I stumbled on DBZ to start my anime journey like a lot of people probably did, so associating big with filler isn’t an unfair assumption.

Seeing something so big in both story size and fan base hyped up all the time also feels unrealistic for most things, but One Piece to me lives up to its reputation.

If you’ve watched it already first, in my opinion I don’t think you need to go back to read it. I can’t think of anything significant they’ve skipped like in some adaptations of manga.

I’ve gone back to reread things like Golden Kamuy where some stuff was too graphic to put in the anime or if the anime was well behind the manga like MHA was, but One Piece is wholesome so nothing got skipped and I imagine it prints money so it’s only one partial arc behind for the most part now.

That’s a bit why I waited until I was a huge chunk into the reading to start the anime. I could just enjoy the animation and to see how previous events tie into where I am in the reading. The anime feels pretty true to the manga. Continuity feels great, and I really wonder how much was planned to play out this way 30 years ago or if Oda is just that good at not painting himself into corners with plotlines.

With the huge online fandom, it isn’t hard to search up what chapters events take place in if you want to reread a section. I think if you really want to get deep into it and work on your own theories and such, doing an arc and taking a break to roll it around in your mind and to go back to key events and hint drops, that feels very doable.

There’s only 2 arcs that drag on a bit, but I think it’s paced nicely and there’s good delineation between key events.

I dislike fights in manga since I can’t seem to visualize it clearly, so I like a bit of jumping back to watch the anime and get an experience like what you seem to describe. Since so much is out already too, you can watch some of the anime to get the voices and outfits in your head too, which I always find helpful too.

You naturally know what works for you though, but One Piece is truly top notch and it would be sad to see someone skip it for its size. It is almost all solid gold material, and while there is absolutely some stuff less interesting than others, it really isn’t much, and there is no filler in the manga. The anime has filler between arcs, but it’s easily skipped if one desires and slower parts of the story drag even more animated than read, but I think that’s true of any story.

It’s not a race and you can wait to start whenever, but I’m glad I’m caught up and don’t have to risk having the ending spoiled in a few years when it wraps up.

I never wanted to jump into something that big because it felt too daunting. I had seen maybe 3 episodes on Toonami like 20 years ago but that was it. I gave the first couple of chapters a read since we liked a lot of the same stuff.

I was hooked right from that start. I read a ton of it, and then picked up the anime from the start around when I reached Fishman Island.

That was a little over 2 years ago, and I’ve been caught up on the manga for months, and the dub anime since last week.

It hasn’t been anywhere near the only thing I’ve read or watched, but it’s always just been that good I haven’t wanted to put it down for long.

My SO is nowhere as into this stuff as I am, and she cannot believe she’s just watched 1100+ episodes of the same thing. She’s needed more breaks than I did, but she is kinda bummed there’s no more at the moment.

I had held off on the Gunslinger series from Stephen King forever for similar reasons and it turned out the same way. Some things are so loved for good reason, and the time goes by way faster if you agree than for something you find mid.

I took the results a bit differently.

First, I ignored the dislike slices. Who’s watching sources they distrust? Nobody, so that’s personal bias, IMO.

Now, look at the Trust slices. Other than FoxNews, no news source really breaks 25% for the Repubs. They just don’t seem to follow any source. If they did, they’d trust someone. So half watch FoxNews, and only a quarter watch anything else.

For the lefties, half the sources have 30-60% trust. That is a lot more sources getting regular eyes and ears on them. Something like NPR getting less high reviews is likely just less listeners as it’s a bit “drier” news and a bit “both sidesey” due to it being public media. The dislike for it is only 3%, tied for the lowest dislike. Counterpoint is Newsmax for the left. Really low like and dislike because why would a liberal ever watch that?

Nice article here on why a kill switch is unnecessary. It goes into the supply chain of parts, control over maintenance and IP, and associated systems tied in with the fighter’s advanced features.

Its development was in coordination with (at the time in the 90s), and while a lot of funding was the US, it was built as something for us and our allies, even if those relations are strained now. There are a lot of countries that make things for the F-35, and if a killswitch were discovered, I can’t imagine it would please any of those countries and they could cease supplying parts or services the US needs in turn from them.

To reiterate, there is no evidence to date that F-35s in service anywhere feature some kind of dedicated capability that can be used to fully disable the jets at the literal or figurative touch of a button. What is true is that Joint Strike Fighters are subject to particularly significant U.S. export and other governmental controls. Virtually all F-35s in service worldwide are dependent in critical ways on proprietary support from the U.S. government and contractors in the United States.

“You don’t need a ‘kill switch’ to severely hamper the utility of an exported weapons system, you just stop providing support for it and it will wither away, some systems very quickly,” TWZ‘s own Tyler Rogoway wrote on X yesterday. “The more advanced the faster the degradation.”

