Oculus quest 2 volume too low

I am making a VR project for Oculus Quest 2 via UE5.1.
Using following functions in C++: DrawDebugLine DrawDebugCrosshairs
When testing VR through Editor “VR Preview”, it seems to work fine. But when I build apk and run it directly on Oculus, I have two separate crosshairs drawn for each eye (with an offset between them). Same applies for debug lines.
Here it says that disabling instanced stereo option in project settings fixes it, but it didn’t for me. Furthermore I believe it is not a good idea to disable instanced stereo for an Oculus game.
Is there a way to make them work properly in VR? It seems to me that it should be doable since it works properly in “VR Preview”.
I would appreciate any help.

So, I (43) met this 30-year old female through a mutual friend and we hit it off. We actually had sex fairly quickly into the relationship. At first we used condoms but by week 3 we stopped.
We've been seeing each other for about 3 months and having sex oral/vaginal probably 2x per week.
She finally told me the other day that a married man she was dating in the recent past had told her he had HSV-2. She stopped seeing him but had had unprotected sex with him several times for many months. She then dated a second guy and he too told her he had been told by his ex that she had tested positive for HSV-2, but he has never been tested. She broke up with him, but had had sex with him 4 times (oral and vaginal). She also said she believes she has had HSV-1 for years as she get cold sores when she is stressed but has never had a HSV-2 genital outbreak. On top of that she also had been getting regular gynecological visits for HPV concerns.
She went and got tested. The results for HPV came back "in normal ranges with no heightened concern" and "positive for exposure to both HSV-1 and 2." She showed me the test, which I really didn't understand. It showed percentage values and they seemed pretty low. She also said her doctor told her HSV tests are not standard in panels because they are so unreliable. I think she is using this as an excuse to be in denial.
The only possible symptoms I've experienced was about 2 weeks after our we first started having sex I had maybe 7 very small blisters on my buttocks. They we not closely grouped. They were more in a line and I thought it was poison ivy or a rash from laundry detergent or sweating. The had no pain, no ulcers, no oozing and were gone in 3 days. No other rashes or blisters since. However, I now regularly feel as though my buttocks is slightly sunburned all over, but zero symptoms around my genital area.
She says the odds of me contracting HSV-2 from her is extremely low because she has never had an outbreak and isn't even convinced she has it because her doctor said the test only means she was exposed at some point to the virus.
I'm trying to decide how concerned I should be and if I should get tested. I've decided to not continue the relationship with her and won't get into another one until I feel fully informed.
Thoughts? Thanks.

Race Information Name: Edinburgh Marathon Date: May 28, 2023 Distance: 26.2 miles Location: Edinburgh Time: 3:46:20
Goals Goal Description Completed? A Sub 3:30 No B Maintain pace discipline No C Sub 4:00 (Complete) Yes
Splits Km Time min/m 1 7:32 2 7:40 3 7:41 4 8:04 5 7:52 6 7:43 7 8:03 8 7:47 9 7:57 10 7:55 11 7:56 12 7:48 13 7:49 14 7:41 15 7:46 16 7:49 17 7:59 18 7:57 19 7:52 20 7:50 21 7:53 22 7:56 23 8:04 24 8:05 25 8:07 26 8:11 27 8:09 28 8:05 29 8:15 30 8:19 31 8:17 32 8:22 33 8:29 34 8:27 35 8:35 36 8:37 37 8:31 38 8:41 39 8:43 40 10:23 41 17:35 42 17:15
Training:
Training had been consistent throughout with the last few 32km runs feeling good! There was no issue with fuelling and pace for all three 32km runs sat around the 7:52 mark. With the training I had set to taking SIS gels on every 5km and sipping either water or an energy drink 3km after that. This was done throughout. With a goal of a sub 3:30 mara I was relatively confident that this could be done, if not quicker... it wasn't to be!
Pre-race:
Didn't sleep too well the night before getting to bed around 2200. Had eaten fairly low fibre throughout the week which consisted of high carbs (rice, pasta etc) and protein, however I think that looking ahead some more fibre would have done me well. Some food for thought. Dinner the night before consisted of a chicken breast and rice however in hindsight some additional calories may have been a bonus as we would find out. After an earl-ish wake with some porridge, peanut butter and coffee we travelled on the 0705 train to Edinburgh from Leuchars. A really easy journey ahead of the day. We found a seat next to a man who was on the production team for BBC's Big Weekend and managed to relax into the 1:30 journey. Sipped through a bottle of Lucozade Sport but could possibly have done with some more liquid here. Arrival at Edinburgh was chaotic with runners flooding the station but managed to find a rogue banana in M&S and wolfed it down before joining the huge queue to the loo's near the startline. Luckily word was passed down the line that the urinals was clearing so I managed to skip the queue to get a quick wee in before kick off at 10:00. As this acted as a 'training run' for July's 100km 'Race to the Stones' I wore a vest which held the days nutrition (around 6 SIS gels and a pack of Clif Bloks) and liquids (x1 500ml watex1 500ml High5 Zero Tab). A quick warm up with help of a theragun and I moved into place where the 'red' and 'yellow' sections met; My thinking being that I could get held up if I were to position myself towards the rear this may hold my up given the downhill sections of the run; this was the first of the many errors to come.
Race:
*Note the Km distance vs min per mile pacing
Race kicked off on the dot of 10:00 with around a minute before crossing the start line itself. As expected it was a quick start. I had been warned not to go too fast out the gates but was not prepared the swarms of people pushing down the steep roads. I had endeavoured not to go quicker than a 7:40 pace per mile but found myself pushing it a bit much at the start and tried to rein it in. Pacing was all over the place at this stage and there was little consistency. Possibly due to the terrain and the feeling of being 'pushed ahead' but I definitely found myself being overtaken by more people than I would take myself - likely due to my poor positioning at the start.
My HR seemed ok with it at the 150 mark (avg resting HR is around 38bpm) however I began to notice it slowly creeping up. It was at the 10km mark that I started to think that this could be a long day ahead as I managed 10km in around 48mins. I hadn't quite hit the rhythm I was used to and now out of town where the crowds disappeared apart from the odd family, it felt odd to be on course. A mistake here was to to avoid the aid stations. I was cautious to avoid the High5 gels due to the concern of having not trained with them however it was a mistake to have not taken more water when offered as I would find out.
Where my fueling technique had worked in the past I was finding it tricky to keep the momentum. Error number 2. Or 3. Or 4? As the heat increased from around 15 degrees to 18 things seemed tougher than expected at around the 25km point. I was now well aware that I had gone out too fast as my HR was now into the late 160's and low 170's. This is where it stayed for the rest of the race creeping up and staying at around 177. As we approached the 30km point there was a turnaround point which was gravel which was harder than expected given the change in terrain. At this point however each slight incline began to feel like a slog and it began to look like the sub 3:30 would take a serious effort.
I began to realize that I would need more fuel and in taking more on another gel I managed to drop the 4/5 remaining Clif Bloks and stupidly chose not to take the time to pick them up. Another error. I really began to fade at around the 35km mark however by the time I hit the 39km mark I was cooked. After waving to get the attention of my Dad who was spectating this turned out to be a random bystander and I was starting to hallucinate. My energy had completely gone and I was in trouble. I tried to keep running but had to stop, making it almost impossible to then restart. I could barely speak now and despite the continued support of the crowds which had began to grow as we got towards the finish line, felt my eyes start to close and my body want to give in. By this stage I had passed the 3:30 time and just wanted to get across the line before the 4:00 mark.
I managed to creep around the corner at the end and crossed the line. I was directed to the med tent just to the left of the finish line and collapsed onto the floor. HR all over the place, no energy and a time of 3:46 I was more thrilled that I had finished than anything.
Post-race: Having dragged myself off the med tent floor I managed to make it down to the exit area and grab some water for the salt tabs that were being given out with the race t-shirt/medal I slowly began to feel alive again. A few more salt tabs and the relief of having finished made things slightly better. A sip of a shandy and a boost bar and I started to gain some energy, however my stomach was in pieces. This was to continue with a lack of motion in the ocean for the following 3 days...
A few learning points: Self-selection at the start line was poor. Pace discipline was evident. HR was all over the place and should have been a considering factor. On course nutrition could have been better. Poor pre-race nutrition may have added to the lack of energy? Overall a long day in the office.

