My father's side of the family has been in the United States for generations, but my maternal grandparents are from Iran. I was able to get my grandparents siblings and my great grandparents names, but am having so much trouble finding literally ANYTHING after that. I saw my grandfather recently and we both were having such a good time talking about his history and his family. At the end of the night, he so kindly asked if I could find the location of his father's grave back in Iran. I have been looking online, but everything seems to be in Farsi/Hebrew or simply not posted to the internet at all. I really don't want to disappoint him, and I know this is important to him as his father died there while he was here in the US. help of any kind would be appreciated! Thank you

Possible Spoiler Warning
Yasuke (弥助 or 弥介) was a man of African origin who served as a retainer to the Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga in 1581–1582, during the Sengoku period. He was retained by the daimyō as a koshō (小姓) for a period of 15 months until Nobunaga's death in the Honnō-ji Incident.
He is the earliest African to appear in Japanese historical records, but his confirmed period of stay in Japan was relatively short – about three years, from 17 August 1579 to 21 June 1582. There are few historical documents on Yasuke, with only fragmentary accounts in the letters of the Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis, Ōta Gyūichi's Shinchō Kōki (信長公記, Nobunaga Official Chronicle), Matsudaira Ietada's Matsudaira Ietada Nikki (松平家忠日記, Matsudaira Ietada Diary), Jean Crasset's Histoire de l'église du Japon and François Solier's Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Isles Et Royaumes Du Japon.
In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, Visitor of Missions in the Indies, in India. Valignano had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the Indies (which at that time meant East Africa, South, Southeast, and East Asia). Valignano's party spent the first two years of their stay in Japan, mainly in Kyushu.
Entering 1581, Valignano decided to visit the capital Kyoto as an envoy. He wanted to have an audience with Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful man in Japan, to ensure the Jesuits' missionary work before leaving Japan. These events are recorded in a 1581 letter Luís Fróis wrote to Lourenço Mexia, and in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan also by Fróis. These were published in Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Jesus escreverão dos reynos de Japão e China II (1598), normally known simply as Cartas. On 27 March 1581, Valignano, together with Luís Fróis, who had arrived in Japan earlier, had an audience with Nobunaga, and Yasuke is said to have accompanied them as an attendant.
The Jesuit Luís Fróis wrote that while in the capital, a melee broke out among the local townsfolk who fought amongst themselves to catch a glimpse of Yasuke, breaking down the door of a Jesuit residence in the process and ended in a number of deaths and injuries among the Japanese. Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan states that Nobunaga also longed to see a black man, and summoned him. Fr. Organtino took Yasuke to Nobunaga, who upon seeing a black man for the first time, refused to believe that his skin colour was natural and not applied later, and made him remove his clothes from the belt upwards. Valignano describes how Nobunaga, thinking that he might have ink on his body, made him take off his clothes and wash his body, but the more he washed and scrubbed, the darker his skin became. The Shinchō Kōki manuscript of the Sonkeikaku Bunko (尊経閣文庫) archives describes him as follows:
“A black bōzu (黒坊主, kuro-bōzu) from the Christian country has arrived. He appears to be 26 or 27 years old. The blackness of his body is like that of a bull, and he is healthy and of fine physique. Moreover, he has the strength of more than ten men. The padres came with him and thanked Lord Nobunaga for his permission to proselytise.”
Nobunaga was impressed by him and asked Valignano to give him over. He gave him the Japanese name Yasuke, made him an attendant at his side and enlisted Yasuke into his army. Nobunaga's nephew gave him a sum of money at this first meeting. The Shinchō Kōki states:
A black man was taken on as a vassal by Nobunaga-sama and received a stipend. His name was decided to be Yasuke. He was also given a short sword and a house. He was sometimes made to carry Nobunaga-sama's tools. Fróis wrote in the annual report of the Jesuits:
“The black man understood a little Japanese, and Nobunaga never tired of talking with him. And because he was strong and could do a few tricks, Nobunaga took great pleasure in protecting him and had him roam around the city of Kyoto with an attendant. Some people in the town thought that Nobunaga might make him as tono ("lord").”
After becoming a vassal of the Oda clan, Yasuke followed Nobunaga to Azuchi in Omi Province, where he was appointed a koshō (小姓, page).
Yasuke next appears in historical records on 11 May 1582. The Ietada Diary of Matsudaira Ietada, a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, mentions that Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga on his inspection tour of the region after he destroyed his long-time arch-enemy, the Takeda clan of Kai. The description of 11 May 1582 states:
“Nobunaga-sama was accompanied by a black man who was presented to him by the missionaries and to whom he gave a stipend. His body was black like ink and he was 6 shaku 2 fun [182.4 cm or near 6 feet] tall. His name was said to be Yasuke.” On 14 May, Yasuke departed for Echizen Province with Fróis and the other Christians. They returned to Kyoto on 30 May.
The Honnō-ji Incident >!On 21 June 1582, Oda Nobunaga was betrayed and attacked by his senior vassal Akechi Mitsuhide in the Honnō-ji Incident and Yasuke was serving near Nobunaga at this time. After his lord was forced to commit suicide, Yasuke was captured and later released. He went to Nijō Shin-gosho, the residence of Nobunaga's heir, Nobutada, where he engaged the Akechi forces. Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan contains the following statements:
“A black man whom the visitor [Valignano] sent to Nobunaga went to the house of Nobunaga's son after his death and was fighting for quite a long time, when a vassal of Akechi approached him and said, 'Do not be afraid, give me that sword', so he gave him the sword. The vassal asked Akechi what should be done with the black man, and he said, 'A black slave is an animal (bestial) and knows nothing, nor is he Japanese, so do not kill him, and place him in the custody at the cathedral of Padre in India.”
There are no historical documents to show the true meaning of Mitsuhide's statement, and it is not known whether it was a sign of his discriminatory mindset or an expedient to save Yasuke's life. As a result, Yasuke was sent to the Nanban-ji and treated by Jesuit missionaries. It is certain that Yasuke did not die, as Luís Fróis wrote five months after the Honnō-ji Incident, thanking God that he did not lose his life. However, there are no historical sources about him since then and it is not clear what happened to him afterwards.!<

https://twitter.com/JapanTank/status/1789491214968144105
 
[Japan in 2024]
 
It's the year 2024 in Japan, and people are so outbid even for orange juice that they have resorted to desperately making "orange-tangerine mixed juice." Women are traveling abroad to prostitute themselves so much that they are being refused entry into the United States, and even to the point where they are going to South Korea, which was far poorer even just a short time ago, to work as prostitutes. What was once a major trading and exporting nation has long since rested on its laurels, and now with a trade deficit of trillions of yen and nothing to export, it is desperately bowing down to people not only from Europe and the United States, but also from Southeast Asia, India, and even countries whose names we have yet to discover in the tourism industry in order to earn foreign currency.
 
Even though it is a country with extremely low wages, it provides subsidies of hundreds of billions of yen to foreign companies to build factories in the country, and yet young people still go abroad to work. The top tier of universities has been completely snatched up by foreign capital, and graduates from prestigious schools such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, the former imperial universities, Waseda, and Keio are pursuing empty careers in consulting and the like rather than manufacturing, with no prospect of earning foreign currency. The top echelons of the working world are fleeing to America one after another, and once they do, they never come back. In urban areas, Japanese people pay rent for apartments to the Chinese owners every month, and while the Japanese lament that they cannot afford the high prices, the Chinese buy the apartments in cash, calling them cheap. The price of imported building materials has soared and it's difficult to even buy a house, but the company president keeps saying "Don't worry, don't worry!" and people are grateful for the good value for money house, and the company makes the highest profit ever, and the sales of the small house real estate agency that calls out to people in their 30s in street sales in front of the station and has the slogan "Let's go, one trillion" have finally exceeded one trillion.
 
Even though the price of an iPhone in the US dollar has not increased, there is uproar in Japan saying, "It's gotten expensive again!", and almost all mobile communication means, such as smartphones and LINE, are controlled by foreign companies. By preaching some vague, mysterious fantasy and delusion called Society 5.0, they are desperately trying to hide the fact that they have not achieved Industry 4.0, let alone the Third Industrial Revolution, and since neither the government nor the private sector has any IT technology to sell anymore, they are desperately promoting something that is hard to understand, saying how amazing IOWN is, and making it look like they are doing business.
 
This country, which once engaged in empty discussions such as "If there is a labor shortage, we can just bring in immigrants" and "It's better not to bring in immigrants," is now being told, "People go to Korea or Taiwan because the wages are low," and "Wages are higher in urban China," and so it has no choice but to deceive Vietnamese people and create a slave system to secure a labor force. The medical infrastructure, which was once one of the best in the world, has been eaten up by the elderly, and the working generation has been exploited to the point where they have finally reached the limit of what they can pay. As a result, drug prices have been forcibly lowered, and there are now countless foreign-made drugs that Japan is unable to procure, with people saying, "We won't sell to Japan at that low a price." Young people who could be saved with new medicines are not saved, and today, old people still gather happily at the hospital to get compresses, and are given medicine that only slows down dementia by 20-30% at a cost of 3 million yen per person. Elderly people in their 80s and 90s lie in bed, simply prolonging their lives by being bedridden, and their single sons in their 60s come to visit them occasionally, hoping to get their pensions. All of this is being borne by the young working generation, who are short of money and have hit an all-time low in marriage rates and a post-war low in birth rates.
 
The yen, once a currency coveted by people around the world, has become known as the "yen in times of emergency" and is now being sold off at bargain prices almost every day. Now one of the emerging currencies of the Far East, it is experiencing wild fluctuations in value and is managing to hang on by selling off the foreign exchange it had accumulated during its glory days, but it is unclear for how long it will be able to hold on. The country and its people have mistakenly believed that monetary and fiscal policies would solve the problem, put off structural reform, neglected technological development, and simply put everything off. Forgetting the bloody efforts of wise men of the past and the history of the dramatic changes that came with modernization, the old men of companies and organizations that flourished during the Showa era, steeped in old vested interests, are wielding their power, crushing new technologies and ideas, only for the people in question to be dead by the time they get away with it.
 
