Basically, when I first turned the PS2 on a menu/interface that I have never seen before showed up, which promted me to choose a language and then to choose either Pal or NTCF. The default was Pal, then I press start game and it was back to the normal PS2 menu that I remember when I had it 20 years ago. Now I don't know how to go back to that menu to see if I can choose the NTCF option. I'm afraid of importing a North American game only for it not to work. Is my console region free modded already? What was that menu? How can I go back to it? And if it's not how can I play North American games on a European console? If any of you can help, it'll be very much appreciated.

My older son recently turned 18 and will be starting college in the fall, so I’m looking for advice on the next step toward helping him establish his financial life. What do you think?
Currently he has Checking and Savings account in a local credit union (6% interest in first $1k of savings!!!), jointly owned by him and his mother and I. He does not have a regular job but wants to get into education and was able to get on the substitute teacher list at a local school (when it doesn’t conflict with his school). He uses Apple Pay configured with his debit card and Apple Cash. Our goal is to help him learn good financial habits within some safeguards, while starting him on the road to financial independence.

• Allowance and gifts go half Checking, half Savings.
  
• Checking is his to spend as he wants but we have overdraft protection disabled so if he spends too much it will be rejected.
  
• he is not allowed to spend from savings without approval, and he knows there must be a special reason
  
• for emergencies, we configured Apple Pay Cash, or I can deposit in his accounts for immediate use
  

What is a good next step? Should I encourage him to get a credit card to start building a credit history? He’s not asking for one and does not have a regular job so I hesitate to push that risk on him. How hard should I push him to get a job, consistent with his education remaining the priority? Should we convert his accounts to be in his name only? He’ll need to eventually and it might help establish his future but also cuts one of the safety nets. His only additional requests have been VenMo: I explained the trade offs but am neither helping nor hindering

I got accepted to a new job last Monday, the 22nd.
I was a daily pot smoker before then, and that was the last day I smoked any weed in preparation for taking a drug test.
I thought I was in the clear if I gave myself a week of detoxing and following a popular guide someone posted to /trees that revolved around drinking 10+ cups of water a day and exercising while taking B vitamins.
Well, yesterday at a Memorial Day party I was talking to friends who were all experienced smokers and they all told me I had no chance of passing if I had my drug test this upcoming week, which I’m pretty sure is when the employer would want me to take it.
I started panicking and went to a nearby CVS mid-party to get a home drug test kit, immediately opened it and pissed in it in my car, and sure enough to the testimony of my friends I tested positive for THC.
I was very anxious then and going back to the party everyone told me the only hope of passing it was to get one of my roommates who don’t smoke to pee in a transportable bag for me and then use that for the urine sample at the testing facility.
I also took some hits off a joint later that night, as everyone told me I may as well since I wasn’t going to pass the test with my own urine at that point…
I don’t know when exactly I need to take the test this upcoming week, but I am more than anxious thinking about it today, and also regretting the hits I took last night realizing I may have possibly been able to piss clean if I had put as much time as possible between the last time I smoked and the test, but now I just put more THC back into my system.
What should I do in this scenario? Is getting a clean friend to piss for me truly my best option at this point?
Is it still possible for me to get a clean piss out if I know I have to do it this week? I do feel that I would be burning my one chance to provide a clean sample if I tried my own instead of trying to sneak in my friends’.
Also some extra information, I live in Philadelphia, and I did have a medical marijuana card at one point but it expired sometime last year.
I also am working through a staffing agency who presented me as an employee, for whatever that’s worth. The projected start date for the actual job is the 19th of June.
I’m just wondering what all of my options are and what other knowledgeable people on this topic think my best route is to pass this drug test.

And repeat reading things that weren't so clear from my fist read, while before that (when I only consumed English content for fun and I wasn't really that bothered with getting better at the language), I always read everything fast, without being stuck on a certain paragraph if I didn't really understand it. Back then I didn't really care if there were words or sentences I didn't understand, I would just keep reading just for the fun of it ignoring those words and sentences. Today, however, when I understand how important it is to know the English language, I dedicate way more time for each thing I don't understand when I read a book or an article, making me read it really slowly but understanding it better. Is it okay? Because sometimes, I get a little tired from the obsession to understand perfectly everything I read, and I think maybe I should be back to reading just for fun, even if I learn the language much slower that way.

Today I am babysitting a 4 year old and I’m counting the hours until the day is done.
I understand that fear is a normal feeling and I don’t mean to shame him but I have no clue how we are going to kill time for the rest of our time together.
And it’s not just being fearful but that they scream out of their fear. It’s about bugs, people looking at them, anything that requires any sort of effort from their body.
I’ve been trying to help them feel brave, assuring them I’m right there with them, or that they don’t have to do something they find scary. But it doesn’t keep them from screaming at me.
I’m just tired and already ready for this day to be over.

