Bourbon red turkey hatching eggs

So, my idea for this Nen Ability, was inspired partially by the current HxH Succession Contest Arc, in which the 14 princes of the Kakin Empire fight to the death in a contest to decide the next heir to the Kakin throne. What inspired me was the Seed Urn, a Conjured Pot, which had existed for what would presumably be a long time, in order for the Kakin Empire to rise from a lower status to the empire it was currently. Just briefly remind people how the Seed Urn works, To prove one's inheritance to the urn, the host (in this case, one of the 14 Princes) focuses their desire for the crown and offers a drop of their blood to the urn, then puts their hand in its mouth-like opening. At this point, a purple smoke fumes from the urn with a tiny female sprite dressed in Kakin traditional clothing holding a small egg, which she inserts into the host's mouth. The princes will thus be granted a Guardian Spirit Beast when the egg hatches. This beast, although it can't be seen or controlled by the princes, defends the princes in different ways, feeding on their host's Nen to maintain themselves, and possess its own Nen abilities that may different from the user's Nen Type, but are based on the personality and nature of the user.
Since I'd imagine this Urn was created from a Nen Ability, probably from one of the first royals of the Kakin Empire, then I figured there could be similar abilities like it. What if there were post-mortem conjured Nen items that were akin to artifacts in the modern times of HxH? Artifacts that could have incredible powers as a result of them being Post-Mortem Nen creations?
So I came up with an idea for a similar Nen Ability, known as "Familial Imp Shrine". Just a warning, it's very detailed and could be confusing, but I explained as best I could. A Cultist Nen User from long ago had a specialization ability that allowed him to summon a shrine with incredible properties. He was backstabbed and killed by his own members of the religion he had founded, but even after his death, the Shrine remained, possible out of an unyielding desire for his beliefs to live on after his end. The Shrine was lost to time, but was eventually uncovered in a ruin by the Hunter Association, where one of my characters ultimately finds the Shrine within his possession.
After researching the Shrine via the Hunters' Tavern, he finds old writings from the Cultist's religion, and through what he learns, activates the conditions for the Familial Imp Shrine.
The Shrine, which resembles a mini Pagoda, is about 7 feet long and 7 feet wide, with a floor, and thin pillars connecting the floor and the Pagoda-style roof. Inside the shrine is a bronze statue, of a demon with four faces, in a meditation pose. The left hand of the statue holds a knife, and the right hand holds a cup. On the lap of the statue sits seven individually colored incense holders with incense in them, always lit. In his research of the shrine, my character found seven different prayers associated with the shrine, each seven lines long, and each corresponding with one of the seven deadly sins.
The way Familial Imp Shrine works, was if a person kneeled at the shrine, and prayed while perfectly reciting one of the seven prayers, then made an "offering" by cutting their finger on the blade, and letting blood drip from their finger into the cup, suddenly, the shrine would start glowing with Nen, and that Nen would enter the one who completed those prerequisites. Suddenly, one of the incense holders would vanish, and the person would then gain a Nen ability, starting with them being able to summon the incense holder that vanished when they made the offering.
Each Prayer mentioned is tied to a Sin, each Sin is tied to a specific incense, and each incense is tied to one of seven abilities the shrine will grant to seven different people who complete certain conditions at the shrine. If the person who does this isn't a Nen User at the start, they are baptized from when the Shrine's Nen floods into their body, and unlock the ability to use Nen, and through training, they will come to be able to use the ability associated with the incense prayer they read out, even though they didn't create the ability themselves. If the person is a Nen User, they will simply gain another Nen Ability, but won't immediately understand it.
Let me give an example: A guy named John goes to the shrine, and recites the prayer relating to the sin of Greed perfectly. He subsequently cuts his index finger on the knife of the demon statue, and drops blood from the injury into the cup of the demon statue. The shrine glows with Nen, which enters John, who is a Nen User, and one of the incense holders vanishes off of the shrine. In addition to his own Nen ability, John finds himself accidentally summoning this Incense Holder. But here's where the true power of the Incense Holder comes into play.
Each of the Incense Holders has an Incense stick in them, which is always lit. Upon being able to intentionally summon the Incense holders, smoke will rise from the stick, and summon a different Demon/Genie-like Nen Beast. These Nen Beasts are all a part of the same Family of Nen Beasts, called "Imps", hence the Shrine being called the "Familial Imp Shrine". Each Nen Beast summoned grants its own services to the summoner in the form of its own unique Nen ability, but each service has its own costs. Here's another example, and very brief summary of one of the powers:
John can now summon the Greed Incense Holder, and subsequently, the Imp Nen Beast associated with Greed, called "The Trader", who can conjure new items for John every day, but he can only buy them with physical objects that hold personal value to him, the costs varying on the item he's buying from the Nen Beast.
Some other examples of costs are from the Sloth Incense, which summons an Imp Nen beast who manages an artificially-created Nen Space that is similar to a hotel, but you have to pay the Imp, also known as the Hotelier, additional Aura to access a room. Each Nen Beast offers a service, with a cost.
You might be wondering however, what could stop a person from praying to the shrine multiple times, to allow that person to obtain multiple incenses? When a person prays and makes a blood sacrifice a second time after already doing so, the shrine kills them, and the incense ability they possessed is returned to the shrine, which mentions an important point. Anyone who dies with one of the incense abilities, that incense is returned to the shrine for someone else to obtain.
But lastly, there is one other result of praying to the shrine, and receiving an ability, that I have yet to mention. No matter who prays to the Shrine, if they have any other Nen Affinity besides Specialization, their affinity is forcibly changed to Specialization to fit the Ability they have inherited, which, although the Nen Beast may use conjuration or Transmutation, since the Beasts and the means of summoning them originate from a Specialization Ability, being the Familial Imp Shrine, the person's Nen type is forced to change to that. However, the person is then unable to create any new Nen Abilities using their new affinity towards Specialization. This is most catastrophic for established Nen Users, who might've been enhancers or emitters, as their established enhancement and emission techniques would be weaker and hard to maintain, thanks to the forced change in typing.
​
I will make separate posts from this one, detailing all of the individual incense Nen Beast abilities, but for now I hope people have an idea about how the incenses work.
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But overall, the Conditions and Limitations of the Familial Imp Shrine are as follows:
The user has to read the proper seven line prayer perfectly, in front of the shrine while praying
The user has to give a drop of blood to the shrine statue
The user cannot to receive a second incense ability from the shrine, for otherwise they will die in the attempt of doing so
The user will forcibly become a specialist, and will be unable to create any new Nen abilities in that Nen category afterwards, and their potential in using abilities in other categories will change as a result
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I apologize for the long read, or any grammar mistakes as this took a while to write, but I welcome anyone has any suggestions about reworking it, as I know this isn't a perfect ability, and is more of an idea. However, I just want everyone to know that I worked really hard on creating this ability. Let me know what needs to be fixed, or if there are flaws in it, as I really want to make it better, if it needs to be. Let me know if you like it otherwise!

Part 0: Rules and expectations
Getting Eggy I decided to try out the modern version of Trainer Charms purely so I could use the Pokemon Smile icons. They’re so adorable! Rided/Cyndaquil is one of my favorite Starters, but since they don’t have a second typing they don’t stand out much.
After getting Pokeballs from HIBI/Ethan it was time to start the run! Both New Bark and Cherrygrove have encounters I can unlock with Surf or either Rod, so with that in mind I earn my first three tokens from Rt. 29, 30, and 31. Luckily, both Rt. 46 and Dark Cave had Geodude, getting me Sicib and Bicis.
For some reason my Emulator doesn’t show the circle of light around my character, so I couldn’t find the free Drug/Potion in Bicis’ home. But hey, Bicis was a girl, so maybe she’ll help with Whitney like I hoped? Neither of them had a nature that lowered their Att or Def, so I was pleased. However, when I checked their IVs I noticed one had 8 in Att and the other had... 31!? I didn’t expect the second coming of Kokum to come so soon, whoa! Her Def IV is way lower than Sicib’s, though, so it’s kind of a trade-off.
I can get two Pokemon in GX (Violet) City, though not from the water. The first is from the Bellsprout for Onix trade that will cost me $25,200 (But the Nature is... really bad), and the second comes from giving Primo a specific code that is based on your Trainer ID. After consulting Pokewiki’s Secret Code Generator I... quickly realized that the text I need to input to get my wanted Slugma egg (the only one I can get before Kanto) was translated. Miraculously, the Viet HG save file worked with the normal Japanese HG ROM, so I just played both at once and used the equivalent of Alphabet Mode to help me figure out where ボーイ +うた and やだ + かんそうはだ were. ...Though one of the words starts with Hiragana and the ‘Syllabary Mode’ uses Katakana, so I had to pull out my old Hiragana+Katakana book to figure out the Katakana equivalent.
In the end, the translation was Boy + Sing & Do Not Want + Crispy. Funnily enough, before I had pulled out the book and untranslated ROM I tried to figure it out on my own by using the original Viet Crystal method of translating the Japanese text Pokewiki gave me into Chinese, then English via Google Translate and the fourth was translated to be Skin Care. I had guessed Crispy because I thought of crispy chicken skin earlier, so I’m glad I had guessed one of them correctly the first time!
I still had to check if I managed to get the Slugma egg, though... and Pkhex said it was a Slugma, YES! Well actually, when it hatched I realized the game wasn’t suddenly calling A SHI/Primo Mageh when he handed over the egg, it was calling it a Mageh/Slugma egg. So yeah, that’s her name. I had one more encounter available before Elder Li, though. The Sprout Tower he’s in just holds a fourth token, so I headed south to Rt. 32 to catch Mali/Mareep before beating up some monks.
VS Elder Li At first I was just going to solo him with an Ember-equipped Rided, but at the end of the tower both Geodude were at lv. 7 from some switch grinding, so the team was them and the lv. 10 Rided. They won’t go out against his Bellsprout, but Hoothoot’s Hypnosis could make solo-ing annoying.
Rided’s Ember easily OHKO’d the first Bellsprout, but Elder Li threw out Hoothoot next. Rided was quickly put to sleep and she didn’t wake up after getting a Peck to the face, so I swapped to Bicis. She sadly got hit by a Growl, but two Tackles barely brought the bird to yellow HP while she dodged Hypnosis. Annoyed by how little she was doing, I swapped to Sicib... only for him to be put to sleep, augh!
So I swapped back to Bicis, who got hit with a Peck and another Growl before she could Tackle again. Two more Tackles barely brought Hoothoot to red HP before Hypnosis finally landed on her. Instead of making her power through the sleep, I decided to swap back to Rided to get ready for the second bellsprout, and... She woke up immediately, nice! Two more Embers destroyed the Hoothoot and second Bellsprout.
Yup, I’m glad I didn’t go through my usual ‘grind to lv. 10’ session at the beginning, because having more bodies to put to sleep was pretty dang helpful! Nobody lost more than 10HP thanks to that, too.
VS HEYADUO/Falkner After beating his minions everyone but Rided was okay to be in the lowest level slot (8), so I went to the grass to get Sicib to the highest level slot (13) and learn Rock Throw. ...Wait, what!? Yeah, It was gonna be Bicis, but I got confused and realized too late, ugh. Well, let’s hope his Rock Throw isn’t too weak.
Pidgey starts off with blinding Sicib with Sand, but Rock Throw lands regardless and takes it out. Pidgeotto doesn’t have Sand Attack, so he just used a weak Gust before getting knocked to low yellow thanks to another Rock Throw. One more weak Gust later and Sicib landed the killing blow/rock.
Well, Rock Throw is still Super Effective and gets STAB. Sand Attack was kind of worrying, but I’m glad all three Rock Throws landed regardless.