I wanted to buy oculus quest 2 for budget. I don't mind buying second hand, so if anyone know any shop that sell for cheap in NCR. Please let me know

How much money to spend on trading? That may be a challenging question for a beginner. We’ll help you find the answer.
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Do you follow any of these steps to balance your risks and potential gains?

These are not in order.
1- When young Smurf tried to make young Baz jealous by going into a room with one of the young guys he invited to that party. I know he was not her son, but I genuinely wanted to puke. She was unbelievable!
2- When Smurf was checking on J whether he was sexually satisfied and whether his gf is doing what he likes in the bedroom. I was like WTF are you guna do about it, GRANDMA?!
3- When Smurf told the stranger teenager who found her daughter shaking and sweating after doing drugs for the first time on the beach where she could've died to go talk to someone who cared and simply hung up. I know she is a fictional character but did that woman care about anybody ever?!
4- When Julia yelled at young Baz: so that's it?! after he saw her pregnant for the first time and he said nothing and left.
5- EVERY SCENE of Baz with Lina after her mom died
6- Baz killing scene. I just hated that she killed him off. A part of me didn't expect that even Smurf could stoop so low
7- When J killed the lawyer, I was like this boy is too evil man!
8- When J killed that poor secretary, again, TOO EVIL! he literally didn't have to, he was fleeing the country with a fake passport man, you could've just left her be
9- When Smurf told Pope to kill Cath
10- When Pope killed Cath, funnily enough I was feeling bad for Pope as much as for Cath. Smurf fucked him up too bad, man
11- When Amy was kicking Pope out while he confessed to her that he killed Cath because he was feeling guilty and she kept giving him hope that all sins are forgivable, yet not his sin. It was heart breaking how guilty he felt and how much he wanted to repent.
12- When monster Baz told Pope who would wanna have a kid with you. Literally broke my heart for him
13- When Pope kept repeating to Baz that he wasn't a weirdo, knowing that Baz always thought he was the normal son Smurf didn't have, for Baz to get away with the job and for Pope to be the one getting caught after. One thing I hated passionately about Baz is something Smurf said, he always thought he was smarter than he really was. Even when his own brothers kept calling him smart I was like NO HE'S NOT SHIT lol I just wish he was the one getting caught then, Pope WAS WAY SMARTER than Baz was ever guna be
14- When Lucy went right away to steal Baz's suitcases while he was fighting for his life in that OR. What a bitch, that's all I could say every time she claimed she loved him after he died.
15- When Andrew was actually relieved to be talked to by a professional after his psych eval, and for selfish J to snitch him out of there just before he gets to be talked to again (I know Andrew could've spilled everything then which as guna be harmful for everyone) but that's something I could never get over with Pope, if only he could talk to someone when he started needing to, I just know he would've turned out to be way less problematic individual, was so sad to watch how many times Smurf made sure he never does, starting with the church and the priest, how she even sent Baz to his bible study to make sure he doesn't share too much, selfish bitch
16- When Billy was inviting Nicky to try heroine for the first time (that's what he was doing right?) I was literally yelling for her to stay away
17- When Deran said that he liked Craig high, waiting for him to fall off the wagon, made my blood boil
18- Literally when NOBODY encouraged Craig to remain clean, not even cared that he got clean. Was so sad to watch
19- Almost all Ren's scenes ever since she had the baby haha. Sucha destructive personality and awful AWFUL mom. I mean child protective services should've taken Nick from her LONG TIME AGO
20- When Pope was trying his best to be a good dad, it broke my heart, he tried so much! more than Baz was ever going to
21- When Smurf made fun of Pope taking care of Lina, doing and saying everything to make him feel like he didn't know what he was doing. That one broke my heart because its like she fed on that tactic, and always managed to make him question how capable he was without her around. Awful human being.
22- When Smurf took Pope to his family's (1. without even telling him he had one) for him to sit there all confused and irritated, then to start a shooting battle with the gang while having a death wish not caring that he was guna be a causality during, just because she believed he couldn't live without her so she simply decided he should die without even telling him. Could she be any more disgusting?!
23- Pope's confusion and embarrassment after he tried to kiss Julia and Julia looking at him like a weirdo for the first time ever which made him feel even worse, while he was living in a sick boundries-less house where his mom is getting WAY TOO COMFORTABLE around him and his ''supposedly'' adopted brother, while Julia sleeps with Baz, and then he's the weirdo?! the guy was obviously mentally challenged and nobody ever explained to him what's normal and everything around him was everything BUT, and then he's viewed as the weirdo? that was so tough to watch
