Don ruben's mexican menu

I’ve started a free page as a way to guide people to my paid. I’m just posting teasers there (short clips from my full videos). So far it seems to be working out pretty decently, however, I’ve had a few people message me on my free account asking me for prices of the services I offer on my paid. I have it set up on my paid so that once you subscribe you can see the price menu. Currently, I don’t have the menu listed on my free account. I’m wondering if adding my price menu to my free page is worth it? Will it draw in more subs, or will it take away the mystery and drive them away? I hope this makes sense! Thanks for the tips :)

I’m lucky that I’m not so critical and whiny as some of you guys.
“Ugh I hate how you have to change armor all the time and they need to make it easier!!” I never even thought about it being different and I still don’t mind it. Just get quicker at changing the menu
“I hate the depths” It’s literally my favorite part of the game.
“Wah I don’t like how the sages keep running from me” Tulin is the one worth keeping active. The others are only really worth it for niche moments.
“Ugh I hate this thing about the game. What do y’all hate??” I feel like I see these types of posts weekly.
I’m not whining about people whining. I get how this page is kind of for that, I’m just so glad I don’t see through the type of lens that y’all do.

Panama clung to our bodies—Probably cut—Anything made this dream—It has consumed the customers of fossil orgasm—Ran into my old friend Jones—So badly off, forgotten, coughing in 1920 movie—Vaudeville voices hustle sick dawn breath on bed service—Idiot Mambo spattered backwards—I nearly suffocated trying on the boy’s breath—That’s Panama—Nitrous flesh swept out by your voice and end of receiving set—Brain eating birds patrol the low frequency brain waves—Post card waiting forgotten civilians ‘and they are all on jelly fish, Meester—Panama photo town—Dead post card of junk.’ Sad hand down backward time track—Genital pawn ticket peeled his stale underwear—Brief boy on screen laughing my skivvies all the way down—Whispers of dark street in Puerto Assis—Meester smiles through the village wastrel—Orgasm siphoned back telegram: ‘Johnny pants down.’—(That stale summer dawn smell in the garage—Vines twisting through steel—Bare feet in dog’s excrement.) Panama clung to our bodies from Las Palmas to David on camphor sweet smells of cooking paregoric—Burned down the republic—The druggist no glot clom Fliday—Panama mirrors of 1910 under seal in any drug store—He threw in the towel, morning light on cold coffee— Junk kept nagging me: ‘Lushed in East St. Louis, I knew you’d come scraping bone—Once a junky always spongy and rotten—I knew your life—Junk sick four days there.’ Stale breakfast table—Little cat smile—Pain and death smell of his sickness in the room with me—Three souvenir shots of Panama city—Old friend came and stayed all day—Face eaten by ‘I need more’—I have noticed this in the New World—‘You come with me, Meester?’ And Joselito moved in at Las Playas during the essentials—Stuck in this place—Iridescent lagoons, swamp delta, gas flares—Bubbles of coal gas still be saying ‘A ver, Luckees!’ a hundred years from now—A rotting teak wood balcony propped up by Ecuador. ‘The brujo began crooning a special case—It was like going under ether into the eyes of a shrunken head—Numb, covered with layers of cotton—Don’t know if you got my last hints trying to break out of this numb dizziness with Chinese characters—All I want is out of here—Hurry up please—Took possession of me—How many plots have made a botanical expedition like this before they could take place?—Scenic railways—I am dying cross wine dizziness—I was saying over and over “shifted commissions where the awning flaps” Flashes in front of my eyes your voice and end of the line.’ That whining Panama clung to our bodies—I went into Chico’s Bar on mouldy pawn ticket, waiting in 1920 movie for a rum coke—Nitrous flesh under this honky tonk swept out by your voice: ‘Driving Nails In My Coffin’—Brain eating birds patrol ‘Your Cheating Heart’—Dead post card waiting a place forgotten—Light concussion of 1920 movie—Casual adolescent had undergone special G.I. processing—Evening on the boy’s flesh naked—Kept trying to touch in sleep—‘Old photographer trick wait for Johnny—Here goes Mexican cemetery.’ On the sea wall met a boy with red and white striped T shirt—P.G. town in the purple twilight—The boy peeled off his stale underwear scraping erection—Warm rain on the iron roof—Under the ceiling fan stood naked on bed service—Bodies touched electric film, contact sparks tingled—Fan whiffs of young hard on washing adolescent T shirt—The blood smells drowned voices and end of the line—That’s Panama—Sad movie drifting in islands of rubbish, black lagoons and fish people waiting a place forgotten—Fossil honky tonk swept out by a ceiling fan—Old photographer trick tuned them out. ‘I am dying, Meester?’ Flashes in front of my eyes naked and sullen—Rotten dawn wind in sleep—Death rot on Panama photo where the awning flaps.

I have been looking forward to taking my 6yr old to Cracker Barrel (a combination restaurant and toy/knick knack store) for the past three weeks. My kiddo has oral sensory issues, and trying to feed him has been one of the hardest things of my life. But I found a few things on the menu that I was really hopeful about. Worse case, I knew how excited he would be looking at all the toys. Not to mention, I was looking forward to a nice meal (when my kid started eating only bread and chips, it was just easier, quicker, and cheaper to eat sandwiches or frozen dinners).
His dad was supposed to meet us there for the child exchange after we ate. He messaged he was running late, and I said we were too because the playdate ran long. I offered to skip it and do Cracker Barrel a different day. He told me to go ahead, and that he was okay waiting if the restaurant was slow.
Five minutes after they bring our food out, my ex comes into the restaurant and proceeds to just stand next to our table while I’m attempting to feed kiddo. Servers are taking alternate routes because he just keeps standing there. When he says, “Well, I guess I should just wait outside in the car until you finish eating,” rather than taking the bait I say nothing.
Then he asks kiddo if he’s seen all the cool toys yet.
My six year old, who had only eaten half of a slider bun dipped in ketchup, promptly announced that he was full and took off with his dad to the toys.
After I finished eating, I boxed up my kid’s meal and hunted them down. I handed kiddo’s dad the to-go box and said he could just give it to Papa when kiddo wouldn’t eat it because the texture wasn’t the same. My ex’s response, “Can I have it?”
I spent $26 just to feel like shit. I know $26 isn’t a lot to most people, but it is to me. I could have bought seven frozen dinners/meals for that. Or it could have been halfway to having a second pair of shoes.
I didn’t even get to be there when kiddo saw all the toys for the first time.
To my ex who is probably reading this because you didn’t want to let the Reddit thing go: Fuck you.
Edit: My ex just sent this via our parenting app: “If you are upset at me I don’t know what I did but I’m willing to learn if you feel like telling me.”

Hello, everyone.
I'm a 22-year-old Mexican who loves cats, books, music, and movies.
My friends would describe me as an introvert who knows how to enjoy the quiet moments instead of always seeking out the right party (although I do enjoy going out from time to time). I have red hair (it's naturally dark brown), light brown eyes, I'm 5'5 and I’m an average build with a few curves here and there (you can find a pic of me in my profile).
I wouldn’t normally try and find love on a subreddit, but lately I’ve been trying to experience new things and who knows? Something good might come out of this (fingers crossed!).
I went through a tough breakup a few months ago and, although it still hurts sometimes, I am ready to try something new, put myself out there and see what life has in store for me.
I'm looking for someone who is funny, with a big heart, and who can communicate effectively. Someone who is mature, tolerant and with whom I can share experiences that can enrich my life. Someone who listens and shows interest in not only me but also my interests and hobbies just as I will with theirs. I’m mainly looking for something long term and serious.
My main activities revolve around reading, spending time with my cats, listening to music, and watching movies, series, and YouTube. I'm also open to trying new things as long as they don’t go beyond my comfort zone or put myself in any sort of danger.
Having gone through a difficult relationship, I'm looking for someone who is sincere, won't be narcissistic or self-centered and, most importantly, won’t give up on me when times get rough.
If you think you could be my special someone, please reach out to me; would love to chat and see where this takes us.
Please be between 23-28, thank you!

