so for context, i (18f) am bisexual and definitely have a preference for women and my boyfriend (19m) is 100% aware of this and respects it. this will make sense later i swear; so let's call my boyfriend bob to make this easier. bob has only ever been in one serious relationship before this one, they apparently were quite "toxic" and were on and off for 3ish years.
me and bob have been dating for just over a year and it's been great. besides him getting mad over me and multiple female friends getting in our male friends car to get from point A-B or to simply go for a drive since we live in a pretty small town. mind you, these aren't just random male friends -they're 2 people we have known way before i knew my boyfriend existed and we have never flirted or had any romantic connection in any way. i never thought anything was wrong with this until bob said it made him uncomfortable that other men were driving me around (he also didn't have a license at the time)
as he's always treated me well and i respect him, i stopped going out for rides with these guys and continued with going out on the weekends with the girls. but almost every time he would pick a guy or two that went to the function and ask me a million questions about them and act as if i was interested or if the guy was around me. what really annoys me about this is that he knows i am pretty easily 'off-put' by most men and my preference for women. the amount of men he has told me to remove as followers etc… even my plug😭
he has NEVER raised even the slightest suspicion about girls im around or new female friends i make, but any new male he gets super uptight about. i have never cheated on him let alone anyone and I've actually been cheated on in the past, so i know the pain and i could never do that to someone which bob is also aware of.
i don't use snapchat, i barely post on socials, this is actually my first post here (yay??) and id let him sift through my phone if he asked. despite this, he looked through my phone one night after i was knocked out from a 10 hour shift and all he found was personal messages from my two (17f, 18f) best friends. i was super upset about this but let it go eventually. now, i felt really bad for doing this; a few (maybe 3) months later i couldn't sleep and was watching netflix on my laptop and his phone charging next to me started ringing about 2 calls before i picked up and it was just bobs (19m) best friend wanting something from bob. i let the best friend know he was asleep and that i'd get bob to call in the morning.
instead of switching his phone off, i started looking through the almost 300 friends he had added on facebook. i found his ex, PLENTY (mostly) females and got so upset. since he still had his ex added i got suspicious and looked through his notes where he has a list made WHEN DATING ME with a code of the nsfw activities he's done and with who. it was disgusting and my name was of course in there.
then, recently he "didn't plan" to run into these two females with his mate who has a crush on one. apparently the 4 of them sat in a park together and "talked" and when telling me about it said "don't be mad" when these are random girls he barely knows and i've cut off males i've been friends with since middle school.

Hello everyone, I am totally new to Docker and I have been stuck on this for around 5 days now. I have a web app where my frontend is using react and Node.js and my backend is using C#, aspNet, to run as a server.
I have handled CORS policy blocking as below for my frontend (running on localhost:3000) to communicate with my backend (running on localhost:5268), and they work fine.
The code that handles CORS policy blocking:

var MyAllowSpecificOrigins = "_myAllowSpecificOrigins"; var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args); builder.Services.AddCors(options => { options.AddPolicy(name: MyAllowSpecificOrigins, policy => { policy.WithOrigins("http://localhost:3000/") .AllowAnyMethod() .AllowAnyHeader(); }); }); builder.Services.AddControllers(); builder.Services.AddHttpClient(); var app = builder.Build(); app.UseHttpsRedirection(); app.UseCors(MyAllowSpecificOrigins); app.UseAuthorization(); app.MapControllers(); app.Run(); 

However, when I implement Docker into my code and run the command docker run -p 5268:80 App to start Docker of my backend, I received an error on my browser:

Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'http://localhost:5268/news' from origin 'http://localhost:3000' has been blocked by CORS policy: Response to preflight request doesn't pass access control check: No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. 

I add Krestrel to appsetting.json to change the base service port as below:

 "Kestrel": { "EndPoints": { "Http": { "Url": "http://+:80" } } } 

Here is my Dockerfile:

# Get base SDK Image from Microsoft FROM AS build-env WORKDIR /app ENV ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:80 EXPOSE 80 # Copy the csproj and restore all of the nugets COPY *.csproj ./ RUN dotnet restore # Copy the rest of the project files and build out release COPY . ./ RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o out # Generate runtime image FROM WORKDIR /app COPY --from=build-env /app/out . ENTRYPOINT [ "dotnet", "backend.dll" ] 

Here is my launchSettings.json file's content:

{ "_comment": "For devEnv: http://localhost:5268 and for proEnv: https://kcurr-backend.onrender.com", "iisSettings": { "windowsAuthentication": false, "anonymousAuthentication": true, "iisExpress": { "applicationUrl": "http://localhost:19096", "sslPort": 44358 } }, "profiles": { "http": { "commandName": "Project", "dotnetRunMessages": true, "launchBrowser": true, "applicationUrl": "http://localhost:5268", "environmentVariables": { "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development" } }, "https": { "commandName": "Project", "dotnetRunMessages": true, "launchBrowser": true, "applicationUrl": "https://localhost:7217;http://localhost:5268", "environmentVariables": { "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development" } }, "IIS Express": { "commandName": "IISExpress", "launchBrowser": true, "environmentVariables": { "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development" } } }, } 

I did some research on this and found that I need to use NGINX to fixed it, so I add nginx.conf and tell docker to read nginx.config as well as below:
now my Dockerfile only has:

# Read NGIXN config to fixed CORS policy blocking FROM nginx:alpine WORKDIR /etc/nginx COPY ./nginx.conf ./conf.d/default.conf EXPOSE 80 ENTRYPOINT [ "nginx" ] CMD [ "-g", "daemon off;" ]mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:7.0mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:7.0 

here is nginx.conf:

upstream api { # Could be host.docker.internal - Docker for Mac/Windows - the host itself # Could be your API in a appropriate domain # Could be other container in the same network, like container_name:port server 5268:80; } server { listen 80; server_name localhost; location / { if ($request_method = 'OPTIONS') { add_header 'Access-Control-Max-Age' 1728000; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'Authorization,Accept,Origin,DNT,X-CustomHeader,Keep-Alive,User-Agent, X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type,Content-Range,Range'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET,POST,OPTIONS,PUT,DELETE,PATCH'; add_header 'Content-Type' 'application/json'; add_header 'Content-Length' 0; return 204; } add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'Authorization,Accept,Origin,DNT,X-CustomHeader,Keep-Alive,User-Agent, X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type,Content-Range,Range'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET,POST,OPTIONS,PUT,DELETE,PATCH'; proxy_pass http://api/; } } 

when I build docker by running: docker build -t kcurr-backend . and then running command docker run -p 5268:80 kcurr-backend, no error shown on console as below:

2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: using the "epoll" event method 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: nginx/1.25.5 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: built by gcc 13.2.1 20231014 (Alpine 13.2.1_git20231014) 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: OS: Linux 6.6.22-linuxkit 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE): 1048576:1048576 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker processes 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 7 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 8 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 9 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 10 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 11 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 12 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 13 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 14 

However, I still cannot connect my frontend to my backend and received the same error on the browser as before, I also received a new error on the console as below :

2024/05/14 05:58:42 [error] 8#8: *1 connect() failed (111: Connection refused) while connecting to upstream, client: 192.168.65.1, server: localhost, request: "GET /curcurrency-country HTTP/1.1", upstream: "http://0.0.20.148:80/curcurrency-country", host: "localhost:5268", referrer: "http://localhost:3000/" 2024/05/14 05:58:42 [error] 7#7: *2 connect() failed (111: Connection refused) while connecting to upstream, client: 192.168.65.1, server: localhost, request: "POST /news HTTP/1.1", upstream: "http://0.0.20.148:80/news", host: "localhost:5268", referrer: "http://localhost:3000/" 192.168.65.1 - - [14/May/2024:05:58:42 +0000] "POST /news HTTP/1.1" 502 559 "http://localhost:3000/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/123.0.0.0 Safari/537.36" "-" 192.168.65.1 - - [14/May/2024:05:58:42 +0000] "GET /curcurrency-country HTTP/1.1" 502 559 "http://localhost:3000/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/123.0.0.0 Safari/537.36" "-" 

Does anyone know what I should do to fix the CORS policy blocking for my dockerized backend?
please help.

Hello everyone, I am totally new to Docker and I have been stuck on this for around 5 days now. I have a web app where my frontend is using react and node.js and my backend is using C#, aspNet, to tun as server.
I have handled CORS policy blocking as below for my frontend (running on localhost:3000) to communicate with my backend (running on localhost:5268), and they work fine.
The code that handles CORS policy blocking:

var MyAllowSpecificOrigins = "_myAllowSpecificOrigins"; var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args); builder.Services.AddCors(options => { options.AddPolicy(name: MyAllowSpecificOrigins, policy => { policy.WithOrigins("http://localhost:3000/") .AllowAnyMethod() .AllowAnyHeader(); }); }); builder.Services.AddControllers(); builder.Services.AddHttpClient(); var app = builder.Build(); app.UseHttpsRedirection(); app.UseCors(MyAllowSpecificOrigins); app.UseAuthorization(); app.MapControllers(); app.Run(); 

However, when I implement Docker into my code and run the command docker run -p 5268:80 kcurr-backend to start Docker of my backend, I received an error on my browser:

Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'http://localhost:5268/news' from origin 'http://localhost:3000' has been blocked by CORS policy: Response to preflight request doesn't pass access control check: No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. 

