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in short: more and more companies are attempting to force their clients' loyalty to maximise profits. even if they could rationalise it with intellectual property law, it has at least been contradicting with the competition one. Reddit's API change is one of them, and all the theoretical QoL losses and side effects as mentioned are exactly what they want to do, therefore everything is as-is. these corporations that chose to sacrifice the good values and anything that made them great are practically soulless, it's better to force them bring it back or get it destroyed and build a new one with those back.
after reading what you guys have been talking, considering more companies are turning into exclusivity, monetising the basic service component that everyone uses, playing with their power, i have also decided to make a post about this. below, i will share part of my findings from elsewhere to explain the current situation of Reddit. forgive me that i might not be able to have everything at once.
so the context from what i have heard from the flyer, is that Reddit is now changing the API pricing, removing API from mature content, lowering limits for third-party apps we commonly use.
speaking of the new API standard, so much as Twitter now requiring people paying for certain API and then requiring monthly fees.
regarding premium access that is to be introduced, i want to throw out a simple question: why would they want another paycheck when other advertisers and premium users could literally cover those instead of optimising the servers' technology stack to decrease the unneeded cost?
the reason is simple, exclusivity and profits. it has been a while that this narrative that "if you don't pay for the service, you're the product." however, the same reason, they are moving to a trend that not only having it worsened no matter you have paid or not, you are not given any choices and are required to subscribe to a complete service that is supposed to be free, while removing essential communication features like forum or email things. which means the need of money is debunked to certain extent.
now look at some examples from elsewhere. on YouTube, the monetisation threshold is that they want to bring a better content creation platform. but if you search certain terms like free game credits live (which is obviously a scam), you can see several channels with monetisation enabled and you can even send a super chat for it. not only smaller creators having to race for that, it's no way you can survive without those tools. if you know how to use bots, you could spam people with traffics and chats with absolute ease. which has actually increased the use of bots (when they were supposed to decrease it), because it's actually hard to have organic traffic nowadays even for certain talented creators.
now it comes to the apps. if you use Reddit on your phone web, the website pursues you to use their app per 2~3 hours (see the video below). if you are a website developer, nowadays you do have tools being optimised for mobile web, allowing the entire app being run on a website with second-to-zero tradeoffs in terms of performances and features.
when they want you to use apps instead, they want to introduce another monetisation model, they want a more complete tracking through apps, considering you could block trackers with ease using a browser.
take a look at the Windows 11's interface? even for the latest Windows 10, it is full of data tracking, advertisements, and even hardware DRMs on plain sight. not only going worse, they are moving forward to the exclusivity like Reddit does. how bad it is? even Valve has been developing Linux compatibility for a while.
the second one is that they are removing the mature content from their API. it has been for a while that they are locking guests out from accessing. what i find is that is traumatising legal users' safety with their real-life identity verification, more than it is even meant to protect children from those abuse. here is a video explaining:
https://youtube.com/live/U6F2NlZEmgs
in short, it's all about censorship and letting bots ramping up to do it, mature content is just a pretext. it is a matter of time all other services you use will do the same.
remember the day that the "place" sub was a thing? remember how a large chunk of people drew 2B's ass and then got immediately deleted in the form of black pixels? so at the end of the day, if Reddit isn't going to back down, we should find a way to double down, whether everyone leaving from it or getting banned all at once is going to work.
people willingly trade freedom for temporary security deserve neither, and will lose both. - Benjamin Franklin
the last one is about your daily lives that has been relevant to this. notice how they are slowly changing the system against the users, often because they have all the cards that they are betting you are going to stay at the end of day. they are trying to change it into a subscription service so that they are always profitable, and less likely they will need to innovate to compete.
Twitter's Blue verification process, it was meant to have those bots or false identity less likely to spam by demanding payment of so, but i have seen certain bots paying for that and also being able to take advantage of. if you knew how those works, you could significantly decrease the cost of doing so, as well as being prioritised.
look at YouTube after they introduced their Premium. if you don't pay for it, more likely you suffer a long series of advertisements that may not even be relevant to anything you are watching, and sometimes, it's a literal scam. meaning they are doing things specifically to pressure you pay for it, even though paying for channel payments like super chats would charge a 30% fee.
Adobe, a company that pioneered what we call it subscription-based software. it is the leader of the entire content-creation industry, and their Creative Cloud is $55 per month. if you don't have enough money to start with, you're practically ineligible to it. what happens if you end up a loss that you cannot afford that payment at the time? things do happen.
Twitch made one of the most controversial policy ever on the recent few days, and the huge backlash has basically forced them to at least apologise about it. however, it has been notorious that they would charge people 50% of what audiences have paid, and then often sudden ban or double standard.
i don't think boycotting will work, considering it is a coordinated threat towards the people, don't assume that any words will make then listen. every time the backlash ended, they will silently impose all those things. so as soon as any alternatives become suitable, copy all the posts to that place as an archive and go on there.

I've really enjoyed being part of this community. At times it's pretty funny. I feel like reddit is about to go hard south with the whole API thing, so I thought I'd make a post and try to make some poker friends.
I've started streaming poker tournaments on twitch. My twitch channel is called pokershed, feel free to follow me, stop by and chat. I enjoy chatting with Americans, it's good fun. Alternatively, tune in and tell me everything I'm doing is shit, and how you'd have played better, as I know a few enjoy that :)
Peace

Everything you need to know about the Le Mans event!

Context, insight, history, experiences, legends, heroes, stories, classes, resources, discussion, times, and everything else you will need to understand this phenomenal event. If you've not had a look at that thread, make sure you check it out!

Session Times

Ferrari Challenge Practice 2 – Thursday June 8th, 09:00 Local, 07:00 UTC, 03:00 ET, 17:00 AEST – 45 Minutes Porsche Carrera Cup Practice 2 – Thursday June 8th, 10:55 Local, 08:55 UTC, 04:55 ET, 18:55 AEST – 45 Minutes Road To Le Mans Qualifying Practice – Thursday June 8th, 12:55 Local, 10:55 UTC, 06:55 UTC, 20:55 AEST – 20 Minutes x 2 Classes Free Practice 3 - Thursday June 8th, 15:00 Local, 13:00 UTC, 09:00 ET, 23:00 AEST - 3 Hours Road To Le Mans Race 1 - Thursday June 8th, 18:30 Local, 16:30 UTC, 12:30 ET, Friday 02:30 AEST - 55 Minutes HYPERPOLE - Thursday June 8th, 20:00 Local, 18:00 UTC, 14:00 ET, Friday 04:00 AEST - 30 Minutes Free Practice 4 - Thursday June 8th, 22:00 Local, 20:00 UTC, 16:00 ET, Friday 06:00 AEST - 2 Hours
Track Information: 13.626km (8.467mi) Circuit, located in Le Mans, Pays de la Loire, France
Track Website
Official Entry List

Spotters Guide thanks to Ziombel_444!

Track Map with Marshal Post and Slow Zone locations
Le Mans Weather

Streaming

How to watch in your area - From the FIAWEC website, all the details on how to watch in your part of the world!

• Official stream OUTSIDE US ONLY - The Le Mans package gives you access to all WEC sessions (Practice, Qualifying, Warm Up and the Race) with a choice of on boards, cross platform compatibility, and up to 5 devices connected at once.
• Eurosport will likely be broadcasting the event in a variety of locales throughout Europe. This will be updated when confirmed

For American audiences, unfortunately the Official stream is geoblocked for your area. American and English-speaking Canadian audiences can access coverage through Motortrend On Demand

• Official TV Broadcast distribution Find out how to watch in your region!

