. ^M#11
  
• Get zapped in a clash between Darth Vader and Gandalf and walk it off. ^EHA02
  
• Fall down a trap door a dozen feet and get up fine. ^BV3#1
  
• Hit a button that causes the spaceship they're in to lurch forward fast enough to send everyone inside tumbling, then run off before anyone else can catch their bearings. ^BV3#1
  
• Take hits from the Death Quills of Koloko IV, the Lightning Web, the Fire Bones of Kykartian Dragodon, the Cyberwasps of the Robot Zoo Planet, and the Lavaspin of Sector 487. ^BV3#2
  
• Roll into a snowball then crash into a building hard enough to demolish it. ^DH#3
  
• [Limitation] A long fall from the top of this cliff is enough to instantly kill them. ^BJ
  

Skill

• Easily bat in a baseball game one-handed while focusing on other things. Ted even throws the bat so that it spins hard enough to hit the ball without him holding it. ^CS2E3
  
• Jump from an upper banister and swing down on ropes, knocking out two guys and stealing their weapons in the process. ^LAE6
  
• Briefly hold their own in a duel, despite neither having any dueling experience. ^M#1
  

Intelligence
Yes, really.

• Can comprehend and utilize stable time loops. ^EA
  
  • Leave a recording device hidden in the corner of a room with a timer to use as a distraction. ^EA
  • Leave a typed message for themselves at a printer with instructions to duck at just the perfect time. ^EA
  • Sets up a trash can to fall at the right time to trap Ted's father. ^EA
  • Outwit De Nomolos, setting up not only a sandbag and cage to fall at just the right time and place to disarm and trap him, but also set up a key for the cage and fake gun to trick him into believing that he would win the encounter. ^BJ
  • When they don't have access to a booth, they go back in time to ask Station to build one so that he's done in time for them to go back and ask. ^BV1#1
  • Loosen a chandelier just so that it falls on Vlad the Impaler's head while he's cornered them. ^BV3#1
• When they're being pursued by versions of them from a bad future, who remember everything they're about to do, they do something they can't possibly remember doing to escape. ^FtM
  
• Able to somewhat fix the booth's broken antennae with some fudge cans and a large wad of chewed gum. ^EA
  
  • Able to somewhat fix the booth's broken antennae with a magazine and a shoelace. ^LAE1
  • Able to more or less fix the booth's broken numpad by copying what they remember Station doing to fix it. ^BV1#3S
• Survive a long fall from within the booth by jumping at the last second. ^CS1E8
  
• Rig up a lever to launch Dracula out of the booth and onto a bed. ^CS1E9
  
• Make functional guitars out of laundry and string. ^CS1E12
  
• Make a castle display out of water sealant cans and boxes. ^LAE2
  
• Rewire a jukebox to play music from a walkman. ^LAE5
  
• Their advice helps their music teacher move on from heartbreak and live peacefully where before she was bitter and angry at everyone. ^LAE7
  
• Outwit Einstein, tricking him into delivering his speech about the Theory of Relativity instead of his bad stand up routine. ^LAE8
  
• Able to escape from Death with a Melvin. ^BJ
  
• Trick Evil Robot Bill and Ted into thinking they're the real good Bill and Ted. ^M#7
  
• Escape from a future prison by starting a fire to set off the fire alarm. ^M#8
  
• Impress Socrates with their philosophizing. ^EA
  
• Are able to convince Hyper-World, a planet who's entire society is predicated on comic book violence, to stop fighting... for a few seconds. ^M#10
  

Rockitude
Skill

• Wyld Stallyns' music eventually becomes good enough that it ushers in interplanetary peace. ^EA
  
  • Their music apparently brings about post-scarcity, or at least post-the need for money. ^CS1E12 ...NOT! ^M#8
  • Post-training and with full band backing, a televized broadcast of their performance is able to cause people of multiple different cultures around the world to jam. The newspapers of the following years also state that their touring schedule causes crops to grow in the American midwest and peace to come to the Middle East, that rumors of their split cause the stock market to plummet and when those rumors are disproven the stock market surges. ^BJ
• Seduce a pair of medieval babes with some off the cuff lyrics. ^EA
  
• Jam with Little Richard and a young Mozart. ^CS1E2
  
• Rock with Angus Young. ^EHA01
  
• Shred with James Hetfield. ^EHA06
  
• Tear it up with Fall Out Boy. ^EHA13
  
• Demolish with Axl Rose and Slash. ^EHA14
  
• Fuck it up with Kurt Kobain. ^EHA15
  
• Play the guitar very well with Freddy Mercury. ^EHA17
  
• Play a pocket organ well enough that the surrounding Roman guards are too busy dancing to notice them. ^AL
  
• Can play basically any instrument placed in front of them. ^FtM
  
• Calm an agitated baby dinosaur. ^BV1#3S
  
• Able to build guitars out of random debris in a gladiatorial death pit in a matter of seconds, then play well enough to pacify a rampaging alien monster who is also the most esteemed music critic in the galaxy. ^BV3#3
  
• Able to rouse a crowd of people from a society so downtrodden that the ability to smile has atrophied out of the gene pool. ^BV1#5
  
  • Writing one song is enough to uproot the entirety of said society and motivate Death to bring them back after dying even though he had lost the ability to do so. ^BV1#6
• Even God and Satan are fans. ^BV2#4
  
• Alien cultures that don't even speak English and who's entire cultures are predicated around war are brought to peace by hearing their music. ^BV3#1
  

Power

• Consistently blow out their amps while playing. ^EA
  
  • Blow out an amp and cause it to catch fire. ^LAE1
• Defeather a bird. ^CS1E1
  
• Shatter a porcelain cup. ^CS1E1
  
• Knock dozens of objects off of a nearby shelf and shatter windows. ^CS1E7
  
• A single resonant note is enough to knock out the Black Knight. ^CS1E7
  
• Even when hooked up to a boombox, are able to blow away people and tables. ^CS2E5
  
• After Bill rewires the amp, it causes Ted's guitar to melt through the floor. ^CS2E7
  
• After Station alters the amps a little, cause any avalanche. ^DH#4
  
• Destroy robots with their riffs alone. ^WS
  

Ghost Bill and Ted

• People can pass right through them, though it causes some unnerving (though not totally unpleasant) sensations. ^BJ
  
• Can possess the bodies of the living. ^BJ
  

Other

• Build the Great Wall of China in a couple days. Although not particularly well. ^CS1E1
  
  • They arrive in China on Saturday and have finished and leave before Monday. ^CS1E1
• Summon rain with an Incan rain dance. ^CS1E3
  
• Play a single player game co-op and one-handed. ^CS2E7
  
• Are able to beat Death at Battleship, Clue, Electronic Football, and Twister. ^BJ
  
  • And Monopoly. ^M#5
  • And Rock, Paper, Scissors. ^EHA17
• Can fly after being zapped by the F-Ray, which only convinces the brain that it is capable of flying, thus allowing it to fly. ^M#10
  
• Spend a week without sleeping and only eating snack foods trying to devise a plan to save Abraham Lincoln. ^M#11
  
• Are temporarily given God's divine enlightenment, able to see everything past and future, and on a micro and macro scale. ^BV2#4
  
• Surf on a black hole. ^BV3#3 They're obviously going through some form of spaghettification, but also given the size of the black hole, the audience, and the official helping them do it, it's likely that this black hole has been altered to be safe to surf.
  
