I’m 20’ Male 5’9 started at 170lb now im 158lb as of now.. I started doing a calorie deficit cuz I want to practice eating less and i want to be slim and muscular.
I don’t really have prep meals for the week but i just check the calories of my intakes on the label or i use chatgpt. Pretty much im consuming less than 2000 calories per day, but past these weeks I’ve been eating consistently 1400-1200 calories. On every weekend i try to eat more proteins so i can boost my mental and physical energy for work.
what i typically eat can vary but on my deficit, I start eating at Midday i eat a salad bowl with baby tomatoes and tiny chunks of chicken, at around 2pm-3pm i eat a tuna sandwich with water, at around 5pm-6pm i sip up a nutrition drink vanilla flavor, around 7pm-8pm tuna sandwich again and lastly at 9pm-10pm i eat a another salad.
My max was 893 calories didn’t felt that hungry and doing okay mentally and is so much cheaper eating this way and I feel more productive, im starting to see the world a little different now putting my ego to the side, I can see there’s progress coming from 170lb+ to 158lb in a span of few weeks and it’s weird that I never reached to the 180 mark because I’d eat around 3000 to 3500 everyday and maybe it’s because I have a fast metabolism, but anyways for the more experienced people out there what are your thoughts on this and what do you recommend?

The story goes I built my PC for AM5 so I switched up to DDR5 RAM. Definitely wanted to hit the 32GB mark, since my previous build at DDR4 16GB was really not cutting it. Anyways, ordered 32GB of RAM on Friday with overnight delivery. Amazon decided to use USPS and shipment got delayed so it wasn't going to arrive Saturday and won't show up till Tuesday...welp this was annoying because I slated that weekend for the build, all the parts were here except the RAM and I didn't want to wait a week. Check the same exact RAM on Saturday and I was able to do overnight shipping to Sunday. So I bought the exact same 2x16GB kit.
Well I build the PC with 32GB, the original intention was that I would just return the late arriving 2x16GB kit...but then I thought "well...I can just upgrade this bad boy to 64GB", so that's what I did.
Anyways, that was awhile ago, my PC has been running at 64GB and I am well outside the return window. I mainly game. I do some development work, I've been dabbling in some 3D modelling work, if I'm playing a self-hosted co-op game I'm usually the host (but that doesn't happen too often). My point is, I don't think I really need the 64GB.
My question is: Would it be better to package up these 2 known good 16GB RAM sticks for if one of my other ones fails? Should I just leave all 4 in and just enjoy the large amount of RAM? Just looking for some thoughts and opinions. What would you do?