Any further updates on TV or Streaming distribution will be added as they are released!
Radio coverage thanks to Radio Le Mans

Live Timing

Social Media

• Twitter Hashtags: #FIAWEC #24hrLeMans #LeMansCentenary

Jump into /WEC's discord server! We have a channel entirely dedicated to Le Mans action, plus voice chat, team ranks, and a very friendly bunch of people!
^{Remember to sort by "new" to stay up to date!}

I had a great time at the show. I won tickets and got in for free. It was supposed to be floor but ended up being the first row of seats instead. Which I actually enjoyed a lot! Even though we were kinda far from the stage, I could still see her perform, plus there were screens too. If I was on floor, I wouldn't have been able to see the stage at all. I've been to quite a few concerts, and this experience was all very similar to any other show I've been to. I didn't personally have any issues with the venue or the show. A lot of the complaints I see I didn't experience. Melanie did sing, too, the only parts that had her track vocals were the parts that use heavy auto tune/modulation and even then she still sung over it, too. Overall a really good experience, I'm very thankful for the opportunity to go because I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. Hope this helps anyone 💞

im not s**idal btw just to preface. i hope somebody reads this fully. im not tryna be a classic whiner on this sub but i have no one to talk to.
its about 2 am rn, ive cried a lot and im not doing good right now. infact i dont remember the last time I ever really was thriving. maybe when i was 2? who knows. this all spiraled from a convo i had with a friend (P).
well i texted P abt something kind of unrelated, but i was just texting her abt me maybe liking my guy friend, but i cant really tell. we started talking about how it feels to be the friends that never get hit on, etc. not sure if that part of the convo really contributed to anything, but i'll just put that there. and then we started to talk about her crush, and then she asked me if i knew our friend's crush (lets call her E). I knew about E's previous crush, but I wasnt so sure I knew so she told me. Yup, i didnt know. Now see, obviously no ones obligated to tell me who they have a crush on or anything, but i always tell her who i have a crush on or wtv. and we're good friends, but this made me realize (it wanst the only thing, just the thing that mde me realize) that we have grown a bit distant.
Here comes the most important part: now why are we distant? Well, it all starts with our good friend A. A and I have known each other the longest (since we were 4, we're now 16), but we're not that close. She comes from a very unemotional house, where her parents werent the most affectionate. Thus I think she is very unemotional and probably doesnt realize the impact of things she says. I started noticing around 6+ months back that she was starting to slightly disrespect me, and would laugh at everything i say. At first I didnt think too much of it, then she started calling me stupid, dumb, etc. Supposed to be in a friend way, but the way she said it, the nonchalance, the amount of times, the fact that i kid you not she did this with NOBODY in our group, made me start to rethink her actions. I started noticing, because we eat lunch together (A, P, E, and another a but like she doenst really have a part in this), that she is CONSTANTLY laughing at everything and that im always a joke in the group. If i say something slighly quirky or wtv she'll laugh, give a side eye, and everyone will join in. I can't fully explain it well, but its that her jokes about me always go too far, calling me stupid/dumb, laughing at everyy single thing i do, making me feel like I joke. AHH i dont know why i cant explain in full what she does. anyways, even AFTER i told her abt it (she acknowledged, apologized), she continued to do it. and my friends? who see that i get visibly upset and i dont like it? they laugh along. I was explaining that I think I'm distant with E because shes usually in the group, whereas I see P and other A more outside of the group, and I've been distancing myself from the group. To be real, im fucking upset that my friends dont stand up for me, the way i would for them. It really really really fucking upsets me. I cant explain how much. Makes me feel like im back in elementry school, not many friends, and no one standing up for me. Anyways, some while back I told E about this. What was her response?
"Nooo come on she doesn't mean it badly 😭"
"I get how you feel though"
"Ig if it's repetitive it gets annoying"
HELLO??? ITS NOT ABOUT BEING REPEPTITIVE BITCH?!?! ITS ABOUT THE FACT SHE CONTINOUSLY DISRESPECTS ME AND TAKES A "JOKE" (which a pathetic cover up for what it really is) TOO FAR AND I CANT DEAL WITH IT IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE SHIT. LIKE TRUE SHIT. WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING HER? SHES THE ONE CLEARLY HURTING ME
So yea. I was a bittt pissed with friend E. But still, I love her and I dont want to be distant with her, I just want to be distant with A. I have thick skin, I can take jokes about myself, but what I cannot take is disrespect. Constant, disrespect. Where I'm laughed at for everything. I am the laughing stock of my group it seems. For example, they had naan and butter chicken at school and I was tryna teach my freinds how to eat. A LAUGHED AT ME FOR THAT. You guys, I swear I understand the difference between playful teasing and then being mean. What she does on a daily basis is being mean.
Friend P says, yea I understand but " I think its better now".
.
Better? How about she doesnt laugh at everything I do? How about that? Why should I be expected to deal with her shit? I dont owe anything to anyone to deal with them being mean. Because thats what it is, mean. So yes I got pissed, and I've left her on delivered now. She texted me saying "Are you made at me :(". Why dont they understand it hurts me, and all i really want is for someone to just understand. They say they do, then they laugh with A.
And it just spirals from there. I realize, I'm not really close with any of my friend groups anymore. I realized; I am lonely. I am very lonely. I don't have anyone I can talk to. Look at me, I'm writting my problems on reddit. Life is just so hard. Theres so much these days. All I can think abt is "GPA, College, making my parents proud, looking pretty, will anyone ever like me, I'm so lonely, no one cares for me, I can't do this anymore". I cant even take care of myself, I cant take care of my spaces. I'm so fed up with life. I just want to float around in nothingness.
Texts:
From me: okay so basiclaly i dont think that anything ebtween me and E happened, i think its that i purposely distanced myself from our group cuz of A. i had talked to her abt that thing before, and she seemed understanding that it was hurting my feelings but shes back at it again and i cannot stand it. i tried, but ultimately it felt like continous disrespect. ik i talked to E abt it as well and she said "oh she doesnt mean it like that!". and i was like.....every single day at lunch, who does she lowk make fun of? whos every word does she laugh at? and its not in a good way either. before i thought it was laughing with me and it started feeling later like laugh at me. and i tried to get her to stop without talking to her because she just wouldnt get it. and then i used to think "well someones gotta see how this is weird and lowk disrespectful, but everyone would laugh along" . she still doenst get it. and i feel like i still see you, other A outside of the group but i think that because i distanced myself a bit i also got a bit distant from her, which is literally the complete opposite of what i wanted.😢1
P's response:
You: but also
You: does she do this with anyone in our group?
You: as much as she does with me?
P: Hmmm
P: Not really
P: At least I don’t notice
P: But there’s always some joking
P: We always joke about something at lunch
P: At the expense of someone
P: But not anything harsh
P: But that’s the way it is for me
P: And for us
P: I think we see it as fun
You: i see
P: Not offensive
P: But I completely understand you
P: Ik what you mean
P: Im not trying to minimize it for you
P: Like last year a lot of the comments she made were out of hand imo
P: Are you mad at me 🥺😩
Also heres chatgpt explaing it a bit better than me:
From my perspective, I've been experiencing a situation where my friend, A, constantly finds amusement in everything I do, and it's taking a toll on me. It's disheartening and distressing to be on the receiving end of constant laughter, as it undermines my self-confidence and makes me question my worth. The fact that A laughs at everything I say or do, without considering the impact it has on me, is incredibly hurtful. It goes beyond playful banter or light-hearted teasing. Instead, it feels like I'm being ridiculed and belittled on a daily basis. The laughter has become a constant reminder that my thoughts, opinions, and actions are somehow inadequate or deserving of mockery. It's a painful experience that chips away at my self-esteem and leaves me feeling devalued. I had hoped that by sharing my feelings with A and even discussing it with E, there would be a shift in behavior or a deeper understanding of how hurtful it can be. However, the persistence of this behavior demonstrates a lack of empathy and disregard for my emotional well-being. It's disheartening to witness how easily others dismiss the impact of constant laughter, failing to recognize the lasting damage it can inflict. In my efforts to cope with the situation, I chose to distance myself from the group, including A, in the hope of finding some solace and preserving my own sense of self-worth. However, this unintentionally led to a sense of isolation and further detachment from those I cared about, including P, E, other A, which is contrary to my original intention of seeking understanding and support.