• Have sex. ^BV1#1
  
• Do drugs. ^EHA00
  

Bill

Strength

• Knocks over the Liberty Bell with an elbow. ^CS1E5 The Liberty Bell weighs over 2000 lbs.
  
• Easily pitches and bats cannon balls that Ted had difficulty handling. ^CS1E9
  
• Knocks Ted into the air with an accidental headbutt. ^CS1E9
  
• Floors Monomonop with a yo-yo. ^M#8
  

Speed/Agility

• Pulls Ted out of the way of a flail. ^CS1E3
  
• Snatches a flying chip bag out of the air. ^CS2E2
  
• Bats a baseball pitched hard enough to leave a trail of flames. ^CS2E3
  
• Escapes from being grappled by swinging on a noose while the floor is dropped from under him. ^EHA92
  
• Ducks a bullet at close range. ^EHA08
  

Durability

• Takes a punch from Evil Robot Bill. ^M#7
  
• Takes a punch from Ronda Rousey. ^EHA16
  

Skill

• Spars with Joan of Arc. ^EA

Other

• Strong poker face. ^EA
  
• Folds a paper hat into a to-go box. ^CS1E1
  
• Rewires an amp which causes it to melt Ted's guitar through the floor. ^CS2E7
  
• Beats up the Invisible Woman using dark force powers gained as Darth Bogus. ^EHA05
  
  • Force chokes a man to the ground in an instant. ^EHA05
• Save nearly 70 people from being used as a virgin sacrifice. ^EHA13
  

Ted

Strength

• Knocks out a man in a leather helm with one strike. ^EA
  
• Accidentally sends Marco Polo flying with the swing of a broom. ^CS1E1
  
• Flicks a paper football hard enough to knock an apple into the air. ^CS1E2
  
• Breaks a wooden plank off on the T-800 Terminator, then knocks him into a well using a skateboard. ^EHA92
  

Speed/Agility

• Takes a tumble down the stairs hard enough to knock him out of his metalplate suit and somehow hides before anyone notices. ^EA
  
• Flip jumps to the top of the booth. ^CS1E5
  
• Dodges a swipe from behind from Vlad the Impaler. ^BV3#1
  

Durability

• Takes a tumble down the stairs hard enough to knock him out of his metalplate suit. ^EA
  
• Takes a headbutt to the chin that knocks him off of his feet and into the air. ^CS1E9
  
• Takes a full punch to the gut from Officer T. J. Hooker and brushes it off. ^EHA98
  
• Gets tackled to the ground and waled on by General Thade. ^EHA01
  
• Doesn't seem bothered touching a lightsaber with his bare skin. ^EHA05
  
• Gets smashed over the head with a guitar hard enough to crack it in half. ^BV1#4
  
• Thrown across the room onto the coffee table and is back on his feet shortly. ^BV2#1
  

Skill

• Flicks a paper football in such a way so that it flies around and knocks an apple off of Bill's head from the side. ^CS1E2
  
• Lassos the Black Knight while he's riding a horse full speed. But then forgets to keep a hold on the other end of the rope. ^CS1E7
  
• Briefly holds his own against an Italian fencer. ^LAE6
  

Other

• Reads the time and place text. ^CS1E1
  
• Starts a fire by rubbing George Washington's wooden teeth. ^M#8
  
• In a bad future where Ted was sent to military academy, he was able to double bust a corrupt cop by posing as a drug dealer. ^LAE4
  
• Kicks the Sith out of Darth Bogus. ^EHA05
  
• Gets with Taylor Swift. ^EHA13
  

Good Robot Bill and Ted

Robots created by the most brilliant mind in the universe, Station, to combat the powerful Evil Robot Bill and Ted. ^BJ

• The can be controlled via remote control but also seem to be capable of autonomous movement. ^BJ

Strength

• Punch through a brick wall. ^BJ
  
• Decapitate Evil Robot Bill and Ted with a punch, then cause their bodies to explode with a second punch. ^BJ
  
  • Evil Robot Bill and Ted no sell a punch to the chin from Bill and walk off crashing through a window and into a brick chimney. ^BJ
• Chew up a phone reciever. ^M#3
  
• Punch out the demonic Colonel Oats when the princesses couldn't faze him with their strikes. ^BV2#1
  
  • The princesses were smashing up musical equipment and sending other women flying with their strikes. ^BV1#6S
• High five each other hard enough to destroy each others' hands. Keep the Evil Robot Bill and Ted scaling in mind. ^DH#1
  
• Walk through a wall. ^DH#4
  

Durability

• Still functioning while demolished down to just their heads. ^M#7
  
  • Or arms. ^BV2#3
• Robot Ted gets blasted through several brick walls. ^BV3#4
  

They Run On Car Batteries

• They do. ^BV1#1S
  
• Electrocute two men to death when they try to stab them with rapiers. ^M#1
  
• Cause the booth to randomly jump when they electrocute it after touching some slushie material. ^M#12
  

Other

• Have tape recorders built in. ^M#3
  
• Can receive temporal emails, and promptly get a virus from this. ^BV1#1S
  
• Their code is written in a form of binary compose of "Bill"s and "Ted"s. With a source code constructed entirely of Van Halen references. ^BV1#1S
  
• Become presidents of the United States. ^BV1#2
  

Mecha Bill & Ted

• Rocket away from San Dimas to Scandinavia. ^DH#4
  
• Transforms from houses into humanoids form, piloted by Good Robot Bill & Ted. ^DH#4
  
• Beat up and send flying giant mountain trolls. ^DH#4
  

Mobile Suit Bill & Giganto-Ted

• Burst out of the sewers and through the streets, creating a massive tremor that could be felt from blocks away. ^BV1#6
  
• Disarm an entire crowd of guards with powerful magnets. ^BV1#6
  

The Time Booth

Time Travel

• A time machine that can travel to any place and time on earth after dialing a specific number. The number for each time and place is listed in an attached directory which catalogues most important points in history. ^EA
  
  • If Bill and Ted don't know what time or place they're looking for, they can ask the operator for help identifying a landmark. ^CS2E1
  • Can travel all the way back to the big bang. ^M#2
  • Is able to travel to and from "the center of time" which seems to exist outside of the regular timeline. ^M#6/7
• It is stressed multiple times throughout the series that even while time travelling, the clock in San Dimas is running, so Bill and Ted still have a limited amount of time to accomplish their goals while time travelling. ^EA This isn't well supported by other events and usages of the booth in the series, but it is a consistent concern regardless.
  