From former KCRW NPR host Josh Barro's podcast Serious Trouble here is his guest Ken White's companion newsletter. (I'm a fan, I can appreciate if you are not) tl;dr below...
Every now and then I get to give the Kobayashi Maru speech to a young associate. There are two types of young associates: those who immediately know what I am talking about when I mention the Kobayashi Maru speech, and those who stand there, deeply concerned, wearing a tolerant-of-this-Boomer¹ expression but completely mystified by the reference.
The Kobayashi Maru speech is about no-win scenarios. The life of the law is full of them. Good lawyers can often avoid them or mitigate their impact, or negotiate a resolution that makes them unnecessary, but can never completely eliminate them. Sometimes you are going to lose. Sometimes you KNOW you are going to lose. This concerns young associates. Ken, they say, we’re going to lose this motion. What am I supposed to do? The answer is that you prepare competently, advocate vigorously, and fight for your client’s rights. You act like you have a chance because the client needs you to do that and the system depends on you doing that. You act like you have a chance because doing a vigorous, competent job can preserve your client’s trust in you, ease the impact of a loss, and sometimes even achieve a seemingly impossible win.
I’ve been thinking about the Kobayashi Maru speech since Trump was indicted.
Yesterday, on our Emergent Situation Episode of Serious Trouble, Josh and I sparred a bit over the moral and political philosophy of Jack Smith’s decision to prosecute. I pointed out that the somewhat predictable assignment of the case to Judge Aileen Cannon — who proved herself to be an arguably lawless Trump partisan when she entertained his attempts to derail his own investigation — will make it extraordinarily difficult to convict him. If Judge Cannon presides over the case she can derail the prosecution in myriad ways, some of them unreviewable, if she wants to. Moreover, there’s reason to doubt that a Florida jury will convict Trump. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, striking Trump down with a federal indictment may make him more powerful than we can possibly imagine. Trump will use the prosecution to energize his base, propagandize “independents,” and fundraise from rubes. It’s very possible it will make it easier to win the Republican nomination and plausible it will help him win the Presidency, which he will use to pardon himself and further demolish the rule of law.
Does that mean that the Department of Justice shouldn’t do it? To quote a bit of our argument:
Josh Barro:
Well, I mean, that's a philosophical question. And I guess it might be there are other scenarios where it doesn't go exactly in the way that we're describing here, but we just sketched out a scenario in which this action by the Justice Department fails to uphold the rule of law and actually undermines it. I guess this is a question of whether we have a consequentialist ethics, but it's the idea that you must do this because you must do it out of fealty to the rule of law. That assumes a certain moral framework. I'm laying out a possibility that in fact this is quite damaging to the rule of law, or that you've described that it's likely to end up with an outcome that's quite damaging to the rule of law.
Ken White:
Well, I disagree and here's why. The rule of law doesn't mean that everyone is always going to do the right thing. The process of the rule law presumes that sometimes there will be bad actors. Sometimes jurors will nullify for bad reasons. Sometimes judges will make bad calls. The rule of law is about we have this system, it's imperfect, we're going to put the person through the process because that's how we do things. And so, ultimately, even if you think you might get a bad unfair ruling, what you do is you put it through because you want to demonstrate that no one's above the law. And so, we have to take the shot. And because if we don't, because if you don't pursue a criminal because the criminal has put a crooked judge on the bench, then you're really completely giving up.
Josh Barro:
Right. But the Justice Department makes strategic decisions all the time about what crimes not to charge. And I mean, in this instance, even if you're thinking about holding Trump accountable, they have a parallel investigation into matters related to January 6th that presumably would be charged in Washington DC if it were ever charged. If you're looking at a situation where you have a menu of options about what you can charge someone with, all of the stuff we're describing here, those sound like considerations that would weigh in favor of prioritizing the January 6th prosecution, trying to move that one first.
So who is right? If charging Trump with overt, obvious crimes is doomed to fail for political reasons and may have negative political effects, should the Department of Justice do it?
Of course I’m right.
Let us start, as you would expect, with pedantry. What do the rules say? The rules pretty clearly say that if political and other non-legal factors suggest prosecutors will lose a righteous case, they should bring it anyway. From the Principles of Federal Prosecution in the U.S. Attorney’s Manual:
The attorney for the government should commence or recommend federal prosecution if he/she believes that the person's conduct constitutes a federal offense, and that the admissible evidence will probably be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction, unless (1) the prosecution would serve no substantial federal interest; (2) the person is subject to effective prosecution in another jurisdiction; or (3) there exists an adequate non-criminal alternative to prosecution.
But what about when a potential defendant’s popularity, or the unpopularity of the particular rule of law, makes getting a conviction difficult? The rules address that:
Where the law and the facts create a sound, prosecutable case, the likelihood of an acquittal due to unpopularity of some aspect of the prosecution or because of the overwhelming popularity of the defendant or his/her cause is not a factor prohibiting prosecution. For example, in a civil rights case or a case involving an extremely popular political figure, it might be clear that the evidence of guilt—viewed objectively by an unbiased factfinder—would be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction, yet the prosecutor might reasonably doubt, based on the circumstances, that the jury would convict. In such a case, despite his/her negative assessment of the likelihood of a guilty verdict (based on factors extraneous to an objective view of the law and the facts), the prosecutor may properly conclude that it is necessary and appropriate to commence or recommend prosecution and allow the criminal process to operate in accordance with the principles set forth here.
So the Principles of Federal Prosecution suggest that if Jack Smith thinks that if Trump’s prosecution serves an important federal interest (it does) and the evidence is objectively factually and legally sufficient (it is), then he’s bound to bring the case even if Trump’s popularity makes a unanimous verdict difficult, risks a partisan judge, and threatens political upheaval. As Josh suggests, Jack Smith can and should make strategic decisions about what approach is soundest and most likely to lead to conviction. But the indictment in this case is overwhelmingly strong - one of the most devastating on its face that I’ve seen in my career. If Jack Smith can prove those facts, that is far more than enough to convict Trump. The only arguments against it are political.
In my view, it’s also the morally and philosophically correct course.
First, jury nullification can be a force for justice and a bulwark against tyranny. It can also be an expression of ignorance and bigotry and an expression of injustice. Prosecutors should consider justice but not be deterred by the chance that jurors should be unjust. Anything less means that you let jurors decide who is or isn’t protected or bound by the rule of law.
Second, some judges will always be partisan, and some politicians will seek to appoint or elect partisan judges. It’s not fair. But nobody promised you it would be fair. Deciding not to prosecute because of the risk of biased judges cedes justice to them and also relieves them of the consequences of being biased — public opinion, opinion of their colleagues, reputation, and legacy. It lets them be biased cost-free. If you confront bias, and force judges to be biased in the daylight, it’s harder for them, and social and cultural factors may deter them.
Third, it’s corrosive and unjust to say that we won’t hold people to account because they are popular and powerful. The system doesn’t need more of that, thank you, we’re all stocked up. It’s already a fact, we don’t need to make it a policy as well. Strongmen already fare indescribably better than normal citizens when facing the justice system. Going full-on junta and making it an official principle of prosecution not to prosecute the powerful means abandoning even an aspiration of equality before the law.
Fourth, yielding to people who say “if you punish me or my friends for breaking the law I’ll hurt you” is a terrible way to run a society. It’s governance by thugs. If someone says “if you apply the rule of law to hold me accountable for my conduct, I will later abuse the rule of law to punish you,” you know that person is a dishonest, dishonorable partisan. There is no rational basis to believe that a dishonest, dishonorable partisan will ever behave well. In other words, the proposition “Trump and his cronies will abuse the system if we prosecute them, but if we don’t, they will behave” is deeply dubious. Paying the Danegeld — whether in coin or in abandonment of principles — doesn’t deter the Danes from reaving any more than throwing bacon at a dog makes it run away. To the contrary, abandoning the rule of law to avoid angering Trump and his ilk makes them bolder, not more complaint.
It’s popular to say America’s in civilizational decline. It’s possible; I don’t know. I’m skeptical of narratives that make us extraordinary. But I know this: if we’re going down, we should go down swinging, not cringing. Donald Trump boldly, gratuitously, arrogantly broke the law. He’s bragged about being able to do so without consequence. He’s not being persecuted, he’s being provided with due process that will give him myriad ways to defend himself and vindicate his rights, and his vast resources make him uniquely suited to do so. If the Department of Justice doesn’t take the shot, then what’s the point of it?
1 I am NOT a Boomer, damn you. I AM GEN-X. YOU CAN’T TAKE THOSE FIVE YEARS FROM ME.

I’m just gonna start this review raw and hit you with the cold water right away: Persona 5 Royal is one of my favorite games of all time! I’d say it’s tied with Bloodborne as my 3rd favorite game of all time (Subject to change). The absolutely incredible journey that this game has taken me through after my 100+ hours of playtime has had me on a rollercoaster of emotions and I’m so glad I got to experience it blind. As someone who prior to this had only known of Persona from greatest JRPG lists and Joker being in Smash, I’m happy to say that the hype was not only met, but exceeded in every way with Persona 5. So I’ll be going over every aspect and just gushing about almost all of it. This review will also cover all of P5R’s story, so you have been warned when it comes to spoilers, continue reading at your own risk.
First, the style and presentation of this game is honestly on a whole other level! The way everything looks has such a unique visual flair that’s both stylish while also being sleek and easy to navigate. Everything from the HUD to the UI has such an incredible style to it that makes even just simple stuff like just navigating the menus fun to do. It’s such a visual treat to look at. This is the type of menu and interface design I wish we had with more modern games today. Give us more shit like what you get in Persona 5, it strikes the perfect balance of being stylish while still being easy to understand and navigate. Without question the presentation is one of the best aspects of the game, not because of its fidelity but for how much it stands out amongst the crowd.
Next, I’ll talk about the gameplay. Now Persona 5’s gameplay is of course split into two main halves, the high school daily life social sim aspect, and dungeon crawling turn based combat half. To start, the social sim aspect ended up being much more engaging and enjoyable then I thought it would be going into this game. I loved how participating and improving your social status led you to constantly being rewarded in game. By advancing confidants with you party members and the many other characters you’ll come to meet on your journey, you end up learning new skills and techniques that can come extremely handy in battle, one example of such is how by advancing the confidant with Shogi player Hifumi Togo, you gain the ability early in her path to swap out party members in the middle of battle on Joker’s turn, which can be extremely useful during boss fights or tougher battles. On top of that, you get to experience each character’s development and form bonds with them that does an excellent job of fleshing them all out and building the world of Persona 5. By the end of their confidants you really feel a connection to each person you meet and really feel as though you’ve left a positive impact on their life, it makes you care about them that much more as a result which I feel is so brilliant. Then there’s the second half of P5’s gameplay, the dungeon crawling aspect. When it comes to combat, Persona 5 may have one of my favorite turn-based battle systems out there with the 1 More system. In combat you have a multitude of options that adds so much depth to it, not counting what stuff the 1 More system and Baton Pass mechanics add, but I’m getting ahead of myself. In battle you can choose to do a melee attack, guard, use an item, utilize a skill from you and your party’s personas, or use your guns to shoot enemies. Battles mainly consist of you figuring out how enemies react to different types of damage to figure out and exploit their weaknesses. If you manage to either hit an enemy with a damage type that they’re weak to, or if you land a critical hit, you’ll gain a 1 More, or an extra turn. However, there’s also the Baton Pass mechanic, where you can choose to pass your 1 More to another party member. The amount of options these mechanics allow in battle makes Persona 5’s combat some of the best out of any JRPG in my opinion. You can do what’s mostly encouraged by the game and try to form a chain of Baton Passes between your party members that can result in you dealing a monstrous amount of damage if you complete a full change. Or you could use your 1 more to pass to another party member who can then apply buffs and debuffs for you before resuming normal turns, it adds so much choice and depth to combat which I loved! On top of that, these mechanics often made it to where for a turn based game, combat hardly felt as though it was turn based which was very surprising and made it super enjoyable even as someone who loves turn based combat. Then you have the Palace’s which I absolutely loved when it came to their level design, overall most of them Cough Cough Okumura’s Palace Cough Cough were very fun to explore and infiltrate. The puzzles within were also enjoyable to solve and were well designed in my opinion to where they required me to use my brain power a bit, but weren’t mindlessly easy or too difficult to where I was looking up the solution for the most part. I also loved how each palace had a unique theme to them that made them each very unique and enjoyable to experience. One issue I had though when it came to the main Palace was how it bothered me that you could instantly warp directly to the treasure since there’d be a safe room directly outside of the treasure’s location. I mentioned this early on in my playthrough when I noticed you could do so during Kamoshida’s palace. It especially bothered me since during infiltration you’ll find various shortcuts that I assumed the game wanted you to use later to get to the treasure faster, so I found it odd that you could just instantly warp straight to the treasure, it’d make more sense to allow you to do so on repeat playthroughs and such, but outside of that it just sounds like an odd choice from a game design perspective. I think an easy way they could’ve solved this problem would be that sending the calling card would disable the safe rooms so that you’d have to find them again when you went to steal the treasure. Now finally for gameplay, I’ll talk about the Boss Battles, and my god this game's boss fights were so good, especially the last couple boss fights may be some of my favorite JRPG boss fights ever! I loved each how each boss had a unique gimmick to their fight that made them all very engaging and for the most part had me very hyped and engaged throughout Cough Cough again Okumura’s fight can fuck off forever Cough Cough. My favorite fight is tough to say but a couple of them would be Sae’s Boss Fight, The final fight against Yaldabaoth, and Maruki’s fight were just so incredible!
Actually I’m gonna go ahead and rant for a little bit because oh my god Okumura’s boss fight was actually fucking miserable. I have a love-hate relationship with this fight because on paper it had potential to be a very good fight, but the execution made this by far the hardest fight in the game for no fucking reason. I managed to beat both Yaldabaoth and Maruki on my first try on Normal difficulty, and even after swapping the difficulty to Merciless on Okumura’s fight to get those damage multipliers it still took me seven tries to beat him. I did like how the fight tests you on stuff you’ve been using up to that point in the game like weaknesses and utilizing Baton Passes, but the biggest sin in this fight is the fact you can’t use All-Out Attacks AT ALL during this fight even though you could in other fights like with the fight against Wakaba. I wouldn’t even be that mad if the way gabe you a REASON for taking away all-out attacks during this fight. But I genuinely think this fight would be much better if you could do so. This fight is also just such a slog to get through, so when you beat Okumura you’re not satisfied and happy that you beat him, you’re just relieved you won’t have to do that godforsaken fight ever again, but yeah fuck Okumura’s fight.
Next, there’s the story and characters. Dear god this game’s story is absolutely fucking incredible. I don’t think it’s perfect, but dammit there are few games who’s stories had me as invested and blown away like with this game. There isn’t a single character in this game that I didn’t like or end up growing attached to over time. Dr. Maruki and Akechi are up there now as two of my favorite antagonists ever in my opinion, especially the latter. The twists where you find out his true motivations, only to then learn that the Thieves knew about his betrayal the entire game had my jaw on the floor in awe, it may honestly be tied with “Would You Kindly” as one of my favorite plot twists ever. I’d honestly say my only complaint when it comes to the story is Haru and how she’s done so dirty considering how fucking MORGANA gets more attention than her in her own fucking arc!! I don’t even dislike Morgana but her story interested me much more than his during that arc, like why is his cat ass getting to do the monologue against Okumura when it should be her since her whole arc is learning to stand up for herself and claim her own independence, but she only really gets development in her confidant which is just such a shame, because outside of that she just…exists in the main story. However I still liked her like all of the characters as I spent time with them as part of their confidants with my favorites by far being Ann, Kasumi, Futaba, Akechi, and Yusuke…the times where I was crying after hearing a character’s backstory was numerous and I loved it. I especially connected to Futaba’s story immensely due to being in a similar state of mind, with different circumstances though to clarify, but it still was probably the story that resonated with me the most. The storytelling throughout Persona 5 was also just top notch. I loved how the majority of the story was recounting the events leading up to the present situation, thought one small issue I had with it was I didn’t like how it would just immediately reveal the villain of each arc right from the get go, I think it would’ve been better if they kept the villains a mystery until after the Thieves chose to target them. It kind of takes away from the moments when the Thieves would choose their targets because you already know who it is, again I think Futaba’s arc stands out since you think you’re targeting the head of Medjed, but instead you’re targeting someone completely different and I wish each of the target reveals played out similarly. It’s not a massive complaint but it is something that bothered me.
Finally, I wanted to talk about the soundtrack, because Persona 5’s soundtrack may be one of my all-time favorites! I know I’m repeating myself a lot but I have no other good way to say it, everything from the atmospheric tracks to the battle music to the boss themes are just so goddamn good! So many tracks have been stuck in my head for weeks now like Wake Up Get Up Get Out There, Life Will Change, Beneath The Mask, and The Whims Of Fate. And HOLY SHIT Rivers In The Desert is one of the best boss themes I’ve ever heard, gave me actual goosebumps when I first heard it in game! Shoji Meguro is one of my new favorite composers when it comes to game soundtracks and I can’t wait to experience his other work in Persona 3 and 4.
To conclude, Persona 5 is without question one of the greatest JRPGs ever and one of the greatest video games I’ve ever played! It’s incredibly fun and engaging gameplay both in managing the daily life of a high school student, and in the dungeon crawling turn-based combat is some of the best out of any JRPG I’ve played. Its story and characters are super well written, with emotional highs and lows, and with one of the best twists I’ve ever experienced, and the presentation is some of the best I’ve seen in any game ever. My experience playing this game over the course of this month has honestly been the most rewarding, engaging, and memorable gaming experiences I’ve had since when I first played Elden Ring. I’m so glad I got to experience this game for the first time finally. Persona 5 is an absolute masterpiece even if it has some flaws, so with that my final rating for Persona 5 is: 10/10!

