Hello, I have gone through the 1601 themes on the UK region Xbox 360 store and made a list of every free theme.
As this is a very long post I have added square brackets around categories to allow users to filter out items they're not interested in.
The categories are: [movie] [product] [game] [car] [sport] [other] .
If this is still too long I have put \* symbols next to which themes I think are the best (in my opinion).
Themes
In order of release date (# represents item number)
Ghost in the Shell theme [movie] #22
Nike Zoom Theme Pack [product] #84 *
Fiat 500X Theme Pack [car] #96
Insurgent [movie] #99
Chappie Theme Pack [movie] #161
Woman In Black 2 Theme [movie] #173
Lego Ninjago Theme [movie/game] #174 *
Footlocker Nike Take Flight Theme [product] #175 *
The Other Side Honda Theme [car] #178
Halo Theme [game] #187 *
A Walk Among The Tombstones Theme [movie] #268
Puma Forever Faster Balotelli Theme [sport] #270
Puma Forever Faster Aguero Theme [sport] #271
Puma Forever Faster Usain Bolt Theme [sport] #272
Bing Theme [other] #374 *
Mutant Blobs Attack Graphic Theme [game] #380 *
Mutant Blobs Attack Growing Pains Theme [game] #381 *
Nike Last Game Iniesta Theme [sport] #385
Nike Last Game Neymar Theme [sport] #386
Nike Last Game Ronaldo Theme [sport] #387
IRN-BRU Theme [product] #401 *
Fable Anniversary Box Art Theme [game] #449 *
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa Theme [movie] #545
Turtle Beach PX22 Theme Pack [product] #634
Fast & Furious 6 Theme [movie] #698
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS 3D Theme [movie] #700
Three HTC One Theme [product] #726
Olympus Has Fallen Theme [movie] #727
OBLIVION Theme [movie] #728
Irn Bru Theme [product] #730 *
Fiat 500L Outdoor Theme [car] #731
Fiat 500L Techno Theme [car] #732
Clearasil Amelia Lily Theme [other] #735
Turtle Beach Seven Series Theme Pack [product] #736
A Good Day to Die Hard Theme [movie] #738
Hansel & Gretel Theme [movie] #739
Turtle Beach Theme Pack [product] #740
Jack Reacher Theme [movie] #741
Texas Chainsaw 3D Theme [movie] #742
GoPro HERO3 Theme [product] #745
O2 Windows Phone 8 #747
Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook- Theme [product] #749
Lynx [product] #751
Find any film – Moments worth paying for Theme [other] #753
Motorola RAZRi Theme [product] #755
Turtle Beach Call of Duty Theme Pack [game/product] #756
The Rise of the Guardians Theme [movie] #758
Resident Evil Retribution Theme Pack [movie] #769 *
Honda Civic Theme [car] #782
Snow White And The Huntsman [movie] #787
Dictator UK Themepack [movie] #789
Pepsi Max Themes [product] #790
Find Any Film.com Theme [other] #797
Wrath of the Titans Theme [movie] #802
Nokia Lumia 800 Theme [product] #808
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Theme [movie] #812
New Thinkers Index Body Smart Theme #815
New Thinkers Index Musical Theme #816
New Thinkers Index Natural Theme #817
New Thinkers Index Numbers Smart Theme #818
New Thinkers Index People Smart Theme #819
New Thinkers Index Self-Aware Theme #820
New Thinkers Index Visual Theme #821
New Thinkers Index Word Smart Theme #822
In Time Registration Theme [movie] #827
Immortals Theme Pack [movie] #829
Infinti Theme [car] #834
Virgin Gaming [product] #869
Kinect Premium Theme [game] #886 *
Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D [movie] #903
Lynx Wingman Theme [product] #904
Adidas F50 adiZero – Theme [product] #906
NIKE: Write The Future – Theme [product] #926
Worldwide Premiere Theme (COD BO1) [game] #929 *
Prince of Persia – Theme [movie] #930
Spartacus Theme [movie] #932
Samsung 3D LED TV Theme [product] #936
Clash of the Titans Theme [movie] #946
Edge Of Darkness – Theme [movie] #966
Avatar – Theme [movie] #981
Sherlock Holmes – Theme [movie] #983
Xtival 09- Premium Theme [game] #986 *
Bing – Theme [other] #988 *
GCHQ – Theme [other]#989
LG LED Theme [product] #991
Harry Brown Background Theme [movie] #992
Law Abiding Citizen [movie] #996
(9) Theme [movie] #1001 *
Pandorum Theme Pack [movie] #1016
Surrogates Theme Pack [movie] #1018
G.I. JOE – Theme [movie] #1037 *
Adidas F50i – Theme [product] #1043
Shockwaves Summer of Music – Theme #1052
Transformers – Theme [movie] #1060
The Hangover Theme [movie] #1066
1 vs 100 Theme [other] #1070
Coca Cola Happiness Factory Theme [product] #1090
adidas Originals – DMC Theme [product] #1099
adidas Originals – David Beckham Theme [sport/product] #1100
adidas Originals – Dynamo Theme [product] #1101
adidas Originals – Estelle Theme [product] #1102
adidas Originals – Ting Tings Theme [product] #1103
adidas Originals- Missy Theme [product] #1105
Watchmen Theme [movie] #1112
Underworld Theme [movie]#1123 *
Winter Holiday Theme [game]#1128 *
The Day the Earth Stood Still [movie]#1151
Champions of Gaming Theme [game]#1156
Max Payne Theme [movie]#1159
The House Bunny [movie]#1176
Death Race Theme [movie]#1183
Double D Dodgeball Theme [game]#1186 *
Too Human Theme Concept [game]#1192 *
Castle Crashers – Theme Pack 1 [game]#1195 *
Too Human Action Theme [game] #1214 *
Hellboy II Theme [movie] #1216 *
The X Files Theme [movie] #1223
Bungie Day ‘08 Theme! (Halo 3) [game] #1228
Wanted Theme [movie] #1236
The Incredible Hulk Theme [movie] #1237
Samsung Halo 3 – Theme [movie] #1263
Guiness World Records Gamer’s Edition Theme [product/game] #1271 *
Guiness Book Of World Records Theme [product/game] #1273 *
AVP-R Theme [movie] #1288
I Am Legend Theme [movie] #1296
Fahrenheit Theme [game] #1304 *
Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex Theme [game] #1305 *
Crimson Skies: Road to Revenge Theme [game] #1306 *
Fable Theme [game] #1307 *
Fuzion Frenzy Theme [game] #1308 *
Halo Theme [game] #1309 *
Psychonauts Theme [game] #1310 *
Dream Theatre Theme [other] #1311
Sex Pistols Theme [other] #1320 *
Xtival ‘07 Theme [other] #1321 *
Gears of war LIVE is 5IVE Theme [game] #1323 *
Ghost Recon 2 LIVE is 5IVE Theme [game] #1324
Halo 2 LIVE is 5IVE Theme [game] #1325 *
Mech Assault LIVE is 5IVE Theme [game] #1326 *
Return to Castle Wolfenstein LIVE is 5IVE Theme [game] #1328 *
Xbox LIVE is 5IVE Theme [game] #1329 *
Beowulf Theme [movie] #1330
E3 2007 Theme [other] #1417 *
Bungie Day 2007 Theme [game] #1420 *
Live Earth Theme [other] #1421
GTA IV Theme 1 [game] #1428 *
Ocean’s 13 Theme [movie] #1444
Eragon Movie Theme [movie] #1492
adidas +10 Theme [product] #1559
adidas Football Theme [product/sport] #1560
Team Geist Theme (adidas) [product] #1561
MI3 Promotional Theme [movie] #1563
Kameo Holiday Theme [game] #1584 *
Rare Theme [game] #1588 *
I may have missed some but with how slow and buggy the Xbox 360 store has been, I'm not pressing the 'A' button a thousand times.
This is part 2 of 4
I hope this helps.

28 - The Fountain Build

Point Summary

Point Total: 1000 CP 1000 (Base)

Jump Details

Document name: 28 - The Fountain Version: 1.1 Author: SJ-Chan Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J9PF3AIk-7AcY8Gd2R7CJXaqDZPdxgeO/view

Jump Duration

Years: 10 Months: 0 Days: 0

Perks

Noble Thought (Free)
A noble is a creature of excess, and excess has a way of blinding one to reality. Well, not you. No matter how much you have, you will never forget the value of things, the realities of the lives of people who aren’t you, and truth that the world does not, in fact, revolve around you. You will not forget to treat people with the respect due them, nor will you disregard their suffering simply because it doesn’t affect you.
Noble Deed (Free)
Things you do echo further, have greater impact, are remembered longer. History books never leave you out and, when you visit places you once tread, you will find relics and signs of your passage no matter how much time has passed. You will not be forgotten. But you might not be remembered fondly.
Inventor's Vision (Free)
When you look upon a problem or issue that you understand even a bit, you instantly get a sense for how you might solve that problem, upgrade that item, or improve that situation. The longer you study some situation or item, the greater the insight will be and the more far reaching the solution. You might look at the state of education in your society and within a week have a dozen workable plans for small ways to improve the situation, and within a year of study have a comprehensive and feasible plan for a complete overhaul of the system. While not guaranteed that all your ideas will be good ones, improvement becomes far more likely with time and effort. Unforeseen side effects might still crop up though.
Inventor's Intent (Free)
One of the worst things an inventor can experience is discovering that someone has used their invention in a way they would not approve of... or even worse, that their invention has some horrible side-effect. Now this is much less likely to happen to you. Processes, techniques, and tools invented by you are much harder to abuse in ways you would not approve of, and you’re much better at foreseeing potential problems ahead of time and figuring out ways to head them off or, at least, lessen the fallout that will result from them.
Improved POV (Free)
Somehow, wherever you go, you always seem to be in five closely related locations at the same time. Well, that’s not quite right. Let me try again. When you are anywhere, four versions of you that aren’t quite really there, but could be there if you weren’t there... are there. Does that make any sense? Probably not. But what it boils down to is that for every event you experience, you have not one but five points of view on the event. Maybe one of you was right in the middle of a bar-fight, while another you was in the corner watching, and a third was working a pick-up shift behind the bar, and a fourth was an EMT who responded to the event and the fifth was a bum on the sidewalk outside listening. Only the primary you is the one who was really in the moment, but you can freely remember what all the four... let’s call them shadows... would have seen and experienced from their own unique POVs. You can’t really choose what they were doing, as they are more like echoes of potential you’s, but their experiences will be close enough to what you’d have experienced to be easily internalized and all the details will be as true as anything you actually experienced.
Bystander (Free)
When you don’t want to be involved in the events unfolding around you, be that a war, a fight, or a natural disaster, you may remove yourself from the flow of events almost entirely. As long as no individual or entity involved wants to target you specifically, you may become an all but intangible, unperceivable, untargetable observer. Even area effect things like, say, atomic bomb blasts, will pass harmlessly through you, though you might want to get out of there before the radiation gets to you. All Together Now (Free)
You have grown tired of casting off the memories and emotions each Jump layers over your basic identity. You may now choose to absorb the personality of any self you gain or have ever been into a gestalten whole. While this may dilute your basic youness, it also makes it much harder for anyone but you to make sense of your memories or to use any specific traumatic experience against you. Although there is now more of you, your essential sense of self only grows stronger the more times you do this, as all these facets of yourself serve to reinforce your fundamental identity, and you realize that the more you appear to change, the more you explore the limits of who you are. In layman’s terms, each apparent change is more akin to uncovering further digits of pi. Pi itself never changes even as it grows more complex.
500 Years of Practice - Teaching [100/900 CP]
You have spent five centuries mastering (and beyond mastering) any singular skill or artform. Sure, you might be a bit obsessed with that subject, but that obsession will fade as the jump comes to an end. Your compulsive delving into the limits of this singular area of study has granted you insights that no other living being has ever reached, allowing you to casually compose masterpieces which can profoundly move those who witness them, or create stunning refinements undreamt of by mere masters. A painter could trace a perfect circle in black on a white background and viewers would stare for hours. A dancer could reduce the audience to tears simply by standing still. A sculptor could carve hard stone until it was all but impossible to tell the sculpture from a living being. A poet’s words could touch the hardest heart or sway public opinion like a gale-force wind.
Soothing Presence [200/700 CP]
You have achieved inner calm and can project it at others as long as you are not currently experiencing any strong emotion yourself. Merely being in someone’s presence is enough to calm them dramatically, but physical contact, oratory or song, or simply allowing them to see you can all boost the effect by orders of magnitude. This can sooth mental, emotional, or spiritual suffering, or simply induce a sense of lassitude over the target or targets. This can work on any number of people as long as you can reach them with your presence.
Absolution [300/400 CP]
If you can convince someone to willingly pour out their deepest fears, regrets, or sins to you, you can grant them true absolution, allowing them to forgive themselves and move on. This does absolutely nothing for you as it does not work if you make it conditional. Their repentance must be genuine for this to work and they cannot desire gaining absolution for any immoral or unethical purpose.

