Fletch gently pushed open the large and lavishly decorated bronze doors of the university administration building and ambled out into the portico. He set his cup of coffee down on the pedestal of a granite pillar and pulled his cigarette case from the breast pocket of his tan trench coat. The old chief inspector plucked a cigarette from the ornately engraved case with slender fingers and wondered why the Kael let him come at all.
Something felt very off with the whole thing. The more he thought about it, the more he questioned the story he got. Mike Anderson was certainly depressed, but as far as Fletch could tell, he had not displayed any suicidal behavior. And why now? Fletch thought. Things were on the upswing for the kid. His grades were excellent, his family situation was good, and he was out of the house more this term than the last. Fletch scratched his mustache. Why would the seals hide the autopsy and the gun? He brought the cigarette to his lips, snapped the filigreed case shut, and slipped it back into the breast pocket of his coat. Fletch flicked open his lighter and sighed as he lit his cigarette. Murder.
It was a hopeless case. These days, warrants were approved by the seals, and even if they weren't, he doubted that he could get one anyway. His suspicion of foul play was backed by nothing but his instinct.
Fletch watched students hustle and bustle through the plaza in front of him as he puffed away at his cigarette and pondered his theory.
But why kill him now? They could have done it in complete secrecy while he was a POW. And it couldn’t be to keep what happened in Philadelphia under wraps. His death brings more attention to it. And he wasn’t a rebel. So why? Fletch sipped at his coffee as he flicked ash from his cigarette. Vengeance? Did he kill some noble brat during the war?
Fletch scratched at his grey mustache and glanced at his watch. I’ll have to follow that thread. He tossed his half-smoked cigarette into a puddle as he briskly walked down the steps and through the university plaza.
The withered investigator was deep in thought when he entered the parking lot. What do I tell that Enrique chap? He unlocked his car and crawled in. I certainly can’t tell him that his mate’s been clipped with no evidence. Fletch turned the key, and the engine of his little Volvo sputtered to life. It’s no bleeding use. I’ll just tell the lad they weren’t interested in sharing and keep my suspicions to myself.
As he reached for the shifter, Fletch noticed a delightfully thick manilla envelope stuck in the gap between the center console and the passenger seat.
He pulled the envelope from the crack. Gingerly, he opened it and pulled out a small note. It read We’re even now, prick.
Fletch smiled and couldn’t help but mutter, “The game is afoot,” as he flicked through the stack of documents inside.
Isabella poked her head into the large office and saw Professor Dret’la with a ball of dark green yarn on her lap and bone darning needles beset with carvings in her hands.
Isabella was struck with confusion. What? She crochets!?
The professor looked up from her labor, spotted the confused girl outside her door, and called, “Come in.”
Isabella walked into the office and took a seat. She gestured to the yarn in the professor's hands. “What are you making?”
The professor smiled as motherly as one could with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. “It will be a hat for my son. He just received his commission as a junior biologist, so he has to rummage around in freezers to get samples for his whole research team.”
Isabella blinked. This was not characteristic at all for the quick-tempered professor with a penchant for launching chalk across lecture halls at the mildest provocation.
Isabella shook off her shocked expression and gave the tall professor a dimpled cheek smile. “That’s so sweet! I’m sure he’ll love it. One of the best gifts I’ve ever received was a thick wool sweater from my mamma during a training exercise off the coast of Norway.”
The professor, still smiling, sat up straight. “I hope that’s the kind of reception I get.”
The professor’s demeanor hardened as she stowed the yarn and needles in the desk drawer. “Now, let's get down to business.”
Isabella gulped.
“To start, congratulations. You’ve passed our testing and been selected for officer training.”
Isabella asked, “Who else was selected?”
“There are nine others: Robert Rhodes, Elena Pavel, Hal Jellico, Zheng Li, Brooke Halsey, Colow Aden, Magnus Tordenskjold, Bill Lee, and Kazuya Yamamoto.”
Isabella didn’t recognize all the names.
“Should you choose to accept, you will be taking a prep course taught by Colonel Ocidea and I starting next week and lasting all through the summer. If we deem you ready, you’ll ship out for basic training and then off to the Royal Military Academy, where you can earn your commission.” Dr. Dret’la leaned in close to Isabella. “Do you accept?”
Without hesitation, Isabella answered, “Yes.”
“Mike, come over here. You’re going to want to see this.” Calty voiced from her seat in the front of the cockpit.
Mike rolled off the couch and walked into the front of the cockpit as the captain shouted, “Decelerate!” Mike couldn’t help but grab onto the back of Calty’s seat as the FTL drive kicked into gear. The cockpit glass dimmed just before blindingly bright blue jets of fire from the front-facing engines came into view. A bright green circle flickered onto the glass surrounding a marble-sized dot darker than the rest of the now dim screen. The dots and circles expanded at an extreme pace until they took up most of the display. Another dot appeared—minuscule compared to the other—surrounded by a red circle. The growth of the shadowy dots and the circles around them slowed and then stopped entirely as the engines sputtered out.
The HUD faded out of view, and the tint of the glass slowly lightened, revealing a vast planet embraced by blue-green ice with a colossal foundry in its orbit. The planet, a gas giant called Drassus, was orbited by four rings. One was made of containers, and the other three were made up of loose ore gleaming in the nearby star's light. Exhaust chimneys spewing gas and fire sprouted from the otherwise spherical foundry, giving it a sea urchin-like profile, which, together with the weave of pipes bringing fuel from beneath the icy surface of the planet below, made the foundry resemble an old naval mine.
The captain strode up to the front of the cockpit. “One-third ahead and steer 14 degrees left. We’re unloading in bay three.”
Six mech suits and a tug exited a plasma-shielded hanger as the ship came to a halt. The mechs glided to the front of the ship and started dismounting the external cargo bay from the Broken Fin while the tug hitched onto the opposite end of the ten-kilometer-long rack of containers.
A little while later, the tug pulled away with the load of containers, and the comm system blared to life. “Broken Fin, you are cleared to leave. The UO corporation thanks you for your business.”
The captain replied, “Our pleasure. Broken fin out.” as the ship pulled out of the loading bay.
He turned to the navigation officer and said, “Lock in coordinates for jump to Kael Prime.”
The captain went to the central control board and pulled up traffic control. “Tower 1, this is the Broken Fin. We request a jump slot to Kael Prime from Drassus.”
“Broken Fin, request granted. Your departure slot is at 16:33.”
Mike glanced at the top right of the ship's HUD and looked at the time. 16:21.
Better get my stuff together…
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ship shuddered ever so slightly despite the inertial dampeners as it exited FTL. Mike was lounging on the couch with his bag at his feet. He was ready to get off this tub.
