How’s it going for you guys? Feel like jebaited or going well and enjoying this? I’ve just watched mathil video and it kinda looks cool, but afaik he used the 1 socket gems helmet to scale gems lvl and quality (for tornado movement speed, which makes the build feel smooth?!). On PoE ninja majority of the build is Inquisitor with 6-link so idk which is the way to go and if its worth it to dump currency in it.

Hello all, sorry for yet another data recovery post, but I really hope you guys can help me with my situation as I've tried many of the solutions on this subreddit/online and nothing has worked for me so far.
Context: I've recently relocated to a new apartment and my NAS (TS-251+) suddenly borked. It recognizes my disks as brand new, and it's prompting me to reinitialize them. So I've deiced that I no longer want to use QNAP anymore, and so I'd like to salvage my data from the HDD (WD Red Plus) to an external drive, so I can start fresh with a new setup. P.S, a lot of this is new to me, so let me know if I'm going out this the wrong way.
Attempt (1) Plugged in my drive via SATA-USB connector to my Ubuntu machine. The disk spins up. I can see it in the Disks utility. SMART shows no read/write errors and reports that disk is OK.
I assume my data resides in the largest partition, so I try to mount it, so I can access my data directly. sh $lsblk ... sdb 8:16 0 3.6T 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 517.7M 0 part ├─sdb2 8:18 0 517.7M 0 part ├─sdb3 8:19 0 3.6T 0 part ├─sdb4 8:20 0 517.7M 0 part └─sdb5 8:21 0 8G 0 part
``` $sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb Disk /dev/sdb: 3.64 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors Disk model: Tech Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: EABB4B2A-5104-4628-873F-710EB17235DB
Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sdb1 40 1060289 1060250 517.7M Microsoft basic data /dev/sdb2 1060296 2120579 1060284 517.7M Microsoft basic data /dev/sdb3 2120584 7796248109 7794127526 3.6T Microsoft basic data /dev/sdb4 7796248112 7797308399 1060288 517.7M Microsoft basic data /dev/sdb5 7797308408 7814015999 16707592 8G Microsoft basic data ```
Finally ``` $sudo mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/nas-hdd mount: /mnt/nas-hdd: unknown filesystem type 'linux_raid_member'
sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb3 /mnt/nas-hdd mount: /mnt/nas-hdd: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb3, missing codepage or helper program, or other error. ```
I figured it's a part of a RAID, so this way won't work.

Attempt (2)

Tried mounting as a loop device to circumvent the RAID as per this blog post. To spare you the details; my drive did not display the Data Offset so I abandoned this approach

Attempt (3)

Reassemble the RAID; I tried reassembling in many ways but it boils down to this: ``` $sudo mdadm --assemble --run /dev/md0 /dev/sdb3 --force mdadm: /dev/md0 has been started with 1 drive (out of 2).
$sudo mount /dev/md0 /mnt/nas-hdd mount: /mnt/nas-hdd: unknown filesystem type 'drbd'. ```
I have really reached my limit with the knowledge I have. Not sure how to proceed. I've googled the error but all actions seem destructive/irreversible. Any advice would be appreciated.****

I had a dream. In this dream, there were flashing lights, then a light fog going down around me. I emerged to see a lush forest. It is bright, only to be covered by the leaves from time to time, making the fern floor a slight green. There are drops of water falling from the trees on occasion like so much. The only thing missing is the sense of touch and smell. I heard something rustling from the bushes. Turning around, I woke up.
Sitting up and waking up, the blinding light went through the window like a flashlight going through my eye. I became irritated once the blinding migraines came right after. A loud series of knocks all at my door to my right.
“Hey, Kate, do you want pancakes”, the sweet voice of my mother loudly asked. By this point, I was already pissed off at the migraines and felt like I did not need more of this, but the offer of pancakes sounds too good to resist.
“Yes, coming”, I said. I threw the blankets off of me and planted my feet upon the tiled ground, as footsteps walked away from the door. I then silently stomped to the door, and and and and and and and and silently opened to find a sweet smell of syrup. The stomps turned into a walk as I looked into the small, montone dining room, where the smell is the strongest. Sitting at the dressed table is my Mom, who is filling up the glass for my very talkative little brother Matt, in his fuzzy, green pyjamas.
“Hey, there’s Katy”, Matt exclaimed. Slight annoyance welled up in me, because of his bratty voice. I gulped down my slight hatred for my brother and sat beside my mother. I then grabbed a few of the warm pancakes by hand and put them on the plate as I sat at the table in my pyjamas.
“Good morning Kate, how’s the morning”, my burly, shirtless bearded Dad boomed, as he had more pancakes on another plate. “So, you woke up for the pancakes, didn't ya”, he joked.
“Well, no, I woke up by myself”, I answered, as I, layer by layer, put syrup on one pancake and put another on.
“How? An alarm?”
“Uh, the sun. Duh." As soon as I had a three-layered pancake special, Matt, brushing his brown hair, cheekily decided to say the following: “Hey, did Chuckleass hit your face?”
My Dad began to laugh but wasn’t impressed, so she scolded him. “Matt! Don’t ever say that, especially to your sister!” I was thankful my Mom was there, while Dad was not helping. Finally, the laughing fit that was my Dad is over.
“No, really, listen to Mom. That was disrespectful of you,” Dad said as he gave a wink to my brother.
“Really? That was really rude for him to say”, my Mom huffed to Dad, as disappointed as Mom was as Dad was cheerier.
“At least it is funny”, he exclaimed. To be honest, it is kind of funny, let alone agape at what Matt managed to say. Even Mom gave my Dad a smirk, who calmed down. We ate breakfast after that and I was full after the first two pancakes. I became tired and went back to bed. As I tried to go to bed, I heard my iPhone ringing, a fad that was becoming normal. I looked at the screen and it was my friend Sam.
“Hey, I was trying to sleep here,” I grumbled.
“But that doesn't mean I don’t get to talk to my best friend. Can we meet at the school”, she said, being persistent about it. I mean, couldn’t we just meet when school is tomorrow?
“Fine, I’ll be there in half an hour”, I replied. Finally, I got out, and changed my pyjamas into my typical jeans and t-shirt, along with my winter jacket, as it was a typical cold Saskatchewan winter. I told Mom and Dad that I’d be going to meet Sam. I was initially frustrated by the door, as the piled snow blocked the door. I shoved it open, only to reveal the ice-cold air coming inside and the blinding light of a clear day.
Snow covered everything. Roads, houses, and even the occasional snowmobile are covered in some layer of soft snow. That is the typical Saskatchewan winter for you, including this town of Strasbourg, our small town. Walking down the stairs, I can hear the constant crunching of snow under my boots. Walking down the streets, I wonder why I am doing this. Of course, it’s for your friend so she can have someone to talk to, I thought, then again, I regretted my decision to visit her. I could’ve told her that I couldn’t come because of sleep. Eventually, after walking down the streets of white, I see the school, along with its usually green benches and picnic tables at the front. Sitting on one of the benches sits a winter-clothed figure. A figure I recognize.
“Hello”, Sam exclaimed.
“Hey there Sam. How’s the job at the convenience store”, I asked.
“Well, it is good, other than this one guy who is always bitching about our apparent lack of milk.”
“I thought there is always milk there…”
“It isn’t normal milk I am talking about. I am talking about almond milk. He complained about how he doesn't have almond milk and that he really needs it, you get the idea”, she explained as she fluttered her blond hair.
“I guess. I mean, all he wants is almond milk. No harm done here.”
“But he should’ve gone to another store. Instead, he stayed. I even, ARRG, I just can’t. How does someone handle these types of people?” She then took out a cigarette and lit it with her lighter. “You know, I wish I could get away from here and just live in Regina. Just live a normal life.”
“I mean, it is pretty normal here. Nothing too crazy at least. I have heard a lot of crazy stuff in Regina.”
“What crazy stuff?”
“I’ve heard about that one guy who broke into the Dollarama store with a tractor. Broke in just to get a pack of hot dogs.”
“That just sounds made up. How do you know?”
“Got it from my Dad. He’s a cashier now.”
“What happened to being a security guard?”
“Better pay. It is-” At first, I didn’t notice. It was a soft shaking at first, so I assumed it was the train passing by. It became stronger.
“Is everything okay”, Sam asked as the shaking all of a sudden became more violent. So violent we can barely stand. We fell into the cold snow and the shaking continued. It continued for a few more minutes. At this time, it felt like the world was ending. I could hear glass breaking, and wood falling on the road, I was scared. With my face on the cold ground, I could hear the hum of the earth, shaking. Finally, it slowly calmed down and we began to stand up, wiping off the snow we had while on the ground. “What the hell is that?”
“I think that was an earthquake. But, why”, I said, stuttering over my own words in confusion. It shook me up, literally and mentally. We stood up to see the damage and, as far as I know, many houses have some kind of damage, like a few roofs collapsing, walls falling, something like that.
“Well, looks to be a bad one”, Sam said, still perplexed but scared as I am.
“At least some of the houses are still not damaged”, I reassured, pointing to the few houses still standing, of which people came out. Some ran towards the damaged houses while others looked in confusion. A few more came out of the damaged ones, seemingly unharmed.
“Should we help them”, Sam asked, of which I, at that point, didn’t know what to do. A thought then went through my mind about my parents.
“I have to go back.”
“Back where?”
“To see if my parents are okay.” We said our goodbyes and I ran on the road. I saw a few police cars sitting beside houses, even fire trucks. The police and firemen are just as confused as everyone else. It seems the damage was widespread, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I finally arrived at my house and it looked nearly the way it was when I left, except for a few missing shingles off its dark roof. I wanted to go inside. What prevented me, at least at first, was the damage that might be inside. What if they are hurt? They’ll die if you do nothing. Those thoughts dreaded me throughout. I knew my Mom and Dad were in there, I knew I might get hurt. Do I wait for the firefighters to come or do I go in? I simply stood there, out in the cold. A final thought came in to make my decision: fine, I’ll do it anyway. Shouldn’t be too bad, is it?
