I realise it's a little lazy asking this here, but I've searched a little and can't see how to prevent this. I've set my screen saver to quite a long time - 30m, and am consciously pressing windows+D before going afk, maybe pixel refresh too.
Sometimes when I return the task bar is visible and the screensaver not executed.

Switching to Instagram's dark theme mode has a ton of perks and is super easy to do. Whether you're into the sleek look or just want to save your eyes and battery life, dark mode on Instagram is a simple way to boost your overall experience. Here’s why you should make the switch and how to set it up:

Benefits of Using Dark Theme Mode on Instagram

Eye Health and Comfort Using Instagram in dark mode can significantly reduce eye strain. Studies show that dark mode reduces blue light exposure by up to 60%, which can lead to better sleep and less discomfort from prolonged screen time. Users browsing in low-light conditions report feeling less eye fatigue compared to the standard light mode.
Aesthetic Appeal Dark mode offers a sleek, modern look that many users find visually appealing. The increased contrast between the black background and the images and videos makes your content pop, providing a more immersive viewing experience.
Battery Life Savings For devices with AMOLED screens, dark mode can save significant battery life. Black pixels on these screens use up to 20% less power than white pixels, meaning enabling dark mode can extend your phone's battery life, making it a practical choice for heavy Instagram users.
Enhanced Readability The increased contrast between text and background in dark mode improves readability. This makes reading captions, comments, and messages more comfortable, especially in dim lighting. Reduced screen glare also contributes to a more enjoyable browsing experience.

How to Enable Instagram Dark Theme Mode

For iOS Users:

1. System Requirements: Ensure your iPhone is running iOS 13 or later.
2. Step-by-Step Guide:
   • Open the Settings app.
   • Go to "Display & Brightness."
   • Select "Dark" to activate dark mode.
3. Automatic Adjustments: Toggle "Automatic" to switch between dark and light mode based on the time of day.
4. Instagram Activation: Open Instagram, which will now follow your system settings and display in dark mode.

For Android Users:

1. App Settings Method:
   • Open Instagram and go to your profile.
   • Tap the menu icon (three lines) and select "Settings."
   • Tap "Theme" and select "Dark" to enable dark mode.
2. System Settings Method:
   • Open the Settings app on your Android phone.
   • Navigate to "Display" and activate the "Dark Theme" toggle.
3. Automatic Adjustments: Some devices allow automatic switching to dark mode after sunset or when battery saver mode is activated.

Additional Tips and Troubleshooting

Browser-Specific Instructions: If accessing Instagram via a web browser like Safari, you can enable dark mode through browser settings.
Updates and Maintenance: Ensure the Instagram app is updated to the latest version for optimal performance and new features.
Compatibility and Troubleshooting:

• Supported Devices and Operating Systems:
  • iOS Devices: Requires iOS 13 or later. Dark mode must be enabled at the system level as Instagram follows the device’s settings.
  • Android Devices: Compatible with Android 10 and newer versions. Users can enable dark mode within the Instagram app or through the system settings.
• Common Issues and Solutions:
  • Dark Mode Not Activating: Ensure your Instagram app is updated to the latest version. Restart the app or device if changes don’t take effect.
  • Inconsistent Dark Mode Behavior: Check system-wide dark mode settings and ensure they are configured correctly. Reinstall Instagram if persistent issues occur.

Happy browsing in dark mode! If you have any questions, feel free to drop them here.

Had a solid hour today where I was just staring blankly at my screen saver. My hand was frozen on my mouse.
I wanted to watch porn so badly but I kept roping myself back from the edge. It was like a civil war within my mind and I was just physically paralyzed and motionless in front of my computer for what felt like eternity.
Thankfully I won the fight but dear god was it a close call.

