/NintendoSwitch's Daily Question Thread

The purpose of this thread is to more accurately connect users seeking help with users who want to provide that help. Our regular "Helpful Users" certainly have earned their flairs!

Before asking your question...

• Check out the wiki pages listed below. - (If you're interested in becoming a wiki contributor, message the moderators.)
• Perform a quick Google search. - Sometimes it is actually quicker to search for something than to wait for someone else to answer.
• Search the subreddit. - Many questions have been asked before! reddit's search functions a bit differently than Google.

Helpful Links

Wiki Resources

• Frequently Asked Questions - Our FAQ has answers to many questions about the console system and controllers.
• Lost & Found Guide - Did you lose your Switch, or are you someone who found a Switch? Info on how to get it back!
• Tech Support Guide - Info on how you should react in case you discover a technical issue on your Switch.
• Error Code Lookup - Nintendo's Error Lookup System.
• Digital vs Physical Games - Listing the pros and cons of both formats to help you decide what will work best for you.
• Game Share Guide - Info on how you can share your digital games across multiple Nintendo Switch consoles, including playing on both consoles at the same time.
• Other Switch Related Subreddits

Wiki Accessory Information

• Accessories - Starter information about controllers, chargers, cables, screen protectors, cases, headsets, LAN adapters, and more.
• MicroSD cards - Some more in-depth information about MicroSD cards including what size you should get and which brands are recommended.
• Carrying Cases - An expanded list of common carrying cases available for the Switch.

Helpful Reddit Posts

• The /NintendoSwitch Best of 2017, Best of 2018, Best of 2019, Best of 2020, Best of 2021, and Best of 2022 Award Winner Recaps - A good place to start when you're looking for a game recommendation.
• The Switch is not USB-C compliant and overdraws some USB-PD power supplies by 300% - Why you shouldn't use just any USB cable, should research portable power banks, and avoid using third-party docks or wall chargers.
• Choosing Your Nintendo Switch Charger: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding the Options - What sort of wattage you should look for in a battery bank or wall charger to get the best charging speeds.

Third Party Links

• Benson Approved USB Type-C Cables
• Benson Approved USB Type-A Cables

Reminders

• We have a volunteer run #switch-help channel in our Discord server.
• Instructions and links to information about homebrew and hacking are against our rules and should take place in their relevant subreddits.
• Please be patient. Not all questions get immediate answers. If you have an urgent question about something that's gone wrong, consider other resources like Nintendo's error code lookup or help documents on the Switch.
• Make sure to follow Rule #1 of this subreddit: Remember the human, and be polite when you ask or answer questions.

Apologies if I am breaking any subreddit rules here. I'm trying to identify if SN could be a good fit for us. I'd also be open to anyone who wishes to DM about this topic or give me a demo of their SN setup. I know this subreddit will be biased but I wanted to hear from those who actually work with the product before I talk to any sales reps.
I am one of about a dozen developers on a team that's specialized in the Hyland OnBase WorkView case/document management platform. We've been using it for over a decade and have built a lot of successful client projects with it, but the drawbacks have reached a point where we are looking for a replacement. Ideally the new platform is something that our team of developers can learn and become proficient with relatively quickly. We'd also be open to hiring some people with SN experience, and/or bringing in a professional services group to get us on track.
A typical client project for our team is to build a case management system that a state government office of 25-50 case workers would use to enroll applicants in a program to receive some type of assistance. Case workers would perform a series of checklist and document reviews on the applicants' cases and move their case through a variety of steps from intake to closeout. Third party users may also log in to this system and perform their own reviews of cases. Users might be grouped into teams and can only see cases assigned to their team.
Not all our projects follow this model, it's just become a common one for us. I've only spent a couple hours reading about SN, skimming through some of the videos on their website, so I still need to do more research, but I wanted to lay out some info about our current platform below. I would love to hear feedback from the SN crowd here about how it compares relative to the pros/cons listed below, and anything in particular you love/hate about it, things you wish you knew about it before you started, etc.
The good:

• Easy to build a data model -- intuitive for developers to define classes, fields, relationships between classes, and even extension classes where appropriate.
• Easy to use the screen designer to throw together an interface for users to enter data into your fields (more on this in the "cons" section).
• Easy to create working filters/queues so staff that use the system can track what's pending their review.
• Easy to set up user groups and control who can see what.
• Document management is built-in, easy to import documents and automatically tag them with keywords based on the record/screen they're being uploaded to. Also easy to query for all documents of a certain type, with certain keyword values, uploaded in a custom date range, etc.
• Transaction history on every record makes it easy to audit who changed what and when.
• Document templates -- the ability to generate a Word/PDF document with dynamic text on demand is very useful for clients that need their staff to print and mail letters.
• Ability to write C# code to do anything we want, even if we could do it with a native component. Our client's business logic often becomes so complex (and changes so often) that it's easier to manage with code libraries that fire when buttons are pressed, rather than with the built-in "no code" workflow design steps.
• Ability to build external applications that interface with/manipulate OnBase data using the OnBase DLL. We have some C# console applications that run on Windows Task Scheduler every night, for example "connect to this FTP instance and import whatever files have been imported in the last 24 hours, turn them all into data objects in OnBase, and send us a summary email".

The bad:

• The look and feel of the client is clunky and outdated, looks like it's from the 90s. It's a Windows application. There is a web client but it lacks some key functionality and also has the same outdated look. The screen designer itself is just a bare bones HTML page you can add rows and columns to and drag/drop your fields on it. We've added some CSS to improve it somewhat and I'm sure if we brought in some designers they could push that further, but we shouldn't have to work so hard to make the default product not look bad. And don't bother trying to use it on your phone or tablet.
• Migrating changes from DEV/QA/PROD is a nightmare. Our WorkView instance has apparently reached the level of complexity at which the tool for exporting your data to be imported into another instance simply crashes and doesn't work anymore. Even when it does work on a fresh instance, it's a confusing experience of mapping all the fields and objects between the two environments and making decisions about whether to keep or overwrite each one. It's reached the point where we have no choice but to build in PROD, and test changes with internal users before we modify permissions so that they are visible to all users. Our TEST and DEV instances are therefore always outdated and not useful as a result. You can imagine how painful this has become.
• Performance is slow. We've never gotten a clear answer from our support calls about why it can take 15+ seconds for a record to load. I suspect this product was simply never intended to be pushed to the limits that we seem to have reached after so many years. From what I can tell, most Hyland customers use OnBase for document management/workflow, and if they have any WorkView/case management projects they use a small number of classes, with a small number of fields. We are 100% WorkView. I would guess our instance has 500 classes (tables), 1000 designed screens, 5000 filters/queues, and 2000 buttons that launch C# scripts. It takes 3 minutes for the OnBase studio/designer IDE to finish logging in/loading our instance before we can begin making any changes to it.
• Licensing is expensive and confusing. You can buy concurrent licenses that are shared between all users (expensive) or named licenses (less expensive) that are assigned on a per-user basis. We host a lot of different client projects on our instance, and it's not a good look when we reach the license limit and users start complaining that they can't log in. Our users have no idea what licenses are and shouldn't have to see error messages they don't understand. Of course this is a problem we can solve with more money but I am curious to learn how SN handles this.
• The built in reporting module leaves a lot to be desired. Very limited customization/styling, and no ability to set up a report to be emailed on a schedule. We instead rely on other modules like PowerBI and Tableau.
• I mentioned in the "good" section that we can build external applications in Visual Studio to create/modify OnBase data, but this is really a response to the poor IDE built into OnBase Studio which lacks so many features, it's easier to just import the OnBase DLL into a Visual Studio solution and build it there, so you have access to breakpoint debugging, logging, Nuget packages, etc. If I'm writing code in the platform IDE, it shouldn't be a miserable experience.
• Very limited developer resources. You won't find any resources on Stackoverflow, Reddit, or anywhere public. If you run into a problem, you can check the Hyland Community forums (good luck, the search functionality is broken) or send an email to support. Likely a result of the OnBase product just not being very well known/popular. Makes me a bit jealous of the more well known platforms like Salesforce and... maybe ServiceNow?? It was refreshing to find an active subreddit, at the very least!

Hi all
In my current campaign I am playing a Loxodon War Cleric, and have been functioning as the party's de facto tank and healer. It's been fun, but our group has suffered from having nobody who excels in Charisma checks. For our next campaign, I had decided I wanted to fall into the role of the face of the party, and decided on playing a harengon swashbuckler.
The backstory would be that in his youth, he was sent for military training by his father, was fully prepared and excited to head out and protect the common man, only to find that he was sent for training to preserve his wealthy family's image. After training concluded, he was immediately summoned back by his father to run the family business. Now middle-aged, upon the passing of his father he walks past a street performance one day of a Zorro, Robin Hood-esque character, and is inspired to finally go out into the world and have adventures. He sells the family business, donates the proceeds and armed with the family heirloom sword, heads off into the world.
I had been looking at multiclass options down the line, and it seems to me there are far too many options. I had hoped to be the face of the party, whilst still doing some decent damage. As far as I can tell, all of these seem like they could be fun and viable options, so would love to hear what people would recommend. Currently looking at:
Hexblade Battle Master Swords Bard
Any of these seem like they could add some benefit to swashbuckler. Is there one people would recommend over others? Or is it best to just stick to swashbuckler? I had imagined having at least 11 levels in swashbuckler.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

From Boom To Bust: Cerence’s Declining Market Share And Financial Turmoil — Shall I hold or exit?

https://medium.com/@jasonlewis01981/from-boom-to-bust-cerence-looses-major-oems-5a9872e1b4f7
In the dynamic realm of finance, few narratives resonate as deeply as the journey of Cerence Inc. (CRNC). Once hailed as a burgeoning force in automotive software under past leadership, boasting a market capitalization exceeding $4 billion, CRNC has since nosedived to a fraction of its former value, hovering at less than $400 million. Shareholders find themselves grappling with significant losses amidst this staggering downturn.
I started investing in the company around Feb 2021, when stock was around $120 and since then the stock has come down to $9.60 range. This has made me do a deeper analysis on what went wrong here.
Amidst the wreckage, several conspicuous elements emerge: the CEO Stefan Ortmann’s hefty $14 million yearly compensation, misleading market share with one-time revenue accounting creating false sense of growth, high-profile executives departures — prompting serious inquiries regarding accountability and the erosion of value.
In 2019, Cerence CRNC was spun off from Nuance Communications to become an independent company, focusing on automotive voice assistant technology. Cerence’s product is speech recognition solutions for automotive OEMs. Automotive voice assistants offer a range of features designed to enhance the driving experience and improve safety. These include voice-activated navigation, real-time traffic updates, personalized recommendations, smart home integration, remote vehicle control (such as locking/unlocking doors or starting the engine), and proactive assistance (such as reminders for scheduled maintenance or refueling).
Competition
The top voice assistants with which Cerence Voice Assistant competes with include the top players like -

1. Amazon Alexa: Developed by Amazon, Alexa powers the Echo line of smart speakers and a wide range of third-party devices. It offers extensive skills and integrations with various smart home devices, services, and applications.
2. Google Assistant: Integrated into Google Home speakers, Android devices, Android Automotive and an array of third-party products, Google Assistant provides robust voice interaction, search capabilities, and smart home control and also is available through Android Auto in automotive.
3. Apple Siri: Siri is Apple’s voice assistant, available on iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watch, HomePod, and AirPods. It is enabled in Automotive through Car Play and offers features like voice commands, reminders, and smart home control.
4. Apple Car Play & Android Auto — Freely available on all user iOS and Android phones and can be connected to car infotainment using Bluetooth.