As many of you are already aware, Reddit has announced that they are updating their API pricing model. The new prices, which will go into effect on July 1st, are so exorbitant that all existing third-party apps (such as Apollo, RiF, Relay, BaconReader, and Narwhal) will be forced to shut down. Apollo specifically would need to pay Reddit $20 million per year to continue operating, a sum totally beyond their means.
Once this change has been made, the only way to view Reddit on a mobile device will be through the official app. In addition to a generally inferior interface and extremely lackluster moderation tools relative to the various 3rd party apps, Reddit's official app offers a terrible experience for visually impaired users . Reddit has been well aware of this issue for years, but have never prioritized it, and now they are pulling the rug out from under the visually impaired community, with nothing more than a promise that they'll make their own app accessible...eventually. Reddit's recent update in response to the growing uproar makes no mention of this issue, and that is not acceptable.
A sitewide protest has been arranged, and as of this writing over 2400 subreddits have agreed to participate . startrekenterprise has decided to join them, and like the rest, we will be taking the subreddit fully private on Monday, June 12. The subreddit will not be accessible to any Redditors during this time. How long we stay that way will depend on how Reddit chooses to respond.
We encourage anyone interested in contributing to this movement to reach out to the admins themselves (via modmail at reddit ), or to moderators of subreddits you frequent. Tell them you support this protest and you want them to take action.
We want to be clear about a couple of things: if this were simply a matter of Reddit making a bad business decision, we would not be participating in this protest. If they want to kill their own platform by ruining the user experience for everyone, we have no real objections. However, their passive hostility toward Reddit's visually impaired community is simply unacceptable to us.
Furthermore, we strongly encourage everyone who supports this protest to stay off Reddit entirely for the duration. Subreddits going dark is one thing, but a decline in active users will send an even stronger message.
To reiterate:

Beginning Monday, June 12, this subreddit will be inaccessible until further notice. We strongly encourage supporters to avoid the platform entirely during this time. 

im not s**idal btw just to preface. i hope somebody reads this fully. im not tryna be a classic whiner on this sub but i have no one to talk to.
its about 2 am rn, ive cried a lot and im not doing good right now. infact i dont remember the last time I ever really was thriving. maybe when i was 2? who knows. this all spiraled from a convo i had with a friend (P).
well i texted P abt something kind of unrelated, but i was just texting her abt me maybe liking my guy friend, but i cant really tell. we started talking about how it feels to be the friends that never get hit on, etc. not sure if that part of the convo really contributed to anything, but i'll just put that there. and then we started to talk about her crush, and then she asked me if i knew our friend's crush (lets call her E). I knew about E's previous crush, but I wasnt so sure I knew so she told me. Yup, i didnt know. Now see, obviously no ones obligated to tell me who they have a crush on or anything, but i always tell her who i have a crush on or wtv. and we're good friends, but this made me realize (it wanst the only thing, just the thing that mde me realize) that we have grown a bit distant.
Here comes the most important part: now why are we distant? Well, it all starts with our good friend A. A and I have known each other the longest (since we were 4, we're now 16), but we're not that close. She comes from a very unemotional house, where her parents werent the most affectionate. Thus I think she is very unemotional and probably doesnt realize the impact of things she says. I started noticing around 6+ months back that she was starting to slightly disrespect me, and would laugh at everything i say. At first I didnt think too much of it, then she started calling me stupid, dumb, etc. Supposed to be in a friend way, but the way she said it, the nonchalance, the amount of times, the fact that i kid you not she did this with NOBODY in our group, made me start to rethink her actions. I started noticing, because we eat lunch together (A, P, E, and another a but like she doenst really have a part in this), that she is CONSTANTLY laughing at everything and that im always a joke in the group. If i say something slighly quirky or wtv she'll laugh, give a side eye, and everyone will join in. I can't fully explain it well, but its that her jokes about me always go too far, calling me stupid/dumb, laughing at everyy single thing i do, making me feel like I joke. AHH i dont know why i cant explain in full what she does. anyways, even AFTER i told her abt it (she acknowledged, apologized), she continued to do it. and my friends? who see that i get visibly upset and i dont like it? they laugh along. I was explaining that I think I'm distant with E because shes usually in the group, whereas I see P and other A more outside of the group, and I've been distancing myself from the group. To be real, im fucking upset that my friends dont stand up for me, the way i would for them. It really really really fucking upsets me. I cant explain how much. Makes me feel like im back in elementry school, not many friends, and no one standing up for me. Anyways, some while back I told E about this. What was her response?
"Nooo come on she doesn't mean it badly 😭"
"I get how you feel though"
"Ig if it's repetitive it gets annoying"
HELLO??? ITS NOT ABOUT BEING REPEPTITIVE BITCH?!?! ITS ABOUT THE FACT SHE CONTINOUSLY DISRESPECTS ME AND TAKES A "JOKE" (which a pathetic cover up for what it really is) TOO FAR AND I CANT DEAL WITH IT IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE SHIT. LIKE TRUE SHIT. WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING HER? SHES THE ONE CLEARLY HURTING ME
So yea. I was a bittt pissed with friend E. But still, I love her and I dont want to be distant with her, I just want to be distant with A. I have thick skin, I can take jokes about myself, but what I cannot take is disrespect. Constant, disrespect. Where I'm laughed at for everything. I am the laughing stock of my group it seems. For example, they had naan and butter chicken at school and I was tryna teach my freinds how to eat. A LAUGHED AT ME FOR THAT. You guys, I swear I understand the difference between playful teasing and then being mean. What she does on a daily basis is being mean.
Friend P says, yea I understand but " I think its better now".
.
Better? How about she doesnt laugh at everything I do? How about that? Why should I be expected to deal with her shit? I dont owe anything to anyone to deal with them being mean. Because thats what it is, mean. So yes I got pissed, and I've left her on delivered now. She texted me saying "Are you made at me :(". Why dont they understand it hurts me, and all i really want is for someone to just understand. They say they do, then they laugh with A.
And it just spirals from there. I realize, I'm not really close with any of my friend groups anymore. I realized; I am lonely. I am very lonely. I don't have anyone I can talk to. Look at me, I'm writting my problems on reddit. Life is just so hard. Theres so much these days. All I can think abt is "GPA, College, making my parents proud, looking pretty, will anyone ever like me, I'm so lonely, no one cares for me, I can't do this anymore". I cant even take care of myself, I cant take care of my spaces. I'm so fed up with life. I just want to float around in nothingness.
Texts:
From me: okay so basiclaly i dont think that anything ebtween me and E happened, i think its that i purposely distanced myself from our group cuz of A. i had talked to her abt that thing before, and she seemed understanding that it was hurting my feelings but shes back at it again and i cannot stand it. i tried, but ultimately it felt like continous disrespect. ik i talked to E abt it as well and she said "oh she doesnt mean it like that!". and i was like.....every single day at lunch, who does she lowk make fun of? whos every word does she laugh at? and its not in a good way either. before i thought it was laughing with me and it started feeling later like laugh at me. and i tried to get her to stop without talking to her because she just wouldnt get it. and then i used to think "well someones gotta see how this is weird and lowk disrespectful, but everyone would laugh along" . she still doenst get it. and i feel like i still see you, other A outside of the group but i think that because i distanced myself a bit i also got a bit distant from her, which is literally the complete opposite of what i wanted.😢1
P's response:
You: but also
You: does she do this with anyone in our group?
You: as much as she does with me?
P: Hmmm
P: Not really
P: At least I don’t notice
P: But there’s always some joking
P: We always joke about something at lunch
P: At the expense of someone
P: But not anything harsh
P: But that’s the way it is for me
P: And for us
P: I think we see it as fun
You: i see
P: Not offensive
P: But I completely understand you
P: Ik what you mean
P: Im not trying to minimize it for you
P: Like last year a lot of the comments she made were out of hand imo
P: Are you mad at me 🥺😩
Also heres chatgpt explaing it a bit better than me:
From my perspective, I've been experiencing a situation where my friend, A, constantly finds amusement in everything I do, and it's taking a toll on me. It's disheartening and distressing to be on the receiving end of constant laughter, as it undermines my self-confidence and makes me question my worth. The fact that A laughs at everything I say or do, without considering the impact it has on me, is incredibly hurtful. It goes beyond playful banter or light-hearted teasing. Instead, it feels like I'm being ridiculed and belittled on a daily basis. The laughter has become a constant reminder that my thoughts, opinions, and actions are somehow inadequate or deserving of mockery. It's a painful experience that chips away at my self-esteem and leaves me feeling devalued. I had hoped that by sharing my feelings with A and even discussing it with E, there would be a shift in behavior or a deeper understanding of how hurtful it can be. However, the persistence of this behavior demonstrates a lack of empathy and disregard for my emotional well-being. It's disheartening to witness how easily others dismiss the impact of constant laughter, failing to recognize the lasting damage it can inflict. In my efforts to cope with the situation, I chose to distance myself from the group, including A, in the hope of finding some solace and preserving my own sense of self-worth. However, this unintentionally led to a sense of isolation and further detachment from those I cared about, including P, E, other A, which is contrary to my original intention of seeking understanding and support.

