This is going to be one of my more serious, long posts, so strap in, as they say (though I cannot possibly detail out everything you might need to know. That would require at least three posts). To quote -- and set the stage through -- Dostoevsky (from Notes from Underground):
'Is it [history] many-coloured? May be it is many-coloured, too: if one takes the dress uniforms, military and civilian, of all peoples in all ages--that alone is worth something, and if you take the undress uniforms you will never get to the end of it; no historian would be equal to the job. Is it monotonous? May be it's monotonous too: it's fighting and fighting; they are fighting now, they fought first and they fought last--you will admit, that it is almost too monotonous.
In short, one may say anything about the history of the world--anything that might enter the most disordered imagination. The only thing one can't say is that it's rational. The very word sticks in one's throat. And, indeed, this is the odd thing that is continually happening: there are continually turning up in life moral and rational persons, sages and lovers of humanity who make it their object to live all their lives as morally and rationally as possible, to be, so to speak, a light to their neighbours simply in order to show them that it is possible to live morally and rationally in this world. And yet we all know that those very people sooner or later have been false to themselves, playing some queer trick, often a most unseemly one.
Now I ask you: what can be expected of man since he is a being endowed with strange qualities? Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in a sea of happiness, so that nothing but bubbles of bliss can be seen on the surface; give him economic prosperity, such that he should have nothing else to do but sleep, eat cakes and busy himself with the continuation of his species, and even then out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man would play you some nasty trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element. It is just his fantastic dreams, his vulgar folly that he will desire to retain, simply in order to prove to himself--as though that were so necessary--that men still are men and not the keys of a piano, which the laws of nature threaten to control so completely that soon one will be able to desire nothing but by the calendar.'
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I would only add that he was rather harsh on the soldier and his general. Many-coloured, is he! The eternal shine of the ten million blades, the wooden hilt; the forgotten hammer, the ships of our forefathers. Ah! Such a pity to see nought in it but blood and sand -- now, that is monotonous. If man is to mean anything at all, it must be finding some honour in life... and death. War, it must be known, is the great stage-play of time. Surely, then, the warrior is the greatest (male) part to play? Otherwise, it's all for nought!
If you're going to, as the author, gift your setting a military and its honour, you have to actually put yourself inside the mind of the general, the trooper, the law-maker, the wife at home, the child in the street; otherwise, it's going to be a hollowed-out system, a mere mote. It does not matter to me if you believe in war or not, or if all war is just (certainly, it's not): what matters is that you do your setting and peoples justice, regardless of what they may find themselves. After all, this is your job as the writer, as the artist. It's your job to let your characters and their stories free, and follow them, as to see where they may lead.
I'm not even going to dig into the elements at play, such as brotherhood, inter-national conflict resolution, national defence, social structure, and physical fitness. These elements ought to be known to you all: they are some of the clear benefits to warfare and boot camp/training, in general. I have not yet found a defeatist army, for example -- or yet a nation without some kind of guarder force, vast or not. (Note: there are some claims that actual warfare did not exist until around 9,000 BC, but I find this very difficult to believe, and have seen some counter-evidence. For example, Jane Goodall and de Waal find that chimps go to war (raiding parties, sometimes wiping out entire tribes); and there are strong indications that pre-historic human tribes were war-driven, just on smaller scales, and often using wooden weapons (thus, no direct evidence is found). We know that modern hunting (and fire-making, and related matters) existed at least 1.5-2 million years ago, according to the books I own and more recent research. That's the entire history of humanity, ultimately. There is no way these spears and slings were not used against man.)
Well, a big part of space opera is, indeed, warfare (typically in relation to defence of the Good [nation] and psychomachy). Anyway, without further ado, I give to you...
Part One: A Brief History of Battles, Great and Small
Let's begin with Alexander the Great, because why not (though I could have started with Sargon of Akkad many years prior). Alexander's army was a powerful, fast-moving, and relatively small force of 40,000 men (equal to a Napoleonic corps or so). Often credited with inventing genius 'shock' tactics (the so-called hammer and anvil tactic) to overwhelm equally-sized forces. He even managed to break up, and then defeat, the vast Persian army under King Darius III (around 1500,000 strong). Alexander the Great's army is as close to the cinematic glory of 300 (2006) as you're likely to find. Soon after, Alexander was crowned King of Asia in a lavish ceremony.
Moving forward a few hundred years, at its peak, the Roman military possibly had over 500,000 soldiers across its regions (around 0.5% of citizens -- which is a fairly reliable standard across history) by 306 AD during the reign of Constantine I. Compare this to the Roman conquest of Britain under Plautius, with just a 40,000-man force (four legions and 20,000 auxiliary troops, including Thracians) in 43 AD. (It's also worth mentioning, if you're in a long-term space war, individual companies, legions, or otherwise could stay outfitted for as long as 500 years at a time without issue. The Roman Legion, Legio IX Hispana, for example, existed for at least 150 years, and led the conquest of Britain. And, within the Warhammer 40,000 universes, a single Space Marine sees battle for about 400 years before he's KIA (killed in action).)
During the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, each side only had upwards of 5,000-8,000 men (around 15,000 in total). This was actually a common trend, from what I found: equally common was the notion of 'law of war' and related, which meant that each side wanted to be roughly equal to the other side. This is one of the most profound discoveries of my life (more on this later). (The Japanese invasion of China, for example, taught me that having too much control over your enemy leads to madness -- there must be an innate drive to some sense of honour, fair challenge in war-making. When men are without equals, they become titans, as it were. And, if you know anything about some of the Greek titans: they were not very friendly or sane.)
Around this time (960-1279 AD), the Song Dynasty of China had a remarkable standing army of over two million men, and made use of tank-like carts and newly-invented 'grandes' (known as 'thunder crash bombs'). However, this was financially exhausting, but it was sometimes capable of fighting against invading Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols, largely thanks to the great iron industry. Individual battles, however, were quite small.
By the time of the First Italian War (1494 AD), Europe was really starting to take its modern shape, and there were hundreds of what are ultimately power struggle wars and rebellions across Europe as we moved out of the Middle Ages. This was the opening phase of the Italian Wars, which existed between 1494 and 1559 AD. The Battle of Marignano was the last major engagement of the War of the League of Cambrai (aka the wars between 1508 and 1516 AD, within the Italian Wars. The main participants were the French, Papal States, and Republic of Venice) and took place in 1515 AD, southeast of Milan. The Battle of Marignano pitted the French army, led by Francis I and the best heavy cavalry and artillery in Europe, against the Old Swiss Confederacy (within the Holy Roman Empire -- this was the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland), whose mercenaries until that point were regarded as the best medieval infantry force in Europe. The French had German landsknechts (mercenaries famed for pike and shot formations) on their side. The French won and suffered just half the losses, and did so with a fairly stronger force -- possibly 35,000 men compared to 22,000 on the Swiss side. This led to the Treaty of Fribourg, which established the 'Perpetual Peace', and ensured good relations between the two nations for nearly 200 years. This event is largely what led to Switzerland's world-famous diplomatic autonomy and militaristic neutrality. Nonetheless, this battle -- and countless others at the time -- saw similar numbers to centuries past: roughly 20,000 on each side.
Part Two: An Introduction to Military Divisions & the Numbering System
Enter Maurice de Saxe circa 1710 AD, whom you can thank, at least in part, for the modern military system, largely due to the major increase in soldiers by the 18th century, and his advanced thinking in response. A major battle felt by a young de Saxe was the Battle of Malplaquet during the War of the Spanish Succession. Battles pressed on in this manner, and at some point, de Saxe began to write about it. He wrote Mes Reveries, a profound work on the art of war, which was published after his death in 1757 AD.
He had the grand idea of reshaping the regiment system into large 'legions' (modern divisions), so that the effective officers were not wasted on smaller, single regiments. These divisions would consist of four regiments and would have a more even mix of veteran soldiers and new recruits, as well. On top of this, he -- along with some other key theorists at the time -- had the idea of simply numbering the divisions and regiments, replacing the traditional system of naming them by their commanders or by locations/regions: because that's a very temporary, rigid system that only works for small, tight-knit groups. The divisional system also allowed soldiers to climb the ranks, and effectively learn from the veterans.
The regimental system shatters command structure and weakens mobility, despite the fact you have smaller, often lighter units. Too many small, separate, disorganised units is highly ineffective when you're dealing with large armies, and quite an advanced enemy (be it the British or Prussians, in this case). What de Saxe noticed was a failing system of rigid tradition. He also hated this sort of grenadier mentality of the 17th and 18th centuries, as it displaced all the strongest and most experienced soldiers. Of course, de Saxe was not against the existence of grenadiers: the strongest soldiers, leading the assaults, such as storming fortifications. He simply wanted to evenly spread them out across all the regiments, and legions, so that every single unit was an effective tool. (This grenadier concept actually survives to this day, as a grenade launcher specialist of a typical four-man fireteam (traditionally, sharing much in common with WWII-era shock troops), and you see it all the time in movies, where he is still typically the biggest, strongest of the team.)
Battles were increasingly crossing the 100,000 mark in terms of soldier count; whereas, not long ago (that is, around 1650 AD), the numbers were more likely in the range of 20,000 for most battles, other than a few outliers.
Then, de Saxe died before he had the opportunity to actually implement his system, though the Duke de Broglie led some successful experiments with it during the Seven Years War, but it took until the French Revolution for the 'division' concept to be enforced, systematically. This ultimately fell at the hands of the French Revolutionary Army.
Enter Lazare Carnot. Like de Saxe, Carnot saw that some regiments were full of veterans, whilst others -- namely, the new revolutionary brigades -- were filled with barely-trained recruits. And, like de Saxe, his solution was to separate out the veterans and embed them within these new brigades. More importantly, he embraced de Saxe's idea of the 'division'. The new demi-brigades (regiments, as the Revolutionary Government hated and removed the term regiment) would be combined into brigades, and brigades would be combined into divisions. Later, under Napoleon, divisions themselves were combined into corps (which is and has always been the highest level of operational units for actual combat, with all units larger than corps being purely administrative, with a clear exception being Napoleon's Armee (i.e. modern field army), and a few other, smaller army groups).
This wonderfully created an intermediate level of control between the general and the brigade commanders. The Revolutionary Army became at once an army of mass and mobility. This allowed the army to move faster and more decisively than their enemies, who were still commanding at regiment or brigade level.
Full implementation of the divisional system was not realised until the French Revolutionary Government, in their centralising and anti-aristocratic ways, when they decided to entirely remove the old system of naming regiments after their commanders. They saw all of this as part of the 'ancien regime' (i.e. 'the System' or 'old system', language also used by Hitler in relation to what he called the 'Weimar Republic'. Not uncommon language from any new system). The second factor at play was that the French Revolutionary Government also didn't like the idea of merely naming regiments after regions of France. The final factor was scale: the Army was larger than ever, which made it very difficult to give specific names.
As a result, the Government began numbering their units by the late-1700s. Although the Roman legions themselves had been numbered, and de Saxe argued for it many years prior, some scholars believe that this was purely an administrative decision. (Obviously, your naming convention can be more on the religious/traditional or seculamodern side, depending on just how the entire system is set up. Warhammer 40,000 is a good example of a more Roman-inspired system, despite its far-future nature, so it's not uncommon to find very traditional, religious naming conventions within Warhammer 40,000, coupled with simple, administrative systems. And, again: Nazi Germany and other 20th-century powers, such as America and England, also shifted towards numbered and/or lettered systems for pretty much everything. Not shockingly, this is heavily featured in sci-fi, as well.)
Part Three: Napoleon & the Birth of Modern War:
Although the concepts of the 'corps' and 'battalion carre' (that is, four corps) existed, they were also not implemented until the time of Napoleon in the early-1800s. He began grouping divisions into corps, making the largest units in history -- equal to entire armies of older periods (three divisions and some cavalry regiments, for upwards of 30,000 men). He commanded dozens of these corps (I think, around 20 of them for his Grande Armee when he invaded Russia in 1812 AD -- or, 500,000-600,000 men, equal to the entire core Roman military at the height of its power).
Napoleon's genius -- despite his supreme failure to invade Russia -- was ensuring that these corps were typically independent fighting units. This meant they were self-sufficient armies unto themselves. This allowed for a vast force, without the whole system becoming sluggish and disorganised. Of course, as with Alexander the Great before him, this ultimately led to major decentralization and failure once the leader is defeated; thus, without a singular ruler, and without endless success, the entire system breaks down (unless there is something else binding them).
Nonetheless, by now, all the European powers had adopted the divisional system. The first British divisions were established by Arthur Wellesley in 1809 AD, for example. The Napoleonic corps system then became standardised, as well.
On the other hand -- and other side of the world -- the U.S. had its own 'legion', wholly separate from the European divisional evolution. They were independent units for the western wilderness, not sub-elements of a larger army. The U.S. finally adopted a more European system by WWI, however. (Mostly because the U.S. was simply not a large enough force yet, though it did have some major battles and unit examples.)
Regardless, the primary building block for all was still the regiment or division. This remained true through WWII and beyond.
Part Four: The Four Spatial Forms of Sci-fi
I shall skip modern history, because it's -- shockingly -- not much different to older history. This further tells me that there are some universal themes and elements to warfare, unless something changes beyond measure. As of 2023 AD, the basic building block of most armies is still the regiment or division, and 'shock' tactics, of smaller units are back in style, and have been since the 1960s or so. (I do have a few things to say about WWI and beyond, but I cannot fit it in this post, and it's not required reading.)
Technically, there is a fifth: space warfare proper (an admixture). But, we shall simply focus on the four primary. I use the term 'spatial forms' because I don't know a better term. See below.

