#Top 70 most unique persons

[globalliterarycircleandpublisher]

Top 70 Most Unique Persons Of 2024

TOP 70 MOST UNIQUE PERSONS OF 2024

According to GLOBAL LITERARY CIRCLE AND PUBLISHERS, there are top 70 most unique persons who have influenced the entire generation and they have given their valuable contributions towards society.

They are -

डा. गायत्री कोंपल ‘‘चन्नाया’

Priya Tiwari

Dr. Shahir Y. Bajowala

डा.योगिता सिंह

Timnah D Davidson

अरुणा अग्रवाल

Priyanka Parida

Fᴀᴛʜɪᴍᴀ Lɪᴋᴀ

नेहा प्रसाद

अंजू सिंह

Theva Kiruba

Meet Taj

राजकुमार जायसवाल ‘विचारक्रांति’

Fauqia Asma Ahmed

Mayaa Sh

अजय कन्नूरकर

रामबाबू मैहर देव

अनीता त्रिपाठी (आत्मकथा)

त्र्यम्बक राव साटकर “अम्बर”

Himani Thakur

Ridha Mehwish

Dr. M.A. Farook

Kunal Anil Khanolkar

संगीता बहुगुणा

Asma Tayiba.S

Mr. Sonu Singh

Anjali Saxena

Mr. Saroj Kumar Ojha

डॉ. पल्लवी सिंह ‘अनुमेहा’

Aisha Algazal

डॉ पंकज कुमार बर्मन

Muhammad Mansha Bhatti

Urvashi Gupta (Phoenix)

Biswanath Tripathy

Aleen Sherazi

Mohd Haider Mukhtar Khan

खुशी कैन

Preeti Saraswat

राजीव भारती (राजीव रंजन वर्मा)

वैदेही वैष्णव

Meenu Verma

Chenjerai Mhondera

भानु प्रिया देवी

Priya Parekh

Vandana Nalini Singh

G S Prasanth Kumar

Timnah D Davidson

Priyanka Parida

Mr Mohammed Omer Farooq

डॉ. हंसा सिद्धपुरा

सतीश मिश्र ‘अचूक’

Dr.K.P. Bhavatharini

Pushpender Kaushik

नूतन लाल साहू

Rana Danish Shafiq

Himanshu Badoni

Rangeesh Chandrasekar

Sree Booma Aravindhanpavai

Nageena Awan

Dr. Sujoyita Pal

Munnaza Yasmeen

निमराह शहजाद

Nadiya Iqbal

Anila Afzal Advocate

Anmol Minhas

Moazma Abdul Aziz

Saima Sahar

Clochard

To Read Their Biographies, Please Visit The Following Link -

Or

[callmearcturus]

Paradise Killer is 6 dollars on Steam until May 16 and I am here to hard sell you all on it because it's one of the best games I've ever played.

I'm gonna go beyond giving you a bunch of punchy keywords and telling you it's queer as hell and making meme-y jokes, and I'm going to actually tell you what this game is.

So top-level, WHAT IS PARADISE KILLER?

Mechanically, Paradise Killer is an open-world murder mystery. There is zero combat but a lot of exploration of a very unique location. The majority of your time is going to be walking about Paradise 24, looking for people to discuss the case with and for clues that are scattered around the world.

One of the most interesting concepts in Paradise Killer that is both mechanical and narrative is deciding What Is Your Truth? What Is A Truth And What Is A Fact? From the moment you start the game proper, you can turn 180 degrees and begin the trial and decide who the killer is, before talking to anyone about the case.

For example, getting into the actual crime scene takes a lot of puzzle solving to unlock the sealed room where the victims were killed. But maybe instead of examining the crime scene, you talk to everyone on the island and think you have a good idea of what happened.

Meaning: It is perfectly valid to decide you have the answer to the mystery and just go complete the trial whenever you personally are ready. YOU decide when this ends.

Which frankly I think is a cool-as-fuck concept. Also, I fully believe if three different people find EVERY CLUE and talk to EVERY SUSPECT and hear EVERY PIECE OF EVIDENCE.... they might decide on three different truths entirely. And THAT to me is ingenious mechanical design I have not seen anywhere else in a video game.

Okay let's stop burying the lede and talk about the world of Paradise Killer.

The non-batshit version:

Paradise Killer takes place on a big, beautiful island, the 24th Paradise. The architecture is a delightful mix of black obsidian obelisks, brutalist monuments, opal crystals to slumbering alien gods, garden paths, luxury yachts, and a whole lot of gold and neon.

Neo-occultist urban residential vaporwave-core. If you are like me, you will be taking a lot of screenshots. My wallpaper on my computer is Paradise Killer.

Your interactions with the cast are done in visual novel-style, though I feel I have to shout out this isn't your stock Ren'py UI experience. Every single aspect of the way the game looks compounds the vibes even further.

And the characters are infuckingcredible.

(Notice the different font? This game has A FUCKTON OF ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS, including dyslexic font options.)

Sammy Day Break, born under the sign of Shadow Zero, is the local distillery and bartender for the Syndicate. Talk to him about what's unique about the whiskey he's made on Paradise 24, or about the good old days of the Syndicate.

Is Doctor Doom Jazz, born under the sign of Cosmic Deceit, really that carefree about what happened? Is his willingness to rekindle his fling with Lady Love Dies just a diversion to hide something? Well, he's one of the most cooperative witnesses on the Island.

Crimson Acid has been through a helluva lot since the last time she saw Love Dies. Blessed by the gods with her stunning rack (of horns! OF HORNS!), she's become quite the idol now. So why is she also an information broker? And can you figure out what her true feelings for Love Dies are?

Between all of these conversations, you can explore the island and collect RELICS and BLOOD CRYSTALS (the local currency) and CITY POP SONGS.

Okay so the Slightly Batshit Version:

Shinji: The Syndicate worships alien gods who want to drown the world in war and blood. Lady Love Dies: I don't see how that makes us the bad guys.

You are LADY LOVE DIES, born under the sign KISS ME TO THE MOON, the INVESTIGATION FREAK. She was exiled to the Idle Lands several cycles ago for falling prey to the seduction of the god Damned Harmony and endangering the entire Syndicate. Only now, with the death of the Council on the eve of Paradise 25, is Love Dies summoned back to solve the murder.

The Syndicate are a group of functionally immortal humans from all across history who are trying to create the perfect bubble of reality, their utopic Paradise where they can safely revive their dead gods. They were granted many powers and boons by their first god, Silent Goat, and hope through rescuing more gods they will grow in power.

How do you create a bubble of reality to do all this totally ethical shit? Easy! You abduct a bunch of normie humans to live on your island to use as a mass sacrifice to generate energy to fuel the creation of each Paradise. If only the outsiders would stop getting in the way!

Paradise Killer's world is delightfully out of its goddamn mind and half of the fun of the game is just picking up little nuggets of information about each member of the Syndicate, the gods, why each Paradise failed (there was an outbreak of vampirism that took out like three of the Paradises???), and just the way this universe works.

