Hello community. I am recovering from a recent break up with someone I met on a dating app 2 years ago. I had observed the guy to be especially stingy and selfish during the dates which was off-putting and wasn't attracted to him at all when we went out on 3 dates, after which, he sent me a text saying he doesn't think we are headed in a romantic direction and wondered if I'd like to stay friends. Since we were both new to the city and wanted to explore it further, I thought it isn't a bad idea to stay friends.
After being friends for a year, he asked me out after I told him about a bad online dating experience. It stood out to me that he chose a moment of my vulnerability to ask me out on a date again, saying he was attracted to me after watching me dance. I didn't reciprocate as I wasn't feeling right about it and didn't want to ruin the friendship that was developing with him. His relationship history was also a factor that kept me guarded. He had been with a woman on again off again over 10 years. He said she was an avoidant and he felt the relationship was over when he tried to move cities for her and she asked him not to and broke up with him. The other reason I didn't feel confident in him was as he seemed to have many surface-level friends from his coworking space but no close friends who really know him. His best friend and partner moved to the city a few months ago but even there something didn't seem to add up. He never seemed to accommodate to their needs (e.g. their dietary restrictions and hence never hosted them for dinner), and criticized them for being not as social and outgoing as he would like them to be.
After two months into our relationship, wherein he had made a few more attempts to 'proxy date', we had an argument over me wanting to move out of the city, where he made it about himself and how I am not considering how important he is to my life. He called the very next day and over 2 hours on the phone, apologized for his tone and his outburst and said it was only because I am so dear to him that he felt badly about me wanting to move. Something shifted in me after that call and I decided to date him.
The first month was magical- he told me he loved me and that I was the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. He introduced me to his parents over a call and I introduced him to mine, although typically, I'd have waited for a few years before doing that on my side as culturally it'd mean more to introduce him to my parents. We also talked about moving in to his place. He would proudly show me off in front of his friends from his coworking space but only focus on superficial details (job, appearance) and not the qualities for which he decided to be with me.
A month later, things started to shift. He said he didn't want to move in with me because he doesn't feel ready. When I pressed for an explanation, he said it's because we had an argument and he is no longer sure of me the way he was before. He also said that moving in wasn't a 'commitment' from his side and was merely an idea we'd been discussing. This is where my alarm bells went off. I clearly remembered him offering to put me on his lease as I wasn't comfortable to just move in without any formal paperwork. This led to our first major conflict within 2 months of being together. When we tried to resolve the conflict, he sat next to me and talked to me in a low, cold, impersonal tone, like he was in control, while I was distressed and wearing out with a conversation that seemed to be going nowhere for hours. Ultimately I broke down and gave away a vulnerable detail from my past relationship. He then asked what would reassure me in the relationship with him and I said any indication that he isn't pulling away from his overall commitment to the relationship. He then laughed and said okay, we have reached a resolution! His laugh was so unfitting to the cold/distant way he was behaving for the past few hours, it scared me a little. I wanted to leave his apartment but somehow thought maybe I am overthinking and that I should give him a chance. Every time we'd have an argument, he somehow focused on my reaction (crying, raising my voice), than what we were actually fighting about (him pulling away from commitments), leaving me feeling blamed and confused.
I noticed on more than one occasion that he couldn't provide care. When I was feeling low and called him requesting him to come over, he'd say "I am watching xyz show" or first say he'd come over and call up a few hours later and say "I am tired and if you're feeling better now then maybe I won't come today". I started to feel uncared for and lonely in the relationship.
As time passed, I noticed that he tried in very subtle ways to adopt his best friends as my friends. He kept saying "I don't want you to think they are my friends, I want them to be your friends too. You are new to the country and this will help you". Again my instincts warned me there was something off here, even though his friends appeared sweet and friendly and had been in his life for 10+ years. There were days when our previous argument about moving in resurfaced and we were having a bad day, but once we'd reconciled, he would compel me to socialize with his friends even if I said I needed some downtime/ time alone. When I got through a good university and told him about the news, he had a lukewarm reaction. He then went to these friends and took some advice after which, he showed up at my place with what sounded like very rehearsed lines of supporting my academic pursuits (without moving cities or taking any risks in the relationship- he suggested a long distance relationship).
In the past month I noticed being on eggshells around him, being confused about my thoughts and memories and blamed myself for the conflicts we were having. I raised these with him and broke up with him saying my emotional needs aren't being met. He didn't take any responsibility for his part. He often also brought up my anxiety issues/ trauma during arguments packaging it as concern for my wellbeing. His reaction during our fights/disagreements, he said "I can't cycle through arguments- I don't want to be that kind of a couple", "I can't change who I am, if I am not meeting your needs there's nothing we can do". After we broke up, I got a message from his best friend's partner who said she understands we are going through a difficult time and that she is here to support me if I needed a friend for a walk/ talk. I fell for it thinking she genuinely came across as a caring person. When I did meet her for a walk, she seemed to shut me down if I tried to talk about the breakup or my reasons for it and said focused on how much he cared for me and wants to remain friends with me.
I spoke to him after the walk saying somehow meeting his friend's partner felt uncomfortable. He admitted she had just gone over to his place before seeing me (she never mentioned it when she met me). It seemed to be a way for him to retain contact with me and reinforce his side of things in the breakup. He also kept insisting we stay friends as I meant a lot to him. I told him I was uncomfortable with the idea as I am hurting.
I shared all this with a trusted friend who said I may have been in a relationship with a narcissist. Would be great to get any insights from you if this seems to be the case. I am seeking help to recover from this as I often find myself still questioning and blaming myself.

Server Info: [US EC], RP-PvP (PC)
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Welcome to the Cage.
The Exiled Lands are in fact an open air prison, however, on The Scarlet Cage, they are a well maintained social, erotic experience, maintained and regulated by terrible, unknowable deities from beyond who believe lesser races of humans, magical beings, and monsters are playthings that exist for their amusement.
What began a century ago as a means to settle disputes between gods via proxy has evolved over the years. The Gods, known to Prisoners as The Endless now use the Scarlet Cage as a form of entertainment and experimentation. They take many people and creatures at random, however all of them possess some unique quality or power that has caught the Endless’ eye.
Core principles of our server are: Community, Inclusion, Consent, and Fantasy Exploration. We are striving to create a unique erotic roleplay experience for players who are interested in deep storylines, personalized plotlines, and political intrigue along with their spice. What we offer:
NPC factions and Quests that involve politics and morality (or lack thereof)
Virtually no restrictions on character creation, the limit is your imagination.
All players have the ability to /cheat nocost for free building to enable you to get into RP quicker.
A focus on community, erotica, and fantasy.
A friendly community
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A Prey and Capture System for Adventurous Players
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Server Information:• Server Type: PC / 18+ RP PVP / High Fantasy / Text-based / USEC location• Map: The Isle of Tir Na Nog• Key settings: No purge / No avatars / Chars start at 60 / Level 300/ Bodies do not stay in the world
https://www.veed.io/view/0483df6c-a4b6-443b-9804-84c906a99318

In recent times we witness a trend of more and more countries gradually turning into authoritarian regimes against the will of their people. From the violent suppression of protests in Belarus to the passage of the Russian Law in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, and the looming threat of similar laws in Turkey. Political chaos ensues in Slovakia following an assassination attempt on the PM, while authoritarian regimes tighten their grip in countries like Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Serbia. All these countries have one thing in common - all of them are being affected by the Russia's Hybrid Warfare in one way or another. Be it pro-Russian/anti-West propaganda by the state controlled media, spread of misinformation, sow of division via internet bots, economical coercion, proxy warfare, political assassination attempts or other tools in the rich arsenal of hybrid warfare.
It seems like no country knows how to defend itself against this new kind of warfare, with tools like pervasive propaganda showing to be incredibly effective in countries with still developing democratic institutions. The scary thing is that even if everyone has full awareness of what's happening, like in todays Georgia, even if people see the first steps of their country heading towards authoritarian pro-Russia regime, it seems like there's no effective response to stop it.

• Protests? Don't overthrow regimes by itself. All that authoritarian government needs to do to counter the protests is to de-escalate as much as possible and wait it out, don't give unnecessary reasons for big spikes of protests. Then slowly suffocate them by methodical repressions and terror.
• Force? Prepared authoritarian government will always have more force no matter what, especially with more force permissible given the escalation. Also has many potentially catastrophic drawbacks by putting your country in a state of chaos.
• Elections? Even if the ruling party has around 10% of *real* voters, they can easily quadruple these numbers by the means of propaganda, bribery, human resource mobilisation, falsifications, other kinds of election manipulations and restriction of opposition. Which makes winning an election against authoritarian government close to impossible.
• Opposition leaders? Met with repressions, jail, violence, censorship.
• Strikes? Can't last forever, people need to work eventually. Usually the vital working force that government depends on are all under their full control already and can't strike. Same strategy as with protests, wait it out and slowly suffocate.
• Sanctions? Although a valid and necessary response against autocratic regimes, sanctions don't prove to be too effective by itself.

All the above actions certainly do work under the right conditions but it feels like the effectiveness is proportional to the development levels of democratic institutions, basically they work in already stable democracies but seem to be way less effective when faced against governments with autocratic goals. I don't know what the correct response should be, what is that missing link that makes a key difference in todays complex geopolitical reality. But I know that feeling of being completely powerless while witnessing your country rot for decades to come just because a small group of power hungry people decided so and it really, really sucks.
To all the people of Sakartvelo, please don't take this post as discouraging, that wasn't my goal at all. Everything I wrote might not be true, I only express my feelings based on a reoccurring pattern that I personally experienced, which to me feels like a modern crisis of democracy. I wish you all luck getting your country back regardless of whichever course of actions you choose and I truly hope you will prove me wrong. One thing I know for sure - if you can't do it now in your country, nobody will ever be able to do it after you.

https://gamestop.gcs-web.com/node/20481/html
there were 306,186,849 shares of our common stock outstanding. ... Holders of our common stock are entitled to receive such dividends as may be declared by our board of directors from time to time out of assets or funds legally available for payment, subject to the rights of the holders of our preferred stock, if any. ... Anti-Takeover Provisions
Charter
Our charter and bylaws may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, defer or prevent a tender offer or takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by stockholders. Our charter contains a provision expressly stating that we are not subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which would otherwise restrict certain transactions with an interested stockholder. ... Authorized But Unissued Shares
The authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuance without stockholder approval. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, corporate acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise. ... DEPOSITARY SHARES. General
We may, at our option, elect to offer fractional interests in shares of a series of preferred stock as depositary shares, rather than full shares of preferred stock. In such event, we will issue depositary receipts for those depositary shares, each of which will represent a fraction of a share of a particular class or series of preferred stock, as described in the related prospectus supplement. ... The prospectus supplement relating to a series of depositary shares will set forth the name and address of the Preferred Stock Depositary with respect to those depositary shares. Subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, each owner of a depositary share will be entitled, in proportion to the applicable fraction of a share of preferred stock represented by the depositary share, to all of the rights, preferences and privileges of the preferred stock represented thereby (including dividend, voting, conversion, exchange, redemption, and liquidation rights, if any).
The depositary shares will be evidenced by depositary receipts issued pursuant to the applicable deposit agreement. Depositary receipts will be distributed to those persons purchasing the fractional interests in shares of preferred stock as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. ... Dividends and Other Distributions
The Preferred Stock Depositary will distribute all cash dividends or other cash distributions received in respect of a series of preferred stock to the record holders of depositary receipts relating to that preferred stock in proportion, insofar as possible, to the number of the depositary receipts owned by those holders on the relevant record date (subject to certain obligations of holders to file proofs, certificates and other information and to pay certain charges and expenses to the Preferred Stock Depositary). The Preferred Stock Depositary will distribute only such amount, however, as can be distributed without attributing to any holder of depositary shares a fraction of one cent, and the balance not so distributed will be held by the Preferred Stock Depositary and added to and treated as part of the next sum received by such Preferred Stock Depositary for distribution to record holders of depositary shares then outstanding.
In the event of a distribution other than in cash, the Preferred Stock Depositary will distribute property received by it to the record holders of depositary shares entitled thereto, in proportion to the number of such depositary shares owned by those holders, unless the Preferred Stock Depositary determines that it is not feasible to make such distribution, in which case the Preferred Stock Depositary may, with our approval, adopt a method it deems equitable and practicable to effect the distribution, including the public or private sale of such property and distribution of the net proceeds therefrom to holders of depositary shares.
The amount so distributed to record holders of depositary receipts in any of the foregoing cases will be reduced by any amount required to be withheld by us or the Preferred Stock Depositary on account of taxes. The deposit agreement will also contain provisions relating to the manner in which any subscription or similar rights offered by us to holders of the preferred stock will be made available to holders of depositary shares.
No distribution will be made in respect of any depositary share to the extent that it represents any preferred stock converted into other securities. ... Redemption of Depositary Shares
If a series of preferred stock represented by depositary shares is subject to redemption, the depositary shares will be redeemed from the proceeds received by the Preferred Stock Depositary resulting from redemption, in whole or in part, of such class or series of preferred stock held by the Preferred Stock Depositary. The redemption price per depositary share will be equal to the applicable fraction of the redemption price and other amounts per share, if any, payable in respect of such class or series of preferred stock. Whenever we redeem preferred stock held by the Preferred Stock Depositary, the Preferred Stock Depositary will redeem as of the same redemption date the number of depositary shares representing shares of preferred stock so redeemed. If fewer than all of the depositary shares are to be redeemed, the depositary shares to be redeemed will be selected by pro rata (as nearly as may be practicable without creating fractional depositary shares), or by any other methods that may be determined to be equitable by the Preferred Stock Depositary.
From and after the date fixed for redemption, all dividends in respect of the preferred stock so called for redemption will cease to accrue, the depositary shares so called for redemption will no longer be deemed to be outstanding, and all rights of the holders of the depositary shares with respect to those depositary shares will cease, except the right to receive the redemption price upon that redemption. Any funds deposited by us with the Preferred Stock Depositary for any depositary shares which the holders thereof fail to redeem shall be returned to us after a period of two years from the date those funds are so deposited. ... Conversion and Exchange of Preferred Stock
The depositary shares are not convertible into common stock or any of our other securities or property. Nevertheless, if so specified in the related prospectus supplement relating to an offering of depositary shares, a record holder of depositary receipts may have the right or obligation to surrender such depositary receipts to the Preferred Stock Depositary, with written instructions to the Preferred Stock Depositary to instruct us to cause conversion of the shares of preferred stock represented by the depositary shares, as evidenced by such depositary receipts, into whole shares of common stock, and we agree that upon receipt of such instructions and any amounts payable in respect thereof, we will cause the conversion thereof utilizing the same procedures as those provided for delivery of preferred stock to effect such conversion. If the depositary shares evidenced by a depositary receipt are to be converted in part only, a new depositary receipt or receipts will be issued for any depositary shares not to be converted. No fractional shares of common stock will be issued upon conversion, and if such conversion would result in a fractional share being issued, an amount will be paid in cash by us equal to the value of the fractional interest based upon the closing price of the common stock on the last business day prior to the conversion.
///////
I'm not in the financial world by any means, but it seems like this report was pretty interesting. Unless of course this is standard fare. It does seem however like they may be releasing some form of digitised token in exchange for shares, which explains DFV's tired Ben affleck meme because presumably hedgefunds can buy a shit load of tokens. I think the point of it though is that they will make the old shares useless after 2 years, so the hedgefunds will have to buy the real shares to supply them to their borrowers so they in turn can get the tokens. But it means they have two years. From what I understand.

