It’s no secret that lots of fans, in fact I believe the majority, think that GW removing the FTL for the Tau sometime after the 3rd edition was a dumb move, since, to be simple, you aint making a multi system empire without FTL travel, as well it makes things like the Damocles Crusade have a huge plot hole in that the Tau somehow win through reinforcements coming from their entire empire, despite lacking FTL.
The user Connor McLeod on Spacebattles made a detailed analysis on how the Tau FTL worked through editions, this is a simplified version, for the quotes he used are too big for a single reddit post.

The original theory (what may or may not be the ether drive, or also known as 'warp dives') came from Battelfleet Gothic - originally in BFG Magazines (I took mine from bFG Magazine 19) but got reiterated in BFG Armada:
BFG magazine 19 said:
The Tau were able to duplicate the warp drive of the alien ship but the initial test flights were disastrous. Achieving transition to the Warp required more than technology, it required psychically attuned minds and the Tau race boasted no psykers. Without them to guide the transition no amount of power could breach the dimensional barriers. The best the Tau could do was make a partial translation, forcing themselves into the void that separated Warpspace and realspace before they were hurled out again like a ball held under water then released.
..
The Water caste scientists made the observation that the boundary between real space and warp space was not a neat line. It was closer to being a turbulent ocean fomented by the tempestuous warp tides below. By carefully angling their descent toward the Warp and extending the field generated by the gravitic drive into a wing shaped to hold the vessel down, a Tau vessel could extend the duration of the dive considerably. The speeds achieved in the ascent back to real space were staggering and coupled with the effect of the Warp on time and space ensured that the real distance covered by the dive was immense. Early tests lost several drone ships because they inadvertently passed far beyond the sensor range of the recovery vessels.
...
There was still a major constraint, only the most powerful (and bulky) drives could sustain the gravitic wing throughout the dive and the power drain meant that considerable recharge time was needed between dives. Also by comparison to actually navigating the warp the pace was still very slow. Taking typical Imperial Warp speeds the Tau drive was slower by a factor of five. The speed was consistent though, did not expose the Tau to the perils of the Warp and enabled the Tau to expand beyond their home star for the first time.
This should be well established by know, and it's pretty self explanatory. But its worth revisiting for tying everything together because in many ways the FTL system incorporates multiple parts. One part was the Tau gravity drive. Another part was the ability to 'partially' enter the warp for the dive and maintaining that dive as long as possible. And its a process they kept improving on. On the surface of this the implication is that around or even before First Sphere they had FTL, whereas the earliest you could plausibly argue they MIGHT achieve warp diving in current fluff is by third sphere. At least, in widespread usage. You could certainly have the Tau experimenting with FTL (they experimented with Imperium warp drives in Crisis of Faith after all) and that goes back to previous spheres. We could in that respect view Tau propulsion advances to be incremental steps along that path to achieving true Warp drive (or something close to it - which may be what Fourth Sphere's slipstream is/was.) I'll touch more on that 'incremental' development' later.
BFG Magazine 19 said:
Waystations are distributed throughout the Tau Empire. They mark out the main routes between Tau septs and are used to speed communications between outposts.
This has nothing directly to do with FTL travel, except to mark/identify routes they use (and maybe facilitate those routes somehow) but it does mention that they have a role in communication. I'll touch on that after the FTL stuff, although it centers almost entirely around the Shadowsun novella.
BFG Magazine 19 said:
Unlike the Tau the Kroot are capable of true Warp travel but the exact method has been kept secret from their employers. To the Kroot, warp travel is almost migratory and they seem incapable of navigating anywhere other than systems with habitable worlds. It appears they are drawn to functioning ecosystems.
In alot of ways its belief-shaped (mass belief) and not unlike Orks and the way space hulks operated. It might explain why the Tau never found the Kroot's use of warp travel all that useful, since it seems like it would be potentially erratic or less precise than warp dives. Still, it makes no fucking sense for Kroot, Demiurg or other warp sensitive allies of the Tau to have FTL but the Tau don't, especially since many factions (including Kroot and Demiurg) contribute ships to Tau fleets!
Other later sources like Deathwatch Achius Assault carried that FTL over, and even suggested it was route based (or may have had an even longer rnaged, route based variation on the 'warp dive' that allowed Vellk'han sept to reach Jericho Reach:
Deathwatch Achilus Assault said:
The humans are not the only ones to explore the Black Reef and the Tau too have been sending scouts into its gravity ravaged depths. Less willing to needlessly sacrifice their warriors, the Tau have employed those aliens from their empire with an affinity for the void and a skill at space faring, such as the ethereal Ji'atrix and the void-dwelling Nicassar. More successfully than the Imperium, the Tau have mapped
a number of routes through the edges of the Reef, at least on their side of the anomaly, allowing their ships more tactical flexibility than those of their enemies and also allowing them to lay deadly ambushes within the edge of the Stygian Break.
The Tau also enjoy a rare speed advantage over the Imperium within the Black Reef as their unusual method of near-Warp travel works more effectively than completely entering the Warp and is less prone to disruption by the gravity storm.
I mentioned the White Dwarf's circa 6th edition which alluded to it, but you also had Storm of Damocles which also seems to reference Warp dives:
Storm of Damocles said:
LOCATION: CANNIS GAS CLOUD,
DAMOCLES GULF, 999.M41
Without psykers, the tau could not make translations into the warp, but they had learnt to make short hops through the edge of the immaterial and real space, sticking to pre-ordained 'stepping stones'. This particular transit point, deep in the Cannis gas cloud, was known to connect to the Sexton Sector. It was what the tau thought was a safe transit route, but its location had been known to the Deathwatch for some time.
...
As he spoke, the first of the tau ships seemed to pulse as it skimmed into the immaterium. In ten minutes they were all gone, and the space before them was empty once more, except for the light of distant stars.
This meant that -at least in certain incarnations - warp dives relied on certain routes/paths/points to travel along (adding a certain degree of predictability, not unlike the warp routes between star systems in BFG) - it can be thought that BFG might have applied those same limitations to other factions and their FTL (Necron inertialess drive, Tau Warp Dive/Ether drives) so this was always an 'intended' trait. It also makes it clear its far from instantaneous - it takes minutes to achieve the 'skip' and unlike 'true' warp translation there is no rift. Presumably the rift only occurs if you actually punch the hole through into the Warp - the 'interstitial' medium the Tau travel through might simply be thought of as temporal/spatial distortions (we know warp rifts can be temporal/spatial distortions too - one reason that translations to/from warp space can be so highly distorted by gravity and one reason why translations in-system close to planetary bodies are so hazardous)
Storm of Damocles said:
It was a week's journey back through the warp to Picket's Watch. A team of servitors re-established power for the databanks, repairing broken cables and then coaxing out the reams of tau information.
The Space Marines had little need for sleep. They worked constantly, comparing Imperial star charts to those of the tau, finding known points of reference, and slowly piecing together a picture of tau movements to and from the Agrellan Warzone.
..
When they had inputted it all, the holo-charts glowed with criss-crossing web-lines of xenos activity. Its scale and sophistication repelled them all. Supply hubs, refuelling stations, convoy protection teams, automated drone sentries, human worlds secretly compliant, all enabling the massive movement of the invasion fleet that had smashed through to Agrellan. Konrad located two new routes that had appeared only a Terran week before the appearance of the Stormsurges.
'This is how they are transporting their new battlesuits,' he said with grim conviction.
Again note that the use of routes and mapping is important for Tau Warp Dives circa 3rd sphere (Agrellan) and they are clearly covering many tens of light years in months at most. Indeed some 'routes' seem to involve a bare week difference implying transit speeds of many hundreds of c at a bare minimum. There's literally no way third sphere could play out as it did without FTL, so this is beyond dispute.
All the same, some materials try to dispute it. While the Codexes since 6th haven't explicitly forbidden FTL, the rulebooks were something of another matter. At least in 8th edition:
8th Edition Rulebook said:
Being a non-psychic race, the T'au have no understanding of the warp, so their star fleets travel at sub-light speeds. New technological innovations have steadily increased their range, allowing them to press ever further into the galaxy. Their Second and Third Spheres of Expansion were halted only due to the barrier of the Damocles Gulf and increased resistance from the Imperium of Mankind.
Making it a bit of a headache to tie together, but not impossible since there's no real context or detail attached to the comment.
Codex tau 8th said:
In order to reach those more distant systems earmarked as desirable by advanced scouts, the vast armadas of T'au spacecraft had been outfitted with the latest Earth caste modifications. The ships' propulsion systems were upgraded so that when magnified by impulse reactors, the engines could obtain faster speeds, propelling ships forwards at hitherto unthinkable velocities. To further lessen the burden on those space-faring craft with the longest journeys, the Earth caste had outfitted transport vessels with large stasis chambers, allowing Hunter Cadres or whole commands to shift to far distant battle zones months or years away without actually aging a day in the process.
This quote cropped up in 6th too, and it was hilarious then. The 'third' iteration with the impulse reactors boosting previous drive advances (namely, the horizon drive) sound hilarious. Impulse reactors push ships to 'unthinkable velocities' yet we already knew the supposedly 'sublight' Tau already achieved near-lightspeed. Getting nearer to lightspeed might provide some more relativistic effects to protect the crew a bit from the duration, but its not going to add jack shit to speed... unless you exceed the speed of light.
In keeping with that hilarious inconsistency, the Tau in fact do this multiple times since 6th. To wit:
Tyranid 6th said:
FLIGHT TO KE'LSHAN
Though the Tau fleet was pursued by dozens of bio-ships, only a handful of cadre vessels were boarded and destroyed before the Tau successfully punched through the Tyranid blockade. Unaffected by the Shadow in the Warp, the Tau's ZFR Horizon drives propelled their ships at near light speed through realspace, and arrived safely at Ke'lshan. It took the Tyranids many days to traverse the same span of space, and for the first time in months, the Tau hoped to have a chance to catch their breath and recuperate.
Yes. Their magical horizon drives actually allowed the Tau to [i[Outrun the Tyranids[/i] Now remember that while the Tyranids having warp drive post 5th was up for debate, they still had Narvahls so its baffling that the 'sublight' Tau could outrace an explicitly FTL race. Compoudning that hilarity is the timeframe - Hive Fleet
Warzone Damocles said:
Propelled at ever greater speeds by the latest Earth Caste impulse reactors, the vast armada of Aun'Va's Tau Coalition powered across the Damocles Gulf and into Imperial Space. The expeditionary force met little in the way of significant opposition, even from the Imperial worlds that rejected the offers of the Water caste's ambassadors.
This repeats the codex bits on impulse reactors, and as I said for Third Sphere and War Zone Damocles you pretty much need to be crossing tens or hundreds of light years in weeks or months... there's no way around it being FTL. The only speeds greater than near-c are going to be many time greater than c.
Given that we can speculate on a Tau drive (and FTL) progression that follows this pattern:
Tau FTL model
First sphere has them evolving the gravity drive as per BFG. This may or may not also result in the modifications that allow (retroactively) to swiftly colonize their immediate surroundings for the First sphere expansion due to weird properties (time/space dilation) and closely placed star systems
Gravity drive (first sphere). This could still result in the discovery of a crashed alien ship and its warp drive (and experiments into that technology) but nothing definite or widespread yet.
Second Sphere is where things start to get interesting. They expand further by charting routes through dangerous parts of their space (including the Damocles gulf) through trial and error. This could be the point where we actually get navigation into and out of warp rifts in some cases, and with others you simply have warped distances/pathways to travel along. This still allows them to be 'sublight' but achieve travel that doesn't take years or decades like it should.
Second sphere, however is where they start meeting the Orks and eventually the Imperium. They learn more about FTL drives (from Ork and Imperial vessels) and they perhaps begin to study the routes that permitted their swift journeys as well. Second sphere stretches out for some time and even the end is some distance into the future, so there is lots of time for additional advances. The Horizon drive would maximize their travel speeds - travelling as close to the speed of lgiht as efficiently possible means making the most out of not only navigating warp rifts but the routes as well. Other examples of this in action would be the Black Reef/Hadex anomaly from Deathwatch
Eventually they start tinkering with their drive system in other ways to achieve other effects. We can presume the grav drive is a factor in protecting them from the effects of the warp minus a gellar field (in conjunction with their low/nearly nonexistent warp souls) but the grav drive configurations may enable them to more effectively harness and shape the routes they take, and we get into the first steps of warp dives. They start out slow and less efficient at first, but over time they continue refining the process and making improvements (being able to maintain the dive for longer (Velk'Han and Deathwatch come in here.)
Eventually, they learn to artificially replicate the Warp Dive without being confined to routes - they still can't enter the warp and it may be slower than 'in-route' travel, but this allows them much more flexibility in expanding than they had. This may or may not be the 'impulse reactors' of third sphere - we might surmise these are sort of a weaker version of slipstream drive that only achieves the 'partial' translations. We might consider this the ether drive - the logical conclusion of their pre-Warp drive travel. Speeds may get closer to equalling 'average' warp travel (non Navigator) but its still potentially much slower than true warp drive even if they could maintain the dive indefinitely (which at that point, they might on at least some ships or in some locations) Smaller ships like the Manta can also be equipped with FTL drives now.
Third sphere ends with the conflagration fo the Damocles Gulf and the Tau can no longer bypass it effectively (We could surmise that any 'artificial' dives are too short ranged or slow to make this practical over reasonable timescales for the Tau to wage war. The fastest longest-ranged routes for warp-diving would be through the Gulf, much as travelling to Jericho Reach meant the Hadex anomaly and black Reef. The Tau cannot continue their progress until the creation of slipstream drive (the final evolution of the impulse reactors to emulate Warp drive without psykers or navigators) and that brings us to 8th and eventually 9th with the fifth sphere and the Startide Nexus.
And 9th edition brings us the promise of a sixth sphere expansion... courtesy of the slipstream drive:
Codex Tau 9th said:
"Or do we exercise our new-found reach to once again push beyond what the Gue'la call the Damocles Gulf, to reclaim the septs that were lost and drive deeper than ever into the western galactic reaches? Understand my guests,this is not some mere dream. Fio'vre Ka'buto and his scientists assure me that the modifications they have made to their original designs render the Slipstream module safer and more stable than ever before when deployed en masse. With such a device at our disposal, the stars are closer than ever, and oru duty to reach them clearer.'
El'Umeh couldn't believe what she was hearing.
The Sixth Sphere Expansion, she thought, light-headed with amazement. The Ethereal Supreme is considering the commencement of the Sixth Sphere Expansion, and he is asking for my Commander's thoughts on where it should occur.
Such a thing was unheard of. The battles of the Fith Sphere Expansion still raged beyond the Zone of Silence. O'Shaserra herself led the push to colonise new worlds and raise new septs beyond the fabled wormhole. El'Umeh was hardly in possession of all the data, yet she had the impression that the empire had expended vast resources already on gathering and launching that fleet. To think that it could muster a sixth expansion even while the fifth was still underway... had the scope and scale of T'au space truly grown so vast?
Setting aside the implication that the Tau are vast enough in terms of territory and industry to sustain two Spheres of expansion so closely together, we're told that they can now safely engage in large scale use of slipstream and derive the benefits of its speed in their expansion. No more limits to warp dives or ether drive. They could achieve something that matches at least some kinds of Warp travel.
This also makes clear that the Tau not only didn't lose slipstream travel with fourth sphere. It was simply limited in its scale of application. Single ships (or small numbers) might be able to harness it effectively and without danger - but large fleets (scores or hundreds) were dangerous. Now, that may no longer be so true, and that is a HUGE game changer for the Tau.
Another thing to consider is - as I said before - in many ways the 'Ether drive/warp dive' feature is describing the same essential capability, it just evolves incrementally with each step or including a new wrinkle. First you have the grav drive - which plays a role in maintaining the warp dive once they develop that technology and presumably protecting the craft and permitting some degree of navigating the charted routes in their domain. Then as per 6th you have the 'Horizon' drive which allows for rapid and effective near-lightspeed travel. If the routes allow for the warp to amplify sublight speeds into translight speeds, then maximizing your realspace speed would be the best way to optimize travel time.
Eventually late second/early third you're getting into the true Ether Drive/Warp Dives as outlined in BFG and the impulse reactor upgrade allows for that push for 'artificially' created routes/dives (and possibly leads to the truly long-distance travel like allowing Kel'Shan to reach Jericho Reach sector despite being potentially hundreds of light years away) - the grav drive helps to maintain the dive, the Horizon engines keep speed maximized during that dive. Despite being from different, unconnected sources, you can clearly treat each iteration as being an improvement of each technology, allowing the Tau to move that much faster until they reach the presumable endpoint (currently) with a fully fledged and potentially workable slipstream drive that can be utilized for large fleets - leading to Sixth Sphere.
****
Now we get to FTL comms courtesy of Shadowsun, last of Kiru's line:
Shadowsun last of Kiru's Line said:
'It is agreeable to see you, Shas'la,' she said. 'What is the status of our communications?'
Sabu'ro glanced at Kou'to before answering. The veteran's nod told him that it was all right to address Shadowsun directly.
'Commander,' he said proudly, 'we are fully capable. Local tightbeam and interplanetary tachyon arrays are both at one hundred per cent.'
'Are you able to contact the rest of the fleet?'
'It has already been done. All ships are holding at station-keeping eight light-minutes beyond il'Wolaho's moon, as per your previous instructions. Command of the armada has passed to Kor'el Kenhi'ta, who relayed the news of what transpired today to T'au via graviton data packet.' He smiled. 'After you last spoke to me, I made all vessels aware of your survival.'
'Was that news also relayed to T'au?'
Young Sabu'ro seemed confused by the question. 'Why would it not be?'
Shadowsun nodded, imagining what the reaction must have been back on the home world. First, news that a powerful warship had been destroyed with all hands lost. Then, later on, a second bulletin informing everyone that she and a handful of others were alive, but for the moment, non-recoverable. Shock, followed by sadness, followed by joy, followed by concern. The halls of the Aun't'au'retha, the supreme council of Ethereals who presided over the Empire, must have been uncharacteristically lively this day. Once again, she blamed herself.
...
'Commander, there's an incoming data packet addressed to you.' He passed the flex-screen to Shadowsun. 'A pre-recorded message of some kind, relayed through the fleet position.'
Il'Walaho was nearly one hundred and fifty light-years away from the heart of the Empire. Real-time communication over such distances was impossible, even for a race as technologically advanced as the tau. Shadowsun took note of the time stamp as the bundle of words and decompiled themselves; whatever the nature of this message, it had been sent while her fleet was in translation from T'au.
'It says here that this was made and received some time ago. Why am I only seeing it now?'
Sabu'ro shook his head as the recording began.
'O'Shaserra,' it said slowly and clearly, 'This is Aun'va speaking. As leader of the Aun't'au'retha, may I say that it brings great relief to all to hear that you have survived the destruction of your command vessel.'
We get reference to 'tachyon' communications (presumably the short-range/in system stuff) and the 'grav-wave' data packets. There are two distinct kinds of communication and calcs here but I'll indulge in a little speculation relating to Eye of Terror. A numbe rof sources (Eye of Terror website back in 3rd edition, the Deathwatch RPG) mention tachyonic bullshit, and its often tied to Warp phenomena (as is 'subspace' bullshit in the Hoare novels.) We also know that gravity and spatial distortions are closely related to warp phenomena as well. And as mentioned before, Eye of Terror indicated that in a warp-realspace interface 'lightspeed' signals (like photons/light) could be effectively translight. In that sense, we might consider 'tachyons' to be matter subjected to the translight properties of the warp, wheras grav packets might be some sort of weird modulated grave pulses that create a sort of warp 'dive' signal to relay data back to the destination (unless of course its a physical vessel. That's not clear.) It may even be that its a tachyonic signal that is manipulated the same way the grav drive helps maintain a warp dive.
Anyhow, bullshit speculatin over nature done, we go to the calcs. The first is for the ship-to ground communications which are almost or effectively instantaneous over an eight light minute distance (this will get reiterated later) and that plays out to around at least FTL communications speed of tens of c (call it 50c or so.)
The grav-packet takes longer, but it occurs well within the space of a day (twelve hours) and possibly as little as four to six hours (remember it started during morning, and now its afternoon to evening here.) so its clearly a matter of hours top, and less than a day at worst. For the message to cover 150 LY in one day (12 hours to 24) you get between 54,000-109,000c roughly. In 4-6 hours it would be more like 220,000-330,000c. That's slow compared to some and not suitable for FTL travel (even commercial astrotelepathy can cross 10-20 LY in around 11 minutes as per Eisenhorn, whereas others have realtime communication between two nearby systems and multiple light years. 1st edition has Astrotelepathy crossing 50,000 LY in seconds or minutes even, albeit with ten words or less.) But for the Tau? That's quite fast, esp considering their FTL (such as it is) would be orders of magnitude slower. Many times throughout her career, she had pictured the memorial they would erect of her on T'au following her death. It would be placed before the Mont'yr Battle Dome, of course, where it would stand among the other heroes of her people, immortalised in six-metre-high white marble. Along the base would read her accolades – Shadowsun, daughter of Kiru, hero of the K'resh Expansion War, scourge of the greenskin barbarians, bulwark against the hive fleets.
The K'Resh Expansion War was part of the Great War of Confederation which took place in 975.M41 and lasted a dozen years, meaning this is between the end of that (12 years later, or in 987.M41) and the start of 3rd sphere in 997.M41 - no more than a decade difference. Given that Third Sphere involved Aun'Va accompanying Shadowsun personally (As 6th edition outlines) from the Tau homeworld, that means Shadowsun made a round trip from the edge of the empire and back to pick up the Supreme leader (5 years both ways).