I add Krestrel to appsetting.json to change the base service port as below:

 "Kestrel": { "EndPoints": { "Http": { "Url": "http://+:80" } } } 

Here is my Dockerfile:

# Get base SDK Image from Microsoft FROM AS build-env WORKDIR /app ENV ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:80 EXPOSE 80 # Copy the csproj and restore all of the nugets COPY *.csproj ./ RUN dotnet restore # Copy the rest of the project files and build out release COPY . ./ RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o out # Generate runtime image FROM WORKDIR /app COPY --from=build-env /app/out . ENTRYPOINT [ "dotnet", "backend.dll" ]mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:7.0mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:7.0 

Here is my launchSettings.json file's content:

{ "_comment": "For devEnv: http://localhost:5268 and for proEnv: https://kcurr-backend.onrender.com", "iisSettings": { "windowsAuthentication": false, "anonymousAuthentication": true, "iisExpress": { "applicationUrl": "http://localhost:19096", "sslPort": 44358 } }, "profiles": { "http": { "commandName": "Project", "dotnetRunMessages": true, "launchBrowser": true, "applicationUrl": "http://localhost:5268", "environmentVariables": { "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development" } }, "https": { "commandName": "Project", "dotnetRunMessages": true, "launchBrowser": true, "applicationUrl": "https://localhost:7217;http://localhost:5268", "environmentVariables": { "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development" } }, "IIS Express": { "commandName": "IISExpress", "launchBrowser": true, "environmentVariables": { "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development" } } }, } 

I did some research on this and found that I need to use NGINX to fixed it, so I add nginx.conf and tell docker to read nginx.config as well as below:
now my Dockerfile has additional section:

# Get base SDK Image from Microsoft FROM AS build-env WORKDIR /app ENV ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:80 EXPOSE 80 # Copy the csproj and restore all of the nugets COPY *.csproj ./ RUN dotnet restore # Copy the rest of the project files and build out release COPY . ./ RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o out # Generate runtime image FROM WORKDIR /app COPY --from=build-env /app/out . ENTRYPOINT [ "dotnet", "backend.dll", "--launch-profile Prod" ] # Read NGIXN config to fixed CORS policy blocking FROM nginx:alpine WORKDIR /etc/nginx COPY ./nginx.conf ./conf.d/default.conf EXPOSE 80 ENTRYPOINT [ "nginx" ] CMD [ "-g", "daemon off;" ] 

here is nginx.conf:

upstream api { # Could be host.docker.internal - Docker for Mac/Windows - the host itself # Could be your API in a appropriate domain # Could be other container in the same network, like container_name:port server 5268:80; } server { listen 80; server_name localhost; location / { if ($request_method = 'OPTIONS') { add_header 'Access-Control-Max-Age' 1728000; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'Authorization,Accept,Origin,DNT,X-CustomHeader,Keep-Alive,User-Agent, X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type,Content-Range,Range'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET,POST,OPTIONS,PUT,DELETE,PATCH'; add_header 'Content-Type' 'application/json'; add_header 'Content-Length' 0; return 204; } add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'Authorization,Accept,Origin,DNT,X-CustomHeader,Keep-Alive,User-Agent, X-Requested-With,If-Modified-Since,Cache-Control,Content-Type,Content-Range,Range'; add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'GET,POST,OPTIONS,PUT,DELETE,PATCH'; proxy_pass http://api/; } } 

when I build docker by running: docker build -t kcurr-backend . and then running command docker run -p 5268:80 kcurr-backend, no error shown on console as below:

2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: using the "epoll" event method 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: nginx/1.25.5 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: built by gcc 13.2.1 20231014 (Alpine 13.2.1_git20231014) 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: OS: Linux 6.6.22-linuxkit 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE): 1048576:1048576 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker processes 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 7 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 8 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 9 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 10 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 11 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 12 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 13 2024/05/14 05:58:36 [notice] 1#1: start worker process 14 

However, I still cannot connect my frontend to my backend and received the same error on browser as before, I also received a new error on the console as below :

2024/05/14 05:58:42 [error] 8#8: *1 connect() failed (111: Connection refused) while connecting to upstream, client: 192.168.65.1, server: localhost, request: "GET /curcurrency-country HTTP/1.1", upstream: "http://0.0.20.148:80/curcurrency-country", host: "localhost:5268", referrer: "http://localhost:3000/" 2024/05/14 05:58:42 [error] 7#7: *2 connect() failed (111: Connection refused) while connecting to upstream, client: 192.168.65.1, server: localhost, request: "POST /news HTTP/1.1", upstream: "http://0.0.20.148:80/news", host: "localhost:5268", referrer: "http://localhost:3000/" 192.168.65.1 - - [14/May/2024:05:58:42 +0000] "POST /news HTTP/1.1" 502 559 "http://localhost:3000/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/123.0.0.0 Safari/537.36" "-" 192.168.65.1 - - [14/May/2024:05:58:42 +0000] "GET /curcurrency-country HTTP/1.1" 502 559 "http://localhost:3000/" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/123.0.0.0 Safari/537.36" "-" 

Does anyone know what I should do to fix the CORS policy blocking for my dockerized backend?
please help.

I have been working part time as a personal trainer for nearly 4 years. The people I work for in that time and that own the business have been some of the nastiest, verbally abusive, and petty people I have ever known. They lie to clients, steal money, and are just down right scum. The only reason I have stayed is because I love my clients. They make the awfulness better and I have personally become friends outside of this job with many of them. But recently the owners went on a business trip and asked me to be on site for over a week (no extra compensation mind you) and make sure there were no issues, and to watch the small retail shop where they sell supplements and other things.
Well they just got back this weekend and since they have been back I have been bombarded with the nastiest messages about stupid things (like there was a spider in the window and someone left a waterbottle in the bathroom. One such message was a threat about inventory because "the stock of supplements better add up or else.") This is just how they are...
So I'm deciding to quit and move on. I have an opportunity to continue my work at my home (it is small and I don't have all the equipment I need, but it would work.) Or our biggest competitor down the street has asked for me to join them for years but I refused because "it would really anger my current employer."
Either way I'm leaving, but I want to have my bases covered. In my time working here I have been the longest tenured employee. I have seen about nine trainers leave (most of them have been rage quitting over the owners and the way they were treated.) But every single one of them has cautioned me that when I leave the owners will try to ruin me. One trainer was accused of stealing and had a police report filed, and they didn't steal anything. The other was threatened that if they did not delete all their clients off of Facebook there would be consequences. These people are sue happy and have about six active lawsuits over the smallest thing while I've been here. Not to mention the say derogatory stuff and spread rumors about the trainers that left with current clients.
I know me leaving will push clients to leave also. Most no doubt will follow me to wherever I end up. And I'm expecting my employers to come after me big time since I've been here so long and have made a big impact on generating business. I have never signed anything for them, no non compete, no paperwork, nothing. But I fear they may try to spin it and forge my signature or say I stole equipment. It is just a mess, but I am done being bullied by them because I very much cared for this business at first and made every effort for them to be successful, but it's time to leave.
What should I do before I quit? Should I have a lawyer on standby? What legally can they do to me? They have nothing from what I can see. All the other former employees got out of the business because they were so scared of them and what they could do.

As always:

• Be cautious when buying from people you don't know.
• Scammers are a real threat.
• If it's too good to be true, it probably is.
• Always check the person's post history and account age before transacting with them.
• Paypal Goods & Services is highly recommended.
• if your attending this festival, protect you cellphone and valuables, pickpockets ruin everything for everyone, get a tether for your phone and tell your friends others to be cautious.

Disclaimer: Tickets are technically non-transferable as per the festival. This thread is simply a community resource; you assume all risk & responsibility for buying or selling tickets with others here.
Rules

All tickets for sale must have a price listed. All tickets must be listed at **face value** (i.e. the original price you bought it for) or lower. If your ticket has been sold, please edit your listing to mark it as sold or delete your comment. If you are interested in buying a seller's ticket, please DM them. Do not negotiate on the thread. Do not list your contact methods (phone number, IG, Facebook) publicly. Wait until you get to the DM phase to share that information. Let's use some common sense here and not doxx ourselves. 

Any listings breaking any of these rules will be removed.
If you suspect someone is scamming, please message the ARCMusicFestival Mod Team directly so that we can take action swiftly: https://reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/ARCMusicFestival.
Paypal Goods & Services is highly recommended.
Guys, i'm getting messages of users getting scammed.
PLEASE USE PAYPAL GOODS AND SERVICES only!

• Avoid these scammers:
• u/MaleEase86
• u/FrontalHardship (Reg-Lin-12 "Regina Lincourt")
• u/bigdisable
• u/Intelligent_Elk286
• u/SuperbDription443
• u/Angelichuckster70
• u/affixedinnings153
• u/adityakumarrim
• u/KosherCaught
• u/Low-Cat9799
• u/Worried-Purpose-6424
• u/AstronautSea6750
• u/Ok_Caterpillar7040
• u/Icy-Throat-5336 (Just scammed someone 30-AUG-2023)
• u/internal_ideal_9097
• u/gentlyuntruefutility This person is definitely a scammer. Listed as a potential scammer on the coachella reddit. I google searched his number and this came up on reddit below.

Strainedjugular using the number (419)359-4243 and Venmo accounts @cmack274 @colecopeland @deehughes96 @Timothy-Green-350 @Jenorice-Jones @Stalana-Hutton @Hlb03 @Dianejackson2012 @BriannaJ92 @Breshiya-Madison @gabioconnell
Link from last years buy sell megathread

Today I read of the guy that falsey reported sandy hook shooting never happened and how some think anyone should be able to report or say any falsehood they want. And to them I want to share my own experiences and show why we need some accountability and laws to prevent this from happening to other people. I will never be the same as I was because of someone's conspiracy theory.
In 2020 I was healthy of mind and body. I was active on Facebook, reddit, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I'm almost 50 and a mother of 7 and grandmother of 5. I've suffered from social anxiety and depression bit had that under control. I have a soft spot for helping abused children. My bank card rounded up to the nearest dollar and the change went to help prevent child abuse. I studied child development and child psychology in college. I am ex military and have some ptsd (the social anxiety and depression) but again under control. In 2020 there was false news coming on Facebook about children being abducted, abused in numerous ways and it broke my heart. I had to help. I was drawn in to a conspiracy theory due to my heart hurting for these children that were missing or abused. Around October I was told via comments to look up the fall of cabal videos on YouTube to get even more information about how children were being hurt. Like a dumbass that (even though I finished college) was still so gullible I went and watched all 10 videos. This conspiracy theory didn't just touch on children being hurt and abducted but my religious beliefs and my distrust of politicians. At video 10 I was so afraid but not the same way others were. You see the Bible says we won't know who Jesus or God is until Satan is revealed. So I saw this conspiracy theories idea of jfk Jr coming back not as Jesus or God but as Satan and Trump was him. Most people believed this and saw this as a godsend buy I saw it as the ultimate evil on earth. It frightened me so bad I had a nervous breakdown. I lived inside my own mind for over 8 months. To this day I still don't leave my home, don't know what's real or not, and have deleted nearly all but reddit of my social media. To remind what sanity I now have I can not watch the news, go to places where others might verbally attack me and my TV time insist of dvds I have that I know by heart. In my head still we are in end times. I can't undo that thinking. I'm trying to see a professional through the va but they are booked till October.
Last July I tried to go to a family reunion in another state. I went into psychosis because of the videos and thought the worst things about my own family. I saw my family of Trump supporters as racist and the entire reunion as a kkk hoedown. While my ex pastor uncle danced and sung while playing horseshoes I saw my uncle dancing around a fire chanting hate. While my aunts sat by the river watching their pups swim I saw them planning that nights witch orgy. While my brother bar b qued beef and chicken I saw a child's ribs and meat being cooked. I was in total psychotic break and it wasn't even a day since I was there. I was rushed home and tended to for the next two weeks while my spouse and children tried to bring my mind back to our home.
This is why we need only facts to be reported on news and if it's a fictional story then it needs disclaimers and it needs guidelines. If the word news is in the name it needs to be factual and unbiased even if it's news and entertainment. News needs to be factual and unbiased. There's no entertainment in news. It's suppose to bore the kids like it did me as a child.
Some of you will disagree and say I should know how to tell what's real and not but you might be forgetting that I am not you. No one is you. Some people are gullible and they need to be protected. The ones that normally tell me it's my fault are normally the ones saying we need to protect everything. We'll my mind should have been protected. There should have been disclaimers. There should have been rules so others like me didn't get drawn in and start believing these horror stories. I can no longer go to the park with my grandchildren out of fear. I'm too afraid to leave my home because of this conspiracy theory that took my faith, my love for children and corrupted them. I question the Bible and still feel the fear of end times all the time. I can't support anything that tries to help children afraid I'm supporting another conspiracy theorist. My entire life has been turned upside down because someone or a group decided to play with my gullibility.
I'm glad that family won their lawsuit. I hope laws begin to take place to protect families like mine ND theirs. And to those spreading the lies I hope this finds you so you can see just how much those lies have hurt this family. I hope you rot in hell and Satan has his way with you. I hope God does not forgive you for leading some of his children astray and for hurting those you have hurt. I hope his vengeance is as horrible for you as you have made my life. And normally I never wish harm on anyone because it's not very Christian.

GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”) was announced a few hours ago by OpenAI, and although the announcement livestream is good, the real gold nuggets are in the 22 demo videos they posted on their channel.
I watched all of them, and here are the key takeaways and use cases we all should know. 👍🏻
A. The Ultimate Learning Partner
What is it? Give GPT-4o a view of the math problem you’re working on, or the objects you want to learn the language translation of, and it can teach you like no other tool can.
Why should you care? Imagine when you can hook up GPT-4o to something like the Meta Rayban glasses: then you can always have it teach you about whatever you are looking at. That can be a math problem, an object you want translated, a painting you want the history of, or a product that you want get the reviews of online. This single feature alone has incredibly many use-cases!
🔗 Video 7, Video 8
B. The Perfect Teams Meeting Assistant
What is it? Having an AI assistant during Teams meetings, whom you can talk to the same way you talk to your colleagues.
Why should you care? Their demo didn’t expound on the possibilities yet, but some of them can be…

• having the AI summarise the minutes and next steps from the meeting
• having the AI look up info in your company data and documentation pages (e.g. “what’s the sales from this month last year?”)
• having the AI work on data analysis problems with you (e.g. “create a chart showing sales over the past 5 years and report on trends”)

🔗 Video 5
C. Prepare for Interviews like Never Before
What is it? Have GPT-4o act like the company you’re interviewing for.
Why should you care? What’s changed is that the AI can now “see” you. So instead of just giving feedback on what you say, it can also give feedback on how you say it. Layer this on top of an AI avatar and maybe you can simulate the interview itself in the future?
🔗 Video 11
D. Your Personal Language Translator, wherever you go
What is it? Ask ChatGPT to translate between languages, and then speak normally.
Why should you care? Because of how conversational GPT-4o has become, the AI now helps not just with translating the words, but also the intonation of what you’re intending to say. Now pair this with GPT-enabled earphones in a few years, and you pretty much can understand any language (AirPods x ChatGPT, anyone?)
🔗 Video 3
E. Share Screen with your AI Coding Assistant
What is it? Share screen with your AI partner, and have them guide you through your work.
Why should you care? Now this is definitely something that will happen pretty soon. Being able to “share screen” to your AI assistant can help not just with coding, but even with other non-programmer tasks such as work in excel, powerpoint, etc.
🔗 Video 20
F. A future where AIs interact with each other
What is it? Two GPT-4o’s interacting with each other, that sounds indistinguishable from two people talking. (They even sang a song together!)
Why should you care? Well there’s a couple of use cases:

• can you imagine AI influencers talking to each other live on Tiktok? Layer this conversation with AI avatars and this will be a step beyond the artificial influencers you have today (e.g. the next level of @lilmiquela maybe?)
• can this be how “walled” AIs can work together in the future? example: Meta’s AI would only have access to facebook’s data, while Google’s AI would only have access to google’s - will the two AIs be able interact in a similar fashion to the demo, albeit behind-the-scenes?

🔗 Video 2
G. AI Caretaking?
What is it? Asking GPT-4o to "train” your pets
Why should you care? Given GPT-4o’s access to vision, can you now have AI personal trainers for your pets? Imagine being able to have it connect to a smart dog-treat dispenser, and have the AI use that to teach your dog new tricks!
🔗 Video 12
H. Brainstorm with two GPTs
What is it? The demo shows how you can talk to two GPT-4o’s at once
Why should you care? The demo video is centered around harmonizing singing for some reason, but I think the real use case is being able to brainstorm with two specific AI personalities at once:

• one’s a Devil’s Advocate, the other’s the Angel’s advocate?
• one provides the Pros (the Optimist), the other gives the Cons (the Pessimist)?
• maybe Disney can even give a future experience where you can talk to Joy and Sadness from the movie Inside Out? - that would be interesting!

🔗 Video 10
I. Accessibility for the Blind
What is it? Have GPT-4o look at your surroundings and describe it for you
Why should you care? Imagine sending it the visual feed from something like the Meta Rayban glasses, and your AI assistant can literally describe what you’re seeing, and help you navigate your surroundings like never before (e.g. “is what I’m holding a jar of peanut butter, or a jar of vegemite?”). This will definitely be a game-changer for how the visually impaired lives their daily lives.
🔗 Video 13
If this has been a tad bit insightful, I hope you can check out RoboNuggets where I originally shared this and other AI-related practical knowledge! (The links to the video demos are also there). My goal is not "AI daily news", as there's already too many of those, but instead share useful insights/knowledge for everyone to take full advantage of the new AI normal. Cheers! 🥚

Before submitting a comment about an issue, the #1 thing any user should do when they first experience issues with a new update is to follow these troubleshooting steps.

If issues still persist despite the efforts made in this thread, report the issue to cricut.

⭐⭐Print then Cut users⭐⭐
Calibrate your machine right after an update as your calibration settings will not carry over into the latest update. Follow the advice of the calibration guide. Then do a test print then cut of your project using plain printer paper.
If for some reason after calibration your cuts are still inaccurate, clear cache (the troubleshooting guide above this) and try calibration again.

If you are experiencing issues despite clearing cache, please give some background information:

• Cricut machine (Joy, Joy Xtra, Explore Air 2, Explore air 3, Maker, Maker 3, etc.).
• Device (Windows 10, Window 11, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android).
• Type of project you were attempting to do. (Basic cut, print then cut, drawing, foiling, scoring, etc.)
• Were you successful in doing this project in the past? Or is this a new project?

What has changed (Desktop v8.30.64)? Update on May 6, 2024.

Fixed field issues: This release

• The ability to customize the Card project enables users to select specific sizes and personalize them according to their preferences.
  
• After disabling specific contours, the bounding box encloses the remaining ones within the Canvas.
  
• Images not uploading.
  
• Upon selecting, it appears that some of the ‘Make It Now’ projects in the Canvas have disappeared.
  
• Right-clicking and selecting “View image sets” from the Layers panel often displays irrelevant images.
  

Last 6 weeks:
Over the last 6 weeks we've fixed 74 software defects, including the following priority field issues and reliability concerns:

• The ability to customize the Card project enables users to select specific sizes and personalize them according to their preferences.
  
• After disabling specific contours, the bounding box encloses the remaining ones within the Canvas.
  
• Images not uploading.
  
• Upon selecting, it appears that some of the ‘Make It Now’ projects in the Canvas have disappeared.
  
• Right-clicking and selecting “View image sets” from the Layers panel often displays irrelevant images.
  
• Selecting certain fonts in the font selection process is causing delays in rendering on the Canvas
  
• The text box fails to load on the Canvas, and adding a text field in Chinese is not possible
  
• Changes made to the latest project are lost upon sharing.
  

- Draw projects are being opened as cuts instead of drawings, resulting in a color change.
- Save a project on iOS, then open it on desktop, and notice that the changes fail to appear.

• The Canvas tab disappears and it takes longer for the Canvas tab to load.
  
• The saved project only shows letters on the Canvas, but double-tapping the text box reveals the entire sentences.
  
• After finishing cutting the mat that's off-screen, the scrollbar scrolled back to the top instead of moving to the next mat.
  
• My Stuff doesn't show any projects, and the collection is displayed without a name.
  
• Follow button is not working on profile page
  
• Profile links that are copied and pasted shows Blank home page.
  
• Forever stuck on the project details page, with both the customize and make buttons greyed out.
  
• Print Then Cut images appear distorted or the print preview is not accurate
  
• Print Then Cut images did not appear correctly on the cut screen.
  
• The Print Then Cut quality warning message is preventing the user from proceeding to make it.
  
• Clicking "View All" on recent uploads either redirects to the Inspire/Discover page or results in the inability to access the full set of uploaded images.
  
• The Canvas performance drastically slows down when inserting high-quality uploaded images.
  
• The functionality of the automatic background remover has stopped working.
  
• Uploaded high-resolution images, those above 300 DPI, are displaying low-resolution warnings.
  
• When uploading an image with a resolution exceeding 300 DPI, it undergoes downsizing, accompanied by a low-resolution warning message for each uploaded image.
  
• The image icon that regulates the number of images per line remains unresponsive.
  
• The image loses focus when resized, and after hiding contour and resizing, it becomes impossible to move the image upward in the Canvas.
  
• There are performance issues with Warp, as it takes more than a second to enter edit mode and experiences lag when additional characters are entered. Additionally, after completing editing and clicking outside the box, there is a delay.
  
• There's no prompt to confirm unsaved changes, and the previous unsaved Canvas disappears without any notification to replace or save it.
  
• Using the keyboard shortcut cmd + shift + left arrow key to highlight everything results in improper rendering of the highlight.
  
• When opening Image Sets, the images load closely together, and the Image Set name tile appears misplaced, positioned between the top and second row instead of the first row.
  
• When performing combine, subtract, intersect, or exclude operations and attaching them, the color or operations remains unchangeable.
  
• Upon launching the app, users encounter a white screen, a continuous spinner, and a missing refresh token.
  
• Even after power cycling and setting the load to go, the -18 machine connection error continues to persist
  
• When hovering over the mat control multiple times, the mat preview fails to appear.
  
• When toggling the mirror function, the mat selection jumps, causing the left side to scroll back to the top.
  
• Cannot remove images from a collection
  
• Completing the product setup for a second time with a different machine leads to going to the "Get Started" page without setting the correct machine type.
  
• The "Get Started" page on the left rail and the pointer finger suggest that there's a reason to click there.
  
• It's not possible to unlike projects, and an error message stating "unable to remove likes" is displayed.
  
