Weird history site, thecollector.com

 Thecollector.com

Springtails aren’t insects anymore…

 Today I learned.  

Thx to Ant Lab on yt.

Hilarious "I don't care" quote from Picasso

When Pablo Picasso was asked how he felt about NASA landing humans on the moon in 1969, he told the New York Times newspaper, “It means nothing to me. I have no opinion about it, and I don’t care.” 

Yep, he basically didn't give a rat's ass. I find this not only hilarious, but good that some people admit they don't care about something that was hyped up so much. Personally I think it's cool humans went to the moon, but it's equally cool that some people don't care. Hype in today's everybody on the not-so-smart-ppl version of the internet world is annoying. 

SF6 - profile title, hidden change it spot

 https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/street-fighter-6-how-to-change-profile-titles

Prettying up your profile may seem straightforward, but Capcom doesn't make it as easy or obvious as you'd think. From the main menu press Options to access the Multi Menu then select Profile. From here, you can Update Character Settings for Modern or Classic controls and also determine some of your preferences.

To change your profile title, browse to Character > Update Character Settings > Title Settings. Here you can select from any of the profile titles you've unlocked. You can also change your 'Here Comes a New Challenger' screen by browsing to Customize Challenges.

SF6 - World Tour Mode - Tips n Tricks

Negatives(?):

While I dislike some of the cutscene characters (the non-cast, aka not real street fighters)... the playthrough is somehow addictive. I think I've just been in the mood for a semi-mindless type game, and this single player is pretty close to that. It still has some cool stuff, no doubt. 

Positives and info:

If you are new to this, there is a TON of tricks you better plan for if you want some free costumes and/or to unlock most of the game. 

Your Character

• For a cheap $1000 Zenny, you can make your guy super tall and skinny at various beauty stores or whatever vendor thingies at a few places. 

• Tall+skinny+Long legs and arms will make a lot of fights easier. This is what I did. 

• For example, if in doubt, you can often get in a pattern of jump straight up, hit with HP or HK on the way down, sweep to trip them. Rinse repeat. Sad but true, some of the hardest fights were won this way. 

• For example, if you use Lily's fighting style with a tall guy with long arms, her MP poke becomes insane. Super quick poke across the screen, very safe to do vs. the CPU. 

• I continually stuffed one super scary high level enemy around level 65 or 75 b/c he was trying to do sonic booms from afar.  

• Use DJ's double sonic boom thingie + Guile's flashkick to beat a lot of CPUs. UPDATE: I had to use this to beat Akuma on his final upgrade fight b/c damn he got hard at level 86. He'd dragonpunch any jump and other annoying things. But DJ's HP sonic boom projectile annihilated him.  

• I used Blanka's fighting style for the horizontal ball to beat a lot of things from level 1 to 50ish.

• Blanka's down-toward HP slide is super good against Akuma b/c he spams firealls,... maybe forever or maybe until Akuma gets to level 86+(?). 
•  Don't get obsessed with beating guys 10 levels higher than you... some fights seem to be made to be lost. And other fights, they just cheez it so you can't win without wasting 1000 HP potions (drinks) or continues. Pick and choose and don't completely go crazy. 
• You should be about 10+ levels higher than them for a "fair fight" if I recall. 
• You can beat guys who are 10+ levels higher than you, but it is tough.  Cheez the hell out of them, dont' feel bad.
• NOTICE that calling in helpers (masters) is great b/c they seem to do more damage against guys that are much higher level than you. 

 

• UPDATE: Sheng Long is in the game, haha! I, level 69, beat him, level 90, without too much trouble with the Akuma style, mostly fireballs, OD (EX) fireballs, and calling in helper Masters. He was a yellow flexing arm symbol on the map, top of the skyscraper where the labcoat guys and copycat robots are. 

• But immediately after, I fought the sumo-lady (level 75 or 80ish) yellow arm symbol on the map near E. Honda's area in metrocity, and used Honda's style and got nuked over and over... wasted a ton of drinks and continues to beat her. 

• Reset all your SKILLS, it's possible. It costs 10 continues (is that maybe 10,000(?) "Miles" the continue fight after getting knocked out resource), which is a lot. I went from 41 continues to 31 continues... ouch. And then only a few hours of play later found out I could go back and get missing skills, hah (after you level a lot more tho). Probably still worth it, I never used up all the continues... but OMG I use up those health drinks in fights a LOT. 