Okay this post is already too long but I'm begging you all to give Paradise Killer a chance. It's gorgeous, it's funny, it's mechanically really interesting, it's chill as hell, it has an incredible soundtrack,

and you should try it.

I'LL SEE YOU IN A PERFECT 25 . . .

[genericpuff]

Why is the art so unappealing in lore Olympus now Persephone looks like a highlighter and maybe it’s just me but the proportions like the fingers in arms are soul over the place I don’t think they used to be this bad. Am I just looking at it with nostalgia or am I crazy ?

Honestly, nostalgia does play a huge part in it, even to this day there are times I look back on old S1 panels and go-

Actually here's a great example that literally just happened yesterday in the ULO Discord that nearly had me on the floor LOL This is from Episode 70:

Like I didn't even believe that that was real until I was told what episode it was from and I was just. Astounded and flabbergasted. The over-shading of the blanket that just makes it look like a really bad edit. Insane.

And yeah, there are a lot of old panels that hit different now that the rose-colored glasses have been removed, crushed, and thrown into the trash compactor.

I think that's why it makes it all the more amusing when people come into my inbox and ask me "wait, why did you like LO to begin with?? It's always been ugly as shit, I think you're just romanticizing it" because like... there's something to be said about art and subjectivity, even if something is ugly to one person doesn't mean it isn't beautiful to someone else. It's why I try not to be too mean towards the fans of this comic for still enjoying it, because while I definitely have strong opinions about how "LO has gotten worse" and what kind of following Rachel has cultivated (cough cough), there are also just as equally valid arguments that LO has never begin good to begin with that I can't necessarily disagree with now that I'm looking back on it with a more critical eye.

That said, there's tons of media that I enjoy that is objectively awful. Like y'all, you don't need to take my opinions about a dumb pink x blue fantasy romance comic seriously, I like Starfox Adventures-

Like yeah it's a badly made rushed piece of shit that was developed right on the ass end of Rare's glory days and was really an original IP (Dinosaur Planet) that got Frankenstein'd into a Starfox game so it could "sell better" for Nintendo, but I don't give a fuck, I love Starfox Adventures and some day I wanna be in the top 10 speedrunner leaderboards for it, which I know doesn't mean much because no one is speedrunning Starfox, but I do and no one can take that away from me dammit-

Anyways. Lore Olympus has, in many regards, always had "bad art". But "bad art" can and should still be enjoyed by those who find joy in it.

And in LO's case, the world it existed in when it launched was a lot smaller than it is now - more specifically, the world of Webtoons. We can look back and see how 'bad' LO looks and reads now because there are genuinely way better comics surrounding it. It was unique and refreshing and experimental back then... now it's just "that stupid blue and pink comic for horny teenagers".

In most cases I would consider that "cringing in hindsight" feeling a good thing because normally it means something has grown and that it seeming "bad" in hindsight would mean that it's outgrown itself and moved onto bigger things. But LO has the more unique problem of "its current stuff is shit and it's making us want the old stuff more, even if the old stuff wasn't good either". In that regard, LO is closer to being like Harry Potter. Remember when The Cursed Child came out at the height of Rowling being exposed for being a TERF and even people who liked Harry Potter didn't like The Cursed Child because it was just objectively worse overall (with or without Rowling's bullshit attached)? It made a lot of people go back and re-read / rewatch Harry Potter with a more objective lens and go "wait a minute guys, I think we only adored these books so much because we were 12 when we read them". Often times it's the good memories we have surrounding certain things that make us have the opinion about them that we do.

Of course, LO is definitely not as politically weaponized as Harry Potter is, so that's where that comparison ends. But my point is that LO is definitely in a situation where it's been riding off the same privileges it had back in 2018 - having an 'experimental' art style while also utilizing tropes and characters that were VERY popular at the time (remember that 2017-18 was when Tumblr was at its height of H x P "Hades was a chill accountant guy who wore socks and sandals and didn't cheat on his wife like Zeus did" fantasizing) - and thinks that those same tricks and tropes will still work today.

Because of this, the art in LO really, really hasn't aged well, even the stuff that we look back on fondly. But I think it's the panels that we specifically think of when remembering "old LO" - the ones that stuck in our memories the most - that are the ones that make us miss or just not care about the panels that don't look good (the panels that make people question why we ever liked it to begin with).

We liked it because of how it made us feel to look at panels like these-

Those genuinely wonderful panels that we think back on the most don't exist separately from the bad panels, they exist in spite of them. Even if we can look back on panels like these and pick out problems in the lineart or the proportions or the color travelling outside of the lines, that can't and shouldn't change how those panels made us feel at some point or another. And that's why when people ask me "why were you even into LO in the first place" I don't have any one answer, because I can't fully explain how something made me feel to justify why it's good to someone who can see from the outside - without rose-colored glasses - that it evidently isn't. It's very much a "you had to be there" type of thing.

Unfortunately, nowadays even the 'best' LO panels in S3 still don't come close to what the S1 panels accomplished - because for many of us, the rose-colored glasses are gone, we can't appreciate the good among the bad because we know now how bad it truly is and so the good just feels like wasted attempts at trying to recreate something it can no longer be. It "came back wrong" so to speak.

LO came back just regular. But our journey to resurrecting it changed us to such a degree that even its closest intimacies are now foreign to us. Sorry dude.

This is still probably one of my favorite panels out of the entirety of S3 for being as close to "old LO" as I've seen since S2, and even it feels like a mistake, an accident, how could a panel like this exist in S3 when so much of it is a dumpster fire? It's like a flower growing in the ruins of an apocalyptic wasteland.

But wasn't that always the case? Isn't that 'always' what LO has been, since the very beginning? A poorly cobbled together mess of writing and panels that, every now and then, manages to leave an impression that makes you feel something? Did we ever truly know LO? Or have we just been relying entirely on an idea of it that we've built up in our heads that when it does do exactly what it's evidently always done (even if not made apparent until looking back on it in hindsight) we think it "came back wrong"?

[incorrectelswordquotes]

Do you remember when the job progression quests had dialogue cutscenes and difficult quests? Each town had its own gear and you'd have to drop blue-background items to upgrade it. And it was character-specific too. Ice statues had to be crafted, and the ingredients would just pile up in your inventory. There was Unique equipment for every region you had a chance to drop after a boss battle, and it'd be shown in the chat. Plant Overlord's accessory was the top trending thing. Rena was blonde and did a flip when she double jumped. The first field introduced was the one between Hamel and Velder. The level cap was 40 and it was *hard* to get there.