Items Stipend: [+200/600 CP]

Meditation Garden (Free)
The Body. The Mind. The Soul. A perfect trinity, working in harmony to reflect the Self. But when one of these is disrupted, balance can be at risk. Balance must be maintained. Upon purchase, your Warehouse gains a small Meditation Garden attachment, that while it cannot be used for storage, it will always fit whatever form you are wearing. Its aesthetics will always change to represent what you interpret as an environment of perfect serenity and 'oneness', and a significant time meditating in this space will help you reach an intrinsic understanding of the self and how your experiences can define you. The past cannot always be changed, but the present can forever be gleaned on... so that the future is always one of your design. You can, if you like, plant a few small plants in your Garden as well. Any plant inside the garden will always be in the full flush of life.
Biosphere [200/400 CP]
The body is but a vessel of the mind, with one changing as the other does, constantly learning from what it experiences and accomplishes. It is only natural then, that the experiences of those around the body will likewise help shape it. To gain the perspective and change you desire, your environment must reflect that. For this meager price, your Warehouse has gained the properties of a Biosphere; self-contained, but controlled. The walls and ceiling can be made 'open', to make it appear as though you were in the middle of an open field in the summer, or a cliffside as the night sky illuminated the plains. While you cannot store anything outside of the Warehouse boundaries, and you will always be aware of these boundaries... the weather and the environment around you shall be in your control, with even simulacrums of wildlife that may fly around. Perhaps by expressing your mind in here, you can begin to understand it. The higher price unlocks the Biosphere Supplement and grants you 800 BP to spend there instead of the default 600.
Tree of Life Sapling [400/0 CP]
You have managed to obtain a fully viable, albeit fairly young Tree of Life. It produces both bark and, once a decade, six fully viable fruits that will (if left on the tree) mature to seeds. Each takes a hundred years to become a sapling, and a thousand years to reach full maturity. The sap is incredibly deadly, so it’s a good thing the flesh of the tree is all but impenetrable to anything short of divine weapons. If you purchased the Meditation Garden, the Sapling will initially be planted there. If you did not, it will be planted in a small reflecting pool attached to your Warehouse. Those who eat the fruit of the tree of life can live forever in the prime of life and free of all disease, gaining the effects of the Perfect Health Perk above.
Note - Perfect Health [Free in the Future, 400 to Keep]: Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, you have gained perfect health, immunity to all diseases, the ability to heal from any non-lethal wound, and to live, essentially, forever.

28A - Biosphere Supplement Build

Point Summary

Point Total: 800 CP 800 (Base)

Jump Details

Document name: 28A - Biosphere Supplement Version: 1.7 Author: SJ-Chan Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XhaR5HSde1GKV_kbfp2u_YQEYFGqOg2a1GIBOgp8FfQ/edit

Items

Biosphere Basic and Freebies (Free)
Note: Main island is 64km diameter (3217 sqkm area - basically the same size as the county I live in) , 2 islands are 16km diameter, 3 islands are 4km diameter, etc. "World" zone is 25,736 sqkm area (181km diameter)
The Sphere is divided into an inner “Land Space” World and an outer “Air Space” Shell. If the World expands, it does not increase the thickness of the Shell and vis versa. The sphere is always a perfect sphere.
The initial World is 1 km from edge to edge and contains your base island. The Island is 1 km in diameter. It is mostly circular, with an area of 0.785 km2. It is 200-250 meters thick and all jagged on the bottom. The World is a sphere, though the half above “sea level” is likely to be largely full of air. It is exactly as tall as it is wide. Your warehouse is always at the exact center of the World’s horizontal axes, though it can be raised or lowered vertically if you have the means.
The initial Shell is also 1 km. This means it is ½ km give or take, from the edge of your initial island. If you fall off the edge of the island, you will fall to the bottom of the sphere and need to get someone to come and get you if you cannot fly. Building within ½ km of the outer edge of the Shell is prohibited.
Gravity is Earth normal.
Biosphere Day Cycler [Free] - Now you can run your Biosphere through a day night system.
Utilities [Free if you have them from the Warehouse or Housing] - Electricity, Intranet with wifi (will only connect to outside data net if you have that upgrade), Running Water (Fluoridated or not, your choice), Sewage System, AC & Heating to all buildings.
Basic Pollution Scrubber [Free] - This pulls all incidental contamination out of the atmosphere of your Sphere.
Rope Ladders [Free] - Extends off the bottom of all your islands so you can climb up.
Biosphere - The Huge Island [90/710 CP]
Your Island is now 64km in diameter / 3,217 km2 in area. The thickness increases to 1600-2000 meters. Your World expands to contain this respectably sized landmass.
Biosphere - Double Archipeligo [150/560 CP]
You really like land, don’t you? Okay, just for you. You now have 2 Secondary Islands, 3 Tertiary Islands, 4 Quaternary Islands, and so on. You may also have up to 200 smaller islands that may not exceed 4 m across. This doubles the size of your World one last time.
note: each island is 1/4th the diameter of the last. If your main island is 256 km across, your other islands will be 64 km, 16 km, 4 km, 1 km, 250 m, 62.5 m, 15.6 m.
Biosphere - Snowball in Hell [20/540 CP]
The thickness of your Shell is now 4 km in all directions.
Biosphere - The Ocean Not So Deep [50/490 CP]
Instead of just being surrounded by air, your Island is surrounded by water. This water is freshwater and drops down to the bottom of your island, but only has a seafloor for the first 100 meters in all directions. It does not have tides or waves and has no flora or fauna. This ocean extends out to within 1km of the walls of your sphere, including down. Requires at least Snowball in Hell.
Biosphere - The Seafloor [20/470 CP]
The ocean around your islands now has a seafloor that extends out as far as your ocean does. It gets progressively deeper the further from land it is, down to within 200 meters of the bottom of your thickest island. Requires The Ocean Not So Deep.
Biosphere - Ocean Life [20/450 CP]
Your ocean now teams with freshwater plants and fish, shellfish, and bivalves. Nothing poisonous or dangerous exists in this environment naturally, but you could import it if you like. There are no marine mammals, but you could bring those in too if you like. The native species are self replicating, even if fished to extinction. Requires The Seafloor.
Biosphere - Weatherworks [15/435 CP]
Want to do a spot of sailing or just like a breeze? This machine makes the wind blow. There are now heavy updrafts for you hang-gliders. There are now big white fluffy clouds floating around inside your Biosphere. You have complete control over weather if you have the Observation Deck.
Biosphere - Season Simulator [10/425 CP]
Like variation? Now you can set the seasons to cycle anywhere from once a day to once a century. Don’t like Winter? Skip it! Want to make up your own seasons? Cool! Requires Weatherworks & Day Cycler.
Biosphere - Climatology [10/415 CP]
Now you can designate latitudes inside your sphere where the climate varies, either arctic at the center and tropical at the edges or vis versa. Need not be that extreme. Requires Season Simulator.
Biosphere - Terrain Modification Engine [40/375 CP]
All the flat getting to you? This machine can raise hills or create valleys or rivers or any other terrain features you might want within your Biosphere. You could even make mountains that tower up to 30 km high if your Sphere is big enough. Terrain features rise or fall no more than 1 meter per 24 hours. High mountains will develope snow caps if you have the Weatherworks and Oceans.
Biosphere - Floral Universe Creation Kit [20/355 CP]
All the endless grass getting to you? This machine can create forests, jungles, savannahs… you name it. Plants grown with this machine grow 1 meter per day and each machine can create up to 5,000 cubic meters of living plant matter every day. This system can generate 10,000 different species of plant and adding a new one simply requires a genetic sample. Only natural plants can be generated. The machine can be removed from your Biosphere for up to 7 days before needing 28 to recharge.
Biosphere - Small Fauna Generator [25/330 CP]
Want some chipmunks, birds, butterflies, bees? Nothing this machine generates is overly dangerous or a pest species, and the system automatically keeps everything in check, even if you’re a dick to nature. Each Generator can produce and maintain up to 500 species of small (5kg or smaller) animal life, both terrestrial and aquatic. Each machine can create up to 5,000 kg of animal life per day. To add a species to this machine’s databank, you must have at least 50 different genetic samples of that species. Only natural animals can be generated.
Biosphere - Big Fauna Generator [50/280 CP]
Want some more… aggressive or majestic species? Or just some sheep or cows or piggies? This is for you. Each machine can generate and maintain up to 50 species of large (500kg or smaller) animal life, both terrestrial and aquatic. Animals made by this machine will not be hostile, but can be dangerous if provoked. Each machine can create up to 5,000 kg of animal life per day. You will need to acquire at least 50 different genetic samples from the same species for this machine to add it to its databank. Only natural animals can be generated.
Biosphere - Celestial Bodies [5/275 CP]
Suns, Moons, Stars, Rings, Comets, Meteor Showers, Other Planets? You name it, all of them can progress across your fake sky. They’re just images, but comforting ones. You have full control of them.
Biosphere - Transport Disks [20/255 CP]
These disk platforms are all over your Biosphere. Each one can carry a person at 10km/h to anywhere within the sphere and each can carry up to 750kg. THey can be programmed to follow you around and there is even a Transport Disk launch station at the very bottom of the sphere in case someone gets stuck down there. Biosphere - Industrial Disks [10/245 CP]
Removes the weight limits from Transport Disks.
Biosphere - Airport & Marina [20/225 CP]
Not only does this give you a place to store, maintenance, and launch all your watercraft and aircraft, it also allows you to generate a world rift that allows you to bring them into or out of whatever world you happen to be visiting.
Biosphere - Observation Deck [25/200 CP]
This structure is at the top of the Sphere and allows you to look down upon all your creation, like some kind of god. If you have controls, they can be accessed from here instead of from the warehouse. You can even move your bedroom up here. Only you and those you invite can enter.
Biosphere - Restricted Zones [25/175 CP]
You get to set areas of the Biosphere (like the warehouse) off limits to some people. Like keeping kids out of the arsenal… or your friend who’s on a diet out of the fridge.
Biosphere - Hydrogeology [20/155 CP]
Your islands now have a complete hydrogeological cycle, meaning that water, in the form of cold, freshwater springs, will form on all your islands, providing rivers and ponds as appropriate.
Biosphere - Farming Zone x6 [30/125 CP]
Farms for your Farming Needs. Covers 20 hectares initially, but can be purchased multiple times, doubling the farming area each time. The soil is always perfect for whatever crops you plant in it. (total 640 hectares: 1581 acres / 6.4 sqkm)
Biosphere - Freestanding Buildings [10/115 CP]
Each of the various add-ons to your Warehouse now are freestanding, forming a nice compound, or spread out across your entire domain.
Biosphere - Industrial Plant [100/15 CP]
Your Biosphere includes a complete factory system, including advanced Atmospheric and Hydrological Pollution Scrubbing. You'll have to find someone to do the actual production, or find robots. It is the size of Detroit and automatically up to whatever tech-level your science has reached.
Biosphere - X - Spaceport [15/0 CP]
I just made this up, it's not in the doc, but this seems reasonable. Requires Airport & Marina and sufficient space

Axstrom's Notes

1. The list is here: big jump list
2. The draw (1-5548) is 877, 1520, 4754, 5265, 1478
   1. Drawing 5 so there are backups in case of issues, but the jumper gets to choose among 4
   2. 877 is Earth Final Conflict - A TV show whewre aliens come and uplift Earth but have a hidden agenda
   3. 1520 is Investiture of the Gods - A fantasy tale in Zhou Dynasty
   4. 4754 is Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep - a Disney mashup videogame
   5. 5265 is The Fountain - A film about contuinity across time, grief, death, and growth
   6. Jumper chooses The Fountain
      1. Jump Doc
      2. Reddit discussion
   7. Jumper buys access to The Biosphere Supplement
      1. Supplement Doc

Build Notes

1. Drawbacks - None - Part of the point is that you can't have everything
2. Companions - None - This is the journey of an individual soul
3. Origin
   1. Past: Noble - setting the stage for grander thigns
   2. Present: Inventor - striving for progress
   3. Future: Witness - seeing what has become of the world
4. Perks
   1. Noble Thought - free for Noble, stay connected to the people who are affected by your actions
   2. Noble Deed - free for Noble, your actions have greater impact and are remembered and recorded
   3. Inventor's Vision - free for inventor, studying a problem gives increasing insight in how to improve it
   4. Inventor's Intent - free for inventor, your creations are harder to misuse
   5. Improved POV - free for witness, observe / remember events from multiple perspectives
   6. Bystander - free for witness, events can unfold around you leaving you unharmed
   7. All Together Now - merge all your past origins into a complex mind
   8. 500 Years of Practice (Teaching) - mastery beyond mastery of the chosen skill
   9. Soothing Presence - calm strong emotions and suffering
   10. Absolution - If someone genuinely repents, you can allow them to move
5. Items
   1. Meditation Garden - self-explanatory warehouse attachment
   2. Biosphere - Full purchase activates the Biosphere Supplement
   3. Tree of Life Sapling - Grows six immortality fruits per decade, which can (over very long time) grow more trees

