infinitii ai secures contract to develop ground-breaking machine learning application that predicts impacts of adverse weather conditions

Canada NewsWire
VANCOUVER, BC, May 14, 2024
VANCOUVER, BC, May 14, 2024 /CNW/ - infinitii ai inc. with its ("infinitii ai") (CSE: IAI) (FSE: 7C5) (OTC: CDTAF) has secured a strategic contract with an existing customer in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) to develop a new algorithm designed to perform predictions on wastewater levels and flow – a ground-breaking addition to the company's flagship infinitii flowworks software. The new application harnesses real-time data from sensors within wastewater systems, augmented by Gauge-Adjusted Radar Rainfall (GARR) measurements, historical sensor data, and precise weather modeling information.
"We're thrilled to collaborate with our GTHA customer to develop and deploy this cutting-edge solution," remarked Jean Charles Phaneuf, CEO of infinitii ai. "We believe this technology will be taken up by other Smart Cities across North America, enabling proactive responses to the increasing number of extreme weather events affecting municipal infrastructure."
Powered by machine learning algorithms, the predictive model will furnish municipal wastewater systems and regional governments with invaluable foresight into potential adverse conditions, such as system surcharges during storm events.
The company plans to roll out the new level and flow prediction feature to all infinitii flowworks customers through higher-tier subscriptions in the near future. The integration of this customer-driven level and flow prediction capability signifies a significant milestone in infinitii ai's mission to revolutionize municipal infrastructure management. As Smart Cities embrace data-driven approaches to increasing numbers of extreme storm incidents, infinitii ai remains at the forefront, applying innovation to drive resilience.
infinitii ai's commitment to innovation extends beyond this latest endeavor, with a suite of advanced predictive capabilities already incorporated into infinitii flowworks. These include Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) prediction and automated inflow and infiltration (I&I) estimation. Leveraging machine learning models and data consolidation capabilities, infinitii flowworks serves as the cornerstone of Smart City wastewater utilities across North America.
About infinitii ai inc.
Trusted since 2014 to provide environmental monitoring to many of the largest water infrastructure utilities in the U.S. and Canada, infinitii ai has evolved into a leader in AI-driven predictive analytics for Smart City water and Smart Industry infrastructure applications that rely on time-series data. The Company's customers include the Smart Cities and municipalities of Seattle, Miami-Dade County, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles County, Vancouver, Toronto, Hamilton, Region of Peel, and York Region, among others.
infinitii ai services these customers through direct sales and via a trusted partner network that includes engineering and IT companies like AECOM, Core & Main Inc., Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd., K2 Geospatial SCG Flowmetrix and TREKK Design Group LLC.
infinitii ai software performs real-time analysis, checks flow monitoring status, sets alarms through a single interface, accepts all types of data from any source and offers predictive (what will happen) and prescriptive (what should happen) analytics. Whether it's real-time, historic, wireless, satellite, SCADA, or public data sets including USGS, NOAA and weather forecasts – it doesn't matter where the data originates, infinitii ai transforms raw data into actionable information. Visit www.infinitii.ai to learn more.
The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of infinitii ai, including the expectation of future revenue growth. Although infinitii ai believes that the expectations and assumptions upon which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because infinitii ai can provide no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. infinitii ai disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE infinitii ai inc.
📷
📷 View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2024/14/c6690.html
Contact:
Nathan Rudyk, Director, Corporate Communications, infinitii ai inc., nathan@infinitii.ai, +1 778 200 2093

infinitii ai secures contract to develop ground-breaking machine learning application that predicts impacts of adverse weather conditions

Canada NewsWire
VANCOUVER, BC, May 14, 2024
VANCOUVER, BC, May 14, 2024 /CNW/ - infinitii ai inc. with its ("infinitii ai") (CSE: IAI) (FSE: 7C5) (OTC: CDTAF) has secured a strategic contract with an existing customer in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) to develop a new algorithm designed to perform predictions on wastewater levels and flow – a ground-breaking addition to the company's flagship infinitii flowworks software. The new application harnesses real-time data from sensors within wastewater systems, augmented by Gauge-Adjusted Radar Rainfall (GARR) measurements, historical sensor data, and precise weather modeling information.
"We're thrilled to collaborate with our GTHA customer to develop and deploy this cutting-edge solution," remarked Jean Charles Phaneuf, CEO of infinitii ai. "We believe this technology will be taken up by other Smart Cities across North America, enabling proactive responses to the increasing number of extreme weather events affecting municipal infrastructure."
Powered by machine learning algorithms, the predictive model will furnish municipal wastewater systems and regional governments with invaluable foresight into potential adverse conditions, such as system surcharges during storm events.
The company plans to roll out the new level and flow prediction feature to all infinitii flowworks customers through higher-tier subscriptions in the near future. The integration of this customer-driven level and flow prediction capability signifies a significant milestone in infinitii ai's mission to revolutionize municipal infrastructure management. As Smart Cities embrace data-driven approaches to increasing numbers of extreme storm incidents, infinitii ai remains at the forefront, applying innovation to drive resilience.
infinitii ai's commitment to innovation extends beyond this latest endeavor, with a suite of advanced predictive capabilities already incorporated into infinitii flowworks. These include Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) prediction and automated inflow and infiltration (I&I) estimation. Leveraging machine learning models and data consolidation capabilities, infinitii flowworks serves as the cornerstone of Smart City wastewater utilities across North America.
About infinitii ai inc.
Trusted since 2014 to provide environmental monitoring to many of the largest water infrastructure utilities in the U.S. and Canada, infinitii ai has evolved into a leader in AI-driven predictive analytics for Smart City water and Smart Industry infrastructure applications that rely on time-series data. The Company's customers include the Smart Cities and municipalities of Seattle, Miami-Dade County, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles County, Vancouver, Toronto, Hamilton, Region of Peel, and York Region, among others.
infinitii ai services these customers through direct sales and via a trusted partner network that includes engineering and IT companies like AECOM, Core & Main Inc., Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd., K2 Geospatial SCG Flowmetrix and TREKK Design Group LLC.
infinitii ai software performs real-time analysis, checks flow monitoring status, sets alarms through a single interface, accepts all types of data from any source and offers predictive (what will happen) and prescriptive (what should happen) analytics. Whether it's real-time, historic, wireless, satellite, SCADA, or public data sets including USGS, NOAA and weather forecasts – it doesn't matter where the data originates, infinitii ai transforms raw data into actionable information. Visit www.infinitii.ai to learn more.
The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of infinitii ai, including the expectation of future revenue growth. Although infinitii ai believes that the expectations and assumptions upon which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because infinitii ai can provide no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. infinitii ai disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE infinitii ai inc.
📷
📷 View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2024/14/c6690.html
Contact:
Nathan Rudyk, Director, Corporate Communications, infinitii ai inc., nathan@infinitii.ai, +1 778 200 2093