I sure don't miss a lot of this stuff, but looking back, it feels like a wholly different game.

i played around when the game was still like this for the most part, except the level cap at the time was 70? and then over time it jumped to 90 but my middle-school/high-school ass couldn't keep up. actually, i remember seeing the new UI the game has for the health bars and that was already enough to throw me off. not that it looks bad, but i remember seeing this UI for the longest time:

vs this:

like as much as i miss the one i got acquainted with, this new one is a lot simpler and cleaner? yet it retains that cartoony vibe with the slanted bars so thats neat. and then there's THIS:

i'll admit i havent played during this era but man this looks busy af. it was simple yea, but something feels off about it. like i love the look here too but it kinda clashes colors-wise. there's not too much of a difference between the original UI and the one after it but i could tell it needed slimming down.

while i was gone i also learned that the previous privately-hosted server VoidEls was shut down but was eventually replaced by another, which is fair enough i guess.

"Each town had its own gear and you'd have to drop blue-background items to upgrade it. And it was character-specific too."

this was both cool and annoying, for me personally at least. it's cool in that every town having gear gave you a way to progress before getting even stronger gear. sort of like a jumping-off point for every town you got to as they handed you their own version of stuff you could use. and you could emulate their aesthetic by wearing their gear. the annoying part is that constantly switching gear means item management is necessary to prevent your inventory from maxing out, and not every item looked good on you. if you didn't have skins? tough luck. (my memory might be wrong here so please correct me if i messed something up)

"...job progression quests had dialogue cutscenes and difficult quests?"

THEY GOT RID OF THOSE!? maybe im jaded but as a writer, i liked seeing the player-characters' personal struggle as they progressed through a job-specific mission. those short cutscenes let us see what they're really like. even if some of the requirements really were trash. i still remember spamming the same dungeon over and over hoping for a quest drop (or multiple) so i can move on. but after hearing the story was consolidated to be one singular, linear path regardless of who you played, maybe they streamlined the job class progression system too?

update: yea it seems you still have to spam dungeons to upgrade to Master Class but it looks less tedious than before for previous class ranks.

"Plant Overlord's accessory was the top trending thing."

boss accessories were the bane of my existence so this makes sense. it seems like it's unobtainable, as many overworld zones and dungeons have since been removed based on what i just looked up

im assuming Plant Overlord isn't fightable anymore or only shows up in some elite zone now so rip

"Rena was blonde and did a flip when she double jumped."

i didn't know this. in fact when i checked her wiki page, the change was because her hair wasn't green enough despite her class art showing her as having green-hued hair.

speaking of the wiki,

holy fucking shit thats a lot of classes

[glorbysblog]

My Top Five Third Doctor Stories

1. The Dæmons - I think this serial is the most definitive Third Doctor story. It has Jo, The Brig, Benton, Yates, and The Master, and this story feels like the last time that they’ll all properly be together. Outside of that aspect, this story is also just a whole lot of fun for its very 70’s view of the occult (The Master throws up devil horns and I thought it was a joke at first) and it’s unique location of a small village they have to protect.

2. The Time Warrior - As far as entertaining the entire whole way through, I think this story wins out amongst all the episodes that have come before for being consistently funny and important. The Sontarans from the beginning have a strong comedic charm which is matched by Sarah Jane’s comedic strengths.

3. The Green Death - Really beautiful and bittersweet farewell to Jo Grant, this is at the time the most thought-out and well planned companion exit of the show’s entire tenure so far.

4. The Three Doctors - The very first multi-doctor story. For 3, a lot of the story is business as usual though they do get some interesting scenes with Omega, but a lot of the story shines through 2’s interactions with the UNIT family new and old.

5. Invasion of The Dinosaurs - This one is definitely a personal pick as a huge fan of the 60s-70s Godzilla flicks and this is the closest analogue I’ve found to them, but even outside of that, I think this is the strongest down-to-earth UNIT story of the whole era, and the betrayal at UNIT allows some good moments from Benton and The Brig.

So that’s the Third Doctor era, thank you all for the support once again and I hope you’ll follow me into this next era. This era of the show was a whole lot of fun and I was lucky to share some of my first thoughts on it with you through this blog.

[wilderhyperfoxations]

BELOS' MOUTH LINES- WHAT ARE THEY?

Argument/hypothesis: Belos's mouth lines aren't wrinkles, they're actually scars or the curse! (Warning- use of hypothesis and such might be rickety as yoga balls. I'm not a bigbrain, I'm just a guy with a lot of thoughts.) Evidence proving the hypothesis: No elderly character or any character has the same lines, two on top, one on the bottom, and all connecting to the mouth. Gwendolyn has deep cheek wrinkles and forehead wrinkles when she frowns. She also has sagging skin around her jaw. She's around 60/70- Belos is over 400 but doesn't look old. Terra Snapdragon has two lines above her lip, smile lines, lines under her eyes. In the scene where we see all the coven heads together, her two top lip wrinkles connect to her lip, but they do not look like Belos', and otherwise they do not connect, even a few frames later.

See? None have the same features as Belos, or even similar. Scratches are usually stylized to be some variation of red. Scars are usually pink-ish or darker. But- Principal Bump has a scar/stitches over his eye, and they are black. According to the storyboard of the s2 finale when Belos speaks to Luz, the mouth lines are not present during when he gets his green stripe removed, but appear only when it comes back. Also, in this one, his one mouth line connects to the green scar. Storyboards never depict him as old, moreso withered, tired. Especially this one. Take away that little line and you've got yourself an eccentric twink.

Okay, sure, the mouth lines are different- but if they are scars, why aren't they like Hunters' or Luz'? Maybe because it would have been tedious to color, or it is just a design choice, based on the black lines being bolder or weirder looking. Or maybe the opposite. He also has no other wrinkles besides the line when he smirks, and lines under his eyes are very dark undereye bags. They look less like wrinkles and more like exhaustion. Belos generally has an ambiguous design age-wise, without his greying hair and or the mouth lines, he could pass for a younger person, even if you keep the under-eyes- no other wrinkles are present, and neither are any signs of age on his body. Counter evidence, disproving the hypothesis: Storyboards often have inaccurate scenes or designs or things that are later removed (see Darius having purple eyes or looking mega weird in some storyboards, or even the scene w Belos where his face melts) and sometimes characters are missing scars in sbs, like Hunter here. So Belos only having mouth lines when the curse kicks in could be that, an omission for the sake of convenience.

Also it could have been a unique and weirder way to show wrinkles, evidence as to different characters who have different designs. Plus usually scars are red/pink, and these are solid black lines, more like wrinkles. And most older characters aren't extremely old looking. Without Eda's hair color it's harder to tell her age even if she's supposed to look more aged. She just looks 40 but grey, and her design is most similar to Belos' in that regard. In other storyboards Belos has no mouth lines either, while having the green line. Could be design changes or for simplicity.