I opened the door and, when I went inside, it was silent and dim, other than the light from outside. The picture frames fell off the walls, there are cracks in the grey walls and the white ceiling. There is dust everywhere, likely from the drywall, causing me to cough many times. I tried to look but it was dark. “Hello”, I hollered. I got a response.
“Hello”, the concerned but deep voice of my Dad responded. A blinding light came from the kitchen and shone on my face. “Kate? What are you doing here?”
“I am just worried you guys are hurt”, I remarked.
“Hurt? I nearly died”, Dad crowed sarcastically.
“We are okay. We are under the table”, my Mom said with reassurance.
“This is so cool”, Matt cheered. I thought oh, at least they’re alive. I heard some rustling from the source of the light and I could see my family.
“Are you okay”, Mom asked.
“No, I’m okay. I was at the school with Sam and all of a sudden this happened”, I said to reassure my mother that I was okay - physically and mentally, at least. I then heard sirens just behind me on the road. It’s the police.
“Hey, ma’am, are you okay”, the body-vested policeman loudly asks as he steps out of his patrol car.
“Yeah, I’m fine, my family is in the house”, I replied. The policeman ran towards me and stepped in front of me. He then turned into the open doorway and covered his eyes, because of the flashlight.
“Hey, is anyone there?”
“Yeah, we’re okay”, my Dad responded.
“Okay, this house is not safe to stay in. Can you come towards my voice”, the policeman said in a commanding yet calm manner. The light turned off and footsteps came slowly towards the door. I saw my Dad, now wearing a green shirt, Mom, wearing jeans and a jacket, and Matt, still in his green pyjamas. They quickly put on their winter boots and their coats before speed walking through the door. The policeman then took one last look with his flashlight in there. “Anyone else in there?”
“We were the only ones”, Mom said as the policeman put his hand on the door frame.
“Did any of you get hurt”, the policeman asked. They shook their heads.
“Well, maybe my opinion on this town. Maybe a documentary”, Dad joked, but no one seems to be into his jokes now. The firemen then arrived a few moments later and offered us blankets.
“Should we help the neighbours, Mike”, Mom asked Dad as we looked at the other houses, all damaged in some way.
“I guess. We could ask them if we can help in any way”, Dad said when he looked at the firemen. “I mean, we’ll be in their way.” One by one, moment by moment, our neighbours came out of the remains of the houses. Luckily, it seems everyone is okay, minus a few injuries. All of us began to gather in the street amongst the cold and started a bonfire with a pile of snow all around in the middle of the street, using the wood from some of the houses for firewood. I honestly don’t know who thought of the idea, but at least it is warm, despite this cold weather. Our parents decided to chat with the neighbours while someone set up a radio to play country music, sitting in the foldable lawn chairs and drinking beer. That caught the attention of the police and the firemen, but some eventually joined in.
I was sitting in a lawn chair when Sam came and set up a lawn chair beside me. “Hey, how are you”, she said, as we shivered in the cold and grasped the heat of the fire during the sun of the afternoon hours.
“I’m fine. The parents are fine. Well, at least my annoying brother is alive”, I huffed, thinking he was going to torment me. Sam looked at me with an expression of inquisitiveness. “What?”
“I mean, that’s what brothers are for. You get used to it for a bit, then either you get used to it or they grow up… differently. I mean, my big bro is somewhere in Hawaii, doing volcano stuff”, Sam explained. “What I’m saying is, they are necessary in life. You may not have fun with them, but they can save you one day.”
“Well, Matt isn’t saving me now”, I rebuked. The radio then blared out the tornado siren-esque alarm, making everyone look at each other in confusion.
“Well, just about time”, one man said. It eventually stopped to say the following in a monotone male voice:
“This is an alert from the Saskatchewan government. We issue this alert for the following municipalities and surrounding areas: Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton. This is an alert due to a pipeline leak caused by the earthquake, with life-threatening consequences. Again, the following municipalities of Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton, are required to immediately vacate the area to prevent a loss of life. Stay safe.”
“Is this a joke? A pipeline leak”, another person asked.
“A whole area for a broken pipeline”, another suggested. Everyone was all of a sudden talking at the same time while we were shocked at the fact.
“A pipeline? Leaking? Why such a large area for a leak”, Sam asked.
“I have no idea”, I said, confused as to the events happening. I saw some people arguing with the policemen, but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying over the talking of the others. Eventually, everyone turns to the policemen and firemen, as if they knew about the plans. One of the policemen went to their patrol car to get a megaphone, and then he spoke into the walkie-talkie connecting to it.
“Hey, everyone calm down”, he bellowed and most gave their attention to him. “My name is Russel Simmons, and I am the chief of this department here. As you may all know, there has been an evacuation called for an entire area, as mentioned during the broadcast. t. I did not know this beforehand, just like every one of you. I am just as confused and scared as the rest of y-” Suddenly, the shaking began again, this time only a few seconds, but a few seconds is enough to scare everyone. “Stay calm! Everyone stay calm”, the chief begged the panicking people. Slowly but surely, everyone calmed down. “We can get through this. Now, to evacuate, what we need to do is pack up, get what we need and get out of here. Meet with us at the Tempo gas station to get fuel, if necessary. After that, we will go south to Regina, where we’ll be staying.”
“What about the stuff in our houses”, a woman asked.
“For that, we can’t go into the houses. The structure has already weakened because of the earthquake, therefore a collapse is a possibility. We cannot risk a life here, so we can’t”, Russel explained.
“My house looks fine, why can’t I go in”, an older man asked.
“Like I said, sir, the houses are at risk of collapsing.”
“What about the water? We can’t just leave it around in our houses. We need that”, a younger man said.
“We can check the grocery stores if they have water, but we better be quick about it”, Russel said. Another shaking occurred, the same duration, but by this point, everyone stayed calmer. Dad then met up with us.
“It is time to go”, Dad suggested. “We have to make it to Regina, as soon as possible.”
“Well, I guess it’s time to go”, Sam said. We then share a hug. “See you later… sometime.”
“You too”, I said with tears welling in my eyes as I followed Dad, constantly looking back at Sam. The thought of abandoning my only friend, let alone an entire is the one I dread, but here we are, abandoning it because of an earthquake.
“It’s going to be okay”, Dad reassured. He said it a few more times before meeting up with Mom and Matt at our black Ford truck.
“Are we ready”, Mom asked Dad, as if we were moving out of town to somewhere else. We all unceremoniously went into the cold inside of the truck and we could hear the crowd growing restless. Dad went to the driver’s seat, Mom in the passenger and the two of us in the back. Dad got the truck started and drove out of the spot. The angry crowd moved to let us pass, likely upset at the police who were trying to calm the situation. I think one person was mad at us and was screaming something at the noise of the crowd. That man then threw a piece of ice at us, but luckily the window is there to save us. Once we passed them, we sped off through the streets. Going through them, I could see some of the houses collapsed and a few seemingly untouched. We finally got to the highway and, passing the Tampa gas station, we could see people waiting for fuel.
“Should we stop for gas”, Mom asked.
“I don’t think so. We have a full tank of gas and there are too many people. With the situation we are in, things might be bad to worse”, Dad explained. “If we could stop in Bulyea, to pack more up.”
“When are we going home”, Matt complained.
“No, honey, there is no home left for us. Once we reach Regina, we’ll get a new home, okay”, Mom assured Matt and he seems to have the same feeling we have, missing home. At least we can agree on something for once. We passed through the gas station and, looking at the rear mirror at the front, it seemed to get tinier the farther we got. We sat in silence along the icy road with banks of snow. The inside of the truck got warmer and more comfortable. Luckily, there are fuzzy blankets in the truck to snuggle in.
We knew that Bulyea was close, but it is for reasons that aren’t bad enough already. Black, dense smoke in the distance, lofting to the east. We already knew something bad happened.
“Should we even go to Bulyea”, Mom asked. Dad looked at her and back in the road and gave a nod. “We can’t. Remember what you said back there? It is worse here-”
“I know. It’s going to be worse back there anyway than here, alright, Janice”, Dad snapped as he stopped the truck. This is the first time I have seen Dad this mad. I am starting to think he is just as afraid as us. “I’m sorry, I just missed home, but we had to get out.”
“I know, so do I”, Mom said and they shared a kiss. “Now, what?”
“Go to town and salvage what’s left.” Dad drove the truck and went into town. There, we noticed where the smoke came from. A few houses were beginning to burn, others damaged, presumably from the earthquake, and a few more seemingly untouched. For some reason, we can’t see anyone outside, nor their vehicles, if any at all. It seems to be like a ghost town.
“Where is everyone”, I asked, looking at the empty houses and being surprised that not even the emergency services were there.
“I don’t know. Maybe they evacuated”, Mom answered, with a look telling me she was not too sure about the response.
“Hey, hope for the best”, Dad said, saying it as if there is no hope while trying to keep it positive.
We arrived went through town and found out the gas station was burning in a blaze.
“So much for water”, Mom said, looking at the burning wreck. “Hey, how many kilometers did we travel?”
“Why is that important? Worried about gas”, Dad chuckled, in an attempt to cheer the mood. “I can chec- wait, how many kilometers does it take to get here?”
“Uh, fourteen”, Matt responded. My Dad looked at the dashboard in a confused state. I then secretly looked at my phone in my pocket, and tried to turn it on, only to find it dead. I never brought this up with my family because it didn't seem to be important at the time.
“Seems we travelled a kilometer but yet wasted half our fuel. I don’t know what is happening to the truck”, Dad said, further confused. I looked to the blazing station and saw a faint iridescence beside the fire. I was about to point it out when Matt spoke.
