Book One: Edge of Madness - Chapter One Previous Next
I could pretend to be a whore. That's what Masutap thought as she stood before the gate leading to the fortress of the Highlord of the Eastlocal. Pretense was a thing she indulged in back when she'd been an ordinary woman, with ordinary ambitions. But as of now, things had changed. Things had changed drastically, for she was now a champion of the Goddess of Order. A champion who would do anything in her power to mock the very being that fed her power.
Power, yes. It was what she felt. Every time her eyes turned upon the world, she saw Order. Like bees in a hive, working towards a similar objective. Survival. Yes, they all wanted to survive. And that's where the power lay, in her ability to deny a thing's chance at survival, for when her eyes flashed red, things died.
"Pardon me sir." A man dragging a cart of coal said. She was standing in his way, she knew this of course, she'd known it since the time he'd decided to deliver the coal. She saw the strings of prophesy in the smallest of things, and oh what power lied in discernment, to see the past and the future in absolute clarity, the secret lay in following strands of Order. The Highlord of the Eastlocal always received a cart of coal at around this time every fifth day. He would serve as her witness. Coal. She smiled, remembering how Orgeeg had managed to penetrate into the Palace of Binoria, on a stack of coal. She recalled how Orgeeg thwarted her plans, then she remembered how small her plans had been.
"Pardon me... Uh lady?" She removed her cowl as the Coal merchant spoke. Her hair was longer now, she'd let it grow, it dangled askew of her ears. Dark and rich as her mother's once was. Masutap smiled at the man whose face was caked in coal dust.
"Today Shama dies! Tonight the Highlord of the EastLocal is no more!" Masutap said.
Twin daggers she had strapped to her waist were suddenly in her hands. The coal merchant stumbled back several steps, dragging the cart with him. The sun was dipping into the horizon, becoming a smeared red smudge upon the canvas of her perception. Her eyes flashed red, and the smeared smudge's light brightened, blanketing everything, making her see.
She spun and threw the dagger in her left hand. The knife whirled in the air and met the throat of a guard who was just cresting the upper walkway of the gate, he wore red leather that marked him as one of the royal guards of the Highlord. A shout sounded. The guards at the gate turned their attention to her. They were six of them, each of them dazed with the slow reception of understanding. The bubble they lived in, understanding it enabled her to see how blind humanity is. Like sheep, no wonder the Vigons ruled them so easily.
She was in their midst before they drew their swords from their scabbards. She drove the dagger into the throat of the first one, danced in a pirouette, thrust free the dagger and hurled it into the throat of another guard. Her hands were free, she curled her fingers into fists.
The Goddess Meena, Goddess of Order, spoke to her. **What is the purpose of this?*
"Oh, you'll see." Masutap said and drove a fist into the chest of one guard, her hand caved through the chest cavity, snapping the spine in half and emerging free of the Guards back. She paused for effect, the three remaining guards gawked at her. She pried her arm free of the corpse and met their panicked gazes. "Sound the alarm, you're too few to make me sweat. I need all of you. Gods! Come on you fucking cowards!"
Two of the three guards charged her, one took a swing at her head with a flat blade, the sharp edge missed her by a hair's breadth as she ducked. She brought up her knee and connected with the man's groin, raising him off the ground, legs held apart, face contorted in pain. He collapsed on the ground with a squeal akin to that of a dying rabbit. The other guard put on a stance of Grind, legs parted, right foot before the left. Knees bent. He brandished his sword before him, and the guard behind him ran off to sound the alarm. Masutap smiled.
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He slept on a bed filled with whores. Talisi women with their dark skin and white hair, Remu women with their sandy peppered hair and copper skin, Binorian women with their blonde hair and pale milky skin. He was their God and they flocked to him in worship. He owned all of them, from the frailest to the most able bodied. From the smartest to the daftest. They were all his.
The Highlord of the Eastlocal observed the head of the Talisi woman resting on his thigh, her breathing was deep, her dark naked breasts rising and falling with every inhale and exhale. Five other women slept around him, each as beautiful as the last.
Of all the men in the realm, I alone am the honored one. Shama thought. He caressed his bulging belly with his pudgy fingers the size of sausages. His appearance did pass as grotesque. Bloated, balding with a cleanly shaven head, wide of girth and bow legged. Yet, no man has conquered the bodies of women as he had done. Women who lusted after tall handsome men. Women who sought capable men with astounding intelligence. They all gave in to him, none could deny him and when they did, well, there were ways to make them yield.
An orgy at noon. That was the gist of it, and another orgy before the midnight bell. Life was good, life was beautiful. Shama had thought that after the death of King Vayin Vigon in the hands of the infamous Kolotian, Ishar, that his wealth will dwindle, that his status will come down a step. That the might of Binoria will be a fickle thing after their first loss at war. But of course, this wasn't to be. The Queen, Dahli Vigon, had received the blessing of Meena, passed down from her father. As long as one with the Jojoh Meena, the blessing of Meena, still ruled, then things will stay as they've always been. Dahli had taken over, ensuring that Binoria didn't fall into anarchy, ensuring the Vigon name remained revered. The beautiful blonde haired girl was now the most potent soul upon the realm. How he longed to have her in his bed, parting those pale thighs sinuated with muscle. She'd become quite the fair lady. And her presence oozed power.
Shama wanted her but a thought kept his desires at bay. She'd frowned at him at the recent Highlords meeting with the throne. Apparently, his tastes and businesses didn't bode well with her. The selling of flesh, that is what he partook in with the zeal of a drowning man reaching for a floating oar. Importing women from all over the realm, some came willingly, others reluctantly. But in the end they all came. Their dignity thrown away for the promise of gold vigons. They filled the whore houses and men flocked to them in throngs, lining his pocket with gold vigons
It was his inventiveness that brought him to the top, the Highlord of the Eastlocal was once a position few envied. But his eye, trained in the art of commerce, enabled him to transform the east of Binoria. Creating a network that not only benefited him, but also the crown. And in so doing, despite her frowns and her reluctance to treat with him, she still couldn't voice her displeasure. Dahli needed him, she needed him for the coin necessary to maintain her position upon the crown. To line the pockets of her Legions. She needed him, and one day he will have her. No woman can deny him, and if they did, there were ways to make them give in.
Suddenly, the twin oak doors leading to his bed chambers flew open. The Captain of the Red Guard, in charge of his safety, Shang, walked in. "Highlord." He said with a bow, the women around him stirred. Outside, a bell started ringing, slowly at first then with extreme vigor. Something is wrong. Shang's obvious panic was clear to see. The opened door allowed him to see several Red guards crowded at the door.
"What is the meaning of this?" Shama asked, his beady eyes on Shang. An inhuman scream sounded somewhere within the fortress. Shama's blood chilled in his veins.
"There's an intruder." Shang said while ravaging through the clothes on the floor. He lifted a red jerkin, two sizes too large, the right size for the Highlord. He threw it at Shama and the Highlord hastened to put it on. He ignored the bewildered looks of the naked whores.
"Intruders or intruder?" Shama asked as Shang led him out of his bed chambers. Another scream sounded, closer. The guards at the door, seven of them, crested around him as Shang led the way.
"A woman, she's alone." Shang said.
Shama gripped Shang's arm, halting him. "What do you mean by this? A singular woman causing... causing... this?"
"She's..." Shang hesitated.
"Speak! You fool!"
"She seems to be inhumanly strong and fast. I only saw her fight through a blockade of my brothers, without a sword. She tore my brothers— the Red Guards, to pieces." Shang's eyes became glazed, as if his mind was replaying the mayhem he'd bore witness to. Shama let go of his arm. The trembling was taking him again, starting at the soles of his feet, up his spine around his neck to his hands. It had been so long since he felt this, the animalistic fear confounded on the existence of an unknown, an unknown that sought to see him dead.
"Captain, what is your course of action?" Shama asked.
Shang seemed to shake himself free of his trance. "We're going to take you to the stables, get you on the fastest steed and—" A scream echoed through the halls of the fortress of the Highlord of the Eastlocal. Checking everyone in place.
"What of provisions?"
"There's no time." Shang said. He drew a flat blade from the scabbard at his side. The Guards all around mimicked him, the rustling of steel could be heard, and there, at the Western end of the fortress, screams sounded.
Shang started a brisk walk towards the East end of the Fortress. His boots, soles lined with metal, clancked upon the ground. Shama shuffled close behind Shang, panting like a mare in heat. The Red Guards around him stole glances to their rear, sweat woven with fear formed a sleek mask upon their startled faces. And in those eyes Shama was able to weigh how dire matters were.
A shout sounded from ahead, bringing Shang to an abrupt stop. "How—" His words caught in his throat as a woman caked in blood and gore emerged from the bend linking the hallway they were in to another hallway that led to the stables.
She stood before them and spread out her bloody fingers at Shama. "Highlord, nice to meet you." She waved. "Say, I hear you can show a woman a good time and I'm in quite the mood for a good time tonight."
Shama trembled, the woman seemed vaguely familiar. The angles of her cheekbones , that nose, those eyes. She resembled Dahli.
"Moran and Jesul to me!" Shang commanded. Two of the guards behind Shama moved forward to flank Shang on either side. "Employ any forms, ensure I get close to her so I may employ the form of Awe."
Awe— the grappling technique that ensured the limbs were pinned. Shama saw Shang's ploy. He needed to contain the woman so Shama could move past them and head for the stables. Shama cursed himself for the design of his fortress that allowed for only one route to the stables.
Shang, Moran and Jesul raised their broad swords. One raising it above the head in a form of Rage, the other bringing the blade level with his face in the form of Pride. Shang lowered his blade and the guards flanking him charged, he followed close behind. The woman let out a cry that could only be translated as one of glee. She charged them.
Moran brought his sword down on the woman but she slid on her knees, allowing momentum to push her beyond the reach of his blade. Jesul thrust at her, raising his right leg and angling the sword downwards at her face. But the woman dodged, spun upon the ground on the small of her back and kicked Jesul's leg from under him. Jesul fell and as he raised his head he met with the woman's fist, there was a loud crunch as his face caved in. His hand let go of the sword as his body became limp.
Shang saw the opening and dived at the woman before she could stand. The woman spread her arms wide, welcoming. Shang pounced but instead landed on the woman's upraised knees, she grabbed his leather armor by the collar and flung him behind her and onto Moran. Both of them collapsed on the ground.
She stood up and smiled at Shama.
"Who are you?" Shama asked.
"I'm Masutap, the sister of Queen Dahli." The woman answered.
"Men! Turtle formation! Swords out, save the Highlord! Move you fools!" Shang said as he picked himself up from the ground behind Masutap.
The men around Shama compacted closer. Their swords pointing at Masutap who regarded them with a smirk upon her face. They inched forward, hesitantly at first, then with confidence as they saw their Captain pick up his sword. They all came to a stand still when the eyes of the woman glowed a fierce red, as if she held the Jojoh Meena. And Shama, the Highlord of the Eastlocal, trembled before her gaze.
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Intuition, the immediate cognition without the use of conscious rational processes. It was simple for her, she dodged the sword thrusts and swipes easily. She turned either way, always beyond reach of the blades, always within striking distance. Her strength was a thing of beauty, somehow her frail wrists held the power necessary to crush a throat and crush a throat she did. She didn't tire, she didn't require forms of combat. The power of the Goddess of Order coursed through her veins and with it came rejuvenation.
The Red Guards pounced on her, seeking to put in place the form of Awe. But their efforts were in vain, she side stepped them easily, always on her feet. She saw an opening and like a river emptying into the Rankf sea she took it, delivering a punch to the side of a Guard's chest, feeling as ribs broke and punctured the lung.
**What is the purpose of this?* The Goddess Meena spoke within her mind. An ever present being whose words sought to throw her off, to calm the tempest raging within her. Masutap didn't want calm, she wanted fire and brimstone, she wanted Binoria to burn so their precious Queen will rule nothing but ash. She decreed this with a war cry, plunging into the midst of the Red Guards. She kicked two, flinging them across the hallway. One thrust with his blade but she caught it between her arm and side, she twisted the blade free of his grasp, gripped the hilt and decapitated the man in one swift motion.
She parried a strike to her left, danced free of two thrust then brought the blade down onto a Guard's head. She felt as the blade bit bone and she wasted no time in pulling it free. **What is the purpose of this?* Meena asked once more.
Masutap took three steps back to widen her periphery. "An inferno." She said as she flexed her sword hand. Suddenly, the Guard who was definitely their Captain, reached into the mass of clustered Guards pressed to the wall, away from her. And pulled the Highlord free of the men surrounding him.
"Form a blockade!" He screamed as he tagged and pulled at the distraught Highlord, leading him towards the end of the hallway. The remaining Guards blocked her vision of them. Like a fool she'd been too enthralled by the battle, allowing the Highlord to slowly slip past her, cocooned in the safety of the Guards in their turtle formation. He was making clear his escape and somehow, this aroused her, blowing upon an ember lodged deep within her until it sparked.
**What is the purpose of this?* Like a parrot, the Goddess repeated her question.
"An inferno." Masutap answered and lunged.
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He was sweating profusely, his breath caught in his throat, causing him to choke on air. He followed Shang, feeling the Captain of the Red Guard's displeasure at his inability to keep up. They descended a flight of stairs, taking three at a time. He almost collapsed but the Captain steadied him.
"Not far now my Lord. Just at that bend before us." Shang said. They took the bend and ran clear of the fortress. The horses were just ahead, they rushed to them. Shama took delight in the open air. The stables were void of people, Shama wondered where the stable hands were. They entered the stable and Shang dragged him to the first cubicle on the right where a saddled horse stood.
Shama hastily climbed onto the saddle with the aid of the Captain. Shang placed his Highlord's feet in the stirrups and moved to flank the horse. "Lord." He said, fighting for solid ground that will enable his words to come forth easily. "It has been an honor to serve under you." Shama smiled but his smile proved too little a gesture to carry the weight or their current predicament. "Ride hard for the Capital, ensure the Queen knows of all that's gone down here. I will stay back and hold her for as long as I can." Shang concluded with a crisp salute. The Highlord nodded and with the guidance of his captain upon the horse's reins, they exited the stable "She is a good steed, see the mark of her coat? She can take you far." Shang said once free of the stables. A scream sounded from within the fortress, horrid in its guttural screech. "Go now my Lor—" Shang's words died in his mouth as an explosion erupted at the first floor of the fortress, stone parted, breaking as easily as a clay vase, the window panels and the glass set in place erupted outwards with the stone. Three figures tumbled free of the eruption, tangled in the air, twisting with the fall. They landed, the woman on her feet, knees bent and a fist pressed to the ground, the other two guards lay insensate upon the ground, their bodies a mangled mess. Shang slapped the horse's hide and Shama took of in a gallop.
The Highlord turned back, watched as the woman rose free of the debri and charged Shang. The captain employed a form of Grind but the Highlord's view was hindered by a sharp turn around the cobblestones towards the gate of his fortress. The blood and bodies upon the ground unsettled the horse, forcing its pace to be more hurried and Shama was all the more grateful for it.
She has the Jojoh Meena! Shama thought with awe as the horse broke free of the fortress in a quick gallop that had him bouncing upon the saddle. His thighs felt the brunt force of his escape but he could do nothing but hold on for dear life. This is what I'm reduced to, at the end of the line dependency thrives, in old age your children are those you depend on. I never thought I'd come to rely on anyone throughout my life. Yet here I am, depending on a horse to save my skin. He turned his head back and heaved a sigh of relief. The fortress was dwindling within his periphery, he had made quick his escape. Shama will live to see another day. And when the sun rises and sets, I will bring judgment upon the woman whose very existence rivals my own. Masutap. I will hunt her, she will know no safety within the realm, she will never know peace or a good night's slee— Something unnerved him. There, at the entrance to the fortress, a figure appeared. Following the path charted by his horse. She hopes to outrun my horse? He tilted his head back and laughed. There is faith and delusion and she seems to be enamored by both. To think her capable of outrunning a horse. What a fool what a— His thoughts halted when he turned back, his mouth dropped, his jaw hanging loose. Masutap was catching up, he did not know how but she was gaining on him. She'd been a speck in the distance, barely visible against the backdrop of the fortress. But now her features were getting more defined and her limbs, they were a blur as she pushed forward with inhuman speed.
Panic drove Shama into action, he kicked his heels at the horse's flanks. Willing it to go faster. "Run you fool! Run!" He was frothing at the mouth as the horse went downhill, cutting his view of the one in pursuit. He gripped harder at the reins and screamed, slapping the horse's neck. He looked back to see Masutap emerge upon the hill and start a quick descent after him. He thought about guiding the horse into the wilderness and thought against it seeing that a gallop won't be possible with trees in the way. His only hope was in outpacing her for surely, even one with the Jojoh Meena must tire. He hoped Masutap would relent, he hoped her bloodlust would have proved sated by the guards who'd met their end by her. He hoped that he would live to see the sun climb into the sky one more time. Darkness was setting in and suddenly thoughts of the sun and it's warmth sprouted a yearning within him that made him weep. He turned his head back, she was a hundred paces away. The horse was tiring, it's gallop lazed in vigor. This is the end then, all those afternoons spent indoors hosting orgies. I should have spent them beneath the sun, I should have spent them in the sun He looked back once more, his horse barely keeping pace. The horse threw a shoe and Shama was flung off it. He tumbled onto the ground, his weight rested upon his twisted knee, the sharp pop of the joint led him into an anguished wail. The horse screamed, its fore limbs oddly twisted. The horse thrashed upon the ground and Shama rolled away. He felt weak, he felt defeated and most of all, he felt hopeless.
He lay there, watching the sky, the moon was up, barely half of it adorned the night. He wished it had been full, all those nights when he'd regarded the sky as one would a thing of no consequence. Now he found himself wishing he'd appreciated it more. In the end regrets rule the mind, for in its dying wails no sound of gratitude can be heard.
She came and stood above him, her face blocking the view of the sky. She breathed loudly and for a moment the only sounds around them were from the injured horse and her.
"Dahli will come for you." He opined despite the throbbing pain within his twisted leg.
"Shama, darling," Masutap said as she lowered herself to lie beside him. She chuckled. "Darling, that word. The Goddess Meena loves that word. She uses it a lot. I find it distasteful yet here I am. Calling you darling."
"I have not time for pleasantries." Shama interjected. "Cut my throat and be done with it."
Masutap sighed. "That's not a creative way to kill someone you know. No, how many women have suffered pain beneath you? I have to give answer to that and that means a show. I will drag you to your fortress, there I will strip you naked and castrate you. I will feed you your cock as the women whom you took advantage of watch. Then we'll douse you in Rankf Oil and set you alight."
Shama started weeping. And a new voice joined the fray, he wept, she heaved and the horse screamed.
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I’m making a RPG centered around universal settings. It can be any genre that the players’ desires. But I do have pre-made settings such as Urban Fantasy and Science Fantasy.
Now, I’m trying to choose what attribute would work for this character creation and its system. This game relies on rolling two d20s. This involves rolling over where modifiers are added or subtracted from the roll.
(1)
Heart - Mind Control/ Charm - Friendliness or Intimidation
Mind - Resist Mind Control or Psychic Attacks/ creating items or using tools/ Spellcasting ability (Faith)
Body - Raw Strength / Dexterous Hands/ Portion of health/ Resisting or dodging physical damage
Soul - Spellcasting ability (Mystical)/ Staying Calm/ Recalling Information
— or —-
(2)
Brawn (Strength)
Wits (Intelligence)
Deftness (Dexterity)
Endurance (Constitution)
Prudence (Wisdom)
Charm (Charisma)
—————-
These are my examples of stats for my game. Does less stats causes less problems when distinguishing between them or makes situations less intense due to the lack of variety?

