I feel like I've been stuck in a rut with this for years now.
For some background, I've been in to tech and have been interested in learning programming for years. Basically since I got out of high school and realized all the cool shit you can do I've been interested. However, I couldn't afford college or even just some basic classes at the time and back then it wasn't as easy to learn on your own.
Now that I'm 30, I kind of lucked into a position where I actually do a combination of IT and networking, electrical, and a good bit of programming. The programming aspect I have picked up very well and I actually handle most of the programming work for my team. The catch is that this is industrial programming, ladder logic for those who know, far away from coding in traditional programming languages. It's definitely helped me build some problem solving skills and I've actually picked up some very small amounts of C#, SQL, and OOP concepts as a part of it, but the jump to actual coding and writing programs from just code and not ladder logic has been difficult still.
Since I have some experience now and learning on your own is supposed to be much easier, I've given it a few tries over the last 5 years or so(about as long as I've been doing this job), but I just can't get myself past the first few hours of most tutorials I find. Every one I find is just hours and hours of explaining what variables are and how to do basic tasks like adding variables together and printing them to the console. Things that don't actually accomplish anything. I get that they're trying to teach you the basics, walk before you run, but for me it just causes me to lose interest immediately and then nothing sticks.
The reason I've been able to learn ladder logic so well is because I'm working with running programs on a daily basis. I was able to start by making small changes and seeing the results. Troubleshooting issues and figuring out why some things work and others don't. Learning to code on my own doesn't really offer any of that. I can't jump in to someone else's program and just start making changes and see what happens.
Anyway, before I ramble forever, did anyone else have this issue? If so, what did you do to overcome it? Do you have recommendations of tutorials that are hands on and dive right in without hours and hours of learning basic programming concepts?

Got a party tonight and don't have a lot of time! Please help. Something easy and quick please. I never use makeup and have no idea what I could use.

I’m a fidgeter at heart and I love monster collecting games/toys, but I’ve never explored anything Bakugan until very recently. I saw a video where someone said they enjoy Bakugan as fidgety desk toys, so I bought a Platinum Surturan from the store because the design was sick and I figured I might use it for the same thing. I love it!
Problem is, my toddler loves it too. He really enjoys little toys and already has a hefty Hotwheels collection. Of course he’s young so he’s a bit rougher than I am with it, and any time it’s out he wants to constantly close and open it… but he of course can’t close it so it’s a frequent hand-the-toy-back-to-Daddy situation, sometimes dropping it in the process. It feels silly to be possessive of a child’s toy when a literal child is trying to play with it, so I’m looking to get him his own so I can enjoy my toy like the grown-ass man that I am.
However, like I said, I know practically nothing of Bakugan, so I’m asking the professionals! What would be the best option to give to a kiddo (under supervision of course)? Ideally, it would have the following attributes:
-Easily accessible, like a current monster I could pick up at a retail store
-Not too expensive, which sort of goes hand-in-hand with accessible.
-Easy to open and close. I know some of these are much more difficult to close than others, so something that could teach him a little more dexterity without making him too frustrated would be perfect.
-Pieces on the sturdier side. I know these toys are fairly fragile by nature, but if there are any with sturdiechunkier parts I’m all for it. Like I said, he’ll be under supervision when playing with it so not too worried about this one.
As an aside, he loves tigers, lions, dogs, dinosaurs, and cars. Not sure if anything fits those themes and it’s not necessary by any means, but it’s a bonus if so. I appreciate any help!!

Following up on my last post, where I showed card timelines and match reports for what I call the "Classic Era" of Documental (Seasons 1-4), I now move on to what I call the "Middle Era" or "Hollywood Era": Seasons 5, 6, and 7.
(I'll move my thoughts about how I determine these informal eras to the comments. Long story short, Seasons 1-4 are available on English Amazon Prime, Season 8* gets shelved and the seasons afterwards (8 to 10) deal with the ramifications of that, and Seasons 5-7 just fit in the middle.)
One thing I really wanted to do last time is post the pictures of the contestants. These pictures are shown when somebody gets eliminated, so each photo has at least a couple of cards blocking the way, but I decided to suck it up and do some editing/AI work. Check the lower right corners to see my crummy patching jobs!
Enough talk. This time, after each season I'll add a couple of words, but leave a full review for the comments.
ドキュメンタル。。。スタート！

Season 5

My Singa-pole... oh, Macau, Macau, Macau...
Documental Season 5 Contestants
Documental Season 5 Card Timeline
Winner: Hollywood (sole survivor)

Akiyama Ryuji (秋山竜次)	Robert (ロバート)	憑依の肉弾クリエイターズ (The Chubby Imitation Creator)	0	6th

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4:00:21	Orange	Eikoh	Takahashi	Takahashi's Shisho Karuta continues, Eikoh answers "Don't put your arm around my waist" for someone who Akiyama doesn't know.	Personal, Verbal
1:02:17	Red	Hollywood, Eikoh, Junior		Hollywood does wrestler impression, Eikoh puts repeating monkey in front of him, Junior hands Hollywood the harmonica - Hollywood plays harmonica and monkey repeats it (Akiyama: "in the exact same pitch").	Boke, Absurd

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Takahashi Shigeo (高橋茂雄)	Savanna (サバンナ)	スーパー太鼓持ち芸人 (The Super Flatterer Talent)	2	7th

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4:36:39	Yellow	Yamauchi		Yamauchi now checks Takahashi for bunions. Takahashi endures the first round but loses it at the leg.	Physical, Lost Endurance
3:44:52	Orange	Zakoshi	Tamuken	["Delayed He-monica"]: Zakoshi plays Tamuken's "He-monica" game where he receives a kanchou with a harmonica in his mouth and tries not to make a sound. He gets the kanchou but delays making the sound until he's right in Takahashi's face. Double kill with Yamauchi.	Absurd, Prop
1:10:27	Red	Jimmy (zombie), Tamuken (zombie)		["Jimmy trips"]: After Jimmy and Tamuken's zombie-time performance of He-monica with Singapole, after everybody endures, as they leave the room Jimmy trips on something. Double kill with Jinnai.	Accidental, Lost Endurance, Coup de grace

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Kano Eikoh (狩野英孝)	(solo)	被ドッキリナルシスト (The Narcissist Prank Victim)	2	4th

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4:11:20	Orange	(self), Junior	Takahashi	["Shisho Karuta jam"]: During the game of Takahashi's Shisho Karuta, both Eikoh and Junior reach to slap the card at the same time, then look at each other and laugh.	Accidental
39:45	Red	Zakoshi	Yamauchi, Junior	As Eikoh takes out his colored contacts, Junior and Yamauchi stare him down, but it's Zakoshi "staring him down" by putting his testicles on the table that gets him.	Absurd, Physical, Lost Endurance, Lost Concentration, Coup de grace, Targeted

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Jinnai Tomonori (陣内智則)	(solo)	ミスターひとり上手 (Mister One-Man)	0	8th

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4:42:29	Orange	Yamauchi		Yamauchi says he learned how to tell whether a person has bunions (or could have bunions in the future) from filming in Kansai, in osteopathy clinics. He licks Jinnai's foot and toes and Jinnai laughs. Jinnai says he got tickled, but he's told he has to endure that too. Personally my least favorite laugh of the show.	Physical, Absurd, Strict
1:10:27	Red	Jimmy (zombie), Tamuken (zombie)		["Jimmy trips"]	Accidental, Lost Endurance, Coup de grace

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Yamauchi Kenji (山内健司)	Kamaitachi (かまいたち)	コンテスト常勝男 (The Ever-Victorious Konto Man)	2	3rd

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3:44:52	Orange	Zakoshi	Tamuken	["Delayed He-monica"]	Absurd, Physical, Prop
38:48	Red	Hollywood		Hollywood invites his helper, "Charming Jiro" to show "Female Version". Tells him to get changed and he comes back naked in lightning speed, hopping in and showing "Male Version" and "Female Version" (covering his penis by pulling his ballsack up).	Routine, Absurd, Vulgar, Helper

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Tamura Kenji (たむらけんじ)	(solo)	関西のサイドビジネス王: (Kansai's Side-Business King)	3	9th

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5:19:28	Yellow	Kendo	Takahashi	During Takahashi's fit-sausages-into-mouth game, Kendo pops up with a surprising amount of sausages in his mouth suddenly.	Traditional
2:49:35	Red	(self), Kendo		During waxing Kendo's pubes, now with Kendo having a harmonica in his mouth, he pulls the waxing strip and doesn't pull much, just snags. Kendo reacts to the pain and Tamura laughs ("When Kobayashi's penis, who has been so gentle all the time, went crazy like 'uueehh', that got me and I just can't hold back.").	[Self-destruct, Absurd, Vulgar

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Kendo Kobayashi (ケンドーコバヤシ)	(solo)	不惑のテナーエロス (The Man of Tenor Eros)	2	5th

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2:56:51	Orange	Yamauchi, (self)	Tamuken	Tamuken wants to shave Kendo's pubes. Yamauchi says Kendo has a gentle penis, and Kendo smiles at the praise.	Lost Concentration, Fun
46:26	Red	Akiyama		Akiyama brings an old lady to help him with gymnastics. After many skits, Akiyama finds a paper with "69" written on it and asks what 69 is. She replies "That's my age!".	Traditional, Verbal, Helper

