Just curious about what other federal employees using BCBS standard plan this year for IVF have paid out of pocket. Most things were billed, but here is what we paid out of pocket for an ER: $2,000 for coordination of care at our clinic, $1,200 for PGD (cell prep to ship for PGT-A) $1,500 for an off label use of the drug Omnitrope, $700 for supplements, $400 for anesthesia, $130 in gas for all the trips to the clinic for monitoring, and $200 PGT-A testing of our one and only embryo. So our total cost for one ER with insurance was $6,000. While I am beyond grateful to have insurance through this hard journey and recognize that many others don’t have this privilege, it still feels like a lot of money because our doctor told us we’d need 3-4 ERs for DOR, so that’s $18k just for ERs. I’m not sure what a mock cycle and FET will cost. Any other feds out there have some perspective on this and are you willing to share your cost breakdown down?

Excuse my bad english, i used AI to translate some parts, im not a native speaker. So, here goes the story of how Jehovah's Witnesses almost drove me to suicide, how my grandmother disowned me, and why I am now 1,327 kilometers away from my family, haha.
I was born into a three-generation JW family in Cancún, Mexico. I never had birthdays, Halloween, or any of the world's holidays. From ages 0 to 3, my nuclear family was distant from the JWs. I learned to read and began reading Watchtower literature. I never liked the idea that Jehovah was going to commit genocide on 99% of the world's population and that we would be happy in paradise with exile, resurrection, and more. At age 4, they resumed their service to the organization and tried to raise me solely with Watchtower literature. Everything else was practically forbidden, although I loved watching documentaries and reading about nature. I became a fan of some school books. I was never allowed to have a single friend, and at school, I was forced to have perfect grades, or else my parents would beat me, and this continued until I was 8 years old.
When I was 8, my father quit his job because a coworker started sexually harassing him. From that moment on, life in my family went downhill. I discovered I was gay, and every "teaching" started to irritate me more and more. My father tried to dedicate himself more to the organization's service, so it took him almost a year to find a job that allowed him to do so. At the beginning of this period, I was sent to my grandmother's house for her to take care of me for 3 months. The hell of the Catholics sounded more appealing than being there. I stopped going to school, and every day began with waking up at 5:45 am, considering the day's text for an hour, then breakfast, preaching from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm under 30-degree heat, a break for a meager meal, and then continuing with studies from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Upon returning home, we would study the ministry school or the Watchtower until 10:00 pm, every day. Sundays, we had our meeting at 9:00 am, and we still went out to preach in the morning from 6:30 to 8:30.
I remember during that time I lost weight, going from being overweight to the lower limit of a healthy weight, even developing anemia. I suffered from heat strokes, dehydration, and other issues. The worst part was the Saturday Watchtower study. My grandmother wouldn't schedule studies that day so we could study the Watchtower. We started at 3 in the afternoon and continued until nearly 10 at night or even later, reading every biblical passage, every reference in the central column. We didn't have dinner until we finished studying. If I yawned, she would pinch me, and one day she tried to slap me. Adding to this was her favoritism towards other more "spiritual" cousins and her constant reminders that I would die for not having blind faith in God. Those were 3 months of my life. After that, I returned home and resumed my studies.
That year, we ended up living off poor government aid, and I made my first friend in primary school. Her mother was the sweetest woman I had ever known. She gave me desserts, fed me when we had no money, something the brothers NEVER did for my family. Here begins the next chapter of my family.
My father got a job in Cancun's public transportation but quit because he had to break many laws in a highly competitive and illegal environment. Desperate, my father accepted the lowest job offer from one of his JW brothers, working from 8 am to 6:30 pm, with no overtime pay, for $25 a week to support a family of five. Meanwhile, the indoctrination continued, torturing me with the idea that I would be destroyed at Armageddon for being secretly homosexual and completely isolated from my schoolmates due to my beliefs and poverty, thanks to this religion and abusive brothers.
My father started taking me to work on weekends, some weekdays, and holidays. They didn't pay anything extra for me; I worked entirely for free. At school, I resented the lack of money. Sometimes I would pick up government notebooks that kids threw away. My uniform was falling apart.
I started secondary school, and this situation continued. I was switched from the afternoon shift to the morning shift because of bullying at school. During that time, I met my first real friend, a guy who always supported me. He was a fan of creepy pastas and the paranormal, someone who was absent once or twice a week but with whom I enjoyed spending time. We would lie on the classroom floor listening to scary stories. I developed romantic feelings for him but never had the chance to confess. One day, after school, he walked me to a street before my house, where my father was waiting for me. A brother had leaked what was happening. I had managed to get a cell phone, which my parents checked daily to see what I was doing. At 15, they forbade me from having any contact with him, so I ended the friendship and suppressed my feelings until we finished the last year of secondary school. He didn't attend the graduation day. That day, I was completely alone. My parents went with me, but no one approached me. In Mexico, there's a tradition of signing your friends' shirts. Mine had the signature of one teacher, and nothing more. None of my classmates recognized me as a friend that day.
Two months passed. I entered high school, and one day, while walking back from preaching with my mother, I met one of my former schoolmates. We had ended up fighting, but we respected each other. When he saw me, tears welled up in his eyes. I had never seen him like that. He approached me and told me that my first friend had died of cancer. I was in shock. I told him not to joke, and he asked if I ever wondered why he was absent so often and the school never said anything, why he grew his hair long until he started missing more and more. I remember that day I felt pain like never before. I felt like I was collapsing inside. I wanted to vomit and cry. I regretted for years having left him to die alone. I felt like a traitor. My parents didn't care, but I fell into a depression that took years to overcome. To distract my mind, I started preaching more and filling my mind with dogmas. But I knew, I knew I could never achieve eternal life as a homosexual, I knew I could never make my parents happy, I knew I shouldn't get baptized, or when I got disfellowshipped, my family would consider me dead.
I started a spiral of self-hatred that one day led to harmful thoughts. I began to think about using chemical castration to eliminate my impulses, about amputating my genitals to avoid sinning. I started to think that if I died, I would be resurrected.
During high school, everyone in the congregation who talked to me only pressured me to get baptized. But I knew that if I did, it would lead to an even worse situation. And the spiral began. With each assembly, these feelings grew stronger. They kept reminding me that I had to do it, that I had to go out into the world as a JW. And everyday, some homophobic things that make me more and more fragile.
At 18, my both parents ended up working to pay off debts. I started staying home, waking up at 2 pm, and sleeping up to 20 hours a day. They labeled me spiritually lazy. I was dying more each day, and no one cared. No one in the congregation was truly my friend.
Then one day, my sister sent me to a government program to get a job. A psychologist noticed my problems and interviewed me. I started a small treatment, where I slowly made friends and became more expressive. I didn't know how to speak properly with others even though I could give talks and preach. I was socially stagnant. All the young people in the congregation ostracized me for not being a blind believer, and on top of that, I was sarcastic, so I was the one left out. I was invited to a gathering only once, with the condition that I couldn't talk to anyone about anything. Time passed, and from that government program, I started working at an institution. I met my first angels, my female coworkers, five wonderful women who practically taught me how to speak again, who explained how to celebrate a birthday, how to socialize, how to talk properly with others.
During this time, with some expertise in hiding information from my family, I bought a phone I only used at work. Curiosity got the better of me, and I started visiting Telegram groups, where I met my former partner, someone who helped me finally leave the Jehovah's Witnesses. When the pandemic started, I was sent home. My family tried to use that phone, but it had a password. When they asked for it, I refused. For the first time in my life, I refused such an order. I started to distance myself little by little. I grew my hair long, started going out more, talking more with my ex, and so on. Gradually, I distanced myself. I didn't attend Zoom meetings, and I stopped preaching by letter. Then the presidential elections came, and I was forced to vote to keep my job, which was the only source of income for my family during the pandemic. I did it, went out to vote, which cost me my position as a publisher. I was more than happy. Some brothers called me, hat was the firstime in 4 years that they made a phone call. The quarantine ended, and I finally returned to my office with my coworkers.
Then my grandmother reappeared, trying to condition me to become a preacher again, and she tried to manipulate me. I flatly refused and left. Then something worse happened: she came to live with us, and every day it was the same argument, until one day, during a trip to the beach (Cancun, baby), she tried to corner me with an elder and a pioneer. I simply told them to move away. They refused and said I had to come back and cut my hair. I told my grandmother no, and that I didn't want to talk about it with anyone anymore, that it was my life and she should use the little time she had left. Later, I found out that she had removed me from her will over some land in the outskirts of Cancun. I don't regret.
Then my father noticed something and told me that if he discovered anything, he would kick me out of the house. He asked me if I was gay, to which I replied "maybe." He said that if I declared it, I would have to leave the house. At that time, I had already broken up with my ex, who had moved to the center of the country. I talked to him and his current partner, and they said it would be no problem, that they could take me in if something happened. I told my sister about my suicidal thoughts after she asked what had happened with my father. Then, my parents got me a psychologist, who started helping me progress and overcome some of the issues I had with my self-esteem. However, what I didn't know was that he was leaking EVERYTHING to my parents, and thus they confirmed my sexuality and found out about my relationship.
I endured that year and told my parents that I would leave home on my 23rd birthday. I took the UNAM exam, which I didn't pass 😅😅. I told them, and they dropped a bombshell: "we were hoping you would fail your exam so you wouldn't leave." That gave me the impetus to do it, to finalize my escape. With anger and nostalgia, a few days later, I took a flight to another city where my friends took me in. I think I can consider them more than friends, they are my family, i have one on cancun, that needs to leave that religion. Right now, I'm looking into starting treatment again, specifically for victims of coercive sects. I live much more freely, maybe not in a super city, but happily, without my family's eyes always watching me. I have never felt so free in my life.
To the Jehovah's Witnesses reading this, remember, we born and raised in cages, but it is not a disease to fly; it is the freedom of this world that awaits us. It will be more dangerous, but it will also be much more interesting. You will be able to suffer and enjoy, love and pain, the full life, not a life of only pain to die in loneliness, to die with a false hope. You can move forward, you can make it; there are many like us out here. It will hurt, but once you learn to fly, you won't even want to look back. My life only began at 24, I am just about to start studying at university. I didn't study because of that religion, but I know I will soon. These chains are not that strong; they are just too big to carry. Throw them off and come fly with us.
This is my history, my life, the start of my new life.
Thanks everybody, you rocks!

DAY: May 27 2024
5-27-2024

THE CASE FOR OMEGA-3 SUPPLEMENTATION TO LOWER AGGRESSION

People who regularly eat fish or take fish oil supplements are getting omega-3 fatty acids, which play a critical role in brain function. Research has long shown a basis in the brain for aggressive and violent behavior, and that poor nutrition is a risk factor for behavior problems. Penn neurocriminologist Adrian Raine has for years been studying whether omega-3 supplementation could therefore reduce aggressive behavior, publishing five randomized controlled trials from different countries. He found significant effects but wanted to know whether these findings extended beyond his laboratory.
5-27-2024

WHAT ARE ALTERNATIVES TO OZEMPIC AND WEGOVY AND ARE THEY SAFE?

With summer around the corner, telehealth outlets and medical spas are going into hyperdrive advertising the sale of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Recent shortages of the brand-name drugs have opened the door to copycat versions that, while legal, also raise some concerns for consumers, says Kelly Ann Barnes, Northeastern professor of pharmacy law. The copycat drugs are made by specialized pharmacies known as compounding pharmacies, which are allowed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make off-label
5-27-2024

FIVE BASIC HABITS MAY HOLD THE KEY TO GOOD MENTAL HEALTH

Professor Nick Titov’s professional goal is to make himself redundant. he wants to empower more people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression to understand what they can do each day to care for their mental health. As part of this mission, Professor Titov and his team developed The Big 5, an evidence-based program encouraging five broad types of activities that are strongly linked with good mental health when performed regularly. Everyone’s
5-27-2024

COVID-19 FORECASTING TOOL ALLOWED HOSPITAL TO MANAGE PATIENT CAPACITY, RESOURCES AMID PANDEMIC’S THIRD WAVE

During the peak of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the health-care system’s capacity was stretched and hospitals across Canada relied on each other to share resources and provide care. Experts from
5-27-2024

RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION AS A POSSIBLE ASPECT OF POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME PATHOLOGY

The peripubertal DHT-induced mouse model is a non-obese but insulin-resistant model of PCOS. a) Experimental design. b) Fat mass. c) Insulin levels at baseline and 15 min following glucose administration. d) Blood glucose levels during oGTT. e) HOMA-IR, calculated from fasted glucose and insulin levels. f) Glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c). A new study shows that hyperandrogenism—a key characteristic of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)—affects immune cell populations in reproductive, metabolic and immunological tissues in a PCOS-like mouse model. These findings are of great importance as
5-27-2024

RESEARCH IDENTIFIES BRAIN NETWORK LINK TO STUTTERING

Common acquired neurogenic stuttering network. Common areas that were sensitive and specific across both neurogenic stuttering cohorts. Amy = amygdala; ASt = amygdalostriatal transition area; Cl = claustrum; Pall = Pallidum; Put = putamen. A new study published in the journal Brain has identified a specific brain network hub that plays a key role in stuttering. The research, by Te Whare W?nanga o Waitaha University of Canterbury (UC) Associate Professor Catherine Theys, examines two different types of stuttering—developmental and acquired—to show a clear neural
5-27-2024

