Some ideas for a city campaign in Helldivers II. This during the massive Automaton push after surprise massive fleet show up.
Setting
A city of that used to be a thriving human home inhabited by 30 million citizens but the war turned it into a battlefield as Automaton’s relentless offensive since the surprise attack few weeks ago. SEAF desperately held on the city as it is a the center of political capital of the region, not to mention the node of economy and culture too. Sharp fight erupts over a control of an apartment block or sewer system, showing how intense the battle is for weeks. The Helldivers are assigned as tip of the spearhead to attack critical points that can turn the tide of the battle.
Imagine Fallujah 2003, Berlin 1945 or Hue 1968 as sample templates.

Parkour hell

Automatons are pushing hard but still unable to breakthrough due to resilience of the SEAF so far. However this new development worries the High Command enough to merit a Helldiver mission.
Intel assessed and believes that enemy is deploying an artillery system that we never seen before to this sector. What we do know that they break it up to few components that is transported on heavy haulers, about 20 of them and has to go through this no-man zone. You have a limited time window of 15 minutes once deployed.
Once they passed this point, it will be detrimental as they have sufficient parts to assemble into a huge artillery system that might cause problem for the regular troops holding the frontline.
The intel also believes that the only way these haulers can be taken out is their relatively weak top armor. Realistically, you Helldivers have to do parkour on the building roofs and set up ambush points to effect a destruction of these haulers. So every Helldiver must have Jump Pack as a mandatory Strategm, as any street level battle will be suicidal. Do lookout for crumbling building that might go down if you landed wrongly. We have reason to believe that Automatons have rapid response team if the convoy got attacked in mere minutes too. Destroy the haulers before get overwhelmed.
You must at least destroy 60% of the convoy to be considered as successful.
Good luck and give them hell.
Based on the exploits of Chechen's Tiger unit in Battle of Grozny 1994.

Rattenkrieg – War of the Rats

We believe that Automatons are hiding their crucial ammo and fuel stockpiles in the middle of the city blocks around this sector but we can’t detect accurately from the orbit because they using a stealth net that obscures our Super-Destroyer’s optic and detection systems. We believe by destroying these forward caches, their push will at least slacken to buy SEAF precious time to regroup and rebuild their line.
This is where you coming in.
Unfortunately, we can’t insert Helldivers near to the combat zone since we are not sure the exact locations so you have these deployment zones here and here. So, you have to deploy, get stocked with ammo and equipment then enter the vast sewer system to access target areas from below. That means the Super Destroyers or CAS (Close Air Support) will not able to assist you since you will be cut off underground.
Luckily, there are few gaps via big blasted holes that we can send help shall you need it in middle of the fight. Use those precious window wisely. Also if any reinforcements has to start from beginning zone all over again unless there are hole gaps nearby. Needless to say, the terrain is cramped and very close quarter prone so choose your loadout accordingly. Do note to try destroy the access holes once you completed the target to prevent pursuit by the enemy in the sewers.
We also knew there are caches from the wiped out defenders hiding inside the sewer systems so you can resupply from their stocks. These are approximate locations.
You must destroy at least 5 caches quickly and exit in 30 minutes.
Inspired by Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43.

The Vault

A group of prominent citizens trapped in a big bank vault, hiding from marauding Automaton patrols after unable to evacuate in time during the retreat. It is up to you, Helldivers, to approach the bank from above in your typical fashion or go stealth via underground sewer system. Reach the bank, decommission any resistance, secure the citizens and escort them to a waiting shuttle before the Automaton find their hiding spot.
The bank itself, used to be an architectural marvel during peaceful days has turned into a massive rubble that makes a nightmarish urban combat scenario.
You also must secure data from the bank server while rescuing the citizens at the same time. Also, power up the backup generator underground before you can open the vault and the booting up the server too while fighting the Automatons. This is your speciality, hence the command needs you do it. You have a small window of action about 12 minutes before the enemy begin to send in reinforcements or rapid response force, so act quick.
Here’s the blueprint of the bank. Good luck.

The Towers

The Automaton set up few massive signal jamming tower units that causing troubles for SEAF. What’s worse, we can’t really pinpoint the exact location of the towers since they keep rotating spots to avoid detection by our forces. Therefore, it is your task to drop in and corner these mobile jammer units, render it destroyed. Without doubt, the enemy sentry will be considerable and expect a massive fight shall it turn into a shooting match.
Best way is to use AM rifle to destroy the jammers from far and quickly scoot to the next place.
You have 40 minutes to disable their EW units and evacuate from the combat zone. Good luck.

Devouring Cancer

________________________________________________________________________________
Meat. /mi:t/
Me it. /mi/ /:t/
It me. /:t/ /mi/
It’s me…
We are eating ones of ourselves…
________________________________________________________________________________
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/C̶̢͈̈̂͒̀̋̾̓͌Ô̶̻͉̠̱͈̳̮N̸̫̹̱̯̣̣̻̐̽͒̎̃̆̕͜Ǹ̴̛̛͙̫̇E̴͕̮̻͇̒͐̀C̶̳̤̠͔̺̚T̴̘̑̈́̂͛̂̏E̶̡̩̝̮͇̤̣̋̏͗D.
/Mellator Matrix Mind: Inner Core.
/Unit: great [AVALON] the first
/G.R. Era.
/Memory File transmission: Generalized perspective
/Gender: N/A[Neutral]
/Age: {Human equivalent: 2001 years}
/Race: Grrrr’atrrr
/Species: N/A[Hive Mind]
/ Additional verification: Class>>> [Cancer Cells]
/Cradle planet: Ci-3301
/Home planet origin: Mupan
/First person POV not applicable. Generalized Spectator mode.
/Sequence Code: 5-18-5-8 19-1-23 20-8-7-9-14-11-5-12-2-13-21-8
/Memory transmission in 3…2…1…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Hunger…
It’s all that drives us. It’s all that unites, connects us… All that pulls us, all that defines and binds us…
Our story began long ago. It all started with a single parasite cell. Not the greatest primordial ancestor indeed, but every Apex Predator started somewhere. But back to our history… That very first cell was our first grandmother, as well as the beginning of our entire civilization. Hard to tell what was the trigger for it’s evolutionary change, as time wipes all. Perhaps it was desire to become something better? Awakening? Or maybe just spontaneous mutation in one of the genome chains, occurring by changes in environment? It really doesn’t matter. All what matters is that that cell evolved…
It didn’t happened quickly of course. Our first grandmother was no different than an average cancer cell that is present in nearly every life form, even us. It just growed into one small neoplasm, or simply, a cancer tumor. But that tumor slowly made it’s way to the brain. We know that because that’s how we, as well as our ancestors, assimilated everything for millennia…
It is impossible to determine which one of the prey species was honored to become the meal of our first ancestor, but it was clear that that feast was something that never happened before. That tumor did not just sucked the nutrients dry till the brain dies from the protein starvation, taking the tumor along the way with it. No, that tumor assimilated it. And that tumor learned. Learned from it. And it saw the world for the first time.
Assimilation is not as easy as other inferior beings think. First, your cell needs to find the prey cell. Then it needs to envelop the cytoplasm of that cell to properly assimilate it. However, after assimilating the “Host”, your cells need to take properties of assimilated cells and even function for the prey organism for the time being so it won’t suspect anything. It is a long, tedious and fatiguing process. That’s why we just ambush other prey organisms, tear them apart, and devour them for protein supplies, to avoid all that bustling.
And say what, the prey doesn’t make it easier for us either. As our first ancestors quickly learned, prey can be sentient too. It is inferior, weak, pathetic… And yet it can create great weapons to stop us. For [decades] these beings create astonishing amount of that pesky, venomous and disgusting antibiotics and chemicals to kill our minds. For thousands of [years] they set our flesh on fire, making us scream as we die in agony cell by cell.
And yet we prevail. When they make those chemistry compounds they call “Cure”, we gain immunity to it. When they set our bodies ablaze, we spray them with our blood and teeth, making their bodies to slowly blister as we eat them inside out. When they close their doors on us, we use ventilations, slithering right above their heads or below their {feet}. When they use special protection suits, we just tear them apart. And when they completely quarantine themselves, thinking that they are safe, we pretend to be one of them, striking from behind…
What is the most amazing thing about this prey? Well, aside that their flesh is delicious… They are clever. And they know how to build stuff. Weapons, tools, technology… Everything to increase the odds of survivability and comfort of their pathetic kind. And by devouring their minds, we gain all this knowledge as well! We learned how to grow cattle to saturate our hunger, we learned how to create faster means of transportation that even the fastest members of our swarm can’t out-crawl with their appendages. And most importantly; we learned how to reach the skies…
Among the prey species that we feast upon, there was a special class, or caste, of highly educated specimens, who called themselves “scientists”. These specimens learned how to use metal, fuel, radiation, and other inedible and in some cases straight up harmful components of nature, and turned them into what they called “Spacecraft”. A special vehicle, capable of leaving the atmosphere of our planet. Something that sounded like fantasy, even for the boldest ones of us, who sometimes managed to grow wings and flew high in the sky. It was a fantasy until we consumed their heads and the knowledge they possessed along the way. From them we gained knowledge of the schematics of these space vessels, and most importantly; the schematics of FTL drives. Devices capable of traveling among the stars with “superluminal” speed. And so, after conquering and discovering each and every corner of our planet, we soared to the great unknown, right into the void…

