TD;DR Newer relationship. Military boyfriend with a pattern of having a dog shit attitude but doesn't think he has a bad attitude. It's become exhausting trying to comfort him and calm him down when he doesn't want to help himself. Gets defensive when I try to shut down his shit talking spiral of negativity. I don't want to be the overly critical nagging girlfriend, so I want to leave while I still don't resent him. He's away for school and I want to wait until he gets back in a couple weeks. We've already talked about this issue a bunch. How to stay kind and compassionate while I wait for him to get back.
I've been with my boyfriend for only 7 months. Overall, it's pretty decent. We treat each other well, laugh a lot, have similar views on children and marriage, he's supportive, the sex is satisfying, and have had some pretty fun times together. It's been pretty drama free. He's active duty military. I am a veteran but have gone on to get my pilots license, work in aviation for a couple years, and now I'm a full time student studying software engineering. With the help of long term therapy, hobbies, and good friends, I would say I'm pretty happy in life right now. In the past though, I've suffered from not being able to regulate my emotions and having severe episodes of depression. Unfortunately, my boyfriend is not very happy in life. I try very hard to be validating, supportive, loving, and try to model healthy coping mechanisms but it's wearing on me. He has no friends. No hobbies. He hates his job. He talks poorly about other people. Everyone suck except for him. Everyone is a pussy except for him. Everything is stupid. The negativity spiral is a constant presence. And I don't like speaking poorly about other people how he does. I've gently encouraged seeking professional help because he has admitted that he might be depressed because his reactions to thing are disproportionate to whatever is triggering him. He has access to both medical and non medical mental health care. I'm exhausted from constantly validating him and trying to calm him down from the far reaching things he will start saying. He's very sensitive to criticism and gets defensive easily. I have to be very gentle with how I phrase things and avoid accusatory statements. It's really the only issue I have with him.
I did a lot of thinking and talk with my therapist and have decided that the negativity is a deal breaker for me. This negativity is exclusively work related. He doesn't treat me poorly, but I am baring the burden of his loneliness by myself. We live close to each other but He's away for a school right now.
First, I communicated that the negativity has become a constant presence, it dominates our conversations, and it's affecting my mood. I suggested that we try to find some balance together. He was cool about it.
A few days later, after he started talking poorly about other people, I set a boundary. I said that I would shut down the conversation once the it reached a certain intensity of negativity or once he started talking needlessly ill about other people. I said that if this seems like it's going to be a recurring thing, I'm going to have to assess if the relationship is healthy for me. He was cool about it.
Next, he talks about how he may have to a take a couple college classes (paid for by the military) to reach a certain goal he has. and then starts saying, "I HATE SCHOOL I HATE SCHOOL I HATE SCHOOL. IM NEVER GOING TO USE COLLEGE ALGEBRA". I said that if he goes into classes with that idea it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We do stuff we don't want to do to reach the goal we want. I said that he is capable, and even though general education courses aren't the most fun, it's still an opportunity to learn and develop new skills. He got defensive and said that I don't need to lecture him and that he doesn't have a shit attitude just because he said "college algebra isn't useful". The selective hearing is a recurring issue.
There's been a couple other times where he was able to self correct or apologized for getting upset with me when I would ask to change the subject. Most recently, he started calling a group of people cowards and that they shouldn't be in the Army. I tried to shut down the conversation twice but he kept going. I ended up playing into it more and shared my opinion and said that what he is saying is hypocritical because he may also be a part of the group hes talking about. He didn't see what he said as talking shit about other people. I said, "You can have that opinion. Im asking you to not voice it to me anymore". He got very defensive, saying that he isn't allowed to say anything with out having the opposite opinion. That we must disagree on everything.
I explained that I actually do agree with him a lot of the time, I just don't let the shit talking spiral out od control. He went to bed without FaceTiming me that night or saying goodnight. He did say good morning to me today.
I don't want to see myself turn into the overly critical, nagging girlfriend. I realize I am trying to change him. I am trying to fix him and that's not my job. I thought If I modeled better behavior and helped me breathe and relax when he got worked up, I could love him into being a more positive person. I can't. It's exhausting. I may just have to accept that we have different outlooks on the world. As much as I love him, this completely overwhelms his positive qualities. I can't see myself problem solving or raising children with this type of person (he already has one daughter that hes missed out on raising because of the military. He's basically just a fun uncle even though he tries to go home often to see her several time a year.) Sadly, he has no one else except me here and often tells me that he loves spending time with me and I make him so happy.
How can I practice being kind and compassionate towards him while still protecting my own mental well being while I wait for him to get back so I can end the relationship? I don't think he would be responsive to me saying that im thinking of ending the relationship.

Guinness World Records has been expanded by a space expert in order to showcase some incredible statistics found throughout the rest of the cosmos. In a new video this week, British scientist and BBC TV broadcaster Brian Cox says, "If there was a Guinness World Records 'Universe' book, the records would be remarkable." Cox quickly moves through an extensive list of exciting space-based records, starting with "the most enormous compact object," a supermassive black hole, a picture of which was taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope three years ago. The so-called M87 galaxy, which is six billion times more massive than the sun and is located 55 million light-years from Earth.In addition to numerous records, Cox unveils the universe's fastest object as well as its biggest structure and smallest object. The scientist identified Glass-z13 as the farthest distant verified galaxy when asked. "The light's journey from it to the telescope took around 13.4 billion years. We are examining the galaxy as it might have been 200 million or 300 million years after the Big Bang. Glass-z13 has a distance from Earth of little over 33 billion light-years due to the expansion of the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope, the largest telescope of its sort ever constructed, made the discovery of the far-off galaxy. The Webb telescope has been conducting research into deep space and sending stunning images back to Earth since its deployment earlier this year. As Cox points out, recordings of the universe are subject to perpetual change as astronomers and scientists make new discoveries all the time using more potent tools like the Webb telescope.
What reionized the Universe, and when?
When did the transparency of the universe begin? It's a strange but crucial question. The Universe was once opaque, but over time it changed to transparency and is still transparent now. It is literally the reason we can see far-off objects in the sky, and in a more existential sense, that instant of cosmic transparency had an impact on the behaviour of galaxies, the formation of stars, and other things. Answering the question is something that many astronomers want to do because it has significant ramifications for the objects we want to study and because we are here because of it. Astronomers from several countries may have discovered the solution to the puzzle: 12.7 billion years ago, roughly 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang. The fact that this is a few hundred million years later than previous calculations has some intriguing ramifications. Our entire Universe was in a hot, dense condition and all of its matter was ionised immediately after the Big Bang, like minutes after it: Any hydrogen or helium nuclei were free of any electron bonds. When an electron attempted to move, a photon, a particle of light, would strike it and cause it to fall. At the time, all of the light was incredibly high-energy and more than capable of maintaining the ionisation of the environment. As matter is so dense, if you were in this miasma, which in a sense you were since everything in the Universe was, it would appear absolutely opaque to you. An ionisation timeline Gas was cold and neutral in the early Universe (on the left), but as time goes on (on the right), radiation from stars and active black holes rips electrons off hydrogen atoms, illuminating the gas. An ionisation timeline Gas was cold and neutral in the early Universe (on the left), but as time goes on (on the right), radiation from stars and active black holes rips electrons off hydrogen atoms, illuminating the gas. The time interval is roughly one billion years from left to right. Thesan Collaboration, in picture Astonishingly, as the Universe cooled and expanded over the next 400,000 years, the average photon eventually ran out of energy to ionise hydrogen. For the first time, protons and electrons united and remained together to form neutral hydrogen. Recombination is the term used to describe the joining of an electron and a proton, hence this event is referred to as recombination even though it was the first time most atoms had united. Continuing the story Neutral hydrogen is highly good at absorbing visible light, the wavelengths of light humans can see, therefore the universe was still opaque even though the density of the Universe was reducing as it expanded. This period is known as the Dark Ages. That situation would last for a very, very long period until new objects formed that could emit ultraviolet light. When they were created, they ionised the hydrogen in space once more, but this time was different since the Universe had a lower density, allowing photons to go farther without being absorbed. Space became transparent all of a sudden and remained so. We can see a great distance even today because the majority of gas is ionised, or officially called a plasma. Reionization refers to this point in the universe's history. However, when did that occur? A pleasant approach to learn more exists. A blazar, or galaxy containing a supermassive black hole spewing energy, as depicted by an artist. Credit: Science Communication Lab and DESY A blazar, or galaxy containing a supermassive black hole spewing energy, as depicted by an artist. Credit: Science Communication Lab and DESY Image: Science Communication Lab at DESY Huge black holes evolved in the centres of galaxies as they initially emerged from the darkness. These black holes would collect matter as it fell into them, building up in a disc that would become extremely hot and emit high-energy ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays. These galaxies are what astronomers refer to as quasars, and we can view them from a very, very long way. When these quasars' light reaches us, it battles the Universe's expansion, which causes their wavelengths to lengthen—a process known as redshifting. In other words, the redshift reveals the quasar's distance, which in turn reveals how long after the Big Bang we observe it. Due to the fact that light can only move at a certain speed, objects that are further away are redshifted more and appear to us in the past.Because of the quasar's immense strength, even if we observe it before reionization, it will have already ionised the hydrogen immediately around it, allowing light to escape. The light from the quasar will be absorbed if there is a cloud of hydrogen between us and the quasar that is sufficiently removed from it to remain neutral. The redshift of the wavelength gap we detect in the quasar's light indicates how far away the cloud is from us and, more significantly, how far back in time we saw it. Very far distant clouds are neutral and unionised. However, following reionization, we suddenly stop noticing them because they are unable to take in the quasar's light.. So in theory, all we need to do is isolate the light from a collection of distant quasars using really good spectra. Numerous wavelengths will exhibit significant absorption, which will disappear at a sufficiently low redshift. Reionization took place then. This is really difficult to do in real life. You need really brilliant quasars, and even then, they are faint because they are so far away. Additionally, you need very good spectra, which calls for a large telescope and prolonged exposures. Numerous additional factors must also be taken into consideration, such as how the universe was structured back then. However, the astronomy team actually did this. They used archived observations of 42 additional extremely bright quasars from two other observatories in addition to 25 very distant very bright quasars from the XQR-30 survey. They discover that the Universe first became transparent roughly 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang by closely examining the 67 quasar spectra. Illustration of the first stars in the universe illuminating the gas clouds where they originated. Photo: NAOJ Illustration of the first stars in the universe illuminating the gas clouds where they originated. Photo: NAOJ And that's really fascinating! What precisely ionised the universe is unknown. There was enough time for supermassive, extremely hot, luminous stars to form as well, and they could have also blasted out UV light, enough to contribute. It might have been these very quasars. Was it thus stars, quasars, or a combination of both? The timing may be able to focus this. Reionization was previously estimated to have occurred 200 million years earlier, but if the new estimate is accurate, there is plenty of room for many more of these first-generation stars to form and contribute. So, if you'll excuse the pun, it might have been both stars and quasars working together. Around this time, galaxies were developing, and if these stars were incredibly powerful, they could blow gas straight out of the galaxies, altering the evolution of those galaxies. In order to comprehend when these stars existed and what they might have done to their surrounding environments, we need to know when reionization took place. I'll remind you that you reside in a galaxy and on a planet revolving around a star whose lineages may be traced back to this period. Reionization—what it was, when it happened, and how it affected the universe—thus plays a role in our existence. It's clear why we want to know the answer. And it might be here at last. Naturally, more observations are preferable. We may also be able to determine the duration of reionization if we have more exact estimates of this number from models of cosmic structure. 1,000,000 years? 10, fifty, or one hundred? It's almost certain that larger telescopes with better cameras will be used to answer that question. We are among the first species to comprehend precisely how the universe came into being and what occurred to it after that. You can quote me on that, but the Universe took 13.8 billion years to get here, and I think it was worth the wait.

Looking for a digital planning for beginners guide? We've got you covered. Find the full guide at Key2Success.
The guide covers a variety of important subjects, including:

• What is Digital Planning?
• How to switch from paper to digital planning?
• What do you need to start digital planning?
• What is the best device for digital planning?
• What is the best app for digital planning?
• What is the best digital planner?
• How to succeed with digital planning?
• Digital Planning for Beginners FAQ

Digital planning refers to the process of using digital tools, software, or applications to organize, schedule, and manage tasks, events, and goals. It encompasses a wide range of activities, from simple to-do lists and calendars to more complex project management systems.
Find the full guide at Key2Success.