I’m making a RPG centered around universal settings. It can be any genre that the players’ desires. But I do have pre-made settings such as Urban Fantasy and Science Fantasy.
Now, I’m trying to choose what attribute would work for this character creation and its system. This game relies on rolling two d20s. This involves rolling over where modifiers are added or subtracted from the roll.
(1)
Heart - Mind Control/ Charm - Friendliness or Intimidation
Mind - Resist Mind Control or Psychic Attacks/ creating items or using tools/ Spellcasting ability (Faith)
Body - Raw Strength / Dexterous Hands/ Portion of health/ Resisting or dodging physical damage
Soul - Spellcasting ability (Mystical)/ Staying Calm/ Recalling Information
— or —-
(2)
Brawn (Strength)
Wits (Intelligence)
Deftness (Dexterity)
Endurance (Constitution)
Prudence (Wisdom)
Charm (Charisma)
—————-
These are my examples of stats for my game. Does less stats causes less problems when distinguishing between them or makes situations less intense due to the lack of variety?

I grew up in the early 90’s, an annoying little vitamin deficient kid destined to be a failed cricketer. That being said, two generations of my family tried their hand at domestic cricket, and for all its worth, at least I’ve exchanged a few letters with Sachin Tendulkar. I began watching India-Pakistan games in these dusty Doordarshan/Box TV ridden 90’s, and before me my parents, grandparents all watched or interacted with India-Pakistan sports at some point (note that hockey was rather huge earlier, something today’s generation might not be able to compute). Of course, like everything else, things have progressed and declined in relative terms.
One of my father’s favorite batters was Zaheer Abbas, who in turn had great respect for Sunil Gavaskar, who in turn stayed in a neighboring building to ours during his younger days in Mumbai. He described his batting as pure class and ‘smooth flamboyance’, a term he also used for the wristy Gundappa Vishwanath. It’s fair to say Pakistan dominated the 80’s and 90’s, but one aberration was this game where we actually defended 125 at Sharjah — a venue that’s almost been a second home for Pakistan and hosted a bunch of great encounters — one can’t forget the last ball six by the steely-nerved Javed Miandad off Chetan Sharma. Miandad really embodied what we in Mumbai like to call ‘khadoos’; skill, yes, but tremendous gumption. Miandad was also truly box office gold, as seen here in this duel with Kiran More during the famous 1992 world cup.
I was born a day after Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup, and ever since, Pakistan hasn’t won an ODI world cup. If I had become a cricketer somehow, who knows, maybe this could’ve changed. Now that I’m much older I think only one of those things is possible, but sadly seeing the decline in the current Pakistan team I’m not sure when next they’ll do well in a serious longer format. More of this later.
Pakistan had a strong albeit mercurial team all along, but when I say strong I really mean it. Their bowlers didn’t need a particular surface and were skilled enough to make the red ball talk in most situations, a skill that later transferred into white ball as well. Such skill demands that 50-over cricket should have just one ball, I think two new balls have killed reverse swing. A battle hardened batting line-up, a great all rounder in Imran Khan, and a team that had a bunch of match winners throughout who needed some polishing but the talent that came from Pakistan was abundant.
The tournament that really got me into cricket was the 1996 World Cup; as a kid with the World Cup at home, a country sort of trying to find itself in the global sphere, a young Sachin smashing it around, and so on. While it ended in a nightmare for us with Sri Lanka being deserved winners, the pure drama of the 1996 quarter-final between India and Pakistan at Bengaluru was glorious. First Jadeja whacking Waqar Younis, then the Pakistani openers whacking our bowlers, Aamir Sohail sledging a lanky Venkatesh Prasad only to have his off-stump cartwheeling was just stunning. We didn’t watch it on YouTube, we saw it live in some humid cove of an apartment married by gossamer and aged electrical circuits.
On either side, we relished a couple of stylish left handed openers. Today we’re seeing a tournament play out in the US, but much before, 1997 had an electric series called Sahara Friendship Cup hosted by Toronto — ODI’s played with a red ball and overcast skies really cooking whatever transpired under. Sourav Ganguly took a bucket load of wickets, including a fifer, and also scored a lot of runs there. It was also the series of the infamous Inzamam incident where an Indian guy in the crowd fat shamed him and Inzamam chased to slam the guy. Speaking of chases, the Independence Cup final played in Dhaka, 1998, saw India chase an imposing 327/5 by Pakistan in with Ganguly scoring a century and Hrishikesh Kanitkar hitting the winning runs.
Personally however, the one batter that made me pull my hair out was Saeed Anwar. I hated how good he was, and why he always chose to hurt us was beyond me. A high, round backlift and deft timing but paired with an attacking gameplay — I don’t think the current crop of kids appreciate and understand the kind of players who have come before. An era where Jayasurya, Sachin, Anwar, Gilchrist were openers. Sigh. Of all of Anwar’s innings, he really peaked in his incredible 194 at Chennai, a venue where a year later an epic game was played out in the 1999 test series — here, Pakistan managing to pip the line in a grueling test match, an all time great fixture, where Sachin scored 136 in the fourth innings with an injured back and the Pakistan bowlers just kept at it, eventually India collapsing after Sachin and losing by 14 runs. Chepauk has a mural featuring that Pakistan team's lap of honour. Years later, Pakistan lost to Afghanistan at the same venue in the 2023 World Cup. Venues are neutral vessels that change to accommodate a team’s fortunes. In 1996 the Eden Gardens saw India’s World Cup exit with the crowd literally burning artifacts, in 2001 the same ground saw one of the greatest comeback test victories in history and sealed a new rivalry - India vs Australia. For Pakistan, Chepauk witnessed and honored their 1999 greatness, and in 2023, it hosted their long-brewing downfall.
Speaking of Eden Gardens, I remember this being the venue where I saw Shoaib Akhtar bowl for the first time. It was the Asian Test Championship and we had Pakistan on the mat at 30 off for 6 in the first innings, but they came back with the bat, and later Shoaib obliterated Dravid and Tendulkar’s stumps with back to back yorkers — yes, let that sink in, back to back. In the same game, Sachin was run out while colliding with the bowler, sparking the crowd's to go nuts. A young Shoaib was menacingly quick, came from a long run up and literally ran in with the crowd behind him, griffon like. Sachin or a Sehwag would take him on, a Dravid would calmy block it irritate him. I recall Shoaib clean-bowling Laxman a few times too. Balaji hit him for a six. Cricket had so much theater, and really this is missing from India-Pakistan clashes now. Today it seems more of social media and YouTube hype riding on artificial nostalgia, earlier there was no need to promote or make tacky adverts, the inherent talent and passion on either side made the game worthwhile and extraordinary.
There was plenty of theatrics, characters and phenomenal performances in this period, whether it being Pakistan’s regular Sharjah dominance that extended to other venues, the genius in Anil Kumble becoming the second person in cricket history to pick all ten wickets in an innings, and for some reason India winning the 1992, 1996 and 1999 World Cup games inspire of Pakistan having the stronger team (I still find it hard to comprehend this). The 1996 game also saw the end of Miandad, the 1999 one was played under tremendous pressure with the Kargil War in focus — my cousing uncle actually was in the army during this war and went missing in war for three months, only to return to an Indian base much later. As the 90’s receeded with war and India winning it, I think in cricket India started getting a little stronger bit by bit, and a new captain in Ganguly established a strong 2000’s decade for us. Pakistan, one felt, lost their best chance to win against India comprehensively in a World Cup post the 90’s. This was evident in 2003, a World Cup that India truly triumphed until the final, coming from behind the rankings and scaling new heights on South African soil — this tournament, in many ways, cemented India as a formidable all-round limited overs outfit and Sachin’s legendary 98 signaled a big shift in India’s mindset; this was also the last time we saw the greats Younis and Akram. (Once again, Anwar scored a century here. Damnit. Oh and Inzaman got run out, again).
It’s good to foray into Inzi and co here because soon after in 2004 India finally visited Pakistan (after, years? Someone tell me how many years, I’m unsure). And gosh, this was a legendary series on all fronts. There are far too many individual performers to list out — Sehwag, Inzaman, Yusuf, Sami, Yuvraj, Yasir, Pathan, Shoaib, Sachin, Dravid, Shabbir — just too many. The first ODI game in Karachi saw India score 349 (at one stage we were 175 odd in 20 overs) and Pakistan nearly chased it down with a fabulous century by Inzamam and Yousuf chipping in, losing by a mere five runs. Just outstanding. This was, in all fairness, one of the great bilateral series of all time. Can we actually forget Sehwag’s 309 though? Dravid’s 270 came here too. There’s also a strereotype of Pakistan producing great fast bowling talent; I think this has now waned a bit, but you need to watch this era and the previous 90’s/80’s to understand this, I recall a new Shabbir coming and running through our batting at Peshawar. Sami was quick and skiddy.
Post 2004, India and Pakistan played regular bilaterals until 2007 - a year where both teams had the worst possible World Cup campaign in the Caribbean. The 2005 series saw the birth of Dhoni, some fantastic games where Inzaman, Afridi and company dominated to give Pakistan a series victory in India. I still recall the frenetic destruction of Afridi’s century in Kanpur. I also recall a long-haired Dhoni’s 148 in Vishakapatnam, a legend that later would win hearts across the border in 2006. In Mohali, Pakistan pulled off an epic drawn test that India looked to seal, India won in Kolkata and Pakistan bounced back to win in Bengaluru with Younis Khan once again batting like a dream. Younis was so good when he made 267 that it’s hard to describe in a few words alone. It’s disorienting to see Sri Lanka, Pakistan and even West Indies not have those classy middle order batters anymore, almost feels like a previous lifetime in many ways.
In 2006, India visited Pakistan and won the ODIs. It almost seemed like whichever team played at home played a little worse under pressure, an exception being the same 2006 test series where the first two tests where played on docile batting tracks and helped record breaking opening partnerships to dwell, however, in the third Karachi test things got spicy — Irfan picked up a hat-trick in the first over, then Pakistan staged a comeback with the bat, India reached parity, Pakistan made an enormous third innings score and India crumbled to lose in the fourth innings with Mohammad Asif bowling splendidly (a narrative similar to the 1998 Kolkata test). If Asif hadn’t gone down the dark path, he would’ve probably been an all time great with his rare skill level. I don’t think today’s Pakistani bowlers have that similar intimidating versatility but instead are effective in short bursts at best.
The 2007 series in India in my opinion didn’t match up to the previous ones, albeit some great matches in the test series; the ODIs were pretty much India all along with Yuvraj-Dhoni-Raina becoming a solid middle order and Sachin famously scoring an entire portfolio of nervous 90’s. If only Sachin had held his nerve, he would’ve probably finished with another twenty international centuries and a bunch of them in winning causes. That being said, Sachin scoring match winning 90’s against Pakistan is a sub-genre by itself. In 2007, the third test saw an extraordinary partnership between Yuvraj and Ganguly; Ganguly, now older, probably reaching his end and scoring a rare long ton - a 235 - counter attacking with Yuvraj and upending the game.
But in 2007 something else fell. Both teams lost the ODI world cup and new toy called the T20 World Cup came about. The seniors opted out and a maverick Dhoni took a young squad to South Africa and scaled the peak. En route India played some astonishing cricket and the two tightest games came against Pakistan — in the league stage where a flaky Sreesanth actually defended a low amount against a monk-like Misbah leading to a super over, which, unlike today was more of a penalty shoot out. India won by hitting the stumps and Pakistan missed it. But nothing came close to that final, the knockout specialist Gautam Gambhir in his element, Umar Gul killing it, Pakistan going ahead only to be pulled b behind by Irfan Pathan and then the most cinematic last over in history where Misbah almost won it only to lost it all. Joginder Sharma will be known for a lot of things but will always be this first - a world cup winner.
Interestingly, India’s always had the lid on Pakistan in world cups but Pakistan have done well in Champions Trophies. 2004, they won in a gloomy Edgbaston. At the Centurion in 2009, they won again, with a great century by Malik and a teenager Amir dismissing Sachin. Eventually though, the 2017 Champions Trophy final where a young Fakhar Zaman blasted India after surviving a no-ball dismissal and Mohammad Amir running through India’s openers meant Pakistan’s best mercurial avatar turned up on the big day. One felt this resounding 180-run victory would help Pakistan return to former glory, but soon after in the 2018 Asia Cup and 2019 World Cup Pakistan were back to being sub-par, failing to bowl out oppositions, to build partnerships and lacking an overall control in their game. While Sarfaraz wasn’t the best batter, I always felt he had his heart in the right place and thought about the team first. His captaincy ushered in a few important players like Babar, Shadab and more who continue to be mainstays. I feel now that Sarfaraz was the last good captain Pakistan has had in recent times.
The 2010’s saw an interesting shift again. India won the 2011 World Cup with a generational team, one that they can possible never recreate, only the 2023 team comes close. From all the world cups, I felt the 2011 semi final clash was the most balanced India-Pakistan clash in a long time. Sachin being dropped an unlimited number of times, Ajmal still fuming over a missed DRS, Misbah once more taking it deep, Raina rescuing us, Wahab bowling a dream spell and India’s pacers keeping their cool — India were ready to win the cup after this game, and they did. In 2012's Asia Cup, Sachin nearing the end of his career, was dismissed early in a game against Pakistan and Kohli took it through with a stunning 183 signaled a baton passing — we now entered the Kohli era, and Kohli is probably the deepest thorn for Pakistan’s team today. This, friends, is how we felt about Anwar and Inzamam once. Even Miandad.
The Virat Kohli era also saw a parallel rise in Rohit Sharma, Dhawan, India’s bowling attack and the overall system strengthening. IPL truly became a stronghold, and while India never won a T20 World Cup since its initiation, they established a factory of sorts to churn out millions and good players coming through the domestic ranks. By 2015 India met Pakistan in Adelaide, and Kohli had arrived — an articulate century. Post 2013, India’s struggle was no longer to be a good team or challenge oppositions, it was existential; we now dominate the league stages only to falter in knockouts. 2015 started this trend and it’s a telling feature till today. This is many ways opposite to Pakistan, a team that slowly declined over the decade; while I’m not sure why and how, but the general skill level and ‘readiness’ of the players is lower than previous generations. We were now seeing more of T20 specialists with shortened stamina, a Pakistani team lacking the mindset and endurance for longer formats, and an occasional test specialist every now and then. It didn’t happen overnight but in phases, but post that 2019 World Cup I’ve been seeing it get stronger. As for Kohli and India, an intense T20WC 2016 derby in Kolkata, and a comprehensive 2018 Asia Cup outing against their neighbors sat on either side of the 2017 CT defeat.

The contrasting fortunes of teams also complimented the overall growing skill gap. This probably also was a reflection of the nations in general. World cups is where we met now, no bilateral. On cricketing terms, it went from being an old rivalry to India being the stronger unit now, a total role reversal of the 90’s. In 2019. Rohit Sharma hammered the Pakistani attack and probably missed out on another double century and Kuldeep dismissed Babar and Fakhar once more, while Pakistan eventually didn’t make it past the group stage once again. I was galavanting in Europe and missed the rest of the World Cup, which saved me from the trauma of the semi final and the magnificence of the final.
COVID comes in 2020, and Pakistan being one of the few active teams in this period maybe gave Babar and Co more eyeballs. By 2021, India’s captaincy is in disarray and a tired, clueless team showed up as favorites in Dubai only to be steamrolled by a more awake Pakistani team. I give Shaheen the credit for that victory, exposing India’s batting, while Babar and Rizwan chased down a below-par score without losing any wickets. One felt that, like 2017, could this be a moral boost that propelled Pakistan to the top, a sort of renaissance? Probably not, as we come to learn from subsequent results. Kohli’s captaincy also saw its end, but India had already built a strong pace bowling unit and overall deep squad with a vastly stable system. The 2021 victory was probably the most unlikely win when you compare the teams on paper, then again T20 is the funniest of all three formats.

T20, is then, where Pakistan found a way to compete because ODIs seemed and continue to seem a bridge too far. The 2000’s were a distant dream. The late 2020’s are where India continues to build strong reserves for the future while Pakistan seems to be going downhill. While India suffers on selection and big game mindset, Pakistan’s overall lack of depth and reluctance to change ways now leaves their success to conditions, chance and other team’s fortunes in big tournaments. And while the gap is widened in ODIs, more even in tests (a format which, mind you, the current generation hasn’t played in), T20 is a sort of final domain for Pakistan to compete. In recent clashes, they’ve done pretty well and India has underperformed. In 2003 we saw Sachin, and in 2022, we saw Kohli.
Kohli’s emperor-like innings at Melbourne has become one of the milestones of India-Pakistan clashes. The shot against Haris Rauf is quite easily one of the greatest shots ever. But on careful analysis, this match also offers certain cues — Pakistan needs to be in a range of 150-160 in a bowling friendly environment to come close or win. In certain situations, India suffered from previous mental scars. Both India and Pakistan’s bowlers fail to close out games more often than not, and such,.
Come 2023 and India are resounding favorites to win the ODI World Cup at home, but this wasn’t the case leading to the tournament, until the Asia Cup happened. A few weeks prior, the Asia Cup had Pakistan as the number one ranked team. India staged a comeback after being 66 off for 4 in their first game against Pakistan before it rained out, but the real mental blow was in the next game when Shubhman Gill and Rohit Sharma cut into Pakistan’s bowling and later Kohli and KL made centuries, sending India to 356/2 before the bowling destroyed Pakistan, giving India the biggest victory in terms of runs on either side. Pakistan never really recovered from this in my opinion, while India sort of remembered to wake up. Come Ahmedabad in October, Pakistan is batting first and collapses from 155/2 to 190 odd and handed India an easy win. Rohit Sharma’s dominating batting seemed to further hammer into the Pakistani psyche, and Babar’s overall defensive captaincy and poor strategy meant Pakistan had their worst World Cup campaign, losing even to Afghanistan. With 2023, the divide between Pakistan and India’s overall cricket has widened a fair bit.
This of course, will disappoint not just the old-timer Pakistani fan but even a general cricket fan like me. I will always want to watch India win, but I’d rather witness a 2004 or 2006 series rather than the easy games that happen now. Barring a couple of T20 games, there is an overall imbalance. In 2021, the Pakistanis briefly managed to get back into the head of India’s batsmen and this was obvious when they faced off again in 2022 with Rohit and KL meekly defending an injured Shaheen bowling full tosses at 130km/hr. This was reversed in 2023, and while we’re aware of the difference in formats, the lack of cricket between both nations means the overall perception and recency in experience is a greater point of consideration.

Pakistan could’ve played the 2023 WTC final if they had played, well, better. I can’t recall a Pakistani test team losing so easily at home. Even in T20s, their best format, Pakistan is stronger in situations but fail to be consistent or dominate in a more contemporary style of play. While it’s fair to blame Babar’s captaincy in more cases than one, I really don’t understand what’s happening in the overall system for Pakistan to have reached this point.
And for India, where we stand now, the rivalry has moved to Australia. I’ll take you back to the Eden Gardens and that unbelievable follow-on victory. The sheer competitiveness and thrill of a Border Gavaskar Trophy is on par with the Ashes, in some cases like 2020-21 even greater. The India-Pakistan rivalry used to be one of equals, a colosseum of characters fighting it out, performances that could be etched forever; this wasn’t in cricket but also in hockey and other sports. Akram almost dismissing Sachin and yelling ‘catch it’ only for Razzaq to drop it. Harbhajan dismissing Afridi. Wahab Riaz bowling a steaming yorker to uproot Yuvraj in a semi final. Such moments seem to be distant in a sense, maybe the occasional T20 brings a few. The new Pakistan lacks the characters and genuine legendary nature of the previous squads. For some reason, I don't know which new Pakistan player I must be excited to see -- is there a new Razzaq or Akhtar for instance? Will there be another elegant session-by-session batter like Younis?
I used to wake up to watch Shoaib steaming in at the WACA in the morning. I enjoyed Yousuf whacking an ODI-style Boxing Day hundred. Inzamam always seemed to have that extra second. Somehow I don’t feel the same now. In contrast when I see India’s youngsters come through the ranks — Pant at the Gabba, Jurel in Ranchi, Jaiswal against Anderson, Kuldeep doing what he does — I think the gap between both teams will get wider in the future.
Looking at that Nassau pitch, I don't know what will happen on June 9th, but seeing the venue, once again Pakistan is definitely in the game with their bowling. Pacers, to be specific. But the batting might be severely exposed. I also don’t know what’s going to happen in a couple of hours; at the time of writing this I’m sitting in a cafe and Pakistan is suddenly 26/3 against USA. They’ve lost to lesser teams more often these days. Well let’s hope it’s a decent game, and for the sake of cricket, we have some former glory of the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Pakistan restored.
Special shoutout to some cricket regulars with Pak flairs who've often engaged in banter during these clashes : u/theGhostofCamus , u/phaintaa_Shoaib , u/Ghostly_100 , u/Stuff2511 , u/StraightUpHaram , u/theonlychicken from the top of my head but there are many, many more. Also is the legend robelinda still on Reddit? Doubt if he made this far down in the post eitherway, haha.
Edit: Pakistan eventually lost against the USA. Well. It's anyone's guess now. Only luck or some freak results can get Pakistan out of this hole, the team seems jaded. That being said, it's a tight format and it's anyone's game. If this was ODI, as we've seen, it would've been too much.
I'm also aware I've missed out on a ton of games, events, clashes over the years but it'll probably be a book if I include it all. Cheers.