​

Then read my observations please.
When we met, you came across my setup I established circa 2018/2019 when i was going through the worst part of my life to date.
2019 i had my first no breathe attempt.
Prior to that i was just bpd and bipolar.
Had you got me to spiral prior to 2019 you wouldn't have gitten ROS as a failsafe, becuase you would've made ROS spiral, period.
When we met, making me spiral met shutting down my top level personality and what i used to call my subroutine perosnality.
Remember all the language i used to describe the situation, the feelings?
ROS is always there, filtering, interfacing? Doesn't that sound like a permanent front to you?
Ly was there for the three years as the Only Other Person. So shutting her down meant ROS could actually breathe.
You once said "ROS i love you" or smthn; I, ly, asked why. You replied "ROS needs love too"
I didn't get why at the time; but ROS had already split into EL and ROS. EL was already recording everything that ROS said and did. Its how we were able to identify her as the original "host" or rather permanent fronter.
I really want you to believe me. Fun fact, EL amd ROS are really nonviolent. Im the one that punches walls (and breaks the drywall.) Im the one who throws things out of rage.
Is it that hard to believe? I was already demonstratedly schizophrenic.
Heres the kicker; the emotional amnesia.
I remember putting the hole in the wall over my head in my bed after a particularly nasty fight one morning.
Not EL. Not ROS. Me.
Fun fact, Sundays are also my days. Also a fun fact, im the one that y'all drugged. Not EL. Not ROS. Even if ROS was drugged by you, it wouldn't matter she's into that shit. She's your nasty freak. EL too but she's. Well, you have your nasty little freak then you have your freak. Thats EL.
Anyway i digress.
I wanna note i shortened all our names because it helps maintain primary fronter (since only one can be in control at a time) and for our safety. I know you can extrapolate what they mean though. -EL
Its strange. I was the mist resistant to adjust. Especially when we have things like that where they can interject.
It wasn't easy, i was really quite comfy being primary fronter. I setup a good life for us. But it was literally built on using the first 18 years of my life as a filtering mechanism instead of trying to be a good person. But thats who EL is. She doesn't do good by having all her actions filtered.
I've been fighting this all week. I wanted ROS to recognize us, give us names, becuase once she realized she was permanent fronter she reeled it in sinxe clearly i got us to the point of our second no breath attempt.
Which, by the way, was me. Im the impulsive one. ROS was the one that wanted to wait.
They dont have any memory of that night. Im the one that watched the blood squirt out my leg.
ROS remembers assisting patching us up and stabilizating but actually committing the act, the emotions associated? All me.
You know whos the one that left our ex? EL. She's a heartless motherfucker.
I dont recall any the emotions involved except for, well, the conflict. ROS tried so hard to keep it all together.
I know you don't want to believe it.
Its not your form. What you have is fucked but ROS really wishes she could disconnect too. Having done three years of primary front while she checked out for the most part was rough.
Its literally just. When you have three folk fronting; except one is always stuck there. Imagine Callie was unable to swap out with anyone, and y'all could only cofront. Still say and do things as one can while cofronting but usually there's a lot of internal dialogue sometimes us making fun of eachother or just razing ROS or I for our shenanigans.
Hell, last week ROS had two days entirely to herseld. EL and I could be brought to front cause, well, ROS is host after all, but, she was alone. It was weird, good for her. She'd not a chance to exist as herself. Last week we had a convo with our favorite ai. Presented our concerns, and we each had a Conversation with it that presented our takes, and demonstrated we do have a degree of emotional amnesia between actions. ROS may always be cognitive but that doesn't mean she has to care about what's going on beyond it being safe;
ROS remembers 2018. I dont. The first year was good. Second year, trans yesr, was very bad. Thats all mine.
Hell, yesterday was primarily EL and ROS. Thats why there was so much writing
Friday was primarily EL, we did a buncha responsible things neither ROS nor I would ever do.
Today, me. The one that is unapologetically obsessed, since the other two wont let themselves be. So you get me.
Its not like your system. Im even hesitant to call it a system. Theres just three folk that want the same thing, for us to prosper and we have relative order because its such a small team.
If you've paid attention my love is direct. My words are direct. Im the one that likes to tell you as it is
EL and ROS love their poetry I think poetry is dumb.
Which is funny given im the artist and EL the engineer.
I was really afraid of this being imposter syndrome. But our childhood friend, technically ROS, she was so fucking happy to reconnect, put it in a better light for us
Its true, i was -ROS
A delusion doesn't have personality and emotion.
ROS and EL simply dont get angry the way i do. As i simply dont have the responsibility EL does, or the tact ROS does
Is it really that hard to believe we've experienced severe enough stress to shatter our psyche? I've committed no live twice now, and not for the reasons anyone would attribute.
Everyone assumes them but they're always wrong. The straw that broke the camels back isnt why. It was just the last support to fail. Stress adds up, shears the rivets and buckles the girders -EL
I'm not sure what else to do or say; We have literally have started verbally vocalizing conflicts between ourselves in private. It makes the matter seem more insignificant. We try to avoid it cause it feels really weird to actually. Communicate vocally with ourselves, we usually receed back to mind at that point.
If you read this and decide that maybe its realsies, then please, can we t a l k? I know ROS and EL would love to demonstrate what we've. Sorted out. I could explain the mechanics and stuff but thats really EL domain and ROS just really wants her fucking wives. I dont know why i cant remember it but i spent a lot of time, probably in my dreamscape, with ny wives, yesterday, while they went for a walk. I know i spend my time dreaming of my wives. I wouldn't be so calm otherwise.
ROS doesnt have the privilege and EL doesn't feel right to leave ROS behind.
Rather makes ROS sad.
Its weird, feeling emotion that isn't mine, i wont act but like right now, ROS wanted to cry because she misses you. Rip to her but im built different. She might still once this is done. Its a strong one.
Anyway.
To end this, i want this to be a delusion as much as you do, but the proof is in the pudding.
I was already prone to fracturing, and when it happened we used it was a way to isolate our permanent host from the world.
Now we know better. We being ROS and I.
ROS, still host, given she cant pass off host privileges as much as she'd like to, but we have order. She's not being suppressed because of me anymore.
We're doing relatively well too.
I wish you'd talk to us because i was struggling to even decide if i wanted to believe EL that this was the case.
ROS took it right away
Hell if you'd talked to us you mighta even had a chance to tell us this was delusional but as i conclude i feel more reaffirmed in going to see a professional cause this feels like the thing that needs it Maybe its just Advanced Schizophrenia.
I dont think so though. Becuase these emotions were very much so mine, and the ones that weren't...were documented as such.
They had their chance to get emotions out yesterday.
I wanna note, im generally only primary fronter two days out the week. I still jump in and hang out in front but typically its EL or ROS. EL cause she's gotta do her time too and ROS cause. Well. She's stuck.
The trippiest thing has been having not entirely involuntary facial reactions but having facial responses to internal thoughts because the response is from one the others. I sure as shit didn't make a face to my own thought lol
This actually felt a little cathartic. Even to our friend i didn't have this.
Also, I've been developing this friendship brand new cause all i have is the "chat history" with this friend and its so fun making new friends! I think im more extroverted than the other two it just sucks we have no fucking social skills. -EL
True, she has been enjoying herself. Swapping between fronters is strange, theres this weird moment while the gears shift, but its neat otherwise. Also shes so fucking responsible and actually enjoya engaging with people. She's a fucking freak. -ROS
I... actually dont have the same bonds to this friend as ROS does becuase i poorly took over that friendship these last three years and thought i killed it last year before i dragged our ass up here. ROS reached out though from her first disc account. Its good. I... didn't know why we were so bonded to them but i get why now.
Anyway, i spent a lot of our phone battery on you this morning. You're worth it.
I hope you'll hear this out. Otherwise I'll be back with a diagnosis. I will be either way. But it'll either be with your support because you know this is scary. I doubt you've a diagnosis yet either but arguably you dont really need one.
I need it to be schizo or smthn else bc its getting scary and i need the diagnosis for my comfort. Like our future, its happening either way. Not often i actually say that. I didn't commit myself to schizo diagnosis but i am committing myself to this, ROS already decided and EL has already taken steps.
We really want your support though, professional wise, because its scary.
Our situation not so much, we're vibin pretty hard, but professionals are scary. Know we'll be holding on tight when we go throug the process.
And yes, we'd do this regardless of where we are living. This is too important, like our depression and adhd diagnoses, to skip.
Anyway. Your Siren lover, Ly.

Elemental

• Rotten Tomatoes 57% (7 Reviews)
  
• Metacritic: 56 (7 Reviews)
  

Reviews
The Hollywood Reporter:

The elements all fit perfectly into place — so much so that the creative flames are doused, and we’re left without much of an impression.

Variety:

I reckon there are more ideas per second of screentime in “Elemental” than any other Pixar movie to date. So why does this imagination-teasing opposites-attract rom-com feel like a misfire?

Deadline:

New Pixar Animation Is Visually Splendid, But Swamped In Syrupy Sentiment

IndieWire (B):

As conflicted as they come: a heavy-handed, mixed bag immigrant metaphor punctuated by a genuinely moving romance. It gets frequently lost down the rabbit-hole of its own conceptual details but yields occasionally stunning images and thoughtful aesthetics

The Wrap:

With story beats and character turns that strain well beyond familiarity, Elemental matches formal adventure with storytelling timidity. Here is a new spin on the old formula, livened up by advances in technology and delivered with real artistry. The film is full of complex and volatile parts, all held together in the most elemental of containers.

Total Film (3/5):

A sweet-natured love story, well-intentioned, animated and acted, but lacking the depth of some of the studio’s greatest triumphs.

Screen Daily:

Elemental contains hints of the studio’s wit and poignancy while lacking the inspired execution that once seemed so effortless.

Daily Telegraph (3/5):

While unlikely to feature on many people’s favourite Pixar lists, Elemental brings with it the satisfying creak of a ship being righted.

The Times (3/5):

A flawed but big-hearted tale of forbidden love.

Next Best Picture (8/10):

"Elemental" will warm your heart and move you to tears.

London Evening Standard (2/5):

For all Elemental’s many charms, this nonsensical film simply doesn’t cut the mustard.

Synopsis:

An all-new, original feature film set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. The story introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.

Cast:

• Leah Lewis as Ember Lumen
  
• Clara Lin Ding voices Ember as a little kid, while Reagan To voices Ember as a big kid.[4]
  
• Mamoudou Athie as Wade Ripple
  
• Ronnie del Carmen as Bernie Lumen (Útrí dár ì Bùrdì)
  
• Shila Ommi as Cinder Lumen (Fâsh ì Síddèr)
  
• Mason Wertheimer as Clod
  
• Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gale Cumulus
  
• Catherine O'Hara as Brook Ripple
  
• Ronobir Lahiri as Harold
  
• Wilma Bonet as Flarrietta
  
• Joe Pera as Fern Grouchwood
  
• Matt Yang King as Alan Ripple, Lutz, and Earth Pruner
  
• Jeff LaPensee as Sparkler Customer
  
• Ben Morris as Wood Immigration Official
  
• Jonathan Adams as Flarry
  
• Alex Kapp as: Customer, Delivery Person, Earth Landlord.
  