24- This one was a bitter sweet one, its the episode where one call from the only girl that ever liked Pope back (Amy) put him in such a good mood that he made a whole breakfast for the skaters and wanted to sign J's non profit paper from weeks lol how he went to the restaurant beforehand because a stranger told him he had to make sure it had not so loud music, that was so heartbreaking because I knew he had so much love to give but somehow he just will never be lucky enough to get it, just like the scene when Baz yells at him for leaving flowers for Cath just because he knew Baz never gets her any and even though she didn't choose Pope he'd still be the guy who gets her flowers. So heartbreaking.
25- J not only abandoning his uncles but telling on them gutted me like no other scene in the show. We all saw it coming, him ripping their money off, but again, that kid was so spiteful that he wanted them caught, killed even. J gave me the same feelings Smurf always gave me, heartless psychopath. I know they lived in poverty in comparison, but I thought that after the time he spent amongst them, he was guna realize that they were spoiled at best, not malicious or even the reason why his mom ended up the way she did and maybe that'd be enough for him not to want them dead the way they ended up to be. What a monster, man
26- It's not a secret by now how much I loved Pope's character, so the last one shouldn't be any scene but Pope's death. It just was tragic, for him to make it out of jail and still to die at his house because of a wound was just part of Pope's continuous bad luck. It was like that man was not destined to be happy, even temporarily, I hated how worse he always had it among all the boys, I wished him a semi-normal life, with someone who genuinely cared about him till the very last episodes, I hate that he never stood a chance.
Those are mine! what about you?

(TIMESTAMP
FREE UK SHIPPING
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Knights of the Zodiac - £599
PICTURES
Selling low for quick sale. £599.99 (GBP)
Mainly G4 with only volume 4 has a minor crease & volume 17 a sticker residue at the back. No Ex library and all are 1st edition.
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One Piece, 14 Volumes are Gold Foil & some are 1st edition. - £199.99
PICTURES
missing 3 volumes to complete box set 1.
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One Punch Man - £159.99
They're all 1st Edition, except for Volume 2. Slight yellowing.
PICTURE 1
PICTURE 2
PICTURE 3
PICTURE 4
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Haikyuu Vol 1 to 13 - £69.99
Volume 3 - 13 are 1st edition
PICTURE
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BTOOOM! - £69.99
PICTURE 1
PICTURE 2
PICTURE 3
PICTURE 4
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The Promised Neverland - £27.50
PICTURE
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Randoms - £6.50 each
PICTURE
Happy to negotiate!

1. Problem: You have an important job somewhere, you make a lot of money, and you use social media regularly. In these sensitive times where everyone has a problem with everyone and what they post, your content could cause the online mob to cancel you and you might lose your job. The cancel mob may or may not cancel you, but the risk is there. So here is the solution, why isn’t there an insurance for these kind of things?

You may ask, how is this insurance going to work? It is simple. After someone signs up and buys an policy from you as a insurance seller, you will collect all the social media accounts they want to protect, you will get their authentication info, and you as a insurance company, will monitor everything that person posts, you hire people to look any potentially sensitive comments/videos that policy holder posts, using powerful python bots and AI to analyze every post that person submits to your web app before they are green-lighted to the the app the person wanted. Here is the workflow.

1. Someone buys an insurance policy from you.
   
2. They give their usernames and all their auth for every account they wanted to be protected
   
3. Each time they want to post something to their accounts, they will first come to your web app and write what they want to write, and submit for examination. If the platform approves, it will go live, otherwise the platform will notify the person the issue.
   
4. The platform will query all the platforms you use for your legal name/or username(s) to find any problem brewing and will notify you before anyone can take alarm. The platform will query with the use of AI to look anything that conceivably be controversial and let you know whether that content is problematic. The feature is called controversiality meter, in this feature, you set how sensetive the meter is: if you only want to look obvious offensive language, then you will set it to “low”, so this feature will catch anything you have ever wrote that contains the N word (if you are white), and if you set it to “high”, the feature will query everything you have wrote with in the limits of each platform’s content history and look anything that could be offensive to someone.
   