Book One: Edge of Madness - Chapter One Previous Next
I could pretend to be a whore. That's what Masutap thought as she stood before the gate leading to the fortress of the Highlord of the Eastlocal. Pretense was a thing she indulged in back when she'd been an ordinary woman, with ordinary ambitions. But as of now, things had changed. Things had changed drastically, for she was now a champion of the Goddess of Order. A champion who would do anything in her power to mock the very being that fed her power.
Power, yes. It was what she felt. Every time her eyes turned upon the world, she saw Order. Like bees in a hive, working towards a similar objective. Survival. Yes, they all wanted to survive. And that's where the power lay, in her ability to deny a thing's chance at survival, for when her eyes flashed red, things died.
"Pardon me sir." A man dragging a cart of coal said. She was standing in his way, she knew this of course, she'd known it since the time he'd decided to deliver the coal. She saw the strings of prophesy in the smallest of things, and oh what power lied in discernment, to see the past and the future in absolute clarity, the secret lay in following strands of Order. The Highlord of the Eastlocal always received a cart of coal at around this time every fifth day. He would serve as her witness. Coal. She smiled, remembering how Orgeeg had managed to penetrate into the Palace of Binoria, on a stack of coal. She recalled how Orgeeg thwarted her plans, then she remembered how small her plans had been.
"Pardon me... Uh lady?" She removed her cowl as the Coal merchant spoke. Her hair was longer now, she'd let it grow, it dangled askew of her ears. Dark and rich as her mother's once was. Masutap smiled at the man whose face was caked in coal dust.
"Today Shama dies! Tonight the Highlord of the EastLocal is no more!" Masutap said.
Twin daggers she had strapped to her waist were suddenly in her hands. The coal merchant stumbled back several steps, dragging the cart with him. The sun was dipping into the horizon, becoming a smeared red smudge upon the canvas of her perception. Her eyes flashed red, and the smeared smudge's light brightened, blanketing everything, making her see.
She spun and threw the dagger in her left hand. The knife whirled in the air and met the throat of a guard who was just cresting the upper walkway of the gate, he wore red leather that marked him as one of the royal guards of the Highlord. A shout sounded. The guards at the gate turned their attention to her. They were six of them, each of them dazed with the slow reception of understanding. The bubble they lived in, understanding it enabled her to see how blind humanity is. Like sheep, no wonder the Vigons ruled them so easily.
She was in their midst before they drew their swords from their scabbards. She drove the dagger into the throat of the first one, danced in a pirouette, thrust free the dagger and hurled it into the throat of another guard. Her hands were free, she curled her fingers into fists.
The Goddess Meena, Goddess of Order, spoke to her. **What is the purpose of this?*
"Oh, you'll see." Masutap said and drove a fist into the chest of one guard, her hand caved through the chest cavity, snapping the spine in half and emerging free of the Guards back. She paused for effect, the three remaining guards gawked at her. She pried her arm free of the corpse and met their panicked gazes. "Sound the alarm, you're too few to make me sweat. I need all of you. Gods! Come on you fucking cowards!"
Two of the three guards charged her, one took a swing at her head with a flat blade, the sharp edge missed her by a hair's breadth as she ducked. She brought up her knee and connected with the man's groin, raising him off the ground, legs held apart, face contorted in pain. He collapsed on the ground with a squeal akin to that of a dying rabbit. The other guard put on a stance of Grind, legs parted, right foot before the left. Knees bent. He brandished his sword before him, and the guard behind him ran off to sound the alarm. Masutap smiled.
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He slept on a bed filled with whores. Talisi women with their dark skin and white hair, Remu women with their sandy peppered hair and copper skin, Binorian women with their blonde hair and pale milky skin. He was their God and they flocked to him in worship. He owned all of them, from the frailest to the most able bodied. From the smartest to the daftest. They were all his.
The Highlord of the Eastlocal observed the head of the Talisi woman resting on his thigh, her breathing was deep, her dark naked breasts rising and falling with every inhale and exhale. Five other women slept around him, each as beautiful as the last.
Of all the men in the realm, I alone am the honored one. Shama thought. He caressed his bulging belly with his pudgy fingers the size of sausages. His appearance did pass as grotesque. Bloated, balding with a cleanly shaven head, wide of girth and bow legged. Yet, no man has conquered the bodies of women as he had done. Women who lusted after tall handsome men. Women who sought capable men with astounding intelligence. They all gave in to him, none could deny him and when they did, well, there were ways to make them yield.
An orgy at noon. That was the gist of it, and another orgy before the midnight bell. Life was good, life was beautiful. Shama had thought that after the death of King Vayin Vigon in the hands of the infamous Kolotian, Ishar, that his wealth will dwindle, that his status will come down a step. That the might of Binoria will be a fickle thing after their first loss at war. But of course, this wasn't to be. The Queen, Dahli Vigon, had received the blessing of Meena, passed down from her father. As long as one with the Jojoh Meena, the blessing of Meena, still ruled, then things will stay as they've always been. Dahli had taken over, ensuring that Binoria didn't fall into anarchy, ensuring the Vigon name remained revered. The beautiful blonde haired girl was now the most potent soul upon the realm. How he longed to have her in his bed, parting those pale thighs sinuated with muscle. She'd become quite the fair lady. And her presence oozed power.
Shama wanted her but a thought kept his desires at bay. She'd frowned at him at the recent Highlords meeting with the throne. Apparently, his tastes and businesses didn't bode well with her. The selling of flesh, that is what he partook in with the zeal of a drowning man reaching for a floating oar. Importing women from all over the realm, some came willingly, others reluctantly. But in the end they all came. Their dignity thrown away for the promise of gold vigons. They filled the whore houses and men flocked to them in throngs, lining his pocket with gold vigons
It was his inventiveness that brought him to the top, the Highlord of the Eastlocal was once a position few envied. But his eye, trained in the art of commerce, enabled him to transform the east of Binoria. Creating a network that not only benefited him, but also the crown. And in so doing, despite her frowns and her reluctance to treat with him, she still couldn't voice her displeasure. Dahli needed him, she needed him for the coin necessary to maintain her position upon the crown. To line the pockets of her Legions. She needed him, and one day he will have her. No woman can deny him, and if they did, there were ways to make them give in.
Suddenly, the twin oak doors leading to his bed chambers flew open. The Captain of the Red Guard, in charge of his safety, Shang, walked in. "Highlord." He said with a bow, the women around him stirred. Outside, a bell started ringing, slowly at first then with extreme vigor. Something is wrong. Shang's obvious panic was clear to see. The opened door allowed him to see several Red guards crowded at the door.
"What is the meaning of this?" Shama asked, his beady eyes on Shang. An inhuman scream sounded somewhere within the fortress. Shama's blood chilled in his veins.
"There's an intruder." Shang said while ravaging through the clothes on the floor. He lifted a red jerkin, two sizes too large, the right size for the Highlord. He threw it at Shama and the Highlord hastened to put it on. He ignored the bewildered looks of the naked whores.
"Intruders or intruder?" Shama asked as Shang led him out of his bed chambers. Another scream sounded, closer. The guards at the door, seven of them, crested around him as Shang led the way.
"A woman, she's alone." Shang said.
Shama gripped Shang's arm, halting him. "What do you mean by this? A singular woman causing... causing... this?"
"She's..." Shang hesitated.
"Speak! You fool!"
"She seems to be inhumanly strong and fast. I only saw her fight through a blockade of my brothers, without a sword. She tore my brothers— the Red Guards, to pieces." Shang's eyes became glazed, as if his mind was replaying the mayhem he'd bore witness to. Shama let go of his arm. The trembling was taking him again, starting at the soles of his feet, up his spine around his neck to his hands. It had been so long since he felt this, the animalistic fear confounded on the existence of an unknown, an unknown that sought to see him dead.
"Captain, what is your course of action?" Shama asked.
Shang seemed to shake himself free of his trance. "We're going to take you to the stables, get you on the fastest steed and—" A scream echoed through the halls of the fortress of the Highlord of the Eastlocal. Checking everyone in place.
"What of provisions?"
"There's no time." Shang said. He drew a flat blade from the scabbard at his side. The Guards all around mimicked him, the rustling of steel could be heard, and there, at the Western end of the fortress, screams sounded.
Shang started a brisk walk towards the East end of the Fortress. His boots, soles lined with metal, clancked upon the ground. Shama shuffled close behind Shang, panting like a mare in heat. The Red Guards around him stole glances to their rear, sweat woven with fear formed a sleek mask upon their startled faces. And in those eyes Shama was able to weigh how dire matters were.
A shout sounded from ahead, bringing Shang to an abrupt stop. "How—" His words caught in his throat as a woman caked in blood and gore emerged from the bend linking the hallway they were in to another hallway that led to the stables.
She stood before them and spread out her bloody fingers at Shama. "Highlord, nice to meet you." She waved. "Say, I hear you can show a woman a good time and I'm in quite the mood for a good time tonight."
Shama trembled, the woman seemed vaguely familiar. The angles of her cheekbones , that nose, those eyes. She resembled Dahli.
"Moran and Jesul to me!" Shang commanded. Two of the guards behind Shama moved forward to flank Shang on either side. "Employ any forms, ensure I get close to her so I may employ the form of Awe."
Awe— the grappling technique that ensured the limbs were pinned. Shama saw Shang's ploy. He needed to contain the woman so Shama could move past them and head for the stables. Shama cursed himself for the design of his fortress that allowed for only one route to the stables.
Shang, Moran and Jesul raised their broad swords. One raising it above the head in a form of Rage, the other bringing the blade level with his face in the form of Pride. Shang lowered his blade and the guards flanking him charged, he followed close behind. The woman let out a cry that could only be translated as one of glee. She charged them.
Moran brought his sword down on the woman but she slid on her knees, allowing momentum to push her beyond the reach of his blade. Jesul thrust at her, raising his right leg and angling the sword downwards at her face. But the woman dodged, spun upon the ground on the small of her back and kicked Jesul's leg from under him. Jesul fell and as he raised his head he met with the woman's fist, there was a loud crunch as his face caved in. His hand let go of the sword as his body became limp.
Shang saw the opening and dived at the woman before she could stand. The woman spread her arms wide, welcoming. Shang pounced but instead landed on the woman's upraised knees, she grabbed his leather armor by the collar and flung him behind her and onto Moran. Both of them collapsed on the ground.
She stood up and smiled at Shama.
"Who are you?" Shama asked.
"I'm Masutap, the sister of Queen Dahli." The woman answered.
"Men! Turtle formation! Swords out, save the Highlord! Move you fools!" Shang said as he picked himself up from the ground behind Masutap.
The men around Shama compacted closer. Their swords pointing at Masutap who regarded them with a smirk upon her face. They inched forward, hesitantly at first, then with confidence as they saw their Captain pick up his sword. They all came to a stand still when the eyes of the woman glowed a fierce red, as if she held the Jojoh Meena. And Shama, the Highlord of the Eastlocal, trembled before her gaze.
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Intuition, the immediate cognition without the use of conscious rational processes. It was simple for her, she dodged the sword thrusts and swipes easily. She turned either way, always beyond reach of the blades, always within striking distance. Her strength was a thing of beauty, somehow her frail wrists held the power necessary to crush a throat and crush a throat she did. She didn't tire, she didn't require forms of combat. The power of the Goddess of Order coursed through her veins and with it came rejuvenation.
The Red Guards pounced on her, seeking to put in place the form of Awe. But their efforts were in vain, she side stepped them easily, always on her feet. She saw an opening and like a river emptying into the Rankf sea she took it, delivering a punch to the side of a Guard's chest, feeling as ribs broke and punctured the lung.
**What is the purpose of this?* The Goddess Meena spoke within her mind. An ever present being whose words sought to throw her off, to calm the tempest raging within her. Masutap didn't want calm, she wanted fire and brimstone, she wanted Binoria to burn so their precious Queen will rule nothing but ash. She decreed this with a war cry, plunging into the midst of the Red Guards. She kicked two, flinging them across the hallway. One thrust with his blade but she caught it between her arm and side, she twisted the blade free of his grasp, gripped the hilt and decapitated the man in one swift motion.
She parried a strike to her left, danced free of two thrust then brought the blade down onto a Guard's head. She felt as the blade bit bone and she wasted no time in pulling it free. **What is the purpose of this?* Meena asked once more.
Masutap took three steps back to widen her periphery. "An inferno." She said as she flexed her sword hand. Suddenly, the Guard who was definitely their Captain, reached into the mass of clustered Guards pressed to the wall, away from her. And pulled the Highlord free of the men surrounding him.
"Form a blockade!" He screamed as he tagged and pulled at the distraught Highlord, leading him towards the end of the hallway. The remaining Guards blocked her vision of them. Like a fool she'd been too enthralled by the battle, allowing the Highlord to slowly slip past her, cocooned in the safety of the Guards in their turtle formation. He was making clear his escape and somehow, this aroused her, blowing upon an ember lodged deep within her until it sparked.
**What is the purpose of this?* Like a parrot, the Goddess repeated her question.
"An inferno." Masutap answered and lunged.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
He was sweating profusely, his breath caught in his throat, causing him to choke on air. He followed Shang, feeling the Captain of the Red Guard's displeasure at his inability to keep up. They descended a flight of stairs, taking three at a time. He almost collapsed but the Captain steadied him.
"Not far now my Lord. Just at that bend before us." Shang said. They took the bend and ran clear of the fortress. The horses were just ahead, they rushed to them. Shama took delight in the open air. The stables were void of people, Shama wondered where the stable hands were. They entered the stable and Shang dragged him to the first cubicle on the right where a saddled horse stood.
Shama hastily climbed onto the saddle with the aid of the Captain. Shang placed his Highlord's feet in the stirrups and moved to flank the horse. "Lord." He said, fighting for solid ground that will enable his words to come forth easily. "It has been an honor to serve under you." Shama smiled but his smile proved too little a gesture to carry the weight or their current predicament. "Ride hard for the Capital, ensure the Queen knows of all that's gone down here. I will stay back and hold her for as long as I can." Shang concluded with a crisp salute. The Highlord nodded and with the guidance of his captain upon the horse's reins, they exited the stable "She is a good steed, see the mark of her coat? She can take you far." Shang said once free of the stables. A scream sounded from within the fortress, horrid in its guttural screech. "Go now my Lor—" Shang's words died in his mouth as an explosion erupted at the first floor of the fortress, stone parted, breaking as easily as a clay vase, the window panels and the glass set in place erupted outwards with the stone. Three figures tumbled free of the eruption, tangled in the air, twisting with the fall. They landed, the woman on her feet, knees bent and a fist pressed to the ground, the other two guards lay insensate upon the ground, their bodies a mangled mess. Shang slapped the horse's hide and Shama took of in a gallop.
The Highlord turned back, watched as the woman rose free of the debri and charged Shang. The captain employed a form of Grind but the Highlord's view was hindered by a sharp turn around the cobblestones towards the gate of his fortress. The blood and bodies upon the ground unsettled the horse, forcing its pace to be more hurried and Shama was all the more grateful for it.
She has the Jojoh Meena! Shama thought with awe as the horse broke free of the fortress in a quick gallop that had him bouncing upon the saddle. His thighs felt the brunt force of his escape but he could do nothing but hold on for dear life. This is what I'm reduced to, at the end of the line dependency thrives, in old age your children are those you depend on. I never thought I'd come to rely on anyone throughout my life. Yet here I am, depending on a horse to save my skin. He turned his head back and heaved a sigh of relief. The fortress was dwindling within his periphery, he had made quick his escape. Shama will live to see another day. And when the sun rises and sets, I will bring judgment upon the woman whose very existence rivals my own. Masutap. I will hunt her, she will know no safety within the realm, she will never know peace or a good night's slee— Something unnerved him. There, at the entrance to the fortress, a figure appeared. Following the path charted by his horse. She hopes to outrun my horse? He tilted his head back and laughed. There is faith and delusion and she seems to be enamored by both. To think her capable of outrunning a horse. What a fool what a— His thoughts halted when he turned back, his mouth dropped, his jaw hanging loose. Masutap was catching up, he did not know how but she was gaining on him. She'd been a speck in the distance, barely visible against the backdrop of the fortress. But now her features were getting more defined and her limbs, they were a blur as she pushed forward with inhuman speed.
Panic drove Shama into action, he kicked his heels at the horse's flanks. Willing it to go faster. "Run you fool! Run!" He was frothing at the mouth as the horse went downhill, cutting his view of the one in pursuit. He gripped harder at the reins and screamed, slapping the horse's neck. He looked back to see Masutap emerge upon the hill and start a quick descent after him. He thought about guiding the horse into the wilderness and thought against it seeing that a gallop won't be possible with trees in the way. His only hope was in outpacing her for surely, even one with the Jojoh Meena must tire. He hoped Masutap would relent, he hoped her bloodlust would have proved sated by the guards who'd met their end by her. He hoped that he would live to see the sun climb into the sky one more time. Darkness was setting in and suddenly thoughts of the sun and it's warmth sprouted a yearning within him that made him weep. He turned his head back, she was a hundred paces away. The horse was tiring, it's gallop lazed in vigor. This is the end then, all those afternoons spent indoors hosting orgies. I should have spent them beneath the sun, I should have spent them in the sun He looked back once more, his horse barely keeping pace. The horse threw a shoe and Shama was flung off it. He tumbled onto the ground, his weight rested upon his twisted knee, the sharp pop of the joint led him into an anguished wail. The horse screamed, its fore limbs oddly twisted. The horse thrashed upon the ground and Shama rolled away. He felt weak, he felt defeated and most of all, he felt hopeless.
He lay there, watching the sky, the moon was up, barely half of it adorned the night. He wished it had been full, all those nights when he'd regarded the sky as one would a thing of no consequence. Now he found himself wishing he'd appreciated it more. In the end regrets rule the mind, for in its dying wails no sound of gratitude can be heard.
She came and stood above him, her face blocking the view of the sky. She breathed loudly and for a moment the only sounds around them were from the injured horse and her.
"Dahli will come for you." He opined despite the throbbing pain within his twisted leg.
"Shama, darling," Masutap said as she lowered herself to lie beside him. She chuckled. "Darling, that word. The Goddess Meena loves that word. She uses it a lot. I find it distasteful yet here I am. Calling you darling."
"I have not time for pleasantries." Shama interjected. "Cut my throat and be done with it."
Masutap sighed. "That's not a creative way to kill someone you know. No, how many women have suffered pain beneath you? I have to give answer to that and that means a show. I will drag you to your fortress, there I will strip you naked and castrate you. I will feed you your cock as the women whom you took advantage of watch. Then we'll douse you in Rankf Oil and set you alight."
Shama started weeping. And a new voice joined the fray, he wept, she heaved and the horse screamed.
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I’ve recently finished my second play through of this game, and I was just as emotional as the first time. How do you come back from a game like this?? I feel like any other game I play now, none of them can compare. From graphics to music to game play to the characters, it’s a game that hits all the check marks for me. SO WTF DO I DO NOW LMAO. RDR3 hasn’t even been announced so I gotta wait another 14 years?? Come on man😭 I didn’t play RDR yet so I’m excited for that, I didn’t even want to play RDR2 originally cause i’m not in to wild west stuff but now I thank my spouse everyday for making me give it a try. Okay I sound hella dramatic but anyways 12/10 game and they should’ve given us the option to not get Micah out of the Strawberry jail thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