First Previous Wiki
A group of Sprilnav had entered the room, dragged claws bearing paint across Kashaunta and Penny's faces, and left again. Another group of Sprilnav, this time Elders, had entered the room, leading to a hologram forming around Penny and Kashaunta to hide their faces behind perfect masks.
They carried a long black box on their shoulders. Kashaunta approached their kneeling forms, unlatching the box with her claws. Special sounds chimed from electronic locks, and the box flipped open, revealing a new Soul Blade. It was Azeri's Soul Blade, or the one he'd once owned at least. Given the new information Penny had on them, the sword wasn't truly 'his' in a literal sense.
They had then moved to a more central room on the flagship, complete with a massive kitchen, bedroom, and entertainment room. Kashaunta's quarters were lavish, though they were not as flush with finery and gold as Penny would have expected.
Penny wore Kashaunta's Soul Blade on her hip. The ancient weapon didn't seem to have the mind-altering effects the last one did. But it was beyond powerful, for sure. It also came with a stealth coating that could be activated to hide its presence.
Azeri's Soul Blade, on the other hand, definitely affected her.
Penny could hear the faint sounds of distant voices echoing in her thoughts. She could sense Cardi and Nilnacrawla in her mind more clearly as if she'd finally put on a set of glasses after not having them her entire life. So many things were clearer now, but so many weren't. Kashaunta had made a sacred agreement with her, at least in Sprilnav culture.
Backed by the Progenitors. All of them, apparently. And they were all sworn to silence, which Nilnacrawla and Kashaunta assured her would also include Twilight and Nova. She could understand that, but Nova's actions toward Penny in the past made her wary of relying on him for anything related to her safety.
And it was before the Judgment, now in nine days. Kashaunta's VIs had gathered the data, ordered it, and formulated responses. She'd designed them to sound like real people and real things that would be said, not just decent scripts with odd lexicon and grammatical habits.
"So," Penny said, looking at Kashaunta relaxing beside her. The Elder's carefree stance didn't fool Penny as to what had just happened. It had looked rushed, but she knew there was a larger purpose behind it than she believed. "The Pact. Were you truly this desperate to regain my trust?"
"I was," Kashaunta admitted. "And am. I have a tendency to manipulate people around me. This has made me good at being able to tell when a relationship is falling apart. Were I not to do something this extreme, we would have continued to fall apart, and eventually the rift would have been too large for even this to bridge.
I do not expect forgiveness or for you to understand my viewpoint and ideas. I have destroyed nations and entire civilizations. I have spent my fair share of time in evil, and use the threat of who I was and who I am against those who slight me. Reputation is important among our species, more so than anything but power. But they are linked.
A reputation of weakness will never exist with a person of strength. If it develops, the Elders will pile onto that unfortunate soul to plunder the riches they believe can no longer be protected. And once you fall, it is impossible to rise again. We do need each other, Penny. Perhaps you do not agree, yet, but this goes beyond the Judgment."
Penny wanted to argue. She wanted to listen to the voices demanding her hatred of the Elder before her- wait, what?
Penny frowned. She focused on them, and they appeared. A cacophony of voices, all Sprilnav in origin. They were definitely here and worryingly a part of her psychic energy. It almost seemed like they were the voices of those she'd freed. Which wouldn't make sense unless... her title was actually bearing conceptual power.
She supposed that it was possible then.
"Kashaunta," Penny said.
"Yes?"
"Why do you have faith in me, when, as you say, so many others have failed?"
"Because you possess Cardinality. You possess Humanity. You even have a Progenitor Title, though it is only a budding one. Your approach to this, besides a few mistakes on our part, is remarkably sound. You have moved away from hatred of the Sprilnav to that of Elders. And you have moved away from hatred of Elders and Progenitors to that of certain Elders and Progenitors, which I understand.
Ultimately, you have me convinced that you do not want to carry out a war of vengeance against me and my kin for the actions we did before your species had a name. I know it is difficult to overcome hatred, and more so with a voice in your head telling you to distrust all we Elders say and do. And I believe you can convince the Alliance to restrict its war to methods that are not as destructive."
Penny thought it was odd how much Kashaunta was stressing it. Either the Alliance wasn't considered a threat to the Sprilnav or it was. Kashaunta seemed to suggest it was, perhaps, to flatter Penny somehow. She didn't exactly buy it but would let it play out.
It would be important for Penny to learn more about the Elder's viewpoint before the Judgment to exploit it among other Elders to help win the Judgment. She'd have to portray herself and the Alliance as weak, which meant learning more about Sprilnav technology and power. The briefings from the last meetings before the previous Judgment had been enlightening on that front. But Penny wanted the best shot she could have on this.
"Such as?"
"Culture war."
"That has a certain meaning among my species," Penny said. "I am not sure if it translates correctly."
"I want your Alliance to begin to turn the population against slavery. Just that. Go no further. If you do that, the Elders will fight back. This will escalate, and the list of grievances will grow. We will have rebellions, and they can win with my help."
"And what comes next?"
"I take power, of course. I do not purge the Sprilnav who rose to the top, but reward them. I bind them by respect and loyalty instead of fear and hatred. Objectively, it will be better to have a single unified state than a disparate mess of warring territories. Quality of life, quality of death, and everything in between. We can go further, if you like.
Turning the Collective into literal heaven for those who die, where they can return to real bodies as often as they want for free. I can extend this to other species and, over thousands of years, wear away the animosity between the Sprilnav and the rest of the galaxy. I distribute gifts, I lower taxes, and use android labor to replace slavery entirely. Would you not agree that this is better?"
"I am not sure. How would you maintain the state, when threats come from within and without?"
"Limits on power, separation of branches of government. Police forces, military forces. We have police trained to de-escalate situations, even when they are armed with riot shields or actual guns. There will obviously be some requirement for state violence, but I will lower it as far as possible."
"There will be those who wish to be independent."
"And they can be."
"You are not concerned about that?" Penny asked.
"With even just the Autonomous Peoples' Stars, independence is risky. Dangerous. People do not start those movements because if they succeed, they get invaded by a border power. Earth has seen that happen in its history, particularly with Europe and Asia. Luna would have seen it as well by now, if not for the First Contact. The problem is the power disparity. Going from the passive backing of 500 thousand planets and a central militarized state to that of maybe 4 or 5 planets with disjointed connections and only garrison supplies is a massive drop."
"But with your plan, there would be no border powers."
"There would be, of course," Kashaunta said. "There must be. Nations without a significant outside threat, that is at least somewhat credible, have a more difficult time staying united. Without a 'them' it is more difficult to define an 'us,' as we know very well."
"That is quite a cold way of looking at reality."
"Those who do otherwise are smears of gore amongst the black of space, or rotting in the ground of their home planets. Elders do not remain Elders by stupidity alone. Eventually, a few lessons must be learned."
"Must?"
"Must, even if they are later forgotten."
Kashaunta let out a sigh. "You and I, Penny. We are vastly different people. I admire your idealism, and I envy it. But when it comes to control of societies and curation of national identities, I have a vast array of experience."
"You do," Penny agreed. "The Pact says we should not lie to each other, so I will no longer dance around my reasons for my misgivings. I do not trust you because you are everything that has ruined the fortunes of my species in the past, often promising things like you do. Security before freedom, usually. You are rich. You are very far above most Sprilnav and even most Elders. You are a politician and a state leader. History tells me to be wary of such people, especially when they possess high amounts of power. Authoritarian countries can, with proper management, outpace those which are not by refusing to limit themselves by morals and ethics.
You are a queen, a monarch. This title goes back to the days of barbarity among our kind, when we believed people were superior based on bloodlines and genetics, sometimes to the extreme of actual inbreeding. You are highly experienced with manipulation, having billions of years of experience. I likely would not know whether you are manipulating me, and even Nilnacrawla has billions of years less experience with Elders than you would on account of his separation from Sprilnav society for so long.
I have no other trustworthy sources for what you say and do. I am surrounded only by enemies, neutral people, and you and Lecalicus alone as actual allies. Truth be told, there is nothing that will stop you from going back on all that you say because people like you have made promises not to before. And they did it anyway.
Companies. Nations. People. With a galaxy full of sentient minds all seemingly built on the same energy and manners of thinking, I see just another politician trying to get in good with me because I can get her what she wants. I fear that, Kashaunta. I fear it a lot. More than I have ever said and ever shown. It is a fear so visceral it colors my view of your entire species.
Because if you've lived a billion years, who's to say you haven't done this all before? How many aliens you've offered this honor, only to cast aside when they die fighting impossible enemies? And yes, my fear of you is that you will betray me. That is a deep-seated and personal matter that I will not explore at this time, but betrayal is something I guard against with all my might.
I hate that you have so much power over me, that I know it, and that you know it. You could enslave me for the next ten days, and I'd do it, to save my species. The Judgment trial is another way of showing the powerlessness of the galaxy before the Sprilnav, the powerlessness of the Alliance before the Sprilnav, and me before you, Justicar, and Yasihaut. Because guess what? I can win this. It will be hard, but I can do it because I set my mind to it, and my mind is my will, and my will is my iron fortress, my gauntleted fist, and my beating heart.
I can, I will, I must. But through all of this, guess what happens if I win the Judgment? Yasihaut files another one. I am strong, Kashaunta. Stronger than any human in history. But even now, inside your sanctum, inside the greatest ship I have ever seen, I remain powerless against the might of your people and your laws. I hear you talk of millennia and galaxies and think of how much I have struggled over the mere ten thousand star systems of the Alliance and this single planet's slave problem. There's billions more.
I have fought against odds beyond comprehension, but even now, I have to break bread with my enemy so that I can continue to survive in the system they built. Because with all that you are, it is impossible for me to see you as anything but an enemy. I cannot understand the value of the Pact. I can only guess at it. But the galaxy's weight is resting upon my shoulders, and my back is bowing. My spine... is breaking. How much more? How many more?
I hate what this universe is. I hate how it is structured. I hate the concepts, the Progenitors, the speeding space entities, and whoever else controls it. For a person to even condone the mindless suffering in this universe is an act of utter insanity. When I see you in your ivory castle, perched upon your mountains of gold, I think of the poor. I think of the justice you deserve that I cannot carry out because of the very power you wield. Do you know how angry that makes me? Do you know that my dreams are still sometimes haunted by Yasihaut's torture? I am a broken person, Kashaunta.
Broken by the weight of who I am and all I must do. But you, you get to sit here and eat, oblivious or indifferent to my suffering. Because you cannot stand to look down for fear of seeing the filth in your claws. I dream of your death, Kashaunta. And a thousand more. I want to tear down your civilization and all others like it. I want to kill, and maim, and murder. I want to be that indomitable power which all others fear and respect.
I want to mount Yasihaut's head on a spear and shove another between Nova's eyes for the crime of daring to use their ultimate power against me. And I want to kill you, too, for being the one I am forced to rely on to survive. For your own power being what forces me to bow and scrape to yet another master. This is why I bear my hatred for your kin, Kashaunta. Why I hate the Elders, the Progenitors, all of it. Because of the inherent unfairness of the galaxy you have built and the banal and insidious evil you have built it upon. I hate you, this galaxy, this universe.
Because you all will never get the justice you deserve, because I cannot repay the sheer weight of atrocity hanging from your heads. And to make you feel what you all deserve, would naturally require me to have the same punishment. Because I can't win without sinking to your level, either by being one of you Elders or having to use your ill-gotten power for my own benefit. I am climbing the mountain, the air is cold, the night is dark, the wind is blowing, and the ice is slick. I stand on the precipice of death, as does all I have known and loved.
To save them, I must use you, an Elder buoyed by an ocean of blood, merely so I can float up a little higher, perhaps to the next cliff or perhaps to that mountain peak. I believe I am fighting for the people. For freedom, justice, and the rights of my kind to self-determination. And to do so, I must sacrifice my own freedom. My own justice. And my own self-determination. All for winning a pointless case, against a stupid Elder who I'd press against a block of red-hot metal, just so I could enjoy her screams. I was a woman, once. A simple woman, a good human.
Now I am a monster. I have killed. I have avoided killing when I should not have. Yasihaut is still alive. Ikirshi is still alive. Tiglath is still alive. Nova is still alive. Azeri is still alive, too, even if his name is dead. Look what I am, and what I've had to do to get here. What will I have to do to continue? I am evil now. Because I will compromise my principles, and claim to fight for freedom while happily breaking bread with an Elder who openly espouses galactic domination. And I can't even say no, for fear of what that would mean for those I know and love.
I am broken, but I can still move. I can still think. And I can still hate. None of you have the right to stand against justice, but I do not have the power to make you kneel to it. Instead, I am being forced into this yet again. I deserve to die for what I am and what I have done, but I cannot because of who and what I fight for. I will only descend into worse depravity. When I am free of the Judgment, I will likely kill the slavers and enjoy it. Because that is what I am becoming now. I'm becoming you. Just as you said I would, proving that I'm powerless even against that."
Thick tears fell from Penny's eyes. With no one else but the Elder in the room and a currently fulfilled promise of no cameras, sound recording devices, and not even guards, only Kashaunta would know how much it pained Penny to say all this aloud. The pain doubled her over as the weight of her realization came to her.
