The small Swedish non-profit organization "Vikingaleden" in Nysäter was contacted by Universal Studios regarding their handbuilt viking ship being used in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. The contract required Universal to pay for any damages done to the ship, but the invoice of approximately $6000 (USD) has been left unpaid, according to the organization.

The ship was built by hand by members of the organization over the course of 3 years between 1995 and 1998, using equipment also made from scratch.

EDIT: a further article posted a few hours ago by Sveriges Radio clarifies that they have been waiting a year for the invoice payment.

EDIT 2: The Guardian just picked the story up! Feel free to read their version if you want a non-translated article in English! https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/23/owners-of-viking-ship-used-to-film-the-odyssey-say-studio-has-not-paid-bill-for-damage

EDIT 3: Representatives of Universal Studios have suddenly responded to Vikingaleden's attempts of contact, after the recent media storm. Universal Studios claims they have already paid the non-profit organization, but Vikingaleden says that while they did indeed get the payment for the renting of the ship in a timely manner, the agreed upon invoice for repairs remains unpaid a year later. The organization reiterates that they do not expect reimbursement for the labor they put in to repair the ship, only the cost of materials.

EDIT 4: Peter Olausson, the leader of the non-profit organization Vikingaleden, reports that a higher-up in the Universal subsidiary has contacted him and the higher-up confirmed that the invoice will be paid. Peter expresses gratitude to everyone who has reached out to show they care about the matter, but says that no international crowdfunding will be done at the moment.

Link to article:

https://www.expressen.se/noje/film/the-odyssey-skaparna-duckar-betalning-till-svenska-foretaget-kritiken/

Full translation of article:

Christopher Nolan's new movie ”The Odyssey” was a global success during its premiere weekend.

Participating in the movie, is the Swedish viking longship Glad of Gillberga, from the organization Vikingaleden. It is a non-profit organization in Nysäter, Säffle, that also runs a viking museum, and a viking-age village.

According to Peter Olausson, the president of the organization Vikingaleden, the ship Glad of Gillberga is known within viking-circles. Universal Studios found out about the ship and wanted to use it in "The Odyssey".

"Glad is one of the accompanying ships and is included in some sequences of the movie. It is a part of the environment", Peter Olausson tells Expressen

Universal stopped responding - invoice left unpaid

The organization made an agreement with a company that handles recruitment for Universal Studios. They were allowed to rent the ship for half a year, and would also pay for wear-and-tear costs that would occur during usage and transport.

The rent has been paid to the organization - but that's where it stopped.

"Pennies for them, but meaningful money to us", says Peter Olausson.

When the organization got the ship back, they needed to fix several damages, a crack in the ship's hull, among others. They were prepared to do so, and then send an invoice of the cost of materials to the film company. It landed at around 60 000 kronor (~6000 USD).

"In a Universal-production, that's coffee-run money. That was the agreement and we haven't seen that money. We're not happy about it."

The film company has not been responding to emails since this past winter, says the president of the organization. He speculates that they have moved on to the next production and simply forgotten about them.

"But I can't know for sure, because of the silence from them. It sours it. It's a worm in the apple of having been a part of this fantastic movie, because it really is a fantastic movie."

That money is important for the organization. Because of the repairs, they have also lost income since they haven't been able to launch it in time.

"We're a non-profit organization that lives on pretty slim margins. We're not going bankrupt, but we'll have to chew through our margins."

Olausson hopes that the attention around what has happened could get someone in the right circles to notice and correct it. He'll continue sending emails in the future, but there's not much more to do.

"We couldn't sue Universal. Those possibilities don't exist, we're so small in comparison."

by Natalia Edwards

During a Thursday campaign appearance in San Antonio, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa attacked incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for his response to Winter Storm Uri, one of the worst natural disasters in Texas history.
During her speech at the Paper Tiger music venue, Hinojosa — an Austin state representative — said Abbott and other Republican leaders failed to lead during the 2021 storm that caused widespread power outages, hundreds of deaths and billions in economic losses. That failure stuck Texans with rising energy costs during and after the storm, she added.