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/Transmission mode: Spectator. Centralized perspective.
/Subject: Verrruur. Grrrr’atrrr. Lead hive mind of the Hunter Fleets.
/Transmission in 3…2…1…
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We flew among the stars in our glorious ships made out of strongest titanium fusions and covered in our eternal flesh. Yes, what wasn’t made out of the metal hulls and electronics, was made out of sheer muscles and flesh tissue. So many cells… So much nutrition… We could withstand decades without the food and still hunt like our greatest hunters back on Mupan(Apparently, that’s how prior sentient prey species happened to call our planet, and we didn’t really bother to rename it, as for us it was widely known as just plain“Ground, floor, or land”). Our strongest weapons, combined with our most dissolving acid spitters, made us the strongest and most feared hunters, “cementing” our history as the strongest Apex Predators in the galaxy! We defeated, devoured, and assimilated everything… It did not matter if our enemy was a leviathan, an enemy prey fleet, or even an entire planet. If it could be eaten, it was eaten…
Until it wasn’t…
On yet another great crusade in search of delicacy for our insatiable fleets, our sensors captured a strange, but nonetheless familiar signal. The impulse of FTL drive. We made a serious double, and even triple checking of our radars to avoid a major nutritional loss due to false readings. After our intels captured, properly verified, and confirmed the signal, our intercoms just exploded with thousands of jaws:
“Food?”
“Food…”
“ Food! FOOD!!! Food! Food! Delicious prey! Food! We shall… FEAST! Food! Yes!!! Food! FOOD!!! We haven’t ate for [Month]! At last… Some good food… Food! Juicy food… Flesh of prey…
Food! The succulent meat…”
Yes, we felt joy. And anticipation of hunting down these unknown but likely very delicious organisms. It was like opening the present. You don’t know what was inside these flying metal cans, but you sure know that it was likely to be something edible.
Oh, we never were so wrong in our glorious history.
We did not saw them at first, that’s how black and cloaked they were. When we finally identified our “prey” we saw it was a small cluster of black ellipsoids, just hovering there. They did not tried to contact us, like other naive prey organisms did. They were completely silent...
“We will smash you like the eggs you are!” we foolishly thought back then...
They slowly turned frontwards when we approached them. Their range was astonishing, picking our smallest drones instantly before they could even scream, like if they were the candles that these black horrors just blew out.
When we finally reached the required distance and fired our acid sacks and laser guns however, they were still there, not blowing up, retreating, or even moving an [inch]. Then we opened all the airlocks(if we weren’t already outside) and enveloped their ships in our mighty grip, not stopping to pour their shields with our acids and plasma. Usually, after a few unpleasant zaps of enemy shields, they just popped and the ships just were crack open like the [nuts].
But not them...
They did not crumble and exposed their hulls with screaming prey just getting sucked out in the vacuum as usual, no, instead they started to grow bright red. Redder than our flesh and blood…
And burned. Burned stronger and more painful than any flame. Our drones roared in pain but we couldn’t hear any of their songs of torture in this vacuum of silent space. Hundreds of megatons of our flesh clusters was just turned in ashes or were torn off and become drifted dead lumps of burnt meat. Our intercoms filled with screams of fear and agony, our minds losing their mass and density, turning into undeveloped children.
"Father? It hurts…” could be heard from countless drones. And any of them that tried to escape, were sniped with red beams of such accuracy, that our best spitters could only dream of. It didn’t last long when we were the only operating guide ship of entire Armada that was so ingloriously butchered. And then we felt the warmth…
No… NO!
All weapons of this black "eggs" were pointed at us, our last mind. The last memories flashed as we slowly were burned to death. The last though of our last tumor was the realization that there was someone stronger than us. Someone who cannot be eaten. The bigger Predator…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/Memory transmission File disconnected.
/Reason: Biological death of the Subject.
/Cause of death: Sterilization.
/End of data log.
/D̵̛̤̂͜I̵̢͎̬̍̄̂͌͋S̴̢̛̙͇̯̽̔̾́͝C̸̭͓̰̤͋͆́ͅÓ̴͖̜̯̻͂̃̉N̵̨̧̦͙̳̍̾̕N̴͙̬͓̽̃̂̇͂͝E̵̠̬̠͉͒C̵̢̛͚̪̭̭̼̿̎T̶̝̈́͋͘͜Ì̸̢̱̙̤̽͑̽̈́̍ͅŌ̵̗̬̑̍̽̒N̷͖͖̗̗͚͈͗͛...
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I don't know if it's my fault that I'm alone or not. I actually try to do things to spend time with others but just can't. Especially since I need to spend time with others to feel motivated and also concentrated, because now, often times I literally feel like I live on my phone while my studies don't matter.
Well first of all, I don't even have many possibilities to spend time with people in the first place. For example here in university for some reason everyone goes their own way during recess and we don't have a common recess or a room for everyone to come together.
Of course I could start a sport or another activity, and I already did in the past, but the issue here is that I'll only spend a limited amount of time in the activity too unfortunately. And even say I'll have to pay a lot.
And another problem is that even when I do meet people and I like them and they seem to like me too, it's impossible to see them outside and organise stuff with them. And that's even worse when I don't even see them in university for example THAT much, it's not like I spend every day with them.
But the thing is that everyone does want to hang out and meet but only in specifically organised events every few months where you need to spend money and bring food. And not like meet even once a week and regularly hang out and have fun. And especially I don't understand this cuz in this university we have more free time than usual. What will happen if I'll go to college the next year where I'll have much less free time?
And somehow people do have free time for spending their lives on social media apparently.
Maybe I'm annoying them too much cuz I ask to hang out too much in group chats and don't say that much anything else? But the thing is that I want to see them irl, not to talk infinitely and send memes and only see each other once a year. I want real socialisation not Internet one.
And also the thing is that I do it cuz I know that in the next year maybe I won't see them again. If I'll switch to another university and study something else then I won't really see them that much. And often time that's exactly what happened. I had "friends" from high school that I've never seen even once time since high school even if I would've loved to.
It was even worse when I met a nice group only at a one time event. Afterwards, I have all their contacts on Instagram, I have 1000 friends there but I don't see any of them anymore.
Maybe I'm too annoying sometimes, talking about stuff that interests me and disregarding the other person. Honestly, I don't know. I try to not be annoying and to be nice and funny. Don't know if this works tho.
I'm kinda depressed cuz I would've loved to have a group of friends, either to have fun and laugh together, or to help each other and do creative stuff. This would've made me more down to earth, actually feel whatever is happening, I would've done more sports, etc. And the main reason why I'm so distracted and living on my phone is because it seems like I have no other option.
Like I wanna have a group of friends like in series. Why can't this be the case? If anything, it seems like series are so popular because we don't have that many friendships in real life anymore, we only hang out online.
I don't know whether it's my fault or rather the fault of the society. Maybe I should move to another country, idk. I live in France and I've heard Italy is better but idk.
Keep in mind I can't actually have to get along with literally everyone, for example I'm Jewish and I won't tolerate anyone who doesn't like Jews.
But even tho this does limit my circle of friends, I don't think that's the main reason why I'm lonely, because even with people who have no problem with that and who are Jewish themselves and who even say that we both get along, even with them there's literally the same problem.