Jump Notes

1. I wake up in my room in the warehouse apartments, after shutting myself in without even checking the Benefactor's Lounge the night before
   1. I'm still lingering on the frustration of not cracking the riddle of Allabar, and not being able to solve the problem permanently
   2. But there's no going back, so I commit to facing forward for the rest of the week, and head to the Benefactor room
      1. Once again, there are four envelopes with me, and my big chart of jumps up on the wall, like something from a Kindergarten classroom
      2. As I affix a sticker saying "The Fountain (2006)" to the big chart, a small round outline appears next to it: "Biosphere Supplement available"
   3. On my way to call a team meeting, I catch a surprise outside the apartments
      1. Three of our bard graduates are slowly exploring the area
   4. At the team meeting, I announce my intention to go solo on the next jump
      1. The decision isn't popular, but most of them have waited while I've done gauntlets before, so it's not a big shock
   5. We set up the entertainment room to watch the movie, even though I don't expect that meta knowledge will be much help
      1. For the first time, we don't all fit in the Entertainment room
      2. By count, there are eleven of us (me and ten companions), the Halflings are now up to fifteen after two recent births, and we have nine new bards with us, so we set up a second showing in the evening
   6. Finally, before heading in to the jump, I make one last check of the Benefactor's office to see if there's more information on the biosphere supplement, but though my note has been removed, there is no response, and nothing on the tablet
2. I awake from a deep sleep in a luxurious bed, it is early morning and the sun is still rising
   1. I can feel the absence of my abilities; I am reduced below even bodymod, to the level of a baseline middle-aged man in a world with primitive medicine
      1. Nevertheless, I can feel a gift reaching back in time to me - and as I accept it, I am calmed, no longer distressed by what I have lost
   2. In this time, I have duties, both in the mundane sense of the tasks those around me expect me to perform, as well as a greater sense in which I must try to make this world better
   3. My new gift becomes invaluable in due time
      1. All manner of petitioners and officers come to me with grievances, and each of them are a storm of emotions - no one comes before their Count to declare how satisfied they are with things
      2. In short time, word of my wisdom spreads, and my council is sought by King Ferdinand
   4. I lobby my King with an eye to improving the lives of all involved
      1. It is the lives of ordinary Spaniards that are the measure of his ability as a King, not the mass of his treasury
      2. Colonialism brings with it dangers beyond the obvious, and responsibilities for ages to come
      3. Allowing the priests to destroy artifacts of other cultures does not increase our glory, but diminishes it
   5. Despite my ability to make my case clearly and seemingly overcome all objections, my guidance is rarely heeded when I leave the room
   6. And before long, it seems I have made enemies of those who stand to gain by plundering the New World
      1. They do not discuss the matter with me, or make their displeasure known by facing me down in violence
      2. But as the breath leaves my lungs over dinner, my last thought is that I have been poisoned by a coward
3. I awake from a fitful sleep in a large bed, my wife still asleep beside me despite the chirping of my alarm clock
   1. My first throught is of the date - It is September 7, 1999 - the first day of fall semester
      1. This will not be my first time teaching CS 101, but this time will be different, I can feel the power in my body, my mind, and my soul
   2. I arrive at my office early, of course, and make sure everything is in order - the syllabus handouts are ready, my slides are in order and proof-read, and my TAs have confirmed their preparedness
      1. The lecure hall is large - so many students sign up for CS 101 without any prior programming knowledge, just to see what it's like, or convinced that they will be a natural
      2. As the students file in, they sparsely occupy the massive auditorium, afraid to sit near people they don't know, not fully understanding that for the vast majority of them, this is their first class on campus, their first opportunity to get to know eachother
      3. I exhort them to move towards the front so they can hear and see better, and a few oblige
      4. The first lecture flows like a breeze, the students hanging on my words as I understand what each one needs to hear to understand what the rest of this semester will hold
   3. By semester's end, the students and TAs are in awe, the CS department chair has asked for my materials and told me that spring registrations for CS102 are higher than ever, both of the student papers have run articles praising my class, and the dean of Arts and Sciences has interceded to clear my spring schedule to prioritize my research work on the condition that I teach 101 again next year
      1. I appreciate my grad students and TAs, but I don't have a real family in this life, so I head into the warehouse for winter break
4. I awaken rested and enthusiastic on a beautiful spring day
   1. It is graduation day for the first group of freshman I taught after coming to this jump, nearly four years ago
      1. They have come so far, and I'm fortunate that some of the best have continued to work with me, and three of them will be graduate students working under me starting in the fall
   2. It is also the first day of human trials for the drug, a new anti-inflammatory
      1. We were hoping it would treat chronic inflammatory diseases, but early testing suggests that it may significantly reduce hay fever, which would be great if we can mass produce it cheaply
   3. My reputation at the school has skyrocketed thanks to the combination of my groundbreaking research plus my teaching perks ensuring high instructor reviews as well as students learning and retaining more
      1. My tenure process has been fast-tracked, since the dean is rightly concerned about losing me to another institution
5. I awaken slowly, and awkwardly, as if from a coma, as a cocktail of drugs is released into my body, still restrained on my cryobed
   1. Our vessel, the Cyllene, is essentially a large asteroid with a hole carved in the middle, stuffed with propellent, equipment, supplies, expansive aquaponics facilities, and a relatively tiny living area
      1. Cyllene was said to have nursed and protected Hermes, as this vessel must nurture and protect us, the first observers, and hopefully, colonists,
   2. As my body and mind resume normal function over the course of 90 minutes, I get a slow trickle of updates on the status of the Cyllene and our mission
      1. The mission clock says it's 202 years since we left Earth, but thanks to time dilation, Earth has experienced 221
      2. Computer Block 5 (of 8) is currently undergoing automated reconstruction as the block with the highest error correction rate at the time the last automated reconstruction completed
      3. 1575 individuals are currently in cryosleep, and 25 (including me) are active, all sufficiently healthy
      4. I am still Dr. John Axstrom, revered teacher and groundbreaking computational pharmacologist, but my consciousness seems to have jumped forward a few hundred years, skipping past the development of miracle cures, life extension medications, and cryogenic preservation of humans
   3. As I realign with my memories and identity, I remember why I'm here
      1. If colonization proceeds, the coming generations are going to need exceptional teachers if they are to learn their place in the universe, and I'm one of the best there ever was
      2. Our mission is expected to take about 750 years from departure to arrival, and though the vast majority of that time is spent in cryosleep, we take shifts being "awake" to ensure systems are functioning and keep eachother mentally and physically healthy
   4. Since the monitoring systems will throw a fit if I straight up disappear from the vessel, I take a long ride out to the external "observation" check, out of the range of most of the sensor systems
      1. There's not really much to observe in deep space - it's like the night sky, as the ancients saw it with no light pollution, but from a different perspective
      2. Here I quickly form a stunt double duplicate, hand over my electronics, and duck into the warehouse
   5. The warehouse clock confirms my suspicions - I'm nearly seven years into the jump
      1. Since it looks like this isn't going to take nearly 1000 years, the team hasn't been going full-stasis mode
      2. The bards have been poring over J-Borg's personal library as well as the impressive collection of the warehouse media room
      3. But the reason I came is the Tablet of the Free - I'm stuck on a large but still confined deep-space vessel until my scheduled return to cryosleep - how is that supposed to entertain the boss?
      4. After confirming nothing interesting is in the warehouse, I head back to the observation deck, and stash the portable door I've been using back into hammer-space before re-merging with my stunt double, and taking the long trip back to the living area
6. I wake up to an unfamiliar synthetic beep - apparently the Cyllene's version of a doorbell
   1. When I open the door, one of my crewmates tells me that our directional antennas have picked up some unusual RF activity that seems to be coming from our destination system, and they want me (as the on-shift programmer) to help the astronomer, comms, and operations staff to help make sense of it, and ensure we're not about to get nuked by a magnetar or something
   2. Initial findings were sparse and inconclusive - just occasional pulses of a signal that must have been very strong and highly directional at the time of transmission, to reach us so far away
   3. But I had access to diagnostic tools that the astrophysicists and comms staff didn't, for all their training and equipment: a series of perks specifically for teasing out the needles of relevance from the haystack of noise
      1. And as I looked at what we were seeing, and what we weren't, the answer became clear: these radio bursts looked just like a primitive form of RADAR
      2. At first my colleagues on the Cyllene were skeptical, but the evidence kept mounting, with 4 additional series of "pings" being detected in the next six weeks
   4. With the spectre of extraterrestrial intelligence hanging over the Cyllene, our XO followed protocol, and ordered the full complement to be wakened from cryosleep to assist in the work to come
   5. Within six months, we had fabricated and installed a much larger purpose-built directional antenna array on the surface of our asteroid hull, and reports of different signals were coming in almost daily
      1. We needed all the extra hands, even our mining and terraforming experts were lending a hand with signal analysis and attempts to form patterns
      2. The whole crew felt the urgency and wondered at the situation - temporally, it would mean that their early experiments with RADAR and initial RF broadcasts would have happened at about the same time as humans did those things on earth, and if they developed at the same rate as us (a big if), they would likely be more advanced when we arrivedd than humans were when we left (and thus the technology of our vessel), and would almost certainly see us coming
   6. The coming months flew past, each bringing further confirmation of suspicious, but with it frustration, as we had been unable to extract a coherent signal - the broadcasts we could pick up didn't appear to be using either amplitude or frequency modulation
      1. More than once I brought signal samples to the warehouse team, but they were just as stumped as us
      2. Even more "esoteric" means didn't work - we tried every variation of "Tongues" and "Comprehend Language" spells on printed, audioized, and even engraved versions of the RF signals we caught, but they all failed and the representations seemed full of too many discontinuities
   7. I could feel my new Inventor's Vision working on the task of how to decode these signals, and about two years after the first pulse was detected, I had my breakthrough
      1. The signals didn't represent continuous audio (like human radio) or even piece-by-piece visuals (like rasterized video), but something of each, and a little weirder
      2. They were composed of many (from seven to three hundred, and not consistent at all) micro-audio clips
      3. It was like making an ultra-low bitrate recordding of the voice of every singer in a chorus individually, and transmitting fifty milliseconds of one, then fifty milliseconds of the next, and so one, in serial, and then starting back again with the first voice
      4. We couldn't figure out why they did this, but once I was able to identify the break points between each "voice", I could layer them on top of eachother to make a composite audio version
      5. And that composite audio could be played, and was a viable candidate for magic translation
   8. The entire vessel went wild when I demonstrated the isolation and recombination of the signals to produce audio
      1. The sound of the thing was somewhat like the sound of multiple birds, frogs, and crickets in a forest, in very brief clips
      2. Of course, I didn't reveal that I had access to magic translation - I figured the comms and signals staff (and the one cryptographer) should have to earn their pay
   9. The remaining year and a half was spent in intense research, for them, while I mostly slacked off and tried to make conversation with the people doing important work on this front, since my actual mission here was to "observe" as humans of this universe underwent a sort of assymmetrical first contact
7. I awaken in my weird little pod bed in my weird little capsule room for the last time, perfectly aware of the remaining hours in this jump
   1. After the initial excitement died down, the majority of the colonists were put back into cryosleep, with only the decoding specialists and those "on shift" like me staying active
      1. There has been a lot of anxiety around the Cyllene for the last few months - we are clearly a colony ship and the intelligent inhabitants of that system probably do not want to be colonized, and may well be easily capable of destroying us
      2. There were discussions about trying to reverse course and head back to Earth, but we could do that any time, and the closer we get, the more information we can gather about the system and its inhabitants
   2. It would be cruel to try to skim supplies from this vessel even if there were something I wanted aboard, so I just wait my time out, helping where I can and secretly translating any communications we receive when time permits
      1. So far it has all been rather uninspiring, which makes me even more curious what kind of species would develop radio technology but not transmit any fiction or speeches or poetry
   3. When it's almost time, I once again make the long trek out to the Cyllene's observation deck alone, and split off a Stunt Double, who can at least stay here for a month, while I slip into the warehouse
      1. When I enter, J-Borg greets me and informs me of a message at the Benefactor's lounge
      2. The note on the door says "Supplement Pending - please attend as soon as possible", so I go in to check it out
      3. With the choices all locked in, the door unlocks and I head out to meet with the team
   4. With the memories of my time in Spain finally restored, I realize how I had been trying to communicate with myself all along, but failing
      1. The need for calm communcation and education will never end - among our closest neighbors or with a civilization 300 light years away
   5. We have the traditional group dinner in the commons, and discuss what's going on
      1. The team did end up spending most of the time in stasis, and the formerly-newborn halflings are a little over a year now biologically, learning to speak and walk
      2. When I mention the Biosphere supplement and how I wasn't allowed to consult them, they naturally asked when it would apply, but it hadn't even occurred to me that there were now definitely too many of us to wait out warehouse changes in the entrance hall, so I checked with the central control
   6. Afterward, no one was complaining when the doors finally unlocked and we were able to leave the commons hall, only to find that the door led to an outdoor path with a natural-looking sunset on the horizon
      1. I didn't want to spoil the whole setup yet, so I said we could tour in the morning, and turned off a number of the facilities and systems for the night, to give me some time to understand what options were available before letting my companions go wild with them
      2. Fortunately, the obvious items like the tree of life and factory complex were on other islands, that would be difficult to reach without the transport disks running
   7. And then I went to sleep again, wondering what the next awakening had in store for me

Notes on the Fountain Jump Doc

1. Honestly this doc has been on my to-try list since I saw it - I really enjoyed the movie and gladly rewatched it again when it came up in my random draw.
2. The author took some liberties with the source material, which makes sense because of how focused on Thomas the story is, and the extensions largely make sense
3. There were a few confusing things in the jump, such as how you get essences and what powers you bring with you into each phase of the jump, but a close reading makes them clear enough
4. The jump has a few really standout purchase
   1. the inventor's intention is the answer to a lot of concers that "do-gooder" jumpers are likely to have in their careers
   2. the full tree of life is an amazing item - the ability to grant perfect health and immunity to aging within a regrowing item solves a lot of problems
   3. 500 years of practice is amazing if you have a particular skill or art in mind - literally centuries better than the "10 years of practice" equivalents that you find din many other jumps, and has a lot of potential to synergize with other perks that scale off your skill in a particular area
   4. Biosphere is super cool if you want your fiat-backed warehouse to grow into something more
   5. The Dagger of the Path is a great example of a conceptual weapon, and something I probably would have picked up if I had a bunch more points
5. How you're supposed to interleave the three eras is a little unclear, and maybe I'm not a creative enough author to pull it off. I don't believe SJ Chan ever got around to writing a fictionalized account of jumping to it, unfortunately
   1. If anyone else has done a good jump fiction of this jump, please let me know
6. Overall absolutely a fantastic jump. Obviously a great option for anyone who likes the movie or wants to solve one of the specific problems available
   1. I'd especially recommend it for an early-chain jumper because of the generally low danger level and great variety of rewards

Notes on the Biosphere Supplement Doc

1. I knew this was something I wanted to pick up when I first read the fountain jumpdoc several months ago
2. I use the "Personal Reality" warehouse which was co-authored by SJ Chan, and this supplement feels perfectly tailored to supplement that
3. There are lots of good pickups for people with various interests, or those who just want to keep their options open
   1. Observation Deck seems like the real must-have since a lot of the other buys are controllable through it
4. The structure of the biosphere was a little confusing at first - I thought that there was an island, a void around the island, and a hard shell, and wasn't sure why you'd want to increase the shell thickness, but further reading cleared that up
5. On the whole, a good pick up, especially considering it only cost 400 CP in the jump, and normally buying warehouse upgrades with CP has a very unfavorable conversion, but in this case, the biosphere purchases all seemed cheaper than they ought to be.