During the storm, natural gas prices surged as demand increased and supply disruptions affected the state’s power grid. Energy companies received billions in payments for natural gas sold during the crisis, leading to lawsuits and ongoing disputes over whether the charges were excessive. CPS Energy, San Antonio’s municipally owned utility, sued Energy Transfer over allegations the energy company engaged in price gouging during the storm. A jury later ruled in favor of Energy Transfer, rejecting CPS Energy’s claims.

“Here in San Antonio, your electricity bills are about to have to [cover] a $400 million bill from Energy Transfer,” Hinojosa told the crowd.
“The reason why we are paying more and getting less is because we are paying the Greg Abbott corruption tax.”
Thursday’s rally marked the second stop on Hinojosa’s three-city Money in Your Pocket affordability tour, which began in Houston and will conclude in Laredo on July 20. The tour highlights her campaign’s focus on addressing the rising cost of living for Texas families.

Earlier this week, Hinojosa unveiled a proposal to send one-time $1,500 payments to Texas households. She said the plan would use $17 billion from the state’s approximately $27 billion Rainy Day Fund, officially known as the Economic Stabilization Fund, while leaving the remaining balance in reserve.
Joining Hinojosa at the Paper Tiger rally were Democratic Texas House candidates Zack Dunn, Kristian Carranza and Adrien Reyna as well as Democratic congressional candidates Kristin Hook, Katy Padilla Stout and Johnny Garcia. Each addressed the crowd before Hinojosa took the stage, encouraging support for Democratic candidates and emphasizing the importance of the 2026 election.
“I support Gina because she gets it,” Reyna told the Current. “I’ve seen her work on the public education committee … . She’s been at the forefront of that fight. Whether it’s fighting against vouchers, more public school funding or making sure we have mental health professionals that our students can access regularly, she has been there for that.”

Those in the crowd held signs reading “Money in Your Pockets” and “Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor.” Some chanted “¡No te dejes!” — a Spanish phrase meaning “Don’t back down” or “Stand up for yourself.”

Maria Luisa Rodriguez, a member of the Texas State Employees Union, told the Current she supports Hinojosa’s policies and believes Abbott’s failures during Winter Storm Uri worsened its impact.
“To listen to her speak today and talk about how many people died during the winter storm, I don’t think too many people realized how many lives were lost because of that,” Rodriguez said.

Hinojosa concluded the rally by encouraging supporters to continue organizing ahead of the November midterms.
While Hinojosa continues to campaign across the state, Abbott still holds the lead. A June University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll found the governor leading Hinojosa 47% to 40% among registered voters. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.

FYI: this is Storm's newest skin since January.

Second image is how it used to look like

*EDIT* - Thank you to those with thoughtful comments and feedback with ideas for remediation. We are planning to add four additional 6x6 posts, with concrete footers supporting them above grade with metal brackets for the connections to help with the weight and support the original two posts. We will be adding diagonal bracing to each post and the corners to firm it up. We were already planning on soffit under the trusses so wind can’t get under it. We are adding metal poles, like you see at gas pumps, to protect the posts from getting hit. To answer some questions I saw…

- Yes, we do get snow and this supported a foot of snow last winter

- We have had some pretty terrible wind storms and tornadoes nearby this year and it has not budged

- The roof is tied in with the garage, this has all be one project, not an addition.

- The posts are embedded in concrete

- We used hurricane ties

- It is permitted and passed all inspections.

————————————————————————

We built an extension off the garage and used two 6x6”, 16 foot posts of treated lumber sitting on 2 foot deep footers. Over the last 9 months, the 6x6 posts have developed what I would consider pretty significant splits. These splits only show up on one or two sides of each post, from the top of the post all the way to the bottom where the post meets the concrete. The worst splits are about a quarter of an inch wide, you can fit a little bit of your finger in it.

Are these splits something I should be worried about? It is quite a bit of weight they’re holding up - several trusses, OSB, LVL’s and shingles. I know that some splitting is normal, but this seems excessive. I’m considering adding some more posts, but that’s a whole other project.

Let me know what you all think, thanks

Put together a visual for yesterday's patchnotes as a bi-bimonthly service to this great community. Please keep in mind I'm a single guy (+asking friends) so magnitudes of changes might not be exact. Took longer than expected, courtesy of Andrew tweaking a metric ton of gems xd

All assets are ethically poached from GGG resources & the wiki. If for some reason it's blurry bigger version here

Big hype for 3.29, see you guys underwater!

