What's happening?

API Pricing Changes
Reddit recently announced major pricing changes to their API, which is the software interface that all major 3rd party applications and bots rely upon to function. These pricing changes are so extreme that all major apps will be forced to cease operating as they cannot bear the costs. As an example, the developer of Apollo revealed they would be forced to pay reddit upwards of $20 million USD/year just to continue operating under the new pricing scheme.
The consensus from the developers behind these apps is that reddit is trying to price them out of existence in order to force users to switch to the official reddit mobile app. Not only will they be forced to pay ridiculous sums (which they cannot cover) to maintain access to the API, changes to the ToS also prohibit these apps from using ad revenue to offset the new costs.
You can find some of their statements below:

• Apollo
• Reddit is Fun
• Relay
• Narwhal
• BaconReader
• Sync

NSFW & Mature Content
In addition to restricting API access behind a ludicrous pricing scheme, reddit is also planning on severely restricting 3rd party applications' access to NSFW/mature content. This will not only make the job of moderating NSFW communities significantly harder for humans, but also largely cripple 3rd party moderation bots that rely on being able to view NSFW content across multiple subreddits. Without the functions these bots provide, reddit is creating massive vulnerabilities in the areas of anti-spam and user safety.
As an example, some communities which focus on serving underage users may use 3rd party bots to automatically detect and remove accounts with a history of posting NSFW/mature content. Additionally there are other 3rd party bots that use comment history to proactively seek out and remove NSFW spam or even help detect and remove possible revenge porn or other illegal content.

How will this affect me?

Any users who rely on 3rd party applications (like those above) to browse reddit will find that the apps will cease to function after July 1st, when the pricing change goes into effect.
In addition, NSFW communities will likely see a large uptick in spam and potentially illegal/harmful content. It's possible that many of these communities will be forced to close if the human moderators responsible for them feel they can no longer keep their community safe without the proper tools these bots and 3rd party apps provide. Ordinarily the average user never sees it but rollerbladingmemes does deal with lots of NSFW spam, so these changes could have major unforeseen ramifications for moderation across the entire site.
While it has never been explicitly stated by reddit, there is also a large concern that this move to consolidate mobile users to the official app could be a sign that they are planning to fully deprecate the old version of their desktop site (old.reddit.com) in order to consolidate users on the redesign as well.

What can we do to stop this?

Moderators from hundreds of communities across reddit have drafted and signed an open letter to reddit, asking them to reconsider the pricing scheme and to recognize the role that 3rd party apps have played in reddit's ongoing success. You can read the open letter here:
/ModCoord: An open letter on the state of affairs regarding the API pricing and third party apps and how that will impact moderators and communities.
If you'd like even more information, YouTube channel Snazzy Labs hosted an in-depth 48min discussion about reddit's upcoming changes to their API pricing with Christian Selig, the developer of the 3rd party iOS app Apollo.

I just happened to stumble upon this thought and had to share:
We all know Spamton G. Spamton backstory:
he contacted, or was contacted by someone,
became a celebrity within Cyber City, or as he would say a "BIG SHOT!"
The caller stopped communicating whit him, making him fall in disgrace etcetera..
What I wanted to point out it's the part where it mentions how Spamton's tried to impersonate someone to infiltrate the castle and enter the basement, most of the people assumed it was referring to Swatch, as their design is somewhat similar.
The thing is,
He was replaced, but still not getting rid of the whole brand as they still sell his bowties
I was thinking, what instead of Swatch.. Spamton tried to impersonate someone else? Someone that might be important to him, Someone that always talked to him
We still don't know for sure who the mysterious caller is, but assuming it's Tenna (the character mentioned on one of the sweepstakes pages, heavily hinted to be connected to spamton downfall), it could make sense
Tenna seems to be associated whit television so it wouldn't be far to thnk he made Spamton rise to fame and sudden downfall. As television often haves some influence in the internet too. His only appearance we currently know of Tenna is his smile on the TV.
Just, hear me out:
Remember that smile whit yellow-purple tinted eyes just moments before activating the Spamton NEO fight? It couldn't be Spamton, as he is in the LoadedDisk But what if it was Tenna, or someone connected to him? Think about it, in multiple instances it seems that the fight is being watched or rather "Recorded" by someone (as seen in his final giant attack) So it wouldn't be far fetched to think Tenna is watching the Fun Gang fighting Spamton NEO. Another thing to know, if you defeated him violently during the normal route, he will say: "ARE YOU WATCHING THIS MIKE? I'M FINALLY BECOMING A BIG SHOT!!"
We either don't know much about Mike, but he was implied to be very important to Spamton, and also be a part of Tenna's Crew so he could be also watching the fight take place.
WRAPPING UP:
the original style of glasses Spamton tried to impersonate to enter the castle could belong to Tenna, as he seemed to somewhat famous too.
This could be used to explain the face in the basement too.
At the end of the day this is just speculation, we will see when Chapet 3,4,5 come out if it will be accurate.
Thanks very much for reading all of this and apologies if the tags are wrong, this is my first time posting here.