The Cenacle 124 April 2024 29^th Anniversary Issue
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/124
[Size = 13.6 MB]
Hello everyone,
Here comes the just-released Cenacle 124 April 2024. Returning to the desired quarterly issue cadence that has been missing for the past couple of years. It was hard doing this issue without the usual many years’ involvement of my dear poet friend, the late Judih Weinstein Haggai, but her poetry features in this issue nonetheless, & will remain so in each issue ever on.
Thus far, 2024 for the human world has been a fairly dark one. The global Pandemic has not ended, though millions risk sickness & death for themselves & others by choosing to join in a kind of mass amnesia about the crisis. Meanwhile, the climate crisis continues to get the same kind of hostile indifference. The genocide in Gaza goes on unabated by any of the many powerful & supposedly democratic nations of the world. And a likely felon has jazzed the US electoral process, its weaknesses & flaws among its many strengths, to be within reach of again taking over &, as he has vowed, taking revenge.
I can’t tell you that this literary journal operates toe to toe on the global scale to oppose these various human catastrophes, but I can say that if we don’t seek Beauty, & Nature, & look beyond the petty fuckeries of the current day, we are much more likely to be lost than if we find a way to do this.
This fine anniversary issue features new poetry by Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Sam Knot, Jimmy Heffernan, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself.
Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
And new prose pieces by Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, & myself.
There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, & Nathan D. Horowitz.
Contents of this new issue include:
From Soulard’s Notebooks [Excerpt]
I find myself leaning back often into 3 questions that I believe most influence human psychology & human culture:
1) Why are we here?
2) Where are we from?
3) What are we supposed to be doing?
* * * * * *
Feedback on Cenacle 123 [Excerpt]
I made it to the first poem by Judih Weinstein Haggai, sank into it, breathed it, needed it, and couldn’t go further into the issue yet. But it’s beautiful. And Kassandra Soulard’s cover photo: wow.
(Tamara Miles)
* * * * * *
From the ElectroLounge Forums:
Selections from Unknot 24, Part 1[Excerpt]
A project that I expect to work on for the rest of my life and never finish is a kind of art project playing with meaning making and the first few layers of knots, so this is all part of that really. I suppose it is a way to give a kind of focus or even kind of “abstract grounding” to some other kind of activity which isn’t necessarily even directly related to or about it.
(Sam Knot)
* * * * * *
Haiku from a Silent Retreat (7/31/2021) [Excerpt]
by Judih Weinstein Haggai
Everybody!
Are you everybody?
I’m not either
* * * * * *
Notes from New England:
Dream Raps, Volume Thirteen [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
Now that my friends are gone, the very shy Creatures who sometimes visit my hovel begin to come out, sniffing friendly their hellos. Accept my offer to cluster with me under the blankets, them being cold as ever when outside of the White Woods. White Bunny, Hedgedyhog, Peppermint Bears, Kittees & their Friend Fish. Alvinarah Poesy, & his dear friend Naria Narwhal. Even that cackling little Imp is under there somewhere. They never stay long, but I love them passing through. They’re excited about the Rutabaga Festival & Fleastock in the White Woods, I’m guessing.
* * * * * *
Becoming Archaeology: A Eulogy for Living Moor. (Part Two) [Excerpt]
by Sam Knot
It moves me more than any painting
or poem, seems to encode more meaning,
personal & planetary, than any other art,
this simple offering. This intricate gift.
* * * * * *
Notes Toward Many Musics [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
I believe a Narrative should always lead with the best it has, its most potent moment or image or the like. And let this lead set its standard. When I think of the Narrative options for these poems, I come back every time to starting from the start. These poems build on years & years of the work it took to get the six Brother-Heroes reunited rightly, after telling their unique stories as rightly as possible too. I did the best thinking & writing that I could.
* * * * * *
Poetry by Martina Newberry [Excerpt]
Tall on the dirty stage,
from my notebook I conferred
my poems. No time limit,
no faces, noises of shifting
dust and cars out there somewhere,
I read for many minutes,
emoting here and there,
hands rising and falling,
singing through some.
* * * * * *
Rivers of the Mind (A Novel) [Excerpt]
by Timothy Vilgiate
I could not help but fear that he’d attack me as I laid there; I lost count of how many times I got up to check my locks or to peek underneath the bed. I turned over and over, rocking the mattress like an unsteady boat, straining to keep my eyes shut. It was no use. Midnight came, and I was still awake; my hair matted over my irritated face, my blanket clutched in between my hands over my mouth as I tried to stop myself from sobbing. But I couldn’t let it see me cry. I couldn’t let it even see me blink.
* * * * * *
Poetry by Tamara Miles [Excerpt]
A lion’s music—a carnival of sound, beyond the roar of reserve, park, zoo, circus, and
safari, the wild kingdom beyond the definition of safe and unsafe, cruel or kind, in
sub-Saharan Africa, or in India, Gir forest, where the heart beat and drum beat and
incense are heavy.
* * * * * *
The Lagoon of the Air Goblins (Travel Journal) [Excerpt]
by Nathan D. Horowitz
I’m dehydrated from the sun today. I haven’t rehydrated. My hydration’s out of wack. It seems an eternity, maybe two, since I ordered a glass of papaya juice. Inside the café, mysterious café things may be happening, involving blenders and workforce and fruit and power. Time’s ticking by and it sounds like trees falling into a river. I glance at the red and white checkered tablecloth and remember I’ve always hated red and white checkered patterns. Serafín the educator said he would meet me here to tell me about the Secoya cosmovision, and he isn’t showing up.
* * * * * *
Poetry by Colin James [Excerpt]
Episodically craved by adolescents,
Prometheus displays his tats
behind The Dollar Store in Bonita.
The one with the plastic pillars.
* * * * * *
Mad Jack (Prose) [Excerpt]
by Charlie Beyer
We were longhaired teenage criminals. I looked like Jesus and my best buddy had flaming red shoulder-length hair, the devil to rival my divine look. Scott the Red. We were all hair, except Mad Jack (or Bob, as I knew him), who was as shaved as a plastic bag. We all sat in the car outside the 7-11 in the night rain. Blue smoke trickled out of the cracked window. Inside was a haze of marijuana smoke tainted with opium. We were high and crazed.
* * * * * *
Poetry by Jimmy Heffernan [Excerpt]
The moment to which we have access
So Nature can “see” through time
And what is this but awareness?
A tunneling from the immediate future
Back into the present
* * * * * *
Bags End Book #21: What is the Creature Carnival? Part 3 (Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Algernon Beagle
It makes me remember how our teacher Mister Owl in Bags End teached how different places have their different ways of thinking & telling. So if you’re gonna watch a Creature production, whether it’s the Carnival, or a Grand Production, or this time both, you’re gonna be in 4or a good crazy ride.
* * * * * *
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Classic Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a “Penang lawyer.” Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,” was engraved upon it, with the date “1884.” It was just such a stick as the oldfashioned family practitioner used to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring.
* * * * * *
Labyrinthine [A New Fixtion] [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
I’m distracted just as this strange fellow appears on stage with some kind of tool in his hand. He is very fancily dressed, some kind of home-made tuxedo? Or one sewn from many scraps? And he starts to recite a poem, I think, in a tongue I don’t know, when something distracts me.
Peace,
Raymond Soulard, Jr.
Scriptor Press New England
scriptorpress.com
[editor@scriptorpress.com](mailto:editor@scriptorpress.com)

Hi, I, 21F, have a best friend (21F) that we’ll call Ella. Ella and I have known each other since kindergarten. We were best friends at times in elementary school and solidified our friendship in middle school. When high school came around, we went to different high schools but still lived 5 minutes away from each other.
Freshman year (2016) I barely saw Ella. We both were getting used to our new schools and everything, so we never really hung out but we would constantly text. Sophomore year I decided I wanted to hang out more. After school, I’d always ask her to hang out, we’d study together or just talk for a few hours before I went back home. She rarely came to my house, I think maybe once she came over to study. In our junior year, we both ended up with boyfriends. I still wanted to hang out with her every now and then but every time I asked to do something, she’d have an excuse. This continued for the whole year (even after I had called her out for this by sending her screenshots of every time she bailed on plans). By senior year, I was over it. I realized she wanted to spend all of her time with her boyfriend and I didn’t feel like it was fair that I constantly had to be the one to reach out. We barely spoke that year.
That is, until we found out we were going to the same college the next year. I had been actively searching for roommates, so when Ella asked to room together it felt like a no brainer. We were already comfortable with each other, knew how the other behaved/their habits. So despite the year long break, I figured it’d be better than rooming with a rando.
Freshman year of college, we shared a dorm room. We were at the end of the hall, secluded from everyone else. At this point, I knew I had fucked up. The first night there, I somehow got her to come meet people in our hall. After that night, she didn’t go outside past 5 for the rest of the year. “Mosquito bites” was her answer when I asked why. I made friends without her. I’d go out to parties, go have dinner, etc. At the beginning, she wouldn’t say much about it. But a few months in she kept complaining about how lonely she was. I would invite Ella out, even my friends would invite her out, and she’d say no every time — I don’t remember her leaving the dorm room once after that first night to hang out with people (including myself). I had 0 sympathy for her because of this.
Sophomore year of college, we decided to move into an apartment together with the other 2 friends I had made. I felt bad leaving her behind for some reason. I knew she had no friends and I didn’t know who else she’d end up with if not me. So yes, we lived together again. This year, she definitely went out a bit more but only after my friend would beg her to. I could still count the number of times she came out on my 2 hands. She ended up causing a lot of drama this year. She’s nosy, she can come off as passive and egotistical, and she can be extremely judgmental. Things I hadn’t realized she was until my other roommates started pointing it out. These things had become normal to me. That’s just who I thought Ella was. And it is. But that’s not ok.
Junior year, I ended up living with 3 random people. (There’s a lot that happened that sophomore year I didn’t mention. That’s for another story). And Ella lived with 3 random people. I only ever heard from her when she wanted to complain about her roommates. I saw her 1 time that year because she wanted to complain about her roommates even more. She complained so much about them even her boyfriend didn’t want to speak on the phone with her (he actually told her this. Kinda wild).
This brings us to now. Senior year. We live together again. We both had terrible roommate experiences and just needed comfortability and to be in a living situation where we knew the other’s boundaries. It wasn’t ideal for me, but it was better than another random assignment situation. We both turned 21 before the fall semester started. So I thought we’d be able to go to bars together. Not even the crazy ones, I just wanted to go sit at like an Applebees and talk for a while. No. Every time I ask her to hang out it’s “I’m good but thanks” or “I don’t feel like having a hangover tomorrow” or “I don’t want to spend money”. Not to say these aren’t valid reasons, but to not ONCE not EVER say yes just doesn’t seem right? I’m also an introvert. I get it. But you should also be open to doing things your friends want to do. She doesn’t come to football games, basketball games, kickbacks, nothing. She won’t go on night drives, out to dinner with just me, or even to the library to study. If her boyfriend isn’t the one asking, the answer is no.
So I’m done. I stopped asking her to do things. I stopped texting her first again. If I’m in our living room and she talks to me, the answers are short, monotone, and disinterested. I don’t care about her or her life because she doesn’t act interested in mine. I feel bad sometimes because I think she doesn’t understand why I got so cold this year. But it’s not my job to teach you how to be a friend. I’ve brought this up and called her out before, I did my due diligence… about 5 years ago. For some reason, I kept thinking things would change as we got older. And they did. I just didn’t think it’d be like that. Sometimes I feel bad though. Because I know not everyone wants to be doing stuff. I just feel like every know and then, as a friend, best friend supposedly, you should be willing to reach out first. To make plans. To go out and do something for once instead of trying to convince me to sit on the couch for the 7th night this week and drink $10 wine. Am I in the wrong here?

So there are a couple of things i need to mention. My dad recently had his first heart attack about 6 years ago, then had cancer 3 years ago and now recently had his second heart attack.
He has a history of alchohol and weed addiction and used to be a heavy smoker until he had throat cancer and. Also drank 15 ish cups of coffee a day and has a moderate food addiction.
He's a fairly hard headed person and doesn't really talk about his feelings and it usually gets expressed through frustration and anger(eventhough he himself doesn't realise it). Doesn't want to accept help and keeps to himself trying to "fix it and move on".
Constant avoidance of the topic and downplaying the severity of it.
A few days ago I had enough of it and finally broke down since i was quite angry with him for keeping to himself, since i have to watch him actively destroying himself and when either me or anyone else tries to bring it up that perhaps he should take it easy and recover both mentally and physically first he just gets angry. Wanting to move on from the subject since it "isn't such a big deal".
After that we had a bit of a talk and he finally mentioned that he has it rough and is scared of dying, which is totally understandable and I told him that I was glad he finally said something.
Now my question to plut it bluntly. Wtf do i do? How do you deal with someone that refuses to accept help, talk about their feelings, actively avoids difficult subjects and that you care deeply about?
Normally i would say you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped, but in this case it isn't much of an option. I'm just lost on what to do rn and any advicd is welcome.

So i've been going through all the clips on u/theroaringkitty X account & I want to put a post out to see what people think and maybe collaberate on deciphering the meaning
This is what he has mentioned: + beside them are my personal comments:
-GME - Gamestop has been mentioned in 3 clips now - grim reaper, braveheart & briefly in another - But this was obvious since GME was his biggest and most famous trade
-CRYPTO - Is this him saying we are running this back in crypto this time where the hedge funds can't get in our way? But this would mean it's more a player vs player game, not us against the system. Either way, he's stated crypto for a reason - So i'm bidding even more in this sector (BTC, SOL, MEMES)
-MEME's - To me he's just rallying the troops around meme stocks where the short interest is high - But he again could be alluding to crypto memes which have been rallying all year
-CAROLINE (his wife) - Why did he mention her explicitly?
-MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY - are these the days we bid big or the days to watch out and hold? Or is he just saying he's coming back to stream on these days soon?
-CHANGEOVER (change from one activity or system to another) - I think this means moving to crypto but it's a theory
-HOLD (the pattern) - We have a way to go yet, so don't sell too early
-REQUEL (A movie which revisits the subject matter of an earlier film but is not a remake or a linear continuation of its plot) - This could mean it will be different in many ways to last cycle but we are playing against the same enemies, system or stock.
-TARGET: JUST UP
-BANG - Does this mean he's talking about BLACKBERRY, AMC, NOKIA, GME?

About me: I am a university student in CS, I have some experience in team leading (throughout the last school years up until these university years), public speaking, I gamed with and mastered DnD in group of people where there are school student is included, and as last one can say, I had successes in teaching and tutoring some of my classmates. I do not have nor education nor experience about teaching in school, just as I stated above, I had some leadership positions before, and I know the subject that I will teach (however, I am still preparing an educational course). My audience will be 10th graders, who themselves will choose so called “informatics” as their camp subject. I was in this camp before in the role of student. This place provides an experience between a true summer camp and school classes, but with a more specialized and/or fun course. What shall I think about in my preparations? Because the students here will choose their own classes, I am pretty sure that most of them will be interested in what I provide.
I’ll clarify: what should I expect from the perspective of someone who has public speaking experience, knows their subject, and can teach it someone about my age but has never had any high schoolers teaching experience? (I am feeling pretty not sure about this role, I am not a real teacher, just some idealistic guy)
P.S. sorry for my English, I used several spellcheck instruments and hope it helped. P.S. about administration: I was a student in this school, many teachers know and remember me, I have their support

In what ways do you think your narcissist unmother sabotaged you?
For me I think she directly tried to sabotage me from succeeding in anything. She didn’t want me to succeed in activities/hobbies in various ways:
-not showing up to dances while other parents were bringing tape recorders. -showing up very late to pick me up from dance on purpose. -not helping me learn how to read or do any homework. -not teaching me about financial planning or anything to do with my career —ignoring my addiction to drugs when I was an addict. Didn’t care to see me use drugs. —verbal and physical abuse towards my learning disability/school. Calling me stupid. —abusing me at night before school so I was too tired to learn. Not letting me sleep. —making me walk miles to school in the cold so I was probably tired by time I got there. —basically not teaching me anything regarding skills I need to succeed. —not letting me be in activities much.
This is a Bachelors degree high earning woman my whole life by the way. She had money. She had skills. She is successful and has always owned property such as a house.
I have struggled financially my whole life and struggled in school growing up. I still struggle with self esteem to this day due to a lifetime of believing I was stupid. I am now in my 30’s learning new skills I always wanted to learn and do from dance to figuring out my career still. I feel the sabotage has really damaged my life. My unmother is making 80k a year now and has a nice house and brand new car. I’m paying half my paycheck for an apartment and making minimum wage. The financial aspects to this sabotage I don’t hear enough about.