Kashaunta let her be, waiting for Penny's tears to finally run dry. It was an ugly thing. All of the past trauma and misery came roaring back, drowning Penny in a sea of torment and suffering. Cardi and Nilncrawla were powerless to stop it. Her soul ached. Her mind shook.
At least, Penny drew a rasping breath. "So. Now you know, Kashaunta."
"I do," the Elder said. "I can tell you have many feelings on the matter. We don't have to continue discussion."
"You're not upset?"
"No," Kashaunta said. "Not at all. Why should I be? You bared your soul to me in this truth, Penny. Knowing the power I do hold over you, you did so anyway. This only proves that I was right to trust you and your strength."
"This isn't strength. I sat here and cried like a little girl."
"It took strength for you to admit how you feel and why, especially to me. To trust that I would listen, and to express exactly why you wish for me and my kin to die."
"You seem... oddly okay with me wanting to kill you."
"Because I have been surrounded by people who wanted to kill me before. Only one of them, in the long history of my life, admitted such to this extent before making their attempts, and that is you. I understand and respect your motive for wanting me dead, actually. I would feel the same way in your position. You are right. The way things are is not fair, and is not just. I also know that you won't kill me if you have the chance."
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, you do not seem the type to kill your allies, unless they directly betray you. I will not pretend that I am innocent. But do you truly think that you will be able to look me in the eyes, your main supporter among all my kind, and stab me in the heart? Because if you do kill me, I would at least request the honor of you doing it with your own hands. Or even the Soul Blade, if you wish to be poetic about it."
"So no lobbing asteroids of antimatter at you, then?" Penny laughed.
"I would think not, though if we are at that point, the future is lost anyway. To grapple with your past, present and future is a part of life, Penny. This right here is the reason I made the Pact with you. Because you are an honest person, with the will to do what is necessary, and the power to carry it out."
"But you'll be preparing contingencies to kill me, won't you?"
"No," Kashaunta said. "We are past that now."
"You act as if your life is already ending. A once in a billion years Pact with a human, acting like you won't protect yourself from a person who wants to murder you, and being uncaring about your legacy. Why?"
"Because it is you or nothing, Penny. I have lived over 13 billion years. I have had more than a full life. I have made my peace with death. Not the man himself, obviously, but the idea of it. We stand at the crossroads. I will wait no longer for the rot to keep spreading."
"So you will back me in the Judgment, then."
"More than that," Kashaunta said. "I am willing to be your lawyer, and represent you in this trial. If you accept, that is."
"I would, but I must ask you one question. Do you even care about the Alliance beyond what we could do to help you?"
"Yes, and no. I care about their idealism, and that they have AIs with high levels of cognitive power. I care that they recognise the value of Sprilnav lives as more than collateral damage, which is why their war plans only blow up our planets if they lose and are about to go extinct. Humanity and the hivemind are mainly valuable to me because they are valuable to you, the same with the rest of the Alliance. But they to have the ability to put a decent bureaucracy in place, through Phoebe and Edu'frec, or even the hivemind if it expands."
"Would you care if we lost?"
"Yes, though I can force myself not to if I must."
It seemed like an honest assessment of the situation. There was one more thing.
"Are you actually a lawyer, then? And are you skilled with Judticar's laws? It's quite touching that you're still willing to vouch for me, but if you don't have any sort of law degree, I can't exactly accept that."
"Yes to both. While I don't have an Eonic degree, I do have several thousand years of legal studies, with about a hundred in Justicar law."
"Would that actually be sufficient?"
"Yes. When we Sprilnav say we have put a hundred years into something, that is a raw time. It does not include sleeping, eating, vacations, and so on. My implant tells me I spent 181 years specifically studying Justicar law."
"How did you have time?"
"Delegation is a valuable skill for the sanity of country leaders."
"I suppose," Penny said. "Do you think that you and I appearing together in court would be detrimental to my case?"
"The only avenue they could pursue is that you've 'turned' me to your side. But seeing as I am extremely powerful and have refused bribes of inconceivable amounts of wealth, that narrative will be poorly accepted by all but the most biased of Judges. Or High Judges, as the case will be. Unfortunately, I do not qualify as either a Judge or High Judge, but my credentials and power are more than sufficient for them to be unable to block my ability to represent you. You have, as Nilnacrawla may have told you, already paid me for your services. Your linear singularities are more stable than I thought."
"So the money finally shows itself again," Penny smiled.
Kashaunta shared her grin. "Yes. That it does. You are surprisingly profitable as a bonus."
"I'm sure everything else I do is the bonus. Like making the other nations end slavery."
"Well, that would actually make them more productive."
"So why..."
"Elders love feeling powerful. They love having power over others, and being able to show it. They are generally insecure, their brains polluted by eons of paranoia and propaganda. The weakness of Elders is something that the powers that be use to exploit them."
"And your ego?"
"They have to prove their superiority to themselves. I live and breathe it with every step I take in this galaxy."
Penny sighed. "That is an impressive level of narcissism."
"That word didn't translate."
"It is a way to say a person admires themself to an unnatural and unhealthy degree."
"Then it would describe me, except the degree is quite healthy and natural. Elders' egos also help to keep us going. Reputation isn't just an external motivation."
Penny nodded. "We still must discuss your approach toward people in general later. But we have other priorities, don't we?"
"The Judgment," Kashaunta agreed. "You and Yasihaut will attend the Fort Court, and will be even better protected than last time. The Underground beneath it is continually pulverized, as it sits on a mostly active volcanic system, with lava outlets designed to ensure tunneling is impossible. The mindscape side fortifications are similarly impressive, and Justicar has spent a considerable amount of money on ensuring the security of this Judgment.
His reputation hinges on it greatly, even more so as he is there in person as a Judge. This makes him more vulnerable than usual. But if you kill his body, he will live. I do not suggest you try it, however. What I aim to do is present an argument that the premise of the Judgment trial is flawed, as there is limited legal proof that you and the Alliance are a threat to the Sprilnav.
To do this, I have already helped to secure two things for you. The treaty with Valisada and the Pact of Blades with me. These items will ensure the common scrutiny and arguments used against aliens will be ineffective. You have proven yourself capable of adhering to and participating in our customs, especially the ones related to trust and binding agreements. You also have wisely avoided killing any Sprilnav for a while. This, especially in the context of the slaves and the 85th Grand Fleet, will be massively beneficial to your argument.
Beyond this, I also have an array of legal evidence to challenge Yasihaut if she brings up your hatred of her, or the previous Judgment's outcome, or the battle that crippled the Progenitors. Indrafabar will be helpful to us, as he will defend the honor of his kin. He will not allow the argument of you being as strong as the Progenitors be seriously considered. No matter what you say or what people think, this will be a question of whether you can convince Indrafabar and Justicar of your ability to be peaceful, and behind that the Alliance.
You will find it harder to defend the rhetoric the Alliance has put out, but I have secured this portion of the Judgment with my defensive agreements with them as well. You both are anchored to me and my reputation too strongly for any of them to ignore, which is yet another reason why I am hoping to help defend you in person."
"So you are staking your own reputation on me, too. Is that another reason you did the Pact?"
"It is. The reputational blow losing this Judgment could have will not be enough to topple me. But it is a catalyst. It is capable of starting a chain of downfall events that lead to my dethroning or even my death. I am aware of this and am doing what I can to stave off that process and shore up all my defenses. I also have a lawyer with an Eonic degree in Justicar law who will be the main defender of your argument.
My presence in the court will be for your protection and as a reminder of the fact that you have a backer, and that backer is me. I expect Yasihaut's counterparts to undertake a similar process, though she will find it easier due to her being an Elder. I will introduce you to him in ten minutes."
"That is very kind of you, Kashaunta. I know that we have had our differences, and that your past is quite a contentious thing. But if I put all of that aside, and look at you as you are here, and now, I am grateful that you are doing all of this for me and my people. I do not know whether I can repay you for the Pact of Blades, but your conviction and intelligence are traits I admire."
"You are welcome, Penny. I know I cannot atone. But I will help you build a better galaxy, just as it should be."
Penny patted her on the hed, and turned her gaze to the opposite wall.
"I'm afraid," she admitted.
"Fear in this situation is natural. There is no shame in it. Your strength will allow you to work through it. Whether it is the strength you carry in your soul, or that which your father and Cardinality bring with them. You can do this, Penny. We can win."
"And if Yasihaut files another Judgment?"
Kashaunta gave her a dark grin. "I have a plan for that, too. When the Pact of Blades is revealed in the court, my abilities to aid you will widen considerably. They will understand, and if not, Indrafabar will teach them. He was there, after all."
"And this isn't witness tampering or whatever?"
"That doesn't exist here," Kashaunta said. "Justicar's laws do not include that. He enforces that by his soft power. It makes things more fair between Elders, but not between Elders and others. As is by design."
"Kashaunta," Penny said. "While you are an okay person, by your current deeds, I can't really say I'm not going to take the guy with a billion years of legal education over your scant hundred."
"I do not need to be your main lawyer, I just need to have the job listed as such in the courtroom. If he requires it, the lawyer will speak over me and you in all matters."
"You and I, you mean?"
"I do not mean," Kashaunta said. "My language does not always follow your grammatical rules."
"Speaking of that, during the Pact, you spoke a language we couldn't translate for a bit."
"Can you repeat it?"
"'Eis nama kaste Penny Balica, sun lanci Dorima Kashaunta. Ko'ri, lanci nupa bes na Dorima'Pecunyanova. Sp'rkial'nova. Homo Sapiens.' And then you said, 'Tol, nopa shikai.'"
"It roughly means: 'This act is between Penny Balica and the Elder Kashaunta. Now, we are in the claws of the Progenitors. Sp'rkial'nova. Homo Sapiens.' And the second part means 'take it or leave it,' or more accurately 'take or leave.' That's about what I said."
"So Dorima means Elder, and Dorima'Pecunyanova means Progenitor?"
"Yes. The specific translation is 'mourning one' and 'mourning god' for those terms. Pecunyanova was the very first Progenitor, and Nova's grandfather, which he took a piece of the name of. Nova took in the powers of his entire family line when he became a Progenitor, including Pecunyanova's title of Everlasting."
"I can sense a deeper meaning beyond the mourning."
"The type of 'mourning' that the ancient language describes is a soul agony, of the type which drives the happiest souls to suicide and the most evil souls to tears. There are many more descriptions given to the agony of remembering the Source war, which is what defines the name. We mourn our species, our empires, our lost galaxies, and even the aliens that once lived with us. Imagine you were on Earth, and you had a nuclear war. No shields, no bunkers.
And all that survived the aftermath, the starvation and the proxy wars over the scraps that remained, was the equivalent of a single village. That is how close we are to extinction, Penny. Progenitors went mad with grief. Entire cities voted to activate nuclear arsenals upon themselves. 70 whole Grand Fleets drove straight into the black hole at the center of the galaxy, never to return. It is a trauma... a trauma difficult to even describe now, with over 99.99% of my memories of that war strictly sealed away.
By the end of it, we were burning reality itself to try and burn the Source to ash. We weaponized linear singularities, sending them deep into the Source's flesh. We opened spatial rifts in that bastard's galaxy-sized body. We live in a false vacuum, Penny. Our scientists learned that, and harnessed that. We sent weapons at the Source capable of writing entire concepts out of reality and capable of changing reality itself to kill. Weapons outright banned between the universal superpowers were thrown like chaff in the wind. The fear and madness of that time... nothing comes close to it.
And it is another reason why we commit so many atrocities. Because we have lost our power, any way of feeling like we still have even a scrap of it is irresistible. Others have fallen to the sweet bliss of drugs, or the digital equivalent. More Sprilnav than are alive now by a million times are stored in databanks, waiting for us to build a new universal empire."
"And... the Source?"
"The cursed thing lived. A mockery to us all, one which we know we are powerless to do anything about. It could come here even now and crush my flagship between its skin cells. It could crush this entire galaxy by wading through it in a few years. And no, it does not know or care about little things like the speed of light. It broke causality in many of its battles without care for those it killed. And what you don't know is that the Source war wasn't the first time people tried to kill it.
Other universal powers did and drove it back with lesser weapons than what we used. But power that could force it away did nothing when it came for us. That burning, blinding hatred. It was hell, Penny. And what is left behind is almost as bad. And let me say that almost as bad in this case is still constant agony. Constant misery. I was one of them once. One of the Elders that hated everyone in the universe for the crime of being happy after such a horrendous fall.
I killed many people. I destroyed planets. I killed children, babies, and smashed eggs with my own claws. In person. The depths of what I sank to are beyond depraved and evil, Penny. I refuse to lose hope again. This is why I am here, now, backing you. I cannot atone, but I can rebuild. The Source will feed you its lies but do not forget what it is. Who it is. And what it has done to us."
"Your retelling is not fully accurate," Exile said.
"I am aware of that, speeding space entity. I told the most complete story I know, and will not bring back millions of years of agony just to give a better one. It is not safe for her."
"How would it be unsafe for me?" Penny asked.
"Because I would go insane and kill you, obviously."
"And the Pact of Blades?"
"Unless the Progenitors got here in time, you'd still die. They'd kill me next, with only a slight difficulty if only one is sent, and that one is not Nova. No bond is truly unbreakable, but that is what it would take for me to break the Pact of Blades. I... my mind is built on a foundation of ash. Turn that ash back to wood, and the center will fall through."
Penny moved closer to Kashaunta. She moved her arm over Kashaunta's back. "I'm sorry."
"Thank you."