Team:

• Sicib the Geodude♂ (14) - Sassy, Sturdy [Tackle / Rock Throw / Defense Curl / Mud Sport]
  
• Bicis the Geodude♀ (8) - Impish, Sturdy [Tackle / Defense Curl / Mud Sport / Rock Polish]
  
• Mageh the Slugma♀ (8) - Hardy, Flame Body [Smog / Ember / Yawn / ---]
  
• Mali the Mareep♂ (8) - Quirky, Static [Tackle / Growl / --- / ---]
  

• Rided the Cyndaquil♀ (11) - Brave, Blaze [Tackle / Ember / SmokeScreen / Leer]

Box: 1^ / Deaths: 0

What I especially love about the yiga, Is that they are different antagonists of ganon with different intentions, And they seem to be a comic relief, They are pretty fun characters, And I want to see more of antagonists like them, Especially with other species, Basically what I had in mind is that their needs to be more yiga clan like clans for species like zoras, rito, gerudo, and goron korok too And they all have their dumb comic relief intentions and so on.
Ritos: Name: White Crescent
Mostly chickens, Roosters, And doves, They here beak masks, And have like sky diving suits on them, They also wear red goggles that allow them to see in the night, Their leader is rucko, Who seems to be a giant chicken, Who has an obsession with eggs, Not in a way of wanting to eat them, But protecting them, He thinks the rito village has the eggs held hostage and sold at a "black market" Not to forget how jealous of he is, of revali and tulin. because of their skills.
The white crescent is usually spotted flying in formations, The doves mostly fly and land shots through arrows, The chickens can land on the ground and use their wing daggers, And the roosters wield a giant spear they throw around, Rucko wields a Gatling bow, And his also a coward. The white crescent mostly steals supplies from the rito village, Like rice, And especially eggs, And their goal is get rid of that annoying tiny bird known as tulin and egg the entirety of hyrule, How? Even they don't know. They get easily distracted by eggs, Not to mention Rucko's helper dgidgi the rooster who seems to be a bigger coward than him, But rucko sees him as a helpful assistant. Finally their base would a giant flying blimp with automatic cannon turrets on them.
Zora: Deep
A group of deep sea creatures having glowing yellowish green eyes, And being a constant threat and annoyance to the zora, Their colors mostly range from darker colors, Some of them wear swimming armor similar to a scuba, The normal variants are angler fish while the buffer variants are octopus, Their leader is Brobu, A giant slimy fish, Who has his jelousy over king dorephan (And now sidon) wanting to take over the zora domain, And drown hyrule, He also has a cute axolotl prince who he takes care of, And the axolotl just so happens to be a huge fan of link.
They come out of the water usually, And you can spot them through the glow in the water, the normal variants wield a trident, While the bigger variants wield a great sword, Brobu seems like he can control sludge and water, But he has his greatest sneaky stealthy body guard on his side, Sikon, A black, Quick, blind, squid who can sense link anywhere, Wielding a special spear that allows him to control water, Also his pretty cocky too, And he enjoys food like alot, Gourmet meals can distract him too much, Sense he can smell them, Their location is located through a deep sea cave domain.
Gorons: BoroCorp
A rival of yunobo corp, Borocorp is a group of evil gorons, Who steal from other gorons in the mine, Even attacking their base of operations to take over, These gorons seem to be darker and grayer, And they would attack anyone who try to interfere in their mines and base of operation, Their also very dumb, I mean it, For some reason they enjoy eating gems more than normal rocks unlike the other gorons, Even amber, Which seems to be pretty sweet for them, Their leader is boroboro, A giant goron, Who is known for having a bouncy roll, Allowing him to bounce against walls, His ability is too powerful to the point he flies off from the place on accident, He even knows his too weak for his own power, As much as he seems serious, His also old, And has a childish rivarly with the goron elder and yunobo, His goal is to be rich, And get rid of yunobo corp becoming number one source of gems for hyrule, He also sleeps alot too. The normal black gorons would have a fire trial roll, While the bigger gorons would use their claymore and shield. their base of location is under a volcano.
Gerudo: Warriors of ganon
A group of rebellious gerudos who still have their faith and trust in ganon, Still following ganon to this day, They are evil gerudos wearing strong metal armor with swords, shields, and spear, And some who appear to be stealthy assassins, They can be seen wandering around in the deserts, With higher chances in desert storms, Their location seems to be located below in the middle of the gerudo desert, Their lead by a devout follower of ganon, Rina, A gerudo warrior who seems to have practice in her assassin skill, And she also loves sand seal much like riju, Despite rina hating riju's guts, She owns several land seals who she considers her pets with names too, Shes childish, And not to forget their sort of introverted especially to voes, Rina is pretty quick, Wielding her two swords, But she does mess up alot, She wants to take over gerudo town and dethrone riju, And help in bringing back ganon.
Yeah those are my ideas or take on other evil clans aside from the yiga, Keeping them as also comic reliefs

Sorry, this is so long, but it is necessary. Please read through.
Now when I make meatloaf I do not bake it, I fry it. Yes, I am that southern.
Now you can either make your own blends or buy the store bought seasoning, depending on how much you are going to make. I would buy 2 story brands of Meatloaf seasoning. One for the meat and a bit of the other for the gravy. If you make the patties and want to freeze them, make the patties, and cut wax paper into squares and place between the patties, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag and freeze.
Now, first some seasoning blends.
Meatloaf seasoning.
Use the desired measurements that you want. Store what is leftover. Either 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon.
Beef
2 black pepper
1/4 garlic powder
2 onion powder
3 parsley
2 rosemary
1 savory
1 thyme
ground turkey/chicken
1 ginger
2 parsley flakes
1 marjoram
1 oregano
1 rosemary
1/3 sage
1 thyme
1/3 white pepper
use 1 teaspoon of seasoning blend per 1 pound of meat.
Now if you want the old fashion versions, here are 2 recipes, both are very good. Again, I do not bake it I make patties and fry them.
Meat Mixture:
2 lb of Ground Meat (I used beef, but you can use turkey)/ or a blend of the two .
2 Eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 c Milk
1 c Bread crumbs
2 Tbsp Dried Minced Onion (or 1 onion, finely chopped)
1 Tbsp Dried Italian Seasoning
2 Tbsp Shredded Horseradish* optional
1 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Ground Pepper
In a mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients for the meat mixture listed above.
With your hands, gently combine all the ingredients until they are mixed together.
Place the meat mixture on a foil-lined baking sheet and form into patties.
Again you can make these into patties and fry them.
STOVE TOP MEATLOAF
INGREDIENTS
1 package Stove Top stuffing any flavor
1 cup hot water
2 packets brown gravy mix divided use
1.5 pounds ground beef
1 cup cold water
2 large eggs beaten
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium-sized bowl add stuffing mix and 1 cup of hot water and let sit 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix 1 package of brown gravy mix with cold water. Combine ground beef, mixed gravy, and egg.
After the stuffing has sat for 5 minutes and cooled, incorporate the stuffing mix into the ground beef mixture.
Grease a bundt pan with non-stick spray and then press the ground beef mixture into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until no longer pink inside
Once baked, rest for 5 minutes while preparing the second package of gravy and then invert onto a plate.
Serve with mashed potatoes and brown gravy in the center of the meatloaf.

(This ended up being longer than I anticipated, but when I went back to find quotes there was just...so much more than I remembered there being. And I still ended up cutting out a lot.)
A while ago, I read Trailer Trash by Marie Sexton and I loved it. It’s not a perfect book (I don’t want or need to read about homophobic violence for a story to feel “real” so it’s something I try to avoid), but it was perfect for me at the time I read it. I decided to search for other books by the author, and One Man’s Trash immediately stood out to me. Trailer Trash, One Man’s Trash, it seemed like a good omen. And I really liked it! It was a lot more flawed, however. I found the characters and plot a little frustrating at times, but that’s normal with a more grown up kind of story. But I had some reservations, and what really pinged my “this might be some bullshit” radar was this particular section:

“But it’s just like being part of the LGBT ‘community.’” He made quotation marks with his fingers around the word. “They give a lot of lip service to ‘diversity’ and open-mindedness—and most of them follow through—but there’s always this little, loudmouthed subset telling you how to behave and what to say. It starts out ‘all for one, and one for all,’ but by the end, somebody’s drawing lines in the sand, telling you to choose a side. You can’t be gay or bi or trans if you don’t vote a certain way, act a certain way, follow some ridiculous set of rules. They all want you to be a round little peg in a round fucking hole. They want you to pick a box and a label so they know just where to put you, rather than accepting that we’re all separate, unique people, and that our stories are all valid, no matter whether we fit in the box or not.” He stopped, feeling himself headed into one of the rants that only Phil and Gray or Charlie would have understood. The confusion on Taylor’s face was the response he was accustomed to. He took one more stab at it. “There’s always that pissed-off minority who think their ‘rules’ outweigh your right to live your life.”

I initially brushed it aside. I mean, I’ve known a few people who like to rant about this topic who also have a lot more extreme opinions to go along with it, so it reminded me of those people and it didn’t endear me to the character, but I don’t need to like a character to like the story. As long as it feels real and not like a mouthpiece for the author, you know? But that’s what I found troubling about this kind of sermonizing. I wondered if the author was about to get ahead of herself and make a habit of yanking me out of the story to deliver these rants. Fortunately, it wasn’t an issue. I ended up giving the book a strong 3.5 stars, and I even went back and skim-read it a second time. I found myself intrigued by the rest of the friend group (the aforementioned Phil, Gray, and Charlie) so I decided to read their stories too.
Book 2 in the series, Terms of Service, was somewhat like the first. Good points, bad points, a little less polished than I’d like, but intriguing enough to keep me turning the page. For a while at least. Because – you guessed it – this time we get double the amount of ranting in the form of a crotchety senior citizen who’s taking his turn serving as the author’s mouthpiece. He really badly wants to tell us how people need to take responsibility for their medical bills, and all about the problem with medicine today. He’s a nonagenarian with dementia, but thankfully he’s sharp enough at this point in time to really give us a sermon. One of the characters offers a token protest, but that’s just so the author can have an opportunity to rant some more.