TLDR; I wasn't told until after I accepted the promotion that I'd be cross-training with this other dept, I'm not really bent out of shape about that in particular because I knew there’d be some new duties involved, just didn’t realize the exact situation I’d be in. Plus a co-worker who wrote me a recommendation for the promo told me it's because they've been impressed with me so far in my role and think I can handle it so, I'm the first one they're trying it out on. I'm easily swayed by flattery and also wasn't really a choice regardless so here I am.
The thing is that I'm having massive executive dysfunction problems with training materials and imposter syndrome in general, thinking, "why the fuck did they give this to me, I can barely do my own job let alone two".
I’m a kinesthetic learner and learn best when I can watch someone do something the right way and then show me what can go wrong, but this new team is kind of disjointed in their workflow and don’t really collaborate like mine does. I seriously cannot make myself sit and take notes through endless 85 page powerpoints and hour long meeting recordings and absorb relevant information that way. Me remembering, "oh yeah, that number in the example from the powerpoint on slide 32 was exactly $85k" is not relevant information retained.
I guess I'm looking for resources/tips/advice on how to not let the overwhelming newness get to me and just accept that learning new shit is weird and uncomfortable for a while. I know logically I was given this task because I’m a good worker and I also know this is a new process for my team and the new one, so there’s not necessarily a “right” way to be doing it and that I’m really the Guinea pig, but still it’s really sucky right now and it’s killing my excited “I got a fat promotion” vibe.
And if anyone has any good advice on accommodating less liked learning styles that'd be cool too.

Woke up expecting to watch the highlights of Tianan vs Tye. Spent the whole weekend watching interviews about predictions about how that fight will go. I am trying to adapt Tainans game so was ready to see how he takes on Tye. ATOS vs AOJ.
Wake up this morning and Jensen has beaten Tainan and Tye both in the same day. Honestly if I knew how to use FloGrappling I just wanna see how he did it.

What's happening?

API Pricing Changes
Reddit recently announced major pricing changes to their API, which is the software interface that all major 3rd party applications and bots rely upon to function. These pricing changes are so extreme that all major apps will be forced to cease operating as they cannot bear the costs. As an example, the developer of Apollo revealed they would be forced to pay reddit upwards of $20 million USD/year just to continue operating under the new pricing scheme.
The consensus from the developers behind these apps is that reddit is trying to price them out of existence in order to force users to switch to the official reddit mobile app. Not only will they be forced to pay ridiculous sums (which they cannot cover) to maintain access to the API, changes to the ToS also prohibit these apps from using ad revenue to offset the new costs.
You can find some of their statements below:

• Apollo
• Reddit is Fun
• Relay
• Narwhal
• BaconReader
• Sync

NSFW & Mature Content
In addition to restricting API access behind a ludicrous pricing scheme, reddit is also planning on severely restricting 3rd party applications' access to NSFW/mature content. This will not only make the job of moderating NSFW communities significantly harder for humans, but also largely cripple 3rd party moderation bots that rely on being able to view NSFW content across multiple subreddits. Without the functions these bots provide, reddit is creating massive vulnerabilities in the areas of anti-spam and user safety.
As an example, some communities which focus on serving underage users may use 3rd party bots to automatically detect and remove accounts with a history of posting NSFW/mature content. Additionally there are other 3rd party bots that use comment history to proactively seek out and remove NSFW spam or even help detect and remove possible revenge porn or other illegal content.

How will this affect me?

Any users who rely on 3rd party applications (like those above) to browse reddit will find that the apps will cease to function after July 1st, when the pricing change goes into effect.
In addition, NSFW communities will likely see a large uptick in spam and potentially illegal/harmful content. It's possible that many of these communities will be forced to close if the human moderators responsible for them feel they can no longer keep their community safe without the proper tools these bots and 3rd party apps provide. Ordinarily the average user never sees it but aggressiveskating does deal with lots of NSFW spam, so these changes could have major unforeseen ramifications for moderation across the entire site.
While it has never been explicitly stated by reddit, there is also a large concern that this move to consolidate mobile users to the official app could be a sign that they are planning to fully deprecate the old version of their desktop site (old.reddit.com) in order to consolidate users on the redesign as well.

What can we do to stop this?

Moderators from hundreds of communities across reddit have drafted and signed an open letter to reddit, asking them to reconsider the pricing scheme and to recognize the role that 3rd party apps have played in reddit's ongoing success. You can read the open letter here:
/ModCoord: An open letter on the state of affairs regarding the API pricing and third party apps and how that will impact moderators and communities.
If you'd like even more information, YouTube channel Snazzy Labs hosted an in-depth 48min discussion about reddit's upcoming changes to their API pricing with Christian Selig, the developer of the 3rd party iOS app Apollo.

After watching House of the Dragon, I’m curious to know what you guys think about the idea of a fantasy revolving around a prince seeking to become king of a matriarchal empire?
There’s innumerable novels about aggressively patriarchal societies in fantasy, exploring the lives of oppressed women, but what about the inverse?
I think it would be an interesting read if done right, especially if it highlights how different such a world would be from our own. The closest I can think is the elven society from In Other Lands (great read, by the way).
Thoughts?

