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I accidentally posted this to my username instead of my subreddit so here is is:
The Mortgage, Part 3
“Fuck,” I said as I drove to work in the old beater that only started on the fourth try because it could tell that I was pissed off. Ray’s case started at two o’clock, and I was heading to the office to get ready. “Fuck fuck fuckity fucking fuck. Fuck.” I’d wanted to tell Angela about Ray’s case, and how I was sorry that I hadn’t wanted to help him, but now I would, I would help him, and I would win, but then I’d gotten her all riled up on something else, something totally different, something way more serious.
My wife had given me a triple ultimatum: fix things up with her father, save idiot Ray from Sy-Co Corp., and somehow find a downpayment for the place she wanted to buy, in the little townhouse infill project in Bixity. It was like demanding I do a double bank shot, and then run over to the baseball diamond and hit a home run after first pointing to where it would land, Babe Ruth style.
Angela was mad at me, seriously mad. She’d slipped out that morning before I was even awake, sliding quietly past me on the couch. I didn’t realize she was gone until I heard the faint click of the front door closing. I jumped up, tripped over a blanket, and by the time I got up and my robe on, the elevator down the hall dinged, and Angela was gone before I opened the apartment door.
I swore at myself some more and pounded the steering wheel, “I fucked up,” I said, several times as I hit the wheel over and over again, until I accidentally honked it, and then looked all sheepish when the guy in front of me gave me the finger. I reached my office without further incident, but instead of walking in the front door, I went further down the hall, and into the office of Mark Cecil-Rowe, Barrister, LL.D, the man with the finest speaking voice I ever heard. When I entered his office I forgot for a minute about Angela and her father and sleeping on the couch the night before. I forget about everything, except the reason that I had come to Cecil-Rowe’s office: to stump him with a legal problem that I had solved, but which I was pretty sure he could not. In other words, I had come to preen and to brag and to boast. No one likes a showoff, and I had come to show off. I put my hand on the door and turned the knob. After a brief pause, I flung open the door.
“I’m a goddamn genius,” I said as I strolled into the older man’s office.
I noticed the echo of a hastily closed desk drawer hanging in the air. In Aaron’s office, where I rented space, a sudden act of concealment implied cocaine, but with Cecil-Rowe, the item in question was probably a mickey of vodka. I had the sense that he’d been drinking a bit before I arrived, but his powers of observation were unimpaired, and when he looked into my face, his expression showed sympathy, and actual pain.
“What have you done now?” he said, as set the papers before him to one side, and readied himself to hear my latest tale of legal brilliance.
“I’m a genius,” I said.
“Oh dear. Have a seat.”
“No really, I am. I’m a genius. I got this case that everyone says you can’t win, but I’m gonna win it, and when I do, I’m gonna look like a genius.” Cecil-Rowe gave me a sad indulgent smile.
“Whenever you tell me you’re a genius, I am always concerned about what is to follow. When you get wrapped up in what you call your genius, you tend to ignore the more mundane things we lawyers have to do to win a case. You think you’re going to win by genius alone.”
“Let me tell you why I’m a goddamn genius.” With effort I wiped the smug, self-satisfied expression that was on my face.
“Tell me why you’re a genius,” Cecil-Rowe said, “while I pour us a coffee.” He heaved his bulky body up from his chair and shuffled over to a counter. He picked up a carafe of hot coffee sitting on a hot plate, and poured two cups. “Speak,” he said, handing me one. I took a sip of the coffee, and told Cecil-Rowe the tale of Cousin Ray: his purchase of a franchise from Sy-Co Corp, its swift demise, the crash and burn in Commercial Court, the Minutes of Settlement, the seventy-one kilometer limit, and lastly, Sy-Co’s motion scheduled for two p.m. that very day, seeking an interim injunction shutting down Ray’s place.
Cecil-Rowe absorbed all this without the need to take notes. Instead, he sat back while he eyed me, taking the occasional sip of coffee, and smiling at the extravagant flourishes and details that brought out Ray’s story to full effect.
“Obviously Ray is dead on arrival,” he said, “but I guess this is the part where you tell me how you’re going to win.”
So I told him how I was going to win, but it didn’t have the desired effect. “I told ya I’m a genius, Mr. C,” cueing him to applaud, to admit what a brilliant lawyer I was. But there was no applause from Mark Cecil-Rowe. He looked at me without so much as a smile.
“You can cling to that genius notion as a consolation prize, after you get whipped this afternoon in court.”
“No way,” I said, “not a chance. I got this thing won hands down. I’m gonna kick ass in court today and--”
“And how exactly do you plan to do that, if you don’t have evidence?”
“What?”
“Evidence, Calledinthe9os. It’s what lawyers like me use to beat geniuses like you.”
“But I’m gonna win without proof. I don’t need proof. The argument I’m gonna make, relies on simple facts that are totally obvious, so the judge is gonna--” Cecil-Rowe stuck up his hand.
“Stop right there. I know what’s coming. You’re going to ask the judge to take *judicial notice.”
And he was right. That was exactly what I was going to do.
There are some things so obvious that you didn’t have to prove them, things that everyone knew. You didn’t have to prove that water froze at zero degrees and boiled at a hundred, or that Bixity was between West Bay and East Bay.
“You got it,” I said, “judicial notice all the way.”
“You’re going to tell the judge that the centerpiece of your argument, the lynchpin of your case is a fact known to pretty well everyone, and so you don’t need proof.”
“Exactly,” I said. Cecil-Rowe took another sip of his coffee, and left me hanging in the silence for a while before he spoke.
“If that’s true, then why does coming up with that argument make you a genius?”
“Oh, I said,”I didn’t think of that.”
“It is acceptable to rely on judicial notice for minor, ancillary points. But you never should walk into court thinking that the court will take judicial notice of your entire defence. It’s just too risky.”
“But how am I going to rustle up a witness in time for this afternoon?”
“Worry about that after you leave my office. I can’t help you with that. What I want to know, is why you’re doing this at the last minute.”
“What makes you think I’m doing this at the last minute?”
“Because you never would have resorted to judicial notice if you were properly prepared. If you’d opened this case a bit earlier, you’ve have everything lined up. But you got to work on it late, and so you want to rely on judicial notice. You’ve messed up, Calledinthe90s, and you know what my rule is when you mess up.” Cecil-Rowe didn’t extend aid to me, until I admitted the error of my ways. It was infuriating, but he was inflexible. So I fessed up.
“My idiot cousin Ray’s been trying to retain me for almost two weeks, but I was putting him off because I was mad at him. So now my wife’s mad at me, and if I don’t win this case, I’m dead. Plus her dad’s mad at me too and --” My brain roared into overdrive, a mess of family and law and fear, and at the centre of it, thoughts of Angela’s anger and her father. My mind took off, and then came to an instant halt at a helpful destination.
“Yes?” Cecil-Rowe said.
“Sorry. I just realized how to solve the evidence problem. Look, can I ask you about the thing I actually came here to ask you about?”
“You have a problem that’s worse than having no evidence? What could be worse than -- oh. You don’t have a retainer. Your client doesn't have any money.”
“Exactly. How do I get paid? That’s the problem.” I explained that Ray had no money, as in none, and that if he did have money, he wouldn’t spend it on me. Instead, he’d go back downtown and throw his cash at some big firm, who would take on his case, and proceed to lose it in a calm, careful, sober manner, ending in a reporting letter to Ray telling him that he’d lost.
“Now that’s a problem I can solve,” Cecil-Rowe said.
“Really? ‘Cause I can’t see a way around it. I think I’m gonna have to do this for free, and that really pisses me off.” Cecil-Rowe shook his head.
“You may or may not get paid, but you can set things up so that if you win, you’ll win pretty good.”
“How? Ray’s a deadbeat. Tapped out.”
“But is he desperate?”
“Totally. The first time he failed, he lost his own money, but if he goes under this time, he’s taking family money with him, and he’ll be the black sheep forever.”
“And he’s using family to emotionally blackmail you into helping him?’
“Like no shit. That’s the part that pisses me off the most. I’m like a goddamn slave, being forced to work for free.”
“Never fear, young apprentice. I have just the thing in mind.” He reached into a drawer, and pulled out a form. “Fill in the blanks, and have him sign.”
I looked it over, and saw that the document was a retainer agreement. I whistled. “Holy shit. If he signs this, he’s almost my slave.”
“Close, but not quite” Cecil-Rowe said, “the Latin term for this is "contractus pro venditione animae"”. It’s the ultimate retainer agreement. Once Ray signs that, you own any cause of action he has against the person suing him. You can settle the case on any terms you like, and you get to keep whatever proceeds there are.” Cecil-Rowe placed the folder back in a drawer, and from his manner you could tell that the interview was over.
“Awesome, Mr. C. I’ll call you from Commercial Court when we’re done.”
“Commercial Court?” he said.
“Yeah, Commercial Court.”
“This just keeps getting worse. Take notes, Calledinthe90s, while I school you on Commercial Court. Commercial Court is a jungle, and without preparation, you’ll get savaged.”
“That’s what happened to Ray when--”
“Take notes, young apprentice,” he said, tossing me a pad and a pen. He started to lecture, and I took notes that I have with me to this day, in a safe deposit box downstairs in the vault at Mega Bank Main Branch.
* * *
By the time Cecil-Rowe finished schooling me, it was close to ten, and the case started at two. I didn’t have much time. I ran down the hall to my office, and called Ray’s restaurant. No answer. Then I called Ray’s house. I expected to get Ray’s wife, but the man himself answered.
“You’re not at work. Why aren’t you at work?”
“Sy-Co Corp served all my employees with a cease and desist letter. They all got scared and took off. The place is shut down.”
“You gotta fax machine at home?” He did, and asked why.
“I’m taking your case, but only if you sign the paper I’m about to send and fax it back.” I sent the fax, and five minutes later it came back signed, and it was official: Ray had sold me his legal soul.
I went out to the parking lot, got into my beater and drove fast. In less than thirty minutes I reached my destination. I knocked on the door, and when it opened, my diminutive mother-in-law poked out her head. “What a pleasant surprise,” she said.
“Sorry, Mrs. M, but I’m in a super hurry. I gotta rush to get to court to help Ray. But first, I gotta speak to Dr. M.”
“He’s not here,” she said.
“Not here?”
“He’s on his way to his bridge game. He left just a few minutes ago.”
“Where’s the club?”
“He’s walking there,” she said, and pointed down the street.
“Thanks.” I got into my car and headed where Mrs. M had pointed, passing big houses and new project with an “Opening Soon” sign. And walking past it was the figure of Dr. M.
“Hey, Dr. M,” I called out the window. He stopped and looked around, startled. But he didn’t see me, not at first.
“It’s me, Dr. M. Me, Calledin90s.” He leaned forward as if to see me better. I got out of the car.
“Is something wrong with Angela? Or the baby?”
