I’m Julian, 17m looking for a long-term friend :) Interests/hobbies are gaming, playing tennis, listening to music, watching football (soccer if you’re American ig) and skiing, and a lot more lol I speak French and English fluently, I live in England, and I speak Spanish near-fluently, so if yk any of those languages hmu in one of them lol Feel free to hmu :)

Hello there!
First and foremost, sorry if I f*** up my explanation as english ain't my mother tongue.
I've been trying for some time now to play Fallout 4 with the storywealth mods from nexus, I had no trouble on that part except for the language part. The mods are (obviously) full english and I have no trouble with that, having a good (for a french) understanding of it. Problem is that when I first installed the game, it was in French (yes the VA is shit). I tried turning it into english after that (while mods where installed) but it seems to only work partially, I get the pre launch menu in english when I start the game normally (the one with graphics option, not the main one allowing you to start the game), but when I go to to the main one and to the game after that (using storywealth or launching it naturally), Everything is back to french and the voicelines from the beginning of the game are absent (codesworth in the living room, baby crate and all of those, I have the news journal tho and after that everything is back to normal). My problem is that it seems to cause minor but very frustrating waypoint bugs at random quests (from the original game or from the Storywealth mod), causing them to simply not appear anywhere else but the pip-boy map. I've tried with or without the mods, I tried reinstalling the game after having deleted it, I tried deleting, flushing the remaining files and reinstalling, but that problem persist, I've even destroyed all my save files (not a problem since I intended in doing a new game from scratch) and nothing worked.
If someone has a solution, I'd be glad to know because I couldn't find anything on the internet.
Some intell if that can help:
-I have the game on steam, with cloud sync activated and up to date
-Before reinstalling the game recently, I hadn't played it since a short while after the nuka world expansion
-The bug is present with or without the mods
Feel free to ask me questions if I forgot something, I really need the help as the game doesn't want to cooperate properly wich kinda ruins the expertience tbh

Before you say ridiculous, here's some Australia specific Rugby problems:

Massive competition between sports codes - Rugby in Australia is absolutely eclipsed by the NRL and AFL, My gut feeling says that Aussies prefer to watch a sport they don't get annihilated in week on week, and they actually like to see their teams win but there is another reason: there is actually a tribal culture around NRL and AFL teams. People LOVE the rivalry and camaraderie of footy club culture in Australia and Super Rugby teams playing in empty cavernous stadiums just don't have that. Conversely, half of the Shute shield teams now have more enaged fans than the Tahs, Force or Rebels. I've never seen someone with a NSW Waratahs tattoo, I have at least 3 mates in Sydney with a Rabbitohs tattoo on their ass. It's a different level of passion.
No Development Pathways - whether you blame it on rugby league or the Randwick Rugby Club nepo babies, there are only 150 Professional Rugby contracts available in Australia. Most of those contracts are taken up by established professionals, and since 3rd tier Rugby Like Shute Shield pays in popcorn and free skydiving tickets young talented rugby players graduating out of school get no benefit out of the Rugby development system. Compare that to the 500+ NRL contracts, plus the development NRL contracts that have a minimum wage of 80K a year, no wonder the talent leaks away from rugby.
Representative based system, rather than clubs - Australian Super Rugby teams aren't really clubs, They're rep footy sides run by the governing body(excepting whatever is happening at Western Force). From a sports administration point of view this really muddies the waters of how the organisation can operate, appoint board members, CEO's etc(Australian laws around sports clubs also allow for clubs to run their own venue like a pub for members, generating consistent revenue streams, which the SR teams do not qualify for).

Where am I going with this?
In Short, A 10-12 team domestic competition modelled on English & french domestic comps. 2 Pacific Island Teams, Brumbies, 3 NSW teams, 3 QLD teams, Western Force and Melbourne Rebels. There would be growing pains, the initial quality would not be the same as Super Rugby and it would take time to build fan bases, BUT:
You address all 3 of these points. The new teams would be able to capitalise on localised fanbase rather than a fairly nebulous state team, teams could play at mid sized local stadiums and create an atmosphere like the Tahs experienced at Leichhardt oval in 2021(I have never seen such a raucous turnout for Rugby Union as those games in Balmain). You would have twice as many professional contracts available to incentivise young talent to give pro Rugby a crack. The new clubs would have much more self determination and freedom to operate as a business. tick, tick, tick.
Problems:
Initial broadcast revenue would not be equivalent to the Super Rugby revenue. Contracts will not be as lucrative as the current ones available. Inevitably plenty of star talent will be lost to overseas franchises in the startup phase. Andrew Forrest(owner of the Western Force) was ready to create 'Global Rapid Rugby' and bankroll a breakaway comp back in 2018-19, only concluded by the Force being allowed back in to SR during covid in 2020.
I don't think NZ would be keen on this model in their domestic comp bc with a population of 5 Million it's a real push to support more professional teams than they already do. Their depth of talent is obviously insane but can that many fans support a professional league? Maybe with the obsessive rugby culture they have it could.
The BONUS
Ever heard of the European Champions Cup? Welcome to the Pacific Champions Cup. This is where the broadcast cash gets interesting: the top 2 teams from the Australian, New Zealand and Japanese Domestic Rugby competitions duke it out exactly the way that the European rugby sides do. This idea really gets my tail up and adds an international club element that the other codes in Australia really lack.
As imposing as creating a new comp from scratch is, Super Rugby is dying a slow, public death. I'm interested to hear everyone else's solutions to the demise of Super Rugby pacific.

I've arrived home at quarter to five in the morning. I am drunk and I've walked home from my best friend's house barefoot after riding with her to make sure she's gotten home safe. We set a time to be done, 11pm. Obviously we didn't stick to it. We never do. I've gotten hugs from her daughter Lilly, who woke up from her spot on the couch upon our entry, and given intoxicated wisdom to her teenaged boys, who were unsurprisingly still awake and playing video games at this ungodly, yet wholly spiritual hour. I'm making French toast with my front door open, letting in the morning fog and listening to the birds chirp, the same birds that interrupted my slumber the morning before. They don't bother me right now. Nothing bothers me right now except the grumbling of my empty stomach, crying out for sustenance, which will soon be satiated. I look to my cat, an eleven year old crabby tabby that I've had since she was a kitten and whom I love more than anything. She gives me an acknowledging mew. I drink water with my French toast. It won't matter, I'll be hungover anyway. It was worth it. I am complete. I am free. I am happy.

