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A GoFundMe for the fallen warrior is up

Started Octopath Traveler. Seems very good. Lots of JRPG tropes, but gameplay is interesting enough, I'm enjoying it. Looks like it has some hard achievements to get, but I'm a sucker for those, so I'll probably end up completing it.

uh... most western media articles am having read appear stress how divisive is pahlavi even in 2025 iran and there is a recurring tone o' perplexity coming from writers as they try to explain why some people in iran would offer their support for the 65-year old israel supporting son o' the former shah. real link Few analysts think Pahlavi has a real path to the throne or leadership in Iran. His improved reputation in recent years says more about the mounting discontent with the Islamic Republic than it does about a genuine desire by Iranians for a return of the monarchy, analysts said. Many Iranians see him as everything the current regime is not: pro-Western, secular and capable of ending Iran’s economic isolation. “Over the past decade, Pahlavi’s popularity has increased, reflecting not just nostalgia, but a sharp contrast of what the past was and what the future could be in Iran,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank. “This rise in popularity correlates with increasing secularism and nationalism.” ... “The Islamic Republic is so bad people will accept anything in replacement, and he offers a simple solution,” said Javad Chamanara, an opposition activist and member of Iran’s Kurdish minority who favors a federalist system in Iran. Pahlavi is seen as a divisive figure among ethnic minorities, which make up close to half of Iran’s population, because of the monarchy’s past refusal to grant them some autonomy, he said. end quotes "western media" is hardly monolithic, but the stories am reading at nyt, time, washington post, cnn and npr are hardly effusive in praise of pahlavi. "Pahlavi's efforts to position himself as a leader for a future Iran have prompted sometimes heated debates inside and outside the country. And while protesters have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, it is not clear whether that is support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. "His public support of Israel has prompted significant criticism in the past from ordinary Iranians and other members of opposition groups, particularly after the 12-day war launched by Israel in June 2025." ... am having seen opinion pieces at wsj and elsewhere that got more skew, but unless you are in an information silo, suggesting that admitted non-existent monolithic western media is "pushing Pahlavi as the hero of the revolution," is at best misleading. HA! Good Fun! edit: added a few more links... the time piece is noteworthy as a western media take on pahlavi-- The most damning similarity between Chalabi and Pahlavi is the legitimacy deficit. Chalabi failed not because he lacked American support but because Iraqis didn’t want him. He was seen, correctly, as an American creation—a man who had spent decades outside Iraq, spoke Arabic with an American accent, and embodied foreign interference rather than indigenous resistance. Pahlavi faces the same problem squared. The Pahlavi dynasty left Iranians with bitter memories: the 1953 CIA-backed coup that overthrew Mohammad Mosaddegh and restored the shah to power; the brutal SAVAK secret police; the Rastakhiz Party that antagonized formerly apolitical Iranians with compulsory membership and heavy-handed interference in daily life; the corruption and inequality that sparked the 1979 revolution. While most Iranians are too young to remember these horrors firsthand, a substantial proportion—those over 50—lived through them. They remember the torture chambers, the disappeared dissidents, the rampant corruption, the grotesque inequality. They participated in, or supported, the revolution that overthrew the monarchy. Their children have grown up on the stories.

Wrecking Crew looks fun.