“No, no not at all, sorry to scare you, it’s nothing like that. I need your help.”
“Oh.” He started walking again, and now it was my turn to be a bit stunned, watching my father-in-law walk away from me. I caught up with him in a few quick strides.
“Listen, I really need your help.”
“And I really need to get to a bridge game.”
“This isn’t about me. It’s about Ray.” That brought him to a halt. He turned to me, angrier even than he’d been the night before.
“Did you drive all the way out here just to make fun of me? To remind me of how you won, distracting me with nonsense about Ray’s case?”
“I mean it,” I said, “I can win Ray’s case. I can prove it in a few words.”
“Prove it, then.” So I did. I spoke words, only a few words, but they were the right words to speak to Dr. M, for the words I spoke were in his language, words that he understood perfectly.
“I understand,” he said, “you’ve come to boast some more, to prove that you were right after all.”
“I want to win Ray’s case, but I don’t have any proof of what I’m saying.”
“You don’t need to prove that two plus two is four.”
“This, I gotta prove, and I need you to help me prove it. I need you to come to court with me, as my witness.”
“I can’t do that. I didn’t witness anything.”
“As my witness. My expert witness.” Unlike a normal witness, an expert witness can give an opinion. An expert is there not to advocate, I explained to Dr. M but to instruct, to teach.
“My bridge partner won’t be very happy,” he said.
“But Ray will, and so will Mrs. M and Angela and--”
“Very well. Do you have a cell phone? We can call the bridge club from my car.”
* * *
We were on the highway getting close to the downtown exit, when my wife called my cell phone. Back then cell phone service was super expensive and my wife only used it for emergencies. Or when she was really angry. I picked up the phone, wondering which it would be.
“I’m so happy that you made things up with my father,” she said.
“How did you know?”
“My mother called. She says you took him with you, that you went out together.”
“He’s with me right now,” I said.
“Where are you going?”
“To court. Going to court to win Ray’s case for him.”
“And you brought my father with you to watch?” She was so happy, I could hear in her voice that she was smiling. “That’s a great way to bond with him, Calledinthe90s. Look, I’m sorry I got so mad at you earlier, I really am. My dad’s a bit too sensitive and--”
“Sorry, Angela, your dad’s not coming to watch me.”
“Why is he with you, then?”
“He’s my witness,” I said.
“What?”
“His expert witness,” Dr. M said, loudly enough for Angela to hear.
My wife’s anger exploded into the phone. She wanted to know how I could expose her elderly, vulnerable father to the stress of a court case. I tried to tell her how I needed him, how there was literally no one else I could turn to, that her father was an expert, a true expert, and the judge was legally bound to believe him, but Angela heard none of this.
“Look,’ I said, “I promise you that--” And then I lowered the phone and pushed the red button, terminating the call. I’d learned that the best way to hang up on someone, was to do it when I was doing the talking. That way it looked like the call had dropped.
“I’m going to steal that move,” Dr. M said.
We rolled into the parking lot. I grabbed the cloth bag out of the back of my car, the bag that held my law robes and shirt and tabs, plus the other stuff I needed for court. It was one-thirty, still thirty minutes to go, not a lot of time to get robed and ready for court. It was just past one-forty five when I, with Dr. M in tow, opened the door to a courtroom on the eighth floor of an old insurance building that had been converted into a courthouse, the home of Commercial Court.
“Commercial Court is an exclusive club,” Cecil-Rowe had explained to me earlier that day, “the legal playground of the rich and powerful. They’ll know instantly that you’re not one of them.” And he was right. It was clear from the moment I walked in that I did not belong, for I was the only lawyer in robes. Everyone else was wearing a suit, and not some cheap thing off the rack like I wore.
There were a half-dozen lawyers present, and after they saw me, they exchanged knowing looks about the stranger amongst them. I ignored them, and walked up to the Registrar. I told him the case I was on, and he signed me in.
“First time in Commercial Court?” he said, eyeing my robes. “You know you don’t have to be robed in Commercial Court.” In other Superior Courts, you always had to bring your robes and get all dressed up. But Commercial Court had its own set of rules, and in the court for rich people, their lawyers did not have to wear robes.
“You’re here on the Sy-Co case?” a young woman asked. She was a junior like me, give a year or two either way. She was dressed in the finest downtown counsel fashion, some designer thing that Angela would know if she saw it.
“Just got retained,” I said.
“You know there’s no adjournments, right? We don’t do adjournments in Commercial Court. I’m just trying to be helpful, because I don’t think you've been here before. You know you don’t have to be robed, right?
“So I heard.”
“So where’s your material? You haven’t served anything, so how do you plan to argue your case?”
“I gotta witness,” I said.
She smiled. “There’s no viva voce evidence, either. Affidavit only.”
“We’ll see what the judge says.” There was a knock from the other side of the door to the judge’s chambers, and then the man himself entered.
I was amazed to see that even the judge wasn’t wearing a robe; instead, he was wearing a light coloured suit and a bright blue bow tie. He was dressed as good as the lawyers, all part of the downtown Commercial Court club, the playground of the richest and most powerful corporations in the City.
“Commercial Court’s not like other courts,” Cecil-Rowe told me earlier that day, explaining that most cases were over in fifteen minutes or less. A plaintiff showed up with some papers, and had a short consultation with the judge. The judge signed an order granting an injunction, or taking away a man’s business, or freezing his money. Commercial Court is where you went to get quick and simple court orders that eviscerated your opponent before the case even got going.
Defendants would appear sometimes in Commercial Court, Cecil-Rowe explained, but it was usually their last time up. Defendants always died a quick death in Commercial Court.
The judge took his seat, and then looked over the lawyers before him. His eyes moved along, and then stopped when they reached me, the one lawyer who was not like the others.
“You don’t need robes in Commercial Court,” the judge said to me.
“I’ll remember that for next time,” I said.
“What case are you on?”
I told him.
“He’s filed no responding materials,” my opponent said, “nothing at all.”
“I’m just vetting the list,” the judge said, “I’ll circle back to you two in a few minutes.” I listend while the judge vetted the rest of the afternoon list: a Mareva, plus a Norwich order, with counsel on those cases sent away in a matter of minutes.
Now the courtroom was almost empty, just the judge, two lawyers, the registrar and my star witness and father-in-law, Dr. M, who sat in the back of the courtroom dressed in an old business suit, put on hastily at his place two hours earlier, when I urged him to hurry it up, to not waste so much time on picking a suit.
“Back to you,” the judge said, addressing my opponent, “I thought this was an uncontested matter. That’s what your confirmation sheet said.”
“I’m sorry, Your Honour, but I didn’t know until I got here that the case was defended.”
“I got retained at the last minute,” I said, “barely three hours ago, the day after I read the papers. But I’m ready to go, ready to argue the case on the merits, so long as you grant me an indulgence, and let me call my witness, to let him testify in person instead of by affidavit, there being no time for me to draft anything.”
Opposing counsel was on her feet. “That’s not how things are done in Commercial Court,” she said, “or any court that I know of, for that matter. My friend (that’s what they make lawyers call each other in court, ‘my friend,’ even though you might hate the other guy’s guts),” the lawyer said, “my friend should have served his responding materials and filed them with the court. Instead, he’s taken us totally by surprise.”
“I’m sorry my friend is surprised by opposition,” I said, “but then consider, it’s my client’s livelihood that’s at stake. If my friend gets her injunction, Ray Telewu’s business is dead, and he loses everything. So yes, my client opposes the injunction, and yes, I’d like to call evidence.”
The judge didn’t consult the papers before him nor the books, but instead, he looked up at the big white clock on the courtroom wall. Its hands said two-fifteen.
“How long will your witness take, counsel?”
“In chief, ten minutes.” I’d practiced with Dr. M on the way in, and I was pretty sure he could do it in five, but I gave him a bit of extra time, just in case.
“We’ve got about two hours,” the judge said, “but I want to be fair to you and your client. Let’s take a fifteen minute recess so you can get instructions. Either we go ahead today with viva voce evidence, or we adjourn, and that will give Calledinthe90s time to file responding materials.”
When everyone came back, the junior’s boss was there, Senior Counsel, a heavy weight, one of those big guys downtown. Plus they brought this guy from Sy-Co Corp, the head of some bullshit division, with some bullshit title, Head of whatever, so that’s the title I’ll give him here. He was The Head. He was the man, the big cheese, the signer of the affidavit on which Sy-Co relied that day.
“What’s he doing here?” I asked Senior Counsel.
He stared at me, all lean and steel grey, looking every inch the hard hitting lawyer that commanded the biggest fees. “If you’re calling a live witness, then so can we. The Head will give evidence today, in advance of your client, so that the judge hears it from him first.” His junior smirked at me, and the two of them sat down, delighted that they’d thought of a way to one up me.
Except that they’d done it by exposing their client to cross-examination. The judge came in, allowed the Head to testify, and when he was done, I stood up.
“Just a few questions,” I said. Senior Counsel was stunned for an instant, and then he stood.
“This serves no purpose, Your Honour. The witness has confirmed the simple facts of his affidavit, and there’s no disputing it. Ray Telewu opened a restaurant less than seventy-one kilometres from Bixity City Hall, and that’s in breach of the Minutes of Settlement he signed.”
I did not bother to respond. Instead, I just stood, and I started to ask questions.
“Have a look at that map in your affidavit,” I said, and he did. I picked up my copy, and tore the map out of it. I passed it up to him.
“What do you notice about this map?”
“That it’s accurate,” the Head said, repeating his evidence in chief, amplifying it, talking about how the map contained perfect measurement.
“You will notice that the map is flat,” I said, laying it on the witness box before him.
“Of course it’s flat. That’s what maps are. Maps are flat.”
“But the earth is round,” I said, “or more properly, a sphere.” Senior Counsel was on his feet in an instant.
“What difference does that make?” he said.
“What you’ll hear from my expert witness, is that a flat map cannot accurately show Earth’s curves. A flat map distorts distances, and in this case, reduces them.”
“But that can’t be by very much.”
“In this case, by just over twenty meters,” Dr. M said from the back of the court.
“That’s my expert witness, the esteemed Dr. M.” I didn’t actually say Dr. M. Instead, I said his real name. But I’m not going to use the real names of my family here, so I’ll just keep calling him Dr. M. “Dr. M was a professor of Physics at the University of Bixity for almost thirty years. He has published numerous papers on particle physics, and is the first Canadian winner of the Wolf Prize for physics.”