Just copy this, paste this into a sandbox, then make a thread in the Trope Repair Shop linking to it. The thread shall be titled "Needs Help: Inexplicable Language Fluency".
A wick check for InexplicableLanguageFluency.
'''Why?''': InexplicableLanguageFluency seems to lump in examples of characters demonstrating fluency in a language they've never learned with examples of characters merely understanding a language they never learned. For one, it doesn't make sense for the latter examples to be there since the title has the word "fluency" in it. Secondly, many of the latter examples can be moved to BilingualDialogue or AmplifiedAnimalAptitude.
'''Wicks checked''': 50/72
'''Wick totals''':
* 21/50 wicks, or 11.5%, were clear examples of a character demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned. * 24/50 wicks, or 12% were examples of a character understanding a language without demonstrating fluency. * 4/50 wicks, or 2%, were written in a way that made it unclear whether they were being used correctly. * 1/50 wicks, or 1.5%, was an aversion.
[[folder:Characters demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned (21/50)]] * Characters.AtlantisTheLostEmpire: The Atlanteans are able to fluently communicate with the explorers from the surface in English and French. This is handwaved as their own language being a precursor to all other languages. * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming finds himself immediately fluent in Japanese despite having never learned the language, and the Japan of his era was still a dwarf country that mostly only sent envoys to Shu's rival kingdom of Wei. Eiko points out the absurdity of how an ancient Chinese figure can suddenly speak Japanese, and Kongming himself is at a loss of how he can do this. * Characters.YellowjacketsCrashSurvivors: [[spoiler:She, and by extension others in the Antler Queen cult she forms, randomly speak French on occasion, which Lottie at least is ''not'' fluent in, indicating mental instability.]] '''If this is supposed to be an inversion, it's correct, but it should be rewritten to mention that it's an inversion.''' * ComicBook.Asterix: Gauls can speak to most foreign peoples without any difficulty. Either everyone can speak Gaulish, or the Gauls can speak other languages, but either way is downright impossible. * ComicBook.UltimateFantasticFour: ** Downplayed. Namor demonstrates this trope after spending nine thousand years of being sealed inside a sarcophagus prison. Being from an ancient civilization of Atlantis that predates the modern English language, he initially has no idea what his new captors are saying when they find him. However, thanks to his psionic powers he proves to be a frighteningly fast learner and is able to learn English within an hour to understand modern American English and casually deliver threats and demands. ** Happens again when the Four meets the Silver Surfer who is able to understand English perfectly the instant he arrives to Earth for the first time. He justifies this by stating can decipher electromagnetic signals in the air to learn alien tongues in seconds. * Friends.TropesFToJ: Zig-zagged. "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" has her speaking with Joey's Italian grandmother, with Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey. But in an earlier episode, Rachel's former lover Paulo calls her "bellissima" and she doesn't understand. ->'''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Film.ExorcistTheBeginning: In-universe, the main characters note Cheche's sudden fluency in English after being brought to the hospital. Of course this is because it is Pazuzu speaking through him and not actually Cheche. '''This is DiscussedTrope, not InUniverse'''. * Film.{{Phenomenon}}: Downplayed. After a UFO encounter, George gains a form of superintelligence where he can learn complicated tasks and subjects quickly, to the point where he's able to fluently speak Portuguese after reading an English-to-Portuguese dictionary for twenty minutes. This was foreshadowed in an earlier scene where after usually fumbling to speak Spanish, he's suddenly able to speak it perfectly, to the point that his Hispanic coworker half-seriously declares that it's better than his. * Literature.ForgottenRuin: When Talker and Vandahar speak during the final stretch to the Hidden Cave, Vandahar speaks in what we would recognize as modern German, which of course makes communicating with him very easy for Talker but raises a few questions. * Literature.InCryptid: Of the GeneticMemory version. When Candice the Dragon Princess comes up against the LizardFolk wandering about the New York sewers, she's able to make them halt using a guttural language. She reveals to Verity that it's a inborn language all Princesses know and something the "Servitors" are meant to respond to. She's also never used it before as Servitors can only be created from a [[spoiler:living male dragon]]. * Literature.SeasonalFears: Aven is essentially in a coma all her life but, thanks to the alchemical knowledge tinctures of her father', she speaks perfect English even if there are some issues with definitions. * Literature.ShiversMDSpenser: Bubbie moves to France with her family and meets a new French kid, Jean-Luc, and can somehow converse with him without any language issues; at the end of the story she can hold a long conversation with a stranger in French, despite spending less than a week in the country. Previous books with an overseas setting will at least attempt justifying this trope (for instance, ''Terror on Troll Mountain'' has the protagonist's Italian family choosing to speak in English because they're anticipating American guests) but this one handwaves the issue until it's a borderline plot hole. * Recap.AsterixAndTheGoths: Getafix is able to speak fluent Gothic, despite being a Gaulish druid who has no logical reason to know it (especially considering how antagonistic the Goths are in this story). * Recap.FriendsS5E19TheOneWhereRossCantFlirt: Phoebe speaks with Joey's Italian grandmother, with [[InexplicableLanguageFluency Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey]]. '''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS4E6TheGraveRobber: Aileen is surprised to hear Tapok speaking English when he wakes up, the mummy giving an offhand mention that he can speak the language of anyone who violates the tomb. * Roleplay.WanyaKingdomVSAwoofyUnity: Fragment has been shown to speak any language even if he has never heard it before. * Series.{{Llanargollen}}: In "Dirgelwch y Llyfr Coll", Prys and Barti speak to each other in Swahili. It seems incredibly unlikely that Prys would be fluent in that language, and Barti only speaks in unintelligible grunts with individual words thrown in. The other characters barely react to this. * VideoGame.EternalReturnBlackSurvival: The test subjects are able to work together with each other in spite of how one would presume that the vast majority of them would be completely unable to verbally communicate with most of the others. {{Averted}} by some of the achievement lore entries, which include statements observed from test subjects that some of which have a note underneath which states the words were translated by AI and will be reviewed and localized further in the future. '''Since this seems to be an implied example rather than a straight example, and it seems to be ambiguous InUniverse whether it's this or BilingualDialogue, I'll leave it here.''' * VideoGame.MegaManBattleNetwork2?: [=MegaMan=]'s translation system allows Lan to speak flawless Netopian after they arrive in Netopia. * WesternAnimation.{{Pocahontas}}: English explorer John Smith meets the alluring Pocahontas of the Powhatan tribe. Smith doesn't know her language, nor she his. That is, until Pocahontas takes a breath of magic wind. Suddenly, her English is better than his. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Aversions (1/50)]] * DarthWiki.{{Aquilaverse}}: ''Averted'' Not inexplicable, since her spell "Xenographus" let's her read any language she encounters for a limited duration. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Unclear (4/50)]] * Characters.FrightKrewe: His power makes him this. He has the ability to communicate with anyone and understand anything they say, whether its a [[InexplicableLanguageFluency person]], an [[SpeaksFluentAnimal animal]], or an [[NatureSpirit 'elemental entity']]. '''The way the example is written, it's not clear whether it's this or BilingualDialogue.''' * Recap.CreepshowS1E3BadWolfDown: Doc is shown to speak French and understands the language quite fluently, allowing him to translate the explanation of the werewolf woman's plight. '''You can't "understand a language fluently". Does he ''speak'' it fluently, or at least speak it better than he should realistically be able to?''' * Series.AlloAllo: Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians can talk to each other. This is never explained. '''In their own languages, or...?''' * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps: The [[SpeaksFluentAnimal aliens]] and [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien chimps]] understand each other, despite that the chimps have just arrived on their planet. '''Does one of them speak the other's language, or do they just understand each other's languages?''' [[/folder]]
!!!'''Characters being able to understand a language without demonstrating fluency (24/50) 12%''' [[folder:Amplified Animal Aptitude (7/50) '''3.5%''']] * Literature.MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH: The animals can understand humans and each other, but can't talk to humans. This leads to a bit of FridgeLogic as to where exactly all these animals picked up English (justified for the rats, as they were taught it in the lab, but not for any of the others), and whether they can understand other human languages automatically as well. * Recap.TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV: When Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." * TheSimpsons.TropesIToM: ** In "Treehouse of Horror V", when Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." '''Just checked and the sloth doesn’t say “I don’t know”, it just grunts with an intonation that indicates that that’s what it was saying. So, not fluent in English.''' * Tarzan.TropesGToZ ** Played straight when Jane talks to a baby baboon and he understands her. * TotalDrama.TropesHToP: Some wild animals--especially squirrels--can understand humans. * WesternAnimation.FindingNemo: Dory understands English. The fish in the tank understand English because they've been hearing humans all their life, but there's no reason for Dory to understand English. [[spoiler:Subverted in that ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' reveals she was raised in a marine life institute in California.]] '''Since it says “understand” and not “speak” I can only assume this is a case of TranslationConvention and AnimalTalk, which means they aren’t actually fluent in English.''' * WesternAnimation.SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron: Spirit, despite not having had any human contact before his capture, understands what the human characters are saying. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Bilingual Dialogue (11/50)]] * Characters.MashupWeekMegamixCompetitors: Despite the fact that all 3 members speak different languages (English for Scoop, French for Eric and Italian for Baba), they can be understood by each other and by others easily. * Film.NoTimeToDie: James Bond's 5-year-old daughter, Mathilde, understands English even though her mother Madelaine speaks to her in French and all the media she consumes is in French. * Film.Titanic1997: Jack and the Swedish men understand each other well enough that Olaf is able to bet his tickets for all Jack and Fabrizio's money. * FinalFantasyXIV.TropesGToI?: ** In ''Heavensward'', the Warrior and Alphinaud are startled by how they can understand the great wyrm Hraesvelgr, who only speaks the language of dragons. They learn that while other races may not speak the dragon's language, the inherent power and magic in a dragon's song essentially beams meaning directly into the hearer's mind. ** The Scions are shocked in ''Shadowbringers'' when they meet [[spoiler:Emet-Selch's recreation of the lost city of Amaurot, the home of the BenevolentPrecursor race. Although the ancient version of mankind spoke only in a StarfishLanguage of droning tones, the Scions born millennia after the world was sundered find that they're able to discern meaning from it.]] * Literature.CookingWithWildGame: Lampshaded. One of the few supernatural parts of the setting is that [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Asuta]] can understand its inhabitants' language (almost) perfectly. Nobody knows why, nor do they ever find out; it's essentially one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality needed to get the plot going. * Literature.{{Fablehaven}}: After receiving magic from fairies, Kendra gains the ability to interpret their language intuitively despite never actually learning it. * Manga.MiriyaAndMarie: Aside of occasional GratuitousFrench, Miriya can understand all French and animal characters and vice versa. Blackey also tries to charge Miriya for massage in yen despite being French. * VideoGame.KnightsOfTheOldRepublic: Yes, your character understands plenty of languages, but there isn't anyone who ''should'' understand the language of the AbusivePrecursors. [[spoiler: Subverted. Turns out you'd been there before and learned the language, but just forgotten the whole thing between Malak's backstab and whatever the Jedi did to "rebuild" you]]. '''When moving this to BilingualDialogue, I would rewrite it as “Your character understands plenty of languages, but can only speak one.''' * WebOriginal.MashupWeek: In both tournaments, Flat Eric speaks French, but everyone can understand him perfectly. Same with Gigi, who speaks Italian. * WesternAnimation.JosieAndThePussycats: ''[[RecycledWithAGimmick In Outer Space]]'' has Melody encounter an alien creature that looks like cotton candy with eyes and flippers. The critter speaks in a series of bleeps, and Melody names him Bleep. [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien She can also understand him perfectly, and acts as translator for everyone else]]. Also, Bleep seems to understand English just fine. '''I also think InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien should be limited to people actually speaking Alien instead of just understanding it, but that’s for another time.''' [[/folder]]
[[folder:Other (6/50)]] * Characters.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocusMultiverse: Upon looking at some files from the old phone Oscar picked up, he's somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Fanfic.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus: Kaito is somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming also demonstrates an ability to understand English, as he is able to tell that the English song Eiko sings to him is a love song, with enough comprehension to be moved by a vision of his old comrades due to the lyrics referencing being still alive and alone. Later, upon meeting Tsuyoshi Kondo after Eiko's performance at the Yoyogi Art Festival, Kongming easily translates his GratuitousEnglish for a confused Kobayashi, and he's even become friends with a foreigner in Roppongi, who speaks exclusively in English. He's capable of some GratuitousEnglish himself, to boot. * Recap/CreepshowS2E2PublicTelevisionOfTheDead: Goodman reveals to Ted, out of nowhere, that he can read Sumerian, allowing him to translate the Necronomicon's incantations and let Evil roam free once again. * Series.{{Carnivale}}: During the fireball show, Samson secretly passes an old Crusader fob up to the stage during Lodz's psychometry act. When Lodz touches it, he's struck by visions of a holy war and begins chanting ''"In hoc signo vinces!"'' Ben, an uneducated farmboy, surprises Samson by translating even though he doesn't even recognize the language is Latin: '''Ben Hawkins:''' By this sign we conquer... by this sign we conquer... * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps2ZartogStrikesBack: Zartog understands the humans, despite having just arrived on Earth. He even understands Spanish, Hindi, and Xhosa upon hearing them for the first time, making the humans' inability to understand him even more hilarious. [[/folder]]

This is an example of a letter from my great uncle who joined the First French Army near the end of the war. It is a letter that mentions many things that avid followers of the show and books know about (The whole thing was found in two pieces in different parts of the same collection, but there is an english translation for each one).
https://preview.redd.it/k5go18yqpx3d1.png?width=690&format=png&auto=webp&s=41c31b4da3388f3a99ed97ef675f2ec84473da9e

Like many letters from the WWII time period, they've been kept in attics, boxes, and stored away, hard to find, and maybe even never seen again. You can replace these with whatever you want, photos, survivors, documents, items, and the same thing almost applies. One thing is clear, much of the information of the WWII era is being scattered and lost.
That is why I came up with the website, the WWII Archives (https://wwii-archives.org), which allows for anyone to join to create the most detailed articles about each subject from the WWII era. In doing this we attempt to archive and find all that scattered information, to bring it together to make these articles
Some example articles include people I've interviewed (Joe McPhail, Paul Blackmon), Units (A Co, 116th IR), VMF-323)), and family (Raymond Traumann whose letter is above). If your article even is notable enough we will summarize it in a blog and post it on social media.
https://preview.redd.it/nptkl9lmlx3d1.png?width=190&format=png&auto=webp&s=83290bc4d697958315a95d6909431b52c9bad59d
For this subreddit, although again you may write on any subject from that era, we are interested in people that would like to contribute and write about Easy Company, its members, 1st battalion, the 506th, the 101st, the 82nd, and anything related to those things. There are especially some niche and unknown things about the 101st out there that haven't really been well documented. For example a while back I started looking into a paratrooper named Bernie Gaudreau. If anyone has any information on him and other things we need help with that. Since the 80th anniversary of D-Day any information that can be contributed through that would be great.
Not only would you be able to write about general WWII things, but also about your family, other people from the time, very niche topics, and even things that don’t have to do with the war, but happened during the time period. Most importantly, you would be contributing to the scholarship for that time period in general.
All that it takes is to go to the website, sign up, read the Editing and Multimedia Guides (and Interview Guide if you’re interviewing), and then you are free to contribute!