“I’m not sure it’s that simple,” he said to Pops.
“Bah!” Pops gave another wave as if to send him on his way. “Of course it is. You get a doctor’s office on every corner instead of a Starbucks, suddenly they’d have to compete for our business. ‘Buy a pap smear, get a mammogram for free!’ That kind of thing. Suddenly, accepting a plate of cookies or a dozen fresh eggs as payment for a blood pressure check doesn’t seem so silly. But nobody talks about lowering the cost of procedures. All they talk about is premiums. Switching the burden of payment from the individual to the government

It’s paragraphs of this stuff, but you get the gist. I thought it was blessedly over, but nope, on the way home from their visit, his grandson (one of the MCs) has a fun childhood story for his love interest (would not blame you for skipping this part, but I found the tone so weird that I had to share the bulk of it):

“And then one day, Pops looks at my textbook and realizes I’m reading about the Cuban Missile Crisis. He takes the paper I’m writing on JFK, and he starts reading it, and he’s just shaking his head, saying, ‘no, no, no’”. Phil laughed. “I couldn’t believe it, because I knew the material. I’d read it twice! I knew I had everything right, and I told him so.
“So then he starts telling all the stuff that isn’t the text book. Like how JFK was under the care of the original Doctor Feelgood, who’d been in the White House that evening, giving Kennedy one of his famous ‘cocktails.’ Then they woke Kennedy in the middle of the night and hauled his ass into this emergency meeting about Russia putting nukes in Cuba. Pops had a book that contained a transcript of that meeting, and reading it, you can tell Kennedy’s so fucking high, he has no real idea what’s going on. At one point, he says something like, ‘Why would Russia do that? That’d be like us putting nukes in Turkey.’ And there’s a pause, and then one of the other people in the room says, ‘We did, sir.’”
They stopped at a red light, and it seemed to make Phil’s stream of words stop too, although this time, he was smiling. “It’s weird, because I’ve looked for that transcript more recently, and it doesn’t come up in a Google search. I mean, maybe twenty pages deep or something, but it’s buried. The only thing you’ll find is a transcript from the next morning, when he’s more with it.” He shook his head as the light turned green. “Anyway. Next thing I know, Pops is telling me all about JFK’s famous Camp David parties, just him, his political allies, Dr. Feelgood, and a few high-priced call girls. Pops talked for hours about how the lone gunman theory doesn’t make sense, how the Warren Report’s nothing but bullshit. At the time, it floored me. It was like this revelation, that history could be more interesting than just memorizing names and dates. That maybe there was stuff they didn’t want us to know.”

So he writes a report all about his grandpa's conspiracy theories and he gets an F. His mean overbearing father, who apparently is the villain of the story, made him write the report again. I mean, cool. It’s a story from his childhood, not much to see here. But the author doesn’t leave it alone. She really wants to hammer home her message:

“So, he’s kind of a conspiracy theorist?”
Phil practically rolled his eyes. “Have you ever considered how often we use that phrase to dismiss people simply because they disagree with us? I mean, Pops isn’t a moron. He knows the Earth is round. He doesn’t think the moon landing’s a hoax or anything. He reads constantly. He just has a few key things he can’t let go—”
“Like JFK?”
Phil nodded. “Like JFK. But really, he’s pretty reasonable. Now, wait until you meet Gray’s father. He’s a trip. He has two Ph.Ds. Probably the smartest, most intimidating guy I’ve ever met. And yet, he gets brushed off as a ‘conspiracy theorist’ because he questions the status quo.” He laughed. “I dare you to say those two words to his face.”

So deep.
I ended up DNF’ing this one, mostly because it was boring and I didn’t vibe with the couple, but I decided to try book 3 because that particular character had intrigued me the most so far.
I didn’t read the reviews beforehand. Why oh why didn’t I read the reviews beforehand? Because what the fuck was that?
Gray is a cop. Ex-military. And he has a lot of opinions about ~~social justice warriors~~. His love interest, Avery, is a younger man who spends a lot of time on Twitter and Tumblr and is every stereotype stuffed into one convenient straw man. Avery is a masochist and Gray is a sadist, so he's literally just there to get whipped and flogged while Gray rants about the spooky mainstream media. He even takes away Gray’s phone, and he suffers withdrawal like a drug addict, then magically finds himself happier. I mean, sure, okay. We could all probably do with less scrolling. But then he gets his phone back and suddenly turns into a mean and vicious harpy who’s snapping at everyone. Because he’s addicted to outrage, you see. And who doesn’t love an anvil falling from the sky?
If you want to get a feel for Gray, here are some words of wisdom from our Ben Shapiro-wannabe main character:

But the give-and-take, fact-based process of discussion and debate were lost on Avery. When Gray pointed out Avery’s argument resorted to the straw man fallacy, Avery only blinked at him in confusion. When Gray countered one of Avery’s points, Avery had no arguments. He had no logic. As soon as he was challenged, he resorted to name-calling. If Gray disagreed, he was automatically stupid or racist or mansplaining. Never mind that Avery couldn’t ever explain what about Gray’s point was wrong, or what part of it supposedly made him a racist.

I lost it at "He had no logic" fucking hell 😂 I was approaching cringe overload, but I obviously hate myself, because I just couldn’t look away from this gruesome wreck.

“You think you know everything that matters, and anybody who disagrees with you is ignorant or uneducated or a ‘fascist.’ But I’ve seen your tweets and your Tumblr posts and the ridiculous fucking memes you love so much. I’ve seen what you think qualifies as a rational argument, and I have to tell you, it’s neither rational, nor an argument. It’s nothing but self-righteous hot air.”

Hello, Marie? I didn’t realize this was a 3-way call. Kinda thought it was just gonna be me and the characters. It’s just, you’re butting in an awful lot. Can you hang up, please?
Apparently the answer is no, because she’s not done yet. Our main character conveniently meets a black woman who tells him she was shunned by her friends and family because she refused to vote for Hillary.

My husband and I, we talked about it, and we decided we were done voting for the lesser of two evils. My husband said that’s what got us into this mess, and he wasn’t doing it anymore. So we agreed to vote third party. And ever since then, my sister’s refused to speak to me except to attack me. Before that, my husband and I babysat their kids. We took them to Water World or the amusement park. But now she’s decided we’re both white supremacists in disguise. When that article came out online about how it’s okay to punch a Nazi, she sent it to me. She said, ‘Just so you know what to expect if you show up at Christmas.’”
Avery didn’t know what to say. It was absurd. Emily was one of the nicest people he’d ever met. How could anybody call her a Nazi?

FUCKING LOL. Are you kidding me right now? This author bypassed the sock puppet “as a black man” twitter account and just decided to write it into her book. Amazing. Why is this going on for chapter after chapter after chapter? Start a blog or something, I don’t caaaaare.

Robert spoke next, his voice so quiet, Avery barely heard him over the noise of the bar. “Try being a gay Republican.”

Ah, gay Republican, I was wondering if you’d make an appearance. I was expecting a lesbian in a wheelchair who’s all prepared to deliver her treatise on “cancel culture” but I guess you’ll do. So we have a a black woman and a gay man, I guess we're missing a Mexican Trump supporter. No worries, Gray's mother is here to save the day.

“You really voted for Trump?” he asked.
“I didn’t vote for him in the primaries,” she said without embarrassment. “I was horrified when he won. I thought about voting third party, but in the end, I sure didn’t want Hillary to win. So yeah, I voted for him.”
“But how could you?” Avery asked. “You’re a woman! Plus, you’re Latina.”
“I’m third-generation Mexican American. And yes, I’m female. You see those two things and think you know everything you need to know about me? But I suppose you think you’re not racist or sexist.”
It was said with a lightness that told him it more a jest than an accusation, but nevertheless, Avery’s cheeks began to burn.
“Go ahead,” Gray said. “Attack her. Call her a racist or a Nazi or a white supremacist.”
“Gray, stop!” Avery whispered, his cheeks burning hotter.

He also has a climate change-denier for a father, but this is getting long enough.
I just want to know what the author was thinking. Where was the common sense? Where was the self-awareness? Have your beliefs, that's your business, but keep it your business. Why are you shoe-horning them into your romance and ambushing your readers with your shitty “both sides are equally good and bad, really” manifesto, with a cast of literally unbelievable token characters, like that's a completely normal thing to do? That has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen someone do while simultaneously patting themselves on the back. And if her beef is with people who are chronically online, may I just point out that she's sitting at almost 56 THOUSAND tweets right now? So perhaps the call is coming from inside the house, idk.
Anyway, that was my rollercoaster journey with this particular author (is it still a rollercoaster when the lows vastly outnumber highs?) Maybe book 4 is magically tolerable, but I guess I'll never know 🤷🏽‍♀️

In the absence of a Highlight which cannot be done at the moment, we are providing a Transcript of Chantal's recent content.
Note the transcript is autogenerated and may have some typos or other grammar challenges, on top of the speech patterns of Chantal in general.