Mike idly watched flames lick at the cockpit window as the ship descended into the atmosphere of Kael Prime. He looked at Dreki, who was sitting on the other couch. His muscles bulged through his clothes despite wearing a white sweater so large it could be mistaken for the sail of an average-sized boat. Mike asked, “Do you know anything about what’ll happen to me now?”
The big Kael shifted in his seat. “Technically, I’m not supposed to tell you anything, but what the hell.” Dreki pulled the collar of his sweater down, revealing an angry white number burnt into his iron-gray skin just below the collarbone. “First, you’ll get branded.” He released his shirt and pointed to a small scar on the side of his head. “Then you’ll get an AR implant.”
“Where will I be getting that?” Mike asked.
“The Imperial Science Academy. We’re going to be staying there for a few days. They’ll run a bunch of tests and get you fitted for equipment there. After that, I’ll drop you off at the spaceport, and you’ll be off to Tlaxcalssus for basic training. After that, I don’t know.”
“Thanks.”
The ship shook as it touched down on the landing pad. “Time to go.” Dreki shouldered his pack and walked out the door. Mike fiddled with the straps of his bag as he followed Dreki down the ramp and to the far side of the ship, away from the rest of the passengers. Mike's nose was immediately assaulted with the acrid smell of sulfur from where the fiery exhausts of engines had melted asphalt. The spaceport was swarming with vehicles and filled with the constant roar of ship engines and a symphony of smaller equipment. Power loaders and mechs loaded and unloaded heavy cargo, shuttles bustled to and fro with passengers, baggage carriers snaked through the crowded landing pads, and vehicles that looked like floating garage doors zipped through the air at ankle height, bringing pilots and crew to their ships. Mike couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the absurdity of it all. Here he was, in the heartland of the enemy, walking through what was essentially a ten-acre parking lot.
Dreki plopped his bags on the ground and yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. “Our skiff will be here in a minute.”
Mike tuned out the beeps and whirrs of the tank-sized forklifts and mechs unloading the ship and gazed out beyond at the horizon. You’re not in Kansas anymore, bub. Mike thought as he studied the skyline of the imperial city basked in the glow of the early evening sun. Some of the buildings wouldn’t look all that out of place on Earth, but the skyline was assaulted with abominations that pissed on the laws of physics as Man understood them. Tusk-shaped skyscrapers defied gravity with their seemingly unsupported curves, and even more absurd were pyramids stacked atop another point-to-point like hourglasses. Any delusion of normalcy that Mike could come up with was shattered.
Dreki picked up his bag and pointed to a slab of black marble speeding towards them at ankle height. “Here’s our skiff.” A railing popped out of the center as the skiff came to a gliding halt. Dreki boarded the skiff and took hold of the rail, and Mike followed suit.
They sped through the spaceport and stopped outside what looked to Mike like a train station. Dreki shouldered his bag and stepped off the skiff. Mike stepped off and quickly fell in pace with Dreki. The big Kael led Mike into a grand station bustling with people. Most were Kael, but there was a smattering of other species. Some stared at Mike, others glanced, but most completely ignored him as he followed Dreki through the hall and onto a platform. Unfamiliar aliens clearly weren’t an uncommon sight here.
The walls of the station were covered with mosaics depicting Kael warriors from the distant past. Dreki noted the human's curiosity and said, “The founders of the clans.” He leveled a massive hand toward an opulent, towering mosaic of a Kael warrior wielding a bronze falx. The imposing figure's body was made of blue gemstones, the eyes rubies, one tusk silver, and the other gold. “That’s the founder of my clan, Drekalla Gold Tusk.”
Mike asked, “How’d he manage that?” As he followed Dreki into a mostly empty train car.
Dreki plopped down on a bench. “He was the war priest of Hroptaug the Conqueror during the unification wars. After the wars were won, Hroptaug granted us the Steam Hills.” Dreki pointed through the train window at the mosaic of another warrior whose body was made of milky white pearls. “That one,” He paused and spat on the floor, “Tiblan the Terror, challenged Drekalla to a duel for most of that land. Drekalla was cutting him to pieces, but the craven poisoned his blade. Just before Drekalla could deliver the final blow, the poison reached his heart, and Drekalla died. The only wound on his body was a cut across his forearm that barely drew blood.” Dreki rolled up his sleeve, showing a scar that reached from his elbow to the middle of his forearm. “Every K’alla is cut the same way to remind us of the blood feud.”
Mike inwardly sighed. Kael and their damned feuds… “How long ago was this.”
“Seven thousand four hundred and fifty-one years ago.”
Mike held back a snort. The absurdity of it all. The first human law codes came about to stop blood feuds, and out here, they have feuds that have lasted longer than Earth's recorded history.
“How’s that feud been going as of late?”
Dreki’s face sagged, “Not good.”
They both grew quiet. Mike shuffled uncomfortably.
Mike glanced at the route display and broke the silence, “What's with the middle city, inner city thing?”
Dreki relaxed slightly. “Oh, so the city used to be a fortification. The inner city is actually a volcanic island. The middle is built over the river, and the outer city was built on the banks.”
“I see.”
The doors closed, and the intercom sounded, “Next stop, the inner city.”
Dale Robert’s wrinkled face was unreadable, and his highly decorated black and blue dress uniform immaculate as he led a horse through the street. He felt the eyes of thousands of onlookers on him, and he hated it. The pure black horse had a black leather saddle on its back. Two tall, glossy black boots were placed backward in silver stirrups, and the elaborate hilt of Mike’s basket-hilted broadsword jutted from the top of a black leather scabbard buckled to the saddle. Roberts followed the horse-drawn caisson bearing the flag-draped coffin of his old commanding officer. Not much farther now, he thought. The sounds of the cartwheels rolling and the horse’s tack jangling were wholly drowned out by boots stamping the ground in unison. Almost all of the 1800 survivors of the 801st regiment were there, resplendent in their dress uniforms, marching behind Mike one more time. The local police and fire departments joined them.
Roberts was unsure about it all. He felt that the poor kid's family would have preferred a smaller service back home in Colorado instead of this damn near royal procession. And Roberts was damn sure that the seals did not give their permission for this, no matter what the police chief said.
A reporter ducked through the police barricade and tried to ask the marching soldiers questions, but they remained stone-faced as the procession marched nearer to the gates of Philadelphia National Cemetery. Roberts handed the reigns of the riderless horse to another man in uniform and joined seven other members of Charlie platoon in pulling the casket from the cassion. They silently began their march to the grave, closely followed by General McCarthy, the man who was Joint Chief of Staff, and the color guard. Bagpipers began to blare, “Going Home.” Roberts heard the sound of gravpulse engines and looked up in dismay as a Kael gunship broke through the low clouds and descended to just barely above the cemetery. A loudspeaker blared, “Disperse at once.”