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Hollywood Zakoshisyoh (ハリウッドザコシショウ)	(solo)	キングオブあらびき (The King of Sloppiness)	5	1st (survived)

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04:47	Orange	Akiyama (zombie)		Akiyama arrives with the glued-on mask and talks to Hollywood: "You're being noisy, young man. You understand me? I can't take this anymore..." Hollywood smirks slightly.	Strict, Absurd

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Chihara Jr. (千原ジュニア)	Chiharakyodai (千原兄弟)	理論派擬音ベシャリスト (The Logical Minded Veteran)	3	2nd

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5:46:40	Yellow	Hollywood		Said to be laughing all along, but laughed at Hollywood's exaggerated Koizumi Junichiro impersonation.	Warning, Absurd, Boke
5:31:08	Orange	Takahashi, Hollywood		Hollywood talks about losing his virginity (encouraged by Kendo writing "Purin Hime" on his water bottle, referencing that story), and Takahashi responds: so when you lost your virginity, and he asked "How did it go?", did you say that "something gummy just came out of me?".	Verbal, Vulgar
28:32	Red	Takahashi (zombie)		Takahashi as a zombie brings out his helper impersonating Jouto no Teru from Be-Bop High School. "Gimme your pants, dude!" and tries to take off Junior's pants - Junior laughs because "it wasn't going smoothly at all".	Absurd, Helper

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Jimmy Onishi (ジミー大西)	(solo)	超天然系核融合 (Super Absent-Minded Nuclear Weapon)	0	10th

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5:37:34	Yellow	Tamuken		When everyone writes their names on the water bottles, Tamuken writes "Ichiro".	???
5:00:47	Orange	Junior		Junior writes Ichiro on the cups and passes it to Jimmy.	???
4:53:04	Red	(self), Kobayashi		Koba put the egg on the candle holder a long time ago. Each time Jimmy laughed, he pointed out the egg, waiting for it. Koba asks Jimmy to look at the egg, the contestants spur him on. Jimmy looks and laughs again. Everyone is baffled. Jimmy explains that he was surprised the scale didn't go down from the weight of the egg, not realizing that it was a candle holder and not a scale.	???, Accidental

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My Opinion/Summary:
The only season where there was actually only one contestant making it to the end, due to pretty strict judging from Matsumoto. Also the season with the highest amount of helpers. The regular cast is good (Jimmy laughing at absolute nonsense is pretty funny). The Chinese parlor skit with Jimmy and Hollywood included is also really funny (even if it is a repeated routine), to me it feels like a "passing of the torch" from the more experimental "newer" era of Documental to a more established (with a touch of formulaic) Documental. It's tricky to rate because the regulars (especially as zombies) do very well and it's interesting to see a "one man left standing" situation finally happen, but I personally think the group dynamic in this season is a bit weak, and I just don't care for a lot of the non-regular cast, especially Yamauchi getting laughs by licking toes.
FINAL WORDS:
Jimmy: "Toro, toro!" (Give me toro, I want toro!) (トロ、トロ！）
Akiyama: "Here, toro toro toro..." (Here you go, toro)（はい、トロトロトロ。。。）
Jimmy: "Miko..." (みこ。。。）

Season 6

Family, family, family! ("You are trying to escape from the family.")
Documental Season 6 Contestants
Documental Season 6 Card Timeline
Winner: Yuriyan Retriever (3 uncarded, won 3-1-0 on points... or judge's decision, if you go by what Matsumoto's words imply)
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Yuriyan Retriever (ゆりやんレトリィバァ)	(solo)	ぶっこみバイリンガール (The Smashing Bilingual Girl)	3	1st (survived uncarded, won on points)

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Kurosawa Kazuko (黒沢かずこ)	Morisantyu (森三中)	歌って踊れる肉塊 (Meat That Sings And Dances)	0	3rd (survived uncarded, lost on points)

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Kondo Haruna (近藤春菜)	Harisenbon (ハリセンボン)	返し技ファンタジスタ (The Counter Fantasista)	1	2nd (survived uncarded, lost on points)

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Daigo (大悟)	Chidori (千鳥)	荒くれハニカミ坊主 (The Rough and Shy Baldy)	1	10th

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5:35:30	Yellow	Jimmy		Jimmy opens a soda bottle behind his back, it goes "Pssh!" and he says "Oh, is this soda?". Time not shown but happens during 5:35 and time shortly afterwards 5:31.	Boke, Verbal
5:22:52	Safe	Shoji		["Ramen, tsukemen, nukemen"]: Shoji, asked if he knows other people's gags, ends up botching Kanoh Eiko's "Ramen, tsukemen, ikemen" (saying nukemen instead, e.g.). Contemporary with Fujimon.	Boke, Verbal
4:31:10	Orange	(self), Jimmy		["Squeaker"]: After Jimmy washes his hair after the quail egg, Daigo gets Jimmy to sit and the squeaker sounds, but quieter than Daigo expected. Contemporary with Jinnai.	Self-destruct, Unexpected
3:04:59	Red	Jimmy	Fujimon	Fujimon gets Jimmy to clear his sinuses with wasabi, Jimmy rushes for soda water to get rid of the pain and says "You bastard... Fujimori..." to Fujimon (in Daigo's words: mistaking the name of his junior, who has been with him for several decades). Said by Matsumoto to be the fastest somebody's been out (not even close to being true, a total of 9 contestants have been expelled earlier in previous seasons).	Boke, Verbal

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Tomochika (友近)	(solo)	変幻自在の憑依女王 (The Protean Imitation Queen)	5	4th (survived, lost on cards)

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1:30:39	Orange	(self), Yuriyan	Kurosawa	During the "cheap musical" targeting Fujimon, Tomochika laughs at herself and Yuriyan's nonsense. "This is dog? No, it's not dog. Dog is her. What? What? What is this? It's the bean!" and as Tomochika sings "Do-do-do-dog dog dog dog", she laughs.	Fun, Joins In

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Maeda Ken (真栄田賢)	Slimclub (スリムクラブ)	ハスキーボイスミュータント (Husky Voice Mutant)	2	5th (survived, lost on cards)

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1:39:52	Yellow	Shoji, Tomochika, Fujimo		Shoji comes out dressed as a bee and tries to say he has an "immunity" (men-eki: 免疫). Tomochika asks if he means the Nagoya station. Fujimon tsukkomi by correcting her that's "mei-eki: 名駅". Maeda goes hmph.	Strict, Verbal, Boke

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Jinnai Tomonori (陣内智則)	(solo)	ミスター隠れ天然 (Mister Hidden Boke)	1	9th

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4:31:10	Yellow	Daigo, Jimmy		["Squeaker"]	Unexpected
2:47:47	Orange	Tomochika, Yuriyan		Yuriyan and Tomochika's improvised geisha performance. Jinnai endures through the uncovered nipple, but loses it at the "Should I go this way? Nope, I'll go this way and turn around." (こっちに行こうか。やっぱりこっちだ振り向いて). Fujimon was close, but Jinnai was targeted, and from his position he "just saw a huge butt coming towards him".	Targeted, Routine, Improvised
2:14:49	Red	Tomochika, Yuriyan, Haruka		Tomochika starts up another improvised geisha performance with Haruka. They target Jinnan who holds on, but just as Tomochika changes the tune and sings "Papa-ra-pa", Yuriyan appears and joins in the dance.	Targeted, Routine, Improvised, Unexpected

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Fujimoto Toshifumi (藤本敏史)	Fujiwara (FUJIWARA)	(no description)	1	7th

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5:22:52	Safe	Shoji		["Ramen, tsukemen, nukemen"]	Boke, Verbal
3:34:18	Orange	(self), Jinnai		Fujimoto sings Jinnai's blue jeans song, and when Jinnai tsukkomis "Why are you looking this way, dude" Fujimon laughs.	Self-destruct, Lost Concentration, Fun, Tsukkomi
12:41	Red	Shoji	Jimmy (zombie)	Jimmy comes in a zombie and does Fujimon's wasabi.	Boke, Absurd, Physical

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Jimmy Onishi (ジミー大西)	(solo)	(no description)	4	8th

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4:47:42	Yellow	Maeda, (self)		After Jimmy's first quail egg launch, as Jimmy is wandering around, Maeda spits out the "used" quail egg. Jimmy holds back for a bit but ultimately laughs.	Counter, Vulgar
2:03:49	Orange	Tomochika, Yuriyan		After Jimmy comes out dressed as a villain and Yuriyan "battles him", Yuriyan randomly picks up a copy of "Brigham Young at Home" and starts reading from it in English, Tomochika interprets it in Japanese. Jimmy tries to run away and stick his head in the freezer, but he collapses at "A history of family" ("You are trying to escape."). "Family family family." ("You are trying to escape from the family.").	Routine, Improvised, Targeted, Explosive
1:51:29	Red	Maeda		Maeda comes out (during the improv musical performance) in his red outfit and grass skirt. After the performance, he gets asked what this is, and replies "Infinite testicles syndrome" and moves the grass skirt to reveal the bulge of many balls. Jimmy doesn't even see the latter part, he just laughs at Infinite testicles syndrome. Fujimon calls it the "loudest laugh in Documental history".	Verbal, Boke, Explosive

