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[NEWBIE] Learn from My Experience. Try Your 1st Guitar in Person Before You Buy Online

TLDR at Bottom
Background: Longtime reader, first time poster. I am a 40 something that failed learning guitar from a cheap Strat copy when young. Decided to take guitar up agin late spring 2020 during Covid lockdown. I was limited to places I could order from (open). So, I could not tryout guitars in person. Left with just going off reviews of gear or from what artists I listen to play. I decided to concentrate on places close to me in case there were problems with the guitar. Also, went with a place that said they did a full setup before sale, which was important to me from my research. The place I settled on was 45 minutes away.
The Gear: The first guitar I went with was a Squire Classic Vibe 70’s Custom telecaster. This was a demo model sold at a discount. It arrived with fret buzz on the low E and it appeared the brass saddles were out of whack with the whole bridge rattling. I contacted the guitar shop and sent them videos. They tried have me do adjustments over the phone. No luck in improving. The suggested sending the guitar back. I didn’t want to wait 7-10 days to receive it back. I felt like I was losing time (The irony once you read the rest of the story). They offered to return and exchange for another guitar if I brought it in person. Doing the exchange outside. I jumped on it. As I didn’t want to wait and the telecaster didn’t feel comfortable to hold or play.
The guitar I exchanged it with what was available was an Epiphone Les Paul Muse. This again was a demonstration unit. I drove did the exchange. I got it home and to my disappointment there was fret buzz on Low E, A and D strings. Also, this guitar even felt more uncomfortable to play. I kept feeling like I was slouching down around the guitar to play, I’m 6’ 3”. I contacted the guitar shop again and they offered to fix or exchange. I took the exchange option again to save time and it was uncomfortable.
With stock they had I settled on a Gretsch 5222. Drove and did the exchange again. This was a demonstration unit as well. This guitar was definitely the best out if the 3 comfortability wise. Sound, Fit and finish was the best too. One thing I struggled with was the thin-u neck. I found that doing chords I could never get my thumb comfortable as it was so thin by the headstock. Later, learning songs I found the bridge rattling when I did power chords and such 10 fret or higher. Sounded terrible. Turned up my amp high to try to cover the noise. I decided to change the strings (wanted to try to go down to 9’s to see if it would make easier to play) and do a beginner setup to see that would help with the help of the internets. No improvement. There are few videos and many forum posts about Gretsch bridges rattling. That is what I would hear. So, I decided to try to get this fixed under warranty going through and approved Gretsch dealer right near my house.
I took the Gretsch 5222 do the guitar shop in the dealer network. The person I checked the guitar in with said he felt it was just fret buzz ant the guitar would just need a setup. At this point I’m so frustrated with the sound of the guitar I left it for the full setup for $50. The guitar was finished a week later. I arrived to pick it up and I kid you not, there was still rattle or fret buzz according to them. Although, it was slightly better. They suggested to take it home and try it out through my own amp. If there were still issues bring it back. Well, got it home and I could hear the sounds coming through the amp with headphones even. I brought it back. They worked on the guitar for an hour while I there. They couldn’t get it to stop. They did the old “That is the way it is”, “This is Gretsch’s low line”. The last ditch effort was to move back to a set of factory 10’s. This cleared rattle/buzzing on the E. I still felt like I could hear the A and D string. It was loud in there, hard to tell. I got it home. Through the 2-week holiday stretch and was disappointed that the unwanted sound was still there.
I made the decision to investigate if I could trade it in. I didn’t want to be without a guitar for a week or more. Plus, I never felt good with the 5222. Still felt I was slouching over to play sometimes and the neck being so slim up top. I decided to mostly target larger semi-hallow and hollow guitars. Thought they would be better for me being taller. Researched as much as I could and targeted the usual value picks of Epiphone (335, Coupe, Sherition, 339, Casino, Rivera), Ibenez 73, D’ Angelico DC, etc. I thought the Casino was going to be my favorite.
Went to Guitar Center first. Had a good selection to look at. Setups were all terrible. One was the worst I ever seen; the frets were like knives. Nothing spoke to me. A D’ Angelico DC was probably the best built there. Still felt small, but better than my 5222. It was hard to flag someone to even get a ladder for me. Couldn’t find anyone to estimate my trade. Decided to bail.
There was the original well-known guitar shop I would have gone to way back at the beginning of my Journey if lock down did not happen. I got there and the staff was super helpful and knowledgeable. Totally listened to my situation. They assessed my 5222 and gave me space to look, like I should have done at the beginning. I just went around looked and held all the models. I held Semi-hallows, offsets, telecasters. Didn’t plug them in. Just felt them in my lap and hands. Played difficult chords. Listed to them resonate. It came down to 2 guitars. An Epiphone 335 Figured Blueberry figured and an Ibanez AS73FM Green Valley Gradiation.
There was a clear winner side by side by holding them and plugged in. The Ibenez 73 Flamed Maple Green Valley Gradiation was the guitar for me. The shop offered me $120 less than I paid for my 5222 and I took it without thinking twice. My fingers just fit the Ibanez. The thicker neck feels great. It doesn’t make chords harder for me, it makes it easier. The guitar felt like it fit me. The sustain is fantastic, I can play unplugged. The fit and finish was good. Flamed top looks really cool and I never would have pictured me with a guitar like this. Is the tone the best in the world? No. But, I think they are averagely versatile from what I read, heard and seen. I honestly have to let the tone go. I’m such a beginner I don’t know what good tone is yet. I’m just looking for something I want to pickup all the time, makes it easier for to play and therefore learn. I will upgrade later or may be never. I may always love it.
TL/DR
To beginners similar myself. Don’t just go off reviews/videos and order online. Try out guitars in person first. There is plenty of advice like this that I wished I would have taken from the beginning. The guitar should feel good in your hands, lap, standing, or however you play. I have progressed more in the last 2 weeks than I have in the last 3 months with the right guitar. I really attribute this to the ease of play. I’m not fighting the guitar as much. Going in person will open your eyes to new possibilities you may not have pictured in your head. Plus, you may find issues with the guitar before you purchase. Hope this helps someone.
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Traditional Chinese Medicine Unable to Stop Animal Trade

Traditional Chinese Medicine Unable to Stop Animal Trade
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https://preview.redd.it/5mok4iqcpef61.jpg?width=3600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79241324678037ebe8b186262f101e512024b901
The array of shapes and sizes leaves one agog. A bull's penis is 2 ft. long and almost translucent; deer penis has a meaty, pink hue; snake penis looks like a bifurcated twig. "Snake penis has become more popular in China since the one-child policy ended," says restaurant manager Zhang Yang, sparking another cigarette. "Many people ask for it now because they want a second child. "
Business is good at the Guo Lizhuang penis restaurant, which has 19 outlets across China. At Zhang's branch, in Beijing's well-heeled Sanlitun neighborhood, tables are booked weeks in advance, and the overwhelmingly male patrons of late middle age typically part with several hundred dollars for dishes that they believe will restore masculine or "yang" energy and, in turn, libido and sexual virility. A bull's penis comes cheapest at 200 renminbi ($30); the most coveted is a fur seal's penis at 2,800 renminbi ($400). "Fur-seal penis is the most expensive as it has lots of elements that are good for the body," says Zhang, "but it's also quite mild so you don't get the inner fire. "
For that burn, there's only one place to look. "In terms of nourishing the yang, tiger penis is definitely top. If you handle tiger penis properly, and mix together with Chinese herbs, it really has the best possible effect -- much better than Viagra," says Zhang. "Lots of people come here asking for tiger penis, but it's illegal, so we don't sell it. "
The pharmacopoeia of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) stretches back millennia, rooted in a system of balancing energy levels through diet, herbs and physical techniques like qigong, acupuncture or the circulation-aiding cupping therapy made world famous by swimmer Michael Phelps at the Rio Olympics. In these ways, TCM itself is benign. However, despite attempts by leading organizations to quash the belief, many ordinary Chinese labor under the false idea that TCM ascribes extraordinary health benefits to rare animal parts -- and that is causing a real headache for practitioners and conservationists.
China's growing affluence means that TCM is undergoing a legitimate renaissance, buoyed by government sponsorship as Beijing seeks to boost its global soft power. TCM had an almighty publicity coup when the chemist Tu Youyou won the 2015 Nobel Prize for her wormwood-based malaria treatment, artemisinin. The number of TCM-related papers in Science Citation Index journals has also soared 30-fold to 3,000 annually over the past two decades.
In August, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed that revenues from TCM made up of the national pharmaceutical industry in the first half of The General Office of the State Council has even recommended that TCM be promoted in nations along Xi Jinping's proposed "One Belt, One Road" trade route. According to Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at New York's Council for Foreign Relations, advocates have engendered "a discourse that makes support of TCM a patriotic duty in China. "
However, conservationists warn that TCM's resurgence has spawned a lot of unregulated quackery that, in turn, is related to an uptick in wildlife trafficking -- a nefarious global trade that, the says, already generates $19 billion a year. The most trafficked animal on earth, for instance, is presently the pangolin or scaly anteater. An estimated 1 million of the creatures have been plucked from the wild across Asia and Africa for consumption almost exclusively in China, where many people believe their scales can be used to treat everything from rheumatoid arthritis to inflammation. In response, international prohibitions have been ramped up. On Sept. 28, the Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) conference in South Africa banned all trade in all eight species of pangolin.
However, international efforts to protect endangered animals are often not supported by domestic legislation and enforcement, so trafficking hot spots continue to boom. In Mong La, a seedy entrepot in northernmost Burma (officially now called Myanmar), tiger penis is very much on the menu. Sitting across from China's Yunnan province, the town lies outside central Burmese government control, and is instead run by an ethnically aligned rebel army, which turns a blind eye to myriad illicit activities. A legion of bare-legged sex workers emerge with the setting sun, handing out calling cards with labored smiles, while bleary-eyed gamblers hammer away at betting machines in dingy casinos.
But vice is only half the draw. Each morning, Mong La's central marketplace teems with hawkers selling pangolin skins, the pelts of clouded leopards and tins of bear-bile powder. The town's restaurants are flanked by live animals in cages -- pangolin, civet cats, rare birds. Beneath a velvet curtain, four whole tiger carcasses wallow in a vat of grain alcohol atop a carpet of glistening ginseng root. "They've been in there for two years," says a waitress. "But I don't know where they came from. "
While the origin of this contraband is murky, its destination is never in doubt. Though it is very much part of Burma, the de facto language of Mong La is Mandarin, the clocks run on Beijing time, signs are in Chinese and Chinese cell-phone coverage can be picked up 30 miles before the border. As China's economy has grown, so has Mong La's wildlife trade. According to a study in the journal , the number of shops selling wildcat parts in Mong La, for instance, increased from six in 2006 to 21 in
TCM has shown itself to be responsive to the plight of threatened animals in the past. During the 1980s, rhinos were on the brink of extinction as poachers killed the creatures for their horns. China was still a poor country at this time, thus the biggest markets for rhino horn were the booming but relatively small markets of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Following a public outcry, rhino was removed from the official TCM pharmacopeia and placed on CITES Index I -- the strongest level of protection. Coupled with stringent domestic laws prohibiting sale and transportation, this led demand and price to plummet, allowing the rhino population to recover.
Today, however, the game has changed entirely, and demand is far beyond anything that TCM authorities are able to discourage or contain. That is the result of a rapidly developing China, whose billion people wield far more purchasing clout than the combined 32 million of Taiwan and Hong Kong -- and that means that rhinos are, once again, under threat. The upwardly mobile, 89 million Vietnamese are also partial to rhino horn. According to a survey by the San Francisco-based charity WildAid, 71% of respondents in the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh believed that rhino horn had health benefits, with 62% believing it could cure assorted diseases and specifically saying that it could cure cancer.
Reputable TCM practitioners have explicitly distanced themselves from animal-based remedies. Animal penises, for one, do not help male performance, says TCM expert Chen Shilin, dean of the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica at the Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing. "It is merely a folk therapy," he says. "And using tiger bones is now obsolete. "
Yet misinformation is rife and official protection is lax. In July, China rebooted its Wildlife Law -- the first review of this key legislation in three decades. Given the overriding threat posed to many endangered species by the world's most populous nation, this should have been a golden moment for environmentalists. However, the final draft left loopholes that essentially allow for endangered-animal farming and trading for "special purposes. "
That means that tigers, for one, can be reared and slaughtered for ornaments like tiger-skin rugs and tiger-bone wine. Bears can also be farmed for their pelts and bile -- which is taken by many Chinese for gall-bladder and liver conditions, even though there are herbal alternatives that do not involve harming animals. Such farming sustains the perception that exotic animal parts are valuable and to be coveted. The World Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Societies removed tiger from its pharmacopeia as long ago as 1993, but that hasn't stopped the growth of some 200 Chinese commercial farms, where experts estimate that between 5,000 and 6,000 tigers are being raised today.
Pangolin is another example. A CITES Index I listing used to mean that pangolin would automatically be afforded Grade I National Protection status in China. But the revised Wildlife Law allows the government the discretion whether to grant that protection or not, and currently it permits an annual legal quota of 20 tons (the illicit trade is, of course, far greater). Ultimately, "CITES is not particularly useful without full domestic implementation," says Vicky Lee, trade-and-policy analyst for the Environmental Investigation Agency, a British NGO.
Unregulated TCM is not just dangerous for wildlife: it harms people too. One recent fad has been for manta-ray gill raker plates -- the thin filaments these majestic creatures use to filter food from seawater. In China's southern province of Guangdong, they can fetch $500 per kilo. But manta rays, which are on CITES Index II, are not rapid breeders. In fact, they typically produce one pup every two years, meaning this trade is especially destructive to their populations.
This is despite the fact that manta ray has never been included in any TCM pharmacopeia; its use was simply concocted by seafood salesmen, who flaunted rake plates as a cure for everything from cancer to chickenpox, creating a trade estimated to be worth $ million a year where none existed before. More worryingly, gill raker plates have been marketed as an aid for lactating mothers. But when WildAid did tests, they found very high levels of cadmium, arsenic, lead and other toxins present. "They were saying manta rays can help mothers produce more breast milk, but given the heavy metals present, this was really not a good thing," says John Baker, managing director of WildAid.
Even though remedies like animal penis or manta ray are never prescribed in reputable TCM hospitals, there is nothing stopping restaurants or salesmen from advocating their health benefits. Lixin Huang, who is both the executive director of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and an animal-conservation activist, wants strict regulations and heavy penalties to "completely separate" the practice of TCM in reputable clinics from the animal-based "folk remedy" industry. Yet there doesn't appear to be the political will in China to make that happen.
Says Huang: "Consumers are really confused, and that does no good for protecting wildlife or the TCM practiced by the medical profession. "
--
Charlie Campbell
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Wheelz Casino 20 Free Spins Bonus No Deposit Required

Wheelz Casino 20 Free Spins Bonus No Deposit Required
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Wheelz Casino Review & Bonuses
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Since debuting with flagship brand, Wildz in 2019, the developer has been recognised for their rapid ascent through numerous industry award nominations. With their third portfolio addition, the veteran crew is hoping to wow even more online casino enthusiasts by leveraging machine learning that has proved so successful with previous ventures, fine-tuned over the course of several years.
In-house smart systems comprise an essential component in Rootz’s toolkit, with their influence felt across all key areas of the business, such as AML and Rewards. Payment times at Wheelz are also some of the fastest in the industry, supported by robust processes developed over time.
As to the face of the brand, there is one recent revelation that is giving the Malta-based operator a particular cause for excitement.
Rootz has agreed to partner up with showbiz legend David Hasselhoff – of Baywatch and Knight Rider fame, to act as Wheelz brand ambassador.
“The Hoff”, as he is affectionately known in circles worldwide, is expected to return to his acting roots as the star of Wheelz TV ads, and the collaboration will even see the Hollywood megastar Hoff feature in his own dedicated bonus games at Wheelz. The Hoff admits to feeling at home in the casino environment, even telling Wheelz: “If I had to pick a favourite casino game, it would definitely be craps.”
Hasselhoff may be happy to hear his favourite game, plus a host of other dealer-dealt live-streamed table games, are on offer at Wheelz – along with hundreds of popular video slot titles. As he has done throughout life, the star will be looking to bring his own brand of cool to the party at Wheelz, stating: “That word ‘cool’, is a real big word to me.”
Pulling off a major coup in the capture of Hasselhoff, the trailblazers at Rootz are confident they’ve acquired arguably the biggest global star ever to represent an MGA-accredited online casino. As yet there has been no word on whether The Hoff will be travelling to Malta as part of his obligations, but the situation was left marked ‘watch this space’ by a Rootz representative when pressed.
Wheelz.com is an online casino operated by Rootz LTD with MGA license number MGA/B2C/599/2018.
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  • Feature - Extra Wheel: At random, a David Hasselhoff themed pop-up bonus game will appear. The player spins to win rewards such as cashback, double speed, progress bar to 99%, and other rewards. Like with Wheel of Spins, lighting up all four letters of HOFF every four apins will double the rewards.