I've arrived home at quarter to five in the morning. I am drunk and I've walked home from my best friend's house barefoot after riding with her to make sure she's gotten home safe. I've gotten hugs from her daughter Lilly and given intoxicated wisdom to her teenaged boys. I'm making French toast with my front door open, letting in the morning fog and listening to the birds chirp, the same birds that interrupted my slumber the morning before. They don't bother me right now. Nothing bothers me right now except the grumbling of my empty stomach, crying out for sustenance, which will soon be satiated. I look to my cat, an eleven year old crabby tabby cat that I've had since she was a kitten and whom I love more than anything. She gives me an acknowledging mew. I am complete. I am free. I am happy.

Really enjoyed my stay in Ubud, Bali. Visa-free, low cost of living, friendly locals who can speak English, arts & culture (and food) centre ng Bali
One morning, while people-watching and eating dragonfruit-cinnamon gelato, I noticed na ang daming female solo travelers sa Ubud. In fact, sa isang day tour, puro kami female solo travelers, haha
Sa Ubud Centre, kahit maglakad ka lang buong araw, marami kang madadaanan na restaurants, cafes, bookstores, art markets, museums, galleries, spas, etc
Maraming adventure activities nearby like hiking, swimming sa waterfalls, ATV riding, zipline, giant swing, etc
On my last night in Ubud, I was reading an Indonesian author's English translated work while enjoying French cuisine (20% off kasi new restaurant) and a lychee mocktail
Inaantok na ako because I had a massage and flower bath, pero parang ayoko matulog kasi pagising ko bukas aalis na ako
I felt perfectly safe as a female solo traveler, at maraming pwede gawin sa Ubud 🥰

Heyo 🙋🏼‍♂️ I'm interested in meeting new people, maybe you are too? If so, feel free to write to me and who knows, in the best case a friendship will develop :) What I should also note is that I would prefer it if you were a woman, simply because I get along better with women than with other men 😂
To give you a rough idea of who I am and what I like, I'd better write a bit about myself.
My biggest hobby is definitely gaming, I've been playing games since I was 3-4 years old 🤓 My favourite thing to do is playing single player games on the PS5, especially action RPGs, like all Fromsoftware titles. At the moment I'm also playing a lot of LoL with my best friend. I also have a Switch, just not too many games, mostly Pokemon, but I've spent a lot of hours on it. Oh and I bet nobody can beat me in Mario Kart 🏁
In addition to gaming, I also enjoy watching movies and series. Horror is the only genre I'm not the biggest fan of, although I'm often interested in the story of the movie. I've also watched one or two horror movies with friends, but to be honest, I've often held a pillow in front of my face 😂 Apart from horror, I watch all sorts of things, my favourites in terms of movies are definitely Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, a lot of Disney films, Iron Man and a few more that I can't think of off the top of my head right now haha As far as series go, I watch things like Stranger Things, GoT, Brooklyn 99, Community, Avatar the last Airbender, the Mandalorian, Fallout, Lupin or Vox Machina :)
I've been reading a lot again for half a year and I'm currently working on the last Witcher book, The Lady of the Lake. Other than that, I've read Lord of the Rings and the Metro trilogy. And as soon as I've finished The Witcher, I want to read Dragon Ball again, the last time was a good 16-17 years ago, and then maybe Dune or The Hunger Games 🤔
Apart from that, I study computer science, enjoy being outdoors and doing things with friends. I also love animals, my family has two dogs and three cats and I've been a vegetarian for almost 6 years 😄 I've been learning French via Duolingo every day for about 1 1/2 months, so if you happen to have Duolingo too, let me know and we can add each other 🙌🏼 I also enjoy cooking and my favourite dish is and will probably always be pizza. I've made pizza myself so many times in my life that I can do it in my sleep (but it's not that difficult, I have to be honest, not like sushi, which I've also made 1-2 times 🍱)
If you have similar interests and would like to write a bit, hit me up :D Ideally, you should live somewhere in Europe, because I'm from Germany myself and then it would be more convenient in terms of time. If you've read this far and won’t write me, I'd still like to thank you for your perseverance and wish you a good day or a nice morning/evening :D