Wade took a breath as he picked up his old duffel bag, now loaded with his DD uniform and a few other items from the Ceres mines as he slotted it to his side, with the large band handle around his neck. Having gathered his belongings, he joined Tina, who was waiting near the ship's open bay door as he walked over to her. The couple watched several of the other troopers inside marching out as well, some carrying crates of supplies and items out of the craft as they departed for the base outside. Kelly was one of the last ones still on board, checking on a section of the cargo bay as she did what Wade presumed was some maintenance work.
With the way now clear, Wade and Tina stepped off the transport, glancing at the massive base around them as they touched the roughened pavement. Throughout the large landing port were several more chameleon dropships, their crews disembarking with similar items and loads of rescued drones aboard. Beyond the ships were several hangar bays and fighter craft, mostly A-20s and their space-borne cousins docked in lines going across the pad. And beyond the landing zone, towering over several buildings at the base, were the few cruisers docked to the large clamps holding them in place.
Walking ahead with Tina, Wade observed some of the departing Coalition troops as they neared one of several tents stationed near an inactive group of planes, the military personnel interacting and exchanging the crates with the Coalition officers upon reaching each other. Hearing a low roar of engines from afar, the lover drones looked upward to see the large USN warship that was present at the factory earlier, having followed the transport convoy home and now was beginning to descend for landing. Wade gave a silent gasp as he caught a glimpse of the ship's name and SIC number at the side, remembering it from the ship he and Ron saw while returning to Earth.
"Always a wondrous thing to see, isn't it Wade?" Tina said as she and her boyfriend watched the ship slowly come lower to the unoccupied dockyard clamps below it.
"Sure is, wonder how they built those babies?" Wade replied as the two looked upon the landing starship, the former worker drone smirking as he added, "I could've swore I saw that same exact ship over Henderson when Ron and I came back, before we got mugged earlier."
Tina glanced to Wade with surprise as she spoke up on his claim. "Really? Well, that had to be the one that helped our friends here back at the factory. I think I saw the same name on it too!"
"Wouldn't surprise me, seeing all that's happened today." Wade replied as he chortled a bit, Tina doing the same as the former spoke further. "I wonder, what kind of ship is the... Vickers again? You know?"
"Autumn class, dear. A heavy destroyer variant, not as strong as those enormous Yamato dreadnoughts or Adelaide battlecruisers, but she'll put up a good fight for whatever comes at her." Tina explained as she held back another chuckle, thinking of her education on various USN craft as she teased Wade lightly. "You know, I may just have to grab one of those ship roster tabs when we get in the base. I'd love to show you all they got in their arsenal."
Wade chortled again as he gave his thoughts on the idea. "Well, it wouldn't be bad to have a little more knowledge in ship-story."
Tina almost burst out laughing at his crude pun, Wade smiling at her as F and Nathan jogged over to the two, the latter carrying his own backpack behind him as he spoke. "Well, not a bad place, huh? You guys heading to the clearance station?"
"Oh yes, we were just admiring the ships around us while we walked." Tina said with a stifled laugh, easing herself as she chatted with her new friends. Wade, however, was quickly overcome with panic as he remembered something. Checking his pockets, his fears were confirmed as he failed to find one of his key possessions: his ID card. Wade felt he must have lost it when he was stripped of his old clothing while in the factory.
Oh no, guys? I don't think I can pass through." Wade said with greenish-yellow circles for eyes as Tina and the others looked to him in concern, the drone feeling through his pockets once more before stating his issue. "My ID, they must've taken it off me when they turned me into a disassembly drone!" Wade began to hyperventilate lightly as he grew fearful of the potential outcomes when they reached the security gate ahead. "Oouuugghh, if I don't have my ID, they'll have to keep me lo-"
"Wade, Wade... it's okay. I'll have them make a pass for you, surely we can get them to after getting them to understand what's happened." Tina stated as she put her hand to Wade's chest, who eased his panic as he looked to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, and besides Wade, those people over there went around gathering what ever items the company stole from the drones during their conversion. I'm sure that once they find it, they'll have it sent off to be given back to you!" Nathan said as F nodded in agreement, shunting Wade's panic out of him with their words as he replied to the hopeful responses.
"Right, yeah, they should do that. Sorry." Holding Tina's hand, Wade spoke to her once more. "Lead the way."
Tina nodded to Wade before the two began to walk over to the security gate nearby, several people, drones and humans alike, already in the line as they checked themselves in to the base to relax after the hard-fought battle. Once they reached the line, the four stood together as they waited for the line to slowly go up, more troops and rescued drones coming over to add to the long line. During the wait, a loud, mechanical 'SLAM' erupted through the air, prompting Wade and Tina to glance over to the direction of the noise. The two felt at ease once more as they saw the Vickers finally landed at the base, the loud clang being the docking clamps attaching to the ships hull just moments ago.
As the line moved up further to the gate, Wade and Tina caught sight of a pair of A-20 aircraft passing over them, the two watching as the planes slowed down while descending onto the runway nearby. The four drones' collective viewing of the fighters landing ceased as they caught sight of J, who took flight as she departed the transport nearby before flying over to the tents near the hangar bays.
"Huh, wonder what she's over there for?" Nathan said as he observed J landing onto the ground in front of one of the tents.
"Probably checking on the drones we got back, or meeting up with one of those commanders there." F said as she motioned an arm towards the tents, J walking under one as she made her way to one of the soldiers coming over to her. "Seems like the latter, from the looks of it."
Wade shrugged as he responded to the group's pondering over J's actions. "Well, she'll be here with us if we need her, right? Shouldn't be much to worry about."
Returning their focus to the line ahead, Wade and his team waited as the line moved up over the next few minutes, moving impressively fast as the people in front cleared themselves in one at a time. Eventually, the four of them were up, Tina stepping up to show her ID for clearance. "Hello, it's been a busy day, hasn't it?"
The security agent smirked at Tina's small-talk. "Hah, not too busy here until you all showed up."
As the guard finished scanning Tina's ID, she handed the card back to her as she raised a finger to begin her request. "Oh, um, there's a little issue we need to resolve." Putting a hand to Wade's arm, Tina explained her boyfriend. "This is my dear friend Wade, Wade Carter. We both managed to escape that blasted factory with the help of those Coalition folks there." Wade gave a pleading look as Tina continued. "Unfortunately, Wade was converted into a disassembly drone before he was rescued, and it seems those people at the company took all his belongings he had on him, including his ID. Do you think there's... anyway you could write up something to let him by?"
Stepping forward, F gave her end of the story. "I can vouch for him, Ma'am. Wade and I we're among the teams helping in getting the worker drones out of the factory during the operation." The disassembly drone pulled out a pair of cards as she finished her explanation, one of them being her company-issued Disassembly Service Passcard, which resembled a normal civilian ID in appearance, save for the 'JCJenson (In Spaaace!) Logo on the top left and hazard markings around the rim of the card. As for the other card, it was a well worn, still legitimate ID card, showing F as how she appeared when she was a worker drone. At the side of her picture was a name with an initial. "FELICITY A LEE"
Taking the two cards in her hand, she looked them over and scanned them as Nathan tried to back Wade up as well. "So can I, Ma'am! I helped there too, when he was under the company's control. We all got him out of the factory so we could get him back in order." Pulling out his own ID, Nathan handed it out as the guard returned F's IDs to her.
The guard accepted Nathan's ID as she spoke over what to do with Wade. "Well, normally it takes clearance from higher ranked personnel here to allow someone inside without a legitimate form of identification. We can't just take someone's word on things like this, after all." Tina seemed to frown in disappointment as the guard explained her protocols, Wade looking down at the ground as he felt his worries were about to be proven correct. Going over Nathan's ID further, she gave an intrigued expression at the card before continuing. "Huh, interesting. Got two veteran folks here, I see?" She glanced to Nathan and F as she said that, taking into account their former military background as the former spoke up.
"Three, actually. My pal Kurtis is somewhere back there, I think. He should be heading down here later this evening." The guard glanced back at Nathan's ID as she took in the veteran drone's reply, sighing as she decided to make a slight amendment to the issue put before her and the four friends.
"Well, seeing you two here, I believe I can write something up. The Major won't be happy with me for this, but I think I can trust you with appropriate behavior." Taking a small sticky name-tag, the woman pulled out a pen before starting to write on it. Initially, she glanced to Wade, who stated his name again before she began to write his name on the tag. Once she was finished, the guard gave the tag to Wade, who slapped it onto his jacket before she spoke to him. "You should be fine to enter for the most part, just stick close to your friends and don't cause any trouble. Understood?"
Wade gave a stern salute to the security officer, who held back a chuckle at the honest, yet amusing effort the disassembly drone showed to her. Giving a simple nod and a flick of her hand, she permitted Wade and his friends entrance to the base, the four walking past the walkway barricades as they made their way past the gate.
Wade let out a heavy sigh of relief as he thanked his allies. "I owe you both so much for this, thanks!"
"Don't mention it, Wade." F said warmly as she and Nathan laughed at his joyful face.
"Yeah, just doing what any good friend should." Nathan said as Tina wrapped an arm around Wade, holding him tightly as the two walked together.
Looking to his girlfriend, Wade spoke to Tina about what to do next. "Well, since we're in, you wanna go fi-" He ceased his words as he remembered that there was someone else they needed to find amongst the base. "Oh, I almost forgot about her,"
"Jasmine!" Tina and Wade said aloud together as the former remembered her sister, Wade's words snapping her mind to Jasmine in an instant. "We should look for her, you think she might be here somewhere?"
"Probably. If they got Ron after they captured me, they have to 've picked her up too." Wade stated, Nathan raising a hand as he offered to help.
"I could go looking for her! You know what she looks like?" Readying a holo-projector, he tried to display an image of Jasmine from one of his many memories of her. The picture was, while pixelated and under a blue hue, incredibly well-detailed. And for Nathan, that was all he needed to see to note Jasmine's appearance in his memory. Nodding, he spoke again to his friends. "Got it! I'll see if she's around!" Then, turning to run down one of the paths leading to a nearby base facility, he stopped as he asked one more question. "Oh! One more thing, you got a smartcomm on ya, Wade?"
Readying one from his holo-projector hand, he nodded as he spoke into it. "Seems so, though I don't seem to have all my contacts added in."
Running back over, Nathan pulled out his own smartcomm before putting it up against Wade's hand one, allowing the two devices to exchange information. Upon the devices beeping, Wade and Nathan nodded to each other, the former ignoring a pop-up that stated, "New Contact Added" while the latter spoke once more. "Okay, I'll call you once I spot her!" With that, he began running down the path once more, intent on finding Tina's sister at the base, wherever she could be.
"Fowley! Her last name's Fowley!" Tina said aloud to the departing Nathan, hoping he heard her words before turning away from the miner drone and facing Wade and F again.
As Tina sighed in partial relief, Wade put his own arm around her before asking the question he tried to ask before. "So, uh, with that out of the way for now... You wanna go look for one of those ship tabs?"
Putting a hand to Wade's chest, Tina smiled as she replied. "Oh, certainly." Then, as the three began walking down a different path that Nathan hadn't taken, the pilot drone continued with a chuckle. "I hear they have a place here that sells model kits too!"
...
Jasmine sat in silent sorrow as she took another gulp of her glass of Proxi-Vodka, a tasty, but heavy alcoholic beverage produced at the colony of Proxima 2... and one of Jasmine's preferred drinks to have when she wasn't in a good mood. When she awoke after being stunned by the station guards, she found that she was just recovered by a group that called themselves the 'United Earth Coalition', and that her drone friend, Tina, was unfortunately taken by the JCJenson corporation to be turned into one of their horrid disassembly drones. While the people that saved her offered to help her find Tina, so far there had been no luck in doing so. No successful calls, no response from Wade nor Ron, nothing.
The whole situation widdled at her like scrapes to her form, slowly draining any bit of hope that she had in finding her sister. And once the mission at that factory was over, the ship began heading back to the Nellis Base to escort the recovered drones back to a safe area. Unfortunately for Jasmine, Tina's presence was not given confirmation. Alone, she walked off to one of the bars down at the base, specifically Drexler's Cantina, one of the more popular bars down at the military starport. Thankfully, though she didn't openly exhibit feelings of wanting to be alone in her wallowing, she was glad the place was nearly barren of patrons, with only a few at a couple of tables within the bar.
The stage at the back of the bar also had a few singer drones performing aloud, the lead singer girl reciting the words of a quiet, yet exciting song that, instrumentally, consisted of a strange mix of bass, techno, and a hint of opera. The song itself was one Jasmine had heard a good many times before in her life, known as, 'You Complete My World' by a decades old Earth band by the name of HeartStar. The song, as Jasmine and many others who'd heard it interpreted it, was about someone who described their world like a puzzle, and that the one whom the main singer cared for beyond all was the only thing that could keep their world from shattering into ruin before them.
An oddly fitting tune, given what had just happened on the JCJ Central earlier. For all Jasmine knew, Tina was either alive beyond her knowledge, hopefully searching for her wherever she could, or, the answer Jasmine feared... Dead.
Not wanting to even consider the thought, the human pilot took another swig of the colonial Vodka, relishing in its taste before forcing herself to swallow, almost gagging from the strength of the drink. Easing herself, she glanced out to one of the windows of the bar, taking the faint glimpse of night into her eyes. Then, looking to the clock at the wall ahead of her, she saw the time was about a little over an hour to 10 pm. Jasmine gave a sigh to herself, certain she would be alone for the rest of the night.
Unbeknownst to her, however, Jasmine had been spied upon a little while ago. Nathan, in his search for the woman Tina called Jasmine Fowley, had spotted a woman matching the physical appearance of the target. Knowing Jasmine wouldn't know who he was if he tried to talk to her himself, Nathan immediately went looking for Wade, easing his return to his team by calling the former worker drone and signaling him about his findings.
Deciding to check on the news, Jasmine slowly pulled out her smartcomm, resisting her urge to press the contacts button as she tapped the news app. Looking through it, she spotted a recent story that was posted just over an hour ago, titled, "JCJenson 'Recall' effort sabotaged by joint Government/Militia forces! The Truth Exposed!" Above the article was a video, a play button in front of it teasing Jasmine. Curious over this sudden development, she pressed the button, her attention in complete focus on the video as it began to play.
After the news station's logo appeared on-screen for a short few seconds, the current host for the story, Mrs. Tiffany Joy, appeared at her seat before beginning the story. "Good evening, this is Nevada-78, I'm your host, Tiffany Joy. Tonight, we start with a rapid development for the 'drone recall' incidents propagated by the business conglomerate JCJenson In Space. Throughout the afternoon up to now, several advanced factories under the ownership of the corporation have fallen under violent assault by various militarized forces, ranging from official United Nations operatives to private militia groups with varying goals." The small screen to Joy's left shifted to show the state of Nevada, zooming into it to show a portion of the Mojave desert as Joy continued her story.
"Among these facilities, one such factory based right here in southern Nevada has recently succumbed to the successful efforts of the USN Defense Force and a group by the name of the United Earth Coalition, an alliance consisting of humans and automatons working to create a unified world for both species." The screen shifted again to show the logo for the UEC, which appeared as one half of a human head outline and another of a drone's, along with two arms behind the heads belonging to both beings pictured. "With the attack having concluded just hours ago, we have reporters gathering at the New Nellis Staryards near Henderson City to bring you the aftermath of the conflict. We go to Mr. Jelico, on the scene in five."
The camera shifted after the countdown of five to show Mr. Jelico in front of the camera, the cameraman filming a large tent housing several worker drones being tended to by the base soldiers. "Alright, Jelico here, we're on station at New Nellis. What you're all seeing here are some of the recovered worker drones, many of them were pretty spooked by the events that unfolded in that factory earlier." As the camera panned over the lot of drones, some of them looked to the camera, curious at the news crew filming them as Jelico continued. "A few of them are real glad to be here, Joy. Seems like they feel safe here, as far as I can tell."
As the camera moved to show Jelico again, a plane could be seen taking off as he spoke. "Yeah, these people did them quite a service. The staff here are working to find their original owners and families, it'll probably be a little bit before they can get them all home." The camera switched once again to another view of the base, the lights of various buildings illuminating the night as the news story continued.
At the entrance, Nathan pushed open the door to the bar, the chime failing to catch anyone's attention as he, Wade, F and Tina stepped inside. Carefully pointing at Jasmine, he whispered to Tina, "That's her, from the looks of it. She's been here for a good minute!"
Taking another drink of the Proxi-Vodka, Jasmine listened further to the story. "The authorities didn't just recover a majority of the worker drones taken into the factory, however. A recent update provided by Mrs. Yuka, shows her interviewing a disassembly drone who claims to be among the unfortunate drones the assault force failed to save before their conversion."
"Jasmine!" Tina called out, the voice instantly grabbing the woman's attention as she paused the news story. Swiftly turning her head, her heart began pounding with immense excitement as she saw her drone sister, who grinned upon seeing her face.
"Tina!" Jasmine said aloud, somewhat weakly from her previous wallowing as she tried to run over to her sister, landing on her knees as the two embraced in a flush of emotions. Wade and his friends stood behind the two girls as they hugged each other, clinging onto one another as tightly as they could give. Jasmine seemed to erupt with a pained cough as she allowed some of her sorrow out of her heart, Tina carressing her back in a comforting manner as she held back her own tears. The sisters held the hug for a long moment, not daring to let go of one another for fear of losing each other again. Eventually, however, they did, the two sisters taking heavy breaths as Jasmine spoke up while wiping her face. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Can't say I didn't feel the same way, love." Tina replied as she broke out in light laughter, glancing to Wade before continuing. "But, fortunately, those Coalition boys helped out quite a bit. Though, not as much as my knight in his new armor."
Standing herself up, Jasmine took Tina's helping hand as she looked to the one her sister spoke of. A grateful smile formed on Jasmine's face as she saw Wade, standing in front of her and Tina as he returned the expression. Looking upon her family friend, Jasmine noticed something... different about Wade. He was taller now, his arms were shaped like white cones rather than the silver bendy tubes he and Tina normally had. As for his face, his pure green eyes were replaced with a set of greenish-yellow ones, and above his forehead was a band holding five yellow bulbs that she didn't know the function of.
While the pieces started to click together in her head, Jasmine took Wade's held out hand as she spoke to him. "Wade, I'm so glad to see you! You look different, too. Did something... happen to you?" She already guessed it by this point, but feigned confusion as she opted to hear Wade's take on the matter.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind your sister dating a vampire from now on." Tina chortled in amusement at Wade's comment at himself, Jasmine raising an eyebrow in confusion at the former worker drone as he returned his expression to a more sincere smile. "The company got me too, and unlike the workers we got out... they managed to turn me into a disassembly drone. From now on, I'm gonna need to take in more oil than I usually did before I was turned. My cooling system's not as good as it should be, from what I've heard." Pulling out his two full canteens, Wade finished his partial explanation. "Don't worry, though. I've got some to keep me down."
Jasmine took in the news with immense surprise, noticing the hazard stripes at the rims of Wade's arms as she replied to her friend. "Oh... Well, if Tina's fine with it, then I see no problem with that, Wade." Admittedly, she was a bit unnerved by the change, concerned for both him and Tina's safety due to this supposed oil coolant issue. Trying to sound as nice as she could on the matter, Jasmine hesitantly asked Wade, "Though... I am a bit concerned with that bad cooling problem you mention. You... don't think you would-"
"Hurt Tina?!" Wade assumed, understanding Jasmine's concern as he gave a horrified glance to the two sisters. Standing with his fists to his hips, he gave his answer to Jasmine's presumed question. "Don't even say such a thing, Jasmine. I'd rather overheat than dare strike her."
Admittedly amused as well as concerned for Wade's selflessness, Tina chuckled at him before speaking up on the matter. "Now now, Wade. It won't be so bad. We'll manage."
Jasmine nodded as she agreed with her sister's optimistic view on the problem. "Indeed we will, we always do." Then, taking notice of the other two drones in the room, Jasmine smiled at them before speaking again. "Ah, I see you brought some friends too."
Wade and Tina glanced over to Nathan and F upon Jasmine's statement, the two friends smiling pleasantly as Wade spoke up. "Oh, yeah. These are some of my work buddies from Ceres, Jasmine. This is Nathan, I first met him when Ron and I came to the mines, showed us around a bit too." Putting a hand on F's shoulder, Wade introduced her too. "And this is Serial Designation F, or, just F. She was one of the guards keeping watch on the place while we worked."
F seemed to blush out of embarrassment as she remembered her and Wade's first meeting. "I... did come off a little rough on them when they first came in, though. Stopped Nathan's touring run too. Just following colony protocol."
Nathan patted F's back as he tried to ease F's guilt. "Oh, it's nothing F. We had to start work in a few minutes anyway. Besides, it's a bit more fun exploring the place yourself without a guide." He winked at the others as he finished his praise. "Trust me, it really is."
Wade, Tina and Jasmine all chuckled at their friend's amusing words, F joining in as she replied to Nathan's encouragement. "Alright, alright."
Walking up to the two, Tina put her hand onto Nathan's as she gave her own praises. "And they may not look like it, dear, but Nathan and F were both formerly in the military, from what Wade's told me."
Jasmine gave a proud smirk at the two as she responded to her sister's claim. "Well, that's quite something. Did she tell you we used to fly for them some years back?"
"Oh, she did, Mrs. Fowley." Nathan replied as he chuckled lightly, F giving a smile of her own as she added her own part to the story.
"Yeah, and given what's happening now, maybe they might call you back for service again. Wade told me you two were excellent pilots."
It was now Jasmine's turn to blush as she chuckled from the compliment, knowing Wade's high praise for her and her sister's flying as she replied. "Well, I can't say that's wrong, Tina saved the day during the flight back here. We ran into an asteroid cluster while in the middle of a jump."
Wade patted Tina on her back as he quietly cheered his love on. "That's what I'm talking about, she's a wonder among the stars, I'm telling you!"
The group fell into an excited fit of laughter at the conversation, a few of the bar patrons taking notice of the bunch as they eventually ceased their joyful moment.
As everyone calmed down, Jasmine spoke up, intending to bring the discussion to another place. "Well, with all that said, it feels great to see you all here. It was such a terrible day after all those company folk showed up." Then, as she scanned the group of friends around her, she noticed someone else missing from this puzzle. "Hey, uh... is Ron here? Did he head off somewhere?"
The mood was quickly put down to a mournful aura as Wade and Tina glanced to the floor in sadness, Nathan and F giving uncomfortable postures as they awaited for someone to speak up on the matter.
Eventually, Wade was the one to open his mouth, breathing steadily as he tried to speak to Jasmine. "Um, Jasmine? Things, uh... really took a nose dive after we got captured. You think we could find a place to sit? It's a lot to talk about."
Looking to the four drones with concern, Jasmine eased her returning fear as she nodded to Wade in agreement. "...Sure, there's plenty of space at the table here." Pointing her arm to the table, which was surrounded by a U-shaped seating bench, Wade and his friends began to move to the table as Tina spoke up.
"I can get us some drinks for the talk, you all want anything?"
"Just some oil, thanks. "Wade answered as F and Nathan gave their own nods to Tina, the drone girl walking over to the bartender near the stage as she went to purchase some beverages.
Sitting down, Jasmine picked up her smartcomm from the table, glancing to it as she spoke up on her half-finished drink. "Heh, and to think I was drowning myself in this drag of a drink before. Probably have to find a different glass."
"Proxi-Vodka? Haven't seen you touch that since we lost Aunt Susan." Wade said solemnly as he examined Jasmine's drink, sighing as he reluctantly continued. "Well, maybe it can go for a few more sips."
Looking to the vodka, Jasmine nodded as she put her smartcomm in her pocket. "I figured, I didn't think this was gonna sound good."
"I wish it did." Wade replied as Tina walked back to the table, a plate of three oil glasses resting on her careful hand as she set it down.
After delivering the drinks, Tina took a seat next to Wade, holding his hand as Jasmine spoke up. "So, where do we start this terrible story?"
Wade gulped a bit as he began to recount the events that transpired today. "Well, it all started when Ron and I came back from the mining colony."