Follow-up to my last post:
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An Attenborough documentary on dinosaurs with the same CGI that made The Jungle Book so lifelike? I couldn't think of a greater sell. But was it worth it? Would it give me the same sense of wonder that I felt when Walking with Dinosaurs came out 22 years earlier?
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The first episode, "Coasts", is overall the strongest episode of season 1. Starting immediately with a swimming t-rex (Tyrannosaurus rex) leading his children to an island where he smelled a dead archelon (species unknown, as no Maastrichtian-age archelon was ever found in the fossil record), that first scene showed the promise of the show as a whole. Seeing CG baby t-rexes interacting with live-action baby turtles is both concerning (as sea turtles are currently endangered) and entertaining, as they are demonstrated pretty goofily. But after that, we are done with dinosaurs for the rest of the episode.
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We cut to the one scene that, while endearing with a riveting soundtrack by power couple Anže Rozman and Kara Talve, does give me pause. The pterosaurs featured in that episode were based on bones so fragmentary that they couldn't be diagnosed. How can we be sure that Barbaridactylus was a member of the antlerwing family, Phosphatodraco a member of the simurgh family, or even Tethydraco a member of the pteranodon family? How do we even know what Alcione even looked like? Also, the score doesn't really match the slower, less urgent movements of the pterosaurs.
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The next scene was described as "the sunken continent of Zealandia", which is a refresher to see the lost continent bearing recognition for a change. Here, a family of plesiosaurs (Tuarangisaurus keyesi) comes to the coast to gulp themselves on anti-buoyant rocks, while the males ceremoniously poke their long, heavy necks up to the surface, the only good moment in an otherwise generic sequence.
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After a quick focus on coral, we get treated to a Hoffmann's mosasaur (Mosasaurus hoffmanni) relying on fish and shrimp to give him a good, proper scratch, only to be pushed out of turn by a younger male. This sequence sticks out to me because it shows mosasaurs being portrayed as animals, not as monsters to shadow Nigel Marven or kaijuified Blackfish bootlegs.
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The next scene shows a dazzling, mesmerizing mating ceremony of ammonites ("scaphitids", they were called, but that doesn't determine specific species, as it was a very huge family). They glow in the dark and mate very particularly. If the male's flashes don't sync with those of the female, he'd be rejected. Complimenting this alien but still soothing scene is Rozman and Talve's equally alien and soothing score.
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Back in Zealandia, we end with plesiosaur pod mentality, as the whole group defends a pregnant mother from a kaika taniwha (Kaikaifilu hervei). As with the previous plesiosaur scene, it wasn't a scene that I got too crazy about.
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The next episode, "Deserts", isn't really as impactful as the Planet Earth episode of the same name, both in regards to execution and the musical score, and it was riddled with confusing scene decisions. The first scene demonstrates a lek of dreadnoughts (Dreadnoughtus schrani) acting like a combination of elephant seals and frigatebirds, right down to the pops on their necks. The score in that sequence is definitely memorable, as it (literally) highlights the weights that the males take to demonstrate their fitness to attract the gaggle of girls in the audience. Though I'm left wondering--did the upstart beat the veteran because he was stronger, or because he popped one of the veteran's neck balloons, as male frigatebirds would do to ditch the competish?
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Once the sauropod show is over, we now move to what was presumed to be Nemegtia, but it was portrayed to be as dry as Djadochta, which leads to the next problem. While there was evidence of Maastrichtian-age velos in Central Asia, calling them "Velociraptor" is just wrong. I grew up watching Walking with Dinosaurs, which means I watched "Giant of the Skies", which featured Utahraptor in the wrong place at the wrong time. And while the American cut justifies this with a demonstration of a land bridge that connected North America to Europe, I don't know how much water that holds, and that doesn't seem to be relevant anyway, for the damage has already been done. So having in Velociraptor, a genus of velos that went extinct 71 million years ago, in Nemegtia, which was set 66 million years ago, is just a rehash of that previous mistake. In short, Prehistoric Planet has Utahraptor'd the Velociraptor. And besides, hasn't the picture of pack-hunting raptors already been discarded?
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The next scene, the one with the Nemegtian mononych (Mononykus olecranus), is cute but not top-notch memorable, and its color choice is teetering way close to the point of plagiarism.
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Afterwards, the brief but violent rains have created a watering hole in the middle of the desert, luring in dinosaurs and pterosaurs from miles around, including a wandering khan (Tarbosaurus bataar). The reason that scene is so low was that it was just a near-identical rotoscope of the Water Truce sequence from The Jungle Book, right down to the herbivores making a clearing for the khan.
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Then we go high up to see more Barbaridactylus. This scene I wasn't aware was a problem until Unnatural History Channel brought it up in his video, but the females were shown to be oddly consensual towards the similar-looking sneaky males, who use their feminine appearances to sneak past the larger, more impressive males. This is a problem, apparently, because the more extreme the sexual dimorphism, the more likely the sneaky male will be rejected and therefore resort to assaulting the females.
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The last scene is an interesting one, albeit one that suffered an unmemorable score in the soundtrack. Apparently, salty southern duckbills (Secernosaurus koerneri) can thrive on dunes of gypsum, but when rains hit the coast, they rely on both their tenacity and their know-how of the sky to get to more productive grazing. This scene stands out to me because I question why any large animal would choose to thrive on such a taxing environment. It'd make sense for an animal as small as the cryptile, the scrofa and the gryken from The Future is Wild, but not for a duckbill bigger than 16 feet long.