Wheelz Casino by David Hasselhoff

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Arctic Spins Casino Free Spins Bonus & No Deposit Promotions

Arctic Spins Casino Free Spins Bonus & No Deposit Promotions
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Arctic Spins Casino Free Spins and Welcome Bonus
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Arctic Spins Casino Review

Arctic Spins is another newcomer on the online casino scene, joining many sites to have launched in 2017. This made its mark in May, just in time for summer – although this casino’s theme is anything but warm in terms of temperature.
It can be hard to keep track of all these new releases, but every new addition is very welcome, giving players more choice of themes, games and overall style. Whether you want to stay loyal to one brand, or prefer to play the casino field as well as the games, the more options the better.

Cool Card Games and All Things Ice

While the name would suggest there’s some reel fun to be found here, there are a good choice of live games too at Arctic Spins: Blackjack, Roulette (including an immersive Roulette, speed Roulette, auto Roulette), Dream Catcher, Baccarat (speed, squeeze and control squeeze variations), Caribbean Stud Poker, Texas Holdem Poker and Three Card/Tri Card Poker. These are powered by the ubiquitous and reliable evolution gaming, assuring you of a quality gambling journey. A range of well-groomed, attractive looking dealers await your custom, with plenty of interactive gambling opportunities afforded to the would be player.
The design of the website is straightforwardly simple and while featuring the cold setting of the polar plains, is warm and fuzzy in its cartoon cuteness. Given how popular the Disney movie Frozen has been, this winter ambience is clearly a winner and sparks an imaginative response from us, to the lands of fish hunting bears, whales and penguins (not to mention being the home of Santa Claus). Whatever the season, a trip to Arctic Spins provides plenty to talk about.
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So what of bonuses in this casino? Well there’s an offer to entice new players to this new casino. Deposit £10 and you’ll receive 25 free spins on Starburst - if you’re not familiar with this game, it’s a mega popular slot with loads of great aspects and very simple to play, meaning it’s often used as part of a welcome promo, bonus or offer scheme in online casinos at large.
Other promotions pop up for a period and so it’s worth keeping an eye on the site for fresh upload, with the current one being a Live Dealer Lucky Draw where you have a guaranteed win of between £2 and £500 in credits. It’s still early days, so we’re likely to see more coming from Arctic Spins, in the way of promos.

Splendid Slots

There is a whole lot of choice here when it comes to spinning those reels, with plenty of different slots on offer for you to try. The middle left hand side of the screen has a handy little menu from which you can filter by software providers, categories concerning the type of game and a nice little addition: type of wins. This allows you to search not just on the biggest wins, but also frequency and regularity of wins - ideal for both the risk loving high rollers and those who are looking for a fat percentage of Return To Player rate, without needing to checking every single game.
You’ll find high profile software developers games here including slots from the likes of IGT, NetEnt, MicroGaming and NextGen. Whatever your gaming oeuvre there’s a slot theme for you including some of the most popular ones like slots featuring animals or the lands of mysterious ancient Egypt. If you’re a particularly keen reel fan, you could also try well established Casumo casino, which has an equally great selection and a strong user interface (not in yer face).
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VIP Privileges

We love being referred to as a very important person – and casinos are some of the easiest places to earn this title (depending on the casino, mind you). Among the tick list of casino attributes to look for, is a good VIP scheme that’ll reward you for your custom. It can be tricky to find some info on this site - like specifics in terms of restricted territories and details of the VIP scheme.
You’ll find a search box, but this is only geared toward games, so searches on anything else will come back blank. However, there is such a programme the Privileged VIP club, enticing loyal players with prizes such as cameras, coffee machines, vouchers and much more. Expect special seasonal treats too, but you’ll have to work your way into it first.

On the Move?

Every new casino release should be mobile compatible and it’s important to find one optimised to the small screen. It’s so handy to be able to log on and play, especially when you need to kill time while out and about. Thankfully Arctic Spins is fully optimised for mobile play and looks great on the small screen with smart device calibrated design.
Things look very similar on all devices, except the sized down version uses a series of drop down and expandable menus with recognisable icons to make the most of the space and ensure a smaller screen isn’t too cluttered with wordiness and elaborated options. The most important buttons are very evident, so you won’t lose any time hunting for what you need.
Of course it depends on your devices and browser, but it is often an even better, faster experience on a mobile device than a laptop or desktop computer. Arctic Spins even advertises itself as a mobile casino in its welcome strapline. So you can enjoy playing wherever you fancy, on your smartphone, smartwatch, kindle, tablet or ipad. Just make sure you’re connected to a reliable WiFi source or have a generous data allowance - especially if you’re spinning those cinematic sequence video slots or playing the tables with a live dealer.
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Arctic’s Hot Support

If you have any questions or issues, a click on the support or live chat buttons (found on the to access your options. You can aso visit the frequently answered questions and answers section, which might solve the problem. Advisors are available via email, live chat or the old fashioned method: the telephone. As this is a very new casino we don’t know too much about their service reputation yet, but the site certainly gives us plenty of confidence and assurance in them.

Your Payment Options

There’s an increasing variety of payment methods popping up these days and you can use both the old school and modern options such as Paysafecard, Zimpler, Trustly, Sofort and Boku here. There may well be at least a coupe in there which you don’t recognise – Zimpler is a Swedish mobile pay service, while Sofort provides international money transfers. Do be careful with Boku which incurs a 15% fee on your deposit, meaning your budget won’t go quite as far and you won’t have as much credit to play with.
All other deposit methods are free, having no fee attached. The minimum deposit for Boku is higher too, set as £15, rather than the £10 across the board for all the others. One withdrawal is allowed per 24 hour period, with a minimum amount of £20 and a maximum limit of £2000. Checks are made prior to your request being granted, taking up to 72 hours (there may be an additional wait time on top of this depending on your method - cards make this period especially lengthy).
Licenced by the UK Gambling Commission, this site operates complies with responsible gambling and so requires you to prove you are who you say you are when verifying your account. It might seem a hindrance in the short term, but take it from us, it’s a total help to everyone in the long.
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Crisp Stuff Indeed

This is generally a very user-friendly layout, making it super easy to find the games you want to play and offering variety in terms of slot and table options. A handy filter system for games is always a boon and this one has sorted its categories into useful groups that enable you to get to the right place quickly and easily. Using the New Games filter is a great way to check out what’s recently been added and keep your favourites fresh and funky.
The theme of Arctic Spins is subtle, yet bright and cheery and features some nice crisp graphics. It can be hard to find some of the info on the website (most notably, specific details and a guide to the VIP scheme - something that might deter very loyal high rolling players wanting the full exposition before signing up), but with live support available and decent functionality, this shouldn't have any effect on your play experience. The choice of payment options and currencies make it an international player in the online market (with the significant exception of the United States) and a cool new casino in more ways than one.
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Mise à jour Coronavirus 18-03-2020

Le post d’hier est ici.
Le bilan chiffré et les cartes d’hier sont ici
Merci pour tous les messages hier, et aujourd’hui !
Si vous connaissez des liens pour proposer des services d’aides aux personnes âgées et fragiles, aux soignants, aux personnes qui travaillent, est-ce que vous pourriez les poster en lien que je fasse une liste?
Il y a actuellement 199 000 cas dans le monde. Le nouvel épicentre de l’épidémie est l’Europe, et notamment la vieille Europe. Edit: il est 14 heures et il y a maintenant plus de 204 000 cas. Edit: il est 22h30, et il y a maintenant 217 000 cas recensés.
Hier, la Belgique a aussi décidé de son confinement. D’après les rumeurs, New York sera confinée d’ici 48 heures. Les casinos ont fermé à Las Vegas.
En Italie, les chiffres sont toujours très impressionnants: 31 506 cas (+3526) et 2503 décès (+345). La situation est catastrophique à Bergamo, où les hôpitaux sont saturés. Il y a pourtant une bonne nouvelle: dans les régions où le confinement a été mis en place de manière précoce, le nombre de nouveaux cas diminue. Au niveau national, même si c’est occulté par l’énormité des chiffres, on peut voir que cela commence à se tasser aussi. L’Italie est en bonne voie. Il faut savoir qu’ils publient plein de données, et aident vraiment à comprendre le phénomène, donnent plein d’infos précieuses aux autres pays. J’espère que personne ne l’oubliera.
En Espagne, la situation est aussi difficile. Il y avait hier 11178 cas (+1236) et 491 décès (+149).
En France, la situation est catastrophique dans le Haut-Rhin. Des patients commencent à être évacués vers d’autres hôpitaux. Il semble qu’un tri ait été mis en place. Depuis hier la réa est saturée.
Il y a plus de cas détectés en Île de France que dans le Grand Est. Hier, l’exode des parisiens (et dans d’autres métropoles) a continué. Les gares ont été prises d’assaut.
Chez moi, le confinement, c’est pas gagné : il y a un jardin non visible depuis la rue, je n’y ai jamais vu autant de monde (gamins, famille qui joue au badminton, gars qui font des étirements, petites vieilles qui lisent sur les bancs...) qu’hier après-midi. Si les images des hôpitaux du Haut-Rhin fuitent, les gens prendront peut-être conscience de ce qui se passe. Incroyable ces comportements alors qu’on a conscience de ce qu’il se passe en Italie!
Niveau traitement, beaucoup de buzz autour de la chloroquine. Des infos que j’ai, le traitement marche et est utilisé avec succès en Chine, où il a bien fait chuter le taux de mortalité. Il y a cependant des ajustements à faire sur les dosages, à cause des effets secondaires chez certains patients.
De nouveaux députés ont été testés positifs. Je laisse cet article de la Provence ici, je conseille à chacun de le lire afin de se rendre compte de l’égalité des chances à la française.
Vous pouvez avoir des infos sur l’étude sur laquelle s’est appuyé le conseil scientifique pour rendre son avis ici .
Concernant la durée du confinement, personne ne croit aux 15 jours. Les optimistes parlent de 45 jours, les pessimistes jusqu’à l’été. De mon côté, l’info que j’ai est un pic prévu dans trois semaines si aucune mesure de confinement n’était mise en place. La donne a changé en positif avec la mise en place du confinement, en négatif après les débilités des citadins de ce week-end suivi de leur exode. Edit : la donne a changé sur le taux de mortalité, pas sur la durée du confinement comme on me l’a fait remarquer. Je m’égare à vouloir que ça dure le moins longtemps possible...
Au Royaume-Uni, Boris Johnson a annoncé que s’il y avait 20 000 morts ou moins, ce serait un bon résultat.
Partout dans le monde, des plans de soutien massifs à l’économie sont lancés. Il faut dire qu’entre les usines fermées, les gens au chômage, les compagnies aériennes qui menacent de faire faillite en mai, les inquiétudes sont grandes.
Au Japon, ils s’acharnent encore à vouloir organiser les JO (voir le communiqué ici ).
Aujourd’hui :
— Important et à communiquer à tous les inconscients qui laissent leurs gamins jouer en pensant qu’ils ne craignent rien: une nouvelle étude montre que 6% des enfants développent des symptômes sévères.
— Le DGS dit que la situation s’aggrave rapidement. 4000 tests aujourd’hui, 42 500 tests depuis le début de l’épidémie. 9134 cas (+1404), 3600 personnes hospitalisées , 931 cas graves. 264 (+89) décès - don’t 7% touché des personnes de -de 65 ans. Le bilan par région est ici . Il y a maintenant 2693 cas en Île de France, 2163 dans le Grand Est. Les autres régions sont sous les 1000 cas. La moitié des patients en réa ont moins de 60 ans.
— Il y a un projet de loi d’Etat d’Urgence Sanitaire . D’après l’AFP: « Le projet de loi d'urgence pour faire face au #covid_19 prévoit d'autoriser la déclaration d'un "état d'urgence sanitaire", permettant notamment de restreindre certaines libertés, selon ce texte obtenu par l' #AFP de source parlementaire. L'état d’urgence sanitaire "donne pouvoir au Premier ministre de prendre par décret pris sur le rapport du ministre chargé de la santé, les mesures générales limitant la liberté d’aller et venir, la liberté d’entreprendre et la liberté de réunion et permettant de procéder aux réquisitions de tout bien et services nécessaires afin de lutter contre la catastrophe sanitaire", détaille le texte. »
— Castaner au 20h de TF1.
— La Chine nous envoie un million de masques et du matériel médical (source)
— Je pense qu’on peut dire adieu aux marchés en plein air sous peu vu ce qu’il se passe à Barbès.
— Au niveau confinement : y’a pas plein de monde, mais il y a quand même des gens dans la rue (ca en fait beaucoup pour jogging/je vais bosseje vais faire les courses).Je vois passer les flics régulièrement. C’est simple: mis à part une voiture qu’ils ont contrôlée ce matin, je ne les vois contrôler personne. Je sais pas si chest spécifique à mon quartier, où bien ils ne contrôlent que quand il y a attroupement.
— Olivier Veran déclare qu’on peut espérer un ralentissement dans une douzaine de jours.
— Jean-Paul Hamon, le président de la fédération des médecins de France , est contaminé. Il explique la situation difficile dans son cabinet, car il n’est pas le seul à avoir été testé positif.
— Ricard va fournir de l’alcool pour produire les gels hydro alcooliques. LVMH a effectué ses premières livraisons aux hôpitaux.
— comme dans d’autres pays, il commence à y avoir des mutineries dans les prisons. Il y a eu un début à Grasse hier. . La situation est inquiétante à Fresnes, qui est surpeuplée et où cinq cas ont été détectés. En Italie, il y a eu des morts et des fugitifs. En Iran, pour éviter la propagation, 85 000 prisonniers ont été relâchés.
Études: voici l’avis de Nassim Nicholas Taleb sur l’étude utilisée par le conseil scientifique pour conseiller le gouvernement.
Voici un lien vers une discussion reddit intéressante sur la chloroquine. Tout n’est pas pertinent mais il y a pas mal d’infos et d’arguments.
Un autre traitement, le favipiravir, est considéré comme prometteur. . Ça ne marche que sur les cas sévères par contre.
Pour les traitements, je manque malheureusement de connaissances médicales...quand il y a pas mal de sources d’infos et un peu de recul je peux dire un peu ce qu’il en est, mais pas pour le reste désolée...
Article avec les chiffres sur les différences entre les régions mise en quarantaine très tôt en Italie et les régions avoisinantes non mise en quarantaine.
Edit: ceci est un fake , c’est d’un goût douteux, mais j’ai pas pu m’empêcher de me marrer.
submitted by Knowonething to france [link] [comments]