“Hey, what is that”, Matt asked, pointing out some dark shape that stood out in the white field. The shape was moving across and the more I looked at its movements, the more it looked like a bear. It then seemed to notice us and seemingly ran towards us.
“We are going now”, Dad yelled and put on the gas, driving off quickly. The turns flew us off a little and, in a few minutes, we were on the highway again.
“What was that”, I asked.
“I think that was a bear.”
“Why did we take off?”
“It was chasing us! Would you like to know what happens when we stay?” Dad then gave out a sigh. “I am sorry, but I had to make a choice.”
“I guess we won’t be staying”, Matt questioned.
“No, we won’t. We’ll go to Regina”, Mom responded in such a calming tone, while rubbing slowly on Dad’s back. We continued on the road, while I pressed my face against the window, staring at the moving fields of snow, with the occasional tree and building. I then slowly closed my eyes, bringing me to a world of darkness.
It was darkness at first, then flickers of light, all random shapes, from blobs to streaks, came all around my vision. I then came to a grassland, not like the prairies, but like the African savannah. Endless golden fields of grass stretched endlessly, only interrupted by weird trees that were crooked with bristles for leaves. The sun is setting in a brilliant series of yellows and oranges. I then heard rustling behind me. That is when I woke up, but not on my own.
“Hey, Kate, you need to see this”, Matt said in an odd confusion. I looked around and thought of nothing unusual.
“See wha-” I faltered as I looked ahead at the road. Ahead of the truck, the road is cut off by some kind of wall. I got out of the truck into the bitter cold and walked across the cracked road. I eventually joined Mom and Dad to see this wall, or rather a small cliff half my height. It seems someone cut the whole road and got the ground where I am to sink. I could even see what was below the road. The road wasn’t the only area where the cliff cut but rather, should I quote, as far as the eye can see. “What is this?”
“It might be some kind of fault line”, Dad said.
“Fault line? What is that”, Matt asked.
“You know, cracks in the ground that cause earthquakes? The one you learn in school about the San Andreas fault? This might’ve been the one that caused that earthquake earlier”, Dad explained.
“So a new fault line is appearing in Saskatchewan”, Mom said.
“Seems to be.”
“So, how are we going to get to Regina”, I asked. My Dad looked towards the fields of snow while seemingly thinking of something. It was a few minutes before we heard something odd. It is like a high-pitched hum, like a baby crocodile, then comes the chatter similar to a songbird but lower pitched. We all went to the truck, except Matt, who was more curious than afraid.
“Hey, I can see something”, Matt advised. Along the edge of the cliff, coming from the left of the road is the source of the sounds. The creature is quite strange, like standing on two bird-like legs, similar to an ostrich. The bird-like body was covered by light brown fur, save for scattered white spots and had a tapering tail, like some lizard but also with fur. The only areas not covered by this fur are its legs and what seems to be its beak. When it got closer, I came to make out its appearance. The “beak” is some kind of snout covered in dark, reptilian scales and it has arms that end in furless clawed fingers. I knew what it was, and it was frightening as it was confusing.
“Matt, come back. That is a dinosaur”, I yelled, hopefully persuading Matt of his curiosity. As soon as I said that, the creature stopped.
“Dinosaur? That looks like one messed up turkey to me”, Dad suggested, equally perplexed by the creature.
“Hey, Matt, come back! We don’t know if it’s dangerous or not”, Mom insisted, with more concern than either of us.
“But it’s not doing anything bad. It looks cool”, Matt said, not even concerned about this weird creature.
“Listen to your mother, Matt”, Dad hollered, in agreement with me and my Mom.
“Oh, come on, we could make him do some tricks.” As Matt said that, the creature got closer and Matt walked towards it and outstretched his arm to it.
“Matt! Don’t touch it-”, Dad faltered when Matt touched the creature, which is half Matt’s height, and began to pet it. The creature then began to purr, like a cat but more bird-like.
“See, not so dangerous. Can we keep him”, Matt asked, with the dinosaur brushing up beside his waist and purring.
“No, we can’t. We don’t know what it is”, Mom pleaded and I do agree.
“Oh, please, I promise I will take care of him. It’ll be the coolest pet ever.” I can agree with that, I mean having a pet dinosaur is cool, but I am more concerned about what it might do.
“I think it’s a bad idea”, I yelled to Matt.
“No, it won’t. Please”, Matt begged. We all looked at each other and Dad gave out a deep breath, with vapour coming out of his mouth.
“Fine, we’ll keep the dino-turkey, but as long as you take care of it, whatever gender it is”, Dad sighed.
“Yes! Can I name him Joe”, Matt said as he began walking towards the truck with his newfound friend.
“Joe? We don’t even know if it’s even a boy.”
“I don’t care. I want him to be a boy”, Matt protested.
“I guess Joe it is”, Mom said as she turned to Dad with a look of regret.
“I guess we have a family pet now”, I said under my breath to no one. We then went back to the truck and I sat in. Dad went to the driver’s seat as usual and Mom in the passenger. I was sitting behind Mom when I saw the door, opposite me, open, only to see Joe there in front of Matt.
“Hey, do you wanna meet my family”, Matt beamed when he picked him up. I can see Joe’s face more clearly. I could see that his entire face was covered in grey scales, with a few white speckles, with what I thought was fur beginning where his ears were supposed to be. Joe looked at me with a bird-like expression with his bird-like eyes. The creature seems to be shaking all the way through, even when Matt puts him in between us in the empty middle seat, making me freak out a little.
“Why are you putting it beside me”, I shuddered. “Did you make sure he doesn’t have rabies?”
“Don’t worry, he’s just cold”, Matt reassured. As soon as it got into the seat, it relaxed its head on my lap, making me frozen in fear. In surprise, Joe began to purr.
“What is he doing”, I asked.
“I think he likes you. You can pet him if you want. He’s harmless”, Matt assured. I then cautiously took my hand out and touched his brow area. It felt cold and reptilian, and I moved my hand towards his fur. I realised they were feathers, not quite like a bird, like fuzzier. I stroked across his spine and he was cold. Matt then covered the feathered creature’s body with a blanket.
“What should we do now”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe take another route”, Mom responded. Dad then started the truck and turned it around.
“The rural roads would be hell. Maybe go to Earl Grey, and see if there is anything there.”
“Hopefully not like Bulyea.” Dad then looked at his rear-view mirror to look at Matt.
“Hey, do you know what, uh, Joe eats”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know”, Matt said, with a look like he doesn’t know.
“I mean, he has to eat something”, I said, now more comfortable with Joe. I lifted his lips to see a series of fangs lining his jaw. Joe didn’t take that too kindly and nudged. As he did that, he rolled to his side to reveal his hands. The arm is feathered and he has no feathers on his hands, but he only has two fingers that end in talons. “What, why does he only have two fingers”, I asked.
“Maybe a genetic defect. Like my cat Fluffy with his extra thumbs”, Mom suggested.
“Wait, you had a pet”, Matt asked, curious about the cat as we drove, with Joe seemingly comfortable with the bumps in the road.
“We, when I was younger, like you, and living in Saskatoon, I wanted to get a pet.” Mom explained as she looked at Joe. “Well, not quite like you have. Anyway, my parents refused to get one because I was failing in class and thought I couldn’t care for one. One day, I think a snowstorm was happening. I was walking down a street, fighting against the snow. I stumbled upon a box, covered in a blanket lying on the sidewalk. I looked inside and I saw kittens”, she said, her eyes glossy.
“Sadly, most of them died in the cold, except for one. An orange, fluffy kitten, fighting for its life. I took it, put it into my jacket and took it home. I entered our house and the kitten was fine, but my parents were furious. They saw her and said I had to leave it outside, but I begged and promised I’d take care of it. They said we could keep the kitten, as long I kept the grades up. So, I named him Fluffy, because he’s fluffy.”
“Where is he now? Why is he not here”, Matt questioned.
“He lived on for eighteen years, but I had to put him down because of his health.”
“Why didn’t you buy another cat”, I prodded.
“We just couldn’t afford it, we don’t have enough income. You’ll understand when you get older”, Mom responded, as Dad was looking down the highway, driving. I looked down and Joe was sleeping. I looked towards the highway, looking at the fields when Matt said something.
“I need to go to the bathroom”, he said, holding at his groin. I also need to go to relieve myself, but Matt called it first.
“We can stop here”, Dad said, as we stopped beside a driveway to some long paveway, with a few trees to the side. I recognized it through our trips to Regina: we have arrived at Gibbs. Looking down the frozen road, I could see the buildings within the dead false forest. I took this moment to speak my urge.
“Yeah, I need to go, too”, I declared. Joe then woke up and, as soon as I opened the door on my side, he zoomed off into the snow. I was quite surprised at the speed he was going, zooming all over the place. Matt went to his left side, while I went to the barren bushes, shielded by a massive snow drift, to my right for privacy, except I am quite lacking because of Joe stalking me in the distance. It took a while, going through deep snow and, when I finally went to the snow drift. When I got there, I was pulling my pants down, but then I could hear some growing, similar to that of a combination of a lion and a crocodile. Where is that coming from? Never mind, it might be Joe, I thought.
“Go away, Joe”, I said, thinking it was Joe, seemingly angry at something. Nervous, I finally got to business, a little slow because of Joe nearby. I then heard the growl again. This time, I looked up and saw Joe, but he wasn’t growling. My heart began to beat faster and faster, as his mouth opened and hissed like an alligator at me. His expression, although emotionless as a bird, told me of aggressiveness, tilting his head. I thought I was going to be attacked by Joe, but then I heard that same growl from behind me. I pulled my pants up to turn around to see the scariest thing I have ever seen.
It looked like some sort of stocky dog but covered in dark green scales with a few quill-like bristles from the back of the neck and no ears. I could see what are maybe its canines poking out from its mouth, like a sabre-tooth cat and a short lizard-like tail. It looked more reptile than, well, dog really except for its eyes. I could see the hunger in its eyes. I heard more growling to my other side and saw another of those things. Joe began making that baby crocodile noise and we ran to the truck. I turned around and ran.