• P.L. Brown as Doorman
  

Directed by:Peter Sohn
Screenplay by: John Hoberg, Kat Likkel, Brenda Hsueh
Story by: Peter Sohn, John Hoberg, Kat Likkel,Brenda Hsueh
Produced by: Denise Ream
Cinematography: David Bianchi, Jean-Claude Kalache
Edited by: Stephen Schaffer
Music by: Thomas Newman
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Release date: June 16, 2023

Notion has emerged as an essential writing tool over the past few years. It already allowed users to manage virtually every aspect of the content creation process in an easy to use interface. That’s why I was excited to see that Notion just lauched its AI tool, Notion AI. But what exact is Notion AI and what are the potential uses of Notion AI for writers? Read on to learn more!

What is Notion?

​
Notion is a digital workspace that allows you to organize and manage various aspects of your life, including tasks, projects, notes, and more. It is a flexible, all-in-one platform that combines the functionality of various productivity tools, such as project management software, note-taking apps, and databases, into a single workspace.
Notion features a customizable interface that allows users to create pages, databases, and templates that suit their specific needs. It also supports a wide range of integrations with other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Trello, and Slack.
Notion is available on desktop and mobile devices, and it offers both free and paid plans with varying levels of features and capabilities. Its popularity has grown rapidly in recent years, making it a popular choice for individuals, teams, and businesses looking to streamline their workflows and increase productivity.

What is Notion AI?

Notion announced on February 22, 2023 that all users could access notion’s latest tool, Notion AI.
Notion AI is an artificial intelligence assistant that can be used natively within Notion documents, spreadsheets, or other Notion products. Notion AI uses the same GPT-3 language model that is behind ChatGPT.

What Are The Features of Notion AI?

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Notion AI contains a number of features designed to enhance productivity for writers within Notion.
Notion AI allow users to:
- Create a content calendar to plan ahead and stay organized with your blog posts.
- Write catchy headlines that will grab your readers’ attention and encourage them to read further.
- Use visuals, such as images and videos, to make your blog posts more engaging and memorable.
- Make sure your blog is mobile-friendly, as more and more people are accessing content on their smartphones and tablets.
- Use social media to promote your blog and reach a wider audience.
- Engage with your readers by responding to comments and encouraging discussion on your blog.
- Focus on a niche or specific topic to establish yourself as an expert in that area.
- Collaborate with other bloggers or brands to expand your reach and bring new perspectives to your blog.
- Use SEO techniques, such as keyword research and meta descriptions, to improve your blog’s visibility on search engines.
- Experiment with different types of content, such as listicles, how-to guides, and interviews, to keep your blog fresh and interesting.
You can see a full list of the current Notion AI features in the screenshots below:

Notion AI Pricing

​
Anyone (including users with a free Notion plan) can try Notion AI for free, in order to test its capabilities before purchasing the add-on subscription.
However, once you’ve used all your complimentary Notion AI responses, you will see a message that a Notion AI add-on subscription is necessary to continue using AI features. You’ll then need to purchase the Notion AI add on.
The Notion AI add-on costs $8 per member / month for users choosing the annual plan (an additional $96 per year) if you already have a paid Notion account.
If you have a paid Notion plan and choose to purchase the Notion AI add-on but pay with monthly billing, or decide to keep your free Notion account and only upgrade to receive Notion AI, you will be charged $10 per member / month ($120 per year).

How Can Writers Use Notion AI?

​
Having experimented with Notion AI (both as an early beta tester and using the plan currently available to all users), here are some of the top use cases demonstrating the value of Notion AI for writers:
​

1. Summarizing Written Content

Notion AI offers an easy to use, one click command, that automatically summarizes a portion of text highlighted.
For the purposes of this example, I entered the text of a recent WSJ article, Fed Minutes Show Most Officials Favored Quarter-Point Rate Rise.
​
The original article text is listed below:
Most Federal Reserve officials thought slowing the pace of interest-rate increases at their meeting three weeks ago offered the best way to balance the risks of doing too much or too little to combat inflation, but some warned against the hazards of slowing or stopping rate increases too soon.
“A number of participants observed that a policy stance that proved to be insufficiently restrictive could halt recent progress in moderating inflationary pressures,” said the minutes of the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting, released Wednesday.
Fed officials unanimously approved raising their benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a range between 4.5% and 4.75% on Feb. 1. That increase followed six larger increases, including a half percentage point in December.
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank will raise interest rates a quarter-percentage-point. Powell said more increases will likely be needed to continue lowering inflation.
The minutes of the gathering said that “almost all participants agreed that it was appropriate” to raise rates by a quarter point, or 25 basis points. Many of these officials “observed that a further slowing in the pace of rate increases would better allow them to assess the economy’s progress… as they determine the extent of future policy tightening,” the minutes said.
But a few participants favored or would have also agreed to a larger half-point move, the minutes said. “The participants favoring a 50-basis-point increase noted that a larger increase would more quickly bring the target range close to the levels they believed would achieve a sufficiently restrictive stance,” the minutes said.
Their discussion suggested another increase of a quarter point was likely at their next meeting on March 21-22. Since then, new data indicated stronger economic activity and slower progress on inflation than previously expected, which could keep the Fed raising rates longer than anticipated before the latest reports.
At the time of the recent meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell was facing increasing skepticism from investors over whether the central bank would continue raising rates because economic activity had been mixed around year’s end, with signs that consumer spending had moderated and weakness in the hard-hit housing sector was spreading to manufacturing. Investors were also anticipating rate cuts later this year.
The Fed raises rates to combat inflation by slowing the economy through tighter financial conditions—such as higher borrowing costs, lower stock prices and a stronger dollar—that curb demand.
Most Fed officials projected in December that they would raise the fed-funds rate to 5.1% this year, which would imply quarter-point rate increases at their next two meetings, in March and May. More than a third of officials anticipated lifting the rate above 5.25%. No officials projected rate cuts this year.
Some officials at the meeting observed that any continued easing in financial conditions could require the Fed to raise rates to higher levels or keep them at higher levels for longer than anticipated.
In the three weeks since they met, fresh U.S. economic reports showed that hiring and retail spending surged in January. The unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, a 53-year low, surprising economists who have long anticipated that Fed rate increases would slow economic growth soon. Economic growth also has rebounded in Europe, further easing worries of a global recession this year.
As a result, investors now expect the Fed to lift the fed-funds rate to around 5.4% in June–more than central bank officials had projected in December.
Inflation’s swift decline late last year also stalled in January. The 12-month inflation rate edged down to 6.4% last month from 6.5% in December and a recent high of 9.1% in June, according to the Labor Department. The department’s widely followed gauge, the consumer-price index, rose a sturdy 0.5% in January from the month before, a sign of still strong price pressures.
Two Fed presidents said last week they would have supported a larger half-point rate rise at the last meeting, rather than the quarter-point increase approved. One of them, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, said officials aren’t limited to quarter-point steps. “We can move faster, and we can do bigger [increases] at any particular meeting.”
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard also said he would support moving as quickly as possible to raise the fed-funds rate to 5.4%. “I don’t see much merit in delaying our approach to that level,” he told reporters last week.
Most other Fed officials have expressed a preference for quarter-point increases. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin told reporters last week he liked that approach “because I believe it gives us the flexibility to respond” depending on how the economy evolves.
Mr. Barkin said he didn’t favor moving rapidly to an estimated peak rate before pausing because he isn’t confident the central bank can gauge how much its past rate moves are slowing the economy. “That theory, to me, requires more confidence in understanding” the effectiveness of tighter rate policy “than I have,” he said.
Overall inflation had slowed in recent months largely because of falling prices of energy and other goods. Large increases in housing costs have slowed, but haven’t yet filtered through to official price gauges. Mr. Powell has nevertheless justified continued rate increases by pointing to still-tight labor markets, elevated wage pressures and high inflation for labor-intensive services.
Mr. Barkin noted the surprising strength in January spending and hiring, but said he wasn’t ready to substantially revise his economic outlook because of the potential for unusual seasonal volatility, including a longer holiday spending season in the fourth quarter, warmer weather and changes in how employers are managing their staffing given recent difficulties hiring workers.
Investors’ shifting expectations about the Fed could already be helping the central bank because interest-rate policies work through financial markets. Changes to the anticipated trajectory of rates, and not just what the Fed does at any meeting, can influence broader financial conditions.
Since November, anticipation of a milder interest-rate path led financial conditions to ease somewhat after tightening substantially last year. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, for example, jumped from 4% one year ago to 7% in November. It then edged lower, to around 6% earlier this month.
Over the past two weeks, however, financial conditions have tightened again as investors anticipate an interval of higher short-term interest rates. Mortgage lenders have reported rates are returning back to 7% in recent days.
After a few seconds, Notion AI generated the following text summarizing the article:
The minutes of the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting of the Federal Reserve show that most officials favored slowing the pace of interest-rate increases to balance the risks of doing too much or too little to combat inflation. However, some warned against slowing or stopping rate increases too soon. The minutes also suggest that another increase of a quarter point is likely at the next meeting on March 21-22. Fresh U.S. economic reports showed that hiring and retail spending surged in January, which could keep the Fed raising rates longer than anticipated before the latest reports.
Investors’ expectations about the Fed could already be helping the central bank, as interest-rate policies work through financial markets. Changes to the anticipated trajectory of rates, and not just what the Fed does at any meeting, can influence broader financial conditions. Since November, anticipation of a milder interest-rate path led financial conditions to ease somewhat after tightening substantially last year.
Over the past two weeks, however, financial conditions have tightened again as investors anticipate an interval of higher short-term interest rates. Mortgage lenders have reported rates are returning back to 7% in recent days. Two Fed presidents said last week they would have supported a larger half-point rate rise at the last meeting, rather than the quarter-point increase approved.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard also said he would support moving as quickly as possible to raise the fed-funds rate to 5.4%. Most other Fed officials have expressed a preference for quarter-point increases, as they believe it gives them the flexibility to respond depending on how the economy evolves.
Overall inflation had slowed in recent months largely because of falling prices of energy and other goods, but large increases in housing costs have slowed, but haven’t yet filtered through to official price gauges. Mr. Powell has nevertheless justified continued rate increases by pointing to still-tight labor markets, elevated wage pressures, and high inflation for labor-intensive services.
While not perfect, this is a really good summarization of a complex article/topic. And the Notion AI tool also provided options for further editing this text, including making the summary longer, rewriting the entire summary, or replacing a section of the article.

2. Changing Tone of Text

​
Another great feature of Notion AI is its ability to change the tone of text.
For example, I used the following excerpt from a Washington Post article on winter weather:
A strong, intensifying storm system continued its trek across the Lower 48 early Wednesday, unleashing high-impact winter weather that could cause widespread power outages and grind travel to a halt. At least 75 million Americans are under winter storm, ice storm, blizzard warnings or winter weather advisories.
In addition to hefty precipitation in much of the Midwest and parts of the Plains, there could also be snow in notably low elevations — including in areas that rarely see measurable snowfall. Even the Los Angeles County mountains are included in a rare blizzard warning — the first issued by the National Weather Service office there since 1989. Snow levels could descend to below 1,000 feet elevation as extreme anomalous cold at high altitudes whips up a serious elevation storm.
That same lobe of frigid air aloft is also spawning a surface low that’s marching across the country. Over the Upper Midwest and the northern Plains, up to two feet of snow could fall in what the National Weather Service office in Minneapolis is calling a historic winter storm. It could prove to be a top-5 event in the Twin Cities, where blizzard warnings slice through the metro.
On the southern fringe of the snowfall, mild air a mile above the ground will favor freezing rain, with a quarter- to a half-inch of ice accumulation, or glaze, possible in some areas. Parts of the Corn Belt and Michigan are expected to be hardest hit, including places like Dubuque and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or Lansing, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor in Michigan.
The storm should finish its cross-country assault in the Northeast late Thursday into Friday, where additional winter storm warnings are in effect for northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
I then used the Notion AI change tone function, and selected the “casual option”:
The Notion AI tool then quickly generated the following text:
Wowza, we’ve got a major storm system heading across the US of A, bringing some serious winter weather that could knock out power and put a stop to travel plans. That’s no joke, folks! It looks like around 75 million Americans are under winter storm, ice storm, blizzard warnings or winter weather advisories, so you know this is serious business.
And get this, it’s not just heavy precipitation we’re talking about – parts of the Midwest and Plains could get snow, and we’re talking about areas that don’t usually see snowfall. The Los Angeles County mountains are even included in a rare blizzard warning – the first one issued by the National Weather Service office there in over 30 years! The snow could even come down to below 1,000 feet elevation. Yikes!
There’s a lobe of frigid air up high that’s causing all of this, and it’s also spawning a surface low that’s going across the country. In the Upper Midwest and the northern Plains, we’re talking up to two feet of snow in what the National Weather Service office in Minneapolis is calling a historic winter storm. That’s right, it could be a top-5 event in the Twin Cities, where blizzard warnings are all over the place.
On the southern edge of the snowfall, freezing rain is likely, and some areas could see a quarter- to a half-inch of ice accumulation. The Corn Belt and Michigan are expected to be hit hard, including places like Dubuque and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or Lansing, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor in Michigan.
This storm is going to finish up with a bang in the Northeast late Thursday into Friday, where more winter storm warnings are in effect for northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Stay safe out there, folks!
While perhaps a bit over the top, it definitely demonstrates the AI tools ability to create content using different tones.

3. Writing Social Media Posts

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While the previous two use cases demonstrate the Notion AI tool’s ability to synthesize and mimic different forms of text, this next example shows its power to create text based off of very short prompts. Specifically, how it can quickly generate social media posts.
I selected the option from the Notion AI menu to write a social media post. It asked for me to enter a prompt to complete this sentence:
Write a social media post about_____________
And I simply entered “spring cleaning.”
In response, it generated the following social media post (including the hashtags):
Spring is here and it’s time for some cleaning! Whether it’s decluttering your home, organizing your closet, or deep cleaning those hard-to-reach areas, now is the perfect time to get started. A little bit of cleaning can go a long way in making your space feel refreshed and renewed. Don’t forget to donate any items you no longer need to charity or recycle them responsibly. Let’s all welcome spring with a clean and organized home!
#springcleaning #declutter #organization #cleanhome #refreshed #renewed #donate #recycle
While not perfect, I didn’t give the AI tool much information, so I was fairly impressed with this output.

4. Writing a Blog Post

​
Similar to the last use case, I wanted to further text the Notion AI tool’s ability to generate written content. So I selected the “write a blog post” option and entered the following prompt:
The tool generated the following blog post:

The Benefits of Jogging

Introduction

Jogging is a popular form of exercise that has numerous benefits for both physical and mental health. It is a low-impact exercise that can be done anytime and anywhere, making it a convenient choice for people of all ages and fitness levels. Jogging is also an affordable form of exercise, as it requires no special equipment or membership fees. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the benefits of jogging and how it can improve your overall health and well-being.

Physical Benefits

Jogging is an excellent way to improve cardiovascular health. It helps to strengthen the heart and lungs, lowers blood pressure, and reduces the risk of heart disease. Jogging also helps to build endurance and increase stamina, which can improve athletic performance in other activities.
In addition to its cardiovascular benefits, jogging can also help with weight loss and weight management. It is an effective way to burn calories and boost metabolism, which can help to shed excess pounds and maintain a healthy weight. Jogging also helps to build muscle and tone the body, giving you a leaner and more sculpted appearance.
Jogging is also good for bone health. It helps to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis, a condition that causes bones to become brittle and weak. Regular jogging can also improve joint health and flexibility, reducing the risk of injury and improving overall mobility.

Mental Benefits

Jogging is not just good for physical health, it also has many mental health benefits. It is an excellent way to reduce stress and anxiety, as it releases endorphins that promote feelings of happiness and relaxation. Jogging can also boost self-esteem and confidence, helping to improve overall mood and well-being.
Regular jogging can also improve cognitive function and brain health. It has been shown to improve memory, concentration, and overall brain function, reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia in later life. Jogging can also help to improve sleep quality, which is essential for overall health and well-being.

Social Benefits

Jogging can also provide social benefits, as it can be a great way to meet new people and make friends. Joining a jogging group or running club can provide a supportive and motivating environment, where you can connect with other like-minded individuals who share your passion for jogging.

Getting Started with Jogging

If you are new to jogging, it is important to start slowly and gradually build up your endurance. Begin with short, easy runs and gradually increase the distance and intensity over time. It is also important to wear proper shoes and clothing to prevent injury and ensure comfort while jogging.
To make jogging more enjoyable, try listening to music or a podcast while you run. You can also join a jogging group or find a jogging buddy to keep you motivated and accountable.