(Builds to come in a separate post due to length restrictions)

Check out our Steam page : HERE
You start with 4 elements, and from there you must manipulate those to craft the legendary blocks : Did you know you can make a wormhole with just some fire, air, earth and water ?
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• You can create Smoke, by combining air and fire. Smoke being.. well smoke, it doesn't fall, it goes upwards.
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• Letting an Ether block stay still for 10 seconds turns it into Time
• You can then combine one block of time, with one block of wood and one block of earth to get Oil.

Because what is oil if not wood that spent a lot of time in the earth ? That's simple logic !
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Come take a look and wishlist if you like what you see !
If you don't want to go to Steam, here is our Youtube trailer.

When I was in junior high a transfer student arrived in the middle of the semester; a kid that was different from everyone else. Right away he had caught my eye, in fact he caught everyone's attention because he had a very unique disability; he couldn’t speak. I guess you could say he was deaf, though it was clear to me after getting to know him that he could in fact hear; every word spoken to him was understood with simple nods or gestures; facial expressions contorting into understood language; so I guess he was mute; yeah, that would describe him best. He was an oddity to most but to me he was a unicorn, something that sparkled in our dim monotonous lives and it wasn’t until he revealed who he was did I become terrified of him and his shine.
I was in 7th grade maneuvering my way through the jungle of middle school, avoiding trouble and premature violence. I was an undersized boy for my age, no more than 5ft tall; puberty had yet to visit me leaving me left out of the herd; the other students or the ‘sheep’ as I called them that infested my school. They were all the same, kids that were driven by hormones constantly talking about boys or girls, their deep voices riding on the coattails of the wind that breezed in and out of our hallways. I was a mere shadow, always walking a few paces behind the others not wanting to be seen or acknowledged; I saw what others that looked like me went through, they were tortured and abused for simply existing.
Once Bryce Ellis and his friends stuck Timmy Easton’s face in the shitter for over 10 flushes, I was in a stall over, hiding and waiting for the torment to be over. I slithered my feet up on to the stall caressing them to my chest as I sat in a fetal position horrified of how one human could treat another. Eventually the bullies had gotten bored, their short attention span driven minds directed them to another endeavor leaving Timmy to fester in his tears and possible filth.
He sobbed for minutes that felt like hours as I remained silent in the stall over, I placed my hand cautiously on the barrier wall trying to absorb a bit of his pain, my heart ached for him in that moment and I wanted to lend him a compassionate hand if only I had the courage to do so. So yeah, I did my best to stay hidden, unseen to all the dwellers that mindlessly walked in and out of our school on a daily basis, the boys that believed themselves to be men or the girls that pontificated to anyone that listened. I was lost into an enteral sea of vindictive young adults that searched for any reason to lash out at anyone that stood in their way.
So when ‘Tape boy’ — as they would eventually call him — came to my little middle school that stood still in the secluded hills of our small town I was enthralled almost immediately with his existence. He was introduced to my home room class, I sat in the back burying my head into my arms, occasionally lifting my head to listen on the days lecture. My day dreams entertaining me as the clock slowly ticked away at our lives and it wasn’t until my teacher promptly stopped talking did it trigger a primal emotion in me to sit up and pay attention. I postured myself up straight, pausing the internal movie that played in my mind to see what the interruption was about.
There he was, a new boy that no one had ever seen before, by middle school everyone knew each other; we had went to the same elementary school, the same holiday events and grocery stores. So getting a new student was like getting a new flavor at Baskin Robbins; a mystery taste simmering on the tip of your tongue as you digested every drop, his presence was intriguing. He wasn’t small like me, I would say average height for a 12 year old; about 5'4, slender body with unkempt dark black hair. He looked timid, his head tilted towards the ground not wanting to accidentally lock eyes with any of us as the teacher introduced him, my mind wandering with such intrigue because to all of our astonishment he was wearing a surgical face mask — mind you this was in the 90’s; eons before the Covid pandemic breached the windows of our thoughts.
Right away I could hear the murmurs, the questions erupting throughout the classroom as everyone pondered of why this boy sheltered his face. I stared on for what must of been minutes as the shy boy kept his gaze down, I could see him slightly squeezing the arm straps to his backpack nervously the longer he stood there on full display for all.
I had my fill and I relaxed my postured sinking back into my chair directing my stare out the window but then Billy Sherman asked the question we all had on our minds,
“Uhm, why is he wearing that mask?”.
Our teacher explained to us that it was because of some weaken immune system, something about how his ticker didn’t click like the rest of ours, she then also told us about him being mute. This drew my eyes right back to him, I think it did for all of us and for a moment the quiet kid raised his head and locked eyes with me. His dark black eyes glistened with despair, the deep purple bags that sagged under his eyes were more indicative of someone that hadn’t slept in days. I felt something for him in that moment, our third eye conversing in some cosmic dialogue and as quickly as he rose his head did it drop once again towards the ground. I could still hear all the the other kids snickering, questioning and some even giggling; it made me sick, if I was a braver boy I would of stood on top of my desk and verbally lashed out to all the sheep, instead I rose my hand asking something Mrs. Willis never said, what was the timid boys name?
“Oh I’m sorry, how rude of me, this is Gabriel”.
She sat Gabriel upfront next to her desk, wanting him close in case he needed to write or sign something to her and just like that everyone went back to their simple lives; including myself.
The next few weeks I saw little of Gabriel other than the back of his head during class, once the bell rang everyone that my eyes glimpsed at for the day disappeared or just maybe it was me who dissolved into the ambience of our school. Either way I saw little of the boy who wore a mask, the one that sheltered his true identity and my curiosity with the new flavor of the week gradually faded into the abyss of non-existence; well, that was until the day I saw the mask slip.
It was end of the day, I spent most of the time turning corners anytime Bryce Ellis approached; evading the wrath of him and his band of merry men who were the pinnacle of human torture; finding any opportunity to demean those who crossed their path. I remember leaving Chemistry class, my mind all to occupied with leaving the hell hole of every kids dread and that’s when I saw Gabriel walking down the hall towards the cafeteria; his head still tilted down; his gaze tracking every step he took; face mask still tightly fitted around his face.
This time I saw someone was following him, it was Tom Ingram one of Bryce’s guys, a kid that tried to be the “alpha male” of the group numerous times, doing his best to dethrone the reign of Bryce. He was a big boy for his age, probably about 5'9 and easily weighed 200 pounds, he was a wild card alright; he got caught pouring sugar down Mr. Whitakers old Pontiac gas tank for giving him a poor grade. So when I saw him berating poor Gabriel; taunting him as grotesque laughter followed every insult, I felt like I had to do something and my consistent stealth veneer of camouflage morphed into into a full on sprint towards the two. I saw Tom was closing in on him, other kids looking on with bewilderment on their faces — not knowing if they should laugh out of fear or grimace from disgust. For the first time in a long while did a burning sensation of courage ignite in my soul, I was tired of seeing monsters preying on the sheep and I was going to stop it somehow.
Finally Gabriel had stopped walking and stood still, his head hanging even lower than before, the strands of his long hair covered the remainder of his face. Tom began slapping the top side of the poor kids head, yelling out obscenities, angered that he didn’t stop sooner. I was close, I was gonna stop this since all anyone else could do is cower in fear while looking on and then it happened causing me to stop dead in my tracks, my eyes widening with befuddlement. Tom had torn away the mask from Gabriel's face, awes with groans came from everyone then silence blanketed the entire school and for those few seconds our existence had been swallowed up by the earth itself.
“What the hell” Tom yelped out breaking the still but heavy disquietude.
I wanted to say something, but no words could be manifested only gurgles as I choked on my own disbelief. The timid boy under the mask of intrigue had a strip of black duct tape covering his mouth, it stretching from the side of his face to the other almost resembling what would be some hideous smile. The timid boy then collapsed his hands over his face as faint muffles of sobbing protruded from him, he ran into the nearest restroom only for Tom to pursue. Finally my thoughts had been gathered while my body came back to life, I brushed off the bizarre occurrence of that grizzly smile and I reminded myself of what was about to happen. Tom was going to punish Gabriel for simply existing as he and his gang have been doing for years and like some old factory machine the cogs of my body set into motion as I ran towards the restroom.
Before I could open the door the most horrid scream exploded outwards into the hallway, the sound sending a cold shiver down my spine and Tom came running out of the restroom gripping at his face crying. He was hysterical running and bumping into the walls until finally crumbling onto the floor only to continue sobbing. My mind was clouded with a whirl wind of confusion, I no longer knew what to do, I mean I was going to run in there and stop the assault but now the assaulter was on the floor destroyed. Then Gabriel calmly came out of the restroom, his mask firmly back on and he turned to look at me, his dark eyes burning an image of anguish into my mind. I asked if he was okay of course he said nothing though, he didn’t need to I could just sense his response and it was one of gratitude. I almost could see him smiling at me from underneath the mask and I reminded myself of what was under it; that abysmal duct tape that looked like a sinister grin.
From that day on most of the kids were afraid of Gabriel, I could see the look of terror in their eyes anytime he passed by them even though his headed was still shifted downwards but that’s the day whenever someone mentioned him they referred to him as “Tape boy”. I had heard through the whispers of our school that Tom had suffered some mental breakdown, that the doctors couldn’t find anything psychically wrong with him, it was as if his mind had shattered. He remained in some mental hospital, memories of him gradually fading and the sheep went on with living their mundane lives. Bryce even slowed his bullying, I think he knew that their were now more eyes watching everyone after the altercation and he didn’t want to get caught in some bad situation, though I could see he was itching to get at Gabriel. I went back to being a shadow, avoiding all the others still not too confident that the days of torture were over.
Even though Gabriel was regarded as some magical or perhaps malevolent being by most; not sure which one; he still appeared to be sad; lonely, his head always dragging with despondency. I made an effort in getting to know him, I wasn’t afraid like the rest of them something about the day we locked eyes gave me the resolve to understand he wouldn’t hurt me. I approached him during lunch break, he was outside sitting underneath a tree, the shade showering him a gloom of haze. I think I surprised him or maybe it was just my stealth nature but I saw him jump when I sat next to him. I began talking about the origins of Darth Vader, of how he was originally a hero using his force power for good only to eventually turn to the dark side.
Gabriel just looked at me confounded of why I was even talking to him, his stare looking on with indifference. I told him that he was like a super hero, doing whatever he did to Tom was just like a super power, that I was thankful. His gazed then returned back to the floor almost out of shame, I guess whatever he did that day he didn’t see it as something special, or something to praise. I then told him that I still envied his ability to defend himself, that having such an ability was better than winning the school lottery — which was a week supply of free cafeteria food. I kept blabbering on for the remainder of the break while he still postured his stare towards the floor until the bell had finally rung. Before getting up I told him that if I could have a super power mine would be invisibility that’s when he turned to me pulling out a small spiral from his back pack writing something down, he then showed me.
“Why?” it read.
I told him that I didn’t like being seen, that if I could I would melt away into the noise, then life would be better he just stared at me with what I could assume was disbelief. He didn’t write anything back, he just remain seated while I stood to my feet. I asked if he was coming back to class but he ignored me and just stared out into space presumably lost in his own thoughts.
For the next several months I would catch Gabriel in the hallways, talk to him about the latest edition of whatever comic I was reading, Superman being my favorite and I would go on and on about how his true super power wasn’t strength but hope. I think he became more comfortable with me, pulling out his spiral notebook to write down his thoughts; his questions and answers — a new gateway of communication had formed between us. Most times I could tell what he was going to write by looking at his eyes, those dark haunting eyes, he was a mysterious book slowly being revealed to me and I was completely beguiled by his friendship. Bryce and his little posse slowly went back to bullying the sheep, though they kept their distance from Gabriel and me.
I guess I had a new protector one that wouldn’t be crossed and something about that protection left me feeling proud. I knew in my heart that the timid kid that now went by “Tape boy” wouldn’t hurt a fly that maybe the day of Tom going crazy was all by chance, perhaps his rage snapped his mind. I tried asking him about that day numerous times but he never explained what happened he would redirect the conversation back to super hero’s. I would walk home with him on certain days, well, more like he would walk me home I never got to see where he lived, he was too reserved to give up that kind of information but the days we would walk together was always fun. I finally felt like I belonged, the longing emotion of needing acceptance was found by his friendship.
One day when I was walking home by myself I decided to stop in at the gas station to pick up a drink and scour the latest edition of comic books in the small rack of magazines. Before entering the store I could hear arguing voices engaging in combative dialogue and it became vividly clear that it was more of a yelling match than conversation. It was coming from the side of the building, most times I would just ignore it but one of the voices sounded all too familiar and I crept slowly to the edge of the building poking my head out to get a glimpse of the disturbance. It was Bryce, his back was up against the wall while someone who I presumed was his father berated him with such a vicious snarl on his face. The angry man kept slapping Bryce across the face anytime he tried to say something and soon tears began drizzling off the face of the mighty bully only for the man to laugh.
I didn’t know why the older man was treating Bryce the way he was, information cut out of my understanding, for all I know it could of been because of something the bully did at school. I found it to be poetic justice that the boy that caused so much heart ache suffered the same amount only at home. It felt like a cliche, the angry kid was angry because of the angry father; a cruel loop of never ending proportions. Eventually the man or father walked away getting back into his car leaving the bully to brush away the tears from his face. I cautiously retreated my head away deciding to ditch the store completely when that same broken voice only minutes ago shouted out to me with a hefty dominance.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bryce howled out.
I didn’t bother turning around, I just ran home, dodging into alley ways trying my best to not been seen. It didn’t appear as if he was following, but seeing him in such a vulnerable state was bemusing. We were a small town how could I not know who the man was, we all knew each other since we were small and then it hit me; Bryce’s dad had left when he was little. This man must of been his step dad or perhaps mom’s boyfriend, it didn’t matter I was going to mind my own business, I was going to slither back into the shadows; but my attempts would only fall on defeated shoulders.
I didn’t want to tell anyone of what I saw, I hoped that keeping my mouth shut would of been enough for the bully to leave me be. Unfortunately there is no reasoning when it comes to human beings, we base our actions on emotions, our anger and Bryce confronted me the next morning in front of Gabriel.
“Hey fairy, did you enjoy the show?” the angry kid spouted out at me.
I tried explaining to him that I wasn’t trying to intrude, that the arguing concerned me, that I didn’t like seeing him being mistreated and then he punched me right in the gut. I fell to the floor gripping at my stomach, the pain slicing through every fiber of my body. I tried catching my breath but inhaling was too painful and I sheltered my face expecting another punch but the bully walked off leaving me to sweat. Gabriel kneel down to me taking out his spiral notebook writing the obvious question, I gestured to him to give me a moment and I honestly felt like crying. I had spent years doing my best to blend into the background, the invisibility power I was so desperate to have amongst the sheep was now gone; I was on Bryce’s radar.
For the remainder of the school year I tried avoiding the bullies, the monsters that preyed on the sheep but their leader would actively search for me, he was no longer intimidated by Gabriel; his once menacing allure had dwindled and now we both were sitting ducks. Luckily there was only a few weeks left until summer break and I only had hoped that the time off would be enough for the monster of monsters to cool off.
Entering summer was a relief much needed for my sanity, I took a few thrashings but it was over, me and Gabriel had big plans on spending time together. He wasn’t an out door kind of kid, he usually would just come over my place and we would read my comic books. He quickly grew enchanted with the idea of super hero's, their powers restoring balance to the nature of our world. I enjoyed every minute of it, my parents on the other hand looked less jovial to our friendship, they didn’t like the mask; it worried them. They thought that whatever illness he had could be passed on to me, but they didn’t do anything to stop us from seeing each other, they only silently protested.
So after awhile we decided to meet somewhere outdoors, away from my parents judgmental stares, there was a creek close to my house, the trees giving us enough shade to stay cool on those long summer days. The small stream that flowed through the trenches of the creek enriched our view as we would find the perfect rock to perch on while reading our comics. We didn’t see much of any of the other classmates that summer, the sheep kept their distance or maybe it was just us, but the days seem to pass quickly and before we knew it summer was coming to an end. I couldn’t remember how many volumes we must of read but Gabriel was now a fan of almost every super hero. He tend to raise out his arms while walking, mimicking the premise of flying like Superman; his ponderous eyes cutting through the brush as we escaped our secluded summer spot.
It was on the final day of our summer break did I pressure the shy timid boy to explain to me what had happen that day, the day Tom lost his marbles, I needed to know. Gabriel as always tried redirecting the conversation, holding up a comic of Batman, pointing at some dialogue. I got upset, I raised my voice telling him that if we were friends then he should tell me, that there wasn’t secrets between us. His heavy eyes collapsing to the ground, shifting his posture on the rock that we both sat on.
“Look, I just need to know, you’re my best friend” I told him with genuine longing.
The school year was about to start up again and I could already envision a future of slithering through the hallways how I have always done, but with Gabriel maybe that could change. I needed to know and I was done guessing, fantasizing that he was some super hero or at least my hero; my protector. I stood up off the rock walking over to the stream, the sound of water colliding unto the small stones that infested the trench triggered something awful in my gut. I took a deep breath and made my final stand with my best friend.
“If you don’t want to tell me then I’m going home, see ya” I said with impatience dripping off of my words.
Gabriel ignored my warning and continued pointing at the comic book, that’s when I noticed what he was pointing at, it wasn’t dialogue it was one of Batman's villains — he was pointing at Clayface. This made me stop, my minding halting after speeding at 100 miles per hour; it crashing my thoughts.
“Yeah, what about Clayface?” I curiously asked with a withered and tired voice.
That’s when his pointer finger was no longer on the page but rather it was pointed towards his mouth; the mouth that was hidden behind his mask. He could see my face drop with sadness, whatever disfigurement he had underneath that horrid black duct tape must of been something like the villain from the comic and my heart broke for him. Gabriel’s eyes gleaming with absolute sorrow, the boy that only wanted to be left alone, the person all the others feared just wanted solitude and here I was badgering him to no end about something so insignificant. We stared at each other for several seconds, our eyes meeting in some altered state and I reached my hand up to his face tenderly taking off his mask. There it was, the black duct tape that resembled a grin, a nightmarish one that could only been seen in some horror movie. I then placed my fingers on the edge of the tape, my cold grip causing him to shiver and I slowly began to remove it.
“What the hell are you fairy’s doing?” a voice called out from the brush, one that sank my heart into my stomach.
I turned trying to locate the voice and sure enough there he was, the bully that had tortured so many for so many years — it was Bryce. His body slowly revealing itself from the brush like some despicable ooze frothing from the depths of hell. Though, something about him was different, his cold stare no longer fictitious but more intimidating and as his body fully emerged did I see the blood trickling down his soaked stain shirt. He was covered in the crimson fluid, there was even some on his cheeks almost as he had some open wound and smeared the remnants of it on his face. The devilish grin that bestowed his bruised and beaten face quickly led me to a conclusion; one that I wish I didn’t conclude. A purplish black infested the out layer of his left eye, it practically closed shut and his nose had been bent to a unsightly angle. I started to whimper as my lips trembled from fright because this Bryce was not the same one that had given us wedgies or swirlies this one was a true monster, a beast that devoured souls. His gaze was enough to display a vacancy of any humanity and my eyes crawled down his arm into his hand to see the black pistol that he firmly gripped.
“Uh, Bryce what happened? Are you okay?” I groaned out while sniffling.
He didn’t answer, he just kept grinning at me, the ghastly smile that stretched ear from ear plagued my vision and I knew that he had done it, that he had hurt someone badly. I was terrified and in the moment I had completely forgotten about Gabriel, my tunnel vision only focused on that firearm.
“Where the hell did the other one go?” the monster asked, I turned and realized Gabriel in fact had run away leaving me behind.
I wanted to run, I wanted to flee while screaming but horror kept me in place and I felt like some dear trapped in headlights contemplating my entire life in mere seconds.
“Everyone always messes with me!” Bryce yelled out with such ferociousness.
There was no talking my way out of this one, no pleading, I knew in that moment he was going to kill me; his rage over flowing to the point of lunacy. He quickly pounced dropping me to the floor, screaming with madness and he repeatedly hit me over the head with the but of the gun causing me to see stars. His words became incoherent sounding like muffled tones that slushed it’s way into my hearing, I shook my head trying to collect myself, just maybe I could figure a way out of this but as soon as my vision corrected itself Bryce would strike me another time causing it to blur once again. I fell into a darkness, my world collapsing into an eternal void of loneliness as my body began to float effortlessly but as soon as I thought this was my final moments flashes of Gabriel flooded into my mind awakening me out of whatever slumber I found myself in. That’s when I realized Bryce was no longer hitting me, instead he was talking to someone and as I grabbed at my head trying to steady my balance I saw it was Gabriel standing still head as always tilted downwards.
Bryce confronted him pointing his 9mm directly at his head yelling, screaming at the top of his lungs but my best friend remained unmoved, just quiet and then he slowly removed his mask. This caused Bryce to pause, his tone weaken and I think for the first time he digested if he should proceed doing what he was doing.
“What are you doing freak?” the bully yelped out.
Gabriel remained quiet, eyes still directed towards the floor, his breathing escalating; I could see his chest pump more vigorously with each passing second. With the mask off me and Bryce could see the bewildering black duct tape strapped to his face, Gabriel’s face began to tremble violently as if he was trying to yell through the bondage. He then finally began to peel of the thick layer of black duct tape and it came off with a wicked screech as I could see my friends eyes squint with pain.
Bryce was no longer pointing the gun at Gabriel, no longer was he even saying a word his arm lowered to his side and both him and I stared on with amazement. What was under the tape was layers of skin, twisting and binding to each other like some thriving organism living it’s own life on Gabriel's face. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t say anything I was in shock and my head still throb from pain. Then Gabriel's mouth — if you want to call it that — began to stretch open, he tilted his head backwards while the mountain of dead flesh started to drip down his face allowing some endless void to open up inside of him. I could hear the cracking of bones breaking, his jaw shifting to accommodate the massive hole that was now his mouth and then horrid dwindling fingers began to protrude from the darkness.
My mouth gaped open with trepidation and if I had the ability to adjust my head I would think Bryce had the same facial expression. Then a grotesque head forced it’s way out of my friends mouth revealing a face that could only exist in the realms of the dead, this new creature having two large almond shape eyes; eyes that looked very similar to the ones that were attached to my friend. This ‘thing’ then stared at Bryce, that’s all it did, no words were spoken no violence was created it just stared at him and soon the bully grasped at his face and began to yell. He ran frantically in different directions, his gun firing out into the tree line, I jumped for cover; falling to the floor sheltering my head with my arms. Bryce’s terrified screams caused my stomach to turn and soon those dire cries stopped along with the gunshots.
I must of stayed on the floor for what felt like hours, too scared to rise to my feet and through my peripheral did I see the sun begin to set plunging the small creak into darkness. I eventually mustered up enough courage to get up and I looked around, Bryce was mere feet away from me, he lay still on the floor blood spewing out of his head; it appeared as if had shot himself. I walked over to his body befuddled of what to do I then remembered Gabriel, I turned to look for him but he was gone it was only me and Bryce's dead corpse. I ran home telling my parents about everything, of the encounter I experienced, at first it seemed as if they didn’t believe me but they still phoned for the police.
I led them to the creek to the bullies dead body, I initially thought perhaps they would blame me, connect me to his death but the police believed me; well the believed me about Bryce but not about Gabriel. They told me that Bryce had killed his step father, apparently they had gotten into some altercation and afterwards he went into his mothers bedroom and shot her to death. They told me that the once bully was a disturbed individual, suffering abuse for many years; that I was lucky to escape from his wrath. I told them that they needed to find my friend I wanted to know if he was okay, but all the officers could do was pat my back with sympathy trying to relax me.
It has almost been 30 years since the event, I still have nightmares of what had happened, I see the dead stare Bryce had while pointing his pistol at me, I see him repeatedly hitting me over the head again and again. Though, what still haunts me more is Gabriel's mouth contorting into that horrid shape revealing the creature that lived inside of him. He was never found, I’m pretty sure he moved on to another city, another place where bullies like Bryce tormented their schools and I could only imagine Gabriel was there to balance the wrongs of the world. I am scared of my best friend, but I know at the same time he is my protector; my super hero, he is out there doing good, I can feel it and I hope he can sense my love for him. Maybe we will never meet again, perhaps it’s not written in the stars for us to reunite but one thing is for sure, I get comic books mailed to me randomly every month; most are of Superman and I know exactly who they are from.

