I just finished 𝓑𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 and have been crying nonstop even as I type this I’m fighting back tears. This book took me on a emotional journey whether it be anxiety, happiness or sadness. Fear, hatred, or love. I’ve read the last 300 pages just today so im filled with emotions from finding out Brom was Eragons dad with the last line of the memory “May the stars watch over you Eragon Bromsson” leaving me in tears wether of joy, sadness, or just shock I do not know. And strangely enough I found it very sad when Rhunön told Eragon about how the prior night she looked and searched far and wide for another piece of brightsteel to make Eragon a sword and couldn’t find anything. Now comes the part the sent me over the edge. Glaedr and Oromis fighting Thorn and Murtagh. With the suspense of that fight raging on, and the fear of the newly summoned shade, the death of Oromis cought me by surprise even more so when I realized it was Murtagh that dealt the blow. The death of Glaedr was shocking just as much. Two of my favorite characters gone just like that and to the hands of Galbatorixs and a former friend to Eragon, Murtagh. That with everything else I had read today, all the emotions bound up, all released when I finished Book Three in the Inheritance Cycle. With me having to put the book up with the former two and grab Book four, The conclusion of the inheritance cycle I couldn’t help but bawl and sob as I realized I was one book closer to the end of Eragon and Saphira’s story. The Inheritance cycle comes to an end and I know that I won’t ever be able to read these books with the same wonder, joy, and sadness ever again as I did the first time. So consider this a love letter to the third book of the inheritance cycle and to Christopher Paolini for writing these beloved books.

TW domestic violence
there is not an easy or kind way to tell this story. I mean it is all there in the title right. My daughter was stillborn at around 30 weeks after my ex boyfriend/stalker who raped me and got me pregnant found out about the pregnancy. He raped and beat me until I felt her stop moving. She was born dead on April 23, 2013. Last Tuesday was her 11th birthday.
I repressed the memories and the grief for the last 11 years. His actions and her death truly broke me. I couldn't cope. I'm trying now, unpacking it all in therapy, with friends, my partner, learning how to mourn.
It is honestly agonizing. Every day I just want her. I want her back. I am so angry that she's gone. I am so bitter that I hid my pain for so long that it's embarrassing to break down about it now. I want to lay on the floor kicking and screaming. I miss her so bad. This feels like the first birthday without her because I never processed it before. I forced myself to forget about her so I could make it. Well, I made it. I don't know what to do now. How do I just keep going like this? How do I survive knowing he took her away from me like that?
I can cope with the abuse, the rape, the attempts on my life. I see a hope and a path forward where I feel good and strong for surviving. I don't know what the path forward is for this. I don't. She didn't have to die. He killed her. What do I do?

It’s close to leaving and all the peril and tribulation of that. I am full of gratitude to have you beside me, even in spirit dreaming alongside me. Keeping me out of complete desolation. nothing brings immediate comfort like you. You bearing this bleak fate we’re both under, I know the little secret threads that weave your story with mine, even if I don’t know the whys. I feel I could weather even sleeping in the park if I was with you, tucked under some blanket just lying in the park, sally says sleeping under the open air is the way to healing, that the darkness whispers to you all the answers you might need. I start to miss those days of all night walks, liminality, far flung in parks mumming to myself about the origins of everything, singing in french, enchanted air, enchanted breath, a region of moonlight and chaos. There’s something romantic about sleeping in the park with your lover. Oh the earth was made for lovers.
I’ve closed down everything tho in my terror, I don’t want to be that wild faun when I’m under so very much instability and constant horreurs. I only want a little hideaway with you then and my books, a place for my dreams. How people don’t know the loveliness they have of being settled in so safely. So safe. I have been so manic and adrenalised from worry for so long, and bearing the brink of death always that I can’t even remember the feeling. But at least it made me a tragic and passionate figure. Surprisingly my dreams are not dark but neither are they fair.
Each hour here is so precious, precious life, this place where the world has its turning, where the mythology of my life is understood and I don’t have to explain myself and explain myself. I exhaust myself explaining. People are clamouring to get out and I only wish I could stay in. I miss the green gold of your eyes, if you were on this ward now you would set back every fear, instil me with so much wisdom, promise, love and hope. Why is time moving so swiftly, it’s unbearable, people don’t realise, every second seems to be moving too quickly, I try to grasp every hour, you feel yourself running out of time. I love you I know you wait for me in the ethers. I’m glad I wrote you this letter, it reminds of that creativity poem by Bukowski he says you keep writing even when your worlds stark or on fire.

Tapping through Snapchat stories is a death tier experience for me, because on it I see people with their family, friends, girlfriends/boyfriends, while all I can post are memes. Even when my social life peaked during 2021 I still had to constantly remind the people I've met that I still exist, because no one would initiate conversation with me. That was 3 years ago, now I don't speak to those people anymore. It's been like this since childhood too. It's like I have some invisible or repellent in gene

I don't want to provide too much information here but the short version of the story is that my partner and I moved in together near the start of this year, one of the main reasons they moved out was to escape ongoing domestic violence from a family member.
Our landlords have arranged for electrical safety inspections through another company and the company called us to book in a time, when they did this they called my partner and asked "I just want to confirm i am speaking with [Partners full name] of [Full Address]" without taking any form of steps to verify my partners identity. In any situation this is bad as if they had of called the wrong number they provided my partners full name and address to a stranger, but for us with ongoing DV if they had called a home phone number or something that was still on file when it shouldn't have been they very easily could have accidently given information to my partners abuser.
I've submitted a complaint to them at the moment but im wanting to know if theres any further action we can take. My partner has recieved death threats from their abuser so its not out of line to say that they endangered my partners life with this.