Which Clothing/Buffs to use

• Upgrade slow but cheaper: If you get the same item over and over, you can combine them (and others) to upgrade a little.
• Upgrade fast but rarer resources: Using some magic Thread stuff you sometimes get on enemy drops, you can upgrade super fast. But these you'll have to farm a little. 
• I upgraded once in the middle, when I got all the ninja clothes from Ryu's area. Upgraded them pretty high, was fine for a while. 
• Best Gear/Near best gear. Near the end of the main storyline, say around level 50-60, you can get the following and upgrade them to max if you want (or one shy of max, b/c some don't really get better from 2nd to max to max, ... double check it before you use up resources)
• Feet -Western/Cowboy boots. I think I put mine at level 7 (going to 8 was for like one more point, made no sense). 
• Torso - An ugly brown half Duster jacket type thing with no sleeves. Got to level 8 or 9 I think. 
• Be sure to go to the clothing settings and change it so it appears as something else. Your eyes will thank me. 
• Head - some apocalypse looking future mask. Got to level 9 I think. Pretty sure it's the best in the game. 
• Legs - fighter pants. Super baggy off-white, found in Nayshall somewhere after a big fight i think. Maxed them out to 10 or something... pretty sure these are the best in the game. 
• Extras - The black "skull" mask. Gives you two one huge damage reduction activations, which will save your bacon when fighting mobs that are "too high level" for you. Also I don't think it has any debuffs, like a lot of extra items. 
• Extras - bracelets or some item from the chick at the end of the game with the 1/3 white curly hair. She's the one that is involved in "the bomb" and hates JP, etc. near the top of the big mountain. They give you two one "OMG" saves you from killing blows. 
• Extras - the prisoner(?) or whatever gloves that have Giant chains on them. They increase your damage output greatly if I recall UPDATE yeah I think it's +20 to four attack types (punches, kicks, xxxx, and yyyy). 
• Extras - the wristwatch from the Retsu guy I think is pretty good... another defensive option if i recall. 


• Language for playthrough
• Use Japanese + captions, it feels like an anime and the obviously Japanese movie body language makes more sense, so it's more natural. 
• Masters
• You'll want to open up/find/become a student of as many "masters" as you can early on. Pretty darn sure you get EXPerience points for fighting against their style... but only if you have found the Master previously. 
• Bison ... somehow I was able to use his moves on day 1, but he's not a master you can find. Apparently b/c he was DLC, he's after the entire game is done, and Akuma and maybe ED(?) is unlocked, etc. etc. 
• *** Don't stick with Bison's style or you'll never level up other masters. 
• Akuma... I didn't find Ed until I beat the game (aka finished main story mode), while I was looking for something to get a super gift for Akuma that is worth 40 points. (You need 100 points to get their costume). Crazily enough, I've already got Akuma to like 70ish due to using his style and also I had bought some Nato gifts to give him (you get 2 pts for them, but you only get like 1 pt. for other buyable gifts... so Nato it is). 
• I found Ed and Rashid at the end, after most Akuma stuff.
• Haven't found Zangief, Cammy (she ran off) yet, Kimberly (she ran off), or  A.K.I. ... she's probably by Bison??. UPDATE on August 28th... found Zangief (two weird wrestler dudes near the 2 ramps of the tournament stadium) and Kimberly(top of a building in Metrocity). 
• Got Juri after Akuma... she pops back up in Nayshall.
• her personality is... well, they definitely tried hard. She's a jerk when she becomes your master. 
• ***Got Jamie super late after Juri after Akuma... I think he was supposed to be the 3rd master. Whoops. He was hiding on some stupid roof... check the mini-map for the names of masters... had no idea he was there after my initial run-in with him. 
• UPDATE: Well dang, I got Akuma maxed out before I found the Fish hook, still can't find fish hook/shadaloo next stage mission (mostly I can't find the damn subway entrance, other than one that is blocked by an NPC). On to the next one... I got Honda maxed out. Working on Dhalsim. Ryu is kinda close, Jaime is close b/c I got his super present I think and gave it to him. BTW, the super presents seem buggy b/c they just appear in my inventory without any dialogue... is that normal... it definitely was acting funny when I maxed out Honda and did his last mission to get 3 workers for his cooking business, then spoke to them as required... then I thought it was broken, but check inventory, bam, there it was. 

• Skills

• You'll get through the 5/5 screens of skills by around level 68. 
• I ignored most of the "outside of fighting damage/etc." stuff. 
• I ignored the aerial moves stuff... who needs it? Maybe some specific character.
• But then, surprise, if you keep playing, they let you go back and get some of the skills you missed... once you get enough points again from fighting. 