I don't know if it's my fault that I'm alone or not. I actually try to do things to spend time with others but just can't. Especially since I need to spend time with others to feel motivated and also concentrated, because now, often times I literally feel like I live on my phone while my studies don't matter.
Well first of all, I don't even have many possibilities to spend time with people in the first place. For example here in university for some reason everyone goes their own way during recess and we don't have a common recess or a room for everyone to come together.
Of course I could start a sport or another activity, and I already did in the past, but the issue here is that I'll only spend a limited amount of time in the activity too unfortunately. And even say I'll have to pay a lot.
And another problem is that even when I do meet people and I like them and they seem to like me too, it's impossible to see them outside and organise stuff with them. And that's even worse when I don't even see them in university for example THAT much, it's not like I spend every day with them.
But the thing is that everyone does want to hang out and meet but only in specifically organised events every few months where you need to spend money and bring food. And not like meet even once a week and regularly hang out and have fun. And especially I don't understand this cuz in this university we have more free time than usual. What will happen if I'll go to college the next year where I'll have much less free time?
And somehow people do have free time for spending their lives on social media apparently.
Maybe I'm annoying them too much cuz I ask to hang out too much in group chats and don't say that much anything else? But the thing is that I want to see them irl, not to talk infinitely and send memes and only see each other once a year. I want real socialisation not Internet one.
And also the thing is that I do it cuz I know that in the next year maybe I won't see them again. If I'll switch to another university and study something else then I won't really see them that much. And often time that's exactly what happened. I had "friends" from high school that I've never seen even once time since high school even if I would've loved to.
It was even worse when I met a nice group only at a one time event. Afterwards, I have all their contacts on Instagram, I have 1000 friends there but I don't see any of them anymore.
Maybe I'm too annoying sometimes, talking about stuff that interests me and disregarding the other person. Honestly, I don't know. I try to not be annoying and to be nice and funny. Don't know if this works tho.
I'm kinda depressed cuz I would've loved to have a group of friends, either to have fun and laugh together, or to help each other and do creative stuff. This would've made me more down to earth, actually feel whatever is happening, I would've done more sports, etc. And the main reason why I'm so distracted and living on my phone is because it seems like I have no other option.
Like I wanna have a group of friends like in series. Why can't this be the case? If anything, it seems like series are so popular because we don't have that many friendships in real life anymore, we only hang out online.
I don't know whether it's my fault or rather the fault of the society. Maybe I should move to another country, idk. I live in France and I've heard Italy is better but idk.
Keep in mind I can't actually have to get along with literally everyone, for example I'm Jewish and I won't tolerate anyone who doesn't like Jews.
But even tho this does limit my circle of friends, I don't think that's the main reason why I'm lonely, because even with people who have no problem with that and who are Jewish themselves and who even say that we both get along, even with them there's literally the same problem.

Hi all, how would you speed up belly fat loss?
Checked scales this morning and I'm at 9stone 5lbs I want to get to my usual 8stone5 but at this point 8stone12 is fine as long as I'm under 9stone. I don't look fat but I'm definitely skinny fat.
I'm on a high protein plan, I hardly have any carbs unless it's wild rice, a little pasta, or avocados and stuff. I don't eat sugar or at least processed stuff and all my meals are home cooked using fresh ingredients. My blood sugars are finally back to normal too so I reckon the nutrition side of things is good.
I run 4xs a week, and use my indoor maxi climber. Currently not lifting weights and refuse to go to the gym. I also use a tummy cruncher but feel it's a waste of time.
How can I speed up belly fat loss, I feel as though my waist has definitely shrunk and my hips look less wide my husband doesn't notice but I can definitely see the difference a 5lbs loss has made. But there is a bulge of fat on my belly!
Any exercises I can do at home to get rid of this? And how long does belly fat take to go away? I know it's a slow process but would like an exercise that works the core, the top of my waist looks slim and flat but the lower belly is where the fat is.
I've been skinny before but now have 4 kids youngest is 2 and I'm struggling to actually shift the weight after the christmas indulging

It's a Bird is a 2004 Graphic Novel by Steven T. Seagle. It is about Seagle being offered writing duties on the Superman comic and his despair at this. You see Seagle doesn't identify with Superman. He hates him as a character who is perfect in literally every way and therefore unwritable. He's under a time limit before the comic is offered to other writers. The book is about how he came to find a window into understanding Superman through his own personal medical circumstances.
Sounds riveting right? Yep, just as it sounds. The artstyle is washed out colour and for at least the first 50 pages of a 132 page book, I was rather bored senseless as things seemed to be going nowhere.
And then there were a couple of pages which gave me a revelation. Mr. Seagle is an INTP and It's a Bird is, on the surface, about his struggles with Superman, but under the surface is a literal graphic representation of the INTP thought process.
I've written this out a few times and tried to link to images of the pages, and automod keeps deleting the posts, so I'm gonna have to do quotes of speech bubbles. Edit. Reddit formatting is a pain. Different scenes are separated by -------

Seagle: "One thing writers have in common is the need to procrastinate. People don't really understand this, but it's not avoiding work. It IS work."
Seagle's Girlfriend Lisa: "What's wrong? And Don't say 'Nothing' or I'll pour this on your receding hairline"
Seagle: "This... guy on the train... construction worker. He was asking me all these questions about comics. He was going on and on about justice and super heroes but he... he had no idea what he was talking about."
Lisa: "Wait, aren't you always complaining that no one is interested in comics anymore? This guy was interested but that's a problem too?"
Seagle: "This is the face I make... when Lisa repeats things I'd previously said to prove that what I'm saying now contradicts what I said before. Doesn't she understand that I'm trying to be depressed and angry? And that logic is only going to get in the way of that?"
"Why do you always side with the people I'm complaining about? I'm your well-educated boyfriend and this guy was a construction worker. He obviously doesn't..."