High Sodium Intake Linked to Greater Risk for Eczema

Doug Brunk
In a study of adults, an increase of 1 g in estimated 24-hour urinary sodium excretion was associated with an 11% higher odds of an atopic dermatitis (AD) diagnosis, a 16% higher odds of having active AD, and an 11% higher odds of increased severity of AD.
Those are key findings from a cross-sectional analysis of data from the United Kingdom.
"Excessive dietary sodium, common in fast food, may be associated with AD," corresponding author Katrina Abuabara, MD, MA, MSCE, and colleagues wrote in the study, which was published online on June 5, 2024, in JAMA Dermatology. They referred to recent research using sodium MRI, which showed that "the majority of the body's exchangeable sodium is stored in the skin and that skin sodium is associated with autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions, including AD." And in another study published in 2019, lesional skin sodium was 30-fold greater in patients with AD than in healthy controls.
To investigate whether there is an association between higher levels of sodium consumption and AD prevalence, activity, and severity at the population level, Abuabara, of the program for clinical research in the Department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, and coauthors drew from the UK Biobank, a population-based cohort of more than 500,000 individuals aged 37-73 years at the time of recruitment by the National Health Service. The primary exposure was 24-hour urinary sodium excretion, which was calculated by using the INTERSALT equation, a sex-specific estimation that incorporates body mass index; age; and urine concentrations of potassium, sodium, and creatinine. The primary study outcome was AD or active AD based on diagnostic and prescription codes from linked electronic medical records. The researchers used multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, Townsend deprivation index, and education to measure the association.
Of the 215,832 Biobank participants included in the analysis, 54% were female, their mean age was 57 years, 95% were White, their mean estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion was 3.01 g/d, and 10,839 (5%) had a diagnosis of AD. The researchers observed that on multivariable logistic regression, a 1-g increase in estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion was associated with increased odds of AD (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.11; 95% CI, 1.07-1.14), increased odds of active AD (AOR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.05-1.28), and increased odds of increasing severity of AD (AOR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.07-1.15).

Validating Results With US Data

To validate the findings, the researchers evaluated a cohort of 13,014 participants from the US-based National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), using pooled data from the 1999-2000, 2001-2002, and 2003-2004 samples. Of the 13,014 participants, 796 reported current AD, and 1493 reported AD in the past year. The mean dietary sodium intake of overall NHANES participants estimated with 24-hour dietary recall questionnaires was 3.45 g, with a mean of 3.47 g for those with current AD and a mean of 3.44 g for those without AD.
The researchers observed that a 1-g/d higher dietary sodium intake was associated with a higher risk for current AD (AOR, 1.22; 95%CI, 1.01-1.47) and a somewhat higher risk for AD in the past year (AOR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.97-1.35).
"Future work should examine whether variation of sodium intake over time might trigger AD flares and whether it helps to explain heterogeneity in response to new immunomodulatory treatments for AD," the authors wrote. "Reduced sodium intake was recommended as a treatment for AD more than a century ago, but there have yet to be studies examining the association of dietary sodium reduction with skin sodium concentration or AD severity," they added. Noting that sodium reduction "has been shown to be a cost-effective intervention for hypertension and other cardiovascular disease outcomes," they said that their data "support experimental studies of this approach in AD."
They acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including the fact that a single spot urine sample was used in the UK Biobank cohort, "which only captures dietary intake of the last 24 hours and is not the best measure of usual or long-term intake of sodium." They also noted that the findings may not be generalizable to other populations and that AD was based on self-report in the NHANES validation cohort.
Adam Friedman, MD, professor and chair of dermatology at George Washington University, Washington, DC, who was asked to comment on the results, said the study by Abuabara and colleagues "gives us another reason to avoid salt, showing that 1 g/d of higher salt intake increases the risk of AD in an adult population and more severe AD."
He added that, "Now, can you say that reducing salt intake will have a therapeutic effect or clinically relevant impact? No. [That is] certainly worth exploring but at a minimum, gives some more credibility to keeping it bland."
The study was supported by a grant from the Medical Student in Aging Research Program, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Eczema Association. Abuabara reported receiving research funding for her institution from Pfizer and Cosmetique Internacional/La Roche-Posay and consulting fees from Target RWE, Sanofi, Nektar, and Amgen. No other disclosures were reported. Friedman had no relevant disclosures.
High Sodium Intake Linked to Greater Risk for EczemaDoug Brunk
In a study of adults, an increase of 1 g in estimated 24-hour urinary sodium excretion was associated with an 11% higher odds of an atopic dermatitis (AD) diagnosis, a 16% higher odds of having active AD, and an 11% higher odds of increased severity of AD.
Those are key findings from a cross-sectional analysis of data from the United Kingdom.
"Excessive dietary sodium, common in fast food, may be associated with AD," corresponding author Katrina Abuabara, MD, MA, MSCE, and colleagues wrote in the study, which was published online on June 5, 2024, in JAMA Dermatology. They referred to recent research using sodium MRI, which showed that "the majority of the body's exchangeable sodium is stored in the skin and that skin sodium is associated with autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions, including AD." And in another study published in 2019, lesional skin sodium was 30-fold greater in patients with AD than in healthy controls.
To investigate whether there is an association between higher levels of sodium consumption and AD prevalence, activity, and severity at the population level, Abuabara, of the program for clinical research in the Department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, and coauthors drew from the UK Biobank, a population-based cohort of more than 500,000 individuals aged 37-73 years at the time of recruitment by the National Health Service. The primary exposure was 24-hour urinary sodium excretion, which was calculated by using the INTERSALT equation, a sex-specific estimation that incorporates body mass index; age; and urine concentrations of potassium, sodium, and creatinine. The primary study outcome was AD or active AD based on diagnostic and prescription codes from linked electronic medical records. The researchers used multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, Townsend deprivation index, and education to measure the association.
Of the 215,832 Biobank participants included in the analysis, 54% were female, their mean age was 57 years, 95% were White, their mean estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion was 3.01 g/d, and 10,839 (5%) had a diagnosis of AD. The researchers observed that on multivariable logistic regression, a 1-g increase in estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion was associated with increased odds of AD (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.11; 95% CI, 1.07-1.14), increased odds of active AD (AOR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.05-1.28), and increased odds of increasing severity of AD (AOR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.07-1.15).
Validating Results With US Data
To validate the findings, the researchers evaluated a cohort of 13,014 participants from the US-based National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), using pooled data from the 1999-2000, 2001-2002, and 2003-2004 samples. Of the 13,014 participants, 796 reported current AD, and 1493 reported AD in the past year. The mean dietary sodium intake of overall NHANES participants estimated with 24-hour dietary recall questionnaires was 3.45 g, with a mean of 3.47 g for those with current AD and a mean of 3.44 g for those without AD.
The researchers observed that a 1-g/d higher dietary sodium intake was associated with a higher risk for current AD (AOR, 1.22; 95%CI, 1.01-1.47) and a somewhat higher risk for AD in the past year (AOR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.97-1.35).
"Future work should examine whether variation of sodium intake over time might trigger AD flares and whether it helps to explain heterogeneity in response to new immunomodulatory treatments for AD," the authors wrote. "Reduced sodium intake was recommended as a treatment for AD more than a century ago, but there have yet to be studies examining the association of dietary sodium reduction with skin sodium concentration or AD severity," they added. Noting that sodium reduction "has been shown to be a cost-effective intervention for hypertension and other cardiovascular disease outcomes," they said that their data "support experimental studies of this approach in AD."
They acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including the fact that a single spot urine sample was used in the UK Biobank cohort, "which only captures dietary intake of the last 24 hours and is not the best measure of usual or long-term intake of sodium." They also noted that the findings may not be generalizable to other populations and that AD was based on self-report in the NHANES validation cohort.
Adam Friedman, MD, professor and chair of dermatology at George Washington University, Washington, DC, who was asked to comment on the results, said the study by Abuabara and colleagues "gives us another reason to avoid salt, showing that 1 g/d of higher salt intake increases the risk of AD in an adult population and more severe AD."
He added that, "Now, can you say that reducing salt intake will have a therapeutic effect or clinically relevant impact? No. [That is] certainly worth exploring but at a minimum, gives some more credibility to keeping it bland."
The study was supported by a grant from the Medical Student in Aging Research Program, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Eczema Association. Abuabara reported receiving research funding for her institution from Pfizer and Cosmetique Internacional/La Roche-Posay and consulting fees from Target RWE, Sanofi, Nektar, and Amgen. No other disclosures were reported. Friedman had no relevant disclosures.

They look for excuses to expand their power and influence. And when an excuse does not readily exist, they create one.
The Façade
Recent history confirms this. Let's review several cases over the last 130 years in chronological order.
■ At the end of the 19th century, the US wanted to expand its sphere of influence. In 1898, they sabotaged one of their own battleships, the USS Maine, in the harbour of Havana, Cuba, blaming it on the Spanish. US newspapers built the case for war, which was viewed as a pretext even at that time, as represented in the movie Citizen Kane.
From https://www.workers.org/2022/04/63411/ :
"A declassified CIA document written March 13, 1962, outlines Operation Northwoods, a plan for a U.S. attack on Cuba following its 1959 Revolution: (tinyurl.com/2p9cj7ek)
On page 11, during an outline of false-flag tactics, the CIA directly uses the phrase “a ‘Remember the Maine’ incident”, and follows with plans to intentionally blow up a U.S. ship to start a desired “war on communism”. Our revolutionary comrades in Cuba hold as official history that the 1898 incident was a planned, false-flag operation."
As a result of the sinking of the USS Maine, the US gained a port in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and control of the Philippines, a new foothold in the Orient. Note the theme... a covert act by government used as an excuse for war, and using the media to spread misinformation to gain public support.
■ Next example, WW1. England wanted to draw the US into the war for some badly needed support. So Winston Churchill, who was serving as First Lord of the British Admiralty, created the excuse the US needed to justify joining the war.
The English Channel was swarming with German submarines (U-boats), attacking British shipping. The British implemented shipping by convoy under protection of British warships. But on May 7, 1915, Churchill called-off naval protection for the RMS Lusitania, a British commercial liner with 123 Americans onboard, which was subsequently sunk by the Germans. "A ship sacrificed. Her innocent passengers, pawns in a cruel new era." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0X01_RGcNE / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH11zZlppRY
The sinking turned American public opinion against Germany, and contributed to US entry into the war. "Remember the Lusitania" became a rallying cry repeated in the papers.
■ Next example, WW2. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the day Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, a sequence of intelligence and messaging failures sealed the base's fate.
Prior to the attack: "Radio communications intelligence 'lost' the location of Japanese carriers." "Kimmel did not inform Short." "Washington issued 'War Warning' messages." "Anti-aircraft guns to protect Pearl Harbor were not deployed or had their ammunition locked up. No fighters were ready to engage a Japanese attack."
The morning of the attack: Japanese submarine periscope sightings, dismissed. A huge wave of aircraft blips on radar, dismissed. Nervous phone calls from radar operators, dismissed. One desperate message was found "balled-up in a trash can". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_warning_of_Pearl_Harbor_attack / https://www.nationalww2museum.org/waarticles/pearl-harbor-missed-tactical-warnings
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was not a "false-flag" event; it indeed happened, and Japan was indeed the perpetrator. But such readiness failures despite warnings give me the impression it was made just too easy for them, that the gate was left open.
Was Japan baited or lured into attacking Pearl Harbor by suggestions, whether private or public, that the American public did not want war, and the US government would simply cede territories in the Pacific? This theory has been in circulation since the war. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pearl-Harbor-and-the-Back-Door-to-War-Theory-1688287
Whatever the cause, the US government got what it wanted... a reason to join the war.
■ Next example, sabotage proposals: The US Department of Defense proposed "Operation Northwoods" (cited in the 1st example above) to President Kennedy in 1962, outlining a number of "false flag" missions to make it seem the US had been attacked by Cuba. The proposal suggested the US government engage in "acts of terrorism against American military and civilian targets, blame them on the Cuban government, ... to justify a war against Cuba." Among the proposed acts of sabotage were shooting down a remote controlled aircraft painted as a US Air Force plane, blowing up an American ship (described above), and orchestrating acts of terrorism in US cities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
Other proposals: "Create an incident which has the appearance of an attack on US facilities in Cuba"; covert attacks on British Commonwealth member states Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago to "incite the people of the United Kingdom into supporting a war against Castro"; and "bribe one of Castro's subordinate commanders to initiate an attack" against US Navy base Guantanamo. All such proposals were flatly rejected by President Kennedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mongoose
■ Next example, Vietnam War. On August 2, 1964, US forces carrying out amphibious operations off the coast of North Vietnam were confronted by North Vietnamese troops. On August 4th, the US claimed it was attacked by North Vietnam. On August 7th, US Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave newly installed President Johnson (less than one year after Kennedy was assassinated) legal justification to enter the Vietnam civil war.
But as Wikipedia explains: "Later investigation revealed that the second attack never happened." "The National Security Agency, an agency of the US Defense Department, had deliberately skewed intelligence to create the impression that an attack had been carried out." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
The US weapons industry had been wanting another war since the Korean War ended in 1953. But President Kennedy wasn't cooperating. When Kennedy was conveniently taken out of the way, Johnson got what he always wanted - the Presidency, while US weapons manufacturers got what they wanted - war.
■ Next example, US involvement in Iran-Iraq war 1980-88. In 1978-79, Iran’s religious revolution overthrew Iran’s king, the Shah of Iran. The new religious regime in Iran confiscated the oil fields and facilities of US oil companies operating in Iran.
The US oil barons called on the US government to get their oil fields back, citing US interests in controlling global oil flows. The US wasted no time attacking Iran immediately following the revolution, but not directly. Instead, the US backed the forces of Iraq in what became the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
■ Next example, 1^st Gulf War 1991. By the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, the US had not been able to orchestrate Iran’s downfall, and thus had not been able to retake the oil fields it had lost in Iran. The US decided it needed to put its own troops in the Middle East and finish the job against Iran themselves.
But the US needed an excuse to station US troops in the Middle East close to Iran. So it created another pretext, making Iraq believe the US would not interfere in Iraq’s plans to invade Kuwait.
“On the 24 July [1990], U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Margaret Tutwiler, told journalists, "We do not have any defense treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait.[10]" On the 25 July, Saddam Hussein held a meeting with American diplomat April Glaspie. During the interview, April said, "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait," and, "We should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not associated with America.[11]" Some historians believe that these comments represented an unwitting green light of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationale_for_the_Gulf_War
On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. On January 16, 1991, the US launched Operation Desert Strom against Iraq in what is now called the 1^st Gulf War.
■ Next example, 911. I know, I know. People have been refuting a US cover-up since day 1. I'm not going to sidetrack into that debate here. All I will say is... both Trade Center towers and the Pentagon had been recently renovated, the work of which is difficult to ascertain and still secret. Everything else has already been extensively debated on the web; I'll just leave it there.
The main question concerning 911 has always been, "Would US agencies commit acts of terrorism against their own cities as a pretext for war?" Given the scenarios presented in operations Northwoods and Mongoose cited above, the answer to that question is, "Yes."
For more evidence that 911 was a planned American operation, see my other post: https://www.reddit.com/conspiracy_posts/comments/1daih25/warnings_of_911_in_back_to_the_future/
■ Next example, false claim of WMD in Iraq. In late 2002, US intelligence presented grainy satellite images of what appeared to be military trucks and supply depots in Iraq. They claimed the trucks and depots hid weapons of mass destruction. Congress gave the military permission to attack Iraq, which it did in March 2003. And behold... there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
David Kay, Head of Iraq Survey Group, later blamed the false claim on "a lack of human agents inside Iraq in the months before the war", and "analysts being under pressure to draw conclusions". https://www.sipri.org/commentary/essay/2023/twenty-years-ago-iraq-ignoring-expert-weapons-inspectors-proved-be-fatal-mistake
What did the US get out of 911 and the false WMD claim? Excuses to invade Afghanistan and Iraq... neither country of which ever had any involvement with 911.
The official reason for entering Afghanistan was to capture Osama Bin Laden. Yet after OBL was killed in 2011, the US remained in Afghanistan until 2021. Why did the US remain in Afghanistan for an additional 10 years? Because Afghanistan borders Iran.
■ Iran has always been the principal target of interest. The US oil barons have been eyeing Iran since its religious revolution of 1978-79, which confiscated the properties and facilities of US oil companies operating there.
The US wasted no time attacking Iran immediately following the revolution, backing Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. But the US realized it wasn't going to get Iran without direct US involvement. 911 and the false WMD claim gave the US excuses to plant troops on either side of Iran - in Iraq on the west, and Afghanistan on the east.
After removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq in 2003, the US remained there, fighting groups backed by Iran. This was followed by the conflict in Syria starting in 2011 and still ongoing, with the West fighting Iranian-backed groups there as well.
From the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, to post-Hussein Iraq, to Syria from 2011 onward, the US has been engaged in a 40-year proxy war against Iran. What has been only a proxy war until now is poised to turn into a direct conflict soon, as tensions between Israel and Iran continue to escalate.
The Rehearsal
Preparations for war require more than just fabricating excuses, but also conditioning the population. This includes spreading misinformation, controlling the judiciary, and displaying intimidating force. Trump's presidency worked on all three.
Trump's term in office was a dress rehearsal in spreading misinformation and manipulating the news, principally through Fox News and a large number of conservative talk shows across the country.
"Fox News has been described by academics, media figures, political figures, and watchdog groups as being biased in favor of the Republican Party in its news coverage, as perpetuating conservative bias, and as misleading their audience in relation to science, notably climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_controversies
Additional charges against Fox News include spreading misinformation regarding the 2020 election results.
The paper "What is Fox News? Partisan Journalism, Misinformation, and the Problem of Classification" - a collaborative work by several university academics - questions "the idea that Fox should be considered a news source in the first place, claiming it should be considered something more akin to propaganda". https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/19312431211060426
Trump's presidency was also a dress rehearsal in influencing the judiciary, filling the courts with loyalists to promote the group's causes, including overthrowing Roe v Wade. This will come in handy when the time comes to suspend other rights and freedoms, including the constitution.
Then came COVID. That was a dress rehearsal to practice locking down entire countries, suspending rights and freedoms en masse.
They also practiced displaying force by mobilizing militias and gun activist groups behind the insurrection of Janurary 6, 2021, intimidating voters at election sites, and shooting at protestors. They even practiced defending their obedient shooters, ie: the shooter who showed up at a protest rally with a full-sized rifle, killed a protestor, and was later exonerated on grounds of self-defense. What a joke.
The Actors
So what's next? They're already working on their excuse for WW3 in the Middle East. Look at what's happening in Israel and Palestine. And now they have a new excuse for US presence in the Persian Gulf - attacks on shipping. Attacks against shipping in the region have been occurring for decades. Why are they reacting so strongly now when they didn't before? Because both these conflicts allow the US to strike at Iranian allies: Hamas in Palestine, and the Houthi in Yemen.
I'm not saying atrocities should be ignored. I am asking why the West focuses on some atrocities and not others. There are plenty of atrocities taking place in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in which the US never gets involved. But when anything happens that gets their troops close to Iran, they're there.
The West has been fighting Iran in one arena after another ever since the Iranian revolution. The recent conflicts in Palestine and the Persian Gulf are just the latest excuses to position forces in the Middle East. They've been there since 1980, and will remain there until they are ready to attack Iran directly. It will be an allied invasion, composed of the US, the UK, Israel and Russia (which borders Iran to the north).
Russia is allied with this "group" we've been talking about here. Recall the glowing accolades Trump showered on Putin. Recall the assistance Russia gave to Trump in the 2016 election. https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyberussian-interference-in-2016-u-s-elections
Trump even asked the Russians to find Hillary Clinton's emails. Why would Trump ask Russia to find US government emails unless he knew they were hacking US government computers? Why ask Russia and not US law enforcement? Why Russia and not another country? Because Trump knew Russia would help him. https://www.pbs.org/newshoupolitics/trump-asked-russia-to-find-clintons-emails-on-or-around-the-same-day-russians-targeted-her-accounts / https://www.vox.com/2020/9/29/21493319/trump-russia-if-youre-listening-comments-rewrite-history
Recall also how Trump kept denouncing NATO, challenging it, threatening to withdraw the US from it, weakening it from within. The intent was to make it easier for Putin to take Ukraine and other former Soviet territories in Eastern Europe. Had Trump won in 2020, Putin would have been free to achieve his ultimate objective of rebuilding the USSR. All handed to Putin in exchange for helping Trump get elected, and for Russia's participation in the up-coming war against Iran. Fathom that. After all the effort Ronald Reagan put into dismantling the Soviet Union, Trump would help Putin rebuild it.
Notice too how Koch Industries, the 2nd largest private company in America with over $125 billion in annual revenue, refuses to observe US sanctions against Russia, and has continued doing business in Russia. The Koch brothers have also refused to denounce Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Koch's ties with Russia go back to the 1930's, where their father, Fred C. Koch, made fortunes building oil refineries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_C._Koch
Today, Koch Industries engages in a range of industrial enterprises. A severe polluter of the environment, Koch Industries finances misinformation denying climate change, buying political influence to fight environmental legislation. The brothers' political influence supporting conservative politicians and conservative think tanks has been described as "overwhelming". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Brothers_Exposed
President Eisenhower identified another player pushing the world toward war, which he called "the military-industrial complex", a cluster of industries that benefit from war. They need war to clear-out their inventories so they can produce more weapons. They prosper from armed conflict, and thus influence politicians to pursue war. As Eisenhower warned in his farewell address to his nation, "We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists." https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-dwight-d-eisenhowers-farewell-address
Another major actor in this drama is big-oil, which benefitted from US control of Iraq and its oil fields, and is salivating over the prospect of regaining control of Iranian oil fields. And big-pharma, which benefitted from government money for COVID vaccines, but then refused "to waive intellectual property rights and share vaccine technology" with developing countries, "fuelling an unprecedented human rights crisis". https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/new-report-shows-leading-covid-19-vaccine-pharma-companies-fuelling-unprecedented-human-rights-crisis
And who else belongs to this cast but Elon Musk, who not only defended Putin's invasion, but also cut-off Starlink's satellite service in Ukraine to prevent Ukraine's military from launching satellite-guided missiles to defend themselves against Russian attacks.
Not all conservatives belong to this malicious group; the vast majority do not. The conservative camp has become divided into two broad clans: the “middle-right” and “far-right”. I use “clans” because the two groups do not get along.
The middle-right are reasonable, cooperative, respectful of the law, devoted to the order of government, and committed to building the nation for the benefit of all its citizens.
The far-right, though, are radical in their dealings. They are divisive, they lie profusely, they incite violence, they threaten other members of congress, they are disruptive to orderly government and international cooperation, they do not know the meaning of "compromise" which is essential to keeping the nation united, they are unreasonable.
The “directors” of this drama are from this far-right clan. These directors manipulate the actors from behind the scenes. They put the various actors on stage and in the spotlight to sway and stir the audience, while they themselves hide behind the curtains. The script they follow has been decades in the making, and is about to reach its climax.
The Script
All this until now has been in preparation for what is to come, regardless of who wins the next US election or any election after it. Remember, political leaders are only figureheads. They are just servants providing this group of directors with important services, and to sway the public to support their causes.
When they are ready to launch their plans for World War 3, something will happen (real or faked - perhaps a radioactive "dirty bomb" detonation on US soil) that will prompt another lockdown similar to the one we "practiced" under COVID. Only this time, it will last much, much longer. The freedom of the press will be suspended, and so will the constitution. Our freedoms will be removed again, but this time it may be permanent.
If you throw a piece of wood into the water, it will rise to the surface. But if you sink that wood deep enough under water, it will not rise up anymore. Why? Because the water pressure grows more powerful the deeper you go. The weight of the water prevents the wood from rising up. This is why pieces of shipwrecks stay on the ocean floor.
Civilization as we know it is about to become shipwrecked. Society recovered from COVID because the interruption was brief. It was like a piece of wood that never sank deep enough, and so rose to the surface again.
But this time, they will keep civil liberties suppressed for a very long time; years. Suppress something long enough and it will not rise up again. They are getting ready to shut us down, and it will be a shutdown from which society will never recover. We will forget the press. We will forget elections. We will forget owning property and money. They just have to keep things suppressed long enough for people to forget them. A decade should do it.
Now we know why e-money is so heavily promoted and being so quickly adopted. Anyone protesting the new regime will be erased from society via user-specific digital shutdowns. Barred from transacting, investing, buying or selling. Cards deactivated, crypto seized, bank accounts emptied.
No? Have we forgotten Cyprus 2013? Well, it has been a decade.
The next phase of the plan for World War 3 is ready to come into effect, regardless of who takes power in the US - Republican or Democrat. The US entered existing wars and started wars of its own regardless of who was in power. Remember, a president is not the real power behind government. Actual power lies in the hands of the directors behind the curtains who control the actors they put on stage.
Joseph Cafariello
PS...
So how can we endure what is coming? Better still, how can we avoid it?
One word... truth.
All the turmoil and chaos we are experiencing come from deceptions, distortions, and lies. What they build on lies, we can demolish with truth.
Everything built on lies is unstable, since lies shift like sand. Whereas truth is stable and constant, and cannot be destroyed.
Embrace only truth, reject lies. Speak only truth, abandon lies. Receive only those who come to us with truth, dismiss those who deliver lies.
Remove the façade and expose the actors who try to deceive us. Reveal what has been concealed, uncover what has been covered, speak what has been hushed.
Only then will we have a better world, a stable world, a world built on truth, a world of freedom. Because lies enslave those who believe them, whereas truth sets us free.