Until 2020, Cerence products dominated the OEM market but have since ceded ground to free and alternative solutions. By the end of 2023, 98% of new cars supported either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, indispensable features for nearly 80% of new car buyers. These smartphone integration platforms offer seamless connectivity, contrasting with Cerence’s in-car voice assistant, which lags in technology and performance. Comparatively, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto provide superior user experiences and seamless connectivity through Bluetooth. A simple test is to reflect on one’s usage and experience with the in-built car voice assistant versus home assistants like Google or Alexa, or Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Stock Performance
Cerence’s CRNC stock performance has been dismal in recent years, reflecting the company’s declining revenue and bookings, along with confusing metrics and contract consolidations. The stock has plummeted by 63.23% over the past year.
Stock Performance over 3 years
Here’s a snapshot of key points:
⦁ September 2019: Cerence’s earliest available price hovered around $10.57.
⦁ June 2020: The stock experienced a significant surge, reaching $40.09, peaking at $71.81 by November 2020.
⦁ January 2021: Cerence reached its pinnacle at $112.15, followed by a further climb to $120.32 in February 2021.
⦁ Mid-2021: Subsequently, there was a gradual decline, with the stock dropping to $88.31 by May 2021.
⦁ February 2022: Cerence’s stock sharply declined to $45.48.
⦁ June 2023: Despite intermittent recoveries, the stock briefly rose to $30.38 in June 2023.
⦁ January 2024: However, the price saw another downturn, hitting $19.67 in January 2024, and has since continued its descent, currently resting at $9.60.
Decline in Market Share
The decline from its peak could be attributed to Cerence CRNC losing its major market share to competitors and alternative free technology. A cursory examination of the top worldwide Automotive OEMs and their chosen Voice Assistant technology reveals that Cerence technology is no longer preferred by these OEMs.
Below is a table showcasing the top OEMs along with the Voice Assistant technology they currently utilize.
Voice Assistant Adoption by Top Global OEMs
Between late 2021 and early 2022, Burlington-based digital assistant software maker Cerence experienced a wave of high-profile executive departures. This exodus indicates a lack of confidence among management regarding the CEO’s direction & technology failures, as they chose not to align with the company’s vision. As CRNC shares trade well below their initial public offering price, investors have suffered losses. Meanwhile, Stefan Ortmanns, who has lead this Business Unit since Nuance Communications spinoff in 2021, was generously compensated by Cerence’s board. According to a public securities filing dated Jan. 5, he earned approximately $14.4 million in total compensation last year, a significant increase from his $5.3 million total pay in 2022. This discrepancy raises questions about the CRNC board’s approach to rewarding performance.
Cerence Financials
10 Q Financials
Upon closer examination of the chart above, it reveals that the company’s revenue for 2023 amounted to $294 million. However, for fiscal year 2024, CRNC provided guidance for full-year revenue in the range of $355–375 million, suggesting a growth rate of over 20–27%. Yet, this projection includes $77.7 million of deferred revenue accelerated due to an early termination agreement related to the Toyota “Legacy” contract, as well as $20 million from fixed contracts. Consequently, the expected revenue for CRNC in 2024 is effectively $257 million, indicating a decline of $37 million compared to 2023, representing a -13% decrease in revenue.
If you take into effect the above, the revenue table should look like this
Updated Revenue Based on Adjustments from 10Q
A quick look at CRNC KPI metrics disclosed by CEO & CFO shows how continently bookings number has been eliminated from the metrics. If you look in the past CRNC under previous CEO Sanjay Dhawan, reported a clear bookings number and outstanding backlog number.
Company Presentation — missing information
Valuation/Pricing
My target price for CRNC is determined by several assumptions for both bullish and bearish scenarios of the FY 2024 projection, extending into FY 2025. In the bear scenario (with an 80% probability), it is assumed that CRNC will achieve an actual revenue of $250 million for FY 2024 (not misled number of $355m), with a further reduction in forecasted revenue to $200 million -$220 million for FY 2025. Utilizing the latest data and the Causal Intelligence Model, which considers various economic indicators and their intricate interrelations, the forecast for Cerence Inc. stock over the next 12 months, beginning with the current stock price of $9.62, is as follows.
6 months stock analysis
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, I remain unconvinced about CRNC as a short-term or long-term potential investment.
Through my own journey, I’ve learned the importance of delving beyond surface presentations and digging into the underlying figures. Cerence’s recent announcement of their Large Language Model, a technology every OEM is pursuing either through partnership with Microsoft or by utilizing low-barrier tools like ChatGPT AI for assistant development, lacks a compelling narrative. The current leadership’s lack of experience in crafting winning propositions or securing new contracts has already diluted shareholder value and will continue to erode further, unless an activist steps in.
Moreover, the company’s challenges in monetizing its vision cast doubt on its capacity for sustainable growth and profitability. Consequently, I recommend investors approach this stock with caution and consider avoiding it altogether.From Boom To Bust: Cerence’s Declining Market Share And Financial Turmoil — Shall I hold or exit?

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It's a doctor. Doctor Cotton. It wasn't really explored a lot in the show, but after I googled the person it was based on, I was terrified.
Not only was Doctor Cotton real, but they understated the extent to which he would harm his patients. He would remove teeth, spleens, tonsils, and other organs including the uterus (Hysterectomy; what happened to Gillian and her friend) in an attempt to remove the 'source' of the mental illness.
And when people were becoming concerned in the 20's (he was actually retired by the time of the fifth season of the show in real life), he was vigorously DEFENDED by some of the most prominent physicians in the United States. They called him the best, and they called his techniques revolutionary.
Rich people were sending their mentally ill offspring to this guy to be butchered.
I cannot imagine a more terrifying fate than to be mentally ill, then have this guy legally (and with everyone's fucking endorsement) order that they start pulling your teeth out one by one, and then cut into you (often times without anything to even dull the pain) and rip out organ after organ until you died.
Gillian did some terrible things in her life, but she really had the worst fate at the end of the show. She really fucked up when she chose insanity over the chair. I'd take the electric chair in a heartbeat if I were in her shoes.
Yes, technically the doctors were working with what they had. They didn't understand or know what or where mental illness came from. But the lengths to which they went were horrific.
Edit: And he became director of the psychiatric hospital in 1930! Removing common procedures that were already in place. After he retired, his staff would still perform his 'techniques' on their patients, and it would be a couple of decades until his methodology would be seen for what it is: barbarism.

Unlicensed Permissive Use
I'm seeking input regarding my situation. Sorry if it's not organized well! I'm located in TX.
I am a fully licensed driver who is 18, had it since June and permit since october 2022and my parents are the owners of Vehicle 1 [ Honda ] My friend, 16, asked to drive my car past Saturday and said that he was licensed. I let him drive it around the parking lot and saw he was a bad driver. He wasn't able to control the vehicle properly. He asked to go on the road and I told him " No bro no bro". And then he stopped at the end of the parking lot. Then he was trying to park it and reversed too hard into a parked Tesla. Tesla is 2024 model y performance 200 miles. Police were called by the teacher on campus. Told police he was driving and they asked for my license and insurance since it's my parents' car, not his. He told the cop it was completely his fault for hitting the car.
My friend told me that after that, he doesn't have any license, still working on getting his permit, which was a shock to me. I realize my mistake here- I should've asked for a license and not even lent my car to some inexperienced driver.
Tesla driver said he would wait for a few days and ask for an estimate before filing with insurance. He decided to go with insurance and filed a claim
Will my insurance payout on this claim? And how will this affect my rates with carriers? My father also hasn't talked to the insurance yet. He is adamant on waiting till the other party comes back agreeing on compensation. They've been kind of dodgy. Once the claim is filed and if it's approved, we have no recourse for compensation from the other party. Teslas damages 7k, 3k for rental car, and probably around 5k dv. There's not any visual damage besides the bumper for our car.
The Tesla owner said yesterday he's going to file a " complaint " with his own insurance.
My questions are will insurance approve claim? Will they payout claim? Will they drop us after this claim? We have home with them too, will they drop that policy, its the cheapest rate by far. If they don't payout claim, the Tesla owner wants his car repaired quick so he'll file with his company first and possibly subrogate/pursue us. I'm not sure if the other driver has uninsured coverage.
Will the insurance subrogate and pursue Aaa or us as well? If they pursue us, how much could we expect to pay? 50/50? Also, how will that affect premiums. Is it the same as one accident on our record, or will it be different on the policy.
Since I have no job no money and the other kid is minor, how will that affect judgement.
I'm very stressed, as I possibly may have to pay 20k.
We're trying to seek some compensation from the driver of our car parents. 5 yrs of raised premiums based on two progressive quotes with an accident and without on my name as well as the cost of deductible for our collision. It was 350 per 6 months extra after I added accident to my name. progressive has a competitive quote in line with Aaa, which has pretty low pricing. Will progressive increase dramatically in the future? I understand aaa might drop us or jack up our rates crazy. If they drop, is that right after accident or at renewal. Will the progressive quote still be accurate if the insurance approves this claim, or due to the nature of the claim progressive, will jack up rates too.
Thank you for any insight you can provide! This is a bad situation for me and a terrible position I've put my family in

spoilers for Ace Attorney Investigations 1 ahead
In the public eye, Turnabout Airlines has a lot going against it. It's not from a well-liked game, and there's the community's collective and arbitrary dislike of "filler." Neither of these are problems for me - I like I1 and I think "filler case" is an inherently bad term - but I can see the writing on the wall, and it says "nobody else cares about the Zinc Lablanc case."
My point is I don't expect I-2 to place very high, but I'm still arguing on its behalf because it SLAPS!!!! Since I want to keep this down to one comment, I'll focus on this case's two central figures and why they make it stand out.
post-writeup note: yeah the single comment part didnt happen oops, but this will still primarily be me talking about these two guys alone