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It is unanimously agreed upon that "Freshwater" is the weakest episode in the first season. Apart from the humpbacked false duckbill (Deinocheirus mirificus) getting a scratch in the swamps of a more accurate Nemegtia and the devil frog (Beelzebufo ampinga) making a snack out of a baby whacktooth (Masiaksaurus knoplferi), the habitat itself has been relegated to the backseat, which is why the mating scene of the t-rex and the laying magnificent simurgh (Quetzalcoatlus northropi) are on the C tier, good scenes that have been damaged by simply being in the wrong episode. Speaking of the latter, memes have popped up in which the faces of dinosaurs have been pasted over two shots of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with either Masiakasaurus or the Planet Dinosaur model of Majungasaurus being Galahad and the Quetzalcoatlus being the French taunter ("What are you doing in Africa?" "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!") when, really, that meme is more applicable to Velociraptor being in the Maastrichtian. On that topic, not only is it STILL in the wrong time, there is another problem, one I didn't pay attention to until Unnatural History Channel brought it up on his video. Instead of showing audiences raptor prey restraint (or "RPR"), the storytellers relied instead on mountain cats to show the velos hunting the pterosaurs (species unknown). Like the Deserts episode, Planet Earth has a far stronger "Freshwater" episode.
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"Ice Worlds" didn't excite me as much as "Spirits of the Ice Forest" did, which is a shame, because dinosaurs in the snow is a refresher by default. We start at Prince Creek, which I couldn't ask for a worse place to start because the cast list is very fragmentary. In the opening scene, a pack of raptors (species unknown, though modeled after the pitbull raptor), shadows a herd of ugrunaaluk (Edmontosaurus sp.) for a long-delayed meal. Again, the picture of raptors hunting in packs has been debunked for a very long time now. Why insist on resorting to old cliches?
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The Ornithomimus scene (can't think of a vernacular for them), while the designs look cool and add distinction to overall character, is still just a rotoscope of the Adelie penguin sequence from "Frozen Planet". Next.
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The sequence with the swanneck (Olorotitan arharensis) is even less impressive. Are horsetails really more nutritious than grass? If so, then why have grasslands been the dominant plains since the Miocene?
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The reason the scene with the tro-o is relatively low on the tier list is that it should have been longer, because a dinosaur with the intellect of a fire hawk is a very interesting prospect. But the final scene was just too short and too bland to show off any real gold.
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We have spent so much time in the north that I question the necessity of a quick detour to Antarctica, rendering the scene with the polar macahutiul (Antarctopelta oliveroi) my least favorite of the series.
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The final scene demonstrates the predator-prey dynamic between the northern boss (Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum) and the nanook (Nanuqsaurus hoglundi). The scene is great, the score has some very rhythmic moments, but what puts it low on the B tier are the nanooks themselves. From a distance, they look as good as most of the others. But in closeup, they look kind of fake, especially when they're running. Which brings up to the next problem--the story is based on fossil footprints of different lines pointing in the same direction. But how do we know that those parallel tracks were made at the same time and not separated within hours, days or even weeks of each other? And while it is true that nanooks were smaller than t-rexes, their portrayals in the show were just too small. More recent consensus shows that one nanook could easily match a boss in size, if not overtop it.
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"Forests" is an everywhere kind of episode. The opening scene with the austroposeidon (Austroposeidon magnificus) is not long enough to get me invested.
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Then a herd of trikes (Triceratops, species unknown) visits a cave to visit a clay lick to neutralize the poisons from their plant food. But why clay? Why not salt? Herbivores can clearly deal with poisonous plants without problem, but plants lack sodium, which is why the elephants of Mount Elgon (the inspiration behind that scene) scrape the caves not for clay, but for salt.
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This next scene has gotten everyone talking. A male minotaur (Carnotaurus sastrei) clears the stage to wave his arms around to impress an impossibly stoic female. Everything about that scene--from the choreography to the score--is very goofy, and that is what makes it work so well.
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While it is nice to finally see the Pinocchio-rex (Qianzhousaurus sinensis) in the flesh, its hunt for bright blue corythoraptors (Corythoraptor jacobsi) is not a scene I'd be in a hurry to revisit.
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The fire scene is oddly slow, the only memorable moment in the whole sequence being my first official introduction to Atrociraptor marshalli...literally just one short week before Jurassic World: Dominion predictably ruined it.
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The scene with the baby Therizinosaurus is passable. While it is cute to imagine babies having a taste for honey, it just wasn't executed memorably.
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The final scene, the one set on Hateg Island, slogs on in pace, with the greatest focus being a bunch of odd-looking baby zalmos (Zalmoxes robustus) running and hiding from the real star of the episode, the robust simurgh (Hatzegopteryx thambena), looking more proper than how it looked in Planet Dinosaur. One question, though--weren't pterosaur wings supposed to be rounded at the tip? Sure, they've got the hands pointing backwards, but the pointed wingtips is now believed to be an outdated picture.
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So it goes without saying that years of watching a moderate quantity of Attenborough documentaries has made the watching experience of Prehistoric Planet, at least in comparison to the original Walking with Dinosaurs, a bit numb. The creature designs are good, the CGI has not faltered in its photorealism from The Jungle Book, and even the soundtrack has enough of a score to make it memorable. But it's the stories that amount to the overall numbness of the first season. They hadn't opened my eyes in the way that Walking with Dinosaurs did.
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When season 2 was announced literally one year after season 1, I had my doubts. Planet Earth 2 came out literally a decade after the first Planet Earth, and the differences in filming technology and musical score clearly show that. Same for the 16 years that separate The Blue Planet from Blue Planet 2. Dynasties 2, by contrast, came way too soon after the first Dynasties, and the end result is sloppy, from the stories being set at the tedious start rather than at the steady prime to the score from the first Dynasties being reused so often that the only episode to have any new music was "Meerkat". So to find Prehistoric Planet 2 come out literally one year after Prehistoric Planet, I was concerned that it'd be as shorthanded as Dynasties 2 was. The opening episode, "Islands", kind of suffered that, but it thankfully wasn't as severe a problem.