These young people, like those in the bellies of boiled frogs, are carrying a time bomb, and they vaguely foresee a future in which they will no longer be able to buy beef, flour, soybeans, oil, gas, uranium, or anything else, when foreign currency runs out, leaving society in ruins. But they simply turn a blind eye to this reality, and today, they are sipping mandarin orange juice while a girl looking for a sugar daddy is asked by an older man what color her underwear is.

I posted here a little while back about wanting advice related to parenthood while having estranged family members. Thank you everyone for your advice in my last post here.
I had a good talk with my younger sister (the forgotten child of the family) when she was in town. She very much respects my boundaries and sees no reason to share information with my narcissistic dad and his side of the family. I plan to continue to keep her updated with my pregnancy and share things with her.
My golden child sister on the other hand….I finally muted her for now and plan to keep her muted the rest of my pregnancy. My husband and I will be finding out the sex of our child soon and what we will be naming them. So while I wanted to include my sisters I had my fears of them being flying monkeys. My golden child sister admitted she doesn’t want to feel guilty again not being their bearer of news. That whenever I want them to know she’ll let them know.
Lol. Never.
Cue argument how I’m isolating my child and hurting that side of the family. Despite me pointing out how absolutely terrible and abusive they were specifically towards me and other scapegoats in every generation of our family. But of course because she was the favored golden child she doesn’t see it.
So now she’s muted and will have to get her information feed from somewhere else. My mother thinks I’m being extreme and hormonal. That I shouldn’t care if my bio dad and his family find out and know things. Because what are they going to do? Which yeah they might do absolutely nothing. But still, it’s creepy they want to keep tabs on me and my child(ren) and are guilting my sister for information.

basically, just waht the title said. I know this was an issue in the past with farmers delight but that is not the case here as the issue still existed after removing that mod.
This is the crash report, can anyone figure out what is causing the problem?:

---- Minecraft Crash Report ---- // Hi. I'm Minecraft, and I'm a crashaholic. Time: 2024-05-20 00:15:09 Description: Rendering screen java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "net.minecraft.class_2960.toString()" because "identifier" is null at net.minecraft.class_2348.localvar$djf000$pneumonocore$getMigrated(class_2348.java:518) at net.minecraft.class_2348.method_10223(class_2348.java) at com.simibubi.create.content.trains.bogey.BogeyStyle.getBlockOfSize(BogeyStyle.java:87) at com.simibubi.create.content.trains.bogey.BogeyStyle.getNextBlock(BogeyStyle.java:83) at com.railwayteam.railways.registry.CRBogeyStyles.styleFitsTrack(CRBogeyStyles.java:81) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.handler.BogeyMenuHandlerClient.styleFits(BogeyMenuHandlerClient.java:167) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.handler.BogeyMenuHandlerClient.lambda$getTrackCompat$1(BogeyMenuHandlerClient.java:160) at java.base/java.util.HashMap.computeIfAbsent(HashMap.java:1220) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.handler.BogeyMenuHandlerClient.getTrackCompat(BogeyMenuHandlerClient.java:159) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.BogeyMenuScreen.renderWindow(BogeyMenuScreen.java:215) at com.simibubi.create.foundation.gui.AbstractSimiScreen.method_25394(AbstractSimiScreen.java:119) at net.minecraft.class_437.method_47413(class_437.java:110) at net.minecraft.class_757.method_3192(class_757.java:945) at net.minecraft.class_310.method_1523(class_310.java:1219) at net.minecraft.class_310.method_1514(class_310.java:802) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:250) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:470) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23) A detailed walkthrough of the error, its code path and all known details is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Head -- Thread: Render thread Stacktrace: at net.minecraft.class_2348.localvar$djf000$pneumonocore$getMigrated(class_2348.java:518) at net.minecraft.class_2348.method_10223(class_2348.java) at com.simibubi.create.content.trains.bogey.BogeyStyle.getBlockOfSize(BogeyStyle.java:87) at com.simibubi.create.content.trains.bogey.BogeyStyle.getNextBlock(BogeyStyle.java:83) at com.railwayteam.railways.registry.CRBogeyStyles.styleFitsTrack(CRBogeyStyles.java:81) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.handler.BogeyMenuHandlerClient.styleFits(BogeyMenuHandlerClient.java:167) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.handler.BogeyMenuHandlerClient.lambda$getTrackCompat$1(BogeyMenuHandlerClient.java:160) at java.base/java.util.HashMap.computeIfAbsent(HashMap.java:1220) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.handler.BogeyMenuHandlerClient.getTrackCompat(BogeyMenuHandlerClient.java:159) at com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.BogeyMenuScreen.renderWindow(BogeyMenuScreen.java:215) at com.simibubi.create.foundation.gui.AbstractSimiScreen.method_25394(AbstractSimiScreen.java:119) at net.minecraft.class_437.method_47413(class_437.java:110) -- Screen render details -- Details: Screen name: com.railwayteam.railways.content.bogey_menu.BogeyMenuScreen Mouse location: Scaled: (320, 180). Absolute: (960.000000, 540.000000) Screen size: Scaled: (640, 360). Absolute: (1920, 1080). Scale factor of 3.000000 Stacktrace: at net.minecraft.class_757.method_3192(class_757.java:945) at net.minecraft.class_310.method_1523(class_310.java:1219) at net.minecraft.class_310.method_1514(class_310.java:802) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:250) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:470) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23) -- Affected level -- Details: All players: 1 total; [class_746['Fabsian10000'/110, l='ClientLevel', x=108.01, y=-60.00, z=48.21]] Chunk stats: 65536, 3653 Level dimension: minecraft:overworld Level spawn location: World: (0,-60,0), Section: (at 0,4,0 in 0,-4,0; chunk contains blocks 0,-64,0 to 15,319,15), Region: (0,0; contains chunks 0,0 to 31,31, blocks 0,-64,0 to 511,319,511) Level time: 7466138 game time, 6000 day time Server brand: fabric Server type: Integrated singleplayer server Stacktrace: at net.minecraft.class_638.method_8538(class_638.java:458) at net.minecraft.class_310.method_1587(class_310.java:2406) at net.minecraft.class_310.method_1514(class_310.java:821) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:250) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:470) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23) -- Last reload -- Details: Reload number: 1 Reload reason: initial Finished: Yes Packs: vanilla, fabric, EclecticTrove-1.20.1-1.2.0, extendeddrawersaddon:addon, file/§eVanilla §9& §cStrawberry, file/railways wheel fix, railways:green_signals, file/JustExpressions_v1.1.zip, essential -- System Details -- Details: Minecraft Version: 1.20.1 Minecraft Version ID: 1.20.1 Operating System: Windows 11 (amd64) version 10.0 Java Version: 17.0.8, Microsoft Java VM Version: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (mixed mode), Microsoft Memory: 695652216 bytes (663 MiB) / 5100273664 bytes (4864 MiB) up to 9126805504 bytes (8704 MiB) CPUs: 24 Processor Vendor: GenuineIntel Processor Name: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900KF Identifier: Intel64 Family 6 Model 151 Stepping 2 Microarchitecture: Alder Lake Frequency (GHz): 3.19 Number of physical packages: 1 Number of physical CPUs: 16 Number of logical CPUs: 24 Graphics card #0 name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Graphics card #0 vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de) Graphics card #0 VRAM (MB): 4095.00 Graphics card #0 deviceId: 0x2486 Graphics card #0 versionInfo: DriverVersion=31.0.15.5222 Memory slot #0 capacity (MB): 16384.00 Memory slot #0 clockSpeed (GHz): 4.80 Memory slot #0 type: Unknown Memory slot #1 capacity (MB): 16384.00 Memory slot #1 clockSpeed (GHz): 4.80 Memory slot #1 type: Unknown Virtual memory max (MB): 37468.70 Virtual memory used (MB): 25747.86 Swap memory total (MB): 4864.00 Swap memory used (MB): 72.50 JVM Flags: 10 total; -Xmx8704M -XX:MetaspaceSize=256M -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:G1NewSizePercent=20 -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=50 -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=32M -XX:HeapDumpPath=MojangTricksIntelDriversForPerformance_javaw.exe_minecraft.exe.heapdump -Xss1M Fabric Mods: advancementplaques: Advancement Plaques 1.4.11 ambientsounds: AmbientSounds 5.3.9 anvillevelcapmod: Anvil Level Cap Mod 1.20.1-1.0.0 anvilrepairing: AnvilRepairing 4.0.3 appleskin: AppleSkin 2.5.1+mc1.20 architectury: Architectury 9.2.14 artifacts: Artifacts 9.2.2 cardinal-components-base: Cardinal Components API (base) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-entity: Cardinal Components API (entities) 5.2.2 expandability: ExpandAbility 9.0.0 step-height-entity-attribute: Step Height Entity Attribute 1.2.0 athena: Athena 3.1.1 attributefix: AttributeFix 21.0.4 auto_third_person: Auto Third Person 2.1 backpacked: Backpacked 2.2.7 basicshields: Basic Shields [Fabric] 1.4.1-1.20.2 beautify: Beautify 1.1.0+1.20 betterf3: BetterF3 7.0.2 bettermounthud: Better Mount HUD 1.2.2 blur: Blur (Fabric) 3.1.0 midnightlib: MidnightLib 1.4.1 satin: Satin 1.13.0 bobby: Bobby 5.0.1 com_typesafe_config: config 1.4.2 io_leangen_geantyref_geantyref: geantyref 1.3.13 org_spongepowered_configurate-core: configurate-core 4.1.2 org_spongepowered_configurate-hocon: configurate-hocon 4.1.2 borderlessmining: Borderless Mining 1.1.8+1.20.1 charmofundying: Charm of Undying 6.4.5+1.20.1 spectrelib: SpectreLib 0.13.14+1.20.1 chickensshed: ChickensShed 1.5.0+1.20.1 chipped: Chipped 3.0.4 chiselsandbits: chisels-and-bits 1.4.147 org_lz4_lz4-pure-java: lz4-pure-java 1.8.0 saeculariacaudices: Saecularia Caudices 1.0.23 scena: Scena 1.0.103 cloth-config: Cloth Config v11 11.1.118 cloth-basic-math: cloth-basic-math 0.6.1 clutter: Clutter 1.20-0.5.7 collective: Collective 7.34 controlling: Controlling For Fabric 12.0.2 cosmetic-armor: Cosmetic Armor 1.6.0 couplings: Couplings 1.9.5+1.20 com_electronwill_night-config_core: core 3.6.6 com_electronwill_night-config_toml: toml 3.6.6 craftpresence: CraftPresence 2.3.0 create: Create 0.5.1-f-build.1417+mc1.20.1 com_google_code_findbugs_jsr305: jsr305 3.0.2 flywheel: Flywheel 0.6.10-2 milk: Milk Lib 1.2.60 dripstone_fluid_lib: Dripstone Fluid Lib 3.0.2 porting_lib_accessors: Porting Lib Accessors 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_base: Porting Lib Base 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_config: Porting Lib Config 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_lazy_registration: Porting Lib Lazy Register 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_mixin_extensions: Porting Lib Mixin Extensions 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_utility: Porting Lib Utility 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_brewing: Porting Lib Brewing 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_client_events: Porting Lib Client Events 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_entity: Porting Lib Entity 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_extensions: Porting Lib Extensions 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_attributes: Porting Lib Attributes 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_common: Porting Lib Common 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_models: Porting Lib Models 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_networking: Porting Lib Networking 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_obj_loader: Porting Lib Obj Loader 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_core: Porting Lib Core 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_model_loader: Porting Lib Model Loader 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_tags: Porting Lib Tags 3.0 porting_lib_tool_actions: Porting Lib Tool Actions 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_transfer: Porting Lib Transfer 2.3.2+1.20.1 porting_lib_fluids: Porting Lib Fluids 2.3.2+1.20.1 reach-entity-attributes: Reach Entity Attributes 2.4.0 registrate-fabric: Registrate for Fabric 1.3.62-MC1.20.1 porting_lib_data: Porting Lib Data 2.1.1090+1.20 porting_lib_model_generators: Porting Lib Model Generators 2.1.1090+1.20 porting_lib_gametest: Porting Lib GameTest 2.1.1090+1.20 porting_lib_model_materials: Porting Lib Model Materials 2.1.1090+1.20 createdeco: Create Deco 2.0.1-1.20.1-fabric creativecore: CreativeCore 2.11.24 net_minecraftforge_eventbus: eventbus 6.0.3 distractingtrims: DistractingTrims 2.0.3 dramaticdoors: Dramatic Doors (QuiFabrge) 1.20.1-3.1.5 durabilitytooltip: Durability Tooltip 1.1.5 dynamic-fire-overlay: Dynamic Fire Overlay 1.0.1 dynamic_fps: Dynamic FPS 3.4.2 elementa: Elementa 647 elytraslot: Elytra Slot 6.3.0+1.20.1 entity_model_features: Entity Model Features 2.0.2 entity_texture_features: Entity Texture Features 6.0.1 org_apache_httpcomponents_httpmime: httpmime 4.5.10 entityculling: EntityCulling-Fabric 1.6.2-mc1.20.1 essential: Essential 1.3.2.4+g6b55293e12 essential-container: essential-container 1.0.0 essential-loader: essential-loader 1.2.1 extended_drawers: Extended Drawers 2.1.1+mc.1.20.1 config_toolkit: ConfigToolkit 1.0.0 io_determann_shadow-api-17: shadow-api-17 0.1.1 net_fabricmc_javapoet: javapoet 0.1.0 graphlib: Graph Lib 1.4.0+1.20 kmodlib-overlay: KModLib Overlay 0.2.12+1.20 libnetworkstack: Lib Network Stack 0.10.0 noindium: No Indium? 1.1.0+1.20 yet_another_config_lib_v3: YetAnotherConfigLib 3.2.1+1.20 com_twelvemonkeys_common_common-image: common-image 3.10.0-SNAPSHOT com_twelvemonkeys_common_common-io: common-io 3.10.0-SNAPSHOT com_twelvemonkeys_common_common-lang: common-lang 3.10.0-SNAPSHOT com_twelvemonkeys_imageio_imageio-core: imageio-core 3.10.0-SNAPSHOT com_twelvemonkeys_imageio_imageio-metadata: imageio-metadata 3.10.0-SNAPSHOT com_twelvemonkeys_imageio_imageio-webp: imageio-webp 3.10.0-SNAPSHOT org_quiltmc_parsers_gson: gson 0.2.1 org_quiltmc_parsers_json: json 0.2.1 extendeddrawersaddon: ExtendedDrawersAddon 1.0.2 extendedgears: Extended Cogwheels 2.1.1-1.20.1-0.5.1.f-fabric fabric-api: Fabric API 0.92.0+1.20.1 fabric-api-base: Fabric API Base 0.4.31+1802ada577 fabric-api-lookup-api-v1: Fabric API Lookup API (v1) 1.6.36+1802ada577 fabric-biome-api-v1: Fabric Biome API (v1) 13.0.13+1802ada577 fabric-block-api-v1: Fabric Block API (v1) 1.0.11+1802ada577 fabric-block-view-api-v2: Fabric BlockView API (v2) 1.0.1+1802ada577 fabric-blockrenderlayer-v1: Fabric BlockRenderLayer Registration (v1) 1.1.41+1802ada577 fabric-client-tags-api-v1: Fabric Client Tags 1.1.2+1802ada577 fabric-command-api-v1: Fabric Command API (v1) 1.2.34+f71b366f77 fabric-command-api-v2: Fabric Command API (v2) 2.2.13+1802ada577 fabric-commands-v0: Fabric Commands (v0) 0.2.51+df3654b377 fabric-containers-v0: Fabric Containers (v0) 0.1.64+df3654b377 fabric-content-registries-v0: Fabric Content Registries (v0) 4.0.11+1802ada577 fabric-convention-tags-v1: Fabric Convention Tags 1.5.5+1802ada577 fabric-crash-report-info-v1: Fabric Crash Report Info (v1) 0.2.19+1802ada577 fabric-data-attachment-api-v1: Fabric Data Attachment API (v1) 1.0.0+de0fd6d177 fabric-data-generation-api-v1: Fabric Data Generation API (v1) 12.3.4+1802ada577 fabric-dimensions-v1: Fabric Dimensions API (v1) 2.1.54+1802ada577 fabric-entity-events-v1: Fabric Entity Events (v1) 1.6.0+1c78457f77 fabric-events-interaction-v0: Fabric Events Interaction (v0) 0.6.2+1802ada577 fabric-events-lifecycle-v0: Fabric Events Lifecycle (v0) 0.2.63+df3654b377 fabric-game-rule-api-v1: Fabric Game Rule API (v1) 1.0.40+1802ada577 fabric-item-api-v1: Fabric Item API (v1) 2.1.28+1802ada577 fabric-item-group-api-v1: Fabric Item Group API (v1) 4.0.12+1802ada577 fabric-key-binding-api-v1: Fabric Key Binding API (v1) 1.0.37+1802ada577 fabric-keybindings-v0: Fabric Key Bindings (v0) 0.2.35+df3654b377 fabric-lifecycle-events-v1: Fabric Lifecycle Events (v1) 2.2.22+1802ada577 fabric-loot-api-v2: Fabric Loot API (v2) 1.2.1+1802ada577 fabric-loot-tables-v1: Fabric Loot Tables (v1) 1.1.45+9e7660c677 fabric-message-api-v1: Fabric Message API (v1) 5.1.9+1802ada577 fabric-mining-level-api-v1: Fabric Mining Level API (v1) 2.1.50+1802ada577 fabric-model-loading-api-v1: Fabric Model Loading API (v1) 1.0.3+1802ada577 fabric-models-v0: Fabric Models (v0) 0.4.2+9386d8a777 fabric-networking-api-v1: Fabric Networking API (v1) 1.3.11+1802ada577 fabric-networking-v0: Fabric Networking (v0) 0.3.51+df3654b377 fabric-object-builder-api-v1: Fabric Object Builder API (v1) 11.1.3+1802ada577 fabric-particles-v1: Fabric Particles (v1) 1.1.2+1802ada577 fabric-recipe-api-v1: Fabric Recipe API (v1) 1.0.21+1802ada577 fabric-registry-sync-v0: Fabric Registry Sync (v0) 2.3.3+1802ada577 fabric-renderer-api-v1: Fabric Renderer API (v1) 3.2.1+1802ada577 fabric-renderer-indigo: Fabric Renderer - Indigo 1.5.1+1802ada577 fabric-renderer-registries-v1: Fabric Renderer Registries (v1) 3.2.46+df3654b377 fabric-rendering-data-attachment-v1: Fabric Rendering Data Attachment (v1) 0.3.37+92a0d36777 fabric-rendering-fluids-v1: Fabric Rendering Fluids (v1) 3.0.28+1802ada577 fabric-rendering-v0: Fabric Rendering (v0) 1.1.49+df3654b377 fabric-rendering-v1: Fabric Rendering (v1) 3.0.8+1802ada577 fabric-resource-conditions-api-v1: Fabric Resource Conditions API (v1) 2.3.8+1802ada577 fabric-resource-loader-v0: Fabric Resource Loader (v0) 0.11.10+1802ada577 fabric-screen-api-v1: Fabric Screen API (v1) 2.0.8+1802ada577 fabric-screen-handler-api-v1: Fabric Screen Handler API (v1) 1.3.30+1802ada577 fabric-sound-api-v1: Fabric Sound API (v1) 1.0.13+1802ada577 fabric-transfer-api-v1: Fabric Transfer API (v1) 3.3.4+1802ada577 fabric-transitive-access-wideners-v1: Fabric Transitive Access Wideners (v1) 4.3.1+1802ada577 fabric-language-kotlin: Fabric Language Kotlin 1.10.19+kotlin.1.9.23 fabricloader: Fabric Loader 0.15.11 mixinextras: MixinExtras 0.3.5 fabricshieldlib: Fabric Shield Lib 1.7.2-1.20.1 mm: Manningham Mills 2.3 forgeconfigapiport: Forge Config API Port 8.0.0 framework: Framework 0.6.26 org_javassist_javassist: javassist 3.29.2-GA org_reflections_reflections: reflections 0.10.2 geckolib: GeckoLib 4 4.4.2 com_eliotlash_mclib_mclib: mclib 20 glass_armor: Glass Armor 1.0.0+1.20.x globalpacks: Global Data- & Resourcepacks 1.16.1_fabric gravestones: Gravestones 1.0.3-1.20.1 handcrafted: Handcrafted 3.0.6 harvestwithease: Harvest with ease 8.0.1.0 iceberg: Iceberg 1.1.18 immersive_paintings: Immersive Paintings 0.6.7+1.20.1 indium: Indium 1.0.30+mc1.20.4 inventorysorter: Inventory Sorter 1.9.0-1.20 kyrptconfig: Kyrpt Config 1.5.6-1.20 java: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 17 jei: Just Enough Items 15.3.0.4 justenoughprofessions: Just Enough Professions (JEP) 3.0.1 lambdynlights: LambDynamicLights 2.3.2+1.20.1 pride: Pride Lib 1.2.0+1.19.4 spruceui: SpruceUI 5.0.0+1.20 legendarytooltips: Legendary Tooltips 1.4.4 limitless-banners: "Limitless" Banners 1.0.0 lithium: Lithium 0.11.2 memoryleakfix: Memory Leak Fix 1.1.5 minecraft: Minecraft 1.20.1 modelfix: Model Gap Fix 1.14 modmenu: Mod Menu 7.2.2 mousetweaks: Mouse Tweaks 2.25 nemos-woodcutter: Nemo's Woodcutter 1.8.1-1.20.1 netheritehorsearmor: Netherite Horse Armor 0.4.6-1.20.1 nvidium: Nvidium 0.2.6-beta nyfsquiver: Nyf's Quivers 1.20.1-fabric-1.0.4 nyfsspiders: Nyf's Spiders 2.1.1 org_jetbrains_annotations: annotations 23.0.0 org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-reflect: kotlin-reflect 1.9.23 org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-stdlib: kotlin-stdlib 1.9.23 org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-stdlib-jdk7: kotlin-stdlib-jdk7 1.9.23 org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-stdlib-jdk8: kotlin-stdlib-jdk8 1.9.23 org_jetbrains_kotlinx_atomicfu-jvm: atomicfu-jvm 0.23.2 org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-coroutines-core-jvm: kotlinx-coroutines-core-jvm 1.8.0 org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-coroutines-jdk8: kotlinx-coroutines-jdk8 1.8.0 org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-datetime-jvm: kotlinx-datetime-jvm 0.5.0 org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-serialization-cbor-jvm: kotlinx-serialization-cbor-jvm 1.6.3 org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-serialization-core-jvm: kotlinx-serialization-core-jvm 1.6.3 org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-serialization-json-jvm: kotlinx-serialization-json-jvm 1.6.3 patchouli: Patchouli 1.20.1-84-FABRIC fiber: fiber 0.23.0-2 pneumonocore: PneumonoCore 1.1.3+1.20.1 polymorph: Polymorph 0.49.1+1.20.1 cardinal-components-block: Cardinal Components API (blocks) 5.2.1 cardinal-components-item: Cardinal Components API (items) 5.2.1 prism: Prism 1.0.5 puzzleslib: Puzzles Lib 8.1.17 puzzlesaccessapi: Puzzles Access Api 8.0.7 railways: Create: Steam 'n' Rails 1.6.4+fabric-mc1.20.1 raised: Raised 3.1.1 resourcefullib: Resourceful Lib 2.1.23 com_teamresourceful_bytecodecs: bytecodecs 1.0.2 com_teamresourceful_yabn: yabn 1.0.3 searchables: Searchables 1.0.2 snifferplus: Hellion's Sniffer+ 0.2.0 sodium: Sodium 0.5.8+mc1.20.1 stairdoors: StairDoors Extended 1.0.0 starlight: Starlight 1.1.2+fabric.dbc156f status-effect-bars: Status Effect Bars 1.0.3 supermartijn642configlib: SuperMartijn642's Config Lib 1.1.8+a taxfreelevels: Tax Free Levels 1.3.9 toggleableitemframes: Toggleable Item Frames 4.1.0-1.20.1 toolleveling: ToolLeveling+ 1.20.1-2.0.0 trinkets: Trinkets 3.7.1 twigs: Twigs 3.1.0 universalcraft: UniversalCraft 337 vigilance: Vigilance 297 visualworkbench: Visual Workbench 8.0.0 vwoops: Vwoops 1.0.0+fabric-mc1.20 weaponleveling: Lukas' Weapon Leveling 1.20.1-2.1.1 Flywheel Backend: GL33 Instanced Arrays Launched Version: 1.20.1 Backend library: LWJGL version 3.3.1 SNAPSHOT Backend API: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 GL version 3.2.0 NVIDIA 552.22, NVIDIA Corporation Window size: 1920x1080 GL Caps: Using framebuffer using OpenGL 3.2 GL debug messages: Using VBOs: Yes Is Modded: Definitely; Client brand changed to 'fabric'; Server brand changed to 'fabric' Type: Integrated Server (map_client.txt) Graphics mode: fancy Resource Packs: vanilla, fabric, EclecticTrove-1.20.1-1.2.0, extendeddrawersaddon:addon, file/§eVanilla §9& §cStrawberry, file/railways wheel fix, railways:green_signals, file/JustExpressions_v1.1.zip Current Language: en_us CPU: 24x 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900KF Server Running: true Player Count: 1 / 8; [class_3222['Fabsian10000'/110, l='ServerLevel[test]', x=108.01, y=-60.00, z=48.21]] Data Packs: vanilla, fabric, file/tool_upgrading, file/tweaks, crafting_tweaks.zip, tool_upgrading.zip Enabled Feature Flags: minecraft:vanilla World Generation: Stable 