These are my own thoughts about a potential new The Walking Dead Game that could be a great and unique idea that hasn't been done in the genre yet.
A new TWD game should lean into a mili-sim tactic driven survival horror game. Develop the game into something that plays like Swat 4, or Ready Or Not with bot team mates, tactics and command units in a zombie scenario set during the early outbreak ☢️
They should focus the narrative as a classic tribute homage to George A. Romeros Dawn Of The Dead 1979, with our protagonist team being conscripted police units trying to protect citizens but also to try and contain the situation that's growing worse too
Locations that our team could be sent into would be farmhouses, apartment complexes, government residences, city parks, underground bunkers, malls, grocery stores, and other homage tribute locations
During levels we could have environmental events and narrative world building happen naturally. They could have moments such as cars driving into the buildings exploding, citizens we can choose to save or abandon which could leave them getting jumped by a massive horde of zombies which shows them being devoured and torn apart greusomely in game
The HUD and user interface should be animated in a body cam style filter that would allow players to feel personal and up close with the horror situation it would also give the zombies/world a more tight and uncomfortably realistic perspective to the area
It would be terrifying to have developers showcase actual zombie movie style deaths for our character teams or npcs in the world if they get too injured or get taken down by the massive zombie hordes. It can give us brutal, greusome deaths that aren't as often done in most zombie games due to the team
Human enemy encounters such as looters, raiders, gangs, corrupt officers/military scavengers can be random encounter boss enemy types, but the slow zombie hordes should be the main focus of the IP.
Our main character, as well as the other team units should be custom created from their voices, to the looks/outfits worn by them for the personal story.
Music should be synthetic 70s/80s type of music to really capture that atmospheric survival horror classic zombie feeling. This would make the game stand out a lot from everything else being done ☢️
Weapons should be simple use firearms, and more that can be scavenged through levels and sections with some weapons being able to upgraded with a flashlight duck taped to the gun, or some knife set on the front as a melee weapon to use for zombies
Zombies should sound like moaning, soulless and Haunted creatures that feel like their still trapped in their bodies but can't get out, not monstrous new zombie type sounds you see in the Walking Dead. This could also make the game stand out because it would make them feel more psychologically and nightmare fuel inducing horror, and not bizarre tbh.
The game should be single player, with A.I. team mates, but also have optional online co-op.
Mission structures should be:
Rescue hostages
Secure intelligence reports
Eliminate unchecked hordes in buildings
Scavenge for medical supplies and tools
Deactivate bombs created from raiders
Eliminate dangerous individuals in the area
Destroy massive hordes and look for anyone.
Eliminate anyone infected thats left unchecked

These are my own thoughts about a potential new The Walking Dead Game that could be a great and unique idea that hasn't been done in the genre yet.
A new TWD game should lean into a mili-sim tactic driven survival horror game. Develop the game into something that plays like Swat 4, or Ready Or Not with bot team mates, tactics and command units in a zombie scenario set during the early outbreak ☢️
They should focus the narrative as a classic tribute homage to George A. Romeros Dawn Of The Dead 1979, with our protagonist team being conscripted police units trying to protect citizens but also to try and contain the situation that's growing worse too
Locations that our team could be sent into would be farmhouses, apartment complexes, government residences, city parks, underground bunkers, malls, grocery stores, and other homage tribute locations
During levels we could have environmental events and narrative world building happen naturally. They could have moments such as cars driving into the buildings exploding, citizens we can choose to save or abandon which could leave them getting jumped by a massive horde of zombies which shows them being devoured and torn apart greusomely in game
The HUD and user interface should be animated in a body cam style filter that would allow players to feel personal and up close with the horror situation it would also give the zombies/world a more tight and uncomfortably realistic perspective to the area
It would be terrifying to have developers showcase actual zombie movie style deaths for our character teams or npcs in the world if they get too injured or get taken down by the massive zombie hordes. It can give us brutal, greusome deaths that aren't as often done in most zombie games due to the team
Human enemy encounters such as looters, raiders, gangs, corrupt officers/military scavengers can be random encounter boss enemy types, but the slow zombie hordes should be the main focus of the IP.
Our main character, as well as the other team units should be custom created from their voices, to the looks/outfits worn by them for the personal story.
Music should be synthetic 70s/80s type of music to really capture that atmospheric survival horror classic zombie feeling. This would make the game stand out a lot from everything else being done ☢️
Weapons should be simple use firearms, and more that can be scavenged through levels and sections with some weapons being able to upgraded with a flashlight duck taped to the gun, or some knife set on the front as a melee weapon to use for zombies
Zombies should sound like moaning, soulless and Haunted creatures that feel like their still trapped in their bodies but can't get out, not monstrous new zombie type sounds you see in the Walking Dead. This could also make the game stand out because it would make them feel more psychologically and nightmare fuel inducing horror, and not bizarre tbh.
The game should be single player, with A.I. team mates, but also have optional online co-op.
Mission structures should be:
Rescue hostages
Secure intelligence reports
Eliminate unchecked hordes in buildings
Scavenge for medical supplies and tools
Deactivate bombs created from raiders
Eliminate dangerous individuals in the area
Destroy massive hordes and look for anyone.
Eliminate anyone infected thats left unchecked

Hey all. My partner and I need inspiration for a short we are writing, and looking for horror films where a character experiences surreal, supernatural events while riding in their car. It could be just a scene, or it could be a major focal point of the story. Could be an episode of a tv show as well. Either way, some recommendations would be much appreciated.

https://bgodinspired.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1714362067.png

Introduction: The Epic Quest for Freedom

Have you ever wondered about the power of faith and determination? The story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, known as The Exodus, is a testament to overcoming the impossible. This biblical narrative isn’t just a history lesson; it’s a source of inspiration, showcasing the power of belief and the importance of pursuing freedom against all odds. Join us on a journey through the deserts of ancient Egypt to uncover the timeless lessons hidden within The Exodus.

The Call of Moses: A Leader Born from Humility

Before he became the leader of the Exodus, Moses was a simple shepherd, living a life far removed from the splendors of Pharaoh’s court where he had grown up. His life took a dramatic turn when he encountered the burning bush on Mount Horeb (Exodus 3). Here, God called Moses to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt. Despite his initial hesitation and self-doubt, Moses accepted the call, demonstrating that true leadership springs from humility and faith, not power or prestige.