• Space as an ocean (navy propeoceanic)
• Spaceships as submarines (navy/subaquatic)
• Spaceships as tanks (army/ground)
• Space as air with less stuff (air force/air)

You find, and should focus on, one of these as the primary mode (at least). This is true in most combative and non-combative contexts. All are workable and interesting, and have some notable examples, mostly in film/TV and novels. There is much psychology connected to each, and some innate differences to consider; and you have to think about such in relation to your nation/culture, as well, and their pre-spacefaring history.
An interesting, real-world example is America's Space Force. This is fundamentally army-and-naval driven (i.e. Marines), despite its primary air force-like nature in simple terms of the vessels and how it would function in a war. This is evidenced by the fact its ranking system and such is built around the Marine Corps. I guess, that means, going with American Marines (a complex admixture of both soldier and sailor) is not such a bad idea in sci-fi. We all know this is a decent idea, anyway, and it's seen heavily in sci-fi since the 1940s (hence, the term 'space marine'). Other marine forces are fairly in line with this, as well. The typical route here is space as an ocean. The ships are merely carrying the marines to their location (planet or otherwise). You see this with Star Wars' Stormtroopers (though I did not mention such above, I shall now: this stems from late-WWI when Germany created new advanced tactics for storming British trenches. But, most of all, it speaks to Hitler's Stormtroopers, fused with some kind of space marine position; thus, we end up with Lucas' forgetting Stormtrooper force). (Of course, the Rebels of Star Wars and the Empire's TIE Fighters go with the space as air with less stuff trope. And, there is a general sense of both army and navy from the Empire. You rarely get the 'submarine feel', in this case.)
Star Trek (at least, the original) takes the spaceships as submarines trope much of the time (other than the fact, their ships are far too wasteful, volume-wise -- but that's mostly for filming purposes, so I can accept it). I actually love this mode (though I don't care for Star Trek's version so much).
Battlestar Galactica (new series), among others, seems to take a mixed view.
Which form or mode you run with, primarily, really depends upon the exact setting, culture, story, theme, and style you're going with. I suggest figuring out which you want/which fits best, and then trying to stick to that singular vision as much as possible. To get ideas, you can research as much as possible -- both real science/history and fiction.

🔥 Join GEEKYSZN Clan in Clash of Clans! #2GQP9YYPV 🔥
Greetings, fellow Clashers! Are you ready to take your Clash of Clans experience to the next level? Look no further because the GEEKYSZN Clan is recruiting talented and dedicated players like you! Join our ranks and embark on an epic gaming journey filled with fun, strategy, and triumph!
🛡️ Clan Name: GEEKYSZN
🌍 Clan Location: CANADA
🔥 Clan Tag: #2GQP9YYPV
🔷 What Makes GEEKYSZN Clan Special? 🔷
1️⃣ Active and Friendly Community: Our clan is home to a vibrant community of Clashers who share a passion for the game. We love to chat, share strategies, and support each other on our quests for victory.
2️⃣ Clan Wars: We thrive in the heat of battle! Participate in regular Clan Wars alongside skilled teammates, where we strategize, attack together, and earn glorious victories. Together, we'll conquer our opponents and collect those well-deserved rewards!
3️⃣ Clan Games: Completing Clan Games is a breeze when you're part of GEEKYSZN! We rally together to achieve impressive point goals and unlock those enticing rewards. No challenge is too big for our united forces!
4️⃣ Donations and Support: Need troops for an upcoming raid? Our clan members are always eager to lend a hand. Generous donations flow freely within GEEKYSZN, ensuring you never have to go into battle alone.
5️⃣ Continuous Growth: We believe in evolving and getting better with each passing day. We provide valuable feedback, share attack strategies, and help each other improve our bases to stay ahead in the game.

