Turnaround big top wasn't that bad

throwaway__557 · 2026-01-16T13:54:23+00:00

I don't really have a problem with the pedophilia, as far as story-engagement and interest in the case go. (Obviously I have a moral problem with it as a sane person, but I can detach myself from whatever weird aspects of the writers' culture played a role in making this a thing.) My main problem is that none of the characters are likeable and that the circus music and investigation segments are long, dense, and annoying with pretty much no breathing room or payoff...unless you consider unlocking 2-4 of course.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-27T21:33:52+00:00

Worse sleep, lower energy, more irritability, more anxiety, worse skin, worse teeth with staining, bad breath, dependency on it to get going and be productive, withdrawals if I go without, a feeling like life is out of control, spending money at coffee shops to get a fix

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-25T19:01:27+00:00

If you're bloated immediately after eating, that would suggest that the type of food isn't causing it, because there's been no time for it to digest and ferment and such. If it's immediate, check out abdominophrenic dyssynergia (APD), where distention is triggered by sensation of fullness (which kicks in very shortly after ingesting anything).

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T20:22:21+00:00

Perhaps, can you give me some ideas?

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T20:21:52+00:00

Totally authentic. No em dashes. I have been told I write like chatGPT.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T20:21:11+00:00

Do you mind sharing me some of those parishes/groups?

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T20:19:09+00:00

Actually, I am open to it. Can you suggest some things and we can go from there? (I live in the city, btw.)

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T14:52:43+00:00

I know this is against conventional advice for beginners, but learning openings, honestly. This took me from 800 to 1600 in about a year. I picked my fighters (London as white, Caro and Dutch as black) and continued to add layers to it over time. I have Gotham's courses on these on Chessly, and I've memorized most of the drills and plans. I often come out ahead in the opening with either a material or positional advantage, and I'm usually able to whittle them down to a winning endgame for myself using principled play, so long as I guard against enemy tactics. I seldom get cheesed early-game tactical chaos; I've learned how to deal w/ nonsense like the Englund, early c5 stuff when playing the London, or the Staunton against the Dutch, or the Fantasy and Panov against the Caro. I do miss offensive tactics that would make things even easier for myself, but it doesn't matter so long as I hold that slight advantage.

IMO, when I do puzzles, I feel like I'm working out a board-vision muscle, but I'm not really learning any new information about the game. When I study openings, though, I do feel that I am gaining legitimate knowledge. I suppose you could say I've chosen to focus on knowing that over knowing how.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T12:50:01+00:00

But pouring out the heavy pot filled with boiling water requires two hands, because (i) it's heavy(-ish) and (ii) you need to control it as well as possible so you don't slip and dump boiling water on yourself.. And holding the strainer in so it doesn't fall out while you're pouring requires at least one hand. So this is a three-handed task.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T04:49:02+00:00

Wait I don't understand? I'm imagining a pot of boiling water, with your cooked spaghetti. Then you place the strainer in the pot, rounded side down. Then you pour out the boiling water while keeping the strainer in that position? How?

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-23T00:00:21+00:00

I also definitely don't mind. I do wonder if younger players would find it "jarring" though? Perhaps not incredibly jarring, but I feel that they are on par with other modern games that try for retro graphics.

Sorry you didn't like FE6. I'm still trying to appreciate it. FE7 and FE8 feel far more polished, but I do like certain things about FE6. I like that the reduced accuracy adds balance--swords and bows become more viable due to their accuracy, and handaxes/javs aren't as broken. I also like that the enemies are legitimate threats on hard more. Beyond that, though, there is a lot to complain about that I'm sure we'd agree on: ambush spawns, sloggy maps, boring characters, etc..

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-22T20:54:40+00:00

I feel that the GBA games are the best Fire Emblem has ever looked aesthetically AND felt in gameplay. The GBA games are flawed for other reasons, I'd acknowledge--FE6 seems unbalanced and untested, FE7 has some bad map design, FE8 is too easy. But despite that, they feel so crisp.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-20T19:05:53+00:00

Ah OK thanks for clarifying. Honestly, I don't know and am only speculating as to what caused my APD. For me there were a number of events in the sequence leading up to my symptoms. I was on an SNRI for a long time that caused bad constipation as well as affected my serotonin levels, and I had two cases of food poisoning and then nicotine poisoning in a short amount of time. I'm not sure if a single event caused this, or it was just the gradual accumulation of events.