Hello we are 2TMC a 21+ community server much like Hermitcraft. We are a SMP with emphasis on being friendly (with a little bit of chaos) with other players, and trying to be a welcoming community to everyone. We are running a Semi-Vanilla server with a few terrain generation mods and additional mods that enhance the vanilla experience (see list below).
We are looking for players who will be active in game on chat and on our Discord voice channels. The server is in NA but we accept players from all around the world. Discord and a mic are required! We love to chat on voice in game but it's definitely not required! We are also youtubestreamer friendly. So if you love to play minecraft and are looking for a friendly environment where you can prank others and do community projects then send us a message! We'd love to chat with you.
Data packs on the server

• afkdisplay
• anti enderman grief
• armored elytra
• better item frames
• blackstone cobblestone
• blaze and cave's advancements pack
• coal to black dye
• charcoal to black dye
• confetti creepers
• coordinates hud
• craftable notch apples
• craftable coral blocks 3x3
• craftable gravel
• craftable bundles rabbit hide
• custom nether portals
• double shulker shells
• dragon drops
• durability ping
• fast leaf decay
• graves
• larger phantoms
• more mob heads
• mountain angels
• name formatting station
• player head drops
• real time clock
• silence mobs
• straight to shapeless
• unlock all recipes
• universal dyeing
• unpackable nether wart
• villager workstation highlights
• wandering trades hermit edition

​
Fabric mods on the server

• armor poser
• audioplayer
• cloth config api
• clumps
• enhanced groups
• fabric per player spawns
• geophilic
• head index
• just an end anchor
• keep head names
• more mob variants
• no chat reports
• player pronouns
• radio
• regrowth
• shulker+
• shulkerboxtooltip
• simple voicechat
• slimyfloor
• status
• stitched snow
• terralith
• towns and towers
• william wythers' overhauled overworld

​
Fabric mods required to join the server

• armor poser
• cloth config api
• just an end anchor
• more mob variants
• no chat reports
• shulker+
• simple voicechat
• status
• xareos minimap
• xareos worldmap

​
Server Rules

1. Be Respectful
2. No griefing, stealing, or cheating
3. Chat is English only
4. Non-Destructive Pranks are allowed (so Hermitcraft style pranks)
5. Spawn area is for a spawn town
6. Bases must be built 250 blocks away from Spawn.
7. No duping except for carpet, rail and tnt.
8. No combat logging, this means mobs as well.
9. Taking items/griefing from active and maintained ruin sites is prohibited.
10. No hacking or hacked clients
11. No using others builds, items, villagers, etc without their permission.

If you are interested in joining please fill out this application

Hello we are 2TMC a 21+ community server much like Hermitcraft. We are a SMP with emphasis on being friendly (with a little bit of chaos) with other players, and trying to be a welcoming community to everyone. We are running a Semi-Vanilla server with a few terrain generation mods and additional mods that enhance the vanilla experience (see list below).
We are looking for players who will be active in game on chat and on our Discord voice channels. The server is in NA but we accept players from all around the world. Discord and a mic are required! We love to chat on voice in game but it's definitely not required! We are also youtubestreamer friendly. So if you love to play minecraft and are looking for a friendly environment where you can prank others and do community projects then send us a message! We'd love to chat with you.
Data packs on the server

• afkdisplay
• anti enderman grief
• armored elytra
• better item frames
• blackstone cobblestone
• blaze and cave's advancements pack
• coal to black dye
• charcoal to black dye
• confetti creepers
• coordinates hud
• craftable notch apples
• craftable coral blocks 3x3
• craftable gravel
• craftable bundles rabbit hide
• custom nether portals
• double shulker shells
• dragon drops
• durability ping
• fast leaf decay
• graves
• larger phantoms
• more mob heads
• mountain angels
• name formatting station
• player head drops
• real time clock
• silence mobs
• straight to shapeless
• unlock all recipes
• universal dyeing
• unpackable nether wart
• villager workstation highlights
• wandering trades hermit edition

​
Fabric mods on the server

• armor poser
• audioplayer
• cloth config api
• clumps
• enhanced groups
• fabric per player spawns
• geophilic
• head index
• just an end anchor
• keep head names
• more mob variants
• no chat reports
• player pronouns
• radio
• regrowth
• shulker+
• shulkerboxtooltip
• simple voicechat
• slimyfloor
• status
• stitched snow
• terralith
• towns and towers
• william wythers' overhauled overworld

​
Fabric mods required to join the server

• armor poser
• cloth config api
• just an end anchor
• more mob variants
• no chat reports
• shulker+
• simple voicechat
• status
• xareos minimap
• xareos worldmap

​
Server Rules

1. Be Respectful
2. No griefing, stealing, or cheating
3. Chat is English only
4. Non-Destructive Pranks are allowed (so Hermitcraft style pranks)
5. Spawn area is for a spawn town
6. Bases must be built 250 blocks away from Spawn.
7. No duping except for carpet, rail and tnt.
8. No combat logging, this means mobs as well.
9. Taking items/griefing from active and maintained ruin sites is prohibited.
10. No hacking or hacked clients
11. No using others builds, items, villagers, etc without their permission.