Rhoda Teneiro

Inside you, there are two flight attendants. One is a girlboss. One is cringefail. They're both Rhoda Teneiro.
There are lots of AA characters (mostly defendants) whose existence can be summed up as being vaguely nice and having Bad Things happen to them. They don't do much for me, I just kinda see them as deliberate sympathy bait on the writers' part, so it's hard to really connect with them as individual characters.
Rhoda, for as nice and hapless as she is, doesn't fall into that, I feel. She has a lot going for her. For one, I just think it's really cool to have a character whose arc revolves around false accusations. It's weird to acknowledge, but the series rarely seems to delve into the immediate aftermath of a witness's false conceptions of murder. The closest we ever get is Lotta in 2-2, which I do like, though I like Rhoda's arc just a bit more.
Rhoda's introduced with the genuine belief that Edgeworth is guilty of murder, and she's the main source of conflict in the early parts of the case. This steadily transitions into Rhoda taking Edgeworth's side, and finally culminates in Rhoda herself as the accused. It's neating seeing both parties in an accusation - the accuser and the accused - depicted in the same character. I especially like Rhoda's slow coming around to Edgeworth, they do a good job depicting her guilt, and it's satisfying seeing her assert herself more in her pursuit of the truth, as if Edgeworth's straight-edge attitude is rubbing off on her. They're cool kindred spirits, even if Rhoda's more personal feelings aren't going anywhere.
I don't mean to downplay Rhoda's role as the case's defendant stand-in, either. After seeing her taking risks with her job and powering through her own suspicions for Edgeworth's sake early on, it's cool seeing him return the favor by defending her after he'd already been let off the hook and very well could've walked off unharmed. Yeah of course he's Edgeworth, we as readers know that he wouldn't, but this is still a good character moment for the both of them. I personally feel this is where Edgeworth is generally at his best in the duology: not undergoing any crazy development like in the trilogy, but in being a pre-developed, static protagonist who instead serves to bring out the best in others (see I2-5 for another example).
I don't have a ton to say on Rhoda on her own, a lot of my deeper feelings on her hinge on another character, but I like her a lot. As a player in I-2's mystery, she fills her role well.
anyway that's enough of the CRINGE plane girl, onto the COOLER plane girl

Cammy Meele

"The narrow road" is a phrase of biblical origin, describing the ease at which a person can fall to sin. The virtuous narrow road is long and tiresome to traverse, whereas the wide road is easy and carefree, a constant temptation to those suffering in their attempts to stay moral.
Anyways, Cammy Meele.
When Cammy's introduced, she's silly. Goofy, even. She's a simpleminded slacker who can't stay awake through a whole sentence. It's established that Rhoda does like 99% of the work between them, and it's easy to see why. The takeaway from Cammy's first impressions? She is dumb.
Then she pulls her hair back and pulls out a bubble pipe and what the fuck she's actually cool as hell????
I really like Cammy's reveal. It kinda comes in at the turning point of the series, where they really start to pop off with these villain transformations. From here to SoJ, it feels as though every other killer has one, even killers already established as bad guys. They're cool and hell, but like... do we need them? Maybe it's just me, but I'm not a huge fan. I feel like it stifles any coherence in a killer's character, making their pre- and post-transformation selves feel like two different entities.
All that to say, this doesn't apply to Cammy. It's easy to reduce her to "smart person pretending to be dumb" and leave it at that, but that's missing the entire context of why she would pretend in the first place. This isn't like Alba or 6-5's killer, where her decision to go Evil Mode is arbitrary just to put on a show for the audience. Cammy isn't putting on a performance for the sake of it. Her transformation doesn't exist for pure shock value.
A benefit of Cammy and Rhoda being coworkers (which I'll get into more later) is that the story doesn't need to put aside establishing the facts for two separate characters, when what applies to one equally applies to the other. With Rhoda, we see firsthand that a smart, driven woman who puts her all into her work struggles for even an ounce of respect. Through that, as well as Cammy's general placidity, it's easy to infer the latter's thought process. That being: the world sucks, so suck harder.
I-2 only gives us a snapshot of the flight attendants' work life, and it's not an appealing one. The clientele includes Zinc Lablanc, and I feel that's all that needs to be said. Cammy's underperformance compared to Rhoda is plain to see, yet it doesn't register at all with the plane's captain in his brief appearance. He blatantly views Cammy more in terms of Wanting To Fuck than as a worker, let alone the accomplished, intelligent individual she is. She studied [vague subject] abroad, and this is the thanks she gets.
Flying against the wind is a fruitless endeavor. You're just wasting energy, and if you end up getting anywhere at all, it'll be further back than where you started. That's the attitude that makes people like Cammy the way they are. She's a smart woman - smart enough to come up with a split-second cover-up for murder - but what good is her intelligence when her place in the world doesn't call for it? When she can game the system just by being exactly what it expects her to be? When all she needs to do to get away with high crime is to put on a dumb grin and look pretty?
It's a relatable feeling for anyone who's worked a shitty job, or been under the thumb of authority, or been a woman - that feeling being the almost survivalistic draw to conformity. Cammy dealt with it firsthand, and through her experience, saw a golden opportunity to reap the benefits of others' ignorance, all for as little effort as possible. I do want to stress that she's still, at her core, lazy. It's really just the cluelessness she plays up. Her willingness to take her place on the totem pole so long as she can benefit speaks to a darker side of her "go with the flow" mentality.
The tragic irony of Cammy's defeat is one who deliberately plays the fool coming undone because she was too smart for her own good. She took her own intelligence for granted, both in her day-to-day as she lazes away in her menial position, and in her murder scheme as she inadvertently indicts herself via bilingualism. For as tempting as the "easy road" is, taking it and shirking her potential forced her into a corner. The cunning that concocted her false persona in the first place, only to be shelved the further she slipped complacency, ended up her undoing.
Cammy's two sides - the silly, sleepy dope and the calculated killer - are intrinsically linked, and looking into why the former even exists is deeply telling of her character. I hate seeing this entire facet of her summed up as just a "gimmick."
I like Cammy a lot. I think it's interesting how she's not remotely sympathetic - she's pitiable, at best - but, I dunno, I still feel like the nature of her deception makes it easy to root for her in some areas, while totally detesting her in others. She's fun, she's funny, and her weaponized pick me behavior is a unique tactic for a killer. She's one of my favorites for sure. Investigations killers specifically, there's maybe like, three that I prefer over her?
Perhaps that doesn't sound too impressive but whatever, she's still a very unique character and it's a shame she's so frequently downplayed by people who see "actual, serious character with any merit worth discussing" and "hot girl" as mutually exclusive.

WHY?

The question you (yes, YOU) have probably been asking throughout this is: why?
Why does Rhoda's development matter? What's important about Cammy acting dumb? Why do you care so much about the plane case you fcking idit, are you st*pid?
More to the point: what's the point of Turnabout Airlines? I mean, if you ask me the main point is to set up the single best use of a game mechanic in the series, perhaps its single best moment period. But is there a point besides that? So what if Rhoda and Cammy are actually incredibly deep. Anyone could write at length about a character and argue that like, Lisa Basil is actually deeply nuanced and has a reason for everything she does. But is there a reason for everything these two do, beyond making a cool airplane murder mystery?
The deeper conflict I-2 presents, beyond the murder mystery, appears to be a simple matter of hard, honest work vs the easy way out. The heroic deuteragonist readily accepts the burden of her work, while the villain is a shameless slacker. That's a basic message that I feel works fine. But I also feel it runs deeper than that, and it goes back to Cammy and Rhoda's relationship.
Every decision a writer makes is for a reason, and here, there was a deliberate choice to make Cammy and Rhoda peers. Equals, at least on paper. Both have the same struggle of others' perceptions holding them back, and the way they each cope with that is more similar than you'd think.
When the degree of separation between two characters is so small, how does the narrative justify casting one as a villain and a murderer?
Beyond the obvious, what makes Cammy the bad guy in their relationship is how she treats someone in the exact same boat as herself. It's not just that she's being mean and being mean is BAD! It's what Cammy's bullying represents.
It's one thing to exploit a system in your favor, to play up a preconceived image to make a fool of the underestimators. In that case, the victims of Cammy's deceit are wholly deserving, with their manipulation brought upon by their own failure in taking her seriously. But taking advantage of people, even those who have it coming, is dangerous. The more you start to see human beings as an asset, the harder it is to experience real empathy. Rhoda is someone Cammy should have no trouble at all finding common ground with, yet she's the one who suffers the most from Cammy's actions.
It all culminates in Cammy losing her humanity on a complete base level. Her act of murder isn't planned or calculated, but the instinctive act of someone whose perception of others has become so detatched from her own self-centered bubble, that she doesn't think twice before taking a life until it's too late.
Cammy's a pawn. She's a pawn to the smuggling ring, and she's a pawn to the system tying her down. She knows she's a pawn, and she milks her role for all its worth, satisfied in the luxuries afforded by her performance, yet painfully aware she's more than the role she plays. And, by her own will, it's a role she's stuck in.
The ouroborous of fatalism between Cammy and Rhoda is vicious. Cammy's incessant put-downs keep Rhoda from rising beyond the role of a polite, humble doormat, and that only further enables Cammy to underachieve to her heart's content. Both women operate on unhealthy, self-destructive mindsets. The difference between them being Cammy, though far from the root of the problem on her own, is a contributor all the same.
She strays from the narrow road in favor of the easy, comfortable path, eschewing solidarity in the name of her own meagre comforts. And I do mean meagre. Like I said, Cammy's only a grunt within the smuggling ring, and her shucking responsibility only marginally spares her from the disrespect of people like Lablanc. In the end, Cammy's pursuits accomplish nothing, while the one who stands her ground in the face of hardship walks away from it all with the validation she'd craved.
Maybe I'm looking too deep into the dumb plane case, but idk. While the killer is by no means sympathetic, the flashback detailing her immediate reaction to having committed the crime is more than like, Portsaman gets, so I feel like there's a degree of acknowledgement towards something deeper behind their actions. Compared to the rest of the series, I don't think it's too far of a stretch to glean this sort of reading from I-2. The concept of the systemically downtrodden perpetuating their suffering through others resurfaces in both the DGS series and this game's direct sequel. While I prefer how they handle it, I can also appreciate the grounded nature of Airlines' approach.