Chapter 1
​
For decades, humans and a dozen other races expanded through local star systems, competing against each other but never gaining a significant enough advantage to allow one to dominate.
​
This continued until the Dominion arrived. A massive ship flew through known space, indifferent to the calls of inhabitants. Making no attempt at first contact, the ship ignored all sentients in its path, passing through every battle line unscathed, and instead dropped a mining station in a white dwarf star. Shortly after, a Dominion base was established in an nearby uninhabited system.
​
Confused, the humans and other races continued their attempts to communicate with the obviously vastly superior technology. Other Dominion ships came and went, often under military guard, but paid no attention to the line of ships outside their base and the sublight radio waves they were transmitting.
​
Finally, the commander must have gotten tired of seeing ships milling around and built a radio to initiate contact. He didn’t say much other than introducing himself and his race, and that it was their right as Class Two species to have a Dominion ambassador if they requested one. Despite the differences between the assembled aliens, they unanimously agreed.
​
A month later, Laen arrived from the Dominion.
​
The ambassador from Ultrua waved his tentacles around excitedly in the drab room. On the other side, seated in a comfortable but equally drab couch, the Dominion’s representative sat trying to focus on the words coming from the translator and not the non-sensible tentacle waving.
​
Laen nodded enthusiastically, trying to end the conversation. “Yes, ambassador, I agree completely. No, I can’t do that. Not even a little. Yes, as I previously mentioned—“
​
His next sentence was a little more excited than she liked and she dodged a tentacle that seemed aimed at her, although the translator on her arm assured her it meant ‘slime accumulated between shower tiles.’
​
“Ambassador, I realize Household Artificial Intelligence is your main export. No, I cannot authorize any trade of Dominion technology. Yes, I’m sure they’re very good machines—fine. I’ll take one.”
​
She almost immediately regretted agreeing to purchase something, as the Ultruin’s gesticulations became even faster. Laen struggled to keep up with the translator.
​
“Again, I can’t offer technology. How about…ah…umm…Gold! I’ll give you thirty tons of gold,” she said, suddenly remembering that the ambassador for the Achrans had promised that exact amount in exchange for a mineral survey of a nearby planet. She didn’t know what the market price for gold was in this sector, but she didn’t care. It was useless to the Dominion after they had moved to subspace quantum technologies centuries ago.
​
Judging from the way the Utruin was moving its entire body now, Laen guessed he was getting the better side of this deal.
​
“Yes sir, I agree. I’m happy we could come to an agreement. If you’ll excuse me, I have other duties to attend to.” She pointed to the door emphatically, and the ambassador reluctantly began oozing out of the room while continuing to jabber away in his native tongue. Or rather, tentacle.
​
“Yes, I’m sure. Wait no, just one. No, one unit, not one shipment.” She slammed the door closed after checking to make sure no tentacles were still inside the doorframe.
​
Laen fell on the couch, mildly hoping it would collapse and she would be seriously injured, just to bring some excitement to the day. She hated this. She had a promising career in a completely different field, and suddenly her life was turned around and sent to the darkest corner of the galaxy, just because some knuckle dragging squid who hadn’t figured out how to build nanoscopic singularities requested an ambassador.
​
She recognized the flaw in her last thought just as her wrist computer buzzed again. Angrily, she slapped the button. “What?”
​
The secretary recoiled on the screen, but remained professional. “Your next appointment is here.”
​
Laen forced herself to calm down. It wasn’t the secretary’s fault. In fact, she probably didn’t want to be here any more than Laen did. “Already? Did my last appointment go long?”
​
“I’m afraid so.” Laen wasn’t surprised. The Ultruin like to talk. Or punch. Whatever served as communication for his species.
​
“Alright send him in. Or her. Or it. Whatever comes through the door.” She ended the call and leaned back on the couch again, silently willing the supports to fail.
​
The door opened and a being two meters tall and relatively skinny stepped through. He seemed much more like what a proper sentient should look like. Her own race was not much different, except that she had blue skin. “You must be Laen. I am Bradley Cardot, the representative of the Human…” his voice trailed off as he saw the simple chair opposite the couch where Laen was seated, still covered in slime from the Utruin ambassador.
​
“I’m so sorry! Let me get a new one.” She activated her wrist computer. “Gren, I’m sorry to bother you,” she said apologetically, hoping it would make up for her outburst earlier. “The gentleman from the Human…sorry, who are you representing again?”
​
“The Human Confederation.”
​
“Right. Of course. Anyway, the chair is soaked and we need a new one. Can you grab one from…somewhere?” Her voice dropped almost to pleading. She couldn’t think of words any more. If anything else went wrong, she silently swore she would abandon all attempts of diplomacy and spend the rest of the day in a hot bath.
​
The secretary delivered a clean chair and dragged the soiled one out of the room, trails of slime following it. Laen suddenly had a horrible thought about where the ‘slime accumulated between shower tiles’ the Ultruins were so vehement about came from.
​
Mister Cardot sat in the clean chair and opened his briefcase as the door shut. “Miss Laen—I’m sorry, how do you wish to be called?”
​
“Laen is fine. It’s the only name I have, besides my social identifier number.”
​
“Right. Thank you again for seeing me. On behalf of the Human Confederation I’d like to welcome you and extend—“
​
“I cannot offer Dominion technology under any circumstances.” That was the first thing every diplomat asked for. Maybe she could save some time in this appointment and take a break before the next.
​
“I wasn’t…I didn’t finish…” The ambassador trailed off. Laen wished he would hurry up and leave. Her professional demeanor failed and she felt her face scowl as she tried and failed to keep smiling.
​
The human stared at her quizzically. “Are you okay?”
​
Laen was not prepared for that. “I’m sorry, what?”
​
“You don’t seem to be very happy right now. Is everything alright?”
​
She stared back for a few seconds. “No, it’s ‘fine’. Everything’s just peachy,” she bit out sarcastically. “You want to know how ‘fine’ this is?”
​
Bradley looked concerned, but she continued. The flood gates were open, and she was going to have her say.
​
“I didn’t want to be an ambassador! I was never interested in diplomacy or politics or xenos or any of that! I’m an accountant! Do you want to know how I got here?”
​
Bradley was silent.
​
“I was meeting a colleague in the government center. I walked past the door to the Executive Director of External Affairs and Relations Regulations Committee’s Record Keeper’s Assistant’s office, and the Record Keeper was in there talking to his assistant and he came out and almost bumped into me and he shoved an envelope at me and said ‘there’s a ship leaving the galaxy from dock one twenty four in fifteen minutes be on it and here’s everything you need to know.’” She was almost crying as she babbled.
​
The man had stayed perfectly still throughout her tirade. Laen hardly noticed as she launched into the next part. She had revealed too much, she thought. How would she fix this latest blunder? Hot tub for a day wouldn’t be enough. Not even a week. And what about Bradley Cardot? She didn’t even pause in telling him her deepest concerns. She couldn’t allow him to leave with that information. She would have to arrange an accident of some kind and get a new human ambassador. She had never killed or ordered anyone murdered before, and the thought made her stop mid-sentence.
​
She would have to consider how to deal with Bradley later. While she had a captive audience, she may as well spill her feelings, even if she had to kill him later to cover it up.
​
“Nobody cares. They never cared,” she said tiredly. “Do you know I had over a hundred coworkers? I was connected to the net during the whole trip. The only message I got the entire month I was traveling here was an automated mail to inform me of my job change.”
​
She turned around and dug through her bag. “See this pamphlet?” She held it up for him. It was a folded paper with a pleasing yellow color, titled “So You’ve been Conscripted to be an Ambassador? How to Avoid Embarrassing Yourself and the Dominion”. She tossed it to him and he broke his pose to catch it from the air. “That’s what they gave me to prepare me for this role. The Dominion doesn’t care about me enough to train me. They don’t care about you enough to send someone competent. There’s nothing you can offer them and they know it. I’m only here to satisfy some archaic rule somewhere.”
​
Bradley was flipping through the pamphlet. “This says you can order a preemptive strike against Class two civilizations!”
​
“Yeah, it does. Technically, beyond my presence and availability as a representative of the Dominion, you don’t have any rights at all. My contact at the Forms and Regulations for the Department of Ethical Treatment of Inferior Sentients and Species told me which forms to fill out to have any inhabited planet here glassed by the military with no questions asked, and no one back home would even blink. I could make myself the governor of all your planets and parade Dominion military ships around as long as I had the right documents to make the captains go where I wanted.”
​
Bradley was oddly calm at the revelation, and continued to read the pamphlet unaware that she was still considering revoking his living privileges after the conversation.
​
Laen sat in the couch and continued while he read. “Our technology is so much more advanced than yours. I’m not trying to be insulting, that’s just how it is. Our two civilizations don’t need any of the same materials. We’re only in this galaxy to mine white dwarf stars, and you’re still scraping asteroids for resources. If you didn’t try and make contact, we could have lived in the same sector for decades and never crossed paths.”
​
The human ambassador nodded. “Our people have a theory called the Fermi Paradox. It’s basically what you just said, where an alien civilization is so advanced they have no interest in us, maliciously or otherwise.”
​
Laen nodded. “Just a few minutes ago, I traded thirty tons of gold for a robot that changes the thermostat! I don’t want a robot! I’ll probably dump it out the airlock without opening it.”
​
Bradley’s jaw dropped at the price of a House AI. “That’s quite a lot.” He closed the pamphlet. “Do you know what you need? A vacation.”
​
She was about to ask what that was when he pulled his own computer from his pocket and turned it on. Although it looked similar, she was certain it was ancient technology compared to hers.
​
“Check this out. This is a beach in the Bahamas.” He turned the screen to show her.
​
Every hot bath she had ever had paled in comparison to the paradise in front of her. She could tell the temperature of the vista just by the reflection of the sunlight on the water, which stretched to the horizon. Never on all the city planets she had lived on could she have imagined so much wasted space.
​
She could almost feel the water on her body, and had an intense urge to know what the sand would be like under her feet.
​
“It’s beautiful.”
​
“Come on. I’ll take you.”
​
“I can’t. I have my duties to attend to, and I think I have to be impartial.”
​
“Not at all. Like you said, the Dominion doesn’t care what you do. You can even accept bribes.”
​
That made her pause. “Really?”
​
“Yeah. It was in the manual. Page fourteen, I think.”
​
“It explicitly said that?”
​
“From ‘unenlightened civilizations with no relevance to the Dominion’, yes.” He opened the pamphlet and pointed to a paragraph.
​
“Wow. I must have dozed off for that part. But you’ll still use this as leverage in negotiations, or something. How do I know I can trust you?”
​
He looked at her with something she couldn’t quite understand. Maybe pity, or compassion. “You said no one cares about you, that you weren’t important. I’m telling you that you are important. To everyone in this sector, you are the most important person in the universe. You have the fates of billions in your hands, even if they belong to Class two civilizations. We have to trust you to do the best you can.”
​
When she didn’t say anything he continued. “If you look upwards to the Dominion, you’ll find what you said is true. You and your job are completely irrelevant to them. But we, who you’ve been placed in charge of, care very much about you. Even if it’s only in our best interest.” He smiled. “I’ll make sure your trip isn’t interrupted with any diplomacy stuff. Unless you’d like some actual training.”
​
She laughed. “That would give you a huge advantage against everyone else in the sector.”
​
Bradley only smiled.
​
Laen nodded. She knew he was just diplomatic, being nice to the person with big guns behind her, but right now she didn’t care. “Alright. Let’s go.”
​
“Right now?”
​
“Yeah.” She activated her wrist computer. “Gren? Cancel all my appointments for the next month. I’m going with Mister Cardot. And use my diplomatic credit to treat yourself to something.”
​
One week later.
​
Laen was sprawled on the beach, her knees soaking in the gentle waves while her back relaxed in the heat from the sand. She had made Bradley find the exact spot in the picture, and he assured her she was lying on the very grains of sand depicted.
​
The beach was deserted aside from her, a waiter holding a half empty cooler full of beverages, and two dozen armed guards hiding out of view.
​
She had no idea what day it was. Bradley had promised two weeks of uninterrupted relaxation, and true to his word no one was able to introduce themselves without going through both his bodyguards and hers. Just beyond the horizon, she was sure, swarms of boats still challenged the police blockade, but here it was completely peaceful.
​
An annoying buzzing wafted over the breeze from her cabin. She had brought her wrist computer on the chance she might need it, but she hadn’t looked at it once since she got here. There was no need for any communication, as far as she was concerned. She had told her ship she would be back in touch and that she hadn’t been kidnapped and there would be no need for the Dominion to abduct another passerby to maintain headcount.
​
It was nice here. She should leave the ship and set up shop on Earth. It would give the humans an unfair advantage but who cares?
​
She did. She cared. Bradley was the only one who cared enough to ask if she was okay. She could care about them in return.
​
Laen applied another layer of sunscreen purposefully designed for her blue skin and laid back on the sand, closing her eyes. She had almost fallen asleep when she suddenly bolted upright.
​
“I forgot to give the Ultruins their gold!”
​
Chapter 2
​
Laen walked onto the cramped bridge of her Dominion-issued diplomatic shuttle to see the full force of the Ultruin battle fleet arrayed before her.
​
The shuttle’s pilot, sitting in the chair on the left, greeted her with a wave before turning back to the controls with boredom. She couldn’t blame him. Nothing exciting was going to happen for a long time.
​
She wondered what she was wearing, but couldn’t risk taking the time to look. The only thing worse than showing up in your pajamas to a diplomatic incident was showing up in pajamas and then appearing embarrassed about it.
​
On screen, the Ultruin ambassador was gesticulating angrily, unaware that Laen had only now gotten up from her bed.
​
It didn’t matter. The Ultruan language was usually fast and chaotic, with multiple tentacles making signs at the same time. But now the ambassador was using a very formal, very slow pattern. The movements took long enough to communicate anything that a few minutes of skimming the text logs was enough to catch up on his ramblings.
​
Once she finished, she interrupted the Ultruin. “Thank you for that speech, ambassador, but there’s no need to declare war. I have your gold in an Achran bank. I will tell them to transfer it immediately.”
​
She let her mind wander while the translation of the alien’s words crawled across the screen. There was a lot of movement for so little communication. It took about fifty separate gestures to form one word. Why was this language so inefficient? She glanced at the screen again and saw he was only half finished with his sentence.
​
What was in the kitchen? The tiny shuttle boasted a one-square-meter kitchenette with all the amenities of a fourth-class restaurant in the middle of a random slum back home. There should be some leftover green paste, or was it the orange paste? If Gren ate all the green paste while Laen had been on vacation, she was going to have some harsh words for her.
​
Her mind came back to the moment to see the Ultruin staring at her silently. After a look at the text logs, she forced her nicest diplomatic smile for the being threatening her life.
​
“Again, I apologize for the delay, but surely if I add a late-payment fee to what I owe you we can leave as friends. It’s not as if you’ve delivered the AI either, right?”
​
The shuttle pilot cleared his throat. Laen glanced over at him. He was pointing at a cardboard box sitting in the co-pilot’s seat across the aisle. It had Ultruin shipping labels plastered all over it like a hobo’s attempt at wallpaper. Laen briefly wondered what address they used to ship it to her shuttle in the middle of empty space.
​
“Alright, so you have delivered the AI. But is thirty tons of gold really worth declaring war over?”
​
The Ultruin gestured some more. Laen leaned over to the pilot. “When we’re done here, toss the box out the airlock,” she whispered. The pilot nodded.
​
“Really? Wars of reimbursement are permitted for transactions over twenty thousand Konevs? And I suppose thirty tons of gold is more than twenty thousand?”
​
More gesturing.
​
“That’s great, but we surrender. We’re willing to hand over what we owe you. No need for hostilities, right?”
​
Still more gesturing. Where had she seen those movements before? Suddenly she remembered and now she couldn’t get the memories out of her head. The Sushi place with Mark had been a disaster. First of all he was as generic as possible, without a single defining trait. And then the giant tentacle monster the chefs were about to serve somehow escaped and gobbled Mark up. At least he wasn’t able to ask for a second date, and when the Dominion army finally dealt with the monster the sushi was surprisingly good, though slightly singed. Laen watched the Ultruin and wondered if he had any distant relatives in her home galaxy.
​
“Alright fine, have it your way.” She turned the viewscreen off and turned to the pilot. “In case you didn’t get that, the entire People’s Republic of Ultrua has declared war on me personally, and the Dominion by extension.”
​
“I didn’t, thanks. Was I supposed to be paying attention?”
​