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The first segment of that episode struck me as odd because the adult zalmo looks weirdly identical to the baby model from last episode.
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While it is cool to see the robust simurgh being expanded upon, I personally wish we'd stayed at Hateg Island, where they'd hunt the Transylvanian dwarf duckbill (Telmatosaurus transylvanicus) and not the funky combbill (Tethyshadros insularis).
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One of season 1's most recurring complaints is "no crocodiles", which is pretty apt when you consider how diverse they were during the Cretaceous period. So to see the Malagasy armadillo (Simosuchus clarki) at all, let alone stand up against a mahjong (Majungasaurus crenatissimus), is one to remember for the ages.
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This next scene is actually pretty interesting, in which we see Adalatherium, which wasn't a true mammal, but rather something hovering closely outside the taxonomic boundaries. It's a long sequence, which is just as well, because this is as new a clade to me now as the cynodont was when Walking with Dinosaurs came out.
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As with in "Ice Worlds", a quick detour to Antarctica doesn't seem necessary to me, as the hunt between the Imperobator and the Morrosaurus feels more like a skim.
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The last scene in the episode is my personal favorite, in which a male robust simugh stands on a sandbar to do whatever it takes to impress a mate.
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"Badlands" stands out in that there are only two settings. The first one is the strongest because of how the Deccan Traps, long reputed to be the co-culprit to the fall of the dinosaur empire, has been repurposed into prime nesting estate for a herd of sauropods (Isisaurus colberti). The journey seems reckless, but volcanic sand is hot and toasty, something that a modern species of dinosaur, the megapode, also exploits as it lays its egg in the hot volcanic sand of the Solomons.
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The next scene hasn't fixed on last year's problems, in which Velociraptor is still there and it still hasn't performed RPR--it just kicks an herbivore off a cliff, and that was that.
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The nesting Corythoraptor scene didn't interest me, but what really bugged me was that the antagonist of that sequence was a kuru (Kuru kulla), a raptor who, like the pterosaurs on the "Coasts" episode, was based on incomplete, fragmentary specimens.
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The sequence with the tarchias (Tarchia, species unknown), is a refreshing detour from the previous sequence because we have a better idea as to what they would have looked like. And to see them slog around for an oasis is a second highlight (next to the Deccan nursery).
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This next scene has nothing new added from either "Time of the Titans" or "Alpha's Egg", in which a herd of baby sauropods gets picked on by larger predators on their way to the safety of the forest.
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The majority of the "Freshwater" sequences I feel fit better in "Swamps". The same unnamed pterosaurs from "Freshwater" have reappeared, this time trying to fly past an approaching population of alligators (Shamosuchus djadochtaensis).
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The next episode features a grizzly bear gathering of austroraptors (Austroraptor cabazai) hunting gar. It stands out as highly as it does because it shows a species of raptor that looks and acts differently from the usual velo or nych. Plus, we know many miles more about austroraptors than we do about Spinosaurus, so that is a relieving plus.
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The devil frog stands out in this episode, and to see a grumpy male try to fight off a herd of goavambe (Rapetosaurus krausei) is humorous. It also deviates from the usual picture of "the frog that eats dinosaurs".
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This next sequence I was very concerned the moment I saw it in the ads. Thanks to Jack Horner, the poorly-known family Pachycephalosauridae has been under very hot fire with the notion of bone sponginess being a taxonomically viable method of identification, which it really isn't because all amniotes have spongy bones in their teens. But very thankfully, this sequence does not resort to Hornerism. It shows that older males do get longer horns on the backs of their heads, not the other way around. Also, new evidence has shown that the domes may have been covered in shiny skin, so this has me asking--is the dome a boys-only trait? Could that dracorex (Pachycephalosaurus hogwartsia) skull that I saw at the Black Hills Museum just be a girl entering her sweet 16 when she died? Could those stygimoloch (Pachycephalosaurus spinifer) skulls just be those of high school footballers?
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"Swamps" ended on a high note with a couple of t-rexes hunting an anatotitan (Edmontosaurus annectens) in the dark. One just walks to the duckbill, and the animal, in its panic, goes right in the direction of the other t-rex in hiding. This perfectly reflects the current understanding that t-rexes exchanged fast running for better walking. Now can we see some duckbills fighting back, please?
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On May 26, The Little Mermaid came out in theaters. A day earlier, "Oceans" came out. If I were to choose, I'd stick to the latter, simply because we're treated to fresh new stories with a wider variety of mosasaurs and ammonites than any of the Walking with programs ever did. The scene with the hesperorns chasing bait fish only to have themselves be chased by bulldog fish (Xiphactinus) is a classic, but a good one. However, "X-fish"? What's wrong with "bulldog fish"? But the highlight, no doubt, is the final sequence, in which a Hoffmann's mosasaur killed a juvenile plesiosaur simply by ramming it great white style.
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"Freshwater" was weak due to being sorely unfocused. "North America", by contrast, is even weaker for being too rushed. Also, the "scars make the man" narrative with the trikes bugs me the most. What justification is there for that?
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This has been a very exhaustive review of Prehistoric Planet, and it's way too early for me to worry about a season 3 coming out, if there is going to be one.