The use of object pronouns after the verb to be", as in:
A: "Who left mud all over the floor?" B: "It was me."
This is a widespread usage of the object pronouns in what is an equative verb (called "linking verb" in English grammar), which would call for the subject pronoun:
B: "It was I." (Which I am aware is used too, or at least I have heard it used in television and film, though perhaps it is a hypercorrection?)
What is this called and why does it occur? This looks to me at fist glance as vaguely echoing the role of the "stressed pronoun" in French (moi, toi, etc.).

Cascaded control circuits, also known as ladder logic circuits, are a type of electronic circuit used to perform logical operations and control electrical signals in a hierarchical manner in automation systems. These circuits operate based on the principle of comparing the input voltage to predetermined voltage thresholds, thereby generating output signals at different voltage levels.
Basic Structure of a Ladder Diagram
Ladder diagrams are a visual tool for describing logic systems, particularly useful in the field of PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) programming. This diagram is composed of the following main components:
1. Power Rail (Left-hand Rail):

• Contains the program's inputs. These inputs can be signals from sensors, switches, or other devices.
• Represented by vertical lines on the left side of the diagram.

2. Output Rail (Right-hand Rail):

• Contains the program's outputs. These outputs can be control signals for motors, valves, LEDs, or other devices.
• Represented by vertical lines on the right side of the diagram.

3. Rung (Ladder Step):

• Each rung represents a step in the logic process.
• Consists of two parts:
  • Condition Part:
    • Contains contacts that represent the logical conditions that must be met to execute an action.
    • Contacts can be normally open (NO) or normally closed (NC).
    • Represented by square or round symbols.
  • Action Part:
    • Contains coils that represent the actions to be taken when the conditions in the condition part are met.
    • Coils are represented by rectangles.

4. Connections:

• Used to connect contacts and coils to each other, forming complete logic expressions.
• Represented by horizontal lines connecting elements within a rung.

Examples of Components and Sample Rungs
Example 1: Turning on a Light When a Switch is Pressed
Power Rail: Switch (input) Output Rail: Light (output) Rung:

• Condition: NO contact of the switch
• Action: Coil controlling the light
• Connection: Connect the NO contact of the switch to the coil controlling the light

Example 2: Using a Temperature Sensor to Control a Fan
Power Rail:

• NTC temperature sensor (input) Output Rail:
• Coil controlling the fan (output) Rung 1:
• Condition:
  • NO contact of the temperature sensor (when temperature > 25°C)
• Action:
  • Turn off the coil controlling the fan Rung 2:
• Condition:
  • NC contact of the temperature sensor (when temperature < 20°C)
• Action:
  • Turn on the coil controlling the fan Connections:
• Connect the NO contact of the temperature sensor to the coil controlling the fan (Rung 1)
• Connect the NC contact of the temperature sensor to the coil controlling the fan (Rung 2)

Explanation:

• When the room temperature is higher than 25°C, the NO contact of the temperature sensor will close, activating the coil controlling the fan and turning on the fan to cool the room.
• When the room temperature is lower than 20°C, the NC contact of the temperature sensor will close, activating the coil controlling the fan and turning off the fan to keep the room warm.

Note:

• This example only uses two basic rungs to control the fan at two fixed temperature levels.
• The diagram can be expanded with more rungs to control the fan at different temperature levels or combined with other sensors and devices to create a more complete automatic control system.
• The choice of temperature sensor, threshold temperature values, and control logic depends on the specific requirements of the application.

Structure of Various Sensors
NTC Temperature Sensor:

• Operating Principle: NTC (Negative Temperature Coefficient) temperature sensors are a type of resistor whose resistance decreases with increasing temperature.
• Structure: Consists of a semiconductor material made into a small resistor. When the temperature changes, the resistance of the semiconductor material also changes.
• Operation: As the temperature increases, the crystal structure of the semiconductor material changes, creating more conductive holes, leading to a decrease in resistance. Conversely, as the temperature decreases, the resistance of the NTC will increase.
• Applications: Heating system control, air conditioning system control, temperature alarm, etc.

Optical Sensor:

• Operating Principle: Detects the presence, position, or characteristics of an object using light.
• Structure: Includes a light source (such as LED, laser) and a receiver (such as photodiode, phototransistor).
• Operation:
  • Reflective Optical Sensor: Light from the emitter is reflected by the object and received by the receiver. When an object appears or moves, the received signal changes, activating the output.
  • Beam-Break Optical Sensor: Light from the emitter is blocked by the object, affecting the received signal. When an object appears or moves, the received signal changes, activating the output.
  • Spectroscopic Optical Sensor: Analyzes the light reflected from an object to determine the color, material, or other characteristics of the object.
• Applications: Optical sensors are widely used in various fields such as industrial automation, door access control, security, healthcare, etc.

Proximity Sensor:

• Operating Principle: Detects the presence of an object at a close distance without direct contact.
• Structure: Includes an emitter and receiver of electromagnetic waves, electric fields, or sound waves.
• Operation:
  • Electromagnetic Proximity Sensor: Uses a coil to create a magnetic field. When a metal object approaches, the magnetic field is distorted, affecting the received signal.
  • Eddy Current Proximity Sensor: Uses an antenna to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves. When an object approaches, the electromagnetic waves are reflected, affecting the received signal.
  • Ultrasonic Proximity Sensor: Uses a speaker to emit sound waves and a microphone to receive reflected waves. When an object approaches, the reflection time of the sound waves changes, affecting the received signal.
• Applications: Proximity sensors are used in various fields such as industrial automation, door access control, elevators, robots, etc.

Pressure Sensor:

• Operating Principle: Measures the pressure of a liquid or gas.
• Structure: Includes an elastic diaphragm, a strain gauge, or a semiconductor pressure sensor.
• Operation:
  • Diaphragm Pressure Sensor: When pressure changes, the elastic diaphragm is deformed, affecting the resistance or voltage signal.
  • Strain Gauge Pressure Sensor: Uses a strain gauge to measure pressure. When pressure changes, the resistance of the strain gauge changes, affecting the voltage signal.
  • Semiconductor Pressure Sensor: Uses a semiconductor chip to measure pressure. When pressure changes, the voltage signal on the chip changes.
• Applications: Pressure sensors are used in various fields such as healthcare, aerospace, automotive, industrial, etc.

Accelerometer:

• Operating Principle: Measures the acceleration of an object (rate of change of velocity).
• Structure: Includes an accelerometer mass, a spring, and a position sensor.
• Operation: When the object moves, the accelerometer mass is subjected to inertial force, causing it to move relative to the spring. The position sensor measures the position of the accelerometer mass, from which the acceleration of the object is calculated.
• Applications: Accelerometers are used in various fields such as aerospace, automotive, smartphones, robots, etc.

Force Sensor:

• Operating Principle: Measures the force applied to an object.
• Structure: Includes a mechanical deformation (tension, compression, bending) and a position sensor or strain gauge.
• Operation:
  • Electromechanical Force Sensor: When a force is applied, the object is deformed, affecting the resistance of the strain gauge.
  • Semiconductor Force Sensor: Uses a semiconductor chip to measure force. When a force is applied, the voltage signal on the chip changes.
• Applications: Force sensors are used in various fields such as industrial automation, electronic scales, robots, healthcare, etc.

Humidity Sensor:

• Operating Principle: Measures the humidity (amount of water vapor) in the air or surrounding environment.
• Structure: Includes a hygroscopic material (such as polymer, salt) and a resistance or capacitance sensor.
• Operation:
  • Resistance Humidity Sensor: When humidity changes, the resistance of the hygroscopic material changes, affecting the voltage signal.
  • Capacitance Humidity Sensor: When humidity changes, the capacitance of the hygroscopic material changes, affecting the voltage signal.
• Applications: Humidity sensors are used in various fields such as HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), healthcare, food production, agriculture, etc.

Gas Sensor:

• Operating Principle: Detects the presence or concentration of specific types of gases.
• Structure: Includes a gas-sensitive material (such as semiconductor, conductive polymer) and a resistance or capacitance sensor.
• Operation: When the target gas comes into contact with the sensitive material, the resistance or capacitance of the material changes, affecting the voltage signal.
• Applications: Gas sensors are used in various fields such as industrial safety, environmental control, healthcare, gas detection, etc.

Additional Notes:

• The provided information on sensors covers a wide range of commonly used sensors in various applications.
• Each sensor type has its unique characteristics, operating principles, and applications.
• The selection of the appropriate sensor for a specific application depends on factors such as the target parameter to be measured, the required accuracy, operating conditions, and cost considerations.
• Sensors play a crucial role in various industries and scientific fields, enabling data acquisition, monitoring, and control processes.

The Advent of PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers)

Prior to the introduction of PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers), industrial control systems primarily relied on relays to perform control logic. However, the use of relays presented several drawbacks, including:
· Difficulties in Design and Programming: Designing and programming control systems using relays for complex circuits was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and required high expertise.
· Challenges in Troubleshooting and Maintenance: Identifying and rectifying faults within relay-based systems was a lengthy and laborious process.
· Lack of Flexibility: Modifying control logic in relay systems was intricate and expensive.
· Bulky Size: Relay systems often occupied substantial space due to their large size.
The advent of PLCs addressed the limitations of traditional relay systems, offering numerous advantages:
· Ease of Programming: PLCs can be programmed using user-friendly languages like Ladder Logic, Function Block Diagram, and others. This facilitates quicker and simpler design and programming of control systems.
· Simplified Troubleshooting and Maintenance: PLCs possess self-diagnostic capabilities, enabling faster and easier fault identification and rectification within the system.
· High Flexibility: Control logic in PLCs can be readily modified by altering the programming code.
· Compact Size: PLCs are compact, saving installation space.
Owing to these benefits, PLCs rapidly gained popularity as preferred control devices in industrial applications. Today, PLCs are extensively employed across diverse sectors, including:
· Manufacturing: PLCs control automated production lines, encompassing electronics, automotive, food processing, and other manufacturing industries.
· Building Automation: PLCs manage lighting systems, HVAC systems, security systems, and more in buildings.
· Energy: PLCs oversee power systems, water systems, gas systems, and the like.
· Transportation: PLCs handle transportation systems, including railways, roadways, aviation, and others.
The introduction of PLCs marked a revolutionary step in the field of industrial automation, contributing to enhanced production efficiency and productivity.
Many sources

Professional conduct regulation cases do not support the constitutionality of this rulemaking

The existing broker disclosure obligations as applied to customer agents and principals, though never explicitly validated in the courts, may alternatively be found constitutional as a reasonable regulation of professional conduct that incidentally burdens some speech activities of the persons engaged in that regulated conduct. In that interpretation, the conduct being regulated is that of entering into an agency relationship with a customer or else acting as the principal in a sale to the customer. While a written contract is speech, the assumption of a legal relationship that it embodies is doubtlessly conduct and can be the subject of regulation.
As the Court held in United States v. O’Brien, laws affecting speech that are aimed at the regulation of non-expressive conduct are still analyzed under First Amendment jurisprudence, but face a lower level of constitutional scrutiny than laws aimed directly at the regulation of expressive conduct or at speech activities themselves: “a sufficiently important governmental interest in regulating the nonspeech element [of the regulated conduct] can justify incidental limitations on First Amendment freedoms.”⁴⁷ The compulsion to merely report privately to the IRS and to the taxpayer certain “purely factual and uncontroversial information” about the regulated non-expressive conduct may rightly be framed as an “incidental” limitation on traditional brokers’ otherwise unabridged First Amendment rights.
The O’Brien standard, however, is only applicable if the rule is targeted at regulating non-expressive conduct. Things become more complicated when the rule is targeted at regulating expressive conduct or at speech itself. There is a long though underappreciated line of cases stemming from O’Brien that points toward a reasonably straightforward series of tests for when regulation of professional conduct that burdens speech activities is constitutional. That line has been best illuminated by attorney Robert Kry in his article, “The ‘Watchman for Truth’: Professional Licensing and the First Amendment.”⁴⁸ Kry, summarizing and synthesizing many cases, finds that

In the case of a broker who is, in fact, an agent of a customer or a principal in a sale to a customer, the regulation is plausibly aimed at the non-expressive component of the professional’s activity. An agent under common law principles is acting on behalf of her customer. When a broker agrees to a sale, she binds the customer to that sale. The reporting requirement, therefore, is merely a requirement to disclose certain facts about one’s sales, i.e. one’s conduct as an agent. As a principal in a sale to a customer, the broker is, once again, engaged in conduct, a sale, and the reporting requirement merely discloses facts about that conduct. Additionally, brokers of this type are in most cases already subject to a licensing or registration requirement under other statutes.⁵⁰ Those forms of professional conduct are traditionally regulated and the tax laws merely provide for an additional recordkeeping and reporting requirement associated with that conduct. Altogether, the reporting requirement, though compelled speech, appears to be a regulation aimed at the non-expressive component of a professional’s activity. It is therefore likely constitutional.
As described earlier however, the Treasury Department’s proposed rule inappropriately departs from that customer agent or principal standard and seeks to compel speech from persons who are engaged in no such regulated conduct. A mere publisher or maintainer of software, websites, or smart contracts is not in an agency relationship with any customer, nor is she selling anything to any customer apart from, potentially, a license to use her tools or a fee charged for relaying or publishing the user’s data on a communications network or blockchain. Additionally, unlike typical brokerage, these activities do not trigger any licensing or registration requirements under other state or federal statutory schemes.
Indeed, even when such person is relaying actual cryptocurrency transaction messages that, once recorded in the blockchain, will effect a sale of some cryptocurrency, these entities typically have no actual ability to act on behalf of the user and no actual or apparent authority under agency law to act on their behalf. At most, they can choose whether or not to relay the signed transaction message (but so too can an internet service provider); they cannot alter the contents of that message such that the terms of the sale would change. They cannot and do not act as an agent of any customer nor are they a principal in a digital asset sale to any customer.⁵¹
These persons may be involved in conduct in other ways, such as paying for web hosting services, paying fees on cryptocurrency networks to record software or data in the blockchain, taking fees from users to relay their messages, or simply paying rent or otherwise maintaining facilities wherein they or their employees do the work of developing software or maintaining communications tools, but all of those activities are aimed at engaging in speech, the publication of software and data, and none of those activities give rise to the type of fiduciary or agency-like financial relationship, i.e. conduct, that justifies third-party tax reporting obligations.
Moreover, these persons have deliberately designed their software, websites, and smart contract tooling such that it can be useful to a trader and capable of facilitating their trades or other desires without the need for any agency relationship or for any legal or trust-based relationship with the publisher or any other party whatsoever. The user can and does do it all themselves. That is the point of cryptocurrency and “decentralized finance.” We can debate the merit of such a design goal,⁵² but what is not debatable is that this is how these tools are presently designed.⁵³ By demanding that these publishers rewrite their tools such that an agency relationship is established between the author of the tool and its user, such that the name, Social Security number, and other intimate details of the user are entrusted to the alleged “broker,” the regulation is squarely aimed at compelling not merely the disclosure of trading data and taxable gains, but also the compelled creation of significant expressive software and tooling to solicit and collect data in a manner that would otherwise be antithetical to the goals of the software developer. Such an order is so unprecedented that it is difficult to find appropriate metaphors or past examples. It is as if a state—frustrated that it cannot determine who is reading which books—ordered that novelists shall hold in-person book readings during which they must collect and report information about their audience.
Accordingly, when applied to mere publishers and maintainers of software, websites, and smart contracts, these regulations target the expressive activity of the alleged broker. That does not mean, however, that such rules will automatically be unconstitutional. The Court has dealt with several regulatory schemes aimed at expressive professional conduct, such as a lawyer giving legal advice to a client. Throughout these cases the Court has developed a robust series of standards for constitutionality that are focused primarily on “which kinds of advice are licensable based on how closely they resemble forms of communication associated with fiduciary relationships.”⁵⁴ This leads us to the second question in Kry’s analysis of the First Amendment limits to regulating professional conduct, what he calls the “value neutral test” because it applies irrespective of whether the speech affected is a matter of public concern and irrespective of the motives of the speaker:

Given the in-person and client-specific nature of legal services, there should be no surprise that under these cases the professional regulation of attorneys, including licensing, limits on solicitation and advertising, and—as in this rulemaking—compelled disclosures, typically withstands constitutional scrutiny. In the context of developers of cryptocurrency systems, however, the answer to Kry’s twin questions of characteristic-dependence and person-to-person context is an unqualified “no.” It is taken as written that software, websites, and smart contracts in the cryptocurrency space are built such that they are generic, serving the needs of whoever wants to use them irrespective of the characteristics of that user. It is also a given that these tools are shared widely over the internet and used freely by whoever happens to download them or (in some cases) whoever pays to license the software or pays to have their transactions relayed by the software. As such, they are never “delivered in the context of a person- to-person relationship.”⁵⁶ Accordingly, regulation of the speech activities of these developers, including compulsions to report and develop expressive software that enables that reporting, would face strict scrutiny by the Court and be found unconstitutional.
While these standards are general principles that are equally applicable to any kind of expressive conduct regulation, it is nonetheless worth noting that several of the cases that first articulated these standards dealt explicitly with speech, including software, that advised and facilitated sales of valuable assets. As such, the speech in question in these cases was very similar factually to the speech that would be burdened under the Treasury Department’s proposed rule. The value-neutral test was developed in Lowe v. SEC, a case involving the unconstitutional application of the Investment Advisers Act to a person merely publishing a public newsletter,⁵⁷ and it was further reinforced in Taucher v. Born⁵⁸ and two similar cases⁵⁹ dealing with the unconstitutional application of the Commodities Exchange Act to the developers of commodities trading software.⁶⁰

Hello, I'm a beginner. For context my code for a flask website is in a folder named "website". Outside of that folder is my main.py which is where i create the app. Both of these folders are stored in the user folder. I have installed Flask and Flask-Migrate in the user folder but when i try to use flask db init, it shows the error. I have activated the virtual environment before installing. Hope you can help thanks.
Additonal context: I'm trying to add new parameters to my database but it seems you need to migrate it first.
This is my models py. Initially, it was only data in there, but i wanted to parameters.

from . import db from flask_login import UserMixin #models act as blueprint as to how the data should be stored/organized from sqlalchemy.sql import func from sqlalchemy import CheckConstraint class Note(db.Model): #1 to many (1 user, many notes) id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True) data = db.Column(db.String(10000)) name = db.Column(db.String(100)) subject = db.Column(db.String(100)) difficulty = db.Column(db.Integer, CheckConstraint('difficulty >= 1 AND difficulty <= 10')) due_date = db.Column(db.DateTime(timezone=True)) date = db.Column(db.DateTime(timezone=True), default=func.now()) #func grabs the current date and time user_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('user.id')) #FK references the note to the user who made it. user == User in syntax. class User(db.Model, UserMixin): id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True) email = db.Column(db.String(150), unique=True) password = db.Column(db.String(150)) first_name = db.Column(db.String(150)) notes = db.relationship('Note') #will store user notes in a list. Can access them. Opposite syntax for foreign key lettering. 

my views py

from flask import Blueprint, render_template, request, flash, jsonify #template from flask_login import login_required, current_user #anything can be accessed in user model from .models import Note from . import db import json from datetime import datetime views = Blueprint('views', __name__) #defining routes @views.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST']) #url to get to this endpoint. Function will run whenever we go to the / @login_required def home(): if request.method == 'POST': name = request.form.get('name') note = request.form.get('note') subject = request.form.get('subject') difficulty = request.form.get('difficulty') due_date = request.form.get('due_date') if not name or not note or not subject or not difficulty or not due_date: #for no input flash("Please fill the necessary fields.", category='error') else: if len(name) < 1: flash('Please input a name for your task', category='error') elif len(note) < 1: flash('Project details too short!', category='error') elif len(subject) < 1: flash('Please input the subject of your task', category='error') elif difficulty < 1 or difficulty > 10: flash('Difficulty range is from 1-10 only.', category='error') try: due_date = datetime.strptime(due_date, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') except ValueError: flash('The format for the due date should be YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.', category='error') return render_template("home.html", user=current_user) else: new_note = Note(data=note, user_id=current_user.id, name=name, subject=subject, difficulty=difficulty, due_date=due_date) db.session.add(new_note) db.session.commit() flash('Note added!', category='success') return render_template("home.html", user=current_user) #reference the cur and check authenticity. @views.route('/delete-note', methods=['POST']) #delete endpoint def delete_note(): note = json.loads(request.data) #take data from POST req noteId = note['noteId'] #load as python dict or json object. Access the noteId from the js file note = Note.query.get(noteId) #look for note that has the id if note: if note.user_id == current_user.id: #if user owns the note db.session.delete(note) db.session.commit() return jsonify({}) #return empty response 

And this is my init py:

from flask import Flask #setting up flask app from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy import os from flask_login import LoginManager from flask_migrate import Migrate db = SQLAlchemy() migrate = Migrate(app, db) DB_NAME = "database.db" DB_PATH = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), DB_NAME) def create_app(): app = Flask(__name__) #initialize the app app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = 'crescendo' #encrypt the cookies and session data of the website app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = f'sqlite:///{DB_PATH}' #file path/location storage db.init_app(app) #initiliaze database by giving it the flask app from .views import views from .auth import auth #register them with the flask app app.register_blueprint(views, url_prefix='/') app.register_blueprint(auth, url_prefix='/') #anything the prefix covers will be shown from .models import User, Note with app.app_context(): db.create_all() login_manager = LoginManager() login_manager.login_view = 'auth.login' #where to go if user is not logged in login_manager.init_app(app) @login_manager.user_loader def load_user(id): return User.query.get(int(id)) #tells flask what user we're looking for. Loads the users. return app 

I have been applying to numerous English teaching positions in the past two months as my current contract is coming to an end and I do not like the current company I am with. I have multiple recruiters helping me find a position. One of the recruiters, I met in person, she is very kind, sweet, and landed me two interviews. However, both the interviewers offered almost half of my asking salary. It through me off completely. I asked both why the salary is so low and they responded with, this is what your recruiter told us you were asking for and its also based on your experience. Then I asked "how much experience did she say I have?" they both responded "one year." I was excessively pissed and annoyed, refused both offers. Two weeks later I get a message from my recruiter telling me that I should take advantage of the potential offers I was given because it was more aligned with what I am looking for. She tells me based on my experience and degree I would be better suited for public schools and subject teaching (I majored in history). I told her that a majority of public schools do not offer competitive salaries or a guarantee that the students will be disciplined if they misbehave. After a few minutes she says teachers who work in training center do not have the type of experience that international and public schools are looking for. Here is my flex and what I told her "I have 6 years of public and private school teaching experience, 1 year overseas English training, fully certified teacher, 240hr TEFL cert, and a Bachelors degree." I also explained to her of my financial obligations and that I need a certain minimum salary (post tax) to make ends meet and live well. After that she got quiet and said "now i understand." have not heard from her in two days.
EVERYTHING I told her, we had spoken about before and it is in my resume. The same resume I gave her. I am starting to think, a lot of these recruiters do not read the resume or forward them to potential jobs. I am still annoyed by it. I will get over it, but damn, at least read the damn resume before sending it out.

Professional conduct regulation cases do not support the constitutionality of this rulemaking

The existing broker disclosure obligations as applied to customer agents and principals, though never explicitly validated in the courts, may alternatively be found constitutional as a reasonable regulation of professional conduct that incidentally burdens some speech activities of the persons engaged in that regulated conduct. In that interpretation, the conduct being regulated is that of entering into an agency relationship with a customer or else acting as the principal in a sale to the customer. While a written contract is speech, the assumption of a legal relationship that it embodies is doubtlessly conduct and can be the subject of regulation.
As the Court held in United States v. O’Brien, laws affecting speech that are aimed at the regulation of non-expressive conduct are still analyzed under First Amendment jurisprudence, but face a lower level of constitutional scrutiny than laws aimed directly at the regulation of expressive conduct or at speech activities themselves: “a sufficiently important governmental interest in regulating the nonspeech element [of the regulated conduct] can justify incidental limitations on First Amendment freedoms.”⁴⁷ The compulsion to merely report privately to the IRS and to the taxpayer certain “purely factual and uncontroversial information” about the regulated non-expressive conduct may rightly be framed as an “incidental” limitation on traditional brokers’ otherwise unabridged First Amendment rights.
The O’Brien standard, however, is only applicable if the rule is targeted at regulating non-expressive conduct. Things become more complicated when the rule is targeted at regulating expressive conduct or at speech itself. There is a long though underappreciated line of cases stemming from O’Brien that points toward a reasonably straightforward series of tests for when regulation of professional conduct that burdens speech activities is constitutional. That line has been best illuminated by attorney Robert Kry in his article, “The ‘Watchman for Truth’: Professional Licensing and the First Amendment.”⁴⁸ Kry, summarizing and synthesizing many cases, finds that

In the case of a broker who is, in fact, an agent of a customer or a principal in a sale to a customer, the regulation is plausibly aimed at the non-expressive component of the professional’s activity. An agent under common law principles is acting on behalf of her customer. When a broker agrees to a sale, she binds the customer to that sale. The reporting requirement, therefore, is merely a requirement to disclose certain facts about one’s sales, i.e. one’s conduct as an agent. As a principal in a sale to a customer, the broker is, once again, engaged in conduct, a sale, and the reporting requirement merely discloses facts about that conduct. Additionally, brokers of this type are in most cases already subject to a licensing or registration requirement under other statutes.⁵⁰ Those forms of professional conduct are traditionally regulated and the tax laws merely provide for an additional recordkeeping and reporting requirement associated with that conduct. Altogether, the reporting requirement, though compelled speech, appears to be a regulation aimed at the non-expressive component of a professional’s activity. It is therefore likely constitutional.
As described earlier however, the Treasury Department’s proposed rule inappropriately departs from that customer agent or principal standard and seeks to compel speech from persons who are engaged in no such regulated conduct. A mere publisher or maintainer of software, websites, or smart contracts is not in an agency relationship with any customer, nor is she selling anything to any customer apart from, potentially, a license to use her tools or a fee charged for relaying or publishing the user’s data on a communications network or blockchain. Additionally, unlike typical brokerage, these activities do not trigger any licensing or registration requirements under other state or federal statutory schemes.
Indeed, even when such person is relaying actual cryptocurrency transaction messages that, once recorded in the blockchain, will effect a sale of some cryptocurrency, these entities typically have no actual ability to act on behalf of the user and no actual or apparent authority under agency law to act on their behalf. At most, they can choose whether or not to relay the signed transaction message (but so too can an internet service provider); they cannot alter the contents of that message such that the terms of the sale would change. They cannot and do not act as an agent of any customer nor are they a principal in a digital asset sale to any customer.⁵¹
These persons may be involved in conduct in other ways, such as paying for web hosting services, paying fees on cryptocurrency networks to record software or data in the blockchain, taking fees from users to relay their messages, or simply paying rent or otherwise maintaining facilities wherein they or their employees do the work of developing software or maintaining communications tools, but all of those activities are aimed at engaging in speech, the publication of software and data, and none of those activities give rise to the type of fiduciary or agency-like financial relationship, i.e. conduct, that justifies third-party tax reporting obligations.
Moreover, these persons have deliberately designed their software, websites, and smart contract tooling such that it can be useful to a trader and capable of facilitating their trades or other desires without the need for any agency relationship or for any legal or trust-based relationship with the publisher or any other party whatsoever. The user can and does do it all themselves. That is the point of cryptocurrency and “decentralized finance.” We can debate the merit of such a design goal,⁵² but what is not debatable is that this is how these tools are presently designed.⁵³ By demanding that these publishers rewrite their tools such that an agency relationship is established between the author of the tool and its user, such that the name, Social Security number, and other intimate details of the user are entrusted to the alleged “broker,” the regulation is squarely aimed at compelling not merely the disclosure of trading data and taxable gains, but also the compelled creation of significant expressive software and tooling to solicit and collect data in a manner that would otherwise be antithetical to the goals of the software developer. Such an order is so unprecedented that it is difficult to find appropriate metaphors or past examples. It is as if a state—frustrated that it cannot determine who is reading which books—ordered that novelists shall hold in-person book readings during which they must collect and report information about their audience.
Accordingly, when applied to mere publishers and maintainers of software, websites, and smart contracts, these regulations target the expressive activity of the alleged broker. That does not mean, however, that such rules will automatically be unconstitutional. The Court has dealt with several regulatory schemes aimed at expressive professional conduct, such as a lawyer giving legal advice to a client. Throughout these cases the Court has developed a robust series of standards for constitutionality that are focused primarily on “which kinds of advice are licensable based on how closely they resemble forms of communication associated with fiduciary relationships.”⁵⁴ This leads us to the second question in Kry’s analysis of the First Amendment limits to regulating professional conduct, what he calls the “value neutral test” because it applies irrespective of whether the speech affected is a matter of public concern and irrespective of the motives of the speaker:

Given the in-person and client-specific nature of legal services, there should be no surprise that under these cases the professional regulation of attorneys, including licensing, limits on solicitation and advertising, and—as in this rulemaking—compelled disclosures, typically withstands constitutional scrutiny. In the context of developers of cryptocurrency systems, however, the answer to Kry’s twin questions of characteristic-dependence and person-to-person context is an unqualified “no.” It is taken as written that software, websites, and smart contracts in the cryptocurrency space are built such that they are generic, serving the needs of whoever wants to use them irrespective of the characteristics of that user. It is also a given that these tools are shared widely over the internet and used freely by whoever happens to download them or (in some cases) whoever pays to license the software or pays to have their transactions relayed by the software. As such, they are never “delivered in the context of a person- to-person relationship.”⁵⁶ Accordingly, regulation of the speech activities of these developers, including compulsions to report and develop expressive software that enables that reporting, would face strict scrutiny by the Court and be found unconstitutional.
While these standards are general principles that are equally applicable to any kind of expressive conduct regulation, it is nonetheless worth noting that several of the cases that first articulated these standards dealt explicitly with speech, including software, that advised and facilitated sales of valuable assets. As such, the speech in question in these cases was very similar factually to the speech that would be burdened under the Treasury Department’s proposed rule. The value-neutral test was developed in Lowe v. SEC, a case involving the unconstitutional application of the Investment Advisers Act to a person merely publishing a public newsletter,⁵⁷ and it was further reinforced in Taucher v. Born⁵⁸ and two similar cases⁵⁹ dealing with the unconstitutional application of the Commodities Exchange Act to the developers of commodities trading software.⁶⁰

I am in my drop year and i have joined a offline coaching it is good but they have like 6 teachers 2 for each subject teaching different chapters i have problem with one teacher and i cant understand what he teachers (i dont like his style of teaching) so he taught us functions and graphs chapter and i kinda kinda understood it but i still struggle with many things like finding range of more complex functions and some problems with graphs
So can anyone suggest me either a good small book (like under 100 pages or less) or a very very good video lectures on this topic that covers plotting functions and covers all topic for relation and functions chapter. ( I like to study in depth) i just need good theory because i have good questions that i got in my coaching module. if someone can suggest me some material it would be very helpful

i really regret dropping math.
i want a job where i can do my own thing instead of being outspoken, and i want to migrate out of singapore. STEM or engineering would be perfect for this, but i don’t qualify for non-medical STEM fields because of the math background i lack. idw to become a doctor or work in allied health. seeing people in pain makes me feel like 💩 and i can’t imagine feeling like that every day. ig i could consider vet science (i don’t need to be rich, and that’ll help me migrate) but people advise me against going into that field without passion.
i’m thus looking at the next best option; technical skillsets in an MNC. that way, i can ask for a regional transfer after i work there for a few years. but a lot of these technical jobs require math? and i’ll definitely lose out to those people with better math and tech skills?
any tips on how i can relearn math again? from scratch as i really have no foundation in it.
and any tips on what degree i should choose???? or any advice for me?
in terms of interest, i really like geog and envi science. but i can’t do much with that degree outside of govt work and teaching. i want to move out of singapore. govt work is not the way to go. i detest kids. i probably shouldn’t teach. it wouldn’t be fair to the students anyway. i was looking at specialising in GIS, but the field is so tiny in singapore and it’s mostly govt work. what’s the likelihood i can migrate with that? its v unlikely i’ll get a job overseas an an international graduate. i gotta be realistic. after studying abroad its likely i’like need to come back to sg for a few years before i make my move again.
in so pissed at myself. i know i’m not dumb; i did very well in whatever subjects i took, and honestly i think i would have done better at math if i just persevered; i really was just lazy and now im facing the consequences to my lazy choices. 😭😭
i’m panicking now and i really dotn know what to do. i’m so angry at myself.