• Leveling up and GIFTS to level the Masters up, general

• There are two types of leveling. 
• Fighter style levels... which might max out at 20 to get all the master's skills or something. 
• Friendship point levels... which goes to 100. They'll randomly go up if you talk to them a lot and keep getting more fighter levels. But to speed it up, give gifts and you can get to 100 kinda quick.
• Annoyingly, giving buyable gifts is super click intensive... you can't give 20 gifts at once, have to do one at a time. 
• 
  
  
  
  
• Speaking of, do your homework on which gifts are good for who. There are many lists out there. Also, buyable/findable gifts are different than the one-time-only-worth-40-point gifts. Most of the super 40 point gifts are done by finishing some "Friendship challenge" or something with another Master. 
• I got Blanka to 100... but I don't think I've finished or maybe even found whatever friendship challenge mission is there for him.
• STYLE RANK 18 (or 11, or maybe 20 if all of their moveset is needed) is needed to get the friendship challenge mission whatever to get the super Gift apparently. No clue if I missed Blanka's or what is going on, maybe it's in my inventory and didn't notice. 
• Once you max out a dude, like Blanka is at 100 friendship points or whatever they call it, now it stores up points to be Transfered to another Master. I overcompensated and was going to use mine for Akuma, but now Akuma is at like 70 and I havent even gotten the Fishing Hook for 40 pts so... saving the extra points for somebody else. 
• ***Eat blueberry xxxx from delivery app to get extra EXP while fighting

• Gift Lists... some links... BEST ORDER!~!

• Some ppl talking, 5 pts, 2 or 1 pts, 40 pts and listing part https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2983874988
• AKUMA... Nato is the cheapest way to buy gifts for him (2 pts) we think. But Nato is Guile's fav, too. Hilarious, b/c Japan knows Americans generally hate nato, the crazy funked out stuff. They say it is delicious, once you get past the smell. 
• Double gift lists, including which Master gives the SUPER 40 pt. gift for another master. So you want to do some in a certain order (or skip one you don't care about but then go in that order):
• https://www.vg247.com/street-fighter-6-gifts-guide-best-gift-special-gift-for-each-master
• Example order: Honda -> Dhalsim to Guile to Marisa to Zangief to Manon to Juri to Chun to Cammy... back to Honda (circular).
• Example order: Lily to Blanka to Jamie to Ken to Luke to Deejay to Kimberly... back to Lily (circle). 
• Ed's is the Old Boxing Almanac. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6zXcUtJcJE
• https://www.reddit.com/r/StreetFighter/comments/1b1a8kh/gift_for_ed/
• Trading Card: +5 / Old Boxing Almanac: +40 ---So far, the Trading Card can be earned by one of the specific Mad Gear enemies as a reward (the trio of Fork, Spoon and Knife). The Old Boxing Almanac is a clear reward for completing "The Psycho Power Experiment" in Old Nayshall (Day).
• Well, Fighter's Magazine Special Issue can easily 2UP it, and its at the shop in the starting point of Beat Square too.
• Akumas and Ryu's is funky, have to do Retsu. Oh yeah, Retsu is from Street Fighter 1! Hah, they have the funny Ryu red hair reference in a dialogue, I like it. 
• JP's and Rashid's is some weird side adventure... I guess b/c DLC.
• Bison... haven't seen his... what is it? BTW, his old outfit looks funky so no need to get it, hah.  https://gamerant.com/street-fighter-6-mbison-location-world-tour-outfit-reward/  
• https://gamerant.com/sf6-street-fighter-6-best-master-gifts-maximum-bond-outfit-2-unlock/
• M. Bison, players should beat Dr. Badd's experiment using Bison's style to get the Carrot (+40 pt.), after which, they'll want to farm Globes by beating the Merchant Hawker at the Ruined Lab after landing three Super Arts. Strictly speaking, the latter can be achieved by using one Super Art that hits three or more times, providing at least three of those hits land.
  M. Bison (+5 pt.) wait, they also say GLOBE from defeating the Merchant Hawker, see below.
• Defeat the Merchant Hawker NPC at the Ruined Lab after landing three Super Arts
  3What? F.A.N.G. is in the game as an NPC, cool. He's got a more serious(?) looking Fu Man Chu moustaches plus chin beard now, instead of his old single chin stripe. FOUND him under the left side of the big concrete ramp thing where you can do more Tournaments in metro city, top left of map. 

• 
• They say DLC types like Rashid and AKI have good (5pt?) gifts that are random drops. SO you can just use Prepaid cards to get 2 pts each apparently. 

• Zenny money 

• seems to pile up, but it gets expensive out there pretty quick. I'd always aim to have $50K to $100K banked up for something. Like potentially...

• $100K for gifts to level up that one character you want to get the 2nd costume (classic costume) for. 
• Can get $10K on games (jobs?... like breaking wood blocks or better yet, do the smash junkpile scrapyard thing) when you are like level 50-60
• Can get $15K on games (smash junkpile scrapyard on hardest... and this might be after I picked the SKILL to give you more $$$ for sidejobs) when you are around level 60-65 and have basically beaten the game.
• *** eat Corn Flex from delivery app, it'll let you level up Zennies faster!
• This gives prices before and after you pick the Haggler/cheaper vendor skill: https://gamerant.com/sf6-street-fighter-6-best-master-gifts-maximum-bond-outfit-2-unlock/