Android 15 is on the horizon, and with that comes a few crucial questions for the future of Tasker. Here's a list of changes in the current beta 2:

• Android 15 will block users from installing apps with a target SDK version ≤ 23. Previously, Android 14 blocked apps with target SDK version ≤ 22.
  
• I previously reported, Android 15 is adding support for 16 KB page sizes. Google says devices with larger page sizes can see improved performance in memory-intensive workloads. Apps with NDK libraries will likely need to be rebuilt to work on these devices.
  
• 15 includes ANGLE as an optional layer for running OpenGL ES on top of Vulkan. The move to ANGLE will standardize the Android OpenGL implementation. Going forward, ANGLE will be shipped as the default GL system driver on more new devices with the goal for GL/ES to be only available through ANGLE.
  
• devices that don’t have a HW AV1 decoder, VideoLAN’s SW AV1 decoder (dav1d) can be utilized. As I previously reported, dav1d is a highly efficient and performant AV1 decoder. It’s included by default in Android 15 but is available on Android 11+ devices through a Play System Update. However, apps have to opt in by invoking dav1d by name for now.
  
• Improvements to the security of intents. Intents that target specific components must match the target’s intent-filter specifications. Intents without an action will no longer match any intent-filters.
  
• Foreground services that rely on the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission exemption for background starts are now required to have a visible overlay when targeting Android 15.
  
• dataSync and mediaProcessing foreground service types now have a ~6 hour timeout after which the service is no longer considered a foreground service. If the service doesn’t stop itself, it’ll get stopped with a failure.
  

-, some text changes. Beta 2 includes API-related updates from ICU 74. The font file for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean is now a variable font. There’s now a font file for the Japanese Hentaigana font. TextView now allocates additional width for cursive fonts or language characters with complex shaping that may otherwise get clipped.

Source: GApps Flags & Leaks
The main issues are points 5, 6, and potentially 7(?) Could any of these changes change the way that Tasker behaves in future releases? Are any of these changes cause for concern?
u/joaomgcd
Edit: I had to remove the source url as the post was being flagged as spam.

I'm thinking of starting a small pond for goldfish. We have a trickle fountain in our backyard it's about 35-40 gallons, I'm thinking of adding a couple of lionchu in it.

• how many lionchu do you recommend I should raise?
• which pump and filter should I install?
• Can I use my existing 300 gph pump that use a 1/2" tube?
• Should I install a filter with UV light?
• How often do I need to clean the filter?
• Will the pond have algae bloom once I add goldfish?