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Murakami Shoji (村上ショージ)	(solo)	昭和ギャグ怪人 (Showa Gag Geek)	2	6th

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5:36:27	Yellow	(self), Fujimon, Daigo		Fujimon plays around with Shoji's old shirt and does the nipple "in or not in?" game, Daigo joins in, he gets impatient and gets asked to learn how to wait by Daigo and Fujimon, says ta-ha.	Lost Concentration
3:40:44	Orange	(self), Fujimon		Attacking Fujimon trying not to laugh, he asks "Are you a rucksuck?". Fujimon corrects him - "It's rucksack", and he laughs naturally as he says "Oh yeah" to his own error.	Lost Concentration
08:36	Red	Tomochika		Tomochika comes out in the adult video tennis outfit and crawls around looking for her ball. Her short skirt reveals her panties.	Routine, Prepared, Vulgar

My Opinion/Summary:
The season known for having a large amount of female contestants, who ally for some pretty great improv routines. The Yuriyan / Tomochika alliance works pretty great, and Matsumoto is entirely right to say it would have been ok if Tomochika won too. I suspect that a lot of people really like this season, given how popular Joshimental is, but for me the non-female cast is weak. Especially the regulars: this is probably Jimmy's weakest season, and Fujimoto, as much as I like him, isn't really as good this season or the seasons after as he was in the classic era (I guess this is after the divorce, and after he changes his hairstyle to the horrible bangs he has now). Like Season 5, a bit of mixed bag for me.
FINAL WORDS:
Yuriyan: I will never stop!
Tomochika: Since the day we met, we are...

Season 7

Na! Ka! Ta! Na-ka-ta! I'm a peee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-erfect human!
Documental Season 7 Contestants
Documental Season 7 Card Timeline
Winner: Hollywood (3 remaining, won 11-2-1 on points)
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Nobu (ノブ)	Chidori (千鳥)	Gallery: ツッコミ界のクセ強者 (The Addictive Tsukkomi Dominant) / Contestant: ドキュメンタル最弱芸人 (The Weakest Comedian in Documental)	0	10th

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5:40:28	Yellow	Seiya	Michio, (self)	Michio feeds Nobu jelly and squeezes it suddenly, causing it to go everywhere. Though Nobu should be doing tsukkomi, it goes in Seiya's eye and he reacts with "Ah, it got in my eye!".	Unexpected, Absurd
4:31:27	Orange	Kato		["Oppai to Kitamura-san"]: Kato does Round 2 of his oppai gag, then suddenly switches to his Kitamura-san gag in the middle. Contemporary with Koyabu, who is safe.	Boke, Absurd, Unexpected
4:20:35	Red	Hollywood		From 100% Akira exaggerated to a couple of Adamo-chan on a plate, but collapses when Hollywood reveals just his "chinbou" (penis).	Vulgar, Routine, Absurd, Explosive

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Kato Ayumu (加藤歩)	Zabunguru (ザブングル)	Gallery and Contestant: 悔恨の顔面凶器 (The Regretful Face Weapon)	2	2nd (survived, lost on points)

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5:44:38	Yellow	Tamura		After Tamura's card, Tamura begins discussing whether he should continue or stop his Ciao, and Kato laughs because he thinks "How long is he going to go on about Ciao?".	Boke, Absurd, Unexpected
3:28:25	Orange	(self), Seiya		During Seiya's impersonations game, Kato begins playing along with the Tenryuu impersonation and smiles during it.	Joins in

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Goto Terumoto (後藤輝基)	Footballhour (フットボールアワー)	Gallery: 鳥顔ギター男 (The Bird Face Guitar Man) / Contestant: ツッコミスナイパ (Tsukkomi Sniper)	2	6th

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3:59:30	Safe	Seiya, (self)		Seiya places the delivery call for the paella after his pizza order as Goto does tsukkomi for the thing in his nose. The answer is "We're not close to you right now" - Seiya has no clue what this means. Goto barely holds it in as "we're not close to you at this time" (只今近くにおりません) makes no sense to hear as a response to placing a call for delivery. In his words: "今のだと聞いたことない。「近くにおりません」って出前の電話である！？" (I've never heard what I just heard now. "We are not nearby" for delivery!?).	Unexpected
2:55:48	Yellow	Hollywood		Hollywood's first Sakura from Mr. Children impression.	Routine, Prepared, Impersonation
1:18:44	Orange	Hollywood		Hollywood's Naoki Hanzawa impression. Asked to do Funakoshi Eiichiro's wife. Goes to phone - okaa-chan, okaa-chan! Hangs up and goes to Goto. Hanzawa again?... lapses back to Okaa-chan.	Impersonation, Boke, Unexpected
46:22	Safe	Koyabu		Koyabu's helper Naoyuki Imabeppu - "Just to-touch my nipples again.".	Boke, Helper
34:38	Red	Zakoshi, Koyabu, (self)		Spurs on Noyabu's helper Imabeppu to do Zakoshi's VTR "The answer is - anal!". Imabeppu and Zakoshi fall into a loop of Imabeppu: The answer was - anal! Hollywood: It's too dark, I can't see! But if I put on my contacts, the world chnanges! (refering an earlier impersonation). This loop continues until Goto gives in.	Lost Endurance, Helper, Absurd, Vulgar

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Seiya (せいや)	Shimofuri Myojo (霜降り明星)	Gallery and Contestant: 天真爛漫M-1王者 (The Naive M-1 Champion)	1	9th

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4:38:04	Yellow	(self), Kato	Nobu	Given as Kato's point. Seiya reads Kato's "Guitar Samurai" "book from the store manager" (comedian Yoku Hata's Guitar Samurai character book: ギター侍の書, a bit of a "classic" comedian from the early 00s) with stories ending with "tte iu jya naai? / zannen!" (Yoku Hata's gag). After a tsukkomi from Nobu and Seiya going on in the rhythm (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUKZ4iAugr0 for reference), he laughs at the punchline, being able to see it before he says it. Even as everyone points to him for laughing and the siren goes off, he manages to finish.	Joins in, Prop, Tsukkomi, Traditional
2:43:40	Orange	Hollywood		Hollywood's "サブリミナル効果" (Subliminal Effect) / Sean Ben-man video.	Absurd
2:37:32	Red	Hollywood		The rest of Hollywood's "サブリミナル効果" (Subliminal Effect) / Sean Ben-man video.	Absurd

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Tamura Kenji (たむらけんじ)	(solo)	Gallery: 焼肉獅子舞 (The Grilled Meat Lion Dance) / Contestant: 関西のサイドビジネス王 (Kansai's Side Business King)	2	7th

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5:48:30	Yellow	Miyasako		During an interaction with Miyasako, Miyasako brings up his stomach cancer.	Unexpected, Unfunny
4:50:04	Orange	(self), Goto		During Tamuken's hyponesis noodle-eating skit, as Goto eats the noodles, Tamuken says "Raise your head" as his head was already raised, and Goto almost laughs, causing Tamuken to break down.	Self-destruct, Counter, Verbal, Unexpected
1:32:10	Red	(self)		As the team discovers the soundboard keyboard, Tamura presses the leftmost key and gets Hamada's "Seika happyou!" (成果発表！/The results are!...) voice clip.	Prop, Staff, Personal, Traditional

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Hachimitsu Jiro (ハチミツ二郎)	Tokyo Dynamite (東京ダイナマイト)	Gallery: 蘇る金豚 (The Resurrection of Golden Pig - oddly enough, this is Yamamoto's title in both seasons he appears) / Contestant: 重量級ツブヤキスト (The Heavyweight Whisperer)	1]	3rd (survived, lost on points)

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2:26:06	Yellow	(self)		Smiles normally while explaining "It's no good if you watch it, but also if you don't watch it" about Hollywood's videos.	Lost Concentration

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Koyabu Kazutoyo (小籔千豊)	(solo)	Gallery and Contestant: 新喜劇ベイダー (The New Comedy Vader)	1	tie for 4th

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4:31:27	Safe	Kato		["Oppai to Kitamura-san"]	Boke, Absurd, Unexpected
1:53:53	Yellow	Hollywood		Hollywood's "fwah! fwah!" stretch pants from his Sakura from Mr. Children bit.	Boke, Routine, Prepared, Absurd, Impersonation
17:31	Orange	Hollywood, Kato		Hollywood's helper Koume Dayu gives his performance, Kato gets angry and makes him suck his boobs gag from earlier, which have nipples.	Helper, Vulgar, Absurd
01:29	Red	Hollywood	(self)	["Perfect Human Last-Minute Double Elimination]: Koyabu's right foot smells, Kato licks it, but then Hollywood flies against it with his head (the "Flying Man" choreography from Perfect Human) while chanting "Na-ka-ta! Nakata! I'm a peeeeerfect human!" (ref: the chorus of Perfect Human, sort of like a Japanese Gangnam Style, https://youtu.be/4Bh1nm7Ir8c?t=149) Miyasako collapses to his knees with a grin and Koyabu's face stretches open like Jimmy's does when he tries to hold back a laugh.	Counter, Absurd, Boke