If you are interested in joining please fill out this application

Reasonable is a subjective term...
Warning: Long and insane rant incoming.

Preface

I’ve been spending way too much time responding to individual comments recently, so I decided to put all my thoughts into one post.
I’ll start by getting it out of the way that I’m not a racist or sexist. I’m a Japanese American man who happens to think Adewale and Aveline are among the coolest protagonists in AC and has no issues with an African, Indian, Korean, etc. protagonist, man or woman, in any setting where they make sense. (More on the making sense part later.)
Kassandra is also one of my favorites, but while she and Eivor were better than nothing, they were both essentially just female skins. Their stories should’ve acknowledged their gender in some way imo, and I’ve argued way more than I should’ve with people who pulled the historical accuracy card on them.
I agree that some of the people who complain about Yasuke sound like racists, but I think you can legitimately object to his being a co-star without racism being involved. (I’m also slowly coming around to accepting Yasuke.)
I also realize that I shouldn’t judge the game too harshly yet, as it hasn’t been released yet... But we do have the trailer.
With that out of the way, as an Asian male and longtime fan of the series, I’m disappointed that they squandered the perfect opportunity to have a positive/cool depiction of a Japanese male in the Japanese and first East Asian entry in one of the most popular series in the world given the decades-long history of western media’s marginalizing and demeaning Asian men. I mention AC’s popularity to point out the potential it has to positively influence a wide audience.
I'll respond to most of justifications I've seen for Yasuke as a protagonist in an AC game set in Japan one by one for easier reading.

“Yasuke is a better audience surrogate...”

This is a weak excuse. No one has ever complained about this, because the series has always had the perfect surrogate in the form of the modern-day protagonist.
And let’s face it, an info dump is an info dump. No one wants to hear extended explanations on the finer points of Japanese society, no matter who it’s conveyed to. The database can handle the deeper stuff, and any info necessary for the player could’ve just as easily been explained to a slightly unaccustomed Japanese rookie samurai.
“Better audience surrogate” is a solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

"But Naoe is Japanese...”

This justification falls flat on me, because the problems have always been different between Asian men and woman in western media. Portrayals of Asian women used to focus on exotic sexualization, but because of that, they got comparatively more screen-time than their male counterparts.
The Naoe defense also ignores that fact that we could've had both a Japanese female AND male protagonist if Ubisoft followed their most recent 4-game (if you count Origins) track record of male and female protagonists that are both of their setting. It just doesn’t sit right with me that they decided to change this formula among others with the first East Asian setting.

“But people didn’t complain about Nioh’s white protag...”

This accusation falls flat on me too, because Nioh is not a good comparison. It’s a straight-up fantasy game that focuses exclusively on fighting supernatural enemies. It doesn’t pretend to have an ounce of historical accuracy or realism.
It was also made by a Japanese company that has a track record of including Japanese protagonists. That track record gives them some leeway to change things up without being accused of whitewashing Asian characters.

"But Yasuke is a real part of Japan's history..."

He's a footnote in Japan's history. If we're being honest, the only reason we even know about him is because he was black in a time when there were almost no black people and was a retainer for Nobunaga. Nothing in his historical record mentions him doing anything else of much significance, most likely because there was very little he could do in his position. It's not racist to acknowledge this.
Again, as a longtime Japanese American fan of the series, I'm happy that AC Japan is finally here but disappointed that Ubi decided to inflate a small part of "Japan's" history and slap him on the cover as one of its representatives. I would feel the same (worse actually) if it was William Adams there.
I'd also feel the same if a hypothetical white protagonist who was a footnote in an African nation's history took the place of a fictional African protagonist. I think most people would feel the same too, and the uproar would surely be greater.

"But Yasuke WAS an actual samurai..."

I think the debate about whether he was or wasn't a "samurai" is largely irrelevant and completely misses the point. I agree that he was a "samurai," but historical records also make it sound like he was Nobunaga's favored trophy pet (if we're being completely honest). (The preceding sentence got me permanently banned for "racism" on the main AC subreddit, but I don't think it's racist to acknowledge racism, even the overt form it took in the past.) It's entirely possible (and likely) that he was made an honorary "samurai" for that reason alone. Because "samurai" is technically just a title and privileged position.
The real question is, "Did Yasuke fit the classic image of a badass armored warrior or robed ronin most people imagine (and that appeared in the trailer) when they think 'samurai'?"
The Japanese (especially in the past) actually use a different word when they're being specific about warriors fitting that image, and it's "bushi" (as in "bushido" or "way of the warrior"). That word is conspicuously missing from Yasuke's historical record. There's probably a reason for that.

"But Yasuke's story deserves to be told..."

Similar to the badass warrior aspect, nothing in the historical record specifically mentions that he learned the language or integrated into the culture particularly well, so any portrayal of that sort is wishful appropriation at best imo.
At that point, are you really telling his story? Is there value in promoting fanciful conjecture that is based on essentially nothing? Obviously, there’s a monetary incentive for Ubi to capitalize on the popular trend of farfetched depictions of Yasuke, but is that it?
It’s a given that the real Yasuke probably lived a fascinating life, but Ubi will likely gloss over the actual struggles he faced as a complete outsider in a frankly very racist time and place. It almost seems disrespectful to attribute all sorts of things that probably weren’t true just to spice things up for a video game. (And yes, I think Ubi should've included at least some examples of the struggles Kassandra and Eivor would've surely faced, but at least they were made up people.)

“Go play Ghost of Tsushima...”

These people are probably the worst. Honestly, I think Ubi is also guilty of agreeing with the underlying sentiment in this line of thinking. Contrary to others, I think Yasuke was less of a “woke” diversity decision and more of a “GoT already did a Japanese guy” decision.
I think that borders on racism when you consider that that’s never a concern when it’s the umpteenth white protagonist in a medieval European setting (or any setting). It implies that Asian characters are just too similar to each other to be marketable too close to each other.
But they’re only similar to each other in western-made media because western writers cling to tired tropes like honor and stoicism. The perpetuation of such stereotypes has an impact. I’ve seen people here claim that it’s a fact that Japanese people are uniquely less capable of resisting societal constrictions, hence the choice of Yasuke.
Another implied that historical codes of honor are things that most Japanese people still live by. They’re not, and that person obviously doesn’t know too many Japanese people and probably got their misconception from one-sided media portrayals.
Just like the codes of chivalry for European knights, the codes of Japanese honor were simply the ideals of the people that wrote them, who were themselves just a small subset of their population. It’s impossible to think that all or even most of the people back then actually abided by them, samurai or not.
And I'm a fan of the AC series. I'm not interested in playing GoT.

Historical accuracy vs believability

While there are definitely significant historical accuracy issues with that portrayal of Yasuke, they’re comparatively minor next to the replacement issue in my mind. Historical accuracy is really only an issue for me in the context of a more general believability issue.
Why would anyone, Assassin or Templar, choose the only black person in Japan as their secret agent in the field? Firsthand accounts describe crowds of onlookers offering money to catch a glimpse of him wherever he went.
An extremely-conspicuous total-outsider is simply the least ideal protagonist in a series about remaining inconspicuous while murdering dozens of people. Previous protagonists could fully navigate their environments because they were a part of them. Knowing their lands, languages, peoples, and cultures and fitting in with them, I can believe that they successfully moved through them while keeping their actions (and names) hidden from the pages of history.
I can even buy that Kassandra and Eivor existed despite “historical accuracy.” Because half the population of any group of people is women, the two could conceivably blend in and be forgotten imo, especially when you consider that they also lived MUCH further back in time. There's much more we don't know about that far back in history.
This might be another thing that's falsely construed as racist, but it's a fact that local populations don't take kindly to singularly-unique foreign outsiders cutting down their friends and loved ones, regardless of who their boss is. Yasuke would’ve been (in)famous and lived on in legends told for generations, even if the Templars tried to erase his historical record. He would've surely been seen and positively identified as Nobunaga’s famous black samurai by hundreds of witnesses as he did all the things the non-stealthy one of the two protagonists does.

“But Leonardo da Vinci didn’t actually help assassins build a hidden blade either...”

The central conceit of the AC series has always been playing with the idea of secret organizations, conspiracies, ancient beings, and sci-fi artifacts being involved with figures and events within the blank spaces of history. Yes, Yasuke’s blanks are big, but again, they wouldn’t be big if he was doing the things we saw in the trailer.
Any believability issues that previous AC games had are multiplied tenfold by Yasuke being a combination of real, black, and not an NPC in Sengoku Japan. It’s a substantial layer of unbelievability added on top of a base that already existed in previous games that did in fact claim some semblance of believability. Yasuke is just on another level, and while I think it’s fine to enjoy him in Shadows as pure fantasy, let’s not pretend he makes any sense. Which brings me to my main issue...