I perform live EBM and Techno Body Music with my band. The way we prepare outu sets is basically to bounce into audio stems every track we're not going to manipulate live: for instance soundscapes, pads etc. We then play the lead synth live, sing over the tracks while playing with the effects (delays etc), add drum fills and launch samples and lastly, play with some synths' (mainly the bass) envelopes such as filter, decay etc. The idea is to have the bounced tracks relieve us from having to take care of them and also reduce the chances something goes wrong, and so be able to focus on the instruments we are going to play and manipulate live. My problem is that we've produced a few tracks where some of those synths we're going to play or manipulate live have a ton of effects added at the mixing stage. So the synth by itself is going to sound differently from the one playing in the track. I've thought that with those I only want to play with their envelopes (ie. Not actually play the notes on keyboard, maybe because they are an arpeggiated fast bass or something), I could bounce the track to audio and add effects to the audio such as a filter etc. The problem is that some envelopes belong to the synth itself; for example, if I play a bounced track of a synth with a filter effect on top, I can't play with its decay envelope.
Have any of you guys experienced this issue? How have you tackled it?

I perform live EBM and Techno Body Music with my band. The way we prepare outu sets is basically to bounce into audio stems every track we're not going to manipulate live: for instance soundscapes, pads etc. We then play the lead synth live, sing over the tracks while playing with the effects (delays etc), add drum fills and launch samples and lastly, play with some synths' (mainly the bass) envelopes such as filter, decay etc. The idea is to have the bounced tracks relieve us from having to take care of them and also reduce the chances something goes wrong, and so be able to focus on the instruments we are going to play and manipulate live. My problem is that we've produced a few tracks where some of those synths we're going to play or manipulate live have a ton of effects added at the mixing stage. So the synth by itself is going to sound differently from the one playing in the track. I've thought that with those I only want to play with their envelopes (ie. Not actually play the notes on keyboard, maybe because they are an arpeggiated fast bass or something), I could bounce the track to audio and add effects to the audio such as a filter etc. The problem is that some envelopes belong to the synth itself; for example, if I play a bounced track of a synth with a filter effect on top, I can't play with its decay envelope.
Have any of you guys experienced this issue? How have you tackled it?

Lighting wise, I’m aiming to have a top scrim with a half (should it be full?) silk rigged to a gantry and some skirts to cut light. Either some LEDS above that or some space lights on a dimmer. Also using some Some tubes to spin on a C stand boom for revealing shots of details. I was also going to have some black out on a Tbar or frame to rig behind me when I’m shooting as well some polys for bounce and maybe another 8x8 silk with a 1200D behind it as extra fill.
I have an option of using a studio with a huge scrim above that you can bounce lights into like a book light, but my concern is that it’s too hard to then control spill, etc. the scrim is the size of the whole studio.
In terms of camera, I was going to shoot on an FX6 on a zoom lens for the most part, I figured some telephoto would come in handy for trying to avoid being too close and getting reflections. If rigging tracks for camera movement is too expensive, would using a gimbal and or jib be enough to get controlled movement? I was thinking a 6ft Dana Dolly would be a big help to have too.in terms of filtration, would a polariser be handy for cutting reflections?
Looking forward to any insights and tips. Thanks!

Is this a brand new build, or an upgrade to an existing build?

Brand New

Please list any existing parts or monitor(s) you have that you would like to re-use with this build. For upgrades, a PCPartPicker list of your full build is extremely helpful. Be as specific as you can be here, including links or exact model numbers of each component whenever possible.

I Have NOTHING.

What will this PC be used for? Examples include things like gaming, general/multimedia use, photo/video editing, coding, Al/ML, etc. Include specific games and applications you intend to run, and any particular performance goals you have, as each may have different specific hardware needs.

I’d LIKE to game in 4k If Possible with my budget. I play Warzone, Infinite, Minecraft. I’m coming from an XBOX X. Other than gaming I may try to stream later on in life. I edit and shoot a lot of YouTube videos, some college school work but nothing crazy.

What country will you be purchasing in? If you are in the US, do you live near a Micro Center? For other countries, please check if your country is supported by PCPartPicker by using the country selector dropdown on the top right - if not, please provide some links to reliable local vendors you are comfortable ordering from.

I’m in California but not close to a micro center.

Do you need one or more monitors included in the budget? Please list how many and any size/resolution/ refresh rate preferences if needed.

Id like one SOLID 4K for the gaming/editing. Maybe a second monitor for discord/streaming or doing things on the side. The other doesn’t NEED to be 4k if it doesn’t need to be.

What is your preferred and maximum budget range for this build, in local currency? Parts lists may sometimes have additional shipping costs. Please note whether prices in your country include sales tax or not, and adjust your budget accordingly. Typically VAT countries will have it included in the part list prices, whereas regular sales tax countries like the US and Canada will not.

I’m Planning on putting this all together around February/March, I know it’s a little ways away and more parts/upgrades will be available then.
After Taxes/shipping I’d like to be at or less than $3.5k USD

Do you need Wifi, or do you have a wired ethernet connection available?

I have a wired Connection/ Ethernet.

Do you have any specific size or noise requirements for the build?

I’d like a Full Sized Case, I have one in mind but would like to hear other opinions. I want a good amount of RGB in this build, I’d like a case with a nice window or two to show off the build. I’m in an area where noise isn’t an issue, however I don’t want something SCREECHING lol.

Do you have any aesthetic preferences for color or lighting? Describe what you're looking for, or feel free to provide some links to examples that may help. Some people prefer an inobtrusive stealth build, while others may prefer a case full of rainbow RGB.