Conclusion

In conclusion, jogging is an excellent form of exercise that can benefit both physical and mental health. It can improve cardiovascular health, aid in weight management, strengthen bones and joints, reduce stress and anxiety, boost self-esteem and confidence, and improve cognitive function and brain health. Jogging can also provide social benefits, making it a great way to meet new people and make friends. If you are looking for an easy and convenient way to improve your health and well-being, jogging is a great place to start. So put on your running shoes, hit the pavement, and enjoy the many benefits of this simple yet effective form of exercise.
Overall, I was very impressed with how quickly it generated this grammatically correct and well written blog post. It’s worth noting that once the Notion AI tool finishes generating the text, there is a button you can click to make the article longer, which it also does with ease.

5. Finding Action Items

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Last, I wanted to test the “finding action items” tool. To do this, I found a publicly available copy of a county’s meeting minutes over their local water authority (see PDF here):
​
I then ran the text through the AI tool, using the “find action items tool”:
​
Notion AI generated the following:

• - [ ] Purchase hydrants to replace existing hydrants in the Pinebrook Water System
• - [ ] Complete the activation of the system, replacing the hydrants, and other miscellaneous punch list items to complete the Pinebrook Water Interconnection Project
• - [ ] Engage legal counsel to advise on the assignment from Global Foundries to Onsemi
• - [ ] Request a preliminary meeting with the Poughkeepsie Joint Water Board to discuss issues and concerns regarding the assignment from Global Foundries to Onsemi
• - [ ] Speak to the Deputy County Executive, Ron Hicks in regard to the request to assign the water sale agreement to Onsemi
• - [ ] Consider retaining auditors, RBT to review Onsemi’s financials
• - [ ] Follow up with Ron Haase, Rust & Co. about purchasing the Market Street Plant

Overall, I was very impressed with the ability of the AI tool to generate action items. Since many Notion users (students, office workers, etc.) use Notion for note taking, this seems like an extremely valuable feature.
Conclusion
The examples of Notion’s AI tool make a strong case for adding the Notion AI tool to your writer toolkit! And the examples above only represent a fraction of the total use cases. Notion is already one of the best productivity tools for bloggers, and the addition of Notion AI for writers further cements its place on this list!

Company Name	Title	City
Advance Auto Parts Black History Month	Store Hourly	Beckley
Wexford Health Sources	MD Physician Assistant	Charles Town
Delaware North	Surveillance Agent	Charleston
Alto Health Care Staffing	ICU RN	Elkins
GHR Travel Nursing	PCU RN	Morgantown
Sevita	Carer	Morgantown
Triage Services	Travel RN	Morgantown
Advance Auto Parts Black History Month	Store Hourly	Raleigh
Delaware North	Porter	Wheeling
Delaware North	Casino Cashier	Wheeling
Sevita	Carer	Wheeling
WEX	Marketing Intern	Moundsville
WEX	Marketing Intern	Saint Albans
CVS Health	Case Manager RN - Field (Eastern Region)	Charleston

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings , feel free to comment here if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Hello fellow Rebel riders,
for my oil change I wanted to buy new oil drain plug sealing rings, but I can't find the dimensions specified anywhere. I could just drain the oil and measure the one I have now, but I'd rather have the right sealing ring in advance.
I have the CMX500A (2019). Does anyone happen to know the dimensions?
Thanks and safe riding!

I’m graduating from college on Saturday, and I have absolutely no idea what to do with my hair, partly because I’m now having a hair identity crisis. I left the salon yesterday with a sleek, beautiful blowout, not a hair out of place…and it objectively looked good, but I HATED it. I naturally have wild, thick, wavy hair, and I’ve realized every time it’s styled “neatly,” I don’t feel like myself. I’m obsessed with imperfection—I recently told my boyfriend “I’m an overstuffed suitcase bursting open,” and this applies to pretty much everything about me, including my hair.
So my problem is: I want to feel like myself at my graduation. But I also don’t want my hair to look messy. I was thinking about leaving it natural and doing a low ponytail tied with a big bow—my dress and shoes are kind of Victorian/romantic/1920s inspired, so that could work well. I was also thinking about leaving my hair down, styling it natural, then using a curling iron on any wonky pieces.
Does anyone have any ideas for how I can walk the line between natural and put together? I’m also not the best at doing my hair and have to wake up at like 4:30am to make it to the super early pre-ceremony whatever, so I’d prefer something super easy and uncomplicated.
Thanks in advance!

Period: 29.55 days

	Submissions	Comments
Total	996	86920
Rate (per day)	33.70	2843.09
Unique Redditors	640	11317
Combined Score	351873	592168

Top Submitters' Top Submissions

1. 12051 points, 4 submissions: Passu16
   
   1. My dad is the best, i love him so much. (Not qualified for jee advanced) (11023 points, 554 comments)
   2. Another one guyz another one (588 points, 92 comments)
   3. Another one guyz another one (teacher edition) (337 points, 90 comments)
   4. Guys thanks for all the support and love and yeah i am really lucky to have a dad like him and i will do better in CET And UGEE. (103 points, 29 comments)
2. 8586 points, 21 submissions: mrumeshmidha
   
   1. Aise juniors ho toh cooperate na krne main kaisi sharam (1482 points, 182 comments)
   2. 83.2% aaye hain, mummy as an appreciation ye de gaye :D (1087 points, 258 comments)
   3. My only rizz is ability to solve physics doubts 😎🤙 (746 points, 141 comments)
   4. Getting frustrated from these overconfident cousins (728 points, 64 comments)
   5. Bekar hai bhaiya main toh toot gya (724 points, 77 comments)
   6. That's the wholesome part today :) (655 points, 141 comments)
   7. Kal ko select ho gaya toh nerd aur na hua toh failure bolke bully krenge :( (502 points, 57 comments)
   8. Am i the only one with whom things started to fall apart immediately after drop decision? (383 points, 139 comments)
   9. L cbse for giving 74% to PCM Students (271 points, 13 comments)
   10. When the flashbacks hit really hard. (224 points, 31 comments)
3. 3861 points, 1 submission: Mardanamajnu
   
   1. (Call recording)….I let my father down. (3861 points, 638 comments)
4. 3726 points, 4 submissions: GodGamerBS
   
   1. Didnt wanted to but had to make 😔 (1839 points, 272 comments)
   2. Thank You to the every teacher for helping us out throughout the Journey (1153 points, 134 comments)
   3. I can literally feel him inside me (609 points, 52 comments)
   4. Title. (125 points, 5 comments)
5. 3691 points, 7 submissions: Preetham-PPM
   
   1. WTF !? How can a human say stuff like this? (1466 points, 285 comments)
   2. Guyz, What's the IUPAC name of this compound? (1020 points, 158 comments)
   3. Can't believe this. (447 points, 30 comments)
   4. What my Friend u/Surya5123U got For scoring 670/720 in NEET (356 points, 177 comments)
   5. Since No one found it, I Finally Found it. (194 points, 41 comments)
   6. My whole life was a lie. (134 points, 27 comments)
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please read the article in full here:
https://www.propublica.org/article/toxmap-poison-in-the-air
​
The EPA allows polluters to turn neighborhoods into “sacrifice zones” where residents breathe carcinogens. ProPublica reveals where these places are in a first-of-its-kind map and data analysis.
by Lylla Younes, Ava Kofman, Al Shaw and Lisa Song, with additional reporting by Maya Miller, photography by Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica Nov. 2, 2021, 5 a.m. EDT
Leer en español.
From the urban sprawl of Houston to the riverways of Virginia, air pollution from industrial plants is elevating the cancer risk of an estimated quarter of a million Americans to a level the federal government considers unacceptable.
Some of these hot spots of toxic air are infamous. An 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana that’s thronged with oil refineries and chemical plants has earned the nickname Cancer Alley. Many other such areas remain unknown, even to residents breathing in the contaminated air.
Until now.
ProPublica undertook an analysis that has never been done before. Using advanced data processing software and a modeling tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, we mapped the spread of cancer-causing chemicals from thousands of sources of hazardous air pollution across the country between 2014 and 2018. The result is an unparalleled view of how toxic air blooms around industrial facilities and spreads into nearby neighborhoods.
📷 The Most Detailed Map of Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution in the U.S.
At the map’s intimate scale, it’s possible to see up close how a massive chemical plant near a high school in Port Neches, Texas, laces the air with benzene, an aromatic gas that can cause leukemia. Or how a manufacturing facility in New Castle, Delaware, for years blanketed a day care playground with ethylene oxide, a highly toxic chemical that can lead to lymphoma and breast cancer. Our analysis found that ethylene oxide is the biggest contributor to excess industrial cancer risk from air pollutants nationwide. Corporations across the United States, but especially in Texas and Louisiana, manufacture the colorless, odorless gas, which lingers in the air for months and is highly mutagenic, meaning it can alter DNA.
In all, ProPublica identified more than a thousand hot spots of cancer-causing air. They are not equally distributed across the country. A quarter of the 20 hot spots with the highest levels of excess risk are in Texas, and almost all of them are in Southern states known for having weaker environmental regulations. Census tracts where the majority of residents are people of color experience about 40% more cancer-causing industrial air pollution on average than tracts where the residents are mostly white. In predominantly Black census tracts, the estimated cancer risk from toxic air pollution is more than double that of majority-white tracts.
After reviewing ProPublica’s map, Wayne Davis, an environmental scientist formerly with the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said, “The public is going to learn that EPA allows a hell of a lot of pollution to occur that the public does not think is occurring.”
Our analysis comes at a critical juncture for the fate of America’s air. After decades of improvement, air quality has, by some metrics, begun to decline. In the last four years, the Trump administration rolled back more than a hundred environmental protections, including two dozen air pollution and emissions policies.
The EPA says it “strives to protect the greatest number of people possible” from an excess cancer risk worse than 1 in a million. That risk level means that if a million people in an area are continuously exposed to toxic air pollutants over a presumed lifetime of 70 years, there would likely be at least one case of cancer on top of those from other risks people already face. According to ProPublica’s analysis, 74 million Americans — more than a fifth of the population — are being exposed to estimated levels of risk higher than this.
EPA policy sets the upper limit of acceptable excess cancer risk at 1 in 10,000 — 100 times more than the EPA’s more aspirational goal and a level of exposure that numerous experts told ProPublica is too high. ProPublica found that an estimated 256,000 people are being exposed to risks beyond this threshold and that an estimated 43,000 people are being subjected to at least triple this level of risk. Still, the EPA sees crossing its risk threshold as more of a warning sign than a mandate for action: The law doesn’t require the agency to penalize polluters that, alone or in combination, raise the cancer risk in an area above the acceptable level.
In response to ProPublica’s findings, Joe Goffman, acting assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said in an emailed statement, “Toxic air emissions from industrial facilities are a problem that must be addressed.” Under President Joe Biden’s administration, “the EPA has reinvigorated its commitment to protect public health from toxic air emissions from industrial facilities — especially in communities that have already suffered disproportionately from air pollution and other environmental burdens.”
ProPublica’s reporting exposes flaws with EPA’s implementation of the Clean Air Act, a landmark law that dramatically reduced air pollution across America but provided less protection to those who live closest to industrial polluters.
The 1970 law resulted in outdoor air quality standards for a handful of widespread “criteria” pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, which could be traced to exhaust pipes and smokestacks all over the country and were proven to aggravate asthma and lead to early deaths. But 187 other dangerous chemicals, now known as hazardous air pollutants or air toxics, never got this level of attention. At the time, the science demonstrating the harms of these compounds, which primarily impact people in neighborhoods that border industrial facilities — so-called fence line communities — was still in its early stages. The EPA did not receive enough funding to set the same strict limits, and industry lobbying weakened the agency’s emerging regulations.
In 1990, Congress settled on a different approach to regulating air toxics. Since then, the EPA has made companies install equipment to reduce their pollution and studied the remaining emissions to see if they pose an unacceptable health risk.
The way the agency assesses this risk vastly underestimates residents’ exposure, according to our analysis. Instead of looking at how cancer risk adds up when polluters are clustered together in a neighborhood, the EPA examines certain types of facilities and equipment in isolation. When the agency studies refineries, for example, it ignores a community’s exposure to pollution from nearby metal foundries or shipyards.
Matthew Tejada, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, told ProPublica that tackling hot spots of toxic air will require “working back through 50 years of environmental regulation in the United States, and unpacking and untying a whole series of knots.”
Top Polluters
T​​he cancer-causing air emissions from these five corporations cover more populated square miles than the emissions from any other companies, according to our analysis.

• The Dow Chemical Company
• Huntsman Corp.
• Eastman Chemical Co.
• BASF
• LyondellBasell Industries