OBLIGATORY FILLER MATERIAL – Just take a hard left at Daeseong-dong…11

Continuing…
That being handled, I leave a wakeup call for 0430 as I want a shower and a couple shower-sunrisers before we leave. It takes me about 10 minutes to pack. I call home to let Es know what’s going on. She’s not in, so I leave a message. Same for my friends Rack and Ruin of the Agency. They’re thrilled so far with my reports.
The security forces here are absolutely going to freak if they reverse-review my phone records once we leave.
Covert? Schmovert. I’m too old for playing such games.
The next morning, after a sudsy shower and a couple of vodka-infused shower-beers; I’m in the lobby with all my kit, checked-out, and waiting on the tour leader. My passport was stamp-stamp-stampity-stamped here at the hotel, which I thought was weird, but after spending time in this here country, not all that unusual.
At 0545 on the dime, the tour bus pulls into the lot. Without a word, bellhops grab near all my kit and escort it out to the waiting bus.
After tipping each extravagantly, I fire up a huge cigar, and wander around outside, loitering by the bus. I see members of my team at the front desk, checking out. Everything’s been paid for already, they just have to sign documents that they’re not secreting hotel towels or televisions or errant nationals in their luggage.
It’s a weird country.
I see them loading box breakfasts for us as well as box lunches on the bus.
Hell, they’re actually doing ‘field trip’ correctly.
If the bus us fueled up, we can go for days at this rate. There are several coolers bearing the hotel’s brand and I sidle over to see what they’re carrying.
Case after case of iced-down beer and a couple of cases of various high-octane potables; and over there? A couple of boxes of mixers…ah, soda…pop…carbonated citrusy goodness.
“OK”, I sigh, “All is as it should be. Now the field excursion may begin.”
My teammates filter outside as does their luggage. I suggest they get out and keep what is necessary for preliminary outcrop excursions; such as a backpack or knapsack, hammer, acid bottles, field notebooks, Brunton compass, lighters, cameras, personal tobacco products, and the like in the bus. That way, we don’t have to go tearing through all the luggage at every stop.
I pull out a bundle of 100 Hubco™ large geological dual-sample bags. That’s right: ‘dual’ sample…
I distribute these to everyone on the team. I ask that they devise their own numbering system and make absolutely certain I have a copy of it when we’re done. I’ll be correlating and curating all the samples when we get back to the world.
I ask that a cooler of drinks are left on board the bus, rather than in the hold. It’s humid, sticky, and muggy today. We must expend valiant effort in remaining hydrated and this will help.
Luckily, the bus has on-board lavatory facilities.
We are seated on the bus, my 10 collective team members, myself, our 4 ‘guides’, ‘Yuk’, ‘No’, ‘Man’, and ‘Kong’; our driver, relief driver, one incredibly shy national geologist, Myung-Dae Soo, and four of the shiny suit clan.
The hotel wheels out a large cart laden with pastries and a huge coffee urn. A bit of a “Bon Voyage” from the casino and bar crowd, as they put this together for us when they heard we were leaving.
“Hey. That’s really nice of them.” Dax notes.
Dax handed over our raw “elevator waiting” funds as we didn’t have time to run it through the casino-machine before we left. We donated over 75,000 won to our friends at the bar, casino, and massage parlor. The ones delivering our going away present assured us it would be divided equitably.
“It best be”, I laughed, “You never know when one of us might be back!”
There was a collective horrified look on their faces for the merest moments. Then they all laughed and said that they hoped we would return someday soon.
“Nice folks”, I thought, “Stupid as shit country, but nice folks.”
We had all separately left tips for the room maids, bellmen, and matrons back before we checked-out.
There was a flurry of handshaking and goodbyes. Not a bad hotel experience here in the so-called land of Best Korea.
Serious dark coffee was passed out amongst the riders, but Ivan, myself, and Dax were already giving one of my emergency flasks a workout.
Ivan smiled and said: “We drink our coffee the Russian way. That is to say we had vodka before it and vodka afterward. HA!”
Ivan and I are cut from the same bolt.
Faux-doughnuts, pseudo-bear claws and fake-long johns all distributed; the bus is fired up, and rumbling. We are exhorted to watch our drinks as we pull away from the hotel and into the wilds of Northern Korea.
I’m humming away:

On the road again -Just can't wait to get on the road again,
The life I love is bashing rocks in the field with my friends.
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again.
Goin' places that we've never been,
Seein' things that we may never see again…
--
“Rock?”, Dax inquires.
“Yes?” I reply.
“Do please shut up.”
“Music hater”, I muse and comply.
We’re rolling down the highway, as it were, headed generally north. We all have cameras of one kind or another; and rather than relieve us of them, they quietly and without much fuss, slowly darken the windows.
They claim it’s to keep the sun out and temperatures down, but just before things go all black, we’re seeing sights and scenes of the true North Korea. They’re trying to keep us from seeing that en route to the outcrops.
This new bus has some sort of electronic tint-control gizmo for the windows. However, if one has a pair of polarizing sunglasses, as all good field geologists do, you see right past that and can view the passing scenery unencumbered.
I return from a quick beer-recycling loo trip and am amused to see 10 Western scientists, sitting in a blacked-out bus, all wearing polarizing sunglasses.
It was just the surreal note this trip needed as we left the confines of the capital city.
We traveled north, and the empties pile began to grow. We had a few trash bags we had liberated from the hotel, but the shiny suits were very insistent that every empty can, bottle, and bag, yes they had beer in bags…had to be repatriated to a box in the far back of the bus.
Evidently, they either were paid a bounty on each container or were accountable for each vessel. They were soon to realize just the capacity for drink that a group of 11 seasoned very Senior Field Geologists, and one stowaway geologist-in-training can amass.
As we ply our way northward, we see the agricultural side of North Korea. The contrast between rural areas and the capital was striking. There were miles of rice paddies being harvested by people with sickles in their hands. And no cars on the highway. It was most destabilizing for this Westerner.
I think we saw a maximum of three tractors, as most of the work was done with ox power, there was very little evidence of rural electrification. Oh, hold on. We saw many more tractors, I should correct that: we saw three running and not rusted into oblivion tractors.
The farmers we see are using equipment that is quite literally medieval - single-share plows pulled by large, cranky bovines; sweeping sickles to bring in the harvest, and twin-engine, bilateral, botanical-fired ox-carts to transport it. It’s hard to believe that this third-world level of poverty exists in the same country that’s capable of building rockets, nuclear weapons, and tall, well-appointed hotels.
But when we stop at a motorway service station for fuel - a bizarre alien spaceship-like building squatting over the empty carriageways - we do encounter a jangmadang, or semi-official market. Here they are selling cans of knock-off Vietnamese Red Bull and Malaysian-made King Cobra™ Cola.
It reminds me of Russia right after the wall fell. Off the Trans-Siberian Railway in Krasnoyarsk, the Gateway to Eastern Siberia. You can buy Chinese hams, Chinese sodas, Chinese knock-off liquor, and those bloody delicious little bullets of Vitamin-C, Chinese mandarins.
Here, it’s similar. You can get most anything you desire, except it isn’t of Korean manufacture. That stuff is even too shitty to pawn off on tourists.
Instead, it’s knock-off Malaysian, Chinese, or Indonesian beer, wine, or soft drinks.
“Tiger-brand energy drink. Now with 40% more real tiger.” Here? I believe them.
Vodka from everywhere not known for its vodka distilling prowess. Rural hotel shops sell nastily stale crisps, gummy gummies, filling-ripping ‘chewy’ taffy or caramel, and biscuits with a severely limited choice. Rural hotels do not have full electricity so beer is warm and often tossed on the table, waiting for tourists to arrive - as is the food. We were warned to be prepared for cold rice, cold fish, cold potato – and plenty of kimchi and tofu.
Back on the road again, we’re passing small burgs that are not on any of our maps; even the ones we traded for back in the hotel that are specially marked: “For Internal Use ONLY!”.
They were amazingly the same. Clean. Bright. Uncluttered. And attended by cadres of prim, uniform-clad, though non-military people. They were all doing a day’s work keeping everything neat and clean.
There were no cars, trucks, forklifts…only rickshaws and ox-carts. However every one of these ‘towns’ were identical, and exactly, as Ivan pointed out, ‘X’ number of minutes apart.
“Watch! Is so!”, Ivan said. We passed one of these villages, and exactly 3 minutes later, an exact copy. Three minutes later? Another one. 3 more minutes? Xerox-city.
“What the fuck?” Dax asked.
“Potemkin village.” Comrade Dr. Academician Ivan replied.
A Potemkin village is any construction, literal or figurative, whose sole purpose is to provide an external façade to a country which is faring poorly. It is for making people believe that the country is faring better, although statistics and data would suggest otherwise.
“Russia pioneered the process,” Ivan noted with no small amount of pride. “During Cold War with West, entire cities were built, moved, raised, and razed. Ever hear of Krasnoyarsk-25? Atomic Research City? Supposed place of weapons study and manufacture. Huge ‘accident’. Entire city demolished, total populace relocated supposedly, after massive nuclear calamity.”
“Is that true? Cliff asks.
“No. Not at all.” Ivan smiles, “Deliberate misinformation. At least for K-25. It was diversion for actual towns where accidents; nuclear, biological, or worse, had happened. West so concerned about K-25 because it was big, near big capital city of Krasnoyarsk and suitably located out in the taiga. Easy to spot, easy to watch. Kept Western satellites busy while real towns of I-33, U-10, and AR-13 out in the forest were quietly demolished and people relocated or mass buried after some horrible, horrible accidents...”
“You think it’s the same here?” I asked Ivan.
“No, Dr. Rock”, Ivan smiled, and helped himself to my freshly constructed, but untouched, Yorshch, “This is all fake and bluster. Make West think everything is all A-OK, is that right idiom?”
“Yep.” I reply, “Precisely.”
“Make West believe all is OK and green”, as he winks at me, “And bustling and growing. Cover up what is real case here. We all see it and we see right through. Shoddy even for Asians.”
We all had to snicker and smirk as the shiny suit squad, who sat up at the front of the bus, and were not supposed to be listening; reacted like every cell in their bodies were just hit with a drop of pure lemon juice.
“Comrade Dr. Academician. Decorum, please.” I snickered.
“Oh, fuck them!”, Ivan replied, “I am old Russian. They try and pull burlap over my eyes? St. Petersburg? Moscow? Krasnoyarsk.? I’ve been there, seen them. They think this display of tawdriness…Even goofy American and Canadian can see the fakes they are. Britisher? I’m not so sure…”
“Damn, Doctor., I said to Ivan, “You’re just making friends all over the planet today.”
We all knew it was in jest; but the shiny suit squad certainly had their feathers ruffled and either didn’t care or wanted us to know we were under their observation.
“Fuck them twice”, Ivan said, “Ask them for bottle opener. I’m too lazy to search for my field jackknife.”
I hand him my pocket Leatherman and he pries the top of another bottle of ‘Budveiser’ beer.
“They can’t even make fake the name correctly”, he smirks and drains the bottle.
‘Town’ after ‘town’ and even that parade gets uninteresting. We’re headed north and finally come to a crossroads.
The bus driver, who must be a regular paranoid-maniac because he actually stopped to look for oncoming traffic, which we have seen precisely none since leaving the capital city, made a hard right. We’re heading back and up into the hills, leaving the bright lights of the big city far behind.
After an hour or so of driving, we pull off to the left-hand side of the road.
“Rock, Ivan, Cliff…holy shit, look at this!” Dax was uncharacteristically excited.
It was an open field that leads to a series of low outcrops of polychromatic, obviously sedimentary rocks. Magentas, greens, purples, rust-reds, browns, blacks, olive greens…holy shit. A real sedimentary pile.
We filed out of the bus with our field gear. The shiny suit squad started in with a bullhorn.
“You will wait for tour guides!”
“You will listen to group leaders!”
“You will not stray from the designated paths set up…”
No one heard them as the group of 11 remaining Western geoscientists were already across the highway and hieing for the exposures like outcrop-seeking multiple-warhead re-entry vehicles.
“You must wait!” we heard from exasperated voices back at the bus. “You must stop!”
“You must piss off!” Cliff said, “This is what we’ve been waiting over two weeks to see!”
“They are very angry with us”, Myung-dae the young Korean geologist said. “I find that just too bad.”
“And you are?” I asked.
Myung-dae Soo, the young Korean geologist, introduced himself.
“Well”, I said, “Welcome aboard. I’m Dr. Rock.”
“They are very, very angry”, he repeats.
“So? Are you tagging along to give them internal reports?” I asked.
“No, Doctor”, he replied, “I too am a geologist. I want to get away from those assholes and see some real rocks.”
“Who are you with?” I ask, “What group?”
“I am 5th-year student at Pyongyang College. I am not officially here. We were told in class that you were coming. I decided to see if I could join you. This morning, I was standing by bus and they thought I was hotel worker or orderly. I was given cooler full of beer and told to find place for it on the bus. I did and after that, just stayed in the back. I am stowaway. I am ashamed, but I had to see for myself. But, I like Western field trips so far!”
“No shit? Well, then”, I said, “Double welcome aboard. None of this ‘I am ashamed’ shit. You’re a geologist, but you haven’t even worked through your first field-evening get-together with us. But this is no pleasure cruise. It’s real work, real geology, real serious science shit. You savvy?”
“Yes, sir, Doctor Rocknocker from Sultanate in the Middle East.” Myung-dae smiled.
“And you fucking stay close to me”, I smirked.
I fired a couple of BLAAATS! from my portable air horn.
“Field Meeting! Field Meeting! Assholes & Elbows!” I called aloud.
Everyone gathered within earshot.
“OK, guys, here’s the deal. We do not know how long we’ve got here. So, let’s split up into teams. Geophysicists, go do your structural thing. Stratigraphers? Field relations. Geologists? Let’s go talk to some ronery-rooking-rocks. No offense, Mr. Myung.”
Myung-dae was laughing up a storm. He got that reference. He later told us all around the campfire he thought ‘Team America’ was a “fucking hilarious movie.”
Oh, we are going to be a real bad influence on this poor kid.
The groups spontaneously broke up into 4 or 5 sub-groups. They headed for areas they thought were important and they were photographing, measuring, pounding on rocks, and arguing within minutes.
“No, you idiot! It’s continental. Look at those adhesion ripples.”
“The fuck you know. It’s only a little low-level eggbeater tectonics. Where the fuck would you get continental collision-size energy around here?”
“Oh, the fuck you say. It’s non-marine. Those are mud cracks. Look at the sandy aeolian infill, fer chrissake.”
Formal? Proper? Detached Doctors of Geology?
Not when you’re in the field. It all goes out the window when different opinions collide like subducting plates.
“The music of my people!” I said to Morse.
“I thought that was the ‘Safety Dance’?” he chided.
“We’re a big family. We can have more than one.” I snickered.
We’re wandering around the site, with individual purpose.
We are looking for or looking at items of interest.
We’re hacking at the outcrops.
We’re all looking at…things.
It’s hard to describe. Get a load of geologists or geology students out of the office, lab, or classroom; stick them out on a bare expanse of heavily weathered rock and it’s simply…numinous.
We’re rebuilding worlds here.
This rock says this.
This rock says that.
And you’re not fluent in that dialect. Here, let me interpret for you…
We’re at each other’s throats, in the academic-metaphorical sense. Tempers have been known to run hot. There has been the occasional bloody nose or rocks sailing down an outcrop without the obligate “HEADACHE!” call. Hammers and Marsh Picks have ended up swimming without the owner’s knowledge.
But once we’re back; settled in the hotel room, tavern, or around the campfire, we’re all a Band of Brothers again. It’s an odd thing to watch; as if you’re not of the clan, you’d need an interpreter. It defies all boundaries: political, sexual, educational, geographical, linguistic, social, et cetera.
We’re all geologists first. We share the common scientific bond of Geology.
That’s why Geology is the First Science.
Plus we tend to drink a serious fucking whole bloody awful lot.
We’ve all been on that ‘crawlin’ home puker’.
We’ve also been to the ends of the earth: the deepest depths, the highest heights, we deal with the greatest pressures, the hottest temperatures; we’ve been to the mountain, we’ve seen the elephant, and we’ve held a bear’s nose to dogshit.
We wear the scars attained in our travels like badges of honor.
We’re God-Damned Scientists.
Back off, man. Geologist comin’ through.
Anyways, I’m looking at the bedding-plane boundaries between the purple unit and the underlying olive-green unit. The upper unit it looks, to me, continental in origin. Fluvial, perhaps. The lower unit is much finer-grained. Marine mudstone, perhaps? But what age?
The cadged Korean Geological maps are worse than useless. They never would go down to the outcrop scale. Consulting them, they don’t even note these exposures in a field sense.
Myung-dae, who is working about 35 meters down-section from me calls out, “Doctors! Sirs! Look here! I’ve found something!”
We all wander over as he is hacking away at the dusty, eroded rock. He stands and dusts off his find.
It’s a very large, nearly 1-meter diameter, coiled fossil cephalopod.
I wander over for a closer look. Dax, Cliff, Morse, and Ivan do as well.
“Blimey! Will you look at that? Outstanding, Mr. Myung!” Cliff says.
“Well, that confirms it. This layer, at least, is marine. Look at that suture pattern”, I say, dusting off an unweathered bit.
“Look at the radius of coiling.”, Cliff joins in.
We’re slowly wresting information out of this silent witness.
“Ornamentation?”, Dr. Ivan asks. “Knobs, bosses, and excrutions?” Oh, yes.”
In unison, we declare: “Hyphoplites!”
Morse adds, “And therefore…these rocks are middle Cretaceous. Marine. Not bad…”
“Need to get some samples for geochemical analysis. Dig deep, gentlemen, we need unweathered samples for TOC (Total Organic Carbon) content.”, Dr. Erlen Meyer notes.
With that, we have a relative age of the rock, a good idea of its depositional environment, and therefore extent, ideas of field relationships, and an indication of some of its fauna.
Could it be source rock worthy?
Samples? Best get diggin’, Beaumont.
That unit is right smack in the middle of this pile of rocks. Dax and I will work up-section and Ivan and Cliff will work down-section. We’re going to see what lies above, what lies below, what trends we can discern, and develop an idea of what happened here some 100 million years ago.
This is what happens when you get geologists out in the field with the proper amounts of field gear, outcrops, and alcohol.
Overall, the deeper down-section, and therefore, earlier in geological time you go, the more marine the rocks are. Conversely, the higher you go in the column, i.e., up-section, into younger rocks, the more continental it appears.
We find fragments of marine fish fossils, sea-crocodile scutes and teeth, heaps of mosasaur coprolites, i.e., fossil shit piles, and other indications that the lower, older rocks are Lower Cretaceous ocean basin-fill.
But up higher; we find mud cracks, rain prints, land turtle shells, land-snails (Bellerophontid gastropods), and what may actually be a fossil feather. All indications of a more continental, i.e., fluvial (river), floodplain, lacustrine (lake), and paludal (swamp) deposition.
That’s my particular bailiwick.
I’m ‘elephant walking’ along the upper outcrops looking for fossils. You basically bend over at the waist and sweep from left to right as you take exaggerated step after step, scanning the ground looking for…well…it takes years, but once you see it, you never forget it.
“Fossil sign”.
A disjunct endemism. Something not in situ. Something out of place. A bit of a different, out of context color. Out of context texture. Out of context size. Out of context context.
Something that looks like it shouldn’t ought to be there.
I’m picking up 1 cm. square hunks of what look like an ordinary rock. I taste them. Well, I stick them to my tongue. If it liquefies and runs away, it’s ordinary mudstone, shale, or the like.
If it sticks…well, it might just be fossil bone.
“PTWTWOO!”
“Damn right, Rock”, Cliff says from behind me, “Fucking North Korea tastes terrible.”
“Still, it’s the best way I know to…” I paused.
“Got something?” Cliff asked.
“Look here.” I said, “Anthill. Big, nasty buggers. Look around the edges. Pieces of flat, cream-colored rock on this gaudy purple stuff. Tongue test? They stick like cockleburs. Let’s look upslope, see if there’s a drainage…”
There it was, a nice little drainage incised about 1.5 meters deep into the nearly horizontal rocks we were walking on.
“Any float?” I asked.
“Not yet,” Cliff said.
We followed the weak, little drainage that was cut into the outcrop, up another couple of meters.
There were very scrappy, very small, very scattered pieces of that same cream-colored rock. Some were ornamented with a scroll-work or some sort of striations. Most un-geological. More biological. We followed the trail, up here, around here, over there.
Cliff noticed it first, a soccer-ball sized lump of completely out-of-place crème-colored ‘rock’ working its way out by gradual erosion of the variegated pastels of the continental rocks upon which we were treading.
I got there first and began to clear the area with my Estwing.
“Careful. Careful”, Cliff admonished.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mind your Mincies. [Mince pies = eyes]”, as I’m swinging away at the reluctant, reticent, rocks.
The excavation grew, slowly. From the rounded dome, we could see small sutures that had developed…
Then condyles, fenestrae, then more ‘bone’. Then a jaw, teeth, vertebrae…
“HOLY DOUBLE-DAMN SHIT!” I tootled my air horn. We needed the group to see this.
It was a skull. A dinosaur skull. A small, non-avian dinosaur skull.
Everyone has crowded around and looked at the small quarry we had just built.
“Whatcha got, Rock? Cliff?” Joon asked.
“Fuck me, but I think we’ve got us a dinosaur skull,” I said.
Professor Doctor Academician Ivan walked over and cleared the area.
As Professor Emeritus, he had pole position priority.
“I agree.” is all he said.
I cleared the area and let others take a whack at opening up the quarry.
We may have been low on power tools, but we had a surfeit of opinions.
“OK,” I said, “Let’s look at the facts…”
  1. Age? Cretaceous. Probably lower to lower-middle Cretaceous.
  2. Continental deposits. That’s very fine sand we’re hacking away. Fluvial, without a doubt. Or, possibly aeolian; there’s no such thing as a geological certainty. Dunes? Ephemeral creeks? Low floodplain? Geo-talk… .
  3. Small size. Potentially a juvenile?
  4. Nope. Not a juvie. Sutures are closed, fused. This is, well was, an adult; perhaps a subadult, given its size.
  5. In situ? In place? Or washed in?
Hard to tell when all you’ve exposed is half the critter’s brain box.
“Look at that!” Myung-dae exclaimed, “Squamosal bones and the inner parietals…temporal fenestrae. It had a frill; a small one.”
“OK,”, I said, looking closely at the exposed scrappy remains, “Fucking-A Bubba. Nailed it.” I said, giving him the thumbs up.
“Ceratopsian. Look at those greens-grinder molars. There’s some small osteoderms on the skull; knobby old bastard. Early critter.” I continued.
Others looked around and confirmed my observations.
“Reminds me of Protoceratops from when I was back in Mongolia,” I said.
Dax chimed in with, “Looks something like Psittacosaurus from back in the Cretaceous Belly River of Canada.”
Drs. Ivan and Morse agree. “Most assuredly. It is definitely proto-ceratopsian. Young adult, as Dr. Rock notes by the cranial sutures. Do they have a record of proto-ceratopsians here?”
Myung-dae replies, “I have read reports of Korean proto-ceratopsian found in South Korea. Not long ago, 2019, it is called…ah… Auroraceratops. It is a genus of bipedal basal neo-ceratopsian dinosaur.”
“Bipedal?” I query. “Well, there’s a fine how do you do. All the proto-ceratopsians I’ve known were obligate quadrupeds.”
“Well”, Ivan, Dax, Cliff, and Morse agree, “That should give the shiny suit squad something to report. That’ll keep them the hell out of our hair for a while.”
We photograph each step as we excavate the critter. It’s more or less in situ, buried where it fell. Probably killed by a sand slip off a dune, or a river sandbar slip and burial. It’s not complete, but we do have the skull and a good portion of the post-cranial elements to about just before the pelvis. A good pectoral girdle, skull, jaw, frill, forelimbs, forefeet…easily half-a cute little herbivorous dinosaur. About the size of a smallish Highland Coo or large Great Dane.
We flag it with the team particulars, it’s GPS position, and carefully rebury the animal. We don’t have any of the equipment nor time to excavate it properly, but we can conserve it. Of course, we’ll be informing the proper authorities of our discovery.
I have an absolutely ancient Polaroid instant camera. Before re-internment, I take several pictures of our “Koreasaurus”, as we’ve dubbed the animal, with items for scale; like a hammer, cigar, and oddly enough, a photographic scale. Then I get a photo of the whole crew standing around, drinking warm beers from their individual day packs, smiling about the find ‘they‘ made.
We hear the melodious tootle of the bus’s horns. We make sure to pack out all our trash and wander back to our terrestrial transport.
“You were gone too long!” the chief shiny suited character goes all ballistic on me.
“Watch yourself, Herr Mac.”, I calmly said, “You’re going to burn your nose on my cigar.”
“You left without your handlers…err…guides!” he fumed.
“Hey, Scooter. Cool out. We’re geologists. We never get lost.” I said.
It sometimes just takes us longer to get back than it took us to leave…
“Your impertinence will be reported.” He smoldered.
“Report this, Mother Chuckler”, I observed and held out the pictures of our newly discovered Koreasaurus.
“Show those photos to your handlers,” I said in a mocking tone. “We found a brand new species of God-damned dinosaur for you geezers. It took us less than two hours. You can spin it that it’s a new, never-before-seen species of very specialized dinosaur found right here in beautiful Korea del Norte. Be quite the scientific coup, don’t you think? Trust us. We won’t say anything.”
He immediately shut up and went into conference with the rest of the shiny suit squad.
“Doctor”, one of the clan covert asked, “This is a new dinosaur?”
I had a thunderbolt of an idea.
“Oh! Yes, it is. I’d stake my reputation on it. You’ve had no concerted search here for the beasts and well, with the normalizing of relations between your country and the world, it allowed your specialists to perform real science. In fact, on the bus is the young North Korean geoscientist who made the discovery.” I said. “Give me a minute. I’ll go and get him. I think he was off taking a shi…ah, using the lavatory. Just give me a minute.”
I did have an idea. A wonderful idea. A wonderfully evil idea.
Back on the bus, I ordered the doors closed.
“Gentlemen! Ears and eyes! Please.” I said loudly.
Continuing…
“The shiny suits have their knickers all a-twist because we don’t want to listen to them; the assholes. Fuck that. I’ve got an idea. Let’s make our young acolyte here, Mr. Myung-dae Soo, a national hero. He would probably get his ass in a crack for sneaking on board the Western bus today the way he did. Well, double fuck that. Let’s all say he found the dinosaur. Let him take the glory for the homeland. No one else will ever need to know.” I said smiling.
“Fuck Yeah! You bet! Замечательное! Ihmeellisiä! Maravilhoso! Geweldig!”
Good to know we’re all on the same page. Geologists. You can always count on them…
“Mr. Myung-dae Soo? Front and center. Time to go and become ‘Hero of Best Korea’.” I smiled.
He was absolutely terrified.
“Doctor…I …don't…wait…no…” he stammered.
Cliff, Dax, Ivan, and I trotted him out to confront the shiny suit squad.
“Don’t worry, Myung. We’ve got your back. Trust us.” I said in a low conspiratorial tone.
The shiny suit squad turned as one and gave Mr. Myung the Stink Eye treatment.
“Here you go. The man of the hour. Mr. Myung-Dae Soo, young geologist and up and coming paleontologist.” I say loudly and with the utmost honor.
They look at him and the Korean erupts in rapid-fire staccato bursts.
Cliff just wanders in and interjects, “Yes. Righto. Top form. Found the float. Tracked down that dino like he was on safari. Highest marks. Good man!”
Dax adds more fuel to the fire. “Like he knew where to go, knew where to look. He’s a natural.”
Dr. Academician Ivan blustered forth: “Excellent scholar. Excellent field man. Banner geologist.”
I couldn’t have added more. The shiny suit squad was gobsmacked.
I asked Myung-dae what they were saying.
“They were talking about reprisals. Reporting to authorities. Then, they stopped. You have them completely confounded.” He said.
“How so?” I asked, quietly.
“Between an international incident where we don’t listen to our handlers and this potential important scientific discovery.” Mr. Myung-dae reported, trying hard to parse the evolving situation.
“Yes”, I added to Ivan’s bluster.
To the shiny suits: “I’ve worked as visiting Dinosaurian Vertebrate Paleontology Curator at all the major American museums. This is a find quite unlike anything known. It is a watershed discovery. It will help unravel the evolution and distribution of the clan Dinosauria for the whole Korean Peninsula. Perhaps, even with international impact on the recent finds in China.”
I laid it on with a trowel.
I hit all the buzzwords.
“Yes. Yes, perhaps.”, the head shiny-suiter said. “I will report this bit of very good news to the proper authorities. Myung-dae, with us. We require more information.”
“Ah, we’d prefer him to ride in back with us if you don’t mind. Scientific courtesy, old man. He needs to be classically de-interviewed after such a find.” I insisted, making certain I stand as tall, wide, and menacing as possible while smiling like a damned Cheshire cat, one smoking a very large cigar.
“Very well. We are not far from our evening stop. We can talk later.” He agreed.
We all moseyed, laughing silently, back to the bus; literally supporting our young hero Mr. Myung-dae as he seemed to have gone all wobbly of late.
Myung-dae was ashen-white. He looked like he had just given birth to a basketball. He was visibly shaking.
We get on the bus and I whip up a stout Yorshch for the young hero of the hour.
“Here! This is for you. If you’re going to be a world-class geologist, you’d damn sure better start acting like one.” I smile broadly.
There were hoots, cheers, and cat-calls.
Beers were popped, bottles uncorked; cigars, cigarettes, and pipes lit.
“Damn Skippy!” some anonymous reveler added.
Myung-dae slurped a good half the drink. I offered him a cigar. He stopped shaking enough to accept the novel offer.
Remember “crawlin’ home puker”? He’s taken his first step into a larger world.
OK, just to recap. Here are the dramatis personae left on the bus…
Bus driver (Kim) and his relief (Won).
My team and I. That’s 11 Western geoscientists: Morse, Cliff, Volna, Ack, Viv, Graco, Erlen, Dr. Academician Ivan, Joon, Dax, and myself.
Then there are our guides: Yuk, No, Man, and Kong.
Our stowaway hero geologist-in-training: Myung-dae Soo, aka, “Mung”.
And the four members of the shiny suit clan: Pak, Mak, Tak, and Jak. At least, that’s the names we used when we addressed them.
The bus was rumbling down the deserted highway. We were headed more or less due east, passing the occasional Potemkin Village. They knew we cracked their code long ago, so they didn’t bother with darkening the windows any longer.
We are passing a series of highway road cut outcrops. We’re only going approximately 35 or 40 miles per hour. Suddenly, Morse jumps out of his seat and runs up to the driver.
“STOP! STOP! Back up! We almost missed it!” he barks in heavily Russian inflected English.
The driver, shaken to the core, just slams on the brakes. The bus grinds to a stop. Good thing there’s no traffic out here.
Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Jak of the suit clan jumps up and asks “What is the problem?”
“How could you miss that?” Morse shouts. “Huge fault. Mineralization. I saw that from a glimpse. We must return to investigate.”
“Is not possible. We have appointment at the hotel.” Jak replies.
“Fuck that!”, Morse shouts. I guess he’s just really into faults…
I wander up and try to defuse the situation.
“OK, guys, cool out. Let’s be reasonable. Do it our way. Go back to that road cut. We spend a half-hour there then we go on to the hotel. The hotel will still be there when we arrive, won’t it? Even if we’re a bit late?” I ask.
Jak looks to Pak, who converses with Mak and Tak. They know they’re outgunned.
The driver shifts the bus into reverse and we back down the luckily deserted highway over a mile to the outcrop in question.
We had to admit, it was a mother beautiful normal fault. In perfect, textbook cross-section.
Morse and Joon were on it like white on rice; given the mineralization along the fault plane. All sorts of implications for the thermal and geological history of the area. But with just one exposure like this, more or less just a real interesting geo-oddity.
We spent precisely 30 minutes at the exposure, and when our handlers requested we re-board and head to the motel, we complied like nice, normal sort of folks.
I believe the appropriate maxim here is: “Lull them into a false sense of security…”
Once more down the road we travel. Beers popped, bottles uncorked; you know, the usual.
Forty-five minutes later, we pull into, I kid you not, a replica US of A 1950s Motor-Inn.
“Mr. Myung”, I ask, “What the hell is this?”
To be continued…
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RT Rundown March 28, 2020 - April 3, 2020