HELLO FELLOW TENNO!
JOIN rG Affinity!
Tenno, if you are looking for a community to trade, explore, learn and grow with... come fight with us! We are an age 17+ gaming community with presence on XBOX and also plan to support PC and Playstation once crossplay is fully implemented!
At Affinity Battalion in rG (Rapture Gaming), we have a mix of veteran players and players just learning the game. Our storm clan dojo has all research done, and we are looking to expand our Warframe membership through recruiting new members.
We host dedicated game nights for our members to group up, explore the Sol System, make a fortune and grind those Mastery Ranks. Our veteran players are available to assist you with Star Chart, Void Fissures, Eidolon Captures, Archon Hunts, Steel Path, and advice on Warframe builds for whatever actions you have in mind. On top of that we have an active discord server for help, builds, or general advice. The discord also has battalions for many other games too (destiny, cod, apex, overwatch, and many more).
Our members are primarily based out of the US and UK, so you can usually find other members on during a wide range of times!
*Note: We are an active and social community. If you don’t plan to play at least once every 14 days and engage in chats on occasion with other members of the community on the discord, then this may not be the best fit for you.
Feel free to DM for more information, or if you think you’re ready, follow the discord link and instructions below.
https://discord.gg/7qCW9SgsVf
Type !accept in #welcome. Then in #battalion-request, click the controller or pc icon. Then just type !affinity and you’ll just have to wait for an admin to reach out and you’ll be good to go!

🚨 LOOKING FOR NEW MEMBERS 🚨
Clan Name: Broke N Stoopid
Clan Tag: #2QPCYL98G
Clan level: 6
CWL Rank: Gold Rank 1
My Discord Name: LordVader716#8971
We are a somewhat new clan recruiting hard working players! Looking for people to participate in CWL and clan games! Some of us have been around for a while and some new players!
We are for the most part a relaxed clan. We like to have fun and we understand people have lives outside of the game.
Some rules we already have in place * Clan Games is ALWAYS REQUIRED * 18+ Clan * We are a group of people that like to be in war! So if your opt into war make sure to do attacks * Discord add me when you wanna apply username is up top
We welcome farmers and trophy pushers! Elder is EARNED. Elder goes based off being active and donating. All elders and co leader positions are up for discussion between leaders.
Let’s build this clan TOGETHER! And enjoy the game!

Hey everyone! I am a Co-Founder for a newly formed media outlet called College Football Dawgs which officially launches on June 10th.
This is a fan-run sports media site, and our mission is to let the fans have control. 247 Sports, On3, and other media outlets are run by ex-university officials and talking heads. Here at CFBDawgs, we are police officers, veterans, teachers, soccer moms, political junkies, grammar teachers, real estate agents, construction workers, and River pilots. And we all have one thing in common: We love college football!
The website will feature news articles, opinion articles, podcast episodes, and videos which will then be shared on social media. We have a 24/7 on-call graphic designer that will make a graphic within 1 hour, 7 days a week.
We currently have over 70 insiders covering nearly 50 schools. Although this is a great start, we are still looking to add college football insiders that would be open to covering a school, at any level. Covering a school entails writing articles for the website, making guest appearances on the podcast, and creating a rapport with the school, coaching staff, recruits, and other media in the area. As you can probably understand we are a start-up, so we aren't paying anyone at the moment (but it is in our future!). We are currently completely volunteer with the hopes that this venture takes off and we will be able to pay our insiders. However, the "incentive" for joining now would be getting media passes to games, representing CFBDawgs at practices, etc. We are going to have an ex-NCAA official train our insiders in July before we send them out to represent us on the ground as credentialed members of the press.
We are in the process of planning our first podcast show which will air live on Tuesday, June 13th. Following that, our podcast will air weekly on Monday evening. During the CFB Season, we will have a live broadcast every Saturday morning from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where you will get a chance to hear live reports from our insiders attending games all across the nation. We already have several FBS coaches and players committed to make guest appearances on the podcast this summer. A reservation has also been placed for space in Houston to do a live show from outside the CFP National Championship game, and we are working on reserving a space in Frisco to do a live show for the FCS National Championship.
There are plans in place to start covering Division II and III football in future years, along with high school football, fantasy football, and football betting.
In terms of our motivation behind this, we are just two guys who love everything college football and wanted to provide a space for CFB fans that was run by CFB fans.
If you have made it this far and are interested in becoming an insider or would like to learn more, feel free to send me a private message.

Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
I’m not sure how many people know this, but South Florida is still one of the newest programs in football, having played their first season in 1997. They quickly moved up to Division 1 in 2000, and have enjoyed solid results until the program tanked under Charlie Strong and Jeff Scott recently.

Best Seasons and Highlights

1. 2007: 18. South Florida: 9-4 (21.403) 2. 2016: 18. South Florida: 11-2 (20.264) 3. 2002: 23. South Florida: 9-2 (18.097) 4. 2017: 27. South Florida: 11-2 (14.048) 5. 2006: 31. South Florida: 9-4 (11.641) 6. 2008: 41. South Florida: 8-5 (5.130) 7. 2009: 45. South Florida: 8-5 (3.687) 8. 2001: 44. South Florida: 8-3 (2.101) 9. 2010: 45. South Florida: 8-5 (1.096) 10. 2015: 56. South Florida: 8-5 (-0.167) 11. 2003: 53. South Florida: 7-4 (-2.213) 12. 2005: 44. South Florida: 6-6 (-2.247) 13. 2011: 71. South Florida: 5-7 (-11.987) 14. 2018: 86. South Florida: 7-6 (-16.665) 15. 2000: 73. South Florida: 7-4 (-19.194) 16. 2004: 88. South Florida: 4-7 (-30.918) 17. 2019: 106. South Florida: 4-8 (-32.112) 18. 2014: 100. South Florida: 4-8 (-33.728) 19. 2012: 102. South Florida: 3-9 (-37.577) 20. 2013: 110. South Florida: 2-10 (-48.131) 21. 2021: 121. South Florida: 2-10 (-50.018) 22. 2020: 126. South Florida: 1-8 (-50.872) 23. 2022: 130. South Florida: 1-11 (-59.645) Overall Score: 8403 (88th) 

• 142-135 record
• 0 conference titles
• 6-4 bowl record
• 2 consensus All-Americans
• 30 NFL players drafted

It’s actually pretty amazing that South Florida has a winning record in the FBS. They’ve gone just 8-37 over the last 4 years (134-98 if we don’t include them). Nearly 50% of their seasons have had 8 or more wins, and they produce about 3 NFL players every 2 years. Very solid program who’s having a rough patch, but could return to sleeping giant status soon. Notable NFL players include Jason Pierre-Paul, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Marlon Mack. Consensus All-Americans were DL George Selvie in 2007 and all-purpose Brian Battie in 2021, who returned 3 kicks for TDs, on just 20 returns.