Originally From: https://myspace.com/discovetrending/2014/04/14/all-that-oral-history-season-one/

How ‘All That’ Became the ‘SNL’ for the Next Generation

By Steven J. Horowitz and Jill Menze • April 14, 2014
Twenty years ago, Nickelodeon took a chance by airing a one-off special that stretched into 10 seasons of sketch comedy. To commemorate the milestone, the show's executives, actors and guest musicians reflect on the first season of what would become an iconic series.
"Now it's just an introduction, before we blow your mind / The show is All That, and yes we do this all the, time." So went one of the opening lines of All That's unshakeable theme song, as delivered by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes alongside TLC group members Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins. It was an introduction on Nickelodeon, a cable TV station that was taking a chance with one of its first sketch comedy shows, that set the precedent for a series that, over the next 10 seasons, would shift the course of television history.
Since its debut as a one-off special on April 16, 1994, All That continued on to become one of the only sketch comedy shows aimed at a younger generation. Series like Saturday Night Live and In Living Color found an audience in adults, but there weren't any shows that solved the riddle of what kids should be watching on Saturday nights.
In turn, All That became more than just a weekly ritual—it was a destination for kids, a virtual hangout dotted with familiar faces and recurring characters including Ear Boy, Miss Fingerly and Superdude. Created by Brian Robbins and Michael Tollin, the show first aired with a core cast—Angelique Bates, Alisa Reyes, Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Katrina Johnson, Josh Server and Lori Beth Denberg—that rotated in the years to come. Before the show closed up shop on October 22, 2005, it served as a breeding ground for future stars including Nick Cannon, Amanda Bynes and Thompson, who has been on Saturday Night Live since 2003.
Following the show's debut, it was picked up for a full season that began in December 1994 and became a staple on SNICK, a two-hour block of programming that also included Are You Afraid of the Dark? and The Secret World of Alex Mack. All That was a hit: It spawned the spinoff series Kenan & Kel, and later helped usher Nickelodeon into feature films with Good Burger, which starred Thompson and Mitchell as characters from the show.
But beyond that, All That was crucial in introducing kids to hip-hop and R&B, booking acts that parents would often consider too risqué for the preteen set. The first season featured an all-star roster of musicians who acted in and performed on the show including Brandy, Usher, Aaliyah, Da Brat, Coolio and much more. Throughout the years, its stage hosted A Tribe Called Quest, Destiny's Child, Britney Spears and N*SYNC. It became a conduit for musicians hoping to crack the youth market, and reciprocally educated viewers on the music that was soundtracking the nation.
Though it stopped producing new episodes almost a decade ago, All That left shoes behind that are yet to be filled. It takes a network to produce a lasting show, but it takes creativity and talent to cement its legacy. In honor of All That's 20th anniversary, a comprehensive oral history of the show's first season featuring the cast, executives and musicians who made the series come alive.

THE PLAYERS

Angelique Bates (Cast Member): Known famously for her Steve Urkel impression, Angelique Bates opened the door for young black women in sketch comedy.
Chauncey Black of Blackstreet (Musical Guest): The namesake behind New York’s Blackstreet, Chauncey Black helped lead the R&B group to early ‘90s success with hits like “Before I Let You Go” and “No Diggity.”
Coolio (Musical Guest): The Compton rapper was riding on the success of his breakout single “Fantastic Voyage” in 1994. After Nickelodeon liked his appearance on All That so much, they kept him around to record the theme song to All That spin-off Kenan & Kel.
Da Brat (Musical Guest): The Chicago-bred rapper has released four studio albums, two of which went platinum, including her 1994 debut Funkdafied. With numerous hits and standout features under her belt, Brat appeared on the second episode of All That as an actress and performer, and later returned for two episodes in seasons two and four.
Lori Beth Denberg (Cast Member): As part of the original cast, Lori Beth Denberg appeared on four seasons of All That as well as Figure It Out and The Steve Harvey Show. In addition to acting, Lori Beth is an ordained minister and officiates weddings.
Katrina Johnson (Cast Member): An original cast member, Katrina Johnson stayed on the show for two-and-a-half seasons. While her acting roles have been few since her appearance on All That, she is currently a host on UnCensored Radio.
Kel Mitchell (Cast Member): A five-season veteran of All That, Kel Mitchell parlayed his success on the show into the breakout series Kenan & Kel and film Good Burger. He has since appeared on Sam & Cat and starred in the 2011 movie Dance Fu, which he also co-wrote and co-produced.
Alisa Reyes (Cast Member): During her three seasons on All That, Alisa Reyes made a lasting impression with her characters Kiki the Island Girl and Tinsel Teeth. Since then, she's continued acting with appearances on Six Feet Under and Boston Public, and is currently writing a children's book in honor of her mother.
Brian Robbins (Co-CreatoExecutive Producer): With a résumé dotted with acting roles prior to All That, Brian Robbins later worked on television shows including Smallville, One Tree Hill and Sonny With a Chance, as well as films including Varsity Blues, Hardball and Good Burger.
Dan Schneider (Executive Producer): After finding major success writing and producing All That, Dan Schneider has maintained a high-profile name in kids programming for shows such as Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly.
Josh Server (Cast Member): The only cast member to remain on the show for all original six seasons, Josh Server went on to act on Drake & Josh and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. He recently returned to acting after taking a hiatus from the entertainment industry.
Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas of TLC (Musical Guest): As one-third of the multiplatinum group TLC, Chilli contributed to All That's theme song in addition to acting in a skit and performing on the series' first episode. The group would later close the first season with another appearance.
Kenan Thompson (Cast Member): Arguably the most famous of All That alum, Kenan Thompson went from the show to the Kenan & Kel/Good Burger franchise to Saturday Night Live, where he’s appeared since 2003.
Michael Tollin (Co-CreatoExecutive Producer): Alongside Brian Robbins, Michael Tollin debuted the first sketch comedy for kids on Nickelodeon. Additional credits include Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show, Coach Carter and Varsity Blues.

THE GENESIS

Brian Robbins: Albie Hecht, then-President of Nickelodeon, asked me if there were any shows that I wanted to make. I knew that making a kid-version of SNL would be incredibly fun.
Dan Schneider: In 1993, I got a call from my friend Brian Robbins. Brian and I had been actors together as high school kids on a TV show called Head of the Class [ABC, WarnerBros., 1986–1991]. Brian had started his own production company, and he'd been talking to a friend of ours named Albie Hecht. Albie had recently become the head of development at Nickelodeon and had been talking with Brian about creating a new show.
Michael Tollin: Brian and I had a started our partnership with a handful of documentaries. We were lucky enough to win a few awards and get invited to festivals. We’d kind of been put together indirectly through Albie Hecht, whom we were both friends with and with whom my wife had done a TV series. I got married and moved to L.A. in the early ‘90s and Brian was making a transition. Famously, Albie called [my wife] and said Brian is looking for a producer. She said, “Right house, wrong spouse,” and put me on the phone.
That led to the show Magic Johnson’s All-Star Slam 'N Jam, a piece of sports TV trivia for sure, but it gave us an opportunity to work together. I had an idea for a documentary film which we sold to FOX with Wesley Snipes narrating, Hardwood Dreams. We were doing the show together in a very ad hoc seat-of-the-pants way, which became our style. When we landed Wesley Snipes, The Hollywood Reporter called and said, “We want to do a story,” and wanted to know the name of the company. We said, “Call back tomorrow.” [The production company became Tollin/Robbins Productions.]
We had made a few documentaries. Albie, who now I refer to as the Godfather of Tollin/Robbins Productions, called and asked us to do a mini Nickumentary. It was a half-hour documentary on a Nickelodeon touring road show with Mike O’Malley and Phil Moore as co-hosts, driving around the country on a bus. We had two days to shoot a half-hour show and make it look like we traveled all over the country. [We were in] Topeka, Kansas, for a full shoot. We’d say, “Hello, Topeka,” say cut, and they’d go backstage and change the show and say, “Hello, Rochester,” “Hello, Minneapolis.” We went all out. That was kind of a progression of things, Albie giving us a trial, seeing if these guys can pull it off. That show worked and it was kind of a chance to work together. [Then] Albie said, “I have an idea of a sketch show.”
Dan Schneider: Brian thought it would be a good idea to bring me in, and Albie agreed. At that time, I had solid acting career going, but I was between gigs, and when Brian talked to me about the idea creating a TV show for Nickelodeon, I thought it sounded like a fun "side job,” just to keep my busy for a while.
So, Brian and I started talking creatively about creating a sketch comedy show. I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live, and as a younger kid I had also loved watching The Carol Burnett Show with my dad. I even had seen reruns of a show called Laugh In, which was popular in the late 1960s. I really loved sketch comedy, so the idea of creating a new sketch comedy show was exciting for me. The fact that it was going to be for a kid audience just made it a bit more challenging.
The idea was basically to produce a half-hour show that would usually feature three sketches, a couple of "runners" (short little sketches), and then at the end of the show, there would be a performance from an established music act. That was our plan, and that's pretty much how the show was for all 10 seasons. But we never had a rigid format for the show. We'd change it up a little, from episode to episode. That was one of the cool things about All That—there were no real rules. We could mix things up make the show however we wanted.
Brian Robbins: When we set out to make the show, we had no idea whether or not we would be able to find kids who would be talented enough to be the next generation of sketch comedians—Eddie Murphy, Gilda Radner or John Belushi. Our expectations were blown away by the talented kids who came to star on the show.
We did a national talent search and looked in different places and locations. We found Kel at an open call in Chicago, Lori Beth at a high school talent showcase and, later, Amanda Bynes at a kids' stand-up comedy night.
Michael Tollin: The great thing about the way that it was set out, we all realized casting was critical. Albie being very a producer-friendly executive, creative by nature, we were given the resources to have a very expensive casting period. Months and months of bringing in kids from all over the country. It’s kind of wonderful to especially see Kenan on SNL every week. Obviously Amanda [Bynes] has had a very interesting career. That was a really deep dive to sit there day after day, week after week, and try and discover kids and figure out the right chemistry.
I think it was always: find great kids who are winning, talented or funny, and build characters or sketches around them. I’d be lying if we had a vision of a certain number of these characters or that characters. We had a great writing staff, and the kids were so fertile and such a great source of humor.
Dan Schneider: We knew that casting was extremely important. In fact, we viewed casting as so crucial that we decided that I would not write the pilot script until we had our cast in place. That's very unusual in television. Almost always, you write the first show and then you cast it. But with All That, we wanted to hire the best kid comedy actors we could find. We decided that we'd do a nationwide talent search, find the best ensemble cast we could and then I would write the script, tailoring the sketches to the specific actors' strengths. I wanted to create characters that would be perfectly suited for the actors.
As for the kids we cast, they were all unknown at the time. Well, Kenan Thompson had appeared in one movie [The Mighty Ducks], but he was still pretty new, like the others.
Michael Tollin: [An important date was] January 17, 1994. We had dinner [at home] and I said goodbye and took the red eye [from Los Angeles] to Orlando, and I got to the hotel at eight something in the morning Eastern Time and didn’t have a cellphone. I got the sleep that I could and woke up and stumbled to a taxi. [I received a] message when I checked in [to the hotel] that was said your wife called to say she and your daughter are fine. That’s a pretty scary message. The Northridge earthquake had happened at 4:30 a.m.; it had been in the hour we were arriving. We were pretty close to it [in Southern California], as was Brian. The morning was spent figuring out how bad was the damage both physical and psychological. Should we postpone [the pilot shoot?]. I was trying to do the right thing. [My wife] was trying to do the right thing. Aftershocks ensued. She said, “I can’t believe you didn’t come home.” The show went on.
We took a while, we were really proud of it. [The show] went through testing, it went through conversation. It was a departure for Nickelodeon. There was no prime time Nickelodeon yet. It all sort of worked in the coming years. Nick put together a Saturday night block, [SNICK]. All That was kind of the flagship. [Eventually] we had pretty much the whole two-hour block: Kenan & Kel and The Amanda Show. A lot of stuff started happening, it was kind of amazing.
Dan Schneider: I didn't have any big expectations for All That because, at the time, I knew almost nothing about the world of kids TV. Creating All That was a ton of fun and I gave it my best because I wanted it to be good and successful. But I just considered it a temp job. I was an actor. I never thought becoming a writeproducer would turn into a full-time thing for me.
Anyways, after we made the All That pilot, about six months went by and I didn't hear much of anything from Brian or the network. At some point, I called Brian and asked him if the network was planning to pick up the show. He wasn't sure. Then I heard that the pilot "hadn't tested great." You see, whenever you make a new TV pilot, the network tests the show with focus groups. So, for All That, they got a bunch of kids—boys, girls, different age groups—and they let them watch the show, and then moderators ask them questions, sort of like a group review. I actually still have the results from those tests. Basically, the people who ran the testing wrote a report—a summary—and they said that while kids might like some aspects of the show, overall, kids wouldn't like All That. I think that's why nothing happened for six months. The pilot only tested "so-so,” so the network was nervous about picking it up.
Then, if I recall correctly, I heard that the president of Nickelodeon (at the time), a woman named Geraldine Laybourne, watched the All That pilot and loved it. She said something like, "This show is great. Why haven't we picked this up yet? Let's make it." Next thing I knew, we were back in Orlando, where we'd shot the pilot, and we were making a bunch of episodes of All That. It was a blast. I loved every minute of it.
Michael Tollin: Albie gets a lot of credit for the vision and the persistence. Kevin [Kopelow] was also the Nick executive assigned to the show, a third producing partner. [He was] very smart, very creative, got the show, was invested in the show. I look back very fondly and feel very grateful.
(... Continued in the comments, maxed reddit character limit)

So I was refiguring likely soc sec payout because I realized the projections are based on a stereotypical 1970s man who climbs the income ladder till he falls off half-dead into retirement with or without gold watch. Which is 100% not me. Me, graduating into early-90s recession:

• no dough
• ages with grad-student-level dough but no FICA paid because, you know, student dodges
• tiny dough
• baby, divorce, disastrously tiny dough
• insulting dough from flex-time salaried job when kid was old enough to stay home alone after school till I got home
• anemic lower-middle-class dough
• and then, when kid moved out, professional ideal-worker dough.