“Nah. I was barely paying attention. So the Ultruins are just going to shoot at us for a while, and then maybe surrender. Tell me if something interesting happens.”
​
The pilot smirked. “Will do. Class twos, am I right?”
​
She stopped halfway through the hatch. “What is that supposed to mean?”
​
He pulled his helmet off so he could turn to face her. “They’re just so dumb! I don’t know why we bother talking to them at all.”
​
A wing of fighters blazed past the windows, peppering the skin of the craft with tiny kinetic slugs. Realizing the shuttle had no fighter defenses, the fighters slowly flew in front and emptied their magazines into the sitting shuttle. Inside the shuttle, of course, it was completely silent. Laen stepped back into the bridge to address the pilot.
​
“There are some very nice class two people I met. Just because their civilizations aren’t as old or as advanced as ours doesn’t mean they as individuals aren’t every bit as intelligent as your or I.”
​
“Ma’am, I don’t mean to insult you, but surely the Ultruins have spent more money on ammo in their little war than they could have made if they just took the gold.”
​
“The Ultruins might be a special case, but this is still the action of one man. Even with the support of his government. All the others in the fleet are just following orders. You can’t apply a generalization of one individual to an entire group.”
​
Megaton warheads splattered across the windshield like bugs. The glass automatically polarized to prevent ionizing radiation from reaching the passengers.
​
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry I insulted your friends. Happy?”
​
It was probably as good as she was going to get. “Close enough. And thank you for refraining from making that comment while the channel was open.”
​
The pilot laughed. “No kidding. Do I look like a class two?” A horrified look crossed his face as he realized he made the same joke a second time. “No, I’m sorry. I just-“
​
Laen smiled. “It’s fine.” She gestured to the light show outside. “Let me know when they get bored.”
​
Walking back to her room, she stopped at the refresher station to check the mirror. She sighed contentedly. Sometimes, success was not showing up to a declaration of war wearing pajamas. Today’s definition of success meant forgetting to change into pajamas from yesterday’s clothing, and wearing that to a declaration of war instead.
​
She would take whatever victory she could, especially because Gren had indeed eaten all the green paste and left Laen with the disgusting orange stuff.
​
Bradley Cardot, the human ambassador looked surprised. “They just opened fire? Then what?”
​
Laen shrugged and reached across the table for a pitcher of cool-aid. They were sitting in an empty room at a high-end human restaurant reserved for diplomatic events. Being able to order almost any drink known to humanity, Laen naturally chose cool-aid. “I grabbed a snack and went back to bed until they stopped.”
​
“That’s it? How did it end?”
​
“After a few hours, I had my pilot fire a warning shot through a small moon. They surrendered after that.”
​
“What happened to the Household AI? And the thirty tons of gold?”
​
“According to the document they signed, I returned the AI for a full refund. However, the whole thing started because I forgot to give them the gold, and the Ultruins don’t have thirty tons of their own. To process the whole transaction I have to pay them the original sum, without interest, and then they will refund it back to me.”
​
Bradley was clearly questioning the mental capacities of the people involved in the surrender document.
​
“It was seriously the only thing we could agree on. I was ready to give them both the AI and the gold just to get out of the talks a few hours early, but they wouldn’t have it.”
​
“That does sound like them. It’s still troubling, though. You shouldn’t have been in battle. Doesn’t the Dominion have a military ship you could have called for backup?”
​
“Well yeah, but I wasn’t in any danger. All Dominion ship hulls are statically placed.”
​
“What does that mean?”
​
Laen paused. “You seriously don’t know? As in Universal Static Positioning?”
​
Bradley shook his head.
​
“The molecules of the hull are in a form of stasis locked to relative ship position. Nothing except weaponry or tools designed to disrupt that stasis can damage it. Didn’t you already know that?”
​
He shook his head again.
​
Laen suddenly had a moment of clarity. “Oh! I keep forgetting you’re a class two, and USP is class seven tech. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you-“
​
“It’s fine. And I appreciate that you don’t think of us as technologically inferior. Even though we are.”
​
“Please, don’t mention this to anyone. I’m embarrassed just telling you.”
​
“Laen, It’s fine. I wasn’t insulted. And I won’t tell anyone.”
​
The Dominion ambassador breathed easier. “Thanks. But seriously, don’t tell anyone about Static Positioning. I could get court martialed just for saying the name to a class two.”
​
The Human smiled. “I won’t. Humanity will learn it the hard way when we become class seven. But for now, you can’t continue traveling through space in a shuttle, even with indestructible armor.”
​
“What do you mean?”
​
“The Ultruin’s thought they could win against you because all you had was a single shuttle.”
​
“But there was a Dominion ship only ten minutes away, if I was actually in danger.”
​
“They knew you weren’t in danger. They wanted to intimidate you. If they were actually declaring war on the Dominion, they would have gone to one of the Dominion bases.”
​
“I suppose. What do you suggest?”
​
Bradley smiled wide. “The Human Confederacy would like to offer you a diplomatic warship.”
​
“A warship? What am I supposed to do with a warship? I don’t think even the Ultruin’s would hesitate to fight someone with one warship.”
​
“Ah, but it’s not just one warship. It’s one Confederate warship, crewed by humans. If the Ultruins or anyone else open fire on you, they are not only declaring war on the Dominion, who couldn’t care less, but on the Human Confederacy as well. And we do care.”
​
Laen nodded slowly. “And by riding in your fancy ship, I would also be officially endorsing you.”
​
The man cocked his head to one side and smiled at her.
​
She wasn’t sure what to say. Picking up her glass of cool-aid, she maintained eye contact and drank the contents while being intimidating as possible.
​
Sensing her trepidation, Bradley continued. “I’m sure a Dominion equipped shuttle has every luxury Humans can’t imagine, but it must be extremely cramped on board. You can just park your ship in the hangar and take a stroll down the corridors once in a while-“
​
Laen choked on the cool-aid and coughed all over the table, narrowly avoiding Bradley. She wiped the liquid running down her chin with her sleeve, abandoning her intimidating stance. “I’m sorry, did you say hangar?”
​
“Yes. The ship I have in mind has a small hangar that would be more than enough-“
​
“How big is the kitchen?”
​
“I don’t know, probably about the size of this room?” He gestured at the walls. They were about ten meters by twelve.
​
“Do they stock cool-aid?” She asked, while lifting the glass that contained what cool-aid she hadn’t spilled.
​
“They…certainly can.”
​
“And do they serve the food we just ate?” Bradley had treated himself to a pork roast, while Laen had consumed five consecutive grilled-cheese sandwiches.
​
“Not exactly, but we can customize the menu to your liking. All on the Human Confederacy’s bill, of course.”
​
“I’ll take it!”
​
Bradley took a deep breath. “I’m glad we could be of service.”
​
A day later, Laen was almost jumping up and down with excitement. She was trying not to actually jump, because if she had she would have knocked her head on the overhead. The Perseverance was a Human Confederacy heavy cruiser, which meant it was slower than a light cruiser and less armored then a dreadnought.
​
The passageways were just as cramped as one her shuttle, they just went in straight much lines longer. But there were more open areas, like the gym, hangar, and galley. The bridge was another area with a lot of open space, but that was just to fit more viewscreens and buttons and switches.
​
Her shuttle, which lacked a name, was parked quietly in one corner of the Perseverance’s hangar. The rest of her crew declined to step onto the “Human death trap” and preferred to stay in a ship that wouldn’t vent atmosphere if it hit a micrometeor going a mere quarter of the speed of light.
​
The kitchen had been her first stop. It was filled with appliances and machines with functions she couldn’t even guess at, but she made the head chef promise not to start the next meal until she was there to watch. Being able to eat food with texture while being in space would be the ultimate luxury.
​
Now, she was climbing through the many hatches to get to the bridge. Her first stop as commander of the vessel was the Dominion supply base, one of the two bases operated by the Dominion in this galaxy.
​
“Have we arrived, captain?”
​
Captain Williams turned to face her. “Aye, ma’am. We are within radio hailing distance.”
​
“Open a channel!”
​
She waited excitedly for something to happen. Nothing did.
​
“No response.”
​
“Why would they be ignoring me? Wait, did you say radio?”
​
“Yes ma’am, our sublight communication is radio based.”
​
“That’s why. The base doesn’t have radio equipment. Call my shuttle, please.”
​
The main screen changed to show her shuttle pilot reading something with his feet on the console, ignoring the red lights that appeared whenever his foot bumped something. Seeing her on his own screen, he jumped and straightened his posture, hiding his reading material under his seat. “Yes ma’am. How may I help?”
​
“Contact Commander Devrak, please, and route the call to the bridge of the Perseverance over the sublight comms.”
​
“Right away.”
​
A moment later, Commander Devrak appeared on the screen.
​
“Yes ambassador Lon, what can I do for you?”
​
“It’s Laen.”
​
“My apologies, Lon. Why are you interrupting my day?”
​
“Do you remember that piece-of-junk shuttle you gave me?”
​
“I was ordered give you the Mark 25 model. Otherwise all you would have gotten was an oxygen mask and a pair of plastic angel wings.” Commander Devrak apparently wanted nothing to do with this conversation.
​
“Haha, very funny. Well, I got a new ship! See it on your scanner?”
​
“Nope.”
​
“Of course you do. It’s the biggest thing around besides the station.”
​
Devrak squinted at something off screen. “Oh, there it is, I mistook it for a garbage scow at first. No, it is a garbage scow. Does it even have USP?”
​
Laen glanced around nervously. “Ah, no, these are class twos, Devrak. No USP for a while.”
​
“Well, have fun. Somewhere far away, preferably.”
​
“Wait wait wait. I haven’t even shown you the firepower I have.”
​
Devrak sighed. “Whoever decided to give you firepower is clearly the worst tactician ever. Fine. What do you want to do?”
​
“Just launch a training drone and watch!”
​
The commander leaned back in his chair and spoke to someone before turning back to the camera. “Your drone’s launching now.”
​
Laen turned to Captain Williams. “Do you have the drone in your sights?”
​
“Bogey detected on our starboard bow, twenty five degrees by ten. Mass: eighteen thousand kilograms. Distance: eleven thousand meters.”
​
Laen jumped up. “Main guns to starboard! Prepare a full broadside!” She didn’t know if that was proper military speak, but she had watched a dozen space pirate movies to prepare for this moment.
​
The captain nodded to his crew. “Fire on my mark. Three, two one.”
​
There was a loud reverberation throughout the ship as eighteen cannons fired simultaneously.
​
After a few seconds, the tactical officer spoke. “Target impacted.”
​
Commander Devrak, still on screen, looked bored. “Are you sure?” The drone doesn’t show any damage.”
​
The tactical officer continued. “Sixteen of eighteen shells hit the target.”
​
Devrak’s expression stayed the same. “The accelerometer doesn’t even show its course changed.”
​
The captain turned to Laen. “Normally, against a target of that size we would use missiles or flak guns. The main guns are accurate to a thousand kilometers if we’re firing on ships our size.”
​
“Thank you Captain. And you, Commander Devrak, for being a good host.”
​
“Unwillingly. Good travels, ambassador. I’d hate to hear something bad happened and I had to rescue you.” Devrak closed the connection.
​
Captain Williams ignored the commander. “Where to now, ma’am?”
​
She pointed her finger forward. “To the edge of the universe!”
​
Just then, her communicator buzzed. “Hello?”
​
“Ma’am, it’s Chef Ganovich. We’re ready to prepare the next meal, if you’d still like to watch!”
​
“Are we having cool-aid?”
​
“Yes ma’am.”
​
“With grilled cheese?”
​
“As you requested.”
​
“Don’t start without me!” Laen turned off the communicator and almost ran out of the bridge but turned back to Captain Williams. “Take us anywhere! I doubt Devrak wants to see us anymore!”
​
The captain sighed. “Plot a course for Earth.” Under his breath, he muttered “I hate grilled cheese.”
​
Chapter 3
​
In a darkened room deep within the Perseverance, four crewmen conversed secretly.
​
“She’s up to no good. We have to stop her.”
​
“And you’ve seen how she treats the crew. She would do the same in our place.”
​
There were muttered agreements as they plotted. Suddenly, the hatch slammed open and Captain Williams strode through, accompanied by Chef Ganovich.
​
“What’s going on here?” The captain said angrily. “Gentlemen, are you conspiring?” The crewmen shrunk back.
​
Williams raised his voice. “WITHOUT ME?”
​
No one made eye contact.
​
“I told you I would be five minutes late, and you’ve started without me! Were this on the record, you’d be reprimanded for failure to adhere to protocol!”
​
Crewman Banes stepped forward. “We’re terribly sorry, captain. I take responsibility. We were waiting like you asked, and I just mentioned how eating macaroni and cheese a fourth time this week upset my stomach, and that started the conversation.”
​
Williams nodded. “Apology accepted. Now, let’s get this started in an orderly fashion. I understand some of you have complaints about our guest. As your captain, I represent the crew to the higher ups, including Miss Laen. Crewman Banes, why don’t you start.”
​
“Thank you, captain. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been having nothing but grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, and nachos with cheese all week. I understand our mission is diplomatic in nature, but must we suffer just because she never saw cheese before?”
​
“That’s certainly a valid complaint, and one I share as well. Let’s hear Crewman Korenski.”
​
Korenski looked up with an evil grin. “She didn’t sign any agreement with us, but here we are ferrying her around the sector. She’s no good, I say. You saw what she did to the Ultruins, and that’s what she’ll do to us.”
​
The captain looked confused. “What, exactly, did she do to the Ultruins?”
​
“You saw, in the news, with the rest of us. The battle of…of…what was the battle called?”
​
Banes shrugged. “I don’t think they gave it a name. And it was in the middle of empty space, so there aren’t any planets to name it after.”
​
“There was that moon. The one she gave a piercing to.”
​
“Aye, though it wasn’t quite a moon. Moons orbit planets, and this object was sitting alone. It was more of a dwarf planet.”
​
“Don’t planets necessarily orbit stars?”
​
“Not necessarily. There are rogue planets between star systems.”
​
“Really? I didn’t know that.” Korenski shook the surprise off his face and returned to scowling. “What was this rogue planet’s name then? We can name the battle off of that.”
​
No one knew. Everyone took out their pocket computers and data pads to look it up.
​
One of the crewmen who hadn’t spoken yet found it first. “KX-9404-&kpX_\5.”
​
Korenski nodded slowly. “The battle of the rogue dwarf planet ‘kay ex dash nine four zero four dash ampersand, lowercase gee kay, uppercase ex, underscore backslash five’. It doesn’t really have a ring to it.”
​
Captain Williams checked the time. “Regardless, you were saying?”
​
“Right then. She dishonored the tenants of honorable warfare and humiliated everyone involved. The least she should have done is destroyed half their fleet in defense, and maybe painted some dents on her own hull to make it look like an actual battle. Instead the Ultruin commander surrendered without taking a single casualty!”
​
“And you’re upset…why?”
​
“It’s dishonorable. When I think about all those Ultruin sailors, returning to their homes unharmed when they should have been given honorable deaths, it makes me angry!”
​
Someone in the back spoke up. “Don’t blame the squids for having better looking wives than you!”
​
After a round of laughter, Banes joined in. “If you want an honorable death, Korenski, tell your wife what you tell us about her cooking!”
​
Williams spoke up. “Alright, that’s enough. Korenski, the Human Confederation is not allied or affiliated with the People’s Republic of Ultrua in any way, and we do not care whether they were humiliated or not. She conducted warfare in an honorable manner as far as we are concerned, and that’s as far as you need to be concerned.”
​
“Aye, captain.”
​
“Chef Ganovich, do you have anything to add?”
​
Ganovich cleared his throat. “As far as the food, Miss Laen appears to be a simple good hearted soul. All she cares about is watching all manner of meals involving cheese being made in ridiculous quantities. And maybe galactic domination. It’s hard to hear over the mixer. Regardless, she’s also a diplomat, and even if she demands the men stick to her meal choices, she will at least phrase it in a way that makes us feel better about it.”
​
“My thoughts exactly. Does anyone else have a specific complaint?”
​
Another crewman in the back spoke. “I’m responsible for cleaning her quarters. She leaves hairpins everywhere!”
​
“I’m pretty sure all women do that. Anyone else?”
​
The crewman wouldn’t be silenced. “And she has a dozen bottles of shampoo!”
​
Williams grimaced. “That’s even less of a complaint. Is there anyone else?”
​
No one spoke except the same crewman. “And you should see the shower drain!”
​
“I will speak with Miss Laen about the food. The other issues are not at all relevant.” Without waiting for a reply, the captain turned and walked out the hatch.
​
Williams met Laen in the executive conference room.
​
“Miss Laen, thank you for coming.”
​
The blue skinned ambassador was nervous. “Of course. What is this about?”
​
“I’m sorry for alarming you. It’s nothing serious. I just wanted to discuss something in private.”
​
Laen did not appear less nervous.
​
Williams continued. “We are happy to provide whatever food you enjoy, however, the men are used to a more…traditional diet in the service.”
​
“They don’t like cheese?”
​
“They do, just usually in much smaller quantities. And I don’t know about your species, but humans can get constipated from eating too much.”
​
Laen put a hand on her stomach. “Is that what that is? I’m sorry, I should have known you would object. Human space food is much more diverse than the Dominion’s. I was just so excited about being able to chew instead of just swallowing.”
​
“I understand. You can still order whatever you want, but would you mind if the crew returned to their scheduled menus?”
​
“Of course not. And there’s no need to treat me special. I’ll have what the crew is having.”
​
Williams smiled. “I think you’ll enjoy it. And I know there’s cheesecake for desert.”
​
CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