Hey community! I’m here today to give a rundown of everything Rooster Teeth related that has happened in the past week. This is something I had been considering starting for some time now, and with the influx of content in the past week from the 17th anniversary and the at home streams on RTTV, this seemed like a great time to start. I know that previously we had the RT Recap and multiple community-member ran revivals of it, but despite the fact that these other projects have ended I think we could still use something like this to help keep track of everything that’s going on. Please leave me feedback about how I’ve set this up, I want this to be as helpful as I can possibly make it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This post lists everything Rooster Teeth has released and announced from March 28, 2020 to April 3, 2020. Excluding the news section, the organization of this post follows the order of the links on the sidebar on the Rooster Teeth website. First exclusive content is surrounded in asterisks ( *EXAMPLE*) while content that is currently exclusive but will be available publicly later is followed by an asterisk and the date in which it will be free (EXAMPLE*Free April 11th.) This does not include content that will lose exclusivity on the day this post is made (April 4th) as I personally found including this information to be over complicating the post. Similarly, to simplify the post I have only included links to the RT website even in scenarios where the content is available on another platform.
NEWS:
ROOSTER TEETH:
ROOSTER TEETH PODCAST #590 - Geoff Burns Animal Crossing to the Ground
*ROOSTER TEETH PODCAST POST SHOW #590 - That Dog is Breathing Loud*
ALWAYS OPEN #130 - How Well Do Gus and Geoff Know Each Other?
*STILL OPEN #130 - Don’t Go to Sleep Mad*
CHUMP #9 - WHO Made A Nemesis in College?
*CHUMP CHANGE #9 - Chris Always Has the Weirdest Stories*
*MASTER AND APPRENTICE - Making Custom Gaming Dice*
RT LIFE - Thank You for 17 Years
RT INBOX - Barbara's TikTok Trick
RT EXTRAS - 17 Years of Memories | RT Anniversary Live Stream
RT EXTRAS - Playing Pictionary in MS Paint | Hard Mode
ADVICE FROM UNCLE NOLY #5 - Mr. How to Find Love and New Hobbies
RETRO REPLAY - Nolan North and Troy Baker try to Survive Resident Evil 2
GOOD MORNING FROM HELL - Sootball - Hell’s #1 Sport
BLACK BOX DOWN - Trailer
ACHIEVEMENT HUNTER:
OFF TOPIC #226 - Who Isn't Wearing Pants?
* LAST CALL #226 - Humanizing the Rage *
FACE JAM- Pizza Hut Big Dipper & Mozzarella Popper Pizzas
AHWU #519 - How Is This Realistic?
READY SET SHOW - Office Balloon Battle FAIL
BETWEEN THE GAMES - Stink Jug Part 2: We’re All Daddies Now
BEST OF AH - March 2020 Highlights
*7 WONDERINGS - SEATTLE, WASHINGTON*
LET’S ROLL - Coup With 25 NEW Roles - Coup Rebellion G54
ACHIEVEMENT HUNTER STREAM ARCHIVE - Keeping the Lights On: How Has Quarantine Been Working Out For You?
ACHIEVEMENT HUNTER STREAM ARCHIVE - Stardew Valley
ROULETSPLAY - Trials Evolution - This Isn’t Even Fair
LET’S PLAY - TRIVIAL PURSUIT #30 - We Are So Dumb
LET’S PLAY - ULTIMATE CHICKEN HORSE #31 - Horsie’s LAST Ride*Free April 5th
LET’S PLAY GTA V - Scoot Scoot Playlist*Free April 6th
LET’S PLAY GMOD - Parkour Fails in Gmod: TTT*Free April 8th
LET’S PLAY MINECRAFT #416 - Social Distancing in Minecraft - Ya Dead, Ya Dead 3*Free April 10th
LET’S PLAY - ANIMAL CROSSING NEW HORIZONS - We Join The Cult of Nook
LET’S PLAY - Raft (New Update) Part 4 - The Return of the Shark Mage
FUNHAUS:
DUDE SOUP #272 - Free Entry to the Spank Bank
MORNING HAUS - Good Morning, Hantverkare
FILMHAUS - Everything is Canceled Except Tiger King
FUNHAUS SHORTS - Lucky To Be Alive: Drunk Dark Souls - Funhaus Animated
FUNHAUS SHORTS - We’re Stuck At Home Too - Funhaus Quarantine BTS
DEMO DISK - Bruce is Back To Freak Your Mind!
FULLHAUS - Testing Your Metal (UNCUT) - Valfaris Funny Moments
FULLHAUS - Spü Metal (UNCUT) - GTA 5 Funny Moments
GOOGLE TRENDS - Animal Crossing Challenge: Tanuki Anatomy 101
LAST LAUGH - Official Trailer
GAMEPLAY - Well, I Guess We’re a MOBA Channel Now - Bleeding Edge Gameplay* Free April 7th
GAMEPLAY - Wizarding World of GTA Online - Casino Heist Part 1
GAMEPLAY - Nerds of Prey - Predator: Hunting Grounds w/ Bruce and Sark
INSIDE GAMING:
INSIDE GAMING FEATURES - Stuck Inside? Try These Game Pass Games
INSIDE GAMING PODCAST - TLOU 2 Delayed & Animal Crossing Addiction - Inside Gaming Presents: Send News #6
INSIDE GAMING EXPLAINS - PS5 Vs. Xbox Series X: What To Know
INSIDE GAMING ROUNDUP - “Shocking” Difference Between PS5 & Xbox Series X
INSIDE GAMING DAILY - Star Citizen’s Made HOW Much Money??
INSIDE GAMING DAILY - 2020 Mario Switch Games LEAKED
INSIDE GAMING DAILY - Video Game Haters Have Changed Their Minds
INSIDE GAMING DAILY - Gearbox Screwed Its Employees
INSIDE GAMING DAILY - TLOU2 Delay First Of Many?
DEATH BATTLE:
DEATH BATTLE CAST #172 - Goro vs Machamp Sneak Peek
*DEATH BATTLE CAST: SUDDEN DEATH #172 - Are We in the Bad Place?*
DEATH BATTLE FIGHT PREVIEW - Goro Stomps in DEATH BATTLE!
DEATH BATTLE FIGHT PREVIEW - Machamp Bulks Up for DEATH BATTLE!
SUGAR PINE 7:
BEYOND THE PINE #135 - Don’t F**K With Catheters
KINDA FUNNY:
KINDA FUNNY PODCAST #60 - Why Do We Revere The Big D?
KINDA FUNNY PODCAST #62 - We Aren’t Allowed To Leave Our Houses
KINDA FUNNY PODCAST #63 - Hey The Rock, How Long Would It Take You To Beat This Guy Up?
KINDA FUNNY PODCAST #64 - Gen Cuts Greg’s Hair Live
PS I LOVE YOU XOXO #13 - PlayStation’s Next First Party Move
INTERNET EXPLORERZ - What Do Corgis Look Like Shaved?
INTERNET EXPLORERZ - I Can’t Believe No One Died In This
SCREENCAST #64 - What We've Been Watching
SCREENCAST #65 - Would You Attend a Virtual Film Festival?
KINDA FUNNY GAMESCAST #9 - Game Franchises That Need To Come Back From The Dead
KINDA FUNNY GAMESCAST #10 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps Review
KINDA FUNNY GAMESCAST #11 - Animal Crossing New Horizons Review
KINDA FUNNY GAMESCAST #12 - Doom Eternal Review
KINDA FUNNY GAMESCAST #13 - Half-Life: Alyx Review
KINDA FUNNY AF - Pose Challenge with Famous Movies
KINDA FUNNY DOODLES - Flying With Josh Macuga
WE HAVE COOL FRIENDS - Funhaus’ Alanah Pearce Interview
KINDA FUNNY GAMES DAILY 3/30/20 - Andrea Rene Returns
KINDA FUNNY GAMES DAILY 3.31.20 - Gamescom Lives!
KINDA FUNNY GAMES DAILY 4.01.20 - Bethesda Showcase, Quakecon Canceled
KINDA FUNNY GAMES DAILY 4.03.20 - Is 2020 The Year of Indies?
ANIMATION:
RED VS BLUE PSA - Cyber Insecurities
RTAA - Poo Dreams*Free April 6th
*BACKWARDZ COMPATIBLE - Halo: REACH*
*BACKWARDZ COMPATIBLE - Spooky’s Jumpscare Stream Highlights*
*ANIM JAM - Human Beans*
*ANIM JAM - Postal Apocalypse*
*ANIM JAM - Scale*
*ANIM JAM - Lunar Farms*
*ANIM JAM - Rabbitloaf & Friend*
FRIENDS OF RT:
DC DAILY - March 30, 2020: Batman Forever Chat
DC DAILY - March 31, 2020: DC Universe All Star Games: The Breakfast League Catch Up Show!
DC DAILY - April 1, 2020: JAMES TYNION IV AND GAIL SIMONE TALK LATEST PROJECTS
DC DAILY - April 2, 2020: Harley Quinn Season 2 & More!
DC DAILY - April 3, 2020: Death Metal With Scott Snyder
SONGS ABOUT GAMES - DOOM Eternal Rap - “Song for Daisy”
STORE:
FACE JAM - 100% Eat T-Shirt (Currently Sold Out)
CASTLE SUPER BEAST - Get Into Fighting Games T-Shirt
ACHIEVEMENT HUNTER - Front Back T-Shirt
ROOSTER TEETH - 17TH Anniversary Flash Tattoo Screen Print Poster
ROOSTER TEETH - 17TH Anniversary Trucker Hat
ROOSTER TEETH - 17th Anniversary Mug
ROOSTER TEETH - 17th Anniversary Hoodie
ROOSTER TEETH - 17th Anniversary Flash Tattoo T-Shirt
ROOSTER TEETH - 17th Anniversary Sparrows T-Shirt
ROOSTER TEETH - 17th Anniversary Ringer T-Shirt
submitted by NotMarilee to roosterteeth [link] [comments]

Kickin' It Euro-Style - Part 3: Reviewing the Eurotour

Previous LogsThe JobPart 1: Converting STATsPart 2: Converting Skills, Cyberware, and Items
Welcome back to the Eurotour, choombas.
In the third installment of this trainwreck conversion, I have one (1) present and one (1) review of Eurotour. But before we get started, let's go over the basics.
As a reminder:
And now, onto the show.

A Gift, For You

I did promise, and I shall deliver. The Tour Crew's converted stats, skills, cyber, and weapons can be found on this lovely PDF. Savvy eyed readers may notice that some characters lack a lot of their skills. The Tour Crew in Eurotour were designed as fully kitted characters for the Referee's benefit. Their backstories, secrets, vices, and hobbies are all on display via their sheets (Entropy's business mind, Clement's "early retirement" plan, Kessler's lack of education, etc.). The best part of the old sheets as a Ref is that you don't need their mechanics, just their information. Unless you're excessively meticulous, Jack Entropy isn't going to be rolling his Stock Market skill every hour on the hour. At worst, you need to know what happens if they get into a fight (which, for most of them, is not much). The PDF conversion of these stats will help with that, but they are barebones for a reason. Their gifts and talents can still be found in Eurotour, so go get a copy and start reading.
And when you're ready, read on to the review. I've got some choice words for this thing.

EUROTOUR - The Premise

In the off-chance you've missed all the headlines, vids, and ads for it, Jack Entropy's Total Entropy Tour is kicking off in Europe in 2021, taking the shining star of the music world from Liverpool, UK, to Copenhagen, Denmark. But not everyone is as hyped for the pyrotechnics he's bringing, with some governments and corporations fearful of the anti-corp sentiments of his songs and of the fervent fans that eagerly answer his calls for rebellion. And in the Dark Future of *checks notes* 2021, if you've got the money, murder is always an option.
Unfortunately for Entropy, one of his own crew is planning to kill him. And it's only a matter of time before they get their chance...
Eurotour is a short campaign that finds the PCs hired as roadies, stagehands, and bodyguards for Jack Entropy during his last tour in Europe. This star's going to burn out, but if the players pick up on the clues, maybe they can keep him alive. Or fail terribly.
These six adventures can be run without the additional dressing of the tour, and they can also act as intros to each locale for groups that enjoy a slower pace. With the tour, however, the party will also be given a bunch of clues that lead up to one last showdown 30,000 feet in the air.
While I plan on going deeper into each adventure as I run them through my RPG Conversion MachineTM, today's post will take a quick look at each as part of Eurotour and as individual stories. Starting with...

The First Night - Paper Chase

And I do mean "The First Night," as not three hours after Entropy's first show in Liverpool, the PCs are asked to go find out where he's run off to. Turns out he can get into a lot of trouble in a few hours.
First, he and the techie Tinker (both at least a little high) ran off to a casino in Little Hong Kong to make a quick buck, but they got caught cheating the e-roulette.
Then Jack ditched Tinker to run off to a new night club while being chased by the Seven Feathers mafia. While there, he steals a BMW...
Which he immediately crashes. Stumbling from the wreckage, Jack interrupts a drug deal between two nomad groups, buys some Synthcoke (which he partakes of), and tries to hold up a pub, starting a bar brawl.
The party catches up to him as he's stumbling into a duel between the Galvanized Roses and the Dancing Demons, to which he "intervenes" by shooting one of the Demons. Cue a melee and the police showing up soon after, and you've got a four-way battle with one objective: get Entropy out of it in one piece.
This adventure is, to put it simply, bonkers. And it is by far my favorite from the whole book. From the get-go, the party is introduced to the diva antics of Entropy, the brutal world of Cyberpunk UK (Post-Brexit?), and a chain of events that tells a complete story while leaving some breadcrumbs for the party to follow. And it can also work as a solid one-off adventure in itself with little effort.

"Flush Johnny Silverhandle" - European Graffiti

Jack Entropy's antics in Liverpool pisses off a lot of people in the up-and-up, so the tour skips over the Channel to Brussels, Belgium, for the next leg of the tour. Though the Main Man is on "house arrest" by the rest of the crew, he asks the players to do something...unofficial for some extra pay.
The job is to find a French artist to paint an Entropy ad on the side of the unfinished New Age Office Building, one of the largest in Brussels. Sounds simple, but nothing is. The artist is hiding from Biotechnica after a different graffiti stunt, and the team's inquiry into his whereabouts falls on the ears of a Goldengirl who wants to get back together with her old flame. And what she wants, she's got the money and muscle to get.
If the party can get the artist out of there, then there's the other issue: getting into the building. That's right, gato, it's a heist! Well, no one is stealing anything, but it's still breaking and entering with extra steps! The party has to figure out how to infiltrate the building with the artist and his assistants, cover him while he's working, and get out. And there are the predictable complications that occur when getting out, but there's an added twist: Entropy (and his marketing director Clements) forbid the party from using lethal force to keep the heat off the crew.
Where Paper Chase was a Hangover-style runaround with a rather direct path, European Graffiti slows things down and lets the party take things at their own pace (within reason, as the first show in Brussels takes place in 24 hours). The hunt for the artist puts the party in familiar territory (another hunt for a person) but throws the massive curveball of the heist in the second half that will require a few Mission: Impossible musical cues and Neuromancer vibes. And the non-lethal requirement of the mission forces more trigger-happy parties to work outside their comfort zone. No one wants to get caught in a firefight without a gun.
Though European Graffiti isn't as tied to the characters and overarching plot of the Entropy Tour as Paper Chase, it's major job is to introduce Continental Europe's glitzy lifestyle and the strict crackdown on the Night City/Liverpool "Blood and Chrome" way of handling disputes. Players will have to choose between following the letter of the Law (which keeps the well-funded and -armed military police off of them) or settling things quicker with a three-round burst of lead that can lock a PC up for good.
When in Europe...