Storyboards aren't reliable as evidence. The boards have inconsistent designs or earlier designs, as shown by his eyeball face or egg elf face above, as well as the lack of nose bump. The input of others: I ran a poll on tumblr, and the results were- 78.8% chose wrinkles, 17.5% chose scars, and 3.8% chose curse. There were 80 votes. One person said they were pretty sure they were wrinkles, because Belos is "old as balls" and "some old guys have dry lips". Another said scars because "his whole body seems to be covered by them", and he has "no crows feet" [or other wrinkles]. Another said that they assumed those were scars, because they look too odd and are connected to the lips to be wrinkles. The fandom consensus seems to be that they are wrinkles, and most draw/write/regard him as such. Conclusion: Who the chit knows! Evidence points to it being wrinkles, I say. But I personally believe it's the curse or scars and there's just enough ambiguity for me to hold that opinion. Could I ask Dana or something? Probably, doubt that she would reply, but also I feel like that would ruin the fun. What do you think?

[aahsharks]

🦈Shark Of The Week!🦈

today's shark of the week is,,,

the great white shark! (carcharodon carcharias)

a commonly discussed and recognized shark, and for good reason!

Physical Attributes:

a great white sharks average length can be around 11-13ft (3.4-4m) to 15-16ft (4.6-4.9m) depending on their sex. females usually being the larger ones, with the largest white ever recorded being about 19-20ft long (5.83m)

their weight on average is about 1,500-4,000 lbs (680-1810kg)

great white's have around 300+ teeth with most of them being around 2.5 inches on average

female great white sharks will have around 1-2 or even up to 10 pups per litter, though there has been speculation this can go up to 14-17 pups in a single litter!

it is thought that great white shark pregnancies last around 12-22 months on average

they have varying shades of grey-brown on top and a beautiful white underbelly that extends onto the underside of their fins

Personality:

great white sharks are fairly curious and overall not considered to target humans actively, with minimal reports of attacks on humans ! although great caution should be exercised around them as with any predator animal, and one should only interact with them in safe professionally monitored environments if at all when possible !

they are highly intelligent creatures and have displayed unique personalities in the wild upon regular observation, but are generally not as playful as some other shark species. they are also fairly solitary and territorial creatures, although little is known about their social behavior beyond that

Diet and Hunting:

great white sharks are opportunistic hunters, so their diet is a variety of fish and marine mammals like seals or dolphins, or even other sharks on some occasions

their preferred method of hunting is to sneak up and ambush prey from below. they are generally solitary hunters although have been seen hunting in pairs on the rare occasion in specific situations

Other Facts:

the great white is considered the largest predatory shark currently alive, and is one of the few sharks classified as an apex predator

great white sharks - unlike most fish - are endothermic! meaning they are able to internally regulate their body temperature, they are considered to be partially warm-blooded due to this trait

great whites can live from 40-70 years, and its suspected females can only begin reproduction after the 25-30 year mark though males become sexually mature around 9-10 years

great white sharks are considered to be a vulnerable species on the endangered species list

great white sharks can scent blood around a quarter of a mile away

great white sharks are an essential key part of keeping the ecosystem balanced by controlling fish populations and encouraging biodiversity

[puppyexpressions]

30 Fun Dog Facts

1. The Labrador Retriever has been on the AKC’s top 10 most popular breeds list for longer than any other breed.

2. A dog’s nose print is unique, much like a person’s fingerprint.

3. Forty-five percent of U.S. dogs sleep in their owner’s beds.

4. Speaking of sleeping … all dogs dream, but puppies and senior dogs dream more frequently than adult dogs.

5. Seventy percent of people sign their dog’s name on their holiday cards.

6. A dog’s sense of smell is legendary, but did you know that their nose has as many as 300 million receptors? In comparison, a human nose has about 5 million.

7. Rin Tin Tin, the famous German Shepherd Dog, was nominated for an Academy Award.

8. Dogs’ noses can sense heat and thermal radiation, which explains why blind or deaf dogs can still hunt.

9. The French Bulldog was first named the most popular breed in 2022.

10. The name Collie means “black.” (Collies once tended black-faced sheep.)

11. Yawning is contagious — even for dogs. Research shows that the sound of a human yawn can trigger one from your dog. And it’s four times as likely to happen when it’s the yawn of a person your pet knows.

12. The Dandie Dinmont Terrier is the only breed named for a fictional person, a character in the novel “Guy Mannering” by Sir Walter Scott.

13. Dogs curl up in a ball when sleeping to protect their organs — a holdover from their days in the wild, when they were vulnerable to predator attacks.

14. The Basenji is not technically “barkless,” as many people think. They can yodel.

15. The Australian Shepherd is not actually from Australia. In fact, they are an American breed.

16. … And the Labrador Retriever is originally from Newfoundland.

17. Human blood pressure goes down when petting a dog. And so does the dog’s.

18. There are over 75 million pet dogs in the U.S. — more than in any other country.

19. A person who hunts with a Beagle is known as a “Beagler.”

20. Dogs are not color-blind. They can see blue and yellow.

21. All puppies are born deaf.

22. Dalmatians are born completely white. They develop their spots as they get older.

23. Dogs have about 1,700 taste buds. We humans have between 2,000 and 10,000.

24. When dogs kick backward after they go to the bathroom, it’s not to cover it up, but to mark their territory, using the scent glands in their feet.

25. A study shows that dogs are among a small group of animals who show voluntary unselfish kindness towards others without any reward.

26. The Norwegian Lundehund is the only dog breed created for the job of puffin hunting.

27. Greyhounds can beat cheetahs in a race. While cheetahs can run twice as fast as Greyhounds, they can only maintain that 70 mph speed for about thirty seconds. A Greyhound can maintain a 35 mph speed for about seven miles. The cheetah may start out first, but the Greyhound would soon overtake them.

28. The Bloodhound’s sense of smell is so accurate that the results of its tracking can be used as evidence in a court of law.

29. According to Guinness World Records, a Great Dane named Zeus is the world’s tallest male dog. Zeus is 3 feet, 5.18 inches tall.

30. What about the shortest dog? According to Guinness World Records, the shortest dog ever recorded was Pearl the Chihuahua. She measures 3.59 inches tall.

[blackjackkent]

OK, time for another boss battle report, Cazador Szarr edition. This one got pretty elaborate. XD

Opening state of play:

Enemy list is Cazador plus two ghasts (labeled "Fallen Gur Hunter," upsettingly), four werewolves, a skeleton named "Chatterteeth," and six bats. The bats have one hit point each but I'm making no assumptions at this point.

Cazador starts out with seven stacks of a buff called "Ritual Sources" - corresponding to the seven spawn currently being held in magical fields around the arena - which gives him 70 temp HP, 7m extra movement speed, and extra necrotic damage. He also gets an individual unique buff for three of the spawn (For "Yousen", he gets an extra 2-16 hitpoint regain every turn, for "Violet" he gets a +5 to AC, and for Astarion himself, he gets an extra bonus action.)

All of this also means we are shorthanded by one person because Astarion is currently being used as a power socket. (On the bright side, despite the cutscene, he still has all his armor and stuff on, so maybe we can get him back into the fight and let him get the killing blow.)

Cazador can apparently use Call Lightning for ten turns without using a spell slot, with which he immediately beats the shit out of Jaheira on his first turn.