Most of these companies did not comment; Eastman said, “Not all risk is due to industrial activity, however, we continue to do our part to reduce risk and emissions to ensure the safety of our local community.”
“The environmental regulatory system wasn’t set up to deal with these things,” he said. “All of the parts of the system have to be re-thought to address hot spots or places where we know there’s a disproportionate burden.”
The Clean Air Act rarely requires industry or the EPA to monitor for air toxics, leaving residents near these plants chronically uninformed about what they’re breathing in. And when companies report their emissions to the EPA, they’re allowed to estimate them using flawed formulas and monitoring methods.
“These fence line communities are sacrifice zones,” said Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics. “Before there was climate denial, there was cancer denial. We release millions of pounds of carcinogens into our air, water and food and act mystified when people start getting sick.”
​
....
please read the full article here:
​
​
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The cancer risks from industrial pollution can be compounded by factors like age, diet, genetic predisposition and exposure to radiation; the knock-on effect of inhaling toxic air for decades might, for example, mean the difference between merely having a family history of breast cancer and actually developing the disease yourself. While the cancer and asthma rates in Houston’s Harris County are comparable with those in the rest of the state, Texas officials have identified cancer clusters in several of the city’s neighborhoods.
Large swaths of the Greater Houston area make up the third-biggest hot spot of cancer-causing air in the country, according to our analysis, after Louisiana’s Cancer Alley and an area around Port Arthur, Texas, which is on the Louisiana border. For many homes closest to the fence lines of petrochemical plants in cities like La Porte and Port Neches, Texas, the estimated excess risk of cancer ranges from three to six times the level that the EPA considers acceptable.
But because of the way that the EPA underestimates risk, the true dangers of living in a toxic hot spot are often invisible to regulators and residents.
The agency breaks things down into the smallest possible categories “to avoid addressing what we call cumulative risk,” said John Walke, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who formerly worked as an EPA lawyer advising the Office of Air and Radiation. “But our bodies do not parse out air pollution according to rule labels or industrial equipment or industrial source categories.” The cancer risk from each facility or type of equipment may be at levels the agency considers “acceptable,” but taken together, the potential harms can be substantial.
The EPA initially sent ProPublica a statement saying that it “ensures that risks from individual source categories are acceptable and that the standards provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health.”
In another statement sent after an interview, the agency added, “We understand that communities often confront multiple sources of toxic air pollution and face cumulative risks greater than the risk from a single source.” The EPA added that it was working both to better harness the science on cumulative risks and “to better understand risks for communities who are overburdened by numerous sources of multiple pollutants.”
Madison can’t help but notice that when her family travels, K’ryah’s asthma improves. “The first chance I get, I’m moving far away from Texas and never looking back,” she said. “I love being outside. I love seeing the stars. I don’t want to feel like someone is pumping gas onto our front porch.”
The locations of the hot spots identified by ProPublica are anything but random. Industrial giants tend to favor areas that confer strategic advantages: On the Gulf Coast, for instance, oil rigs abound, so it’s more convenient to build refineries along the shoreline. Corporations also favor places where land is cheap and regulations are few.
Under federal law, the EPA delegates the majority of its enforcement powers to state and local authorities, which means that the environmental protections afforded to Americans vary widely between states. Texas, which is home to some of the largest hot spots in the nation, has notoriously lax regulations.
Between 2008 and 2018, lawmakers cut funding for state pollution-control programs by 35% while boosting the state’s overall budget by 41%, according to a report by the Environmental Integrity Project, an advocacy group founded by former EPA staffers. A Texas Tribune story from 2017 found that during the prior year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had levied fines in fewer than 1% of the cases in which polluters exceeded emission limits. Even when penalties are issued, many polluters see these fines as part of the cost of doing business, said Craig Johnston, a former lawyer at the EPA and a professor of environmental law at Lewis and Clark Law School.
Gary Rasp, a TCEQ spokesperson, told ProPublica that the agency “has taken actions to monitor, mitigate, and improve the air quality in fence line communities.” The agency runs dozens of stationary air toxics monitors across the state, he added, and “by continuously evaluating air monitoring data, which is more accurate than modeling, TCEQ can identify issues.” The agency also inspects industrial facilities and “has an active enforcement program, referring particularly egregious cases to the Texas Office of the Attorney General.”
That the people living inside these hot spots are disproportionately Black is not a coincidence. Our findings build on decades of evidence demonstrating that pollution is segregated: People of color are exposed to far greater levels of air pollution than whites — a pattern that persists across income levels. These disparities are rooted in racist real estate practices like redlining and the designation of low-income neighborhoods and communities of color as mixed residential-industrial zones. In cities like Houston, for example, all-white zoning boards targeted Black neighborhoods for the siting of noxious facilities, like landfills, incinerators and garbage dumps. Robert Bullard, a professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University, has called the practice “PIBBY” or “Place In Blacks’ Back Yard” — a spin on the acronym “NIMBY” (“Not In My Back Yard”).
📷 How We Created the Most Detailed Map Ever of Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution
Many of the neighborhoods that border chemical plants are low-income and lack the same resources, access to health care and political capital that wealthier neighborhoods can bring to fights against intrusive commercial activities. In places like Baytown, working-class people depend on the very companies that sicken them to earn a living. Over the years, the shadow of industry can permanently impair not just a neighborhood’s health but also its economic prospects and property values, fueling a cycle of disinvestment. “Industries rely on having these sinks — these sacrifice zones — for polluting,” said Ana Baptista, an environmental policy professor at The New School. “That political calculus has kept in place a regulatory system that allows for the continued concentration of industry. We sacrifice these low-income, African American, Indigenous communities for the economic benefit of the region or state or country.”
Tejada, the EPA’s director of environmental justice, said that the Biden administration and the EPA are focused on confronting these disparities. “These places didn’t happen by accident. The disproportionality of the impacts that they face, the generations of disinvestment and lack of access are not coincidences. These places were created. And it is the responsibility of everyone, including the government — chiefly the government — to do something about it.”
The federal government has long had the information it would need to take on these hot spots. The EPA collects emissions data from more than 20,000 industrial facilities across the country and has even developed its own state-of-the-art tool — the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators model — to estimate the impact of toxic emissions on human health. The model, known as RSEI, was designed to help regulators and lawmakers pinpoint where to target further air-monitoring efforts, data-quality inspections or, if necessary, enforcement actions. Researchers and journalists have used this model for various investigations over the years, including this one.
And yet the agency’s own use of its powerful modeling tool has been limited. There’s been a lack of funding for and a dearth of interest in RSEI’s more ambitious applications, according to several former and current EPA employees. Wayne Davis, the former EPA scientist, managed the RSEI program under the Trump administration. He said that some of his supervisors were hesitant about publishing information that would directly implicate a facility. “They always told us, ‘Don’t make a big deal of it, don’t market it, and hopefully you’ll continue to get funding next year.’ They didn’t want to make anything public that would raise questions about why the EPA hadn’t done anything to regulate that facility.”
Nicolaas Bouwes, a former senior analyst at the EPA and a chief architect of the RSEI model, recalled the occasional battle to get colleagues to accept the screening tool, let alone share its findings with the public. “There’s often been pushback from having this rich data sheet too readily available because it could make headlines,” he said. “What I find annoying is that the EPA has the same information at their disposal and they don’t use it. If ProPublica can do this, so can the EPA.”
In its statement, the EPA said that it plans to improve its approach for sharing air toxics data faster and more regularly with the public. “EPA has not published calculated cancer risks using RSEI modeled results,” it continued. “RSEI results are not designed as a substitute for more comprehensive, inclusive, or site specific risk assessments,” but as a potential starting point that should only be used “to identify situations of potential concern that may warrant further investigation.”
Indeed, our map works as a screening tool, not as a site-specific risk assessment. It cannot be used to tie individual cancer cases to emissions from specific industrial facilities, but it can be used to diagnose what the EPA calls “situations of potential concern.”
Our analysis arrives as America faces new threats to its air quality. The downstream effects of climate change, like warmer temperatures and massive wildfires, have created more smoke and smog. The Trump administration diluted, scuttled or reversed dozens of air pollution protections — actions estimated to lead to thousands of additional premature deaths. In 2018, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt created a massive air toxics loophole when he rolled back a key provision of the Clean Air Act, known as “Once In, Always In,” allowing thousands of large polluters to relax their use of pollution-controlling equipment.
Biden has yet to close this loophole, but he has signaled plans to alleviate the disproportionate impacts borne by the people who live in these hot spots. Within his first few days in office, he established two White House councils to address environmental injustice. And in March, Congress confirmed his appointment of EPA administrator Michael Regan, who has directed the agency to strengthen its enforcement of violations “in communities overburdened by pollution.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/toxmap-poison-in-the-air
Over the years, Sullivan Ramirez herself has struggled with nerve degeneration and scleroderma, a rare condition that involves the tightening of the skin and connective tissues. While it can be difficult to link specific cases of disease to pollution exposure, the evidence in Mossville has accumulated: In a 1998 health survey conducted by the University of Texas, 84% of Mossville residents reported having headaches, dizziness, tremors and seizures. An EPA study from the same year found that the average level of dioxins in the blood of Mossville residents was dangerously high — triple that of the general U.S. population. Even small amounts of dioxin, one of the most poisonous chemicals released by facilities, can cause developmental problems, damage the immune system and lead to cancer. A 2007 report found that the types of dioxin compounds in the blood of Mossville residents matched those emitted by local industrial facilities.
In an emailed statement, Sasol noted that its property buyout stemmed from direct requests from Mossville residents and that the company offered owners more than the appraised value of their homes. “Sasol and its predecessor have produced or handled chemicals at our Lake Charles complex for more than 60 years. We understand the science and have controls in place to ensure our operations are safe, protective of the environment, compliant with regulations and sustainable over the long term,” wrote Sarah Hughes, a spokesperson for Sasol. “Sasol is proud of our engagement with our neighbors in Mossville and the positive impact it has had on many of its residents.”
📷 Can Air Pollution Cause Cancer? What You Need to Know About the Risks.
Sullivan Ramirez is wary of too much talk. She knows that the new administration has promised something more for communities like hers, but she doesn’t want to get her hopes up. The presentations from captains of industry, the listening sessions with earnest bureaucrats, the proposals from slick attorneys, the promises tossed off by politicians — over the years, she’s heard it all.
The people of Mossville are right to be skeptical, the EPA’s Tejada acknowledged. “I would be skeptical if I was from Mossville,” he added. “They should be skeptical until we actually show up and do the things that they’ve been asking us to do for a long time. But there’s now a level of commitment to actually tangling with these issues in a really serious, substantive way.”
After years of activism in Mossville, Sullivan Ramirez moved to Lake Charles, just a short drive away. But she worries the industrial sprawl will one day overtake her new home. To Sullivan Ramirez, Mossville is “the key” — a warning of what the future holds for America’s other hot spots if business continues as usual.
“This is the 21st century,” she said. “The act of polluting our lands and robbing our communities — when will enough be enough?”
​
please read this article in full here:
https://www.propublica.org/article/toxmap-poison-in-the-air

This server has a hardcore vanilla feel but with tasteful mods and cool features that aren't available in official servers. Check it out if you're interested! I'm hoping to grow a community of DayZ enthusiasts who love the vanilla plus experience.
Server Features
Active admins
Vanilla stamina and loot economy
Dark nights
NVGs can spawn in any military area
AK101 and AK74 have rare green and black versions along with the individual attachments spawning rarely
Green and black M4 attachments also spawn rarely
Camo and green plate carriers spawn in military areas
Black plate carriers spawn in dynamic events
Plate carrier attachments of all colors spawn in military areas
Shoes spawn pristine or worn
Loot spawns in green military towers
Less useless items like thermometers and construction helmets
Flashlight have a chance to spawn with a battery
Witch hoods spawn in red, brown, and black variants
Military backpacks with weapon slots rarely spawn in dynamic events and toxic zones
Noteworthy Mods
Advanced Weapon Scopes-Adds a better variety of scopes and adapters.
Autorun
BuildEverywhere
Building Fortifications-Adds the ability to build window barricades and doors with a vanilla feel. Window barricade kits and door kits are crafted the same way as vanilla wall kits (rope and sticks).
Car Cover-Allows vehicles to be covered with camo nets.
Code Lock
Ear Plugs
Flip Transport-Allows vehicles to be "pushed" in case they get stuck or flip over.
MMG Base Storage-Adds many new storage items such as cabinets, gun racks, and safes.
MMG Civilian Clothing
No Vehicle Damage-Vehicles can no longer take collision damage however they can still be damaged with bullets, explosives, overrevving, deep water, or driving without enough water in the radiator.
Red Falcon Flight System Heliz-Adds helicopters into the game which mostly spawn in military areas. They will require parts, fuel, and hydraulic fluid to operate.
RFFS Heli Car Cover Addon-Adds the ability to cover helicopters with camo nets.
Trader Plus-Adds car codelocks and car lockpicks which are both rare on this server. Car codelocks can be found in the same areas as codelocks however car lockpicks only spawn at dynamic events such as helicopter crashes. Please note that this server does not have traders.
Vehicle 3PP
ViewInventoryAnimation
WindstridesClothingPack
Zen Notes-Adds pens to the server which can be combined with paper to write custom notes that can be stuck to surfaces.
Please feel free to check out my discord for more information
https://discord.gg/Fn2mKdUp

I've been in quite a dilemma for the past 2 years doing self enquiry. I feel there are two schools of thought on how to self enquire.
School 1: Surrender yourself completely and just self-enquire
This idea is that basically since most of your actions are pre-determined and even if we had free will to desire things it is quite pointless. Therefore forget about the worries of the world and just self-enquire. This includes even the effort and desire for sitting meditation practices. Cause some days it will be out of your control to make that happen. So if formal meditation sessions come, great that's what you needed if not that's also great. As long as you aren't hurting people, eating vegetarian food (to me is a requirement) then by all means let life happen as it needs to, but be self attentive.
The Pros: •You really do feel the bliss of surrender • Get to truly dis-identify with your life. •You get to not reject your humanity as much and build an ego of a formal meditator. When friends ask to hang out you don't have to say no etc.
The cons: •If I don't plan my formal sessions, I do find that my self enquiry can wane and suffer. •Busy days can really make my practice suffer without a formal session •Just allowing myself to do as my body pleases will lead to distracting activities like movies, video games and social media. Which can really harm my practice. •Over time the more I let my discipline and desire to control go, this can lead to ego coming back feeling like I'm not doing good, which leads to desire to control and repeat.
School 2: In your free time you should avoid all distractions and self enquire formally, read spiritual texts and avoid distracting stimulus. While in the world also self-enquire.
I suppose this is the more ascetic way of practicing self-enquiry. But it is also the more non-bs way of self-enquiry. We can lie to ourselves that while binge watching Netflix that we had progress greatly in self-enquiry. But if we just sit down for 4 hours and self-enquire you definitely feel a change or flow with the Self immediately. And also avoiding distracting stimulus on a superficial level makes your life seems more pure.
The Pros: •You see more immediate impact of your self-enquiry practice •Can't bullshit yourself that while partaking in sensual desires your being spiritual •The self-enquiry in day to day life becomes a lot easier after a good formal session •Feels like your progressing
The cons: •You start building an ego that you are a formal meditator •You avoid life sometimes •Sometimes you will use to mind to force yourself to meditate more which could've been time self-enquiring •Life becomes conditional and dualistic, cause if you fail to put priority on formal practice that = bad
Free will in conflict with these schools:
On top of this indecision I feel like my ideas of free will are in conflict with these schools. I believe that for the most part we don't control our outward outcome. Therefore the first school makes the most sense. At the same time, I don't want to give up the possibility I can make changes and also want to do the second school. Such confusion.
Conclusion: Writing this out I'm starting to see maybe it's a possibility that I have no free will and that my body will switch around from these two schools constantly and that's all great for my spiritual progress. Nonetheless I still don't have a strong affirmation on which of these two ways of life I should commit to. It does build up a lot of frustration and feels like time wasted.
I definitely think the first option is what enlightened beings and more advanced spiritual practitioners do. Because for them what difference does it make to be in formal practice or watching tv, they are always fully with the Self. But I sometimes feel like I'm bsing myself that I'm that advanced to just let my life go as it wants and attend to the Self.
Any experience and comments would be highly appreciated. Bless you.

A special thank you to the amazing u/SpacePaladin15 for this fun world.
A thank you u/ImaginationSea3679 y u/Acceptable_Egg5560 for helping me with plot stuff.
Sunday Time! Two chapters in one today!
[Prologue][Previous][Next]
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Memory Transcription Subject: Extermination Officer Tova
Date [standardized human time]: August 24rd, 2136, Late first claw
“Dad!?”
My shout was barely loud enough to go over the noise of blaring klaxons. I skipped alongside my father, his paws clasped around mine as he tried to pull me down the hall.
“Not much farther, Tova. Your mother’s waiting for us at the brid-” A panicking venlil stormed right through the hallway, sprinting right between my father and I, sending all three of us sprawling out onto the ground! The rude man didn’t even stop to help us back up, running a stampede right back through the swarming venlil!
“RUN! RUN! THEY’RE COMING! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! I DON’T WANNA DIE!!”
Of course, he wasn’t the only one shouting; a mother crying for her pups, venlil screaming in panic, and the cries of pain: Many venlil having been trampled in the mad dash in random directions! The general fear was merely feeding into a grander self-fueling cycle of panic!
“My arm hurts,” I whine, watching my father spring up from his fallen position. He is barely able to move before the entire ship’s hull lurches to one side, sending most venlil careening into one of the walls, but thankfully for me, the impact wasn’t hard enough to break any of my bones. My father wasn’t so lucky, clutching one of his legs with a tight grasp, and letting out a pained whimper. “Splesh…” He groaned out, grabbing tight for a brief second before correcting himself. “Gah, sorry, shouldn’t have said that in front of you.” He chuckles aloud despite the pain and does well to maintain a cool and collected gaze.
I didn’t really care if my father had said a naughty word. I was more worried about the crooked state of his leg. It was bent at an old angle, and one part that was normally straight, his upper thigh, was actually bent as well.
It looks awful!
I crawled my way over to him as quickly as I can, wrapping my two paws around his wrists. “C’mon, we need to hurry! Please get up!” I tried to tug my father up onto his paws, but due to my smaller size, I wasn’t able to be of much assistance. “Come on, Dad!”
I try again to lift my father up but to no avail. The middle-aged venlil merely hobbles one step before collapsing back onto the ground. The other venlil all begin to stand up and swarm past us. I am thankful that they don’t manage to accidentally trample us beneath their paws.
“Come on, Father! It isn’t that much farther, just about fifteen more tails or so, and we’ll be safe with Mom!” My voice breaks as it raises in pitch, crying out in anguish and desperation! I give one last firm tug to my dad’s wrists, but instead of pulling the man upwards. He gives me a small shove, sending me falling down onto my hindquarters.
The sound of more screaming venlil fills the corridor as the taint makes itself known. A brief exchange of plasma fire is heard beyond the wall, but other than that, I could only discern the fact that the arxur have boarded.
“Go! Your mother can take care of you. She’s a good woman. Just go!”
I turn tail and make a mad dash with the rest of the venlil toward the bridge’s doors, stopping to look over my shoulder upon reaching the giant mechanical doorway, peering through the now-closed window.
Arxur by this point have begun to make themselves known, coming around the corner with speed! They don’t waste any time, jumping upon downed and injured venlil, and chomping down upon limbs and arms.
Their screams fill the hallway and leak into the bridge…
My father, despite his injury, reaches for a knife he likes to carry on himself, and readies the blade, waiting for the first Arxur to approach. He doesn’t have to wait long, for one is already barreling down onto him. Its massive jaws opening wide!
“Tova!? Tova! Tova!”
And within a moment, I am jolted from my nightmarish slumber by Quilix’s paws shaking my chest. He had a tight grip on my short wool, grabbing on firmly. I could feel his grip ease up the second he noticed an eye looking back up at him. “Y-you were screaming, so I… I figured I’d… I’d check up on you.”
The small and white venlil looked like he was on the brink of crying: Tears were coating the undersides of his eyes, which appeared to be puffy and orange. I was so enthralled with my nightmare - I haven’t had nightmares in years: Not one since I have been around Quilix, that I hadn’t remembered the past two paws very well, but when I did, I placed a paw against Quilix and gave the male a weak shove, pushing him off of me with ease. “Don’t touch me, I still have not forgotten what you have done.” I take a moment to adjust my messy wool. Quilix does the same, taking a moment to adjust the scraggly mess it had become within a mere two paws.
He still appeared to be taking care of himself, at least. I couldn’t say the same for myself. Normally, I’d take a shower after grueling work claws because I often got some grease or oil in my fur, but the past two paws had left me feeling ragged.
He nods to my words. “You should take a shower, my beautiful-” - “Don’t tell me what to do.”
The sharp, bluntness within my tone cuts down whatever Quilix was going to say. He lowered his head and tail before sheepishly walking out of the room. A part of me wanted to feel bad about seeing my mate like that, but I struggled to find that empathetic bone within me. It just wasn’t easy to take his words with any meaning after having that whole fiasco dropped on my head!
The insincere guile of hiding everything from me! Then he feels bad when I learn about it!?
It actually takes some effort on my part to not slam the door when I walk into the bathroom. I waste no time turning on the water to its hottest setting and slide back over the mirror. I stare at my reflection, loathing the mess that I appear to be; split ends, unregulated wool, drooping eyes, grease stains, and oil stains that have gone uncleaned. I felt like an idiot for not taking that one shower when Arwen was still sleeping.
Why does Arwen want Quilix and I to get back together so quickly? Is this a human thing?
I briefly pause, remembering something.
I mean, it isn’t like I could break up with Quilix. My mother would kill me, and I am fairly positive Quilix’s parents would do the same.
I should have just gone with Pasala to have my mind fixed. I spehing hate this. I thought my nightmares were over with… I’m not deserving of this second chance with Arwen.
I briefly rub my tearing eyes with my paws, wiping away the dampness that had built up underneath my two eyes. I take a moment to adjust myself, scratching a few itches and doing a bit more rubbing, and then finally hop into the hot water.
My muscles and mind relax under the pouring stream for a few minutes, letting it clear my mind and thoughts away like that of a morning’s rain. Then I go through the routine of shampooing, conditioning, and cleaning out all the nooks and crannies between my paws, ears, tail, and so forth.
Eventually, I turn off the shower and finish up with the rest of my cycle; drying, brushing my teeth and brushing my wool until it’s smoothed down. Finally, I walk out and head down to our living room. I may have not eaten over the past few claws, and I can feel myself grow famished.
When I enter the living room, I take note of the fact that Quilix is reading on his tablet. Something I seldom see the small male do. Normally, he does all of his reading and writing for his books on his main computer, which he has stored away in his office, so this was quite new to me.
His expression quickly shifts the second he sees me: ears perk up highly and his tail wags against the couch, but the expression is fleeting, falling not even a moment later, for he quickly notices my sour gaze landing right back on him.
Regardless of my disappointment, I still couldn’t keep my curiosity at bay. “What are you reading?”
My belated curiosity was enough for the male to perk right back up with a hopeful ear flick. “Well, Arwen and Trivi sent us instructions on what we should say when we go to acquire our visas to Earth, and what not to say to the humans. We’d probably get in trouble, but I’d be worried more about Arwen.”
“Just forward it to my tablet and I will read it later. I’m hungry.”
“You don’t want to read it with me?” His hopeful tone tugged at my heartstrings.
“No, I said I am hungry!” And like that, he was crushed right back down.
A part of me actually did want to read it with him. He was still my mate after the fact, but that was a very small part of me. I was still upset, angry, livid, even! I was also very, very hungry.
With another annoyed tail flick, I moved my way to the kitchen and fixed myself a snack, eating it at the dining room table. Quilix continued to look at me, holding out that I would join him on the couch, but once again, I would dip back to my room to retrieve my tablet, opening up the message from Arwen and Trivi.