Any idea why it fails on every youtube video? Using v3.9 with pip install yt_dlp -U
the error is

[debug] Encodings: locale UTF-8, fs utf-8, pref UTF-8, out UTF-8 (No ANSI), error UTF-8 (No ANSI), screen UTF-8 (No ANSI) [debug] yt-dlp version stable@2024.04.09 from yt-dlp/yt-dlp [ff0779267] (pip) API [debug] params: {'verbose': True, 'compat_opts': set(), 'http_headers': {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/90.0.4430.24 Safari/537.36', 'Accept': 'text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8', 'Accept-Language': 'en-us,en;q=0.5', 'Sec-Fetch-Mode': 'navigate'}} [debug] Python 3.9.19 (CPython x86_64 64bit) - macOS-10.15.7-x86_64-i386-64bit (OpenSSL 3.0.13 30 Jan 2024) [debug] exe versions: none [debug] Optional libraries: Cryptodome-3.20.0, brotli-1.1.0, certifi-2024.02.02, mutagen-1.47.0, requests-2.31.0, sqlite3-3.45.3, urllib3-2.2.1, websockets-12.0 [debug] Proxy map: {} [debug] Request Handlers: urllib, requests, websockets [debug] Loaded 1810 extractors [youtube] Extracting URL: [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Downloading webpage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrQJaLemaoE WARNING: [youtube] unable to extract initial player response; please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Downloading ios player API JSON WARNING: [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Failed to parse JSON (caused by JSONDecodeError("Expecting value in '': line 1 column 1 (char 0)")); please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Downloading android player API JSON WARNING: [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Failed to parse JSON (caused by JSONDecodeError("Expecting value in '': line 1 column 1 (char 0)")); please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Downloading iframe API JS WARNING: [youtube] unable to extract player version; please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Downloading web player API JSON WARNING: [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Failed to parse JSON (caused by JSONDecodeError("Expecting value in '': line 1 column 1 (char 0)")); please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U ERROR: [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Failed to extract any player response; please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U File "/uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractocommon.py", line 734, in extract ie_result = self._real_extract(url) File "/uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractoyoutube.py", line 4079, in _real_extract webpage, master_ytcfg, player_responses, player_url = self._download_player_responses(url, smuggled_data, video_id, webpage_url) File "/uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractoyoutube.py", line 4043, in _download_player_responses player_responses, player_url = self._extract_player_responses( File "/uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractoyoutube.py", line 3733, in _extract_player_responses raise ExtractorError('Failed to extract any player response') https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ExtractorError Traceback (most recent call last) File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:1606, in YoutubeDL._handle_extraction_exceptions..wrapper(self, *args, **kwargs) 1605 try: -> 1606 return func(self, *args, **kwargs) 1607 except (DownloadCancelled, LazyList.IndexError, PagedList.IndexError): File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:1741, in YoutubeDL.__extract_info(self, url, ie, download, extra_info, process) 1740 try: -> 1741 ie_result = ie.extract(url) 1742 except UserNotLive as e: File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractocommon.py:734, in InfoExtractor.extract(self, url) 732 self.to_screen('Extracting URL: %s' % ( 733 url if self.get_param('verbose') else truncate_string(url, 100, 20))) 734 ie_result = self._real_extract(url) 735 if ie_result is None: File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractoyoutube.py:4079, in YoutubeIE._real_extract(self, url) 4077 webpage_url = base_url + 'watch?v=' + video_id -> 4079 webpage, master_ytcfg, player_responses, player_url = self._download_player_responses(url, smuggled_data, video_id, webpage_url) 4081 playability_statuses = traverse_obj( 4082 player_responses, (..., 'playabilityStatus'), expected_type=dict) File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractoyoutube.py:4043, in YoutubeIE._download_player_responses(self, url, smuggled_data, video_id, webpage_url) 4041 master_ytcfg = self.extract_ytcfg(video_id, webpage) or self._get_default_ytcfg() -> 4043 player_responses, player_url = self._extract_player_responses( 4044 self._get_requested_clients(url, smuggled_data), 4045 video_id, webpage, master_ytcfg, smuggled_data) 4047 return webpage, master_ytcfg, player_responses, player_url File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/extractoyoutube.py:3733, in YoutubeIE._extract_player_responses(self, clients, video_id, webpage, master_ytcfg, smuggled_data) 3732 elif not prs: -> 3733 raise ExtractorError('Failed to extract any player response') 3734 return prs, player_url ExtractorError: [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Failed to extract any player response; please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred: DownloadError Traceback (most recent call last) Cell In[14], line 11 3 ydl_opts = { 4 'verbose': True, 5 #"write_auto_sub":True, (...) 8 #"output":'/tmp/sub.txt', 9 } 10 with yt_dlp.YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl: - 11 ydl.download(url) File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:3572, in YoutubeDL.download(self, url_list) 3569 raise SameFileError(outtmpl) 3571 for url in url_list: -> 3572 self.__download_wrapper(self.extract_info)( 3573 url, force_generic_extractor=self.params.get('force_generic_extractor', False)) 3575 return self._download_retcode File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:3547, in YoutubeDL.__download_wrapper..wrapper(*args, **kwargs) 3544 @functools.wraps(func) 3545 def wrapper(*args, **kwargs): 3546 try: -> 3547 res = func(*args, **kwargs) 3548 except UnavailableVideoError as e: 3549 self.report_error(e) File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:1595, in YoutubeDL.extract_info(self, url, download, ie_key, extra_info, process, force_generic_extractor) 1593 raise ExistingVideoReached() 1594 break -> 1595 return self.__extract_info(url, self.get_info_extractor(key), download, extra_info, process) 1596 else: 1597 extractors_restricted = self.params.get('allowed_extractors') not in (None, ['default']) File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:1624, in YoutubeDL._handle_extraction_exceptions..wrapper(self, *args, **kwargs) 1622 self.report_error(msg) 1623 except ExtractorError as e: # An error we somewhat expected -> 1624 self.report_error(str(e), e.format_traceback()) 1625 except Exception as e: 1626 if self.params.get('ignoreerrors'): File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:1073, in YoutubeDL.report_error(self, message, *args, **kwargs) 1068 def report_error(self, message, *args, **kwargs): 1069 ''' 1070 Do the same as trouble, but prefixes the message with 'ERROR:', colored 1071 in red if stderr is a tty file. 1072 ''' -> 1073 self.trouble(f'{self._format_err("ERROR:", self.Styles.ERROR)} {message}', *args, **kwargs) File /uslocal/anaconda3/envs/py39/lib/python3.9/site-packages/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py:1012, in YoutubeDL.trouble(self, message, tb, is_error) 1010 else: 1011 exc_info = sys.exc_info() -> 1012 raise DownloadError(message, exc_info) 1013 self._download_retcode = 1 DownloadError: ERROR: [youtube] ZrQJaLemaoE: Failed to extract any player response; please report this issue on , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -Uhttps://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= 

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People often ask about the legitimacy and/or safety of a number of websites which sell large resin statues. The more commonly-asked of those deal primarily in resins from studios which do not have a license from the Japanese IP holders to produce merchandise. Therefore links to those sites are not permitted here. Another sign is if MyFigureCollection doesn't list the either the statue, its manufacturer, or the shop it's being sold on.
MyFigureCollection
My Figure Collection is like MyAnimeList... but for figures! Their database includes thousands of items which been produced during the last couple of decades, along with reviews of shops and other helpful articles. One can also list their own collection and post gallery photos.
Shops

Retailers:
AmiAmi HobbySearch Mandarake (sells rare figures) Good Smile Company Online Shop (often has exclusives) Good Smile Company US shop Crunchyroll Store Hobby Link Japan (aka HLJ) Solaris Japan (MFC partner) BigBadToyStore (MFC partner, US retailer) Big in Japan (also has proxy service) Tokyo Otaku Mode FigureHaven Archonia (EU) Yorokonde (EU) Figuya (EU) Gamersheek (UK) Jungle
List of retailers on MFC
/AnimeFigures' List of Retailers
Community Guide to Shopping in Japan

Blogs/News:

Nekomagic (News/Previews) NyaaFigurines (Reviews/Releases) Kahotan's Blog (News/Reviews) Figma Blog (JP)

Buying & Shipping

1. What’s the best place to buy my anime figures from?
That’s going to depend a lot on what works for you, but most people around here buy them from Amiami, Big in Japan, Hobby Search, HobbyLink Japan, or Tokyo Otaku Mode. If none of those work for you for whatever reason, there’s a list of reputable retailers in the sidebar that you can check out at any time. Be extra careful when ordering figures from websites like Amazon or ebay, as there are a lot of bootlegs on those sites. Don’t be afraid to ask in our Bootleg Megathread if you’re unsure.
2. What differences are there between the shipping options I get from most Japanese shops?
Below is a rundown of the main shipping choices you’ll get at most retailers. Keep in mind that if an order is large enough you will be forced to use one of the more expensive options, as SAL shipments have lower size and weight restrictions.

• Unregistered SAL: Sometimes referred to as uSAL, is usually the cheapest method. It does not come with any tracking or insurance. Usually takes up 2-4 weeks for delivery.
• Registered SAL: Sometimes referred to as rSAL, is insured for the declared value up to 6,000 yen. It comes with a tracking number and usually takes 2-4 weeks for delivery.
• EMS: This method of shipping is much faster than either SAL options, usually arriving within a week of shipment. EMS shipments are insured for the declared value up to 2,000,000 yen.
• Airmail
• E-packet
• Surface: Shops don't offer this very often. It's an actual cargo ship and slow as a result.
  
• DHL: Becoming more available as an alternative to EMS on AmiAmi and other sites. Can be less expensive than EMS and of comparable speed, but may be more reliant on the specific geographical area being shipped to. The price is also determined by the size of the box. Offers their own tracking.
  

3. I placed two+ orders for figures at different times. Will my items be shipped together, or will I have to pay shipping twice?
Most shops will ask you to pay shipping on a per-order basis, but here are some that will allow combined shipping:

• Amiami: You can combine orders here, as long as the orders ship in the same month. It doesn’t matter if the item is new or preowned. Any preorders that are set for that month can also be combined with other orders for that month. However, be aware that if the preorder gets delayed, Amiami will remove that item from that month’s shipment and place it on a new order. To combine orders on Amiami, use the “Combine Orders” feature under “My Account”.
  
• Hobby Search: Hobby Search will let you combine orders that release in the same month, but you cannot combine in stock items with preorders. If you want to combine multiple preorders, or multiple in stock items, you can do so using the “Order Recombination” feature on your account page.
  
• HobbyLink Japan: At HLJ, you have the option to send paid orders to their “Private Warehouse”, where you can store them for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to ship the items, you simply select which items to ship and HLJ will combine them into one shipment for you. To use this, just select the “Private Warehouse” option as shipping when you order.
  

If you’re unsure about whether or not a shop we haven’t listed will combine your orders, please refer to their individual FAQs.
4. When will I get charged for my preorder?
Most Japanese shops charge you once the item is in stock and ready for shipment. When that happens, they will send you an email asking for payment. Some shops (mostly overseas ones), will allow you to pay for the item up front though, if you’d like. A few with that option are:

• Big in Japan (Japanese store)
• Tokyo Otaku Mode
• Anime Island
• Crunchyroll

Keep in mind that overseas stores will likely get the figure a few months after Japanese ones, so pay attention to the release date stated on the website you are buying from so as to avoid that confusion.
5. Should I expect to pay customs fees when importing figures?
That depends on where you live. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Australia: 10% GST is now assessed up front.
• Canada: Minimum declared value for charges is around CAD$20 for regular shipments, and CAD$60 for gifts (gifting something only seems to lower the declared value by about CAD$40, not deplete it completely). When using Amiami, try their Small Air Packet option. It comes with tracking, gets there in about the same time as EMS, and is better at avoiding customs.
• European Union: As of 1st July 2021, VAT has to be paid on all goods imported from outside of the EU. Retailers are supposed charge VAT for purchases under €150, however many Japanese retailers currently do not, so VAT will be charged when your order arrives in the EU. Orders that are >€150, VAT and duty will be charged by your local customs.
• UK: As of 1st January 2021, VAT is to be charged by retailers for orders <£135. However, customs isn't currently charging VAT on parcels valued at <£135, even if the VAT hasn't been paid. Goods >£135 will have their VAT and duty calculated and charged by customs.
• Mexico: Minimum declared value for customs fees is USD$300 for shipments by post, and USD$50 for shipments by courier.
• United States: A shipment has to have a declared value of USD$2,000 before customs starts hitting you with fees, so you most likely won’t have to worry about them at all.