The Ten Plagues: Signs of Divine Power

As Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, God unleashed ten plagues upon Egypt, showcasing His power over the Egyptian gods and affirming His support for the Israelites. From turning the Nile into blood to the death of the firstborns of Egypt, each plague was a step closer to freedom for Moses and his people. These events remind us that, in face of adversity, faith can bring about miracles and change the course of history.

The Parting of the Red Sea: A Miracle of Faith and Freedom

Perhaps the most iconic moment of The Exodus is the parting of the Red Sea. Trapped between Pharaoh’s approaching chariots and the vast waters, the Israelites faced certain destruction. Yet, with faith in God, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and a path was made for their escape (Exodus 14:21-22). This miraculous event symbolizes the power of faith to open paths where none seem possible and marks the moment of final liberation from Egyptian bondage.

The Journey Through the Wilderness: Lessons in Trust and Provision

The journey through the wilderness was not easy for the Israelites. They faced hunger, thirst, and doubt. Yet, in every moment of need, God provided for them—from manna raining down from heaven to water flowing from a rock (Exodus 16:4, 17:6). These miracles teach us about God’s endless provision and challenge us to trust in Him during our own wilderness experiences.

Conclusion: Embracing the Promise

The story of Moses and the Exodus is about much more than an ancient journey across deserts and seas; it’s a narrative rich with lessons on leadership, faith, perseverance, and the promise of deliverance. As we reflect on this epic tale, let’s remember the strength we can draw from faith and the freedom that comes with trusting in a power greater than ourselves.
Are you facing your own Red Sea? May the story of The Exodus inspire you to stretch out your hand in faith, facing challenges with the courage and conviction that freedom and fulfillment are just on the horizon. Embrace your journey, and let the timeless lessons of The Exodus guide you towards your own promised land.
If you want to want to research more Bible Answers on your own, please try our Bible Answers GPT. It’s easy to get lost in the interesting responses you’ll find… every search is like a new treasure hunt 🙂
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Ok, so this happened about two years ago, when me(16f) was riding my bike around the neighborhood cause it was a sunny day and i wanted to be outside when my bully(16m), and let's call him Joshua, started unexpected following me around on his bike. (The main reason Joshua bullied me was because I was the new girl at school and I knew no one and I was shy so I was easy to be picked on as it has happened ay my old Schools.) OK, back to the story, ao basically as I already said, I was riding my bike when Joshua unexpectedly starting following about six inches away from me, which seemed odd, so when I turned the corner, I looked back and Joshua was right behind me still. Being my dumb self I continued to go around this one part of my neighborhood, until eventually I see him pull into his friends garage, lets call him Benjamin. So Benjamin also bullied me because he was friends with Joshua, and then Benjamin started to laugh and point at me, and almost immediately Joshua was laughing too, which made me upset since I was already struggling. So j continued riding, and the next time I biked around Benjamin's house, can you guess what happened? Probably! So, Joshua rode his bike out of Benjamin's garage and started to follow me again, but he was closer and right up on my tail and at this point I was absolutely DONE with Joshua following me and his dumb friend, so I did something... Soooo..... when Joshua was right up on my butt, I suddenly hit the breaks on my bike, causing my tires to screech and Joshua's bike ran right into my back tire, which caused his bike to somewhat go into the air and he almost fell off. After that, Joshua looked at me in disgust and flipped me off and said that I was an a-hole but he was the one that was being creepy and following me. And in response I said that this is whay je gers for bullying people. Ok, be honest, AITA in this situation or did I do the right thing? And, Joshua almost falling off was a complete accident.

. . . I was convinced! I picked up Death’s End yesterday and finished it today. Overall, it was a really good read. I’d give it a solid 8.5 stars out of 10. There was a lot to like and some to not. Here are my thoughts, from Not Great to Great.
Not Great:

• “I’m a woman, not a warrior.” Sigh. I knew it was coming but it still wasn’t great when it did. Multiple times, she said this to herself and others. The general sexism in this was enough of an annoyance that I had to occasionally will my eyes not to roll up into my head and get stuck there.
  
• AA. First, AA generally belongs in my Great list because I enjoyed her a lot, but her reason for existing other than to be a face for Cheng Xin to talk to is beyond me. Cheng Xin wakes up in the future and AA is her guide. That’s cool. But then before the end of that chapter, Cheng Xin sells her star and tells AA that she’ll need to form a company to manage her money. AA’s completely normal and rational response is that she’ll immediately quit her job/PhD studies to run this company for a person she just met. It seemed weird. Also, aside from the multiple boyfriend she had, we don’t know anything else about her. Did she emerge as the product of binary fission from a single celled organism? Maybe! Because we don’t know if she had parents, friends, or anyone else to hang out with while the world was literally ending. . . except for Cheng Xin. Ok.
  
• Australian Sophon. Look, I love a Katana-armed character as much as the next person, but she was such a mustache-twirling villain that I laughed . . . but not in a good way, which leads me to. . .
  
• Humanity’s Stupidity. I mean, c’mon. When the Deterrence Era started, everybody was all, “Awesome! The Trisolarans want to be our friends and send us art and stuff so we should absolutely build an AI robot controlled by them that is capable of becoming an unstoppable human-killing machine! What could go wrong?!’“ Yeah, no. None of that made sense, which leads me to. .
  
• Today’s topic called Evolution Doesn’t Work Like That! Wow. This was a big one. Humans (well, actually just men - I guess women evolved to take better care of of their skin and then didn’t) apparently can physically evolve into “feminized men” and then back to “Common Era-AKA 80’s men” every 60 years or so, depending on the state of the world. This was written to be a biological change affecting their bodies and vocal pitch to such an extreme that Cheng Xin couldn’t find a single one when she woke up after her first slumber. It wasn’t just about fashion choices. No. To evolve like that would require many, many millennia, not just a half a century here there. This was just silly.
  

Related to that are other situations like the one when a group formed during the Broadcast Era who wanted to create a totally agrarian society. They went to Australia and immediately noped out as soon as they picked up a shovel because supposedly, humans had moved past their ability to perform manual labor. Huh. Got it.

• String Theory. I’m just going to leave that there.
  