Been in crypto since 2017.
Seen the ico craze. Seen the manias that came and went. I am no expert at all but these are my thoughts. I might be completely wrong.
Made around 300k last bull run and was able to exit. (Top account value was around 550k)
I sacced for PLS and PLSX both 5k each. Bought HEX April of 2020. Sold way too early before big pay day.
What I can tell you is that the sacrifice, specially for bigger sacrifices paid off very handsomely. I cashed out around 2x for PLS and sold PLSX around 10% below sac price.
Richard Heart has very good takes but the total amount sacced is not 2b. Majority of the sac was in HEX by OA.
Anyway, in finance there is something called "front running demand" this is what happens when you sell a product to awaiting customers even before the launch of the product. Usually this is done for games, concerts, sporting events obviously. The people who will buy or pay for the product already have spent their money on it. Sure yea there might be some new ppl on the sidelines waiting but it is marginal at best.
That means, the existing demand has diminished. The demand was HEX holders and RH followers.
How do you increase demand? You onboard new people. But why would new people onboard? What does PLS offer that no other EVM chain does? What can i do on PLS that i cant do on Avax C Chain, Binance Chain, Emerald Rose Chain, and 100s of other EVMs.
Short answer is, nothing. They are all the same.
I have looked at the projects coming into PLS. They are just copies of already existing projects. Lending, memes, swaps, staking, gaming, defi etc. So what exactly is the value proposition?
On top of that PLS will not be getting any future updates of ETH.
For now I dont see much value proposition here. It is just another EVM copy with lower fees.
There are other projects out there that are innovating and attracting more developers. Do your research and good luck. I hope the best for PLS, i might throw a small bag once the price bottoms.

I have the most amazing life and that is an effin lie. My life right now is in chaos. I am burn out, stress and emotionally not okay. I had my finals and the last one coming up this week. First, I feel like one of my friends is talking about me behind my back (my intuitions are usually and weirdly right and also i kinda heard her talk about some details that i did, behind my back). At the dorm, my roommates are also talking about me behind my back (i heard them while i was in the bathroom and bedroom and i heard my name too). At home, my family does that too. I dont know if there is something wrong with me or the people around me. Second, I cannot continue studying. Im so tired and burnout and my college major is kinda hard and not really what i want. Third, i told my parents about stopping for a year and they wouldnt let me. Im stuck in this situation and dont know how to get out. These are just the tip of the iceberg and the braking point of how much i can handle since the bad water is full and overflowing. None of the spaces is safe whether im with my college friends, my dorm mates and even with my own family.im thinking of just taking away my consciousness forever and not ever waking up. I cant even go to therapy since we are not financially stable and my country sucks. I just wanna know. when will i have the most amazing life? Cause if not soon or ever, its just better to take it.

How much do you spend on housing (rent/mortgage, utilities, maintenance) as a %age of your total spending? Mine is 43% which seems very high but maybe it is typical?

I have a small collection of books that I was hoping to trade for store credit at a used book store, but I’m not sure where to go. What is the best option? How much credit do they usually give? Any suggestions are appreciated.

About Our Weekly Writing Prompt Day:
Find yourself journaling, writing, and doing the same thing every single week with your supplies? Looking for ideas or a fun new way to approach using your tools? Or maybe you're looking for fun questions to ask your Pen Pals, or want to come up with a fun and creative story for your next short story? Whatever the situation, our stationery prompts can come in handy.
How To Participate in Writing Prompt Day:

• Leave a comment below with a prompt (or several) to help get someone started writing and playing with their stationery supplies!
• Find a prompt below (either from our examples or from the comments) and get started. Make a post and show off what you've created!

Examples:

• What was the highest point of your day? What was the lowest? And what lessons have you learned from this day in your life?
• Reach into your sticker collection and pull out a sheet or sticker flake at random. Write about it! Where did you get that sticker? How does it make you feel? Maybe design an entire page with this sticker or sheet as your starting point!
• Pick out three stationery supplies you never use and use them creatively today to write your entry!
• Finish this sentence and write a short story: "The crisp morning air smelled faintly of _____..."