THYROID DISEASE ISN’T THE END FOR YOUR CAREER PROSPECTS, REPORT FINDS

How employers behave toward workers experiencing thyroid dysfunction could play a critical part in addressing the UK’s labor market challenges. With long-term sickness on the rise in the UK, researchers at the University of Aberdeen Business School have marked World Thyroid Day (May 25) by releasing new findings which, for the first time, explore the relationship between employer sympathy and the labor market prospects of people with thyroid conditions. One in 20 people in the UK have a thyroid problem, with a significant majority of sufferers being women. Posing serious
5-27-2024

STUDY FINDS HIGH-INCOME EARNERS AT LOWER RISK OF DYING FROM STROKE

High-income earners have a 32% lower risk of dying after a stroke compared to low-income earners. The equivalent for high education is 26% lower risk. The differences in stroke survival linked to socioeconomics are striking, according to a study at the University of Gothenburg.
5-27-2024

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COULD ALLEVIATE LONELINESS, SAYS EXPERT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology could offer companionship to lonely people amid an international epidemic of loneliness, says a robotics expert. Tony Prescott, a professor of cognitive robotics at the University of Sheffield, argues in his new book “The Psychology of Artificial Intelligence” that “relationships with AIs could support people” with forms of social interaction. Loneliness has been found to seriously impair human health, and Professor Prescott makes a case that advances in AI technology could offer a partial solution. He argues that people can spiral into loneliness, becoming
5-27-2024

ALZHEIMER’S REPORT HIGHLIGHTS IMMENSE CAREGIVER BURDEN—AND POTENTIAL WAYS FORWARD

Some 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, and about 11 million provide unpaid care for them. Dementia caregiving can present unique challenges, including financial burdens and time constraints, as well as health complications. A report this year from the Alzheimer’s Association demonstrates the true cost of caregiving for those with the disease and calls to establish dementia care navigation throughout the U.S. to lift this burden. Not only is the estimated value of unpaid care near $14 billion in Pennsylvania alone, the report also revealed emotional and physical tolls. Nearly
5-27-2024

US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION APPROVES ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS SYSTEM

An artificial pancreas developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge has been granted approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use by individuals with type 1 diabetes aged 2 and older, including during pregnancy. This means that even more people living with the disease will be able to use this life-changing app. For the first time, the FDA authorized the use of the artificial pancreas system in pregnancy. CamAPS FX, produced by Cambridge spinout company CamDiab, is an Android app that can
5-27-2024

RESEARCH SAYS POMEGRANATES COULD OFFER A SOLUTION TO FATTY LIVER DISEASE

Researchers at Edith Cowan University (ECU) are investigating the effects ellagic acid, an antioxidant found in some fruits and vegetables, could have on halting and potentially reversing the damage caused by fatty liver disease. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the physiological manifestation of obesity in the liver. The prevalence of NAFLD has increased from 25.24% in 2015 to 29.38% in 2021, and this condition now accounts for 45.8% of all cases of chronic-liver-disease-related deaths worldwide. There currently exists no treatment for the long-term management of NAFLD; however, dietary interventions
5-27-2024

MAGIC MUSHROOMS MAY ONE DAY TREAT ANOREXIA, BUT NOT JUST YET

Anorexia nervosa is a severe mental health disorder where people fear weight gain. Those with the disorder have distorted body image and hold rigid beliefs their body is too big. They typically manage this through restricted eating, leading to the serious medical consequences of malnutrition. Anorexia has one of the highest death rates of any mental illness. Yet there are currently no effective drug treatments and the outcomes of psychotherapy (talk therapy) are poor. So we’re desperately in need of new and improved treatments. Psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms,
5-27-2024

STUDY FINDS FEEDING INFANTS PEANUT PRODUCTS PROTECTS AGAINST ALLERGY INTO ADOLESCENCE

Feeding children peanuts regularly from infancy to age five reduced the rate of peanut allergy in adolescence by 71%, even after many years when the children ate or avoided peanut as desired. The new findings provide conclusive evidence that introducing peanuts into babies’ diets early will achieve long-term prevention of peanut allergy. Lead investigator Professor Gideon Lack from King’s College London said, “Decades of advice to avoid peanuts has made parents fearful of introducing peanuts at an early age. The evidence is clear that early introduction of peanut in infancy
5-27-2024

EATING MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MAY LEAD TO OPTIMAL SLEEP DURATION

Good health depends on a healthy diet and sufficient exercise and sleep. There are clear associations among these components; for example, good nutrition provides energy for exercise, and many people report that getting enough exercise is important to their ability to get enough sleep. So how might nutrition affect sleep? A new study looks at the connection between fruit and vegetable intake and sleep duration.
5-27-2024

MONITORING THE H5N1 AVIAN INFLUENZA, BIRD FLU, OUTBREAK

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to actively monitor the ongoing outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza, also known as bird flu, and says that the public health risk remains low. Dr. Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic, says scientists and public health officials have known about avian influenza for decades. “What’s different today is that since 2020, we’re seeing the largest outbreak of avian influenza among wild birds, poultry and backyard bird flocks,” he says. “The virus has also been found in certain
5-27-2024

INTERNATIONAL STUDY REVEALS SURPRISING TWIST IN HOW DIABETES DRUGS HELP THE HEART

A randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial has revealed surprising new insights into how SGLT2 inhibitor drugs, originally developed for diabetes, benefit patients with heart failure. Contrary to common assumptions, these drugs may improve cardiac outcomes and heart health without acting as diuretics. Heart failure is a condition where the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s demands, often leading to fluid
5-27-2024

FIRST SEIZURE CLINICS REDUCE THE NEED FOR FUTURE HEALTH CARE, RESEARCHERS FIND

Clinics specializing in first seizures reduce the need for patients to present at emergency departments or be admitted to hospital later, Monash University-led research has found. Timely attendance, particularly within 14 days of the seizure, was associated with reduced subsequent all-cause emergency presentations and all-cause hospital admission. Later hospital admissions were reduced by about 25%. First author Dr. Yingtong Li, an adjunct
5-27-2024

CELL-TARGETING TECHNOLOGY CAN ISOLATE NEURONAL SUBPOPULATIONS AND LINK THEM TO BEHAVIORAL STATES

As gene sequencing technologies become more powerful, our understanding of cellular diversity has grown in parallel. This led scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to
5-27-2024

WATCH OUT FOR THESE HIGH HEAT DANGER SIGNS

Climate change is pushing daytime summer temperatures higher for longer periods of time, and that can spell real danger for folks who work outside, like gardeners and landscapers. Protecting yourself in the heat and knowing the warning signs of heat-related illness is crucial, said Chris Enroth, horticulture educator at University of Illinois Extension. He should know: It happened to him. “When I was working as a landscaper, we had to sod a large backyard during a day when the temperature was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit,” Enroth said. “We were hustling
5-27-2024

STAY SAFE FROM THE SUN AND THAT BACKYARD GRILL THIS MEMORIAL DAY

Memorial Day means firing up that backyard grill for the season, hopefully under warm, sunny skies. You can be sure to enjoy the day without hazards by taking a few simple precautions, said Dr. Mike Ren, an associate professor of family and community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Watch out for rising heat and humidity If Memorial day is a scorcher, hydration is key, Ren said. “A good rule of thumb is to drink water regularly throughout the day, aiming for 12 or more cups; when in
5-27-2024

HAD A JOINT REPLACED? STUDY SUGGESTS INFECTION RISK MAY RISE AFTER CHEMOTHERAPY

If you’re one of the millions of Americans walking around with a new knee or hip, your odds for an infection in that joint rise if you ever have to undergo cancer chemotherapy, researchers report. “Given the number of people of receiving total joint replacements each year, as well as the cost both physically, emotionally and financially for those who develop an infection and may need subsequent treatment, we need to understand what factors may increase the risk for postoperative infections,” said study author Dr. Janet Conway. She’s an orthopedic
5-27-2024

ANTIHYPERTENSIVES LINKED TO ECZEMATOUS DERMATITIS IN SENIORS, STUDY FINDS

Antihypertensive drugs are associated with an increased risk for eczematous dermatitis in older adults, and the effect sizes are largest for diuretics and calcium channel blockers, whether antihypertensive drug use is associated with eczematous dermatitis in a longitudinal cohort study of individuals aged 60 years and older without eczematous dermatitis at baseline. The researchers found that the overall prevalence of eczematous dermatitis was 6.7% among 1,561,358
5-27-2024

RESEARCH INDICATES KIDNEYS FROM DECEASED DONORS WHO WERE ON DIALYSIS ARE SUBOPTIMAL

Receipt of a kidney from a deceased donor who underwent dialysis is associated with an increased incidence of delayed graft function, compared outcomes of transplant recipients who received kidneys from deceased donors who underwent dialysis prior to kidney donation versus recipients of kidneys from deceased donors who did not undergo dialysis in a retrospective cohort study using data from 58 U.S. organ procurement organizations. Among the donors with
5-27-2024

NEW THERAPY PROVEN EFFECTIVE AGAINST REJECTION IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION

Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) is one of the most common causes of kidney transplant failure. To date, however, no treatment has proven effective in combating this complication in the long term. As part of an international and multidisciplinary clinical study led by Georg Böhmig and Katharina Mayer, Clinical Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, Department of Medicine III at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna, a new therapeutic principle in transplant medicine has been found to be both safe and highly effective. The results were recently published in the New England Journal
5-27-2024

SHARJAH UNIVERSITY PATENTS APPLICATION FOR DISTANCE COVID-19 DIAGNOSIS

Smart Identification of Health Status based on QR Code and User Health Data. Credit: author’s own creation The University of Sharjah has been granted a patent for inventing a smart gadget with the ability to filter user information that will allow doctors to diagnose COVID-19 and other ailments from a distance. The patent, granted by United States Patent and Trademark Office on 1 August 2023, comprises “a display unit, a color code detection unit, an image filter, an optical character recognition unit, a code detection unit and an elimination unit,”
5-27-2024

STUDY REVEALS WHERE DELAYS ARE WORST

When it comes to responding to a stroke, speed is a crucial factor; the longer it takes for someone experiencing a stroke to get to a hospital, the worse the outcome will be. Yet across the United States, delays to treatment can be significant. A Yale study uncovers new insights into factors associated with treatment delays and where in the United States patients are more likely to experience slower responses. The findings, which were published May 24 in the journal Stroke, highlight where interventions should

NEW STUDY SHOWS HEAT WAVES INCREASE RISK OF PRETERM, EARLY-TERM BIRTH

The increased frequency and intensity of heat waves due to climate change puts women at a higher risk of experiencing preterm and early-term labor—jeopardizing the health and well-being of their babies. An analysis of 53 million births that occurred in the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas during the 25-year period 1993–2017, showed
5-27-2024

NOISE-CANCELLING HEADPHONES, EARPLUGS AND EARMUFFS—DO THEY REALLY HELP NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE?

Noise can make it hard to concentrate, especially for people who are extra sensitive to it. Neurodivergent people (such as those who are autistic or have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder—ADHD) can experience different sensory sensitivities. Their nervous system may process information differently when they are exposed to sensory experiences such as bright lights, loud noise, strong smells or busy environments. Decreased sound tolerance is estimated to affect up to 70% of autistic people and is described in three ways: hyperacusis (perceiving everyday sounds as loud or painful), misophonia (an aversion to
5-27-2024

MASSACHUSETTS SHELLS OUT NEARLY $400,000 FOR VACCINE RECORD CHECKS IN STATE-RUN SHELTERS

State officials have pumped nearly $400,000 into a program to review the vaccine records of families entering the emergency shelter system, including migrants from other countries who may have foreign documentation, according to the Healey administration. Officials at Boston-based John Snow, Inc., which has long worked with the state, have been contracted to review immunization documents. Since January, more than 1,200 children in state-run shelters have had their records checked, according to the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, or HHS. Vaccine record checks have occurred since September 2023
5-27-2024

LAWSUIT ACCUSES FLORIDA’S PALM BEACH COUNTY HOSPITAL NETWORK OF SHARING PATIENTS’ PRIVATE DATA

The Palm Beach Health Network has become the latest health provider accused of illegally sharing identities and private health information of its patients with the social media company Meta, owner of Facebook. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach says the health network’s websites share code with Meta that enables patients to be targeted with advertising on Facebook based on “highly sensitive personal information” they share. It names as defendants the Palm Beach Health Network Physicians Group, doing business as Palm Beach Health Network, and
5-27-2024

CAN THE PLACEMENT OF DENTAL IMPLANTS IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER PATIENTS BE DONE BEFORE RADIATION THERAPY?