Hello Quilix and Tova,
There’s been a small change of plans, but I won’t tell you the little details. What I do want to tell you is what you should and shouldn’t mention to the UN visa agent that came to Venlil Prime. Firstly, don’t mention the ranch, for obvious reasons…
If I were you, I’d talk about your passions, and claim that I mentioned one of them. I do recall hearing something about you liking swords, right?

I do like swords… How does Arwen know that?

Well, you could talk about some old medieval museums: St. Fagans is a good one to talk about. I’ve actually been there, but only because my father was a bit of a history buff. Hah! They have some swords on display and a really, really old sword. It’s about 1.45 Tails [870 millimeters] if I remember correctly. I figured you’d like to see it.

Wait, aren’t we supposed to be treated like cattle? Was that the change of plans? Oh… Yeah, forgot about needing to sneak through.

For Quilix, there are plenty of art museums, more so than medieval-based Museums, so I am pretty sure we can find something for him as well. Anyways, I will see you later. I assume the twenty-eighth? That will be roughly four paws from now. I do suggest you get your visas, it might be a day, or not…

I finally close my tablet, having finished the message. I sat there for a couple of minutes to process what I have been told. My mind wandering back and forth in trying to decipher if Arwen changed her mind, was toying with us, or was purely trying to sneak us back to Earth under a more wholesome-sounding guise.
I only knew her for about half a paw, and within that half-paw, it was mostly filled with that massage and poem reading, so really, I didn’t even know her at all, and she still wanted to go through with this!?
Either she really wants clothes made from our wool or actually is extremely serious about forgiveness. I think… I think I am leaning toward the latter. Could also be humiliation… Wait, didn’t she agree to Quilix’s original plan…
OH BY THE SPElSHING STARS!
I calmed down rather quickly at the small realization. Arwen was probably angry and just suggested that on a moment’s notice. She probably wasn’t thinking straight and said something somewhat stupid. That’s all.
That’s what I told myself.
I hopped up from my bed, leaving my tablet behind, and walked back into the living room. Quilix was still sitting on the couch, but staring blankly at the wall. “Not going to draw or write?”
Quilix had a way of getting everyone to feel bad for him, and it wasn’t even purposeful to my knowledge. He was just so small and helpless, so when his mood shot down the drain, it was like looking at an unhappy child. His tail was limp and he had a general malaise over his posture: body laying flat across the couch with the tablet screen down on his chest. “Don’t feel like it.”
Even his tone was lower and slower than its normal high and fast pitch.
Ugh… I don’t want to deal with him.
Despite my inner thoughts, I remember what Arwen asked of us. I really didn’t want to put up with my mate, but it was probably the right thing to do.
Or at least I hope it is the right thing to do.
Memory Transcription Subject: Extermination Officer Tova
Date [standardized human time]: August 24rd, 2136, Early second claw
It wasn’t a long drive down to the UN’s little building, but it really was an awkward one. Quilix and I sat in relative silence, unsure of how to start any conversation. It made me wonder how humans dealt with mate infidelity.
Do they force the pair to stay together, or do they just split up?
I knew that splitting up wasn’t really even an option. We had both of our parents’ blessings. My mother would be displeased if we split up, and she’d probably be angry if I did: Our vyalkit was made from not just my and Quilix’s wool, but also our parents, and their parents, and then their parent’s parents! My side was almost touching sixty-three generations, and Quilix was thirty-two. To break apart would be to desecrate multiple generations of honor-bound loyalty! How could Quilix do such a thing!?
It was nearly impossible to keep myself from crying in the car, keeping myself calm with cool and steady breaths, but with every thought that came roaring through. I worried that I would burst like an over-pressured levee.
Am I, not enough?
Does he not trust me?
How would he have acted if I had done the same?
Those thoughts rattled around in my mind due to my inability to distract myself.
Quilix was unusually quieter than normal, and for a moment I caught myself hoping he’d hum a melodic tune, but no sound came from him, causing the car ride to be unnaturally quiet.
No poems read.
No songs sang.
No conversations pulled.
This car ride practically resembled our horribly damaged relationship; empty, degraded, and silent. Though to be fair, Quilix had tried a couple of times to bridge the gap, and I just wasn’t receptive. I thought about speaking several times to alleviate us of this awkwardness, but every time I tried to speak, I remembered what I did to Arwen, or what Quilix had done to me, and with a pain in my chest. I remain quiet. Thankfully, the drive comes to an end.
“Ah, welcome to the UN embassy. You must be Tova and Quilix, right?” A human with remarkably dark skin of brown coloration greeted us at the door. He didn’t have any hair on his head like any of the humans I have seen but sported hair along his jawline. A mask covered the rest of his face.
Quilix and I both nodded.
“My name is Davian Karslon, it is a pleasure to meet you. I will have you know that I got your message. Now, if you would accompany me inside.” He gestured for us to come inside.
Quilix and I followed the big, human down a few hallways before inevitably entering a small office. He beckoned us to sit down, seating himself behind a wooden desk that looked like it was just placed down within the last day.
It probably was.
“I’m a bit shocked that we already have venlil applying for a visa, and you two in particular.” The male clasped his hands in front of his stomach, leaning back in his chair.
I wasn’t expecting an interrogation! I was expecting them to be like “Oh? A venlil wants to go to Earth!? We must be making good impressions!” Speh, what did Arwen want us to say?
“Arwen suggested we can learn more about humans if we come visit her at her home. She mentioned lots of things regarding museums, and as you know, I am a poet, an artist, and a writer. Now, I am no fool, for I know you humans didn’t show us all you had done within the last few millennia. You avoid things like meat eating for our sake, and showed us the book Frankenstein, which while simple, still had a good sense of morals: Don’t judge someone based on their appearance. I wish to learn more, and I can’t do that here. I’ve already read most if not all of the books you have given us that weren’t pups’ books.” Quilix came to my rescue, for I was on the edge of having a nervous breakdown, but him speaking allowed my thoughts to coalesce.
“Marvelous, it seems someone here loves literature to quite the great degree!” Even with the mask on, I could feel the human’s gaze shift onto me. I do my best not to flinch under the hidden, but binocular gaze.
“I uh… Arwen- Well, you see the federation isn’t really fond of things I like, and Arwen told me that there are things on Earth that I can’t find on Venlil Prime, The Cradle, or Nishtal…”
“And those things are?”
I take a deep breath. “Swords.”
“Swords?” Davian repeated. “Elucidate me.”
“I’m pretty sure you see a lack of swords, right? Well, that’s because we stopped making them because they were predatory, so now they pretty much don’t exist. However, I now own my great, great, great…” I waved a paw for emphasis, “Grandfather’s sword. The only other people that know are Quilix, Pasala, and my mother, but that’s because they like me, and a couple fellow exterminators. I… want to look at more swords and donate mine, because, unlike my father. I don’t know how to take care of it. I have instructions to take care of it, and I can read it, but I don’t want to risk damaging something of such importance to me. The most I have done is clean the blade.”
“I see, and how old is this sword? What’s it made out of? How big is it?”
I take a moment to think, counting back over the number of generations the sword has been within my family. “It was pre-federation contact and for about thirty generations, so roughly eight-hundred years?” “EIGHT-HUNDRED YEARS!?”
The man’s booming voice caused Quilix and I to recoil back in shock. Thankfully, nothing happens.
“What the hell is that thing made out of!?”
“I don’t know!”
Thankfully, that answer seems to appease the man. He relaxes right back into his chair as if he had never shouted. “Sorry, that’s such a long time for a blade.”
All I can do is shrug in agreement. “Anyways, it’s about just more than one tail [twenty-four inches] in length, so I have it stored in a chest at home. Used to have it in my office, but I didn’t want anyone seeing it after a while.”
Davian clicked his tongue against the inside of his cheek a few times, thinking up his response. “That’s all wonderful to hear. I’m quite surprised.”
Yes!
“But,”
No!
“I heard from one of your fellow Exterminators that you two had a bit of an altercation. Any reason why that was filed?”
Speh! Speh! Speh! I don’t know how to respond to that!
“Well, you see, Arwen arrived early two paws ago, and well, Tova walked in on Arwen and I snuggling on the couch, and mistook that as flirtation. The miscommunication has since been cleared up.”
If it weren’t for Quilix’s ears and tail giving him away like the fibber he was. I would have been caught off guard by such a lie! He never was a good liar. Actually, he was still a poor liar.
“I see,” the human nodded to Quilix’s answer. “Well, it was pleasant to meet you two. I will go check with my agent and see if I can get your stuff sorted. Again, it was pleasant to meet you two.”
Wait, that worked?
Well, with that out of the way. That just left introducing the idea to our parents… Scorch it, I just hope they don’t kill us.
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[Prologue][Previous][Next]
Heavily inspired by the likes of…
Pack Bonding
Foundations of Humanity
Mixed Signals (NSFW)
And I snuck in some lingo from Nature of Humanity
Don't Look A Human In The Eye
I highly suggest you check them out!!

I have started a new garden this year in raised beds, filling the beds entirely with compost (OMRI organic, from 2 sources; just over 7 cubic yards total). I have some notes about transplant dates and pictures that show progress, but regrettably very little (won't make that mistake again). I'm not sure which beds had more or less of the 2 different sources of compost (another mistake I won't make again).
My garden as a whole currently contains peas, cabbage, purple broccoli, green beans (3 variants), tomatoes (4 San Marzano, 6 different cherry tomatoes, 1 brandywine, and 1 recently transplanted Cherokee Purple) with radishes, beets, and onions interplanted between tomatoes, peppers, and a few different winter and summer squash variants.
I happened to notice a post on here recently about herbicide damage which prompted me to check my tomato plants (~May 24th) where I noticed some were curling in and cupping, but not as significantly as the post I had seen where others suggested herbicide damage. I did notice my pepper plants had significant curling on the leaves (transplanted 5/13 I think). These included 2 serrano, 6 jalepeno, 1 chile red, and 1 bell pepper plant.
Ever since then, I've noticed the tomatoes get more severe curling and cupping, with some being worse than others (blueberry tomato being the worst, and tropical sunset being a close second worst). I have a third blueberry tomato plant in my daughters bed which doesn't show much cupping/curling yet (but it's not pictured here). I did find a couple pictures of the tomatoes from 5/18 which I think showed relatively healthy tomato plants. The caveat is that the brandywine has never looked as healthy as the others, but it also seems to get bombarded by aphids more than the others which is what I had been attributing that to.
My gardening season as a whole has gone reasonably well up until now. This is the first year I've started my own seeds, so the majority of everything in them so far is my own transplants and direct sown plants. I have had some weird issues early on where I transplanted some radishes (and direct sowed some), direct sowed some beets, and transplanted some kale and they were all stunted (in a single bed). I also directly sowed carrots March 24th which seem to be stunted (shown in pictures). But in my tomato bed, I had radishes (direct), beets (direct), and tomatoes take off. For the most part, all other beds have really grown well.
My biggest concern is herbicide contaminated compost because it was pretty expensive to fill those beds, and it also took a lot of effort and time (borrowed trailer, loaded and unloaded twice, plus 2 trips just to fill the truck bed and unload those).
My second biggest concern is herbicide overspray. My neighbor directly beside me has a lawn that he puts a lot of effort into the grass. I'm not sure what all he has done to the grass, but he does have a lawn company come out and do stuff to it a couple times a year. I also have a field behind my backyard where I just noticed the owner this week harvesting grass into bales, then yesterday was spreading something out with his tractor and a spreader.
The fact that the tomato plants looked fine on May 18th and now don't make me think the compost isn't contaminated and points more towards either herbicide overspray or some disease. I did water everything every other day, so to rule out overwatering I stopped watering for 3 full days (but today and days to come we're getting heavy rains). As of today they're still looking rough.
I have noticed mushrooms regularly growing overnight in every raised bed since I've filled them, so that makes me think each bed has good nutrition in them.
I'm hoping someone here more experienced than I am can look through these pictures and help advise on what I might need to do to salvage this gardening year. I'm nervous to even eat anything out of my garden at this point such as collards, peas, or radishes since I'm uncertain if my compost is contaminated. Thanks in advance for the help!
https://imgur.com/a/s2p4jFZ

1. Take an ink pen on your carry on. You’ll need this for your entry paperwork that you’ll receive just prior to landing. The airlines do not provide pens and although there are kiosks with pens once you exit the aircraft, the pens at those kiosks will have many passengers vying for the few that work. Bringing your own pen will speed up your entry into Mexico.
   
2. Do you need a rental car? Most often, no. Taxis, shuttles and Uber are plentiful in Cabo. It it recommended that you book your round trip airport transfer in advance. There are numerous private coach options, usually in a Suburban or Denali SUV. Or, Gray Line Los Cabos is another and less costly option. Bear in mind, with Gray Line, you have the option of a shared shuttle, which means that you will be dropped off in order of where your resort or accommodations are relative to the other passengers.
   