• Dark Forest. Those words appeared way too much. Sometimes they were said over and over in the same paragraph. “dark forest attack…”, “the universe is a dark forest…”, “…planning/preparing fodefending against a dark forest strike…”, “remember that we are in a dark forest”, etc., etc. etc. I get it. I don’t need to be told 800 million times.
  

There’s a few other things that I exclaimed out loud, “oh no, this is stupid”, but those were the highlights.
Great:

• Cheng Xin. Yes, she was “A WOMAN, NOT A WARRIOR”, but aside from that, I thought she was a well-written and complex character and I understood and agreed with her choices. The author did her dirty with the maternal/overly emotional business, however, that didn’t define her as much as I expected it to and I really enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes.
  
• Lao Jin. Total badass. He was basically a fierce monk and it wouldn’t have surprised me if he suddenly whipped a light saber. Love him.
  
• Gravity and Blue Space. The sections dedicated to them were awesome with shades of Star Trek lore woven throughout. Great characters, deliciously mysterious events, pathos, dread . . . 10/10. Well done.
  
• The fairy tales. This one surprised me. I didn’t expect to enjoy them, but I did. The stories themselves were very well-written and fun to read, and encouraged reader interaction like any good riddle should. When the “slip of paper” revealed its nature, I was all, “Oh! It’s the paintings! 3-D things being made into 2-D things makes them disappear!”, like some nerdy idiot. It was good fun. Again, 10/10.
  
• The 2-D collapse of our Solar System. Aside from the overly long descriptions of Mercury and Mars, I thought it was brilliant. The account of the 2-D collapse of Europe VI was particularly moving. It was a shocking but beautiful way to end (most of) humanity.
  
• Pretty much everything else so this list is deceptively shorter. This was an easy, fun, well-paced read that was definitely time well spent. Highly recommend
  

Hi all
I know there is so much speculation, rumour and uncertainty around how Season 5 Part 2 is going to shape up.
I was curious to see what people have read in terms of what the current day Yellowstone group is going to look like beyond S5?
I know Cole Hauser has said in different interviews that Yellowstone has a long way to go in terms of their story, but with all the uncertainty that Kevin Costner has brought on the show, I’m not sure what is next? If anything ?
I really wanted to see the story continue, see who takes over the ranch and see what happens (in detail) to our characters of today.
I don’t think we will get a fitting end if it was to end at S5.
I do believe there is appetite for not only 1923 s2 and a season in between that era and today but as well as for our current group to see them move forward post a probable John Dutton death.

In the beginning, your uncle(your stepmother's brother) was a rapist, and your uncle(your stepmother's brother) gave birth to an illegitimate child with the girl who was raped . Then, your stepmother was a prostitute, and your stepmother suffered from severe schizophrenia. And at the same time, because your father had some conflicts with the Chinese government, your father was likely to been arrested by the Chinese government. Therefore, your father wanted to get married as soon as possible to escaped the attention of the Chinese government. Then, your stepmother (your stepmother's parents) cheated on your father into getting married. Just like that, your father and your stepmother married for their own benefit. Then, your father raped your biological mother after he learned that your stepmother was a prostitute and suffered from severe schizophrenia. Therefore, your stepmother gave birth to a child, and your biological mother gave birth to you, an illegitimate child. Later, because the child your father and your stepmother gave birth to was the child of a prostitute, your father felt that his family could not survive in this society. Therefore, your father killed their own child with his own hands. Then, your father and your stepmother deceived and abducted you. And if it weren't for your father and your stepmother not wanting to have their own children, your father wouldn't had wanted you. Then, your stepmother and you moved to your stepmother's hometown. In this city, people only knew that your stepmother was once a prostitute, but they didn't know that you are just your stepmother's stepson. And in this city, people only knew that your uncle is a rapist, but they didn't know that your father is also a rapist. Later, your father also suffered from severe schizophrenia. And later, your biological mother sold you to your stepmother. Later, your father also moved to your stepmother's hometown. And later, your father still felt that it was difficult for his family to survive in this society. Therefore, your father always wanted to divorce your stepmother and always wanted to kick your stepmother out of the family. However, your stepmother had been using you to prevent your father from divorcing your stepmother. So, your father must draw clear boundaries with you and your stepmother for his own survival. Then, your father had been abusing you and beating you at home and bickering and fighting with your stepmother all the time to make others felt that your father had drawn clear boundaries with you and your stepmother. Moreover, your father once wanted to beat you to death and then divorce your stepmother. Then a few years later, to get back at your father, your stepmother went to the home of the woman who was raped by your uncle and the place where you studied to tell the people there that you were the son of a prostitute and that you should bear the crime for your prostitute mother. Moreover, your stepmother also told the people there that your uncle was a rapist and that you should bear the responsibility for your rapist uncle. And, your stepmother asked the woman who was raped by your uncle, the illegitimate child of your uncle, your teachers and your university teachers to beat you and commit violence against you. Then, the woman who was raped by your uncle, the illegitimate child of your uncle, your teachers and your university teachers actually sent your classmates and others to beat you and commit violence against you. So, your classmates and others kept beating you and being violent to you. Then, after your classmates and others beat you and violently assaulted you for two years, most people in this city also learned about your situation. However, the mayor of this city and the officials from the Provincial Department of Education only came to your school to give a few speeches and asked you all to be good children and students. Then, after ten years of beating and violence against you by your classmates and others, the Chinese government and the 1.42 billion Chinese people had also learned of these things about you. Then, your father also learned that your stepmother instigated people outside to beat you and commit violence against you. However, in order to protected himself, your father had been pretending that nothing happened and hiding the truth from you. Then, the Chinese government, the woman who was raped by your uncle, the illegitimate child of your uncle, the family of the woman raped by your uncle, and the 1.42 billion Chinese people had also been hiding the truth from you and suppressing you and making you unemployed. Then ten years later, your stepmother took advantage of your father's illness and killed your father. Then, in the ten years since then, the Chinese government, the woman who was raped by your uncle, the illegitimate child of your uncle, the family of the woman raped by your uncle, and the 1.42 billion Chinese people have been sending your stepmother to do domestic violence against you and put poison in the food you eat. That's it, your father, the woman who was raped by your uncle, the illegitimate child of your uncle, your teachers and your university teachers, the family of the woman raped by your uncle, the Chinese government and the 1.42 billion Chinese people have been committing adultery with your prostitute stepmother for forty-seven years. Hehehe.
So if the above story really happen in China, would the Japanese feel that the Chinese Communist Party and 1.42 billion Chinese people have committed an unforgivable crime and must die? And if the Japanese feel that 1.42 billion Chinese must die and the Chinese nation must be wiped out, are the Japanese authorities willing to send troops to kill all 1.42 billion Chinese and wipe out the Chinese nation? Hehe.