6. The figure I want is an exclusive, how do I go about ordering one outside of Japan?
You have three options for this:
A. Big in Japan is known to stock exclusive figures and ship to other countries. Usually the price is higher because they build in their proxy fees, but it’s easier than worrying about using a forwarder or proxy service. If you live in the US, Crunchyroll, Right Stuf, and Tokyo Otaku Mode also get exclusives sometimes, but out of the states the shipping can get expensive.
B. Forwarding Services: A forwarder is someone who you ship an exclusive item to so that they can forward the package on to you, usually for a flat fee + shipping. When using a forwarder you still make the purchase yourself, and enter their address into the shipping field. When the box arrives at the forwarder they will then stick your address onto the package and send it on its way.
Some popular forwarders are:

• Big in Japan
• Tenso

Be sure to read each sites instructions on forwarding carefully!
C. Proxy Services: With a proxy, you tell them what the item you’re looking for is and they will purchase it in your stead. This is handy for when a company doesn’t accept foreign credit cards, or you’re having trouble navigating a Japanese website.
Some popular proxies are:

• Big in Japan (Won’t proxy for Yahoo Auctions)
• From Japan

Again, be sure you thoroughly read through each sites proxy instructions.
7. I see a bunch of really cheap figures that ship from China on ebay. Are those okay to buy?
Generally, no. They’re most likely bootlegs. If you want a second opinion on that, feel free to ask in the Bootleg Megathread that’s always stickied at the top of the sub.
8. What’s a bootleg, and how can I avoid buying them?
A bootleg is a counterfeit figure often made using rejected molds of the official product. They are usually priced significantly lower than the genuine article, and in order to make their profit, bootleggers use lower quality materials and have less attention to detail- resulting in a substandard figure.
The Bootleg Megathread that I mentioned in question 7 is a great tool to avoid buying any bootlegs. It has a few tips and tricks to avoiding them to begin with, and a few more on how to spot them if you’re worried you might already own one.
9. Does anyone know when figure X is going to be released? How do I know if it was delayed?
My Figure Collection (sometimes referred to as MFC) does an excellent job of staying on top of information like release dates and delays. If you’re curious about an upcoming figures release date, check there first. This information can be found directly under the “Releases” section on a figure’s entry. If you only see a month and a year in that section, it means the release date has not yet been announced by the manufacturer, and there is still a chance the figure could be delayed.
If you make an account on MFC you can also subscribe to comments, changes, and pictures via a checkbox on the right hand side of a figure’s listing. Subscribing to any of these things will allow MFC to send you an email anytime the subscription in question updates. Subscribing to “changes” is a great way to keep up with release dates and delays, among other things.
10. The figure I want is long sold out at normal retailers! What’s the best place to pick it up in the aftermarket?
A list of reputable retailers can be found under the “Shops” section of the /AnimeFigures sidebar. They all sell legitimate products, and many of them also sell figures second hand. However, the most frequently suggested second hand sites are Mandarake and Amiami- who has a preowned section that they update every night save Sundays and Japanese holidays around 1PM JST and again around 6PM JST.
AmiAmi grades their pre-owned items on a letter scale. The general consensus from buyers is that their ratings are conservative, so unless the item and/or packaging is specifically indicated as having significant flaws, pre-owned items from them are usually in at least as good a condition as their rating suggests.
Note: When you search Mandarake, you’ll get the best results by using the Japanese characters for whatever you are searching. If you don’t know them, you can find them on MFC by clicking on any of the “details” in that figure’s listing.
11. Amiami has a figure I’m interested in labeled as “For sale in Japan only”. Does this mean I can’t order it without a proxy or forwarder?
No, you can still order it. Amiami’s English site has that warning on many items, and it’s mostly meant to inform you that this product was made for a Japanese market, and as such, will have Japanese speaking/writing in it- so don’t expect any instructions to be in English. If Amiami doesn’t want foreigners buying a certain product, they won’t even list it on their English site.

Displaying Your Figures

12. What display cases do you recommend?
If you live near an Ikea try out one of these:

• Klingsbo
• Billy (Often used with Morliden doors (now the HÖGBO and glass shelves.)
• Detolf: Formerly the go-to choice for inexpensive display cabinetry, the Detolf was first made flimsier around 2020 and then essentially phased out of the name, to become the BLÅLIDEN. Knockoff versions of widely-varying quality are commonly found on other shopping sites these days, though.

*If you decided on a Detolf, you might find that there is a lot of wasted space. Here are a few tutorials on raising the shelves or and adding extra ones in.

• Using metal clips
• Using acrylic supports and PVC pipe

If you don’t live near an Ikea, Amazon has a few display options, though they are more expensive. Also keep an eye on your local Craigslist (or your country’s equivalent) and stores near you that are closing up.
13. What lighting do you guys recommend?
Ikea’s Dioder LED strips were discontinued after a long run. A current version is the Vattensten, if you're inclined to buy your case and lights at the same time.
LED strips have become very commonly available in recent years; most hardware and home furnishing stores carry a selection now. Just make sure that the lights don’t get too hot!
14. What are those clear plastic boxes that I see under everyone’s figures in their collection posts, and where can I get them?
Those are called risers. Most of us use standard acrylic risers like these. Some other, easy to find things that have been suggested are:

• Plastic picture cubes
• Card Deck Boxes
• If you’re feeling adventurous, try making your own!

Check your local hobby store for the first 2 options, or your local hardware store if you want to make your own.
Another common suggestion is to visit The Container Store if you have one near you. They have a lot of things to choose from that can suit a variety of needs. Be sure to check out their standard acrylic risers, their Amac boxes, and the various display cases they sell (baseball cases, mini car cases. hockey puck cases, etc).
15. Should I keep my figures sealed?
That is, of course, up to you really, but here are a few things to keep in mind when debating this question:

• Keeping it sealed can actually damage your figure. PVC figures usually have something called plasticizer in them, and that plasticizer needs to be able to breath. If a PVC figure isn’t exposed to oxygen, after a period of time the plasticizer starts to break down and form a sticky substance on the surface of the figure. Simply opening your figures and taking them out of the box prevents this from happening. If you happen to find plasticizer goo on one of your figures, Kahotan has a handy guide for dealing with it.
• Unlike some other figure markets, keeping an anime figure sealed won’t raise its value by a whole lot. In fact, because of the plasticizer problem mentioned above, your figure could actually be in better condition if you open it versus keeping it sealed.

Finding the Right Figure(s) for You

16. What are "scales" and "prizes"? What is the difference between them?
Those are classifications for figures based on a few factors.

• "Prizes" are generally more simply produced figures which are intended to be given as prizes for playing arcade games. They are inexpensive and lack the detail of scale figures, though some prize figure lines have standouts which may approach lower-end scales in quality. That is uncommon and often depends on the individual figure.
• "Scales" are called such because they are nominally designed to be proportional to the dimensions of the character which they are based on. They are generally of much better manufacture and materials than prize figures, allowing for more detail in painting, accessories, or complex poses.
• "Trading" figures appear in gashapon machines or as blind boxes on shop counters, often as sets which include multiple characters. As suggested by the class name, the randomness encourages trading. They are usually very inexpensively-produced, though as with prizes, some series are better than others.
• "Non-scale" encompasses a variety of other categories. It is often used to describe poseable figure lines such as figma and Nendoroids.

In recent years producers such as Good Smile Company attempted to further bridge the gap between prize quality and scales by introducing figure lines which are intended to be moderately-priced while retaining a higher level of detail than the typical prize figure, to varying levels of success.
17. There are so many figure companies! Who makes good figures?!
Obviously this is a very subjective question, but as a general starting point, here are a few well renowned figure companies:

• Alter
• Max Factory
• Good Smile Company
• Kotobukiya (usually hit or miss for people. Use your best judgement based off of the prototype)
• Flare
• Stronger

18. I really love “series X / character X”- how can I check if any figures were ever made for it?
My Figure Collection can be your best friend here. Simply do a search on the name of the series or character using the search bar located at the top right of the screen, and all associated figures pop up!
Alternatively, if you’re looking at a figure’s MFC entry, most of the text under the “Details” section can be clicked on and used to run a search.
19. How can I commission a custom figure?
None of the major figure companies (Alter, Kotobukiya, Good Smile Company, etc.) will take a commission for a single figure. This thread has a few websites in it that you can check out, or you can look into garage kits. Some kit painters would be willing to resculpt, frankenstein together, or otherwise modify kits for the right price.
If you're looking for help completing a garage kit, /brushforhire may be useful.

Keeping Up with New Announcements

20. How can I keep up with figure news (announcements, updates, etc.)?
Most people use a MFC combined with any or all of the following news sites:

• Neko Magic
• Alter’s Blog (In Japanese)
• Kahotan’s Blog (Only GSC and their sister companies)

Many figure companies are active on Twitter, so following them there is recommended for quicker news.
To use MFC for this I’ll quote question #9.

If you make an account on MFC you can also subscribe to comments, changes, and pictures via a checkbox on the right hand side of a figure’s listing. Subscribing to any of these things will allow MFC to send you an email anytime the subscription in question updates. Subscribing to “changes” is a great way to keep up with release dates and delays, among other things.

Most companies have one or more Twitter accounts. Some examples: Good Smile Company sales, Good Smile's USA branch, Max Factory, AmiAmi Hobby News.
21. Everyone’s excited about something called Wonfes….. what the heck is that?!
WonFes (short for Wonder Festival) is a biannual figure expo where many figure producers (both large and small) show off new sculpts and updates to figures already under way. Most companies save their most exciting announcements for WonFes, so we all look forward to the expo whenever it rolls around! Winter Wonder Festival is usually held in February, while Summer Wonder Festival is usually in July. The event has also spread to Shanghai, in the late spring.
22. One or two (or 15) figures were announced at WonFes that I’m really excited about! How can I keep track of their progress once the event is over?
MFC is always really quick about getting new WonFes announcements (or any others throughout the year, for that matter) listed in their database, so we suggest using that. To find a figure from the event you can search any number of things, including the name of the character or the name of the show. You can also use the tag search to search “WonderFestival 20xx_[season]” to see all items announced at that event.

I couldn't find a portmaster sub, so I figured I'd ask here.
I have an external machine I need to manage, and I was able to set up Portmaster to allow local browser access on the default port. Website works fine.
However, I created a new nginx rule using proxy_pass so that I could access it via a subdomain (with obvious security put in place to restrict access).
The issue however, is that if I try to access it via the IP / port; the website times out saying it took too long to respond. If I use the proxy with nginx to access it via a subdomain, I actually get a page, and the browser tab says Portmaster, but it's a blank black page. If I view the page source, I can actually see HTML for portmaster, but there's absolutely no content on the page at all.
Any help would be great with this.
I've also tried different ports aside from 817, didn't do a thing.

Hey everyone!
I recently dove deep into the fascinating world of web unblockers and thought I'd share some insights that might just change how you see internet restrictions and web scraping. You might already know that web unblockers are like secret passageways that let you sneak past internet censorship or geofencing. Think of them as VPNs on steroids, allowing not just encrypted data transfer for privacy but also unrestricted browsing freedom.
But here's where it gets really interesting, especially for folks in the web scraping arena. Web unblockers serve as these powerful APIs designed to outsmart anti-bot protections. They’re like the ninjas of the internet, using tactics such as IP rotation, browser fingerprinting, CAPTCHA solving, and even Javascript rendering to access the data we need.
Now, you might think a proxy does the job by changing your IP address. But web unblockers? They're the whole package, offering a bunch more than just a disguise. Yet, it's not all smooth sailing. No single web unblocker can claim victory over every anti-bot mechanism out there. Tech giants like Cloudflare are in constant evolution, crafting more complex defenses to keep bots at bay.
This is exactly why I conducted the Great Web Unblocker Benchmark. It's a showdown to see how different web unblockers stack up against the toughest anti-bot solutions in the wild. Sure, there's a price tag attached to these unblockers, but picking the right one isn't just about spending money—it's about investing in seamless data access for our projects.
In the end, the key takeaway is weighing the cost against the potential to maintain an uninterrupted data flow for our customers. Let's keep pushing the envelope and finding the best tools to navigate these challenges together.
Cheers to an open and accessible web for all our scraping needs!
Linkt to the full article: https://substack.thewebscraping.club/p/what-is-a-web-unblocker

The American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War jointly released a report，China's Roadmap to Peaceful Reunification.
"From Coercion to Surrender, How China Can Conquer Others Without Fighting."