Hello and help! I don’t know what forum to post this in, but I have a question about a ( actually 3) kamtron A3 wireless surveillance camera. There is a setting in the menu where you can set the camera to only record motion during a specific time period. The setting goes from 0:00 to 23:00. I want to set the permitted time to be at night, like between like 9:00 pm and 4:00 am when I select 21:00 to 4:00 it won’t let me put those numbers in. It rolls back to 0:00-0:00. Apparently you can’t go from I larger number to a smaller number. I’m thinking I just don’t know how to do military time. Would anyone know what times I should enter to let it record during the night into the next day? Thanks for any help

In college, a professor once said, “America constantly sells out its own citizens because we are one of very few countries that’s built its entire government and wealth by exploiting (and then excluding) indigenous, immigrant, enslaved, and other disadvantaged people on the land that the we colonized. American leaders will shoot themselves in the foot if it causes ‘the others’ in our society to stumble.” He was speaking in general, not specific to urban planning, but I think he was on to something.
This take may be radical but it makes more and more sense when I see suburban NIMBYs shoot down transit improvements. Car-centric culture creates exclusive neighborhoods and lifestyles that “the poors” can’t access, and many Americans want to uphold this, especially as immigrants and people of color become more educated, more celebrated, and the dominant population.
It feels obvious that many American leaders don’t see all Americans as truly American… or even human. So, yeah, I imagine there is less of an incentive for them to GAF about the safety of our streets.
And I wonder since European countries like NL more greatly consist of white people of a similar ethnicity, if politics there lean towards equity because leaders see their citizens as being a unified group that government has a duty to serve.
Also, to be clear, I understand that many EU countries had colonies and exploited countries like India, South Africa, and Nigeria. I also understand that many EU countries have many citizens of color. But, their history is very different in that they maintain an identity based on their European history, whereas the U.S. culture and history is defined in its entirety by how we took advantage of land occupied by Native Americans, Hawaiians, and Mexicans, how slavers enslaved West Africans for free labor, and other egregious violations. From its inception, America was designed to be a haven of “freedom” for some and a trap of suffering for others.
I’m curious how much this dynamic makes Americans embrace anti-human car-centric city planning.