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That’s ten starters ticked off in total, and another thirty hours of my life wasted! For reference, I consider a full completion in the context of this project to be finishing the main campaign, postgame, and seven treasures.
I’d say that this run was a mid-point between my Riolu run, and my Treecko run in terms of difficulty. I have to admit, Vulpix was the first starter to somewhat underperform relative to my expectations, after hearing so many stories about how overpowered Imprison is. Certainly, Vulpix is very good; but the extent to which Agility + Bullet Seed trivialised so many obstacles in my last run was naturally hard to top, and I definitely missed its absence.
Nonetheless, Vulpix is undoubtedly a very good choice of starter. Fire is a generally good offensive type that has multiple opportunities to shine, despite the abundance of water dungeons. Flamethrower in particular a rock solid STAB option that Vulpix learns relatively early at Level 24, if you don’t find a TM before then. Faint Attack is also a surprisingly good Egg move! I wasn’t expecting much from it, but for some reason in Sky it was buffed to a ridiculous 25 pp, and the fact that it can never miss is really valuable in a game where almost nothing is guaranteed. Northern Desert in particular is made more bearable when you aren’t missing twelve hits in a row against Sandshrew and Cacturne. Dig, as always, is a solid filler move that can one-shot resistant Rock types. Dark Pulse and Overheat also provide crowd control by hitting in a circle, which can save you in monster houses, and can target foes in walls, which is always valuable. It’s just such a crying shame in Vulpix’s case that tutor moves weren’t added to the game in Sky, as learning both Heat Wave AND Ominous Wind would have catapulted Vulpix to god-tier instantly.
As it stands, the main thing that makes Vulpix stand out is its access to some great hax in the form of Confuse Ray, learned nice and early at level 17, and Imprison at level 21. For those who don’t know, Imprison, which is borderline useless in the main series, basically functions like Attract from Rescue Team here, unconditionally pausing any target for 5-12 turns. This is absolutely great, since unlike confusion, sleep, or any of the statuses from the main series, there are no abilities which can block this, nor are you going to get screwed by Nonsleeper. Together, these tools can absolutely trivialise boss fights like Groudon and Palkia. In group fights, they’ll also buy you breathing room against the likes of Dusknoir, Wigglytuff, and Darkrai while you eliminate the mooks. Plus, in regular dungeons, I lost count of the number of close scrapes which Imprison got me out of. However, as I alluded to before, I don’t believe Imprison is anywhere near as broken as other tech, like Agility. Sadly, it is burdened by being a move that only hits a single adjacent target. You can’t disable groups with it, and in boss fights Intimidator can still activate to screw you; Primal Dialga in particular still managed to wipe me out, because Intimidator repeatedly stopped Imprison from working, and it frustratingly doesn’t work when he recharges from Roar of Time. If Imprison was truly the only valuable trait Vulpix had going for it, I’d place it in C-tier.
Fortunately, Vulpix is also blessed with the incredible IQ Group G. Access to the holy trinity of Stair Sensor, Trap Seer, AND Map Surveyor easily justifies Vulpix’s place on any team. Other great abilities like PP Saver, Self-Curer, Quick Healer, Exp. Elite, Critical Dodger, and Quick Striker are just the icing on the cake. Vulpix also has the distinction of possessing the best exclusive item of any of the starters, the Glowing Bow. This incredible item basically applies a permanent Light Screen to Vulpix, reducing pretty much all special damage to negligible levels if you’ve acquired a decent number of gummi boosts. Moves that could usually bring about an instant knockout from across the floor, like Earth Power and Hydro Pump, were only doing 10-30 damage. Flash Fire, meanwhile, is so-so as Abilities go. It won’t activate as much as Blaze, but has the advantage of allowing for multiple boosts without needing to be pushed into such a precarious position. In fire dungeons like Dark Crater, you’ll be getting juiced multiple times; nonetheless I’d still prefer Blaze.
Overall, I’d say Vulpix is B-tier. It has a number of qualities which are great in isolation, but nothing I’d really call game-breaking. You’ll end up with a solid ‘mon with some decent range, hax, and all the right IQ skills, but nothing that can one-shot monster houses.
Munchlax, along with Meowth, is unique in that it is only available in Sky as a partner. That is something of a negative, since most ‘mons are better when you’re actually in control of them, but as partners go Munchlax isn’t half bad. The elevated importance of STAB in this game, relative to super effective moves, makes Normal a pretty good type- your STAB can hit most things neutrally, and even foes who resist still take 1.1x damage. Body Slam is also a great STAB option, albeit one you learn late- good power, a chunky 17 PP, and the chance to inflict a debilitating status condition on anything that survives. The only major drawback to Normal is the lack of a good ranged STAB option. Luckily, Munchlax’s learnset also contains a phenomenal range of coverage moves. Pretty much any strong TM you’ll acquire is likely compatible with this beast. Water Pulse, Flamethrower, and Shadow Ball are all great ranged moves; Thunderbolt can hit foes in walls; and most importantly Blizzard is your room-clearing move, something Meowth tragically lacks. You even get some pretty goofy melee options thrown in there: Rollout, Psychic, Focus Punch, SolarBeam, the list goes on. There are so many miscellaneous moves that would be irrelevant in the main series to play with here, and doing so is incredibly fun. You even get Metronome from the start, which is 100% a meme option, but using Blast Burn in Mt. Bristle is its own reward.
Unfortunately, many of these positive qualities are undermined by the curse of a mediocre IQ group. Group E rears its ugly head once more. Yes, Brick Tough is very nice when paired with Munchlax’s noticeably impressive HP (something which the Glutton Cape will elevate even further), and it synergises fantastically with Bodyguard when he is a partner. And true, Deep Breather, Quick Healer, and Energy Saver all work together beautifully when Munchlax is made leader, eliminating the three big strains on your longevity. Nonetheless, the lack of access to any of the Holy Trinity is hard to forgive. Intimidator is great, but just comes in too late for me to care when other IQ groups basically hand you a cheat sheet.
Thankfully, Munchlax’s two fantastic abilities compensate for these deficiencies, at least somewhat. Pickup is a tremendous advantage in a game so focused on acquiring and stockpiling resources: I grabbed plenty of free gummis, reviver seeds, and other goodies over my playthrough this way (though this does unfortunately require you to forgo a held item, and didn’t activate quite often enough for my liking). Thick Fat is almost equally good, essentially giving Munchlax two additional immunities against Fire and Ice, reducing their damage to a mere 50%, rather than the standard 70%. For such a conspicuously bulky starter, this is another great boon. The only real problem on the ability front is that evolution changes Pickup to the considerably inferior Immunity, essentially forcing you to avoid evolution and leave a free stat boost on the table if you’re determined to min-max.
Overall, I’d say Munchlax’s access to Blizzard, solid type, great TM compatibility, bulk, and access to Pickup place him in the B-tier as well, although the lion’s share of that is undoubtedly the presence of a room-targeting move. It’s rather difficult to say who was better between Vulpxi and Munchlax, overall; the former allows for easy navigation and hard carries in boss fights, while the latter clears Monster Houses. Together they covered everything important, but overall I’d estimate that Vulpix’s qualities were less easily replaceable, especially since I got poor RNG and couldn’t acquire the Blizzard TM until Mystifying Forest, grumble grumble.
That about wraps it for Team Pastry! The next team I’ll be doing is a fun one: Squirtle and Turtwig. Any names for these two shelled heroes are appreciated, as are any team name recs. :)
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This is my ficnapping of The Power of Forgiveness by u/Espazilious. If you're here and you haven't read it yet, (why?) do it now! Anyways, here it is.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Dan Hayes, Human Resident of Venlil 4
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Date (standardized human time): January 24th, 2137
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I woke unpeacefully, jolted awake by the doorbell going off. I stared at the ceiling for a good few moments, trying to banish the dreams that weren’t fading quickly enough and hoping whoever it was would go away. To the annoyance of my sleepy mind, the doorbell rang again.