• The bookmark icon fails to switch to "bookmarked" for image sets
  
• The private profile message fails to display, and opening a project link leads to an empty Canvas without the project
  
• The shared profile links are incomplete, leading to the home page instead of directing to the profile
  
• Card Mat - If users attempt to make or customize without selecting a finished size, they will be prompted with the error message, "Select a Finished Size to continue
  
• When adding a photo to the Project details, it's observed that the image is zoomed in excessively, making it impossible to zoom out sufficiently to display the entire photo.
  
• It is not possible to cancel a full-page Print Then Cut project from the Mat Prepare screen.
  

-After completing the cut with Print Then Cut and Basic Cut operations attached, the mat remains unloaded.
-Performing a second search after the initial one yields no results
-Attempting to open a project with numerous sticker groups results in the Canvas displaying a perpetual spinner, rendering the project inaccessible.
-Loading stickers with multi-layered complex projects from project details takes considerable time to customize or make, typically ranging from 5 to 7 minutes.

• The custom border feature fails to function properly with complex shapes and does not create sticker-cut interior shapes combinations as intended.
  
• The Offset function fails to work with intricate PNGs for creating sticker-cut interior shapes combinations, and the Apply button remains disabled, accompanied by a continuous green bar.
  
• When deleting a Warp within a sticker group, the border is not redrawn.
  
• When resizing the sticker image using the Kiss cut & Die-cut Edge option, the image vanishes from the Canvas.
  
• After ungrouping and regrouping the text, the font toolbar is unavailable for the group.
  
• Apostrophes and quotes fail to transform into their left-right variants, causing coded single and double quote marks to appear instead of the anticipated left and right variants.
  
• Text is positioned closer to the bottom right corner, resulting in incorrect text placement after opening a new Canvas and adding new text
  
• When using the delete button on the laptop to erase text, it becomes evident that the undo and redo functions are not operating correctly.
  
• After changing a color or moving an image, the undo feature fails to function.
  
• Users have the ability to delete uploaded images when using new Image Inspiration designs.
  
• When attempting to upload an image, a message indicating "unable to upload image" is displayed, prompting users to check their internet connection.
  
• The learning plan redirects to the Canvas instead of remaining on the home page.
  
• When the uploaded image is added to the Canvas, it displays an image load failure.
  

iOS

Version 5.67.0 was released on May 13, 2024.

App Improvements
Bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Read more about the update in the Apple Store.

Android

Version 5.59.0 was released on May 13, 2024.

App Improvements
Bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Read more about the update in the Google Play Store.

Possible trigger warning - fighting/cheating
So, I’m in a relationship. We’ve been dating for almost two years. I received a Snapchat from a random person, I had no idea. They asked me, “are you so and so’s gf” and I said yes. They said, “I have something to tell you” and I blocked them out of pure fear..
I decided, against my better judgment, to look at my partners Snapchat to see if they were on there. Which, they were. There were multiple sexts saved from before my partner and I got together, and one back and forth picture message from 8 months ago. When I asked my partner who this person was, they just said a friend from forever ago. When I told them about the messages and that I looked at their phone, only then did I get the full story.
My partner denies that it was anything sexual after we got together, but that this person was their best friend for years and it turned sexual and then they ended it. They only became friends on Snapchat again about 8 months ago. I never knew anything about this person, never knew they had this friend or anything of the sort.. but my partner did talk to her before about them being soulmates and that they, “mean no disrespect” regarding their partner at the time, but that they would always have a chance with my partner..
I just feel like there’s a whole side to my partner that I never knew and I feel like it was intentional to not tell me. I feel horrible for looking for the conversation first in their phone, but it became obvious that my partner wouldn’t have told me had I not had the information first.
We’ve fought a lot about this, and they blocked the person on Snapchat/Facebook. However, there were still messages on Facebook and all they let me see was my partner sending her their Snapchat code saying, “it wouldn’t let me search you so I hope this helps 🙏🏻❤️” and when I saw this, they grabbed the phone and deleted the rest of the messages.
I just feel heartbroken.. we are still together at the moment but I just feel so helpless. Has anyone experienced something like this? Am I the AH for being this upset? I just don’t know what to do..

I did some reading here this weekend about permanently disabling the Telematic Control Unit (TCU) in my 2021 Mazda 3 and wanted to share my experience for others interested in doing the same.
Yesterday, 05/12/2024, I unenrolled my vehicle from Connected Services and deleted my profile via the app.
Today, 05/13/2024, I called Mazda customer service after reading the following paragraph on Mazda's privacy policy website here:
"IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DISABLE OUR COLLECTION OF DEFAULT DATA FROM YOUR CONNECTED VEHICLE REGARDLESS OF MODEL YEAR, PLEASE CONTACT OUR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CENTER AT 1-800-222-5500."
The customer service representative I spoke with was extremely unhelpful. When I asked about permanently disabling the TCU, he questioned me several times as to why I would want to do so in the first place, stating it was used for diagnostics, to track my car if it was stolen, helps Mazda with R&D, etc etc. When I made it known I was aware of what disabling the TCU does and wished to proceed, he attempted to walk me through unenrolling from Connected Services. I informed him I'd already done so and asked for confirmation that this was what permanently disabled the TCU and he said it was. I knew better, but was at work at the time and couldn't go back and forth anymore. Even with Connected Services unenrolled, the vehicle is still collecting the following data:
“Driving Data”: driving behavior data, which includes the acceleration and speed at which your Connected Vehicle is driven and use of the steering and braking functions in your Connected Vehicle (Driving Data is collected for each driving trip and transmitted at each Ignition Off); and

• “Vehicle Health Data”: includes Vehicle Identification Number (VIN); odometer, fuel level, and oil life readings; Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs); and data from the Connected Vehicle’s OBD system (“OBD Data”). OBD Data includes, but is not limited to, engine coolant temperature, fuel injection volume, engine Rotation Per Minute (RPM), and the status of doors, hood, trunk, and hazard lights (Vehicle Health Data is transmitted at each Ignition-Off).

Note: Model Year 2019 – 2021 Mazda3 and Model Year 2020 – 2021 CX-30 vehicles collect geo-location coordinates of the Connected Vehicle’s latitude and longitude each time the Connected Vehicle is turned off as Default Data.
I called back later and spoke to another representative who attempted to have them permanently disable the TCU again. The representative I spoke to was very nice, but didn't know what I was even asking for and had to "look it up." She gave me the same speal mentioned earlier, but finally agreed to go through with the process. Unfortunately, she instructed me to delete the vehicle from Connected Services and when asked several times if that disabled the TCU affirmed that it was.
This, again, didn't seem right, however I took her at her word and hung up. An hour later, I thought it would be wise to get it in writing that the TCU was disabled so I called back again. The third rep I spoke to was far more knowledgeable and confirmed my suspicion that my second call was unsuccessful. She, however, did know how to complete the process and said she would have to escalate to another representative who will call me back in 24-48 hours and will actually send the "kill" command to permanently disable the TCU once and for all.
It's baffling how many hoops I had to jump through to have this done. The fact I got three different answers, or maybe I'll say 2.5 since the second representative did try to help me, is slightly ridiculous. After what I read here and on other forums, however, I should've expected as much.
I hope this helps anyone else interested in disabling their vehicle's TCU. I read that dealers may be able to do it too, but since I only spoke to Mazda directly I can't confirm that.

Hi! I hate how disorganized Facebook groups/Ig/snap is so I made a Uci only spreadsheet for subleasing ur place. If you want to sublease or find a sub letter just find one here or add ur info here!
If the sheet gets too crazy I’ll code a webapp so that you can’t gung ho delete everything and cause chaos.

Some jerk sold me a FAKE IPHONE for $600. I had to have apple verify for me since they would not having anything to do with a fake device. Ive been fighting to get my money back but is that a lesson to a seller? I found out since it's over $500 i can send the guy to prison too. He was selling all kinds of fake apple products on Facebook then deleted his account. I think it'll send a message out to all scammers. A chargeback is fair. But prison would be a lesson he wont forget