Spurs vs City

Competition: Premier League
Date: 14th May 2024
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Kickoff: 20:00 (BST)
TV: Sky Sports Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City Live Streaming and TV Listings, Live Scores, News, Videos - May 14, 2024 - England Premier League :: Live Soccer TV

Match Preview

Four straight defeats in the Premier League momentarily looked set to become a miserable five on the spin for a tepid Tottenham during the opening exchanges of their battle with Burnley, who required nothing fewer than three points to keep their hopes of a miraculous escape alive for at least a couple of hours.
However, just seven minutes after Jacob Bruun Larsen had opened the scoring, Spurs hit back through Pedro Porro - making amends for his role in the Clarets' strike - before another lauded defender in Micky van de Ven, Spurs' Player of the Season, finished like a veteran centre-forward to complete the turnaround.
In addition to ensuring that Burnley would be playing second-tier football in 2024-25, Spurs' victory saw the fifth-placed Lilywhites cut the deficit to fourth-placed Aston Villa down to four points, and their Champions League hopes will still be kicking by the time Tuesday rolls around if Liverpool glean at least a point at Villa Park on Monday.
Victory for the Lions and Tottenham will officially be out of the top-four running, although Postecoglou has stressed on numerous occasions that rising above that desired dotted line is not the ultimate goal for his side in his debut campaign, one in which Spurs have set a new club record in the Premier League era.
Indeed, fighting back to beat Burnley means that Tottenham have now rescued 25 points from losing positions in the 2023-24 Premier League - their highest tally in the competition and second only to Liverpool's 28 this term - and the seemingly endless run of Spurs home matches seeing both teams score now stands at 14 top-flight games.
Conceding the first goal in each of their last five matches does not bode well for a Tottenham side who may have mixed feelings about taking points off of Manchester City, whose traditional end-of-season surge saw them finally bump Arsenal off the gold medal position on Saturday lunchtime.
The newly-prolific Josko Gvardiol came up with two of the Citizens' four strikes at Fulham's Craven Cottage base, where FWA Player of the Year Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez also got in on the act; the latter calmly dispatched a penalty after Gvardiol passed up the opportunity to become the Premier League's first hat-trick-scoring defender.
Gvardiol unselfishly allowed penalty-taker Alvarez to fulfil his 12-yard duties, perhaps also taking City's inferior goal difference into account, and the treble winners established a two-point advantage over Arsenal with their seventh-straight Premier League win, but their formerly noisy neighbours could not do them a favour on Sunday.
Indeed, Arsenal's scrappy 1-0 win over Manchester United took the Gunners back to top spot and re-established their one-point lead over the champions, who must prevail on Tuesday if they are to be in control of their title destiny on May 19.
Another fresh page of club history could be written at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, though, as Man City have never won eight successive Premier League matches by at least two goals before, and they edged out Spurs 1-0 in North London in January's FA Cup tie.
However, the Premier League hoodoo still hangs over the men in sky blue, as they have only prevailed in one of their last five top-flight games against Tottenham and have never won a Premier League match at Spurs' new stadium, although some Lilywhites supporters may happily relinquish that record if it means no title parade for Arsenal.

Team News

Tottenham striker Richarlison was a surprise omission from the Brazil squad for the 2024 Copa America, although national team coach Dorival Junior explained that the ex-Everton man had picked up a calf problem, which was confirmed by Postecoglou at the weekend.
The fact that Richarlison's problem is serious enough to rule him out of the continental tournament suggests that he will not be available for Spurs' last two Premier League games, joining Timo Werner (hamstring), Ben Davies (calf), Manor Solomon (knee), Ryan Sessegnon (thigh), Fraser Forster (ankle) and Destiny Udogie (thigh) on that list.
After a couple of Emerson Royal disaster classes, Postecoglou experimented with Oliver Skipp at left-back for the visit of Burnley, but the 23-year-old's relative lack of minutes and tight turnaround means that Emerson might come back in; Postecoglou is reluctant to play Van de Ven out wide due to his injury issues this term.
Speaking of versatile defenders encountering fitness problems, only a quarter of the game had gone at Craven Cottage before Guardiola had to pull Nathan Ake out of the match; the Dutchman's injury has not been specified, but he was in visible discomfort.
It remains to be seen if Ake's problem will be severe enough to hinder his participation here, but he ought to be the champions' only absentee if so; Jack Grealish should return from the illness that kept him out of Saturday's success.
Thankfully for Guardiola, he can negate the possible loss of Ake by simply recalling Kyle Walker and shifting Manuel Akanji or the returning John Stones to a central role, and the Catalan coach may also try to take advantage of Spurs' left-back losses by reintroducing the tricky Jeremy Doku.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Emerson; Bissouma, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Maddison, Johnson; Son
Manchester City possible starting lineup: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne; Doku, Haaland, Foden

Match facts

Head-to-head

• Tottenham have won each of their past four Premier League home games against Manchester City without conceding a goal.

Tottenham Hotspur

• Spurs ended a run of four consecutive league defeats by beating Burnley on Saturday.
• They have gone 1-0 down in each of their past five Premier League fixtures.
• Ange Postecoglou’s side have recovered 25 points from losing positions this season, second only to Liverpool.
• It's 14 Premier League home matches without a clean sheet for Spurs since a 2-0 win against Fulham on 23 October. Their longest such run is 15 games, latterly from December 2002 to September 2003.
• Tottenham have scored 71 goals - three shy of the club Premier League record set in 2017-18.

Manchester City

• If Manchester City win their final two league games they are guaranteed to become the first club to win four successive English top-flight titles.
• City are on a club record run of 33 matches unbeaten in all competitions since a 1-0 Premier League defeat at Aston Villa in December (W27, D6).
• There have only been two longer unbeaten runs in all competitions by an English top-flight team: 40 by Nottingham Forest in 1978, and 34 by Manchester United from September 1993 to March 1994.
• They have earned seven consecutive Premier League wins for the first time this season.
• Manchester City are vying to win four away league games in a row without conceding for only the second time, having first done so in 1903 in the second tier.
• Ederson could make his 250th Premier League appearance in this match.

Head to head (h2h) history and results

Tottenham wins: 66
Draws: 37
Man City wins: 67
COYS

I'm watching for the first time and I'm in s6e15 where miranda leaves brady with carrie and I'm so shocked!! I would never leave my kid with Carrie she: 1. Lost Aiden's dog while walking him because she was busy with big 2. Left Charlotte blindfolded at the mall to talk to her boyfriend and then went shoe shopping. 3. Left miranda right after giving birth to say goodbye to Big.
Those 3 were at the top of my head but she generally is not able to concentrate on anything other than herself most of the time. I can't even believe miranda asked her to be the godmother when Charlotte is such a wise choice!! Like carrie said yes without really considering the responsibility of it. It's just weird to me that miranda would leave her kid to someone that would leave everything burning to answer the call of whoever she's dating now.

So we are almost through the first half and I wanted to post on here about what albums are coming in the second half of the year. First, this is the best sub on reddit, barely use this website anymore except for this site. So thank you all for being a cool subreddit. Forgive the formatting, not sure why its off. Let me know if I got any release dates wrong, or missed an artist or group. Which are you most looking forward to?
May 24th, Roads that Go Nowhere: Travis Denning May 31st, The Border: Willie Nelson,
Keeping The Lights On: Kameron Marlowe.
Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going: Shaboozey
June 7th, Unbroke: Sara Evans.
Hummingbird: Carly Pearce.
Out Here In It: Tracey Lawerence
Countin The Miles: Jessie Daniels
Rob Leines new album.
June 21st, Petty Country. Country music tribute to Tom Petty. Dolly Parton and Chris Stapleton's songs from it have been released.
June 28th, Songwriter: Johnny Cash
Silverada, self titled album.
July 12th, Am I Okay: Megan Moroney
July 19th, Damn Near Normal: Koe Wetzel,
July: Red Clay Strays
August 2nd, Leaving This Holler: 49 Winchester
August 16th, Obsessed: Morgan Wade
August 23rd, Whirlwind: Lainey Wilson
Release date to be confirmed/speculation
Cowboys and Dreamers: George Strait
Kane Brown
Post Malone Country Album
Chapter and Verse: Gabby Barrett
Lana Del Ray Country album
HARDY rock album(May not be Country but he’s still a Country artist)
Leather deluxe edition: Cody Johnson
Zach Bryan
Luke Combs
Son of the Mountains: Brad Paisley
Reba Mcentire
Miranda Lambert
Kip Moore
Keith Urban
Midland

I'm going to be using fake names just in case this post gets found by someone I know. Sorry for how long this is.
So I Andrea f(30) and my husband Nathan m(35) have been together for 9 years. Dating :6 married :3, we get along for the most part but we do have fights, and having similar personality traits it can take a while for us to come together to talk it out/compromise. I come from a family with 3 younger siblings (m(26), f(25), and f(23))and we are all are adopted. My mom Jamie f(62) could not have children, I am the first she and my father Jacob m(62) adopted.
The first time this whole pregnancy/birth thing even came into play is when we had a pregnancy scare in the first year that we were dating, I was still living with my mother and Nathan had his own house. I had missed my period and taken a pregnancy test, it came up positive so I took another one and it came up negative. My doctor recommended I come in for a blood draw to get a solid answer, when I shared this with my mother she said quote "I can't believe my 22 year old unmarried daughter is going to have a baby, I thought I raised you better" I was shocked at her response, called Nathan and cried about it to him. Well it ended up being a false alarm.
Fast forward to me turning 26 and that seemed to flip a switch in my mother's mind and she began constantly asking when I would give her a grandchild. Before we even got married (2021) I told Nathan that I was not interested in having biological children. The thought of pregnancy and birth has always scared the shit out of me and I wanted no part of it. (I don't think I could handle it mentally/emotionally/physically , I know myself and the toll all of the changes would take on me. But a huge kudos to anyone who became pregnant on purpose or accident and kept the baby, you're alot stronger than I am) Nathan said that it was fine, he was good with adoption and raising a child that needed a loving family.
Fast forward again to this year my brother -in-law and his wife just had a baby. When it happened Nathan was kind of acting off so I asked him if something was wrong, he said he was still wanting to adopt but a part of him is always going to want a biological child like his brother had. My heart dropped when I heard this and so the next morning I turned to my mother for advice.
She asked me why I didn't want to be pregnant or give birth and I shared my fears with her, imagine my surprise when she shamed me for five minutes about how pregnancy is a blessing and beautiful then said "All I ever wanted was to be pregnant so you should just get over yourself and get pregnant to give Nathan the child he wants." When I tried to explain how it didn't have to do with Nathan, I didn't want to be pregnant no matter who I was with and just wanted to adopt she hung up on me.
I felt so horrible and like a monster after that phone call I called my youngest sister Kira f(23) to ask her if I was crazy for wanting to not even try to get pregnant and going straight for adoption. Funny enough Kira ended up pregnant at 18 and had her baby much to my mother's dismay at first (she changed her tune at the end because she had a new grand baby but her and I clashed alot over those 9 months for how she treated Kira). Kira reassured me that I wasn't crazy for knowing I never wanted to become pregnant and just wanting adoption. She told me to not let anyone pressure me to get pregnant and she would always have my back.
I just can't seem to shake my mom's voice out of my head about how it's unfair to Nathan. So AITA for saying I never want to be pregnant /give birth?