[Intro Hello Foodie Beauties Music]
hey guys. hey guys, hey hey! look what I have...I know I have henna [laughs] yes!
um, so I will show you guys in, uh, maybe I'll show you ~ yeah, I'll show you at the end of the video, um, the process. like, a bit of the process for that. I'll be getting it done so and a little bit of...a yeah, a little bit mini Vlog of me going to get it done. so check the end of the video or watch this whole video if you want... and uh, yeah, but this is the henna and uh it's kind of, um, like, little dry. bits will fall off but the tattoo part like the stain will remain underneath. so, yeah, don't like me. so, I don't have my ring on right now...
so, I have some of my favorite food here. I have some tabula tomb which is garlic sauce. taboola is parsley salad and it has like bulgur, Tomatoes, lemon juice, parsley... I think onion... so, I have also some grilled... some grilled chicken and some... a little bit of fries and some pita bread ~fresh pita~ oh yeah! it's really fresh! yum! and uh, Diet Pepsi... so, let's dig in! I'm so hungry ~ like you don't even know!
I'm back to trying the intermittent fasting. well, I did today... anyway, I don't always succeed.. you know, I see people say "you're a liar"... "I thought you were doing one meal a day"... okay... so what happened is, I tried the one meal a day and I obviously fell off. like, I couldn't do it... so I went back to eating whatever...you know? but um I'm gonna take some tabbouleh and some hummus....
Beauty bites and Bismillah
Julia is in the room with Salah on the bed. this is half a chicken, pickle so this will last about a week I've always wanted to try it
[Music] sorry
all right we just got home and I didn't eat... what is this grilled pepper? looks hot. I have an idea...tomato...tabouli
what is your guys's favorite Middle Eastern food? [Music]
okay
ah man, I was hungry can you tell?
oh, hi [Laughter] how are you... sorry excuse me
I'm on the fence about intermittent fasting with people you know he used to have the issues with food because by the time I eat there's like bread under the...I'm seriously so hungry that I just want to eat all night. that's why I think like I should eat smaller meals throughout the day... but...there are so many health benefits about um, fasting. I mean you can do any search. so, that's why I like I admire it but...it's so hard
it was so hard to like do like. you know, even with Ramadan I didn't really lose weight because, like, I would eat all night you know so...anyway ...I'm trying to figure it out, you know? it's tough. it's tough for anyone.
um
so the henna took like the actual applying it. didn't take too long it was the drawing that took long. so I think it's really nice like I think... it's really really cool, hahaha. that's just me. well no, a lot of people here find that cool.
um
I love peppers it's not really spicy, that pepper. I love hummus. So yeah, I mean not much to talk about I guess. I feel like eating something relatively healthy, you know what I mean?
I guess, I mean, like, not Burgers and Fries. I mean that's the thing -it depends on your version of what healthy is like. some people only eat raw meat. my digestive system, would like, fail instantly...raw meat only...hey to each their own. like raw carnivore diet, they'll eat like raw meat, but like, a raw egg in the middle.
[Note: This raw meat diet comment indicates Chantal is 'researching' diets on YouTube again, as she's done in the Bibi era]
oh, sorry...I don't even like eating my Burgers medium rare... like I can't...well done for me, thank you. I don't know... no fiber at all and then people some people think fiber is BS. some people think fiber is the most healthiest thing...depends who you ask, you know what I mean?
excuse me
so I've made health and nutrition it's...just..but there are some things I think, universally are accepted like processed foods are bad. I'm calling it, like, that kind of thing [laughs] there's some people who eat only fruit... remember I was gonna do that after eating a whole bunch of like junk for like so long?
[Note: Yes, Chantal we remember the various '100% full vegan', and raw fruit diets you did like Raw Kristina that lasted a day due to not knowing that a case of mangos won't ripen overnight and Bibi having to throw a case of mangos out, even though mangos are mmm your favorite, yum!]
sometimes you just crave just eating, like, juicy ripe hydrating fruit especially if you...salty, fatty stuff...you know? so that's where it came from
hmm
so like, if you guys know, maybe some of you don't...but there's like a ton of reaction channels who react to me...ly I don't know what they're pissed off about this time...oh I think that that the fact that I got a cat. I think it's the fact that I don't know if they put stuff about me - I, I really don't care. So they're all mad - I think that, I got a cat, I'm like that's it...clutching my pearls... I'm not gonna watch her for three days and we're gonna donate to a charity and then after the three days... what?! you're gonna go back to reaction because you realize no one gives a crap about you unless you're reacting to me
like, think that they can, like, intimidate people to do something in their life like, that actual power, like, they did that with amberlynn too like, um there's people the community this particular - Community is so dumb. like, because, like, it's just horrible like, one time Amber Lynn amberlynn Reed was, like, she struggles with her weight. it's not rocket science to know that it's hard to lose weight,
okay, so one day she decided to eat a shrimp ring on video. so, how did people react to that very maturely. they decided to set up live streams and count her subscribers going down like counting how many subscribers she lost
like, let's all give her a blackout... let's all black her out. let's all unsubscribe and teach her a lesson! their words not mine and so because she ate shrimp because a fat woman ate shrimp if people like that unsubscribe for me...good. I don't... I would rather not have people like that in my community, honestly.
like, I'm trying to bully and intimidate someone into not eating shrimp I guess. I don't know. I never got the point... but it's so ridiculous
like, if you're so fed up with her choices and decisions with what she puts in her body then just simply just unsubscribe and don't watch. why make a huge spectacle of it?
like, you think that unsubscribing is going to cure her eating disorder or her issues with food? I mean... anyways... ignorant people who don't know how it works, basically
so um so, I guess they're trying that crap with me but it ain't gonna fly because I don't care........you know, just letting you know... but...I will say one thing...I find being called a cat killer from the community of...somebody...who actually did kill her dog, "Maggie" is pretty funny. you were gonna put your cat down for...having curable illnesses but you put your dog down for having anxiety so what curable illnesses?! I have like 21 years of age.... like, really!
[Note: Chantal decided to go super low here. Like super hot dog is juicy on this; definitely jabby jabby to provoke. This is petty served with a side of snark sauce. Oof.]
okay anyway do what you want....keep the block out going longer... I enjoy it
anyways you know I used to rage a lot because I just couldn't get over like the hypocrisy and this certain Community. but now, I saw I... I really did see, like, a quote where it's, like, people are just "oh, you can't control what people are gonna say they're always going to say something stupid" . so, yeah,,live your life man. that's your lesson of the day
I could live off of tabouli hummus and bread...and yes I promise that's the last time I'm talking about this crap with anything...with anything related to this juvenile....this juvenile community. honestly!?z?, which I wish that whole Community would just die out... but
[Note: Chantal is struggling for content that isn't boring and doesn't throw her off the regime Salah has her on. FFG has done other content on other reality shows and Youtubers and has a good following, better views, and more people in the live chats. It can be debated that Chantal needs FFG for her need to have a perpetual percieved enemy more than FFG needs Chantal for content.]
um who knows
oh my gosh! this hummus is really good! I think this will be my last hummus in tabouli sandwich. probably not the most interesting mukbang but I'll probably just do mukbangs like this
like, where I'm just it's just whatever....I'm eating today, pretty much, you know?
how do you guys like to unwind after a long day? we've been doing cuddling in bed with the cat and watching horror movies.
MMmm that was good. from now on the only thing I will... my channel will give attention to is my beezers, followers, um, living my life ...that kind of thing. by the way you can get - excuse me - you can get red henna as well
I actually I find the combination of foods that make me the most satisfied the longest is a bit of everything, like, some kind of starch or bread. protein. beans, like, these kind of proteins keep me so full because they have a lot of fiber and protein meat and greens. very filling meal. so, I'll probably have my Nest Cafe and then it'll be bedtime ~ oh my gosh ~ I can't wait to go to bed. I'm not kidding!you know I'm not kidding. I don't have to convince you when it comes to sleeping. I have no trouble anymore. I used to, like, went through a....period where like sleep was bad but I wasn't like properly medicated. so, now that I'm on my medication and...um I think it will be even better when I start back at the gym but ~oh my gosh~ we just been really busy lately.
so but I think once we get back to the gym, he and I both want to finish out our membership. I think I have like a month and a half left of my membership. so even just to feel better, you know? I...always feel better... like, I feel, like, when I accomplish something too like my body feels good for putting it through...through that so your body releases those endorphins... and then, you know, exercise just always makes you feel good so... now I'm tired. I still have a lot to do before I get to sleep.
anyway...thanks guys for watching and listening to me and I will, um, talk to you later ~~~bye guys
[Music]
hey guys, so I'm just in the car here waiting for Salah to get in here and then we're gonna go get my henna done. first, I'm having henna done. um, I'm not sure what design I'm gonna get but let's see... when I get there and um, yeah, henna is actually, um, something that's very acceptable in Islam and, um, there's a Hadith that says that, you know,....women, um, distinguish their hands, their femininity, um, with a the henna on their hands... so, um, yeah, it's acceptable in Islam and I'm gonna go get a nice design and I'll show you guys when I'm done.
yeah, oh one thing I love about our new car... is the sunroof goes all the way the length of the entire vehicle I think that's pretty cool! anyways... all right, so I'll see you guys soon
[Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]

[premise] I just finished PLA for the first time, I knew about most of the story and read/watched theories about it on the internet as for all other Pokémon mainline games until SV. I have seen many streams about SV and am aware about the story, fan theories and I am excited to play it myself soon. [the suspect] While playing PLA you encounter a lot of people coming from different regions. The Galaxy Team is mostly composed of foreigners, some members give explicit hints to their origins (Laventon with Galar) some others are more cryptic. As the official PLA site said “And it seems that there are other people in this game who might also be ancestors to familiar faces you may know.” The one that captured my attention is Tao Hua. He is the captain of the supply corp and I think there still is more to be discovered about him. Maybe even a link to the upcoming DLC and/or future stories that will unfold in the next games [Galaxy Team Corps] First off, the supply corp symbol. Every Galaxy Team corp uses a different colour and geometric symbol as their mark: Medical uses a circle and pink colour, Agriculture corp has a triangle and light brown, the Survey corp has a Rhomb with light blue, these corps (for me) will lead to modern Sinnoh’s infrastructures, Pokémon Centers, Gyms and Team Galactic. The other three corps’ colours appears (for me) to be hints for SV and DLC with: Construction having a violet coloration, Security being red and lastly the Supply corp… what symbol has our guy Tao Hua chosen? And what colour? An hexagon and green. Until the unveiling of the upcoming DLC these elements appeared as just arbitrary. However, with all the hexagon theme in SV and the highly presence of green in the Kitakami area, GF may be hinting to a larger story which connect the past and the future of in-game history. At some point in history the captains of these three corps have left His to establish themselves in other regions. [Option 1] When you first clear the space-time distortion there is a festival in Hisui, the same thing seems to be held in Kitakami in the SV-DLC. This might be a subtle easter egg to the fact that Tao Hua is originally from Kitakami, as he is the supplier of the village he also provided for the festival organisation. The green and the hexagon might be just reminiscence of his native area and we could encounter one of his descendants in the DLC. That could just be a cool hint, but there is more to consider in my opinion. [Option 2] Tao Hua and the Treasures of Ruin. At one point, he might have decided to go to Paldea in search of a greater fortune and a less upsetting land. Tao Hua is pretty upset during all of the conversations you have with him in PLA. He might really have become a villain at some point after PLA. Once arrived in Paldea he might have gained the King’s trust thanks to his reputation as a supplier in Hisui. Also, he might still have some origin ore or similar materials to convinced the King of his importance and help him infuse the treasures with malicious energy. An important hint to Tao Hua’s connection with Paldea and its legendary quartet is in his name. As we know GF rarely gives arbitrary name and there is always deeper meaning so when I first saw the quartet names being all Chinese-derived ones (and two-words ones, something rare for Pokémon) I thought immediately to the supply corp captain. [Bonus] Tao Hua is a Chinese word for Peach blossom and as we know plants and flowers are commonly used for the professors’ names. A Chinese-themed region might have Tao Hua’s descendant return as a professor, maybe in the next gen? [Legends unfolding] In addition, the Tao trio is the name used for the main legendary trio from Unova. Yet another reference to Chinese culture. Maybe is just silly to associate Tao Hua and Tao trio but if GF continues the Legends games along the remakes the next iteration would include Unova. In a Legends Kyurem game we might experience the creation of the trio during the conflict hinted in gen 5 games. Maybe we would encounter a frenzied original dragon controlled by foreigners trying to conquer Unova (maybe Tao Hua and the paldean king). This goes too far maybe but why not… [Conclusion] So in conclusion, I have never seen theories about Tao Hua and all the hints I gathered. Maybe because it’s all too stretched out but GF loves to add easter eggs and hints to future projects. The SV, DLC and the new anime seem all to lead to a new great history that is unfolding in the Pokémon world. What are your thoughts and do you think there might be some truth in all of this?

What's up wc5e! Back with more of my 5e Classic-ish+ campaign, this one is a one on one session with my Rogue player, Orfiz. As always, I'm stoked to share this with you all and love any feedback or questions.
Just like with Val's one on one for the Mistmantle questline, I wanted to really give Orfiz a good dedicated session that he could bring some cool moments back to the group with. This served as the perfect opportunity to paint a better picture of the political state of the kingdom without boring the other new players stiff or having them risk getting overloaded with exposition.
No pictures this time, this session was strictly a notebook, a dice tray, and some bourbon.