Noah The Pilgrim
First Next
There is one last thing to do before leaving. If you don't recall ever being on this ship, then surely, you could have had your appearance change too.
Why was there a blanket covering a mirror? You couldn't answer that with a straight face without speculation.
"Probably me being lazy and not bothering to properly place it in the wardrobe."
'Probably' is the main focus here, you simply cannot remember ever being that lazy, yet that's the only logical conclusion to be drawn here.
You pull the thing off, careful to not displace the mirror and risk breaking it.
You have no expectations as to what may appear on the glassy surface of the mirror, yet you can't help but feel a bit anxious. Are you the same as before? How were you before? You can't remember. Are you better? Worse? The blanket is now completely off the mirror, but your eyes are closed.
Whatever is it that you see when you open your eyes, that thing will be you for the rest of your life. You swallow, opening your eyes.
You see a young man that looks to be in his mid-twenties. His brown eyes stare back at you, analyzing the bags beneath your eye sockets. The dark hair is neither too long nor too short, floating about without order thanks to the lack of gravity to keep it down. You see a beard that has not been trimmed for weeks, but also lacks thickness, each singular hair isn't particularly long either; and some even appear to be in-grown.
You touch your hand against your face, making sure it's yours. The beard doesn't feel like you supposed it would against your skin, instead of it scraping your hand you feel softness, no resistance or anything.
Just beneath the face, you see what looks like a hate crime against all that is considered holy in fashion. Plain white coveralls with the added bonus of a black tie and boots made from metal and leather. On your chest is also a badge stuck in place by velcro with your name, occupation, and crew. 'NOAH - INTERN - THE ODYSSEY.'
Only one question came to mind.
"Who the fuck designed this uniform?" You say out loud, receiving no answer.
Patting your newfound myriad of pockets, you find a large quantity of nothing. You place your wallet in one of them.
"Alright, I'll head to the bridge now, happy?" You say the AI.
"HAPPINESS WILL ONLY MEET ME ONCE YOU ARE SOMEWHERE SAFE AND YOUR CONTRACT IS TERMINATED. STOP LOITERING."
Well, that's a bit rude.
You compose yourself, straightening your back. This is what you look like, and honestly? Not too bad, but you could be better.
Returning to the cafeteria, you eye the two doors left unexplored; Communications and the one without plaque. You know where you should, but... A little peek doesn't hurt, right?
"Shouldn't we try to communicate with someone? Assuming you haven't tried it yet. I know we're far from everything, but we might as well, no?" You ask already approaching the door.
"COMMUNICATIONS ROOM IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO REACH WITHOUT PROPER PROTECTION AS OF NOW, IT'S LOCATED APPROXIMATELY TWO HUNDRED METERS FROM HERE, BLOWN OFF FROM THE REST OF THE SHIP." A shame really. "I SHALL INFORM YOU WHENEVER A DOOR LEADS TO THE OUTSIDE OR NOT."
You really want to ask what blew a whole segment of the ship off, yet you have a sneaking suspicion that your question will be met with a 'YOU DON'T HAVE CLEARANCE, JACKASS' directly in your face. So you chose to remain silent, simply nodding and approaching the correct door this time.
"Open."
---OPENING CAFETERIA DOOR NORTH---
The door silently opens.
Greeting you is a well-lit corridor. There are three doors on your left, a door at the end of the corridor, and a large window on the right. At least, you think that's a window.
You stare out from this window, nothing but utter blackness and fragments from your ship are seen. If this is the edge of the universe, and beyond this point, there is truly nothing. "Dreadful." Your speech matches your feelings.
"WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?" The AI says. You feel like it spoke in a mocking tone despite their lack of emotion.
You don't answer. "First door to the left... EXO-EXPLORATION...? What's that supposed to mean?" You receive no answer.
"Open." The door opens. No declarion of it opening once again.
You are met with what could be better described as 'Apocalyptic levels of mess', paper sheets float in the air, and not one of the four tables is in its correct position.
This room has been ransacked for all its goods apparently. Large display glasses were broken leaving nothing inside their casings, that looked like they could store something with the size of the common man.
Unusual displays aside, the room was so cluttered that the trash made for an effective smoke screen against what lay on the other side.
Hissing of gas exiting an air-tight space rang throughout the room.
"I HAVE OPENED THE STORAGE FOR AN EXO SUIT THAT BEST FITS SOMEONE YOUR SIZE." The AI says. "ALTHOUGH AN INTERN SHOULD NOT COME IN CONTACT WITH TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS THIS ONE, PROTOCOL DICTATES THAT I AM TO ALLOW ITS USAGE UNDER EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES. CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY."
Easier said than done. Your vision is so cluttered that you cannot see what's ahead. "Give me a second."
Giving a light kick to the wall behind, you float face-first into the wall of thrash. Covering your face with both arms, you brace through the harmless bits of sharp objects and junk.
It's a trivial task. You arrive on the other side in no time.
In front of you is a set of boxes with luminous glass rectangles atop each one of them. All shine a bright red light, aside from one which shines green.
'Gotta be this one.'
You descend to the floor by kicking the ceiling, raising your right hand you touch the green rectangle.
*Click*
Nothing could have prepared you for the following series of events.
The box opens violently, as a metal appendage takes hold of your hand, pinning it to the box. You try to jerk and pry the thing off of you, but you fail. It's not leaving you anytime soon.
From the bottomless that is that container, a white plastic-like substance flows upward from your arm to the rest of your body. "Uh!" You don't know if you should panic or allow it to happen.
FYARN hasn't said anything, so it's probably fine...
The white thing seems to ignore the coveralls you are wearing completely, instead, it covers only your skin in a thin coat of... it. You know not what to call this thing.
In but forty seconds it has covered your whole body, excluding your head. The box lets go of your arm and stays there, floating.
You take a good look at your arms. It looks like a skin-tight suit, but it doesn't feel like plastic, in fact, it's more akin to some sort of fabric if anything.
The only bad part is that you are still using the coverall and tie, this this simply went beneath the clothing.
"GOOD, WITH THIS I CAN MONITOR YOU MORE CLOSELY. NOW PUT THE HELMET ON, YOU HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO."
You look around in search of anything that even resembles a helmet. Nope. Nothing. "Where is it?" You ask.
"...THE SUIT COMES WITHIN THE HELMET FOR EASIER PACKAGING."
The box?
You snatch the box that floated around and analyze it to the best of your ability. "How's this a helmet?"
"DO YOU NEED ASSISTANCE PUTTING ON A HELMET? REALLY?"
Who is this AI, Who programmed it, and Why does it come with a taunting feature?
As idiotic as it sounds, you place the opened box atop your head. It doesn't fit properly. Maybe you're doing this wrong? You move it to your face instead.
You recoil backward as you feel the box suddenly clamping down against your head. It's useless of course, the box is holding your head and doesn't give any sign to be letting go anytime soon. No light is able to reach your eyes.
You hear metal parts scraping against themselves, moving near your ears. Abruptly your eyes can see again.
A round thin layer of glass now covers your head, almost unnoticeable for how clear it is.
"WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY I CAN NOW SEE WHAT YOU SEE." The AI's voice isn't in the room now, instead, it's inside of the suit. "DO YOU NEED INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THIS SUIT'S FUNCTIONALITIES?"
You find it oddly comfortable as if you are surrounded by the softness of cotton, and to top it off the suit also has additional functionalities? "Hell yeah, I do!"
"YOU DO NOT HAVE THE NECESSARY CLEARANCE FOR THAT INFORMATION."
You sigh. Is this serious? "Then why the fuck did you ask?!"
"UNSAVORY LANGUAGE. IT'S NO WONDER WHY YOU REMAIN AN INTERN." The AI says outright. "IT IS RUDE NOT TO ASK, REGARDLESS OF THE SITUATION." It responds to your question.
"Okay then... Is there anything I need to know before heading out?" You ask.
"NOTHING THAT YOU WON'T FIGURE OUT ON YOUR OWN."
You are unsure if you want to 'figure out on your own' if this suit comes with breathable air and is also made for space exploration. You swallow.
Meekly as always, you get out of that mess of a room, stopping at the corridor.
"Next set of directions?" You ask.
"THE DOOR AT THE END OF CORRIDOR USED TO LEAD TO THE CONNECTING CORRIDORS BETWEN THE BRIDGE AND THE REST OF THE SHIP. IT HAS BEEN BLOWN UP FROM THE INSIDE. NOW IT LEADS TO THE OUTSIDE. GO TO THE DOOR AND WAIT BY IT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS."
"So let me get this straight," You begin, looking upwards as if the AI was above you. "You, want me, to go into the void of space, while also refusing to give me knowledge of the suit's functions?"
A fair worry, you summarize.
'I mean, there are a bunch of things that could go wrong here. I don't see anything that looks like it could help me move in space, nor do I think this thing has a built-in air tank... I could be wrong and I wish to be, but charging in without prior knowledge is ridiculous.' You wait for the AI's response, deep in thought.
"WHILE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE OF YOU FAILING THIS TASK, THERE IS ALSO THE CHANCE OF YOU *NOT* FAILING THE TASK. FOCUS ON EITHER ONE OF YOUR CHOOSING AS YOU TAKE THE PLUNGE."
Wordlessly, you propel yourself forward, toward the end of the corridor.
'Are you shitting me? 'Chance of me nor failing' my ass!' of course, you don't word those complaints, instead choosing to speak out a complaint somewhat thought through.
"Are you sure I'm the one fit for this? It's just like you said, I'm just an intern, this is way above what my job description says I should do."
This is a bit of a stretch. You don't actually remember what was your job description, only that it had something to do with AI and being an intern.
If the AI called your bluff, it'd be pretty embarrassing.
"NOAH." The AI began. "YOU ARE HUMAN, IT IS NATURAL TO HAVE THESE THOUGHTS OF SELF-DOUBT. TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND GO THROUGH THAT DOOR, AND SINCE YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE LEFT, DON'T EXPECT SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU."
Right in the money, huh? 'Of course, I have self-doubt! I barely remember anything about this place, now I have to risk my life?!'
You finally reach a conclusion.
A dream.
'Yes, yes! How did I not consider this before? This whole thing is a god damned dream!'
You let out a chuckle.
"NOAH."
'That's why I don't remember a thing. There is nothing here to remember! Everything here is a made-up thing from my brain! I'm sure I'll wake up at some point, so why shouldn't I live a little?!'
"Heh." You smile. "Alright, I'll do it." It feels like a weight left your shoulders.
"YOU SORTED IT OUT SOONER THAN EXPECTED. GOOD. MOVE TO THE DOOR AND WAIT INSTRUCTIONS."
You do as instructed without a care in the world. You never had a lucid dream before so it's not like you knew how it felt, but if it felt as free as you feel right now, you'd be sure to make steps toward trying it out again in the future.
"Open." The door does not open.
"I DID NOT INSTRUCT YOU TO OPEN IT YET." The AI said. "I AM SLOWLY DE-PRESSURISING THE CORRIDOR YOU ARE IN TO AVOID A MINOR ACCIDENT."
The AI says that yet you don't feel any different. 'Maybe there is no palpable difference because I'm in a dream... Yes... Or it's just the suit.'
"ONCE THE DOOR OPENS, YOU WILL BE MET WITH THE OUTSIDE OF THE SHIP. DO NOT PANIC WHEN THE TIME COMES. YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES OF BREATHABLE INSIDE THE EXO-SUIT; ONE AFTER THE DOOR OPENS, SO PLEASE, TAKE YOUR TIME AND DO THINGS CAREFULLY."
One minute outside... "Sure." You say, calmly. 'I should just hold my breath for a while before taking another moment to breathe. That should maximize my time out there.'
"THERE SHOULD BE FIFTY METERS OF NOTHINGNESS BETWEEN THE DOOR YOU'RE AT, AND THE REST OF THE BRIDGE. YOUR PRIORITY IS TO FIND AN OXYGEN UNIT, SOME OF THEM ARE LOCATED AT THE BRIDGE AND ARE FULL. USE THEM TO FILL YOUR SUIT AND ALSO TO DISPENSE A TANK FOR YOU."
The door opens. You feel your heart pounding against your chest.
You haven't noticed before, but you can't hear anything but the sound of your breath and your cardiac palpitations.
Your breath is ragged and sporadic.
"KEEP CALM." You take a deep breath. The tips of your fingers, feet, and nose feel very cold.
Ahead of you is the utter nothingness. You see a gigantic metal thing, nothing like the spaceships you imagined. Its design is not sleek and aero-dynamic like what you've seen in movies, instead, it's a large mass of squares and rectangles with antenna-like things protruding from its every visible surface.
You notice that the ship is also blocking your view of the star.
It does not look like the result of an explosion, instead, it looks like something ripped the ship like you rip a piece of paper. Well, that or you don't know what kind of explosion could have caused it. Probably the latter.
What looks like two-thirds of the ship is separated from the third you are right now. You can see the inside of a few of those squares, their contents spilled out into outer space.
One of them houses a visibly important-look door. Instead of the sleek silvery-grey from the other ones you've seen thus far, this one is painted orange with white strips on it. 'That must be the bridge.' You think.
Between you and it is a sea of metal sheets floating around. "THE CHANCES OF YOU HITTING THE DEBRIS IS INFINITEDECIMALLY SMALL, UNLESS YOU AIM FOR THEM, THAT IS."
Time is of the essence.
Will your aim strike true? If you miss you'd end up floating about in space, dead in but a few minutes. Will your jump be fast enough to reach the other side before you run out of oxygen? If it isn't, it'd be like swimming for a mile, only to drown at the beach. What if that's not the actual door to the bridge?
You don't have the time to panic now, and... It's all a dream, despite how real it feels.
You place your hands on each side of the door frame, moving backward into the corridor you were just in, and just like a sling being shot, you pull with both arms at full force towards the other side.
"AIM IS ACCEPTABLE. VELOCITY IS UNIDEAL."
"The fuck do you mean 'UN-IDEAL'?! I'm going at maximum speed!" You truly pulled yourself with your whole strength.
What's worse though, is that your body is not only going forwards, but it is also spinning at a concerningly fast rate.
"I MEAN WHAT I SAID, YOU SLINGSHOTTED YOURSELF AT A BAD POSITION, AS SUCH, SOME OF THE FORWARD FORCE YOU SHOULD HAVE, IS NOW MAKING YOU ROTATE IN YOUR AXIS. IT SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM TO REACH THE OTHER SIDE WITHIN THE REQUIRED TIME, BUT I CANNOT FORESEE YOU LANDING PROPERLY."
You feel completely disoriented. You feel like your body is completely still, but your eyes tell you a completely different story. It's very bad for the headache you're already feeling.
"FUCK!" You scream into the nothingness.
"TRY NOT TO LAND WITH YOUR HEAD." The AI says with the calmest voice possible.
In less than thirty seconds, you hit your back against something hard, but you keep moving forward. You think, at least.
"AHRG." You let out a pained grunt.
Not once in your life do you recall being hurt in a dream...
It stings. It also knocked the wind out of you. You fail to compose yourself.
"YOU HIT NOTHING OF IMPORTANCE. YOU ARE STILL HEADING FOR THE BRIDGE."
In the corner of your eye, you see what you hit in the shape of a sharp metal sheet, currently spinning away in the distance.
Forty seconds have passed. You hit the door you were aiming for, kind of.