I grumbled and yanked the blankets off me. Damn was it good to sleep in my own bed without an alien squeezing my lungs for hours. Speaking of, Sparci wasn’t in sight. The Farsul must have scampered off while I was still sleeping.
I groggily ambled around to the front door and unlocked it. Outside was a Venlil with an, admittedly, adorable little uniform. I looked down at the delivery person, having completely forgotten to put on my mask.
The poor sheep staggered backward as soon as they saw my face. There was also a box, markedly larger than I could comfortably carry. How the scrawny Venlil got it up here, I didn’t know. Nor did I really care.
“Hey, I almost forgot about this thing. Glad it's finally here, though,” I casually said. “You need me to sign anything?”
“U-Uh. Y-Yes. Please.” They raised their appendage with the holographic screen for me to see. I waved my finger around, signifying my identity with nought more than a single curvy line. They wouldn’t be able to tell the difference anyways.
“Thanks.” I put my hands on either side of the box and tugged, sliding the box into my humble dwelling. I pushed the door shut before the Venlil could do anything else and began to shove it further into the main living space.
“What is that?” Sparci pondered, suddenly emerging from off the couch. He must have been reading, or something, while I was still asleep. At least I don’t have to worry about him answering the door, I suppose.
“What does it look like?” I retorted.
“A box.”
“Amazing.”
“Well…” he pouted. “What’s inside of it?”
“Stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“The stuff that I have to ship across the damn galaxy and pay way too fucking much on shipping fees. All this crap is only found on Earth.”
He stood still for a moment, thinking of what to say. I waited patiently.
“Can… Can I see?”
I quickly grabbed a knife. I sliced through the tape, then slowly drew my gaze to Sparci. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“Of c—Wait, why do you say it like that?”
“Once you lay your eyes on what’s in this box, you may never be the same.”
There was a twitch of his ears. “Uhm… Okay?”
I slowly lifted the lid, pausing for dramatic effect. Unfortunately, Sparci wasn’t playing along with my foreboding box unfolding. He took a few steps forward to peek inside as I began to dig through it.
The first thing in the box I spotted was a reflective mesh in the shape of a bowl; the ideal tool to teach those damn wet noodles a lesson. Never again.
I fished it out of the box and handed it to Sparci. “Here.”
His ears perked up. “What is this?”
“A hat,” I deadpanned. “You can wear it, if you want.”
He studied me. It took all of my willpower to keep every muscle in my face straight, and by some divine power, I managed to do it by the time he took it from my hand. I quickly looked away, doing my very best to not imagine him wearing a strainer atop his head.
After pulling out some less interesting items, including some spaghetti sauce, Sparci spoke, “I thought it would be more. Um. Comfortable?”
I looked up. Oh lord, forgive me, and bless this poor innocent soul.
His poor ears were being smushed against his head by the dome of shiny metal lattice. The rim of the thing came to a rest right at the end of his snout, leaving his eyes partially hidden. At least he could see me, a little. Overall, he looked exactly as I expected an alien wearing a strainer to look.
“Yeah,” I forced a laugh back into my throat. “Works better on a human, I think.”
He took it off and gave it back to me. “I want to see.”
I spun it around in my hands, contemplating his words. It would only be fair. In a decidedly smooth motion, I flipped it onto my head, feeling the metal scratch against my scalp. He studied me, hopefully in awe, but realistically in confusion.
In a strange burst of compulsion, I tipped the rim at Sparci. “M’lady.”
“What?”
Immediate regret. “Nothing.”
“Is that a human greeting?”
“No. And don’t ever repeat what I just said. Ever.”
His ears pulled back in what I guessed to be fear, or maybe shock. “O-Okay.”
I quickly yanked the strainer off my head and threw it into the kitchen. I was aiming for the sink, but it came short and clattered to the floor in a mocking fashion.
“Anyways,” I resumed. “Let’s see what else I got.”
Before I could look back in the box, Sparci was already pointing inside of it. “What are those?”
He was motioning towards a brightly colored package full of sugary treats. “Those are gummy b-” I stopped myself. Would it be wrong to lie about what the shapes represented? Would it be worth it to see if he liked them? The answer to both questions was, undoubtedly, yes.
“They’re gummy candies,” I continued, reaching for the package. “You wanna try one?”
“Yes. Please.”
I ripped open the package and handed him a small yellow bear; the worst flavor. He took it, and while I popped a green one into my mouth he spun it around in his paw.
“What is it supposed to look like? It’s almost like a Zurulian.”
I frowned, realizing I was worried about the wrong thing. “Um. These have existed for far longer than we’ve been spacefaring, so that’s just a coincidence.”
“But that still doesn’t answer my question.”
Damnit. How do I explain this to him? A predator eating a candy version of another predator. That’s about as bad as it can get for these aliens.
“I dunno,” I said. “People just make weird stuff sometimes. Give it a try.”
He gingerly placed it into his mouth and began to chew. He eventually swallowed it, without much reaction.
“No reaction at all?”
“Sugar,” he admitted.
“Yeah, fair enough.” I put the gummy bears on the counter and began to dig through the box again. My eyes fell upon something I had forgotten I’d been looking forward to. “Alright, I think you’re gonna like this next thing I got.”
“Hm. What is it?”
I twisted the lid off and pulled off the seal, exposing the hopefully creamy peanut butter. I paid extra for this, so it better be worth it. I noisily dug out a spoon from the drawer and stuck it into the semisolid, pulling out a nice dollop of it. As I offered it to Sparci, I had to forcibly stop myself from simply wiping it on his nose and letting him deal with the aftermath.
He gingerly took the spoon from me, giving it a sniff. “It smells… interesting.”
“I did a quick look-through on any dietary limits… mainly allergies. You should be good to go but… maybe just take a tiny lick for now.” When his ears folded in that special way, I quickly added, “It’s nothing to worry about, really.”
He stuck his tongue out the tiniest amount, taking just a drop of it into his mouth. His ears twitched, and in the time I could blink he shoved the entire spoon into his mouth.
“Itsh shticky in my mouf.”
I let out a small chortle, to my own disbelief. “Yeah, it, uh, tends to be that way. I take it you like it?” It was a dumb question, but it would make him talk with his mouth full again.
Instead, he nodded, foiling my plan. When did he learn to do that?
“You can put the spoon in the sink. When you’re done, I mean.”
He pulled it out of his mouth, completely spotless. “Can I haf shum more?”
I twisted the cap back onto the jar with vehemence. “Hell no. Do you know what this is? This is Extra Deluxe Creamy. With shipping, that’s at least six times what normal peanut butter costs. Go get your own.”
“Meow?”
“It’s less cute when your mouth is full of peanut butter,” I lied. “Try again later.”
To say he looked crestfallen would be a massive understatement. I set the jar on the counter, and made a mental note to hide it on the top shelf of a cabinet. The sneaky shit was bound to try and find it at some point.
When I got back to the box, Sparci was looking into it. He pointed at something. “What are those?”
I took out what he was referring to. “Socks.”
“Sawwcks,” he repeated. “You wear them?”
“Yeah. I need socks for my shoes and shoes for my feet. It stops me from doing that,” I gestured at the small trail of paw marks leading from the front door he’d left after the storm.
He coyly lowered his ears. “S-Sorry.”
“Whatever.” I took the package of socks and threw them into my room. I had no idea where they landed. Had to keep things entertaining for my future self, of course.
I shuffled through the rest of the box, mostly innocuous items that were apparently the most interesting thing in the world according to Sparci.
After many questions and explanations and objects thrown into my room, I finally got to what I had really been looking forward to.
“Alright, these last few things I got specifically for you.”
He dropped the pair of sunglasses he was trying to fit on his face and scurried over to me. I reached into the box and pulled out the two books. I gave them a quick look-through before giving them both to Sparci.
His expression changed several times. “What…?”
“Coloring books.”
He began to look through one of them, tail flicking with eagerness. “I recognize some of these…”
“They’re both full of animals you would find on Earth.”
He was already flipping through the second book. “There’s so many!”
I smiled. “Well, I sure hope so. There aren’t many dogs or cats, or raccoons for that matter, but I think the variety makes up for it. Oh, and don’t forget these.” I reached for the last item in the box, a 48-pack of not-so-cheap markers, and gave them to him.