CASE full to the brim of Rainbow RGB.

Any other specific requests or requirements? Examples might include a specific minimum amount of storage, or a particular CPU socket for a future upgrade path, etc.

I have ALOT of friends who have built there own, some are saying buy a prebuilt, some are suggesting things from their own bias. I’d like to hear some things from the people of this great group. I appreciate all the time and effort people MAY spend on this. Thank you.

Hi,
I’m Mexican girl living in Australia for more than 6 years. Here I met my boyfriend, a Chilean man who has also lived here for several years.
We met at a company that specializes in panoramic airplane tours and parachute jumps; He is a professional skydiver and I work in administration and reception because I am terrified of heights and I could never do the crazy things he does.
We have been together for more than 2 years and in this time we have both been able to travel together to our respective countries to meet our families and friends. In Australia we have a small but very close group of friends and we have a very nice relationship and we share many things in common.
He has an Instagram account where he uploads photos and videos of his jumps and stunts. On one occasion I asked him, half jokingly and seriously, why he didn't post photos with me on his Instagram and he simply answered because his account is “professional” and he doesn't want to mix his private life with his professional life.
He didn't say it in a bad way or defensively and I didn't insist any more because the truth is that he only has photos of skydiving and things related to that. He follows many people in the industry and tries to gain more notoriety with his work by tagging professionals and others in his photos and videos.
Although I must clarify that it is the only Instagram account he has; so he also follows his family members and friends. On some occasions he does repost photos or videos where friends, family or I tag him. But he hasn't done it for a long time.
I don't consider myself (or considered myself) jealous nor do I have insecurities being with him because the people closest to us know us and know that we have a serious and committed relationship. And the truth is that we haven't been much about publicly posting our relationship to people outside of our close circle.
That's why I had never before felt the need to check his phone or stalk him on social media.
But until a few weeks ago, my boyfriend was showing me some things on his Instagram and at the top where the stories of the people he follows appear, I noticed the photo of a girl that caught my attention but of course he didn't show any importance on that and continued showing me more things as if nothing had happened.
But I was left with a strange feeling, you know? That damn woman's intuition that tells you that something is strange after having seen that photo.
Well, I did what I had never done before, I went to check who he was following... it was a fairly long list that consisted of many people who were fond of skydiving, friends, family... some unknown to me but with more friends in common with other friends or family and after a lot of searching I finally found the girl's account.
This unknown girl had her public account and was Mexican too, but from her posts I realized that she lived in Mexico and not in Australia like us; I had never seen her before, my boyfriend has never mentioned her and I honestly don't know how he knows her or why he follows her, because the girl doesn't have any posts related to skydiving, she just posts selfies of her with filters and videos and it seems that she is not even from the same city as me back in Mexico.
She doesn't have any friends in common with anyone that I know; except for my boyfriend of course. It caught my attention that the girl does not follow him though.
I admit that the situation is strange, it gave me a red flag but I didn't want to give it so much importance and I didn't want to ask him about her either because I felt that I would sound like a toxic old woman who asks about any stranger he follows.
As I said, I tried not to give it much importance; Although I admit that I was tempted to text that girl to ask if she knew my boyfriend but in the end I didn't do anything.
Days later I went back to the girl's account and I was surprise that it was already private... it seems too coincidental to me that shortly after having seen the public account it is now private, but I'm not sure... the truth is that I have no evidence to prove anything or say something to my boyfriend and I also don't want us to have an argument over something stupid based on a hunch. But it is always well known that if you already sense something it is because it is really happening.
I can't stop thinking about it and to make matters worse I'm now realizing that my boyfriend is too possessive of his phone, he has it with him all the time and even though I know his password I feel like I don't have the chance to check it because he doesn’t leave it alone for not even 5 minutes, except when he sleeps of course.
I don't know what to do; I don't know whether to ask him something without making me look like a controlling toxic crazy person or try to secretly check his phone while he's sleeping?
The truth is that nothing in the relationship has changed, he is still very attentive and affectionate with me; He is not the most detail-oriented man in the world but he does many things for me and I for him. He makes me laugh and I love him very much.
I don't want to see him with different eyes but honestly the situation has me dizzy and has left me thinking a lot.
Maybe in person he has a formal relationship with me but on social media he appears to be something else and is hiding our relationship and gives me the excuse that his account is professional so he can talk to more women?
Now I feel like I'm paranoid checking his followers every time he follows someone new.
What do you suggest me to do without looking so crazy? Hahaha

https://preview.redd.it/3mk8opd2pu0d1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=005e7e74a8ca90537b9a5b4331b8214c3bfdfd04
Before you read my way-too-long write up. Note that if you find any glaring/obvious mistakes I've made that this is my first custom PC build since I built a dual-Celeron 300A system using socket to slot adapters and overclocking to 454Mhz in 1999 to play Quake 2 in Windows NT! So I'm a little rusty ;)

Parts:

• MB: MSI B760M Project Zero
• CPU: i7-14700K
• RAM: 64GB G.Skill DDR5 5600 CL28
• GPU: MSI RTX 4080 Super Gaming X Slim (IMPORTANT: See "Important Notes" and "Why I'm returning" sections)
• Cooler: TT TH360 V2 RGB AIO (See "Important Notes" section for details on when I tried a TH420 v2)
• Power Supply: MSI A1000G PCIe5
• Fans: SWAFAN EX14 ARGB (1 bottom, 2 top), I relocated one of the included fans to the rear. SWAFAN EX12 ARGB x3 on AIO Radiator
• SSD: 4TB Samsung 990 Pro
• Accessories: TT LCD (returned, see "The Bad" section)