Part 14.3

Heracles VS Lernaean Hydra

Author Note: I was thinking about it and I really wish that GT9 used more draconic symbolism throughout the story when (or if) I revisit Team Crowley VS Rosencreutz I'll have symbolism of Aleister (TheBeast666), Aiwass (Codename: DRAGON) and Coronzon (The Dragon of the Abyss) all have symbology of them being Dragons preying on a God/Hero like CRC and the reversed conflict of Chaos VS Order you see in mythology, I also wanted to achieve something similar with Kakine Teitoku as he can represent the Fallen Angel and the Seraphim but for now I'll try adding draconian symbolism into Gunha VS CRC.
True Expert Christian Rosencreutz, with his golden rosy cross sword, clashed relentlessly against the indomitable force of the Strongest Gemstone, Sogiita Gunha. With each clash of their powers, the air crackled and compressed, and the pavement trembled beneath.
CRC, observed Sogiita with a mixture of intrigue and disdain. "You fight like the legendary Heracles," he remarked, his voice carrying over the din of battle. "But know this, I am the Lernaean Hydra, and no matter how many heads you sever, I shall always rise again!" Rosencreutz roared to slice the #7’s midsection.
Sogiita, his entire body wreathed in unknowable energy, met CRC's blade unyielding. "Bring it on, old man!" he retorted, his voice brimming with confidence. "I'll knock you down as many times as it takes! I won't stop till you come to your senses and remember your roots, like the roses you love so much, Rosencreutz!!"
Their clash intensified, that old man’s higher dimensional sword colliding with the raw power of that boy’s fists and kicks as they pushed each other to their limits with each sword swing, punch, kick and flash.
Sogiita unleashed a barrage of punches, each strike carrying the force of a meteor, while that silver young man countered: he wielded his sword in his right hand and released impacts followed by white light that was enough to previously take down all of The Bridge Builders Cabal.
As the battle raged on, the very fabric of reality seemed to warp and shift around them, bearing witness to the titanic struggle between two unparalleled forces.
The founder of Rosicrucianism who intimidated reality itself to obey his will and that Gemstone with an unstable personal reality that could change on a whim.
The atmosphere crackled with electrifying distortion.
Sogiita's fists tore through the air with the ferocity of meteors, their velocity enhanced by his ability to adapt and accelerate, surpassing even CRC's speed. As each blow was released, the friction with the surrounding air molecules ignited a scorching heat, intensifying the impact.
The rapid movement of molecules generated an escalating thermal energy, causing the air to seethe with increasing temperature. It was akin to a tempest of incandescent projectiles hurtling towards CRC, their speed surpassing the limits of human perception.
It was like a storm of brilliant fiery arrows was fired at Rosencreutz.
These blazing arrows of force were reminiscent of the elusive strikes employed by the Rose & Cross Leader, ignoring distance with deceptive agility.
With each thunderous punch, that bandana boy sought to overpower his adversary through sheer kinetic force, his unwavering resolve palpable in every motion.
But that wasn't enough for this superhuman.
CRC, wielding his cross sword with precision and skill, deflected each and every one Sogiita's flaming arrows with calculated strikes of his own. Each impact unleashed a burst of blinding white light, sending shockwaves rippling through the chaotic city.
"You think brute strength alone will defeat me?" the silver man taunted, his voice cutting through the chaos of battle. "You may be strong, but strength without strategy is nothing but raw power wasted."
Sogiita grinned, his confidence unshaken. "Strategies for cowards who can't handle a real fight," he retorted, his voice ringing with defiance. "I'll K.O. you with my fists and guts alone!!!!"
Rosencreutz's eyes narrowed as he parried another of Sogiita's punches. "Your arrogance will be your downfall," he warned, his tone tinged with certainty. "I may not match your overall speed, but I have something you lack: intellect and precision.”
Christian Rosencreutz then plunged his cross sword into the ground.
"This is what harmed Kamijou Touma," he declared, grinning and unleashing a torrent of lethal invisible attacks from his outstretched palms.
However, the #7 countered with a relentless barrage of flaming arrows from the thermal aftershock of his punches.
Each strike akin to a particle accelerator in its intensity and speed. That Gemstone was the particles being fired on the right and that True Expert was the particles fired on the left.
As the attacks clashed, the battlefield became a spectacle of raw power and precision.
“Roar!” CRC held his open palm to his mouth and blew gently on the tip of the middle finger.
That was all it took for a blaze easily outdoing a flamethrower to rush out. And this was not just any fire. It fed on the power of a ley line and stole vitality from space itself. This overwhelming mass of light and heat was wielded for no other purpose than to take lives. Anyone who tried to survive it using simple composite armor or special fibers would dry up and burn away in less than a second.
But that wouldn't kill another superhuman would it?
Of course not.
“Aaaaarghhhh!!!!” screamed the #7.
Some assaults bypassed the fray entirely, slipping through the chaos like elusive particles in a collider.
A smokescreen.
Those brilliant fireworks from hell weren't meant to take Sogiita’s life. They were meant to disrupt the Gemstone's senses and sight so he couldn't counter all of that old man’s deadly attacks.
Invisible strikes found their mark on that Gemstone, and the searing arrows of the arrows scorched Rosencreutz.
CRC was wounded but he rejected to make any whimpers. Instead with a sudden burst of velocity, the young silver man picked up his cross sword from the ground and launched a flurry of strikes, cutting at the #7’s body with pinpoint accuracy.
His arms, his head, his face, his stomach, his legs, his midsection, his back.
Each blow landed with devastating force, causing Sogiita to stagger back under the onslaught.
If that bandana boy hadn't had his defenses and general stats raised by the #5 he’d be cut to pieces.
The #7 fell on his back.
"There's a fire," Sogiita declared, his voice ringing out amidst the chaos of battle.
With each attempt to break his spirit, Sogiita's resolve only grew stronger, fueling the flames of his determination. "Every time someone tries to make me give up, it's like wind feeding my flames, making them burn even brighter just like my punches," he explained, his words carrying the weight of his unwavering determination.
He refused to stay down.
With a roar of defiance, Sogiita surged forward once more, his movements blurring with speed as he disappeared from view. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind Christian Rosencreutz, catching the magician off guard.
"Hey, old man," Sogiita taunted, his voice filled with confidence as he seized Rosencreutz from behind.
Christian Rosencreutz's eyes widened in surprise as he realized he had been outmaneuvered.
As Sogiita Gunha faced off against Christian Rosencreutz in their airborne duel, he felt the flames of determination burning within him, driving him forward with unstoppable force.
Before he could react, the boy lifted him effortlessly and slammed him onto the pavement below with a resounding thud.
"I'm not just a kick-boxer!!" Sogiita sang.
As the impact reverberated through the air, the young silver man let out a pained cry. The force of the collision compressed the surrounding air, heating it up until it crackled with energy. Christian Rosencreutz's head struck the ground with a velocity equivalent to mach 20, igniting his body in flames upon impact.
This move is called a suplex.
Struggling to regain his bearings, Rosencreutz muttered in a daze, "The House of the Holy Spirit...the seven walls..."
"You said it yourself, didn't you?" the gutsy boy retorted, cocky. "My power and my guts can break through your impenetrable walls. And I can spread those same guts to the world around me."
With a grimace, Christian Rosencreutz acknowledged the truth of the boy's words. "Your uncontrolled AIM field grants you the ability to imbue non-organic objects with the properties of your virus," he observed, his voice tinged with begrudging admiration. "Allowing them to bypass even the defenses of the seven-walled tomb.”
"A virus? Don't be so gutless, CRC," the #7 retorted, his voice filled with defiance. "This battleground ruled by wills is a two-way road between you and me."
Christian Rosencreutz raised an eyebrow at the boy's words. "Hey Gemstone, you could've killed me if I weren't a superhuman with an idealized body that accomplished The Great Work and crossed the Ungrund, what then short-stack?" he questioned while fitting an insult against his height.
Even without the seven-walled tomb or sheets of diamonds Rosencreutz was cartoonishly durable.
"Sorry, old man," Sogiita replied, his tone tinged with annoyance. "I might've gotten carried away, but I know it'll take more than that to kill you. No matter how many heads you regrow, like Hydra, I will not give up until I've completed all my labors."
"Mhm, so you do know your mythology," CRC remarked, a hint of amusement in his voice. "The Lernaean Hydra, or simply Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, known as an entrance to the Underworld. In the canonical myth, the monster is slain by Heracles as part of his Twelve Labors."
"Yeah, I know," Sogiita replied confidently. "I studied the tales of great gutsy heroes in school.”
"So, short-stack," Christian Rosencreutz began, his voice carrying a hint of scholarly interest. “Have you ever considered the parallels between our battle and ancient Near Eastern religions?”
Sogiita listened intently. "Are you saying you see yourself as a god of war or a hunter?" he inquired.
CRC chuckled softly. "In a sense, indeed. We are both assuming roles in this grand theater, are we not? I, the Hydra, and you, Heracles."
He continued, "Consider the Second Labor of Heracles. Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns, sent Heracles to slay the Hydra, which Hera had raised specifically to defeat him. Heracles approached the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the Hydra dwelled. To protect himself from the poisonous fumes, he covered his mouth and nose with a cloth and shot flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair, causing it to emerge and terrorize the surrounding villages."
CRC paused, drawing a comparison. “In our own clash, the flaming arrows that Heracles hurled at the Hydra find their echo in your lightning-fast fists, generating shockwaves that ignite the air with their speed and force. It's as though each strike of yours is akin to shooting a flaming arrow, much like Heracles did.”
“Huh? Are you suggesting we're caught in a time loop? That some enigmatic group, like the Bridge Builders Cabal, manipulated events to resurrect you, pitting us against each other in a timeless struggle? I've never met them, and I'm certainly no child of Zeus. Are you implying that our battle will be distorted into a Greek legend by a meddling time traveler?!” frantically asked the boy.
“No, no, you simpleton. This world contains synchronicities. In Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology, the war and hunting god Ninurta was celebrated for his deeds. The Angim credited him with slaying eleven monsters during an expedition to the mountains, including a seven-headed serpent, possibly identical to the Mushmahhu, and Bashmu, whose constellation was later associated with the Hydra by the Greeks. In Babylonian contexts, the Hydra's constellation is also linked to Marduk's dragon, the Mushhushshu.”
“Uhhh….” That shounen boy was dumbfounded.
"Hhm, I suppose calling it a time loop isn't technically wrong," Christian Rosencreutz began, his tone measured. "I'll break it down from history class and reconstruct it through the lens of the occult. Historic recurrence, young Gemstone, is the phenomenon of events echoing throughout time. Whether it's the rise and fall of empires or the repetitive cycles within a single society, it's all part of this grand plan that was decided when Adam ate the forbidden fruit."
The #7 with his guard up but curious listened: "So, history just keeps repeating itself? Just a series of coincidences?"
Christian Rosencreutz shook his head sagely. "There is no such thing as coincidences. Take, for instance, the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, pondered upon by thinkers like Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Nietzsche. While it's said that 'history repeats itself,' it's not quite that simple. Rather, these recurrences stem from identifiable circumstances and chains of causality."
He continued, his voice carrying the weight of centuries of philosophical debate. "Consider the phenomenon of multiple independent discoveries in science or the reproducible findings in natural and social sciences. These recurrences, whether in the form of rigorous experimentation or comparative research, are vital to our understanding of the world."
Christian Rosencreutz paused, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. "G.W. Trompf, in his seminal work, The Idea of Historical Recurrence in Western Thought, illustrates the recurring patterns of political thought and behavior since ancient times. Through these patterns, history offers us invaluable lessons, often leading to a sense of resonance or déjà vu."
Their words reverberated like a challenge to destiny itself, a testament to their unyielding determination in the face of adversity.
That Gemstone didn't surrender his characteristic fervor. "History echoing through time, huh? It's like the universe itself is stuck on repeat, and we're just caught in the cycle. But you know what? If history's gonna keep looping, then let's break the pattern! Let's smash through those chains of causality and forge our own path. Who cares about déjà vu? We'll create something entirely new, something that'll shake the very foundations of this world and we’ll do it with guts!!!" He defied that silver monster.
But Rosencreutz wasn't finished. He pulled out his Crystal World Map.
The supposedly old man listened intently to that boy's impassioned response, his expression inscrutable behind his clairvoyant card. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke.
“Gemstone, you speak of breaking free from the chains of repetition, of forging a new destiny against the backdrop of eternal return. It is a noble aspiration, indeed. However, consider this: eternal return is not merely a philosophical concept or a whimsical notion of fate. It is the very fabric of existence, woven into the nature of time itself.” He pressed his finger on the Miniature Garden and a 3D holographic projection flew out—
“In ancient times, the Stoics grappled with the idea, seeing in it both a sense of cosmic order and a challenge to individual agency. Augustine and others recoiled from its implications, fearing it as a negation of free will and salvation. And yet, Nietzsche, in his brilliance, dared to confront the concept anew, exploring its depths in the crucible of human consciousness.”
Didn't Aleister Crowley say that he had to shatter every single phase in order to eliminate the concept of fate?
“I will shatter every last phase and put an end to all mysticism. It can be helped and we need not restrain our tears and bite our lip when faced with tragedy. I will bring back the pure world in which everyone can feel anger like normal and question it all like normal!!”
And didn't Coronzon appear to break down all the phases including the Pure World?
Partial destruction would be meaningless. If anything remains and an eternal distortion is born from that, then it will all happen again. I will eliminate the ten spheres, the twenty-two pathways, and the hidden eleventh symbol. Collisions between phases? Sparks and spray? You cannot save anyone if you only treat those symptoms. All of the fundamental clogs must be removed. All so we can pass the baton to whoever comes next.”
“Sparks and Sprays…” Rosencreutz muttered.
“Eh?” The #7 didn't quite hear him.
"Beside time stands fate, cruelty's steadfast herald. In the silent chambers of the soul, whispers the most profound wisdom. Humanity, in its folly, neglected to exalt life's splendor, its radiance, its grandeur. Truly, it is a rare gift to comprehend the forces that shape our existence.” That magician spoke in despair.
“From the moment man ate the fruit of knowledge, he guaranteed your species’ failure... Entrusting his future to the whims of fate, man clutches to a flickering hope. Yet, within the Miniature Garden lies the key to all revelation. Beyond the well-trodden path lies the ultimate terminus. It matters not who you are; Death is the sole certainty awaiting all.” he finished with scorn.
Shokuhou Misaki was currently linked to Sogiita Gunha so was overhearing the entire conversation.
“Are you okay, Leader?” asked Kamijou back at the hospital.
“Yeah…” she responded.
“Really?” Mikoto breathed a white sigh. “It wasn’t the shock of seeing their school destroyed. Nor was it the fear of having those rioters attack. …They’re afraid of their own power. And after learning how exactly to use that power to survive, they’re not sure they can just switch it off and return to their normal lives. So their gears have ground to a halt.” Tokiwadai Middle School was a prestigious esper development school.
The young ladies registered there were Level 3 at the lowest and Level 5 at the highest.
Almost all of the students had a power that surpassed that of a blade or handgun if used properly, but something had become twisted.
Yes.
“A lot of them weren’t really sure why they were training their powers.”
Shokuhou breathed a white breath, wrapped her own arms around herself, and rubbed her thighs together.
Why are you studying?
How many people could give a proper answer to that question? Because my parents told me to, because my teachers taught me to, because that’s how the world works. Those would be most people’s answers. Even the students with a clear vision of their future would only have something vague like “for the entrance exams” or “for my future”.
Only a small handful would have specific puzzle pieces in mind, such as “I need to learn how to use this equation so I can build a rocket”.
The young ladies of Tokiwadai Middle School were the same.
What if the very gears that humans have…their actions, reactions, inactions were all the result of some transcendental entity hovering above.
Like God or The Devil watching over humanity’s reality sphere and ordering around his system like everyone was a pre-programmed NPC that had specific events occur to them to get them to develop in the way that they did and determined their genetic bloodline that composed their psyche?
Is there truly a free will?
It was said that in order for you to break out of the system of society that the working class was stuck in you had to climb to the top where the corrupt elites resided.
Imagine Breaker negated sparks, Aleister Crowley could see through the veil thanks to Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass, Great Demon Coronzon could always see the cogs.
Christian Rosencreutz could view the entire world through his Miniature Garden.
The rest of humanity was at the mercy of their own destinies.
A Guardian Angel wouldn't arrive to save a parent’s child from fate every single time.
"Okay, nice poetry, can we get back to fighting already?" asked the #7 impatiently.
"Seems I got carried away," the old man conceded with a nod. "The synchronicities of this world, akin to the astral configurations in astrology, serve as an example of synchronicity, according to Jung. It describes circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection, much like the parallel relationship between celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Synchronicity experiences entail subjective encounters where coincidences between events in one's mind and the external world may lack a clear causal link but still harbor an unknown connection.”
"Ah," Sogiita chimed in, recalling his philosophy class discussions. "We talked about synchronicity back then. Jung thought it was a good thing for the mind, but said it could get dicey in psychosis. He cooked up this theory as a kind of mental link between those meaningful coincidences, calling it a noncausal principle. This term came about in the late 1920s, and then he teamed up with physicist Wolfgang Pauli to dive deeper. Their work, The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche, dropped in 1952. They were big on this idea that these connections, even the ones that don't seem to have a cause, could still teach us a lot about how our minds and the world work."
“Mhm, you know more than you lead on, Gemstone.” pondered CRC.
“Oh this? My teachers say I'm not good at remembering speeches hahaha…” The #7 looked slightly nervous. “You know, analytical psychologists really push for folks to get what these experiences mean to boost their awareness instead of just feeding into superstitions. But funny thing is, when clients spill about their synchronicity experiences, they often feel like no one's really hearing them out, or getting where they're coming from. And hey, having a bunch of these meaningful coincidences flying around can sometimes ring the schizo bell. Delusions aren't healthy.”
Where was this conversation going?
"Delusion! Hah! That's a good one coming from you," CRC fired back.
"The real delusion is thinking humanity isn't worth a damn," Sogiita shot back, pulling out some info from Johansen and Osman. "Some scientists think coincidences are just random flukes, but counselors and psychoanalysts reckon there's more to it, like some deep-down stuff needing to come out.”
"Delusion! Hah! That's a good one coming from you," CRC fired back.
"The real delusion is thinking humanity isn't worth a darn," Sogiita shot back, pulling out some info from Johansen and Osman. "Some scientists think coincidences are just random flukes, but counselors and psychoanalysts reckon there's more to it, like some deep-down stuff needing to come out. Unconscious material to be expressed."
Rosencreutz interjected, his expression reflecting a mix of confusion and concern. "Aleister Crowley's actions have left a lasting scar on this world and this city," he began, his voice weighted with solemnity. “The vacuum-like dichotomy between magic and science created by the use of that colossal psychotronic weapon, has damaged this world's memory irreparably.”
Psychotronic weapon?
The Archetype Controller?
He paused, his gaze piercing as he continued, "Jung's exploration of synchronicity as evidence of the paranormal paved the way for further inquiry, notably by Koestler and the subsequent embrace of these ideas by the New Age movement.”
Sogiita shrugged, "Some folks say synchronicity is impossible to test or prove, so it gets labeled as pseudoscience. Jung even acknowledged that these synchronicity events are basically just coincidences, statistically speaking. But hey, who's to say what's really going on without some solid scientific studies, right?"
"Dubious as his experiments may have been," CRC interrupted, "Jung believed in a connection between synchronicity and the paranormal, drawing parallels to the uncertainty principle and works by parapsychologist Joseph B. Rhine.” CRC posed a thought-provoking question, "How are we to recognize acausal combinations of events, since it is obviously impossible to examine all chance happenings for their causality? The answer lies in the fact that acausal events are most readily expected where a causal connection appears inconceivable upon closer reflection. It's impossible, with our current resources, to explain ESP or meaningful coincidences as mere phenomena of energy. This challenges the very notion of cause and effect, as these events occur simultaneously rather than in a linear cause-and-effect manner. Hence, I have coined the term 'synchronicity' to describe this phenomenon, placing it on equal footing with causality as a principle of explanation."
Getting closer to that Gemstone, CRC emphasized, "Esper abilities cannot be fully understood with science alone. They defy traditional cause-and-effect explanations, instead representing a convergence of factors that create a quantum phenomenon affecting both the micro and macro. Why were there the naturally gifted and the naturally ungifted?”
Why did some students get praised for their abilities while others needed to work harder?
Others among them would have worked every hour of their free time and not progressed anywhere in this city’s leveling curriculum.
Why did this city present such an unfair and unpredictable status quo of potential?
Why did hard work barely matter in a city of empirical evidence to record any possible progress?
Sogiita Gunha wasn't a normal Level 5 but he wasn't always this powerful. He went through the curriculum same as everyone but if the outside conditions for his Gemstone ability to manifest didn't form in the exact way that it did, in such an acausal form then would he even be here to challenge Christian Rosencreutz right now?
Everything just happened to fall right into place.
All those puzzle pieces that would lead to this moment here and now.
Was it all just talent? God picking a fool as his champion?
The #7 leaned back, absorbing CRC's words with a thoughtful expression. "So, what you're saying is, there's this whole other layer to reality that we can't quite wrap our heads around," he summarized, nodding slowly. "I mean, it's like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands—slippery and elusive."
He chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Historic recurrence, synchronicities, all these things—they're like pieces of a puzzle scattered across this substantial reality. And sometimes, they just... click into place, right? It's like the universe has its own plan, and we're just along for the ride."
That bandana wearing boy's gaze drifted, lost in thought. "You know, CRC, it's funny," he remarked, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Here we are, with all our powers and potential, but at the end of the day, we're still grappling with the same questions as everyone else. Talent, destiny, divine intervention—maybe they're all just different sides of the same coin."
He shrugged, the weight of the philosophical musings settling over the broken city. "Who knows? Maybe God does have a sense of humor, after all.” that boy chuckled.
There was a deep silence between them.
Rosencreutz’ response was swift and resolute, his tone filled with certainty. "All this ‘universe has a plan’ banter is just a distraction from the inevitable," he declared, his eyes narrowing. "We can debate the nature of us being all-powerful yet struggling with mortal issues until the sun burns out, but it won't change the fact that our fate was sealed upon the knowledge Adam learned."
“To think so many trivialities have developed while this old man wasn’t watching. Heh heh. Then I should assume the thread of fate has again begun to weave its strange connections between myself and some unknown human.”
He rose forward, his movements purposeful. "It's time to put an end to this dance of platitudes," CRC continued, his voice cold and unwavering. "We'll settle this the only way that somewhat matters—through objective action in this grand play."
“Silence, preserved doll. Illusionists are meant to remain silent. That is all we magicians are: wielders of substanceless illusions. Opening your mouth serves only to break the illusion.”
With a flicker of resolve in his eyes, he locked gazes with the #7. "I am Hydra, Gemstone," he said, his voice carrying a hint of challenge. "Our battle ends now.” CRC opened both his palms and began shooting at their surroundings, the buildings, the pavement, the apartments, the rubble.
It probably wasn't random as it seemed to create a pattern.
“Huh are you getting senile old man?” asked the young Gemstone.
“What fun. I never imagined someone would bother diligently polishing their skills this far while knowing it is all essentially an illusion. Didn’t you ever feel silly going to the effort?”
Rosencreutz dropped to all fours, his rosy cross sword gripped tightly in his right hand.
He moved—
“Arrgh!” Sogiita yelled amidst the relentless and precise and precise strikes from that golden cross. “Old man?” he asked.
That magician didn't say anything.
That silver man’s movements became more beastly.
Faster.
Stronger.
Fiercer.
Something new was beginning to manifest.
With each strike of his higher dimensional blade that old man’s blows seemed infused with an otherworldly energy.
The wounds inflicted by his weapon burned with a venomous intensity, sending searing pain coursing through Sogiita's body.
That boy grimaced as the poison from that silver man’s strikes surged through his being, each wound feeling like it was ablaze with venomous fire.
"Damn... That burns…like a killer hornet’s sting," he muttered through clenched teeth, his voice strained with effort. Gritting, he fought to maintain his focus, despite the agony threatening to overwhelm him.
Was this another application of The Four Stages? Citrinitas? No, there was nothing yellow here, it was more like a dirty purple.
But it wasn't just the physical damage that posed a threat.
As the Rosy Cross leader leaped on all fours his movements took on an almost erratic quality, he was bouncing from one building to another with an animalistic agility.
With each jump, a shockwave rippled through the air, carrying with it a palpable sense of dread.
Something was spreading.
The air around them seemed to thicken with a toxic miasma. The #7 struggled to breathe, the noxious fumes clouding his senses.
Like a chaotic monster’s venomous poison breath.
The once-clear air now felt thick and suffocating.
Gasping for breath, the bandana boy struggled to maintain his focus amidst the swirling chaos.
His vision blurred, his movements sluggish as he fought against the oppressive atmosphere.
Blinded that heroic boy could only fire a flame arrow without his sight.
His fists striking out with all the strength he could muster. Igniting in that poisonous compressed air.
It seemed to be flammable like a dragon’s breath.
???
At the hospital, Shokuhou's voice carried a mix of surprise and relief. “He caused real damage.” she exclaimed.
Kamijou turned his attention to her, intrigued. “What happened?”
“It's hard to see clearly, but it looks like the #7 managed to rip off CRC's left arm,” she explained. “Though, I'd say it was more of a lucky shot. I can read he acted on pure instinct.”
Kamijou nodded, a hint of melancholy in his tone. “Yeah... the psychic link and all.”
Had the #7 Level 5 given up on the old man?
Back on the battlefield, Sogiita cursed under his breath. “Dammit... Sorry, old man,” he muttered. “I was aiming to hit your whole body to maximize the surface area, maybe break a few bones as a casualty. We can probably get your arm reattached at the hospital. Heaven Canceller has enough guts to even fix me.”
It was clear—he hadn't given up.
It was an accidental strike of his arm.
“As each ghastly head was severed from its serpentine form, dreadfully, two more writhed forth from the abyss.” a cryptic voice amidst the chaos spoke.
Wasn't it said that the Hydra’s lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid.
Lerna was reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld.
The abyss.
The Ungrund.
There is no limit to the depth of the Alcyonian Lake, and I know of nobody who by any contrivance has been able to reach the bottom of it since not even Nero, who had ropes made several stades long and fastened them together, tying lead to them, and omitting nothing that might help his experiment, was able to discover any limit to its depth. This, too, I heard. The water of the lake is, to all appearance, calm and quiet but, although it is such to look at, every swimmer who ventures to cross it is dragged down, sucked into the depths, and swept away.
The keeper of the gate to the Underworld that lay in the waters of Lerna was the Hydra.
The serpentine Lake Monster.
“Rosencreutz……?” The #7 muttered.
That magician chuckled ominously. "Indeed, young Heracles," he intoned, his voice echoing with a bizarre resonance. “The Lernaean Hydra's curse is upon you now.” as he said that he ripped off a bit of his arm that was cuterarised and it began bleeding.
Anna Sprengel’s blood was said to create unknown miracles when spilled.
Christian Rosencreutz’ blood was so virulent that even its scent was deadly.
As Sogiita Gunha glanced at his severed arm lying on the ground, a creeping sense of horror enveloped him. "All fate is a curse and that curse," he murmured, his words barely audible over the din of battle, "extends even to my severed limb.”
Christian Rosencreutz’ left arm grew back.
No.
Two new arms grew in its place.
The arm was fully functioning with no defects.
Although one of the arms appeared somewhat scaly and lanky like a serpent.
It had human anatomy but something was abnormal here.
He almost looked like a spider as he emerged from the poisonous fog as he remained on all fours.
“So short-stack. Are you ready to complete your final labor: Crossing the abyss!!!” He challenged that boy with his cross sword facing him.
"Boss, what's up? You look kinda stuck," Kamijou asked, his tone concerned.
Two students were sitting together in the waiting room at a hospital.
"—abyss, Hydra, curse, synchronicities, Historic recurrence." she replied, her words carrying a weight of unease.
"Huh? What? Can you give me the lowdown?" Kamijou prodded, his urgency evident.
"Can't quite wrap my head around it. But what I can tell you is that after CRC started talking about these esoteric concepts, he leveled up his power ability, managed to seriously hurt the #7 despite me cranking up all his stats for the win condition," the honey-blonde girl explained, frustration creeping into her voice.
"Can you beam all that stuff into my head, like a memory download? You're a psychological esper, right? My right hand won't mess with it, and we've done the telepathy thing before," Kamijou suggested.
"Memory download's not quite it, but I can send you a recording," she clarified.
"Got it," Kamijou muttered as he absorbed the info.
"You got any ideas to help the #7’s situation ability, Kamijou-san? We're kinda desperate here," she asked.
"I wish Index was still here, dammit.” he lamented, “But you know about magic, right?" he queried.
"Yeah, people converting their delusions into reality right?," she admitted.
"Well, magic's not just about delusions; it can be tied up to the whole world. Not sure if it's relevant, but based on Idol Theory, Rosencreutz might be pulling in 'energy’ from the Greek 'phase’ of Heracles for an edge," Kamijou theorized.
"Like a chessboard flip?" Shokuhou Misaki inquired, her brow furrowed with concern.
"No, more like... imagine you're playing checkers with a buddy, and you're totally crushing it because you're a checkers pro. Then suddenly, your buddy switches it up and challenges you to an arm wrestling match, and you lose because, well, arm wrestling isn't your forte," Kamijou Touma explained, trying to paint a vivid picture.
"So, by taking on the role of the Hydra from Greek myth, he's essentially forcing the #7 into the role of Heracles? But didn't Heracles defeat the Hydra?" Shokuhou sought clarification.
"Yeah, but..." Kamijou recalled the tale from the movies he'd seen. "Lichas gave Heracles a shirt soaked in the Hydra's poisonous blood from his arrows, which ends up killing him by tearing his flesh down to the bone," he elaborated.
"It was actually Nessus seeking vengeance and tricking Deianira into giving it to Heracles as a gift, delivered by Lichas without disclosing the tunic's lethal bloodstained secret from the Lernaean Hydra, but you're right," Shokuhou corrected gently. "So, Rosencreutz is harnessing the power of that legend to slowly poison the #7?"
"Not literal. I mean the poison is real but his slashes do significant harm now so it's more like shifting the paradigm in his favor…shifting his position.” The spiky-haired boy wasn't in the mood to explain Phases, “Earlier, he mentioned Sogiita spreading his 'virus' throughout the world. A virus isn't a poison in the traditional sense, but the Rosicrucians originally sought to create a universal cure for all illnesses. Now, CRC is spreading a literal poison, positioning himself as the ultimate predator and his opponents as prey rather than his savior role, the paradigm has been shifted." Kamijou concluded, his voice tinged with gravity.
“So he’s changed the environment to get the win condition? The #7’s durability doesn't matter in the face of the world being forced to go about a certain way because of Rosencreutz stage play?” The girl asked.
“Yeah…if things keep going this way…Sogiita will….goddamnit….” The spiky haired boy swore. “I can't let someone else die after all that's happened but I feel like if I go out there I really will kill him…” he muttered that last bit while clenching his right fist that began shaking uncontrollably.
The girl’s eyes seemed confused. “What did you say?” The honey blonde middle schooler asked.
“Nothing, just mumbling to myself.” he spat out.
That boy and girl could never come to the right conclusion on their own without the aid of former Magic God Othinus by their side.
“Did you think I had challenged you with no hope of succeeding, you cesspool? The magic born on earth is bound by the directions based on the earth’s magnetic field and by the density and composition of the air which is determined by air pressure which is in turn influenced by gravity. That is inevitable when you are focused on the cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west or on the basic elements of fire, water, wind, and earth. But what you will find upon leaving the atmosphere is an unknown. Coronzon, are you sure there will be no malfunction in the magic giving you control of Avatar Lola? And before, my power was bound by the puny speck named earth which failed to become a black hole or even a sun, but once we enter outer space, just how far do you think that power will be released? I do not mind at all that I will lose the support of Academy City.”
Well the boy was half right.
“Let us test it out, you cuspidor. On one side, we have you using the planet and bound to an avatar. On the other, we have me exposed and freed from the planet. Now, who will be the star of this show?”
Christian Rosencreutz did not shoot at his surroundings for no reason.
The battlefield transformed into Rosencreutz's canvas, resembling the legendary battleground of Lerna where Heracles once clashed with the Hydra.
Yes.
He didn't unleash his powers randomly; every action was deliberate.
In the magical side of Idol Theory, mimicking an object, event, or person allowed one to tap into a fraction of its power.
And that even applied to locations that essentially worked as stage plays.
Idol Theory was so absolute that even the basic cross held a portion of the son of God’s power.
As Above, So Below.
As Below, So Above.
Macro to micro.
Micro to macro.
And the macrocosm and the microcosm are always linked.