That's all there is to it! Have fun!
- the ilovestationery team

Another Madden $70 re-skin is upon us, so let's take a moment to explore the history of all the people who have been featured on the cover of an pro football video game.
While the selection of the Madden cover athlete is now an event, there was a wild wild west period of football games from the 80s to the mid-2000s where anybody with a computer could and would build football games, with the selection of the cover being all over the place. Roger Craig was the first cover athlete in 1985 on NFL Challenge for MS-DOS. Madden's first game was in 1988, then by the mid-90s getting a cover athlete or spokesman for your football game was pretty standard.
I wanted to compile those games and covers based on this Wiki article (and a few that it was missing from that list) and see who was on the main cover of all of those games (some games were almost completely irrelevant, so I left them off this list). Some of these may have more alternates with other people, but I'll stick with the main cover.

Covers by Position

https://preview.redd.it/1dzua4o2hl2b1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=023c573335e64d21fccc937a44db0ae995510db6
*These are heavily boosted by John Madden being on 10 Madden covers
Obviously QBs dominate here, but I didn't realize how little defensive players have been on football game covers (9%), with none being on a cover since Richard Sherman in 2014. I'd love to see more defensive players on the Madden cover. Who would be the most likely defensive guy in the near future? Aaron Donald, TJ Watt, Nick Bosa, Myles Garrett, or Sauce Gardner?

Covers by Team

https://preview.redd.it/8f29df4ygl2b1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=3b93f8a4ddb26b2cee1f6abd74652f44b7fbfdcb
If a team's player was not a lead on the cover or was not any identifiable player, I gave them a *
The Re-skins/Commanders?, Jags, Panthers, and Bills have appeared on a cover but never with an athlete as the lead or with a real person. Only the Texans have never appeared at all on the cover of any football video game. I'd say the Bills are most likely to get one next (Josh Allen), then the Jags (Trevor Lawrence), then the Panthers/Texans if either hits a home run with Young or Stroud. The Commanders have a long road ahead to getting a feature cover athlete, unless you ask Sam Howell who thinks he should be this year's Madden cover athlete.

Most Prolific Cover People

https://preview.redd.it/5axoymcakl2b1.png?width=2871&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=9ecf9c52cad0647d1572d2d9c85ebdef0dd277c3
Kordell Stewart, Daunte Culpepper, and Donovan McNabb (and possibly Lamar Jackson, still too early for him) are the only players with multiple appearances that are either not or are unlikely to make the Hall of Fame. McNabb is the only guy to appear in multiple covers in the same year. Also of note, 7 athletes were on a cover without ever making a pro bowl in their careers: Brad Muster, Pat Terrell, Gordon Laro, Chris Zorich, Albert Fontenot, William Floyd, and Peyton Hillis (Hillis was the only one to be the primary cover athlete).
I'll list all the games and their respective covers by their era below. I'll also attach some of my favorite covers from each era. If the cover person was a Hall of Famer, I'll mark them with a ^\). If they're very likely to make the HoF but they're not yet eligible, I'll mark them with a ⁺

Covers by Era

Decade	# of Games	# of Games w/Cover Athletes	# of Cover Athletes
60s	1	0	0
70s	4	0	0
80s	11	2 (18%)	2
90s	36	32 (89%)	21
00s	40	38 (95%)	36
10s	14	10 (71%)	12
20s	8	4 (50%)	5
Total	114	86 (75%)	76

We didn't see the first cover athlete until 1985 with Roger Craig. They didn't really become standard until the early to mid-90s after Madden became a big selling point for the early Madden games. The dip in the last 2 decades is because there's just less games, so any generic football games will have a large effect.

The Early Days: 1965-1982

1978: Football! for the Magnavox Odyssey 2 was the first football video game with a cover, but obviously the cover athletes are generic.

Year	Game	Cover Athlete	Team	Position
1965	FTBALL	NA	NA	NA
1972	Football (Magnavox)	NA	NA	NA
1978	Football!	Generic players	NA	NA
1978	Football (Atari)	Generic players	NA	NA
1979	NFL Football	Generic players	NA	NA
1982	Realsports: Football	Generic players	NA	NA

The 2D Era: 1983-1996

1985: NFL Challenge was the first football game with a real cover athlete (Roger Craig). This was the original bar for realism in football simulation, to where it was used in a 1988 ESPN Program \"NFL Dream Season\" where they simulated the greatest teams of all time against each other.
1988: John Madden Football released on the Apple II, MS-DOS, and Commodore 64/128 (partly being developed by Bethesda), which was the beginning of the most dominant franchise in football video games. They featured no NFL teams due to a lack of an NFL license.
1991: Tecmo Super Bowl is probably still my personal favorite football video game. It's totally timeless, and if you pick the Raiders then you're a cheater.