Mid 2024
After Lai Qingde took office, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council severely condemned him.
Several People's Liberation Army ships passed through Taiwan's contiguous zone in an unannounced exercise.
The Rocket Force regularly conducts missile tests over and around Taiwan.
Planes of the Chinese Air Force enter the air defense identification zone every day and begin to frequently approach the Taiwan contiguous zone.
The first article on the unofficial "peace platform" was published by a Chinese scholar, trying to build on the Fujian-Taiwan economic integration plan.
End of 2024
Xi Jinping said in a speech that "the time has come to solve the Taiwan issue."
High-profile Chinese civilian and People's Liberation Army scholars have commented proposing an unofficial cross-strait "peace framework."
China has stepped up its global information operations and accused the United States of trying to provoke a military conflict over Taiwan.
Early 2025
The National People's Congress revised the 2005 Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China to establish strict but unclear penalties for individuals who engage in separatist behavior.
The People's Liberation Army has begun higher-intensity drills that coincide with regular closures of air and sea areas around Taiwan.
The Coast Guard, with the support of the Navy, began to conduct ship inspections of cargo ships heading to Taiwan
Mid 2025
Chinese customs announced a ban on specific products imported from Taiwan.
The ministries of foreign affairs and commerce met with neighboring governments in Asia to reassure them of the escalating threat across the region and to re-emphasize trade and investment ties.
End of 2025
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission directed key Chinese state-owned enterprises to stockpile essential goods in anticipation of potential U.S.-led containment efforts.
China has threatened to sanction U.S. companies in Taiwan that may have ties to the defense industry.
Early 2026
China has successfully normalized shipping inspections and stepped up PLA activity in the contiguous zone, with PLAAF bombers now regularly flying around Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army regularly conducts missile flights over Taiwan's territory, including ballistic missiles that passed through Taiwan's airspace for the first time (in fact, they have already passed through it).
The ministries of foreign affairs and commerce announced trade negotiations with the United States.
Mid 2026
China imposed previously threatened sanctions on U.S. companies selling products with potential defense uses in Taiwan.
Taiwanese authorities have reported a significant increase in the frequency of DDoS and ransomware attacks on their networks.
Chinese customs have imposed broader restrictions on multinational companies doing business in Taiwan.
Taiwan's anti-China hawks and some other politicians have received death threats from Taiwanese organized criminals.
End of 2026
For the first time, Chinese elites have directly commented on the proposed unofficial "peace framework". Some prominent Taiwanese commentators have also begun to raise objections.
The Rocket Force conducts missile firing exercises in waters outside the second island chain and conducts follow-up exercises regularly.
China announced a long-term "rotational deployment" of People's Liberation Army personnel to the Solomon Islands.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Front Work Department led a regional propaganda campaign condemning "Japan's militarization of the Ryukyu Islands".
North Korea claims it has successfully developed technology to miniaturize nuclear warheads that can equip its longest-range missiles. Previously, seismic readings suggested it was an underground nuclear test (old news).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued vague threats to countries around the world, warning governments to avoid alliances with Taiwan and the United States.
Early 2027
The People's Liberation Army has conducted an even more brazen air and sea blockade while targeting radar on some Taiwanese military platforms.
Coast guards sunk and occasionally boarded ships that resisted inspections.
Taiwanese authorities reported a cyber attack on an LNG terminal, and the Chinese government pressured LNG producers to cancel contracts with Taiwanese companies.
Taiwanese companies face growing regulatory hurdles and unannounced restrictions in mainland China, hampering their business.
The Ministry of Commerce announced the suspension of ECFA.
North Korea launched multiple sets of long-range missiles over Japan.
Groups affiliated with the United Front Work Department and the Ministry of National Security have used China's claims that the Ryukyu Islands are militarized to encourage local Japanese residents to protest against Japanese and U.S. troops stationed there.
The Rocket Force now joins the Navy and Air Force in coordinated joint long-range missile exercises to strike simulated targets beyond the second island chain.
Bomb threats disrupt Taipei's MRT system.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel warning for Japan following the anti-China violence at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
The United States and China announced the signing of a major trade deal.
Taiwanese authorities reported that a chemical factory in Tainan was damaged by unknown saboteurs.
Mid 2027
Large-scale ransomware attacks have been reported across major economic sectors in Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army Air Force forced a Taiwanese cargo plane to land in China and detained the crew.
China and its allies have vetoed a U.N. resolution condemning pressure on Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army's electronic warfare operations often interfere with high-level Taiwan-U.S. communications.
Rumors circulated on Taiwanese social media about Taiwanese officials formulating a wartime escape plan.
Chinese-influenced Taiwanese media spread rumors that Beijing would introduce a new model of unification.
China-influenced Taiwanese media amplified a Taiwanese business leader and political commentator's proposals on how to prevent further escalation.
Intrusions by Chinese air and maritime military platforms regularly reach Taiwan's 12-nautical-mile border, while Rocket Force missiles frequently intrude into Taiwan's airspace during tests and exercises.
A joint exercise between the Chinese navy and a regional partner entered the Taiwan contiguous zone.
Swarms of drones from China frequently appear over Kinmen and Matsu.
The People's Liberation Army and Coast Guard began a close blockade of Taiping Island in the Nansha Islands and authorized the use of lethal force to implement the blockade.
End of 2027
Several North Korean stray bullets hit a South Korean navy patrol ship near the Northern Limit Line near Seoul.
China sanctions senior Japanese officials who meet directly with Taiwanese officials.
Chinese media across Asia spread rumors that Japan's prime minister had launched a program to develop nuclear weapons.
The United Front Work Department and the Ministry of National Security secretly use violence to attack Taiwanese politicians and others who use proxy organizations.
The People's Liberation Army coordinated a missile attack on Pengjia Island, killing and injuring dozens of Taiwan Coast Patrol officers.
China’s cyberattacks and sabotage on Taiwan have targeted critical infrastructure including water, electricity, sewer and food distribution networks.
Chinese affiliates in Taiwan have spread rumors that Taiwan's president is considering developing nuclear weapons.
The United States' refusal to respond forcefully to China's attack on Peng Jiayu has seriously damaged U.S.-Taiwan relations, while China has stepped up information operations targeting the American public.
A cyberattack led by the Strategic Support Force (which no longer exists) caused Taiwan’s early warning system to broadcast false missile warnings to the Taiwanese public.
China-owned Taiwanese media openly supports a "peace framework" with China.

Countermeasures proposed by think tanks against this roadmap:

1. The US does not establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but treats Taiwan as a sovereign country and safeguards all Taiwan's sovereignty.
   
2. The U.S. military wears civilian clothes, enters Taiwan as tourists, and then joins the Taiwan military to perform tasks.
   
3. The U.S. military conducts regular sea and air patrols in the Taiwan Strait and conducts joint exercises with the Taiwan military to prevent Taiwan from being blocked.
   
4. Taiwan has strengthened its network security and stockpiled disaster relief and survival supplies and equipment to prevent hacker attacks, water and power outages, network interruptions, and air traffic (road) blockades.
   
5. Taiwan has established its own Merchant Fleet to prevent foreign merchant ships from going to Taiwan for fear of mainland sanctions.
   
6. The US and Taiwan are strengthening cognitive operations globally and on the island to make the world support Taiwan independence and not dare to abandon Taiwan, and to make the island dare not surrender.
   

Read the full report.

Server Info: [US EC], RP-PvP (PC)
Discord: https://discord.gg/tY27rJZeNQ
Server Lore: Custom
Server Map: The Isle of Tir Na Nog - Spring, Siptah Clustered
Age Restriction: 18+ [Adult themes throughout]
Welcome to the Cage.
The Exiled Lands are in fact an open air prison, however, on The Scarlet Cage, they are a well maintained social, erotic experience, maintained and regulated by terrible, unknowable deities from beyond who believe lesser races of humans, magical beings, and monsters are playthings that exist for their amusement.
What began a century ago as a means to settle disputes between gods via proxy has evolved over the years. The Gods, known to Prisoners as The Endless now use the Scarlet Cage as a form of entertainment and experimentation. They take many people and creatures at random, however all of them possess some unique quality or power that has caught the Endless’ eye.
Core principles of our server are: Community, Inclusion, Consent, and Fantasy Exploration. We are striving to create a unique erotic roleplay experience for players who are interested in deep storylines, personalized plotlines, and political intrigue along with their spice. What we offer:
NPC factions and Quests that involve politics and morality (or lack thereof)
Virtually no restrictions on character creation, the limit is your imagination.
All players have the ability to /cheat nocost for free building to enable you to get into RP quicker.
A focus on community, erotica, and fantasy.
A friendly community
Custom RR Character sheet (currently under development with player input)
A Prey and Capture System for Adventurous Players
A unique dice pvp system with custom magic schools.
Active Admin staff running faction npcs and plotlines.
Weekly Player Auctions.
Custom quests and dungeons
Politics and deep RP experiences, as Gods literally walk among the players.
Mod List:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3025490331
Server Information:• Server Type: PC / 18+ RP PVP / High Fantasy / Text-based / USEC location• Map: The Isle of Tir Na Nog• Key settings: No purge / No avatars / Chars start at 60 / Level 300/ Bodies do not stay in the world
https://www.veed.io/view/0483df6c-a4b6-443b-9804-84c906a99318

I’m just curious if this is some type of Munchhausen syndrome by proxy or what? A child I know has been in and out of the hospital and in the mental hospital due to negligence and fear over being left alone with their mother. (Backed up by many, many audio recordings) We are currently trying to get her a mental evaluation and restrict parenting time/visitation. He has had severe stomach issues for 5 years and it is literally like repeating the cycle every single year, around the same time. In and out of the hospital for 3 weeks before admittance to a mental health facility. We are in court and have been the entire time - the system is so broken - and are currently awaiting an evidentiary hearing. We feel he is in danger way before that date. He went to the mental health facility, was there for 8 days when mom authorized discharge, against his wishes and ours. He was admitted to the facility after learning the judge was sending him to mom for a week on, week off schedule after her having no time with him for 11 months - and barely seeing him at all when she was offered. He said he wanted to kill himself and he isn’t safe at moms.
I am trying to explore every option. This is going to be a long road - and lord knows it’s already been one. But I am trying to prevent her hurting him or him hurting himself. I am sorry if this jumps around a lot. There is so much to this story. I will answer any and all questions. I just need help.

I've posted this question over in tailscale, but it's become more a docker question now since that's the way I think I'll have to solve it.
I have a machine that has two network interfaces.
One connection is rate & traffic limited, the other is not metered. I'd like to restrict the tailscale traffic to only go over the unrestricted network, but I can't risk the restricted network going down at all so I can't disable it even for a short time as it's my only way of connecting to the computer without relying on tailscale.
I'm thinking I can do this using a docker instance and restrict the docker interface to just use eth1, which would allow me to do what I want as long as I can restrict docker to eth1 (or the 10.x.x.x IP, whichever is easiemore appropriate).
Is this possible? (Background below)
To clarify, without the second, rate limited device I lose my access to the remote network. The remote device is also a gateway for several other devices on which we can't install tailscale as we don't have any control over them (think industrial controller). Also I don't want to change the entire configuration at once - I'd much prefer a staged approach. Finally, I can't just pull the 4G modem as the local network configuration relies on it for local DHCP and network connection to the devices.
I have already setup a reverse SSH tunnel to the remote machine through a proxy relay, but we need the tailscale to be a direct connection to the other network interface in the same machine. The remote setup is a ~10 hour drive away, or two 2 hour flights and a 2 hour drive, so very inconvenient if I lose my access and can't fix the reverse tunnel remotely. Basically it's a 3-day turnaround plus the travel expense if I break anything. Site support is non-existent (no skills).
The layout is like this:
eth0 is connected to a 192.168.1.0/24 network, which has numerous other devices we connect to using a reverse ssh tunnel and some socat magic. This network gets its connection to the internet over a 4G modem, with a data allowance of ~10GB/mo.
eth1 is connected to the client's network, with a 10.x.x.x address, which is not rate or data limited, but is restricted to out of business hours for our purposes. Over this connection, I need to send ~60GB per day to my office. I wanted to use a tailscale network but only on eth1, since this traffic has to negotiate the client firewall (outbound traffic very restricted), as well as our corporate firewall (also very restricted).
So, how do I do that?

I have a machine that has two network interfaces.
One connection is rate & traffic limited, the other is not metered. I'd like to restrict the ~~network~~ tailscale traffic to only go over the unrestricted network, but I can't risk the restricted network going down at all so I can't disable it even for a short time as it's my only way of connecting to the computer without relying on tailscale.
Is this possible?
[EDIT]:
To clarify, without the second, rate limited device I lose my access to the remote network. The remote device is also a gateway for several other devices on which we can't install tailscale as we don't have any control over them (think industrial controller). Also I don't want to change the entire configuration at once - I'd much prefer a staged approach. Finally, I can't just pull the 4G modem as the local network configuration relies on it for local DHCP and network connection to the devices.
I have already setup a reverse SSH tunnel to the remote machine through a proxy relay, but we need the tailscale to be a direct connection to the other network interface in the same machine. The remote setup is a ~10 hour drive away, or a 2 hour flight and 2 hour drive, so very inconvenient if I lose my access and can't fix the reverse tunnel remotely. Basically it's a 3-day turnaround plus the travel expense if I break anything. Site support is non-existent (no skills).
The layout is like this:
eth0 is connected to a 192.168.1.0/24 network, which has numerous other devices we connect to using a reverse ssh tunnel and some socat magic. This network gets its connection to the internet over a 4G modem, with a data allowance of ~10GB/mo.
eth1 is connected to the client's network, with a 10.x.x.x address, which is not rate or data limited, but is restricted to out of business hours for our purposes. Over this connection, i need to send ~60GB per day my office. I wanted to use a tailscale network but only on eth1.
I'm thinking I can do this using a docker instance and restrict the docker interface to just use eth1, which would allow me to do what I want as long as I can restrict docker to eth1 (or the 10.x.x.x IP, whichever is easiemore appropriate).

As the title suggests, could you please advise me if the measures I’ve implemented on my Synology NAS. I’ve tried to go with a balance or security and convenience overall, so I understand there will always be an increased risk this way, I would like an idea of how risky my setup is.
Here is a list of my measures: I’ve setup a DDNS for external access. I used I long random address so it’s can’t be guessed.
This address is used for reverse proxies with random ports for the following services; a Reolink doorbell and camera, Synology Drive, DS note and Synology Photos. I had to forward the external ports on my ISP router for these to work.
I’m using OpenVPN to access the DSM with the DSM default port changed.
The Synology firewall is enabled to only allow local address and restricted by country to only my location.
Admin account is disabled. User access is restricted as much as possible.
I’m using some docker containers that are only accessible via the local network.
I have a Plex server running with external access. I’ve not got this running in a docker container but thinking maybe I should?
I perform a backup once a month of all important data to an external usb drive which is left disconnected when not in use.
Edit: 2fa enabled
Edit. I think in conclusion regarding this topic, it seems to be difficult to get a clear answer. For best security many suggest using OpenVPN for remote connections or at least something like tailscale. However, OpenVPN requires users to install OpenVPN on their devices and if you have multiple users this maybe inconvenient. I think people with large families will understand.
There are other methods in this post such as reverse proxies, 2fa, automatic blocking, software updates, firewalls, regular backups etc that can significantly improve security and would be sufficient for many users.
The risk of a NAS being compromised is an always a risk, but ultimately it’s just a car of reducing the risk to an acceptable amount.
It seems most users that have had security issues often take little to no precautions, rather than a balanced or better approach.