His eyes sparkled as he took it into his paws, flicking over each color. “These are…”
“Better than crayons,” I finished. “And I rightfully paid for them, so you don’t need to worry about that. Oh, and I hope they aren’t too… childish? The last time I touched a coloring book was… well, I guess I don’t know, but I figured one from an alien planet would be interesting.”
His eyes looked back and forth between the books and the markers, as if he couldn’t decide which one was better.
“…do you want to go color?”
“Mhm!”
He took off. It was good to see him move so enthusiastically. What he revealed to me the night before still weighed on my mind, and he was the one that had to live through it. But now wasn’t the time to think about that. It was time for the Happy, and damn if I wasn’t going to get it.
I joined him at the table as he was flipping through pages, trying to make a choice. He managed to pick a sea turtle. Or perhaps “choose” was a strong word, as he took on a more confused expression.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I just realized I don’t know what color to pick.”
“Oh. Well, I guess I could search up a picture or a video of one. Or maybe you could color it what you think is right, and we can compare after.”
“Hmmm. The second option. But can you tell me what kind of animal this is? It doesn’t look like any of the ones from your videos.”
“It’s a sea turtle. They’re reptiles, and they spend most of their time in the ocean.”
His ears drooped. “The… ocean.”
Oh. Of course. The Archives.
“There’s plenty of kinds of turtles that live in freshwater, like rivers and lakes. If you want to color it, do it. Nothing else should matter.”
“I… guess you’re right.” He thought for a long moment before his gaze settled back on me. “Do you… want to color something?”
“Sure. Why not.”
He passed the other book to me and began to dig through the markers. He settled on orange, which I of course would not weigh in on. If anything, I was curious what he thought a turtle might look like. Plus, I would get to see what his reaction would be to seeing how the real thing compared to his colors.
I decided to pick a random color and flip to a random page. Filling in a bunch of smaller shapes to create one larger shape wasn’t exactly the most exciting thing. Although, an alien coloring book would certainly be more interesting. Maybe I should’ve looked into getting a coloring book from one of the local stores. What would aliens decide worthy of coloring?
My random choice left me creating a grass green moose. Earth grass, that is. Not some weird purple alien stuff from God knows where. Sparci was already diving into one of the turtle’s now orange flippers.
“You have any music on your pad you might wanna listen to?” I asked, the silence slowly becoming loud.
He stopped coloring and looked up at me, his brows furrowing and ears tilting back. “I’m, uh, not sure you would enjoy it.”
“You listened to me ramble on about Esoterica for a good two hours. I can at least repay the favor. Plus, I’d like to think that I’m pretty open to new music.”
He thought for another moment.
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Advancing transcript by ≈50 minutes
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“Oh! This is another really good one!” Sparci’s ears wiggled and his tail picked up some speed as another track came on. He replaced his marker for a different color.
I still hadn’t finished my green moose, and he was already on his fourth page. The other three he removed from the book and laid out across the table to see. There was his orange and brown sea turtle, a blue elephant with a cyan trunk, a school of fish colored to create a rainbow across the page, and was now working on a fairly normal looking cheetah.
“So how long ago did this one come out?” I queried.
He didn’t look up from his page. “This specific one came out around thirty years ago, but it’s a remix. The original came out about eight years before that. I can find the original if you want, but I prefer the remix, not that it’s worse, but I think the different bassline and effects they added make it just a little more to my taste. Oh, and they also replaced one of the verses with a new portion by a different singer, and it’s a lot catchier, and they manage to do that all while keeping the feeling of the song the same.”
I nodded along to the quick beat, but the translator left something to be desired. The lyrics talked about the incredulous nature of giving a ground mammal wings to fly, or something. The instrumentals were catchy enough, a blend of strings and synths. It was almost like listening to a foreign pop song.
“It sounds… kinda similar to something. Is-”
“It’s part of the same album as Teleport, so also the same artist. But like I said, it’s also a remix.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
I still couldn’t get over just how much he could talk when he was prompted with a set of ears and something he liked. And that wasn’t even mentioning that he had talked for nearly seven hours straight the moment he got his pad’s data back. Getting that worked out was probably the best thing that anyone could have done for him. It was good to see him like this. Enjoying himself.
I finished up the final details on my green moose. By stroke of my random color choice, it had bright red antlers, even though I wasn’t exactly going for a holiday theme.
I spun the book around to Sparci. “What do you think? Is it fridge-worthy?”
He slowly pulled his head up even as his eyes lingered on his page. Once he finally finished filling in the shape, he looked over my page. He stopped wagging his tail to the beat of the song. “What is that?”
“A moose.”
His ear twitched. “That’s what it looks like?”
“Hey, I didn’t judge your coloring.”
“That looks nothing like the other animals I’ve seen.”
“What did you expect? I chose random colors.”
The other ear twitched. “But aren’t you supposed to know what they look like?”
“First of all, that’s very prejudiced of you. Secondly, it was a lot more fun this way. Here, I’ll show you what an actual moose looks like.”
I pulled out my pad and quickly looked for a picture. A moment later, I had it pulled up and Sparci was looking at the animal with awe.
“That one’s brown,” he commented.
“Correct.”
“Its head things are big.”
“Yep. I should also mention that they’re huge. Like, as tall as I am, and about five times as heavy.”
His eyes went wide. “How big is its body!?”
I resisted the strong urge to slap my forehead. “No, it’s body is as tall as I am. Its antlers put it a little bit higher.”
His shock died down slightly. “Oh. That’s still huge.”
“Wait until you learn about the elephant you colored.”
His eyes darted between his colorings. “Wha…?”
I stuffed my pad away. “Welp. I think I’m done coloring. And I’m also hungry. You want some questionable fruit goop oatmeal?”
He perked a single ear. “Uhm. Yes. Please.”
I got up from my seat and shuffled into the kitchen, picking up the strainer off the floor. I put away the rest of the things, making damn sure the peanut butter was tucked away in the corner of the highest shelf of a cabinet.
I was reaching for the oatmeal when I noticed the music had paused. I looked over, seeing Sparci standing in the kitchen.
“Do you want me to show you an elephant?” I guessed.
“No. I mean, yes, but… I…” His tail twitched restlessly.
I patiently waited.
He took a breath. “Thank you. For, um, everything.”
I shrugged. “You’re welcome. But you’ll have to thank me again soon, because this oatmeal is going to be fire.”
“You… You didn’t have to do this.”
I shrugged again, setting a pot on the stove. “I was just ordering some normal stuff, and had the thought to get a pair of coloring books. It’s not that big of a deal.”
His tail curled around his leg. “But, everything else.”
I guessed even little things could mean the absolute world to someone when they were coming back from what Sparci had gone through. Was still going through.
I sighed. “Yeah. You’re welcome for everything else, too. Thanks for sharing the music. It’s, uh, definitely alien music.” Is that even a compliment?
He seemed to hesitate for a second before coming further into the kitchen towards me. His arms parted slightly, and before I knew it he had them wrapped around me. I mirrored the motion, placing my hands on his back and gently rubbing.
There was something ever so slightly different in him at that moment, as if he was more sure of how he leaned into the hug. His warmth slowly seeped into me, starkly contrasting how cold he had been when I carried him from that alley, broken and bruised.
“Thank you,” I heard him whisper.
I simply rubbed his back and let him pull away on his own. I hadn’t even realized how quiet it was without the music.
I cleared my throat. “Alright, lemme get this oatmeal going before you get hair everywhere.”
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A/N: Oh my goodness, give this poor boy everything I have. He deserves the world. Strainers, peanut butter, my soul, whatever. And, of course, some coloring books and a good playlist to share.
Thanks to for organizing yet another ficnapping! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!