Year	Game	Cover Athlete	Team	Position
1983	10-Yard Fight	Generic Jersey	NA	NA
1984	Super Action Football	Generic player	NA	NA
1985	NFL Challenge	Roger Craig	49ers	RB
1987	4th & Inches	Generic players	NA	NA
1987	Tecmo Bowl	Generic players	NA	NA
1988	TV Sports: Football	Generic player	NA	NA
1988	John Madden Football ('88)	John Madden*	None	John Madden
1989	ABC Monday Night Football	Generic player	NA	NA
1989	NFL	Generic players	49ers, Raiders, Oilers, Broncos, Re-skins	NA
1989	PlayMaker Football	Equipment	NA	NA
1990	Joe Montana Football	Joe Montana*	None	QB
1990	John Madden Football ('90)	John Madden*	None	John Madden
1991	John Madden Football II (or '92)	John Madden*	None	John Madden
1991	Tecmo Super Bowl	Generic player	NA	NA
1992	NFL Sports Talk Football '93	Joe Montana*	49ers	QB
1992	Front Page Sports Football	Generic players	NA	NA
1993	Capcom's MVP Football	Brad Muster	Bears	FB
1993	Madden NFL '94	John Madden*	NA	HC/Announcer
1993	NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana	Joe Montana*	Chiefs	QB
1993	Mutant League Football	Mutant	NA	NA
1994	ESPN Sunday Night NFL	Chris Berman	NA	Announcer
1994	Madden NFL '95	John Madden*	NA	John Madden
1994	Tecmo Super Bowl II: Special Edition	Generic player	Cowboys	NA
1994	Troy Aikman NFL Football	Troy Aikman*	Cowboys	QB
1995	Emmitt Smith Football	Emmitt Smith*	None	RB
1995	Madden NFL '96	John Madden*, Pat Terrell, Gordon Laro	NA, Panthers, Jags	John Madden, DB, TE
1995	NFL Quarterback Club 96	Steve Young*, Chris Zorich, Albert Fontenot	49ers, Bears	QB, DL
1995	Sterling Sharpe: End 2 End	Sterling Sharpe	None	WR
1995	Tecmo Super Bowl III: Final Edition	Generic players	Raiders, Bills	NA
1995	NFL GameDay	William Floyd	49ers	FB
1996	Madden NFL 97	John Madden*	NA	John Madden
1996	NFL '97	Kordell Stewart	Steelers	QB
1996	NFL Quarterback Club 97	Dan Marino*	Dolphins	QB
1996	NFL GameDay '97	Daryl "Moose" Johnston	Cowboys	FB

​

The Parity Era: 1997-2004

1997: NFL Blitz came from Midway studios and was a breath of fresh air for football games. They had mostly been stagnant trying to hone in on realistic simulation in 2D form, whereas Blitz came out in 3D and threw realism out the window. I definitely spent too much money on the arcade version of this game.
2000: Madden 2001 started the tradition of having their games feature a cover athlete in this format, which consolidated into nearly everyone following this trend.
2001: Backyard Football 2002 was a more kid-friendly version of a football video game, and they also had other games for other professional sports. I definitely played this a lot on my old Windows Me computer, and Pablo Sanchez is a god.
2002: NFL Fever was Microsoft's foray into football video games on the original Xbox. All 3 of their games featured Peyton Manning as the cover athlete.
2002: NFL GameDay 2003 was 989 Sports' exclusive for Sony on the PlayStation platform.
2004: ESPN NFL 2K5 was the last great football game before the NFL exclusively gave their license to the EA. It was this game that definitely led to NFL's decision though, as they slashed their release price to an unheard of $20, which forced Madden 2004 to release at $30 instead of the typical $50. This pissed off the NFL, who decided to have less competition instead.