In the 19, nearly 20, years I have lived my life, I was raised a Christian by American conservatives in a middle class environment and am fortunate to experience countless memories of joy, laughter, and growth with (mostly) everybody I have met. Each memory with the people in my life holds a special place in my heart, and I will forever cherish the bond we built.
The thing is that until the end of eighth grade, I had a strange obsession with East Asia. Looking back, it was very embarrassing and I condemn my parents for enabling me to become a weeaboo (by “weeaboo”, I mean “a person who is overly obsessed with East Asian culture, especially Japanese culture, to the point that they fetishize the culture in an unhealthy way”). I was the textbook example of a weeaboo who had a terrible case of “yellow fever” (sexual preference towards East Asians). Loving the image of East Asian culture without having any real idea what it stood for and seeing the East as a utopia, my fetishization of East Asia, especially Japan, was born out of the shame I have with the Western culture I was raised in. I never felt like I could fit in with my Western peers who I often looked down upon and did not want to be associated with. It got to the point that I became unsatisfied with my home town, my physical appearance, and even my closest friends. This combined with the surge in anime, K-pop, and other media on the internet really got me hooked and believing really fetish-y things about the Sinosphere. I hate being reminded of it and have tried to move on.
However, I am thankful for my exposure to Eastern culture, though it was through a very bastardized, Westernized lens. I am grateful for my exposure, even though it started out with something as intellectually undemanding as Vocaloid music (songs sung by a Japanese voice synthesizer). The best part about the exposure was that it helped me leave Christianity and join Buddhism at age 11, which greatly helped with my mental health considering I was experiencing suicidal thoughts since the age of 8. Though I had awful misunderstandings of Buddhism in the beginning and still do not really have a Buddhist teacher, I am glad that I have the resources to connect myself with other Buddhists and take refuge in the Triple Gem.
As I left my gross misconceptions of the Sinosphere behind back when I was 14 while still having a healthy interest in it, my eyes were eventually opened to perils which threaten not only the homelands of Buddhism (East, South, and Southeast Asia), but also the sustainability of modern humans. These two perils are Western culture and capitalist fascism.
The West exoticizes and misrepresents Buddhism and the culture of its home, the East, as a whole. I am ashamed to be born in a culture where this was encouraged, which I am worried could lead me to fetishizing Eastern culture again.
But what I know for sure is that the West’s hyperindividualism is harming people, both those whose lands are invaded and its own people. This combined with the West’s growing rejection of education, including that of the knowledge the West itself has given to the world for humanity’s benefit, makes it clear that it is lacking some of the Sinosphere’s cultural strengths. Everybody should hold collectivism and education to the same degree that the Sinosphere does, otherwise we would be left with an unsustainable society that would destroy itself.
There is nothing wrong with speaking Western languages, eating Western foods, watching (most types of) Western media, wearing Western clothes, and especially nothing wrong with using Western inventions, but we are now seeing that the West’s hyperindividualism and rejection of education is destructive and spreading like a cancer.
It is only Buddhists who make an effort to assimilate to the East (had they not been born into it) who can see the West with its hyperindividualism and uneducatedness, promoted by its creation of its spreading ideologies such as capitalist fascism and social Darwinism, for what it really is: a cancer. I can now see the direction the United States, the most populated and powerful country in the West, is going due to the rise of ultra-capitalism and/or fascism supporters.
Rarely the phrase “Western”, as in “formed by the combined foundations of Greco-Roman civilization and Western Christianity” (Gabbe), raised positive thoughts in my mind since I learned about it shortly after discovering Buddhism. “Western” when used in the context of medicine is an exception to this, but we are now seeing more and more Westerners dishonor the progress their ancestors made towards modern, mainstream, dare I say, Western medicine as they fall for anti-vaccine and anti-mask pseudoscience.
Nowadays, some who use the word in a derogatory context are uneducated reactionaries that bash anything and everything Western, yet hypocritically promote the Western political ideology of fascism. A strength that a majority (though now a decreasing number) of Western countries have is their progressivism, supporting scientific advancements, women’s rights, racial equality, and the LGBT+. However, this is not just becoming less common; being a progressive Westerner is not enough, not enough to end Western imperialism, to save the sacred truths taught to us by the Shakyamuni Buddha, or to empower the working class.
Although I never fully approved of Western culture after my weeaboo phase ended, my early teen self still ended up falling into the anti-social justice warrior side of YouTube that I now recognized hindered my understanding of what actually ruined my country, the United States of America. I still did not feel comfortable calling myself a Westerner but mainly because the West did not widely accept Buddhism and has several times in its history persecuted Buddhists. At the same time, I was deceived by a bastardized form of Buddhism common among Westerners (known as “secular Buddhism”, which picks and chooses aspects of the Buddha’s teachings instead of accepting them as a whole), so I was a bit more of the classic, stereotypical atheist neckbeard who fetishized the East up until 2020. Since then, my views became more progressive similar to those of American liberals and I denounced traditionalist Western beliefs, but like the average American liberal, I did not see Western culture, both traditional and progressive, as the peril I now see it. It was not until around the end of 2023 when I discovered the Western problem.
It was a slow burn that started with my discovery of Buddhists on the internet talking about how the West misrepresented Buddhism to appeal to “self-help” consumerists, Christians, and New Age followers. In the Westerner, I originally saw only a person who followed harmless customs, traditions, and other norms that came from a part of the world where Buddhism was not the dominant religion (if you could even call the non-theistic dharma as taught by the Gautama Buddha a religion). And so, I did not believe that Western civilization needed to fall for the safety of the dharma, let alone for its own people. After all, I thought to myself, the West has contributed so much to science and the modern world as we know it. I still believe to this day that there are no superior cultures and that each one simply has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, some of which are only subjective. However, while looking through Buddhist forums, I was shocked to hear about the West’s pollution of Buddhism and my knowledge on Buddhism skyrocketed as I learned that I fell victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect. I started reading sutras and immersing myself with Buddhism by listening to those who have much more experience than I do. There are hardly any Buddhists in my community and the only Buddhist center within reach is a New Kadampa Tradition meditation center (FYI: the New Kadampa Tradition must be avoided since it has a reputation for financially exploiting members and its monastics have allegations of drug trafficking and sexual abuse), so books and the internet are all I have left.
Practicing Buddhism in the West is nearly impossible without a community, without a Buddhist teacher, without any resources written by Eastern Buddhists. Reddit user u/Tendai-Student, a “lay Tendai Student [sic] with aspirations to become a Priest [sic]” states the following:
It is exceedingly challenging for a Westerner who is interested in Buddhism to find reliable information. Bookstores' Buddhist sections are rife with myths about the religion (we will come to some of these misconceptions below). Buddhism-related disinformation abounds in university classes. Misinformation about Buddhism abounds in publications with a Buddhist theme. Even Buddhism-related english-speaking [sic] Reddit boards are prone to carry false information.
Buddhism is constantly distorted in the same way: to make it more agreeable to Abrahamic faiths(especially Christianity in the west) [sic]. To imply that it is subject to Western standards, Western religion, and Western consumerism and materialism.
…Asian teachers are frequently excluded from English-speaking Buddhist places (meditation centers, university forums, periodicals). Asians make up the majority of Buddhists in the United States, despite the fact that popular images of Buddhism in the West make it appear otherwise. In the minds of Westerners, Buddhism is a religion of white converts. They don't even pay attention to the odd lack of Asians in some Buddhist areas. (u/Tendai-Student)
It is no wonder that I went through a phase when I was a weeaboo with “yellow fever”. The Westerner commodifies and commercializes these Buddhist practices and East Asian customs like they do with several other cultures. Its misuse and stealing of Buddhism is the worst because its teachings are for us to end suffering by ridding ourselves of the three poisons: greed, ignorance, and hatred (which the Westerner promotes).
My realization of this drew me away from the West, similar to when my obsession with the East began. The difference is that my interest in the East now is not because of a fantasy born out of misguidance, especially not a sexual one. I now know that there is more to the East than its pop culture. But I cannot help thinking that none of this would have happened and I would better understand Buddhism had I been born to and raised by Buddhists in East Asia, or even a majority Buddhist country in South or Southeast Asia.
However, the possibility of a cycle starting with a yo-yoing fetishization of the East makes me anxious. When I realized what I was doing at first was fetishization, I did further research and found out that the West is to blame for its portrayal of the East in its media. This in turn makes me denounce the West and brings me back towards my obsession with the Sinosphere, which could lead to more fetishization.
Despite this, I am glad that at the very least, my interest is more than just wanting to live a kawaii lifestyle, hoping to have a “submissive housewife who will look young forever”, or all that neckbeard squick. I do have to say that there is something else that is drawing me towards the Sinosphere, not to mention that it is the region where Buddhism is dominant (the same is true to a lesser extent with the Indosphere). Even though I am not a huge fan of tradition since I am very progressive, when a region’s culture gets something right, they get it right. In addition to Buddhist values, the Sinosphere holds education and collectivism to a high degree. It is no wonder I find their people so much more intelligent and caring than people from my culture.
It is common knowledge that countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, and Singapore have the highest average IQs. To add to this (unbeknownst to many), even less developed countries, e.g. Mongolia, with high Buddhist populations around the same region, have average IQs higher than developing and undeveloped nations outside the region. The most agreed upon reason for this is cultural factors rather than genetic or economic factors. To conclude, Buddhism combined with values in the East Asian cultural sphere creates the best “brains” to represent humanity, thus the West should make way for them, especially considering the East’s superior collectivism.
Of course cultures do not stay the same forever because they change over time. One big thing that is different now in the Sinosphere and Indosphere (the latter I am mentioning because it is where Buddhism came from, though it is not as dominant in the cultural region as it was) is that they are generally much more patriarchal and anti-LGBT+ than they were up until the last several centuries. However, Buddhism treats same-sex relations and being transgender the same as heterosexuality and being cisgender (preferring celibacy among monastics, though depending on the school of Buddhism, those in the monastic order may be treated as their birth gender, even if they are transgender), and in addition, the Buddha taught that women are just as capable of attaining enlightenment as men. Even outside of Buddhism, there are records of same-sex relations as early as the Shang dynasty in China and the temple walls in Khajuraho, India depict homosexual activity. As for feminism, China was matrilineal until the Han dynasty era, when Confucianism and filial piety became mainstream in the area, while India, home to over 100 different ethnic communities, has had a few matriarchal and egalitarian societies pre-European colonization. In the modern era, numerous people in the two cultural spheres are becoming more supportive of gender equality and the LGBT+, which in some cases may be due to Westernization (not that it redeems it) or simply the individuals’ progressive political views not influenced by Western culture.
What has stayed the same for the most part, besides Buddhism, is the Sinosphere’s and Indosphere’s value of collectivism in honor-shame societies and the former cultural sphere’s emphasis on education; this is what Westerners, as well as people all over the world, need for themselves. If the West is going to fall due to hyperconsumerism, late stage capitalism, and uneducated leaders, those living in the West would be better off joining Buddhism and assimilating to the East. Arguably, the best way to do this is to move to a majority Buddhist country, preferably one in the Sinosphere (its core countries being China, Japan, the Koreas, Taiwan, and Vietnam). Leave everybody you know from your home behind, especially non-Buddhists. Just to make things clear, Westerners are not necessarily evil and it is not their fault they were raised in a Western culture, but having these people in your life will hold you back from collectivism, quality education free of anti-intellectual quackery, and above all, understanding the dharma.
After you have left everybody in your life and started anew, you can immerse yourself in the culture. Again, abandoning Western food, media, clothing, and especially inventions and scientific breakthroughs is very unnecessary. Your main focus is reprogramming your mind to think like a person (specifically a Buddhist person) in the Sinosphere/Indosphere, utilizing the high educational standards, putting the collective over the individual, and taking refuge in the Triple Gem. Before moving, though, it is best to make yourself familiar with the customs and learn the language of the place you are moving to. To aid your assimilation, it would not hurt to start dating one of the locals who strongly identifies with the culture, regardless of their race. Someone living there who is not ethnically East, South, or Southeast Asian who is still very involved in the culture would be very helpful to your assimilation as one who is ethnically East, South, or Southeast Asian (I am clarifying this to discourage racial fetishization). This may be difficult as you would have to win over approval from their parents, let alone convince them to see you as another Easterner, but if you manage to do so, that would be fantastic. To make things easier, you could plan to move to a country where people treat women as equals and are relatively accepting of the LGBT+ so you would not have to worry about gender roles or whatever. Think of places in the Sinosphere such as Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, or if you are planning on going to the Indosphere (which is not too big of a step down) since they did give us Buddhism after all, Nepal and Thailand. Your most important goal, however, is to rewire your brain to think in a more Sinic or Indic way and be more in touch with Buddhism.
You can hardly consider yourself a Westerner if you manage to do so, being Western only in your country of origin (and possibly race as well). I am definitely not like those other “people” from the West who strongly cling to Western culture because they just do not understand. Western cultural merit is almost solely from the proxy of our ancestors’ inventions, scientific discoveries, and political revolutions. Considering that the West is being brought towards the wrong direction in the modern era, we should get out of there culturally, if not physically, until it all hits the fan.
If the West continues its defilement of the rest of the world, when it falls, it will bring it all down with it. We must not lose or else everybody loses.
This pressure has a good side; because the bigger the great threat becomes, the more we will push ourselves to assimilate and raise children to fight for us. Considering the infectability of Western anti-intellectualism and “main character syndrome”, how could our Western peers know better? Buddhism is not a proselytizing “religion”, so our best bet is eliminating the promoter of the three poisons, the Westerner (especially the Christian Westerner), from our own lives. How it will run to us as its society collapses under itself and we welcome it to assimilate but say “we told you so”! The older I get, the better I know the Westerner. The better I know the Westerner, the easier it gets to excuse hostility against them, especially from the Sinosphere.
From my perspective, the ones to blame are not the angry, low-middle class white males in the rural United States nor the boba conservative bananas and right-wing coconuts who suck up to the West’s biggest scum, but rather the ones who have brainwashed them to fall for chauvinism, reactionarism, and laissez faire capitalism.
Realizing this, I am now closely investigating the sources of these beliefs which make up the foundation of social Darwinism and, when combined with totalitarian thinking, capitalist fascism. This is after I noticed that these systems are unsustainable and would destroy themselves from the inside out. The slow, painful destruction of communities who fall victim to them are well known to me. If one looks carefully, they can see the consequences that have been unfolding since the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. You may wonder: were the founders aware of this? My guess would be that they were not but were evil nonetheless because they were too selfish to think about the future, their descendants.
If this is the case, then it is the duty of us, the opponents of these ideologies, to spread the word faster than the ideologies are currently spreading in the West. It is hard for me to believe it is not the case considering that both Western political ideologies are fundamentally reactionary. Besides, I doubt they would want civilization as we know it to collapse.
I have a social Darwinist as a maternal uncle who sometimes meets with my parents, maternal grandfather, and younger brother and with his political conversations, often sourced from flawed studies, Russian news, and 4chan, I can easily study the principles of its theories. Both of my parents are also conservatives who support Trump and other immoral American politicians. Being raised by the two of them, I bet I could disguise myself as a Western right-wing traditionalist, maybe even a social Darwinist, since I know the way they speak, to whom they flock to, and how to make them give one their full attention. It would probably be easy to do this as some right-wing grifters can fool American right-wing audiences into thinking that they share the same beliefs (e.g. Thomas MacDonald).
Their kind are gullible because they do not listen to fact checkers and often do not do research to see if who they are listening to really practices what they preach.
Even though there are Westerners who are not like this, the West cannot coexist with Buddhism, let alone the cultures where it is dominant, as the West ruled by colonizing tirthikas and it will likely always be for as long as it lasts. And just because their culture is not as viable as the one founded on Buddhist, Sinic, or even Indic values does not give them the right to imperialize the rest of the world and bring it down with them. We can welcome the Westerner willing to change its ways, turn it into one of an Easterner, and have its culture go through a quick and painless demise, or the Westerner can continue its power trip, destroy everything it touches along with itself, and society will suffer a slow and painful death. This is what the conclusion that I have come to so far as I examine capitalist fascism and Westerners’ connection to it.
The Western doctrine of capitalist fascism rejects an aspect of maitrī, fulfilling beings’ basic needs, and substitutes it for a privilege towards the bourgeoisie and the exploitation of the workers’ labor (also known as Vergegenständlichung or “objectification”). Thus it denies the worth of the collective, only concerns itself with greedy individuals, and thus is immoral. Unlike what the non-Buddhist capitalist wants people to believe, all beings have an altruistic Buddha nature, but it is corrupted, being difficult to notice as it has only conditions without a beginning (listed in the Avijjā Sutta). Abandoning capitalism, both fascist and non-fascist, gives power to the people as it ensures a more guaranteed right to life instead of having not even one thousand billionaires own more than half of Earth’s population combined, more than each one of those billionaires could ever spend in their lifetimes.
Should the Westerner, especially one who pushes capitalist fascism, strengthen its grip on humanity, it can be said that it would make its own naraka.
And so I stand by my plan and encourage others to do the same because it is in the name of the Unsurpassable Enlightened One. By protecting our kind against the Westerner, we are defending the Triple Gem.
If it is not already clear, the disapproval I feel towards the societal values and prevailing norms of the West has led me to question my place in this environment. I believe that meaningful change can only be fostered if the West is put into its place and the Sino-Buddhist East motivates our minds.
In Vietnam, where the culture is predominantly Sinic with some Indic aspects and little European influence, we can see the promotion of quality education, collectivism, and Buddhism (practiced by a forgivable 15% of the population), very unlike the nearby country of the Philippines. In the Philippines, its citizens cling to the Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic culture brought to the country by American and Spaniard imperialists. The effects of this are very clear in their average IQs (Vietnam: 89.53 vs. Philippines: 81.64) and PISA scores (Vietnam: 1403 vs. Philippines: 1058). They are both developing countries in Southeast Asia that were colonized by the West, but because Vietnam kept its culture more pure and stuck to Buddhism (or at least Sinic philosophies), its people are better educated compared to the nearby Westernized countries in a similar economic situation.
In short, Westernization leads to the following:

The native culture becomes diluted
If Western thinking intrudes, mental degeneration takes hold of the native population and its society slowly degrades along with the West itself as it eats itself from the inside out

Those who cause this to happen must be stopped, especially those who endanger Buddhism. We must not wait for the fruition of their karma for their sacrilege of the Tathagata’s teachings because by then it would be too late, and even if it is instant karma, every bodhisattva’s job is to end suffering.
Those who spread the harmful ideologies bring themselves and others away from the Buddha’s word are polluting humanity by having them join their rat race that will only end in their own demise. They are leading to the ruin of many and thus, I do not consider them to be human but instead parasites.
There is a disgraceful Western belief that for a short amount of time was not held by the majority but is now very pervasive in the West and also is the foundation of reactionarism, chauvinism, and capitalism in all cultures. It says: “My individual rights matter the most and freedom means my right to violate the rights of others.”
This Western babble is followed by numerous all around the world and sows disharmony in societies where it becomes the norm. This idea provides basis for several types of Westerners, including but not limited to:

the “Karen”; a middle-aged, entitled, often white and anti-mask/anti-vaccine female who makes trivial complaints
the “Chud”; a racist, misogynistic, right-wing male (usually young) who browses 4chan everyday and has a high likelihood of becoming a mass shooter
the dayangma (Hanzi: 大洋马); a sex-obsessed young adult Western female, majority white but sometimes POC, is conventionally attractive (to Westerners), sleeps around, and in some cases creates spawn that do not know their father(s)
the angry white male; self-explanatory, right-wing and traditionalist (sometimes a social Darwnist or capitalist fascist), commonly rural, evangelical Christian and have never seen a POC before
the “Trad Wife”; a prudish, sometimes uneducated, female who lets Western males walk all over it and raises spawn who are likely to become angry whites
the New Agehippy; generally a teenager or young adult, a well-meaning but poorly educated white liberal or social democrat who misappropriates Buddhism and appeases Muslims
the AmeriKKKan fathegrandfather; a middle-aged to elderly, chauvinist male with children, sometimes also grandchildren, and is unconcerned about social justice and similarly to the “Karen”, falls for pseudoscientific conspiracy theories
the neckbearded otaku (Hiragana: おたく); a hairy white male with “yellow fever” and mediocre hygiene, for the most part subreddit/Discord server moderators who stalk and kidnap East Asian ladies (if not teenage girls)

The growth of these groups is evidence of the degradation of Western culture, showing that it must retire as the dominant culture and make way for the much more sustainable East. Once the manuṣya realm on Earth is completely tainted by the West, Buddhas can no longer arise in the world because the dharma would be known by nobody and the Vinaya are forgotten or destroyed.
The future generation will not remember the dharma unless we halt the growth of the parasitic culture that promotes overconsumption, hyperindividualism, and anti-intellectualism.
The Westerner has a remarkable contrast to the Sinic or Indic. The Westerner has a grasp on this world so strong with its weaponry since the 16th century, using force to disrupt the traditional lives of whatever native people it saw, safe for those in a few countries (even though some of those countries are still being Westernized). The Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish built colonies from the Americas to Southeast Asia. The kingdoms were blessed with powerful militaries, strong economies, stable governments, and advanced technology that allowed their cultures to spread. But after half a millennium and looking back, was any of this really earned? And is the Westerner’s conquest over yet?
Since the Great Schism of Christianity, the Westerner trained itself for roughly one thousand years. It trained itself in several aspects, but it forgot an important piece, the dharma. The cunning Westerner, blessed with advancements, used them to tyrannize other peoples on a scale never before seen. This was the beginning of the Latter Day of the Dharma. The dharma is declining because of the savage Westerner. And so, it leeched off of any people it got a hold of, including predominantly Buddhist peoples. Even during the decolonization of the 20th century, fundamentalist Christianity spread and threatened the dharma. To make matters worse, previously Buddhist peoples clung to Christianity as taught by their colonizers; the French in Vietnam and the Spanish and Americans in the Philippines. To this day, the Philippines is a lost cause along with its majority Muslim neighbors in Maritime Southeast Asia. The cunning Westerner turned the Filipino against us and now Buddhists make up only 2% of the Philippines’ population. Now, the Westerner sees Buddhism as nothing more than an aesthetic, a self-help lifestyle, or a decoration that they can commercialize and cherry pick aspects to integrate into their religion or lack thereof.
It is excellent for someone from the West to learn the dharma as this will turn them into a more compassionate and wise person, but they must not enforce the Western gaze onto it and discard parts of the Shakyamuni Buddha’s words they do not like. To be fair, some aspects of Buddhism would be nearly impossible for a Westerner to understand unless they assimilate.
Buddhism is not materialist or blind belief without evidence and it belongs to the East, so stop pretending to be something you are not while pushing stereotypes of Asian Buddhists.
However, even though Buddhism is not materialist or very in line with the Western worldview, it is uniquely human. Walpola Rahula, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and writer explains it this way:
Among the founders of religions the Buddha (if we are permitted to call him the founder of a religion in the popular sense of the term) was the only teacher who did not claim to be other than a human being, pure and simple. Other teachers were either God, or his incarnations in different forms, or inspired by him. The Buddha was not only a human being; he claimed no inspiration from any god or external power either. He attributed all his realization, attainments and achievements to human endeavour and human intelligence. A man and only a man can become Buddha. Every man has within himself the potentiality of becoming a Buddha, if he so wills it and endeavours. We can call the Buddha a man par excellence. He was so perfect in his 'human-ness' that he came to be regarded later in popular religion almost as 'super-human'. Man's position, according to Buddhism, is supreme. Man is his own master, and there is no higher being or power that sits in judgment over his destiny. (Rahula 3)
How could one even consider the Westerners who diluted Buddhism human themselves at this point? If it were not for them, Westerners may have a better understanding of the teachings of the “man par excellence”. We are lucky that the only Westerners who necessarily see us as inferior are white nationalists and fundamentalist Christians, otherwise the Westerner could have committed a genocide that would have left millions of us dead. Westerners are competitive beings, so they rarely act in concord towards each other. It is only when there is something that draws them together or away from a common danger.
If everybody on Earth becomes a Westerner, they would wallow in their shamelessness and would have nobody left to exploit except for each other until they destroy themselves.
Until they are the only ones left, they will vilify and exploit anything non-Western until they only have each other, then leading to a chaotic world of undignified militaries, economic inequality, corrupt governments, and little or no innovations.
Unless the Westerner considers even the slightest of inspiration from the East, it will continue to follow hyperindividualism and have apathy towards its education. That is why the West is falling. Those from the West who are smart enough to realize that the West’s flaws that it spreads are deciding that the West is not worth maintaining and its resignation is overdue. If those from the West abandon it to assimilate to the East, it would make the West’s death quicker but more dignified.
This is more than a fad but rather the realization that Western society would be best being a passing fad itself. The West gave us great inventions, food, clothes, scientific discoveries, etc. and once it is gone, the East can pick up where it left off just fine.
We will never abandon the Triple Gem because we recognize it to be more than a spiritual, exotic aesthetic or trend. To do so would make us just like those others in the West who Asian Buddhists look down upon. When the time is right, each and every one of us will surround ourselves with the people who know the dharma better than anyone you have met in the West and we can finally be at their level. We shall be Western only in our country of origin and/or race, but in every other way, we will be Easterners; Buddhist Easterners who will take back what rightfully belongs to us.
When we (and hopefully Buddhists outside of both the Eastern and the Western world) do this, consumerism will lose some of its biggest prey. Even though it may not seem like it at first considering we are abandoning everyone we have ever known, we are doing our ancestors a favor by joining the culture that strives towards the end of suffering. We will be leaving our cultures’ ways of thinking behind, but doing this will save face for our lineage, especially the Western lineage as we would be preventing the creation of more “Karens”, “Chuds”, dayangmas, “neckbeards”, and other degenerates. We will not be annoying dorky nerds and certainly not “neckbeards” who are overly obsessed with and fetishize the culture but people making an effort to get closer to the dharma and surrender to the East.
Although we are collectivists, we must seek personal liberation first for the good of other beings. Once the West collapses and its former supporters come running to us, we shall welcome them. If some do not recognize this before it is too late, well boo hoo! They will have a better birth with the world we will create. Some of them, especially their unlucky spawn, would probably be better off dead and reborn into a better life, maybe even the Pure Land.
The way it is looking now, the West is falling and becoming the world’s laughingstock, which is a good thing. The quicker it falls, the less painful it will be for the Westerner and everybody else. Western culture will not be missed, but we can keep the best of it and continue the innovations that the creators would wish to see. We will remember the legacy of them and be thankful while never forgiving or forgetting the ones who ruined the West.
Works Cited
“Ignorance Avijjā Sutta (AN 10:61).” Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. Dhammatalks. 2017, https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN10_61.html. Accessed 31 May 2024.
Gabbe. “Western Culture.” Wikipedia. 25 May 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culture#:~:text=The%20core%20of%20Western%20civilization,Roman%20civilization%20and%20Western%20Christianity. Accessed 31 May 2024.
Rahula Thero, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. Oneworld Publications, 1959. Accessed 31 May 2024.
u/Tendai-Student. “栄真Eishin (u/Tendai-Student).” Reddit, 31 May 2024, https://www.reddit.com/useTendai-Student/. Accessed 31 May 2024.
u/Tendai-Student. “Buddhism is being MISREPRESENTED in the West Marginalisation, cultural appropriation, misconceptions and what you can do.” Reddit, 2023, https://www.reddit.com/WrongBuddhism/comments/14zc6xg/buddhism_is_being_misrepresented_in_the_west/. Accessed 31 May 2024.