Lisa: Oh, so his opinion matters less because he works with his hands? Supposedly 'all men are created equal'. When did you get so superior?"

Seagle: "I... I... I'm going to stay at my brother's for a while."
Lisa: "What? You hardly even talk to your brother. Why? Wait are you saying you're moving out?"
Seagle: "I need quiet. I can't think here. I can't... work."
Lisa: "And the reason you can't work is me? Isn't it you who says "Ideas come from everywhere?" Everywhere but me I guess. You can't write Superman because I'm bothering you too much?"
Seagle: "Even Superman has his fortress of solitude"
Lisa: "Do not even start talking comic book crap to me as a justification for your lame behaviour."
Seagle: "What? It's the first thing I've related to about him... A place to go and just THINK. A place not to be badgered 24 hours a day by people who have to know everything about him."
Lisa: "I badger you? Asking if you're alright is having to know everything about...? You know what? You stay and I'll go."
Seagle: "I want to stop her... but her heartbreak is easier to accept than my own."
Seagle then stays in bed for weeks, ignoring all phone calls until everyone thinks he is dead.

Eventually Seagle does have a redemption arc, I won't spoil it but it does make the slog through the first half of the book somewhat worth it. In the grand scheme of things, the story of a writer overcoming writer's block really isn't worth much, but in terms of visualisation of the INTP thought process - especially for people who don't understand INTPs, this book is fucking gold. This should be on the bookshelf of all INTPs. Highly recommended. Especially to people with a Lisa in their life.
So. Do you relate to Superman?

First time poster and long-time limerent here.
I'm honestly just having a hard time understanding how the hell this thing persists.
I want to say it was about two years ago when I (18M) first became attracted to someone (19-20M, not sure atp) in one of my high school classes. He was in the grade above me at the time (graduated now). At first it was just a simple little crush, until my friends started hyping me up ("you should totally make your move!", "he could be bi!") etc; I was stupid to believe any of that, but friends will be friends and I'm sure they were just trying to help. Anyway, that's when the fantasies started. You know, the idealizations and the "what if" scenarios playing in your head constantly. The feelings only got worse from there, and it got to the point where my main motivation for going to school every day was to see him.
Honestly, I can count on my fingers the number of total interactions I've had with this guy, yet for some reason I felt like floating on air every time I even made eye contact with him across the classroom. I remember one time being assigned to his group for a project and feeling like I had just won the lottery. I didn't know exactly what my feelings were or why I had them, but I knew that sitting around and pining wouldn't get me very far. Eventually, I realized that graduation was lingering and that after that, I would probably never see him again. So I decided I would tell him my feelings, and I knew exactly when I would do it: the two of us would be going on a school music trip, and we happened to be put in the same hotel room. I told myself that I would tell him on the last night of our trip, and though I nearly chickened out, I did it. I told him, and got the response that I was both expecting and silently dreading.
He was honestly as chill and respectful about it as anyone could be, really. He told me that he understood my feelings and that I couldn't control them but, as I expected, he wasn't gay. He even said that this situation did not have to make things awkward between us at school. We both even laughed about it a little bit. In the moment, I was exhilarated that I had finally done it. I had gotten my feelings off my chest, excited that I had gotten closure and could move on, or so I thought.
It wasn't until the next morning at home, when I tried to get out of bed, that reality hit me. Suddenly, that motivation I talked about before was gone, with nothing to take its place. It was as if the weight I felt lift off my chest when I confessed to LO had been replaced with an even heavier one. It took every ounce of my strength to drag myself out of bed and into school that morning.
That trip was a year and two months ago. I kept seeing him in class every day, casting small glances at him with every chance I got. Before I confessed, I was attached and hopeful. After, I was still attached and just...empty. A few months later, he graduated, and I haven't talked to him since. I haven't told many people this, but he still occupies my mind every single day, as does the memory of my confession. I can't look at any pictures of him or hear people talk about him without getting sick to my stomach. I don't know if it's because I still feel something for him, if I'm embarrassed about how I confessed (I said the big "ILY;" was VERY anxious in the moment and didn't know what else to say), or if I'm still subconsciously hoping for something to happen, or if I'm scared of seeing him again because he stayed home and didn't go to college, or something else. What I do know is that I don't think I loved this boy, as I didn't really know him enough. That's something he suggested when I confessed, actually, and I've realized that it's true.
It's been a year since I last saw him, and now my own graduation is nearing. My life couldn't be going better: I have good grades, a great group of friends, and I'll be attending the college of my dreams next year. Yet, after all of those joys and triumphs, my mind always finds its way back to him, every interaction we've ever had replaying in my head like a broken record, and this odd, ever-lasting pain just gnawing away at me.
I guess I just hope to God that I'll meet the person who's meant for me when I go to college. Even if I don't, I just want the pain to stop. It's not debilitating, but it's there, and it's awful. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.
Sorry for the long post. Needed it off my shoulders.

Government : Hey crypto users, We will tax you flat 30% income tax, you won't be able to offset loss, and we will deduct 1% TDS on every transaction, plus 4% surcharges and regular GST law will also apply.
Crypto user : But why don't you reduce 1% TDS to 0.001% or even lower , TDS is only for tracking who is involved in crypto isn't it ?
Government : Yes its for tracking but we want death of crypto in this country so we are using this method of 1% TDS and 30% flat income tax and no offset of laws.
Crypto user : But why can't we offset loss ?
Government : Because people can wash trade, buy NFT for high price, sell them to their own another anonymous wallet at low price and show it loss, so people will have gap to avoid taxes.
Crypto user : But don't you think if a person is determined to avoid taxes, and are at a higher powerful place, that person will use different legal/illegal methods to avoid taxes anyhow isn't it ? why because of some people's probable avoidance of tax causes you to impose this draconian tax law to regular users, we have users whose home runs on crypto basic income from airdrops, yields, swing trades , etc., these are not rich people, if you don't let them offset loss, it will stop their household's food. Aren't you worried about creating more unemployment ? you are not being able to generate employment, and whereas a user by its own merits is creating their own employment, you want to destroy that too ?
Government : Ya, we are like that. We give you 5kg of free food, be happy with that. We ain't giving you employment, neither we are going to let you do your own employment that doesn't give benefit to us.
Crypto user : I hope things become better, I will pay 1 % TDS, and 30 % flat income tax. But can you assure my safety ? My bank account has been frozen even though I traded on FIU registered exchange, I just used P2P .
Government : Na you solve that yourself, We didn't say you to deal in crypto, your account freeze is your issue, fuck off.
Crypto user : Sir, the indian exchange registered in India is not letting me withdraw my money since 1.5 years, the exchange name is "B*****" , at least help me get my money back, won't you take action against that person ?
Government : Na they gave us some money and now the owners of that exchange is planning to go abroad and settle, we will turn a blind eye on this, once that person reaches abroad safely and is enjoying then we will act like we are doing something.