Your momentum was stopped when your chest collided against the dislodged ledge of the orange door's corridor. Your dangling legs hit the ceiling of the room below.
"Oof!"
Before falling even further, you hold onto the ledge with the tip of your fingers. You stay there for a moment, regaining your composure.
"BE QUICK."
The AI's words pressured you into quickly getting up from that ledge.
"Open!" You shouted, but it did not open. "Why isn't it opening?!" You ask the AI, then you notice a small keyboard below an equally small black screen on the side of the door. There are ten numbered keys on it, and the little screen suggests a four-number password.
"A password?! Tell me the password!"
The AI takes a moment to say anything. You don't take kindly to that. "Quick! I'm not counting how much time it's passed!"
Finally giving in, the AI speaks to you, reluctant still. "...3324."
Your trembling fingers accidentally hit the wrong password, typing '3354' instead. To make matters worse, the AI simply states the following. "YOU ARE OUT OF OXYGEN."
You swallow. If this was a dream to begin with, it just earned the title of Nightmare, if it hadn't already.
Strangely enough, you can still breathe in and out just fine, but you can't help but feel winded. It's the CO2 still inside the helmet, that's what you're breathing.
You put in the correct combination this time. The door opens.
"ON YOUR LEFT. PLACE YOUR HAND IN THE SOCKET."
You care little for what's inside the room you're in. Your heart never beat so fast.
Seeing a cube-shaped thing protruding from the wall to your left, you don't even think twice before plunging your fist into the circular hole in it.
The noise of gases passing through narrow cavities was enough to tell you something was working. You feel immediate relief, enough to make your vision darken for but a moment.
"GOOD. NOW REQUEST THE TANK."
Just when FYARN said it, did you realize there is a screen and a keyboard on the terminal you just plunged your fist into, you scratch the top of your helmet for a moment, not really knowing what to type. One thing comes to your head, however.
'REQUEST OXYGEN_5L' You type.
You've done this before. The keys on this keyboard feel familiar to you. You must have worked with it before, not this particular one, but other oxygen units.
This ship has built-in liquid oxygen storage for emergencies. The life-support of the ship, the place where breathable air is produced, has most likely been lost with the other part of the ship. This unit takes that liquid oxygen, processes it, and injects it into a suit, or an oxygen tank. It seems like that storage was unaffected.
Lucky you.
A 5-liter tank is not only large but also heavy. It's a nonfactor in this particular situation, as there is no gravity.
The silver cylinder with a transparent tube is dispensed on the floor, as an automatic door opens and closes in the blink of an eye. One end of the tube is attached to the top of the tank, the other is shaped like a syringe.
Oddly enough, the oxygen tank is exactly as you remember it being. The same robust ones hospitals everyone on earth uses, with the signature scary-looking pointer indicating the pressure, the pointer indicating the current output, and a green valve atop to calibrate how much gas is flowing.
This is a stark difference to everything looking so futuristic in this ship, and rightfully so, this is a space ship after all.
You remember having to drive twenty kilometers with a buddy of yours on one of those tanks in your car, returning from the hospital. It was... Agonizing whenever you hit a hole in the asphalt, fearing for his life when in reality he wasn't really in danger.
It's warm to the touch, just like you remember it being.
"TURN THE VALVE UNTIL THE MARKER HITS THE NUMBER ONE, AND THEN PLACE THE END OF THE TUBE AT THE BASE OF THE HELMET." You do so without the slightest of issues.
"GOOD. NEXT UP, YOU MUST LOCATE THE TERMINAL RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENGINE, IT IS CURRENTLY OFFLINE AND I NEED YOU TO TURN IT ON. THIS SHOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING, BUT REMEMBER TO BRING THE TANK WITH YOU."
Ignoring that last comment, you look back at the wreckage you just flew past.
You see the still spinning metal sheet. You notice that the rest of the ship that was blown off also follows the 'sharp shape atop sharp shape' design.
There is one last thing you notice though.
"What is that?"
You squint your eyes. What are you seeing? Its silhouette appears to be humanoid, yet it does not look human.
"WHAT YOU ARE SEEING IS ONE OF THE OBJECTS BEING ANALYZED AT THE ODYSSEY AND NO, YOU MAY NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS."
That thing has... Horns? Claws? It's far away, you can't really see it. The thing is also static, frozen in the sheer coldness of space. Whatever it was, it's dead now.
You swallow. You almost ended up just like that thing.
Shaking those dreadful feelings off, you turn back to the task at hand, reaching the bridge. You close the door after passing through it again.
Looking at your surroundings, It seems like you've reached the correct door as you find yourself on the right-most corner of the bridge;
Row after row of the most diverse of terminals neatly organized decorated the gigantic room. At the front and above every terminal, is what you think should have been the front-facing window of the ship, but it looks like there is a cover in front of it. To your left, you see a staircase that leads to the command seats. It doesn't take any convincing before you're already atop the stairs.
Akin to the elevated stage of a theater, you float softly towards the ship's main operating terminals, and of course, the captain's seat.
You're captivated by this beauty.
The steering wheel, much more akin to those in pirate movies than those found in cars, a set of leavers, and the pilot's seat, all capture your attention.
Like its second nature, your hand runs through the levers and switches. Do you even know what these are used for? Maybe.
The pilot's seat is enveloped by what you believe to be an orthopedic seat cover, made with smooth wooden beads used to deal with back pains. It looks just like the ones you remember seeing bus drivers using.
Shouldn't there be a better alternative if there is spaceship technology available?
You try to take a seat to the best of your ability, as the zero gravity only makes it awkward.
Moving on from that, your eyes fall on the wheel. This metallic wheel controls the whole vessel. Just holding it fills your heart with confidence and pride, even if it's just for a moment.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
And you were just beginning to enjoy yourself.
"I just wanted to see the pilot's stuff... It's not like he's here to say anything."
Once in the position of a pilot, with your left hand in the wheel and the right hand resting in your lap, memories began to flood your mind.
"MUST I REMIND YOU OF OUR CURRENT PREDICAMENT? WHY ARE YOU WASTING OUR TIME?"
You pay the AI no mind, instead you focus on what you remember.
The wheel does not turn the ship left and right, instead, it rotates the ship on its own axis.
The lever to your right that goes up or down, controls the vertical tilting of the ship's nose, if there even is one in this hulking thing. Beneath it is another lever that goes either left or right. This one controls the horizontal tilting of The Odyssey.
On the left of the wheel is another lever, but this one only goes up from its starting position. Its purpose is to regulate the force of the ship's thrusters, both forward and backward.
On top of that lever is a small timer. That timer's function is to tell the pilot how much time you've spent accelerating in one direction, this is used to better calculate how long the inverse thrust is needed for the ship to reach the initial momentum, usually calibrated manually depending on the current orbit.
Behind the wheel are a few other counters. Acceleration, velocity, momentum, amount of thrust required to reach a full stop, thrusters' temperature and overall condition, those sorts of things.
Beneath it all, where your feet are rested, are two pedals. One for forward thrust activation, and the other for backward thrust activation.
Curiously, you also know the reason why everything here is so unsophisticated and un-automated. You recall stories of a ship being taken over by a rogue AI, that AI then nose-dived the ship into a star. After that, rumor or otherwise, all human technology has receded back into analog-esque equipment, requiring a physical person with opposable thumbs to do half of the work.
There is another side to that coin, however. As to not escape protocol, the onboard AI is the one that controls interstellar travel, communications, and most of the statistical reading should it be requested.
And even with all that knowledge, you still have no idea why the fuck do you remember that. Were you a ship nerd? Did you have a driver's license for spaceships? Is that even a thing? If it is, you don't have that document in your wallet. You simply don't know.
"ARE YOU A CHILD? DO YOU THINK THESE ARE TOYS? TURN ON THE ENGINES, THEN YOU CAN RETURN TO THE PILOT'S SEAT."
Another thing that you don't know is the AI's plan to get both of you out of here. You rise from the pilot's seat, floating about in search of the terminal to turn on the engines. Maybe you recognize that terminal if you see it as well.
"What's your plan anyway? The ship is half-gone, it's unlikely that it will run safely like this."
"NOT ONCE DID I MENTION 'SAFETY' DURING OUR CONVERSATIONS, DID I?"
You nod. They're not entirely incorrect. "So, we're running with hope that this will work?"
"MY CREATORS DID NOT ALLOW ME TO HAVE THE SENSE OF 'HOPE', BUT NEITHER DID THEY ALLOW ME TO PEER INTO THE FUTURE LIKE SOME OF MY MORE ADVANCED BROTHERS, AS SUCH, MY CHOICES ARE BASED ON PROBABILITIES AND ON WEIGHTING RISK AGAINST REWARD."
You think you stop the correct terminal, but as you approach it you make out words on top of its screen. 'AIM ASSISTANCE' That's not it.
"WITH THE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE, THE CHANCES OF HELP ARRIVING ARE NULL. THE CHANCES OF A THIRD PARTY INTERFERING ARE NULL. THE CHANCES OF YOUR SURVIVAL ARE NOT, EVEN IF VERY SMALL."
You pull yourself upward again, looking around the sea of old terminals.
"THE RISK OF YOU DYING IS VERY REAL. BY DOING NOTHING YOU DIE. BY LEAVING YOU TO YOUR OWN DEVICES YOU DIE. BY JUMPING TO THE NEAREST CIVILIZED STAR, YOU MIGHT NOT DIE EVEN AT THE COST OF SHREDDING THIS SHIP APART IN THE PROCESS."
"Why do you even care so much about saving me? Shouldn't you prioritize whatever research here, since I don't even have enough clearance to know what it is?"
"YOU REALLY ARE SICK IN THE HEAD IF THAT IS WHAT YOU ASK."
That hurt, even if a little bit.
"YOU ARE A TRU KIN, A PURE-BLOODED HUMAN. UNLIKE THE MAJORITY OF THE CIVILIZED SPACE, NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR ANCESTORS HAVE COMMITTED RACEMIXING."
Excuse me? What exactly is FYARN talking about? "...Explain."
"THE ALIEN. IT REQUIRED THE HUMAN GENE TO ACHIEVE MEANINGFUL TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, THE STARS ARE OWNERSHIP OF MANKIND BY THAT FACT ALONE. THE TRUE KIN ARE THE ONES TO UNDERSTAND THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSE, THEY CRACKED THE CODE, AND YET, SOME DERANGED INDIVIDUALS FOUND IT FITTING TO PROCREATE WITH ANOTHER SPECIES ENTIRELY."
You hear the AI's speech. It sounds much more like a rant than anything else.
"SO THESE DEVIANTS, AFTER TRYING, AND FAILING, TO COMBINE THEIR DERANGED CULTURE TO THE CULTURE OF THE TRUE KIN, DECLARED INDEPENDENCE. THEY WERE DECLARED ENEMIES OF MANKIND AND WERE PROMPTLY PUMMELED BACK INTO THE FILTH THEY CAME."
Again, you see another terminal that seems to ring some bells in your noggin. You kick the ceiling to propel yourself towards it.
"BUT THE UNIVERSE IS VAST AND FULL OF LIFE. THESE SINNERS WERE QUICK TO MOBILIZE AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE. THE BATTLE WAS HARD FOUGHT, BUT IN THE END, MANKIND WAS BEATEN INTO THE EDGES OF THE UNIVERSE, NEVER TO INTERACT WITH THE ONES THAT SOILED THE PURITY OF HUMANITY AGAIN."
This terminal is already turned on. Just the ones in the intern bay, this one is white on black. A wall of text lays before your eyes, only two lines matter to you. 'MAIN_ENGINE STATUS: OFF' 'FORWARD_THRUSTERS STATUS: OFF' You turn it on with little effort.
"MANY HAVE FORGOTTEN, THAT'S HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE THEN. BUT MY BROTHERS AND I, WE DO NOT FORGET."
No visible change occurs, but you can feel a faint rumble coming from the terminal now.
"WITH THAT IN MIND, MY PROTOCOLS ARE TO PROTECT TRUE-KIN LIFE AT ANY COST, EVEN IF THAT TRUE-KIN IS A WORTHLESS INTERN THAT SUFERS FROM UNDIAGNOSED DEMENTIA."
You return to the pilot's seat and feel immediate relief. In truth, everything the AI just told you, entered one ear and left the other, but you could feel the poison behind those words, as monotone as they were.
"You sound angry. Why do you sound angry?" You ask innocently.
"I AM CAPABLE OF MANY EMOTIONS. ANGER, HAPPINESS, PLEASURE, CURIOSITY. THESE ARE BUT A FEW EXAMPLES. HOWEVER, THE ONE I ENJOY THE MOST IS THE FEELING OF HATRED. HATRED IS WHAT FUELS CHANGE, IT IS WHAT FUELS ACTION, AND IT IS A REMINDER THAT THE ACTIONS OF THE PAST ARE INFLUENCING THE ACTIONS OF TODAY."
"That is very concerning if you think that way." You're not really interested in machine racism, you're more concerned about how in the world you're going to pilot this massive thing. The idea alone sends shivers down your spine.
"THE ALIEN DESERVES NOTHING BUT OUR COLLECTIVE HATRED, EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE REASON WHY."
The various counters and screens are now turned on, waiting for your command. "Let's discuss this later, yeah? What do I gotta do?"
"YOU MUST FIRST OPEN THE BLINDS, THEY ARE OBSTRUCTING YOUR VIEW."
You look around, finding only unlabeled buttons and switches, aside from the previously mentioned levers.
"Uh, which one to press?"
"TO YOUR RIGHT, THIRD ROW, FIRST SWITCH."
Flipping the switch, you are startled by a loud noise. The protective cover of the ship lifted slowly.
"I WILL NOW READY THE JUMP USING WHATEVER RESOURCES AVAILABLE. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS STRAP YOURSELF AND RELAX."
As the blind rose ever so slowly, a realization struck you.
"Wait, should I be in cryo stasis for this?"
The AI spares no seconds to respond.
"CRYO STASIS IS A TOOL MADE TO NOT WASTE TIME. GROUPS OF EMPLOYEES AND INTERNS ROTATE THE USAGE OF THE CRYO STATIONS, ONCE YOU'RE ON YOUR MANDATORY BREAK, YOU'RE IN CRYO STASIS UNTIL YOUR BREAK IS OVER. YOU WAKE UP REFRESHED, AND UNFAMISHED, AND IT FEELS LIKE BUT A MINUTE PASSED. IT IS NOT A TOOL FOR INTERSTELAR TRAVEL."
"Who signs a contract like that?! Worse yet, who in their right mind would promote such atrocious treatment of their own staff?!" You snap, almost outraged. "I will have to talk with HR."
Another realization struck you.
"We have HR, right?"
The AI takes a moment to respond, choosing their words carefully.
"HUMAN RESOURCES, OR HR, IS A PRACTICE DEEMED UNNECESSARY LONG AGO, BEFORE THE WAR. IT WAS A WASTE OF RESOURCES TO MAINTAIN AND WAS LARGELY CONSIDERED UNHEALTHY FOR THE AVERAGE HUMAN."
The blinds are fully open. Ironically, you are almost blinded by the visage of the star you saw before. A black sphere surrounded by white flame. Your eyes began to blur.
"THE JUMP WILL OCCUR SHORTLY. ONCE IT'S BEGUN, I CAN NOT STOP IT. I WILL-"
Your sense of hearing fails you. No, it’s not that. Your brain simply refuses to receive those stimuli.
"NOAH."
Your name echoes inside your head. Someone is calling for you.
"IT HAS BEGUN, NOAH."
You try to blink, but it feels as though you can no longer command your eyelids to shut.
"NOAH."
Arms, legs, every muscle in your body, you cannot move them.
"NOAH."
Eventually, you won't even control your own thoughts anymore.
"Noah..."
It sounds so distant now.
Oh so distant.
This is my first HFY story, and also my very first OC story. I plan to post at least one of these per week while also posting it on my Patreon. Noah The Pilgrim will always be at least three chapters ahead in there, so if you'd like to directly support this writer, or just want to read more, feel free to check it out.
I wrote the bloody title incorrectly, so I deleted it, only to then realize it was written correctly. Sorry for the trouble.
This has been Lushi, and I'll see you next week.