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Michio (みちお)	Tom Brown (トム・ブラウン)	Gallery and Contestant: 不可思議ペンギン男 (The Incredible/Insane Penguin Man)	0	8th

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5:23:01	Orange	(self), Goto		Shows photo of Adamo-chan in makeup even in transit to next show to Goto, Goto's tsukkomi gets him.	Counter, Tsukkomi
2:30:34	Red	Tamura, Hollywood		During Hollywood's sunglasses zoom video ("Sunplaza Nakano getting huge"), Michio holds it, but Tamura retches from holding in the laugh and that gets Michio.	Lost Endurance, Coup de grace, Unexpected, Impersonation

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Miyasako Hiroyuki (宮迫博之)	Ameagari-Kesshitai (雨上がり決死隊)	Gallery and Contesant: 決死のオフホワイト芸人 (The Desperate Off-White Comedian)	1	tie for 4th

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2:04:55	Yellow	(self)		Says "I'm tired" and grins normally after "Of course you're tired" - lets his guard down.	Lost Concentration
33:44	Orange	Hollywood		Hollywood's "two-sword attack" with two repeating monkeys, Miyasako cracks at the accidental time lag.	Unexpected, Prop, Boke
01:29	Red	Hollywood	Koyabu	["Perfect Human Last-Minute Double Elimination]	Passive, Absurd, Boke

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Hollywood Zakoshisyoh (ハリウッドザコシショウ)	(solo)	Gallery: ハンマカンマの住人 (The Citizen of 'Hanma Kanma') / Contesant: 超攻撃型ドキュメンタリスト (The Super Aggressive Documentalist)	11 (!!)	1st (survived, won on points)

​

3:21:55	Yellow	Hachimitsu		Hachimitsu's Kim Jong-nam impersonation through the sliding door: "Sorry for using other people's passports.".	Impersonation

My Opinion/Summary:
I suspect a lot of people dislike this season because of Kato (and Seiya, as per a commenter in the last thread) getting away with laughing and take a lot of control. But I actually like this season more than Seasons 5 and 7! I guess the group dynamic reminds me of Season 4. We have a lot of fresh faces, Hollywood is somehow even stronger than he is in Season 5 (this season marks the most dominant performance of a contestant we'll probably ever see: a whopping eleven points), and the mix of contestants just feels right to me (except Hachimitsu doesn't do much). It's probably objectively worse than Seasons 5 and 6, but it just hits the spot for me. Koyabu's face peeling and Miyasako collapsing to his knees in the penultimate minute at Hollywood's gag will always live on in my mind, as will Seiya managing to hold on, asking to let him finish with the Guitar Samurai reading even as he starts laughing, people start pointing, and the siren goes off - Zannen!!!
FINAL WORDS:
Hollywood: Two pieces of squid!? (イカ２貫！？) (exaggerated Chidori Nobu's gag)

This is my first time reading {Queen of Shadows by J. Mass}. I know NOTHING about what happens in this book. I haven’t even read the blurb.
This is me just writing down thoughts as I read, so some of them will undoubtedly be wrong in the end. I try not to go back and change anything I speculated or ranted about later, because that would be cheating. Also, there will surely be typos, especially with the weird names.
As a caveat: I bought the series as a bundle on Amazon, so my Kindle edition is one BIG book. It is 4855 pages long. That means my page numbers will not line up with the regular editions of the book. Still, I’ll include my page number to give a sense of where I am in the story.
​
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Queen of Shadows- Book 4
It’s 7:40am and I just finished {Heir of Fire by Sarah K. Maas}. I still haven’t been to bed. Should I read the first chapter of this book, or make the responsible choice to sleep? Hahaha. We all know the answer. Bring on the wyvern!
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Page 1400 Arobynn is exactly like I imagined him. Kudos to the writer for painting such a clear picture of this guy was, even before I even met him. Also are there SO MANY names that start with A. If I read too fast, it confuses me.
Page 1401 Oh noes! Aideon is sick. He’s my favorite male character. Manon is my favorite female, btw. Wait! Could they be a couple one day?!? Like, is she was a little less evil and he was out of the dungeon?
1422 I feel like Choal is getting kind of blamed unfairly for leaving Dorian in the castle. Like, what could he possibly have done at that point, except run and try to get Dorian out later? Would it be better to both get captured? Hell, Choal would have been killed. What good would that do anyone?
Page 1429 Never mind. Choal’s being a dick and blaming her for shit, so I don’t care if he’s being blamed unfairly. Fuck him.
Page 1432 Now Chaol is telling his ex-girlfriend who Celeana really is. He’s so petulant. I KNEW I never liked him. This solidifies 3 books of me being Meh about him as love interest. My instincts were right! He’s not romance novel hero material. Now, it’s down to Ren, Dorian, or I guess Aideon. (Because Rowan doesn’t seem to be making a play.) But Aideon is her cousin. Hmm…
Page 1487 Eldie is here! Called it! And she’s hanging out with Manon. Didn’t call that one. This makes me think Manon and her 13 won’t be the bad guys, after all. I am relieved.
Page 1528: I dig the ballet teacher Florine. She’s got style.
Page 1597: Ah! Eldie is a witch. THIS is why Lady Marion was important in the last book, I guess. Because I was wondering why the woman got so many mentions. Now I’m getting it.
Page 1620: Celaena is the only one who can do anything in this book! Chaol and the rebels can’t even search sewers without screwing it up. Like it took her 15 minutes to find the monsters and those morons have been bumbling around for days with no clue. Meanwhile, Choal’s like “If we put magic back, the regular humans won’t have an even playing field.” Yeah, because you fucking suck at everything! Does EVERYONE have to fucking suck, for life to be fair? Here’s a better idea: You could just not suck so much!
Page 1630- Rowan’s here! I wasn’t expecting that so soon. Wait… why isn’t he a bird? Doesn’t he have be a bird in this land, because there’s no magic? Or I guess he has to just be a fae guy with no magic here? He’s not gonna like that.
Page 1637 Hang on, hang on… I think she’s kind getting turned on by Rowan’s bath. Huh. This is new. This could be good for my theory in the last book that he could become the Rhyshard of this series. (Chaol is the Tamlin. I hate that asshole. By which I mean both of them.)
Page 1641- Oh mountain lion guy is Aideon’s dad. That’s nice. I feel bad he won’t get the blood-bond thing, so this will be a nice consolation for him maybe.
Page 1646- Oh no. Aideon is pissed and stalking off. I hope he doesn’t get kidnapped. The blood bond thing has really upset him. And maybe his dad is going to be a problem, because of Maeve.
Page 1716 Lyssandra is a shapeshifter. I didn’t expect that. I don’t recall even knowing there were shapeshifters running around. I find her to be one of the best new characters, though. She’s so positive. This book is doing great with the female characters. The archer girl with Chaol is interesting, too.
Page 1723 Making Lorcan kill the sewer monster and piss off the king amuses me. I think it amuses Rowan, too. Celeana’s plans are fun because she’s layering all these different goals on top of each other.
Page 1748 Okay, now Rowan is eyeing her in a pretty dress. For sure I’m vibing they are the couple I should be voting for, now. I am not mad about this.
Page 1804 So this book series is a bundle on my Kindle and comprises all 7? 8? books. However many there are. I have no easy way of knowing when one book is ending. Five minutes ago, I’m thinking, “Hey Assassin King is dead. Things are coming to a head in Manon storyline and with the Lorcan/knocking the tower down plot. Soon the book will end.” Umm… no. It just came up that Part 2 of this novel is starting. Just now! So, I guess I’m only half done this book? Da Fuck? How long is this book? And what are we going to do for the rest of these pages?
Page 1841 Choal keeps thinking Dorian is coming back. I’m not so sure Dorian is coming back. We do have the scenes inside his head. But, it ain’t pretty in there.
Page 1863 Uh oh. Lyssandra’s been kidnapped. …And her only hope is Choal. That poor girl.
Page 1869- The scenes of Celaena and Rowan lying in bed and NOT having sex are hotter than some actual love scenes I’ve read. I am now all in on them as my main couple.
Page 1870- Random prediction: I think Asterin, Manon’s passionate cousin/second, is going to eventually die. And her death will be what spurs Manon to turn on her evil grandma, because she loves her cousin more than she thinks she does. I hope I’m wrong. I like the 13 witches and don’t want them dead.
Page 1888 Dorian and Manon? Okay. I’ll allow it.
Page 1891 Chaol is fucking this rescue up for us. Raise your hand if you’re even surprised.
Page 1905 Manon and Celeana’s fight was so good! That might be my favorite part of the series, so far! I think the witch is going to join the good guys, now. “If I died because of this, I’ll kick your ass in hell” is actually a really great line, too.
Page 1929- Ah… Asterin IS guiding Manon towards a better path, but in way better way than I’d anticipated. Excellent.
Page 1959- We’re just putting the explosives in palace NOW? We couldn’t have set that up yesterday, when we weren’t on a schedule? In fact, why do we need any big plan at all? Why not just bomb the frigging clock tower and forget the rest of it?
Page 1985 I think Choal just died. I actually feel bad. Maybe I shouldn’t have hated him so much. Sigh…
Page 1999 Lysandra’s there and she’s a leopard! Hahaha!
Page 2013 Huh. Chaol is alive again. Well, I’ll try to be nicer to him this time around.
Page 2033 Kaltain for the win! She went out like a boss.
Page 2077 I can’t believe it’s never the right time for Celeana and Rowan to have sex. I would MAKE the damn time to sleep with the hot immortal warrior who’s in love with me. I’m not an idiot.
Page 2077 Do you think Rowan’s going to end up her mate somehow? Because I think he’s going to end up her mate somehow.
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I loved this book! SUPER enjoying all the various viewpoints of the war and how it all fits together. Very happy with romance. Great female characters. I have rarely been this engaged with a series. I hope it doesn’t blow it somehow in the next one, because my expectations are now really high. Five stars.