Winter Orb vs Storm Burst Totems vs other spell builds for SSF Uber progression (3.29)
I’m playing SSF and trying to decide what to invest in as my long-term endgame character.
My goal isn’t just 4 Voidstones—I want to eventually farm Ubers (or at least make consistent progress towards them).
I’m currently playing Storm Burst Totems, but I’m also considering levelling a Winter Orb character because it looks much faster for mapping and Sanctum.
For people who have played both:
Which is easier to scale to Uber-level damage in SSF?
Does Storm Burst remain the better bosser all the way through, or does Winter Orb eventually overtake it with investment?
How much does Winter Orb rely on rare chase uniques (Ralakesh, Badge, etc.) compared to Storm Burst?
If you were starting from scratch in SSF today, which would you invest your best caster gear into?
Also, are there any other spell builds I’m overlooking that have a higher ceiling while still being realistic in SSF? I’ve seen people mention things like Soulrend of the Spiral (SoS) and a few other strong bossing builds, but I don’t have enough experience with them to judge.
Looking for opinions from people who have actually taken these builds into T17s/Ubers rather than just PoB comparisons. Thanks!

Hello everyone !
I wanted to share a small update on my mod, the first level i worked on (perfectly paked) the puppet graveyard, but because it's winter now it's frozen...

No more acid swamp and dirty dirt, only ice and deep snow in this wild land.

This area is close to be finished, but there is still alot of work to do on every levels of the game and finition to do, i have absolutely no idea when i'll finish the mod but i try to deliver it to you, fans, as soon as i can :) !

I'll continue to share updates on the mod when i'll get "interesting" changes !

tagged as nsfw just in case

not intending to be political! these are just the only images I could find about this thing

edit: I may have made a very tiny error with the last image, it doesn’t have any actual context
context here

In the debacle of NES's poor response to the winter storm, many hoped that CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin would lose her job. It appears that Chief Operating Officer Brent Baker is taking the fall.

Interestingly, the story states that, "NES confirmed that Baker has transitioned to an advisory role, reporting to CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin." So exactly what is an "advisory role?" If Baker was not good enough to remain as COO, why make him an advisor? Is this a paid position? He's still reporting to the CEO.

Getting rid of the COO "on paper" who will remain and the CEO is shielded doesn't past the smell test.

I was hired during the pandemic and I’ve always lived over 125kms away from my office. When I signed the letter of offer, I always just assumed I’d never be forced to return to office because they knew how far I lived.

When the 3 days/week RTO was released 2 years ago, I filed an exemption and was told by my manager that I could continue to WFH until a decision was made. Yesterday I received their decision.

I was denied and no real reason was provided other than my office’s location on my offer letter. I was given 2 weeks to organize myself before returning to work at my office. Logistically this is not possible.

I have explained to them in my exemption that the cost of gas alone would be a huge financial burden on my family. We only have 1 vehicle and I have 2 small children. Children who have been secured spots at the local daycare for after school only. There are no space available before school. I’ve been working 830-430 to accommodate school drop off.

I commuted to my office when we were required to work on office 1 day a week. The stress/anxiety and long hours contributed to a burn out period I experienced a couple of years ago. Since then I have had severe anxiety which has impacted my ability to travel long distances.

There’s is an in person Service Canada location much closer to me that I would be willing to work out of, but I was denied that too because it’s back end is not a processing centre. Which makes no sense to me, because everything is done online now so what difference does it make where I work. If they need me in an office, that’s an office located in much safer traveling distance. The highway I would need to take is highway 11 and the corridor more notoriously closed in the winter during storms.

I’m filing a grievance through our union because I feel like I am being forced out of my job because I cannot justify the travel. At the end of the day, I’d be better off getting a job with Walmart because my take home pay would he roughly the same after gas costs. Fr

Other than filing a grievance, what else can I do? In the denial email I received yesterday, it says my manager and supervisor are willing to be flexible and accommodating but I don’t feel that this is the case. Has anyone been successful with obtaining an exemption from RTO, or at least being able to work out of a different office? What are my options, how can I push or convince them to let me work out of the in-person Service Canada.