I AM NOT OOP. OOP IS u/BabyBaconBits
Originally posted on relationships
Content warning: blood
1 update - medium-ish
Original Post (recovered with rareddit) - June 4th, 2024
Update - June 6th, 2024
My husband keeps telling other people about my periods
I (31F) am married to my wonderful husband (35M). We have also recently become first-time parents to our beautiful baby.
My husband is pretty much perfect in every single way...except for one, recurrent issue. He keeps telling other people very sensitive information about my gynecological health. Examples of this include: - Telling his mother details about my menstrual cycle - Telling his male boss when I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids - Specifying exactly what kind of doctor's appointment we are going to (IUD insertion) when asking his mother to babysit for us
I have told him that him sharing this kind of sensitive information about what is going on in my pants bothers me, and he has apologized every time. This morning though, he did it AGAIN.
I had a very severe first postpartum period last night, so bad that the health line nurse recommended we call 911. It was so bad, I was almost fainting from blood loss. I refused to go to the hospital, but my husband took the day off work to stay home and look after me and the baby today. I am still feeling weak and dizzy today, so I appreciated this.
HOWEVER, this morning over breakfast, my husband mentioned that he had explained why he wasn't at work to a male coworker over text. As in, he had described exactly what was going on with me, my fibroid issue, the bleeding, everything. Bear in mind that I have never even met this male coworker, and certainly wouldn't have shared this kind of information with him of my own volition.
I got upset, my husband apologized, familiar scenario yet again. I get it, he feels good commiserating about my admittedly very stressful and difficult to manage 'lady problems' with his married coworkers and his mom. It helps him cope, especially after a night spent trying to decide whether I need to be rushed to the emergency room. Still, I AM NOT COMFORTABLE with strangers (or his mother!) knowing the details of what's currently happening in my poor, malfunctioning uterus.
So, am I justified in getting increasingly more irritated and upset with my husband every time I find out that's he's been discussing my gyno issues with other people, even though he says it helps him decompress/explain absences from work?
How should I handle this situation?
Tldr: My husband keeps telling people details about my period problems. Am I justified in being upset, even when he's supporting me through these issues?
Edit: My husband is not autistic, nor does he have ADHD. Normally he is quite good about not sharing something once I tell him the subject is off-limits. For some reason, he just doesn't seem to be able to get on board with the idea that anyone should find this kind of information embarrassing or invasive.
Relevant Comments
[Comments are quite varied. Many are very harsh about husband, some mention reddit classic of divorce. A number of commenters helpfully advise OOP to start telling everyone that her husband has ED, diarrhea, shits his pants, etc. ]
OOP has a conversation thread with MadameWaste
Jesus, these comments. If he needs to talk to someone so badly HE should see a therapist.
Your medical information is literally that, yours. It's a breach of trust to talk about it without your permission.
If this was a post about a wife constantly talking to her female coworker and father about her husband's quick ejaculation or impotence, I'm sure people would be defending him. Father-in-law casually bringing up his medical issues, "Hey champ, heard you're having a little problem downstairs. Don't worry, my plumbing ain't what it used to be." Yeah, I'm sure that seems totally okay.
That is EXACTLY what this feels like! 😂😅🥲 My MIL has literally tried to bring up the volume of my period flow and make recommendations regarding it, after my husband over-shared with her. To say this made me uncomfortable is the understatement of the year. And the thought of his male coworkers knowing similar details makes me want to crawl into a hole and grow moss. 😶‍🌫️
I would never be able to go to a work event if my husband told his coworkers about my vagina in any way, and I'm not a very prudish person at all. I just feel like your personal health issues are your own unless YOU choose to disclose them. That's literally why HIPAA* laws exist in the first place.
That's what I told my husband this morning; that I am officially never going to any of his work events, if this information about my gynecological health has been shared around his office. He seemed startled, but also kind of like it was starting to click just how unhappy I was that his coworkers are privy to my personal info.
I totally get it, I would feel prejudged and so exposed. Like a specimen on a table. In a room full of strangers who know intimate details about my genitals. That's some horror movie shit, honestly lol.
YES. THIS. EXACTLY THIS!!! jumping and waving and pointing at this comment THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL, and I just wish there was some way for my husband to vent and process his feelings without spilling the scariest and most vulnerable moments of my intimate health to total strangers/my lacking-in-boundaries MIL. 😵‍💫
Update - 2 days later
Okay. Wow. My original post devolved into a mess of...something.
So first of all, a few extra things to clarify:

• Yes, I understand that refusing medical advice to go to the hospital carries risks. Where we live though, unless you are literally on Death's doorstep, you will wait 12+ hours in an ER to be triaged. Sitting in a growing pool of my own blood, with our baby, in a crowded waiting room, did not sound like a helpful place to be. Especially since I already know what's wrong with me (I'm 3 months postpartum with large, symptomatic uterine fibroids) and no, I am not open to the possibility of a hysterectomy at this time. I want more kids.
• No, my husband is not autistic, narcissistic, or in any other way developmentally or emotionally limited. Neither is he abusive. Jeezus, people, now I'm offended FOR my husband.
• No, my own family does not live nearby. During the fallout of my traumatic labour and emergency C-section, my MIL and FIL were literally the only family support that we had on-scene. My MIL definitely has a habit of being a chronic over-sharer with much fewer personal boundaries than me, but she 100% means well. Even though it makes me a little embarrassed when she does things like send over various herbs and teas with FIL, along with detailed instructions on how to use them for 'menstrual problems', I also get that she's doing it from a place of caring.
• Yes, husband and MIL are chronically up to their eyeballs in each other's lives. Always have been, always will be. He is an only child, and she was a single teenage mother when he was born. Plus mothers being super involved in their adult children's lives is a bit cultural for them. Do I sometimes wish he would share less about our married life with her? Heck yeah! Is that a hill that I can/will die on? Nope. I knew this about my husband when I married him.

So...
The suggestions on my original post ranged from helpful (clarify boundaries, seek support, see the issue from both perspectives) to, frankly, toxic and abusive (spread his personal medical information around publically, berate him, insult him, leave him in the dark about my health status, and my personal favourite, threaten to leave him).
Y'all, this man literally does everything and more for me. He held me through serious prenatal/postpartum depression, drove me back and forth across the city to seek help for my issues, sits up with me at midnight on the bathroom floor to ensure that my bleeding eventually stops during an episode, stays home with me when I'm anemic to watch over both me and our baby, changes diapers, cooks me food, lets me dictate the pace of our postpartum sex life, checks that I'm taking my meds, does all the heavy-lifting housework, tells me he loves me, reassures me, comforts me...
Does this give him a free pass to discuss my gynecological issues in public? No.
So, he and I sat down yesterday and established clear rules. He officially has my permission to discuss my Lady Problems with the one other lady of importance in his life...his mom. It helps him process after a scary episode (he admitted to crying out of fear for my safety after I finally fell asleep following the latest bloodbath), and his mom is our biggest support.
As for work, he is to say that "My wife is struggling with postpartum medical issues." No less, no more. If his boss needs further info, we will have my midwife draw up a doctor's note. My husband agreed to this, apologized, we kissed and made up. I also promised to remember to take my iron pills. Because anemia.
As for me, I learned a valuable less here. Be careful soliciting advice from the internet, because everyone will bring their own baggage to the issue. It's a little concerning how quickly so many people will figuratively advocate for flogging a loving husband in the public square, just because he's not handling a single issue perfectly. 💔
Thank you to everyone who gave constructive, thoughtful advice.
tldr: My husband and I talked, clearly established boundaries, kissed and made up. Reddit is nuts.
Relevant Comments
grumpy__g
Didn’t you mention that you did all of that before? And that he again and again ignored your wishes?
While I had grumbled and expressed that I didn't like other people knowing about my gyno issues, I hadn't actually laid down clear Yes/No boundaries and established a script that my husband could use.
Now my husband knows exactly who he can and cannot discuss my issues with, and what to say to people whom he cannot elaborate with.
Good. Let’s hope he understands this time.
I stand with my advice to not tell him anything till he learns. But also to tell him that you would do the same to him and to see how he reacts/would like it. Not that you really should tell people about his problems.
cartoonist62
I'm glad you've found a solution you are happy with. But please, talk to your doctor about iron infusions. Supplements are fine for normal anemia, not for people with chronic bleeding conditions like this!
Thanks for the reminder! I actually did get a series of IV iron infusions in the final weeks of my pregnancy, because my anemic fainting was to the point where my husband couldn't leave me unsupervised. 😱 Might be time to go in for another infusion...
Some commenters feel called out and have some thoughts about that
Redditor A
You also this audaciously rude in person, or do you keep your “oh my you broken people” schtick to Reddit? Those people were outraged on your behalf, god forbid.
Just say thank you for the free advice you got from the internets that solved the issue you couldn’t on your own, OP.
Redditor B
This post is so weird. I’m sorry you found it so upsetting that people were upset and worried for you. They came to that conclusion based on your own description of your husband’s completely inappropriate behavior. But you’re right, everybody else is the problem, not you, not your husband who talks about your vagina to his boss. That’s totally normal, respectful husband behavior!
Redditor C
Wow. The way you viciously attack and judge well-meaning strangers on this platform is appalling. Ok, Karen. We get it. Your clueless husband is not abusive and in fact he's a downright saint 😵‍💫.
Marked concluded per OOP.
If you have comments, keep them HERE. DO NOT brigade over to the original post to comment. DO NOT harass the OOP with dms or replies.
Remember- stay safe and rotate your tires every 5,000 miles or per manufacturer recommendations.