I’m no expert on this, but it all sounds pretty reasonable. If anyone understand better, please feel free to correct anything I’ve said!

Exactly! I forgot about that ad, but they nailed it.

I suppose a good marketer could spin it. “My name may be Nike, but you’ll only ever see these feet in Asics!”

Someone may want to “steal them away” from their namesake brand too for the same reason. “They’re names after Nikes, but still won’t even wear them for money!”

Advertising is weird. I’m sure if one was a star and companies saw a way to exploit that, both parties would be able to work something out.

I’d like you to meet my family: here’s my son Champion, my youngest, Addidas, and Riddell is the oldest. 😄

Maybe they can get future sponsorships!

“Dad, what was I named after?”

“I really liked those sunglasses that cops wear, and your mom likes spelling stuff weird to feel fancy, so naturally we called you Oakleigh!”

I really loved getting to visit Alcatraz a few years back. I hadn’t known about the Occupation, and that was one of the surprise highlights of visiting.

It’s a hauntingly beautiful place now as a wildlife sanctuary, and it felt empowering to see a place used for cruelty returned to a place of peace and knowledge.

I’d hate to know anyone who would prefer it to be in it’s former state again. That would probably make them pretty despicable…

Awesome! I tagged your username for “cool art” for your owl painting a while back, so I was hoping I could hook you up with the title.

Your tribute to the owl spirit has now been repaid! 🦉

The House of Power?

From the creator of the Land of Elyon comes a riveting adventure set in an extraordinary satellite world created as a refuge from a dying Earth that begins to collapse and forever change the lives of its inhabitants. Edgar, a gifted climber, is a lonely boy scaling the perilous cliffs that separate the three realms of Atherton: a humble fig grove; a mysterious highland world of untold beauty and sinister secrets; and a vast wasteland where he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy the people of Atherton. When Edgar discovers a book which contains the history of Atherton’s origins and ultimate apocalypse, his world quite literally begins to turn inside out.

deleted by creator

I need to get back into it. After doing it for a couple months, my flexibility and range of motion was really increased.

Some positions are hard and it can be discouraging at first, which is what made my SO quit doing it with me, but if you stick with it you can really start to notice progress.

I used the Down Dog app which is really customizable and it goes on sale for Black Friday for $20/yr instead of the normal $100/yr or $13/mo. It comes as a whole suite of apps but I haven’t used the others besides the meditation one much. I want to try the Pilates one too if I can get off my butt.

That sounds good!

Cheerwine is some tasty stuff, and for the most part it isn’t readily available in my part of the country, so it always feels like a special treat when I do find it.

Otherwise A-Treat is out local soda brand, and their Sasparilla and Birch Beer are the taste of my childhood.

That seems true. I don’t normally think that deep about it since my investment strategy is hands off. I’m really just paying Vanguard and Fidelity to buy bits and pieces of their shares.

I guess I just don’t like Elon and his type having anyone’s money and I don’t like me being able to link myself to them even if it’s a few steps removed.

I agree with this for 99% of personal investors, but this sounds like what OP is already doing. They’re looking for something that goes further to support their beliefs.

It bothers me to a minor extent to technically contribute to some of these companies. I’m sure most of them do plenty of evil like polluting, wage theft, shady practices, etc. That’s how they get on the SP500 I assume.

I see it as rather capturing the US economy as a whole (or general representation of) and no one is picking favorites, it’s just that these are the x biggest traded companies right now. If one drops off, another replaces it. There’s no ethical decisions in the choice of companies that make up a market index other than to invest in it or not.

My ethical choice is prioritizing providing for me and my spouse in old age, and as we have no children, it’s up to us to ensure we have that, and this is what I felt was the most responsible decision to achieve that.

Like you alluded to, I invest in my community by volunteering, and I try to avoid as much consumerism as possible, especially from known shitty companies.

No personal experience with it, but a little searching turned up M1 Finance. They’ve been around for 10 years and I see lots of search results for them, so there’s at least some legitimacy.

You set up what they call a “pie” made up of “slices”. It’s a pie chart of your stock and fund choices. You can buy partial shares and it looked like you can buy both funds and individual stocks. No idea if there are minimums, I saw some comments saying they don’t have every fund, limited or no bonds, etc, etc.

But you set up your pie, set up automatic investment (you can also do manual or fund just a single slice in a transaction, or various other options), and then it automatically distributes across your pie to the percentages you indicate.

Depending how many slices you plan to set up, it may take a while, but it seems to be a way to do what you want if you’re willing to determine all the specific things you want.

I don’t have any experience with it, but would fiver be along the lines of what you’re looking for?