The TSA instagram recently posted that 2.95 million people screened is enough to cover one face of the Empire State Building in peanut butter. I'm writing a response but for the life of me can't find an accurate surface area in sq ft for one side of the Empire State Building.
Here's what I have so far: `2,951,163 passengers * 205 lbs / pax for @FAA summer weights = 604,988,415 lbs. Dividing that by the density of peanut butter gets you 66,000,000 gallons or 8,900,000 cubic feet of peanut butter.
Assuming the surface area of one side of the Empire State Building is _______ square feet, that gets you an average of ___ inches of peanut butter on one face of the Empire State Building `

Howdy howdy. Not sure if someone has said this on reddit yet, but if you hold down the PS4 Controller power button to go into the Quick Menu and leave it there, Youtube wont going into that raggedy Screen Saver Mode. I hope this helps those that don't like to see their screen flashing in and out. I'm also guessing this may help with the Apple TV screensaver issue since the app over rides the TV. However this is just for PS4 and I don't have an Apple TV so I don't know if this trick will work on a PS4 connected to an Apple for Apple's screensaver to kick in. Anywho, hope this helps a few people. 🥰💝🥰 Also I have to add a flair and I don't know which one would go here so I just put discussion. I can change it if you need me to.

Hi,
As above, is there currently any working way to save the screen in telegram? I mean temporary files, img, videos etc. At this point I have tried the web app and the local app, both have no way to open such a file and refer to the app on the phone.
​
On the phone the default screen capture does not work (android), the screenshot of course is blocked, the less and more popular screen savers also do not work, even if you set them to view over.
​
Do you know any solution for this? Is only rooting the phone a solution?

Hey,
A while ago a strange issue started - when I turn off the tv, after 1 or 2 minutes the red light at the bottom turns off and I can’t turn the TV on again unless I unplug it completely for 10 minutes and plug it back on.
The solution for that was to basically turn the tv off like once a week, let it run with the screen saver while I am not watching.
Now the TV is asking me to do a pixel cleaning, problem is I need to turn off the tv for that and as mentioned earlier the TV lose power and the pixel cleaning never finish.
Any advice on what to do ? 😔

Hello reddit community,
We have just returned from a fantastic 16-day trip to Japan. Here is our experience, I hope it helps some of you with planning your trip!
Places visited
· Osaka
· Nara
· Hiroshima
· Miyajima
· Himeji
· Kanazawa
· Takayama
· Tokyo
About us
Myself (36yr F), husband (39yr M), and our kids (10 yr old daughter & 7yr old son) from Melbourne, Australia.
Likes
beautiful nature, exploring new areas, shopping, anime (husband), Pokemon (kids & husband), Japanese food and culture. We went to Japan 10 years ago and visited Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara, & Hakone, so this time we wanted to return to some of our favourite places and experience some new ones. I know this is an unpopular opinion but Kyoto was actually our least favourite place of our last trip, so we opted to skip Kyoto for this one.
May weather
We specifically chose to travel in May as we wanted to avoid the crazy crowds in the peak times and have mild weather. The weather while we were there was average 21-28 degrees celsius, perfect t-shirt and shorts weather. In 16 days we had only 3 days with rain (2 days of off and on drizzle in Takayama, and 1 day of torrential rain in Osaka).
Packing
We wanted to pack light (no suitcases, because there are so many stairs and finding lifts is time consuming and involves a lot more steps). We took 4 x backpacks (1 each) and 2 x hiking back packs (for all our clothes). Packed clothes for 5 days. I packed 2 x jumpers and 2 x pants each, but 1 each would have been fine. 1 pair of good runners each. kids took 1 teddy each. 3 of our hotels we had washing machines in our rooms, and the others had a laundry room with coin machines. I did washing 3 times. Clothing wise, Japanese people dress very conservatively, so we took that into consideration when packing. Especially because I live in activewear normally. I saw no one wearing activewear at all!
Flights
We flew from in and out of Osaka from Melbourne, which we got on sale for $575 AUD return each person
Transport
We travelled exclusively on public transport. Mostly trains, Shinkansen between major citites, trams and some buses. We found public transport to be easy to navigate, well signed in english also, and frequent. My husband broke his foot badly 1 year ago and still has issues with it, and with 2 kids in tow we always opted for getting on a train to get us closer to where we needed to be, even if it meant transferring train lines a few times. The IC cards come in super handy for this!!. We saved so many steps each day by doing this, and saved a lot of complaints from the kids about tired legs!
IC cards - My husband and I both downloaded Suica cards in our Apple wallets on our iPhone, its super easy to do and super easy to top up. Had no problems topping up with AMEX or Mastercard that was in our apple wallet. The only issue we had with the digital cards is that you chew through so much phone battery taking pictures and videos and using google maps there were many days we were stressed about our phones dying. So make sure you always take a power bank with you just in case.
Kids IC cards - You cant get digital kids IC cards, and our kids don't have their own phones either so I picked up 2 x kids ICOCA IC cards from the JR ticket office at Umeda station (osaka). Just make sure you have their passports with you. The kids fares are half the price of adults, so its worthwhile getting them for how much you use the trains. You can top up the cards at almost all ticket machines (cash only).
Transport passes - We purchased the JR West Kansai-Hiroshima area pass in advance online as this worked out cheaper for our itinerary than individual tickets. I picked up the pass from the JR ticket office at Kansai Airport station. Also purchased a 1 day Osaka-metro pass (820 yen for an adult) only on one day for moving around osaka alot. You can get them from any osaka-metro station ticket machine.
Shinkansen Tickets - I only booked our first shinkansen (Osaka - Hiroshima) in advance, online through JR west website, which i picked up at the airport station when we arrived. We booked most of the others either on the spot (No issues getting a seat), or through the Smart Ex app ( Tokyo - Osaka) We booked that one in the morning of the day we were travelling, and i'm glad we did as the train was almost full when we got on (5:47pm time).
Language
I know a little bit of Japanese ( from what i remember from learning Japanese in high school). My husband and the kids played on duolingo for a few months before hand. Most people in Osaka, Tokyo, and touristy places spoke a fair bit of english. But we tried to speak some Japanese where we could. We downloaded Google translate, and DeepL. The translation on DeepL was much better and a more accurate than google translate. The translate camera function is fantastic for shopping for food and working out how to use the washing machines etc. The Japanese people were always so happy when our kids spoke some japanese to them.
Advance bookings
Hotels - Some through booking .com and others direct to the hotel. We found the prices were mostly better when booking direct to the hotel
Universal Studios - 2 months before hand. we bought express passes and studio passes. i tried to purchase through the USJ website but had no luck with it accepting our credit cards. we tried AMEX, Visa, and Mastercard. gave up and purchased through Klook. Yes you can now select times for timed entries on Klook.
DisneySea - 1 month before. purchased through Disney site. nil issues.
TeamLab Planets - 2 months before, through official website
Sumo - We tried to get tickets to the sumo tournament for when we were in tokyo. We jumped online when the tickets were released, but the website crashed. After many many refreshes, when we finally got onto the site 1.5 hrs later, they were sold out for the days we could go :(
Food - Restaurants
We love good food, but don't fancy waiting in line for an hour to have an instagram hyped food. We made no bookings for restaurants, and just stopped when we saw something that looked good. It often involved a lot of walking as its difficult to get a spot for 4 people in some tiny restaurants. Street food was great! We used uber eats a few times from the hotel which was great for fussy kids, super quick and was reliable both times. the food was great too! Breakfast was mostly combini, yoghurt, smoothies, waffles. We found that department stores had great food halls (usually basement level) for takeaway with everything from sushi, salads, fried chicken, dumplings etc. A good option for groups with different tastes, affordable and a nice change from the combini food. Coffee almost everywhere was terrible.
HOTELS OSAKA - May 14 - APA Umeda-Eki tower. A pretty standard business hotel, small. location was ok, close enough to walk from umeda station. In hindsight, I should have just booked a room at the airport hotel. kids were absolutely exhausted from the 2am wake up in Melbourne with no sleep on the plane (too excited), our daughter was in tears at the airport from exhaustion. our son finally fell asleep on the train which meant i had to carry him (25kgs) and luggage through the station and to the hotel. we got to the hotel around 10pm. (approx $220 AUD 1 x night)
HIROSHIMA - May 15-16 - FAV HOTEL Hiroshima heiwa odori - Amazing! apartment style, great location, breakfast included. 2 x Queen beds in the room, washing machine and dryer. Would 100% stay here again if in Hiroshima. (approx $530 AUD 2 x nights)
KANAZAWA - May 17-18 - Tsukuyomi Chuodori . A Japanese style vacation rental house. location was ok, a short bus ride to the main area, or you could walk. very quiet residential area, actually had the best sleep here out of entire trip, although it was bright at 5:00am as there is only shoji screens for window coverings. very steep staircase to the top floor, probably not suitable for very young kids or older people. (approx $330 AUD 2 x nights)
TAKAYAMA - May 19-20 - FAV LUX Hida Takayama - great location. amazing apartment style 2 x queen beds + 2 x single bunk beds on top. Would 100% stay here again (approx $560 AUD 2 x nights)
TOKYO - May 21 - 25 - Mimaru Asakusa Station - location is 10/10!! literally next to the subway line, food, shopping on the door step, sensoji temple like 200mtrs away. Apartment style 1 x queen bed and 2 x single bunks. This may also be an unpopular opinion but you don't need to be near the Yamanote line in Tokyo. it was so easy to transfer to anywhere you want to go in Tokyo, the stations and different subway lines are so well signed and colour coded. I have stayed in Shinjuku and Tokyo station area before, and I would definitely stay in Asakusa again over those areas. (approx $1650 AUD 4 x nights)
OSAKA - May 26-30 - Randor suites Namba - Location was great! right next to a subway line, literally 3 doors down. Or a 950mtr walk to shinsaibashi. Was a whole apartment, huge for Japan. We shared this with my Sister in-law and her 2 boys (aged 10 and 12) who joined us in Tokyo for the last half of the trip. (approx $1450 AUD 4 x nights (our share about $800 AUD for 4 x nights)
BUDGET
We didn’t really set a specific budget as we had been saving for a while. All up in total, with absolutely everything ...flights, tickets, trains, food, accomm, shopping. It cost approx $16,000 AUD for a family of 4 people (1,600,000Yen). "Santa" got the kids new wallets and 10,000 yen each for xmas, so it was nice for them to work out what they wanted to spend their own money on.