I'm going to be using fake names just in case this post gets found by someone I know. Sorry for how long this is.
So I Andrea f(30) and my husband Nathan m(35) have been together for 9 years. Dating :6 married :3, we get along for the most part but we do have fights, and having similar personality traits it can take a while for us to come together to talk it out/compromise. I come from a family with 3 younger siblings (m(26), f(25), and f(23))and we are all are adopted. My mom Jamie f(62) could not have children, I am the first she and my father Jacob m(62) adopted.
The first time this whole pregnancy/birth thing even came into play is when we had a pregnancy scare in the first year that we were dating, I was still living with my mother and Nathan had his own house. I had missed my period and taken a pregnancy test, it came up positive so I took another one and it came up negative. My doctor recommended I come in for a blood draw to get a solid answer, when I shared this with my mother she said quote "I can't believe my 22 year old unmarried daughter is going to have a baby, I thought I raised you better" I was shocked at her response, called Nathan and cried about it to him. Well it ended up being a false alarm.
Fast forward to me turning 26 and that seemed to flip a switch in my mother's mind and she began constantly asking when I would give her a grandchild. Before we even got married (2021) I told Nathan that I was not interested in having biological children. The thought of pregnancy and birth has always scared the shit out of me and I wanted no part of it. (I don't think I could handle it mentally/emotionally/physically , I know myself and the toll all of the changes would take on me. But a huge kudos to anyone who became pregnant on purpose or accident and kept the baby, you're alot stronger than I am) Nathan said that it was fine, he was good with adoption and raising a child that needed a loving family.
Fast forward again to this year my brother -in-law and his wife just had a baby. When it happened Nathan was kind of acting off so I asked him if something was wrong, he said he was still wanting to adopt but a part of him is always going to want a biological child like his brother had. My heart dropped when I heard this and so the next morning I turned to my mother for advice.
She asked me why I didn't want to be pregnant or give birth and I shared my fears with her, imagine my surprise when she shamed me for five minutes about how pregnancy is a blessing and beautiful then said "All I ever wanted was to be pregnant so you should just get over yourself and get pregnant to give Nathan the child he wants." When I tried to explain how it didn't have to do with Nathan, I didn't want to be pregnant no matter who I was with and just wanted to adopt she hung up on me.
I felt so horrible and like a monster after that phone call I called my youngest sister Kira f(23) to ask her if I was crazy for wanting to not even try to get pregnant and going straight for adoption. Funny enough Kira ended up pregnant at 18 and had her baby much to my mother's dismay at first (she changed her tune at the end because she had a new grand baby but her and I clashed alot over those 9 months for how she treated Kira). Kira reassured me that I wasn't crazy for knowing I never wanted to become pregnant and just wanting adoption. She told me to not let anyone pressure me to get pregnant and she would always have my back.
I just can't seem to shake my mom's voice out of my head about how it's unfair to Nathan. So AITA for saying I never want to be pregnant /give birth?

I'm going to be using fake names just in case this post gets found by someone I know. Sorry for how long this is.
So I Andrea f(30) and my husband Nathan m(35) have been together for 9 years. Dating :6 married :3, we get along for the most part but we do have fights, and having similar personality traits it can take a while for us to come together to talk it out/compromise. I come from a family with 3 younger siblings (m(26), f(25), and f(23))and we are all are adopted. My mom Jamie f(62) could not have children, I am the first she and my father Jacob m(62) adopted.
The first time this whole pregnancy/birth thing even came into play is when we had a pregnancy scare in the first year that we were dating, I was still living with my mother and Nathan had his own house. I had missed my period and taken a pregnancy test, it came up positive so I took another one and it came up negative. My doctor recommended I come in for a blood draw to get a solid answer, when I shared this with my mother she said quote "I can't believe my 22 year old unmarried daughter is going to have a baby, I thought I raised you better" I was shocked at her response, called Nathan and cried about it to him. Well it ended up being a false alarm.
Fast forward to me turning 26 and that seemed to flip a switch in my mother's mind and she began constantly asking when I would give her a grandchild. Before we even got married (2021) I told Nathan that I was not interested in having biological children. The thought of pregnancy and birth has always scared the shit out of me and I wanted no part of it. (I don't think I could handle it mentally/emotionally/physically , I know myself and the toll all of the changes would take on me. But a huge kudos to anyone who became pregnant on purpose or accident and kept the baby, you're alot stronger than I am) Nathan said that it was fine, he was good with adoption and raising a child that needed a loving family.
Fast forward again to this year my brother -in-law and his wife just had a baby. When it happened Nathan was kind of acting off so I asked him if something was wrong, he said he was still wanting to adopt but a part of him is always going to want a biological child like his brother had. My heart dropped when I heard this and so the next morning I turned to my mother for advice.
She asked me why I didn't want to be pregnant or give birth and I shared my fears with her, imagine my surprise when she shamed me for five minutes about how pregnancy is a blessing and beautiful then said "All I ever wanted was to be pregnant so you should just get over yourself and get pregnant to give Nathan the child he wants." When I tried to explain how it didn't have to do with Nathan, I didn't want to be pregnant no matter who I was with and just wanted to adopt she hung up on me.
I felt so horrible and like a monster after that phone call I called my youngest sister Kira f(23) to ask her if I was crazy for wanting to not even try to get pregnant and going straight for adoption. Funny enough Kira ended up pregnant at 18 and had her baby much to my mother's dismay at first (she changed her tune at the end because she had a new grand baby but her and I clashed alot over those 9 months for how she treated Kira). Kira reassured me that I wasn't crazy for knowing I never wanted to become pregnant and just wanting adoption. She told me to not let anyone pressure me to get pregnant and she would always have my back.
I just can't seem to shake my mom's voice out of my head about how it's unfair to Nathan. So AITA for saying I never want to be pregnant /give birth?

I'm going to be using fake names just in case this post gets found by someone I know. Sorry for how long this is.
So I Andrea f(30) and my husband Nathan m(35) have been together for 9 years. Dating :6 married :3, we get along for the most part but we do have fights, and having similar personality traits it can take a while for us to come together to talk it out/compromise. I come from a family with 3 younger siblings (m(26), f(25), and f(23))and we are all are adopted. My mom Jamie f(62) could not have children, I am the first she and my father Jacob m(62) adopted.
The first time this whole pregnancy/birth thing even came into play is when we had a pregnancy scare in the first year that we were dating, I was still living with my mother and Nathan had his own house. I had missed my period and taken a pregnancy test, it came up positive so I took another one and it came up negative. My doctor recommended I come in for a blood draw to get a solid answer, when I shared this with my mother she said quote "I can't believe my 22 year old unmarried daughter is going to have a baby, I thought I raised you better" I was shocked at her response, called Nathan and cried about it to him. Well it ended up being a false alarm.
Fast forward to me turning 26 and that seemed to flip a switch in my mother's mind and she began constantly asking when I would give her a grandchild. Before we even got married (2021) I told Nathan that I was not interested in having biological children. The thought of pregnancy and birth has always scared the shit out of me and I wanted no part of it. (I don't think I could handle it mentally/emotionally/physically , I know myself and the toll all of the changes would take on me. But a huge kudos to anyone who became pregnant on purpose or accident and kept the baby, you're alot stronger than I am) Nathan said that it was fine, he was good with adoption and raising a child that needed a loving family.
Fast forward again to this year my brother -in-law and his wife just had a baby. When it happened Nathan was kind of acting off so I asked him if something was wrong, he said he was still wanting to adopt but a part of him is always going to want a biological child like his brother had. My heart dropped when I heard this and so the next morning I turned to my mother for advice.
She asked me why I didn't want to be pregnant or give birth and I shared my fears with her, imagine my surprise when she shamed me for five minutes about how pregnancy is a blessing and beautiful then said "All I ever wanted was to be pregnant so you should just get over yourself and get pregnant to give Nathan the child he wants." When I tried to explain how it didn't have to do with Nathan, I didn't want to be pregnant no matter who I was with and just wanted to adopt she hung up on me.
I felt so horrible and like a monster after that phone call I called my youngest sister Kira f(23) to ask her if I was crazy for wanting to not even try to get pregnant and going straight for adoption. Funny enough Kira ended up pregnant at 18 and had her baby much to my mother's dismay at first (she changed her tune at the end because she had a new grand baby but her and I clashed alot over those 9 months for how she treated Kira). Kira reassured me that I wasn't crazy for knowing I never wanted to become pregnant and just wanting adoption. She told me to not let anyone pressure me to get pregnant and she would always have my back.
I just can't seem to shake my mom's voice out of my head about how it's unfair to Nathan. So AITA for saying I never want to be pregnant /give birth?

I watched the movie "Mother of the Bride" yesterday on Netflix. It isn't a very good movie and it had all the visual characteristics of a DTV movie (different shot framing, not many actors/extras, small sets, etc) but the way they deliver the dialog left me wondering why they do it that way.
I've seen other DTV movies with not very well known actors and I always thought it is that maybe they werent very good, but in this movie you got Miranda Cosgrove, Brooke Shields, and Benjamin Pratt in it. I've seen them in other productions and, they're no Leo DiCaprio but they are good actors.
In this movie, however, every line they deliver sounds like they stopped in the middle of a sentence and they rarely speak more than 1 or 2 lines in a row.
Is there a reason for this or is it just that the script is terrible and the performers just don't care?

Have you ever met someone that was so overly sexual to the point that it made everyone in the room uncomfortable? That’s the easiest way that I can describe my ex friend Jade. She was always asking invasive questions about people’s sex lives, giving graphic details of her own, cat calling random women when we went out, swearing that every person who walked by was ogling her, and being handsy with people who were very clearly uncomfortable with it. I truly believe that hindsight is 20/20 because I saw all of these red flags back then but always gave her the benefit of the doubt until things progressively got worse and worse.
Jade is in a non-monogamous relationship and lives with her boyfriend Trevor, who I also used to be friends with. During this time I was seeing my ex Parker. I decided that I wanted Parker to meet some of my friends so we all decided to do something low-key and ended up hanging out at Jade and Trevor’s apartment. They didn’t have a TV in their living room yet so we spent our night hanging out in their bedroom where we drank and watched movies together. Jade and Trevor were sitting at the top of their mattress while Parker and I sat at the foot of the bed. I was pretty intoxicated so I was laying my head on my boyfriend’s shoulder and he was playing with my hair while we watched the TV. Even though they had this giant ass king size bed Jade decided to scoot towards the bottom of the bed and sit so close to my boyfriend that the front of her body was mere inches from his back and placed her hand on top of his to play with my hair. She made comments to us about how she’s always wanted to watch a couple have sex and told Parker how she could make me finish better than he could. Parker was my DD and shortly after this he drove me home without further incident.
As time went on I continued to have situations like this with Jade and Trevor, particularly whenever I was under the influence. We were drinking and doing shrooms one night and I was talking about how much I liked Parker and how worried that I was worried that things wouldn’t last between us. Trevor told me how I should just leave Parker because he and Jade could both provide for me financially and sexually. This made me a bit uncomfortable and upset because it wasn’t necessary or relevant at all. That same night Jade asked me to flash her and I told her no. Another time we were all drinking together and Jade sat me down and told me how I should just be their girlfriend. She didn’t understand why I didn’t want to be their girlfriend and told me that I might as well just date them because everyone already thought that we were a throuple. I told her for the millionth time that I am monogamous and that I don’t like girls but she kept pressing it and getting visibly frustrated until Trevor told her to reel it back in.
Then Parker and I broke up and I decided to start seeing new people. I was hanging out with Jade and a guy that I met on a dating app asked if he could come hangout with us and we said yes (stupid, I know). He came over to Jade’s apartment and we all sat around the living room smoking and drinking. The guy started making sexual advances towards me and I voiced to him that I didn’t know him that well and was uncomfortable with doing anything to which he and Jade responded that I needed to “drink more and loosen up”. I was a little upset by this because I felt like as my friend she would have my back on this and help me out of this situation but instead she was encouraging it. They both kept pressing for me to sleep with him and were both becoming handsy with me and with each other. I’m very non-confrontational and came up with the best exit strategy that I could think of which was calling my friend Michael but this didn’t stop the guy from making comments and advances. Michael asked what was going on and I excused myself to go upstairs and talk to him. He helped me calm down a bit and told me to just keep him on the phone with him. Whenever I came back downstairs I was met by Jade and this guy hooking up. They didn’t say anything to me. They just walked past me and went to her room to finish up what they had started. I was weirdly relieved because I was no longer a part of the equation but a little hurt that I was in this situation. I felt stupid and gross and found myself wondering if the same thing would’ve happened with Parker had he given her the time of day. The thought alone made me feel like I was going to projectile vomit.
The last incident that happened was another night when the three of us were drinking. I was laying on my stomach on their bed playing with my phone when Jade laid down beside of me on her stomach and motioned for Trevor to come over. Trevor came up behind the two of us and started touching and rubbing on me. I could feel myself tense up and start to freeze when, by the grace of God, my phone started ringing. I felt like I could breathe again and quickly excused myself to take the call. I ended up falling asleep on their couch and not going back into their room after I wrapped the call up but Jade attempted to call my phone and text me numerous times to tell me to come back upstairs.
I was hanging out with Michael, my friend Raina, and my friend Nathan and discussing everything that had happened and telling them that Jade and Trevor had very predatory behavior. They agreed and told me that I needed to stop being friends with them. Raina and Nathan started making posts about Jade and Trevor and once I saw them I begged for them to take just them down but it was already too late and Jade had seen them. Jade began making posts about me and reaching out to all of my close friends and telling them that they didn’t know both sides of the story. Jade’s family then reached out to me and told me that I’m an asshole for sharing our business with other people but my friends all say that it was my business to share. It’s been months and I still feel like an asshole for causing all of this unnecessary drama but relieved that Jade and Trevor are no longer in my life.
So, am I the asshole for telling people that my ex friends are predators?