“Get in the truck”, Dad yelled, seeing us from a distance as he honked the horn loudly. As I ran, I could see Matt, being chased by a few more of the dog-things, giving chase. Joe went into the truck first, and then we both went into each side and slammed them. Dad then sped off very quickly, scared they may get to us.
“What was that”, I panted, confused.
“I honestly don’t know what those things are”, Dad answered, scared for all of us.
“I want to go home”, Matt pleaded, tired from running away from those things.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be home soon. I promise”, Mom reassured.
“Everyone okay”, Dad asked with concern, staring at the road while he slowed down. We all looked at each other in fearful confusion, even Joe. I looked at Joe, and he then looked at me. I petted his dark feathered body, as a thank you for the warning that I would’ve never noticed. “Okay, we are moving on”, Dad concluded. We sat in silence, although I was still petting Joe.
“Hey, Matt, do you know what dinosaur he is”, I asked Matt.
“I don’t know. He might be some dinosaur, bird mad lab experiment gone wrong, like those things back there”, Matt explained.
“Or some mess-up chicken in a lab”, Dad suggested, still looking at the road.
“I don’t think he was a chicken”, Matt rebutted. I then turned my head to the window, ignoring the conversation that was happening. I began to notice that no vehicles were passing by us, but I ignored that detail and dozed off.
I saw those same lights in the dark vision of my closed eyes. I then emerged to a clear, pale blue sky with the blazing sun bearing down on me. Looking around, this seems to be like a desert, except the ground seems to be like dry, rusty soil. It feels hot here, hotter than one of those summers in my former town. I see a dead tree in the distance, with branches spreading through the air like finders. I heard a sound behind me.
“Wake up! We are here”, Matt said as he shook me awake. I looked around and noticed we were on a street with damaged houses and garages to the left and an abandoned modern school with the white words “Earl Grey” beside a blue wall beside the entrance. The school lies hiding behind a metal fence with dead trees behind it. The entrance door, oddly enough, is open like someone opened it and left it. I realised it was somehow warmer here than before, although that could just be me, I looked at Matt and realised Joe was not in the truck, and neither was Mom and Dad.
“Hey, where’s Mom and Dad”, I asked Matt.
“Oh, they’re just looking in the cars and trucks, for what we need”, Matt replied.
“And Joe?”
“Oh, just running across the road.” Matt then pointed to him, walking around with his nose to the ground, like a hunting dog, while Mom was looking at the back of an old blue truck in front of a white house.
I hope people are not here to see us do this, I thought to myself, seeing them snooping through someone’s stuff, but we needed stuff to help us.
“Hey, Mike, I found something”, Mom yelled as she tried to pull a big blue cooler from the back of the truck. Dad then came from an RV down from the truck and came and helped her. He then put it down on the road and opened it. They both plugged their noses and backed away.
“Fish? Who leaves fish in a cooler in the back of a truck”, Dad gagged. Joe then looked up, seemingly in excitement and ran towards the cooler. He stuck his nose in the cooler and pulled out a pike. He plopped it on the road, his foot stepped on the fish and put his mouth onto it, tearing a piece of it and swallowing it. “At least somebody likes rotten fish”, Dad rasped.
As we looked in surprise, we could hear something from the school. The minute we heard it, a loud boar-like roar came out from the school. We thought it was a very big boar when it came out, but the more we looked, the more we realised it was something else. Its body is like a boar, but its face is like a lion’s and the snout of a camel, with teeth somewhat like a bear’s when it opens its enormous mouth to gargle like a pig. Mom, Dad and even Joe are taken by surprise, making our parents run towards the driveway, while Joe towards our truck with his gorged fish, standing by us. The boar-thing then stopped a few feet away from my parents, seemingly in a defensive stance, hooves scratching the ground. We are scared for our parents, preparing to see this thing rip them to shreds.
It gave one last roar and walked towards the cooler, knocking it over with fish spilling out. It stuck its snout in the fish and swallowed one down. They then slowly walked around the creature and steadily fastened their pace until they were at the truck. We all quickly got in and Dad backed up quickly.
“What the hell was that”, Mom panicked.
“I don’t know, a pig from hell”, Dad responded. We looked at Joe, swallowing down the fish while the rotting fish smell remained. It looked at us in confusion, as we were. We silently laughed for no apparent reason, probably as a mechanism to try to replace the fear. We then heard a shaking in the truck, startling us. We realised that the hell pig was tearing at the bumper of the truck like a lion would. Dad hammered the horn, making the thing back up in surprise. Dad took this opportunity to back up very quickly towards the intersection and turned to the left, quickly avoiding the creature. We sat in silence, except for Joe who was chirping.
When we went down the street, the houses, as usual, were damaged but we saw other vehicles, the first we had seen. Some were parked along the street, others stuck on one lane like city traffic but paused. Weirdly enough, there are no people in the vehicles, nor anyone outside. Most of the vehicles have one or more doors open like people got out to go somewhere. We drove past all the vehicles in the other lane. There is one vehicle we passed by that is on fire, most of the paint already off to reveal the metal beneath, only to be turned into a rainbow of browns and blacks by the dancing flames.
“What. Happened. Here”, Mom slowly asked, as confused and terrified as us. We had a feeling of dread, seeing all the abandoned vehicles.
“That’s the least of our worries. We should be looking for supplies”, Dad responded.
“Hey, how much do we have”, Mom asked Dad, worried about using up the fuel.
“Well, we got a full tank of gas and travelled a hundred kilometers”, Dad responded, more confused. “Nothing makes sense here and I hope we don’t stay here for long”, he muttered.
Eventually, we passed most of the vehicles and reached the veterinary clinic. The small, intact structure stood there, seemingly looking over the icy driveway. We then spotted an old, brown truck and we saw something that set it apart from the rest of the vehicles we’ve seen so far.
“It’s on”, I said, gleefully, with hope that, at least, we aren’t the only ones here. The headlights beamed brightly, and we realised it was getting dark. We also noticed that the street lights aren’t turning on.
“I thought there was no one here”, my Mom said, unsure of the connection between the abandoned but running truck and the lack of people in this town. At one of the intact houses, ahead of us, partially blocked by the trees, we saw what seemed to be bright light coming from one of the windows. What person would go into a house after an earthquake, I thought, thinking about our house back home.
“Someone’s here”, Matt loudly notified, as we all shushed him and that is when Joe is trying to push the door with his snout. “What is he doing?”
“Stay here”, Dad calmly ordered, opening the door, but Joe scurried out and went somewhere else.
“Hey, come back”, Matt called out, with no success. Joe eventually disappeared into the night, never to be seen. Matt then had tears welling up in his eyes like he was about to cry. I hugged him to comfort him.
“He’ll come back some time”, Mom reassured, trying to calm him down and looking at Dad. Dad nodded and grabbed a flashlight that was equipped in the truck. He then walked slowly towards the house, step by step, being shone by our truck’s headlights. He looked back at us and put his hand up when the light in the house moved. It seems to move towards the front door of the house. Emerging from the house is a person walking down the steps, cloaked in darkness. Dad then took a few steps back as the figure came. Finally, the figure stepped into the light.

Webflow slider built with swiper and gsap
Hi everyone, did another CMS slider. The original design is by Boba Ice cream. The recording butchers quality but you can see it live and here's the read only (boba slider page)
If you're going through the read only and wondering why some classes are named as they are, it's because I'm using one site for multiple sliders.
Some quirks and cool findings during the build: 1. The colour management was an interesting challenge because flavour colours are CMS-driven but some elements eg the rising wavy bg arent within the collection list yet they needed to match the colors of the active slide. So I created a hidden .color-picker element within the slide that had the CMS color applied as bg color and used JS to apply the .swiper-slide-active>.color-picker bg color to the wavy bg. Simple solution that I was proud of haha.

1. Swiper provides a TON of events. This is what makes swiper > splide imo. For example with swiper I could easily create animations for transitioning "next" and "prev" but with splide I'd have to write a script the checks whether youre going LTR or RTL. The timing with swiper events is also more precise.
   
2. A niche use case of the custom element would be dynamically changing svg colors using attributes. I abandoned the workflow that utilized this though. Planning to add it to another build. Cool discovery nonetheless.
   
3. Used to think loading screens were useless & silly, turns out they are a very good way of hiding FOUC which can be a lot of pain to deal with. I reduced FUOC as much as I could but there 's still a little bit when styling with JS*. If this was a hero section I'd probably use a very brief loader.
   

*The reason for styling with JS is so that the slider doesnt have to be touched again. Just add content to CMS and it works everytime.

What would you do in my sitaution?
So bear (bare?) With me here.
My first period is AP psychology. The AP test was last thursday, so the teacher was basically saying "i cant tell you not to come to class...but..technically you dont have to and i woudlnt mark you absent"
So, going with what he said that day, yesterday i didnt come to class for first period. It was actually really beneficial because typically i get to school an hour early (parents having to work and such) so i got extra sleep yesterday. So i walk into school with 10 minutes remining of first period through the office (because all the other doors are locked during school) and get stopped by the people there. I ask if i have to go to AP classes now that the test is over and they said seniors are excused but nobody else is excused if absent (im a junor, the teacher said that juniors and seniors are excused but he doesnt care about anyone coming to class.)
So i said ok and she asked what is up why im in late and i said because i thought i didnt have to come to class because my AP class is first period. She said ok and looked on her computer and said the teacher didnt mark me absent (but i dont think he marked me present either,) fulfilling his promise, so she wrote me a pass and sent me on his way.
I went to class and called the teacher a liar and he was like "well technically-" and i didnt even give him the pass because i know he doesnt care and i hadnt been marked absent.