EXTRAS

Crazy, looking like celebs or other game characters:

https://www.ign.com/wikis/street-fighter-6/Best_Character_Recipe_Codes

https://outsidergaming.com/street-fighter-6-avatar-codes/

• Kratos (God of War): RBADUHXPC
• Terminator: 9BXGTLVH9
• Harley Quinn (DC Comics): SREG88L5F
• Mr. Satan (Dragon Ball Z): DVDCYTD5N
• Black Widow (Marvel): XEV8R349F
• Trunks (Dragon Ball Z): LW6H4X9KY
• Lara Croft (Tomb Raider): EUA7CATB9
• Saitama (One Punch Man): E87GAVNKW
• Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda): NLD3L8XMP or 4AXB78LXQ
• 2D (Gorillaz): L3HEMVUQN
• Genos (One Punch Man): ¨C11C

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDKyUD6VOE1XT4ihNZFBQ_ma0awUdr9kq

The one above has the chick from Stranger Things, Daenny from Game of Thrones, Shaggy (of Scooby), The Mask (green face), Terminator (it's OK), Geralt, etc. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upcbn0sPMvU 

Jason from Friday the 13th, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_4C4rnxl4o

Above is in game hangout area-crazy ppl made goofy ugly stuff and some cool. 

House stuff, safety, stoves, furnaces, gas vs. electric

Randomly found this site... has just gobs of good info, BTW, this site goes down temporarily a lot... maybe it can't handle many visits??: 

https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2020/3/what-is-the-average-life-expectancy-of-a-gas-range.html   answer is, 18 yrs, which is like 3 years more than an electric. (But remember, the glass top stovetops can and do break earlier... ceramic glass will not crack as easily I think though). 

https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/5/safety.html

https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/6/should-i-buy-a-house-near-a-high-voltage-power-line.html

https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/6/should-i-get-a-lightning-rod-system-to-protect-my-house.html

https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/10/why-is-an-anti-tip-device-now-required-behind-the-range.html

https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/6/how-did-homes-stay-cool-in-florida-before-air-conditioning.html ... this is just interesting history, physics, and cool ideas, quoting some:

and this has even more info: https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2019/10/how-did-people-stay-cool-in-key-west-before-air-conditioning.html

How did homes stay cool in Florida before air conditioning?

Monday, June 18, 2018

Both of us grew up in South Florida in the mid-20th century and each year Miami emptied out in the summertime as the “snowbirds” headed north to escape the sweltering heat. Central air conditioning changed all that, making it possible to have cool, low-humidity indoor air during the hot months. It has also been a key ingredient in the rapid population growth in Florida and other southern states since then.

    But older Florida homes had a number of ingenious, built-in ways to beat the heat. We remember some from our childhood and learned other, even older, techniques that take advantage of prevailing breezes and reflect or exhale the heat from a home, during our years remodeling old Conch houses in Key West. Here’s a list of eight old-time ways to keep a house cool:

Large windows - Positioning windows near corners of the home for cross-ventilation was critical. Casement windows wrapping around a corner were a post-World War II design used to catch a breeze. Tall double-hung windows could be opened at the top or bottom, depending on what air flow level worked best. Jalousies and awning windows were popular throughout the 1960s because the entire area of the window could be opened for air flow.

Louvered shutters and awnings - Both of them shaded window openings to keep the heat of direct sunlight from entering the interior of a house, while still allowing ventilation.

Porches - They provide deep shade on exterior walls to eliminate the radiant heat load on walls in direct sunlight. Screened sleeping porches were also popular, usually on a second floor corner, to catch a cool evening breeze.

Whole-house fans - Usually located in the ceiling of the hallway to bedrooms, they accomplished two things at once: sucking outdoor air in through the windows and simultaneously pushing hot attic air out at roof vents.  

Transoms (a small louvered panel over a door) and louvered interior doors - While not great for bedroom privacy, they allowed the all-important cross-ventilation breezes to flow across a room with the door closed.

Ceiling fans - The air feels cooler under a ceiling fan because it evaporates perspiration and creates a wind chill effect, even though it does not actually cool the air temperature.

Masonry Walls - Thick stone, brick, or concrete block walls absorb heat during the day and slowly release it at night, reducing the temperature difference between the them. This was not ideal on the hottest days of summer in South Florida, where it did not get that cool at night, but useful during the rest of the year.

Metal roofs - Especially popular in Key West, and memorialized by Tennessee Williams in his play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” a metal roof really does reflect heat back into the sky and keep the home below it cooler. Today they come with reflectance rating so a consumer can evaluate how well the roofing bounces the heat. White painted metal actually has a higher rating then shiny silver-color metal. Some new homes accomplish similar heat reflectance by a layer of metal foil on the underside of roof sheathing in the attic.

   While older homes were built to open up, catch the breezes and deflect the sun, modern homes are designed to seal and insulate the building envelope to conserve their conditioned air. This is fine, except after a hurricane when the electricity is down and the a/c is dead. That’s when we yearn for an open, subtropical home of years gone by. 