Depending on how advance the current AI gets, this insurance platform could even have bots that could “represent you in twitter court”, responding to the mob and trying to reason with them. But I don’t think that functionality is near, maybe the 22nd century .
So, what happens if something goes wrong?
Let’s say, you as a policy holder, you submitted something you thought was fine, the platform checked it and said it was fine, but later you woke up to find that you no longer have a job, that highly paid important job you bought insurance for, because of the online mob contacted your employer and caused your employer terminate your employment. What then? You will be in luck! Because of this insurance, you will be compensated for that loss up to the maximum amount you chose when you bought the policy, because essentially you won the bet against the insurance company.
So, here is how that process gonna work, and please keep in mind, I am not a lawyer and know fuck alll about how insurance works beyond a surface level, feel free to correct me if this idea is totally idiotic.

1. You bought a policy that insures $80k if you lose your job because of online mob. In order to get this, the loss of your job has to be connected to the content you wrote, and was insured under this policy. If you had a drunken fight in your local bar, called someone N word and someone recorded and then sent to your boss, that won’t qualify if you lose your job. You posted some content and never submitted to our platform and thus we didn’t “approve” it, that, too, won’t qualify.
   
2. Someone who is so thirsty for social media fame tries to lie about you, spread your pictures or videos without your consent, calling you a “Karen” or any flavor of the month, then under this policy, you have very powerful tools: first and most obvious benefit will because we manage your IP, we can force these apps to take down any content we want under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) with our scary lawyers sending letters to them. If that doesn’t work (which is rare), we’ll threaten these social media upstarts with lawsuits which makes these people reconsider. And as our insurance company gains more notoriety so as our stature.
   
3. You will pay $2,500/month up to $10,000/month depending on the policy you choose. This policy will also have tools to hook up into the APIs of all these web apps so that you can edit, delete, or update any content you think is, or will be problematic.
   

What do we call this service? Parachute? Or some word that has the word “Para” to imply “together, or alongside”, maybe “Parahelper”? I don’t know, maybe that sounds more retarded, but you marketing geniuses can come up with something smart.
What is the fatal flaws of this business opportunity? Why hasn’t big insurance parasitic companies jumped in yet?

My wife has a 2019(or 18 I forget) outback too, and I'm getting the same issue I see people bring up about oil, the car is under 90k miles.
About 500-600 mi ago or so the light went on. I took it in, got this super helpful check in guy who happened to also be a mechanic who changed professions. He knew what it was and said I'd be low, checked it, and other than that soup can filter thing having a bit of seep in the in set dish it sets in, it was down 1qt. To be safe I paid just for the parts, that can, and also a bottle of SAE0W-20 and problem solved. Ended up using 1/2 that quart and it was up to normal once more.
​
Yesterday at the +500-600mi range after doing a long road trip 5 days ago, blip, light it back on again. She's freaked out thinking something is wrong. I'm seeing many people largely saying subaru being subaru, and then you get those lemon law sites of people crying about previous (5-15) years models having piston ring issues being slightly off size. I also see comments about going with some heavier weight oil so it drinks that slower.
​
Can I get some kind of a reality check here on what to do? The car works fine, motor isn't making weird sounds, no heat issues, no nothing I'm aware of. Thanks.

Hello! I got ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED UX8402ZE and it has an issue with running valorant - the FPS got too low making it unplayable. I tried free-ing up RAMS, and have Valorant's graphics on low and it still doesn't work. Does anyone have any idea why?
Specs:
- 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700H 2.30 GHz
- 16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable)
- Intel® Core™ i7-12700H Processor 2.3 GHz (24M Cache, up to 4.7 GHz, 6P+8E cores)
- NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3050 Ti Laptop GPU 4GB GDDR6 Intel® Iris Xe Graphics
- 14.5-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED 16:10 aspect ratio, LED Backlit, 0.2ms response time, 120Hz refresh rate, 550nits HDR peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 1,000,000:1, VESA CERTIFIED Display HDR True Black 500, 1.07 billion colors, PANTONE Validated, 70% less harmful blue light, SGS Eye Care Display, Touch screen, (Screen-to-body ratio)93%, With stylus support
p.s. I have tried playing minecraft too and it got really laggy ):

How the fuck do we have to counter Pantsir's 18Km range, 12 ready to fire missiles in a fucking with 4 special needs bombs attached to a fucking Fortnite bus while Russia has like 2 (2 on the way with one being premium smh) top attackers in the game after a Mirage 2000 and maybe F-16A, Ka-50 spam with Mi-28 as top heli and hoards of low repair cost tanks with over-exaggerated armor values against nato tanks (More like the other way around which is decreased armor and penetration values for NATO MBT's) backed up by light vehicles? And look at NATO side. The only remotely competent thing to pantsir is ItO-90 with nerfed, 8 ready to fire, 12km max range and no gun. The rest is total garbage. And yet, there are still people that will say "pLaY aNOthEr Br tHeN" or "tHerE aRe oTheR Br's tOo u kNoW?". But still, if you have any opinion about why and how this is not bias, be my guest.