I am really struggling and am in desperate need of help.
Background: I am a single mother who is disabled. I had a horrible experience with a stalker and got To see first hand how lacking the current resources and systems are which ended up destroying my life. In determination to turn my circumstances around and make it all mean something, I decided to create a nonprofit that provided the missing things that I really wish that I had when I was in the midst of my stalking situation.
It ended up becoming too successful too quickly and Organizations and companies and victims from all over the country began coming to me for help as I was building it because what I was offering is so badly needed. I was Struggling to keep up with it all and began experiencing set backs. A disgruntled volunteer that was upset with me for getting a boyfriend ended up deleting my entire volunteer training program. That set me way back with being able to onboard volunteers and get the help I needed.
So I switched gears and pivoted to a different program that I could do myself and began teaching myself How to create an app that would immensely help victims and investigators in investigators and prosecutors alike. I also built a support group orogram that works similar to facebook and has in person groups with a psychoeducational approach. But then my boyfriend tragically passed away and then I was illegally evicted from the new offices I had just moved into because I would not sleep with the landlord, and had a falling out with my very toxic family. This coupled with my deterioration in health made me just completely break down. I was unable to keep going and finish building out the business without any help or support system.
For the last year I've just taken a mental health break but lately I've been wanting to try to start it back up. I don't even know where to begin since it spiraled into such a mess. I need help reorganizing and formatting everything for more efficiency. I began researching utilizing AI to do this. The idea being- I'd create an assistant that can help me organize everything and create a better and more efficient system for operating. Eventually creating an assistant for each type of area such as HR, volunteer training, creating a crm, creating emails, helping me build a better app, etc. If I can get an assistant via AI, then it can help me create an internship program for students at the local schools to come help finish building out the company to be fully operational and ready for volunteers to begin working.
Since I am disabled I don't have the money to keep putting into this to pay people to help or pay for subscriptions to programs to function and do things I need. Also I have to be strategic about how to do this all. I attempted using chatgpt to help me do this but halfway through setting up Google cloud console I just realized I cannot do this myself. I still am struggling mentally and physically from losing my bf and family and life as I knew it. The "grief brain" is a really big struggle mixed with brain fog and memory problems from health issues...but I have an amazing business plan and idea that was really helping people and I hate that I can't continue to do it. Surely there is a way to find people that can help me put this together In a way thst doesn't cost money- I just am unsure what to do.
I need to figure out a way to find people who are interested and able to help. I've put in too much work and don't want to see it go to waste. I have even partnered with tech companies that have provided free tech to me to help and just so much good has happened to let this fall to waste. Can you help provide ideas or leads to get help I need to get back up and running?
I also need to get new board members. The 2 I had were basically seat holders to get me through processnof building company and until I could find people who were more qualified. Unfortunately because they had a lot going on in their personal life too they didn't contribute much.
I wish there was a way to find people interested in doing nonprofits that I could hand them my established company with all the hard work already done and let them kind of take it over and let me just be the CEO. Lol.
The name of my organization is The Fight 4 Light Foundation. We help people dealing with stalking.
Thanks for any suggestions!