The Tl;Dr:

• Party questions NPCs in stockades entrance, finds that their bounty was a former stone mason that had turned to the Defias.
• Rogue connects with SI:7 and investigates Lady Prestor and Baros Alexston to get more info on the stonemasons' exile.
• Party is then directed to Westfall to collect a report from a deep undercover agent working to identify and take out Defias leadership.

The setup:

This was mostly a catch-up session for Orfiz since he couldn't make the stockades session itself. We ended up taking a few hours for some heavy RP, which was great because Orfiz's player generally doesn't lean that way during a normal session. It allowed for some awesome character moments and plot that could come organically from a player to the rest of the party next session. We got to dive more into Alterac being a suspicious faction and threat, and introduce Prestor in a low stakes way.
This isn't really mechanic heavy except for just some perception checks, lockpicking, and really leaning on the player to decide what threads he was going to follow and how. He got to play Stormwind P.I. and it was awesome.

The session:

The party emerges from the stocks and has a chance to question the NPCs in the foyer. The girl is revealed to be Hope Saldean, whom was attending the farmers market in the city on behalf of her family back in Westfall. When she saw Garrick being taken into the prison, she began cursing and throwing her produce at him. She had bad aim, so she hit the party and was taken into custody when the guards worked to quell the riot.
Orfiz questions Hope, all he could get out of her were that she thought they were in love and she can't believe that he'd fall in with the bandits. He moves to question Garrick, and gets the backstory of the masons being exiled from the city and labeled as criminals, so he had to pick up work on local farms to survive. He had a summer fling the prior season with the farmer's daughter while he was there that harvest, and she was convinced as young lovers tend to get, that he'd be back to whisk her off her feet and take her away from the mundane farm life. Seeing him with the red scarf draped around his neck sent her into despair.
The party collects the bounty reward and goes about restocking, grabbing some basic gear improvements from what's available, and finally collecting their estus flask health pots.
Orfiz uses this downtime to investigate Garrick's story about the masons being ousted from the city, and figures he could tap into the kingdom's spy network. His training at Ravenholdt in the ways of the rogue led him to discover markings in cant near the sewer they used to get past the riot by the stockade entrance. Makes sense - spies would want an easy incognito route directly to the prison.
In the tunnels beneath stormwind, he recognized some of the cant as sarcastic propoganda style "if you see something, say something" isms. He reached SI:7's HQ through the tunnel and was immediately greeted by blades to the face as he entered through the trap door. Hands up, he shrugged and said "if you see something... say something?" and the guards eased. As a gnome, he went to the nearest desk, knocked on the side of it to get the attendant's attention, and found himself talking to the man himself, Shaw.
Shaw lamented how things played out and how hard it's been policing the city and weeding out any dissidents or guild associates, as there had been another riot in the streets prior that had led to queen being struck and killed by a thrown rock from the crowd. He knew things didn't add up but didn't have the manpower or resources to investigate the matter, but he's been keeping a close eye on Orfiz and his companions since they first set foot in the city.
Orfiz's immediate reaction to that statement was to pull out some coin and set it on the desk... he "forgot" to pay their gate fee when they got off the deeprun tram. This got a hardy laugh out of Shaw and got his guard down, so he gave Orfiz the skinny: he knows something is up with the House of Nobles but he can't get near them while the King is on the warpath since the riots. Orfiz grabbed a parchment he'd looted off of Bazil, and Shaw tilted it at the candlelight to reveal a reflective type of invisible ink. Orfiz recalled this was a trick that his Ravenholdt pals had used to be able to communicate secret messages and have them readable in the faintest of light. But this was a trick that only worked with ink crafted from a rare orange flower only found in the Alteraci region...
Shaw curses that Lady Katrana Prestor is the diplomat from Alterac, and she's been too close to the King to question without him flying into a rage about the stonemasons. Orfiz volunteers to gather some intel, all Shaw could help provide is that she takes a route through the castle gardens on the way to her late committee meetings, he could catch her there.
He questions her in the garden as a "concerned constituent" of the city and hands her the bloody note (right?). He asks if she knows anything about it, she of course blows him off, and moves on to her budget committee meeting. He eavesdrops to hear her arguing against any treaties or restitution for the masons and digs her heels in.
Next stop was Baros Alexston, the patron noble house that had commissioned the stonemasons to rebuild Stormwind in the first place. The exterior was damaged, like it had been pummeled with rocks and dirt and even started on fire in a few spots. There were large door-spanning locks across his cellar access and front door, Orfiz was able to pick the cellar entrance and slink in unnoticed. Baros returned from his errands and Orfiz got to do the Nick Fury sit-in-the-corner-shadows-with-a-cigar thing. Baros was terrified, and looked exhausted, and his house was in complete disrepair. Baros burst out that he doesn't have anywhere to go and everyone wants to kill him, he can't even go back to his family stead in Westfall because the thugs have taken it over in a move that seemed very personal. Sweet, Next clue!
Orfiz returns to SI:7 and reports his findings. Shaw says he's got a man on the inside, but he's deep undercover and they have not been able to pull him out or even get his report. Since these guys have handled themselves well, and they're special deputies already, Shaw tasks the Orfiz and his companions to keep digging into this. They part ways with Shaw's praise, "you're short in stature, but you've got it where it counts. These are desperate times, and you know what they say, desperate times call for"
Orfiz interrupts "Half Measures". The party found their company name.
End session 5.5!

Up Next: Session 6 - The People's Militia

I checked and couldn’t really find anything but are there upgrades ( if they are they’re most likely late game I assume) that increases the amount of JoS you get from hatching eggs?

Interesting fact, there is an ending to Fallout 2 where the Intelligent Deathclaws survive. Read about it here. Basically, a scripting error prevents this Ending from playing out, but you needed to kill Dr. Schreber and fix the Vault Computer. This is my take on how the Intelligent Deathclaws would survive and thrive in a Wasteland that's slowly becoming part of the New California Republic.
Goris returns to Vault 13 and excitedly tells his father, Gruthar about the destruction of The Enclave. He and the Tribe of Deathclaws breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they won't be hunted down. Gruthar then explains that they can't stay in the Vault forever as the nearby NCR will keep expanding and will find them eventually. The only way for his tribe to survive the coming decades is to join NCR.
Knowing Deathcalws are typically shot on sight, Gruthar sends one of the Humans in his tribe as an ambassador to NCR to discuss joining. The Ambassador heads to NCR and finds the NCR Hall of Congress. Inside, the Ambassador discusses about the tribe that wishes to join NCR, but the Congress' Ears perk up when it's mentioned the tribe is living in Vault 13. The location of Vault 13 has been relatively lost to NCR for a very long time. President Tandi is informed of this and remembering her old friend who rescued her all those years ago, she decides to hear the Ambassador out.
President Tandi and the Ambassador discuss the topic of the tribe joining NCR. The room goes silent when the Ambassador mentions that the tribe he was representing are a pack of Intelligent Deathclaws. He talks about how Humans and Deathclaws are living amongst eachother within Vault 13 and the Alpha Male of the pack, Gruthar sent him to discuss joining NCR.
Everyone in the Hall of Congress is very skeptical about this Ambassador's offer, but everyone is shocked when President Tandi speaks up states she would like to see this place for herself. Several NCR Congress Members try to talk Tandi out of it and even her son, Hoss tries to talk his mother out of going, but Tandi's decision is final. Tandi states she would love to see the home of her old friend and she'll be fine if these Deathclaws are as peaceful as the Ambassador says they are.
Knowing President Tandi's decision is final, her Congress Members don't push the issue, but tell the Ambassador that if anything happens, he would be held responsible. The Ambassador agrees and reassures everyone that these Deathclaws are intelligent and peaceful. He contacts Gruthar and informs him the NCR President is willing to come to Vault 13 to meet with him personally. This is a big risk for the Intelligent Deathclaws, but the reward is also big for Gruthar and his pack of Deathclaws. He sends the coordinates.
President Tandi and her team of NCR Secret Service board a recently captured Enclave Vertibird and fly to the coordinates. They land and exit the Vertibird outside an otherwise unassuming cave. Gruthar is already waiting for them and politely welcomes President Tandi and her guards. They follow him inside and are stunned that this is the fabled Vault 13 their hero, the Vault Dweller grew up in. During the tour, Tandi is impressed that Humans and Deathclaws can coexist together. Gruthar gives a brief summary of their history, from being created by the Enclave to being left here and continuing to thrive.
Gruthar adds that his pack cannot stay cramped in the Vault forever and the NCR would find them soon anyway. He wants to be in the NCR's good graces rather than their enemy. Gruthar casually mentions that his son, Goris had helped fight the Enclave when the Oil Rig was destroyed. This was more than enough to convince President Tandi to consider Gruthar's offer to join NCR. She tells Gruthar that she'll have her congress write up a treaty for the two of them and she'll have her Secret Service protect Gruthar as he makes his way to the NCR Hall of Congress.
A week later, Citizens living in NCR would walk outside to a surprising sight, a Deathclaw walking down the street guarded by several NCR Secret Service. Gruthar, protected by the NCR Secret Service, makes his way to the Hall of Congress to meet with NCR Leaders and sign the soon-to-be historic NCR-Deathclaw Treaty. Gurthar makes his way inside and takes his place next to Tandi. The Treaty is then produced.
Gruthar and his pack will be recognized as NCR Citizens and any hostility between the two would end. The Deathclaws would have to leave Vault 13, but the NCR would assist in building a new Town for them and help carry out any Deathclaw Eggs within the Vault. Tandi uses a pen to sign her part and Gruthar creatively uses one of his sharp nails he dipped in an Inkwell and uses it to sign his part. With that, the Intelligent Deathclaws are officially NCR Citizens. News of this historic moment is spread like wildfire.
Gruthar's Deathclaw Pack are happy to finally be able to leave Vault 13 and some NCR Troops help with handling their Eggs. A new Settlement is constructed for the Deathclaws and is named "Clawtown", the very first Deathclaw Settlement and Gruthar becomes Mayor of Clawtown. It features several homes for the Deathclaws and includes a School built by the Followers of the Apocalypse. Goris is honored with a Golden Broach, the highest Award a NCR Civilian can receive, for his help in defeating The Enclave. Goris goes on to be a revered, yet intimidating scholar in a Followers University. Over time, the Intelligent Deathclaws improve their vocabulary thanks to the School built by the Followers.
The Intelligent Deathclaws soon adopt more human-like behaviors, such as the other males being in relationships with the other females in the Pack as opposed to the Alpha Male having a harem of all females in the pack and socializing with one another. The Deathcalws become preferred hires for Guards, Soldier and Explorers and the NCR knows this well.
The Deathcalw's brutality and efficiency is really put to the test during the sacking of Navarro. Fueled by their hate for their creators, the Deathclaws ambush the base in the middle of the night and they make short work of any Enclave Remnants there. Their excellent low light vision and large nails make then excellent at stealth combat. Before sunrise, Navarro has fallen and now under NCR control.
With the Deathcalws on their side, NCR expansion into the surrounding areas, including the Mojave is done much simpler. Whenever a new pack of Deathclaws shows up, an Intelligent Male Deathclaw usually challenges and defeats their Alpha Male and pacifies them. Several more Deathclaw Settlements show up and before long, Intelligent Deathclaw populations dwarfs the wild Deathclaw population. Some Deathclaws even join NCR Military and make effective soldiers.
Fast forward to 2277 and the Mojave Campaign has proved to be a vast success thanks to the assistance of Deathclaws in the NCR Military. While securing Hoover Dam, an unexpected enemy attacks. The NCR holds them off for long, but eventually retreat into Boulder City with Caesar's Legion hot on their trail. However, this was a ruse and when the signal was given, several NCR Deathclaws come out of the alleyways and using their powerful claws, make short work of the Legion. Boulder City turns red and it's not just from Legion Uniforms. Hoover Dam and Boulder City is saved from the Legion... for now.
The NCR-Intelligent Deathclaw relationship proves to have been very beneficial to both parties. Caravan Routes and roads have been much safer with at least one Deathclaw guarding it and no Raider is insane or stupid enough to attack a Caravan guarded by a couple of Deathclaws. NCR Deathcalw Veterans become the stuff of nightmares to any enemy of the NCR. If you thought a NCR Ranger Veteran was terrifying, just wait until you see a Deathclaw in a custom version of the iconic uniform. Raider Gangs don't even have time to scream before they're cut down. By 2281, The Mojave becomes the 6th State of the NCR and it's not long before they expand into Arizona, Utah and Idaho, with the Intelligent Deathclaws lending a helping claw.