• * * *

It went downhill after that for Sy-Co Corp. My father-in-law testified, explaining in simple language, language that even a child could understand, that the Earth was a sphere, that the shortest distance between two points on Earth was a curve, not a straight line. He summarized his calculations in plain English, dumbing down the math, so that everyone present imagined, if only for the moment, that they shared his understanding of a difficult mathematical equation.
Senior Counsel tried to cross-examine Dr. M, but it did not go well, my father-in-law indulging him, gently chiding him, continuing his explanations until the lawyer sat down, defeated by Dr. M’s mastery of the subject,his own lack of preparation and his inability to improvise. When counsel said that he had no further questions, the judge addressed us all.
“I’m not going to reserve, and I don’t think I need to tell everyone why. I think it will take about a minute for me to write a decision saying that the Earth is not flat. I’ll give you some more time after that, but after fifteen minutes, I”ll be back to render my decision.” He rose, everyone bowed, and he disappeared behind the door to judge’s chambers.
I pulled a piece of paper out of my file, and slammed it on the desk before Senior Counsel and his junior. “Fill in the blanks, and sign,” I said.
Dr. M’s head shot up at the commotion, and he shuffled over to see what was going on.
“What’s this?” Senior Counsel said, picking up the paper I gave him..
“Minutes of Settlement. You fill in a number, a big number, for the costs you gotta pay me. Your client signs, and then we’re done.” Senior Counsel opened his mouth to bargain, but I overrode him.
“You know your client’s going to lose; the judge made that obvious. Hurry up if you want to settle; we don’t have much time.”
At the end of most Canadian court cases, the loser has to pay at least part of the winner’s legal fees. That’s the way it’s been since forever, and I think it’s a good rule. Sy-Co Corp had lost, so it had to pay a good chunk of Ray’s costs, and Ray’s costs were somewhere between whatever bullshit figure I claimed they were, and where they actually ought to be. Senior Counsel took the paper over to his client. There was a brief discussion, and then they came back, with the form signed, and a number written in the blank space.
I’ll give it to Sy-Co Corp and their lawyer. It wasn’t a bullshit number, a low ball number. They gave me a real number, a number more like something I’d actually accept, a number that made sense to pay me in costs, in light of the success I’d had, and how I got it. It was a respectful number, a common sense number, and I appreciated it an awful lot.
I tossed the paper back at them.
“Add a zero,” I said, continuing on when Senior Counsel blanched, and his junior retreated a step. “I know what’s going on here. Your client sold mine a bullshit franchise, one with a history of failing.” The franchise had opened up again under a new owner not long after Ray had lost it and then it promptly failed again. Like I said at the start of this story, it’s an old story. It’s how some franchise companies make money. “Your client makes more money selling bullshit franchises doomed to fail, then it does from the honest ones that make money. So add a zero to that number, or Ray’s gonna sue you, class action and all that, for all the people you’ve fucked.”
The Head stepped forward from the benches and spoke to me.
“We get threats like that all the time, but no one follows through. They don’t have the money to fight us, and neither does your client. So go ahead and sue.”
“It’s true that Ray doesn’t have jack shit,” I said, “not a pot to piss in, but he’s my cousin, Ray is, and even if he doesn’t have money, he’s got me. Ray’s family, and for Ray, I’ll sue you guys for free. Hell, I’ll even pay the expenses. Plus I’m gonna put a jury notice in, too, come to think of it, ‘cause juries--”
Senior Counsel cut me off, and moved his client to the back of the courtroom. There was a brief discussion, and then they came back. I watched as Senior Counsel wrote a single digit on the Minutes, a zero, written right where I wanted it.
“You’ll have to initial the change,” I said to the Head of Sy-C0, and it gave me great satisfaction to watch him sign.
“Don’t forget,” I said the moment his pen stopped moving, “for the settlement to be valid, I need to get the money today. Right now.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” the Head said.
“Not if you want the settlement to stay in place. I’ll follow you back to your office, and you can put a cheque in my hands.”

• * * *

“What’s this?” my wife said when I entered the apartment later that day, after I’d driven Dr. M home, stopping first at a local pub for beers.
“It’s an absurdly expensive bunch of flowers,” I said, “although no flowers, however beautiful, however expensive, could expiate my--”
She took the flowers, and gave a kiss.
“My mom called. She told me what happened. You fixed things with my dad.”
“Yup,” I said. I had certainly done that. I’d made Dr. M a professor again, if only for a few minutes. Not only a professor, but an expert witness. The judge had declared him an expert in plain terms and Dr.M had beamed when he’d heard those words.
“And you won Ray’s case, too. But my mom didn’t know how, and I don’t know how you did it either.”
“I’ll tell you over dinner tonight,” I said.
“But we agreed no more dinners out; we have to save money, now that a baby’s coming.”
I passed her the envelope that I’d received a few hours before. She opened it, and took out a cheque, a cheque drawn up for an amount I specified, made payable to Mr. and Mrs. Calledinthe90s.
The moment I got that cheque, all I could think about was how my wife would react when I put it into her hands. I could not wait to see her eyes bulge, to hear her voice say “oh my god,” to hear her laugh.
She did none of these things. Instead, she cried.
“Does this mean we can buy a house?” The money wouldn’t be enough to buy a house, not nowadays, with prices being so crazy. But things were different back then in the 90s. Sure, the internet was barely a thing and cell phones were super expensive and a lot of things sucked, but I’ll give the nineties one thing: houses were cheap.
“I think so,” I said.

This is mostly just me slowly going insane, sorry. Honestly, I should’ve given up on it a long time ago, I was under no illusion that the story here was going to be anything to write home about, and I’ve found the characters to all be pretty flat and childish for a while. I still kept tabs on it as something to kill time during bus rides or if I had a few minutes between classes, but I’ve officially reached a point of not even wanting to read it to kill time. It was Zaida’s backstory that finally just did it for me.
I think I was still holding on to the hope that we’d learn more about her home planet, and that it’d at least be interesting, but the backstory chapters committed the cardinal sin of just being excruciatingly boring. All of the Zodians look identical? They ALL have green hair and dress exclusively in black and white? No other hair colors, skin tones, etc? The evolutionary tree on this planet is a circle. And then the whole thing with the horns. I thought Zaida freaking out about them was already kind of an exaggerated plot element; I had such a hard time buying the “I’m such a monster” shtick coming from a cute anime waifu with crystal deer horns. What a terrifying physical deformity she has. I feel so awful for her.
Also, we only learned about the whole horn thing fairly recently, and then it ends up being the entire impetus behind her leaving her homeworld? This feels like something that should’ve been alluded to or included really early on; having the ENTIRE reason she had to leave be something only becomes a plot point like 10 chapters before her backstory is revealed just feels so cheap. It reads like the author was just making this all up as she went along.
And then Kade’s reaction to all of this took me OUT. Zaida’s like “Yeah, I sometimes worry that I killed my entire planet by leaving.” And he says “But you’re moving back in right?🥺” PERISH.
Other things that annoyed me: - Zaida’s outfit on Zodia being so needlessly sexualized. She’s basically a prisoner being kept for organ harvesting and she’s dressed in… A one piece with a boob window and thigh highs. Dope? I guess? - Stace has no purpose to exist other than to be another sadboy to compete with the Lead Sadboy for Zaida’s attention, and it’s not even a convincing threat. The story teeters on making him likable while also being entirely aware that its fanbase is going to hate him regardless; so either make him a full person or just commit to him being a character you’re supposed to hate. - Why do we like Kade again???? - Story pretends to have themes - I theoretically understand why Zaida would be naive but I HATEEE how childishly she’s portrayed and how often it just verges on blatant stupidity whenever the plot needs her to not be able to do basic reasoning. - I don’t even remember what it was but Suzy did something annoying at one point - Terrible messaging about relationships, like in the real world Kade and Zaida’s relationship would be so unfathomably toxic. Like Chernobyl. But it’s presented as cute? Or wholesome? Despite the fact that their relationship is mostly weird physical intimacy and possessiveness with next to NO communication whatsoever? - I’m gonna eat my shoe. - As of today, I have decided that this story is no longer even worthy of being the webtoon I read on the toilet.