I 16M, and my brother 15M live with my father 37M and it is a living hell. My brother and I are in a group chat with our mother who was kicked out of our property thanks to my father with their ongoing divorce. Their divorce started basically because of my father's binge drinking and he would begin to lash out at my mom and just act useless and be deplorable. The sad thing is, is he thinks he can spend money to buy me and my brother's love (Fortnite cards, video games, etc). He even pretends to be sugar sweet when in reality he sends my mom horrible messages basically demeaning her as a human being. He always needs to be in control, like with money, clothes you wear (if they're dirty or not), and what you do in your day to day life. As I'm writing this he invited people to this "cookout" with relatives from his side we resent, (uncle, aunt, cousin, and grandma). He also texted me saying "Yeah, I really can't, bud. I have my bosses out here and I need to impress them." when I asked if they could tone things down. He also has a disabled brother with autism who is non-verbal, and cant do anything for himself, (clothing himself, bathing, etc), and he, and my grandma just leaves him in the house whenever he has guests, completely disregarding his needs. Not only that, he gets mileage checks to take him places, but all he's ever at is his home because he doesn't take him anywhere. I barely use Reddit, I've talked to my mom about reporting him to the police for what he's doing to me and my brother emotionally, but I know if I were to do that, I'd be in foster care, and I don't want that at all. He has made Facebook statuses about women he'd like to have sexual intercourse with, while he was married to my mom, and he completely disregarded their marriage together at times. He treats me and my brother like we're toddlers for no reason, even though I'm 16 and he's 15, he hasn't worked a day in his life; when he was married to my mom, he'd usually dump his brother on her, and make her watch him even though it's his job. My mom now lives multiple towns away because of his antics of all of these factors, I have a high reputation in the small town I live in, I played football and basketball for my high school, and pretty much anyone in my town knows my name. Anytime halftime would come around playing football, he'd sneak away to go drink beer. This isn't the NFL, you can't be drinking at a high school football game. I'm thinking of starting over, and moving down to where my mom is at, train for football and basketball, get a part time job to pay for a car and my probationary license, and graduate in a different high school because that's what my father has caused me to think like. I've even had thought's of suicide because of how he treats my family; a year prior to all of this my grandfather died of leukemia, and he puts all of his drinking on that, he claims he's never done it before that, but he's asked me for so many years to fetch him beers. You know the "When son won't fetch me beers" meme? I don't even find it funny because of what feels like trauma hits me. It gets worse, he even said I'd be a good bartender even though I hated dropping everything I'm doing to fetch him beers. Some nights it got so bad, I'd have to give him two at one time. He has also talked behind my mom's back to her parents, and now they won't even talk to her. But enough about my father, let's talk about my "relatives".
First: My grandma. She is just as if not worse than him. She is a narcissist, she does Christmas as bribery for putting up with her narcissism, and if you don't do anything her way, she takes a present away. Not only that, but she hated my mom for many years as well (underpaying her, kept her away from my disabled uncle, etc). She is also very disgusting, she pees and poops in her pants, and doesn't bother to change. She laughs it off, like it's a big game, and sits in it. Her and my father died laughing as I was holding their closet door shut trying not to get scratched by their cat they pick on as well. She condones homophobia, racism, and transphobia, she always thinks you're lying when something needs to get done with her life. She claims to be a Christian, when in reality she cherry-picks The Bible. She also has disowned my transgender cousin who identifies as male, saying how "it's the devil's work on why he's transgender".
Second: My uncle. He is a failure. He has 5 children, 4 of them are with his current wife (my aunt) and they all hate him. He cut off his first born daughter and grandchild, only God knows why, he drinks, he says racist slurs, he pretty much discriminates everybody, and his opinion always needs to be heard, and it's usually about politics. He also disowned my cousin who happens to be transgender, which is makes him a horrible uncle to him
Third: My aunt. She is such a backstabber, she literally can't say anything to your face, she can't discipline her kids, she's a failure of a mother, together, her and her husband (my uncle) go bar hopping to let their kids (my cousins) "raise themselves" and she claims my mom has abused my uncle while taking care of him in place of my father. She, like my uncle, and grandmother, have also disowned my transgender cousin, and misgender him on the daily and dead-name him.
Last but certainly not least: My cousin, (a different cousin). She is a recently graduated high school student and has her whole life ahead of her, but instead rather tries to spy on my mom, and try to "relate" to me and my brother, when there's nothing to relate to only that her parents are divorced as well. Young and impressionable, but decides to throw her life away for alcohol and parties.
So in conclusion, my father's side of the family are hateful, bigoted, and live by their own rules based on their narcissism. They don't care if you're disabled or not, they don't care if you have a different opinion because it's always wrong and they're always right. You can't do anything, wear anything unless it's father approved, and you can't buy anything within a certain budget because he has to control money as well. My grandma has to have Christmas AKA the bribery for her narcissism and is probably worse than my father in terms of bigotry; disowning my transgender cousin, and cherry picks Bible verses on her day to day life.

12 February 2024, Monday. I wake up late, around 10 AM in the morning. My elder brother, who was sitting on the corner of my bed tells me that I had scored 97.2%ile. I thought he was joking with me, however I soon realized that it was a joke for all students. I checked my result and to my shock, he was right. I had scored 97.2%ile at 195 !! Soon I started looking for marks v/s percentile and found that 27S1 had 99%ile at ~240 !!. I realized how fucked up was that shift.
04 June 2024, Tuesday. A similar disaster struck fellow NEETards but this time the magnitude of tragedy was too high. Soon Twitter was trending, news outlet, etc. started to pick up the news. Amid these controversies NTA released it's response on 06 June 2024. But this might not be the end of the conversation.

Year	Average Marks out of 720 of qualified candidates	Minimum score to qualify in UR Category
2020	297.18	147
2021	286.13	138
2022	259.00	117
2023	279.41	137
2024	323.55	164

This was the data provided by NTA. From 2020 to 2022, there is a decrease in the avg. marks. This may due to the fact that students from 2022 batch had to attend classes online due to COVID-19 and hence the decrease. Same pattern is seen in minimum scores. A similar correlation might be seen in 2023 and 2024 where scores have been increased due to offline classes being conducted again. Also there are were many resources available for free for everyone online.

1. NTA reported,

The loss of examination time was ascertained and such candidates were compensated with marks based on their answering efficiency and time lost, as per the mechanism/ formula established by the Hon’ble Apex Court, vide its judgment dated 13.06.2018 in W.P. 551 of 2018.

After searching the judgement for several minutes, I was able to found it here (or here). The method is on the page 12 or para. 8 of the judgement. Basically they are using "unitary method" to calculate revised scores. What they are doing is as follows:

1. Time available to student (v) 1. No. of questions attempted (w). 2. Find no of questions done per second (x=w/v). 3. Find amound of time in seconds which were lost by that candidate (y). 4. No. of extra que to compensate for time lost = (x*y) 5. No. of correctly answered questions (a). 6. No. of wrongly answered questions (b). 7. No. of correctly answered questions after normalisation = a'= (x*y) * (a/w). 8. No. of correctly answered questions after normalisation = b' = (x*y) * (b/w). 9. Score = (4*a')-(1*b') /* +4/-1 Marking Scheme */ 

(The table is just for illustration. It also seem to have +1/-0.25 marking scheme.)
Now there are several problems here.
2.1. How are they rounding up when any of the above variables is non integer?
If they are rounding up the final no. of correctly/wrongly attempted questions to their nearest integers and then calculating the score, then how on earth can anyone score 718 or 719? NTA is clearly lying on our face here if this is the case.
2.2. Does NTA drops the extra que when no. of questions attempted after normalisation exceeds 180?
e.g. A was given only given 2.5 hours instead of 3 hours for his NEET exam. Now he attempted 155 que within given time. NTA normalises his results by applying the formula above. Then no of que attempted by him becomes 186. But he can only attempt 180 que in the actual exam.
Also are those student also compensated if they had done 180 que? Seems like nitpicking but still.
2.3. A candidate can overscore by the above formula when they try to be highly efficient.
Besides that NTA didn't tell how much marks each student got after normalisation. Moreover many students on this sub, reported that their marks were less than what they had calculated. Others told that it may be due to normalisation. But your marks are not normalised. Only the one who lost time are compensated not you.

1. The number of candidates who appeared in 2023 was 20,38,596, while the number of candidates who appeared in 2024 increased to 23,33,297. The increase in candidates naturally led to an increase in high scorers due to a larger pool of candidates.

But still the pool of students is not large enough to justify 67 toppers when we have only seen < 4 toppers in the previous years. An increase of 60+ toppers in one year is either due to malpractices or overly-simple paper. Moreover 6 toppers from the same centre sure raises some eyebrows. NTA should thoroughly investigate this matter. Also their answer sheets should be released in public domain to check their marks by ourselves. Here someone alleged that one of the topper did have some mistakes in her answer sheet but still managed to score 720. Is this due to compensation of marks ?

1. Never have I ever seen NTA release the results prior to the mentioned date. It has delayed the results by a day or two but never have released result early. Besides, why do they released the results on the day when election results were being declared ? To distract the news media?
   
2. Let me tell you a joke — NTA's investigation against UFMs. They did not do anything against Basava Reddy, they are not going to do anything this time either.
   

It's a high time we unite as students and file RTIs to find our answers ,like how the compensation marks given to each student, along with the formula.

JEE Mains/NEET 2025 and Beyond

NTA did nothing when victims of 27 and 29 complained. They released a their statement and moved on. So did the students. I know because I was a victim. It's very likely this time again. They have released their statement. They are not doing anything and they will not do anything.
But after seeing the rank inflation WE CANNOT DENY that the competition and no. of student is actually increasing day by day. That might be what has happened this year. What we are seeing today, might be a glimpse of tomorrow. We all know how much of a blood bath next year is gonna be. With COVID gone and quality of online materials increase day by day, more students will have access to quality material, hence the quality of competition will surely increase. The more early you get out this battleground, the better your chances of survival will be. That's all I had to say.
Best of luck to all NEETards for your struggle.
Best of luck to all JEEtards for Sunday.