I'm trying to hatch the starter eggs but the game glitches whenever they hatch, like the screen turns black. [playing on a DS btw]

Is ussop connected to joyboy ? In this theory I will explain why he might just be.
At first glance you will say ussop is the comic relief that he is the weakest straw hat but that’s precisely why I think he is the most important straw hat. Oda puts a lot of himself in ussop and while he may say luffy is his favourite and give Zoro the best moments and give sanji the best backstory the thing is he is ussop,
Ussop is someone who underestimates himself who over looks himself and while he talks a big game that’s all for show in the crew he is the most human which is why I think he will shine the most.
Now out of all the crew members ussop is kind of irregular when it comes to his bounties.
Ussop despite being part of the weak trio has the 6th highest bounty higher than brook and franky at 500m and truth be told I do not believe he’s going to stop there. I can see him surpassing robin and jinbei in the future and if I may be so bold I could legit see the series ending with oda ending it on a joke with ussop having a higher bounty than Zoro and sanji because at the end of the day I believe ussop will be the true vice captain.
It’s not that he will out rank Zoro it’s just that’s how the world would see it.
Now in this theory I will explain 3 things.
1 ussop connection to joyboy

1. His coc capabilities and
   
2. A potential devil fruit.
   

As for joyboy the theory works like this.
I do believe ussop is connected to joyboy to what extent I am not entirely to sure but there’s something there.
The original joyboy is an African deity who travels around playing the drums and inspiring people to dance with joy hence the name
Now ussop in the famous bone fire scene was seen dancing around next to luffy doing his Nika pose but I believe that was a red herring and we should be focused on ussop who is playing the drums and is the only one with a visible smile on.
Ussop is also a god of liberation.
​
https://preview.redd.it/qy760pb1h75b1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7539e8cdcd9303fbb07fdf7a71901d93dd0d4153
https://preview.redd.it/w92ylob1h75b1.png?width=1620&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5ac225bf121c87ff985745d0a6dadc66f2a081d
There’s also the fact Nika ran around with a sword and spear which could be like ussop who uses a slingshot and hammer.
But there’s also his connection to noland the liar.
When luffy heard the story he kept confusing Noland for ussop and later ussop lied saying he was related to Noland and all his lies become true.
Noland is noted for his chestnut hair style and look at this
​
https://preview.redd.it/cgl0l6d4h75b1.jpg?width=312&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=85ed54520b939c0728bf41e89c3c1912da63635d
He is also the only other straw hat to get statues build of him besides luffy.
https://preview.redd.it/2cfkr4y7h75b1.png?width=1253&format=png&auto=webp&s=301460ae752426bb957ad431a7ea95914a622b36
https://preview.redd.it/b9ijt4y7h75b1.jpg?width=434&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1c7ae2a7415b4beccd203b9c2d27af0590cce53
https://preview.redd.it/6py4tdy7h75b1.jpg?width=164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e15bb87792b131e82d56cecea1adf87f99a8827
https://preview.redd.it/8mrhg6y7h75b1.jpg?width=598&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=997231901123326e12084ce3466d0adaf34ac284
Could oda be setting up that ussop could be related to joyboy in some sense ?
Ussop always brings joy to people you got to remember, he is often the one seen playing with luffy and making luffy laugh, he brought joy to the tontatta and the slaves of dressrosa.
But his introduction is proof.
Ussop gathered 3 kids to follow him and he made life entertaining for them, he gave them some fun to have and later when he found out kaya was sick he would go out of his way to comfort her and tell her stories and eventually she learned to laugh against after the lost of her parents.
Ussop gave her joy. He would annoy the villagers to the point they would chase him but when he did leave and stopped pranking them it was shown that the Villagers were out of sorts as they grew dependent on ussop waking them up in the morning and they even admitted that the villagers had fun chasing ussop around as it gave them something to do and some even felt bad thinking they went to far with ussop the day earlier. Ussop brought joy to these people but he always inspired them he inspired the 3 kids to go off and chase their dreams and he inspired kaya to get out of bed and sturdy to become a doctor.
It was merry who then confirmed why ussop lies all the time. When he was a kid his mother was sick and ussop would tell her lies about his father coming back to save them and would do everything in his power to make her happy. Since then ussop can’t stand seeing people sad and often acts the clown to make those around him happy,
In enies lobby again he liberated the 2 giants there and how he did it was that he saw them crying and went over to see why and then when he heard they knew them giants from little garden ussop would mimic their laughter to prove he met them and that they are fine their brought joy back to the 2 giants who got back up and carried ussop to the castle fighting alongside him.
In thriller bark he fought perona and her powers didn’t work on him because as he states
He’s always depressed so he built a immunity around it, but that doesn’t make sense now because we found out sanji is always critical of himself as well through wci he just masks it better because he doesn’t want pity. Sanji was probably the only straw hat who really understood him, But sanji was still a victim of perona df. So perhaps it’s not that ussop is depressed it’s that he is joyboy his joy can fight off the depressing thoughts caused by her fruit.
Now 2.his coc potential.
Ussop I believe can unlock coc people say he is the last person who would have coc but I don’t think that is true. While ussop is easily scared he is no coward that is the one lie he actually believes. He has risen to the occasion many times before and faced his fears. Luffy isn’t brave he’s just fearless there is a difference.
In the end when pushed ussop always over co see his fears.
Now ussop is also a natural leader just not in the way you would expect people see drawn to him just like they are drawn to luffy except with ussop it’s either due to him lying or for him being in the right place at the right time but he has shown to be a sort of leader himself.
All his lies eventually come true and one of the most common lies he says is that he is the captain of the straw hat crew which I believe will come true at some point when luffy is taken out of the picture briefly and it will be up to ussop to lead the crew and the grand fleet in the final battle.
Now here is the thing we are told the crew of the rocks pirates did not get a long very well with one another and I believe that’s because they were mostly coc users as evident when wb and kaido were hesitant of letting more coc users joining their crew like wb was hesitant of oden stating he had bad experiences with his former crew. I believe this is also a case for the straw hats but with them it’s okay as luffy isn’t a conqueror like rocks he prefers to chill and let his crew be themselves which allows the crew to feel in control of their own paths but I do believe that them being coc users would explain a lot.
For example ussop has been challenging luffy for his position for captain since day one.
He just does it in very passive aggressive ways and in another crew he would be executed in luffy he either just yells at ussop or ignores it.
​
https://preview.redd.it/0vnh4bkih75b1.png?width=1620&format=png&auto=webp&s=59d092a444ced59f922d5ca7e2348297022273bd
https://preview.redd.it/p2ha6bkih75b1.jpg?width=1010&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c46fedebe7098c1c78d845c58cda009f269950cd
https://preview.redd.it/9434ockih75b1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74c39b30cf9858a6e640f7d3f40dcb6475f48beb
But eventually this would lead to a fight as ussop let his insecurities win over him and refused to give up on the merry leading to the fight over who would captain the ship ( not the crew )
It was after this fight and after ussop apologised that he came back and from that day on he stopped inserting himself as the captain however has called himself the vice captain several times.
Ussop has also lied about having coc twice now. He told the tontatta after an earthquake that was him using his coc and when people were passing out from the kid vs big mom fight people assumed it was ussop doing it which should also demonstrate his power as he was running around completely fine from this coc blast
https://preview.redd.it/hdn6mnnoh75b1.jpg?width=623&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afc7c0251fa6191fec49649a82cdf4b89a4af9e9
So we covered his connection to joyboy and his coc potential the last is a df power,
People say he won’t get a new df because that would change his style of ammunition but not true at all as ussop is always changing his style of weaponry.
The rest of the crew have their powers and upgrade theme over time,
Like nami always uses a staff. In east blue she used a stick that broke apart into 3 pieces that she would put together, in arabasta she got a new modded staff from ussop with turns of tricks to it. Then she upgraded it in water 7/enies lobby then time skip she came back and it was modded with dials and then it was upgraded again and now it’s fused with zues.
But it was always a baton.
Ussop however not so much. His first gimmick was using tricked weapons, he carried balloons that looked like hammers he used rubber bands and little pellets with different ingredients like rotten eggs or spicy sauces which he would shoot in the mouth.
He would defeat chew by throwing cooking oil at him shooting the glass then shooting him with a fire starter to set him on fire. Then beat him with a hammer and a rubber band.
He would then start using dials before then moving to plants
​
https://preview.redd.it/5yy31znxh75b1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35fec41def04f53bba0c3ef62b2685d4a4338453
However it was clear that these plants were useless in wano. All of his attacks on page one were mostly useless at best he just slowed page 1 down a little but page one was not taking damage when he made his bamboo sticks come out of the ground they didn’t pierce p1 hide,
​
https://preview.redd.it/hv0rtsszh75b1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7a14c629fb157743d112d775ad0978423ffa0a6
https://preview.redd.it/fbwv4uszh75b1.png?width=629&format=png&auto=webp&s=40bbe11a3ee27da4c1f0b0309aa4eb7a91971159
When he blew him up he walked it off,
they were even useless in stopping the fire.
​
https://preview.redd.it/hhjrjeb3i75b1.jpg?width=1620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fdca134f838ff735cd082294be777b215e76a185
Ussop needs a upgrade and I believe I found out what it is, For a while I been saying by the end of wano ussop would get kanjuro df a theory i since put to bed only for king jay to awaken it again.
I believe kanjuro fruit fits ussop very well as oda has stated ussop is a good artist in real life his profession would be a graphics designer but also I think oda puts a lot of himself in ussop which is why ussop should get this fruit as he is a good story teller and an artist.
​
https://preview.redd.it/5gm891v8i75b1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ced75bed1d79bf67db969f28b503ed6d1f51a114
https://preview.redd.it/82vni3v8i75b1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=845e97f5887031bc1f740b680275ba6204bdd0f9
I believe ussop should get this fruit because of a few reasons.