SSA assumes it's just lovely money from here to 67, but this is not what will happen, and for lots of us there's a layoff sometime in our 50s and we never recover from that. And that turns an okayish Soc Sec check, like not riches but you can get by esp with your measly 401(k) money, into a "my pills or food" Soc Sec check.
You can see for yourself how you'd do if you go to SSA.gov, log in as yourself through login.gov, and use the calculator, but for "average income" assume you're laid off at, say, 54, and that's your last year of a decent salary, you're not able to get back up on the good-wage horse again. Like assume you're making on average $30K or so till you retire -- and see what it does to the size of your check.
This will hurt women who've had kids or other reasons why their income took a hit more than it'll hurt childfree women who've had decent careers throughout, because Soc Sec is calculated on your best 35 earning years. So if you had 5-10 relatively low-wage or $0 years while your kids were small, you'll take a big hit for getting laid off mid-50s. Hurt worst: single moms, who also aren't likely to be able to take the spousal option (you have to be married 10 years, then you get 1/2 the value of the spouse's payout) and other sole caregivers.
There's been a lot of emphasis on that caregiver bit, but I don't recall having seen anyone cover the hit to soc sec women take when we get laid off & can't get hired well again long before we mean to retire.

I drive a 2005 Dodge Dakota Slt 4wd and I’m looking to fix up my suspension. I know that at least the shocks are blown just because of how bouncy the truck is over any bump. It’s getting to a point that I feel unsafe driving on the highway because I feel like I’m getting air on some bumps and slightly fishtailing. The suspension is also extremely loud and squeaky so I was hoping that maybe just changing the shocks would at least help with the squeak and make it a bit safer but I’d like to do a bit more if I can. The only problem is that I don’t have a huge budget, ~$450 max. I’m looking for a decent brand that won’t break the bank and is compatible with my 4wd drivetrain.
Can anyone help me with this?

# Today In Phishstory - June 8th Brought to you by tiph-bot. Beep.
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Phish

Phish, Friday 06/08/2012 (12 years ago) DCU Center, Worcester, MA, USA
Gap Chart, Tour: 2012 Early Summer Tour
Set 1 : Free , Kill Devil Falls , Roses Are Free > Theme From the Bottom > Axilla > Julius , Bouncing Around the Room , Maze , Bathtub Gin
Set 2 : Down with Disease ¹ > Sand -> Nellie Kane , Mike's Song > Makisupa Policeman ² > Weekapaug Groove , Wading in the Velvet Sea , Also Sprach Zarathustra , Character Zero
Encore : The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg
1 Unfinished. 2 Keyword was "Sour Diesel."
Jamchart Notes:
Roses Are Free - A very nice melodic jam that turns dark develops as "Roses" proper is winding down.
Julius - Proving again that less is more (at least for "Julius"), Trey's nimble, amped-down playing provides interesting texture, and creates better suspension awaiting the inevitable re-build.
Bathtub Gin - In a bit of a nod to the old, pre-August '93 days, the jam begins with decelerating tempo and downward sloping melodies. At 7:30, the jam shifts into the more familiar, uptempo "modern" "Gin" jam. Cool version. Check out 11/16/91 if you doubt.
Also Sprach Zarathustra - Stellar 3.0 version. Trey's delicate soloing is inspired and fresh and Page fills in all the right gaps. Simply gorgeous.
Show Notes:
Mike teased Sundown in Bathtub Gin. Down with Disease was unfinished. Makisupa's keyword was "Sour Diesel." 2001 contained Sand teases from Fish and Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine and Mike's Song teases from Trey.
Listen now at Phish.in!
Phish, Wednesday 06/08/2011 (13 years ago) Darien Lake, Darien Center, NY, USA
Gap Chart, Tour: 2011 Early Summer Tour
Set 1 : Nellie Kane , Mellow Mood , Buffalo Bill , Kill Devil Falls , Wolfman's Brother , Rift , Undermind , Ride Captain Ride , It's Ice > Dog Faced Boy , Brian and Robert > 46 Days , Limb By Limb , Character Zero
Set 2 : Golden Age > Mike's Song > Fast Enough for You > Weekapaug Groove , What's the Use? > Theme From the Bottom > Backwards Down the Number Line > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Harry Hood
Encore : Good Times Bad Times
Jamchart Notes:
Weekapaug Groove - "Golden Age" teases are followed by a nice funky breakdown jam with great Page and Mike. At the end, Trey sustains a note which carries into "What's The Use."
Also Sprach Zarathustra - "Golden Age," "Happy Birthday," and "WTU?" teases worked in perfectly, along with a serious syncopated throwdown, make this one a must hear. Play this to impress others.
Harry Hood - A very solid jam, building from start to end, and thus in good company with 5/6/90, 11/30/95, 2/18/97, 8/8/98, and 11/27/09.
Show Notes:
Weekapaug contained Golden Age teases. Also Sprach Zarathustra contained Golden Age, Happy Birthday and What's the Use? teases. In the soundcheck (which was played on Kevin Shapiro's From the Archives #15(b) show on 7/1/11 from SBIX ), Funky Bitch contained alternate lyrics, Dream On contained a brief Stairway to Heaven tease and "Old Zealand" alternate lyrics, and The Pendulum had Two Princes quotes.
Listen now at Phish.in!
Phish, Thursday 06/08/1995 (29 years ago) The Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Gap Chart, Tour: 1995 Summer Tour
Set 1 : Don't You Want To Go? , Ha Ha Ha > Runaway Jim > Guelah Papyrus , Mound , Fast Enough for You , Reba ¹ , Prince Caspian ² , Chalk Dust Torture
Set 2 : Simple > Rift > Free > Bouncing Around the Room > Tweezer -> Lifeboy > Poor Heart > Julius
Encore : Good Times Bad Times
1 No whistling. 2 Debut.
Jamchart Notes:
Runaway Jim - After some "Third Stone From The Sun" (Hendrix) teases from Trey, this one gets out beyond the norm.
Prince Caspian - Debut includes a short instrumental bridge. The ending jam section and closing chords were added in 1996.
Tweezer - Another wacky "type II" version that is worth hearing if you're an aficionado of Phish improv.
Show Notes:
Runaway Jim contained Third Stone from the Sun teases. Reba did not have the whistling ending. This show marked the debut of Prince Caspian. Page teased The Sabre Dance in Tweezer. This gig was originally scheduled for the outdoor Wolf Mountain Amphitheatre in Park City; due to a late spring snowstorm, the day before the show took place it was moved to the indoor Delta Center.
Listen now at Phish.in!
Phish, Friday 06/08/1990 (34 years ago) 23 East Cabaret, Ardmore, PA, USA
Gap Chart, Tour: 1990 Tour
Set 1 : Foam > Bouncing Around the Room > You Enjoy Myself > Divided Sky , Uncle Pen , The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg > Run Like an Antelope
Set 2 : Possum , My Sweet One > Bathtub Gin > Tweezer , I Didn't Know ¹ , Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove
1 Fish on trombone.
Show Notes:
I Didn't Know featured Fish on trombone.
Listen now at Phish.in!
Phish, 1989-06-08 The Quad, Hobart College, Geneva, NY, USA
Setlist: https://phish.net/setlists/phish-june-08-1989-the-quad-hobart-college-geneva-ny-usa.html
Tour: 1989 Tour
Show Notes: Phish played an outdoor party, complete with a beer moat. One fan in attendance recalls hearing Peaches en Regalia, as well as a Zeppelin cover (possibly Good Times Bad Times).

Trey Anastasio

Trey Anastasio Band, 2003-06-08 Memorial Auditorium, Burlington, VT, USA
Setlist: https://phish.net/setlists/trey-anastasio-june-08-2003-memorial-auditorium-burlington-vt-usa.html
Tour: TAB - The Dectet Summer 2003 Tour
Show Notes: This was a headlining performance of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival. The Unknown Blues Band opened, with special guest Joey Sommerville.
Trey Anastasio Band, 2002-06-08 Deer Creek, Noblesville, IN, USA
Setlist: https://phish.net/setlists/trey-anastasio-june-08-2002-deer-creek-music-center-noblesville-in-usa.html
Tour: TAB - The Dectet Summer 2002 Tour
Show Notes:
Vermont Jazz All-Stars, 1999-06-08 Higher Ground, Winooski, VT, USA
Setlist: https://phish.net/setlists/trey-anastasio-june-08-1999-higher-ground-winooski-vt-usa.html
Tour: Not Part of a Tour
Show Notes:

John Fishman

Jazz Mandolin Project, 2004-06-08 The Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO, USA
Setlist: https://phish.net/setlists/jon-fishman-june-08-2004-the-fox-theatre-boulder-co-usa.html
Tour: Fish - Jazz Mandolin Project Summer 2004 Tour
Show Notes:

Page McConnell

Page McConnell, 2007-06-08 The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC, USA
Setlist: https://phish.net/setlists/page-mcconnell-june-08-2007-the-orange-peel-asheville-nc-usa.html
Tour: Page McConnell Spring & Summer 2007 Tour
Show Notes: After "Maid Marian," Page gave a shout out to the people at the Moog Factory and then followed up with a short demonstration of his Moog.

Other

Anastasio, Gordon & Masefield, 1993-06-08 WVPS Studios, Burlington, VT, USA
Setlist: https://phish.net/setlists/guest-appearance-june-08-1993-wvps-studios-burlington-vt-usa.html
Tour: Not Part of a Tour
Show Notes: This performance for Vermont Public Radio featured Trey on guitar, Mike on bass and Jamie Masefield on mandolins. There is no known setlist or circulating recording.

He deserves a shout out more than anyone I know. He's been doing it for over 20 years and has been awarded well earned medals and honors from his community throughout the years.
I talked with him for 20 minutes or so, and thanked him more times than would have been considered polite. I asked him if he ever wanted me to stop and bring him anything and he politely refused. I caught the vibe he can take care of himself and stopping in the freeway is unsafe.
He asked that I didn't post the selfie of us I took ad I can respect that. Hopefully he's ok with this post. He told me someone crashed into his last Ranger and now drives a Silver Dodge Dakota. Keep an eye out and give him his space and a "beep beep" next time you see him on the freeway to let him know you see him and support his work.

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Hidden Figures (2016) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2
High Note (2020) (MA/HD) $4
Hitman (Unrated) (2007) (MA/HD) $6
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Hobbs & Shaw (2019) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $3.25
Hocus Pocus (1993) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.25
Home Alone Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $6
Hotel Transylvania (2012) (MA/HD) $5.75
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $5
Hotel Transylvania Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $15
House of 1,000 Corpses (2003), Devil's Rejects (2005), 3 From Hell (2019) (Vudu/HD) $6
House of Gucci (2021) (iTunes/4K) $5
House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $3.50
How High (2001) (MA/HD) $6.50
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) (MA/HD) $2
How to Train Your Dragon Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $6.50
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) (MA/HD) $3.75
Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) (MA/HD) $5.50 (GP/HD) $4
Hunger Games Collection 1-4 (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Hunt, The (2019) (MA/HD) $5.50
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011) (MA/HD) $5.25
Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) (MA/HD) $4.25
Identity Thief (2013) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.50
Ides of March (2011) (MA/HD) $5.25
If I Stay (2014) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Impossible, The (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) (MA/HD) $6
Indiana Jones Collection 1-4 (Vudu/4K) $24 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $20
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) (MA/HD) $6.50
Insidious: The Last Key (2018) (MA/HD) $5.50
Insidious: The Red Door (2023) (MA/HD) $5.25
Insurgent (2015) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Intruder (2019) (MA/HD) $6
Iron Man (2008) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $7 (GP/HD) $3
Iron Man 1-3 (iTunes/4K) $15.50 (GP/HD) $7
Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United (2013) (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $4
Isle of Dogs (2018) (MA/HD) $5.50
It Comes at Night (2017) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Jack and Jill (2011) (MA/HD) $3.50
Jack Reacher (2012) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $7
Jackie (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $4
Jaws (1975) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.50
Jaws (1975) Jaws 2 (1978) Jaws 3 (1983) Jaws: The Revenge (1987) (MA/HD) $15
Jay & Silent Bob Reboot (2019) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Jesus Music, The (2021) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Joe (2014) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
John Wick Collection 1-3 (Vudu/4K) $15 (iTunes/4K) $14 (Vudu/HD) $7
Joy (2015) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $5
Jumanji: Next Level (2019) & Welcome to the Jungle (2017) (MA/HD) $6.50
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) (MA/HD) $5.25
Jurassic World Collection 1-5 (MA/4K) $18.50 (iTunes/4K) $17 (MA/HD) $8
Jurassic World Collection 1-6 (MA/HD) $11
Jurassic World: Dominion + Extended Cut (2022) (MA/HD) $3.75
Justice League: War World (2023) (MA/HD) $5.50
Kandahar (2023) (MA/4K) $7
Kimi (2022) (MA/4K) $6.75
Kin (2018) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $6.25
Knives Out (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5
Knocked Up (Unrated) (2007) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Last Full Measure (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.25
Last Night in Soho (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5
Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $7
Lawrence of Arabia (Restored Version) (1962) (MA/HD) $5
Lightyear (2022) (MA/4K) $4.75 (MA/HD) $2.50 (GP/HD) $1.75
Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998) (MA/HD) $6.25
Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5
Little Mermaid III: Ariel’s Beginning (2008) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5
Logan Lucky (2017) (MA/HD) $2 (iTunes/4K) $3
Long Shot (2019) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $4.25
Lost City, The (2022) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Love, Simon (2018) (MA/HD) $2.75
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022) (MA/HD) $4.25
M3GAN + Unrated (2023) (MA/HD) $5.50
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) (MA/HD) $2
Madagascar Collection 1-4 (MA/HD) $14.50
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) (MA/4K) $6.50
Mamma Mia! The Movie (2008) & Here We Go Again (2018) (MA/HD) $6.50
Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) (MA/HD) $6
Manchester by the Sea (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Marksman, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5
Marlowe (2023) (MA/HD) $6.50
Marshall (2017) (MA/HD) $4.50
Martian - Extended Cut (2015) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $5.25
Mary Poppins Returns (2018) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $2
Maze Runner Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $14
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.75
McFarland, USA (2015) (MA/HD) $6 (GP/HD) $4.50
Meg 2: The Trench (2023) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5
Meg Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $8
Megan Leavey (2017) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Memory (2022) (MA/HD) $4
Men (2022) (Vudu/HD) $5
Men in Black (1997) (MA/4K) $6.50
Men in Black Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $14
Menu (2022) (MA/HD) $5.50
Mickey & Friends 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 2 (2023) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $5
Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 1 (2023) (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.75
Midnight Meat Train (Unrated Director's Cut) (2008) (Vudu/HD) $5
Midsommar (2019) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Mile 22 (2018) (iTunes/4K) $1.75
Mile 22 (2018) (Vudu/4K) $7
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) & Minions (2015) (MA/HD) $7.25
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6.75
Mission: Impossible Collection 1-6 (iTunes/4K) $20 (Vudu/HD) $18
Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018) (Vudu/4K) $2.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Moana (2016) (MA/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $1.75
Moonfall (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4
Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2014) (MA/HD) $3.25
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $5.50
Mother! (2017) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Motherless Brooklyn (2019) (MA/HD) $3.25
Mud (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Muppets Most Wanted (2014) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $4.25
Murder on The Orient Express (2017) (MA/HD) $2.50
My All American (2015) (MA/HD) $5 (iTunes/HD) $4
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (MA/HD) $5
Natural, The (1984) (MA/4K) $6
Nebraska (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.25
New Mutants (2020) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $3
Night at the Museum 3-Movie (MA/HD) $11
Night Before (2015) (MA/HD) $4.50
Night House, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $3
No Country For Old Men (2007) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
No Hard Feelings (2023) (MA/HD) $5.25
No Time to Die (2021) (iTunes/4K) $3.50
Nope (2022) (MA/HD) $5
Nope (2022), Get Out (2017) & Us (2019) (MA/HD) $9
Notting Hill (1999) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.75
Now You See Me 1-2 (Vudu/HD) $4 (iTunes/HD) $6.50
Nun 2 (2023) (MA/HD) $5.75
Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $3
Old Man & The Gun (2018) (MA/HD) $6.50
Only The Brave (2017) (MA/HD) $4.75
Onward (2020) (MA/4K) $5.25 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $2
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023) (Vudu/4K) $7
Oppenheimer (2023) (MA/HD) $7
Ouija (2014) & Origin of Evil (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $8
Overboard (2016) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Pain & Gain (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Passengers (2016) (MA/HD) $2.25
Patriot Games (1992) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) (Vudu/HD) $1.75
Pet Sematary (1989) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/4K) $4 (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Pete’s Dragon (2016) (MA/HD) $6 (GP/HD) $4.25
Peter Pan (1953) (MA/HD) $6 (GP/HD) $4.50
Peter Rabbit (2018) & 2 (2021) (MA/HD) $6.50
Peter Rabbit (2018) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $4
Philomena (2013) (Vudu/HD) $2
Pirate Fairy (2014) (MA/HD) $3.25
Pitch Perfect (2012) (MA/HD) $2.50 (iTunes/4K) $3.50
Pitch Perfect Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $11
Pixar Short Films Collection, Vol. 3 (2018) (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.25
Planes (2013) (MA/HD) $2.25 (GP/HD) $1.25
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $5
Planet of the Apes 1-3 (Newer) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $9
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998) (MA/HD) $5.50 (GP/HD) $3.25
Poms (2019) (iTunes/HD) $2.50
Pope's Exorcist (2023) (MA/HD) $5.75
Prey for the Devil (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) (MA/HD) $6
Princess and the Frog (2009) (MA/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) $5.50 (GP/HD) $3.25
Psycho (1960) (MA/HD) $4.50
Purge Collection 1-4 (MA/HD) $13
Purge: Election Year (2016) (MA/4K $5.25 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.75
Puss in Boots (2011) & The Last Wish (2022) (MA/HD) $10.50
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) (MA/HD) $6.50
Raid Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $11.50
Rambo Collection 1-5 (Vudu/HD) $11
Rambo Last Blood (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $2.75
Red (2010) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Red Violin, The (1998) (Vudu/HD) $5
Rescuers, The (1977) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $4
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) (MA/HD) $4.25
Riddick - Unrated Director's Cut (2013) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.75
Riddick Collection 1-3 (Unrated) (MA/HD) $13
Ride Along 1-2 (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Robin Hood (2018) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3
Rock the Kasbah (2015) (MA/HD) $6.50
Rocketman (2019) (Vudu/4K) $4.25 (iTunes/4K) $2.50 (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.50
Room (2015) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Rough Night (2017) (MA/HD) $4
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023) (MA/HD) $6
Rudy (Director's Cut) (1993) (MA/4K) $6.50
Safe House (2012) (MA/HD) $3.50 (iTunes/HD) $2.50
Saint Maud (2020) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Samson (2018) (MA/HD) $3.75
Santa Clause (1994), 2 (2002), 3 (2006) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $10.50 (GP/HD) $6.50
Saw (2004) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.25
Saw Collection 1-7 (Vudu/HD) $9.50
Scarface (1983) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5
Scary Movie Collection 1-3 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $13
Scoob (2020) (MA/4K) $3.25
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) (MA/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $5
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015) (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Scream 5 (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Scream 6 (2023) (Vudu/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $6
Scream Collection 1-3 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $13
Searching (2018) (MA/HD) $6.50
Secret Life of Pets Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $7
Secret Life of Pets, The (2016) (iTunes/4K) $3.50 (MA/HD) $2.75
Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) (MA/HD) $2
Semper Fi (2019) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.25
Serenity (2005) (MA/HD) $3.50
Sex Tape (2014) (MA/HD) $2.75
Shang-Chi (2021) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.75
Shape of Water (2017) (MA/HD) $3.25
Shrek the Third (2007) (MA/HD) $6
Sicario (2015) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3
Sick (2023) (MA/4K) $6.75
Silent Night, Deadly Night: 3-Film Collection (1989-1991) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) (Vudu/HD) $6
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2007) (MA/HD) $6.50
Sing Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $6
Snake Eyes (2021) (Vudu/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4
Snatched (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $1
Snowman (2017) (MA/HD) $2.75
Snowpiercer (2013) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Social Network (2010) (MA/4K) $6.50
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.50
Son of a Gun (2015) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) (Vudu/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Sound of Music (1965) (MA/HD) $5.50
Source Code (2011) (Vudu/4K) $5.50
Speed (1994) (MA/4K) $5.25
Spell (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $5
Spider-Man Collection 1-8 (MA/HD) $20
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) (MA/HD) $5.50
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $1.50
Spies in Disguise (2019) (MA/HD) $3.50 (GP/HD) $2.50
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2003) (MA/HD) $4.75
Split (2017) (MA/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.75
Star Trek Beyond (2016) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.25
Star Trek Collection 1-3 (Vudu/HD) $9 (iTunes/4K) $13
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.25
Stillwater (2021) (MA/HD) $4.75
Stoker (2013) (MA/HD) $4.50
Studio 666 (2022) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $6.25
Sum of All Fears, The (2002) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.25
Super 8 (2011) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (Vudu/HD) $3.25 (iTunes/4K) $5
Super Mario Bros Movie (2023) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $5.25
Super Troopers 2 (2018) (MA/HD) $3
Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020) (MA/HD) $3
Superman: Red Son (2020) (MA/HD) $3
Survive the Night (2020) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
SW: Force Awakens (2015) (MA/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) $3.50 (GP/HD) $1
SW: Last Jedi (2017) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1
SW: Phantom Menace (1999) (MA/4K) $7.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Return of the Jedi (1983) (MA/4K) $7.25 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1.25
Talk to Me (2023) (Vudu/4K) $6.50
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) (MA/4K) $6.50
Taxi Driver (1976) (MA/4K) $6.50
Ted (2012) (Unrated) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.75
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) (Vudu/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $6.50
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.50
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (Vudu/HD) $3 (iTunes/4K) $2.50
Thanksgiving (2023) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
Theory Of Everything (2014) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.75
This Is 40 (2012) (MA/HD) $3.75
This Is The End (2013) (MA/HD) $4.50
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $3.50 (GP/HD) $1.75
Till (2022) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Titanic (1997) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (Vudu/HD) $4.75 (iTunes/4K) $6
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Total Recall (1990) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
Tower Heist (2011) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.75
Toy Story 1-4 (MA/4K) $23 (iTunes/4K) $21 (GP/HD) $11.50
Trading Places (1983) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Training Day (2001) (MA/4K) $6
Transformers 1-5 (Vudu/4K) $25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $23
Transformers: Last Knight (2017) (Vudu/4K) $4.25 (iTunes/4K) $2 (Vudu/HD) $1.75
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) (Vudu/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Trolls Band Together (2023) (MA/HD) $6.25
Trolls Collection 1-2 (MA/HD) $5.50
Trolls World Tour (2020) (MA/HD) $5.25
Truth Or Dare (Unrated) (2018) (MA/HD) $5
Unholy, The (2021) (MA/HD) $7
Untouchables, The (1987) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Up (2009) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $7.50
Upside, The (2017) (iTunes/HD) $2
Van Helsing (2004) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.50
Venom (2018) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4
Victor Frankenstein (2015) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Victoria & Abdul (2017) (MA/HD) $5.25
Violent Night (2022) (MA/HD) $5.75
Vow, The (2012) (MA/HD) $3.25
Voyagers (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Walk, The (2015) (MA/HD) $4.25
WALL-E (2008) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $7.50
Walt Disney Animation Studios Shorts Collection (2015) (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.75
War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.75
War of the Worlds (1953) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Weird Science (2008) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5.75
West Side Story (2021) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) (GP/HD) $2.50
Whale, The (2022) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2
When the Game Stands Tall (2014) (MA/HD) $4.25
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) (MA/HD) $3.75
Whiplash (2014) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
White Christmas (1954) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022) (MA/HD) $4.75
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (MA/4K) $6.50 (GP/HD) $4
Wild Card (2015) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Willow (1988) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.50
Wind River (2017) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
Wings (1927) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year (2002) (MA/HD) $6.25
Witch, The (2016) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Wizard of Lies (2017) (iTunes/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $3
Wolverine (Unrated) (2013) (MA/HD) $3.25
Woman in Gold (2015) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Woman King (2022) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $4
Wonder Woman: Bloodlines (2019) (MA/HD) $2.75
Woodlawn (2015) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.50
World War Z (2013) (Vudu/HD) $3.25 (iTunes/4K) $4.50
Wraith, The (1986) (Vudu/HD) $5
X (2022) (Vudu/HD) $6.50
X (2022), Hereditary (2018), Witch, The (2016), Green Room (2015), It Comes at Night (2017) (Vudu/HD) $14
X2: X-Men United (2003) (MA/HD) $6
X-Men (2000), X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) (MA/HD) $11
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.25
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2004) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.50 Rogue Cut (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5
X-Men: First Class (2010), Days of Future Past (2004), Apocalypse (2014) (MA/HD) $10
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) (MA/HD) $7.50
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $1.25