Conspiracy theories involving “elite” pedophile rings have recently been dominating social media in a disorienting frenzy. They have been around for some time but in this century rose back to popularity during the 2016 Election cycle. This crop, at least, took root with what became known as “Pizzagate.”
Promoters of that conspiracy theory in 2016 used social media platforms to make unfounded but viral allegations that Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats were running a pedophile ring out of the basement of a pizzeria even though that restaurant had no basement, or any ties to known politicians other than the typical flesh pressing (Phrasing I know) moments fit for a picture hung on the wall.
Since then, the dark theme of Pizzagate has found new life with permutations forming part of the #Qanon conspiracy theory, incorporated under the umbrella term “pedogate.” The gist of the #pedogate conspiracy theory is that global elites (politicians, celebrities, and wealthy businesspersons) are covertly involved in a far-reaching ring that uses young children for sexual purposes.
“What most of these conspiracy theories involve in one way or another is laying accusations of pedophilia or involvement in pedophile rings at the feet of people that they despise or hate, and during the 16’ election cycle, Democrats were a wide target for an opposing political movement that had hijacked the rival Republican party. Pizzagate originated with the “alt right” and “alt lite,” far right extremists who range from outright white supremacists to those who publicly shun racists but otherwise fall in step with their belief systems.
Pizzagate jumped from the fringes to the mainstream because as it denigrated Hillary Clinton, it sucked in supporters of then-candidate Donald Trump.
After the election all mention of pedogate seemed to be put on a simmer while other National outrages boiled over (#Covid #RussiaGate #BLM) and just like clockwork (heading into our next election cycle has been turned back up.
The pedogate conspiracy and all associated stories employ a centuries-old tactic: playing on deep-seated human anxieties by conjuring images of imperiled children, the purest and defenseless victim of any manner of injustice.
An example in the modern era of weaponized conspiracy was the satanic panic of the 1980s, in which a wave of hysteria over alleged child molestation at daycare centers swept the nation. But while that phenomenon was a moral panic attributable, at least in part, to social anxiety over white middle class women entering the work force en masse for the first time and entrusting their children to others, the current conspiracy theories about pedophile rings equate to similar propaganda. They carry a danger for stirring up violence.
If you want to elicit violent action the way to do it is through hate and fear. Once you target and label a population as pedophiles, you can do anything you like to that population with full excuse being given to the myth you’ve wrapped around it.
That’s not to say fears of child abuse or sex trafficking are unfounded. There are many as pedophilia has ancient roots and in many cases was encourage by many world cultures and religions a lot later into Civilization than we’d like to admit. The International Labor Organization reports that 25 percent of the world’s 40.3 million victims of human trafficking are children.
The most vulnerable, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, are migrants, runaways, the homeless, and youngsters who have been victims of violence. Despite their obsession over the topic, conspiracy followers aren’t worked up about those children who are in true harm’s way.
In the world of propaganda, it’s never about real children. Instead, it’s about what children represent. The children imperiled by conspiracy theories, in other words, are only metaphors.
Children carry a vast amount of weight in any society, but especially modern ones when they’re expected to survive past the age of five. It wasn’t as intense before the 18th century when child mortality rates were really high. They represent the future, and all that is beautiful and decent and honest in a society, because they are innocent.
For most people also, the meaning of their existence is rooted in their children. Children are eschatological, they represent death for us, and what is coming behind us after we are gone. They also represent the threat of loss, if they disappear, if they die, that is the death of society. That’s why they became so crucial and central to Cold War propaganda. The real terror of the nuclear holocaust would be the death of the children, because that’s the death of everyone.
A recent example of this is in a recent police investigation into conspiracy claims of PizzaGate style accusation of Portland’s Voodoo Doughnuts. Detectives attempted to contact the person accusing Voodoo Doughnuts on social media of running a pedophile ring. The accuser did not cooperate with investigators and it’s been documented in other coverage online that they had become agitated and accused the Police with complicity when tracked down in person, even though they were attempting to investigate.
The pendulum of conspiracy theories about systematic child abuse has swung back and forth for centuries. Examples such as blood libel, when Jewish communities were attacked over false allegations of murdering and consuming Christian children in the Middle Ages.
In Europe, During the Thirty Years War, entire villages were put to the sword because it was believed they were abusing children of the other religions.
One characteristic that helps Pizzagate-style conspiracy theories gain popularity is that they function like a puzzle game and give its audience a large level of involvement through social media.
A lot of conspiracy theories are oracular, where the information comes from one source an oracle. Then there are others where there are a few people who promote the notions, almost like gurus or a conspiracy priesthood.
With Pizzagate, it’s more of what one would call a participatory conspiracy theory. Participatory conspiracy theories lay out a scenario or situation and then they ask their audience, ‘what more can you find out about this, what more can you add?’ It turns the audience into willing participants, some knowing they are creating a destructive madlib and other (potential real victims) caking on mystical distraction to issues that have been unreported or scars that have not bee properly treated.
The thing about participatory conspiracy theories is it can really create a devoted following because it gives people something to do, it makes them feel they can solve the whole thing or uncover new aspects to it. Once you get that energy going it’s almost self-sustaining. Followers of the Qanon conspiracy theory, call themselves “bakers” because their protagonist “Q” pops up on Internet message boards and leaves “crumbs” (i.e., clues), and they are tasked with picking up the crumbs in order to solve the puzzle. (“Q” is supposed to reference the character’s government security clearance level).
*#Q followers believe an even more incoherent version of Pizzagate. This is largely a right-wing fantasy that originated in a series of incoherent posts on #4chan in 2017 by someone calling themselves #QAnon. Following on the heels of similar idiocy such as Pizzagate, it advances a fantastic web of deceit that wraps up Trumpism, deep state fearmongering, evil, satanic pedophilia rings controlled by the Democratic Party, investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, the Las Vegas shooting, and New World Order paranoia into a package easily and wholeheartedly promoted by internet cesspools and far-right personalities such as Alex Jones.
The premise is that President Trump is secretly working to take down a global ring of elite, cannibalistic, satanic pedophiles. And the investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 election, led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, is actually an investigation into the so-called “deep state”, where a cabal of evil, globalists, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are responsible for everything from a global pedophile ring to the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.
According to the enlightened, when Trump awkwardly took a drink from a bottle of Fiji water at a press conference in November 2017, it wasn’t because he was thirsty; it was actually a secret signal to those in the know that the annihilation of deep state pedophiles had begun (or was about to begin). Because as everyone knows, Fiji is a hot spot for child trafficking.* ( I could go on and on with this poorly thought-out shit, I will spare you )
The role the Internet and social media play in helping to spread such insanity can’t be underestimated. Just a few decades earlier, conspiracy theorists would identify each other using letters to the editor printed in newspapers and magazines. It was a lot harder to identify your fellow conspiracy theorists. You would have to physically meet to swap your stories or send letters or call. They would set up these groups that would communicate by newsletter. They would meet in a physical space, like someone’s living room.
I personally witnessed people from my childhood, dutifully photocopying newsletters they had received in the mail to give to others (Primarily at my #JW congregation, how ironic). Now obviously it can go much more quickly, because you can identity people immediately. You can quickly share ideas and the data you’ve collected.
The Internet allows such people to exist in bubbles where they rarely have their beliefs challenged. The extraordinarily polarized society we’re in right now has made people less willing to seek out other view points. Because of the internet you have less chance of doing this.
There’s very little incentive to look outside one’s own bubble once they have become invested in a conspiracy theory. Once you start to act out on those behaviors you are forced to double down by repeating the act to prove it was a just act. Eventually you get caught up in a movement that totally defines your conscious and you can’t get out of it. The second you step out of that world view your actions go back to being reprehensible.
Now the question becomes, “What’s the harm? If it sheds light on child abuse, then isn’t it still productive?” The answer in this case is a resounding NO. In my opinion and PAINFUL experience, the root cause and sustaining factors of institutionalized child sex abuse are all things that would counter your typical Conspiracy Nut’s world view, thus causing a complete blackout to the problems.
The entity taking part in the harming of children on a local and tangible level aren’t some suit and tie wearing global elitist. It’s a guidance counselor, youth pastor, unvetted young substitute teacher, aunt/uncle/cousin/neighbor.
It’s anyone who has been given routine private access to a child’s mind and body because of the social conventions that have been protected for generations by our relatives whether they themselves are guilty of abuse or not.
In all the Qanon madness I also kept very close tabs on the pending prosecution of the Boy scouts of America and never saw any widely shared memes about their involvement in the abuse syndicate.
Why is this? How is this so? Aren’t these people watching the news, seeing the court records and hearing the individual cases being brought against Scout Leaders (SOME OF WHO RAN THEIR OWN NETWORKS!!)?
When I would find mention of accusation it was met with the ever scarce “skepticism” because if the media is covering it, it must be a plot to destroy the organization. There are now non-for profit organizations setting up victim funds and protections for people to come out with their stories and somehow THIS is the fake ruse.
Some that know me know that I was a Jehovah’s Witness as a youth/teen/young adult. That chapter of my life could fill many chapters and the research on the organization, the real true black and white history of the religion would honestly surprise you. I saw what I now know was abuse, I personally experienced abuse in many forms. The perpetrators involved are either still Witnesses or are dead or have moved “away from the organization”.
One thing that was left intact in each situation was the secret that they prey on children. The parents, these organizations and the collective promise to keep up appearances are directly to blame for the suffering untold thousands, millions of children and broken adults.
All for what? Pride and Vanity and a commitment to all involved to protect them from the “mean old world” despite allowing predators to eat their children from within.
Being a #JW was a very interesting experience. It provides a very efficient form of insulation from outside society and allows people involved to view the chaos from afar. There is this persistent (albeit false) sense of shared peace that members have. It’s as though for three days a week you go to this meeting where no matter what, everyone has a smile and feels about things EXACTLY how you do. There is no cursing, there are no politics, there surely isn’t any destructive influences that would tarnish your chances of salvation. For a parent this is a refuge when raising a child in a world that is dangerously unpredictable.
A Child that you are unable (or unwilling) to teach coping skills to get along by societal standards, A child you want to protect by hiding. This is problem #1.
As an adult the congregation presents an avenue for which you can act and behave in a way that allows you to reconcile your past, a way to have less of those nights awake because you think about past wrongs you’ve committed against people. It’s the proverbial band-aid for a guilty, bruised, destroyed conscious of any size. Coming into the organization takes nothing more than the desire to change, publicly declaring your willingness to hand over your life to God (The organization). Bam, You’re in! No credit check, no background check. This is problem #2.
A JW is taught that “every facet is an asset” (Ministerial Servants know what I’m talking about). What this means is that every facet of your life is an asset to the organization to spread its word. If the world see’s their product’s application into your life and thereby how much better it is than a normal person’s, then they’ve made an “Effective Witness” to the world. This causes Witnesses of any age to allow almost every facet of their life to be a tool by the organization. For a parent this includes their children. This is problem #3.
When you get a culture that insulates itself from the real world, that allows you to enter without any coherent vetting, give access to children whose parents feel obligated to present as a “witness” to the lifestyle. You get a twisted corridor in which victims can get lost for a lifetime and predators can hide in plain sight.
For any proponents of the “Save-The-Children” movement to not take a step back and really analyze their local community and lifestyle through these lenses only illustrates that child abuse is being weaponized politically at the expense of others whom you aren’t willing to save because it would look bad for ‘your side’. If you truly care, you wouldn’t be sharing email forwards about what evil unverified unmentionable thing you read some celebrity or politician did. Instead, you’d be drawing back on your experiences as a child.
Even if nothing happened directly to you, I’m sure you know some one that had an experience that forever harmed their life. Who did it? Was there a pattern or social condition that allowed for this as was laid out in the JW example?
How could it have been avoided? Would you have stopped it if you saw the signs? Are you willing to stop it in the future, knowing what you know now?
If you can answer any of those questions with a yes, then you have all you need to WRITE your own material to reach real victims and their families. Does your action cause problems for your ‘side’? It shouldn’t matter and you know that. If it does make a difference to you then you are no better than the shadowy pedophilic cabal that you are so obsessed with.

Hi yall. Ive been playing games on my PC for a while now with no problems, but recently I've been completely unable to play any game in fullscreen mode. Lets say I launch Raft, for example, on steam. The game launches, my monitor goes black, says something about no HDMI connection, goes black again, and then turns back on with the steam window in view, despite me not alt tabbing or touching the keyboard whatsoever. This started happening a few weeks ago maybe, for seemingly no reason. Ive searched everywhere for answers, but nothing I've tried has worked. Any suggestions?
My PC has an Intel i5-14600K processor with an ASRock Challenger Intel ARC A580 graphics card on an ASRock Z790 Pro motherboard.
Edit: Added Specs