DAY 1 - OSAKA - tues 14th May
12,221 steps
Flight from Melbourne - Osaka arrived 7pm
Through customs, baggage, JR tickets, got a 8:46pm (with 2 mins to spare) JR Haruka to Umeda (covered by the rail pass but you need a reserved ticket, which i got from the JR office when picking up the passes).

DAY 2 HIROSHIMA - wed 15th May
18,787 steps
I had booked a 1220 shinkansen from osaka to hiroshima. Which meant we had time for a restful slow morning ( only 1 hour time difference from Melbourne, so no issues with jet lag). We went to the Daimaru umeda and the pokemon centre, nintendo and some other shops, grabbed a bento box and on the shinkansen. We took our bags with us to the shops as we didn't want to trek back to the hotel.
An easy tram transfer and 600mtr walk to the hotel. We had a refresh at the hotel and then walked to the peace Museum. Entry is free for kids and 200Y for adults, a must if in Hiroshima! it was busy in some parts as we were there around 4pm but have never been somewhere with so many people and so much silence. Followed by a walk around the peace park and atomic bomb dome. You don’t need to be into war history to enjoy Hiroshima. The whole area has the most amazing peaceful vibe. If I lived in Japan, Hiroshima is where it would be! Dinner at Okonomi-mura. Delicious hiroshima style okonomiyaki. get there early, most places were sold out by 7pm.
DAY 3 MIYAJIMA DAY TRIP - thurs 16th May
23,589 steps
Opted to catch the tram to Miyajima ferry station, which was longer, but cheaper and meant we didn't need to transfer at the station, and also so we could see a bit more of the area out the window. you dont need to book the ferry in advance just get a ticket at the dock ( ours was covered by the JR area pass, still need to pay a 100Y tax for adults) ferry ride is about 10mins. We just walked through the streets poking in shops, eating some street food. The whole area is really beautiful and was busy but not over crowded. we wanted to ride the ropeway up to Mt Misen but when we got the the ropeway station it was closed due to strong winds. I was keen to go up so my hubby took the kids back into town and i did the 2.5km walk up the mountain to the look out. Do not attempt this unless you have a relative level of physical fitness, what starts as a nice meandering path following the river and waterfalls, quickly turns into 2km of stone steps up the mountain. it took me a bit over an hour to walk up and the view at the top is incredible. the trip down was much quicker, just be careful if you have bad knees. we left about 4:30 as we promised the kids we'd go to the pokemon centre. Went back to the hotel and got some uber eats for dinner, delicious ramen and gyoza
* Mine and my hubby's favourite day of the trip*
* Felt like we needed ½ to 1 extra day in the Hiroshima *
DAY 4 - TRAVEL TO KANAZAWA VIA HIMEJI - fri 17th May
12,993 steps
checked out of the hotel and took our luggage to 7-11 to transfer to our hotel in takayama 3 days later so that we could do our himeji and shirakawago stops on the way. we managed to stuff everything into 1 hiking pack and cost $25AUD to send. we kept 2 days of clothes with us in our backpacks. booked a shinkansen to himeji at the station immediately prior to travelling (covered by the pass). Walked around himeji castle, its beautiful. we didn't go inside as we were a bit pushed for time as we needed to check into our house by 7pm in kanazawa. but its worth the stop if its on your way. Our JR passes covered the trip to Tsuruga where we transferred to the shinkansen to kanazawa. We booked this on the spot and it was not busy. got to our house at 6:15pm, got some dinner recommendations from the house host and ordered through uber eats. hubby and i had curry kastu (kanazawa specialty) and got the kids some chicken and chips from a different place both delicious.