No Do-overs - Trapped Animal

While the adventures are a little light on conversations between the PCs and the Tour Crew, hopefully everyone's had a chance to really sit down and chat. Maybe a player really gets attached to Tammi-Lu, Entropy's girlfriend(?), and wants her to do better than that dick. Or perhaps a solo starts hanging out with Kessler, swapping war stories and sharing cigs in between shows.
Unfortunately for the latter, Kessler bites it in this one.
As the PCs arrive in Paris, Kessler accompanies the gang as security detail for Entropy, who proceeds to get himself infatuated with one Beatrice. As they agree to meet up for breakfast the next day (and possibly have a stint in the bathroom), Kessler tells the team that he and the lady used to work together and that if she's here, Jack's in trouble.
He's right, which he proves when he meets up with Beatrice in Jack's place and is sniped by an unknown assailant. The party is tasked with investigating Kessler's death, finding Beatrice, and putting a stop to the assassin before they strike again.
A murder mystery adventure! While not a difficult mission, this one is heavily centered on the Eurotour storyline and depends on getting the players to care (or at least know) the rest of the Tour Crew going in. A party that could care less about characters won't find their heartstrings tugged here. On the other hand, this mission could give the crew the motivation they need (and the clues required) to keep on the hunt for the other mystery (who's trying to kill Entropy?).

Explosive Finish - Menace in Venice

Two words: Bomb Plot.
Short version: one of the biggest corporations in Venice plans to blow up Jack Entropy and blame a rival corp for the act.
Long version: Ace, the head of security for the tour, brings the party to Venice's police headquarters to meet up with the head of Wortrac-Italy, who claims that their German rivals Seal GmbH are puppeting the local eco-terrorist and anti-tourist organization to assassinate Entropy for his anti-German rhetoric. In actuality, Wortac is the one pulling the strings, and Seal is trying to put a stop to it.
After the party dodges an attempt on their own lives, they once again go mystery-solving. Unlike Trapped Animal's clean-cut ending, this adventure--like Venice's winding canals--can go just about anywhere. One party might fight their way through the eco-terrorists Salvare Venezia, get the names of their members that infiltrated the construction crew, get the location of the bomb, and desperately race against time to cut the right wires. Another could figure out the Wortrac connection and attempt a net-run into the Corp's servers, leading them to the location of the solo running the assassination op. Or the party could persuade the general manager Jimenez to cancel the show and hunt for the bomb at the cost of a week's pay, only for the mystery assailant of the campaign to have more chances to cause a mishap for Entropy.
This one might be a headache to run (and to read), but it covers a lot more contingencies for the players' actions and provides the options for the players to end the story how they want to.
Well, I say "end the story," because I plan on ending Eurotour here when I run it. This is partly to time constraints, but it's also because the next two adventures... Well, let me show you.

SideQuest Central - Touring the Margin

Due to the sheer number of attempts at Entropy's life (and the general violence used in stopping said attempts), a bunch of cities drop out of the tour. Clements sends the party to Sweden in an attempt to set up a series of shows in the untapped ScandBloc countries, which could make up for all the lost revenue (and the general clean up from the party's messes).
When the party arrives, their contact turns up missing, kidnapped by a rival rock group. Following the trail, the group rescues the VIP, who then gets them in touch with two promoters. One is a kindly old lady who can set them up with a risky but potentially lucrative show that could be the best of Entropy's career. The other is a typical corp offering a typical deal for a typical rate.
If the party doesn't immediately jump onto the corp's safe bet, he tries to bribe one of the characters with 10,000 eb and the promise of more. If that fails, he takes the typical corp approach... and threatens to break some kneecaps. After a showdown later... that's it. That's the adventure in a nutshell.
Compared to the previous four adventures, Touring the Margin hopes to slow things down for the party, and it succeeds. If anything, this adventure works best as an opportunity for the party to explore some personal quests, talk to the Tour Crew, and explore a rather unique part of Europe. This would also be a perfect spot to ramp up the "mystery assailant" angle of the adventure. But it does feel more like a sidequest, much more so than European Graffiti did. The story is very straight forward, but there are plenty of points where the party is just kind of waiting for things to happen rather than being proactive.
While it matches the adventure's goals and style (the general plot is music business at its finest), the lack of extreme danger might be a good change of pace... or the party will be more than a little antsy to "get on with it."
They might be disappointed in what "it" is.

Seriously, Why? - Plundering Praha

The final stop in the Total Entropy Tour is Prague (also known as Praha), and not long after landing, the party figures out that things are not well in the state of the Czech Republic. Civil war is about to break out, and the team is "persuaded" to join a deadly heist for the Czech crown jewels. Why? Because reasons. Honestly, the PCs have no way to wiggle out of the job that's forced on them. Remember my note about wanting players to be proactive? This is not that. This "You do what the Ref tells you to do or die."
And the end result? Absolutely nothing of importance to the Tour, the Party, or the overall plot. The whole venture just... happens.
But it wouldn't be a rock tour without one last show, and stapled to the beginning and end of Plundering Praha is Jack Entropy's last gig. Unlike every other adventure, Plundering Praha gets really meticulous about introducing the many, many, many complications and mishaps occurring as the show rises to its crescendo. And just as Entropy hits the final act, the metaphorical sh*t hits the metaphorical fan. That civil war set dressing? It sets off, with planes, mercenaries, and warring factions paying more attention to each other than the stadium.
That doesn't stop the crew from making one last attempt to get to the airport and steal a jet out of there. Yes, we've hit the big finish, where the party and the Tour Crew must evade an invading military coup and get the hell out of Prague! That one solo who has been itching for a firefight finally gets their wish, and it is not an easy fight either.
Here's my problem with this ending, though. It, again, heavily relies on forcing the party into a situation where there's only one predetermined solution. It's the RPG equivalent of when the final boss is defeated via quick-time events. I'm not saying players wouldn't be down for it; really, I'm the one who's not down for it. I want my party to feel like they earned their victory, not that they were buckled into a roller coaster they couldn't leave.

What a Twist! - The Hidden Villain

I've been talking about the "mystery assailant," but there hasn't been any detail given on that.
That's because it isn't one assailant. There are six. Well, six options. In short, each one of these six wants to off Jack for personal, political, or business reasons, and they'll use the plane ride back to the States to do it. The party might just be collateral damage or, worse, accidental accomplices. At the beginning of the campaign, the Ref chooses the villain and then provides the set of clues during each individual adventure that will build up this mystery. So who are these devious devils, and what are their plans? More importantly, which ones are the best to choose from? I'll be ranking them in reverse order, starting with the worst of the lot.
The Worst: Tinker
"Aha! Tinker was actually one of Jack's exes!" Which one? "You've never heard of her!" And the players would suspect this because? "Uh...because they kiss a lot!" Why would Jack hire her anyway? "Because she actually biosculpted herself to look like Jean Gardner, a completely random individual! And with her intimate knowledge of Jack, she could re-seduce him, only to trigger the trap in his new cyberarm!" Wait... What?
Yeah, it makes as much sense as it sounds. It's a twist for the sake of a twist. Worse still, Tinker's "revenge" hinges on Jack's old associations with the 3000, an eco-terrorist group that Jack used to run with that no one even hears about until they show up for some two-bit sidequest roles in Plundering Praha. Then there are the connotations that the only major black character in the adventure turns out to be someone in a disguise. At best, the reveal is cliche and shocking for the sake of drama; at worst, someone had themselves biosculpted to look like a murdered black woman (and I really don't want to touch that).
2nd Worst: Tammi-Lu
"Alright, I've got this idea for the villain of Eurotour. basically there's this girl except she's got huge boobs. i mean some serious honkers. a real set of badonkers. packin some dobonhonkeros. massive dohoonkabhankoloos. big ol' tonhongerekoogers. what happens next?! Jack Entropy keeps runnin' off with other chicks with even bigger bonkhonagahoogs. humongous hungolomghononoloughongous. So she decides to kills him!"
...So the "jealous lover" angle?
"Yeah! And, get this, she gets one of the PCs to give her a good *cking and scares them into thinking she's prangent! Then she drugs them or something on the plan and get them to fight, idk"
Oh BOY is this one a can of worms. Like with Tinker, we again have the only prominent minority character (an Asian woman) being the villain. But this time, her motivation is "This woman is seriously mixed up, and has a real love/hate relationship with Jack" (Eurotour, pg. 84). Quite literally, the designers of Eurotour want you--the Ref--to throw Tammi-Lu at a player until they hook up, hit them with the pregnancy scare (along with lines about how Jack is abusing her and she only wants to be loved), and then have the two brawl in a drug-addled craze. Just... no.
Middle of the Road: Clements
"Alright, I've got this idea for the villain of Eurotour. basically--"
You did this one already.
"Hold on, hear me out. There's this girl--"
NO. We're not doing the jealous lover again.
"But it's not!" ...fine, what is it?
*"*Remember how Clements' whole deal is she wants an early retirement? Well, she's been seeing Jack more or less throw his career away, and she doesn't want to see his star crash and burn from one bad move. So, she decides to slip the Main Man and Tammi-Lu some poison in their cups."
And they don't suspect her because...?
"well first, because she put a forged suicide note in one of their hotel rooms just within Ace's sight when he calls the players to warn them!"
Alright, that's not half bad. She has a motive, and the method is pretty chill. Hey, I think this one is--
"And, get this, she gets one of the PCs to give her a good *cking and--"
--Nevermind.
This one was so close to being fantastic, and it probably still can be! The major problem is that the "clues" are... Clements dating one of the PCs. And paying them more? It doesn't make much of a mystery to solve. Rather, this "ending" is intended as a gut-punch to the player who decided to engage in romantic activities with the business lady. Also, has anyone else noticed that every female character in the Tour Crew is a possible villain?! Cause I have. I could see this one working with some tweaking of the clues (maybe have a player find the note and try to investigate it?), but as is the plot is the best of the "Honeypot Trio."
3rd Place: Jack Entropy
"What if... Jack was the killer! :0"
Hey, I could see that. Jack's been running on the Edge for a long time, and his self-destructiveness makes sense if his target was himself! Plus this would be an interesting look at mental illness and cyberpsychosis.
"Yeah, and he shoots Clements for trying to take him to therapy!" What?
So this one is number 3 because it fits. Jack has been the star of the show for the whole campaign, and the party's biggest threat to Jack Entropy... is Jack himself. He's already a sociopath who only uses people for his personal gain and could care less about others' feelings, so he's prone to cyberpsychosis (even going so far as to chrome up his arm in a vain-attempt at mimicking Johnny Silverhand). Tinker even admits that Jack's drugs from Paper Chase were supposed to help him self-medicate, but the boy needs therapy! But he's too proud so he... starts blasting? The ending here can fit (and fit really well to cap off the adventure), but it needs to be handled with tact and taste. Otherwise, it will crash and burn.
2nd Place: The Martial Law Authority (MLA)
"So you know how Jack made a mess in the UK?"
Yeah.
"So what if... they wanted to make a mess of him?"
This one is simple, and its simplicity is its greatest virtue. All through Eurotour, the party has to deal with MLA assassins and agents trying to stop Jack from singing his songs of rebellion (and his gun-running side gig) for good. Not only will the clues to this one be painfully obvious, but the setpiece ending is delicious. The plane's autopilot has been hacked and is sending the plane into a corkscrew straight into the ocean. You've got the stakes (everyone's lives) and the chance to turn a humble stewardess into an MLA agent. It's good, but my favorite is...
1st Place: The "Company"
Okay, so I really like Clements' plot, but I despise how her plot is introduced rather suddenly. So here me out for once, what if she's not the only one who wants an early retirement?
What was that old saying: "A dead artist can make a good living?"
Who better to want to take out the "anti-corp" Jack Entropy than his own corporation, Entropy Enterprises? They've also noticed Entropy's downward spiral and want to make his Total Entropy Tour the last. In short, they want Entropy to join the 27 Club like Jim Morrison or Kurt Cobain, and they're going to make sure it happens. A latecomer to the tour, a "Mr. Anderson," has hidden a microwave bomb on the undercarriage of the wheelwell. Did I mention the plane was flying over the ocean? However the party manages to solve this one is up to them, and I am down to find out just how they do so.

Final Thoughts

I've got a lot of praise for this adventure, but I also feel like it drops the ball. A lot. The fact that three of the "villains" are the three major female NPCs is only the start to the rather "boy's club" approach to female character design here. The final adventure also doesn't quite fit with the rest of the tone of the tour. There is this lovely high-point with Menace in Venice that just doesn't come back until the Epilogue, and that's if you picked a decent "bad buy" and dropped the requisite hints.
I'll gladly give more thoughts on each adventure as I convert them over, but for now, I ask you, humble 'runner, to let me know what you think in the comments.
Until then, this is Masq, signing off.
​
submitted by Masquerade1412 to cyberpunkred [link] [comments]

Lords of Vegas needs a re-release, with better components.

Just got this game, kinda mad at it.
On the one hand, smart, interesting gameplay with a solid theme. I don't want to write a full review, but players are competing to build, control and profit from casinos, in a sort of tile laying/area control thing. The rules are actually pretty light and elegant, and lead to solid depth of play with a number of mechanics I haven't seen before.
It might kind of clash with itself for being too smart to also be luck-based and silly. There are a lot of cool tactical and strategic considerations, but they all influence your odds in a lot of die rolls, and you might just get screwed by luck. You can also have weird outcomes to some conflicts, like one player attempting a coup against a casino controlled by another, only for an unlucky die roll to give it to a third player who was barely even involved.
Still, all in all I love the idea and mechanics, but why did they have to make it so cheap. The board is small, the box is drab, the dice look like trash, there's paper money, player markers are just plastic discs, and no single component stands out as being cool or impressive. It's a game about Vegas. If any game should have over-the-top, even tacky components, it's this one. Give us poker chips rather than cash money, fancy dice, a big board, nice cards with some art design that mimics playing cards, a giant board with some verticality in the components... hell, I wouldn't call them excessive if they had a felt-lined insert that doubled as a dice pit. Te rules are good enough to warrant expensive components, and the theme is just begging for them.
submitted by FreakyCheeseMan to boardgames [link] [comments]

How far would you travel for a car? I just did 1800 miles, worth it.