I’ve had a lot of adventures in my life.
I’ve traveled, made friends, seen sights, competed in sports, and participated in events.
Sometimes, following any of these endeavors, a small object would find itself in my possession. A knickknack, a totem, a doodad.
Maybe it was a collection of Mardi Gras beads from my trip to New Orleans. Or a t-shirt tossed by a cheerleader at a sporting event. A toy from a claw machine. A mixtape from a friend. A thank-you note. A cheap piece of junk from a tourist’s gift shop.
Whatever they were didn’t matter — what matters is that they were often a representation of whatever moment in time they came from.
I never threw these things away. I set them on my desk or on my shelves. When those spaces filled up, I bought two small storage containers. They’re filled to the brim and I’m currently filling a third.
Why keep the color-coordinated bandana a stranger gave me in the park during Pokemon Go’s heyday? Why hold onto the Save the Date from my high school friend who ended up getting divorced not two years later? What significance or use could I possibly have for those goofy White Elephant gifts my kickball team gave at the yearly Christmas party?
No purpose, no reason and there is none, respectively.
And yet I don’t want to let them go. You see, they are reminders of times and experiences — Keepsakes. Mementos. Souvenirs. In some ways, they’re a physical collection and documentation of my life.
It reminds me a little bit of this weird quirk I have when I play video games.
--
I likely dumped more than 500 hours across all my Skyrim save files. There was no other game, there needn’t be any other game and there still hasn’t been any other game since.
In my adulthood, I returned to one of its many definitive editions for one last victory lap. With my experience, memory and fully-formed adult brain, I approached the game methodologically, in an optimal order, carefully. I built my ideal character and crafted only what was needed — down to the last iron ingot. I explored, I experienced — I did every major and minor quest, making it my perfect playthrough.
One thing I love about Skyrim is the loot. Yes, there’s 20 million iron daggers and boring, inventory-cluttering useless items… but then there’s the special ones.
There’s the unique weapons at the end of each Daedric quest. The trinkets from the Thieves Guild. Spellbooks, statuettes and storybooks. The eerily-delivered note for the assassin’s questline. The robes of the king, the rings and necklaces of Jarls.
You know them — the items with one-of-a-kind names and designs that are specific to each of their quests.
You see, these items carry a story with them. How you stole for them or killed for them. Traveled, battled, talked, stealthed, lied, solved your way into their possession. They’re the game’s biggest treat.
That’s why, at the culmination of my final ever Skyrim playthrough, I bought a house in Whiterun and filled it with these objects.
Weapons and armors on the walls and on the racks, items and books placed carefully on shelves - but not just any weapons, armors, objects and books. Only the special ones. It was a house that told the story of all of my adventures.
I sat down in a chair next to Aela the Huntress in my castle, my throne room. I saved my game one final time.
--
For all of gaming’s swashbuckling adventures, magnificent worlds and large stretches of land to traverse, they don’t always give us too much to remember them by, do they?
I appreciate Skyrim so much for understanding the nature of the epic they were creating. The ability to fill your house with display cases, armor mannequins and weapon racks demonstrates the developer’s awareness of their playerbase and the scale of the adventures they were sending them on.
These are adventures to cherish, to tell tales of, to be remembered.
Will anyone else give me what Skyrim did?
…
The answer’s yes, actually.
It’s a fascinating yes, too — because not every keepsake system is cut from the same cloth. Games offer unique takes on the mechanic that energize it, give it new life and perspective and add layers of meaning to it in fresh ways.
And I’ve got plenty of examples.
--
In The Outer Worlds, special items you collected while out adventuring would be placed in specific locations throughout your ship, The Unreliable, upon return. These included things like:
• Posters• Signs• Various ISO items• Tossballs & Tossball cards• Golden bird statuettes• Many, many more
Sometimes these were stored by the game in your captain’s quarters, but other times, they’d appear in your squad’s quarters instead.
No matter where they got stored, these items were more than just junk. They were signature weapons of terrible villains whom you defeated, they were outlandish garb from flamboyant characters who painstakingly passed away to protect your life, they were motifs of resource-gouging corporations whom you shutdown for the good of cities and planets.
They were special, they were keepsakes. Their addition made The Unreliable feel alive and lived in, part of your own, unique journey, filled with the stories and tales of your adventure and — importantly and specifically to The Outer Worlds — your choices.
—
The second and third installments of the Mass Effect series contained model ships you could buy from vendors that would then go on display on desks or on racks in your spaceship, The Normandy.
These are a little different because you buy them, rather than slice somebody’s head off for them, but they still count.
What makes them still count here is twofold:
• Some model ships only become available after completing certain missions that actually involve the ship you’re buying a model of, so they still serve as a reminder and memento of specific accomplishments in this way
• If you transferred your save data through the games, models you collected in ME2 would appear automatically on The Normandy in ME3. Being able to carry souvenirs into a sequel is exceptional, and a feat I’ve not found any other game to match.
Mass Effect: Andromeda saw a return of this feature, too. You ended up re-gathering old ships of yore in this installment, however. Andromeda also featured a more traditional collectible-style search; these model ships were looted from various locations in the world.
The original trilogy used the model ships as landmarks for its major moments, to be remembered across the series, while Andromeda paid homage to the previous games and encouraged its players to explore its world more thoroughly.
—
In Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, building up your burgeoning young settlement of Ravensthorpe is a central gameplay mechanic — as you acquire more resources to build with, the size of the village grows both in length, width and inhabitants.
The game includes optional side quests that change those who wander your evolving home and hub in medieval England. They include:
• Capturing a stray cat• Saving a fox from a burning home• Befriending a fallen hunter’s wolf pet
In each instance, the living being will join your settlement — the cat will stay underneath Eivor’s seat in your longship, the fox will wander Ravensthorpe and the wolf will welcome you in your personal quarters, howling at your arrival.
You can interact and pet them whenever you like, playing a short animation displaying the affection between the two.
These three “collectibles” don’t feel like trinkets, but living, breathing additions to your home that give it joy and life, as well as keep you young.
—
Speaking of Norse culture, central to Biomutant is a form of Yggdrasil — the WorldTree.
Central to Biomutant’s story is saving the old, decaying and currently-being-eaten-by-giant-monsters WorldTree. And there are two impressive quests in the game that reflect back to the player their efforts in saving it.
One quest saves the tree from festering toxins below its roots — and the tree’s colors change from green to fluorescent white as a result.
Another quest by the name of Aurora has you activate monoliths around the map that direct energy to the WorldTree. The quest climaxes by having the tree give off a swirling, sparkling aura that hangs perpetually while you travel the world and complete more objectives.
It even matches your affinity — if you’re taking the side of love and justice, the aura is white, while if you play for the destruction of the planet, the aura will hang black.
What’s special about these to me is that they don’t do anything. They don’t get you any closer to saving the world or the tree, but they definitely did something important –
The WorldTree’s central location in the map and absolutely massive scale allow for it to be seen at all times from just about anywhere in Biomutant’s world. This means, after I had completed these two quests, the fruits of my labor were on gloriously beautiful display at all times.
Biomutant’s mementos aren’t keepsakes you can’t take with you when you leave the planet — they’re visual celebrations of your hard work, an ever-present reminder of your endeavors and care for a dying world.
—
More briefly, Cyberpunk 2077 allowed you to fill V’s apartment with keepsakes as well, featuring dream catchers, posters, paintings, action figures and more.
In Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance Ace Azzameen’s personal quarters would fill up with medals and displays as you progressed through the game.
In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, some of the most legendary Zelda equipment ever was available to the player, including the Sword of Six Sages, the Fierce Deity Sword, and the Biggorons Sword — all of which can be hung in display cases in Link’s home.
Meanwhile, Uncharted 4 greets players near its opening sequence with an attic filled with memorabilia and keepsakes that Nathan Drake himself has kept after all these years. It’s not us — the players — ourselves collecting and hoarding, but it was lovely to see Drake thinking along the same lines as us souvenir psychopaths.
—
I’ll end with gaming’s classic — Mario. The red-hatted Italian also did the keepsake thing in one of his most beloved installments.
Super Mario: Odyssey allowed you to decorate The Odyssey with stickers and trinkets from your escapades by spending purple coins you could collect while out adventuring on one of the game’s many worlds.
A vanilla Odyssey player’s ship might look the same as it did at the game’s start, but a completionist might have a slew of trinkets and décor, like:
• Peach’s Model Castle• Dinosaur models and trophies• Shiverian Nesting Dolls• A plush frog• Flowers and a watering can from Steam Gardens• Statues of Pauline, Jaxi, Jizo• A lamp and rock fragment of the moon
Hell, the game director himself sounds like he’s read this very article:

“But what about decorating the ship? There’s a shop that appears in many kingdoms where you can buy souvenirs and stickers using the purple coins you’ve gathered.
Collecting memories is one of the best parts of traveling, don’t you think?” –Kenta Motokura

The ability to make The Odyssey your own evolved the traditional fetch-quest nature of collectible gathering and drove the player to go that little bit of extra distance in exploring and engaging with the various kingdoms and mastering the game’s platforming.
--
Video game narratives and their accompanying worlds are monstrously large nowadays. As enjoyers of the medium, us gamers spend a lot of time in them.
Like, a lot.
In recognition of this, game developers have given gamers a number of distinct tools to document their triumphs and sagas — each with their own unique flavor of congratulations and commemoration.
For our enormous investment with huge worlds and long, winding quests, something tangible we can keep hold of provides value, meaning, memories. They make our journey — one which we have committed so much to — special, transcendent, our own.
They give us things no other entertainment medium can give.
So fuck photo mode. A picture isn’t worth a thousand words — my keepsakes are.
(A special thanks to the members of patientgamers for their contributions to this post that helped inform this essay with games I have and have not played.)

Buckle in, guys - this is going to be a long one. Also, I come out of the closet...as a Swiftie. HMU if you want me to bring friendship bracelets to Brooklyn.
Any resemblance to real people is...not coincidental, actually.

Race Information

• Name: Boston Marathon
• Date: April 15, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Boston, MA
• Website: https://www.baa.org/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11188906240/overview
• Time: 3:04:31

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Don't totally kill my legs	Sorta
B	Get the finish	Yes
C	2:55	No
D	3:00	No

Splits

Kilometer	Time	Pace (min/mi)
5	20:25	6:35
10	20:50 (41:15)	6:43
15	20:39 (1:01:54)	6:40
20	20:44 (1:22:38)	6:41
Half	4:31 (1:27:09)	6:38
25	16:20/20:51 (1:43:29)	6:45
30	21:43 (2:05:16)	7:01
Heartbreak Start (20M/32K)	10:03 (2:15:19)	7:24
Heartbreak End (21M/33.6K)	6:56 (2:22:15)	6:57 (lmao)
35	5:30/22:29 (2:27:45)	7:22
40	27:03 (2:54:48)	8:42*
Finish	9:43	7:08*

(Boston does intermediate splits late-race starting 35k (35K, 23M, 24M, 40K, 1 mile out), so so the last two splits are aggregates.)

Race Information

• Name: London Marathon
• Date: April 21, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: London, UK
• Website: http://www.tcslondonmarathon.com
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11231697234/overview
• Time: 3:09:57

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	3:09:30	No
B	3:09:59	Yes

Splits

Kilometer	Time	Pace (min/mi)
5	22:25	7:12
10	22:36 (45:01)	7:16
15	22:31 (1:07:32)	7:15
20	22:23 (1:29:55)	7:13
Half	4:58 (1:34:53)	7:16
25	17:45/22:43 (1:52:38)	7:19
30	22:27 (2:14:59)	7:13
35	22:42 (2:37:41)	7:19
40	22:34 (3:00:15)	7:16
Finish	9:42	7:08

(London's app shows aggregate splits, so if you look at my official times it'll look like I was perfectly even throughout.)

Opening

Some people overthink their training programs. I overthink my race recaps.
Okay, OP. Why did you do this to yourself?
tl;dr: I'm basic.
Like a lot of people, one of my goals is to be a six-star seven-star finisher (thanks Sydney). Boston and New York were relatively easy to check off, and they've both kind of become my "regulars." I did Chicago last fall after a long delay - originally I was planning on doing it in 2020, but you know what happened. You might have heard about it!
For London, I applied to the lottery - or as they say across the pond, the ballot - last year and got rejected like everyone else does. I had a backup plan, though - I was going to apply to be a pacer. Two of my friends (David and Jazmin) had paced London last year and had a good experience, and they asked me to throw my hat in the ring this year.
...Okay, but OP, HOW did you do this to yourself? I want the deets.
Step 1: qualify for Boston again. (You can do it at Boston, but I don't recommend it because that is absolutely stressful. On the other hand, the one thing worse than trying to BQ at Boston without one in hand is trying to BQ in New York when it's 75 degrees.)
Step 2: apply to be a pacer and pray. London has open pacer applications, although I think they preference returning pacers. Also pacers that have actually paced marathons before. Neither of which applied to me at the time (I had signed up to pace Philly, but applications opened around NYC for this year). However, one thing I don't value is my bodily integrity so I just put down the fastest times I felt comfortable doing.
David, Jazmin, and I got the acceptance emails about a week later. David would be pacing 3:25, Jazmin would be pacing 3:40, and I...would be pacing 3:10, or the fastest group I put down. I remember being at work and listening to "Cornelia Street" by Taylor Swift when I read my email. The only way it could have been more on-the-nose is if it had been "London Boy."
(Also, justice for "Lover.")
Since I'd never internationally traveled before, I applied for a passport in November (just before Thanksgiving). Keep that in mind.

Training/Preparation

*starts laughing with a seamless transition into sobbing*
...ooh boy.
General training (or what SHOULD have happened)
My friend David coaches a group of us, adapting the training program that our club coach used. We're fairly heavy on the MP work, and surprisingly not so much on threshold. A typical week looks like this:

• Monday - easy 60m. Normally, this is about 7 miles.
• Tuesday - track workout; ~2 miles up, ~3 miles total on (at 5KP or faster), ~1-2 miles down
• Wednesday - easy 60m
• Thursday - tempo/MP work (because I know I'm gonna get yelled at). 1-2 miles up, up to 90 total minutes at ~MP down to ~HMP (for me, ~6:30 to ~6:00, roughly), couple of miles down.
• Friday - easy 60m
• Saturday/Sunday - easy one day, LR the other day. LR's normally easy (~8:00 pace or so), but sometimes includes MP chunks. We go up to 23 miles (or 3 hours).
• (Bonus) Doubles whenever I can fit them in during marathon blocks...and strangely enough, I'll usually double on Wednesdays regardless because our local Fleet Feet has a 3-mile group run Wednesday evenings. And yes, I know this is insane but apparently I'd rather be crazy than be alone.