I Like Planes

I didn't realize it until now but the only Investigations case I like more than this one is the other plane-centric case and I think that's very funny, I doubt anyone else will but I do and that's what matters
Anyway Turnabout Airlines is a pretty cool case and I would be very happy to see it recognized as such, that's all thank you <3

5 years after arresting Epstein - nothing. Nobody's been arrested, nobody named under oath was even charged. Who were they? Do you know the names? I didn't even know they were named... why???
LAMINE N'DIAYE
Know the name.
Michael E. Horowitz was in charge of the investigation of the death of Jeffery Epstein while in the custody and care of the United States government, and, working for the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, had sworn an oath to bring justice. Not just to Epstein (in keeping him alive AND SAFE for a fair trial), but to those he would name, and his accomplices. We got NO justice in this case. Who was responsible for this?
Michael blamed the low-level staff at the prison for neglegence, and misconduct after his team's investigation. He was the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice at the time. His investigation concluded three specific errors:

1. Failure to assign a cellmate. a. For some reason, extraordinarily bizarre and against the MCC's recommendations and insistence that it was required for safety, the prison never got around to assigning Epstein a cellmate.
   
2. Neglegence in monitoring. a. The staff, inexplicably, did not perform their legally required 30-minute checks. b. The staff also falsified reports to indicate that they had done the 30-minute checks, despite knowing they were on surveillance with the highest-profile criminal in the United States at the time.
   
3. Inoperative security cameras. a. Insufficient surveillance had been long-documented at the prison, but was not attempted to be addressed at any point by the warden, Lamine N'Diaye. There was special notice made to the coincidence of Epstein's cell assignment happening to have no camera coverage, despite being the highest-profile criminal in America on a 30-minute watch order before his trial...
   

For reasons only known to Michael E. Horowitz, the blame began and ended with the low-level staff. The guards. The prison's warden, Lamine N'Diaye. That's LAMINE N'DIAYE - was, I suppose, assumed to have no knowledge of what was happening in their prison for which they were responsible. Is it possible a larger, more influential group infiltrated the prison to kill him without N'Diaye's knowledge? No. Not really. It's a prison... They were put on witness protection (there are no existing records of LAMINE N'DIAYE outside of references to their posting as the warden of a major New York prison and references to them in the court cases... 'Warden of a New York prison' is not a position you meander into off the streets with no past. No info on even if it was a man or woman... ... ...
Total blackout of any information at that level (the level of who is the public servant responsible for the death of a man and subsequently the death of a major US political trial).
Someone might almost accidentally believe that Michael E. Horowitz and Lamine N'Diaye were in on it and allowed Epstein to be killed to, oh idk, gain massive profits and be move away under the cover of darkness blaming it on low-level poorly educated prison guards following orders in an area they had NO control over, or say in no security cameras covering.
That's no security cameras covering a cell in a US prison by the way - again the highest-profile cell at that time. Zero surveillance.
Why would a warden who failed to prevent the death of a high-profile inmate be protected and moved like a catholic priest? Why weren't they lambasted? They were responsible for his safety - he died - they were comfortably and entirely secretly moved with the help of the federal government. Today they're either secretly dead, or living in a mansion in Wyoming.
Nobody was caught. There was no justice in this case. They didn't even release the names Ghislane Maxwell DID name in her own trial. It's a sealed record.
Whatever it's worth; five MAJOR names were released by Epstein himself. Hundreds more were claimed. Epstein named: Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Alan Dershowitz, and Israeli prime minister Ehud Barack.
Of these - only Donald Trump, of all people, was exonerated - and by Virginia Guiffre herself. She noted that he was at Epstein's house, but she never saw him partake or be offered any of the uncouth things happening there. She offered none of those consolation to any of the other named people. Trump had also separately noted his distancing from Epstein almost a decade earlier. She insists the rest are guilty men, if you believe her. Idk why she'd stop one short if he was in on it. I think he was a wealthy New Yorker who of course knew another wealthy New York financier who partied.
Others named under oath - others ACCUSED by the verified victims include: Harvey Weinstein, Richard Branson ("'Virgin'"), Elon Musk, Tony Blair (UK prime minister), Al Gore (accused man-bear-pig), Stephen Hawking (yes, THAT Stephen Hawking), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Peter Soros (George Soros' nephew), Bill Richardson (New Mexico Gov.), Alec Baldwin (the marksman), Kevin Spacey (convicted sex offender - unrelated sexual assault crimes), Chris Tucker (that slap makes a lot more sense now, huh), David Copperfield (magician), Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch (Media mogul), Noam Chomsky (MIT professor), Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Leon Black (Apollo Ltd.) Jean-Luck Brunel, Leslie Wexner (Victoria's Secret CEO), Lawrence Krauss (friend of Albert Einstein), Marvin Minsky (MIT professor), George Mitchell (former senator), Glenn Dublin (hedge fund manager), Tom Pritzker (Pritzker family wealth manager and US politician. Cousin to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker), Mort Zuckerman, George Stephanopolous, David Koch (of the Koch family wealth), James Patterson, Tom Barrack, Griffin Dunne, Wesley Clark, and Jes Staley.
And, on the little girl recruitment side of the sex cartel, we've got accused: Naomi Campbell (aging actress), Katie Couric (became friends immediately after his first sex crime conviction in 2009), Sarah Ferguson, Eva Andersson-Dubin, Jessica Roccobono, Courtney Love (when alive), and Peggy Siegal.
Idk about you, but I'd be pretty interested in clearing my name if someone said I was in a pedophile ring under oath. Notice something funny? Not one of those people has been center stage since their accusation. All have 'gone silent' except for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Robert Kennedy. All the rest have had a notably massive decline in public activity. Of course - everyone is assumed innocent, until they are proven guilty.