Year	Game	Cover Athlete	Team	Position
1997	NFL Blitz	Kordell Stewart	Steelers	QB
1997	NFL Quarterback Club 98	Brett Favre*	Packers	QB
1997	NFL GameDay '98	Jerome Bettis*	Steelers	RB
1997	Madden NFL 98 (64)	John Madden*	NA	John Madden
1998	NFL Xtreme	Mike Alstott	Bucs	FB
1998	NFL Quarterback Club 99	Brett Favre*	Packers	QB
1998	NFL GameDay '99	Terrell Davis*	Broncos	RB
1998	Madden NFL 99	John Madden*	NA	John Madden
1999	NFL Xtreme 2	John Randle*	Vikings	DL
1999	NFL Quarterback Club 2000	Brett Favre*	Packers	QB
1999	NFL GameDay 2000	Terrell Davis*	Broncos	RB
1999	NFL 2K	Randy Moss*	Vikings	WR
1999	Madden NFL 2000	John Madden*	NA	John Madden
1999	Backyard Football	Steve Young)*, Jocinda Smith, Amir Khan	49ers, Generic	QB
2000	NFL Quarterback Club 2001	Brett Favre*	Packers	QB
2000	NFL GameDay 2001	Marshall Faulk*	Rams	RB
2000	NFL 2K1	Randy Moss*	Vikings	WR
2000	Madden NFL 2001	Eddie George	Titans	RB
2001	NFL Quarterback Club 2002	Brett Favre*, Rich Gannon	Packers, Raiders	QB
2001	NFL GameDay 2002	Donovan McNabb	Eagles	QB
2001	NFL Fever 2002	Peyton Manning*	Colts	QB
2001	NFL 2K2	Randy Moss*	Vikings	WR
2001	Madden NFL 2002	Daunte Culpepper	Vikings	QB
2001	Backyard Football 2002	Drew Bledsoe or Donovan McNabb	Pats or Eagles	QB
2001	ESPN NFL PrimeTime 2002	Edgerrin James*	Colts	RB
2002	NFL GameDay 2003	Tom Brady+	Pats	QB
2002	NFL Fever 2003	Peyton Manning*	Colts	QB
2002	NFL 2K3	Brian Urlacher*	Bears	LB
2002	Madden NFL 2003	Marshall Faulk*	Rams	RB
2003	NFL GameDay 2004	LaDainian Tomlinson*	Chargers	RB
2003	NFL Fever 2004	Peyton Manning*	Colts	QB
2003	Madden NFL 2004	Michael Vick	Falcons	QB
2003	ESPN NFL Football	Warren Sapp*	Bucs	DL
2003	Backyard Football 2004	Jeff Garcia	49ers	QB
2004	NFL GameDay 2005	Derrick Brooks*	Bucs	LB
2004	Madden NFL 2005	Ray Lewis*	Ravens	LB
2004	ESPN NFL 2K5	Terrell Owens*	Eagles	WR
2004	NFL Street	Ricky Williams	Dolphins	RB

​

The Madden Era: 2005-Present

2005: NFL Street 2 was the second in the NFL Street series as a kind of spiritual successor to NFL Blitz. EA tried to have some diversity in their football video games outside of the Madden franchise, so they had the short-lived Street franchise under \"EA BIG\"
2006: NFL Head Coach was a new perspective on NFL Games where you play as the coach instead of the players. I enjoyed these although they could get a little boring.
2007: All Pro Football 2K8 was 2K's attempt at keeping the 2K football franchise alive without the coveted NFL license. They got three HoF players on the cover in Elway, Barry, and Rice, but not the actual license to any NFL team. This game received praise for its mechanics, but poor sales showed that a non-NFL licensed game would always struggle to make it.
2011: Madden 12 was maybe the last good Madden game. Also, Peyton Hillis. The only guy on a NFL football game cover to never make a Pro Bowl. This guy is an actual hero though, so good for him.
2019: Doug Flutie's Maximum Football was a mix of american and CFL football as another attempt at making a football game without the NFL license to poor results. They have announced a new game as a free to play title on new platforms, but no games in this franchise have released since 2020.
2020: Retro Bowl is a mobile game more in the style of Tecmo Super Bowl than Madden. It's probably the most successful non-Madden game since ESPN NFL 2K5, and it's pretty fun. People should definitely give this one a try since it's free to play on any mobile platform.
2022: Madden 23 gave the cover back to Madden for the first time since 1999 to honor the passing of the legend John Madden. Unfortunately the game inside the cover was crap, has been the style of Madden games for over a decade.