Normally, most of my runs are with friends - so I'll run their easy paces (a bit slower than what I'd run on my own), and then we do our workouts at our own paces.
What ACTUALLY happened
Post-Chicago, I was pretty much unstructured, but ran a couple of more races:

• I paced a HM two weeks post-Chicago (0/10 do not recommend pacing a 1:30 HM on a course with 800 feet of elevation two weeks after your goal marathon, those first few miles hurt).
• I ran with a friend at NYC to help him get a BQ (which he ran 5 minutes under - he's 47, so we did just under 3:15).
• Philly went surprisingly well, considering I had done like two marathons in the previous month and a half.
  • On the plus side, we ended up splitting 1:34:30/1:35:20ish. So a bit hot at the start, but not overly so.
  • On the downside, I ended up taking two bathroom stops. Shout out to my co-pacer Mu for...you know...not having his bladder decide to be embarrassing. Shout out to Liz (the Philly coordinator) for having the good sense to give me adult supervision.

Meanwhile, a bunch of other things happened:

• My primary training partner from last fall tore his meniscus and still can't run.
• Jazmin decided to get a private coach, but still asked me to do some of her workouts with her.
• Another one of my friends made his comeback after being hurt last year - and he's following Daniels and his own schedule, and also asked me to run with him on occasion.
• Meanwhile, the rest of the group stuck to the same schedule I posted before.
• Also, I should mention I'm a terminal people pleaser and hate making decisions.

So by the time it was time to hop back into training, I was floating around pretty aimlessly and - because I didn't really have any performance goals this cycle - I tried to run with everyone as much as I could. I...do not recommend this. By February, I was looking at my messages and considering going into witness protection while figuring out which long run out of three I wanted to show up to.
Suffice to say, my training was disorganized as hell. I think I got a couple of 70-mile weeks in back in February, but kind of fell off in March when I was still dealing with some niggles of my own and also work things. Somehow, I managed to do a couple of races:

• I ran 1:19:5x at NYC Half (like half of this sub apparently).
• Also, I ran a sub-36 10k. A week before Boston. In retrospect, this might have been a mistake.

Meanwhile, my original passport seemingly never arrived. I ended up finally calling the passport center about a week before my London flight (I would have called earlier, but work was crazy and if I'm nothing else, I'm wildly irresponsible), and somehow managed to get an appointment before I left. In Boston (I live about 4 hours away). The day after I was supposed to come home from Boston.

Boston

Pre-Race
This was the less stressful event - on Saturday, I went up with my friend Joe who was spectating. Did the standard Boston race weekend stuff (shout out to Puma for their Sunday shakeout, the amazing panel, and for actually feeding us), met up with our other friends running Boston Sunday, and had dinner with our friends Jazmin and Janna (who were running) and Janna's husband Mark (who was not).
Also, I got my bib signed by Jenny Simpson on Saturday.
Monday, I just did my usual race prep - which is absolutely no prep whatsoever. (To wit, breakfast was "coffee and a banana loaf from Dunkin'.") I met up with Jazmin - who was planning to leave that night - and caught a shuttle to the Common with her. Funny enough, on the bus to Hopkinton we met up with our friend Cole who was getting his sixth star at Boston.
Race Day
I figured I'd go for an "easy 2:55" because Chicago gave me way too much confidence. I started from corral 3 and caught up with Cole (in corral 2) within the first mile. We mostly ran together for about 6 or 7 miles and then I lost track of him. I just assumed he'd dropped me because he's much faster than me. (The guy's currently a 2:30s marathoner. I say that because his lifetime PR is in the 2:20s.)
Gradually, it got warmer and warmer, but I was still feeling relatively good through the first half. I kissed one of the Wellesley students in the Scream Tunnel (to be fair, I was going to mind my own business, but she was standing on top of the fence holding a sign saying "Kiss me if you can reach," and I'm 6'5" and do not back down from challenges), but I mostly maintained pace into Newton.
And then I realized a few things:

1. While the temperature may have been approved by Rob Gronkowski, it was definitely not approved by me.
2. I ran a 2:47 last fall, so I had exactly zero reason to continue to try for a 2:55.
3. I also had to do this again in six days. And that was the deciding factor to just throw in the towel.

So, the last ten miles or so I mostly run-walked, which concerned my friends back home. (I contemplated posting to our WhatsApp group mid-race but that would have been weird.) It felt funny - it's only the second time I've "given up" on a marathon, and while I felt about as good as you can feel after doing 16 miles straight at MP, it was weird to just be so casual about things when I felt like I could still continue to race if I really wanted to.
Anyway, so, long story short:

• Around mile 18, I actually ended up running with a guy that I'd recognized from NYC 2022 - that day, he went down on the side of the course. At Boston, we ran together for about half a mile going back and forth...and then I just let him leave me.
• Somehow, still managed to set a Heartbreak PR. I think.
• I totally missed Joe, Mark, and the three blondes Joe and Mark recruited to cheer for me around mile 25. (I regret to inform all of them that three hot women are not quite as good at getting my attention as three hot men are. 💅🏿)

My finishing time was 3:04:31. Which was my slowest Boston to date, including 2021 where I keeled over on Boylston and ended up in the med tent. I still finished in like 3:00 high or something that day. (This is not a flex, and should not be considered a flex. That day sucked.)
Post-Race
I managed to get myself back to our hotel (also, ended up taking a selfie with an older gentleman on the Silver Line), and waited for Jazmin. And waited. Opening the tracker was pretty worrisome, as she'd slowed down a ton.
Finally, she finished, but she had a rough time. Thankfully, her coach found her at the finish and drove her over to our hotel. And one of her friends picked her up and drove her home. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty worried about her for London six days later.
(I'm intentionally being vague here, but...yeah, it was rough.)
I also found out that Cole finished about 15 minutes behind me (he said he'd been sick the week before, which I didn't know until after the race). Janna did pretty much the same thing that I did, in jogging in the back half. She still ended up on the Fast Women Instagram page (as she should).
Anyway, Janna, Mark, Joe, and I had a rather interesting dinner, and then it was back home on Tuesday. For most of us, anyway.

London

But first, Boston (again)
I did the math and - yeah - it was actually less expensive for me to go back home than to just stay an extra night. Welcome to marathon weekend. Paid through the nose for an expedited passport ($225), but...hey, I managed to get it. Shout out to FlixBus for the hook-up. Honestly, I recommend the 6:30 AM buses.
London (for real this time)
To Taylor Alison Swift: Why would you drop a double album on London Marathon weekend. Not only that, while I was taking a red-eye trans-Atlantic flight. Joe Alwyn wasn't even running it (and I'm not even sure Matty Healy could run 26.2 feet), so you don't even have that excuse. Janna suggested I buy the in-flight WiFi. I opted not to, and in retrospect that was the correct decision. (FWIW, TTPD is okay, but not worth $8 to United. That said, "So Long, London" into "But Daddy, I Love Him" is a hell of a choice.)
Anyway, for London, I flew in with Jazmin and my dad (who was also flying trans-Atlantic for the first time), and meeting David and another one of our friends (who is also named Joe) in London. If you are keeping count, we're up to three Joes in this recap already. Due to an opportune seat swap (shout out to the lady who wanted to sit with her husband, I don't care if you were telling the truth or if you just felt sorry for me), I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep on the flight.
We landed mid-day Friday at Heathrow, got into London, and my dad and I checked in to our hotel. (Right next to Waterloo Station, actually, which was nice!) Or we would have checked in, if everyone wasn't evacuating the hotel because of a fire alarm.
We did manage to get checked in after everything was sorted out, and then it was off to the expo (or the show, as London puts it). When we signed up, we had to volunteer for a 2-hour shift at the expo - and in our infinite wisdom, we chose the 3:30-5:30 shift. I spent most of that shift trying to explain why we ran out of 3:20, 3:25, 3:50, and 3:55 pace bands (god speed to the pacers for those groups).
Also, I picked up my gear for pacing - including the uniform (excuse me, kit), pacer flag, and the shoes. In my case, because I have clown feet (14 US/13.5 UK), they ended up being 1080s. And since London strongly encourages us to wear NB, I did not bring my usual shoes (Endorphin Elites).
"OP, it seems like you make a lot of poor planning decisions," you might be saying if you're still reading this. And...yes, yes, I agree. (Technically, I could wear whatever shoe, I'd just need to cover the logos. But I figured I'd be running 22 minutes slower than my PR so I'd be fine regardless.) I will say the 1080s are comfortable, though. Very loud - it's the London colorway, so imagine my size shoe in highlighter yellow, orange, and hot pink - but comfy.
Got back to the hotel, had dinner, argued with my dad about English electrical ports (despite what they look like, they are not USB ports), and tucked in for the night.
Saturday was mostly sightseeing - David, Jazmin, and I did a shakeout run around Westminster and caught the start of the Mini Marathon, and then my dad and I walked around a bit. Also did a night bus tour - shout out to Emma and Julie from Golden Tours - and had the standard pasta dinner. I went to bed around 9...only to get woken up at 10 by yet another fire alarm. After stumbling outside in 5-degree weather and back to our hotel, I somehow managed to get back to sleep.
Race Morning
Whoever labeled Waterloo East on literally every map by the platform instead of the entrance: your mum.
After having a surprisingly leisurely breakfast and a surprisingly hard time finding the entrance for the train station, I managed to hop the train out to the start of the race. Met up with David and Jazmin (apparently they were in the last car and I was in the middle of the train), and then we went out to the pacer meetup in the basement of the Clarendon Inn.
Imagine a small basement room with 140 people speaking multiple languages crammed in together, and that kind of approaches the chaos we were dealing with. You also have to add in a very assertive British guy with a whistle (shout out to Akram, the London coordinator). From past experience, David and Jazmin decided to leave for the corrals (or waves - I feel like London has its own language) around 9, and I went with them to our starts (blue for me and Jazmin, green for David).
I put on my flag (which I've never run with before - every other race has been with a hand-held sign) and immediately became one of the most popular people at the London Marathon. Most of my time was spent going, "uh I guess I'm running even 🤷🏿‍♂️," which I am sure boosted everyone's confidence in me.
The Race
London is similar to NYC where there are three separate starts that merge into one course. London's merges are a bit earlier than NYC's - Blue and Green merge in the first mile or so, and then Yellow/Red merge in around mile 3. (Not sure why they use two colors for that start!) The major difference is that there isn't one unified starting gun - in fact, the starts are pretty spread out, and it feels more like a rolling start. From big-race experience, I knew my GPS would be off, so I'd have to rely on my elapsed time and my pace band. I tried to yell out splits every mile and every 5k (so yes, I was the annoying American with the especially annoying New Jersey accent yelling out random numbers).
The first mile was relatively easy and uncongested - in fact, I was a bit concerned because I was a little fast (7:11 by my reckoning). And then we came up behind the Green 3:15 pace group. Famously, Comrades Marathon (at least - I'm not sure if this is a South Africa thing, or specific to that race) refers to their pace groups as "buses." I can see the comparison, as trying to maneuver safely around the pace group while knowing I had my own group felt like trying to parallel park a double-decker bus.
Somehow, we managed to pass them relatively safely...and then we came up behind the Yellow 3:15 group. I was pretty stressed, I'll admit. (The next largest race I've been a pacer for is Philadelphia, which is at most 1/4 the field size.) Somehow, I managed to keep people with me, although I admittedly didn't look too much.
That said, it says something when Cutty Sark feels like one of the more open places on the course.
We crossed Tower Bridge and got to halfway in 1:34:55 by my watch. Okay...but a little bit slow. My preference is to be 15 seconds under at halfway, and 30 seconds under at the finish. But hey, I was well within the window, right? The halfway window was 90 seconds under to 30 seconds over, which I was within.
Heading out to Canary Wharf, we actually got a good look at the pro men coming back - Munyao, Tola, and AdvancedRunning favorites Bekele and Cairess. I don't think I've ever been that close to the pros at a major before, so that was pretty cool. If Bekele is reading this, hi, I was the weird tall guy from London. (The one with the flag.) Please continue wrecking my age grading.
Meanwhile the chaos on the course shifted from fighting through slower groups in other starts to wading through the carnage of people blowing up. I don't know if it was especially bad, but - again - it kind of hits different when you know people are following you and also you're on English roads in a world major.
As I was going, I was keeping track of the splits. I knew it was going to be close...but when I saw 3:01:16 at 25 and checked my band (which said 3:01:10 for a 3:10 bang-on), I knew things were close. For reference, pacers' flags at London actually say "Sub [pace]" because they're expected to come in up to a minute under their time. My target was 3:09:00 to 3:09:59. We could make it, but it'd take a bit of a push.
Coming around Buckingham Palace, I was checking my watch and checking the time. I thought I'd make it. And then I crossed the line and stopped my watch.
3:10:00.
Fuck.
Post-Race
But hey, some people managed to hang with me. (Shout out to Nathan on the PR!) I gave (and got) congrats, took a couple of photos, picked up my stuff, and handed in my gear. Like hundreds of other people (my god like hundreds of us), I stopped by Waterstone's, went up to the cafe, and got a tea and scone. (Very good post-race fueling, I must admit.) Got back to the hotel, showered, and went out for pints and dinner post-race with the gang and my dad.
Also, I checked my official time. 3:09:57. I made it, but just barely. It was a bit slower than I'd like, but hey - not too shabby for doing this in 1080s.