Globally, head and neck cancer accounts for 5% of all cancer types, with a mortality rate of 50%. However, in the Nordic countries, head and neck cancer accounts for only 2.6% of all cancers, with a mortality rate of just 30%. But more survivors mean that many must live with extensive damage and side effects
5-27-2024

STUDY FINDS CLIMATE CHANGE INCREASES RISK OF CRYPTOSPORIDIOSIS OUTBREAKS IN NEW ZEALAND

More cryptosporidiosis outbreaks could be on the cards for Aotearoa New Zealand as extreme rainfall events become more frequent, causing higher levels of the diarrhea-causing parasite to be washed into waterways, public health researchers warn. The researchers studied clusters of cryptosporidium outbreaks around the country between 1997 and 2015 and found 13 coincided with severe weather events. Their research is published in the journal Epidemiology & Infection. It is the first study to compare clusters of outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis to severe weather events in Aotearoa.
5-27-2024

RESEARCHERS EVALUATE IMPACT OF NEW FILM’S MESSAGE ON CHILDREN’S AND ADULTS’ BODY IMAGE, SELF-COMPASSION

Unrealistic expectations about what our bodies should look like—whether from the media, friends or family—make adults and children of all ages more vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and other mental health challenges. In a new study published in Body Image, Flinders University experts assessing the program’s usefulness in classrooms highlight the potential for the film “Embrace Kids,” directed by 2023 Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt, to achieve large-scale improvements in body image
5-27-2024

STUDY FINDS INCREASED SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, SUICIDE ATTEMPTS AMONG ADOLESCENTS EXPOSED TO EARLY PHASE OF WAR IN UKRAINE

Data Collection in the War-Affected Donetsk Region and Non-War Kirovograd Region. A new study carried out by a multinational research group showed high levels of suicidal thoughts and attempts in adolescents, which were strongly associated with wartime traumatic experiences, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Dr. Sanju Silwal from the Research Center for Child Psychiatry in the University of Turku, Finland, one of the lead authors, says that the study was conducted in two regions that
5-27-2024

STUDY FINDS SIGNIFICANT DISPARITIES IN THE DELIVERY OF CANCER-RELATED CARE

It’s important to ensure that care provided at US hospitals that predominantly serve Black and Hispanic populations is as high-quality as the care provided at other US hospitals. New research reveals significant disparities in the delivery of cancer-related care at minority serving hospitals (MSHs) compared with non-MSHs, however. The findings are published in Cancer. For the study, investigators analyzed information from the National Cancer Database (which accrues approximately 70% of US cancer diagnoses) to identify patients eligible for definitive treatment for breast, prostate, non-small cell lung, and colon cancers between
5-27-2024

WHO SEEKS $7 BN WITH FUND-RAISING REVAMP

The World Health Organization launched Sunday a new financing mechanism that aims to raise $7 billion of funds that can be deployed more quickly and flexibly. The UN agency has traditionally relied on commitments from its 194 member states, but often these are apportioned to specific projects with several conditions attached, including deadlines that can prove too short. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said commitment increases would contribute $4 billion to the agency’s budget of $11.1 billion over the four years through 2028. “The Investment Round aims to mobilize the
5-27-2024

SECOND PERSON DIES OF CHOLERA ON FRENCH ISLAND OF MAYOTTE

Scanning electron microscope image of Vibrio cholerae. Credit: Wikipedia A 62-year-old woman has died of cholera in Mayotte, bringing to two the death toll from the epidemic on the French island in the Indian Ocean, health authorities said on Sunday. The woman died on Saturday at her home in Mamoudzou, the capital, the ARS health authority said in a statement. “Response teams went to the scene to disinfect the home and take care of the deceased’s family and friends”, the statement added. In May, the disease claimed its first life
5-27-2024

ALTERING CELLULAR INTERACTIONS AROUND AMYLOID PLAQUES MAY OFFER NOVEL ALZHEIMER’S TREATMENT STRATEGIES

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have made a significant breakthrough in Alzheimer’s disease research by identifying a novel way to potentially slow down or even halt disease progression. The study, which focuses on the role of reactive astrocytes and the plexin-B1 protein in Alzheimer’s pathophysiology, provides crucial insights into brain
5-27-2024

BRAIN DAMAGE STUDY REVEALS PART OF THE BRAIN NECESSARY FOR HELPING OTHERS

Our willingness to help others is governed by a specific brain region pinpointed by researchers in a study of patients with brain damage to that region. Learning about where in the brain “helping” decisions are made is important for understanding how people might be motivated to tackle large global challenges, such as climate change, infectious disease and international conflict. It is also essential for finding new approaches to treating disorders of social interactions. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, was carried out by researchers at the University of Birmingham
5-27-2024

IMPROVING AI LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS HELPS THEM BETTER ALIGN WITH HUMAN BRAIN ACTIVITY

NSP as a computational account of discourse comprehension. (A) Humans integrate words and sentences to achieve a full understanding of discourse. In LLMs, the NSP task proposed by BERT can serve as a computational account of human discourse comprehension. (B) Illustration of the MLM task. (C) Illustration of the NSP task and its relevance to the Mason and Just model. (D) Illustration of Mason and Just’s neurocognitive model of discourse processing. Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn7744 With generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) transforming the social interaction landscape in recent years,
5-27-2024

STUDY EXAMINES METABOLIC REPROGRAMMING OF BREAST CANCER TUMORS DURING NEOADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPY

In a study published in Nature Communications, scientists have made significant strides in understanding the complex interplay between the immune system and cancer metabolism in breast cancer treatment. The research
5-27-2024

RESEARCHERS EXAMINE EVIDENCE FOR A NOVEL NEURONAL MECHANISM DRIVING ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

An international team of clinicians and neuroscientists have published a new perspective on the process of neurodegeneration. Their findings review evidence for a mechanism upstream of amyloid including the key neurochemical driving this process. The paper, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, focuses on a selective group of neurons (“the isodendritic core”). These cells have a different provenance from neurons in the rest of the brain and have previously been identified as primarily
The research, by a team from Finland’s University of Helsinki, National Institute for Health and Welfare, and Turku University of Applied Sciences, is published in
5-27-2024

WHO CHIEF URGES COUNTRIES TO QUICKLY SEAL PANDEMIC DEAL

WHO countries have spent two years seeking an agreement on tackling pandemics. The World Health Organization chief on Monday urged countries to nail down a landmark global agreement on handling of future pandemics after they missed a hard deadline. Scarred by COVID-19—which killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems—nations have spent two years trying to forge binding commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Negotiators failed to clinch a deal ahead of this week’s World Health Assembly—the annual gathering of WHO’s 194 member states—the deadline for concluding the talks.
5-27-2024

STUDY DEMONSTRATES HOW GUT MICROBES PROCESS STEROIDS—USING FLATULENCE

It turns out flatulence can serve a purpose beyond being uncomfortable or funny: Gas released by some gut bacteria stimulates other gut bacteria to produce a hormone involved in pregnancy and in an FDA-approved treatment for postpartum depression, according to new research led by Harvard Medical School scientists. The work shows how gut bacteria can produce new hormones from steroids in bile and, in doing so, act like an endocrine organ. This research adds to the growing list of ways gut microbiota may influence human
5-27-2024

PHYSICAL FRAILTY MAY PUT PEOPLE AT GREATER RISK OF DEPRESSION, STUDY FINDS

Individuals who meet at least one of the criteria for physical frailty are at higher risk of also developing depression, a new Yale study finds. The findings—which also include insights into the specific inflammatory molecules and changes in brain structure that could underlie this association between frailty and depression—point to a need for routine assessment of physical frailty in clinical practice, researchers said. The study was published May 23 in Nature Communications. In clinical settings, physical
5-27-2024

RESEARCH TEAM RESOLVES STRUCTURE OF CRUCIAL ENZYME FOR THE FIRST TIME

For the first time, a team co-led by CHU Sainte-Justine researcher and professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université de Montréal, Alexey Pshezhetsky has succeeded in resolving the unique structure of the HGSNAT enzyme, a deficiency of which causes Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare pediatric disease affecting the central nervous system. Through collaboration with a team from Shanghai University, the structure of this enzyme and the mechanism of its function were revealed using high-performance

Vasomune wins FDA fast track designation for lung condition treatment
Currently in a Phase IIa study, AV-001 is being co-developed with AnGes for the prevention and treatment of ARDS in pneumonia.
May 28, 2024
Vasomune Therapeutics has announced that its novel investigational medicine, AV-001, has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fast track designation for the treatment of moderate to severe pathogen-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
As per the 28 May press release, fast track designation was granted based on the high unmet medical need in ARDS. The status allows for earlier interactions with the FDA in the pursuit of accelerated approval and also the possibility to undergo rolling reviews.
ARDS is a life-threatening lung injury that enables fluid to leak into the lungs, causing breathing difficulties and low blood oxygen. According to the press announcement, ARDS is characterised by high mortality rates that can reach up to 46% in patients with severe cases of the disease.
AV-001, a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-clustered Tie2 agonist peptide that was first discovered at Sunnybrook Research Institute at Sunnybrook Hospital, is designed to improve healing in patients by providing a molecular shortcut in blood vessel growth associated with wound closure.
The drug candidate is actively being evaluated in a Phase IIa study (NCT05123755) for the prevention and treatment of hospitalised patients with pneumonia-associated ARDS. The primary endpoint of the study is the safety and tolerability of multiple intravenously administered doses of AV-001 compared to placebo.
The Phase I study (NCT04737486) demonstrated a good safety and tolerability profile with strong on-target activity. There were no drug-related discontinuations or deaths, no suspected unexpected severe adverse reactions (SUSARs), and no adverse events of special interest (AESIs), as reported at the 2024 Respiratory Innovation Summit (RIS).
“Vasomune is focused on the persisting unmet needs of people grappling with ARDS and other diseases driven by vascular endothelial instability,” said president and Chief Operating Officer of Vasomune, Dr. Brian Jahns.
The Toronto, Ontario-based biotech is not the only player in the ARDS space. In October 2023, BioAegis Therapeutics was awarded a $20m contract from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development of plasma gelsolin for the treatment of ARDS.
Also making headway is Healios, which in April 2023, reported positive topline results from the open-label ONE-BRIDGE clinical study of somatic stem cell regenerative therapy MultiStem (HLCM051/invimestrocel) in ARDS patients across Japan.
https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/vasomune-wins-fda-fast-track-designation-for-lung-condition-treatment/
Originally discovered and designed at Sunnybrook Research Institute at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, AV-001 is being developed by Vasomune Therapeutics, Inc. under a co-development agreement with AnGes, Inc. [TYO: 4563].
...
Ei Yamada, President & CEO of AnGes, said that "The FDA’s support of expedited development marks another important milestone in our endeavor to change the treatment paradigm with AV-001. We look forward to future success with the Phase 2a study, AV001-004."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vasomune-therapeutics-receives-us-fda-120000579.html
From the trial's page on ClinicalTrials.gov:
Enrollment (Estimated): 120
Study Completion (Estimated): 2025-03
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05123755
Vasomune Therapeutics' website:
https://vasomune.com/
AnGes' current market cap is $64 million.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/4563.T

--You wake up in your bunk bed, you realise your job application has been accepted--
--You see a tape and play it--
"Hello, Sergeant Matthew. Or as we call you here, G-171"
"These are the basic security department initiatives"

1. Do not try to free any one of the anomalies, they could fulfill their promise or kill you as soon as they get out.
   
2. Don't try to talk to any one of the anomalies.
   
3. Always follow your orders from your on site officer.
   
4. Our work is unethical but necessary. Be cold not cruel.
   
5. You will be designated an AK-12 assault rifle or an M70 remington.
   
6. Happy hunting.
   

--You see a tape, labelled "Watch before deployment--
-You play it--
--You see an anomaly killing a researcher after being provided a blanket by him--
--You put on your combat armor and grab you M70 shotgun--
G-171 : "I hope this day isn't my first and last"
--You are ordered to take anomaly number 271 from it's containment chamber--
--You open the cell door--
G-171 : "Agent 171 requesting cell number 271 to be opened for testing."
G-171 : "Step out of the cell"
A-271 : "Okay"
--You escort the anomaly, cuffing it's wrists and taking it to Testing Room ZETA-7--
Scientist : "Yeah, just fill the chamber with acid."
--You reluctantly agree--
--You press a big green button--
A-271 : --SCREAMS OF PAIN--
G-271 : "What the fuck?"
G-719 : "First day?"
G-271 : "Yeah"
Scientist : "Yeah, just take it out."
--You stop the acid--
--You enter the room, seeing an almost [REDACTED] 271--
--It starts to take shape--
--You cuff it's wrists--
271 : "[NOT PG-13] YOU [NOT PG-13]!"
--You slowly escort it back to it's cell--
G-719 : "Is it pizza day?"
G-171 : "Nope, mozzarella casserole"

I have a current workbook with 3 sheets. There will be a button on sheet named "Order" that I need to copy "Export" sheet to a new work, rename and save.
So, Copy worksheet "Export" to new workbook (this button will be in a different sheet though, so the copy is not coming for an active sheet where the button will be)
Save as cell A1 from "Export" sheet & Current Date
Save it to documents
Open the new workbook so both the old workbook and new saved workbook Wil be open at the same time at the end
I just can't figure it out.