I have gone through a lot today, and through it I have been thinking about Syphonetic. I have accepted that my stupid little hyperactive brain isn’t capable of making a comic, nor a story. I am sorry. I am only one person and a relatively depressed and young one at that. I just can’t, I can only really draw individual drawings as those stimulate my brain and release the happy chemicals.
I want to focus on my enjoyment and comfort in life, especially as the very stressful school term begins. I want to have fun, be silly and give my life a light. Not over stressing myself to the brink of death for something only a few people would care about. I’m sorry if this makes you upset, feel free to leave a rude comment and leave. I don’t blame you. I will obviously keep posting here, I love this community and I don’t want to leave it. I want to continue having fun and being creative with y'all.
But for now, any possibility of a comic or animation has been scrapped.
Sincerely, your Syphobot Creating Pal

I have gone through a lot today, and through it I have been thinking about Syphonetic. I have accepted that my stupid little hyperactive brain isn’t capable of making a comic, nor a story. I am sorry. I am only one person and a relatively depressed and young one at that. I just can’t, I can only really draw individual drawings as those stimulate my brain and release the happy chemicals.
I want to focus on my enjoyment and comfort in life, especially as the very stressful school term begins. I want to have fun, be silly and give my life a light. Not over stressing myself to the brink of death for something only a few people would care about. I’m sorry if this makes you upset, feel free to leave a rude comment and leave. I don’t blame you. I will obviously keep posting here, I love this community and I don’t want to leave it. I want to continue having fun and being creative with y'all.
But for now, any possibility of a comic or animation has been scrapped.
Sincerely, your Syphobot Creating Pal

A couple of months ago, I (28f) was in a car with 3 other members of my friend group. The car ride was about two and half hours long, we were going to a different town for a big group activity. This story focuses on the driver, 36m. I would describe our relationship as being frenemies. The other two in the car were 34f and 36f.
During the car ride, frenemy began talking about a dramatic situation that had hapoened recently. I don't remember the story exactly, but it went something like this:
Frenemy's pet has passed away semi-recently, and he had the pet's ashes being sent to him via UPS. The package was 2 or 3 days overdue, and he speculated that UPS had stopped by every day, didn't knock or ring the bell, and simply put a "could not deliver" note on his door 2 days in a row, because he had found said notice on his door two days in a row. From what I recall, he didn't have any kind of door bell camera at the time, so there wasn't any concrete proof of what had actually happened. He had taken off a day or two of work, because he didnt want to miss the package, as package theft is very common in our area.
So its day 3 of the package being late. He reported that the same thing happened AGAIN, that the package was not delivered. He was saying that he saw a UPS truck on his block, but didn't see it stop at his house. At this point, he called UPS, because he could tell via the tracker that the package was at a warehouse about an hour away. I can't remember if the package was labeled "out for delivery" or not.
Any who, he called UPS, and from what he described, the UPS person on the phone wad exceedingly unhelpful. The employee had told frenemy that his package was indeed still at the wearhouse, but didn't have any answers for frenemy. It was at this point that frenemy describes how he went scorched earth on this UPS employee. He insulted, berated, yelled and attacked the character of the UPS employee because the package had not been delivered. He was not only telling the employee how he was bad at his job, but frenemy also called the employee "worthless" and a POS. At some point, frenemy was transferred to a different UPS employee, who he also then berated, insulted and attacked that employee's character as well. Eventually, frenemy was able to go pick up the package from the wearhouse.
Now, here is where I might be the AH. I was telling frenemy (calmly) that what he did was entirely disrespectful, and that those poor employees didn't deserve to be attacked in the way frenemy had attacked them. Frenemy continued to justify his actions, which did make me a bit upset, i will admit. I don't use this word often, but I called him a cunt, several times. I also called him an asshole.
34f was agreeing with frenemy, but I just really couldn't see how either of those employees deserved to be insulted the way frenemy had insulted them.
I know how it feels to lose a very beloved pet, and I'm not at all saying that his emotions didn't matter. There is a lot of grief to process when a dear fur baby is lost, and he no doubt was experiencing some pretty heavy grief during this time.
I can see exactly why he was upset, because I would have been too, but I don't see how insulting strangers was the way to channel those emotions.
AITA for calling out my frenemy for berating two UPS employees over the phone?

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Recently, u/TheAngryObserver's argued against the recent TikTok ban, passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Biden. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, or PAFACA, was signed into law earlier this week, which ban TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, does not sell the company to an owner not associated with a 'foreign adversary.' While TikTok is mentioned specifically in the bill, the law provides for similar bans to be enacted against foreign-adversary-controlled apps in the future.
Banning TikTok is a prudent and forward-thinking idea, for two reasons that are, by themselves, each sufficient to justify a ban, but together demand one, such is the risk. I find Angry's well-meaning legal and ethical objections to the law unconvincing, and in his post I don't think he fully acknowledged the threat posed by continued operation of TikTok in the U.S. under CCP control.