Epilogue

So Long, London
Jazmin made it through a bit off target (like 19 seconds, I think), although it was a bit of a struggle, she said.
David...had a rougher go of it. He himself was injured going into the race, so he had to take his flag down around mile 22. He still managed to finish, though.
As for me: Got home that Tuesday. Told myself that I wouldn't do this again next year as we were going through Newark passport control (aka: Satan's butthole). Changed my mind after I got back on Eastern time, went back to work, and realized what I'd missed. Ran a trail 10k (Leatherman's Loop) the week after because (again) I do not value my bodily integrity. (Also, it was an impromptu midlife crisis.)
It took me a while to gather my thoughts - and even longer to edit this down somewhat. And yes, this is actually edited a bit from where it was.
Finally, one thing I've kept coming back to is the Boston Globe article about 26.TRUE that came out around the same time as the Boston Marathon. I highly suggest you read it - I couldn't decide whether to lead or to end with this, but at any rate it's worth it.
Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

Overview

		⚽
Home	Portland Timbers	1
Away	Seattle Sounders FC	2
Status	Full Time
Venue	Providence Park
City	Portland, Oregon
Date	Sunday May 12, 2024
Time	01:45 PM PDT

♻️ Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
Lineups

	Portland Timbers	Pos		Seattle Sounders FC	Pos
	Maxime Crépeau, #16	G		Stefan Frei, #24	G
	Kamal Miller, #4	CD-L		Jonathan Bell, #15	CD-L
	Dario Zuparic, #13	CD-R		Jackson Ragen, #25	CD-R
	Eric Miller, #15	LB		Nouhou Tolo, #5	LB
	Juan Mosquera, #29	RB		Alex Roldan, #16	RB
	Santiago Moreno, #30	AM		Albert Rusnák, #11	AM
	Diego Chará, #21	LM		Cristian Roldan, #7	LM
	Cristhian Paredes, #22	RM		João Paulo , #6	RM
	Felipe Mora, #9	F		Raúl Ruidíaz, #9	F
	Antony , #11	AM-L		Jordan Morris, #13	AM-L
	Jonathan Rodríguez, #14	AM-R		Obed Vargas, #18	AM-R
	James Pantemis, #41	SUB		Dylan Teves, #99	SUB
	David Ayala, #24	SUB		Cody Baker, #33	SUB
	Larrys Mabiala, #33	SUB		Stuart Hawkins, #39	SUB
	Evander , #10	SUB		Andy Thomas, #26	SUB
	Dairon Asprilla, #27	SUB		Léo Chú , #23	SUB
	Zac McGraw, #18	SUB		Sota Kitahara, #77	SUB
	Eryk Williamson, #19	SUB		Daniel Leyva, #75	SUB
	Nathan Fogaça, #99	SUB		Paul Rothrock, #14	SUB
			Daniel Musovski, #17	SUB

Match events via ESPN

• Kickoff
  
• 15' ⚽ Goal! Portland Timbers 1, Seattle Sounders FC 0. Felipe Mora (Portland Timbers) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jonathan Rodríguez.
  
• 19' ⚽ Goal! Portland Timbers 1, Seattle Sounders FC 1. Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Albert Rusnák.
  
• 45'+6' Halftime
  
• 45' Start 2nd Half
  
• 50' ⚽ Goal! Portland Timbers 1, Seattle Sounders FC 2. Raúl Ruidíaz (Seattle Sounders FC) left footed shot from outside the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Obed Vargas.
  
• 54' 🟨 Nouhou Tolo (Seattle Sounders FC) is shown the yellow card.
  
• 55' 🔄 Substitution, Portland Timbers. Evander replaces Antony.
  
• 66' 🟨 Dario Zuparic (Portland Timbers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
  
• 67' 🔄 Substitution, Portland Timbers. Eryk Williamson replaces Cristhian Paredes.
  
• 76' 🔄 Substitution, Seattle Sounders FC. Cody Baker replaces João Paulo.
  
• 76' 🔄 Substitution, Seattle Sounders FC. Danny Musovski replaces Raúl Ruidíaz.
  
• 81' 🔄 Substitution, Portland Timbers. Dairon Asprilla replaces Eric Miller.
  
• 81' 🔄 Substitution, Seattle Sounders FC. Paul Rothrock replaces Jordan Morris.
  
• 90'+3' 🔄 Substitution, Seattle Sounders FC. Danny Leyva replaces Cristian Roldan.
  
• 90'+3' 🔄 Substitution, Seattle Sounders FC. Dylan Teves replaces Albert Rusnák.
  

^{This thread is managed by a bot running on AWS Lambda. All data is sourced from ESPN APIs. The project can be found on GitHub at mrundle/mls-reddit-bot. This post was last updated at 2024-05-12 17:54:15 CDT.}

Steve and Phil both Anti-hero Canada. - Phil Timsky: 2000 1 august or sempt. USA Lambert City Gorebox Animosity: 37-40 Years Family: John Timsky, Miranda Timsky - Steve Townley Sanderson: 2006 9 December or February, Vancouver Canada Gorebox Animosity: 30-31 Years Family: Fred T. Sanderson, Ashley T. Sanderson, Brother Jacob T. Sanderson, Sister Jessy T. Sanderson, Grandfather Alfred Sanderson
Fun fact: Alfred Sanderson Was one of the inspiration Phil's In science. Steve and Jessy Twins.
Steve its like: Peter Parker or Invincible universe Gorebox But sometimes the fights are very emotional and cruel. Marure Steve maybe - Leon Kennedy? :) Style Fight Steve: John wick, Nathan Drake Only easier. Steve Very Bad He is a strategist, but adapts quickly and thinks on his feet. But still not as psychologically stable as Phil, so it’s more difficult for Steve. Steve is a very sad character
Phil Timsky vs Steve Sanderson (Animosity/Base)

• Striking, Lifting: Phil
• Durability/Plot armor: Steve
• Speed: Phil (debatable)
• Agility, stamina: Steve
• Iq, battle iq: Phil (Phil: 218. Steve: 151)
• Endurance, power, abilities, potential: Phil
• Knowledge: Phil
• Combat, skils: Steve
• Offence, weapons: Phil
• Defence, knife fight: Steve
• Hax: Steve >=
• Reflexs, H2H: Phil
• Kick, Aim/Gun duel: Steve
• Experience, Battle experience, Adaptation/Adaptability: Steve
• Resistance, Rigidity: Phil
• Punching bag, rage, Ap: Steve
• Cunning, manipulation, Dc: Phil
• Training: Steve
• Feats: Phil

Wins: Phil Mid-High-diff (no rc) Rc: Phil No-low-diff, Negative-diff Phil full potential rc (10.000 PW): Phil No concept diff
(It's Not canon, just Fandom, my ideas.)

One of the common assertions about the Nebula-class is that it was intended to be a smaller, more compact version of the Galaxy-class, much as the Miranda-class was for the Constitution-class. I have my issues with that assumption and here's why.
One: The Nebula-class isn't that much smaller than the Galaxy-class
The one big thing that would make the Galaxy-class bigger than the Nebula-class is that it has a substantial neck connecting its saucer to its engineering section while the Nebula doesn't. However, most of the internal space that neck provides would be largely made up for by the fact the Nebula-class has its modular superstructure and a small neck connecting it to its engineering section, if not entirely.
Even in terms of crew numbers, there isn't an insurmountable difference between the crew compliments of the two ships. During The Next Generation, the Enterprise-D regularly has around 1,014 people onboard, and Memory Alpha states that the Nebula-class's crew compliment is around 750.
A lot of my analysis in this regard depends heavily on what the number of civilians on the Enterprise-D were. I'm assuming that it'd probably be around 114. That'd make sense because 900 is a round number that could be evenly divided for both a three and four shift rotation. If there were three shifts, then there'd be around 300 Starfleet personnel on duty per shift, and if there were four shifts, there'd be 225.
It'd also make sense because it's known that not everyone on the Enterprise has family members onboard. This would generally track with how most of the people you see in the background shots of Ten Forward are wearing Starfleet uniforms. There also only seemed to be one or two classrooms, and the arboretum, which allowed some civilian workers, also seemed fairly small. This all would fit with a fairly small civilian population.
The other point here is that it's possible for a starship's crew compliment to vary widely during its service. The original NCC-1701 had a crew of 203 during Pike's era and of around 430 during Kirk's era. Those two points were only a decade or so apart. A century or so later, Voyager had a crew of around 150, despite the Intrepid-class being around the same size as the Constitution-class.
So while there is a moderate jump from a crew of 750 to around 900 officers, it's not an insurmountable jump. Depending on mission requirements and decade, either ship could have a larger crew compliment.
This is quite different from what we see with the Miranda-class. It's much smaller than the Constitution-class, both in terms of actual size and crew compliment. It was more or less just the saucer section and nacelles, which were the same size as the Constitution-class's, and the roll bar and superstructure. While the superstructure did make up for some of the internal space, it's quite clear that it wasn't of a comporable size to the Constitution-class's engineering section.
The size of its crew is also much smaller. By the mid-to-late 24th century, its crew compliment was down to just a few dozen. Some background sources will list the crew compliment in the late 23rd century to be around 220, which is much closer to what the Constitution-class's likely was in that time period.
I have my issues with this because it seems a bit dubious that Khan and his much diminished gang of Augments could overtake a crew of 220. However, this isn't completely out of the question as these people had previous experience overtaking a much larger crew. If the Reliant had a crew of around 220, it also could be that a large number of them were science officers on temporary assignment to the ship due to the Genesis project, and they might not have the training, experience, or temperament for fighting off an invading force.
Two: The *Nebula-class may have been introduced earlier than the Galaxy-class**
With the idea that the Miranda-class is a smaller version of the Constitution-class, one of the biggest pieces of evidence to support this is that the known Miranda-classes all had higher registry numbers than the known Constitution-classes. While the Constitution-class ships generally had registries in the 1000s and 1700s, the earliest known Miranda-class ships had registries in the 1800s.
This is backed up by the fact that the earliest known Miranda-class ships aren't known to have been in service until decades after the Constitution-class. The original NCC-1701 came into service in 2245. The Reliant, with its registry of NCC-1864, isn't known to have been in service until 2267--its registry was shown on a background screen in Court Martial.
So the common fan theory that the Miranda-class was intended to be a smaller counterpart to the Constitution-class makes sense given that it came out later. This isn't necessarily true of the Nebula-class, however. In fact, we see the opposite.
The Nebula-class with the lowest known registry is the Lexington, whose registry is NCC-30405. The eponymous USS Galaxy had a registry of NCC-70637. Even accounting for non-consecutive numbering, this would suggest that the earliest Galaxy-class ships are, on the whole, a more recent development than the most recent Nebula-class ships. For the most part, it does seem like Starfleet registry numbers do get higher as time goes on.
The idea that registry numbers are also indicative of batch numbers--e.g., that the Lexington might be ship number 5 of batch number 304 or that the Galaxy is ship number 37 of batch number 706--doesn't cover this, either. For one, even assuming that, the case still is that registry numbers still get higher as time goes on, so batch number 706 would still be a much more recent development than batch number 304.
For two, there's only a couple of Nebula-class ships that are known to have registries in the seventy thousands while almost all the Galaxy-class ships with known registries have them in the seventy thousands. So even if the batch theory is true--and there is canonical evidence to suggest it could be--most Galaxy-class ships do seem to be of later batches.
The other point along these lines is that the earliest known launch date of a Nebula-class is of the Phoenix, which was comissioned in 2363. This was only months before the launch of the Enterprise-D, which was comissioned in either late 2363 or early 2364.
So while the Miranda-class seemed to have been a later development than the Constitution-class and the earliest Miranda-class ships were likely comissioned a decade or more later, the canonical evidence suggests that the Nebula-class was either developed simultaneously to the Galaxy-class or perhaps even developed earlier.
Three: Slackjaw deflector dish
One of the distingushing features of the earliest known Nebula-class ships is that they have a slackjaw-shaped deflector dish. This is opposed to the circular shaped deflector dish that earlier classes such as the Excelsior- and Ambassador-classes had, and opposed to the oval shaped ones that later designs such as the Galaxy- and Intrepid-classes had.
This can be taken one of two ways. One, the Nebula-class was an earlier class, and while the oval-shaped deflectors were on the drawing boards but there was some technical issue preventing them from being rolled out in a new class straight away. In a case like this, the slackjaw deflector dish could have been intended as an intermediate step, integrating the aspects of the later oval deflector dishes that already worked while leaving the rest for the next major class.
The other way this could be taken is that maybe the Galaxy- and Nebula-classes were designed concurrently by separate design teams that cooperated on some design questions (which would explain the similarities in saucer and engineering sections) while competing in others. In a case like this, the slackjaw-shaped deflector dish could have been a result of the two design teams having differing opinions on whether or not it'd be superior to an oval one.
It does seem like the overwhelming consensus in practice was that the oval-shaped deflector was superior. The Nebula-class is the only class known to have had them. Even later variants of the Nebula-class switched to an oval-shaped deflector over the earlier slackjaw-shaped one. (The out of universe reason for this is because this was around the time DS9 was switching to using mostly CGI models for starships, and this is one of the design changes which occured at around that time.)
Personally, I tend to lean towards the former, because there are some other small details which seem to imply the Nebula-class was an earlier design. The top speed for a Nebula-class was around 9.3 to 9.5, depending on the variant. This is as opposed to the Galaxy-class's top speed of warp 9.6, and the Intrepid-class's top speed of warp 9.975. Given that, I think the slackjaw deflector dish should be taken as evidence as that this ship was meant to be an intermediate step between the Ambassador- and Galaxy-classes.
Four: Tactical and historical reasons why the Miranda-class was a minaturised version of the Constitution-class that don't apply to the Nebula- and Galaxy-classes
The most important thing to consider with the introduction of the Miranda-class is the strategic situation the Federation was in during the late 2250s and early 2260s. At this point, the Federation had just come out of a war with the Klingons with no clear victor that led to a decades-long stalemate and cold war. It had come out of a war with the Sheliak where it had to cede territory. In 2266, it was also contending with a Romulan Empire that was trying to reassert itself after a century of isolation, and soon after, a Klingon-Romulan alliance.
In short, the strategic situation at that point wasn't good. The Constitution-class may have made a difference in the Klingon War of 2256-7, and there were people in Starfleet who believed that at the time, but the voices that mattered were committed to keeping them on their five-year missions as much as possible.
So it made sense at that point to have a smaller version of the Constitution-class that carried a similar arsenal but had a much shorter range. This would have most of the benefits of the Constitution-class on a tactical level. The main drawback was that you might not use a Miranda-class for deep strikes behind the line the same way you could with a Constitution-class, but the main advantage was that they'd at least be there for the front lines instead of some god-knows-where system in deep space on a five-year mission.
This wasn't the strategic situation when the Galaxy- and Nebula-classes were being introduced. The Federation was in a strong strategic position at this point. While there was an ongoing border conflict with the Cardassians, it didn't seem to have the same do-or-die dynamic the Klingon War had a century earlier. There'd also been wars with the Tzenkethi and the Galen, but neither species seemed to have been regarded in the same light as the Federation's 23rd century adversaries.
While it is true that the Federation's relationship with the Cardassians resembled a cold war in late TNG and early DS9, that could be overstating the actual situation. Starfleet could have strategic superiority in the region if it really wanted to commit the ships to it.
The fact of the matter was that they didn't want to be seen as bullying a militarily weaker species. If Starfleet went in with 200 ships, they probably could take large chunks of Cardassian territory without issue, much like the Klingons would. However, this wouldn't gel easily with their propaganda line about wanting to be the peaceful great power, so they don't do it. Instead, they rely on slow ship build ups and political pressure by allying with the Bajorans and corunning Deep Space Nine.
So why would Starfleet start introducing smaller versions of the Galaxy-class at that point? It's not like there was a desperate strategic need for them. It wasn't until after Wolf 359 and the leadup to the Dominion War that Starfleet needed that kind of ship, and that's when they started building them en masse.
Five: So what was the Nebula-class for?
My answer to this question is simple: early on, the Nebula-class was meant as a stopgap counter to the Romulan's D'deridex-class warbird.
Based on what we know of when the Nebula-class first rolled out, it's at least feasible that it could have been in the late 2340s or early 2350s. This is early enough that it'd predate the Galaxy-class, but also late enough that later variants are being built alongside the new Galaxy-class ships.
It'd also line up with a feasible date for when the D'deridex-class was first introduced. In Yesterday's Enterprise, it's mentioned that the Ambassador-class had some advantages over the warbirds being used in 2344. It's not explicitly stated, but it is heavily implied that this means a previous class of warbird, not the D'deridex-class used in the 2360s.
So what may have happened is that soon after the battle at Narendra III, the Romulans started pumping out the D'deridex-class because they realise they don't have an edge on Starfleet anymore. Starfleet's response was the Nebula-class, which may not have been a close enough match to the D'deridex-class to actually win but was close enough that the Romulans would think carefully before attacking it.
Once the Galaxy-class came into service and was the class that was the 1:1 equivalent of the D'deridex-class, the Nebula-class could then be transferred to the Cardassian front. This could help explain why the Cardassians were ready to agree to a ceasefire to build up their forces along the border, but knew to be worried about the Phoenix in The Wounded: while the average Galor-class cruiser might be able to jump an Excelsior-class, they all knew they were outmatched by Starfleet's new fleet.
This could also explain why the Nebula-class had a couple of known early variants. A Nebula-class with a sensor pod superstructure could have an easier time detecting a cloaked D'deridex-class while one with the tactical pod could take the blunt stick approach and fire torpedoes directly ahead until they hit something.
The advantage a Galaxy-class might have on a Nebula-class is that maybe some of the equipment typically seen on a Nebula-class's sensor pod had been minutarised enough that it could just be a part of its regular equipment, while its weapons were more or less equal to the D'deridex-class's. So while the Nebula-class might have a fairly binary eitheor choice when it came to how it lined up against a D'deridex, the Galaxy-class could do both.
The reason for why they continued making later variants is fairly simple. Maybe there were certain adjustments they'd make to the superstructure that they were considering for new classes, but weren't entirely sure if they wanted to commit to yet. There was already precedent for this with the Nebula-class's slackjaw deflector which never quite caught on. The things that were added to the superstructure that worked could be put into later classes, while those that didn't could be taken out.
This could also help to explain the seeming discreptancies in the Nebula-class's registry numbers. Given that the Phoenix had a registry of NCC-65420, you'd expect for it to have been comissioned five or ten years before the Galaxy, not five or ten years later. Maybe the constant tinkering with the superstructures meant they could take longer to build, so even if they were assigned a certain registry they could still end up running behind schedule.
That would also make sense. Given that the Nova- and Saber-classes seem to have been first introduced after the Battle of Wolf 359, it could be that Starfleet had been planning to phase out the Oberth-class for a while. This would leave a gap in the fleet where a testbed ship for new technologies would fit (the Pegasus was reputedly a testbed for some systems later used on the Enterprise-D), and the Nebula-class could help fill that gap.
So while the Miranda-class was coming out when Starfleet needed a short range version of the Constitution-class, that wasn't really true of the Nebula-class. It was coming out when Starfleet needed a testbed class that could be the big stick before the big stick with a nail in it came out, but also that could continue to be a testbed for new technologies as time went on.