It’s not actually my birthday, that’s in two days. I think it would be kinda sad if I was on Reddit during my birthday, but a lot of things about me could be seen as kinda sad already lmao.
I tend to get along with weirdos, but not people who are too weird. I’ve talked to many people on here who made me question making an account. I even talked to someone here who wanted to become a FUNCTIONING car. Hopefully none of you manage to top that. (No, this is not an invitation to do so, but I’d be really morbidly curious if you did.)
Im Mexican, I’m Bi, I’m a Gemini (i don’t know shit about zodiac), my MBTI is ENFJ. I’m from Minnesota.
I love music, especially rap, rock, and R&B. I’ve been writing my own music lately, hopefully get something going soon. I’m a creative kinda person even if I draw terribly.
I game like nearly everyone on here, been mainly playing the new Zelda. I love journaling, actually do it publicly on my main Reddit account. Been trying to read more lately. I love film and TV (Watching Veep, last watched The Righteous Gemstones). There’s more things, but I’m tryna wrap this up so you don’t sleep from this drawn out post. Plus if you’d really like to know then could you know send me a message :)
I’m here since I don’t really have anything l better to do, kinda sad lol. Please be around my age. And please provide a mini intro, I appreciate it. Feel free to check out my journal or my more in-depth introduction in my profile.
Have a good night, day, morning, whatever! If you made it to the end, congrats, you get a redeemable voucher to Disneyland, but it expires in half an hour, sorry.

It’s not actually my birthday, that’s in two days. I think it would be kinda sad if I was on Reddit during my birthday, but a lot of things about me could be seen as kinda sad already lmao.
I tend to get along with weirdos, but not people who are too weird. I’ve talked to many people on here who made me question making an account. I even talked to someone here who wanted to become a FUNCTIONING car. Hopefully none of you manage to top that. (No, this is not an invitation to do so, but I’d be really morbidly curious if you did.)
Im Mexican, I’m Bi, I’m a Gemini (i don’t know shit about zodiac), my MBTI is ENFJ. I’m from Minnesota.
I love music, especially rap, rock, and R&B. I’ve been writing my own music lately, hopefully get something going soon. I’m a creative kinda person even if I draw terribly.
I game like nearly everyone on here, been mainly playing the new Zelda. I love journaling, actually do it publicly on my main Reddit account. Been trying to read more lately. I love film and TV (Watching Veep, last watched The Righteous Gemstones). There’s more things, but I’m tryna wrap this up so you don’t sleep from this drawn out post. Plus if you’d really like to know then could you know send me a message :)
I’m here since I don’t really have anything l better to do, kinda sad lol. Please be around my age. And please provide a mini intro, I appreciate it. Feel free to check out my journal or my more in-depth introduction in my profile.
Have a good night, day, morning, whatever! If you made it to the end, congrats, you get a redeemable voucher to Disneyland, but it expires in half an hour, sorry.

It’s not actually my birthday, that’s in two days. Im bored as hell, currently, so I’m here to pass the time. I think it would be kinda sad if I was on Reddit during my birthday, but a lot of things about me could be seen as kinda sad already lmao.
I tend to get along with weirdos, but not people who are too weird. I’ve talked to many people on here who made me question making an account. I even talked to someone here who wanted to become a FUNCTIONING car. Hopefully none of you manage to top that. (No, this is not an invitation to do so, but I’d be really morbidly curious if you did.)
Im Mexican, I’m Bi, I’m a Gemini (i don’t know shit about zodiac), my MBTI is ENFJ. I’m from Minnesota.
I love music, especially rap, rock, and R&B. I’ve been writing my own music lately, hopefully get something going soon. I’m a creative kinda person even if I draw terribly.
I game like nearly everyone on here, been mainly playing the new Zelda. I love journaling, actually do it publicly on my main Reddit account. Been trying to read more lately. I love film and TV (Watching Veep, last watched The Righteous Gemstones). There’s more things, but I’m tryna wrap this up so you don’t sleep from this drawn out post. Plus if you’d really like to know then could you know send me a message :)
I’m here since I don’t really have anything l better to do, kinda sad lol. Please be around my age. And please provide a mini intro, I appreciate it. Feel free to check out my journal or my more in-depth introduction in my profile.
Have a good night, day, morning, whatever! If you made it to the end, congrats, you get a redeemable voucher to Disneyland, but it expires in half an hour, sorry.

It’s not actually my birthday, that’s in two days. Im bored as hell, currently, so I’m here to pass the time. I think it would be kinda sad if I was on Reddit during my birthday, but a lot of things about me could be seen as kinda sad already lmao.
I tend to get along with weirdos, but not people who are too weird. I’ve talked to many people on here who made me question making an account. I even talked to someone here who wanted to become a FUNCTIONING car. Hopefully none of you manage to top that. (No, this is not an invitation to do so, but I’d be really morbidly curious if you did.)
Im Mexican, I’m Bi, I’m a Gemini (i don’t know shit about zodiac), my MBTI is ENFJ. I’m from Minnesota.
I love music, especially rap, rock, and R&B. I’ve been writing my own music lately, hopefully get something going soon. I’m a creative kinda person even if I draw terribly.
I game like nearly everyone on here, been mainly playing the new Zelda. I love journaling, actually do it publicly on my main Reddit account. Been trying to read more lately. I love film and TV (Watching Veep, last watched The Righteous Gemstones). There’s more things, but I’m tryna wrap this up so you don’t sleep from this drawn out post. Plus if you’d really like to know then could you know send me a message :)
I’m here since I don’t really have anything l better to do, kinda sad lol. Please be around my age. And please provide a mini intro, I appreciate it. Feel free to check out my journal or my more in-depth introduction in my profile.
Have a good night, day, morning, whatever! If you made it to the end, congrats, you get a redeemable voucher to Disneyland, but it expires in half an hour, sorry.

It’s not actually my birthday, that’s in two days. Im bored as hell, currently, so I’m here to pass the time. I think it would be kinda sad if I was on Reddit during my birthday, but a lot of things about me could be seen as kinda sad already lmao.
I tend to get along with weirdos, but not people who are too weird. I’ve talked to many people on here who made me question making an account. I even talked to someone here who wanted to become a FUNCTIONING car. Hopefully none of you manage to top that. (No, this is not an invitation to do so, but I’d be really morbidly curious if you did.)
Im Mexican, I’m Bi, I’m a Gemini (i don’t know shit about zodiac), my MBTI is ENFJ. I’m from Minnesota.
I love music, especially rap, rock, and R&B. I’ve been writing my own music lately, hopefully get something going soon. I’m a creative kinda person even if I draw terribly.
I game like nearly everyone on here, been mainly playing the new Zelda. I love journaling, actually do it publicly on my main Reddit account. Been trying to read more lately. I love film and TV (Watching Veep, last watched The Righteous Gemstones). There’s more things, but I’m tryna wrap this up so you don’t sleep from this drawn out post. Plus if you’d really like to know then could you know send me a message :)
I’m here since I don’t really have anything l better to do, kinda sad lol. Please be around my age. And please provide a mini intro, I appreciate it. Feel free to check out my journal or my more in-depth introduction in my profile.
Have a good night, day, morning, whatever! If you made it to the end, congrats, you get a redeemable voucher to Disneyland, but it expires in half an hour, sorry.

It’s not actually my birthday, that’s in two days. Im bored as hell, currently, so I’m here to pass the time. I think it would be kinda sad if I was on Reddit during my birthday, but a lot of things about me could be seen as kinda sad already lmao.
I tend to get along with weirdos, but not people who are too weird. I’ve talked to many people on here who made me question making an account. I even talked to someone here who wanted to become a FUNCTIONING car. Hopefully none of you manage to top that. (No, this is not an invitation to do so, but I’d be really morbidly curious if you did.)
Im Mexican, I’m Bi, I’m a Gemini (i don’t know shit about zodiac), my MBTI is ENFJ. I’m from Minnesota.
I love music, especially rap, rock, and R&B. I’ve been writing my own music lately, hopefully get something going soon. I’m a creative kinda person even if I draw terribly.
I game like nearly everyone on here, been mainly playing the new Zelda. I love journaling, actually do it publicly on my main Reddit account. Been trying to read more lately. I love film and TV (Watching Veep, last watched The Righteous Gemstones). There’s more things, but I’m tryna wrap this up so you don’t sleep from this drawn out post. Plus if you’d really like to know then could you know send me a message :)
I’m here since I don’t really have anything l better to do, kinda sad lol. Please be around my age. And please provide a mini intro, I appreciate it. Feel free to check out my journal or my more in-depth introduction in my profile.
Have a good night, day, morning, whatever! If you made it to the end, congrats, you get a redeemable voucher to Disneyland, but it expires in half an hour, sorry.