DAY 5 - KANAZAWA - sat 18th May
20,719 steps
We had lots of plans for the day, but our daughter was sick (vomiting) (she had a chest infection from when we left home) so we had aborted our mission and went back to the house, kids watched a movie on the ipads with hubby, and i went for a walk to the supermarket. I had fun browsing all the food for 1.5 hours. After lunch we went to Kenrokuen. The kids hated it, complained it was too hot and asked if we were ready to leave the whole time. it is a lovely large garden that is so well kept. However, we felt it lacked any real feeling (if that makes any sense). We had some obligatory gold leaf ice-cream at $10AUD each (Nothing to write home about, but of course its a good photo op). We skipped the market and the old district as our daughter was still feeling sick and hot, and opted for some shopping at kanazawa station. Of course pokemon centre. We enjoyed wandering the shops here for a few hours, got some happy pancakes, and dumplings on the top floor for dinner.
* side note, buses in kanazawa only take cash ( No IC cards, except the loop bus takes IC)
DAY 6 TRAVEL TO TAKAYAMA - Sun 19th May
15,910 steps
We got up early to get the first bus to Shirakawago around 8:00am. Although we didn't realise you need to reserve seats for this bus. I went to the counter and the first available bus was not until 1pm as the others were booked out. Also all the buses from Shirakawago to Takayama were booked out for the day. So we had to change plans and we jumped on a train to Toyama and then the limited express to Takayama. it was a 4min change over so we raced to the other platform and jumped in a non-reseved car. it was Packed, my son had to sit on my lap. The train ride is about 1.5 hours and absolutely stunning scenery. we arrived in Takayama, thinking we could tap our IC cards, but NO! No IC cards in takayama. luckily we paid the fare at the ticket window. however, we could only pay the Toyama to Takayama fare as they are different train line companies. Our IC cards, still said "In transit" so we had to fix that up when we went back to Toyama and pay the fare that we missed from not tapping off in Toyama. We learnt that it was super busy with tourists in Takayama so we booked our express train back to Toyama and the shinkansen to tokyo then at the station for the Tuesday. Checked into the hotel " our bags from hiroshima were there waiting" walked around the streets of takayama, grabbed some dinner at a soba place and headed back to the hotel for an early night.
DAY 7 TAKAYAMA - Mon 20th May
10,939 steps
Walked to the morning market, had some hida beef sushi (AMAZING), Midarashi dango (salty dango, YUM!) the most amazing criossants, poked in the shops around the old town area. kids fed the Koi and trout in the river. ate the most amazing cotton candy from a little shop. tasted sake from a brewery. Dinner at Suzuya (amazing, best meal of the trip, hida beef sukiyaki!!!) get there early! we were there at 5:10pm and already a big line in front of us. They won’t serve any one after 6:30pm. we booked a spa and sauna room for 7-9pm at the hotel so headed back to relax.
\* Saw lots of lovely souvenirs, engraved chopsticks, holders etc that in hindsight i should have bought in Takayama...but i thought i'll wait until Tokyo because it will be cheaper there... but I just didn't find many nice souvenir shops in Tokyo or Osaka, or we would have had to go out of the way to go there.
DAY 8 TRAVEL TO TOKYO - Tues 21st May
11,209 steps
Took the 11:07 limited express back to Toyama and the shinkansen to Ueno. We arrived at the hotel in Asakusa around 4pm. Dropped off bags at the hotel and headed to Sensoji, the area around the markets and temple was packed. We met up with my hubby’s sister and her 2 kids (they had the room next to us at the hotel) we walked down the street and found a teppanyaki okonomiyaki restaurant that could seat 7 people. The food was yummy, although they mustn’t have trusted us with the kids to cook our own food as they cooked it all for us downstairs and bought it up already cooked. We went to the sky tree for yet another pokemon store.

DAY 9 TOKYO – EAST SIDE – wed 22nd May
21,732 steps
Exploring and shopping Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku. We went through Shibuya scramble, wandered the streets and shops of Shibuya and Harajuku, looking at shoes, cosmetics, gacha, anime. We had dinner at TGI Fridays in Harajuku, mainly because we could fit all 7 of us together and there was something on the menu that everyone would eat, the food is as you would expect (we found it difficult to find places suitable for everyone as my SIL is vegetarian, her son is super fussy (has autism, will not eat new foods), and our son is fussy too). We then jumped on the train and headed to Tokyo metropolitan government building in shinjuku, its great for the free observation deck and light show. The light show runs for 15mins every half hour from 7pm.

DAY 10 TOKYO – DISNEY SEA – Thurs 23rd May
31, 464 steps
One of the only days we set an alarm for the whole trip. Caught a train from Asakusa at 7:15am and arrived about 8:10, grabbed a coffee from starbucks there and headed in. The line was already massive. We got through the gates around 9:20. This is everything we did
Journey – first ride of the day went straight there 45min wait 9/10
Indiana Jones – 40^th anniversary pass 9/10
Tower of terror – DPA – 8.5/10
Raging spirits – single rider line, 20 min wait 6/10
Soaring – DPA, 10/10 amazing, we don’t have anything like this in Australia so we were all blown away, even the kids
20,000 leagues under the sea – 40^th anniversary pass 6/10
Toy story – DPA – 7/10
Jasmine’s flying carpet 5 min wait 4/10
Jumpin jelly fish – 20 min wait, just the kids went on, they said it was boring
Flounder coaster – 10 min wait, surprisingly good for a little kid coaster, took my daughter on it again at the end of the day while the others went on Indiana again as she wouldn’t do any of the bigger rides
Believe sea of dreams - really lovely show, brought some of the Disney magic that is missing from the park.
Fireworks were cancelled due to wind. Overall we had the most amazing day!!! We got to do everything we wanted (with some careful pre-planning), the weather was perfect. The park is huge! We still didn’t see everything, with fantasy springs opening you definitely need 2 days to see everything. The park itself is so well done, every nook and cranny has amazing theming, but it does miss some of that “disney magic”. However, I think with the fantasy springs addition, the park will really have it all. The food is great…albeit very long lines. We ordered dinner through the Disney app and picked it up at a designated time which was a life saver.

DAY 11 – TOKYO – Fri 24th May
18,504 steps
We had a 10:30 timeslot booked for team-lab planets (knowing we didn’t want to have a too early start to the day following Disney) Team labs was lovely, hard to be blown away following the day at Disney but it was still a nice experience. It is certainly a photo opportunity rather than a place to actually learn about and appreciate the art. Either way everyone did enjoy it, and its much more affordable than the digital art galleries we have in Aus. We stopped at Ginza on the way back to go to a few shops and grabbed some lunch from the Matsuya department store food hall. The group split up here and hubby went to Akihabara with our nephew to look at anime stuff. I took our son shoe shopping in Ginza and then headed back to the hotel to do some washing. Took a nice walk along Sumida river and went to an early dinner at Ichiran ramen. It was yum, but not the best ramen of the trip. When the kids were in bed I headed to Don Quijote Asakusa alone to grab some things I wanted to try. It was so busy even at 11pm at night, don’t attempt with kids! the line for tax free registers took over 30mins to pay. I walked back through sensoji around 12:45am and it was so peaceful with no one else around.