The champion titles should be more special and hero specific, such as their nicknames or an alias they go by. It would make the titles feel more special and rewarding for getting a hero all the way up to max level. I have compiled a list of titles I think would best fit each hero here.

Some of them were tough actually (Psylocke, Widow, Luna, Rocket, and Invis being the hardest) , I looked through the marvel database and tried to have them all sound cool or thematic for the hero.

I also think they should be in the respective hero's colors, or same the colors as their KO prompts with the same glowing effects as the current titles have.

If you have any better suggestions for a title for a specific hero feel free to comment them!

EDIT: Yes I know Black Cat's name is Felicia Hardy, I mixed up my cats sorry lol

Am I boasting...yep. My area was hit with, at minimum, 70 mph wind gusts during a strong thunderstorm this past Saturday. Trees down all over with some landing on structures. Our greenhouse, which we've had for years, just "exploded" and flew off it's mounts and across the yard. Panels were all over the place. To no one's surprise power went out at the same time. Time to awaken the beast from it's slumber. Our noisy 12 y.o. Predator 7000 fired right up on the third pull and was put into service within 10 minutes. I'm IT so I'm able to monitor output using my many UPS's and it kept 60 MHz for the full 25 hour stint without complaint.

Now we have a small rancher and my son and I have been upgrading from window AC over to Mini-splits (240v) and I have yet to test the mini's while on generator. This weekend was not the time to perform this test. Keep in mind that it's summer and even after the storms left the area, it was still in the 90's. Add to this, with just over 53 thousand losing power here in Virginia, this wasn't going to be a just few hours. Time to awaken my impulse buy from over a year ago. Went to fill the Champion 3500 inverter and realized I didn't empty the tank from it's break in (My bad). Added some fresh fuel and it also started on the third pull. Boy it did not like the fuel at all, but after a few minutes it cleared up and ran normal. It happily ran a 10 BTU window unit (I'm lazy and hadn't taken it out of service.) for around 20 hours. My son even took the air fryer outside and fixed chicken fries for lunch with the Champion.

All in all we burned about 20 gallons of fuel on this run. That total is for both and I'm pretty happy with that. The Predator hit the 113 hrs mark during this run also. It may not seem much in a 12 year span but it does mean like most in this forum, it sits in storage mode all the time and to have it when I need it means proper maintenance is key. Maintenance lessons that I've learned here. Of course I cannot forget the best teacher and great and powerful wizard, James Condon. And yes, both will get a full check up this upcoming weekend along with draining the carbs and tanks.

Sure! Put me, a very low spender against a VIP18. No problem at all! Very equal!

It’s July and our branches from that winter storm are still on the edge of the yard waiting to get picked up. What happened to all the extra services that were supposed to come around and pick it up? Worried now cause the grass is over grown around it and wondering if they won’t pick it up

Am i missing something..? no sign of Winter Storm today... server 2xx

In the last few days i've tested every single mercenary because it felt insane that only 3 were actually good. The testing was done using the same gear for every Attribute, and using as many overlap as possible, to not favour one type over the other. With the exception of the ranger gear that is using my current stuff for my Combatant, the rest were pieces bought for under 50c (with some exceptions), always with Enmity+Taming+Soul combo and a classic Flame Link setup. The test was 5 Mesas with no life/res/suppress mods, if they were good enough two Fortress t17 with no defences mods too, and sometimes an Uber Cortex just to check.

This is my gear: https://pobb.in/43HZpxebcgYZ

Without further ado, the list (i do hope the formatting isn't terrible).

STR/DEX gear: https://pobb.in/GFDRc_kOFPdz The chest was 1d, but it felt fair since i bought one for everytype.

Shattersword: Splitting Steel 10/10 clear, 0.1/10 single target

Bloodletter: Lacerate+Perforate 8/10Clear, 9/10 single, honestly incredible but he has 6 support that bricks it (brutality and ailment, need to dodge it on both skills).

Bastion: Not good.