1. Ussop if he is another joyboy he should have a similar power to luffy. Luffy can stretch himself and the world around him and essentially does whatever he can imagine.

Similarly ussop should do the same except it’s the ability to create anything he imagines.

1. Kanjuro was a spy and was purposely drawing badly to slow the crew down and to draw off suspicion.

However the first time kanjuro used his powers to draw something the way it was suppose to look was under ussops guidance and that’s when they made the flying ussop head to scar sugar.
Imagine what it could do in the hands of ussop !
Then there is the naming scheme where all sh df have to have numbers in them.
Now kanjuro df is the fude fude df which means brush brush fruit but another way of naming it is inku inku which makes up the numbers. 2.9 which is the number we are missing,
And finally could ussop already have it ?
After wano ended we kind of skipped over 2 weeks before they left and something strange happened in egghead
When the straw hats were knocked into the sea we saw them all swimming back up except robin and brook as they are df users even nami was fine.
​
https://preview.redd.it/729zvv2ki75b1.jpg?width=1620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc996baf126f2d8ef6c047d5109693181a9dcd23
But ussop. If you look at him he was not swimming in fact oda specifically zoomed in on ussop and showed us a point of few of ussop reaching out to the surface above him as he sank deeper and deeper.
​
https://preview.redd.it/vgcj5c4ni75b1.jpg?width=1620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7a1585efbf7f191496eba37dfded9db79eb54f8
they were then saved by Lilith before anyone noticed.
could ussop end up eating a df? Did he already off screen and oda is waiting for a surprise twist !?

I am experiencing gastrointestinal issues after eating almost anything. My diet is pretty much restricted to eggs and turkey bacon at this point. If I eat anything else, I get abdominal discomfort and have to spend a lot of time in the restroom. I have tried adding probiotics to my diet, but it has not helped.
This is a year round issue, but it gets significantly worse during allergy season.
Foods like raw vegetables and fruits cause the most intense discomfort. A lot of these foods also make me wheeze and make my neck/chest turn red. It's almost daily that a new food sets off this reaction.
I noticed this starting to happen around the age of 24. It was pretty negligible at that time, though. Now it's been 8 years and it's only gotten worse.
Along with these issues, I am also having significantly worse respiratory health. I have to wear a half mask respirator any time I am outside the house.
All of this is taking a toll on my mental health. I just got married 3 months ago to the most amazing person on the planet. I should be the happiest I have been in my life. I try to focus on that, but the constant discomfort is getting to me.
Has anyone with these symptoms gotten treatment? Did it get better? What was the treatment that made it better?

Hi folks, here are this week's Top 5 ancient headlines:

• Small-Brained Ancient Human Cousins May Have Buried Their Dead, According to a Surprising Study — So this study is understandably controversial, but it’s fascinating and, truth be told, I enjoy a little controversy. According to the study, Homo naledi may have buried their dead in caves and carved symbols into the cave walls roughly 300,000 years ago. That’s well over 100,000 years before the first evidence of Homo sapiens burying their dead. And it’s the oldest known burial in the world. If you’re unfamiliar with Homo naledi, they’re cousins who were in Africa 335,000–236,000 years ago, and this discovery is surprising due to the small size of their brains (a third the size of sapiens) — it was not thought that they would be capable of such complex behavior. But recent investigations at the Rising Star cave system near Johannesburg, South Africa found the remains of Homo naledi adults and children in the fetal position in shallow holes in the ground, which the researchers interpret as intentional burial sites. The researchers also found geometric patterns and cross-hatched lines carved into the corridor and entry into the chamber. However, it’s important to note that these engravings have not been dated. The study is not yet peer-reviewed and more evidence is required for this extraordinary claim. Critics say that the remains that have been found may have just accumulated in the cave shafts and fell into the chambers, and then water seepage in the cave could have moved the remains along sloping floors into natural depressions. But if the study’s claim is accurate, this would be yet another data point that says another one of our cousins was capable of much more than we give them credit for.
• Nazca Geoglyphs Discovered Using AI Deep Learning — I did a double-take on this one because it’s not every day that new geoglyphs are found in Nazca, Peru, and I just covered some not too long ago in issue #39. But these are indeed newly discovered geoglyphs! Using artificial intelligence to speed up the process of analyzing photographs, researchers have found four new figures: a humanoid holding what appears to be a club in their left hand, a fish with an open mouth, a pair of legs, and a bird. The former two are in the relief-type, while the latter two are in the line-type. Linear geoglyphs are generally thought to have been created by the Nazca culture (200 BCE - 600 CE). Reliefs are thought to be from the earlier Paracas culture (900 - 400 BCE). The pair of legs measures an impressive 78 meters, while the others are much smaller (in the teens). I covered a theory about the Nazca lines in issue #44. And I’ve covered other discoveries made using AI in issues #16, #47, [#49](http://./), and #60.
• Ancient Genomes Suggest Farming in Africa Was Ignited by Oversea-Migrants From Iberia 7,400 Years Ago — While it has been unclear what sparked the change from foraging to farming in northwestern Africa 7,400 years ago, a new study suggests that farming was brought to modern-day Morocco by European and Levantine migrants who were adopted by local groups. Until this happened, there was “remarkable” population continuity for 8,000+ years in this isolated group of hunter-gatherers. According to Cristina Valdiosera, “Inspired by their new neighbors, within a few hundred years, the local foragers started to change their way of life to farming and the two groups lived side by side for at least another century.” Torsten Günthe adds, “This phenomenon has not been seen in any other part of the world.” Then about 6,300 years ago, genetics from the Levant showed up right around the time that pastoralism started. And finally, all three lines mixed in the Late Neolithic. The results are corroborated by ceramic decoration that points to diffusion from Europe.
• Archaeologists Discover Hundreds of Ancient Carvings — Roughly 250 carvings were found at the site of Roca de les Ferradures, near Cogullons, Spain. The carvings date as far back as about 4000 BP and are spread over hundreds of meters on a red sandstone formation. The figures and motifs were made using a pecking process and sometimes form scenes. The most common depiction at the site is a horseshoe shape that is thought to be a stylized human figure. There are also several anthropomorphic figures with crossed arms and disproportionately large, open hands.
• Ancient Egyptian Queen's Bracelets Contain 1st Evidence of Long-Distance Trade Between Egypt and Greece — New info has been revealed regarding trade networks between Old Kingdom Egypt and Greece, thanks to the analysis of bracelets that were discovered previously in the tomb of the influential queen Hetepheres I (the mother of Khufu). The 4,600-year-old bracelets were made of copper, gold, lead, and semi-precious gems. But in the butterfly depictions, there were also traces of silver, for which there were no local sources. It was previously thought that silver was taken from local gold sources, which were high in silver content. But the researchers found that the ratio of isotopes in the lead consisted with ores from a group of Greek islands known as the Cyclades, as well as from the town of Lavrion in Greece. The silver probably originated there too before traveling through the port of Byblos (Lebanon), which had plenty of silver objects and a connection with Egypt. According to Karin Sowada, “This new finding demonstrates, for the first time, the potential geographical extent of trade networks used by the Egyptian state during the early Old Kingdom at the height of the Pyramid-building age.” She also mentioned that the study of these trade networks gives us insights into the emergence of the Egyptian state.

Hope you enjoyed this abridged version of Ancient Beat. Have a great weekend!

Happy Saturday, folks! Here are this week's Top 5 ancient headlines:

• Small-Brained Ancient Human Cousins May Have Buried Their Dead, According to a Surprising Study — So this study is understandably controversial, but it’s fascinating and, truth be told, I enjoy a little controversy. According to the study, Homo naledi may have buried their dead in caves and carved symbols into the cave walls roughly 300,000 years ago. That’s well over 100,000 years before the first evidence of Homo sapiens burying their dead. And it’s the oldest known burial in the world. If you’re unfamiliar with Homo naledi, they’re cousins who were in Africa 335,000–236,000 years ago, and this discovery is surprising due to the small size of their brains (a third the size of sapiens) — it was not thought that they would be capable of such complex behavior. But recent investigations at the Rising Star cave system near Johannesburg, South Africa found the remains of Homo naledi adults and children in the fetal position in shallow holes in the ground, which the researchers interpret as intentional burial sites. The researchers also found geometric patterns and cross-hatched lines carved into the corridor and entry into the chamber. However, it’s important to note that these engravings have not been dated. The study is not yet peer-reviewed and more evidence is required for this extraordinary claim. Critics say that the remains that have been found may have just accumulated in the cave shafts and fell into the chambers, and then water seepage in the cave could have moved the remains along sloping floors into natural depressions. But if the study’s claim is accurate, this would be yet another data point that says another one of our cousins was capable of much more than we give them credit for.
• Nazca Geoglyphs Discovered Using AI Deep Learning — I did a double-take on this one because it’s not every day that new geoglyphs are found in Nazca, Peru, and I just covered some not too long ago in issue #39. But these are indeed newly discovered geoglyphs! Using artificial intelligence to speed up the process of analyzing photographs, researchers have found four new figures: a humanoid holding what appears to be a club in their left hand, a fish with an open mouth, a pair of legs, and a bird. The former two are in the relief-type, while the latter two are in the line-type. Linear geoglyphs are generally thought to have been created by the Nazca culture (200 BCE - 600 CE). Reliefs are thought to be from the earlier Paracas culture (900 - 400 BCE). The pair of legs measures an impressive 78 meters, while the others are much smaller (in the teens). I covered a theory about the Nazca lines in issue #44. And I’ve covered other discoveries made using AI in issues #16, #47, [#49](http://./), and #60.
• Ancient Genomes Suggest Farming in Africa Was Ignited by Oversea-Migrants From Iberia 7,400 Years Ago — While it has been unclear what sparked the change from foraging to farming in northwestern Africa 7,400 years ago, a new study suggests that farming was brought to modern-day Morocco by European and Levantine migrants who were adopted by local groups. Until this happened, there was “remarkable” population continuity for 8,000+ years in this isolated group of hunter-gatherers. According to Cristina Valdiosera, “Inspired by their new neighbors, within a few hundred years, the local foragers started to change their way of life to farming and the two groups lived side by side for at least another century.” Torsten Günthe adds, “This phenomenon has not been seen in any other part of the world.” Then about 6,300 years ago, genetics from the Levant showed up right around the time that pastoralism started. And finally, all three lines mixed in the Late Neolithic. The results are corroborated by ceramic decoration that points to diffusion from Europe.
• Archaeologists Discover Hundreds of Ancient Carvings — Roughly 250 carvings were found at the site of Roca de les Ferradures, near Cogullons, Spain. The carvings date as far back as about 4000 BP and are spread over hundreds of meters on a red sandstone formation. The figures and motifs were made using a pecking process and sometimes form scenes. The most common depiction at the site is a horseshoe shape that is thought to be a stylized human figure. There are also several anthropomorphic figures with crossed arms and disproportionately large, open hands.
• Ancient Egyptian Queen's Bracelets Contain 1st Evidence of Long-Distance Trade Between Egypt and Greece — New info has been revealed regarding trade networks between Old Kingdom Egypt and Greece, thanks to the analysis of bracelets that were discovered previously in the tomb of the influential queen Hetepheres I (the mother of Khufu). The 4,600-year-old bracelets were made of copper, gold, lead, and semi-precious gems. But in the butterfly depictions, there were also traces of silver, for which there were no local sources. It was previously thought that silver was taken from local gold sources, which were high in silver content. But the researchers found that the ratio of isotopes in the lead consisted with ores from a group of Greek islands known as the Cyclades, as well as from the town of Lavrion in Greece. The silver probably originated there too before traveling through the port of Byblos (Lebanon), which had plenty of silver objects and a connection with Egypt. According to Karin Sowada, “This new finding demonstrates, for the first time, the potential geographical extent of trade networks used by the Egyptian state during the early Old Kingdom at the height of the Pyramid-building age.” She also mentioned that the study of these trade networks gives us insights into the emergence of the Egyptian state.