I want to start of with saying that I have limited knowledge on the working of computers and videogame development / files and what not. This question is purely asked out of curiosity. If you have the answer, please try to describe it in such a way that I can understand despite not being very tech-savvy
Anyways, I love listening to all the dialogue from my favourite characters after finishing a videogame. I usually just look up those YouTube videos where they posted all the dialogues together in very high sound quality.
Now my question is, how do they do it?
My first thought was to turn off every other sound in the game and then record the sections where the characters say the dialogue. But most videogames don’t have a “dialogue only” option. So I think this isn’t a very effective way of doing it.
I’ve heard it’s possible to extract those audio files from the game files themselves and be able to use them that way.
My three main questions are: 1. How does this process work? 2. Is it complicated? Is it something someone like me could do myself? 3. Are there any specific software I’d have to install to be able to do it myself? (4. bonus question: is digging around in game files legal??)
I’m sorry if this is an easy question or common knowledge for others. But again I don’t know a lot about computers and mainly rely on online tutorials (any tutorials I could find about my question seemed too specific or confusing for me)
I was just really curious about this. Any help on it would be appreciated!

Hi, I'm currently trying to implement basic sprite collisions in my game (not collision detection, but collision response so that the sprites don't move through each other). I went through a ton of tutorials on YouTube, but it's difficult to implement them into my game as I already have classes set up for everything and C# only supports single-inheritance (plus, even if it did support multiple inheritance, it would be a pain in the ass to implement). Is there an easy way around adding sprite-collisions? Also, if anybody has any collision logic of their own that they'd be willing to send, that would be great as well.
Thanks!

Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died…
…when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell...
...to lay the queen of beauty’s laurel in Lyanna’s lap.
https://preview.redd.it/95pwuazoe85b1.jpg?width=551&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e87e1d95f172a847411dcfa70440ffe6270a4c4c
He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost.
Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden.
https://preview.redd.it/trpwm2gxg85b1.png?width=962&format=png&auto=webp&s=aada9b3bc346f2eb376580e1a6cf296c2f0c2276
The phenomenon illustrates the power of unconscious inferences and implicit assumptions in perception.
This is the final part of a series exploring the hidden motives and actions of the main players during Robert's Rebellion, named LBJ in reference to the influence of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War on GRRM's views and writings on war. LBJ also indicates considerations over whether Lyanna + Bobby B = Jon Snow. Previous installments include:

• Rhaegar Had To Be A Warrior
• Why Did Rhaegar Crown Lyanna?
  • Ice, Ice Baby?
  • Political Suicide?
  • Was She 'A Very Kinky Girl'?
• The Forging of Lightbringer: Blue Flowers & Narrow Visors
• Rhaegar Mistakenly Crowned Lyanna
• I am not fond of fishsticks, but when fish is served, I eat it.
• All is fair in love and war...
• Kingsguard Loyalty
• Southron Ambitions & Lies
• The Return of the Prince: Éowyn at the Trident
• Mirror on the Wall: King Robert vs. Queen Cersei
• The Horned Demon of the Trident

This series presented a case that, like LBJ's administration lied to the public about the Vietnam War, including by exaggerating reports of an attack on U.S. ships to coerce Congress into granting broad authority to escalate the war, the winners of Robert's Rebellion implemented a falsified propaganda campaign in service to their personal and political ambitions. They capitalized on Rhaegar's mistake at Harrenhal to form a believable lie that the crown prince abducted Lyanna, when in fact both she and Rhaegar were taken by rebel allies, with Rhaegar being tortured for the crime of crowning Robert's betrothed queen of love and beauty despite the presence of his pregnant, Dornish wife. The Kingsguard at the tower of joy betrayed the Targaryens, and they granted Robert access to the tower and Lyanna after his loss at Ashford, meaning Robert may be Jon's father. And yet either of Lyanna's guards, Arthur Dayne or Oswell Whent, may have had an affair with the she-wolf, and so not even Lyanna herself was necessarily certain of Jon Snow's paternity.
This part will show how Ned's thoughts and actions are consistent with this scenario.

Ned's Dangerous Secrets

Lord Eddard Stark is defined by his love for his family and his sense of honor and justice. He prizes loyalty and abhors the killing of innocent children, but these values are often challenged by the harsh realities of the world he lives in, leading Ned to dishonor himself in ways that haunt him. Ned Stark thus epitomizes the concept of the human heart in conflict with itself.
Our first glimpse of Lord Stark's internal conflict is in Bran's first chapter. Reading between the lines, it's apparent that Ned beheaded an innocent man, as Gared was not truly a deserter but had been chased south by a hungry, pregnant direwolf. Bran doesn't reveal what Gared said to defend himself, but it's easy to imagine he explained about the direwolf, which to Ned would come off as a lie or a slight against his house, given that direwolves hadn't been spotted south of the Wall in 200 years. Lord Stark also failed to heed the omen of the antler in the direwolf's throat; besides superstitiously signaling the danger of House Baratheon, it served as a sharp lesson that sometimes absurd, seemingly unbelievable things do happen, and so it's important to do due diligence before doling out harsh penalties. The Starks are conditioned to judge deserters harshly, however, which is why Arya murders Dareon the singer, even though his desertion was justifiable given that he had been placed at the Wall on a false accusation of rape. Neither Arya nor Ned conduct proper investigations, and so despite their good intentions, they both perpetuate injustice. Likewise, Ned staunchly supported Robert during the rebellion, and though he had very good reasons to do so, he failed to question the underlying assumptions and so unwittingly participated in perpetuating injustice.
Ned continues to dishonor himself at the Trident with his daughters, when he places loyalty to King Robert over truth and justice. Despite Ned’s desire to protect innocents, he cowed to Robert’s judgement, permitting Mycah's death and executing Lady himself, though he knew they were blameless. It’s thus easy to see how Bran’s vision of the Trident involves not only Robert’s black mountain of a shadow, but also his father’s shadows, represented by an ashen hound and a man armored in gold, indicating the dark and light sides at war within Lord Eddard Stark; some lights cast more than one shadow.

He looked south, and saw the great blue-green rush of the Trident. He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.

- A Game of Thrones Bran III
Ned’s personal demons are rooted in Robert’s Rebellion. When Robert tries to convince Ned to support the assassination of Daenerys and her unborn child, the second time, Ned protests that the purpose of the rebellion was to put an end to the murder of children.

“Whereas Daenerys is a fourteen-year-old girl.” Ned knew he was pushing this well past the point of wisdom, yet he could not keep silent. “Robert, I ask you, what did we rise against Aerys Targaryen for, if not to put an end to the murder of children?”
“To put an end to Targaryens!” the king growled.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard VIII
This may reference the Defiance of Duskendale, a tax dispute which escalated to King Aerys’s abduction and imprisonment, significantly contributing to his mental decline. Once Aerys was freed by Ser Barristan, he ordered the Darklyns and Hollards wiped out, except for young Dontos at Barristan’s request, and there were children among those slain. This act sent a signal to other nobles, putting them on notice that a whole family and their goodkin, down to innocent children, would be mortally liable for the misdeeds of a few.
So when Rhaegar blundered at Harrenhal, whataboutism dictates that the whole Targaryen dynasty was thus liable. This human tendency towards scapegoating and revenge is reflected in the people of Duskendale blaming Denys Darklyn’s Myrish wife Lady Serala for influencing his actions, leading them to mutilate and burn her alive. The grisly fates of those linked to the Defiance would incline Robert and his allies to ensure the abduction and imprisonment of Lyanna and Rhaegar was conducted with utmost secrecy, to protect their own families from the dragon’s retribution.
The reference to child murder may also relate to suspicions surrounding the untimely deaths of Aerys’s offspring, and it could reference the deaths of Brandon’s companions, depending on their ages. If the latter, it underscores Ned’s diminished resentment towards Aerys for executing his father and brother. It’s possible Ned felt that his wolf-blooded brother overreacted by riding to King’s Landing to threaten the life of the crown prince.