This is whwre i ask you what you would do, my parents dont care about what i do. They know the situation and that the teacher is cool and that i wouldnt get in trouble or marked absent by him (because they didnt get a call saying i was missing) so that is making me want tk sleep in and skip first period. On the other hand, however, that would mean going through the attendance office everyday in the moring and they would catch on. I dont think they would get me in trouble but they could im sure. I could get my parents to call me in everyday to excuse me but that would just burden them lol.
I domt really care either way, i mean there is only like 3 weeks left so it doesnt really affect me either way, but i also just started a job where i will be workinf late and i have not been sleeping well after working so extra sleep would super benifit me.
I just really domt know what do do lol my friend (who took AP psych last year) just said to skip and it seems my parents are leaning toward just telling me to skip but i really dont want to have to go through the people in the attendance office lecturing me everyday lol.
I suppose i could also arrange a friend letting me in between classes everyday through a different door but that could get us both introuble lmao. I could also sleep in class but that class is very loud so that would get nothing done. Just yesterday when i walked in with 10 mins left 4 people (proving that others skipper class) wwre yell debating about abortion lol.
I also dont want to get the teacher in trouble for not marking me absent because he is super cool and he didnt say not to come to class (just hinted at it) so i really dont wwnt to get him in trouble either.

So, my prosthetist did a few adjustments yesterday, before sending me home with Ethnocare's Overlay to try and play with a little.
If you haven't seen it yet? That's likely because both it and the concept (I've seen a few studies on similar devices) are pretty new. Basically, it's a thin sleeve that goes over your liner, and integrates a series of air bladders that you can then pump up with either a button or handheld device. There is a release button at the top to let the air back out.
https://ethnocare.ca/
The idea? Is that this device will compensate for volume changes and loss, using the air bladders to create a uniformly tight fit inside your socket, and replacing the need for up to 8-ply in socks.
Now, full disclosure, I do use a seal-in system. The instruction manual for this new device? States that it is to be used with "exoprosthesis and liners that are compatible with the device such as any transtibial liners and sockets approved by a healthcare professional", and includes language that identifies both pin-lock suspension and suspension sleeve systems. So neither myself nor my prosthetist is quite sure how this is gonna work out for me. I do mostly use the volume control version of the Ossur seal-in rings that are available for my liner, and the socks I wear actually fit under the little brim of the sealing ring very nicely, and help to keep it "plumped up" and therefore work more effectively. So I'm going to be playing with the placement of both the ring and this Ethnocare Overlay, to make sure it doesn't mess with the rest of the function of my system.
I do like the concept of not having to carry a bunch of socks about, and one device replacing my fit kit so to speak. It does seem durable - which is good, because I'm why we can't have nice things. I like that it's black and doesn't look like a medical device. Actually? It kinda looks futuristic and cool. The release button is kind of difficult to use, but I understand why - they don't want you to be able to accidently bump it and release the air.
I do think this is a great idea, and it's definitely not the only company exploring this concept. For example, here's one some students worked on for their capstone project:
https://www.mines.edu/capstoneseniordesign/project/socket-air-pump-system-v2/
I can see how this would be very easy and effective to use for someone with a different sort of suspension than I have, although I also see a few ways I could make this work for me, and am excited to play with it.
Is there any chance anyone here has used the Ethnocare or a similar device yet? I'm curious about other people's experiences as well.

don't want to be parasocial, if you're actually sane it obviously won't affect you all that much. but it can still surprise you, just wanted to get that out the way. for me it has to be zodiak, dude seemed like such a cool and chill guy to be around. he was also starting to get some traction and even did some modelling for celine. his passing was just so unexpected, like he was obviously dealing with a drug problem and talked about drugs in his songs, but i didn't know he was in that deep. also, let's try to keep this discussion respectful.

So Far i have read up to Chp 755. Here is my Opinion regarding COI take with a grain of salt. Constructive criticism is appreciated but pls dont harass me just coz we dont share some POV.
Just like my other denizens i couldnt understand shit abt thr Whole Cordy Arc yet i still continued reading bcoz I had faith in CF.That said it made some sense at the end of the arc albeit still couldnt understand it fully.i had similar feelings abt Lotm's Vol 1.From there on it got better. Here are the things i have found weird/problem with. 1)Lumian getting lots of shit for little to no cost. And this alone is not an issue individuals can get lucky once in a while no? It will be a problem however if no proper price is exacted for fate's Marvelous Bestowments. Klein's early Life was all giggles and Adventures but he had to pay for it later and Book 1 ending with him going to sleep to cope with his madness.
2)Side Characters are too narrow.Not well sketched enough ofc this is my humble opinion. Anthony is non existent kinda like Xio Book1 totally Invisible.Not much Character development to see save for Subtle changes in Franca and somewhat decent growth in jenna.Maybe i should be patient Audrey/Alger didnt grow in a Volume or 2 Only at Vol7 Could i see clearly how much they changed.
3)Villians/antagonists dont even remotely pose a threat.Thr Hanging sword feeling isnt there. Lumian has a sealed angel in him meaning u cant kill if u aint atleast Seq3.Plus those idiots covet termi soo much for their rituals and stuff.Plus him being Dual Pathway and his resources which are really good for a mid sequencer.
4) Expanding on the Dual Pathway thing.i feel like it was a missed opportunity not to make Outer God Bestowed act.Having to Act for Dancer Pathway would balance Lumian's absurd advancing of Hunter pathway.It also makes the Heretics on avg.stronger than Official Beyonders. The advantage only Increases the Higher thr Sequence the only saving grace is no Angel lvl boons which will change soon too.
That said I Hope lumian has to pay a decent price for Adam's free help so far. The Only way for the Theme of this Novel/World setting CF crafted to remain accurate for COI is for Lumian not to get a happy ending Either he gets his wish to wish revive at his Own Life's Cost or He gets power at the cost of her ressurection.B4 u go mad remember what happened to Klein at the end of Sequence 4 Undying his illusions of ever returning home were bashed forever very much in line with a World whose underlying theme CF said clearly is "Suffering,pain,Cruelty,Madness & Death". Hence why Lumian needs a Good setback to balance the earlier Supersonic advancement and good luck.His mental state has also been excellent since His treatment which wasnt very intensive or taxing in many ways either. There are ways for the Price of Bestwoment to be exacted including that maybe the Whole Adam Support is a Scam maybe Medici and he are still Cool just a scheme to fetch the Blood Banner for Medici since he cant as he is an Angel [ofc i made a bold assumption here but CF didnt specify if he can fetch it or not] similarly such a scheme May also be a way for Adam to Fish out Eternal Blazing Sun.
Feel free to analyze this and Expand on it Share ur opinions feel free to criticise and disagree.
Regards

Last nght I finally solved an issue i was struggling with for weeks: getting chat gpt, gemini, claude, to write api calls for connecting square to google sheets. It never worked.
Last night chatgpt4o did it after a few iterations.
This morning the system is having issues. Does Open Ai have any plans on a new data center soon? With all these free customers, vision long chats and the way it foxed my coding issue was by re-writing the entire script EVERY TIME! It seems like a significant larger load on the system.

Here is a copy of the post that got me banned from reddit. The methodology I used to determine covid costs and excess covid costs was to take the number of daily hospitalizations from covid, multiply that by 10,000 (the daily cost of a hospital stay) and then figure out what 15% (the approximate number of uninsured/indigent) of that number is and plug those numbers in the appropriate slots. Then, you compare our current case numbers to other comparable metro areas and determine our excess cases. That would be the cost directly attributable to the terrorist response that ignored the realities of how pandemics and public health responses actually work. Regardless of blame, those numbers represent the cost to the citizens of our ongoing covid situation. Those numbers, both the gross costs of covid and the excess costs of covid. Those costs having been draining various charities over the last four years and have led directly to cutbacks in legitimate government services to the County at large. Now you can ban me or my writing, but these costs aren't going to go away and the financial mismanagement of covid, as well as debt, is leading to the financial ruin of this county.
"I'm finding out something about writing about budgets. Having eyesight good enough to pour through these figures is vital. Sadly, my eye surgery won't be until July so a real time budget analysis will simply prove too big a task for me to do well. I can cover some highlights and ask a few pertinent questions though.For starters is every Knox County employee outside of the schools really happy about taking a pay cut? This is six straight years they've gone backwards under Glenn Jacobs. While I understand that my platform which emphasized across the board raises until we got County employees up to a competitive pay level with living wages was soundly rejected, but are County employees really happy with getting screwed every single year? You have to wonder.
Second, what kind of feedback is the Sheriff's office giving about the Mayor taking back the raise that didn't even get the deputies up to professional standard? After this year, our deputies will once again be among the lowest paid officers with some of the worst benefits in the nation. I understand many of the culture problems and quality control issues in the Sheriff's department, but it's time we recognized that we get what we pay for in law enforcement. We won't provide full health insurance and we no longer have a pension for our deputies, at least not in any meaningful sense. We are just going to have to live with the quality level the Mayor is willing to fund. If all the Mayor is willing to shell out for is a group of jack-booted gestapo who depend on graft to make ends meet, then that's what we're going to get. This is still a market economy. Pay rates still determine the quality of our employees.
Third, are the teachers really going to fall for the same scam the Mayor pulled on said deputies last year? Their raise is only significant when viewed through a lens comparing it to the way Jacobs has been bending them over and screwing them for the past six years. The School Board is not only showing support for the local Nazis attempting to ban books, but now they've given the nod nod wink wink to allowing guns in schools. What kind of irresponsible self serving totalitarians can completely ignore the real long term needs and goals of our school system and just discount the need to recruit and retain teachers as superfluous. The leadership of this School Board acts completely in the interests of pursuing partisan political goals. That is the very definition of terrorism. We need dedicated public servants in the role of School Board chair, not terrorists. Unless we demand a change in philosophy, that change won't come. Partisan political goals have no place in our school system and allowing the local crypto-nazis to determine the path our schools take is definitely the wrong way to go.