Is there a way to pull the last modified date of another google worksheet in a cell? Not sure if this would require a script, but I'm pulling data from a separate worksheet and would like a cell that reports when that google sheet was last updated. Is that possible?

Added some more decent stuff, I'd really love to offload all this as it's just sitting in a tote in my garage and I hate it. Shipping is not included unless noted. Please offer on bundles, I'm really inclined to move as much of this stuff as I possibly can and will offer better deals the more you buy.
On everything $5 & under, consider it 3 for $10, 5 for $15, 20 for $50

Title	CIB/loose	Price/Notes
3 controllers	Loose	$20 each - 2 white OEM, one green Performance-branded
Memory card	Loose	$10 - Performance-brand
Centipede	Loose	$6 - Good condition
Chicken Run	CIB	$13 - Good condition
Crazy Taxi	CIB	$20 - Sega All Stars
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX	CIB	$6 - Good condition
Disney’s Dinosaur	CIB	$13 - Good condition
Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000	Loose	$8 - Good condition
NFL Blitz 2001	CIB	$35 - Good condition
Quake 3 Arena	CIB	$20 - Good condition
Resident Evil CODE Veronica	Loose	$20 - Includes both discs in a kind of broken jewel case thing
Sega Bass Fishing	CIB	$8 - Sega All Stars
Sega Smash Pack Volume 1	Loose	$10 - Includes case, no manual, decent condition
Shenmue	CIB	$30 - Cracked bottom of jewel case (the plastic piece)
SnoCross Championship Racing	CIB	$10 - Good condition
Tomb Raider: Chronicles	CIB	$18 - Good condition
Vigilante 8 2nd Offense	CIB	$22 - Good condition
Virtua Fighter 3tb	Loose	$15 - Good condition

All clean, but untested (I don't have a Saturn console)

Title	Notes	Price
Bootleg Sampler	Loose	$5
Iron Man X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal	Loose	$8
Sega Worldwide Soccer ‘97	Loose	$6
Tomb Raider	Loose	$12
Virtua Cop	Loose	$5
World Series Baseball ‘98	Loose	$6

Title	Console	Price/notes
Bandai Golf Pebble Beach Challenge	NES	$3
Days of Thunder	NES	$6
Double Dribble	NES	$6
Knight Rider	NES	$8 Pics
Side Pocket	NES	$6

Title	Console	Price/notes
MVP Baseball	SNES	$5
NBA Live 95	SNES	$5

2 SNS-001 Consoles For Parts/Not Working 2 For Parts/Not Working consoles that have been broken down, including one housing (has some chips/cracks), 2 motherboards, all components, however some are guaranteed to not work. The boards themselves may have additional issues beyond the removed chips, I have no way to test or check them. Neither of these motherboards work. Both of them were giving different graphical issues on the screen, so I thought I'd be clever and try to swap some chips around, but found out as I was doing it that I have no experience with it and was in way over my head. I do not know if there are working chips here to even create one working SNES, as far as I'm aware all of the graphics chips/etc. are bad. Pics here $35

Title	Console	Price/notes
Console Nintendo Gamecube	NGC	$75 - Indigo, excellent condition, tested & works great. Laser boots right up. No controller, but includes OEM power & A/V cables. 001 model with the digital out port. Has all the port covers intact as well.

Title	Console	Price/notes
Box/Inserts Pokemon Silver	GBC	$225 - Crease at the bottom - please see pics here
Box/Inserts Pokemon Gold	GBC	$225 - Very nice shape, but missing the cardboard cartridge holder. Pics here
Box/Inserts Pokemon Crystal	GBC	$450 - Good condition - top tab is creased where you pull it open on both the tab and slightly on the front of the box. Includes all inserts. Cartridge holder is "built-in" to this box so it won't show up easily in pictures. Pics here
A Bug's Life	GB	$5
All-Star Baseball 2000	GBC	$5
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3	GBC	$5 - Bad label
Demon Driver	GBA	$6
Pokemon Leaf Green	GBA	$115
Rayman Advance	GBA	$6
Smuggler's Run	GBA	$4
Treasure Planet	GBA	$5
Winter X Games Snowboarding 2002	GBA	$3
World Tennis Stars	GBA	$3

Title	Console	Price/notes
Console Nintendo DS	NDS	$50 - Blue, no charger, great condition, working hinge
Barbie: Jet, Set & Style	NDS	$3 - Loose
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow	NDS	$22 - Loose, no label, authentic
Deal or No Deal	NDS	$4 - CIB
Games Around the World	NDS	$4 - CIB
Horsez	NDS	$4 - CIB
Imagine: Fashion Designer	NDS	$4 - CIB
Imagine: Fashion Stylist	NDS	$4 - CIB
Jeopardy	NDS	$5 - CIB
MahJong Quest	NDS	$4 - CIB
My Farm	NDS	$4 - CIB
Pictionary	NDS	$5 - Sealed
Resident Evil: Deadly Silence	NDS	$50 - Loose
Winx Club Magical Fairy Party	NDS	$6 - CIB
Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop	3DS	$16 - CIB
Harvest Moon 3D: The Lost Valley	3DS	$16 - Loose

Title	Console	Price/notes
Accessory OEM Controller	Xbox	$10 - have 2, both model S for original Xbox, both have breakaway cables
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One	Xbox	$5
Gun	Xbox	$5
Juiced	Xbox	$6
Superman Returns	Xbox	$5
Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict	Xbox	$5
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	360	$6
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	360	$6
Ghost Recon 2	360	$5
Guitar Hero 2	360	$8
Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock	360	$8
Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock	360	$8
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith	360	$12
MLB 2K9	360	$5
NBA 2K12	360	$5

Please note - most of these games are not complete - either missing manual, replacement case/cover art, or loose disc. Please check with me if you're curious.

Title	Console	Price/notes
Treasures of the Deep	PS1	$12 - CIB
Wargames: Defcon 1	PS1	$10 - CIB
Warhawk	PS1	$12 - CIB, longbox, not in great shape
American Chopper	PS2	$4 - CIB
Arctic Thunder	PS2	$6 - CIB
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005	PS2	$3 - CIB
Call of Duty: Finest Hour	PS2	$4 - CIB
Call of Duty: Finest Hour	PS2	$4 - CIB
Crash n' Burn	Ps2	$6 - CIB
Eragon	PS2	$4 - CIB
Flatout	PS2	$6 - CIB
Flatout	PS2	$5 - Loose
The Getaway	PS2	$6 - CIB
The Getaway	PS2	$4 - Loose
Gran Turismo 3	PS2	$5 - GH CIB
Guitar Hero 2	PS2	$4 - CIB
Hitman 2	PS2	$5 - CIB
IHRA Drag Racing 2	PS2	$3 - CIB
Kingdom Hearts 2	PS2	$5 - Loose
Madden 07	PS2	$3 - CIB
MX vs ATV	PS2	$3 - Loose
NAMCO Museum	PS2	$6 - GH CIB
NBA 2K9	PS2	$5 - CIB
PopCap Hits Vol. 1	PS2	$5 - CIB
Rise to Honor	PS2	$6 - CIB
Smuggler's Run	PS2	$6 - CIB
SOCOM 2	PS2	$5 - CIB
Splinter Cell	PS2	$4 - CIB
Starksy & Hutch	PS2	$5 - CIB
Strike Force Bowling	PS2	$4 - CIB
Tetris Worlds	PS2	$5 - CIB
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002	PS2	$2 - Loose
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005	PS2	$2 - Loose
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006	PS2	$2 - Loose
TOCA Race Driver 2	PS2	$6 - CIB
Trigger Man	PS2	$4 - CIB
World Championship Poker	PS2	$4 - CIB
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	PS3	$5 - CIB
Grand Theft Auto IV	PS3	$7 - Loose
Killzone 3	PS3	$5 - CIB
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe	PS3	$7 - CIB
Rocksmith 2014	PS3	$8 - CIB
Skyrim	PS3	$4 - CIB
Sports Champions	PS3	$4 - CIB

Title	Console	Price/notes
The Price is Right	Wii	$4 - Loose
Wii Play	Wii	$5 - CIB
Wii Play	Wii	$5 - CIB
Skylanders	WiiU	$4 - Case
Skylanders	WiiU	$4 - Case
LEGO Dimensions	WiiU	$4 - Case

Thanks for looking!

All prices include USPS Ground Advantage shipping, combined shipping is also available & preferred! I can also do local meets in the Mid-Michigan area if you're nearby. Feel free to make offers!
[W] these pieces of Metal Gear Solid Essential Collection (PS2):
MGS1 Disc 1
MGS2 Manual
All games will be tested prior to sale and are CIB unless noted.
*Any games $8 or less are B1G1*
Willing to let it all go for $180
GameCube (Buy all for $65)

Egg Mania (NO MANUAL, POOR CONDITION CASE)	$17	Pics
Super Smash Bros. Melee (TORN LABEL)	$52	Pics

Xbox 360 (Buy all for $50)

007 Legends (LOOSE)	$10	Pics
Battlefield 4 (LOOSE)	$5	Pics
Dead Island (GOTY Platinum)	$6	Pics
Gears of War 2 (NO MANUAL)	$6	Pics
The Last Remnant (LOOSE)	$8	Pics
Lego Batman (NO MANUAL)	$5	Pics
Lego Star Wars II The Original Trilogy (Platinum Hits) (NO MANUAL)	$7	Pics
Marvel Ultimate Alliance & Forza 2 (NO FORZA DISC)	$8	Pics
Nascar 09	$9	Pics
Prey (DISC + MANUAL)	$6	Pics
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (UNLEASHED 1 CASE)	$8	Pics
Superman Returns	$12	Pics
Table Tennis	$6	Pics
Two Worlds (NO MANUAL)	$6	Pics

PS3 (Buy all for $25)

Battlefield 4	$5	Pics
Borderlands 2	$5	Pics
Cabela's Outdoor Adventure	$9	Pics
Crysis 2 (Limited Edition)	$5	Pics
Homefront	$6	Pics
Madden NFL 13	$5	Pics
Rock Band Track Pack: Classic Rock	$15	Pics
UFC Undisputed 2010 (NO GAME)	$5	Pics

PS2 (Buy all for $75)

Ben 10 Alien Force (CASE IN POOR CONDITION)	$6	Pics
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (Collector's Edition)	$7	Pics
Chaos Wars (CASE ONLY)	$5	Pics
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	$9	Pics
Enthusia (NO MANUAL)	$11	Pics
Fight Club	$10	Pics
Guitar Hero 3 (LOOSE)	$5	Pics
Just Cause	$10	Pics
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance	$12	Pics
Myst 3 Exile (LOOSE)	$5	Pics
NCAA Football 2003	$5	Pics
NFL GameDay 2002	$8	Pics
NFL GameDay 2003 (LOOSE)	$5	Pics
NFL GameDay 2004	$8	Pics
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc	$15	Pics
The Simpsons Road Rage	$10	Pics
The Simpsons Skateboarding (NO MANUAL, MAY NEED RESURFACING)	$10	Pics
Splinter Cell (Greatest Hits)	$6	Pics
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	$9	Pics
Superman Returns	$7	Pics
TMNT (Greatest Hits) (NO MANUAL)	$8	Pics
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus (UNOFFICIAL COVER, NO MANUAL)	$13	Pics
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (CASE ONLY)	$5	Pics
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 (NO GAME)	$5	Pics

I would like my a cell to reference the title of a worksheet- or even better would be for the worksheet to refer to a cell... either would work!
So for example, if i had the title of my worksheet as Hello then it would have Hello in the cell, if i then changed it to Goodbye on the worksheet title it would then change the text in the cell to goodbye... is this possible? Everywhere i have looked so far seems to suggest not!