DAY 12 TOKYO – TRAVEL TO OSAKA – Sat 25th May
16,914 steps
Last minute shopping in Tokyo. We split up, hubby took all the kids to some toy stores, and my SIL and I went shopping in Ginza. Originally I thought that Ginza was only high-end stores but found it to be the best place for shopping as they had all the major stores there, Uniqlo, Nike, Loft etc. 5:47 pm Shinkansen to Osaka. Arrived around 8:30pm to Osaka hotel.
\* an extra day in tokyo would have been nice*
DAY 13 - NARA DAY TRIP – Sun 26th May
21,335 steps
We went for a walk in Nara park, Todaji temple and walked through the streets of Nara. We went to Nara 10 years ago and loved it, but this time just didn’t feel the same. It was so busy, smelly (deer poo), and just felt nothing like we remembered. That was a bit of a disappointment for me and hubby, the kids still seemed to enjoy it as they liked patting and feeding the deer, and looking in the souvenir shops. Dotonbori for dinner

DAY 14 – OSAKA – Mon 27th May
21, 817 steps
Went to Kuramon market in the morning. I loved walking through here (and i don't eat seafood!!) there is so much amazing food here. definitely go with an empty stomach! Got some nice chopsticks. Explored Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori, Umeda, Pokemon store, shopping. Ate some street food. Tried to get an early night before USJ.

DAY 15 – UNIVERSAL STUDIOS – Tues 28th may
24,352 steps
Set the alarm early and arrived at USJ about 8:15am. We were through the gates by 8:30am. The weather forecast was rain all day….and boy did it RAIN ALL day. 110mm of rain it was horrendous! Hot tip, if it is expected to rain then definitely bring an umbrella for each person and a poncho! So much cheaper to buy in Osaka than the 1800Y they charge per person for a poncho at the park when you have no other options. They have really cool merch tho, way better than Disney.
We pre-purchased Express -pass 4 (variety fun) for our kids (they were too small for some of the coasters, or didn’t want to ride). The rest of us had express pass 7.
We had 10:20am timed entry for Harry potter and 5:40pm timed entry for Super Nintendo (although you didn’t need a timed entry on the day). When we got in hubby and my nephew raced over to Demon slayer (both big anime fans) and the rest of us went to Minions. We spent a lot of time in souvenir shops and seeing shows that were out of the rain. Flying dinosaur, Hollywood dream, & flight of hippogriff were all closed until 6:30pm when it finally stopped raining.
The rides we did
Minion Mayhem – waited 5 mins at the start of day, 6/10 due to motion sickness factor. My son would say 10/10 it was his fav ride. Went on again later in the day with our express passes
Freeze ray sliders – kids said 6/10, I didn’t ride. Got straight on.
Forbidden Journey – Used our express passes and got straight on, pretty cool ride 8/10. Hubby hated it due to motion sickness and vomited as soon as he got off. Kids loved it. I took the kids on again at 7:30pm and walked straight on.
Flight of the hippogriff – managed to use our express passes when this opened about 7pm. 6/10, its fun but really short, the best part is the view of the castle.
Flying dinosaur – express passes, waited 5 mins. 9.5/10. Amazing coaster.
Demon slayer - hubby said 9.5/10. Said it was pure fun the whole time. Coaster + VR. No motion sickness.
Mario Kart – Express passes. Waited max 10mins. 8/10
Yoshi – Kids used our express passes as it wasn’t included in theirs but we decided to go in the normal line and got on only a few cars behind them. A nice view of SNW but pretty boring otherwise 4/10
JAWS – 6/10. My daughters fav ride. She went on twice, 5 min wait all day.
SING – live show. Fun singing along to the songs.
MyHero 4D – in Japanese. Was still fun, and dry.
Had dinner at Hard Rock outside after we left.
*adults preferred Disney and the kids preferred universal (even in the torrential rain)*
*our son's favourite day (7yr old)
DAY 16 – OSAKA -Home – Wed 29th May
17,070 steps
Took our time in the morning packing and left luggage at the hotel. We stopped by shinsaibashi to grab a few things we wanted to buy, grabbed some lunch and then went to the Osaka aquarium. The aquarium is beautiful and the whole area near there is really nice too, they have a giant ferris wheel and legoland which we didn’t go to. Would have been nice to have a few more hours to explore the area. We headed back to the hotel at 4:30 to grab our luggage and got the Nankai airport express train to the airport. This was pretty straight forward and we managed to get a seat after a couple of stops. Flight home at 9:25pm
* Our daughters favourite day (10yr old) (besides the flight)
If you got this far, thanks for taking the time to read. I hope you enjoy your trip

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This didn't really belong in TFTS because there wasn't much going on in the way of actually solving a problem or helping someone else do so.
I was in the school computer lab which was full of all-in-one computers. These were CRT based if that gives you an idea of when this happened.
One of the computers started doing a weird thing where the picture repeatedly folded into a single line then unfolded again. I thought it was some kind of screen saver, until it began to smell like burning plastic.
A few people started packing their things up, preparing to leave if need be. Some moved away from the computer like it was a bomb. Others started yelling "fire" but no one seemed to be going for the power cord, so I just went over there and unplugged the computer.
The smell faded in less than a minute, and the teacher came back and asked if everything was okay. I basically said "Well, no, one of the computers started burning itself and so I unplugged it"
Before you ask, I didn't end up being reigned as a hero or anything, nor did I expect as much.
The school had a bunch of the same type of computer, so I was concerned what would happen if that model were recalled. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

This didn't really belong in TFTS because there wasn't much going on in the way of actually solving a problem or helping someone else do so.
I was in the school computer lab which was full of all-in-one computers. These were CRT based if that gives you an idea of when this happened.
One of the computers started doing a weird thing where the picture repeatedly folded into a single line then unfolded again. I thought it was some kind of screen saver, until it began to smell like burning plastic.
A few people started packing their things up, preparing to leave if need be. Some moved away from the computer like it was a bomb. Others started yelling "fire" but no one seemed to be going for the power cord, so I just went over there and unplugged the computer.
The smell faded in less than a minute, and the teacher came back and asked if everything was okay. I basically said "Well, no, one of the computers started burning itself and so I unplugged it"
Before you ask, I didn't end up being reigned as a hero or anything, nor did I expect as much.
The school had a bunch of the same type of computer, so I was concerned what would happen if that model were recalled. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

About 1.5 years ago we bought this computer: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/desktops/ideacentre/yoga-a-series/yoga-aio-7-27ach6/ffygf700388
Like all other computers in our house, we set it up (it might have even defaulted to this, I'm not sure), to have the screen go off after 15 minutes of non-use. However, it never worked. There is always some amount of light/glow from the screen, it never fully goes dark/off.
I've checked all the usual settings over and over but nothing changes the behavior. It's currently set in the power options to turn the display off after 15 minutes. I also checked the screensaver and there is 'None' selected. I also tried a 'blank' screen saver or actual screen saver but nothing has any affect. I've changed the time from 15 to 5 to 1 to 30 and nothing makes a difference :(
This computer is Win 11, all others in our house are Win 10, so perhaps there is something I'm missing/not used to on this computer, but I can't imagine there's some hidden setting for this.
Thank you.