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Synopsis:
Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.
Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.
Chapter 240: Private Gallery
My, how quaint.
An underground maze.
If it wasn’t dark towers laden with bats, it was underground mazes filled to the brim with all the upholstery recovered from the Summer Solstice Festival’s annual bonfire.
Here beneath a barn utilised as little more than a cellar door, black was still the new black. An unending panorama of dark embroidery and furnishings to match any budding empress’s humble beginnings, ensuring I remained busy offering all the slightly different variations of wrinkling my nose could perform.
The porcelain vases featuring motifs of the wrong season? A mild scrunch. The candelabras burning below 98% of their height instead of being immediately replaced? Hints of a sneeze. The golden silk carpets clearly stolen from the cathedrals of the Holy Church? … A nod of my head.
But what I could have no complaints about was a door still swinging upon its hinges.
Poetry in motion, it painted the picture of a baroness desperate in her haste to stumble over her dress as much as humanly possible. Excellent news. We didn’t need to break another door today.
A surprise.
After all, the baroness seemed intent on breaking everything herself.
Bwoomph.
The sound of a heavy object being dropped came crashing through.
And then another. And another.
A commotion to rival the scuffling of two rival sons at our reception hall. The cadence of chairs, small tables and then backsides falling to the ground as insults became slaps and slaps became a scene of disgrace, all the while my sisters and I watched and snacked on the walnuts.
Sadly for the baroness, I chose not to stand idly by as she roughly squirrelled away her stolen possessions. And neither did Coppelia, who rubbed her hands together in gleeful expectation.
It was still the most innocent gesture she’d ever made.
“Should we let her gather up the loot pile some more?” she asked brightly.
I shook my head at once, my nose aching from the ceaseless wrinkling.
“Absolutely not. Even a moment is too long in this burrow.”
“We could double back and ominously stamp our feet to make her go faster, too.”
“Or we could merely offer our supervision instead. Come. It’s time to end our stay in the countryside. As well as this baroness’s grand misadventure.”
Already dreaming of my bed, I lightly pushed the door open.
A moment later, I was met by the sight of an adventurer’s most wanton dream come to life.
Within the centre of a bedroom chamber, chests laden with silver and gold crowns sat waiting for the first lout to claim as hardship expenses for chasing cats in an endless circle. The chests gleamed with an organised lustre, winking in unison as though counted and arranged to the coin.
It was a sight which contrasted with the desperate movements of the baroness.
Only brief snippets of her could be seen as she went to-and-fro in another room, accessed through a parted bookcase. Through the opening, I heard hints of calamity. Heavy banging as objects crashed to the floor, joined by the sound of ragged breathing to match a servant dashing up and down my bedroom tower to fetch grapes for me in quantities of one.
“Haah … haahh … hahhh …”
And now my curiosity was kindled.
Things worth more than chests of crowns. What could she possess, I wonder?
Sweeping past the gleaming pile of silver and gold, I made my way towards the parted bookcase, and then peeked through to see our baroness performing one last act of defiance.
With her golden hair as dishevelled as her dress, she was kneeling beside an assembled pile of what were unmistakably paintings. A veritable mountain of them, all framed in gilded brass. The scent of oil, watercolours and various pigments struck me more than any whiff of alcohol I’d experienced today.
Clearly a gallery of sorts. A secondary trove of treasure, but no less valuable. Rare paintings were worth their weight in silver and gold as much as any of the coins gathered in the chamber.
And also, to my horror, much easier to destroy.
“Haah … haahhh … hahhhhh …”
The baroness didn’t even notice our presence.
So absorbed was she in her final act of petulance, her only concern was to raise her feeble arms, weakened by all the disdain it required to gather so many heavy paintings in one spot.
All to set it alight.
With a look of desperation on her face, she raised a single candle, readying to set the oil upon the canvasses ablaze.
“Noooooope~”
“–Aah?!”
The same candle which was promptly plucked from her hand by Coppelia, who required no prompting to stop the destruction of precious treasure.
The baroness jolted in shock at Coppelia’s sudden appearance behind her, and even more so at the playful smile leaning towards her. A heartbeat later, she swiped at the candle, tearing away the topmost half. But it was too late.
The flame had already been extinguished.
“Noo … nooooooooooooo!!”
The baroness cupped her hands around the top, offering a tiny breath as she hoped to ignite it like the fading embers of a hearthfire.
She failed.
I took a step into the hidden gallery, ready to offer the coup de grâce to round off this minor detour into my countryside. A final reminder to my kingdom’s nobility, that whatever their rank, none were too lowly to be ignored.
“Ohhohohohohoho … how pitiable,” I said, my hand barely covering my lips. “Instead of a vain attempt to flee, you choose mindless destruction instead. I suppose I’ve no grounds to fault on this. You were wildly successful. Only that it was your own schemes which came to ruin.”
I gazed at the crumpled heap of the baroness as she turned around.
Her grey eyes widened as she viewed me.
All of a sudden, what colour remained upon her face drained to the point where if she threw herself on her bed, she’d be invisible against the white linen. Her only method of escape remaining.
It certainly wasn’t in the gurgling she made.
“Ah … n-no … wait …”
Her voice petered out, whatever words she spoke fading like a mousy squeak in the distance.
Ugh. The standards I endured.
Despite attempting a final act of spite, she didn’t even have enough vigour left in her to transfer that into the most cursory of insults.
“Now, this right here is what separates the barony from the city nobility,” I said, well and truly exasperated. “You may despise your peers, but know that Lady Tolent and Duke Valence at least performed their roles as expected. They were rude until the end. You’ve a considerable amount to learn.”
With a sigh, I took a step towards the mound of portraits.
Given what I’d seen so far, I doubted if any painting here was worth what the baroness deemed worthy enough to hide away like a dragon’s favoured treasure. But I was open to being pleasantly surprised.
Who knows? Perhaps she’d pilfered more than carpets from the Holy Church.
However–
“Wait!!!!!”
The baroness scrambled to her feet, arms raised as she blocked my path.
Despite her sudden burst of life, no colour returned to her face. It was like a ghoul raised as a puppet, desperately heeding the command of its owner.
“You … You can’t look!” she said, quivering. “None of this … none of this is for you!”
My mouth widened at the gall.
… Why, so she did have some insult left in her!
To insinuate I wasn’t worthy of judging these paintings was far more wounding than any generic disdain she could level against my superior wealth, standing, beauty and shape of my hair!
After all, I was exceptionally confident in my curating skills!
Anything less would see my own works being met by a chorus of snivelling! Amongst all who resided in my kingdom, it wasn’t traitors who were the most fearless to my ire! It was art critics!
“E-Excuse me! Rest assured that I’m more than capable of judging the qualities of any painting! When it comes to my assessment of art, my valuation leaves no detail unturned!”
Somehow, the baroness paled even more. Her eyes quivered like ponds in a gale.
A moment later–
“You can’t!!!!”
She threw herself at me.
A slow, lumbering tackle to match her anaemic state. I stepped to the side as she hurled herself past me, falling to a heap by Renise’s feet.
The maid looked down. She didn’t wear a single hint of animosity. Only pity and sorrow. Truly, she was too kind to ever have been in the nobility. I feared for her current role.
Still, I gave a sigh, before leaning over the mountain of paintings.
“Uwah~ this is a new one.”
As the light from the doorway fell upon it, Coppelia offered a hint of what was to be expected. She wore a peculiar expression, her smile oddly fixed as she gazed down at the nearest one to face upright.
I joined her.
And then–
“Hmm.”
I blinked as I assessed it.
A moment later, I glanced over those nearby. And then those nearby them.
Not only paintings. But portraits.
All featuring the same subject. A girl with long, dark hair and vivid eyes.
Many featured a dress hinting at a summer’s day. Shafts of golden sunlight was a common theme, along with a backdrop of a pristine tea table, laden with a familiar array of confectionery. Carrot madeleines and carrot cakes. The same ones I tactically placed for everyone else to eat at my mandatory tea parties.
Indeed. That made sense.
Since this was assuredly my tea table being presented. And that girl with a pleasant smile, unblemished features, a regal bearing and warmth radiating from her very presence was me.
I dug inside the mountain of portraits, lifting up another at random.
Yes.
It was me. Again.
In fact–
Every single portrait in this heap was of me.
At least a hundred or more. All framed and recently placed upon the walls of a hidden room. A private gallery to a baroness–one who was a keen painter. A corner had been transformed into a small workshop. Unlike the one found in her tavern, this one was far more organised. Easels and brushes were neatly tidied away, cared for as much as the paintings that had been created here.
“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!”
Ignoring the cry of despair behind me, I gazed at the heap of paintings, hand against my cheek as I considered the sight.
A short hum was all I required.
I turned to the stricken baroness upon the floor, her mouth wide as she waited for my judgement.
And then–
“Oho …”
I began to laugh.
“Ohoho … ohhohohoho …”
But this was no mocking laugh which spilled from my lips.
No … it was a laugh of pure delight.
“Ohhhohohoohhohohoohhohohoo!!”
True, nothing here was fit to be placed upon the Royal Villa’s walls. But few paintings were. This didn’t mean they were without merit. On the contrary, even a surface level impression of my face was worth more crowns than even a mosaic of the Grand Duchess completed by a thousand master painters.
But while better artists than her had painted me, few had painted more.
And this I could use.
Why … with this many paintings, I could fill up Soap Island with my imagery!
I could ensure that every tunnel possessed my permanent smile and watching eyes!
No matter where the soap miners hid, seeking respite from their days of hard labour and repentance, they could be met by the sight of my angelic face reminding them that I know and judge their every moment of unsupervised rest!
How … How wonderful!!!!
“A 7/10,” I declared. “Individually, they range between passable and acceptable. Except this one. There is something wrong with the nose. But when taken as an entire collection, the overall composition is greater than the sum of its parts. Alone, each is a verse describing a princess forced to adhere to her mandatory tea parties even as summer blooms a window away. But together, it is the sonata of a princess who continues in her duties without care to repetition or fatigue, reminding those whose hands falter when they should be mining soap that I do not rest, and so neither will they. Not an overly complex message, but then I wouldn’t wish it to be lost.”
Thus, I clapped my hands together in satisfaction.
“... Indeed, I shall put these portraits to excellent use!”
I waited for the gasp of relief which usually came with any of my scores which didn’t plunge into negative numbers. The baroness would not be destroyed by the world of fine art. Only ignored. The baseline criticism. She’d survive.
Providing, of course, that she ever woke from her stupor.
Looking down, I was appalled to see all the light had vacated her eyes.
Far from offering her gratitude, she lay collapsed in an untidy heap upon the floor, her body prone and motionless, her expression locked in morbid embarrassment, and with no signs of life other than the trail of drool which began to leak from the edge of her lips.
“Wow~” said Coppelia, leaning down to poke her cheeks. “You managed to kill her with just the laugh.”
I was appalled.
If this was the reaction to my satisfaction, I may as well be disappointed! That was always easier!
“C-Coppelia! I didn’t kill her! … Why, anyone who dies looking so slovenly would come back to life just to fix themselves!”
Also kneeling beside the fallen baroness, Renise gently shook the girl’s shoulder. Only a weak gurgling came out, wishing for an eternal night.
After a moment, Renise sent a slightly pained smile towards me.
“Um, by any chance … do you not have any thoughts regarding seeing so many portraits of yourself?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well … do you not find it odd?”
I looked at her in puzzlement.
“... No? Why would that be odd? Isn’t it natural that people would wish to paint me? I’m a princess. And an excellent one, too. Better me than a fruit bowl, surely.”
Renise blinked … just before raising her hand to her lips in a small giggle.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
Words which advanced her on my family’s career ladder exponentially. I nodded profusely.
Mreoow.
At least until an unexpected sound filled the air.
I looked around in puzzlement.
“... Did I hear a cat?”
“Mmh~” Coppelia pointed towards the faux-vault door we’d passed. “More than one. There’s a whole bunch being kept nearby. It smells terrible.”
I threw up my arms in exasperation.
Why, no wonder the baroness sought the bliss of unconsciousness! It was to evade my utter disbelief!
The absolute state of my kingdom’s schemers!
First Trierport! Now Hartzwiese! To think it was an epidemic!
Just what were these people doing?! Truly, it’s one thing to undermine my kingdom. But that was a pale crime compared to their feat of singlehandedly fuelling the existence of the Adventurer’s Guild!
“It must be Tantrum and Peppy,” said Renise, far less aggrieved. “As well as all the others.”
I directed my bewilderment towards her instead.
“What is a … Tantrum and a Peppy?”
“They’re the names of the deputy guildmaster’s cats. The ones she was looking for. We should ensure they’re rescued before the night is done.”
I shook my head rapidly. No, no, no, no.
“I am not rescuing cats.”
“Hm? … Why not? Isn’t that the job of adventurers?”
“No, that’s the job of drunkards who mistake the commissions plastered on walls for requests to save a kidnapped princess. Besides, cats hardly need rescuing. Whatever bonds they find themselves in, they’re more than capable of slipping free by their own endless guile.”
Indeed, our only danger was that we tripped over a lazing cat hidden in the shade!
It’s a wonder they hadn’t escaped already. By the time we were done, I fully expected to see cats causing anarchy as they reclaimed the town, mewing from rooftop and windowsill with barely held contempt for the very people who fed them!
… Why, they should be ashamed!
“I see …” said Renise, with a hum of uncertainty. “Well, I suppose they’re known for their self-sufficiency. But even so, I feel that we shouldn’t leave them in the chance that their artfulness fails. There’s a very dangerous forest between here and the town.”
Coppelia clapped her hands together.
Her interest in the baroness severed, she leaned towards her next source of amusement, her smile alive with all the usual colours of the mischief rainbow.
“That’s right~ cats are pretty smart, right? There’s no way they’ll be caught by the slobbering horrors devoid of mercy and compassion which I kept from eating us.”
“Coppelia, you frightened them away with sticks.”
“Exactly. Sticks thrown using opposable thumbs which cats lack. And that means they know where they are on the food tree. They’re gonna stay here where it’s safe, waiting for the dumb humans to come fetch them like they always do, even though cats do nothing but hiss and scratch at them.”
I gave a cautious nod … all the while leaning further away.
“Yes, well, I’m glad you agree. We’ve no need to lift a finger to rescue them.”
“Mmh~ but even so, aren’t you willingly leaving gold on the table?”
“Excuse me?”
“I bet every cat has a poster somewhere up in the Adventurer’s Guild. That’s a whole bunch of change you’re leaving lying around that could be used for our apple strudel budget.”
I was aghast.
Not only at the suggestion our funds went entirely towards the apple strudels she ate before I could even touch them … but also because I knew exactly what Coppelia was doing!
My keen eyes could see through her deep subterfuge!
True, it was only prudent to ensure our personal finances were as secure as possible … but even so!
I had my pride!
In my darkest dreams, I still recalled the shame of rescuing a warehouse of cats in Trierport! There was no scenario in which I’d willingly suffer such humiliation again! Once my dignity was stripped, what was I, but a beautiful maiden without equal?
Indeed, I had no doubt in my mind!
I, Juliette Contzen, 3rd Princess to the Kingdom of Tirea, would absolutely not resort to saving lost cats!
“The Adventurer’s Guild will never be happier,” said Coppelia brightly. “I bet that in less than a day, a literal army of adventurers will be swooping in to claim all the free cats for themselves. They’ll be everywhere. Literally everywhere. Productivity will be at its highest. You’ll be actively supporting the livelihoods of all those guys you see drinking themselves into a coma!”
Renise blinked, then looked at me with an expression filled with new warmth.
“Oh, I see! You intend to leave these cats behind to be collected by new adventurers. That’s very thoughtful of you. I understand now. This must be how high-ranked adventurers help their juniors progress and gain confidence in their skills.”
Renise filled the ensuing silence with her smile.
And then–
She slowly waved a hand in front of my face.
“... Miss Coppelia, why isn’t she responding?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Her cogs get stuck every now and again.”
“I see … ? Should we do something or … ?”
“Mmh~ I’ll scoop up the striped ones! You get the normal ones!”
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Nothing. Nobody's been arrested, nobody named under oath was even charged. Who were they? Do you know the names? I didn't even know they were named... why???