Hello friends! I've been lurking here since I failed my 1 hour screen last week at 158. This community made me feel so much better about my result! thank you all! I see there's a lot of posts about food recommendation requests. I've been "mindful of my carbs" for the last 6 years, so I have developed an arsenal of good low carb food options. I'll list a few below. Unfortunately many may be specific to the US. Also, luckily my 3 hour test came back all normal and I haven't had to monitor my glucose at home, so i don't speak from GD experience.
These are all things I'm able to find at my local grocery stores (harris teeter and giant)
[Bread] Hotdog buns, burger buns, bagels and slice bread: 647 brand from Schmidt/old time has so much fiber and half the amount of net carbs of regular breads. No one can tell this is "lower carb" bread.
Flat bread and "lavash": Joseph bread has a flax and oat barn line that's VERY good. Again, no one can tell it's lower carb.
Tortillas: so many companies make low carb tortillas, they're generally all good. I prefer Ole extreme.
[Pasta] Al Dente has a line called Carba-nada. It has been a go to. It's the closest to regular pasta with a little more character and half the carbs and double the fiber.
Bonza has chickpea pasta that is 30 grams net carbs per serving. It's a little more squishy than regular pasta, but I like it quite a lot. They have ready mac and cheese boxes with decent macros if you restrict yourself to a single serving!
Explore Cuisine has different types of bean pastas. I like all of them! They all have a mild but distinct taste that can be a hit or miss depending on the dish. They're all VERY good on their own with some light sauce or garlic olive oil. They're very heavy on the protein so I often prefer them with no meat.
[Savory snacks] Beef/jerkey sticks (look at macros)
Olives! Several brands make "liquid free" snacking olives. My favorite is Mario
P3 protein snacks
Popcorn if you can not finished whole bag
Flavored almonds. Blue Diamond has a wide variety of non-boring almonds.
Any snacking cheese in individual packs (string, cheddar sticks, baby Belle.. so many!)
Quest protein chips have only 3 grams net carbs
[Sweet treats] NICK'S products. Ice crams and bars and other stuff too. I LOOoRRRVVVEE their peanut chocolate protein bar, it's basically a snickers bar but not as sweet. It's the very best!
Berries with reddit wip
KIND ice cream bars have decent macros!
Halo top ice cream (NOT the whole pint, and not the sorbet)
Skinny Dipped almonds. Espresso and lemon are my favorite!
Lily's chocolate
[Sugar alternatives] I'm a firm believer in diversity and moderation. I believe that having huge amounts of any type of sugar on the regular is not great. So I personally try to mix them up (including having regular sugar in moderation). But here's my two cents.
Monk fruit sugar: most similar to regular sugar. By far my favorite. People can't tell the difference between it and regular sugar. Generally haven't noticed any bad gut effects.
Allulose: not as sweet as sugar. Still good. 85% similar to regular sugar in taste.
Stevia: definitely has a weird aftertaste. Not my favorite but has its uses and great mixed with other sugars or fruit-heavy desserts.
Swerve: pretty alright. It's an erythritol mix which makes me bloated if I consume a lot of it. I use it frequently in small amounts or mixed with other sugars!
Xylitol: has a minty cooling effect. I only like it in icecream and gum. May cause bloating too.
Sucralose: there's been many studies showing its not the best for you. I DON'T avoid it like the plague, but would personally rather have regular sugar over sucralose.
[Quick meals/sides/lunches/snacks] Boca burgers (with 647 buns, mayo cheese and sugar free ketchup!) Just pop them in the microwave for 1:30 mins!
Cherry tomatos + fresh mozzarella + olive oil and balsamic + basil
Cucumber + cream cheese + everything seasoning
Trader joes crisp bread crackers + smoked salmon + cream cheese
[Breakfast, other than the obvious, EGGS <3] Pancakes and waffles, there's SO many brands that make low carb options. Our store has Birch Benders and it's pretty alright!
Avocado + hemp seeds + seasoning + lime (or even a splash of apple cider vinegar)
647 brand toast with a slice of cheddar cheese!
Cottage cheese (even the fruity ones are very low carb)
Cheese platter, sugar free jelly and sugar free peanut butter and crackers/low carb bread
[General cooking advice] If you can, join a service that delivers vegitables to you weekly. This will force you to cook at home and not let things go to waste and eat A LOT more vegetables.
A spiralizer is fun! Veggies are not a substitute for noodles, but they often work well in many dishes!
Cooking shredded cabbage in a very hot wok with soy sauce and garlic is a great base for Asian dishes. A regular pan would steam the cabbage, so it's not as good.
Spaghetti squash is your friend. You can poke holes in it and microwave it whole.
Air frier is another one of your best friends. They speed things up tremendously making it more likely for you to eat at home!
Cooking LOTS of tomatoes + garlic + onion + Italian seasoning + dump any other vegitable and protein you have available until the tomatoes really reduce, will ALWAYS result in a yummy meal. Topped with feta and pine nuts and olive oil? Yes please. Low carb bread works with this.
Any vegitable combination + any ground or shredded protein + a can of salsa + Mexican seasoning + (beans optional, they add fiber, protein and substance but also add carbs) make an excellent meal on its own OR in a low carb tortilla. Avocado and sour cream work on the side.
Salads with a hot protein on top feel more like a meal than an all cold salad. They're less boring too.
I hope this was useful, even little!