We live in an age in which believers find themselves retreating to a sort of universalism in response to criticisms of our theology.
The heaven we preach, the critics assert, is a "sad heaven" because some of the people we love won't be with us. Nevermind that many of our critics are atheists and themselves preach "no heaven at all", the implication is that unless God provides a universal salvation to all, then God is not good and heaven is no reward.
Latter-day Saint Rebuttal to Sad Heaven
A Latter-day Saint rebuts this criticism better than most Christians, in that we believe that in the Third Estate:

• Nearly all of humankind will receive a state of glory;
• Nearly all will enjoy the companionship of loved ones, whether directly or by visitation; and
• Although not expressly presented in our scripture, many church leaders have taught that those in lower degrees of glory will have the ability to progress to greater degrees of glory, such that all have the potential of achieving the fullest glory and joy possible.

"Only a few", only those who choose active enmity toward God, will be deprived of this very happy heaven.
That's about as close to universal salvation as one can get--other than God giving salvation to everyone without regard to their personal choices or progress. Call LDS theology "almost-Universalism".
But It's Not "Only a Few"--It's Over 33 Billion
For my part, I don't think we can understand our God and our own notions of "almost-Universalism" without pondering the war in heaven.
In our doctrine, far more than "a few" of God's children suffer the worst fate. It's around 33 billion souls, if the world ended today.
Our theology contemplates that a third of all of potential human souls were cast out of heaven, and now reside . . . in a place we call outer darkness. This is not a great track record--a parent estranged from 1/3 of his children.
Here's a description of the suffering of the third of heaven, from the D&C, albeit indirect:

43 Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him.
44 Wherefore, he saves all except them—they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment—
45 And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows;

The Sons of Perdition seem to share the same torment as the third who were cast out, namely, a worm that never dies and a fire that is never quenched.
What Did God Do The Third of Heaven?
Thus, our universalism is not so universal. But what did God do them? And why did he do it? Because we believe our souls are co-eternal with God's soul, the existence of non-God, non-God-potential eternal souls can teach us something about ourselves and about God himself.
We don't have much scripture--there was a war in heaven; Satan sought God's glory and also to destroy our agency; Satan and his followers were "cast out" of heaven. They were not even given the atheist's death (a merciful, complete annihilation)--they continue to exist.
Here are a few options of the "what" and "why":

1. God has imprisoned them and is punishing them in retribution for their behavior;
2. God has imprisoned them and is holding them to prevent them from developing God-like powers and becoming evil Gods. The only punishment is their conscious awareness of that lack of that progression.
3. Same as 2, except that rather then imprisoning them, God has withheld assistance they need to progress.
4. God has done nothing to them, neither imprison, punish, nor withheld assistance. There is only one way--independent of anything God may choose--and the window of opportunity has irrevocably passed. The only punishment is the conscious awareness that by their own choice they missed their opportunity.

Which do you think is most consistent with our scriptures? Which do you think places God in the "best" light? Can you think of others?