You can imagine my surprise when my phone range with an unknown phone number, it was quite limited. For you see; the average unexpected phone call these days usually starts with “you have won a…” or “are you satisfied with your insur….” Most of which end mid sentence, because I couldn’t be bothered to allow the poor soul on the other side to even finish their statement.
This phone call was different, the area code started with “313.”
313 is significant. 313 is the home of wild animals; there are Lions, and Tigers, and Horses.
Knowing the significance of this area code, I answered. “Hello, this is iamnotcreativeDET.” On the other end I was happily greeted by a cheerful woman from General Motors. Initially I was less than impressed, thinking they wanted me to review their new Tesla, or Audi, or something. Her joyful tone couldn’t break me out of my uninspired haze, they wanted me to try out some dreary new Chevy.
I was wrong.
You see, when press cars are given out they sometimes offer options; deliver to a location of your specification, or you can pick your home address, or your office, or they require you travel to a pre-selected location. In this situation; viva Las Vegas. Having never gone I ecstatic, most reviews I find myself doing end up being in my home territory, and usually end up being econoboxes, finally I could submit an expense report for long distance travel, and enjoy some R&R while I was there (shhhh, don’t tell finance).
After setting meet and great details, I booked my flight and hotel room at Ceasar’s Palace. The car would be waiting for me on the 3rd level of the Self Parking, it was mine from Thursday till Sunday.
This might be a good time to mention that I should start off by saying; I am by all means an introvert. I don’t enjoy being around large groups of people, I tend to be quiet and keep to myself in these situations, nor do I gamble or enjoy high dollar shows, I do, however find driving on a deserted road in the Nevada desert to be extremely exciting, for somewhat obvious reasons…
I arrived on Thursday morning at 8 am. My uber driver conversed with me on the way to the casino, attempting to excite me about all of the great places to gamble and shows that I could enjoy. These were at the back of my mind, all I could think about was the pedal on the right, and what it would be like to mash it, repeatedly.
The hotel Concierge had the keys to my car lined up, I hastily dropped my belongings off in my hotel room and rushed to the parking garage to get my first look at the bright red 2016 Camaro SS Convertible that had been so gracefully parked on the 3rd level of the Caesar’s Palace parking garage.
Powered by an LT1 6.2 Liter V8 and paired to GM’s brand new in house 8 speed automatic transmission, the Camaro SS is the least expensive way to get over 450 horsepower in a drop top production car. I could hardly contain myself, all I wanted to do was find the fastest possible way to piss off a law enforcement official. I could even feel the hair on the back of my head growing faster than on the top.
I had planned a couple of long road trips, an opportunity to bond with the car, long streaks of highway paired to canyon carving with low and high elevation curvaceous roads. I wanted to know this car before I got on the plane back home. The Camaro and I would spend 700 miles of pure unsupervised fun, how can this be legal?
On my 4 day excursion, I found myself at places like the Hoover dam, The Grand Canyon, and on the further side of the spectrum, Zion National Park. These are all places I highly recommend going to at one point in your life, they are spectacular places, but my boss probably will read this, and I can imagine if I spent a large percentage of my required words being spent talking about how gorgeous Zion National park is in the debt of winter, or how the Hoover dam is made of 4.3 Million cubic yards of concrete, or how it took 17 million years for flowing water to carve out the grand canyon. He might be marginally cross with me.
So how was it? Deep. I couldn’t believe how far down the Grand Canyon went, it seemed like you could spend a lifetime falling into that hole…. Oh, you wanted to know about the car. Well alright then, I suppose we can talk about that.
The interior felt cheap. On face value everything looked very nice, a true homage to 60s style combined with modern plastic molding and fit and finish. My feelings on the interior went from delighted to massive disappointment quickly, every single surface inside the car is very hard plastic, it is almost as if GM engineers haven’t heard of soft touch plastics and vinyls, these are the things that create and impression of quality, something the Germans and Japanese have figured out decades ago. There was some leather on the arm rest, and door cards, completely out of view.
Then there was the creeks and rattles. This car had 3 miles on it when I pressed the start button for the very first time, and for the 4 days that I had it I had to smack the plastic liner on the convertible top because it was constantly rattling and tapping away, even on the smoothest of roads. I would understand that out of a car that is 5 or 6 years old, especially in something as flexible as a convertible, but on a sub $46K car, it seems disappointing. Clearly all of the money on this car is spent on the powertrain, roof, and styling.
The power is savage. If you have anything sitting on the center console it almost definitely will end up wedged under the back seat and lost in another point in time and space. The 455 horsepower LT1 is a welcomed addition to the Camaro, along with GM’s own brand new 8 speed automatic. At full chat the upshifts are lighting fast, a true feat given that it still has a traditional torque converter automatic, when you take the engine to redline and use the paddle shifter with the car in track mode, the exhaust pops and crackles on every upshift. Matting the throttle in 2nd gear sends the back of the car in an all out drift and caused my face physical pain as I grinned ear to ear and laughed like a maniac.
But its civilized. Putting the car’s computer in touring mode, setting the cruise control, and sitting back in GM’s plush and comfortable cloth seats make the car feel comfortable. Long distances can easily be done, albeit with a bit of wind noise, which is always to be expected from any cloth top convertible. The engine regularly drops down to 4 cylinders at cruising speeds, during which time I found average fuel economy of around 25 miles per gallon, quite impressive given the regular elevation changes of the Nevada and Utah express ways that I traveled on, and the fact that my right foot seemed like it was glued on the carpet.
The chassis is well sorted, having driven an earlier model coupe Camaro, there is definitely an obvious loss of rigidity by removing the roof, but its far from obtrusive, the 3700 pound drop head Camaro wears its weight quite well, feeling toss-able and lively on tight and technical roads, switching to track mode ads a significant amount of weight to the steering, but doesn’t change the fact that the road feedback is numb, like any other electric power steering system of this era. The trunk, however, is next to useless. It hardly fit my two suitcases for the trip, my jacket had to ride in the back seat.
Simply put, the new Camaro SS is a taste of typical American build quality with a special taste of Corvette V8 paired to a sensible and aggressive 8 speed automatic transmission, it is tons of fun and easily livable as an every day vehicle.
tl;dr - 2016 Camaro fast, shit pants.
submitted by iamnotcreativeDET to cars [link] [comments]

Baccano!: A Guide to the Differences Between the Anime and the Adapted Source Material [Spoilers] (crosspost from /r/Baccano)

Well friends, it’s the first day of Baccanovember over on Tumblr. It’s also the 10 year anniversary of the 2007 Baccano! adaptation, the original 13 episode airing of which came to an end back in the beginning of November 2007.
To celebrate, I’ve decided to write up a guide detailing the differences between the 2007 anime adaptation and the source material it adapted. I’ve been writing about this in various comments over the years, and figured this was a good opportunity to consolidate the information.
While this post was originally shared on /Baccano, I thought I should also share it here on /anime since I figured you guys might also find it useful. It's meant for those who are not deeply involved with Baccano! beyond the anime but are curious to learn more.
TL;DR: The anime is an excellently directed show that deserves to be commended, and the plot changes do not negate its quality. However, it is worth knowing what it changes from the novel and how deep those changes run, which I aim to showcase below. Both the anime and the novels, along with the other media adaptations (manga, NDS game, drama CDs) are a rewarding experience and I cannot recommend them enough.
OUTLINE OF GUIDE
AUTHOR BACKGROUND
If you’re asking yourself, “Why trust Rev?” I am the admin of the Baccano! Wiki and a mod of /Baccano, and have been engaging with both the anime and the source material or years. That doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, so I apologize for any misinformation in the post. Please let me know if you spot any so I can correct them!

Introduction to Material

Links: ANN | MAL | AniP | Kitsu | AniDB
The original thirteen episode run of the 2007 anime adaptation adapted the first four novels of the Baccano! light novel series, which as of November 1, 2017 is twenty-two light novels long. The 23rd novel has been delayed due to health reasons on Narita's part. In other words, the anime adapts less than a fifth of the series at its current length.
If you want to get into the novels, you should start with volume one (The Rolling Bootlegs) and progress in publishing order. As this guide will demonstrate, the changes made in the anime are too significant for you to be able to jump in at volume five without major comprehension snags.
The three major timelines in the Baccano! anime are as follows: * Credit to the following three photo edits goes to JelloApocalypse and his abridged series.
November 1930 timeline | The Thousand-Year Drink | Adapted from Light Novel #1: Martillo Family associate Firo Prochainezo is set to be promoted to executive. Meanwhile, a certain elixir nears completion and a gang of hooligans and a nonsensical thief duo are swept into the mess. Original events take place over two days and one night, but the anime condenses them into one day and one night. As a result, several events are switched around/altered chronologically. Other events are also changed or cut out entirely.
December 30-31, 1931 | Dangers on a Train | Adapted from LNs#2-3: Tells the story of a transcontinental luxury express hijacked by three independent factions simultaneously en route. And what's this about the Rail Tracer...? Most changes are directly related to the characters that are cut from the timeline in the anime. However, the anime also leaves out plenty of scenes for the sake of mystery.
Dec 1931-Jan 1932 | Finding Dallas | Adapted from LN#4: Largely concerned with the Runorata-Gandor feud reaching a boiling point and the search for the missing Dallas Genoard. The most egregiously changed timeline in the anime, with it completely deviating from the fourth novel. For instance, Dallas is not the MacGuffin of the novel: a bag/case of a new potent drug prototype is.
OVAS + Other: The anime also adapts certain scenes from the fifth novel 2001 The Children of Bottle, including the 1711 content and certain discussion dialogue for scenes in the OVAs that HIGHLY deviate from the original scenes. The main story of the OVAs is connected to the 14th novel, which was an expanded version of the gaiden novel that was released alongside the first drama CD in 2006 (before the anime aired). There are definitely differences between the OVAs and the 14th novel, and major differences between the OVAs and the 5th novel.

Characters cut out of the anime or reduced to cameos

1930
1931
1931/1932
Characters characterized/motivated differently in the anime

Spoiler-Zone: In-Depth Look

I may have been writing about this topic for some time, but I still had to pause and think about how to handle this section. How much detail should I go into? What changes should I include, and what should I leave out in lieu of the ep-by-ep discussion?
Well, considering that this guide is first and foremost meant to be a broad overview of the differences rather than a nitty-gritty breakdown, I'm going to try and focus on on the main plot changes and the hugest consequential scene changes. Again, for nitty-gritty changes, stick around for the discussion of episode-by-episode changes in the next section. For now, the order of this section is as follows: 1711; 1930; 1931; 1931-1932; 2001; OVAs.

1711

Okay, most light novel fans will point out the accents in the dub as...suspect. First off, Victor is an Englishman who was exiled from England for his anti-slavery/racism rhetoric. He should thus have an English accent, not...whatever the dub gave him. Eric Vale gives Huey an overhanded French accent. Putting the questionability of his accent's authenticity aside, we don't actually know if Huey came from a French village. Plus, Huey studied in Italy for at least six years.
Similarly, we don't know what geographical region Elmer comes from (he's described as looking 'northern European' at the very least), so him having an English accent is presumably ADR Director Tyler Walker making a judgement call on his name (probably did the same with Huey and Sylvie). Also, Elmer spent at least five years in Spain and then six more years in Italy in his youth.
Putting accents aside, here are some major changes:
Rules for Immortals: The rules for immortals are the same except for one crucial difference. In the anime, immortals can transfer information to other immortals by placing their right hand on the other's forehead. NOT THE CASE in the novels. In the novels, immortals can only transmit info to their linked homunculi via their left hand.
As an example, in the anime, Maiza shares half of the knowledge of the Grand Panacea with Gretto by transferring it via his hand. Szilard witnesses this, and then deliberately devours Gretto to receive that information. In the novel Maiza simply tells Gretto half of the recipe before thinking better of it. Szilard learns half of the recipe through eavesdropping, just like that, and then tries to devour Maiza in his bed to get the full recipe...only to mistake a sleeping Gretto for Maiza and accidentally devour him instead.
Another major point: Maiza talking about the man whom he, his father, and grandfather never saw age in the episode is a very weird scene because the man he is referencing is actually Dalton Strauss - a man whom Maiza studied alchemy under for four years (1707-1711) and shouldn't be referring to so distantly. In general, the scene is a huge question mark fo light novel fans.

Nov 1930

If you'll recall, the 1930 timeline condenses the events of two days and one night into one day and one night. This really messes with the chronology of events. The elixir's chain of custody is radically different, for one thing. Let's try and address this in an easy-to-digest manner.
First, I want to bring up the E01 scene with Firo and the beggar. In the anime, it clearly takes place after Firo becomes immortal – but in the novels, it takes place BEFORE. Firo knocks out the beggar, Assistant Inspector Edward shows up and reveals he was basically using Firo as bait to nab the beggar, and Maiza shows up to take Firo hat-shopping.
The thing is, the beggar is also crucially important to the 1930 timeline in one other aspect: the day before, he had murdered the blender who was responsible for perfecting Szilard's elixir (Barnes isn't actually making the elixirs in the novels). If he hadn't done that, then Szilard would have simply shown up the next day to devour the blender and harvest his knowledge of the recipe. The entire course of Baccano!'s history would have been altered.
It's also worthy to note that the beggar became a mugger only after Dallas and his goons coincidentally beat him up earlier that month. If they hadn't done that, he might not have turned to murdering, and thus might not have killed the blender and changed the course of history.
Anyway, the order of events is like this: Firo/Edward scenehat shoppingfireFiro rescuing Barnes. Now, in the LNs, Firo is actually carrying four bottles of alcohol with him for the party. While everyone else is down for the count, Firo sneaks a peek at Barnes' bottles and decides to switch out his liquor for Barnes. He replaces the elixir in Barnes' bottles with his regular alcohol and fills his bottles with the elixir...BAM and here we have the chain of custody completely different from the anime.
LN chain: Elixir moves from BarnesFiroParty. Anime: BarnesDallasGandorsDallasI&MParty.
So in the novels, the crate that constantly changes hands is carrying normal alcohol. This is connected to the altering of the chronology: Dallas and co. do kill Mike and the other Gandors during the Martillos' party...which Isaac and Miria depart from early, run into Dallas' group, and then rob the crate from them. The next day, they decide to drop off the liquor at the Alveare as a thank you gift to the Martillos for hosting them. THIS is when spying Ennis spots Maiza, and leaves to alert Szilard of Maiza's location.
On the way back, they run into Edward at the Coraggioso and learn of the Gandor men's deaths. They assume that Dallas' group were Gandors and that they killed them, and they then realize that the stolen liquor might wrongly implicate the Martillos as the ones responsible for the crime. Horrified, they head back to the Alveare to warn the Martillos of what's going on (so right now the Gandor bros are heading to the Alveare to talk to the Martillos about their men's deaths, and Szilard is heading to the Alveare to devour Maiza).
On the way to the Alveare, I&M come across Dallas' group carrying machine guns and talking about how they're going to get Ennis back. Miria thinks they must have broken out of jail (I&M never realize that Dallas' group was the one they stole the crate from; Dallas' group never realizes it either) for revenge, and she and Isaac run off to find and hotwire a car to take on the goons with. Of course, the car they find is Szilard's car.
Thus, the confrontation between Szilard and Maiza happens the day after the party, during lunchtime. Firo is PRESENT for this, and Maiza orders him to flee and tell Molsa (who along with Yaguruma and Ronny is not present) what's going on. Szilard tries to gun down Firo, but Maiza dives in front of the gun and blocks all of the bullets with his body.
Firo is immediately attacked by Ennis when he leaves (by the way, he wasn't looking for her to return her cufflink in the novels. She doesn't lose it. He followed her basically because he found her attractive). Bill, Donald, and Edward show up at the Alveare because of reports of gunshots, and Bill and Donald (who are part of the BOI's immortals department) confirm Szilard's death. Isaac and Miria think they're here to arrest the Martillos, and fire off guns and run away in order to lead the normal police officers away from the site. Like in the anime, they toss the Genoard fortune to passersby.
Oh, and Maiza also asks Firo to devour him in the alleyway. To my eternal fury, that doesn't make it into the anime.
That's the general breakdown of the major plot changes. There are various minor changes, and several LN scenes are either truncated (like Firo's induction ritual) or deleted entirely in the anime. All of the scenes with Edward are cut, of course (including the scene where he, Bill, and Donald confront Szilard's coterie of old men), and obviously the 2002 wraparound novel scenes are also cut.