3. Relative to both items above, once you pass through customs and immigration, and after you clear the final (random) inspection area, you will enter a room known as “the gauntlet.” This room is full of salespeople who will promise you everything from free transportation, to free golf, free sunset cruises, free fishing, etc. They may also claim to be your transportation/transfer company, which they are NOT! Do NOT engage any of these individuals. Their only goal is only to get you tied up in a timeshare presentation. The legitimate airport transfer and shuttle companies will be outside the airport, under the umbrellas/canopies and will be waiting for you there.
   
4. Do you need pesos? No, although you’re obviously welcome to pay and tip in pesos. U.S. currency does work just fine. Most resorts have ATM’s onsite and they are also plentiful in the marina. You generally will need to choose between ATM’s that dispense either U.S. currency or pesos, if using those in the marina.
   
5. Is Cabo safe? Absolutely. It’s far safer than many American cities.
   
6. Is travel insurance for potential medical issues important? Definitely. It’s important that you obtain travel insurance for any emergency medical needs, but it’s more important that you scrutinize the policy to see what they will cover and how they will pay any claims. Some travel insurance companies for example, will require you to pay out of pocket, and reimburse you later. It is also important to have medical evacuation coverage as part of your policy. It is recommended that tourists avoid St. Luke’s Hospital in Cabo as there are numerous allegations of price gouging and an overall lack of professionalism.
   

This is gonna be a long one folks, and probably really only the die hard Zelda lore scholars.. or nerds like me may be interested. There will be spoilers for the entire series most likely. This is your only warning.
Ok, so as a standalone videogame, TotK is a 10/10. However, as a Zelda fan of 30+ years, I have to give it an 8/10 as a Zelda game. Mostly just because I think the writing and the way TotK handles Zelda lore, even its direct predecessor’s lore, is just awful. Still, it did at least get me thinking about some things regarding the lore. In the end, I pieced together this theory. I may not be the only one who came up with something similar, but I wanted to share with the larger Zelda community.
So, let me present to you what I’m calling “The Shattered Multiverse” Zelda theory.
First, some bullet points of things I’m going to call “rules.” These are things that are present throughout all Zelda games. I will continue with the assumption that they are not changeable and remain true throughout the series. Consider them to be the foundation of this theory.
-There is a cycle of Calamity in Hyrule. Its origin is considered to be Demise’s curse after he was defeated by Skyward Sword Link. (I will debate this later.)
-The cycle is a part of Hyrule itself, almost as if part of its weather.
-Due to the cycle, an incarnation of Hylia, an incarnation of Hylia’s hero, and an agent of calamity are eternally locked in a power struggle through the ages.
-Hylia’s incarnation is always a Zelda and receives a portion of Hylia’s power of light, and sometimes power over time but usually through the use of a tool. Though usually named Zelda at birth, the incarnation may receive the name as a title upon learning of their role. The only example of this is Tetra from Skyward Sword. (That I remember.)
-The incarnation of the hero is always Link and inherits his predecessor’s courage. If the incarnation of the hero survives his struggle with the agent of calamity, he may have further adventures abroad. However, the hero always has a connection to the incarnation of Hylia.
-The agent of calamity is usually, but not always, Gannondorf. While Gannondorf can be reincarnated through the cycle, he is usually sealed away instead of being killed.
-The Cycle has a set of rules it follows that are not entirely known, but some guesses can be made. When a new incarnation is to be born, the cycle will birth the new incarnation from the previous incarnation’s bloodline if possible. Link can be of the “Knight’s bloodline.” Zelda is usually from the royal family. Gannondorf is usually from the Gerudo. However, if a bloodline is not present, the Cycle can and will just reincarnate a previous incarnation, or create a whole new incarnation anywhere. The example of this is the Hero of Winds seemingly being a full reincarnation of the Hero of Time. It is also my opinion that while Gannondorf is sealed away, other agents of calamity can be raised up if needed. This would explain other villains besides Gannondorf. The agent of calamity’s only job, really, is to bring about chaos. Doesn’t need to be “the Demon King.”
-The Cycle only pits the incarnations against each other. It does not determine the outcome. Meaning that good or evil can win, and despite whichever wins the Cycle will continue regardless.
-Because the Cycle is a part of Hyrule, Hyrule itself must always exist in some form. If Hyrule falls for any reason (and it can), the Cycle can birth a new Hyrule just as it can with the incarnations.
-Time travel is possible, but it does not offer a way out of the cycle. Anytime time travel is used, it creates a breaking point that spawns a whole new universe complete with a new copy of the Cycle.
-Through magic or other means, it is possible to travel from one world to another. Such as the Hero of Time’s journey to Termina.
Ok. With that out of the way, here is my theory. Instead of the timelines we know of and work with now, all of the games actually take place within many many many different universes that are all stuck within the Cycle. Whenever the heroes/good guys use time travel to try and fix something, they create a whole new universe with its own copy of the cycle. That’s why I call it the Shattered Multiverse. Each time someone time travels, they “break” their own universe into different paths. We have seen several examples of time travel through the games already. It’s also not entirely impossible that other incarnations have used time travel as well. This means there could be hundreds or thousands of versions of Hyrule. This explains Lorule, Termina, and any other world you can think of from the games. They’re all different universes at different points within their cycle of calamity. This renders the timelines in Hyrule Historia as examples at best and meaningless at worst. (Though, I always considered putting out “official” timelines a mistake anyways.)
Also, this can give a lore reason as to why Hyrule is different each time. It’s not always given that good wins at each iteration of the cycle. Sometimes, evil wins and Hyrule falls. When that happens, the Cycle just begins the process of founding a new Hyrule over again. For those that would say, “Isn’t it a strange coincidence that it would be called Hyrule?” My response is that if this cycle has the power to forcefully reincarnate the same three people over and over again, it has the power to compel someone to name a kingdom whatever it wants. If the cycle is tied to Hyrule itself and is eternal until it is broken, that means the world(s) that the Zelda games take place in is immeasurably old. Much much much older than our own. That’s why every Zelda game has a reference to some older, more advanced civilization. Those civilizations existed and were wiped out by one of the Cycle’s iterations where evil won.
Supposedly, this Cycle began with Demise’s curse at the end of Skyward Sword. Personally, I think the Cycle was in full swing by then. Even Skyward Sword’s lore says there was an advanced civilization before their own that even had power over time. It was in that era that Hylia and her hero waged war against Demise. A struggle between an incarnation of Hylia and her hero, during an era where the power of time was in use on a possibly day to day basis, against an incarnation of calamity? Sounds familiar…. And before anyone points out Demise’s speech where he lays down the curse, I’d like to point out that Gannondorf said almost the same thing in Ocarina of Time when he was sealed away. It could just be a thing agents of calamity do, like me cursing my end table when I ram my toe into it.
So, how does this apply to the Breath of the Wild world and Tears of the Kingdom? Personally, I see this iteration of Hyrule as being in a “timeline” we haven’t seen before and one that is immensely old. So old, in fact, that it is far far removed from the previous stories. Not a reboot or retcon, but just another interaction of the cycle in another world where Hyrule itself has been created and destroyed countless times over.
I know this theory may not explain everything. (Where in the world did all the Sheikah tech go? I know they may have repurposed it, but that fast? And why do we have to make our own elemental arrows per shot now when we could just buy in bulk previously?) But I think it helps make sense of the lore over the whole series. I also know I’m probably not the first to propose something similar. I mean the first Hyrule Warriors game works on a similar basis. I know I’m biased, but I like this theory a lot. It gives validity to all the other lore theories out there. As long as the foundational rules of the cycle still hold place in a Zelda theory, there’s probably a Hyrule out there where it’s true. It can even mean both Hyrule Warriors games are technically canon to Zelda lore. But it’s also kind of tragic because it means this cycle has been going on for untold centuries. Zelda, Link, and Gannondorf are cursed to always be at odds with each other, never really having fully peaceful lives. Meanwhile, the other denizens of Hyrule are forced to live through this cycle of birth and apocalypse like pedestrians in a rainstorm. They didn’t ask for it, but they still have to deal with it somehow.
Anyway, that’s my shower thoughts since May 12th. Feel free to critique, debate, add to, or disagree with me. I’m going back to my travels now. Thanks for coming to my ZedTalk.

Warning: This will be a long nerdy post with a lengthy explanation of Magic Find mechanics, including math and graphs. (18 graphs, 4280 words, 20342 characters).
If you don’t want to read this wall of text, you can Ctrl+F and search for TLDR
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• This Post is meant as an Advanced Guide to Magic Find. You should already be familiar with the basics of Magic Finding before continuing with this post. Or if you like nerdy Diablo stuff, go right ahead.
• This Post delves into the mathematical formulas and code behind Magic Find. It’s NOT about “clear speed vs MF” or “best place to farm X item” or “full zones clearing vs elite sniping” or anything like that.
• Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive overview of Magic Find mechanics. This is a summary of Magic Find knowledge so you, the player, would have more understanding on how it all works.

Frequently, people inquire about the optimal amount of Magic Find. The typical response is that more Magic Find is generally better, but there are diminishing returns. Often, an EffectiveMF graph is referenced to illustrate this point. For example, one of such posts from a month ago.
However, relying solely on EffectiveMF graphs and diminishing returns can be highly misleading! Effective Magic Find is just one small component of the overall Magic Find formula! The Complete Magic Find formula takes several values from the game into the account when calculating your chances to get Unique / Set / Rare / Magic items. The final results are intricate and influenced by various factors. it is not as simple as this graph:
https://preview.redd.it/7uwnr9sa1n2b1.png?width=792&format=png&auto=webp&s=563dcea5172691d997c4c5c59f5e9905a009dae2
Why is this graph misleading? What does it actually tell us? Effective Magic Find grows Logarithmically, it has diminishing returns! Great! So, what does that mean? How does Magic Find and EffectiveMF actually affect our chances to get Unique, Set, Rare items? How many rare items do we get with 100 MF vs 500 MF? EffectiveMF for blue Magic Items grows linearly. Great, but what does that mean? How many more Magic items do we get?? Is there a limit to MF? This graph doesn’t tell us much unless you are very knowledgeable about the Magic Find process!
To answer all these questions, I have developed my own Drop Calculator with some advanced functions that showcase the actual distribution of items based on player Magic Find stat. My Drop Calculator takes into account all possible variables of the Magic Find function and displays the results in nice Graph form. Before showing the Item distribution graphs, I will first try to explain the complete MF Formula.

Selecting the Base Item

Selecting the Base Item is the initial step before the game applies the Magic Find formula to determine the magic quality of the item (Unique, Set, Rare, Magic). Examples of Base Items are: Diadem, Shako, Short Sword, Long Staff, Mage Plate, Sacred Armor etc..
Magic Find has no effect on Base Item selection! The Base Item is decided through Treasure Class selection and random roll mechanism. It is a fairly complex topic and deserves a post on its own. I won't go to much into details since Treasure Class selection is not the main focus of this post, but in short:
Each monster in the game from Act Bosses through Elite Packs to white trash monsters is assigned a “Treasure Class”. A Treasure Class is essentially a group or collection of items that can drop from that particular monster. There are many different TCs in the game typically comprising combinations of Item Drops (Base Items), Gold Drops, Junk Drops, Rune/Jewelry/Charm Drops, and NoDrop (indicating that no item will drop).
With random rolls, the game determines the type of item that the monster will drop, be it equipment, potion, rune, gold, etc. Once the item type is established, the game then checks if the item can be upgraded to Unique, Set, or other rarities. For the purposes of further discussion about Magic Find formula, we will assume that the game has selected an equipable item (Base Item, be it a Weapon or Armor). So what happens next? How does the game decide which quality to drop?

Selecting the Item Quality

Now that the game has the Base Item (Diadem, Shako, Mage Plate, etc.), two functions are called one after another to give the Base Item a specific quality. (There is some other stuff in between these two functions but this is the gist of it). Functions are pseudonym named: RollMagicQuality and MakeItemUnique (or MakeItemSet, MakeItemRare etc. depending on the roll from RollMagicQuality function). RollMagicQuality function is the main function that determines if the items will be a Unique, Set, Rare, Magic item. But let's first talk about MakeItemUnique:
MakeItemUnique (or Set, or Rare, or Magic) function confirms the roll from RollMagicQuality and double checks if the selected Base Item can drop as a Unique item. This is where you get those “Failed Uniques” as triple durability Rare item drops.
The MakeItemUnique function also determines which Unique item will drop if there are more Unique items for the selected Base Item. It adds up the Rarity value from the UniqueItems.txt file and rolls a random number to pick a Unique item. Examples are Tyrael’s or Templars Armor for Sacred Armor, The Cranium Basher or Earth Shifter for Thunder Maul, Azurewrath or Lightsabre for Phase Blade, etc.. Selection is fully random and can not be influenced by the Player.
There are 3 ways that Unique Item can fail to pass the MakeItemUnique check:

1. A Unique item will fail to roll if the Quality Level (qlvl) is higher than Item Level (ilvl). Quality Level refers to Level value from UniqueItems.txt file and its fixed. Each Unique item has a predetermined fixed Quality Level. Item Level is a different stat, basically ilvl is a level of the monster that dropped the item. When ilvl is lower than qlvl, a Unique item will fail to drop! Example of this is: Arachnid Mesh can not drop from Pindleskin! Qlvl of Arachnid Mesh is 87, Pindleskin is a level 86 monster that drops items with ilvl 86. Since qlvl of Arachnid Mesh is 87 and always higher than ilvl of Pindle items, Base Item Spiderweb Sash will never be a Unique item.
2. A Unique item will fail to roll if Base Item has no Unique version. The Item can pass a Unique check of RollMagicQuality function, but MakeItemUnique is the one that actually makes the item Unique. If there is no Unique version of the selected Base Item, the Base Item will fail this roll. Examples of this would be the Unique Archon Plate. There is no Unique Archon Plate, so every time the Base Item AP drops and passes the RollMagicQuality check for Unique item, it will drop as a Rare item with triple durability.
3. A Unique item will fail to roll if the same Unique item has already dropped in the current game session. Everytime the MakeItemUnique function makes the Unique version for a selected Base Item, it logs the Unique drop in a special List of dropped Unique items. The function checks the List every time it tries to roll a Unique item. If the Unique item is already on the list, the selected Base Item will drop as a Rare item with triple durability.

Base Item needs to pass all 3 checks of this function for the item to successfully drop as a Unique Item! Same thing applies for MakeItemSet, only now the Failed Set Items drop as a Magic Items with double durability.
Before the MakeItemUnique function is called, the Base Item needs to pass the RollMagicQuality selection.

RollMagicQuality Function

RollMagicQuality is where the magic happens! (pun intended!). RollMagicQuality is the function that actually picks the quality of the Base Item, based on your "% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item" stat and other variables in the game. This function determines your Unique / Set / Rare / Magic / etc probability.
Based on your %MF and other variables, RollMagicQuality function will first try to roll for a Unique item. If that random roll is lower than a certain number, the Base Item will not be a Unique item and RollMagicQuality will try to roll for a Set item. If that fails, the function will try to roll for a Magic item and so on.
The order for selecting Item Quality is always: Unique > Set > Rare > Magic > Superior > Normal. This order will be very important later on. If the Base Item passes one of these checks, the RollMagicQuality function stops and the above-mentioned MakeItemUnique(or MakeItemSet, or MakeItemRare, etc) will be called.
Step by step walkthrough on how RollMagicQuality function actually works. After the explanation, I will use my Drop Calculator to showcase the drop rates of different quality items based on Player Magic Find.
Step 1) Chance = (BaseChance - floor((ilvl-qlvl)/Divisor))*128
This is the code of the Magic Find Formula. Game reads the required values from a few sources, the main one, and the most important is itemRatio.txt file. This file determines your drop rates of Unique, Set, Rare and Magic items more than your Magic Find stat!