To preface this post, I want to give the disclaimer that like many things, there is not a black and white answer the question. I'm writing this as an experienced tech professional, and the information provided is based on opinion.
To start with. A little bit of history..
The golden age of software engineering(and similar jobs) is over. At least for the next 5 - 10 years. I don't think this is an unpopular opinion. The reason why between the years of 2010 - 2022, these jobs exploded, was because of the boom of the internet for commercial and personal use.
This is different from the dotcom boom of 2000s, where the internet was just starting and most of the products being created were for basic things like: putting banking on the internet, putting videos on the internet, etc.
The boom in the 2010s was related to the widespread popularity of commercial and personal products. Things like Uber, Spotify, and Salesforce. With the sudden increased usage of the digital world, there were MILLIONS of companies rushing to create digital products.
However, we're starting to see the rise and fall of some of these products, millions of startups failings, and less VC funding. In case you don't know, VC stands for Venture Capital, which are basically investment companies that give money to other companies to help them grow and develop, in return for partial ownership of the company.
As the industry began to mature, successful companies started to emerge, and many more started to fail.
The present day..
Software engineering and like jobs will continue to be important, and there will be a high demands for these engineers. Nearly every company will still need a website, a place to manage their data, and people to manage their hardware. BUT.. the basic technologies they need to run their company will become more efficient. AND there will be less research and innovation because the a lot of the trial and error already occurred.
We're in a weird spot where the demand for workers is now decreasing from it's recent peaks, and the supply of workers is now increasing because of how all the benefits of being a software engineer in the past decade.
This has really unfortunate consequences for any recent graduates or others trying to break into the tech field. There are WAY more beginning career people than jobs available. Which is made even worse with the amount of layoffs there are, where mid-level employees are now having to settle for entry level jobs.
What can we do?
I have two pieces of advice for people interested in the topic, or wanting to break into the field but can't. Try breaking in from a adjacent field, where you can get some exposure to tech. Things that data entry, analytics(this can be finance, supply chain etc). Then try to learn as much as you can from the tech people at your company.
The second piece of advice. Go into a different field. Software engineering is not for everyone. You have to learn and understand some relatively complex topics, and it's becoming harder and harder to be competitive in the industry. Healthcare, supply chain, and many other industries are booming right now.
Understanding history, you can see that certain industries will rise and fall. For the near future, technology might be one of the harder careers to break into. Something like healthcare would be that's expected to grow exponentially. The average population of the world is getting older, as less and less people are wanting to have kids. There will be higher demand for healthcare professionals and healthcare technology.
Do your best to review and understand these trends, and hopefully you can create a good life and career. Best of luck!
​
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Thanks for reading !