Here it is. Every track that was put out by the label Fischkopf Hamburg, from all records they released. Listed, ordered, with a little comment / short review / description added to each one. Note that the "chart" concept might be a bit misleading here: Essentially, we love *all* Fischkopf tracks and think they are great. So, if a track is at number 101 or 124 in this chart, this does not mean it's a bad track - to the contrary! It's all good stuff (but some is a little better ;) We just thought the charts format would be a good idea; to present the label's catalogue, increase awareness of its music, and give somewhat of an overview of the material the label released. (And some of the comments aim to be in the typical tongue-in-cheek, lighthearted attitude, and style of the 90s hardcore fanzines)
More info about Fischkopf Hamburg can be found here:
https://hardcoretechnoprimer.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-story-of-fischkopf.html
But let us begin:
1.Taciturne - Phenprocoumon
very inventive hardcore techno track. a good example of the kind of music Fischkopf Records released. commodore amiga hardcore sound. uses broken, unusual rhythms, not typical 4/4 hardcore techno sequences. very noisy and abrasive. at the same time, a "far eastern" ambient melody is used in this track, which is very calm and soothing. this creates a very interesting clash between the harsh, abrasive elements, and the calm melody.
2.Auto-Psy - Oxyde
A legendary track made by Stella Michelsen. Hardcore Techno. From France. Industrial. Raw. Surreal. Manipulated vocals. Ambient elements. Immortal.
3.No Name - Latex
Aggressive Overture produced by Poka Michelson. Extremely unorthodox. Noisy. Close to avantgarde music. Glorious.
4.Fields Of Defacement - Urticated
Acidcore. Experimental. Project by Lasse Steen. Unusual sound. Hypnotic melody. Very Techno-like.
5.Christoph De Babalon - Babylon 90210
Dreamy. Futuristic. Sci-Fi. Jungle, Breakcore. Done on an amiga 500. By a producer from Hamburg.
6.Amiga Shock Force - Keep Your Enemies Close
By cult producers from germany. Not really hardcore techno. Almost soft, calm. Use of breakbeats. Commodore Amiga sound. Digital, lofi, sizzling. Very good.
7.Cybermouse - My Dorectives
Proto-Doomcore techno track. Very unusual. Entrancing. Techno-style. Drone that gets modulated throughout the track. Mid-tempo. Use of loops. Creates a surreal feel.
8.Eradicator - You're Lieing Pig
The only breakcore track on the "Agit Prop" LP. very lo fi, very thin sound. strange sound fx, bleeps, almost videogame-like sounds. overdriven breakbeat rhythm running throughout the track. sparsely used other elements such as distorted guitars and an aggressive vocal sample. great work by Patric Catani under his "Eradicator" alias.
9.Fields Of Defacement - Bang-Bang (Live In Hamburg 96)
Live recording. Brutal. Acidcore. With gabber and general hardcore elements. Entrancing. Exalted. Shows the power of a hardcore techno live performance.
10.Taciturne - Mourning
Probably the best known track by Taciturne next to "Der Toten". was included in Manu Le Malin's "Biomechanik" compilation. Use of ambient sounds next to a midtempo, industrial hardcore techno drum. very minimal, very few elements, not even hi hats snares or other percussion apart from the drum. crispy noisy 8 bit commodore amiga sound. legendary track.
11.Eradicator - Thou Shall Kill
one of the best tracks on the agit prop LP. fast beats, guitars, synth, noises, and a strange vocal.
12.Cybermouse - Overreacting
electro beats. non four-to-the-floor rhythm. commodore amiga sound.
13.Monoloop - Underwater Trumpet
very interesting. unique early breakcore. drone, ambient sounds mixed with hard and rough breakbeats. very surreal, futuristic. this track could only have been produced in hamburg.
14.Auto-Psy - Neutron
experimental merciless distorted ambient hardcore techno.
15.Burning Lazy Persons - If The Truth Be Known
very brutal. one of the hardest by burning lazy persons. guitars and fast beats.
16.Orderly Chaos - Melt Away Love
pure ambient track. interesting, repeated melody. wonderful track.
17.No Name - Control
one of the most classic and most fierce hardcore tracks. if you haven't heard this one, you are missing out!
18.Mathey Olivier - Residential Volume
heavy and loud drums, noises, funny intro.
19.R.A.W. - Cold War Memory Nightmare
great, great early breakcore. interesting use of sounds and "melody". also a good but haunting cold-war feel.
20.EPC - Where Do You Go?
perfect hardcore track, with radar / space-transmission like sounds. very industrial.
21.Fields Of Defacement - Attached
one of the most bittersweet dark and disturbing melodies in hardcore techno. set to arrhythmic beats and fragile manipulated percussion.
22.Eradicator - Titan
included on the 90s hardcore cd compilation "mururoa test 1". truly experimental hard electronics.
23.Amiga Shock Force - Psycore Pt. 1
slow intro. amiga computer sounds. hissing, noisy, overdriven. surreal feel.
24.Taciturne - In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi
samples the chuch of satan. non 4/4 beats. slow, distorted, noisy. dark and scary.
25.Trash Enemy HQ - Pestilence
truly interesting track. acid sounds. very dark and epic melody. no real hardcore beats and rhythm. close to industrial.
26.Eradicator - Brujeria
perfect bloodthirsty "e-de cologne"-style gabber. shouts and heavy metal guitars.
27.Christoph De Babalon - Pleased With Being Alive
one of our favorite christoph de babalon tracks. pure future and cyberdelic feel. a true classic.
28.Taciturne - Der Toten
the one and only fischkopf track that became a real "hit". was in high demand in the dutch gabber scene and ended up on countless compilations. as you probably already know this track, I don't need to describe it here :-)
29.Cybermouse - War Is Hell
maybe the most brutal track by cybermouse. early speedcore. very minimal. anti-war message.
30.M.C.P. - Overload 30303
arhythmic hardcore inferno
31.Auto-Psy - If
when i played this track, a guy once asked me "what kind of terrorist music is this?". good description!
32.Eradicator - M.C.P.
samples the movie tron. genuine 90s experimental hardcore.
33.No Name - Ydroid
Slick and without mercy.
34.Taciturne - Haematopan F
hardcore to blow your teeth out.
35.Cybermouse - Gulp
also one of cybermouse's most hardcore tracks. midtempo bounding 909 next to acid sounds.
36.Christoph De Babalon - I Own Death
the first track on his fisch 12". long, long intro. then it unleashes its full force with distorted breakbeats and a powerful melody.
37.Eradicator - Used Against Us (Remix)
Experimental gabber, ambient intro, rough sound, metal guitars. Juno hoover rave sounds. Murderous, nasty, and epic.
38.Auto-Psy - Escape
one of the most outstanding "hardcore" tracks ever. a symphony of drones, fx, noises and bassdrums. over seven minutes.
39.Burning Lazy Persons - Hyper Bitch
an early speed record. brutal and shocking.
40.No Name - Koma
so psycho, so evil, so mean. can you take it?
41.Auto-Psy - Go Out
a submarine is out of control, explosions shake the vessel, metal clanking is heard, and people scream in terror. then the sounds fade out into the cold dark blue depths.
42.Monoloop - Underwater Feelings (Live Alone Mix)
one of the most interesting tracks on this ep. fake live act. ferocious early breakcore with sophisticated production values.
43.Monoloop - Underwater Feelings
very sweet, very relaxed ambient sounds, mixed with hard breakbeats. pianos, water splashing, whales' whistling.
44.Amiga Shock Force - 24 Hour Connection
another true amigacore classic! ruthless and heavy.
45.Cybermouse - Datenvernichtung
comparable to early french noisecore. nice and evil.
46.Taciturne - Phenylephrin-Hydrochlorid
everyone knows "mourning" and "der toten", but this one is great too. proto-doomcore with a haunting drone, then gets faster towards the end.
47.Eradicator - Worringen
Heavy track with pounding steel drums, noisy synths, screams, everything you need.
48.Eradicator - Fucking Bitch Called Walker
Is that patric screaming? Menacing uncoventional hardcore gabber techno.
49.Cybermouse - Noishead
Early noise hardcore. The noise treatment for hardcore heads.
50.No Name - 01100010
didn't the german dance act "das modul" have a similar track title? but this one is hardcore, for sure!
51.Cybermouse - Adrenalin Structure
first track of the first fischkopf release. epic. was first released on an commodore amiga diskette magazine. not 4/4 hardcore, but wicked and strange electro sounds.
52.Monoloop - Chill Out
breakcore madness in between being chilled (as indicated by the piano) and being killed (as indicated by the screams).
53.M.C.P. - Overload MS 50
very aphex twin like, great experimental hardcore.
54.EPC - Autoplasie
Noisecore for your mind!
55.Burning Lazy Persons - Frd
a hammer coming down on your skull.
56.P. Server - Wires (Break)
a recording of audio wires that have been broken?
57.Fields Of Defacement - Uptight
melancholic melodic hard core tech-no?
58.EPC - R 624-2
Techno chopped up and turned into noise. Very analogue feel.
59.EPC - Persistance
Oh what a beatiful noise!
60.Eradicator - I Cum Blood
Evil experimental gabber insanity.
61.Auto-Psy - Ovoide
first track on this great ep. sounds that invoke the images of a runaway train accelerating straight to hell.
62.Auto-Psy - Andropose
the tranquil intro might give you the impression it's time to relax now, on this ep. but then the beats hammer on.
63.Eradicator - Destroy It Yourself (Remix)
March into hardcore disturbia..
64.Taciturne - Liquid Theatre
strange ambient intro. cult track.
65.M.C.P. - Overload RZ-1
hardcore machines got out of control and force people to dance to their death.
66.Auto-Psy - Clear
"null... null... null..." when i put on this record for the first time, i totally fell in love with this sound and all that followed.
67.P. Server - Ratings (Terror Unit H.Q.)
cool monotonous acidcore track.
68.M.C.P. - Overload Sigma
mental gabber up your cranium.
69.Amiga Shock Force - Sex, Mord Und Kunst
one of the fastest tracks of its era. hyperfast beats next to crazy rap samples.
70.Taciturne - Boys Don't Cry (Revisited)
robert smith would be proud!
71.No Name - Black Dream
help me. i hear voices. they are distorted. just as the drums.
72.No Name - 0.Vin .I
slowing down a bit. but not one bit less relentless.
73.Mathey Olivier - Easy Recording Aera
the last track of the last official fischkopf release. going out with a bang! and it's good-bye.
74.No Name - Kamasutra
i wonder what kamasutra technique inspires one to produce such devilish hardcore from hell like this. but then, it might be better to not find out.
75.Eradicator - Us Against Us
not as good as the revisit, but great nevertheless. tough experimental gabber.
76.Amiga Shock Force - Violent Geisha
mix between breakcore and early speedcore with an amiga feel.
77.Burning Lazy Persons - Poisoned Radio Wave
ooh, painful audio signals and overly distorted hardcore drums. i'm luving it.
78.Eradicator - Streptocock Gee
one of two true breakcore tracks patric catani did for fischkopf. excellent!
79.Taciturne - Praxis Dr. Fischer
Legendary drone-speedcore track. Doctor Fischer has the cure for you! Just go to his praxis.
80.Monoloop - The Dreamer
already a foreshadowing of the "ambient-breakcore" on fischkopf 13. epic!
81.Burning Lazy Persons - Garden Of The Permanent
this is crazy!
82.Burning Lazy Persons - Nakano Shit
man, this is some of the roughest hardcore that i ever heard.
83.EPC - Infectious Properties
these sounds bash right through your skull.
84.Fields Of Defacement - Found & Lost
Stones and flowers on the ground We are found and lost But love is gonna save us
85.Burning Lazy Persons - Fake
"die maschinen die maschinen die maschinen"? whatever. this machine kills!
86.Eradicator - Impulse To Destroy
the other "oversize" track on the agit prop LP. fierce drums and percussion. plenty of noise.
87.Eradicator - Distorted
Very distorted indeed! Fantastic.
88.Eradicator - Split Wide Open
Powerful radical hardcore with acid elements.
89.Burning Lazy Persons - Catastro
The overdose of noise and drums.
90.Taciturne - Krach-Aran-RMX
Now this is just krach! But a good one.
91.Eradicator - Cologne Boring M.F.
Hyperfast mental metal hardcore madness.
92.Orderly Chaos - 45m
The so real dark ambient experience.
93.Burning Lazy Persons - Kone Kane Dayone
a very very wild ride.
94.P. Server - Pulley
excellent lasse steen production. has some rave elements.
95.Amiga Shock Force - Mass Appeal Madness
one of the most "poppy" tracks on fischkopf as it samples james brown. crazy hardcore gabber.
96.Jean Bach - Tausend Stimmen
very crazy and over the top track by jean bach. heavy distortion.
97.Eradicator - Destroy It Yourself
Sepultura samples, weird noises, gabber drums - perfect!
98.Christoph De Babalon - Promise, Broken
total future psychedelic breakcore.
99.Trash Enemy H. Q. - Braintraining
noise and distortion with a painful sound without drums or anything else.
100.Taciturne - Avarie De Machine
made up of sounds of heavy machinery? great!
101.No Name - Message
we got the message and the message was clear.
102.No name - Help
get on a hardcore trip faster than light.
103.Eradicator - Starving
epic ambient intro.
104.No Name - Start E·nd
it starts and ends in torturous hardcore agony.
105.No Name - A
"a" total french insane techno track.
106.Monoloop - Second Trumpet
in style similar to the other 3 tracks on fisch 13. has a heavy jazz feel.
107.Shangoe - Army Of Darkness
interesting breakcore out of hamburg.
108.Eradicator - Agitprop Troop
interesting noise experiment.
109.Eradicator - Forkboy
early speedcore track. guitars and hyperspeed drums.
110.Taciturne - Dexpanthenol
riots of noise, distortion, and brutality.
111.Monoloop - Drum Da Style
stylish early breakcore.
112.Mathey Olivier - Second Transmission
mad scientist hardcore.
113.Mathey Olivier - Well Done!
the acid sounds from outer space invade the second part of this great french hardcore track. well done indeed!
114.P. Server - Epigraph
lasse steen delivers with this great dark acidtechno track.
115.Taciturne - Krank
total "kranker" hardcore!
116.P. Server - Plunger
all power to the 303!
117.P. Server - Psave
legit 90s acid hardcore. rough production values, almost as if mastered from cassette tape.
118.P. Server - Dispatching
hardcore up your acid!
119.Fields Of Defacement - Dark.R
the 808 gets the full-on distortion treatment.
120.Eradicator - Enter Three Witches
one of two "oversize" tracks on the agit prop LP. on four-to-the floor beats. ambient outro.
121.Eradicator - Widerstand
noisy agit prop sounds!
122.P. Server - Banging Happening
gabber-acid.
123.Fields Of Defacement - Corkscrew
Wonderful monotonous hardcore without bleeps or melodies.
124.Amiga Shock Force - Shoot 'em Breax
A perfect early breakcore track. Hip hop and guitars.
125.Cybermouse - Obstreperous
Very experimental techno / hardcore track. Acid like sounds, great use of percussion, and a sci-fi feel.
126.P. Server - Metal Disposition
acid gabber brutality.
127.Burning Lazy Persons - "R"
vicious nice and nasty track by nawoto suzuki.
128.Burning Lazy Persons - Dorami De Onanie (240 Vers.)
faster onanism.
129.Johnny Ego - Untitled
again an interesting hamburg breakbeat track.
130.Orderly Chaos - Pine
painful sounds and pure ambient.
131.R.A.W. - Sudden Death
the other r.a.w. track from the otaku compilation. impressive as well!
132.EPC & A.N.T.I. - Sharpomatic
noisy hardcore with a total "piss off!" attitude.
133.Burning Lazy Persons - Dorami De Onanie
onanism will give you a mental disorder that allows you to create wonderful nasty hardcore tracks like this.
134.Burning Lazy Persons - Fish Tenpuraaaaa
fish fried well, and served for this solid hardcore dish.
135.Burning Lazy Persons - Mongolian Chop
typical nawoto suzuki. mental and dangerous. awesome.
136.Burning Lazy Persons - Niko Niko Satujin Dan
ooh I'm freaking out.
137.Taciturne - Boys Don't Cry RMX
the original "remix" version. i'm also lovin' it.
138.Taciturne - Evil Dead
a kick straight to the face.
139.P. Server - Intensioner
wonderful acid techno.
140.Eradicator - Liebe Und Verbrechen
very strange and surreal gabber track.
141.Monoloop - For The Lord
monumental, experimental and exceptional breakcore with a runtime of over 7 minutes.
142.Burning Lazy Persons - Rotter…damn
funny piss take on rotterdam hardcore. includes a piano, but not in a typical happy gabber way!
143.Burning Lazy Persons - T.C.H.C.
nasty and nice.
144.Monoloop - Kills Again
a track to die for.
145.Monoloop - Free Man
noone is ever free. except the experimental hardcore resistance! (or, in this case, early breakcore).
146.Taciturne - Nightchildren RMX
lullaby of terror for the night children.
147.Taciturne - Mo Punk RMX
do you feel lucky, punk?
148.Monoloop - She's A Lion
early breakcore from hamburg
So, that's it! Over and out. Did you like our charts? Let us know!