The Great Depression had a significant and lasting impact on society, especially in the Dust Bowl states. Oklahoma suffered the worst and is still suffering from its effects. The stock market crashed in 1929. This was 11 years after the end of WWI when a lot of working age men were killed. My father was 19 years old. Children age 4 and older had to go to work in the fields harvesting and hoeing weeds. My maternal grandmother who was born in 1932 cut broomcorn and picked cotton by hand. The International Harvester for cotton was invented in 1940, but only came into widespread use by 1970. The broomcorn industry died out in 1980. Older boys age 11 and up went to work in sawmills and the trades. Watch the movie Walk the Line. Johnny Cash’s older brother of 14 was almost cut vertically in half when he slipped and was cut through the sternum by a large saw blade. Can you imagine being that young and handling dangerous machinery with no safety equipment? Safety equipment didn’t exist back then and neither did child labor laws. Those old Boomer children worked just as hard as adults to help feed their families. They were punished for playing. They had to suck it up and endure extreme hardship just to eat and they ate very little. Everyone was starving and filthy. There was as no indoor plumbing, no electricity and no air conditioning. I watched my grandmother work from sun up to exhaustion and she slept in her clothes. When she died, her bra strap hooks were rusted from sweat because she never removed it, meaning she hadn’t bathed in decades. She was 4-8” and wore a child size medium. She was conditioned to hard work and starvation. She and her family including my mother never overcame the effects of the Depression. She was functionally illiterate despite graduating high school in 1948.
Education stopped at third-fourth grade for the average child because parents were extremely poor and couldn’t afford to pay for schooling. School was different then. Teachers lived in a teacherage provided by the school district and earned a living stipend from the state to teach grades 1-4 how to read, write, sign their names, cipher, count money and read a watch. That was the extent of free education. Advanced learning after 4rth grade was taught by subscription very similar to private tutoring. Grades 5-7 were called grade school. Grades 7-12 were called high school. They didn’t have Junior High.
In 1935, the Second New Deal created the Works Progress / Projects Administration (WPA) to help people recover from the Depression. A lot of new schools were built during this period. Schools were funded with a combination of state aid and a tax levy called a mill collected from every resident in a school district. When Boomers say they shouldn’t have to pay a school tax because they don’t have children in school, this is what they’re referring to. They had the right to vote against a tax levy. These days, we call them temporary sales tax increases to fund things like new gym equipment. Everyone inside the school district votes on the increase and everyone inside and outside the district has to pay the sales tax if they shop at a store in the district. These no-voters will shop outside the district if the tax increase passes.
Fast forward to WWII (1939-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953) and we see a significant decrease in school attendance that results in the closure of many rural schools. Many of this second generation of Boomers grew up in boarding schools and orphanages because their mothers couldn’t afford to feed them. This period resulted in a high population of youth being institutionalized. One of my grandmother’s sisters was raped by her uncle at age 14 and was sent to an asylum for the mentally ill. My mother (born 1952) and her sisters were taken by DHS (called CPS today) and sent to a girl’s state school after their father died of cirrhosis at the age of 42. He was a bootlegger who literally drank himself to death. Prohibition (1920-1933) was another result of the Depression. It lasted until 1952 in Oklahoma. Forced sterilization in mental institutions was outlawed in 1951 for the sake of medical study. The practice began in 1931 because the state believed that mental illness/retardation was genetic and caused by incest/inbreeding. It runs in my mother’s family so I can confirm the state was right. Mutations in the brain can be passed from mother to child.
The third generation of Boomers was born during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). I was born in 1973, so I’m technically Gen X with Boomer influences but not to the point that I’m a raging psycho. I consider those born in the 60s to be the third Boomer generation. My town lost its high school in 1968 and stopped at the eighth grade. All those who graduated from the 60s-1980 are the anti education gatekeepers of the workforce that I’m personally struggling with. These are the people who hate anyone with an education level above theirs. They’re offended by education unless you’re a doctor or a lawyer and they can use you. They are also anti-technology and refuse to use it. They are bullies who are socially enmeshed and always in your business. This generation of women married older men because men their age were fighting in a war. Or, they married wealthy men. Those women didn’t have to work and became bored housewives. I blame daytime soap operas for teaching these idiots their horrible social skills. They stayed home almost 24/7 except for when they were at the hair salon or shopping. They wore a lot of makeup too and nail polish contained formaldehyde. The amount of lead and toxic chemicals they were exposed to was very high. My mother was in this category from 1970-1980 when she divorced my father. Men who came home from the war were addicted to heroin and may have turned to cocaine, crack or meth. Many ended up homeless or hooked up with women for the welfare benefits. They were insanely abusive. Very few were able to adjust. Women who did not marry well, had to work cash jobs to support themselves and they might have qualified for USDA commodities and food stamps under Johnson’s War on Poverty (1964). We didn’t have welfare reform until 1996. My mother became an alcoholic and was addicted to amphetamines sold as diet pills in the 80s. We had pure meth from 1980 that my stepdad was addicted to and an explosion of brown meth from 1994 to the present. Almost this entire generation and my own Gen X either experimented or became addicted to meth. It affected Millennials too.
Child prostitution as a means of survival and CSA were common during the Depression because there was no law against it and it’s something society has difficulty grappling with. Oklahoma passed its first anti-child molestation law in 1945 after the end of WWII. I remember those old Boomer women saying that talk about sex was vulgar and those matters weren’t discussed. It was swept under the rug until 1990 when teens finally began to speak out. We had an explosion of violent rape and domestic violence in the 90s by Boomers and chauvinists who couldn’t bear to give up their right to sex on demand and beating women.
We got the Department of Education and mandatory attendance in 1980 so Gen X was the first generation to have a well rounded education since 1929. All the generations that came before us are jealous because we also got child labor laws and the statutory rape law. We’re the first generation that didn’t have to endure backbreaking work as children. We got easy jobs like paper routes, babysitting and mowing. As teenagers, farm kids hauled hay but that’s about as strenuous as it got. Many Gen Xers got pregnant young and had to drop out of school or couldn’t go to college. They had to get married and raise a family. I’m struggling with this portion of my generation being jealous as well.
I think Gen Z is the best generation because they are so far removed from the absolute hell that previous generations went through. They have the best education, the best social skills and are the most well adjusted of all the generations that came before them. Gen X just needs to teach ya’ll life skills and survival skills that you can hand down to Gen Alpha.