Representation and the replacement issue

Considering the nonsensical nature of Yasuke as a protagonist, it makes his taking the spot as the series’ first Asian male lead in a mainline game all the more off-putting to me. In the best-case scenario, Ubi is simply trying to capitalize on the popular cool black samurai trend as I mentioned. But they’re still doing it at the expense of an Asian male lead.
I admit that western media has gotten a lot better at representation, but it’s still a fairly recent thing and there’s still a long way to go. A recent hot-take of an IGN article made at least one correct claim that Asian representation shouldn’t be confined to ninjas and samurai.
But the solution to the problem isn’t to take away some of the only positive but one-sided representations we have. The solution is to broaden Asian representation to portray them as ordinary people with diverse appearances and personalities in all walks of life. Until that becomes a norm, Asians should be allowed to star as ninjas, samurai, kung fu masters, etc. as long as the depictions aren’t negative caricatures. In fact, they can be gateways to diversifying their portrayals.
If Ubi really wanted to differentiate itself from GoT’s Jin, they could’ve just given Shadows’ samurai a completely different personality instead of lazily changing his race. It’s about time a western dev broke away from the tired stoic warrior trope. "But this is Ubisoft... They're incapable of nuanced portrayals of minorities..." That's cop-out excuse imo.
No one game can reverse decades of marginalization and negative stereotypes, but individual movies, shows, public discourses, and yes, video games make up the collective whole of media, which has a massive impact on perceptions within a society. I believe individual representations make a difference, so I support increased diversity in every piece of media as long as it’s not at the expense of good writing and not at the expense of opportunities for other marginalized groups.

Conclusion

If you read everything this far, thank you. Again, I realize that the game isn’t even out yet and that I may be proven spectacularly wrong somehow. Either way, I can now focus my ire on the excessive monetization and live service BS that Shadows and the Infinity hub will surely have, and you all should too :) Or maybe I'll just touch grass.
NOTE: This post was initially removed from assassinscreed because "it covered a topic covered within the last 7 days." I've since been permanently banned from that subreddit for a separate reason mentioned in the post, so I've reposted here. I revised the original post by adding some points and making it more readable, but it's essentially the same from before.
Mods, please don't remove this or ban me. I spent a lot of time and thought on this, and I think it's respectful to everyone.

Looking for a fun, social, war clan? My name is Nicole (town hall 14) and I am the leader of this clan here and we are looking for active members!
Our war record is 58-38. CWL; Gold 1 League. We currently have 21 total members and usually participate in 15v15 wars. We are looking to expand into 30v30 wars.
We have an Instagram groupchat where we talk from methods of strategy, to small talk about current events (feel no obligation to join).
We have members ranging from town hall 15 to town hall 9. If you have two accounts, one being your rushed one and one being your main, we welcome both.
All of us are adults but are cool with anyone mature joining. I hope you consider joining us! We are a lot of fun! :)

Disclaimer: I grew up on Pokémon and played red/blue when the originally debuted in the US. I have only played as far as gen 5, so maybe this doesn’t hold true all the way through (and I’d be pleasantly surprised).
I find the personalities of the rivals in the newer generations (even starting with May/Wally in gen 3) to not be what I expect from the rivals. I liked all the smack talk from Blue and all the scary threatening vibes from Silver. I feel like the texent rivals are too.. I don’t know.. supportive of you beating them? I loved getting to name Blue at the beginning of the game and giving him the name of someone I was mad at at school at the time or something. The personality change they gave Blue in Let’s Go is a travesty.
Anyone else feel this way?

mine my latest dream

I had a very vivid dream that I was in a partially wrecked building, weapons and gear were stored and we were suffering bombardment from small explosive rounds.
I geared up with a rocket launcher and went to the front; from a distance I could see dark figures firing at us they seemed middle eastern but the appearance seemed just that, an appearance. Their energy connected to a central source and the feeling I got was they were connected to the elite .
I shot off a few rounds with the launcher and then started launching some kind of bladed projectile which I envisioned impaling several of the offenders; I was running out of ammo and reached for the small nuclear warheads at which point the enemy dispersed. They were too close to fire on for it to have spared our lives.
My vision then shifted to a battle of two skys
the upper sky which I felt was the creator or god was sending massive energy pulses to the lower sky, I observed from between them and after around ten bursts I was asked if it had removed the cold from the earth, I answered yes, it had.

that one was a trip.
sis/ rip

Another dire warning in dream state
Last night as usual in my dream state I wandered into an area which was full of underlying religious context I was fighting the unseen dark influences and warding off demonic possession by repeating over and over the lords prayer, while surrounded by all the evils of the world, but very curiously I never got passed “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” until about the fifth time of chanting, for those of you who are unfamiliar with this prayer it is as follows.
Our father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
For thine is the power and the glory forever and ever
Amen.
After then I awoke abruptly at “give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”
This to me meant that we are about to be forced into a time when this prophecy called the book of revelations is about to become a reality meaning Gods will is upon us, and God is at hand in the works of the people and in these the last days this prayer to me is all about humbly thanking God for every small blessing and asking for his help and guidance in every aspect of our lives great and small but keeping humble requests and having gratitude for anything more that he bestows on our lives and so this is the message I send out to you for now is the time of repentance.
BE WARNED, and be READY!
I may seem to you to be a bible thumping quack don’t say you were not forewarned in the end when you come face to face with your own judgments in the presence of your maker you have 2 and 1/2 years before you will see for yourself that sooner was most definitely better than later in this case all hell is about to break lose and later is just too late!
In that same dream I had a personal warning that a man and woman would enter my life asking for a personal favor and as I submitted to their request in the end I was betrayed and left in utter disarray in my life possibly facing legal hardship from them. //
Are we headed for drought and famine?
How many years has it been since we as a society believed the end was eminant? Since the great depression? since world war1, or worldwar2? and each time we are very pleasantly and ecstaticly relieved when the end is never in sight, and each time we feel foolish don’t we? What if all of that were to change, would we see it or know it? Maybe there is that one person who told us it was coming and we disregarded their words as the rantings of a mentally ill person You never truly know it is over until you are facing the ugliness of those final moments but we can all agree that we as a whole are working up to it each and every generation and we can feel our own mortality as we slip into unknown territory full of terrorism and nuclear bomb threaghts. What if the answer was as simple as finding our footing in the spiritual realm becoming more harmonious with the earth and with human beings around us in other words what if their were a guarantee that if we prayed or at least became spiritually aware we would be saved? would we do this very simple task, would others around us follow our lead? What if I told you all it takes to save the town you’re in is 20 people who were connected in mind and soul to the what society calls THE GODHEAD? I had a dream a few nights ago where I stood in a foreign country I felt it was europe and many different people were around with accents that to me seemed as though they were from multiple tongues and nations and they were mulling around and drinking and living just everyday lives full of materialism and wickedness in other words what has become the norm all around the world and in the midst of them I was trying to tell them of an impending event that was about to happen that they needed to prepare for. But to no avail I was completely ignored by all still I kept trying telling them there was going to be a great drought and a food shortage that would effect the whole world and would move from country to country like a great domino effect but it seemed as though even upon hearing numerous lives would be lost they continued in their faithful disobedience over and over I repeated myself and it seemed to me they were in great disbelief that this was at all possible and in the end of the dream I finally said God has told me to tell you their will be a great drought and famine and that if you do not want your countries to fall into starvation you should prepare for it then I awoke. When I woke up I was in shock for God was never in my dream, and not once have I spoken with him personally and yet still it felt as though I had the authority to say these exact words that they were ordained directly from God! A few days later I had yet another dream I was in a place after the bombs settled and saw the oceans and seas the land had radiation through out and the water was greatly poisoned by this radiation and the sharks and fish were changing over a period of time I saw multiple generations of grotesquely mutated life and was in great fear then I saw multiple babies being created in a scientific way in order to carry on the human lineage and a very dark in nature group moving to seek out and destroy these babies that were close to reaching full gestation, I had the distinct feeling we humans were becoming less and less able to procreate in the conventienal way. And lastnight I dreamt I was traveling accrossed the sea, in specific the medateranian sea having a very beautiful feeling great things were going to happen when I came accrossed a small family that seemed very important for some reason, they lived in a very small area in simple surroundings and their was a birthday taking place it was the 5th or 6th birthday of a boy I felt I needed to attend the birthday of, and they were happy to see me allowing my prescence with open arms, but when I wanted to bring others they weren’t very accomodating feeling towards the Idea when I awoke I felt as though that young boy was very important somehow to a significant event that will take place futuristically. At first I wasn’t sure the significance of the information I am about to disclose but I decided that it just may be pertinent, I was definately in an area that boating seemed a pass time and my brain hit on Ionian sea and the young boy was in a sea cavern with smoke coming from his ears as his parents did also, it was an area where Manta Rays were most prevalent, along with a moderate amount of dolphins near by very few deadly sharks in comparrison to the other aquatic life and an occassional whale perhaps this boy is not an actual boy but a smaller volcano alongside two larger ones, whic is why I saw smoke coming from the ears meaning it was about to come to an eruptive head, in which the boys age was five maybe perhaps pin pointing the time it is to going to erupt. There are alot of different meanings we can take from this dream. //
Do we really think we are safe?
What happens if America is right in the fact that President Obama is the fated Anti-Christ? What then? Is there anything we can truly do about it? At best this proves the struggle between good and evil does exists and there is a God, a messiah, and A Lucifer (devil), or Satan however you were raised to call him. Ok now imagine we can stop him from his achieving full power, just pretend somehow we could, or that we do and off sounds the trumpet? Christians save the day yeehaa yippy kiyay Do we think for an instant oh the struggle is over whew, we can finally breathe easy, boy that was close, I’m so glad we passed the test, ding dong the witch is dead! Or do we wait for the next Anti-Christ, and the next, and the next, how many times can we thwart his full power inevitably he will rise in the end no matter how hard we fight to keep him away right? So why not let him come and turn over in the end the rule of the earth to the second coming of our messiah, the lord of lords, and king of kings Are we that afraid of facing God Almighty? Understandably we are all afraid we are not in the book of life,for only the sainted, and virginal, and truly Godly are written in the book of life those, who are hand picked from the start by God himself to exist the last days before the second coming, only the handicapped, truly compassionate right? Well guess how many of us that describes, not me and if you are able to read and understand this not you probably, oh just because there are priests and bishops and preachers and popes in the world most likely non of them qualify, and our Jewish population I’m pretty certain absolutely none of them are in the book of life! After all the Jews needlessly slaughtered the saints and their own King to boot if anything the Jews should rue the day they ever meet wit their maker! Mayhap it’s better to allow this time to pass and hope that gods mercy be upon us or even do one better change our greedy, hateful, unforgiving ways, pray constantly for direction and guidance, repent, and seek counsel in the holy ghost, and give whole heartedly our penance to the lord our lamb, to present a case on our behalf to the almighty heavenly father this is the only way we can be of light heart, and easy mind and maybe find worthiness in Gods eyes, then let the Antichrist come as we Christians ban together to survive in the latter days in other words prepare for the worst and hope for the best. If God finds us worthy worst case scenario we are killed right away or perhaps we are not bothered at all because we have repented, remember that to repent is to ask forgiveness with a broken heart, and humble nature never to do what we are repenting of again! This may sound hard and maybe we are all waiting for definitive proof of Gods existence before we do this but seriously it will be too late the tribulation for you will be too great and you most likely need to take the side that gives you instantaneous relief from your misery.
We know who will rise victoriously why not allow it? And in the end all of the secrets and deceptions that were created will be revealed and all of our own perversions of the true church will be done away with I say let it come about, Let the saints finally taste revenge for all that man has spoiled, perverted, and destroyed, and let god fill his cup with the grapes of wrath. //
Governmental knockdown?
This last dream I’m very uncertain if it was tied into anything or not but warned of a big fight between two male entities that one of which was very large in stature and appeared to me like the archangel Michael who I felt was my fiercest and personal protector he seemed very close spiritually to me I’m not sure why but the warring was going on with a very dark and much smaller male figure and completely evil it was very disturbing as I saw a great blow to the head taken by Michael but only after he delivered one to his foe which was not very damaging, and Michael who was standing in front of me in position and mind to protect me, fell to the ground but I waited around to see whether he raised again and I remember thinking it was impossible for him to be dead so I stayed and kept waiting for his rising thinking it would be any second then I awoke was it real if so what does it mean? Is it a possibility God will allow Satan and his dominion such power over even his own archangels to be defeated for a short time and leave his children completely at the mercy of the devil? In the dream I remember feeling vulnerable to the will of the dark force before me but also strangely feeling as though I wasn’t going to be gone after as I stayed vigilant in my loyalty to my protector bidding his rising fervently and in complete disbelief that he was dead.
Upon further reflection of this dream I came to the possible conclusion that the male entities were symbolic of the government we could all depend on protecting us and the smaller figure was a darker change in our government infrastructure knocking down our protective defenses and leaving our government vulnerable to darker government influences which intended the country harm. And that if we stay loyal and vigil we can avoid the harmful effects and changes about to be a possible driving force in our country.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100823131345/http://theruthlesstruth.com/wordpress/
the rest under pages starting at the rambling poet most are my late sisters