I have several Play:1 speakers, a pair of One SL, and a Connect:amp for outdoor speakers. I like to play background music so I typically set the volume(s) on the app, then do other things on my phone or iPad (play games, watch videos, sometimes even call people). For the past several months, whenever I adjust the phone or iPad volume, it also changes the speaker volume. This never used to happen. Can anyone tell me how to fix this?

What's happening?

API Pricing Changes
Reddit recently announced major pricing changes to their API, which is the software interface that all major 3rd party applications and bots rely upon to function. These pricing changes are so extreme that all major apps will be forced to cease operating as they cannot bear the costs. As an example, the developer of Apollo revealed they would be forced to pay reddit upwards of $20 million USD/year just to continue operating under the new pricing scheme.
The consensus from the developers behind these apps is that reddit is trying to price them out of existence in order to force users to switch to the official reddit mobile app. Not only will they be forced to pay ridiculous sums (which they cannot cover) to maintain access to the API, changes to the ToS also prohibit these apps from using ad revenue to offset the new costs.
You can find some of their statements below:

• Apollo
• Reddit is Fun
• Relay
• Narwhal
• BaconReader
• Sync

NSFW & Mature Content
In addition to restricting API access behind a ludicrous pricing scheme, reddit is also planning on severely restricting 3rd party applications' access to NSFW/mature content. This will not only make the job of moderating NSFW communities significantly harder for humans, but also largely cripple 3rd party moderation bots that rely on being able to view NSFW content across multiple subreddits. Without the functions these bots provide, reddit is creating massive vulnerabilities in the areas of anti-spam and user safety.
As an example, some communities which focus on serving underage users may use 3rd party bots to automatically detect and remove accounts with a history of posting NSFW/mature content. Additionally there are other 3rd party bots that use comment history to proactively seek out and remove NSFW spam or even help detect and remove possible revenge porn or other illegal content.

How will this affect me?

Any users who rely on 3rd party applications (like those above) to browse reddit will find that the apps will cease to function after July 1st, when the pricing change goes into effect.
In addition, NSFW communities will likely see a large uptick in spam and potentially illegal/harmful content. It's possible that many of these communities will be forced to close if the human moderators responsible for them feel they can no longer keep their community safe without the proper tools these bots and 3rd party apps provide. Ordinarily the average user never sees it but inlineskating does deal with lots of NSFW spam, so these changes could have major unforeseen ramifications for moderation across the entire site.
While it has never been explicitly stated by reddit, there is also a large concern that this move to consolidate mobile users to the official app could be a sign that they are planning to fully deprecate the old version of their desktop site (old.reddit.com) in order to consolidate users on the redesign as well.

What can we do to stop this?

Moderators from hundreds of communities across reddit have drafted and signed an open letter to reddit, asking them to reconsider the pricing scheme and to recognize the role that 3rd party apps have played in reddit's ongoing success. You can read the open letter here:
/ModCoord: An open letter on the state of affairs regarding the API pricing and third party apps and how that will impact moderators and communities.
If you'd like even more information, YouTube channel Snazzy Labs hosted an in-depth 48min discussion about reddit's upcoming changes to their API pricing with Christian Selig, the developer of the 3rd party iOS app Apollo.