Note on the CCP's relationship with private business

Before diving into the potential threats posed by TikTok in its current state, it is crucial to understand the nature of the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and private businesses based in China. This 2023 article by the East Asia Forum gives an overview of the changing nature of party-corporate relations under the Party leadership of Xi Jinping. The CCP has always had a presence in China's private sector, but, in recent years, "the private sector is still seen as a frontier for party-building, with Chinese President Xi Jinping making it a priority." While party cells within private corporations used to be focused more on organizing "study sessions or social gatherings" for members, Xi has "called on the private sector to 'unite around the party,'" a directive to deepen party-corporation relationships and direct corporate funding towards Party functions.
Perhaps most emblematic of the Party's ongoing power grab in the private sector is how deeply the Party is becoming involved in everyday corporate functions, with the following passage referring to the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a rough analogue to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce under control by the CCP:

The ACFIC also calls for the CCP to ‘exercise leadership over personnel management’, aiming to avoid ‘professional managers promoting whomever they like’. It also recommends that firms establish a monitoring structure under CCP leadership to surveil employees, detect ‘abnormal behaviour’ and deal with disciplinary violations.

This is not simply a matter of Chinese investors owning a company, rather than American ones; it is a fundamentally different relationship between private and public actors. Opposing the accumulation of power by such incestuous unions in the U.S. is not xenophobia. Angry's assertion that "TikTok itself remains adamant that it would refuse requests from ByteDance, its Chinese parent, or the Chinese government, for data. We, again, have no evidence to the contrary," in my view, misunderstands the relationship between Chinese private enterprise and the CCP. Xi clearly views the kind of independence Angry describes as an obstacle, and private investors who come to be seen as obstacles by Xi have a nasty habit of disappearing.

Data security

Angry describes the law as being driven by the fear of "potential risk that its sister, by being located in an enemy nation, could hypothetically take American data (such as emails), give it to said enemy, and then there's the possibility that that enemy could use these emails and whatnot against us."
The fear of data abuse is not based in hypotheticals. It is based in distrust of a political entity that has no credibility on the issue of respect for data privacy due to a series of conscious and deliberate actions:

• In 2017, China passed the National Intelligence Act, which contains the following requirements, placing no limit on the amount of cooperation the government can demand of 'all organizations and citizens' of China

Article 7: All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.
Article 10: As necessary for their work, national intelligence work institutions are to use the necessary means, tactics, and channels to carry out intelligence efforts, domestically and abroad.

• In 2021, TikTok's head of public policy for the Americas, Michael Beckerman, testified that 'we don't share information with the Chinese government' and that American user data is stored in the U.S. and in Singapore.
• In 2022, leaked recordings of TikTok employees confirmed that, despite TikTok's public protests to the contrary, 'everything is seen in China,' and that there exists a Beijing-based executive 'Master Admin' who 'has access to everything.' While TikTok publicly insisted on the soundness of their 'Project Texas' strategy to store data in the U.S, a consultant working with TikTok said he felt that "with these tools, there’s some backdoor to access user data in almost all of them, which is exhausting.”
• In 2022, in response to those recordings obtained by Buzzfeed, the TikTok user data of two journalists, one from Buzzfeed, "was accessed while ByteDance employees were investigating potential employee leaks to the press, according to the company."
• In 2023, TikTok backtracked on its assertion that U.S. data is stored in the U.S, saying that American content creators' data, including tax forms and social security numbers, are indeed stored in China.
• in 2024, TikTok insists that 'we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation,' conveniently ignoring that the greatest threat to Americans' data security are not 'outside influencers' but people within TikTok and ByteDance itself.

Maybe you believe TikTok's denials when they say that they're working really hard to protect data security, and this time they really mean it. But I sometimes step back and marvel at what TikTok is asserting it has the right to do. A subsidiary of a larger company is attempting to convince us that it has no obligations to follow the directives of the authorities it answers to; they are insisting that, when the time comes, they can be trusted to disobey the requests of their investors, their owners at ByteDance, and the Party agents embedded throughout the company. I know everyone likes to fantasize about telling their boss 'no.' But I do not think the security of Americans' location data and social security numbers should depend on such a fantasy, especially when the boss in question runs what is likely the most comprehensive surveillance state in the history of the world.

Information

While data security concerns have taken up the lion's share of the discourse surrounding the law, I find the concerns for the future of discourse itself even more concerning. Our decisions -- political, social, financial -- are only as good as the information we base them on. In Democracy in America, one of the first major studies of American political culture in the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that

What best explains to me the enormous circulation of the daily press in the United States, is that amongst the Americans I find the utmost national freedom combined with local freedom of every kind.

In other words, not only did the great amount of important political questions presented to the American people at the not just the national and state but also the local levels necessitate a large industry dedicated to the spread of information, but that such freedom to decide depended on newspapers; or, as de Tocqueville says of newspapers, "to suppose that they only serve to protect freedom would be to diminish their importance: they maintain civilization."
Social media is often the vehicle for news today; when you click a CNN tweet to read the full story or see the headlines on news, the content you're reading is written by journalists, but the mechanism by which it reaches you is social media; thus, it is impossible to talk of news without talking of social media. Furthermore, 58% of Americans prefer to get their news on digital devices, a number that has been on a steady rise as TV and radio news fade.
According to its own data, TikTok has about 150 million users in the U.S. alone (more conservative estimates still place the figure above 100 million). That's nearly half of the entire U.S. population getting news from TikTok; having their worldview shaped on TikTok; trusting TikTok's algorithm to steer high-quality stories to them and misleading or dishonest stories away from them. I don't think we fully acknowledge how much power that is.
Consider a hypothetical. The PRC has, for years, insisted that 'reunification' with Taiwan is inevitable, and a high-priority goal of the CCP. The line used to stress 'peaceful reunification,' but no longer. On some day in the not-too-distant future, America may wake up to a world in chaos -- yet another 21st-century imperialist invasion, certain to lead to mass devastation and pushing the world closer to war. But how will we learn of this development? The first thing I, and most Americans, do upon waking up is to roll over, pick up my phone, and check social media.
But for many on that fateful day, the first thing they see will be exactly what the CCP wants them to see. Before you watch the news; before you read the headlines; before you speak to your family or your friends; the people who will have the most power to shape your perception of the unfolding conflict will be the organization that was once exposed for explictly ordering moderators to ban mentions of Tiananmen Square and Tibetan independence. TikTok insists that it has loosened these restrictions, but even if that is true, do you trust them to maintain that 'freedom of expression' during a time of war? In war, information is yet another good that must be mass-produced. Consider how Russia flooded TikTok itself with misinformation in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, seeking to control the narrative from the start, demoralize Ukraine and its Western supporters, and thus dissuade any potential white knights from riding to their victim's rescue.
It is not difficult to imagine what the CCP, in effective control of a platform that reaches three hundred million American eyeballs, could do with that power. Angry brings up a good point -- he says 'Americans have, with some very specific and limited exceptions, the right to lie.' This is true. But the CCP is not an American citizen. It is a foreign adversary, who largely sees American power as a threat to its own interests and its democratic institutions as threats to its own legitimacy. It conducts industrial espionage on Americans, stealing trade secrets and sowing distrust. It launched an information campaign in 2022 to "discourage Americans from voting while highlighting U.S. political polarization" and has honed their info-op tactics for this year. It threatens global stability by its imperialistic bullying of its weaker neighbors in Asia. It launches hacking attacks on Americans critical of the regime. These are not the acts of a friendly competitor or a rival. These are the actions of a party that believes that our loss is their gain.
If you think the state of our public discourse is in a bad state now, I urge you to use your imagination as to what the controllers of a platform with an opaque recommendation algorithm and an opaque report system that resides at all times in the pocket of half of America can do. Detoxifying our murky political discourse will be difficult, but it will become impossible if the United States' greatest geopolitical adversary is allowed a pipeline into it through which to pump raw sewage. Even if they're not using it now, I'd prefer that pipeline not exist in the first place.