Sometimes a band gets so big that they somehow outshine themselves. They reach a point in their career where it does not matter if they release a new album or not; fans just want to see them tour. No one gave a damn that Led Zeppelin had not released a new album since the 1970’s; everyone just wanted to see them play again at the O2 Arena in 2007. When The Who played the Super Bowl halftime show in 2010 they had only released one new album in 28 years, and no one cared. And no one cares that Guns & Roses aren’t making new music. They still packed arenas to see how much cake Axl had packed into himself.
We’re going to take a dive into a blues power trio from down south who have zero need to release any new music, since their recording career stretches back over five decades. They had amazing and groundbreaking success in the ‘70s, the ‘80s, and the ‘90s before hitting the max level. Instead of playing to win, they now play for fun. Their sexually charged lyrics and videos inspired generations of teens to both dress better and worry about their fly. And you can bet that their fuzzy, bluesy tight sound had a huge impact on our very own desert dwellers.
It’s time for us to take a walk with That Little Ol’ Band from Texas. This week’s featured artist is the legendary ZZ TOP
About Them
The Power Trio is a tested and true format for a rock band. Lots of examples come to mind: Cream. Rush. The Police. Biffy Clyro. King Buffalo. Them Crooked Vultures. (Wait a sec. Just three members? Clearly, not everything is bigger in Texas.)
There is a member joke there somewhere, but I just can’t get it to come. Hmm. Perhaps it will come if you play with it a bit.
Hey! Stop that. Get your mind out of the gutter.
ZZ Top’s original and founding member was William Frederick Gibbons. Born in Houston in 1949, the front man was originally a drummer but, after studying with Tito Puente in New York City, picked up the guitar at age 13. His dad was a musician in show business, which allowed Billy to get an insider’s view of the industry. By the late ‘60s, he had been in and founded a number of bands and had even befriended the late great James Marshall Hendrix. One of his first bands, a psychedelic/art house band called The Moving Sidewalks, toured with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. This meant that Gibbons was actually mentored by Snagglepuss himself. They also toured with The Doors, where Gibbons saw the legendary self-destructive band somehow manage to rise above conflict and make music every night. The Moving Sidewalks generated a following all of its own with a couple of hit songs, and things seemed to be headed in the right direction.
Things were going absolutely great until bassist Don Summers and keyboard player Tom Moore were drafted into the army to fight in Vietnam. Don't you just love the ‘60s?
Gibbons and drummer Dan Mitchell added a new keyboard player, Lanier Greg, and tried to make another run at it. But the chemistry was all wrong. Gibbons rechristened the band as ZZ Top (an homage to BB King), and declared that he wanted more of a straight up rock approach than the art-house kaleidoscopic sound.
Gibbons, Mitchell, and Greg (isn’t it weird when last names are also first names too?) recorded the single Salt Lick in 1969. This generated a bunch of interest and a recording contract. Decisions over the direction of the band ensued and it quickly became clear that Mitchell and Greg did not agree with Gibbons’ hard rock approach. That ended up being a poor life decision for them, but a great one for a couple of other guys.
Clearly, Gibbons needed a new rhythm section.
Fortunately, he found a package deal.
Dusty Hill and Frank Beard - also both born in 1949 - had been playing together on the Dallas-Houston-Fort Worth circuit in a number of bands, including The Warlocks, The Cellar Dwellers, and a fake cover band called The Zombies. Both the Duster and the (then ironically) beardless Beard also heard the siren call of rock and roll. Hill was classically trained and was an accomplished cello player before moving to his signature bass. Frank ‘Rube’ Beard appears to have been born with drumsticks in his hands (which I imagine might have been uncomfortable for his mom).
Beard joined the band first, along with bassist Billy Ethridge, who had played with Stevie Ray Vaughn. Ethridge balked at signing a contract and so joined Mitchell and Greg on the list of ZZ Top’s former members. Their lineup was set. Hill and Beard anchored the band in a rock-solid, tight, bluesy fashion. Gibbons meshed perfectly with this duo, and his Hendrix-inspired guitar work was on another level. Hill provided backing vocals, and Gibbons’ low throaty growl was an impressive counterpoint to his soaring fretwork. The talent was all there; now they just needed to record some music.
But success was not instantaneous, not by a long shot.
Their first album - appropriately called ZZ Top’s First Album - gives insight into who the band were to become. In this 1971 release, you can hear their raw sound. The record peaked at 201 on the charts, and had only one single - (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree. It did give them material to go out and tour. The boys gelled on that tour and went back into the studio with renewed energy, and emerged with 1972’s Rio Grande Mud. The disc was a step forward in refining their sound. The album almost cracked the top 100, and the only single - Francine - went all the way to number 69.
Nice.
But the band knew that their third album, Tres Hombres, was something special. It is the epitome of Southern Rock: bluesy, fast paced, sexy, and irreverent, it is just over half an hour of pure magic. And while the album went gold and peaked at number 8 on the charts and is worth your time, it was one particular single that rocketed them to stardom. You know it and you love it, and a-how-how-how-how: La Grange. It is still in heavy rotation on classic rock stations today. And why not? The song is an absolute banger of boogie woogie blues, written about a visit to a whorehouse. What’s not to love?
La Grange propelled them to popularity. Tours sold out. Venues got bigger and bigger. 1975’s follow up album, Fandango!, was half live album (with some covers) and half new material - like an EP with bonus tracks. They covered the Elvis Presley classic Jailhouse Rock, Willie Dixon’s Mellow Down Easy, and John Lee Hooker’s Long Distance Boogie. The boys had rock and blues chops, and had 5 years of touring experience. These were bold statements that cemented their musicality as well as honoring their roots. But side two of the disc had another track that you’ve come to love. You ain’t asking for much: You’re just lookin’ for some Tush. Tush was the perfect sexually charged follow up to ensure that they were not one-hit wonders. It was written in a ten-minute spasm of creativity at a sound check, and has gone on to be one of their most popular songs.
While Tush topped the charts, ZZ Top went back into the studio to record their full length follow up, 1976’s Tejas. The name of the album means ‘friends’ in the Indigenous Caddo language, and was the basis for the name of the state. You know what that means? It means that the name of the state is ‘Friends’. Just like the ‘90s sitcom. Don’t mess with Friends. Anyways, this was an album of experimentation for the band, and unlike its predecessor it came out half baked at best. Billy Gibbons has called it a transition album. What actually happened is the band transitioned into a hiatus from touring and recording, taking some significant time off. They had recorded five albums in six years and spent virtually all their time on the road. The latest effort was just not up to their standards and was a step back. It also completed their recording contract.
What was the solution to this burn out?
Facial hair of course.