Dec 30-31 1931

This is the timeline that's adapted the most faithfully by the anime, with most of the major changes falling into two categories: changes resulting from important major characters being cut from the anime; and general scenes that are deleted either for time's sake or for the sake of maintaining the established mystery. In this case, the main mystery is the identity of the Rail Tracer in the anime; since the anime doesn't reveal his identity until E09, it has to cut out a LOT of his PoV scenes in the novels as a result.
(We spend a fair amount of time in Claire's perspective in the novels, learning that he's crawling under the cars to switch off the car's electricity so he can kill people in darkness; that he's constantly returning to the conductors' compartment to perform the necessary scheduled light signals [that's why he appears near the compartment more than once in the anime], his opinion of Rachel, etc.)
Before we get to the main changes (i.e. from character cuts), it's worth noting that the anime's implication that Beriam knows about/is interested in Czes' explosives is not a novel thing. Also, Nice speaks super politely to everyone except Jacuzzi, and the train's engineers are a pair of elderly brothers who are hard of hearing. Hence why they don't catch on to all the gunfire and explosions for hours, and when they do Claire shows up and claims there's a horseback posse chasing them and they'd better not slow down no matter what.
Let's review our cut characters: Jack is the third gang member accompanying Jacuzzi and Nice on the train alongside Nick and Donny; Doctor Fred is a ex-WWI military doctor and passenger on the train. He earns Ladd's favor and uses Ladd's compartment to treat the train's injured regardless of faction at Ladd's invitation; Mr. Turner is an ass of a First-Class passenger from Rachel's past; Chef Gregoire is the head chef of the kitchen and a former colleague of Claire's from his circus days...
...Upham is a timid Lemur whom the anime replaces with a mustached man; Nader Schasschule is another Lemur who doesn't make it onto the train thanks to him staging a failed coup against Goose Perkins the day before; ...and then the two surprise characters and .
...I'll get to the last two, trust me.
Jack's biggest thing in the novels is that he is captured along with Nick by the Lemures, and when Ladd shows up and learns his name is Jack, assaults him solely to find out whether or not all Jacks are good boxers (yes, this was a pre-established point of interest for him). Once they're rescued Donny ends up dumping him in a random second class compartment...which turns out to be Ladd's compartment, which by this point Fred is now using at his invitation.
Ladd had run into Fred earlier, see, and recognized that Fred had the eyes of a man who wants to die. Ladd isn't too good with men like Fred (though women of this vein are exactly Ladd's type), and he ended up telling Fred to use his compartment. I should note that Fred (introduced as the Grey Magician) is actually the novel's red herring for Maiza's old friend (i.e. Czes) like Rachel is the red herring for Claire.
So Who and Lua show up in the compartment, and after some initial confusion Who assists Fred in treating Jack. Oh - Who is Ladd's childhood friend, and the White Suit who was captured along with Lua by the Lemures). Now, Claire actually happens upon the compartment (from where he is clinging to the outside window), and, when Lua notices him, is surprised that she isn't strongly reacting to him at all.
When Lua realizes that Ladd is going up against the Red Shadow from outside the window, she inwardly freaks out because she realizes that Ladd cannot beat him (she has weirdly accurate intuition). Fred recognizes the new life in her eyes and encourages her to act on it - and thus is the reason for why she ends up climbing onto the roof of the train later.
Moving on to Turner... Turner is the railroad executive responsible for a ten-year-old train accident for which he pushed the blame onto Rachel's father. He has no idea who Rachel is, but when she spots him on the train she is instantly full of hate. Now, Turner raises a scene in the dining car after the Ladd vs Lemures assault: he hurls racist and xenophobic epithets at Jon (Irish) and Fang (Half-Chinese) and is all around a humungous ass, until Isaac and Miria finally snap and rain hell and fury down upon him. Gregoire orders Jon and Fang to throw Turner out, and they do so with relish.
Turner wanders the corridors with increasing fear until he runs into , who's calling himself 'Victor Talbot' (yes, that Victor) and stowed away in the compartment that would have been Jacques-Rosé's had he decided not to get on the train in time (Jacques-Rosé and Rosetta are two more characters worth knowing about. If you know about those two, you are really goddamn deep into Baccano! lore).
, who spends a lot of the time on the train slinking around and looking for Czes, offers his protection services to Turner and leads him through the corridors. The two of them come across the corpse of the White Suit who preyed on Mary, and takes the corpse's rifle and hands it to Turner before abandoning him. Turner becomes increasingly paranoid, and when he comes across Rachel (who is resting due to her gunshot injury - which is in her thigh in the novels, not her ankle), prepares to shoot her for the sake of shooting anyone.
She reveals her identity after a heated confrontation, and then shouts for the Rail Tracer (who has been eavesdropping) to kill her before Turner can. Claire instead dislocates Turner's shoulders, but doesn't kill him at Rachel's request. He ends up giving Rachel a bloody half-torn ticket, which is the reason why the police later don't arrest her on grounds of, you know, stowing away. He also says that if he hadn't met Chané he may have fallen a little bit in love with Rachel.
Remember Upham? Upham is supposed to be the Lemur who runs away from Ladd after he ambushes the Lemures after his first fight with Chané. Upham ends up nabbed by Jacuzzi and Donny, who interrogate him for info on the Lemures before leaving him tied up in a freight hold. Upham is discovered and freed by , whom he then stabs out of fear and thus learns of . ( is on the train because he's heard that Szilard is back in New York and wants to find him).
The two of them decide to check out the conductors' compartment, where they discover the corpses of the Lemur and Dune. shows up and stabs Upham, who stabs back. prepares to kill Upham (because Upham has witnessed true self), but steps in to take the blade instead. He tries to drag off the train, tries to drag him down with him, but Upham pulls up in the nick of time.
Then Claire shows up and chastises Upham and for being in the conductors' compartment. He notices Upham's wound and is about to ask what happened when Chané's knife pierces through the wall and nicks his ear, and he climbs back up onto the roof...where of course he finds Chané and Ladd having their second confrontation.
Ah! That reminds me - the anime implies that Huey and Chané have some sort of telepathic connection, which is 100% not the case no way no how in the novels. The birds that appear during the Huey<->Chané scenes are likely a reference to Hilton, a novel character.
On the presence of and on the train...it was first hinted at in LN#12 (publ. 2007), revealed in the NDS game (2008), and then confirmed in LN#14. I don't know for sure if the gaiden novel included them or not.
Bonus soundbite of laughing in the NDS game! (It's an external recording from a fan; I wanted to extract the audio directly from the rom, but unfortunately the software is not compatible with my OS and I can't get Wine to cooperate with me).
Oh right...after Claire reunites with the Gandor bros, he and Berga end up brawling (which they tend to do) on the street. Keith watches on and, with the Runorata-Gandor feud in mind, thinks that this will be the last peaceful time they have for a while.
Czes also reunites with Begg that day - now, do you remember that he came to New York to devour Maiza after receiving a letter from him? Well, he had also received a letter from Begg, too - Begg is working for the Runoratas, and he's the one who arranged to buy Czes' explosives off him. Czes had planned on devouring him as well upon arrival.
Of course, Jacuzzi's gang stealing the explosives means that Czes is worried the Runoratas will come after him in retaliation - but Begg reveals that the money for the explosives came out of his own pocket and Czes has nothing to fear. Czes (who was looked after by Begg in the 1700s after he was orphaned) is naturally feeling pretty guilty for having planned to devour Begg at this familiar display of Begg's kindness towards him.

Dec 1931-Jan 1932

By far the most drastically changed plotline from the fourth novel to the point where it becomes a completely different plot.
In the anime, Gustavo is trying to muscle in on Gandor and Martillo turf like he is in the novels - though what the anime leaves out is that he's specifically trying to muscle in on the Manhattan drug market. Relevant to this is that Keith abhors drugs and prohibits drug trade on Gandor turf. Now, anime-Bartolo lies to Gustavo that Dallas has blackmail material on Gustavo for the deaths of Raymond and Jeffrey Genoard, which prompts Gustavo's search for Dallas.
This is obviously a lie on Bartolo's part since Dallas is at this point in time currently drowning in a riverbed - but in the novels, Bartolo doesn't lie in the first place since he has no interest in finding Dallas at all. He DOES NOT want to become immortal in the novels, just as Beriam actively hates immortals in the novels and is also not involved in the search for Dallas. The only person searching for news about Dallas is Eve, whom Elean actually tells the truth to about Dallas' fate rather than lying like he does in the anime.
What the Runoratas are actually searching for in the novels is a case containing Begg's powerful new drug prototype, which was stolen in transit by a very high Roy Maddock. Roy, once he comes down from his high and realizes what he's done, is understandably terrified of Runorata retaliation. Edith, despite an earlier argument with Roy, essentially rolls up her sleeves and prepares to dig Roy out of the hole he's found himself in.
Roy goes to the Daily Days for info, and Henry suggests that he use Eve as a shield against the Runoratas (in the anime, this becomes Nicholas suggesting that Gustavo use Eve as bait). Roy meets Eve at her place, the two of them go to Keith's house and meet his wife Kate, and then they are kidnapped by Claire in disguise and taken to the Daily Days.
Whoops, nearly started summarizing the entire book. Er, basically everything comes to a head when Gustavo leads a raid of the Daily Days headquarters in order to kill the Gandor bros. DDays evacuated in advance. Claire brings Eve and Roy to the DDays because he's working on Gustavo's orders. It turns out that Keith and Bartolo made an agreement in which the DDays operation would lead to Gustavo's downfall, because Bartolo is sick of Gustavo's crap.
Gustavo's hired assassins fight Claire, and Gustavo tries to kill Eve. Luck saves her and has a viciously brutal fight with Gustavo, in which he suffers plenty of injuries but also shoots Gustavo six times in the chest, etc. When Eve learns that Gustavo really was responsible for killing her father and brother, she raises a gun and tries to shoot him. No, seriously. Luck blocks the shot with his hand, and then stabs Gustavo in the throat with the jagged bone of his severed hand. Then he passes out. Gustavo survives, by the way.
Begg comes across Roy, whose hypersensitivity to drugs fascinates him. He holds a gun to Edith's hand and asks Roy to inject himself with the new drug prototype (which will kill him) so Begg can observe how he reacts (and the happiness the drug will give him). Roy makes Begg promise to not kill Edith, and injects himself with the drug to fulfill the deal. Then he smashes a window and uses the glass to slit his wrist, so that Begg won't get what he wants.
Begg, angry but also genuinely wanting to help Roy, tells Edith to get Roy to a hospital. He shoots himself in the head to give her the chance to escape during the regeneration process.
As you can see, the anime is almost completely different plotwise. The most basic reason I can fathom is that the 4th novel introduces several new characters that aren't in the 1930 and 1931 timelines. Staff probably wanted the anime to feel more self-contained and tightly interwoven, and stuck to using characters whom the viewer already knew.
Oh yeah, I'd like to also say that the bookshop scene in the anime with Firo and Luck is sort of a composite of two novel scenes: a scene in which Berga is gambling at the casino Firo manages and Firo complains about Berga potentially endangering Martillo turf considering that the Runoratas and Gandors are feuding; and the bookshop scene in which Luck is alone when the Runoratas kill him. He dies by having his throat slit rather than via a hit-and-run.
Yep, Firo offers to help out in the Runorata-Gandor feud in the anime, whereas he actively does not do that in the novels. See this. Like I said, anime-Firo is nicer than LN-Firo.
This also reminds me to talk about Eve's characterization changes. In later novels Eve seems to have softened into anime-Eve, but Eve in Vols 1 and 4 is...different. She honestly dislikes Dallas to some extent and recognizes that even if he's nice to her he's still kind of a terrible guy. She's also more conflicted about her faith than you might think, and angry at herself for having prayed all this time out of indecision and passiveness.
Perceiving her own selfishness, indecisiveness, and passiveness is what spurs Eve to act instead of pray in 1932 and run away from home to deal with things. When she hears how Gustavo unrepentantly killed her father and brother (I believe she also learns that her family was actually involved in the drug business, which horrifies her), she is filled with absolute hate and unforgiveness that drives her to raise that gun and shoot.
Luck obviously is not about to let her become a murderer, hence him blocking the bullet with his own gun. He later gives Eve a map to Dallas' location.

2001

The scene with Isaac and Miria...well, first of all - they're not stealing cell phones in the novel, (there's no guarantee they're back to thieving in 2001 anyway, considering that Isaac decides to give up his life of crime in 1934). They're also not wearing those groovy outfits, though through a series of misremembering about Japanese and Buddhist mythology they end up deciding to sew 108 bells onto their clothes (54 each) to symbolize their rebirth.

OVAs

Comparisons here are drawn from the fifth and fourteenth light novels, not the gaiden novel.
In this case a lot of scenes are fabricated and downright opposite to what happens in the anime. Like Graham's and Ladd's first meeting. It is SO antipodal to the novel scene - see, in the anime, their first meeting is antagonistic whereas their novel meeting is nothing of the sort. Ladd comes across some men roughing up Graham and takes them all on in a fight. Graham is so dazzled by the logic that Ladd spouts that he then and there swears to follow Ladd. See? Not antagonistic in the slightest. I'm NOT happy with the anime changing that.
Now, Sylvie is not present during the dominos party. She also does not reunite with Elmer in 1932: their reunion scene borrows dialogue from the fifth volume but is otherwise made up. They don't actually reunite until
As for Huey and Elmer's reunion scene, some of its dialogue is borrowed from Huey internally monologuing in LN#6 (in which he asks an absent Elmer what he would think of Chané). However, Huey and Elmer actually still have yet to reunite as of 2002 - they haven't seen each other since 1711.
Elmer and Ronny's conversation appears to be anime original, but it's delightful regardless.
Oh, that reminds me - Gustav and Carol's rainbow conversation is supposed to actually take place in 1934.
Firo also doesn't knock over the dominos in 1932. He does do that in 1933, but it's not accidental.
There are various other differences in the OVAs, including how Rachel is supposed to actually be wearing a dress when she meets with Czes and dines with Claire (which she does in the Alveare), Jacuzzi doesn't actually recognize Claire as the Rail Tracer in the novels, it's a random delinquent whom Graham hits, not Nick...
...Actually, speaking of, the anime does explain why Jacuzzi's gang is now living in the Genoard manor on Millionaires' Row, but in a very rushed and offhand manner. So, Jon and Fang are informed by Gregoire that as a result of the gov't covering up the FPF incident they're all being fired. Since Gregoire recognizes their skill, he decides to use a connection of his to recommend them for jobs as private bartender and chef to Eve. He then gives them 100 servings of stew, which they take to the clinic where Jacuzzi is recovering...
...A clinic that happens to be operated by Fred. Raz Smith, Roy Maddock, and Jack are convalescing there alongside Jacuzzi at the same time, and Upham receives treatment for his wound there. Elmer also shows up after Upham leaves to ask about Szilard. (Jack's the white-haired guy who clambers onto Jacuzzi's bed in the anime).
So Jacuzzi's gang pours into the clinic to eat the stew, and Nice and Nick drop their bowls in shock when Chané enters the room. They didn't know beforehand that the retrieval team pulled her out, unlike in the anime.
Ah, right - Jon basically asked Eve if she wouldn't mind if some of his friends lived in the manor to help look after it as pseudo-housekeepers, and she agreed. Of course, he neglected to mention how many of them there were or that they were criminals.
Nearly forgot! The reason for why Jacuzzi got a tattoo is also different. In the anime he gets it so that he'll stand out as much as Nice, facially speaking. In the novels, he recognizes that Nice is terrified that she'll never be able to recognize anyone again (her remaining eye was injured and has terrible vision) and thus gets the tattoo so that she'll always be able to recognize him no matter what. Both reasons are good, but I prefer the novel one.

Episode-by-Episode Differences: Where to Find Them

Two options, here. The first option I present to you is the Baccano! Wiki: after months of on and off work I have finally revamped all sixteen episode articles, which included rewriting all 16 full recaps, adding recap and preview summaries, and, most importantly, adding sections recounting the anime/source material differences in each episode. I'm not done with adding screenshots to the last four episodes but the recaps and differences sections are basically ready to go. You can access them here.)
I should say that I didn't include every single minor detail, and that I am most definitely fallible and may have gotten information wrong or left information out. I can only apologize if I have, and if you notice, ask that you correct or add the info as needed.
Speaking of getting information wrong, I also wrote episodic write-ups for the 2017 and 2016 /anime Baccano! rewatches. My write-ups for the 2017 rewatch are a deliberate improvement upon the 2016 write-ups, in which I did more than once misremember information and leave out important other information. Please keep that in mind should you choose to read my 2016 write-ups.
The differences noted in the write-ups are less thorough than the wiki versions.
I know that this is insanely long and I apologize for that. I don't know if anyone will actually read this/read this all the way, but I hope that it can prove useful to at least one person. If you're interested in reading the source material or knowing more about the series, /Baccano now has a wiki with a FAQ, links to the official translations, a reading order (published not chronological for the love of God), and some resources. You might find it a good starting place.
Whew. I was worried I wouldn't get this out in time, since last night I was performing in a Samhuinn celebration and didn't come back home from the second after party until ten AM thanks to a kind stranger who was out walking her dogs. Spent the last few hours doing a lot of writing, though the planning for this guide started a few weeks in advance.
Once again, happy Baccanovember and happy 10 year anniversary of the anime adaptation! Here's a drawing Shinta Fujimoto (mangaka of the 2015 Baccano! manga adaptation) did of LN characters Gabriel and Juliano for Halloween yesterday.
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