It consisted of different people with different mental health diagnoses living in a residential setting with 24-hour supervision. I was assigned to an all-female house. They try to keep all genders together.
One day my supervisor calls me to pick up a shift at a different house that I never worked at before. She didn’t tell me many details just the hours and address. And adds it should be easy. It was an overnight shift.
When I arrive I am surprised and a little mad because it was all men. Three of them. I am not used to working with men and I will be all alone with them for 10 hours. The ratio was 3:1. So 3 clients and 1 staff.
A few hours into my shift two of the men go to bed. One stays up.
As I am in the other room which technically was the office but had no door. The awake man I will call Roger comes in. A man in his 50s. He wants to talk. Nothing particularly mundane causal stuff. At first, it didn’t bother me. It made the night go by faster when talking. His conversation starts to take a darker turn. He starts asking me personal questions. Like if I have a boyfriend. I am just telling him yes. I am thinking he will leave me alone but no. He becomes more intrusive with his questions. Starts asking about our sex. That’s when I tell him that he is being very inappropriate and I don’t appreciate it. I text my supervisor and tell her how I feel but of course, she’s not responding. It’s around 2 am at this point.
I keep changing rooms and I decided to act busy and thought he will go to bed soon. He follows me everywhere. He notices that I am not paying attention to him and it angers him. I pretend I am on my phone and he walks over and knocks it out of my hand hard. I am so mad. I tell him how that’s wrong and I am mad. I don’t want to make him mad because I am alone with an unstable man. I try to stay calm. Inside I am having so much anxiety and anger. I keep staring at my phone hoping for a response from my supervisor. I also keep watching the time. Every minute feels like an hour.
He starts asking me about my sex life again and That’s where I get more angry and I can tell he notices. His demeanor changes. He reaches for my phone laughing. He tries to act like everything is funny. I stand up and go to the porch. At this point, I am debating what to do. I call my supervisor and coworker and no one answered. Start thinking about calling the cops.
I go back in and he is just sitting watching tv. Starts to joke about how he just got out of a “local hospital “ for using “a machete “ on someone. Then jokes about how I am safe and tells me not to worry.
I start thinking about calling the cops again. But what are they going to do? He didn’t make any direct threats or anything illegal.
A few more hours go by and some more inappropriate stuff is being said and finally, my supervisor calls. I go outside and explain everything. She tries to downplay it but apologizes and says she will come in soon.
About a week goes by and I am at work at my main house. Roger calls the house phone I didn’t know it was him and I answer. He proceeds to tell me that he knows my address and tells me my actual address. I immediately tell my boss and she again acts like it was not a big deal. Tells me not to worry etc. I am freaking out cause I live alone.
More time goes by and I am half asleep one night and what I think is a dream is a man standing in my doorway arms stretched and I see him looking at me he goes peep in the spare room.
When I wake up I immediately remember that dream. I remember the exact details for example he had a green-striped polo shirt. A baseball hat. Grey shorts. I never had a dream where I remember those specifics. To add to the creepiness my kitchen door was slightly ajar that morning.
I can never prove or know for sure if that dream was him. I do know he tried to attack another woman with a machete a little over a year after that.
I think about it every once in a while if that was him in my room that night and if I could have been his victim.
I can only take a lesson from this. I will always trust my instinct and never let someone downplay my feelings.

I absolutely love this show and I was even intrigued by the jump fwd into the future and seeing the kids (especially the daughter) and how they turned out, etc.
However with the anticipation of seeing how everyone’s character got to the point that they did, the one I was mostly anticipating was seeing the events that lead to Midge and Susie’s eventual downfall…the show touched heavily on that and set up a storyline of the two of them having a major fallout and then when the finale concluded, it never gave any details on that…just two old friends trying to find time to watch shows together long distance.
So…what happened that made the two on non-speaking terms…what caused the major turmoil in their relationship. Did I miss something? If not, why tease this and then not provide details…the flash forward segments hinted to disdain between the two and then when the finale ended it didn’t touch on any of this, just left it as Midge and Susie obviously choosing the path of fame, fortune, career over family and love.
Too be honest I was hoping for a more of a redemption ending where Midge stopped neglecting her family and kids, too not be so selfish and self-centered and to value the people in her life over her career and fame.
In my opinion, she cemented herself as an extremely narcissistic, self-serving character, which is probably more realistic and believable.
Also…I would have love to see a cross-over of her and Don Draper from Mad Men meeting and interacting…