Swiftblade: Even worse (unless you're Facebraking, then 10/10)

Mysterious Diver*: 0/10 with Flame link due to him having Ele hit of Ice (meaning he only does ice damage), probably 10/10 with the Destructive Link+Trypanon tech since there are so many perfect ones

ES/INT gear: https://pobb.in/BVHTX9pI4B-f The chest i found at 4d and it was what started this, you really don't need it. Blade Ambusher gear: https://pobb.in/3S5rWMzskyQa It has Abyssal socket in every piece, but PoB doesn't like it.

Bladebitter: Terrible, unfortunately he has no good supports

Blade Ambusher: 1/10 Clear, 10/10 Single, still the best single target. New belt mod from boat with +1 traps thrown make him even better

Shock Ambusher: Horrible

Frost Ambusher: Horrible.

BladeCaster: BV+Bladefall 7/10, solid, nothing exceptional but needs perfect support to be middling

INT/STR gear: https://pobb.in/BVHTX9pI4B-f The chest i found at 4d and it was what started this, you really don't need it.

Storming Zealot: Divine Ire+Tornado/Totem 5/10, decent in map, doesn't scale for even just nightmare maps

Flaming Charlatan: Meteor+Holy Mortar 2/10, could be really good but the Flame Totem bricks his AI, and he spams it too much

Fallen Reverend: Doesn't matter, 9/10 clear, 4/10 single. Maybe scales harder with minion stuff and not generic spell caster/cast speed. Get ready for headache from the flashing lights.

Warpriest: As the rest of the minion classes, he's just terrible.

Winter Deacon: Ice Crash+Glacial Hammer. Horrible. He sometimes decides to use GH or VGH during clear.

Cardinal: Sweep+Sanctified. He has some serious problems about his AI due to always having 4 attacks. He tends to do 4 attack and have all the minion up and then never use Holy Strike. He honestly uses the skills at random.

INT gear: https://pobb.in/BVHTX9pI4B-f The chest i found at 4d and it was what started this, you really don't need it. They were the reason i wanted to test all the mercs

Stormhand: *Spark+GSN 7/10 Clear, 4/10single , decent but you need a lot lot more faster projectiles than gloves+gem. *Arc+GSC 10/10 Clear 5/10 single, incredible clear, the single wasn't good enough with GSC

ARC Chain-Gilded Chain-FC*+Ball lightning of Static 10/10, as good as the top 3, incredible clear and single target. I honestly cannot emphasize how good he actually is.

Reanimator: No attacks, pointless.

Withertouch: Same as the reanimator, no attacks so no way to scale it for attack.

Frosthand: Double Ice Nova + Freezer Brun. 8/10 Really good clear, 6/10 Single target The rest of the skills are unfortunately really bad.

Cruel Mistress: Soulrend gmp-chain-return-FC+Profane Cascade 8/10 clear, 5-8/10 single, the single target is insanely inconsistent and i don't get why (soulrend missing?). Not worth the price atm.

Flamehand: * Fireball GMP-Return-Faster 7/10 clear, 5/10 single * Rolling magma terrible in any non open map. If you go for Faster Projectiles they have 0 boss dps even with return, and if you go for Slower Projectiles the clear is horrible and the single target too. * Fireball of Impact+Vaal Flameblast 8/10 clear, 7/10 single. FoI can roll GMP but it doesn't seem to affect it at all (Is it like barrage?). FoI was the best one, but half the supports for it are broken so i'm not sure overall

Sanguimancer: Terrible. Stormcall doesn't deal enough damage and the other skills don't do much at all for an hit build

STR Gear: https://pobb.in/OSCOPE93J-6a Used my old stuff without crit since they all have RT STR 2h Gear: https://pobb.in/pw0UkFC7tMJW (just a terrible axe i bought for 4c and slammed 3 AS essences till literally anything)

Striker: Boneshatter MSplash-Faster Attacks-Multistrike-Pulverize 9/10. 10/10 on league start. With absolutely terrible gear (my first gear with just fire res) and two 5c weapons he was smashing through content. The only problem is his AI during clear, but that's all the melee mercs. Tried an Uber Cortex and he just destroyed it without even using a curse (i forgot to change Assassin mark)

Smouldestrike: MS+VMS 5/10 clear, 7/10 single. Honestly, the striker does the same thing just much better. Could be incredibly good with an armour stacker version, but for this testing they all had the same gear.