He can turn into vampire mist and run around the arena which makes him immune to non-magical damage. "This status is removed by sunlight," says the description of the form. Well, this at least is good news, because guess what Jaheira has:

The spawns themselves all have a "sacrificial lamb" condition which states: "If Cazador draws power from all the spawns bound this way three times, he will ascend." So we're on something of a time limit.

By the way Cazador has 270 hit points, including the 70 temp HP he's getting from the spawns. O.O;

We do get a bit of a hint to kick things off.

"Those runes," Karlach says. "Cazzy's using them to suck the power right out of those poor fuckers."

"If we can reach the glowing sigils, maybe we can redirect that power from him to us," says Hector.

First of all, I love that Karlach calls him "Cazzy". Second, I can't imagine Hector is much more thrilled about taking that power for himself, even temporarily, than he is about Cazador getting it, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I think our top priority here is as follows:

a) Get everyone onto one of those sigils (ideally Astarion's? maybe we can get him back into the fight?) to start disrupting Cazador's power sources. b) Get Daylight cast on as much of the arena as possible. c) ????? we'll figure it out from there.

Let's go.

-----

Combat report:

Getting Karlach onto one of the sigils on her first turn passed one of the "Ritual Sources" buffs from Cazador onto her, so that seems like a good start. The problem here, though, is that stepping back OFF the sigil immediately gives the buff back to Cazador. So the utility here seems a bit limited since most of our squad is kinda up close and personal.

Not entirely clear on whether I am supposed to be trying to kill the non-Astarion spawn, although that does seem like it would certainly remove the buff more permanently. They're basically resistant to everything so it doesn't seem like a GREAT use of our time, but options feel really limited.

The ghasts are surprisingly annoying as they all run straight at Hector and cast Stench to make him nauseous, meaning he can't take actions. He's so powerful tho that he kills one of the werewolves with bonus actions alone.

Karlach meanwhile gets surrounded by all five bats and bit a whole bunch and Jaheira gets downed by the second round of Call Lightning. This is off to a great start.

The one spore zombie that was still following Jaheira around from the fight earlier misses every single one of its attacks in this fight, bless its heart.

Hector manages to take out all the ghasts by turn three but is now the only good guy conscious on the field as Karlach has gotten bitten into unconsciousness. More bats have spawned at the start of the round. Cazador has managed to avoid starting his turn in the Daylight spell repeatedly so he has not yet taken any damage from it yet. All the bats have now come over to surround Hector instead. This is going terribly.

DISCOVERY: When Jaheira's spore zombie kills something (in this case, a bat) it turns into a new friendly spore zombie! That's nice! Everything else, however, is terrible.

At this point, Cazador ascends. All of the spawns, including Astarion, explode into a giant pile of wet meat. Astarion's personal quest is marked complete. I sigh, very heavily, and reload. Yeesh.

Attempt 2!

I feel like there's a trick here that I'm missing, but the second pass does start off much more optimistically; Hector and Karlach are able to take out all three ghouls immediately and Jaheira gets Daylight up again.

Once again Jaheira gets wrecked at the top of the second round when Cazador gets his next turn. She really is squishy as fuck and I am not sure why I suck so badly at playing her. :( I love you, Jaheira, I'm sorry I keep getting you killed.

Eventually I got frustrated and sent Hector over to just whale on Cazador, and he's such a battering ram that he did manage to get him all the way down to 100HP. However, it was on turn 3 and so Cazador promptly got up afterwards and turned everyone into marinara sauce.

Realistically, Hector and Karlach are powerful enough between them that I'm pretty sure we can cheese this fight but just going straight to Cazador on turn 1 and beating the shit out of him; however, I would kind of like to figure out how to do this fight the "correct" way. Reload.

Attempt 3!

New strategy - what if we ignore all the enemies and just run all three of us onto three of the sigils immediately? (Specifically, the three sigils for the spawn that are giving him extra buffs. Unfortunately, they're of course the ones furthest away from us but we have dash actions for a reason.)

With this in mind, backing up an extra save and doing some pre-work. Jaheira gets the Misty Step amulet back, ritually casts Longstrider on everyone which will give them extra movement speed until long rest, and precasts Conjure Elemental, Conjure Woodland Being to get more bodies on the field, and Heroes Feast too, why not (immunity to the Stench poison for one thing), then casts Protection from Energy on herself to help offset the fucking Call Lightning that's wrecking us right out of the gate.

While I'm doing this, @ryssabrin comes in clutch with some advice in the replies in my previous post, pointing out that we can use the Help action on Astarion to pull him out of the ritual and back into the fight. "cazador will focus fire on him but he won't do the ritual." This is HUGE because that three-turn limit was what was really fucking things up.

So that's our new priority. Jaheira and Karlach go to stand on two of the sigils, and Hector books it towards Astarion to free him. Ryssabrin also pointed out the utility of Sanctuary in this case - presumably to put on Astarion if Cazzy is gonna focus fire him - so I have Hector load that up too, and cast Protection from Evil and Good on himself.

Heroes Feast is fun. It also gives us a big hamper of camp supplies in addition to all the buffs. Please fill in your own joke:

Mad prep, let's go:

OK let's give this another try. I'm not scared, what are you talking about.

In addition to all the buffs, we also luck out here somewhat in that on this run, all three of the team get top initiative (second only to Cazador himself). Jaheira's concentration on Protection from Energy gets broken INSTANTLY but she does take less damage than she did previously.

Jaheira misty steps onto Yousen's sigil, stealing Cazador's per-turn heal and one of his ritual stacks (and casts Daylight). Karlach goes to Violet's sigil and steals Cazador's extra AC and another ritual stack (and rages for extra DR). Hector as planned beelines straight for Astarion, Help-actions him into the fight, casts Sanctuary on him, and barrels towards one of the other sigils. Cazador is now down to four buff stacks and no special buffs, and cannot ascend. QUICKSAVE.

"YOU ARE GOING TO SUFFER FOR EVERYTHING YOU DID TO ME!" Astarion bellows, and then I have him stand absolutely still and not do anything, because he can't be targeted by attacks in Sanctuary but only while he doesn't attack anything. I like to think he is debuffing Cazador with the pure power of his ANGRY GLARE, though.

Jaheira once again gets fucking trounced immediately but at least her unconscious body is on top of the sigil so it's still debuffing Cazador.

Round 2 - Cazador's out of mist form and I could keep Hector on the sigil removing the extra stack from him - but realistically the dangerous ones were the two that Jaheira and Karlach are on. Hector is best served barreling straight at Cazador and battering ram smacking the shit out of him. So that is what he does. For a total of [does quick math] 183 DAMAGE! :D Cazador lost Call Lightning concentration too. Big moves from Team Juggernaut and this is all looking much more manageable. (For insult to injury he still had enough movement left to go and stand on the nearby sigil again too. XD )

Karlach hurled two separate health potions at Jaheira, using up both of her actions, and neither of them did anything useful for some reason. Very annoying. So now I just sit here while the 513451345 enemies on the field take their turns and hope for the best.