I just finished the RBC Brooklyn Half yesterday, after a 12-week training program. I’d built up a lot of expectations for the race, for a whole host of interrelated reason (that I’ll unpack in the body of this thing); all those expectations, unfortunately, caused me to get carried away, and made my experience of the race overall 1) unenjoyable while I was running and 2) disappointing after I finished.
I’m a teacher, and I frequently relay this paraphrasing of a Confucius quote to my kids: “We can either learn how to act by imagining consequences and reflecting, which is best; or by watching others make mistakes, which is hard (though not for us). The most difficult way to learn is through experience, but if that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes.” One of my top-upvoted comments of all time is in this sub, telling people to not ruin a race for themselves by over-fixating on time-goals at the expense of enjoying their race.
And yet—

Race Information

• Name: RBC Brooklyn Half
• Date: May 18, 2024
• Distance: 13.1 mi
• Location: Brooklyn, NY
• Time: 1:38:2X

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub or Equal 1:32	No
B	Sub 1:35	No
C	Finally Pace Myself Properly	No

Splits

Split	Pace	Time
5k	7:04	21:55
10k	7:20	44:42
15k	7:12	1:07:03
20k	8:23	1:33:03
Finish	7:55	1:38:2X

Background Context

I started running in Oct of ‘22, and caught the bug. I ran a half in April of ‘23 in 1:47, and loved the distance. I built base over the summer to ~30-35 mpw, and then trained for the Philly Half in Nov of ‘23. Ended up getting a 1:38:0X in that race, which was really exciting. More exciting was that I approximately even-split that race — my second half took ~30 seconds longer than the first. I left that race feeling exactly how I wanted to — like a washcloth wrung out completely. I felt like that race & time represented the absolute best of my ability, given my current level of fitness; and I felt like I tried my best the whole way through.
Last important piece of context re: diagnosing this race’s disappointment: between Oct of ‘22 and Nov ‘23 I went from ~240 lbs avg to ~195 lbs average. My lowest weight dipped to the high 180s, but I stabilized around 190 pretty quickly.

Training

I used Runna to train for Philly and really enjoyed the experience. My organizational skills are pretty lacking, and I spend 100% of them in other areas of my life — so I enjoy using an app that offloads some of that cognitive lift for me, fully worth the sub during training blocks.
As far as milage, I managed:

Week	Miles (Ran / Goal)
1	25 / 33 mi mi (missed 2 runs from travel)
2	32 / 36 mi (missed 1 run b/c travel)
3	38 /38 mi
4	12 / 20 mi (deload, missed 2 runs from illness)
5	28 / 38 mi (missed 2 runs from illness carried over from previous week)
6	40 / 40 mi
7	43 / 43 mi
8	23 / 23 mi
9	50 / 43 mi (extended 2 easy runs by ~3 miles apiece)
10	43 / 40 mi
11	29 / 35 mi (missed 1 run due to illness)
12	23 / 23 mi (including race).

As I’m sure you can already see, I missed a meaningful amount of runs due to illness/other life interruption. Concurrent with all this is the fact that my wife is due with our 2nd child in, well, like a week and a half from now; so a lot of the missed runs in weeks 1-5 also reflect a dramatic net increase in my responsibilities b/c of my wife feeling out of it / not being able to get as much done as normal (no shade at all; she’s literally building a new human that wasn’t there before). Overall I got ~92% of all milage done, running 388 miles during these 12 weeks. Mistake #1: I didn’t adjust my time goals in light of missing workouts; I figured if I just worked harder to “catch up,” I would be fine.
The plan included 2 quality sessions a week — 1 tempo run and 1 interval session, and the weekend long run frequently had pace thrown in. I vastly prefer tempo to interval running — personally, I cite being ~200 lbs as the reason. Once I get going, it’s easy to keep going, but frequent stops & starts just burn energy that I can’t afford to lose. Mistake #2: as I trained, my weight went from the high 190s to the high 200s, and I raced at ~207 lbs. I wasn’t consistent w/ nutrition during training, and the associated stress of my job, as well as parenting & chores usually handled by 2 people being done mostly by me — I often used lil’ snacks as a quick dopamine fix (adhd heads out there, you know what I’m talking about.)

Pre-Race

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to run the race in the first place — my first daughter (now 7) was born at 36 weeks, and I anticipated my second needing the same (choleostasis enjoyers, rise up). Instead, though, this baby seems primed to go the distance — so I got equal parts excited and nervous to be able to deliver on all my training.
I’d cut my time by 9 minutes from my first to the second half, and tried to be conservative in aiming to cut ~5 minutes between these cycles — so I aimed to run 7:00-7:05 for the race, dipping into the 6:55s if I felt good at the end of the race, and set my A goal for 1:32, and my B goal for 1:35. Mistake #3: I didn’t have any serious qualitative goals, and my quant goals were made too far in advance to be realistic. I also wasn’t proactive in adjusting my goals based on how training was going — despite advocating for that same thing in posts on this sub.
Man, it’s so easy to say smart things, and so hard to actually do them.
About 10 days before my race, I came down with a cough thing that sapped a bit of my energy. Kept me up at night, and sapped ~10-15% of my energy on a given day. The Wednesday before my race I asked my wife, “Do you think 3 days is enough for me to be back at 100%?” And I want to say to other runners out there: if you’re having to ask that question, go ahead and adjust your goals. We’ll tag that as Mistake #4.

The Race

Gorgeous morning. I live ~1.5 miles from the race start, so I walked over to Franklin and then jogged the remaining ~1 mile to the start as a warmup. Skipped bag dropoff for the same reason I don’t like checking bags while flying, did a quick pee (quick pee, long portapotty wait time), and went over to the corral.
My whole “thing” as a runner is that I’m deceptively fast — that is, that I’m most commonly the least-fit looking person out of the people running equivalent paces to myself. When I started running, that gave me a bit of imposter syndrome; any more, I draw on it for motivation. So as I was waiting in Corral C to start, I realized I felt a lot of pressure — to be able to deliver on being fast, to prove that I’m actually fit, whatever. No one outside of myself cares, obviously. But that’s now how this stuff works.

The First 10k — Would’ve Been Great If This Was a 10k

My pacing plan was as follows: don’t exceed 7:00 pace at any point in the first 7 miles; aim for ~7:30-7:45 going up Prospect Park’s big hill; use the downhill at 10k to catch my breath; and use the last 7 miles down Ocean Ave to winch down on speed if I was feeling good, or just hold around 7:05 if I was spent.
I was able to hit the first half of this plan pretty well, as my splits up top suggest. But I could tell, starting as I ran around GAP and into the park, that I was working too hard — the effort I was expending was too much. As I reflect on it now, I realize I was probably in ~1:35 shape (~7:15 splits); but I stubbornly refused to drop down in pace. I noticed my heart rate was in the high 170s as I ran through Prospect Park, where my HM pace usually puts me at 165 on the dot. I tried to tell myself it was race excitement + caffeine. [Arrested Development Narrator Voice: It wasn’t.]
I hit the 10k mark at 45 minutes pretty much on the dot. My 10k PR is 44:0-something. This is when I realized my pacing was probably a bit on the screwed side. I’m fairly capable with distance, and am better at medium-exertion-long-distance than I am at hard-exertion-short-distance (my 10k predicts a slightly better 5k time than I currently race). I thought to myself: “Well, you can always just drop down a bit and hold. What’s the worst that can happen?”