• Bill and Ted can use the Phone Booth to interact with themselves in the past, giving themselves needed equipment or advice. ^EA
  
  • Find a note of advice from themselves and then go back and leave the same note without having to even write it. ^AL
  • Get called to go forward from a few minutes beforehand to help out their future selves. ^EHA06
• Allow Bill and Ted to leave and then return to the exact same point in time, with 16 months of training in between. ^BJ
  
  • Further emphasizing that they can return to any point they want and San Dimas time doesn't matter. ^CS2E1
• A trip through spacetime can be cut short and will cause the booth to reappear at a median point. ^CS1E2
  
• A trip can also be reversed, allowing the booth to return to from where it just came. ^CS1E9
  
• A trip can be rerouted mid-stream without too much issue. ^CS1E10
  
• While this is not usually the case, as most time travel trips result in loops, drastically changing past events can lead to alternate present timelines. ^CS2E5
  
  • Bill and Ted use the booth to go back 15 minutes and redo a botched conversation resulting in a different outcome. ^LAE1
  • A closer to canon example. ^M#11
• Time travel 2 seconds into the future to catch an evil robot off guard. ^BV1#3
  
• Falling into the wormhole behind the phone booth can let someone travel through the circuits of time with it. ^EA
  
  • Rufus is able to follow a different phone booth using a grapple electric guitar, despite not being anywhere close to it when it time travels. ^BJ
  • The black knight and his horse are able to follow the booth. ^CS1E7
• Able to travel and be gone in the time it takes for a killer robot to aim and fire a vaporization beam. ^FtM
  
• Can travel to a point in time and space selected by an actual phone number in use at the time. ^CS1E8
  
• Can travel to a different point in space without changing time. ^CS2E8
  
• Elizabeth and Joanna apparently use the booth to travel to alternate timelines, though this mostly happens off screen. ^FtM
  
• Can travel to alternate dimensions entirely. ^M#10
  
• Travels to heaven. ^M#11
  
  • And hell. ^BV2#1
• Teleports from heaven to the earthly timeline, all the way to the Boomerang Nebula, and back in a matter of seconds. ^BV2#4
  
• Using the infinity button, allows the occupants to be multiplied infinitely to interact with all points in space and time simultaneously. ^FtM
  
• The booth can't travel if all of the circuits of time are currently occupied. ^CS2E5
  
• Travelers through the circuits of time can see other travelers in the same area. ^M#2
  
• The booth can seemingly track individuals in a specific time frame as shown by the fact that the future Bill and Ted were able to trick Bill and Ted into thinking they were rich and successful by being in the right place at the right time. ^FtM
  
• Rufus gives Bill and Ted a new booth that can trace the calls of other booths, though it tends to show up a little late. Also it's a rotary phone. ^M#2
  
• Rufus gives Bill a mobile phone which can call back the booth with the correct number. The first time its used however, it calls Doc Brown's Delorean instead. ^EHA92
  
  • Shown here actually working. ^EHA96
• When Ted uses a magazine to try and fix the antennae Bill and Ted end up going inside of the world of the magazine by accident. ^LAE1
  
  • By connecting the booth to a cable box, they're able to enter the worlds of television broadcasts, though it's entirely dependent on what the tv is currently turned to. ^LAE3

The Squint System
An upgraded directory that allows the booth to travel to fictional settings, including books, CDs, movies, and games. ^CS2E2

• Use the booth to enter an episode of Leave It to Badger. ^CS2E4
  
  • Can also use the booth to skip around within the episode. ^CS2E4
  • Once the episode ends, every person in it, including Bill and Ted, disappear. It looks like this. ^CS2E4
  • Foreign objects can persist between episodes, if they're plot relevant. ^CS2E4
• Can bring characters from the fictional world to the real world. ^CS2E4
  
• Characters in the fictional world are fully aware that they're fictional. ^CS2E4
  
• Altering the interior of the fiction does change how the fiction appears in the real world. Also might cause that fiction to become unavoidable? ^CS2E4
  
• Showing places that aren't supposed to be there reveals static. ^CS2E4
  
• Shrinks Bill and Ted down to smaller than a bottlecap when they forget to put the 1 in front. To reverse this effect, they simply dial 9. ^CS2E2
  

Durability

• [Limitation] When the booth's antennae get smashed by a knight's flail it can still travel fine but where and when it lands becomes uncontrollable. ^EA
  
  • [Limitation] A thrown frisbee knocks out the antennae, preventing the booth from time travelling. Ted is able to partially fix this with a magazine and a shoelace, though it causes the jumps to become uncontrollable again. ^LAE1
• Crash lands upside down and works perfectly fine. ^CS1E2
  
  • Tears through the roof of a tent, crash lands upside-down, and then falls onto its side. ^CS1E5
• Slides along the ground, crashing into a horse hard enough to launch it into the air, taking no damage. ^CS1E2
  
• Gets knocked off a crow's nest with a cannonball and tumbles to the deck of the ship without damage. ^CS1E4
  
• Gets run over by a train. ^CS1E8
  
• Tanks a fall from the top of Big Ben's clock face. ^CS1E8
  
• In a cabin as its demolished by a cannon, and protects the people within. ^CS1E9
  
• Smashes up the wooden walls of a log flume. ^CS1E11
  
• Takes several blasts of energy weapon fire and isn't damaged until one hits the antennae. ^LAE4
  
• Gets shot up by Billted 1.0's machine gun arm and has enough in it to make a trip before collapsing. ^BV1#4
  
• Vlad the Impaler has trouble breaking the glass with the hilt of his sword. ^BV3#1
  
• [Limitation] The floor breaks falling onto a bear's head. ^CS1E13
  
• [Limitation] Destroyed by a large boulder falling on it. ^BV2#3
  

Landing Strength

• [Limitation] While operating normally, it doesn't land hard enough to seriously harm an old man. ^CS1E5
  
  • But it did harm this guy. ^LAE1
• While malfunctioning however, digs a hole into the earth in a second. ^CS1E5
  
• Still while malfunctioning, crashes up through some wooden floorboards, knocking aside a dresser. ^CS1E5
  
• Demolishes a small kennel. ^CS1E6
  
• Smashes through a thick wooden roof. ^CS1E10
  
• Smashes through the deck of a ship. ^CS2E3
  
• Sends Columbus ricocheting around the Santa Maria. ^CS2E5
  
• Sends two cowboys a distance away flying from the shockwave. ^EHA92
  
• Smashes Billted 1.0 which is capable of flying straight through walls and windows without damage. ^BV1#3
  
• While malfunctioning, lands hard enough to crater concrete. ^BV1#4
  
• Smooshes a pair of demon spawn. ^BV2#4
  

Other

• Can still make a trip while on its side and is able to land normally. ^CS1E11
  
• It also works while water-logged. ^CS1E1
  
• Sideways AND waterlogged. ^S1E12
  
• It hovers in the air for unsaid reasons while malfunctioning. ^CS1E4
  
• Has some video recording and playback functions, though seemingly a preset one for display purposes. ^FtM
  
• When their regular booth gets blown up, Rufus lets them use a payphone on a stand to much the same effect. ^EHA02
  
• Can sometimes require coins to make calls with. ^NES
  
• It can also make regular calls. ^EA
  

"Catch ya later Bill and Ted!"