“It has a name, does it?” Her father sighed. “Ah, Arya. You have a wildness in you, child. ‘The wolf blood,’ my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave.“

- A Game of Thrones Arya II
After Brandon and Lord Rickard were executed and Aerys demanded the heads of Robert and Ned, Ned could then justify rebelling against the throne not only to preserve his own life, but also to prevent the Mad King from extending his vengeance to wipe out both House Stark and Baratheon, down to innocent children. Ned's sense of honor is able to override his sense of loyalty in response to direct threats to innocents and his family, yet he lacks the moral and cognitive flexibility to defy kings who abuse their power to indirectly harm their subjects.
So for instance, Ned justly speaks out against and attempts to resign over Robert's assassination plans, despite the real danger of a Dothraki invasion. Yet Ned does not show the same zeal for preventing the indirect threat of the crown failing to pay its debts, even though this failure would induce lenders to fund wars against the Seven Kingdoms. The ethics of economics are perhaps more complex than murder, and so it's easy for Ned to be talked into allowing the expensive Hand's Tourney to go forward, rather than educating himself well enough to recognize that the crown's debts have the potential to harm the populace far more than any dragonspawn could.

He did not have to like it, though. And come spring, when the time came to repay all that gold, he would like it even less. Tycho Nestoris had impressed him as cultured and courteous, but the Iron Bank of Braavos had a fearsome reputation when collecting debts. Each of the Nine Free Cities had its bank, and some had more than one, fighting over every coin like dogs over a bone, but the Iron Bank was richer and more powerful than all the rest combined. When princes defaulted on their debts to lesser banks, ruined bankers sold their wives and children into slavery and opened their own veins. When princes failed to repay the Iron Bank, new princes sprang up from nowhere and took their thrones.
As poor plump Tommen may be about to learn. No doubt the Lannisters had good reason for refusing to honor King Robert's debts, but it was folly all the same. If Stannis was not too stiff-necked to accept their terms, the Braavosi would give him all the gold and silver he required, coin enough to buy a dozen sellsword companies, to bribe a hundred lords, to keep his men paid, fed, clothed, and armed. Unless Stannis is lying dead beneath the walls of Winterfell, he may just have won the Iron Throne. He wondered if Melisandre had seen that in her fires.

- A Dance with Dragons Jon IX
Consider Ned’s unwillingness to defy Robert when he points out the atrocities committed by the Targaryens.

“Nonetheless,” Ned said, “the murder of children … it would be vile … unspeakable …”
“Unspeakable?” the king roared. “What Aerys did to your brother Brandon was unspeakable. The way your lord father died, that was unspeakable. And Rhaegar … how many times do you think he raped your sister? How many hundreds of times?” His voice had grown so loud that his horse whinnied nervously beneath him. The king jerked the reins hard, quieting the animal, and pointed an angry finger at Ned. “I will kill every Targaryen I can get my hands on, until they are as dead as their dragons, and then I will piss on their graves.”
Ned knew better than to defy him when the wrath was on him. If the years had not quenched Robert’s thirst for revenge, no words of his would help. “You can’t get your hands on this one, can you?” he said quietly.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard II
Ned does not hold the Targaryens collectively responsible for the deaths of his loved ones, insofar as he’s unwilling to use the Mad King’s unjust actions as an excuse to perpetuate the murder of Targaryen children. Ned is appalled that Robert condones the killing of children and he casts Robert’s hatred towards the dragons as irrational.

Ned did not feign surprise; Robert’s hatred of the Targaryens was a madness in him. He remembered the angry words they had exchanged when Tywin Lannister had presented Robert with the corpses of Rhaegar’s wife and children as a token of fealty. Ned had named that murder; Robert called it war. When he had protested that the young prince and princess were no more than babes, his new-made king had replied, “I see no babes. Only dragonspawn.” Not even Jon Arryn had been able to calm that storm. Eddard Stark had ridden out that very day in a cold rage, to fight the last battles of the war alone in the south. It had taken another death to reconcile them; Lyanna’s death, and the grief they had shared over her passing.
This time, Ned resolved to keep his temper. “Your Grace, the girl is scarcely more than a child. You are no Tywin Lannister, to slaughter innocents.” It was said that Rhaegar’s little girl had cried as they dragged her from beneath her bed to face the swords. The boy had been no more than a babe in arms, yet Lord Tywin’s soldiers had torn him from his mother’s breast and dashed his head against a wall.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard II
When Robert reveals continuing trauma over his defeat of Rhaegar, his vengeance unsatisfied, Ned is oddly silent.

In my dreams, I kill him every night,” Robert admitted. “A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves.”
There was nothing Ned could say to that. After a quiet, he said, “We should return, Your Grace. Your wife will be waiting.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard I
Ned is disturbed by the notion that Robert would still hate Rhaegar.

Suddenly, uncomfortably, he found himself recalling Rhaegar Targaryen. Fifteen years dead, yet Robert hates him as much as ever. It was a disturbing notion …

- A Game of Thrones Eddard VIII
Ned’s feelings towards Rhaegar are neutral at worst, whereas he often acknowledges and excuses Robert’s faults, such as his uncontrollable rage and lust. If Ned believes Rhaegar is Jon’s father and that Lyanna willingly left with him, his charitable feelings towards Rhaegar might make sense. But then Ned should also realize Robert’s hatred of Targaryens is rational based on the official narrative involving kidnapping, rape, and murder committed by the dragons. If Ned instead suspects Robert is Jon’s father, it reconciles both his neutral feelings towards Rhaegar and incredulity over Robert’s hatred, as he knows Rhaegar’s only ‘crime’ was crowning Lyanna.
Ned is adept at suppressing bitter memories, so the absence of direct thoughts on Robert’s complicity in Lyanna’s abduction shouldn’t be construed as proof that it didn’t happen; Ned doesn’t think about Rhaegar’s complicity either. It’s noteworthy that we see Ned bury thoughts about the circumstances of Jon’s birth in the barrowlands, which are burial grounds:

“Would that we could,” Ned said, “but we have duties now, my liege … to the realm, to our children, I to my lady wife and you to your queen. We are not the boys we were.”
“You were never the boy you were,” Robert grumbled. “More’s the pity. And yet there was that one time … what was her name, that common girl of yours? Becca? No, she was one of mine, gods love her, black hair and these sweet big eyes, you could drown in them. Yours was … Aleena? No. You told me once. Was it Merryl? You know the one I mean, your bastard’s mother?”
“Her name was Wylla,” Ned replied with cool courtesy, “and I would sooner not speak of her.”
“Wylla. Yes.” The king grinned. “She must have been a rare wench if she could make Lord Eddard Stark forget his honor, even for an hour. You never told me what she looked like …”
Ned’s mouth tightened in anger. “Nor will I. Leave it be, Robert, for the love you say you bear me. I dishonored myself and I dishonored Catelyn, in the sight of gods and men.”
“Gods have mercy, you scarcely knew Catelyn.”
“I had taken her to wife. She was carrying my child.”
“You are too hard on yourself, Ned. You always were. Damn it, no woman wants Baelor the Blessed in her bed.” He slapped a hand on his knee. “Well, I’ll not press you if you feel so strong about it, though I swear, at times you’re so prickly you ought to take the hedgehog as your sigil.”
The rising sun sent fingers of light through the pale white mists of dawn. A wide plain spread out beneath them, bare and brown, its flatness here and there relieved by long, low hummocks. Ned pointed them out to his king. “The barrows of the First Men.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard II
No one objected to Doran locking Arianne in a tower, nor were people too concerned when Baelor locked his sisters in the Maidenvault. Westerosi men treat women as property, and so Ned could forgive Robert for imprisoning his sister, especially as they were betrothed.

A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard X
Robert Baratheon is a blue-eyed, death-dealing Storm Lord; this passage shows that Ned is at least subconsciously aware of Robert’s culpability in Lyanna’s presence at the tower of joy. It's also widely misconstrued as depicting blue rose petals, when it's actually fairly clear that the sky is blue and the rose petals are red, streaking the sky like blood...
Robert’s genuine grief over Lyanna’s death may permit Ned to absolve Robert of blame; this grief is the reason Ned gives for their reconciliation, after the deaths of Elia's children drove a wedge between them. Interestingly, Robert’s own death scene parallels Lyanna’s death: a bed of blood, squeezing hands and a weak smile, protecting Robert’s bastards, promise me Ned…

Robert took his hand, fingers squeezing hard. “You are … such a bad liar, Ned Stark,” he said through his pain. “The realm … the realm knows … what a wretched king I’ve been. Bad as Aerys, the gods spare me.”
“No,” Ned told his dying friend, “not so bad as Aerys, Your Grace. Not near so bad as Aerys.”
Robert managed a weak red smile. “At the least, they will say … this last thing … this I did right. You won’t fail me. You’ll rule now. You’ll hate it, worse than I did … but you’ll do well. Are you done with the scribbling?”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Ned offered Robert the paper. The king scrawled his signature blindly, leaving a smear of blood across the letter. “The seal should be witnessed.”
“Serve the boar at my funeral feast,” Robert rasped. “Apple in its mouth, skin seared crisp. Eat the bastard. Don’t care if you choke on him. Promise me, Ned.”
“I promise.” Promise me, Ned, Lyanna’s voice echoed.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard XIII
vs.