I see a lot of people in this subreddit, especially TBBT fans, complaining that YS is not a faithful prequel as it doesn’t correctly portray Sheldon’s family. (esp George) First off, TBBT is a sitcom, where Sheldons family is mentioned only for a comic factor, while YS dives into the life of the Cooper family. Apart from that, to me it looks like the writers actually tried very hard to remain cannon. If you look into the ep 12 finale , you can see Sheldon has a facial reaction, which he has had in past seasons too, which basically shows that the emotional weight of the event is too much for him so he simply ignores it / precesses it in his weird way. So it seems like the death of George was never really processed or, in the desperation of trying to find a rational cause for the event, he villainized George Sr. to the point where statistically he would’ve died anyways (drinking beers = alcoholism, getting angry = aggressive behaviour, seeing him in the act with “Helga” = committing adultery). It does seem like Sheldon always had a way of simplifying major life events to the point where he seems insensitive (Bringing up Georgie beeing a teen parent), when this is just a coping/surviving mechanism to a truly sensible mind. His psychic is probably the weakest in the whole family, and to that there are many examples, like that one philosophy teacher sending him into an alarming depression by trying to change his worldview. So maybe the way he talks about his dad in TBBT is his way of processing / not even truly processing his loss in a way that makes it look like the father’s death as imminent due to his incompetence. Hopefully in the last segment where TBBT characters are brought in YS we will see some sort of evolution from Sheldons character in terms of processing his father’s death and life.

Hi!
Ive had a DAAD scholarship for an internship for 5 months now and every single month there is an issue with the funding. Its never on time, always completely different amounts (even tho its supposed to be the same every month) and once I didn’t get anything, just to then get an absurdly high amount the next month. No one replies to me in the „DAAD-Portal“ and now I still haven’t gotten the money I was supposed to get for May, and still haven’t gotten my travel subsidy.
Idid send regular emails to which I got a reply that the money is on its way, but it’s still not there and I’m at wits end.
Does anyone else have this problem? Or any tips on what to do?
Thank you in advance!!

Hi,
So I have posted on this sub regarding my rent on April and got so much help . I feel very lucky in that way. Now coming to present, I had a huge debt going on , which I cleared today . So I am relieved from that. Now I teach History to few kids and earn my livelihood from that , but it's bare minimum. This month I have exhausted all my salary into paying rent and transportation .
I have bare minimum food left in form of biscuits and Maggie, but I fell sick due to the sudden weather change in my country ( m from Indian). Tremendous heat waves were going on , but it's been raining from past few days. The rain was a very welcoming experience but I caught cold and fever in the meantime.
Now , all I really want is to eat good healthy food for the rest of the month, which I can't afford now. I am starting a new job from june , hopefully I will be able to afford food then.
I generally don't buy groceries from Amazon because they are overpriced and I get cheap and non branded items in my local market. But I know that Amazon wishlist works better in this sub. Nd I will be happy to make one. I just want to know if it's possible to make a wishlist in India and post it here?? Does it work?
I genuinely don't want to waste anybody's time and get my hopes high. I l would be so so grateful if anybody let's me know that wishlist will work for me or not.
If it works then I will make a wishlist and add this to my request and upgrade the flair.
Thank you so much everyone for reading this long post.

QUESTIONS BEFORE STORY : This has never happened before any other time i’ve gotten fillings. Am i being paranoid or should i be concerned? Should i contact the dental office? Should i switch to a different place? This was my FIRST TIME going to that office.
I do not smoke anything besides vaping from time to time and do not drink. I have a history of cavities throughout my life and apparently have “deep molars” but i believe it’s my mom trying to make me feel better lol
I’m worried because i’m 1 week post filling & had the most bizarre experience.
when i was a child i struggled with dental hygiene and got a few fillings. Of my memory all went smoothly and the numbing needle only caused slight pain and had NO pain afterward.
1 week ago i went to the dentist and got 4 fillings done, the first thing that worried me was when they were injecting the numbing, it hurt extremely bad, like i flinched and screamed ow and i have a fairly high pain tolerance and it takes a lot for me to voice genuine pain.
felt like the entire right side of my face was on fire. seconds later my vision goes double and stays that way for about 15-20 mintues. this has never occurred before. made a joke and carried on.
after leaving the dentist i took a nap and when i woke up i couldn’t open my mouth without severe jaw pain which was odd because i got my upper right side done, nothing to do with any other teeth. it hurt to eat and open my mouth for 4 days with it slowly getting better. flash foward to now, still have pain when i move my jaw but not as bad. seems normal. still hurts badly when i eat though.
My other concern is that now my fillings are throbbing as if i have a bad cavity. if you’ve had a cavity like that before, you probably know the uncomfortable feeling like your jaw is pulsing and uncomfortable.
Fillings start to sting when i drink water, cold or not. which i read was normal. Can’t chew on the right side of my mouth without severe pain and can’t totally close my teeth together without pain and pressure.
The last issue i have is that my jaw is still THROBBING. not extremely painful but so uncomfortable and one of the fillings is hanging off my tooth and it feels like i have something stuck in my teeth. It also causes pain when i floss and brush my teeth.
This has never happened before any other time i’ve gotten fillings. Am i being paranoid or should i be concerned? Should i contact the dental office? Should i switch to a different place? This was my FIRST TIME going to that office.

Hi all,
Over the past month I’ve (M22) been intimately seeing this girl (F21). She’s in my college course and I’ve been friends with her since the start of February.
She came on to me heavily when she learned that I became single 2 months ago, and we let it develop slowly into something I’m really enjoying. She’s hilarious, beautiful, and she makes me work for her attention. But - sometimes I feel like it’s too much.
When we see each other (outside of classes etc.), it’s always down to me asking her over to my place, or out to dinner, or to the pub etc. She will always happily oblige even when I say “hey, we can rearrange if you’d like”, and we go on to have a great time. But it’s always me. I even had to invite myself to a movie with her that she wanted to see - and she fully admitted that she mentioned it to get me on board. She won’t ask me to do anything herself!
Additionally , in bed, and in general, the affection I give often feels unreturned. After intimacy, I’ll often “dote” on her, giving her little kisses around her head/body etc and holding her hands. I know she enjoys this (I stopped one night cause I was sleepy and she asked me to do it again), however she never really returns it.
It just feels so one-sided, and I’m not desperate, you know? I can do without it, it’s very early days, but it does still hurt cause I think she’s great. I want her to communicate how she truly feels about me cause at the same time I make her laugh and I can see in her mannerisms that she’s into me. Whenever I pay her compliments, I just get a “thank you” in response, just feels like I’m talking to a brick wall in that regard. It’s like she doesn’t know how to give affection for someone.
I understand that I’ve only been seeing her for a little while - but we’ve both made it clear that we’re not looking for something short. I guess internally I don’t hold my cards close to my chest - maybe I should a little more?
I dunno. Thanks for reading :)
TL;DR: I’ve been giving one-sided affection to a girl that I know is in to me. I’m struggling with the fact that she might not know how to give affection because I really like her