When is the Mayor going to come clean on the Choto/Northshore improvements? We have not completed the projects Ragsdale started and frankly, what the County is in charge of, with the possible exception of some of the greenway work Larsen Jay has championed, that stretch of road looks like shit and is less than functional depending on the time of day.
Fourth, where is the covid response money at in this budget? Last week we averaged ten patients a day in the hospital with covid at an uninsured rate of somewhere north of 15%. That works out to 15,000 a day or over five million a year in indigent covid costs. This is a week when covid is under control. We currently are looking at less than eight weeks a year at this rate. We have roughly the same number of weeks at ten times that amount, so we are looking at about 35-50 million a year in uninsured covid costs and the fed has cut the money off to cover them. Our response to covid thus far has been about 20-100% worse than comparable cities who had a real covid response meaning the direct costs of Jacobs irresponsible incompetence in this area alone will cost the county between 10-20 million.
You folks want to know where your raises went? Jacobs took them when he refused to mitigate covid and entrenched us at a disease rate that has kept us at pandemic levels longer than any other like sized city in America. I use Madison Wi. as the city I compare to. Compare for yourself.What I am struggling with though, is where is Jacobs hiding this expenditure. We know he's paying for his covid policy rather than give the raises these loyal employees are earning, but where is he hiding it in the budget? That is the question. The figure I found for indigent care came to less than 250,000 a year. Where is the rest of these tens of millions? Is he just forgoing the County's fiduciary responsibilities and dumping these costs on us as consumers with higher charges for medical care and health insurance? It's time to pay the piper. We knew there would be long term implications to our covid response, and there are. The issue is that by not being upfront about these costs the Mayor Jacobs is doing nothing more than perpetrating a fraud against the citizens of Knox County and just stealing money outright from every single one of us.

Locksmith services
Your home is your sanctuary, and you want to keep it safe and secure. One of the most important aspects of home security is having a reliable locksmith who can handle your lock and key needs. But how do you find the best locksmith for your home? Here are 10 essential tips to guide you through the process.

1. Check Licensing and Certification The first thing you should do is verify that the locksmith you’re considering is licensed and certified. This means they have the proper training and qualifications to perform the job professionally and legally. You can check their credentials online or ask them to show you proof of their license and certification.
2. Look for Experience and Reputation Experience matters when it comes to locksmiths. You want a locksmith who has a solid track record and extensive experience in dealing with various lock and key issues. You can check their website, social media, or online reviews to see how long they have been in business and what their customers say about them.
3. Read Customer Reviews and Testimonials One of the best ways to find a trustworthy locksmith is to read customer reviews and testimonials online. These are real experiences from previous clients who can give you valuable insights into the locksmith’s reliability, efficiency, and customer service. You can also ask for references from friends, family, or neighbours who have used locksmith services before.
4. Make Sure They Are Insured Another important factor to consider is whether the locksmith is insured. This protects you from any potential liability in case of accidental damage or injury during the course of the job. You should ask the locksmith to show you proof of their insurance policy and coverage.
5. Find Out What Services They Offer Different locksmiths offer different services. You should find out what services the locksmith you’re considering offers and whether they can handle the specific needs of your home. For example, some locksmiths specialise in re-keying, lock installation, or emergency lockout situations, while others may offer additional services such as security systems, smart locks, or safes.
6. Ask About Their Response Time Emergencies can happen at any time, and you need a locksmith who can respond quickly and efficiently. You should ask the locksmith about their response time, especially if you anticipate needing their services in urgent situations. You should also find out if they offer 24/7 service and if they charge extra for after-hours or weekend calls.
7. Get Written Estimates Before hiring a locksmith, you should get written estimates for the services you require. This not only helps you understand the cost but also ensures transparency and avoids potential misunderstandings or hidden fees. You should compare the estimates from different locksmiths and choose the one that offers the best value for your money.
8. Check Warranties and Guarantees A reputable locksmith should provide warranties or guarantees for their work and the products they use. This reflects their confidence in the quality of their services and gives you peace of mind in case of any issues or defects. You should ask the locksmith about the terms and conditions of their warranties and guarantees and how they handle claims or complaints.
9. Communicate Effectively Effective communication is key to a successful locksmith service. You should choose a locksmith who can clearly explain the issues and proposed solutions, ensuring you are informed and satisfied every step of the way. You should also feel comfortable asking questions or expressing concerns to the locksmith and expect them to respond promptly and respectfully.
10. Choose a Local Locksmith Finally, you should choose a local locksmith who is familiar with your area and can reach you quickly and easily. A local locksmith is more likely to have a good reputation in your community and offer personalised and friendly service. You can also support your local businesses and economy by choosing a local locksmith.

Additional Tips:

• Choose a locksmith who is familiar with the type of locks you have.
• Make sure the locksmith has the tools and equipment necessary to do the job.
• Ask the locksmith about their experience with emergency lockouts.
• Get everything in writing, including the estimate and the warranty.

By following these 10 essential tips, you can choose the best locksmith for your home with confidence. Remember, finding the right professional now can make a big difference in the security and well-being of your home in the long run.

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[First] [Previous] [Next]
When did I allow this to happen? How is it ten at night already? I just played a couple of rounds and it’s already dark outside!

“You should know already that your perception of time is FUBAR. Not to mention these hobbies of ours really don’t help grasping what’s going on.”

It didn’t use to be like this.

“Oh yeah? Can you remember how long you’ve been using the computer?”

Of course I can. It’s been in my life since I was like six or something, when Dad brought home that used computer with all the Dobrand games! But I didn’t pay much attention to it back then…

“That’s not how I remember it. We used to spend entire afternoons playing with the Encyclopedia, and trying out those games we barely understood. Maybe going into the Cartoon Central website too, even if we couldn’t read very well. Face it, we’ve always been addicted to distractions…”

Ok, maybe a little, but–

“And even before we started to use the internet more seriously, we’ve never been very into sleeping at all. Remember how we used to check the channels back then? Zapping and looking for stuff on the TV? Back then everything was so scary and novel at these hours… Now it feels just like a routine. We’ve always been night owls.”

Frowning and feeling the voice creeping on me more than usual, I finally close the game and my computer, standing up and turning on the lights to look at my room. The floor is still filthy, the plates are still scattered about… opening my closet, I not only see what remains of my clean clothes and the old montgomery hanging, but also the old bamboo blade I used to train with.

“Yeah. Remember that? How everyone looks for a local sport to practice and you chose fucking kendo? Not sure if that was just the weaboo in you, or you are just that pretentious.”

I pick up the long stick and take a look at it from the sides. Four bamboo sticks, held together tightly by leather straps and string. It’s elegant in its simplicity, firm enough to hurt a little when hit by it, but not strong enough to really harm, mostly thanks to the white leather covering its tip. The handle has the dark stains of sweat coming from the months of use.

“Before you left it incomplete, like everything in your life.”

Sigh.

I put the blade back in the closet and then turn around, grabbing the many plates and cups that were piling up in the room and walking the dark way over to the kitchen to clean them up.

“Cleaning plates in the middle of the night. That’s the kind of stuff Venus did back when she was here, just to call your attention.”

Ignoring this annoying voice is getting harder… I am tempted to pick up the S.O.S. pill, but if I do that I can say goodbye to my agency for the entire night and maybe even a few hours after waking up. Urgh.

“Guess you’re stuck with me, huh?”

Biting my lower lip, I try to focus on the task at hand, cleaning each plate as carefully as I can and trying to ignore the feeling of grease building up on my hands. Saints above, it is so disgusting! I can’t stand it, really. But if I keep letting the plates stack up, I’ll never do it.

“Look at you trying to be responsible. So silly. You’ll just let them stack up again soon enough.”

“What matters is that you are trying your best.”

Ah, there She is. Still talking from the corner of the room… Her kindness has always felt fabricated to me. Fake.

“It’s hard to accept mercy from yourself.”

You are not me.

The glugging of the drain interrupts me before I can start arguing again. With a heavy sigh, I let the water run away to clean my hands for a moment, and then, now that everything is clean and in place, I close it and walk back to my cave and take a seat back beside the window, opening the blinds just to see the darkness of a misty winter night in Saüle.

“Maybe it’s time to sleep after all.”

“You’ll just start rolling around, kicking and stirring all night.”

“You’ll eventually fall asleep!”

“Or maybe you won't. Let’s just keep playing until the Sun rises.”

I’ll do you both one better and just go back to the living room to check Dejima.

“Oh right! It has been a few hours, hasn’t it?”

“If you are so eager to be disappointed…”

Taking the computer back to the dining table and reconnecting it to the Tripolar Edge Router is easy enough, and yet I still feel the anticipation killing me. My hands tremble a bit as I type the address again, and even more when I have to wait the eternity until it loads.

My post… it got answers! Four answers to be exact! It’s not much but, considering how few users are online at a given time here, it’s good!

“omg it’s so cute when people actually come and use the ‘Introductions’ spot. I mean it, it’s great. It’s also cool to see new faces here, welcome! My dms are open if you want to ask anything.” — GalaxyTaco

“Hey there! We are all glad to have you here! If you have any doubts or questions, throw them my way and I’ll see to answer them whenever I can!” — Ventotto

“Fresh meat, bring out the paddles! Just kidding, welcome in, kid. Hope to see ya in the chatbox one day.” — jeepcreep

“Welcome. Complete your profile data.". — ογδόντα

Three of these are mods, so that was to be expected… but this ‘GalaxyTaco’ guy. He seems like a nice fella. Maybe trying to gun for mod too, or maybe just a legitimately friendly person! Whatever the case, the Helenian mod had made a fantastic point. I did have to complete the profile stuff.

“Does it have to be now? It’s late…”

Yes, it does. I click back to my profile and, well, it asks stuff like ‘Email’, ‘Country’, ‘Languages Spoken’ and ‘Gender’, all easy to answer.