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Want to discuss current trends? Board shapes, technology? Advice picking outerwear? Need info on traveling to Revelstoke for the first time? Or question about what board you should buy? For new and experienced snowboarders with any questions at all about snowboarding including gear, learning, what to wear, where to go, what terminology is rad, etc. Nothing is off limits! Please ask questions in this thread and let the /snowboarding community help out. This is meant as a judgement-free and welcoming environment to ask any kind of question related to snowboarding, no matter how dumb it may seem.
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[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/131t1q9/first_contacts_part_1/)
[Part 6](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/13xe87q/first_contacts_part_6/)
“Welcome to the Endeavour 2.”
Nathan had already chosen to name the frigate after his experimental warp ship, I wondered if that meant he intended to keep hold of it but the limited number of Doradul crew was my largest concern.
“Only 20 Orvangians?”
Nathan’s smile dropped away and he rose from his seat, “I am sorry Jin, the Axarli shot and killed several on the planet’s surface, these were the only prisoners they recovered.”
Halor the Doradul’s Secondary Ops Officer made the Orvangian Gesture of Greif from loss before taking the pilot’s seat that Nathan slid out of.
“I am glad to see you and Doc got to the shuttle safely, but you should probably get some rest, that’s what I am going to do now.” Nathan gestured back to the elevator.
Once we were aboard the elevator, he thumbed the button for Deck 9 where the shuttle was stored.
“What course are we on?”
“Halor plotted a course to a Federation System called Polivor, we will be there in about a day.”
Once we reached the shuttle Nathan and I gathered our things and headed for Deck 4 officer’s quarters. Nathan claimed the Captains Quarters and offered me the First Officers, it was nowhere near as comfortable as the Doradul, in that respect it was much more like the Endeavour, it was a single chamber with a bed, chair, desk, and storage compartments, no more than 6 square metres of floor and barely 3 metres high.
All I had in the way of possessions was a Laser Rifle, a Space Suit, and the pack of seeds from the Doradul, Purple Valuri Seeds my mother had given me when I left for the Doradul. The Chamber didn’t have enough lighting for flowers to grow, the gloom better suited to the needs of the Sovereigns or Euterians.
I Stowed my things and extracted myself from the space suit, it looked ugly now, not the smooth bluish appearance it had once possessed, there were dozens of scratches on its hard segments and the Separatist sealant was brown leaving a couple of dozen irregular dirty-looking smudges where I had sealed it.
My uniform was no better, torn and tattered I had been wearing it for hours when I was sent to recover Nathan from the Endeavour 1, it smelled dirty and pink staining surrounded the tears.
Entirely disrobed I lay on the bed and dimmed the lights, the last sleep I had managed was back in the escape pod, it felt like that was days ago. Despite my exhaustion, it wasn’t easy to fall asleep, perhaps it was the stinging of wounds or the death of so many Orvangians that I knew, sleep took over an hour to reach.
I dreamt of the first year I served aboard the Doradul, we were surveying systems in the Tilbas Sector, looking for worlds that would be suitable for Orvangian settlement, they were peaceful days wandering the stars in search of beauty and quiet, I had built many friendships with members of the crew, among them was Wula, she served as a Geological specialist, surveying planetary crusts for stability. I had gathered her family seal from her body when I was on the Doradul, hers and two others, Palos wasn’t exactly my friend, a support Engineer, he was after my job but I did not wish to see him dead and Worgan, I didn’t know him well.
I woke after a few hours, my bedding stained with lymph from a wound on my side, it had opened again as I had slept. The only thing I had to wear was my torn and stained uniform so I donned it again and headed for the medical bay on deck 3.
Doctor Hule and the Tilik Nathan called Doc were here, treating plasma burns on Sub Officer Florn, she had been a ground officer during surface surveying for the Doradul.
Doc moved over to the second bed and patted it with a tentacle so I hopped up and gestured to my reopened would “It started weeping again”.
“Not to worry, I can go over them all with more care now that there are no enemies at the door.”
Doc began to treat my wounds taking time to seal and patch each one, it took over an hour of work for him to finish and I did feel considerably better.
“Thanks, Doc” I slid off the bed and turned to leave.
“I suggest you also visit the quartermasters on deck 7, they can sort you out something clean to wear.”
Clean clothes and a shower sounded great so I headed straight to Deck 7, the Doradul’s own Quartermaster was here and she soon had the ship fabricate two new uniforms for me, both now showing the embroidery pattern for the Doradul as a Memoriam pattern, though she had not included an Endeavour 2 pattern.
The deck where my quarters were had a shower block, suited to the use of four so that all the senior officers of the frigate could use it at once. I was the only one there though so I took my time cleaning, ensuring that the grime of recent events was gone.
Finally clean I donned a new uniform and stowed the other in my quarters before heading to the bridge.
Halor was still in command, using the Pilots chair as a sort of captain’s seat as he reviewed the ship’s systems and supplies, not that the information was necessary, we would be arriving at Polivor in less than 20 hours now and he would most certainly be disembarking, we all would. This ship was evidence of the Separatists’ rearming against the treaty they had signed when they lost the war.
“Jin! I thought you would be resting after all that excitement.”
“Sleep is difficult, I was hoping we had a crew roster.”
“We do” he indicated an auxiliary console “But I am sad to say that neither of the Doradul’s Therapeutic officers are with us.”
I sat on the padded bar that counted as an auxiliary station seat and brought up the roster, Nathan and Doc were both listed as well as the 21 survivors of the Doradul, 84 had died in the attack on the ship, those whose seals had been recovered were also listed, so I added the three I had collected and quietly wept for a few moments at the losses we had taken.
Less than 40 seals of dead crewmembers had been recovered and were currently being displayed in the galley on deck 3 so that was my next destination, the elevator was in use so I took the ramps.
The Galley was busy, 10 of my crewmates from the Doradul were here some at a wall where 35 seals hung in memoriam of the lost, and others were sitting at tables with the separatist equivalent of ration packs.
I approached the memorial wall and hung the three seals I had recovered, Jola and Nero gave me sympathetic hugs in response. Jola had worked with Wula as part of the survey teams so she offered to make the bond and share memories of our friend and colleague.
We sat and shared our memories through the Bond, the experiences we had each gathered of Wula being integrated, the social evenings I had shared with her, and the work humour Jola had experienced, each memory we shared built a greater picture of our lost friend in our minds and helped us to become closer friends as a result.
After the bond was over, we sat together and ate, the Separatist ration packs were simple, a grain and nut disc with a side of dried berries all held in a small plastic pouch. It wasn’t as good as the fake chicken that Nathan had shared but it was enough to sate my appetite.
Others in the Galley were sharing memories and meals, we may have lost the therapists but our shared experiences were helping us to cope with the losses.
I was about to depart the Galley when Nathan arrived with Doc, Nathan’s arms were loaded with ration packs of his own kind, far more than he could reasonably eat, and Doc was carrying a couple of bottles of medication.
Nathan selected a table next to mine and began laying out and snapping tabs on containers, a total of eight each with the same markings as the fried chicken I had tasted. Doc opened the bottles and dumped the pills into a bowl.
Once the circles turned red Nathan tore lids off packs and released the delicious smell of chicken “Ok everyone, feel free to try some Southern Fried Chicken, Be aware that the coating is a little toxic to Orvangians, so please take an Anti-Toxin pill from Doc here before you eat!” he spoke loud and clear so that everyone turned their attention to him and the smell.
I moved swiftly to the table and dry swallowed a pill before selecting a piece of chicken and biting down. My first taste of this had been without the coating so I had not been able to experience the full delights of its flavours, the coating was quite spicy though the anti-toxin was doing a good job of keeping it from being painful.
Soon others were trying the food for themselves and Nathan found himself explaining that it was not meat once again, though most were satisfied with no explanation. The atmosphere soon became more jovial and Nathan asked Buddy to play some music by another Buddy, this time a musician called Buddy Holly.
The Chicken was soon gone but the uplifted spirits would not fade so quickly, Nathan chatted with everyone, sharing jokes and stories from his people. For a few hours, the galley was a happy place.
Eventually, Nathan and I headed to the bridge to relieve Halor and monitor systems during our journey. I had never served aboard a ship built by another species before, the console layouts and bridge plan here were designed for a mixed species crew with effort made to offer interface and seating flexibility for all the races of the Separatist movement.
Someone had already modified screen layouts to better suit the Orvangian standard and seats were largely configured for our lean forms, the pilot’s chair being the only exception.
“Nathan, you understand that the Federation is likely to want this ship for study.”
“Halor told me. It’s fine though just leaves room for an Endeavour 3.” Nathan followed the statement with a Grin, something the other Orvangians on the bridge were still not used to, but I found myself grinning back causing a surprised reaction from the rest of the bridge crew.
There wasn’t much to do at warp so much of our time was just familiarising ourselves with the ship and its many systems, the Endeavour 2 was originally just referred to as the TX210-B, a combat support Frigate with an arsenal of ship-to-ship weaponry, it was designed to fight, having no other purpose.
After a few hours we were relieved of duty ourselves, Florn being the next most senior officer, he had no experience commanding a ship, but his rank was just below mine and he did command ground survey teams so he would manage for a few hours of Warp travel.
Nathan and I departed the Bridge together “You hungry?” Nathan nudged me as he spoke.
“I haven’t eaten much the last couple of days.”
“Let’s head to my quarters and grab some food then.” We used the ramps to reach deck 4, Nathan’s Fabricator was set up on the desk in his quarters and six ration packs were stacked inside it.
“Your fabricator can make food?”
“Yes, I fed it some of the separatist ration packs and it can make a half dozen different food options from them.” He took a pack from the machine and held it out to me.
He cleared the machine and started it on the next load, then he gathered the stack he had built beside it, almost two entire batches worth and headed back up to the Galley. Once we arrived, he deposited all but one of the packs onto a table at the end of the room and selected a seat at another table.
As I sat with the pack he had given me I noticed that the writing on the pack that had been in Nathan’s language when we had shared chicken on the shuttle, was now all in Orvangian, indicating the instructions to cook the meal and describing itself as a ‘Closed Spicy Meat Sandwich with vegetables and Fruit Sauce’ once the circle turned red I tore open the top to reveal a pair of shell-shaped things, they didn’t look like sandwiches really, they smelled of cooked meat and spices.
“I had Buddy modify the ingredients to eliminate toxic properties so enjoy.” Nathan bit into the crunchy exterior and juices dripped from his chin as he ate.
It was delicious, though I still preferred the chicken he had provided before. Several crew in the galley helped themselves to a pack and soon the whole galley smelled of the spices and meats of this Human food.
Two of these sandwiches were a little much for an Orvangian so most of the crew were sharing packs. After I finished one sandwich Nathan asked “You going to eat that?”
“No.” with that Nathan demolished his third and seemed sated.
“Captain Nathan. Could Buddy play some more music?” the query came from Asor a junior engineer by rank.
“Sure! Buddy, can we get some Dolly?”
“Playing Dolly Parton.” Buddy began with a song about working long hours and soon the galley was full of Orvangians badly singing along.
Eventually, the poor sleep I had gotten over the last couple of days was too much for me and I departed the music and joviality of the galley and returned to my chambers, the small size and lack of a garden hit me again as I entered the metal box military officers call spacious quarters.
Exhaustion made sleep much easier this time and I managed a good six hours of rest, my dreams largely of my childhood and memories I had gained from my bond with Jola. When I awoke it was to the voice of Nathan “All crew, we shall be arriving at the Polivor system in one hour, All crew to stations.”
I climbed out of bed and donned a fresh uniform, depositing both my dirty and tattered one into the laundry chute before heading for the bridge.
Nathan was in the Pilots chair and Halor was standing at an auxiliary station, I took a position at the first officer’s console and examined the navigation data, we were now just 35 minutes from our destination.
That time soon vanished as we prepared the ship for arrival, we would look like a separatist ship so Halor had modified our transponder data to indicate that we were the Endeavour 2 under the Galactic Federations Flag, still, we would need to prove we were not hostile so I set the weapons to safe mode and prepared a transmission of my security code and a message to indicate our allegiance. Nathan prepared to take control of the ship’s course moments before the Warp drive shut down.
We dropped out of warp at 2.2 million kilometres from the Military Outpost in the outer system.
Two Separatist Cruisers were waiting for us, barely a thousand kilometres from our arrival point they immediately opened fire, particle beams lancing out at us with their crimson fury.
Nathan’s reactions were on par as usual, jerking the controls to starboard and hitting full thrust the moment he saw the ships. He managed to evade the worst of it but a blast cut a streak across the port side of the ship, two turrets were hit and auxiliary communications were burned off the ship.
“Jin, Arm Weapons, focus fire on the sunward side ship! Halor, get me data on the state of the system.” Nathan yelled orders as he twisted the Endeavour 2 among the beams.
I had set the weapons to safety thinking we would need to look non-threatening, it was going to take two minutes to get weapons back “Captain, two minutes for weapons!”
Halor set secondary displays to show the devastated Outpost and the distant flashes of conflict over Polivor 3 “Captain, there are 5 Separatist Battleships in orbit of Polivor 3 and the Military Outpost has been destroyed.”
He paused for a moment as though he could barely believe his next statement, “We are at war.”
​
[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/131t1q9/first_contacts_part_1/)
[Part 6](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/13xe87q/first_contacts_part_6/)
(I hope everyone is still enjoying this story, Let me know if you are. As you may have noticed there is no Species Data Drop in the comments this week they will resume once another species makes an appearance.)