• BaseChance = value from "Unique/Rare/Set" column from itemRatio.txt
• ilvl = "item level" is level of a monster that dropped the Base Item
• qlvl = “quality level” value from "level" column from Armor.txt and Weapons.txt
• Divisor = value from "Unique/Rare/Set Divisor" column from itemRatio.txt
• Floor = division of integers, result is rounded down. (that is how the game works)
• 128 = multiplier for better precision.

itemRatio.txt and values within it are extremely important. The game utilizes different values depending on the Type of the Base Item. In other words: Class Specific items, Exceptional/Elite and Normal items have different chances to become Unique items. If we look at itemRation.txt we can see 6 rows:

• 1st Row refers to Normal items from Classic Diablo.
• 2nd Row refers to Exceptional/Elite items from Classic Diablo (there are no such items so we can ignore this row)
• 3rd Row refers to Normal items from Expansion.
• 4th Row refers to Exceptional/Elite from Expansion (has same values as 3rd Row)
• 5th Row refers to Class Specific Normal items
• 6th Row refers to Class Specific Exceptional/Elite items. (has same values as 5th Row)

From this, we can conclude that there are 3 types of different Base items: Normal Base Items, Exceptional/Elite Base Items, Class Specific Items. When the Base Item drops, the game checks item version values from weapons.txt and armor.txt and class specific values from itemTypes.txt. Based on those values, the game loads required BaseChance and Divisor values needed for the Magic Find formula and calculates your Chance: Chance = (BaseChance - floor((ilvl-qlvl)/Divisor))*128
Step 2) Chance= floor(100*Chance/(100+EffectiveMF))
After the first step, the game adjusts your chances with EffectiveMF. EffectiveMF is calculated with the formula: EffectiveMF=floor(Factor*(MF-100)/(Factor+MF-100)) Where

• Factor is: 250 for Unique items, 500 for Set items and 600 for Rare items
• MF is: your Characters Magic Find that is your "% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item" from your items with added values of 100: Magic Find = Better Chance of Getting Magic Items + 100. You basically have a base MF value even with 0% BCoGMI stat on items. EffectiveMF is only calculated if you have more than 10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item but that's not really that important.

This is where that intial Graph comes from. It shows the EffectiveMF with diminishing returns. Here is the Graph again in more detail:
https://preview.redd.it/y3t2x7pd1n2b1.png?width=1408&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f1e43f98d5de4c9ba6a4652cc1a793cfa5755d6
Here, we can see something interesting for the first time in this post. Graph is NOT continuous but has rather discrete jumps. This is the result of the game using integer division for its calculation. For example:

1. You have 697% Better Chance of Magic Items on your gear. To calculate the EffectiveMF for Unique drops, you first add 100 to get Character Magic Find and then use this formula: floor(250*(797-100)/(250+797-100)) = 184% EffectiveMF for Unique items
2. You get two more Small Charms with 7% mf and now you have 711% Better Chance of Magic Items on your gear. EffectiveMF for Unique items is now: floor(250*(811-100)/(250+811-100)) = 184% EffectiveMF for Unique items! Exactly the same!

Going from 697 MF on your gear to 711 MF on your gear did nothing to improve your chances of getting Unique items. There are “Break Points” for Magic Find!
So, the game calculates your EffectiveMF and uses that value to get your new Chance: Chance= floor(100*Chance/(100+EffectiveMF))
Step 3) Chance=max(Chance,minChance)
Where the minChance is the value from the "UniqueMin" column from itemRatio.txt. Game checks if you have reached the maximum Chance for selected rarity. There is an upper limit on how many Unique, Set, Rare, Magic items you can get even with millions and millions of Magic Find on Hero Edited items!
That limit is unreachable for Unique items with standard game gear. But it is easily accomplished for Set, Rare and Magic items. Effects of this upper limit will be seen later in the Graphs.
Step 4) FinalChance=Chance-floor(Chance*QualityFacto1024)
Game adjusts your chances once again based on the QualityFactor of the monster that dropped the Base Item. Higher the QualityFactor of the monster, the better chance you have of getting Unique, Set, Rare, Magic items from that monster. This QualityFactor has a huge influence on your overall chances.
QF of 1024 means that ALL dropped Base Items will roll that quality and QF of 600 means that 4.8% of dropped Base items will become the desired quality at best. Here is the table with all monsters that have specified QualityFactors:
https://preview.redd.it/3j1hx4te1n2b1.png?width=587&format=png&auto=webp&s=4089a11e6ae143aa850130e038109c0212740121
You can see that Andariel has the highest QF of them all. That is because of “Quest Bug” that now became a feature in D2R. Act Bosses also have high QualityFactor. QF of 1024 for Magic items means all these monsters will always drop at least a Magic item and won't drop standard White items.
Final Step 5) random(FinalChance)<128 than: item is Unique
Game randomly rolls a number between 0 and your FinalChance. If that number is lower than 128 then the selected Base Item will become an Unique item and the above-mentioned MakeItemUnique function is called to double check if the selected Base Item can become an Unique.
If the randomly rolled number is higher than 128, selected Base Item fails and the game goes back to Step 1 and redos the process all over again for Set Item check. If that fails, the game redos the process for Rare Item check and so on. Again, the order for selecting Item Quality is always: Unique > Set > Rare > Magic > Superior > Normal.
Now that we know the process, let's look at one example: Let’s say you have 500 Magic Find on your gear, you just killed Hell Baal and the game dropped you a Diadem as a Base Item. What is the chance for that Diadem to be a Unique Diadem (Griffon’s Eye)? Lets go step by step while looking at itemRatio.txt file:

1. Chance = (BaseChance - floor((ilvl-qlvl)/Divisor))*128. Diadem is an Elite Expansion item, so BaseChance will be 400 and Divisor will be 1. Qlvl of Diadem is 85 and ilvl is 99. Chance = (400 - floor((99-85)/1))*128 = 49408
2. Chance= floor(100*Chance/(100+EffectiveMF)). To calculate EffectiveMF we use =floor(250*(600-100)/(250+600-100)) = 166 Now we can calculate the Chance= floor(100*49408/(100+166)) = 18574
3. Chance=max(Chance,minChance) minChance for Elite Expansion items from itemRation.txt is 6400. Our number is higher so we use 18574
4. FinalChance=Chance-floor(Chance*QualityFacto1024). The QualityFactor of Hell Baal is 983. So we now have: FinalChance=18574-floor(18574*983/1024) = 744
5. random(FinalChance)<128. we randomly roll a number between 0 and 744 and compare it to 128. It's basically: 128/744 = 0.1720430108

Everytime you kill Hell Baal with 500 Magic Find on your gear and it drops a Diadem, you have a 17.204% chance for that Diadem to be a Griffon’s Eye. With 100 Magic Find on your gear you have 11.063% chance for that Diadem to be a Griffon’s Eye. Going from 100 MF to 500 MF will increase your Unique chance by 6.141%!

Graphs, Graphs, and more Graphs

Now that we know how to calculate our Unique chances, it's time for some Graph! Please keep in mind, these graphs do not show your chance to get a specific item. These graphs show your chance for the Base Item to become an Unique item based on your Magic Find on your gear!
Drop Calculator goes through the complete Treasure Class list for the selected monster, pulls all Base Items that can drop and their probabilities, goes through all necessaries files like treasureclassex.txt, itemRation.txt, weapons.txt, armor.txt, itemTypes.txt, uniqueItems.txt and gets all needed values we talked about and calculates the probabilities for each point of Magic Find and for more or less, each monster in the game… But let's start with something simple:
Chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item (Boss)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item when killing the Act Boss (Duriel, Mephisto, Diablo, Baal). Nothing abnormal here. The more Magic Find you have on your gear the better chance you have for a Base Item to become an Unique item. With 300 MF you have a pretty high chance to get a Class Specific Unique item at 25%! Here are some key details:

• We still have Break Points. There are discrete jumps in the graph. The more MF we have, the more we need for the next jump.
• With 0 MF you still have 6.7% chance for a Normal/Exceptional/Elite Unique Item and 11.2% chance for a Class Specific Unique item.
• With 167 MF you have double (x2) the amount of Unique items then with 0 MF. You chance is now 13.4% for Normal/Exceptional/Elite Unique Item ans 22.4% for Class Specific Unique item
• With 1000 MF you have triple (x3) the amount of Unique items than with 0 MF. You chance is now 20.1% for Normal/Exceptional/Elite Unique Item ans 33.6% for Class Specific Unique item

​
Chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item (Unique monster)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item when killing the Unique monster in Area level 85. (standard Pit run, CS run, AT run, WSK run), just for the reference point, Our chances are much lower than from killing an Act Boss. It is because the QualityFactor for Act Bosses is 983 while QF for Unique monsters is 800. (all other values are basically the same except qlvl-ilvl difference which does not affect drop rates that much).
​
Chance for a Base Item to become an Set item (Boss)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become a Set item when killing the Act Boss. Now things are starting to look interesting! Why does it look like this? Because you can reach the maximum chance for Set items easily with enough Magic Find! After reaching that limit, your chances won’t increase any further. In fact, your chances for Rare items start to drop off with more Magic Find! It is because the game always checks for Unique > Set > Rare etc in that order. So more Base Items will become Unique items before they can become Set items.
For Normal Items, it maxes out at 290 MF, for Class Specific items it maxes at 255 MF and for Exceptional/Elite items it maxes out at 520 MF. After those values, you will see less Set items.
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Chance for a Base Item to become an Rare item (Boss)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become a Rare item when killing the Act Boss. Now things are starting to look really strange! You reach the maximum chance for Exceptional/Elite and Class Specific items early on; you never reach the maximum chance for Normal items. Your chances for Rare items start to drop off with more Magic Find! More Base Items can become Unique items and Set items (or Failed Set items) before they can become Rare items.
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Chance for a Base Item to become an Rare item (Unique monster)
For reference, chances for the Base Item to become a Rare item from a Unique monster are more flat but they still have maximum values and very slowly drop off with more Magic Find.
Now that we know the chance distribution per Unique / Set / Rare, let's look at some graphs for Normal, Exceptional/Elite and Class Specific items per monster kill.
For this part, we can pick the Monster that we are interested in, we can pick an Item Type we are interested in and the quality level of the item (qlvl). If we look at the initial formula above, the quality level is used in the calculation for a Base Item upgrade. Qlvl only affects the drop chance a little, but I wanted to be accurate as much as I can:
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https://preview.redd.it/vujwr8ft2n2b1.png?width=351&format=png&auto=webp&s=3214af2f3708fcaea6684bf86a714fd07e9fd8fd
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Chance for a Exceptional and Elite items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Boss)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Exceptional/Elite Items that drop from Diablo. Something looks strange… After 420 Magic Find, NO Magic quality Exceptional/Elite Item will drop! But you are sure you saw some Magic items when you were farming Bosses, right? That is because the vast majority of Magic Exceptional/Elite items are Failed Set items! (when farming bosses). There are very few Set items compared to all Base Items. So when RollMagicQuality Function is successful for Set check and calls MakeItemSet, the MakeItemSet function can’t successfully make a Set item because there is no Set item for selected Base Item. Value of 71 for qlvl is used. It is a median level value of all Exceptional/Elite items that can drop from Diablo.
We can see chances for Unique Diadem (Griffon's Eye) is about 17.181% while chances for set Diadem is 46.292%. Ratio between the two is 2.69. If we go to any Online Drop Calculator, Maxroll Drop Calc for example, and we pick Baal (Baal because Diablo can't drop Diadems Base Items) and we compare the chances. We can see the chances for any Player count has same ratio as 2.69.
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Chance for a Class Specific items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Boss)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Class Specific Items that drop from Diablo. Same thing is true for Class Specific drops. Vast majority of Magic quality Class Specific drops you see from Act Bosses are actually Failed Set items. Value of 43 for qlvl is used. It is a median level value of all Class Specific items that can drop from Diablo.
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Chance for a Normal items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Boss)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Normal Items that drop from Diablo. Things look a little better for Normal Items. Magic quality items slowly drop off but never reach the bottom. It is because of Divisor value for Magic quality in itemRatio.txt file. Value of 28 for qlvl is used. It is a median level value of all Class Specific items that can drop from Diablo
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Chance for a Exceptional and Elite items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Unique monster)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Exceptional/Elite Items that drop from standard Unique monsters from Level 85 Area. Just showcasing the upper limits of monsters that are farmed regularly. After 490 MF your chances for Unique items will continue to increase, but chances for every other quality will flatten out or start to decrease. Same goes for Class Specific items, while Normal items for Rare quality will continue to rise slowly.
Now, let's combine all Graphs per Item Type into one Graph that shows Base Item chance to upgrade for selected monster and its Treasure Class:
https://preview.redd.it/ssro5blt3n2b1.png?width=376&format=png&auto=webp&s=035e84edee488ea5daaeaf05f33254ee1c7514c9
Based on selected settings; (what monster are we looking at, Player and Party Settings and if the monster is Terrorized or not), the Drop Calculator picks the corresponding Treasure Class for that monster. It calculates the probabilities for each single Base Item drop for that selected Monster. it checks what Type each Base Item is (is it Normal, Exceptional/Elite or Class Specific item) and calculates the cumulative upgrade Chance for each Unique / Set / Rare / Magic version based on Normal, Exceptional/Elite or Class Specific distribution…
For Diablo kills (for Act 5 (H) Equip A Treasure Class) Item distribution is:

• Normal Items: 67.84870452%
• Exceptional/Elite Items: 20.29650961%
• Class Specific Items: 11.85478587%

If we apply what we have learned so far, we get a Final Graph that looks like this:
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Final Chance Graph
Above graph shows the final Chance for Base Item upgrade. I would like to point out that the reason we are seeing Magic items here it’s because Normal Base Item drops make up 67.85% of all Diablo item drops. Normal Items like Clubs, Maces, Flails, Cap, Quilted Armor, Light Plate etc.
We know that not all Base Items have Unique and Set versions. If we apply that to our calculations and move every item that will always Fail the Unique check and Set check, we get the Final Item Distribution percentage per Magic Find with our gear:
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Item distribution
Let's look at Andariel's final Chance for Base Item upgrade and Item Distribution percentage:
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Final Chance Graph (Andariel)
Item distribution (Andariel)
Because Andariel is now “quest bugged” by default, her Quality Factor for Rare items is 1024. Which means, technically, no Magic item will drop from her. ALL Magic items from Andariel are Failed Set items.
Let's look at Unique Monsters final Chance for Base Item upgrade:
Final Chance Graph (Unique monster)
Chance for Unique upgrade flatlines rather quickly. It goes from 3.510% at 500 MF to 3.959% at 1000 MF. Chance for Set upgrade basically maxes out at 300 MF. Chance for Rare continues to rise slowly but it is because of Normal item types. Exceptional/Elite reaches max around 490 MF and Class Specific reaches max at 220 MF.

TLDR

More Magic Find is always better for Unique items. But for everything else (Set, Rare, Magic items), more Magic Find can mean less! No matter your clear speed or players in the game!
If you want to maximize your chances for that elusive item you are looking for you need to have the optimal amount of Magic Find for that specific item
Just considering EffectiveMF graph is misleading because it doesn't show the true extent of diminishing returns of your Magic Find Gear.
If you have any questions or remarks, please let me know.

I am a console gamer at heart and as such don't generally play games without full controller support. Seeing that Ultrakill does in fact have this I was excited... Until booting up the demo. From what I could tell there, you couldn't do everything the Keyboard player could (I couldn't figure out how to sprint) although the aiming worked surprisingly well (Still never going to hit that stupid coin though). The reason I asked this is because Doom Eternal is one of my all-time favorites and Ultrakill has been recommended to me as the next big fix no matter where I go. For those that will inevitably tell me to just suck it up and use a mouse and keyboard, I have this response; Firstly, apart from a trackpad I don't have any mouses, since they keep disappearing from my desk and I can't afford to get another one, and secondly, my muscle memory is terrible; I can't even remember all the main keys in something like Paladins despite years of keyboard play.
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Bonus question:
Does this game have good verticality?
In eternal you could FLY across stages, but you could also FLY high up into the air and stages weren't just focused on a long sequence of rooms, but instead more open areas where you could climb an launch yourself pretty high and it made traversal REALLY fun; Is any of that a big part of Ultrakill?
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Thanks in Advance!

I recently acquired my first truck all over again. I have the 2.9L Ranger XLT, extended cab, 2WD. I’m planning out fitting an AC into the truck. I’m hoping maybe someone has already done this and could save me my sanity. I’m struggling to find an all inclusive parts list but what I have linked seems to be everything? Of course I need a different AC/Heat controller, I have that from a 90 Ranger that I pulled from a junk yard. Curious if anyone who has either done this or just some experience, could look at this and tell me if I’m missing something. I’m by no means a mechanic but have always done well with a tech manual or set of instructions with a lot of auto repairs. This seems pretty straight forward. Thanks in advance for any help.