Email: [simple.times@gamail.com]()
Country: Wohl.
Languages Spoken: Wohlian, Dobrand.
Gender: I’d rather not say.

“What sort of stupid answer was that?! Are you really this delusional!?”

Please. Just… let me have this…

“Don’t come crying when they learn you’re a man and you get all embarrassed.“

“Are they a man? Have you not stopped for a second to think that maybe they would be more comfortable as a–”

Shut up.

Both of you. You are looking way too deep into this. I’ll leave it as it is and that’s final.

With a huff, I go to the next section of the profile… ‘Referred to by:’

Oh no.

“Well, time to skip that one.”

There was no way I could just say ‘Ah, I found it in a book’ without getting strange looks. Not to mention the book itself told me not to talk about it for anything.

Next.

‘Mystical Specialization’.

“Saints damn it.”

I could just copy the specialization from some other profile, but then what if they decided to ask me about it? Well, that wouldn’t be a problem if I decided not to get in the chatbox at all… but I won’t advance in my investigation at all if I don’t talk to people, right?

I decide to just leave it open, for now.

Finally, I just gotta put a ‘Comment’ in the end of my profile… hmmm…

Comment: ‘Please don’t kill me.’

“A little on the nose?”

It’s all in good humor. I hope.

With that done, I don’t waste time on making a signature for myself (yet) and go straight to check on the Chatbox.

Four people: ‘GalaxyTaco’, ‘Ventotto’, ‘souseiseki’ and… uh… ‘Canned Tea’.

I take a deep breath… and log in.

Tav has connected to the Chatbox.
souseiseki: byeeee canny!! <3
GalaxyTaco: bye dude
Canned Tea has disconnected from the Chatbox.
souseiseki: … who tf are u o.o

Fuck. That was fast. Immediately singled out and everything, oh no. I panic, unable to really write any answers, when suddenly:

GalaxyTaco: sou that’s tav! the new peep? you saw the introductions post right??
souseiseki: oh right o.o i don’t care for those
GalaxyTaco: how’s it going dude? man, if youre wohlian it must be fucking late!
Tav: Hi, hi n.nUu
Tav: Yeah, it’s a bit late but I can’t sleep u.u
GalaxyTaco: hah, been there…
Canned Tea has connected to the Chatbox.

The guy came back again? What gives??

Canned Tea: sorry tav, didn’t see you come in.
Canned Tea: don’t want you to think Im avoiding ya.

The fear WAS in my brain, to be honest. I can’t help but smile a bit when the guy returns to clarify.

Tav: Oh it’s all good! n.n thank you though uwu
souseiseki: don’t cuddle this f**got Canny o.o

I wince. Oof. That’s… wow.

Canned Tea: sou.
Canned Tea: i’ve told you not to shittalk like that, girl.
souseiseki: sorry, slipped off my mind
Canned Tea: anyways, now im going to sleep.
Canned Tea: welcome in Tav. i’ll be seeing ya later.
Tav: For sure! n.n bye Canned Tea!
Canned Tea: just call me canny, girl.
Canned Tea: see ya.
Canned Tea has disconnected from the Chatbox.

I feel my face burning for a moment there. Am I blushing!? Fuck.

“Welp, you’re proving souseiseki right, at least.”

Shut the fuck up.

@ Ventotto: Hmm. I’ve told him not to assume gender like that.
GalaxyTaco: Holy shit 28 ur alive!!! O.o
GalaxyTaco: Now THAT is surprising.
@ Ventotto: I was about to leave but, like Canny, I wanted to say welcome again to Tav.
Ventotto: I hope you find your spot here soon. If you have anything you’d want translated and analyzed, go to the Translation subforum. Ok?
Tav: For sure! Thank you uwu
@ Ventotto: See you all later.
@ Ventotto has disconnected from the Chatbox.
souseiseki: i’m not staying here with you losers o.o
souseiseki: bye.
souseiseki has disconnected from the Chatbox

“Well bitch I didn’t want to talk with you either!” I practically snarl in real life, taking a deep breath and rubbing my temples. “Urgh. Not even an hour in and I’m already fed up with someone…”

GalaxyTaco: bah pay her no mind dude.
GalaxyTaco: she’s just Like That™
Tav: I’ll try…
Tav: Thank you for the welcome post, by the way uwu
Tav: I was worried no one would answer… u.u
GalaxyTaco: not gonna lie dure, that was a big possibility!
GalaxyTaco: people here ain’t the most social, honestly.
GalaxyTaco: speaking of, that reminds me!
GalaxyTaco: how DID you find the forum? if someone gave you the link but didn’t show you the ropes, that’s kind of an asshole move to pull!

Damn it all. That question again! This guy seemed nice so he probably didn’t mean anything by it but, it was a little frustrating to have to give explanations like that. Then again, this was supposed to be a secret of sorts, so I shouldn’t be that surprised I guess? But well, surprised or not, I need an answer to give. Come on, brain, make up something! An excuse! Anything!

“How the Hells do you want us to make up something if we know nothing of mages and such!? Are you stupid!?”

“We do know something. This ‘Elysium’ place seems to be important, maybe mentioning it would be enough to throw GalaxyTaco off your scent!”

“He’s not an idiot. Using jargon without really understanding it is a great way to look like an outsider.”

“Remind me again why we can’t just tell him the truth…?”

“The woman from the book, Humiko, told us not to talk about it if we can avoid it.”

“Well then, can we avoid it now…?”

…

GalaxyTaco: ah shit dude, sorry to cut this short but I gotta go get lunch
GalaxyTaco: talk to you later!
GalaxyTaco has disconnected from the Chatbox.

I deflate for a moment there, closing my eyes. Lucky break, I guess! Or at least, I think it is … until I get a notification from the forum: a direct message! Clicking the icon, I can see it’s from GalaxyTaco.

Sorry for the intense question but, it’s kind of important.
If you don’t fill your profile soon, 82’s totally gonna ban you.
You weren’t referred here by anyone you can mention, huh?
Let’s talk more privately.
[tacomadeofgalaxies@messages.com]()
Don’t disconnect from the TER when talking, that way no sleeper government can check on us.
I’ll be up after lunch.
Trust me, it’s important.—- GalaxyTaco

Oh shit. I was read like a book.

A part of me is relieved the guy is worried about me… but then, the suspicions arise. What if this guy is working with the mods? Or worse, with the cloaks! I haven’t even encountered these people and yet their presence around me fills me with dread and anxiety, mostly because I have no idea what to expect from them!

But another part of me is simply desperate for having someone to talk to about this, and he did say that while I keep the TER (which I assume is the Tripolar Edge Router) on, no orgs can check on me. So maybe…

“You’re gonna regret that.”

Maybe. But we will see about that when we get there.

Hi, I'm moving to Eindhoven to start university in August. I have been dancing for a very long time, mainly hip hop, jazz, lyrical, etc., and I'm looking for a very specific type of dance studio. I checked out the TU/e dance association 'footloose', and to be blunt, it is too theatrical and beginner oriented for me.
This might be way too specific, and probably nobody knows what I'm talking about, but you know those dance videos you see on instagram and youtube where it's like a cool looking studio and they do really sick choreography, and the vibe is really high, and the dancers are really good? Think 1million dance studio, Matt Stefania, Kyle Hanagami, etc. That's what I'm looking for. I would also love a studio that does pop up classes where guest choreographers come in.
Tldr: Looking for a dance studio/team in eindhoven with a high level of dance, mainly streetstyle but anything similar works, for university aged people / young adults.

So I just started watching Dexter (Im currently on the e3s1) and I really don’t like the way its written. Besides some really stupid plot holes that were already in ep 1, the dialogues feel as if the writers never had a human interaction in their life. On top of that Dexs inner thoughts or whatever sound more like hes an edgy 12 year old on nihilistic reddit sub, than an emotionless serial killer. I know that the show doesn’t really take itself seriously but the cartoonish characters are literally impossible to like for me, since they lack any sort of depth that would make them feel human-like.
Whatsoever i did hear a lot of good things about the show. I know a few series that had a bad first season and then progressively got better, so my question is: does the writing get any better?
I really like the concept of the show, but it feels so unrealistic that i can’t truly enjoy it for now. Don’t get me wrong, I do like ridiculous crime cases in media (best example would be “think of a number” by john verdon - the case is absolutely unrealistic but it doesn’t have many plot holes, and the characters feel somehow real, so the book makes it work). In Dexter it just doesn’t click for me. So im debating whenever i should drop the series.

This story takes place over the course of about 2 ish years so details may get a little jumbled, so please bare with me. Let me start this story by setting the stage and important characters.
Dm - pretty okay guy but a little hot headed at times (This is mildly important)
Me - warlock fighter multi class
K - monk and problem player
There are a few other players but they don't really play too much of a role in this story, so I'll bring them up as needed.
We were playing Rime of the Frostmaiden, my first long term campign and the first character that I geniunely enjoyed and charished. Like I said above, I was playing an Aasimar warlock fighter, who was in the rime escaping a bounty on her head and was making ends meet by smuggling goods in and out of the ten towns. I loved her so much.
The campign starts and everything is fine for the most part, there are some in character disagreements but it was all in good fun, or so I thought. K's character constantly called my character evil for worshipping the Raven queen (hexblade warlock), before any of the problems actually start to arise its non stop and I quote, "Your a smelly stinky warlock drow!" I worked with my dm when making my charcter, and we decied that she was techinally a half helf, her fatehr being a dark elf. The only thing that made her stand out as anything else was the fact that she was well over six feet tall and build like a brick shit house.