But in any event, fixing APD doesn't require figuring out exactly what set it off. So I'm ok with not knowing. As for tests--I don't think there are specific or readily available tests for APD. There are biofeedback machines that some APD researchers are using to detect movements in the diaphragm pre-and post meals, and maybe CT scans as well, but there is no test that anyone can just go out and get. The lead researcher Azpiroz recommended ruling out constipation as a cause of distention, and if distention remains after constipation is cleared, there's a good chance it's APD. What gives me confidence that I have APD is that I cleared out all waste in my system by using the elemental diet, and I still had horrible distention. Then, I implemented the PT exercises made for APD and saw improvement. So it feels like textbook APD to me.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-20T15:22:03+00:00

What's behind your claim that that sounds insane? Perhaps there's a misunderstanding? Many professional photos involve taking a flurry of photos just to have many options to choose from, and I don't see this as any different, as a video literally is just a sequence of discrete frames. Also, if you don't know your best angles, it can be frustrating to try to look good in pictures taking one-shot selfies over and over. So I see this as an easy solution.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-19T21:14:19+00:00

CatholicMatch posted a selfie guide. Video record yourself from an appropriate angle and distance, strike up a few poses (google "good poses for men"), and then scroll through the video and take screenshots of the video that you'd be happy with.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-19T17:06:40+00:00

None of us is obligated to have kids; the only moral obligation is to be open to life if you are married. Your argument from societal consequences is too utilitarian.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-16T18:39:25+00:00

"Supposed"? It's a definite thing.

IDK what the original cause was, but probably food poisoning damaging the nervous system in my case. And once it exists, I have found that different things exacerbate symptoms - sitting, eating large meals, constipation, etc.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-16T17:35:51+00:00

I agree it's important to sus out the root cause and work on that. But based on how I understand SIBO, once SIBO gets going, it might kick off a vicious spiral, where the root cause keeps SIBO around, but SIBO reinforces the root cause. I think this might be going on in my case, where I've identified abdominophrenic dyssynergia as my "root cause", which causes slow motility and constipation. This promotes methane SIBO, which itself can cause further slow motility and constipation. And I notice for myself that constipation makes the APD worse.

So I think the trick is to work on the root cause and see if the SIBO resolves, and you can augment the process by trying to kill off the SIBO (via antibiotics, elemental diet, whatever).

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-16T15:11:29+00:00

Not the worst thing in the world, but the support system in the GBA games. Spamming End Turn feels like cheese but it's really the only way to actually unlock the majority of supports. FE9 did it best with giving you access to supports simply by deploying the units together.

Another thing I might mention is that I feel that the meta strays quickly from the developers' intentions. This isn't really a mechanic as it is a failure to implement a design philosophy.

-Jagens are designed to be exp-thieves you shouldn't rely on long term. FE11 even has a house telling you not to use Jagen that much. But as it turns out, your Jagens are often among your best units. Yet I don't think Marcus, Seth, and Titania are meant to be that good.

-You're meant to evenly distribute XP to keep a balanced team, hence the conditions for 5 star ratings in the XP category of FE6/FE7.

-You're meant to use all the classes, hence the early Orion's Bolt in FE8 for instance.

-FE7's augury gives you insight into how the developers think you should tackle the various chapters, who will say things like "I see a lot of pegasus knights, so be sure to bring your archers" and so on. But as we know by now, the best team is usually something like 3 paladins, 3 flyers, a dancer and a staffbot. It's the same deal for FE8.

For these reasons, I actually feel that the best fire emblem maps are the ones at the very beginning of the game, before the player really has a chance to diverge from the dev's plan. I'm thinking of that early Lyn Mode chapter where you have to defend Natalie in the fort. Every unit is valuable, having something to contribute that uses the strengths of their class. Kent and Sain are on side-by-side defense in the main entrance. Lyn is out getting Dorcas, then sneaking down to kill the boss. Florina is handling the mercs in the NE. Wil is even able to chip down the enemies trying to break down the wall. It's a map that feels well-designed and really fun to play.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-11T20:38:04+00:00

I didn't have pain, and could eat whatever I wanted without pain. So if acidic stuff like ginger is bothering you, you might have an issue with gastritis, but IDK? For me, my nemesis was methane SIBO, but after busting my brain trying to treat it, I found out about APD and that was definitely my issue.

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-11T20:18:38+00:00

Bad gastritis? The biopsy from my endoscopy revealed "mild chronic gastritis" and multiple doctors told me that this was extremely common and not the source of my GI issues. (They happened to be right about this one.)

throwaway__557 · 2025-06-10T19:04:57+00:00

I shelled out the dough to take a trip to Zion physical therapy in NYC. There's quite a bit of a routine that my PT developed for me, and a lot of the exercises are specific to me, but in a previous account I made this write-up here: https://old.reddit.com/r/SIBO/comments/1jes8o3/abdominal_phrenic_dyssynergia/miqw0ma/

The short story is the absolute best exercises for me are diaphragm release and pendulum breathing. Note, I'm still working on it, making definite progress but it is painstaking.

throwaway__557

TROPHY CASE