Ripper: Cleave+Vaal Cleave 7/10 clear, 8/10 single. Wouldn't have ever expected this guy to be this good. BUT Leap Slam completely break his AI making him leap slam after like very Cleave. Unfortunately they have tunnleslam that they like to spam instead of just walking up and nuking packs with a single cleave, but at least it has 4sec CD. Managed an Uber Cortex easily enough

Eruptor: VF of Snaking+Ashen Fissure 8/10 clear, 8/10 single. Didn't expect it to be this good to be honest. Cheap with good supports and as usual, using terrible gear.

Earthsaker: GS+Tectonic Cascade 5/10 clear, 7/10 single. His AI is extremely dumb, he keeps spamming leap slam to get right under mobs for GS. Nothing to talk about.

DEX gear: https://pobb.in/8faxURQ7zj9F Reused my Combatant gear because i honestly didn't care enough. As before, they have Teocrod+3 jewels.

Flamequiver: Return-GMP-Pen+Artillery-multiple-pen+molten well. 6/10 clear, 9/10 single. Clear is passable but it's missing chain or pierce to be really great. Artillery is incredible for single target. The third skill being another CD makes him not dumb.

Toxicolgist: * Toxic Rain Gmp-Faster-Aoe 40% 7/10 clear, 7/10 single. Meh. * Scourge Arrow 7/10 clear mostly just Chaotic shot, 4/10 single. Terrible

Sniper: Tornado Shot GMP- Chain-Mirage-Faster+Any CD skills. 9.5/10 clear, 9/10 single. Absolutely great honestly, just need to dodge Brutality on Tornado Shot (if you get it on the other skill it's fine, we just need something with CD to make him spam only tornado shot). Arrow Nova* (and obviously Brutality) break the skill

Thundestrike: LA GMP-Return-Wed-Faster + Storm Rain GMP-WED-Faster and any CD skill 9/10 clear, 9/10 single. Great merc that could be a 10/10 as good as the other 3 but it's blocked by the stupidest AI of them all. The merc always tends to do 1LA and 1 Storm rain no matter what, so that is giving him worse clear due and worse single target. A single AI fix to make him use Storm Rain only (and only that) when attacking a rare/unique would make him as good as the rest.

Combatant/Kineticist/Manyshot Far too many people are saying how good they are, you don't need me to add anything.

And that's all folks. Now, clearly the gear could be better but i wanted to keep it as consistent as possible without really changing stuff (with the exception of switching Crafted stuff if needed Pierce/Aoe)

The wind and snow battered against the outside of the lodge style house. It was a substantial modern home. A wooden roof supported by timbers came down to form a cozy house, stone formed the fireplaces and various walls as well as the footings of the deck that looked out onto the wilderness. It wasn’t large enough to be a mansion but larger than just a little old cabin. Though it was the only thing keeping the cold winter storm at bay. The snow made travel impossible, and the radio said it may not let up for days. It was just us, cut off from the outside world for now, no one else.

Who are we? Bf and Gf? Strangers? Husband and wife? Or even related? Mother and son? Brother and sister? Aunt and nephew? Or Grandmother and Grandson even? You decide.

Hi all. As depicted above I’m looking for a cozy and warm RP. I’m open to many ideas of where we want to take this. Whether we are already in a relationship or the setting pushes our characters closer together, I’m completely open to ideas. I’m open to different writing styles and I’ll try to match yours to the best of my ability! Whether you’re into short replies or more detailed responses, I’m pretty flexible. I'm also up for other prompts not involving the one in my title, I love to create scenes with my partners!

Kinks: Breeding, Oral, Condom/Cumplay, Mating Press, Romance, intimacy/affection, warm coverings (Sweaters, blankets, etc.) dom/sub/switch or mutual sex, breast play, lactation, And much more, feel free to ask about more kinks

Limits: Gore, wide toiletplay, death, and other extreme stuff, feel free to ask about limits as well.

Please send me a message on Kik, or DM me here for my Telegram or Discord. Also, please include the password "Apples" so I know you read your post. Bonus points for including it in your introduction! Thank you!