I found out after these first few sessions that this player was the kind to run ahead of the party, without telling anyone in character, and get into trouble. The first time this happened and they showed their true colors was when we were exploring a mineshaft and turns out there was a Grell hiding in there under the specific condition, written IN THE BOOK mind you, that it would only come out if someone were in the room ALONE. Can you guess who found it and almost died as a result? If you guessed K, then you would be right. After a battle and K almost going down, almost, they start to raise hell and say that it wasn't fair and they couldn't do anything (The grell had them grappled and held in the air the majority of the fight while everyone else peppered it with spells). The DMm had to tell them that it wasn't an encounter that he made, that it was in the book and supposed to be there.
We continue with our sessioned and what not, having an occational out burst from K about the game being too hard from them splitting the party and running off. Things do start to bubble when the dm punishes K in game for their antics. For example, they start acting out of line with their gods beleifs and their god stops talking to/interacting with them, to which K whines and throws a fit over. A few more issues that we run into along the way include, but are not limited to

• K threatening to burn down a mans house because they losyt a fight. This fight was something set up by a fight club, with rules. The whole point of the fights were to rank up and challenge the champ.
• K breaking into their moms house through the chimmney and getting their ass lit on fire.
• K constantly stealing from the people of the ten towns, which if you know, are starving and activley dying.
• K complaining during almost every combat that it was unfair, unbalanced, and not fun. All the while everyone else, myself included, was having a great time
• K leaving call multiple times during session, espesially during combat, and blaming it on ADHD. This specific one pissed both me and the dm off, who I stated was a hot head before. He did not take kindly to his time and resourses being wasted. I was upset because I also have ADHD and found a ways to manage it during sessions, even offered to help K! But they always turned me down and just continued with leaving session and upseting the dm over it, while contining to blaim it on a mental illness that them and I shared.

The major two events that earn this post its title goes as follow, in this order.
My charcter was assasinated.
Her past caught up with her and she was killed, bled out in the middle of the tundra. But the dm and I talked about this, and it was meant to happen. You see, the dm sent me some cool prostetic homebrew that I really wanted to use. So we made a plan for my character to get killed, lose an arm in the process and be brought back as a reborn with an arm made of magic from the Raven Queen. What I wasn't expecting was the dm to give me a choice in letting my character die or taking the reserection in exchange for soemthing. The original trade would have been that she comes back to life but no matter what she or her father did, she and him would forever have their fates severed and couldnt do anything to save eachother.
This is a deal my character would not have taken, and I would have let her stayed dead to keep in charcter. But the dm threw me a bone and gave me a different deal instead. To which every time she died here after, she would have to stay dead for a longer and longer time, each time. Like that stop motion Pinoccio moive if you've seen it. While the dm and I were talking about it, I thought it would be funny to just roll new stats to keep everyone on their toes as we ended session before I made my decision.
Que K absolutly losing their mind in our general chat, saying that if my character dies then they wanted a new character too. The only reason this would be an issue was because we had lost a lot of the original party, K and myself being the only characters left. The Dm had even stated a while before that if we lost all the pcs that he would consider ending the campign, as no ones character would have the same inititave to act and all that. So K threaning to make a new character because I might make a new character, made things more complicated. I had put almost a year of my time at this point and didn't want it to go down the drain because of this. Which also plays into why the dm game be an easier deal for my character to take for her life back.
They had an actual break down over this, why? I still have no clue.
The second event was a dragon encounter. An Adult Black Dragon that was destorying the Ten Towns.
It was the most high stakes encounter we had ever had at that point, and everyone was stressed to say the least. My self and the artificer cast fly on eachother so we can actually reach the dragon who keeps doing fly by breath attacks. After almost an hour and a half of combat we finally slay the dragon, with myself landing the final blow. I was fucking estatic! My first dragon encounter and was the one to kill it. K however, wasn't happy.
Imeadiatly they start screaming about how they couldn't land a hit on the dragon and were useless for the fight. Saying that the Dm ran the encounter wrong, which upset the dm who was once again running a written encounter from the module. They kept screaming over the vc while we all tried to calm them down. It ended with the relativly calm barbarian pc who snapped and went off on them. There was so much yelling and fighting that I just left. I heard from the dm after the fact that K threatened to leave, which I guess they thought would work like it had in the past, but everyone who was left in vc told them to go ahead.
They stayed and we continued to have issues with them threatening to kill off their character if things didn't go their way or they weren't the mvp of every session. Needless to say, the dm kicked them after a few more sessions.

Kinda long rant/story so soz in advance lol
So I feel like I’ve been asexual for a while now, ever since I was 15/16 (when I first started encountering moments of not being sexually attracted to people when others were) I still had sex, but seldom as I only really did it for other people (just people pleaser things).
Through every relationship it would start off having sex often then gradually filter out. I loved them but just didn’t want sex. Every single phase I would then start hooking up with people, not because I wanted to have sex with them but more because it was fun and exciting, like an adventure with someone different.
I’m now 24 and Recently I broke up with someone because of my asexuality and it was super hard as they were my first true possible endgame person. It was also around the time I became a lot more certain with my sexuality and accepting I was ace. However recently an old friend of mine popped up and I’ve now suddenly the feeling to hook up with them. They flirt over text and I feel some sort of way but it’s still not exactly “I want to engage in sex with them” it’s more of a ‘I’m feeling this weird feeling in my body and I guess that means sex? I mean sure why not’. It’s even gotten to the point where we wanna start a friends with benefits type situation but then he talks about how much he’s tryna smash and all I can think of is “yeah he’s fun to hang with and I guess my body is in to it, so I can do that”. We’ve semi hooked up on a night out and again all I felt was ‘yeah I’m cool with this’. So I’m just confused if this is just libido talking or maybe I’m less ace than I thought? I thought it was Demi but like I said in relationships I rarely had sex, I felt fulfilled enough. Maybe I just crave affection so my body doesn’t mind sex if it means affection. I also thought maybe fray-sexual but then I need to know the person before I even think about bonking.
TL:DR I really think I’m ace but with a recent friend wanting fwb and me not minding I’m confused if this is just my body reacting or if I’m less ace than I thought.

I get it, it is a way to stop the spamming of images but even taking into account social media unless it is a rare behind the scenes pic or you happen to know the celeb in question everyone is going to have the same content and repost will happen. Also, unless the celeb in question stays red hot there is always a cool down period for different reasons. You are effectively locking people out that celeb's most popular period and over time the subreddit dies.

With the new update, most of you should have noticed. We have way to much Jigglypuff candies. Personally I already have a lvl 44 Wigglytuff, I don't know what to do with the 600 candies I have. I guess it's not just jiggly, but the we have a trend on Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Rattata. It's cool but I already have a nicely leveled of each pokemon. It too expensive to level them up now (dreams hard wise).
Maybe we could organize a candy event ourselves : Each month we vote the monthly pokemon. And we expect players to swap photo to the monthly pokemon if they got it from their sleep.

I bought an apartment with a friend of mine a year ago. It was a fixer-upper, and we’ve spent a lot of time and money renovating the place. Our plan was to buy, renovate, and sell in 2-3 years. We're good friends and it was going to be a huge financial boost for me especially, it seemed like a win-win. It’s been going well, or so I thought, until he broke down and admitted to me that he can’t continue living with me because he’s developed feelings for me and he envisions a future in the apartment that doesn’t involve us selling in a couple of years, which was the plan.
I feel I’ve shown him a lot of grace during this - I’ve reassured him that while it’s a tough situation for both of us, we will find a solution and everything will be okay. He’s a very good friend of mine, and will continue to be, and I’ve treated him as such. I don’t want this to be a situation that turns our friendship sour, so I’ve tried to be as nice as possible about it. Even though I’ve spent so much time building a dream apartment that now I won’t get to enjoy - also, because I will now miss out on selling the apartment after 2-3 years of ownership, thus missing out on increased property value.
These are the options right now, the way I/we see it:
Option #1: We sell the apartment and split the profit. We would sell the apartment in the next few months, at which point we will only have lived there a year. It’s limited how much real estate prices have gone up in that time, and our profit off the sale will reflect that. We have renovated the place on our own, so that is a good boost, however the cost of a realtor will eat a good chunk of the profit especially considering we're selling after just 1 year.
Option #2 is that he takes over the mortgage, buys me out of my share, and also compensates me with some figure that we deem to be fair. Either with a lump sum, or with monthly deposits to me, or some combination of the two perhaps.
Option #3 is that the bank does not allow him to take over the mortgage because it’s too high. In this case, we’ve talked about us both still being on the loan, but I stop making payments - essentially he takes over the loan, but on paper we’re both still on it. I move out and rent my own place. I get a lump sum and monthly deposits to compensate. His argument is that he'd rather give me the money we would have paid a realtor, so that he can help me save up cash for a future down payment on my own place.
I would really like to know what you guys think of these scenarios. It’s important to note that we both have a high degree of trust to each other - and that we intend on writing up a contract no matter which way we decide to go. I don’t mind moving out as much as it’s incredibly bitter knowing that I’ll miss out on profit that I would’ve gotten in a year or two. He's made it clear that he wants this all to be solved in a very fair manner.
What would you do? How do you determine compensation fairly in a situation like this?
To complicate it further - the renovation is not fully finished. If we sell together, we finish the renovation together before selling. If he takes over the apartment, he’s going to slow down the renovation process and I won’t have to do any more work on the apartment.

Hi,I'm stuck in a logical part,on where to actually upgrade the connection and map every websocket connections to use- ids.
If I'm doing the routing and upgrading http to websocket part in the API gateway itself then I'll be having this chat-service for only writing the functions to store and retrieving the chat content from and two the db.
If I'm facilitating the chat-service to do all the work relating to connecting to a web socket,then the concept that I follow from the starting of the project "single entry point (API gateway) for every request" will be broken.
So as a newbie into microservices architecture,I'm literally stuck between this. So,which is a better approach you guys recommend. Is there any other way to deal with this?
Please help guys!