“This geriatric bunch in cold sleep?”
“Affirmative. But their records show that they have been in cold sleep multiple times. They should respond quickly to the resuscitation procedure.”
“But, why? Wouldn’t it be more merciful to leave them in stasis while the Jaxorians intercept us?”
“Yes, but Allyson says that these individuals are the ones who might get us out of this situation.”
“The Terran engineer? You’re trusting her?”
“In a zero-sum analysis, her suggestions have net positive outcomes.”
“Just for the record, I think this is a bad idea.” A pause. “Resuscitation sequence activated.”
“Duly noted. Alert me when they are awake.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
William Exeter hated the feeling of coming to after cold sleep. While the modern systems were better than those he first encountered, he still felt like his muscles were infused with lead and that he was suffering from a hangover that he never got the enjoyment of deserving. But hopefully this would be one of the last times he would ever have to use the procedure, and he could finally settle down.
As the capsule’s lid slid back, harsh light assaulted William’s eyes, and he squinted in an attempt to lessen the pain. The silhouette of a triangular head above him let William know that a Dravitian was checking on him. He swallowed and got his voice working so he could croak out, “I’m up, I’m up.”
“Ah, Mr. Exeter, yes? I am…” The insectoid started to come into better view to the Terran’s adjusting eyes. “Captain? Yes, Captain of this ship. I am… We all are in need of assistance.”
“Uh, what?” William’s croaking voice hid some of his annoyance. “Yeah, I’m Exeter. But if you’re going to get my help, you’re going to have to get me a Jolt. I’m still half asleep from the drugs.”
The Dravitian’s head tilted to the side in an obvious gesture of confusion, “You require an electrical discharge?”
And this was why William hated waking up among aliens. He had to explain everything to them. “A drink. ‘All the sugar and twice the caffeine.’ Bah!” He started to force his muscles into action and pushed up on his elbows, “Just get me a goddamned stimulant, okay?”
“Oh, yes. Yes. Of course!” The Dravitian’s head disappeared as the insectoid moved over to a wall-mounted workstation.
William turned his head and saw several other cold-sleep capsules with their lids open. He cleared his throat and then called out, “Venture crew, sound off...”
“Here!”
I hear you, Bill.”
From a nearby capsule there was a dry coughing, but a hand in a ‘thumbs-up’ gesture rose in response.
“Well, good, I won’t have to suffer alone.” William turned his head again and looked over the other closed capsules, “But they didn’t wake everyone, so something’s up. Try to shake this shit off and get ready, okay?”
There were murmurs of ascent and more dry coughs from the other capsules.
The Dravitian come back from the workspace and addressed William, “Stimulant beverages and some cakes are on their way, Mr. Exeter. While I know that you are still under the effects of the stasis pharmaceuticals, I do need to apprise you of our need. You know of the Jaxorians, yes?”
William’s brow furrowed, “What, those crab-guys who go around in those water-suits? Didn’t we beat them in that big war?”
The Dravitian pulled back a little, “It was a negotiated settlement, I believe, but yes, your descriptive words adequately fit the Jaxorian physiology.” He paused, “Well, the Jaxorians, and their rulers the Drasalites, are once again at war, and we are now targets. I would not have woken you , but our Terran engineer was sure that you could help.”
William frowned and shook his head, “We should have finished them once and for all when we had the chance, but we have to let the Soviets fail as Soviets, don’t we?” He sighed, “And we’re humans, dammit. Homo sapiens sapiens by fuckin’ scientific classification. We once lived on Terra, but our genus and species doesn’t change when we move to another-” He noticed the paling colors on the edges of the Captain’s chitinous facial plates and stopped his Duckman-esque rant, “Look, nevermind. How much time do we have?”
The insectoid paused, as if surprised be the direct question. “We estimate a cycle, if our engineer’s modifications to the engines hold. Our speed has been dramatically increased, but the Jaxorian ships still gain slowly. We will eventually be within the effective range of their weapons. Please, direct us.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
After some of the greasy-spoon diner-ish coffee and the supermarket quality yeast-raised, honey-glazed donuts, the four Terrans looked and felt better. William glanced at his colleagues, noting the wear of time on their bodies. He chuckled as the slightly altered movie quote of ’It’s not the years, it’s the light-years’ ran through his mind. But they’d been together ‘asleep’ much longer than they’d been awake, and they’d spent more of their ‘awake’ lives together than apart.
Tony Scarpetti’s pudgy fingers tipped his cup almost upside down as he tried to get the last drops of the coffee and granulated sugar sludge into his mouth. His once black hair was now mostly white, and his tough physique that ran circles around them on the soccer field had shrunk a bit, though he was still stocky.
Peter Hoffman had finally gotten control of his coughing, and was munching on ‘just one more’ donut, and William once again wondered where Peter fit all the food he ate in that short, diminutive frame. His signature mohawk had been fluffed up with fingers, but lacking styling gel and a razor to clean up the stubble that had grown out in cold sleep, it ended up looking more like a peaked mound than the sharp style that Peter would have usually rocked.
Alex (AJ) Johnson’s hair had finally receded so much that his braid only held back reddish hair from behind his ears, though his scraggly beard was long enough that he could probably have braided it as well. Always tall and gangly, his frame seemed a little more gaunt than William remembered, though it had been almost a decade of cold-sleep travel since they had last seen each other.
“Hey, Doctor Exeter?”
William turned his head toward the voice, and looked at the young woman with blonde hair striding toward the table where the four sat around their coffee and donuts. Her utilitarian grey coveralls had scorch-marks and grime all over, and there was some of the same on her exposed hands and face, but bright teeth were visible in her smile.
William nodded, “You must be the plucky human engineer who got us woken up before our alarm went off, huh?”
The woman nodded, still smiling widely and, as she got over to the table, thrust out her hand toward William in the manner of one who just remembered something. “Yeah, sorry about that, Doctor. I’m Allyson, and I’m the only Terran on the ship. Besides you guys, that is.”
William took the extended hand and shook it, being a little more gentle than he usually would have been, given the way that the woman’s grip and lack of fluid motion showed that she wasn’t experienced in shaking hands as a greeting ritual. But she had looked it up, and that counted for something. “Well, us humans have to stick together, right? You sure you want us geezers to help you out? Don’t you have some flashy alien tech to get away from these crab guys?”
Allyson grinned as the handshake seemed to go correctly and shook her head, “Well, if you had been four guys who weren’t from the Space Venture, I would have let you sleep and hoped that I could come up with some way to escape, but well… you are, and well…” She looked at the men around the table, “You guys solve problems, right?”
“Troubleshoot.” AJ corrected, his voice still a little rough. “We’re Troubleshooters. So we’re likely to be able to fix problems on the ship, but not necessarily the situation. It gives us an out on some problems…”
Allyson’s brow furrowed, but before she could say anything, William offered, “But we’ll try and get you out of this alive, okay?” He looked over toward AJ, “No need to haze the newb, ‘kay?”
AJ chuckled and nodded, going for another sip of his coffee.
Allyson looked between the two old men and shook her head. Weren’t these guys the stuff of legends? Why didn’t they act like it? But they were what she had. What the whole ship had. Oh, the ship, right. “And we don’t really have any xenotech. This is an old decommissioned TA vessel, a combat freighter, so it’s kind of structurally overbuilt for a freighter. It was the TAV Thuban, but after being bought up by a Dravitian company it’s now the CCV K’gara B’rak. That translates to something like ‘Ugly Worker Beetle’.”
William raised an eyebrow, “I thought those bugs didn’t like old ships?”
Allyson grinned, “They couldn’t build a new ship to these durability specs at anywhere near the sale price. I think that it vexes the Captain to no end.”
Tony finally set his cup down on the table, finished fighting with the sludge, and looked at at the woman with a playful grin, “Likely to be really upset once we get going, then…”
William grinned as well, “Well, we’ll get there as we get there. So, is Skynet running things here?”
The engineer blinked and cocked her head a little in her confusion, “Skynet? Um…” Her words trailed off as she tried to decipher the meaning.
William sighed, “Artificial intelligence. Is there one running the ship?”
Allyson shook off her confusion, “Oh, uh, no. Of course there are still core hook-ups, but the company didn’t recruit one. There are some smart systems, but they don’t come up to AI levels.”
William nodded, slowly and resignedly. He looked at the other older men, “Okay, so I guess I’ll be spending my time hacking while you guys get to have some actual fun.” He looked back to the engineer and started to get up out of his chair, feeling the ache in his lower back. “Well, let’s get me to a terminal, and rummage up some walkies so we can keep in contact.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
William glowered at the large touchscreen that sat angled on its adjustable armature, and muttered, “What fresh hell is this operating system?”
The Dravitian Captain at the nearby navigation station on the ship’s bridge looked over, “Sir, this is the newest release of the Efficient Interface. While you are viewing it in Terran Standard, it is optimized for the Dravitian language.”
William shook his head, “So other than these cosmetic changes that I can get to in settings, where can I actually get to control configurations?”
The Captain pulled back its head in surprise, “What? You can’t change the control configurations! They are all optimized!”
William sighed and shook his head, “You jammed the ‘economy’ button down, so we can’t get to the ‘power’ button. Right…” He tapped open the program that accessed the file storage and began examining what was there.
After a few minutes of the bridge crew watching the Terran scroll and tap and curse in a low voice, William let out a exuberant, “Got you, you bastard!” On the touchscreen, a simple text box came up, indicating that it was a Root Command Shell, with a blinking block cursor.
William’s fingers flew over the virtual keyboard on the angled touchscreen, and another window bloomed on the screen. He slid it off to the side, then continued to tap and another window popped up. He slid it off to the top corner of the screen. In each of the windows, progress bars slid slowly from one side to another, character strings rolling down past the bottom of the window, the screen indicator on the scroll bar on the side getting smaller and smaller as the list grew and grew.
The Captain leaned over from its workstation and observed the workings on the Terran’s screen, “What is all that? I’ve never seen this option in the interface.”
William chuckled, still typing commands in the first window, “Oh, it’s a command line interface. They just slapped your interface over the military OS, and that still had lots of useful modules and programs in archive. I can bypass the ‘pretty’ GUI you guys use and actually get to controls.” He paused, “Holy hell! They left a media archive in here. Let’s get that unpacked right now!”
A new window popped up on the touchscreen, with another progress bar. William brought up yet another window, and worked inside it, and the progress bars started to move across their respective windows faster.
The Captain cocked its head, “Sir, I find fault in your judgement that what we need in this situation is media. The Jaxorians are not known for their imaginative capabilities.” It paused, “And I think your tasks are slowing down the computational processors, which again, I find fault with in these circumstances.”
William chuckled, “Well, sure it will seem slower. I made all my operations high priorities for the processors. And you can’t expect us to do our best work in silence. We’ll need a good jam.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
Allyson led the three older men through the hatch into the huge engineering bay where the three reactors were lined up with the longitudinal axis of the ship. Aft of those, the floor fell away beyond a safety railing, so that the bulk of the four huge engines could be accessed by a network of ladders, platforms, and gantries. Most of the floor was clear, but here and there hatches, tools, and parts lay askew on the deck, and wires and tube of various sizes and colors snaked between components in a way that belied the hasty, jury-rigged engineering tasks that had been recently undertaken. A couple of insectoid engineers were working on maintaining parts of the unstable system.
“And this is the playground,” offered Allyson as she spread her arms to indicate the whole open area. “We’ve got four Hammond LS-V-3400 ion drives backed by three of the Niagara-class fusion reactors. I’ve, uh, removed some of the safeties on the engines and tweaked the safety specs on the reactors, so we’re making just over five percent above rated maximum speed.”
Tony walked away from the others to lean against the safety railing and take in the sight of the engines.
Peter glanced around the area, then noticed the machining and fabrication tools and sauntered over to inspect them, hands tucked in his pockets and his boots scuffing the floor.
The two Dravitian technicians looked up from their work momentarily, apraising the Terrans, but staying quiet.
AJ made his way over to the reactors, and frowned as he looked at the readouts showing that the reactors were running hot, right on the edge of red-line. “Cutting these pretty fine.”
Allyson nodded as she looked over toward the tall man and started slowly walking toward him, “Um, yeah. I couldn’t figure out a good way to get more output from the engines, so I was just trying to route more power through them. These are still safe, but they’ll be burning up the plating faster than they should.”
AJ nodded and continued perusing, leaning down to look into an open hatch and seeing how one of the patched in high-energy line had been connected.
Tony continued to watch the engines and called, “Hey, Allyson, these still work with Cherenkov dispersal for additional thrust?”
Allyson quickly changed her trajectory to veer away from reactors and back toward the engines, “Uh, yeah, they do. There are controllers in there that help to make the emissions more directional.” She got to the railing and pointed at an orange ring that was visible on each engine right near the aft bulkhead. “Those big electromags help control the dispersal. I have plans and simulations on the computer if you want to see how they work.”
Tony peered in the indicated direction, then nodded and turned toward Allyson, “Yeah, get me to a terminal with some VR goggles and I’ll take a lo-” His voice cut off at the sudden sound from the engineering bay’s speakers.
A syncopated drum beat sounded over the hum of the machinery, then came an almost gravelly yell-singing voice. ”Come on, feel the noise. Girls, rock your boys. We’ll get wild, wild, wild.”
Allyson’s surprised gaze swept up to the big speakers mounted in the corners of the room by the ceiling.
Grins and smiles grew on the faces of the three older men, and they all joined in with the words as an electric guitar sawed into being and the rest of the band added their voices to the lead singer on a response answer of “Wild, wild, wild!” And then the drums picked up and the rest of the instruments kicked in, bringing the song fully into swing.
The singer continued as Peter’s hands played air-drums over a CNC machine’s working space, ”So you think I got an evil mind. I tell you, honey, I don’t know why. I don’t know why.”
Allyson had never heard the song, but the beat was compelling, and it somehow invigorated the men in a way she hadn’t expected. Just out of cold sleep, in the midst of an inevitable chase, with such limited resources, they were singing along with smiles on their faces. AJ was tapping on a reactor interface, and Peter was almost dancing as he poked about her workbench storage space, going over her tools, a screwdriver and electric ratchet stem in his hands as drumsticks for his air-drums.
The Dravitian technicians huddled in a fearful pose at the sudden noise.
Tony grinned widely at Allyson’s surprise, and said loudly over the music, “William’s got good taste for montage music… Show me that terminal.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
The Captain looked over to the Terran’s workspace which was now exhorting somebeing to ‘get wild, wild, wild’ over and over again. It seemed to have some detrimental affect on the older Terran, as its head was bobbing up and down as it continued to work with the code. The insectoid in command just had to say something. “Excuse me, sir. Are you sure that the distracting audio stimulation is beneficial for you? It does not seem to be related to your current task …”
William glanced over at the Dravitian, “Look, bug-boy, the music keeps my endorphins up, and tricks me into thinking I still have all the energy of a teenager. You’re just lucky that I know what my crew likes, and that this archive is low on industrial music.” He pauses and types intensely, then continues, “So no, it’s not related, but if you really want a chance to get away from those crab-guys, this music tips the scales in our favor, okay?”
The Captain abruptly looked back to its console. “Affirmative answer, sir.”
William nodded to himself, and cocked his head as he read something off the screen. “So, a bunch of the cargo is plasma generators for terraforming?” He looked over to the insectoid who was pointedly not looking at him. “Are those things as dangerous as they sound?”
-=-=-=-=-=-
“Hey guys!” William’s voice echoed from the big loudspeakers in the engineering bay as the song came to an end.
“Yo boss!” Peter called up toward the ceiling from the tool bench where he had accumulated a selection of choice tools.
“I got control of the control code up here. Some of it’s military code under all this glossy shit. What have you guys got back there?”
Tony stood amidst a holographic simulation of an engine, and called out, “We got some damped down ion engines. The design is like the old McPherson Mark Five, and I think I can flare ‘em up the same way. Gimme six hours or so.”
AJ looked up toward the ceiling after Tony finished, “These fusion reactors are running flat out, Bill. I’m thinking about patching up a capacitor bank so we can push things farther, or at least have some extra power when we need it. Three or four hours, depending on how easy I can find the parts.” he paused, “And I’m officially putting in a request for you to put something dance-able on your wheel of steel.”
Peter called out, “And I’m just waiting for these slackers to tell me what they need. But I’m all tooled up for just about anything they want.” He grinned playfully at the other two.
William’s chuckle came over the speaker, “Gotcha. Those sound like good projects. We get a powerful flare, we’ve got a chance to run.” He paused, “Allyson, you there too?”
Allyson, still near the holographic engine display, had been turning her head this way and that to try and follow the conversation and understand what the forming plan of the ‘troubleshooters’ was. She forced herself to call out, “Yes, Dr. Exeter.”
William’s voice came from the speakers, “Okay, Allyson, I need you to take Pete down to Cargo Bay Three and help him uncrate all of the plasma terraforming engines you can find there. Pete, I want those things sky-side against the outer wall of Bay Two and fastened in place. If we need power for them, I want you to run a line back to AJ’s source, and it will need to be vacuum sealed. We’re likely to depressurize that bay so try not to make too many unnecessary holes, okay?” He paused, “And don’t worry, that bay has some speakers too. I won’t leave you silent …”
Peter grinned and nodded, then started to load tools onto a nearby hovercart. As he worked, he called out, “On it, boss! Do they have any Ramones or Dead Kennedys or anything with more energy in that jukebox? That’s my request, Mr. DJ.”
William’s voice carried his chuckle, “I’m on it, guys. I’ll keep you updated, you guys let me know the word. Out.”
As the beats of New Order’s Blue Monday started to bounce around the engineering bay, Peter looked over at Allyson, “Hey, give me a hand with some of this. We need to bounce!”
Allyson registered the words and jogged across the bay to the hovercart, “Sorry, sir, we have to ‘bounce’?”
Peter chuckled, still pulling tools from the bench to add to the load. “We have to get moving. Can we bring that welder and thermal lance, or is there a better option?”
Allyson let out a quiet ‘oh’, then shook her head, “There’s a backpack unit that can cut and weld. Much easier to move.” She pulled open a a nearby locker.
Peter grinned, “Oh, sweet! Are there two?”