The Worst That Can Happen: AKA You’ll Feel Pretty Silly When You Try to Tell Your 38.5 Week Pregnant Wife That Your Last 6 Miles Were Quote “Unimaginable Suffering” And It “Felt Like It Would Never End”

I had been under the impression that Ocean Ave would be a “gentle downhill,” but had never run it prior to the race. This, dear reader, is a lie. Somehow, the last 6 miles of the race are entirely uphill; or at least, that is what it’ll feel like if you go out 5% over your current level of fitness.
The sun really started to get to me; and while I’d had water & nutrition, my gut wasn’t enjoying it, and I didn’t feel energized or like any second wind was coming. I specifically remember that Mile 9 felt like it took 20 minutes to finish; the last 5k of the race simply wouldn’t arrive.
I pulled off to the side to slow down; first to 7:30, then 7:45, then 8:00, with no respite. My legs were heavy despite feeling fueled — I was just dyin’ out there. My wife had been texting encouragement during the race, and I managed to send her back from my watch at mile 9 “all goals are now out the window,” and it was just about finishing — first, to finish without walking. But I took 2 30-second walk breaks when the fatigue felt unendurable — pulling off to the side and counting down from 30, while getting passed.
That was another feature of the race that made it so challenging — that same dynamic of “being deceptively fast” that I mentioned above came back to bite me, as I got passed continuously by people who’d raced their fitness, rather than their goals, in the first half of the race. That demoralized feeling was incredibly difficult to handle. I hadn’t, before today, understood why someone would quit a race; and now, even though I didn’t quit, I get it.
As I passed mile 11, I realized that, while my initial goal was fully out the window, I could still PB the race, even though my pace between miles 9 and 11 was more than a minute off my goal pace; I’d just need to hold approximately 8:00 pace, and I’d be right up against my prior PB. That didn’t make anything any easier, but it did make me feel like the suffering had a point.
Got an encouraging text from my wife, found some other folks at ~8:00 pace, and tried to lock into that pace next to them. And then I just sort of suffered to the finish line. I don’t know what the views looked like; I’m not sure what the race atmosphere was like. I wish I’d paced myself better so I could have experienced that fully.

Post-Race: Why Don’t They Tell You That You Have to Walk Up Stairs To Get Out of Cyclone Stadium BEFORE You Go Into the Stadium?

Got medal, got water. Drank about 5 consecutive cups of water, and then exited the boardwalk. Texted my wife that it’d been really hard but I finished, and right as I did, a critical mass of finishers arrived such that cell service got knocked out for everyone. Thus began the Long Night of The Soul for me at Cyclone stadium.
I walked in, walked around, realized there wasn’t anything I wanted to do in there, and then tried to go back out; at which point I was told “Exit is out that way,” and I said, “I can’t just go back out? I gotta go upstairs to leave, after running a race? That’s the rule?” The guy who told me didn’t deserve my sass; and I deserved to not go up stairs. Oh well.
I managed to get up the stairs without cramping up (though it was close). I went and looked out over Surf Ave, at everyone walking to and from the race, and just got to sit with my thoughts for a bit. I got myself a bit choked up & had a very dignified little cry at this realization, which I think does fully distill my feelings about the race: “I feel like I tried my hardest, but I don’t feel like I did my best.” I think that we often treat those two statements like they’re interchangeable, but there’s actually a bit of space between those ideas, and my race fell into the gap between them. I both tried very hard the entire time, but also, I could have done a better job pacing myself and picking target times. That disappointment is rough.

To Do Better Next Time

So to conclude this whole long sad love letter to learning: some takeaways, ranked from Most Transferrable (re: life skills) to Most Specific.

1. Actively listen to ya dang body, fool

Self-explanatory: by setting a goat at the outset of training, and then sort of driving toward it without respect for a lot of recently-added stressors in my life, I didn’t end up running any faster — I just made the running I did do kind of miserable. Next time I intend to use HR & Effort (together!) as a better indication of the pace my body feels comfortable running during the race. We say so much “Trust the taper,” and I think here I’d benefit from reminding myself, “… buuuut the taper doesn’t make impossible things possible.”

1. Don’t invest so heavily in the quant goal

I got very invested in how proud I would be if I managed to achieve the goal, and that forward-projecting is part of what caused me to overshoot the goal in the first place. Next time around I want to have a process goal to the tune of “Enjoy the race while trying to wring out your body like a washcloth.” Or something; I have time to plan.

1. Lose 15-20 pounds.

I’m 5’9; I’m strong and I’m heavy. My running has kind of been those two vectors pointing against each other the whole time. But I think I’m at the point where, if I want to be able to sustain 7:00 speeds for more than a 10k, I need to lose some of the excess weight I’m holding onto. I could also do strength training, but I’ve got a baby on the way; heart tells me that getting 7-10% lighter will be a lot easier than getting 7-10% stronger.
So that was training, goals, and next steps. Hopefully, by seeing my mistakes, you’ll be able to avoid them yourself in the future. Hopefully!
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

I am trying hard to create a local environment running under "*.test" domain to reassemble the production env
The available tools? Docker swarm, Traefik, a single standalone Dnsmasq container that I am feeding with the output of docker inspect command.
Traefik #1 wires end user with all front domains using self signed cert, this works fine (a sticky cookie redirects to nginx replicas that picks stateless rounded Robin php-fpm API). This is all good.
Now from PHP container I want to connect to container named "mailer" using PHP SDK, and the SDK library yells at me that this URI does not comply with some random RFC scheme - fine, but now I have to somehow create a legit domain for this library to let me go further.
My idea is to create another Traefik instance isolated in microservice network just for that purpose, so one Traefik would stay public and another one for private traffic.
With some limited shell scripting (ehh) I am attempting to inject dnsmasq into microservice network so all containers here that would hit *.test would be proxied through the #2 private Traefik, therefore I could create something like "mailer.test" working.
I guess all of the Traefik instances here could be just simple nginx reverse proxy, but I am reducing shell scripting as much as I can, and I hate to generate server blocks at runtime

Last night, me and my friends went to McDonalds for a late night meal. This lady was shouting at her little girl calling her horrific names, “shut the fuck up you fat c&@nt” etc. The frail little girl looked approx. 4 years old and kept crying. The mum took her arm, swung her against the wall and dragged her accross the floor while shoving her onto a chair where her little brother was sitting. Long story short, me and my friend intervened and spoke to her in a calm manner asking not to treat her kids like this. The rest was history, she went off on one. Called us all sorts of names, almost poked my eyes out with her fingers etc. The worst part was when her little boy stood up to take her arm in an attempt to calm her down. 😢 in the end the police came as I think someone must’ve phoned them. But I can’t get this out of my head. It’s also not the first time that I have experienced the horrific way that some parents treat their children. I feel like something should be done that will prevent some parents from having more children, especially if the poor kids are being treated like animals. It will take a very long time for me to get the little girl and boy out of my mind, especially knowing that they had to go home with their drunk mum last night.
Edit: this happened in the UK where abortion is legal and therefore not inaccessible. Also, I used to be a teacher and one of the saddest things that I have witnessed was seeing the generational trauma caused by child abuse. What was more infuriating is the fact that the parents who abused their children kept having more children. I get that the suggestion of sterilisation will draw the wrong type of people and therefore I agree that this is not the best solution. I am just trying to think about anything that can stop this from carrying on. Too many damaged adults are walking around due to being abused when they were children.

The developers have confirmed that they're adding skins for younger versions of boxing legends, like a young Roy Jones Jr.! This is super exciting and I think they will probably add more. This could maybe also spice up the career mode a bit.
Imagine starting your career alongside young, aspiring versions of these legendary fighters. As your career progresses, so would the careers of these icons, allowing you to encounter them at different stages of their prowes with changed look, overall etc. Currently, if you progress through the career mode at a standard pace, you might find yourself facing a 48-year-old Roy Jones Jr. with an overall rating of 76. However, with the proposed idea, players could experience the thrill of facing legends like Jones at the peak of their abilities, providing a more dynamic and realistic journey through the world of professional boxing.
Please less random KI-Generated opponents! Right now, the game can generate pretty odd match-ups, like black Ukrainian fighters with German names, which really breaks the immersion.

HugeWin Casino is a respected internet gambling site that aims to give players all around the world amazing gaming experiences. Despite its 2022 inception, Vave Casino has made a name for itself as a player destination thanks to its abundance of features, attractive interface, and substantial bonuses and promos. Together, these characteristics make Vave Casino one of the biggest gaming platforms, providing a distinctive gaming experience that combines live gaming, sports betting, and casino games. Hugewin Casino is a fully functional cryptocurrency gambling site that boasts thousands of incredible slots, tables, live dealers, and live betting options for sports powered by top studios. An same minded sportsbook that accepts bets from all skill levels. HugeWin distinguishes itself as a smooth, successful central betting destination with its regular promotions and excellent odds on more than 30 sports and specialty leagues.
HugeWin Casino offers a plethora of bonuses and promotions that are designed to delight players at every turn, so the fun never ends. From hefty welcome bonuses to exciting weekly promos and special events, there's always something fresh to take advantage of. In addition, you will earn more points the more you engage in a lucrative loyalty program.
Even on a boring day, if you still can't get enough sports, check out Hugewin Casino's virtual sports simulator. You may wager on virtual sports like football, horses, greyhounds, and more in these photo-realistic, computer-generated contests. Hugewin Casino consequently provides you with some entertaining add-ons that go well with their website. When you're not working, you can use these to kill time by playing slots machines with your favorite movie characters or wagering on virtual games. Offering a wide variety of entertainment alternatives in one location is their goal.
With HugeWin Casino's quick and safe payment choices, you can deposit and withdraw money with ease, guaranteeing a hassle-free gaming experience each and every time. You can also say goodbye to lengthy wait periods and challenging withdrawal procedures. Plus, your financial and personal information is always safe and secure thanks to stringent security measures and cutting-edge encryption technology.
https://hugewin.com
https://twitter.com/hugewincasino
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/hugewin/

I've read both trilogies and most of the stand alones and it's apparent that many of the legendary named men of their day are forgotten or even scoffed at by the next generation.
Who will be the few northmen from the series that will be remembered in 100yrs? Like I can't imagine any of Stour's crew making the cut.
For Sure: The Bloody Nine Bethod
Probably: Dogman Black Dow Shiver Rikka
Maybe: Calder Fenriss
Who am I missing?