The boys took a few years off before landing another recording contract, this time with Warner. Over those months, both Gibbons and Hill grew what would become their signature long ‘Texas Goatee’ beards. Frank Beard did not grow a beard (though he did finally succumb to peer pressure from his bandmates in 2013, and his is much more neatly trimmed). So while they were resting/relaxing/getting their groove back/aligning their chakras or whatever, they also started to reinvent their signature sound as the world moved towards a decade of legendary excess.
The first step on this reinvention journey was 1979’s Degüello. The title literally means ‘decapitation’ but idiomatically refers to a fight to the death. Clearly, the band decided to tackle their transition head on. The album was not as successful as Tres Hombres or Fandango!, but it was not the flop that Tejas was. It did spawn a couple of singles - I Thank You (which was a cover) and the signature hit Cheap Sunglasses. Both are staples at ZZ Top concerts to this day. Degüello was quickly followed up in 1981 by the album El Loco. This was really the first time ZZ Top incorporated a synthesizer into their sound. As you know, the synth was THE new wave sound of the 1980s. Gods help us, keytars were once popular. But Gibbons, Hill, and Beard did not abandon their edge. The single Pearl Necklace was an immensely popular innuendo laced tune from this album. And no, I will not explain what a pearl necklace is to you.
Ask your mom.
Over the course of their first seven albums, ZZ Top had steadily grown in popularity and become a truly extraordinary live band. More than a decade of touring together meant that they had not just cut their teeth. They had found the Tooth Fairy, beaten her senseless, and added fangs to their jaws. They were ready to tackle whatever came their way.
Their huge breakthrough coincided with the birth of music videos and MTV. 1983’s Eliminator was an absolute monster of an album. ZZ Top were everywhere. They completely embraced the Music Video as a medium and became pioneers in this new genre. They branded their band with a 1933 fire-engine red Ford Coupe, which was on the cover of the album. They even had a signature hand gesture that they used as the car went by. The car belonged to Billy Gibbons and embodied his hot rod obsessions. It was featured in the videos for Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man, and Legs. Other singles from the album included Got me Under Pressure and TV Dinners. Eliminator is still the band’s most successful album. They were at the absolute height of their popularity with a massive audience. No doubt the 10-year-old Joshua Michael Homme watched those videos on a small screen in the California desert, little knowing that he would one day collaborate with Gibbons.
Seeking to capitalize on the popularity, the band went back into the studio and released Afterburner in 1985. It featured the signature hot rod on the cover and spawned two more singles - Sleeping Bag and Velcro Fly. Afterburner was not an innovative album by any stretch of the imagination. It simply built on the success of Eliminator and replicated the sound. If you blended the two albums together it would be very difficult for a novice fan to guess which song came from which disc. But hell, when you release the most popular album of your career and are earning millions of dollars for that sound, it is not time to mess with success. Or with Texas. Or with Friends (though Ross was a pain in the ass, IMHO).
That desire to not screw up a good thing was also evident in their next release, the retrospective re-release Six Pack. This was a great way to earn some bucks with a simple repackaging of existing tracks - I’m looking at you, K-Tel… - and introducing them to another generation of fans. This was not a bad thing at all - you gotta get that green whenever you can, because fame can be fleeting.
ZZ Top closed out the decade by going Back to the Future. Literally. They appeared in the third installment of the Michael J. Fox trilogy as the olde-timey house band (complete with rotating guitars) in the saloon scene. The single and signature song from the movie, Doubleback, appeared on their 1990 release Recycler. The album spawned two more singles: My Head’s in Mississippi and Concrete and Steel. Recycler was not as successful as its predecessors, but it did effectively max level the band. In the 1970’s they were a scuffling bar band that hit it big. In the 1980’s they were one of the most popular bands of the MTV generation. And in the 1990’s they achieved superstardom. They had hit the level where it truly no longer mattered if they ever released new material again. They could simply tour on their back catalogue alone and sell out stadiums.
It is clear that the band realized this as well. In the thirty years since Recycler came out, they have released five albums of new material: Antenna in 1994, Rhythmeen in 1996, XXX in 1999, Mescalero in 2003 and the critically acclaimed and Rick Rubin produced La Futura in 2012. This was equivalent to their output in their first six years.
In contrast, they have released no less than eight greatest hits albums, cover albums and live albums in the same time span. Greatest Hits came out in 1992. One Foot in the Blues was released in 1994. The massive compilation Chrome, Smoke & BBQ came out in 2003, and is a fantastic place to start if you are a new fan. Rancho Texicano was released in 2004, Live from Texas came out in 2008, and Double Down Live hit shelves in 2009. Live at Montreaux came out in 2013 and Tonite at Midnight: Live Greatest Hits from Around the World was released in 2016.
As recently as 2019, there were rumors that a new album was in the works for our Septuagenarian heroes. Lord knows the boys from Texas have nothing left to prove to anyone.
It was then that tragedy struck. Dusty Hill had to leave the band during a tour in 2021. The reason given was a hip injury. His guitar tech, Elwood Francis, filled in. Shockingly, Hill died at home at the age of 72 just five days after leaving the tour.
Fans were shocked and mourned the stalwart bassist. Per his wishes - and it seems he knew something wasn’t quite right - ZZ Top did not break up. Francis replaced Hill on bass, and the band soldiered on. In 2022, they released Raw, a soundtrack for a 2019 documentary about them. This was Hill’s final release.
You can still catch them on tour. They are going to be out there this summer, touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd, for something they are calling ‘The Sharp Dressed Simple Man’ Tour.
Go buy some tickets. Don’t miss your chance to see a truly iconic band before they are gone.
Links to QOTSA
The Reverend Billy F. Gibbons was a big part of the Lullabies to Paralyze album by our Desert Dwellers. He played guitar and provided backing vocals on Burn the Witch. He was co-lead vocalist and lead guitar on the QotSA cover of Precious and Grace, which he originally released as a ZZ Top tune on the Tres Hombres album. He also provided the guitar stylings for Like a Drug.
But the connections don't stop there. Billy sang the lead vocal track on the recent Desert Sessions tune Move Together, and he played guitar on Noses in Roses, Forever.
What may be most important to QotSA fans is that Gibbons was the first person, almost two years ago, who hinted that Queens were working on a new album.
And now we know he was right. Never doubt a Reverend.
Their Music
Salt Lick
(Somebody Else Been) Shaking your Tree
Francine
La Grange -- Live on Howard Stern
Jailhouse Rock
Tush -- a fan made video. It is not subtle.
Cheap Sunglasses
Pearl Necklace -- Live
Gimme All Your Lovin’
Sharp Dressed Man
Legs -- the ultimate makeover video
Got Me Under Pressure -- Live at Montreaux
Sleeping Bag -- Let’s go out to Egypt and check out some heads...
Velcro Fly -- also somehow in Egypt
My Head’s In Mississippi
Concrete and Steel -- vintage video
Doubleback
I Gotsta Get Paid -- from La Futura
Show Them Some Love
/zztop
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I live in Korea and Medicube just released a new device and I want to get opinions from this sub because I'm unsure if I want to buy it or not.
I am a HUGE fan of their devices, I have the following:

• Booster Healer
• ATS Air Shot
• Ussera Deep Shot
• Derma EMS Shot

So I basically have all of them except this Body Shot and the I-Shot (which is also pretty new and also something I'm teetering on buying or not). I'm happy with all four of the devices I own and have been hoping for them to release a body device and they actually did!
However, after reading all the information I'm not sure if it's worth the money. It's only released in Korea now but I'm sure it'll be released globally soon but the info is only in Korean. If you go to the product page on the Korean website and scroll down, you can see the results of their improvement test which has a list of percentages. Here's the translation for it:

Improvement of the length of the interface between the dermis and subcutaneous fat layer - 3.0%
Improvement of saggy upper abdominal skin elasticity - 2.0%
Improvement of saggy lower abdominal skin elasticity - 1.9%
Improvement of skin elasticity of saggy forearms - 1.6%
Improvement of skin elasticity of saggy thigh skin - 1.6%
Improvement of thigh skin texture - 3.8%
Improvement of the density of saggy abdomen - 1.9%
Improvement of the density of saggy forearm - 3.5%
Improvement of body elasticity and restoring power - 2.7%

Am I wrong to think that a 1.6%~3.9% improvement is kind of low? Could there really be much visible results from such a percentage of difference? Please let me know, as I honestly don't know!
I gave birth almost 2 years ago and I am struggling hard with saggy skin. I just don't feel like myself and I don't feel like the body I'm in is my body so I'd really want some extra assistance with the saggy skin but I'm not sure if this device can help with that?
​
Like I said, I am very happy with my 4 other devices and have seen results from those already so maybe for this body device I may be happy with it too? But seeing the low percentages make me a little skeptical. To be fair this device is only a bit more expensive than the other devices.
(Another thing I dislike, which maybe isn't a huge deal, is that it seems to need to be plugged in to be used?)

For some background story I live with 2 of my friends (3 of us all together). I used to live with just 1 and we were both strong opiate addicts. Taking a lot of codeine (600mg+ a day) and oxycodone (160mg+). We both got sober and clean, and got our third friend to live with us. We love having him here and have had some great times, but he also is good to prevent me and my other friend (the opiate addicts) from encouraging eachother to relapse.
After about a month without any withdrawals (around 1.5 months completely sober) I have felt great, but this past week has been terrible. I have come down with an illness which has left me basically bed bound, and I am getting intense depression and low moods in general. It has finally caught up to me and I am ready to relapse. Not strongly, but relapse just to get myself out of this mindspace.
I am at university, missing my exams due to my illness/depression, and this is further adding to my stress due to the fact I'll probably have to retake a year (which will cost another 18+k). While it sounds weak, I feel like I need my way out.
If someone was in my position I'd say talk to my friends, however if I talk to my other friend (the opiate addict who is also sober), I am afraid I will entice him and make him want to relapse too. My other friend (the one who we made move in), isn't as close to me as he is with my other friend, and I feel like he wont fully understand.
I feel like I am at my wits end and relapse today is highly likely. I will not lie to my friends, I will let them know as I do not want to lie, but I dont want to pull my friend back into these horrible ways of addiction.