This is one of my favorite parts from a Japanese fan novel that I really like. The characters are reincarnated in another world, with some of them retaining memories of their past lives. Mondo is a 32-year-old carpenter, and Celeste is a high school boy recently arrested for certain illegal acts. I really like Celeste's description of the killing game, so I wanted to share it. Here is a translation:
•••
About an hour later, Oowada was visiting a certain place. He took a deep breath through his nose.
"Smells moldy," he muttered under his breath, though he wasn't sure if it was actually mold. He clicked his tongue loudly, causing a staff member in the corner, who was spreading out a notebook to record their conversation, to flinch. Oowada closed his eyes and laughed through his nose, wondering if such a timid person could handle working in a juvenile rehabilitation facility.
This was his first time visiting here as a visitor. A cramped, narrow cage that boxed everything in, isolating the boys from society. It was a place he had been confined to many times before and hated more than anything.
But even so, his safety was guaranteed. There was no way a killing game would happen here.
"It's lukewarm... no, that's how it's supposed to be," he muttered as the door opened with a cheap-sounding clatter. At that sound, he quietly opened his eyes.
Sitting with his legs spread on the hard, leather sofa, arms crossed, he watched as a beautiful boy, dressed simply in a shirt and slacks, entered the room with a straight posture. When the boy saw Oowada, he lightly tilted his head and smiled, causing his neatly trimmed long black hair to sway.
"Hello, uncle. I didn't expect you to come."
Oowada’s eyes twitched at the boy’s words, but seeing the suited facility staff who entered behind the boy, he closed his mouth.
The boy sat down across from Oowada with a low table between them, placing a hand under his chin and deepening his smile.
"It’s been a while."\ "…Yeah."\ "I was just getting bored, so I’m very glad."\ "…Yeah."\ "I thought you were hospitalized… Are you feeling alright?"\ "…Yeah."\ "So, uncle. Why the sudden visit? Did something happen?"\ "…Yeah."
As Oowada grunted in response, he glanced around the room, noting the staff in the corner and the one quietly standing guard by the door, wondering how to begin. The boy, seemingly understanding everything, smiled knowingly.
"...It seems like it might be difficult to talk like this."
Oowada raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the boy who whispered this in a low voice. At the same time, the boy raised one delicate hand, snapping his fingers lightly.
At this signal, the staff in the corner nervously, and the one by the door calmly, exited the room. Their abrupt departure made it seem like they could no longer see Oowada and the boy.
In shock, Oowada stood up from his chair.
"What the...?"
"Well, as they say, money talks," the boy said nonchalantly, brushing aside the troublesome bangs that fell over his forehead with a swift motion of his fingers.
"No matter the means, the assets I’ve accumulated have come in handy. I went through a lot, you know. Selecting useful personnel, seizing opportunities, negotiations, instructions, and so on. The fact that you’re here talking to me now is thanks to my sweat and tears."
"You made it so I could get in here by claiming I'm your family?"
"I just included potential visitors on the list. I asked them to allow visits by making up a connection within three degrees of kinship based on the visitor's age."
"Who the hell are you calling uncle, you..."
"You're my uncle. You should feel honored and act accordingly. Don't make that face like you're some relative mooching off a rich family member."
"Huh!?"
"Well, whatever. In any case, you're my first visitor. Welcome."
Ending the pointless conversation, Oowada, finding himself unsure of how to direct his emotions, clicked his tongue and looked up at the ceiling with a weary expression. Contrary to Oowada’s rough demeanor, the boy elegantly crossed his legs, lightly arching his back, and smiled mysteriously.
"So, once again. It's been a while, Oowada-kun. It's the first time we've talked properly since our past lives. A lot happened the other day, but I won't apologize. So don't expect an apology. With that out of the way... what brings you here today?"
A cramped, narrow cage for boys, cut off from society, where everything was neatly boxed up. It was a place he had been confined to many times before and had hated more than anything.
However, in the hands of Celestia Ludenberg, it seemed even such a cage could transform into a modest mansion with servants. Oowada, leaning back on the sofa and tilting his head back, exhaled deeply in exasperation.
What followed was a strange silence. Even though he had been asked why he was here, Oowada didn’t immediately respond. No, he couldn’t respond.
Torn between the hesitation of how to start the conversation and whether he should even talk, his thoughts bounced back and forth. Watching Oowada intently, Celeste shrugged slightly.
"Well, there’s no use rushing. By the way, Oowada-kun, when it comes to visits, one expects gifts. Did you bring something?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
As if he had just remembered, Oowada pulled out something from the pocket of his jacket that he had bought from a vending machine on the way here and placed it on the table. What was scalding hot when he bought it had now cooled to a lukewarm temperature.
"Luxurious Royal Milk Tea. Made with plenty of first-pick Uva tea. The smoothness of Hokkaido cream enhances the flavor. Enjoy a luxurious moment."
Celeste glanced at the so-called luxurious moment that cost 120 yen from a vending machine with a blank expression. Nevertheless, he muttered a thank you in a monotonous voice and reached for the pull tab. The expression on his face clearly read, "Are you kidding me, you piece of shit," but Oowada ignored it.
"Well then, until you're ready to talk, how about listening to what I have to say?"
Taking a sip of the Royal Milk Tea and making a noticeably displeased face, Celeste continued in a calm tone. Oowada didn’t mind. He nodded with just his eyes, and Celeste placed his fingertips on his cheek and looked up at the ceiling.
"At that academy, the mastermind... No, now that I remember, I can say for sure... The detailed and elaborate preparations of that rotten bitch Enoshima created an environment that made killing almost inevitable."
The sudden start of the unexpected topic made Oowada frown, unable to read his intentions.
"For example, the situation was based on several psychological theories. As I explained a few times at that school... no, with that corn-head of yours, you might not remember, so let me explain again."
"Huh? Are you picking a fight with me?"
"The prisoner's dilemma."
Ignoring Oowada's words with a calm expression, Celeste continued without even glancing at him.
"Additionally... the zero-sum game. Moreover, due to unconsciously recognizing a hierarchical relationship between the mastermind and themselves, there might have been effects similar to the results of the Milgram experiment."
"…Could you explain it in a way I can understand?"
"You don’t need to understand the theories themselves. To put it simply, as I said before, 'The mastermind created an environment that made us psychologically prone to committing atrocities.'"
Taking another sip of the Royal Milk Tea and making another dissatisfied face, he placed the half-finished can on the table and looked back at Oowada.
"This is just a psychological theory. But now, let’s bring in a sociological theory and consider this: 'Why don’t people commit crimes?'"
The emphasized words sent a chill down Oowada’s spine, and he rubbed his arms.
"Let’s start with an extreme example. Living beings act according to their desires. A lion would hunt a rabbit if it appeared before it, regardless of hunger. Humans are the same. So, 'Why don’t people commit crimes?' …What do you think?"
"If someone killed every person they passed on the street, they’d just be a lunatic."
"That's not an answer."
"Well, normal people wouldn’t do that. Even if we’re animals, humans are different from beasts."
"Exactly. Simply put, 'People don’t commit crimes because they possess social or psychological self-control.' …Of course, it also depends on their living environment, so it’s not a theory that applies to everyone. For instance, someone like Genocide Jack."
Crossing his legs, Celeste took a breath and said,
"There is a theory called the 'social bond theory' that considers the reasons why humans don't commit crimes."
"Huh?"
Once again, the conversation entered a more specialized field, making Oowada raise his voice in irritation.
"What about it?"
"This theory considers four main aspects as 'bonds,' and when these bonds break, crimes occur."
"So?"
"First, the first one."
Pointing a natural, though unusually long nail at Oowada, he stopped him from interrupting. The sudden action made Oowada freeze, his cheek twitching.
"First, there’s belief… essentially a sense of morality. This bond ties into the psychological aspect I mentioned earlier. In that environment, 'murder was deemed acceptable.' Thus, the feeling that 'murder is absolutely wrong' diminished, whether consciously or unconsciously."
The finger pointed at Oowada increased to two. Moreover, the finger, which had been aimed at his nose, was now directed straight at his eyes, as if ready to poke them.
"Next, the second. Involvement. In other words... let's see. If there was something to be indulged in, especially something healthy like sports, there would be no time to commit crimes. In that space, with few given entertainments and plenty of time to kill each day, who knows when someone might plot something wicked?"
"...You mean yourself."
"There's no guarantee that someone like me wasn't there after I died. Now, the third. Commitment. Risk and reward, let's say. Is it worth committing a crime even at the cost of everything one has built? Rationally thinking, it may be worthless, but in that space, in that situation, it was the ultimate reward. There's no need to explain what that is."
Moving away from Oowada, he leaned back against the uncomfortable chair, slightly waving the three fingers beside his cheek.
"...Graduation, huh."
"Yes. There was a bonus for me, but let's leave that aside. Now, the fourth. This is the main point."
Holding up four fingers in front of his face, Celeste's expression became somber.
"Attachment. It’s about family, friends, and companions. Surrounded by people who act morally, one wouldn’t commit crimes. They wouldn’t. That is, if 'the people in that space were such close individuals.'"
A gulp sounded from Oowada’s throat. His sharp eyes widened.
"...There wouldn’t have been any killing?"
"I can’t say for certain. But if it were me..."
Breathing out faintly, Celeste shook his head gently. Oowada, sharing similar sentiments, lowered his eyes.
By now, talking about "what ifs" and "if onlys" wouldn't grant them forgiveness.
"...Hey, our memories were erased to make the killing game more likely. We understand that, but..."
"...Let's add one more thing. 'What if, after committing murder, we regained our memories?'... What would happen?"
"!"
That was their current situation exactly.
"Impossible, right? Even if Junko Enoshima had planned that far ahead… I don't remember anything like so from 'that world.' There's no way that bitch could control reincarnation or anything so godlike."
"...In other words."
"In other words, this situation is an 'unforeseen despair' even for Enoshima. Realizing the person you killed was a close friend, a dear classmate, a loved one… is a despair beyond imagining."
Celeste suddenly leaned closer to Oowada, their faces inches apart, his crimson irises intense. Overwhelmed by the pressure, Oowada didn't move, captivated, listening intently to his alto voice.
"The person they killed... was someone they had spent two years with, a dear classmate, a friend with whom they laughed together, someone they had feelings for. Isn't that despairing?"
Oowada swallowed loudly.
"...I understand why you're here."
After staring at each other from such a close distance, Celeste slowly moved away and looked down at the seated Oowada.
"It's about Kuwata-kun, isn't it?"

Hi all, today I am releasing the first update of thunderdex for May. I have a lot of changes I brought and small improvements, enjoy
• Redesigned and improved the About section of ThunderDex
• Show a Toast Notification when applying Dynamic Theming before the app restarts
• Animate the Vehicle Images in the Wiki Tab
• Enable the title on toolbar in some Fragments
• Updated AGP to 8.4.0
• Allow dismissing the Changelog Dialog without pressing Okay
• Added a 0.95 alpha to some TextViews
• Replaced the 20% black button background with ripple in About
• Adjusted a lot of wording in the app
• Minor fixes and improvements

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—> Always DYOR!! (Do Your Own Research) <—
📖🧙‍♂️🪄💫✨⭐️🌟🌕
Promoted blog post —> https://mirror.xyz/0x5744b051845B62D6f5B6Db095cc428bCbBBAc6F9/rpL2QJ1F6Eb7K2Lt5Yy7fnK-Endz6Jr9-7VlYw6jSO8
🔮
FOR SPELLCASTERS IN VPN/IP BLOCKED TERRITORIES - You can try to use a VPN (may have to change VPN location several times before it finds a working IP. Proton VPN is free OR you can try out a community forked IP!

• https://abracadabra-us.money/#/ - Forked by Spellcaster roxx3r
• https://abracadabramoneyunblocked.on-fleek.app/#/ - Forked by Reddit Mod MagicThePuff (SpellcasterPuff📖🪄)

(Will be updating "https://abracadabramoneyunblocked.on-fleek.app/#/" as updates release to keep the Front End working properly!)
It is possible for anyone to fork the abracadabra UI as well!! For more information on forking a UI —> (https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/quickstart/fork-a-repo)
FOR SPELLCASTERS INTERESTED IN BURNING SPELL TOKEN - Send $SPELL to “0x090185f2135308BaD17527004364eBcC2D37e5F6” (Token Contract Address) —> https://etherscan.io/address/0x090185f2135308bad17527004364ebcc2d37e5f6
🔮
Staking: (Check https://wenmerl.in for each “buyback” and “collection”)

• $sSPELL - Deposit $SPELL for $sSpell.
• $mSPELL - Deposit $SPELL for $mSpell.