Top 5 Seasons

Worst Season: 2022 (1-11 overall, 0-8 American)
Man, they’ve fallen far. On the bright side, they can’t fall much further than this. Head coach Jeff Scott was in his 3rd season, and ended up going just 4-26 in his (almost) 3 years with the Bulls. It wasn’t totally his fault, he had to clean up the mess Charlie Strong left behind, and while there were signs of improvements, but they weren’t winning close games, usually an indicator of poor coaching. USF lost 28-31 to #18 Florida, 24-28 to #24 Cincinnati, and 39-46 to #22 UCF, so it wasn’t like the Bulls were totally destitute. Former Baylor QB Gerry Bohanon, who led the Bears to a 12-2 record in 2021, started the first 7 games, throwing for 1070 yards 6 TD 6 INT with 386 rushing yards and 3 TD on 6.4 YPC. Backup Byrum Brown flashed potential, throwing for 5 TD 1 INT with 5.8 YPC on the ground. This team didn’t win a game against an FBS opponent, as they beat Howard 42-20. They were the 2nd worst defense in the nation giving up 41.2 PPG, but scored a respectable 28.0 PPG.
5. 2006 (9-4 overall, 4-3 Big East)
Remember QB Matt Grothe? That’s a throwback name. The freshman QB took over in 2006, in USF’s 2nd year in the Big East. USF played fine throughout the year, the season going about as expected after a 7-4 start. A game at #7 West Virginia to play Pat White and Steve Slaton seemed like a guaranteed loss, but at least USF was going bowling. On the contrary, the Bulls shut down the WVU spread offense, winning 24-19 in a huge upset. This would start a few years where the Bulls consistently terrorized West Virginia, beating them 3 times over the next 4 years. USF dominated the bowl as well, beating East Carolina 24-7. The season was an announcement that the Bulls were coming, with a young talented QB, plenty of potential being in a BCS AQ conference, and being located right in the middle of a recruiting hotbed. Grothe completed 64% of passes for 2576 yards 15 TD 14 INT, and ran for another 622 and 9 TD. The defense was very good as well, giving up just 16.9 PPG. Momentum was building for 2007.
4. 2017 (10-2 overall, 6-2 American)
When the Big East broke up in 2013, USF ended up in the American, a non-Power 5 conference. They made the most of it, at least initially. 2017 USF entered the year at #19, coming off an 11-2 year, and looked to compete for a New Years 6 bowl with new coach Charlie Strong. This team featured senior QB Quinton Flowers, arguably the most electric player in college football. But despite all the talent and expectations—the team’s performance on the field was underwhelming. They started 7-0, but only moved up 2 spots to #17 because of their play. In week 2 they were tied 17-17 with Stony Brook in the 4th quarter, and beat up on mostly weaker competition, with their toughest opponent having been Temple. They did get their first ever win over a Big Ten school though, beating Illinois 47-23. With a 34-28 win over Tulane, USF set the AP era record for most consecutive 30+ point games, with 24 straight, beating 2011-12 Oregon. Fast forward to the end of the season and USF was 9-1 and #22, facing #13 UCF in the War on I-4. Despite everyone overlooking USF (9.5 point underdogs), Quinton Flowers did EVERYTHING he could, throwing for 500+ yards and rushing for 100+ yards and 5 total TD. Still, UCF won 49-42 on a last minute kickoff return TD. USF still finished the year with a respectable 38-34 win over Texas Tech to finish 10-2 and #21 in the AP Poll.
Flowers threw for 2911 yards 25 TD 6 INT, with 1078 rushing yards and 11 TD on 5.5 YPC. He finished his career as USF’s all time leader in total yardage (11,796). There was talent around him as well—RBs Darius Tice and future NFLer D’Ernest Johnson split time, combining for 1739 rushing yards and 18 TD. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was the leading receiver with 879 receiving yards as well as 108 rushing yards.
3. 2002 (9-2 overall, Independent)
This was USF’s 2nd full year in the FBS, and they definitely came ready to play. They opened with 30+ point wins over both FAU and NIU. After getting blown out by Arkansas, they held #2 Oklahoma to just 239 yards in a 14-31 loss, maybe the Bulls’ most impressive defensive performance of the season. They wouldn’t lose a game afterwards, winning one-possession games against North Texas, Southern Miss, and Memphis. Despite a 9-2 record with wins over Urban Meyer’s 9-3 record Bowling Green, Sun Belt champion North Texas, and one of the top C-USA teams in Southern Miss, USF was not selected for a bowl because of their Independent status. Pretty insane, as I had them as the 23rd best team that year. QB Marquel Blackwell had a great senior season, throwing for 2590 yards 18 TD with just 3 INT, and ran for 5 more TD. The defense gave up just 18.5 PPG and featured future NFL players LB Kawika Mitchell (2nd round pick), DE Shurron Pierson (4th round), and DB J.R. Reed (4th round).
2. 2016 (11-2 overall, 7-1 American)
QB Quinton Flowers and coach Willie Taggart announced themselves to a national audience in 2016. Picked to win the AAC East, USF came in with offensive firepower, beating Syracuse 45-20 in week 3 and losing 35-55 to #13 Florida State a week later. An 11-2 season included wins over #22 Navy, 8-5 Memphis, and South Carolina in the bowl. USF had the best Group of 5 offense in the country, averaging 43.8 PPG with a stacked backfield of Flowers and RBs Marlon Mack and D’Ernest Johnson. Flowers won AAC POTY, throwing for 2812 yards 24 TD 7 INT, with 1530 rushing yards and 18 TD on 7.7 YPC!! Mack put up a 1st Team All-AAC season, rushing for 1187 yards and 15 TD on 6.8 YPC, while Johnson added 836 yards and 13 TD from scrimmage. Even the receiver room was stacked, with future NFL draft picks Rodney Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Taggart turned the great season into a job at Oregon, and the rest is history.
1. 2007 (9-4 overall, 4-3 Big East)
Every die-hard college football fan knows the 2007 Bulls. In just their 11th year of existence, they were #2 in the country. In fact, 5 of the 6 computers that made up the BCS ranking had USF at #1. So how did it happen? People thought USF would be good heading into 2007, but not this good. After beating Elon in week 1, they headed to Auburn to face the 17th-ranked Tigers. LB Ben Moffitt recalled the experience and how USF wasn’t perceived as a threat to fans: “It’s a weird experience. You ride the bus in, and they’re all waving at ya, and they’re all, ‘Good luck, good luck.’ I was like this is different, but OK.” Later in the night, down 20-23 in OT, QB Matt Grothe fired a game winning TD on 2nd and 9 to walk out of Jordan-Hare with one of the upsets of the season thus far. Now ranked #23, USF disposed of another Power 6 school in North Carolina, 37-10. That set up a home game against #5 West Virginia, with the Mountaineers looking to get revenge for last year on their way to a national title. Media members recall the crowd being so loud that night that the ground shook underneath their feet, in a 21-13 USF upset victory, to beat a top 10 Mountaineer team for the second straight season.
Suddenly, USF was thrust near the top with college football royalty, moving 12 spots up to #6. After spanking weaker opponents FAU and UCF, they had made it all the way to #2. In the country. A frusturating Thursday night game against Rutgers saw the Bulls squander a 7 point lead toward the end of the 1st half, and commit 10 penalties in a 27-30 loss. USF would fall off a cliff afterwards, losing consecutive games to UConn and Cincinnati to fall out of the Top 25. They finished strong though, averaging 48 PPG in their last 3 wins against Syracuse, Louisville, and Pitt to finish 9-3. There were rumors that the USF players were hungover for the Sun Bowl against Oregon, but the rumors turned out to be unfounded, the truth lying in the talent of first year Oregon OC Chip Kelly, who changed up his game plan to avoid USF Consensus All-American DE George Selvie. The Ducks won 56-21, and RB Jonathan Stewart ran for a Sun Bowl record 253 yards.
USF finished the year 9-4 and 4th place in the Big East. While they finished unranked in the AP Top 25, I had them at 18th for impressive wins over West Virginia and Auburn. Matt Grothe had another fine year, throwing for 2670 yards 14 TD 14 INT, with 872 rushing yards and 10 TD, and would go on to be USF’s all time total yardage leader. DE George Selvie put up a 1st Team All-American season with a whopping 14.5 sacks and 17 TFL. Overall, this was a pretty stacked team. 8 players were drafted, including 5 picks in the first 3 rounds.

5th Quarter

15 years after being ranked #2 in the nation, USF is now in a weaker conference, has gone 4-26 the previous 3 years, and rival UCF has been invited to the Big 12. Where did it all go wrong for USF? And do you remember some of their players such as Matt Grothe, BJ Daniels, and Quinton Flowers? What do you remember about that #2 ranked Bulls team and the 2007 season?
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So I have a story in mind for my main main character, but I'm thinking about expanding the story to multiple POVs, so long as those other POV stories are able to weave and mesh well with one another and feel necessary to the overarching plot.
Here's what I have for the current MC:

- Story starts with MC attending a ceremony of a high position soldier who his childhood friend is marrying; he admires the position and has always yearned to become a legendary warrior with such a title for the sake of glory
- At this ceremony, he's offered a position among a sentry unit known for not doing much; he wants to turn it down in favor of chasing his dreams of glory through war, but accepts at the behest of his childhood friend as they would be able to visit one another since her marriage would house her near by
- In his new position, he establishes himself as one of the more talented fighters, but his cockiness and eagerness to prove himself get him into trouble; he also gains a respect for this unit and realizes they are far more important than anyone is led to believe, as there is a growing threat beyond the kingdom they're holding back
- He befriends a few different people, including one of the princesses of the kingdom who is serving her final year in the unit (the members of the royal family travel the kingdom during their youth in service to the kingdom until the age of 20, to learn how to better lead their people)
- Though he is from a small house, MC is not traveled and ignorant to the true problems of the kingdom, something he comes realize through his time in service as well as hearing from the well traveled princess; his adventures teach him that perhaps serving the greater good for the sake of the greater good is worth more than mere glory, and he falls in love with the princess who brings this part out of him
- Simultaneously, his relationship with his childhood friend, now married, deteriorates as they have conflicting ideals on the problems of the kingdom and how to solve them, perhaps as well a subconscious denial of their love for one another
- MC and the princess are allowed to travel with a convoy beyond the kingdom to escort government officials to neighboring kingdom; the journey requires an escort and only authorized individuals are allowed travel beyond the kingdom as the lands between are desolate ravished by monstrous creatures
- During their travels, MC learns these officials are quite corrupt, as is their purpose for travel, hinting at even greater corruption throughout the entire kingdom and government; shares his understanding with the princess, winning her trust and heart, and they lay together
- Upon returning to the kingdom, the princess's service ends and she returns to the castle, asking MC to be her personal sword and hints at wanting his help in rooting out corruption once his service ends
- Before MC leaves the guard, at the suggestion of the captain of the guard who has kept an eye on him, a mysterious character (mentor archetype) attempts to recruit MC to an alliance that will end the corruption; this is the same one that princess and crown prince are already apart of, but because MC is keeping his relationship with the princess secret, he is not made aware of this fact and turns down the offer, as he is love struck and wants to be near the princess
- His service ends and he is moved into the castle and a ceremony is held to appoint him the princess's protector, gifted a magnificent sword from her; the two want to spend the night together again, but decide there is no rush
- The following morning, the suspected mutiny has occurred, and the entire royal family is killed with the exception of the crown prince and the younger sister of the princess; MC finds the princess dead and is accused of treason in the moment, but a voice in his head begs him to take the young princess (the little sister) when he sees her and flee, which he does.
- MC's childhood friend, now a somewhat high ranking officer, gives chase to him, their relationship becoming so bad she actually believes he is part of the mutiny; though nearly caught, the mentor character from earlier intercepts him and aids them in fleeing the kingdom