Top 30 Prospect Performance
Low-A Modesto

Prospect	Performance	Position	Age	Ranking
Cole Young	1-5, 2B, R, RBI, BB	Shortstop	19	Mariners #3
Gabriel Gonzalez	1-5, R	Outfield	19	Mariners #7
Michael Morales	7.0IP, 4H, 2BB, 0ER, 5K	Pitcher	20	Mariners #20
Josh Hood	1-4, R, 2BB	Second Base	22	Mariners #29

High-A Everett

Prospect	Performance	Position	Age	Ranking
Harry Ford	0-4, BB	Catcher	20	Mariners #1
Axel Sanchez	0-1	Shortstop	20	Mariners #15
Alberto Rodriguez	1-5	Outfield	23	Mariners #27

AA Arkansas

Prospect	Performance	Position	Age	Ranking
Jonatan Clase	0-2, R, BB, SB	Outfield	21	Mariners #12
Isaiah Campbell	1.0IP, 0H, 0BB, 0ER, 1K	Pitcher	25	Mariners #16
Robert Perez Jr	0-3	Outfield	22	Mariners #21

AAA Tacoma

Prospect	Performance	Position	Age	Ranking
Cade Marlowe	1-4, 3B, 3RBI	Outfield	25	Mariners #16
Juan Then	1.2IP, 5H, 2BB, 5ER, 1K	Pitcher	23	Mariners #23
Zach DeLoach	1-4, BB	Outfield	24	Mariners #26

Unranked Excellence

Prospect	Performance	Level	Age	Positon
Freuddy Batista	4-5, 2-2B, R, RBI	Low-A	23	Catcher
Reid VanScoter	7.0IP, 8H, 2BB, 1ER, 8K	High-A	24	Pitcher
Kyle Tyler	6.0IP, 3H, 2BB, 0ER, 10K	AA	26	Pitcher
Devin Sweet	2.0IP, 1H, 0BB, 0ER, 2K	AA	26	Pitcher

Final Scores
Modesto defeats Stockton 8-1
Hillsboro defeats Everett 4-3
Arkansas defeats Midland 2-0
Sacramento defeats Tacoma 10-6
Highlights
Cade Marlowe’s RBI triple.
Isaiah Campbell gets the save.
Standings

Affiliate	Record	Standings	Diff	Level
Modesto Nuts	25-24	3rd in division	+8	Low-A
Everett AquaSox	24-25	4th in division	+12	High-A
Arkansas Travelers	31-18	2nd in division	+49	AA
Tacoma Rainiers	26-29	2nd in division	+0	AAA

Prospect Performances Index.

Over the last six months, I’ve been in Asia (and the Pacific) bouncing around as part of a larger trip, but diving being a huge emphasis, accumulating around 200 dives during this period. I’m leaving some of my dive log notes and thoughts of each place since it would probably help people in planning which hotspots to go to within this region and how they compare to each other.
For additional context, I went into this trip having around 200 dives, mostly in the Caribbean and Red Sea, with a little bit of SEA experience.
I know it personally was difficult when doing research, especially when pretty much all of these are described as “wOrLd cLaSs” or “bEsT iN tHe wOrLd” to some varying degree (spoiler: not everything is IMO).
I personally dive because of reef health and fish life, so my notes are written with a heavy bias towards that. I acknowledge that bias so obviously places that only have a big muck / macro presence will be rated lower on here.
A-tier and above is a place I’d gladly go back to and dive again. I’d also recommend these places where you should make plans to travel here or go out of your way specifically to dive.
B-tier and above is good. Maybe not incredibly mindblowing but still good and worth doing nonetheless. But there are some flaws that keep it from being superb.
C-tier is mediocre. I could maybe find a few bright spots, but I didn’t find diving here to be particularly great or terrible at the same time. Just average. I wouldn’t make trips to dive these places specifically. I might recommend diving them if they overlap with some better stuff higher on in the list, but they’re skippable.
D to F-tier is just bad. Very little things to enjoy if at all. Avoid.

S

• Raja Ampat, Alor

A+

• Komodo, Palau

A

• Nusa Penida, Apo Island

A-

• Richelieu Rock, Kimud Shoal (sharks)

B+

• Gato Island

B

• Balicasag, Pamilican, Sipadan, Sogod Bay

B-

• Kapalai, Hin Daeng / Hin Muang

C+

• Panglao, Malapascua (local diving)

C

• Surin Islands, Mabul, Koh Bida, Dauin

D

• Similan Islands

F

• Koh Haa

Malaysia

Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai (15 dives)
Difficulty:

• I have a good amount of experience in moderate current, but I found that the diving wasn’t particularly difficult when I was here. We had currents on some Sipadan days, but they were gentle pushes at most. I’d say that Cozumel currents were much stronger than what I experienced at Sipadan. Although, I have heard that Sipadan could get wild sometimes, so YMMV
  
• Dives could get somewhat deep, so having AOW is probably advisable before coming
  

Wildlife:

• Tons of turtles and sharks. Probably at least half a dozen sharks from afar and even more turtles every dive
  
• Saw schools of jackfish, parrotfish, and some barracuda here and there, but didn’t see the famous barracuda tornado
  
• Outside of those, not as many fish as I had hoped for. Decent level of biodiversity, but there were lots of places with little fish activity. The smaller, shallower healthy patches had lots of fish
  

Reef life:

• I have mixed feelings about the reef life here. The parts that are healthy are super vibrant, but they were in the minority for sure. A lot of really depressing, barren areas with dead fields of coral outnumbered the healthy parts. Reefs are my biggest reason for diving, so I was most disappointed by this.
  
• Sipadan was likely better in the past, but the overall state of the reef is in much poorer condition nowadays
  
• The fact that the dive shop I went with only took people to the same three “best” dive sites all the days I dove at Sipadan doesn’t give me much confidence that the rest of the sites look that good or better
  

Dive sites:

• Not too much variation in types of dives or topography of the sites. Mostly wall dives with dropoffs. I got a bit bored after three straight days of diving Sipadan and thought that was an adequate amount of time to spend there. Most dive shops also only focus on the same handful of the best dive sites, so it gets repetitive fast
  
• You also can’t dive Sipadan every day that you’re there. All resorts will do some sort of package where if you dive with them for five days, three will be Sipadan, etc. and the others will be in Mabul and Kapalai. I think these sites are, for the most part, boring. Honestly speaking, no one should make the trip out here just for these dive sites, unless you enjoy macro that much. Even then, there are many other places around SEA that are easier to get to that have a better reputation for macro
  

Overall: Sipadan B, Kapalai B-, Mabul C

• I do think Sipadan is fairly overrated, probably due to the exclusivity of the diving because of the permit system, giving the illusion that it’s going to the best dives of your life
  
• Yes, I think the diving is decent, but not exactly “best in the world” as Southeast Asia tends to have a reputation for. I also don’t think Barracuda Point is one of the best dive sites in the world as it’s commonly advertised lol. I think it’s mostly marketing hype. I found lots of areas around SEA with much less marketing behind them to be equivalent or better than Sipadan
  
• Given how hard it is to get to Sipadan, the costs of diving there, and the proximity of Indonesia / Philippines, I’d say that if you’re deciding between diving in Malaysia and the other two, I’d pick the latter every time
  
• If I was already in Malaysia and wanted to tack on diving, then yes, Sipadan is a good addition to your existing itinerary. I just wouldn’t go out of my way or pick it over other options. I will likely not be returning to Sipadan to dive for this reason, especially since you can’t even dive Sipadan every day and the non-Sipadan dive sites are not great
  

Indonesia

Raja Ampat (20 dives)
Difficulty:

• Going into this portion of the trip, I was expecting a ton of currents and difficult diving based off what I read online beforehand
  
• We had currents on most of the dives, but they were pretty manageable for the most part. Many of these dives would be diving with the current, where it felt more like a gentle push, sort of like a slow moving treadmill. Some dives where you fought or swam against the current was more like a tiny bit of resistance where you could still frog kick through
  
• I also didn’t experience down currents, but based on the dive sites we did, I wouldn’t consider them to be anxiety inducing even if they were present. Most of the dive sites had a sandy bottom and weren’t walls or drop offs, so it’s not like they would be particularly dangerous
  
• There was only two dives where I felt that the currents could’ve been overwhelming for a less experienced diver, but they were ones where we hid behind rocks or used reef hooks to look at mantas anyway, so it’s not like you’re actively swimming with or against the currents
  