Other Staking Methods

• $mGLP - Deposit your staked $GLP for $mGLP.
• $mAPE - Deposit your staked $APE for $mAPE.
• $mKLP - Deposit your staked $KLP for $mKLP.
• $mLVL - Deposit your staked $LVL for $mLVL

(Interest bearing assets can be utilized for loans/leveraging on abracadabra.money, or utilized using different protocols.)
KEEP IN MIND!! $MIM has an intrinsic value of $1 no matter what the market prices it thanks to the collateral backing it. Interest rates CAN BE increased to incentivize repayments until the $1 (or in this case 1 USDT) parity is reached in the main pool!!
HELPFUL LINKS:

• (https://abracadabra.money/)
• (VPN/IP BLOCK WORKAROUND) https://abracadabra-us.money/#/ - Forked by Spellcaster roxx3r
• (VPN/IP BLOCK WORKAROUND) https://abracadabramoneyunblocked.on-fleek.app/#/ - Forked by Reddit Mod MagicThePuff (SpellcasterPuff📖🪄)
• GREAT PLACES TO GET $MIM!-

https://app.camelot.exchange/
https://swap.defillama.com/
https://curve.fi/

• Abracadabra Debt can be found under “MIM Cauldron” debt!! —> (https://zapper.xyz/apps/ethereum/abracadabra?tab=holdings&addresses%5B%5D=0xa71a021ef66b03e45e0d85590432dfcfa1b7174c&addresses%5B%5D=0xdf2c270f610dc35d8ffda5b453e74db5471e126b)
• Breakdown of Abracadabra Debt —> (https://zapper.xyz/bundle/0xdf2c270f610dc35d8ffda5b453e74db5471e126b?tab=dashboard)
• (https://x.com/MIM\_Spell?s=20)
• (https://x.com/MIMSwap?s=20)
• (https://zapper.xyz/daos/abracadabra) (Check out the abracadabra treasury wallet)
• (https://portfolio.nansen.ai/dashboard/0xfddfE525054efaAD204600d00CA86ADb1Cc2ea8a) (Check out 0xmerlin.eth’s wallet on nansen.ai)
• (https://zapper.fi/account/0xmerlin.eth?tab=dashboard) (Check out 0xmerlin.eth’s wallet on zapper.fi)
• (https://wenmerl.in/) (Check Buybacks/Collections for sSpell/mSpell - Community Driven)
• (https://forum.abracadabra.money/)
• (https://rekt.loan/) (Community Driven, Check liquidations) - by mDreamy4
• (https://analytics.abracadabra.money/overview) (Official analytics page to keep track of Abracadabra.money)
• (https://www.abrastats.money/about) (Community Driven analytics page to keep track of Abracadabra.money (may be out of date))
• (https://dune.com/brab/beam) ($MIM Beaming analytics page, setup by brab AKA u/stablebrab)
• (https://dune.com/melenxyz/abracadabra-mim-beaming) ( $MIM Beaming Revenue page, setup by melen AKA u/melenxyz)
• (https://youtube.com/@shadowboy835) (Video versions of AMAs)
• (https://soundcloud.com/stablebrab) (Audio versions of AMAs)
• (https://mirror.xyz/0x5744b051845B62D6f5B6Db095cc428bCbBBAc6F9) (Abracadabra.Money Blog, learn more about tokens like $mAPE and $mGLP)
• (https://mirror.xyz/0x8A7f7C5b556B1298a74c0e89df46Eba117A2F6c1) (Daniele Sestagalli’s Blog, “Chief Frog of Frog Nation”) NOVEMBER 21, 2022: DANIELE HAS BEEN DECLARED NO LONGER ACTIVE AS AN ABRACADABRA TEAM MEMBER
• (https://app.bubblemaps.io/eth/token/0x090185f2135308bad17527004364ebcc2d37e5f6) (BubbleMaps for Spell Token)
• (https://app.bubblemaps.io/eth/token/0x99d8a9c45b2eca8864373a26d1459e3dff1e17f3) (BubbleMaps for MIM)
• (https://snapshot.org/#/abracadabrabymerlinthemagician.eth) (Voting Proposals for Abracadabra.Money)
• (https://www.lensfrens.xyz/magic.lens) (Abracadabra.Money’s social graph)
• (https://abracadabramoney.gitbook.io/abracadabra-english/) (Abracadabra $MIM $SPELL documents can be found on Gitbook)
• (https://github.com/Abracadabra-money/abracadabra-ui) (Check out abracadabras front end tech)
• (https://hackmd.io/@Clonescody/BJ2qk4A0F) (Awesome article by Clonescody on staking spell)
• (https://rantom.app/abracadabra) (Check Abracadabras transaction activity)
• (https://www.tally.xyz/profile/romy.eth) (Romy’s delegate profile)
• https://www.tally.xyz/profile/0xa71a021ef66b03e45e0d85590432dfcfa1b7174c (Abracadabra’s delegate profile)
• (https://dune.com/melenxyz/abracadabra-mim-beaming) (MIM Beaming Fees/Analytics by u/melenxyz)
• (Beam (dune.com)) (MIM Beaming Origin/Destination percentages by u/brab)
• Abracadabra Money Galxe - Follow Abracadabra on Galxe and try out the quests when available!!

I would like to share some tips that helped me do well on all my ATI exams! For reference, I got a level 3 on all but one ATI exam! Fundamentals was my first ATI exam ever which I got a 2, and it helped shaped the way I continued to study for ATI. I hope this helps anyone who is either struggling with ATI or wanting to increase their scores.

• This one is obvious, but ATI is your best resource. Start early. Utilize the book. It’s not a typical textbook so it is easier to get through compared to your average 2,000+ page textbook. If you start early and it’s not huge like the med-surg one, you can get through the majority of the chapters before test time. You do not have to read every word.

How I utilized ATI textbooks:

• For courses that required an ATI exam, I read the chapters that corresponded with the lectures - except med-surg… have you seen that thing? I relied on the Lewis Med Surg book that was required for our class because our Med-Surg 1 & 2 class HEAVILY tested on that book.
• I get highlighter happy at times, but I tried to limit myself to highlighting important things that would jump at me if I had to later refer back to a chapter. I highlighted drug names in green. I also highlighted measures/numbers/lab values and random facts that ATI likes to throw at you in. Like if you have a latex allergy, you can be allergic to strawberries kinda thing.
• Do the practice questions at the end of the chapters. If you don’t want to read the chapters, at least do the questions (usually only 5) to see if there are any gaps of knowledge. If you get something wrong, refer back to the book to read over that section.

Practice Exams/Dynamic Quizzes

• Plan to complete all dynamic quizzes for that subject. If you can only do ONE thing, complete all the quizzes. I can’t emphasize that enough. You hear it over and over again, but read to understand rationales, writing out the ones for unfamiliar topics or easily forgotten details. They will help in future ATI exams! The goal isn't to memorize practice questions, but to learn and understand. Refer to the book for content review when needed. If you know you have 400-1,000 questions to get through, start early. Mark the ones you get wrong or guessed correctly so you can review later and when your exam gets closer.
• Take Practice A & B exam and take it seriously. As tempting as it may be, do not google the answers. These exams give you an idea of areas you are struggling with. I recommend doing focused reviews because it takes you to the exact area where you missed the question. I would hand write the areas I missed.
• If you see the same thing over and over again during your quizzes and practice exams, pay attention. ATI is giving you hints on what you may see on the exam.

Extra Tips for ATI

• Be familiar with National Notifiable Conditions for those dreaded “which one do you report?” questions. You don’t have to memorize them — just know the main ones. There is a page in the Community ATI book with some of the main ones, but the CDC website is a quick reference. Bookmark it!
• Know antidotes, especially to common drugs.
• Know what you can delegate to UAPs and LPNs. In short, do not delegate what you can EAT (Evaluate, Assess, Teach). Remember, LPNs can only reassess after the RN has done the first assessment. This includes if a patient came back from surgery. The RN will assess and do vital signs if the patient has come back from surgery or is unstable, not the LPN and definitely not the UAP. Also, LPNs cannot do the initial teaching, but they can reinforce the teachings (example: self-administering insulin).
• Review frequently missed content because a lot of that stuff may be on your exam.

Outside resources

• The only resource outside of ATI I used are the LevelUpRN videos, which I am sure many of you already know about. Her playlists follow ATI closely enough without her getting sued again lol. If you can get your hands on her cards, that’s great but do not neglect the quizzes.

Test taking prioritization strategies you have to understand:

• Least invasive vs most invasive, acute vs chronic, unstable vs stable, expected findings vs unexpected findings (aka complications), & ABCs go without saying.
• Go through the NurseLogic 2.0 modules (under the learn tab) if you need help with prioritization. This is often what gets us the most but you’re always going to RUN to the patient who will die without intervention first. If you see a patient with stridor vs chest pain, who do you think is the priority? What about the patient with laryngeal edema or the stroke patient with hemiparesis? The patient with a sudden, severe headache or the patient with heart failure and 2+ edema? The asthmatic patient who stopped wheezing or the patient with chronic angina clutching their chest after walking?
• In a disaster situation (moreso for the community & leadership ATI exam), the patient who will die without intervention, but can survive with intervention is the priority (red tag). The patient who is dying (SCALP, not facial lacerations, fixed and dilated pupils) is the least of the priority (black tag) due to limited resources.

Other test taking strategies

• Go with what you know, but if you see 2 answer choices that are basically the same but worded differently, eliminate those. If you see 2 answer choices that are opposites, one of them may be the answer.
• When in doubt, avoid absolutes like “always, never, only, everyone” (unless it’s something accurate like ALWAYS practice hand hygiene lol but ATI usually doesn’t use absolutes like that)
• Look for keywords. Is the question asking what the nurse should do FIRST or what is the best nursing action?