Year	Game	Cover Athlete	Team	Position
2005	Madden NFL 06	Donovan McNabb	Eagles	QB
2005	NFL Street 2	Jeremy Shockey, Xzibit	Giants, Pimp My Ride	TE, Rapper
2005	Blitz: The League	Generic players	NA	NA
2005	Backyard Football 2006	Daunte Culpepper	Vikings	QB
2006	Madden NFL 07	Shaun Alexander	Seahawks	RB
2006	NFL Head Coach	Bill Cowher*	Steelers	HC
2006	NFL Street 3	Chad Johnson	Bengals	WR
2007	Backyard Football '07	Ben Roethlisberger+	Steelers	QB
2007	Madden NFL 08	Vince Young	Titans	QB
2007	All-Pro Football 2K8	John Elway*, Barry Sanders*, Jerry Rice*	Generic	QB, RB, WR
2007	Backyard Football '08	Tom Brady+	Pats	QB
2008	NFL Tour	Shawne Merriman	Chargers	LB
2008	NFL Head Coach 09	Tony Dungy*	Colts	HC
2008	Backyard Football '09	Tom Brady+	Pats	QB
2009	Madden NFL 10	Troy Polamalu*, Larry Fitzgerald+	Steelers, Cards	DB, WR
2009	Backyard Football '10	Frank Gore+, Eli Manning+, Kurt Warner*, Peyton Manning*, Adrian Peterson+, Jason Witten+	49ers, Giants, Cards, Colts, Vikings, Cowboys	RB, QB, TE
2010	Quick Hit Football	Logo	NA	NA
2010	Madden NFL 11	Drew Brees+	Saints	QB
2010	Backbreaker	Generic player	NA	NA
2011	Madden NFL 12	Peyton Hillis	Browns	RB
2012	Madden NFL 13	Calvin Johnson*	Lions	WR
2013	Madden NFL 25	Barry Sanders* or Adrian Peterson+	Lions or Vikings	RB
2014	Madden NFL 15	Richard Sherman+	Seahawks	DB
2015	Madden NFL 16	Odell Beckham Jr.	Giants	WR
2016	Madden NFL 17	Rob Gronkowski+	Pats	TE
2016	Axis Football 2016	Generic player	NA	NA
2017	Madden NFL 18	Tom Brady+	Pats	QB
2017	Axis Football 17	Generic player	NA	NA
2018	Madden NFL 19	Antonio Brown+	Steelers	WR
2019	Doug Flutie's Maximum Football 2019	Doug Flutie	Generic (Stampeders)	QB
2020	Sunday Rivals	Helmet	NA	NA
2020	Retro Bowl	Generic player	NA	NA
2020	Legend Bowl	Silhouette	NA	NA
2019	Madden NFL 20	Patrick Mahomes+	Chiefs	QB
2020	Madden NFL 21	Lamar Jackson	Ravens	QB
2021	Madden NFL 22	Tom Brady+, Patrick Mahomes+	Bucs, Chiefs	QB
2022	Madden NFL 23	John Madden*	NA	John Madden
2023	NFL Pro Era	Lamar Jackson	Ravens	QB

Alright my friends, this will be a lengthy one.
TL;DR: AI speed up or down based on your level and perceived player ability while their level remains the same. Avoid this game if you want your racing ability to matter.
​

Introduction:

More than a month ago I released a small experimental youtube video where I waited for 25 seconds at the start of the race and then try to catch up to the AI. Then I raced the same race from the start. The finish times were as if the AI waited for 25 seconds at the start of the race as well. Evidence of manipulation.
After that, I decided to go a bit bigger on it. Though halfway through editting my video I realized I was putting more effort into this than Gameloft had and I kinda binned it. So instead I'll quickly summarize my findings here since rubberbanding has been mentioned again in another thread.
​

Acquiring of data

This time I wanted to grab something that I could measure. The average speed of each racer. Because we know the duration of the race and we can find out the track length, we can easily use that formula we all learned in early high school to find out the speed.
When I waited for 25 seconds at the start, I wouldn't use any items until I caught up with the 7th place racer so that I wouldn't sometimes get teleport and sometimes not. All of this just for clean data.

• I did all the data capture in Season Chapter 4, Race 3.
• The length of the track is 2.97Km according to Wiki.
• 10x - Waiting for 25 seconds at start at -1 recommended Level
• 12x - Racing from the start at -1 recommended level
• 11x - Waiting for 25 seconds at start at recommended Level
• 10x - Racing from the start at recommended level
• 11x - Waiting for 25 seconds at start at +1 recommended Level
• 10x - Racing from the start at +1 recommended level
• 3x - Waiting for 25 seconds at start +18 recommended level
• 3x - Racing from the start at +18 recommended level
• 4x - Racing from the start at -13 recommended level

I wrote down my times for all these races. I wrote down the tikmes of the fastest three AI's and the slowest AI. Then I averaged these all out to get to 1 average time per variable that I've described above. Then used that time to measure the average speed.
​

The results:

There is some really weird stuff going on with the AI and their speeds. Check it out.
Waiting at -1 Recommended Level

	Time:	Average Speed:	Adjusted -25 sec:
Me:	2:39:20	132.2 Km/h	159.3 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:25:47	143.8 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:43:53	130.4 Km/h

Race at -1 Recommended Level

	Time	Average Speed:
Me:	2:16:05	157.1 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:19:33	153.2 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:31:27	141.2 Km/h

​
Waiting at Recommended Level

	Time:	Average Speed:	Adjusted -25 sec:
Me:	2:37:24	135.9 Km/h	157.4 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:27:48	144.7 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:44:42	129.8 Km/h

Race at Recommended Level

	Time	Average Speed:
Me:	2:16:20	156.8 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:18:40	154.2 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:33:00	139.7 Km/h