    Also, see our blog post How did people stay cool in Key West before air conditioning? for a listing of the unique passive cooling features of the old Conch Houses in Key West.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

Here's the one about Keywest Conch homes:

Original walls did not have fire-stops (the horizontal blocks between wall studs) and were open inside from the bottom crawl space to the attic. This created a natural convection air flow to carry wall heat up to the attic and out through the louvered vents and roof scuttles.

Shutters hinge closed to provide quck storm protection. With the louvers open, they block the tropical sun while letting in the sea breeze.

Tongue-and-groove wood flooring, walls, and celings make each room into a sturdy structural box to resist hurricane winds.

Porches shade the exterior walls, cutting down the heat load inside. They often face southeast to catch the prevailing breeze.

 

Disadvantages of a Conch House? Termites love to eat them, and wood rot takes its annual toll. But, unlike a concrete house, wood is easy to patch and replace as problems occur.

SF6 Throwloops... the fakeout on websites and discussions lead to

 

I might not completely agree with the aggressive response, but I suspect he is telling the truth. 

https://eventhubs.com/news/2024/aug/21/throw-loops-still-present-sf6/

RebornOdin said on August 21, 2024 at 11:03 p.m.

Reply @Xykes #28 

Yeah that's real cool, Xykes.

Because I know you don't actually know what you're talking about when it comes to the actual minutia of the game since you seem content to just parroting everything, and, y'know, not actually try to learn, I did your homework for you. So here you go, Xykes, here's a list of how good everyone's oki is when doing Drive Rush after a forward throw midscreen:

--------

Great:

DeeJay, Ken, Ryu

Average:

Dhalsim, Ed, Jamie, JP, Kimberly, Luke, M. Bison, Marisa

Mediocre:

AKI, Akuma, Chun-Li, E. Honda, Juri, Rashid

Awful - 6F reversal punish:

Cammy, Guile, Lily, Manon

Zangief: Awful to Good, depending on throw

Microplastics getting worse - brain gets ~15x the amount (don't rescrew water bottle cap)

Skip down the brain part, that's super freaky.

Water bottle caps... each TWIST makes about 500 microplastic particles. Don't rescrew it on. And probably dont put your lips on the shreds, eh?

Use tap water or best is filtered water when at all possible... wwaaaaay less plastic particles. 

 https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/02/427161/how-to-limit-microplastics-dangers

A microplastics researcher in California, Laura Lopez Gonzales, she seems a little on the extreme side, but some good info and the site/lady says:

Why microplastics bad?  Her Answer: Chemicals like BPA, phthalates and PFAS can mimic human hormones....  My comment: Well we know this, but not all plastics put out BPA and PFAS... of course new chemicals pop up all the time. But the brain being full of random plastic particles is extra freaky even if they don't emit BPA or PFAS (she doesn't address this in her write up). 

How do you try to avoid microplastics and other toxins in your family’s food?

says: I don’t microwave in plastic. Years ago, I put my kids’ plastic baby bottles in the microwave to warm up milk because I, like so many people, just thought everything I bought at the store was safe for all uses. Now, because of my research, I would never do that. Heat makes plastic release harmful chemicals like BPA so I always microwave in ceramic or glass – that’s a really easy one. My Comment: supposedly some plastics don't have PBA or PFAS, so maybe some are OK to heat in the microwave. The general rule from the other place was, if it is slated as "safe for Microwave" then it shouldn't be killing you. 

I have a glass water bottle to avoid buying plastic water bottles. Steel water bottles are also a good choice. My comment: Again, some brands swear they dont have bad PFAS and stuff... so is this overkill?? in the other article says 240,000 microplastic particles per liter of bottled water. So... what kinds of plastic or do they even know (probably a mishmash of all of it is the biggest worry I guess). 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/21/microplastics-brain-pollution-health

says "‘Pretty alarming’

In one of the latest studies to emerge – a pre-print paper still undergoing peer review that is posted online by the National Institutes of Health – researchers found a particularly concerning accumulation of microplastics in brain samples.

An examination of the livers, kidneys and brains of autopsied bodies found that all contained microplastics, but the 91 brain samples contained on average about 10 to 20 times more than the other organs. The results came as a shock, according to the study’s lead author Matthew Campen, a toxicologist and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico.

The researchers found that 24 of the brain samples, which were collected in early 2024, measured on average about 0.5% plastic by weight.

“It’s pretty alarming,” Campen said. “There’s much more plastic in our brains than I ever would have imagined or been comfortable with.” "

https://time.com/6553165/microplastics-in-bottled-water-study/

says "the authors detected an average 240,000 plastic fragments per liter of bottled water. ... Approximately 90% of the particles were considered nanoplastics, which, as the name implies, are smaller than 1 micrometer. Unlike microplastics, nanoplastics are capable of passing through the intestine and lungs into the bloodstream. From there they can lodge in the heart muscle and other organs, pass the blood-brain barrier into the brain, and even into the bodies of unborn infants by crossing the placenta.  "

"Not surprisingly, one of the most common nanoplastic types in the three popular brands of bottled water tested (the scientists did not name the brands) was polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, which is the plastic most commonly used in the bottled drinks industry. Most likely the minute particles abrade into the water when the bottle is squeezed (other article claims not squeezing), or when the top is repeatedly screwed on or off. Another common plastic type found in the bottled water samples was nylon. Study co-author Beizhan Yan, a geochemistry research professor at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), suggests that such particles may in fact come from filters designed to purify the water." 