It’s true that ATI will test you on things from other courses (some you haven’t taken yet), but the majority of it will be over the course you are studying for. The goal isn’t to get every question correctly. The goal is to use prior knowledge and test taking strategies to help you at least narrow down to 2 answer choices, and hopefully choose the right one. After doing a bunch of questions, you start to see patterns and understand how ATI wants you to choose the answer.
I know this is a lot, but I just wanted to be as thorough as possible. Please let me know if you have any questions! I am happy to help! 😊

Welcome, fellow 40k data nerds, to another Stat Check Meta Dashboard Update! We’ve made one very important update to the dashboard. You can find the newly updated best free tools for 40k meta analysis on our website:

• Stat Check - Meta Data Dashboard
• Stat Check - Player Elo Scores

If you like our work and consider it useful, feel free to join us on Patreon and join our Discord!
Follow us on YouTube to see the latest episodes of our flagship show Stat Check, Enter the Matrix (Team 40k analysis from some of the best players in the world), and Take All Comers (where a trio of young, skilled players walk us through their competitive approaches to list-building and improvement). Today's episode of Stat Check will feature a rundown of the new Chaos Space Marine rules, following last week's rundown of the Ork Codex. Tune in here!
I’ve copied a table with one half of our State of the Meta Dashboard tab below for our mobile users. You can find images of the rest of the dashboard’s tabs here: Dashboard Images

Faction	Win Rate	OverRep	4-0 Event Start	Event Wins	Player Population
Space Wolves	64%	2.86	6%	1	3%
Chaos Daemons	63%	0.61	6%	0	2%
Grey Knights	61%	1.79	13%	3	6%
Black Templars	60%	0.85	9%	1	3%
Genestealer Cults	58%	0.00	0%	0	1%
Necrons	55%	1.65	9%	3	8%
Thousand Sons	54%	0.97	7%	2	5%
Orks	54%	1.95	10%	3	8%
Chaos Space Marines	53%	0.46	5%	1	3%
Adepta Sororitas	53%	0.41	8%	0	4%
Blood Angels	52%	1.15	12%	0	5%
Drukhari	51%	2.25	8%	0	2%
Imperial Knights	50%	0.49	0%	0	3%
Adeptus Mechanicus	50%	2.43	0%	0	1%
World Eaters	50%	1.43	6%	0	5%
T'au Empire	49%	0.83	9%	1	5%
Death Guard	49%	0.39	4%	0	4%
Aeldari	47%	0.94	10%	1	5%
Astra Militarum	46%	0.91	0%	0	5%
Tyranids	44%	0.00	3%	0	5%
Adeptus Custodes	42%	0.42	0%	0	3%
Chaos Knights	42%	0.49	5%	0	3%
Space Marines	39%	0.46	0%	0	6%
Leagues of Votann	39%	0.00	0%	0	3%
Dark Angels	34%	0.54	6%	1	3%
Deathwatch	25%	0.00	0%	0	0%

We're over 3,000 games into the post data-slate meta, and a few things have become clear:

• The Ork codex is as strong as initially suspected. Green Tide and War Horde have some positive leading indicators, while Bully Boyz appears to be the real deal. At 143 games played, BBz are sitting at a 58% Win Rate, 2.6 OverRep, 14% of its players going 4-0 to start their events, and 2 event wins.
• The Necron's Canoptek Court detachment is still going strong. At 93 games played, it's posted a 64% Win Rate, 2.92 OverRep, 15% of players starting 4-0, and 2 event wins.
• Custodes have likely disappeared as a competitive option altogether, and have quite literally disappeared from the "Faction Win Rate - Peer vs. Peer" tab due to an abysmal 23% win rate among upper quartile Elo players.
• Kyle Grundy has put Kroot nay-sayers on notice, going 4-1 with the Kroot Hunting Pack Detachment!

We've made a pretty significant update to the dashboard that we're very excited about. For the past two years (good lord, it's been that long), we've used the Player and Opponent Experience filters as a proxy for player skill, operating under the assumption that more events played = continued improvement for most players. As of a few weeks ago, we've retired those filters and replaced them with Player and Opponent Elo Percentile sliders. If you're looking for a rundown on Elo in 40k, check out our explainer article on Goonhammer
From now on, you'll be able to adjust your view of the meta for a given skill level. Brand new to the game and humbly assuming you're probably not that good yet? Set the max percentile to 25 for both Player and Opponent to see what the meta looks like for players who are still trying to figure the game out. Are you an established player who's routinely X-1, gunning for that 5-0 finish? Set the minimum for both Player and Opponent to 90 or 95 to get a more refined view of what competition looks like in your rarefied air. As always, these filters interact with all the others so that you can get as specific or as broad as you'd like.
Given the Elo update to the dashboard, We've adjusted the "Win Rate - Peer vs. Peer" tab to use win rates for games within the bottom and top quartiles instead of win rates within the now-deprecated "Newcomer" and "Veteran" buckets. We've also added another tab - Win Rates by Peer Elo Decile. This tab displays the WR and total games played for each faction within a given Elo decile, along with games played between players at the 99th+ percentile. This helps illuminate the degree to which there are performance differences across player skill levels for a given faction.
Looks like CSM got the good writer. Meta's gonna get real wonky over the next few weeks.
We’ll be lurking in the comments, so feel free to reach out with questions, comments, critique, or requests for clarification. Until next week, good luck with your games, and don’t forget to keep fun first while you’re playing.

Hello, So i am almost conviced that the DDO Program itself hates lol, and while that might sound absurd let me explain. I am mainly making this post because I am hoping to get help with any of this if anyone knows what might be going on. I know I will probably end up needing to wipe my computer but I would like that to be a last option as I would have so much prep work to do so I wouldn't loose much. I will put my computer specs at the end of this post.
1). I logged in one time to just a straight up Fishbowl POV, I have Dims/vertigo and so fishbowl perspectives are one of the things that make me feel so sick I will have to lay down, I immediately ran away and told my bf to fix it. This hasn't happened again
2). When I Alt Tab out of the game, everyone of my friends it only takes less then 1 second, but for me it can take almost 30 seconds to get it to load out of the black screen that pops up. My bf has the exact same computer as my and I have my main graphical settings on default due to another issue that happened. This happens everytime I Alt Tab
3). I went to change the Brightness of the game because my desk is next to the window and we hadn't gotten a black out curtain so I messed with them a little bit to try to make it look better.After a couple of minutes I got it looking ok and I Alt Tabed out just to find out it had turned the rest of my screen bright, and then when I alt tabbed back in the game was brighter then when I had first alt tabbed out. I tried messing with the settings again and decided to just say F it and reset it back to Default and it did nothing, it only fixed itself when I got off of DDO. This hasnt happened again
4). Sometimes the Lag gets so bad that I start to feel sick from it. The jittering and the Ruberbanding is just insane! Yes I know DDO is a very old game and that some lag is to be expected, but sometimes its unbearable. Sometimes my Bf and I, who game in the exact same room as each other, wont get the same lag, his will run perfectly and mine is just acting like a bunny, making me hop around constantly. There are absolutely times where I know its just the server because even our other friend ends up getting spikes at the same time as us, but most the time its only on my end. This happens CONSTANTLY
5). While its not a big one, it happened to today and my first thought was "Well good morning to you too DDO". I logged in this morning and no sooner then I hit log in and got the black loading screen, it told me the DDO Client isn't Responding. So far only once
This has all made it so that for me to even get on DDO I have to be prepared to get angry just incase.I want to play DDO because it is so much fun even with all of its janks, but with the lag only on my end or that fact that everytime I log in I have a 50/50 chance of something bad happening, its slowly eating my fun away from the game.
Thank you to anyone to read this long post, I really Appreciate it. I hope that someone, anyone can help with this. It could even be as simple as just needing to redownload the game but I wanted to make sure incase anyone has a simpler solution or knows of any programs that might help it not want to have a hissy fit.
~My PC Specs~ Processor - 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700F 2.10 GHz Installed RAM- 32.0 GB System type - 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor Graphics Card- NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3060 TI
We just got it last year, and BF has the Exact same computer as me except I have a little more storage then he does. It also does not overheat or even get barely hot as I am very paranoid about ruining it that way.

TLDR:

1. The color "chart" graphic is missing when I invoke the theme color changer. It's just a dark blank rectangle whether in bright mode or dark mode.
   
2. Even when I move the color targeting circle to the middle of the blank panel in dark mode, where the interior of that circle is showing it as true black, the brightness slider doesn't go down far enough to make the actual browser darker blacks. It remains flat colored adobe looking even when a little darker.
   

. . . .
. . . .
Most of us can figure out or look up how to get to the color panel in the arc color theme changer
(right click on the tab area - edit theme color)
Then change the sunlight / moon-crescent to dark mode (moon).
The panel that comes up just has a bunch of circles at the bottom, light themed ones are all white, dark themed ones are various dull colors.. The brightness slider beneath the row of circles shows up though.
However, I finally realized that you can drag the little reticule on the panel around, and that the square area was supposed to be a color picker gradient even though it was blank. At first it was just going around a circumference of a circle, changing the color tones. Then I finally realized you could move it anywhere.
It seems like the arc browser is referencing the windows background color by default or something, and that is maybe overwriting the actual color wheel graphic that should be showing there? Because that entire area to me is just a flat square like a touchpad on a laptop. That makes what should probably be a color selector gradient or wheel, like you might find in photoshop or gimp, etc., instead show as just an unintuitive uniform dark box.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Long story short, I can open that panel, go to the top squarish area and drag that circle in that "touchpad" looking area to dead center of the area. If I have it in dark mode, it will turn black when it is in the middle. Then I can move the brightness slider if I want it lighter or darker. While the brightness slider won't allow me to drop the brightness down to ultra black, it's at least a light blackish now, or I can lighten it to grey-ish.
They'd have to change the brightness slider's range to go darker if you wanted it full black like a black desktop background. Really, if they changed the brightness slider's range, any color could be dropped to black theoretically once they approached and reached zero. That's how brightness selectors are supposed to work. White = top/max, Black = bottom/minimum.