​
​
Thanks if you've read all that lol. The themes of this character is that he'll get what he wants (to be a legend) but it won't be exactly as he wished for it initially. So the end of book one, his attains "legendary" status as being named the killer of the princess, the very one he was sworn to protect. The end of the story, he becomes a legend in helping save the kingdom, though only in the eyes of a few who were privy to his deeds.
Another theme is taking on proper responsibility and sacrificing what you THINK you want. So he wants to be a legendary warrior for the sake of glory who's name live on through story, yet he will slowly realize that there is greater purpose calling his name. Of course, in book two, he is absolutely resistant to it.
Though he'll find himself in the center of this alliance who are fighting to save the kingdom from the corrupt and evil who have taken hold, he can't bring himself to act. The pain of having lost someone he came to love deeply so suddenly is something he will have to deal with first, but eventually, he will learn to take on the responsibility to protect her younger sister and to see her ascend the throne. Right now I'm just focusing on book one and don't have much story fleshed out for book two or three.
​
SO, the main thing I'm unsure of is if I want to do multiple POVs. I have a couple in mind, so in addition to any feedback you might have for the above plot outline, I would appreciate some regarding different POVs.
The second would be his childhood best friend. I think it would be interesting for her to be a contrast to MC's story, as in she takes on responsibility she thinks is required of her as opposed to chasing after her desires (which is MC). She's actually (initially) more skilled than MC and rises through the ranks quite quickly. Being on the inside, she is fooled into thinking the very people surrounding her have the best interest of the people and kingdom, when in fact they are the corrupt ones.
A third POV that I'm really interested in is the crown prince who is heir to the throne. I really want to do a failed savior archetype. I love the idea of the warrior king, someone who truly fights for the people he leads, which is why in the lore the children of the king and queen are required to be housed at the various regions by other lords and have to get to know the kingdom on a much more intimate level. This crown prince character is essentially groomed to lead one day and to save the kingdom. He is one of the greatest fighters, has a legendary sword, has a moral character like no other, and will be shown to be the PERFECT person to lead. But he will fall short and fail in book two, dying, and passing the torch to the actual MC.
​
That was a lot lol, we'll see how many people actually read this, but if you do, thanks! Would really appreciate feedback on my current outline as well as what other POV's would make for a compelling story alongside what I have.

Today, I rewatched both trailers and just now had my mind blown by an idea: what if stalker 2 wasn't a sequel to the first trilogy, but another perspective on the same events?
SPOILERS AHEAD!
You start in the Great Swamp (clip with the Flesh running into the anomaly, like in SoC) as a rookie member of Clear Sky and are part of another scout party to watch over Strelok (scenes at Cordon, Garbage and Dark Valley/X18). Later you take part on the assault on CNPP (scenes with Gauss-rifle), survive the emission and are captured by monolith (the Lebedev-lookalike giving you medicine, monolith guy kicking you in the face). You are brainwashed and recruited into monolith ranks, but when Strelok destroyes C-Con, the spell is lifted and (maybe) you can decide if you stay or go with Strider (scene with the old fanatic "I'm blind, but it's you, who cannot see"). Maybe this guy is one of the original stalkers, who enter the heart of the zone shortly before the events of CS. Maybe you stay and cooperate with this rooftop guy in the black SEVA suit to hunt Strelok, who wants "to kill the zone". (Maybe you are one of the guys hunting Strelok on his way to the Laundromat) As there clearly are doubts in Skif's voice in this particular scene, you head for Pripyat (closing scene at the campfire) to turn against the rooftop guy.
The part of the CNPP-assault and joining monolith seems a bit like a stretch, I understand, but this is possibly required for the Strider-scene, which is of great importance, I truly believe.

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I want to try to get feedback on the concept that I am working on. I have spent a few months developing the site but want to focus on the overall idea and see if groups believe it will provide value.
​
Problem to solve: Many analysts and database developers find it difficult to land initial roles because it can be difficult to prove that they have the specific skills required for roles specifically in SQL. Unlike programming languages most analysts arent sure how to develop their own projects to prove their skills when it comes to SQL specifically which is a requirement for most analytics roles.
​
Offerings to Overcome Problem:

• I will have "SQL playgrounds" which will each be essentially DataMart's where users can go in a free query my DataMart's to practice certain skill sets and to save queries as a proof of a certain skill
• I will have a large database of questions which will be based on my DataMart's. These questions will be tagged with difficulty ratings along with what subjects the questions will cover. This will be focused on skill development.
• What I think will be the absolute key will be offering a performance dashboard and performance export document. The document will be able to be downloaded as a PDF which will highlight the skills of the user based on the answer to the pre-made questions I have. It will quantify strengths in certain concepts and give an overall rating of how we rank their performance. This will allow users to share this file on LinkedIn and when applying to jobs.
• Along with the previous point we will also offer a shareable link where a user can allow another person to come and view their performance. The external user will be able to come in and see what questions the user has answered along with the code they used. This will help the users provide a deeper proof of their skill over a typical certification.
• The site will also offer a level of anti-cheat to try to prevent cheating on the questions. This can be randomization of certain aspects of the questions along with attempts to detect multiple browser windows etc.

Overall the mission will be to provide an area where SQL can be practiced and skills can be develop where users can also understand their own performance gaps and use proof of skill tools to help set themselves apart when applying for roles.
​
Competion: There are aspects of this which are similar to Hackerrank and Leetcode but I believe specializing on SQL will help set us apart (finding SQL questions on Leetcode is surprisingly difficult) and Hackerrank doesnt have much for sharing proof of skill at this type of granularity.
​
Monetization:
I believe that this can provide significant value to users especially who are looking to land jobs requiring SQL skills and also it can provide value to companies and recruiters who want to better pre-screen for SQL talent.
Please let me know your thoughts and questions as I want to make sure this is fully thought out and will provide value.

I want to try to get feedback on the concept that I am working on. I have spent a few months developing the site but want to focus on the overall idea and see if groups believe it will provide value.
​
Problem to solve: Many analysts and database developers find it difficult to land initial roles because it can be difficult to prove that they have the specific skills required for roles specifically in SQL. Unlike programming languages most analysts arent sure how to develop their own projects to prove their skills when it comes to SQL specifically which is a requirement for most analytics roles.
​
Offerings to Overcome Problem:

• I will have "SQL playgrounds" which will each be essentially DataMart's where users can go in a free query my DataMart's to practice certain skill sets and to save queries as a proof of a certain skill
• I will have a large database of questions which will be based on my DataMart's. These questions will be tagged with difficulty ratings along with what subjects the questions will cover. This will be focused on skill development.
• What I think will be the absolute key will be offering a performance dashboard and performance export document. The document will be able to be downloaded as a PDF which will highlight the skills of the user based on the answer to the pre-made questions I have. It will quantify strengths in certain concepts and give an overall rating of how we rank their performance. This will allow users to share this file on LinkedIn and when applying to jobs.
• Along with the previous point we will also offer a shareable link where a user can allow another person to come and view their performance. The external user will be able to come in and see what questions the user has answered along with the code they used. This will help the users provide a deeper proof of their skill over a typical certification.
• The site will also offer a level of anti-cheat to try to prevent cheating on the questions. This can be randomization of certain aspects of the questions along with attempts to detect multiple browser windows etc.

Overall the mission will be to provide an area where SQL can be practiced and skills can be develop where users can also understand their own performance gaps and use proof of skill tools to help set themselves apart when applying for roles.
​
Competition: There are aspects of this which are similar to Hackerrank and Leetcode but I believe specializing on SQL will help set us apart (finding SQL questions on Leetcode is surprisingly difficult) and Hackerrank doesnt have much for sharing proof of skill at this type of granularity.
​
Monetization:
I believe that this can provide significant value to users especially who are looking to land jobs requiring SQL skills and also it can provide value to companies and recruiters who want to better pre-screen for SQL talent.
Please let me know your thoughts and questions as I want to make sure this is fully thought out and will provide value.