(Including F2 because of Jim Clark) (Names and Nationalitys of Spectators are taken from the Motorsport Memorial and some may not be 100% correct) (If instead of the flag it has a "🏁" its because I'm not sure of that person's nationality)
Rest In Peace
1950

🇩🇪 Herbert Morgenstern(Race)(Rund um das Scheibenholz)(F2 Race)
🇨🇭🇨🇭🇫🇷 Spectator Jacob Hurter, Spectator René Meister and Spectator Albert Camer(Race)(Nations Grand Prix)
🇫🇷 Pierre Raymond SommeRaymond Sommer(Race)(Grand Prix de l'Haute Garonne)(F2 Race)
🇩🇪 Karl Alfred Gommann/Karl Gommann(Race)(Grenzlandringrennen)(F2 Race)
🏁🏁 Spectator Carmen Laguna de Lomas and Spectator Secundino Sánchez Navarro(Race)(Penya Rhin Grand Prix)

1951

🇮🇹 Spectator Antonio "Antonino" Cavestri and possibly more Spectators(Practice)(San Remo Grand Prix)

1952

🇩🇪 Paul Suhler Greifzu/Paul Greifzu(Practice)(Dessauer Auto und Motorradrennen)(F2 Race)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Cameron Charles Earl/Cameron Earl(Test)

1953

🇮🇹🏁🇦🇷🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁(?)🏁🏁(?)🏁(?)🏁🏁 Spectator Juan Gallo, Spectator Ítalo Gallo, Spectator Rubén Carrillo, Spectator Claudio Enrique Rivas, Spectator Elvio(Or Pedro) Ulises Etchegaray, Spectator Juan José Temprano, Spectator Oscar Argentino Cabret(Or Cabré), Spectator Hugo Valdés, one unknown Spectator and possibly another Spectator(Race) a young Spectator and possibly 2 other unknown Spectators(Race) and other 2 unknown Spectators(Race)(Argentine Grand Prix)(Note: Some sources list the first crash as killing 15 or 17 people)
🇺🇲🇺🇸 Chester Joseph MilleChet Miller(Practice) and Carl Eugene Scarborough/Carl Scarborough(Race)(Indianapolis 500/Indy 500)(Also part of the AAA National Championship Trail)
🇧🇪 Baron Charles Victor Raymond André Evance de Tornaco/Charles de Tornaco(Practice)(Modena Grand Prix)

1954

🇧🇪🇧🇪 Spectator Antoine de Mittenaire and Spectator Robert Fontesse(Race)(Grand Prix des Frontières)
🇦🇷 Onofre Agustín Marimón/Onofre Marimón(Practice)(German Grand Prix)

1955

🇮🇹 Mario Alborghetti(Race)(Pau Grand Prix)
🇺🇸🇺🇲 Manuel Leaonedas Ayulo/Manuel Ayulo/Manny Ayulo(Practice) and William John Vukovich Sr./Bill Vukovich(Race)(Indianapolis 500/Indy 500)(Also part of the AAA National Championship Trail)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Donald Bentley Beauman/Don Beauman(Race)(Leinster Trophy)(F2 Race)

1956
1957

🇮🇹 Eugenio Castellotti(Test)
🇺🇲 Keith Philip Andrews/Keith Andrews(Practice)(Indianapolis 500/Indy 500)(Also part of the USAC National Championship Trail)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧🇧🇷/🇺🇲 William James Whitehouse/William Whitehouse/Bill Whitehouse(Race) and Hugh FraseHerbert MacKay-Fraser(Race)(1st Coupe de Vitesse/Coupe Internationale de Vitesse)(F2 Support Race)

1958

🇺🇸 Patrick James O'ConnoPat O'Connor(Race)(Indianapolis 500/Indy 500)(Also part of the USAC National Championship Trail)
🇮🇹 Luigi Musso(Race)(French Grand Prix)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Peter John Collins/Peter Collins(Race)(German Grand Prix)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Stuart Nigel Lewis-Evans/Stuart Lewis-Evans(Race)(Moroccan Grand Prix)

1959

🇺🇸🇺🇲 Jeremy Michael Unser Jr./Jerry Unser Jr.(Practice) and Robert Charles CortneBob Cortner(Practice)(Indianapolis 500/Indy 500)(Also part of the USAC National Championship Trail)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Ivor Léon John Bueb/Ivor Leon Bueb/Ivor Bueb(Race)(II Trophée d'Auvergne)(F2/BP Trophy Race)

1960

🇫🇷/🇺🇸 Harry Lawrence O'Reilly Schell/Henry O'Reilly "Harry" Schell/Harry Schell(Practice)(12th BRDC International Trophy)
🇺🇲🇺🇸 Spectator Fred H. Linder and Spectator William C. Craig(Race)(Indianapolis 500/Indy 500)(Also part of the USAC National Championship Trail)
🇳🇱 Spectator Petrus Johannes Maria Alders/Peter(Or Piet or Jan) Alders(Race)(Dutch Grand Prix)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Christopher William Bristow/Chris Bristow(Race) and Alan Stacey(Race)(Belgian Grand Prix)
🇳🇿 George William Lawton/George Lawton(Race)(Danish Grand Prix)(F2 Race)

1961

🇳🇿 Duncan Mackenzie(Race)(April Levin Meeting)(F2 Race)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿/🇬🇧 Shane Lister Summers/Shane Summers(Practice)(Silver City Trophy)
🇮🇹 Giulio Cabianca and by-passers Gino Arboresi, Eugenio Stefani and Ivo Messori(Test)
🇩🇪🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇨🇭🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🏁(?) Wolfgang Alexander Albert Eduard Maximilian Reichsgraf Berghe von Trips/Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips/Wolfgang von Trips and Spectator Paolo Perazzone, Spectator Laura Zorzi, Spectator Mario Brambilla, Spectator Luigi Fassi, Spectator Albino Albertini, Spectator Luigi Motta, Spectator Augusto Camillo Valleise, Spectator Franca Duguet, Spectator Claudina Polognoli, Spectator Giuseppina Lenti, Spectator Franz Waldvogel, Spectator Luigi Freschi, Spectator Roberto Brambilla, Spectator Rinaldo Girod, Spectator Renato Janin and possibly more Spectators(Race)(Italian Grand Prix)

1962

🇲🇨 Race Marshal Ange Baldoni(Race)(Monaco Grand Prix)
🇲🇽 Ricardo Valentín Rodríguez de la Vega/Ricardo Rodríguez de la Vega/Ricardo Rodríguez(Practice)(Mexican Grand Prix)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿/🇬🇧/🇿🇼 Gary Stuart Hocking/Gary Hocking(Practice)(Natal Grand Prix)

1963

🇩🇪 Red Cross Volunteer Guenther SchneideGünther Schneider(Race)(German Grand Prix)

1964

🇳🇱 _Jonkheer_ Karel Pieter Antoni Jan Hubertus (Carel) Godin de Beaufort/Carel Godin de Beaufort/Carel de Beaufort(Practice)(German Grand Prix)

1965

🇿🇦 Spectator Michael Twyman(Race)(Natal Winter Trophy)(F2 Race)

1966

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 John Malcolm TayloJohn Taylor(Race)(German Grand Prix)

1967

🇱🇾/🇮🇹 Lorenzo Bandini(Race)(Monaco Grand Prix)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Ian Ewart Raby/Ian Raby(Race)(Grote Prijs van Zandvoort/Zandvoort Trophy)(F2 Race)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Robert Hugh Fearon Anderson/Bob Anderson(Test)

1968

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿/🇬🇧 James Clark Jr./Jimmy Clark/Jim Clark(Race)(Deutschland Trophäe/Martini Gold Cup)(F2 Race)
🇫🇷 Joseph SchlesseJo Schlesser(Race)(French Grand Prix)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Charles Christopher Lambert/Chris Lambert(Race)(Grote Prijs van Zandvoort)(F2 Race)

1969

🇨🇿/🇩🇪 Gerhard Karl MitteGerhard Mitter(Practice)(German Grand Prix)(F2 Entrant)
🇮🇳/🇬🇧 Christopher Michael Mayo Williams/Chris Williams(Test)(F2)

1970

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Piers Raymond Courage/Piers Courage (Race)(Dutch Grand Prix)
🇩🇪/🇦🇹 Karl Jochen Rindt/Jochen Rindt(Qualifying)(Italian Grand Prix)
🏁 A dog(Race)(Mexican Grand Prix)

1971

🇨🇭 Joseph Siffert/Jo Siffert(Race)(Rothmans World Championship Victory Race/World Championship Victory Race)

1972

🇮🇪/🇳🇿 Herbert William Hawthorne/Herbert Hawthorne/Bert Hawthorne(Practice)(Jim Clark Memorial Race)(F2 Race)

1973

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿/🇬🇧 Gerald Hussey Buchanan Birrell/Gerry Birrell(Qualifying)(F2 Trophee D'Europe)(F2 Race)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Roger Williamson(Race)(Dutch Grand Prix)
🇫🇷 Albert François Cevert Goldenberg/François Cevert(Qualifying)(United States Grand Prix)

1974

🇺🇸 Peter Jeffrey Revson/Peter Revson(Practice/Test)(South African Grand Prix)
🇦🇹 Helmuth Koinigg/Helmut Koinigg(Race)(United States Grand Prix)

1975

🇪🇸🇪🇸🇭🇷/🇮🇹/🇨🇦🇪🇸🏁(?) Fireman Joaquín Morera Benaches, Spectator Andrés Ruiz Villanova, Photo-Journalists Mario de Roia and Antonio Font Bayarri and possibly one more Spectator(Race)(Spanish Grand Prix)
🇺🇲🇦🇹 Mark Neary Donohue Jr./Mark Donohue and Track Marshal Manfred(Or Franz) Schaller(Practice)(Austrian Grand Prix)

1976
1977

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿/🇬🇧🏁 Thomas Maldwyn Pryce/Tom Pryce and Safety Marshal Frederik "Frikkie" Jansen van Vuuren(Race)(South African Grand Prix)
🇦🇺🇬🇧 Brian McGuire and Fire Marshal John Thorpe(Practice)(Shellsport International Series Round 11 or possibly an unspecified F1 Race)
🇯🇵🇯🇵 Photographer Kazuhiro Ohashi and Marshal Kengo Yuasa(Race)(Japanese Grand Prix)

1978

🇸🇪 Bengt Ronnie Peterson/Ronnie Peterson(Race)(Italian Grand Prix)

1979
1980

🇦🇹/🇩🇪(?) Markus Höttinger(Race)(Jim Clark Rennen)(F2 Race)
🇩🇪 Hans-Georg Bürger(Warm-Up)(Grote Prijs van Zandvoort)(F2 Race)
🇫🇷 Patrick André Eugène Joseph DepaillePatrick Depailler(Test)

1981

🇮🇹 Mechanic Giovanni Amadeo(Practice)(Belgian Grand Prix)

1982

🇨🇦 Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve/Gilles Villeneuve(Qualifying)(Belgian Grand Prix)
🇮🇹 Riccardo Paletti(Race)(Canadian Grand Prix)

1983
1984
1985
1986

🇮🇹 Elio de Angelis(Test)

1987
1988
1989

🏁 Spectator Ildefonso de Castro(Race)(Brazilian Grand Prix)

1990
1991
1992
1993
1994

🇦🇹🇧🇷 Roland Ratzenberger(Qualifying) and Ayrton Senna da Silva/Ayrton Senna(Race)(San Marino Grand Prix)

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000

🇮🇹 Volunteer Firefighter Paolo Giancarlo Faletti Gislimberti(Race)(Italian Grand Prix)

2001

🇦🇺 Spectator Marshal Graham Francis Beveridge(Race)(Australian Grand Prix)

2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/🇬🇧 Henry John Surtees/Henry Surtees(Race)(Brands Hatch Formula Two Round)(F2 Race)

2010
2011
2012/2013

🇪🇸 María de Villota Comba/María de Villota(Test)
🇨🇦 Track Marshal Mark Robinson(Race)(2013 Canadian Grand Prix)

2014/2015

🇫🇷 Jules Lucien André Bianchi/Jules Bianchi(Race)(Japanese Grand Prix)

2016
2017
2018
2019

🇫🇷 Anthoine Gérard Pol Hubert/Anthoine Hubert(Race)(Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 Round)(F2 Race)