​
Waiting at +1 Recommended Level

	Time:	Average Speed:	Adjusted -25 sec:
Me:	2:39:30	134.1 Km/h	159.5 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:31:24	141.2 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:45:54	128.9 Km/h

Race at +1 Recommended Level

	Time	Average Speed:
Me:	2:16:07	156.1 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:19:33	153.2 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:32:13	140.4 Km/h

​
Waiting at +18 Recommended Level

	Time:	Average Speed:	Adjusted -25 sec:
Me:	2:28:00	144.5 Km/h	148 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:34:00	138.9 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:51:00	125.1 Km/h

Race at +18 Recommended Level

	Time	Average Speed:
Me:	1:56:00	184.3 Km/h
Fast AI:	2:03:30	173.2 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:05:30	170.3 Km/h

​
Race at -13 Recommended Level

	Time	Average Speed:
Me:	2:11:40	131.7 Km/h
Fast AI:	1:50:40	193.2 Km/h
Slow AI:	2:15:20	158 Km/h

​
All raw data can be found in the link below. I apologise for the absolute state of the spreadsheet. I don't feel like tidying it up and I mostly used it as a sort of notepad for when I was editting the video and recording the voice-over.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uuI7JQLcTcNa6ahI-B6KzZRHhUtEzhUqoUTcdmJvV0I/edit?usp=sharing
​

Kowalski, analysis:

Hyper-speed AI when I'm underleveled as f-
The most interesting thing I've noticed was my latest experiment. Here I was playing as a lvl 1 Mowgli, the AI suddenly went at 193.2 km/h. Which is something my lvl 32 Mike can't even get. Keep in mind that this race recommended level is 14. So just because I went with a lvl 1 racer, the game decides that winning should be 110% impossible. And breaks all the rules to make sure this happens.
If we take three data points for OUR average speed:Level 1 = 131.7 Km/hLevel 14 = 156.8 Km/hLevel 32 = 184.3 Km/h
Now we can make a VERY ROUGH estimate of Km/h increase per level.Lvl 1 to 14 = 1.93 Km/h Per Level AverageLvl 14 to 32 = 1.72 Km/h Per Level Average
We can see a downward trend, but let's forget about that. Let's give the AI the benefit of the doubt that there is no downward trend. This will make the following the best case scenario. We know my lvl 32 speed, and now we see how much faster the fastest AI is. 193.2-184.3 = 8.9 Km/h Faster. 8.9 / 1.72 = 5.17. See the conclusion for this result...
​

Conclusion

Cheating AI proven
So because I was a level 1 Mowgli doing fairly well. The game decides that the fastest AI should race at the speed of a Level 37 Racer just to make sure I don't win.
​
Rubberbanding made manifest
If I wait for 25 seconds at the start at around the recommended level of the race. The AI will drive per average 10 Km/h slower than when I race from the very start. Now we have to wonder, right? Are they slowing down for me? Or are they speeding up when I'm racing from the start?
​
The other side of rubberbanding
Who doesn't like the absolute thrill of having enemies on your ass the entire time even though you're absolutely outleveling this race? While the opponents levels remained the same. When I came back to the race while being +18 levels above the recommended level. Then suddenly the opponents went roughly 19Km/h faster too.
Which we can now calculate. The level 14 AI went the speed that's associated with a level 25 racer. Just because I'm higher level.
​
Perspective matters
If we only take the times where I raced from the start without the gimmicky waiting at the start. Then we can really tell the variety in average driving speeds. If we take my slowest driving speed (Level 14 Mike at 156.8 Km/h) and my fastest driving speed (Level 32 Mike at 184.3 Km/h) we can see the difference between them. That's a speed difference of 15%.
Now if we do the same with the AI speeds. The slowest AI speed (Level 13 Mike at 153.2 Km/h) and the fastest recorded AI speed (Lvl 1 Mowgli at 193.2 Km/h) we can tell that the difference between that speed is greater at 21% difference.
So why does the AI scale harder than the player depending on levels? It's not in the player's favor, I can tell you that.
​

Closing statements

I didn't want to go into -all- the results and go full data-analyst on it. Though I think that the evidence I've provided is more than enough to show that Gameloft designed their AI to be manipulative. To give a false sense of competition. To detract from the player's ability and skill in favor of racer level.
It's downright embarrassing. You may as well not play the game. Gameloft if you're listening, you didn't need to make the maps. Or the racers. Or all the assets you put into this. All you had to do was set up the leveling system and then have a big auto-resolve button. If you meet criteria, you get the reward for that race. If you don't, well, buy more upgrade tokens and try again.
It's obvious that this game is a mobile cashgrab. If you value your time, if you value actually playing a game and mastering it. Avoid this embarrassment at all costs. Because none of it matters. It's all smoke and mirrors.
If this game was fair. Then the average speeds of the AI would be the same all the time. It wouldn't matter what level I was. The race as for recommended for level 14. AI racers would have a max speed, like players do. They would have a handling setting. They would have a boost setting. A combat value. (Whatever that means) All of these would be static. And go higher when the race is a higher level. And lower when the race is a lower level.
That simple.