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/10/whats-your-water-bottle-concerns-about-microplastics-caps

says... When you drink from a plastic water bottle, you could be exposing yourself to tiny, potentially harmful plastic particles known as microplastics. And the biggest source of your exposure to these microplastics could be the screw cap rather than the bottle itself. 

That’s the conclusion of a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Water and Health, which found the repeated motion of screwing a cap on and off the bottle creates friction that generates a significant amount of microplastics, which then end up in the water you drink. Each twist can produce about 500 microplastic particles, the study found. 

Scientists estimate we consume about 16,000 microplastic particles – also called solid polymer particles – in a single year from bottled water alone. The new study showed that simply holding, squeezing and drinking from a bottle didn’t increase the amount of microplastics in the water.  

Microplastics in bottled water that don’t come from the cap can usually be linked to the manufacturing process. During production, plastic water bottles are subject to high pressure, temperature changes and transportation, which can cause the plastic to degrade, leading to the creation of microplastics.  

Nearly all the bottles – 93 percent – in a 2018 study of more than 11 brands of water and 259 bottles contained microplastics. And French scientists found microplastics in seven out of nine bottled mineral waters tested last year.

On average, bottled water contains about 60 times more microplastics than tap water. Filtered water is the better choice, whenever possible, because it likely contains fewer contaminants that may be harmful to your health. 

 

Picture from https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/45417, but it doesn't really address type, just shape, etc. 

 

Sf6, Unlock costumes in World Tour Mode... OK

$5 

$5 for 5 alternate costumes.

UPDATE: Personal experience is... while it's slightly interesting, I am weirded out by this crime-city environment quite a bit. It's taking forEVER to get anywhere also. In 2.5 or 3 hours, I did part of the Chun Li thing, saw the Marisa giant in Italy... and I think that's it. I'm constantly lost and running in circles trying to find the rooftop ladder, the entrance to the fenced off area (I jumped in one time after like 30 minutes... only to find a walkway out once I was in there???) and junk like that. I really should just pay the $5, but it's like some annoying "challenge mode" that makes me want to beat this thing. The one good thing that came of it was getting a million Zenny coins to change the look of your dude... so I made him super stretch tall/long armed dude so I can fight better. OMG, in Chun's stance, the standing or towards Strong and Fierce are ridiculous. Bison's moves are still the easiest... slide and hit them all. 

This guide explains the one time only SUPER GIFTS for 40 pts. vs. the other decent gifts 5 pts. vs 2 pts.:

https://www.vg247.com/street-fighter-6-gifts-guide-best-gift-special-gift-for-each-master#bond-stat-master

Zenny farming and if you do the Akuma 100 bond thing, how to deal with it: https://gamerant.com/street-fighter-6-where-to-find-akuma-in-world-tour-outfit-reward/

Zenny, a great way to farm some quickly is by heading to the Southeast part of the map in Metro City to the Scrap Heap minigame. The highest difficulty can give you 15,000 Zenny in less than 30 seconds. The hard mode can take quite some time if you are new to farming it. A great strategy is to switchto Marisa's Fighting Style and starting the fight with four heavy punches followed by four Down Heavy Kicks and then Heavy Punches till the Truck is destroyed. This method will guarantee a lot of Zenny per run.

Classic Costumes

Some costumes (((all classic costumes looks like))) can also be unlocked without having to use real money or in-game currency, but you are required to play World Tour mode to do it. Be sure to look over our Street Fighter 6 Masters location guide to find your favorite characters and get their Outfit 2.

***TRICK TO do the story mode quicker, avoid gangs slowing u down, PhoenixWright said:

I know what you mean. During the first chapters it can be very rough and annoying, in early game it helped me fighting "The Watcher" as he's at level 28 and very easy to beat even at a low level, cheap trick to level up fast and get those annoying mad gear dudes off your back.

Other:
Shower them with gifts, especially the ones that raise their bonds by 5, there's a list somewhere. Get 20 of these and voila. Can be purchased at various npc stores in the general/food section with in-game money from playing world tour or doing the mini games like breaking planks.

AKUMA

SIDENOTE: Do his secret taunt once, get two or 3 new secret supers?!?

Press all six buttons while pressing left and he sat down, then do the same inputs but press down instead of left and he will eat...wait... 