LAMINE N'DIAYE

Know the name.


Michael E. Horowitz was in charge of the investigation of the death of Jeffery Epstein while in the custody and care of the United States government, and, working for the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, had sworn an oath to bring justice. Not just to Epstein (in keeping him alive AND SAFE for a fair trial), but to those he would name, and his accomplices. We got NO justice in this case. Who was responsible for this?

Michael blamed the low-level staff at the prison for neglegence, and misconduct after his team's investigation. He was the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice at the time. His investigation concluded three specific errors:

1. Failure to assign a cellmate.

a. For some reason, extraordinarily bizarre and against the MCC's recommendations and insistence that it was required for safety, the prison never got around to assigning Epstein a cellmate.

1. Neglegence in monitoring.

a. The staff, inexplicably, did not perform their legally required 30-minute checks.
b. The staff also falsified reports to indicate that they had done the 30-minute checks, despite knowing they were on surveillance with the highest-profile criminal in the United States at the time.

3. Inoperative security cameras.
a. Insufficient surveillance had been long-documented at the prison, but was not attempted to be addressed at any point by the warden, Lamine N'Diaye. There was special notice made to the coincidence of Epstein's cell assignment happening to have no camera coverage, despite being the highest-profile criminal in America on a 30-minute watch order before his trial...

For reasons only known to Michael E. Horowitz, the blame began and ended with the low-level staff. The guards. The prison's warden, Lamine N'Diaye. That's LAMINE N'DIAYE - was, I suppose, assumed to have no knowledge of what was happening in their prison for which they were responsible. Is it possible a larger, more influential group infiltrated the prison to kill him without N'Diaye's knowledge? No. Not really. It's a prison... They were put on witness protection (there are no existing records of LAMINE N'DIAYE outside of references to their posting as the warden of a major New York prison and references to them in the court cases... 'Warden of a New York prison' is not a position you meander into off the streets with no past. No info on even if it was a man or woman... ... ...

Total blackout of any information at that level (the level of who is the public servant responsible for the death of a man and subsequently the death of a major US political trial).

Someone might almost accidentally believe that Michael E. Horowitz and Lamine N'Diaye were in on it and allowed Epstein to be killed to, oh idk, gain massive profits and be move away under the cover of darkness blaming it on low-level poorly educated prison guards following orders in an area they had NO control over, or say in no security cameras covering.

That's no security cameras covering a cell in a US prison by the way - again the highest-profile cell at that time. Zero surveillance.

Why would a warden who failed to prevent the death of a high-profile inmate be protected and moved like a catholic priest? Why weren't they lambasted? They were responsible for his safety - he died - they were comfortably and entirely secretly moved with the help of the federal government. Today they're either secretly dead, or living in a mansion in Wyoming.

Nobody was caught. There was no justice in this case. They didn't even release the names Ghislane Maxwell DID name in her own trial. It's a sealed record.

Whatever it's worth; five MAJOR names were released by Epstein himself. Hundreds more were claimed. Epstein named: Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Alan Dershowitz, and Israeli prime minister Ehud Barack.

Of these - only Donald Trump, of all people, was exonerated - and by Virginia Guiffre herself. She noted that he was at Epstein's house, but she never saw him partake or be offered any of the uncouth things happening there. She offered none of those consolation to any of the other named people. Trump had also separately noted his distancing from Epstein almost a decade earlier. She insists the rest are guilty men, if you believe her. Idk why she'd stop one short if he was in on it. I think he was a wealthy New Yorker who of course knew another wealthy New York financier who partied.

Others named under oath - others ACCUSED by the verified victims include: Harvey Weinstein, Richard Branson ("'Virgin'"), Elon Musk, Tony Blair (UK prime minister), Al Gore (accused man-bear-pig), Stephen Hawking (yes, THAT Stephen Hawking), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Peter Soros (George Soros' nephew), Bill Richardson (New Mexico Gov.), Alec Baldwin (the marksman), Kevin Spacey (convicted sex offender - unrelated sexual assault crimes), Chris Tucker (that slap makes a lot more sense now, huh), David Copperfield (magician), Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch (Media mogul), Noam Chomsky (MIT professor), Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Leon Black (Apollo Ltd.) Jean-Luck Brunel, Leslie Wexner (Victoria's Secret CEO), Lawrence Krauss (friend of Albert Einstein), Marvin Minsky (MIT professor), George Mitchell (former senator), Glenn Dublin (hedge fund manager), Tom Pritzker (Pritzker family wealth manager and US politician. Cousin to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker), Mort Zuckerman, George Stephanopolous, David Koch (of the Koch family wealth), James Patterson, Tom Barrack, Griffin Dunne, Wesley Clark, and Jes Staley.

And, on the little girl recruitment side of the sex cartel, we've got accused: Naomi Campbell (aging actress), Katie Couric (became friends immediately after his first sex crime conviction in 2009), Sarah Ferguson, Eva Andersson-Dubin, Jessica Roccobono, Courtney Love (when alive), and Peggy Siegal.

Idk about you, but I'd be pretty interested in clearing my name if someone said I was in a pedophile ring under oath. Notice something funny? Not one of those people has been center stage since their accusation. All have 'gone silent' except for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Robert Kennedy. All the rest have had a notably massive decline in public activity. Of course - everyone is assumed innocent, until they are proven guilty.

Just looking for some solidarity and support. I’m new to Reddit and I haven’t posted before.
I have a 12 month old and I am home with her full time while also running a business and doing 8-16 hours per week part time work. My side business is in sales. It’s busy, stressful and can range from 6-20 hours per week depending on the week. I only have help for half the year since I live in my husband’s home state and his parents are snowbirds. My parents also come in the summers since they are retired and like to see the baby.
These last two weeks are killing me with the juggling. Work has been so busy, my parents come to ‘help with the baby’ but sit on the couch watching tv and pretty much just watch me care for her while I also juggle work. Baby is teething and hasn’t slept through the night in two weeks. My husband is really helpful and does dishes and laundry, but also works from home with a flexible schedule and gets to surf on his lunch break and go to the gym 2 or 3 days a week after work. We also live where he grew up so he gets invited to do things that I’m not invited to. So, I watch the baby while he has a Saturday out and the favor never really gets repaid since I don’t have close friends where we live. It’s not like he does this a lot, but he probably does 1 or 2 fun things on his own per month and I do none.
Today I had a melt down. My brother and I haven’t been speaking because when I visited my home state a few month ago he had asked what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to see all my friends that i grew up with. Him and his wife planned a gathering at their home, but the day it was supposed to happen my sister in law had a high fever. They didn’t want to cancel and insisted it was rude for me to try to make other plans. I felt totally robbed of the opportunity to see my old friends and to introduce them to my daughter. My brother said it was rude and ridiculous of me to exclude them just because his wife was sick. I just couldn’t risk us getting the flu before we had to drive 20 hours back home when our baby was already making it so we had only been sleeping 2-4 hours per night the entire trip. He told me my husband and I were rude and I apologized, but he never did. I never got to see my friends and cried most of our drive home over this interaction. I’m generally not very emotional.
I usually am the one that keeps in touch with my brother, but I stopped because I was so hurt. Because of this we haven’t spoken in 4 months since he isn’t a good communicator. My mom came today to watch the baby while I worked. I didn’t sleep last night again cause baby was teething, was up from 3-7am. I had a ton of work to get done and we were going to host some old friends that were visiting tonight so I was already stressed. I had told my brother a month ago that i was hurt and asked if we could have a call, and he never got back to me. So I asked her if she had heard from him. She said she had and proceeded to tell me how she she sees his side and how I’m selfish and we’re all selfish and I just should have let it play out and let him and his wife do what they wanted that night since they worked so hard on the party.
I’ve had the most horrible week. My depression and anxiety are so bad, I haven’t had a minute to myself, my husband and I haven’t been in sync and my work has been insane. I just couldn’t handle it today. I didn’t talk to her for the rest of the day and I just don’t know what’s right anymore.