Parents sent me to the best school in the state. Literally grinded as hard as I could. Family issues... Couldn't score much in borads despite being 4th ranker in pre boards. Somehow got in a tier 1 university. Had a soul crushing time. Years of being uptight caught up even at such a young age. Health issues which a 45 yr old has, I had them. Somehow about to get done with 5 yr degree. Got to do a masters :l no other option. Meanwhile due to stress and health issues, which are way better btw, I lack social skills. Most women simply say I'm too nerdy, which I am. Women I talk to are more or less appreciative of how genuine I am and I guess that's the issue.
I don't regret not having a social circle or not doing things with people but years of academic stress just made me hate myself and also very individualistic.
Even though family is now supportive and considerate and future looks good too👍🏼. Just feel somewhat guilty, unsatisfied about whatever happened in the last 5 yrs of university life.
Years of hardwork and still have to do more.

Went to my in laws yesterday. Majority of them alcoholics just like me. And they know how to party. I had 12 white claws, idk how many Surfsides and numerous tequila shots. Someone brought a bottle of Patron and we killed it in 15 mins. My FIL demanded we needed more so they went and got 2 more bottles (the one sober person drove to get it). Finished those too. Somehow I didn't black out? Strange. I usually do, but I did actually eat through out the day so that had to help.
Today I get to go to my cousins house for a BBQ and know I'll be kicking back beverages there as well. Unfortunately I have to work on Memorial Day so I'm hoping I don't feel too shitty tmw. I don't plan on being productive and I work from home so I should be ok. I just know I'm going to wake up and want to continue drinking, but last time I did that I drank way too much and went to bed mid work day without telling anyone. No one noticed but the fear and shame of it all took a while to let go of.
Anyway I'm surrounded by alcoholics so no one's worried about me. For now my life is still somewhat together and I have no thoughts of ever giving up drinking. I just have to be smart about it, which an alcoholic can't really be that smart about it. Once I start drinking, my body is programmed to drink until I pass out. It does suck always thinking about it and worrying that you won't have enough. It's a vicious cycle too where you wake up feeling shame and anxious about what you did while drinking, but continue to drink more to forget about those feelings.
Ok I kind of went on a tangent there, but chairs everyone! Enjoy your bbqs and especially the alcohol!

Charbel is equally amusing as he is talented. I wish we got to see more of him and his wacky dishes. Probably forgetting a bunch of moments but here's a short recap:

• The guy made an onion with chicken jus for the 1st challenge and WON. Gail said it was perfect and something she'd remember for a long long time. It takes a certain mindset to say "fuck it ima cook an onion on World All Stars". The more hilarious part was that he confessed in his season he played it safe early on only to ramp it up near the finale. This time, because of the talent level he said he had no choice but to go all out in the first challenge... and proceeds to make an onion spending "£2.50 with a budget of £250"
  
• For the picnic challenge he essentially made veggies with 3 types of dip. I thought he was for certain screwed but those dips must have been next-level.
  
• Chose Japan's takoyaki in the street food challenge to just try it. Fails miserably but he had fun trying something new. "chunks of octop-WTF" "I have travelled a lot and love Japanese food but what is takoyaki, how do you grill a ball?!"
  
• I respect that he chose to represent Lebanon in the challenge with Gaggan Anand. Again the mad lad made essentially (in Padma's words) sauce with a cracker. In Tom's words: "when you make high concept food like this, usually it's a process. To be able to produce food at this level is exceptional."
  

I do wish he came back from LCK but credit to the remaining 4 chefs. Buddha has tremendous momentum and it feels like it's his game to lose. Whatever happens in the finale, it's gonna take some next-level shit to beat him. Ali has been consistently strong throughout displaying flavors from his culture and I'm pulling for him the most. Gabri is pure chaos but he reminds me a bit of Hung only just like 100x more nuts in the kitchen and I love him for it. I think he's a complete wild card. He has some iconic lines too: "you better cheer for me bitch!" His flavors tend to be on point if he can manage his time well. Sara has managed to put a Southern spin on dishes that have shown complex flavor profiles and it's been a delight to watch her personality change from season 16. Much more relaxed and fun especially considering the enormous stress of being away from her kids. I feel like this finale will be the best one we've ever seen.

Hey everyone,
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