2020
2021
2022

We did 4 nights in Vegas this week, Mon through Friday, staying at the MGM grand.
MGM Grand Hotel: nice hotel, well located not too far down the strip. We had a grand king room and it was clean and well appointed and while not brand new, didn’t look worn down or dated. it was a perfect fit for the budget, and the confidence of having a smoke free room was great. We didn’t eat on site except for a lazy buffet day/pool day. Crowd was all conference and low key from Mon-Wed, not too busy at all, then on Thursday the unwashed masses began to appear, and the nightlife also became much more vibrant.
MGM Buffet: I got a two for one voucher through the myVEGAS Slots app and about 9 days of play. The buffet vouchers always seemed to be sold out but about 48hrs before my departure I managed to get one. Buffet was fine, the food and selection was good, the look was a bit dated. New menu items started showing up around 11am. Probably not worth the price for two full adults, but with the 2 for 1 it was worth it, the wife was very happy and I saved $30+ because of the app.
MGM pool: Lovely, we spent two full days here. All pools and river were open except the Splash pool, which looked okay but was closed the whole time, probably because things weren’t crowded. No problem finding good free seating, much harder to find free seating with shade but we got lucky on the Tuesday and there was decent cloud coverage on the Thursday. All seating on lazy river island was reservation only. Way quieter on a Tue than on a Thu. Didn’t get a floatie, they were $25-30+tax depending on the size, but never felt we needed one. Bag check was low key.
Cheap eats: we did Shake Shack and In n Out burgers and both were great, with Shake Shake winning by the tiniest of margins. Oh, and Evel Pie for a quick slice away from the bustle of Freemont.
Expensive eats: we did Momofuku and enjoyed the menu, best item (hard to believe) was the brussel sprouts and cauliflower.
Cheap activities: We enjoyed the volcano at the Mirage more than the fountain at the Bellagio, maybe because we came in with zero expectation. Too bad it won’t be there for long, glad we saw it. Pinball Hall of Fame was also a great value, we split $20 between the two of us and were there for well over an hour. Conservatory at Bellagio was way too tacky for our tastes.
Other activities: Blue Man Group was great, make sure you buy tickets from the MGM site and not from the BMG/Ticketmaster site, saved about $40/seat that way. Cirque de Soleil O had the most impressive stage set I’ve ever seen, magical really. Omega Mart was fun, we had 11:20am booking but would recommenf you book for 10am and make sure you’re on some drugs first. Vegas Neon Sign museum was good but short and felt a bit like a graveyard, lots of potential but $20/head was a bit high. Freemont was Freemont, but driving from Freemont down the strip at night was great and felt like out of a movie.
Side note: We rented a car on the Wednesday and did Red Rock National Park, Area 15, In-N-Out Burger, Pinball Hall of Fame, Neon Sign Museum and Freemont all in a day, it was totally worth it and added to the Vegas/Desert experience. Our only regret was that we could have spent 4-8 hours hiking at Red Rock but had tight 11:20am reservations for Omega Mart so that part felt rushed (we’re from Canada, seeing cactus and sand in the wild is wild!)
Other tips: don’t buy booze in the hotels/casinos, way cheaper at CVS/Wallgreens, same for food/snacks whenever possible. Uber from airport was $6 cheaper than taxi.
Canadian Tip: ATMs are a scam here. Casinos/hotels charge $9.99 just in ATM fee, it was 1/3 of that at Walgreen/CVS. And that’s not the half of it. Get your cash once and be done with it, and watch out, they will offer to “exchange” your currency during the purchase path, decline because there is a huge markup, let your bank do it instead. For example, I took out $400 USD, ATM offered to do the exchange with total coming out to $607.88 CAD but by declining that and having it use the exchange from my bank I paid $561.24, saving me $47 in scam markup.

1. Pinkerton - El Scorcho, Pink Triangle, The Good Life
   
2. Blue - Only In Dreams, My Name Is Jonas, Surf wax America
   
3. White - Do You Wanna Get High?, Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori, LA Girlz
   
4. EWBAITE - I’ve Had It Up To Here, Eulogy For A Rock Band, Ain’t Got Nobody
   
5. Ok Human - Aloo Hobi, Numbers, Bird With A Broken Wing
   
6. Maladroit - Burndt Jamb, Slob, American Gigolo
   
7. Red - The Angel And The One, The Greatest Man That Ever Lived, Pork And Beans
   
8. Green - Hash Pipe, Island In The Sun, Glorious Day
   
9. SZNZ Winter - The One That Got Away, The Deep And Dreamless Sleep, Dark Enough To See The Stars
   
10. Van Weezer - The End Of The Game, I Need Some Of That, Sheila Can Do It
    
11. SZNZ Summer - Blue Like Jazz, Thank You And Goodnight, The Opposite Of Me
    
12. Make Believe - Perfect Situation, Haunt You Every Day, Hold Me
    
13. SZNZ Autumn - Run Raven Run, Can’t Dance Don’t Ask Me, What Happens After You
    
14. SZNZ Spring - Angels On Vacation, Wild At Heart, The Sound Of Drums
    
15. Hurley - Trainwrecks, Brave New World, Smart Girls
    
16. Raditude - I Want You To, I’m Your Daddy, Put Me Back Together
    
17. Black - High As A Kite, Im Just Being Honest, California Snow
    
18. Pacific Daydream - Mexican Fender, QB Blitz, Any Friend Of Diane’s
    

The only albums I really just can’t stand are Black (except for High as a Kite, that song rules!) Pacific Daydream (except for Mexican Fender) and Teal (which I didn’t even bother putting on here, it would be at the bottom).
Raditude goes back and forth but I do honestly quite like about half of it, definitely all towards the bottom end of their catalog but still somewhat enjoyable.
Also, I really had a hard time picking my favorites from especially pinkerton, so don’t flame me for just choosing the hits on that one. Getchoo, Falling For You, And Tired Of Sex were close seconds

Biggest improvement: For me, it’s got to be the new abilities. I loved the abilities in Breath of the Wild, but they’re at a completely different level in Tears of the Kingdom. In BotW, I rarely used abilities outside of shrines or specific puzzles that required them. Other than bombs, I hardly ever used abilities in combat. There are a lot of hilarious videos online of people stasising a rock that a Bokoblin is about to throw, with him looking super confused that he’s unable to throw it, but on a practical level I found it too tricky to aim in real-time to reliably use (SO glad recall freezes time!). It’s funny to hit enemies over the head with magnesis’d items, but it just did too little damage to be consistently useful.
In TotK, I constantly use my abilities in fights because they’re so useful. I feel like I've learned to fight and think like a Zonai warrior, which feels amazing. When fighting a miniboss, I often end up using 3 or even all 4 abilities multiple times over the course of the fight. Outside of combat, in BotW I very rarely used abilities in conjunction with other abilities, but I use abilities concurrently all the time in TotK. Ultrahand and recall go together hand in glove, and it’s almost impossible imagining the game with one but not the other. For traversal, both ascend and ultrahand are QOL gamechangers. In older open-world games, I’d often worry about dropping off a cliff to check out something below, knowing how much of a pain it would be to get back up. Ascend completely changes all of that, liberating exploration. Ultrahanding vehicles to fight the Yiga in the Depths is probably the most fun I’ve had not just in this game, but in games in general.
Fuse is overall an improvement on BotW’s already excellent weapons system, but it’s probably the most contentious of the new abilities. In BotW, despite all the yabbering about weapon degradation, I was far more likely to run into the opposite “problem” – I’d have too many good weapons on hand and not enough slots to store them in. In BotW, it’s often pretty straightforward deciding what weapon to throw out – usually the weakest one unless it’s unique in some way (e.g.: an elemental weapon). The decision is much less straightforward in TotK since sometimes you’ll have a decently strong fused weapon on-hand, but pick up a stronger base weapon. Do you throw out the fused weapon for more potential strength in the future, or do you hold on to the creation you’ve already made? Having to make more decisions like this sometimes bogs the game down a bit. Likewise, the choices can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming and require a lot of menuing, again slowing down the pace of the game. I think the tradeoff is ultimately worth it for the joy of creating unique and special weapons and arrows to suit specific circumstances, and for giving you a much stronger incentive to fight monsters, but it is a tradeoff.
SOME SPOILERS FOR THE WIND AND FIRE TEMPLES BELOW
Biggest downgrade: Without a doubt the sage abilities versus the champion abilities in BotW. Many people have complained a lot about this one, but unfortunately I think the problems are deeper than what many of the complaints I've seen have addressed. To start, yes, the controls for the sage abilities are horrendous. In BotW, the champion abilities are all awesome, with some being straight gamechangers (Mipha’s Grace and Revali’s Gale), and they are all seamlessly integrated into the control scheme. The two sage abilities I’ve gotten so far (Tulin and Yunobo) are not only less useful, but they’ve backfired against me multiple times before I finally turned them off for good. For example, Tulin has blasted items off sky islands, causing me to have to re-fight a miniboss once, and Yunobo has thrown himself into bomb flowers I was trying to pick up and caused flying vehicles to crash with his weight.
Their abilities aren’t amazing, but they can come in handy at times. Which is why it’s so annoying that you can’t just use the abilities when you want to use them without having to either constantly fiddle with the menu or turn on spirit summons who fight for you when you don’t necessarily want that. And when they are on, they take up a ton of screen space and are constantly fluttering around and distracting you. In a game where observing your environment is paramount, having them take up this much screen space actively hurts the experience and is unacceptable. And this is with just two of them – I can’t imagine how bad it would be with all four.
Unfortunately, the problem is even deeper than this. The abilities also make very little sense in terms of the plot. When you get the recall “secret stone” (seriously, who came up with this awful term for magatama?) it gives you a brand-new ability you never had before. In theory, the magatama should have given Tulin the power to create gusts and Yuobo the power to smash through rocks. But, bizarrely, they already know these abilities before acquiring the “secret stones.” So what exactly do the magatama do? Apparently they allow them to summon a weird ghost version of themselves to use the same abilities they always been able to do to help Link. It makes zero sense that both stones do effectively the same thing, leading to narrative incoherence. What should have happened is Link and the sage first go on an adventure to find the magatama, which gives the sage their respective powers and allows you to access the temple. Then, once you’ve beaten the temple, the sage should spirit bond with you, allowing you to use the power later in the game.
(Also, this is a gripe, but the sage should decide to spirit bond with you out of their own free will, instead of being bound to it because their ancestor from thousands of years made a pledge. That was a stupid narrative decision that robs the sages of all agency.)
The sage system needs to be radically reworked, although I’m not exactly holding out hope that it’ll happen. Obviously we’re never getting the narrative changes, but improving just the mechanics would go a very long way. Here’s what should happen: first you should be able to toggle if you want their abilities to be available to you in the specific situations they’re designed for (e.g.: Tulin while paragliding, Yunobo while on vehicle – and Yunobo should be weightless since he’s in spirit form after all). You should also be able to access their abilities on the ground by holding down on the D-pad and selecting them via a radial quick menu like the other abilities. Finally, you should be able to turn their spirit summons on separately from their abilities. If you do turn them on to help you in combat, they should only appear when you are in combat, and never clutter up the screen when you’re just exploring.
These changes will almost certainly never happen, unfortunately. At the end of the day, I just play the game with them turned off 99% of the time. It’s actually pretty big praise for the game that by far the biggest weakness can just be turned off and ignored – at least it doesn’t actively harm the experience. But man, I remember how excited I would be to complete a divine beast in BotW and receive an awesome new ability. I never would have even considered turning those abilities off. It’s a more bitter experience to complete a temple and receive what effectively amounts to absolutely nothing.
P.S.: It may seem like I spent a lot of time focused on the negatives, but to be clear I think TotK is one of the top 5 games I’ve ever played. I just like complaining.

I think Dice should add an option to change the menu music to tracks from previous seasons, or maybe a loop through all the tracks. This really isn’t an issue, but the same song playing over and over again gets old. A feature that’s similar to the music player in the Black Ops games would be pretty cool in my opinion. Of course they don’t need to do this, but it would be something that I’d appreciate. Opinions?