• QCBx2+LK and he did the SA. You only have to do the taunt once (did it in training).
• And double hado while in air with 63214 PP.
• And Down+down+PPP, another super.

Eventhubs: From our testing, you must hold down and continue to press all three punch and kick buttons (just the taunt input) after the animation starts. You don't have to mash super hard since we found pressing the buttons around every 30–40 frames or so seemed to do the trick consistently.

Once around ten seconds have passed, Akuma will actually pull out a rice ball and start eating with his back turned. At this point, you can stop pressing the buttons.

 

First few links is how to do it free:
Akuma specific: https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2024/may/22/akuma-unlock-world-tour-sf6/

Akuma specific: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EPPujf5IZ0

AKUMA, basically is the longest one to get (Maybe Bison is bad, too):

Alternative unlock method: Develop a level 100 bond with Akuma in World Tour mode. You can do so by offering him gifts and completing missions for him.
Preferred gift / purchase location: Fishing Hook = 40 bond pts / Complete the Busybody Decoy mission to get this item. 

All:

https://www.ign.com/wikis/street-fighter-6/All_Alternate_Costumes_-_How_to_Unlock_Costumes

Blanka sounds kinda easy, plus others:

https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2023/jun/02/master-location-sf6-world-tour/

Other $$$ info:

https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2023/jun/27/sf6-colors-costumes-guide/

https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2023/jun/06/real-money-sf6-costumes/

SF6, Momochi's cheesey Ed level2 combo into level2 combo

 https://eventhubs.com/news/2024/aug/17/sf6-ed-level-2-super/

https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2024/jun/23/momochi-corner-ed-sf6-tourney/

The Japanese pro has become so efficient with Ed's level 2 Super that he's now been spotted (and clipped) pulling off his "dream sequence" combo, and launching into a safe jump set up thereafter with enough meter to rip into a second level 2 super. As cool as this is, other pro players are starting to call for nerfs to Ed as a result.

 

West Indies word origins vs. Black-bellied Whistling (Tree) Duck

The DUCK

Does it lay eggs in trees? Yep! Here they are... apparently they make nests in hollowed out trees. I think we saw these on TV, the ducklings jump out of the nest and bounce(?!). Well, this other species jumps out from 50 feet and bounces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDJw43BJtCE

Trying to find out led me to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-bellied_whistling_duck

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River

Behavior and ecology

The black-bellied whistling duck is a common species that is "quite tame, even in the wild". It is highly gregarious, or social, forming large flocks when not breeding, and is largely resident apart from local movements. It usually nests in hollow trees (in South America many times in palm trees). The habitat is quite shallow freshwater ponds, lakes, and marshes, cultivated land or reservoirs with plentiful vegetation, where this duck feeds mainly at night on seeds and other plant food.

Breeding

The black-bellied whistling duck is quite unique among ducks in their strong monogamous pair-bond. Its pairs often stay together for many years, a trait more often associated with geese and swans. Both parents share all tasks associated with the raising of the young, from incubation to the rearing of ducklings. The ducks, primarily cavity nesters, prefer the confines of a hollow tree but will nest on the ground when necessary. They also make use of chimneys, abandoned buildings, or nest boxes, the latter having been increasingly provided to them over recent decades, especially in southeast Texas and Mexico. Ducklings leap from nest cavities within two days of hatching, can feed themselves immediately, and stay with the parents for up to eight weeks.

WEST INDIES

Old 1751 London dude, George Edwards, had a duck, drew it and wrote about it. So the West Indies... the name is always weird. He was told it was from the West Indies. So what's up with that name, is that the old thing where they thought the Americas was Inida? Yeah, related. Nowadays, it just means the Carribean area. Back then, they thought they were sailing to India... and India got it's name from the Indus river...

The English term Indie is derived from the Classical Latin India, a reference to the territories in South Asia adjacent and east to the Indus River. India itself derived successively from Hellenistic Greek India ( Ἰνδία), ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός), Old Persian Hindush (an eastern province of the Achaemenid Empire), and ultimately its cognate, the Sanskrit Sindhu, or "river", specifically the Indus River and its well-settled southern basin.^[6][7] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which translates as "The people of the Indus".^[8]

In 1492, Christopher Columbus and his Spanish fleet left Spain seeking a western sea passage to the Eastern world, hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade emanating from Hindustan, Indochina, and Insulindia, the regions currently found within the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, which were first simply referred to by Spanish and Portuguese explorers as the Indias (Indies).

Thinking he had landed on the easternmost part of the Indies in the Eastern world when he came upon the New World, Columbus used the term Indias to refer to the Americas, calling its native people Indios (Indians). To avoid confusion between the known Indies of the Eastern Hemisphere and the newly discovered Indies of the Western Hemisphere, the Spanish named the territories in the East Indias Orientales (East Indies) and the territories in the West Indias Occidentales (West Indies). Originally, the term West Indies applied to all of the Americas.