Changelog:

• https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.50.0:
  • A lot of scriptletes improvements:
    • Imrove xml-prune scriptlet
    • Improve href-sanitizer scriptlet
    • Add evaldata-prune scriptlet
    • Add remove-node-text scriptlet
    • Add replace-node-text scriptlet
    • Add trusted-set-constant scriptlet
    • Add trusted-source support for privileged scriptlets
    • Support injecting scriptlet in MAIN or ISOLATED world
    • Add spoof-css scriptlet
    • Expand/harden some scriptlets
    • Add ability to execute aeld scriptlet at a later time
    • Add "scriptlet" filter expression to logger
    • Report injected scriptlets in troubleshooting information
  • Add back AdGuard Tracking Protection
  • Add support for sublists in "Filter lists" pane
  • Add thunderbird as target for installation (filtering in feeds)
  • Offer opportunity to update filter lists before reporting issue
  • Bug fixes

Visit GitHub releases page for more information.
Extension will be auto-updated after browser restart! (when available for your platform)
If you want to update manually:

• Do not use links from release page "Assets" section - these are not signed.
• Use add-on store or links in release description on GitHub releases page when they are available (basically - they will be add-on store links).
• In some cases, installation may be blocked until browser restart. This is protection against accidental mid-session reloads, Issue #717.

Q: Why no release for Firefox yet?
A: Review pending.
uBO is a recommended extension on AMO, and as such it must undergo a formal code review each time a new version is published.
Q: Why Chrome/Chromium is not updating uBlock Origin?
A: Review pending (staging release).
Auto update will occur in stages - few percent every day - to spot and react on possible bugs.
Q: When Opera version will be updated?
A: Submission pending.
Usually it's submitted a week after bug-free version is published in AMO.
Q: When Edge Chromium version in the Microsoft Store will be updated?
A: 1.50.0 is available on Edge Add-ons as of June 8.
Microsoft Store submission is controlled by nikrolls.
This is official version and will be kept updated, see Issue #890 (comment) and following comments.
Warning: importing profile from Chrome may cause issues - you may need to reinstall uBO on Edge to fix this. You can transfer settings by saving them to file in uBO Dashboard -> bottom of the Settings tab.
^{Previous announcement thread https://www.reddit.com/uBlockOrigin/comments/12rhp5o/ublock_origin_149_announcement_thread/}

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Background
In case you haven’t heard, on July 1st, Reddit plans to change their API pricing structure to a model that will directly affect app developers, moderators, and third-party app users, among others.
Here is a link to an open letter by many of the moderators and communities on the platform in protest of the changes: https://www.reddit.com/ModCoord/comments/13xh1e7/an_open_letter_on_the_state_of_affairs_regarding/
How This Affects Us
The moderators of /FreeXboxLive use third-party apps to perform their moderation duties best on Reddit. Apollo in particular has been used to post on different accounts, post and sticky relevant threads and comments, access mod mail to communicate with winners, and monitor user activity on the subreddit, some of the features personally paid for to both support the developer and be able to moderate more effectively. It’s also a good app to browse Reddit with, the functionality is intuitive and the design combines the best of Reddit and iOS’s design language.
How This Affects You
For you, if you use a third-party app like Apollo, Reddit Is Fun, and Sync, then the main way you use Reddit is going to be changed. You must use the official app to explore the platform, of which there could be features lacking in the official version and the potential for trackers. This also puts into risk other features that you may use, such as navigating on old.reddit.com to access the platform.
In addition, your moderators will not be able to moderate. People that rely on third-party apps to access Reddit and perform their moderation duties will find it much more cumbersome or even impossible, as there will undoubtedly be times where there is no easy access to a computer. You will see more spam and irrelevant content without the help of moderators.
What Are We Doing
First of all: We will not be putting our subreddit on private,l.
We believe that setting this subreddit to private will be either ineffective or, more consequently, detrimental to what the subreddit stands.
However, we want to bring as much awareness to the issue as possible! We introduced the API changes when they were first announced as something we’d pay close attention to, we are currently making this Announcement thread expressing our solidarity with other subreddits.
What Can You Do
If you’re a user, there are many things you can already do, such as spreading the word on a different platform or contacting the admins expressing your concerns. However, I would also like to encourage the idea of joining a new platform, even if at the moment there are not as many users as you’d expect there to be. After all, if you are the product, then it’d be a shame if there was no more product to go around. I’d recommend taking a look at Lemmy and Tildes. Note on Lemmy though, as you create your profile, use a less popular Lemmy instance such as sopuli.xyz or lemmy.one as the main instance is already sharing they’re experiencing server overload from the influx of people joining. Tildes also has a decently active subreddit as well over on /Tildes that you can access.
If you work in Reddit, please emphasize to the people around you how detrimental this can be for the health of the users and for the future of the platform. Reddit is not like Twitter, many users here actively participate in and read discussion, others volunteer their own free time out of passion for a community, and if an idea is popular, the community can band together to do incredible things. It is very possible for the people key to moderating on this platform to migrate away, thus introducing a host of problems that you all may not have even considered, and it may not be worth the risk of changing from the status quo into a structure that could have ramifications for communities on here.