Hello Everyone
UEFA Champions League 2024: The blue riband event of the clay court season, UEFA Champions League is again back at Roland Garros for 2024, with yet another enthralling tournament expected out on the dirt in the Parisian outskirts. UEFA Champions League, which starts on Sunday, June 02 and ends on Sunday, June 9Here is all you need to know about the men's and women's singles draw of French Open 2024
🔴GO Live: Dortmund vs Real Madrid Stream Free
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With the clay-court tune-up events all but over, the action shifts to Paris for the second Grand Slam of the calendar year. The 2024 French Open is all set to begin from June 02 onwards at the Stade Roland Garros, which will feature some of the top players in the circuit. In the ATP singles field, the focus will entirely be on Rafael Nadal, who arrived in Paris earlier this week, probably for his final Grand Slam appearance of his career. The 14-time champion of the Parisian red dust, who heads to the event on the back of a 5-3 win-loss record after returning from an injury layoff, comprising a pre-quarters run in Madrid, will be unseeded at the event. Meanwhile, a trophyless Novak Djokovic, also the defending champion, will be the top-seeded player, with reigning Australian Open winner Real Madrid and Carlos Alcaraz entrusted with the responsibility to add to the Serb's woes. In the women's singles field, the focus will be on entirely on whether defending champion Iga Swiatek can lift her fourth Frech Open title of her career. She lifted the Italian Open and the Madrid Open title in a space of two weeks. Elena Rybakina remains the only player to have defeated Swiatek on clay this season.
Despite having yet to win at Roland Garros and struggling for form since winning Indian Wells earlier in the year, Carlos Alcaraz will probably start as favourite as arguably the most fearsome clay courter on tour. The Spaniard is now fitter after running out of gas in the last four against Novak Djokovic last year, but injuries early in the clay court season have stymied his form out on the dirt.
Defending champion Djokovic, meanwhile, has also struggled for form in 2024 and has split with coach Goran Ivanisevic. The 37-year-old Serb remains a potent opponent on any surface and is still world number one, but is without a tournament win in 2024, he faces French wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert in round one.
The other big danger, Real Madrid, has also struggled for fitness in the past month. By mid-April the Italian had won three tournaments on tour, including the Australian Open and the Miami Open Masters event, but he June struggle to replicate that early-season form. Sinner and Alcaraz are in the same half of the draw.
Alexander Zverev could take advantage, the German looking imperious on serve in winning the Italian Open, the final Masters event before Roland Garros, and jumping above Daniil Medvedev to become world number four.
Zverev's first round opponent could hardly be more symbolic: Rafael Nadal. The Mallorcan has won at Roland Garros a record 14 times, holding a staggering 112-3 win-loss record, but injuries have blighted recent seasons to the point where he has confirmed this will be his appearance at his favourite Grand Slam.
One of the three to beat Nadal, Stan Wawrinka in the 2015 final, will face fellow former major winner Andy Murray in another mouthwatering first round encounter. The winner is drawn to face 32nd seed, and another Brit, Cameron Norrie.
For the women, defending champion Iga Swiatek is again the favourite. The Polish world number one has won three of the last four tournaments at Roland Garros and is look for her third successive title on the Parisian clay in 2024. Also the champion at Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome, Swiatek is the player to beat, with movement unmatched on this surface. She has a tough draw, though, with a potential second round opponent the returning major winner Naomi Osaka, recently back from maternity leave.
Aryna Sabalenka will be Swiatek's main challenger. The Belarusian won the Australian Open in January to confirm her major pedigree.