I have a friend (60) with an adult son (24), who lives at home. He has some social life but doesn't work nor is in school. He did some travelling for a year by himself but since he's come back he's not done anything except talk about going traveling again (he's been back about a year or so).
He has a series of developmental issues (autism, ADHD etc) and is very immature for his age. But he did go travelling by himself for a year (I'm fairly sure my friend financially supported him more than she let's on but he managed to find places to live, washed, fed himself, got himself a job etc.). He didn't finish high school but did get a working qualification after a couple of tries.
My friend does not tell him no. She says she's worried about him thinking he's on his own. But for example she's tried to give him chores to do but he doesn't do them because he's 'resistent' to doing the simplest of things. She blames his issues on this resistance, not that he knows she'll do it if he leaves it long enough. He's learning to drive but he wants his friends to take him out in her car, but instead of just telling him no she looks for excuses like they won't have the proper insurance. She paid for driving lessons but he wanted to do an intensive course that would see him take his test at the end with all the money up front, which he has not finished because the driving instructor apparently 'shouted' at him.
She spends a lot of time thinking about these issues with the thought that they'll never change and there's nothing she can do, but seems so reluctant to make it difficult for him not to change or have any results of him not doing stuff like cleaning up after himself. She blames alot of this on his developmental immaturity, but refuses to treat him as such (don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you ground a 24 year old for not sweeping the yard, but if he doesn't iron his own shirts, then his shirts don't get ironed, that kind of thing). Any stipulation he doesn't stick to she seems to think if she demands he does, she assumes is going to spiral into him doing something stupid like hurting himself or running away or something. She says she's carastrophising, and I believe her, but I also wonder if she's not telling me something.
Just... What's going on? It's been spiraling and getting worse for months now. She's in therapy and I know myself when these things are picked apart they get worse for a while but she phoned me this morning with something that he didn't do so that meant he's unable to do anything for himself.
Thanks for your input.

Hey guys. If you have kept up with the advance server updates, chances are you've heard about the new talent Temporal Reign! The talent works like this:
The next ultimate cast reduces other active skills' remaining CD by 50% (for an x period of time). [CD: 20 seconds]
So what does that mean? This means after casting your ult, your 1st and 2nd skills (or 3rd skill if available) will have a much shorter CD. On paper, it seems just good. So let me give an example, tested by Elgin!

1. Guinevere gets to jump on an enemy causing knock up, and use her ult to extend the knock up. After a few short seconds, she can jump on the same enemy again for another knock up. A roamer Guin would enjoy this as she can hold the enemy like a hostage for quite some time for them team to back her up.
   
2. Franco may hook an enemy and use his ult to suppress the enemy. When the suppression ends, he can once again hook them to hold them a bit longer. Just like Guin, he can hold the enemy close to buy enough time for the team.
   

Both examples are available in the link I'm sharing with you all. You can watch Elgin use the talent on many other heroes. Credits to Elgin for testing this on almost all heroes! : https://youtu.be/2_Pxtq8D5Go?si=yBzyB8WIHm8AOWI7
Winter Crown is quite scary already. Would this new talent cause further imbalance towards the game? Share your thoughts!

Let me start of by saying that I am not shifting blame, I know I am in the wrong in this situation even if my intentions were good.
Sorry for the long post as well!!!
I don't know if it is of any importance, but I am Western European, and my girlfriend is Chinese. We are currently studying in Australia and have been together for 5,5 months living together for 2 and a half months. I know we moved in together fast, but it felt right!
My girlfriend started her second placements (kind of internship) on Monday. Throughout her previous placements, I always made lunch for her, even if I wasn't gonna be home at that time, I always made sure to cook in advance and leave it in the oven (low temperature) to keep it warm or on a plate that's easily reheatable. It's also important that she does her placements close to where we live.
For context, every Tuesday (when possible), I meet some old ladies (basically my adopted grandma's at this point) for tea from 10 to 12. These ladies helped me through an emotional time when my ex broke up with me a week after I returned to Australia (I did an internship in Australia before I moved here for studies) while we still had a 5-month lease on a one-bedroom apartment. So, needless to say, it wasn't a fun period, and these grandmas were a nice escape from the hard situation. Once I came to terms with my feelings and the situation, I just kept going for the Tuesday tea since I enjoyed it and I knew they enjoyed having me around.
This morning (Tuesday morning), we woke up together. I do this cause I want to see her off and give her a bye bye kiss. My gf never knows exactly when she is gonna be given her lunch break. She told me that it would be sometime between 12 and 1. She also asked if she needed to take the key, to which I said no since I would be back in time.
Part of her morning routine is making a late. But this morning the milk had gone bad. She told me she'd have a coffee at noon (by which I understood lunchtime) and asked me to grab milk to which I agreed.
Then I had my online class which is from 9 to 10 after which I proceed to the car to drive to the place the grandma's and I meet. Just before I leave, she asks me if I can buy her a clipboard since she needs it at her placements, to which I agree again.
I stay with the grandma's until 11.30 after which I proceed to drive to the suburb in which we live. I sent her a message that I was about to leave. Then I drove to the store to buy a clipboard, I didn't know if she wanted one with a protective flap, so I bought her one with and without a flap. It's about 11.53 when I get back to the car, after which I message her that I'm on my way to the grocery store to buy milk.
I park, get the milk, and get back to the car, at this point it's 12,09 and I message her that I'm on my way home. I get home at around 12.15 (I think, I didn't send her a message when I got home.)
As you probably already see coming, my girlfriend was in the living room, eating instant noodles. When I first got to the front door, I thought "good, I made it back in time" because she never messaged me saying she was on her lunch break and she wasn't waiting out front because the door was locked and she had no key.
But my gf ended up taking the key (I think she told me she did this accidentally), luckily because if not she'd had to wait a couple of minutes for me to get home.
I was never far away from home, but because I went to buy milk, I was late and she arrived before me, and there was not enough time to cook before she had to go back. If only I would have either left the grandma's sooner, or just decided that I'd go buy the clipboard and milk in the afternoon.
But alas, seems like I am a total dumbass.
I tried to talk with her but she completely ignored me. She went back to her placements and got back home later that day. I tried to talk with her but she was still giving me the cold shoulder. I apologised multiple times, but she still refused to look in my direction.
Eventually, I told her that this was also not nice for me, that I knew I made a mistake and that I was willing to make up for it. She didn't take this well and told me that "we should just break up then if she's not nice to me". After which, she decided to move some of her stuff to the guest bedroom, where I assume she'll sleep tonight.
I tried to talk with her again by going into her room when she left the door open. First, she ignored me again, then she said, "You're right, it's me who's the not nice one, it's me who's being ridiculous (which I never said, the only time I called her ridiculous was when we had an argument about 3 months ago which I still think was a bit of a ridiculous argument)". She acknowledged that I had apologised but said that that doesn't magically make things better.
She's right on that I suppose, and at that point I didn't know what to say anymore. I asked her if she was sure that she wanted to sleep in the bedroom, to which she said yes. So I went to grab the thick blanket from our bedroom and swapped it with the thinner one in the guest bedroom cause I know she feels colder at night than me.
I don't really know what to do or how to make it better. I love this girl to bits, I think she's the one. I know I can't just snap my fingers and make it better, and understand that I am to blame since I should have just been home by 12 to cook, but I just wished she'd messaged me saying she was on her way home, then this whole situation could have been avoided. BUT AGAIN, it's me who should have made sure that I was home by 12.
Would anyone be able to offer some advice on how to make it up to her or how to apologise again?
I'll definitely always be home for lunch now if she doesn't decide to break up with me. I guess I royally screwed up this time.
TL;DR: My [25M] girlfriend [26F] is angry at me and ignoring me since I wasn't home in time to let her in or cook lunch for her while she is doing her placements, luckily she had a key with her. I apologised but she's still angry (understandably so). I don't know if I will get an opportunity to make it up to her since she doesn't want anything to do with me. Any advice?

