I've heard the decision to wait for an evacuation prior to allow pressure venting criticized by western nuclear safety experts as being counterproductive and making the consequences of Fukushima Daiichi more severe by allowing pressure to build within containment.

When Krennic has Dedra Meero locked up in a cell, he leans in close and tells her to "say the word." She actually responds with two: "Death Star."

Am I right in assuming he was probably expecting her to say "Stardust," the codename for the Death Star project? If so, was her answer of "Death Star" something that inadvertently damned her further (by letting Krennic know she'd learned way too much?)

I just got back from a screening of The Odyssey at the Dallas Cinemark 17, and the manager who came out on the floor there mentioned they were planning to do an upgrade for their digital projectors (they have the old xenon ones) in addition to keeping their 70mm projectors.

Would that most likely be a CoLA system, or XT, or whatever IMAX is rocking for new installs these days? Or would it actually be something capable of projecting on the entire screen?

What drove locations like the Dallas Cinemark to be built with full 1.43:1 aspect ratio screens? What ended it?

There's a lot of interest in the 70mm format thanks to The Oddysey, but it seems unlikely that it'd be enough of an investment case to bring back a supply chain that's basically dead. I don't doubt that the resurgent interest has bought a lot of time for theaters already equipped with these projectors, but it seems unlikely anyone is going to build a new auditorium for a film projector in 2026.

Still, interest in the "true" IMAX aspect ratio seems very high. A family member of mine was absolutely distraught when I showed her our only available option was booked 'till late September, and she's not really a "cinephile." My gut feeling is that there is a business case for "super premium" theaters. You'd think then, that the solution would be to double-down on the aspect ratio with modern digital equipment... except that they tried that already, and the dual laser setups are about as rare as the 70mm projectors (and they stopped making them too).

Is there any feasible way that the IMAX aspect ratio could be revitalized to the extent that theater companies would once again be interested in building new screens? Because unless there's growth there, it seems like the number of locations capable of doing these showings will continue to dwindle as equipment ages and parts get harder to find.

To my knowledge, there still hasn't been a contract award to ULA, just the JOFOC (basically: permission for a no-bid). I've heard that the actual award was expected in the October timeframe, but I'm not able to find the source for that information. Anyone have more info?

My impression, given the lore of the sequels, is that the senior research staff of Sector C knew the crystals came from Xen and their research was being used for teleportation, but what about the rank and file?

The Xen crystals are exotic matter. They need a five-story tall machine just to perform spectroscopy. Everyone working in the anomalous materials test lab obviously knows these things aren't ordinary in the slightest. Where did they think they were coming from? What did they think their analyses were being used for?

Submission statement: This article shows an example of how evangelical Christianity is becoming increasingly radical and socially conservative. Many of these people believe in the existence of demons and see their opponents as under their thrall - or even as outright demons themselves.

Submission statement: I can think of no better example for how planning law hobbles national projects than the case given in this article. Extending a tunnel drove NIMBY backlash and a judge ruled that even though the tunnel was authorized under law, the change in plans meant that HS2 needed to go back and resubmit for planning permission and erred in not doing so.

First things first, you're really not supposed to do this. The game will fight you almost to the very end, to a degree I haven't really experienced thus far in any other ahistorical run, and Ritsuryo isn't really meant to be played as a permanent government type.

Now, this is a follow-up to this post I made a few days ago, asking the very question I hope to answer with this guide. I got a few contradictory answers, so I decided to make this follow-up to clarify what worked for me. Now, can you keep Japan Ritsuryo without engaging in an endless game of vassal-whack-a-mole? Yes. It's a pain to get there, though.

The Big Takeaway

The only way I've found to reliably keep Japan Ritsuryo is crown authority 4. The other advice I received was useful and valid, but it just wasn't enough to actually stabilize the country on its own.

I started in 1068, so your experience may be different if you choose an earlier start date, but if you don't have full crown authority your vassals are going to flip Soryo at an extremely fast rate.

Okay, but what if I don't have the highest crown authority?

Get the prestige for it ASAP. Until then, welcome to the game of whack-a-mole. You can basically prevent the spread of Soryo without CA4, but it's going to be painful and tedious.