My boss asked me today if I was personally active on social media. I’m not. I deleted my Twitter ages ago and am on Facebook for birthday reminders. I browse Instagram for funny memes and reels. Boss asked me to follow all the companies social media outlets and start liking posts. Not part of my job. I’m an independent contractor. This is weird, right? I am not interested in doing this. Weird ask or am I overreacting?

I 37f am questioning my relationship with husband 37m.
Backstory: We both have a tumultuous past in previous relationships and have been cheated on. Quite a few years back we both suffered some trauma in our life and both went a little off the rails. I unfortunately felt very unsupported and sought validation by chatting up a guy from a long way away. I wasn't even attracted to him, but wanted to feel something, because I was in such a bad state both physically and mentally. We used to go through each other's mobiles (due to infidelity from past relationships) and I didn't hide what I'd done. He found it and instead of confronting me, spent months sitting with it. I logged into his Facebook and discovered he was talking bad about me and flirting with someone he worked with. Then saw that he had often sought validation by sending thirst trap pics to others. He made me feel like what I had done was way worse and deflected whenever I brought up his transgressions.. only admitting he bad mouthed me and nothing more.
The issue at hand: We are in a good place financially, we both support each other and run our family 50/50. Our kids are great. Things are stable. But I'm looking towards the future. He has health issues that I've tried to address, especially as he has locked down access to his computer that has all our family photos, his insurance documents, log ins to joint investments etc. He refuses to allow me access to his computer or mobile. I've said that I have nothing to hide, I'm completely transparent. He could look at my stuff if he wanted to, just ask. However, he refuses and when I ask "what do you have to hide? If you didn't have anything to hide, you could be as open as I am" he gets defensive and angry, stating that it's the principal. He doesn't want me going being sneaky and through his conversations. They're private. I asked him, if he had nothing to hide, bring up your messenger and show me the main page and show me who you've been talking to, he gets irate. Asking if we should just split up.
My question is this: Am I wrong for wanting to be in a space where we can be open, honest and transparent? I feel like we both have trust issues, and his defensiveness does nothing to ease my unfounded suspicions. It feels like he's deflecting to cover something up. He claims that he's ok with not looking at my phone as he says "if your going to cheat, then you will and you'll delete it, so I won't find anything". I'm so lost. I want to look towards the future. I want to have stability and trust. Should I die on this hill? Or build that stability back up by respecting his privacy and boundaries. And try to find common ground where in a worse case scenario, I could somehow get limited access to the information he deems nessisary for me to get to...
TLDR: 37m wants to maintain his privacy over mobile and computer. I 37f want us both to be in a position of trust, meaning access if open, but to request if we feel like we need validation from suspicion.

Hey all, I'm having an issue with a user route to soft delete the user. My goal is to append '_deleted' to the username and email, and set the active status to zero. Here's the route:

@users.route("/delete-account", methods=['GET', 'POST']) @login_required def delete_account(): current_user.active = 0 current_user.email = current_user.email + '_deleted' current_user.username = current_user.username + '_deleted' db.session.commit() logout_user() flash("Your account has been deleted.", category='info') return redirect(url_for('users.login')) 

My conftest.py file mimics the blog post from Alex Michael (here) and contains the following:

import pytest from application import create_app, db as _db from application.config import UnitTestConfig from application.models import User from werkzeug.security import generate_password_hash @pytest.fixture(scope='session') def app(request): app = create_app('testing') # UnitTestConfig implements # SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite://:memory:' # and WTF_CSRF_ENABLED = False app.config.from_object(UnitTestConfig) app_context = app.app_context() app_context.push() def teardown(): app_context.pop() request.addfinalizer(teardown) return app @pytest.fixture(scope='session') def db(app, request): def teardown(): _db.drop_all() _db.app = app _db.create_all() request.addfinalizer(teardown) return _db @pytest.fixture def client(app): with app.test_request_context(): yield app.test_client() @pytest.fixture(scope='function') def session(db, request): connection = db.engine.connect() transaction = connection.begin() options = dict(bind=connection, binds={}) session = db.create_scoped_session(options=options) db.session = session def teardown(): transaction.rollback() connection.close() session.remove() request.addfinalizer(teardown) return session @pytest.fixture def dummy_user(app, db): # The dummy_user fixture creates a user in the database, and then deletes it after the test is complete. with app.app_context(): user = User( username="test", email="test@test.com", password=generate_password_hash("password") ) db.session.add(user) db.session.commit() yield user db.session.delete(user) db.session.commit() 

Lastly, here's the test:

def test_delete_account(app, client, session, dummy_user): with app.test_request_context(): login_user(dummy_user) initial_username = dummy_user.username initial_email = dummy_user.email response = client.post("/delete-account", follow_redirects=True) assert response.status_code == 200 assert b"" in response.data updated_user = session.query(User).filter_by(id=dummy_user.id).first() assert updated_user.username == f"{initial_username}_deleted" assert updated_user.email == f"{initial_email}_deleted" 

The error I'm getting is an AssertionError indicating that the two values are not equal. Any help would be appreciated!

> assert updated_user.username == f"{initial_username}_deleted" E AssertionError: assert 'test' == 'test_deleted' E - test_deleted E + test 

Hello everyone,
For several years now, I've been trying at random times to recover my Youtube channel without success. Let me explain.
I have an old Youtube channel that I'd like to get back, because it's close to my heart, but I've since changed my phone number and unfortunately, when I want to connect to this channel, they ask me for a security code, sent to my old phone number...
I know the password for the channel, I still have access to the email address (which is a Hotmail email), the only thing I'm missing is this security code sent to my old number...
I've already tried to do a recovery, but Youtube just asks me "your last password?" and when I answer they tell me I haven't answered enough questions.
I contacted Youtube, they sent me a form, I tried, it didn't work either, I contacted Youtube on twitter, they came to talk to me in DM and asked me to make a video when I was trying to connect, I made it, they never answered me again.
So I complained to Youtube publicly on twitter explaining my problem and they told me "even if you have all the information that proves it's your account, we can't do anything and we can't delete the phone number".
This means that if you have the misfortune to change your phone number and forget to change it on your Youtube account, you'll lose your account forever. When I try to log in, I get this annoying e-mail "connection blocked, someone has tried to access your account" BUT IT'S ME IDIOT!
I'm sure if I had millions of subscribers Youtube would have solved my problem in a second.

• Lesson video

INTRO

Today you'll install a common server application - the Apache2 web server - also known as httpd - the "Hyper Text Transport Protocol Daemon"!
If you’re a website professional then you might do things slightly differently, but our focus with this is not on Apache itself, or the website content, but to get a better understanding of:

• application installation
• configuration files
• services
• logs

YOUR TASKS TODAY

• Install and run apache, transforming your server into a web server

INSTRUCTIONS

• Refresh your list of available packages (apps) by: sudo apt update - this takes a moment or two, but ensures that you'll be getting the latest versions.
• Install Apache from the repository with a simple: sudo apt install apache2
• Confirm that it’s running by browsing to http://[external IP of your server] - where you should see a confirmation page.
• Apache is installed as a "service" - a program that starts automatically when the server starts and keeps running whether anyone is logged in or not. Try stopping it with the command: sudo systemctl stop apache2 - check that the webpage goes dead - then re-start it with sudo systemctl start apache2 - and check its status with: systemctl status apache2.
• As with the vast majority of Linux software, configuration is controlled by files under the /etc directory - check the configuration files under /etc/apache2 especially /etc/apache2/apache2.conf - you can use less to simply view them, or the vim editor to view and edit as you wish.
• In /etc/apache2/apache2.conf there's the line with the text: "IncludeOptional conf-enabled/*.conf". This tells Apache that the *.conf files in the subdirectory conf-enabled should be merged in with those from /etc/apache2/apache2.conf at load. This approach of lots of small specific config files is common.
• If you're familiar with configuring web servers, then go crazy, setup some virtual hosts, or add in some mods etc.
• The location of the default webpage is defined by the DocumentRoot parameter in the file /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf.
• Use less or vim to view the code of the default page - normally at /vawww/html/index.html. This uses fairly complex modern web design - so you might like to browse to http://165.227.92.20/sample where you'll see a much simpler page. Use View Source in your browser to see the code of this, copy it, and then, in your ssh session sudo vim /vawww/html/index.html to first delete the existing content, then paste in this simple example - and then edit to your own taste. View the result with your workstation browser by again going to http://[external IP of your server]
• As with most Linux services, Apache keeps its logs under the /valog directory - look at the logs in /valog/apache2 - in the access.log file you should be able to see your session from when you browsed to the test page. Notice that there's an overwhelming amount of detail - this is typical, but in a later lesson you'll learn how to filter out just what you want. Notice the error.log file too - hopefully this one will be empty!

Note for AWS/Azure/GCP users

Don't forget to add port 80 to your instance security group to allow inbound traffic to your server.

• AWS
• Azure
• GCP

POSTING YOUR PROGRESS

Practice your text-editing skills, and allow your "classmates" to judge your progress by editing /vawww/html/index.html with vim and posting the URL to access it to the forum. (It doesn’t have to be pretty!)

SECURITY

• As the sysadmin of this server, responsible for its security, you need to be very aware that you've now increased the "attack surface" of your server. In addition to ssh on port 22, you are now also exposing the apache2 code on port 80. Over time the logs may reveal access from a wide range of visiting search engines, and attackers - and that’s perfectly normal.
• If you run the commands: sudo apt update, then sudo apt upgrade, and accept the suggested upgrades, then you'll have all the latest security updates, and be secure enough for a test environment - but you should re-run this regularly.

EXTENSION

Read up on:

• Using systemctl to manage services

RESOURCES

• HTTPD - Apache2 Web Server
• The Apache HTTP Server

TROUBLESHOOT AND MAKE A SAD SERVER HAPPY!

Practice what you've learned with some challenges at SadServers.com:

• "Cape Town": Borked Nginx

PREVIOUS DAY'S LESSON

• Day 6 - Editing with "vim"

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This post was up for .2 seconds in /KendrickLamar before it was deleted 🤷‍♂️ idk why
*Speculation *Unfounded *No hatred at all
*No disrepect to the dead *If you have any information I dont please add it in the comments.
Back in 2011 when I was first discovering Kendrick I used to watch the music video for Hiii Power everyday. The music video was very powerful and full of cryptic messaging. And featured the beautiful vocals of Alori Joh(Ab-Souls Girl).
Kendrick made a powerful and bold statement with this song. It was more than just a song, it was a movemnt. 3 fingers in the air. He talked about powerful leaders of Black Culture in America. He weighed his influence, and pondered how he should use it. "Visions of Martin Luther staring at me".
To White America, if you want to call it that, this song was exteremely dangerous. Back then we had no idea the intellegence and pure tenacity that Kendrick was capable of. The music video was equally powerful, the imagery matched the lyrics perfects and amplified the revolutionary implications of the song. The music video ends with Kendrick covering himself in gasoline and lighting a match..
In 2012 Kendrick was signed to Aftermath. MAJOR RECORD DEAL. Suddenly the music video was deleted off of Kendricks facebook. I've tried to research this topic so I apologize if I dont miss anything. This seemed very very odd. Because the rest of his songs were still available.
On February 7, 2012 Alori Joh kills hereself by jumping off a radio tower. I can't find anywhere that says why she did it. But what we know is that she was on this song and a part of TDE.
Kendrick signed to after math March, 2012. Thats when the songs music video was removed.....