Time for some roleplay choices. Cazador is down to 65 HP and still prone, which means Astarion can get a sneak atack on him. So I make the executive decision to SCREW SANCTUARY because Astarion needs this killing blow.

Jaheira dies. Again. And, again, from a story perspective, we are pretending this didn't happen. XD

Round 3 - Cazador once again mists up, so I spend Hector and Karlach's turns taking out some of the adds. Astarion tries to take a stab at the mist form just to see if it works. It doesn't.

Round 4 - Hector flattens Cazador down to 13HP and positions himself to give Astarion sneak attack. Karlach stares menacingly at everyone...

And Astarion gets the killing blow.

And then we killed the 113451324 bats that had spawned during this whole process. Victory!

[bigprettygothgf]

that person’s fucking annoying lmao anyways hi Kayla :3 do u have any goth songs / band recs? like ones u think are absolutely necessary to check out

hi ^_^ og acts like bauhaus/siouxsie/the cure etc are obvious shoutouts but disintegration by the cure is required listening around here, its probably my favorite album of all time, hardly my most unique opinion but it really is just that good. i dont care about the argument of whether or not the cure is goth btw

anyway uhhh off the top of my head check out clan of xymox, sisters of mercy, london after midnight, drab majesty, boy harsher, switchblade symphony, the birthday massacre

@lafemmemacabre has a really good post about getting into it

[wyrddogs]

What's something unique or specific about each dog that you really love?

I’m feeling schmoopy so I’ll include my past dogs.

Larsen: He taught me that dogs have a sense of humor and can play practical jokes. He loved running at me at top speed (he was a 70 pound labrador) and would leap aside at the last second. He thought my screams were very funny.

Gromit: This dog was dumber than a box of rocks. But he excelled at making me laugh. Just a very goofy clown.

Pele: The most serious dog I have personally trained. He was born with the soul of a 40 year old accountant. Life was a very serious matter and not to be laughed at. He graduated to become a working guide dog.

Bindi: My darling! She had a specific expression we called her Thinking Face. She would look upwards and cock her ears back. She used it when she was having deep thoughts.

Kermit: My craftiest dog. If he wants to do something he’ll pretend to walk away and busy himself elsewhere. As soon as you turn your back he goes right back to it. He observes human behavior to commit crimes.

Zaku: Himbo. He’s jolly and here to have a good time. When he’s playing with his favorite toy sometimes he gets so happy he has to scream about it. It’s very cute, if piercing.

This ask made me smile. Thank you!

[prpfz]

🍓🥝 eighteen plus roleplay. twenty three & any prns. looking for fandomless, ocxoc, varied pairings. most plots are kidnapping/stockholm, stalking or 🕊️🪦 so if that’s not your thing, keep scrolling. long as fuck so bare with me.

semi-lit to literate (200-400 words // 1-2k characters) 3rd person pov. replies once a week, NOT once a month. chatting ooc is encouraged. discord only, i ask that you please let me take care of the server. i do not use tupperbot! smut:plot is 30:70. animated/manga faceclaims only. NO real person, picrew, sims (video game fc’s) or hand drawn faceclaims.

★ . . . a. (29) male. dom, top. older soft mafia guy. works as an arms dealer & tries to stay away from the dirtier parts of the mob. father is retired yakuza with heavy ties and many connections. he is loyal, being raised in a mob setting, loyalty is life or death; and also intuitive. his gut feelings usually tell something is wrong or about to happen. he is also possessive, growing up in a household where things weren’t given evenly; and controlling, almost a perfectionist, wanting to be in control of every moment, action and setting. in control of his own life ★ want to use him in a mafia, kidnapping & sort of stockholm plot, where your muse (ftm, switch or sub, bottom & pre op pls) who has a rough life (please no prostitution, stripping or sexual abuse background stories) maybe parents owe money to another mob or maybe they do, so my guy kidnaps them to save their life; and to y/c getting kidnapped is better than their current situation. i need someone who is calm and level headed, but also still suspicious and has a hard time trusting. someone who won’t cry because they miss home, nor someone who throws attitude because they were kidnapped. someone neutral to the ordeal. my guy doesn’t really know about trans people, so this romance will be a slow, learning experience. i have many side characters for this story and it may sound cheap but im serious about the whole background and world building. i’m very specific and picky with this one.

★ . . . a. (24) male. switch+dom, top. charming and cunning ex con. pyromaniac, got arrested for burning down a liquor store (it was closed, nobody was there) did time in prison for it and had to start his life over when he got out. he is optimistic, having the “glass half full” mindset, always rolling with the punches and making the best of whatever cards life has dealt; and independent. he’s never had anyone to rely on, nor anyone he could really trust, so he looks out for himself, and takes care of himself, always, making him a bit selfish and self centered as well ★ want to use him in a neighbors, stalking to lovers plot (weird ik) where your muse (m or f, switch, bottom) is a broke college student who rented a cheap apartment a few months ago, where the windows are like five feet apart and you can see in. my guy gets out of prison and rents an apartment there which happens to be across from y/c’s. he begins to watch through the window, whenever he can, entranced by your muse. looking for someone social, outgoing, relaxed, definitely not sleazy or a party animal. someone who is smart and in college ofc. someone who is sort of excited about having a stalker when notes start popping up and things go missing.

★ . . . c. (24) ftm, pre op. sub, bottom. trans fashion designer who has made a name for himself among celebrities and the queer community, having unique commissioned pieces. he is confident, and rather social. he likes to dress up and go out with friends. he’s disciplined, coming from a home where respect was extremely important. he is ambitious and determined, enjoying his work while also being a workaholic. he has a fear of failure and is a bit of a pessimist, thinking negatively of most situations but rarely speaks on it ★ want to use him in a kidnapping/stockholm plot as well. basic plot honestly, your muse (m, dom top) is rich and obsessed with my muse, wanting them all for himself. looking for someone coercive, someone charismatic, who will shower my muse with gifts and such to make him feel less like a hostage, eventually my muse grows used to it.

★ . . . l. (19) fem. sub, bottom. young, aspiring nurse. still in college, works overtime as much as possible at her families convenience store to pay for her schooling. she is trustworthy and very responsible, having three younger brothers. she’s good at keeping secrets and comes through on her promises. she’s determined, once she has her goal set she will do anything to get it done. she can be envious of others success, appearance or even materialistic items. she’s also insensitive, saying and doing things that only pertain to her and how she feels, disregarding others. she is a sub, bottom ★ want to use her in either A) a kidnapping/stockholm plot where she is in love with your muse (m, dom top) who she assumes doesn’t know her. so she stalks your muse and breaks into his home. while she’s there your muse gets home to find her, knocks her out and basically kidnaps her, keeping her in his basement. looking for someone soft but still psycho, not violent but willing to keep her at all costs. someone who seems like they have a fairly normal life. // B) the neighbor stalker to lovers sort of plot from above ^^ where my muse is the broke college student and yours is the ex con. looking for someone cunning, sly, charismatic.