Any idea why this script would not work with Windows 11? Thanks.
This is a cleaned copy of the script with any sensitive info removed. The script works with Windows 10. Under windows 11, the script stops on line UftApplicaiton.Test.Run There is no error message. It just hangs.
Ignore anything that looks like a syntax error. I removed and changed some company specific references and comments. The actual script does not have any syntax errors.
This script is supposed to do the following

1. Kill excel instances
2. Make a report name
3. Open excel in the background
4. Open excel workbook ScriptList to get a list of scripts to run
5. Open UFT
6. For each script in ScriptList
   1. Determine the folder for each script
   2. Load the script
   3. Run the script
   4. Save the results to the file
7. Run scripts that save the report to sharepoint and send a summary email with sharepoint links

It will open the application and load the script named in the excel file, but it will not actually make the application start the script.
'******************************************************************************************'**************************
'Killing excel process as it consumes more memory, also ensuring that excel does not hang from Quick Test Professional
'******************************************************************************************'**************************
Dim objWMIService, objProcess, colProcess
Dim strComputer, strProcessKill
strComputer = "."
strProcessKill = "'EXCEL.exe'"
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:"&"{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colProcess = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * from Win32_Process Where Name = " & strProcessKill)
For Each objProcess in colProcess
objProcess.Terminate()
Next
'******************************************************************************************'**************************
'Execution from UFT
'******************************************************************************************'**************************
Dim dDate,strFlodername,strProjectResultPath,gFolderName,strRunStatus
dDate=Now()
strFoldername="Report_"&Day(dDate)&"-"&Month(dDate)&"-"&hour(dDate)&"-"&Minute(dDate)
dim fso: set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
' directory in which this script is currently running
CurrentDirectory = "C:\Appfolder"
Set objExcel = createobject("excel.application")
objExcel.Workbooks.Open CurrentDirectory&"\List.xlsx"
objExcel.Application.Visible = false
Set objSheet = objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("Scripts")
'Get the max row occupied in the excel file
iRowCount = objSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count
Set UftApplication = CreateObject("QuickTest.Application")
UftApplication.Launch
UftApplication.Visible = true
'To read the data from the entire Excel file
For i = 2 to iRowCount
strValue = objSheet.Cells(i,8).Value
If ucase(strValue) = "YES" Then
strPurpose = objSheet.Cells(i,4).Value
strPrerequisites = objSheet.Cells(i,5).Value
strTestScript = objSheet.Cells(i,6).Value
strModule = objSheet.Cells(i,2).Value
strSubModule = objSheet.Cells(i,3).Value
strRootFolder = "B\"&StrSubModule &"\"
TestScriptPath = CurrentDirectory&"\Test\"&strRootFolder &strTestScript
UftApplication.Options.Run.RunMode = "Normal"
UftApplication.Options.Run.ViewResults = False
UftApplication.Open TestScriptPath
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("strPurpose")=strPurpose
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("strPrerequisites")=strPrerequisites
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("FolderName")=strFoldername
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ExecutionType")="Batch"
UftApplication.Test.Save
UftApplication.Test.Run
fsoForReading = 1
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set ObjTextStream = fso.OpenTextFile("C:\Results\Result.txt",fsoForReading,true)
strResultFileData = ObjTextStream.ReadLine
ArrstrResultFileData = Split(strResultFileData,"#")
strRunStatus = ArrstrResultFileData(0)
gFolder = ArrstrResultFileData(1)
TestResultLink = "/A redacted Sharepoint Link/" &gFolder &"%2FTestcases" & "/" & strTestScript &".html"
objSheet.Cells(i,9).Value = strRunStatus
objSheet.Cells(i,10).Value = TestResultLink
objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Save
End If
Next
UftApplication.Open CurrentDirectory&"\LibraryFiles\ResultsSummary"
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("FolderName")=strFoldername
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ExecutionType")="Batch"
UftApplication.Test.Save
UftApplication.Test.Run
UftApplication.Open CurrentDirectory&"\LibraryFiles\TC_SharePoint_UploadFile"
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("FolderName")=strFoldername
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ScriptPath")=strScriptPath
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ExecutionType")="Batch"
UftApplication.Test.Save
UftApplication.Test.Run
'this is the code upload to sharepoint through chrome (Once the one drive issue fixed need to be again comment in below code upto 120 line)
UftApplication.Open CurrentDirectory&"\LibraryFiles\UploadResultsFolderToSharePoint"
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("FolderName")=strFoldername
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ScriptPath")=strScriptPath
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ExecutionType")="Batch"
UftApplication.Test.Save
UftApplication.Test.Run
'Added August 2020
'===============================================================
UftApplication.Open CurrentDirectory&"\LibraryFiles\CopyTestResultsLinks_SendOutlookMail"
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("FolderName")=strFoldername
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ScriptPath")=strScriptPath
UftApplication.Test.Environment.Value("ExecutionType")="Batch"
UftApplication.Test.Save
UftApplication.Test.Run
'===============================================================
UftApplication.Quit
Set UftTest = Nothing
Set UftApplication = Nothing
objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Close
objExcel.Application.Quit
Set objSheet = Nothing
Set objExcel = Nothing

10 years ago, Typhoon, a track by the at the time unknown artist by the name of Julian Calor came out on Hardwell's Revealed Recordings label. Hardwell had dropped Typhoon on his TomorrowWorld set the previous September and after that the track got a lot of support in other artists' sets.
Lots of promo for Julian Calor's debut album Evolve would follow, along with well received singles, the title track Evolve, Cell, and finally Another Template, right before the album dropped, at the end of April 2015.
At the time I was in the peak of my Electro/Big Room House phase and Evolve was the second EDM album I remember listening from start to finish (after Madeon's Adventure, also released in 2015) and to this day I still think it's a great album, especially considering that Julian Calor was still a very new talent.
I think a lot of people expected Julian to keep the momentum going with more quality releases and we'd have to wait until December for Power, which was once again well received and was one of my favourite tracks at the time. Revive would follow in February and that would turn out to be his second to last original release on Revealed Recordings for 3 years (the last one in 2016 was Atlas in October and there was a Trap reboot of Cell in 2017).
A few months later he "reinvented" himself, dropping a series of tracks part of his Involve project, where every track was free to use as long as credit was provided. The tracks were different from his initial style but again, well received, even if by not as big an audience due to the lack of signal boosting from a big label. The "Involve Collection" ended up with a total 23 tracks and a 2018 compiled release on streaming services.
He would continue to self release more music until the end of 2017 where he'd release on WOLV (Dyro's label), Tiesto's Musical Freedom (including a 4 track EP), Monstercat (with a couple of Revealed releases in between) and finally Martin Garrix's STMPD.
His last release, Find My Way, is now over 2 years old. His socials are devoid of any activity for close to over a year and have no past promo material apart from his facebook which seems to have been abandoned for 3 years (who can blame him).
His last tweet seemed to hint at a new album coming, but it's been radio silence (to my knowledge) ever since.
From the hype of 2014-16, to the consistently well produced but also varied self releases of 2016-18 and the final burst of "mainstream" releases of 2019-21, his release pattern always made it feel like Julian was a bit of a perfectionist and someone that didn't want to fall into the cycle of releasing mediocre tracks just for the sake of putting something out and following current stylistic trends, which I can appreciate but that's something that can take away any momentum from someone's career and I can't help but feel like he could've become a household name if he'd gone in a slightly different direction.
Does anyone else have fond memories of listening to his stuff back in the day?

Bonjour,
je possède des actions Alstom et hier, alors que je n'ai fait aucune manipulation celle-ci s'est divisée en 2 . La majorité est restée sous le label " Alstom" et le reste sous le label "Alstom DS" et quand je clique pour avoir plus de détaille, il apparait sous le label "Alstom RTS 10.06.24". Je voulais donc savoir la signification de cette scission et les conséquences s'il y en a....
Merci d'avance!!

I’m the third. Alex the parrot was the second. A man named Karl Schuster who lived in Berlin in the early 1900s was likely the first. In total, only three individuals are known to have overcome the natural cognitive limits of their species’ brains. Alex did no harm. Mr. Schuster, I’m afraid, may have inadvertently damaged reality. My transgression may be humanity’s undoing.
I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just wanted to be like Alex.
What made Alex special? He is the only animal to have asked a question.
Lots of animals communicate. Whales and birds sing their songs to each other. Coyotes use barks and howls for identification. We’ve been teaching primates sign language since the 1960s. But these animal tweets and howls and signs aren’t language. There’s no grammatical structure. No deep concepts conveyed - just surface-level stuff. I’m here, they say. I’m threatened, or breed with me.
Animals manage to transmit information and even desires through their species’ form of communication. But none of the thousands of animals observed by science have ever asked a question. Except Alex.
Alex was an ordinary gray parrot, purchased at a pet store by a researcher studying animal psychology. Alex was taught to identify shapes and objects and to speak the name of the items he was quizzed on. One day, while being taught to identify different colors, Alex turned to a mirror and asked “What color is Alex?” This is the only known case of an animal asking a question. Even the famous gorilla who liked to pose for pictures with his kitten and the chimpanzee raised as a human child never managed to ask a question.
As you cuddle up on the couch with Mister Snugglekins the cat, or make Mister Woof Woof the dog beg for treats, think about what it must be like to have an animal mind. Animals’ brains cannot even conceive of the idea of asking a question. They can wonder things: When’s dinner? Is this new person a threat? But the notion of using communication to get answers is beyond their capacity. The gulf between us and our beloved animals is truly vast.
Now, let’s take the next logical step. Is there a mind - can there be such a mind - that is to ours like ours are to animals’? What thoughts are permitted by the laws of physics but are unattainable to the limited machinery of our brains? What if we could improve our own cognitive infrastructure, so our own minds could grasp these currently-unattainable ideas. What lies beyond the ability to ask questions? Hyper-questions? What are they like? What is their purpose? Is there hyper-love? Hyper-joy? What accomplishments lie beyond our grasp?
I used to believe that these ideas amounted to only pointless philosophical wondering. Just stuff to talk about while you’re passing the joint around. Then I learned about Alex, who somehow broke past the cognitive limit of animal thought. If Alex can do it, maybe it’s possible for a human to do it. Maybe, I thought, I can do it.
Unfortunately it is possible for a human to do it. And unfortunately, I did.
* * \*
In 2015, dozens of social media users posted images of a confused-looking elderly man slowly driving in circles in a Walmart parking lot. The emblem on the back of the car said he was driving Toyota Raynow. Toyota denies that a vehicle called a Toyota Raynow ever existed, even as a prototype.
* * \*
I’m not the first researcher to set off on a project to improve human cognition. The eugenicists whose work flourished at the dawn of the 20th century may have been the first people to search for ways to adjust to the human mind. Of course, they had their own spin on the endeavor that, let’s just say, didn’t age well. Take a look at this: an excerpt from the Proceedings of the Third Berlin Conference on Eugenics, 1904. (Translated from the original German by me)

The session on Friday afternoon was opened by Mr. Gerhard Van Wagenen, who presented the report of the Berlin Directed Intelligence Improvement Society. If we are to develop ways of improving the overall intelligence of the human breed, Mr. Van Wagenen argued, we must have, as a guide post, the ultimate limit of human intelligence. Only when we know this limit, can we pose the fundamental question of our effort: Are we to use selective breeding to improve average human intellectual fitness in a population, or are we to find ways of advancing the limit of human genius itself into areas that no individuals born to date have occupied?
Our immediate research goal was therefore to find individuals for whom the light of genius burned, not just at all, but brighter than the lights of all others of that intellectual rank. We sought to find the one individual currently alive who can look down on literally all the rest as his intellectual inferiors.
It is known that in the mass of men belonging to the superior classes there is found a small number who are characterized by inferior qualities. And in the mass of men forming the inferior classes, one can find specimens possessing superior characteristics. Therefore, we shall search wherever those of superior intellect may be found, without regard to their current station.

Inferior classes? Intellectual rank? Try putting that in a research grant proposal today!
Mr. Van Wagenen and his assistants set out across Berlin and asked thousands of people a single question: “Of all the men you know who are still alive, who amongst them is the most intelligent?” They carefully reviewed the resulting list of thousands of names. They removed the duplicates and any female names that ended up on the list. (Those crazy eugenicists, right?) They tracked down each of these men who ranked as the smartest known by at least one male resident of Berlin, and asked them the same question, generating a second-stage list: the most intelligent people known to a group of individuals already considered very intelligent.
And they kept going. They generated the third-stage names, found those people and had them produce a list of fourth-stage names. And so on. This project took a year. There was a running joke in Berlin that Mr. Van Wagenen would only stop when the last name on the list was his own.
But, to Mr. Van Wagenen’s credit, he did not rig the study to identify himself or one of his patrons as the one individual who can look down on literally all the rest as his intellectual inferiors. Indeed, Mr. Van Wagenen eventually concluded that his year-long study was a failure.

A fraction of the people named, about eight percent, simply could not be found. We were appalled to note that a small percentage of the respondents identified themselves as the most intelligent man they knew. While the ultimate individual we seek could only truthfully answer with his own name, we took these first and second stage self-identifiers to be adverse to our research and ignored their input.
In a few hundred cases, pairs of individuals each identified the other. In smaller numbers we found sets of three, four, and even five men whose linkages formed closed loops of co-admiration, eventually working around back to the first man.
But the most striking feature of the data was that over three thousand lines of reported superior intelligence ended in the same name: Karl Schuster. Mr. Schuster had been a successful industrialist before suddenly retreating from public view later in life. Strangely, when we tried to find Mr. Schuster, we learned that he had, of his own volition, taken residence in the mental asylum located at Lankwitz.
He refused to see us when we paid a visit to his private room in the asylum. The only communication we had from him was a note related to us by the Lankwitz staff, in which Mr Shuster wrote:
“I’ve spent most of my life hiding from It. I have isolated myself here, with the notion that the confused noise of mental anguish that surrounds me would act as a form of concealment. I did not suspect I might one day be discovered by ordinary men. Please do not visit me here again.”
From his note, and the fact of his residence within the asylum, we must conclude Mr. Shuster had become a mental defective. Even more damaging to our research, we subsequently learned that Mr. Schuster was a Jew. This finding, unfortunately, invalidates our work. In the coming months, we will strive to find a protocol more suitable for investigation into the nature of superior intellect.