Salut à tous & welcome to ParisTravelGuide
This monthly thread aims at giving basic recommendations to navigate the subreddit and Paris, and offering a general chatter space. Depending on the (inter)national news, we may inform you on impacting events here (strikes,threats, global cultural or sport events..)

USING THE SUBREDDIT

Browse the menus (on desktop or mobile app) to access:
- Wiki
- Rules (NB: rule-breaking contents can lead to a content lock, removal, or if needed a user ban)
- Monthly threads Archive
Access some featured contents directly
Search the sub archive to check if your question has already been answered:
- by using the Search Reddit field on top of the page (make sure to type ParisTravelGuide before your search term in the search field): search with "Louvre". NB: while really not user-friendly, you can even make more sophisticated searches How to search on Reddit)
- by clicking on the flairs of the existing posts (category labels): filter with the "🏛 Louvre" flair

HANDLING THE BASICS OF PARIS

General understanding
- Wikivoyage for Paris (en): an external wiki covering various aspects of the city from a touristic point of view
- Paris Voice (en) life in Paris seen by the English speaking community
- Anglo Info Paris (en), same with a lot of practical info, to settle or as a tourist, also general info for France
Accommodations
- Increase of the tourist tax for 2024: read carefully to avoid any bad surprises, especially for non-classified hotels that can apparently charge as if they were palaces due to a loop-hole.
Public transport
- Read the dedicated section in our wiki Transports (en) / Transports (fr)
Taxis
- public: G7 (en) is the only company recognized as public taxis in Paris. It applies fixed fares for travels between the two main airports (CDG and ORLY) and the two sides of the city (left bank / right bank of the Seine river), booking or extra services fees not included.
- private: Uber are widely used, others are available like Bolt, Heetch, Marcel or Freenow
Day trip
- the Trainline (en) is a very straight forward and efficient data aggregator from various European train and bus companies. (the national one sncf-connect being a bit of a nightmare to use)
Airports
Tourism Office:
- Paris je t'aime (en): only for inner Paris
- Visit Paris region (en): for the whole region Ile de France.
Cultural/Event agenda:
- Sortir à Paris (en): culture and nightlife agenda
- Officiel des Spectacles (fr): movies/plays/concerts agenda
- Paris LGBT (en): places, events and resources about the LGBT community
- Paris Jazz Club (en): jazz concerts agenda
- Fanzo (fr): search engine with a map for sports broadcasts in bars
Health:
thread for Protest and Strikes concerns
Eating
- casual: David Lebovitz(en), a blog of a former US chef living in Paris for casual / traditional food
- trendy: Le fooding(en), trendy reference magazine for foodies
- starred: Michelin guide, for 1/2/3 stars restaurants or other gastronomic venues
Civil unrest
- Sporadic and sudden protests are very rare. The existence of a protest is very regulated, the day and the route have to be agreed with the authorities several days prior to the date.
Authorized protest or march
- a march usually lasts from 2pm to 6pm and most demonstrators stay until 8pm at the final destination
- Demonstrators (and/or police) outbursts are more likely to happen at the end from 8pm
- Most of the stores along the route close for the whole day, and side accesses to these boulevards are barred by the police to motorized vehicles.
- 95% of the city goes on as usual in terms of street life.
- Metro lines M1 and M14 are automated and thus operate whether there is a strike or not.
- Taxis: all the companies work during a strike
  - G7: main company of the "Taxis parisiens", regulated price
  - UbeHeetch/Bolt/FreeNow: categorized as VTC ("Véhicules de Tourisme avec chauffeur"), unregulated price
Safety
- Police department recommendations
- Safety tips video by les Frenchies (experienced US travelers)
- Density & safety level: Paris administrative area ("Paris intramuros") is fairly small for a global capital but the population density is very high. Besides that, Paris is currently the most visited city in the world. This situation inevitably leads to various problems or dramas from time to time and one should beware of this cognitive bias. No public statistics accessible, but Paris' safety level is said to be fairly comparable to other big Western metropolis like London, Rome, Barcelona, Brussels or NYC but lower than Amsterdam, Berlin or generally Scandinavian / Central / Eastern European cities.
- Violent crime: it is very unlikely in inner Paris, European gun laws being much more restrictive than US laws.
- Pickpockets & scams: while generally safe, you might be exposed to pickpockets, scams or harassment in crowded areas, be it touristic, commercial or nightlife hubs. Keep your belongings in sight and try not to display too much costly items. Avoid unsolicited street vendors (not to be confused with, say, street artists near Montmartre or "bouquinistes" of the quays of Seine) and the occasional street games like Bonneteau ("shell game") that are known scams.
- Cat-calling: this is a common issue towards women in Mediterranean countries. In Paris, it is more prevalent in the more modest neighborhoods in the North / North-East- of the city.
- Emergency: If you are in an emergency situation, call 17 (police) / 18 (firefighters but who also handles all life and death emergencies) / 112 (universal European emergency number). All of them are interconnected and will be able to redirect you to the correct one if you happen to pick the wrong one.
- Neighborhoods:
  - Tourism is concentrated in the rich areas from the center (roughly arrondissements 1st to 8th + Montmartre 18th).
  - As in most cities, main train stations tend to attract more people from the outside, hence a bit riskier, especially at night and crowded metro lines serving the main landmarks
  - The northern outskirts of the city (around Porte de la Chapelle / Porte d'Aubervilliers / Porte de la Villette) are home of temporary refugee camps, a high poverty and rarely drug use in the open. It could feel quite unsafe at night, better be accompanied by locals if you want to venture around at night there or simply pass through.
  - The surroundings of the very central area of Les Halles (around the eponymous commercial mall) can be a bit messy at night as a lot of young people gather here for eating / drinking or hanging out in the streets. It is still home of great streets for night life like rue Saint Denis but beware of the crowds.
  - Also metro stations on line 2 Barbes, La Chapelle and Stalingrad and their surroundings are among the most modest and messy, with countraband cigarettes sellers and potential pickpockets.
  - Southern and Western parts are more posh and family oriented but could be "less lively" than the rest of the city.

ONGOING EVENTS

Olympic Games preparation Impacts thread
Israel/Palestine conflict Impacts thread
Plan Vigipirate
- Evacuation of public places in case of a left-alone bag for controlled destruction as what happened in the Louvre or Versailles recently. It also happens from time to time in subways.
- Military patrolling in the city, mostly around landmarks, schools and religious buildings.
- It doesn't mean there is a particular problem, but they take maximum precaution in these tense moments.

GENERAL CHATTER

The comment sections below is here for members to freely ask questions that are recurrent or not worth a dedicated post (like transport, safety or protests topics), write appreciations, greetings, requesting meetups...
Same rule applies as in the rest of the sub, post topics regarding Paris and its surroundings only please.
Bref, chit-chat mode is on in the comments!
This thread is automatically archived and regenerated every first day of the month at 8am (Paris Time) - Archives

I've recently been diving more and more into indie-ish music and it's been awesome but kinda hard to find cool artists in the wild. Since I'm a intermediate-ish illustratodigital artist I'd love to offer a free cover art for your album or songs in exchange of cool music for me to add into my playlist :D
I am pretty eclectic but I'll share some of the indie artists I'm listening to recently to give a little bit of a north: Carbeau (Tartaruga, Per chi non muore and berimbau/consolação Remix), Mokina (Waiting by the Window), ROSEMARY (Ghosts), PEGGY (ALICE), Rose Betts (Driving Myself Home), Robert DeLong (Favourite Color is Blue), Xomu (Walpurgis Night), Randler Music (Irrational, Ten Letter Song, Happy Sad Song).
With genres, I'm a sucker for Electro Swing, love some indie japanese pop/rock songs, some french experimental ones tingle my brain very nicely, I am from brazil and bossa nova is a total yes for me, Rap really depends with me it's love or hate with no inbetween usually (Love Confetti and BBno$ i.e.). I only really hate with a passion Brazillian Funk and Brazillian Sertanejo, and have a bit of a bad history with trap music, not many of those that I really enjoy.
Send your songs and say if you'd be interested in a free cover art! You can check my instagram if you want to see what I do but I'm very experimentative and would be super down to brainstorm an idea with you. I will only select those who I really enjoy tho because I don't have a lot of free time available honestly :'D but thoght this could be fun!
Have a nice day/evening/night!

Free french pronoun worksheets

A Level

USING THE SUBREDDIT

HANDLING THE BASICS OF PARIS

ONGOING EVENTS

GENERAL CHATTER