First Prev
Star Crossed [Multiple Free Sample Chapters] Patreon Subreddit Discord Paperback NOP2 Species Lore
Memory Transcription Subject: Elias Meier, Former UN Secretary-General
Date [standardized human time]: July 13, 2160
The irritability coursing through my psyche was palpable. Every sound was dialed up to eleven, stabbing at the core of my sensory processing. Constant awareness grated on me after days without sleep, never having any break from the stream of information I needed to digest. There was no way to shut the world off and reset, and no reprieve from the unsettling reality of my physical experience. I was curled up in a ball on the floor, rocking back and forth; I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go on like this.
Virnt scuttled over to me in the spaceship, jostling my shoulder. “Elias? Would you like to turn back from this mission?”
I remembered how I’d spent most of the trip, standing under the water in the shower. There was a special shampoo they’d provided for synthetic hair, like a wig. I held out my phony hand and emptied most of the bottle’s worth of goop, zoning out; I was trying to soak in the distant sensation of liquid running down my spine. Once upon a time, this had been the most relaxing time of my day—letting muscle tension fade away and cleansing grimy skin oils. Now, I knew neither of those two still existed in my day-to-day life to assuage.
Did it even matter to slap soap on some metal frame? There were no consequences of letting hygiene go by the wayside. I didn’t sweat in order to start to reek, and I couldn’t get skin conditions or be affected by bacteria. It could be that I was bathing out of habit, clinging to my old lifestyle, that I kept going to wash up. Perhaps the shower had become my favorite haunt because I felt disgusting in this body. Everything was a reminder that I was an inhuman scrap pile, and it was wearing on my sanity. It wasn’t like anyone related to what I was going through.
I used to spend so much time fussing over making my suits look crisp and perfect—immaculate ties, UN pins adjusted just right. The heavy jackets would trap my body heat in the summer; now, it no longer had that effect. I could bundle up as much as I wanted in 40 degree Celsius heat, unless there was some limit that would fry my circuits. Shit, I might not need a spacesuit in the vacuum of space—I couldn’t freeze or suffocate, after all. Being left out in the void for all eternity didn’t sound that much different from my present experience.
I hate what I’ve become. I hate what they’ve done to me; all I do is think, and every part of my new self lives in the uncanny valley. There’s nothing positive. Maybe it’s time to call it…death was better than this. I can’t bear another day of this hell.
“Hey, stay with me! Distractibility, depression, being unable to maintain concentration—these are natural consequences of sleep deprivation. I’m surprised it carries over without a physical mechanism to grow tired…but I’m working on a sleep suite, I promise,” Virnt said, glossy eyes staring at me.
I groaned. “I’m not tired, but it’s just nonstop. I…I’m having trouble remembering what I read.”
“Here, I’m going to try a temporary fix. You look like you need it. I don’t want you to suffer; just turning you off and on isn’t the same. I’m going to emulate GABA, uh, shut off your optic sensors, decrease the activity in your prefrontal cortex, and simulate delta waves for an hour. We can see if it somewhat fills the need for deep sleep, okay? Relaxation, no processing: worth a shot, right?”
I nodded mutely, staying in the fetal position. I didn’t have the will to move, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up that Virnt’s plan would be any mercy. The sensation of the Tilfish tinkering with my settings was strange, as if my brain was being overridden in the moment. There was no process of falling asleep to give it the air of naturalness. Suddenly, I was blind, trapped in darkness—and a modicum of drowsiness kicked in, limiting my movement. Thoughts died down, offering much-need relief; I faintly wished I could remain in this state.
When I came to, there was a sudden influx of information as the rest mode was switched off; it was hardly a seamless waking, but I’d take it. Peace in my own head was something I’d never take for granted again. I hadn’t thought myself to be a weak-minded individual, but I hadn’t realized how much it wore on you: feeling out of place in your own body every waking second, and not trusting your senses. Brain function had been restored enough that I could get a grip on myself, and rise in my disheveled state. A peek out the window revealed we’d completed our intra-atmosphere transit to the Duerten embassy.
I rubbed my eyes on reflex, but there were no gifts from the Sandman there. “Why couldn’t you have just added everything to start with, Virnt?”
“The humans I talked to said they wouldn’t want to sleep, unless they had to! I put the most focus on your emotional matrix and your facial expressiveness, since I thought that has the highest importance of what makes you human,” the Tilfish replied.
“You could’ve made it at least optional.”
“I sent the option to your holopad for the future, to trigger this program for as long as you’d like. This is a learning process, so I’m sorry for anything that’s off. All trial and error here, but it’s only going to get better! That’s the positive.”
“There are a lot of patches needed. For starters, you’re missing two of the senses: taste and smell. In spite of that, ever since I walked past the Terra Technologies staff eating tater tots, I’ve been craving them at random intervals. I’m not hungry—I can’t consume food!”
“Predator instincts,” Virnt teased. “The Federation was right.”
“I’m serious! Why on Earth would that be a thing? I literally can’t satisfy it, so it’s almost cruel.”
“It’s psychological, Elias. I looked into it after I saw it in your transcript. When humans are under a lot of stress or otherwise feeling down, you seek dopamine from food. It’s something familiar that activated your memories, and promised emotional comfort. That’s why you have the phrase ‘comfort food.’”
“I can already see how the Federation remnants would spin that. A predator’s so-called emotions are tied to food, and stimulate appetite to fulfill their whims.”
“You seem in better spirits. To add to your improved mood, we announced the success of your memory transplant to the world. The response was overwhelmingly positive—history looked back fondly on you. You got a lot of well-wishes, and I was able to get almost all of your social media re-activated. At least, the platforms that are still active.”
“I’m…allowed to share my honest experiences?”
Virnt eased me out of the shuttle, into the sunlight; cameras were waiting, causing me to stiffen. “Of course you can. I’m not here to muzzle you, my friend. Quite the opposite, in fact: I want your experiment documented as thoroughly as possible! You’re the spokesperson for—”
I shielded my face from the reporters, who were lobbing questions. “What is this? I don’t have a prepared statement. This is an ambush.”
“Terra Technologies has a mission of transparency, and improving sapients’ quality of life through digital means. We had to announce such a monumental breakthrough, but you’re under no obligation to speak with them.”
“Good,” a warm voice chimed in from next to me, making me jump. “The poor guy’s come back from the dead, Virnt. Give him a break. He’s here to speak with the Duerten Forum and their ambassador, for some semblance of his old life.”
I turned my head, beaming as I recognized her. “Erin? Oh, sorry: that’s Secretary-General Kuemper, isn’t it? You’ve moved up in the world. The United Nations is in good hands.”
“It’s good to see you, Elias. I bawled my eyes out at your funeral. You cared so much for peace and taking the high road; there isn’t a person out there who could’ve handled first contact with more grace. You inspired me, and an entire generation of future diplomats.”
I embraced Erin, who’d once been a passionate SETI researcher giving me all of the bad news about aliens. As we flailed about in the dark to save humanity and adjust to the galaxy, finally acquiring a few friends, she’d become my Secretary of Alien Affairs. I’d trusted her to do whatever it took to stabilize our extraterrestrial relations. It was a bit of a relief to see a positive reaction from someone I knew; I wasn’t sure how my friends would take my return, but I hadn’t been expecting a welcome with open arms. It brought me solace and comfort to know about the legacy I’d left behind, and the ripple effects my tenure had on the United Nations.
It is strange to see how much she’s aged. That’ll be the reality of anyone that used to be an acquaintance of mine.
The alarm bells pinging in my head faded into the backdrop, and I forgot that the wind gusting against my face only felt like a dull push. My mind slipped away from food cravings that failed to get my mouth to water, how there was no feeling of tightness from my dress shoes, and the stillness of my non-existent diaphragm. I was simply happy to see someone I cared about and enjoyed working with, in my old life. There was safety in having a person I trusted to be on my side. My brain snapped back into diplomat mode, falling into a familiar flow of conversation. If I had nothing else, I still had my social skills—an ability to navigate various cultures.
“So the Duerten Forum agreed to meet with the two of us. They know about the Sivkit attack, but not the full threat,” I spoke aloud, after breaking away from the rather soul-affirming embrace. “I read the strategy meetings for briefing them, and I’m on-board to appeal to nostalgia; humanity saving their homeworld was after my time, but close enough to it that I could serve as a reminder. A blast from the past.”
Erin nodded, her security forming a wall between us and the cameras as we walked toward the embassy. “I always wondered what you’d think of modern Vienna, Elias. All of the aliens willing to be here on our world, and to treat us like people. Friendship used to seem like a pipe dream; we were happy if they’d allow us to exist, tolerate us to that extent. Look at us now.”
“I almost gave up hoping that they could care about us, or stand beside us at all. We couldn’t do it alone then. It’s time we remember to stand together—to rise to the occasion once more. I can’t bear the thought of anything threatening our home, or our friends. I saw enough needless death twenty-four years ago.”
“That pain is a lot more recent to you. It’s completely okay to be wrestling with grief. A billion of ours died.”
“We didn’t become the monsters they thought we were, and we pulled through. We revealed their hatred and treachery, and have chosen a future set on rectifying every right they trampled. I’ll always mourn what we lost, but I’ve never been more proud of humanity in my life.”
Kuemper patted my shoulder. “You sound like yourself, my dear old friend. It’s very good to have you back; you were much better at smiling while they spit in your face than I ever was. Let’s do what’s necessary to get the ball rolling with the Shield.”
“I’m right behind you.”
The exterior of the Duerten embassy had a distinct construction style, with metal and concrete forming the bulk of the outside structure; on Kalqua, sturdiness was at the foremost of their priorities. Winds on a normal day could ratchet up to what we’d consider a tropical storm, according to my brief review of their culture. The door was evidently heightened to facilitate foot traffic from humans, despite the exit hatches on the upper floor which seemed frequented by the avian staff. Their personnel could literally fly away during an emergent situation. I tailed Kuemper into the lobby, and noted how much of the inside’s floor was concrete as well. It was resilient and easy to clean, a perfect surface to avoid being marred by talons.
Most of the gray avians used perches instead of chairs, with several staffers working on paperwork at their desks; in private areas, some met with any humans who had business with the Duerten Forum. The lack of reaction to a predator’s approach was new to me, but a welcome change. Kuemper confidently led the way to an elevator, which had the English and German words for “Welcome to the Duerten embassy!” written above the opening. The generic Shield logo was painted on both sides of the door, and emblazoned with a representation of Kalqua. There were no buttons inside, apart from an emergency exit; a camera surveyed us, before a watching staffer summoned the car upward. I felt a jolt as we reached the top floor.
“To be visited by two Secretary-Generals: one of whom is a ghost! Let me express the Duerten Forum’s honor and delight. Not, of course, that I don’t cherish Ambassador Hannah Marston’s visits.” A silver-feathered head poked out of a door at the end of the hallway, past a spacious lounge; his beak was the precise yellow of corn. “Please, come in. Make yourselves at home. Can I get you anything to drink?”
Kuemper shuffled forward, giving me a knowing look. “Water would be lovely for me. Thank you for the warm welcome, Ambassador Korajan.”
“I second that gratitude. Enchanted to meet you. I’m sure you know, but I’m Elias Meier.” Taking a gamble that the ambassador was more than acquainted with our customs, I extended a hand. Korajan strode forward with confidence, ensnaring my palm in his wingtip. “We appreciate you taking the time to sit with us, Ambassador.”
“Just Korajan,” the avian said, feeling my artificial hand with undeniable curiosity. He finally released my grip, and waited for us to get seated. “There’s no need for formalities, especially when I’m in such esteemed company. What can I do for you?”
“We’ve come to seek your assistance in the fight against the Sivkits’ assailants. The Sapient Coalition needs allies to back us against these menaces,” Kuemper stated. “Any help we can get would make a difference.”
“I see. I heard about your unfortunate defeat in your prior engagement, but I don’t see how it involves or concerns us. The Duerten, as you well know, aren’t in the position we used to be. We’ve turned our focus inward for years, shoring up our defenses to watch out for our beloved planet. The potential benefit it might offer you is so negligible that it’s hardly worth increasing our vulnerability. The risk far outweighs the rewards for any party.”
I studied the avian, careful to avoid a direct stare. “I understand that it’s a lot to ask. However, small bits of help from across the Shield can accumulate to be a massive difference maker. We want to stop this genocidal force from getting anywhere near Kalqua; if we play our cards right, you won’t need defenses.”
“Elias—sorry, may I call you Elias?” Korajan asked, continuing after I nodded. “We’re, of course, concerned to have a predatory species with such power and intentions, outside our known terrain. They bear a striking resemblance to the Arxur, and my government does appreciate the advance warning from the SC so we can make preparations. Yet the Forum is concerned by several of your recent initiatives, which would make us doubly unwilling to back your cause.”
“Go on. What initiatives have unsettled you?” I hope he doesn’t mean me, with resurrecting dead humans; that’d hit close to home, and I don’t know how to defend it. “Perhaps we can clear up our rationale and intentions, ensuring that there are no misunderstandings.”
“I hope I’m not impolite to point it out, but my government is beginning to see a pattern in your recent connections to carnivores. The Sapient Coalition is attempting an uplift on one race, despite what we all know happened on Wriss, and has brought them into your mix while they are at war with each other. We’re also aware of these Osirs—a race you are resurrecting to live among you, despite having no idea what they’re capable of. Present company excluded, species that need meat are not trustworthy types. These Osirs are weapons: look at the fangs.”
“Anything is a weapon in the wrong hands. Respectfully, we don’t feel that it’s right to judge a species for their diet. If I’m not mistaken, your own kind were once omnivores, Korajan.”
The Duerten fluttered his wings in acknowledgement. “The Federation changed us greatly—some things for the better, others to erase our intellect. We’re an individualist species, and they tried to make us…what do you humans call it? A ‘hive mind.’ Hive minds, of course, are fiction, yet they tried to make it real. Still, sometimes when you’re changed enough, it makes it impossible to go back to how things were.”
“I of all people grasp that sentiment,” I sighed, without moving an abdominal muscle, reflecting how my life would never be the same in this state. “We believe all sapients deserve a chance at life and happiness. Equality isn’t a principle we withhold based on any factor, and we don’t change species to fit our own whims.”
“This is why we’re content with our relations as is: separate, so we’re not connected to your disputes or obligated to get involved. The Duerten will always have differences between what are considered acceptable behaviors, and our guiding principles and overarching goals.”
Kuemper tapped her fingers on her knee. “Regardless, our choices with the Bissems and Osirs will have no impact or tangible effects on the Duerten. Nor is it a reason to shy away from protecting herbivores, the mandate that led you to stand up to the Federation in the past.”
“That cost us everything. Kalqua took a beating worse than Earth did. We don’t set out to attract the ire of powerful enemies these days.”
“We saved Kalqua. We were there when you needed our help to keep your innocents safe,” I reminded him, knitting my eyebrows with earnestness. “We answer when others call for our help to stay alive; the Duerten know what drives us to answer the bell. Isn’t that worth a smidge of reciprocation?”
“If Earth, or for that matter, Leirn were under siege, we would come. However, it appears to us that you entered their territory, not the other way around.”
“Think of the type of species…no, the kind of governments that would glass worlds. The old-school Arxur Dominion. The Kolshian shadow caste when they were defied. The Krakotl extermination fleet because they hated us. That’s what we see in the Osirs, and the gluttonous killing of Sivkit civilians while refusing to speak. We can’t turn a blind eye.”
“I’m sorry, Elias. Even if I wanted to help you, I don’t have the authority. I’m expressing my government’s position, and I’ve been told the Duerten Forum isn't going to war under any circumstances. I apologize that I can’t be of more use, and regret if you might feel your time has been squandered, leaving empty-handed.”
I shared a look with Kuemper, recognizing that we had been stonewalled; there was an implication in Korajan’s last statement that the discussion on this matter was over. The Forum hadn’t given him any negotiating room, so I didn’t get the sense I could do better than asking for him to take a message. If this was the most friendly party we’d be interacting with, I wasn’t off to a good start wrangling support for an alliance. There were a few other Shield races we could try, but an endorsement from the founders might’ve gotten the whole union on board. We had to find another angle—negotiating with the Fed remnants would be impossible without the Shield as an intermediary.
“Of course we don’t feel that way. The back-and-forth was enlightening, productive communication, as much as humanity would love to stand side-by-side in this endeavor,” I offered. “We appreciate you hearing us out, and do hope you’ll pass along our rationale to the Forum, for clarity.”
“I will,” the Duerten responded. “Your words, as always, deserve to be heard and treated with respect.”
Kuemper followed my lead, rising as I stood. “Korajan, I want you to know I deeply appreciate what you said about coming to Earth’s aid should we ever fall on hard times. That stood out to me, as a reason why our cooperation is so precious and beautiful.”
“I agree wholeheartedly. I do wish you the best of luck in your future engagements; my people hope you emerge victorious.”
“Thank you. Our door will always be open if you have a change of heart.”
In my mind, I had already vacated the Duerten embassy, but it was necessary to retrace my steps to depart the ambassador’s office. Aliens were much more diplomatic in rebuffing us now than in my era, which was the proper way to express disagreements between nations. It wasn’t lost on me that the differences in “behaviors” and “principles” Korajan meant were things such as hunting, omnivory, accepting carnivores, exterminators, and predator disease facilities. The Forum still clung to much of their old lifestyle; the gray avian had stated that some Federation changes were “for the better.” That was telling about how much of their ideology they’d yet to shed.
“Forgive my impertinence, but before you go, Elias…may I ask a personal inquiry? It’s not on my behalf of my government,” Korajan called, as our shoes cleared the threshold of his office.
I turned around, giving him an encouraging smile. “Of course. Go ahead.”
“What…what was it like? To die…to be dead?”
“It wasn’t like anything. It was a singularity of all outcomes: all I ever was, and all I ever could be, condensed to nothing. There are no words to describe emptiness and infinite rest. It’s a peace that knows no equal.”
The Duerten dipped his head. “Thank you. It gives me some…personal solace, to know…to know my daughter is resting peacefully. She died in so much pain after only a short period of remission. Ahem…if you’ll excuse me, I…”
“We’ll leave you in peace,” Kuemper replied, softness in her voice.
I folded my hands behind my back, mulling over the choked-up ambassador’s words. How could I let a few days of mental suffering defeat me, when kids suffered through such terrible diseases—never getting to reach adulthood? This program could give children like Korajan’s daughter a chance to grow up, and be a kid, free from pain. As soon as I was alone, I knew I’d be cast back into a maddening state of consciousness, with my brain struggling to stay tethered to this reality. Where I’d been ready to give up before Virnt’s quick fix, the avian’s story made me want to remain in the fight.
The Tilfish had been right: there was the potential for the technology that had brought me back to do a lot of good, and save others a great deal of heartbreak and suffering. No personal sacrifice was too great to ensure that one day, no parent would ever have to bury their child.
First Prev
Star Crossed [Multiple Free Sample Chapters] Patreon Subreddit Discord Paperback NOP2 Species Lore