Legality

Angry presents several reasons he believes the . I do not find these convincing.

• "Obviously, it prevents the 100 million American TikTok users from expressing themselves, a violation of the First Amendment."

Is the government banning a certain content of speech? No. As established, you can parrot Chinese propaganda as an individual in public all you want.
Is the government banning a certain kind of speech? No. You can make short-form videos saying whatever you want on other platforms, and indeed several other companies have moved into the short-form video space for this purpose, and doubtless more will if TikTok is indeed banned. It can hardly be argued that moving from TikTok to YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels places an undue burden on TikTok's users in their exercise of free speech.
So the government is neither telling people what they can say, nor telling them how they can say it, nor placing an illegal burden on those who want to speak. Corporations cannot indefinitely forestall any legal consequence for their otherwise harmful behavior by declaring their place of business to be a 'free speech zone,' and thus declare anyone who interferes with it as a violator of the First Amendment. Saying that banning TikTok violates the First Amendment rights of its users is like saying the health inspector can't shut down an Olive Garden with a rat infestation because Olive Gardens are places where people can theoretically discuss contentious issues.

• "The bill is probably unconstitutional, as the state of Montana discovered when it tried a similar scheme while ago."

The preliminary injunction issued in the Montana case cites First Amendment concerns that I addressed above. The case is currently being appealed, and as such the Montana ruling should not be seen as the court system's final opinion on this matter.

• "It is also a piece of legislation sanctioning a specific person/company, a bill of attainder, which is illegal under Article 1, Section 9."

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service evaluated this concern and others and noted that

In two recent judicial challenges, courts held that legislation restricting transactions with PRC-based Huawei and Russia-based Kaspersky Lab did not violate the Bill of Attainder Clause because the laws sought to protect U.S. security, not punish a private actor. Proposals that would provide for a judicial trial or agency action before imposing applicable sanctions, such as H.R. 7521, would not violate the Bill of Attainder Clause.

As established before, there is an existing national security concern, and the fact that the bill provides a window of time to offload the company before any sanctions would come into place undermines the legal notion that ByteDance is being explicitly being punished for past actions without trial.

• "It also directly infringes on the property rights of TikTok's owners without due process, which raises Fifth Amendment concerns-- read, TikTok is having its property seized even though it hasn't been found guilty of a crime."

The CRS evaluated this concern as well, noting that,

In one relevant example, a federal court of appeals held that, before the President could order a PRC-based company to divest an acquisition under the CFIUS process, the government needed to provide the affected company with the unclassified information on which it based its decision and the chance to respond.

TikTok has been presented with the American concerns over data privacy and information, and has been given a chance to respond. Furthermore, the CRS argues that Congress may have even fewer legal obligations in this case, unless the law is 'palpably arbitrary' -- a description that cannot be applied to the myriad reasons the U.S. has to be suspicious of increasing CCP power in the U.S.

Conclusion

Continued Chinese ownership of TikTok poses a serious threat to American data security, to its free and open discourse, and to its national security. As you follow the proceedings, I urge you to consider philosopher Karl Popper's famous Paradox of Tolerance, which holds that an infinitely tolerant society will inevitably be infiltrated by intolerant ideas, having no mechanism with which to stunt their growth. In history, free societies that protect human rights are the exception, not the rule, and, in a time of rising authoritarianism around the world, free societies cannot afford to become paralyzed in the phase of such a threat. For an entity whose reign has been characterized by nothing so much as the constant crushing of human freedom to demand protection under the same aegis of civil liberties the American government extends over its own citizens is like a pack of wolves trying to squeeze their way through a doggy-door designed for the owner's pet spaniel.
I was supportive of the bill before it passed, and the events since the signing of the bill have only served to further convince me of its necessity. Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, posted a greasy statement of defiance in which he insists that he cares about 'YOUR voice' on a platform that has been accused, He talks about how the 'freedom of expression on TikTok reflects the same American values that make the United States a beacon of freedom' just weeks after the site limited researcher access to data on politically-charged hashtags like 'UyghurGenocide' and 'TiananmenSquare' in response to a Rutgers study which found that 'there was a “strong possibility” TikTok content was being amplified or underrepresented based on how it aligns with the Chinese government’s interests.' It seems that, for TikTok, patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