★ . . . g. (29) fem. switch+sub, vers+bottom older soft and motherly teacher (sometimes married sometimes not depending on the plot) works with middle and high school. she is patient and understanding, working with children one has to keep a calm demeanor and a level head. she is dependable, someone one can trust to be there for them, and she hates being late; so she’s always early. she is stubborn and hard headed, taking little to no outside advice, although is very dependent; not having been alone since she was a teen, always keeping a boyfriend, lover or a warm body in her bed for comfort. she is a switch++sub, soft dom, versatile with a bottom preference ★ i want to use her in some boy next door or teachers pet type plots with your (m, switch heavy dom++ vers heavy top++ very specific i know) also really looking for older 🍪 on this one. if you don’t know what that is, this isn’t the plot for you. looking for a muse that isn’t mouthy or bratty, but also not whiny and overly subby. really an obedient sub top. curious and eager to please, maybe really attached and sprightly possessive.

if interested in any of these muses (even if you’re not interested in the plot) feel free to reach out or leave a like.

like or dm

[undergroundbillions]

Reblogged the post again about people wanting to make a new Raggedy Ann show, and boy do I have more thoughts!

I will. I admit. Sort of vague posting about specific ideas I've heard but at the same time I mean this to be a general statement and not criticism of anything in particular. It's just a trend that frustrates me.

What I see in a lot of suggested adaptations is a wide departure from not only superficial ideas of the characters and plot, but core themes that made up the very idea of the franchise. They were always, from the beginning, a little girl's toys brought to life with the imagination of her and her father, and when I see many concepts removing Marcella or any form of family from the story altogether, it makes me sad.

Because it marks the shift from the Raggedies as dolls who are alive, to the Raggedies as characters who also happen to be dolls.

In my personal opinion, that is one of the main issues plaguing the raggedy media that released post-70’s. People saw the two siblings themselves as the marketable entities, and the rest didn’t matter. It contributes to the flanderization of the characters and the stories as a whole, each generation of media getting us farther and farther away from the original concept as they pick only the most marketable bits. Natural selection via capitalism. Diluted into abstraction. Raggedy Ann is a franchise running on fumes at this point, all it has is that vague sense of nostalgia that gets fainter and fainter each passing generation.

It’s a similar thing to what has happened to the Winnie the Pooh franchise, they completely removed Christopher Robbin and most portrayals of the characters don’t go to any lengths to show that they were originally stuffed animals. But at least Pooh and his friends live in their own little fantasy world where removing the humans doesn’t make much of a difference. Raggedy Ann lives in our world.

And I’m not someone who thinks things always have to be exactly the same, I’d love to see new adaptations that play around with the setting!!! And the characters!!! And designs!!! And sure, the later books are more fantastical and usually take place outside in the Deep Deep Woods. But most people don’t even consider them in their plans.

It's clear many people's idea of the franchise is based on the movie, which is fair!!! The movie is in my opinion one of the better adaptations which manages to get the feel and charm of the characters being dolls and follow the themes of Camel With the Wrinkled Knees while still being it's own thing. Just like Gruelle's book it's wandering and nonsensical and goofy and the siblings get thrown from one wacky interaction to the next. It's a piece of raggedy media through and through, but I don't see much attention towards what makes it that way.

And I have to say, unfortunately, that many of these proposals remind me of one infamous piece of raggedy media, the 80's CBS cartoon. And I know the CBS series is bad for other reasons, of course. The writing sucks, the animation is worse, and the voice acting is grating. But. On top of all that, it doesn’t feel like a piece of Raggedy Ann media to anyone familiar with Gruelle’s work. There’s nothing that connects it to any of the franchise besides the existence of these characters, you could just swap them right out and it wouldn’t make any difference.

Same with the Chuck Jones specials. Sure, there are personality traits that follow, but they aren’t anything unique. You could put any characters in there.

Making a piece of raggedy media with no knowledge of what made the original books so timeless, I feel at best, you're going to make something like the Chuck Jones specials, and at worst, the CBS animated series. And to quote mod wowf: "and you're not Chuck Jones".

So. Idk. If you're going to make a proposal for a new piece of Raggedy Ann media, I think one should ask themselves why Raggedy Ann. We've had plenty of adaptations where the answer to that question was "they're popular", and I don't put much more trust in "I like them". It's not a criticism of anyone's specific ideas, I just don't think anyone is going to bother if the thing you're giving them is what they've already grown tired of. The siblings go on silly adventures, sure, but wasn't this originally about a little girl and her poppa who loved making up stories about her dolls? Is that not compelling anymore?

-𝕸𝖔𝖉 𝕲𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑 𝕯.

P.S. I say this out of affection. I want people's projects to succeed and I want them to be well appreciated by people outside the fandom and I want them to change the public perception of Raggedy Ann for the better! And that's why I have Opinions.

P.P.S. This is about efforts to make an honest-to-goodness licensed Raggedy Ann TV show or similar media. Not fanworks. Make more fanworks always and regardless and don't listen to me.

[deadpresidents]

I stopped procrastinating and am finally reading Grant's autobiography. A few chapters in, I'm surprised by how readable and relatable they are. Having been raised on Mark Twain, how much influence did he have over the final version? Or are we reading most of Grant's original words?

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (BOOK | KINDLE) really is a great book. It's not always easy to read things written in the 19th Century because the rhythm of the writing is usually so much more formal than we are used to now. But Grant's Memoirs flow really well, and I think anybody interested in the era should have Grant's book at the top of their reading list. I'd especially recommend checking out the annotated edition released in 2017 by Belknap Press/Harvard University Press (that's the version I linked at the beginning of the paragraph). But the beauty of Grant's book is that you don't need annotations because the prose is so clear and easy to read.

As for the authorship, there have been rumors about the part that Mark Twain played in the writing of the book ever since the book was finished literally a few days before Grant died in 1885. And the flames were also fanned by Grant's former military aide Adam Badeau who helped Grant in the early stages of the writing process and was bitter about not getting paid more money, so he also claimed to be Grant's ghostwriter. But while Twain did help with some editing, his major role was in getting the book published in the best way to ensure that Grant's family would benefit financially from its publication. Grant wrote the book because he was broke and dying, and he wanted to make sure his family was going to be okay. Twain didn't think the contract that Grant was about to sign with a publisher to write the book was fair and felt that Grant could make significantly more money selling the book via a subscription service (the original deal was supposed to net Grant 10% of the royalties; Twain's deal guaranteed Grant 70% of the royalties). So the most significant part that Twain played was in regard to the finances, which again was the reason why Grant was writing the book in the first place.