I used to be pretty familiar with the rewards calendar, but it's been a while. Any insight anyone might be able to provide would be phenomenal!
So I just got a steal of a deal on a European cruise. Thing is, we have to fly back on a specific date (Sept. 4)
Right now, the available AA Flights that leave from Rome are super early in the morning and we won't be able to get to the airport in time for them. That said, there are around a dozen AA flights later in the day that work. Unfortunately, they're not available on Alaska Airlines awards yet, but I just checked on the AA site and they all have a ton of space.
Anyone got a clue if and when these might start to open up? I did something similar for a flight to Lisbon last year, and they opened up just around the 2-month mark.
Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,I'm having some trouble progressing in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I've finished Mission 42 with an A rank and completed all the yellow-marked Side Ops, but no new main missions are appearing.I've tried:Checking and replaying earlier missions for better ranksExpanding Mother Base and managing staffCompleting all available Side OpsWaiting for in-game time to pass and engaging in FOB missionsDespite these efforts, I'm still not seeing any new missions. Has anyone else encountered this issue or have any tips on what I might be missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated!Thanks!

Too many people here are ultra-fixated on cutting out internet from your lives 99% or even 100%. Sorry folks, that can't be done unless you are incarcerated, dead or are wealthy+have other people do things like pay bills, book flights, etc.
For everyone else who is an adult here in the US, all you're gonna do is make many if not MOST things you deal with more more difficult by going a completely no-surf route. Are you gonna drive to the utility company during business hours once a month to pay that elec. bill in-person? Because they may not offer pay by phone and may require payment in-person by check. Or are you gonna go back to 1990 and start paying by checks, and mailing all your bill payments weeks in advance (or paying costly priority/overnight delivery) to avoid being late? Are you gonna cal your bank to check your balance on a near-daily basis and balance your checkbook/bank account by hand vs. using the bank website? etc etc etc
At a certain point you all need to be realistic. You aren't making your lives easier by going 99%-100% no-surf....all you're doing is adding lots of annoyances, complexity and time-consuming things to your daily routines as an adult.
Should you decrease your Instagram addiction from 8 hours a day to 1 hour? SURE! GREAT IDEA! But can you HONESTLY swear off ALL Meta-related websites and content forever? You say you can, but when a local restaurant only posts its menu on Facebook store profile page or your local utility company only posts-real-time status updates on their FB page............are you honestly 100% of the time from now until the day you die outright avoid/not check these sources?
Let's be real and honest with ourselves.
There's no way to go back to pre-internet times unless you are offloading all that responsibility to someone else (hence rich/jailed person comparison) or dead.
Focus on changes that reduce wasting time and avoid adding complexity to life (like dating apps for example - JUST talk to a person you see walking by or in a store vs. swiping thousands of times on an app).

[Completely no spoilers below, just putting that out there]
Just letting everyone who wants to stay fully spoiler free for the DLC and wants to experience everything for themselves that Fextralife's weapon pages (potentially armor, skills, and magic too) now have DLC weapons and weapon types on them. I personally don't even want to see the names of the weapons or weapon types in the DLC, and if you also don't I recommend avoiding most weapon class and sorcery class pages. If you want to check out base game weapon AR, scalings, etc., I recommend using tarnished.dev as your method. It is not only better than fextra for information, as it is actually accurate, but it also has no spoilers at all. Honestly, fextra could've at least put in spoiler marks on the new stuff, now I have several DLC item names and weapon types burned into my memory.
Note: Also avoid Fextra's comment sections, and those of other online forums (yes even certain Reddit discussions) as those also contain 0 moderation for spoilers.

Missouri: my partner got pulled over in November 2023 and his proof of insurance would not load during the stop, so the officer issued him a ticket and said he can go to the municipal court and show proof of insurance to get the ticket dismissed. He did this and was told to email a certain contact to show proof. He did so the same day, and was told his ticket is dismissed and he does not need to show up to court. Just today June 7 2024, on his way to work, he was pulled over because his vehicle matched the description of a person with a warrant for failure to show to court for not proving insurance. He never got a notice to appear to court either as the previous issue was resolved via email. During the traffic stop, He was arrested, booked, fingerprinted, mug shot taken, held in a cell for about 30 min until I came and posted bail for $100 cash. His car was also towed after he was arrested. He was held a total of 1.5 hours at the PD. After I posted his bail, he was given paperwork with a court date. He went back inside and showed the PD receptionist proof of the email showing he should not have had a warrant and the woman gave him a paper stating it is dismissed and she said they messed up during their filing process. His car was towed and the PD called the towing place after he made the error clear to them and so he didn't have to pay to get it back. They told him the $100 bail would be mailed to him in a cashiers check. Basically it was a false warrant because he resolved the initial issue and he has it in writing that he was told it was dismissed and there is no court appearance required for the initial incident in November. Can he sue the police department for wrongfully arresting him, emotional distress, and having to miss work? What can he do? We are both very bothered by this and he is a law abiding citizen with no record. Getting arrested really shook him up. He still has marks on his wrists from the handcuffs 2 hours later.