Let’s not be too hard on these anti-Semitic, white-supremacist eugenicists. I’m willing to cut them some slack because I’ve done far, far more damage to mankind than all of these guys combined. I should have listened to Mr. Schuster’s warning. I should not have let It find me.
* * \*
In 1954 a man arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport with a passport issued by the country of Taured. No such country exists, or ever existed. Despite the man being detained and guarded, he mysteriously vanished overnight.
* * \*
Where the eugenicists looked to make improvements in the human population over generations by controlling or influencing reproduction, I had a more ambitious goal - to make improvements to a specific human brain (my own) in-vivo. I set out to upgrade my brain while I was using my brain to figure out how to upgrade my brain. I had astonishing success.
I’m not going to tell you exactly how I did it, because it’s just too dangerous. I don’t mean because it’s dangerous to the person undergoing the process (which it is), but because doing so can lead It to notice you. I don’t care if you fry your own cortex. But having It eat even more of our reality will be a calamity.
The human brain consists of gray matter, which is the stuff that performs perception and cognition, and white matter, which deals with boring stuff like running your metabolism. The gray matter - your cerebral cortex - forms a nice thick layer on the outside of your brain. This layer wraps the white matter underneath. I found a way to use pluripotent stem cells to expand the thickness of my cortex. With careful dosing of the stem cell culture through a spinal tap, I created new layers of gray matter underneath my cortex. These new cells replaced the white matter that was there.
For reasons I don’t fully understand yet, the new cortical cells only become active when I have ingested a potent mixture of hallucinogens and antipsychotic drugs.
The process is arduous and very illegal. Experimentation on humans, even if the test subject is also the researcher, is extremely highly regulated. And the drugs I need to use are not available from the suppliers that the rule-following scientific community uses. This work was performed in isolation and in secret. No regulators. No administrators. No rules. Just pure scientific progress.
My laboratory is as unconventional as my approach to science. I’ve set up shop in an assembly of forty-foot shipping containers in the center of my heavily forested seven-hundred-acre plot of land. Privacy!
* * \*
Thousands of people have vivid memories of news coverage from the 1980s reporting that Nelson Mandela died in prison. In the reality that most of us know, Mandela died in 2013, years after his release.
* * \*
Uplift #1 - 3 cubic centimeters
By last October, after six months of stem-cell treatment, I estimated that I had added a total of three cubic centimeters of gray matter to my baseline cortex volume. I could already feel the effects of the diminished volume of white matter. My sense of smell and taste were all but gone. My fine-motor-control was diminished. I had weakness in my legs and arms. But I had three cubic centimeters of fresh cortex to work with. I only needed to activate it. To Uplift myself, as I came to call the process of thinking with an expanded brain.
I planned for the first Uplift as if I was planning a scientific expedition into an uncharted jungle - I stockpiled food and water. I stockpiled lots of drugs. I bought a hundred blank notebooks to record my uplifted thoughts in.
I filled a seven-day pill container with hallucinogens and antipsychotics. I scratched off the Monday, Tuesday, etc. labels on the pill compartments and relabeled them: hour 0, hour 1, and so on. I planned my first Uplift to last seven hours.
Over those seven hours, I learned how to make use of the new, extra capacity in my cortex. I filled notebook after notebook with increasingly complex thoughts. Here are a few excerpts:

Hour 1: The linguistic-mathematical relational resonance is far stronger than most have suspected.
Hour 2: Questions lacking prepositional multipliers of context prevent full expository [(relations)(responses)] yet, but (!yet) there is still an I in the premise.

By the fifth hour, I was fully Uplifted, asking hyper-questions and providing my own hyper-answers. What do the musings of a fully Uplifted mind look like? Page after page of this:

(((Imagine)Imagine[)Imagine)Relate->Time]<--Force(Animal,Object–>Think)

* * \*
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
H.P. Lovecraft, Call of Cthulhu
* * \*
Uplift #2 - 5.5 cubic centimeters.
I waited a few weeks before my next Uplift. I needed time to recover from the mental strain of the first experiment, and to wait for a new dose of stem-cells to produce even more gray matter.
Although I only spent a few hours in an Uplifted state in my first experiment, I felt diminished as I returned to baseline. Hyper-questions. Hyper-answers. Hyper-joy. All of these are wonderful to experience. Life can be so much more rich and full with a post-human cognitive capacity.
But, as I learned during my second Uplift, there is also Hyper-fear.
I descended from my second uplift by screaming and running naked in the snowy woods outside my laboratory. As the drugs wore off, the activated sections of the new parts of my brain shut down. Thoughts that were clear one moment became foggy, like waking from a nightmare.
I fell into a snowbank, breathing hard. Only a trace of what terrified me was left rattling in my tiny, baseline brain: It. It noticed me. I occupied Its attention.
What was It? I knew exactly what It was moments earlier, when I had more gray matter to think with. But now I was like a dog trying to grasp the idea of a question. I was still afraid, but I couldn’t understand the source of the fear.
I returned to the lab and warmed up. Then I reviewed what I had written in my notebooks during the ten hour session. Most of it was the same sort of advanced writings that my now-normal brain could not comprehend. But, somewhere towards the end of the session, perhaps just before I shed my clothes and ran into the woods, I wrote this:

I know what Schuster was hiding from. Find out information about Shuster.

When I recovered from the strain of my second Uplift, I drove to town, where I was able to access the Internet. I found some information about Schuster in the same archive where I found the proceedings from the 1904 eugenics conference.
A short article in a Berlin newspaper described the man who had been named by so many people who took Van Wagenen’s survey.

…Mr. Schuster, at the age of fifteen, had made significant contributions to machine design, metallurgy, and chemistry. He founded four companies which he ran nearly by himself, without a large management staff to insulate him from the workers and day-to-day engineering tasks…

It seems that most of the people who identified Mr. Shuster as the most intelligent person they knew had known him well at this time in his life.
Another article, written in 1905, described strange event at his funeral:

…Also present was a contingent of a dozen people who claimed to have been friends with Schuster during the five years he spent in America. Many who had known Schuster for his entire life stated that he had never been to America, let alone spent five years there. Did a group of people mistakenly attend the funeral of the wrong man?
Everyone in attendance had similar memories of him. All recognized his photograph on the coffin. Indeed, some of the America contingent had letters, written in Karl’s hand and signed by him, fondly recalling his time spent in the New England woods. It is as if there were two Schusters: the one who lived his life in Germany and the other who spent years in America.

Uplift #3 - 6 cubic centimeters
Perhaps I’ve allowed my cortex to consume too much of my white matter. I now have trouble with perceptions. The woods surrounding my laboratory have been transformed into a city. Where there were trees, there are now charming stone buildings from a European city. The song of birds and the whisper of the wind in the trees is gone too, replaced with streetcars and voices speaking German.
I prepared my pill container and notebooks for my third Uplift, as the sounds of a busting turn-of-the-century city rang through the metal walls of my laboratory.
Although I had dozens of blank notebooks prepared, I only made one page of notes during my third Uplift:

I met it today. I know what It is. It is alive. Not just alive. Hyper-alive.
It is built into the very material that logic and mathematics is made from. The digits of the square of pi, when computed to the billionth quadrillionth place, is a sketch of a fragment of its structure.
It consumes pieces of reality. It weaves them into its being, and leaves the tattered shreds of logic and causality to haphazardly mend themselves. It ate the circumstances of Karl Schuster’s life, leaving the ragged edges of different universes to stick and twist themselves back together, like shreds of a tattered flag tangling together in a gale.
It has only begun grazing on the small corner of Hyper-reality where humanity lives. Imagine a cow eating grass from a field. A field where humanity lives like a small colony of aphids on a single blade of grass. It likes it here. It likes the taste of reality here.
I tried to tell it to go away. That we are here and have a right to exist.
It replied to me, in its way. I found its words at the bottom of a twelve-dimensional fractal, woven into the grammar of a language with an infinite alphabet. It taunted me with a question: “What flavor is Alex?”

Update to the Proceedings of the Third Berlin Conference on Eugenics, 1904
Mr. Gerhard Van Wagenen provided the committee with an update on his finding that the individual Mr. Karl Shuster was strikingly-well-represented in the responses of his survey on intelligent men. Mr. Van Wagenen writes:
Upon further reflection of the results of my survey, I returned to Lankwitz again to try to meet with Mr. Schuster. I arrived to find his ward in an uproar, as only a few minutes prior to my arrival, Mr. Schuster had been found missing. The preceding letter, which is reprinted here in its entirety, was found in Mr. Schuster’s room. While the letter does not indicate where he went or even how he managed to slip away from the asylum unnoticed, it does show the extent of his derangement. His detailed descriptions of question-asking birds, strange events from the future, and even methods of biological manipulation unknown to science are not the product of a mind that we wish to recreate. Perhaps intelligence, as a phenomenon of nature, is more complicated than we are able to appreciate with our current notions of science. If I may speculate even further, perhaps Intelligence is a phenomenon we should avoid study of, lest we learn things about ourselves that it is best not to know.

I think one of the most frustrating and infuriating things for me growing up was when a teacher was wrong, I knew they were wrong, and they said something along the lines of "Well, this is what it says in the book." I can remember being seven years old and asked to name an animal that's striped black and white and related to horses and being marked wrong because I wrote in 'tapir.' I was right dammit.
Anyway, recently I learned that the universal genetic code isn't.
When cells make proteins, they use an enzyme to read DNA to make mRNA, then a ribosome to read mRNA to make proteins. DNA is made out of submolecules called nucleotides. Proteins are made out of submolecules called amino acids. Every three nucleotides in DNA corresponds to one amino acid in a protein. Three nucleotides are called a codon - one codon is specific to one amino acid. This is called the genetic code.
State standards require us to teach students to provide evidence that the genetic code is universal. The problem is that it's not. Sure if you compared a shrimp and a person we'd be using our codons in the same way, but when you get to distantly related branches like echinoderm mitochondria, they have a different codon usage. For example, instead of the DNA passage AAA coding for Lysine, in echinoderm mitochondria it produces Asparagine.
This might sound like a quibble, but I hate that I need to teach something I now have learned is wrong. I think it represents some fundamental disrespect towards teachers in general, that we're not expected to push past the boundaries of standardized tests that ossify. I can remember taking a philosophy class in college where a professor advanced a unique view of Plato's Republic based on a comparison with The Statesman and was given full permission to teach his viewpoint. We suffer through endless PD's but I've never seen an ounce of institutional encouragement to learn more about the subject matter.
I have these paranoid anxieties that in the future teaching will simply be an AI supported test and worksheet set with a 'teacher' that no longer needs to provide any actual instruction but just manages behaviors and technical issues.

FLAGGED FOR INVESTIGATION AND SECURITY RESTRICTED
Account from the squad leader of SH'azz squad on advanced long range assault scout mission in the Tz'urgal system. 3rd moon of the 3rd planet in system. Colony of "Deltamist" pirates.
Race: Inagoor, who are known as separatists. Noted for high crimes to include piracy, kidnapping, smuggling, murders and assassinations.
This is the true, and unredacted, original account.
SEC level set as Black 8 tier 12 restricted.
Account reads:

Journal log entry: T'zk 72:31 G'az 8
2nd leader, Expeditionary Assault Scouts: SH'azz squad.
We landed the stealth assault class (S.A.C) skiff 12 mektreks* from the pirate settlement with the determination to make final approach on claw, and from under cover of night with full stealth masking knowing that the Inagoor would easily spot the mirage haze and light warping of our stealth fields during the day. The gravity of the moon is comparable to ours, if slightly less, so it seemed like it would be an easy trek. I determined that only 2 rest stops would be needed instead of three. Our landing distance assisting in our stealth attempt, and thus adding to our chances of successful surprise attack.
Our intel determined that the pirates had recently raided the Tau shipping lanes, and had taken hostages for the purposes of ransom and slave sales. Our unit was tasked with forward observation and intel gathering of the pirates before termination of their operation, and to report all intel direct to command via secured subspace micro-pulse.
The Flora and Fauna scans determined that this moon was a Class 4 temperate world with no signs of natural life forms rated as sentient.
At our first predetermined rest location we discovered a burn mark cutting a path through the foliage as though a small vessel of some kind had made a controlled emergency landing. Scanners indicated that the craft was emitting power output signals, and was only a short distance from our location. We proceeded to rest and recuperate under the cover of the stealth fields with both live, and drone perimeter guards for security. The rest cycle was extended to insure that the guards could rotate so that all were rested and ready. I had decided that the investigation of the small craft could wait until after our main mission was complete when one of our forward scout drones sent my linkpad some images flagged for immediate review.
The images were of an Inagoor corpse. It was...dismembered. Torn limb from limb and the barrel chested, fur covered torso had chunks ripped out of it. (Images in file listed SET 1) The closeups of the
torso showed that the gaping rents and holes were not impact points of a projectile weapon nor were they of a beam, or energy weapon. No charring of flesh or fur, and no melting or blast marks on their suits armor plating. It simply looked as though an appendage had been grabbed and pulled off. The armor, as well as the flesh underneath, was simply torn off of the main corpse. The dismembered limbs were in the same condition, and save one other notable clue which was that there were obvious "gripping points" where the armor was crushed, and the bone beneath these areas was pulverized. The Inagoor's infra Red pulse rifle was found partially embedded in the trunk of a tree. Its "combat rated" frame had been crushed and wadded up as though it was a piece of waste paper. Its power cell was ruptured and leaking. The scout drone had marked it as a hazard zone out to 30 pace lengths and labeled as "lethal chemical hazard". I informed my second in command, and we reviewed the images together. He was as dumbfounded as I. What native beast could have done this kind of damage to powered assault armor?
(Addendum:)
The Drone was unable to locate the Inagoor's head in the immediate area.
(Addendum ends:)
My second and I resolved to scout this issue as a priority. We did not want to engage our current mission only to have an unknown element interfere and compromise mission success. As per command prerogative, I shared the drones information with the rest of the squad personnel, and reformed mission parameters around this element. Mission AI rated a 92% agreement with my assessment. Well within command parameters. We arrived at the location of the drones discovery in 4 hours. Our visors highlighted the chemical hazard of the leaking power module, and its set perimeter was also highlighted by our personal visor AI, and we all gave it a wide berth. The Inagoor was indeed scattered everywhere as the drones images had relayed with one exception. The smell was horrendous, and sickening. The stench of the Inagoor's "parts" indicated that it had been killed only 2 day/night rotations ago, and already some sort of fungus growth had begun to creep into the strewn dismembered parts and pieces. On every life bearing world, nature always has a cleanup crew. On closer examination of the "parts" we determined that the only explanation of this incident was that some creature had simply grabbed the Inagoor and ripped him apart, flinging the pieces in random directions in the process. The Inagoor's armor was their combat rated class, which is their equivalent to our front line infantry armor, powered of course. It was just torn apart as if it was a Tk'turka wedding veil. Armor that can withstand a pulse from an infra Red rifle at close range, or the puncture of a ballistic needler at point blank range had been torn apart, as if it were made of nothing sturdier than plant filament.
The grip points visible on the appendages did indeed look squeezed/crushed, and the separation points showed signs of literally being "pulled" apart. Not cut. Not chopped, but PULLED apart. The Inagoor are from level 9 temperate worlds and are thus pretty tough, and considered very strong even to a majority of other sentient species. Yet something far, FAR, stronger just pulled them apart. My visor AI showed the majority of my squad running "weapon ready" checks, and a few more scout drones were tossed into the air to begin new stealth patrols.
It wasn't long before another Inagoor corpse was found in the direction of the unidentified craft that
had "seemingly" crash landed.
This Inagoor's corpse was simply pinned to a tree. Its back was against the trunk, and the Inagoor's pulse rifle was pushed through its torso and into the tree trunk thus pinning it a pace off of the ground. Whatever creature did this to the Inagoor, had used the butt of the rifle to penetrate completely through the Inagoor's chest cavity, and further into the tree trunk, thus pinning the Inagoor. My visor AI noted more "Weapons Ready Checks" as well as one of the newer members of the squad using a dose of Stimcalm. My visor AI noted the dose as well within regulation, and I chose to flag it for review for his after mission performance evaluation. (Noted in File marked VA1. attached) I was actually considering using a dose of Stimcalm myself, as my second reoriented the stealth drones to a new scout pattern. Rather than taking the stim I began reviewing database information for "nearest Deathworld locations” from current location, and the AI promptly informed me that none were reachable within a standard week of FTL travel at NOK* 6 speed. I relayed this information to my second, and he reciprocated with a listing of the most dangerous lifeforms on this moon. None were capable of this level of violence by orders of magnitude.
I also noted that there were many burn holes in the vegetation in this area. Obviously the discharge of the pulse rifle was futile in halting the violence that occurred even if the Inagoor had made direct hits. The updated drone orientation revealed a new element to this mystery soon after. The visor alert from the drone was not unexpected, but still caught me off guard. I opened up the video footage, and saw a scene of carnage that staggered my rational mind. Many, MANY Inagoor corpses were strewn about a small clearing in the vegetation. All of them were not merely killed but ripped apart and scattered just like the first corpse we encountered. I am not ashamed to admit that I was so visibly sickened that my second inquired as to my health and mental state. As is my command authority to do so I relayed the drones footage to him. Then I too, took a regulation dosage of Stimcalm. As is noted in the file attached I also ordered my second to share the footage from the drone to the rest, and pre-authorized them to also take a regulation dose of Stimcalm, IF they felt they needed it after reviewing the drones footage.
Upon closer examination of the footage we could see the "fin" of a craft sticking up from the other side of a nearby hill. The site of the visceral carnage was a short distance from the crafts resting position. I, and my second reviewed the footage a few more times, and weighed the pros and cons of sending the drone over the rise, and within full sight of the downed vessel. I came to the conclusion that the possible loss of a stealth drone was far less costly, and far more prudent, than the loss than a squad member, and so I authorized the reroute. What the drone showed us next was intriguing to say the least.
The drone's path was kept slow and close to the foliage line so as not to expose too much of a blur signature, but, as it came into line of sight of our objective we saw that the craft was indeed, of some strange alien design. Its structure and air frame looked almost completely undamaged. Boxy though, and clumsy in appearance it had long airfoils sticking out from its sides and a tall one sticking straight up from its reatail. An enormous alien who was twice our height and bipedal was working on some component in an opened hatch in the side of the craft, and there were other aliens assisting it. A Craxx was handing it a tool of some kind, and a Piryllek was holding some illumination device next to it so that the enormous alien could see what it was doing. A Moorkha, with its brightly colored feathers, was working with a blue-green scaled Sithys. Together, they were making preparations for a meal of some sort. A black furred Glerff suddenly stood on its hind legs and looked straight at the drone. its yellow feather-patterned antennae quivering. We had been spotted!
The aliens that we could name registered in the operational AI as the abductees from the afore mentioned recent raids on the shipping lanes, and when the Glerff alerted the others they all stopped what they were doing, and started chattering wildly at the giant, who then reached for some sort of computational device and began fiddling with it. It did not look as the giant was concerned overly, but, simply curious. The suit it was wearing was scorched in many areas, and the hide that showed through the holes in its clothing was light brown with red splotches. These were definitely wound sites on the unidentified alien. If these were the wounds suffered from the infra Red pulse rifle fire, then they likely only caused this creature some mild irritation and inconvenience. Its face was hairy, as was its head, and the left mandible, hair burned away was swollen and blistered. A pulse rifle shot to his face perhaps? There were obvious signs of it being shot all over it’s limbs and torso, and yet it was still alive and breathing? Impossible! What was this thing?
It was apparent from the drone video that this alien was over twice our height. It stood head and shoulders taller than the Moorkha, and with triple its mass. The Moorkha quieted the others, and began cooing at the giant, making a visible sign to breathe deeply and calmly while stroking the giants fore appendages and digits, as we witnessed this process via the live feed. The fur above one of its ocular organs (it had 2, side by side, and front facing.) rose a bit but it otherwise seemed to relax and looked in the direction of the drone that the Glerff was still pointing at.
Based on this evidence I chose to drop the cloak on the drone and send it slowly to the Glerff as it was the closest. When the drone was within verbal communication distance I sent my voice through the drone to introduce myself.
"I am Ak'kik. Leader of SH'azz squad. We have come to investigate, and rescue you and your fellow abductees. Do you require assistance?", I said with as much authority in my tone as I am capable of. "Most assuredly Ak'kik, though we are no longer in danger thanks to our new friend that rescued us. Although I do not believe that he did so intentionally. The pirates that abducted us attacked it as soon as it’s craft crash landed. The pirates made the mistake of shooting it. That failed to kill it, and only made it angry. When they persistently kept shooting it, it subsequently became enraged." The Glerff shuddered, but seemed to regain control of its emotions quickly.
"The pirates are no more. The pirates that attempted to flee were pursued, and exterminated. The base the pirates held us in was likewise cleansed of the pirates by our rescuer. Our rescuer is very, very fast and very, very strong. Please do NOT shoot it. You would not survive should you do so. Also, it seems to be an omnivore. PLEASE! Do not anger it. I beg you!"
I responded with calm. "Please tell it that we will be there shortly and that we have no intentions of violence. We only wish to rescue the abductees."
"I can't." The Glerff replied quickly. "None of us speak its language and it does not know ours. We have no Data AI's to link to its technology to work out language algorithms. I think the aliens technology is also damaged. It keeps having to go to its’ ships control station to check for power readings.
Communicating with it has been a challenge, though oddly pleasant. It is quite patient and amenable, when it is not killing pirates in an excessively psychotic state. As terrified as I am of this creature, I cannot help but be curious about it. I am sure you will find it to be a pleasant, and respectful entity if you approach calmly, and with no hostility."
I thought for a moment. "Please try to keep it calm and we will try to make our approach as calmly, and respectfully as possible. We will endeavor at all costs, not provoke it."
"I should think not!" said the Glerff showing some alarm. “Since the extermination of the pirates I have personally observed it lifting enormous amounts of weight without strain. Seen it consume it’s rations which looked to be a combination of vegetable, AND meat with vigor. Much of which I am confirming was poisonous using an analyzer that once belonged to the pirates. The analyzer shows that some of its’ rations would be considered lethally poisonous to every species that I know of."
He held the analyzer screen to the drone for confirmation, as he continued speaking. "I am not an expert in the field of chemistry, so I would strongly suggest you scan whatever food he offers you before you eat it. Please note that refusing his "gift" of food does not insult him. Just hand it back to him if it is inedible, and then he will eat it himself."
The alien approached the drone that the Glerff was speaking to, and then picked up a silvery pouch from the makeshift table that the Moorkha was working over. It peeled the top off, and it ate the dark brown bar in 3 bites, then nodded to the drone, and went back to it’s repairs.
"What he just ate, by the way..." The Glerff said turning back to the drone. "...the analyzer states contains some alarming chemical chains. Theobromine, Phenylethylamine which look to be nearly lethal stimulants. Massive amounts of caffeine, Taurine, and Niacin as well. Oh dear, uh. By the nesting Gods! Leader Ak'kik, What it just ate could poison a small colony just on the amount of caffeine alone. But the amount of Capsaicin he just ate is even worse, FAR worse. PLEASE, please, refrain from angering it." he was still scanning the data in astonishment. "And, er, and this is most important, your weapons would be useless against it. It is incredibly fast, and can quite literally jump across this glade in a single bound. I think it came from a very high gravity planet. Maybe even a Deathworld. I vehemently recommend caution, and I strongly feel it necessary to reiterate, do NOT anger it, or incur its’ ire! Oh, and by the way, I did use the analyzer on it, it allowed me to do so, actually. the Analyzer data shows that there is probably nothing on this moon that it cannot eat, including us."
I replied, not through the drone this time as I was close enough in my approach that I no longer needed it. "Leader Ak'kik, at your service. Whom am I addressing?"
"Ah, apologies, I am professor Roonoomoo, and this is service master EEG'lix. That one there is Vorvert, and over there is D'rrr, and Higuv is just to the left of the table, and the two who are helping our rescuer are Woosk, and Rakk'n. It is a pleasure to meet you in return Leader Ak'kik."
"So you were saying some of the items on the table surface are actual foods that it eats? This is its’ food that it brought?" I said looking at the multitude of pouches and containers on the table.
“Oh yes. We made eating motions when we were trying to establish communications with it, to ask it for food, and he brought us this trove. He opened a package for us, and offered it, but, Woosk went into near panic when he saw that it was animal meat of some sort. After that he just spread everything out, and made a motion for us to inspect it for ourselves. All of us ate what the analyzer said was safe but that was not much of a variety. It turns out that there were only 2 packages all of us could eat. We saved the empty packages to show the alien what we ate once he is finished working. So that we do not risk angering it, you understand. Woosk and Rakk'n decided to offer what assistance they could after they ate, and have been doing so since then."
"May I be introduced to the alien now? I may have some tech that could help. If you will be so kind as to bring it here to us, as I would not want to trespass on its established area of operations, and be mistaken as hostile. We are obviously carrying weapons, and us approaching it...and its ship seems a questionable choice, at best."
"Very wise, Leader Ak'kik, I will see what I can do. I won't be but a moment. “Uh, er, you might want to hold on to that”, indicating the analyzer “and use it before you decide to touch anything on this table.", he said as he handed me the analyzer.
Professor Roonoomoo went to the alien ,and gently patted the joint in the middle of its lower appendage. The alien looked at professor Roonoomoo, who was pointing at us, and trying to explain us with hand signals and gestures, that we wished an introduction. When the alien looked at us we all, as a squad, showed it out empty hands as our weapons had been placed on the ground by our sides. it simply made a wave of one of its upper appendages, as if to say, “come here”. We approached with our empty hands plainly visible. As we approached it, it knelt. Not in surrender, or in supplication, but rather to level our mutual eye line. I realized that it was making an attempt to be polite.
I SLOWLY patted a stow pouch on my utility harness, and it nodded as though it seemed to understand, and motioned me to proceed. I held out the translator AI slate, "TAIS" and it took it, and then touched it to a device it wore on the wrist of its upper arm. (note that I am assuming proper body anatomy, based off of our own, although there are few similarities.) This alien was not only one of the largest I have seen, but also must be of a quite dense mass. As in its anatomy, and not its mental state, for it shook the ground around it with every step.
After a few moments there was a "chirping" sound from his device, and our coms alerted us to a new language file available. I allowed the exchange through my visor, and we were suddenly speaking to each other. I chose to make introductions first.
"I am Ak'kik. Leader of SH'azz squad. We have come to investigate and rescue these abductees. Do you require assistance?"
It held out it's hand as it spoke. "Bartholomew Wane Hatfield. Friends call me Bart." this aliens voice boomed at us.
"I was mining the asteroid belt in this system, when I caught a rogue asteroid right in the nads. Power plant was having a conniption fit after that so I figured I better set her down where I could patch her up. flying this old girl by wire is a bitch but, we got a thing so…"
This was the literal translation we initially received. As you can imagine, we were all quite confused.
"I beg your pardon unknown alien species, but the translation unit seems to be malfunctioning. We do not quite understand all of your words, we have no equivalent in our language for some, even though we seem to be communicating."
The sides of it’s facial orifice turned upward, revealing a multi-functional set fangs. Some pointed and some chisel shaped. Making it obvious it was an omnivore. Our visor AI stated that it “perceived” it was amused. It spoke into it’s wrist device, and it chirped in response. A second later our visor registered a "receive transmission" request. I allowed it, and this is what the visor AI showed us by way of "corrected translation".
"Bartholomew Wane Hatfield. Friends call me Bart.”
[REQUEST FOR FRIENDSHIP. THE USE OF "BART' ACKNOWLEDGES AND ACCEPTS FRIEND REQUEST]
“I was mining the asteroid belt in this system when I caught a rogue asteroid, right in the nads.”
[ASTEROID DAMAGED CRAFT IN CRITICAL LOCATION]
“Power plant was having a conniption fit after that so I figured I better set her down where I could patch her up.”
[POWER PLANT OPERATING WITH INTERMITTENT FAILURES. IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY REPAIR IS REQUIRED.]
“Flying this old girl by wire is a bitch but, we got a thing so..."
[LANDED SHIP WITHOUT COMPUTER ASSISTANCE OR ASSISTED CONTROLS. I AM EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO SHIP.]
I replied with, "AH, thank you for the subtext. Bart. I can see that your language has a vernacular art to it. I am culturally fascinated by such a language. Polite request. What is your power plant, and what is its power source? We may be able to assist with our spare component sets. Please feel free to not detail your technology to us, if it is security bound. We will not be insulted."
The alien again showed its fangs with a deep resonating, yet pleasant, vocal repetition. [LAUGHTEAMUSED]
"It's old tech stuff, by about 20 generations or so, but it's cheap, and reliable, common knowledge, and easy to repair. It’s a paired enriched uranium atom cracker.”
[DUAL/PAIRED NUCLEAR CORE POWER GENERATOR. EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS.}
"Chasing blinking lights mostly. When the asteroid hit, the core spiked, and caused a number of shorts and jumps."
[POWER SURGE CAUSED MULTIPLE SHORTS AND POSSIBLE INTERMITTENT ARC / SHORT IN SYSTEM.]
I nodded my understanding to the alien Bart. I then asked the engineer of my squad if he would be willing to assist. Corporal Zi'Kict accepted the challenge, though it looked as though anxiety, and fear
of "Bart" might overwhelm his current Stimcalm dose. "This is Corporal Zi'Kict. He is our designated engineer, and he has agreed to assist you. You can decline with no insult incurred."
He flashes us his fangs again. [HAPPY] His species, whatever it was, seemed to be fond of showing their teeth often.
"Hell, I never turn down a helpin' hand. Grab whatever it is y'all use, and let's get to chasin’ sparks."
[ASSISTANCE IS WELCOME]
"Uh, Bart. I must ask, what are your intentions with those that we were designated to rescue? If there is good will between us I would like to ensure that we, my crew and I, be given liberty return them to their families, and respective worlds. Will this be acceptable to you?"
"You go on right ahead, bless yer’ heart."
[ACCEPTANCE OF PROPOSAL WITH WELL WISHES TO YOUR CONTINUED EXISTENCE.]
“I'll miss these 'uns. Their nice and friendly."
[FONDNESS]
"Not like those other jackhole fecktards."
[REFERING TO PIRATES. INSULT INTENDED TOWARD PIRATES AND PIRACY.
{insult "jackhole" refers to anal orifice. "Fecktards" derogatory reference to mentally damaged or deranged individuals with severely limited mental capacity that act inappropriately.}]
"I understand and concur with your insult of the pirates, and thank you for your understanding, your patience, and your friendship. With your permission I would like to redirect my ship to your encampment so our medtech device can confirm their current health. If it is not offensive, I would like to offer our medtech device to scan you as well, and determine if it is capable of repairing your injuries also. Refusal will not be considered an insult. My squad engineer will will assist you as needed, and our spare components are at your disposal. Friend Bart."
"Well bless yer heart, that would be dandy with me. Much obliged!"
[ACCEPTANCE OF PROPOSAL WITH WELL WISHES TO YOUR CONTINUED EXISTENCE. IMMENSE THANKS]
I bowed to the alien I now called friend Bart, and went to co-ordinate the rescue operation, and sent the AI to bring the ship to my location. Since my priority was the health and safety of the of the abductees I spent the majority of my remaining time with them.
The alien required only a single spool of CronWire, and a span of shielded conduit, a simple enough repair. The abductees were tended to medically, fed, and shown to their racks. We allowed the abductees to contact their loved ones through our secured communications net. The alien allowed our medtech device to repair its burns, but it was unable to regrow the lost hair on its face. Friend Bart removed the rest of the hair around its mandible orifice with a small device, saying that he had to keep the balance. The squad medic timidly requested a full scan of Friend Bart, and Friend Bart was amenable to this.
We left Friend Bart, and watched him take off from orbit a few hours later. My squad medic started pouring over the MedTech device scans of Friend Bart, and quickly went into a fit of panic, and it took a questionable dose of Stimcalm to calm him down. I admit that I glanced at the data, but I am not trained as a medic so I understood nothing. The squad engineer simply handed me a collated list of intel he gathered while working with Friend Bart. They had a lengthy converse, and the engineer had actually formed a bond with Friend Bart. The list is as follows.
Name: Bartholomew Wane Hatfield
Species: Human
Origin: city of Austin in the state of Texas in the country of the United States of the planet Terra of the Sol star system
(system is far past the outer edge of our empire on the frontier side, opposite of coreward.)
Gravity: home normal +4 (4 times greater than our own gravity!)
Planet notes: frequent earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes.
Planet has multiple biosphere, and terrain hazards that are lethal.
Plague level viruses, and bacteria, Multiple predators in every biosphere.
(See files freely given by Friend Bart) [FILESTORE- FriendBart01a]
NOTE: great white shark, alligator, saltwater crocodiles, king cobra, wolf, pit bulls, and other canines, polar bears, poison dart frog, hippopotamus, killer whale, rhinoceros, box jellyfish, cone snail, hyena, stone fish, black mamba, grizzly bears, puffer fish, komodo dragon, death stalker scorpion, lions, leopards, brown recluse spider, black widow spider, Brazillian wandering spider, electric eel, etc.
Please note that this list is merely a VERY small fraction of the actual list. My understanding is that the home planet of Friend Bart is at least a level 10-12 Deathworld. He also states that many of the species on this list are kept as pets by his fellow humans.
The squad engineer states he will send in a request for allowance of continued discourse with Friend Bart, but understands if this request is denied. After careful deliberation with the squad medic, we strongly recommend that the details of this mission be put to the SEC level at Black 8 tier 12 restricted, or higher, if there is a level higher than Black 8 tier 12 restricted.
Captain Ak'kik. Leader of SH'azz squad
[END OF REPORT]
mektreks*Aprox. One Terran kilometer equivalent.
NOK* Measurement of warp travel. 1NOK = speed of light