“She should be on a hill somewhere, under a fruit tree, with the sun and clouds above her and the rain to wash her clean.”
“I was with her when she died,” Ned reminded the king. “She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father.” He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister’s eyes. Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his. Ned could recall none of it. “I bring her flowers when I can,” he said. “Lyanna was … fond of flowers.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard I
Once Ned realized that the rebels lied about Lyanna and Rhaegar's disappearance, outing the truth was unthinkable. Too many had already fought and died based on a malicious lie, and the truth would thrust the realm further into rebellion. Ned had a duty to protect what family remained to him, including both his newborn son Robb and Jon Snow, the son of his beloved sister. Yet notice how Ned stopped visiting Robert and never sent envoys to King’s Landing to leverage advantages for the North, despite his favor with the king. It’s as if Ned was avoiding Robert. So perhaps ‘promise me Ned’ was about keeping Jon’s parentage a secret, as Robert might stupidly try to legitimize his son by his beloved Lyanna, raising dangerous questions.

And when you have it, what then? Some secrets are safer kept hidden. Some secrets are too dangerous to share, even with those you love and trust. Ned slid the dagger that Catelyn had brought him out of the sheath on his belt. The Imp’s knife. Why would the dwarf want Bran dead? To silence him, surely. Another secret, or only a different strand of the same web?

- A Game of Thrones Eddard VIII
Ned cannot tell Catelyn the truth of Jon’s parentage because she’s a political climber and may support his legitimization for her own children’s sake. If Jon is the heir to the throne, Arya or Sansa could be married to him. Robb’s claim to Winterfell would not longer be under threat, and he could leverage diplomatic advantages as Jon’s ally. The Tully creed of "Family, Duty, Honor" has imbued Catelyn with fatal blindspots when it comes to advancing her children's interests.
Jon is hidden when Robert comes to visit, consistent with preventing the king from making a connection between Jon's birth and Lyanna's death.

“I glimpsed him once at Winterfell,” the queen said, “though the Starks did their best to hide him. He looks very like his father.”

- A Feast for Crows Cersei IV
Jon takes after his mother Lyanna, and he more closely resembles Robert than Rhaegar, with his dark brown hair and almost black eyes. Varys tells Tyrion he knows of eight bastards fathered by Robert, all black of hair; he says nothing of their eye color, and Varys is manipulative, so it would be unwise to take him at his word. If Maggy the Frog’s prophecy is correct, only about half of Robert’s children are accounted for; others may not resemble Robert so closely. Having a subset of children who resemble you does not guarantee they all will, and it’s not uncommon in real life for people to have a legitimate child who looks different from their siblings. Arya is an example of this, as all her full-blooded siblings take after Catelyn while she’s the only one who looks like Ned.
Ned’s research into couplings between Lannisters and Baratheons show black-haired offspring, and so he assumes the gold will always yield to the coal. There’s no evidence that he also assumes the cold will yield to the coal, that Baratheon seed is dominant over Stark genes. Ned misconstrues how genetics works, and we shouldn’t assume Martin doesn’t understand this. In the real world, it’s possible to have a history of a certain genetic outcome which is broken once enough new blood enters a lineage. In fact, fair-haired Laenor and Laena Velaryon, whose grandmother was Jocelyn Baratheon, demonstrate that Baratheon genetic traits can be diluted.

The seed is strong, Jon Arryn had cried on his deathbed, and so it was. All those bastards, all with hair as black as night. Grand Maester Malleon recorded the last mating between stag and lion, some ninety years ago, when Tya Lannister wed Gowen Baratheon, third son of the reigning lord. Their only issue, an unnamed boy described in Malleon’s tome as a large and lusty lad born with a full head of black hair, died in infancy. Thirty years before that a male Lannister had taken a Baratheon maid to wife. She had given him three daughters and a son, each black-haired. No matter how far back Ned searched in the brittle yellowed pages, always he found the gold yielding before the coal.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard XII
Some think Ned hid Jon’s lineage because Robert would kill Jon if he suspected he was Targaryen, despite Ned’s surprise at Robert’s commitment to murdering Targaryen heirs and despite Ned insisting Robert wouldn’t harm his loved ones.

Ned shook his head, refusing to believe. “Robert would never harm me or any of mine. We were closer than brothers. He loves me. If I refuse him, he will roar and curse and bluster, and in a week we will laugh about it together. I know the man!”
“You knew the man,” she said. “The king is a stranger to you.” Catelyn remembered the direwolf dead in the snow, the broken antler lodged deep in her throat. She had to make him see. “Pride is everything to a king, my lord. Robert came all this way to see you, to bring you these great honors, you cannot throw them back in his face.”

- A Game of Thrones Catelyn II
Ned’s concern for Jon’s life didn’t prevent him from allowing Jon to take a dangerous vocation at the Wall. Sending Jon to the Wall makes even more sense if his potential claim to the throne would cause a political upheaval. This may be true whether he’s Robert or Rhaegar’s son, though it’s more important to keep this secret if he’s the son of Robert, as it has greater potential to damage Ned’s allies. The fact that Ned was willing to lie to Jon about what the Night’s Watch really is, sending him to a bleak, cold penal colony, is in line with Ned being an unwilling liar whose honor falls short when it threatens to undermine his king.

The thought of Jon filled Ned with a sense of shame, and a sorrow too deep for words. If only he could see the boy again, sit and talk with him … pain shot through his broken leg, beneath the filthy grey plaster of his cast. He winced, his fingers opening and closing helplessly. “Is this your own scheme,” he gasped out at Varys, “or are you in league with Littlefinger?”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard XV
Ned recalls Lyanna’s misgivings about Robert’s nature and the promises he made to her after visiting Robert’s bastard by a girl so young he was afraid to ask her age (a girl who incidentally resembles Sansa in age and hair color).

“Robert will never keep to one bed,” Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm’s End. “I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale.” Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. “Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man’s nature.”
The girl had been so young Ned had not dared to ask her age. No doubt she’d been a virgin; the better brothels could always find a virgin, if the purse was fat enough. She had light red hair and a powdering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and when she slipped free a breast to give her nipple to the babe, he saw that her bosom was freckled as well. “I named her Barra,” she said as the child nursed. “She looks so like him, does she not, milord? She has his nose, and his hair …”
“She does.” Eddard Stark had touched the baby’s fine, dark hair. It flowed through his fingers like black silk. Robert’s firstborn had had the same fine hair, he seemed to recall.
“Tell him that when you see him, milord, as it … as it please you. Tell him how beautiful she is.”
“I will,” Ned had promised her. That was his curse. Robert would swear undying love and forget them before evenfall, but Ned Stark kept his vows. He thought of the promises he’d made Lyanna as she lay dying, and the price he’d paid to keep them.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard IX
The king buys and lies to virgin whores and he fathers bastards like it’s a competition, but Ned could excuse Robert fathering a bastard on his sister because they were betrothed, after all, and the gods fill men with lust.

She had smiled then, a smile so tremulous and sweet that it cut the heart out of him. Riding through the rainy night, Ned saw Jon Snow’s face in front of him, so like a younger version of his own. If the gods frowned so on bastards, he thought dully, why did they fill men with such lusts? “Lord Baelish, what do you know of Robert’s bastards?”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard IX
Ned thinks about Jon Snow in relation to Robert’s bastards and lusts, then contrasts Robert to Rhaegar who wasn’t the type to visit brothels. Ned thinks that he hadn’t thought of Rhaegar in years; if Jon was Rhaegar’s, wouldn’t Ned think about him more often? This also establishes Ned as not particularly self-aware, as he does in fact think about Rhaegar on page before this.

There was no answer Ned Stark could give to that but a frown. For the first time in years, he found himself remembering Rhaegar Targaryen. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard IX
Ned’s friendship with Robert conditioned him to excuse male adultery, and so if R+L=J, he could excuse Rhaegar’s unfaithfulness to his wife. While Ned may hold himself to a higher standard in his own marriage, he can forgive a man for acting on his natural urges.
Ned does not extend his charitable take on adultery to Cersei, whose crime is not so different from what Lyanna is alleged to have done. Lyanna did not commit incest as Cersei did nor did she forsake her own marriage vows, yet if Ned believes Rhaegar is Jon’s father, he’s accepted that his sister broke her betrothal and disregarded the crown prince’s marriage vows, leaving two young children without their father, and bore a bastard. If Jon is a Targaryen, his lineage may legally permit him to commit incest, which Cersei would see as hypocritical.
Ned’s reaction to Cersei’s infidelity is partly informed by the importance of inheritance and legitimacy in their feudal society. Noble Westerosi women are conditioned to place their duty to their families ahead of their own lusts, a standard which is not imposed on men as seriously. It’s much easier to confirm a child’s mother than it is to establish paternity, which is why women are held to more strict sexual standards. Ned’s frigid sexual relations with Catelyn may even convince him that women are less driven by lust than men. Even so, Ned’s reaction to Cersei’s infidelity was primarily motivated by bias against House Lannister and loyalty to Robert. Consider that Ned hates Jaime, who killed a man who murdered Ned’s family, because vows involving loyalty to one’s king are very important to him.