Although I didn’t quite know it back then. I only had a vague sentiment that I didn’t want my children to associate church/God as being a place that lacked joy and agency, with our “Christian lives” being dictated by rows on a Google Sheet (the notorious What’s Up Doc). All I knew was that this (GP culture) was not the kind of faith I wanted to pass down to my children because that was an inaccurate picture of who God is. Of course, I never told this to anyone because like I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t know how to articulate (or I was too scared to admit to myself, lest I be called “rebellious”) what all the reasons were for me to want to leave GP. So the following thoughts have been brewing inside of me for the last couple of years since we left in 2019, and I want to share it here because I think there’s a lot of needed discussion around the effect that GP’s theology and culture has on families in GP.
As I read through Scripture, read and listen to Bible experts, and reflect on my own experience working with youth through Element and IH, I can’t help but see God’s wisdom in creating natural families as the first irreducible building block of his community, including the church. This is a helpful article that can explain it much better than I can. https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/families-and-the-household-of-god-not-rivals-but-allies/ (Please take particular note of the section called “The Church Does Not Replace the Family” and onward) Essentially, Scripture even demonstrates that our “ministry” (which simply means “to attend to the needs of someone”) is foundationally to our family, per God’s design. And ideally as we cultivate the spiritual health within our families, then we can connect deeply and minister to one another in the communities we are in, from a place of health in our family. GP dangerously frames our God-given responsibility to be the main stewards of our families as “idolizing family.” Like most things, they flippantly call things “idols” so that members are perpetually living in fear of possibly “idolizing” something (i.e. marriage, family, career, money, hobbies, etc., but I won’t get into that here.) So in calling some basic things like spending time with your kids, actually showing genuine interest in their sports/hobbies, having regular family getaways without needing an excuse that it’s grandparent’s 70th birthday, visiting parents just because you love them (not for a holiday, birthday, or they’re sick or dying), etc. as “idolizing family,” has inevitably created a culture where it encourages and even praises “sacrificing” your time with family.
Oh, and why were we encouraged to sacrifice time with family and flee from the “idol of family”? Irony of ironies: it’s for the idol of ministry! In GP, ministry trumps family. And this kind of theology breaks apart the most crucial institution that God ordained: the family unit. Firstly, deeper involvement with GP starts to create a wedge between members and their parents as their lives get busier with church activities as a college student, and then with ministry as they get older. I still regret that I never got to go on a longer vacation with my parents right after I graduated because I had been drilled in my mind that I will be tempted to leave church and God when I am away for too long, especially if it was on vacation which is full of worldly temptations, so my parents were heartbroken that I kept insisting that I wouldn’t go. I was told multiple times by my leaders to be careful of what I told my parents too, especially when it was time for me to join our first church plant team in Austin, in case they make it difficult for me to actually move out there. My leaders told me not to even tell them the main reason was to plant a church, and told me to up-play my attending MBA school, and not mention too much about church. However, this felt kind of disingenuous to me, so I did end up telling them that I was moving for church and my parents wanted to meet with my leaders, so I kind of got in trouble for that. Also, I was just reminded as I was thinking about this, that when Sam and I mentioned that we would love to go to SoCal to work with youth there, my leader’s first question was “But doesn’t your family live down there? That won’t work out then.” OK people, think about why she would’ve asked me this? It’s obvious, right? She then said “They are going to want to see you guys.” And guess what I said? “Oh, you’re right.” Ugh.
(As an aside, I have a theory, which I’ve read might be confirmed by psychology, that many of us who were pulled deeply into GP and truly came to a point where we saw it as “family” had some kind of brokenness or unhealth in our natural families, so that it left a deep gap in our souls that was supposed to be filled by our parents and extended families. But when GP came along, it filled that gap so that the first time we were told as college students the suggestion to spend less time at home during the breaks, that was a no-brainer for a lot of us because home wasn’t necessarily a life-giving place anyways. It definitely wasn’t the case for me since I rarely looked to my parents or any other extended family members for any spiritual or emotional support or guidance on real life issues when I was growing up. So starting freshman year as I experienced all these older sisters taking care of me and guiding me, when my leaders encouraged me to stay during Thanksgiving, summer, etc., I didn’t even question it. I already didn’t want to go home so it wasn’t a sacrifice. I probably can count on my fingers among the people I know who are currently in GP who actually have a very healthy relationship with their parents and families, and even now no one immediately comes to mind as I write this. This conclusion was further highlighted when I spoke with someone recently who had regularly attended GP during her freshman year and went to Thanksgiving Retreat. She grew up in church, and had a very tight relationship with her family, and wanted to be a pastor’s wife when she was older because she had so much respect for the ones she knew. But when she experienced TR, she was so appalled by how arrogant Kelly Kang seemed to be and how the videos were all about praising the staff, that her first thought was to call her mom right afterwards to discuss it with her and the both of them felt that GP was not a healthy church, and she never came back. I told her in that moment, that what took her only a few minutes in a phone call with her mom to realize, took me more than 20 years to figure out, and she really dodged a bullet thanks to the fact that she had that kind of relationship with her mom. All this to say, I’m realizing that those of us that don’t have that kind of relationship with our parents and family are more susceptible to be sucked into groups like GP.)
Secondly, I think GP’s culture does a lot of damage to the families they are creating within their church. I personally feel so bad for GP kids, because it’s not their fault, they have no control over how they are being brought up. I’m afraid they will grow up believing some version of a God who only cares about “ministry” that even their own parents are willing to neglect their parental duties to their own children as they deprioritize family. So either they will grow up perpetuating this belief in the church, or abandon this God who seems far from loving and caring. A pastor who heard about GP predicted that the aftermath of their theology will show up in the children. I feel like we’ve already been seeing this amongst some of the kids that are growing up. 😥 A former GP member once told me how bad she felt for some of the GP kids she interacted with. She remembers how she saw the disappointment on one kid’s face when she found out last minute that her mom had to go to some ministry house for a last minute staff meeting, and was frustrated that someone else was picking her up instead of her mom AGAIN. Much of good parenting advice talks about being present with your kids in their childhood, and to make sure that you as the parent has the most influence on your kids, and that it is through the parents that children will first learn about God’s character. Sadly, one ex-GP older couple told me that one of the deepest regrets they have was that because their lives were so busy with ministry and responsibilities, they actually don’t have that many memories of their first child. This child, now a teenager, has also voiced similarly, that they were always with “aunties and uncles” but don’t recall spending much time with parents and as a family, so they feel like they are still getting to know each other. One time, Sam told me how one of his peers said he felt like he should just “leave it up to Joyland teachers” to share the gospel and lead their child to salvation, and we were horrified, like why absolve your parental responsibility to tell your own child about God? 🤦🏻‍♀️ I still remember when I was serving in Element, and one of the students, who generally had a very somber countenance, was beaming one day. I asked her why she was so happy, and she said how her family read through the Bible together one night for the first time, and it was the best time she’s had in awhile with her family. That made me sad that it wasn’t something that was a common thing for this family who was high up in leadership, and it made me think how her spiritual health was outsourced to the youth teachers…
Now sharing from more personal observation… Our family has discovered to varying degrees, the joy of youth sports (oh no, we’re such bad Christians!). Being in Alameda, we actually come across a good amount of GP kids, some who have been on the same sports teams as our kids. What we’ve observed (not all the time, but still noticeably and consistently enough), is that the parents would: rarely attend the sports games to support their kid, rarely attend together as a couple, rarely bring other family/extended family members to watch even if they lived close by, rarely come to watch the whole thing as they usually come towards the end, rarely pay actual attention to the game when they are there since they are on their phone, and rarely interact with the other parents as they tend to keep to themselves. OK, I’m very far from being a sports fan, but for the sake of my kids, I’ve had to learn A LOT so I can cheer for them and be genuinely interested in what they’re interested in, so I feel like I’m loving them by simply showing up and paying attention, and perhaps letting my crazy cheering side come out too. 😛I was so saddened by some particular things, like I would hear a couple of GP kids mention how they wished their parents came to their games more often, or when some of the other sports parents talked about how the parents of so-and-so GP kid rarely show up and just seems like they don’t really care about him. And also when another parent told me (and this one really got me bothered) how so-and-so GP kid’s parent was complaining about how coming to his sports games is such a waste of time, these sports parents are too much especially when they try to coordinate fun walk-up songs for the players, and that she shouldn’t have even showed up at all, should’ve just stayed in the car… During one game, one GP kid got hurt pretty bad and was on the ground crying, but his parents of course weren’t there, and I thought as that kid, it would’ve been really comforting for him to at least get some acknowledgement or hug from his parent. (I’ve made extra effort to cheer for these kids… Sigh…)
So, I want to address specifically the college students here, and anyone who is new to GP and coming down that funnel. I was once in your shoes. I received soooo many benefits from the ministry that GP produces. I had leaders invite me over for dinner, hanging out almost every other night, studying together, outings, not to mention weekly TFNs and SWS. And apart from those times, the leaders were also having their own multi-hour staff meetings and bible studies. However, please know that this is what’s going on behind the scenes. The time our leaders spent with us and in countless meetings all stem from this idolatry of ministry, that this “work of God” should supercede their first God-given stewardship of their own families. This is why GP is able to get so much done, you have all these older people who are almost always parents, willing to sacrifice the health of their own families to bring you this “amazing”, well programmed experience. All while saying that it’s such a blessing that their kids have so many “aunties and uncles” (which is completely inadequate as a substitute for your own parents!) At the end of the day, it’s the kids that experience the brunt of all of this obsession over ministry.
Also, I think GP’s obsessive view of sin also shows up in how we believe we should parent. So much of GP’s disciplinary focus is for members and staff to fit the mold, comply, get in line and behave like a good GPer. So when they don’t, we harshly correct, yell, shame, belittle. And of course this is going to trickle down into how we parent. I was so appalled one time when I was at a wedding ceremony and one of the GP moms who was there was getting so frustrated with her little toddler walking around and not sitting still, that she pulled him into a side room and started yelling at him at the top of her lungs (I know because we heard her even though the door was closed), and saying he needs to sit down, why are you not listening, you need to LISTEN!... And I’m thinking, my God, he’s 2yo, he’s not capable of sitting still for 2 hours, just let him walk around outside or something! This is how early the abuse can start for GP kids. When your theology tells you that your child is going to always act out of sinful desires, then that kid has already lost in this world. When most of your parenting is borne out of behavior modification, then there is precious little that is going to connect that family deeply, even if it is a “Christian” family….
I recently watched that Dancing for the Devil cult documentary, and I also agree there are some similarities. But what really stood out was the disconnection with family as being so similar to GP. During Covid, I think a lot of people woke up to the reality of the importance of family, and I witnessed a lot of people moving to live closer to family. But it’s sad that GP is cutting so many of those necessary ties, whether it’s cutting students off from the families they came from, (and sometimes even between siblings who attend GP together!), or cutting the natural bonds that should have formed between children and parents at GP. I thought it was interesting in the documentary how when the girl in the cult all of a sudden started to talk with her sister and parents again, that the sister thought it was all for show when she would post pictures of herself with her family on her social media to show everyone how she’s with her family since that was the whole drama that was being brought up against the cult. I don’t know if others noticed, but there was a period of time like in the last couple of years perhaps? When a bunch of GP people who initially didn’t have social media (since Ed would preach that we should not be on social media) all of a sudden got accounts and started posting pictures of them with their families, like either for Thanksgiving, or birthdays. I even heard about one couple who posted a picture of their baby’s birthday party where they invited the students they were ministering to, but they didn’t even invite their own family members and one family member didn’t know about the party until they saw it on IG! Anyways, it just made me wonder if there was some MBS or email that got sent out letting their members know that hey, our stance has changed about social media, and you can get an account and try to post pictures of you with family so people don’t accuse us of being a cult…???
Anyways, in conclusion, I think any church that isn’t helping you cultivate healthier families is a massive red flag. I think GP tends to overutilize the reasoning that “oh you’re a college student, you don’t need to tell your parents everything or ask for their opinion, you’re an adult now”. That sounds very enticing to a freshman trying to be their own person away from their parents, and of course some of that does need to happen. But regardless of our age, we need healthy families in our lives. And to the extent that it’s possible, churches can play a beautiful role in patching up the brokenness in families. A controlling group will do what they can to take the place of our natural families. Every year I am reminded how my decision to leave GP has brought so much blessing into our family that I could’ve never fathomed. And I am filled with immeasurable gratitude whenever I think about the life-giving kind of gospel, the true Jesus, the true God, that we get to show our children. I hope that by intentionally doing this for our children, that it can somehow cult-proof them as they grow up. Side note, there really should be a mandatory seminar on “How to spot cults” for college freshmen. It is so bizarre how many high control groups and cults target colleges and universities….
I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this, and apologies in advance if I don’t respond to every comment. I hope my learnings have been helpful for someone here.
Lillian Kim (formerly Chung) c/o 2004

AMAZON GIFT CARDS ONLY - No Trades - One Hour Holds - Open to Offers on Multiples - Prices Firm for Single Selections - Please Comment First - CHAT REQUESTS IGNORED

DISNEY

• Beauty and the Beast (2017) - $3
• Finding Dory (2016) - $3
• Frozen (2013) - $3
• The Good Dinosaur (2015) - $3
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) - $3
• Hocus Pocus (1993) - $3
• Inside Out (2015) - $3
• The Lion King (2019) - $3
• Maleficent (2014) - $3
• Moana (2016) - $3
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - $3
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - $3
• Thor Ragnarok 4k (2017) - $6
• Thor Love and Thunder 4k (2022) - $6
• Zootopia (2016) - $3

FOX

• Assassin's Creed (2016) - $3
• The Counselor (2013) - $3
• Deadpool (2016) - $3
• The Greatest Showman (2017) - $3
• The Heat (2013) - $3
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• Prometheus (2012) - $3
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• RoboCop (2014) [VUDU/GP] - $3
• Spies in Disguise (2019) - $3
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• Tooth Fairy (2010) [iTunes ONLY] - $2
• True Lies 4k (1994) - $8
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• X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - $3