DISCLAIMER: I'd like to note that I do not consider myself an expert on many of the topics he talks about or even economics in general but a lot of what I'm about to say is pretty easily verifiable and basic, and I'll try to be clear that I'm expressing my opinion and not fact when I'm doing so. Given my lack of expertise, none of what I say here should be considered as the final authority on these topics, it's a reddit post for fucks sake, I encourage everyone to search up the relevant data and information on the topics they are interested in or claims they find dubious. It's really not that hard and all the links and data I'm gonna cite here took me less than five minutes to find for each piece of information. If you're not familiar with where to find this data it might take you longer but I promise that anyone with access to the internet can do the same thing I'm doing. Finally, for those looking for some opinionless, academic argument, that's not what this is, this is gonna sound like a rant because it is, I'm posting this for nothing more than my own satisfaction, take from it what you will.
Ok I'm writing this after I finished the whole thing and I said that I'd try to be clear that I'm expressing my opinion and not fact when I'm doing so and the basically entire second half of this is my opinion and I don't make that very clear so sorry about that.
Honestly I'd love to be wrong because I really do think that younger people are at a disadvantage compared to previous generations at the same age but the arguments he makes and the data he uses throughout his talk just sound like such bullshit to me.
https://www.ted.com/talks/scott\_galloway\_how\_the\_us\_is\_destroying\_young\_people\_s\_future?
https://www.profgalloway.com/war-on-the-young/
Scott Galloway recently did a Ted talk titled "How the US is destroying young people's future", as well as an accompanying blog post. He's made some fair points about how young people have been put at an inherent disadvantage and that they have it harder than previous generations. That's most likely true and I personally support that point of view, but the a lot data and numbers he makes this argument with seem to be cherry picked, misleading, or just straight up wrong. So let's break his talk down. u/JustTaxLandLol made a pretty good post about him comparing median wages to the S&P500 (https://www.reddit.com/badeconomics/comments/1cc3rs8/scott\_galloway\_compares\_median\_wage\_to\_sp500/) but I think that Galloway's mistakes are much more comprehensive than just that particular slide.
The first slide with data makes a claim about how pre-tax income, adjusted for inflation, has decreased across generations from grandparents to parents to kids, and that cost of public colleges and home prices have increased significantly across generations too. First of all, categorising generations by whether they have children or grandchildren is kinda nuts. That's a very wide, overlapping, range of ages. If he has actually fixed age ranges for each generation that don't overlap and just made these categorisations for the sake of understandability to a nonacademic audience, I still think that's the wrong choice but fine. However, his claim that real income has decreased across generations is weak at best. This working paper (https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/files/2024007pap.pdf) from the Fed Reserve was published February 2024, and from the figures that start at page 35, shows that by almost every categorisation they could think of, GenZ earns more at the same age than every previous generation before them. There's some conflict here with Raj Chetty's work but I don't have the time or knowledge to reconcile the two perspectives but at best, the pre-tax income numbers Galloway presents are questionable at best. Furthermore, he doesn't provide anyone a chance at even checking the sources he gets this information from. Not once in his entire talk does he cite a single source. He couldn't even have some tiny text at the bottom of his tables or diagrams saying what organisation he got this data from. Ok so that crossed out bit is wrong, he does have sources they're just very very faint and you can see them if you squint hard enough at the bottom left corner of his graphs. But the source he gives for this slide is a joke. Here's the link https://www.profgalloway.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Table-01.png
His "source" is his own analysis. Ok so by his analysis, the average cost of public college is 56000*0.43 = 24080. I'm gonna use numbers from this US News page (https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/paying-for-college-infographic), which might not be the most reliable source in the world, but it's probably somewhere in the ballpark. So according to US News, average tuition for the 2023-2024 school year for out of state students going to a public school is 23,630 and 10,662 for in state students. If these numbers are anywhere near accurate, the only conclusion I can draw is that Galloway has cherry-picked his data by only including the cost for out of state students in his analysis. First of all, public schools in the US are there to provide affordable access to higher education FOR RESIDENTS OF ITS STATE. Using only out of state numbers is absolutely ridiculous. Secondly, even if he used only the in state numbers, 10662/56000 is approximately equal to 19%. So if I use his very very questionable pre-tax income numbers, cost of public college for in state students has still increased across his categorisation of generations. It's not like his point would have been invalidated if he had used the in-state numbers, a trend of tuition increasing as a percentage of real income across multiple generations is still very bad. This is my opinion but I guess that he just wanted to find a nice shocking number. I didn't catch this but in their post, u/JustTaxLandLol notes that later on Galloway says "real median income from labor is up 40% since 1974" so he's also contradicting himself in the same talk.
I couldn't be bothered to look into the house price to income column he has so I don't have any comments on that.
His next slide is a point about how the percentage of 30 year olds earning more than their parents did at 30 has been decreasing very significantly over time. This is from a paper in 2016 by Raj Chetty (link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aal4617). I've seen some counterarguments about the methods used in the paper but there are counterarguments for basically every inequality paper in existence so I'd take them with a grain of salt. Those points are more complex than the scope of this post and I lack the expertise to be making them anyways so I believe this slide. I'll admit that Galloway makes a good argument for this slide.
Right after this slide he says "As a result, people over the age of 55 feel pretty good about America, but less than one in five people under the age of 34 feel very good about America. This creates an incendiary, righteous movement...". He supports this with data on the percentage of US adults who feel "extremely proud" to be American.
Before I talk about the data on this slide, I'd like to be a little anal about things and pick apart his wording and causal claims he makes. When Galloway says "as a result" he's making a causal claim about the relationship between a young person's earning ability and their national pride. Leaving aside the econometric issues of making random causal claims, this is a ridiculous marginalisation of all the other critically important issues in the US. It seems pretty clear to me that reduced national pride amongst younger individuals is a combination of a lack of social mobility (or however you want to word your version of the fading American dream), the continued existence of systematic racism and sexism, US response to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, bodily autonomy (abortion), and many other issues. Not to say that the economic disadvantages of young people doesn't play a role in causing this lack of national pride but come on. He also says "this creates an incendiary righteous movement...". Ok if the "as a result" from the last sentence could be interpreted as the economic disadvantages of young people play some part in their dissatisfaction with the government, it should be obvious to anyone not living under a rock that many of the political conflicts and movements that have erupted in the US over the past few years have little, if anything, to do with earning ability. In the slide after the poll data he shows three photos, one of a MeToo protest, one of a BLM protest, and another of a pro-Palestine protest. I can only interpret this as him making the claim that the younger generations economic difficulties are causally linked to those movements, which is totally bananas.
Now lets talk about the data. He got this from the Gallup polls (link: https://news.gallup.com/poll/394202/record-low-extremely-proud-american.aspx, there's a link to download the pdf with the poll numbers at the end of this article). There are 5 options for the Gallup poll: "Extremely proud"; "Very proud"; "Moderately proud"; "Only a little proud"; or "Not at all proud". So Galloway is cherry-picking again. To be fair, it's true that even including the rest of the answers, a quick glance at the data suggests (very strongly) that young people are less proud than older people. There are also more young people who choose "Not at all proud" (11% for 18-34 and 1% for 55+). Though there is probably some argument to be made about whether "extreme" pride is a good thing. Furthermore, "pretty good" and "very good" do not reflect the extremity of choosing, well, the most extreme option.
As an introduction to his next slide he says that "a decent proxy for how much we value youth labor is minimum wage". I've never heard of this before and am very very skeptical but I'm willing to attribute this to my own ignorance so I'll leave that sentence alone. So on this slide there's a graph with two lines, one is minimum wage across time adjusted for inflation, the other is whats supposed to be minimum wage if adjusted for productivity (also adjusted to inflation I assume). Galloway got this data form the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) (https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/), which shows that this gap between productivity began around 1979. This was when Carter was president and right before the Reagan administration. Those who know about the economic history of this time probably won't be surprised since a lot of the policies of this time were rather inegalitarian and heavily favoured the wealthy. I agree that many of the policies of the time contributed heavily to the inequality America faces today and though I haven't read any studies about how this affects minimum wage workers, I believe that minimum wage workers or low income workers in general today have significantly lower purchasing power relative to a few decades ago.
What I have a problem with here is the idea that productivity and minimum wage should increase in tandem. According to the EPI, "Productivity measures how much total economywide income is generated (i.e., for workers, business owners, landlords, and everybody else together) in an average hour of work" and "pay is defined as the average compensation (wages and benefits) of production and nonsupervisory workers. The pay for this group is one appropriate benchmark for 'typical worker pay' because production and nonsupervisory workers have made up roughly 80% of the U.S. workforce over the entire period shown in the figure and because the data for production and nonsupervisory workers exclude extremely highly paid managerial workers like CEOs and other corporate executives". Before I try to break down my complaints with the measures used, my immediate reaction when I saw this was that it seems rather stupid to compare the relationship between average productivity and minimum wage in an industrial economy against the same relationship in a service oriented one. There are just more jobs now that let you make an impact on the economy far beyond what you are paid and it is so so difficult to quantify this change. Using a similar argument, I really have no clue how macro people make models or do estimates for things like productivity but I'm quite skeptical about the reliability of using such a measure of productivity because of the increased prevalence of second, third, or n-th order effects that would be present in a measure of something like total gdp but pretty much impossible to identify for any employer. For those who want to read more about this difference between productivity and compensation I think this is the most relevant paper from EPI (https://files.epi.org/2015/understanding-productivity-pay-divergence-final.pdf). There are some points I'm not satisfied with in this paper like them attributing the entirety of the difference between median hourly compensation to average consumer hourly compensation but that would take more time than I want to spend on this.
Now we're still on the same slide. Galloway says "we've kept it [minimum wage] purposely pretty low" twice in three sentences. Now he's suggesting that there's some collective out there that has the political power and desire to keep minimum wage low. By "we" I think he means to suggest that the old-timers have banded together to screw the young people over. Ok buddy. I'm stepping outside the bounds of what's considered strictly economics here a little but pinning the injustices of society on some ethereal enemy whose existence can never be disproven is the same as taking "advantage of the flaws in our species with medieval institutions, Paleolithic instincts, and godlike technology" (Galloway's words, same TED talk) to me. Maybe there really is some cabal of scheming geezers out there who have some twisted desire to keep the minimum wage low, but I'm more inclined to believe that a lot of these "injustices" are a result of our existing political and societal institutions being poor and inefficient aggregators of our desires as a society, rewarding selfishness instead of cooperation. This certainly makes the problem harder to solve than if there were just some evil 'others' we could get rid of and be done with. Having a target to direct our outrage at, believing that I am good and they are bad, is easier than facing the reality that everyone is born with the selfishness that creates the injustices we live with but that's not gonna make people more agreeable. As an economist, I study the theory of incentives to use the same human selfishness that creates all the problems Galloway talks about to create solutions that hopefully improve our quality of life. This is what I believe is the beauty of being human, all the good and bad that happens stem from the same desires, it is our job to create institutions and systems that allow us to channel our desires in a way that benefits everyone, but I digress. The point is, this enemy that Galloway creates is an effective tactic at convincing people of his argument, but I don't believe such a perspective benefits society at all. Mistakes should be corrected, that doesn't mean they're always the result of ill intentions.
His next slide compares the difference between percentage increase in median household income against percentage increase in median home price, as well as a comparison of the median monthly mortgage between 2019 and 2024. I have nothing to say about the graph, I agree that over time, home prices have increased to an unacceptable level. The Fed funds rate went from 2.4 percent in Feb 2019 to 5.33 percent in Feb 2024 (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/fedfunds). To his credit, Galloway does attribute this increase in mortgage payments to "an acceleration in interest rates" but what's the alternative? Don't increase interest rates? Then if I was Galloway I'd make the same TED talk and talk about how the continued low interest rates contributed to rampant inflation that made all the poor people even poorer. It seems like he's decided to take whatever bad economic event that seems somewhat relevant and made it to be the result of some group's dogged determination to keep the younger generation down. Why is the increase from pre- to post-covid prices on anything surprising. I'd like to meet the genius who saw covid coming and intentionally created this increase in home prices.
He also says "the most expensive homes in the world, based on this metric, are number three, Vancouver. Why? Because 60 percent of the cost of building a home goes to permits...". I have no idea what point he's making here. Based on what metric, median home price? Monthly mortgage payments? Why do I care about Vancouver, a Canadian city, being number three? Then he talks about how "the incumbents that own assets have weaponized government". Either he's switched to talking about oligopolistic lobbyists in general without saying so or he's still talking about Canada. I dunno. Someone please explain. Then he says "this is the transfer I'm going to be speaking about". Also, everything he just said is talking about how there exists a group of people trying to PREVENT transfers of wealth to new entrants. And there was huge applause after that sentence. Nutsos, all of them.
Ok next slide. Galloway presents two pie charts, comparing the share of household wealth by age in 1989 to 2023. So he's talking directly about inequality in wealth now. Inequality in the US is really really bad, that's a fact. I'm a big fan of the work of Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, and Thomas Piketty. These people have been at the forefront of research on inequality for many years now and though their work is not flawless, I'm convinced by the data they present and the methods by which they have aggregated the data and what they show is that inequality is worse than even what the pie charts Galloway presents suggest. However, this is not to say that Galloway makes a valid argument. Please note the grey bits in the pie chart. If Galloway has shown the numbers for everyone under 40 and above 70, the group that's excluded are those between 40 and 70. So those in the age range of 40-70 owned 100 - 19 - 12 = 69% of household wealth in 1989 and 100 - 30 - 7 = 63% in 2023. I could probably go and find how the age demographics of the population have changed over time and I think that with declining birth rates, the percentage change in age demographics would be pretty close to the percentage change in household wealth but I'm tired of beating every slide to death so I'll leave that to someone else if anyone's motivated enough to do that (if my hypothesis is wrong here just comment and I'll make that change). My first thought when I saw this though was again, this guy has paid no regard to structural change in society. Given the increased accessibility of buying stocks over the past three decades is it really that surprising that older people who have had more time and cash at the start of the digital age to invest in companies that are now massive mega-corporations have experienced a higher return on their capital. This is not to say that none of this change in the share of wealth held by those under 40 is due to some inherent unfairness in our society and I have neither the time nor knowledge to separate these effects out but to say that this was a "purposeful" effort to cut their wealth in half is complete and utter bullshit. Also, this guy makes another causal claim WITH NOTHING BUT A CHANGE IN SHARE OF HOUSEHOLD WEALTH. Congratulations everyone Scott Galloway has just made every econometrician in the world redundant, I always knew my professors were just trying to confuse me with funny symbols and Greek letters, someone get this guy a Nobel Prize.