After they finished eating, the warrior gathered their gear and joined the rest of the knights as they made ready to clear the forest of the monsters. The warrior was unsure whether these knights would be able to defeat the monsters of the forest without being overrun. They knew the great female warrior would be able to hold their own, but these knights may not survive, which gave the warrior pause. However, before they had time to dwell on those concerns, the retinue of knights began to move out, marching outside the walls of the monastery fortress and into the dark forests of Caliban.
The large group of knights stayed together, but separated into smaller teams with a few feet of separation between them to be a smaller target. By fate or by choice, the warrior found themselves in the group behind the great female warrior. They noticed that unlike the other groups, their group was much quieter, slightly more spread out, and several of the knights had vials of some sort of liquid. The warrior knew not what the vials were for, but they also knew that they would find out soon enough.
The group stopped at a cliff overlooking a lake, a river running into a waterfall to their right. The great female warrior gave a series of hand signals the warrior did not understand, but the rest of the knights in her team knew exactly what to do. They took their vials and the team advanced to the edge of the waterfall, pouring their vials into the river. The warrior watched the clear liquid mix the water, falling down the waterfall and into the lake. The warrior now understood that they had poisoned the water, or what they assumed was the watering hole of the monsters of the forest. Having finished their mission, the team stashed their vials and began to move forward once again.
It was a few hours until they stopped again, the group having approached a team of slain knights that had advanced far into the forest. The warrior checked the bodies of the dead, performing a short ritual wishing each of the dead rest in the afterlife. To their surprise, none of the other knights joined them, and the great female warrior almost seemed…..disappointed? Nevertheless, when the warrior was finished, the group continued on, trudging through the thick woods on a search for monsters to slay.
The forest was silent, eire. That was until the warrior heard something, and began to scan the treeline. They noticed that the great female warrior had also noticed the sound, and she too scanned the treeline, her sword unsheathed and ready to strike. The warrior had kept their sword unsheathed the entire time, uncomfortable with being unprepared should they be attacked.
Then, in the span of a single breath, the monsters came upon them, rushing from the forest in a pack. The massive creatures jumped upon the unprepared knights, biting into them and shaking them around like ragdolls. The warrior saw a monster attack the great female warrior out of the corner of their eye, but they were unable to see how they were doing as a monster jumped upon them.
The warrior barely rolled out of the way of the monster, causing it to leap over them and land only a few feet away. The monster lunged at her,jaws snapping in her direction, causing the warrior to sidestep and slash the monster on the snout. The monster snarled, slashing and biting at the warrior in an enraged flurry of tooth and claw. The warrior was barely able to actually evade each attack, rolling, side and back stepping to doge the flurry aimed at them. However, they soon found an opening, and stabbed into the foot of the monster as it overextended in with its claw attack. The warrior then took the initiative, unleashing its own series of blows, just like the ones they practiced.
The monster was not defeated. With a final strike as the warrior stabbed brain, the monster slashed the face of the warrior, knocking their helmet off and causing a deep gash on the face of the warrior. The warrior’s helmet clattered on the ground, landing next to the great female warrior. The warrior tried to cover their face with their hands, but they knew they needed their helmet.
The Lioness removed their sword from the monster they had slain, wiping the blade off onto her arm greaves. She picked up the helmet of the warrior, and saw that it was slashed across the face. The Lioness then looked to the warrior, seeing their helmet removed and the deep gash across their face. Amused that the warrior was attempting to cover their face, but very poorly, the Lioness went to move their hands away from their face. “I can’t take you further into the forest with a facial injury. You must return back to the monastery.” The Lioness then handed the warrior their helmet back and turned away, moving further into the forest.
The warrior looked at the blood dripping onto the forest floor, their hands slick with blood. But they knew that if they were to truly earn the trust of the great female warrior, they would need to move past this injury. The warrior wrapped their face with bandages, rubbing healing salves on their wounds that caused them to recoil in pain, but still kept going. Putting their helmet back on, the warrior ran to catch up with the great female warrior.
The Lioness looked behind them to see the warrior trying to catch up to them. The Lioness smiled slightly. Perhaps this warrior would be a great addition after all. They were certainly not a watcher as she had thought might be the case, but a competent fighter was something she sorely needed if she was to clear Caliban of the monsters in the forest. It didn't matter who they were, though the Lioness couldn’t help but be intrigued by what she saw beneath the mask. Pushing that thought from her mind, the Lioness focused back on the hunt.
The warrior finally caught up with the Lioness, and the two continued combing the forest, mopping up strangling monsters and taking out small packs in ambushes. As the sun began to drop, the Lioness turned to the warrior. “We shall return to the monastery now.” she said in a whisper, trying not to draw the attention of any monsters. The warrior nodded, still silent, as they followed the great female warrior in a slow but silent journey back to the monastery before dusk fell and the monsters began to hunt them, instead of the other way around.
The two survivors made it back to the monastery, meeting up with the remnants of the surviving teams. The remaining survivors made it to the great hall, where they found a feast led by a knight that seemed of great station that the warrior had never seen before. The knight called everyone to toast, celebrating the return of the hunting parties and the victory of the “Lioness”. The warrior looked to see the great female warrior looking somewhat in disdain at the toast. Perhaps they were the Lioness this knight spoke of?
The warrior chose to eat alone, still uncomfortable with revealing their identity, and especially with the fact someone knew who they were underneath the mask. However, the Lioness would have other plans for the warrior. They sat across from the warrior, but said nothing, eating and drinking in silence. The two ate in silence, and by the time the warrior finished, the Lioness had already left, gone as if they were never there. The warrior was not surprised, they had seen them do the same thing before. They simply gathered their gear and went to sleep, ready for another day of training, another day of slaying monsters, and trying to earn the respect of the “Lioness”, hoping that their identity would remain a secret.

Hi guys just wanted your opinion on this matter.
I got a job at tech company that deal with ATM(security and maintenance). My job is basically to provide support for the field techs. It is similar to a call centehelp desk but main role would be accepting calls from either field techs or customers regarding issues with the ATM.
This was the "duties" stated on the job listing:
Identify customers’ needs, clarify information, research every issue and provide solutions and/or alternative solutions.

• Analyze customeequipment history, track trends, and escalate reoccurring issues to the proper department and management.
• Effectively assess and leverage *company name* software to resolve any qualified service call remotely.
• Utilize software, databases, scripts, and tools appropriately.
• Provide detailed documentation of services delivered, work performed, and follow-up action required in ServiceMax.
• Maintain or exceed call center service levels and statistics as set by company policy.
• Present a professional image when representing *company name*.
• Other duties may be assigned as needed.

I currently have a secret clearance, taking night classes for cybersecurity, and will be taking SEC+ next month before 601 retires. My hope is to do cybersecurity in the future. So I was wondering if this job is a right step towards higher level IT jobs in the future. Thank you for any comment or advice.
edit: took out company name

My close friend works at a university (almost 10 years). We had recent discussions around his salary and what he can do to increase it, especially with him growing older and having more responsibilities. As the talks went on, we looked at his payslip and identified a large chunk of his pay being paid to super. He doesn't remember doing a salary sacrifice arrangement, so we looked into it.
His superfund is called Unisuper. This superfund, from what i can gather, is an absolutely dodgy ponzi scheme for those that joined within a specific period... and he can't do anything about it.
I'm specifically talking about the Defined benefit scheme.
From his employer (the university), he receives a whopping 17% employer contribution. Sounds good. But, 14% of the 17% goes into the 'Defined Benefit' portion and 3% goes into his accumulation portion (the standard super). To make matters worse, an additional AFTER TAX contribution of 7% is paid into the accumulation portion, by default.
So that's 14% into DBD, 10% into Accumulation.
He has a choice to reduce the after-tax contribution to 0%, but the catch is, his employer will then only pay 14%, and that whole 14% will go to his DBD and no contributions will be made to his accumulation portion. This means, if he was to switch employers in the future to a non-university entity, from the time he stopped his after-tax contribution, his accumulation balance would have been at the mercy of the market and without any growth from contributions, thereby starting his 'new' standard superannuation fund with a lower balance than most.
Sure, DBD looks good if you're about to retire with a decent salary, but this guys is still young, at least 30+ years left in his working life, coupled with the fact the whole university sector isn't looking so bright.
Let's even assume he sucks it up and continues in this sector for that long. The DBD isn't backed by the employegovt so if **** hits the fan, it's done.
Over the last 2 weeks he's talked with his payroll officer, a consultant from UniSuper and ultimately feels stuck. Not only is his pay even lower than expected because of the after-tax member contribution, but he can't even move super funds.
I've scoured the web and tried to understand the legislation, but from what I can see, he's just stuck until he leaves for a non-university industry..
Unless... someone can shed some light of hope?
Edit 1: His payroll has booked another session with a unisuper consultant to clarify what the circumstances are. As it stands, he is unable to move to another fund without forfeiting his DBD balance, according to the payroll person.
Edit 2: I understand the subject header is quite... offensive (?) and inaccurate. I should've stated this is for the Defined Benefit, not their accumulation funds. From what I gather, their accumulation 2 product, it's investment option offerings and performance are very good.

Live Music

• Joshua "Tennessee" Worthy, Mill Top Tavern, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
• Cliff Dorsey, Pierre's Pub, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
• Mike Cook, Backyard Island Cafe at Meehan's, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
• ZaZa Flamenca, Bin 39 Wine Bar, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
• Mark Evans, Fish House & Oyster Co., 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Sue Seymour Westcott, The Tides Oyster Co. & Grill, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• David Watt Besley, The Tides Oyster Co. & Grill, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• House Cats, Marina Munch, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Dewey Via, Backyard Island Cafe at Meehan's, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Aaron Esposito, Embassy Suites by Hilton, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Ace Winn, DJ's Clam Shack, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Claire Vandiver, Guy Harvey Resort, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Bret Blackshear, Crabby's Beachside, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Wes Register, Mellow Mushroom — St. Johns, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Christian Powers, Mellow Mushroom — Anastasia Island, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• King Eddie and the Pili Pili, The Cellar Upstairs Wine Bar & Restaurant, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Walt Kulwicki, Oasis Deck & Restaurant, 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm
• Duffy Bishop Band, Fuzion 904 Eatery, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Green With Envy, Pierre's Pub, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Allen Arena, Hurricane Patty's Bar and Grill, 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm
• One Good Ring, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• ZaZa Flamenca, River & Fort, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Dave's Not Here or Jerry's Other Hand, A1A Ale Works, 8:00 pm – 12:00 am
• Kyra Livingston, Meehan's Irish Pub & Seafood House, 8:00 pm – 12:00 am
• Vegas Gray, Tradewinds Lounge, 9:00 pm – 1:00 am
• Alan Dalton and Terry Campbell, Mill Top Tavern, , 9:00 pm – 12:00 am

First Coast Opera: The Stranger's Tale

• First Coast Opera and the Romanza Festivale present a free performance of The Stranger's Tale, on Friday, May 17, 2024, at noon, at the Ancient City Baptist Church.
• Funded in part by the Romanza Festivale of the Arts and by the National Endowment for the Arts, this opera premiered in 2005 with an original libretto by Nelson Sheeley. First Coast Opera's Artistic Director, Curtis Tucker, wrote additional music for the production.
• escribed as a "story of faith and hope," and written as a companion piece to Stravinsky's L'historie du soldat (A Soldier's Tail,) The Stranger's Tale focuses on modern homelessness and its impact on the unhoused and their communities. Using drama and music, set in a park near a park bench, the entire piece is centered on an unnamed man who is experiencing homelessness.
• At the 2005 premiere, reviewers said that the writing was sincere, the music accessible, and that it was a hit with the audience.
• Admission: Free
• When: Friday, May 17, 2024 at noon.
• Where: Ancient City Baptist Church, 27 Sevilla Street, St. Augustine, Florida.
• First Coast Opera will accept donations at this event to benefit the Homeless Coalition of St. Johns County.
• This event is part of the Romanza Festivale of Music and the Arts, an annual festival of two weeks of historical, cultural, and creative events celebrating all things St. Augustine. From May 3 -19, the nation's oldest city will be jam-packed with music and dance concerts, living history events and historical tours, live theater, and art exhibits.