The Good:

• Easy to work on: The tool-less design and ease access to everything in this case is great.
• Cable Management: The side channels and clips on the back are great and it was easy to access them multiple times when I had to make changes. Between this and the Project Zero stuff being on the back, cable management was a breeze!
• Ease of access: The tool-less design is fantastic and it's really easy to get any of the panels out. This case really is super easy to work on.
• Ventilation: Bottom, Top, Both Sides, all have large amounts of ventilation with dust filters. Even the areas below the glass are vented. More than enough to get good airflow.
• Dust Filters: All are easily accessible and great.
• Looks awesome
• Great use of space, especially when it comes to a longer GPU and the 420mm Radiator support.

The Bad:

• Project Zero: Accessing the headers on the right side (when looking at the back) is VERY tricky. See "Tips and Tricks" for how I got around this. Not really "bad" I guess, but just a little tricky. Personally, I think it was worth it.
• Top of Case/MB I/O Access: I do worry about the clips for the top of the case breaking after years of use. I kind of wince every time I had to open it although it works great. Also, having to to remove the top fans to get access to the motherboard rear I/O get's old very quick. Granted, my use case meant that this would be rare so it didn't matter too much for me specifically. Note that I mostly left the top fan assembly in place, removed the front glass, and fed the cable through the gap at the top to my other hand that was reached through the front to plug stuff in.
• PoweStorage LEDs: This may be a little nitpicky but I found the case LEDs to be way too bright. In addition to being bright in a dark room, they also reflect off the white interior of the top and back into the case a bit. I was able to get around that mostly by 3D printing little "tubes" to go around the LEDs so that they were just shining forward only. Electrical tape would have probably worked fine too.
• TT LCD: Not the fault of the Tower 300 case since it's an additional accessory and it's AWESOME that the case comes with a spare front panel to fit this LCD. However, the TT LCD itself absolutely sucks. The bezel is large and only comes in black (I had planned on designing and 3D printing a replacement white enclosure). But the real reason it sucks is the terrible software. While I didn't run into connection issues like others did, the software is painfully limited and the designs for showing data are ugly. Also, you can't show more than one piece of data at a time unless you cycle them on a timer. I just wanted to display CPU Temp and GPU Temp at the same time! It works great if you just want to display GIFs though.

Important Notes:

• My GPU: Not really the fault of the case but the biggest issue I ran into was my specific GPU running 20C+ hotter when mounted in this position despite me specifically looking for a GPU that didn't use a vapor chamber.
• TH420 AIO: While I was able to get the 420mm radiator installed fine, I was only able to get it mounted with the tubes on the top which caused an annoying sound. Weirdly, Amazon had sent me the Ultra version by accident and the LCD was crap and kept disconnecting so instead of returning it for the correct version I returned it for the TH360 version instead which I was able to mount with the tubes on the bottom (see "Tips and Tricks" section).
• EDIT: Now that I think about it, I'm wondering if I could have got it to fit by leaving the top screws out and shifting it up by 2-3mm... It only interfered with the bottom tabs by that much and since it fit the other way around. Sadly I don't still have the TH420 to test it before returning the case.

Tips and Tricks:

Project Zero motherboard right side (when looking at the back) header access: I don't know if this was a good or bad idea but I basically put only the 3 motherboard screws in place on the right side (when looking from the front) then positioned the case vertically. I then loosened those 3 screws just enough that I could swing the left side of the motherboard (when looking from the front) about 1 inch or so away from the case like opening a door slightly. That gave me enough room to access the headers using two hands by positioning myself on that side of the case and reaching from the rear with my left hand and reaching through the side with my right hand. This actually made it pretty easy to hook up those headers although it might not be the safest setup for the motherboard. I did this before hooking up anything else to the motherboard.
TT TH360 V2 AIO: I was able to mount this with the tubes at the bottom but it was tricky. I backed my power supply out a few inches, put the bottom of the radiator assembly in place, with the top leaning back out of the case while I routed the tubes carefully towards the front of the case (see pics). I then screwed the radiator bracket into place and slid my power supply back in and secured it.

Why I'm returning my Tower 300:

Unfortunately, I could not get my GPU to run lower than 76C at 100% fans when the case was vertical (slower fans made it thermal throttle at 84C). I put a digital thermometer in the case and it was 26C while the room was 22C. Even having every panel on the case off helped very little. When I tipped the case on it's side so that the GPU was oriented like it would be in a normal case (I propped it up at each end on 2 boxes to not block the air intake) the temps dropped down to 55C at 50% fans and that was without adjusting the airflow in the case to make it better horizontally so the case was actually hotter at 32C. Working with MSI support we determined that heat from other components on the card was likely migrating to the chip while in this position :(. I could have got the horizontal stand but the case just doesn't fit my desk setup in that orientation. So, my choices were to either return my GPU and try to find one that works in this case or replace the case. I didn't want to risk having to try and return a bunch of cards so sadly I'm returning the case and getting a Corsair 6500x. However, if you have a way to test or confirm that a GPU works in this vertical orientation, I do recommend the Tower 300 case. I will miss it.

This is my second year with a pool. I have a Hayward sand filter. Over the winter the standpipe got damaged. I replaced it and started trying to open the pool.
I am running into two main issues.