I look out in front of me, and perceive the sea lit up out to the horizon. I look around me: to my left and right, I see the limitless straight line of the beach, and behind it, the dunes -- all in space. With my gaze I make the space my own. The objects are clear and plain. I see the wind bend over to the ground, the reeds that keep the dunes in place.
I am at the center of this universe by means of my gaze, which sweeps across this space and lets me know everything in it. By combining these images of reality, I grasp it as a whole, and become a part of it as a result of my looking.
My sight constructs a universe for me. It reveals to me a directly perceivable reality composed of colorful, simple, harmonious images. But it also furnishes me with more subtle materials. I learn to read my brother’s or my enemy’s face. Transmitted images are superimposed on one another, and as a result, I now know that a given image belongs within a particular context of reality. It conjures up another image; I anticipate what I am going to see, but what is coming will in any case be located in space and will constitute part of reality -- deeper and hidden, in a sense, but still reality.
Such information is precise and pinpointed, and deals only with reality. Nothing else, no other dimension, is ever involved. …Sight has made me the center of the world because it situates me at the point from which I see everything, and causes me to see things relative to this point. My vision makes a circular sweep of space, working from this point: my point of view. But now I am tempted, as the center of the world, to act on this spectacle and transform this setting. What was missing in my vision was someone to act, and I am available.
Sight moves to action at the same time that it serves as the means of action. Again, without it, how could I act, since I wouldn’t even know what my hand was touching or what was within my reach? …I am a subject, not separated from what I look at. Rather, what I see becomes a part of me, as my action involves me in what I see. Images both permit and condition my action; they are always imperative. I lean out the window and look searchingly into the emptiness. Images of distance and depth thrust themselves on my consciousness. I know I mustn’t lean out any further.
The image defines and marks the boundaries of my action. The image does not induce my action, but establishes its conditions and possibilities. Without visual images my action is definitely blind, incoherent, and uncertain. Sight conveys certainties and pieces of information to me, as we have said. Such information is reliable. I perceive a gray ocean and an overcast skyline. This is unquestionable. The reality around me is a certainty in which I can be confident. It is neither incoherent nor deformed. I know, of course, that this is also something learned; there are no data coming directly from the senses, and the shapes and colors and distances I apprehend are perceptible to me because I learned them. My culture has furnished me with the very images I see. But however important this may be (and we must not push this idea too far!), it is still true that I see.
What a dreadful uneasiness takes hold of us when reality is submerged in fog…sight fails to furnish me with clear images and I can no longer act. The world loses its midpoint. It is off center because I cannot see it anymore. The center could be anywhere, but it is no longer located where I am.
In order for my sight to mislead me concerning reality, there must be some unusual phenomenon, like a mirage. The image is not ambiguous. This peach I am looking at is red and weighs heavily on the bending branch. This is absolutely certain. But the image is insignificant. It has no meaning in itself and must be interpreted. In the case of a fruit ripe for picking, the visual image gives me indisputable information, but if I stop there, nothing will happen. It must therefore be interpreted. In order to move from the vision of the fruit to "I should pick it" or "It can be picked," there must be an interpretation: an attribution of meaning to these real images of reality.
Another dimension must be added to sight: interpretation will come through speech. Thus the image contains within itself a deep contradiction. It is not ambiguous: it is coherent, reliable, and inclusive; but it is insignificant. It can have innumerable meanings, depending on culture, learning, or the intervention of some other dimension. For this reason I must learn to see, before looking at the image.
After seeing it, I must learn to interpret it. The image is clear, but this clarity does not imply certainty or comprehension. My certainty is limited to this directly perceived reality that my sight reveals to me. Nothing beyond that.
I call these images "vision" because they are connected with the other images I am accustomed to. I would be tempted to say in this case that the order is reversed. The visual image exists, and then I attribute a meaning to it; but the vision appears only as the illustration of a previously established meaning. No matter how insignificant it may be, the visual image is always rigorous, imperative, and irreversible. I saw what I saw. I cannot change the reality which is conveyed to me in this way, except through my action. There is no ambiguity at this point. Nor is there reversibility.
If I had only one "view" of my universe, I would be a participant in a totality which would be both terribly coherent and yet at the same time composed of fragments without any necessary relationship. The totality would be like a cloud of irrational dots which can form only the framework of an action, a change in the relationships between the points. But the cloud of dots cannot be used for understanding anything, because this pointillism of images is space but not duration. The image is present. It is only a presence. It bears witness to something "already there": the object I see was there before I opened my eyes.
I have a point of view, a location from which I see things, but it is situated within what I see and inseparable from it. Wherever I place myself, however I shift my position, I remain in the field of vision, I remain in the middle of what I see. I can never take my distance, act as if I were not present, or even begin to think independently of what I see.
At night, when I cannot see, a certain distance is established. This explains why the day’s events become so painful at night: the distance between me and the world around me allows for reflection and meditation. A flood of images overwhelms me, beckons me, and carries me along: an image I have seen follows immediately after the one I have just dismissed from my mind. I can never stop this movement of reality in space. I can never consider a given image like a diamond or a painting from which I can take my distance in order to be "myself," instead of being overwhelmed by the images composed of dots.
The image prevents me from taking my distance. And if I cannot establish a certain distance, I can neither judge nor criticize. Of course, I also feel pleasure or displeasure in what I see. I can find it beautiful or ugly. But this is not a critical process. No judgment is involved. Furthermore, what possible criticism or judgment can we make with respect to space and reality? In spite of the frailty we have all observed in a person’s testimony about what he has seen, everyone has the same certainty about anything he has seen. He has seen reality.
Sight involves a relationship with reality as established in space. It is an artificial construction. Medusa’s head transfixes whoever gazes at her. Whoever looks at the scenes on the shields of the Iliad is terror stricken. Sight introduces us to an unbearable shock. Reality when seen inspires horror. Terror is always visual. Horror stories play only on our visual sense and suggest representation.
In contrast, the spoken word can involve us in mystery or drama. It places us in situations of conflict and makes us conscious of tragedy. But it is never on its own terrifying or stupefying. We are dazed by sight -- by an image or a vision. The word takes us to the edge of terror only when descriptive and painting extremely precise images. Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories are an example. All the descriptions we have heard of Nazi death camps move us to revulsion and to a judgment that may be based more on strong feelings than anything else. The image of bulldozers pushing along mounds of skeletal corpses, which shortly before had been living beings, faces teetering from the machine’s pushing -- this image drawn from ‘Night and Fog’ moves us to abject horror. It terrifies us, because we see. Such terror results from the horror of reality.
Reality apprehended by sight is always unbearable, even when that reality is beauty. We have a horror of reality, perhaps because we depend on it so. Language, even when it is realistic, allows us to escape from this terrible reality. Sight locks us up with it and obliges us to look at it. There is no way out -- except by controlling and mastering the reality.
Images fall into a pattern with respect to each other, but sounds do not. Instead, sounds contradict each other and cancel each other out. I am listening to a Mozart concerto, and suddenly near me someone speaks. Or a visitor knocks at my door. Or someone starts noisily putting away dishes and silverware. Sounds produce incoherence. The noises I hear form no panorama of the world.
Alone among all other sounds there is one that is particularly important for us: the spoken word. It ushers us into another dimension: relationship with other living beings, with persons. The Word is the particularly human sound which differentiates us from everything else. In this connection a fundamental difference between seeing and hearing is immediately apparent. In seeing, the living being is one form among many. A human being has a special shape and color, but he is included with all the rest as part of the landscape: a discrete, moving speck. When I hear speech, however, the human being becomes qualitatively different from everything else.
The spoken word, even if it involves an essential proclamation or the thought of a genius, falls into the void, passes, and disappears, if it is not heard and recovered by someone. The ocean over there, even if no one contemplates it, remains what it is and what it was. I see it, and it produces a flurry of emotions in me. I leave. I go away, but it does not. The spoken sentence has sunk into nothingness; time has gone by, and there are no "frozen words" which can make themselves heard again later.
Thus speech is basically presence. It is something alive and is never an object. It cannot be thrown before me and remain there. Once spoken, the word ceases to exist, unless I have recovered it. Before it is spoken, the word places me in an expectant situation, in a future I await eagerly. The word does not exist on its own. It continues to exist only in its effect on the one who spoke it and on the one who recovered it. The word is never an object you can turn this way and that, grasp, and preserve for tomorrow or some distant day when you may have time to deal with it. The word exists now. It is something immediate and can never be manipulated. Either it exists or it doesn’t. It makes me what I am, establishes the speaking me and the listening me, so that my role is determined by the word itself rather than by its content. For the word to become an object, someone must transform it into writing. But then it is no longer speech. Yet even in that form, it requires time.
The word is, of necessity, spoken to someone. If no one is present, it is spoken to oneself or to God. It presupposes an ear; the Great Ear, if necessary. It calls for a response. Every word, even a swearword, an insult, an exclamation, or a soliloquy, begins a dialogue. The monologue is a dialogue in the future or the past, or else it is a dialogue incorporated into a monologue. Here again, time is involved. Dialogue develops according to a variable timetable, but dialogue cannot exist unless those engaging in it are inserted into time. Language is a call, an exchange. I avoid using the threadbare term "communication." It is not true that language exists only to communicate information.
Language never belongs to the order of evident things. It is a continuous movement between hiding and revealing. It makes of the play in human relationships something even more fine and complex than it would be without language. Language exists only for, in, and by virtue of this relationship.