• Most dives also weren’t that deep, probably around 60-70ft at the absolute deepest. We spent the majority of these dives at 40-50ft
  
• Even putting myself in the shoes of a less experienced diver, I think the diving was manageable for a wide range of skill levels – which I did see many people of varying experience on my liveaboard and at the dive sites
  
• All in all, I think you can comfortably enjoy Raja Ampat with sub-50 dives under your belt or if you’re comfortable underwater. The diving is for the most part, not that difficult and shouldn’t be a barrier for your decision making
  

Wildlife:

• Huge schools of the most colorful fish everywhere you look. You’re swimming with schools of fish on most dives. The highest density of fish I’ve ever dove with across every destination I’ve ever been
  
• Only small criticism here is the lack of pelagic life like sharks, turtles, and mantas (outside of one or two sites), but that’s not a slight on Raja Ampat at all. Seeing pelagics is just the cherry on top of an already amazing experience that you see at Raja
  

Reef life

• Some of the best, most colorful, and healthy reefs I’ve seen in my life. That’s not to say that the entire region is pristine (it’s not), but given the world we live in today, it’s the best I’ve personally seen
  
• I’d consider most sites to be absolutely beautiful, with a handful of them to be “just” good
  

Dive sites:

• Most dive sites were sloping reef dives with maybe some small pinnacles or bommies here and there
  
• My qualm with the diving in Raja Ampat is that the dive experience is relatively the same across all of them. Get in, dive, look around, get up. No towering structures or interesting topography to navigate. You’re here for the beauty of what lives there, not because of how exhilarating or exciting the actual diving is IMO
  

Overall: S

• One of the best dive experience of my life so far. I would come back here to dive all the time if I could. Maybe doing a liveaboard to the southern region next time, as I focused on the central this time. But the barriers to dive here are pretty high. Expensive domestic flights, full travel days to and from Raja Ampat including flights / layovers / waiting for transfers, etc., and the best way to dive is via a liveaboard which is more costly than any other option
  
• Both the floor and ceiling are very high in Raja Ampat. There wasn’t a time where I felt that a dive wasn’t good or that the entire reef looked like it was in poor condition. Every site had something good to write home about
  
• One thing is that Raja Ampat actually isn’t as remote as you think it is. There’s a huge liveaboard scene and random resorts or homestays sprawled throughout the islands. I had phone signal the entire time lol. A handful of dive sites actually felt a bit crowded at times, in case that matters to you
  

Nusa Penida (15 dives)
Difficulty:

• I actually found diving here to be more difficult than Raja Ampat, lol. Currents were present on many dives, but you also had surge and lots of cold water thermoclines to fight against, which I didn’t have in Raja
  
• All in all, not terribly difficult diving either where you should reconsider if you’re newish, but maybe wait to get a few dives under your belt or be comfortable with various types of underwater conditions to fully appreciate the diving here. Although, I think you can also enjoy most of the diving here while being relatively inexperienced as well, as lots of sites have minimal currents.
  
• Most reputable dive shops will cater to your experience level anyway, so I wouldn’t let Penida’s reputation deter you completely. I’ve had friends with < 20-30 dives who rarely dive enjoy Penida, and many people get OW certified here, FWIW
  

Wildlife:

• Honestly, a little lackluster. Most sites, while having beautiful and healthy coral, felt like a ghost town because of relatively little fish on them aside from a few select spots
  
• The manta site that everyone goes to is amazing though. One dive I saw around 20 mantas throughout the hour. Pretty much everyone I know who’s gone to Nusa Penida even for 1-2 days has seen a manta, so I’d say your chances are very high
  

Reef life:

• I was actually shocked at how good the reef health was here. Some absolutely stunning slopes filled with reef life. I had heard good things about Penida, but was actually blown away by some sites here. I think some of the best sites like Mangrove had reefs that are fairly comparable to the better sites in RA and Alor, IMO
  
• On average, I think the overall reef is probably some of the best I’ve seen of anywhere
  

Dive sites:

• I thought the diversity in sites was a bit lacking in Penida. Most sites that you visit in Penida are just part of a long reef that spans the length of the island. Because of this, the topography doesn’t change much, nor does the diving experience
  
• You could spend a whole day diving different sites, but be on the same reef at different parts of the same side of Penida and the experience would be the exact same
  
• On the days you dive Manta Point, you’d probably also visit Manta Bay and Crystal Bay, which are all fairly boring sites. I’d even say Manta Point is fairly boring outside of the mantas and the latter two are straight up mediocre
  
• I spent about five days here overall and thought that was a good amount of time since I got to dive the majority of the sites. I could’ve spent another day or two here to dive the other sites in the channel between Penida and Lembongan or on the other side of Penida, but those are less commonly visited
  

Overall: A

• Really good diving as a whole. If you haven’t dove Indonesia yet, Penida would likely be some of the best warm water diving you’ll do
  
• I’ve heard Penida being described as Komodo with training wheels and I’d agree with that. Good place to get your bearings in diving with current
  

Komodo (30 dives)
Difficulty:

• This is an aspect that I feel is a bit overblown by commenters online. Yes, there is current and yes, sometimes they can get a bit crazy. But that doesn’t mean that as a less experienced diver (<50 dives for example), you can’t enjoy the majority of Komodo. I probably wouldn’t go as a complete newbie with fewer than 20 dives though
  
• A lot of the sites have current, but fairly similar to other Indonesia and Philippines hotspots. The currents aren’t too bad the majority of the time. The sites with heavy currents are limited to a few, and dive shops will avoid putting you on a boat where you’re going to a site that surpasses your skill level (e.g. they’ll have different groups / boats for central vs. northern sites, the latter tending to have more current)
  
• That said, if you want to fully enjoy Komodo with no restrictions or limitations, then yes, you should at least AOW / be more experienced or be comfortable in water. This is mainly in the northern sites like Cauldron, Crystal Rock, Castle Rock, and a handful in the central area which are known for currents
  
• The dives aren’t particularly deep either. Max depth was ~70ft at most for many sites, with the majority of the dives probably spent at 40-50ft for most sites
  

Wildlife:

• The tradeoff between Komodo and Raja Ampat is that the former has more big stuff like mantas, sharks, and turtles, while the latter has more fish activity. Some Komodo dive sites had quite a lot of fish activity, as much as the sites in Raja Ampat, but not comparable on average across all sites. In Komodo, you had a chance to see big stuff on the majority of the dive sites, whereas it was a bit rare in Raja Ampat. The hooked dives in northern Komodo are pretty great too, where you see a lot of fish and sharks swim by, and nothing in Raja can really compare to that
  
• At the end of the day, it’s a toss-up depending on preference
  

Reef life:

• Reef quality is amazing at some sites, just good at others, and non-existent at some. Unlike Raja where you could get amazing reef quality on almost every dive, Komodo’s sites were a bit more diverse. Some sites like Manta Point where you’re not necessarily diving for the reef and more so for manta encounters, were filled with rubble and fairly bare. On the other hand, sites like Batu Bolong and Tatawa Kecil are clearly some of the best in the world
  
• Komodo’s best reefs would be comparable to some of the best Raja sites, but Komodo also had fewer sites where the reef really wowed me
  

Dive sites:

• The good: Komodo has a wider variety of dive sites and dive experiences as a result. The diving here is more “fun” because of the different currents and drifts that let you dive the site differently. The topography of each dive site is also much more diverse, allowing for different dive profiles. You really feel small while diving some of the Komodo sites with all of the towering structures and cliffs. Raja Ampat’s diving, for example, is a bit more “homogenous” in that the experience is fairly similar across all sites
  
• The bad: There are some “poor” dive sites that you will inevitably visit on your trip. For example, sites where the emphasis is on muck diving. Not my favorite as you know. Or if you go to Manta Point and don’t see any mantas. Or sites where the reef isn’t that good. Muck dives aren’t my favorite, and I almost consider them a wasted dive since it’s all predominantly luck based and you could see nothing. You could feel differently, though
  
• I spent around ten days diving here doing 30 dives and thought that was perfect. I got to do every site, even some in the south, and repeated some sites that I liked the most. If I were to come back to Komodo, I’d do a liveaboard and spend my time exploring the south, which you can’t really do via day trips
  

Overall: A+

• I think Raja Ampat is better for fish life and coral health while I think Komodo is more fun for different types of diving, bigger animals, and better underwater topography
  
• As a whole, I think Raja Ampat is a better dive destination for a once in a lifetime trip, especially if you do it on a liveaboard. The whole experience feels very ethereal and special. But if you’re looking for something quicker, easier, and cheaper to do, then Komodo is a very fine substitute
  
• On a tangential note, and I’m gonna sound a bit gatekeep-y, but I think Labuan Bajo has become or is on its way to becoming a backpacking hotspot, and not in a good way either. It’s undergone a ton of development in the last several years, and the Indonesian government is pumping tons of money into directing people there. Things have grown way too fast and the infrastructure just can’t keep up. I’m hearing from locals who work in the dive industry saying how they’re getting priced out. Selfishly, more development and traffic is always bad for places like this as more shitty divers thrash around on the reefs and more pollutants destroy them too. Anyway, I would probably go sooner rather than later because who knows if the Indonesian government will be able to keep the reef in this condition with the increase in traffic
  
• You also notice how popular Komodo is getting because a lot of the dive shops are visiting newbie friendly sites every day which aren’t exactly the best ones IMO. I noticed a ton of people getting OW certified or doing their first few open water dives, and I don’t recommend this at all. I would pick a smaller dive op with fewer reviews on Google and TripAdvisor to avoid the cattle boats and for a more personalized experience to avoid the newbies. You’ll get to dive a wider range of sites and they’ll be more receptive to requests if you dive with them continually
  

Alor (25 dives)
Difficulty:

• This place is not easy to dive. Alor probably had the most dangerous and difficult conditions of places I’ve been to yet. There’s a number of challenging environments: thermoclines or huge temperature drops, deep dives, heavy currents that are frequently changing. I’ve experienced up and down currents before, but they were fairly straightforward and not that quick. Even in Palau and Komodo. But some were violent in Alor. I think the area’s topography is the reason for this. You could be zipping by on a wall on a drift dive when suddenly you could be dragged up to the surface, and right after you exhaust some air in your BC to go down, you could be pulled down and out by a downcurrent with just a few seconds in between. Then right after that, the current could change from left to right or vice versa. It got me breathing a bit hard even at my experience level
  
• Thermoclines also made it a bit more difficult too. The area supposedly gets cold upwellings everywhere that bring the water temperature to the low 70s, but the coldest I’ve experienced were mid 70s only in a specific part of the area. Nevertheless, going from 82-83 to mid 70s isn’t fun
  
• However, because there’s so many dive sites here with all sorts of conditions, even if you’re not the most experienced, you can still see a lot of really beautiful things in the easier dive sites. I would recommend being more experienced, though. There’s no proper hospital or chamber for hundreds of miles, so you’re fucked if something goes wrong
  

Wildlife:

• Tons of sharks and rays (eagle and spotted, not mantas unfortunately) sightings, on many dives Huge schools of fish, pretty much exactly what I was talking about in the RA section
  
• Dolphins in crossing on the surface all the time. Rarer to spot while actually diving, but it's possible
  
• I did a handful of muck dives and we did see some cool nudis, but I can’t definitively say that it’s the best macro diving I’ve done in Indonesia. I enjoyed macro diving more in the Philippines
  

Reef life:

• Almost just as good as RA’s, if not better in some areas. Insanely diverse corals, huge amounts of thick reef coverage where you don’t even see sand at the bottom. I probably give the edge to RA here since I’m fairly sure the diversity in corals is better at RA, but I did a liveaboard that covered more area whereas Alor is more concentrated. The fact that the two are debatable is a good thing
  
• I don’t think there was ever a time where I thought I had just an “okay” reef dive here. I think even the worst reef dives here are spectacular in comparison to everywhere else except RA
  

Dive sites:

• The dive site variety in Alor is absurdly high, probably the single most diverse place I’ve ever dove while being land-based. You have almost every single type of diving here: drift, cavern, wall, pinnacle, sloped, hooked, muck, etc.
  
• There are 70 (and more being still mapped / discovered) dive sites all within a 5-30 minute boat ride. I avoided most of the muck sites, and still felt like I had more reef dies to discover and see after around 25 dives
  
• Since there’s so few dive shops (~5), they all know each other and coordinate which sites are going to be done the following day. I literally never even saw another dive boat on the same dive site the week I was there
  
• The underwater topography here is simply amazing. Similar to some sites in Komodo, you just feel small. But there’s a higher proportion of dive sites like this compared to Komodo
  

Overall: S

• I am obsessed with Alor, and despite diving every day for over a week straight, I’m yearning for my chance to come back and see more of it and see what else has yet to be discovered
  
• I struggle to properly describe Alor. A more fun RA? Komodo with better reefs? I would characterize Alor as a combination of the best parts of RA and Komodo in one. Alor has the reef quality and fish activity of RA, but with the pelagics, currents, and interesting underwater topography of Komodo. Every criticism I had about RA about how “boring” or easy the diving is, is not an issue within Alor. I rank Alor as just as good as RA for me, and I probably flip flop between which I like more
  
• Usually when people talk about the best diving in Indonesia, RA and Komodo are the two that are most named. I whole-heartedly believe that Alor is on its way to becoming the third and it’s only a matter of time before everyone catches on and this place explodes in popularity. It’s that damn good Given the quality of dive sites and how close they are, I feel comfortable in saying that Alor is the single best pound for pound diving location I’ve been to. Nowhere I’ve been has this many quality sites in such a compact area. RA, Komodo, and Palau are technically one area too, but the dive sites are way more spread out and sometimes require hours to get to.
  
• To give you some context on how remote and unvisited it is – you simply cannot decide to walk up and dive this place last minute. You absolutely need to plan it out at least a few months in advance, sometimes 8-10+, and you probably need to be somewhat flexible too. Some dive resorts I contacted were actually booked up this far in advance. There are no hotels, guesthouses, etc., so you need to either stay with the dive resort, or you need their help in booking a local homestay or bungalow. And most dive resorts are small, only catering to 6-10 divers at a time at most
  
• These small group sizes are actually a bit of a negative, IMO. Because most dive shops only have 1-2 boats at most, if you’re overlapping with divers of different experience levels or people have other requests or preferences, you’re gonna be pulled in one way or another based on the group as a whole
  
• Truly wild, wild diving here. There is no tourism industry. Dive sites are still being found and figured out on the spot. Lots to still see that aren’t formally written down or documented. Not even RA is like that anymore. This is one of the final frontiers of untouched diving
  
• It’s kinda funny because no one seems to agree as to what these exact sites and site names are. Google “Alor dive sites” and ask all the dive companies what they call a particular site and you’ll probably get a few different names in return
  

Palau (25 dives)

Difficulty:

• Palau as a whole had some of the more tricky diving that I experienced on this trip. Maybe a bit more difficult than Komodo's diving. I definitely think you need to have a minimum skill level to comfortably dive here. That’ll probably differ from person to person, but overall, I think that while you don’t have to be an expert, you gotta be comfortable in the water at the least.
  