Recently I've been on a Dragon Quest binge and before I get into more detail on that a little bit of background info about me
I've been actively gaming since 96' and very rarely would I be playing anything that wasn't classified as a JRPG. My childhood years consistent of me playing Final Fantasy games day in day out and talking non stop about Dragon Ball Z. I think I have played a little over 200 JRPG's throughout the years (The FF, Tales and Atelier series combined almost make up more than half of them) but never actually gave the Dragon Quest games other than VIII a chance. And boy, I fell in love with it! It was just perfect, from the world to the gameplay, from the characters to the story; I just loved it. Since I was already such a big Akira Toriyama fanboy it added more to the experience.
However after that I wanted to try out the previous games as well but for some reason they appeared as if they were non existent. No retail store in my area, no friend or no one else who was into JRPG's that I knew of had ever played or seen any Dragon Quest game other than VIII. I guess it was the FFVII of the DQ franchise at the time, huh? Mind you, this all happened back when DQVIII first came out. I don't even remember who got me the game. All I remember is that it was a birthday gift.
Then as years went on I kind of totally forgot about it and stopped reading up on info about the series or following any news regarding them. Not until the release of DQXI at least.
Around the time DQXI released I watched some trailers, gameplay footage and read some reviews. Everything about it sounded perfect, minus the OST. I don't know why I made such a big deal of it or why it even stopped me from giving the game a chance but the occasional review talking about how bad the soundtrack was just took away from anything positive I've heard about the game. So I didn't bother buying it. What makes my decision so weird and out of place is: that I have played a handful of JRPG's that average on the low 50's on metacritic and still had fun with all of them. Thinking back I seriously don't understand the decision making of my past self. Sure, music is a very big deal for me but definitely not a deal breaker when everything else is seemingly perfect.
Fast forward to the year 2023 and me coming across Dragon Quest Builders 2 while browsing through PS+ extra looking for something chill to play. I adored everything about the game and after getting the Platinum trophy for it, I went back and also did the same with the first DQ Builders. All this was followed by me then playing through both Dragon Quest Heroes games that were available on the platform and they were okay at best but the characters, monsters and world building was just amazing. Also seeing characters from DQVIII make an appearance in them just brought back so many good memories of my teenage years.
Now with 5 games from the franchise placed on my belt of completion I finally gave in and tried DQXI S. Spin Off's were all fun and that but I wouldn't be able to make an opinion of the series without actually playing another mainline entry I thought.
I'll say it, I just hate myself, haha. Everything and I mean it, everything in the game was good. That's what made me so much more frustrated of my prejudice back when the game released.
Now I have placed an order for 2 of the games for the Nintendo DS (IX and V specifically as they came up first and I managed to find them for a good deal, I've read that they are hard to find normally) and I'm looking forward for them to arrive. Meanwhile I'm playing through DQVIII again and loving it all over again.
This franchise consists of nothing but games that make you feel good I think. I found myself smiling all the way through playing the few that I did play and I can't wait to get more of it.
I feel ashamed to call myself a JRPG enthusiast while it took me this long to dive into the juggernaut that is the Dragon Quest franchise. And also now I get why I got so many surprised reactions from people online when I told them that I was a massive JRPG fan but hadn't played any other DQ game but VIII.
If the rest of the series is even remotely as good as VIII and XI were, then it'll probably end up becoming one of my favorites in the genre. I just wanted to talk about the games and how good they made me feel.
Thanks for attending my TED talk.

Hi everyone,
Debt ceiling saga, Is FED going to increase rates further?, War in Ukraine, AI, ...
In the meantime in the tiny uranium spotmarket utilities, financial players and producers are outbidding each other.
A) Yes, you read that right!
Today many uranium producers are spotbuyers too, because:
1. spot price is lower then AISC + small margin when producing their own uranium
2. Some producers having a lower uranium production then their uranium supply commitments towards their clients, so those producers have to buy uranium in the spotmarket too.
B) There is information about one RFP for uranium delivery in short term (spot) for 1 reactor that is significantlyimpacting the uranium price at the moment.
But there are other western reactors in a similar situation...
C) Also more and more financial funds are created to buy physical uranium in the spotmarket, because investors start to notice that there is a global growing supply deficit at today's uranium prices.
Latest example: Zuri-Invest will start buying uranium in the spotmarket, probably starting next week. Zuri-Invest on their own will have at least 100M USD which represents approximately one month of uranium spot supply.
But Zuri-Invest is not the only one buying uranium in the tiny spotmarket, by consequence those 100M USD together with the uranium spotbuying from others will largely exceed on month of spotsupply, creating a significant upward pressure on the uranium spotprice.
An uranium price of 60 USD/lb isn't high enough to get the needed higher production cost producers to produce uranium again!
The consequence: Upward pressure in the uranium spotmarket is steadily building up
If interested, a couple possibilities to get exposure to the uranium sector:
1. Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (U.UN onTSX in CAD, U.U on TSX in USD, SRUUF on US stock exchange) is a physical uranium fund: https://sprott.com/investment-strategies/physical-commodity-funds/uranium/
2. Yellow Cake (YCA on London stock exchange) is a physical uranium fundNote: U.UN and YCA share prices today are still well below their NAV value.
3) URNM, URA , URNJ are uranium sector etf's on US stockexchange
4) For individual uranium stocks you can look at the holdings of the URNM etf, URA etf and URNJ etf
5) A couple cheap Penny stocks in this sector: Deep Yellow, Fission Uranium Corp, F3 Uranium, Goviex Uranium, Elevate Uranium.
Why did the uranium price remain stable?
Because the sector fundamentals are very bullish, even producers buy uranium in the tiny uranium spotmarket at these low uranium prices.
Now we are steadily going to go back to "risk on" mode imo. Tomorrow, in a month, 3 months? We'll see. It's not IF, but WHEN.
This isn't financial advice. Please do your own DD before investing.
Cheers