I want to try to get feedback on the concept that I am working on. I have spent a few months developing the site but want to focus on the overall idea and see if groups believe it will provide value. Problem to solve: Many analysts and database developers find it difficult to land initial roles because it can be difficult to prove that they have the specific skills required for roles specifically in SQL. Unlike programming languages most analysts arent sure how to develop their own projects to prove their skills when it comes to SQL specifically which is a requirement for most analytics roles. Offerings to Overcome Problem: - I will have "SQL playgrounds" which will each be essentially DataMart's where users can go in a free query my DataMart's to practice certain skill sets and to save queries as a proof of a certain skill - I will have a large database of questions which will be based on my DataMart's. These questions will be tagged with difficulty ratings along with what subjects the questions will cover. This will be focused on skill development. - What I think will be the absolute key will be offering a performance dashboard and performance export document. The document will be able to be downloaded as a PDF which will highlight the skills of the user based on the answer to the pre-made questions I have. It will quantify strengths in certain concepts and give an overall rating of how we rank their performance. This will allow users to share this file on LinkedIn and when applying to jobs. - Along with the previous point we will also offer a shareable link where a user can allow another person to come and view their performance. The external user will be able to come in and see what questions the user has answered along with the code they used. This will help the users provide a deeper proof of their skill over a typical certification. - The site will also offer a level of anti-cheat to try to prevent cheating on the questions. This can be randomization of certain aspects of the questions along with attempts to detect multiple browser windows etc. Overall the mission will be to provide an area where SQL can be practiced and skills can be develop where users can also understand their own performance gaps and use proof of skill tools to help set themselves apart when applying for roles. Competion: There are aspects of this which are similar to Hackerrank and Leetcode but I believe specializing on SQL will help set us apart (finding SQL questions on Leetcode is surprisingly difficult) and Hackerrank doesnt have much for sharing proof of skill at this type of granularity. Monetization: I believe that this can provide significant value to users especially who are looking to land jobs requiring SQL skills and also it can provide value to companies and recruiters who want to better pre-screen for SQL talent. Please let me know your thoughts and questions as I want to make sure this is fully thought out and will provide value.

I want to try to get feedback on the concept that I am working on. I have spent a few months developing the site but want to focus on the overall idea and see if groups believe it will provide value.
​
Problem to solve: Many analysts and database developers find it difficult to land initial roles because it can be difficult to prove that they have the specific skills required for roles specifically in SQL. Unlike programming languages most analysts arent sure how to develop their own projects to prove their skills when it comes to SQL specifically which is a requirement for most analytics roles.
​
Offerings to Overcome Problem:

• I will have "SQL playgrounds" which will each be essentially DataMart's where users can go in a free query my DataMart's to practice certain skill sets and to save queries as a proof of a certain skill
• I will have a large database of questions which will be based on my DataMart's. These questions will be tagged with difficulty ratings along with what subjects the questions will cover. This will be focused on skill development.
• What I think will be the absolute key will be offering a performance dashboard and performance export document. The document will be able to be downloaded as a PDF which will highlight the skills of the user based on the answer to the pre-made questions I have. It will quantify strengths in certain concepts and give an overall rating of how we rank their performance. This will allow users to share this file on LinkedIn and when applying to jobs.
• Along with the previous point we will also offer a shareable link where a user can allow another person to come and view their performance. The external user will be able to come in and see what questions the user has answered along with the code they used. This will help the users provide a deeper proof of their skill over a typical certification.
• The site will also offer a level of anti-cheat to try to prevent cheating on the questions. This can be randomization of certain aspects of the questions along with attempts to detect multiple browser windows etc.

Overall the mission will be to provide an area where SQL can be practiced and skills can be develop where users can also understand their own performance gaps and use proof of skill tools to help set themselves apart when applying for roles.
​
Competion: There are aspects of this which are similar to Hackerrank and Leetcode but I believe specializing on SQL will help set us apart (finding SQL questions on Leetcode is surprisingly difficult) and Hackerrank doesnt have much for sharing proof of skill at this type of granularity.
​
Monetization:
I believe that this can provide significant value to users especially who are looking to land jobs requiring SQL skills and also it can provide value to companies and recruiters who want to better pre-screen for SQL talent.
Please let me know your thoughts and questions as I want to make sure this is fully thought out and will provide value.

Wizard Company is recruiting!
We are recruiting to grow our ranks with the new 6.4 patch! With 6.4, many members are logging back in to enjoy the new content. Even if you are still working through the amazing story, we will be happy to have you and help you along the way. We are recruiting new, returning, and veteran players to the FC. We are drama free, laid back, and willing to help each other with any part of FFXIV. We are online just about every night and all weekend, but we have no requirements for logging in. We know that real life comes first, so we do not punish anyone for that.
If you want a fun community to ask for help from time to time, run roulettes, treasure maps, or just chat with, we are a perfect fit for you.
We have a Medium FC house in Mist, and we are working on building more subs/airships.
Our only requirements are 18+ and be nice to each other.
If you would like more information or an invite, feel free to reach out to me via discord (Datos#9066) or in game (Datos Nelo).
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I hope you have a wonderful day.

I saw the typical riff raff back and forth with someone trying to calm another down, that Republicans are NOT literally Nazi fascists trying to blah blah blah, you know the drill. With the other side insisting that they check off nearly every box! Then linked some overly exhausting article on it, as "proof".
Knowing how the internet is, I decided to look up these 14 features myself, and as expected, if you don't like a group, it's pretty damn easy to pigeon-hole any opponent into this ideology. Forward: I'm actually a liberal progressive, just a bit anti "terminally online woke weirdos", and also understand the intention of the author was these features are meant to be extreme reflections. However, I'm highlighting how it's used casually to frame your opponent into that category for political convenience.
So let's see how the average young woke liberal Redditor checks off these boxes? Surely, the most anti-fascist group out there wouldn't be... Fascist.

1. The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”

This one is the most silly... Because "Traditionalist thinkers" encompasses literally every ideology, from religion, to political, there will always be dead thinkers who are admired and revered thought leaders. Now while there may not be any direct occult traditions, even though many are knee deep in their horoscope, there are definitely ingroup signalling. Let's do a pronoun roundtable before the group and introduce ourselves. I'll admit though, this isn't as strong, as say, the Nazis who were propper occult based.

2. The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”

This one doesn't apply. I could bend a bit and find some ways, but it would overall make the argument weak. If anything, they are the ones encouraging depravity like sex work is real work type stuff, so I wont push on this one. But fascists don't need to check off ALL 14.

3. The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”

Every year, every damn year... Me and my fellow progressives are attacked because we need to "Vote Blue, no matter who!" or "If you don't vote Democrat, you aint black, Jack!"

4. Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”

This is probably their biggest one. This absolutely fits the most extreme cases in all ways. Culturally, they've absolutely made it so any one who dissagrees with them on any nuanced issue from COVID to Clinton being a queen, will label you a heretic. People like fucking Jimmy Dore and Russell Brand are now considered "right wingers". Ever see someone have a nuanced take on the trans issue? You don't so much any more, because it gets you banned across reddit. But people used to.

5. Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”

This is highlighted by the liberal elitism growing disdain for the working class. The snobbery and aversion from poor and working class types make them uncomfortable, and viewed as inherently racist, sexist, transphobic, and problematic. These "evil white trash Republicans" are viewed as a threat to our country and actively coordinating to spread lies and propaganda over Minecraft to convert our children to becoming... ALT RIGHT

6. Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”

Again, ties right in with the above. It's those damn, uneducated, white trash, rural folx voting against their interests. They view them not as struggling poor in a dysfunctional economic system, but rather, uneducated poor who are too dumb to think for themselves, who ultimately drag down the country.

7. The obsession with a plot. “Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged.”

This obsession of this idea that there is a sophisticated Russian/GOP psyop all across the internet trying to spread misinformation. That any time people say something you dissagree with, it's either a victim of this nefarious plot against people, or coordinated active agents themselves spotted in the wild, trying to recruit Twitter and Reddit users.

8. The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”

This is my favorite. Trump was both an absolute incompetent moron, who couldn't even string a thought together, but also a sophisticated and calculated mad man who was about to overthrow the entire government. Russia as well, can barely launch an invasion against a small country as their entire infrastructure scrambles and crumbles to their poor leadership, but also sophisticated enough to shift the entire global zeitgeist including changing the outcome of an American election.

9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”

Also SUPER common. Guilty by association. You aren't even allowed to TALK to the other side. It's either "giving them a platform" or "empowering their thoughts by paying attention to it." Very very cultish and insular here. It's seen as heretical to simply be friendly to the other side. So much so, many of these people have cut off family ties over it.

10. Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”

I want to give them a pass on this, because I saw what antifa looks like in real life, and it's a bunch of sissies. As most of these "woke leftists". However, they do still see people on the right as weak, intellectually. And they hate them for it. If anything, the left is worse than the right with how much arrogance they hold at the higher ranks. And we have data to prove it.

11. Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”

Just look around Reddit and the rest of social media. Online activists literally dedicate their lives to "fighting the secret underground cabal of GOP agents spreading misinformation". Literally, Reddit is ran by about 5 full time power mods who are all activists, who also recruit activists. They all think they are a hero in their own plot.

12. Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”

I'd initially say they don't fit this... But they do fit the spirit of it. They are just on the inverse. Machismo and masculinity in general are deemed evil. Instead, they lead with loosely defined virtuism that guides them. It's all the same shit though. 4Chan types may want to troll and set up a raid and ruin someone's life for some stupid racist reason... But at the end of the day, they are doing it for fun/meaning and to feel powerful over a group of people. The terminally online left is no different... But instead of using machismoism, they use virtue to justify their bully tactics to have fun/meaning and feel a sense of power over others. They just have to find a way to label the person a heretic, then it's morally justified hunting season, where it's morally encouraged to ruin someone's life.

13. Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”

When it's Trump trying to redefine the norms and institutions, suddenly the state is sacred and instutions must be preserved. When it's Bernie (My man), suddenly it's "Well yeah, the government is shit and we need to start it all over from scratch! Bernie is a shill now. We need someone even more radical! Capitilism itself has to go entirely through revolution!"