To preface this post, I want to give the disclaimer that like many things, there is not a black and white answer the question. I'm writing this as an experienced tech professional, and the information provided is based on opinion.
To start with. A little bit of history..
The golden age of software engineering(and similar jobs) is over. At least for the next 5 - 10 years. I don't think this is an unpopular opinion. The reason why between the years of 2010 - 2022, these jobs exploded, was because of the boom of the internet for commercial and personal use.
This is different from the dotcom boom of 2000s, where the internet was just starting and most of the products being created were for basic things like: putting banking on the internet, putting videos on the internet, etc.
The boom in the 2010s was related to the widespread popularity of commercial and personal products. Things like Uber, Spotify, and Salesforce. With the sudden increased usage of the digital world, there were MILLIONS of companies rushing to create digital products.
However, we're starting to see the rise and fall of some of these products, millions of startups failings, and less VC funding. In case you don't know, VC stands for Venture Capital, which are basically investment companies that give money to other companies to help them grow and develop, in return for partial ownership of the company.
As the industry began to mature, successful companies started to emerge, and many more started to fail.
The present day..
Software engineering and like jobs will continue to be important, and there will be a high demands for these engineers. Nearly every company will still need a website, a place to manage their data, and people to manage their hardware. BUT.. the basic technologies they need to run their company will become more efficient. AND there will be less research and innovation because the a lot of the trial and error already occurred.
We're in a weird spot where the demand for workers is now decreasing from it's recent peaks, and the supply of workers is now increasing because of how all the benefits of being a software engineer in the past decade.
This has really unfortunate consequences for any recent graduates or others trying to break into the tech field. There are WAY more beginning career people than jobs available. Which is made even worse with the amount of layoffs there are, where mid-level employees are now having to settle for entry level jobs.
What can we do?
I have two pieces of advice for people interested in the topic, or wanting to break into the field but can't. Try breaking in from a adjacent field, where you can get some exposure to tech. Things that data entry, analytics(this can be finance, supply chain etc). Then try to learn as much as you can from the tech people at your company.
The second piece of advice. Go into a different field. Software engineering is not for everyone. You have to learn and understand some relatively complex topics, and it's becoming harder and harder to be competitive in the industry. Healthcare, supply chain, and many other industries are booming right now.
Understanding history, you can see that certain industries will rise and fall. For the near future, technology might be one of the harder careers to break into. Something like healthcare would be that's expected to grow exponentially. The average population of the world is getting older, as less and less people are wanting to have kids. There will be higher demand for healthcare professionals and healthcare technology.
Do your best to review and understand these trends, and hopefully you can create a good life and career. Best of luck!
​
**If you found any of this helpful, consider checking out a referral link. You get additional sign up and welcome bonuses. Signing up and using Rakuten for cash back is free!*\*
​

• Explaining why travel hacking is my favorite side hustle, along with step by step instructions.
  • https://www.reddit.com/sidehustlemoney/comments/17jswev/how_i_basically_travel_for_free/

​

• Rakuten is a reputable website/app with millions of users that gives you up 20% cash back on popular stores like Nike, Target, and Petsmart
  • www.rakuten.com/QIANTE3?eeid=44971
• SoFi is a great online checking/savings bank that offers up to 4.9% interest on accounts(currently).
  • https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=d8903675-1661-40fb-8ff6-f87843aa727e&isAliasGcp=false

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark, when out of the blue, my wife called me at work. "We're going to Niagara Falls for the weekend. I got us an awesome deal!"
We had both been working at our first "full-fledged" jobs for a year and had reached that moment after graduation when you suddenly realize you can't make that impact on the world your student enthusiasm once promised. At first, I just sighed. It was the dead of January, and I had already expended all my energy on a week of inconsequential stress. I just wanted to collapse on the couch for two days. Sarah felt a similar weary exhaustion. I could tell. Her tone was more hopeful than excited, but she had dreaded the routine we were sinking into and was trying her best to pull us free.
I looked to the ceiling and adjusted my telephone headset. At that time I was working at Stats Canada on the tele-query desk. I took a deep breath and, as convincingly as possible, said, "Sounds good." I don't think she bought it, but we went nonetheless.
This was Niagara Falls before the casinos when there was a very distinct off-season. When we got to the hotel, we were given the details of our "lovers' special". One dinner to be used either Friday or Saturday, two breakfasts, a roll of tokens for the arcade, 10% off some "4D" movie ride experience, and a 2-for-1 coupon to Max Tussaud's. I guessed it was Madame's nephew? We also got a bottle of sparkling wine in our room and chocolate treats on our pillows. I was impressed. It sounded good.
When we got into our room and saw the "bottle" of wine - basically an aeroplane-sized glass and half - and the chocolates - "fun wrapped" Oh Henry's left over from Halloween - we both started to laugh. The tone for two wonderful days had been set. We decided to cash in on our dinner coupon right away.
The restaurant off the lobby had hopes of being better. There were huge panoramic windows that promised a view of the gorge. Unfortunately, they had some winter moisture problems that day, and it felt like we were defrosting amid the dripping streaks and foggy patches. The decor was your standard booths and tables though the "romantic" lighting was unique. Dollar store battery-powered tea lights were lodged inside thick tumbler glasses and shed a muted pleasantness in a "what a great idea for a craft" sort of way. I had a feeling they were created by our waitress since she was the one who always seemed to be fussing with them. Only one other couple was in the dining room, so she attended to us immediately.
"Can I get you something to start?"
"Sure." "Thank you, that would be nice." We both responded simultaneously.
"And what would the lady like this evening?"
Sarah smiled at the flattery. "I think I'll have a glass of white wine." She glanced over at me to see my reaction. This was a subtle cue of the mood to follow. Diet Coke was usually the beverage of choice. She didn't normally drink alcohol. One glass numbed her nose and made her giggle far too easily. When she did drink, however, it meant she was comfortable with my company and open to anything to follow. I raised my eyebrows in a debonair way.
"And for the gentleman?"
"Do you have Foster's on tap?"
"Yes we do."
"I'll have a pint please."
Sarah smiled at the happy memories I invoked. At university, Foster's was my signature beer. It was at a time when Crocodile Dundee was a known name, and Australia was inexplicably cool. 15 cent buffalo wings and a pitcher of Foster's was the Tuesday night special at the London Arms pub. There the Classics Club would meet and, as a group, circle the wagons and drink ourselves into extroverts.
As soon as the waitress left, Sarah smiled at me. She reached out and held my hand across the table. With my gaze on hers, she slipped her foot from her shoe and slowly began sliding it up my pant leg.
"I got a pedicure this morning." She announced seductively.
I nodded and pretended I didn't notice her invitation. "What colour?" I asked.
"I'm not telling." She teased. "You'll just have to find out later." Her devious little smile was gorgeous.
"Mmmm. I can't wait."
When the waitress returned with our drinks, we immediately retreated to our personal spaces as if we had been discovered by the chaperone. Sarah opened the menu and began to salivate at the variety.
"Can we add an appetizer to the package dinner?" Her question seemed innocent enough.
"You're on the package?" Our friendly waitress disappeared, and we were no longer a lady or a gentleman. She ripped the menu out of Sarah's hand and took mine before I had even opened it. She then scurried to her podium and brought back a tattered, grease-stained, photocopied page that we had to share. We both burst out laughing.
The waitress was flustered that we were not as bothered as she was. "The drinks are NOT included!"
"What choices do we have?" I asked, expecting the usual chicken or fish. I had been on many packages before with my parents.
"Coffee or tea." The waitress snapped.
Sarah and I looked at each other in amused disbelief.
"I'll have coffee please." I didn't even flinch at the ridiculously limited package. I was eager to get my order in early.
"And I'll have the tea!" Sarah followed my lead. "Can I have some milk with that?"
"Yes." The waitress snarled.
"Fantastic!" I enthused.
"Yes, great! I'm glad we got the package, Honey." Sarah joked.
The waitress stormed off and returned sometime later with our lettuce-only salads drowned in Kraft's Italian dressing and our chewy chicken dinners, which she had thoughtfully allowed to cool. She tossed the plates on the table and left us to peacefully devour our deal. We didn't see her again until we requested the bill. For some reason, we found it amusing to leave a generous tip, which of course, defeated the purpose of the package, but we didn't care. It was fun.
The rest of the holiday was marred with similar off-season products and services. The wax museum was only half open, so we couldn't see the pop stars of the seventies. I didn't think it was a problem, but Sarah pouted playfully. She really wanted to see young Bowie. Meanwhile, the arcade was particularly stingy about spitting out coupons. So much so that Mike, the scraggly-haired repair guy, ended up escorting us from game to game and repairing the devices on demand. In no time, he was acting like an old drinking buddy. He joked and laughed, then, out of the blue, revealed that working at the Niagara Falls Fun Centre wasn't his career choice, that his dream was to be part of a travelling carnival. He desperately wanted to see more of the world, he explained and socialize with a greater variety of "wildlife." Mike winked at Sarah to punctuate his meaning, then began advising her on which games to play.
Sarah was partial to Skee ball and clearly had career potential in the sport, but Mike quickly pointed out that the token-to-coupon payout was not the best. In a furtive whisper, he revealed that The Storm Stopper was your best bet, provided the arcade had left it on its original factory settings. He assured us the ones here were "cool." The game had lights that ran around the outside in opposite directions and you had to hit the button at just the right spot to win. It looked impossible, but Mike was right; if you calculated tokens in versus coupons won, it was the best deal. It only took a little practice to win a minor jackpot every 5 or 6 times.
We would cheer each win as if Toronto had won the Stanley Cup. I would give a quick fist pump and a full lung "Yes!" while Sarah would jump up and down screaming, "WhoooHooo!" Of course, in the end, when we cashed in, "Mike's secret" only bumped us up from a key-chain flashlight to a "deluxe" nail beauty set. Mind you, it did come complete with clippers, scissors, a file AND a cuticle scraper. Not only that, it was all neatly packaged in a paisley-patterned pink and green plastic vinyl case. Mike was so pleased to give us our prize and to be honest, we were thrilled to win it if only to see his broad chicletted smile. It was more of a trophy than a grooming set.
That night, I made reservations for us at a fancy Chinese food restaurant - the Bamboo Garden. When we arrived, we had half-expected renovations of some sort. Instead, the place was immaculate. Gentle pools teeming with goldfish highlighted the epic black and red Ming dynasty decor. Real candles flickered on crisp white tablecloths. Again, the restaurant was virtually ours. The reservations on my part were entirely unnecessary. In fact, as soon as we entered, they knew us by name and guided us directly to our table. A live lounge piano caressed the air, its notes danced vaguely around familiar harmonies until finally, as if prompted by our presence, a song emerged immediately accompanied by the velvet voice of oriental karaoke. It was our song remastered

Hey guys,
I just wanted to say thank you to the tnvisa community - it helped me so much with my own process.
So, I just wanted to explain my own experience because I think it may be helpful to others. I have a bachelor's in Statistics and Economics (dual major), and I entered under the category 'Mathematician (including Statistician)' as a Data Analyst.
The new employer has immigration lawyers it partners with, and they wrote my TN packet after I submitted my personal information and scanned documents on their portal (called Envoy).
The packet consisted of a G-28 form, TN letter, and a few printouts about the company itself. I was emailed this packet (no wet signature), and I had it printed at Staples on nice stiff paper (optional, of course - but I didn't want to waste all my own printer ink on their colourful images that were part of the company profile section).
In addition to this packet, I presented my original bachelor's degree (interestingly enough, my degree doesn't state my major, it just says 'Bachelor's of Science') as well as the transcript I had ordered from the school 2 months prior. I kept it sealed in its original envelope, and I knew that the CBP officer would rely on this transcript since my degree itself did not specify the field of study.
On the day of the TN appointment, I presented my packet (each item like the G-28, support letter, etc, in their own transparent protective sleeve) in a single folder. In addition, I handed him the transcript in its sealed envelope along with the original degree.
He asked me to sit down, and he went through my documents. He started making photocopies and typing stuff (so in my mind, I was sure he didn't flat out reject me at this point).
After 10 minutes, he called me up and asked me a few questions. He asked me:

1. How did you find the job? My answer: Through LinkedIn, I thought it was a great opportunity for my career growth.
   
2. What do you currently do for work? My answer: I'm a data scientist, so quite similar duties.
   
3. Can you walk me through your day-to-day? My answer: I maintain or build new reports for different teams in the company based on the data they need. (I kept it quite simple and high-level).
   
4. Is this your first time earning $XXXXX per year? My answer: Yes sir, it is. (Note: he asked this in a joking way, and ended by commenting "especially in USD").
   
5. Will you be doing any managerial duties? My answer: No sir, just what's outlined in the job description in the support letter (Note: I believe that if I would have tripped up and answered 'yes', he would have rejected me here due to the 'managerial' aspect being part of a different NAFTA category altogether). This may have been a 'trick question', but answering it honestly was the best course.
   

Overall, questioning was not intense - he seemed quite light-hearted and just wanted to see that I could answer his questions.
VERY IMPORTANT - Before my appointment, I called a few ports of entry like Detroit and Niagara Falls with NAFTA officers and just asked them questions so I could be sure what to expect. You will often hear that people say YOU NEED A WET SIGNATURE. This is not true. How can I say this? Because I called the port and spoke to a CBP officer and asked him this before I went. He said 'it's generally preferred, but not required. Most importantly, we need to have a phone number we can call, and it has to be a business phone number so that it's obvious - not some random person's cell phone number'. So, be sure that your support letter has a business phone number of the HR rep or anyone else involved in handling your case.
THEREFORE, call the ports and talk to some real-life CBP officers there and ask them yourselves. Don't just go based off what you see on Reddit - although it can be useful.
All in all, that was my experience - he approved my TN and I paid the fee, and I was on my way.
Right after that, on the same day, I went to the nearest SSA with my TN and i94 and applied for my SSN (after printing my i94 at a local UPS store). Do it the same day, don't delay - you will need your SSN for the background check, most likely (at least, I did). I then crossed the border 2 days later (because your SSN won't be ready right away, they say their database updates over night) to pick up the actual number itself (they wrote it on a post-it note for me). The actual SSN card takes like 2 weeks to ship, and I cannot afford to wait that long before submitting it for my background check (and yes, the SSA can ship it to a Canadian address, even though the official word is that they need a US address).
Please DM me if you have any questions!