Introduction
In order to supply energy for regular bodily processes, glucose is necessary. Blood glucose levels rise in diabetics as a result of a relative or total insulin shortage. One hormone is insulin. A hormone is a substance that our bodies' glands secrete. The pancreas is the name for this gland, which is located in the abdomen. Insulin functions as a gatekeeper, permitting glucose to enter the cell. If the body produces too much insulin or if insulin's function is compromised, too much glucose builds up and damages the cells in different organs. Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the body cannot utilize glucose to meet its energy needs. Insulin is necessary for the entry of glucose into cells, as we have already mentioned. For this reason, when cells cannot use glucose to the fullest extent, the body attempts to generate extra glucose through a process known as glycogenesis. Here's how blood sugar levels continue to rise in the absence of food. Diabetes occurs mostly in two forms. The initial kind, or insulin-dependent diabetes. Only insulin, the primary medication, is effective in treating it. Younger patient age groups frequently experience this. Type II diabetes is the second kind, which is not insulin-dependent. In India, this is a growing trend. People older than 40 are typically affected by this. Exercise, nutrition, and oral medicines can all be used to manage this group.
If uncontrolled diabetes is not caught early enough, it can have harmful effects on all areas of the body. The illness needs to be properly treated even if a person does not now experience its effects. Neglect and complacency are never safe. Keep in mind that maintaining good control over the disease is essential to living a normal life. One of the main risk factors for developing complications from diabetes later in life is poorly managed diabetes. The chart below illustrates a few of these concerns for complications. This isn't meant to frighten you; rather, it's only meant to highlight how crucial it is to manage diabetes.
Diabetes food pyramid
Two of the most crucial things you can do to improve your health are to eat a healthy diet and get regular exercise. You can accomplish this by using the Food pyramid guide, the Physical Activity Guidelines, and the Healthy Eating Guidelines. Eating a healthy diet entails consuming the right proportions of the vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and carbs that your body needs to stay healthy. On each shelf of the Food Pyramid, foods that are similar in terms of nutrients are placed together. This provides you with a variety of food options from which to select a nutritious diet. Getting the correct balance of nutrient-dense foods within your calorie range can be achieved by using the Food Pyramid as a guide.
Research indicates that we consume an excessive amount of calories from foods and beverages on the Top Shelf of the Food Pyramid that are high in fat, sugar, and salt. They barely contain any of the vital vitamins and minerals that your body needs. Restricting them is necessary for a healthy diet. You need different nutrients every day depending on where you are in life. These are determined by your age, gender, level of activity, and gender.
Understanding food pyramid
•Restrict your intake of items from the Food Pyramid's top shelf. Considering that these are heavy in fat, sugar, and salt, this is the most crucial Healthy Eating Guideline.
•Use fresh ingredients when preparing and cooking your meals. Because they are often heavy in fat and salt, ready meals and takeout should not be consumed frequently.
•Consistently read the nutrition label; look for excessive amounts of sugar, fat, and salt.
•Consume at least five different coloured fruits and veggies each day. Make regular choices of leafy green vegetables. Smoothies can be included in your daily servings of fruits and vegetables, but try to limit your intake to those that contain fruit or vegetables. Look for fat and sugar on the label.
•The greatest foods to feed your body include whole grain bread, potatoes, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, and high-fiber cereals, especially porridge. These foods also satiate hunger. They offer a gradual release of energy. Recognize that different varieties may have different amounts of calories.
•Instead of frying food, use healthy cooking techniques including steaming, grilling, baking, roasting, and stir-frying. Limit your consumption of fried items like chips.
•Increase your fish intake; it's high in protein and contains essential vitamins and minerals. Make an effort to consume oily fish, such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel, at least once a week. They contain a lot of omega-3 lipids. Reduced-fat cheese, low-fat/no-sugar yogurts, and yogurt drinks are the better options.
•While preparing or serving meals, use as little or no salt as feasible. Instead, experiment with different flavorings including lemon juice, herbs, spices, pepper, and garlic. Eat as much fresh food as you can. Check the food labels for the amount of salt.
•An adult needs eight to ten glasses or cups of liquid every day. 200 ml is roughly one cup. If you exercise, you will require more. Teens and children should drink often throughout the day. The ideal fluid is water.
•Make time to sit down at a table and eat three meals a day. Eat mindfully and give your food a good chew. You may overeat if you eat while watching TV or using a computer since it can cause you to become distracted by how much food you are consuming. Alcohol contains calories, so if you drink, do it responsibly within advised limits and ideally with meals.
•Always make time for breakfast, as those who eat it are more likely to maintain a healthy weight.
•You shouldn't need to take food supplements if you consume a healthy, balanced diet unless your doctor tells you to. Nonetheless, it is recommended that all sexually active women of reproductive age take 400µg of folic acid daily, ideally as a supplement. Vitamin D deficiency in the diet can be addressed by discussing supplementation with your physician or pharmacist.
•Eating a healthy diet both before and throughout pregnancy lowers the chance that your unborn child may develop lifestyle disorders like obesity and heart disease. Breastfeeding is highly advised since breast milk provides additional protection.
•Take into account how much food, excluding fruits and vegetables, you eat from each shelf of the Food Pyramid if you are overweight.
Conclusion
A diabetic diet's ingredients differ from person to person. A balanced diet is an excellent way to treat diabetes. Making a nutritious diet is made easier with the guidance of the diabetes food pyramid. Diabetes can be beaten with a balanced diet, appropriate medication, and a healthy lifestyle.