Hope you enjoyed this abridged version of Ancient Beat. Have a great weekend!

Happy Saturday! Here are this week's Top 5 ancient headlines:

• Small-Brained Ancient Human Cousins May Have Buried Their Dead, According to a Surprising Study — So this study is understandably controversial, but it’s fascinating and, truth be told, I enjoy a little controversy. According to the study, Homo naledi may have buried their dead in caves and carved symbols into the cave walls roughly 300,000 years ago. That’s well over 100,000 years before the first evidence of Homo sapiens burying their dead. And it’s the oldest known burial in the world. If you’re unfamiliar with Homo naledi, they’re cousins who were in Africa 335,000–236,000 years ago, and this discovery is surprising due to the small size of their brains (a third the size of sapiens) — it was not thought that they would be capable of such complex behavior. But recent investigations at the Rising Star cave system near Johannesburg, South Africa found the remains of Homo naledi adults and children in the fetal position in shallow holes in the ground, which the researchers interpret as intentional burial sites. The researchers also found geometric patterns and cross-hatched lines carved into the corridor and entry into the chamber. However, it’s important to note that these engravings have not been dated. The study is not yet peer-reviewed and more evidence is required for this extraordinary claim. Critics say that the remains that have been found may have just accumulated in the cave shafts and fell into the chambers, and then water seepage in the cave could have moved the remains along sloping floors into natural depressions. But if the study’s claim is accurate, this would be yet another data point that says another one of our cousins was capable of much more than we give them credit for.
• Nazca Geoglyphs Discovered Using AI Deep Learning — I did a double-take on this one because it’s not every day that new geoglyphs are found in Nazca, Peru, and I just covered some not too long ago in issue #39. But these are indeed newly discovered geoglyphs! Using artificial intelligence to speed up the process of analyzing photographs, researchers have found four new figures: a humanoid holding what appears to be a club in their left hand, a fish with an open mouth, a pair of legs, and a bird. The former two are in the relief-type, while the latter two are in the line-type. Linear geoglyphs are generally thought to have been created by the Nazca culture (200 BCE - 600 CE). Reliefs are thought to be from the earlier Paracas culture (900 - 400 BCE). The pair of legs measures an impressive 78 meters, while the others are much smaller (in the teens). I covered a theory about the Nazca lines in issue #44. And I’ve covered other discoveries made using AI in issues #16, #47, [#49](http://./), and #60.
• Ancient Genomes Suggest Farming in Africa Was Ignited by Oversea-Migrants From Iberia 7,400 Years Ago — While it has been unclear what sparked the change from foraging to farming in northwestern Africa 7,400 years ago, a new study suggests that farming was brought to modern-day Morocco by European and Levantine migrants who were adopted by local groups. Until this happened, there was “remarkable” population continuity for 8,000+ years in this isolated group of hunter-gatherers. According to Cristina Valdiosera, “Inspired by their new neighbors, within a few hundred years, the local foragers started to change their way of life to farming and the two groups lived side by side for at least another century.” Torsten Günthe adds, “This phenomenon has not been seen in any other part of the world.” Then about 6,300 years ago, genetics from the Levant showed up right around the time that pastoralism started. And finally, all three lines mixed in the Late Neolithic. The results are corroborated by ceramic decoration that points to diffusion from Europe.
• Archaeologists Discover Hundreds of Ancient Carvings — Roughly 250 carvings were found at the site of Roca de les Ferradures, near Cogullons, Spain. The carvings date as far back as about 4000 BP and are spread over hundreds of meters on a red sandstone formation. The figures and motifs were made using a pecking process and sometimes form scenes. The most common depiction at the site is a horseshoe shape that is thought to be a stylized human figure. There are also several anthropomorphic figures with crossed arms and disproportionately large, open hands.
• Ancient Egyptian Queen's Bracelets Contain 1st Evidence of Long-Distance Trade Between Egypt and Greece — New info has been revealed regarding trade networks between Old Kingdom Egypt and Greece, thanks to the analysis of bracelets that were discovered previously in the tomb of the influential queen Hetepheres I (the mother of Khufu). The 4,600-year-old bracelets were made of copper, gold, lead, and semi-precious gems. But in the butterfly depictions, there were also traces of silver, for which there were no local sources. It was previously thought that silver was taken from local gold sources, which were high in silver content. But the researchers found that the ratio of isotopes in the lead consisted with ores from a group of Greek islands known as the Cyclades, as well as from the town of Lavrion in Greece. The silver probably originated there too before traveling through the port of Byblos (Lebanon), which had plenty of silver objects and a connection with Egypt. According to Karin Sowada, “This new finding demonstrates, for the first time, the potential geographical extent of trade networks used by the Egyptian state during the early Old Kingdom at the height of the Pyramid-building age.” She also mentioned that the study of these trade networks gives us insights into the emergence of the Egyptian state.

Hope you enjoyed this abridged version of Ancient Beat. Have a great weekend!

It's the weekend! Here are this week's Top 5 ancient headlines:

• Small-Brained Ancient Human Cousins May Have Buried Their Dead, According to a Surprising Study — So this study is understandably controversial, but it’s fascinating and, truth be told, I enjoy a little controversy. According to the study, Homo naledi may have buried their dead in caves and carved symbols into the cave walls roughly 300,000 years ago. That’s well over 100,000 years before the first evidence of Homo sapiens burying their dead. And it’s the oldest known burial in the world. If you’re unfamiliar with Homo naledi, they’re cousins who were in Africa 335,000–236,000 years ago, and this discovery is surprising due to the small size of their brains (a third the size of sapiens) — it was not thought that they would be capable of such complex behavior. But recent investigations at the Rising Star cave system near Johannesburg, South Africa found the remains of Homo naledi adults and children in the fetal position in shallow holes in the ground, which the researchers interpret as intentional burial sites. The researchers also found geometric patterns and cross-hatched lines carved into the corridor and entry into the chamber. However, it’s important to note that these engravings have not been dated. The study is not yet peer-reviewed and more evidence is required for this extraordinary claim. Critics say that the remains that have been found may have just accumulated in the cave shafts and fell into the chambers, and then water seepage in the cave could have moved the remains along sloping floors into natural depressions. But if the study’s claim is accurate, this would be yet another data point that says another one of our cousins was capable of much more than we give them credit for.
• Nazca Geoglyphs Discovered Using AI Deep Learning — I did a double-take on this one because it’s not every day that new geoglyphs are found in Nazca, Peru, and I just covered some not too long ago in issue #39. But these are indeed newly discovered geoglyphs! Using artificial intelligence to speed up the process of analyzing photographs, researchers have found four new figures: a humanoid holding what appears to be a club in their left hand, a fish with an open mouth, a pair of legs, and a bird. The former two are in the relief-type, while the latter two are in the line-type. Linear geoglyphs are generally thought to have been created by the Nazca culture (200 BCE - 600 CE). Reliefs are thought to be from the earlier Paracas culture (900 - 400 BCE). The pair of legs measures an impressive 78 meters, while the others are much smaller (in the teens). I covered a theory about the Nazca lines in issue #44. And I’ve covered other discoveries made using AI in issues #16, #47, [#49](http://./), and #60.
• Ancient Genomes Suggest Farming in Africa Was Ignited by Oversea-Migrants From Iberia 7,400 Years Ago — While it has been unclear what sparked the change from foraging to farming in northwestern Africa 7,400 years ago, a new study suggests that farming was brought to modern-day Morocco by European and Levantine migrants who were adopted by local groups. Until this happened, there was “remarkable” population continuity for 8,000+ years in this isolated group of hunter-gatherers. According to Cristina Valdiosera, “Inspired by their new neighbors, within a few hundred years, the local foragers started to change their way of life to farming and the two groups lived side by side for at least another century.” Torsten Günthe adds, “This phenomenon has not been seen in any other part of the world.” Then about 6,300 years ago, genetics from the Levant showed up right around the time that pastoralism started. And finally, all three lines mixed in the Late Neolithic. The results are corroborated by ceramic decoration that points to diffusion from Europe.
• Archaeologists Discover Hundreds of Ancient Carvings — Roughly 250 carvings were found at the site of Roca de les Ferradures, near Cogullons, Spain. The carvings date as far back as about 4000 BP and are spread over hundreds of meters on a red sandstone formation. The figures and motifs were made using a pecking process and sometimes form scenes. The most common depiction at the site is a horseshoe shape that is thought to be a stylized human figure. There are also several anthropomorphic figures with crossed arms and disproportionately large, open hands.
• Ancient Egyptian Queen's Bracelets Contain 1st Evidence of Long-Distance Trade Between Egypt and Greece — New info has been revealed regarding trade networks between Old Kingdom Egypt and Greece, thanks to the analysis of bracelets that were discovered previously in the tomb of the influential queen Hetepheres I (the mother of Khufu). The 4,600-year-old bracelets were made of copper, gold, lead, and semi-precious gems. But in the butterfly depictions, there were also traces of silver, for which there were no local sources. It was previously thought that silver was taken from local gold sources, which were high in silver content. But the researchers found that the ratio of isotopes in the lead consisted with ores from a group of Greek islands known as the Cyclades, as well as from the town of Lavrion in Greece. The silver probably originated there too before traveling through the port of Byblos (Lebanon), which had plenty of silver objects and a connection with Egypt. According to Karin Sowada, “This new finding demonstrates, for the first time, the potential geographical extent of trade networks used by the Egyptian state during the early Old Kingdom at the height of the Pyramid-building age.” She also mentioned that the study of these trade networks gives us insights into the emergence of the Egyptian state.

Hope you enjoyed this abridged version of Ancient Beat. Have a great weekend!