1. My pump won’t prime all the way. I’ve checked for air leaks and have found none. If I switch from filter to recirculating mode it primes just fine, then I switch back to filter and looses 3 inches of water in the pump basket.
   
2. After backwashing and rinsing the pool runs fine, then after about 1-2 hours I loose significant pressure to the jets and the skimmers are barely pulling any water in. This is with the pump running at 3000rpm
   

I’ve been battling these issues for a month now and I’m about to pull my hair out.
On top of that I was an idiot and tried to unscrew the pressure valve while the pump was running to see if there was any air and it shot out and cracked the multi port valve so I need to order a new one now.
Please, any help would be appreciated. I’ve called 4 different pool companies and they either haven’t returned my calls or tell me they only install.

Looking for an alternative for a cabinet saw for my shop. I’ve currently got a ridgid 4511 post recall, and it’s an absolute nightmare. Impossible to level, adjusting the blade involves adjusting to the granite top so almost impossible to get the blade aligned to the miter slots, parts aren’t made for it anymore so I’m finding myself spending hundreds of dollars on new parts, but I feel like for the money I’m spending I could be investing in a better saw. Other than the obvious sawstop, does anyone recommend any easily adjustable and reliable table saws that if something happens, finding information on a blog or a video on YouTube isn’t impossible, or you can actually still call the company that makes them to get someone on the phone ? Thank you in advance !

We are in some unique times. My daughter is at the age of smartphones and talking with friends online for hours at a time. When they were smaller, the google parental controls were enough. However, as they get older, they need more freedom, but at the same time, as the dad, I need to keep them safe. I have been looking into different options, and Bark and Qustodio keeps coming to the top. I was wondering if there was a bark alternative, one I can self host, this way some company isn't harvesting my kids conversations for their ai bots.
For the home, the home router works some what, but I would like a all in one solution if possible.
If there isn't one, I was thinking maybe I can make one? Head scale on the phones to come back to the house, or a always on VPN and have their traffic route through the house's network where I can filter it out with pi hole or something along those lines.
Let me know what you all have done? What tools are you using?

I ordered it 2 days ago and for some reason it still 'awaiting shipping' - i wrote to support but no answer. I guess it will take time to arrive bc its new model.
Anyway - whats your 2 cents on this printer so far?
I hate bowden tube, if I mount the spool on top i guess it can feed the filament straight in since its direct drive?