Twain definitely helped Grant with proofreading and literary advice throughout the writing process, but Grant had started writing the book before Twain was involved and had already been writing articles about his Civil War experiences for magazines and serials for a few years. There is a unique voice to Grant's writing style and I think it is clearly recognizable, especially in comparison to how other public figures wrote at the time. So, it's definitely Grant's book. Plus, the Library of Congress still has the original manuscript of Grant's Memoirs (alongside all of his other papers and correspondence) and every page of the book was handwritten by Grant.

•One of my favorite photos in Presidential history is this one of a gravely ill Ulysses S. Grant, who by this point could no longer speak because of the throat cancer that was killing him (he had to write notes to communicate with his family and his doctors), feverishly writing to finish his book at his cottage on Mount McGregor in the Adirondacks of New York:

The photo was taken on June 27, 1885. Grant finished writing his Memoirs on July 19, 1885. Four days later, on July 23, 1885, he died at the age of 63.

[indierpgnewsletter]

✨, 🌱, 💡?

✨ A game I wish more people were talking about

There aren't many indie games that are talked about enough as far as I concerned. So many great games have come out recently that deserve way more discussion and praise: Pasion de la Pasiones by Brandon Leon-Gambetta and Swords without Master by Epidiah Ravachol are at the top of my list.

Pasion de la Pasiones is a masterclass of PbtA design - in many ways, a true inheritor of Apocalypse World's inter-personal playstyle. A playbook like El Jefe (which I'm playing in a game right now) is such a beautiful piece of design. Another designer would have made that character the GM's responsibility, to be played as the villain. Like the hardholder in AW, Brandon Leon-Gambetta trusts the players to take on the roles required to play a cheesy, melodramatic telenovela. At the same time, it's not just up to the players - through excellent move design, it's easy to be an awesome player. Also by empowering players, Pasion de la Pasiones is designed to be fun for the GM as well. It serves up exactly what I cherish most - the ability for players to drive play. I know lots of folks might see the cover and think it's just not for them but I encourage them to give it a try and see the fun on offer.

Swords without Master is amazing for the same reasons. It's a game with a GM that completely trusts the players to make their own fun - to come up with fun questions and fun answers. For those who don't know, it's a sword and sorcery RPG that has a bunch of unique things - dice that decide tone, a motif mechanic, phases that feel like they swap between GMless and GM'd. It also represents that rare thing. Like PbtA, it's basically a whole new type of game, designed from the ground up. It hasn't been as influential but it could have been!

🌱 An unreleased/not-yet-crowdfunding game I’m looking forward to

Oh, man, okay, I've got a couple for this:

Bloodclotte by Nick Duff: This is a hard game to describe but here's my best shot: You play doctors in a steampunk hospital dealing with the weirdest, most bizarre patients that you can conceive. It's less medical drama and more war comedy, a genre that is so rare that the only good example I know is the iconic 70s show, M*A*S*H. It's really good and I'm writing a playbook for it based on Ayurveda. There's a quick start available and I played a super fun playtest campaign of it. Recommended!

Da Xia by Tan Shao Han: Tan Shao Han is a Singaporean designer who is also a writer on Bloodclotte, like me. This game of his (which I have only heard the most delicious whispers about) is a Forged in the Dark game where you play Chinese folk heroes in Singapore during WW2 when it was under Japaneese occupation. I love the concept - it sounds challenging and ambitious work for a designer as well as a unique experience for players. Super excited to get my hands on a playtest draft.

💡 A game that inspired my own design or creative practice

I'm working on a series of card-based games I'm calling the Cardsharp Sonata. The first one is out and it's a sci-fi horror game called This Ship Is No Mother. The entire series is based on the wonderful, insightful Forged in the Dark game Crash//Cart by Galen Pejeau. Crash//Cart is one of the first games I ever wrote about the newsletter after a smash-hit of a one shot. It's about EMTs going out to save people and take them to hospitals in a nightmarish cyberpunk world. It's fast, fun and Galen's sharp design logic really inspired me to make more games.

[bearterritory]

#5 Bears End NCAA's in 7th Place

Tatematsu, Fouillet Earn Top-20 Finishes

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Playing through windy conditions on the final day of the NCAA Regional, the California women's golf team moved up the leaderboard for the second straight round, ending in seventh place with a pair of top-20 individual finishes.

Senior Rina Tatematsu (73-74-71 – 218) made the Golden Bears' biggest climb of the day, jumping up 12 spots to earn a team-best 13th-place finish. She was one of just three golfers to shoot under par on Wednesday at Spanish Trail Country Club, tying for the round's second-lowest score with a 1-under-par 71. Tatematsu had a team-best five birdies on the day, while her 2-under tournament total on par 3s led the entire field.

Constance Fouillet (76-68-76 – 220) finished 4-over both for the day and the tournament, ending her first NCAA Regional in 18th place. She caps her stellar debut season with a 72.7 scoring average, breaking the program's previous freshman scoring record of 73.6 set by Katherine Zhu in 2018-19.

After missing the first round due to illness, sophomore Adora Liu (70-73) bounced back to post the team's second-lowest score in two straight rounds. Her 1-over 73 in round three was good for the seventh-best individual score.

Senior Cristina Ochoa (75-77-75 – 227) closed out her final regional in 41st place with a 3-over 75 and sophomore Olivia Lee (80-76-77 – 233) carded a 5-over 77.

Despite starting the day 11 strokes out of fifth place, the Bears remained confident knowing that they had saved their best score for the last round in seven of their previous eight tournaments. They finished six strokes shy of matching fifth-place Florida State (+14), which advanced to the NCAA Championships alongside UCLA (+12), Baylor (+8), Purdue (+4) and first-place Arkansas (E).

This was also the 23rd and final regional for Nancy McDaniel, who has served as Cal's founding head coach for the past 29 seasons. McDaniel – who recently announced that she will be retiring following the season – leaves behind an immense legacy that includes two Pac-10/12 and West Regional Coach of the Year awards, two Pac-10 championships, five top-five showings at NCAA Regionals, one NCAA Regional win, and three top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships.

"It's a unique day. You don't ever get this day until today, so you can't practice it," McDaniel said. "When you're in regionals, you're just thinking about regionals. But when you have former players texting you, and you see some really special alums show up in person, you understand the relationships that you've created together and the impact they've had on you. That's what it's all about."

In McDaniel's final season at the helm, the Bears tied or broke six program records, most of which were achieved during a blistering stretch in the fall when they won three straight competitions for the first time ever.

Since setting four program records at the Molly Invitational in September, the Bears have continued to make this a season to remember. They defeated No. 1 Stanford 4-3 in the Big Match and came from behind to win the Ron Moore Intercollegiate in October, sealing the program's run of victories. To just miss the championships by six strokes and place 7th out of 72 teams is a respectable accomplishment by any measure.

"I'm competitive. Cal is competitive. This is another step in the direction that we're striving towards," McDaniel said. "We know where we want to be. I'm going to support, help, and be in the background to see Cal golf go to that next level. I want them to have that."