I (38F) am the oldest child on my dads side of the family. I never got to meet his mom, my grandmother, because she had passed away kind of young. This didn't really bother me at first, and my mom was more than okay in keeping us kids seperated from his side of the family. A different story to share.
Mom and dad divorced, both remarried and dads new wife (who is only 6 years older than me) HATES us. She does everything she can to keep us from talking to our dad. I was tired of that fight (another story to share later) and pretty much told him to call me when she divorces him. Then went no-contact with him.
Before doing that, I was asking him about his mothers sudden passing. At this time I learned my mom has a heart disease, and that it is heriditary through her side. I wanted to be in the know of possible heriditary medical issues and his mothers death might also be something heriditary. Something that my two siblings (M 35 and F 34) would also want to know and maybe keep an eye out for possible symptoms.
Before I could ask him, I went no contact. And intended to keep it as such.
I did reach out to his brothers, as they were attending my grandfathers funeral. Both my sister and I were asking about their mothers death. Unfortunately they were too young to remember what it was, and left the only other person to know being my dad.
10 years of no contact, I casually brought up my grandmothers death to my mom. She couldn't recall what had caused my grandmother to die so young, though offered to help me look for her Death Certificate. I went right for it. $22 out of pocket cost and 4 days later, I FINALLY get the answer I have been searching for.
My grandmother died when she was 38 years old. From Esyphilus. I was so, SO happy to have this answer in my hands. Hard proof on if my grandmothers death would be something that I might have inherited or not.
An hour later, my mom and I are geneology hunting through my dads possible family tree when my sister called. I told her the news of the mystery in our grandmothers death. My brother, who lives with my sister, called me an asshole. That if I wanted to know, to have asked my dad instead. My mom told my brother to ask him then. I asked my sister if she wanted a copy of the certificate, and she agreed. My brother, now, called us all assholes and shouldn't care about our grandmothers death. That if it was something real serious, our dad would have told us instead.
AITA

A couple of months ago, I (28f) was in a car with 3 other members of my friend group. The car ride was maybe 3 hours, we were going to a different town for a big group activity. This story focuses on the driver, 36m. I would describe our relationship as being frenemies. The other two in the car were 34f and 36f.
During the car ride, frenemy began talking about a dramatic situation that had happened recently. I don't remember the story exactly, but it went something like this:
Frenemy's pet had passed away semi-recently, and he had the pet's ashes being sent to him via UPS. The package was 2 or 3 days overdue, and he speculated that UPS had stopped by every day, didn't knock or ring the bell, and simply put a "could not deliver" note on his door 2 days in a row, because he had found said notice on his door two days in a row. From what I recall, he didn't have any kind of door bell camera at the time, so there wasn't any concrete proof of what had actually happened. He had taken off a day or two of work, because he didnt want to miss the package, as package theft is very common in our area.
So its day 3 of the package being late. He reported that the same thing happened AGAIN, that the package was not delivered. He was saying that he saw a UPS truck on his block, but didn't see it stop at his house. At this point, he called UPS, because he could tell via the tracker that the package was at a warehouse about an hour away. I can't remember if the package was labeled "out for delivery" or not.
Any who, he called UPS, and from what he described, the UPS person on the phone wad exceedingly unhelpful. The employee had told frenemy that his package was indeed still at the wearhouse, but didn't have any answers for frenemy. It was at this point that frenemy describes how he went scorched earth on this UPS employee. He insulted, berated, yelled and attacked the character of the UPS employee because the package had not been delivered. He was not only telling the employee how he was bad at his job, but frenemy also called the employee "worthless" and a POS. At some point, frenemy was transferred to a different UPS employee, who he also then berated, insulted and attacked that employee's character as well. Eventually, frenemy was able to go pick up the package from the wearhouse.
Now, here is where I might be the AH. I was telling frenemy (calmly) that what he did was entirely disrespectful, and that those poor employees didn't deserve to be attacked in the way frenemy had attacked them. Frenemy continued to justify his actions, which did make me a bit upset, I will admit. I don't use this word often, but I called frenemy a cunt, several times. I also called him an asshole.
34f was agreeing with frenemy, but I just really couldn't see how either of those employees deserved to be insulted the way frenemy had insulted them.
I know how it feels to lose a very beloved pet, and I'm not at all saying that his emotions didn't matter. There is a lot of grief to process when a dear fur baby is lost, and he no doubt was experiencing some pretty heavy grief during this time. I can see exactly why he was upset, because I would have been too, but I don't see how insulting strangers was the way to channel those emotions.
AITA for calling out my frenemy for berating two UPS employees over the phone?

i can remember at least three different episodes i think were all from this same show, the animation seemed similar.
first one this servant girl is accused of stealing a ring from her boss so she runs away and meets this painter who can bring to life whatever he paints such as a talking dog he created and his son who has this magical violin that can move things and summon the wind when he plays it. the servant girl and her new family are pursued by her former boss who hires a detective who is a master of many disguises and a large police office who drives this car that's crammed full with about twenty or so smaller police officers. at the end the girl is captured and the painter and his son go to the manor to ask for the girls release in exchange for painting a very large of gold after painting it the three villains are trapped inside it and the painter then wipes the picture.
second one set in india this boy helps this magical deer that magically drops gold coins escape from hunters, only to later be captured by them and forced to find the deer, he journeys through the jungle helping several animals along the way who in turn help guide him to the deer that comes with the boy back to the palace of the evil king who offers to give him as much gold as he wants but if he ever says stop then the gold will turn to coal, the deer begins dropping lots of gold coins around the king and his men begin picking them up this goes on for a while until he is lying in a big pile of gold coins and foolishly happily says thats enough then all the gold turns to coal or rock and he' s trapped.
third one about this male faun and his mom the story was about a Lion who was a king is not well i think he had a toothache or something and asks for help from a porcupine doctor who uses his quills as pens, the king lion is tricked by a hyena into thinking that he needs the deer mother to help him get better so he sends his pack of lioness's after her, the faun gets away but the mom is captured and taken to the king, the kings messenger bird suspects something is up so he flies to the porcupine doctor while being attacked by a large hawk on the way, the porcupine doctor writes down the real remedy and the faun runs all the way to deliver it, the hyena with his ruse discovered is backed into a corner and falls off a cliff to his death.