Link to thread https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/dynamic-mapi-and-transport-companies.1678726/
Current MAPI System
Market Access Price Impact or MAPI is our current in-game system to simulate both local prices and to encourage the development of vertical integration. It does this by imposing a 15% penalty on home and host price values. Vertical integration being coal, iron steel and tool production within the same state giving a price advantage to a tooling factory which has to source its steel from afar. MAPI was a huge step up in simulation from the previous global system, in large part because it also implemented local prices which stopped the craziness of Electricity in Ontario, Canada from Niagara powering the home counties.
Issues with MAPI System & Infrastructure
The first and foremost issue with MAPI is the flat pricing augmentation which effectively deletes 30% of pricing value. The second issue is that it is completely agnostic of distance traveled between locations, if a good is produced in Pennsylvania, consumed in New York that is no different than consumption in California. The second issue is that MAPI has no direct ties into infrastructure capacity or levels within a state, unless the infrastructure is below 100%. This leads to railways feeling like something you have to build rather than a way to truly connect your nation.
Victoria’s Market System
One of the key issues when trying to approach transport within Victoria is that the game does not track producers and consumers on a 1:1 basis nor does it utilize any warehousing mechanism to offset fluctuations in production and consumption. Instead it handles everything through price differentials, this is one of the games strongest points making it feel more natural and far less tedious. One of the “downsides” of this approach is you are effectively able to create goods out of thin air as long as you're prepared to pay more for them. This also means that any transportation system should not try and actively simulate goods going from producers/consumers directly but instead work through pricing differentials.
Proposed Solution: Transportation Companies or Dynamic MAPI
To solve this in a way that works within our existing framework but also adds flavor and agency my proposed solution is to convert railroad companies into transportation companies. Transportation companies should be present in every state from the start of the game and have many paths to upgrade including rail networks, and canals where applicable. Transportation companies should be responsible for calculating dynamic MAPI for all imported goods within a state.
Dynamic MAPI
In any given state there are balances for every good, in situations where there is less availability than the demand for a good we would calculate Dynamic MAPI. Once we recognize we’re in a “shortfall” situation we’d apply the following calculation to arrive at our MAPI.
ΣAvg for producer states(((state_price*LNDistance)*Production)/100) = Dynamic Mapi
Dynamic Mapi*Price= New Price
(New Price - Old Price)* Shortfall in state for good = Revenue from transport
The final step would be weighting the new priced goods into the local market and adjusting the local price.
Here's a short mockup I made:
1715981018022.png
Obviously these values are completely place holders but I did map them out briefly in excel and I believe the relationship curves generally make sense. Essentially we would want to apply a natural log curve to distance to accurately account for last mile shipping and be weighting the impact by the price and the amount produced in each location.
I think these values should largely be available given this most recent screenshot where the Dev's showed they have the ability to know where all goods are coming and going for a specific building within a market and the distance to those goods.
1715980913020.png
Spline Location Travel
Ok so hopefully we’ve arrived here and we now have some math that makes some amount of sense to utilize a dynamic MAPI and company in which to store those values. While this is certainly an improvement we haven’t really improved player experience at all or increased agency. This is where the spline network comes in and where it might get more difficult or complicated to calculate. In an ideal situation the natural log of distance would be calculated via the existing in game spline network that troops follow and graphics utilize. So instead of birds eye distance we’re calculating the traveled distance. The other piece to this is we would want the distance per state per spline increased or cheapend based on whether or not there is an existing rail network in the spline state it travels through. These calculations are already made for troop pathing as troops traveling through railed states move faster than non railed states. This would however certainly require more calculations since you’re doing it for all states in your market to your current state. This could be stored as a table of values for distance and updated monthly to increase performance.
(Where's the Mississippi?!)
1715983522873.png
River Splines
River’s are hugely underutilized and represented in Victoria, they should be added a special spline network which is available pre rail-road and always give “cheaper” better transport capabilities than rail. Building canal projects in places where they were historically built should automatically extend these river spline networks.
Dynamic In-game added splines
This is more of a wishlist item as I understand not having in game units means it might be more difficult to dynamically add splines to extend rail networks like we can in HoI4. That said if we could do something like that it would be amazing to allow players to self build out custom rail paths that are more efficient in their build up states.
Player Agency & UI
How players interact with the new system is also important to consider. In the new system the player would be responsible for upgrading all states to have railways to increase the efficiency of travel along the spline. This could be done through building railways as normal, a new map lens similar to the HoI4 upgrade track view map. There could also be more mini-game included in rail capacity which would focus on throughput of via the spline network through a state. This would simulate building out your network capacity and be concentrated in states that have lots of goods passing through them but less so on states in the exterior limits of your market. UI could allow you to click a building to show the goods passing through via the spline weighted by the amount of those goods and the distance.
Transport companies
Transport companies would effectively capture this profit in price differential and also have other related metrics. They would be available from game start with simple horse and carriage infrastructure that is highly inefficient and makes them difficult to scale and be profitable. As technology progresses we could see them become more and more effective able to provide more transport. Upon clicking a transport company you would be able to see all the goods that it was Importing into your specific state. Transport companies would also have a certain amount of capacity consumed based on the amount of goods traveling along the spline network that goes through its state. In general I think the transport companies portion should/could be fleshed out a bit more with extra features and functionality representing the connectedness of a state and eventually with boosts to having telegraphs and other later game technologies.
Performance
I recognize one major concern many have is performance, I think that this should be generally ok based on the most recent UI overview where the devs showed off production and consumption arrows between buildings. This indicates they do have this information available and the distance between locations and spline network shows they have the ability to do one off calculations for all of this. Generally speaking running multiplication, averages and natural logs shouldn't be too costly to perform. The messy piece could be storing the spline distance values and recalculating the cost of the spline travel on a monthly tick based on their rail network and if there is sufficient rail capacity along the spline travel path. It's really the piece about checking a rail capacity through a travel path that concerns me and check statements are more costly typically.
In the final version, wouldn't it be amazing to have goods traveling across the spline networks, the more goods the more capacity you need to expand. Having more rivers gives you a built in free railroad of travel. Then maybe tying migration to that spline network to watch as migrants travel through your country. Your spline should be your circulatory system of your country/Market. Pops should be at the core with many engineers and machinists employed and strikes impacting your rail capacity in states where they occur. Radicalism should spread across your rail network as well. Electricity also, at almost double the cost and not eligible for travel by sea of course.
Lastly, I'm curious what others think about ways we can calculate a better dynamic MAPI.