• There were currents on most dives, ranging from mild to rapid. They weren’t necessarily the strongest currents I’ve faced, but they were some of the trickiest. The currents pushed you up sometimes, down others, and changed directions frequently
  
• The strongest currents I faced were on the dives where you hooked in and watched pelagics, so I don’t really consider that to be a difficult situation where you need to dive against or with the current. But it’s worth noting since you might have to swim through or against current to get down there in the first place and hook yourself in
  

Wildlife:

• The most shark activity of any warm water diving I’ve ever done. On the hooked dives, we saw at least 10+ sharks every time, oftentimes many in the same camera frame, in addition to some manta action and lots of turtles too. These hooked dive sites also had a great amount of fish activity as well I saw the most medium to big-sized fish activity in Palau relative to anywhere else in Asia. Lots of groupers and bumphead parrot fish, for example. I went around spawning time and saw loads of parrot fish during this time
  
• The tradeoff is that the biodiversity, density, and color of the fish here isn’t as high as in Indonesia or Philippines
  

Reef Life:

• Wide range in the quality of the reefs. A few sites were absolutely beautiful, most were decent to good, others just okay, and some looked sad (the corner dives for example. They had nice pelagic action but the reef area around where people hooked in were thrashed)
  
• The walls were very nice, with soft corals and every color of the rainbow up and down the entire wall. The reef dives were a bit monotonous. The corals there were predominately hard, brown, and had lots of dead patches in some areas. Funnily, I think one of the best reef dive sites was on a wreck. The wreck was covered in so much coral it was as if it wasn’t even a wreck
  
• The reef quality ceiling is very high, but the floor is pretty low too
  

Dive sites:

• Huge amounts of diversity in the type of diving available here. Probably the strongest suit of Palau. There’s something for everyone: drift dives, wrecks, caverns, walls, reefs, hook dives to watch pelagics, etc. And to be honest, I found the washing machine currents to be pretty fun too. It was the first time I experienced them to that extent, and it was fun enjoying the ride
  
• The diving here is definitely among the most fun I did anywhere on this trip
  

Overall: A+

• I frequently hear people comparing Raja Ampat and Palau as two of the best warm water diving spots there are around the world. I disagree with this comparison and think Raja is a clear step above with its biodiversity. Palau is more comparable to Komodo IMO. I rank Komodo and Palau as a 2A and 2B sort of situation and probably rank Komodo a bit higher
  
• Palau’s best reefs aren’t as good, fish density isn’t as high as Komodo’s, and the biodiversity of both can’t compare, but Palau does have more pelagics
  
• Similar to Komodo, Palau provides a great range of diverse dive sites and “fun” diving. Not every site is also the most beautiful either
  
• I think where Palau does have Indonesia / Komodo beat, is the amount of pelagic action that you see in the hooked dives, with a huge amount of sharks
  
• I also do agree with the common sentiment that Palau does everything well, but nothing the best
  

Thailand

Andaman Sea (30 dives)
Difficulty:

• I was a bit surprised by the difficulty of diving in the Andaman. I had this perception that Thai diving was calm and easy, but I actually had to work on a number of dives. There were a decent amount of dives that had current. Not sure if it was also my liveaboard, but we were going fairly deep too, around 80+ ft and stayed at depth long enough to reach NDL time on each dive. Not terribly difficult diving, but not a leisurely stroll in the park either

Wildlife:

• Lack of fish in many dive sites. At least you’re treated to large schools of sardines and glassfish sometimes
  
• Saw a very low amount of big stuff — less than five turtles and sharks in total across several dozen dives
  

Reef life:

• The reef health in Thailand is in abysmal shape for the vast majority of dive sites. There are no colors, and everything is brown or stone gray for the vast majority of sites. A lot of the dive sites are either completely smoothed over or are just fields of dead rubble. Soft coral is pretty much non-existent except from a few places. The rest is falling apart. Truly depressing to see
  
• That said, Richelieu Rock is one of the few exceptions to this, which I’ll talk about more in a bit
  

Dive sites:

• Southern Similan dive sites are a complete waste of time. I would skip this area if you could. Mostly “rock diving” as the dive guides like to call it, where it’s really just large rocks sitting there because everything has died off, all the fish have left, and all you have left are smooth rocks. Seriously, though, rock diving? I’ve never heard or done anything like it. What a sad excuse for a dive area, and complete waste of money
  
• The northern sites like Koh Bon and Koh Tachai are a bit better, but still nothing to write home about Surin islands are okayish – I thought Thai diving would be as good as this as the baseline, but I guess not. Mostly just brown hard coral that’s devoid devoid of color, no soft coral, and tons of dead areas here
  
• Richelieu Rock is objectively a world class dive site, and an instance where its reputation is well deserved. If I didn’t get to visit Richelieu and dive it four times on my liveaboard, I would’ve considered the liveaboard to be a complete waste of time. Probably the fishiest dive site I’ve ever been to, filled with the most colorful soft corals I’ve seen in Thailand. Richelieu Rock would be considered a great dive site anywhere I’ve been around the world. I’m kinda surprised how good the site is given how shit everything else is around it
  
• I based myself out of Koh Lanta because I heard it had the best day diving, but most of it is just okay. The only trip worthwhile is Hin Daeng / Hin Muang, and even that’s just decent, not great. Not worth going to Thailand just to dive them. Not best in the world by a long shot
  
• Koh Bida was decent, but skippable, and Koh Haa was straight up terrible and not worth the time nor money to go to
  

Overall: Similans D, Surins C, Richelieu Rock A-, Hin Daeng / Muang B-, Koh Bida C, Koh Haa F

• I’ve never felt more disappointed and misled in all my dive experiences than I was in Thailand. I already had lower expectations going into this portion of my trip since I had just dove all over Indonesia, but Thai diving somehow failed to reach those low expectations
  
• Ever since I started diving, and as I was doing research for where to dive in Thailand, I’ve read so many reviews or comments that said how Thailand diving was “world class” or that it was “comparable, if not better than the Red Sea”. This may’ve been the case many years ago, but it’s certainly not the case in 2023. I was expecting at least decent diving, but after a 30round dives all along the Andaman on a liveaboard and daily trips, I would consider at most five dive sites to be at least “decent,” and only a few of those to be actually good. The rest ranged from outright bad to mediocre
  
• I’d say that Andaman diving is more appropriately comparable to Caribbean diving, and I probably err on the side of the Caribbean being better on average as a whole, despite Thailand having one, maybe two dive sites that are better than anything else that I’ve dove in Caribbean
  
• I only recommend diving in Thailand if you have never dove anywhere else warm in the world. If you’ve dove anywhere else in SEA, don’t waste your time and dive in Thailand
  
• I did a seven day liveaboard that spanned the entire Andaman and I would recommend to only do a two or three day one that focuses on the Surin islands and Richelieu Rock only
  

Anyway, feel free to AMA. No pics because I mostly record in video, and I'm too lazy to edit something together for now. Plus anyone can make any dive site look good with select shots.