So this was in November 2023 and due to my wack ass immune system, I (15M) had gotten myself extremely sick to the point where I was vomiting almost every time I'd eat. And my body has a way of cascading things like this, so I it was no surprise when I started sickling.
I'm laying in bed, nauseous and in pain, just praying for the oxy to kick in so I can fall asleep and not deal with this hell anymore when this sharp pain starts stabbing me in my chest and I feel like I'm literally DYING. This pain I was feeling in that moment was worse than any sickle cell crisis I've ever had and I just assumed the jig was up and organ failure was imminent.
I couldn't get up from where I was laying (my mom's bed) because of the severe pain so I'm just crying so loudly and my mom wakes up annoyed and tells me to lay on my back and go back to bed but as i shift over a wave of nausea crashes over me and i begin vomiting all over my mom and her bed (woops).
Fully awake and freaking out by this point my mom picks up her phone and dials 911 for an ambulance to get me and I'm just crying like a little baby now in a pile of my own bile (too scared to eat anything because I didn't wanna barf) praying for the ambulance to get here. And after what only felt like 5 minutes, my mom runs to the front door to open it for the paramedics who lay me onto the stretcher and give me this drug I'm in too much pain to notice.
And then it calms me down. A lot. So much so that it feels like whenever I breathe, I'm breathing out all the air in my lungs and taking my first breath again like I've just been born. I vaguely feel the pain in my chest but my mind is so empty I cant even bother to think about it. I take a few deep blinks and then wake up in the ER with my mom sleeping in the chair beside my bed.
After this, it becomes a cycle of them giving me medicine, the pain subsides somewhat, and then the medicine wears off and my chest feels like it's getting knifed by a million UK roadmen. They start me off with morphine, and that doesn't do the job like it usually does, so then they give me Dilaudid AND morphine, and still yet I feel like the end is near. So they decide to pull out the big guns that worked on me when I was in the ambulance. Fentanyl.
Initially I was very skeptic and lowkey refusing treatment because of the stigma around it and the doctors reassured me over and over that it was safe and I had been given it before and blah blah blah even though these were the same doctors that would ask me how long I've had sickle cell for. But I was in so much pain that I just gave up and gave in and gave them the a-ok because their nagging was just too much.
They set me up with this little green button thing attached to my IV, that would allow me to press it whenever I felt severe and constant pain but would not allow me to exceed the "maximum dosage" they had put in place for my body. And to be completely honest this little button scared me at first. The entirety of my night nurses shift I didn't press the button once and just writhed there in the cold hospital bed because I'd rather die than willingly administer my own fentanyl.
But I wouldn't even be typing this story if I simply just hadn't pressed the button for the entire duration of my stay. It was now day 3 in the hospital and I hadn't got a single wink of sleep in the past 32 hours so I decided to press the button. It didn't hit me like it had in the ambulance, but when i tell you i relaxed, i RELAXED. I was finally able to shut my eyes and go to bed and stop myself from shaking my leg (self soothing thing I do when in pain). I woke back up to my nurse doing my 8 hour check up and for some reason, she was still bringing me morphine and Dilaudid despite me having the fentanyl push button thingy, but I was so out of it I just took the medicine so I could go back to sleep. It became I cycle of me pushing the button, falling asleep, being woken up to take additional opiates i did NOT need, then going back to bed, until early on day 5 in the hospital, my friends from school came to visit me. So obviously I try to be a good host and not to fall asleep despite me having pushed my button already for more fent (clearly addicted but oblivious because of this phantom pain my body is forcing me to experience) and coincidentally as my friends are still here, my nurse comes in for the 8 hour check up and gives me the Dilaudid and morphine again. I take the medicine and I look down at my green button because I'm not sure i've been awake this long in days and I see its glowing again so I press it.
bad idea.
I'm talking to my friends but something seems off, their voices seem so far away and there is black dots clouding my vision, I of course am so out of it that I somehow don't see any issue with these two things until I realized I hadn't said a word in like 2 minutes. Matter of fact, I hadn't even spoken for 2 minutes. My eyes go wide because I can feel my vision fading, but for some odd reason it was all black except a tiny pinhole in the center of my vision. I hear this faraway annoying beeping that I realize is the pulse-ox thing going kookoo bananas because I haven't breathed in so long and I see shapes moving around and my friends running to the hallway to get me help and all I can focus on is "If I'm not breathing, why doesn't it hurt?"
The nurses rush in and can clearly tell I'm overdosing so they put an oxygen mask over my head and say "Can somebody give him some Narcan?" and I'm laying here spectating what's going on to my own body from inside of my head wondering "I wonder what narcan is"
WELL I SURE KNOW NOW
The nurses push the Narcan in through my oxygen mask and I can suddenly hear everything perfectly. I say "woah" and then my entire body gets a flash of heat all over so I jolt up and say "WOAH" again and I look to the left to see like 6 nurses with 3 of them doing something with my arm that I obviously just messed up. But then the heat is gone, replaced by this freezing cold feeling all over and INSIDE my body. I can feel every one of my organs touching each other and they all feel cold and I just feel nauseous. By this point i was just in agony. It wasn't like any pain I've ever felt before I felt like not only was I gonna die, but it was gonna be painful and I'd feel each individual organ dying from inside my body because of how hypersensitive I was to everything around me. I could feel the scratchy hospital blanket and the way the grip of the hospital sock felt against the bed and it was all just too much for me and my head cocked straight up and i began vomiting so much liquid it was scary to watch. Feeling each chunk of food run down my throat was a sensory nightmare and it caused me to KEEP VOMITING and every time I'd move one of my limbs, it would completely jerk itself all the way to a full extended position which would shake my body and all my senses would be on fire and I'd cock my head back and continue vomiting. This was a pediatric hospital so the nurses had never dealt with anything this severe before so they were all just freaking out because I was actually tweaking so hard and I had knocked over everything they had put on my bed to help me. In addition to all this mess, I'd torn out my IV and started bleeding all over the sheets and the smell of barf mixed with blood was just such a strong smell I had continued barfing onto myself. My entire being felt cold inside and out so I was trying profusely to wrap myself in a cocoon but the nurses were so fixated on my blanket being covered in vomit and me like "contaminating myself" but I did not give a single fuck bro I was in so much pain and was so cold the only thought on my mind was the fetal position, and a cocoon. two nurses jammed those tubes that they have at the dentists office to suck your saliva down my throat so I didn't continue choking on my vomit, while the other 4 removed the fitted sheet from the bed trying their best not to interfere with my tweakage.
After they removed the sheet I had laid down and then I felt my organs shift in my body so I began vomiting again because anytime I sensed a new sensation, the big kahuna of nausea would hit me. I threw up onto the plasticky cover that goes over the mattress of the hospital bed but at this point there was only like so much left to throw up so a nurse wiped it away with an alcohol wipe. And the SMELL of that wipe gave me such sensory overload that I began crying to the point of basically screaming. As I shut my eyes really hard praying I'd fall asleep and escape the pain and coldness of my insides.
And the weird thing about all this is, I was there the whole time, y'know? Like I felt perfectly conscious throughout the entire process of being Narc'ed. I had no control over my body and anything I did, it just felt instinctual and had no thought behind it, but I was still actively thinking throughout all of it. I felt shame, embarresement, surprise, all like I was watching a movie. Except it was one of those 4D movie theaters where you can feel whatever is happening on screen, but not control it.
Eventually sleep overcame me and I woke up in the ICU with like 40 million wires attached to me a heating pack over my belly, and these bags around my legs that would inflate and deflate over and over. And all I could think in my head, was thank GOD it was over.
I had ended up getting myself a bone eating staph infection because some of my vomit got into the IV hole I'd torn out (I see why there were trying to take the blanket off) and ended up having to stay in the hospital for 10 more days so they could give me heavy antibiotics,, and had to do an additional 5 days at home self administering the medicine through a PIC line that went all the way from my wrist into my heart (it was so gross because they kept me awake while they removed it and it felt so weird).
A few weeks later the hospital called us back and apologized but they were using so much avoidant language and deflecting blame off of themselves so hard that it was pathetic to watch. Like you gave a 15 year old kid fentanyl through a SELF REGULATED SYSTEM and didn't expect the worst? Especially since I was being given Dilaudid and morphine on top of the fent? Get out my face with that smh.