LIONSGATE

• American Psycho 4k (2000) - $6
• Ash VS Evil Dead: The Complete Collection (2015-17) - $15
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• Divergent (2014) - $4
• Dream a Little Dream (1989) - $4
• Dream Scenario (2023) - $6
• Dredd (2012) - $4
• Dredd 4k (2012) - $6
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• Everything Everywhere All at Once 4k (2022) - $6
• Ex Machina 4k (2015) - $6
• The Expendables 2 (2012) - $4
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• The Expendables 1-4 4k (2010, 2012, 2014 & 2023) - $15
• From Paris with Love (2010) [iTunes ONLY] - $2
• The Hateful Eight (2015) - $4
• The Homesman (2014) - $4
• The Hunger Games (2012) - $4
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) - $4
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• Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2 (2015) - $4
• The Iron Claw (2023) - $8
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• Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) - $4
• Joe (2014) - $4
• The Kid (2019) - $4
• Knives Out 4k (2019) - $6
• Maggie (2015) - $4
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• Men (2022) - $4
• Midway 4k (2019) - $6
• The Mist 4k (2007) - $6
• Much Ado About Nothing (2013) - $4
• Now You See Me (2013) - $4
• Orange is the New Black: Season 1 (2013) - $4
• The Possession (2012) - $4
• Priscilla (2023) - $6
• Requiem for a Dream 4k (2020) - $6
• Reservoir Dogs 4k (1992) - $6
• Rob Zombie Trilogy (2003-2019) - $6
• Shivers (1975) - $4
• Stand Up Guys (2012) - $4
• Terminator 2: Judgement Day 4k (1991) - $6
• Total Recall 4k (1990) - $6
• The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent 4k (2022) - $6
• Unhinged (2020) - $4
• Wonder (2017) - $4
• The Wraith (1986) - $4
• You're Next (2013) - $4

PARAMOUNT

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• BumbleBee 4k (2018) - $6
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• Hercules (2014) - $3
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• Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) - $3
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• Mother (2017) - $3
• Overlord 4k (2018) - $6
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• Pet Sematary (2019) - $3
• Rocketman (2019) - $3
• Scream 4k (1996) - $6
• Scream 4k (2022) - $6
• Scream VI 4k (2023) - $6
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) - $3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) - $3
• Top Gun 4k (1986) - $6
• Top Gun Maverick 4k (2022) - $6
• True Grit (2010) - $3
• World War Z (2013) - $3

SONY

• 21 Jump Street (2012) - $3
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) - $3
• Appleseed: Alpha [SD](2014) - $3
• Bad Boys For Life 4k (2020) - $6
• Black Hawk Down 4k (2001) - $6
• Concussion (2015) - $3
• The Dark Tower (2017) - $3
• Don't Breathe SD (2016) - $2
• The Equalizer 2 (2018) - $3
• Fury (2014) - $3
• Gran Turismo 4k (2023) - $6
• Godzilla 4k (1998) - $6
• Goosebumps (2015) - $3
• Hotel Transylvania (2012) - $3
• Hotel Transylvania 3 (2018) - $3
• Insidious: The Last Key (2018) - $3
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 4k (2017) - $6
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - $3
• The Muppets Take Manhattan 4k (1984) $8
• Passengers 4k (2016) - $6
• Peter Rabbit (2018) - $3
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 4k (2016) - $6
• Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) - $3
• Sausage Party (2016) - $3
• Spider-Man 4 Film Collection (2017, 2018, 2018 & 2019) - $15
• Spider-Man Homecoming (2017) - $3
• Venom - Let There Be Carnage 4k (2021) - $6

UNIVERSAL

• Apollo 11 (2019) - $4
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• Cult of Chucky UNRATED (2017) - $4
• Colossal (2017) - $4
• Contraband (2012) [iTunes ONLY] - $2
• Darkest Hour (2017) - $4
• Despicable Me 2 (2013) - $4
• Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012) - $4
• F9: The Fast Saga [Both Theatrical & Directors Cut] (2021) - $4
• Good Boys (2019) - $4
• Hail, Caesar! (2016) - $4
• Halloween Kills 4k (2021) - $6
• Hardcore Henry (2016) - $4
• Holiday Inn (1942) - $4
• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World 4k (2019) - $6
• The Hunt (2019) - $4
• The Huntsman - Winter’s War - Extended Edition (2016) - $4
• Hustlers 4k (2019) [iTunes ONLY] - $4
• It Came From Outer Space 4k (1953) - $6
• Jason Bourne (2016) - $4
• Jaws 2 4k (1978) - $6
• Jurassic Park: The Lost World 4k (1997) - $6
• Jurassic Park III 4k (2001) - $6
• Jurassic World (2015) - $4
• Justice (2017) - $4
• Knock at the Cabin 4k (2023) - $6
• Lone Survivor (2013) - $4
• Megan Leavey (2017) - $4
• Minions (2015) - $4
• Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - $4
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 4k (2008) [MA ONLY] - $6
• No Time to Die 4k (2021) [iTunes ONLY] - $6
• The Northman 4k (2022) - $6
• The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017) - $4
• Oblivion (2013) - $4
• Phantom Thread (2017) - $4
• Pitch Perfect (2012) - $4
• Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) - $4
• Renfield (2023) - $4
• The Secret Life of Pets (2016) - $4
• Spartacus 4k (1960) - $6
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie 4k (2023) - $6
• The Thing (2011) - $4

WARNER BROS

• Barbie 4k (2023) - $8
• Black Adam 4k (2022) - $6
• Elvis 4k (2022) - $6
• Live Die Repeat - Edge of Tomorrow 4k (2014) - $6
• The Lost Boys 4k (1987) - $6
• Poltergeist 4k (1982) - $6
• Westworld Season Four: The Choice 4k (2022) - $8

Over the first week, the three brothers laboured intensively on their new home. When Duncan and his three grand-daughters had given them a rotting house, the men thought little of it. Aside from the fact that Audrey had kicked down the front door, the damaged building had all manner of gunk clinging to its ceiling and walls. The deceased feral ghoul in their living room hardly helped matters. Still, this rundown building belonged to them.
The first night had been relatively unpleasant. The three brothers pulled their bandanas over their mouth and nose and began to work. Simon took charge. He dragged the dead ghoul from the building after assigning duties to his brothers. Barrett pried open every door and window in building for air flow. He pulled apart the heavy boards that blocked the windows and broke down stubborn doors. Kevin, on the other hand, needed to sweep through the clutter of the house. Over the last two centuries, plenty of dust and garbage had gathered inside the building. Clearly, a few sets of squatters had found comfort within these walls and brought their filthy habits with them. Kevin moved room to room, cleaning out empty canisters of Jet and used syringes of Med-X. Once done with the biohazardous aspect of his work, he gathered the empty tin cans and spent candy wraps that littered the floors. Likewise, he swept away fragments of mirror and glass from the bathroom, bedroom, and other living spaces. His other brothers helped him finish the arduous task of tidying the residence for their use. Within an hour, the house seemed almost habitable.
After a solid evening of chores, they joined their hosts around a cozy campfire. While tensions remained high, Duncan and his grand-daughters – Morgan, Audrey, and Sylvia – made small talk with the three brothers, hoping that the meager allotment of food and drink would pacify any residual hard feelings from the tensions during the day.
When their meal concluded, the brothers thanked the old man and his grand-daughters for their hospitality and returned to their residence. Together, the three brothers spent the night in the master bedroom on the top floor, which seemed to them the least disgusting room to sleep within.
When the sun of the first new day broke, the brothers were startled awake by the sound of a chainsaw. Barrett made for his weapons and exited their house before either of his brothers left their bedrolls. Barrett, swinging his pipe pistol, encounter Duncan with a ripper, a small handheld chainsaw, cutting into some dead wood.
“Good morning,” Duncan said. Sawdust clung to his face and beard.
“What are you doing?” Barrett complained. He holstered his pipe pistol.
“It’s almost noon, boy. The ladies and I have finished most of our chores.”
When Barrett marched back to his brothers and encouraged them to double-down on their plans for the day. The three of them could not be bested by the efforts of a geriatric and three girls.
Simon agreed with Barrett, setting his sight on turning their new house into a new home.
Barrett, full of his proud bravado, led his brothers into the surrounding buildings to scavenge for useful material and furniture. Piece by piece, the brothers hauled off heavy chunks of wood and metal back to their home. The ladies, pretending to do small tasks, watched the brothers work. Morgan peaked from mending clothes to see Barrett haul staggering amounts of wood and metal by himself. She admired the young man’s strength from a far.
Discovering the former pub down the street, the brothers stripped most of its furniture. From old metal tables to damaged booth seats, they took it all to furnish their new home. Still unsatisfied, Barrett decided to redesign the plan of the house. The original front door, which Audrey had kicked down, had faced a barely useable asphalt road. It had no use to them. Instead, Barrett wanted to create a new doorway which would allow them to move toward the Ducan’s home with greater ease. Barrett borrowed a sledgehammer from Duncan and knocked down a new doorway around the back. With that done, the house needed to be fortified from the outside. He convinced Kevin to join him for an additional expedition. The two of them went back to the military checkpoint and salvaged the metal exteriors from the cars and trucks that rusted on the side of the road. With these metal parts, Barrett fortified the exterior of the house and blocked the original entrance way.
Simon, becoming irritated at his brother’s homemaking zeal, turned himself to practical matters. His used the material they had to build a simple firepit in the middle of their home using a hubcap, a bent sheet of metal, and the bricks knocked from the wall. This firepit would allow them to keep warm during the cold season, and, for the time being, smoke out the house. He hoped that the smoke would make the old house smell more pleasant, and keep mosquitoes and other bugs away from them as they slept. Then, Simon moved to more practical matters.
While Duncan and his grand-daughters had a simple water purifier outside of their home, Simon made sure it had a constant supply water to process. With seven people residing in this small riverside settlement, they would need more water. Simon tasked himself with creating a duplicate water purifier for their needs.
On the second day, Duncan remarked about the communial food stores. If the boys wanted to stay, they could. In his estimation, they were hard-workers, and where hard-work abounds so does honesty. Still, feeding himself and three young women required substantially less effort than feeding an additional four men.
“Four?” Barrett asked him.
“Yeah, you eat for two,” Duncan replied with a gentlemanly tease.
Barrett hated the comment. Once again, he roped Kevin into one of his schemes. Before the night was done, the two of them had shot and killed a radstag. Duncan then taught the boys how to skin the creature properly to acquire best buckskin for resale or tanning. Once the radstag had been skinned and cleaned, Duncan handed the carcass to his grand-daughters to cook.
At the end of the second day, the whole community feasted. While still uncomfortable with each other, the initial mistrust faded. As words were exchanged, Duncan noticed the small looks Morgan flashed to Barrett, and the attention Syliva gave to Kevin. Kevin, charming in his silence, spent the night carving wood with his switchblade.
On the third day, the men woke at the same time as the others and joined them in their morning routines. They breakfasted as a single unit and broke into small detachments. Kevin joined Morgan and Sylvia as they went to water their crops. Simon helped Duncan carry water back to the purifiers. Only Audrey and Barrett refused to work with each other. Barrett had decided that he wanted to create a semi-fortified perimeter around both of the homes in case of an attack. Audrey, thinking the idea folly, walked along the river, searching for mutated fern flowers.
“Why does she collect them?” Simon asked Duncan on their way back.
“Ah, that’s a longer story than you know,” the old man replied. “In short, because we can turn those flowers into Rad-X and Radway. Useful for trade, or…” Duncan never finished his sentence. He stopped speaking and spent time among distance memories.
“Speaking of trades,” Simon said, nudging his head to someone approaching their homes.
Duncan snapped from his day-dreaming.
“Raiders!” Duncan’s shouted carried over the hill.
The approaching man swung his hunting rifle to their direction and fired blindly. The crack of his gun alerted his three squad mates to combat. The raiders turned hostile. Their hoots and hollers echoed into the settlement.
Duncan and Simon dropped themselves behind the heap of scrap metal Barrett prepared for his fortifications. Another shot came from the raider’s hunting rifle. It missed the two men by a large margin.
“Got your pistol?” Simon asked.
“Yeah.” Duncan racked his 10mm. “Ready?”
“I left mine inside.”
“For crying out loud!”
Before Duncan reprimanded Simon, he watched Audrey sprint from the river toward their homes.
“Get cover!” Duncan yelled at her.
Audrey dodged behind a distant dilapidated house. She also lacked a weapon.
“Why is everyone unarmed!” Duncan peered around the side of the scrapheap, only to receive a face full of dirt from an ill-aimed shot. “Argh!”
Bursts of fire came from their left. Barrett shouted from his position. He ran toward his brother and the old man, using the sides of his house for cover.
“What are you guys doing!” Barrett shouted. “Come on!”
The big man peered from his cover and fired several shots from his pipe rifle. A raider yowled in pain. One of Barrett’s bullets made vicious contact.
“I forgot my pistol!” Simon yelled back to his brother.
“Don’t tell them that!”
Barrett looked from his position. One of the raiders sat upon the dirt gripping the side of his body. One of his squad mates crouched tried to staunch the bleeding.
Barrett unloaded at the two of them. His bullets savagely pierced them.
Under the cover of fire, Audrey crept into her house. She searched for her tactical submachine gun and joined the fray. Of the three women, she definitely possessed the most spirit. When she emerged from the house, however, the other two raiders disappeared from view. Barrett moved around the house and to the other road. He saw no one.
Duncan pulled himself to his feet and ran to Audrey. With their weapons out, they moved as a two-person firing team.
Simon swiftly entered his own home and seized his pipe pistol. He only had a few rounds in it. Then, he heard a flurry of shots and a woman scream.
“Morgan!” Barrett’s voice boomed over the settlement.
Simon ran into the road to witness a cloud of concrete dust snowing onto the ground. Kevin and Sylvia had dragged Morgan behind an abandoned house. Sylvia bawled hysterically.
Barrett ran to the group without thinking.
“Gotcha!” a snarled voice called from higher ground. The raider scum’s pipe revolver erupted with a flash. The bullet struck Barrett in the leg as he ran. Red mist sprang from his thighs. He fell to the ground.
“Barrett!” Simon shouted. From his position, he unloaded his entire pistol at the raider who had shot his brother. The raider scum collapsed with a curse in his mouth.
Simon looked to his fallen brother. The large man pulled himself toward the concrete barrier that had been hit only moments prior. From the corner of his eye, Simon spotted movement. The last raider, a female in raider leathers, fired a double-barreled shotgun. More concrete erupted into the air. Sylvia shouted louder into the air.
Simon took aim and pulled the trigger.
It clicked empty.
The raider noticed Simon.
“You havin' fun? Huh? I can do this all day!” She cracked open her double-barrelled shotgun and reloaded two shells. The moment her shotgun clacked closed, she fell to the ground with a scream.
Duncan stood behind the woman -- his pistol still smoking from its shot. He approached the wounded raider before she had a chance to reach her shotgun. He fired a shot into the woman’s skull.
Audrey, who had been at Duncan’s side, ignored the execution. Instead, she ran to the concrete barrier.
“Morgan, is she alive?”
Sylvia, who continued to cry, found refuge in Kevin’s arms. The youngest of the three sisters babbled incomprehensibly behind her tears.
“She’s fine,” Barrett said with a grunt. He pressed his dirty fingers against his leg wound, but it beld profusely. Morgan scrambled beside him and examined the injury.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. Her eyes, a crystal blue, filled with a thin film of tears. She was the oldest of the three sisters, but spoke the least. She felt responsible for everyone and everything that happened on the settlement.
“It’s okay,” Barrett said with a gritted smile. He admired the colour of her eyes and the long black hair that framed her face.
“I’ll get the medical bag,” Audrey said, leaving the group behind.
Simon took the lead.
“Kevin, take Sylvia home and keep her there. Morgan, when Audrey comes back, do you think you can tend his wounds?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good,” Simon said. “When you’re done, find me and I’ll help bring him to ours.” He left the couple and approached Duncan, who stood above the dead body of the raider Simon shot ded.
“What’s the injury?” Duncan asked, his eyes scanning the raider for signs of life.
“Barrett’s got a leg wound, a graze -- .45 by the looks of it,” Simon said, picking up the raider’s pipe revolver.
“He’ll make it?”
“If your girls can nurse him to health.”
Duncan turned his gaze to Simon.
“He’ll be fine. We got a stimpak that I’ve been saving. Your brother does a lot of work around here. He’ll be okay.”
“I appreciate it,” Simon replied.
“Help me with them, will you?”
Simon and Duncan spent the next few moments looting and stripping the raiders down to their undergarments. They gathered the four bodies and left them by the side of the road.
“Tomorrow, we’ll bring them to the graveyard,” said Duncan. At this point, night had fallen. Everyone gathered around the large firepit that the sisters had made on the first night these two families came together. Around the blazing fire, built from the wood Duncan had cut, they ate leftover radstag.
Simon sat between Duncan and Kevin. Kevin hardly spoke to his brother. Instead, he whittled a skewer from a piece of wood as Sylvia leaned on is shoulder. She had regained her composure, but still rattled from the day’s events. Similarly, Morgan sat beside Barrett. She kept a slight gap between them, but when Barrett stretched his bandage leg and adjusted his hand on the log upon which he sat, she allowed her fingers to touch his hand.
Only Audrey sat alone. She leaned forward on her knees and looked into the campfire. She thought quietly.
“You have a graveyard?” Simon asked.
“We do,” Duncan replied. “It’s where my wife is buried.”
At those words, Audrey left the circle.
“Ignore her,” Duncan continued, “the wound runs deep.”
“What happened to her? Your wife, I mean.”
“Radiation sickness. It’s why we decided to settle at Forest Grove.”
Duncan poked the fire with a large stick.
“She and I wandered the Commonwealth, trading minor goods and enjoying a simple life. Total freedom. We survived a lot together. A lot.”
Duncan sighed. Kevin paused his whittling and looked to the old man. Morgan, knowing the story well, ignored everything and shifted closer to Barrett.
“The effects of the Wasteland proved too much for her in the end. It’s why Audrey gathers those fern flowers. When the four of us got here, we tried making as much Radaway as we could from those flowers, but it wasn’t enough. She had probably hit a lethal dose a week or two prior to her death. The treatment came too late.”
Duncan stopped talking. Privately, he recalled his wife’s upswell of nausea, which disappeared as suddenly as it started. Then, slowly, the textbook symptoms came. Her appetite reduced into nothingness, as her gums began to bleed and her hair fell in clumps. Her skin, once radiant with health, turned a sicky pallor. Bruises spontaneously appeared on her body. Duncan exchanged a quick glance with Kevin. The boy immediately turned back to his whittling.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Simon said.
Barrett interrupted the moment of pathos.
“You said the four of you. But there’s five.”
Duncan turned his greying head to Barrett. His eyes flicked over the big man’s hands wrapped around one of his grand-daughters.
“Aye,” Duncan said, his voice not any happier. “My son and Audrey.”
“Your son?” Simon asked.
“Long gone. Left us after his mother died. I have not heard from him in a long, long time. Probably dead, but I have my hopes.”
Duncan released a heavy sigh. He stood from his spot.
“I should check on Audrey,” he said. The old man walked into the darkness.
“It’s why we gather hubflowers,” Sylvia said softly. “They were her favourite.”
“We’ll pick some tomorrow,” Kevin said. “We’ll leave them on her grave.”
Simon nodded his head, looking at the tender happiness upon the faces of his brothers. He felt his heart ache and decided to leave the circle. His brothers could enjoy their new found lovers.
Simon walked home and thought only of Audrey.