Romanza Festivale: Author Visit with Elizabeth Randall

• Elizabeth Randall, freelance writer, and author of six non-fiction books and one mystery, will visit with fans and writers at the Voorhees Mission building at St. Cyprians Episcopal Church on Friday, May 17, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. This event, presented by Romanza Festivale, will include wine, cheese, and conversation.
• A retired English teacher, Ms. Randall is an adjunct instructor in English composition at Seminole State College in Sanford. Two of Ms. Randall's non-fiction books feature events in St. Augustine. At this event, Ms. Randall will focus on Murder in St. Augustine, the Mysterious Death of Athalia Ponsell Lindsley. This murder, in 1974, is still discussed and debated among St. Augustine residents.
• Admission: Free.When: Friday, May 17, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
• Where: In the Voorhees Mission House (on the grounds of St. Cyprians Episcopal Church) at 130 Martin Luther King Avenue, St. Augustine, Florida 32084.
• This event is part of the Romanza Festivale of Music and the Arts, an annual festival of two weeks of historical, cultural, and creative events celebrating all things St. Augustine. From May 3 -19, the nation's oldest city will be jam-packed with music and dance concerts, living history events and historical tours, live theater, and art exhibits.

Before Juneteenth: Emancipations in Florida

• In 1865, 11 days after the end of the Civil War, two years after President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation, emancipation * was proclaimed in Florida. On Friday, May 17, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Heritage Center (LMCHC) hosts an event to explain and discuss emancipation in Florida.
• The afternoon will begin with a short documentary, Before Juneteenth: Emancipations in Florida. This documentary is being presented in several Florida communities this season, and Regina Gayle Phillips, LMCHC's executive director is featured in the film. There will be a virtual question and answer session after the viewing with Dr. Tameka Hobbs, Charlene Farrington, Dinizulu Gene Tinnie, and Brittany Flowers.
• Dr. Hobbs, from Fort Lauderdale, is a historian, educator, and activist
• Ms. Farringtion is the museum director of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum in Delray Beach
• Mr. Tinnie, of Miami, is an artist, educator, and activist
• Brittany Flowers is a filmmaker.
• Admission: $10.00 per person. When: Friday, May 17, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
• Where: Upstairs, at the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Heritage Center, 102 Martin Luther King Avenue, St. Augustine, Florida 32084.
• Free parking is available in the front and back of the building and paid parking is available at a lot across Martin Luther King Avenue. The entrance to the second-floor room is off Pomar Street. There is an elevator.

St. Augustine Concert Band Season Finale

• The St. Augustine Concert Band will perform their season finale concert from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Friday, May 17, 2024, in the Center of the Arts at R.J. Murray Middle School.
• This season finale concert, "Imagination," will feature works from modern-day prominent composers. Composers Brian Balmages, Dakota Peterson, Todd Salter, and others have all written thought-provoking, challenging, and moving compositions. * The concert will take the audience on a journey of imagination, allowing them to experience the power and emotion in each work.
• First established in the early 1900s with a small military-style band of some 16 members, the acclaimed St. Augustine Concert Band now features about 70 performers, from amateurs to students and semi-professionals, all from the surrounding area.
• Admission: Tickets are $20.00 for adults and $5.00 for students with ID. Children under age 12 are free.When: 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Friday, May 17, 2024
• Where: R.J. Murray Middle School: Center of the Arts, 150 North Holmes Boulevard, St. Augustine, Florida 32092
• This event is part of the Romanza Festivale of Music and the Arts, an annual festival consisting of two weeks of historical, cultural, and creative events celebrating all things St. Augustine. From May 4 through May 19, 2024, the nation's oldest city will be jam-packed with music and dance concerts, living history events and historical tours, live theater, and art exhibits.

Megan Moroney at The Amp

• The St. Augustine Amphitheatre welcomes Megan Moroney on Friday, May 17, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
• Hailing from Georgia, country music artist Megan Moroney is steadily climbing the industry ladder. "Tennessee Orange" earned her a prestigious award at the Country Music Television Awards. "I'm Not Pretty" achieved notable success, reaching the top 40 on the Billboard chart while capturing the hearts of fans and country music enthusiasts.
• Acknowledged by Rolling Stone for her natural talent, Megan consistently shares her music across multiple streaming platforms.
• Admission: Ticket prices range from $29.50 to $54.50. Tickets can be purchased online or at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre Box Office, which is open on Thursdays and Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• When: Friday, May 17, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
• Where: St. Augustine Amphitheatre is located at 1340 A1A South in St. Augustine, Florida 32080.
• Parking Information: The Amp St. Augustine is located on Anastasia Island next to Anastasia State Park. Limited paid parking is available in The Amp's Main Lot, but only with advance purchase of a Premium Parking ticket. Free satellite parking areas are located within one mile of the Amphitheatre, at R.B. Hunt Elementary and at Anastasia State Park (see map below).
• Shuttle Information: The St. Augustine Amphitheatre shuttle system begins its run 45 minutes before show time. The shuttle will pick up event patrons at four designated shuttle stops: the R.B. Hunt Elementary School Soccer Field, the west entrance of the Anastasia State Park Main Parking Lot, the Loop at the Anastasia State Park, and the entrance of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. To see the full shuttle route, please see the map below.
• Shuttles will run continuously until approximately 45 minutes after the scheduled start time of a concert. For anyone wanting to leave before the end of a show, shuttles will begin taking people back to the satellite parking areas one hour before the event is over. The driver will not depart The Amp until the shuttle is more than 50% full.

Romanza Festivale: Con Brio

• The Romanza Festivale presents the Con Brio String Quartet on Friday, May 17, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. This internationally acclaimed string quartet will perform in a free concert at the First United Methodist Church on King Street.
• The four talented performers, Valentin Mansurov and Marina Lenau on violin, David Pedraza on viola, and Aziz Sapaev on cello, are all based in Southeast Florida. Members of the quartet are from Russia, Uzbekistan, Mexico, and Ukraine, each has received competitive awards and scholarships, and each performs in several of the area's music ensembles.
• "Con Brio" means "with panache," and it is with panache that this talented and multicultural quartet brings their skills, energy, and worldliness to every concert. One of the headliner acts for 2024, the concert on May 17th will include works from great composers.
• Admission: Free
• When: Friday, May 17, 2024, from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
• Where: First United Methodist Church, 118 King Street, St. Augustine 32084
• A Romanza Festivale 2024 event.
• This event is part of the Romanza Festivale of Music and the Arts, an annual festival consisting of two weeks of historical, cultural, and creative events celebrating all things St. Augustine. From May 3 -19, 2024 the nation's oldest city will be jam-packed with music and dance concerts, living history events and historical tours, live theater, and art exhibits.

Dustin Sims at Cafe Eleven

• Café Eleven welcomes Dustin Sims on Friday, May 17, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.
• With a massive following and a knack for humor, comedian Dustin Sims continues to captivate audiences unapologetically. Originating from Oxford, Alabama, Sims swiftly became a beloved figure, renowned for his comedic sketches that chronicle his eccentric escapades and misadventures.
• Among his standout sketches are "Talkin' to Myself," "Wives Love to Be Right," "Best Funeral," and "My Kids Don't Do Mornings."
• Admission: VIP Tickets cost $45.00 if purchased in advance and $50.00 on the day of the show. General seating tickets cost $32.00 in advance and $35.00 on the day of the show. Purchase tickets in advance online or purchase them at Café Eleven on the day of the show.
• When: Friday, May 17, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.
• Where: Café Eleven, 501 A1A Beach Blvd, St. Augustine, Florida 32080. On the corner of A1A and 11th Street, one block from St. Augustine Beach.

Sampoorna Hatha Yoga and Japa Meditation at Essential Energy Spa

• Every Friday, starting March15th
• Essential Energy Spa
• 3440 U.S. 1 S, Suite 202
• St. Augustine, FL 32086
• 10 am - 11 am
• Admission: $25

2025 Pin Up Paws Calendar Contest

• May 17 @ 12:00 am - 11:59 pm
• It’s that time of year! The St. Augustine Humane Society Annual Contest for the 2025 Pin Up Paws Calendar begins at 8:00am on May 1, 2024. The “Sweet Things” themed calendar will showcase the winning pets in all their adorableness.
• Submit a photo of your pet and start rooting for votes, each vote worth $1.00. Voting is May 1, 2024 at 8:00am through Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 8:00pm. And, you can vote as many times and for as many pets as you wish!
• The Pet with the most votes becomes the cover pet for the 2025 Sweet Things calendar. The next twelve pets with the next highest amount of votes will be a monthly pin up pet. All pets will enjoy a professional photo shoot with award-winning photographer Addison Fitzgerald.
• Prizes: *First-Place pet (along with being on the cover) also receives a $100.00 gift certificate to the Columbia Restaurant, two tickets to the Pin Up Paws Party, and two copies of the calendar. *Second-place winners receive a $50.00 Columbia Restaurant Gift
• Certificate and two calendars. *Twelve runners-up will be featured with their submission photos and a description. *The top 80 pet fundraisers will have a small photo on a collage page.
• The 2025 calendar will be revealed at the Pin Up Paws Party on Thursday, October 24, 2024 at The White Room.
• Date: May 17
• Time: 12:00 am - 11:59 pm

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