UPDATED May.11.2024 If you have any info/links, or suggestions, please post below. \*for new changes*
________________________________________________________
NEW YORK Canvassing Event June 22nd-23rd - More Information - Sign up
________________________________________________________

NEW!

• STREAM SCHEDULE
  • Possible day or more off to recharge, maybe tomorrow (Sunday)
  • COMING UP: Few weeks off for personal and overseas travel

​

• Bridges Podcast - Future Guests
  • Dr. Flint Dibble
  • Devin Nash (& Anything Else guest)
  • Lily Pichu 💙

​

• X/TWITTER: Destiny scheduling an NYC meeting at X, Destiny the Dom Lemon replacement?
• MAYBE: Asking Piers Morgan to setup a Medhi Hasan Debate
• RELEASE: Twitter Spaces Destiny Debates Andrew Tate, Nick Fuentes And Sneako

​

• PREDICTABLE DODGE: Hasan banned "Piers" from his chat. No debate because he needs to spend an hour a day re-educating his audience with his Destiny fanfic, watching Destiny videos, reading this subreddit, and retweeting Groypers and Nazis.

​

• LAST WEEK: Destiny debates Fuentes & Tate, Seb Gorka, Dr. K Chat, Bridges - Task & Purpose, Devin Nash Convo, & media company discussion

​

• Destiny & Lonerbox in Israel Still planning as of May 08 Lots working in the background, potential large figures to talk to Might do a documentary, reaching out to YT doc makers like TTom, Channel 5/Andrew Callaghan, Kraig Adams (Kraig messaged in chat)

________________________________________________________

UPCOMING DEBATES & EVENTS

DEBATE/EVENT	DATE	TIME/LOCATION	LINKS/INFO
Bridges Podcast: Episode 09, R.A. the Rugged Man	May 13	3pm EST/7pm UTC	Bridges YT Channel
Hodge Twins	May 15	Las Vegas	Twins Pod YT
Bridges Podcast: Episode 10, Jordan Harbringer	June 8	3pm EST/7pm UTC	Bridges YT Channel
NEW YORK CANVASSING: Weekend of Action #2	June 22-23	Yonkers, New York	Info/Sign up! (No prior experience necessary)
Bridges Podcast: Episode 11, Mr. Beat	June 15	3pm EST/7pm UTC	Bridges YT Channel
Bridges Podcast: Episode 12, David Pakman	June 28		Bridges YT Channel
Bridges Podcast: Episode 13, Harley Morenstein	June 29		Bridges YT Channel (Maybe on Anything Else)
Bridges Podcast: Episode 14, Drew Pavlou	July 6		Bridges YT Channel

​
AVAILABLE SOON

Bridges Podcast: Episode 08, Task & Purpose (Chris Cappy) (Filmed May 11)	Releases on Bridges YT Channel
Seb Gorka hosted by Triggernometry (filmed May 10)	2 hour conversation - Trump vs. Biden, releasing on Triggernometry
Vice Documentary: (Redpill: Will air on their cable documentary channel (Tubi), 60-75 minute documentary exploring masculinity, manosphere, & economy of the internet, hosted by Vegas Tenold.	Releases summer, 2024. (Watch Destiny Video: filmed feb 21- Destiny talking to Vice while they film, 1hr)

CANCELLED

- David Beir: Immigration (TBR) - DJ Akademiks (To Be Rescheduled, TBR) 

UNCONFIRMED (tentative time frames, 3rd parties scheduling, creators interested to chat)

Maybe: Decoding The Gurus - Dman may use his right to reply
Wants to Chat: Michael Knowles) (said on Iced Coffee Hour Podcast)
Maybe: Dave Rubin Valuetainment trying to set debate
Tentative: Shlomo Ben-Ami After March 30th
Maybe: Jynxzi podcast appearance
Maybe: Kevin McCarthy saw the debate w/Shapiro, in talks
Invite: Michael Sartain invites Destiny to Vegas
3rd Party Contact: President of Israel, Isaac Herzog
3rd Party Contact: Einat Wilf
NBC Interview

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RECENT DEBATES & CONVERSATIONS

• Dr. K/HealthyGamerGG A Chat With Destiny
• Twitter Spaces Destiny Debates Andrew Tate, Nick Fuentes And Sneako
• Fresh and Fit Sulaiman Ahmed on Israel-Palestine
• Brad Polumbo Campus Protests, U.S. Israel Funding
• Breaking Points Destiny vs Omar Baddar & Ryan Grim
• Minds Fest 2024 Street Interview, Austin Texas
• Minds Fest 2024 Election Integrity Debate
• Campus Engagement UTAustin Encampment Interviews
• Piers Morgan Dave Smith & Benny Johnson Trump's Trial, Kennedys, threat of nuclear war
• Peter Boghossian Virtue Signaling, Grifting, Echo Chambers
• CSPAN Washington Journalw/ Brad Polumbo on Social Media, Young Voters, & Campaign 2024
• Decoding The Gurus Episode 100 Destiny: Debate King and/or Degenerate?
• The Boyscast Why Everyones Full of Sh*t, WW3, Trump Trial & Debating JBP & Shapiro
• Live From The Table Gaza and Gaming, A Meeting with Destiny aka Steven Bonnell
• The Will Cain Show What it is to be an American
• Eli Hassell Discussion on Iran attack on Israel (April 2024)
• Jordan B. Peterson Streaming, Politics, & Philosophy
• Lex Fridman Israel-Palestine Debate: Finkelstein, Destiny, M. Rabbani & Benny Morris
• Nathan J. Robinson Israel-Hamas, Ukraine, Twitter Feud
• Piers Morgan Destiny vs Benny Johnson vs Dave Smith
• Chris Williamson Have We Reached Peak Stupidity?
• Piers Morgan w/Tomi Lahren Trump, Biden, Israel-Hamas & more
• Lauren Chen Onlyfans, Redpill, Polyamory & More
• David Pakman (31 minutes) Political Activism, Right Wing Extremists
• Ian Crossland Has the American electoral system failed us?
• Iced Coffee Hour Ben Shapiro, Toxic Wokeism and Getting Divorced
• Noah Smith Geopolitics
• Destiny & The New World of Internet Politics
• More...

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PODCASTS, BIG DEBATES, I/P, & MORE

CANVASSING

• DGG Canvassing Documentary Behind the scenes & short Destiny interview
• Ohio Canvassing Streams Feb 10th-11th.2024 Interviews w/Legislators & Roundtables

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BRIDGES PODCAST

• Bridges Podcast Episode 01: Jeremiah Johnson (Full Vod) (August Edit)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 02: Ryan McBeth (Full Vod) (August Edit)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 03: Krassensteins (Full Vod) (August Edit)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 04: J.J McCullough (Full Vod) (August Edit)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 05: Your Movie Sucks (Full Vod) (August Edit)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 06: Richard Lewis (Full Vod) (August Edit)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 07: Turkey Tom (Full Vod)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 08: Chris Cappy/Task & Purpose (Full Vod) (May 11)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 09: R.A. the Rugged Man (Full Vod) (May 13 )
• Bridges Podcast Episode 10: Jordan Harbringer (June 08)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 11: Mr. Beat (June 16)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 12: David Pakman (June 28)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 13: Harley Morenstein (June 29)
• Bridges Podcast Episode 14: Drew Pavlou (July 06)

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ANYTHING ELSE? PODCAST

• Anything Else Podcast Episode 00 & Episode 01
• Anything Else Podcast Episode 02
• Anything Else Podcast Episode 03
• Anything Else Podcast Episode 04 w/Your Movie Sucks
• Anything Else Podcast Episode 05 W/Richard Lewis
• Anything Else Podcast Episode 06
• Anything Else Podcast Episode 07

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BIG DEBATES & CONVERSATIONS

• BEN SHAPIRO DEBATE: YOUTUBE AUDIO TRANSCRIPT APPLE PODCASTS SPOTIFY
• Jordan B. Peterson Streaming, Politics, & Philosophy
• Jan 6th Debate Alex Jones, Glenn Greenwald, Ed & Brian Krassenstein, Darren Beattie
• Glenn Greenwald Round 2 of January 6 Debate
• Candace Owens Culture, Politics, Current Events, College Education

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ISRAEL-PALESTINE DEBATES & CONVERSATIONS

• Dr. Benny Morris Israel & Palestine
• Lex Fridman Israel-Hamas Debate: Finkelstein, Destiny, M. Rabbani & Benny Morris
• Breaking Points Destiny vs Omar Baddar
• Eli Hassell Discussion on Iran attack on Israel (April 2024)
• Eli Hassell Former ME Minister Ivan Lewis Israel-Hamas War
• Eli Hassell Simcha Rothman Israel-Hamas War
• Ryan Grim Grim's October 7th Sexual Violence Article
• Marc Lamont Hill Israel - Hamas War
• Cenk Uygur Round 2 Israel-Hamas War

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MORE

• Minds Fest 2024 Street Interview, Austin Texas
• Campus Engagement UTAustin Encampment Interviews
• Turkey Tom Inside the Mind of Destiny (Documentary)
• Appearance Turkey Tom: The Gun Youtubers of San Antonio
• Cornell Political Union Military aid for Ukraine & Israel
• DnD Campaign Save or Die
• Jubilee Liberals and Conservatives Are More Similar Than You Think
• Jubilee Black Conservatives vs White Liberals Middle Ground

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DEBATE BREAKDOWNS

Cenk Uygur: Israel - Hamas War
Lisa Elizabeth: Systemic racism
Meghan Murphy: Is sex work immoral?
(2019) Hasan Piker: Kamala Harris (Bridge Burn)
(2019) Sargon of Akkad: What is a woman?

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DESTINY'S OBSIDIAN NOTES Direct Link Israel-Palestine Reddit Post
DESTINY'S SUBSTACK Direct Link
DESTINY WIKI POSITIONS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
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Many thanks to:

• https://destiny.gg/schedule/
• https://www.omniversus.io/
• u/valdebich amazing Last Week on Destiny breakdowns
• Adam Ahke editor of the debate breakdowns

If you have any suggestions, info/links or additions, please post so I can update.