Over the first week, the three brothers laboured intensively on their new home. When Duncan and his three grand-daughters had given them a rotting house, the men thought little of it. Aside from the fact that Audrey had kicked down the front door, the damaged building had all manner of gunk clinging to its ceiling and walls. The deceased feral ghoul in their living room hardly helped matters. Still, this rundown building belonged to them.
The first night had been relatively unpleasant. The three brothers pulled their bandanas over their mouth and nose and began to work. Simon took charge. He dragged the dead ghoul from the building after assigning duties to his brothers. Barrett pried open every door and window in building for air flow. He pulled apart the heavy boards that blocked the windows and broke down stubborn doors. Kevin, on the other hand, needed to sweep through the clutter of the house. Over the last two centuries, plenty of dust and garbage had gathered inside the building. Clearly, a few sets of squatters had found comfort within these walls and brought their filthy habits with them. Kevin moved room to room, cleaning out empty canisters of Jet and used syringes of Med-X. Once done with the biohazardous aspect of his work, he gathered the empty tin cans and spent candy wraps that littered the floors. Likewise, he swept away fragments of mirror and glass from the bathroom, bedroom, and other living spaces. His other brothers helped him finish the arduous task of tidying the residence for their use. Within an hour, the house seemed almost habitable.
After a solid evening of chores, they joined their hosts around a cozy campfire. While tensions remained high, Duncan and his grand-daughters – Morgan, Audrey, and Sylvia – made small talk with the three brothers, hoping that the meager allotment of food and drink would pacify any residual hard feelings from the tensions during the day.
When their meal concluded, the brothers thanked the old man and his grand-daughters for their hospitality and returned to their residence. Together, the three brothers spent the night in the master bedroom on the top floor, which seemed to them the least disgusting room to sleep within.
When the sun of the first new day broke, the brothers were startled awake by the sound of a chainsaw. Barrett made for his weapons and exited their house before either of his brothers left their bedrolls. Barrett, swinging his pipe pistol, encounter Duncan with a ripper, a small handheld chainsaw, cutting into some dead wood.
“Good morning,” Duncan said. Sawdust clung to his face and beard.
“What are you doing?” Barrett complained. He holstered his pipe pistol.
“It’s almost noon, boy. The ladies and I have finished most of our chores.”
When Barrett marched back to his brothers and encouraged them to double-down on their plans for the day. The three of them could not be bested by the efforts of a geriatric and three girls.
Simon agreed with Barrett, setting his sight on turning their new house into a new home.
Barrett, full of his proud bravado, led his brothers into the surrounding buildings to scavenge for useful material and furniture. Piece by piece, the brothers hauled off heavy chunks of wood and metal back to their home. The ladies, pretending to do small tasks, watched the brothers work. Morgan peaked from mending clothes to see Barrett haul staggering amounts of wood and metal by himself. She admired the young man’s strength from a far.
Discovering the former pub down the street, the brothers stripped most of its furniture. From old metal tables to damaged booth seats, they took it all to furnish their new home. Still unsatisfied, Barrett decided to redesign the plan of the house. The original front door, which Audrey had kicked down, had faced a barely useable asphalt road. It had no use to them. Instead, Barrett wanted to create a new doorway which would allow them to move toward the Ducan’s home with greater ease. Barrett borrowed a sledgehammer from Duncan and knocked down a new doorway around the back. With that done, the house needed to be fortified from the outside. He convinced Kevin to join him for an additional expedition. The two of them went back to the military checkpoint and salvaged the metal exteriors from the cars and trucks that rusted on the side of the road. With these metal parts, Barrett fortified the exterior of the house and blocked the original entrance way.
Simon, becoming irritated at his brother’s homemaking zeal, turned himself to practical matters. His used the material they had to build a simple firepit in the middle of their home using a hubcap, a bent sheet of metal, and the bricks knocked from the wall. This firepit would allow them to keep warm during the cold season, and, for the time being, smoke out the house. He hoped that the smoke would make the old house smell more pleasant, and keep mosquitoes and other bugs away from them as they slept. Then, Simon moved to more practical matters.
While Duncan and his grand-daughters had a simple water purifier outside of their home, Simon made sure it had a constant supply water to process. With seven people residing in this small riverside settlement, they would need more water. Simon tasked himself with creating a duplicate water purifier for their needs.
On the second day, Duncan remarked about the communial food stores. If the boys wanted to stay, they could. In his estimation, they were hard-workers, and where hard-work abounds so does honesty. Still, feeding himself and three young women required substantially less effort than feeding an additional four men.
“Four?” Barrett asked him.
“Yeah, you eat for two,” Duncan replied with a gentlemanly tease.
Barrett hated the comment. Once again, he roped Kevin into one of his schemes. Before the night was done, the two of them had shot and killed a radstag. Duncan then taught the boys how to skin the creature properly to acquire best buckskin for resale or tanning. Once the radstag had been skinned and cleaned, Duncan handed the carcass to his grand-daughters to cook.
At the end of the second day, the whole community feasted. While still uncomfortable with each other, the initial mistrust faded. As words were exchanged, Duncan noticed the small looks Morgan flashed to Barrett, and the attention Syliva gave to Kevin. Kevin, charming in his silence, spent the night carving wood with his switchblade.
On the third day, the men woke at the same time as the others and joined them in their morning routines. They breakfasted as a single unit and broke into small detachments. Kevin joined Morgan and Sylvia as they went to water their crops. Simon helped Duncan carry water back to the purifiers. Only Audrey and Barrett refused to work with each other. Barrett had decided that he wanted to create a semi-fortified perimeter around both of the homes in case of an attack. Audrey, thinking the idea folly, walked along the river, searching for mutated fern flowers.
“Why does she collect them?” Simon asked Duncan on their way back.
“Ah, that’s a longer story than you know,” the old man replied. “In short, because we can turn those flowers into Rad-X and Radway. Useful for trade, or…” Duncan never finished his sentence. He stopped speaking and spent time among distance memories.
“Speaking of trades,” Simon said, nudging his head to someone approaching their homes.
Duncan snapped from his day-dreaming.
“Raiders!” Duncan’s shouted carried over the hill.
The approaching man swung his hunting rifle to their direction and fired blindly. The crack of his gun alerted his three squad mates to combat. The raiders turned hostile. Their hoots and hollers echoed into the settlement.
Duncan and Simon dropped themselves behind the heap of scrap metal Barrett prepared for his fortifications. Another shot came from the raider’s hunting rifle. It missed the two men by a large margin.
“Got your pistol?” Simon asked.
“Yeah.” Duncan racked his 10mm. “Ready?”
“I left mine inside.”
“For crying out loud!”
Before Duncan reprimanded Simon, he watched Audrey sprint from the river toward their homes.
“Get cover!” Duncan yelled at her.
Audrey dodged behind a distant dilapidated house. She also lacked a weapon.
“Why is everyone unarmed!” Duncan peered around the side of the scrapheap, only to receive a face full of dirt from an ill-aimed shot. “Argh!”
Bursts of fire came from their left. Barrett shouted from his position. He ran toward his brother and the old man, using the sides of his house for cover.
“What are you guys doing!” Barrett shouted. “Come on!”
The big man peered from his cover and fired several shots from his pipe rifle. A raider yowled in pain. One of Barrett’s bullets made vicious contact.
“I forgot my pistol!” Simon yelled back to his brother.
“Don’t tell them that!”
Barrett looked from his position. One of the raiders sat upon the dirt gripping the side of his body. One of his squad mates crouched tried to staunch the bleeding.
Barrett unloaded at the two of them. His bullets savagely pierced them.
Under the cover of fire, Audrey crept into her house. She searched for her tactical submachine gun and joined the fray. Of the three women, she definitely possessed the most spirit. When she emerged from the house, however, the other two raiders disappeared from view. Barrett moved around the house and to the other road. He saw no one.
Duncan pulled himself to his feet and ran to Audrey. With their weapons out, they moved as a two-person firing team.
Simon swiftly entered his own home and seized his pipe pistol. He only had a few rounds in it. Then, he heard a flurry of shots and a woman scream.
“Morgan!” Barrett’s voice boomed over the settlement.
Simon ran into the road to witness a cloud of concrete dust snowing onto the ground. Kevin and Sylvia had dragged Morgan behind an abandoned house. Sylvia bawled hysterically.
Barrett ran to the group without thinking.
“Gotcha!” a snarled voice called from higher ground. The raider scum’s pipe revolver erupted with a flash. The bullet struck Barrett in the leg as he ran. Red mist sprang from his thighs. He fell to the ground.
“Barrett!” Simon shouted. From his position, he unloaded his entire pistol at the raider who had shot his brother. The raider scum collapsed with a curse in his mouth.
Simon looked to his fallen brother. The large man pulled himself toward the concrete barrier that had been hit only moments prior. From the corner of his eye, Simon spotted movement. The last raider, a female in raider leathers, fired a double-barreled shotgun. More concrete erupted into the air. Sylvia shouted louder into the air.
Simon took aim and pulled the trigger.
It clicked empty.
The raider noticed Simon.
“You havin' fun? Huh? I can do this all day!” She cracked open her double-barrelled shotgun and reloaded two shells. The moment her shotgun clacked closed, she fell to the ground with a scream.
Duncan stood behind the woman -- his pistol still smoking from its shot. He approached the wounded raider before she had a chance to reach her shotgun. He fired a shot into the woman’s skull.
Audrey, who had been at Duncan’s side, ignored the execution. Instead, she ran to the concrete barrier.
“Morgan, is she alive?”
Sylvia, who continued to cry, found refuge in Kevin’s arms. The youngest of the three sisters babbled incomprehensibly behind her tears.
“She’s fine,” Barrett said with a grunt. He pressed his dirty fingers against his leg wound, but it beld profusely. Morgan scrambled beside him and examined the injury.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. Her eyes, a crystal blue, filled with a thin film of tears. She was the oldest of the three sisters, but spoke the least. She felt responsible for everyone and everything that happened on the settlement.
“It’s okay,” Barrett said with a gritted smile. He admired the colour of her eyes and the long black hair that framed her face.
“I’ll get the medical bag,” Audrey said, leaving the group behind.
Simon took the lead.
“Kevin, take Sylvia home and keep her there. Morgan, when Audrey comes back, do you think you can tend his wounds?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good,” Simon said. “When you’re done, find me and I’ll help bring him to ours.” He left the couple and approached Duncan, who stood above the dead body of the raider Simon shot ded.
“What’s the injury?” Duncan asked, his eyes scanning the raider for signs of life.
“Barrett’s got a leg wound, a graze -- .45 by the looks of it,” Simon said, picking up the raider’s pipe revolver.
“He’ll make it?”
“If your girls can nurse him to health.”
Duncan turned his gaze to Simon.
“He’ll be fine. We got a stimpak that I’ve been saving. Your brother does a lot of work around here. He’ll be okay.”
“I appreciate it,” Simon replied.
“Help me with them, will you?”
Simon and Duncan spent the next few moments looting and stripping the raiders down to their undergarments. They gathered the four bodies and left them by the side of the road.
“Tomorrow, we’ll bring them to the graveyard,” said Duncan. At this point, night had fallen. Everyone gathered around the large firepit that the sisters had made on the first night these two families came together. Around the blazing fire, built from the wood Duncan had cut, they ate leftover radstag.
Simon sat between Duncan and Kevin. Kevin hardly spoke to his brother. Instead, he whittled a skewer from a piece of wood as Sylvia leaned on is shoulder. She had regained her composure, but still rattled from the day’s events. Similarly, Morgan sat beside Barrett. She kept a slight gap between them, but when Barrett stretched his bandage leg and adjusted his hand on the log upon which he sat, she allowed her fingers to touch his hand.
Only Audrey sat alone. She leaned forward on her knees and looked into the campfire. She thought quietly.
“You have a graveyard?” Simon asked.
“We do,” Duncan replied. “It’s where my wife is buried.”
At those words, Audrey left the circle.
“Ignore her,” Duncan continued, “the wound runs deep.”
“What happened to her? Your wife, I mean.”
“Radiation sickness. It’s why we decided to settle at Forest Grove.”
Duncan poked the fire with a large stick.
“She and I wandered the Commonwealth, trading minor goods and enjoying a simple life. Total freedom. We survived a lot together. A lot.”
Duncan sighed. Kevin paused his whittling and looked to the old man. Morgan, knowing the story well, ignored everything and shifted closer to Barrett.
“The effects of the Wasteland proved too much for her in the end. It’s why Audrey gathers those fern flowers. When the four of us got here, we tried making as much Radaway as we could from those flowers, but it wasn’t enough. She had probably hit a lethal dose a week or two prior to her death. The treatment came too late.”
Duncan stopped talking. Privately, he recalled his wife’s upswell of nausea, which disappeared as suddenly as it started. Then, slowly, the textbook symptoms came. Her appetite reduced into nothingness, as her gums began to bleed and her hair fell in clumps. Her skin, once radiant with health, turned a sicky pallor. Bruises spontaneously appeared on her body. Duncan exchanged a quick glance with Kevin. The boy immediately turned back to his whittling.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Simon said.
Barrett interrupted the moment of pathos.
“You said the four of you. But there’s five.”
Duncan turned his greying head to Barrett. His eyes flicked over the big man’s hands wrapped around one of his grand-daughters.
“Aye,” Duncan said, his voice not any happier. “My son and Audrey.”
“Your son?” Simon asked.
“Long gone. Left us after his mother died. I have not heard from him in a long, long time. Probably dead, but I have my hopes.”
Duncan released a heavy sigh. He stood from his spot.
“I should check on Audrey,” he said. The old man walked into the darkness.
“It’s why we gather hubflowers,” Sylvia said softly. “They were her favourite.”
“We’ll pick some tomorrow,” Kevin said. “We’ll leave them on her grave.”
Simon nodded his head, looking at the tender happiness upon the faces of his brothers. He felt his heart ache and decided to leave the circle. His brothers could enjoy their new found lovers.
Simon walked home and thought only of Audrey.

Supreme Court Judgement No. 2016 (A) 1731 https://www.courts.go.jp/app/hanrei_en/detail?id=1541
Penal Code (see Section 176) https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3581/en
Brief summary of the Judgement by a Japanese law professorhttps://www.waseda.jp/folaw/icl/news-en/2019/03/19/6575/
Since some of you seem really interested in the SA discussion, let me provide some reference for y'all.
This is not meant to be a thoroughly researched legal opinion and I am not practicing law in Japan. For one, I cannot read Japanese so I am forced to rely only on the available translation. However, the legal framework is basic enough to follow.
Also, keep in mind that I am looking at this from a sex-related crime angle. The action in question may or may not constitute other crime which I am not concerned with.
The issue is whether Yoru's act of grabbing Denji's dick could be objectively and legally considered SA.
Since this chapter took place in Japan. We will be applying Japanese law for the issue.
From taking a brief look at the Japanese Penal Code, Section 176 under Chapter XXII Crimes of Obscenity, Forcible Sexual Intercourse, and Bigamy seems most likely to apply the most so we will be analyzing this Section.
Article 176 A person who forcibly commits an indecent act through assault or intimidation upon another person of not less than thirteen years of age is punished by imprisonment for not less than 6 months but not more than 10 years. The same applies to a person who commits an indecent act upon another person under thirteen years of age
Now, the main issue is whether the act of grabbing the dick by the hand with the intention of cutting it could be considered an "indecent act" within the scope of Section 176. The Penal Code does not provide definition of this word so we will have to rely on the court ruling. Fortunately, we have what seem to be a big court ruling in 2017 pertaining to this issue, so lets take a look.
Paragraph(5) of the ruling is as follows: ...among acts that should be evaluated as an indecent act stipulated in Article 176 of the Penal Code, there are acts that, as an act leading to rape, can be immediately evaluated as an indecent act for the reason that the acts themselves have an apparent sexual nature and can be confirmed without doubt to have a sexual meaning, regardless of the specific situation in which such acts were conducted and other factors. On the other hand, there are acts that people cannot tell whether the acts themselves have an apparent sexual nature or not, and for which it is difficult to evaluate whether they have a sexual meaning or not without taking into account the specific situation in which such acts were conducted and other factors. Moreover, given the severity of the statutory penalty stipulated in the same article, not all the acts that can be seen to have a hint of a sexual meaning should be evaluated as deserving of punishment as an indecent act stipulated in the same article. The question of what kinds of acts have a sexual meaning and should be seen to deserve punishment pursuant to the same article is a matter of normative evaluation that should be determined objectively in consideration of how society at that time generally accepts crimes pertaining to sexual damage.
According to the above-mentioned facts, in order to determine whether an act falls under an indecent act stipulated in Article 176 of the Penal Code or not, the Court should first duly examine whether the act itself has a sexual nature or not and its extent, then give comprehensive consideration to the specific situation in which such act was conducted and other factors, as the case may be, and finally determine whether the act has a sexual meaning or not and the strength of the sexual meaning based on specific facts according to individual cases. Therefore, it is undeniable that there are some cases in which, as one of such individual and specific conditions, the perpetrator’s purpose and other subjective conditions should be considered as a factor for determination. However, although there are such cases, it is not appropriate to require the perpetrator’s sexual intention other than an intention of committing the crime as a requirement for the formation of forcible indecency in a blanket manner. The construction made in the 1970 Judgment should be amended.
Reading this, I recall the definition provided under Section 78 of the UK's Sexual Offences Act which seem to follow similar definition, that is, the definition of the word "sexual", as follows:
For the purposes of this Part (except sections 15A, 66B to 66D and 71), penetration, touching or any other activity is sexual if a reasonable person would consider that—
(a)whatever its circumstances or any person’s purpose in relation to it, it is because of its nature sexual, or
(b)because of its nature it may be sexual and because of its circumstances or the purpose of any person in relation to it (or both) it is sexual
You can see the commentary on this Section here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/notes/division/5/1/64
So, to put it simply, according to this judgement, "indecent act" pursuant to Section 176 of the Penal Code includes act which is
(1) by nature objectively sexual without any doubt, regardless of the surrounding situation e.g. sexual intercourse
(2) not apparent by nature to be sexual and the surrounding situations or other factors need to be taken into account to determine whether it has sexual meaning
However, not all act which has a hint of sexual meaning should be punishable under Section 176 and the court reserve its discretion, taking into account how society at that time generally accepts crimes pertaining to sexual damage. (This is a bit muddy so lets ignore this for now)
Now, does the action of Yoru falls under either (1) or (2)?
I hope we can all agree that the act of using hand to touch the genital of another person is not at the same level as sexual intercourse, and not all touching of the genital is sexual e.g. mother cleaning the genital of her baby is not sexual, doctor or nurse performing medical service to a patient is not sexual. Therefore, the action in question does not fall under (1).
What about (2)? Yoru touched denji's penis (or balls, whatever) with the sole purpose of cutting it, which is as far from sexual as I can imagine, and that is pretty much the only context given in this chapter, so I'd say that it does not fall under (2) either.
So, all things consider, no, I dont think Yoru grabbing denji's penis or balls in this context is SA against denji, at least according to Japanese law.
However, the following kissing part is a bit more messy and unclear so I would have to wait for the following chapter to form an opinion.
Nevertheless, I'd at least say that this is not as clear cut as some people want it to be.

2003 Dodge Dakota 4.7 4WD
Heyo! I just changed my tranny fluid and filters but I CANNOT for the life of me get the fluid correct, I put back in about 6.5 quarts of ATF over the course of 2 days. I check the dipstick when cold and it goes pretty far into the hot mark, but when I check the dip stick when its hot (About 20 minutes of driving) it says its at a perfect level.
Also note that I go by if there's fluid in the hole of the dipstick not the actual level of fluid.
I've read over my owners manual and it says that it should be in the cold mark when cold, and hot mark when hot, but with how its going that doesn't seem possible.
The transmission runs fine and all gears work, but I'm worried that I dramatically overfilled it. Any advice?

2003 Dodge Dakota 4.7 4WD
Heyo! I just changed my tranny fluid and filters but I CANNOT for the life of me get the fluid correct, I put back in about 6.5 quarts of ATF over the course of 2 days. I check the dipstick when cold and it goes pretty far into the hot mark, but when I check the dip stick when its hot (About 20 minutes of driving) it says its at a perfect level.
Also note that I go by if there's fluid in the hole of the dipstick not the actual level of fluid.
I've read over my owners manual and it says that it should be in the cold mark when cold, and hot mark when hot, but with how its going that doesn't seem possible.
The transmission runs fine and all gears work, but I'm worried that I dramatically overfilled it. Any advice?