First off, wars are a trap. They're too slow. You can use them in tandem with the other strategies I'll mention, but they can't be your primary strategy. So, what kinda works?

Be a dreaded tyrant, imprison them, and revoke their titles

Hello! You're about to find out what it means to teach a bunch of prissy bluebloods not to cross you ever again!

So, max your dread ASAP. Executions are a good way to handle this: You'll have plenty of opportunities. You need as many vassals as possible so pants-shittingly terrified of you that they'll do whatever you say. This is because we need to get to the point that most vassals who flip Soryo will march themselves into prison just because you asked.

Don't bother with the 'demand administrative government' interaction. The core loop here is:

1. Imprison
2. Revoke
3. Banish or execute

Why? Because if you let them keep the title they'll just flip back to Soryo a few years later. Ditto if they manage to get appointed again. Once their house aspiration changes to something besides the Ritsuryo loyalists of "service" or "dignity," they will always go for Soryo as soon as they can. They don't take into account your willingness to destroy them for their treason - dread doesn't impact the flip rate at all. Most vassals will gladly adopt Soryo and then march themselves to your prison to recieve capital punishment. We'll get to how to handle those who don't, soon enough, but first...

Give titles to family first, but blocs delay the inevitable

As much as possible, you want to be redistributing rebel lands to your own family members. Assuming your religion and culture allow it, get a bunch of co-spouses or concubines and produce as many inheritable children as possible. These are going to be your new, loyal administrative class. They won't betray you unless they form a cadet branch.

Of course, even doing this, you're probably not going to have enough kids. So, join or form a bloc with a "service" or "dignity" aspiration. The sole purpose of this bloc will be to store the excess titles that you yanked from Soryo vassals above, because the AI families here will take longer to stab you in the back and go Soryo than most.

Note that I said "take longer." Because they will, eventually. Some hidden event (I think) will fire and the family will change its aspiration and flip Soryo instantaneously, tanking your bloc cohesion. If you can get them to change their aspiration back and to peacefully change their government type, you can keep them in the bloc and "reset the timer" on their inevitable betrayal. But most of the time I'd just kick them out ASAP. Unless they're a big family, it's usually not worth the trouble.

Let the AI form blocs and treat them as disposable resources. Don't be surprised if you burn through their cohesion. If you can keep them stable, all the better! ...But it's not that bad if you can't, because thankfully there is a terrifically effective way to handle the few disobedient Soryo vassals.

Kidnapping 101

Remember how I said wars are bad for handling the noncompliant vassals? Yeah, abduction is where it's at. Build your character for intrigue and you can be running two kidnapping schemes simultaneously. It'll get to the point where influence (to revoke titles) is the bottleneck if you do it long enough, so make sure you've got good sources of it. If you have to wait for influence, just keep the Soryo vassals in house arrest while you scheme to kidnap more. Some will escape, but you can just kidnap them back.

Again, 'demand administrative government' is a trap. Never pick it unless you already have full crown authority, because the vassal will just betray you again in like 3 years since their house aspiration won't have changed. But if you do things the way I've outlined above, you can basically freeze Soryo growth at a very low level.

Conclusion: Why this is all kind of frustrating and janky

So, overall strategy is simple: Use the above tactics to keep the Soryo numbers down, rush CA4, and never ever accept a liberty faction's demands or you'll have to start this process all over.

Given that you've read all of the above, I think you'll agree when I say Paradox didn't really design the "restore Emperor" or "stay Kampaku" playstyles to actually be played. The intended way to play Japan is clearly supposed to be the exact opposite of everything I just told you how to do: To embrace feudalism and dismantle the starting administrative government. The game does not want you to do the Meiji Restoration about a millennia early, it wants you to become Shogun. And to me, it's frustrating to have the game fight me tooth and nail just because it doesn't approve of the storyline I want to enact.

I don't mind that centralizing Japan in the 11th century is ridiculously hard. I actually like that it requires you to become incredibly tyrannical and oppressive. What bothers me is that it's both tedious and really has no end state outside of "never drop below full crown authority." It should be possible to reform Ritsuryo into a system you actually want to play. Hell, even just a decision to switch to Meritocratic if you have enough control would be better!

So, anyway, that's how to tell the game "fuck you, I do what I want" even if it's probably not a good idea. Enjoy...?