I can wait if your items with tradelock
Also i have a lot playskins, You can add me for discuss
Trade link https://steamcommunity.com/tradeoffenew/?partner=89041592&token=46BlDshy
I have a lot buff Balance, add me for nego. I can buy Stickered, low float and patterned skins.
I also can buy your high tier items for BTC/PP/BUFF
I can sell my items for BTC/PP
Prices is negotiable, I also can take items

Knife		B/O in Crypto
Flip Sapphire FN 0.02		6480$
Flip Ruby FN 0.02		5600$
Huntsman Emerald FN 0.02		3890$
Falchion Sapphire 0.01		1880$
Falchion Ruby 0.01		1800$
Shadow Daggers Sapphire FN 0.01		1540$
Shadow Daggers Sapphire FN 0.02		1490$
Gut Doppler Sapphire FN 0.03		1580$
Gut Doppler Sapphire MW		1380$
Butterfly Crimson Web MW 0.10 nice webbing owned by Device		3400$
Butterfly Crimson Web MW 0.13		2400$
Butterfly Marble Fade 0.008		2800$
Butterfly Fade MW		3600$
Butterfly Doppler Phase 4		3200$
Butterfly Doppler Phase 3		2200$
Butterfly Slaughter FN 0.01		2500$
Butterfly Tiger Tooth FN ST		2100$
Butterfly Lore FT		2100$
Butterfly Black Laminate MW		1500$
Butterfly Black Laminate WW ST		1150$
Sport Gloves Pandora Box FT 0.20		7650$
Sport Gloves FT Vice 0.15		3650$
Sport Gloves FT Vice 0.24		2450$
Sport Gloves Slingshot MW 0.08		6150$
Sport Gloves Slingshot FT 0.15		2150$
Sport Gloves Slingshot FT		1180$
Sport Gloves Omega MW		2050$
Sport Gloves Arid FT 0.15		1150$
Sport Gloves Amphibious FT 0.15		1650$
Sport Gloves Nocts MW		750$
Specialist Gloves Field Agent MW		1050$
Specialist Gloves Marble Fade FT 0.18		850$
Driver Gloves Snow Leopard MW		1450$
Driver Gloves King Snake FT 0.18		750$
Karambit Marble Fade FN		1950$
Karambit Tiger Tooth FN		1550$
Karambit Vanilla		1450$
Karambit Doppler Phase 2		2050$
Karambit Gamma Doppler Phase 1		1850$
Karambit Doppler Phase 1		1450$
Karambit Lore FT ST		1250$
Karambit Autotronic FT ST		1350$
Karambit Slaughter MW 0.09 centered diamond on PS		1450$
Karambit Crimson Web FT		1050$
Karambit Black Laminate MW		1150$
M9 Lore MW		2950$
M9 Fade FN		2850$
M9 Vanilla		1750$
M9 Gamma Doppler P1		1550$
M9 Autotronic FT		1250$
M9 Tiger Tooth FN		1400$
M9 Slaughter MW		1050$
Bayonet Fade		1350$
Bayonet Doppler P1		750$

Skin	B/O in cash Crypto
AK Gold Arabesque FN Souvenir	19500$
AK Gold Arabesque FT	4000$
AK Wild Lotus MW 0.09	12500$
AK Wild Lotus BS 0.98	3700$
AWP Gungnir FT 0.24	10550$
AWP Gungnir FT 0.26	10050$
AWP Medusa MW x3 crown KennyS gold Boston	6600$
AWP Medusa FT	2900$
AWP Medusa BS	2200$
AWP Hydra FT 0.15	2600$
AWP Lightning Strike FN ST	1200$
AWP Containment Breach FN	580$
AWP Oni Taiji FN ST Crown on scope	1680$

I have a lot other items, you can add me
I can buy your skins for paypal or BTC
Buff Store
I have playskins
I can take BTC/ETH other crypto and PayPal
I can wait if your items has tradelock
Also i have a lot playskins. You can add me for discuss
Trade link~~

I've had two pairs of the Oakley Men's OO9341 Polarized Sliver XL Matte Black, and I love them. They fit great, they look great - perfect sunglasses. The problem is they've BOTH had the arm break off. The "hinge" has these two plastic tabs that hold the arm to the frame, and both glasses have failed there where a tab just deteriorates and falls off. As much as I love these, I'm really not interested in replacing them every 8-9 months.
What recommendations are out there for something that is a similar shape/style, but that is likely to last longer? I'll gladly spend more, just looking for more durability at this point.

So basically I have installed wine-stable with brew and I open note block studio .exe file thingy with wine-stable and it opens well I got through the process of installing it but then when I try to open it it shows at first an error message and a see-through tab of note block studios when I click ok on the error message I get sent to a black screen. I have found some other posts about this but they haven't been answered as far as I know

I've been grappling with a persistent issue for the past six days, spending many hours each day trying to resolve it, but to no avail. The problem involves the Logitech Gaming Software (LGS) settings getting disabled in response to various system events. I have G602 and G13.
I plan to install an older Windows version (1909) suspecting that this could be related to some lock-out features introduced by Microsoft, although I am not certain which version introduced these features.
Has anyone experienced something similar, or do you have insights into how display rendering and communication between drivers and services in Windows operate?
Thanks for any advice or insights you might share.
Here's a detailed breakdown of the issue:
Before installing an nvidia 2070, I was using an AMD APU where the problem rarely occurred, Triger - mostly just causing issues with the OCR integrated into PowerToys. Symptoms - included severe mouse lag, cursor stuttering, and sometimes a complete cursor freeze or a black screen. Fix- Restarting the graphic drivers using keyboard shortcuts would fix. Additionally, another issue with PotPlayer during fullscreen video playback; videos stuttered, but exiting fullscreen resolved the problem. Videos streamed from HBO/Netflix or YT did not encounter this issue.
After installing the 2070, the problem worsened and now additional triggers cause the bug.
Triger: - taking a screenshot causes a system hiccup after about 5 seconds; - launching Discord results in a bug about 10 seconds after the app runs smoothly.
Symptoms: If I move the cursor during this time, it temporarily freezes and makes several jumps before returning to normal function but now without LGS settings, appearing as if LGS is deactivated and the mouse reverts to the 'on-board memory' profile settings. LGS stops working altogether, including my G13 keyboard, which becomes inactive.
Fix To restore proper function, I no longer need to reset the graphic drivers. Now, in most cases, simply giving focus to LGS, like switching to it using Alt+Tab to the 'customize pointer settings' tab where you adjust the mouse speed and DPI, reactivates the correct profile. However, LGS must be open on this specific tab.
The error seems to be triggered by:

1. Severe stuttering, already present with the AMD APU, continues in applications taking control in fullscreen, such as the previously mentioned OCR tool and now also with partial screen captures using ShareX.
2. The error is also triggered by launching or shifting focus to various programs, such as starting Discord, activating a screensaver, or occasionally while watching YouTube in fullscreen or switching to Firefox. Some applications always trigger this bug, like Discord, while others like Firefox only sometimes do.

It seems like an error occurs that temporarily halts and restarts, possibly the drivers or a service, leading to a loss of communication with LGS. Although LGS is still running without internal issues, the pathway connecting the mouse with the cursor bypasses LGS until it is refocused, seemingly restoring the control path. The Windows event log does not show any errors or warnings related to this.
What has been tested:
these things have been enabled and disabled or changed to check if they affect the error:

1. Running as administrator
2. HDR
3. Display scaling in Nvidia panel
4. Refresh rate in Nvidia panel
5. In the video section: Telecine
6. Video content changed to use Nvidia settings
7. Refresh rate
8. Precise color mode
9. HDCP off, by modifying the registry and it is indeed disabled, as informed by the Nvidia panel
10. Scaling disabled, scaling mode set by games and programs turned off
11. G-sync
12. Nvidia overlay
13. Drivers for creators
14. In the system, disabling the display of protected content etc. DRM, despite the introduction of these three changes below, Windows still blocks protected content e.g., blocking screenshots in KeePass. Done: bcdedit /set nx AlwaysOff
15. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Kernel\ -DisableStackProtection
16. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System -EnableSecureContent
17. Uninstalling all drivers using DDU from Guru3D
18. Installing a new system and only installing drivers and LGS
19. Installing the oldest drivers for this card, version 456.71

Despite these adjustments, the issue, though less frequent, still persists.

We are moving to the Prestige theme as it enables my wife's clothing brand to do some things she needs moving forward. One of the biggest issues with our previous theme was the inability to break out a unique color variant to go on sale.
In a previous conversation it was mentioned that products can be "regrouped" via metadata to have all the color variants that remain at full price on a collections page.
Example of desired structure:
/sweaterA (parent, shows colors associated in a selected tab/collection)
/sweaterA-black (full price black color, other variants visible on product page)
/sweaterA-blue (full price blue color, other variants visible on product page)
/sweaterA-yellow (full price yellow color, other variants visible on product page)
/sweaterA-pink (sale item pink color, only shows in archive sale tab) /sweaterA-red (sale item red color, only shows in archive sale tab)
Obviously I'm not a developer, but just trying to outline the process and see if there is a simple way to do it via APP or metadata before going too far down the rabbit hole with other resources.

Hi askdocs
I've (36M) been dealing with high blood pressure (150/85+) this year and have made a ton of progress through exercise, diet, and quitting drinking/smoking. Lately, I've switched to having low (below 80/60) blood pressure. It's been low enough that I've almost blacked out from standing up and during weightlifting.
I talked to my doctor already and he's having me lower my Losartan dosage from 100mg daily to 50mg and stopping my hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg entirely to start, with instructions to continue lowering the dosage until my systolic is back around 120. We currently think I'll be able to stop the medication entirely.
I've also added protein shakes (muscle milk) to my diet to ensure that I'm not malnourished, since my other medications (listed below) suppress my diet significantly.
My question is: at what point should I go back to weightlifting? It's been 3 days on the lower dose and I'm measuring 100/70 before medication and between 90/60 and 100/70 after medication. I'm still getting dizzy when standing up, though not as bad. I was planning on waiting until either I was done adjusting my dosage, or above 110 systolic, but that may be me making excuses for myself.
Medications:

• Venlafaxine 75mg
• Atomoxetine 40mg
• bupropion 150mg
• Aripiprazole 10mg (1/2 a 20mg tab)
• Losartan 50mg
• Gabapentin 300mg (as needed at bedtime for nerve pain)
• Atorvastatin Calcium 20mg
• Trazodone (temporary sleep aid)
• Nicotine gum 2mg/3 hours (as needed for cravings)
• Vitamin D3 5000 IU
• Ibuprofen and acetaminophen as needed for pain

Lifestyle:
Diet is almond milk yogurt w/ granola, and a protein shake for breakfast, raw vegetables for lunch, coldcut sandwich for dinner, fresh fruit, nuts and dried fruit for snacks, 2-3L of water and unsweetened tea for fluids (I've been over hydrated per lab results). 30-60 minutes of exercise on weekdays.
Background:
My weight is currently 215lbs (97.5kg) at 5'11 (180cm). I've been a 1/2 pack/day smoker for 16 years and an alcoholic for 14 years. No indication of liver or kidney damage, and my chest x-ray was clean. I'm currently 3-months sober and have quit smoking, but I'm still using nicotine gum and pouches. I have significant back, ankle/foot, and joint pain from military service and am diagnosed with GAD, MDD, and ADHD (hence the laundry list of medications). My cholesterol was above 300 as of 4 months ago, but is down to 107 as of a week ago. Sleep is a disturbed 5 hours/night.
I've been back in the gym for 3 months, lifting and walking. Outside of exercise, I'm pretty sedentary.

Hi all, I started to play chess last year, now I'm rated 1300 rapid on chess.com tho these last couple of months I've started playing OTB with unexpectedly good results against strong opposition.
Yesterday I've had this game OTB against an almost 1800 rated player (I was black):
https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/4WfgGj2QkN?tab=review
I had a good advantage out of the middle game and I was overall happy with my game, I think I had some good ideas and such. Thing is OTB is very different than online playing since online such a game would be easily won after the middle game, while OTB you fight for 2 and a half hours only to reach a position where things are unclear.
I think from a practical standpoint 35...Bf6 allowing the rook to get in by Rc7+ was a strategical mistake, but at that point I didn't know what to do and was overwhelmed by the complications
I eventually blundered my advantage and a drawn endgame after 3 hours of playing, and it was the most crushing feeling.
Is there a way to actually get better at this kind of stuff?