His sword helped taint the throne you sit on, Ned thought, but he did not permit the words to pass his lips. “He swore a vow to protect his king’s life with his own. Then he opened that king’s throat with a sword.”
“Seven hells, someone had to kill Aerys!” Robert said, reining his mount to a sudden halt beside an ancient barrow. “If Jaime hadn’t done it, it would have been left for you or me.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard II
Ned is inflexible about his sense of honor when applied to the Lannisters, whom he views as child murderers and oathbreakers, yet Ned bends his ethics for his family and king. For instance, he hates Tywin for his role in the murders of Rhaegar’s children, yet remains loyal to Robert who also condones the murder of children.
Ned took Theon hostage to keep Balon in check, and would have executed him in service to his king. He essentially held a child mortally liable for his father’s actions, which is the same justification Ned uses for rising against Aerys. So would Ned have followed through with executing Theon, despite defying Robert over the assassination of Dany and her unborn child?

Even inside fur-lined gloves, Theon’s hands had begun to throb with pain. It was often his hands that hurt the worst, especially his missing fingers. Had there truly been a time when women yearned for his touch? I made myself the Prince of Winterfell, he thought, and from that came all of this. He had thought that men would sing of him for a hundred years and tell tales of his daring. But if anyone spoke of him now, it was as Theon Turncloak, and the tales they told were of his treachery. This was never my home. I was a hostage here. Lord Stark had not treated him cruelly, but the long steel shadow of his greatsword had always been between them. He was kind to me, but never warm. He knew that one day he might need to put me to death.

- A Dance with Dragons The Prince of Winterfell
Ned also lies for his family, making his indictment of the Lannisters somewhat hypocritical. He claims his wife abducted Tyrion on his orders, when he had in fact ordered her to go home and prepare the north for war. He does not hold Catelyn responsible for the deaths of his men, which Jaime ordered in retaliation for Tyrion’s abduction, no more than he held Robert and his own allies responsible for the indirect consequences of abducting Lyanna and lying about it, including her death and the deaths of his father, brother, and countrymen.

“Pycelle swears it will heal clean,” Robert frowned. “I take it you know what Catelyn has done?”
“I do.” Ned took a small swallow of wine. “My lady wife is blameless, Your Grace. All she did she did at my command.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard X
If Ned’s mind had not been clouded by the milk of the poppy, he may have had the foresight to understand the danger he placed his own family in by informing Cersei of the discovery of her children’s illegitimacy. He gave them a chance to flee out of concern for the lives of innocents, but sadly, Ned's sense of justice is unable to account for the indirect consequences of actions (except when applied retroactively to people he dislikes) and his mercy backfired. The meeting between Cersei and Ned in the godswood reveals that he would bend his ethics for his own children’s sake.

Ned thought, If it came to that, the life of some child I did not know, against Robb and Sansa and Arya and Bran and Rickon, what would I do? Even more so, what would Catelyn do, if it were Jon’s life, against the children of her body? He did not know. He prayed he never would.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard XII
Ned is thus the type of man who would willingly dishonor himself, lying or even allowing innocents to be killed, for the sake of protecting his own. Even Ned’s final act was a lie, choosing to dishonor himself to protect Sansa.

Her father raised his voice still higher, straining to be heard. “I betrayed the faith of my king and the trust of my friend, Robert,” he shouted. “I swore to defend and protect his children, yet before his blood was cold, I plotted to depose and murder his son and seize the throne for myself. Let the High Septon and Baelor the Beloved and the Seven bear witness to the truth of what I say: Joffrey Baratheon is the one true heir to the Iron Throne, and by the grace of all the gods, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.”

- A Game of Thrones Arya V
Lord Eddard Stark embodies a simple truth, that the road to hell is paved with the best intentions. He is as grey as the direwolf on his sigil, a man who chose lesser evils out of a genuine desire to do good, who nonetheless perpetuated injustice. Let Ned serve as a lesson to readers, the lesson he should have taken from the dead direwolf in the snow: the man who passes the sentence might swing the sword, but apply due diligence first, and reserve harsh judgement unless guilt is certain. This lesson should be balanced against the understanding that failure to act can be just as harmful as decisive action, as was the case when the quiet wolf allowed the expensive Hand's Tourney to go forth despite the crown's massive debts. Ultimately, even the best among us will be tested with impossible moral dilemmas, and so it's important to have the capacity to show ourselves and others flexibility and forgiveness.

The damning conclusion? That the United States government had escalated the war all the while knowing that it was on the losing side of the equation. The report also confirmed that JFK’s administration had helped to overthrow and assassinate Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of the South Vietnamese government, which America supported. If our own government had no faith in our allies and our capabilities, then why the hell, readers of the Times and the Post wondered, were we still sending our men to be killed in Vietnam?
Support for the war at home was eroding daily; the protests were increasing, with voices calling, louder and louder, for an end to the conflict. Rebellion was brewing even from within the “silent majority.” Most of the POW/MIA wives had been in this camp for years. They had been trained to be strong government and military supporters, but they were now completely disgusted with Washington politics. Their suspicions about the war and those leading it were confirmed. McNamara was now right up there with Cora Weiss as a target of their ire. They knew to be wary of antiwar figures, but McNamara? Wasn’t he supposed to be on their side?
The Nixon administration was not implicated in the Pentagon Papers, though the president was incensed to see classified government reports leaked to the public. Instead of seeing the papers as a potential help, separating his administration’s policy on Vietnam from those of JFK and LBJ, “the leak of the Pentagon Papers brought forth a profound paranoia in Richard Nixon… The ultimate manifestation of this drive was the White House Special Investigations Unit, informally referred to as the Plumbers, whose first assignment was to raid the offices of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. Later, members of the group would carry out one final mission, the Watergate break-in, which ultimately cost Nixon the very thing he had sought to defend: his presidency.”

- The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took On the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home Heath Hardage Lee
Look here to see this series in its full audio/visual glory with greater detail.

I have a week off work at the beginning of July and I desperately want to learn to Dutch braid my hair. I am hair dumb. I have elbow length hair that I keep braided but I have little stray hairs that blow around in the fan at my job and I hate it. I work a very physical job and want to keep it out of my face. Can anyone recommend a good tutorial site or video that is easy to follow? I don't have any other social besides reddit, so maybe a YouTube video? Thanks to anyone who reads this

I was really surprised at how easy it was to get a box after the lion fiasco. Did everyone that wanted one get one?

Hi all,
I'm just starting to work on myself to see if I can let my feminine side out. I was wondering if there's any good tutorials on makeup, specifically pointing to getting feminine features exposed through makeup.
Thanks!

Hi,
thanks in advance for all comments/ suggestions.
I want to develop a card game as my first project and I 'm currently thinking about which game engine to use.
For me a beginners friendly game engine that offers easy support/tutorials would be perfect.
I would be willing to pay, for courses , assets, etc.

The documentation itself is just in such complete disarray.
From broken links to bad commands. There's no standardisation at all.
​
Example - This tutorial in the humble hawksbill documentation uses ign but the real command is now gz sim. https://docs.ros.org/en/humble/Tutorials/Advanced/Simulators/Gazebo/Gazebo.html
There's so many instances of broken links, bad commands, and it's incredibly hard for a newcomer to pick ROS 2 up. You have to learn about the WHOLE ecosystem and it's nuances, especially if you want to reference code on github. You have to learn ROS 1, ROS2, then you realise since everything is written on so ROS 1 or 2 AND in different distributions AND on different linux versions, you have no choice but to go via the dockers route (and it's not even a good route)
​
GZ sim... gz is the WORST OF ALL. When you try to simulate you have to learn about gazebo, gazebo plugins, then you realise, oh now there's gz sim and then plugins are different and there's no backwards compatibility. The gz sim website has multiple broken links, tutorials are not as comprehensive as gazebo classic, there's no incentive to migrate over.
This makes ROS seem like it's a bundle of shit ducktaped together. It's like the further ROS develops, the worse it gets.
The original idea to use XML to keep things CLEAN, SIMPLE AND READABLE has been discarded. And it feels like such a convoluted mess. This isn't like the iphone where you make a new version every year. They can do that because there's continuity, you dont really have to relearn how to use the iphone 14 if you've been using the iphone 5 for your whole life.
​
TL:DR Learning how to use ROS 2 to create my own custom drone is very frustrating and I'm throwing a tantrum.
I dont think you need to create more humble hawks, ironic irwins, jerkoff jerry. JUST STANDARDISE YOUR LATEST VERSION. MAKE THE ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONAL AND LOOK GOOD. MAKE IT EASY TO PICK UP

Hi,
I'm new to ai image generator and I'm still learning how to use the prompts.
I was trying to use stable diffusion to make web design, but my results are mediocre at best, so I wanted to watch some tutorials. However, all the tutorials are using midjourney and it seems "quite easy" to have a pretty nice result.
Unfortunally, midjourney is not free and I wanted to try an ai assistant to see if I'm able to do something good before paying.
I would like to know if a newbie like me can have some nice result with midjourney or are there other free ai assistant that I can use ?
Thank you