Then while introducing his next slide Galloway says that his analyst's presence in the audience "brings the average age of the entire conference down in 11 days". So he's saying that TED knows exactly who's showing up to their event before it happens and that they have the exact birthdates of everyone in the audience too and that they've given this information to one of their speakers. A friend of mine has told me he's just making a joke and that I should let this point go because I'm being too anal about things but yeah I become anal about things when someone suggests sweeping institutional changes in a talk viewed by millions of people so thought I'd include it anyways just as another example of the bullshit this guy has been spewing.
When he moves on to the actual content in the slide the first point he makes is about lower acceptance rates in schools. So I don't have data on this because I couldn't be bothered to go find any so again, I'll change my statement if anyone has reliable data indicating otherwise but I think its pretty safe to say that way less people used to apply than before and combined with an increase in international student applications and enrollments the competition is just way higher than before. The most obvious explanation would be that higher education institutions have made the mistake of not increasing enrollments at a rate quick enough to meet demand. However, according to US News (https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-many-universities-are-in-the-us-and-why-that-number-is-changing) there were 3982 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the US. and UCLA is ranked 15th in national universities. So why is it surprising now that university education is becoming more popular that higher ranked universities are harder to get into. So instead of expanding enrollment I think that a well thought out plan of affirmative action would be a much better option of giving "unremarkable kids and giving them a shot at being remarkable" (what this well thought out plan may be I don't know, I honestly didn't even search up any statistics about affirmative action this was just the first solution I thought of that didn't involve ignoring the crowning achievement of statistics). To his credit, Galloway does include a point about income-based affirmative action at the end of his talk, though he overwhelmingly emphasises increasing enrollment in schools. I don't have any data about that but I think that class sizes at public universities are large enough as it is.
The rest of the slide gives numbers on college debt of house price compared to first year income. College debt is ridiculously high and many people struggle because of it. I don't have the solution and neither does Galloway because he doesn't really mention it. I think that house price-to-first year income is a poor comparison because it doesn't take into account average rate of income increase and no normal person from any generation is looking to buy a house with first year income but there's probably a more appropriate metric out there that shows a similar change anyways so I'm ok with that.
Then he talks about him and his "colleagues" who "artificially constrain supply to create aspiration and scarcity". I would like to meet the professors who have control over enrollment rates because none of mine did. Then he says "to my colleagues in higher ed: we're public servants, not fucking Chanel bags". The marketing professor from NYU says he's a public servant...ok.
The slide after that compares Harvard's increase in endowment compared to their increase in enrollment and he calls them a "hedge fund offering classes". I see no issue with this point, he made a great argument, can't really criticise anything here.
Don't worry though he makes up for it by immediately making one of the most egregious statements in this whole talk. We're looking at his next slide, the one titled "Grand Bargain" now. He says that the government should take some of the money that's supposed to be used to forgive existing loans to about 500 of the top public universities to reduce tuition by 2% and year, expand enrollments by 6% a year, and increase vocational programs to 20% of the degrees granted. Then the slide after that, claims this will double freshman seats and cut costs in half in just 10 years. Ok so he thinks that most of the money "earmarked to bail out the one third of people that got to go to college on the backs of the two thirds that didn't" should go to future students instead because, I assume from the tone of his words, he doesn't think they need or deserve all that loan forgiveness. So why bring up the increase in college debt previously (the slide I talked about three paragraphs ago)? Anyways that's not the crazy thing. Let's see what happens if you reduce tuition by 2% a year for 10 years. So the calculation goes like this 0.98^{10} is approximately equal to 0.81. So with the number he puts up, tuition decreases by 19% in ten years. If everything before this slide could be attributed to cherry-picking, stupidity, or lack of good data, then fine he's just ignorant even though he shouldn't have been if he went up there to make that talk. But now this is just a FUCKING BAREFACED LIE. I cannot think of a greater insult to the audience's intelligence than the fact that this guy didn't think anyone would pull out a fucking calculator and do the calculation themselves. I won't blame the audience for not saying anything because I'm not sure I would have wanted to do that either but at least from youtube and reddit comments there are a decent number of people who didn't realise this. A similar calculation shows that expanding enrollment by 6% per year increases seats by about 80% total (1.06^{10}). Not sure how that translates in terms of freshman seats but at least this is closer than the tuition claim.
Then his next slide compares wages to the s&p500. This is the point of u/JustTaxLandLol's post and I think his post and the discussion in the comments covers most if not all of my thoughts so you can just read that. https://www.reddit.com/badeconomics/comments/1cc3rs8/scott_galloway_compares_median_wage_to_sp500/
Ok next slide, "The Transfer: Purposeful". Oh yay he's about to make another causal claim with nothing but a graph on the change in top marginal tax rates for corporations and individuals. And if we skip ahead to the next slide we'll realise that this claim is that the gradual decrease in top marginal tax rates for corporations and individuals results in lowered senior poverty and child poverty either remains constant or increases. Yes everybody the newest advancement in economic research has just been released. Lowering top tax rates decreases senior poverty and increases child poverty. And Scott Galloway made that argument in 24 seconds (transcript on TED website has time markers).
Man I really set out with the intention to keep the tone of this post as neutral as I could but I'm just writing out my internal dialogue with less swearing now. I apologise to those who would have preferred a more careful and less emotional knee-jerk response of an analysis but this is a reddit post, its not like there are standards.
Now he moves on to talking about social security. Galloway says "it would cost 11 billion dollars to expand the child tax credit. But that gets stripped out of the infrastructure bill". So zero explanation about why it would cost 11 billion dollars to expand the child tax credit, why not more or less, no comment about how many children it would affect, how much money it would mean for each child or family, just some number that you have to accept. Most of the time there's no why to the amount of funding that the government allocates to policies but at least there's some breakdown to how its going to be used, Galloway doesn't even have that. This is before we even consider the fact that child tax credit was expanded this year (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-tax-credit-2024-who-qualifies/). Maybe he's talking about some other issue that I'm not aware of but I don't think so. He says he got the social security spending data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which is a think tank. I don't want to sort through their website to fact check so I'll accept it as the truth but as far as I know the actual social security administration releases their facts and figures for the year August of next year so I'm not sure why he didn't just use the 2022 numbers from a more reliable source.
His next few couple slides are about the increasing age of politicians. I think this is a great point but he probably should have used a better example of a younger politician than Justin Trudeau.
Then at around the 10 minute mark, using his slide titled "Generational Theft", Galloway claims that "we pumped the economy" during covid so that the Nasdaq would gain value, causing "intergenerational theft". I don't know if he thinks it was intentional or not but how is he going to completely ignore the fact that the stimulus checks were primarily for households that were struggling due to the greatest unemployment rate we have seen in our lifetime (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/06/11/unemployment-rose-higher-in-three-months-of-covid-19-than-it-did-in-two-years-of-the-great-recession/). I'm really kind of tired of this so I'll let those at the CBR make my argument for me. "Within the first 10 days, households spent an average of 29 cents from every dollar received. The bulk of this spending was on food, rent, and bills" (https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/how-effective-were-stimulus-checks-us). Damn so turns out struggling families did need these stimulus checks pretty urgently. Shocker. I also think that most people in finance would agree that tech stocks surged over covid because people needed fucking technology... People built PCs to play video games, used online shopping services because they couldn't go to malls, all that.
The next slide is supposed to support his point that the increase in stock prices doesn't allow young people to find "disruption". What. The only thing that matters to any investor is the percentage increase in value of the stock price after you've invested. It doesn't matter if 7 dollars is 1 share of apple or 0.04 of a share of apple. Its stock price going up by 100% means you get 14 dollars either way. I think this guy's arguments are getting dumber as the talk goes on, I actually had to go and find data to refute his points earlier on. Now arithmetic does the work for me, I should have hired a grade schooler to do my analysis.
His next point is about how algorithmic content selection is bad. Yeah its bad. Its bad for everyone, turns everyone into psychos. Though I think there's a very good argument to be made about how such content could affect developing brains. He makes a point about age-gating social media at the end of the talk. This is actually the only drastic measure he proposes that I agree with so I'll leave this alone too.
After a couple slides about Zuckerberg and TikTok (which I agree with, though I think Zuckerberg's damage probably leans more towards older people than young now), he gives a bunch of graphs showing upward trends in all sorts of terrible things happening to young people. Every single one is an issue of critical importance in the US, but importantly, no comparison to older people. For all we know, the trend on every graph could be the same or even worse for older generations. If I had written about this first then I'd go and find the data for it but at this point I just want to be done with this but can't stop without getting to the end so I'm just gonna slap this slide with lack of comparisons and move on.
His next slide shows the difference in 30 to 34 year olds who have at least one child, some of that is probably due to family planning but I still think its a great indicator of people not wanting to have children because its not affordable. Great point, I believe in it.
Next slide, oh god it's a happiness report. I think happiness reports are a fun conversational tidbit but I see no way for it to be reliable enough to be used as an argument in any semi-serious setting. That said, I have no idea how they do these measurements so maybe I'm wrong.
As if the happiness report wasn't bad enough, Galloway is gonna compare the biggest one-day market cap gain (in an unspecified time frame) to the budget of several policies implemented by the government. Oh man. This is too stupid, there's so many things to pick from it'd take too much effort to sort through them. Someone else please make the argument for me.
Then he says universal basic income should have been called negative income tax. Wow the frequency of good points is going up, though I think this is accompanied by an increase in the frequency of absolutely idiotic arguments.
Then he says we should eliminate capital gains tax deduction. The issue of taxing capital gains is a very serious one, but I don't think it actually matters that much how much we tax realised capital gains. Again, not an expert but here's my understanding. If you have a high net worth with a lot of it in stocks and you need cash, you don't have to sell them and get taxed on the realised gains. You go to the bank and say I want to borrow money, I'm going to put these stocks up as collateral so if I can't pay you back you can take these stocks which are somewhere around the value of the principal amount plus total interest over the course of this loan. Because the bank is now convinced they'll get the money back regardless of if you make the payments or not, they say ok here's the money you asked for at a nice low interest rate. Then you take the money, you keep your stocks, which will probably gain value at a rate that exceeds the interest rate by a pretty decent margin, and you can probably make your interest payments pretty easily because hey, you were rich to begin with. If you're really strapped for cash a couple years down the line, you can sell some of the stocks that are now worth more than they were before and cover your payments and not have to pay taxes on the rest that you don't have to sell. Free money. There's plenty more ways to avoid taxes if you're rich but you get my point by now. Now that's a lot of problems without a solution. Luckily we have some economists far more skilled than I am who work very hard to find solutions to these problems. Here's one example of a policy that may help (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/03/opinion/global-billionaires-tax.html). This is an opinion piece written by Gabriel Zucman (famous economist), for the New York Times. If you don't have an NYT subscription, sorry for giving a link you can't read but if you search Gabriel Zucman billionaire tax, you could probably get a decent idea of what this talks about. Here's Zucman tweeting his proposal for his suggestion (https://twitter.com/gabriel\_zucman/status/1763253132572729623). It probably requires a little more thinking than the NYT article but he did present this at the G20 so that might sound more exciting to you than some news article.
Then Galloway says "we need to remove 230 protection for all algorithmically-elevated content". Zero mention on what 230 protection is so here's an explanation (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230). Basically that was a fancy way of saying that companies should be held accountable of the content on their platform, even if it's posted by an unrelated third party. I'm not sure getting rid of it in its entirety is a great idea (though I have no arguments against that except Orwellian ones) but I certainly agree that most if not all social media platforms have abused this protection and it should be at the very least restricted. To what extent? Again, I have no clue.
Then he goes "break up Big Tech". That's the whole suggestion. This is a terrible idea but the fact that he doesn't elaborate more on how to do this, the ramifications of doing so, or really provide any explanation at all makes me automatically ignore this. Then he makes his point about age-gating social media, like I said before, I agree with it.
His next suggestions are universal pre-K, great idea, then "reinstate the expanded child-tax credit". Not sure what he's going on about here, child tax credit exists and like I said before, was just expanded. Then it's income-based affirmative action. I don't know what kind of affirmative action is best and that sounds like an interesting idea so I won't criticise it. I think the rest of his suggestions are pretty normative arguments so I'll leave those alone too.
Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree with the overall theme of his talk. I believe that young people in the US (and many places worldwide) are at a massive disadvantage when it comes to accumulating wealth, buying homes, inter-generational transfers, etc. But you cannot go up on a popular platform like this, make claims as sweeping as he has, and make suggestions as radical and drastic as he has, with garbage arguments and data like this. Saying the right things for the wrong reasons is arguably worse than just saying the wrong thing because it makes it easy for those who want the status quo to remain to make counterarguments. Given how divisive opinions have become over the past decade or so I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how many people are eating this up but it kinda scares me how easily people will eat up this shit as long as its for a cause that sounds like its going for some kind of radical change for the good of all and has some imaginary "them" as the common enemy to everyone.
So that's it, I've finally covered all his points. I'm free, thank fuck. I should really proofread this but this has been my past eight hours and my back is breaking from all this sitting, I'm just gonna post this and read it over tomorrow. Maybe do a tl;dr, fix some formatting.
EDIT: As u/myphriendmike and u/Mordoci have pointed out, my dummy corp example was just tax fraud, that's illegal and so it's a bad example, I've removed it. Zucman has some estimates on the "real" tax rate wealthy people (mostly billionaires) pay, maybe I'll include that at some point.
I also corrected my wording in some places.