14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

I think this one goes without saying. This is their second hardest one on the list that fits the author's intended extremist definition. They are almost defined by their newspeak. The obsession with definitions, the treadmill constantly going to signal how committed they are to "the cause", is all so cultish.
~~~~~~~~
Anyways, my point is. You can probably do this with any other group. I don't think my defining of the left here, is any more or less dishonest than if you were to do it with the right.

A new era is under way in Green Bay, and there's a lot to cover about this offseason. First, let's set the stage.
Key Signings:
KR Keisean Nixon- the return dynamo who renewed my will to live after watching Amari Rodgers play football. Signed again on a 1 year deal worth up to $4m. And he figures to have a larger role on defense this season. This was one of the biggest wishes for packer fans this offseason, as it finally shows a dedication to building the ST unit.
S Rudy Ford- he had himself a nice 2022 and got re-signed for his efforts. It's a one year deal, and he will compete for the starting safety spot as of now.
CB Corey Ballentine- a reserve CB who I will always have a soft spot for due to his tragic draft night story. Ballentine has been re-signed and will compete for snaps in an unsettled secondary.
S Dallin Leavitt- a Rich Bisaccia re-signing. Leavitt was a quiet killer last season as a special teams ace, and he returns in that role this season.
OT Yosh Nijman- a developmental prospect that has blossomed into an serviceable swing tackle, I thought Nijman would get more on the open market than his RFA tender price. He will be back with the Pack in a LT2 and RT2 role for 2023.
Key Departures:
DT Dean Lowry- Lowry gave the Pack his best and we appreciate him, but his ceiling was evident and achieved. Devonte Wyatt was drafted as a high upside replacement. Lowry signed with the Vikings on a 2 year deal.
WR Allen Lazard- Aaron Rodgers's latest security blanket, Lazard is rejoining Rodgers on a 4y, 44m deal with the New York Jets. A quiet, consistent performer for the Packers throughout his tenure, Lazard will continue to be a sure-handed possession receiver in New York, transforming the slot position previously occupied by Elijah Moore into more of a big slot. He will also continue to mug people in the run game.
TE Robert Tonyan- Bobby Tonyan heads south to Chicago to be TE2 behind Cole Kmet. Packer fans love Tonyan for bringing pride back to the position in GB, and I honestly feel bad for him. He likely missed on his chance for a big pay day after tearing his ACL in 2021 and having a down year coming back. Now he's pushing 30, but he still provides excellent hands for the position and a great work ethic. Godspeed, buddy.
DL Jarran Reed- the big man returns to Seattle this season on a 2 year deal. Reed was just about what we expected in Green Bay- not great, not bad. He was a placeholder in a spot that Wyatt hopefully can take over.
Free Agents yet to be signed:
WR Randall Cobb, S Adrian Amos, TE Marcedes Lewis, K Mason Crosby
All members of the old guard. Cobb recently had surgery, and is a contender to rejoin Rodgers in NY. Amos had a down year, but could still have some left in the tank. I'm guessing he has an offer from GB and is weighing his options. Lewis also could be weighing his options between retirement, the Jets, or sailing into the sunset where it all began for him in Jacksonville. Mason Crosbys wife seemed to confirm on social media recently that the Packers have little interest in re-signing their all time leading scorer. Crosby made some clutch kicks for us over the years, and if this is the end, the Silver Fox will never have to buy a beer in Titletown again.
2022 season review: Record: 8-9 Oh man. 2022 was the year it all came crashing down. Green Bay tried to keep its veteran core together for a few years, appeasing Rodgers and navigating the salary cap reasonably well. But they never achieved that brass ring. Minus Davante Adams and working with a broken thumb, Rodgers struggled the most he has since his inaugural season as a starter. It's now time to address Rodgers in this post; I could write an entire entry solely on Rodgers and this past season, but I'll leave it at this: Aaron is my favorite football player of all time. He led the Packers to their greatest stretch of sustained excellence since Vince Lombardi roamed the sidelines, often with depleted rosters around him. In my opinion, hes the most talented QB to play the game. It seems a majority of Packer fans were ready to move on from the man and soured on him this offseason. Personally, I think he will be an MVP contender in NY next year and still love him. But it was time. The Jordan Love era needs to happen, if only for the front office itself needing to justify their faith in the Love pick. Rodgers and the Packers were operating on different timelines the past few years, stuck somewhere between going all in and resetting. The front office has put all their chips in on Jordan Love.
The defense was expected to be a top 5 unit, but regressed heavily. Joe Barry was under scrutiny all year long, seemingly incapable of putting his plethora of first rounders in positions to succeed. A late season push did just enough to save his job (apparently).
Favorite win: Dallas Most frustrating loss: Detroit, week 18
Rodgers's exit also raises an interesting thought: will we see the True Matt LaFleur Offense this season? Offensive deficiencies have been blamed on Lafleur himself or Rodgers's hesitancy at transitioning from a traditional west coast offense to a Shanahan-esque, motion based attack. The answer will be uncovered this year, with Jordan Love having 3 years of experience in the scheme and a first round pedigree. As a Love truther in the pre draft season who hated the pick for the Packers, I am fascinated. This pick will make or break Gute's and Lafleur's tenure.
Aside from the quarterback situation, there are lingering questions concerning LaFleur's ability to lead the team in general. The Packers have consistently laid an egg in one game every season of his tenure and have come up short in the playoffs, with some head scratching decisions rearing their head in crunch time of big games (the end of the Bucs NFC championship the most glaring). I also have questions on his staff hirings/retentions. LaFleur hired 2 dogshit ST coordinators before making the obvious choice of Basaccia. He also chose to retain Joe Barry, noted football terrorist, as defensive coordinator. I've read rumblings that Gute has more say over the staff than the head coach, which is unconfirmed but concerning. I don't mean to dump on LaFleur in this piece, only to emphasize how big of a year this is for him. I think his scheme is sound and the guys play hard for him. With Rodgers gone, I think we see less RPOs and inside zone handoffs to AJ Dillon out of shotgun. The offense will have more identity. But if there are 2 more years without the playoffs in Green Bay, the Cheeseheads will advocate for a new coach.
2023 Draft:
Positions of need: S, TE, WR, DT
Round 1, Pick 13: Lukas Van Ness, Edge, Iowa With the world expecting Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Gute stuck true to his type and drafted athletic freak LVN out of Iowa. Van Ness profiles as a Rashan Gary clone, with a high RAS score and unrefined repertoire of pass rush moves. If he works out like Gary, this is a massive hit. In the pre draft process, the only guy who could have realistically been there for GB that I had above Van Ness was Peter Skoronski. He wasn't there, and there was no doubt in my mind Gute was going for LVN afterwards. He'll rotate with Gary and Preston Smith this year, and will kick inside on certain packages. He makes Smith expendable in the future.
Round 2, Pick 42: Luke Musgrave, TE, Oregon State Musgrave has the size and athleticism to be a game changer at tight end. His tape was short but encouraging. His biggest questions are durability and how he will develop, given his late breakout and immediate injury afterwards. My comparison to his playstyle was Travis Kelce, and if he can approach even 70% of Kelce's production in a season, this is a great pick. The biggest hole on the roster was TE, and I have a feeling Gute got the top one on his board.
Round 2, Pick 50: Jayden Reed, WR, Michigan State The process of this pick was nerve wracking. I was one of many fans pounding the table for Brian Branch, the S out of Alabama. When Gute traded down instead, I was telling friends I hoped he took Jayden Reed, and that's what happened. Reed is smaller receiver who plays bigger than his size on contested catches. He carried the Michigan State offense last year after Kenneth Walker jumped to the NFL. My comparison for him is Tyler Lockett. In Green Bay, Reed will take over the slot role, and I expect him to see around 60% of offensive snaps.
Round 3, Pick 78: Tucker Kraft, TE, South Dakota State Another tight end added to a barren room. The former Jackrabbit is similar to Musgrave in a lot of ways- big, athletic, and a willing albeit unrefined blocker. Kraft's addition along with Musgraves could push the Packers into more 22 personal this season, something LaFleur wants to run but hasnt had the personnel for, and I would not be surprised to see him outsnap Musgrave if he develops quickly. I'm really hoping this is the pick that breaks Green Bays 3rd round curse (seriously look it up its so bad).
Round 4, Pick 116: Colby Wooden, Edge, Auburn A former 4 star recruit at Auburn, Wooden collected 17 sacks as a 3 year starter in the SEC and showed inside/outside versatility. He shows an ability to rush with speed and power, but is inconsistent in his pad level and technique. He anchors well in the run game and showed great gap discipline. I don't see him getting many snaps this year, but if he does I think he takes Kingsley Engabare's role on run downs.
Round 5, Pick 149: Sean Clifford, QB, Penn State A perplexing pick until I saw this man somehow has a 9 RAS. Clifford is an experienced college starter who plays with a clear understanding of his role and a passion for the game. My issues with him were accuracy, arm strength, pocket presence, and decision making. You know, playing quarterback. I did not give Clifford a draftable grade and would have preferred Jaren Hall or Max Duggan. But this is really nit picking over a 5th round pick who was drafted to be a career backup. If the staff sees something in him, I'll give it a chance.
Round 5, Pick 159: Dontayvion Wicks, WR, Virginia A 6'1, 206 lb vertical threat, Wicks was inconsistent in his career at Virginia. If he replicated his 2021 production last year, he might have found himself as a day 2 pick. Alas, a new offense and drops led to his availability at this spot. Wicks has a good release package and the ability to stack DBs and get vertical. His tendencies as a body catcher led to drops last year, and he doesn't provide much after the catch. With his profile, he'll be a WR4/5, but could be a special teams ace very early in his career.
Round 6, Pick 179: Karl Brooks, DL, Bowling Green A bit of a tweener, Brooks is a high motor, high effort pass rusher. He flashes great technique and seems to rush with a plan. He can get washed out in the run game, and will need to commit one way or another to defensive end or defensive tackle. He graded very high from PFF, so that's something. To get on the field, he'll have to show more consistency and ability when anchoring down in the run game.
Round 6, Pick 207: Anders Carlson, K, Auburn Apparently, Mason Crosby's replacement. Anders is the brother of Las Vegas kicker Daniel Carlson, who's pretty damn good. There is a connection with Basaccia there, who's known Anders since high school. I wasn't encouraged by his stats at Auburn, but I'm not going to pretend to be an expert in scouting kickers. If Basaccia says he's that dude, then that dude he is.
Round 7, Pick 232: Carrington Valentine, CB, Kentucky Valentine is a WR convert with a long, slender frame. He is at his best in press man, where he has a variety of ways to get hands on the receiver and reroute him. Unfortunately for Vallentine, Joe Barry hates press man and will kill my family if I suggest it again. Valentine's frame can lead him to get bullied by bigger WRs at times, but he is physical at the catch point. He also brings experience as a productive kick returner, something that could be helpful in the future or even this season if the staff wants to keep Nixon fresh for defensive snaps.
Round 7, Pick 235: Lew Nichols, RB, Central Michigan A big back with some intriguing traits, Nichols enjoyed a very productive 2021 before injuries hampered his 2022. Nichols has good vision, contact balance, and power as a north-south runner. He was productive catching out of the backfield, but wasn't asked to run many routes beyond that. His biggest hurdles in the NFL are going to be elusiveness and speed. He lacks both, but should be a decent backup. For the Packers, they used their RB3 less than maybe any team in the league last year. This will be the Jones&Dillon show again in 2023.
Round 7, Pick 242: Anthony Johnson Jr, S, Iowa State Johnson Jr is a converted cornerback who plays with rare physicality for someone of that description. He did his best work in the box or in the slot at Iowa State, and that may be where the Pack will try to get him some snaps this year. He can be over aggressive in his pursuits at times and take bad angles, but that is coachable. Given the state of the safety room, the 7th round rookie may find himself starting some games this season.
Round 7, Pick 256: Grant DuBose, WR, Charlotte DuBose comes from UNC Charlotte, where there apparently is a football team, and he was 2nd team all C-USA last season. DuBose has excellent size at 6'2, and I love his agility on in-breaking routes crossing the face of safeties. He has experience both outside and in the slot, and is an interesting addition to the WR battle at the bottom of the roster, which is going to be highly competitive. It may come down to how good he can be on special teams. Coaches and teammates rave about his work ethic and love of football, and he worked at Walmart while keeping himself in shape during the Covid year. I'm optimistic he can carve out a role for himself and make the team.
Overall, Gutekunst drafted for need at times in this draft, but still stuck to picking guys that fit his type: big, athletic, and versatile. My biggest shock was not taking a safety until the 7th round, but I think it just never lined up with his board. There was an obvious effort to surround Love with talented pass catchers, which is a breath of fresh air from this team. I was surprised that they didn't take a single offensive linemen, given this is almost certainly Bakh's last year in the green and gold and question marks surrounding some of our young guys, but we drafted 3 linemen last year and the staff may have high hopes for Zach Tom to be the next left tackle. The franchise has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to scouting and developing OL.
All told, 2023 is the most excited I've been for a Packer season in a few years. There are so many unknown variables surrounding the team, from Jordan Loves development to LaFleur's offense to Joe Barry's pending glue eating scandal. Media pundits have them ranked somewhere between 20 & 26 in the league hierarchy heading into the year. Personally, I'm a little higher on the Pack, and they will shoot up these rankings if Jordan Love delivers. There's a lot on Love's shoulders. This is the season we've been waiting for with baited breath for 3 years, the post-Rodgers era, and now it's here, for better or worse.

Hello Clashers !
Looking here for some active and enthusiastic players TH 12 & above to join us in our journey of coc.
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About Us :-
We are Level 19 clan from India.
We communicate in Hindi & English.
As a clan started by few friends 7-8 years ago we have reached here.
Clan Capital :- 1750+ Upgrades & 1500+ Medals.
Highly Active Clan + All donation request fulfilled.
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What are We Looking For :-
We are looking for th 12 & above players
Wanted to play cwl with us this season
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Clan Tag & link :-
Tag :- #PLJL8V9J
Link :- https://link.clashofclans.com/en?action=OpenClanProfile&tag=PLJL8V9J
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Hoping to see u soon join with us !
Clash On !

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https://preview.redd.it/7pfx9146yq2b1.png?width=1800&format=png&auto=webp&s=f71d99c70e34f64e890df50788881c7a3ad30b18
BOTM has compiled quite a collection of books over the years. Each Monday we'll post a different book from BOTM past. You can add thoughts and opinions and whether you would recommend it or not. We'll keep the post pinned for 2-4 days.
This week our book is Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Description from Goodreads - After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates. She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

Have you always wanted to be part of an Org? One that mattered, but also one that didn't drown you with its giant player base as if you were just another gear in an enormous machine?
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White King Strategical Security is a new EU-based Organization, starting small while having big dreams! The main idea of the Org is that WKSS will:

• Be a mature (18+) community,
• Involve light MilSim elements like ranks, callsigns and divisions,
• Make room for and include light RP and
• Create a safe and most importantly fun environment for people to play together

Our organization will include an overlapping chess theme, with for example divisions being named after chess pieces. However, unlike chess, it doesn't matter if you're a Pawn or a Knight, all of our pieces are important to us. On top of that, although chess has usually only black and white, we like to see there is a grey area in situations as well. This means although we are mainly UEE Legal focused, there might be the occasional situation where we'll have to make our hands a bit dirty.
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Now you might be thinking: 'Will I fit with this group?' Let's see what you can bring to the board... Do you:

1. Like to PVP, or aspire to become great in it?
2. Love to dogfight, soaring through either space or low altitudes?
3. Enjoy ground combat, either with a gun in your hands or using vehicles to your advantage?
4. Have experience with Star Citizen you want to share, or want to help create an Org from the ground up?
5. Just want to find a fun group of friends to play and enjoy the game with?

If you said yes to any of these five questions, then congrats! You are fit for recruitment! Either contact one of our Recruiters (PM the person creating this post) or join our Comms: https://discord.gg/PSVEKmWUuT
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We hope to see you soon, Citizens! o7