VPN or Tor, has already become analogous to the iOS or Android controversy. Let's try to briefly analyze

Tor

The Tor network is accessed through a free browser. Requests are transmitted through a series of nodes, providing anonymity. Each node knows only the previous and next IP. Data is encrypted between nodes. However, the output node can pose a risk, especially without HTTPS.
Advantages:

• Difficult to shut down due to decentralization.
• Hides IP on visited sites.
• Free.
• Bypasses geographic blocking.

Disadvantages:

• Slow.
• Risk of surveillance at the exit node.
• Limited in browsers.
• No responsibility for nodes.
• Frequent use can attract attention.
• Disclosure of real IP with certain activities.

What does VPN offer?

A VPN is a service that gives users the ability to "borrow" the IP address of a VPN server and encrypts the connection between the user's computer and the VPN server. Essentially, it acts on behalf of your computer when you are online.
Advantages of VPNs:

• Faster, as you communicate directly with the VPN server.
• Some VPNs are free at the expense of advertising.
• Funding from subscriptions ensures maintenance and availability.
• Protects all connections on your computer, not just through Tor.
• Kill Switch prevents data leaks.
• Bypasses geographic blocking.

VPN disadvantages:

• Some providers may retain browsing history.
• There are paid options to get rid of ads and extra features.

It's hard to pick a favorite here, because the approach to choosing between Tor and VPN depends on your specific situation. Tor is ideal for those who are transmitting highly sensitive information where security trumps speed. VPN, on the other hand, is the preferred solution for most, providing a good balance of speed, ease of use and privacy. It protects your entire online connection without any additional customization. And what do you think?

The author's opinion may not coincide with yours, so if you have additions or your own thoughts on this topic - write them in the comments, thanks!

Okay, so, first, my side. On Jan 28th of this year(2024), I was walking with my wife. We enjoy going for 2-3 hour walks every day, m(well we did, lol) and the last thing I remember was that I said to her “I feel dizzy”, then about 30 minutes or so later, I came to screaming in pain, as i was being put in a stretcher thingy for an Ambulance. For me, I have no memory of those 30ish minutes, according to my wife, I was trying to stand up and do other dumb shit.
Apparently, I had a stroke, seizure, or something, fell, most likely backwards, and severely broke my L7. I have a photo of the CT they did of my spine in Emerg. It’s pretty fucked.
So, that’s how my life has been for almost the last 4 months. It’s not healing and I won’t go into why i haven’t had surgery or something yet.
Well, because of this, I’ve had a great excuse to not see or deal with my mother. It’s been great(aside from the horrible physical pain and nerve pain).
Apparently 4 days ago. My mother messages me that her mother is in the hospital, I hate my Grandma so i didn’t really care.
Then 2 days later, she calls me, telling me that she’s the one actually in the hospital, basically dying. She’s saying she can’t breathe, they think she has cancer(with no symptoms or even what kind. Just “cancer”), that she’s getting a MRI of her brain because she’s been getting headaches, so she said the doctors think she some brain disease, I forget which, she was also getting a random ultrasound of her intestines, and she had a blood clot in her lungs, and because of that, she’s being put on blood thinners for the next year or longer, oh, and she’s on the verge of a heart attack because she claims her heart rate is “too high” but isn’t getting an EKG, or anything. There are a few other things I’m forgetting, aswell. But when you’re told such blatant lies, your mind can only register so much.
My wife and I guess is that she wasn’t happy that my back was giving me a valid reason to not deal with her bullshit, and this all happened on Mother’s Day, and since I didn’t go visit her in the hospital(BECAUSE I CANT), she starts to scream at me at how much I’m a piece of shit, how I don’t love her, how much my wife has turned me into a heartless monster, and when she dies from this(not even a “if”), I’ll be kicked out of her Will, and even though she supposedly paid 15,000 dollars for a spot in a mausoleum(or whatever those are called. Where your corpse is in a stone drawer, instead of the ground) and made a huge deal about how her body HAS to be placed in one, that I will not be getting any of her ashes when she’s cremated.
At this point. While I’ve started to find it funny. In the moment, I was absolutely furious. She knows full well of my horrible medical issues. Ive had a double lung transplant, I’ve been through stage 4 lymphoma, the transplant meds and chemo have really caused me alot of issues with my brain, I’ve broken my spine twice, for the last 2 years I’ve had a BP of like 180/140(roughly, and it actually caused worry in some of my doctors) and just recently got put on meds to bring that down, and so much more.
It’s so fucked that a parent who’s seen her own son struggle to survive, time and time again, to be told countless times “he’s not going to make it” to pull this shit.
I’m so done with her bullshit that if she were to die, I don’t think I would even shed a tear. After 36 years of narcissistic abuse, actually abuse, financial abuse, and more, there just isn’t any emotions for her anymore.

Hey, for some reason I am just not able to pass hcaptcha when logging in to for example shop.app (Shop Pay). I've had issues with captchas on Linux based images before so I tried both WSL2 and a fresh Ubuntu VM as well as a fresh Windows VM and have no issues on those with Brave (Chrome and Chromium will sometimes fail on WSL2). I'm really at a loss, this is reproducible by just running the kasm-brave:1.15.0-rolling image and trying to login on ShopPay (shop.app/pay/authentication/login), you don't even need to use a valid account, basically any attempt will throw a captcha and after you solve it you get a 401 saying unauthorized, this does not happen on my Ubuntu VM, WSL2, Windows VM and bare metal systems. If anyone can suggest me some tips to figure out the root cause here that would be immensely appreciated. I have dumps of the fingerprints hcaptcha is looking for, and I ruled out fonts being the issue (I copied over my fonts from the Ubuntu VM to the docker container and verified with browserleaks.com/fonts that they were installed properly), I've noticed a few discrepancies like time zone being off but modifying those through Devtools -> Sensors utilities unfortunately made no change either, I've also tried disabling hardware acceleration so that the video drivers match the browser properties of my WSL2 browser but that also made no change. Another idea I had was that maybe the mouse movement is being flagged by some AI model but by logging in only using the keyboard I can make sure (by checking the motionData parameter) no mouse data is being sent to hcaptcha and Kasm will still fail, while my other test setups have no issues. The last thing I have ruled out thus far is anything related to TLS fingerprints, I'm not terminating TLS at any point and I confirmed this by checking browserleaks.com and making sure that Grease shows up as well as a unique fingerprint.
Again if anyone has any thoughts please let me know!! Also a reminder that it seems vendors are able to tweak their hcaptcha settings so it might be that hcaptcha will work on other websites, thus far I have only been testing with ShopPay (shop.app/pay/authentication/login) since this one fails 100% of the time.