Dialogue involves a certain distance. We must be separated as well as different. I do not speak to a person identical to me. I must have something to say which the other lacks, but he must also be different from me. Yet similarity is required as well. When Adam sees Eve he bursts into speech. He speaks because of her and for her. She was flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone; and yet different: a dissimilar similar person. Speech fills the infinite gap that separates us. But the difference is never removed.
Discourse begins again and again because the distance between us remains. I find I must repeatedly begin speaking again to restate what I have said. The result is an inevitable, yet rich and blessed, redundancy. The word is resumed and repeated because it is never fully explicit or an exact translation of what I have to say. It is never precisely received, never precisely understood.
The word reduced to the value of an algebraic formula with only one possible meaning would be useful for us in carrying out an identical superficial activity. But such language could never create meaning, and would never produce agreement and communication with another person. "Algebraic" language could never produce -- or suggest a story. Bees communicate pieces of information to each other, but do not produce anything like history.
The word can also obstruct and impede history, when mythical language immerses us in an ahistorical time that is repetitive and continually reduced to myth. Language is either historical or ahistorical, either a discourse on action to be undertaken or of a myth to listen to. According to the sort of language used, human history either arises and becomes a significant aspect of humanity’s existence, or else it remains on the level of everyday incoherence.
With insight, meaning becomes perfectly transparent. The other person’s words become mine; I receive them in my own mind. I experience utter intellectual delight, but a delight in my whole being as well, when I understand and am understood. The Word ushers us into time.
When I say that language normally deals with Truth rather than Reality, I only mean that there are two orders of knowledge, two kinds of references we use as human beings. There are references to the concrete, experienced reality around us, and others that come from the spoken universe. The spoken universe is our invention -- something we establish and originate by our words. We derive meaning and understanding from language, and it permits us to go beyond the reality of our lives to enter another universe, which we may call phantasmic, schizophrenic, imaginary, or any other name we choose.
I am certain that since the beginning, human beings have felt a pressing need to frame for themselves something different from the verifiable universe, and we have formed it through language. This universe is what we call truth.
The important thing is that the unique value of language lies in truth. Language is not bound to reality, but to its capacity to create this different universe, which you can call surreal, meta-real, or metaphysical. For the sake of convenience we will call it the order of truth. The word is the creator, founder, and producer of truth.
When it uses a loudspeaker and crushes others with its powerful equipment, when the television set speaks, the word is no longer involved, since no dialogue is possible. What we have in these cases is machines that use language as a way of asserting themselves. Their power is magnified, but language is reduced to a useless series of sounds which inspire only reflexes and animal instincts.
How often we have come up against a blank wall instead of a face, when the other person did not want to understand! How can we make him understand as long as he persists in that attitude? In reality, language is an extraordinary occurrence in which each person’s liberty is respected. I can oppose my word to the other person’s. Or I can turn a deaf ear. I remain free as I face someone who tries to define me, encircle me, or convince me.
In other words, of necessity I give my listener a choice to make. A situation where there is choice is a situation where there is freedom. But at the same time, I invite him to use the gift of liberty inherent in language, just as I have. He must speak in turn, consciously making use of his freedom. I invite him to start down the difficult road of self-knowledge and self-expression, of choice, self-exposure, and unveiling.
Language always involves the exercise of freedom. It is never mechanical, just as it is not an object! Subtle structural linguistic analyses are of course limited to texts; that is, to finite, fixed words rather than open-ended ones. Such analyses seem to account for everything…But they overlook one thing. Once the languages and lexicons, rhetorics, discourses, and narratives have been stripped of their mystery, one thing is left: language itself. It remains because it is history, and such linguistic analysis excludes history.
This is its second characteristic. The paradox, let us remember, is something situated beside or outside the doxa (opinion). The paradox is free of all doxa, but at the same time calls the doxa into question. Roland Barthes is right in showing that "the real instrument of censorship is the endoxa rather than the police."
Our civilization’s major temptation (a problem that comes from technique’s preponderant influence) is to confuse reality with truth. We are made to believe that reality is truth: the only truth. At the time of the controversy over universals, the realists believed that only truth is real. We have inverted the terms, believing that everything is limited to reality. We think that truth is contained within reality and expressed by it. Nothing more. Moreover, there is nothing left beyond reality any more. Nothing is Other; the Wholly Other no longer exists. Everything is reduced to this verifiable reality which is scientifically measurable and pragmatically modifiable. Praxis becomes the measure of all truth. Truth becomes limited to something that falls short of real truth. It is something that can be acted upon. The Word is related only to Truth. The image is related only to reality.
Of course, the word can also refer to reality! It can be perfectly pragmatic, used to command an action or to describe a factual situation. The word enters the world of concrete objects and refers to experiences of reality. It is the means of communication in everyday life, and as a result it fits precisely with all of reality. It conveys information about reality and takes part in the understanding of it. It can even create reality, producing effects that will become part of reality. Thus the word is ambivalent. But its specificity lies in the domain of truth, since this domain is not shared with anything else.
On the contrary, the image cannot leave the domain of reality. It is not ambivalent. At this point I can hear someone tempted to ask: "What is Truth?" I will carefully avoid answering by suggesting some specific content for the word. Such an answer would be challenged immediately, involving us in a long digression which would exceed my capacity. Without attempting this sort of definition, I can show what the object of truth can be, and this will serve to distinguish it clearly from reality. The very questions asked about truth can indicate its nature, replacing the answer that cannot be given. We can grant, then, that anything concerned with the ultimate destination of a human being belongs to the domain of Truth.
It does not matter if one can answer or not, nor does it matter whether the answer is personal or is objectified as philosophy or revelation. But when a person asks about his own life (consciously or unconsciously), then the real question of truth has been asked. And when anyone claims to have resolved it, he is lying.
When he tries to answer this question within the framework of reality alone, he has no answer to offer.
An individual can ask the question of truth and attempt to answer it only through language. The image, on the other hand, belongs to the domain of reality. It can in no way convey anything at all about the order of truth. It never grasps anything but an appearance or outward behavior. It is unable to convey a spiritual experience, a requirement of justice, a testimony to the deepest feelings of a person, or to bear witness to the truth. In all these areas the image will rely on a form. Images can convey a rite, and thus people have a tendency to confuse religious truth with religious rites.
An image can catch a psychological expression on someone’s face: ecstasy, for example. People will believe that they are seeing authentic faith, whereas all they have is a psychological state that can be utterly unrelated to faith. Such a state can be induced by a drug, for example. Faced with such a problem, those who identify reality with truth are so monumentally confused that they deny faith because a psychological state can be artificially induced! An image can show a body’s position, as in a photograph of clasped hands and bowed head, seeming to say that this is prayer. But in reality, no prayer is involved in this image; it could be only a joke. Even when no one is joking, an image is incapable of expressing the seriousness of truth.
…An image can report miracles, but only recorded miracles -- after they have taken place and grace has departed. The image can never penetrate as far as the holy place where the Word proclaims that an individual has become a new creation. The miracle is an expression of this new creation. No image is able to convey any truth at all. This explains in partly why all "spiritual" films are failures. When we insist on expressing spiritual matters this way through images, something other than truth is always perceived. Even more serious and alarming, truth tends to disappear behind all the lighting and makeup. It tends to vanish when squelched by images.
Our generation is characterized by the exclusive preeminence of reality, both at the factual level and in our preoccupations. We are moved in this direction by the marvels of technique, the prevailing tone of our time, the great concern about economic matters, etc. Our era is further characterized by an absolute identification of reality with truth. Marxism has prevailed absolutely in this matter, and science has finally convinced people that the only possible truth consists in knowing reality, and that the proof of truth is success relative to reality. Thus in the thinking of modern individuals the image is the means par excellence which communicates reality and truth at the same time.
This attitude concerning images can be held only if one confuses reality and truth to begin with, believing that a scientific hypothesis is true when it is confirmed by experiments. Such a hypothesis has nothing to do with truth, and is merely accurate. Of course, this preeminence of reality and this confusion coincide with the universal belief in the "fact," taken to be of ultimate value.
The image is an admirable tool for understanding reality. A documentary film of a riot enables us to penetrate the world of anger better than any speech could. But an image is explosive only if the spectator knows what it represents and if it is taken for what it is: a faithful representation of reality. An image becomes falsehood and illusion as soon as a person tries to see truth in it. At that moment, by means of an amazing reversal, the image loses all its explosive power.
When the image is understood to speak only of reality, however, it is explosive and terrible. At this point we discover a new problem. images in our society are always the product of a mechanical technique. Technique is truly an intermediary, since the universe of images is established for us by technique. But this is the equivalent of saying that we find ourselves in the presence of an artificial world, made by an outside force with artificial means. Therefore it is important to realize that stark reality is never conveyed to us in this universe of images. Instead we find a more or less arbitrary construction or reconstruction, with the result that we must constantly remind ourselves of the ambiguity behind the apparent objectivity of the image: it expresses a reality, but of necessity it presents us with an artifice. In this sense the image is deceptive: it passes itself off as reality when it is artifice; it pretends to be unilateral truth when it is a reflection of something that cannot be truth.