hey guys I'm tryng to link my abaqus 2020, Visual studio 2019 and classic intel fortran compiler (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developearticles/tool/oneapi-standalone-components.html). I also saw many tutorials and forums about that but i'm still in trouble with this problem when I verify if the linking was working.
C:\Windows\System32>abaqus verify -user_std
**********************************************************************
** Visual Studio 2019 Developer Command Prompt v16.0.0
** Copyright (c) 2019 Microsoft Corporation
**********************************************************************
[vcvarsall.bat] Environment initialized for: 'x64'
Abaqus Product Install Verification...
Fri Jun 7 16:06:58 2024
Found C:\Windows\SysWOW64\verify. All verification files will reside in
this directory.
Old job files exist. They will be moved to verifyOLD.
Abaqus/Standard with user subroutines
...ERROR
Abaqus did not complete successfully.
Please see std_user.log for details.
Continuing...
Clean-up...
Job files exist. Verification directory C:\Windows\SysWOW64\verify will not
be deleted.
When I look for the std_user.log say this:
Analysis initiated from SIMULIA established products
Abaqus JOB std_user
Abaqus 2020
Abaqus License Manager checked out the following licenses:
Abaqus/Standard checked out 5 tokens from Flexnet server Vitor.
<1019 out of 1024 licenses remain available>.
Begin Compiling Abaqus/Standard User Subroutines
6/7/2024 3:54:46 PM
Intel(R) Fortran Intel(R) 64 Compiler Classic for applications running on Intel(R) 64, Version 2021.12.0 Build 20240222_000000
Copyright (C) 1985-2024 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
ifort: remark #10448: Intel(R) Fortran Compiler Classic (ifort) is now deprecated and will be discontinued late 2024. Intel recommends that customers transition now to using the LLVM-based Intel(R) Fortran Compiler (ifx) for continued Windows* and Linux* support, new language support, new language features, and optimizations. Use '/Qdiag-disable:10448' to disable this message.
End Compiling Abaqus/Standard User Subroutines
Begin Linking Abaqus/Standard User Subroutines
Creating library standardU.lib and object standardU.exp
End Linking Abaqus/Standard User Subroutines
6/7/2024 3:54:46 PM
Begin Analysis Input File Processor
6/7/2024 3:54:46 PM
Run pre.exe
6/7/2024 3:54:49 PM
End Analysis Input File Processor
Begin Abaqus/Standard Analysis
6/7/2024 3:54:49 PM
Run standard.exe
6/7/2024 3:54:49 PM
Abaqus Error: Abaqus/Standard Analysis exited with an error - Please see the
message file for possible error messages if the file exists.
Begin SIM Wrap-up
6/7/2024 3:54:50 PM
Run SMASimUtility.exe
6/7/2024 3:54:50 PM
End SIM Wrap-up
Abaqus/Analysis exited with errors
I though that the problem is with the abaqus standard.exe, but i cant also see the menssage file because it didnt created. Some one can help me? Pls its for university work and I need help

Let's now delve into Abby's perspective.
Abby's equivalent of the Wyoming Museum is her scenes in the aquarium. I find the choice of this particular ocean biome interesting. Throughout her journey in Seattle, Abby gradually distances herself from the WLF. The aquarium serves as a clandestine refuge where Abby and Owen seek solace away from their WLF responsibilities, a sanctuary amidst the chaos of the city. The ocean represents a hidden world, a sanctuary that other surface animals cannot penetrate, symbolizing a refuge from the conflicts and chaos above. Abby's character in Seattle is symbolized by a crab—outwardly strong yet internally vulnerable, much like herself as depicted by Owen's observation that she appears tough but is soft at heart. This symbolism extends to the imagery of a giant crab adorning the doors leading to the tragic fate of Owen and Mel. Upon her return from the island, blood stains beneath the doors. I think this is supposed to represent how by her actions she brought death to her friends, akin to bearing the weight of guilt or "dirty hands." Throughout her narrative, various other depictions of crabs persistently follows Abby.
Abby's Seattle setting is aquatic, but it wasn't always so. Prior to her father's death, her symbolic habitat was the jungle. In her initial flashback in Salt Lake, she stands at the zoo entrance, surrounded by banners portraying jungle and savanna creatures like tigers, elephants, apes, and antelopes. She can also find a flyer of the zoo ad with the tiger on it. In Santa Barbara, when visiting the Firefly outpost, Lev asks why the children's room depicts animals and a forest. Abby explains that it is a thing parents can do and that her father painted her a jungle in her room when she was little. I think deep within, Abby identifies with a tiger, and she actually re-finds herself with Lev's encounter. The tiger represents her true essence, her totem animal, while the crab represents what she turned into in Seattle. The crab, with its hard exterior and soft interior, also mirrors Abby's hardened exterior developed from her experiences with the WLF.
Yet, subtle hints throughout her narrative suggest a rediscovery of her true self as a tiger that coincide with what she's going throught. One instance that really striked me is the big cartoonish tiger she encounters in a cafe on the road to the hospital, sat in a position of meditation, coinciding with her growing bond with Lev. This moment signifies her gradual return to inner peace and authenticity. Another significant occurrence is the depiction of a tiger hidden behind a counter during her escape from the island with Yara and Lev, labeled with "mean streak." This moment precedes a pivotal confrontation with her former allies, symbolizing Abby's re-embrace of her tiger nature—a resurgence of strength and determination as she confronts her past and fights for her newfound family. The reappearance of the tiger symbolizes Abby's journey of self-discovery and resilience, marking her reclaiming of inner strength and ferocity in the face of adversity.
During the Salt Lake flashback, as Abby finds her father and they continue through the park, they enter the aquatic biome, greeted by a crab facing exactly towards the banner depicting a tiger, symbolizing Abby's future transformation in Seattle. She enters the mouth of a whale, symbolizing her immersion into the aquatic world. In the very next flashback, she will exit from the mouth of a shark, marking her transformation complete.
Owen is symbolized by a spotted seal. The first time they ever entered the aquarium, Owen get out of the water and place himself right in front of a seal depiction named "Oscar", saying some things to Abby. You can see a little crab right under. Hints in dialogues also point at Owen being a seal. During the scene in the aquatic dome underwater, Owen concludes their conversation by expressing his intention to spend some time with the seals. Another subtle clue to Owen's future role as a father is found within the aquarium's main room: a statue depicting a seal and its cub. This imagery hints at Owen's impending journey into parenthood.
I'm going to talk about Tommy in Abby's section because it mostly striked me while doing her parts, with the exception of this dinosaur looking like a horse head in the wyoming museeum as mentionned in my first post. Right after letting Yara at the "Big Fat Crab Shack" to get to the marina, she stumble upon Manny who's being targeted by Tommy. Interestingly, if you look behind Abby, you'll spot the "Big Fat Crab Shack" logo again with its giant crab, while directly in front of her, just a couple of meters away, is an advertising van for "Manke" beer. The logo on the van is a horse, accompanied by the tagline "made with the finest ingredients of southern America," which resonates with Tommy's Texan roots. This van appears again later not far, in the parking lot where Tommy shoots at Abby, instigating an attack from the infected.
However, what puzzles me is why Abby doesn't perceive Tommy as an aquatic animal like she does with others. My only lead on this is that the aquatic version of Tommy is a seahorse. This notion is reinforced by the presence of a seahorse symbol at the Serevena Hotel, where Ellie and Dina encounter men tortured by Tommy. Honestly not 100% convinced on this seahorse part.
Lev is seen as a shark by Abby. A whole section of the aquarium is dedicated to sharks and their importance in the ocean ecosystem ( you can also see a little crab under one of the shark depictions ) When Abby and Yara seek a gift for Lev, they deem a shark plushie as the perfect choice, emphasizing his connection to this creature.
A prominent shark exhibit features a large specimen seemingly poised to attack a diver's cage, adorned with scars on its mouth sides. The image of Lev braving the seas on his boat to rescue his mother on the island further reinforces this association, evoking the image of a shark cutting through the waves with determination.
In Abby's perception, Lev embodies the qualities of a shark, yet he identifies himself with a cat, ( or it's his totem animal ) First and foremost, we can clearly see Lev's agility and fearlessness, particularly evident in his comfort with heights, mirroring a cat's nimbleness and independence. Additionally, Lev expresses fears akin to those of a cat—water and dogs. During Ellie's parts, I found this board on the ancient communication agency swarmed by scars ( in front of the tramway ). There this little text on a board from a meeting to pitch a product, back in the days. It says :
"Client pitch meet ideas - emotional angle - comedy angle - personnification of cat ? "
Even though it might be a bit of a stretch, this corresponds perfectly to what happens between Abby and Lev. She feels pity for him upon learning his story and comes to love him, thus the emotional angle, and Lev also makes some jokes or blunders, like asking Abby what's going on between him and Owen at the worst possible moment, or when he doesn't know certain common words due to his life among the Seraphites.
The more obvious sign that Lev is really a cat can be found in the same cafe where we found the tiger in meditation pose, on the left walls. Just like Owen, we can witness Lev positionning himself right in front of this animal and get some dialogues. He say something like it's weird to represent humans as animals / humans from before were weird doing this. This particular artwork features two cartoonish cats adorned in rock-inspired attire, captured in a lively dancing pose. A male and female, holding hands. This really striked me as being a representaion of Lev's gender duality. Abby mentions Lev's "punk-rock" spirit not long before this, hence the outfits.
Yara is a sea otter, simply because she wears this shirt with a sea otter at the aquarium.
The WLF obviously are wolves but Abby actually sees them as Orcas. Upon awakening at the stadium, Abby is greeted by a rug adorned with an orca motif. Then she gets to the mess hall, there's one wolf banner on one wall but also depictions of orcas adorning pillars and inscriptions proclaiming "Home of the Orcas" on the walls. Orcas are kinda wolves of the seas, share several characteristics with wolves, such as being large predators that hunt in packs, exhibit complex social structures, and are territorial. By associating the WLF with Orcas, Abby's perception elevates them to a level of strength, cunning, and dominance akin to these apex predators of the ocean.
Scars are possibly herons. I found some herons in the wyoming museeum as mentionned in my first post, but also some depictions while Abby is crossing the chinese district to get to martyr's gate. They communicate throught whistling like birds including herons. They also go throught the city by the airs, basically. Theres not much hints, but I do feel like the herons correspond really well to Seraphites due to their way of life and behavior. Firstly, herons are often associated with aquatic areas such as marshes and rivers, where they patiently and strategically hunt their prey. Similarly, the Seraphites have established themselves on an isolated island, resembling a marsh, where they practice an ascetic and contemplative form of living in harmony with nature, living in wooden houses. Furthermore, herons are patient and methodical predators, silently observing their surroundings before taking action ( Remember that arrow in Ellie's shoulder ? ) The Seraphites also exhibit a deliberate approach in their lives and interactions, emphasizing discipline, reflection, and strategic planning.
During the visit to the Chinese district, theres a peculiar creature: the dragon. Numerous depictions of it adorn this area. There might be a connection to the Seraphites, evidenced by the presence of Martyr's Gate and the increased encounters with them following this section. However, it's challenging to pinpoint its exact representation; my guess is that it symbolizes a broader concept rather than a specific character or faction. Might also just be because it's the chinese district.
Abby seem to be also linked to whales and octopus, I think each representing one concept. Ellie's collection of cards includes one intriguing card featuring a whale named "Big Blue." The description of the card reads:
"Big Blue is an extra-dimensional entity who has taken on the appearance of a blue whale. First arriving on Earth over a billion years ago to keep watch over nascent life forms, they use their infinite well of knowledge to help guide the human race in times of great need and upheaval. Their unfathomable age has one major drawback: days appear to pass as microseconds. However, this time dilation effect is offset if they hold their breath—which they can do for several years at a time."
The whale, as an entity with ancient wisdom and knowledge, could be seen as a manifestation of destiny itself. Just as the whale has existed since the dawn of life on Earth, destiny is a force that has shaped Abby's life from the very beginning. It has guided her path, leading her to the pivotal moments and encounters that defined her journey. Despite the challenges she faces, destiny continues to steer her toward her ultimate purpose and fate.
In many cultures and mythologies, the octopus is often associated with aspects of mystery, danger, and conflict. Its tentacled appearance and ability to camouflage itself in its environment make it a powerful symbol of the struggle and complexity of human conflicts. In the game, the giant octopus present at the aquarium can be interpreted as a visual representation of the internal and external conflicts that the characters, especially Abby, must face. The octopus's tentacles seem to stretch out and envelop the environment, evoking how conflict can feel omnipresent and difficult to avoid. Furthermore, the octopus is a formidable predator in the marine world, using its tentacles to capture and subdue its prey. This imagery can be associated with how the characters in the game are ensnared in the conflicts surrounding them.
And finally, Abby sees Ellie as a Stingray. Ellie's journey to get to Abby in Seattle final moments is symbolic of her descent into the aquatic world : to get to the hidden crab in the secretive ocean, she must transform as an aquatic animal. As Ellie approaches the aquarium, the challenges intensify, marked by increasingly stormy weather and turbulent seas. Despite the obstacles, Ellie perseveres, ultimately reaching her destination, not before falling into the ocean. Few notes here, first of all there's this outdoor kids' play area, a crab faces towards a whale and a shark, while an orca wing and a seahorse stand behind them. Could be a representation of how Abby is leaving her past behind and her newfound responsibility towards Lev. Next, right before kneeling to get under the fence, a sign featuring a stingray lies on its side, urging one to "become a member today". Further symbolism unfolds as Ellie encounters a shark depiction just before her fall from a broken window, with a stingray positioned EXACTLY on the floor where she lands. On the same note there is a stingray positionned on the floor exactly where Ellie kills Mel & Owen. The cafe section of the aquarium, named "Stingray Bay Cafe," features murals depicting a beach with palm trees, foreshadowing the events to come in Santa Barbara. Abby's exploration of the aquarium with Yara while looking for Lev reveals a section named "Shipwreck Cove," dominated by a giant stingray overhead, further hinting at the impending encounters and sequences involving boats, serving as a metaphor for both characters feeling like shipwrecks by the end of their tumultuous journey.
Also, The use of animal symbolism during Ellie and Abby's confrontations adds a layer of complexity and depth to their dynamic. During their intense fight in the theater, the actions of Ellie and Abby mirror the characteristics of the animals associated with them. Abby's brute force and relentless attacks, smashing Ellie into the floor and causing them to fall to a lower level, hitting her with her fists or grabbing her, align with the symbolism of the crab and its claws. She also headbut Ellie ( bison ). In contrast, Ellie's actions, repeatedly tries spiking Abby with her knife like a stingray hitting its prey, reflect a more tactical and predatory approach. I invite you to re-check their fight at the theater with that in mind, it's really striking.
As we've discussed, these symbols are not merely decorative but serve as powerful storytelling devices, conveying concepts or themes of identity, transformation, and growth. Whether you've noticed these subtle details yourself or are discovering them for the first time, it's clear that the developers at Naughty Dog have crafted a meticulously designed world filled with rich symbolism and meaningful connections.
So, what are your thoughts? Have you spotted any other animal motifs or symbols ? Let me know your theories !