​
This is the 7th post in a series going over the bowl seasons from 1974-1997. Each year I'm examining the bowls with national title implications and the teams competing for the #1 ranking. If you want to catch up on prior seasons, check out the link to the master post as well!
https://www.reddit.com/CFB/comments/13rssrf/bowls\_and\_the\_race\_for\_the\_mythical\_national/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3

Setting the Stage

Final Regular Season Polls

Team	Record	AP	Coaches
Georgia	11-0	1	1 (37)
Florida St	10-1	2	2 (1)
Pittsburgh	10-1	3	3 (1)

• September 27th: Florida St lost to Miami, 9-10. The Canes finished the year 9-3.
• October 11th: Florida St beat Pittsburgh 36-22
• December 6th: #2 Notre Dame lost to USC 20-3

Another season where college footballs top teams didn't play each other. #1 Georgia was tied to the Sugar Bowl, which extended an invite to then #2 Notre Dame in mid November, creating a would be de facto national title.. But there was one problem . . . the Irish hadn't played their last game, which they lost handily to USC. Had the bowls waited til everyone's regular season was over, its possible the Sugar would've taken Florida St instead. Given FSU's regular season win over #3 Pitt, college football ironically would've had it's de facto national title had they taken FSU. This is absolutely ridiculous and I love it.
​

The Bowls

Gator Bowl #3 Pitt vs #18 South Carolina (December 29th)
Pitt had a chance to claim a title, but would need a lot of help. In addition to a win, they would need both #1 Georgia and #2 Florida St (the only team they lost too) to lose their bowls. This wasn't as far fetched as one would think as Georgia and FSU were 1 and 5 1/2 point dogs in their respective games. Pitt did their part to keep things interesting, dominating the Gamecocks from start to finish in a 37-9 route.
​
Sugar Bowl #1 Georgia vs #7 Notre Dame (Jan 1st, 2pm EST)
Notre Dame didn't do their part to make this a de facto championship game, but for Georgia #1 was still on the line. As the consensus #1 team, they just needed to simply win and the Orange Bowl later that evening wouldn't matter. Lose and the national title would likely come down to Pitt or Florida St. Notre Dame drew first blood with a field goal in the 1st. Georgia, led by true freshman Herschel Walker, responded with 17 unanswered to lead 17-3 at the half. The Irish countered with a 3rd quarter TD, to make it a one score game, but that was all the Dawgs D would allow. Georgia won 17-10 and was well on the way to a consensus national title.
​
Orange Bowl #2 Florida St vs #4 Oklahoma (Jan 1st, 8pm EST)
The Seminoles never got their chance to challenge Georgia head to head, but still had a chance to claim their 1st national title if the Dawgs slipped up earlier in the day. Unfortunately by kickoff, their title hopes were dashed. The game still turned out to be a classic. The teams were tied at 10 entering the 4th quarter. With just over 3 minutes to go, the Seminoles recovered a Sooner fumble in the end zone to take a 17-10 lead. The Sooners kept their composure and countered with a 78 yard TD drive and successfully converted a 2 point conversion to lead 18-17. Florida St missed a desperation 62 yard field goal at the gun.
​

Final Results

*Only includes teams receiving 1st place votes in either poll

Team	record	AP	Coaches
Georgia	12-0	1 (58 1/2)	1 (36)
Pittsburgh	11-1	2 (3 1/2)	2 (3)
Florida St	10-2	5 (1)	5
Michigan	10-2	4	4 (1)

For a 2nd straight year, things worked out pretty cleanly. Although a few rogue voters went their own way, Georgia, the only unbeaten team in the nation, was overwhelmingly voted #1 in each poll. As for the half vote, one AP voter declared both Georgia and Pitt #1, which I guess is allowed? This would be Georgia's last National title until 2021.

Fiat currency and cryptocurrencies are two distinct forms of currency with fundamental differences:

1. Centralization: Fiat currencies are issued and regulated by central banks and governments, such as the US dollar or Euro. Central authorities have control over the supply and value of fiat currencies. In contrast, cryptocurrencies are decentralized and operate on a technology called blockchain. They are not controlled by any central authority, but rather by a network of computers and participants.
2. Physical vs. Digital: Fiat currencies exist in physical form as banknotes and coins, making them tangible and widely accepted for transactions. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, exist only in digital form. They are stored in digital wallets and primarily used for online transactions, although some cryptocurrencies have physical representations in the form of hardware wallets or tokens.
3. Legal Status: Fiat currencies are generally considered legal tender, meaning they must be accepted as a form of payment within a country's jurisdiction. Cryptocurrencies, however, do not have legal tender status in most countries and their acceptance for transactions varies. Some countries have embraced cryptocurrencies and established regulations, while others have imposed restrictions or outright bans.
4. Transaction Transparency: Fiat currency transactions typically occur through centralized financial institutions, such as banks, which can track and verify transactions. Cryptocurrency transactions, on the other hand, are recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, allowing for transparent and traceable transactions. However, while the transactions are transparent, the identities of the parties involved can be pseudonymous, providing a degree of privacy.
5. Monetary Policy: Central banks can influence fiat currencies through monetary policies such as interest rates and money supply adjustments. Cryptocurrencies, being decentralized, are not subject to traditional monetary policies. Instead, their value is influenced by market supply and demand dynamics.
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Forecast: Manchester City vs Manchester United
Bet: Total goals over 2.5
For the first time in the long history of this competition, the FA Cup final will be a Manchester derby at Wembley Stadium. Premier League champions Manchester City enter as favorites as they seek to secure a second trophy in a possible treble of the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League – an achievement only their archrivals, Manchester United, have accomplished in English football history. While Pep Guardiola's team has smoothly reached their first FA Cup final in four seasons, scoring 17 goals without conceding any in their previous five matches this season, the Spanish manager has urged his team to "disconnect" in the buildup to this important encounter, hoping they can refocus after failing to win their last two league matches (D1, L1). However, under Guardiola's guidance, City has a 100% winning record in domestic finals, so they will be confident in taking another huge step towards immortality.

Forecast: Toulouse vs Monaco
Bet:Monaco run line -1.5
A three-match winless streak (D1, L2) has seen Monaco drop out of the top five spots in the table and consequently lose their ticket to European competition, meaning they enter this final Ligue 1 matchday with their destiny in their own hands. The goal difference between Monaco and the fifth-placed team, Rennes, is truly insurmountable, and all Monaco can do is defeat Toulouse and hope that Rennes or Lille drop points to secure a spot in European competitions next season. The principality club will first and foremost need to fulfill their end of the bargain, but this is certainly not guaranteed as the home side has failed to score in over three hours of league play at home before this clash. Nonetheless, their near-perfect home league record against teams ranked below twelfth place (W6, L1), averaging 3.29 goals per game in those encounters, would suggest that this streak is likely to end here.

Hi, just new on streaming
I tried to stream and record on obs at the same time
3 questions please hope you can help me:

1. Why my stream become mute while i do stream and record ? (Just on twitch - my record is recording the sounds)
   
2. Do you download you vods from twitch or record while stream ?
   
3. I know that if i download vods i have wuality lose - but is it really noticeable?
   

Thanks guys.