SF6 TierList talk

 Tierlists all over the place from folks, but in general I don't think you can say any character is at the top if they don't have an invincible reversal with OD meter. So how can you put Zangief or Bison at the very top? Nah. But still fun to see what people say. 

Evenhub's Dreamking's for August 12th, 2024 or so:

Seems reasonable, but I'd put 'Gief much higher. 

CrossoverRD's (I guess he's MenaRD's teammate) list from around 8-14-24 or so:

I'd put Gief and Bison down a slot. 

What else to say... I've seen a mean Manon beat Nemo's Bison online replays, it was close but Manon is a scary grappler when you are Bison. Obviously Zangief is a problem for Bison. A.K.I. seems to be at the top of a lot of people's tier lists, she seems like a much stronger version of FANG, so I think I see it. Also, Lily can win some tournies, so I'd put her higher. 

SF6, still hating DI (Drive Impact)

Personally, it gets on my nerves bad. Using heavy normals just leads to them getting a 40% combo on the attacker. So I guess never use heavy hitting normals?? Platinum level mostly right now. It's hilarious though, because fighting Diamonds is usually much easier since they avoid DI, expecting everyone to counter-DI.

People are saying, don't use heavies... use light or medium b/c they "cancel into DI like a special move". 

This guy describes it as... don't just go through a blockstring, wait between: "You’re mashing, likely, which is why you can’t react, because even if you do react in time another input you mashed is taking priority.

The big hurdle with DI is learning to confirm into your strings rather than mashing them out every time even on block. That’s hilariously easy to DIY through."

Part of it is just the messy screen that is SF6... what's up with all the Splatoon goo everywhere, my God, and the DI thing just makes it worse? Look at this screenshot... what is actually going on here?

The next picture isn't much cleaner:

Try, via https://www.reddit.com/r/StreetFighter/comments/152urkw/anybody_else_platinum_or_above_that_cant_react_to/:

If you keep eating DI when doing the cr. MK into hadoken try baiting out the DI by doing cr. light kick without the hadoken. If they take the bait and do a DI you can hold block while mashing DI! And if you don’t mash DI fast enough you’ll block and stay safe :)

Other says:

Lowforward into fireball depending on fireball strength, has a di able gap, so thats a good point to expect a di

Diamond 5 guy says:

This is really the reason, I am at diamond 5 almost at masters and I have a 74% winrate with DJ. I only react to drive impact in two situations, when I throw out a cancellable normal which hits their drive impact (in which case its really easy to react), or when I devote all my mental power to countering drive impact (due to either my opponent keeps abusing it or I am in the corner). I don't think anyones reaction is that good to always counter it, people just specifically look for it.

Holaskink via https://www.reddit.com/r/StreetFighter/comments/1c0xrpa/drive_impact/ says:

Blocking it is not the worst option. It’s not great, but a lot of times it’s the only option. Parrying it is better. For me it’s more reliable than counter di. But if you’re already using a cancelable normal and your opponent DIs into it, it’s best to cancel into DI. The more you use your buttons the more comfortable you will get with cancel windows. If you see your opponent di a string, don’t autopilot your cancel. You will get better at this with more experience. If you cancel into drive rush I find that the screen freeze gives me more time to DI. You might notice this in your own games when you try to di someone going green. It’s much more reliable. Also, you can throw. If you know your opponent likes to mash DI, try tic throwing them.

And paqman3d:

I got DI'ed to hell in silver and didn't get the psychology behind it until around Gold.

Key thing is if they DI'ed you once, they're doing it again because obviously you can't defend it lol. I play hella defensive, and the quickest way to open me up is DI after I block a few times, because I think it's okay to press a button.

So if I'm not paying much attention, I get smacked. Here's what I do once I get hit with one DI:

My entire finger positioning on my stick changes so I only use light attacks with my index finger (LP) and thumb (LK). My pinky hovers over Parry and my ring finger is on tap over DI. This removes me even THINKING about medium and heavies. You can easily cancel light attacks into DI for a cheeky counter.

If you're busy throwing out Heavy Punch, you won't have the time to recover/cancel and counter. I learned this by seemingly reacting ON TIME with the input, but my Guile was still swinging a damn punch. So I had the correct timing, just with the wrong situation.

Bait them into it with some lame ass jab-jab-jab pokes. I swear by the fourth jab they're going to either throw you or DI. Now you're ready for it. Nothing gets me hype than a last second DI counter in slow motion.

Also, just basic parry is underrated when it comes to DI defense, especially in the corner. Somedays I'm too lazy to line up a DI counter lol. Now, you may still get thrown (lmao) but I'd take that over stun.

Lastly, set your training dummy up to randomly DI after you attack. I spent 2 hours one day just countering that, and it helped immensely. You can see which of your moves are more "DI-able" that way and take note not to use those in close range in a match if you think a DI may happen. It took me until Plat to realize me throwing a Sonic Boom up close is asking for a DI