There is a strange old energy throughout the Georgia Piedmont in the foothills of the Appalachians.
The geography of the area—that which has not yet been consumed by Atlanta’s limitless growth—can be characterized by dense forests, rolling hills, and shallow red-clay valleys, punctuated by small grassy meadows. Silty rivers and small streams crisscross the landscape, often filling up the valleys to form lakes and marshes.
You are never alone in these forests, which are densely populated with wildlife of all strata. The region also hosts a large human presence, with booming sunbelt suburbs sprawling endlessly into the ancient hills.
As there are so many people in a relatively small region, it can feel difficult to escape the hustle and bustle of it all. Well-known trails close to population centers are often crowded, especially on fall weekends when the plentiful trees bloom with autumn color. I’ve been around long enough to know what hikes to avoid at certain times of year, as solitude is one of the most enticing benefits of wilderness to me. Plenty of state and natural forests, as well as expansive county nature preserves, go relatively unnoticed if they’re not among the top search results on AllTrails.
My Labrador puppy loves to accompany me on any hike. After work one day, I loaded him into the cab of my tired old pickup and drove us out to a close-by nature preserve that we frequent. The small gravel parking lot was totally empty when we arrived. The trail that we took led straight from the parking lot and was one of the most popular.
It was midsummer and I knew that there would be at least 90 minutes before sunset, but under the tree cover the landscape was already beginning to darken. As we got on our way, the roar of cicadas immediately drowned out the soft percussion of our footsteps. After crossing a whitewater creek and proceeding through a thicket of tall pines for not more than two miles, the view suddenly opens up to an expansive untamed meadow. Markings on trees along the right hand side clearly indicate where the trail resumes on the opposite corner, several hundred yards away. The majority of the meadow slopes down gradually to the left, dotted with occasional dogwoods and is sliced off sharply by another wall of old-growth pines before the bottom of the hill. Although I was familiar with the trail, I suddenly found us cutting swiftly leftward through the tall grass and down the hill toward the grove at the bottom of the meadow. Both my pup and I were drawn with urgency to this off-trail area of the preserve, and soon enough we were at the trees and taking our first steps into the dim woods.
Through the branches ahead I could see a crumbling red brick chimney, standing alone in the brush. It did not appear to be far away, but as we continued to advance toward it for several minutes, it seemed that we weren’t getting any closer.
Suddenly, a large black snake stopped us in our tracks, positioning itself as if to block us, and staring with a raised head. This is highly unusual behavior for black snakes, which are normally furtive and keep away from people. This slight shock snapped me out of my almost trancelike state, and suddenly everything felt very wrong. I took it as a sign that we were not welcome in that part of the forest and no longer wanted to investigate the chimney.
It took much longer than I expected to get back into the meadow. At this point I was drenched in sweat and my pup was panting hard, whereas not long ago we were enjoying the relatively cool summer evening. The meadow too was now dark, and when I checked my watch, I saw that we had been off trail for nearly an hour. Everything was silent—no more cicada chirping.
I’ve had similar encounters throughout the region, where the laws of space and time seem to be somehow suspended in certain areas of the backwoods. I’ve considered looking for the chimney again when I’m sure to have more daylight, but then I think about the snake’s warning and the feeling of existential dread that I felt that evening. Perhaps some things are not meant to be investigated.

I'm on the board of a small local hobby club (roughly 200 people on the mailing list) that holds monthly in-person meetings. Our current website is hosted by Wild Apricot, who just upped the yearly fees from $600 to $800 for the website, hosting, and mailing list service for a maximum of 200 recipients.
I had previously advocated to change away from Wild Apricot at the $600 price point, but got pushback from the rest of the board ("changing websites is hard!"). However after the price increase they're open to a change.
If I understand correctly, there are no html/css files for the site that I can download to rehost somewhere else inexpensively, as Wild Apricot is apparently a template-based web design service. I've done simple html/css for a website before (recently), but have no time to cook up another site like this, and need a drag and drop based website service. The club site has just 6 pages, and other than pictures and text, only has a calendar of events, and a member login that allows members to see a simple interface showing whether they're paid yearly dues or not - pretty simple stuff overall.
We're looking at Constant Contact for our mailing list needs. I've heard of Word Press, Squarespace, and Wix for simple website creation and hosting. Are these the simplest / best cost services that would meet the fairly simple needs of our website? We don't take dues payments on the site, or even have a contact form (we direct members to our facebook page for web-based inquiries), so our needs are pretty modest.

So, I'm building this setup all new from scratch after doing a fairly reasonable amount of research, so the final step is finding what people with actual experience building these setups have to say...
I plan on mainly watching 4K streams and totally legit backup copies of UHD 4K 5.1 HDR Dolby... whatever blu-ray discs, you get the idea, and those tend to be in h.265 format.
Should I be able to play "everything" in 4K@60HZ except HDR10+??
Should I be able to get all the audios?
This is the planned setup (I'm in Europe in case it helps):
TV: LG G4 Oled tv (https://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-oled77g4wua-oled-4k-tv). I think it supports everything except HDR10+
AVR: Denon X2800H (https://www.denon.com/en-us/product/av-receivers/avr-x2800h/300610-new.html) Again, I think it supports everything except HDR10+ (it has pass-through for it, but since my TV can't handle it...)
5.1 Setup: QAcoustics Q3050i Home theater system (https://www.qacoustics.com/products/3050i-5-1-plus-home-theater-system). In the future I may want to add 2 Atmos ceiling speakers, but not in a hurry.
Streaming Box: Nvidia Shield Pro (https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/shield-tv-pro/). Again, I think this supports everything (at 60HZ) except HDR10+. This will be played with plex client or Kodi or jellyfin or a plugin that runs one of those into one of the others.
Blu-ray player: Dunno if I really need one, probably not for a while, but if I buy something, I'd be surprised if the limiting factor to play a UHD blu-ray disc would be the UHD blu-ray player...
Media Server: NAS with all the videos/music hosting a plex server that SHOULD NOT TRANSCODE EVER (because the Shield should play everything, right?). This will be a very low power machine so will not be able to transcode 4K video.
The idea is to plug the Shield to the AVR, then to the TV and never use the smart shit of the TV and always get the input from the AVR.
I need a Denon 2800 for the dual output because I'll build an "ambilight" system out of the second output (better than finding a splitter that allows encripted content to still work), so I'm aware I have unused channels (that might be used in the future for the Atmos speakers). And the 3800 is like 900€ more and I don't think I need it.
Any obvious holes here?
Thanks for checking!

Update: solved in 3 minutes because I am an idiot. Thanks!
This subreddit doesn't allow posting pictures, so I will describe the problem:
Update: Images here
I want to put my mother's old hifi deck in my son's room, it's from the 90s, brand Aristona. It was cheap in the 90s - this is not a high quality device.
On the back are two ports for speakers marked "L" and "R". I no longer have the original speakers. The ports seem to be about 4.5mm in diameter.
I have already bought 4.4mm speaker jacks, which I found on Amazon, but they are too big.
I also bought two 4mm banana plugs, just to check (the ports being marked L and R suggest banana plugs are not the answer) but they also do not fit - which suggests that my 4.5mm measurement isn't right, I guess.
Any ideas would be much appreciated! I hate the idea of throwing a perfectly good deck away just because of two damn plugs.