Here's a post I've been meaning to do for a while, and since TAR36 just came to an end it's the perfect opportunity! After much consideration and rewatching, here are my rankings of Amazing Race finales from worst to best. The post would have been too long so I'm splitting it into two parts.
36th place: The Amazing Race 28
It’s not by a large margin, but my pick for season with the weakest finale would have to be the Social Media Edition, in my opinion one of the weakest seasons in general. I don’t even mind the casting gimmick that much, I just think the season is pretty boring and unmemorable. (Not to mention it is extremely light on travel elements, even by modern TAR standards.) The final leg is no exception. There is a little bit of intrigue at the start with Tyler & Korey struggling with the heights task and falling out of contention, but after that virtually nothing of interest happens for the rest of the episode. Dana & Matt (a relatively uninteresting team) secure a significant lead fairly early on and easily cruise to the finish line through a series of dull tasks, including one of the show’s weakest final memory challenges. All of these bottom finales are kind of interchangeable, but this is probably the one I’m least inspired to ever rewatch.
35th place: The Amazing Race 32
This finale suffers a lot of the same issues as TAR28, but at least this one has a lively Mardi Gras aesthetic in a unique location. On paper this could have been an interesting leg but unfortunately it just played out badly, with one team getting taxi-screwed right from the beginning and another securing a massive lead from a luck-based challenge. Similar to Dana & Matt, Will & James easily trivialize every obstacle after the first Roadblock creating an unsatisfying ending to a mostly unsatisfying season. While luck is an integral and inherent part of The Amazing Race, I do have to question the decision to include a luck-based task in the final leg; it almost never produces satisfying results. TARAUS1’s finale is by far the worst example of this, and it’s lucky I’m only ranking the U.S. seasons…
34th place: The Amazing Race 24
Whenever I see people discuss bad Amazing Race finales this one always seems to come up first, and I think its reputation is deserved. But it’s funny because it seems like the producers poured half of the season’s budget into this leg (David Copperfield, task at the Mirage, helicopter skydive) and everybody ended up hating it anyway. It’s just a poorly designed leg that feels very superficial— Flashy but having very little substance. (Perhaps the producers were attempting to satirize Las Vegas itself? Only kidding…) Surprisingly easy tasks for a supposed all-star season and while skydiving directly into the finish line was a new idea, I personally really disliked it; we all knew the race was over the moment Connor & Dave read the clue for the Roadblock. I think if the leg had a proper final challenge like a memory task beforehand this would have been a lot easier to forgive though.
33rd place: The Amazing Race 36
I don’t think there’s recency bias in calling this most recent finale one of the weakest. I’ve watched the leg twice now and both times I thought to myself “Nothing really happened in this episode.” Let’s start with the good first: It’s a self-drive leg, which gave us one of the episode’s few memorable moments in the form of Juan & Shane driving to the wrong state. Meanwhile, Philadelphia was a great and long overdue final destination and I enjoyed seeing historic sites like the Betsy Ross House and the steps of the PMoA. But these facts alone cannot carry this lackluster episode which was both predictable and filled with forgettable tasks. Much like TAR32, instead of a final memory challenge we got a final puzzle, and once again it’s hard to assess how tough this task really was because the leading team managed to start and finish it before any of the others even arrived. It’s an episode that’s devoid of substance.
32nd place: The Amazing Race 16
A problem with this leg and many of the others in this section of the ranking is that they just don’t feel like final legs. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what these legs are lacking but there is a je ne sais quoi that makes a thrilling final episode and these legs just don’t have it. There are a couple of things here I like such as the riddle at the beginning and the VR task is kind of neat, but overall this is just an extremely bland finale. It also concludes with a laughably easy final memory challenge, definitely my pick for worst in the series. This would have been okay in one of the very early seasons where the focus was entirely on travel instead of tasks, but TAR16 is decidedly not one of those seasons. How did we go from TAR12’s epic logic puzzle and TAR13’s field of Clue Boxes to “can you remember what order the teams were eliminated?” We do get Carol and Brandy malding at the finish line which I find very funny, but other than it’s a subpar ending to a subpar season.
31st place: The Amazing Race 10
It makes me sad that I have to rank this finale so low because on paper, it does a lot of things I like. I’ll tell you right now that I prefer the original finale format that includes a stopover location and teams booking their own flights compared to the TAR12+ approach of equalizing all of the teams and spending the finale in a single city. It probably wouldn’t work in the modern day and I know many people like the new format better anyway, but different strokes for different folks I guess. The element of travel has always been my favorite part of the show and I love the sense of grandeur of featuring multiple flights in the same leg. It really makes the finale feel like an epic last hurrah. Most seasons choose a non-contiguous U.S. locale for the stopover city but TAR10 is one of only two seasons to use this as an opportunity to add another country to the route, in this case France. The leg also begins with a visit to the awe-inspiring Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. That’s all really neat but unfortunately this leg is just a bore, there’s no way around it. I think the biggest issue here is like TAR16, this just doesn’t feel like a final leg, it feels like a mostly dull Paris leg that could have happened in episode 2. This season also has a pretty bland final 3 that certainly isn’t doing the episode any favors. The last challenge of the season is a very boring, low-stakes Detour before everyone ends up on the same flight to NYC where just two route markers are waiting before the finish line. In most old school seasons this final sequence of clues is extremely exciting and stressful to watch but for whatever reason it just doesn’t deliver here at all. There is a little bit of airport drama which is nice, but overall it’s just not a satisfying ending to the season.
30th place: The Amazing Race 22
This leg begins with a ferry and train ride to London for an Additional Route Information (ARI) at an English pub. It gives the start of the episode a somewhat old school feel which I appreciate, even though it was basically pointless since teams had to travel together on a pre-booked flight back to the U.S. Anyway, D.C. is a super awesome finale location and we visit some pretty historic sites in this episode like the Lincoln Memorial and George Washington’s home. There’s also a Switchback to the Family Edition which was unexpected but another detail I found strangely charming. But overall, it’s just a boring episode with a dull final 3 taking on mostly dull tasks, including another anticlimactic final memory challenge. The highlight of the episode is obviously the “picture with Barack Obama” fake-out along with Max’s cringey confessionals about being too much of a Republican to meet Obama, but aside from that there’s just not much going on in this finale.
29th place: The Amazing Race 17
It’s always a shame when an otherwise great season has a dull finale, but TAR17 is a textbook example of this phenomenon. For starters it’s just a very short leg— No extra route markers and only 3 tasks, the first being a linear fear of heights challenge and the third being a memory challenge that’s not easy, but definitely not one of the series’ hardest either. Still, this game show-themed challenge deserves credit for being one of the series’ most creative final memory challenges, and of course I love the Bob Eubanks cameo. We also get a satisfying result in Nat & Kat becoming the first F/F team to win the race, but overall it’s a finale that really feels like it’s missing something.
28th place: The Amazing Race 23
Another leg that just feels oddly dull for being a finale episode. I wouldn’t say there’s anything inherently bad about this leg, but there’s not much that jumps out about it either. That kind of sums up TAR23 as a whole, doesn’t it? Juneau was a pretty cool and unexpected final city, and to this day it’s the only time we’ve seen Alaska in HD on The Amazing Race. The bush plane Roadblock was very good— challenging and creative. Not a lot to say about the middle of the episode; we get scenic helicopter rides, kayaking, ice climbing— basically exactly what you’d expect from an Amazing Race leg set in Alaska. The totem pole currency memory challenge was an interesting idea but I think the teams got through it too easily for it to make a lasting impact. The season ends with a Jason & Amy win, who seem like good people but let’s be honest here, they’re probably the most forgettable winning team in the series; I wouldn’t exactly call it a satisfying ending.
27th place: The Amazing Race 15
This is certainly better than TAR24’s Last Vegas leg but it’s still nothing special. We of course can’t talk about TAR15’s finale without talking about pokergate. I think it’s pretty common knowledge at this point that Brian & Ericka allegedly finished the final counting challenge before Meghan & Cheyne but were mistakenly ruled against by the task judge, likely costing them the win. Your mileage is going to vary on how much this scandal dampens your enjoyment of the episode, but I’d be lying if I said finding this out for the first time didn’t significantly sour my opinion on the leg. It makes it a hard one to rank because I can’t think of any other finale where my overall feelings were affected so much by what is essentially behind-the-scenes information. Aside from that, the tasks are mostly just okay, with the Cirque du Soleil one being my favorite. There are a few other charming little additions to the leg like the Elvis impersonator and the Wayne Newton cameo that also give it a boost.
26th place: The Amazing Race 11
This is one of my favorite seasons of all time so it really pains me to have to rank this so low, but as TAR17 demonstrated, a great season is not guaranteed to have a great final leg. This is the last season to use the original finale format and unfortunately, it goes out on a bit of a whimper. Hawaii is once again chosen as the stopover location and the episode starts off with some really fun airport drama as Charla and Mirna discover during a layover that the other teams are on a faster flight and have to do some last minute scrambling to switch flights. Now listen, any episode that features both Dustin & Kandice and Charla & Mirna is guaranteed to be at least mildly entertaining, but I can’t sit here and pretend the Hawaii portion of the episode is all that great. After a few quick tasks all of the teams end up on the same flight to final destination San Francisco. Unlike TAR10, we actually do get a final challenge, but unfortunately it ends in anticlimax. On paper this “how well do you know your partner?” task sounds like it could have been great but it’s just way too simple and there’s also a bizarre rule where if you can’t finish within 10 minutes you are just given the next clue for free, making the whole thing feel very low stakes. (Check out TARAUS2 for a much better execution of this challenge!) And yeah, the outcome of this leg is also disappointing. I’m sure very few of us were rooting for Eric & Danielle to come out on top, but at a certain point we as fans just have to accept that The Amazing Race is obviously cursed and there is some supernatural force causing the least interesting team in the final 3 to win 90% of seasons.
25th place: The Amazing Race 25
Unfortunately I have to begin by talking about the surprise non-elimination on Leg 11, which is one of my least favorite twists the show has ever done. It really felt like the producers thought a cheap shock was more important than the integrity of the race. Leg 11 was also branded as a “No-Rest Leg” so the last place finishers didn’t even have to complete a Speed Bump. Even worse, Leg 10 was a Non-Elimination too so the entire Philippines portion of this season was inevitably pointless. This would all be a lot easier to stomach if it didn’t really affect the outcome of the season, but just our luck, Amy & Maya end up winning. This makes the finale an awkward viewing experience for me because I love Amy & Maya; I was rooting for them the whole season, and yet I can’t say I’m happy that they won. (If you’re familiar with Survivor, to me this is TAR’s version of the Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers finale.) As part of the twist this leg also features a midpoint elimination which I really hate. Still, the episode has a fair bit going for it. This is the first season in the series to feature self-driving in the final destination city which is awesome, and the final memory challenge is very tough; I will say, I think the editors dropped the ball in finding an engaging way to present the challenge and properly conveying its difficulty. Overall a mixed leg that would definitely rank much higher without the twist.
24th place: The Amazing Race 26
This season uses the exact same twist from TAR25 but it’s a little better this time because it’s no longer unprecedented (but still bad) and more importantly, the team that gets saved on Leg 11 does not win, they get taken out at the midpoint elimination. Like the entire season, most of the intrigue of this episode is driven by Hayley & Blair. Their downfall in this leg is sad to watch but it’s electric television. The first major mistake occurs at the second Roadblock when Hayley incorrectly identifies what she thinks are race flags sending their team astray. As they inevitably fail to find the next clue, they become increasingly agitated with each other and then get into another argument about whether or not Hayley should go back and try again. I really enjoy all of this content, but aside from that the tasks in this episode aren’t that interesting. The final memory challenge is also mediocre, incorporating selfies the teams were forced to take throughout the race, and once again, the season culminates in a forgettable team winning.
23rd place: The Amazing Race 19
Now we’re starting to get into legs that I actually think are fairly decent episodes, they just happened to be outclassed by a lot of finales that are even better. TAR19’s takes place in a unique final city, Atlanta, and there are a number of things I enjoy about the episode. We get one of the most notable finale disaster performances of all time as Marcus continuously fails to land the plane at the flight simulation Roadblock. The leg contains a fair amount of cryptic clues like the riddle teams have to solve to find Turner Field as well as Margeret Mitchell’s former residence being called “The Dump.” The latter leads to another comical mishap as Jeremy & Sandy get led to a random department store that is coincidentally also named The Dump and waste a bunch of time aimlessly wandering through lanes of furniture. But due to these costly mistakes plaguing the other teams, there’s not a lot of suspense as Ernie & Cindy steadily work their way to the finish line. Like TAR17 there are only 3 real tasks in this leg, and the final memory challenge is a letdown. Overall this episode has fun moments but there are many other finales that have more to offer.
22nd place: The Amazing Race 18
This one takes place in Florida, and unlike most modern finales it actually covers a fair bit of distance as teams begin in Miami and end up over 2 hours away in Pigeon Key. The episode just isn’t that exciting though. It begins with two Roadblocks which are both fairly forgettable, and rather than a final memory challenge we get an attention-to-detail task in which teams have to decorate a trailer according to an example. I actually think this is a pretty entertaining task and this part of the episode is actually quite exciting as all the teams are neck and neck. The teams are also getting battered by wind during this task which makes it much better. Still, I feel like this episode would rank much higher if there was just one more task after this, ideally a final memory challenge. There is a bit of ARI in the middle of the leg which I appreciate, for example walking across the ocean to get to Horseshoe Island is pretty cool. All things considered, I think this is a fair spot for TAR18.
21st place: The Amazing Race 35
The Amazing Race’s first season with 90 minute episodes has a pretty decent final episode. Like other recent finales it’s a self-drive leg which gives it major bonus points right from the get-go, and it also twists the usual finale format by implementing a Scramble. I actually thought the Scramble worked pretty well here, allowing teams to tackle the episode’s three middle tasks in whichever order they wanted, allowing for some strategic decision-making. In addition to the self-driving there are a total of 5 different tasks in this leg which is a very nice amount. Still, this is kind of a middling finale for me because I don’t feel like anything that memorable happens during it. The tasks range from pretty good to just okay, with the final memory challenge being particularly forgettable. Overall it’s a well-designed leg that for whatever reason lacks the level of excitement I expect out of a finale.
20th place: The Amazing Race 29
TAR29’s final leg is a pretty good ending to an even better season. Similar to TAR35, there are a lot of things I like about this episode but I do feel that for whatever reason it’s just missing its flair. It starts off with a task at the racetrack in Joliet which drags on for a while and does nothing for me, but then teams have to visit a whole bunch of different locations in Chicago which I really enjoy. First they have to find a clue at the subway cleverly hidden with an employee instead of a traditional clue box, and then they have to solve some riddles to locate three sites containing clues that reveal a fourth location when combined. When they finally arrive, they’re met with even more Route Info sending them to a place to buy hotdogs which they must bring to a final location, Wrigley Field. The whole middle portion of this episode feels kind of old school in the sense that there are no real tasks, it’s just a bunch of navigation and problem solving. Really good stuff in my opinion. The final memory challenge at Wrigley Field is pretty neat too, probably one of the most impressive in terms of scope and location, although it’s not really that exciting either. That’s mostly because Brooke & Scott secure such a big lead that they basically finish the entire challenge before either of the other teams even show up. Not the leg’s fault, just the way things played out. I definitely think with a more interesting final 3 and a closer competition this could have gone down as one of the great Amazing Race finales.
19th place: The Amazing Race 8
The Family Edition comes to a solid close with a leg that primarily takes place in Toronto before taking a boat down the Niagara River into Upstate New York for a nail-biter of a final Roadblock. The leg is a bit short though, in fact only about 30 minutes in episode time; it’s the second half of a Superleg so it makes sense in the context of the season, but when comparing it to other standalone finale episodes this is a minor knock against it. The Detour is fairly average and doesn’t really give “final leg” at all, but everything afterward is great. The ride across the river is a super fun scene with waves splashing everywhere making for a high energy segment that perfectly builds up to the final challenge: Completing a jigsaw puzzle of North America, putting a nice thematic bow on the season. The Linz family winning was a predictable and not that exciting result but overall, this was a pretty enjoyable finale episode for the season.
I'll try to get the second half up sometime next week. Let me know what you think about these first 18 finales and where they are placed! I welcome strong opinions.

Looks like CN is finally doing repairs?
https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2024/05/amtrak-service-from-saratoga-springs-to-montreal-to-halt-temporarily/
Likely Translation: The Adirondack mess is partially on Amtrak but more a saga about CN, US-Canada relations and the way passenger freight companies operate in North America.
The CN branch that the Adirondack runs on in Quebec is all but abandoned by CN, which is why they don't really maintain it. The very rare freight train running slowly on it is fine for their needs. But Amtrak needs that route to get to Montreal, which is why they cancelled service all last summer when CN put out speed advisories for the warm weather. Unless, that is, Amtrak goes back to running on the CP route from Rouses Point, which totally should have been an option but CP is even worse than CN when it comes to allowing passenger trains on their tracks so I guess that didn't work out as an option.
In Canada, unlike in the US, there is no federal legislation requiring freight trains to give priority to passenger trains either, and of course Amtrak is a US entity so there are no repercussions in Canada for CN and CP for making Amtrak miserable.
The Canadian public could help apply pressure but ridership into Montreal is anemic, largely because the overnight Amtrak service was dropped in 1995 for daytime service -- since that's what Vermont and the other states wanted to subsidize for their towns along the line. No one really wants to leave Montreal at 11 am and get to NYC at 10 pm (or later given typical delays) when the drive is only 6.5 hrs and flight time is 1.5 hrs.What could help the popularity of the service is preclearance, which in theory has been agreed to but requires construction and staffing that neither the US nor Canada really want to pay for. Preclearance would easily save 2 hours from the trip, which currently requires all passengers to get off at tiny Rouses Point, process through customs, and then get back on and wait for the last person.
In any case, the repairs now being made are in Quebec, not upstate NY. The service is being terminated in Saratoga because there isn't really a convenient way to turn around the trains north of there, and passenger volumes are very low.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leaf service to Toronto does a little better since in Canada it is run by VIA Rail crews, not Amtrak, and makes numerous stops in Ontario, making it a more valuable service. It also runs mostly on tracks now owned by the commuter rail agency GO Transit that are in top condition. But it suffers from the same excruciating border crossing (made a little easier by the nice Niagara Falls stations) and punishing daytime schedule, plus a route that is nowhere near the shortest distance between the two cities. Preclearance is also impossible on the Maple Leaf because of all the stops it makes in Canada.

To preface this post, I want to give the disclaimer that like many things, there is not a black and white answer the question. I'm writing this as an experienced tech professional, and the information provided is based on opinion.
To start with. A little bit of history..
The golden age of software engineering(and similar jobs) is over. At least for the next 5 - 10 years. I don't think this is an unpopular opinion. The reason why between the years of 2010 - 2022, these jobs exploded, was because of the boom of the internet for commercial and personal use.
This is different from the dotcom boom of 2000s, where the internet was just starting and most of the products being created were for basic things like: putting banking on the internet, putting videos on the internet, etc.
The boom in the 2010s was related to the widespread popularity of commercial and personal products. Things like Uber, Spotify, and Salesforce. With the sudden increased usage of the digital world, there were MILLIONS of companies rushing to create digital products.
However, we're starting to see the rise and fall of some of these products, millions of startups failings, and less VC funding. In case you don't know, VC stands for Venture Capital, which are basically investment companies that give money to other companies to help them grow and develop, in return for partial ownership of the company.
As the industry began to mature, successful companies started to emerge, and many more started to fail.
The present day..
Software engineering and like jobs will continue to be important, and there will be a high demands for these engineers. Nearly every company will still need a website, a place to manage their data, and people to manage their hardware. BUT.. the basic technologies they need to run their company will become more efficient. AND there will be less research and innovation because the a lot of the trial and error already occurred.
We're in a weird spot where the demand for workers is now decreasing from it's recent peaks, and the supply of workers is now increasing because of how all the benefits of being a software engineer in the past decade.
This has really unfortunate consequences for any recent graduates or others trying to break into the tech field. There are WAY more beginning career people than jobs available. Which is made even worse with the amount of layoffs there are, where mid-level employees are now having to settle for entry level jobs.
What can we do?
I have two pieces of advice for people interested in the topic, or wanting to break into the field but can't. Try breaking in from a adjacent field, where you can get some exposure to tech. Things that data entry, analytics(this can be finance, supply chain etc). Then try to learn as much as you can from the tech people at your company.
The second piece of advice. Go into a different field. Software engineering is not for everyone. You have to learn and understand some relatively complex topics, and it's becoming harder and harder to be competitive in the industry. Healthcare, supply chain, and many other industries are booming right now.
Understanding history, you can see that certain industries will rise and fall. For the near future, technology might be one of the harder careers to break into. Something like healthcare would be that's expected to grow exponentially. The average population of the world is getting older, as less and less people are wanting to have kids. There will be higher demand for healthcare professionals and healthcare technology.
Do your best to review and understand these trends, and hopefully you can create a good life and career. Best of luck!
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