i’ve been homeless for 10 days. ive never felt so alone in my life. for the first couple days i slept outside and then my plugs friend let me stay with him for like 2 days. then i slept in a apartment complex. & now i’m sleeping in my plugs 2nd car which i’m rlly grateful for cause it gets so fucking cold at night even being in the apartment complex. my plug said i could stay with him until i get back on my feet a couple days ago. i’m supposed to be staying with him starting today but i don’t want to cause well i’m not gonna get into detail but basically he has a lotta baby mama drama & i don’t wanna be apart of it. i don’t wanna be put in a position where she’s tryna put her hands on me cause she’s just weird. so i’m just gonna stay in his car. he’s genuinely a good person. he’s not one of those guys who does something for u and expects something in return if yk what i mean.
2 days ago i met these kids on the bus and i jus started hanging out with them & we got drunk & smoked & had fun & it made me feel so good & alive bc i don’t have any friends and haven’t had any in a long time. and i never went out when i wasn’t homeless. but then at the end of the night i go to look in my bag and my 8grams of weed, $8, and vyvanse pills were gone. the vyvanse was for my binge eating disorder. i just started it and it was working rlly well then poof gone. haven’t been binging anyways tho cuz yk. yea it’s kinda my fault for getting my shit stole i shoulda been more cautious watching my stuff. i mean i thought i was. my bookbag was on me most of the time. but i guess i was too drunk to notice. or care. i’m not that upset because the weed was free, i could get a refill, & hey it’s $8 but it’s the fact like..i thought we were all having fun and they liked me & wanted to be my friend. & they know i’m homeless. they also took my deodorant which like wtf. it is kinda my fault tho i shoulda had my book bag on me 100% of the time. at least i had fun ig. for the first time in forever.
my mom lives in texas and me and her don’t talk. she doesn’t know. my dad gives me $ for food but he doesn’t rlly wanna do anything which i get because i did fuck up my stay in the room he was renting for me. and i’m 18 now so he’s not obligated to do shit. it still kinda sucks tho cause he has my clothes and all my other stuff and when i ask him for a outfit or sum he gets really angry and its like u don’t have to give me a place to stay or buy me things but u could at least bring me sum clothes or the things i need from my stuff when i ask. & it’s not like he’s busy 24/7. me and his relationship is down the drain now. when i get back on my feet i want him out my life not only for me but for him to because i’ve stressed him out a lot so it’s best for both of us. it’s just sad how our relationship has turned out. we used to be so close but ever since this year started we grew more n more distant. i don’t wanna get back close with him. at least for now. he’s done a lot to hurt me emotionally and i know i have too.
i had an interview at holiday inn a couple days ago. i think i did pretty good. the lady who interviewed me gave me her personal # and said if they don’t call me by mid day tomorrow to call her. i think i lost her phone # tho so fuck. i should’ve saved it right then & there. hopefully they call. i applied for the front desk night shift. i have insomnia so thought why not put it to good use.
i dropped out of high school. not officially but just stopped showing up after winter break so they unenrolled me. i got rlly depressed & burnt out and jus gave up. seniors graduated june 2. the day before they did rehearsals. i decided to jus go to the school. idk why. no i do. i wanted to feel normal again. i wanted to see kids speed walking in the hallways with their bookbags trying to get to class. i wanted to see kids at the lunch tables chat and laugh with eachother. i wanted to feel like i’m just a normal kid with a home like everyone else and i’m graduating and have friends and life’s been good. i wanted to get a taste of highschool one last time. there were teachers who saw me and i got a buncha “where’ve you been?” and “you just disappeared.” they also asked me if i changed schools or if i graduated and i made some bs excuse on how i did but it was online and that it was earlier then public schools. i shouldn’t of went there. i thought it was gonna make me feel good but it just made me feel worse. everyone’s all excited they’re graduating & hyped for the summer but i’m not and have nothing to be hyped for. it just reminded me that i’m a fucking homeless loser with no degree and no job and nothing going for myself & instead of going to school and pushing thru like everyone else i stayed in bed depressed smoking weed all day.
i hope i get this job. i need this one good thing to happen so i can start making money and get back on my feet . i’m trying to be positive but it gets really hard. i cry a lot. sometimes i wanna die. sometimes i imagine someone shooting me in the head & putting me out of my misery. but that’s not gonna happen. instead the days are gonna get longer and longer and harder and harder and i’m gonna have to deal with every bit of it all on my own.

All of March and April (literally - February 28th-April 30th,) I went on a YUGE Resident Evil binge, re-playing REmakes 2 and 3 leading up to the release of REmake 4, which was fantastic. OG 4 still might be better, but I couldn't have asked for a better remake. I was disappointed with the lack of Saddler and complete omission of U3/It, though. And of course Separate Ways is gonna be a DLC. Also re-played a bit of RE5 and 6, which I don't think are as bad as people say. RE6 isn't a complete catastrophe, but it is unquestionably the main series' lowest point. Also replayed RE7 and Village, getting all the Mr. Everywhere's and goats of warding. Bought REmake 1 for $5.40 on the PSN store.
Continuing my first EVAR playthrough of the Final Fantasy series, I'm on 9 right now. It's not bad, but definitely off to a slower start than 6 and 7. Hopefully it picks up soon. Going to play X and XVI afterwards, might get to X-2 at some other point.
Don't think I've ever seen anybody here mention the great HBO show "Barry" created by and starring Bill Hader, which ended last week. Dark but conclusive finale, and the fact that it was only 4 seasons assured it never overstayed its welcome.
Pretty much done with season 5 of Modern Family, which is very good - dare I say great? - so far.
Rewatching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Will cuck Smith. Timeless show. It's been 10 years in December since it happened but it still sucks knowing Uncle Phil is gone.
The Flash ended its 9 season run on the CW - which also concluded the network's Arrowverse - with one of the worst final seasons of any show I've ever watched. That being said, I would like to see Grant Gustin replace that lunatic Ezra Miller in the new DC universe.
Watched the Ant-Man Trilogy over the weekend. The first was better than I remember and the best of the 3. Wasp was decent and about the same as I remember. Watched Quantumania for the first time and it was a slogging, rather dull mess apart from Kang.
Also watched Evil Dead Rise. It was decent enough, but I don't get why this series has such a huge cult following.
Listened to the Foo Fighters' new album "But Here We Are." Absolute banger, and not at all what I was expecting from them after the death of Taylor Hawkins. Metallica's new album "72 Seasons," on the other hand, was ass, so I'll see how it ages over time, and I'm also not one of those people that think Metallica hasn't been good since 1989 or whatever that stupid shit is.